A Show of Force

[Sophistemon]

There was a brief, mechanical whirr as Upgrade's sensory cluster swiveled to inspect Agent Warne as he delivered a verbal beating on the superheroic newcomer. "Your heart may be in the right place," offered man in the the towering battlesuit, which looked back towards Bonfire. "But your actions aren't just making important people angry, they're making regular people afraid. Things are bad enough when super-powered people like yourself go rogue and rob banks, or beat each other up in the middle of the street. But when you're causing damage to nuclear facilities... the economic repercussions alone are devastating. You're talking hundreds of millions of people without power, for one. If those plants go critical, the ecological damage would be catastrophic and the area would be uninhabitable for millions of years." An enormous metal hand pointed an equally enormous metal finger at the sensory cluster. "You've got to think things through more carefully. Sun Tzu said that all battles are won or lost before they're ever fought. If you're trying to make a difference, make sure that it's the right one. If it is, guys like Warne and I will back you up every time. You're in an entire city full of people like you -- you don't have to go it alone and put yourself in positions where something like shutting down the nuclear power grid seems like a good idea."

[olopi]

PC

Oooof. These people knew what they were doing. Cass was really uncomfortable right about now. Whatever they had planned, it was working. Working really, really well. Blackstone… Yes, that was a place Cass didn’t like already. Just mentioning it, and he already was feeling it’s rumoured atmosphere. No, no no. Best to forget about that.

 

It really would be best if Cass maybe toned it down a bit next time something like this could be seen coming. This agent did not screw around. He was ready to track down super-criminals, so much could be told. He also was the one looking less threatening, which made him even scarier than just his words.

 

The humanoid tank, a lot more scary looks wise. Cass’s uneducated guess was that he had enough firepower to take down at least a city-block if it were to come to that. And probably enough to take him down a few times over. He wasn’t as scary when it came to what he was saying.

 

Reasonable arguments, really. By both of them. Cass wasn’t sure how to respond, usually he’d figure out something, but no, blank. His mind didn’t want to think of anything to say.

…

 

“Uh… uh … Yeah. I’m certainly going to be more careful in the future, especially around series of conveniences like that entire thing was one...”

 

Bonfire's bodylanguage clearly showed that primarily, he was scared now. He'd expected his eventual meeting with AEGIS to not be so nice, but this was more than he'd planned for in his mind.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Agent Warne nodded once, slightly, to himself.  So far, the mission was progressing in a satisfactory manner.  He felt reasonably confident that he and Ethan could meet their objective without property damage or public attention, which was as close to a perfect ten as you could get in AEGIS. 

 

"Good.  Now, aware as I am of the appeal in the lone wolf stereotype, I strongly recommend you avoid it in the future.  Having a partner or team behind you helps make these dangerous, desperate 'solutions'--" he put heavy sarcasm into the term, "--even less necessary than they were from the start.  You already work with various fire departments across the city.  Expand that teamwork mindset.  Feel free to set up a colorful motley of animal-themed vigilantes if you wish, but better yet, you could build ties to AEGIS.  Sure, our primary goal is to bring the bad guys down hard--" an obvious warning there, under the circumstances, "--but we aren't averse to helping civilian-heroes do their jobs better and more safely.  Next time you find yourself dueling a corrupt corporation atop fragile, expensive, volatile machinery, if you take the time to make a quick phone call, we can give you more options than just torching it.  Less damage, less risk, less chance of prison time.  Everybody goes home happy."

 

Perhaps the bad cop of the pair was cooling off a bit, but he still couldn't resist putting a threatening implication into his advice, concerning Bonfire's ties to the fire department.  We know everything about you, which is how we found you--and how we'll find you again, if need be.

[Sophistemon]

The sensory cluster nodded, servos chirping lightly with the movement. "Adept's right," the AMP opined. "But a being a member of a team isn't just about getting help with the physical aspects of a fight. You've heard the expression 'two heads are better than one,' right? When you're part of a team, and things start to go sour, you can help each other out so that cooler heads prevail and this sort of thing doesn't happen." The machine arced a hefty thumb towards its partner. "And, like my partner said, you could do worse than joining AEGIS. Even if you didn't sign up for permanent duty, I'd suggest taking advantage of some of the options that they have available. If you like what you see, maybe it's the place for you."

