Heroes: The Rise of Omnicorp

[Cynical Cat]

"It's Ghost and someone who carefully concealed his identity and has the same build as Saibot," said Blackheart. "They have a base somewhere near Las Vegas. We need to discuss what to do."

"To clarify what we can do legally, Saibot's a fugitive from justice and we can legally hunt him anywhere in the US. We can arrest Ghost for harboring a fugitive, conspiracy, and related laws and dish out the beat down necessary to arrest him and Saibot is already a fugitive from justice with a fuckton of time hanging over his head. We have sufficient grounds for arresting them as we have reasonable grounds to believe one of them is Saibot. If he isn't we have to toss them back, unless they resist arrest in which case we have them on other charges.

"Now, I'm not exactly the chief of Saibot's fan cloud. Most of you have more distance from this issue than I do. Questions and suggestions on what we do, if anything?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent gave Blackheart a glare. "What Blackheart is saying is I saw a man in body armor, who had a psi-blocker I couldn't read through, who had a similar build to Saibot and refused to show me his face as he was talking to me."

Another rolling of eyes as Argent tried to point out the obvious flaws. "Of course, it's not like I can't walk downtown and find 10 men who have Saibot's build just walking the streets, now is it. And Hotfoot isn't likely to take his mask off to someone he just met either." A glance to Alexander. "He waited til we got you here, first, right?"

"The base wasn't just dropped there... it's been in place for a while," she continued, looking back to the team. "Ghost said that his bosses suggested this transfer, to get him out of their hair about Gazer killing his wife," Argent explained, adding more background to it. "I couldn't get a good read there, he's got too much anger at his bosses and too much grief over Mary for me to push through unnoticed."

"After Ghost went inside, Sentinel stayed to talk for a moment. Again, I couldn't get through the psi-block, even with the dirtiest trick I know." She didn't explain what trick that was. "Got him to spill more than he might have, once his other brain took over. He's got bosses, backers who are paying him, Ghost, and 'techboys', so this isn't something that was just thrown together in a week."

A deep breath. "He also stated Ultima found Saibot's remains in the wreckage. Claims it was an internal memo ... which means he or his bosses have a spy there."

[rhoenix]

Growing more and more intrigued by the conversation, Alexander looked up from his laptop as Argent was asking him about Hotfoot's mask, and identity. He nodded in response. "I didn't see what Hotfoot looked like until we all came here."

The emerging details seemed...disparate, and yet connected as the news reports, and Argent's explanations came together. This was indeed something interesting. He saved his work on his laptop, and then closed the lid, putting it to sleep. There would be time for tinkering later - curiosity took precedence now.

[Cynical Cat]

"Ghost was a spy in Ultima," said Blackheart. "And Guardian Force was never a government operation. Do you think that any part of the government would let Saibot walk away with a magic saber and power ring? Ghost was lying about that. Forgot that part. Thanks for reminding me. Oh, and Argent knows its Saibot too, she just doesn't want it to be that's why she's throwing up red herrings. Carry on people."

[LadyTevar]

"I don't know it's Saibot!" Argent snapped.

[Cynical Cat]

"No, you don't. You're just finding reasons for it not to be Saibot, despite the fact that he's a power ring with the same build and associated with the same organization and not a very big organization at that," snapped Blackheart. "So let the rest of the team get a fucking word in and then you can go back to pretending Saibot's a good man instead of a blood soaked bigot."

[LadyTevar]

"Saibot wasn't the only survivor of Guardian Force," she spat out, revealing one of Saibot's little secrets. "White Guardian, Black Guardian, Red Guardian. All three survived, with Saibot being the least wounded. He kept his ring, they kept theirs."

And now, they had suspects for the backers.

[Marcao]

He did his best to keep track of the conversation that had erupted between Blackheart and Argent. It took some effort to manage it and when the team members lapsed into their familiar exchanges as of late he sighed softly. He remained silent until there was a lull in the conversation, his eyes darting about the gathered group before he took the bullet and spoke. Above everything else he had to be true to himself. He did not allow his relationship with Li Na to color his perception, Ultima
training overrode that as he expressed his opinion on the matter.

"This is where I stand at the moment." He said, letting his words sink in and hopefully gaining the attention of both Blackheart and Li Na before he continued.

"I did not know Saibot as well as most of you did." The file he had received on the meta had been pretty thin. Saibot had been before his time. He was aware of some of the history between that meta and Argent but that mattered little in this particular situation. "I know less about Guardian Force. However, I suppose we have to ask the following
question: Is Saibot our responsability at this point? I understand that he was part of Team Mirage and if he survived that shuttle incident, then it may be of interest for us to track him down.

However, we do not have any solid proof that he is alive. We do have Blackheart's suspicions." He glanced at the meta then and continued. "In this case it may be enough. I am Ultima trained and I have had far too many close calls with people coming back from the dead to take it for granted." If someone claimed that a meta was dead, he did not believe it until he had physical and undeniable proof that it was the case. In the age of meta humans and cloning, definite proof was very difficult to find. "Still, if Argent is correct we may be going after the wrong people. Can we afford a detour at this point? Will this get us closer to our desired end result? if the answer is yes, then my vote is to check it out. Not taking a chance now may bite us in the ass later." Trust but verify, where had he heard that before?

