PowerSWAT

Yay! G's big man... what's next?

[ QUOTE ]
You dissing my SG mate

[/ QUOTE ]

If that was a query, then yes I am. If that was a statement, then... yes, I am. Don't take it personal-like bud, I just don't sport them as a scheme (well, all-black maybe) since that green is too piercing, man, too piercing.

I mean how can we kick-[censored] scrappers instill fear into the hearts of AV's when we look like anthroform constructs of lime jelly?

I had a little MA/Regen who was quite a highup in the GBH for a while... then I deleted him I've recently, you see, rebuilt him as Claws/Regen (DO NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT MARVEL CHARACTER) and am having much more fun. And he's in the SG too!

Just one thing... why bright green? It hurts my eyes! And you get a coalition team going, and it looks a bit... comic. And I don't mean as in comic-book. I think people are put off by our colourscheme.

[ QUOTE ]
If nothing else but to spare PowerSWAT's heart

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, the gorgeous Miss Insequence... she must be written into a story I feel... Hmm... strong willed fiery brunettes FTW

Bit late in coming, Rangers, but here's the tale of SWAT's promotion. Featuring and with the approval of Sun Beam.

Note to Jiaozy - it's not MY opinion mate, rather a little fluff for the story I love you really and you're a great bloke, so I know you can take a little taunt

-----------------------------------------------------------

PowerSWAT stood at the podium next to Frozen Rogue. The blue skinned Ranger was still seemingly just a kid, but standing there behind the lectern his voice filled the room, easily commanding the attention of the Rangers assembled before him in the Base’s main hall.

Only freshly promoted himself, the new Commander was still reeling from the death of his mentor, Doulos. A round of Squad-Leader promotions was due, but with the passing of the former commander, nobody felt the need to press his replacement on the issue. Among the Rangers, Doulos had commanded astounding levels of respect and loyalty, having achieved an almost mythical status amongst the newer members - and from SWAT’s point of view, it looked to be almost certain that Rogue would follow on in that regard.

Beyond Rogue, the petite form of Sun Beam stood, hands clasped behind her back. They both knew why there were there - the formalisation of a moment they’d shared… and that’s not to say an in-group wedding. Aside from the fact that Pete Baker had a wife and children already, Sun Beam had become every bit the big sister figure in these last few months.

He’d not been paying attention and was startled as Rogue and SB switched places. She winked as they glanced at each other, wiping her brow in an exaggerated gesture that brought a grin to SWAT’s face. As she began speaking, he thought back to the origin of that shared joke…

------x------x------x------x------

Back then, I’d been in a bit of a state. I hate to admit it, but Vicky - that’s the wife - had been threatening me with divorce. Things are better now, but it really got to me at the time.

My Security rating was only 31, not even licensed for a nuke, though the armour’s Nova Device was already installed and worked fine in test scenarios. At that time for some reason I was still mostly stuck between Talos Island and Steel Canyon as far as assignments went. Occasionally helping out the PD or lower level Rangers with anything that needed some extra juice.

I’d not seen too much team action in a while, since that lumbering egotist J. Brute had publicly slated me for the massive knock back the suit’s AoE blasts caused. He and I are cool nowadays (though we don’t see too much of him) since that the techs tuned down the Explosive blast. He still always wants to be the centre of attention though… handy character trait in a Tank.

Anyway, as I was saying… teams had been few and far between aside from aiding Stainless Steel, Sound Blaster and the like. So it was a bit of a surprise when I got a private comm-call from Sun Beam.

“SWAT, it’s Sun Beam. How you doin’? More importantly, can you lend me a hand? Like NOW?” Remembering the tone of her voice still makes me grin - authority, wisdom and a little desperation combined with her own irrefutable charisma.

Of course I responded in the affirmative, and she told me how to get to her - only requiring a quick flight to the nearest station and a creative abuse of my Hero Status to coax the train driver into dropping me (literally) in an unusual location.

Jumping from a moving train is not normally something that I enjoy, but the anti-grav systems in the armour caught me easily enough, lowering me gently to the floor. I flipped up the HUD toggle in my helmet activating the full D.C.S. suite - that’s Data, Communications and Scanning for you non-technophiles out there.

The semi-autonomous software “knowbots” sought out and captured the passive signal from Sun Beam’s communications beacon, displaying her vital statistics for my on-screen amusement and activating the auto-update map-share function. Suddenly I was enlightened as a black screen was criss-crossed with the paths she’d taken, a tiny green triangle showing exactly where the boss-lady was holed up.

