Seeing that the apparent mastermind had already snuck through the opening where her cyclone was churning, Gayle cursed, sighed, and began unwinding its energies. So as not to let all that power go to waste, she used the wind to send hammer blows of air at the leader's back. Remembering what she had learned from Sheena, she bracketed the shots across an area so that the fellow would find it difficult to slow or escape the onslaught.

The way she threw them, they should just about run out of serious energy by the time the blasts reached Mentalian and his arsenal. Almost.

For good measure, she siphoned a portion of the windstorm back into tougher shields for herself and Whipcrack.

Just as the chronomage skirts past the cyclone, Mentalian's black spear is lanced towards him at highway speed, with seemingly instant acceleration. Mentalian notices Whipcrack flying towards their target, and takes a brief moment to do a moral calculation: the chronomage MUST die, but getting a hero caught in the massacre seemed too much, even a redblood hero.

Mentalian decides. He drops the smaller pistols and non-automatic rifles and keeps automatic weapons aimed more accurately at the leader. The SMGs and assault rifles fire, sending dozens of bullets per second at the chronomage's chest. At the same time, a depressive wave is sent to both the mage and Whipcrack, to demoralize and dull reflexes. This fills the corridor with a indigo light, purple for telekinesis and blue for depression.

The magazines quickly empty from the rifles into the barricade and psi-shield. Mentalian drops them with a sigh, "The Redeemers would like you, Whipcrack" Mentalian says aloud, betraying a slight scottish accent.

He demanifests the spear, It'd served him little, then his focus returns on the locus of rage across the room. "Maybe the indirect path" he thinks, again fueling the rage. With his left hand he sends more rage, and with his right hand he maintains the wave of despair over whipcrack and the chronomage, while Scaleback scraps through the forced open door into the blue and red light.

Mentalian releases his hold on both Scaleback and Gayle, since attention is already on the chambers. He hovers confidently to the entry he'd forced open. "I'm not going to stop until he's dead, and now you've put him by innocents!" Mentalian yells. He reaches out his arms to lift the chamber, but then he stops.

A smirk goes across his face, he puts down his left arm then begins to pull his right arm in, using his telekinesis to pull the chronomage against the inside of the wall, intending to crush him. He readies his left arm for a defense spell, a go-to for Necrobians.

The lightning reaches Mentalian soon after he'd readied his spell, just before the ball struck him, he draws his left hand across his front, revealing a teal barrier in front of him with random, overlapped images flickering in and out, an Arcaulian Barrier. The lightning sinks into the barrier, and out the other side an array of bullets speed past Mentalian, some grazing his robes. Startled, he lets down the barrier, but maintains his pull on the slaver.

Still startled from the Arcualian Barrier bad luck, Mentalian was unprepared for Stingray's lunge, he sends a telekinetic wave roughly in Stingrays direction, dampening the physical blow, but not effecting the electric charge: he's struck on his right side, releasing the pull on the slaver and staggering him back through the doorway.

He snaps, and with a flash of violet light, he sends a telekinetic wave strong enough to send the blast doors flying into the room.

[i]"At the end of day, don’t we want to treat each other
Just the way, that we want for ourselves?
It can be, light up the sky, the darkness gone, but it’s up to us
In the end, it’s all up to us!
And we'll bring justice!"[/i]

As Gayle sang to herself, her voice grew stronger. It was still for her own sake and at no concert volume, but she had to breathe to sing. Breathing and the lyrics and music calmed her. She bobbed in the air. As she finished the line, the telekinetic wave burst the blast doors, as if to punctuate the song. Her eyes flew open. The green-clad heroine yelped and ducked back as one of the strained and twisted doors flew past her. It missed her by inches and its wake set her slowly spinning in the air. As they continued their instant passage through the lab, the doors plowed through equipment and broke pipes and conduits against the far wall. "Shit! That's one pissed bad guy! Looks like he's got a thing against heavy metal!"

The melody and rhythm kept flowing through her head and she laughed, "But no one is unbeatable!"

