"Roger. On your count, Talon. I'll throw a flash-bang, then we go." Nightstrike whispered from the other end of the roof. As she drew her sword silently, she took a flash-bang off her vest with her left hand.

Rotten was on the move as well when the flash and smoke went off he swung that sickle at the cops but high. He was aiming for the lines and sure enough the blade sliced the drop ropes causing the two swat team members to fall to their doom. Well that what they thought till they fell into a portal and ended up slashing in the water, close enough to the beach that they can stand up and have their heads above the waves.

"This must have been part of her plan. They got here way to fast, they were warned. Lets hurry up before a cape gets here, there bound to be one or two on patrol in the area."

"The TCPD don't send a Swat Chopper to a possible fight disturbance. Unless they expect big time problems. She doesn't have to work with them to get them to cause problems for ya, A simple call saying two maybe three high level wanted criminals are fighting someone on the roof tops would do it. We aren't near any housing so who made that call and made it believable? Might be my paranoia, but to much of a coincidence for my taste. A Cop car, foot patrol yeah but the freaking heavy armed, armored swat team a bit of a stretch. On top of that the only people they saw attack anyone is us, she hasn't fired an arrow from the moment they arrived. If I saw three villains chasing after someone who isn't fighting back I would think we are the real criminals, possible assassins."

Ron stopped running spun around and made the largest portal he could right in-front of the chopper. It still wasn't wide enough if the chopper went through the blades would be sliced in half. That why the other end was near the ground farther away.

"I stop the bullets ya take care of the bitch!"

Seeing the flash of the arrow detonation from the roof of the building, Nightstrike ran along the railing and dove off the edge. As she fell, she took aim with her grapnel and fired. The magnetized bulb stuck fast to a girder in the construction site and turned her freefall into a sweeping arc. As luck would have it, she swung into the ironwork on the same level as Lady Nightingale, who stood one level above Talon, mocking her.

"HEADS UP!" Nightstrike yelled as she was less than a second from crashing into Lady Nightingale, both legs extended and aimed directly at the small of her back.

Nightstrike landed neatly and turned to face Nightingale just as she began mocking them again. "Third rate, hmm?"

Looking up at Nightingale, she smiled, then raised her left arm and tapped a button on her gauntlet. The gauntlet sent a signal to the shaped fragmentation mine magnetically clamped to the girder above Nightingale's head... a signal that made it detonate.

Nightstrike's answer was to draw her sword and charge at the assassin. Her sword was poised for what appeared to be a high overhand chop meant to split Nightingale from crown to groin. But at the last microsecond, Nightstrike juked left, spun, and swung low in a strike meant to completely disembowel her.

Nightstrike blocked, dodged, or parried Nightingales melee strikes, testing her speed and power. As Talon approached, she backed off and began to circle Nightingale, sword at the ready. When Talon ordered her to stand down, she hesitated, but then did so.

Nightstrike lowered her sword and rested the tip on the ground, her hands stacked on the pommel.

"Wanting to fill her shoes Talon? Toying with prey is something she would do." He looked at Talon "Someone gave me something earlier I don't need it. So here you go by the child, mother, and crone may the blessing fall onto you, and remember who you want to be." He had no idea if that would work but hell worth a shot. Inside he was wondering if the serum causes sadistic side effects.

Halfway across town, a figure in gold, riding a staff like a broomstick, wobbled slightly as she sneezed. She came to a hover, looking over her shoulder. She smiled as she felt power that had flowed through her to her friend, flow from him into... Talon? She hoped it would be enough to help.

Just in case, Goldenrod headed in that direction. Flying high enough to avoid buildings and powerlines, but below regular flightpaths, she sought to find the limits of her speed...

Nightstrike brought her sword up and went right as Reaper had said, flanking Nightingale. As she moved, Nightstrike tossed a device on past Nightingale. Looking like a large throat lozenge, it gyroscopically balanced itself, then the top shot off. Inside was what looked like a small mortar turret. The turret spun rapidly and laid down a pattern of explosive micro-mines in a ten-foot circle behind Nightingale. The turret and each mine then lit up and generated a holographic circle. All of the holographic circles overlapped and began blinking lazily, creating a complete field of coverage that Nightingale would have to leap over to escape.

"You can face us, Nightingale, or you can take your chances trying to clear that minefield. But I wouldn't give you good odds because of the low ceiling in here. Not enough room to arc your leap. And then there's the fact that I'd put ten bullets into you before you hit the ground on the other side. But it's your choice..."

Nightstrike had her sword tip resting on the floor once again, so she simply pushed and the monomolecular-edged blade embedded into the concrete several inches. She then showed her hands, bringing them up slowly so they were both in front of her lower abdomen. She extended her left index finger and toggled a switch on her right gauntlet. All of the mines deactivated with a triple beep, their holographic circles disappearing.

