"Eh, heh, heh..." was all Cedric can say, embarrassed at Nightingale's rebuke. William Plantagenet had already carried Caro away, so the only ones left in the room were the two Heroes and Elijah. How could he have forgotten about the possibility of a ricochet?! In response to Elijah's words, though, Cedric sighed, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor, saying:

"All right, Pyro, you've got me - apparently, you can shake off refractory metals and flame-suppressant foam, while my...peer is not only tired out, but is devoted to preventing me from fighting." He sighed. "All right, you win," his voice was bitter. And with that, he turned to walk away, sad and at the same time, fearful. Will the high command have him beaten - again - once its realized that he botched the mission?

The Fairy Tale Ends Here

The technicians of Avalon were stunned when they were told that they were to ready the deep cell. They knew who it was for but had believed it would never be used.

Cypress awoke to find herself wearing a strange suit of clothing very like one she'd worn before while being tested at Aperture's Meta Labs. She began to decrease her body's friction when the suit began chirping a warning then sent a huge stunning charge through her body knocking her flat.

"Please don't try that again my dear, I do so hate to see you in pain" said a familiar voice.

Cypress turned to see the man who'd hired her; Doctor David Micheal Taylor CEO and Owner of Aperture Labs.

Cy sighed as she looked at a man she once respected Doctor Taylor, this is a bit unexpected but less so than it might have been. I guess it was easy for you to figure out a method to control me after all the time you've spent studying me.

Doctor Taylor smiled from the other side of a huge window while behind him several technicians manned monitors
"It was never my intention to incarcerate you Cypress, in fact I'd hoped we could form a close working relationship without the need to rely on mental manipulation.
Oh well I suppose as they say the best laid plans"

Doctor Taylor turned and walked away leaving Cypress where she was the glass smoking over and turning opaque.

Soon he was descending a deep pneumatic elevator that stopped outside of Ruby's cell. He smiled as he looked at his newest acquisition, a technopath who was three times stronger than the one he presently had.
"Hello Ruby I am Doctor David Taylor your host. I know at present you seem to be a prisoner but that is due to the lack of trust we share. I admire your talent and skill more than you know; you broke into my facility without fear and stole information from systems I thought were protected.
I congratulate you on a job almost well done and would like to ask if in your capacity as a Meta for hire I could employ your talents. If you'd like to decline my invitation I hate to say I won't be able to release you for at least four to five weeks.
What do you say?"

(Edited)

Her treatment was less than satisfactory - she would at least thought that respect would carry-through with these idiots but apparently not. She was hustled, thrown over quite a few shoulders and ultimately packed into a cell. Ruby wasn't actually finding it very hard so far - before-hand, she though that breaking out of there would be a walk in the park but Aperture were a lot smarter than she gave them credit for.

She felt... nothing. Not a single thing; it's like the lights in her world had been switched off and suddenly she was left to navigate the darkness by herself. Raising her hand with a face of pure horror, she spun it a little before aiming at the door, focusing it down with all the might she had in her to feel nothing. That wasn't the only horror waiting to greet her. Most times, her powers would just bounce back to their original quality but this wasn't the case now. Her energy stayed almost the same, increasing only by a mere fraction due to a small electronic device that she did have access to.

Ruby felt like crying, in all honesty, she was under the impression that breaking out from something like this would be easy, with at least some level of difficulty but this was nigh-on impossible. Slumping down onto the rather comfortable bed in the corner, she dragged her knees up to her chest and held them close. Focusing was difficult - being deprived of electricity, to her, was like losing the ability to eat. She couldn't input any energy whatsoever.

She was almost about to cry when a voice sounded over an intercom. Frowning in confusion, she looked up to the mirror that she completely knew was a window. Sliding to her feet, she approached it with slight confusion before listening to what the Doctor had to say. Ruby wasn't going to speak before she cleared the silence with a single question. "Almost well done? You guys really need to track what I'm doing and what I send out. Those files were sent while I was leading you on a merry chase. Drone technology is a wonder." She was wondering just how annoyed she could get this doctor and she was going to have fun with it but getting out also sounded fun and jobs sounded even more fun! "What kind of job?"

Constantine Ramiel King, Internal Reformist and Infiltrator extraordinaire, entered the Aperture Facility posing as one of the specially-trained and cleared crew, even though he was nothing of the sort. He was lucky that even the 'strict and secure' defenses of Aperture relied mostly on sight, allowing him to show the guards clearance papers and passes that didn't exist - although that one time where the guards wanted to touch the papers, he had a few stolen/forged ones to hand over to, but that's beside the point - the point was, their reliance of sight made things pretty easy.

He had only the barest information about the job - basically, two Metahumans, Cypress and Ruby, the second one a technopath, the first one umm...someone with the ability to control friction (?) are speculated to be imprisoned in Aperture in the future - he got the information from his Reformist friends before anyone was sute it would happen, okay? - and one of them had information that can be used to sabotage the MegaCorp's plans, which in turn were bad for Humans - Meta or not. And, so, he was going to free them, even though both were Mercenary and Corporate Metas. But how to proceed on that? As he went deeper into the base, he saw pressure sensors and infrared beams, and perhaps a sound recorder, meaning that he had to tread carefully...

Not merely that, but he only had guns; no bombs, recording and surveillance equipment. This was going to be a hard job, unless he can make his way to the armory. So, turning himself invisible - or rather, making human and electronic eyes not see him, Constantine headed for said armory, his quick steps preventing him from tripping any pressure alarm in range. Also, it turned out that by luck, someone was using the armory; perhaps a member of the team who had abducted Ruby - he was now presuming that the abduction had occured. So, Constantine entered the left-open door, and waited for the person using the armory to leave, which he did in a few minutes. Then, after that, he took out a smartphone and started to disable the safeguards on some EMP Bombs...

Some Minutes Later

The man had strapped several of the EMP Bombs around the central reactor, and was now a room away with a remote that sent out a really strong signal. This remote was keyed to two sets of devices, one were the EMP Bombs mentioned, and the other were several C4 and Incendaries that he had stationed in the Armory and the Cafeteria.

"Bombs away!" Constantine finally spoke, not caring about whether a recording device heard him; it was too late now, and he pressed the button.

Dean had arrived at the Stonewall Jackson's hideout although he was told on how to arrive to this location he didn't know what to do for the time being,"Damn what the hell do we do now..." He thought to himself pacing form one place to another before heading stopping looking at his hands."If you want i can ask why we are wasting our time when he can kill some scum" Jenni his sister telepathically committed with him in her deep yet some what tantalizing voice.

"No of course not and we are here to put criminals away not kill them..." Dean retorted kicking a rock under his feet.He really hated having the disembodied voice of his sister in his head to ask such questions especially the ones that have on their mind most of the time is killing,"Tsk nave brother...that is what you are...there are more important things then waiting for the caped morons to come and send us on a throwaway job when he can be doing...god's work" His sister said but Dean as usual ignored it walking to the entrance seeing if he had come back but so far he was not there to be greeted.

