Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[B4UTRUST]

The fire poured through every cell of Blast's body. Every fiber of his being was engulfed in that burning that coursed through him. And still he craved more. It was a painful ecstasy, an agony-filled euphoria of the highest order. The flames burned him and cleansed him and gave him such power as he had never known before. It came so easily, so readily and in a nigh infinite supply. His skin practically glowed and his face was filled with unbridled elation. This, this was what Gravitas had always talked of, always meant when he spoke of what it felt like to be like unto a god. Such power, it was almost maddening in its intensity, and it was all his to command. It was a bit overwhelming, but he could control it, he could own it and bend it to his will. It was his, now. And only his. The idea that Gravitas would tell him to stop this was sheer insanity. How could anyone want him to lose this, to stop feeling this way, to stop feeling this damned good? Was it jealousy? Envy? Did he want this for himself?

Another surge of power flowed into the meta, causing his back to arch and his body to shudder in that pleasure-pain that was nearly orgasmic in a way. Life and death, destruction and creation were all his now, his choices. This was what it must feel like to be a god...

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Hotfoots attacks proved fairly effective, though the metal withstood the heat of his shield, while the flesh didn't. Though that didn't seem to severely impact most of them. They tried to shoot at the fast moving meta and ended up missing completely and occassionally hitting themselves. But their tactics quickly changed. They started aiming at the roof, remaining still. Their blasts tore more holes in the already crumbling structure, causing it to collapse faster. Soon their shots were right behind Hotfoot's feet as somewhere someone calculated out probability paths at an astronomical rate. And a few seconds later, the blasts started jumping in front of him, causing him to change directions and alter his velocity with split-second timing. That was something he was more then capable of doing, however it was a bit worrying that they were learning that quickly. Whatever it was that directed these things from behind the scnes was a dangerous foe indeed, and one that would need to be stopped very quickly.


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

The ammunition in its various forms did little to impede the advance of the water elemental. Hydro simply flowed back together when shock waves caused pieces of him to disperse and took seemingly no damage from the rest of the attack. The cyborgs in his path began to pull back to other areas. Many simply turned around and walked off unhurriedly down several corridors, disappearing to attend to other things. Hydro quickly found out why.

After the solid rounds and explosives proved ineffective, the guiding system behind these monsters altered strategies. Units wielding flame and napalm based weaponry, as well as high yield lasers arrived on the scene.

[LadyTevar]

"Blackheart... are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Argent asked after a momentary silence.

[Cynical Cat]

"Of course I am," said Blackheart. "You're worried. Gravitas is worried. Even I'm worried." He shrugged. "Blast was a good kid. He's a good man. Being drunk on power won't suddenly turn him into a psychopath. I will continue to trust him."

[LadyTevar]

Argent shuddered and gasped, feeling the echo of the pain/pleasure power orgasm that just roiled over Blast. Her eyes wide, she looked at the TV and the white column of power, then back to Blackheart. "Whatever he's sucking, it's hitting him like heroin," she replied, shivering. Back in her past, she'd sensed many street rats shooting up, and the pain/orgasm of the hit was very similar. "What happens when it's cut off?"

[Cynical Cat]

"He'll come down," said Blackheart. "This isn't the first time he's been charged up."

[LadyTevar]

Argent wasn't so sure, but decided not to mention it. Instead, she went for the joke. "He might, but the rod it's giving him will take longer to droop."

[Cynical Cat]

"He's still a teenager," said Blackheart. "They're always like that."

[LadyTevar]

Blackheart hit that one on the head, and Argent couldn't help laughing at how true it was. "Give him one of the toys in the basement and some privacy?" she quipped, needing a moment of silliness after all the stress of the ... was it only just 8 hours since they left here to attack RCE? It seemed much, much longer. Days longer.

[Cynical Cat]

"Christ you're an evil bitch. No, bar crawl. He'll have three thousand times the confidence of a normal man and he's good looking kid. He'll be beating them off with a stick. We've just got to make sure he doesn't get too drunk to use a condom."

[LadyTevar]

A part of her wanted to quip that Blackheart hadn't... but it would be a big evil lie. Blackheart, even when nearly on the edge from the Empathic Feedback, always remembered. Tachyon, with his mental shroud protecting him, never forgot either.

"Uh huh... and who's going to take him on the bar crawl and make sure?" Argent asked teasingly. "If he's a normal teen, he'll hit up a goth bar where black-haired, pale-skinned, sunglasses-in-daytime men get all the attention."

