Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

[LadyTevar]

"Take them and go," said Blackheart as he took back the earbud.

"On my way," Argent replied, and the eyes vanished. A moment later, the dragon reappeared back in the tunnel where she had grabbed Blackheart, and she picked up his earbud she'd left behind. Now, if Ultima used the earbuds for tracking like she thought they might, Blackheart had never moved, while Argent was with Gravitas.

With her luck, however, they'd found ways around that. She also never heard Ghost's request, as it came in the moment she'd been without an earbud.

"Hotfoot ... I'm sorry we took off without you," she said into the earbud, turning her head to look at the faintly glowing figure. "I need to teleport you to meet up with Blast, and then the three of us will track down the Freak who has Saibot."

[Cynical Cat]

"I'm quite aware you don't trust me," said Blackheart. "If you were smarter, instead of just fucking arrogant, you would realize that if I was disfunctional in the way you think I am, your shit would have already started one. You've made this situation harder to manage, not easier. Let me be clear: no one walks away from this without my say so. Period."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost grumbled when it sounded like he wasn't going to be picked up. He used his hands and pulled off his gas mask and hood. He spoke into the comm.

"Ok, Blackheart, what do you want me to do?" He asked, his rifle never straying far from the two metas guarding the barricade.

[Hotfoot]

There were days when Hotfoot wondered what it would be like to drink. People always referred to it like it was something they needed to do when they had a rough day, or a horrible experience. After tonight, he wondered how much he would need to drink to deal with all the shit coming his way tonight. Idly he wondered if he could ferment the pacific.

"Sure thing, I'm ready to go."

[Cynical Cat]

"Considering how badly I think Saibot's been violated by Freakshow's friends and neighbors, things are likely to get bumpy. Keep a cool head and don't fly off the handle."

[SirNitram]

"You work for Tarot." Gravitas said simply, sneering. "You can pretend you're some kind of grim, bitter, hardened do-gooder. But you work for Tarot, and as such, you're not someone who will be trusted."

A shrug, then. "Are we going to deal with the violent ones, or stand here listening to you tell me I'm such a bad boy? Or perhaps how I'm overstepping myself by making sure they know we aren't gonna slaughter children?"

[LadyTevar]

"Sure thing, I'm ready to go."

Argent nodded, then teleported away to where she 'felt' Blast. When she appeared, she activated her commbud. "Blackheart, I have Blast and Hotfoot," she said. "Is there anyone else you suggest taking in?"

As she waited for the answer, she looked to Blast and Hotfoot. "This is the situation: Saibot's been captured by a Freak who enjoys mental torture. The Freak often uses those closest to his captives in those tortures. As Saibot's lover ..." she hesitated slightly " ... most likely I'm the one being used against him. You two aren't as close to Saibot, so he won't attack you on sight." Again, a hesitation as the dragon's eyes close. "... If the Freak did what I think he could have ... Saibot will be trying to kill me."

[Hotfoot]

And the night gets better. Hotfoot listens to Argent and apart from the confusion about Saibot being her lover, he felt sorrow for Argent. He couldn't imagine what that sort of thing was like, but he knew it couldn't be easy. "Anything we should know about Saibot, in case he does attack us?"


Blast frowned behind his mask, not liking the idea of potentially having to go up against a freaked out Saibot.

[LadyTevar]

And the night gets better. Hotfoot listens to Argent and apart from the confusion about Saibot being her lover, he felt sorrow for Argent. He couldn't imagine what that sort of thing was like, but he knew it couldn't be easy. "Anything we should know about Saibot, in case he does attack us?"


Blast frowned behind his mask, not liking the idea of potentially having to go up against a freaked out Saibot.

Argent was glad Hotfoot was thinking wisely. "Saibot has two weapons: his ring and his saber," she said, explaining what she knew of him as Saibot and White Guardian, since the styles were the same. "The Saber can cut through metal and stone. It creates lightning arrows that he can throw at will, and it gives him bursts of superspeed. While in superspeed, he can attack multiple times, but the damage is delayed for a moment. When the attack is over, then his targets feel the pain, explosively." It was as good as guess at how that attack worked as any.

"The Ring is the most dangerous...," she went on. "Not only does it make him near invulnerable inside his body shield, it lets him fly, creates rays and bolts of light, and just about anything else he choses to shape the light into." It also hates demonics... she reminded herself.

"That's why I asked for you two. Blast has absorbed the Ring's energy before, and can throw it back at him. HotFoot... you're the only one who can move faster than Saibot."

[Cynical Cat]

"You think I work for Tarot?" Blackheart threw back his head and laughed. "Ah Gravitas, you're not half as smart as you think you are." He shook his head. "I want all the serious criminals, not just the token sacrifices, and I want to know the exact details on the rest and what you intend to do with them."

