Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

[LadyTevar]

There was a long silence from Heidi. ... I cannot believe you just did that. Not surprised he said yes, but I can't believe you did that for me.
"She'll see you in 3 hrs then," Jerri said quietly.

Great... now I'm going to have to find a way to set you up with Inferno.
Once again, Jerri turned bright red from something she heard from Heidi. "And that's something I'm not repeating."

[General Havoc]

Alpha's tinned voice piped up, appearing to emerge from the miniature hologram standing rather imperturbably, several inches tall, on one of the empty desks.

"This unit's assessment of the relevant threat level posed by this pharmacological compound is presently imprecise. This unit requests access to all relevant technical data, as well as to a sample of the compound in question for analysis."

The robot hesitated a moment.

"This unit... cannot physically access the laboratories in question. This unit therefore requests that it be... provided a sample by courier."

In essence, it was asking for someone to grab it a sample and meet it in the garage level.

[Dark Silver]

Legion listened to the debrief, the orders, and very business like, spoke, "I've already recorded everything I've learned into the psy-corders as per policy. Everything was scanned over for veracity by the in-house PsyOps team. My own post-op eval is standard, Hawk, and it is already schedualed."

It was then that Heidi and Jerri switched places, and Legion raised a eyebrow. "I'll provide you with the chemical forumla for the pill before these powers fade off. I have a feeling, that while I couldn't shift through everything at once....everything we need to know about that lil tablet is located in the psy-corders."

[B4UTRUST]

"If it's in them, we'll find it and have everything analyzed. Hopefully the answers are in there."

Hawk turned and addressed the holographic Alpha.
"If you think your systems will turn up something we'll have all the data made available to you and I'll see if the lab can get you some of the pill to analyze. It'll be a small bit though. One pill and everyone plus dog wants their bit of it for study.

"If there's no other questions or requests, you all are free to go."

[rhoenix]

"Alright you lucky pieces of flotsam on a giant sea of shit, we're landing this bird in Tee minus forty seconds! Last check-in!", Supervisory Special Agent Montalban, known more commonly as "SSA Monty," yelled out the reminder to the assembled rescue team over the sound of the door-less chopper.

If this rescue team was called, along with others like it, it meant a very serious disaster, natural or otherwise, had occurred. Mankind was already capable of calamity on a shocking scale, metahuman potential shoved that scale into a free-climb. It was astounding how often one could see the truly human in the most insane metahumans, as everyone was trying to be heard, was trying to make their displeasure known - and would use every means at their disposal to do so. For metahumans, this usually got messy.

Special Agent Sunter, known to his team as Pulse, had been a part of this Search, Relief, and Rescue (SRR) team for the past six months, and already had seen more action than when he was Pararescue in the United States Air Force, something he never expected to be able to say. He was drinking the last of his energy drink, a now-common staple of his diet lately to stave off the effects of fatigue. Thanks to his ability to biomanipulate his own physiology as well, he didn't need the sheer amount of energy drinks his teammates did - but they still helped. Besides, they were the 5 Hour types, with a pleasant lemon/lime taste, his favorite.

None too gently, the helicopter's skids touched down right before SSA Monty gave them the ready signal, all of them snapping to focus at the same time, slowing their breathing, and otherwise getting themselves prepared for what they were about to see this time. They never knew quite how bad it was until they showed up - it almost seemed like a morbid joke.

As they landed atop this skyscraper, all of them felt the skyscraper slowly list as the chopper landed, lending speed to their boots as they ran out of the chopper - the pilot would need to lift off in seconds. Of the six members of his team, four dove off the four sides of the building, eager to reach the ground as fast as possible. Special Agent Sunter was quickly surveying his surroundings, as his usual tast was that of speed extraction, which required coordination from Special Agent Kagatsuhi, currently jumping down the north side of the skyscraper, who helped coordinate the visual points of reference to make Special Agent Sunter's job easier.

