Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart rolled on the ground, disorientated by the teleport drop. He dimly saw Legacies holding Lenox. "I want the contents of that fucker's brain!" he said between gritted teeth. The pain was worse than intense. Agonizing didn't do it justice. Cobalt had done more damage to him, but it had hurt less.

Tears streamed down his eyes. White phosphorous grenades burned at five thousand degrees and his lower legs had taken a full dose. They had burned through pants and shoes and eventually through his skin. The pain was only growing worse. And although painful, those injuries were not as serious as the shrapnel wounds. Most of the metal fragments hadn't had enough force to bruise him. A few had more energy behind them. A lot more.

"Get me a knife. And pliers," he gasped.

[LadyTevar]

*Shit...*

Argent hadn't realized just how badly Blackheart was hurt until she'd teleported him. She wondered if he'd realized it while he was fighting, or if the Demonheart had blocked it off for him. Now the waves of pain were rolling off him, down through the link she tried to keep filtered.

Argent ignored her own dizziness to crawl over to him, pulling his head onto her lap. She placing her hands firmly on his shoulders to keep him there. *Hold still,* she ordered, before he could say a word.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself first, she reached inside him with her Empathy and -pulled- the pain out of him. For Blackheart, it felt like a dose of morphine without the side effects as the pain went away.


shitshitshitshit
Blackheart's pain was serious, and it was getting worse as his adrenaline dropped. Li Na didn't even notice the tears falling from her eyes as they suddenly flared silver from the stolen pain overflowing her internal protections. Frantically she locked down the links to the rest of the team to prevent the pain from back-tracking to them, ignoring the huge void that once flowed to Saibot. That link was dead, she thought; pain leaking there would go nowhere.

shitshitshitshit where are pigeons when you need them! she cried, her mind reaching out to dump the pain onto the first non-human mind or minds she could find before it overwhelmed her.

[Cynical Cat]

"I can handle the fucking pain!" Blackheart shouted. It was almost the truth. "Get me a mother fucking knife before the phosphorous burns through my god damn muscle!"

[Lady T, check the previous posts. Blackheart's been in intense pain since he took the WP grenades. It would be worse if the star spawn hadn't cranked up the endorphins and adrenaline levels.]

[Bloody Good]

"I don't think they're following us. It is a little bit insulting, yes?"

Through several meters of pavement and concrete, and quite a distance away, the two couldn't hear the commotion, but it was a fair guess that something was happening. Small-scale wars probably aren't common events.

"Do we go back and see what is happening, or do we stay here and wait it out? If we go back, do we go heavily armed, or try to blend in with the civillians? If we stay here, do we ready the defenses or hope for a non-hostile meeting? Should we just burn them all and let Utu and Nanna judge them as they arrive at the underworld? And don't get started on your silly gods. I remember being judged, and I never saw any black river or ferryman who demanded my pocket change."

[LadyTevar]

((Cyncat, Notice that Argent's deaf now. She can't hear a word Blackheart's screaming at her ))

Argent stared down at Blackheart in surprise, eyes silver, tears streaming. "I take... your pain away.. and you.. get mad?" she asked incredulously, splitting her concentration. Something was causing more pain in his legs, and it confused her. Only when she looked down his body did she realize they were still burning.

"What kind of grenade was that?" she exclaimed. White phosphorus was not something she'd worked with before, so its effects were a shock. Pain started flowing back into Blackheart as Argent split her concentration further, ordering shadows to strip away the remnants of burning clothing (and, accidentally, the flesh stuck to it).

[SirNitram]

"White Phospherous, incredibly dangerous..." Gravitas hadn't realized Argent was deaf either, and the bootknife that he carried came out and was handed over to Blackheart promptly. "We need to go, Blackheart. As in double time it out of here before the authorities make our position."

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart took the knife and quickly began to scrape the phosphorous off his legs, which meant taking most of his burnt skin off with it as well. Argent was killing the pain which meant the quick and nasty half flaying job went quickly. Blood ran down his legs when he was done. "Move us," he said to "Blackhole."