"Damn it..." He muttered under his breath walking although it was more like pacing around the room waiting for Stonewall to come back and give him his job the one he wanted to do ever since he was a child and before Jenni came into the picture,He stopped where he was slapping his hospital slacks with his hands of the blood form before and wiped the rest on his matching hospital shirt getting very impatient with the other superhero.

Elijah couldn't help but giggle as the kid ran away with his tail between his legs. It was the right move for him but was it for Elijah? The boy was no threat but the people that sent him could be. He missed an ideal chance to send a strong message. All just the same... Child killing? That's wasn't in his wheel house. They all burned just the same but even he had to draw the line somewhere.

Pulling himself to his feet on two bum knees and throbbing head. He finally answered her question. "Dollars that pay says its an Apature bird. I broke in with a girl, Ruby, sweet kid if not a little misguided. Stole a shit load of Apature data before this kaper." He let out a sigh filled with pain and then asked one of the two biggest questions on his mind. "So, are we done here or what? Even in this state, you gotta know you don't stand much of a chance here."

Happy to see the kid gone, Roze's intense eyes darted back up to Elijah's, staring at his own dark ones.
"Apature..." She murmured, frowning slightly. She recognized the name, and the logo, although she had never put the two together before. Staying silent for a moment as she continued looking at Elijah skeptically, she thought on his words. For now, she had no interest in fighting him - although severely tempted to prove him wrong, it would have to wait. She needed to find out where that copter was going.
"We're not finished." She finally said, folding her arms across her chest loosely. "I have a feeling that you're going to go after that copter. I'd like to join you. I have some... unfinished business with that company." She said, ending on a bitter note. It was no wonder she'd recognized the logo; it had been chasing her nearly all of her life.

She was unsure of working with a merc - especially one this powerful, and clearly had no qualms about killing her. But she needed to follow this lead. She'd been running too long. And, if she managed to finally end the people who were after her, she wouldn't need protection from the government.
Which means no more hero work. She realized as an afterthought, this bringing a small smile to her face.

RUBY'S Conversation

Doctor Taylor smiled as he spoke
"Ruby my dear I do hope I can Believe you"
Doctor Taylor pressed a spot on his lab coat and there was a hiss that could be heard as he sighed.

"That is so much better" he says as his eyes glow a soft blue

}}Now my Dear Ruby I shall Ask you only once "Will you work for me and do so faithfully"{{ says Doctor Taylor in Ruby's mind.

APERTURE SE CURITY

A modification of facial recognition software Avalon's computers monitor all areas deemed critical to the base's function or a danger. Part of that function is a visual inventory which cross checks all images for inconsistencies such as missing inventory especially in the Armory While the thief of inventory in the armory wasn't seen the theft was detected in a random interval inventory sweep which sent out the alarm to the Base Security Chief

SECURITY ALERT VISUAL INVENTORY ARMORY A-W7 says the base security system to Avalon's Commander Claire Bendix.

Commander Bendix sends a team to check on the Armory and orders base patrols doubled and on high alert as the special teams perform a search of Avalon.
Soon the teams found the missing devices using special sensors that were keyed to specific traits inherent in them.

"We have an unauthorized entity in the base likely a Meta, I want take down squads deployed in all levels. This will not be allowed on my watch and if the saboteur escapes I'll have someone's head in a basket" says the security chief

When Nigthingale didn't follow Cedric, the boy went back, only to catch Nightingale saying: 'I'd like to join you', and all the stuff that happened after that. The boy was surprised, and a little pissed. Yes, the government was filled with assholes - his own treatment was proof of that. That didn't change the fact that 1.) He did not want people siding with the Mercs or Corporates, because those guys were assholes individually while the Government was assholish collectively (except for Elena), and, as far as he was concerned, those were two sides of the same coin. And, of course, 2.) He'll get punished worse if Nightingale defected!

So, the boy, sensibly, hid behind a crate and asked Elena for backup, and fast. He also sent a recording of Nightingale's offer to defect - his suit had recording equipment.

---

Due to the expected explosions not sounding, Constantine knew that he was in a bind. Actually, ever since he had entered the facility lightly armed, trusting only in his powers and his ability to do an 'Indy Ploy' to help him, he had been in a bind; he had just ignored it. Dangit all, he was a spy; with years of experience - how could he do such a rookie mistake? But not everything was hopeless; he still had his powers, his aforementioned light arms, and, actually, he had backup - Elena Reyes herself. He had already forewarned her about his coming excursion to the facility, and requested her to send backup - informal backup, of course - should he not appear after a period of time. Said period was passing in 3...2...1...0.

Now all he had to do was to last the night, and to do that, he had to begin moving, navigating the passageways, always being mindful of what was around the corner. He can still decieve people's eyes, and he did just that with the first two take-down squads that he encountered. The first one, he just fled invisibly from. The second...he was more creative.

Let's just say with the second group, he caused an Eldritch-seeming sign to appear before them - he was around a corner, so they won't accidentally shoot him if they shot the sign, then began transforming the enemy team's visages, making them look, to each other, like horrible, inhuman monsters, think humanoid beings with multiple eyes and mouths, with cancerous growths and bony spikes, whose inestines spilled out and became snake-like, moving of their own accord.

The reaction was inevitable - the group began shooting each other and themselves, and the cameras, which were also decieved, saw the grisly sight of the multiple murder-suicides. Now, they would think that an Eldritch-themed Meta was inside, causing more chaos...

Well, Alto thought. Isn't this interesting?

He was watching live security camera footage in his mind from his lab's own security camera. He could see through one of the cameras, a take-down squad spontaneously turning into Eldritch monsters, but on another camera slightly further away, all of them were completely normal. What was interesting wasn't the fact that someone was doing it, but what was interesting was the fact that someone was actually doing it. Someone was attacking Aperture labs.

He'd been a researcher for Aperture for the better part of 3 years having joined the science scene at about 13-ish. Over the course of his research days, he'd noted that security was particularly tight. He'd thought it was simply because Aperture was an extreme super-company who covered all facets of science and would have many enemies, but it wasn't until last year that he'd found out exactly why their security was so tight. After wishing on a star, he'd gotten his not-technically-robotic arm which he affectionately referred to as 'the Bio-Weapon', and he'd later found some pretty neat functions besides the lasers.

He'd found that by touching a programmable device, he was able to interface with it as if he was a computer. Using this, he took every chance he had to hack everything he could touch. It was through this that he found out that Aperture, like all corporations, was doing some very dodgy deals literally under the table. He'd been able to reach some cameras from the one in his lab, but the cyber security was particularly annoying where all the secrets were. He was a fairly civilian researcher so he didn't get let in on their secrety secrets, he had to find all that out from his little lab on the surface. Unfortunately, the only electronic networks not isolated from the surface labs were the lighting systems and some of the security cameras.