“Be very careful SWAT, they’re not cheerleaders and they definitely don’t want to date you”

That much was obvious. The area where I stood was clear but in the distance toward SB, my little targeting drone showed me the enemy.

Biometric data was combined with the limited visual information and submitted to the TIM database - again (to help out with those TLA’s) that’s the Target Identification Matrix. Within the blink of an eye I had all the available information… which was next to nothing. Group Affiliation: “Knives of Artemis.”

So, these femme fatales were out gunning for Sun Beam then? With all their little tricks and gadgets?

Well, it takes one to arrest one, or so they say.

Sun Beam and I engaged in a brief discussion as to exactly why I could teleport Perps but not team mates. After a lot of verbal shrugging, we resigned ourselves to just taking the Knives out of action.

I’m sure Sun Tzu mentions it in the Art of War. It’s not a new tactic. But I’m still PCPD at heart, so rather than “Double horn of Wildebeest” or something I’ll just call it a Two-Pronged assault. Sun Beam came in from the north, me from the south, with a big bunch of these psychotic women in the middle.

I laid down mines. Lots of mines. And threw down lots of caltrops. The Drone circled my head, fritzing and fuzzing in my ear that he could barely keep track of them. Moaning like a baby he was. Whoever heard of a targeting drone with an AI anyway?

Battle ensued. I have to confess, I didn’t think that I’d last it out without ending up ‘ported to Talos’ medical centre, but after blowing all my power and reserves twice over, as well as all my emergency booster packs and nano-stimulants, I managed it. Hell, I even used a web grenade or two in the battle, something I’ve not done since the fourth week of the test program. At one point, the suit was so strapped for go-juice that I was running up to these women and just hitting them.

Yeah, with my hands!

After the battle for the clearing was over, I was pretty spent. The armour was blackened and scorched in places, marring the prestigious ranger colours I sported, and there were caltrops stuck in my boots - impressive since they’re entirely of a Rikti Alloy.

As the Zig’s teleporters got to work on the unconscious perps, I joined SB over at this… thing they had been defending. She looked closely at it, prising off a stone plate, revealing glowing crystals beneath. With a frown she began to delicately touch each crystal in sequence, sending little jolts of energy down their length from her dainty fingertips.

It all meant precisely squat to me, so in the respite from combat I removed my helmet, laying it on the floor as I peered over her shoulder. Leaning forward to see deeper into the recess, I could discern moving parts which jumped and jittered as she supplied those miniscule jolts of power to them.

I didn’t know what this machine was meant to do, but as I crouched there a drop of sweat must have fallen from my brow onto some sensitive part - suddenly everything went chaotic! Maybe the presence of water, or salt, or bio matter had triggered some arcane guard on whatever it was, or maybe it was a technological device busted by the water content alone, but the crystals began to hum loudly, coursing through with colour, even as the moving elements started to dance before our eyes.

I could see from the look on her face that Sun Beam considered this to be a bad thing. Sparks of energy shot from her fingers, aimed at the parts of the machine in motion, trying to still them, but to no avail. The energy that was normally so accurate in aim was being siphoned off into the general aura of power within the device. As the pace increased, I could see only one course of action.

Those of you familiar with the tale of how I became the man I am today will know that “man” isn’t necessarily the best term. Part Synthetic human maybe? Cyborg even, though I don’t like that term… too Sci-Fi-Nerd. Regardless, fate and circumstance “blessed” me with synthetic parts to replace those lost in an encounter with some less than pleasant gang members. Hopefully that would prove to be my advantage here.

I quickly removed the gauntlet from my right hand - the focussed crystals in the energy emitters wouldn’t like what I had in mind. The dark metal of my hand caught little sparkling reflections from the machine.

I held my breath, ushered Sun Beam aside and thrust my arm inside the machine, grabbing hold of whatever I could. The actions of a desperate mind.

The great thing about all this is that there was no pain involved in the action. People have said that it was brave to do, but I didn’t care about the arm. I couldn’t feel anything much - only sensations registering pressure and temperature, but only in the most rudimentary, detached of ways. My arm began to smoulder in the energy field and the last two fingers of my hand were torn from their moorings by the frantic race of the mechanism, but I felt not a thing.

