Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Marcao]

He admitted to himself that this was his usual kind of place.

The music was loud, the selection of drinks was large and the women undulating in the dance floor more than attractive enough to draw his attention. He drained the contents of his chosen drink the second so far and leaned back against his chair. Yes, the women were lovely but not quite enough to dispel the memory of Li Na. He closed his eyes focusing on the music that darted about him and assaulted his senses. He had come here to unwind without having to deal with the others around him.

He did not contemplate any longer if this was the right decision or not. The decision had been made and now that he was in the middle of the action he was not willing to leave for a while. His eyes opened, catching sight of a waitress and quickly motioning for her. “I will take another.â€

[SirNitram]

"Blast. Blackheart." Gravitas said. His voice was soft, but carried. Yes, the skinny nerd had vanished. "Come with me. I doubt your heat will be much good, but I could use some extra eyes."

There wasn't a pause. They were, after all, dealing with a madman who wielded part of the end of a universe. This universe was growing on Gravitas, so he was going to stop this. The portal opened, and he stepped through. The cyclone of fire was buffetted, suddenly, then destroyed by the concentrated blasts of shaped time and space.

"Come, Dead Man. If fire is not enough for you to realize you must stop, perhaps the chill of eternity will do it."

[frigidmagi]

Blast shrugged, it wasn't like he was gonna live forever anyways.

"Let's go!" He hollered, putting on his mask and diving through the portal. Man I hope I don't look to silly like this he thought.

[LadyTevar]

"You don't half kill a meta and then leave," said Blackheart. "You do the job right. He isn't an ordinary human. If he lives, what do you think he's going to do the first time he's disrespected by a social inferior and gets drunk and rowdy? What happens if he decides to start carving a little empire for himself?"

He broke away from her and headed upstairs to grab some clothes.

She let him go ... she had no other choice. She faded back into the quiet of her own bedroom, falling down on the bed to try to sort through the confused, conflicting thoughts.

Blackheart had stopped her from killing Tasat, had gone out and tried to talk him down. Now ... Blackheart was chastising her for not finishing the job.

" ........ damn the man, can't he make up his mind about anything......"

[Cynical Cat]

You didn't do half measures with men like Tasat. If you hit them hard, you made sure you put them down hard enough they never got back up. Otherwise a lot of innocent people were likely to pay the price. "Let's get this done," said Blackheart as he stepped through Gravitas's warp. "One way or the other, if he's still sucking in oxygen he is coming with us. Dead or alive. Anyone have opinions on which way is preferable?"

[SirNitram]

"I don't rate my odds good on this one." Gravitas admitted. "I might be able to crush him to a point, but killing him lands him back where he escaped from. Doesn't strike me as wise. My plan is to get him to a place where I can inform the eternal gatekeeper of how important it is he not be allowed out."

[frigidmagi]

I don't rate my odds good on this one." Gravitas admitted. "I might be able to crush him to a point, but killing him lands him back where he escaped from. Doesn't strike me as wise. My plan is to get him to a place where I can inform the eternal gatekeeper of how important it is he not be allowed out."

"Are there places you can drop him where he'd be totally alone and unable to get out?" Blast asked.

[Cynical Cat]

"Break his jaw and drop him on Ultima will work," said Blackheart. "He'll be wanted in connection to that Chicago blood bath and he has no valid ID. Drop him off with the right note attached and he'll be in the deep freeze forever."

[frigidmagi]

"Yeah but do we want him where Tarot can get at him?" Blast asked. The idea of that crazed loony, with a chuck of the word in Tarot's grasp was enough to summon all sorts of nights for Blast.

[SirNitram]

"Ultima is only human. Their concept of forever is a bit short." Gravitas grumbled. "But as you wish. I don't think Hades would be... amused if I show up with another petition. You'd have laughed, Blackheart, even he found me arrogant..."

[frigidmagi]

"Guys, seriously do we want this guy where Tarot can get at him? That seems to be a call that is bound to bite us on the ass." Blast repeated determinely.

[Cynical Cat]

"I'm throwing out ideas," said Blackheart, "not issuing orders. He'll probably go hard and I'll have to cook him."

[frigidmagi]

"How about have Grav here just dump him on some remote planet on the far side of the galaxy or something? Then we can always go get him after we taken care of the rest of this crap. Uh... You can do that right Grav?" Blast suggested.

[SirNitram]

"If he emerged from that volcano, he'll shrug off your heat like it's not there." Gravitas said simply. "I grabbed you two because Blast can.. Hopefully.. Deal with his fire, and you're a damn sight sturdier than me, Blackheart. I can try doing the trick I did with those goons with Carver. Trap him without the flow of time until the singularity decays. Though the planet thing works too. I've mapped a few that can support human life."

