Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

[Comrade Tortoise]

As Legion finished his story, Mike laughed, shaking his head. "Sounds likes fun times." He said.

As they reached the floor, Mike separated from the group, running over to his car and popping the trunk. He grabbed a bullet proof vest and slammed the trunk closed, sprinting back to the van.

"So, who's got shotgun?" He asked, looking around at the group as they started loading into the van.

"Under normal circumstances I would, but will be in the cargo compartment. The shell makes sitting in chairs somewhat difficult. "

With this he opened up the double doors at the back of the van and hopped into the open-to-passenger compartment trunk.

[Charon]

Inferno almost didn't seem to notice Heidi as she walked to Mark's motorcycle, at least not to any casual observer. He looked to Mike. "Whoever's got the directions and the easiest contact to NeXT. I know these cars are supposed to clear the roads for us, but I want him to make doubly certain, and to veer traffic away from the fight as best he can by manipulating the lights." In the heat of the moment, the meta was referring to the AI program as though it were more than just a computer program.

[LadyTevar]

With a wicked grin, Heidi threw her leg across the back of the bike and fastened the helmet over her short bouncy curls. She started to scoot up close to Mark25, putting her arms around him, and then realized just how uncomfortably metallic he was.

"Well... crap. There goes the idea of snuggling close to you," Heidi muttered, just loud enough for Mark25 to hear her over the engine. Still she leaned close. "Show me what this thing's got, big boy."

[Agent Fisher]

Shifting his bag, he nodded at the turtle then looked over at Inferno.

Mike nodded. "Ok then." He said, opening the door and sitting himself down in the shotgun spot. He dug into his bag, pulling out a portable GPS, and typed in the name of the bank, the GPS displaying the quickest route. "Got the route, but as for comms with NeXT, I think we're going to have to wait for him to contact us, I didn't get a phone number from Heidi to contact him with."

[SirNitram]

"That's because I go to the phone." NeXT murmured through the earpieces. "My attention is elsewhere, but I will guide you as best I can.."

Manipulating lights was easier than some tasks. They began to shift erratically, but by the time Omega got there, the road would be clear.

[Jason_Firewalker]

Opening a window out of the confrence room Starfighter took off out the window and soared towards the bank. Manuvering through the large city at a breakneck speed Starfighter was veering in on the bank. Activating his sensor masking Starfighter zipped down towards the fracas and aimed a hand at the metahuman assaulting the mech. "Metahumans, cease in the name of the Ultima organization or be detained!"

[Hotfoot]

"Will do." Mark 25 peeled out of the motor pool with a surprising amount of speed. As NeXT started transmitting, Mark gunned the engine even more, his own programming clearing a path to the scene. Dodging between traffic, the cybernetic agent used his machine-like precision to maneuver like a professional. He would make it to the scene through his own devices, not NeXT's, even if that meant taking a slightly different route and diving through traffic at high speeds.

Deep down, he enjoyed the thrill, and for a moment, he allowed himself the image of riding down the road at breakneck speed with a beautiful woman clutching tightly to him to stay on to play in his head. Phantom feelings caused by no longer existing parts of himself, and gone as quickly as it had come.

[General Havoc]

Something was approaching. Something very very fast. Either an aircraft or a metahuman, and no known aircraft on file matched the maneuvering capabilities being displayed here. An instant after XC-001 Alpha realized this, its sensors went blank as whatever it was vanished without a trace. An extrapolation projected that whatever it was would arrive in 2.3 seconds.

XC-001 spotted it visually in 2.1.

A metahuman, it was certain of that, and approaching at a sub-mach rate. He watched, tracking it visually as the meta seemed to be invisible to radar and other sensor systems. It winged over and dove, streaking towards the metahuman bankrobbers. No visible means of identification were detectable, save for a T-shirt that could not be read given the speed. Alpha made the most logical deduction it could. An unidentified Metahuman had spontaneously appeared and was diving into the fray. It was likely a re-enforcement for the bank robbers.

As the meta winged over, XC-001 Alpha raised its weapons and fired.

Two blasts from the Adhesive cannons were followed by a shot from the retracted and reloaded taser, not usually weapons used against airborne foes, but there was not yet call for lethal force, and they would do. The adhesive sludgeballs blossomed as they flew into enormous globs of sticky paste. Either one would knock this new Metahuman out of the air like a fly, to say nothing of the taser. Internally, the robot calculated that the most likely situation was that this meta was backup for the robbers. A secondary option was that this was a vigilante, who, judging from his speed, intended to assault the now-disabled robbers with what was likely lethal velocity (speed x estimated mass). The chances that this metahuman was a member of some law enforcement agency were considered negligeable, given its method of entering the fray, disregard for rules of engagement, and lack of identification.

