Chapter One
Uncategorized Rogue Elements
“Can you hear me?” quizzed Collin.
“Yeah, it’s a bit loud. Turn it down.”
“Not happening, guns make noise, so does fighting, not to mention you.”
“Ok. Point made.” Will accepted.
It had taken him weeks of convincing to let Collin set up a live communication feed between the suit and Collin. Up until now the computers back at the base had fed all necessary telemetry and kept everything in his HUD as he needed. Collin however, now felt that him sat at a bank of screens analysing information and feeding it to Will vocally was just as vital. Will initially fought the idea worried wires would be crossed and lead to confusion, or worse, an argument. Pleading the positives, Colling eventually convinced Will; larger tactical view, instant view changes and instant internet access among them.
“So what now?” asked Will.
“Well, we wait.” responded Collin.
“Wait?”
“Yes. Wait. What’ve you been doing up until now? Hopping around looking for trouble, yeah? Now we play by my rules, we play smart. I’ve lines on police emergency alerts, the seven largest private security contractors in Fortitude and some less illustrious communiqués. Your job is to sit there and go where I tell you.”
Will would’ve loudly bemoaned such an order had it been in person and the situation less serious. When he decided upon setting forth on this path of personal redemption he had not imagined he’d be idling around waiting for orders. Something about that just felt sour.
Resigning himself to this new method of work he began to relax his breathing; stood atop this inner city rooftop his heartrate slowed and within Tempest, Will slowly lulled to a meditative state. Noise from all around entered his mind, filtered finely by audio receptors in the suit. In a combat situation they worked in tandem with the visual processors to give him as much sensory information as possible. Now however, in his calm state, along with his naturally cleared mind, he could hear much. A gentle ‘pit-pat’ of rain droplets clinging off the metal plates of the suit, the roof and a nearby antenna. From the streets bellow he heard some laughter and the locking of a door. Further again, maybe a block, maybe two, the sound of two men shouting at each other. And that was it. His hearing was nothing superhuman, he had simply made use of technology and well-known breathing techniques to actually distinguish the sounds his was hearing. Something about it was soothing; the never-ending effervescent rumble of a city.
“Twenty-one blue. I repeat twenty-one blue.” The voice came over the comms, deep but startled.
“Shots fired and officer down. Alley off of Upper Verten Street. Requesting immediate back up, three suspects escaping northbound on foot.”
Snapping out of his relaxation, Tempest began running. Coming to the ledge of the roof, hesitation didn’t manifest. Vaulting violently off the edge he began to fall momentarily. Flinging his arms down and twitching his powers, Tempest produced a kinetic blast straight down and launched himself a dozen metre into the air; enough to carry him to the lip of the adjacent roof.
“Sir we’re picking up three URE signatures in Fortitude alone as of two minutes ago. We have a unit prepped for op with an ETA of seventeen minutes. Do we proceed?”
The information and question came from a fuzzy eyed spurious little stickler of a man hunched over a workstation.
The response came from a tall, attractive middle-aged man with slightly greyed hair, wearing a delicate suit, stood at the other’s side.
“Negative. I said I want as much information confirmation before any direct contact. I don’t care how long it takes”
.