Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

[SirNitram]

"Mission parameters must be extrapolated, then." NeXT mused. "Understood. Clarification: For training, utilize full optikinesis, or merely produce optical effects insufficient to damage training equipment?" NeXT's tendency to fry.. Or in extreme cases, melt.. Optical sources made for expensive training.

[Charon]

"Utilize your powers to the best of your ability, but do not take advantage of the fact that this is in a training room. Treat as a real-life scenario. Anything that looks organic is to be treated as such."

[Dark Silver]

Inferno lead them into the "holo-deck" as Legion had affectionatly come to dub the training rooms. From the description of the training program, he had a a good idea what it was, but Inferno was right - even amoungst the CIA the program was used once in a blue moon - and Legion hadn't run the program himself in years.

"We'll need simulacrum weapons loadout as well," Legion said - they would be safer for everyone else than even his dummyrounded pistols - noit needing extra safety equipment to go with them.

[LadyTevar]

Real Life Scenario...
"Yes. I heard. We follow Legion's orders, we make suggestions only if it seems he missed something," Jerri said softly, checking the pouches on her belt. Taser, with three settings for Mundane, Meta and Meta-Tank -- or as Heidi put it, Stun, Kill, Disintegrate. Vials of Serum, if needed... she'd have to trust one of the others to guard her.

Mike or Mark25
"Markus... he's got forceshields." Jerri said absently, adjusting her belt so she could reach what she needed quickly. "Ready."

[Charon]

"I'll make certain a weapon loadout is available for you guys. It'll have anything you'll want." With that Inferno turned his back on the team and walked up into the control room, looking down on the team with a small smile on his face.

"Computer, begin Scenario 32."

The room changed from the ground up and the sky down. The ceiling turned blue quickly, with spurts of white where there were clouds. A bird was built in mid-flight as it soared above the heads of the team. The ground turned gray as a road and sidewalk came into being. Trees popped out of the ground every 30 feet on both sides of the road and various buildings began to come into existence. Civilians stepped out of the buildings and began walking around on errands, a couple sat on a park bench and whispered sweet nothings into each others ears while birds sat in a tree above them and sang. A squirrel darted across the road as a car appeared and drove as though it hadn't seen the creature it had almost splattered across the road. A flock of pigeons walked, heads bobbing as though they were listening to hip-hop, along one side of the road, occasionally pecking at crumbs that had accumulated there. The team found itself on one of the sidewalks, and all seemed right with the world.

[Hotfoot]

Mark 25 continued beating on the bag with mechanical precision and brutality. He gave a brief nod to each of the individuals entering the training room, finally stopping and standing at attention when Legion and Inferno entered. He bit his tongue as NeXT blathered on about the meaninglessness of physical exertion, not wanting to destroy the entire purpose of the exercise before it had even started. He took out his dual-purpose pistol and removed the lethal grade ammunition, replacing it with training rounds. The LTL section of the pistol was left operational. It might not be needed, and he rarely used it in most situations, but for some reason it felt comforting to have.

He entered the virtual training area and wished for a moment that he had enough of a face left to scowl. Virtual reality was something he did not enjoy, especially when it made things look....too nice. It was obviously all fake, especially to some of his more advanced sensors. Using his advanced optics and audio upgrades, he scanned the area, looking for the aforementioned "threat" that was supposed to attack the city.

[Agent Fisher]

As the fake world appeared around them, Mike took a second to orient himself, eyes looking around, mentally making a map to help if he got turned around. To his right, he spotted an almost armoured looking bus, ULTIMA stamped on the side.

"Guessing that's our gear." He said, giving one last look around the area before moving over to the bus' door. Mike opened it and stepped inside.

"Jackpot!" He called out to the team, already reaching to grab one of the vests, throwing it on.

Mike stuck his head back out at the team. "Better move quick, trouble's probably inbound right now."

[Dark Silver]

As the holodeck formed up the environment around them, Legion took it in.

Unknowingly like Mark25..he hated the simulacrum environments...they were always so perfect. When Gordan moved to the van, Legion's eyes narrowed. He knew Inferno would provide them with the simu-ordinance, but he didnt like trusting everything so immediately.

"Mark25, to take stock of the ordinance," he said, moving to lead the team, "Gemini, aid him. NeXT, began scan of standard frequencies, military, police, civilian for inbound targets or possible disturbances. Sunrise stay inconspicuous...."

Legion, for his part, was looking around, trying to recall the specifics of the simulation. So far, he was sure most of it was covered, then it dawned hon him, "Mark25, scan the Van before approach. Can't be to careful." Mark25 was cybernetic, his sensors would allow him a better view of the entire van, better than the old Mark-1 Eyeball. It also helped that he was a force field projector.

