To Hell and Back…

Route 101, the most used highway everytime someone wants to get in L.A, was, to no one’s surprise, empty. There were quite a handful of cars driving opposite of him, not that Alec could see anything clearly since he was driving like a cheetah in steroids, but not a single person besides him. Everyone wanted to get out, but no one wanted to get in. He could imagine the reactions of the people over at the opposite lane when they saw a black armored car heading towards the place they were so eager to drive away from.

While Alec maintained a blunt face through most of the trip, there were a lot of thoughts racing through his mind. He already had an idea of what may have happened, but he needed details. He had to scratch that itch and he had to do it fast. After some pondering, Alec extended his hand to grab the phone, which was still at the passenger’s seat. The only contact he had that was closely related to the government was the guy from the registration committee, same one who notified him that his registration process was successful. That was also the only number in his phone. Alec wasn’t as social, and he had all the right reasons to be.

For an aging former-soldier, Alec was depressingly good at multitasking, as he maneuvered his car with his left hand and used his phone with his right one. The contact was labeled as ‘MHRC’. He didn’t know the guy’s name, and he didn’t want to know. All he knew about him is that he works after-hours as a handler for a turf of selected metahumans, a secret job which would get him in jail if his higher-ups found out. He held his phone to his ear and after a couple of beeps, a woman answered. The guy was paranoid and he seemed to have a lot of money, so he prepped up a bunch of security measures, namely a voice recognition software.

“Hi, how can I help you?”, the woman spoke.

Since the ‘woman’ was nothing but merely a software, he didn’t have to answer it's questions. All that came out of Alec’s mouth was a stiff “Hi”, which was more than enough for it to recognize him.

“Voice confirmed! Registered government employee, alias: Lighthouse!”

Shortly after that, a man’s voice was heard

“Speak up! I don’t have time.”, the man mumbled. It didn’t take a deep understanding of rocket science to know he was running away from his bosses.

“I heard an interesting speech being broadcasted in the radio while I was coming here.”, Alec replied, his signature monotone voice ever so present.

“Oh, that. Well, we had some nut who was strapped up with the latest technology and decided it was a good day to stir some shit up. He intercepted a news broadcast and started blaming the heroes for a series of events. The worst part is that he had proof with himself too, so now the entire L.A is out on the streets protesting against the likes of you. Lucky for you, you didn’t make yourself known to the public eye, eh?”

Miller ignored the man’s last remark while he plunged deep into the depths of his mind. “Two days! I left for two days, and this is what happens!”, he thought to himself, his blunt expression now replaced with a rather concerned one.

“Does the government have any idea who that man is?”, he got back to asking questions.

“No. They tried to track the broadcast, but to no avail. This guy’s good and I’m willing to bet my grand salary he has a shitload of funds, since he’s daring to go against not only the government, but lethal superhumans too. Either that, or he has a death wish”

Miller let a soft sigh before asking him one last question; “Has the government given up on him?”

“Reliable sources tell me they haven’t made a step so far. ‘Gave up’ may be a strong word, but they are not going to make any move for now.The fear that this small protest may turn into a revolution overnight is keeping them occupied.”, the man finished his explanation.

“That’s my cue”, Alec murmured before hanging up his phone.

As soon as he hung up his phone, a white van with an angry flock of protesters passed by with most of them dangling down the windows, shouting a load of obscenities. They had a banner sticked by the side of the van that read ‘KILL ALL METAS’. Not very original, but it didn’t fail to deliver the message. At this point, Alec was damn sure the situation would go sour by tomorrow. The only way he could straighten this out was by tracking the man responsible and dragging his ass down the sidewalk ‘till he starts singing. But first, he needed to move downtown to assess the situation. After a couple of lefts and rights, he finally found an ideal spot at an alley. He turned off the engine and reached for his briefcase which was at the backseat. Besides serving as a placeholder for his sniper, pressing the right buttons revealed a hidden compartment within the briefcase. There, he stored his nicely folded opsuit and a pair of suspenders which played the role of a utility belt. He threw his green jacket at the passenger’s seat, revealing a tight grey t-shirt, and put on the suspenders. Alec was right-handed, so his FN Five-Seven pistol rested in the left holster of the suspender, which was positioned near his ribs. The right suspender had a knife sheath instead, where his Tracker was placed.

Then, he put on his jacket back and made sure to button it up to his chest before firing the engine and heading downtown.

"Too easy Dean you know what to do with these hooligans...show them what we can do..." Jenni said to him a low whisper while Dean was still fighting the robbers that were shooting at him which was a bad mistake,"How many times do i have to tell you Sis that we are not going to kill them even if they take a hostage..." Dean retorted to her seeing that indeed one of the robbers took a hostage moving backwards since his comrades were out of commission and ready to be taken to the police."Don't move Meta or i splatter this bitch's brains all over the floor" The robber yelled at Dean walking backwards to the door but unknown to him that Dean used a projection of his sister to grab the man's shoulder gnarling teeth and wide eyes to frighten the man,The man was indeed afraid and was shaking at the sight of his sister welding a giant scythe ready to cut off his head but didn't of course.

Dean used this moment to use his powers to twist the gun he was holding into a metal pretzel and sent the man to the wall while the women took hostage was equally if not more frightened then the robber was,"Was that so hard sis...." Dean said to himself but was directed at Jenni who scoffed at his quip and hated it when he was right even though she always wanted things going her way.'I think it is time to take our leave form these peons before they start asking any stupid questions...' Jenni said as Dean started walking to the door nodding to a little girl who smiled at him saying to her mother that he was a cool hero like Batman even though he would disagree with this statement.

But what he didn't notice was one of the robbers that got hit but the chair slowly stood up and pointed his gun at Dean,"Your a dead man Meta...' He said still pointing the gun at him,"Idiot...waste him brother...." Jenni said but Dean stood there at the moment watching and planning something for the robber.

Nightingale didn't get a response as phone started making a racket. The kind that he knew was of the up most importance. He never said a word as he rolled over to pull it from his back pocket. What happened next he could never have thought of in his wildest dreams.

