They were going to hold a memorial in Texas, at the site of the shelter, of course they were. There were going to hold a large gathering where a veritable who's who of dignitaries would be in attendance, not to mention leaders and respected veteran members of mutant communities from around the world and across the states. They could have hardly done more to paint a big bulls eye over the event. Yes security would be tight, Hades could almost roll his eyes. He had lost count over the years of the number of times that had been pronounced over and event only for it to go south. Hades was going to be there as he had a duty to perform. A promise to honor, and Hades took promises very seriously. His friend the immortal, well... ex-immortal, Racquel was a senior member at the shelter and was on duty when the blast occurred. Hades was there to attend the funeral of one of his longer lasting acquaintances, after all knowing someone for four hundred plus years counted as one of the longest.

Ever since the first attack, more resources had been diverted to monitoring chatter about anti-mutant attacks in general, and Ragnarok was no exception. Not only was there a possibility of his employer being there in person, but there were also requests for protection to some of the attendees, very profitable requests. More than he could guarantee on his own. So Hades called in help. He put out feelers through various networks, looking for skilled operatives, mutants or humans with previous combat experience. In mutants he wanted ones that would not freak out if their powers suddenly were nullified. There were too many well funded attacks that attached one or two adapted into the unit. It was apparently very profitable to be an adapted in this day and age. He had sent a brief message to Aura, among others, to that effect.

A block away, a farmland owner was paid handsomely to host a gun and weapons show on the very same day of the memorial. Among the exhibits were artillery pieces from different periods in history. 

Summery:
Security will be heavy for the memorial, as it is a tempting target. VIPs are hiring extra security for protection. It will pay extremely well (name a price).

Things were starting to get ugly and beginning to look a lot like the riots only a year or so back. All ready their had been the bombing and deaths on both pre and anti-mutant sides. The robots the police were using were seeming to target mutants more and more erroneously. This could all very well get a lot worse in the next few days, weeks or longer.

Aura smiled, nothing was more exciting to her mind then the prospect of an all out war. Perhaps then she would earn her right to die. Aura knew their was no place for the likes of her in the paradise of an all mutant world. No those like her could only hope to fall in glorious combat serving their people. Her power was designed for combat and because of it Aura had gained a lot of experience since her powers has emerged at 13. Since then Aura had fought and trained with her power honing it untill it was like another limb.

Aura watched the area. It had been some time since she did actual guard work but it was well paying and she could protect some prominent mutant leaders. It was hard not to impale a human who brushed against her but glancing to make sure the woman was on the security team. Orders saved the woman, Aura despised being touched by humans. Normally she would have kept her aura up but when you had an extremely high body count and your power revealed who you were to anyone who even glanced at the news, it was best to keep hidden until something happened. Dressed in a black pants suit with black glasses and her eaist length hair in a tight braid as well as some careful make up and Aura was pretty confident in her ability.

Raziel scanned the area, scanning through the spectrum of energy for anything suspicious. He was a little put out that they had moved him to Texas so soon after arriving in New York, but this was the exact thing they wanted him here to look into. Increased mutant activity and the chaos surrounding it. The attacks had all the sign of behind the scene manipulation. He should know, after all he was working with people who by definition tried working behind the scenes. The real question was who was stirring up trouble. The memorial practically screamed to have a target on it, so he was taking the precaution of checking the area over for tampering. Last thing they needed was a bunch of IED's buried under the feet of the gatherers.

He kept an eye out for any Meta, keeping out of range of their scanners while he was checking things over. He needed to keep a low profile until thing heated up. His pistols were concealed beneath his clothes, his clips filled with rubber bullets. Not exactly his first choice, but they wanted him to use non-lethal methods if he was forced into a fight. He wasn't completely in agreement with some mutants who could shrug off a anti-tank round, but that couldn't be helped. If a riot broke out between mutants and humans, he needed something that wouldn't kill someone who got caught in the crossfire.