"Nightingale, if you fire that arrow, there is no place on this Earth that I will not pursue you. I will dedicate everything I am and everything I have to finding you and erasing you from existence." Nightstrike threatened, her voice deadly cold.

"I can open portals with a thought. As fast as that arrow is, I just pop one open in it's path and send it right back at ya. Did it once already. Now how about this we arrest ya, ya go to jail and get three meals a day. Heck as skilled as ya are bet ya escape in a month." He turned his head figuring out the angle that arrow would go and how big of a portal he would need to be sure he catches it.

Fortunately for Goldenrod, she still had her windscreen up. The arrow was deflected by the tame zephyr, and instead of passing through her torso it struck her upper left arm. Even there, it did less damage than might be expected, as the serrations caught and tore at the Kevlar and silk fibers, distributing the arrow's energy.

To Goldenrod, it was quite enough damage. She barely maintained control of her flight as she came to a landing next to a police car. "And today's lesson for the novice hero is: Just because you're still behind the police line doesn't mean you're safe," she commented to nobody in particular. She pulled a bandage out of her belt, readied it to wrap around her wounded arm, and apported the arrow to her left hand, then started wrapping.

Ron walks over as well "No time to have feelings at this moment." He was wrapping up the chains on his forearms. "We already got one newbie hero on the scene any moment now a real pro going to show up." He banished any portals he might have had open and open a new one in front of the three. "Portal to my apartment. I don't know ya place well enough to make a long distance portal to it. There ya can emotionally crash."

He walked through the portal to his apartment that collection of used furniture junk and make due items. Once on the other side he took out his phone and called Goldenrod "Ya okay Golden?"

Nightstrike retrieved her sword and mines, then tapped a button on her gauntlet. After that, she stepped through the portal.

Five blocks and thirty stories from where they'd been standing, a pile of refuse in an alley shimmered and disappeared, revealing a sleek motorcycle. A rider winked into existence on the motorcycle and it took off out of the alley, the on-board VI auto-driving itself back to its garage.

(okay going to post this over at Whitehold as well)

"Alright Golden we are back at the Whitehold my place. Be careful out there." then he hanged up and looked to Talon.

He used his boot to open a trunk and tossed in his mask and gloves, including the chains. "Hard to say, but personally I don't think so. Oh she believes it now as twisted a mind as that I doubt she could accept failure in herself." He went to his kitchen and pulled out three Guinness beers and opens them. "So lets look at it from our point of view, what was this so called test?" He stopped long enough to take a bite from a raw steak he took out of the fridge as well.

"What is her values... hmm ruthlessness, well that would be a failed test then. We didn't kill your sisters, Nightstrike came close but she used those nanites to keep her alive. So if your sister's died it was by Mama Nightingale's hands. I know I just knocked the one out, would be more hungry if she died. So ya not ruthless."

"Ya didn't go there alone you brought us. Ya didn't blackmail, bribe, con or trick us. Ya asked for help. Something she wouldn't do so couldn't pass a test on your manipulation skills. Of course her twisted mind might not even register that option of asking for help. To do so would be admitting weakness."

"I can't think of anything else she would value as something to test for. Any test is just her excuse to not fail on her part. Ya survived them, they didn't make ya."

He took a drink then made another phone call trying to get Jeremy. "Come on man pick up." Mentally he adds 'she needs ya'.

"Catchya later, then," Goldenrod replied, then "End Call." She stuck the arrow under her belt, then turned to one of the police officers, the one who was trying not to look like he was keeping an eye her as well as the building. "Hi, I'm Goldenrod. So, which way would your officer in charge be?"

"Lieutenant Sanches is up at the next corner. I'll let 'er know your coming." He reached for his radio, and Goldenrod picked up her staff and headed up the street.

Nightstrike pulled off her helmet and set it on the table, then walked over to the window and pulled a palm-sized device out of a pocket on her upper arm. Connecting the device's cord to her left gauntlet, she set it down on the table and it unfolded into a miniature satellite dish. Bringing up a holo-display from her gauntlet, she tapped a few keys and the dish aligned itself. First thing she did was establish communications with one of her contacts in the TCPD to let them know how dangerous the three assassins that had been apprehended were and that extra precautions needed to be taken.

Once she had received a call that the extra precautions were in place, she sent the signal that deactivated and dissolved the nanites in the blood of Talon's sisters. Then she sent the signal that deactivated the hack mine she'd left on the helicopter. As one of the officers was trying to pull it off the chopper's console, it popped and sizzled as a brief burst of heat turned the insides to slag. She then looked back over at Talon and Ron. "All of my evidence is cleaned up."