World of Heroes -- Reboot

"Whoah, whoah!", cried out the man on the ground. "Hold up there! She's the one you're after!", yelled the man, pointing to Fredica, still running off. "Long story short, she tried to cause a freaking catastrophe! We were working on Nuclo's suit — that super that exploded and caused the Act — he's coming back you see, and so, we were working on his suit, but she wanted our Department Head to change an atom, and make Nuclo go crazy! So, I really think you should be pointing that gun over that way... Sir."

Meanwhile, Isacc bursted through the building, with Dr.Reich turning to face Isacc with an incredulous look on his face.

"Vat are you doing here? ...No matter; one of my scientists just vied to get me to change one of Nuclo's atoms. The results would be catastrophic! She just ran out the door; perhaps you might vant to go after her, if you would..."

edited 23rd Sep '12 5:45:12 PM by kkhohoho

The blond young man from earlier looked up from twiddling his thumbs, and saw that Alex was standing right in front of him. "Alex?" He quickly stood up. "Where've you been? We've been wondering where the hell you got off to. We were just about to start looking for you too, if you still hadn't shown up in half an hour. So... it's good to have you back, but... what have you been up to?"

   "Cut the crap, doc."    The Devourer growled in the voice of hundreds. His hands curled into fists, which grew larger and became spiked all over as he transformed the extremities into weapons.

   "You don't have to do this."    he pleaded slightly, though the metahuman was already feeling the voices in his head cry out for Reich's blood to join them.

Even though he'd been overseas for the better part of his amnesia, Saltire was fully aware of the accident that caused the passing of the SPA. He'd even had a niggling feeling his amnesia was connected by thin threads to the act, but it was all conjecture as this point.

He turned around to watch Frederica's white coat in the distance. She'd gotten a good head start and did not look to be slowing down. From behind his mask, the man sighed.

"Case."

The scientist who'd been tripped complied, bewildered and out of breath he still might be. With the handle in a firm grip, Saltire took off after her, his pistol safely stowed back in its holster. Just another weird figure in a city full of weird.

edited 23rd Sep '12 8:33:57 PM by mantlemask

The Doctor, for a brief moment, stood aghast at Isacc, seemingly shocked, but it wasn't long before that slowly faded into a stern glare, straight into the Devourer's very eyes.

"So...", said the doctor, very succinctly, "you know. However, you yourself are living proof of vhy this came to be. Superheroes, even one with good intentions, only serve to bring mayhem and destruction. Just how many dollars in collateral damage are acquired on a yearly basis? Just how many lives are crushed a superbeing being thrown straight through a building, or a pile of bricks falling on an innocent bystander? Vhy, not even those who remain physically intact are safe; the costs for repairing their homes can cause to have to apply for the Super-Collateral program, and even vhen, only so many even have vhe chance to apply! Some simply become bankrupt, and are forced to live on the streets."

"But sometimes," the doctor continued, "vhe supers themselves are a danger — and no, I am not nalking about the villains. How many people have you killed, hm? That is not even counting all of the animals you have no doubt devoured. The Captain was just a prelude to greater menaces to come in the later decades, and I doubt you can prove otherwise."

"However...", the doctor continued, his hand slowly reaching for his waist, "I also doubt that you can stop what is to come." The doctor then pushed a button on a small belt on his waist, and a transparent blue force-field sprung up from the ground; it looked like a sort of blue wall, separating Isacc from the majority of the room — including Dr.Reich and Nuclo's suit. There were also walls surrounding the floor, the other walls, (within the limits of the initial wall,) and the ceiling, in case Isacc decided to bust through from another direction.

"You can pound on that vall as much as you like," gloated the good doctor, "but you vould be doing so until Kingdom Come. In the meantime, there is another matter that may vell concern you. Vhile I do have... plans for Nuclo suit, I only intend to go so far. However, one of my assistants — a female brunette — just tried to trick me into changing an atom on the suit. Only, it vould be the one that would cause Nuclo to be so crazy, he might assault the government itself. So, you can either continue tying to get to me, or go after the only available link to the greater problem, which I do know something about. Your choice..."

"Taxi!", Fredrica yelled out, and sure enough, a taxi rolled up to her on the nearest street. However, just as she stepping into the backseat, and the Taxi started to take off, Saltire had arrived on the scene...

"Hey, hey! Stop!"

Saltire had turned the corner just in time to see Frederica just about to board the taxi. With a burst of adrenaline, the masked man powered forward and grabbed the retreating scientist by the arm and hauled her back onto the curb. Cursing, the driver hauled himself out to confront him.

