Gods Among Us 8 - First Earth Battalion [IC|Meta RP|Open]

[Dyelli Beybi]

"Hmm." Newton was looking increasingly annoyed as more and more members of the FEB entered her quarters. One, who she didn't recognise, even had the gall to call her 'Harry', like they were old friends or something.

She slowed down, coming to a stop beside a side table, nervously toying with the drawer handle, eyes downcast, "Well I guess you have me at a disadvantage," she muttered.

For just a moment she seemed defeated. She produced a golf ball from the drawer, "Anyone play golf?" she suggested, "No?" Then threw the ball as hard as she could (which was very hard) at the room's fire sprinkler.

There was an audible crack, then water started pouring out, soaking Newton, the FEB, but more importantly, all the bugs. Simultaneously the fire alarm went off and spurring the guards from the floor below into action.

Blur took a wide stand, preparing to come under attack.

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

This were some of the worst seconds in his life when Newton fired off sprinkles. All these insects forcefully disconnecting with his brain made this very painfully. He grabbed his head in pain visibly struggling to stay conscious. It was at this moment he fell down and lost consciousness, he regained it a few seconds later as the last insect in the room died. He was now powerless, wet, and the worst he didn't know how to fight, he knew the basics. You need to punch, but, he wasn't either strong nor knew all the types of punches or how to perform them. Essentially, he was a sitting duck in this situation

[A Paradise for Few]

After Elle listened to the short conversation between Zinnia and Michael, he thought what it was time to go take a look at the upper floor. His body was stretched and he was ready to have some fun. While he walked towards the stairs, he mused on whether their infiltration mission were discovered or not. He supposed, it was mid-way there, as he looked at few guards running upstairs, but probably not yet. Well then. Soon after that, he heard the fire alarm go off unexpectedly. 'Oh?' He thought curiously. He was about to reach the stairs, before a group of guards came running from behind him, one of them briefly stopping to tell him. "Hey, what are you going? We are evacuating everyone, follow them!" He quickly motioned behind Elle with his head and was off running after the other guards upstairs. Ellehau turned partly behind, and indeed, the music still played, the people were confused, but the staff has already begun the so called "evacuation". Ellehau turned and sped up after the guards, stepping on the stairs. He spoke to his earpiece. "I am coming up, guys. A bunch of guards just went of running before me. If you see them, it means that they were the faster runners, he-he." As he reached the balcony, he heard some shouts behind him, and a lot of steps. He turned to check what it was, seeing another group of guards running at him, looking unfriendly. "Who are you? No one is supposed to be here now, leave!", one of them shouted angrily. Ellehau considered having conversation with them. Why not? He morphed his face into a friendly smile, and waved. "Hey now, no reason to act so unfriendly. I am just checking up on Newton, I was worried about her. I suppose you are too, right?" However, they ran at Ellehau, their hands out to apprehend him. 'Perhaps they suspected something', he thought, 'or maybe they thought that talking is a waste of life.' As they jumped at him, their bodies suddenly switched directions, and Ellehau saw their faces begun to turn into surprise as they flew off from the balcony to the floor below. It was pretty amusing, their reaction, he thought before turning and running after the previous guards. As he ran in the corridors, he heard fast steps nearing, and as he turned he saw one guard and a few shadows disappear the next turn. He continued his journey, and heard surprised voices, and turning, he saw eight bodies lying around, either dead or perhaps unconscious. The guards were just reaching a door. Ellehau assumed it was the door leading to Harriet's room, and before they reached, he punched one of the lying bodies with his leg and it was set flying at the two guards who was about to burst open the closed door. They gave a sounds of unpleasant winded surprise as the three bodies flew down the corridor. As the remaining guards halted, and turned to look at him in alarm, he waved friendily, and punched another body around, which flew at the guards like in a game of bowling. However, his aim was a bit off, and he hit two guard out of four, and one of the remaining two ran at him with a nightstick in his hand. The other guard hurriedly turned on his earpiece and spoke in a flow of words, "There is meta-intruders at Miss Newton's quarters, we need backup, fast!" Ellehau sighed, he ran at the first guard, who upon contact was thrown to the wall, joining the unconsciousness club. He grinned at the other guard who turned to look at him then at the closed door fearfully. Ellehau ran at him, but he ducked out of the way. He shouted inside the room. "Miss Newton, you have to get out of here!" Seeing this, he chuckled and spoke warmly, "I would have let you join your teammates, but I got a better idea!" Ellehau suddenly jumped at the guard, but this time he looked more like a watered line to the guard, and he simply didn't have enough speed. Elle's outstretched hand grabbed the guard by his collar and they both came crushing down on the floor against the wall. Elle focused while the guard attempted to attack him with his legs and failed, letting out a pained sound. Moments latter the guard screamed very loudly, but Ellehau's ears was saved by his ability, and got thrown away from the spot he was in under Ellehau. He straightened, looking at his masterpiece. The guard was lying down the corridor at the opposite wall, with his limbs at odd angles, face contorted in an odd expression Elle recalled was anguished fear, and with blood pooling around him. Ellehau laughed merrily, his face was so cool! He praised his mind for this idea. I used quite bit of my powers's "active" time, though, he thought. But, he doubted Harriet will be any trouble either way, so, he will most likely have time to recharge. After a moment Elle turned towards the door, and entered the room. The most notable thing he saw was a see of bugs lying around, and apparently wet, along with the room, fire sprinklers nurturing the room's new soil. Elle was not mistaken in imagining how the swarm of 50,000 bugs would look like, and he smiled, laughing. He looked around, seeing Andrew who had a bloody face, and looked pretty shaken up, he supposed, possibly related to his bugs dying, Wikus in his Ebrahel costume, and what his guess was Michael, and Harriet. He waved his hand, closing the door with his other hand, and took a step towards a wall near the door, partly shielding the door. "Hello, there! I am a bit late, Blur's trusty men had to be dealt with. Apologies." He said, though he did not actually sound sorry. He smiled at Michael and Harriet. "Hello, my name is Ellehau, or just Elle. And you are Michael, and Harriet Newton, it's nice to meet you." He looked at Harriet. He supposed it was best if they captured Harriet, of course, or if she seems on-their-side enough, as Michael said, well, took her with them, but before fighting with her, of course and/or whoever else joins the opposing team. Although, he supposed they might not be exactly found out just yet. If they kill all the guards they meet... no, that's Ellehau's excitement thinking. It is simply not worth the risk if Battalion's involvement here is discovered, and they leave a swarm of dead bodies around, of FEB losing public trust or whatever. This would be too troublesome for him, he thought. It could be fun if he could have his way, but he has to control himself to get better stuff long-run, this, Elle discovered long time ago. He supposed he should offer the idea to the team and Harriet. He activated his earpiece and spoke, addressing the room as well, leaning against the wall, with his hands on his chest.
"How about this, we finish this with little fuss? Newton, let's fight and then, you join us, then we take out the guards, leave the building and that's it. Or, if there is a lot of opponents here, no reason to fight with you, just join us and... So, what do you think?" Then, he turned to Andrew, morphing his expression into slight worry.
"Hey, Andrew, are you alright?" As he looked on, he saw a bottle of water on a table. "Want to drink some water?" Although he pretty much didn't notice, as he stood, a noticeable puddle started to form on the floor around him, all the water from the fire sprinklers reflecting and trickling down as it contacted few centimeters before his skin, creating a slight water-free aura around Ellehau's body and leaving him dry.

