Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Charon]

Legacies had reappeared after the display and watched the others make plans. "We too have a good amount of resources that we can tap to assist. And if all else fails, we have some places that are generally not watched, but they would by no means be comfortable."

[Cynical Cat]

"I appears that more than one of us have monetary resources we can tap. Argent, if you've got money that very bad people who are targeted by RICO are holding, tap in the near future. On a purely practical level, we don't want anything else from them, as they'll be crawling with law enforcement and quite willing to sell each other out to avoid jail. Our bad guys can bring a lot more heat than that."

[Marcao]

Chicago.

His mind flickered as he considered that particular city and what he knew of it. He had not worked there in quite sometime, it had never been the base of operations for any of the teams that he had been part of within his tenure at Ultima. His contacts and information would avail him little there, but that meant that it was unlikely that anyone remembered him there either. It was new ground to cover and he had always enjoyed travel. Still, the very idea that Argent could on a whim take him and a number of others to that distant city was very impressive. It merely cemented the fact that her powers towered over his own in that regard.

When money was brought into the discussion he said nothing. He was not wealthy in the usual sense of it all. He was far from rich, but he had a suitable education and he spent his own money wisely. He was not prone to frivolous expenses and had taken care of his money adequately. He had some cash reserves to absorb this little adventure. His head turned as he looked about the gathered group.

"I am good to go whenever." He had a handful of things on him at the moment, the rest he would have to buy after they got to Chicago. He had not expected to go on a roadtrip this day. His eyes slid towards Argent then and settled upon her. He had missed the opportunity to see her power in action earlier when he took Gravitas wormhole or whatever the hell he called it to this very rooftop. He was very interested in seeing how Argent's own ability would manifest.

[LadyTevar]

Argent feigned looking offended. "I'll have you know, the money I was considering all came from real estate and the stock market, Blackheart. Very legitimate sources."

She wasn't going to mention the Swiss Bank account at the moment.

"But since the money problem is settled," Argent continued, elongating into the black and silver dragon, "Time to go." She lunged around the team, seeming to stretch as she encircled them, and then they were gone ...

... Between, into the darkness where a far-off voice whimpered and giggled madly at the edges of their hearing. The only light came from the dragon's body as she swam through the endless black sea. From everywhere and nowhere came a deep thrumming, like a great unseen heart marking out time in the darkness. For those who had traveled with her before, this the longest trip taken thus far.
Three heartbeats. Four. Five. Six....

.... And they emerged into what looked like an empty corner office; no furniture, just a large commanding view of downtown Chicago. Argent resumed her human form and smiled. "I figured they'd not re-rented this one," she said happily. "Welcome to Sears Tower, Suite 9750."

[Cynical Cat]

"Nice," said Blackheart. "Who wants to volunteer to go buy street clothes for the rest of us?"

[Marcao]

Even though he did not know Argent for long, there was something about her look that felt off. He said nothing however, if he was seeing through her act it was likely that Blackheart would as well. It was when her words took a tangent and her body elongated that he nearly took a step back. He wasn't sure if he would ever get used to that, crimson flashing to his cheeks for a moment as he considered an inopportune time for such a shift to happen. How would he handle that? He ruthlessly suppressed the thought and before he could say a word Argent was wrapping herself around him, no. Around them.

The darkness that seemed to envelop them would have bothered many but in that depth he found a sort of peace. It was akin to a sea of darkness, a night sky without stars. His head turned as he sought a frame of reference, but he saw nothing. This space, this place seemed to be governed by the absence of light. No, that was not true. His eyes focused on Argent, the silver light which she seemed to emit an odd contrast to the utter darkness about them. For a moment, only a moment he lost himself in watching the silver which represented Argent swim in the seemingly endless darkness about them. It was a very poignant image, one that was dispelled when he heard a sound on the edge of his perception.

"Huh?" He whispered. His eyes widening as the sound continued to skitter about them. That almost sounded...human? A millisecond after he had framed his thought, they emerged into the real world. His eyes closed for a moment, the utter darkness mere seconds before still in his mind before he shook his head and took a step or two away from the group.