Alto really wanted to be in with some of the stuff they did down there, but Alto suspected having morals was not something that you would put on your resume if you wanted to work at Aperture's underground facility.

Anyhow, Alto was looking now and he could see that the soldiers had finished massacring each other. That was going to be hell for the janitors, if there were any down there. Still, whoever the intruder/intruders were, they were in pretty deep. There were more teams like that on every level and eventually whoever they were would get tired and captured or killed. But perhaps if an insider were to help them get what they want, maybe something interesting would happen.

Taking the hand of his Bio-Weapon off of the camera, and programming it to play a recording of him working for a while, he took off his lab coat revealing his single sleeved tracksuit jacket and tracksuit pants. Of course, no one in the labs had ever seen him like this. He'd made sure no security footage of it existed either. He'd started taking up some hero work on the side of his research under several different aliases, and he was confident he'd covered his tracks enough to know Aperture didn't know about him being a hero.

Pulling his hood up to hide his face, he sneakily stole out of the room making sure to tap into any cameras along his route so that he wouldn't be recorded. There was also a lock down in effect because of the security threat, so that meant no one he knew was going to come out and see him and potentially blow his cover. The locked doors were annoying but he could hack them in seconds so it wasn't much of a problem.

The fastest way to the lower levels was by taking a secret elevator shaft used to carry large cargo into the Aperture underground. That was the way he was going. After getting there, he would use his hook-shot to descend to the lower levels, sneak past the surveillance and the take-down teams and perhaps find the intruders assist them on their endeavours. Hopefully, if all went well, Aperture would be none the wiser.

Ruby

She regarded him in a manner that was mixed between curiosity and disbelief; why would he ever want to hire her when she had made his work that bit more difficult? Then it clicked, her mind connected points that weren't overly difficult to connect but she was being deprived as of now. He could only hold her in there for a certain amount of time while he could pay her forever. If he held her there, she would just expose Aperture's secrets upon release but if she was paid, they kept hidden forever... or at least until they stopped paying!

Cocking her head to the side, she regarded him with mild interest - cards had to be played right if she wanted to accommodate her. He was trying to cover her up, after all. "Doctor. Let's get this straight. I do not care about the pay. I do not care about the benefits. I want access to her: you're AI. Let me near her and I will make sure that Aperture becomes a super-power in its own right." She spoke fluidly before promptly turning on her heels, padding back over to the bed and plopping herself down.

---

Arc 2:
Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.

It was a fairly average evening - mother and father had just returned from work and their nanny had retired to her own house for the night. Homework had been completed, dinner had been cleaned, with the exception of a few greens and overall, the children were trying to sneak in some last-minute tv viewing before they were forced to go to bed.

"Dad..." The young boy complained, his voice dulled in annoyance - he was trying to watch his show and he was just interrupted.

"It'll only be for five minutes. Just watching the news." His dad mumbled in reply, shrugging off the boy's annoyed tone as he flicked the channels over to the six o'clock news, a minute off but it didn't matter as they had just finished rolling the title. The boy turned, not particularly bothered by this update in events as his eyes flicked up to the screen with little interest - the news wasn't the most exciting thing to a twelve-year-old.

It continued like that for a minute or two, the anchors following their monotonous structure of delivering the news: introduce, expand; introduce, expand. Out of nowhere, however, the tv flicked to a black-screen and all three in the room frowned at it. "Damn tv is playin-" He was cut off as it soon snapped back to a picture, radically different to that of the buxom blonde newscaster from beforehand. This was a man, aged wearily with greying hair despite the fact that he only looked to be in his forties to fifties.

His pause was long. Brutal. Efficient. Who was this mysterious man? "Ladies, Gentlemen, Americans... today at precisely 4:31 pm, we were betrayed. Upon capturing an informant, the LAPD HQ was stormed by beasts in human clothing. These following images are events which have only transpired not long ago; events that your government has prohibited all media sources from televising." He spoke quietly, his tone low and his register formal as he quieted most of the population of LA. As his face left the screen, it was replaced by a string of images, mainly concerning a particular blonde and her fire-wielding comrade. "The girl you are seeing is Ruby Greenfoot. She is a weapon that the government tried to control but erupted in their face. She is wanted for several accounts of murder, man-slaughter and cyber-crimes. She is capable of accessing and stealing any digital information known to man. The second you see is Elijah Craigh, a beast with the power to burn this city to ashes. Both are fully willing to kill, as you can see." The next few images were of them, gunning down police officers, the young woman the final police-officer to be shown dying.

The living room had fallen quiet and their mother was now hovering at the door, staring at the tv in mixed horror and interest - all forgot what they were doing before-hand. "But my comrades, this is not the worst crime I will show you." The next was closer to the time, of Elijah and Nightingale standing in some sort of truce. After that was of Ruby, standing and talking to Cypress. "These new-comers are beasts you are expected to trust. Beasts that swore to protect the innocent. Yet, we can clearly see here that they are conversing with these monsters and not attempting to apprehend them, or prevent them from killing more. So, we must come to the conclusion that these... heroes are working in league with the monsters from earlier."

He finished his speech sounding harsher and harsher, his anger barely containable by the presence of the camera. "Do we not live in the land of the free, yet we are trapped under the boot of a government which has been infiltrated and converted! So, I hereby invite every man, woman and child to march with me. We will show them true power and we will show them that we are not the ones who are subjugated. Quite the opposite, in fact, because if not us, who? If not now, when?" His stare remained for a few seconds before blinking back to the stunned blonde. The damage had been done.

Two Hours Ago...

Aster stood on the roof a small office block, his gaze fixated on a patrol guard making his rounds for a warehouse across the street. It was his third time in the last hour that he'd strolled past the main security hut, nodding to the other security guard inside and then casually walking off again to check on another part of the premises. Now would be the best time to strike if he wanted to get inside without raising any alarms.

The warehouse in question belonged to a wealthy business magnate, one that had enough money to hire out a private security firm to protect his properties. This man had spared no expenses; A Closed-Circuit Television System, Armed Guards and a top-of-the-line Intruder Alarm System, no wonder the Gambino Family had hired him for the job. After all, he did have a knack for getting things done and his success rate was currently unblemished. Whilst this was a good thing, Aster tried to keep himself low key when it came to dealing with the Family. He often took on jobs from them through a middle-man by the name of Bobby Beans, an associate of the Mafia who was their 'go-to' guy in L.A.. This kept Aster's name away from the attention of the real members. The Soldiers, the Made-Men, his Father. To them he was just a guy who got the job done, took his pay and went silent until he was called upon next.