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

Andrew gasped for air as he tried to retake control of whatever there was left of the 50 000 insects he controlled, and possibly some new. He then turned to Elle "Yes, I'm alright" he then added, "I don't want to drink, but I have a better idea" he grabbed the bottle and used the water inside to clean his face of the blood from his mouth and nose. He then said, "how to stop those sprinklers?!" As he said it he managed to take control of about 5 000 survivor bugs, mostly cockroaches and pharaoh ants plus a few flies, and about 10 000 new bugs. He evacuated them onto the roof of the room, the only place that wouldn't get wet now, his eyes obviously turned milky white.

[Granis]

"Damn it Harry, stop screwing around!" Michael shouted, quickly losing what little control over his frustration he still had. "I'm not gonna let you kill yourself trying to fight Wikus and the others. What the hell do you think is gonna happen to Flynn when you aren't around!"

Despite how it might've sounded, he'd chosen his words carefully. Not many people knew about her pet Macaw, and he hoped it might convince her to listen to him a little more. Of course, the little bastard hated him, and he dreaded the fact that bringing him up now would probably increase the chance they'd end up meeting in the near future, but keeping his friend alive was his top priority at the moment.

"Listen, I know why you're fighting!" He continued, trying to balance being loud enough to shout over all the current chaos but quiet enough to not sound angry. "All you want to do is shove it to the establishment because your mum and dad handed the whole empire over to your uncle, leaving you a bunch of trust funds you had no control over! I know when you steal, all the soup kitchens and orphanages of the area get sudden mysterious donations! I know how hard you try not to hurt people, and I know all of this because, even though you don't remember me, a long time ago you were one of my best friends, and I refuse to lose you again! So please come with us before whoever these bastards are use you to kill more people!"

