The Sound of Heavy Metal (IC)

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst watched the caped figure take the attack head on, but even more so the effects of his abilities on the angry mist which was now becoming more coherent. Smiling, she gave the man a thumbs up before lining up the shot. She lined up the chemical round at the semisolid mass of shifting mist and shot out several rounds in sucession before she was certian she had hit it. It was hard to tell, but some of them had definitely burst on the now solid bits of the mass.

[Supercape]

GM

"What's this?" shrieked heavy metal. "What have you done?" he wailed, panicking. He actually poked himself at the chest.

"No, no!" he turned to Catalyst, waving his hands in front of her. "You can't shoot! It won't work! Bullets wont work on me! Hahahaha!" he laughed weakly.

"No, no, please! You can't if you hit me I will, err... explode! that's right I will expl..." he screamed as she aimed and fired.

As the gun exploded onto his chest he flew backwards, propelled by the force of the impact.

"..ooooode..." he whispered as he flew back, the breath escaping from his lungs and the lights dimming from his eyes and he slipped into unconsciousness.

[Aoiroo]

The glowing angry mist got pushed back but the burst into the concrete structure protecting the parking structures staircase from the rain. He was solid enough that he didn't go through it and just fell crumpled to the ground. Catalyst trailed her weapon on the form as it moved making sure he was really down before letting out a breath and quickly taking appart the long distance rifle and putting it back in it's case. With it closed and locked she slid off the side then walked ot the back of the van opening the door and stowing the case as well as doing something else while she was out of sight.

It was about a minute before she climbed back out of the van. Her now gloveless dark hands held a bottled water as well as a small packet of powder which she shook into it before closing and shaking before walking over to Supercape.

"Huw ware..."

She paused befre reaching up and pulling down the yellow cloth covering her mouth,

"Sorry, I forgot it's rather hard to talk with this thing. How are you feeling? You inhaled some nasty stuff when you were muddling through the fog. Though I guess I am partially to blame, my fog is usually quite impossible to see throught without the right equipment."

Reaching up she tapped her blue lensed goggles with a nicely manicured fingernail.

[Supercape]

"Good shot madam!" replied Supercape, enthusiastically.

"It was, I confess, a chemical hell in there. And yes, I Imagine I will be coughing up my lungs for a day or two. Probably should have a check up or something. Hopefully I didn't inhale anything too toxic..."

He walked over to the prostrate form of Heavy Metal.

"But here is the real toxin, I am afraid. My old friend Heavy Metal. Don't get too close, he is radioactive. As long as he is kept away from anything radioactive himself, he should revert back to his more...regular...form sooner or later. And as normal, with no memory of the event. Best to keep it that way, the poor man. Not that I can say I am fond of him personally, but it's best he is kept in the dark about the whole thing..."

[Aoiroo]

"Based on my observations, I am guessing you likely inhaled military grade arsenic trichloride, here drink this."

She tossed him the bottle in a long arch,

"It's essentually anti-acid, it will help soothe any burning you may have in your throat. However, what you inhaled is indeed very toxic, you should go to the hospital immediately and get treatment. Also, I am curious, what does keeping him in the dark benefit? If this has happened before, I do not think it does anything to prevent the transformations. It may be a shock, and I think he has a very poor situation about losing direct control over his actions like that but what if he kills someone?"

[Supercape]

"It is a good point, and a fair question" replied Supercape, sorrowfully.

"However, the man himself has an affliction. He isn't responsible for his actions... he just gets changed, accidentally, into the person you see before you."

"If he were to know the truth... I don't know. Would it be worse, or better? would he start to seek out the change? or avoid it? The thing is, if he ever really knew what he was, and what he could become, Freedom City could end up with a much bigger problem on its hands. And what if he let the secret out? what if some super villain or another ended up triggering the change?"

He scratched his chin.

"I don't know the answer. It's a sad story, and I don't think its the final chapter. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to tell him..."

[Aoiroo]

"Well we very well can't let him go free, but we can neither lock him up for something beyond his control. Have you contacted the Freedom League about this predictament, they are probably more readily prepared for dealing with sort of thing. This is most likely not the only known case of dissociative idenity disorder that they have dealed with. At the very least there should be something done to safely contain his. Whatever the trigger, if he's truly radioactive his mere presense is a threat not only to him, but to everyone around him, his family especially."

It really was a very sad predictament, an alternate personality wrecking habic like that. It is no wonder Supercape has had such a tough time.

[Supercape]

"I know, it's an impossible problem" scratched Supercape. He had mused over this problem for weeks, but he couldn't for the life of him see what the right thing to do was.

"You may be right. But as far as I know, there is no cure for his condition. And I'm not completely convinced he would want one. As for his multiple-personality from the...change...I don't know. Maybe the Scarab could help..."

He knelt down by the unconscious form of Heavy Metal.

"But as you say, radioactivity is no fun. He know's he is radioactive. What he doesn't know is how he changes into this Mr. Hyde. He does take precautions, I keep an eye on him..."

