Hell Comes To Missouri (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Caradoc stared at Miss Americana, his head cocked like a puzzled cocker spaniel's. "....what?" he asked, genuinely baffled by her words. Speaking in his own low voice, he murmured, "I told you, I came here to bring the alien artifacts back to HAX, and I..." About to press her on exactly what she meant by 'family,' Steve abruptly trailed off and said no more. He knew how important privacy was to Gina. He was beginning to suspect that whatever he'd stumbled onto here had nothing to do with the Grue wreck at all, or at least very little indeed. Whatever secret from his lover's past he'd stumbled onto, this was obviously no time to pry into it. "Iwill go, but there is something very strange in this town, it is...wrong." 

 

Meanwhile, Cavalier's armor beeped with an internal message for him - another Grue message had been dispatched on the frequency he'd been monitoring, one that only he'd evidently been able to pick up. This was an automated message - a warning _not_ to respond to the previous distress signal, a sign of a threat so great that it would endanger any Unity vessel that came across it! This was the sort of signal sent when a Unity vessel was attacked by one of those one-off cosmic threats in deep space like the Light of Truth or the Communion, not the sort that usually accompanied battles with the Star Knights or more terrestrial heroes. 

 

(At the same time, Miss A's communication equipment beeped with a signal from the engineering team - they were definitely tracking a Grue signal from somewhere beneath the river, albeit one they hadn't been able to track down on their own.) 

 

Deputy Erlanger returned with a faxed release for transport and treatment signed by Linda Evans and countersigned by her regular family doctor - authorizing that Peter Evans be taken to Freedom City and his care be handed over to Miss Americana and her team of physicians as soon as possible. "Welp, glad we could get that taken care of for you, Miss A," the deputy offered. "We'll make sure ol' Pete gets the help he needs, and handle the family for you too. We know how important they are to him." 

[trollthumper]

Cavalier was splitting his attention - somewhat accidentally, somewhat deliberately. Given that he would likely be sharing a research site with either one or both of them, he didn't want to step on any social land mines while making small talk over alien debris. But at the same time, he didn't want to pry too deep into this - even after a few years as a troubleshooter, there was that particular tenor to domestics that made listening in feel like some sort of moral hazard. Just stand there, and be stoic. Star Knights are known for their stoicness between acts of diplomacy and --

He was interrupted when his armor picked up on the communique. ...wait a minute. This is an automated, proximity signal. Which means... He looked up to the various townspeople, immediately wary. Well. You come expecting Invasion of the Body Snatchers, get something potentially a hell of a lot worse.

He'd gotten a hell of a lot more used to this armor, and he'd learned some of its exploits. With a slight adjustment that took the translation protocol offline, he managed to open up a very short-ranged, targeted radio band. He just hoped Caradoc and Miss Americana were both carrying... "So, I managed to decode that transmission. It's an automated warning message that goes out whenever the Grue encounter deep fragg. We may have a local problem..."

[Electra]

"We'll talk about this later," Miss A promised Caradoc, a look in her eye that suggested she was not nearly done with him yet. It was possible that he'd been sent to oversee the recovery of HAX's portion of the ruins, but that seemed a thin story at best. Right now, though, she had other matters to deal with.

 

Accepting the paper from Deputy Erlanger, she looked it over quickly just for form. "Thank you, Deputy, that's efficient work. Now we-" She trailed off for a moment as she studied the written portions of the form. There weren't many of them, hardly more than a few names filled into blanks and signatures, but the whole thing had obviously been done by the same hand, even the signatures. That would've been a little odd, except that the monstrous storage organism that was her brain managed to unfile and bring up a handwriting match from a long time ago. This was Peter's handwriting, right down to the glitchy little way he drew his Ts and Fs with tilted crossbars. It was just about then that Cavalier's message came in as well, putting another layer of warning on what was already a comprehensively iced cake. 

