Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[frigidmagi]

Blast tried to drink slowly but he drained the whole bottle quickly. The water seemed to disappear the minute it touched the desert dry inside of his mouth. He dropped it panting, Argent handed him another bottle. He drank it and then another. He almost felt half human at that point. Damn and he didn't even fight really. He shifted to face Blackheart.

"The enemy was being powered by a nuclear reactor. Figured the easiest way to end it was to kill the power. So I went in and drained it. Hotfoot ran general hero work, protecting the people who were just stuck in the whole thing. Hydro and Grav helped me open a path and played rear guard. I started draining and needed to throw off the excess energy quickly. I didn't want to just flail around with it on the battlefield, could kill our own that way, so I tossed it up. Hmmm... I figure they would want to tear down the building anyways right? Well for some reason the reactor tried to blow up... So Grav came in at that point I think... It was hard to concentrate... And helped me bleed it all off. Shutdown. It's dead and cold or it should be anyways. At that point both Grav and I were in... bad shape so I signaled Hotfoot and he showed up with the guy. We didn't have much time to argue, Grav said he was in a bad way so I decided to just get everyone home. If we decide to dump the stray, no big deal he has no idea where we are, Argent can teleport him back without him being able to give anything up. So we just left."

His mouth dried out from all that so he was reduced to drinking another two bottles.

[Cynical Cat]

"Don't freak out about the cocoon. It's some kind of semi-natural process. I think," said Blackheart. "And my eyes are . . . better."

[LadyTevar]

"Don't freak out about the cocoon. It's some kind of semi-natural process. I think," said Blackheart. "And my eyes are . . . better."

"Not bad... only an hour to go from eyeless to 'better'," Argent replied absently, focusing more on the rest of his words. "So we leave Gravitas alone for now? Fine...."

Now that Blast seemed able to get his own water, Argent was using her single active shadow tendril to grab the med-kit. Her team would know she was tired, using just one. Alexander wouldn't, but he was probably getting tired of being called 'stray'. "We still need to have Legacies' funeral... I was hoping Gravitas could suggest a good resting place."

Somehow just dropping Legacies in a volcano seemed wrong. Of course, that was what Argent did to people she -dind't- like. "Personally, Blast, you brought him here, you're Alexander's watcher." The med-kit arrived, and Argent started to open it up... and realized something.

"Shit........ forgot my robe...."

[rhoenix]

Somehow just dropping Legacies in a volcano seemed wrong. Of course, that was what Argent did to people she -dind't- like. "Personally, Blast, you brought him here, you're Alexander's watcher." The med-kit arrived, and Argent started to open it up... and realized something.

"Shit........ forgot my robe...."

On any other day, Alexander would have been stunned by the sight. On any other day, he likely would have been much less coherent in his replies because of the sight, as well. However, today being what it was, the fact that a beautiful naked woman was nearby barely registered, despite the fact that the beautiful woman had been a large, shadowy serpentine dragon-ish creature just a few moments ago.

In fact, he barely realized what he was doing as he looked away from her in an effort to be polite. "Don't worry, I won't look."

What concerned his mind most right now was that he might be patched up and promptly shipped back to where he was familiar, to find another research job, and go back to what his life had become. It amazed him somewhat that after the events of a few short hours, that sort of life had become rather unappealing. The prospect of having to hide the part of himself that came out in spades today didn't sit well with him at all.

He would if he had to - but if he were given the choice, he'd like to learn more about how the more dramatic percentage of the population lived.

[Cynical Cat]

"Several hours actually," said Blackheart. "The nap and the meal help a lot. And one of you is going to have to tell me how pink she gets."

[LadyTevar]

"HAHA, Blackheart," Argent answered. "There's too many bruises for pink to show right now." While she may have forgotten her robe, she did have shadows and had created a sheath around her. Those who did look would have seen more watching a girl-changes-uniform scene in Japanese anime. "And you're welcome for the meal. If you wanted steak fajitas, Blackheart ate them all, Blast."

