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Johnstone Convention Center.
New Athens, Castleburg.
Status: Talking with other heroes.
Interacts: Terra & Oracle [@shylarah], Ardent [@ManyThings], Wireframe [@Silver Carrot], Wiseman [@Blizz], Bastion [@Infinite Cosmos], Director Hugo Powers
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[indent][indent]Jake gave a slight frown at the snippy response that Ardent initially gave. [color=lightgreen]"Run around really fast, huh. Thanks for the guidance. Why don't you use your powers to tell if it's going to rain tomorrow, Mr. Weather Balloon?"[/color] It was not a great retort, but it was something. Jake was not one to lose a battle of words, even if it were not explicitly declared. 

Ardent locked in and advised the speedster to patrol the area for any threats on the ground. This made some sense. The aerial view was much wider, but Jake was much more mobile when solid ground was underneath him; he was still not really a great climber. [color=lightgreen]"Sounds good, birdboy."[/color] Birdboy. Good one, Jake. Write that one down for later.

Just about then, Wiseman's voice began to sound out into his ear. Apparently, the genius hero had already dissected the droid and determined that it was the handiwork of a certain Professor Gholem, a member of the Fiendish Five. Jake, though not the studious type that would spend his free hours trawling through HERO's collected files on villains, had heard of the name before. They were dangerous, and they were sneaky. Jake's least favorite type of villain. At least the grandstanding "I'm Going To Take Over The City" type of villain was fun to fight against. They smack-talked, they had some type of fun gimmick, they made things interesting. These Fiendish Fucks were the shadowy types that took a shot at you and then sunk back into the shadows. Annoying, unfun, and frequently lethal. A cocktail of frustration for Blast.

Wiseman's briefing was [i]long.[/i] Almost as long as some of Hugo's briefings. He had definitely thought this situation out, and to Jake's credit, he did [i]try[/i] to listen. But his attention span for long strategy breakdowns was pretty limited, and by the time Wiseman started talking about recommendations to counter individual matchups, Jake had completely tuned out. All of them sounded extremely punch-able, outside of the Jellyfish guy, and Jake didn't plan on going for a swim anytime soon, anyway. He would just head out, scope out the area, and find the bastards before they ruined anything. Easy-peasy.

Though Jake was not interested in Wiseman's speech, the Director clearly sopped it up, as he responded shortly after Wiseman concluded with his own thoughts. [color=lightslategray]"Excellent work, Wiseman. This is an unusual type of operation for the Five. They are rarely large-scale disruptors. But they will do whatever the job calls for."[/color] A brief pause. [color=lightslategray]"This could be an excellent opportunity to finally get the weeds at the roots. I'm going to try and get some more hero support at this location, and law enforcement is already converging on the area."[/color] This time, a slightly longer pause. [color=lightslategray]"Be very careful. These are a group of very capable killers. One lapse in concentration could mean fatalities. Don't be foolish."[/color]

[color=lightgreen]"Loud and clear, bossman. Don't get killed. Blast heading out."[/color] The hero bolted through the back door in a burst of speed, put on his goggles, and then [i]really[/i] took off.

Blast's super-speed allowed him to quickly survey the area around the Center, but to no avail. He was hoping that the Fiendish Five would be standing right outside the convention center, and that he would be able to plunk them all down like dominoes, but the streets around the center still seemed just about the same. Jake looked left and right. Nothing suspicious. This whole operation seemed a little bit unusual for what were supposedly a bunch of sneaky assassin types. With all the eyes on the city, it would be impossible to just waltz into the convention center while either covered in knives, dressed like Jesse James, sporting a bunch of combat drones, or looking like a character from Spongebob. Jake looked up at the crowd, still gathered around the parade that was just about finished; they were currently cheering as the massive Hugo Powers balloon [color=lightgreen]([i]"actually terrifying. Whose idea was that?"[/i])[/color] passed by and a Wild West-themed parade float followed. There was no way that they could get through this massive crowd of people undetected, especially with them knowing HERO was on notice, unless-

[color=lightgreen][i]Wait, Wild West-themed parade float?[/i][/color]

If Jake had thought about the strangeness of the old-fashioned parade float a second later, or didn't have superhuman speed, he would surely have been a goner. Fortunately for him, though, he was just fast enough to avoid the bullet that was fired towards him, dodging just to the left and causing the bullet to lodge into the sidewalk. The [i]BANG![/i] resonated through the area, and the civilians, of course, began screaming and panicking, and the parade came to a halt. The Hugo balloon even began to fly away as the people who were responsible for keeping it tethered down panicked. That was going to be an ecological disaster, but there were obviously much bigger fish to fry. 

Jake looked back up to see the villain they were in pursuit of, Doc Holliday, staring him down, revolver in hand. He was standing right in the middle of the parade float advertising the Dodge City Cigar Lounge. That was all the information that Jake could discern, as Doc Holliday still had 5 more bullets chambered. Jake darted backwards as the villain fanned three more shots, forcing the speedster hero to take cover behind a mailbox. He tapped his watch, speaking into it.