 

"Now we really ought to regroup," she finished, almost smoothly, folding the paper and tucking it away. We definitely have a local problem, she sent back over the same radio frequency Cavalier had used. But damned if I know the shape of it yet, or where it's coming from. We need a look at that wreckage, but I have one pressing matter to take care of first. "Let's step back inside for a moment and arrange for the transport, then go from there." She turned and headed back into the hospital, reentering through the window she'd just left. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Packing Peter off for transport proved to be easy enough despite the many hassles, some small and some very big indeed, that the day had thrown Miss Americana. The hospital staff, looking suitably chastened at the sudden outbreak of madness in their chief doctor, efficiently assisted with the procedure, working side by side with their Freedom City colleagues. Within mere minutes of Miss A's return to the hospital, her brother was packed up, still unconscious, aboard a rented ambulance and headed back towards the Archetech plane that would take them all back to Freedom City. Steve wanted to be there for Miss A, offering the kind of comfort he'd have given Gina in a real emotional crisis, but at the same time he knew how she was on those crises. She preferred to handle those disasters alone. Lacking the communications programming, or powers, that had allowed for a secret conversation between Miss Americana and Cavalier, he simply stood as still as a statue until Miss Americana returned from the hospital. 

 

When she returned to the parking lot, he spoke, doing his best to sound like an armored knight. "I suggest we begin at either ye warehouse of goods where thy lost item may be, or yon crash site. I landed there first," he admitted, "a quiet enough scene. The technicians are surely still there." He'd gotten the same message broadcast by Cavalier too, even if he lacked the ability to respond - luckily his first assumption when it came to unknown cosmic threats had seemingly not come true. There was only one creature of the Terminus here.  

[Electra]

"Let's get to the crash site," Miss A said tersely. "I want to see where that signal is coming from, and be there if anything decides to answer it. Let's stick together," she added. "I've ordered my people to not go anywhere alone, and I think it's good advice for us as well. If there are Grue around, or something worse, we need to back each other up." She gave Caradoc a little added glare to ensure he knew this didn't mean he was off the hook. "Cavalier, can you home in any further on that beacon? If we can get any part of the ship's computer, we might be able to see what we're dealing with." 

[trollthumper]

Cavalier spared a smile under his helmet. The gesture had worked, and now they were all clued in to the fact that they were knee deep in something. Whether it was quicksand, elephant dung, or just water was yet to be proven. "Follow me," he said, leading the other two back to the river. "The transponder was coming from the riverbed. I don't know how brackish the water is down there, but something tells me I'm not dealing with swimming pool quality here. But if need be, I can likely adjust the internal equipment and pull a Marco Polo."

As they approached the river, Cavalier decelerated slightly before plunging into the water. The suit's systems quickly went into rebreather mode, deoxygenating the water and pumping the air in. He turned his eyes towards the riverbed, trying to find some trace of the Grue equipment.

[Avenger Assembled]

For a man who had seen the mightiest rivers of a thousand worlds, the small Blackwater River; a sub-tributary of the Missouri, was no great stream. With the sensors in his suit, taken together with advice radioed down to him from the Archetechnicians overhead, it was easy enough for him to find his quarry. The cargo containers, buoyed down by their heavy cargo, had fallen beneath the surface and stayed there. A few had cracked open and partially spilled their contents onto the muddy river bottom; the still-stirred silt probably the only reason they couldn't be picked out from surface level. There weren't that many down below; these would be easy enough to bring to the surface.

 

For his part, with Miss A busy with the extraction and Cavalier down below, Caradoc stood on a piling and peered at nearby Blackwater. Emotional discomfort was nothing new to him, but he could tell she didn't want him close just then. And there was no reason to send them both into the water. So instead he studied the town that had this unknown connection to Gina's past, and seemed almost mute as the recovery process went on before he suddenly said, "Why have there been no efforts at salvage? The truck was unmarked. Surely the police would have sought to pull this from their river." 

[trollthumper]

Cavalier plumbed the waters; part of his basic training for the Knights had involved nautical maneuvers in a variety of rivers, based on color, opacity, mineral content, and predatory lifeforms. I'm pretty sure there's nothing larger than a grevilax down here, he thought, though I know some of those water moccasins are nasty...

