Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Cynical Cat]

"Not everything in my life is about you Argent," said Blackheart. "Besides, I thought you were too pissed at me to want to talk."

[LadyTevar]

"Annoyed, yes. Pissed, no." she clarified, ignoring the first comment he'd made. It was true, she was pissed more about how much repairing the pool was going to cost after Tasat's little tantrum. She was avoiding Blackheart more because of Elias.

[Charon]

Legacies had been gone for all three days, having dissappeared on his 'walk' the night of the event which had caused such commotion. He'd spent all the time where he was far more comfortable, in a populated area, living among the refuse of the city. Legacies had found himself a seat to watch the beginnings of the trial of his old friend Saibot, and sat quietly, watching intently enough that people knew better than to try and change the channel.

[Cynical Cat]

"Glad we have that cleared up," he said coolly. "Having fun with Elias?"

[LadyTevar]

There were many ways to answer that question. Some were far less than polite. Argent went for the simplest, safest answer. "Yes."

[Cynical Cat]

"Good," he said. "It's simpler if everything is clear."

[LadyTevar]

That raised an eyebrow. "Nothing is ever simple with you, Blackheart," she said before thinking to censor herself.

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes, that's true. I'm at war inside, fighting my own impulses and urges because so many of them aren't mine and would be disastrous to give into them. I don't kill out of rage or hate, although both emotions flow through me. I kill when, and only when, necessary. Simplicity is convenient. It means my internal war is irrelevant. It's a battle I don't have to fight with myself, a battle I don't have to worry about losing."

[SirNitram]

Gravitas had simply vanished at Hawaii, after opening the gateway for Blast and Blackheart to return. Now the Nova had re-emerged from wherever he had gone, and was moving back into the routines from before the interruption. He didn't speak of where he had been, simply moved back to tracking RCE through the channels open to him: Pro-metahuman groups, shady organizations who didn't work for the government, and the stock market.

[LadyTevar]

"Yes, that's true. I'm at war inside, fighting my own impulses and urges because so many of them aren't mine and would be disastrous to give into them. I don't kill out of rage or hate, although both emotions flow through me. I kill when, and only when, necessary. Simplicity is convenient. It means my internal war is irrelevant. It's a battle I don't have to fight with myself, a battle I don't have to worry about losing."

Argent's eyes narrow as he lists off the reasons things aren't simple. Some of them she felt might be directed her way. Like the comment about killing out of rage. "Are you referring to the other night?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Not directly," Blackheart said, "although the comparison is valid."

[LadyTevar]

"Then say it directly, or drop it," she answered in the same tone, crossing her arms.

[Cynical Cat]

"We weren't talking about you," said Blackheart, "we were talking about me. Simplicity remember? Your with Elias. Fine. Simple."

[LadyTevar]

"You made the choice to leave..." she said, her head turning away to look down the street.

[Cynical Cat]

"You made it clear what you wanted. Or didn't."

[LadyTevar]

Slowly her head turned back, her flashing eyes locking on his. "My 'wants' have not changed." Not giving him the time to think what that could mean, she continued speaking, "But I refuse to wait for you to make up your mind. Even with Tasat, you tell me to release him, then child me for not finishing him off and go to finish it yourself."

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke left the warehouse district, moving quickly. The chances that Ghost would report his last location and what he had done were high. But it was something he couldn't solve at this juncture.

He was fairly unhappy that he couldn't retrieve his belongings from the Ultima building. Like his tea set. That was important to him. But he had all his weapons and equipment that he absolutely needed for the operation, which was of primary importance.

He made his way back to the gateway and jumped back to Nevada. There he walked into Vegas and hailed a cab to take him to the address that Saibot had given him. Once at the location he waited.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost sat in the back of an ambulance, looking out the back of the vehicle. A paramedic tended to his face, a bandage already wrapped aorund his burned arm. He winced as the paramedic pulled out the slivers of metal. He had talked to his new team. Now that they had found who did it, they were being sent on to new things, and Ghost was once again being left behind.

"Ow." He said when the paramedic pulled out a particularly jagged piece of metal. His mind wandered back to what Kyosuke had said. He was right, metas on both sides were causing too much damage. He thought back to the fight that Mirage had in the park, that had caught so much media attention. He remember shaking his head at the antics of that team. A few days later, he was on that very same team.

The old spook knew that something had to be done. But was killing metas on both sides of the war the right thing?

*********

Three hours later, he was in his apartment, bandages on both sides of his face, his head killing him. He sat in his chair, and waited for Argent or his boss at the Company, to contact him.