Slowly, the pressure began to decrease, eventually ceasing altogether. I felt drained as the adrenaline rush abated, sitting down heavily.

“You okay? SWAT? Pete, are you OKAY?” I looked around at Sun Beam, wearily regarding her.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so. What just happened?”

“Long or short version?” she asked.

I was intrigued, but still too tense to sit through a lengthy tale. “Short please.”

“You just put your hand inside a techno-magical hybrid explosive device with a yield roughly one eighth that of the bomb that hit Hiroshima…”

“Oh.”

I couldn’t think of much else to say on the matter. Then I thought back on the sequence of events, wiping the sweat from my brow as I was faced with a realisation: “I suppose it’s only fair - I made it go all fritzy… what are you laughing at?”

Sun Beam knelt on the grass near me, giggling like a schoolgirl, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. The tension of the moment had obviously made something funny.

“Wrong hand, SWAT!” She picked up my discarded helmet and showed me my reflection in the visor. Grease, soot, and melted rubber stuck to my brow and hair, making me look like some half-baked Freak experiment. Of course I was right handed… and therein lay the problem of unconscious gestures.

“Oh.” I said again.

Sun Beam helped me to my feet, swabbing my brow with the hem of her cape like some kind of fussing parent. “Nicely done. I’d say that’s a pass.”

“Pass?”

“Yeah. We have something to discuss.”

“Does it involve me getting a new hand?”

------x------x------x------x------

Sun Beam was shining like her name sake on the podium, addressing the Rangers. As one of the most respected and experienced - an Elite Mentor - she held their attention with ease.

“So, it is with great pleasure that I announce the promotion of PowerSWAT to the rank of Squad Leader, with all the responsibilities and privileges of that rank.”

SWAT took the centre spot amidst a round of polite applause. He was far from knowing all of the Rangers by name - even by face - but that would have to change.

“Thanks Sun Beam, this is really a great honour. Thankyou.” He cleared his throat, adopting his stern, “bad cop” face. “As my first official action I’m delegating all my armoury shifts to Beet and Devi.”

Many in the crowd got the joke and a chuckle spread amongst them. A classic get-out in the whole “unaccustomed as I am to public speaking” game. “Seriously though, it is a great honour. I’d like you all to know that I’m here for any of you at any time. Also, although I’m not active in the PD anymore, they’ve given me the rank of Lieutenant in Absentia, which means I get all the juice with none of the work, so I should be able to pull more strings than before, to avoid some of the problems we’ve had in the past. Male Rangers under arrest indeed… Now I can be the semi-official liaison between us and them.

Us and them? SWAT thought on the phrase as he said it. He wasn’t a cop anymore, and hadn’t been fro some time, but it hadn’t’ really occurred to him that the Rangers had become like a real family to him.

His new home.

“Rangers, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

Heh... I'd say well done, but that's not really relevant to you is it boss? It comes as naturally to you as walking and breathing, so I guess if you're "used to it" its no big thing!

Still, to us mere mortals, you a paragon. Keep going! Gimme three more like that soldier! (and at least one with big knockers please - oops, too late )

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
End result is that multiple-Controller teams are really, really, insanely Laggy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed that up for ya.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed that up for ya.

Probably before that, actually...

I gotta say mate, I didn't know that. I thought you were just a brainless tank.

A darn GOOD brainless tank, but not a blaster.

I take it all back, eat humble pie etc...

But I still don't want lessons from you blasting with knockback has its own style... I challenge you to make an En/Dev blaster - not to compete with me/commander beet, but rather to experience the joys of the powerset choice!

Heh... matches my "Love me, love my knockback" bind

And a healthy ego is good in a tank - even wrote JB into a story in progress in such a light...

But blasting? You? I'll believe it when I see it...

Yo Steelman...

Not much help, possibly, but SWAT's En/Dev, and I teamed with Sound Blaster the other day, so I've got my own 0.2 inf to add...

Sonics: Sleeps debuffs look good (not really into it as the fx drive me nuts) but I'd think having played a mind/* controller that sleeps would lend themselves more to soloing than team work, unless you have a good (read: coalition) team who know not to wake them up!

Devices: Should ask Doulos about this, as his experience will be greater than mine. As it stands, I only have the following powers from this set, and will outline their usefulness - AS I SEE IT - in my own ever so humble opinion.

