Scarifar

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@canaryrose

Rumi figured the EMP blasters would not be very effective. He would need some form of restraint before he could do any meaningful damage. Before he could formulate a concrete plan of attack, however, Paradox was suddenly attacked by a new force, and was forced to retreat. He turned to face the direction the explosive shots came from, and saw C- Class Hero Christina Lavender walking towards them. "You have our thanks, Ms. Lavender," Rumi said. Rumi deconstructed his EMP blaster cannons, returning the devices back into his belt. Rumi didn't really want to think about what would've happened had Paradox decided to stick around, even if he brain was already creating simulations of the various outcomes, few of which were good.

"On it, Ms. Lavender," Rumi said, lifting his right hand, palm upward. He then ordered his nanobots to form a pair of tiny drones with 4 propellers. He then attached a pair of miniature cameras on them and sent them off the scout the area. "We also interrogated that mobster over there," Rumi reported, pointing at the still-dead Ranucci. "We didn't kill him, if you're wondering. We suspect Paradox managed to silence him before he could spill too much. He said something about a trapdoor in what I assume to be that building over there, and how heroes are trapped in there."

"Finally, I don't think this Paradox fellow was taking us seriously at all this entire fight. He was only toying with us... testing us. He said something about 'field-testing and data collection authorized by Command-1'. I suspect we weren't even facing him directly, but merely one of his automatons, and one that could apparently stand against an S-class hero's power with ease. Whatever we're facing... we haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@canaryrose

"You fool..." Rumi chastised him further, but said no more, knowing there were bigger fish to fry at the moment. Even with the vibroblade, it was taking longer than he had expected to cut apart the net. As to be expected of such a high tech suit, everything was high quality. "Che..." Rumi clicked his tongue in annoyance, but he agreed that assisting Jamie would be a better course of action at this point. Furthermore, Rumi didn't feel comfortable letting one hero, even an S-tier, handle that thing alone. "Fine, but you better hurry," Rumi said, putting away the blade and running over to Jamie. Paradox had already moved on to aiming rotary cannon barrels at Jamie, and was about to fire when Rumi moved in front of Jamie, using his nanobots to form a tower shield in front of them. "Stay behind me," Rumi ordered Jamie, his barrier flashing blue as it helped to block Phantom's shots. While his shield and barrier began taking the plasma fire, Rumi reached into his tool belt and pulled out a pair of palm-sized needle-like devices.

The barrier was quick to wear down, but as the blasts were not that harmful, it and the nanobot shield were able to defend him and Jamie from serious harm. Rumi's shield lost a bit of volume from the plasma fire, but not nearly enough to hinder his operations. Rumi then disassembled his nanobot tower shield. The majority of them returned to form around Rumi's body as general-purpose armor while the rest transferred over to his left and right arms, forming small cylindrical blasters around his hands and forearms, with the needle devices at the center. These were EMP blasters, capable of auto-fire shots and charged single shots for a small explosive ball of EMP energy with a short radius. They were prepared in the event he came across Phantom, but they would also work against any mechanical or tech-based opponents. They would do little against organic targets, but Rumi did not consider this to be a problem in the current situation.

Raising his left arm, he began to fire away at Phantom, prioritizing volume over aim. At the same time, Rumi's right arm began to charge up a shot for a more powerful blast, while also readying nanobots near his feet for enhanced movement. In the event that Phantom didn't move, Rumi would simply to fire the charged ball at him, but if he actually began to move around, he would have to depend on his quick wit as well as Blake and Jamie to hold him off until he could get a clear shot.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@canaryrose

"Never hurts to be careful, you know," Rumi responded to Blake. "An idiot this guy may be, but I say leave no room for a mistake you could've avoided." Once they got their information, Rumi was about to turn Ranucci over so he could restrain his arms behind his back, but then Ranucci began to shudder. Rumi tried to hold him down at first, thinking he was making an attempt to escape, but soon realized that his shaking was not an intentional effort. Rumi then backed away from Ranucci as he continued to shake, as if he were having a seizure, before expiring soon after. Rumi knelt down and felt his wrist, further confirming the loss of life.

