Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[LadyTevar]

"Did you think they'd have us go today? Right now?" Argent asked Dr Stone with a touch of amusement. "You're right, we will need time to get organized, for me to see how close I can teleport us to RCE's compound." Her eyes go again to Blackheart as she speaks. "Right now, I can get us to Albequerque, but the right turn afterwards is a problem."

Softer, she added. "There's also the matter of where I'm going to be staying while I'm grounded." She gazed at Bowman steadily. "What will stop someone from simply removing me from Ultima's premises in the middle of the night?"

[B4UTRUST]

"Well Dr. Stone, I agree with you in part. However, notice that I never suggested it be done today or even tomorrow. I asked a question concerning a posibility for the team, not demanding immediate setout.

"And let me ask a question. Your access to our database should give you the answer. What team currently has more experiance dealing with entities from RCE? What team has a better chance of dealing with a small army of demons?"

[Dark Silver]

A cursory skimming of the database told him pretty much what he needed to know.

No other team has gone up against something like Abaddon or any of RCE's other creation. Which meant, this team had the experience, even if that experience was only one fight.

"Your right Agent Bowman, this is the only Ultima team whose faced a RCE creation before. My apologies for jumping the gun.."

[B4UTRUST]

"I honestly don't know, Argent. I can't override Reason's orders on this particular issue. He's got rank, and I agree with him that you need to be punished for your actions. And this is the only way that will keep you on the team and on active duty without you doing jail time.

"My only suggestion at this point is to be careful and be on your guard. Don't be alone for too long and make sure your teammates are with you when possible."

[LadyTevar]

Argent nodded, not arguing the fact of her punishment. "I understand," she said simply. "I will need to go pack a suitcase for my stay." Her eyes wander the team, and a slight smile touches her lips. "Which of you gentlemen wish to be my babysitter then?"

Those black-on-black eyes stop on Blackheart as she finishes her question, blinking once, mildly, before her head deliberately turns to Bowman with a change of subject. "Kyosuke has worked with us before, and he has been staying here at Ultima. He is a demon-slayer, and his skills would be very helpful...," she suggests, before tilting her head slightly, as if in thought. "Although ... he was not pleased to be in my company, and Blackheart's tumor disturbed him nearly as much."

[B4UTRUST]

"If you trust Shingure then I'll see if I can't find you a room close to his. At least that way he'll be within earshot of you if he's needed. I'll see what I can do."

[LadyTevar]

"Earshot will not be a problem," Argent answered with a short laugh. "If someone does try to kidnap me, the entire team will know it."

If the kidnappers can't get her Empathy locked down before she can hit them with it, they will not be feeling much like running, either. Forget Lust and Fear: Argent remembered the Astronomer's lair quite well, and had been asked to teleport Avatar for medical aid. She didn't think any outside the team knew she could inflict physical sensations with her Empathy.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot looked at Argent as she chastised him. Something deep was at the source of his anger, something not linked to the events in the debriefing. "I'll be right back." His shield snapped into reality with a sharp crack as the air around him ignited. The flame became a blur disappearing into the hallway, and almost as quickly as he was gone, he was back, his emotions shifting rapidly in the sparse few seconds he was gone. While the anger wasn't gone, it was slowly being dulled and pulled to the back of his mind.

The sound of clattering trays filled the table as he came back with enough food to feed a small family, all of it steaming hot. When the shield shut down, he was sitting at the table eating a jelly filled bagel, taking out a bit of his anger on the tough bread. "So short version, we need to stick together, work together, and all that stuff, then go down and do recon on an enemy base. All the while there's a metahuman murderer on the loose." He took a large bite and shrugged. "Why don't we go to the training room, get a feel for each other, then track down the serial killer? Then we can do the little scoot and snoop and maybe even take it down for good once we get there?

[SirNitram]

"Sounds good to me." Gravitas nodded to Hotfoot. "Though obviously I need to heal a bit before anyone can expect more than me hovering in place outside of emergencies." A grin. "If possible, Blackheart, Bowman, could I have a private discussion? Even while I'm like this. I'd prefer it be one not for official records, but if you insist, I will be happy to comply."

[Cynical Cat]

"As you wish," said Blackheart. "The rest of you, hit the gym. Try and get familiar with each other. Let's try to do it better than last time."

[LadyTevar]

"Blackheart?" Argent had to point out the obvious here. "Last time we practiced in the gym, we wrecked it. Should I teleport them to the *other* training grounds, where we can't break the buildings anymore than they have been?"

By 'other' she meant deep in the heart of what was left of Old New York City, left to crumble as Millenium City was built taller and better. Of course, the last time they'd been in the wreckage, Saibot had been trying to kill Avatar... or was it Legacies....

[B4UTRUST]

Bowman nodded to Gravitas.
"Fine. Just hang back when the others leave."

[Cynical Cat]

"Not yet," said Blackheart. "We start out nice and low powered in case of accidents."

[LadyTevar]

Argent nodded assent, rising to her feet. As she did so, her body elongated, growing impossibly long and flexible, changing from human to an elegant Oriental dragon of jet, obsidian, and silver. The lithe dragon wrapped herself around those she meant to transport and vanished with them to the gym. Even the WARpath mecha was removed, leaving Bowman, Blackheart, The Bobs, and Gravitas alone in the conferance room.

