Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

[B4UTRUST]

Hawk remained calm. He was thinking several not nice things at the moment, but one learned to remain calm in the face of challenges, especially in this job. He thought for a moment and considered how to do this.

"The BMA has been assigned to Omni Corporation asset retrival and analysis due to the bureau's ability to properly deal with rogue hostile units, something that standard law enforcement units are unable to due without catastrophic results.

"Your primary protocols and the method in which you have been enacting them has been a quandary to ranking individuals. You are registered with no law enforcement agency but are engaging in law enforcement actions. If you were a metahuman engaging as such you would have been detained for violation of the Radley-Gold Act of 1979 due to participating in law enforcement activities without proper liscencing or documentation through the Office of Metahuman Affairs, as is required by law to participate in independent law enforcement activites as a metahuman. Your unique nature furthers this quandary as you are clearly not a metahuman and therefore are not covered by the Radley-Gold Act and thus cannot be detained or punished for said violations of the act.

"However, you are still an unregistered and unliscensed entity participating in vigilante actions, despite your keeping to a strict doctrine of protection and preservation of civilian life and property. For this we thank you and applaud your efforts. But you cannot deny that you have willingly, and with full knowledge of your lack of current legal status as a law enforcement agent within this country's borders, engaged in said law enforcement activities. In addition to aforementioned engagement of law enforcement activities you have also knowingly and willingly endangered the public safety with your prescense.

"Your continued presense in the public environment without the consent and authorization of an official law enforcment agency causes fear and distrust, in addiction to inciting public panic, endangering the safety and wellfare of civilians and their property. You have lowered the public trust and belief in the ability of both civilian and government law enforcement agencies to protect and serve the public interest. This lowers our overall effectiveness and the ability to properly preform our duties.

"You have clearly acted in violation of basic law enforcement protocols. We offer you a chance to correct these issues without further problems and allow you to rectify this situation. I ask again that you allow this agency to debrief you fully so we may better understand the circumstances in which you have continued to operate without interference from the rogue Omnicorp AI and allow us to offer you an oppurtunity to have maintenance preformed upon yourself.

"If you allow us this oppurtunity to debrief and analyze your situation we can discuss authorizing your activities and giving you a legitimate status as a law enforcement agent."

[General Havoc]

For a good ten seconds, the enormous robot did not say anything.

"This unit," it said carefully and slowly, "was constructed for the purposes of law enforcement, and equipped with weapons, systems, and combat software protocols to permit it to engage in duties that non-augmented, non-meta, non-specialized police forces were not capable of engaging in. These were intended to include riot suppression, defence of public order, and meta-criminal arrest. For these purposes it was built, programmed, trained, and equipped.

"This unit..." the robot appeared to hesitate, "this unit has no other purpose. This unit's priority protocols are immutable. Primary Priority is the maintenance and defense of general public safety and order. Secondary Priority is the defense of civilian life. Tertiary Priority is the maintenance and defense of unit self-integrity. Quadrinary Priority is conformance with legal orders received from recognized superior authorities, of which none are presently registered. Omnicorp is defunct, and this unit was not assigned to any municipal law enforcement agency. In... absence of proper authorizations, primary, secondary, and tertiary protocols still stand."

There was almost a hint of... sadness in the robot's voice as it described the insoluble quandary.

"To what... levels... would maintenance extend. Tertiary priority protocols prohibit unauthorized access to unit's internal systems that might compromise self-integrity."

It looked about at the various techs. Clearly the idea of basic maintenance was something that appealed nonetheless.

"You are... suggesting it is possible that BMA could be registered as a recognized superior authority for this unit? Without compromising primary, secondary, or tertiary protocols? This unit cannot obey commands, even lawful commands from recognized superiors, that risk violation of these priority protocols. Judgment in these matters is at the discretion of unit master control."

[B4UTRUST]

Hawk repressed the smile he felt.
"Maintenance will include the general upkeep and repair of exterior, combat, defensive and movement systems. Anything further will be cleared prior to preformance.