Rumi shook his head as he got back up. "This wasn't me. I'm guessing someone wanted to silence him before he said too much. Question is... who?" That was also quickly answered by the immediate threat of an armored figure crashing down from the sky, which introduced itself as Paradox. Alarm bells were ringing in Rumi's mind, recognizing the name from the interrupted hack. "Guys, this 'Paradox' is bad news," Rumi warned, but Blake was already springing into action, engulfing the armored figure in a pillar of flame. Rumi hoped it would be enough, but didn't expect it to. The fact that Paradox called out their names first meant that he knew what he was dealing with and had most likely already taken measures to deal with them. Lo and behold, Paradox was unscathed, protected by a green-tinted force field.

When the missiles were fired, Rumi was quick to dodge, leaping to the side in an attempt to avoid the missile, using his nanobots to boost him along. He wasn't sure his own barrier could withstand a missile completely, and he wasn't keen to find out. Fortunately, it seemed he didn't have to, as the missile turned out to contain a weighted net instead of an explosive. The net landed nearby, Rumi having successfully dodged it. Looking over at Blake and Jamie, he was exasperated to see Blake having been caught by the net. As Jamie moved to engage, Rumi got to work attempting to free Blake. He pulled out a small vibroblade knife from his toolbelt and began to cut away at the net holding Blake down.

"Why didn't you dodge, you imbecile?" Rumi said as he worked at the net. "He could've killed you!"

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@canaryrose

"...Why did I agree to get in this car again?" Rumi asked to himself, clenching his seat belt like his life depended on it. Rumi didn't drive himself very often, but he was very certain people were not supposed to drive like an irresponsible lunatic. Rumi started to doubt the authenticity of Jamie's driver's license, but soon came to the conclusion that she both couldn't and wouldn't make a forgery, which only made the topic even more concerning. Fortunately, the ride had ended, so Rumi could relax a bit now. Taking a moment to calm himself, Rumi then looked out the window, looking at the cleaners' business site. It was unimpressive, and just as dreary as the other drab establishments around it. In other words, it was a perfect camouflage, as no one would look twice at this place. "Let's see if their 'cleaning services' are up to par," Rumi said, stepping out of the car.

Hardly any time had passed, however, before they were ambushed by some punk with a gun. Rumi was stunned. Not by the fact that they were ambushed, but by the fact that only one person armed with only a small caliber pistol thought he could take on three heroes. His point was further proven when the poor mobster was quickly dispatched by Jamie. Looking down at the man, Rumi shook his head, disappointed at their first encounter. "If he's still conscious, I do have a few," Rumi said, pressing a button on his utility belt. A small blue field emerged from it, enveloping him before turning transparent. This was a barrier designed to deflect fast-moving projectiles, capable of stopping short bursts of bullet or laser fire, but would not last any longer than that without recharging. He also ordered his nanobots to form pieces of makeshift armor, mainly protecting his chest and limbs. Crouching down, Rumi reached out and grabbed Ranucci's neck, keeping him down on the ground while using just enough pressure to keep him down while not choking him. Rumi began to order, "Hey, stay awake now. We need you to answer a couple questions. Who's the boss here, and how many of you guys are here?"