Aster wrangled his thoughts back to the now, re-focusing on the security hut. He held out his right hand and concentrated. A small light began to emit from the center of his palm, gradually growing bigger the more he concentrated on it. It was pure light and as the orb of light matched the size of a tennis ball, it began to protrude out at the top and bottom. The protrusions grew longer at a quickened rate until eventually the light dimmed somewhat and his hand began to grasp around the lance he had just created. It felt smooth to touch, like always, and looked similar to frosted glass but with an ebbing glow trapped inside. He knew he only had a limited amount of time to act now, before he was spotted.

__________________________

This was Jeremiah's third night shift of the week and he was about ready to quit. The boss had given him this shift because he'd been caught stealing Bob's Twinkies from the fridge in the canteen last week. 'If Bob wasn't such a fat ass, he wouldn't need to keep Twinkies at work.' He thought. 'I just have two shifts left. Just two, I can do this.' It was then that he noticed a flash of light through the large pane of glass that was the main window of the security hut. His attention was drawn to a dark figure standing on top of the building across the street. Jeremiah screwed up his face in confusion.

"What the he-" It was all he could manage before the second flash killed him instantly.

__________________________

"And the Lord said..." Aster said to himself, a smirk playing at his lips. In his right hand, he no longer held the lance made of light. By now the spear-like weapon had already pierced his target and was beginning to shatter and fade away. He had to move quickly. Stepping forward to the edge of the building, Aster looked down. It was a 6-storey drop, a fall that would certainly kill him. But he allowed himself to lurch forward nonetheless, diving toward the ground at an increasingly fast rate. The rush of adrenaline made him feel alive as he fell and a slight feeling of dread played at his thoughts.

Before it could take over him completely, Aster had begun to convert his own body into light before a quick flash made him disappear completely. He stood, unharmed, inside the security hut. He had to wait for his body to adjust. Freefalling to your death and then teleporting to a completely different place had a way of confusing your senses. But it didn't take him long to recover. There was a large pool of blood covering part of the floor within the hut. It came from the guard, who still sat in his chair. Except now he was dead and left with a gaping hole in his chest.

As he stepped over the puddle of crimson liquid, her could hear hurried footsteps coming from outside. One of the guards, something must have gone wrong. Aster stood, frozen, if he moved now, he'd alert the guard before he had a chance to jump him. Within seconds the security guard burst through the door to the hut. "Why won't you answer-" Aster had already moved towards the door. Before the man could raise his rifle to shoot, he grabbed the barrel of the gun with his left hand and used his ability to convert it into Hard-Light, then ripped the weapon from the man's grip, pulling him further into the hut.

As the guard was pulled off balance, Aster struck him with a swift right-elbow to the side of the head, dazing him and sending the defenceless man sprawling against the command console. The guard managed to recover, however and threw himself toward the Meta, but Aster only batted him away with the gun, before discarding it and following up with a right hook to his ribs. The guard cried out in pain, a few broken ribs will do that to you, but Aster didn't let up. He grabbed the side of man's face with his right hand and began to slam his head against the console repeatedly until the sound of glass breaking and a flashing red light meant that he'd activated the emergency alarm.

He released the guard's mutilated head, allowing the man's lifeless body to crumple to the ground, and sighed. "This is gonna' be a long night..."

Present Time

Aster turned his Camaro into to a widened alleyway that was situated between a mix of apartment blocks and office towers. The further he drove, the darker and dingier it got. He kept going until, in his head beams, he could see another car with a man standing beside it. Turning off the engine, he opened the door and stepped out of the car. He then began to walk towards the man who, by now, had noticed his arrival and had turned to face him. "You fucked up, A.J!" The man called out as Aster kept walking.

"The hell are you talkin' about? I got the package." He replied, slightly raising the small brown item he'd grabbed off of the passenger seat as he left the car.

"Yeah, and now the whole damn city knows you did too. You left a fuckin' body count for Christ's sake!"

"Oh, c'mon, they were a couple of private security guards, what do you care?" Aster now stood facing the man.

"What do I care? I read the damn Police Report."

"Police Report? How did you-Wait a minute, you had a fuckin' tail on me?!" Aster suddenly grew annoyed and began to clench his fist.

"The guy had a fuckin' hole in his chest, like he'd been speared! What the fuck kind of shit is that?!"

"Why the fuck would you put a tail on me, Bobby?"

"Because apparently, you're not quite who you say you are. Our guy said that you jumped from a six-storey building and then just randomly ended up in the security hut! Is that true, A.J?"

"Now you just shut your mouth, Bobby, you don't know what you're saying.

"Are you a fuckin' Meta?"

At that point, Aster lost it. He dropped the package and grabbed Bobby with both hands by the lapels of his coat, then turned and slammed him up against the brick wall that made up the side of the alley. "I told you to shut your fuckin' mouth, Bobby. You didn't hear nothin' about anythin' and as far as you or anyone else is concerned, I'm just the guy who gets shit done!" After he'd said his piece he let Bobby go, straightening out his coat before turning away from his old friend.

"Yeah, well that's just the problem, Jay."

Aster turned his head to look over his shoulder. "What do you mean?" He asked, almost glaring.

Bobby began to stutter, trying to get the words out before finally taking a breath and just saying it. "There's a new Capo in town. He flew in from New York last week."

Aster turned around at that. "Go on."

"Well, he wanted to personally go over the books himself. Usually that's for the accountants to do, but this guy likes to see shit with his own eyes. And whilst going through them, he spotted a bunch of payments for this year. Each of them for ten grand. They were your payments, A.J. And he wanted to know why they hadn't been signed."

"What do you mean?" He was confused slightly and furrowed his brow as he asked.

"Well, you've always wanted to keep your identity a secret, so I never signed the payments with your name. Which we usually do so we'd know who they were going to. I mean, everybody here knows who you are but they're all content for me to just say it's for 'a guy I know', I even got me my own name; Bobby 'I know a guy' Bea-"

"Get to the fuckin' point, Bobby."

"Okay, so that didn't wash with this guy. He said that he wants to meet. To see you with his own eyes."

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?!" This wasn't good. There was no way he could meet him. What if it was his Father, or someone that knew his Father...and his son for that matter? "No. No, we're fuckin' done. Don't call me again, Bobby." He began storming back to his car.

"A.J. wait! They'll kill me if you don't show! You know how bad this looks already! You can't just hang me out to dry here!" Aster stopped walking but stayed silent for at least a minute.

"What time's the meet?" He asked eventually.

"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock. The usual place."

"Shit." He said. "I'm not happy about this, Bobby." Aster continued walking back to his car.

"Yeah, well this isn't exactly my idea of Christmas either, A.J!"

Aster sat back in the driving seat of his car and watched Bobby drive off in the other direction. When the lights from his sedan had gone, he slammed a fist on the dashboard. "Fuck it!" He said aloud. This was going to be a long night.

