Scarifar

《 H. E. R. O. 》

As Rumi watched through the camera he placed that viewed the hallway, he noticed a person running towards the door to the boiler room. He was quick to recognize the person as an ally and muttered, "Disable shock trap," which powered down the the two rods he had placed near the door. Not even a moment later, Maxwell came through the door and tried to make some awkward small talk. "Ehh, could be worse," Rumi shrugged in response, then proceeded to retrieve the two cylindrical traps near the door. "Let's move. Things are gonna get chaotic soon." As if on cue, the boat suddenly rocked, sending everyone off their feet.

Rumi was about to crash into a wall, but a cushion of hard light softened the impact. Rumi was quite fascinated with how much Brooke could do with her hard light ability, and wondered what the limit could be. Sadly, there was no time for proper examination at the moment. Something had happened, and he really hoped it wasn't one of Blake's over-the-top shenanigans again. While Brooke pounded on the door, Rumi used this time to check his equipment, making sure everything was still operational. Fortunately, it was, and the two cameras he had outside still had clear views of what they were seeing. Judging from the lack of concerning movement or water rushing in, Rumi assumed that the ship wasn't in jeopardy from sinking just yet, but that situation might change as time went on.

Looking at the hard light prybar in his hand, Rumi was quick to toss it behind him and raised his right arm, the nanobots forming a hollow rectangular chamber that began to glow. "Excuse me for a second, Victory," Rumi said to Brooke, placing his device near one of the hinges on the door. The device began to hum as a short light-blue blade extended from within it, quickly slicing through the hinges. Rumi began to cut through the rest of the door's hinges in a similar manner, and kicked the door outward once the job was done, which crashed down onto the floor with a clang. "Coast seems clear so far," Rumi reported. "Let's get going, shall we? We have a situation that needs resolving." Rumi took the lead, making his way out of the hallway and towards the nearest exit, where he could hopefully get some answers on what was going on.

Royal Rumble!

Michael Angie

Michael took another sip of his drink and watched as Katherine walked away from the scene, the situation seeming defused. "And so that's that," Michael remarked. He had been hoping for something a bit more interesting, but it seemed there was already enough excitement between them for one night.

That quickly changed as Cassius came by and began antagonizing Rurik, leading to the two of them starting an altercation between each other. He peeked over at Christine to see her reactions.

Michelle and Belinda

Michelle sighed in relief as Katherine walked away. Then she placed her hands on her hips and straightened up confidently. "Another job well done, if I do say so myself," Belinda said, proud of herself.

"What do mean 'job well done'?" Michelle asked, exasperated. She couldn't believe Belinda sometimes. She always jumped into dangerous situations recklessly, and Michelle had to be the one to get caught in the middle of them all. "That could've gone very wrong, very quickly."

"But it worked out fiiine," Belinda countered. "And I say all's well that ends well."

She turned when someone very familiar to her came by. "Vala! You're here too, huh?" Belinda greeted her, slapping her on the shoulder. "Good to see ya again!"

Michelle wanted to add a bit of her own greeting, but was interrupted by the upcoming fight between Rurik and Cassius. Michelle was in mental anguish, wondering what it was about this ball that was bringing so much conflict. Fortunately, it didn't last very long, and both sides went their separate ways, though not without a surprise knife in her hands. "Huh?" Michelle said, switching her gaze between Cassius and the knife multiple times. Then she held the knife far away from her, panicking over what to do. Belinda was quick to take over again, saying, "I'll take care of this," before tossing the knife over to a nearby table, clattering loudly as it landed. Brushing her hands together, Belinda said, "There. That wasn't so hard, now was it, Michelle?"

Michelle, blushing, could only respond with a small, "Shut up."

Returning her attention back to Vala, Michelle sighed and gloomily replied, "It would've been nice to relax and enjoy myself here."