Barely a heartbeat later, the team was delicately deposited on their feet in a large gymnasium, with enough head room for flight and length for running. Luckily, it was also empty of all but themselves. The dragon settled in the middle of them, her equine-like bewhiskered head turning to look at Dr Stone with huge silver reptilian eyes. "Doctor... would you like me to demonstrate more of my abilities first, so you know how I operate?"

[Dark Silver]

Stone blinked.

One second, he was about to step to his Armor and climb in...then the horrible horrible blackness......

he felt a shudder of cold fear creep down his spine still, as he quickly composed himself.

"What.......what was that? How did we...."

When Argent spoke, Stone faced her, raising a eyebrow, "Young lady....next time, I ask that you warn me before you do that again. Let me just get into my armor before you demonstrate anything...."

With that, Stone moved towards the now opened armor, which awaited it's operator.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot nodded and the shield snapped into place again as he started eating at an accelerated speed, the food getting toasted ever so slightly as he apparently wolfed it all down. Inisde the shield, he was taking his time. His metabolism was enhanced, but he knew the consequences of eating too quickly, even like this.

Within half a minute, the food was gone, along with the shield. "Okay then, let's do this." No sooner had he said the words than Argent had teleported him from the room and into the training room. He smirked at the suited suit, his sense of humor coming back in slow bits. "Relax dude, it's bad the first few times, but then you don't get used to it. Now, Blackheart said low power, so Blast, tone it down to three city blocks, Argent, only take over a small country, Gravitas, only knock a tiny moon out of orbit, Ghost, only enough ammo for a small village, and Legacies...just don't eat anyone this time, okay?" He snapped his shield back up and keyed in his communicator, starting a set of stretched before combat started.

[LadyTevar]

Argent gave Hotfoot a very dirty look down the long line of her nose. "Isn't that why they're trying to kidnap me?" she asked bitterly, before turning back to Dr. Stone.

"As soon as we can, Do... ... Warpath...," changing to the mecha's name since he was inside it, "I will need to take a moment to build an empathic link to you. It allows me to track everyone and know when they need backup. It also allows me to teleport to them, even if I've never been there myself."

A draconic smirk grew on her face. "It also lets me do this...." And since Hotfoot was being a joker, she hit him with a giggle-fit.

[SirNitram]

"Bowman. Blackheart." Gravitas gently levitated himself into a seat, and let his limbs move slightly. The wounds weren't as bad as he was acting, but it definately hurt him to do so. "I wished to speak on why I did what I did. I realize that to you two, my probability estimates and predictions probably sound insane. But with the event we were just all party too..." A shrug.

"How far can I trust you gentlemen? How far can I trust you if it turns out Ultima itself is compromised?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Your going to have to decide for yourself how far you can trust us," said Blackheart. "I barely know Bowman, I can't certainly speak for him. My loyalty is to Ultima's mission. It's leadership gets that loyalty only as long it is part of the solution, not part of the problem."

[B4UTRUST]

"Well, Gravitas, I think the question goes both ways. Can we trust you? Can we trust you to not go off and do your own thing and to stick with the team and the mission?"

[SirNitram]

"Ah yes... Dedicated to solving metahuman crisises... The question, Blackheart, is whether I should trust you to beleive humans turning on the powerful but few is a crisis unless the few fight back." Gravitas leaned back, wincing. It clearly hurt alot, quite a change from his usual aloof act. In the end, just an act. "That's the mission statement, isn't it? Rapid response and solving of metahuman crisis situations."

"As for trusting me.. I am not one who was ever good at rules. I've backstabbed and turncoated and alot of other things. But as long as I can beleive Ultima is trying to keep the future I fear from happening, I will be more tractable."

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot paused for a moment as Argent shot him the dirty look. He got the ever wonderful feeling in his gut that he got when he just realized he did or said something stupid. The feeling, however, was soon twisted into a fit of laughter that he had been holding back to laugh at Warpath. The laughter was intense, and soon he was pointing at Argent, and in between snickers, wheezing "No fair, cheater!"

[Cynical Cat]

"Actually the last mission proves that I can't trust you at all," said Blackheart. "You turned on me in the field. As for trusting me, you don't or you wouldn't have done what you did. It doesn't matter much anyway. My time is short. Raising Caine and whoever is paying for their work are going to make the situation worse. We all agree to that. They need to be put down. Our interests converge for now at least. You can worry about trust with whoever inherits the job. Odds are that my mind won't be running my body much longer after that, if I'm still alive."

[LadyTevar]

"No fair, cheater!"

"You made the bad jokes, you should laugh at them too," Argent replied with that same draconic smile. Her point made, she stopped egging Hotfoot on, letting his giggle fit die out slowly, naturally. "So, Warpath, would it help if you saw a demonstration of everyone's powers while we wait for Blackheart to join us and explain what kind of training he had in mind?"

No one else seemed to have noticed, but Blackheart hadn't given them instructions on what to do. Argent was acting on her own ideas for the moment, which was have the team show off a little for the NewGuy, and then see what the NewGuy could do. It all relied upon the other teammates having no better ideas, however.

[SirNitram]

"I intend to keep you alive, Blackheart. Because you are a known factor. You don't trust me, fine; I know you anyway and have a good grasp on how you handle situations. You can understand my reluctance on trying to learn a new guy just to continue my own objectives." A pause. "No point in lying. I'm here for my own reasons. Raising Caine is a serious threat to both of us, so for now, we're good."