The Assistant District Attorney looks at Jenkins with a slight sneer. "Why is there a vigilante speaking to our suspects unaccompanied?"
She can see Jenkins' jaw working, probably biting the inside of his cheek. He must really dislike this guy. "All conversations with Rite and Bruja have been recorded, per your office's direction."
Crusade nods. "Plus, I was more likely to get something out of them going in alone. I already have established rapport with them considering my team captured them."
ADA Baker regards Crusade with cool disdain. "Crusade. I see your reputation for inserting yourself where you're not needed isn't unfounded gossip." Her fist clenches and she opens her mouth to respond, but he talks over her. "Let me be clear about the situation you find yourself in. The only reason you're not being arrested and charged with a bevy of crimes, including assault, vandalism, and breaking and entering, is because none of the officers interviewed, including Captain Collins, would provide testimony against you and your team." Crusade can't help the small smile that curls her lips. She steals a glance at Jenkins; he's still trying to keep his face neutral, but he also sports a small, satisfied smirk. Baker continues in his bored tone. "But, that doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want. This is still a criminal case. My case. So, you will follow my every direction or I'll charge you with obstruction of justice. Are we clear?"
What a prick. She certainly hopes all the prosecutors in this town aren't like this. She nods once, lips pressed together. She can play along with the rules, but apparently, that's not going to involve niceties with this guy.
He turns on his heel and starts walking down the hall, back toward the nurse's station. "Good. Now, what have you learned so far?"
Crusade looks at Jenkins and rolls her eyes before following him. Jenkins lets out a low chuckle. "Rite's a bit of a dead end, I'm afraid. She's extremely loyal and convinced Incarnate will rescue her."
The ADA nods. "And Bruja?"
"If I had had more time, I think she would have opened up. It's clear though that she's devoted to Rite, not Incarnate. If we give her an out that includes some sort of protection for Rite, she may take it."
Baker scoffs and shakes his head but says nothing. They get to the nurse's station and he turns to them. "Wait here while I have a word with Rite. Maybe an official will be able to get her to change her tune." Without another word, he turns and continues down the hall that leads to Rite's room.
Crusade, left feeling a little bewildered, watches him walk down the hall and turn a corner. She nudges Jenkins. "Is that guy always this charming? Or did someone shit in his cheerios this morning?"
One of the officers behind the desk snorts and spits out coffee. His colleagues tease him while one of the nurses sends him an irritated glare. Crusade laughs as he grabs some napkins to clean up his mess, his face beet red.
Jenkins is grinning again too. "ADA Baker is a shark in court, not exactly the friendliest of guys though."
She rolls her eyes again. "Yeah, no kidding." Lawyers are such a mixed bag. Some are good people, some are out to nail criminals, and some are just sleazy money grabbers. Being a vigilante she doesn't usually have to work with them, but the ones she has are all infinitely better than this guy.
Less than five minutes after he strutted off, ADA Baker comes back around the corner. Crusade tries to hide her satisfied smirk. "I take it the official approach didn't work either, huh?"
He stops at the station, addressing Jenkins. "Talking to that one's a waste of time. Just keep her secured until we get clearance to move her to Meridian. I'll try Bruja." He walks off again with not a glance at Crusade.
She leans over the counter with a groan. At this rate, there's no real reason for her to be here. She was getting somewhere with Bruja, maybe she should try and join his interview? She really doesn't want to get arrested, but if it improves their chances of getting info on Incarnate then –
An alarm beeps on one of the monitors in front of the nurses. Then a second one joins in. Crusade looks over, brow pinched. "What's going on?"
The nurse looking at the screen seems confused. "Patient's vitals are going haywire all of a sudden. There may be a problem with the monitors. I'll go check."
"Which patient?"
The nurse casually stands. "Bruja."
A jolt of unease runs through Crusade. Her gut's telling her this isn't right, it's not a malfunction. She yells to Jenkins as she takes off down the hall. "Go check on Rite!" Behind her, the lieutenant shouts to his men to go secure Rite.