---

Operative 614 looked up as the alarm went off, looking over to his team.

"It's time, let's go."

"Yes sir." The other three said in unison, standing up along with him.

To anyone looking particularly carefully, they may have been surprised to note that the armoured team suddenly seemed a lot more professional for some odd reason, and it was only a few seconds before they were out the door. Within about five minutes, they had navigated their way through the party, and were currently outside the door to Newton's room, observing the unconscious men on the floor around them.

"Alright guys, you know the drill. Keep them under wraps unless we absolutely need to use them. And don't shoot until they attack first. I want to see what we're dealing with."

And then he was through the door, gun trained on the blonde man with the glasses. 716, 392 and 1430 also held their aims on the other three men in the room, ready to fire if anything went wrong.

"Newton, are you alright?" 614 asked, before addressing the intruders. "Attention assholes. I want you all on the ground with your hands on your head. Do not try anything funny, or we will shoot you."

"Guys..." Michael said, as he slowly raised his hands to his head. "Get Harry out of here."

"And how the hell do you expect to do that?" 614 asked, a slight growl to his voice as his finger rested itself on the trigger.

For a moment, Michael stayed silent, before he grinned like an idiot.

"Easily."

And then there was a flash of blue, and two knives that hadn't been in his hands before were whipped out from behind his head and flung at the guns of all four soldiers with surprising accuracy. Even more surprising was the effect they had on the guns, which were all wrenched from the soldiers hands, visibly damaged.

"Get her to the roof!" Michael shouted to his companions once more. "I'll handle these idiots!"

[New Aeyariss]

With Wikus, things were far simpler.

The moment Newton sprang into action, Wikus the hero ceased to exist. All that remained was Wikus the soldier - a former mercenary, veteran of wars in Africa. A man who had no qualms whatsoever about killing people - especially not in the situation he was in. The law was on his side - he had come here to seize a dangerous criminal who openly admitted to her crimes (recorded, for convince, by Eprahel), and how said criminal was openly starting a fight. Against him was standing a metahuman abomination capable of running at excessive speeds, and killing him with one well placed blow.

The veteran was not going to take the chances.

"Contact! Contact! Contact!" Wikus shouted, like many times he did before.

It was a quick draw. Within miliseconds Wikus stood in Israeli shooting stnace - legs wide, back straight, mass equally distributed. And, as was the standard procedure, he fired three rounds - two at Harriet's center of mass, and one at the head too finish the job.

Likely too fast for her to dodge.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Harriet Newton, who was now, quite obviously Blur, fling herself to the side. She had been ready to commit suicide by FEB a few moments earlier but now, base survival instincts kicked in.

She wasn't fast enough. The acceleration was impressive, but coming from standing still, there was only so much she could do. While the third shot went just wide of her face, the other two struck her, one in the stomach and the other to her hip. She went down in a damp, bloodied heap on the ground, sobbing in pain. While she wasn't likely to die right away, she would need surgery to survive.

Meanwhile there was absolute chaos below. Guards were trying to get people out while others pushed forward towards the fight, turning the lower floor into a churning mass of human congestion. Party goers were screaming; people had heard the gunshots and seen people thrown off the balcony. Combined with the fire alarm, it was causing panic.

"What the hell is going on?" Imogen yelled over the comms, "I'm not able to get to you; too many people in the way. I think there is going to be a stampede."

[Demencia]

"Oh fucking hell." Zinnia said before she leapt into the air. "What a surprise, it's gone to shit. Time to improvise!" she told the team, heading straight for the upper floor where things were going down. "Things never go as planned, do they? Get ready, things are about to get interesting. This is a bad idea!" She tucked in her wings and dove straight for the glass, shifting her position at the last moment putting her legs forward and she crossed her arms in front of her. She crashed through the window with a loud sound, wincing as she felt some of the shards dig into her wings.

Once in the room, she headed straight for the downed Blur only giving Wikus a glare as she scooped the bleeding woman up in her arms and turn back for the window, rocketing off with a single flap of her slightly cut up wings. "She's bleeding to death, I'm getting her to a hospital!" Zinnia said, ignoring that she too was bleeding with each wingbeat from her entrance through the glass window. "She's been shot, you're all on your own there now. Deal with soldier boy and get out of there."

