Heroes: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll

[B4UTRUST]

I wouldn't reccommend sex, drugs, and insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.
- Hunter S. Thompson

Several weeks had passed since the team's op with Dr. Fulks. Legion had been cleared by I.A. of any negligence or wrong-doing in the incident and had been restored back to active duty.

The team had spent the time following up leads from the Apex raid and information gained from the four arrestees. CPD managed to arrest the biker and bring him in for questioning.

The fourth kidnapper was still at large. Evidence from the apartment and psychic imprints from Legion's mind had managed to identify him as one Kenneth M. Burrows. Burrows was your typical product of the system, had bounced in and out of jail since his stints in juvie for carjacking. He had been released from prison about four years previously and hadn't been seen since.

There was, oddly, similar stories for the rest of the people involved. The two shooters, Samuel Brown and Robert Owens, were ex-military. Both had served around the same time on active duty and both had seen combat in the Middle East. Brown was released from active duty following the end of his contract and Owens was given a general discharge following some problems after returning. Both had held jobs off and on for the next few years before disappearing. No jobs, listed addresses or anything else. They were there then they became ghosts in the system. The two dead women were Pamela Collier and Sandra Kimball, both appeared to be average work-a-day citizens. It takes all types, it seems.

The kidnapper that Legion picked up for a while in his head was Anthony Calabresi, a thug by all accounts with suspected possible connections to La Cosa Nostra. Though that hadn't been proven.

Following up on the employee databases for the research team and found one who hadn't been there the night of the incident. Picking him up and pressing him for information got them a lead to an illegal lab set up in one of the less reputable areas.

Omega team had lead the raid on the lab and had arrested several people and more samples of the meta-creation drug, along with lots of equipment and research notes. It was a success, however, the leads they were pulling were slowly dwindling. The person behind the original kidnapping was still a mystery. And all of the people picked up insisted that it was the truth.

The mind techs seemed to believe there were mental blocks in place preventing them from being able to get more info from them. They were working on trying to break through them, but it was a slow going process since trying too hard or forcing the block could destroy the mind.

As the team shuffled into the conference room that had slowly become their unofficial de facto office of sorts. When they entered the room Hawk was already there. Again the cart of pastries and coffee was present and he had a look of happiness on his face. With most normal bosses this would be a portent of nothing good to come and possibly one of the signs of the coming apocalypse. But Hawk, all in all, wasn't a terrible boss and seemed to take fairly good care of his people.
"Ah, gather round boys and girl-err girls? Girl? Just gather around!

"So I have good news, everybody. You all get today off and tonight as well, in a manner of speaking. As some of you may or may not be aware, depending on how much you follow 'the scene,' the city of Chicago is playing guest to the Meta-l fest tonight at the Bradley Center. This is a show made up of numerous bands, all of which are metahumans.

"So the sponsors of the show along with some of the bands and venue owners have come to the conclusion that having a bunch of fans jacked up on booze, illegal drugs, rock and the blatant over the top use of metapowers publicly is a potential disaster waiting to happen. And that's where we come in," Hawk stated, his smile growing wider.

"Every year they come to Ultima and Ultima kindly agrees to provide additional security in the form of agents attending the shows in exchange for free tickets. And Ultima likes to pass these things out to ops teams who've earned a little 'bonus' so to speak.

"So you guys get to go have very nice seats to one of the most talked about concerts there is for free. You'll be off duty technically, but you're not off duty off duty. You sit, you watch the show, have a beer or two and enjoy yourselves. Just be able to intercede should the need arise and make sure that you're not giving anyone any excuses to say that your judgment was impaired because you've been boozing it up. Capiche?"

Hawk reached behind him and pulled out a thick envelope and held it out to the team.
"Tickets, VIP all-access passes and VIP parking permits. Those will get you anywhere you need to go tonight should the need arise. So go! Enjoy yourselves! Grab some coffee and some donuts and enjoy your day off. That's an order."

