Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

[LadyTevar]

There was a slam against the door that rattled it on it's hinges. There was a moment of silence, then the handle started to turn as Heidi remembered that it opened in.

Listen to me, Heidi. This is a mental attack, this isn't real.
"Shut up, Jerri. You want him, I'm going to get him for you."
No. We're going no-where.
"You can't stop me, Jerri. It's my body now."

[Agent Fisher]

Mike was speaking to one of the survivors when Inferno's call came over hte radio. Moving quickly, he ran from the room, heading down the stairs and towards Inferno's location.

"Inferno, this is Gordon, where are you down here?" He called into the radio, running through the basement's halls.

[Charon]

Inferno spared a glance around, looking for any indicators of his position. Unfortunately, he didn't see any where he was. "We were in the server room." Inferno gave the best directions he could remember and then kept running for the exit. He would run into Gordon eventually.

[SirNitram]

"Attempting to neutralize Agent Gemini. Hold out down there, Inferno."

The lights in the room she was trying to get out of weren't in good shape. Neither were the monitors. Really, this made this easier. Forcing the full power he could through the bulbs, flourescents, vaccuum tubes, and LCDs. The explosion of light and sound were comparable to a flashbang, but was a once-off.

[LadyTevar]

The explosions of glass did nothing to Heidi, but the flash of high-powered light dazzled and blinded her momentarily just as expected. If she'd not had her back to the room, it could have blinded her for real from the glass and the light. She cried out in surprise and shock, getting the door open and stumbling outside into the corridor.

The momentary shock allowed Jerri to take brief advantage, overriding Heidi's control of the body just long enough to have the legs fold underneath her, dropping Gemini to the ground heavily. The cursing that echoed down the corridor revealed that this was annoying, but not harmful.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike quickly found Inferno, rounding a corner. "What's wrong with her?" He asked, hearing a boom from down the corridors. Mike's hand started to glow, ready to shoot stun blasts at his teammate.

[Charon]

Inferno looked to Mike, then back down the hall. "Don't know. I think something got into Heidi's head, but not Jerri's. She managed to warn me, so I'm gonna say Heidi's planning on attacking so we'll need to stop her."

[LadyTevar]

"Where are you my little darling... I'm coming for you...."

From Pepe le Pew, that's funny. From a woman who can lift a car without really trying, not so much. Still blinking spots from her eyes, running one hand along the wall to make sure she was in the right direction, Heidi stalked down the hall towards the voices.
Heidi, stop thinking with your cunt and snap out of this!

[Charon]

Inferno kept quiet, and did his best to control his breathing. "Alright, she's close. We'll need to at the least stall her until she comes to her senses. If we can't do that, we'll have to take her down."

[SirNitram]

"Disabling failed. Seek computer controlled/powered doors. Facility will be under control in a minute or so." NeXT reported. As Heidi entered an area with working light sources, a hologram of Inferno appeared, bait to try and divert-delay.

[LadyTevar]

"Cute NeXT," Heidi said as her eyes focused in on the hologram. "It would work better if I didn't know you were just a machine." The powerful woman didn't pause, but kept stalking forward, fully expecting to walk right through the hologram if he/it didn't move.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike nodded, getting behind a protruding electrical cabinet, peeking around it. "Ok, you want to talk her down, or should I just stun blast her first and we can deal with her later?" He asked Inferno.

[SirNitram]

"Cute NeXT," Heidi said as her eyes focused in on the hologram. "It would work better if I didn't know you were just a machine." The powerful woman didn't pause, but kept stalking forward, fully expecting to walk right through the hologram if he/it didn't move.

The hologram backed up, it's image changing from Inferno to a young man.. Younger than most of the team. "Just a machine. Then you're just a chemical reaction. A drug-induced state of freedom from inhibitions."

[LadyTevar]

"Blah blah blah... you sound like Father," Heidi muttered, still stalking forward. She could hear other voices ahead.

[General Havoc]

A number of factors contributed to the decision that Alpha made at that point.

The radio chatter was indicating with near-absolute probability that something was going wrong downstairs. Something involving Agent Gemini. Agent Inferno had spoken of some sort of mental assault going on, of uncertain nature. And to couple with that fact, he had the current data he was reading from Agent Legion. All signs pointed to a dangerous situation, and, as he was trained to do, he made a snap conclusion based on the available evidence, and opened up his radio.

It was the wrong conclusion, but only by degrees.