[olopi]

PC

The agents had gone from more or less threatening to just giving good advice within an astounding amount of time. Just a few sentences ago ... Adept, was it? Had been quite threatening. Now he was a lot less threatening suddenly. Still quite threatening, but a lot less than just before. This advice had a lot of reason behind it. Bonfire had thought about the whole team deal before, in fact it had been one of the first things he’d considered. But those had to develop naturally. Or with some rich backer throwing money at a bunch of people and making them get along that way. The second one wasn’t really something to actively make happen, and the first one required Bonfire to know more heroes. Yes, he’d met a few of them, but only once or twice at most, not enough to really form a strong bond. And the whole team deal would also need a lot of infrastructure Bonfire could not even dream of affording at the moment…

 

But working with AEGIS? He’d have to consider that. It didn’t sound too bad. Would help his reputation, get him some more contacts, and probably even pay. And chances are he wouldn’t have to do much different from what he was doing right now.

 

“I think a team of supers would be rather difficult to establish for me at the moment, unless you know of one that needs some reinforcements. I’d love to be in one, but it’s not that easy to do unfortunately. But, all the AEGIS stuff does sound interesting. Checking it out probably wouldn't hurt at least. Is there an easy way to get in contact with the Service? Or do I just talk to you?"

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Slowly and deliberately, Adept crossed the distance to Bonfire, slipping a hand into his jacket.  The motion might've alarmed most people; it greatly resembled reaching for a gun.  Instead, he took out a small piece of paper and presented it between two fingers.

 

The business card was bland and simple, just his name, number, and the A of AEGIS. 

 

"Now," he said in that stern, humorless voice, "tell us about these bounty hunters, and the corporation they work for."

[olopi]

PC

Bonfire quickly reached out for the card, quickly putting it into the pocket he used to store the things he had to have on him even in this form. To outsiders, it would always look like him just phasing it into the backside of his trousers, but alas, that was what illusionary clothing caused.  He’d have time to check the card and its few contents later on.

 

For now, he was going to keep focusing on the conversation. He didn’t really know, well, anything, about the mercenaries, apart from one’s name, the Gas Man. Whose vehicle he and Marie had stolen, and just left standing somewhere…. Maybe he’d found it again? Who knew, who knew.

 

“Neutron Industries … well, they were dumping Nuclear Waste into the sewers and all that, I talked about that one quite a lot before, but I can elaborate on some details in case they’re not in your files yet. According to the AEGIS Agent that interrogated me afterwards the government allows them breaking various laws, since their proficiency in nuclear power’s too important to loose.

 

And for the mercenaries, no idea. I only have one loose thread, and that’s the guy that tried to hunt us down and immediately got defeated. The other ones … no clue, I have no idea who they are. “

Edited May 30, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

Upgrade's sensory cluster swiveled to gaze at Adept. "It's not the first time that I've heard of a power company being above the law, but something like that seems a little too brazen, a little too extreme." Ethan wondered for a moment if it was Neutron Industries that had provided some of the technology that went into creating the miniaturized thorium reactor that powered the AMP, but then doubted it; some of the brightest minds in the country had come together to craft the vehicle -- corporate fatcats need not apply. "Anyway," he buzzing voice boomed. "If what you're saying is true and they really are dumping waste, something's got to be done about it. I don't care how useful their power is; they can't be allowed to put innocent people at risk like that, not to mention the environment." He looked back towards Bonfire. "Tell us more about the mercenary that you beat. Who is he, and where is he?"

Edited May 30, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Blarghy]

Whatever slim lining of amity Adept had settled into vanished; his grim scowl intensified even beyond his deepest point of anger toward Bonfire.  No one should be above the law, and even if they were, no AEGIS agent should be so careless as to admit it to a civilian--and a known blogger at that.  Heads would roll for this if Warne had his way.  This energy corporation was too important to dismantle?  Fair enough.  He'd gut it instead, drag its guilty leaders to prison, and ensure that their replacements knew he'd be happy to find cells for them as well. 