Crusade runs as fast as she can towards Bruja's room. If someone did come to rescue Rite and Bruja, they picked a hell of a time to do it. If an ADA gets injured in the process, Bruja can kiss any sort of deal goodbye. Or maybe she was just playing Crusade? Whatever is happening, she has to get there.
As she turns the last corner to Bruja's room, she sees the guard on the floor with a large pool of blood underneath him. Oh no. She turns and bellows down the hall. "I need a doctor over here!" Leaving the injured guard to the professionals, she sprints to the door, forming a sword in one hand. She pushes through the partly open door to Bruja's room to see her lying in the bed unmoving. Her straight jacket is in tatters and stained with blood. The monitors in the corner beep and screech with alarms.
Movement catches her eye and she looks up at the wall at the head of the small bed. Umbridge's large, angular shadow turns towards her and raises his arms, but this time there are only two. How the hell did he get in here?! Shit, she's gotta get the lights off!
Looking around she sees a bank of switches by the door. She reaches back and slaps them off, turning off the overhead lights. Using her sword, she shoves the door shut, cutting off the light from the hallway. But the room is still bright with the afternoon sun pouring in the window. She needs to move quickly before he slips away again.
Umbridge's figure darts toward her along the wall and she flings herself away, rolling on the ground. She crawls away under Bruja's bed, she needs to get to the window, but something pulls her back, dragging her across the floor. She looks back, trying to see if Umbridge popped out of his shadow form. His figure is still on the wall and nothing is holding onto her leg, but his spindly fingers grasp onto her shadow. That's how he does it! He becomes a shadow and then can affect other people via their shadows.
But how does that help her right now? Does it? He's essentially holding her in place, claws piercing painfully into her leg. Hitting his shadow does nothing, how does she get free?
But she doesn't need to get free, she just needs to close the curtains. Cut off his source of light and he'll jump back to his human form.
Dropping her concentration on her sword, Crusade reaches a hand out and focuses on creating a long, hooked shape. The blue barrier extends out towards the windows and she swipes her hand trying to hook the curtains. She misses, the fabric dancing away from her.
The piercing pain in her leg disappears and is replaced by a stabbing in her shoulders. Umbridge tries to pull her back further, but Crusade leans forward. His claws tear into her skin and muscles but she keeps her place, her vision starting to tunnel from the pain. Keeping her arm still, she rotates her hand at the wrist and gently tries to snag the fabric again. This time the hook catches and she's able to pull the fabric across the window, blocking the light and making the room dark.
The pain in her shoulders subsides and she turns to see ADA Baker on the floor on his hands and knees breathing heavily. She raises a hand and encases him completely in a barrier, making sure to wedge it between him and the floor. No gaps, no connecting to the walls or floor, just a bubble sealed around him. He looks up, previously slicked-back hair draping in his eyes. He slams his hands on the walls like he's trying to find a weak spot. He looks down, but he's completely surrounded by the glowing blue forcefield, light on all sides. No shadows. The ADA, or rather Umbridge, looks up at her with a snarl and a twinge of fear in his eyes. Escape from that, asshole.
The door to the room bursts open again and two cops come in, guns drawn. They hesitate when they see Crusade shifting to sit on the floor, one hand out towards the contained Baker. She sighs as she finds a comfortable position to sit in, resting her back on the foot of Bruja's bed. Her legs and shoulders hurt like hell and she can feel blood soaking into her clothes. "Officers, allow me to introduce Umbridge."
The two officer's eyes bulge. One puts a hand to his radio and calls for Jenkins while the other checks the rest of the room. She gives the all-clear and a doctor and two nurses come running into the room. They run straight for Bruja and start assessing the situation. From what Crusade can decipher, she's alive but non-responsive and losing a lot of blood fast.
The female cop comes over to Crusade, handcuffs out. "You can lower the field, ma'am. We can take it from here."
Crusade shakes her head. "No, you can't. I let this down he's gone. He needs specialized containment. Get Jenkins over here and we'll figure this out. What's going on with Rite?"
She shrugs. "Not sure, ma'am. I heard them call for a search, may have gotten out of her restraints." She heads out of the room, giving the medical staff some space.