[Cynical Cat]

"Depends," said Blackheart. "Pele's not that active. I can burn to ash someone who is capable of shrugging off a geyser of sulfurous fumes."

[SirNitram]

"Go for it, then. Aim to maim, not kill." Gravitas said, summoning up his own power and wrapping them in a shield to deflect any fire blasts. "He dies, he goes back to his Hell, he can escape again. By the powers, how did I wind up fighting those that escape being dead? Fifty years ago I didn't think there was an afterlife!"

[Cynical Cat]

"So its capture then," said Blackheart. "You take their claims seriously?"

[SirNitram]

"He survived a volcano." Gravitas said simply. "The Word does exist. I could get into a nice discussion about whether it does actually destroy the universe or just render it so there's little difference for living things, since you seemed.. Adamant.. About it surviving. These two factors make me too damn scared of the consequences to take the chance."

[Cynical Cat]

"We don't know he survived the volcano. We're here in case he did," said Blackheart. He hesitated. Fuck it. "It wasn't me that was sure. And it was more than sure. The idea was . . . . laughable. Pathetic. Fit for only small minded beings who believe their universe begins and ends with their planet and their religious delusions are connected to some kind of higher truth. Christ, I can hear it now."

[SirNitram]

"Blackheart." Gravitas said softly. "We're dealing with a man who has part of how to kill untold numbers of sentients. Can we please save this? My imagination is already full of things to be scared of. Just what your Tumor actually is is not a fear I need added." The Nova was actually scared, and that was new. "I promise I will listen to whatever you want to say at length. Right now, need to stop this guy. Yes, it won't destroy reality. It'll just kill lots and lots of squishy fleshies. Those include humans, and I happen to like humans."

[Cynical Cat]

"Right," said Blackheart. "Just, don't talk about it like it can destroy reality. It seems to. . . rile it up. Fuck, lets just grab this guy, if he's still sucking in wind and you can dump him wherever."

[Hotfoot]

Collin blinked as Argent came out in her bikini, and immediately he blushed a little. It was hardly a secret that he found her attractive. He stood there for a while, trying to figure out what to do. After a short while, he went up to his room to change. There was likely something, somewhere that could be used in the pool. As he started to change, he noticed the kiss between Argent and Blackheart. Not the actual kiss itself, but rather the emotion through the link. He ran to a window to look and see what was going on, and he saw the two of them together. He sighed, shrugged, and put his clothes back on. Hopefully, the two of them would work out, but he didn't hold much confidence in it. Still, Li Na didn't need him here being a naysayer about the whole thing. She needed space.

By the time the two of them had disappeared, so had he. It was silent, without flash or tremendous speed. While everyone was focused on the spectacle, he had slipped away like he had so many times before, back when he was still learning about his powers. He made his way to the city and...walked. Running would have been better, but he couldn't risk it. He knew where he was going, however. The single place he could go and think while not calling attention to himself. He saw the berets and stern looks inside, the cradled drinks, the everpresent black, and he knew he was where he needed to go. He walked in, his face strangely serious as he walked up to the counter and ordered the strongest drink they could legally serve. A few eyes glanced over to him increduously, the regulars wondering what this outsider was doing here, what nerve he had, scoffing at the idea that he could handle his drink.

They didn't know, they couldn't understand. He took his first sip and felt the disgusting concoction burn down his throat. Within seconds he could feel the chemicals take over, his body processing them faster than would normally be possible in a human. He drained the mug dry and asked for another, then went to sit down at one of the booths in the corner, watching everyone in the place. The skeptical eyes that had watched him enter turned away in mute acceptance, while others took notice...

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost sat alone in the conference room at Ultima. They had waited for an hour at the site, but decided to come back to HQ. His thoughts wandered to his old team. He had felt a feeling of happiness mixed with love a couple days ago. Wherever she was, Ghost hoped Argent was happy. His new team was supposed to be here shortly, and then they would wait for Kyosuke to show up, bring him into the conference room and then containment teams would line up outside the room, ready to breach and bring him down.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke nodded to himself.
"Nevada. Fine. Should be a point near Vegas. Let me find it..."

He cross referenced several scrolls, some obviously older then others, along with the world map on the wall.
"Alright. The one near Vegas is a major nexus point, just like the one near Millenium. We should be able to directly jump from here to there without too much difficulty."

Kyosuke rigged the gate to the correct symbols before opening a new portal.
"Alright. That'll put you outside of Vegas. If I'm still alive in 24 hours I'll come there. I have to head back to Millenium. There's still work to be done there."

[Dark Silver]

"If you manage to survive and get back, I'll be waiting for you at the Inque Spot on West 57th."

With that, Saibot walked into the light, and disappeared.

He reappeared mere seconds later, over the Nexus point, a mile or so outside of Los Vegas.

The Life Support Field glowed about him, as he lifted into the air, and headed to find the old command center.