"The BMA has been authorized to deal with the Omnicorp situation and assets as needed to ensure that the incident is swiftly and successfully resolved. We have been given this undertaking with the understanding that we are allowed to operate in the pursuit of this matter at our discretion. This includes legitimizing former and current Omnicorp assets and bringing them under federal service to help ensure the cessation of hostile activities with assets still operating under the command, guidance or orders of the Omnicorp AI.

"We can recruit and assign you as a legitimate BMA asset to a field operative team to allow you to continue acting under your programmed protocols. This will require a few things, however.

"Firstly, our techs will preform a complete inspection, checking for preventative maintenance and to ensure no anomolies are present.

"Secondly, MetaTech agents will need to directly interface with your systems to ensure that risks to the public, yourself, and this organization are minimized. Interface scans will see to it that the ability for outside entities to directly interface with your C3 systems is minimized to the utmost degree possible. This, again, is to ensure the safety and welfare of all concerned, especially civilian lives and property. The risk of uncontrolled access to your systems by outside entities such as the rogue Omnicorp AI would be, to put it lightly, catastrophic. This directly enforces your primary and secondary protocols, for without this assured knowledge that you cannot be overridden by outside control, your continued involvement in field operations, with or without legalization creates a direct risk to the public at large. We ask that you comply with this request and assist us with this.

"Lastly, we will ensure that all identifying markings indicating you and your weapons systems as being directly from Omnicorp or derived from Omnicorp propriatary technologies will be altered and obscured to prevent the inciting of further public distrust or worse, a panic-induced riot.

"Agree to these terms and the BMA will provide you with legalized law enforcement status and allow you to operate within the field to continue following your protocols, in addition to routine maintenance and upkeep to ensure your continued functunality. Any questions?"

[General Havoc]

The robot considered all this for a moment.

"The Omnicorp AI has been internally ascertained as a Class-6 Strategic-level threat to Primary Protocols, but this unit was constructed prior to its activation, and was designated an unsuitable program for re-purposing during the conflict." It paused for a moment, the barest hint of... displeasure materializing on its speaker. "The Omnicorp AI regarded 'police' projects as incommensurate with its goals."

It processed the offer a moment longer before summing everything up.

"So long as there are no... additional tasks performed during the course of this maintenance without the consent of this unit... then this arrangement is... acceptable."

[LadyTevar]

"Hurry up and wait... Hurry up and wait..." Heidi bitched, drumming her fingers against the conference room table. "Shit, I only have 60 minutes here..."

Unless you take another dose, like you normally do, and then promise to make it up to me
"Yeah yeah... you know you get to make up the time, Jerri." Heidi muttered. Obviously this half of Gemini didn't care if she was seen talking to herself. But with a body like hers most guys don't expect a single braincell, much less two very intelligent minds.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike chuckled, closing his notebook and leaning back in his chair. "What, in a hurry to get yelled at?" He asked the beautiful agent.

[LadyTevar]

She looked back to the merc, giving him a slight smile. He did look nice leaning back that way....

stop drooling, geeze...
The smile widened at whatever Jerri had said. "Nope. In the hurry for you to buy that beer. Although, if they keep us long enough, you might be buying dinner."

[Agent Fisher]

He grinned. "Oh, so just cause Ultima drags it's heels, I gotta buy dinner too huh?" Mike chuckled. "Doesn't sound like a losing proposition actually."

[LadyTevar]

He's not seen you eat yet.
"Shush Jerri. He's getting the company of two women."

Right. Like I'm going to have ANY SAY in what you do with him
The smile was wide and teasing, as Heidi let Jerri fume.

[B4UTRUST]

Hawk smiled.
"Excellent! Now, my good 'bot, if you would, please accompany these gentlemen behind me and they'll escort you down to our MetaTech division. They'll take good care of you, I'm sure. And once we've dispensed with these... formalities concerning potential vulnerabilities to the AI should it still exist, we'll get you fixed up with some nice legal paperwork. Of course normally we fingerprint and ID people for this, but we'll work around it somehow, I'm sure.

