New York: New York City

"Ohhh look at me I can FLLLLYYYYY...." Saho taunts, annoyed at being left behind.

"Fine! I'll just....AGILITY my way there!...oh fuck it. Hey Phanny, give me a phone. I'll have my jet pick us up." So I guess you won't be in-jet?

"Yeah. I didn't tell you narrator? I'm rich. Loaded." How?!?!

"Well, I work in the very profitable business of blackmail and extortion. What else do you think I'd be doing with information gathering skills THIS good?" But....your backstory says you're bad with money!

"Yeah, I am. I never spend it." ...oh...well, fine. I didn't know you were rich. You should at least wear nicer clothes.

"Whatever, my jet will be coming to pick me up in 10 mins at..um...some generic airport. Moment of truth, Phanny, wanna come?"

The Phantom doesn't say anything. He doesn't want to be involved with this at all. He just wanted to make some super hero friends and maybe feel welcome, you know, someone to have your back for you. No stupid complications of fucked up pasts to chase.

What was he thinking? He wasn't cut out for this! The Phantom didn't even have super powers goddammit! No flying, no mind reading, no nothing. Why did he even choose to become a super hero? He was obviously going to get himself killed!

He stayed silent as all thing ran through his mind, face staying completely sober. "No." he replied simply.

"I'm not coming. I... need time to think about this."

"Tch. Suit yourself. You know Phanny. I can read you like a book. Your face says it all. I don't have powers either. I'm terrified of what this guy could do to me....but you know what? I'm mad as hell. I HATE people who make other people their victims. I hate it so much. I became a detective to stop that. And you know what I've learned? Supers are nothing. They're all trash. This." Saho points to the top of his head, and smiles.

"Is all the weapon you ever need. Right up here. Now, if you excuse me. I've got a plane to catch." Wow, that was cliche. Anyways, with some impressive flips and wall-bouncing, Saho scales the elevator shaft (why does no one just TAKE it?) and departs...

The Phantom just stood by himself for a moment; just him and his thoughts. That weirdo was right, in a way. He wondered what he must have been like before he became crazy.

He suddenly dawned a more determined expression, balling his fists. "I have shit to do."

He ran down one of the many corridors in the maze below his opera house, heading off towards a store room. To defeat this guy he was going to need some better equipment.

With no one answering the door, Luke decides to just kick it down. Pulling out his pistol and digging his left heel into the ground, he brings his right down hard on the door. It swings open with a crack. He may not have a warrant, but probably cause was enough for now.

"Hello?" Luke yells out cautiously, gun drawn. "Is anyone down here?"

After a quick clearing of the building, Luke sees that it's secure and empty. There seemed to be a fight here; did the two robbers turn on each other? Luke turns to find a sketchy looking elevator.

'Might as well follow this through to the end. Things are getting more and more curious.'

Luke gets into the elevator and descends downwards, pistol at the ready.

The Phantom rummaged through his things. He grabbed an ear piece for himself plus several others, two small knives (he disliked using weapons, hand to hand combat was preferred, but just in case), and a cord. The cord was long and extremely durable. The Phantom quickly fashioned it into a noose.

Then he heard the elevator. None of the others had taken it, and they wouldn't if they didn't need to. Who had invaded his lair?

With haste, he slams the chest shut and takes a short cut to the elevator room. He arrives just as the elevator comes to a stop at the bottom. The Phantom is hidden in the shadows, knuckles white and gripping the tight noose in his hand.

The elevator shuddered to a halt, and Luke walked through the opening doors, pistol drawn. A labyrinth of catacombs and tunnels situated under the theater. 'Curiouser and curiouser.'

Luke knew he couldn't search this place by himself; he needed to call the police force. He checked the commlink on his wrist. No signal in the tunnels. He would need to go back upstairs to place a call.

As Luke turned to get back into the elevator, a loud thudding noise reverberated throughout the catacombs. Luke instinctively swiveled, took a knee, and readied his weapon in one swift movement. The noise sounded close.

"Anyone there?" Luke barked, "Come out with your hands on top of your head!"

The Phantom stood in plain sight, in a blind spot beside the elevator shaft behind the shadows. The police officer from before had followed him. He couldn't allow him to call for backup, this place had been under the radar from the force for years. If anyone got wind of it The Phantom wouldn't have a place to call home.

