The New FORCE Ops [IC: 8]: The World of Shadows

[catsi563]

Vindicator
HP: 2
Condition: Calvinball (Fatigued, Suit Fatigued)

"I take the ball through the cupcakes of scoring, and turn 3 times on the tree of banishment, Force Ops takes the lead 9 to potatoe...." Eva groaned out after she finished her trajectory through the sky from the explosion which included a head on meeting with a tree which she split in 2 thanks to her force fields resillience. Stll it took a couple of moments to unring the bell that was going off in her head.

"Daedelus is gonna kill me." she moaned as she looked out over the scene. her heart nearly stopped though when she saw Doctor Shock do "something" to K-9, and the mutant marvel fell to the ground.

"Oh no you dont Doctor, no more lives lost today dammit." she snarled even though Shock had long since left. Quickly as she could given how hard shed pushed herself, she lifted off and landed next to K-9 where she helped him to the ground.

"System status, re-tune scanners to biological medium, full spectrum high resolution, include X-ray and ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging." she spoke quickly and precisely as her eyes darted over the suits HUD. "Computer access Aegis medical database and interface with scans of subject desginated K-9, begin full scan and transmit vitals information to emergency teams, reccomend suggested course of action to stabilize patient!"

Time to do the sciencey thingy because darnit I like that dog.

Sensor suite changed to analytical detect life conditions rapid x1 with microsopic x2 which should be enough to find whats wrong with him.

interact with data base of the suit which should be enough to give her the info she needs.

then potentialy use a hero point to gain beginners luck and medical knowledge to perform whatever action is needed to save our pups life.

[Shock]

Warshade
HP: 1
Condition: Bruised 2

Liz was about to move in to finish off Mammuthus when hell broke loose. Vindicator knocked Doctor Shock off his chair and then he was gone. And the rest of the opposition.... melted. All she could do was stare in horror. "What... what did he.. how could he do that?"

MOVE ELIZABETH! K-9 IS STILL ALIVE.

Ni'Tu's exclamation snapped her out of it. She was immediately on the communicator. "K-9 is down! We need medical help!" Liz looked around. They were in the middle of the forest. Where was help when you needed it? Then she was on the communicator again, patching in to the AEGIS emergency channel. "Medivac needed in Wharton State forest! Watch for our marker." It was against all sorts of rules for her to be using that channel but she'd deal with that later.

When she said 'marker', Liz turned to Dovetail, who would know exactly what she meant. A smoke bomb would provide a clear indication of where they were.

[ClassDunce]

Susan West

Susan wasn’t able to fight her way back to her feet as she watched the fight end around her. She struggled to find a steady breath but still could not. The gas that she had inhaled racked her body with pain as she dragged herself to K-9’s side. She heard Warshade, doing Susan’s, job when she made the call for medical and upon hearing it she reached at the back of her belt and brought out an oddly shaped canister. After removing the pin she was weakly threw it a good fifteen yards away from them just before it started to pour out a thick dark red smoke.

She allowed Vindicator to perform her medical thing on K-9 but still pulled him into her lap, making sure that he was as close to her as he could possibly be, if K-9 could still feel anything around him she was going to be damned sure that he felt his Alpha with him for as long as he was still be able too. When Susan finally spoke it was clear that it was with great pain as her voice rasped out of her throat. “A fight is never over until you win,” she said loud enough for everyone to hear, “whether your opponent knows it or not.”

She hacked out a cough and then spit something nasty and red out to the side. Her voice was clearer now. “It’s never over…” She pulled K-9 in tighter and spoke softer to him. “He’ll die for this and for a thousand other wrongs… but from this most of all. I promise. He has my full attention."

[Tattooedman]

In the Forest:

"System status, re-tune scanners to biological medium, full spectrum high resolution, include X-ray and ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging." she spoke quickly and precisely as her eyes darted over the suits HUD. "Computer access Aegis medical database and interface with scans of subject desginated K-9, begin full scan and transmit vitals information to emergency teams, reccomend suggested course of action to stabilize patient!"

The HUD automatically readjusts as you stipulate and you’re treated to a view of the inner workings of K-9, which from what you’re looking at compared to what the computer has pulled from AEGIS’ files you know one thing: there’s very little to be done for him.

K-9’s organs are liquefying somehow but only select areas and for every spot that’s starting to become gooey, a different part of the same organ re-solidifies itself in an on-going, internal battle.

"K-9 is down! We need medical help!"

“How in the hell did that happen?!?! He has a heal....” Ethan roars back through the commlink before you switch it over to AEGIS’ emergency channel.

"Medivac needed in Wharton State forest! Watch for our marker."

Seconds later the sound of Alex Vezini’s voice answers back. “We’ve got three medi-teams with us Liz, we’ve got our eyes open.”

She allowed Vindicator to perform her medical thing on K-9 but still pulled him into her lap, making sure that he was as close to her as he could possibly be, if K-9 could still feel anything around him she was going to be damned sure that he felt his Alpha with him for as long as he was still be able too. When Susan finally spoke it was clear that it was with great pain as her voice rasped out of her throat. “A fight is never over until you win,” she said loud enough for everyone to hear, “whether your opponent knows it or not.”

She hacked out a cough and then spit something nasty and red out to the side. Her voice was clearer now. “It’s never over…” She pulled K-9 in tighter and spoke softer to him. “He’ll die for this and for a thousand other wrongs… but from this most of all. I promise. He has my full attention."

K-9 weakly tries to move as to help you as you move him and between both your efforts you succeed. He doesn’t say anything for a long time either, he seems content with the silence between the two of you with his breath coming out more raggedy than the last.

When you finally say something K-9 shows a bit of that old lopsided grin of his. “White-feather-woman was a good Alpha. Res-pect-ed Rex for old mutt he is and kept pups in line, taught them ways of Pack.”

“Only way Alpha could been better was if she was dog.” He stops as his body seizes with a series of coughs that forces him to hacks up a wad of black and red phlem before continuing. “Rex had good life, FORCE Ops-Pack-mates helped. Maybe Tom-Abba-don’s steaks helped too.”