Within seconds of the broadcasts beginning he knew what was going to happen. He was going to be at the epicenter of it all. He was going to take the brunt of the public backlash. His greatest fear was confirmed when they spoke not only Ruby's name but his. His closely guarded and protected name. One that he had not been born with but had chosen.

What he had chosen had been a tactical risk that was going to back fire on him in away that seemed impossible. He tossed the phone to his new found lite partner. "I hope you're pretty as sin under that mask cause thanks to this guy we just got married. I've been known to put out on the first, sometimes no date, but marriage. If my momma could see me now. She might be happy if you're pretty and kind." He let out a major sigh and began to hang his head. He was searching for away to spin this to at least even the media playing field. He finally spoke after what seemed like eternity.

"Ok we don't have many options. We can walk out of here with out heads held know that for at least two miles around we won't see a soul. There's a sewer system that runs under here. Follow it for an hour and see where it leads. I have gear I need to get from my hideout. Were still left without cover and spin story." His thoughts became vocalized and the more he thought the more he worried about Ruby. He could survive this, head any number of places to seek asylum and stay safe or to hideaway with more than ample offshore bank accounts.

"Well I'm going top side. I'd die that way than be caught running in the sewers cowering like bitch. You need to change clothes more than I do. I'll have a look outback and see what's going on. You got fifteen before we need to move. I got a place in west Hollywood else get there and we can plan out next move there." He didn't wait for her response he just expected her to know that he had the upper hand in this situation and a greater extent of knowledge in how to get out of this.

While this was on the top ten ways he had fucked up. It wasn't number one in the list thogh it was still high up there. As he waited for her by the rear exit, he found an unmarked Chevrolet Camaro. After a few minutes of scouting to see if he could spot anyone stalking them he went to work on getting the car started.

As soon as they made eye contact again. The was car was ready to go, and him with it. He climed in got ready to drive away. If they could get away like this, then this might be easier to do than he suspected.

He was shocked as by how easier it was to get around this town without all the traffic. As soon as they got to Elijah's hideout he started to relax. They weren't going to be able to track the car for another week thanks to all the damage done to their building. It was just really nice to be home.

There were so many thoughts running through his mind. The who, the what, the when and the where. None of that mattered if he couldn't find Ruby. This is the soul reason he hated these take over the world types. They always made things harder than they needed to be.

God, the shit really hit the fan this time. Roze thought to herself as she heard the words spilling from Elijah's phone. Jesus! She turns her back on the government for less than a minute, and they already got the media hounds on her!
Unless it isn't the government. she added to herself as an afterthought, frowning and shaking her head slightly as Elijah let loose with instructions on what to do. It looked like she was in trouble with him whether she liked it or not. She had no doubt she'd be on a few people's hit-lists now along with him, so she figured it would be safer with him. At the very least, they'd cause much more damage to any imbeciles who got in their way.

Not saying anything in response to Elijah, she simply nodded and followed him swiftly out of the building; in no time at all, they were in the abandoned chevy, and hurtling down the empty streets. Although relieved at the lack of police sirens and wailing behind them, Roze didn't say a word nor relax until they arrived at Elijah's hideout, and were safely indoors.

"So, you're called Elijah?" She finally said, peering at him intently. "I'm Roze. Now, in accordance to your previous words regarding myself, I can't say much about being kind," she then paused, removing her face mask and pulling back her hood, letting her ebony curls fall free over her face, "But I suppose you can decide yourself on how pretty I am." She finished dryly, giving him a wry, yet dimpled, smile.
"Hope you've got some clothes for me here - I need to get changed and get back out there. We need information on what the hell just happened; unless you've got some sort of ''friend'' out there that you can both trust and contact safely?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips casually and letting her eyes trail lazily across the room.

15:23pm, Aster Javian's Penthouse, Los Angeles

Aster sat slouched into his lazyboy chair, watching the news coverage of the Anti-Meta movements that had arisen after that strange pirate broadcast from the a few days ago. He had missed his meeting with Bobby due to the riots that had broken out but he was sure the Capo would have cancelled anyway. The Family are a cautious lot so chances are he'd have flown back to New York by now and taken Bobby with him. In a way he'd dodged a bullet, but now his work had suddenly dried up. It's funny, as an advocate of chaos, Aster somewhat welcomed to rioting but now that it was beginning to starve his means of income, he was beginning to resent them. He could join up with some of the other Meta's, offer his skills toward their plight? For price of course.

"Pshh! Who am I kidding?" He said aloud. He wasn't exactly fond of other Meta's, in fact, he wasn't even sure he liked being one himself. It was, after all, the main reason for him coming to L.A. in the first place. Somehow, he figured being amongst other Meta's would make him feel accepted or part of something bigger. But that was bullshit, he knew it as soon as he stepped foot in the city. He swiped his opened beer bottle from the table next to his chair and poured the remaining contents into his mouth then placed it back on the table. Grabbing the remote, he clicked a button to switch channels, having had enough of the media hysteria over the Meta Crisis, which is what they were now dubbing it. Instead of the picture changing, the screen of his TV went blank. "The fuck?" He questioned, sitting forward now.

"Aster Javian." The voice made him stand instantly, clenching his fists and suddenly scanning the open plan living area.

"Who wants to know?" He called out, still searching for the owner of the voice but not having any luck.

"It's not that I 'want' to know, I already know who you are." The voice sounded as if it were coming from the speaker system built into his apartment.

"And how can you be so sure of that?" He kept looking around, not moving from his position in front of his chair.

"You're a difficult man to track down but I have my ways. But then, you're not exactly a 'man', are you? Some would be more inclined to class you as a monster or a beast. Or even, a Meta."

"Okay, who the fuck is this?"

"My identity is nothing you need to worry about at the moment. The only identity you should focus on is your own, and what is likely to happen to you once I post your name and location online. Who knows, maybe you'll get a visit from a few Anti-Meta friends of mine?"