She held Blur in her arms as she headed for New York Presbyterian Hospital. "Don't die on me, I still have to kick the shit out of you for that last stunt." she said to the woman, though she winced each time she flapped as pain spread through her body.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Harriet Newton, without the mask, uniform and snarky attitude looked very vulnerable indeed. She was rather rapidly losing consciousness, though as she reached the point before she passed out, the point where the pain seemed to fade away, she made a request, "Just leave me in Central Park... Not a hospital. If you take me there he will burn everyone to get to me. And you know what your team will do to me. He shot me without any provocation. I was never like that..." she closed her eyes and fell silent.

[Granis]

"HARRY NO!!!" Michael shouted as he watched the bullets hit her. He spun around to face Wikus, a piercing glare on his face. "What the hell do you think you're doi-"

And then he lurched backwards, barely avoiding the knife that had been closing in on his throat. He quickly whipped another knife of his own out of his sleeve, deflecting the next few swings from one of the armored soldiers with little difficulty, although he was surprised to notice how heavily they were able to keep him moving back. Whoever this bozo was, he was good. He noticed that the other soldiers had made their move too, but couldn't get many details before he found himself defending against another flurry of swings.

Meanwhile, 614 had issued orders to the others. Either they were to secure the surrender of the other heroes or incapacitate them. If it was absolutely necessary, they were authorized to use lethal force. Once the threat was cleared, they could move in and get Blur to a medical facility.

716 approached Wikus, somehow appearing both confident and meek in her posture.

"Hello." She said, an apologetic tone to her voice. "I'm sorry, I can't say I really want to fight you, so could you please put the gun down and leave? Otherwise I'll have to hurt you, and I really prefer to avoid that kind of thing."

Meanwhile, 392 approached Elle, a slight slouch visible in his stance.

"Hey, you look like the kind of person who gets into a lot of crazy situations, so I'm gonna guess you know the drill by now." He said, sounding audibly tired as he watched the water not quite make it to Elle's skin. "Listen, I don't wanna fight, you... may or may not wanna fight, I don't know, but could we avoid doing anything too annoying if possible? I don't wanna know what's behind that cool trick you've got going on with the water, so just go home and don't make me regret getting up today, yeah?"

Finally, 1430 stepped up to Andrew, in an obvious fighting stance.

"You have two options." She said, sounding more like a child trying to sound like a soldier than an actual one. "The first is that you surrender and evacuate the building with the other guests, in which case you can leave without injury. The second is that you try and fight, in which case I'll have to kill you. I hope you choose the first, but I'm not going to hold back if you fancy your chances at the second."

And then, before any other move could be made, the sound of glass shattering momentarily shook their attention, and both the soldiers and Michael turned to see Zinnia grab Harry and take off once more, leaving them with the message that she was taking her to a hospital.

"No!" 614 shouted, before abandoning his fight with Michael and throwing himself out the window after them. For a moment, Michael could only stare as the man apparently threw himself to his death, but then his eyes widened as he saw the man flying through the streets after his teammate and his friend, seemingly surfing through the air on something.

"Oh no." He said simply, before throwing himself out the window as well. However, where this may have been suicide for any normal person, Michael quickly proved he was anything but when he summoned a series of blue particles to his hand. Within seconds, these blue particles solidified into a sword with an abnormally wide blade, as if someone had tried to combine both a sword and a shield into one insanely impractical weapon.

And if he had been trying to wield it as a sword, it probably would have been. However, when he grabbed hold of the handle and flipped around so his feet were on the blade, it showed itself for what it was.

A makeshift flying surfboard.

Within seconds, he was flying through the streets to join the chase, and it wasn't long before he had them in his sights.

"Zinnia!" Michael shouted into his radio. "Don't take her to the hospital, they'll figure out she's there and come for her! Get her to Omni! He's in the fifth story of a multilevel carpark, a few blocks east of the Chrysler. He'll get you back to the base from there! Also, I feel I should mention you've got a guest on your tail, but don't worry. I'm pretty sure I've got him."

As Michael called Zinnia, 614 was trying to increase his speed more and more. He had never really gone this fast before, but damn it, he could not let the woman, Icarus if he was remembering right, get Blur to a hospital. Not only would the consequences be severe if he lost Blur, he also knew that, should she actually be admitted into the hospital, his mysterious employers would find out.

If that happened, it would result in the indiscriminate slaughter of anyone who got in the way, FEB or civilian.

He just had to get a little bit closer, just close enough for her to be in range of his blades. Almost there!