When he brushed up against the cargo container, he smiled. This was going to be easy. He rerouted the suit's energy into internal systems, buffeting up the energy gaps between the plating and augmenting his strength. He descended down to the river bed and slid his hands under the container, taking the time to let the suit's gravitational field extend over the container. This one's already bruised enough; if I don't focus it correctly, it's gonna rip open like a pinata. Once he was sure the field was properly extended, he hefted the container out of the water and up onto the bridge.

"That's one down," he said.

[Electra]

"Excellent, thank you," Miss Americana told Cavalier, motioning her technicians over to load the equipment into new containers for transport. Everything was wet and undoubtedly in even worse shape than it had been, but there was no help for that. "Have you found which part of the wreckage might be broadcasting that signal?" she asked him. "My equipment isn't calibrated to detect it at the distance of the bridge." She smiled wryly. "And if I don't have to go into that creek, I'd rather not. Snakes like to make their nests under this bridge, keeps them out of the runoff from the Edmunds farm downstream." She closed her mouth suddenly, a quick look of mild consternation crossing her features. "So, ah, be careful," she added quickly, "but I'm sure none of them are the slightest danger to you." 

 

Only then did Miss A spare a glance for Caradoc. "Yesterday was Independence Day," she reminded him. "You think a wrecker crew was gonna come in on their holiday to rescue a bunch of boxes of what they were told were machine tools? Once the driver was rescued and the truck was out of the water, I'm sure the rest of it seemed like a somewhat lower priority. This waterway is trashed anyway." 

[Avenger Assembled]

Kansas City, Missouri 

 

Meanwhile, Cobalt Templar soared through the skies of Kansas City, only recently back on terra firma after being a very long way indeed. He was just passing over the suburb of Kearney, heading over an area of small working-class single-family homes, with tiny specks of green yard that were at the same time a world better than the typical sights where he'd just been. When suddenly, the familiar sound of fighting caught his ears - looking down he could see policemen struggling on the front lawn of one of those small homes, trying and failing to drag a big, muscular guy in his mid-thirties towards a waiting police car. That was no strange sight; but Corbin was close enough to read the painting on the police car. Those Cooper County cops were a long way indeed from their home jurisdiction.

 

-  

 

With his idea shot down, Caradoc took this opportunity to go below and help Cavalier with the salvage, bringing up all the containers in a matter of moments. It was dark down there, and cold, but that was no more an obstacle to the Omegadrone than it was to the Star Knight. It didn't take too long for the soaking-wet armored titans to find the Grue broadcasting signal - sure enough it was an automated distress beacon from what would have been the heart of a Grue ship, something armored enough to survive a crash, or in this case being shot down and kept in a vault for several decades. 

 

Across the state, Miss A's phone rang. She immediately recognized the voice of Dr. Irons. "Miss Americana?" she heard him say. "Hello, this is Dr. Irons from Cooper County General. I was calling to let you know we could use your help with another medical matter. Did any one from your medical team stay here in Blackwater?" He explained that another medical emergency had happened at a site close to the accident. "Both the Evans', mother and father, have slipped into an unconscious state like Peter's. I'm treating them at their home now, but I'd like to get them to Freedom City as soon as possible if you have the transport equipment still handy." 

[KnightDisciple]

Kansas City, Missouri 

 

Meanwhile, Cobalt Templar soared through the skies of Kansas City, only recently back on terra firma after being a very long way indeed. He was just passing over the suburb of Kearney, heading over an area of small working-class single-family homes, with tiny specks of green yard that were at the same time a world better than the typical sights where he'd just been. When suddenly, the familiar sound of fighting caught his ears - looking down he could see policemen struggling on the front lawn of one of those small homes, trying and failing to drag a big, muscular guy in his mid-thirties towards a waiting police car. That was no strange sight; but Corbin was close enough to read the painting on the police car. Those Cooper County cops were a long way indeed from their home jurisdiction.