[LadyTevar]

Jerri stared at the tickets in Hawks hand and then lowered her head laughing. "If you could only hear the fit Heidi is throwing in my head right now..."
Will he reimburse me for buying my own damn ticket?!

"and she wants be reimbursed for buying her own tickets..." Jerri added, still snickering.

[Agent Fisher]

Mike was chuckling. He and Heidi had been planning on going already.

"Yeah, if we already got tickets, can we get compensated?" He asked. Those tickets hadn't been cheap. "And, since we're doing this, does that mean we have to come into work tomorrow?" He asked.

[rhoenix]

A day off.

At the thought, Agent Sunter/Pulse took a long, slow breath, thinking about all the things that Agent Hawk's secretary had given him to look over and sign. He still had to look over the three candidates for his new apartment, and a frightening amount of paperwork, among other things to finish. The extra time would also allow for a good, unrushed meal and a good sleep - two things he hadn't had much of for a while.

"Alright, everyone, Agent Sunter/Pulse said to the others of his team. "Here's my cell number - Ultima already got me a new one for this area code. I'm going to go get some personal chores done between now and then - do all of you want to meet somewhere before the show starts?"

[LadyTevar]

"I guess I don't get to sleep though the concert like I was planning, however," Jerri answered. "I'll be needed to help keep watch."

[B4UTRUST]

Hawk chuckled, shaking his head.
"I can ask but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the bureau is probably not going to reimburse ticket costs or throw extra cash at you in lieu of. Your best bet's probably going to be posting them on-line and see if you can get a quick sale off one of those boards like Craigslist. Who knows, you might even make a few bucks off the tickets if they're good seats.

"As for you guys coming in tomorrow, yes, work is still required. No two day breaks except for our rare full weekends. However," Hawk began, turning his head side to side as if looking to make sure the coast was clear.
"My watch seems to be broken and won't be fixed by late tomorrow morning. So I can't honestly say when you all got here. However, I have an appointment to take it to a shop around ten in the morning."

He sincerely hoped that nobody would be stupid enough to point out the fact that if his watch was broken he couldn't know when ten was to go to his appointment.

[SirNitram]

"While I am sure sitting in a good seat would be thrilling, I suspect my central mainframe would block people's view." NeXT responded dryly. "I'll handle those spare tickets. There'll be some cash for it. Anyway, I'll just plug in, shall I?"

[Dark Silver]

Legion listened to Hawk, eyed the ticket and VIP pass in his hand, and carefully put it away in his inner coat pocket. As always, Legion was dressed in a three piece suit concealing the form fitting contact suit he near always wore in public.

"I...may not be in attendence tonight Agent hawk....unless this assignment is manditory. Despite my Contact suit and forcefield...crowded concerts arent the best place for one of....my talents."

[Charon]

Inferno for one didn't look entirely pleased by the events either. His interests were mostly classical, but it was a mission and it always helped to have the face of Ultima showing up at things like this to get closer to the people. Even if he thought the noise that the bands would be making would be closer to a screaming, dying cat than any real music.

"We might be able to get you some sort of backstage security job Legion."

[LadyTevar]

Jerri rolls her eyes as Heidi makes a few more choice comments inside her head. "I'll get those tickets to you, NeXT so you can transfer them," she replied. The bands were all Heidi's favorites, although Jerri had to admit there were a couple good songs here and there.

"Heidi's also offering to patrol the Moshpit," Jerri added dryly.

[B4UTRUST]

"Well then," Hawk stated, still smiling. "Sounds like you all can handle it. Inferno, you've got control where you want your people. NeXT, we'll get you access into their systems so you can monitor the cameras.

"Anything else?"

[rhoenix]

In answer to Agent Hawk's question, Agent Sunter ("Pulse," he reminded himself - he had to do the codename thing now) shook his head as an answer. Soon enough, they had filed out into the hallway, and Agent Pulse made sure to give his new cell phone number (Ultima was quick, he had to admit - they already had a new local phone number for him) to all the members of his team, and he got all of theirs as well.

