Chapter 95: Briefing

Romaine's POV

The conversation took a turn from the point Taylor mentioned her mother, and diverted to her own life in Portland.

"I see." I thought to myself, "So then this man you're after is a direct subordinate to your mother's killer."

"That's right." She confirmed

"And everyone in your region gained powers after 'The Enlightenment'?"

"Yes. There were already a few Mutants roaming the streets before, but after The Enlightenment there was a sudden increase in them everywhere."

"October 23," Dondre said, "doesn't that day sound familiar to you guys?"

"It's the day of Convergence." The Prince stated

"Hold on, Cas, can you bring up video feed of Portland at around the time Convergence took place?" I requested

Once Cassandra had done as asked, the rest of them were able to put two and two together.

"Just as I thought." I said

"Convergence is The Enlightenment." Cas finished, stealing my thunder

"But what exactly is Convergence?" Taylor questioned

"A Multiversal Event that gave birth to a new generation of X-Genists." answered the Prince

As we watched when the shockwave traveled all the way from Montego Bay to Portland, it was more clear to us that not only our lives were affected by Convergence, but millions of other people's too.

"That shockwave was a part of the initial burst of energy when Convergence began." Cas speculated, "So it's safe to assume that the radioactive energy was able to be transmitted that far as well."

"So all these 'Mutants' she mentioned are just X-Genists." I added

"Before when I came here, Dondre said you'd all help me find Midas." Taylor said

"I'm guessing Midas is the guy you're after." I stated the obvious, "Well sure, why not."

"Actually," Cas stopped me, "this isn't the best timing; we kind of have our hand's full today."

"With what?" I questioned, looking at her confused

"The prison break dummy." Dondre whispered

"That was today?" I asked hysterically, checking my mental calendar

"Why else do you think we all woke up and came down here at the same time?"

"Well I don't know, just a coincidence."

"So much for being a detective mh." He shamed me, folding his arms

"A Prison Break?" Taylor questioned

"Well since everyone's aware of the situation now I guess I'll just go ahead and brief all of you." Cas responded, typing at the monitors

She brought up several images on every screen. Some being of people who I could identify as previous villains, and others of places such as the prison.

"This might just yet be the biggest operation we've had to carry out so far, though the stakes aren't nearly as high as with Convergence." She started, "On the top left screen you'll see mugshots of all the criminals currently detained in Brinestone. The following are their files in Brinestone's Prisoner Database."

Cas would then proceed to highlight whoever she was talking about on the screen, then read out their files.

"Prisoner #001 - Marques Brown, Alias: Gentle Giant, Ability: Shockwave Absorption."

"Prisoner #002 - Leonardo Stunnard, Alias: Magnet Man, Ability: Electro-Magnetism."

"Prisoner #003 - Melissa Stunnard, Alias: Screech, Ability: Electro-Magnetic Waves."

"Prisoner #004 - Rockwell Smith, Alias: Big Ugly, Ability: Geo-Kinesis."

"Prisoner #005 - Sawyer Grey, Alias: Shockwave, Ability: Seismic Waves."

"Prisoner #006 - Fredrick Johnson, Alias: Torpedo, Ability: Firearm Manifestation."

I had no doubt that seeing all these villains again in one place would be troublesome.

"On the three lower screens, you can see footage of the Tailor's Clients being transported to prison, but getting broken out by the Spectre before even arriving to the prison. Which brings me to the next list of criminals: on the top right you can see images captured via satellite feed of the Tailor's Clients, all of whom are currently free and suspected to make an appearance today."

She then proceeded to do the same as before, but with the Tailor's Clients.

"Trisha and Tiffany Jones, Aliases: Toxica and Twister, Abilities: Toxic Haze Creation and Wind Pressure Manipulation."

"Jeffery Moncrief, Alias: Infernomancer, Ability: Pyrokinesis."

"Jason Morris, Alias: Spectre, Ability: Mind Control via Hallucinogenic Gas"

"Daniel Dixon, Alias: Double Dial, Ability: Time Dilation."