Web Grenade:
First power in set. Have to take it. It will be used early on in the game, but you'll find that your primary set will hold better and longer, as you probably won't want to spend slots on this power. Normally, now, it only gets used in anti-AV teams where we have few/no 'trollers and no ice blaster Not so good.

Caltrops:
Respecced into this recently, at Rogue's reccomendation, and now wonder why I didn't take it initially. Not useful everywhere of course, but is handy in the right situation - chokepoints being one, but also when you have a static mass of mobs for some fun DoT action. Also, with Trip Mine, you can use 'trops to cover the centre of a corridor, thus promptin mobs around the sides (and over your mines) if you back up far enough!

Targetting Drone:
Take it, use it, love it. 3 targeting buffs and endreds if you can spare slots. Never leave home without it.

Cloaking Device:
As for the Drone, it's a staple. Means you can skip the stealth pool for the most part (though it's not as reliable as invisibility) and doesn't slow you like Stealth itself, this saves me from a lot of aggro, combined with flight

Trip Mine:
Hell yeah. Not just for blowing up -15 mobs in Kings Row (heh), this is best applied in controllable areas like doorways, but is UBER fun if you've got a 3acc slotted TP Foe to play the old telemining game with (thanks to Doulos for that tip).

Auto Turret:
Not really had time to view it much, having only just got it (only because I couldn't think of anything better). Apparently you can TP this around after you if you have Recall Friend, even into the air. I'd like to see if you can get it TP'd 'round a corner to aggro mobs whilst you stay out of sight. Plant a mine under it if you're facing melee enemies, for added defense and comedy value. Extra AV bashing juice, since it is a pain to plant mid-battle, and AV's are the only foes that'll be around long enough for it to be of use. Also handy for putting outside doors that you KNOW lead to occupied rooms, like the entrance way of Terra Volta.


There... that's it. I don't have smoke grenade, taser or time bomb... and something else maybe? can't remember. Anyway, hope that helps a little...

Rangers, HOOOOO!

MagikMan, otherwise known as... well, Mr Everyone, is the key guy to speak to. His alt-itis is immense and although he is not the capo-di-tutti-capi, he certainly ranks highest amongs teh consiglieri, since he knows everyone and all their alts. And their villains. And their shoe sizes.

[ QUOTE ]
If you want in AC im the man to speack to.

[/ QUOTE ]

In fact, despite what dear Rocky claims, it can be argued that he is not in fact the man to speack to (or speak to), EVER. He's loud, boistrous and aggressive, and after meeting him at the Brightone comic convention, I can trythfully say he actually scares the living [censored] outta me. Probably would more now he's quit smoking
To be fair, though (and to avoid him killing me to death a couple of times), if you can listen past the frequent profanities, the man knows his stuff - the ego's just the staple of the tanker mindset!

Hmm... ego=tanker... must write that into a story...

I refuse to have my good name attached to this display of outright mockery of a very serious subj...

Aw, tohellwithit... it was funny as hell

And if you saw what my cat's do to my house sometimes you'd see why a Nova is oft considdered therein...

[ QUOTE ]
so go easy on me but be honest

[/ QUOTE ]

No problems that really stand out, bit it's BORED not board, and BOUGH not bow.

Okay?

That's great stuff man, I was laughing my head off... if I can get a mic I'll put my love-lost hero version of Brown Eyed Girl down someday

Unfortunately I'm planning to get the rest of the "power*" toons up post-SWAT, otherwise I'd say yay... still, I thought I'd post here and compliment the boss on a good plan! Still, I shall be available to you all as a stand-in for any times your 8-man becomes a 7-man due to absence - I can always Exemp SWAT down - anything for the team!

I knew you could find something more constructive to do with your insomnia mate good stuff!

Amazing! I found the centre, background portion on fleetfoot to be very immersive!

Good stuff YF - you gonna be all twisted now?

Okay, here's the last bit. No fun cameos here (apart from some name-stealing) but I hope it wraps things up nicely. Maybe now I can get around to writing my promotion story!

--------------------------------

The metallic monstrosity loomed over PowerSWAT, the blaster in its fist pointing unerringly at his head. SWAT’s optic implant assessed the strengths of the robot, analysing its structure and displaying it all in a heads-up for his perusal - but all he could see was the barrel glaring at him.

Attack the machine? Wait for certain death? What choice was there?

In his preoccupation with the synthetic beast, the arrival of a second robot came as a little bit of a surprise. The name plate proclaiming this one as “HALO,” the second clacked a wicked looking pair of pincers in the hero’s direction.