[LadyTevar]

Argent hadn't realized what Blackheart was about to do when he leaned forward with the knife, but her protest died unspoken. Silently, she continued pulling the pain away, tucking it inside her until she cold find some way to release it.

Pity the beast or man that she loosed it upon.

When Blackheart stopped, icy shadows wrapped themselves around his legs, attempting to bandage the bleeding.

[Dark Silver]

"Protective Custody" as Reason said he was being put in, was little more than a cramped cell in one of the hundreds of "dungeons" found in any good State in the Union.

At least the "protective custody" and he assumed, his eventual reading of the last rights, allowed him some small leeway in asking for things, which included for him luckily, a television.

It was a small one, no bigger than 13", and it was a old style CRT, but at least he got cable on it....a small recompense for not being able to take a shit without three guards trying to crowd into the stall with him.

He was waiting still, for Reason, or whoever it would be to come and tell him what the standard arrangements for this sort fo thing was - was he going to be thrown into a deep dark hole in the ground, given a "Fair" Trial and publically hanged.....

If he was being put on trial, he wanted to be on trial as Saibot - there were people in his neighborhood who didn't need to know Garth commited those crimes, he was looked up to and respected with those few people in Little Italy. Little did he know, most of those he was closest to in that part of the city was dead due to the explosion which took out his building, and several others in the area.

He flipped the channels again, leaning back on the hard bunk that was his bed, and continued his wait. They'd be bringing evening meal soon....

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

"Agents? The Commander will see you now."

Agents "Jay" and "Kay", as they aliases they used when they obliterated the subjects apartment complex in Little Italy, straightened up, and walked to the door.

They were dressed - much like earlier - in the black suits, no trace of a wrinkle upon their entire form. The door slide open silently, as the two walked in, then slide shut.

The Commander was a imposing man, highest ranked and one of the longest in service to the organization. His cold ice blue eyes seemed to tear into the two agents, as they stopped in front of his desk, and waited.

"Fifty people dead....multiple buildings destroyed...a blaze which could have taken out a good portion of the city had the Fire Department not been on the ball....." the voice was low, hard as steel, and bit into both of the two agents, "and all from a simple Retrieval Operation...."

The Commander's chair slid back, and he rose up, walking around the desk, hands clasped firmly behind his back. "Go into the apartment, obtain the two boxes...and wipe the data storage. NOTHING in your orders included demolition or destruction of the rest of the facility. Both of you disgust me....you killed innocent civilians, endangered the lives of countless others, caused millions in property damage....and discharged Class F plasma weapons - killing a officer who was simply doing his job."

The two agents stood stock still, as the Commander stood infront of them, cold rage burning in his eyes, "As of this moment....you are both dismissed. Your Security Clearences were removed the second you stepped into the anteroom. Your network access has been terminated. You will both be dealt full censure, and I'm placing both of you in Maximum Security detention. I'm going to throw you both in the deepest, darkest hole I can find, and make sure you both rot there for the REST of your lives."

Dejection settled in both of the agent's faces - just like that? Gone? What of all the loyal years of service?

Both were so lost in their sudden shared internal misery, they didn't see the two ham-sized fists ramming into their solar plexus. They both doubled over in pain, before those same fists connected on their jaws, and knocked them both on their backs.

The Commander stood over them both, his right hand sheathed in a red glove like device, "Even if you manage to crawl out those holes I'm throwing you two in...you will NEVER be anything but common criminals...you won't even be able to pick up dog shit for free....."

The Commander bent down, placing the tips of his fingers on "Jay"'s chest, before the fingers began to sink in, the smell ob burning and charred flesh filling the room. His fingers sunk in to the middle knuckle, before extracting them, Jay's sobs and cries of pain ending shortly thereafter. He repeated the motion to "Kay" 's chest, burning his fingers into them. The fingers were clean when he removed them, the heat so intense, it burnt off the blood instantly.

"Guards, get these pieces of filth out of my sight. Throw them in the brig, and schedual them for the next flight to Gramercy."