[SirNitram]

"My intentions are simple. Get them away from civilization. These were all pending talking it out with you and Freakshow once everyone had agreed and we had, you know, taken care of the dangerous ones, which are still there..?" Gravitas shook his head.

"I'm a God. That doesn't grant omniscense; just lots of power. If I knew everything, why would I be down here, anyways?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Freakshow's boys tried to open Blast up with claws during a robbery so you can understand that his word about who is naughty and who is nice doesn't carry much weight with me. And 'away from civilization' isn't anywhere close to good enough as an answer. You want me to cut virtual amnesties to a large number of career metahuman criminals and their associates. Come back to reality and start thinking about what happens if the world of milk and honey gets a few flies."

[SirNitram]

"Blackheart. Your thinking is impaired by a large tumor wired directly into your brain. So I'm going to refrain from backhanding you into a wall for that stupid little comment." Gravitas said quietly. "But, human, when I say I wasn't going to lay out anything definate beyond 'away from civilization' without your input, I would assume that would clue you into I want your professional opinion on whether Hoboken New Jersey, the Sahara Plateau, or KS7-5 are 'far enough'." A pause. "That last one's a planet. Your primitive instruments probably don't even know it's there yet."

[Cynical Cat]

"There isn't anywhere 'far from civilization' on this planet. Not really.Most places we're screwing them or the locals, because at best these guys have picked up a lot of bad habits," said Blackheart. "Not without watching everyone closely. But if you can seriously move them to a habitable planet and their amenable to it, or can think of some place on Earth where it will work out, yeah that'll work just fine."

[SirNitram]

"Habitable planets are fairly common. Whether Freakshow and his people are willing to live like pioneers like that... That's his choice. It's an out." Gravitas said simply, shrugging. "It's also a liferaft. When the war hits this Earth, there will be no surviving Metas."

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart bit back a reply. Gravitas, as usual, was projecting his previous experiences onto a world he knew too little about. Gravitas was too haunted by his previous failure to realize this wasn't his world, the dynamics were different. "We'll see if we can come up something we all can live with."

[SirNitram]

"Thank you. Can we go vent our mutual fury on some bad guys?" Gravitas asked simply. "Because frankly I'd rather have my five rounds with you somewhere we'll both have medical personnel standing by."

[Cynical Cat]

"You don't know me at all," said Blackheart. God he was tired. Enough of that. He didn't have much time left. No time to waste. "Let's go get the really bad guys."

[SirNitram]

"No, I doubt I do. But you don't know me, so we're even that way." Gravitas cracked his neck, and started along.

[Hotfoot]

"Then I guess we have to hope he's disoriented enough that he doesn't figure out to hit me with the ring and blast with the sword. Blast, since you know you can take his ring, you should probably take the lead here. If it looks like he's about to try and gut you, I'll move in. Argent, can you give us some sort of defense against whatever's messing with Saibot, so that we don't suddenly go down just like he did?"

Blast nods, "Yeah, I don't like the idea of me bringing down the subway because I think I'm inside of a big critter's gut."

[LadyTevar]

Argent did not mention that she had no idea how Portico did his dirty work. "I will do my best," she told the two young men. "I can't feel Saibot, but according to the map Gravitas pointed out, he should be that way," she added, pointing with a claw in the right direction before slipping back into the shadows to travel with them. "Let's find him."

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot didn't feel a surge of confidence coming from Argent, but something was better than nothing. He nodded and followed behind Blast, careful to keep an eye out for any trouble. Stealth wasn't really an option, with both Hotfoot and Blast's shields eminating light down the otherwise dark tunnels.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost sat back, pulling his rifle back to him. He opened a pocket on his vest and pulled out a bag containing a piece of jerky. Ghost looked around and put it in his mouth, chewing it as he waited for orders.

[B4UTRUST]

The trio began their hunt to find Portico. They manuvered their way through the maze-like tunnels and passages. They rounded a corner and came close to the spot that Saibot was taken from.

Argent felt a soft wind, like fingers through her hair, save that it was the brush of someone against her mind. Another mentalist to be sure. The others likewise felt the touch of Portico, though nowhere near as prominent. They would suddenly have a painful or tragic memory brought forward inexplicably and then it was gone again.

The shadows began to shift and thicken, almost touchable. Before them the shadows melted together into a phsyical form. The form took shape and fluttered like cloth, moving into the form of a hooded cloak. The red eyes were all that was visable from beneath the hood, the rest an endless black.

[Cynical Cat]

"Lead the way," said Blackheart. "It's not like I know the route." He switched channels. "We're changing plans," he said to Ghost. "We're taking the worst and the rest are getting the quasi-legal justice of exile."