“Rex want to say ‘thanks’, for that.”


And with those words, K-9’s eyes slowly droop shut and he stops breathing a few moments later.


The AEGIS personnel carrier arrives overhead twenty seconds later.



~End of Adventure~

[catsi563]

Vindicator
HP: 2
Condition: Grieving

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!!, and repeat. The same series of sounds one at a time. The pitching machine was relentless as it loaded a ball into the spinning wheels that accelerated the ball out its shoot and fired it at 60 miles per hour at the batter who stood in a solid stance aluminum bat on her shoulder, and batting helmet perched firmly on her head.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! the ball launched at her and once more was shot skyward as she swung the bat with unerring accuracy at an angle that would insure it cleared a 350 foot outfield fence easilly. And again and again and agin she swung as each ball was fired at her.

So many people were suprised to find that Eva was a fast pitch softball player. shed played short stop in highschool and college and lead her team regularly in homeruns and batting average and on base percentage. After all when you could calculate the exact location of each pitch from the pitchers stance, her wind up and the finger positioning swinging the bat with the correct hip rotation was easy. The rest was newtonian physics in action, equal and oppostie reaction mass to energy ration and so on and so forth ad infinitum.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! and another one hit out of the park a little more on the line this time and only 275 feet but still solid. Shed felt the impact and that meant her swing had been off. She couldnt help it honestly she was still thinking back to that one dreadful moment in the forest a couple of days back.

Shed knealt there beside K-9 and done everything she could to help him, but in the end she had finally just stood up and looked at Liz before shaking her head sadly and walking away. The tree she pulverized in one punch as she did, hadnt done anything to her and it was a somewhat childish display of temper but it had helped her unleash a little of the anger she felt and the grief.

She was glad once more that she had worn a full face helmet because she honestly didnt want the others to see her cry. So she'd kept away as the group gathered round poor K-9 and grieved the loss of one of their own.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! double through the second base first base gap. She'd felt the loss herself deeply in the short time shed gotten to know the mutant marvel and it was like losing one of her own dogs when she was a kid.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! fly out to left field. readjust stance bear down on ball. Shed passed on all the information she had on Doctor Shocks tech and science that she had gained causing the egg heads at the Aegis base to near about urinate in their respective pants at the chance to study it, and shed accepted all their condolences about the loss of K-9 graciously if a smidge coldy. Heck shed always had a bit of a reputation as a cold fish, always overly analytical and clinical, speaking in large words so that one needed a phd just to follow half the conversation.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! solid hit there clean over centerfield wall 400 foot minimu, didnt even feel the impact perfect swing.

Daedelus had spoken with her about the loss and Shock--she refused to call the man doctor-- and he'd even half heartedly scolded her for her reckless assault which had ended the fight spectactualrly. Still he'd held onto her when she had finally broken down and let her grief have expression.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! right field center gap on a line double at least, triple if the outfielders bobbled the ball or took a bad angle to it.

Shed hadnt really heard anything from the other Force Ops members since then or Ethan for that matter, So she presumed there were no really pressing matters that needed her attention freeing ehr to continue her work. Hydrogen fuel cell powered cars were easy enough, working cold fusion was within reach if she put a little more time into the project.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! left field homerun down the line 6 inches shy of the foul pole.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! left center gap triple on the fly.

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! first base-second base gap single

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! left center homerun 350 feet

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! Right center homerun 375 feet

Wrrrrr, Clunk! wzzzzzzzzz, CLINK!! Left field line homerun 300 feet

and so she continued each swing helping to drive the pain away a little at a time, each swing taking the pain out over the fence with it. each swing helping to refocus her mind. She would get through this, she would live and learn and understand this problem.

And then one day she would find Shock, and she would put an end to him. There was no rage in this decision, merely simple basic cold logic. Shock was a threat, and his 'vision' of science was a nightmare to be generous in its description. He would be stopped one way or another, and she would be glad to do it.

[ClassDunce]

Clair Faraday - Caliber

~Emerald City~

Susan had been in Emerald City for a week posing as Clair Faraday, a consultant with Pin-Point Security, who was tasked with reviewing and updating building security at a few carefully chosen locations. It was a good cover. Faraday gave her access to city planning information, blue prints of buildings and both police and private security routes. It made her real reason for being there much simpler. It had only taken her three days of searching before she found the underground base that belonged to Doctor Shock.

By day she was Clair Faraday but by night Caliber was purposefully cutting through the underbelly of the Emerald City with a kind of violent tactics that this city had never seen. Her tactics had brought her to the attention of the cities heroes, something she had tried to avoid as Caliber while in Freedom City. In that way she knew that she had been reckless while doing her work here but Caliber couldn’t find it in herself to really care as she sped down the dark alley, riding atop her small flight platform, with the hero named The Rook giving chase.

The Rook almost had her this time. He flew silently, his wings not even making the softest of noises as he swooped down towards her in ambush, if she hadn’t spotted his heat pattern out of the corner of her eye he would’ve had her. It was entirely too close. She had thrown herself clear of the explosive talons that had stuck into the rooftop right in front of her and filled the air with the heat and light of explosives. The air smelled like cordite now and Caliber smiled.

The heroes had given her warning after the first few encounters; they now saw her as nothing but a threat. Caliber threw two darts at The Rook, more to buy time than anything else, as she jumped off the roof of the building just in time to avoid what would’ve been a fight ending shoulder rush from the hero known as Princess, causing the girl to smash into an air conditioning unit. If Princess was able to sneak onto the roof without her knowing it then Vortex had to be with them as well, and that this was the largest and most organized effort to stop her that they had tried yet.

Before she reached the ground she dropped the small flight platform below her and she sped off deeper into the dark alley getting clear of the kill zone that the heroes had created for her. The Rook gave chase through the air, cautiously following behind her and more than likely attempting to coordinate another group attack, through their communicators, further ahead. Caliber took a sharp corner and paused in the dark shadow created by the light of a nearby street lamp.