"This is very impressive." He said, although whether he referred to the view or the office could not be known.

[Marcao]

His eyes flickered towards Blackheart for a moment and he smiled. "I will do it." He would enjoy getting to see the city again. It had been a while, his eyes flickering towards Argent before he asked. "I don't know what is everyone's size however..." His tone was almost too sweet.

[Charon]

Legacies looked around the rather large suite, the mask falling back to display the scarred man underneath.

"We're trying to be inconspicuous, so you put us in the Sears Tower? We find this to be, not such a good idea. We would prefer to take to the streets, better allowing us to keep watch on our surroundings." Legacies looked around the large and elegant room. "We don't feel so comfortable here anyway, we shall go with Tachyon. Provide support."

[LadyTevar]

"I can drop you off at street level, Legacies," Argent offered. "But first, Blackheart's right, we need to get all of you men some clothing." She looked around at all of them, still in their costumes/uniforms/what-have-you, and shook her head sadly.

"Not one of you thought to pack spares?" she tsked-tsked, as a pillar of shadow rose up beside her. It took roughly the shape of a manikin as clothing appeared; jeans, boots, shirt. Her eyes shone as she grinned at Blackheart. "Does the government never teach you about quick-changes of clothing?"

Then Argent faded into a shadow-manikin as well, sidestepping to join with the clothed one. The two feminine bodies lined up perfectly, then slowly separated as one shadow stepped forward. The jeans and shirt clung to the one feminine form like second skin as the fancier costume was swallowed by the other.

Then the shadows dropped away and Argent was dressed, never showing even an inch of skin. The way she did it, however, should have men's imaginations running wild. "Now... I'll need everyone's sizes, as well as preferences on underwear," Oh, she was going to enjoy this....

[Marcao]

His eyes slid from Legacies to Argent as they spoke. He arched a brow when she commented on his lacking the foresight to carry an extra set of clothes. "I am sorry dearest Argent, but I did not expect to go on a several hundred mile trip this day." Besides, where did she expect that he would store said clothing? A back pack?

A moment later, the pillar of shadow manifested next to her and assumed its unusual shape. This was new. Her grin was noted, his eyes sliding towards Blackheart for a moment as if seeking to gauge his reaction. A moment later, they were drawn back towards Argent as she faded into the pillar of shadow that she had created. He watched quietly. It was certainly a very neat trick.

It was what she said next that snapped him out of his reverie. She had to be kidding. His eyes slid from Blackheart to the others before they settled on Argent. Was there a hint of pleasure beneath her eyes? For a moment he considered not telling her, but who was going to tell then? Hotfoot? The thought was met with an internal wince. No, wasn't she going to find out one way or another? Moments before, he would have given a great deal to have been able to see through that shadow of hers.

Fair was fair. This was one of those battles he was simply going to have to lose. The war however, if it could even be called that was something he had every intention of winning. "36-32, and I don't have a preference." The lie rolled smoothly from his tongue. He had worn both, that was true but he certainly had a preference. It was simply not one that he was going to share in a room full of men he had just met. His eyes lingered on those of Argent for a moment, allowing her to enjoy her victory. Let the games begin...

[Marcao]

His eyes flickered towards Legacies then, aware that he had been ignoring the super while involved in his exchange with Argent. He hesitated for only a moment before he spoke. "My apologies Legacies." His tone was sincere, he meant his words.

"I can take you to the ground floor easily enough, although with Argent's abilities it may be easier for her to move about and do the purchases that some members of the team require." He glanced towards Argent then, knowing that the woman was going to do something to get back at his deception. Oh, she could not read his mind but she probably knew that he had been less than honest with her.

"Still, if you wish to move about the city I would be willing to accompany you assuming that Blackheart gave his blessing." As pleasurable as it was to flirt with Argent, he was growing somewhat restless.

[SirNitram]

Gravitas' clothes changed. The Eufiber was a living thing, a unique species that fed off the ambient radiation the Nova gave off. It squirmed, twisted, and rewove in a rather interesting display. The three-peice suit changed itself to a full body superhero costume, heavy on the black with red. Glasses were removed and tucked away, as a 'visor' went over his eyes. "I haven't been Black Hole in ages. I figure it's time to let him out again."

