Mike and the crew are back at base and a medical team staff member sits at the forefront looking over Youta and Lena.
"This was one attack? I have never seen anything like this," she said.
"Well, are they going to be okay? Can you help them?" Piers Asked.
"Lena is going to be. She has some bruising on her neck and is going to be very sore when she wakes up. Youta on the other hand has sustained many broken bones and extreme ligament damage. I'm not sure how long he will be out for but you shouldn't bet on him being able to fight for a while. He will have to be set up in a room and monitored."
"Hey, you have healing ability right? Can't you speed it up?" Piers asks Hinako.
"She isn't able to heal large scale injuries." Says Mike. "She ends up damaging herself on a cellular level if the injury is beyond a bruise or a scrape. We worked on helping her learn to control the power but it's tricky. Unlikely it will help here.
"I hate to draw attention right now but we just found out that we can't even trust the police anymore. What's the plan now?" Asked Piers.
"You are supposed to be the one with the plan. What's the Conduct for this? Do we file a report?" Asked Mike.
"I thought you were the fearless leader ? Why are you always looking to me for the next move?"
"Maybe because you got us into this by not following the plan. You went off by yourself and predictably got captured. That's what caused these people to get hurt."
Piers moves forward and gets in Mike's face. "You think I wanted to be captured, tortured? What are you some kind of fucking idiot."
"Keep it up. I could crush you in an instant and you know it."
"Go on hero crush me. Do it."
Kazuke walks up and shoves them both back. "We could stop with the sausage measuring contest here. Nobody knew this would turn out like this so stop blaming each other. We need to stay calm and have a plan. If we stayed calm back there we may have been able to finish this guy off."
Reyna chimes in. "Agreed. We weren't organized back there and we still did damage. Imagine if we were. We could take him down. Don't turn on each other now of all times."
Itami speaks loudly. "I suggest we strike first before he has a chance to. He isn't kin to losing and I have a feeling he may not take it lightly. It may be very possible to provoke him into a fight. If we can, I say we do it."
Dales begins to wake up and looks around dizzy. "Oh my head. What was in that pizza? Wait a minute. You!" Dales looks at Karina and she smiles. He stands up and goes to confront her. Leon walks out of the nearby bathroom and sees this. He goes to stop Dales but Karina puts her hand up to Leon.
"I got it." She says.
"Who do you think you are? You dare hit me? I'm not afraid to hit a girl. Now it's my turn," Dales said, wiggling back and forth.
"Go ahead then. It's only fair," she said.
"Wait what, no!" said Leon.
"The lady insists Leon. Back off." Dales laughed.
"Go ahead. I was out of line. I only warn you I may or may not defend myself," said Karina.
"I would like to see you try, I've seen your power level, you're nothing more than a glorified support!" Dales rears back to punch her in the face and he swings fast. But before he can connect even faster Karina catches his fist with one hand. She smirks. "What, how did you?"
Karina bends upwards and snaps back Brian's wrist. She grabs Dales by the wrist and throws him backwards. "Confront me again and I will make sure you regret it. You wannabe fashion model."
Dales steps back holding his wrist and Leon walks over to Karina.
"I like a woman who can stand her ground."
"Well you chose right then," she said.
Piers calms himself and speaks. "Now is not the time guys. Should I report Jill to the agency? Leon, would the Bureau be able to take her in?"
"Not without reasonable proof. I believe you but word of mouth won't hold up to the commissioner."
"Why don't we just find her ourselves then," said Kazuke.
Lobra stands up excited. "If you know her squad car number, I can find her or at least the car's last location. Very easily."
"I got that, 11B," said Leon.
Lobra pulls open her laptop and typed vigorously. "Easy enough, here you go."
"How the heck did you manage that?" Asked Brody.
"Every police car is tracked via satellite. Using this program I can look at any single car in the city. The Agency has access to this because I'm the one who designed it."
"Well wire the location to my watch we will go now," said Mike.
"Mike, that's a bad idea. We are in no shape to move. Tomorrow morning will be better. Even if it's early, give the team some rest," said Reyna.
"Fine. Seven in the morning, we roll," said Mike.
"Sounds good to me. But some of us should stay and watch the base. Take care of our fallen friends here," said Leon.
"Agreed, but we can't spare much. Nathan, Reyna, Kazuke. Are you guys okay to go back out?" Asked Mike.
"I'm already back at full power, I'm fine," Reyna responded.
"I won't be able to open any limiters, but I can travel. I'll go," said Nathan.
"I'm fine," Kazuke responded.