Dammit! He must have released Rite while he was over there. She should have insisted on going with him. Losing custody of Rite will make dealing with Bruja a little more difficult. If she lives, that is. Crusade glances up at the frenzied medical professionals and shifts a little, trying to get out of the nurses' way, but she accidentally knocks her shoulder on the bed frame and hisses in pain.
The nurse closer to her looks down at her. "You hurt, hun?"
She nods. "Got a few puncture wounds in the legs and shoulders. Nothing too serious though, you just focus on her."
The nurse looks over at Umbridge in the barrier and then over her shoulder. "Hey, Sharon! Get one of the ER doctors up here, we got one that's not going to be able to move!" A confirmation gets yelled from the hall and she turns back to what she's doing. "They'll be up in a few, you just sit tight."
Crusade smiles. "Thanks. She going to be ok?"
The nurse nods. "Should be. We'll get her patched up, but we'll need to move the bed. Do you need help moving?"
She shakes her head. "I got it." With a deep breath and gritted teeth, Crusade slowly climbs to her feet and walks over towards the far wall, Umbridge's prison coming along with her connected to her hand. She leans against the wall as the nurses unlock Bruja's bed and make sure all of her accessories are attached to the bed enough for them to roll everything out of the room together.
Once the bed has left the room, another doctor hurries in, wheeling a tray of tools with him. He glances at Crusade and her captive, green eyes with bags under them assessing the situation. He sighs and walks back out. What's he doing? A few seconds later, he comes back dragging two chairs with him. He sets them in the middle of the floor near the tray and gestures for her to join him. "I'm Dr. Wu. What are we looking at?"
Crusade chews her lip a little. "Can this wait doc? I want to make sure we get him dealt with before I get locked down."
He shakes his head. "You're injured, you're losing blood, open wounds in a hospital are a playground for staph. We do it now and you can just leave after or we do it later and you come back with a blood infection that lays you out."
Can't argue with that. She staggers over to the chair and rests her free hand on the back. "He got my lower legs and my shoulders."
The doctor tilts his head, expression hidden by a mask over his mouth and nose. "We're going to need to take your armor off."
Crusade glances over at her barrier, where Umbridge has finally settled down, and then back at the doctor. "I'm not sure how to get it off right now. Pants are one thing, the jacket is an issue though."
Wu shrugs and grabs a pair of scissors off his tray. He snips them together menacingly. "Not an issue for me."
She sighs and sends away her blue armor, making sure Umbridge's containment stays right where it is. "Do what you need to."
With a nod, he approaches her and starts working on removing her armor for her. With his direction, they manage to wiggle her pants off in one piece. He unzips her leather jacket and pulls it off one arm and then takes the scissors to the sleeve to be able to get it off of her occupied arm. Crusade squeezes her eyes shut and cries a little on the inside as he snips through the hardened leather. Guess she'll need new armor.
Stripped down to her tank top and shorts, the doctor guides her to sit backward in the chair. He pulls the straps of her top off her shoulders and blots away some of the blood so he can assess her wounds better. "Several deep puncture wounds, going to need a few stitches in each. Do you want any painkillers?"
Normally she would say yes, but she wants to be sure she can keep her concentration on Umbridge. "Can you just do local?"
He nods once and stands again. "No problem, let me go get them and an extra set of hands." He hurries out of the room, leaving her alone.
It's quiet in the room with everyone gone. Air hisses through the vents and she can hear faint voices out in the hall. She looks over at her prisoner and huffs a laugh. So, Triple Six has infiltrated the DA's office and the Wardens. What else have they sunk their claws into? She wishes she could talk to Umbridge while she waits, but she can't risk opening anything to allow sound to travel. Actually, now that she's thinking of it, she's worried about his air supply. If he's going to be in there for a while, she's going to need to give him some air. An occasional hole at the top of the barrier shouldn't be an issue.
She opens up a couple of small holes at the top of the barrier. Umbridge perks up and looks around, probably trying to find the source of the sounds he can now hear. He finally looks up and spots the tiny holes. He looks back down, it looks like he trying to find a way to escape, and his shoulders slump. He still can't use his power. Good.
