Heroes: The Rise of Omnicorp

[Dark Silver]

Gravitas appeared first. He beat Blackheart by a few minutes.

"Phil," he said, his voice not modulating, but the helmet's faceplate only giving a blank visor to look at, "Stand down. I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want to talk. We can deal with this like civilized men."

He hoped Gravitas would talk to him, if anything, he assumed Gravitas would have been the MOST likely to discuss things with him, especially if he made no hostile moves.

"I wasn't the one who put you in the box....that was the owners of this base. And admittedly...you DID break in and were warned away..." He of course, was trying to be reasonable sounding at the very least. "They agreed to let me handle this, and I don't want to hurt any of you...so let's just, settle down, come stand over here, and let's talk, ok?"

Come on Phil....be reasonable.... he thought, even as he scanned the ground for Blackheart's entrance. It wouldn't be long now.

[SirNitram]

"You have exactly as much time as it takes Blast and Blackheart to escape to convince me to hold them back." Gravitas said simply. "'My boss did it' is not a thrilling endorsement. But this is really just a matter of realities. My power has been scaled back to restore total sanity; and I'm not certain I can truly stop either of them. Talk them down if I have reason.. That's all I'm betting on."

"Get convincing."

[Dark Silver]

Saibot glanced to the area where the sand was bulging, meaning Blackheart was making his way up. Talk fast.....talk fast....better talk fast.

"Their not my bosses."

Saibot looked right at Gravitas, "You need to take them away from here because if you attack me, there's three Guardian's with full powered Ring's who will come out and take all of you on. If you scaled back your powers, I don't think even you can handle that. What happened before, is done with. My sins are being repaid, and will continue to be repaid in spades. The only reason to be here, is because you want to kill me yourselves because of the shit in the sewers. I wasn't in my right mind then, and I haven't been since I was born six years ago."

The fire burned in the pit of his stomach, and he grimaced beneath the helmet, keeping his face locked onto Gravitas, still behind the near impenetrable force field being produced by his Ring.

"This is all out of your hands now Phil...take them and go."

[Cynical Cat]

The sand parted and Blackheart burst out. He exhaled and then sucked in a deep breath. He was disheveled from flying through the sand and specks of molten glass clung to his left arm. His eyes glowed like stars. "My team. Get them out of their safely. Now."

[SirNitram]

"Confirmed." Gravitas said simply to Blackheart. "As for you and your Guardians? Don't overestimate those technological toys of yours. It's nothing compared to power from within. But you reject your natural aptitude and cling to a crutch. You'll never become your true potential.. But what do you care?"

The Nova folded space, distorting distance enough to free the rest of Mirage away from Blackheart and Saibot, but back to the surface entrance. "Get ready. Multiple power rings."

[Dark Silver]

Saibot listened to Gravitas, and watched him leave with the others, before turning his head back to Blackheart, secure in the knowledge the forcefield was enough to hold back Blackheart..

"Do you want to do this song and dance...or do you just want to leave? We don't have to do this David."

[Cynical Cat]

David again. Some people never learned. "You're right. We don't have to do this. You can surrender and come in peacefully."

[Dark Silver]

"Surrender for what?"

The question was asked quiet evenly, the visor never once leaving Blackheart's direction.

"You can't take me in....they won't let you do it. I'm not even a real human. I belong to them."

"Just...go with your team, and leave here Blackheart. Go back, drink a beer, make love to your woman, and forget about me. The rest of the world will shortly. And I'll be stricken from the record."

[Cynical Cat]

"There are deaths on your head," said Blackheart. "Including the deaths of all those people on the shuttle, from pilots to prisoners, when they broke you out. You don't get to walk away. If there's extenuating circumstances, we'll talk about those. And no one, no one, owns anybody. Human, non human, vat grown, natural born. Doesn't matter."

[Dark Silver]

Saibot shook his head.

"Wrong, I'm a science experiment gone bad. I belong to them, registered with a serial number and everything. And like any bad experiment, I've got to be shelved. If I go with you, then it's theft on your part, and they will hunt you and the rest of your team down. Go home Blackheart. I'm sure they miss you at Ultima."