 

 

 

Cobalt Templar was just getting used to the idea that he was, in fact, in his home dimension. The eerie part was, as bad as some parts of Earth-Milchamah had been, other parts were eerily close to home. Not quite home, but close enough to fool the mind sometimes. He'd only just really gotten his bearings and was about to kick up his speed by a couple of notches when he glanced down and saw the scuffle. He almost wrote it off, but then noticed the county tag on the cars. He frowned under his helmet.

 

"Five minutes back in this dimension and already there's trouble. Figures. Well, it's waited this long, suppose it can wait a few more minutes."

 

With a flare of blue fire, he tore a streak down through the sky before landing in a slightly dramatic crouch just a few feet away from the confrontation. He stood up and calmly walked over.

 

"You officers need any help or anything? I was just passing through and saw your troubles here. Speaking of which...you guys are a bit far from home, aren't you?"

 

His tone was friendly, conversational even. But inside, he was ready to spring into action if this went sour. Probably came from years of dealing with Imperial Assassins coming after him. 

 

Come to think of it, he never did send either Emperor that formal apology he'd meant to...

 

'I guess it's too late for that now. Ah well. Not going to lose sleep over it.'

[Avenger Assembled]

The two officers, a young man who looked fresh out of training and an older, more experienced man with a greying mustache, looked up at Cobalt Templar's arrival and seemed to hesitate. That gave time for the man they were wrestling into the car, a bearded guy in a blue work shirt and jeans, to yell, "They're crazy! They got the same crazy my wife and kids got!" He was yelling something about trying to call the Barnstormers when the younger officer went to wrestle him down and while the older addressed Cobalt Templar. He seemed to recognize the long-time defender of the area, as befit a man so old...no, as befit somebody aware of a new young hero like Corbin. 

 

"Easy there with the ring of fire, chief! Man's got a meth lab in the garage big enough to take out this whole block. Watch where you use that thing." The meth lab talk seemed to outrage the prisoner even more, but despite his intent the young guy pinning him down wasn't going for his taser or his club. The older man went on, peering up at Corbin from under the rim of his hat. "We're taking him back to Cooper County for his arraignment, when lo and behold we find out he's up to his old tricks. If you could fly over and get the Kansas City cops to send in the bomb squad back there, we'd be mighty obliged, and so would all the good folks round these parts."

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar frowned and glanced at his ring.

 

"Don't worry officer. The ring's under perfect control. The only way anything's catching fire is if I want it to. And I'm not in the business of burning down houses. But if you're so concerned about this supposed lab, why don't you put the call in to the local police? Since you're here already, I'd think they'd appreciate you all being the ones to call them. More official and all that. And if the block's in danger, you should call them ASAP anyway. In fact, if you need help with this guy, I'll hold him while you two call this in."

 

Cobalt Templar started to walk over to the struggle, raising his hands in a placating gesture at the struggling man.

 

"Ease up a bit there, mister. We don't want anyone hurt now. Tell you what, we're going to sit tight here while these fine, upstanding officers of the law call in some help. Maybe we can get a doctor to look at your family, if they're not feeling well? I'm sure we can get this all sorted out. And if you think there's a bigger issue, I'm sure Maverick won't mind us giving him a ring here in a bit. I haven't met him personally, but I've heard good things."

 

Interestingly, he didn't seem to be specifically committing to believing either side yet. He was clearly trying to get everyone calm, but it did seem a bit irresponsible, in his mind, to have him fly over and talk to the cops, instead of a pair of officers making the call in.

 

Irresponsible, or suspicious.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I tried that already, man!" yelled the prisoner. "They didn't say boo to me, they just-" The younger deputy was getting a little rougher now, and actually pinned the guy to the ground enough to muffle whatever he was trying to yell. The older deputy, for his part, came over to pat Cobalt Templar on the shoulder in a paternal sort of way. 