"XC-001 Alpha to all Ultima units. Evidence indicates that persistent agents of unknown sources currently pose neurochemical, parapsychological, or other hallucinogenic threats to all personnel within the complex. This unit requests immediate, total evacuation of this facility by all psychologically-susceptible personnel, by whatever means necessary, until such time as the exact source of aforementioned disturbance can be isolated and contained. This unit further requests immediate medical assistance be prepared beyond the confines of this facility's perimeter."

Switching its radio off, the enormous war machine turned back to Legion and the captured prisoner. "Agent Legion," it said, "evidential analysis indicates an elevated risk to personnel entering this facility in excess of minimum safe guidelines, sufficient to risk Secondary Priority Protocol Breach. This unit will personally restrain the suspect so as to ensure that no further harm can come to him, or be performed by him to others. Analysis indicates that this unit is the most logical choice for such duties."

Clearly, Alpha's primary concern at present was not the suspect.

"Do you require assistance in leaving this facility? This unit can serve as an ersatz mode of conveyance, should it be required."

[Dark Silver]

Legion heard the buzz of Alpha's words through the noise filling his mind. He shook his head, as if to clear cobwebs, as slowly he was putting it in order, learning to shift through the immense flow of data, and stand absolutely still, and not touch a damn thing yet.

And at the same time, as Alpha finished his sentence asking Legion if he needed help, he managed to realize he was broadcasting, and shut it down.

"The suspect isn't the cause anymore Alpha..." Legion said, turning on his radio to broadcast, "Belay Unit Alpha's orders. There is no chemical or enviromental cause of the mental assault....I need a group on the third floor with power dampeners stat."

He shut off the radio, and looked to Alpha, "I absorbed the man's powers..I'm the cause. I'm....working...on controlling them. But it's no wonder he went crazy....I'm trained to use these powers..I'm experienced...but they are just....so....much...." He accidently touched a table, and he was intimately informed of everything about it's past once again, "ARGH....gotta stop doing that..."

"I'm bringing it to bear....give me a few more minutes..." Legion said, starting to relax a bit, his body calming down, as he gain some reign of control over the powers.

[Charon]

Inferno looked at Gordon and smirked just a little. "You think Heidi wants to talk?" The smirk disappeared as Inferno looked back up as Gemini closed. "We take her down, deal with the paperwork later."

As he finished speaking, Gemini turned the corner. Inferno did not pause, he did not give a warning, he treated her as he would any threatening meta, he fired. The blast of heat wasn't much of a blow. It could cause burns on flesh, scorch clothing, and shove a normal person off their feet, but Gemini was far from normal.

[SirNitram]

For a brief moment, Inferno would've seen the unusual avatar of NeXT chasing and failing to stop Gemini, before the featureless, liquid-metal-esque avatar resumed being his image.

[LadyTevar]

The timing couldn't be more perfect -- Just as Legion got some control and blocked out Heidi, she got flash-fried by Inferno.

Are you better now?
"Ok.. what the fuck hit me?"

[B4UTRUST]

The requested agents arrived a few moments later on the 3rd floor. They found Alpha and Legion near the suspect. There they paused, looking questioningly from Alpha to Legion to the suspect. The bum was passed out on the ground and Legion didn't seem to be much better.

One looked to the other.
"So which one do we slap the inhibitors on?"
"The bum I think."
"You sure? He looks kinda gone. Him on the other hand..."
"He's the agent, he says he's alright."
"That's alright? Shit, hate to see what bad off looks like..."
"Heh, point. Lets tag the bum and then we'll tag him if we need to."

The two agents made their way over to the unconcious hobo, giving Legion a wide berth. They began to slap device after device onto the sleeping form, everything from strength sappers, teleport inhibitors, mental blockers, shape maintainers and energy drainers. The bum took on an almost cyborgish appearance by the time it was all said and done with all the apparatuses attached.

They paused before they lifted up the bum to haul him out and turned to look at Legion and Alpha. One of them spoke out.
"Hey, metalman, we need to tag our agent too?"

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

Inside Legion's mind, things were beginning to clear up. He was starting to get this under control. Or as much control as he could muster with what he had dumped into him. It was still enormous, more than any one person should have at their disposal.

The man's most recent past began to unfold in his mind's eye, letting him relive moments. A flash of him being approached while he was huddled cold in an alley. An offer of food and shelter for the night. Another flash, a white unmarked cargo van and a few other homeless people in the back. A flash of being lead into Lab 1, no security guards in the front lobby. The elevator ride up. Being led into a lab somewhere in the building, lined up and herded like cattle. Lab techs coming in and handing out pills and little dixie cups of water.

