Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

[LadyTevar]

That stung. Why, she wasn't quite sure. "Who said they were meta?" was the reply as the payphone came into sight. "Most rapists are not ... Metas usually find better uses for their powers, isn't that so? They run through crowded malls at high speed with machetes to get their kicks." He was digging at her past, she would bring up parts of his.

[Cynical Cat]

"That was business. He played tennis with himself and double overdosed on cocaine for sport. So your boyfriend doesn't bother with mundane criminals?"

[LadyTevar]

"That was business. He played tennis with himself and double overdosed on cocaine for sport. So your boyfriend doesn't bother with mundane criminals?"

A careless shrug. "He feels the need to protect his neighborhood, just as you do. The difference is you have a bigger neighborhood, and still believe you can make things better." The silver eyes half-hood as she throws the next dig at him. "You are both alike in one way: you both lie to yourselves. He lies about why he keeps fighting. You lie about not caring what happens in your life. Or did you think I'd not know you find me beautiful, but are resigned to your fate?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Oh I care," said Blackheart, "but that doesn't mean shit. Why do you think I want to go out fighting? Because that will matter. If I'm going to check out soon it will be doing something worthwhile. I don't have a lot of options, but there is one I can take with pride. So I've taken it."

[LadyTevar]

"So many with Pride on this so-called Team," Argent snorted distainfully.

"You chose this. I was given no choice but slavery. Work with your team, and learn to like it." The dragon rattled her wings, still far more distinct than they had ever been up to this point. "Congratulations, David. I've already killed for the team... something I've avoided the past eight years. Proud of me now?"

[Cynical Cat]

"No," he said. "Go whine to your Tong mob boss friend and pretend you don't know about the illegals he sells into slavery every day for profit and what happens to those who don't pay their protection money. You seen what they do to the women your friends traffic? You ever think about how your crimes profit the men who do that kind of thing? You're just pissed that you're paying for a lifetime of theft and getting your getting your hands dirty. Guess what sister, the only reason you can notice the blood is that you're no longer rolling in shit. Your no fucking innocent, you're a career criminal who has been given a chance to do something other than parasite off other people. Go ahead and piss on it.

"Amorality is fashionable these days, from what I understand. Go whine about how evil I am to your boyfriend who hates every cell in your body. Pretend you were clean until you met me. You have a lot of gall complaining that others lie to themselves. Go save the wounded innocent act for someone who doesn't know what you are."

[LadyTevar]

The dragon's eyes get narrower with every word of Blackheart's rant, and the air around them got emptier as she shut down her empathy, locking down sending or receiving. "And you think you know me better, becausse you kept yoursself more pure, working for the causse of Jusstice?" the dragon hissed, her internalized anger escaping in silibants. "Yesss.. I had made a career out of robbery, burglery, and I profitted quite well. But I never killed, Blackheart. NEVER."

The dragon faded into the shadows, leaving only the silver eyes to glare out at him. "How many have you killed in these passt eight yearsss, Blackheart? Tell me that, and then asssk yourssself who iss being usssed, and whosse morality left them cleaner."

The silver eyes vanished.

[Cynical Cat]

"I've been killing for ten years, not eight," said Blackheart "Organized crime enforcers, terrorists, murderous extremist scumbags, and assorted scumbags mostly. I sleep just fine.

"You, on the other hand, make bad men richer. You break bread with crime lords, ask the favors, and then pay your debts to them. You lie down with dogs and think because you haven't directly killed anyone you aren't covered in shit. Your an accomplice to ever rape, murder, arson, beating, and child prostituted in Chinatown because you help keep the big man on top and in profit. Go lie to your boyfriend, he has a reason to pretend to believe you."

[Cynical Cat]

Silence greeted him instead of a reply? Was Argent still here, playing shadow games, or had she run away? He wasn't sure, but ultimately it didn't really matter. He had work to do.

He walked to the pay phone and dialed. It wasn't a direct number, of course, but after a few redirection clicks the call got where it was supposed to. "Here," said the voice on the other end.

"It's Blackheart."

"Been awhile," said the voice.

"Didn't have reason until now. Ultima is a leaks like a sieve."

"Of course it does. I sent you there, after all. Every black agency thinks of Ultima as a cookie jar to plunder."

"They're running it into the toilet. Don't expect much of it. Tarot was able to fuck with my team and run away to Japan with a nice federal shield."