"Well, if that's the case, go ahead. Anyone who comes into this apartment is dead. Then I'll hunt you down and rip out your spine. I promise, I won't even use my abilities either." Aster dropped his guard now. The voice began to laugh. It was short and smooth and denoted a mild form of surprise.

"You really are as ruthless as your record states. And efficient, too, if these files from the Gambino Family are anything to go by."

Aster was growing bored of this. "Alright, okay. You're a super, fuckin', special techno-junkie, I geddit. Now can we please get on with this? I have beer to drink whilst I wait for this whole thing to blow over."

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, Mr. Javian. This 'thing' is much bigger than a few mere riots."

"Oh really? How so?"

"Well that's where you come in. You're going to make it bigger. I'm going to give you a specific set of tasks and you're going to complete them to the letter, otherwise I leak your information to the world and you end up noticeably less alive than you are now."

Aster stood and considered the offer he'd been given. Being held to ransom wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. No, he had a better idea. "Yeah, well, that doesn't quite work for me. However, I see your offer of blackmail and I raise you an offer of my services...for a price of course." The voice was silent for over a minute, he obviously hadn't anticipated this.

"I must say, Mr. Javian, I had no doubts that you'd be following my orders, but as a service? You've caught me offguard there, bravo."

"You won't find out everything about me in those files, y'know. So, how about it?"

"Well, you have always been a Mercenary, so I guess I should have seen it coming. But a Meta who would turn on his own kind? That's certainly unprecedented, indeed."

"Just 'cause other people have powers, that don't make them my 'own kind'."

"Alright then, Mr. Javian, your standard fee of Ten-Thou-"

"Fifty." Aster interrupted.

"I'm sorry?"

"That'll be Fifty-Thousand per job. Ten-Thousand for my standard fee plus Forty-Thousand for 'turning on my own kind'."

"My, my. You certainly are as ruthless as they come. Fifty-Thousand it is then. There's a PDA with all the information you'll need in the top drawer of your bed-side cabinet. We'll talk again soon." Then the voice was gone. The TV remained blank, however, so Aster just switched it off.

He then made his way to his bedroom, rounding the king-sized bed and ripping open the top drawer of his bed-side cabinet. Sure enough, a slim, hi-tech PDA was the only item in there. A message flashed on the screen. Aster picked it up. As soon as he did so the message opened.

:// EYES ONLY: MR. A. JAVIAN \\:
>111 S Grand Avenue, Downtown
>18:00 Hours
>Anti-Meta Protest Rally
>Neutralize all protesters
>Must Use Abilities
>Type 'Y' when mission has been completed
:// EYES ONLY: MR. A. JAVIAN \\:

Aster pocketed the device. 111 S Grand Avenue? The Walt Disney Concert Hall. There'd be hundreds of protesters. Not that it bothered him too much, a job was a job. He was fine with it, as long as he was getting paid. Just then and quick jingle came from the PDA. As he looked at it, his account was displayed on the screen, followed by an instant transaction of $50,000. Aster smiled. "At least he's efficient." He thought before pulling on a shirt and grabbing his jacket, then making his way out of the apartment.

Four messages, from a mysterious person (all right, I'm copping out; it's StuCorp) would arrive at Alec, Pamela, Alto and Dean's smartphones; the three were registered heroes, while Dean stuck out like a sore thumb from foiling that bank robbery during a time when the city was in chaos. It seemed that he was either dense, or had balls of steel. Nevertheless, here were said messages:

Alec and Pamela would be asked to help protect the Anti-Metahuman protesters on the Walt Disney Concert Hall; they were chosen because their powers were not so obviously Metahuman. The Walt Disney Concert Hall was chosen because it had one of the largest protests, and because, well, Gary liked Disney.

Alto would be asked to aid Constantine and Cedric in tracking down Elijah and Nightingale.

Dean, meanwhile, would be told to go to the Walt DIsney Concert Hall as well, in order to help Alec and Pamela just in case the two did need some extra Metahuman power.

All will be paid 10,000 Dollars each.

"Another mission...damn well sis now seems like it's show time..." Dean said to his sister who mentally sighed while Dean ran off into the night with the confusion of the other patrons looking around but were rather grateful for the this hero to protect them in a way,Dean using his powers to lift himself into the air and to the Concert Hall looking down at the protesters.

"Filthy humans...they should be grateful that we do not murder these peons with our powers... Jenni said but Dean ignored her,He was waiting Alec and the others to arrive to see what will happen although his other side wants to kill them all but Dean was willing to repress his urge to kill and protect them.

Elijah hopped on a work bench along the back wall. As he sat there with his back against the wall. He couldn't help but smile, she was the very least pretty and all things considered that was pretty impressive. "Momma would approve greatly, personality pending"Elijah said with a smile as he pointed over to the rack along the right wall he spoke. "Might be something there that fits. I had a girl that was subbing in for a while. I never got around to throwing them. I will advise you to use one of the helmets. They have some pretty good functions that could help us out."

He sat there with his eyes drifting off in thought. He couldn't think of away out of this situation. Which means he was going to have to tackle this head on. Not even fleeing the country would help this. "Well newly found wife lady." Eli said somewhat dejectedly. "I can tell you what happened, some wannabe James Bond villian just busted the both of us. While your crimes are next to nothing compared to mine, you still got caught. The why is easy, to start a human, meta human war. It's the who that's confounding."

Elijah got off the work bench and made his way to what he called his assault wall. As he started picking out the right weapons for what he knew was coming. There was a massive underground black market in L.A where he was well known and feared among them. Even with that said, it was still a toss up whether they made it out alive.

"I am of a mind to track down the girl I broke in with. Apature has her somewhere... or so I think. We find her and we can work on tracking down this fuck nut who just ruined both our longterm prospects of a happy life. A highly skilled technopath will be invaluable for this. We just gotta stop somewhere first. Buy a little information and more than likely get killed in the process." When he was done with the weapons he had two filled duffle bags with everything he could evrr need.