[Double post]

((Collab Post beteween Mass City and Letter Bee))

The 'Secret Headquarters' of the Internal Reformist faction in Los Angeles was situated in Elena's Apartment, an apartment that, though small and a little cramped, had as its advantage that it was regularly checked for bugs, and was booby-trapped itself, as a matter of course, its inhabitant being an FBI Agent. There, in the living room, was a round table, with only three human occupants and several video-screens open. Those three human occupants were Cedric, Constantine, and Elena, while the faces on the video-screens belonged to people of varying status; some of them were students or student leaders, others minor government officials and agents, while the last one was Gary Stuart, a Metahuman who, instead of working for a Coroporation, ran one.

Yes, he's a Registered Metahuman, a 'Hot'. Either way, the objective of this meeting was clear: How to respond to the riots and protests against Metahumanity going on?

"All their lives, Humans -Meta or Not - have defined themselves against an Other, a 'foriegn' prescence that is not of them, and thus is to be treated with different rules than they treat each other," Constantine was now speaking. "We've seen it before, during the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and more. And this situation is made much worse by the fact that in this question of prejudice, no side is completely right; both sides commit atrocities." He could almost be one of the student leaders, the way he spoke. "We need to stop this, we need to break the cycle, and we need to show that we are better than our ancestors. We must cast aside fear and hate, and embrace the fact that if no one is innocent, then no one should throw stones."

"And that," he then smiled at one of the student leaders, "is how you're going to give your speech tomorrow, once we start the Pro-Metahuman Protests." He then turned to Gary. "Gary, can you arrange your own Corporate Metas to protect the protests, discreetly, of course? Elena, how much do you know of the planned Government response to the riots? Would they protect both pro-and-anti protesters?"

"They will dispatch the LAPD and LASD (Sherriff's Department) in full riot gear. Also from what I heard there is rumblings from Sacremento and the Governor declaring LA an emergency area. The Government I think will distance it's self from a terrible situation. They are getting ready for something and this could not have come at a worse time for them. The President canceled his Hawaiian Vacation and is flying back to DC. From what LAPD standing orders are and I quote Chief Richardson. "If and when there are protests crack heads, doesn't matter who, just crack heads." Elena took a sip of her soda.

"I still think we let the government make it's own mistakes. We are a year out from a major election, the world stage is crap, so we hope the court's and the next guy in the Oval Office sides with us." Elena knew her protests would be viewed ... well not positively.

"I agree with Elena," spoke Cedric finally. Part of his reasoning was simple attachment, but not all; Cedric had a rational argument, and the boy continued, giving it:

"I agree with Elena because, as you know, I am the most pessimistic one of the group - and for good reason. Push too hard, too early, and all you'll end up doing is demolishing the movement. Like it or not, we lack resources except for Gary, the only reason the Government isn't cracking down on us is because they think we're a bunch of naive idealists - which is true," he looked at Constantine, "and, face it, our secret-keeping relies on, well, people not asking about us; people understimating us."

"It's hard not to be underestimated when we actually do something of note," he finally finished. "If our raid on Aperture had succeeded, the backlash could destroy us completely."*

"I think that it's you who's been underestimating us," spoke Gary Stuart, a red-haired, green eyed person in a black suit, whose face was as handsome as a Reniassance painting. "You forget, the riots and rioters would be concentrating at Aperture, because Friction - the one who was seen talking to Ruby - works there. This can serve as a distraction from my attempts at a hostile takeover - StuCorp will have their hides for this."

"That may be," spoke Cedric, "but, one more thing. If the Police do become brutal at the Pro-Metahuman Protesters, we gain sympathy. If the Police crack the heads of the Anti-Metahuman Rioters, that means a few less who will be walking the streets.Doing nothing would be a viable option."

"What we should be doing," spoke Constantine with unintentional harshness - he liked Cedric, "is finding out who the firebrand behind the Anti-Metahuman Protests is. All we know is that he is a charismatic person, with enough resources and know-how to hijack a TV Signal, and that's it. I also suspect that he's a member of a group, and probably one with some secret and widespread influence."

"Let's just say," the bespectacled man continued, "that we are facing a conspiracy here, even as we are a conspiracy."

"NSA, CIA, Homeland Security are all looking for this guy. We at the Bureau being told to find this guy by Director Grantham and AG Milner. I heard the order came from the right hand of the President. They don't want domesitc issues to bog down the public's attention. The administration wants to focus on Russia and ISIS. They don't want people looking at the meta problem. They want people looking at the good economy, the lack of terrorist attacks, and Russia wanting to be the Soviet Union again. This, screws it all up!." Elena pulled out a beer.

Elena opened the beer and took a swig, "Stu, you know regulators are gonna block you on your takeover. You are in Davis Lawton's sights." Lawton was the "right hand of the President." Stuart had hurt Lawton's position as a senator in the midterms. But the President brought him on as chief of staff. "Look LA is gonna burn. There must be riots people will protest but most of the violent actions will be by people looking to get a new TV. There may be agitators but they won't be government, at least as far as I know." Elena took a swig of the beer.

"I don't like this, and I'm the 30-year old CIA/FBI/Etc Spy," spoke Constantine.

"I don't like this, and I'm the 'heartless' corporate mogul," said Gary.

"Nevertheless," spoke Cedric with conviction, "We have to make sacrifices for both Liberty and Equality. A few riots where we win either way is not as big a sacrifice as most people in power make."

"Fine," spoke Constantine, "but I want to at least do something, if only to distract from the riots."

"Well, any other business?"

"I and Constantine would like to hunt down Nightingale and Elijah," spoke up Cedric. "Isn't there an official mission to do just that?"

"I could but I would have to sell it to my boss." Elena knew Constatine would be allowed but the child was viewed as a laiblity.

Cedric saw Elena's expression, and said:

"All right, I get ya. So, order of business done?"

"It's done," spoke a disappointed Gary, who was joined by several other student leaders.

"Good night then." Elena shut off the monitors.

And with that, Constantine and Cedric turned to leave...

END

*Cedric doesn't know stuff that at least Cypress had been rescued.

South of Westlake village, there is a nice diner with a clear view of the docks. They serve some decent food there, and if you take the backdoor, you’ll gain access to a huge shooting range. Of course, it’s a makeshift shooting range. It’s prohibited by the law to shoot a gun in that place, but with most of the houses evacuated and with Los Angeles in total chaos, people have stopped caring.

Before the Maybark incident, the diner was said to be owned by some hard-ass republican who went by the name of Mike..Marco, or whatever. After the situation got awry though, he left the country. How patriotic of him, right? With the place ditched and no one to take care of it, a former Navy by the name of Robert Grayfield took it. A decorated sniper, or so they say. Alec had met the old man before a couple of times while he was serving as an instructor for the Navy. He confirmed the old man was no joke. He knew what he spoke of, and he gave Miller a lot of tips that would serve him well in his many battles.

