Heroes: The Rise of Omnicorp

[LadyTevar]

Blackheart left.

LEFT!?!

Without saying a word, without even looking her way, without threathening her or warning her or telling her how 'lucky' she was not to be in jail. He just walked away.

It wasn't like him. He should have ranted and raved, threatened and blustered. This absolute silence was ... unnerving. Unnatural. Where's the kaboom? There ought to be an earth-shattering kaboom! But... he wasn't even in the house anymore. He'd Walked Out.

Li Na slid over to Tachyon and hugged him tightly, suddenly very confused and fearful. "Why didn't he yell at me? He always yells at me ..." She looked up to Tachyon, her eyes wide with near-paranoia to the point they finally showed white around the edges, like a panicked horse. "I'm in deep shit now, aren't I"

[Marcao]

He blinked when Blackheart left but said nothing. Maybe this was for the best, he would much rather have the meta walk out and lose some steam than try something unfortunate. Was it a change of tactics when dealing with Li Na or was it something else entirely? It was hard to say. The thought was disrupted when Li Na slid over to him and hugged him tightly, there was something about that contact that was odd. If she had been trying to hide something from him, her eyes gave it away.

His arms held her against him offering physical support. There were times when Li Na made it difficult for him to truly understand her, this was especially so when Blackheart was involved as of late. His right hand moved the back of his hand brushing against her cheek as he shook his head.

"Maybe he thought he was becoming predictable. Maybe he thought it was time for a change of pace." he said. He was not the empath. Her eyes went wide and he saw the paranoia lurking in the surface of her eyes. His hand withdrawn before a single finger pressed itself against her lips.

"You have to control your temper. But I don't think anything has fundamentally changed." He said. Blackheart was not the type to skulk in the night and try to do something...unwise. No, if he thought something had to be done he would do it in a visible manner. So that there would be absolutely no doubt of what was being done and by whom.

His finger was withdrawn from her lips as he shook his head. "Irregardless, it is out of our hands." He let those words sink in, worrying about the past was rarely worth the effort. Thinking about the present was far more productive.

"I am starving, I am going to go grab a bite to eat. You are welcome to join me." He said as he gently disentangled himself from her embrace. It was an offer to re-direct her energy elsewhere.

[Dark Silver]

Saibot did the same as Ghost, using both his Ring and scanners to track the errant psychic energies.

With Ghost helping others, Saibot freed himself to speed after the trail. As the trail grew warmer, the chaos became much more recent, till he finally came across a car speeding uncontrollably ahead.

Rearing his hand back, bound into a fist, he punched forward. The Ring reacted to the mental command, and a beam of energy slammed into the front of the speeding auto, turning into a blue hand that smashed the vehicle flat, as another beam broke through the windshield, and held the passengers in place, absorbing some of the shock of a sudden stop.

He was there a moment after the vehicle was stopped, his scanners detecting the psychic energies.

[LadyTevar]

Elias was being calm. Elias was being rational. And, she had to admit, Elias was probably right. It didn't totally relieve her fears, but it did remind her that letting go of those emotions would do Bad Things to Hydro.

Getting out of the house might be the best idea. "Ok," she agreed softly, before looking over at Blast and Hydro. "Once I'm gone, you should be ok, Hydro. I'm ... sorry I hit you that hard." She then took Elias' hand and let him lead her wherever he wanted to go.

[General Havoc]

Hydro listened to the other explanations with equanimity, or rather what passed for it, bubbling and oscillating back and forth, emitting low sounds that appeared to be no particular speech. Inside, he was practically boiling. Yes, neither Tachyon nor Argent could have known that he was not threatening them, that was rather the point. Had Tachyon or Argent reacted instantly and reactively with something violent, it would have been something anticipatory, something that could or should have been expected. Whatever the violence of their reactions, it was something he had factored in, for he was functionally indestructible after all, and their violence would only result in temporary instabilities at best.

At least, that had been the theory. He was rapidly revising that one.

But Argent had taken the time to ascertain what he had done, then dragged him outside and initiated whatever that assault was, not in the heat of the moment, not accidentally, but with malice of forethought. The shock of getting hit with... that had nearly been worse than the effect itself. What in the name of the singularity were these Metafleshbeasts weilding?!