Like a dress by Morticia Addams, the sheath-dress was close about Argent's bodice and clung to her curves as it flowed to the floor and joined the shadows at her feet. Unlike Mrs. Addams, Argent's arms were bare, showing off the massive bruises and what looked like claw marks criss-crossing them. The right side of her face was a massive bruise from cheekbone to her collarbone. (The left side had what looked suspiciously like a fresh love-bite over her pulse.)

Thus attired, she was able to kneel down by Alexander and expertly cut away his pantsleg to start cleaning the burns and wounds. "Hold still... I'll try to pull away some of your pain as I work."

[rhoenix]

Alexander nodded wordlessly at first, still lost in his thoughts for the moment. It was perhaps either a tribute to Argent's skill or to Alexander's own fatigue that he wasn't precisely sure when she began cleaning out the hole through his right calf.

Moreover, he was stunned slightly at seeing her injuries. He was very tempted to ask, but he would wait until he'd been debriefed, and if he was accepted as more than a "stray." Until that happened, it was likely better that he not know, he reasoned.

An unexpected thought crossed his mind - that he was tempted to use his...talents to help this woman help him. He squashed that thought quickly, though - it could be misconstrued as a possibly unfriendly gesture. He really didn't need to give off any unfriendly gestures, considering that this group had essentially saved his life.

As it was, he simply closed his eyes, but didn't let himself fall asleep. As he was taught long ago, he focused on his breathing. His inhales and exhales were slow and deep, causing his body to relax a small amount with each breath.

[LadyTevar]

Argent was touching him, and thus feeling every emotion Alexander felt as she pulled away the pain. "Curiousity kills, you know," the lovely petite Asian woman said absently as she finished cleaning off the blood and started applying ointment. "But since you're too polite to ask, we just got back from a much larger battle before the mess at OmniTech broke out. The wounded stayed behind."

Her head rose to look at him, and if Alexander opened his eyes he'd meet her otherworldly black, seemingly pupil-less eyes straight on. "Like Blackheart, I heal quickly. The bruises will be gone tomorrow.. the deeper wounds the day after." She looked back down to grab bandages and bind his leg well. "Unless you have similar gifts, you'll be limping for a couple of weeks."

[General Havoc]

And then they were back.

Hydro had been in mid-strike, belting one of the metal-flesh beasts with the fire projectors across its sensory appendage and sending it flying through the air, when all of a sudden a sensation he could not explain flooded over him and he found himself pulled in ten thousand directions at once. A moment later, he was sitting in the midst of the dwelling they had left from bare hours ago, transported here through a process he did not understand.

That was rapidly becoming the status quo.

Casually, the metamorphing flesh beast Argent indicated that he should feel welcome to go to the water receptacle outside, the existence of which he had forgotten in the chaos of all that had occurred. Still, he did not move initially, simply observing as the other flesh beasts went about their procedures, repairing he damage done to their physical forms as best they could, and conversing about subjects that escaped his notice. Not until some time had past, did he move or venture a question.

"Forgive me," said the animated puddle, to anyone who cared to answer. "There are... concerns I would posit before those who understand what is happening here. Is this the proper forum?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent looked over to Hydro and gave him a small smile. "What do you wish to know, Hydro?"

[General Havoc]

Hydro did not respond instantly, placing his thoughts in order before asking a question.

"I... believe," he said in a voice that was almost hesitant, "that I have determined largely what you flesh beasts are. It is... becoming clear however that I do not comprehend who it is that you are. On two occasions now, you or some other within your organization have taken it upon yourselves to transplant myself to your location. In the former case, this averted my annihilation, or so I am led to calculate. In this case, it may well have had the same effect. I... have concluded that I am not meant to comprehend the means by which this was effected. What concerns me is not the means, but the purpose thereto."

"The one called Blast indicated that I was removed from the facility wherein I was subjected to experiments for purposes of utility, as well as for other purposes that I deem philosophical in nature. I should wish to know what... purpose it is that drove the preceding action, and who the actors were, but more specifically what reason there was for you all to have brought me here, in a more general sense."