Caliber weighed her options as she waited for The Rook to make his move, whether cautious in respect of her skill or aggressive to press the advantage their surprise attack had given them, she knew that coordinating would cause them to move slowly while she had to just react and keep moving forward in order to escape. The only question Caliber really had to answer was how much actual damage she wanted to deal to them.

As The Rook finally came around the corner, slow and cautious as she knew he would be, he was forced to dodge three darts and a bolo which would’ve sent him crashing into the ground. This forced his path of flight closer to the building opposite Caliber where he was met with the explosion of a flash bang right in front of him and the pain of Caliber smashing into his side atop her own flight platform forcing him to crash into a fire escape.

Even blind The Rook was a skilled combatant but he was at an even greater disadvantage since the narrowness of the fire escape limited the efficacy of his chose weapon, the staff, while the close quarters suited Calibers truncheon quite well. With a quick stutter step she pinned his weapon against a ladder with her body and smashed the blunt end of her truncheon into The Rook’s belly forcing the wind out of him as she also stabbed three steel darts through one of the wings of his flight harness and into the side of the building pinning it there and damaging his ability to give chase. The boot to his face just added insult to injury as she dropped through the hole in the platform to avoid a series of blasts sent her way by Vortex.

As she landed on the platform below where she had left The Rook, struggling to regain his feet, a portal of energy opened on the platform below her and Princess reappeared. The blond powerhouse snarled at her as she reached up and grabbed the steel grating that Caliber was standing on and literally tore it from beneath her feet causing the masked woman to fall onto the same platform as her and sending her Truncheon careening to the ground below. Princess didn’t have the skill that The Rook had but she made up for it with being both super strong and super tough.

As Caliber ducked beneath a wide punch she moved in close to Princess and faked a kick to the inside of her knee while really snaking a hand past her guard and hooking a thumb inside the woman’s mouth against her cheek. It doesn’t matter how strong or tough someone is. If you have them fish hooked they’re going to go where you want them. Caliber pulled Princess off balance and ended up behind her before she released her just in time to for the flash bang to go off right in front of the t-shirt clad heroine. As Princess was struggling to clear her eyes and flailing about with both arms trying to get a hold of her Caliber dropped the explosives in the corners of the platform and just a she jumped up to grab a bar above her she set them off.

Went the explosives went off the platform dropped right from beneath the feet of Princess sending her crashing into the platform below them which immediately gave way, she crashed through six more fire escapes before finally landing in the steel dumpster below them with a loud crash. When the young hero known as Vortex appeared at the side of the dumpster to check on Princess he was met by three flying darts stabbing into his right shoulder and steel bolo wrapping around his midsection.

“Enough!” The Rook yelled out as finally pulled the darts free from the wall and freed himself. “That enough…” He looked down at Caliber with real hate in his eyes as she dropped her flying platform back below her and floated silent down to the alley. She picked up her truncheon from the pavement as she watched the trapped Vortex huddling in the shadow given off by the dumpster and heard Princess start to regain consciousness in the dumpster. The Rook flew down to the street level, his flight no longer perfectly silent or with the same grace, he kept Caliber within his field of vision as she rushed to check on his fallen allies.

“We’ll catch you.” He said angrily, “Sooner or later.”

She nodded at him. “A fight is never really over until you win.” Was her only reply as she flew off into the night leaving The Rook to comfort his fallen teammates.

Caliber finished her business that night. The entrance to Doctor Shocks facility was in the basement of a Dairy plant at the edges of the city and the facility itself was only protected by a single guardian. A man/machine hybrid built like the one she had fought in Freedom City. Caliber had left him hogtied in locked room as she had set off the explosive that destroyed the facility.

During her 6:00 am flight back to Freedom City Clair Faraday spent her time going through all the information that Vivian’s hacking flash drive had been able to download from Doctor Shock’s computer system and had three more confirmed facilities before her layover in Denver.

A fight is never over until you win it.

[Shock]

It didn't seem right that it was a sunny morning. Funerals were supposed to be grey and dreary, to match the way you felt. St Stephen's Church looked bright and cheery from the outside. Inside, the stained glass dimmed the light a bit and only candles supplemented the natural light. Liz found a seat near the middle on the left, away from most of the other mourners. On her way there, she saw Brian's family and gave them a short wave and a weak smile that quickly turned into a frown. Over the years, she'd been to their house a few times for parties and such, so she knew them fairly well. But not enough that she'd feel like anything but an outsider to the family right now.

After a couple of testimonials, Liz mustered the nerve to get up and tell a story. "Hi. Um, I'm Liz. Normally, I wouldn't be up here. I'm not really the public speaking type. That's more Shelly. But she couldn't be here because she's still in the hospital. So I'm doing this for her. Brian was like a big brother to me. Or cousin. Because we didn't really grow up together. But in a way we did. At AEGIS we did. He was a really great friend, always looking out for me."

"One time, in hand to hand training, it was like my first time. And I was really bad at it. And the instructor, he made the rules that you had to keep fighting until you won. Which was just one hit. And I lost like 10 times in a row. Well Brian, he felt bad for me and decided to let me win. Even though we barely knew each other back then. And so, when we start, he's trying to let me hit him. Only I can't tell because I'm just trying not to get killed. After a while, it seemed like forever but it was probably only like twenty seconds, I slipped and he stepped on my foot by accident. It twisted my ankle and I cried out. He dropped his guard and was going to help me. But I wasn't going to let that keep me from finally winning. So I threw a punch, just as he was leaning over."

Liz smiled, remembering the look on his face. "I broke his nose. There he was trying to help me, really going out of his way to help me, and I broke his nose. And he laughed about it. Well, once the bleeding stopped." She laughed and then sniffled. "I'm going to miss him so much." She looked over at the coffin. "Goodbye Brian." Then she stepped down and went back to sit, fighting to keep the tears to a minimum.