 

"Son, I appreciate you thinking we're as high-tech as you fancy city boys in Freedom City, but we don't even have computers in our squad cars, and by the time I got through KC dispatch this whole place might go up. You can fly how fast?" he asked with an avuncular smile. "C'mon now, Terry, don't be too rough on Charlie there! We gotta get him on the road pronto." 

A few of the neighbors were out on the lawn watching the festivities, but nobody moved to intervene - it was the kind of neighborhood where getting picked up by the cops was routine, or maybe the locals were just scared. 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar gave the patronizing hand a look that might have set it alight all on its own. He then looked at the man with a bit of confusion.

 

"I meant call them on your phone or radio, officer. Give them your badge number. Or heck, just call 911. If you're so concerned about this thing going up, I can go try and contain it until the hazmat teams get here, but I can't just run into the police station and yell "meth lab!"."

 

The blue-clad hero had to remind himself that he only looked 20, maybe 25 at a stretch, even in his costume. So the man talking at him like a little kid didn't realize he was the same age, or nearly so, and had seen many, many terrible things that would cause the officer to soil himself in fear and despair.

 

"And shouldn't this guy get taken to the local lock-up anyways? Look, you know what, just put him in the car and stay there. I'm going to go get this "meth lab" under a dome so even if it blows it won't hurt anyone. Could you please just radio or phone in to 911 and explain the situation?"

 

With that, Cobalt Templar strode across the street and lawn directly toward the garage, intent on opening the door to assess the situation. If there was a giant meth lab there, he'd just slap a dome construct over it for a bit. He just didn't understand why these guys were being so obtuse about this. Maybe the heat was getting to them?

[Avenger Assembled]

Cobalt Templar threw open the garage doors and found an old Chevy truck on one side and a vacant spot where a car used to sit on the other; there was a calendar on the wall and a workbench with what looked like woodworking tools. There was no sign of a meth lab - this looked like any typical blue collar garage in his experience, albeit without the patriotic posters or "NEVER SURRENDER - DEATH TO SUPREME" placards most men of a certain generation still hung proudly in their homes. When he turned around to inform the officers of that he saw their cruiser speeding away down the street, lights flashing and siren wailing! Looking in the back window, he could see the prisoner loaded aboard as the car turned a corner and disappeared! It would probably have been a bigger obstacle for a man without supersonic flight, sure. 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar just shook his head and pulled the door closed again.

 

"Figures."

 

With that, he was a streak of blue in the air, though after a moment, he seemed to waver and...grow larger? Either way, it was only moments before he'd caught up with the car. At this point, he was hoping someone was calling the cops about this, because he didn't want to try and handle this entirely by himself. At least, not the cleanup.

 

Either way, the cops had been driving less than 60 seconds when huge blue hands reached down and grabbed the underside of the car while a huge blue form hovered right over the roof. Cobalt Templar simply exerted a tiny bit of effort, and suddenly the were airborne, the car's tires spinning uselessly. They then left the road behind and gained a bit of altitude.

 

They dropped back down right over an empty plot of land with mostly-dead grass covering it. They were left hovering just above the ground, the tires still spinning a bit. Cobalt Templar's voice was easily audible in the cab of the car.

 

"Look guys, I'm hoping this is just a misunderstanding, but you really need to chill out. Stop the car, we'll get the local cops in on this, get this sorted out. I'm so very much not in the mood for shenanigans it's not even funny, and I swear if you call me "son", "kiddo", or any other condescending name I'll bite the bullet and tear out the car's engine block."

[Avenger Assembled]

The unconscious officers inside the car were no good target for Cobalt Templar's taunting - their eyes rolling and drool coming from their mouths, they looked dead to the world even through the windshield. The man in the back was still putting up quite a fight, yelling for help as Templar set the car down. "Oh, thank God!" he exclaimed. "Some superhero is actually paying attention." Once free, he kept his distance from the car and the unconscious officers, scrubbing his hands on his dirty jeans as if he was worried he'd catch some kind of disease. 