That done, he retrieved the giant stack of paperwork from his locker, found a quiet place in one of the lounges in the Ultima building, and got to work. Moving methodically through the stack, he had the entire thing complete within ninety minutes. With the most onerous task of his welcome kit done, next he had to pick out his apartment - a personal car would be up to him.

Looking through the three files for the prospective apartments that the department secretary (Jane) had given him, he walked back to her desk, and handed her the completed stack. Jane looked somewhat surprised to see them, and couldn't resist flipping through the pages quickly to see that they were, in fact, done. "Good heavens, we rarely get back the basic forms that fast, let alone the rest."

Agent Pulse just gave her a somewhat sheepish smile in response, which caused her to smile back. "From the looks of things, you only have to worry about your living quarters. Call me once you've decided, and I'll take care of the rest. Better hurry, you only have ten hours to go until the concert's supposed to start!"

Chuckling at this, Agent Pulse nodded to Jane. "Alright, I'll call you back in two hours or less."

She nodded once, and went back to her work, as Agent Pulse turned around, and made a marching beeline for the elevators to check out a motorcycle from the motor pool, and check out the apartments in question.

It only took him 45 minutes of seeing all three (it helped that they were all in about the same 5 mile radius) to decide that the one on the second floor, facing the park would be his. It had just the feelings of calmness that a home should have, he thought as he dialed Jane's desk phone. He was surprised - all he had to do was tell her which one he wanted, and that was it - she said he'd get details on the apartment and rent in a day or so; the first six month's rent were already covered.

With all that done, Agent Pulse opened up his new phone, and found himself a good sandwich nearby to have lunch.

[Charon]

Inferno got to his feet. "Alright then. Get yourselves ready, I'll think about where each of you will be placed to best suit your talents and abilities." He glanced at Gemini and Mike. "And how much you wanted to see the show."

Inferno moved to leave. "I'll see you all here in a few hours, I want to get over there before the show starts."

Inferno left the room and headed down to the psych center. It was that time again and Dr. Reynolds always got antsy if he was late. There was a wait of a few minutes and then he was let in. Inferno took his usual seat while Dr. Reynolds sat across from him.

"Hello George, how have you been feeling since our last meeting?"

Inferno smiled. "Pretty good Doctor, I think that new dosage is working really well."

Dr. Reynolds nodded, taking some notes down. "No dizzyness, no change in emotional stability?"

Inferno shook his head. "No, I think this one is working a lot better."

Dr. Reynolds smiled, showing clean white teeth behind his white speckled beard. "That's excellent. So how has work been treating you?"

Inferno took a deep breath. "Still kinda getting used to the whole leadership thing. Not really liking it but an order's an order, right?"

Dr. Reynolds nodded, still taking notes. "And recent missions?"

"There's this concert tonight, we're gonna be doing security."

"Well that sounds good. A night out."

Inferno grimaced. "Not really, it's a rock concert, lots of people, lots of shoving. Not really comfortable with that."

Dr. Reynolds smiled softly. "It is good to know ones limits Inferno, but I'm certain that you'll be fine."

Inferno smiled back. "Thanks doc."

"Now then, lets get out the cognative tests again, I have some theories I would like to test."

And so it went for two hours before Inferno finally got out of the room. He headed to the showers to clean himself up before the mission and was the first waiting in the conference room.

[B4UTRUST]

When the team arrived at the venue the place was already packed with attendees. Part of the parking lot had been fenced off to be part of the show. There was an exhibition of motocross bikes doing jumps off a pair of makeshift ramps. A set of small stages were set up around the venue as well where lesser known bands were already playing. Several competing energy drink companies were busy handing out free bottles to people walking by. Demo CDs were being passed out around the stages where the lesser bands were playing. And the place was already packed. People were busy chugging energy drinks and overpriced beers and smoking almost every brand of cigarette you can imagine and probably a few hand-rolled varieties that weren't entirely legal.