"I dunno what you're on about, Michelle. I'm having the time of my life," Belinda added.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

More swarms of nanobots emerged from Rumi's clothes and crawled down to the ground, where they rearranged themselves to form several tiny metal beads that began to roll underneath the door and into the hallway. They began to seek dark corners of the highway to conceal themselves and mold themselves into place, transforming into tiny cameras and giving Rumi multiple points of view to alert him should anyone threaten to reveal his and Brooke's position. A couple cameras continued to roll away in an attempt to find the rest of the crew and give him some extra information about their situations. While that was going on, Rumi walked over to the door and pulled out a couple capsules from one of his pockets, mounting them near the door. The two devices activated motion sensing lasers, which would cause the capsules to open and fire a burst of electricity to stun whoever was unlucky to trigger the trap.

Returning his attention to the miniature cameras, Rumi had found they had arrived within the crowd of gangsters, where the Black Baron had announced his successor. Rumi remotely controlled one camera to climb up the wall and roll its way around the room, maintaining a good angle for observation. The group messages were also coming in, prompting Rumi to control the other camera to follow Malady, who was being led out of the room by Jim Rockferry, as discreetly as possible. Unfortunately, Rumi couldn't get the camera into the room before the door was shut, not wanting to risk it being discovered. As a result, all he had to work with was subpar audio as the camera tried to pick up anything it could through the door, but it was enough. The resulting interaction between the two did not go well, as Jim sounded like he was killed off by Malady, and the next piece of information about her coming to the boiler room was even more alarming.

Deciding that he had heard enough, Rumi ordered most of the cameras to return to him, except a couple to watch the gang members and the hallway outside the boiler room. He also typed out a message, Alert. Malady knows heroes are on the ship and is heading to the boiler room. Once they returned, Rumi activated his nanotech suit, covering him in its chrome armor. "We're getting company soon. The Black Baroness is coming. Be ready," Rumi warned Brooke, having the nanobots form a blaster barrel around his right hand.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Rumi played his part as the hostage, keeping his expression emotionless as he was led by Blake into enemy territory. While doing so, he kept his eyes and ears open, constantly examining his surroundings. Nothing much of importance was really worth noting, though, as most of the ship was filled with pure extravagance. The sight of it all made Rumi feel disappointed. There was more to being rich than having chandeliers and red carpets everywhere. This was just a waste of money. He thought such space would've been better suited for having useful technology occupying it like workbenches and 3d printers, but he knew that was merely his own preference.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, almost forgetting that he was still a hostage, and continued on until they reached the boiler room. After Blake left, Rumi removed the handcuffs from himself and Brooke before handing over the key and cell phone to her. He rubbed his wrists, relieving the discomfort, and then pressed a button on his glasses. Upon doing so, they transformed into a black visor that covered his eyes. For a moment his vision was dark, but then the visor booted up and the display in his eyes activated. A swarm of nanobots emerged from his sleeves, crawling along his arms before forming into a pair of chrome-grey gauntlets around them. Rumi then raised his left arm, which projected a laser keyboard on his forearm. He began to type a few commands into it to fully bootup his systems and make some last-minute adjustments in his suit's functions.

To Brooke, nothing would have changed in her eyes, with Rumi appearing to act strangely. In reality, Rumi was hard at work. "Hmm?" Rumi turned away from his work for a second to listen to Brooke. "Oh no, this is my first time as well, Ms. Everette. I just thought it'd be fun to play the role for once. Gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed in it all. We infiltrated this ship much too easily." A notification appeared in the corner of his eye, and the phone also sounded off a notification indicating a text message.

"You should probably get that," Rumi said to Brooke while opening up the text in his visor. So far, the news wasn't great. There was no sign of their target, the Black Baron, and a member of ZERO, Malady, was spotted in the party. The thought of ZERO being involved in this operation disheartened Rumi. At the same time, though, it was an opportunity to learn more about the organization.

Rumi typed out a response to the group. Our target is still the Black Baron. Malady and any ZERO associates will only be a secondary concern, but do maintain a level of caution around them.

Royal Rumble!

