Scarifar

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@Duoya@Jumbus@KaijuBaragon@canaryrose@Rabidporcupine@DarkRecon

The OMNI shrugged at Grace's "criminal" remark, not confirming nor denying. Rumi would've said something, but that would only fuel the chaos that people do when trying to speak all at once. Instead, he stayed silent as Grace moved on with her speech about Seraph's location and "real science".

"Wow, how dare you," Rumi exclaimed in mock offense. He was about to go to Powers' office and look for the necessary files as Grace suggested when something came tumbling towards the group. Rumi looked down to see a small canister at their feet, which the OMNI identified as a smoke grenade. Smoke began to pour out of it, enveloping them in a thick cloud. Rumi had the OMNI switch to its advanced thermal vision and scan the area. He quickly located a group of people from the other end of the hallway, all in various positions, and all of them aiming weapons at them. Leaping in front, the OMNI raised its left arm as if holding a shield. The nanobots at the left forearm began to shift and surge outward as a palm-sized device emerged from within. It was rectangular in shape, adorned with the face of Medusa. The Medusa's eyes lit up, projecting a blue-colored barrier of semitransparent solid light.

As time passed and the smoke cleared, there was no activity from the now easily identifiable Division X soldiers, though they continued to train their rifles at the group. Rumi continued to keep up his shield, cautious of another potential threat from them. The sound of metal footsteps that came from behind the soldiers only confirmed his suspicions. He briefly wondered who it could be, as Mr. Impressive was still trapped in Tar and had power-dampening handcuffs on. The answer revealed herself as a tall, blonde woman who was clearly well-acquainted with a soldier's line of work. What really stood out, though, was the rest of her body. It was clearly mechanical, though her head area appeared human, and her mannerisms made it unlikely for her to be an AI. That meant she was a cyborg.

She had the soldiers stand down and approached them in a friendly manner, even calling out some names. Rumi had the OMNI stand down as well, retracting his barrier back into its arm, and gave Cora an up-and-down examination. He nodded approvingly at the Custom-System TVS Endoskeleton 4000, though he did think there could be some improvements made here and there. It would have to come later, though, as Cora revealed some interesting information, particularly that about Powers being alive and Minijets having missiles.

"Cora, was it?" Rumi asked Cora. Extending a hand, Rumi introduced himself, "I'm Rumi Bers Polamor, Owner and Chief Engineer of Polamor Inc. If you ever have the time, feel free to come by the HQ. I'd be willing to give your cybernetic parts any repairs or custom upgrades you might like. A Custom-System TVS Endoskeleton 4000 only does so much."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@Rabidporcupine@DarkRecon@Jumbus@KaijuBaragon

Rumi sighed and had the OMNI hop through the portal Grace made. At once he was met with the shockwaves from the battle between Jamie and the Admiral. The OMNI backed away from the fight and slid over a countertop to duck behind it, then proceeded to peer over it to spectate. There was also a rioting crowd outside HERO One for some reason, screaming about Starbright's death or something. Concerned, Rumi opened the security feed on his screen. Fortunately, Starbright was still standing, at least, which meant he was still alive. He was confused, but shook his head, deciding to deal with one problem at a time and returned his attention to the battle. Fortunately, the battle did not take much longer, as Jamie soon finished off the Admiral with a well-placed blow.

Hopping back over the counter, Rumi walked over to greet them with a wave. "Come on, you three. Bypass needs us upstairs. Through the portal now," Rumi said to Jamie, Joseph, and Alien Angel, gesturing towards the portal with a thumb. Rumi was a bit puzzled at Angel's appearance, not recognizing her at first. She didn't appear in his memory of HERO One's heroes, active or retired. Then he recalled her information from H.E.R.O.'s wanted list database. If the descriptions were correct, then this was most likely one of the vigilantes H.E.R.O. was after. What she was doing here, Rumi had no idea, but if she was offering to help, then Rumi had no reason to turn her down.

