Earlier in Steel Canyon a lone figure stood on the roof of one of the taller skyscrapers. It stood motionless in the middle of the building near the large radio antenna. Motionless, unaffected by the high winds of the altitude, it stood and listened....
"All units, all units, multiple 10-81 in Fools Gold area. Be advised multiple heroes already on scene.........Later today on NPR will be interviewing the leader of one of Paragon Cities' quickly rising........Love, Love will keep us together. Love wil........This is K-9 Unit 24 we are 10-11.............OK, guys, c'mere and let me tell you about all of this stuff so you know what you are looking at...This, obviously, is the live camera feed. This - is anyone in here pre-med?..." It stopped scanning as it realized this was not a normal transmission. Something in the transmission seem both familiar and odd at the same time. It continued to listen while downloading several hundred giga-bits of medical information and analyzing the transmissions. As the down load completed and the female voice continued it realized what the anomaly was, the transmission was using the same carrier wave and the cities Emergence Medical Evacuation System. After further analysis it concluded there was a 97% chance this was done so that other heroes with the proper equipment could receive the information anywhere in and around the city. It continued to listen....."This section deals with my vital signs, this all make sense to you? Pretty standard stuff for medical," it compared the information with its newest download and the statement to be accurate. "This is an area where I can send messages without speaking if I need to," it modified the display of it's visual receptors to show the additional data..."keyboard.This is a chat window, and you can type back to me here if you need to get me a message. Though... anyone got a mike? You can talk back to me if you have one...This area is where you will see any messages from the computers within the armor, most of the time you don't have to worry too much about that, though there are some errors here,because I have taken some damage... This is talking about the feeds, that is talking about some of the backup circuits, and so on... and then overall suit capacity here. The rest of these readouts deal with some scientific data, various measurements here, here, and here. Any questions?"
"Can we feature you as a guest star in the next issue of 'The Mighty Bio-Man' comic that Marty draws?"
Someone smacked the first one's head, he protested, "Hey! What'd I do? What'd I do?" and said, "No, no questions."
"All right, let's go."
The figure moved. Slowly turning in a circle to triangulate and lock in on the signal source. While it did this it opened a sub file and began downloading the statistics and parameters of the broadcasting equipment. In a few seconds it hand a fixed location. A low hum began to resinate from the being and it smoothly and nearly silently lifted of the roof and into the sky, to anyone watching it looked like the planet was suddenly pushing it way in some freakish reversal of gravity.
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"OK, so I count seven," Penny said to Erik. Her voice came through the radio in his ear perfectly, though no sound penetrated the helmet, as they watched figures shuffling out of the medical labs. "Two mortificators, one reaper, five cadavers." She looked at Erik. "It is an interesting problem from a legal standpoint: the cadavers, of course, are dead and could technically be classified as robots. The mortificators and reaper, however, are alive, and thus require a certain type of handling... I am not fond of it, but hey, I only work here... and it is worth it so that when I plant their butts in jail, they STAY there... you ready?"
High overhead a white and blue metallic figure hovered and listened to the conversation. It wait incase the heroes below attempted something for which they were not equipped. It had learned soon after arriving on our world that many of the beings heard had an often overwhelming sense of pride that often lead them to illogical and risky actions. In its earlier attempts at assisting these Earthlings it had been met with resentment and hostility for butting in where not asked and "stealing" the glory of the hero.
"Absolutely. And we can argue semantics later. I'm not fond of harming anyone either, but people like this make me sick. But they are symptoms of the overall disease... If I ever find the real Doctor Vhaz..."
Upon Erik's assertion that he was ready, Girl Genius stepped out from the shadows. "Freeze!" She told the mortificators. "I am a designated law-enforcement hero of Paragon City! You are under arrest!" Though the words were required by the city, her bored voice plainly indicated that she had no expectation of anyone actually listening. It was simply the recitation of a memorized phrase... a battle cry... a formality.