Michael Angie

@Hammerman

Finding an outfit for the ball was a simple matter. All it took was a quick internet search for a suitable tuxedo and his artistic power allowed him to draw it into reality, perfectly tailored to his size, and a black cavalier hat with a white ribbon, edging, and ostrich feather. His masquerade mask was simple, only covering the left side of his face while leaving his right and mouth open. The event itself was... eventful. However, he wasn't one for dancing, preferring to stay near and partake in the food and drink as well as observing the ball's participants. A rather large group was forming, some of whom he thought he recognized, though it was difficult to tell with all the masks on. Lise was in the group as well, and it seemed they were having a bit of a scuffle about dancing order. It was certainly a group that attracted attention, judging from Diana's interjection. And still others attracted attention, such as Bak's and Luigi's big frames, but they weren't worth much more than a passing glance.

Shenanigans came and went, and soon they lost Michael's attention. They weren't what he was watching for, anyway. He was really waiting for an opportunity to show up, just something to increase potential connections or update his storage of information. That opportunity came when someone came by when someone from said group came over to the food and drinks, where Michael had been waiting.

"Quite the night, no?" Michael asked Christine. "Don't mind me too much, if you don't want to. Just making some idle conversation. That being said, there's plenty of dancing to be done, and delectable food and drink here. Makes me wonder how much this all cost."

As he talked, he continued to observe the area, keeping an eye out for anything interesting. Soon, something did occur, namely the argument between Rurik and Katherine. While they was a little too far to hear what they were saying, it seemed that Rurik did not have the friendliest of attitudes towards Kath. "I'm guessing that's not a good thing, is it?" Michael asked Christine, pointing toward the two.

---

Michelle & Belinda

@Hammerman@KillamriX88

Michelle wore a black-and-red dress with thin straps, and it extending just past her knees. She accompanied it with long white evening gloves, a white marble bead bracelet on her left wrist, and a lacy masquerade mask that was white on the left side and black on the right. She was dressed up for the ball, and was ready to impress.

If only they weren't running late for it.

"I thought you were supposed to be the meticulous one, Michelle," Belinda said as they waited, stuck in traffic. "How could you let this happen?"

"I didn't know this was going to happen!" Michelle whined. "I- ugh, I-I just-"

"Whatever, We can get there faster on our own, anyway," Belinda said, opening the door and getting out of the car. Belinda activated her ability, donning her armor and spreading her wings. "Thanks, Jeeves," Belinda said to the chauffeur before launching herself into the air, flying towards the ball.

"...keep telling her my name's not Jeeves," the chauffeur muttered to herself.

---

"Phew, finally," Belinda said as she entered the ball, having deactivated her ability and returning her dress back to normal. The ball was well underway, but it was alright. She was here now, and that was what mattered. "Alright, I'll let you have some fun now," Belinda said, letting Michelle take control again. "Gee thanks," Michelle said sarcastically, making her way further in. She was at least able to enjoy the festivities for a minute, before stumbling into what seemed to be an argument between Katherine and Rurik. She wasn't really sure of the exact relationship between the two, but it didn't seem to be that good, judging from the contents of this interaction.

Belinda felt it was her time to interject, taking back control and walking in between them. "Hey now, let's be civil," Belinda said as she grinned, holding up her hands at either side. "This is a ball, or whatever. Let's just have fun while we're here."

Alright, your turn, Belinda thought to Michelle, swapping back. Michelle then took a step back as she drew her arms back in, shily adding, "Uh... please?" Michelle was not surprised that Belinda was pulling this move again, having experienced it so many times in the past, but it was never a pleasant feeling each time she did it.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

"I did have some experiments I wanted to perform during this 'time off', but I guess that'll have to wait," Rumi said, sighing. He had wanted to explore Grace's portal abilities and unlock some of the secrets of reducing distance and crossing space. It could have been revolutionary in cutting shipping, storage, and travel costs, but it would have to be put on hold. Right now, there was HERO work to do. Rumi studied the hologram of the Black Baron, hoping to discern what secrets his outfit held. Surely this fellow had a few tricks up his sleeves to be able to avoid capture for so long. Then again, 1993 was a while ago, and technology has advanced greatly since.