Going through the portal first, the OMNI jogged back to where he had first heard the lightning originate. Once there, Rumi spotted Grace and Tom, as well as Starbright. "Hey guys, I got Quake and Rune with me, and someone called, uh... well, she should probably be the one to introduce herself," Rumi announced to the group.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@KaijuBaragon

"Here in the flesh... is what I would say if I were actually here," Rumi said. "Yup, one of my best and personal favorites. Really proud of it aaaand you're leaving. Ok." After Grace left his loving embrace to have a loving reunion with Tom, Rumi had the OMNI get up and turn to examine Mr. Impressive. Rumi assumed the man was knocked out, and began looking for something to keep him down. He then spotted the power-suppressing handcuffs on the ground, the ones he had used on Grace. Rumi snatched them up and made his way over to Mr. Impressive, cuffing him. The man's skin then went back to a normal human pigment, his powers sealed. Rumi nodded, satisfied, and proceeded to gather the unconscious bodies of the EAGLES group together. He then tossed a Tar Bomb onto the trio, which covered them in the hardened Tar substance and trapped them together.

His work done, the OMNI made his way back to Grace and Tom, who were busy having a makeout session. Rumi had it lean against the wall, elbow propping him up and hand on its hip. Fortunately, Rumi didn't have to wait long, as they soon separated and began to make plans for a date. Rumi cleared his throat loudly and deliberately, and proceeded to say, "I sure love being a third wheel as much as the next guy, but maybe we should be dealing with the EAGLES crisis right now." As if on cue, a small tremor reached the group from below, shaking the floor slightly before just as quickly disappearing. At the same time, there were sounds of electricity being flung around and distant yelling. "You guys can deal with that, and I can take..." Rumi said as he accessed HERO One's security feeds, looking for signs of conflict. He quickly found that the lobby was under attack, with Jamie facing the Admiral. "The lobby, apparently," Rumi concluded. "Grace, think you can portal me down there?"

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@Duoya@KaijuBaragon

"Agh, goddammit," Rumi cursed as the OMNI crashed against the wall, making a large indent in it before the OMNI fell onto the ground. Mr. Impressive's name was clearly not just for show. Fortunately, the damage from that impact wasn't very substantial. The OMNI's armor was still intact, as well as most of his gadgets. The scarf did get a small percentage of its length damaged though, presumably cut off. Getting back up, Rumi could see that Grace was still in a dire predicament, and still in Mr. Impresive's arms. Overclocking once again, Rumi looked around with the suit's cameras to survey the situation once more and see what he had available to work with. Getting a better look, especially now that the lights were on, he saw that Mr. Impressive had rendered Grace helpless with a pair of power-suppressing handcuffs, and he was taking full advantage of it by... kissing her. Tom was also there, attacking Mr. Impressive with a fire extinguisher, but that wasn't important. Rumi didn't often get overwhelmed by emotion, but he came awfully close to losing it at the sight. The only thing stopping him was the more rational side of his mind telling him to concentrate on maintaining Overclock. Going through the tech he was armed with, Rumi devised a move that would (hopefully) take down Mr. Impressive.

Deactivating Overclock, the OMNI placed a hand on its thigh, the nanobots shifting around to place a Darkbang grenade into his hand. Rumi reeled back the OMNI's arm, then pressed the button on it to arm it, and finally threw it towards Mr. Impressive, intending for it to land at his feet. Once there, it would suddenly bounce into the air with a pinging noise and then release a cloud of tiny black beads that would hover in the air, suspended by a magnetic field. The cloud allowed very little light to pass through it, as well as blocked sound from traveling through it. This would help prevent him from seeing what came next.

At the same time, the OMNI fired the grapples at the walls, aiming at the areas closest to Mr. Impressive and Grace. Once they were firmly locked in place, the OMNI pulled itself rapidly towards Mr. Impressive, feet-first. Once he was close enough, Rumi would also activate the pads on the bottom of the OMNI's feet to create additional force in the attack.