And then he heard the sound of a heavy piece of metal whistling through the air, one that wasn't coming from the blade beneath his own feet, and quickly twisted around to grab the sword and block the attack. Brown eyes widened beneath his helmet as he realised that the sword he had blocked was practically identical to the one he had blocked it with.

No, not even. It was completely identical, down to the last details.

"Michael, I assume?" The swords wielder said, and he noticed in frustration that it was the same man he'd fought in the penthouse. "Figured I'd meet up with you eventually!"

"Who the hell are you?!" 614 asked as they tumbled through the air, although he had an unfortunate feeling he already knew the answer, despite how impossible it sounded.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you already know!" Michael shouted back, an idiotic grin on his face that pissed 614 off to no end. "I reckon we should give it a proper reveal later though, so for now, you can just call me Archer!"

Grunting in frustration, 614 tried to push Michael away so he could continue his pursuit, but was unable to when Michael pushed forward, locking his sword with 614's own once more.

"Nuh uh! My turn now!" Michael said, quickly summoning a second copy of the same sword under his feet again so he could push 614 properly. His grin turned positively impish when 614 did the same. "Let's see what you've got, Shirou..."

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

Well, his job was done here, Newton was secured and he had no intention of checking on her, besides he needed to get to work soon. He turned to 1430 and said "Alright" he then started to walk towards the door, just as he was passing the frame the mass of insects he was controlling came to him. He pointed his finger up allowing the insects to get on him, they needed help getting out of this room that was basically a death sentence for them. He then said once again to 1430 "Oh, and by the way, work on your tone, you seriously didn't intimidate me" he then let out a chuckle, and walked out of the door, once outside the room he got the insects on the nearest wall and let them go. They scattered in various directions. He now said to comms "So, what is the plan now?"

[A Paradise for Few]

As he looked at the newcomers bursting through the door and giving threats as well as pointing their guns at them, basically acting just like one would expect from stereotypical gunmen. Ellehau's friendly demeanor was in place, as he wondered what kind of methods he could use to kill them. "Hello, hello! How'd you do?" He also waved at them, polite as ever. Perhaps, he could... But he put these thoughts on pause as he heard gunshots and looked at Wikus in some balancing stance, aiming his gun at where Blur was few moments ago, the latter now a bloody heap on the floor below. Ooh, this is interesting, he thought, will Harriet survive now? As he observed the reactions of the people present, he decided it was time to have some more fun, and this moment Zinnia choose to fly, bursting in through a window, pieces of it showering that part of the room, with a satisfting crunch, and smuggle Newton away, which reminded him of a scene of eagle scooping for a prey. Well, then. Ther mission was pretty much over, now only thing left is to deal with these guys. He answered Imogen on the comms while he watched a gunman, now without his gun approach his lazily. "Zinnia got Newton, who is now hurt, and flew off. After we deal with some more opponents, we'll go home!" He saw the guy in armour, seemingly the other guys' leader leap for the window and use some floating platform to fly off, obviously after Zinnia with her catch. Michael followed, jumped down, and Ellehau assumed he could also fly in some way, and indeed, he used a conjured platform, similar to the armoured guy, and flew off after the two. He looked on through the window as they all decreased in size. He chuckled inwardly, this is not over yet. Should he go after them? The part where Zinnia leaves with Blur is the important one, and flying would be fun, anyway! He spoke to the comms. "Oh, now, one of our opponents got away flying after Zinnia, along with Michael at his steps. I guess this mission is not over yet! I will join the chase as well!" He watched the remaining men engage with them. The lazy guy talked to Elle, while the others engaged in a pep-talk with Andrew and Wikus. Elle waited for him to finish his part, and yawned, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. Perhaps he was catching the guy's vibes. "Oh, no worries, friend! You are safe, now then, as I will go after your partner who has given in to chase after Icarus!" He waved a quick goodbye and ran towards the shattered window, grabbing a wooden chair on his way, jumping and turning halfway in midair. Immediatly the chair's legs and upper body launched themselves towards the slouching man and, as a sidenote, the other two people facing them. He had probably bestowed high enough speed for the slouching guy and the one who was ditched by Andrew' chair pieces that he expected them to knock them both out, but he didn't bother finishing them as he had an air chase to complete! Given the aforementioned air chase, it is best he saves time for it, his powers' "active" and in general. The only part of the chair remaining was a stick in his hand, and he dropped in on the ground, launching himself in the air with his front facing the room. A part of the wall at which he flew at broke off, flying at the ground below along with Elle with his hands behind his head, begun plummeting to the ground along with it for a moment, before turning 180 degrees in the air, taking last glance at the building and the room inside, and then his body was launched in the air like a bullet or an arrow after the armoured person and Elle's FEB buddies. As the air rippled his hair, he smiled, enjoying the activity. He soon got close enough to see Michael engaging with Armour. As he jumped to a rooftop of a building, he grabbed a piece of its rooftop concrete border out from building's corner along with him and the next moment it dissapeared with a crack, flying at Armour at 7 m/s. This time, he calculated the direction carefully, and his aim was probably spot on, so he expected that if the target remained on the same trajectory, the block of concrete would hit him quite hard. "Incoming~!" He said. The next moment he launched his body at another building's water tower before them, noticing the fact that Armour's weapons were indentical to Michael. So, the guy was a metahuman. Along with a passing thought, he and Michael got same power or something, eh?