"Alphonse Mozart, Alias: Music Meister, Ability: Word Manipulation."

Damn, that makes 11 villains to account for in total.

"And now for our final list, Black Zero's Hunters. Though it isn't confirmed that they'll be here, we still need to take necessary precautions."

On the lower right screen, Cas brought up portraits of the Hunters, with most of them blank since we've only actually encountered one.

"Alias: Legion. Though we've never gotten an in depth analysis of his ability, thanks to Future Romaine, we know that he's able to turn people into corpses, then manipulate the shadows of said corpses into an army of the undead."

"Alias: Overdrive. He's a speedster just like the rest of you here, minus both Romaines, and my analysis of his speedster abilities brought me to the conclusion that he gains more power the more he uses his speed for extensive periods; and not only that but it appears he can enter a state of Overdrive, where he drastically increases his speed over a short period. And based on your previous encounters with him, it's safe to say that his electricity's able to temporarily numb your neurons, causing paralysis."

"The rest of the Hunters are yet to be seen, but we shouldn't expect anything less deadly than the other two. And of course we can't forget about Black Zero himself; likely the puppet master behind this whole operation, though it's currently unclear what his possible motive could be. Either way we have no idea what the League's goal in all of this is. Should he choose to make an appearance, all we can do is pray for a miracle to stop him."

"So that leaves us with 16 possible villains to deal with." I summarized, "And that's not even counting Zero in it; he's a one man army."

"And there were how many of us here again?" Dondre questioned, "A mere 6 of us with superspeed and 2 lab-ridden scientists. There's no way we're beating these guys! Definitely not with these odds."

"And from what I gathered back in Portland, Midas has connections with Mutants here. So if he's involved with all this then that'll be even worse." Taylor added

"I'll be sure to factor him into the plan." Cas noted, "Now for our plan of action. There's not much to be done here since we don't know for sure who will be here and where. But there's one thing that's certain."

On the top center screen, Cas highlighted the satellite image of the prison.

"It's a prison break. So at some point they must plan on having these prisoners broken out from Brinestone. Knowing this, we can at least, assign numbers of you to guard the prison; if we ensure that the prison break doesn't occur, then we greatly reduce the amount of firepower the opposing side has. Though then again, we don't know who they'll be sending to break out the prisoners, so we'll have to be taking a gamble that who we send is able to handle it."

"Kyle kinda left us in the dark here in terms of info." Dondre pointed out

"It isn't his fault." I defended, "At least we now know it's happening thanks to him. And were able to prepare."

She must've been staying up all night to put together this whole briefing. I hate to say it but, Cas is greatly underappreciated. When I look back at all she's done for this team, she's put in more individual work than any of us. I should definitely thank her later; now might not be a good time.

"So who will you be sending on prison guard duty?" questioned the Prince

"I've ran through countless scenarios for hours on end. Only working with the available speedsters we had. So whatever plans I came up with I can factor in Romaine since he's here now, and also Taylor; assuming she agrees to help." She replied

"Of course I'll help." Taylor responded, "If there's a chance Midas is a part of this, then I can't let more people suffer because of him."

"Perfect." Cas stated, "I'll begin replanning immediately."

Bringing up a map overlaying across all screens, Cas marked a point on Brinstone, and one on the shore you'd take to get there.

"After extensive consideration, I decided that those with the best moveset to counter a wide variety of abilities are Donte and Shante; though at the time I only had 4 available speedsters to work with. There's a high possibility they'll be overwhelmed under those conditions, which is why I'm also sending Dondre with them. If push comes to shove we have Romaine, Taylor and Melany will go to guard the mainland."

"So then we're on standby?" I questioned

"Yes, the three of you should remain here ready to be dispatched at any moment."

"Well alright then." Dondre spoke up, "If that's all then we should get going."

"That'd be wise; we don't exactly know when they'll start either."