In the event this is successful

Rumi activated Overclock again, his perception of time slowing down once again. Rumi's head was starting to feel warm, the sign that he was beginning to use Overclock a little too much. Still, he persevered as Mr. Impressive was knocked away. Rumi tried to grab hold of Grace as he flew past, taking extra care to try to pry her out of Mr. Impressive's grip while making the effort to prevent his inertia from harming Grace. He shifted his body around in a way as to help cushion her body and decrease the OMNI's momentum as much as it possibly could. The grappling wires also played a part, acting as arresting ropes to help him slow down. It took a great deal of calculations and fine-tuning to make it happen, exacerbated by the seeming long period of time in his time-slowed perception, but it eventually ended in them on their sides, his left hand on Grace's head while his right arm was around Grace's back.

Rumi groaned and then began to pant heavily, feeling the sweat dripping off his face after he came out of his Overclocked state. Taking a second to catch his breath, he tiredly said, "Mic on," activating the microphone in his mask so he could speak through OMNI. "You alright?" Rumi asked.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman@Duoya@Jumbus

While the scanner examined every inch of Snake Pit's suit, Rumi was in the testing chamber, going through his arsenal of gadgets and weaponry. EAGLES already made it more than clear that they meant business. Powers was MIA, HERO One was in lockdown, and various people were under attack. In that case, Rumi would get serious too. Rumi slapped a wall panel, which slid open to reveal a liquid metal scanner. He plunged his hand into it and commanded, "Construct the 'OMNI', authorization code 'Amygdala'." Many panels began to slide open from the floor, walls, and ceiling, and swarms of nanobots crawled out of the openings. They also carried various gadgets, having been picked out by Rumi while he had gone through his arsenal. All the nanobots converged to form a humanoid suit of armor, with most of the gadgets either lining the body or being fitted inside it. A long scarf was wrapped around its neck, and had a few bracelets and watches along its forearms. A thick belt was wrapped around its waist. A thick, red visor and black mask covered its face. More nanobots came out of the wall and formed a similar mask around Rumi's head, which began linking with the OMNI. As the machine booted up, even more nanobots formed around Rumi, forming bracelets and anklets as well as lining his spine. Once the OMNI was finally booted up and the neural interface was complete, Rumi could move the OMNI as if it were his own body.

---

After exiting Polamor Inc, the OMNI made its way towards HERO One, where the signal flare had been fired. Rumi was not sure who had fired it, but he was not about to ignore the emergency flare. The OMNI fired wires out of the sides of its belt, with grapples that latched onto the sides of buildings and pulled him along in the air. If it was close to colliding with the building, it would simply turn its body and run along the side, leaping off once it reached the end of the wire and find another building to latch more wires onto. With this method, it did not take long before it found itself at HERO One, having grappled up to the roof of the building. The flare was long out, and whoever had been up here was also gone. Still, Rumi was determined to get into HERO One somehow, and he looked around to hopefully find an entrance. The elevator doors were a tempting option, but Rumi wasn't sure if anyone inside was watching, plus he wouldn't have a specific destination within the building. He didn't exactly want to go in blind, and looked around for something that would give him a clue. A quick look around revealed a nearby camera. Perfect.

The OMNI walked over to it and grabbed it with its left hand, sending some nanobots into it through microscopic holes in its casing, which began to form needles to stab into the camera's wiring and access the security feeds. From there, it only took a bit more hacking to access the rest of the security system the camera was connected to. Most of the feeds had few subjects worth noticing, though some of them were dark, presumably either because the lights were off, or the feeds themselves were down. There was also a tripped alarm on the 14th floor, and the perpetrators were... Starbright and Bypass? Rumi was curious as to what they were up to, and this gave him the opportunity to find out. The OMNI placed its fingers through the center of the doors, slowly pulling them apart. While doing so, Rumi pulled up a 3D map of the HERO One building and determined how far down he would have to go to reach the 14th floor. Once the doors were open, the OMNI jumped into the elevator shaft, firing a pair of wires into the ceiling so he could slow his descent. It didn't take long to reach the elevator itself, which was resting on the 14th floor. The fact that it was here meant Grace and Starbright were attracting visitors, and probably not the good kinds.