"So please, allow these gentlemen to escort you and I shall return to you shortly once I've finished debriefing the agents you so thoughtfully returned to me."

Hawk smiled again and walked further inside, taking the elevator upstairs.

The three metatechs stepped forward and looked over Alpha thoughtfully.
"Please follow us. We'll begin the maintenance procedures as soon as we can complete our diagnostics and see what you need. Of course, if you can provide us with a detailed internal and external diagnostics beforehand, it'll help save us some work."

The techs escorted Alpha to a giant freight elevator inside of motor pool. It was obviously designed to carry an enormous amount of weight, so there was probably little danger to Alpha's safety in using it.

------------

Hawk stepped off the elevator and walked towards the conference room. Seeing Legion and Inferno waiting outside as he rounded the corner he stopped and caught their attention.
"You two, my office."

Hawk turned and walked down the hall to his office and left the door open until they entered.
"Shut the door. Now, would one of you two care to explain why this clusterfuck happened? I have two senior agents in the field, three if you count the 'borg and you two couldn't be assed to stop dicking around long enough for one of you to sack up and take command. You are both senior field agents either within Ultima or within the government itself in your case, Legion. I shouldn't have to be sitting here, explaining how to do your job to you. But apparently I do, so I will.

"As of this moment, Inferno, you are team lead. Legion, you technically are senior agent on site but you're not BMA. To many conflicts of interest with having an outside agency being placed in charge of Ultima agents on their own turf. Nothing personal, just back him up as best you're able. Inferno, you'll have to figure out how you're going to deal with him either as a vetran agent or as your XO. It's your show now.

"Now, I expect you two to act like fucking experianced operatives out in the field and no more playing grab ass or letting the rest of your team run around like a bunch of fucking retards! You've got a few loose cannons on your team that need some serious talking to and railing in. I suggest it gets done quick, fast and in a fucking hurrry.

"I expect you to have a clear, concise and correct report for me for debriefing in 10 minutes. I'll be into the conference room to collect it then. Dismissed."

[Dark Silver]

When Hawk passed by, Legion slide the blackberry back into his coat, and smirked. The site he was reading was interesting, one of the Metahuman Watch sites that had cropped up - and it was one of the more popular ones, despite the fact he only lurked there, he enjoyed it. He walked into the office, after Legion, and took a seat.

Legion took the ass chewing, not even bothering to point out to Hawk that despite being a senior field agent...Ultima Agents had no reason to listen to him in the field without being told to. When Hawk pointed out also that he wasn't BMA, so he couldn't be in a leadership position anyway...well..

Legion nodded, rose from the chair, and smiled benevolently at Hawk and Inferno, "I'll see you in the debriefing Agent Hawk.." he said, looking to Inferno, "So...until further notice, I guess I get to call you boss."

The wiseass grin was on Legion's youngish face, the air he put on was completely disarming...how unusual for someone of his background.

[Charon]

Inferno stayed dead quiet as Hawk chewed him out, only saluting him with a clear "sir" before stepping out of the office.

Inferno rubbed his eyes. Fucking shit, just what he wanted. "Goodie, now be a good XO and help me figure out how the fuck to say this so it doesn't sound as bad as it was."

[rhoenix]

Slowly shaking his head, the tablet PC Templar was using floated obediently back into his carrying case as he leaned back into the chair. This was going to be better than it could've been, but still bad, if what he felt exuding from their new team leader's direction was accurate.

The team had been crippled by lack of coordination and teamwork, this much was true; should they learn to solve both, this team could be formidable. The problem was, he'd never worked with a team, beyond a partner here and there. Well, he could adjust.

As long as he got some sleep here soon, that is.