The next little bit was still blurry and confusing. A jumbled mess of flashes. He was seeing 'himself' through other peoples' eyes, seeing them through 'his' eyes, half a dozen sets of eyes peering at each other, seeing each other, hearing each other. He started to catch glimpses of the pasts of the other bums in the test, fragments that disappeared. The realization that he had power, control, was there. A feeling of fright, fear, uncertainty and confusion. A half dozen bodies responding to one will. And a few of them winked out, went missing, lost forever. A flexing of unsure, untried, unrestrained power. And then it went wrong. A fleeting thought of escape, of some barely conceived idea of revenge, a fight or flight response.

Legion's point of view in his mind shifted a dozen times a second between all the bodies in the overmind. The forcing of powers through bodies unprepared to hold them, the spilling of blood, the destruction, the death, the sheer carnage that had turned the lab into a charnel house.

He had his answers now, how the man had lasted this long, how he had survived through dumping as much as he could through the other test subjects, unwittingly using them as puppets, as tools. The deaths weren't intentional, weren't meant to happen. But the road to hell... And as his bodies died one by one, bright flames flickering and fading out he was more and more restrained to his own body, his own mind and thats when he went into a nervous breakdown. The last vision Legion was a dark room, sounds of heavy metal vibrating the floor. And a man coming into the room, an agent. Who reached for him. Told him it would be alright. Words that he didn't need psychic powers to know were a lie... Fade to black.

[Charon]

Inferno didn't lower his hands as he stared at Heidi, judging her movements. "Agent Gemini, hands in the air."

[General Havoc]

Alpha considered the question for a long, long time, though his frame of reference was digital, and to the men asking the question, they would scarcely have noticed a hesitation. Inside, the robot was busy evaluating all of its available sense data regarding Agent Legion, heartrate, breathing rate, general demeanor and so on. The evidence was far from conclusive, so much so that any normal computer would have been stymied, but XC-001 Alpha had been designed to be more than any normal computer. He was expected to make decisions with less than perfect data, exercise "judgment", even take guesses.

And after what seemed to be only the slightest hesitation, that was precisely what he did.

"Negative," said Alpha. "Agent Legion does not require metahuman power restraints. Should the circumstance require them, this unit can provide adequate facsimiles thereof on demand."

There was... just the slightest off-tone in Alpha's usual monotone robotic voice, just the briefest possible hesitation, something that might have gone un-noticed in a human voice, but robots were not supposed to behave so. Nevertheless, having said his piece, Alpha followed through with it.

"Thank you for your rapid response. This unit will ensure that Agent Legion is unharmed."

[SirNitram]

"This is NeXT. Orbital PSI-SAT scans indicate mental energies previously released contained. Within two minutes, satellites appropriated for observation of this op will be delayed sufficiently to trigger warnings in operating organizations/nations. Safe to release?"

[LadyTevar]

Lift them, Heidi. You scared them badly just now.
Slowly Heidi lifted her hands into the air, looking at Inferno and Mike curiously. "Someone want to tell me what just happened, and why I'm in the hallway?"

Oh like you don't know! You knew what you were doing when you did it!!
"Jerri... I have no idea what's going on," Heidi replied, wishing her 'sister' would get the hint that sometimes a little white lie was better than admitting the truth.

[Dark Silver]

It happened in the spanse of a second, Legion saw everything that occured from the Bum's eyes, then the eyes of the room. In the time it took to take a single breath, he was done.

And it nearly sickened him. Already straining, his complexion flush and his body out of whack while it continued to attempt to reign in the new powers, Legion looked to the man, shook his head, and being careful not to touch anything, he responded to NeXT's inquiry, "Release observational satellites. Forward to Headquarters the need for Level Ten Psionic restraint devices for our guest. And get him psychic consoling scheduled immediately. Until then, he's to be kept sedated."

With some of the powers under Control, with the stream of information coming as a steady stream instead of a raging river, Legion sent out a single thought reach over to the mind he felt amongst the digital webs, one he shouldn't have felt, because he was supposedly like Alpha. 'You and I will have to have a talk NeXT.....' the mental words flitted out to the Ghost in the Machine.

"Alpha, prepare to withdraw, I got everything we can here. I need a psychic recorder made available within the next hour, so I can transfer what I'm getting here, for evidence..."

Legion, shakily, began to walk towards the elevators, his steps gaining strength with each new one, "Right now....I want to see some of those scientists....."