[Cynical Cat]

"Saibot was a regenerator," said Blackheart. "Body parts and genetic material recovered don't prove a whole lot about him being dead. I have a one track with regard to the man, I don't like unfinished business and he maybe unfinished business that's racking up a body count. I really don't like the idea of a man I failed to close the book on continuing to kill. I'm the attack dog, not the leader." He shrugged and half smiled.

"Ghost might be a useful information source. He was working for one of the groups infiltrating Ultima. What he knows about the other groups, I don't know. Only one way to find out. But it might not have to be the best course. I'm seeing red, I know that. That's why I'm asking you."

[LadyTevar]

"At least you admit the one-track-mind," Argent muttered. "What is our 'long-term goal' now that RCE is flattened, anyway?"

[Cynical Cat]

"You might remember agents stomping through Ultima, stealing shit, and threatening to blow up a city block when caught? I had to sever a hand to avoid going boom, so it sticks a little bit better with me. You might, however, remember an early incident with nanotechnology and you almost dying. People with high government access to treat Ultima as their bitch and we're detached so they can't do the same thing while bringing them down. RCE was suspected of growing agents for them. Too bad angel boy decided to flash fry an records."

[SirNitram]

Argent and Blast could sense it first; the former feeling a surge of awareness, followed by Blast feeling the massive energy now being radiated out from below, before being tamped down. For a few moments, a familiar presense would be felt by all, like someone standing in a doorway. Then it's gone.. And the sound of something shattering came from downstairs.

Gravitas emerged from his cocoon like a nine-to-fiver on a day off, stretching and rising slowly. The crystal itself was wet with grey matter with nasty-looking growths, and skull fragments, despite the Nova being apparently unharmed. His borrowed bathrobe was thrown on as he scooped up the rather dirty suit he had worn to the Omnicorp mission, and proceeded up the stairs.

Things had changed about him. His eyes were luminous starfields, the pupils spinning galaxies. He smiled at the team. "I see we're still getting by. Sorry for the nap. Sitrep, if someone pleases, then I'll wash my suit."

[frigidmagi]

"You're alive! What happened?" Tobin cried rubbing his head. He had been about to speak before a surge of power had hammered him right through the soles of his feet and rolled into his brain like a ocean wave. It had nearly blown him off his feet. It was good to see Gravitas back.

[LadyTevar]

The sudden awakening had done what Blackheart only wished he could, and made Argent shut up for a moment, as she suddenly looked towards the short hallway leading to the basement. "Gravitas?"

Then it's gone.. And the sound of something shattering came from downstairs.

"HE'S AWAKE!" *HappyHappyJoyJoy*

"I see we're still getting by. Sorry for the nap. Sitrep, if someone pleases, then I'll wash my suit."

Before he can say anything more he's hit by a very happy empath, hugging him tightly.

[Cynical Cat]

"Welcome back," said Blackheart. "Have a good nap? Need anything?"

[SirNitram]

Gravitas rocked a little from Argent's sudden tackle, smiling. "Well, the energy I pulled from the reactor to shut down Omnicorp was gonna probably kill me or drive me nuts, so I went into Chrysalis.. I'll explain it later." He promised.

"Pretty well, Blackheart. I need drycleaning for my suit, information on what's going on, and at some point a half hour on the phone making sure nothing fell apart in my absense. But the first and third can wait if anything's urgent enough."

[frigidmagi]

"Well Blackheart and Argent were arguing about whether or not Saibot is in the New Guardian Force that just appeared. See Los Vegas just got attacked and two guys dressed up in Guardian Force uniforms showed up. Argent confirmed one of them was Ghost. Blackheart thinks it's Saibot and wants to go get him. Argent thinks Blackheart is obessessing over Saibot since we can't prove whether he's alive or dead. Oh and we got new guy who shots light!" Blast said attempting to bring him up to speed as fast as possible. Maybe everyone would calm down now and just relax a second.

[LadyTevar]

"oh... Nothing much," Argent said, pulling away from Gravitas. But not before the physical touch warned him it was a Huge Deal. "More MetaKiller murders in MCity, and another in Chicago. The last one in MCity was an Ultima agent called Gazer... who two days beforehand had a civilian casualty during a firefight. She was Ghost's wife, and she didn't even know what killed her."

Shock number one down. "You know the prison transport shuttle was blown out of the sky, and no survivors. We're arguing that Saibot may have survived, the bombing was to cover his escape. Just today, two RingBearing Guardians show up in Vegas, doing the Freelance Hero thing and saving a lot of people. Blackheart is actually right... one's Ghost. The other Blackheart is trying to convince everyone is Saibot, because of the Ring."