Rumi scanned the elevator, searching for any possible points of entry, and found an emergency exit door on the top, which Rumi promptly found a handle on and opened. The OMNI dropped in and began to pry open the doors again. The entire hall outside was dark. Rumi had the OMNI switch to night vision and continue onward, attempting to maintain at least a modicum of stealth. Rumi also pulled up a map of the 14th floor, based on his information about it. With the knowledge of the alarm's origins and estimated amount of time passed, Rumi decided to head left, determining it the be the most likely place for Grace to be. His deduction proved to be correct when he turned a corner and found Grace, having been caught by Mr. Impressive. Rumi was about to throw stealth out the window and charge at Mr. Impressive, but he held himself back and used Overclock to examine the situation and explore his possibilities. Even with the OMNI, Rumi wasn't sure it would be able to stand up to Mr. Impressive in a head on fight. Instead, Rumi decided to take a more cautious approach, using the darkness to his advantage and to hopefully close enough to use his gadgets to try to take him out, or at least free Grace from his clutches. Rumi would use the scarf on the OMNI to wrap around Mr. Impressive's dagger arm. It was created out of a strong yet lightweight and flexible material, and it had nanobots woven into it, allowing for easy manipulation even in midair.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi's weapon never left its position the entire time Pit was spilling his guts about EAGLES' plans. Not much of it was very good news to him, but it was important information. Powers had locked down HERO One and he was targeted for potential access codes... Rumi was almost disappointed that EAGLES thought so little of him. Rumi had expected someone like Nero to come, as his metal manipulation power would've been a hassle to deal with. Instead, he got... Snake Pit. To send a single low ranking villain armed with so little against him at his home base was nothing short of folly. Still, Rumi had always kept a low rank for precisely such low evaluations from would-be enemies. It served its purpose here, and Rumi was reaping the benefits.

Once Pit was done, Rumi responded with, "Well that explains a lot." before shooting Pit in the face, knocking him out and leaving some minor burns on his face. Rumi retracted the nanobots around his head, giving him some fresh air again. Rumi looked to the side and saw that the group of reporters and heroes were still around. "Well don't just stand there. Anyone with fire or heat abilities, heat up the Tar. It'll crumble once it's dry enough. Anyone with damaged equipment can look through our wares, seeing if they can be repaired or replaced. Polamor employees will assist you in these matters," Rumi ordered. Turning to the employees who had been hiding during Pit's attack, Rumi added, "When Pit's free from the Tar, get him out of that suit of his. I want to examine the tech personally."

---

Pit was eventually dragged away by the heroes and Rumi took Pit's suit away in a cart, eager to see what secrets lay within it. He returned to his office, only to find Chris at the desk, sorting through paperwork. "I see you finished taking care of that mess outside, sir. Well done," Chris said absentmindedly as he kept working.

"I see you've been busy yourself, Chris. Keep it up," Rumi chuckled. "Anyway, how about a status update? There anything new?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Chris responded, turning the computer screen around to face Rumi. It was another news article, showing Tom's apparent betrayal, having joined EAGLES now. There was also something about a Priestess, but Rumi didn't particularly care about that. "Well that's certainly interesting. I wonder what's going through his mind."

"Also, I've tried to contact Firebird, but he hasn't answered my calls," Chris reported.

"Tsk, that idiot always answers. EAGLES probably got to him already," Rumi theorized. "Dammit." Rumi had found the tracking device in his own phone ages ago. He had decided not to tell the rest of the gang because he wanted to learn what the goal of the Wings of Law were, and hopefully even find a way to use it against their plans, but they had acted far more boldly than he had anticipated.