A large shadow began to fall on both Special Agent Sunter and Special Agent Hanlee. Both agents looked, only to see another skyscraper falling toward the top of the skyscraper they currently stood atop, as the helicopter left them behind.

Looking quickly around, Special Agent Sunter saw a place they could go, at least for now - a giant hole had been blown into a skyscraper about a mile away, and was easily within view from where they were. Activating the magnification feature on his goggles, he worked quickly and calmly to gauge distance and depth, all too aware of Special Agent Hanlee's reports that the skyscraper was gaining speed, and would land on them in less than ten seconds. Finally, Special Agent Sunter got his bearings just as Special Agent Hanlee began to panic.

Suddenly grabbing the female agent's hand, Special Agent Sunter saw the buildings in the strange, bluish-grey vision of his mind's eye, and focusing easily on the spot he wanted to land. The distance between where he and Special Agent Hanlee stood and the skyscraper a mile away seemed to shudder to his perception, shaking slightly as he concentrated, pushing gently, pushing a little bit more, and then suddenly the distance seemed to collapse on itself, leaving them standing in the ruins of the skyscraper's crater, safe and sound - for the moment. Neither of the special agents stayed to watch the other skyscraper smash into the smaller one where they had been standing just moments ago, bringing down both of the giant buildings with a cloud of silicate dust and debris. Both agents just glanced at one another and nodded - this was all part of the job. Just last week they had to dodge hungry sharks on the job for more than a day.

The team kept communication to a minimum over the next several hours, keeping with terse, informative statements as they feverishly went about their jobs of rescuing as many people as they could. Useful though Special Agent Sunter's ability was, it most certainly had its limits, most notably that it took a few seconds, and that he couldn't bring along more than one other person at a time, so it was usually limited to time-sensitive instances. As it was, the small team had already directly rescued or coordinated the rescue of over fifteen thousand people in this part of the place christened Omnicorp City, north of Rio de Janero in Brazil.

Their orders were also somewhat unusual - or would be unusual if it hadn't had been for Omnicorp's hellish creations. Their mechanical soldiers were always spotted, mapped, and dismantled in the field by other teams working with the SRR team coordinating the main rescue effort. Usually only one or two exploded in gigantic thermonuclear fireballs in a given incident, and thanks to Special Agent Ghedren's abilities, those were usually ameliorated without causing any additional damage or loss of life, even if he did have to take a trip into space each time to safely release the energy he absorbed.

Fourteen hours after this SRR team had landed, they had rescued 99.8% of the known innocents in the area, adding an additional 18.6% that were unknown. Seven Omnicorp machines were damaged but not destroyed, all were safely destroyed, though one did explode. Most of those injured during the day were on their way to relief shelters, their goal to keep loss of life to a minimum even in the midst of battle or disaster a cautious success this time.

As all of the SRR agents piled into the chopper, they wearily slumped into the padded chairs, removed their helmets, and wiped off their faces with clean towels - though none of them began to take off their utility belts or uniforms; they all knew better.

However, from time to time, they got a rude addition to a job, normally the time when upper management would choose to "promote" an agent, something that seemed to be a sick joke. After all, they commonly joked, wouldn't it be better to find out after a good night's sleep and a hot shower? Even so, it would appear that someone's time was up, as SSA Monty stomped out from the cockpit, reading from a tablet that gently played light upon his face in the darkened chopper cabin. "Special Agent Sunter? The boss wants to talk to you quick, fast, and in a hurry when we get back!"

The tired chuckling from the other agents was still audible in the darkened cabin of the helicopter. It would appear that time was up for another of them. "Hey," said Special Agent Kalagi to Sunter. "Where do you think they'll throw you?"

"I have no idea," Special Agent Sunter said with a tired shrug. "I got out of Pararescue with the Air Force to get a job here, and I've been here since. I don't really mind too much where they put me, except for that one team that they're trying to reform or some shit? What was the name?"