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst put a hand on her chin and looked at the man. She waited a few moments,

"Which do you suppose would upset him more, knowing that he changes into someone who hurts people, or knowing that someone else knew he did so and did not think to inform him of such a thing? You know the thing with Jekyll and Hyde is that no one but Jekyll knew or even thought it was possible that the two were one in the same. As Jekyll tried to be Hyde more and more to give into his darker impulses, became more addicted to the transformation, would he have been saved if someone had been able to intervine?"

[Supercape]

"Which do you suppose would upset him more, knowing that he changes into someone who hurts people, or knowing that someone else knew he did so and did not think to inform him of such a thing? You know the thing with Jekyll and Hyde is that no one but Jekyll knew or even thought it was possible that the two were one in the same. As Jekyll tried to be Hyde more and more to give into his darker impulses, became more addicted to the transformation, would he have been saved if someone had been able to intervine?"

"Would he?" asked Supercape, as much to himself as to Catalyst.

"I don't know...I just don't know, dammit!"

What he did know was that Liebniz blamed Supercape, somehow, for screwing up the experiment that had lead to his...condition. It wasn't rational, but the poor man was lashing out at something. And, at the back of the mind, was the remote possibility that Liebniz was, completely unintentionally, right. As professor Quill, he did wander round and poke his nose into all sorts of stuff at the university, and with his strange senses and observer effects on quantum events, he could very well have thrown off Liebniz' work.

"For now though, I am going to take him home. The best way to stop him ever being consumed by...this...is his family. About the only thing this man truly cares about, or really cares for him. "

[Aoiroo]

"No one does, that is why the story ends in such a sad way."

She took a step forward but not wondering close enough to be in range,

"You are right about that though, he should be with his family, but both of you should go to the hospital first. Please promise that you will. I wasn't shooting bullets at him, they were paintballs filled with acid. They aren't lethal, but they cause rather painful burning and blistering and should be treated properly if you don't want them to get infected. Also, I don't know how strong you are, but it would of taken but a might bit longer of you breathing it in for that smoke to have caused some serious internal damage to most. Death if you'd had even longer then a might. I don't know about explainations but it is not that hard."

[Supercape]

"Good Idea" coughed Supercape, putting his hand to his throat. "I'll check into the Lab in a moment. But first, we need to keep this man sedated until he...reverts. I am still holding his body in his hyper-cohesive form. If I stop that, he will just turn back to pure energy again"

"I say" he said, observing Catalysts armoury of weaponry "you look like a chemical whizz. I suppose you have some kind of sedative drug or whatnot in your utility belt or something?"

[Aoiroo]

"Well actually, I don't actually have anything like that yet. Lots of sedatives are very addictive, I try to stick to things that will make someone unconcious in a way that they may not seek it out for recreational use. I could probably make something temporary if you can keep an eye on him, it won't take but ten minutes or so."

After just a bit longer then what she did, Catalyst emerged from her van which was a bit more cluttered now on the inside, as well as smoking though that didn't concern her in the least as she walked out with a small bottle with some lightly colored liquid and a piece of cloth,

"Here, it's well chloroform with some minor chemical alterations, so you can just have him breath it in with the cloth, but it should have far less side effects if I did this right."

[Supercape]

"Bit old fashioned" commented Supercape, making sure he stood well away from the fumes. "But I like it!"

Taking the cloth, Supercape bent down to apply it over Heavy Metal. He was still concentrating on maintaining the super-cohesiveness of the body. It was not a massive strain, but he couldn't keep it up forever. The fumes of Catalyst would ease that burden, however.

Heavy Metal was out cold anyway, but the chemical soak cloth, when applied, made sure he would stay that way. Now, all he had to do was wait, and Liebniz would reappear.

"Right, I'd best take him - and that cloth - to a hospital" he concluded. "Thank's awfully for your help. Well, to be honest, you saved my bacon, and the whole institute. "

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst smiled as she walked the bottle back to the van and stored it safely in it's cabinet.

"I really didn't do much except create a fog and shoot a man in the back. If you didn't make him solid I'd be at a bit of a loss to do with him. Well at least with you so close, the clouds I make are rather indiscriminating to anybody without proper equipment. I really should stock up on some extra masks."

That and get some lead lining on this suit to protect against radiation. I hope my tailor won't mind.

[Supercape]

"Create a fog, and shoot a man in the back?" parroted Supercape. "That was the method, perhaps" he smiled. "But that was pretty impressive. And effective..."

He knelt by the unconscious form of Heavy Metal.

"I'll need to fly there. Fortunately..." he said, lifting the body of coherent energy into his arms. "He is still weightless!" he smiled "So for once, I get to feel like a proper superhero, flying across the skies with somebody in my arms. Not my first choice of customer, I guess" he chuckled.

He gave Catalyst a cheery wave as he flew off to the skies.

"Lead lining sound's good" he added "especially with this fellow around!" he said, as his cape trailed away into the distance.