As for an alternate identity and the black Baron's ability, Rumi had a few things to say. "I could also be a hostage," Rumi volunteered. "Theoretically, I can gather information with my Nanobots as a hostage just as well as if I were a criminal. I could also help alleviate some of the Black Baron's inflicted injuries. My Nanobots are also programmed to perform medical treatment. If I could study exactly how his ability works, I might even be able to render it useless."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@rabidporcupine@canaryrose@DarkRecon@canaryrose@Zoey Boey@DClassified@Hitman

Rumi had hoped to make some quick repairs, but it seemed the elevator had finally arrived. Rumi had the OMNI retract its tools and readied it for analysis so he could determine his course of action. Cora sprang into action and Rumi activated Overclock, examining the area. Jamie and Joseph were down, presumably by the villain here. Alien Angel was also around, though knocked aside. Believing Cora could handle Winterfell on her own for the time being, Rumi turned off Overclock as the OMNI began to make its way toward the trio, as they needed the most support. Once he was there, he began to hear a strange sound, namely that of an engine. Turning toward the general direction of the sound, Rumi was on guard, but even he did not expect a boat to come crashing through the wall. Rumi had the OMNI dropped down in surprise as the boat sailed over the group and toward Winterfell, who managed to deal with the incoming vehicle and made his escape.

Rumi's first instinct was to chase Winterfell down, but quickly decided against it. Many superpowered individuals had already been defeated by him, and Rumi wasn't willing to bet the OMNI would fare any better. Besides, said individuals were in need of medical treatment. While Rumi was well-versed in medical treatment, he barely even dabbled in actually administering it, and all he had to work with were the gadgets within his body and a pair of first-aid kits.

Fortunately, Rumi had expected injuries to occur, so the OMNI came prepared. "As a matter of fact, I do," Rumi responded to Cora as the nanobots composing the OMNI shifted for a few seconds, and it dispensed a Medpack, a large ice pack with red packaging and a white cross on it. Of course, it was no ordinary ice pack. Inside each piece of ice contained a crystal that held a small amount of healing energy that laid dormant as long as it remained undisturbed. He was ashamed to say that he did not invent this particular piece of medicine, but it was still patented and owned by Polamor Inc, and he could not deny its usefulness. The OMNI placed it on the ground and proceeded to punch it a few times, which activated the crystals. He then placed it on Joseph's chest and it began to heal him, any small wounds slowly closing and his complexion improving slightly. "This Medpack should stabilize his condition, but it won't do much more than that," Rumi said. "He'll need some proper rest if he's going to fully recover."

With that out of the way, Rumi turned to examine Jamie, who was being treated by Pandora. Eavesdropping on a bit of the conversation, Rumi could tell this Pandora was here to help. He sighed as he remarked, "I've been meaning to give these guys some actual armor, but I hardly get a chance to meet with them outside work."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman

"Huh, haven't heard that name in a long time," Rumi remarked, having already guessed why a nonfunctional company's item would be here. Rumi tried to dig up more information about Zero, but it seemed they had covered their tracks well. Catching the piece of metal, Rumi examined it as he turned it around in his hand. The mine was a relatively simple piece of tech, useful for quick deployments but low in power. Rumi moved the piece of metal toward the OMNI's chest area, where the nanobots proceeded to grab onto it and pull it into its storage compartment. Perhaps it would give a clue about Zero.

After following Cora into the elevator, Rumi decided to use the time to take stock of the OMNI's inventory. Only a few Tar Bombs had been used, and the scarf had only received minor damage. Other than that, Rumi still had a plethora of gadgets at his disposal. He only hoped it would be enough for the coming encounters with the EAGLES. Looking back at Cora, Rumi replied, "I wouldn't have said that if it wasn't true." Rumi would have liked to add some more charm to the conversation, but the current situation took precedence. Being in the middle of enemy territory was no place for flirting. He cleared his throat, eager to change the flow of the conversation, and asked, "Shall I fix up your arm while we still have time? I can at least make it so it won't break down at a critical moment." To emphasize the point, the OMNI raised its right hand and transformed its fingers into various tooltips.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman

Rumi continued pointing the taser at the unfortunate goon for a moment, then sighed and disassembled the weapon back into the OMNI's arm. "Stay out of trouble," Rumi advised him as he walked over to Cora. When Rumi heard the beeping, he instinctively activated Overclock to give him some time to think. Cora had activated a booby trap, a trip mine by the sounds of it. Even with Overclock enhancing the OMNI's speed, it wasn't possible to move fast enough to shield her from the blast. All Rumi could do was hope that the mine wasn't strong enough to severely damage Cora's body. After she slammed into the wall, the OMNI darted to her side and performed a quick diagnostic scan. "I'm fine, the blast didn't even reach me. I'm more worried about you," Rumi replied. It seemed the right side of her body took most of the damage, and fortunately, the damage was minimal. Her right arm was still operational, but it wouldn't last long in any strenuous situations. Repairs would be simple, but would also take time they didn't have right now.

Rumi looked out at the hallway, wondering who the hell built this building to be so nonsensical. A hallway filled with traps on this high a floor seemed so incredibly nonsensical to him. He couldn't imagine what this tower would be guarding that it would need to have explosive traps installed into it. And what was that solitary Wings of Law member doing in here, anyway? The OMNI knelt down and placed its left hand on the ground, the arm detaching itself from the elbow. It then broke down into a pile of nanobots and reassembled themselves into a group of small, four-legged drones. The OMNI's visor also began to glow blue, having switched to an x-ray vision-like filter to more easily see any hidden traps. Once one of the drones found a trap, it would detach a piece of a leg and have the nanobots enter the trap and disable its trigger mechanisms, then move on to repeat the process.

"This will pave a way for us," Rumi said, the OMNI turning its head to look at Cora. "I'll go first this time. This machine is just a little more expendable than you, and the last thing I need to see is for you to ruin that pretty face of yours again."

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Hitman

"Sure," Rumi said, following Cora into the Mini-jet. He was a little concerned with how well the Mini-jets would get them to Elmore Island, considering they were not originally designed to be used in battle, and the island would very likely have some heavy opposition waiting for them. With the current downtime, he decided that he would take a small break. "I'm going on standby, be back in a few," Rumi said to Cora before disconnecting himself from his mask, letting out a deep sigh as exited the capsule he had sealed himself in and began to stretch his muscles. Controlling a humanoid machine through a remote neural link like that was taxing on his body, mostly his brain. The use of his Overclock had not helped things either. Fortunately, there were a few energy bars and a bottle of water nearby, and Rumi tore into them as his body felt the need to recover.

While Rumi was resting, his mind was racing, thinking of potential strategies to take the paths of the least risk and hopefully keep everyone alive. It was a prison island, after all, and if that dumbass Snake Pitt was anything to go by, then there would be many would-be EAGLES members there. He sighed again, figuring he would have to wing some of it while he was there, and decided to quit dawdling and get back to controlling the OMNI. He got back into the capsule and placed the mask back on, connecting his mind to the machine. The lights on the OMNI flickered before flashing back on, and it lifted its head.

"I'm back, anything interesting happen while I was-" Rumi began to ask Cora before an explosion cut him off. Rumi couldn't feel anything through the OMNI, but the visual shaking was enough to confirm that something was very wrong. Rumi held onto his seat, fearing the worst, but soon found themselves unharmed, albeit crashed into a strange location and a large amount of green safety gel around the OMNI and Cora. "Well, glad to know that we're still alive," Rumi remarked as he began to wonder where to go next. It seemed Cora was a step ahead of him on that front, as Cora used her magnetic powers to throw the OMNI out of the cockpit and into the room where the jet had evidently crashed into. The OMNI had landed roughly, and Rumi took a second to reorient himself as he found himself in what appeared to be an interrogation room, as well as a punk with a gun pointed at them.

"Cora, there's a-" Rumi was about to warn Cora before she sprung into action, disarming the goon and dropping him. "Ok, never mind," Rumi shrugged as the OMNI walked up to the fallen goon and held up a hand, which transformed into a large taser. Electricity visibly coursed through the two prongs as Rumi began to interrogate, "You heard her. Tell us everything you know, and I may go easy on you."