With a mighty yawn he started to speak again. "Right now we both need to sleep. I'm at best going in half cocked. You cant be doing any better than me. We get some rest and we can start our lives all over again with eyes only for each other. Sound good.... snookums?"

Rolling her eyes, Roze couldn't deny she was tired. The thing is, her power used up her energy. That meant eating a mighty fine breakfast and getting at least 8 hours of sleep to kick some ass well and truly. If she'd been fully regenerated during her fight with Elijah, she would have lasted far longer.
"You better have more than one bed in here." She said dryly, grabbing some clothes from the rack on the opposite wall. "And call me Snookums again, I'll castrate you in your sleep." She added with a grin, walking towards what she presumed to be a bathroom with the clothes. No way in hell was she undressing in front of him, despite their newly found ''marriage'', as he kept saying.
Looks like I'm going to have to set up some ''vows'' for him to follow. She thought to herself grimly, closing the door behind her and removing her shirt - if you could call it that. Her ''armour'' was a curious thing alright. It looked light, but it was a pretty high-density, nubile material. It wasn't thick enough to stop a bullet, yeah, but she used her shields for that. It allowed her some form of protection while allowing her to move, and speed was one of the main weapons in her arsenal; and, she added begrudgingly, she couldn't deny that it looked pretty good on her.

Pam was leisurely strolling down the sidewalk towards Los Angelas when she heard the ringing of a phone. A.. phone..? She reached into her back pocket and sure enough there was a phone. She eyed the device suspiciously before accessing the message she had received. She scrolled through the message as she rolled on and was struck with many questions. However, this seemed like an excellent opportunity. Whoever sent this was obviously a pro meta-human organization that believed that it was important to protect those who needed it. Even if those who needed the protection didn't know or appreciate it. She had many questions; the most notable one was how this mysterious informant seemed to know so much about her. Did they slip this cell phone into her suit? But those questions could wait. This seemed like an opportunity to use her new abilities for the greater good, that was the entire reason she was going to LA in the first place.

It also paid pretty well, and like it or not the measly funds she brought wouldn't last a week. So Pam skated on, happy that she had a purpose in LA after all.

===========================================

After another few hours of skating she had finally made it. She skid to a halt in front of the Walt Disney theatre. Her powers made roller-skating a breeze, but even so she had been standing for several hours. She needed to rest her legs for a few moments. She strode in and sat herself down on the first seat she could find as she scanned the growing crowd. If they found out she was a meta she would probably be beaten to death then and there, but her powers were easy enough to conceal. She supposed that's why she was picked for the job. Pam scanned the room, trying to spot the two other people she was tasked to work with but it was hard to pick them out from the crowd. She remained where she was on the bench keeping an eye on the crowd, deciding that if the time came and they needed to intervene she'd find out who it was she was working with after all.

Alright, Alto thought to himself. Almost done with this program...

His tongue was sticking out of his mouth slightly, as he put some finishing touches on the new program he was creating for his Bio-Weapon. Hands flying across the keyboard, lines and lines of code appeared and disappeared from the screen in front of him. He couldn't reprogram his arm by itself which was unfortunate. To add or remove programs from the Bio-Weapon, he needed to access it from an outside source.

It wasn't too difficult because anywhere on the arm was a USB port, but it was so much slower than the arm's capabilities. He could code as fast as he could think with that arm, but he was limited to the limits of digital dexterity without it.

Anyhow, the program he was working on was one he sorely needed to properly carry out any further hero missions. His arsenal, small as it was, was severely lacking in effective non-lethal attacks. His laser could be set so that it only caused intense pain, but some people don't stop with pain. His hook shot probably could be used to throw people into walls and stuff, but that doesn't work sometimes. His energy blade was extremely lethal however. He hadn't put an option to set the sharpness down and it was really hard not to kill people with it. With that in mind, he was creating a program to hopefully replace it. The program was called Power Pulse.

He found a way to emit energy from the palm, similar to the hook shot and turn it into concussive force. He'd also used the power setting part of Laser.exe so he could pack a more powerful punch if he really needed to. He was loading the program onto the Bio-Weapon when he got the message.

"Oh sweet, a job." He said, opening the message with his right hand. Who's it from? He wondered. It was a number he didn't know, which happened pretty often. The sender didn't identify themselves either. Woo, 10k! The pay-out for the job was $10,000. That was a high payout by any means, but what he was really more thrilled about what the job was going to entail. 10k was dangerous, 10k was interesting.

He read over the rest of the message, his interest growing with each line. Elijah and Nightingale? He thought, a broad smile on his face. The dastardly duo.

There was no one in LA who didn't know about those two by now, and he was to assist in tracking them down. Noticing his program had finished loading, he unplugged the Bio-Weapon. He could feel the Bio-Weapon, adjusting to the new program. Loading it, he extended his arm in front of him charging his first ever pulse. He could feel the primed energy, throbbing in his palm waiting to be released. Looking down at his phone, he typed out a reply with his right hand.

<I'm in.>

A bolt of bright blue glowing energy shot out of his left hand as he pressed send, shattering his favourite wooden chair. Damn. He thought. Ah well.

If this worked out, he was going to have enough money to buy whatever chairs he wanted for the rest of his life.

The Tape..

The atmosphere downtown was pretty dense. Every street, every corner, every goddamn hole was covered by protesters, especially the streets leading to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Alec was compelled to ditch his vehicle and a walk a few blocks. He wasn’t worried about it being stolen, as any attempt to break a bulletproof glass such as that of a Sandcat is futile and may result in a broken hand. What bugged him was the fact that in times of crisis such as these, people were on the lookout for slightly strange faces. If anyone from the crowd somehow connected Alec to metahumans through his noticeably odd eyes, he’d probably end up lynched or worse.

Miller took cover in an alley as an incoming crowd of protester marched through, his briefcase positioned a few inches to his right. He scanned the passer-bys with his penetrative vision. The splitting headache reminded him that it was quite a while since he last used it. Fortunately for him, the last person on the marching crowd had a pair of sunglasses in his jeans’ back pocket, indistinguishable by his large shirt which almost reached to his knees. Kids these days.