[Cynical Cat]

"It's a team, we take care of our own," said Blackheart. "I'm sure mister seen-it-all, done-it-all, snorted-it-all outworld nova can play reverse chaperon for one night if necessary."

[LadyTevar]

Laughter, it is said, is the best medicine. If so, Argent was getting a strong dose of it as she burst out laughing at Blackheart's skewering of Gravitas. Whether it was her empathy or not, the laughter seemed to make things a little lighter and happier in the house.

"Now who's being evil?" she says between laughter.

[Cynical Cat]

"The name isn't Lightheart," he replied.

[Marcao]

He stood near Li Na and watched as she and Blackheart exchanged comments back and forth. Blackheart seemed to think highly of Blast which under normal circumstances was high praise coming from the Meta. Personally, he hoped that Blackheart was right. Blast would recover from this little stunt of his. He had to, they could not afford weakness and one way or another they would persevere.

Li Na deftly switched the tone of the conversation although he had not been adequately prepared for where it was going. His eyes went wide at the innuendo and it took some effort not to laugh. Eventually however, he was surprised at how quickly the somber tones and feelings around Li Na and Blackheart had diminished. He was not naive enough to think that their differences would be forgotten, but for the moment peace had descended around them all in a welcome manner.

With the fear that he would have to play mediator to Li Na and Blackheart as another argument arose fading he found that the energy that sustained him became to ebb. He blinked once, twice, three times. His good arm moving as his hand was brought near his mouth in order to stiffle a yawn. Where had this come from? His eyes focused on Li Na as he moved closer to her, his arm touching her waist as his lips planted a kiss on her temple.

"I am going to bed. You two play nice." He said softly. They were getting along so well and his desire for sleep had returned with a vengeance.

"Wake me up when Blast and the others come back." He mumbled as he seperated himself from Li Na's side and began to make his way out of the living room.

[B4UTRUST]

Miles outside of the battlefield the light was visible. A pillar of fire that fled into the cold reaches of space. Spy satelites shifted views as various TLAs tried to figure out what just happened.

The lights around the compound flickered, faded, went black and power was cut off. Computers shut down, machines gave up their last breath of life. Safety protocols had kicked in, killing the power output as the system detected dangerous spikes.

Above, the hybrid machines still waged their war against any who stood against them. Parts and piles of scrap metal stood as signs that they weren't undefeatable or indestructible, merely hard to put down and keep down.

One of the nearby monitoring stations connected to the reactor flickered back to life. Data began to scroll down the screen quickly. Graphs and symbols flashed across it. Most wouldn't have a clue what it was referring to, but anyone who bothered to try to examine it would see that the safety protocols were being dismissed. And along with the safety protocols was the cooling systems being shut down.

The reactor was being sucked dry by Blast and Gravitas and it would be drained shortly, there was no doubt. But there was still enough juice to take out the entire facility in one nuclear boom...

--------------
Millenium City -

"Chief Metzler, what does MCPD plan to do about this latest rash of murders? How is the city responding to the idea that there's a serial killer out there targeting metahuman authorities?"
"We have no comment on the idea of a serial killer at this time. As for what MCPD plans to do, we plan to do what we always do. We plan to find the person or persons responsible and bring them to justice. The fact that the victim was an agent of Ultima doesn't change anything in this case. We will find the murderer, no ifs, ands, or buts. And they will pay for this."

"You heard it yourself, that was MCPD Chief of Police Robert Metzler commenting on the recent death of Agent Gazer of MC's Ultima Bureau. His body was found staked to the front of the MCPD, in a style very similar to that of another Ultima agent earlier. Authorities have yet to speculate on the possible linked nature of the crime. This is Tamika Newton, reporting."

[LadyTevar]

His eyes focused on Li Na as he moved closer to her, his arm touching her waist as his lips planted a kiss on her temple. "I am going to bed. You two play nice." He said softly. They were getting along so well and his desire for sleep had returned with a vengeance. "Wake me up when Blast and the others come back." He mumbled as he seperated himself from Li Na's side and began to make his way out of the living room.

Li Na gave Elias a gentle hug back before he walked away yawning. "I always play nice. It's when I'm not playing that I'm the evil bitch," she teased, then got a little more serious. "Don't worry, they'll be back soon."

She focused back on the television, and noticed the changes. "Well... looks like Blast's doing it. The lights are going off all over the compound, ... 'Whiteheart'." It was meant to be the next round of teasing, until she saw the news crawler at the bottom of the screen reporting the death of Ultima Agent Gazer 'similar to other recent murders of meta'.