[Demencia]

"Pretty sure you've got him?" Zinnia asked, clutching Blur tighter to her chest. She flapped her wings twice more, increasing her speed and also blood loss. She looked down at Harriet passed out in her arms, trying to decide what to do. She was heading the exact wrong way to get to the Chrysler Building, and New York Presbyterian Hospital was closer. "She's losing blood fast... I don't know if I can make it all the way to Turtle Bay." She didn't mention that she too, was injured so that the rest of the team didn't worry more.

She glanced back and saw the midair battle, though it seemed to included a bit too much falling for her own tastes. She shook her head. "Fuck, alright." she said, dropping into a downward loop before rolling over midway through to reverse direction. "I hope to god you know what you're talking about." A carpark. Of all the places. Not exactly an ideal spot for triage. "I don't know too many doctors that work out of a parking garage, especially to for someone who's lost as much blood as her."

Of course not all of blood falling through the air was Newton's, and the burning sting with each flap reminded her. She glanced down at the comatose villain. "Please let your reputation be at least somewhat of a lie, I think technically we might be blood-sisters now and I really don't want to catch something..." she muttered.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Andrew Scott

Well, his job was done here, Newton was secured and he had no intention of checking on her, besides he needed to get to work soon. He turned to 1430 and said "Alright" he then started to walk towards the door, just as he was passing the frame the mass of insects he was controlling came to him. He pointed his finger up allowing the insects to get on him, they needed help getting out of this room that was basically a death sentence for them. He then said once again to 1430 "Oh, and by the way, work on your tone, you seriously didn't intimidate me" he then let out a chuckle, and walked out of the door, once outside the room he got the insects on the nearest wall and let them go. They scattered in various directions. He now said to comms "So, what is the plan now?"

"The plan now?" Imogen's voice sounded just a little shrill, "Get out of here without causing a stampede. Just try to blend into the crowd or something. I'm, going to see if I can do that. And if any of you see Triggs, tell her plan was a friggin' fiasco."

"I think you mean stupendous success." there was traffic in the background of wherever Triggs was and no fire alarm. Presumably she'd exfiltrated without the guards noticing, which wasn't that difficult when she could switch appearances at will, "As I see it, we got Newton. She's alive. Nobody on our side is dead. Perfect result."

"I'll explain later how this was far, far from a perfect result." Imogen snarked back, "Anyway, got to get off the comms. Might look a bit suspicious if I do this out in the open."

[New Aeyariss]

Wikus merely looked at 716, his eyes blazing with anger. He still held the approaching metahuman at gunpoint, just waiting for a chance to do to him the same thing he did to Blur.

But the approaching metahuman mercenary did not notice a single, dim light blinking on Wikus's clock. Seconds later, with a massive clash, the wall of the building was ripped off, revealing the massive robotic face of Wikus's mechanical companion as he held himself attached to the floors on which he had just climbed. It's mechanical eyes scanned events happening in the room, as massive iron jaws were locked together. With a swift movement, Wikus dashed off, jumping onto the massive mecha's arm. Seconds afterwards, the doors closed behind him as the former mercenary entered into the core of the mighty Malakian warrior.

***Initializing***
***REACTOR: ONLINE***
***VISION: ONLINE***
***MOTORS: ONLINE***
***WEAPONRY: ONLINE***
***LAUNCH CHECK: COMPLETE***
***GLORY TO EL'EYLON***

"Statement; Welcome, my sir!" sounded mechanical voice of the Malakian "How was the mission?"

"Failed." spat Wikus with venom in his voice "That monster could not even decide weather she was good or bad. I hopefully taught her a lesson she will not forget, if she survives that is."

"Suggestion: perhaps you should have aimed for the head at the first try, sir?" Malakian was not amused.