The blood and assorted liquids oozed from the two former agents chest, as they were drug from the Commander's office....

[Haizu]

"You know what? It is kind of insulting. I mean we shut down their plans to hold us, they probably think that we are demons of some kind due to the power that we use, and they saw where we went! What more could they want? Oh, and you might want to reset that."

"Oh." With a crunch, Tasat twisted his nose back into place.

"As for going or staying, I think it'd be best if we stayed here. I mean we're good, but I don't think we could take on all of them at once in the open. We should definately ready the defenses, we don't know how they are going to react once they do get here. And even though it would be alot fun and they deserve it, we are not just going to burn them to cinders. We could use some allies here."

"Yeah that's true." Tasat replied, looking rather downtrodden.

"We have no resources, no intelligence about our enemies to work with, and I'm getting really tired of smelling like shit and stealing everything we need to survive. Here put these by that barricade." Tholos tossed Tasat a bundle of simple, wooden javelins that looked like they had been made out of living trees, almost as if they had been grown for this specific purpose.

"Funny you should mention the Gods because I didn't see your blue-bearded Moon God or your glow-in-the-dark Sun God either, so shut your blasphemous hole!"

[B4UTRUST]

Baden looked up as Tach appeared. The glow faded from his regrown hand. His eyes flashed with anger.

A second later Blast showed up. Baden's hand raised and from it came a wave of kinetic energy that knocked over shelves and displays in its path, some of them flying into splinters and debris as the blast tore them apart.

[Hotfoot]

Blast let the shards bounce off his shield as he tapped his own power. What little of the Bob's energy mingled with the power from the city's grid and Hotfoot's plasma shield. Today was going to be a bad day to be Baden. The energy unleashed itself at Baden, more than enough to kill any normal human, though hopefully not enough to bring down yet another building...or hurt any civilians behind Baden.

...Meanwhile...

To anyone that was paying attention, the blur of flame was slower, the fire dimmer, but it was still working full tilt, trying to get the civilians out of harm's way. Soon it started creating triage centers as it noticed people tending to the wounded.

[Marcao]

He had not expected Blast to converge on Baden’s position more or less at the same time that he did. Baden looked up as he entered his field of vision and it seemed that his hand seemed to stop glowing. He had regenerated? That was…irksome. The anger in the man’s face was genuine and he almost smiled. He always tried to make good impressions. Blast moved to his side, his approach not gone unnoticed to his momentarily boosted perceptions.

Baden hand was raised and from it came something. It was difficult to tell since it was hard to see, its effects on its surroundings were visible enough however. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. Shelves seemed to be picked up and carried by the gesture, some exploded altogether breaking down into their component parts as the attack closed the distance between Baden and his targets. His mind raced, a counter attack prepared even as Blast acted. That he had not expected, but it seemed Blast had been a volcano about to erupt.

Blast’s attack did not carry with it a great deal of finesse. It was a torrent of energy raw and barely harnessed aimed towards his target. He barely had time to watch what sort of interaction if any there would be when both attacks crossed each other before he began to feel the caress of Baden’s anger. His force screen flared, the myriad of preliminary impacts drawing a host of colors to flicker over his screen. He had a handful of seconds to react, what had impacted his screen first were the lighter objects. The larger objects with their larger energies were just about to hit.

He felt himself being picked off the ground and pushed back, he felt the increasing pressure against his force screen and decided that staying put would be inadvisable. Besides, he had in mind a way to help seal Baden’s fate. His body was fully off the ground when he acted.

<Blink>

It was a simple matter of geometry. Blast’s attack intended to plow its way toward Baden, he wanted to attempt to cut off potential avenues of escape. In his mind, he saw the pattern which he desired and his body took care of the rest. He appeared behind Baden and to his left. As he did so, his right arm moved and from it sprang a cone of indigo energy which sought to engulf his target. He was not holding back, the cone would extend long enough to reach Baden and attempt consume him while denying him easy ways to escape his or Blast’s wrath.