[Marcao]

His eyes flickered towards Gravitas, drawn to it from the sound of his clothing shifting and rippling before becoming something else. Christ, first Argent, then Legacies and now Gravitas? Team Mirage was certainly putting on a show.

"..."

[LadyTevar]

Tachyon isn't the only one shocked by Gravitas' little display, but she recovers a little faster. "Umm... Gravitas? I thought we were going for Mundane clothing?"

[SirNitram]

"My face is known on a global scale as Gravitas, Michael Caine, or a dozen other names, all of which have a certain level of survellience. A small-time crime fighter is as inconspicuous as I get." Gravitas pointed out.

[Charon]

Legacies' suit shifted once again, leaving the old scarred looking man behind. The strong man looked weaker, sicker, looking exactly like any other homeless man on the street might.

"And as the opposite of Gravitas, there is us. Unknown and unnoticed."

[B4UTRUST]

Reason logged onto his computer. He was accessing a subnetwork of Ultima, not listed in the directories or generally known about. He assumed that others outside of IA knew about it and had made progress into gaining access. To do otherwise was foolish.

He executed a program on his system, for the next few minutes disabling every known program on this network that could be used to track or monitor his activities. This network never kept logs, or anything that could be examined later. It was as secure as you could get effectively. Every bit of data was encrypted.

Once on the secure network he logged his system into a different one. The new system was a email server running a specialty software designed by some of the same techs who had designed the vaporstream secure corporate systems years earlier. It would remove every bit of identifiable data from the email headers, wipe clean attachments or anything except the plain text of the message. It also disabled a computers ability to copy, print, save or create any sort of computer record of the message itself. And 10 minutes after it was read, it would erase itself, never leaving a trace. It was a rare neutral area of the government, no agency had control of it and no one dared be the one caught attaching sniffers or trackers to its software. Every agency was as diligent as one could get in ensuring the absolute privacy of that system. Their own secrets were at risk otherwise.

He typed out his message to Blackheart:

Setting up this drop is not as easy as we thought. I'm going to delete
Mirage Team from the system. I'll be removing as much of your history as
I can. Hopefully that will cover your tracks sufficently to make sure you
Lose your team in the underground. I will make sure you get a drop of
Equiment here shortly. A secure laptop at the least and if possible, I.D.'s.

Again, sorry for the delay. The network is full of bugs and all of those
God-damned trackers. Disabling both is a hard combination to pull.
Explosive's birthday is this week. He'll be, what, 41 or 42 this year?
Next year it'll all be going south for him, won't it? Being so old and all.
Though us being there with him will be the main thing. Not too many left.

He sent the message and logged off the system, reenabling the spyware as he went. After he logged off he got up and left his office, heading to the bathroom. In one of the stalls he took the email address Blackheart had given him and tore it into tiny pieces before flushing them.

When he returned to his office a few minutes later he set to work removing the records of Mirage Team. Like their namesake, soon they would vanish and nobody would know they existed.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot took off his mask and shrugged. "Look, I'm someone else too. Seriously though, I think I'll get a little grody if this is what I'm wearing all the time. I can walk around like this for now, since nobody knows who the heck I am and it's not like I stand out much anyway. I can help with the clothes shopping. I know some good cheap places to get clothes. Well, you know, not here, but in general. They have salvation army stores in Chicago, right?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent stared at Hotfoot. "Collin... you did NOT just say Salvation Army for clothing, did you." It was not a question, and the distaste was clear. She'd been there, done that, and moved up in the world the hard way. No Salvation Army or any other little hand-me-down store for her.

She turned to Blackheart for support. "We have Macys, we have Bloomingdales, we have countless small stores where asking the price means you can't afford it... and he suggests the Salvation Army?" she protested. "I'll foot the bill for 3 sets of clothing each, if that's what it takes, Blackheart, but it's going to be better than Salvation-fucking-Army!"

As an afterthought, she adds "And if we're undercover, we'd best not be using codenames, either...."