"It seems I have a guest." he hummed in tune. "Sir, this is indeed an unparalleled delight. I had rather hoped that you would come."

The Phantom stepped closer and closer to the cop. "And now my wish comes true - you have truly made my night!"

Then he stopped. In a normal tone he said "What do you want?"

Luke turned to face... the young boy dressed as the Phantom of the Opera who was quoting Andrew Lloyd Webber? He lowered his weapon. 'Why do all the crazies find me?'

"Two supers robbed a blood bank and flew here to hide. I'm just investigating, and I'd like to ask you some questions. Who are you and what are you doing here? What is this place? What happened upstairs? And did you see those two who were hiding in here?"

"Who robs a blood bank?" The Phantom asked, appalled. He needed to get this guy out of here fast. Maybe play with his moral core? Play the good guy (what the heck, he WAS the good guy!). Easy.

Telling the truth was an option.

An option he would use in only the most dire situation. "I live here. I am The Phantom of the Opera, so to speak. I wouldn't name myself a 'super' since I have no powers, but I am what they call a vigilante.

"This is my home, and you are trespassing. After I give you your information you will leave. The people you want are no longer here. One is a vampire and needs the blood. I know for a fact that they only had the best intentions and didn't hurt anyone. They are acquaintances of mine and I shall tell them of your warning."

The Phantom clenched the noose in his hands. "What happened in here is no business of yours. You have the information you want, so leave. I ask of you to not tell anyone of this place, for it is the only home I have and I would not appreciate... visitors."

A vampire stealing from a blood-bank made sense. And if she was a vampire, then it was better than killing folk. Ugh, what to do? This was like stealing bread to feed a starving family, provided it was true. Who knows, they might have stolen the blood for some crazy blood-demon-ritual. Wouldn't be the first time.

This phantom seemed to be telling the truth about the whole thing, but he was definitely hiding something. And he had already lied to and subtly threatened Luke, not to mention he was a vigilante working outside of the law. These were all things that Luke didn't appreciate at all.

"I am an authorized law-enforcer, with probable cause to search and be on the premises. It's not trespassing. Furthermore, if illegal activities are happening, then it's my business to investigate. Look, I understand that this is your home, and that you feel threatened by my presence. But I also know you're not telling me the whole truth. What's going on here? Where did your friends go?"

"Where they went is none of your business either, and would do you no good in knowing. It is nothing illegal so you have no reason to get your panties in a bunch." The Phantom replied less than kindly.

"The only thing going on here at the moment is us talking, officer. I can assure you that I have the highest regards to you and your cohorts and this place may serve to you in a situation of dire need. I will let you stay here if ever need be, but only in emergencies. There is nothing bad going on here, really. The place always looks like a hurricane blew through.

"And, if I may care to add; if you came here to search should you not have a warrant?" he added like the smart ass he was. The Phantom wasn't dumb, but he wasn't going to spill everything for a cop. He had secrets to keep for his own reasons.

"Gwen, are you sure the information you've gathered is solid? I'm having a hard time believing the Licht are hiding out in the downtrodden burroughs of New York City."

"What did I say about having a little faith in people sometimes, Issac? From what I've gathered the remnants of the Stern der Licht have packed up and moved shop over here to the United States. There are several cities they had operatives in, but New York seems to be the most likely choice for them to restore their ranks. Look, this could be our best shot at getting rid of these assholes for good, so just keep looking for now while I try and point you in the right direction."

"Buh, alright. Issac out."

Your name is Issac Damrosch, and you're very far from home.

After nearly a decade of searching, fighting, and weeding out the entirety of the secret organization known as the Stern der Licht, you thought you had finally succeeded in finding the man who had both stolen your birthright and had destroyed nearly everything you loved.

Unfortunately, you were horribly mistaken. After narrowly avoiding death at the hands of a rather obvious trap, you and your sister Gwendalyn have traveled all the way from Germany to catch the few sick bastards that managed to escape your grasp.

Your sole mission in life for the past ten years has been to mercilessly hunt and kill every last fucking one of the putrid festering anuses that slaughtered and branded your entire family, and you're finally close to reaching that goal.

And it feels good.

Continuing your search, you look through many of the more underpopulated zones of the city, figuring that a criminal organization attempting to reconstruct itself would probably try to stay away from the public eye.