"Shit... shitshitshit...."

[SirNitram]

"Blast! Dump it! Dump it all!" Gravitas shouted, as he utilized the most obscure powers he had on hand to try and expend his now-massive reserves as fast as possible. Portals opened to distant star systems, stellar matter on the far side began to coalesce, all in the vain hope of shedding the purified Quantum in time to gather the explosion.

"She's gonna meltdown! We need every spare erg of room! She's gonna blow!"

[frigidmagi]

He felt it. A shuddering through the current, a shift in the flow. Adversary had come and was attempting rebellion, theft. Attempting to take the power, his by right! It would not stand! No one would... Could! Stand against him, he would not allow it!

There would be no meltdown. There would be no explosion. It was against his will and therefore... Would. Not. Happen.

Blast snarled and ripped the power into him where he had only allowed it to flow before. It surged in obedience and he felt it, racing through his veins and muscles, arching between bones and ligaments. He glowed with it, his shield lashed out like a whip tearing through a nearby wall. His mouth opened and he vomited it up, it poured from his eyes. The ground under him melted.

Still he bent his unbreakable will on it. All of the power was his to do with has he pleased and the adversary's will, the adversary's rebellion! Did not please him!

[SirNitram]

Gravitas' feet immediately left the ground as the floor began to melt. The sight was, frankly, terrifying. "You sprout Stigmata and I'm so tossing you onto Centauri-Secondus..." The bleedoff heat was oppressive; not yet enough to harm him, but swealtering. And the reactor wouldn't be able to take it. A hand flexed. This was going to accelerate the Chrysalis process horribly.

Metal tore and sheared as Gravitas opened the reactor up. The fissile material would kill humans instantly at this level of exposure. Even his resolute form risked severe damage. A hand thrust into the moderating liquid. Fingers closed around the fuel.

And Gravitas drew away the instability, the radiation, the precious Quantum. No longer were the protrusions just cankers of crystal. Now it began to spin itself out of pores, a slowed cocooning process. Time was not on his side.

[LadyTevar]

"News crawler on the TV, Blackheart," Argent explained tersely. "Agent Gazer was found murdered. They're blaming the MetaKiller."

Even as she informed Blackheart, Li Na wondered if Ghost had a hand in this. He'd said the MetaKiller was Kyosuke Shingire, who should have a manhunt going for him right now until Ultima was trying to save face. Would Ghost have used the MetaKiller MOD to hide his revenge killing?

[Cynical Cat]

"Damn," said Blackheart. "Not that I really knew the bastard or even liked him, but he fought the good fight. Someone is going to pay for this. One way or the other. I'll show Kyosuke that there are things more terrifying than heaven and hell before I grind his bones to dust."

[LadyTevar]

"Can I play with him first?" Li Na asked, not at all jokingly. "Although I have to wonder if Kyosuke did it because of Mary Ryan."

She gave Blackheart a side glance. "I did tell you Gazer wasn't paying attention during a fight and killed Ghost's wife, didn't I? If not, scream at me now and get over it."

[Cynical Cat]

"No, you absolutely failed to mention that," said Blackheart. "Anything else important you've been holding back?"

[LadyTevar]

Ah shit.

"Ghost was worried Kyosuke might go after his family, so he told Mary to get outta town," Argent hurriedly explained. "She was on 95 when Gazer's team got involved in a fight. Gazer missed his target and never even saw Mary in the background. Ghost went a little nuts."

Argent continued, rather like a child telling just enough of the truth to keep her from getting punished. "I had kept a link open, just in case we could use him later." We meaning her, if she had to vanish. "When they told him about Mary, it screamed down the link. I waited until I thought he was alone before visiting." She paused, grimacing. "When I got there, he was ready to swallow his gun."

She looked to the TV again, uncomfortably. "If Gazer was reported as 'shot by unknown assailant', I'd be wondering if Ghost did it. Even after he calmed down, he wanted to see Gazer pay, but I don't think he'd do what Kyosuke did to his victims. It's not ... in Ghost to do that." She couldn't see Blackheart doing that either. 'One shot, one kill, walk away' seemed to fit both of them best. Then again, both were full government agents ....

[Cynical Cat]

"So Ghost might have decided to murder someone for a friendly fire accident," said Blackheart. "Lovely. Fortunately, not our problem. He's going to be at the top of the suspect list and unless he has an ironclad alibi from the Pope, the Queen of England, and the Sentinel the cops will be spending a lot of time with him."