"I'm planning to contact Bypass next, but I'm a little swamped here," Chris said. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"No, if I know Grace, she's probably caught on to the tracking devices by now and ditched her phone," Rumi said. "No way of contacting her from here. I'll just do what I can and see what I can learn from this tech."

"As you wish, sir," Chris said, placing a hand into the scanner and opening the way into Rumi's underground workshop. After making his way inside, Rumi began to spread Pit's suit onto the table. "Initiate scan," Rumi commanded, and the table began to slowly scan the suit. Rumi could tell it was a little much for some noname villain like Snake Pit to obtain, and he wanted to be prepared for whoever was supplying tech like this to EAGLES.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

At the sight of the green gas, Rumi leapt to his feet and away from Pit, holding his breath. Rumi had prepared for such a scenario, ever since the Wings of Law had gassed Blake's party, and he was not about to fall into the same trap twice. O2: On, Rumi thought, and the nanobots covering his head began to rearrange themselves, sealing in a pocket of air while leaving outside air inaccessible. A timer popped up on his hud, showing a "O2 1:30" that counted down by the second. The green gas continued to float around Rumi's head, but it was incapable of reaching him inside his suit. He was safe from it for the time being.

Meanwhile, Pit had recovered and was now charging at him with a small knife. Rumi began to Overclock, making his observations within his time-slowed perception. From what he could tell, Pit's knife was nothing more than a simple piece of sharp metal. It was unlikely to pierce Rumi's armor, but one could never be too careful. As for disabling Pit, it was a simple matter. Disabling Overclock, Rumi placed a hand on his chest as the nanomachines shifted and retrieved a few Tar Bombs from within a pocket in Rumi's three-piece suit. Rumi armed and threw them towards Pit, and they proceeded to to roll until they exploded, covering Pit in a tar-like substance that would proceed to harden within seconds. Most of his body would be immobilized, but his head would still be uncovered.

Rumi walked over to Pit, concentrating a mass of nanobots at his arm to construct a thick barrel with a hollow chamber. Pointing it at Pit's head, Rumi began to threaten, "One last chance while I'm still feeling merciful. Tell me everything you know about EAGLES' plans." Pit would see the inside of the barrel glow red and hear it hum deeply as it charged up its shot. The blaster itself was on its lowest setting, designed to incapacitate and not kill, but Pit didn't need to know that.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi was calmly arguing with a particularly confrontational hero about the lack of evidence between him and Patricia's mass murder case, and was soon able to get the hero to back off, having succeeded in convincing her. Almost immediately after, a peculiar-looking fellow barged into the lobby, shoving his way through the crowd, and emitted an EMP. It made contact with Rumi's energy shield, which flashed blue and disappeared as its power supply was depleted, rendering it inactive. Rumi knelt down, as if hurt by the sudden burst of energy. He wasn't, of course, but the pose would be helpful to him in the near future.

"Damage report," Rumi muttered under his breath. His suit's systems ran a quick diagnostic and displayed the information onto Rumi's glasses, confirming Rumi's devices had not failed him yet. The shield was down for the time being, but it had done its job absorbing and deflecting the EMP's energy, protecting Rumi's electrical equipment, including the hidden nanosuit within Rumi's three-piece. Rumi had thought it to be a good idea to Faraday cage the important areas of the Polamor Inc HQ, such as the labs and workshops, so those were also left unharmed. The same could not be said for the rest of the lobby, however. Much of the news reporters' equipment and any electrical gadgets the other heroes had were down, as well as many of the gadgets on display in the lobby. Rumi grimaced, thinking of just how much was being wasted due to this fool.

Rumi raised his hands up to appear as if he was surrendering, which seemed to do the trick as Snake Pitt walked forward, clearly confident about his current position. When he got close enough, Rumi muttered, "Suit up," activating his nanobots to form his suit. As they began to form around his body, Rumi went for Snake Pitt's gun arm, grabbing it as he twisted himself so Rumi's back was against him. Rumi then proceeded to pull Snake Pitt over his shoulder, flipping him over and smashing him onto the ground. While he was still disoriented, Rumi kicked away Pitt's gun and planted his knee on Pitt's chest to keep him from getting back up. Rumi also constructed a taser-like device over his right hand, stabbing it into a glowing portion of Pitt's suit in an attempt to overload any power supplies the suit contained.