The robot did not hear the metahuman shouting until the shots were already away. It would not have aborted the shots even if it had. Merely shouting "police" did not make one so.

[rhoenix]

An oddly familiar, though muffled song played suddenly, and Agent Templar pulled the phone from his pocket, finishing up his coffee as he did so. "Templar."

"Well, howdy there, Agent Templar. I just got ahold of your report, and I had a few...comments before I fully consider your transfer all neat and tidy."

Oh shit, he thought. "Yes sir?"

"The car, Agent Templar. I couldn't help but note ANOTHER car on the requisition list."

...Shit. "Yes, sir. The bank robber calling himself..."

"The Mad Bombardier, yes, I know," he said, sighing. "That's the fifth car, Agent Templar. The fifth goddamn one this year alone. When we told you that we'd have to be tightening our belts a little, did that ever enter your thick skull? Bah, nevermind. Congratulations on your new assignment, your going-away present's in the garage. Try not to blow it up in under a week, that's all I ask. *click*"

Putting the phone away, Agent Templar saw that the others had already left while he'd been...having a conversation with his now-former boss. Shrugging, he walked to the elevator, and went to the ground floor. Walking down the stairs one more level to the parking garage, in the same space where he'd parked the car before the rear end had been blown up sat now a somewhat modified-looking Harley cruiser motorcycle, in chrome, blue, and grey.

Smiling, he grabbed the helmet, and put it on before hopping lightly onto the motorcycle and starting it up, listening to the purring of the engine. He couldn't help but smile.

He adjusted the wireless earpiece for his cell phone / comm, and then revved the engine of the powerful cruiser out of the parking garage, and straight toward the bank where the Onmicorp mech was...stopping a robbery. This should be...fun.

[Jason_Firewalker]

As the mech turned towards Starfighter to fire he quickly zigged out of the way of the expected adhesive balls but was not expecting the taser. The taser laneded home right in the middle of Starfighter's chest and engaged. Shocking the flying metahuman with suprising strength the taser knocked Starfighter to the ground twenty feet below. 'That was unexpected' thought the metahuman to himself as he began to loose conciousness.

[LadyTevar]

Deep down, he enjoyed the thrill, and for a moment, he allowed himself the image of riding down the road at breakneck speed with a beautiful woman clutching tightly to him to stay on to play in his head. Phantom feelings caused by no longer existing parts of himself, and gone as quickly as it had come.

The beautiful woman had her head on his shoulder and was laughing as Mark25 took the streets with speed and skill, obviously enjoying the ride.



Jerri, on the other hand, had sunk into the half-awake state of dormancy, where her thoughts could flow faster without Heidi's commentary, as fast as the speed of thought.

Things that had been said during the meeting came back to her; the Robot was acting as a Peacekeeper, stopping bank robberies, careful not to cause damage to civilians. Such a programming probably had a purpose once, maybe OmniCorp had been turning its military over into police units, with the idea of expanding....

Federal Agents had jurisdiction over local Police. IF this machine -was- programmed for police work, it should stop and listen if a Federal Agent said to stand down. It may even come along quietly for debriefing, as that was also something Feds and Police shared, wasn't it? Heidi, I have an idea...



Halfway to the bank, Heidi's hands tightened on Mark25 as she opened comms to the rest of OmegaTeam. "Jerri's got an idea that might stop this without a fight. IF this machine is a police unit, it will bow to the Feds. We're the Feds, so we just go in easy and ID ourselves as such, then ask the Machine to Power Down so it can be brought in for Debriefing."

Heidi, you're making it sound too simple! They'll never go for it!

Only Mark25 heard the reply. "Jerri, it is too simple, and it -won't- work. But let's see if they wanna give it a try. If not, we beat it down and take in the scraps."

[Charon]

Inferno waited for everybody to get in and then gunned the engine, practically screeching out of the vehicle bay. A van is not a maneuverable vehicle, no matter what you try to do, so it was good that he had asked the roads be cleared. It allowed him to put on as much speed as he needed to without needing to worry about going around a mess of cars. As such, it didn't take him much longer than Mark to get to the scene, though the rest of the team was absolutely positive that the way they had taken a few of those turns had them on two wheels for a few seconds, and a near collision with one car that had decided to take advantage of the clear roads had spooked them as well.

