[center][img]http://imageshack.com/i/pnZVpkj9p[/img][/center]
[center][color=35902B][h1][b]「 ARDENT 」[/b][/h1][/color][/center]

[sup][center]Johnstone Convention Center, New Athens, Castleburg[/center][/sup]
[hr]

It brought David a tiny bit of joy to see the Director looking so out-of-place and uncomfortable in his tight little suit. He had only met the man earlier that week, so his sense of his personality was limited to a few very irritating interactions, tainted by the regret and humiliation of his career change from vigilante to proper hero. As much as David hadn't been enjoying his time at the festival, it was nice to see that it wasn't all sunshine and roses for Powers, either.

[color=35902B][i]Seems like nobody's immune to the burdens of publicity.[/i][/color]

If David's mood had been worse, he might have said that out loud, but the matter of the metal spider had his attention. Finally, it looked like he was going to have something [i]real[/i] to do. He was glad he had come, instead of wasting his day floating around town just to spite the Director. If somebody was going to cause trouble here, he was going to thrash them. [i]That[/i] was a proper introduction to the city, not showing up just to look pretty at some festival.

There was a whole world full of awesome powers out there, but David had always found super-intelligence to be especially impressive. It was the sort of power that made problems simple just by existing. If a hero was able to take a glance at a busted-up robot and instantly recognize the identity of the inventor and of all the inventor's teammates, that was a hero David could respect.

Hearing Wiseman's advice for how to deal with the situation, David was a little less enthused. It was slightly overcomplicated, in his eyes. Micromanaging, even. He gave a skeptical squint as a copy of the data on the Fiendish Five was transferred to him.

[color=35902B]"Their team lineup [i]sucks[/i] for this,"[/color] The former vigilante observed, flicking through holographic images of each of the Five, accompanied by various lines of text about their abilities and known tactics.

[color=35902B]"There's no way jelly-boy or pasty-face are getting anywhere near this place without getting clocked as villains, and they're fucked here since there's no water and the crowd's sightlines are everywhere. Their other two fighters are stuck using conventional weapons to attack, so they don't have anything that could destroy the building or wipe out the crowd beyond popping people one-by-one, plus they can't do any real damage to Powers, who they [i]know[/i] is gonna be here."[/color] His tone wasn't casual. He had to acknowledge how deadly these villains were, but he also couldn't ignore how weird the situation was. [color=35902B]"So I guess they're relying on their egghead. He's the wildcard."[/color]

Again, intelligence was a super powerful thing. Whether you got it from the Hero Gene or not, David considered it a superpower, and he considered brainy bastards the worst sort of villains by far. He tried to imagine how Gholem could send the whole situation from bad to worse. Drones could drop little smoke bombs everywhere to give Albino some cover. Maybe a big hose-robot could start flooding the convention centre with water for Jellyfish to splash around in. It sounded stupid even in David's head, but who was he to say what this guy could or couldn't invent? Worst and most obvious, the Professor could have just given his teammates a [i]bomb.[/i]

David glanced between Wiseman and Oracle. They both seemed to have pretty incredible abilities to gather information, but he wasn't sure who was going to end up being more effective in this situation. [color=35902B]"If you figure out where The Nutty Professor is hiding, tell me right away.[/color] He spoke to both of them, with a certain edge to his voice that suggested he was very motivated to find that particular villain. [color=35902B]"I wanna go shove that laptop somewhere painful."[/color]

Regarding the heroes' own team lineup, it seemed that he had been sorted into the 'outdoor mobility' category, along with Blast and the other woman. Wireframe? That sounded pretty familiar, but he had no idea what she could actually do. For his part, Jake seemed plenty eager to come up with some sort of game plan together, asking for David's input.

[color=35902B]"Run around really fast."[/color] David told him dismissively, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, he caught himself. He was supposed to be part of a team, now. It was something new. [color=35902B]"I mean, don't bother going up high. I can handle that. You're better off going [i]far.[/i] Run right around the building, see if the fire escapes are shut properly. Make some wild guesses about where they could be coming from. If you guess wrong, you can just come back here in like, two seconds."[/color]

Then, he looked at Wireframe and shrugged. He didn't know her power. [color=35902B]"...You blend in really well."[/color] He observed. Maybe it was a lucky thing she had come in casual clothes.

With that advice offered, David turned his attention to himself. There was one bit of Wiseman's battle plan from a moment ago that was still on his mind.

[quote][color=a90000]"...Doc Holiday can and surely [i]will[/i] shoot Ardent out of the sky to make space for Albino to attack on the ground..."[/color][/quote]

David gave the armoured hero a wry smile. [color=35902B]"I'm new in town, so you don't put too much stock in me. I can't blame you."[/color] For a moment, his smile widened. Not the fake smile for the crowds, but something with heart and fire behind it. There was some remnant of the brazen Ardent who had taken Boston, and Twitter, by storm. [color=35902B]"I'm not dying to gun-guy, or pasty-face, or sword-girl, or any of them. Don't sweat it."[/color]

Ardent set his gaze towards the exit from the backstage space.[color=35902B]"It'd be suspicious if we all started getting real tense and vigilant, huh?"[/color] He appeared to be ready, even eager, to head out to search for robots and villains.

[color=35902B]"So I'm gonna go say hi to the crowds out front, do some laps around the neighbourhood, and get up nice and high. Good chance I'll see them coming from blocks away. If not, if Billy the Kid really wants to shoot me that badly, he can go ahead and try it. It'll be nice and easy to find him once he takes a shot."[/color]