"Ok, then it's settled. Leon, Junpei, Hinako, Piers, Brody, and Lobra You guys stay for sure."
"I won't lie, I want payback, I should come. I need to," said Piers.
"If you want to come I won't stop you. But be careful," said Mike.
"I will also come," said Itami.
"What about the bear?" Asked Kazuke.
"Hungry." He bellows. Polar waits for Lena to respond back and looks at the floor sad when nothing is said.
"I think he needs time," said Mike. "Let's all get rest and head to bed."
"Yeah good call," said Leon.
People move to go to bed upstairs, Mike turns but Dales slaps his shoulder and motions him backward.
"What's up Brian?"
"Be honest here, do we have a chance to beat this guy? Really."
"Of course. Where did all that confidence go?"
"You know me well right? You should know that confidence is something to mask the weakness I feel sometimes. You yourself always said to face adversity with a smile."
"Facing it with a smile and facing it with arrogance are two different things."
"Well, different strokes for different folks as they say. Look, all jokes aside, I just want you to know that I trust you. You've done well for yourself even if we did take different paths. These other folks I'm not a fan of though."
"Yeah. We will always be teammates, no matter how distant the paths we walk are. I feel that way really. Regardless, I'm going to bed. Glad we got to talk." Mike says this as he walks back to the stairs and walks up. Brian sits back in a chair in the living room and thinks to himself.
"What's up with him? Back in the day he was so full of life and energy. Now he's so damn serious. I guess that's gotten him this far though. Maybe that's better than what I've done, no matter how much I joke around I can't hide my fear. That masked guy could have killed me at any time. I just have to trust in the team to get us through. I won't be going alone. I trust them.
******
It's the next morning and Mike and Nathan are waiting in the kitchen. As time passes most of the crew that is going on the mission comes downstairs and prepares. Mike, Nathan, Kazuke, Reyna, Piers, Itami, Karina, and Lobra sit around the table in the main room.
"Ok, so the last location of her car was at her apartment here. It is currently still there so you have a shot. Mike. I have uploaded this to your watch and you guys are ready," said Lobra.
"Karina, Are you tagging along?" Asked Mike.
"Yes, unfortunately. I just follow Reyna."
"Understandable, I guess," said Mike rising to his feet. "Ok guys let's move."
The team makes their way across town in the military vehicle and arrives at Jill's apartment. As they pull up they see the cop car sitting in the parking lot. They pull up further and notice the vehicle has been torn up. They leave the vehicle and get out to investigate. As they get closer they see the driver's door has been torn off. Piers motions to the building and they go inside up two flights of stairs and center in front of Jill's apartment. After a knock nobody answers.
"I'm going to breach the door. Please prepare," said Piers.
Piers presses on the door and it opens without resistance. As they walk in the apartment it is dark, only the glow of the TV lights the place up. They flick on the lights and the place is a wreck yet nobody is on site.
"Jill always lives like a slob?" Asked Mike.
"No, this is abnormal. This place got thrashed," said Piers.
They move forward towards the bedroom and as they swing the door open they see a body laying against the wall. Jill lay with her hands impaled on the wall by a large spike and a hole was punched through her chest.
Mike covers his mouth. "What the fuck man."
"It looks like Vargas doesn't take well to failure on his team. But this seems brutal."
"Well, what do we do now?" Asked Kazuke.
"Guys, look at the TV. Oh my god," said Reyna.
The TV glows in the now lit apartment. Channel 14 news. The mayor of the city has been taken hostage by a terrorist attack at the city hall. A man holds the building locked down and won't allow any police in.
"Is that him? Asked Piers.
"Who else?" said Mike.
"He's trying to bait us out. If we go there we are surely waiting for an ambush," said Reyna.
"I did warn he'd most likely make the next move," said Itami.
Suddenly Jill's phone rings. Mike walks over and reads the caller ID. A number he has never heard before. He answers the phone and listens.
"Hey Mikey. I'm guessing that's who I'm speaking with right?"
Mike stays silent.
"So predictable. Look, I'll be frank with you. Come to city hall now or the mayor gets it. And you know I don't like to beat around the bush."
Mike Pauses for a moment then speaks frankly. "Then don't. I'm coming right now. And we will get right into it."
"That's what I like to hear. You got 30 minutes. Oh, and you may wanna get out of that building. Can't leave any evidence can I?"
Mike thinks for a second and his eyes widen. "Run!"
All of a sudden the building detonates and the floor crumbles. The building comes down and the team falls down. Stuck inside the explosion.