Just Like Any Night (Open)

Tonight was the night. Not a special night, or a night unusual in any matter. The fact that tonight was the night was just a matter of normality. If tonight was the day, as opposed to the night well... that would raise it's own set of questions, and in it's own way be rather unusual.
No, for one Sion O'Spiorad this was just like any other night - bar the fact that on THIS night he was not in fact Sion O'Spiorad. He was in fact Dregan, the Scales that Scorch the Sky! And as far as he was concerned, this was VERY exciting.

It was his second night on parole this week. He'd intended for more, but after staying up five nights of his first attempted week at heroing, he'd realised that a hero who kept falling asleep on the job was was hardly the most striking figure. He was just glad he'd wound up passing out up on the rooftops as opposed to down on the pavement below. Lord knows how the street sweeper would react in the morning if he found an enormous dragon-man snoozing in his path.
Still, he'd improved since then - at least, as far as he was concerned! Okay, all he'd really done is stop a few minor thefts here and there - done a little street brawling with thugs and the like. But, well, it was a start! And people were thankful! At least... he imagined they were thankful. He'd not made the papers or anything yet...
But that wasn't the important part! The important part was stopping crime! And he'd certainly done that!

Now however... now was the lull. The waiting. The point of patience where all there was to do was watch out - and wait.
He didn't have any super computer. No fancy crime tracker - but tonight he was trying something new. He'd got ahold of an old radio, and with a bit of tweaking had keyed himself to the local police's frequencies. It was the perfect way to find out where he'd be needed!

Now, settling out on a low rooftop against the pale moonlight, looking out over the city, Dregan cast the image of a TRUE hero.
...
Ignoring the deck chair, and the can of Pepsi to one side of course. Though at least the beefy dragon man had his wings spread out - that at the very least was vaguely imposing!

Jasper had never felt the coldness he was experiencing now ever in his life. But at the same time he didn't shiver and his teeth didn't chatter. He supposed it was because of the recent turn of events he'd just gone through. Looking up he saw an officer at the outer edge of the park Jasper had ended up in, so he made his way towards him hoping to find out where he was and where he could get some help. "Excuse me Officer, where am I?" He asked in a soft voice, he'd never felt so alone before. The cop looked at him squinting to see him in the dim light of the park. "You lost kid? Where're your parents?" Jasper shook his head and responded to the cop in a quiet voice. "I don't know where I am." The cop then walked towards him and tipped his hat to him. "Well then lets get you back home little bud." Jasper locked eyes with the cop at those words and clenched his fists. "I'm not going back there you can't make me." The cop laughed and moved to grab Jasper's arm to lead him to the cop car. "Unfortunately I can't just leave you out here in the cold." Jasper took a step back, taking on a more serious tone. "I don't know why I thought you could help." The cop then grabbed his walkie-talkie off of his chest speaking into it. "We got a young boy refusing to come back to the station over by Grand Park, he seems to be on his own." Then turning to look at Jasper again he noticed that he could almost see through him. That's when the cop nervously went to reach for his taser. "No!" Jasper yelled as he closed his crying eyes and punched the cop in the chest. His arm shattered and the glass flew into the officer shredding and cutting into his flesh. The officer collapsed to the ground and clutched his chest where blood was now soaking his uniform. "Officer down by Grand Park, requesting backup!"

Glass shards often did not move erratically on their own, thus causing Shard to respond to a disturbance that she felt outside of her normal patrol route.  Her form slid across the rooftops as her powers pulled her glass uniform upwards, granting her flight across LA's bright buildings.  The glass shards about her glittered in the light as she focused on a strangely humanoid glass shape.

"How strange," she whispered to no one in particular.  Shard lightly landed on top of a small building and closed her eyes, hoping to get a better grasp on the location on the anomaly.  The woman clothed in a variety of glass shards took her time, making sure that she was not wrong, and then took to the air once more.

Strangely enough she passed over what looked like a gargoyle relaxing in a chair. Shard did not have time to ponder whether said creature was hero or villain but she surely hoped that it didn't give chase when she flew by. Under normal circumstances she would consider taking a safer route, but LA was a large city and she wasn't used to this area. So Shard flew over the dragon man thing and headed towards Grand Park.

"No, please! I'll give you anything! Just stop—"

One silenced shot ended the man's cry, as AAT-08317 lowered his suppressed sidearm. Using his free hand to catch the spare shell from the air before it hit the ground, the man looked at the discarded brass before he placed it in his spare pouch. Turning around alleyway, the assassin reached down before he removed a combat knife from the throat of a bodyguard that was lain across the floor, before he sheathed the blade.

«Target eliminated. Status on police traffic.» AAT-08317 asked through his radio, as he holstered his sidearm.

«No reports of incident. Unrelated disturbance in Grand Park.» A voice replied.

«Understood. Recommended course of action?»

There was a silence on the radio for a while, while the operator was computing a route. However, AAT-08317's senses tuned in on something—as he looked up and spotted a flying object make its way toward Grand Park. The assassin furrowed his brow, before he tapped his helmet again, activating the radio: «Confirm the presence of metahumans.»

A pause on the radio, before it spoke: «Confirmed. Activate investigation protocol SOYUZ.»

«Awaiting deployment.» AAT-08317 replied.

«Deploy.»

AAT-08317 nodded his head, as he pressed his glove on the wall of the alleyway. Slowly, the nanites on his bodysuit shifted in a sort of 'dumb' camouflage, reducing the assassin's chances of being spotted as he made his own way to Grand Park on foot.

Oh.
Oh no.
A signal had come through the radio. And it sounded bad.