[Hotfoot]

He blinked at Argent's reaction. "Well, I mean, it's good stuff, and it's cheap. Plus this one time I went shopping there for costumes for some play or something, and then we did a sweet game of assassin with trenchcoats and violin cases with foam dart guns and...." He paused, looking around and remembering where he was. "....but yeah, whatever everyone else says is cool too. Maybe we should get some hair dye too?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent slowly shook her head in bemusement. "Yôu Dì, I forget sometimes how young you are." Whatever the Chinese term meant, it seemed to be endearing.

"Hair dye... what color would you make it, hmm? Silver like Legacies, or brown as Gravitas? Black, like the rest of us?" she chuckled, teasingly referring to Blast, Blackheart, Tachyon, and herself. At least the men had different color eyes: gray, black, and a blue-green she'd almost call turquoise.

[Marcao]

While he could sympathize with Argent's feelings about the Salvation Army, he had not expected such a visceral reaction coming from her. His curiosity was piqued and he tucked aside that bit of information for the future. His eyes flickered towards Blackheart, allowing the team leader to chime in before him if so wished before he threw in his two cents.

"I have to agree with Argent on this one. We have many department stores in the area that will suit our needs just fine." A moment later, Hotfoot took a tangent that was met with a dry look followed by a blink. He was just about to say something when Argent uttered something in Chinese, his eyes watching her as she spoke about hair dyes.

"Going as far as using dyes on our hair may be a little extreme for some of us." Hotfoot for instance was so new to Ultima that it was unlikely many people knew him well at all the same went for Blast. He had dyed his hair before a time or two, but he had never been overly fond of the process.

[Charon]

Legacies looked over at Argent. "To be fair, we do not have much hair left to be called silver. And we agree with his ideas on where to get clothing, but we don't see much of a difference between what is at a Salvation Army and what is at Macy's."

Legacies took a seat and leaned back, watching everyone else.

[B4UTRUST]

Bowman opened up the email when it arrived. He read it over and simply closed it. The system would take care of it in a few moments. He enacted the instructions included.

A few keystrokes later it was done. No records existed of Mirage Team that he could get to. There were others at higher levels and clearances that he couldn't get to, but someone else would deal with those.

In the meantime something had to be done with the remaining members of the team that hadn't disappeared. They were transfered out. Dr. Stone was placed back on inactive reserve. Ghost and Shingure were transfered out and would be assigned to the investigation team. That way they could be kept track of.

[LadyTevar]

"I have to agree with Argent on this one. We have many department stores in the area that will suit our needs just fine." A moment later, Hotfoot took a tangent that was met with a dry look followed by a blink. He was just about to say something when Argent uttered something in Chinese, his eyes watching her as she spoke about hair dyes.

"Going as far as using dyes on our hair may be a little extreme for some of us." Hotfoot for instance was so new to Ultima that it was unlikely many people knew him well at all the same went for Blast. He had dyed his hair before a time or two, but he had never been overly fond of the process.

"Thank you, Tachyon," Argent said, meeting his eyes with a smile just for him. "I've seen Blond Chinese... they look horrible. I far prefer black hair." and turquoise eyes? her mind whispered, only to be slapped down quietly so not to make empathic ripples.

"To be fair, we do not have much hair left to be called silver. And we agree with his ideas on where to get clothing, but we don't see much of a difference between what is at a Salvation Army and what is at Macy's."

Ahh... distraction, and a pet peeve is revealed. "Legacies, Macy's clothing is brand new." Argent explained. "Salvation Army clothing is second-hand, pre-owned, 'I-can't-fit-this-anymore', other people's *Garbage*." Yes, it seems that Lei'd had experience with Salvation Army (or another version of hand-me-downs), and from her tone of voice she refused to do so ever again.

"Now," she continued in a calmer voice. "If everyone else who needs clothing will please give me your sizes, I will be happy to take Collin and introduce him to a better quality of garments." Her eyes went to Blackheart questioningly. "Do you want to fetch your stash while I'm shopping, or will you need the clothing first? If not," she turned slightly to wink at Tachyon, "You do have another teleporter now, and we can get both tasks done quickly."