Erik suddenly surged upwards and charged the area surrounding both him and Penny with radio waves. He could feel the boost in his metabolism and grinned as the green glow engulfed them both.
High above the figure's advanced sensors detected the increase in localized radiation levels and began an assessment of hazardous material. When scans showed Erik as the cause it disregarded.
"I am also a designated enforcement hero of Paragon City, but I'm also a PROFESSOR here! You twits should KNOW better than to mess with Paragon U.!"
They all whirled on her. One of the mortificators raised his crossbow and fired. Penny ducked out of the way.
Erik floated free and moved into a flanking position when the first shot from a Mort came in.
"Why do they never listen?"
"Lets Dance... best look away, Erik," a moment later a brilliant flash lit the sky. Both mortificators clutched their faces, blinded, light seeming to leak from their eyes, as the zombies turned, and she rolled out of the way.
The figures optical units quickly filtered out the flash and returned to optimum operating capacity.
"Aggghhhh. My eyes. AAgghhhhhh!!!!!"
"Erik!" Girl Genius called. "There is someone inside the building, they didn't look away... I need to see to them, can you handle these?"
Erik was staring toward the group of body thieves with a look of concentration. Again the localized radiation levels jumped as one of the Mortificators began to glow a sickly green that appeared to be making its' accomplices ill.
"Yeah I have them. You nab whomever is in the building, but be careful! If they broke into the labs then they could have all sorts of chemicals and surgical tools!"
Erik re-focused on the Vhaz below. They were struggling with the effects of the wasting radiation but still trying to get to him. Erik inhaled and could feel the charge building in his arms. He tugged at the loose protons and electrons from the isotopes in his body and fired forth a wave that smashed into the day-of-the-dead wannabe's. The zombies went flying back while the Morts reeled...
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"Omega Guard to Sentinels PRIME. This unit has discovered a situation that may require our intervention. Initiating up link and data transfer now. Suggest any availably members coordinated contact at indicated coordinates."
A voice came back over the comm channel. It was quiet but clear, cold and full of infinite patience like something from beyond the grave, "This is Macabre, OG. We have received your message and I will see who can respond."
Omega Guard followed Erik still keeping out of the way. It edited its earlier assessment of the radiation emitting hero below him after Erik had so easily defeated the group of 7 Vahziloks earlier.
"Listen, this may help - the Vahz that took the notebook was a Luminous, that means they should have raised radiation levels, you may be able to track them. I... I should be coming with you as backup... But if the Vahz have opened a new lab and we lose them now..." There was no need to finish the sentence. "And Harris is hardly an innocent but... we can't just leave him to be vivisected..." She paused. "As for us... we're deep... we're very deep. Six levels and counting."
"Dear God..."
"Omega Guard to Sentinels PRIME, additional information : subjects have split up. Subject 1 : Girl Genius has gone done into the lower levels on her own. Assessment : while her suit's ability to control light may keep here hidden it lacks the necessary combat abilities for that location. Estimated survivability once she enters combat at 8% given current damage to armor and lack of support. Subject 2 : Mighty Bio-Man is searching for information that may place innocents close to him in extreme danger. As per my Primary Directive 4 I am following Bio-man."
With its advanced radar Omega Guard was able to see the layout of the sewer tunnels and that just ahead of Bio-Man they would open up into a much larger connecting chamber with 4 other access points. It was also able to detect the 32 additional figures waiting to ambush Erik. Quickly altering its path to a side tunnel the armored Sentinel put on a burst of speed and shot off into the dark to circle around the chamber ahead.
"You son of a..."
Several crossbows were cocked suddenly and the Lumi wisked a finger through the air back and forth.
"Tut tut now Erik... Calling me names is hardly coming quietly is it?"
Omega Guard turned a bend in the tunnel and came to a sudden halt. The tunnel schematics it had downloaded showed the way before him to be open but something had recently caused it to cave in. Quickly it potted a new course and headed out.