"Emitting an EMP? In the middle of Polamor Inc. HQ? Idiot," Rumi scoffed. He switched to a grave, serious tone of voice and added, "Now, no more games, you slithering simpleton. Tell me everything you know about EAGLES' plans."

Character dump

St. Tarasque, the Punch Saint

Name
Samantha Lee

Hero Name
St. Tarasque

Nicknames
Punch Saint

Gender
Female

Age
24

Date of Birth
June 6

Physique
At 5'8", Samantha has the body of a gymnast, complete with flexible and powerful limbs as well as a thin body with well-balanced muscles. Her long, pale dark-blue hair is worn in a thin braid.

Blood Type
O-

Occupation
Hero

Side
Hero

Affiliation
H.E.R.O.

Tier
C

Personality
Samantha is quite cheerful and easygoing, always finding an excuse to smile and have others join in. She is also not afraid to walk up to someone and ask for the time just to strike up a conversation. Samantha is very caring as well, quick to be one of the first few to step forward and lend a hand to someone in need. She is willing to do what is right and just, even if it means doing things that others would disapprove of.

Backstory
Born in the countryside, Samantha led a very simple life in the beginning. Interacting with neighbors and helping with farmwork was a daily routine, and she was not busy, she would run around and play with the other kids. She had always been able to keep up with even the adults, always having energy to work and play, the only times she stops is when she eats and sleeps. She did eat quite a lot, too, making her friends and family wonder just where she was putting it all.

She first discovered her power when she was 10, when she fell down and got a nasty scrape on her knee while playing tag with a group of kids. As she said the "pain pain go away" kid's melody, the wound began to close up until it disappeared entirely. From then on, whenever anyone got a bad injury, they were quickly brought to Samantha so she could heal it up, which also helped to train her power. Her parents, meanwhile, worked to gather up enough money to allow her to move out into the big city, where they hoped she could do some good for the rest of the world.

After Samantha came of age and moved away from the countryside, she was a little overwhelmed by how different the city was from the familiar fields of green and small houses she was used to seeing. It took her a while to get used to life there, but she eventually found work as a Hero and trained to become St. Tarasque, the Punch Saint.

Power
Rejuvenation: Samantha revitalizes cells, restoring them to a healthier status, and purges the body of unnatural entities. This process can be used for extended periods of time, and can be used on herself as well as other organic targets, both human and nonhuman. However, the target must be living for her power to work on them. Samantha has been using it on herself for so long that it's become a passive ability to her.

• Healing: Obviously, an ability like this has a branch in the ability to heal. Wounds and injuries are mended as if they had never happened (degrees of healing may vary depending on the age of the wound.) Poisons and diseases are not so easy to heal, but they too will be worked out of a body in time. Isolonic gas is no exception, even on her own body.
• Stamina restoration: As long as Samantha is touching someone, their stamina will be restored as well. This ability also works on herself, allowing her to surpass the limits of any normal human's endurance. To compensate, however, her body needs a lot more energy, requiring her to consume more calories and other essentials.

Samantha is remarkably acrobatic, and uses this skill to great effect to quickly evade and subdue her opponents. She also possesses a pair of studded gauntlets and long greaves, both outfitted with hidden blades that can pop out with a strong button press.