[Cynical Cat]

"Being mad at someone isn't a good enough reason to kill them," said Blackheart. "You were going to kill him because he pissed you off. I called you off because we hadn't yet exhausted options other than murder. I considering killing him because he wouldn't control himself and that was better than letting him loose. Because of the possible negative repercussions from killing him, I agreed with Blackheart that keeping them on a short leash and having him dump them somewhere else if they were a problem was a superior solution.

"Then you decided to kill him anyway, and you did so by dropping an undead meta in a semi-active volcano and not staying around to verify the kill. By doing that you made keeping him around impossible, but we didn't know the problem was over. So we went and checked. He beat the odds and was still alive.

"My positions remain consistent and clear. I kill out of necessity, not anger. I kill only when it is the best option available and whenever I try and kill someone, I do my best to make sure they actually die. You tried to kill a man in a fit of pique and then you not only failed to complete the job, but you didn't verify it.

"You want to deny it, fine. You want to pawn off your guilt on me or change the subject, fine. You want to be pissed at me, fine. But you had better get used to me not giving a shit. I've got an army of ghosts following me and I earned them. I deserve them. I have too little time left to spend it dealing with this bullshit.

"You're a lousy killer. You run hot and reckless when you kill. Leave the killing to others. One more ghost won't make any difference for me."

[LadyTevar]

There were several protests that rushed to Argent's mind as Blackheart went off on her.

The problem was Blackheart was right. Again. Dammit.

"Fine..." Argent said icily. "Anything else you want to yell at me about?"

[Dark Silver]

It was several hours before Saibot, dressed in civilian clothing, which included a dark grey trenchcoat and fedora, walked into the Inque Spot - one of the hundreds of dive bars which populated Los Vegas and was kept out of sight thanks to the flashier casino/bars along the strip. This was a place the local dregs preferred to go.

It didn't take long for Saibot to locate Kyosuke in the crowd, the white trench coat set the Japanese man off from the others. He walked to him, sat down next to him, the fedora throwing off his features just enough that he wouldn't be to recognized - besides, he knew the bartender.

"Shot of scotch and soda Frank on the rocks." Saibot said as he took his seat.

"I found what I was looking for." he said lowly, keeping the conversation between themselves. Frank set the glass in front of Saibot, muttered a "There you go Mr. Trakk," and walked off.

"Most of it was emptied out, like i expected, anything of real value..and I noticed some of the surveillance equipment was still active...I deactivated them, and got the place cleaned up a bit....we have all the basic amenities within it, including what was, ten years ago, one of the most sophisticated computers on the planet - all one hundred and fifty miles into the middle of the desert. Give a day or two, we can reestablish satellite hookups and have it fully operational. And it just so happens...I know where we can get the rest of the equipment we need to outfit the C&C back to new...."

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke was nursing a beer, his first. The American definition of what constituted a good drink was obviously something completely different then the rest of the world. Most of the world wouldn't let their dogs drink this, much less drink it themselves. And especially at those prices. He took another sip and grimaced. Whoever the hell marketed Budweiser as the king of beers was lying to themselves and everyone else...

When Saibot came and sat down next to him he said nothing, just listened. Saibot could have been talking to anyone in the place, including the bartender.
"This is good. My business in Millenium is completed for the moment. We should continue this elsewhere."

[Dark Silver]

"Frank is good...and I own the place anyway..." he said softly.

"One of my alter identities incase I need to go under...thankfully Donald Trakk has a nice bank account to go with his holdings here..."

Saibot tossed back the drink, consuming it in one swallow, and set the glass on the counter. "The man in white's drink is on me Frank. Get this place cleaned up for my next visit."

With that, He started walking out, stopping a few feet from Kyosuke, and said, "Coming?"

Once the two were outside, Saibot lead them to a alley, where his outfit changed into his old black and blue uniform, and the two were surronded in a green bubble, before taking to the air.

[Cynical Cat]

"I'm not yelling and I'm not angry," said Blackheart. "I was tempted to kill him myself and almost did. It was a mistake and Gravitas was able to clean it up before it hurt anyone innocent. It's not worth brooding over it. Learn and move on. I've made more than my share myself. Just chalk one up to experience and move on.

"I'm tired and I don't have much time left. I don't want to spend any of what I have left feuding with my comrades. If we're through, then we're through. Be happy."

[LadyTevar]

"Through?" she asked, blinking at Blackheart in momentary confusion. Then she laughed, stepping closer to him until they were nearly face-to-face.

"David... we've not even started yet..." And she reached up, grabbed his face, and kissed him very thoroughly.