Stingray twisted in the air as the wave caught him, and he tumbled on the ceiling for about a half second before the wave passed and he fell again. He shifted in the air, manta wings catching the air to convert some of the fall into motion toward Mentalian, then back to almost fully human before lunging again to finish closing the gap with another electrified punch.

Mentalian had chambered a block after the lifting attack, so as Stingray came lunging, he tried to lower his shield, but he was unable to reach the fist in time. It struck his jaw forcing Mentalian backward, but not far due to the thickened air. The force of the punch sank entirely into his body and could not be dissipated into momentum. Mentalian sends a wave to push Stingray off of him, then reconsiders his position. He's in close range with a melee combatant, an agile combatant behind him, and a massive beast in front of him. This position was entirely indefensible. He pointed his sword toward Scaleback's knee, then lanced it with telekinesis, hoping to cripple the beast. The mage then dissolved into shadows.

He reappeared behind Gayle, musing "kindred spirit! Likes to interfere!" as he throws the shield at her head, discus style. He places telekinetic walls on each side to try to impede the speedster, if he decided to engage.

Mentalian was also beginning to tire: an electric punch to the side, an energy punch to the kidney, another electric punch to the jaw. He struggles to perform advanced magics, and is mostly down to his psionics and telekinesis...which are considerable.

He blasts away the debris, then charges Gayle flying. He carries a telekinetic wave in front of him, intending to slam her against the ceiling, then let her fall.

Scaleback strikes moments after Mentalian's charge, catching him midair. By reflex, the telekinesis used to fly is instead used to dodge the push by a close margin, his momentum ends just above Scaleback, his feet dangling by her head. The wave carried, not by reflex, continues toward Gayle with similar force.

Stingray comes up behind Scaleback, judging the possibility of a leap up to attack Mentalian [i]en passant[/i]. It doesn't seem likely, so he asks Scaleback, "So tell me, [i]camarada[/i], have you ever heard of the [i]pelea de gallinas[/i], the chicken fight?" He's looking up at her shoulders, and judging both their suitability as a place to stand and the distance from them to the ceiling...

"Ah, it doesn't matter, then." Mentalian was low enough now, so Stingray leapt up, attempting to grab him at both wrists, ready to unleash a massive surge of electricity.

Just after the blue flash, Stingrays bio-electricity went off, surging through Mentalian's body. He's repelled off of the reptile and into the air, making attempts to right himself mid-air while still being electrified, then he had his breath taken....

He tried to use telekinesis to reclaim the wind, but with the electricity locking his breathing muscles, it did more harm than good: the air rushed out of him with a cloud of blue-tinted blood. Mid-air he glanced at Gayle, saying telepathically "your mother raised you well." He then drops to the concrete floor with a loud thud. Blue blood slowly drains from his mouth.

"Thanks, Whippy. Doing okay here, but damn tired for this early in the day," Gayle said. She hovered a bit lower and resummoned her phantom army, replenished air cushions around the heroes, and kept a watchful eye on the scene. "And that stuff Ment was slinging is going to leave a mark or three. I'm already uploading all the data we got on him and his Necrobians, or whatever he said they were. They must be new, 'cause I got nothing on them when I ran a check when Ment first showed up. Nothing on the artifact, either, which is weird. No, wait... if it was stolen from the unknown bad guys and it was in their hands for a long time, then I guess there's no reason anyone else would know about it."

She frowned and shook her head angrily. "If I wasn't a hero, though, I would kick the shit out of Mentalian!" the green-clad heroine spat. "As much as I hate teleporting villains, I hate mind controllers, worse!"

"Oh, for the love of...," Gayle grumbled. She recognized a villainous escape when she saw one in motion. "I hope you give him a good spanking. What are these things?" she asked, gesturing to the iron coins.

Stingray examined the coin on the floor carefully, without touching it. He'd heard all sorts of things that could use innocent seeming coins as gateways, traps, teleport beacons, possession vectors...