After the service, Liz mingled with the crowd for a bit and then left. Just about everyone there was either Brian's family, who she'd never met, or AEGIS, who she didn't always feel comfortable around anymore. Aside from Brian, Shelly and Higgins, most everyone else seemed like they'd forgotten her as soon as she left. Briefly, she regretted asking Jason to let her go alone. It was nice of him to offer but she didn't want him to have to sit through it too. They said misery loves company but Liz always wanted to be miserable alone. She reached out briefly to touch Jason's mind. < Service is over. I'm gonna take a walk. I'll see you in a bit. > She was still amazed at being able to talk to him anytime and anywhere. It would have been harder to get used to if he had been her first mental companion. Her experience with Ni'Tu helped a lot in that regard. That was two friends now that she could always count on being able to talk to.

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

I don't know 'Tu. Just walking. I don't need to be around people right now.

Liz looked up over the trees and purple energy streaked through the air, transporting her along with it. Her next movement leveled out and she was blinking along the treetops, moving a thousand feet at a time, heading towards the city.

AREN'T THERE PEOPLE IN THE CITY?

Yeah but they'll leave me alone. Jason will want to talk.

NO HE WON'T. YOU KNOW HAVING HIM THERE WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER

Liz sighed. Fine. I know. I don't want to feel better.

WHY NOT?

Liz spotted a small clearing on the side of a hill and altered her course to land there before answering. Because Brian's dead. Why should I feel better?

I'M PRETTY SURE HE WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO BE MISERABLE

Well he doesn't get a vote anymore does he?

ELIZABETH...

Just let me be miserable, 'Tu! OK?

IF THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED

Good. Somewhat satisfied, Liz looked skyward again, ready to continue. Just before she did, she heard a high pitched sound, almost like an alien 'chirp'.

ELIZABETH! SHIELD!

But at the same time that she heard Ni'Tu's warning, a silver bolt of energy slammed into Liz's back and she went sprawling. Belatedly, her body started to glow purple as her shield activated.

What was that?

A PEACEBRINGER. IT CAME FROM ABOVE. MOVE!

Liz focused on a spot outside of the clearing, among the trees. A split second later, she was there and put a tree between herself and the clearing.

What's a Peacebringer doing here?

I ASSUME HE'S AFTER ME

But why? You defected.

MAYBE HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT

A man with a silver glow around his body descended into the clearing and started yelling. "Warshade! Where are you?" He was short, maybe even shorter than she was. But he looked very solid. His hair was dark and he had a very hard expression on his face. It was then that Liz recognized him.

Holy crap! That's Mike Green!

THE AEGIS GUY?

Yes! He's a tactical team leader.

"Come on out you coward! I know you haven't left!" Green sent a high pitched blast into a nearby tree.

He's also kind of a jerk.

YOU DON'T SAY. YOU KNOW HIM?

I trained with him a couple times while you were 'out'. He's nuts. Really hardcore. I didn't know he was joined with a Peacebringer.

ME EITHER. THERE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE ON EARTH RIGHT NOW AND THIS ISN'T HIM

Wouldn't AEGIS tell you if there was another Peacebringer here? And wouldn't he know about you? How else would he find us? Liz had met the only Peacebringer they knew of on Earth. Rrark. She met with him both before and after joining with Ni'Tu. And while she couldn't say she liked him, he wasn't the type to go on a murderous rampage.

I DON'T KNOW

Let's find out.

ELIZABETH WAIT!

Liz pulled herself to her feet and stepped around the tree, leaning against it and wincing. That blast had hurt.

"Agent Green! What are you doing?"

Green spun to the sound of her voice, eyes glowing brightly. "Eliminating a threat."

"To who? I'm no threat and neither is Ni'Tu."

"You're naive. You're being manipulated." Green's voice changed. It was similar to how Ni'Tu could change Liz's voice. "WE KNOW BETTER." A blast shot out of his hand, shattered the tree Liz was leaning on. She blinked away just in time to avoid splinters.

"What the hell, Mike? This is bullshit and you know it. Ni'Tu has been working with me and AEGIS since he got here. I think after seven years, I'd know." It was getting hard to avoid fighting back, which Liz didn't want to do. That first blast had left her hurting.

"Wrong! He's been distancing himself from AEGIS every chance he gets. He's a Warshade and can't be trusted. He's using you."

"No, you're wrong! He's on our side. He's on YOUR side."

"No." Green's voice changed again. "NO WARSHADE WILL EVER BE ON MY SIDE."

Yesh. What did you do? Kill his brother or something?

YOU KNOW WE DON'T HAVE FAMILY GROUPS LIKE YOU DO

You know what I mean.

"You're making a mistake."

"YOU made the mistake by joining with him. If you rectify that, I'll let you go."

"Oh, give me a break." Liz leaned around the tree she was hiding behind and blasted her attacker. He grunted but showed no ill effects. Don't even think about it. We're in this together.

"Idiot! One way or another, he's coming in." A blast smashed Liz's tree again. The only thing she had going for her right now was that the conversation had given her time to recover from the initial attack. Gathering her strength, she prepared to fight back.

ELIZABETH. I THINK WE SHOULD GET OUT OF HERE

Not yet.

WHY NOT?

Because... because... this guy's pissing me off and I'm having a bad day and I just want to hit him. And then we'll leave, OK?

ELIZABETH, WAIT!

But Liz was already on the move. She flashed first across the clearing to the other side and then back to the center, swinging a glowing hand at the enraged AEGIS agent. It caught him off guard and he flew backwards into a tree with a loud crack. Faster than he should have, Green got back to his feet. He gathered and launched himself back at Liz. Ready, she reached out with both hands and sent a bright purple beam straight at him. Unfortunately for her, Green deflected it with an outstretched hand. A moment later, he was there, his fist swinging at her body. Surprised by her ineffective attack, Liz had no chance to dodge and there was a bright flash as it was her turn to go flying backwards. The thump as her body hit the side of the hill felt as bad as it sounded and her vision blurred for a second.

"Ohhhwww"

TIME TO GO

Yeah.

H4CK, CAN YOU MEET US ON TOP OF THE...