Dr. Wu comes back in with the nurse from before trailing behind him. He talks to the nurse, explaining what he's going to do and how he wants her help. The nurse grabs a bottle of medication and a syringe, pulling liquid in through the thin needle. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Crusade." The nurse raises an eyebrow at her, giving her a disbelieving look. Crusade chuckles. "What? Like you've never heard weirder names."
The nurse shrugs as she sets the bottle down. "Fair enough. Ok, Crusade, I'm Tori. I'm going to give you a little shot in each location and give it a minute to kick in before he starts stitching you up. Sound good?"
Crusade nods and Tori gives her a quick shot, one in each shoulder and one in each calf. She rests her chin on the back of the chair, waiting for the anesthetic to kick in. The nurse takes a wet gauze and dabs around the wounds, cleaning up some of the dried blood. She doesn't get much of a chance to relax, though, since Jenkins walks in looking a little red in the face.
The lieutenant stops in his tracks and opens and closes his mouth as his eyes land on her. "Oh! I…uh…I can come back." He awkwardly starts turning back towards the door.
She chuckles a little. "Get back here Jenkins, we've gotta figure out what to do with him." Glancing over at Umbridge, she closes up the holes at the top of his containment. He'll be ok for a while now. "Also, what happened with Rite?"
Jenkins stops and turns back, looking anywhere but at her. "We, uh, lost her. Searched the whole place top to bottom, but she's gone. Baker must have released her while he was in her room. The officer guarding her room was injured, she's getting checked out."
She grimaces. Having Rite in the wind isn't ideal, but if they caught her once, they can do it again. "Same with Bruja's guard. Doctors took her to get patched up, Umbridge did a number on her. She'll probably survive though."
Her friend nods with a grumble. He looks over at ADA Baker. "What do we do with him? Officer Thoms said he'd need special containment?"
She nods. "The only reason I'm able to keep him is because my power glows and is airtight. He needs a cell that is either 100% lit or 100% dark. If there are any shadows at all he can escape no problem."
Jenkins observes her containment for a moment, his mustache wiggling a little. "I hate to say it, but we don't have the resources to hold him. We'll need the heroes." Crusade makes a dissatisfied groan. "Unless you just want to hold him the rest of your life." He chuckles a little at his own joke.
She sighs. "That's not really an option. I do have to sleep sooner or later." If they go through official channels, there's a much bigger chance of her ending up in a cell at the end of this too. "Let me make a phone call, see if I can get some help that won't result in me getting a cell right next to his. Can you fish my phone out of my pants?"
Jenkins awkwardly looks at his arm in its sling and then at her pants on the floor. Nurse Tori huffs and waves him back. "I got it I got it." She retrieves her armored pants and starts looking through the pockets. She eventually finds Crusade's cell phone and hands it to her.
Crusade scrolls through her phone to the contact she needs and hits dial. The phone rings a couple of times before a voice answers.
"This is Sentry."
"What? You don't have my number saved? That makes me sad."
Sentry curses and there's some shuffling before he speaks again, his voice much quieter. "Crusade. Wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."
She chuckles. "No offense, but I was hoping not to have to call you again so soon. I need some help."
"What's the situation?"
"Ok, I need you to not interrupt until I'm done, alright?" Sentry stays silent. "I'll take that as a yes." She takes a deep breath. "In coordination with the SDPD, I was interrogating Rite and Bruja at San Domenico General Hospital to see if we could get anything on Incarnate. ADA Baker joined the party and, wouldn't you know it, turns out he's Umbridge. Long story short, Rite's in the wind, Bruja's in critical condition, and I've captured Umbridge. I have him for now, but the PD isn't able to hold him. He needs specialized containment."
There's a moment of silence. "Oh, is that all?" His voice drips with sarcasm. He huffs and is serious again. "Jesus, Crusade, are you insane?! I knew you guys were reckless, but involving yourself in an official investigation like this is just asking for trouble." There's another pause. "That being said, I can't believe you actually captured Umbridge. How the hell did you manage that?"
"Buy me a beer sometime and I'll tell you. I can't hold him forever, though. He needs to be completely surrounded by light or be in complete darkness. Nothing in between."
Sentry hums on the other end of the line. "I can't do anything to help you. But Siphon could."