After a two month hiatus, Alec felt he was getting rusty. He needed to see for himself if he still possessed the same accuracy that killed two people with a single bullet.

He opened the old rusty front door to the diner. As he went by, there was a slightly annoying creak caused by it as it was closing. The place was falling apart. Maintaining a consistent pace, he proceeded to the counter, holding a black briefcase in his right hand. Bob was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a young girl by the age of 20 to 21 who was taking care of stuff – presumably his niece. The sound the floor made when Miller sat in one of the stools at the counter attracted the young lady’s attention, only for her to get a little startled by his yellow eyes. The girl’s reaction provoked a smirk by his side, as he slowly dropped the briefcase in the ground.

“Can I help you, sir?”, a noticeable crack occurred in the girl’s voice as she was saying that. She was somewhat concerned.

“Yeah. I’m an old friend of Bob. He said he’d be here, but that if he wasn’t, his nephew would prep the shooting range for me. I take it you’re not his nephew, right?”, Alec’s monotone voice almost echoed through the empty diner.

The girl let a nervous smile “Yeah, he told us about you.” She pointed at the backdoor; “Right that way. Tristan’s waiting for you.”

Alec nodded, got a hold of his briefcase back and began moving.

There was a huge contrast between the interior of the diner and the shooting range. The diner was mostly painted brown and smelled of cigarettes, the kind of place you’d label as a shitstain in your Westlake map. The shooting range, in the other hand, was breathtaking. The grass was mowed down carefully, judging by the straight lines, and the field covered approximately 6 km, which made it a perfect place for Alec to hone his aim.

In the middle of the field, there was a small wooden shelter with a white blanket set up in the ground for snipers to lay down and prepare for the target practice. Tristan, a dark-haired blue-eyed somewhat skinny boy, was a few feet to the right of the shelter. One could easily tell that he was related to the girl from the diner, as they shared so many similarities. It didn’t take much for the boy to notice the long-haired meta overlooking the wind flags which were positioned between the firing line and the already prepared target. He, too, instantly noticed his strange eyes, but his reaction was entirely different from his sister’s. Tristan approached the man with precaution, like a well-trained soldier would approach a booby trap, and waited long enough for Alec to shift his gaze at him so he could get a clearer look at his eyes.

“Wow. Cool set of lenses. Where can I get them?”, the boy straightforwardly asked. He was way too naïve for a guy who was half-way through puberty.

“I bought them in a local store, downtown LA.”, Alec decided to play along.

“Wait. I recognize these scars.”, the boy enthusiastically pronounced, like he had just won the lottery. “Grandpa told me a lot about you! He said you’re a pretty good shot. He requested me to set up your target 1,8 miles away, but I thought he was tripping. So, if you want I can move it closer.”

“It’s fine. “, Alec uttered, slightly surprised at the kid’s straightforward attitude. The last thing you want to do when you first meet a former soldier is mention his scars. It brings back a lot of memories. Alec decided to keep his cool and not make a big fuss about it, though. He just shrugged it off as genetic, since he recalled Robert being just as brutally honest as his kin.

The former SEALs operative casually dropped his jacket, and along with it, his black briefcase. He opened the briefcase, revealing parts of a complete deadly weapon – his Walther WA 2000, one of his most treasured possessions. Conceived in West Germany, only 176 of them were built due to the high cost of the rifle. Alec got his hands on one during his career as Metakiller and although he tried to throw it away several times for the main reason that it reminded him of painful times, he just couldn’t make himself to. The boy, Tristan, also seemed to be a gun enthusiast, as his jaw dropped the minute he began assembling the gun. He made a few comments about how the gun is rare and valuable, comments Miller was quick to ignore.

After positioning himself nicely inside the shooting cabin, Miller placed his right eye in the sniper’s scope. Bob’s brat nephew was observing the targets with a pair of binoculars he had on his neck just earlier. Alec would often take an occasional glimpse at the wind flags before repositioning himself back. He took a deep breath, held it and pulled the trigger. The bullet missed the head of the target by a few centimeters.

“Damn!”, he swore under his breath.

“Need a spotter?”, said Tristan, his face covered by a wide sly smile. Alec yet again ignored him.

The second time, he performed the same routine; looking at the flags, at the scope, then at the flags again before taking the shot. This time though, he managed to pierce the head. Tristan’s reaction was followed by a ‘wow!’ remark, a nice change from his occasionally hurtful ones.

After he was done, Miller disassembled his weapon, placed it in the briefcase, grabbed his jacket, said goodbye to Tristan, who drove away in a golf cart to remove the holed up paper target, and made his way back to the diner. While in there, he handed the girl a bunch of 100 dollar bills wrapped in a rubber band, despite her insistence that he gave her more than required, before finally mounting his Sandcat. His times as Metakiller, although pointlessly violent, granted him enough money to live a good life for the following years ‘till he finally passes away.

While Los Angeles itself was pretty crowded this time of the year, the streets leading to Los Angeles were more like a barren wasteland. That was good news for Alec, whose armored car was too heavy to maneuver through the LA traffic. He was ready to return back to the messed up world he once knew, and actually do something to fix it. Alec came a long way from being a contract killer to a registered superhero. He had a swift change of ideologies, actually giving himself a purpose greater than him; becoming a bearer of justice.

While his ideologies have changed, his ways of achieving the desired outcome haven’t. Deep down, there’s still a dark side in him which has planted a notion in his mind, the notion that every major obstacle can be resolved by attacking it’s roots and not wasting any time with the collateral damage.

Alec slowly navigated the empty streets that forwarded to LA, his left hand holding the wheel while his right one was pressing his phone against his ear. He was listening to a voice mail left by one of the spokesmen at the Metahuman registration committee, talking about how his registration is complete and how they’re making sure to keep his existence a secret, requests he personally made before signing up. His glowing yellow eyes and his attire could reveal a lot about him, so he had to make sure there would be no billboard with his face anywhere in or near LA. After the voicemail ended, he carelessly threw the phone in the passenger seat and turned the radio on. It took him some time before finding the right frequency, but he managed. A news station was broadcasting what sounded like a speech. Alec wasn’t sure as he caught it half-way, but judging by the aggressive tone of the speaker, it sounded pretty important. He turned the volume up.

“So, we must come to the conclusion that these...heroes are working in league with the monsters from earlier."

“What heroes? What monsters?!”, Alec thought to himself.

"Do we not live in the land of the free, yet we are trapped under the boot of a government which has been infiltrated and converted! So, I hereby invite every man, woman and child to march with me. We will show them true power and we will show them that we are not the ones who are subjugated. Quite the opposite, in fact, because if not us, who? If not now, when?"

The lone hero had no idea what that man meant, but it clearly was bad. He stepped on the gas as much as he could and rapidly boosted himself through.