"I... do not wish to appear ungrateful," he added after a moment's pause. "I did not wish to be annihilated, certainly, but it is becoming clear that I do not perceive aspects to this behavior, and it is... worrisome, that this should be the case into perpetuity."

[LadyTevar]

Argent turned away from Alexander and gave Hydro a confused look.

"Lay-man's terms, Hydro?" said the woman with barely a GED.

[General Havoc]

Hydro paused, and reset his thoughts. She was asking him to speak directly. Directness was not his way. Water worked subtly, eroding mountains a fleck of dirt at a time, as did he. After several false starts, however, he simply gave up, and spoke as frankly as he could.

"I do not comprehend you," he said, every word chosen carefully. "I do not mean your... paranormal capacities. I do not comprehend why it is that you have brought me to this place. I do not comprehend why you sought to engage with the Pyronic entity that we destroyed moments ago. I do not comprehend why it was that I was returned here upon its destruction, nor anything else that I have observed being done here by you meta-flesh beasts. You do not fit within any of the models of behavior for flesh beasts of any sort that I possess. This... concerns me."

He ended it quite simply, with a question he had asked of Argent before.

"What are you?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Not easily explained," said Blackheart. "There are billions of us and we are all different. We, this group, is sworn to protect the rest of the people of this planet from whatever threats arise. As long as you are helping us, you are part of the group and under our protection."

[LadyTevar]

Argent silently thanked Blackheart for the save, and finished binding Alexander's leg. "There... that should start it healing," she told the young man. "Now, hobble over to the food before Hotfoot eats it all," she ordered, not unkindly. "Whatever powers you used to fight, you've exhausted yourself. Eat and recharge. Beer is in the fridge, unless Blackheart drank it all again."

She needed to make another run down to Costco; Hotfoot and Blackheart alone ate twice their weight in food it seemed, due to their high metabolism. Somehow, she didn't think Blackheart's merging would change that. She'd do that in the morning... Elias would love to help her, if only to drive Ember's street-racer again. He also made the last shopping trip ... enjoyable. Almost like a normal couple shopping together, with nothing on their minds but each other and how far they could stretch their money.

With that distraction on her mind, Argent stopped drawing Alexander's pain away, leaving him to feel the additional ache of her ministrations on top of the old pain. At least the burns felt better, treated with cooling aloe and other medications. The hole in the leg she really could do no more than stop the bleeding and pack it with antibiotics and a matrix gel to encourage rapid healing.

[rhoenix]

The pain within his leg came back as the woman (Argent?) finished her careful examination, but the pain was a dulled echo of what it once was.

At the sound of food, Alexander realized that he had foolishly gone to work this morning on nothing more than a cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese as he had raced out his door to be on time. It seemed an eternity ago, now. In short, he was famished, and the mention of food made his mouth water. "Thank you Argent, for...well, everything."

Carefully getting to his feet, he was surprised that his right leg was managing to hold as much of his weight as it was, but didn't push it. Moving slowly and carefully, he made a bee-line toward the afore-mentioned food, his stomach already making its displeasure at being ignored for so long known.

[LadyTevar]

Argent sighed, watching Alexander hobble to the food. "Good thing I cooked as much as I did," she muttered, looking at Hotfoot and Blast. "Anyone else need first aid, before I put this up?"

[frigidmagi]

Blast shook his head no as he gulped down yet another bottle, this time blue powerade, he loved that stuff. He felt almost human now, but damn was he tired.

"I don't even know who I was fighting or what he wanted... Is that normal?" He asked.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot stumbled slightly as he made his way to the food. His eyes were barely open by the time he got to the source of the smell. As he ate, a little of his natural color returned to the parts of his face not hidden by his mask. Still, his pace was glacial compared to his usual rate of consumption. He grunted a negative when Argent offered the first aid kit.

[LadyTevar]

"Take your mask off, Hotfoot..," Argent sighed, watching him eat with a slight frown. She saw the difference in his manner, even if no one else did. They were going to need beds for all of them, before they collapsed where they stood.

And there was still another matter: "Blackheart? What about Legacies...?"