There was no way, from his disadvantaged position, that SWAT would be able to take both of these. Still, there was a chance (however remote) that death would not be at their hands, so he resigned himself to wait it out. His inaction was proved wise when the small speaker on DOULOS’ chest issued forth the single word “#FOLLOW#”

Carefully, so as not to antagonise his captors, Baker rose to his feet, hands well away from his body and still as he could make them. Hero and robots made a small precession as they led him fore and aft around the side of the warehouse - though not toward the main entrance as expected.

PowerSWAT’s day was rapidly getting worse as robot DOULOS led him into another makeshift clearing of crates at the rear of the building. A third robot waited in the yard, larger than the others. It stepped toward him, seemingly unarmed, and came to a stop just short of actually walking over the hero.

As Baker stared at its nameplate - this one was apparently designated “AFROSTORM” - the whole front portion of the robot began to move, rotating to reveal what appeared to be a monitor of some sort. Digits scrolled across the screen too fast to follow, to be replaced by a crystal clear image of a woman, face shrouded by a cloth mask. He was about to speak when the “face” revealed itself to be nothing more than a recording, speaking through the robot with disturbing clarity.

“Greetings, Hero of Paragon City. Rest easy, for you will not be harmed. If you are perceiving this recording in whatever form, then you have been identified by these automata as a member of what is colloquially known as the “One-AT Coalition.” These robots are not permitted to harm you at base programming level, and therefore bring you this message: whatever activities brought you to their attention must cease forthwith, as you are obviously very close to infringing on a very in-depth long term undercover operation. Your discretion is requested - required - in order to preserve the sanctity of the operation and so as to not put the operative - that’s me by the way - in jeopardy.
“Whilst my mechanical minions are not permitted to harm you, they are quite capable of pacifying you should you opt to disregard this message, and so it would be best all ‘round if you acquiesce. Rest assured that any activities perpetrated in my presence are being documented for court proceedings, and that the mission is sanctioned by the Paragon City Police Department, the Freedom Phalanx Judiciary Committee, and Statesman himself. Should you wish to verify this, contact Nathaniel Emery in PCPD special ops, reference code 8300632A-711. Note that a security clearance of at least level 48 is required to access sensitive information.
“My thanks in anticipation for your cooperation.”

SWAT stood in stunned silence as the screen closed itself away. He didn’t know what to say, what to do - the whole idea that there was a mole in whatever group had taken Price was ridiculous - if that were the case, then why had they not notified the authorities of his whereabouts?

A scream - pain and anguish rather than fear - pierced the failing light. SWAT knew that something had to be done, despite the canned message. Surely no hero, undercover or not, would risk a life to maintain their mission. These creatures were working on their basic programming, having been left to guard the warehouse’s perimeter. He addressed the big grey one.

“Robot, are you going to stop me entering this warehouse?”

There was a pause before it responded. “#AFFIRMATIVE#”

“Have you been left specific instructions to that effect?”

“#NEGATIVE#”

“Can you request updated instructions from your controller?”

“#PROCESSING… NEGATIVE. FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS ARE UNAVAILABLE AT THIS…#”

A shadow fell over AFROSTORM mid-speech. She (for Baker considered the female aspect to be appropriate given her rather attractive namesake) never made it to the end as the massive form of PowerSIEGE landed right on top of her, driving her metallic bulk to the ground, his weight and the force of his jump shearing her “head” from her torso.

SWAT spun, ready to take out the Ranger-named drones, only to find them hovering in mid air. He could see the two remaining PowerMed officers beyond them, Kat’s petite form maintaining a gravitic hold on the robots. Ever one to avoid an actual fight, Jon slipped off the gauntlet of the original Med armour and daintily deactivated the pair, removing key power relays from each. As the ‘bots were lowered as soundlessly as possible to the floor, all four team members moved in close to the wall.

“Hey there Kenny… you call for help?” Jon was sorting items from a large carryall onto the ground at their feet - the upgraded SWAT armour.

“It’s Pete. Kenny Baker’s a dwarf actor you schmuck.”

“I know, but once we’re done here SIEGE is probably gonna’ compact you down to R2-D2 size after that stunt you pulled at your place, so I thought I’d get ahead with the name calling. Get your glad-rags on, we’ve gotta go rescue Bruce Lee.”

