[center][URL=http://www.BannerFans.com][IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.com/img538/46/pRPMEZ.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/center] [quote]The rain pounded down on the cracked asphalt leading to the abandoned factory just outside town. However, the factory was anything but abandoned. Inside, many mechanical arms were at work, drilling, prodding, and holding a mechanical hulk that was Equilibrium. Sparks flew down on the concrete floor, as the final plate was welded to the faceplate. Nearby, a young man pushed up a welder's mask, and smiled, looking it over. It was ready. With the recent rise in Meta activity, (Angel himself notwithstanding,) the 25-year-old had decided that someone had to do something to combat it all. While there were some Metas that were benevolent, like Icon, there were twice as many that were malignant, and even more who just worked as mercenaries. STRIKE had proven itself unable to deal with this competently, and even though it was a powerful organization, there were just too many variables to control. Also, they were kinda a bunch of douches. [color=Silver][b]"Hey, Sherlock! It's done! Equilibrium is ready to reveal itself to the world!"[/b][/color] Angel pulled the welder's outfit off, and revealed a black t-shirt and jeans underneath, by all appearances a normal college graduate. However, this man was a meta himself, able to control most forms of machinery. On a computer monitor, sitting on a cluttered desk nearby, a line of text appeared: [color=SkyBlue] [/color] Angel chuckled, and lifted himself up onto a scaffolding surrounding the mech's cockpit. [color=Silver][b]"Heh, Sherlock, don't be like that. It's not nice."[/b][/color] Angel dropped into the cockpit, thick metal encasing him with the hiss of machinery. As the helmet pressed down, protecting his head, Angel aimed a mock pout at the nearest security camera, saying, [color=Silver][b]"It makes me sad."[/b][/color] As the systems to the mech booted up, a line of text flashed across Angel's vision. [color=SkyBlue][/color] There was a second before Sherlock spoke again, as if thinking. [color=SkyBlue][/color] The man inside the suit smiled, and clenched the giant fist, synced with the suit fully, and spoke, the synthesized voice of the suit reverberating throughout the room. [color=Cyan][b]"Not Angel. Equilibrium."[/b][/color] Stepping out into the rain, Equilibrium was ready to raise hell on the scum of the city. Not literally, like D-Day, though. That was just freaky. Luckily for Angel, the only thing Sherlock and him had to deal with was a little maggot thing that tried to eat his face- anyways, time to get back to the mission at hand. Powering up the 'Pegasus' jump jets, he launched into the air, at a 45 degree angle, the thrust throwing him about a mile to the south. He hoped that the city was ready for yet another freak to change things. [/quote] [hr] As Equilibrium bounded across the landscape, he drew little attention, the only time he was noticed was when he landed on a farmer's tractor, crushing it in a hail of sparks and metal. Luckily for them both, the farmer had just gotten off, and now lay sprawled in the dirt, knocked backwards from the impact. Glancing at the farmer, and shaking the wrecked tractor off of his foot, Equilibrium said, [b][color=Cyan]"Uhm... sorry?"[/color][/b] and then flew off, jump jets igniting. As he lifted off, he thought to himself, [i]Crap, that was embarassing.[/i] Luckily, Sherlock was off gathering information on Lost Haven, and not there to humiliate him. Several leaps through the night later, he landed at the outskirts, startling a mugger, and his victim. Both of them looking at him uncertainly, he waved at them, trying to appear cheerful. Which was hard, in a 6-ton war machine. [color=Cyan][b]"So I would drop that gun, if I were you. And maybe get a job. Seriously, if you're gonna try and mug someone, do it in another city. With your luck, a Meta or a crime boss will come after you. And I guess me, too."[/b][/color] The mugger, knees shaking, nodded in consent, and ran off, dropping the gun. The woman was just as stunned as the mugger, and just sat there. Watching the mugger, to make sure he left the woman alone, he nodded in satisfaction as a door about a block down from where they were slammed shut. Saluting the woman briefly before charging up the 'Pegasus' jump jets, Equilibrium aimed at the tallest building nearby, which was, luckily, an abandoned construction site. The steel I-beams reached towards the sky above the last completed floor, constructed out of concrete and steel supports. Looking around, he realized that he was in the part of Lost Haven known as Little Sicily. Sherlock hadn't gotten back to him about the particulars of each neighborhood, so all Equilibrium knew about the city was the layout, and its reputation for Meta battles. Looking over the city, he noticed a blip on his sensors, coming from the direction of the water treatment plant. It wasn't much in the way of activity, but the energy readings were almost off the scale. Almost. A Meta? Charging his jets, he leapt forward off the building, saying, [color=Cyan][b]"Well, we can't have that, now can we?"[/b][/color] As he crashed into the ground outside, a cloud of dust rose from the cracks in the pavement that formed upon landing. There was no way that whomever the person inside was, that they didn't hear that. Unless they were deaf. Could deaf Metas be useful in combat? Huh. Might want to look into that later. Standing up straight, and pointing the gun embedded in his left arm at the doorway, he saw on the sensors that there were two signatures inside the plant. The security guard outside was on the other side of the plant, although he would most likely be on his way over. [b][color=Cyan]"Hey, whoever ya are in there, get out. I dunno what a meta would want with the Water Treatment plant, but its probably not good. So geddout."[/color][/b] A click, only audible to Equilibrium, sounded inside his helmet. It signified that the explosive rounds had switched out with the conventional ones. Whatever the Metahuman was, he would need a little bit more 'boom', most likely.