Crusade chews her lip a little. "Can I trust him?"
"Kind of seems like you don't have a choice right now. I'll send him your way, shouldn't be more than 30 minutes. Can you hold out that long?"
"Should be able to. Gives me enough time to get stitches."
Sentry barks a laugh. "Would you look at that, she's human!" He laughs a little to himself as Crusade rolls her eyes. "Let me know how things go." The line goes dead with Sentry still chuckling.
Crusade drops her phone in her lap and looks back up at Jenkins. "Siphon's on his way to help figure this out."
Jenkins nods before reaching his uninjured hand up to smooth out his mustache. "We've all got our necks on the line with this, let's hope Siphon doesn't live up to his reputation today."
She narrows her eyes. "What reputation?"
"He's a friendly kid, number one in the popularity charts around here. Bit of a boy scout for my taste, though."
Dr. Wu clears his throat. "We need to get started. Lieutenant, I'm going to need you to leave me and the patient alone while I'm working."
Jenkins colors a little. "Right. I'll come back when Siphon gets here." With a nod he turns and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
The doctor scooches his chair closer to Crusade. "Sit up for me? I'll start up here on your shoulders. You shouldn't feel this much at this point."
She straightens her back and watches as he pricks her shoulder with the suture needle at the first puncture. Her body is definitely registering something happening, but there's no pain. Trying to keep as still as she can, she looks away from her shoulder and over at Umbridge. She opens up a few holes at the top of his containment again. Wouldn't want him to suffocate.
She's nervous about Siphon coming to help her. If he is as much of a boy scout as Jenkins seems to think then they might have a problem. She needs to have a plan if things do go badly.
Her phone buzzes in her lap, it's a text from Dakota. "Done with court for today, you still at the hospital?"
Shit, she hasn't even had a second to let the team know what's going on. Maybe having some backup would help. She messages back. "Yeah, things went a little sideways. Could use some backup."
"Can do. I'm 15 minutes away."
Good, having her here will make facing Siphon in her state a little easier. Dakota must be in a good mood if she's offering to come help after court. She's been attending the trial for Joseph Messenger, the guy who destroyed her shop. She made sure to talk to the prosecutor and bring up her allegations against him, but they didn't have enough solid evidence to link that to him too. He's up for a bunch of similar charges, though. She's been going to the courthouse pretty much every day this week. Hopefully, it should be over soon, though, and she can feel a little better knowing he's behind bars.
Dr. Wu pulls her from her train of thought. "Done with this shoulder, if you want to stretch out a little now's your chance."
Crusade slowly twists her back one way then the other, then stretches her neck to either side. She settles back in. "Thanks, I'm good."
He starts on her other shoulder, muttering things to the nurse now and then. Before she knows it, he finishes up that shoulder and shimmies onto the ground to reach the wounds in her calves. Tori reaches over from the other side, wiping off the rest of the blood from her shoulders and covering the area lightly with gauze and tape. She gently replaces the bloody shoulder straps of her shirt up over the gauze.
As the doctor finishes up the first leg, there's a knock at the door. Officer Thoms pokes her head in. "Ma'am, your teammate Desperado is here?"
Crusade glances down at the doctor on the floor. "Mind if she comes in?" He waves and makes a yes noise, not moving his eyes off her leg. She nods to the officer. "Let her on in."
Desperado comes in and spots them and puts her hands on her hips. "What kinda trouble you get yourself into this time?"
She jerks her head at the bubble. "Umbridge decided to crash the party. Finally got a hold of him."
Desperado lets out a low whistle as she turns towards Umbridge in his little bubble. "Hard to imagine this guy's a member of the Triple Six when he's like this. Looks like he couldn't hurt a fly." He glares up at her briefly before going back to whatever he's thinking about.
Crusade chuckles. "Well, he's certainly a big enough asshole to be."
Dr. Wu shuffles around behind her, moving to the other side of her chair. "Almost done, last set." The nurse crouches down to clean and dress the leg he finished up.
Crusade looks at Desperado again. "Siphon is on his way to take over containment since I can't hold him forever."