Suddenly you hear some commotion coming from a nearby alley. You quickly charge down the alleyway, hoping that the sound is from Licht activity. Of course this is incredibly unlikely being that there's about four billion cases of commotion happening every second in this town, but you figure that while you're in the area you might as well check it out.

At it's end you find a mildly dilapidated theatre, with one of it's front doors kicked in.

Well, they did always have a flair for the dramatic - it figures they might make their base of operations a run-down theatre.

Either way you walk inside, baton at the ready.

This kid was really grating on Luke's nerves. Rudeness was another thing Luke didn't take kindly too.

"First of all, stealing is illegal, so obviously illegal things are going on. Hiding burglars in here is also illegal. And while I would let you and your friends go if I knew your intentions were good, you've been lying to me so I can't be sure. Second of all, I don't need a warrant if I have probable cause in an exigent circumstance. Like, say, if I saw two robbers run into this building and I had to act to make sure that they didn't escape. And third of all, an exigent circumstance doesn't even require me to knock-and-announce, but I did anyway because I had guessed that your friends weren't violent. When no one answered the door, I had no choice but to enter forcibly."

Luke was fairly agitated by this whole ordeal. He didn't understand how kids thought that they could out-do a police officer when it came to laws. Especially a by-the-book officer like Luke. Well, former officer, but the same rules applied to registered supers. (He would really have to come up with a better name for that. Luke wasn't really a superhero. Registered hero, maybe?)

"Look, just come clean and tell me what's going on. Then I'll leave you alone, alright?"

"I already told you! I have not lied this entire time!" The Phantom barks.

"Get out of my home already!" he paused and sighed. Pinching the bridge of his nose, after a moment the hero continued. "I'm not hiding anyone, okay? I literally just met these weirdos today and I don't have the energy for dealing with any more people. I've lived in here alone for years and now suddenly I have had to deal with dark past bullshit and dual personality nutcases and I thought I was safe from any more until you came in and I really don't want to socialize.

"Being a good host is not one of my set skills. I'm going to be blunt: I want you out. Right now. Before I do something I will regret. The mess upstairs is from the vampire's long lost whoever breaking in and messing the place the fuck up with his spazzing. I don't know why you would think I'm hoarding any thieves, because I cannot take the stress of handling some crooks in my home."

This kid was obviously not going to be that helpful, but pushing him this far showed that he was at least telling the truth. Luke usually disliked doing that, but this kid was kind of a brat.

"I apologize for any inconvenience. I assume that if I need to contact you in the future, you'll be here? If you or your friends want to contact me, just call the NYPD and ask for Luke Ramirez. They should patch you through to me."

Luke walked into the elevator and pulled the switch to go up. He felt a little guilty about browbeating.

"I'm just trying to do my job. You know, uphold the law and protect innocents. I hope you understand that."

The doors closed and the elevator began to rise.

You continue to explore the abandoned theatre, eventually coming to the auditorium itself. Within you don't find much - row upon row of moth-eaten upholstered seating, a decaying coat check kiosk, and a cobweb-addled stage.

Of course, while taking in your surroundings you fail to notice the blatantly obvious pool of blood in the aisle, which leads to you taking a particularly comical spill. Well, at least no one was around to see it.

Though the seemingly random pool of fresh blood is odd - not necessarily indicative of Licht activity, but something shady is going on here no doubt. And when there's shady, there's criminals.

Perhaps if you find them, you can figure out if the Licht have been recruiting in the criminal circuits around here.

While you're further inspecting the area for places they may have run off to, you hear very faint shouting. Following the noise, you eventually find your way to a small side hallway behind the stage - a rickety freight elevator stands at the end of it.

Your comm systems may be good, but underground they're about as useful as a car GPS - you activate your bow tie communicator to inform your partner of your location, just in case you need some backup.

"Gwen? I think I might have a lead here."

"Did you find them?"

"I don't think so, it seems too simple to be them. I would've run into some kind of trap by now. No, this is some petty criminal activity. Though, I figure I could do a bit of investigating - figure out if the Licht are snatching up new recruits from the local criminal element."

"Are you going to need backup?"

"Probably not, but I'm heading into some kind of basement or underground chamber, so I won't have any reception down there. Just be ready to come find me if I don't call in an hour."

"Got it. Gwen out."

You carefully walk down the concrete corridor, being cautious to not make too much noise as you make your way to the elevator shaft.