He bubbled and half-crystallized before melting once again, and slowly his form began to calm down. The where's and the why's and the surge of disruption he was experiencing, this time as a perfectly natural reaction of having been nearly obliterated by the force of Argent's blow... all that was elementary in the end. What was done was done. There was no need to make further demands when he had not the first conception of what demands he wanted to make. Argent seemed... chastened... at least a bit, and she had after all been the source (he assumed) of the countervailing force he had experienced before. Besides, experiments involved risk... and... after all...

He would have grimaced if he had possessed a face. Simple common sense dictated that one did not blame nitro-glycerin for exploding when shaken. One blamed the chemist for shaking it, even if the reaction was unexpected.

"I..." he managed to say, still somewhat upset, but stomaching it, and sounding more like his normal self. "I... regret if... my experiment was... poorly... selected. It was not... my intention to cause undo difficulties. I simply wished to ascertain the causal link..."

He obviously had no idea how apologies worked either, but perhaps the thought was what counted.

"In the future, I shall endeavor to take greater care in... such circumstances..."

[frigidmagi]

Tachyon could deal with Argent, it was a task that Tobin felt woefully under equipped for to be honest. He never dealt well with emotional pryotechics, being raised in a household where calm reserve was prized. He honestly doubted that his mother would show anything but calm if she was being kicked in the teeth.

Still there was Hydro. A completely alien lifeform he couldn't really understand but one that had to be grafted into the team somehow. Right, glad he watched those old Startrek shows on the Scifi.com. Hell even the Opinionated Voyager reviews should help, ah the classics.

He stepped closer to Hydro doing his best to project non-threatening.

"You okay Hydro? She hit ya kinda hard. Anything I can do for you?" He asked.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart headed back to the house, pulling out his phone as he did so. "Blast, turn on the news. Something went down in Vegas with Guardian Force and we need to know if its still going down."

[frigidmagi]

Blast's phone went off before Hydro could answer.

"Sorry Hydro, it's Blackheart. When the boss calls and all that." Blast said picking up the phone. He heard Blackheart's order and waving at Hydro to follow him went inside and turned on CNN.

"Got the news on now." Blast said into his phone.

[B4UTRUST]

CNN didn't have any coverage yet on the Vegas happenings. It may still be considered low key enough not to interupt another congressional session in progress, or they simply hadn't gotten a crew on site yet. But neither did MSNBC or OCN - OmniCorp News.

But if it was worrysome enough to bother Blackheart it was surely a big enough deal that it would gain media attention sooner rather than later.

[frigidmagi]

"Nothing on any of the news channels... Internet maybe?" Blast muttered... He should get Hotfoot do it. Yeah that's a good idea.

"Hey Hotfoot!" He called.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot was busy toweling himself off from the recent fight between Hydro and Argent, and was being usually quiet. He let loose a quick sigh then looked at Blast. "Yeah, what's up man?"

[frigidmagi]

"Blackheart called. He wants us to try and hunt down news on any superhero fights in Vegas. Think you could do a net search for me real fast?" Blast asked.

[Hotfoot]

"Sure. If you get the chance, remind him that I still want to get my hands on that dagger. I want to test a few things with it later." He went to the computer and flashed his shield for a split second, then sat back as a few dozen tabs opened up. Included were various news websites, wikipedia, and of course, Herowatch.

"Hm...give me a bit here, pages are still loading," he browsed through the tabs, looking for any mentions of Las Vegas using the search feature of the browser. "Got something about Guardian Force and Vegas, at least that's the word from Herowatch. Says it's still going on, from the sounds of it."

[frigidmagi]

"But no video feed yet. Huh. Best wait til Blackheart shows up before we make any calls." Blast grunted.

[LadyTevar]

So much for food.

"Guardian Force?!" Argent exclaimed, running into the room to look over Hotfoot's shoulder and reading what Herowatch had. Shadows suddenly rose to the keys, typing a name a password quickly (although never too fast for Hotfoot not to see it). A comment box was pulled up, a comment posted, and Argent waited.