GBN Tower. Ow. Hurry. It was the closest landmark she could think of.

Liz broke out of her haze just in time for her forcefield to mostly deflect the follow up strike from her attacker. She shifted to her left and grabbed his arm, letting her gravity well pull him to the ground. Then, knowing he wouldn't take long to break free, she teleported away, heading towards the city. A scream of anger and a loud SNAP-CRACK confirmed her estimate of how long it would take Green to escape. A quick glance back between 'ports showed him rising in pursuit.

Cursing loudly, Liz concentrated and tried to cover the last bit of distance to the tower in a single jump. But, just before she diffused into energy, another blast hit her square in the back, throwing off her aim. A moment later, she was two hundred feet short of the tower and woozy. As she started to fall, she saw distant figure on top of the tower. Then, it vanished. A split second later, Jason's arms were around her. "It's all right, luv. I've got ye." The next thing she knew, they were in his room at the Anders Building. Exhausted, Liz held onto him for a moment and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks hun." Then she turned and flopped onto the bed. "You're my hero."

"Do ye want me te take ye back te yer room?" H4ck reached down to Liz's hand but a closer look showed she was already asleep.

[Tattooedman]

November 2, 2008
“Where the HELL is his body?!” Bonham’s voice echoed from the receiver of the phone.

Ethan silently counted to ten before answering, it never did seem to really do much for his anger and at this point he didn’t want it to. “None of your business.”

Bonham was breathing heavily on the other end of the line, it was clear he didn’t like that answer. “I could charge you with hindering a federal case Keller.”

Ethan’s volume never changed. “Great, that’ll give my lawyer a chance to earn that retainer I pay her every month.”

“I could pull your AEGIS contract.”

“Go ahead; I don’t need your business anyway. I was already successful before I put this together.”

“You always were a smug bastard.”

“And you started buying into your own reputation. Are you done wasting both our time yet? I’ve got a funeral to see to.”

“Dammit Ethan!” Bonham cursed. “If we can understand how Shock put your dog-boy together we might be able to prevent him from doing that meltdown trick to his other minions when we get him. Be able to build a rock solid case against him and put that sick son of a bitch on death row, isn’t that a good thing?”

“Absolutely, but can you guarantee me that AEGIS won’t try and make a K-9 Corps? I know how Powers and his buddies like to have their secret projects, or have you forgotten about Team Cerberus?”

“……..”

“That’s what I thought. Have a nice day Bonham and don’t contact us about any work for at least three weeks, we’re taking that time to mourn the loss of one of ours.” Ethan hung up the phone and sat behind his desk and counted to twenty this time.

Twice.

[kenseido]

Danny ran down the alley, parallel to the four Southside C's. He had heard from a little birdie that Dominic was sending four of his top guys to deal with one of his internal rivals. If he took them all out, it would take the power out from under him and leave him vulnerable.

He pauses at the first cross-street long enough to fire an arrow towards the other alley. He continues on a dead run without waiting to see the results.

When he reached the spot, he found Tommy G was there with them. Definitely an internal rival. Tommy G was Vince's top guy. This was almost too perfect.

Another cross-street, another arrow.

Dominic's boys were supposed to kill Tommy G after the drug deal went down. Danny just sped up the plan a bit, putting an arrow a half an inch away from Tommy G's nose. The second arrow went through his jacket sleeve.

Pausing, he fires down another cross-street.

Tommy G suspected something so when the arrows nearly took him out, he assumed it was the other four guys. This led to a gun fight which would have left Tommy G dead, except Danny dropped him first. The other four thought they got him.

Danny sped up to catch the last guy. The drug dealers would tell everyone that the Southside C's turned on each other, and when no one showed up back at the clubhouse, they would assume they were all killed. The resulting in-fighting would destabilize the whole gang for weeks, maybe months.

Danny comes to a stop, his tennis shoes skidding on the asphalt. The hunting bow gripped loosely in his left hand, he smiled.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?"

"The answer."

"The answer? What's the question?"

"Who is going to clean up the streets of scum like you?"

"Big man. Maybe me and my buddies should teach you a lesson."

"Buddies?"

He looks back and finds no one. A furious look comes over him as he raises his gun to Danny's head level. The bow is already in place, and an arrow hits the gun right in the barrel. The thug drops the weapon and turns and run.

"Good. Less dragging." Danny waits for him to get closer to one of his other guys before firing a net arrow and taking him down. He moves up and grabs the arrow and drags him over towards the last oen he hit. Grabbing both of them, he drags them to a nearby cellar he already staked out. He pushes them down the stairs.

He is about to turn around when he hears the click. He rolls out of the way as two gun shots hit the brick wall where he was standing moments ago. He pops back up and fires two quick arrows at the first two gang members. The arrows land home and the two men jerk violently from the taser arrows.

Danny grimaces; they had managed to get out of the bindings faster that he had calculated. At least it meant less dragging.

Danny secured the four guys in the cellar and locked it from the outside. It would be quite a while before they got out, and Tommy G would be sleeping off the chloroform for a while. Things were looking good.

*******

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

Danny stood before Ethan in his office. He figured Ethan would be angry over his taking the arrows, but not about the results.

"I was thinking, destabilize the Southside C's and the people of Lincoln West would get some peace."

"Oh really? What kind of peace where you expecting?"

"Dominic looses his power base, Vince loses a top guy, and each blames the other. Southside C's have no stable leadership."

"Until Skids takes them both out. Skids is a bonfide psychopath."

Danny cursed himself under his breath. He had miscalculated. Ethan was right, this was going to be bad.

"Lucky for you somebody took down Skids earlier today."

Danny sighs in relief. "You're right. I'm not ready."

"On the contrary." Ethan gets up and heads over to his private closet. He pulls out a costume along with a bow and arrow.

"That's a pretty color."

Ethan glares at him. Danny's eyes duck under his gaze.

"I don't understand, I screwed up. Why now?"

"Because we all make mistakes. Because you aren't going to stop making mistakes. Because you need the backup."