Everyone burst into laughter at the thought. Special Agent Kalagi shook his head as he did so. "Who, Omega?"

"Yeah, that's them. Aren't they the ones that wear all black and give everyone a bad name? That must be where they put all the really 'special' agents," Special Agent Harmon agreed with a laugh.

Special Agent Sunter just shook his head. He didn't listen to rumors too often, but he had learned which ones to listen to, and which ones could be ignored. He did have a sinking feeling that he might be learning more about Omega soon, so his own laughter at the jokes sounded a little hollow.

[B4UTRUST]

Ultima Regional Headquarters, Chicago, IL
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 - 0930 Local
Briefing Room - 612

Hawk was waiting for the team when they filed in in the morning. He was leaning casually against the table, facing the door, a cup of coffee in one hand and a half eaten bagel in the other.
"Morning team," he said, somewhat cheerfully. Which implied he had at least three other cups of coffee that morning already.

A rolling cart was nearby with a pair of large coffee urns on top along with several clean white generic coffee mugs that had the BMA logo stamped on their sides. There was also a box of assorted pastries from one of the local bakeries on the bottom shelf of the cart.

"Your labors yesterday and last night bore fruit. And I want to thank you all for your hard work in pushing this so hard. So grab yourself some coffee and a donut and take a seat and we'll get this show on the road. Don't worry, neither are decaf."

[SirNitram]

"Someday, I must find a way to synthesize the regenerative effects of caffeine. I understand it eases long term processor usage. As it is I think one of my subnodes overheated processing all the data in time." NeXT materialized.

[Dark Silver]

Legion fixed himself a cup of coffee - 3 sugars and 2 creams - and grabbed one of the Bavarian filled chocolate frosted doughnuts.


"You'll all be glad to know Psy-Ops certs me "Free of Outside Consciousness"".

With that, Legion found a comfortable seat at the table, set his coffee and doughnut down, smoothed the crisp pleat in his black slacks, and sat down.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike wandered in, yawning softly before walking to the cart, filling his mug with coffee and grabbing a simple donut. The meta soon found a seat, silently drinking his hot beverage and eating his unhealthy pastry.

[LadyTevar]

Jerri hurried in, lab-coat still on and laptop bag over her shoulder, with a stainless steel mug already in hand. The mug had a green-inked design of a molecule formula; those with knowledge of such (or having seen the joke) could identify the molecule as Caffeine. Her blond hair looked mussed, her clothing haphazard, as if she'd dressed hurriedly and then spend several hours already awake and busy.

Jerri rapidly refilled the mug, adding enough cream to make it more like cafe au lait with three sugars. Grabbing two french cruellers, she sat down at the table, setting up the laptop with efficiency and speed. The data she called up was more of the findings her fellow scientists had made while Jerri was doing her own early-morning research, and the young woman fell back into intent study with barely a wave for Hawk, Legion, and NeXT.

[General Havoc]

Alpha's miniature hologram materialized as well, turned in this case towards NeXT, speaking in what, for it, was an affable tone of voice.

"Agent NeXT," it said. "this unit's files indicate that all Omnicorp experiments with chemical additives to quantum processing units resulted in unacceptable systemic degradation to test-rig processing systems. This unit's tertiary priority protocols preclude self-experimentation routines with a non-negligible risk of systemic degradation for systems of Class-3 rating and lower. Have you succeeded in quantifying meaningful results from such experimentation on your own behalf? Such results would be of great interest to this unit."

[B4UTRUST]

Hawk smirked and covered it with another drink of coffee. He chose to forgo a comment about Legion's insides matching his outsides and the lack thereof.

When everyone had arrived and settled in he set his coffee cup down and stretched for a second.
"Alright, boys and girls. Some of you already know this from pulling the extra hours last night and this morning so you're ahead of the curve. For the rest of you, here it is.