 

Upgrade already voiced his question, and more comments than he cared to make.  Adept settled for staring silently with such intensity that his sunglasses should've caught fire. 

[olopi]

PC

 

“Calls himself the Gas Man. Drives around in a van filled to the brim with explosives and weapons. He runs a legit bounty organization from what I could gather, at least the van was painted that way, and he certainly had enough money to sink into that thing.

He just showed up and told us there was a bounty on our head.  Possibly an ex-marine or something? And more on the old side. Started throwing around gas grenades, right outside a church filled with people.  That’s all I know about him, chances are tracking him down wouldn’t be too much trouble. No idea where he is now since we left him for the police to pick up after we beat him.

Other mercenaries, no idea who they were. I only ever saw them while running away, but from what I was told they had been hired by Neutron. “

 

This entire thing was coming together. The conversation had gone from AEGIS threatening Bonfire to him helping them, and them listening to him. He could work with this. Possibly work together with AEGIS to accomplish some more things related to Neutron. Maybe it wouldn’t lead anywhere, maybe it would.

Currently, he was just annoyed he had never looked up whether or not the Gas Man had a website or anything. He had written a nice, long post about everything that had happened back at Lantern Hill, but he’d forgotten to look further into the Gas Man and his business.

Edited July 1, 2016 by olopi

[Blarghy]

Adept's frown threatened to fold in on itself, like some kind of rage-based black hole.  This mercenary's gear sounded all kinds of illegal; at the very least, he must be guilty of reckless endangerment and a host of toxic material charges.  Even Bonfire's handling of the situation edged the agent back toward bitter distaste; Adept wasn't fond of leaving criminals groggy but unattended in the hopes that police would arrive before they scampered off to maim and destroy another day.  The most charity he could offer was to mentally file the young hero under Sincere but in Need of Supervision.

 

"Then we start by finding him.  From there...I can see this ending with a long list of arrests.  I would hate to leave any of these corporate leaders unexamined.  Their friends might be lonely in prison without them."

[Sophistemon]

Servos whirred as Upgrade's enormous torso twisted, the vehicle turning to take in both Adept and Bonfire at once. "That's not okay," the pilot buzzed. "We're looking at reckless endangerment at least and probably a few illegal weapons possession charges to boot, not to mention the host of other laws being broken in this mess." A titanic metal hand reached up to gently palm the front of the sensory cluster in an unusual display of emotion made all the more stunning considering that it was all deliberately piloted from inside of the machine. "I hate to break it to you, kid, but you've gotten yourself involved in a mess with a capital M. I can't see this going smoothly for anyone." Ethan sighed, though it didn't transfer to the speakers. "Not that it's your fault, but man..." The sensory cluster turned towards Warne. "You're the expert at hunting people down. Where do we start in finding this Gas Man?"

[Blarghy]

"We start by reporting in," Adept answered unhappily.  "I think we're done here.  Mission success.  What happens next is in large part up to our superiors, but ideally, we'll check the police reports for whichever district the kid left this maniac in and go from there.  If we're lucky, the Gas Man is already in jail.  If not, then I'll need to make some phone calls."

 

Much as he'd rather get straight to work, AEGIS had procedures.  More procedures than Adept had patience, unfortunately.  The organization gave him authority and significant resources, but sometimes he wished he could work independently.  On the other hand, that road could easily lead to wrecked nuclear reactors. 

[olopi]

GM

 

And so, the mission ended. A few more words between the Agents and the target of their original mission, and then, it was over. Mission success, as Adept had mentioned himself. Bonfire had been confronted and told about the consequences. But, it had developed to be a lot more than just a quick Show of Force. Yes, the original mission, the one issued by the Service, had been completed.

 

Yet, there was a lot more to come. Neutron Industries, the mercenaries, and everything involved with them. There were missions to be had there, things to be dealt with. And the paperwork associated with getting the permissions for interventions would be quite the pain. Not to mention dealing with whatever additional support Neutron would get, through lawyers, favours, and possibly even some backroom deals. This had only just begun, and ending it would probably take quite a while.

 

~ Fin ~

Edited July 1, 2016 by olopi