Inferno responded to Gemini's request as he released the gas and stepped on the break just enough to lose the speed necessary to not flip the van over as he took another breakneck turn, the heavy turtle in the back made it harder for him to flip over with all the extra weight, but since he was in the back turns were being a small problem as well. "I don't think that'd work Gemini, but I wouldn't be against trying a peaceful solution first. After all, what's the worst it can do, shoot me?" Inferno grinned. The meta looked in his rearview mirror to Legion then. "So what is it you can do Legion? We never got a chance to hear before the mission started."

[Dark Silver]

The van speed along the streets, even as the team found the way clear.

Having a rogue Computer AI on the team handling travel was a good idea, he decided.

"From what I've gathered, the Omni-Corp unit may well do so. If they properly ID themselves, and make no overt hostile moves which would cause it's "Friend or Foe" recog program from misidentifying them."

And when Inferno finally got around to asking his power, "I have the power of eternal youth and the gift of gab. Would you believe I'm actually 54 years old?" He was half joking, but the truth was.....it was one of his abilities to look younger than he was....


"I can project force fields, their limited in scope, but powerful enough to act as impromptu cover or let me bring these to bear," and with that, he opened his suit coat, to reveal the specially modified M1911A1's strapped to a bandoleer on his left side.

"Also, I'm a Power Absorber..." he said, the last part was said slightly lower, without a explination. He found when others heard about his second power, the trust factor dropped immensely. "Also, I tell a mean story about a horse and a woman of ill-repute..."

[Agent Fisher]

Mike gave directions when needed, hanging onto the Oh Shit Bar above him.

"Ok, right here." He said, pointing then looking back at Legion.

"Nice Colts." He said. "Power absorber huh? That must be real fun. Controlled or active all the time?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

Sunrise heard Mike's question, and answered it in his own mind.

From the gloves he wears, I would guess constantly active. If it were controlled, he could expose his skin to casual human contact. With the gloves he would either have to remove them, or very un-casually headbutt someone

"So what did the woman of ill-repute do this this horse?" he asked

[SirNitram]

"Priority alert. Unidentified meta has entered fray at a considerable fraction of the speed of sound. Meta has identified as Ultima. Unable to identify origin point, radar/lidar/sonic sensors were unable to achieve lock. Ballistic arc ended by use of non-lethal weapons by target mech. Weapons confirmed as engaged: Compressed air cannon, adhesive shells." NeXT's false, motone voice spoke through earbuds. He was dividing his attention again, but he had to.

Scanning connections in the bank, he sought a way to communicate with the mech.

[Charon]

Inferno whistled softly at Legion's remark. "Power absorber huh? Well I wouldn't try to absorb my powers." There was a pause as Inferno swerved around another car that had decided not to wait. "Hey! Asshole! Do flashing lights mean nothing to you?! Fucking Christ!" Then Inferno looked back at Legion. "I'm serious though. If you absorb my powers you would explode, or melt, the scientists aren't really sure which one yet."

NeXT's alert came over the comm's and Inferno cursed, putting on a little more speed. "Well it's still non-lethal... for all the good that does since it'll be more careful around us. What idiot decided to hot shot it and do this alone?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"If he IDed as ultima... who is unaccounted for? We all left together except... Darwin Damn It." he realized, making the connection "The guy who came in after the briefing. Has someone read his file?"

[LadyTevar]

"If he wasn't in the room and ID'd as Omega, Fuck him," Heidi put bluntly. "He didn't leave with us, he went off on his own, he got put down. I say stick to Jerri's plan."

Off the comm, Heidi spoke in Mark25's ear. "Hit lights and sirens, so the Robot knows we're legit."

Well, if the robot knows he hit a Fed, he might come even more willingly... That's felon assult and battery, right?

Heidi hit the radio again. "Jerri just pointed out if the stupid fucker -was- Ultima, we now have an excuse to arrest the Robot -- assualt of a Federal Agent."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"That will certainly play well with his law enforcement subroutines if they exist. Then again, the idiot did disobey what I assume is standard protocol"

Sunrise thought for a second

"How fast was the idiot moving? If the robot swatted him out of the sky with non-lethals, the sudden deceleration hitting the ground might cause him injury. We may want to have an ambulance standing by.