He lunged at the unsuspecting young man and grabbed him by his neck, violently throwing him at the dark alley. His cries for help were overwhelmed by the passing crowd’s unison rambling. A light bump in the head was all it took for Alec to render the poor man unconscious. He rolled him over, took his sunglasses and threw him a 100 dollar bill as an apology for the inconvenience. On his way off the crime scene, he grabbed his precious briefcase.

Next stop; LA’s local news station.

One way or another, Alec was determined to bring the TV man down, not because it would benefit his government but because it would benefit him and the rest of the metahumans. His only lead was the broadcast video, but he needed to get a closer look at it. That’s why he decided to raid the local news station.

The ‘local’ in news station wasn’t exaggerated at all. They were really local, as in a low-security medium-sized building kind of local. Alec’s black briefcase, his scars, his sunglasses obviously raised suspicion on the two guards who were guarding the front door. He did fit the Hollywood profile of a terrorist. One of the guards requested he tosses the briefcase on the ground while the other began to do a body search. As soon as the first guard kneeled down to inspect the briefcase, Miller swiftly moved his feet toward his face, sending two of the guard’s teeth flying in a stream of blood. His partner tried to react, but the decorated war hero was faster. An elbow to the back of his head and he fell down like a heavy sack of potatoes.

Soon as he went through the front door, Miller reached his gun out of it’s holster and fired two shots in the air. It was enough to make the people inside the site run in fear, including the receptionist. Normally, he’d have to worry about attracting the cops, but today it wasn’t much of a problem as the protests would surely slow down their response. All he had to do was find the Master Control Room and do a closer inspection of the tape.

After opening every door and running on every remaining employee (who remained on the station either because they didn’t understand what was going on or because the shit they just took was gravitating them to the ground), Alec finally found the Master Control Room. He closed the door and used everything ranging from chairs to stereos to block it. A quick search on the archive cabinet was more than enough for Alec to find the broadcast tape. He held it with his hands for a second before finally displaying it on a small screen in front.

Approximately five minutes had passed, and Alec was still messing with the controls. He kept rewinding a specific part of the tape, the one where Nightingale and Elijah were shown to make a truce. He was into something, but he just didn’t know what it was yet. It was about time he activated Cerebro; rational mode. Rational mode could detect small, trivial things that were always there. That small, trivial thing in this case came in the form of a figure, quite possibly a child, hiding on the background. It was impossible to make out who he/she was, but he was willing to bet he was either associated with one of the metahumans shown in the tape, or he was working under the TV man’s orders. He was hoping it was the former, since tracking the metahuman couple was easier, especially if one of them was a government registered superhero.

Dean watched the group yelling and crowding together yelling and screaming proclaiming their hate for the Meta-humans,"Nothing wrong so far....but if they get...in a uproar then you know what to do.." Jenni said to his brother who was watching the protesters screaming and moving around with their signs like 'Kill All Metas" or "Die Meta Die",Dean started slowly walking around the sidelines of the concert hall to finally reaching over to Pam sitting down beside her slowly crossing his legs watching the humans doing their things making sure that none of them went up in arms.

Dean finally spoke after what seemed like a few minute one leg crossed over his other leg,"See anyone....coaxing the coop?" He said looking out uncrossing his one leg and had his hand into his pocket,He kept watching whistling a little tone while waiting for her respond.

17:46pm Walt Disney Concert Hall, Downtown, Los Angeles

Aster had arrived at the designated area early, he wanted to scout it out first. He'd always come to a job prepared and this time would be no different. He'd need to find a vantage point, somewhere where he could get a lay of the land, so to speak. The crossroads at 2nd Street was packed full of protesters, all of them shouting various chants and jibes against the existence of Meta's. If he was affected by it, Aster didn't show it. To him, this was just another payday. He had chosen to ride here on his Ducati, it was quicker when navigating the torn up streets. Downtown looked as if it had taken the brunt of the damaged caused by the riots, he guessed that was because this is where the most people were. Hence why The Voice wanted him to stage the attack here. "He obviously has more of a hand in this than just an instigator." Aster thought. He'd need to tread carefully when dealing with this man.

He started up his bike again, having stopped away from the main crowd half way down Grand Avenue. Opposite the Concert Hall was a car park, no doubt abandoned during the riots. It'd be the perfect place for him to teleport from to reach the roof of the Concert Hall that everyone had gathered in front of. After a little research online, Aster had found out that this is where the Mayor was holed up. He'd been watching a performance with his wife and kids when the rioting began. Now there was a considerable police presence surrounding the building. Given that the Government had yet to take charge of the situation in L.A. it was only natural that people would flock to the Mayor.

A dangerous idea played in his mind at that thought but he discarded it quickly. 'The Voice must know the Mayor would be here. And if he wanted him dead, the task would have said so. Stick to the plan, A.J.' With that, he began to ride up the road toward to crowd of protesters. Surprisingly enough, as he reached the main body, people began to move aside for him. Fortunately these people must have thought that riding a motorcycle was far too civilized for a Meta to do. Unfortunately, they would soon live to regret it. It took him longer to pass through the crowd than he'd expected but he made it through alive and unscathed, even despite a few people waving various signs in front of him and such. Nobody suspected him to be anything more than he was, just a guy on a motorcycle.

After pulling into the abandoned car park and riding up to the top level, he parked his bike closest to the edge towards the Concert Hall. Scouring across the crowd, he could easily see that the number of people was growing. He looked at his watch, 17:56, it was nearly time. Standing back from the edge, he focused on a large triangular balcony that jutted out from the main structure. The perfect place to address the crowd before he struck. He closed his eyes and, in an instant, he was teleported to the balcony. He began walking towards the edge, checking his watch all the while, 17:57.

He continued walking, a slow pace, fully savoring the coming moments. The raucous from the crowd below becoming silent as he focused. "HEY! You're not supposed to be up here!" The sudden voice, broke him from his concentration. Aster spun on the spot, an armed police guard raised his weapon, one of the Mayor's men. "Step away from the edge! Do it now!"