"Backup?"

"Yeah. I need to introduce you to some folks. Get changed."

[Tattooedman]

November 15, 2008:

He waited at the table near the corner of the patio with his back to the short wall that was there to give the patrons of the bistro sit of seculsion from the traffic of the sidewalk, a habit from the old days that he still hadn't totally broke himself of after all these years. Ethan took a drink from the cup that had been brought out to him, the coffee was nice and hot; something to fight off the chill of the November air.

It was at that moment that his company arrived; an older man with hair that had once been very dark from the look of it that had lost its fight against turning grey. His face had more lines of aging on it or were those from something else Ethan wondered. He’d noticed how his own hair was starting to go that route already, maybe it had something to do with the work they both did.

But what was more interesting was that the man was accompanied by a woman, a girl really from the look of her. Easily thirty years his junior, she was attractive with dark hair and a pair of eyes to match it that contrasted the pale tone of her skin.

Ethan was a bit confused, he'd thought it was just going to be the two of them but the girl's presence told him things weren't going to go the way he'd hoped.

The pair arrived at the table and the older man gestured for the girl to sit down first and he followed after her. "Ethan, good to see you. This is one of my co-workers, Nina Theroux."

"Nice to meet you Mister Keller." Nina immediately said.

Ethan simply nodded back at her though he didn't take his eyes off of the man. "Lee, I thought it was going to be just you and I meeting."

Doctor Lee Rosen gave a friendly guff as his head tilted to one side slightly. "Things are a bit more complex than you know Ethan."

Ethan's eyebrow rose a bit. "How so?"

"I can't council your people for you, it'd be a conflict of interest." There was no hesitation in his voice, no wavering in his tone. Lee was being totally honest. He was hiding something but this answer was honest.

"So Nina is your referal?" Ethan's eyes moved back to the younger woman.

And that was his mistake, one Nina capitalized on immediately speaking once again. But this time her voice took on a deeper tone with a warbeling effect to it that made it echo slightly. "Listen to me Ethan."

And despite the fact he wanted to question Lee further Ethan couldn't help but give Nina all his attention.

"Tell me the truth; where is K-9 buried?"

Inside his mind, Ethan was filled with many conflicted feelings but the biggest one was rage. Stong, powerful anger over the control the dark haired girl was exerting over him, closly followed by confusion over the betrayal by someone he considered a friend.

Then Ethan remembered somethign that another friend had shown him many years ago about how to fight such mental intrusions. In the span of microseconds Ethan took his rage, focused it until it was like a white hot spike then channeled his confusion and other feelings over the situation into that spike until it had swelled up to at least five times it's original size. Ethan then sent it directly into the dark eyes of Nina, the bridge that connected her mind to his. The sudden and violent shock of such strong emotions she felt allowed Ethan the freedom to control himself again and he wasted no time in putting himself into motion; grabbing up the fork that had been placed on the table when he'd arrived, and quickly stabbing it down into the table at Nina.

But instead of hitting the webbing of skin and meat that was between her thumb and index finger, Ethan drove the fork only into the table just a fraction of an inch away from Nina's hand.

Lee swore softly and moved to pull the girl back but he'd have been to late and they both knew it.

As the few other patrons of the bistro turned to see what the source of commotion was about Ethan stood up from his seat and closed the short distance between himself and Lee as Nina nervously pulled her hand back. "You should have told me Lee, I wouldn't have asked you for that favor. I know this isn't your style, and that Bonham is behind this." He whipsered into Rosen's ear as he looked over to Nina, his eyes not showing regret over his actions towards her. "Tell him it'll be over my cold, dead body that he gets K-9's and if he comes after me again I'll fire back. No matter who he sends."

He then straightened himself, pulled out a few bills out of a money clip and tossed them on the table as he headed out the gated exit of the patio. Once Ethan was inside his car he pushed the button on his car's phone to dial Vivian.

"You've reached the information goddess you know and love. Speak your need and I'll make it known to you." Her voice was that playful tone she commonly had that let Ethan know she was in a good mood and he hated himself just a little bit for having to ruin it.

"Rosen and his people are working for AEGIS." Is all Ethan said.

The silence on Vivian's end of the line told Ethan that she understood what he needed her to do; access all the files Lee Rosen had on the members of FORCE Ops.

Now.

"I know you were kind of close with a couple of them."

"Rachel and Nina."

Ethan's blood pressure raised by at least twenty points. "When was the last time you spoke with them?"

"It's been a few weeks, they've been busy."

"No more contact. Nina just tried to force me to tell her where Rex was."

"She....she...pushed..." The surprise in her voice made it clear that this turn of events surprised Vivian.

"Yes she did. No contact Vivian. At all. Change your number after you're done then have all our numbers changed and make sure everyone but AEGIS is notified."

"Yes sir." Vivian answered quietly and much less enthusiastically than she had been previously.

"I'm sorry Viv." Ethan said before hanging up. As he drove he wondered just what Bonham had over Rosen to get him to try such a method to get the information but he pushed that though away. He didn't have the time to feel sorry for Lee, he'd made his choice for whatever reason and Ethan needed to make a couple other calls, on one of his phones that AEGIS didn't know about. There were other people who owed him favors that he needed to get in touch with now while he had a chance.

AEGIS already had certain files on all the members, former and current, of FORCE Ops. Ethan needed to make sure they lost those. As soon as possible.

Bonham was going to regret this.

As the other phone started to ring, Ethan put away thoughts of what he'd like to do to AEGIS' Chief of Freedom City Operations and waited for his call to be answered. It took three rings that felt like eterinity before a deep voice answered.

"Steele here."

"Solomon, it's Ethan. I need to talk with you. In private, now preferably but soon if you're busy."

The other man was quiet for a moment and Ethan knew he was mentally running through what he had going on this day before answering. "Fifteen minutes, my office."

"That works." Ethan was trying to keep his time on this phone short but Doc Steele wasn't going to let him off that easy.

"Is this about that friend you've recently lost?"