"It does not matter, now. Let's get out of here." said Wikus as the merging process was complete. Metal and servomotors once again became one with his mind. Eprahel's sensors registered 614 following Zinna. For a moment, Wikus entertained the idea of using his plasma cannon to shoot the pursuer down, but citing the fact that flight was happening at low altitude and among crowded streets of New York, he abandoned the idea due to risk of collateral damage - after all, the beam of plasma had enough force to cut through several buildings at once. It was not just worth it.

And so, Eprhel begun his descent downwards, retreating from the failed mission.

[Dyelli Beybi]

---

Chapter Three: Red Sky in the Morning
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.”

---

Two weeks later...

"The death toll from the Battle of the Skyline has now risen to three after the death in hospital today of Theo Sellers, who along with the other victims was am employee of Kilmore Security. A spokesperson from Kilmore had this to say on the incident."

The screen flashed to a man with grey hair and a spray tan, flanked by a pair of men in dark glasses, surrounded on all sides by press members, jostling to shove their microphones closer to his face, "This is, of course, a tragedy for Kilmore Security, marking the worst day in our company's history. It is not unreasonable for an employee to go to work, expecting to be able to come home to their family at the end of the day. Our employees are trained better than those of any other company in the industry, but we were not equipped to face this kind of threat. I want to take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the family of Theo Sellers and the other two victims of this attack and to assure them that had there been any reason to suspect that there was a metahuman threat to the person of Harriet Newton, Kilmore Security would have recommended that Ms Newton engage a company more equipped to deal with metahuman threats."

The screen flicked back to the field reporter. It was later in the day now, but Kilmore Security logo was still visible on the front of the building she was placed in front of, "The First Earth Battalion have still not been forthcoming with answers." she intoned as the screen cut to a shot of a harried looking David Raynott.

Raynott looked like a man who didn't want to answer questions, but his path was barred by the press and short of throwing them out of his way, there was no way forward, "The First Earth Battalion wishes to express its commiserations with the family of Theo Sellers. As we have previously stated, we have reason to believe that the metahuman known as 'Blur' was involved in the incident in Manhattan earlier this month."

From off camera a different report spoke up, "But what do you say to reports that FEB members were sighted at Harriet Newton's apartment at the time of the abduction and massacre?"

"For operational reasons I can neither confirm nor deny whether FEB members were present at the incident you have referred to," Raynott held up a hand, "But, from what I understand, on the night of the incident, Ms Newton was hosting an FEB themed costume party. Any witness identification of FEB members has to be considered unreliable, especially when you consider the amount of alcohol and drugs found by the NYPD at the scene."

"But what of the members of Kilmore Security? What of their accounts?" the reported persisted, "And what of the damage to the building that people have attributed to the robotic entity known as 'Ebrahrel'?"

"Like I said," Raynott responded testily, "I cannot comment on an operational matter. I am sure you understand that. Good day."

The screen flicked back to the field reporter out the front of the Kilmore Security offices, "While the police are still investigating the incident and while many of the facts remain obscure, people are now beginning to ask themselves, with most of their leadership killed in the tragic bombing of the First Earth Battalion's Headquarters, can we still trust the members of this most unusual organisation to have our best interests at heart?"

---

The screen went dark as Imogen flicked the television off in irritation, "Like I said on the day, total bloody disaster."

JJ Triggs, who was in her usual position, sprawled on the sofa of the new Headquarters's recreation room, shrugged dramatically, "I disagree. We got Blur didn't we? Objective achieved. Sure, the media isn't happy. They're never happy! Wait for something else to get their attention, they'll get over it... speaking of which, isn't Blur awake?"

Imogen nodded, "Yes... turns out that woman is a rapid healer as well as a the fastest metahuman I've ever seen. She's refusing to speak to anyone except Zinnia."

JJ shrugged again, "So what? Get someone to work her over for a bit. She'll talk."

"JJ!" Imogen choked in protest, "I sincerely hope you're joking. We can't go torturing people, we're in enough trouble as an organisation already?"

"Of course I was joking," JJ assured her, "Though don't tell me you don't find the idea at least a bit appealing."

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Jack looked at the building before him. He knew it was the FEB headquarters, but he was still hesitant to enter. He knew entering would mean the start of a new, very likely dangerous life, one where he could very likely be killed. But, that was what heroes did, right? Almost get killed. So, no point putting off going in.

As he stepped in, he looked around in slight awe at the room. Him stepping in was really when he became a hero, in his mind, not just a vigilante. Yeah, this was a new chapter in his life. All that ran through his head before he realized he had no idea where he was supposed to go. He decided, after some intense internal struggle, to just wait until he saw someone who looked like they knew where they were going, then ask them for help.