"Double time people, move it."

[SirNitram]

NeXT's avatar vanished; his presense merely upset humans. "Scanning commencing." He murmured in the team's ears as he swept across all forms of communication that an electronic device could sniff out.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"I am afraid that staying inconspicuous will be rather difficult sir" Sunrise said as he looked around for cover. The best he could do was a shaded tree which he got under and pretended to be a rock, or a statue. One of the two"

He was on the other hand alert for potential threats. He scanned the sky, the street pretty much everything.

"Sir, given the mission parameters" he said to Legion "Perhaps overt paranoia is something we might want to avoid? We do not even know the nature of our target, it could be anything from disease to Morlocks coming out of the sewers. All we are doing right now is making the locals nervous."

[Dark Silver]

"Or a big lizard coming out of the water..." Legion said under his breath, he was almost sure none of them could hear him.

"Paranoia isn't on the table, but precaution should be. Our mission is to make sure as little as possible can happen to the people under our protection, Agent. We can never be to careful."

Legion was very much aware of the need to swap out his weapons, but he looked to Sunrise anyway, "Stay as inconspicuous as possible..but keep a eye out. Try not to upset the locals."

[LadyTevar]

"Yessir," Jerri answered, waling over to help Mike and Mark look through the provided gear. Even so, her eyes roamed the area, allowing both herself and Heidi to take full stock of their surroundings.

Oddly enough, they'd discovered that the 'resting' persona often picked up on things the other missed, in a way that probably worked out to right brain/left brain dictolomy. When Heidi was in control, Jerri had less distractions and could focus her mind more on problem-solving. When Jerri was in control, Heidi noticed little visual details that the waking brain normally glossed over.
It wasn't a danger sense, but it was a conscious 'hey, that's -not right-' feeling. Ancient hard-wired danger instincts were buried in modern humans, but in her disembodied state Heidi felt them more clearly. It was the little not-voice that said going down a certain path was a bad idea, when the waking mind thought the path looked perfectly safe, because the not-voice saw the 'stick' in the path was a basking snake.

Once Jerri got to the truck, she hesitated, looking around at the people in the simulation. People who were going about their daily business, people who showed no sign of fear or worry.

I don't trust it.
"Legion? Should we hide Sunrise in the van for the moment?" Jerri asked, trying to make it a question, not a suggestion. It wasn't just the memory of the riot earlier that made her think of it. Something about armoring up in front of all these nice, normal people seemed ... off.

As if arming up will spook the sheep.
"Yes, Heidi. That feeling."

[Hotfoot]

Mark 25 scanned the van as requested, though the interior seemed almost larger on the inside than the out. Nearly every conceivable weapon was available, including rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and even anti-material rifles. The cyborg idly ran his hand over a 20mm rifle, remembering an interesting mission that had required its use.

Nothing otherwise out of the ordinary was in the van, or around it. "The van is safe. Weapons include a wide range of ordinance, including anti-tank and anti-structure weapons. Instructions?" The cyborg was familiar with the use of numerous weapons, and his super strong and durable frame meant that he was capable of handling among the largest of the set with relative ease.

[Charon]

As NExT scanned the frequencies, he mostly picked up the radio, a police radio, but eventually got to a particular interesting frequency.

"-broke through the barrier like it was nothing. We threw everything we had at it but it didn't slow it down at all! It's heading Southwest, very fast. We're having trouble keeping up."

Before Legion could issue further orders a distant rumble was heard from the Northeast. The rumble was followed a few seconds by another, but despite the clouds there were no apparent flashes of lightning. The rumbling was getting louder, and the civilians came to slow stops and started looking towards the source of the booming.

The rumble turned to muffled thuds, the leaves on the trees began to shudder through the vibrations. Suddenly a giant figure, dozens of stories tall pierced the gloom of a foggy mid-morning and all the citizens held their collective breaths.

The creature paused, looked down upon the town, and let out a mighty roar.

Inferno smirked. "Cue up civilian 428."

An asian man stared for only a second before his mouth began to move. A few seconds later the words began to come out of the robot's speaker. "Gojira! It's Gojira! Spirits preserve us!" His mouth had stopped moving about a second before the words came to an end.

Every civilian started screaming.

[LadyTevar]

Oh he did not just do that Gemini spoke in unison.

"Legion? Plan?"
Plan? what Plan? It's fraggin' Godzilla! Just take the serum already!

[Comrade Tortoise]

I just had to make an Angurius joke earlier... sunrise thought to himself as his jaw dropped and the little asian man started screaming.