Ethan made a tired sounding noise. "In a way. It's best if I tell you in person. Bonham is trying to press me."

"I see." Steele replied back with a different tone. He understood much more from the few words Ethan had spoken. "I'll see you shortly then."

"Right." Ethan answered before hanging up and returning the phone to the hidden compartment in his dash.


==============
Three Hours Later at AEGIS Headquarters, in Freedom City:

"Sir?" A voice said from the cracked door.

"Come." The Chief of Freedom City Operations, Stewart Bonham answered as he looked over final reports that talked about the raids AEGIS' performed on VIPER's Nests in Freedom City a few weeks before.

The agent quickly entered and placed a new report on the desk in front of Bonham, then stood and waited for him to look it over. A few moments later Bonham could be heard down the hall, yelling about how in seven hells could all the files pertaining to FORCE Ops could have been lost in a file transfer between the Divisions.

[CelticREI]

K-9 had died in battle while Jason hadn't been there… He should have let Argus take the nun by himself, should have stayed with the team, maybe then…

A week later, H4ck was thrown into mental turmoil when he gets flashes of Liz being attacked and hurt. He narrowly saved her and watched over her as she slept on his bed.

2 days after that he is surprised by an old friend from across the pond, Joan Arcanum, and shocked by her bad news…

"Sorry te put this on ye Keller… jus… need sum time te attend the funeral 'fore I get back on the roster."

"No need to be sorry, losing a team-mate hurts, losing a former team-mate so soon is… take your time, and if you need anything, let me know ok?"

"Than'ye sir." Jason said and walked out of Ethan's office. He still couldn't believe it, Rouge… she always had taken insane risks, being able to shift your body around into anyone meant she could strike and then blend with a crowd, or even into the background like a hyper-chameleon, he never thought she'd be killed.

His good-byes to the team were short, Liz somewhat understood, having just gone through a period of needing to be alone herself. That and H4ck didn't know if he could 'port them both so far, he was pushing it just with himself.

-----

"Jason, good to have you home."

"Mum? Wha happened te yer eye?"

The woman touched her new eyepatch lightly "Crimson Archer… Bastard took away my eye, Lilly and nearly took Maggie."

"Shriek? Is… is she here?"

"No. Ms. Bofet is with her family. Mr. Kinnes, good to have you back on the mainland."

"Stonehenge, I's been a while aye? How are ye holdin up?" the mentalist turned and again was taken aback by the man's size… if 'man' would be a word to describe the being.

"I have asked the cemetery grounds to grow some lillies in Ms. Predu's honor.

H4ck's mouth twinges then he forces a smile "She'd like tha…"

-----

The service was good, Shriek didn't show, Stonehenge was true to his word and a patch of lillies now grew around Rouge's grave. Jason couldn't stop thinking about the last month or so, how he hadn't been there for two of his friends and they had died because of it. He set his jaw and focused on the task at hand, he removed his hands from the drug dealer's head and took a step back.

"Oh, 'ello Mr. Teag, didn't see ya there." the man said.

"I's alright mate, any news?" Jason asked

The dealers face went slack for a split second before he said "No news gov, I'll keep an eye out."

Jason nodded and walked away, the mental implant worked, key phrase and all…

-----

It was the next day that H4ck planned on heading back to the States, he prepared for the several hour long teleport jumping he did to get here, while saying goodbye to Lee he ran into Shriek.

"'ello Mags…"

"'ll leave ye two alone fer a bit" Lee said as he took a step back

"Jason."

"…"

"…"

"Aye, I figured ye weren't wantin te talk. Guess ye kin ignore me sum more next time I vis.."

"Don't go back to the States"

"… come again?"

"Stay here with us. With… with me."

"Mum has already nix'd the idea, an… 've moved on luv."

"Wow, 'luv' not 'luvie', you have moved on."

"Yer still…"

"Let's not take it there." she nodded toward the horizon "Go, they probably need you back there."

Jason slipped his mask on and gave one last look to his first girlfriend before he disappeared in a poof of purple-red moots of energy.

-----

Two days he had been 'home' but he'd not let anyone know, he hadn't been back to the Ander's Building, but he had been busy…

"Oh hey Mr. Teag, didn't see you there…" a young thug said.

"I's alright mate, any news?" Jason asked

"No news dog, I'll keep an eye out."

[Tattooedman]

Freedom City, November 25th:

It’s been almost a month since K-9’s death and to say that things have been difficult and tense around the Anders Building would be a serious understatement.

Ethan has been out of the office much more since the formation of the team and even though he polite and greets people in passing he’s not had an actual conversation with any of you that was longer than a few sentences. The couple times he was asked what was keeping him out so much he simply answered with one of the following replies.

‘A minor issue in my security service’s business that calls for a direct hand, it shouldn’t take more than a day, two tops, to fix.’

Or his other answer, which he seemed to favour more.

‘Cant’ talk about it, private security matter.’


But despite his not being around much it’s clear that Ethan has been taking care of things for the team during the past several weeks: in the middle of the first week he had arranged, and covered the cost of out of his own pocket, for there to be a police style wake for Rex a few days after his passing. It wasn’t anything fancy really, since it was held at Sister Agnes’ shelter, but it was as good of a place as any for a gathering of people who knew Rex.

Sister Agnes of course was there, but Tony Fontana, a local deli shop owner Rex had often helped, was there as well. There were other people from Rex’s ‘territory’ in the Fens and as a whole it was clear Rex dealt with many more people than any of you realized; among them was a group of street kids with names like Pudge, Kitty, Widget and Slug Bug who’d managed to clean themselves up so they didn’t look like they were still living on the streets, even Maggot and his crew of streethoods, who were surprisingly well behaved the entire time, had shown up in their best looking clothes. Of course Ethan and Vivian were there, his face was almost impossible to read while Vivian was a complete mess; crying almost the entire night and hugging everyone of you at least four times by the end of the night. Though it was somewhat surprising to see that both Magnus and Livewire had been contacted about Rex’s passing and were in attendance as well, though both were still being treated for their respective issues but things seemed to be heading in positive directions for both of them.