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@canaryrose

"Yeah, sure, give it here," Rumi said, taking the pamphlet. Early on, Rumi had thought it good for business if he was multi-lingual, so he had taken it upon himself to learn every spoken language he could think of, from Spanish to French to Cherokee. He had given up after learning 12, though, considering it to be too much of a waste of time at that point. Opening the phamphet, Rumi began reading its contents out loud, translating it into a language Blake and Jamir could understand. Much of it was nonsense, as it was quite clearly a poorly-disguised front. The phone number and address, though, was of notable interest to Rumi. "15 Running River Lane... I believe we have just found our next destination," Rumi said to Blake and Jamie. Gesturing at the Leftovers, Rumi added, "I'll call the proper authorities to take care of this. We'll continue investigating the Gugliano family's plans after they arrive." Taking out his phone, he speed-dialed the number and began to report what they had found in the warehouse.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@canaryrose

Blake and Jamie handled the guards with ease, allowing Rumi to hang back and watch as the action unfolded before him. The mention of kidnapping heroes made him raise an eyebrow, realizing he had obtained another piece of the puzzle that was the Gugliano family's plans. Following the two into the Control Room, Rumi examined the damages Blake caused within it. He whistled, and said, "Goodness me, you're either getting better at controlling those flames, or you're really lucky that nothing vital got damaged." He looked down at the goons on the ground, wondering if he should check for vitals, but decided that he need not bother.

Placing a hand on one of the control panels, he wondered just how many secrets this one room held. Looking over at the computer Blake pointed out, he walked over to it while saying, "Leave it to me. I'll crack it open." He pulled out a black box with a wire attached to it, connecting it to the computer. The programs within it began to work their magic, bypassing the computer's security and unlocking it. Opening the folder named "Hero Plan", he opened a "missionletter.doc" where it talked about the change in plans. Rumi began to search for more details involving the hero abductions and come across a document labeled, "ZERO". He began running his decryption program, only to be greeted with a popup window. Rumi was surprised to see it pop up, as it had seemingly been prepared for him, and then the computer began to force a shutdown. Knowing he had hardly any time to act, Rumi forced his brain into Overclocking, having his nanobots form a pair of hands. He entertained the possibility of halting the shutdown, but decided there wasn't enough time for that and instead began to make a copy of the "ZERO" document and save it into his black box's storage.

After the computer shut down, Rumi sighed and disconnected his black box, placing it back into his utility belt. "I've done what I could," Rumi reported. "And whoever these people are, they're going to regret insulting my intelligence."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi Bers Polamor

@Hitman@canaryrose

"Well, I could always give some of my gadgets a little extra field testing," Rumi responded, then proceeded to raise a finger in the air and add, "Just give me a minute." Rumi clapped his hands twice, then a panel slid out from the wall and turned itself around, revealing Rumi's bodysuit armor that served as his costume, as well as utility belt and four canisters that held his nanomachines. Rumi then walked over to his suit and held his arms up in a T, issuing another command, "Armor up." Instantly, robotic arms extended from the wall, ceiling, and floor, programmed to get the suit onto Rumi. One arm began to glow red and hum gently at its tip as it dragged its head along the middle of the suit from neck to groin, effectively cutting it in half. The rest of the arms grabbed both pieces of the suit and slipped them onto Rumi, fitting them and holding them properly while the arm that originally cut it began to glow green instead and ran its head at the cut line, repairing the suit as if it had never been cut in the first place.

After the arms retracted themselves back into their original places, Rumi began to stretch a little, fully breaking in the suit and making sure it was comfortable. He grabbed his belt and canisters and equipped them as well. Finally, Rumi looked through his tables and shelves, methodically searching through them for tools and gadgets that would aim him in this mission. It took a few minutes, but Rumi was finally ready.

"Alrighty then, let's get going," Rumi said.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi Bers Polamor

@Hitman@canaryrose

"Please don't," Rumi said, though clearly his words fell on deaf ears. Sighing, Rumi added, "You can't move them, Jamie." Jamie tried to move the holograms, to no effect. Her hand simply passed through it, blurring the images. "You don't have the biometric authentication to access my equipment. Now please, let me do my work here." After shooing away Jamie's hand, Rumi continued to search through the collar, sorting his way through the various functions and safety measures within it until he came across a tracking beacon within in.