"Or what, Officer? You'll shoot me?" The policeman looked confused at Aster's reply. "And how exactly will you do that..." Aster teleported mid-sentence, appearing behind the man and wrapping an arm around his neck. "...When you're dead?" He whispered, finishing the question by grabbing the back of the man's head with his free hand and twisting it quickly until his neck gave way with an audible Snap! The guard's body went limp, followed by the clattering sound of his rifle dropping to the floor. Aster looked at his watch a final time, 17:59.

______________________________

"Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen, I'm Janet Wilson, reporting live for the six o'clock news on Channel 5. I'm currently standing in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall where an Anti-Metahuman Protest Rally has gathered to make their point well and truly heard. Earlier reports have confirmed that Mayor Irving Johansson and his family have been held up inside the Hall since the riots and protests against Metahumans began just days ago. Although there have been no signs of any major violence or discord, there is a heavy police presence to prevent any of the protesters from entering the building. Many people believe that the Mayor is the only man to turn to in these trying times, since there has been no official comment made from the President regarding the crisis here in Los Angeles."

The crowd had grown bigger, it was more than he'd expected. Aster could see the mob beginning to stretch down Grand Avenue. He took a final look at his watch, 18:00. It was time.

"What's this? There seems to be a figure emerging up on the balcony above. Has Mayor Johansson finally come to address the disgruntled people of Los Angeles? The crowd of people have begun directing their shouts towards him now, growing louder with each verse. Just what will the man everyone is looking towards say to calm this out-of-control situation?"

______________________________

The intensity of the crowd below surged to new heights, Aster could almost feel their chants reach him as he stood just behind corpse of the officer he'd just killed. He was holding him towards the edge, ready to let go. But it wasn't until the first bloodcurdling scream of realization sounded that he allowed the lifeless body to slump over the edge and slam into the hard concrete below. It hit the floor with a dull Thud followed by a stunned silence and then dozens of more screams. Both members of the crowd and the police flocked toward the body and, as they did so, Aster stepped forward.

"HUMANS!" He bellowed. The crowd went silent again, save for hushed whispers that spread amongst them quicker than wildfire. "Let this be the moment that you remember for all of time!" Aster raised his right arm above his head, his palm flat out towards the sky. He began to focus his energy, this one would be stronger than before. One of his super-charged lances, which he kept saved for special occasions. "Realize now that you Humans are an obsolete race! And that we, Metahumanity, are here to purge you from this world!" He spoke loud and clearly, pronouncing each word with full sincerity. The words and acts of a radicalist to spark all-out genocide. Maybe he should have charged The Voice more.

The light in his palm had grown so blinding that people below began airing their discomfort, more shouts, more jeers. The crowd grew more wild as they began to realize exactly who, and what, the man on the balcony was. Just a few more seconds and it would be ready. The police down below were mobilizing by now, radioing in to their colleagues inside the building about a rampant Meta standing on the balcony, addressing the crowd of protesters. Seconds passed until finally, the light faded and the lance hovered about an inch above his hand.

"It is with light that we must purge the darkness."

With a single movement, Aster launched the Hard-Light Spear into the masses below.

______________________________

Aster felt the explosion long before he could hear it. The sheer force of it threw him from the edge of the balcony and he fell to his back. Down below, he could only visualize the destruction. Hordes of people, dead. Hundreds of others scrambling for their lives, screaming and wailing. Blood, gore and viscera mixed amongst the shattered remains of the ground below, which was now a sizable crater. Humans were weak things, not like Metas. If there were any Metas in the crowd, it's likely they would have survived. Either through the use of their powers or just the enhanced durability merely from being Metahuman. No doubt, though, that they wouldn't look kindly towards his actions today. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that he didn't care about being a Meta, he probably would have felt the same way. But as it was, Aster cared only for himself.

Shouts from behind alerted him to the unit of policemen that had been sent to retrieve him before the explosion. Aster rose to his feet. The men stopped dead as they witnessed the chaos and destruction caused by the blast. They were covered in dust and cuts. The force of the explosion had caved in half of the Concert Hall's front entrance. Aster moved quickly, diving forward, before teleporting in front of the closest guard. The others were shooting by now, at the spot where he stood seconds before. Aster snapped a front kick straight into the policeman's chest, forcing his foot deep into the man's abdomen, barreling him to the floor. He spun to the left, swinging his right fist as he did so. Another flash and Aster had ported again. This time, as he emerged, he completed the swing of his fist, driving it into the neck of the next guard, who crumpled to the ground. The deafening bark of his gun suddenly falling silent.

Aster felt the presence of the third man behind him. The lack of gunfire meant that he was close, probably winding up for a strike with his rifle. He reacted instantly, whipping his leg out behind him to land on his assailant's knee-joint. The momentum of the guard multiplied by his own weight and the force of Aster's attack, caused the joint to fail completely. The man fell with a half-stifled yelp. Aster turned to address him. The guard still held on to his rifle and was now aiming it at him. Aster smiled. "You Humans and your guns." He held a hand out towards to barrel of the weapon, which then began to change from it's normally black, metallic state to a white, frosted one, made of Hard-Light. The guard attempted to pull the trigger but only succeeded in snapping it off. "You never did learn to evolve." He quickly grabbed the barrel, breaking it off, then plunged it deep into the guard's throat. Crimson liquid spewed from the wound as the dying man gurgled his last few breaths. He then fell silent.

Aster stood and reached into his pocket for the PDA left to him by The Voice. A few taps of the screen and his message of completion was sent. The device immediately vibrated. An incoming call from an unknown number. He answered it.

"Elegantly done, Mr. Javian." Came The Voice.

"I take it you were watching, then?" Aster asked.

"And miss your award-winning theatrics? Tell me, did you actually believe anything that you said back there?"

"The only thing I believe in is money. You paid me to do a job, I got it done. Now, is that all or do you further require my services?"