Hades was in charge of security. He had Green 1 keeping an eye out on the gun and weapons show a block away. Green 2 was sweeping the parameter. Teams Blue, Black, Yellow & Red were running spiral patrols in the North, South East and West quadrants respectively. Hades was in the Command Post. Technically speaking there were three levels of security. The first were the state troopers that were the outer layer. Then there were the hired guns. The teams that were under Hades command. Finally, the innermost layer were the personal bodyguards that each of the VIPs brought. While the ceremony was there to commemorate the lost, nobody had any illusions that this memorial would make a nice fat target. While three layers of security was good, and some might call it overkill, the three layers were somewhat…. Uncoordinated at times, which concerned Hades. He dismissed these thoughts with a mental shake of the head and focused on what was happening. Panning over the scene with binoculars.

The ceremony was proceeding smoothly. Dignitary after dignitary were making speeches, some remembered the dead fondly, others called for further unity…. The list went on. There was music, an orchestra, representatives of different Mutant communities came to lay wreaths. It was time for a sitrep.

“All teams call in.”

“Green 1 to Command, all clear. Be warned exhibition will fire blanks in 10 mikes.”

“Green 2, all clear”

And so it went. Ten minutes later there was a faint series of booms that drifted faintly over the memorial service. Hades had warned them ahead of time so although the bodyguards tensed up a little the service went on. 

“Green 1 to Command, show is wrapping up. Will observe then swing around to support Green 2 in perimeter sweep. Green 2 acknowledge.”

Nothing.

“Green 2 come in.”

“############## is Gre########, ######mma Alert, I repeat Ga#### Al####, Morta### Incom####. South by Sou## East.”

The feed went dead. Hades checked the time stamp, verifying that Green 2 should be in the South East quadrant then switched to the command override channel. In a calm, clear concise voice he stated:

“All teams this is command, Code 3, I repeat this is a code 3, South by South East. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill.”

Code 3 was short for incoming attack from the above, and since there was not a chopper in the sky, it would likely be mortar or artillery fire. Across the service, pandemonium reigned. Then the mortar rounds hit.

Aura heard the mortar and a chill ran through her skin and she felt herself shiver involuntarily. That sound triggered all kinds of horrific memories for Aura, of years before she had come to realize the truths of the world. SHe heard other mortars go off as well and quietly made her way through the crowd. Her Aura was up under her clothing but she was trying to hide it for now as much as she could. She was well known and a look at her power might further the chaos.

Then the shooting started and Aura smiled like a fan girl seeing a boyband. Aura moved ignoring the loud screaming that was drowning out most of the guards verbal ques. Aura emerged from the crowd and charged one of the assailants. She felt several bullets strike and deflect off of her aura and few catch her head on, it meant nothing. Aura's jab hit the man in the stomach, looking up with gleeful smile, Aura mad ea dagger at her knuckle and made it grow until she impaled the man she punched.

She took a few steps back to consider the situation but kept the impaled man like a shield even cutting his head from his shoulders with her other hand and anewly formed axe.

The display was brutal and bloody but it had a purpose. Intimidation, if these men were poorly trained of if their willpower was low they would break and flee not wanting to end up like their friend. She felt a few bullets strike her through her flesh shield and taking the side arm the mqn had in his holster unloaded the clip at the two other shooters she could see.

They were not backing down though and Aura saw a new group of people approaching. She aimed the gun and heard only the click click of an empty gun, dropping the useless weapon. "Hey Boss, these guy's are no slouches" she said even as another bullet struck her and she tossed away the corpse shield.

Nooooo.

No way.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kirsi muttered, and the one other person present on the roof - who didn't happen to speak Norwegian - gave her a strange look.

Kirsi looked up from her scope, staring in disbelief down at the crowd below. She was perched on top of one of the roofs neighboring the memorial, just watching for now. Her presence there was for two reasons - one, Ragnarok had wanted her to be there to monitor and report back on the involved parties, and they'd pay her for that service. Two, Martin Reyes wanted her to be there to protect him, and he'd pay her for that service. She knew who he was - in fact, they'd done business in the past. Reyes was a high-up there mutant in the some world or another, and she wasn't sure exactly what he did, but she didn't care. Whenever the man needed a security detail, Kirsi was one of the first people that he called, and this time was no different.