Desperado makes a displeased sound. "I'm glad I texted. I don't like the idea of you bein' alone with him with the state you're in. Speaking of which, where's your armor?" Crusade points over to the pile of bloody cut up leather on the ground. "Aw, shoot. That's a shame."
Another knock at the door sounds and Jenkins comes in. "How you doing in here?" The sound of boisterous laughter floats in from the hall.
Dr. Wu climbs up off the ground with a sigh. "Just cleaning up and then we'll be out of here." He bustles around with the equipment while nurse Tori finishes attending to Crusade's other leg. With everything loaded onto the cart, they start making their way out, pushing Jenkins back out into the hall.
She gives them a small wave. "Thanks, Dr. Wu, and thanks, Tori." Nurse Tori looks back and gives her a small smile as they leave, the door open wide behind them.
Crusade gently stands, stretching out her back a little. She can tell she's going to hurt tomorrow, but for now she's ok thanks to the anesthetic. She doesn't have her leathers anymore, but she puts her powered armor back up to get at least a little coverage. "Come on in, Jenkins!"
The lieutenant comes in waving in Siphon behind him. Siphon appears in the doorway, waving to someone down the hall. "Ok, Sergeant, I'll catch you later. Remember, you owe me that chili recipe!" With a friendly smile still on his face, he joins them in the room.
The hero tinker wears a slim profile set of armor, probably his own tech, that's dark blue with silver channels along the joints. One arm has a triangular shield attached to it. There's a large device resting in his hands, what looks like some kind of gun maybe, with a tube that runs out the back and into a pack on his back. He wears a helmet with a visor that covers his face from the nose up, leaving the lower half of his face exposed. In all of the pictures she saw of him when they were researching the heroes, Siphon always has a huge grin plastered onto his face. The smile that was on his face when he walked in slowly fades as he looks around. He sighs a little, observing the two vigilantes.
Crusade nods to the hero. "Thanks for coming, Siphon. I'm Crusade, this is Desperado. We've got a situation, I'm hoping you can –"
"Siphon! I'm Assistant District Attorney Ronald Baker and this woman has unlawfully detained me! I insist you –"
She looks over to see Umbridge on his feet, hair pushed out of his face again, pointing at her. Shit, she forgot to close up the barrier again. She closes up the holes at the top, cutting off his shouting. Well, that sounded bad.
Siphon looks back over at Crusade, his lips curled into a frown. His grip on his device shifts. "Care to explain why you have a city prosecutor detained?"
"Because he's also a member of the Triple Six Syndicate. This is Umbridge. We had two of his teammates in custody already and I was here questioning them. I apprehended him trying to kill Bruja after he freed Rite and injured two police officers in the process."
Siphon's mouth opens a little and he walks towards Crusade's field. Umbridge, arms crossed in front of him, stares daggers at Siphon. His mouth moves like he's yelling something, but none of them can hear it. "I know the ADA and that seems…unlikely. Got anything other than your word?"
Jenkins nods. "Aside from the two officers that positively identified Baker as their attacker, we also have security footage from the hall and both rooms. There was some sort of device used to create a loop on our feeds, but we were able to download the actual footage from the device after the fact." He holds up a thumb drive.
The hero nods absently, inspecting Crusade's barrier. From what she knows about him, his tech absorbs and repurposes energy. She's not entirely comfortable with his intense interest in her power. "Look, I can tell you how his power works as far as I've seen it. I've got him now, but I can't hold him forever. He needs special containment."
Siphon straightens and turns towards her. "You've admitted to enacting vigilante justice. Evidence or not, you're functioning outside of the law. My orders are to arrest people like you in circumstances like this."
Fuck, she knew something like this would be coming.
Desperado scoffs. "Are you serious right now? We asked you to help figure out how to hold a terrorist that we captured, you're welcome by the way, and you wanna be all threatenin'? Unbelievable."
Siphon glances at Desperado for a moment and then back at Crusade, a small grin forming on his face. "You know, a lot of these problems could be solved by joining the Wardens, by being on the right side of things. You clearly know what you're doing and have what it takes to be a real hero."