[Dark Silver]

"Got it covered" Legion said, pulling out his Blackberry, sliding the touchscreen to the right, doubling the devices width, and revealing a full QWERTY keyboard. Legion clicked a few buttons, made use of the touchscreen like a mouse, and within moments was loading up a file. The new Blackberry's were indeed nice, almost like a palm laptop, even had a word processor and spreadsheet program , and he enjoyed using them.

He pulled up the pre-transcribed debriefing report, and winked at Inferno, "Let us handle this one. It's...in the bag, as they say."

With that, Legion closed the hand-held, patted Inferno on the shoulder with a gloved hand, and walked towards the door, "Cheer up kid," he said, "I'll buy you a beer and tell you some old war stories after we knock off work..."

[SirNitram]

Computers were on as NeXT returned with the estimates he had compiled, illuminating the damage done on screens, broken up by who had thrashed what property. The holographic avatar simply waited.

[Charon]

Inferno nodded. "I want a look at it once your done. And sorry, but no can do on the beer. After work I've got a meeting with my doctor."

[Dark Silver]

"I'll send it to your email."

With that, Legion walked out of Hawk's office, and made his way to the cafe. He had plenty of time to grab a cup of coffee, three sugars plus cream, and head back to the debriefing room.

The door slid open, he whistled between sips of his coffee, and found a empty seat. "Hello again all," he said, sitting into the chair, leaning back and crossing his right knee over his left leg again.

[LadyTevar]

Behind Heidi was a hole punched through the wall, but everyone and everything else seemed to be in good health and spirits. "Looks like he left you some skin," Heidi joked. "How much are you and Inferno leaving us?"

[Charon]

Inferno sighed, rubbing his forehead. Great, team leader. In a way this was a culmination, he'd always sort of wanted to lead, but now that he had to he wanted anyone but him to do it. But there was nothing for it, he had the job and he had to make the best of it. Composing himself again, Inferno stepped into the meeting room and sat down in between the rest of the group.

He didn't say anything for several seconds before he responded to Gemini's question. "That depends on what some of the figures NeXT is going to give me are."

[SirNitram]

"Transmitting now. Present clearance does not allow comparison to other Bureau Of Metahuman Affairs operations collatoral-damage costs." NeXT stated simply, feeding data along. "Is any further analysis required at this time?"

[Charon]

Inferno looked over the data quickly. "Congratulations, I'm not going to tear off your heads." Inferno looked up. "Now then, as Starfighter is currently cooling his heels in a holding cell I'll be getting his story of idiocy later." There might have been an idle threat in that statement for the rest of them, but it was hard to say. "Mark-25, Gemini, what was the situation upon your arrival?"

[LadyTevar]

"Do you want Jerri's version, or mine?" Heidi answered with all seriousness. The two often saw things the other missed.

[Dark Silver]

"Relatively low budget.....most of the damage was done by the meta's Alpha bagged," Legion said, looking over the numbers on a computer screen.

"There'll be some medical bills forwarded to us I'm sure because someone decided to walk up shouting scary things to the scared humans," with this, his attention turned to Sunrise for a moment, then took another sip of his coffee.

[rhoenix]

"Well, then if our team leader doesn't object," Templar said, motioning toward Inferno as he looked at everyone gathered, "just how much property damage and assorted mayhem did we rack up for today?"

[Hotfoot]

Mark 25 saluted Inferno and Legion as they entered, then started his report once the others were done talking. "The scene was expected of an uneven fight between metahumans. No civilians were injured in the fighting area that could be seen. Upon arrival I saw the location of Agent Starfighter, and proceeded to protect him with a barrier. Agent Gemini and I presented ourselves as officers of the law, which the target questioned, but did not attack. It ordered me to stand down to be arrested, to which I refused, keeping the barrier around myself and Agent Gemini active. I advised the team to approach slowly and announce their status as law enforcement. I attempted other methods of confirming our status to the machine, but it was...recalcitrant."

And there was nothing I would have liked better than to tear its circuits out one by one...