Right now, she was being shielded by another mutant contractor named Salazar, codename Distort. Salazar had some sort of light manipulation power that he was using to make them invisible, which was why they weren't being shot immediately - a girl with a scope and a massive, heavily-armed guy tended to draw attention otherwise. But now he was staring at her as she stared with rising irritation at the crowd below, and he seemed very confused at Kirsi's sudden displeasure at the situation.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. Dammit, she didn't want to bother him - Salazar was really an amazingly nice guy, for a contractor, and this was her problem, not his. He'd been on the private plane Reyes had sent to pick Kirsi up, having been picked up first, and they'd talked on the way here. Although they'd never met before, she'd learned quite a bit about him on the flight, including the fact that he had a nephew who'd been injured in the bombing. She'd also learned that Salazar was never hired as private security, as he generally acted as a courier for the biggest names out there to ferry data that was too sensitive to send digitally or by post. (She suspected Reyes had hired Salazar as a favor, so Salazar could be in Odessa to visit his nephew and not risk losing pay, and that shed a whole new light on her present employer that she'd never even thought of before.) Salazar's inexperience meant he was also twitchy, and Kirsi's reaction wasn't helping.

"Sorry," Kirsi said, quickly. "It's not a security risk. It's just someone I know." He didn't look convinced, but he nodded anyway.

Kirsi looked back down at the crowd, debating. She knew who Hades was, now, having checked with her own connections after the party. So there was a chance that he was here not to protect. She wasn't going to take that chance.

"Hey, Salazar," she said. He looked over at her. "I'm heading down. Keep me invisible until I'm off the roof. You stay up here and watch - if you see anything remotely suspicious, contact me or Deflect." She tapped the comm in her ear to emphasize her point, and he nodded in response. He'd be fine - as far as she could tell, there were no threats actively targeting Reyes, and that was good enough for her.

It was relatively easy to slip off the roof and into the crowd, considering how many people there were. Kirsi's height also meant that she stayed completely, entirely, fully concealed no matter where she walked, with the downside being that it was also very easy for her to be trampled. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen, but she was extra wary just in case. The ceremonies were just wrapping up, and as she dodged and weaved her way towards Hades, a voice crackled to life in her ear.

"Distort to team," she heard Salazar say, almost in a panic. "Code 3. I repeat, Code 3." At the same time, she heard Hades mutter the same thing. She glanced up at the sky, and came to the same conclusion Hades did - no chopper meant mortar or artillery.

As team leader - Reyes had hired private security and they weren't in communication with any other security present - she was expected to give orders to keep Reyes safe. So that took priority over figuring out what Hades was doing here - come to think of it, last time they'd run into each other, disaster had struck as well.

She was going to confront him about this later.

"Distort, find the gunner," she snapped. Technically incorrect terminology, but he got what she meant - find whoever was going to fire, and stop them before they could do anything worse. "Deflect, get Paragon out." Reyes had picked his codename. She thought Paragon was a bit arrogant, but oh well.

She heard them make affirmative noises, then she turned her attention back to Hades. Deflect would get Reyes out, no problem, so she was going to help stop the attack no matter what. For once, it wasn't because she was paid, but because she felt obligated to.

Hades was still far away, so Kirsi started to make her way towards him. But suddenly, she heard something whistling above her head.

Her movement was entirely instinctive. The mortar shell froze midair, and while it still detonated, the effect was severely weakened, though it sounded for all intents and purposes as if it'd hit normally. Any shrapnel from the explosion was easily caught, until there was a vibrating mass of metal hovering a few feet above the crowd. The fire she couldn't do as much about, so she just ducked and hoped a plume of flame didn't hit her. She waited until the people below had fled before letting the shattered remains of the shell drop harmlessly to the ground, feeling the extra energy thrumming through her flesh as she did so. She was glowing a little bit now, her skin faintly iridescent, but everyone was too busy running to care.

Only then did she make her way over to Hades, suddenly appearing out of nowhere behind him. "Funny how last time we met, everything went downhill pretty fast too," she said. She already hadn't liked the man at all. After this? She liked him even less.