"Whatsadeal, mac?"

"She stole my wallet. Oh, and she was gonna make Nuclo crazy." A poor excuse, but it was enough to confuse the driver, who merely kept cursing at Saltire.

It was then it occurred to Saltire that he had just come from around here. While keeping a firm grip on Frederica's arm, he could spy the bus stop he'd come down from. And the cops talking to witnesses when someone cried out.

"That's him, officer! Over there, the man by the taxi! He shot those nuns!"

The taxi driver looked furious. The gunman recognized the beginnings of outrage. "Ya been shootin' nuns!?"

"To be fair, they shot me first."

The taxi driver's voice joined those of the bystanders. Saltire cursed behind his black mask, dropping his battered leather case to grasp at the shotgun concealed underneath the back of his vest. The day was not getting any better. Through it all, the scientist kept struggling.

edited 23rd Sep '12 8:36:02 PM by mantlemask

"It's a...long story," Alex said slowly. Honestly, she still wasn't sure how it had happened. "Let's just say I ended up having to team up with one of the supers here to take care of the crazy lady chasing us. Yeah, I didn't like it, but it was the only damn way to get rid of her. Luckily, it worked."

"You aren't going to tell them about me?" Kara mentally asked.

"Not yet," Alex informed her, realizing gratefully that the ghost was invisible. She really needed to pay more attention to what Kara was doing.

"So, are you all okay?" she asked, "You guys ran all over the place. I'm amazed I found you as quickly as I did."

Suddenly, as if to cap of the craziness of the day, the taxi driver reached into his right pocket and pulled out a handgun, aiming it straight at Saltine. "Put 'er back in da' the car, or ya' get a slug between the eyes. Money's money, ya joik!"

In response, the nearby officers immediately swirled towards the taxi officers, and aimed their handguns at the taxi driver. Freeze!" They also noticed that the brunette matched the description of the most recent report they received from Dr.Reich. "All you, over there — put your hands up! Do it, or I'll shoot! Do it now!" The police officer giving the order seemed to be more then a little tense...

"Well," said the young man, "we're amazed ourselves that the police haven't locked us up by now. You know, looking at this world, it really does seem to match up with how things were 5 years ago. A few months before... before the war. Before all hell broke lose. But, going back to what you said... you mean, Charity's gone? Thank god! But, wait; if you teamed up with another Super, then that means that can't be all bad here yet, right? I mean if it is 5 years ago, then that would make sense..."

It was hard to tell what Saltire's expression was, given that he wore a full face mask. But right now, it seemed to be exapserated.

He looked at the gun pointed at him and merely kicked at the case that had fallen beside him. It fell over and suddenly opened, revealing a complicated series of whirring, clicking and humming mechanisms. Most important of these was a boxy-looking construct that rose up on an elevating frame from the heart of the mechanism that pointed what appeared to be a gun barrel right at the driver's chest, complete with a laser dot right at the man's belly. There was a tell-tale clack of loading small arms.

"My gun's bigger, chief." He adjusted his grip on the struggling scientist, carefully twisting her arm into a hold that wouldn't hurt. "I'd back up if I were you. This customer ain't worth the trouble..."

He didn't want to have to start shooting. But if things escalated, then he preferred not to be counted among the dead.

Or imprisoned.

edited 24th Sep '12 9:29:33 AM by mantlemask

Lucas was busy in his head, preparing a device to stay in contact with the crew, when he was pulled back into the portal. "Ibbie, what's going on!!", he yelled out as he flew through the wormhole, "RECALCULATING...RECALCULATING...", she repeated till they reappeared back into reality.

Unlike Dax, Lucas appeared a few feet off the ground and landed hard with a smash on the ground, breaking the ground beneath him. "I'm okay…I guess. Lemme run a quick systems check on myself.", he said as he closed his eyes and began diagnostics, "Servos, peripherals, generation…check…neural connections, techo-organic cortex, synthetic lobes…check…organics, structural integrity/frame, orientation calibration…check", Ibbie began saying as she began her usual run.

Eva groaned, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She shook her head in an attempt to knock some sense into the room and make it stop spinning around her. Her dizziness quickly started to clean (the girl having long since become used to disorienting spins), and she was struck by a sudden bone-chilling thought. Pushing herself up further into a kneeling position, she hurriedly patted herself down, checking that, yes, all of limbs were where they should be. "Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, sighing with relief.

"No thanks to our "expert", though. What the fuck do you call that?" She added in a growl in the general direction of Mr Terrific as she looked around the room. "Someone please tell me we're in the right place."