[color=lightgreen]"This is Blast. Don't know if you heard, but they're here and they don't seem to be in the mood to negotiate. Cowboy Bebop is in a particularly feisty mood. I'll try to re-engage him when I get the chance- AGH, SHIT! FUCK!"[/color]

Jake's report was interrupted as a bullet seared cleanly through the mailbox and caught the tip of Jake's shoulder. Jake cursed a few more times as he rolled away from the skewered mailbox and hid now behind a sturdy-looking bench, his hand gripped tightly around the wound. Luckily, Doc Holliday couldn't see through metal, so the magic bullet or whatever had only caught a little bit of flesh, but it still stung like a motherfucker. Jake winced. Guy had bullets for every occasion, apparently. They weren't a group to be trifled with, that was obvious. Jake hissed into the watch. He assumed revolvers had 6 bullets, so he would have at least a moment of reprieve. [color=lightgreen]"Hey, Birdboy, could use that weather report at some point. I'm target practice out here."[/color][/indent][/indent]
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[indent][indent]Doc Holliday casually loaded six more bullets into his chamber as he looked down at the scene below him; the shouts of a hero isolated within a sea of confusion, screaming, and panicked running. The sounds of cursing meant that he had gotten his target; a particularly difficult one to hit, but one that would be a bit easier now with an injury impeding him. Like an injured deer. Heroes really weren't that much more complex than animals, anyway. In this case, maybe less so. At least deer didn't give their position away by yelling. But the villain wasn't particularly interested in that particular target ant the moment. He'd finish the kill later.

The villain looked over at the float he was standing on. He had reserved a spot in the parade a month or two ago; the perfect Trojan horse for his plan. It was a nice-looking parade float, too. It had a nice mockup of an old-style saloon, with some cactuses, barrels, and tumbleweeds artistically placed atop the platform. It would've been good advertising, had it not been a way of smuggling drones right up to the doorstep of their target. Doc almost felt bad. But the job always came first. Still looking at where the speedster had run off to out of the corner of his eye and holding a revolver in one hand, Doc raised a finger to his ear. [color=Moccasin]"Well, drop the bots, Professor. We're in position."[/color] 

Just like that, the entire parade float deconstructed itself. The sides of the platform popped open, the barrels on top of the platform popped open, and the walls of the fake saloon toppled as well. Inside all of them were copious amounts of robots of various kinds. Spidery looking robots, like the one that Hugo had wrecked but larger and more menacing-looking, crawled out from the inside of the float, scuttling towards the convention center. Meanwhile, a number of small aerial droids, with spherical bodies, mounted guns, and little helicopter blades, accompanied the land-bound spider droids and floated slowly towards the center in tandem. 

[color=Moccasin]"Remember the plan. Isolate the target and get what we need."[/color] Doc Holliday pulled back the hammer on one of his revolvers, squinting at the park bench. [color=Moccasin]"I'll keep 'em busy out here."[/color] 
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[color=B49085]"Leave it to Doc to have all the fun, huh?"[/color] the woman known as Lady Blade muttered. She was currently crouched in the thick network of beams that made up the roof of the convention center, a good 40-50 feet from the ground. She nodded to herself as she heard her boss give the order. Now was the time for action.

The woman dropped from the ceiling with remarkable grace and poise, and just like a cat, she landed on her feet, her knees buckling to a crouch as the knife-colored Asian woman looked up at the people she had landed next to. A guy with an eyepatch and two kids. Easy enough. The woman casually drew a combat knife from her jacket, twirling it around her fingers with impressive expertise. [color=B49085]"If you hold still, this'll hurt less,"[/color] she said with a sadistic grin, and though she seemed to almost be tempting the trio to fight, her stance indicated she was far from relaxed. This was a trained killer. 

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The gunshot rang out right when Hugo was about to get on-stage. He was almost thankful. At least it didn't interrupt him mid-speech. The Director tapped his watch as he looked out at the panicking crowd. [color=lightslategray]"Hold your ground, heroes. I'm going to get the mayor out and coordinate the evacuation. Once the civilians are out, I'll make sure these bastards don't get away."[/color]

Powers took a second look to see a number of robots crash through the front door of the convention, the spidery-looking robots scuttling forth as a few aerial drones hovered above head. Powers patted his tuxedo. This would be the last time he listened to the Mayor and didn't bring at least a sidearm with him. [color=lightslategray]"And watch out for the robots."[/color]
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H.E.R.O. One Dune
Savior Island, Castleburg.
Interacts with: Dahlia [@baraquiel], Gematria [@Scarifar], Crane [@Zoey Boey], Stray [@rabidporcupine], Alchemist [@Duoya], Mire [@Blizz], Fallout [@Aku the Samurai], 
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[indent][indent]Emily waved politely as she was approached by another new addition. Freakshow was her hero identity (a very interesting one at that, but HERO generally didn't intervene with the self-naming process, even when it bordered onto the self-deprecating). [color=lightcoral]"Hey there! Luna, right? I didn't have you listed down here, for whatever reason, but you're welcome to participate."[/color] The Assistant Director gave a pleasant smile, though that expression of fondness was soon wiped off her face by the commentary of the mushrooms. She had wished Hugo was here to deal with the thing, but unfortunately, that wasn't really much of an option at the moment. 

Luckily, Evangeline came in with the big assist, for which Emily was quite grateful for. [color=lightcoral]"That's right. Part of being a hero involves cooperation. It involves learning about other people, how they synergize, and how to best respond to different kinds of situations as a group. Maybe you have a bit of difficulty adapting to how we do things, but this is an excellent simulation of that in a danger-free environment."[/color] Emily did her best to put on her friendly smile. [color=lightcoral]"Give it a chance, alright? This may not seem productive on a surface level, but I assure you it will prove in handy later. I promise."[/color]
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