When city planners designed Chicago's new Wrigley Mall, they intended to establish a new Chicago landmark. Instead, this immense structure became a political disaster. Poor location, insufficient parking, preferential treatment for one developer, and lack of interest on the part of retailers and consumers combined to waste taxpayer dollars on a spectacular scale.

Now, with a new owner and the fifth manager in as many months, attempts are being made to revitalize the image of the mall. The latest publicity stunt is a public appearance by Chicago's new public defenders, the Windy City Knights, in the Center Court of the mall.

More controversial than the waste of taxpayer dollars is the presence of Damanor on the scene. Nobody knows exactly how the rumors started, but local gossip tells of underworld ties and connections with terrorist organizations like the Teragen. No formal charges have been brought to bear, but in the court of public opinion he is a problem for the Knights' PR team.

Consequently, he is here (against his own wishes) to show the world that the Knights stand together, and that he will not cower before public opinion.

"I can't believe Greg is forcing me to be here," Damanor says to nobody in particular. "Shouldn't Public Enemy Number One should be allowed to track down a smuggling ring, instead of wasting time at a photo shoot?"

Some members of the crowd seem to agree with him, throwing balls of paper and yelling ridiculous slogans, but most of the onlookers are more interested in seeing the rest of the Knights. A line of children comes up to get autographed Knights merchandise.

"How would you like a Knights t-shirt?" Damanor asks a four-year-old girl. She looks at his bearded visage, then runs back to her mother in tears. "Mommy, the bad man talked to me!" Damanor's jaw clenches in frustration.

The depth of his feeling makes it a relief for him when a table comes flying through a storefront window and into the crowd. The screaming shoppers mask his words, but he is quick to spring into action with the other Knights. He leaps upward from the stage, extending two Eufiber tentacles toward the ceiling. Swinging through the three-story structure like a less-graceful version of a certain web-slinging comic book hero, he quickly lands in front of the local goth hangout. Looking through the shattered storefront, he watches as a teen in black picks up a cash register and throws it at the store manager, knocking him through one of the walls like it was made of tissue paper. (Considering the corners cut in building the mall, it may have been made of tissue paper.)

"Hold it right there!" Damanor says in his most heroic voice, preparing to move in for the arrest. The girl turns to face him, rage in her eyes, and Damanor gets a look of fear on his face.

"Tasha?" he asks in disbelief. "What are you..."

Damanor can only watch, paralyzed, as his younger sister knocks him into the crowd.

Rose 'Moonshadow' O'Meara is relatively inconspicuous in the crowd by virtue of shaping her eufiber into a blue silk sari with darker blue edging and the matching short-sleeved midriff blouse. She watches in bemusement as Damanor attempts to engage with the crowd on a friendly level until her 'danger sense' kicks into overdrive. Not soon enough to save the bearded man from being punched into the crowd, but soon enough to ghost to the black-clad brat and turn them both intangible.

She sinks waist-deep into the floor of the shopping centre, carrying the girl with her. "Now I dinnae ken what's up with ye, lasslin', but I advise ye stop now," she advises her in a lilting Irish brogue that is at variance with her Hindu garments. "Dinnae make me ghost ye somewhere more unpleasant, like the police station."

Alchemist, drafted into this bit of propaganda by Greg due to his tendancy to 'hide in the lab during filming', signs yet another kid's chemistry set. Thus far, he's avoided getting a personal brand of them, but he's also had to sign twice as many 'Windy City Knights' action figure boxes.

So engrossed by the various people surrounding him, he only notices something is amiss when he hears breaking glass and screaming.

Alchemist catches Damanor's spider-man act, and Moonshadow's quick grab from inside the crowd, impressed with her fast reaction time if not her common sense.

Knowing that he is unfit for this kind of combat, Alchemist settles for yelling at the crowd to stay back and keeping an eye out for other threats.

Jager has shown up rather reluctantly, but hides it from the crowd very well. He puts on his "Quiet Guardian of Mankind" mask and goes to work on the crowd, charming children and parents alike. His very presence tends to engender trust, hope, and confidence in all around him. Perhaps it is the very headiness of this aura that causes him to not show it very often. The perceptive can tell Jager is somewhat uncomfortable with the near-instant adoration his current persona brings.

Jager is on the far side of the crowd when the table comes bursting onto the scene. With deft precision, Jager summersaults over the crowd, landing just in front of the table. He catches it mid-flip and raises it over his head with one arm. As he prepares to use the table as an oversized shield for the crowd, Damanor comes flying back out of the store. Jager juggles the table up, catches Damanor square in the chest, and falls back into the crowd from the force of the throw.