OTHER: Samantha is absolutely terrible with technology, and can barely understand how to push the "on" button or dial a phone number.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

As the week passed, Rumi had gotten to work renovating his workshop in Polamor Inc. Extra space was dug out and outfitted with plenty of high-tech machinery and gadgets. The testing chamber was also upgraded, with new wall panels made of highly resistant material and more automatons to function as both test dummies and janitors. Currently, Rumi was at a workshop table, fiddling with the inside of a gauntlet, using a precision screwdriver to slide in a panel through some wires. Once finished, he then held the screwdriver up in the air, ordering, "Tweezers." A hole opened up within the nearby wall, and two metal appendages extended from it, one of which was holding a pair of bent needle nose tweezers. The other plucked the screwdriver away from Rumi's hand, while the other placed the tweezers in it, and both retracted back into the wall. With the tweezers, Rumi then began to carefully place wires within the gauntlet into their respective sockets and around screws. It was a slow process, and he could've just used his nanomachines to quicken it, but Rumi enjoyed the feeling of using his own hands for such tasks, immersing himself in the challenge. After all, if everything was made easy, then it would quickly bore Rumi.

Rumi slid a metal panel over the circuitry after he was done, letting out a content sigh. He flipped it once in the air, then set it down onto the table. A beep sounded off near the entrance, the security device alerting Rumi of someone coming down the stairs to his workshop. Soon after, Chris came barging through the door, slightly out of breath while holding a tablet. At this point, all of Rumi's attention was on him. Chris had never rushed to Rumi before, which meant whatever had happened was pretty serious. "Sir," Chris panted, extending the tablet towards Rumi. "You have to see this."

"Alright, let's see what we got," Rumi said, taking the tablet to look at the screen. It was a news article, with the headline titled, "HERO done for? EAGLES swoop in!" As Rumi continued to swipe up to read the article, his brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend just what this drivel was. Powers retiring? The former Wings of Law forming a new hero organization? Something about Patricia Donnelly being a mass murderer... and a majority of the Gang being accused as her accomplices, Rumi himself included. He played the attached video of Seraph, which confirmed much of the information on the article itself.

"This is ridiculous," Rumi concluded, handing the tablet back to Chris. "We'll need to take action."

"So what, exactly, are we doing to get out of this situation?" Chris asked.

As Rumi began to meander around his workshop, picking up various gadgets and discarding the ones of no use, Rumi answered, "First, call our lawyers. Have them search for evidence and get them to dismiss the EAGLES' claims of me being an accomplice to Patricia's supposed crime. With any luck, it will also blow holes in their case entirely and may get them to retract their claims. We might also be able to sue them for slander, loss of profits, among other crimes, but that's a topic for another time. Second, spread the word to not do business with anyone affiliated with EAGLES. Polamor Inc. is still one of the largest suppliers of tech to HERO, and to Castleburg in general, after all. It was impossible to not interact with them when they were still the Wings of Law, being affiliated with HERO, but now that they're a separate entity, it'll be a bit easier. I'll need to make some calls of my own, see if some of my contacts can help ease up a bit of this chaos and hopefully get things to settle down quickly. I'll also be searching for information about Powers, see what happened to him. No way a man like him would just retire, and I don't even want to know what could have taken him down. Finally, gather the Gang. Have them find Patricia Donnelly. I may not have interacted with her much, but I doubt she's truly guilty of what the EAGLES are accusing her of. Even with her Siren ability, I don't think she's capable of the task. She wouldn't have been part of the Gang for so long if she was."

"I'll be right on it, sir," Chris said, making his way back outside, leaving Rumi alone again. He sighed, this time with frustration. He had predicted the Wings of Law to make a comeback, but Rumi hadn't expected them to play such a large hand. They were moving fast, and Rumi had to respond quickly if he and the gang were going to stabilize from all this chaos. Rumi then clapped twice, ordering, "Suit. Formal wear." A wall panel extended forward and flipped around, revealing a black three-piece suit and a pair of black shoes. A group of mechanical arms extended from behind the panel, which quickly helped Rumi change into the suit. After it was done, Rumi stepped out of his workshop, and out of his office. At the lobby, he was greeted with groups of news reporters and Heroes. Here we go... Rumi thought to himself as he stepped forward to face the horde.