The apparition looks at Whipcrack with a blank expression, half glare, half befuddled. "I don't think you understand the forces at play, redblood" it began, then it points to the red dust Mentalian was so concerned with "that pile of red dust was one of few ways to access our nation. As such, we deem them our property and guard them fiercely." It sighs then continues "I suppose I'd rather one be destroyed than fall into abusive hands."

"On the matter of extradition..." it continues, walking closer to Whipcrack "Trulian is on the Necrobian Council, so I would suggest he has 'diplomatic immunity', like those Vatican dogs" it says with a grimace.

The apparition, still close to Whipcrack, replies "yes, I suppose this country wouldn't recognize us as a sovereign nation, despite our land, government, military, and economy. I do wonder how diplomacy operates with trans-dimensional territories." He begins to motion a spell with his arm closer to Mentalian, turning back to Whipcrack "but under no circumstances will any of you be allowed into Necrobia" it states, sternly.

"Bad guys are full of double standards," Gayle added. She tapped two fingers to her right eyebrow in a sort of salute. "Thanks."

"Oh, no, wait. I got this," she said with a sniff. She struck a dramatic pose and called out clearly, pointing at the apparition, "Halt, evildoer! Stop what you are doing! This man--such as he is--must face justice! You cannot have him!"

She flexed a couple of times and posed for effect. Then, she looked expectantly at the Necrobian. "Okay, your turn."

"So, is that your crew? And is it the chalice with the palace?" Stingray entered the search on his phone, suppressing the urge to add "[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS75NtlH3gI]Danny Kaye[/url]" to the search terms..

The apparition chuckled through his mouth wrap, "unless you have something clever, you'd struggle to affect me in this astral state." As it began to finish its spell, Mentalian's body began to glow with pale red light. "Now, I think I've revealed enough. Maybe, if you can stop the Order's crusade before I do, some redblood lives can be spared" the apparition continued. Once the many runes stopped forming, the astral being brought its fist to its chest swiftly, and [url=https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Teleportation#Recall_Friend]Mentalian's body disappeared[/url] in a flash of red light, binds and all, leaving an empty wrought iron cage.

The apparition then floated over to the time-mage, still held by Overdrive, and said angrily "you owe these 'heroes' your life!" It suddenly disappeared into shadows. The wrought iron at the exit and over the pool of blue blood slowly receded into the floor, disappearing into green sparks. The iron medallions remained, a souvenir for their hard work.

"Yeah." Gayle shook her head. "We have other work to do."

She looked over at the cryo-containment room to see if Overdrive was still removing captives.

"Well, I'll keep tagging the bad guys, or what's left of them." She wrinkled her nose. The smell of a fresh spring rain started wafting about the underground chamber. "And clearing the air."

So saying, she reapplied air cushions on the team members, resummoned her phantom army, and began the wrap-up.

Meanwhile, at the Quartz Palace in Necrobia, Galrithius leaves his astral emanation chamber and walks to Mentalian's body in the Cinnabar Room. Two guards lift his body and carry it to a life bed, still bleeding. Galrithius first applies umbral magic to absorb the energy of the strands, converting them to tangible elastic binding. He then applies ice magic to freeze them, then strikes them, causing them to shatter. Galrithius then raises his arms and the room fills with green light as the life bed is fueled with vital essense. The life bed regenerates Mentalian's ravaged lungs and lost blood. In moments, he's revitalized.

Before Mentalian can get up, Galrithius says with a snarl "you're lucky Counselors are an elected position."

Scaleback takes the Superade with thanks, drinking them down one after another heedless of the flavor. She's a massive woman, and needs a ton more food and drink than a normal sized person, so this isn't unreasonable for her. When she's done, she stands up, looking at the assembled heroes, "I think I need to give the police a statement on what exactly happened, but I don't really have anywhere in the city to go after that. Do any of you have any ideas?"

"I'd appreciate that. Thanks; just until I've got a place of my own - the kidnappers burned my last place down - not that it was much of anything to begin with," Scaleback shrugs, "I'll definitely look into one of those agencies."