The music, if thats what some of the noise being tortured out of some of the instruments could be called, was ear-achingly loud. Stands hawking merchandise ranged from lighters to t-shirts to shot glasses, posters, CDs and belt buckles. Vendors selling drinks and foods at extortion rates were fairly common as well, offering up all varieties of food-like pre-prepared snacks such as meat-like hamburgers and hot dogs, pretzels, greasy pizza, fries, chicken fingers. 20oz sodas and bottles of water sold for over $3 a piece. The VIP passes gave them access to the VIP lounge and restaurant where a better class of food and drink could be had. Actual meals consisting of real food and mixed drinks consisting of good quality liquor for an appropriately insane price. But people seemed to be paying for it.

And all of this was still hours before the real show was set to start.

[Dark Silver]

The crowds were already horrendous. Never one for public appearances after obtaining his powers, Legion was dismayed by the sheer number. Mentally, he was ready for it...physically also he had a skintight force field surrounding his body. Unfortunately, since it relied on at least some slight conscious thought on his part to create the force field and put it in place, it wasn't fool proof, and he wore what was termed as "skin sleeves" on his arms and hands. Easily removable (should the need arise) skin toned mech material, it broke direct skin contact, and thus let Legion not worry to much about the force field issue.

He was already moving through the crowd, minimizing his contact as much as he possibly could - though lets face it, he still touched far to many people than he wanted, he headed for the backstage area, where the VIP sections waited. He could get a drink there, and take a better position.

[rhoenix]

Arriving close to the others, Agent Su...Pulse (That was still going to take some getting used to, he thought), observed the already-swelling crowds, and cacophony of noise already making the entire place shudder.

Wearing only loose-fitting jeans, his favorite belt, and a good long-sleeved plain grey shirt with "Deftones" emblazoned in small, black block lettering, Jason Sunter (he was off duty - why not, he reasoned) got in contact with the others, and began to explore the grounds once he'd finished doing so with those that had already arrived.

This was going to be a very loud evening.

[Charon]

Inferno looked around and sighed. "Alright everyone, get a good feel for the place, know the good places to be just in case something bad happens. But until the main event starts getting warmed up you're on your own. Don't break anything or anyone. I'm gonna let the guys in charge know that we're here."

Inferno moved easily through the crowd as he made his way towards where he would make contact with the guys he needed to see.

[SirNitram]

"If these earpeices work during this din, it'll be a miracle." Came NeXT's familiar monotone. "I'm in the sound system. I'm so tempted to pre-empt the next groups with some music."

[rhoenix]

Jason heart NeXT over the comm system shared by his team. "If these earpieces work during this din, it'll be a miracle," came NeXT's familiar monotone. "I'm in the sound system. I'm so tempted to pre-empt the next groups with some music."

"Please do," replied Jason immediately. "Make sure its easy-listening polka."

[Charon]

Inferno smiled. "Maybe a nice Rachmaninoff."

[LadyTevar]

"You do, and I'll find you and find a way to bust your head open," Heidi threatened good-naturedly. The first camera to swing her way would have a hard time moving away. Knee-high black leather boots covered leather/vinyl pants, the kind that laced up the sides and left plenty of skin showing. Her top seemed to also be skin-tight black vinyl, until you got a closer look to see it wasn't just skin-tight, it was literally painted on. Barely-noticeable protective pads covered her nipples, keeping the outfit PG-13, but the vinyl body-paint clung to every muscle and emphasized all of Heidi's assets.

How she'd done it, or who helped reach her back was the real question, although Mike was grinning ear-to-ear as he escorted Heidi into the mass of META-L fans. Most of the males in the crowd parted easily once they saw her (usually right about chest-level). You could trace her path by following those still stunned and mind-boggled.

[B4UTRUST]

As the day edged into early evening the venue became even more packed, if it was possible. People began arriving for the headlining acts and as the time grew closer for their performances people began to head towards their seats.

The side stages began to close down one at a time and the demonstrations and other attractions packed up for the night. The vendors still sold their wares, though and would continue to do so throughout the concert.

There were small groups of drunk individuals everywhere it seemed as people guzzled down overpriced beers and mixed drinks in preparation for the show. Not a few illegal substances were taken for the same reason.

