Safe Havens

"We should no longer consider ourselves a part of the Phalanx of Paragon." -Raina as she takes off her Phalanx insignia.

The reunited rebel group returns to the safe house kept by Jasson Striker to plan out their next move. Taking down John and his minions is labeled their collective main goal. Raina also states that, given recent events, they should all disavow themselves from the lie that the Phalanx of Paragon is. In a collective move, they all remove their insignias and throw them away.

Raina explains the plan to bring down the VOPC base and shows them the ordinance that Morris gave her. Jasson mentions that his home, while a good safe house, is not equipped to support a full scale war like the one they're planning. Agreeing that he is correct and that it is unfair to ask Jasson to continue risking himself and his home for them, Raina states that they will start looking for other lodgings as soon as possible. Grim gets an idea and leaves to make a call, returning a few minutes later to say that he got in contact with an old friend who is willing to offer them a larger place to stay. He gives Raina and Mindstryker the location of where to meet her before mentioning that he's heading home for the night.

Immediately suspicious, given Grim's track record, Raina and Mind both demand to know where he's going, "No offense, Grim.. but I remember what happened the last time you ran off like this." Acknowledging their suspicion, Grim offers to be escorted and watched by Kalius. This sates their suspicion and the werecat and psychic leave to meet with his associate. Thinking that they may need to element of surprise in case things went south, Raina took the form of a housecat and rode on Mind's shoulders.

They meet Timetripper, leader of the Safe Havens group. They are shown to her base and are impressed by it. While noting that it is somewhat neglected, Mind assures Timetripper that Rusty will be able to fix things up nicely. They are given a keycard, with Mind requesting a second for 'the cat', and told where they can get more. They tell her about the enemies that are after them, thinking it unfair to stay here without making her aware of the danger. Timetripper assures them that she understands before leaving them to their own devices.

The next day finds Raina studying holding spells in the library. Grim finds her there and Raina tells him of her idea to hold John in place long enough to detonate several M15 grenades around him. In response, Grim shows her how his powers have changed, being no longer dark, but good. Raina finds their radiance to be calming, giving her a respite from the normally aggressive nature of her cat. He also mentions that he doesn't know what he can do with his abilities anymore, to which Raina responds, "Practice and find out."

Kalius shows up and after a short talk, the three get antsy for some actions and decide to hit the streets and stir up trouble. Raina finds that she's missed simply fighting the good fight and doing good in the city, having become too caught up with worrying about John and his plans. Mindstryker also arrives and the 4 become nearly unstoppable against their enemies. However, still unused to his powers, Grim left to rest for the night. Shadow and Rusty showed up not too long later and they brought in several more groups of Arachnos to justice.

The next day, Raina seeks out her comrades and finds that she arrives after they have just received a severe beating at the hands of Harris. She is not very surprised to hear them state that Harris seems to be beyond saving, "I kinda figured that out when he mangled my shoulder and leg." The group worries that Harris might be a bigger threat than John since his new armor seems to make him resistant to grenades as well as mental attacks. Then they were hit with a new problem.. zombies.

They fought off the seemingly endless hordes and eventually called a retreat when they seemed to be overpowering. Raina blames John for the zombie mess, but is mostly talking out of hurt pride in having been wounded by them. They talk about the true cause of the zombies and the need for all of them to train and get more powerful. Preliminary plans are also discussed on defeating Harris, mostly centered on enabling Grim to be able to work a spell on him.

As they talk, Raina senses something distracting Mindstryker and questions him silently. Jack responds and tells her that he visited his father today and discovered the devastating news that he has terminal lung cancer. He also tells her that he told his father about her and would like her to meet him. Raina readily agrees, but the hour has gotten to late and Jack doesn't want to wake his father with a midnight visit. They instead head to Jasson's house for a warm meal, pressed to do so by Raina's stomach and the dangers of being caught alone in the city by John or his lackeys.