With SWAT suited up, cybernetics interfacing seamlessly with the new armour’s systems, the four Powers made their way around to the entrance of the building. The screams from within were becoming more frequent now, and they needed to act quickly.

Elementary hero teaming 101 - tank first, holds next, shoot third and heal later. Matters were complicated by the presence of the undercover operative, but they couldn’t risk blowing her cover by going easy on these crooks.

SIEGE’s massive fist made kindling of the ageing wooden door as he announced the team’s presence. Storming into the building, the reactive blast-plate of his helmet equalised the lighting within to make the interior a safe place to fight. He was ready for a horde of enemies, but there were only three people in the room.

First, centrally placed in the large space, Matt Price sat tied to a rigid metal chair. The Med-RS armour had apparently been stripped from him, and without its computer systems to control them, the Nanites in his body lacked a “brain” to focus them on his wounds. Several viscous looking cuts criss-crossed his upper body, and an intravenous drip met both arms, a bag of sickly green fluid sagging on the table to his side, next to a wickedly big syringe. Blood trails ran from eyes, ears, nose - but for the barely perceptible breathing he might as well have been a corpse.

Just beyond the chair, where darkness would theoretically shroud them, stood two others. One was the woman from the recording, sporting figure-hugging metallic armour not unlike the Power-team, she hefted a large energy weapon. The other was a man, attired in bikers’ leathers. An assault rifle was slung from his shoulder, but otherwise he appeared unarmed. Slowly, passively, his hands came up, removing the Arachnos-style helmet he wore.

“Hold it right the… Unwin? Is that you?”

The villain dropped the helmet to the floor. The clang punctuated Baker’s question, its echoes resounding off the walls momentarily as the rest of the team linked the name to the original PowerSWAT beta-tester. “Officer Baker. How are you? Don’t you look all resplendent and heroic - a real poster-boy. Now, STEP THE HELL BACK, or I blow your chum into little chunks, you scan?”

Unwin had raised his hand for all to see, a small remote control glinting in what little light was available. “The techs were kind enough to leave some of your prototype toys in the lab, and I thought I’d give them a new home. I’m almost out - Longbow have been giving me a good run for my money - but this little baby’s linked to a good old fashioned boom-boom hitched right up under your buddy’s backside, so just take yourselves a chill-pill or three and keep yourselves on that side of the room, huh?”

Baker raised his hands in the international gesture for “okay, you win,” taking a step back. The others followed his lead. “Who’s the lady, Kyle? Your new girlfriend?”

“I don’t go by that name anymore, I live again - but I won’t fill you in on the gaps that easy. Lets just say that this young lady and I have some things in common - foremost a distinct dislike for you and that grey-haired pratt Professor Gill. She agreed to help me out once she’d heard about the modern art I’d made of your armour vault. See you went to a new tailor, by the way…”

Baker removed his own helmet, dropping it to the floor. He threw down his gauntlets too, as he spoke. “Whatever you’re calling yourself these days, and whatever your beef is with The Grey Man, I don’t really care. We were told you were dead - killed in the first Beta-test failure. I have no issues with you, and neither does Price here. Let’s all just calm down and we’ll ta…”

“NO! No, there’s nothing to talk about. That colour-challenged pillock and his cronies sent me to hell in four walls and I’m gonna make them pay good and proper! You haven’t felt isolation until you’ve experienced life for a cop on the inside. It not just the body, they try to kill your mind!” He slowed for a second, collecting his thoughts and steadying his breathing. “Lets put it this way, Officer. One second in the Zig is too much. I’m going to kill that grey-haired pencil pusher and everyone else I feel like disposing of along the way. Including all of you. But not tonight baby, oh no. Right now I have exactly what I wanted from your little scrapper, and a chummer of mine’s grabbed me some other bits and bobs from one of Crey’s Reverant labs. I’m all set for my big comeback. So, if you’ll excuse me…”

Unwin began to back toward the door, the female moving to open it for him as she backed out too. Unwin chuckled, waving the remote about like a magic wand. “We’d very much like to make ourselves scarce without being followed. If you’d be so kind as to stay put, that would be just peachy. If not… well, Izzy Wizzy Let‘s Get Bitty is gonna be all over the place, and I don‘t think the young lady wants to be washing bits of her boyfriend out of her hair, what what?”

SIEGE let out a growl. Kat whimpered slightly. PowerMed was trying to see if he could assess Price’s condition. SWAT pointed out the glaringly obvious, as he was wont to do. “Unwin, you’re totally unhinged.”