Damn, the elevator's already down there. Well, so much for doing this the stealth way. Not that it would be exactly quiet riding down on a rusty old elevator anyway but whatever.

You nearly hit the elevator's call button when you hear it lurch to life, grinding it's way up the shaft. Good, maybe you can pull something sneaky after all. You quickly hide behind a nearby stack of wooden pallets.

The Phantom smacked his forehead once the elevator had risen. God. Damn. Good job, Phantom, way to make a cop friend. They might just come back now. The good news was that he was gone. No more people and no more socializing. The sun was probably almost up and he hadn't slept at all. Not that he was tired.

Yet something felt... wrong. The cop wasn't out of the building yet, but it was something else. The Phantom had a sickening feeling that this place was going to be a hub of activity in the next few hours.

He should have never tried to make super hero friends.

The doors of the rickety elevator opened and Luke stepped out to the ground floor. He was tired, and it was almost morning, so he was ready to get to bed.

Luke stopped, noticing the puddle of blood. Shoe-print. Smears. Those weren't there when he came inside. Luke pulled out his pistol and readied it.

"I know you're in here. Come out with your hands on your head."

Shit.

Just your luck it'd be a cop. Though... you might be able to play this to your advantage.

You step out from behind your admittedly weak hiding spot, though you don't raise your hands - that would leave you woefully undefended. Despite the fact that your outfit is resistant to small arms fire, that doesn't mean that it won't tear the outer fabric. You very much like your suit, and don't intend to get a rip in it today.

"Alright, alright, you got me. Now how's about we put away the pea shooter and have a little talk?"

The Phantom locked the cage of the elevator entrance. No one else was going to come down there without his permission goddammit. He raced towards a seemingly solid wall and smacked a faint red stain. A door appeared from no where and closed behind the Phantom once he ran through it. Past the hidden door was a spiral staircase leading upwards to the stage of the opera house. Though it would take a great deal to make him tired, he paced himself.

Whatever was up there could wait one minute. Plus, The Phantom didn't want to startle whoever was up there. That cop had a gun and surprising people with guns was never a good idea.

"No more slumber parties ever." he mumbled to himself.

Sugar Shock rolls over and lands on the floor in a heap of blankets. The thrill of flying, an awesome bedtime story, and pent up sugary energy from sleeping has her feeling like rampaging.
But wait...This is Zealot's apartment. She can't ruin it! He was almost not her friend anymore after what she had done to the couch!

She paces and frets for a little before deciding the best way to burn energy is to explore the city (while trying to be good of course). Sugar sticks gum in the door to make sure nobody breaks into Zealot's apartment and sets off for adventure! That museum with the big dinosaur skeleton that she'd seen on TV seemed a good place to start. Or perhaps Broadway! Or Central Park!

Luke sized up the newcomer. A musical conductor? 'More Crazies.' He lowered his USP, but kept it ready. Luke really didn't want to go through with this twice in a night.

"Alright, who are you and why are you here? Are you with that Phantom kid? Did you steal that blood?"

Well, lowering the gun is better than nothing you guess. What is it with these gun-toting types? Always so itchy to pull them on you.

Though, you suppose when you think about it considering you're a man dressed in a bulletproof tuxedo holding a glowing white stick, you'd probably want to keep something handy. But you digress.

"Ah, that's more like it. Things are so much more civilized when guns aren't involved. As for who I am, I'm the Conductor. I don't know a thing about any poltergeists or blood theft, however I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you."

You begin to pace around the officer, as you often do when you talk - a nervous habit, really. You ought to work on that, but again you digress.

"In return, how's about you answer me a few questions? You see I've traveled a very long way officer, and I'm trying to find a particularly brutal crime syndicate that's possibly attempting to rebuild here in your city."

You halt, spinning on your heel to face the policeman. You can be quite the dramatic at times.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the Stern der Licht?"

This Conductor sure had a dramatic streak. He'd get along with Phantom wonderfully.

"Stern der Licht? No, I've never heard of that before." Luke felt quite out of place. He hated not having information on his surroundings. In Sustan he constantly had his finger to the pulse of the city. But here in New York, he was clueless. 'I'll have to ask Mark about this. Probably have to ask him for a full rundown on NYC.'

"But I am intrigued. What can you tell me about them? I'll help if I can. I've dealt with... similar situations in the past."