"We pulled apart the pill Legion recovered from the lab. Analyzing its structure and running it through every system we could access we started pattern matching bits of it. Thanks to NeXT's scans and searches we were able to link back the vast majority of the data to the Biongyn corporation. Further comparisons with our sample and some of their previous works narrowed it down further. One Helen M. Fulks, one of Biongyn's top R&D minds has her genetic signatures all over the protein markers in the pill.

"The background of Mrs. Fulks is clean. No known ties to any sort of criminal group, no warrants, no arrests, nothing other than a few speeding tickets. So nothing to bring any clues off hand as to why she would be funneling data into Apex. We delved a bit further into her background to grab as much intel as we could. Currently married, seven years to one Mr. Abraham Fulks. One child, daughter, four years old. Jennifer Fulks. A handful of PhDs from Stanford, University of California and a few others, all geared towards chemistry, biology and biotechnology.

"I already pushed forward paperwork based on the findings. We've got the green light to bring Mrs. Fulks in for questioning. Enjoy your breakfast, we'll be moving on Biongyn in about two hours to bring Fulks in. Questions?"

[B4UTRUST]

The team was moving towards the door when the phone in the room rang. Hawk grabbed it and put the receiver to his ear.
"Hawk."

His eyes went distant for a moment as he listened to the voice on the other end. He raised a finger to signal the team to hold for a second. The conversation on the phone went on for a moment longer.
"Alright, understood. I'll send him down immediately."

Hawk hung up the phone and looked at the team.
"Inferno, you need to report upstairs to your doc. Apparently there was some sort of inconsistency with your last eval. Nothing serious, I'm guessing. Probably some intern misfiled some paperwork or some shit. But they're saying you need to head back and talk to them. In the meantime, we still need to get Fulks. Legion, take lead on this one until Inferno can catch up. Keep me informed."

Inferno nodded, fighting the urge to sigh.
"Yes, sir."

The team turned and filed out, the two holograms of NeXT and Alpha disappearing.

[SirNitram]

As the connection with the meeting room was dropped, NeXT's consciousness finished up the report to send to Alpha. It did him no good, of course, the ghost of the machine didn't care how carefully you fiddled with the hardware, he still needed proper downtime and had never gotten it.

His mind shifted to the satellite networks, and jumped to the GPS ones. Flitting to the right one to get the view right, his min dropped to a nearer one, camera pointed down, studying.

[Dark Silver]

Legion nodded, finishing his coffee as Hawk gave them their orders. He rose from the table, throwing the cup in a convient trash bin, and headed out, "Meet in the Carpool in fifteen minutes," he said to the others, before the holograms disappeared.

This should be a simple extraction job, no fuss or muss.

He hoped.

[LadyTevar]

*Yawn* So what's going on??
"We're playing fetch again," Jerri muttered, closing her laptop and following Legion.
Oh fun. Wake me if you need me...

[B4UTRUST]

The team arrived at Biongyn a short while later. It was a tall gleaming building of steel and glass with a piece of modern corporate artwork out front. Probably cost more than the salaries for a year of all the agents combined. And yes, it was close to being an eyesore and tacky by most people's sense of design.

Entering the lobby of the building the group had the opportunity to feel underdressed compared to some of the suits scurrying around the lobby, off to some important meeting or other, busily consumed in their own worlds, cellphones plastered to the sides of their heads. The lobby stretched far overhead, well up to the third floor before it finally stopped. And it stretched far back. Wooden benches circled a fountain in the center of the lobby, with large koi fish swimming in it lazily. A row of elevators lined the back wall with staircases off to the sides. Before the elevators was a large semi-circle desk manned by three young receptionists. A small security office was visible to the left and small, discrete cameras dotted the lobby at strategic places.