[SirNitram]

"No pressure.." 'Black Hole' muttered, slinging the laptop from his back off and opening it up. His fingers flew over the keys as he dared to tap the comm to the team. A risk, but a measured one.

"Time's up guys. Finish up that guy then we get the hell out of here. Argent and Blackheart are going up first so they can get to the medical facilities. The authorities are already coming, let's not get our faces on their records, shall we?"

Commands were transmitted. Devices of technology even Gravitas didn't fully comprehend clicked to the on position. A shimmering enveloped Argent and Blackheart as they vanished from the street.

In a facility few knew about and even fewer could access, on the far side of Earth's only moon, the two figures materialized in an ICU.

[LadyTevar]

((Nit? Communication devices were left at Blackheart's, due to bugs in the system. Remember?))

One of the worst things about being deaf is that you never know if someone actually tried to WARN YOU before displacing your body Heaven-knows-where. Going from 'lying on Chicago street' to 'lying on cold tile in empty medical' was a bit of a shock. Which might be why her arms tightened around Blackheart for a moment and a touch of fear leaked over into his mind.

[B4UTRUST]

Baden died in an inferno, his body being reduced to lots of fragmented bits of bone and a small amount of blood.

When his body burned away his last thought was to unleash all of his pent up energies. The shockwave rocked the building, breaking through the walls and threatening to snap supports and bring the entire place raining down around them. The building shook as a cascade of debris and broken objects came tumbling down to the ground and flying up in the shockwave, creating what amounted to the world's largest claymore landmine.

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

When Argent and Blackheart appeared in the medical bay the first thing they noticed was that it was empty. The examination tables were still there, bolted as they were to the floor. But no trays of instruments were around, no diagnostic machines or displays to monitor the data. No nothing.

The second thing they noticed was the lack of light. Emergency lights, red and foreboding were all that lit the station. And even they were beginning to show signs of fading as the backup power systems shut down one last final time, sucked dry.

Throughout the station was signs of destruction. Anything that wasn't nailed down but couldn't be taken and was of use or importance was destroyed, broken. Console displays were smashed in, wiring torn out by the handfulls. And aside from the debris it was empty. Creepily so.

The windows peering out over the moon were frosted over, a layer of condensation having frozen into ice. The entire complex was uncomfortably cold, well below the norms of human preference. With the power fading, life support had likewise died. The soft constant noise of the air being recycled through the ventilation was silent. The sound of the heating or cooling working was gone. The fans, stopped.

All that remained was the slow, whisper-like hiss that signified only one thing to the observant and knowledgable person. Somewhere, somehow, the outer skin of the complex had been breeched, and the little, precious air that remained was slowly, but steadily, leaking away, venting onto the atmosphereless moon.

[Cynical Cat]

"Fucking moon bases," said Blackheart. "More money than fucking brains." He broke away from Argent and began hunting. At least flying in one-sixth normal gravity was easy. The place had clearly been stripped, which was to be expected sooner or later.

Of course the power was dying the the atmosphere was going. Time to see what he could do. He let his ears guide him. It didn't take him long to find it.

A small hole near the roof. Well, he could fix that. He turned to a metal cabinet door and sliced off a chunk with his flash vision. He handled it gingerly as the edges were hot enough to scorch him and placed it over the hole. The then welded it in place.

The patch would do for now. It probably wasn't perfect and the place would probably slowly loose air from other places anyway. But it did buy him time. He started scrounging.

The place had been thoroughly looted, but there were somethings just not worth the effort. It didn't take long to find half a roll of duct tape, a pair of pliers, and a wrench. He went to work.

The shrapnel in his body was slippery with blood. It was hard to get a good grip on them with his fingers. Pliers on the other hand held them just fine. He gritted his teeth and started pulling.

It was over quickly, although it felt as if it took twice as long. He covered the worst of the cuts with duct tape. It would have to do for now.

[LadyTevar]

When Blackheart had taken off so suddenly, it had confused her as much as her surrounding did. Her damaged hearing never heard the air leak, and that realization had scared her more. Even worse, they had no communication to warn the rest of the team.