Despite Damanor landing on top, Jager catches the table as it falls back down to them.
"Saved by chaos," Jager whispers then he springs back up. Seeing that Rose temporarily has the assailant under control, Jager turns back to the crowd and turns on the control.
"Everyone, get back to the stores across the way. We will take care of this."
His voice is filled with definite authority and the crowd instinctively backs away from the shattered storefront and to safety. At the same time, Jager motions Alchemist to hurry over.

"I've never liked publicity..." Digigeist says before the chaos that follows. He had just gotten done with scoping out several red herrings of evidence, and plain fanciful assumptions before coming here to catch a welcome respite from being the resident dirt digger. He decided not to try to draw any attention to himself, and decided to dorm down, and walks around wearing just a black business suit, white shirt, and black tie. Pure business, pure unobtrusiveness. He looks down just as the table is let fly.

"What the deuce?"

DigiGeist is on the thierd level of the mall, overlooking the rotunda below him. He knows it's showtime. He switches on the juice, and does a backflip over a guardrail, stopping just a few inches off the ground with his flight.

He sees Jager has things under control.

"What's going on here, boss? A table throwing contest?"

Jager thumbs DigiGeist to Rose and the rather crazed young lady she has planted half way into the floor.

"You and Damanor see what you can do to help Rose. I'll keep the crowd away."

"Stay still!" Rose orders the girl as her muscles tense. "If'n ye attempt tae leave me grip, ye'll be stuck fast in the concrete. It's nae good for objects - I dinnae want tae see what'll happen tae ye, lass."

DigiGeist calmly walks over to Rose.

"Rose, I don't think you're in a good position right now. Come back up to the sidewalk, and I'll help restrain the..."

He frowns. Not knowing what's going on really.

"Unruly little Nova."

Damanor stands up and moves toward his sister and Rose as they sink into the ground. "What's going on? Tasha, what are you doing?" He looks like a deer caught in headlights, and isn't do much of anything to help. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice comments that the Knights can't even take down a single baseline girl without help from an outsider, that this is a lousy way to clear his name in the court of public opinion, and that the producers will probably fire him and hire Moonshadow to take his place.

At the same time, Tasha struggles to escape from Rose's grasp, unaware that such an escape would almost certainly kill her.

Rose steps out of the pavement and slaps the girl - Tasha, Damanor called her - hard. "Stop. It. Now," she orders with the age-old authority of a mother at her wits' end.

She glances at Elfboy - Digigeist - and nods. "Get over here then."

Alchemist is quite glad for Jager's crowd control efforts, since it allows him to concentrate more fully on the situation. Expanding his senses, he searches around for an explanation for this disturbance and just catches the three goons running out the back entrance of the mall, pretty close to where the girl came in.

He catches Jager's eye and nods towards the service doors next to the broken store window, then subvocalizes into his suit transmitter, "Three thugs escaping out the back. We can handle the girl."

That handled, Alchemist carefully approaches the wildly struggling girl. "Rose, Digi, I really don't think she's coherent at the moment. If you can hold her still, I'll take a closer look at her."

Jager gives a quick nod, waits for the rest of the bystanders to start heading away then starts moving. He springs off a walkway support, summersaults over the now abandoned meet-and-greet area, and starts moving after the fleeing objects of suspicion. Within seconds, he is out of sight.
"Damanor, you seem to know this girl. Get her out of here asap, unless you all want the police involved," whispers Jager over the subvocal mic.

Damanor focuses on Jager's words, and his mind begins to process the situation. She isn't this strong, or this fast. Something familiar about...

He reaches down to his belt, and pulls out a syringe filled with blue liquid. Only have one dose here. I sure hope Alchemist knew what he was doing when he designed this. He starts to move toward Tasha...and a display stand, weakened earlier by a thrown cash register, crashes down in front of him and blocks his path.

"She's on drugs! Give her some of Alchemist's antitoxins!" He looks to see if DigiGeist or Alchemist has a medkit, and prepares to throw the syringe to one of the other novas if necessary.

There is an eerie air of calm percolating around Alchemist as he stands in the midst of Chaos. The crowd is still backing away from the Novas, acting on Jager's command. Jager himself has disappeared from sight. Rose has risen from the floor and is still materializing while Digigeist is moving to help her. Alchemist takes all this in and is moving towards the girl when Damanor's words filter into his mind, snapping into place like the last piece of a puzzle.