Tom and Utu had been allowed out of the hyperbolic chamber they’d been put into by doctors to deal with the case of the bends they’d been afflicted with the day before and both of them threatened to use their powers to leave the hospital when their physicians put forth the idea that they not attend and stay for further treatment of their other injuries. Tom was visibly bothered by the passing of Rex, though he put on a brave face while Utu seemed moodier than usual.


The Sister opened the wake with a prayer then talked about how the Lord worked many miracles through the most unique people possible, and that all creatures of the planet were God’s children. Tony had supplied food for everyone and most people sat around telling stories about Rex with one another while eating and drinking to the point that eventually the Sister had to ask everyone to leave so that the shelter could continue with its work for the night.


By the end of the second week both Abaddon and Utu had left the team; the first cited that he needed ‘time to figure things out.’ and he returned to his home in Hawaii within a few days, while the older mage felt that it was time for him to take on a student to teach his mystical workings to but in doing that he would have little time left for the team. Ethan had made it clear that if either of them ever needed a hand with anything to call him without hesitating. Both promised to stay in touch.

In the third week Ethan introduced a young man, one Danny Fluke, to the team as their newest member.

Three days ago a man with a shaved head, wearing an odd jumpsuit looking outfit and using a hand-held device that looked to be some kind of high-tech, golden pocket watch appeared in the middle of the entertainment area declaring that Argus had to come back to the future with him right now as his mission was over. To which Argus replied that he’d not finished his mission yet, which left the rest of you confused as to what in the hell they were talking about. The discussion between Argus and the guest turned into a full-blown yelling match that ended when the man, who you all later learned went by the name of the Clockwatcher, used his golden device to take the whole team into the future. When the team returned six minutes later Argus wasn’t among you and all you were left with were hazy, dream-like memories about exactly what had happened during that lost time.

Following that event, Ethan had kept all of the team on standby at the Anders Building as there was a new job in the works. This morning Vivian had let everyone there was a team meeting at ten o’clock.

Currently it’s nine forty-eight in the morning.

[kenseido]

Archer

Danny has spent most of his time in the gym, working out and getting used to his "uniform" and new bow. The bow was better than anything he had used before, but the arrows were a little trickier, and the uniform was down right constricting. Still, after several days of practice, it seems to have loosened up a bit an Danny figured he could make it work in the field.

When Ethan told him he was joining this team, he immediatley went about hiring a home care worker for his Mom. She didn't want the help, being the source of Danny's stubborn streak; but Danny was able to win this argument. Ethan was able to recomend a good agency and they sent a nice lady who spends most of the day playing cards with his Mom.

After his morning workout, Danny goes to his room to take a shower and check his email. Formerly, his computer was practically attached to him, now he barely checks his email more than once a day. He looks over some of the stuff, and notes a friend with some problems on a script. After his shower, he spends some time reviewing the script and sends him a suggestion or two.

At 9:48 in the morning, Danny heads off to find some breakfast.

[ClassDunce]

Susan West - Dovetail

The passing month hadn’t been the best for Susan, or even remotely good, she skipped out on K-9’s wake at about the half way point in fact it wasn’t long after Sister Agnes started with the prayer that she just quietly got up and left. Of course anyone who left the wake afterwards and walked into the bar about two blocks over easily found her. Quite a few people had done just that especially the police officers that had shown up. She shared drinks and stories with them and they were all thrown out sloppy drunk at closing time. She couldn’t remember which Officer had held her hair back while she was puking up her guts in the alley next to the bar.

The very next day she was gone, without a single word, and didn’t return for a whole week. When she did come back there was a new team member under her command and then Ethan started disappearing for weeks at a time.

Susan stood in front of the mirror in her room, replacing the butterfly bandages holding together a gash over her right eyebrow, as she glanced at the clock next to her bed. She had already put on her winter uniform, leaving the cape and helmet off for now, in preparation for the meeting. She had been debating whether or not to replace her normal uniform with her winter one year round. The pants sure were more practical than the skirt.

Checking her ponytail was pulled tight, again, before she grabbed the helmet and cape and then headed out of her room. She saw Archer sitting at the table eating breakfast normally she would’ve sat down and forced pleasantries, make an effort to be sociable so that she wouldn’t seem so stand offish to her unit. Lately she hadn’t really been able to make herself care though. She gave him a nod and a “Morning.” Before she headed down the stairs to the conference room.

[Shock]

Warshade
HP: 1 LP: 1

The last month had been... not good for Liz. Bad really. The deaths of Brian, then K-9 and then Jason's former teammate had come one right after another and just made everything uncomfortable. And to top it off, there was something off about Jason. It was nothing he was saying or doing but the odd mental connection they had was giving her weird sensations sometimes. But he hadn't said anything and she didn't want to start a thing so she didn't ask.

On top of that, the team was in a state of flux too. Susan had disappeared for a week and wasn't really here even when she was. And Ethan was frequently gone as well. And of course, neither of them was talking about it. Which left it up to her to try to get the new members acclimated. Not that that took much because they weren't difficult and they were good at what they did. Almost too good, in Eva's case. Liz had once offered to make Susan an exoskeleton that would make her a bit stronger and let her jump farther. Eva created a battlesuit powered by gravitic energy and made major modifications to it on a regular basis. And to top it off, she was very pretty. Beautiful really. It was enough to give a girl an inferiority complex. Not that Eva ever made an issue out of it. She was perfectly friendly and accomodating.

And so, Liz was out of sorts. Just like everyone else on the team it seemed. A mission was just what they needed to break them out of the dumps. At least that was what she hoped. So she was moderately enthused about getting started. On the way down, Liz grabbed a coffee and a bagel. Whaddya you want 'Tu? Sesame or poppy seed?

POPPY.

As she passed Danny at the table, Liz raised her coffee cup in greeting. Then it was on to the conference room. As she sat down she sent a thought to Jason. < C'mon hun. Mission time.>