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot shrugged at Argent and peeled back his mask, letting rivulets of sweat that had been trapped by the fabric pour down his face. His power had been active since they left for the assault on hell, at almost a constant level, and his recent breakthrough had not come without immediate cost.

He gathered up a few more pieces of food and lumbered off to his room. His mood was difficult to read, if only because his normally turbulent and rapid thoughts seemed to have slowed down, and with them, his mood. Fatigue was the overwhelming sensation, and spikes of pain were beginning to set in.

After having disappeared to his room, he almost instantly fell asleep, the food on the nightstand next to his bed.

[Cynical Cat]

"Legacies never specified what kind of ceremony he wanted, if any," said Blackheart. "Since funerals are for the living, we will honor him in our own way. I don't have any ideas at the moment, but I'm sure someone will be able to come up with something good."

[LadyTevar]

Argent watched Hotfoot stumble by with a slight frown. She'd never seen him that exhausted before. The shadows of the house followed him, giving her notice when he simply fell onto one of the two beds in the Green room, the last of his food untouched. Absently, one of the shadows draped a light blanket over him as she turned her attention back to Blackheart.

"I had thought of cremation," she suggested, an ancient and honorable practice. Of course, this was coming from someone who had thrown her ex-partner's corpse into the mouth of the volcanos she'd loved to visit, and then tried to throw a man who'd damaged her house into a lava vent. "Then either bury the ashes, or scatter them...."

Burial in her backyard; possible, but she didn't think Legacies would want that. Scattered over a city sounded more like him. Perhaps from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge? Toss him up, flash fry him, let the winds take his ashes over city and bay alike? Or would he prefer over Millenium City?

"Either way... we must do it soon." Before he started to stink (more) and ruined her couch completely. She'd laid him there because the floor seemed disrespectful, yet even wrapped there was the problem of a Dead Body On the Couch.

[General Havoc]

Hydro gave the answer some thought, allowing the metafleshbeasts to speak, before coming up with his reply.

"I... believe that the one named Blast spoke of such a thing before," he said, to whoever cared to reply, "but... I do not comprehend the... reason... for this."

He tried to state his confusion in the plainest terms he could.

"You engaged in a... conflict... with the metalic meta-flesh beasts. You asked that I should assist you in such a conflict, and I did so, because had you not intervened in the previous conflict, I would no doubt have been annihilated, and in addition because the Pyronic entities which were responsible for my confinement were involved in this most recent incident, or so it would appear. What... I cannot determine is why you flesh beasts engaged therein? Was there some pre-existing emnity between you and the Pyronics? Does it remain so? Who were the factions involved in the conflict prior to our arrival in that... place? And... how is it that you all have been appointed to a position of general protectors of the denizens of this planet? Are there not others who claim such a position?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent understood that question a little easier. "Why did we go to RCE?" she clarified. "Because one of their agents, named Abaddon, set up an attack in a major city that injured or killed several people, including my former partner."

She started putting away the first aid supplies as she spun out an abridged version of the team's history. "Blackheart and Blast were on the team that responded. Afterwards, I was assigned to Blackheart as well, as we started tracking down Abaddon's associates. Since then, we've been attacked twice more by RCE agents, or those possibly working for them." At this point she wasn't sure the Bobs weren't influenced that way. "The last attack did major property damage to downtown Chicago." She thought Alexander might recall that one on the news from nearly a week back.

"We finally tracked RCE to New Mexico, and along the way rescued you, Hydro. Then, the mechas started taking over OmniTech...," she gave Blackheart a look as she added this part. "... far too quickly after RCE's fall to be mere coincidence, in my opinion."

She closed the lid of the first aid kit and looked Hydro in the 'face'. "RCE was a large corperation, Hydro. I don't think we stopped them completely. If you chose to stay, we will be asking you to help us fight again ... just like we'll probably ask Alexander, since he's here." The dirty look was more for Blast than Alexander, since Blast agreed to bring him. "It's still your choice, Hydro. We can take you to the Pacific Ocean, to the Atlantic, or to the Gulf of Mexico if you don't want to stay."