Even as Damanor finishes speaking, Alchemist palms a blue auto-injecting syringe from a sleeve pocket. As Moonshadow solidifies along with her struggling passenger, he throws the syringe deftly. As DigiGeist grabs the girl and prevents her from striking back at Rose, the syring hits her and injects its payload.

The 'anti-toxin' take mere seconds to take effect, an eternity in Alchemist's heightened awareness. His senses, already extended beyond his body, focus on the girl and he notes the mix of opiates, hallucinogens, outright poisons and something new in her bloodstream. All are broken down and neutralized by the potent mix of enzymes and catalysts in the 'anti-toxin'.

Alchemist's perceptions withdraw into his body even as he allows time to speed up. He watches as the girl's eyes seem to focus momentarily before they flutter shut and she goes limp.

Seeing the look of momentary panic in Damanor's eyes, Alchemist states loudly (so the nearby crowd can hear), "She's unconscious. Digi, Moonshadow, could you go see how Jager is doing? He should be out back with a few packages for the police. Damanor, she should be OK to take back to the base now, but keep a close eye on her." Catching Damanor's eye, Alchemist continues in a much quieter voice, "And I want to take a look at her when I get back, so don't disappear."

Turning towards the crowd of civilians and reporters, who are becoming less frightened and more curious, Alchemist mutters to himself, "How did I wind up as damage control?"

"Dammit... I should have been more attentive... shit."

DigiGeist, without a further order or word, starts to dash outside to the back. To where Jager is.

"I don't believe this. This was an obvious distraction. I should have been better than that! What the hell is going on anyways? I'm completely in the dark and all my clues lead me nowhere. I mean, here I am, looking over dead bodies, trying to peice together who and where everyone is, and all of a sudden I'm the damn fifth wheel..."

He completes his thoughts when arriving at Jager's location.

"What's the sitch boss? Or am I in the dark about things here too?"

As DigiGeist runs into the back, he catches a glimpse of Jager to his side and two bodies on the ground. As he turns to face Jager, the nova's hand flashes up to his headset.
"Your optics seem to be disabled," he says.

As Digi places a hand up to check, he finds a small piece of storefront glass caught in the optics. DigiGeist also catches Jager's gaze to a third man slumped behind DigiGeist.
Jager looks down at the two thugs and continues speaking.
"The goons split up. I caught these two but their leader seems to have gotten away. Why don't you gather up everyone and get back to base. I will wait for the police to gather up these two and see if I can track down the third one. We really should have a talk with him."

Jager's face is calm and his voice is filled with earnest conviction and absolutely believable concern for catching the third goon ... who is unconscious ... just out of optical line ... behind DigiGeist.
"I hear mall security. You had best be going."
Jager effortlessly hoists up the two goons and heads back toward the mall and the upcoming spotlight, leaving DigiGeist still in the dark.

"Thanks, Alchemist. I owe you one."

Damanor takes a moment to reshape the fallen display in front of him, then approaches Tasha. He enters a few notations into his wrist comp, then scoops up his sister in his arms as a warp gate opens. He carries her through and is gone.

Moments later, at the infirmary:
The warp gate opens in one of the walls, giving a mild headache to anyone in the room, though the pain fades quickly when the portal vanishes. Damanor steps through and sets his sister on the nearest medical bed, which quickly shapes itself to make her comfortable.

Seeing April nearby, Damanor says, "There was a problem at the Mall. This girl was drugged. It's a new street drug called Optimal, mixed with who knows what. She just cut loose on the crowd. She's been sedated, but I don't know if she'll pull through." He looks at the everpresent cameras, then focuses for a moment. "There. I just killed the audio feed, so we can talk in private."

"She's my sister, April."

"Great. I'm behind the times, and I have to be spoonfed the glory as well..." DigiGeist mutters as he turns around. Seeing the unconcious #3.

"J... You really didn't need to do that..." He mutters as he lifts up the unconcious thug. That's when he hears something odd. The guys breathing pattern shifted like he was going into action...

"What the?" Is all Didge can manage before the thug who was playing 'possum quickly punches him slipping off of Didge's shoulder, then he tries to run, but Digi's pissed and zips in front of him using his speed, and with a quick chop to the kneck, knocks the thug out cold.

"Now, that was just rude, playing around with me like that." He picks him up again. "When I get angry, I tend to not let things slide... you should have just let me turn you in... Now I'm gonna have to find out some things from ya."