"Sir, suggesting that we find two tiny little Japanese girls to summon mothra. Barring that... I suggest seeing if it is anything like the real godzilla, because if it is, we cannot touch it. Our best best is to leave it alone, and minimize accidental deaths. Unless you want to try touching it sir"

[Dark Silver]

Legion groaned to himself as he heard the roar.

He groaned louder at the Asiatic man.

'I'm going to kill Inferno....' he thought, before issuing his orders.

"Mark25, secure the van and prepare loudouts. Heaviest weapons loudout possible. NeXT, I'll need tactical analysis, five seconds ago."

Legion was already walking to the van, wanting to get his hands on the grenade launcher and the anti-armor weapons.

[Hotfoot]

Mark 25 looked at the threat and tilted his head to the side. There was something oddly familiar about the beast, but he couldn't remember what. Everyone else seemed to know, so he went with it. He reached out and took three weapons, a heavy machinegun, an anti-material rifle, and a high powered rocket launcher. Using combat straps he hung two from his body while holding the third one-handed. He extended his shield around the group, encompassing everyone, including the van as he handed out weapons, making sure that everyone got something they could handle well.

During the process, he looked around and kept an eye out for panicking civilians, as he got ready to protect any that were in danger for any reason.

[Dark Silver]

Legion claimed a set of .45's with anti-armor ammo, a mini-grenade launcher, and a laser-rifle. He calculated the plans in his mind, even as Mark25 handed out the appropriate weapons.

"Omega Leader to Ultima HQ. Requesting Authorization and break fire code "Hailstorm"."

Hailstorm was the code, for those experienced Agents who knew it, which requested the target acquisition and firing of a space-based rail gun. It would be a weapon of last resort.

"We lead that thing back to the water," he said, "We'll use everything in our arsenal, and every trick at our disposal. If I get the fire-code, we'll blast it from orbit, limit civilian causalities as much as possible."

[Charon]

There was a pause on the line as Inferno double-checked what Hailstorm was. He whistled when he found it. Legion was pulling out the big guns early.

"We copy you Omega Leader. GPS pinpoints you in a populated sector however."

[Agent Fisher]

Mike stuck his head out of the van, jaw agape as he stared at the creature.

"You've got to be shitting me," he muttered before quickly returning to the weapons, grabbing a anti tank rocket, slinging it over his shoulder then grabbing a heavy laser rifle.

Mike exited the van, looking up at the towering creature.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Sunrise grabbed a big fucking laser cannon out of the van.

"Sir be advised that pending NeXTs tactical analysis, it is very likely that none of our powers or weapons will be able to do this thing any harm unless orbital strikes have a yield that is on the same order of magnitude as nuclear ordinance. We will be at best like biting insects, and none of our defenses can withstand his atomic breath which consists essentially of heat and Gamma radiation. The only result of violent means if my analysis is correct will be the death of us and this municipality, and Godzilla will only be angry. I suggest non-violent means sir. I would suggest luring him away from the city using the recorded call of another large japanese monster or something that sounds like it could be one. If my analysis is correct, he is very territorial sir, and will go toward the call to combat it."

[SirNitram]

"Tactical analysis preliminary complete. Utilization of other, similar scale lifeforms would result in property damage and civilian casualties far in excess of mission parameters. Weapons lock on soft ocular tissue..Confirmed. Strike weak points, attempt to lead away."

Laser pulses formed out of anywhere there was a light source, striking the monster's eyes to try and do as much damage to the only visible weak point as possible.

[Dark Silver]

Legion looked at Sunrise, not rolling his eyes, but wanting to.

"The thing is Godzilla...not exactly hard to know what it is, and how territorial it is. Right now, I want people gotten out of it's way, and it lured away from the city."

Legion moved to the front of the van, opening a door and sliding out a uplink display, "Omega Leader to HQ, requesting geological map of the city and surrounding area, waypoint to nearest body of water."

Legion hated the wait, but when it finally came up, there was a straight line drawn from the city, to the northwest....

That would have to do.

"Everyone in the van, position yourself for optimal fire patterns on that thing. I'll drive."

With that, Legion slide into the drivers seat, "Get a good grip. we're going to lead him to the lake."

[LadyTevar]

"Legion.. what about the civilians?" Jerri asked.
Just take the serum already? I wanna try that RPG Heidi was almost drooling with gun-lust.

"We've got civilians panicking... and Inferno, did you really -have- to throw in the lady with her dress stuck?" Jerri groaned. "What is this, all the bad monster movie jokes?" Gemini stalked over to the screaming woman tugging at her skirt, pulling out a multi-tool that looked like a pair of pliers with gear-filled handles. Jerri expertly flipped it open to a sharpened hook, and sliced the skirt free from the car door. "Run *that* way," Jerri said, pointing east, away from Godzilla, "And don't get near the lake."