With that, Saibot turned his back on Blackheart, the forcefield closing in, hovering just a foot off his body, taking the near shape of it, and he started to walk away.

[Cynical Cat]

"Like I give a flying fuck for the opinion of a bunch of criminals. Playing vigilante doesn't give them the right to harbor fugitives or own slaves." His hand came down on Saibot's shoulder. "You're coming with me. Make this easy on me. I don't want to hurt you."

[LadyTevar]

Argent was frantically trying to sort out the flood of feelings, both from the newly reopened link to Saibot, and from the rest of the team.

"Ghost, what's being said on the radio. I need to know what's going on!" she pleaded, throwing him an anguished look. "The link to Saibot just burst open again, I have to know what's he's doing!"

[Dark Silver]

"I'm trying to be reasonable here Blackheart.."

Then the hand touched his shoulder.

Self-preservation kicked in, and the hard light forcefield flared outwards suddenly, breaking the contact Blackheart had, and no longer giving him anything to grip onto. Saibot spun onto Blackheart, Ring bearing hand lifted at the others chest, "Back off, and get away."

The fire burned within him with the surge of power, the taint ate him a bit more, as it worked on him. It even coaxed him to this end. Despite the attempt to reason with Blackheart.

Fight him... it seemed to whisper in his mind...his vision tinging with red.

One did not consume pure demon blood and be unaffected by it.

[Cynical Cat]

"Stand down and give me the ring," said Blackheart. "This ridiculous fantasy of yours is over. I've been nice. You really don't want to see what happens if play rough."

[Dark Silver]

"I've got no fantasy you idiot! The only thing you've got is your grandstanding and your bullheadedness. I'm trying to save your fucking life for once!"

Blackheart didn't understand. Anger was building up inside of him.

"You can try touching me again Blackheart...and I'll break every fucking bone in your body, before tossing you to Gravitas to take back. Now go home, and give Lei another fuck for me. Now git."

Saibot didn't turn his back on Blackheart, the Forcefield remained a hardlight bubble around him, protecting him from physical contact, as be walked backwards down the hall.

[Cynical Cat]

"That I'm going to walk away and that you can intimidate me would be the fantasies in question," said Blackheart. "You and your friends are not above the law. You do not get to harbor criminals or break people out of prison and then walk away with no consequences. I am a Federal agent, trained to kill other metas in straight up combat from terrorists to criminals to foreign agents. And I am more than that. So stand down. Now."

[Dark Silver]

Saibot shook his head.

"The only way your taking me out of here Blackheart, is either unconcious, or dead."

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart's fist struck with blinding speed, propelled by inhumanely strong muscles. Saibot's force field was a handy trick, but the thing about hand to hand combat was that it wasn't just about kinetic energy, it was amount conservation of momentum. Force fields and armour could stop the first, but the second still applied. Bodies flew through the air, bounced off walls, and so on and so forth. When Blackheart had hit Saibot the first time he had tackled him into a concrete wall and cracked it. Saibot's force field had held, but the sudden acceleration and deceleration had bounced his brain around inside his skull. Concussions and unconsciousness could happen even if they blow didn't even bruise the receiver. The energy content of a punch, even a superhumanly strong one, usually wasn't that high. The momentum was a different story.

The same phenomena had taken out plenty of guys in force fields and powered armour when they had gotten hit hard enough, often enough. And it would happen again. Here. Now. When Blackheart beat Saibot unconscious.

Unless Blackheart went lethal before the fight was over.

[Dark Silver]

A handy trick was the forcefield, even handier than the field was a bubble at this point, giving him a solid thick layer of air around himself and whatever he hit. Protection enough for what Blackheart did.

The Bubble dug into the concrete wall, cracking it. Saibot rattled in the bubble for a moment, before he used the Ring's flight ability to soften the momentum. It rattled him, enough to take the wind out of him. He felt the impact though, a dull ache in his body that was swallowed in the rush of endorphines and adrenaline.