"Oh no, Mr. Javian, we're merely getting started. Your next task will be to go after the Mayor. He must not be harmed. Once you have him in your custody, bring him to 14410 Sylvan St. I expect you there by 21:00pm. You will be paid on arrival."

The call clicked off, The Voice was gone. Aster looked around, wails and cries could still be heard from the chaos below. Sirens could also be heard, it was time to move. As he was walking toward the doors that lead into the building, the first guard he'd knocked down let out a guttural cough, followed by a groan of pain. Blood trickled from his mouth. His kick had likely cracked the man's sternum, possibly punctured a lung. It would be a slow, painful death for him. The humane thing to do would be to put him out of his misery, or even call for aide. But Aster merely walked on, leaving the man to his creeping fate.

FBI Los Anglese Office
Elena Reyes sat at the conference room, a modern looking facility with clean white walls projectors, and flat screens to effectively display information, pictures, and hold video conferences. The latter option was what Elena was here in the conference room was here for. the FBI leadership along with representatives from the Military, CIA, and NSA were talking to them. Reyes was with her boss Special Agent in Charge Mitchel Watson. Also in attendance was her team of FBI agents and several other relevant agents in the Bureau LA office. On the screen was FBI director Daniel Grantham, Deputy Director Karen McCord also FBI, and a few other FBI brass.
Also in attendance appeared to be two military generals (one and three star generals), other suited men (CIA no doubt) and a group of men Elena knew for the Sunday morning circus,. At the head of the DC table was White House Chief of Staff Davis Lawton; next to him was the director of the FBI and close to the President's chief aide was a grumpy looking man; Senator Garrison of Virginia, the Congressman from Southern New Jersey and Majority Whip in the House Stan Danta; and the national security advisor.

The meeting had been underway for a half hour. Davis Lawton was leading the meeting and he was showing the President's displeasure at current activity in LA. NSA had a vague idea how the fanatic had hijacked the signal but he was not traced. NSA did not like that. Lawton was furious and had essentially read the group assembled the riot act. The assembled FBI agents knew the plan by the higher ups.

"If and more likely when you idiots fail," Lawton paused pointing to Watson, "The President and Congress will authorize a state of federal emergency. Therefore a curfew will be enacted in LA. However as Attorney General Millner pointed out we do not have enough support for such an action. Though I'd rather have boots on the ground than not be able to control a meta riot." Elena stayed quiet as the chief of staff continued his verbal assault on the FBI and LA's metas.

Elena was worried that the violence that was coming up would kill hundreds and the army would be in charge of law enforcement in LA for awhile. It seemed like both actions would occur. "...and the president is upset that his vacation was interrupted in Hawaii, We can't theses idiots let the president end his term in peace. He won't be like his predecessor with the global economy in the toilet."

Elena hated this political bull crap. But the politicians had to worry about their jobs too.

After the chief of staff stepped down the meeting ended. Watson assigned Reyes a team to the Disney theater. and to watch the protests. LAPD had standing orders to put down any disturbance. LAPD was on the defensive but with so many dead cops it was hard not to be.

Elena left the conference room, put on an FBI windbreaker and went to the watch van. With in an hour it woulkd be at the Disney theater location before it rotated to other sites the FBI had listed as potential conflict areas.

"God I need a beer." she muttered.

snip

Elijah couldn't help but smile a wide tooth grin. If this is the most fun he's going have before he died then he could almost sleep at night. "My dearest Sugarplum, theres no need to put on pretense. If you want a roll in the hey all you gotta do is ask. You know im only stingy with other women!" Elijah said nearly falling down with laughter. "Baby I don't see why you're always so angry in the morning time. What my mother say?" He knew deep down that he was pushing it but he still couldn't help it. He was hoping, almost begging for a comeback. Something that would show shes realized the finality of the situation and this might her only chance to have fun or at least show some personality.

While still laughing he moved the duffle bags into the unmarked Chevrolet Camaro. He started making trips to inside together the important belongings needed. The helmts, and gear, weapons and anything else he could fit in the trunk that could be tied back to him. By the time he was done the only thing of left was his last remaining motorcycle. In fact outside of demolishing thr building, all that was left was to take the GPS transponders. A task made , much easier by his pyromancy.

Roze rolled her eyes once more, but couldn't help giving a begrudging grin to Elijah's jokes. She supposed it was better than being stuck with someone who didn't have any sense of humour.
"Might as well make the most of the situation." She muttered under her breath as she slipped the t-shirt on. It was a little small, riding up and showing off a swathe of tanned midriff, a few pale scars peeking up from her waistline from minor incursions in the past. Deciding that the shorts she had hastily picked up would be far comfier than the jeans, she slipped them on, glancing up as she heard the front door suddenly cut off Elijah's laughter.

Leaving the bathroom, she took her time looking over the place. It wasn't that bad - not that she was expecting him to live in an abandoned mental asylum or anything. No, it looked okay. Living room, bathroom, kitchen.
Turning back to Elijah as he entered, Roze offered up a slightly more sincere smile for him.
"Hope you've got some form of alchohol in this here home of yours, my fiery friend." She said, raising her eyebrows hopefully.

Los Angeles

John was in costume and ready to dish out some proper justice to the scumbags of Los Angeles. He over looked the city on the roof top of the US Bank Tower and his biologically enhanced eyesight allowed to get keen view of the goings on in the streets below. His eyes picked up on a situation that seemed to happening at a warehouse. He took in a deep breath and using his superhuman jump. he leap from the tower and sailed through the air for about five hundred feet before landing on the roof of a smaller building. He then immediately jumped again and began leaping from building to building like a superhuman grasshopper or kangaroo. The feeling of jumping in such a way was incredible to him and he gave a smile as sailed over several buildings in one single bound.

Eventually he came to the warehouse where he had spotted possible suspicious activity from the tower and he could see that there were shady looking people around the area. He wanted to be stealthy so that he didn't rush in and start an a panic and accidently terrorize innocent people. John leaped high into the air so that he wouldn't be spotted by the people outside and he landed as silently he could on the roof of the warehouse. He went straight for the door on the roof that lead to a stairwell and cautiously made his way down into the lower levels of the building. He kept his ears keen for the sounds of any footsteps that might be coming his way and he crept down the stairwell. Luckily the lights were dim so that it would make it easier to hide from sight if the situation called for it.