Legion, Gemini, Gordon and a few suits that Legion had requested entered the lobby and made their way to the reception desk. One of the receptionists was just setting down her phone when the group approached. Her smile was just a few watts short of blinding, though it didn't come close to her eyes. They didn't pay her quite enough for real, honest-to-goodness sincerity.
"Hi! Welcome to Biongyn where we make a better tomorrow through science! How can we assist you today?"

[Dark Silver]

Legion, flanked by Gemini and Gordon, waited as the receptionist finally acknowledged them, smiled a disarming smile, and spoke in even tones. Unlike perhaps Gemini and Gordon, Legion was dressed in a very tasteful Brooks Brother's suit that was fitted to go over his Contact Suit.

"I am Special Agent Legion of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. I would like to see Doctor Jennifer Fulks please. Could you direct me to her office and or lab?"

[B4UTRUST]

The smile never wavered, fake as it was. It was the kind of fake plastic smile that could last while the bearer was telling you to go fuck yourself sideways with a chainsaw.
"Certainly, sir. Is she expecting you? I'll just call ahead and notify her that she has visitors. Excuse me for a moment."

The receptionist paged through a binder on the desk, running her finger down the column of names and phone extensions. The finger paused and then she flipped the binder closed before picking up the phone. She tapped out the extension and listened. A moment later she hung up the phone.
"I'm sorry, sir, but Dr. Fulks doesn't seem to be in at the moment. Perhaps she's out to lunch. Would you care to perhaps leave a mess-"

She stopped her sentence as she looked past Legion and the others.
"Oh! Mr. Weaver, I didn't see you there, sir," she said.

The man, pushing into his late forties, was immaculately dressed in a suit that had clearly never known the words 'Off the rack.' He smiled, a warm and honest smile. He was a shade under six foot and kept in good shape. His dark hair was touched at the temples with streaks of grey. A white photo ID badge was clipped to his collar.
"What seems to be the problem here, Tracy?"
"These people are here from Metahuman Affairs to see Dr. Fulks about something. But she's not in her office and it's going straight to her voicemail. I was just asking them if they might leave her a message, sir."
"No need, I'll take them up to the labs and see if we can't track the good doctor down. Thank you, Tracy."
"Y-yes sir. Thank you, sir."

Mr. Weaver smiled to the agents.
"Hello, I'm John Weaver, Chief Science Officer here at Biongyn. If you'd care to accompany me, we'll see if we can find Mrs. Fulks for you. Ma'am, gentlemen," he said politely, motioning them towards the elevators.

He walked ahead of them and pulled his badge off, swiping it in front of a reader. The elevator dinged and a moment later the doors parted, revealing the empty car. Weaver stepped inside and waved his badge again before pressing a button. He waited until everyone was inside before pressing the button for the doors to slide closed again. The elevator began to rise as he turned towards the group, face still open and fairly friendly.
"So, may I inquire what has brought Mrs. Fulks to the attention of our infamous Ultima bureau?"

[LadyTevar]

I don't trust him Heidi had woke up enough to make several comments, including more than a few disparaging words on the artwork out front.
Down by her side, Jerri's right hand formed a fist and jerk-nodded once. Silent communication between the Twins was difficult -- they weren't telepathic.

[Dark Silver]

Legion thanks Tracy as she attempted to help them, was perturbed by the fact that Fulks wasn't answering the call, and only slightly suspicious when Weaver showed up. Still, keeping a very politic face on, Legion thanked the man, said his good byes to the receptionist, and followed into the elevator.

When the question was asked, he put on a honest, if small smile, and nodded, "You could ask, Mr Weaver, but I'm afraid protocol requires me to keep it confidential. Suffice it to say, Dr Fulks is currently the best person to answer some questions we've uncovered in a recent case."

[B4UTRUST]

Weaver's smile faltered slightly at the answer, but maintained it none the less.
"I see. Well, I'm sure she'll be happy to help you as best she can. But in the meantime, is there anything I could possibly help you with in her stead?"