He at first considers dropping his package off, but decides to head back to base. He chirps up over the com-units of the team members.

"I just picked up one of these guys. I'm taking him back in for questioning. Mr. J also wants everyone back at the ranch, pronto."

Rose watches Damanor and Digigeist leave before turning to Jager.

"Is it like this every day?" she asks with some visible amusement. "I havenae had sae much tae dae since the mudslides in India."

"Fun? You could look at it this way, and thank you very much for all of the help you have given us."

Jager looks over and spots some oncoming police.
"Hold on. I'll be right back."

Jager goes over and does a quick once-over with the cops then one of the Knight's PR people takes over allowing Jager to disengage.

Walking back over to Rose, Jager smiles, nods, and accepts the thanks from the surrounding crowd.
Quietly, Jager continues,
"I think this may be something new for us, MoonShadow. That drug reaked of nova adrenalin. I can still smell it in her sweat left on you. This is not good."
"Let's get back to base. Mudslides in India, eh?"

Grateful for the arrival of the Knight's PR people, Alchemist backs off from the crowd and moves towards Jager and Moonshadow. His relief at not having to deal with the reporters and fans anymore is nearly tangible.

"So, can we just get back to the base now? I want to take a look at that girl. Jager, you didn't happen to snag a sample of what they put in her, did you? I only got a brief look at it in her bloodstream, and I'd like to run some tests."

Completely deadpan, Jager responds to Alchemist,
"Of course not doc. Tampering with evidence, and/or carrying an illegal substance would be in violation of the law. I wouldn't do that. Really. Honest."

After a moments pause,
"We should be going now. Right now, in fact."

DigiGeist hears J's and Al's conversation over his comlink, as he loads his cargo into the back of his black sportscar. The one true luxury he'd ever earned.

"I second that motion, Mr. J. I'll be there with our... guest. Alchemist, if need be, could I borrow one of those wrist restraints you made for a bit? I might need them during the... interview."

DigiGeist looks around, still no public, still no publicity. Everyone went inside. Even the cameras.

*Good, I can find out the info I need, then we can drop off the guy like nothing hapened...*

April is in bed (as per doctor's orders) staring blankly at the opnet terminal. A week cooped up in Alchemist's infirmary has left her more than a little stir crazy, and she's been totally unable to concentrate on anything for more than five or ten seconds. In fact, she's actually not entirely sure what the net show she's watching is about. Whatever it is, the tube is saying, "Repeat, we are not in the eighth dimension. We are now over New Jersey."

Huh?

With Damanor's arrival, April goes from shell-shocked boredom to pained surprise at the sudden, inexplicable headache and the whirling warp gate in the infirmary wall. In a burst of speed (screw doctor's orders), she detaches herself from any monitors that might still be attached to her and vaults from the bed - catching herself in the air even as Damanor steps through the gate.

She flits around as he lays out his sister, clicking off the terminal as an afterthought while listening to his condensed account of events. Uncertainly, she asks, rapid fire:

"What'd they do to her? Or, like, who drugged her? And why don't we want to be heard? Should we do something before Alchemist gets here? What can we do?"

Barely pausing, she slips into radio and speaks/transmits over WCK channels, saying, "Alchemist? What can we do here, before you get here?"

Pausing, April stops transmitting and adds to Damanor, "Wait ... you have a sister?"

"Alchemist, I'll take ye first sae ye can get started on the lass. Jager, I'll be right back."

Rose suits action to words, ghosting them to the place she glimpsed through Damanor's gate one at a time.

Accepting Rose's offer and hand, allows her to teleport him to the HQ's medical room.

His first actual teleport, Alchemist keeps his senses wide open and is pleasently surprised by the sensation of disappearing from one place and appearing in another.

Shaking that mood off quickly -- there's work to be done -- he thanks Rose as she disappears to ferry the next teammate, and turns his attention to the present scene.

Giving her a mildly accusing look, he says, "April, you're out of bed."

Turning to Damanor, he continues, "Put her on the other examination table. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at her before she wakes up. I doubt there will be any permanent effects from whatever they put in her, but better to be safe."

Bandwidth hears everything over the comlink he wears, and he prepares himself in his room for the upcoming excitement. He had stayed home on this particular meet and greet, he wasn't one of the big names to anybody but a few Star Trek and comic book geeks in the crowd anyway.

He walks out of his quarters and into his lab, he passes through a field that removes all static from his body, and passes through another one to walk out into the hallway, just another precaution to protect all of his equipment.

He makes his way up to the lab to arrive right after Alchemist.