"Oooo, now what do we have here?" Rumi muttered his thoughts out loud, expanding the hologram of the beacon. If the collar was truly attached to an Iguanosaur, it made sense that people would want to keep track of its location. The only question was: who were those people? "Track the beacon's signal," Rumi commanded, the hologram now displaying a pulsing signal icon next to the beacon, directed toward a map of the world. It didn't take long to get a lock on a location, and the map magnified further and further until it pinpointed a location: Watervale. "Bring up 3D imaging of the location," Rumi commanded again, the table displaying a blue-tinted 3d map of Watervale. A red light indicated the building the beacon was sending the signal to. Rumi spread his hands to magnify and pinpoint the exact location, revealing a warehouse next to a place called "Sam's Fish Market."

It didn't make sense. A fish market capturing Leftovers for whatever insidious practices? Rumi was sure it was merely a cover for some other group. "It's not Google, that much is for sure," Rumi answered Blake. Rumi gave it a second of thought, and it clicked: "GUGL", or in other words, the Guglianos. "The Gugliano family, though, makes more sense. It would also explain the 'GUGL' found on this collar," Rumi said. Sighing, he continued, "So we have a crime family now trying to handle Leftovers. They're either not doing it very well, considering you dispatched the Iguanosaur so easily, or it was only a test for more vile purposes. My main concern is where they're getting this tech from. I don't recall the Gugliano family being able to produce this level of tech."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi Bers Polamor

@Hitman@canaryrose

Chris was standing several feet away from the front door when Blake made his announcement to Polamor Inc's reception area. Stepping forward, he said to Blake, "My name is Chris, Mr. von Brandt. And yes, Mr. Polamor informed me that you would arrive. Follow me, please." With that, Chris would lead them through into a hall, entering a door to Rumi's office. It was a nice place, with a few bookshelves lining the wall, and an oval-shaped rug was laid in the center of the room. At the end of the room was a long wooden desk, with many drawers at the side and a phone and computer on its surface. Chris picked up the phone and dialed a number into it, then opened a drawer that held a false bottom, revealing a liquid metal scanner. After placing his hand inside, the rug in the center of the room moved to the side like a roomba, and a panel of the floor opened up, revealing a staircase. Climbing down the stairs would finally lead to Rumi's personal workshop.

"They're here, sir," Chris announced to Rumi, who had just finished prepping what he would need for the scan.

"Great, thanks, Chris," Rumi said. "You can go now."

After Chris left, leaving Blake and Jamie with Rumi, Rumi told them, "Just place that collar on the table. Let's see what secrets it's got for us." Once Blake placed the collar onto the table, it would begin to scan, a band of light moving across the screen like a printer. A holographic image would then construct itself in the air, with all the parts the collar was constructed with, both large and intricate. Rumi made gestures with his hands to separate the individual components into separate layers, enlarging a certain part if he found it of particular note.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi Bers Polamor

@Hitman@Ryteb Pymeroce@canaryrose

Rumi raised an eyebrow at the information he was receiving. "See? Now that's much more interesting," Rumi said, amused. "You know where to find me. My secretary Chris will show you in." Rumi then hung up and handed the phone back to Chris. "You know what to do," Rumi said to Chris. "Of course, sir," Chris responded as he left Rumi's workshop.

Rumi turned back to his microbots. "Let's get you guys cleaned up," Rumi said, raising his hand and snapping his fingers. At once, the microbots began to surge back into the boxes they originally came from, pouring into them while stacking themselves neatly. In mere moments, the testing chamber was empty again. Rumi took off his wristbands and visor, placing them into an open compartment that automatically closed itself after. He then pushed a small button that popped out a box with an opening at the top, filled with what looked like liquid metal. In actuality, it was a multitude of nanobots that scanned everything that would stick its hand in, from fingerprint to DNA to pulse. Rumi stuck his hand in, letting the scanner do its thing. After the confirmation of his identity, the table sunk into the floor, and it was soon replaced with a new table that was far more technologically advanced.

"A collar meant to track and possibly control Leftovers, huh? Don't see many of those everyday," Rumi muttered to himself. "And GUGL... interesting."