Gayle will likely hear heavy footsteps and creaking floorboards coming around the corner before she sees the source. Around the corner tromps Scaleback, carrying bags full of groceries in her arms. While she'd been bald before due to her scales, she has a head of wavy black hair now - perhaps a wig - and she's dressed in a hoodie and jeans, both sized for someone that's obese, though they still don't completely cover the large hybrid, with the hoodie's sleeves having been torn off to make room for her arms, and it doesn't come down all the way to cover her stomach, and the pants are more like jean shorts than full size for her.

"Oh, hey Gayle," she says, hefting up her groceries to open the door to the apartment. She has to turn to the side to squeeze in, carrying the groceries to the kitchenette to start putting them away, "If you'd told me you'd be coming over, I'd have made something for you." With her great bulk, she looks more or less like an adult in a child's playhouse; needing to stoop under the eight foot roof to avoid banging her head, and with all the appliances looking too small for her massive hands, "Come on in. I had to get rid of most of the furniture, unfortunately; just not a lot of space in here. You're welcome to sit anywhere you like while i get started on lunch."

The living room is odd looking; while the television is still there, she's replaced the couch with a beanbag chair of legendary proportions, and against the far wall is a pair of queen mattresses laid out end-to-end to make something approaching a good size for the mutant. there's places along the ceiling and walls here and there where a scrape or dent can be seen in the drywall - probably due to Scaleback's size making it difficult to live in a space like this.

"Emily, when I'm not going out to beat up villains," the massive woman says as she sets a pot on the stove, her voice a quiet rumble that nonetheless carries across the entire apartment, "I like to swim, but I don't actually need a pool. A shower my size would be fine. I'm more of a mutated human than a real hybrid. As far as the concierge goes... honestly, I just don't trust them to get the food I want. I'm a little picky. I know it's a bit snooty to insist on getting my own groceries, but quality matters, and I'm best at judging that for myself."

Emily lays out her series of ingredients along the counter. A veritable plethora of different vegetables, different meats, some oils, spices, and more. She quickly washes her hands, shaking them off after just a moment, "For now, just sit and wait; I never have guests over without cooking something for them," She sits down cross-legged in the middle of the kitchen, extends her hands out to her sides so long they can reach anything within the kitchen in but a mere moment, and [i]breathes[/i] in a manner that may bring to mind martial artists.

[i]'Seduction is the essence of cooking. Preparation is the first step.'[/i]

What did she know of Gayle? She was impatient, friendly, good-natured. No doubt she'd like anything Emily made because it was made by someone she friend, but Emily isn't one to simply leave it at that. Just 'good enough' is never appropriate when more can be done. A look over Gayle showed a composed attitude, and the confidence that comes from self assurance in your power in every small movement. Unfortunate, as that meant Emily was working at a disadvantage; self-confidence was hard to shake into the vulnerability necessary for a grand presentation. Oh well.

The windy hero standing nearby would be looking for promptness, no doubt. She dressed for the event, showed her face even during her hero work... yes, presentation was as important to this path as anything else, as Gayle had a well defined sense of style. [i]'Another disadvantage, but I'll make do.'[/i] She checked her knives. Razor sharp. Excellent.

Gayle was a physical person. Even if she didn't dedicate time to her training like a martial artist, her work still required much of her stamina and ability to operate. Something high in carbs, in protein, would be appreciated. [i]'That would mean... ah, yes. I'd been hoping to save it for tomorrow, as part isn't at its best yet, but it will do.'[/i]

With her left hand the mutant draws a cookie sheet from under the oven, and her right hand draws an impressive slab of beef to the fore, laying them out one after another. As her left hand works to spread spices upon the beef from all sides, her right hand readies a skillet, putting olive oil in to keep from sticking, and setting it to searing hot. Once seasoned, the beef is sent spinning through the air to land in the pan, and immediately begins sizzling.