A dirty glare to Blackheart. "Of course, this doesn't cover the fact that there were Five Other Rings floating around somewhere, including two more that created blue-light projections," the Guardian fangirl bluntly pointed out. "And the fact that both Black and Red Guardians also survived and retired into hiding, while White Guardian went and turned into the rogue we knew."

"SO........ Either Saibot's back, or someone wants to clear the smear off the Guardian's good name by bringing them out of retirement with new kids. Ghost said he was volunteered for this by his bosses, so that's his excuse. Guardian 'Sentinel' is psi-blocked, so I couldn't get shit outta him, other than mention that yes, Blackheart, Saibot is Dead, they found remains."

She looked back to Blackheart, then to Blast. "Does that cover everything? Oh... no... Hydro's allergic to psionics, and Alexander here can toy around with photons, but is still really not sure he wants to join this nutso band of meta he's stuck with."

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes," said Blackheart, "we don't know who this new Guardian is. He's only got the same build as Saibot and same Guardian Force connections. The only way to know for sure is to pull off his mask and look. We have the legal grounds to do so if we go that route. But I have an axe to grind. Maybe I should just pass the buck to Ultima and let them do it."

[SirNitram]

Gravitas considered the updates, letting them file through his head. "Alright. Guardian Force, we watch until we either see more signs of Saibot or his anti-Meta bigotry. I want to crush Saibot under a skyscraper myself, but he's not our target we were released to deal with."

The Nova thought a few more moments. "Shuttle crash was more likely an attempt to finish the job started with the firebombing. But if there's not a full body, I don't count them as dead. Ultima will flail around and probably expose plenty to daylight for us."

"In the meantime, any word on those vat-agents we ran into? I'd like to deal with that and stop being a fugitive. Helps book sales, hurts my charity work. But I've got no illusions. Depending how out of hand the Metakiller situation gets, we may be looking at the dominos of a major backlash against Metas."

[Cynical Cat]

"That's the other side of the coin," said Blackheart. "Saibot might have been grabbed or rescued by people who wanted the Guardian Force gear. Ghost was a spy for another agency and US government agencies employed those vat jobs. There's a lot he might know. So there's a connection there, but its thin and I maybe making too much of it."

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot looked up from the computer, having gone over a bit more information, as well as restraining himself from signing up for Herowatch to virtually war with Argent over a few choice comments she made while he was watching. As the discussion of Saibot came up, he rolled back in his chair and reclined.

"Well, first off, why don't we look at why we're out here, under the radar, without any sort of official support. I remember men in black coming after Argent and me to 'clean up' the whole mess with Saibot. I remember an entire building being destroyed to cover him up. I seem to remember this being a breaking point when we first decided to go 'off the reservation'," he said, using fingerquotes to accentuate certain phrases.

"We've hit Raising Caine, and while I don't think that's over, we've set them back a bit. I say it's time to check out this organization. Ghost...I don't know about him. Hard to trust a guy who likes doing what he's told that much. I mean, he wouldn't join us, now he's joined up with this group, seems to me like he's a little to happy to jump when asked. For all I know, he's best friends with the guys that blew up that building Saibot used to live in back in Millenium City.

"If Saibot, Garth, is a part of it or not, I don't think it matters. It's clear to me that someone in the government, or supposedly in the government, wanted Guardian Force stutff, and now there's a new Guardian Force running around, complete with supposedly government-type guys, specifically Ghost. That seems like bad news, if you ask me."

[LadyTevar]

"Ghost's already agreed to talk to us," Argent reminded them, again. "One of the vatjobs is trapped between. I can reach him at any time, although we might not want to let that virus out again," she finished darkly. To a lot of people, that would be news. That might also explain the whimpers that have been heard of late when she teleported them somewhere.

"But, Hotfoot also brings up a very good point," she continued, directing her gaze at Blackheart. "The Guardians have governmental backing. We don't, because we've supposedly gone rogue. Who'd be arresting whom if we attack them, hmm?"

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart goggled as Argent twisted Hotfoot's words to suit her own agenda. "We have the legal authority Argent," said Blackheart. "I said that at the beginning. And Hotfoot, you're right. I'm not seeing the forest for the trees. The guys that sprung Saibot and recruited Ghost and reactivated Guardian Force in the first place, yeah they could very well be in this up to their necks and what they could do next could be a lot worse."

[SirNitram]

"'Arrest' is rather the correct word for anyone caught in a gravitational field of three or four gees who can't nullify it or isn't an Ababaddon-class strongman. Remember it means 'Stop'." Gravitas smirked.

"A meeting? Not with all of them. If they try that, we need a bugout plan. I don't feel like walking directly into a Gov-Spook trap that was garnished with the perfect bait for me and Blackheart." He glanced to the Half-Primordial. "Remember that. There's no secret of your fury at him. Someone wants to burn you, they'll do everything they can to make you think he's there, and then lay the likeliest point of attack out as a trap."

"We try and get Ghost alone. I want to find out what his tie to Gazer's murder is." He said bluntly. "He's a flashpoint waiting to happen, and even tells himself he's not like us. Same with Saibot, but I'm not discounting the hints were just to get me pissed and roaring for a frontal assault."