Crusade's neck heats up and her fist clenches. Being sponsored by the government doesn't make you a hero. A hero is someone willing to make hard choices, do the right thing for the people around them. With whatever is happening at the Wardens, she would rather quit the cape life altogether than join them. But she can't tell this kid that, she needs his help. "If I were part of the Wardens then Jenkins, Captain Collins, and six other people would be dead at the hands of people like him." She jerks her head towards Umbridge. "I'm asking you, please, help us make sure he can't do something heinous ever again."
Siphon's face falls and his shoulders slump. After a moment, he puffs back up a little. "Tell me what you know."
"He's a breaker, he shifts into a two-dimensional shadow form. That's also how he attacks, through someone else's shadow. He needs shadows around to stay that way, though. So, the way I figure, he either needs to be completely surrounded by light or completely in the dark. If there are no shadows present, he can't do anything. I think that's why my power is keeping him human; it glows. And even if he did turn into a shadow, it's sealed so he wouldn't be able to go anywhere anyway."
The hero turns back to the barrier and hmmms. "Makes sense. I can definitely design a cell that would hold him. Transporting him, though, will be an issue."
"I'm not going to be able to hold him much longer if I'm being honest. Not without some serious stimulants and something to help me hold my arm up."
With a nod, he faces her again. "I can recreate the effect of your containment, but I would need to scan your power."
Crusade blinks, not really wanting to hear what Siphon is telling her. "You need to do what?"
"Scan your power. I need to have a basic understanding of how it works to be able to recreate it."
She opens and closes her mouth and groans, then turns to look at Desperado. Her teammate has been able to recreate her barriers in her bullets, but it's temporary and just makes flat walls. If they use her tech to transport him there's too big a chance, he'll just be able to escape. Giving Siphon access to information like this would mean he would forever have intimate data about her power. She's not even really sure about how it works. She makes a blue glowing forcefield, what else is there to know? He could easily use this against her if it ever came to blows between them. It's dangerous, no question. But, as Sentry reminded her, she doesn't have much of a choice right now. Either spend the rest of her life containing Umbridge, let him go, or give Siphon what he needs. Her arm is so tired, she puts her other hand under her bicep to help support it and relax her injured shoulder.
Desperado shrugs and Crusade sighs as she turns back to Siphon. "And you're sure there's no other way to do this?"
The hero shakes his head. "I'm a tinker. I need data if I'm going to be able to help. Which is what I want to do."
Dammit, this really is their only option. "Fine."
Siphon nods and turns back to her barrier. He lifts his shield to the forcefield and stands still. His head turns back over his shoulder towards her as his tech does whatever it's doing. "There's one other thing I need from you."
She huffs. "Which is?"
He huffs. "You're right, we need to get him off the street. And…if it weren't for you there would be a lot fewer good cops out on the street tonight. But if I do this, if I take him and let you walk, I'm going against my orders. Please don't make me regret it."
She nods once to him and he turns back to his work. It's only a matter of a minute before he has the data he needs and is testing out versions of her barriers on the opposite side of the room. Once he has something he's satisfied with, he comes back over to her. "I'm going to put a field around your current one. If I'm right, mine should blend with yours and take over seamlessly."
She raises an eyebrow. "And if you're wrong?"
He doesn't say anything, just keeps his eyes on Umbridge. He raises his gun and a glowing blue forcefield erupts from the end, forming around her and encasing the ADA. He glances over at Crusade and nods. After a deep breath, she lets her concentration on the containment drop along with her aching arm. Umbridge looks around and bangs his hands on the walls, trying to find a weak point, but comes up empty.
Siphon grins and pumps one fist. "Yeah! This is awesome."
Crusade feels a bit of a knot in her gut seeing her power in somebody else's hands, but she tries to shove it away. "Thanks, Siphon. You got it from here?"
The hero nods. "Yeah, I've got it. I didn't say it before but thank you for saving those officers." He glances at Jenkins. "I'm sorry…I…." He pauses, his jaw twitching a little. "I wish I could've done more."
Jenkins grumbles noncommittally. Crusade, the pain from her wounds starting to kick back in and the exhaustion finally getting to her, slumps a little. Desperado puts one arm under her shoulders and starts walking her toward the door. "C'mon, Crusade. Let's get you home."