He had to get back to L.A.

He had to learn what was going on.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee, Rofis Mazoy, and perhas NarcissticPotato))

Present Day

Alto sighed as a brick whistled past his head, his heightened reflexes allowing him to dodge the missile with ease. This is so troublesome. he thought. Some protestors were behind him, clearly against meta-humans, trying to do something or other. Ever since some kind of announcement happened that he hadn’t been there for, it seemed that the entire population of Los Angeles was divided into people with meta-humans and people against them. That meant that stuff like getting a brick thrown at your head was now becoming common for meta-humans everywhere.

Looking over his shoulder, the people he was ‘up-against’ really looked like they were spoiling for a fight. If he didn’t do something, some other unlucky bastard was probably going to end up lynched. But lasering them wouldn’t even count as self-defence if the other guys all had top-of-the-line heavy machineguns. His power was an A-rank and self-defence only works if your weapon is less deadly than theirs.

If he even punched them out with his robot arm it wouldn’t count considering they were all armed with bricks and glass bottles. That just left his right arm which in comparison with his left was not much weaker, pretty redundant and about 1000% lamer. Ever since he got his robot arm, he’d been ambidextrous and while his right arm had more feeling, his left arm didn’t get muscle cramps.

Still, he did know some basic martial arts. He’d done a little before he’d dived straight into science when he was 10, and since he’d gotten kicked out of Aperture straight after the incident, he’d had some time to learn some more. There was also the fact that most of his programs were lethal and since he’d started doing actual hero work, he couldn’t just go and kill everyone.

Walking towards the jeering thugs, he started to recount the events that led to him getting fired from Aperture...

Flashback

Constantine Ramiel King, thanks to his 'mental conditions', had a larger battery than most. But, when he got to the fourth level of Aperture base, it was quite clear that the enemy was catching up to his bag of tricks, and, in fact, were carrying heavier arms than his threat level merited. Of course, heavier arms made them less nimble, so the veteran spy - although he didn't look like it just now, managed to get away from more groups, and even managed to steal some heavy arms from a group whom he managed to pull the 'they're becoming Eldritch monsters' trick on - this time, he used an illusion of a mutating gas, a gas that resembled some of Aperture's projects - Constantine had ways of finding out stuff besides hacking; specifically, seduction.

Anyway, better armed now, he transformed himself into a monster made up of living poop; hopefully, the oncoming enemy would be so disgusted that they would flee, not bothering to notice that it didn't smell bad - because there was no smell at all. And that, was when he encountered Alto.

Alto had been watching from his perch for a while now. He had his arm on the camera under him to keep an eye on the guest, and he kept an eye out because he wasn't exactly welcome here. He'd run into a few squads, now they were mostly in half a little bit out of the way somewhere. Anyhow, he'd managed to find a camera connected to the underground surveillance system and used it to observe the super spy on the loose.

Didn't think he'd pull that eldritch stuff again. He thought, observing his transformation from his perch nearby. The invader had conveniently made his way near Alto's little hiding spot. The spy started transforming, changing his shape and becoming bigger. Alto thought that the super-spy was doing something cool, then he turned into" a massive turd. Dude, seriously? He thought incredulously. No one would fall for that! And yet the soldiers did. Even though they had guns. Some of them were learning however, and now they were training their guns on the massive turd. Intervention time! He thought, as he jumped out of cover, his energy blade whipping out.

Taking the soldiers by surprise, he quickly cut down the few that were left and then stood facing the currently shitty spy.

"What the hell are you on right now?" He questioned him.

Constantine saw Alto cut through the enemy troops turning to shoot him, and his first thoughts were...uncharitable, specifically that it might be a trap by Aperture to get someone to trust him. Then, he loooked at the young man's eyes and listened to his voice, and decided that those, as well as his body language, carried an idealism and innocence that sounded genuine. And so, the man shed his disguise, revealing himself to be a handsome man clad in stolen body armor - meaning that the enemy's bullets wouldn't have harmed him - and wearing spectacles.

"Nothing, really, I don't do drugs or intoxicants; although I can make others think I've done so. I just, well, I copied a monster from a Web Serial I've read, Brennus. Same for the Eldritch Stuff, too. Anyway," he continued, cloaking the two of them in an invisibility field, "my name's Insert, an infiltrator. What's yours?"

Alto had never really considered having an alias yet. He'd actually done some mercenary work under aliases but he hadn't really like any of them. He considered just telling Insert his name, but that would be pretty stupid. Well, he wasn't really with Aperture and if he helped him the guy probably wouldn't tell. He'd have to come up with an alias later, because they really didn't have all day in there.

But besides that, even though he had a vest on, using a massive turd as a disguise still wasn't a good plan. Someone who would use novels for inspiration in a life or death situation would normally make you think that they might have a mental problem. Still, in a world of meta humans, he guessed being a massive turd was better than being shot at? Actually, maybe not.

"Just call me Alto for now." He said finally. Then he realized he'd forgotten what he'd actually come down for. "What's your problem with Aperture anyway?"

"They've taken two Metas prisoner. One is Ruby, a Techopath who, though a murdress and a criminal, is one because of mistreatment from the faction I'm intent on reforming. While setting her free would allow her to kill more people, it's better than letting Aperture control her, while we...we've lost the right to lock her up. The other, is an actual Heroine, Cypress, who used to work for Aperture but broke away from them, only to be captured later. I believe now that she's shown her disloyalty, they're going to brainwash her." Constantine answered in a wary voice. Dangit all, he was a veteran; how can he keep making rookie mistakes?

Frowning a little, Alto thought for a bit. He knew of Cypress, or Friction at any rate, not Cypress herself. She was quite famous around Aperture, for being their resident miracle worker. She'd broken away some amount of time ago but he'd hardly paid attention because he was busy with his robot arm obsession. Ruby, he didn't know. He knew that being a technopath murderer criminal was very easy in the modern age, but the three of those didn't necessarily have to be interconnected. Still, he didn't really care about the criminal records, he was mainly thinking about what Aperture wanted with them.

Cypress was a given, she did work for the company. If she betrayed them, they'd want her back. But Ruby was a different story. Alto knew Aperture's current technopath, and if Aperture would capture any other technopath and take them to the facility, they would probably be a more powerful or useful one. Their current techno-path had once taken a look at his arm and the technopath had said it wasn't really technology. That was when Alto found out it was actually biological, and it ended with Alto calling his arm the Bio-Weapon.

Realizing that he'd probably been thinking too long, he turned back to Insert to reply.

"Cypress I do know, Ruby I don't know." He said finally. "I have a general idea of where they're held. I checked the system earlier and there's some major security covering a lower sector in the facility." Thinking back, he had found what seemed to be an elevator shaft with a high concentration of surveillance cameras for some reason or another. He hadn't checked them, because the Super-Spy was in another sector. That shaft was probably their best bet. "If there's high security, that means something to hide. That'll probably be where your targets are."