With Blackheart so close, Saibot did what came natural. from the force field bubble, a plane of energy swept forward, pushed forward by his Will and the Ring, flying at Blackheart and pushing him back - a unstoppable force in this instance, which wouldn't stop until it hit the far wall.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost filled her in, then had an idea. He made a command to the helmet and then removed it, setting it down. The radio was now coming through the external speakers, letting Argent hear everything.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart was smashed into the far wall, hard enough to stun or seriously injure a human. He tore through the force field and resumed advancing. There was a fierce, feral grin on his face, one Saibot had never seen before. Iron determination, yes, Saibot had seen that. Firm resolution to keep on going, no matter what the price. Saibot had seen that as well. But this was new. Predatory. Vicious.

"Surprised? Your buddy with the black ring just gave us a reminder on the limitations of the force fields projected by those toys." He flew through the air in a flying charge that didn't really surprise Saibot at all. It had, after all, worked once. But he had very little time to react. Blackheart was going fast and there wasn't much distance for him to cover.

[LadyTevar]

"Stand down and give me the ring," said Blackheart. "This ridiculous fantasy of yours is over. I've been nice. You really don't want to see what happens if play rough."

Argent looked to Ghost with worry. At this point, she was feeling both men's frustration and anger at the other rising. "I don't think this will end well...." she predicted, her voice soft and sad.

"I've got no fantasy you idiot! The only thing you've got is your grandstanding and your bullheadedness. I'm trying to save your fucking life for once! You can try touching me again Blackheart...and I'll break every fucking bone in your body, before tossing you to Gravitas to take back. Now go home, and give Lei another fuck for me. Now git."

That got a wince from Argent. I'm not sleeping with him, idiot! she thought towards the open link. Just run... run away.

"That I'm going to walk away and that you can intimidate me would be the fantasies in question," said Blackheart. "You and your friends are not above the law. You do not get to harbor criminals or break people out of prison and then walk away with no consequences. I am a Federal agent, trained to kill other metas in straight up combat from terrorists to criminals to foreign agents. And I am more than that. So stand down. Now."

"The only way your taking me out of here Blackheart, is either unconcious, or dead."

The voices shut off, just as Argent felt the spike of adrenaline from Blackheart. The muffled sounds of blows came over the radio inside the helmet, but she knew who threw the first punch. Her head dropped, as she also had an idea how it would end. "Blackheart started it, Ghost...," she mourned, shoulders slumping. "It's over now... they won't stop til someone's dead."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost sighed, looking down at the food till before them. "Just have to hope it's the one you want, that is still standing." He said, then gave a grim smile. "Besides, Argent, it's not like Blackheart is alone, he'll make it."

[frigidmagi]

Blast was a mole. Blind, deaf, going on touch, but it wasn't dark. It was blazingly bright.

The world had shrank, collapsed. Became the sun-bright glowing ball that engulfed both hands thrust out in front of him, burning his path clear. The cracking glass walls around and behind him, reflecting the light, leaving him moving on slippery shining glass. The hot thin air that he gasped and sobbed into burning lungs. The sweat soaking through cloth and armor alike.

He had to keep moving. There would be coolness if he just kept moving. There would be shade if he just kept moving. There would be air and water and rest if he just kept moving. There would be a chance to repay his hosts for their torments... If He Just Kept Moving.

[Dark Silver]

"The Black Ring bearer is only human."

Blackheart was moving fast, but his enhanced senses were being supercharged. Blackheart's charge was predictable, and even he couldn't move as fast as thought. The Ring translated thought to Action near instantly.

A beam of concussive energy lashed out at Blackheart instead of a force field. It was quickly followed by another, and another, each beam burning brilliant blue as it was discharged.

A second later, a glowing bull rushed at Blackheart, to meet him head on, the charge nearly as fast as Blackheart's.

"One thing you don't know about my Ring, Blackheart. The force fields and the constructs are only as strong as the Will of the weilder.... As you liked to say before, I'm not human. The Black Ring wielder is. My will is a lot stronger. Don't make me show you how much more... Get smart. Quickly."

The red tinge in his vision continued, but he was fighting back the urge to strike Blackheart down. He could have by now. his entire body sang for a fight, a full bore fight against Blackheart. But he wasn't going to go there unless he had to. Right now, it was self defense.