Or did they? She was linked to the team....

Argent reached out and grabbed for Gravitas through the empathy links ... and found them painfully thin. It would take a lot to get through to him. Something with a lot of power behind it.

And then Blackheart decided to conduct self-surgery, and suddenly had a lot of pain to pass around. She stole it from him greedily, without telling him what she was using it for. It would just distract him.

**PAIN/DANGER!**

She shoved the message down the link with all the 'pressure' that had been locked up inside her, as well was what she was stealing from Blackheart. For good measure, she attempted to siphon off some of the DemonHeart's rage and hatred to push the message through. She couldn't even predict if she'd be able to get a message back, but she had to warn them not to send more of the team.

Only then did she speak to Blackheart. "I think I got a message to Gravitas."

[Bloody Good]

After nearly half an hour, the two of them were thoroughly bored. Tasat has started picking bits of concrete off the flor and flicking them into a puddle near him. His face was looking pretty bad. His nose had swollen up a good bit, and the bruises had spread out. "So. They are likely gone. Do we want to find them again, or should we forget about them?"

He paused. "Or do we make them find us? We could start drawing some attention to ourselves. Paint a sign for them."

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart nodded in acknowledgement, having figured out that Argent was deaf. God damn Gravitas for taking them here. He wondered what part of "avoiding people and places associated with us" the self proclaimed god hadn't caught. It also hadn't occured to him that some of the guys they were tangling with would know about Saibot's little moon base.

He remembered a line from a Black Company book, "just because he's a god doesn't mean he's smart." The didn't have that much time. Air and heat was already scarce and it would only get worse.

He scorched a message into the floor with his flash vision. "CAN YOU GET US HOME?"

[LadyTevar]

"I can read lips..." she retorted testily. Kinda. Mostly. Touching the DemonHeart hadn't been pleasant, and the ill-will had gotten to her. Still, Blackheart had asked a valid question.

"I could try, but none of my 'ports are instanteous, David," she said, slumping down next to him. "Ember worked it out to about a second per ... 'heartbeat' ... for lack of a better word, and roughly a mile per second." SHe didn't hide the concern in her voice. "How many miles from where we are to Earth?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Fuck," said Blackheart with all the eloquence he could muster. "So we have to hope Gravitas gets back to us before we run too low on heat or air."

[LadyTevar]

Well... curse words were easy to read. The rest took her mouthing the words to get everything. "Wait for him, or we try Between," she agreed, watching him for his answer. "Before you ask, I'm not going to try a test run."

[SirNitram]

"....That can't be good." 'Mike' thought to himself as pain, fury, and a feeling of doom shot down the link. He gritted his teeth as he looked up to the area, and then simply opened the portal. The effect was immediate; not having sealed it against vacuum as he did when he opened it to space, air was now flowing through at a decent clip. "....Very not good."

Distance became a question of perception. Bypassing the space between Earth and the Moon entirely, Mike stuck his head through the wormhole. "...Dammit, I thought I scrubbed all other entry to this place. Fuck. Fuck. Get out of there, I'm gonna set the place to blow to make sure there's no other surprises."

A fucking moon base! This timeline had never had a great space age, how the hell had they gotten up there without the teleporter, and without notice? It simply wasn't fair; the appearance of actual demons had been stretching it. Right now, he was ready to take Proteus over this shitstorm.

The power was gone as he walked through the dying place. The portal shut after the other two were out; Mike had never had any problems with true vacuum, why should this bother him? Even the self-destruct likely wouldn't work like this. "...Urgh." He grunted to himself, and flickered back to the ground.

Now he had to find a way to hide two definately Metahumans and their definately abnormal injuries in someone's healthcare system, and he had never even planned for such a contingency.

[Cynical Cat]

"There's been fucking moon bases since the '40s," Blackheart hissed. "Fucking nazis were first. Our meta age is more than sixty years old." God damn foreign universe cowboys who thought they new everything. "I don't need a fucking doctor. Just time to hole up and heal."