[Dark Silver]

"Doubtful," Legion responded, "I read the files last night when I was informed I would be working with you lot for Ultima. If it was the flier, like most fliers, he's protected against the sudden deceleration by his own natural evolution. Fliers tend to be more resilient than most," before squealching his voice feed. He could still hear the comm chatter though.

Legion checked his pistol, bringing one out to show the merc, "Springfield Armory M1911A1, specially modified to take multiple weapon types, and fire three round bursts with a pull if I flick the switch. It's loaded with stun-munitions right now."

"As for my powers.....I tend to only use them when nessacry. And yes..unfortunately I can't shut off. And yes, this is just a normal three piece suit. I didn't think we'd be called out so soon, so I didn't wear my normal contact suit. So no kissing me on the lips," he said, half jokingly.

The van made another swerve, and the GPS announced they were getting close to thier destination, "The story about the horse will have to wait."

Legion pulled both pistols from their holsters, checked the chamber, and made sure they were still on safety. If they were unsure if he was joking about being 54, at the very least his proficiency with the pistols proved he had used them often, the check was over in less than fifteen seconds, and they were being reholstered.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike nodded, looking at the pistols. "Burst fire huh? Must kick like a bitch." He said before looking back to the road.

"That flier's going to be trouble." He said, pulling his own sidearm and checking it, making sure it was ready to go, round chambered, safety on.

Mike tapped his comm. "Agent Gemini, how far out are you from the bank?"

[rhoenix]

Activating his commlink to the rest of the team, Templar spoke up as he slowed to a red light. "This is Templar, and I'm on my way - had to clear losing my last car with my old boss first. I'll be at the bank ETA 5 minutes."

The light turned green, and he gunned the engine. It was quieter than most motorcycles he was used to, but it definitely had power. Going through the sidestreets as he was, he'd shave several minutes off the time normally taken up in traffic.

[Hotfoot]

Mark 25 nodded at Heidi's request and activated his sirens. He was going to wait a little longer so as not to spook civilians, but given the nature of the situation, it was prudent.

"Assault of a Federal Agent can only apply if proper identification was presented prior to the incident, otherwise, the charge can simply be assault, with the possibility of self-defense applying as normal. Unstable point to pose, due to our rogue agent. Let's focus on debriefing first." The human thing to say, mercy, isn't it? Destruction was the way of the machine, never giving the choice, but it was something he didn't want to say. As his motorcycle approached the bank, he saw the robot and a cold fire grew in his heart. He activated his loudspeakers and looked toward the robot, already forming a force field around himself, Heidi, and the bike. Another field went up around Starfighter, just in case.

"This is Ultima Team Omega. Stand down and come quietly or there will be...trouble." With one pistol, and whatever strength Gemini had in this form, he wasn't sure how much that meant, but at the very least, he could hold out while the rest of the team showed up.

[General Havoc]

Sirens approaching registered on the robot's audio-sensors, but distracted as it was with apprehending the fourth metahuman robber, it took no note of them. The robber had wisely decided that as his leader and all of his compatriots had been effortlessly detained by the robotic law enforcement agency, that fighting or fleeing was not a reasonable option, and surrender was the best course of action. The robot deployed Zip-cuffs, handcuffing the metahuman's hands together behind his back, and directed him to sit on the ground and await the arrival of the proper authorities. Only then did it turn slowly around to face the oncoming sirens.

And yet instead of police, as the robot had expected to see, a motorcycle with sirens and lights flashing was approaching, two undentified humans thereupon. The likelyhood that they were metahumans was rated as "extremely high", confirmed a moment later when a forcefield appeared around them (and the tasered metahuman flier), and they announced themselves as something called "Ultima Team Omega".

The robot seemed to consider the metahuman (the armed metahuman's words), and then responded as clearly as it could.

"No."

Slowly it stepped to one side, placing its enormous bulk squarely between the armed metahumans and the largest group of civilians it could detect, a precaution in case the metahuman began to use its weapons. The robot was confident it could survive such an assault, but the civilians might be struck by stray rounds. Best to act as cover in that case.

"No records on file indicate Ultima classification 'Team Omega'. Authorization is unrecognized. You will dismount the vehicle, place all weapons slowly upon the ground, lower your forcefield, and place your hands on the back of your head, pending the arrival of authorized law enforcement personnel."

The flashing blue and red lights mounted atop the robot, mirroring those on the motorcycle, lit up like the lights of a police cruiser, as it reloaded its taser and adhesive cannons.

"You will comply with these directives, or face Force Level Alpha Authorization." it said.