 

As soon as he was out of the car, he said, "Listen, uh, buddy, this is all going back to my hometown, Blackwater. I moved out a couple of years ago and got hitched here." He took off his trucker hat and ran his hand through his blonde crewcut. "My kid brother was in a truck wreck there this week, and I took the family back to visit. But everything was all...messed up, even more so than usual. I wanted to leave, but my wife and boy, they both wanted to stay with their grandpa for a little while. Next thing ah know, nobody's leavin' town! And they want me to come back, all urgent-like. That's when I started calling the Barnstormers, when the cops weren't no help." His accent was getting thicker. "Ah...ah didn't know whut to do before you got here." 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar dropped the construct around his body as he landed beside Charlie. He nodded and listened as the man spoke, not really having any trouble following what he said.

 

"It sounds like you played it smart, Charlie. I'm not sure entirely what's going on, but I promise I'll do what I can to find out. Give me a moment, I'm going to see if I can get some of the local police on the line. If you have a cell phone on you, perhaps you could make a call to them as well. I think they'll have to bring the Barnstormers in; they tend to operate solo as much as together, and if this is affecting an entire town, they'll want some numbers on their side. Give me a second."

 

With that, he leaned over and rummaged around in the car for the radio. Once he had his hand on it, he tried fiddling with the dial until he finds a channel that comes in clearly. He doesn't know where Blackwater is exactly, but he doubts it's close enough to get clear signal.

 

"If you can hear me and this is the Kansas City Police Department, or one of the Sheriff offices or surrounding community Police Departments. My name is Cobalt Templar. I am making a call from a Cooper County police car. We need some officers and..."

 

He stops and considers.

 

"You will probably want a hazardous materials unit out here. The officers in the car were not behaving correctly, and are now in an unconscious state. I do not have medical training, I cannot evaluate their condition. Please advise."

[Avenger Assembled]

It didn't take long for the Kansas City cops to arrive on scene; the super-fight with cops in their area had gotten their attention pretty early on. But Cobalt Templar was a trustworthy guy and they didn't dispute his story for long - as a well-suited team of EMTs took the unconscious police officers away for study, Charlie and Corbin gave their statements. The KC cops promised they'd call the Barnstormers personally, but evidently the team had been occupied with some hero business over the 4th of July holiday and didn't seem to be available at the moment. This far from Freedom City, there weren't that many reinforcements to call in. For his part, Charlie didn't seem inclined to move far from his protector. "Listen, you've gotta get out there," he was telling Corbin. "Mah whole family is there and Ah don't know what's gonna happen. Ah'm...Ah'm not a man who asks for help easy, but Ah need your help here, Cobalt Templar." 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar was polite and friendly with the local police, describing exactly the mannerisms of the Cooper County cops, as well as the things that had made him suspicious. He thanked them for putting a call in to the Barnstormers, even if there wasn't an immediate answer. He figured they were busy, or so tired they just couldn't answer.

 

'Maverick's not the sort who'd let something like this just get ignored if he could help it. Thresher doubly so. They'll be along when they can. Good thing I'm here, I guess.'

 

Templar listened to Charlie's request for aid, and gave him a reassuring smile.

 

"I was planning to go help anyways. It's kind of what I do, I suppose. Though, any more details you could give about the situation in the town would be appreciated. Also, uh...."

 

He trailed off and gave an embarrassed laugh.

 

"Some directions? I don't recall that I've been to Blackwater, and I'm terrible at just knowing where everything is all the time off the top of my head."

 

Once details and directions were secured, Corbin would set off at top speed through the air, racing just about as fast as he could toward the small town of Blackwater, Missouri.

[Electra]

Meanwhile, back in Blackwater, the situation was really no clearer. When she got the call from Dr. Irons, Miss A seemed literally staggered for a moment, rocking back and forth as her eyes went blank for a few seconds. Most people would notice nothing more than an emotional shock, but Steve had been around the block with Miss Americana a few times and knew the signs of Gina momentarily dropping the robot. Whatever she'd heard on the phone must have affected her intensely. "My team is on the way already," she spoke into the phone, struggling for an even tone, "but I'll see to it that arrangements are made to transport any other victims as well. Has anyone else been in prolonged contact with Peter Evans since the accident?" she asked. "Are any other members of his family affected?" 