He eventually came across a corridor which eventually led into the main area of the warehouse and he heard voices straight ahead.

"Please! I'm sorry I didn't pay my debts sooner, just give me some more time? I'm begging you Freddie" John heard the desperate and pathetic voice of a broken man through the door.

"Shut the hell up Mikey! You were given a month to pay back what you owed to us and payment is do today, if you don't have the money then we're going to have to make you pay for it some other way. How about we start with your tongue first Mikey?" the man who was apparently named Freddie said with a laugh and the laughs of other people with him were heard as well. John had to move quickly, it was clear to him that these men were criminals and were about to dish out some mob justice to someone.

"Oh please! not that!" Mikey screamed as John heard the sounds of a struggle and he quickly rushed towards the door that led to the place where all this was taking place. John smashed through the door with a loud crash and charged the mobsters who numbered a dozen. This would be easy pray for him and he made his hands turn into monstrous ones with large talons that were incredibly sharp. He came on the first mobster with incredible speed and sliced opened his chest causing blood to spray on him. The man gave a shriek of pain and collapsed to the ground. John then leaped onto a second mobster like a wildcat and had his teeth turn into terrifying fangs as he bit down on the man's shoulder and then stabbed him with his clawed right hand.

"You scumbags are now the most unfortunate pray of Bio-Beast!" he shouted as he viciously attacked the criminals as the ones who hadn't been taken down yet started to fire wildly with their firearms.

"What the hell is this freak?! kill him! kill him now!" Freddie shouted terrified, and the other gangsters tried to do just that, but John was quick and he also had created several tendrils made of organic material with insanely sharp bone spearheads. each of of the tendrils attacked a different criminal as he tore into another with his claws. Soon only Freddie, another criminal and Mikey were the only ones either still alive or conscious. Freddie and the criminal as well as Mikey were terrified.

"You two" he said pointing at Freddie and his henchmen.

"You like picking on the weak and defenseless? Well then here is a taste of your own medicine" John said with a smile, and he charged forward and close-lined the both of them knocking them clean out. he breathed out heavily and then looked at the man on the ground who had been begging.

"You're free to go, and call the police and ambulances, a few of these guys may still be alive and will need medics" he said to the man.

"Thanks for saving my life" Mikey said in a terrified voice.

"Don't get in situation again! You're weak and associating with scum like this will only get you killed" John said to the man, and with those words he leaped out a window and sailed across the city street and onto the roof of another building that was five hundred feet away. Not bad for his first dispense of justice for the day, but he wanted more and hoped that he would find some.

Pam immediately shot up to attention as a lone figure stood high on the balcony. Who the hell did this creep think he was? However, the dead police officer's body was all she needed to see to know that this guy was a threat. He spoke of meta-humanity as if the lot of them were anything more then human. What arrogance. However, she'd deal with his negative attitude after she dealt with the ball of light growing in his grasp. This could not end well, and as he moved his arm to throw the projectile Pam had leaped off her seat and into action.

If she had time to think she would have thought she was insane, followed by thinking about how dead she was. But fortunately the military has ways of disabling that line of thinking.

Pam dashed across to make an interception with the light missile, desperate to protect the crowds. She leaned back and let the wheels carry her and the missile came into range of her powers just inches above her hands. She spun the spear of light as quickly as she could for two seconds before letting go and redirecting the directory of the missile towards the entrance of the facility, away from the main body of the crowd. The force of the explosion threw Pam off of her feet and she flew until she collided painfully into a nearby wall. She placed her feet underneath herself and landed with as much grace as she could given the circumstances. It was a really good thing she was wearing a helmet. Pam picked herself up with a groan in order to inspect the damage dealt.

Despite her best efforts.. it wasn't pretty. The entrance was half caved in and there was a large charred hole in the ground left behind by the meta's explosive powers. While the explosion didn't land inside of the crowd, it struck them with the force, and it was clear by the pile of writhing and harmed people that there could be casualties and many broken bones. Pam might have saved a few lives with her crazy stunt, but whoever did this was running rampant in the upper levels of this place. She had to move! Pam could feel eyes staring at her as she leaped for a flag pole jutting vertically out of the nearest wall. She didn't know what they thought; did they think of her as a hero for trying to protect them against the explosion? Or did they see her as a filthy meta human, no better then the man who made and attempt upon their lives? She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, knowing that doing the right thing was important no matter what people thought of you. But it didn't help her fight back the feeling of shame.

Pam used her powers to spin herself around the pole like a gymnastic. Spinning spinning spinning.. gaining more and more speed. To the crowd below if she hadn't already revealed her meta-human origins it was now plainly obvious. She spun until she had gained enough speed and let go, flinging herself up towards the balcony where the mad man had been previously standing and managed to grab the ledge. With some effort she hoisted herself up and was met with the kind of carnage she hadn't seen since she was in service. Several police officers were sprawled on the ground, with pools of blood gathering everywhere. Limp bodies of police officers were strewn everywhere. This guy seemed like a tough guy, whoever the hell he was. It was then she noticed that one of the officers was still alive. Pam knelt by his side and inspected the wounds like she had been trained.

It wasn't good. If this guy got into a hospital immediately he would have a chance of survival, but the ambulances would be too occupied with the crowds below and he was all the way up here. And unfortunately she didn't have the time to lug him to the hospital herself. It was a tough decision but.. she did what she would have expected her fellow brothers and sisters in arms would do for her.
"I apologize for what I'm about to do," she said as tears reached her eyes, "You will be remembered fighting to protect what you loved." And with that, she used the gun he had in his holster to quickly put a bullet through his head and to end his suffering. She quickly equipped the man's gun and ammo before making her way inside with determination in her step. This guy would pay for what he had done to the innocent people here today, she would make sure of that.