[LadyTevar]

It didn't take that long. "Blast? Call Blackheart. Herowatch.org has pictures."

Image 1: close up of Overwatch and Sentinal erecting energy walls, Overwatch being more in focus

Image 2: Overwatch helping remove injured from a nasty pile up

Image 3: Sentinal holding the downed helicopter up, beneath the copter, parallel to the ground, while the blue energy hand holds it.

Image 4: 3/4 profile of Sentinal, very clear, able to see details of the suit

Image 5: Sentinal slamming down the front of the run away car with a energy bolt

She backed away from Hotfoot, before any of her jangled, tangled emotions leached out.

[frigidmagi]

Blast looked at the online pics for a moment.

"Yeah that's it alright." Blast said. Damn it all, you weren't suppose to end up in Vegas on business.

[LadyTevar]

A shadow ran over the mouse, clicking one of the pictures to highlight it.

Image 4: 3/4 profile of Sentinal, very clear, able to see details of the suit

"That's not Saibot's suit," Argent stated firmly. "Similar colors, but Saibot's was ... more skin-tight. This one's bulkier."

[frigidmagi]

"Same guy different suit? I mean he wouldn't be so... gone as to show up in the exalt same suit right? Be like waving a flag, hey Blackheart come get me!" Blast asked her.

[Hotfoot]

"Well here's a thought; you can still get to Ghost, right?" He asked Argent, "Why not go give him a little visit on the sly and see what you can see? Come right back when you have an idea of what's going on, and fill us in. Then we can get the others if we need to."

[frigidmagi]

"Hey that's a good idea... Could you do Argent?" Blast asked.

[General Havoc]

"Wait..."

Hydro had followed the others to the light projection devices that they were using to monitor what was occurring in what Hydro surmised to be another flesh-beast city, this one apparently called "Vay-gahs". He wasn't sure if he'd understood most of their meanings in speaking, but to the extent he did, he had had a thought.

"It is... your intention to determine what is transpiring within this city, in that you suspect the two meta-flesh-beasts displayed on those light projectors to be the same Meta-flesh-beasts you spoke of before, yes? And should they prove to actually be the same flesh-beasts, then you do not wish that they should be aware that you suspect their identities at this time?"

Assuming the previous was true, the conclusion was obvious.

"Given that I have never encountered these meta-flesh-beasts Saibot and Ghost, would it not be reasonable to suggest that I should be sent to Vay-Gahs to make said determination in that case? At need, I am indistinguishable from non-animate DiHydrogen-Monoxide, and even should they possess a means of detecting my nature, they will not recognize me as having anything whatsoever to do with the rest of you flesh-beasts. To them, I shall simply be another oddity."

"I could, potentially, identify distinguishing features of the meta-flesh-beasts in question and upon returning, report them to you for analysis as to identifying marks. Moreover, unlike a flesh-beast, I am functionally indestructible by physical means, which would appear, according to said images, to be something of an asset in that location at present."

"Is... my analysis accurate?"

[frigidmagi]

"Yes you are correct in what we desire to know. How fast would you get there and how would you be sure they were the ones we were looking for?" Blast asked interested in the suggestion.

[General Havoc]

"In terms of identification, I strongly discount the possibility that there exist more meta-flesh-beasts with identical outer skin colorations beyond the ones we have observed on the light projectors. I would not be capable of identifying them as the Ghost and Saibot or not, but I would be capable of retrieving first-hand data to be related to those who could make such a determination, namely... you. I could for example, relate descriptions of actions taken, or words vocalized, or supernatural capabilities demonstrated, that would enable the remainder of you to judge their identities, yes?"

"As to... transportation... I assumed that there was some means present by which I or others could be relocated to Vay-gahs and back at need, as there was for the desert in which the most recent encounter took place. Is this assumption... ill-founded?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent, meanwhile was viewing various comments, making a few back... and suddenly a wave of *I'm So Stupid!* washed the room before she got it, and the grimace on her face under control. Still, she was able to give answers to the questions.

"Yes, I can go see Ghost, he's on Administrative Leave so he should be at home now. Yes, I can teleport Hydro to Vegas. No, I don't think that's a good idea. Ask Blackheart."