Constantine grinned.

"Thanks, thank you a lot. Now," he said with an enthusiasm that belied his actual age (30) "let's go!" and with that, he used his image-altering powers to disguise himself and Alto as two of the enemy; the last two remnants of the strike team. That would give them more freedom.

They then started to walk to the shaft...

Timeskip

Cypress had been contained in a deep glass cell, knocked out by a special suit that had been modified to give her an electric shock that disabled her powers. Thankfully, Constantine and Alto had broken into the room - after hewing down some guards who disbelieved their alibi - before any more damage can be done. Nevertheless, Cypress was still knocked out, which enabled Constantine to disable the suit's shock systems.

Then, he carried the woman over his shoulder, and spoke to Alto:

"Do you think we should rescue Ruby as well, or are we pushing our luck?" Constantine knew the answer to the question, but wanted to test Alto's instincts.

"Considering the fact that you triggered literally all the alarms back in the main part of the facility, I don't think we could really be pushing our luck any further than we already have." Ruby was yet deeper in the facility. They'd entered from the top but there was still more to go. However, he could see the elevator itself at the bottom. That meant someone was actually there besides Ruby. But, as far as he knew, almost all of the guards had been stationed to take care of Mr. Super-Spy and Alto and him had left them behind a ways back. There couldn't possibly be much more down there. "We may as well, right?"

Present Day

Alto finished his flashback as his right fist crashed into the last hoodlum's face, perhaps knocking a few teeth loose, definitely putting him out of commision. The rest of the small gang lay at his feet, dazed and groaning. He'd made sure not to use his left arm, keeping it behind his back for pretty much the entire fight. There were enough witnesses clustered around to say that he was acting in self-defence and now he could leave with impunity.

Walking along the street, he sighed to himself. I'm a hero now, aren't I? He thought wearily. He was out of Aperture, and now he was kind of freelance. He'd joined the heroes but he was still doing some mercenary work. Still, he didn't have an alias yet. Raising his left arm in the air, he tried to think of something cool. Metal arm? Lame. Super fist? Even worse. Lazer dude? No. Sighing, he out his arm down again. This arm was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Before the arm, yeah he'd been a genius, but that wasn't what he wanted. Granted, the robot arm wasn't exactly what he truly wanted either but it was as close as he was going to get. Best of all, the Bio-Weapon was his. No one else was going to have it but him.

Hmm... What about Bio-Weapon? He thought suddenly. Yeah, I like the sound of that. It made him sound truly dangerous, something to be feared. And there was even a splash of irony, he was technically a Bio-Weapon right now. It felt right, he knew now he'd found his alias.

Bio-Weapon walked down the street, hood pulled over his head, right hand in pocket, left arm glinting in the afternoon sun.

Aperture Labs
A knock on the door was heard at the Gate. . . and there was a man put in a visored armor, an armor that was dark green, like an armored uniform from the U.S army. But the armor said, "Aperture Science" on it. The Sheriff's disguised exo skeleton also had an installed a program that somehow shielded it from the sensors and gave false input. His bio-scanner claimed him as an Aperture Science Employee. The Sheriff had brought a truck with him just outside the gate, and the truck was filled with cake. Vanilla strawberry layer cakes.

Pam kicked open the door to her shoddy apartment with an exhausted look in her eyes.
"America sucks," was all she could muster in her native Autrian tongue just before she collapsed on her couch. The pathetic piece of lumpy furniture groaned in protest as she sat down. Ever since her commanding officer betrayed her and left her stranded a month ago she had been working her tail off in order to live in this awful smelly motel. She had served under commander Byrne for 2 years, and do think that the moment she was discovered to be a meta he would put her to death... it still mystified her to this day. Pam flicked on the TV and snoozed as she let her programs run. She sat there for a half hour in her half asleep state until the tone of the channel suddenly changed. At first she didn't notice, too tired to open her eyes.

"The girl you are seeing is Ruby Greenfoot. She is a weapon that the government tried to control but erupted in their face. She is wanted for several accounts of murder, man-slaughter and cyber-crimes. She is capable of accessing and stealing any digital information known to man."
That piece of information shot Pam up to attention. Pamela had spent her time in America dealing with metas, but her work mostly involved peace keeping and understanding. She speak to metas and try to solve domestic disputes. Her main role was that of negotiation, and she found that most metas wished that they had never been given abilities to begin with. Most metas tried to lead ordinary lives. But if this broadcast was to be trusted... there were some metas out there abusing their powers for their own gain. Pam didn't approve of that.

"The second you see is Elijah Craigh, a beast with the power to burn this city to ashes. Both are fully willing to kill, as you can see." Pam watched the available footage of carnage being wrought upon innocent civilians. She stiffened up, realizing that this matter was getting more and more serious. Ever since Pam had gotten her powers she had taken free time to practice using them. Experimenting with them and learning how they worked.. but she had never dared to use them outside of very isolated and safe places. These two individuals were abusing their powers, and giving all metas a bad name. She had to do something. Pam turned off the television and made her way to her closet. She pulled out some of the few items she owned in America; her jumpsuit, a helmet, mask and a pair of roller blades that she had bought in order to experiment with her abilities. Hidden in a box in the back corner was 200 US dollars and Pam's dog tags.

If she wanted to act, she would need to find the central area for Meta issues. LA seemed like the place to be, but she really had no idea where that was. She pulled out a map she had tucked away and looked it over. That's a 10 hour trip... by car. But using her powers and a pair of roller blades, she might be able to make better time. Pam suited up, putting on her jumpsuit and protective gear. She looked down at her dog tags, unsure if she should bring any ID along in case anything happened, but she decided to put them on under her jumpsuit.

And with that she was off. She jumped out the door with her roller blades on and skated off, not mindful of anything she had left there. She skated at impressive speeds, racing past cars and other automated vehicles as she went. Pam's next stop; LA.

"Why couldn't we get a better job...why did it have to be a bank job...at least we get to kill some criminals...." Jenni said inside of Dean's mind who was jumping form one building to the next thank god he stretched out before he was given this mission by his higher ups,"No we need to bring them to justice that is what we are suppose to do we are heroes after all...Sis we can't kill how many times do i have to tell you we are heroes not killers we will not go down there path..." Dean said stopping for the moment standing on top of a building looking down at the bank in question of small screams of the innocent people.

Dean used the fire escape to head down street level and made his way to the bank,"Remember what we can preform and how we can take down these scumbags...and remember that if they start killing the innocents...Kill them all..." Jenni said to him as Dean made his way though the side entrance waiting a few moments before walking into the room using his powers to knock back one of the robbers,He quickly turned around using his power to throw a pen into the man's leg to cripple him to a degree and plumping them with object around the room.