“YESSIROONIE! Barking mad, that’s me. And it’s gonna get a whole HELLUVALOT better! Watch this space… PowerSWAT.” He made his way through the door with a parting comment. “Oh, and you’ve got about fifteen seconds or so ‘til that mine goes off anyway. Tee Tee Eff Enn!”

The door closed with a thunderous bang. The team members swore if as one, jumping into action.

For his part - all he could really do - Coombes fired off the “last ditch” energy transfusion incorporated into his suit, healing Price for whatever it was worth. Kat’s input was to raise the whole chair with it’s occupant still attached into the air where Baker could get to it.

“Damndamndamndamn…” Even with his gauntlets already off, it was fiddly and time consuming trying to prise the limpet-like mine from the chair. Precious seconds were lost ripping at the haphazard mess of cloth tape holding it in place. Time ticked away with gruesome inevitability. The tape fell away, revealing the mine in its entirety, showing them that Unwin had almost comically etched the word “Boom!” into the surface…

Probably just before he’d glued the mine to the chair.

Under five seconds, at a guess.

Dan Malcolm struck a concealed toggle within his helmet, dumping all remaining power to the suit’s systems. Snatching the chair out of mid-air, he wrenched the thing apart, tearing the base and rear legs away, dropping the bleeding body to the floor. Crouching down, the newly installed Gravitic Repulsors strained with the influx of power. More and more energy streamed into their capacitors as the offensive and defensive systems drained to fuel just one leap.

One second left maybe? SIEGE went hurtling upward, bursting through the ceiling, the remains of the chair clutched tightly to his chest. Out through the roof he went, old tiles raining down behind him in the night like darkened, cutting confetti.

Up and up he travelled, until the capacitors could not eke out a single graviton more.

Kind of like flying, he thought… so peaceful…




------------------------------------------------------------




<<EPILOGUE>>

Two days later, the team was reconvened in Atlas park for a meeting. Many things had changed in that time, most notably changes in the team roster. Although Sergeant Malcolm had lived through the explosion, his quality of life was now in some doubt. His armour all but obliterated in the blast, his rapid fall back to earth had injured him severely. Although he was in a stable collision, he’d be in no condition to get back out on the streets any time soon. Likewise Matt Price, although technically alive, had been transferred from the Chiron centre to a specialist care home where he would be looked after, the ordeal seemingly having had terrible repercussions on his psyche.

The Med-G project had been scrapped when Kat Harper had refused to don her armour again, citing minimal combat effectiveness as a reason for her trepidation. She’d promptly transferred to the SWAT program and was working in conjunction with the tech heads on creating a new defensive unit. More plans were on the table, all bearing in mind this threat to the team specifically.

Baker, although officially reprimanded for his actions, was permitted to stay in the project, and along with PowerMed - who had since applied to join the SNHS following his epiphany in Skyway City - formed the core members of the new team.

With the destruction of their labs in Atlas, the project had moved to a new base of operations in a renovated council base. Within the rough-hewn caves beneath Kings Row they now conducted training and testing in as much secrecy as they could manage, all further heroic duties now being carried out under the auspices of the One-AT coalition, working with the Group Commanders to effectively integrate the program with the other Heroes of Paragon City.

In the large central hall, they convened. Professor Gill, the Grey haired scientist, now a fully fledged member of the Union Overlords himself under the guise of PowerSWAT-RC, headed up the meeting.

The subject? Kyle Unwin - the truth about what happened - and the mysterious undercover agent they would come to know as PowerCORE.

/em gulp!

"I love the Americans, but not when they try to talk French. What a blessing it is that they never try to talk English."

-Saki

Found this little beauty in my lovely little book "More Brit Wit" - and who said it was a useless christmas gift?

I deleted Reviresco last night to do a bit of a Deluge on him - ie I rerolled him with different powersets.

What this means, of course, is that I'm no longer a Ranger and therefore have lost my invite privileges too.

Can I come back in please, Mr Twisted? It's cold out here!

Funny stuff, TG, and well made (as one would expect from a being of your genius-ness).

In my n00b-ness I was astounded at the dancing Statesman etc - how's that achieved?

Funny stuff, TG, and well made (as one would expect from a being of your genius-ness).

In my n00b-ness I was astounded at the dancing Statesman etc - how's that achieved?

Dev, Beet... you naughty naughty boys!