"Al, is there anything I can help you with, I don't know as much about medicine as you do, but my gray matter is always willing."

Bandwidth actually removes his black trench and throws it over a chair, ready to assist anyway he is called upon.

Damanor gives a grateful look to everyone as he sets the girl on the examination table. "Her full name is Natasha Walker. No drug allergies have ever come up, blood type B negative."

"If I've judged the symptoms correctly, she's been on a drug called Optimal. It was developed by Tasha's parents when I worked for the C-Z. I thought all their research was wiped out in a bomb blast, but I guess I was wrong."

"One more thing: she's my adoptive sister. Ever since her parents died, I've been her legal guardian. So you can give her whatever she needs, Alchemist."

Then his mind catches up with his mouth. "Oh, [Censored]!" he snarls as he realizes that everyone's comlinks are still live. In spite of his earlier efforts, everything he said was just broadcast to the world...and that meant that if the C-Z didn't know who and where he was before, they surely knew it now.

"Why'm I thinkin' this is one of those 'Oops' moments?" Rose observes quietly from her place at the back of the lab.

Rolling her eyes at Alchemist, April hovers over his shoulder, saying, "I've been in bed for a week. Mostly. It'll be fine. What about her?"

She breaks away from Alchemist to listen to Damanor, floating back over to her bed. She sits, being careful of her leg (still in a cast), and adds with possibly forced cheerfulness:

"Well, it could be worse. I mean, it's not like the mafia liked us in the first place, right? How much can they have it in for you? ... Um, maybe we should call Digi and Jager in. I could go get them? [inquiring glance to Alchemist]"

"Here," says Jager walking into the room.

"Sister, eh? That makes it family, and I take family very seriously."

"Bandwidth, kill the feed."

His quick glare to the non-team members in the room sends them scrambling out.

"Yeah, now the whole world knows she's your sister, that someone poisoned her, and that we are going to do something about it. The question for the rest of you here is this: What are you going to do about it? I will go along with whatever the rest of you decide. I've already fought my battles and buried my dead. This is going to be your decision, and your fight if you want it."
Jager's demeanor is deadly serious and down-right grim. It can hardly be missed now that Jager has been a trained killer most of his life, and one of the earliest elites.

DigiGeist walks in, as the proverb says "speak of the devil..." He has a smirk on his face. One that could be called the cat that ate the canary.

"Guys... you're still popping info to the public..." He points to a camera in the ceiling. Not noticable by most except for those with the ability to see very small objects. "If we're going to talk further about this case.. we'd better do it in a secure environment. That micro-camera is still running." He says before glaring at it. Without a millesecond more, it's recieving nothing but static.

"There's no microphones here, but any further talking should be done in a little room I had built. One where there's NO tech." He feels a bit secure though at the moment. "Besides, I brought a friend that might be of interest anyways. I'm sure JAger would be interested in having a con-flab with him... wouldn't you say?" He winks and gestures. Letting him know he got the package all nice and wrapped up for him.

"I think Tasha will be okay here; she seems stable enough, anyway, thanks to Alchemist's handiwork," Damanor says. "You say there's a safe place where we can plan our next move, DigiGeist? Let's go.

"It's probably best if I stay out of the public eye for a while; I'd like to drop from 'active' to 'reserve' status, so I can stay with Tasha. Besides, Moonshadow does my job better than I do." He takes a deep, slow breath. "Find out who did this. Find them and take them down."

He waits, hoping to have a moment alone with his sister after everyone leaves.

Finishing his inspection, he turns to Damanor. "Your sister should be fine. There are a few lingering affects from the Optimal, but I think they're just withdrawal simptoms and they should go away by themselves. She'll wake up with a raging hangover, but that should subside once her body becomes acclimated to not having the Optimal in her bloodstream. If she gets worse, though, get her to me as soon as possible."

Alchemist hands Damanor a small bottle of smelling salts, which should be enough to wake his sister.

Turning to Jager he says, "When you get a chance, bring that item I asked about to my lab, OK?" At Jager's nod, he leaves the room for the quiet of his personal sanctum.

"Damanor, the room can be used, but only after I get done prying as much info as I can legally from our guest, and our time is short. I'll need Jager's help in the conversation, since he's just as good at interrogations as I am."

DigiGeist looks over to Tasha.

"She looks like my Neice. I'll be sure to find out what happened. For her..."

He starts to walk out fo the room.

"I'll be going on to the reserve roster myself soon. After this and possibly confirming