"I don't expect much of anything from any part of Ultima except for you. What do you need?"

"I've got some bodies heading to Cavanaugh. Won't have my name or Ultima's on them. They're vat jobs of some kind. Clones, custom grown people or some kind of shit. Disposable people. They walked into Ultima, totally brazen, and stole. Didn't much care about getting caught. Totally without empathy or concern for civilian damages. One of them had some kind of infection power."

"That is of concern," said Taskmaster. "There are things that need to be done outside of the light of day, in the best interest of the country, but custom grown slaves is not one of them. I will look into the matter. Anything else?"

"Freak Legion. I don't trust Ultima intel anymore. Anything you can get me."

"I'll be in touch," said Taskmaster. "How's your team?"

"They could use a leader. Some Ultima fools chose me."

"You are a good soldier Blackheart. You'll do the right thing. You always do. That makes you better suited than most."

"Yes sir."

"I'll be in contact soon." The line went dead. Blackheart closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, calming himself. He touched his earbud. "This is Blackheart. I'm heading home." He rose into the sky and was gone.

[SirNitram]

"This is Gravitas." The Nova replied. "I hear you, Blackheart. You need a lift, just give the yell." The one-armed, self-proclaimed God was trying to teach himself to write left handed. It was uphill work.

[Cynical Cat]

"No need," said Blackheart. "I'm only missing a hand, not the ability to fly."

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart flew back to his apartment and entered through the balcony. He pulled off his armour and settled into a t-shirt and slacks. He rummaged through his fridge. Cooking one handed was going to be a bitch. Fuck it. He grabbed a pair of frozen pizzas and threw them in the oven. He poured himself a tall glass of orange juice, downed it, and then poured another.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart got up in the morning, staggered to the shower and blasted himself with scalding hot water. The agent, now feeling somewhat conscious, fried up several sausages and scrambled a pair of eggs, wolfing it down hurriedly with a tall glass of orange juice. His stomp itched abomindably and had begun to sprout the beginning of a new hand.

He got dressed and flew to work, heading towards the armory.

"What can I do for you?" asked Harry as Blackheart came in.

"Need some help using the workshop," said Blackheart, waving his empty stump.

"Shit man, 'said Harry. "That's rough. Can you grow it back?"

"Looks like it. I need a bracer to attach a weapon where my hand used to be and protective cup for the stump."

"Okay, we can rig something up. Anything else?"

"A heavy piece of steel to rig to the bracer."

"Say like the head of a six pound sledge?"

"Yeah, that'll work."

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan walked into the armory, wearing a set of dark blue SWAT Coveralls and holding a mug of coffee. "Morning Boss." He said. He nodded at Harry. "Hey, Harry."

"Hey, Ryan. I've got your rifle all fixed up from that bank deal." He stepped into the back. He came back out, carrying a rifle case. "Here you go, just sign the sheet." He pushed out a clipboard. Ryan signed it and took the case.

"Are the extra magazines inside here or do I need to sign out some more?" Ryan asked as he looked at Harry.

"Nope, they're in there." He reached down behind the counter and pulled up a couple boxes of ammunition. "Here are the rounds."

Ryan nodded. "Thanks, Harry." He looked at Blackheart's stump. "So, uh, does that hurt?" He asked lamely.

[LadyTevar]

Night had passed slowly for Lei. She had left Blackheart alone on the street (never hearing his reply), because the emotions were far too deep.

Thus, she ran, sliding through shadows like a dolphin through water, never quite reaching the surface. But the emotions chased her, hounded her, worried at her. She finally teleported, bursting out at the top of the Statue of Liberty, where only a couple weeks earlier Saibot had ......

Saibot. The link occassionally throbbed with his concern for her, as well as his trust in her abilities, his ... love.

The great dargon twisted upon itself, reforming into the frailer human form. Unsteadily she reached out to the glass lining the slits in Liberty's crown, and jerked in surprise at the faint reflection. Pale...... she'd gone pale. Her cheekbones showed prominately, as if she'd not eaten for days. Even the hand on the window was thinner, gaunter. But her eyes... those black-on-black eyes that seemed all pupil ... that was the biggest change. They shown in the dim light now, a silvery gleam that reflected in the window, as if the eyes of her dragon-self had superimposed over her human eyes.

"What ... what did I do... what did I do?" she whispered, as the shadows rippled and twisted around her in silent sympathy.