[WHAT MADE YOU SUDDENLY CHANGE YOUR MIND?] Arguma asked as he followed Wildcard aboard the ship and closed the door behind them, not knowing exactly what the man had been talking about over the phone.

Chronus, fortunately, managed a fairly graceful and painless landing. He stood up and looked around.

"Well. Time has not been kind to this location."

Who appeared to be the 'leader' of the group of police — an aging, fat orange-top with a mustache that looked like a bloated cheeto — still head his gun at Saltire, though his hands started to quiver, just a bit. "Uh, now there, sir; just, put down your gun...", he said, then turning to another officer, "uh, that is a gun, right?". He then quickly turned back to face Saltire, gun still in his hand. "Just, put down your gun, and no-one will be hurt. I know how to use this thing! Don't make me hurt you..."

Meanwhile, the taxi driver was shouting out obscene profanities, while also occasionally demanding Saltire to give back his latest source of inco — uh, that poor, helpless innocent victim. Either way, things didn't appear to be going to well for Saltire...

"Ugh...", groaned Mr.Terrific, just getting up himself. Looking around, the place seemed to be Me.Terrific's lab, but worse for wear thanks to the passages of time. Various pieces of equipment were either broken, strewn about, or both, the whole place was covered in dust and dustballs.

"Well...", said Mr.Terrific, "we seem to be back in the lab — only some centuries from now. Looking back, that should have been painfully obvious. The portal only transported us to this dimension; it wouldn't actually put us in a differnt place. And speaking of the portal..."

Thankfully, this dimension's portal, while aged as well, seemed to be perfectly intact. "Well," said Mr.Terrific, "it looks we've found our ride home. Mind you, I doubt the building still has electrical power, but it shouldn't take me too long to get this place working again. Of course, that would mean I'd have to stay here..."

"We compromised," Wildcard said. He heaved his sack of Uzis and dragged the old man. "So hurry up. Medical emergency and all that."

Kenichi had landed on his back, and he really didn't feel like opening his eyes for a moment. Passing through a space/time gate had caused some backlash from his "prisoner", and he didn't really want to know how that might affect him. He eventually opened his eyes, stood up and listened to the others. Everyone appeared to be okay, for the most part, though everything looked a bit too purple. This was probably just the result of the backlash and would probably fade soon, so he paid it no mind. He took a brief moment to check on his "passenger" before he really took in their surroundings. It was obvious that the lab had seen better days, but on the whole it was surprisingly intact.

After Mr. Terrific had finished speaking, Kenichi said "That could have gone worse, all things considered. Well, now that we're here and we have some way to get home, I suppose we should go up top. Unless we're still talking about that whole group issue?"

A few minutes later Lucas got back to feet as the dianogstics began to do its final run of his body, "…87% Completion. Approximating gravity levels at 9.7923 meters squared, Air quality and atmosphere is breathable, ambient temperature at 77° Fahrenheit, backing up top ten playlists…", he heard in his head as Ibbie droned on. "Don't know what to tell you Freefall. My sensors can't exactly tell the difference between dimensions.", he told her with a shrug

He then turned towards Kenichi to answer his question, "It doesn't really matter much who I'm with, but if I had to pick I'd go with Dax. With his knowledge of this dimension and my technology, we'll be able to sort out any problems that we come across.", Lucas said as he looked around the lab, "That's if we're in the right universe to begin with. Guess we should check outside and see."

[EXPLAIN ON THE WAY.] Arguma said.

With the prisoners/victims secure and the ship closed up, the Q'oton went to the cockpit as fast as he could and took to the controls, lifting up and making his way back to the city to drop the people off and get to whatever it was that had more recently gained Wildcard's attention.

"Basically, Robert refused to send in any help until we helped Isaac beat the shit outta Dr. Reich and save the universe," Wildcard said, "But then after that I think their schedules are open. He wants us at the station first."

Isaac's fists reverted back into their normal appearance as he and his voices realized there wouldn't be any immediate violence yet. Growling at the doctor, he walked over towards the hole he had made in the wall, which was also blocked by the force field, and pulled out his phone.

Keying Robert's number, Isaac tried to call Robert to tell him that he had found Dr. Reich.

[DID HE SAY WHERE WE CAN DROP OFF OUR PASSENGERS?] Arguma asked as the ship flew towards the city.

"Not a clue," Wildcard replied. "But we can just lock 'em up when we get there."

"Hello," said Robert, currently racing back to the station. Whipping out his cellphone, he had noticed that Isaac had called once again. "Isacc, did you find the good doctor?"