[Dark Silver]

"Your doing a great deal already sir," Legion said the words as if he meant them. Which he did. Taking Dr Fulks in would be a simple, easy thing. Not like the last two missions.

"I promise we won't take up much of Dr Fulks' time, and we'll try not to interrupt the work being done in your labs."

[B4UTRUST]

Weaver nodded, still smiling.
"I would appreciate it, agent. Some of our work is very sensitive and delicate."

The elevator dinged as they reached their floor, the doors parting. The elevator opened up onto a hallway leading off to the left and right. Weaver stepped out and headed to the left. A male lab tech was walking down the hallway towards them, head bent down studying a clipboard in his hand. He was wearing jeans and a coffee-stained white t-shirt that bore the same caffeine molecule design as Jerri's mug had earlier and over this he wore a wrinkled lab coat.

Weaver angled towards the young man almost immediately on sight.
"Jason, a second," he said politely.

The young man stopped in his tracks and jumped, clearly startled.
"Uh, oh, hey sir! What can I do for you?"
"Have you seen Dr. Fulks around lately?"
"Oh, uhh, let me see..."

The tech trailed off as he scrunched up his brow, reading through the papers on the clipboard, flipping through them at random seemingly.
"Oh, here, uhh, she's scheduled to be in the clean lab with Hiromoto and Kumar until two."
"Thanks, Jason," Weaver said, smiling.
"Oh, and there's some papers that need your signature. I left them with your secretary. FDA trial forms."
"Thanks, I'll get right to them."

Weaver turned to the agents as the tech went back to studying his papers and walking down the hall.
"She's suppose to be in our clean lab doing testing. I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside. I'll call her out, but it'll take a few minutes to go through the decontamination procedures. If you'll follow me."

He lead them down a few more corridors until they reached a room with long glass windows allowing them to see in. Inside three individuals were working over lab equipment, though what they were doing wasn't immediately obvious. All three were sealed in hazmat suits, making identifying the three impossible from their current angle. This was obviously the clean lab, indicated by the suits inside and the multi-stage airlock door to the side. A call box was installed near the door. Weaver stood next to it, watching the individuals until it looked like they weren't doing something potentially harmful or thought intensive. He pushed the button.
"Helen, can you come out for a minute? There's some people who need to speak to you about something out here."

The shortest figure jumped slightly from surprise as Weaver's voice boomed loudly through the internal speakers. There was a crackle as she activated her mic to respond.
"Yeah, sure boss. Give me a minute and I'll be out. Can't stay too long though, got that appointment at one I still need to catch."

The figure stepped over to the airlock and hit the button. It opened up and she disappeared inside, the airlock closing behind her. The hiss of gasses and liquids being sprayed into the airlock was audible even through the thick glass and steel.

A few moments later the outer door opened and a short brunette with glasses stepped out in a business casual pants suit and lab coat. She looked over at Weaver as she exited.
"Hey boss, who needs me?"

Weaver gestured to the agents nearby.
"They're from Ultima, they said they need to talk to you about something involving one of th- Helen? Are you alright? What's wrong."

Fulks' eyes darted over to the agents as Weaver started talking. They got wider when he told her where they were from. Her face turned an unhealthy shade of white. She was visibly afraid, and further proved this by immediately backing up against the airlock, which had already closed behind her. Her hands frantically smacked the wall around her, trying to hit the button to cycle it again.
"N-no, no no no you guys can't be here you're not suppose to be here, oh my god wh-oh, oh god."

The words came out a mile a minute up until the end where she hunched over and vomited onto the floor. A second later she began to slump over like she was going to pass out.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike Gordon had followed along silently in a simple dark brown suit jacket over a black polo, keeping his mouth shut, since he was really here for muscle at the moment. As the woman began acting franticly and reaching around to open the airlock he stepped forward, intending to calm her down.

That was until she vomited all over the floor. He jumped back. "Oh shit." He said, not sure if he should approach now.