The Ultima agents had little to do for the time being it seemed, as the normal security was able to handle the occasional pickpocket or semi-drunk argument that started. Nothing that warranted the agents coming out in force to keep the peace. At least, not yet.

The sun started setting on the horizon as the first act started playing. An up and coming band called Dark Angel's Rain. Their music, while definitely based in hard rock seemed to fit more in a genre all their own. Elemental rock, or tribal rock, perhaps. The tunes were heavy in bass and drums and the lyrics had a lot of new-age pseudo-mystical quasi-spiritual innuendo and tone. It wasn't any one specific quality to the music, but it did manage to touch that buried part of a lot of people that still remembered something of the older, less civilized ways of worship.

The lead singer was at the center of the stage, lights shining on him as he held the mike up to his face. He had a fair amount of Native American ancestry about him, from the color and texture of his hair to the darker hue of his skin. He wore a pair of torn jeans, black boots and a leather vest that was open.

As the act went on, the air seemed to become charged as the first clouds rolled in overhead. Dark storm clouds that looked like they would bring a very unwelcome rain onto the concert. They moved in quickly and cast the area into dark as they blotted out the sky. Lightning crackled, giving the show on stage the added effects it deserved. Thunder boomed in time with the drum beats as the sky was lit up from within. A wind picked up, blowing slowly over the crowd.

Up on stage the singer's hair began to stand up on end as the charged air took hold, causing the hair to move. He walked towards the edge of the stage, wireless mike grasped firmly in hand, never missing a beat. He stepped off the edge and kept on walking out over the crowd. The wind picked up around him, buffeting him and holding him aloft before lifting him higher. The storm raged above him, matching in intensity the passion and energy he put into his songs.

Behind and below him on the stage proper, those that looked could see the tiny sparks of electricity crackling off the bass player's fingers as he moved them over the guitar strings. The thunder roared as the drummer beat on his drums like his life depended on it. Each boom of the bass drum was marked by a similarly loud boom from overhead, the hitting of the snare and cymbals matched by crackling bursts.

The feeling of energy in the crowd was enormous. Whether it was the charge from the storm or just the energy of the crowd itself was uncertain. The lawn section had become like one large organism, a giant breathing, moving mass of bodies. There didn't seem to be many who weren't dancing or thrashing around as the music moved them in some way or other.

The set began to wind down as the singer drifted back to the stage. The clouds looked like they were dissipating a bit and wouldn't bring down any further storms. The band was finishing up the act and the crowd was still full of energy.

[LadyTevar]

Heidi was right in the middle of the dancing, stomping her feet, body bouncing and moving to the thunder of music and storm. She flowed with the crowd, screaming the words of the song alongside. When the singer stepped off out about their heeads, she joined the roar of approval.

However, she had not completely forgotten her duties, as she kept s few daringly drunkenly stupid fans from trying to join the singer in midair.

[rhoenix]

It had been years since he'd last been to a concert, and he had to admit, this was pretty damn well done. That there were metas doing some seriously crazy shit was just an excellent bonus.

Though he kept his intake of anything intoxicating down to a minimum, he still drank some cheap beer that didn't cost like it from the concession stand and smoked an unconscionably thin joint or two for the price, and just enjoyed the concert. His body regulated the effects of the mild intake, allowing him to feel the effects, though it was already working on purging them from his system.

There was a time or two when he had to dart into the mosh pits and quickly drag out someone who'd fallen, though thankfully for the venue it only happened a couple times.

If this was the opening act, then the rest should be very impressive, he thought to himself as he caught a drunken fan who tried to crowd-surf where there was no crowd, almost falling flat on his face before Jason caught him, stood him upright, and patted him on the shoulder to send him on his way.

[Charon]

Inferno was standing towards the back of the crowd, where all the slightly saner people were and where his eardrums were less likely to explode. Heh. Not bad. I like it.

Inferno froze for a second, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. He shook his head for a second before continuing to listen to the racket.