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'll start packing both the parents for medical transport to Freedom City," agreed Irons, his voice tense, but professional despite the emergency. "Peter's sister-in-law and two nieces are both unaffected," Irons informed her worriedly, "but I'm concerned about Little Chuck, er, Charlie Jr. He left the area and returned to Kansas City yesterday, and if he is contaminated by a Grue virus, it could be a serious problem. The whole family may potentially be at risk. If you could contact the Barnstormers, perhaps one of them could intercede and bring Charlie to Freedom City for treatment along with the rest of the Evans family. The ones we have, anyway." Irons sighed. "There's still that missing sister. If she's still in Kansas City and exposed to the Grue virus, who knows what could be happening?"  

 

At the look on Miss Americana's face, Caradoc interceded. He didn't know the Star Knight well, but Cavalier seemed to be an upright man, trusted by Gina, and certainly knowledgeable about technology. "Cavalier," he suggested, his voice losing its medieval tones entirely, "take over here for a moment. Miss Americana has business to attend to elsewhere." He'd failed enough today; he wasn't going to let Gina face this while wearing her new robotic face before Cavalier and her employees. 

[trollthumper]

Cavalier watched Miss Americana's face fall, and watched further as Caradoc went over to her. Again, something was happening here, and he was clearly on the outs of it - and that was, in all honesty, where he still wanted to be. If he needed to bust out his diplomatic skills, he'd do that, but as long as it was a matter between him and her, that was where it should stay. He instead turned his attention towards making sure everything was raised from the riverbed and placed safely on the bridge. Once he was sure the there wasn't anything lurking below, he began the search in earnest to make sure there wasn't anything here that could take out the country if jostled the wrong way. 

 

Hate this feeling. Whenever you end up somewhere where everyone's too smiley, your allies have issues, and there's a BDO in the middle of it all, you just know there's gonna be a big boom... 

[KnightDisciple]

While Cavalier was searching below, Miss Americana and Caradoc (totally not Harrier!) would suddenly hear what sounded almost like a sonic boom roll over their area. Except it was too small to be a plane. It happened a couple more times, and was noticeably quieter each time. Almost like something was flying overhead, or nearby, at incredible speeds, and trying to find something very close.

 

Meanwhile, Cobalt Templar had managed to find Blackwater without too much trouble. While he didn't know the town directly, Charlie had given solid directions, and it was pretty easy to follow the general path of the highways, even at supersonic speeds. When he'd passed over the town, he'd cursed to himself and looped around, bleeding off speed before he did a quick search pattern. 

 

He didn't want to land just anywhere; he was assuming all locals were in the same state the Cooper County policemen had been. So he needed something unusual. Charlie had mentioned his brother's wreck on a bridge....There!

 

With a flare of blue flames, Cobalt Templar had landed a few feet away from Miss A and Caradoc, his face bearing a slight smile even as his eyes flicked around. Caradoc might recognize the way he was looking around; it was like how a soldier checks a location for exit points, possible hiding places for an enemy ambush, and so on. Strange, since this boy didn't look that old. CT cleared his throat and spoke up.

 

"Man am I glad I found some heroes in this town. I was worried it was all crazy people already. Miss Americana, man am I glad you're here. I ran into a guy named Charlie up in Kearney, and he was getting "arrested" by a couple of Cooper County police officers who were not behaving normally. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but it sounds like it started with his brother getting in a wreck, and this place looks like there was a wreck. Do you have any idea?"

 

He seemed a bit tense. Almost like he half-expected the two heroes might attack him with the same madness as the police had displayed earlier. And he wasn't sure he could take them both solo in a non-ambush situation.

Edited August 1, 2013 by KnightDisciple