I killed.

She fell to the ground, hands clutching her head as the emotions caught up to her, washing over her. She'd killed Carver. She'd taken the being that was inside her apart with her claws, listened to it beg, to it scream, listened to the fear, the pain, the utter hopelessness that racked Carver's soul.

And enjoyed it. Ate it like it was the finest cuisine.

Bile rose in her throat and she tried to shove everything away. Cut it off, box it away, lock it away from her mind ... No! No boxing. Boxing sent it into Saibot!

The strand of the bond flared inside her mind, lighting up with the thought, and the light reflected off others. Smaller strands, links to others in the team links to friends

NO! No... no ... how... when... no... Blast. Legacies. Gravitus. ... two for Blackheart, dark and light twined like a twist of rope. And one link scalded, broken, a pathetic remnant of a once-strong link. Ember

Lei moaned, and the shadows writhed. Too much... too much. She couldn't... Shuddering hit her, as once again the emotions ran over her, born on the words of others.

Go whine about how evil I am to your boyfriend who hates every cell in your body. Pretend you were clean until you met me. You have a lot of gall complaining that others lie to themselves. Go save the wounded innocent act for someone who doesn't know what you are.

If you fuck up, I will kill you. Saibot will not stop me

Beautiful, you may be the best thing that happened to me

This team can't work if we're insulting each other at the drop of a hat or always about to kill each other.

She huddled on the floor, the shadows roiling around her, each voice carried on waves of strongest emotions, each making the corresponding strand thrum, however briefly. too much... too much too much TOO MUCH!

Once before, the shadowdragon had seperated from her; when Ember was killed, the shadowdragon leapt out to bite and swallow Avatar. Now it rose in the dimness of the Observation Room, hovering above Lei's huddled, haunted form. The dragon opened its mouth and struck, swallowing the human form whole. There was no sound, yet the empathic scream expanded out like an explosive wave.


Dawn
Lady Liberty greeted the sunrise as she always did, quietly proud, her glowing torch dimming and dying, to re-ignite when night once again fell. The morning sun painted her vergris copper brightly, casting the water behind her into deep shadow. A shape moved in the water, and the great shadow seemed to move, shrinking, stretching, changing. It reshaped itself into a great twisted serpentine form before vanishing again into the cold wet depths, but not before sending a chill down the back of any unlucky enough to see it.

[Cynical Cat]

"No, it doesn't," Blackheart replied. "It does itch like a bastard though. Does seem to be growing back nicely."

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan nodded. "Good to hear. So, what are you doing down here in the gun cage? I figured a power house like you would never be down here where us mere mortals get our instruments of death."

[Cynical Cat]

"You'd be surprised on how many of the shooty toys I've used in the course of missions," said Blackheart. "The flash vision wasn't my first power to manifest, by the way. Do miss the 22nd Century alternate timeline Russian bomblet launcher. That was a sweet piece. Too bad the ammo ran out. Anyway, punching with stumpy here doesn't really work so I'm getting a bitch slapping prothesis fitted until it heals. Improvised, of course."

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan chuckled and took a drink of his coffee. "Makes sense. So, bomblet launcher, eh? Seems any Alt timeline has sweeter weapons than us. So, getting any toys for your prothesis? One-shot rocket launcher? Hidden double barrel shotgun? Poison dart launcher?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Alt time a hundred and fifty years ahead of us does have sweeter toys," said Blackheart. "No, nothing fancy. Hell, by the time that got made I wouldn't need it any more. Just a crushy-smashy implement."

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan nodded. "True, and your eyes of death aren't messed up. So, what's the plan for today?" He asked Blackheart. "Are we tracking down the source of the custom metas? Or hitting Freak Legion?" He grunted. "Or are we having more in-fighting?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Gathering information first. I have a few feelers out. Also have to see how the rest of the team's doing since yesterday. Believe it or not, some people came out worse than missing a hand."

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan made a noise of disbelief. "No kidding. That thing that hit Legacies, and pretty much everyone but me, seemed to leave everyone fucked up." He finished off his coffee. "Well, intel gathering is always fun. While your doing that, I need to do my paperwork from the bank deal. What about yesterday, should I write up an AAR for that?"

[Cynical Cat]

"No, leave it to me. I have a real talent for official paperwork lies."

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan laughed at that. "Spoken like a good officer. I want to read that, it should be interesting reading."