[New Aeyariss]

"No one says anything about direct phisical trauma... I can think of a couple of ways to soften her up without doing extensive damage to her body. One that does not fall under textbook definition of torture." sounded Wikus's voice from the table. The mercenary was sitting, still unfazed with a marble like face.

"Suggestion:" sounded mechanical voice from Wikus's watch. Eprahel evidently wanted to take part in this conversation as well "Fleshies react negatively to sleep deprivation and hunger. Recommendation: Pursue previously mentioned tactics."

Wikus looked around:

"In any case" he spoke, completely calm and collected now "Eprahel has recorded the entire incident. If police comes knocking, we can always show them what had transpired. After all, no crime had been committed - the gun is perfectly legal, and every lawyer will easily classify my actions to fall under label of self defense. Especially with this amount of evidence to back up my claim. That is, however, not my major concern. Eprahel, play the logs again."

As the robotic voice played the logs of Wikus's conversation with Newton, Vanderberg continued:

"It appears that we are dealing with highly skilled and organized force intent on taking us down. Said force had already managed to compromise us. We can safely assume that everyone in the underworld knows our identities, possible safe house locations, strengths and weaknesses. Which puts us in extreme peril."

If I knew that FEB has such a weak OPSEC, I would not have needed to volunteer for the job. They will reveal everything anyway thought Wikus in his head. The situation disgusted him to no end; especially knowing that likely, he was about to face wrath of his so called "comrades" for a perfectly legitimate act carried against a self admitted metahuman terrorist responsible for death of dozens that his deluded "friends" have designated a "good person". Over the time Wikus came to conclusion that the only thing so called heroes cared about was their own glory, all the casualities be damned - while he could not unleash Eprahel's true power without delivering massive collateral damage. It infuriated him to no end, but for the sake of the mission he had to go along with it.

"I would recommend us to establish new safe houses, alongside ditching the old ones. We must assume that everything we have is compromised is already known by the enemy. Each of us should obtain a new ID, or at least go into hiding - for I am sure that there will be trained professionals coming for us now. Our families are as likely at risk."

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

"I think I'll need a costume" Andrew murmured to himself, after that operation, his boss was seriously pissed about it and threatened Andrew that he'll fire him if Andrew once again takes part in something that ends up killing people, why Andrew's boss knew about it you may ask, well, Andrew needs to take a shift off if he is to go on a mission with rest of the FEB so it was obvious his boss would know about it. Andrew was wondering about the HQ as he saw someone, whom he did not recognize... So the first and obvious reaction was "Hi, who are you?" To the person.

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Jack jumped slightly when he was addressed. He looked around at the man, turning around to face him.

"H-Hi, my name's Jack and I just joined up with the First Earth Battalion and I have my suit and all my equipment here and I was actually just about to find someone to ask where I could put it and-", he stopped, out of breath.

"Sorry. I'm a little nervous. I'm Jack, and I can do-", he teleported behind the man, "-this. Could you tell me where I can put my stuff, please?", he said.

Great first impressions, he scolded himself.

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

"Nice to meet," said Andrew as he turned to face Jack "my name's Andrew", Andrew then made was confused and had an expression of I can't help you before getting an idea "I don't think I can help you, since I don't have a costume myself but I think I know who can" he said as he started walking Andrew made a gesture to follow him "Her name is JJ, she's one of the more experienced around here" he said

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Realizing he wasn't moving, he hastily picked up his bag and started after Andrew.

"So, is this JJ lady like the team leader or?", he asked, curious. He knew he had a good bit of people to meet, and he thought the team leader wasn't the worst place to start.

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

"Pretty much, there is also Imogen, but, from the two JJ is the one I find it easier to talk to" said Andrew, as he continued on walking from time to time briefly turning to check on Jack "so, what's bringing you to FEB?" Andrew said, this wouldn't be a bad way of shifting the conversation to another topic

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

"I'd like to say dreams of heroism, but really I'm just looking to get better control over my power. Currently, I don't think it's as strong as it could be. What about you? And, if you don't mind me asking, what are your powers?", he asked, all in one burst.

[Endem]

Andrew Scott

"Well, I just wanted to use my powers and FEB presented an opportunity to do that plus do some good" Andrew said and then stopped "And, I think I'll better present my powers this way" he then turned to Jack, his eyes turning milky white and soon around him about 1000 insects stood "or put simply, control over invertebrates" Andrew said