[i]'Mystery must be maintained at all times,'[/i] Emily thinks to herself, her master's voice echoing within her mind, [i]'It is the key to seduction in any form.'[/i]

Before Gayle has a chance to process this, Emily's hands are already moving onto the next part of the project - a series of mushrooms are drawn forth, and laid out upon the cutting board. Her hands are a blur as she cuts the mushrooms down to size, her knives echoing throughout the apartment like the sounds of an automatic rifle. A second skillet is prepared upon the stove, and the finely chopped mushroom descends into the heat. Her hands don't remain idle, as her left moves to produce thyme, her right moves to crush garlic and then spread it into the mushroom mix. Cognac and heavy cream are the next additions to the mixture, and sauteeing begins.

There's is a quiet moment here, where Gayle has an opportunity to say a few words before Emily moves onto the next portion of the meal.

The edges of Emily's mouth tug up into a smile, "Anything worth doing is worth doing [i]right.[/i] Cooking is no exception, particularly when you're someone as large as me. I need a lot of food, you know?"

As the mushroom mix is cooked, Emily pulls a bit of parma ham from the countertop where it'd been placed. With a flick of her wrist and a flash of the knife, the seal goes flying off... to land in the garbage bin next to Gayle. With a flourish, she pulls slice after slice of the ham upon a plastic sheet, and then spreads the mushroom mixture upon them. Next comes the beef, quickly freed of the strings that bind it with a single swipe of the knife. A brush is used to oh so carefully paint it over with english mustard, and then she uses the plastic wrap to fully wrap the mushroom pâté and parma ham around the beef, sealing it inside a mummy-wrap of impressive food, to be cooled in the fridge.

But as she places the meat and seasoning to cool, she pulls another thing from the fridge that likely spent the night inside - a slab of some off-white substance, perhaps bread or butter, or both. It's laid upon the countertop and a floured rolling pin is used to push it into a much flatter slab, stretched out across another piece of plastic wrap to keep it off the counter. [i]'Perhaps it's time to reveal part of what this is.'[/i]

"I hope you're not dieting at the moment; this would no doubt break any kind of diet you could bear to name. Two thousand one hundred eighty-seven layers of butter and flour went into this mixture, folded to perfection over and over again to work out all sense of separation between them."

As the incredibly fattening and gluten rich bread mix is finished being stretched out on the countertop, Emily once more reaches into the fridge to retrieve the wrapped beef. Freed from its plastic prison, it's coated once more in the wrapping of the bread mix, creating a thing that looks almost like a loaf of bread if one didn't understand the meaty prize within. After a bit of work with the plastic wrap to make certain it's completely contained within the bread layer, the plastic is once more cast aside to lay the fattening meal into a pan, and slotted into the oven.

From there, it's only twenty minutes before the entire thing is finished cooking, and Emily lays out [url=https://www.chowstatic.com/assets/recipe_photos/29112_beef_wellington.jpg]what is quite possibly one of the most delicious looking meals Gayle has ever seen[/url] before her. "Beef Wellington. One of my favorite dishes."

[i]'Let's see if you can resist this, hmm?'[/i]

For perhaps the first time since meeting the large woman, Gayle will see the sides of Emily's mouth tug up, and may get the sense that this is the crocodilian woman's equivalent of a grin, "Nice of you to notice. You've gotta customize it to the person you're selling it to, but if you do," she spreads her hands, "Absolutely wonderful. I had to make a few guesses as to your tastes, but eh, hard to find someone who hates this dish."

"No. Not yet at least," Emily says as she cuts apart the meal to serve half to herself and half to Gayle, "Crime fighting may be what I do with my time, but cooking is my passion. I intend to eventually start up a gourmet restaurant once I have the money for it, and do meals specifically for metahuman clients. Unfortunately, I've gotta start from scratch again after my last place got burned down, but... eh. It was just things. Things can be replaced."

"Eat as much of it as you like; I'll eat whatever you don't finish."

The giant woman beams at the praise, "Always nice to hear your cooking's appreciated," Emily will sit down across from the heroine with her own plate to dig into her half of the wellington, savoring its roasted flavor and sweet, sweet carbs.

"Sounds like a good place to start again for me, then. Gotta get some money in so I can start doing the hero thing again."