This was... he wasn't ready to handle this! Officer down? Like... YES he was wanting to be a hero, but baby steps, y'know? Someone was taking out COPS he wasn't ready to deal with this!
...But then again, who was, if not him? Okay, other heroes maybe, but ignoring them, who else could deal with it? He had superpowers now - and with that came responsibility! If these officers were in trouble, then he had a duty to stand in and help. They were normal people and by all accounts any danger they were in would be far greater than whatever he could place himself into.
Besides which, there was every chance what they were dealing with was mundane in nature. Dangerous, but mundane. It was opportunities like this that would allow him to get better experience - train up for when things got real bad! He, uh. He just hoped it wasn't too serious. M-maybe the officer had just tripped?

Overhead, something caught the dragon's eye. An aerial figure, shimmering slightly in the night sky, as if reflecting the stars and the streetlights on it's path towards... towards the Grand Park? It seemed more than likely that they knew something of what was going on. Perhaps they were involved somehow...?
He hadn't really had much direct contact with other superheroes before. Or supervillains for that matter. He'd seen them on the news, or flying overhead, but since gaining his own powers he'd never really been involved with actual... superheroics. Well, at least not beyond his own attempts.
He had to admit, part of him was excited - if this individual was heading to the same place as him, this essentially meant he was heading in to the big leagues now! At the same time... he wasn't so sure if the individual was friend or foe. Perhpas they were on their own way to assist whoever was attacking the police? It was best to remain cautious...

With a deep breath, Dregan finally pushed up from his seat, taking a few steps forward... and diving from the rooftop. Wings opening wide, he allowed to pull himself into a low glide - nothing too fancy, it was more to aid his path in a straight line. Still, it would allow him to trail the mysterious flying stranger - and hopefully get a better idea as to there character!

Sirens were heard in the distance and approaching quickly as Jasper stood over the injured policeman, tears streaming down his face. "I told you no!" He screamed at the cop who now drew his gun and fired three rounds into Jasper's chest. They didn't go through his body but ended up embedded in his glass body, while more glass fell to the ground. Jasper's eyes were wide open now as he looked down at his chest expecting some sort of pain, but it didn't happen. Jasper sniffled as he looked back up at the cop as the glass that was cut into the cop and the glass on the ground flew towards Jasper and put itself back into place, Jasper's body reforming itself leaving the bullets inside. "You should've listened why didn't you listen to me!" Jasper was interrupted by a policeman's voice booming through a megaphone. "Drop the weapon! Put your hands behind your head and get down on the ground now or we will open fire!" Jasper took a step back as he saw the three squad cars parked a few feet away from him, firearms trained on him behind the safety of their vehicles. "No please, you don't understand! I didn't mean to-" "Get down on the ground now or we will shoot!" Jasper shook with anger at the cop's request and refusal to let him explain himself, he was lost, afraid, and alone. "Leave. Me. Alone!" As Jasper finished his sentence the police car's windows exploded in a shower of glass as shards flew into the unsuspecting officer's bodies. One cop had ducked down behind the car quickly and grabbed the transceiver from inside the car. "We need assistance from any heroes in Los Angeles ASAP! The boy is a metahuman, we got multiple officers down, no civilian casualties as of now!"

One officer stumbled backwards as the glass of the cruiser shattered and flew directly towards him. He closed his eyes and shielded his face... but the impact he expected never came.  Instead the glass hung motionless in the air until Shard flew directly over head.  The glass shards that had exploded from the police vehicles swirled into the air and joined various other shards in the heroine's costume, adding to the vivid array of colors.

Shard hung motionless in the air for a moment, observing the metahuman that was surrounded by police cruisers. Now that she was directly in front of him, Shard realized why her powers were giving her mixed signals. This boy was made up of pure glass. Although he looked translucent, Shard could feel him. It was as though the boy was a shining beacon in her power's senses.

"Let me talk to him," She called as she landed on the ground. "No one else needs to get hurt." Shard regarded the boy for a moment then took two slow steps forward with her hands up so as to show the boy that she wasn't going to hurt him. Of course this was purely symbolic as her powers didn't require her to use her hands.

"Hello," Shard called softly to the boy, "my name is Shard. I can control glass, just like you." As if to illustrate her point, the glass pieces that formed Shard's cape separated and formed into a glittering spiral that swirled around Shard.

AAT-08317's 'dumb' camouflage faded gradually as he made his way to the park. Touching the grass and a nearby tree, the nanites around his body shifted until they formed a tight-knit pattern of browns and greens as the assassin entered a low crouch. Tuning the visor on his helmet, he magnified his vision as he watched Shard approach the kid who was surrounded by officers.

Metahuman.

AAT-08317 sat by quietly, tapping a recording feature on his helmet as he watched the metahuman deflect the silicon effortlessly. The assassin kept his hands off his weapons, but remained ready at a position where he could draw them in an instant. He narrowed his eyes, only hearing a distant muttering. Getting closer would risk being spotted, but would allow him to hear.

The assassin's eyes turned toward a pair of officers who were approaching down the terrain where he stood. Perfect. Drawing his Cz-45, he lifted the silenced weapon as he waited for them to draw closer. As they entered within a metre—seemingly carelessly—AAT-08317 lunged as he forced one of them into a chokehold, before he angled his sidearm at the second. His augmented mind and reflexes dictating his actions, as he squeezed the trigger and killed the second before he could even lift his own weapon.

Strangling the victim in his arms, the AAT-08317 managed to put the officer under as he quickly began to remove the clothes of the officer, before pulling it over his own body as he disguised himself. This took a manner of forty seconds, pulling on the pants, shirt and belt as he wrapped the officers kevlar and utility belt around his body-glove. Straightening the features of his disguise, the assassin lifted his helmet from off his head as he angled it at a way to continue watching Shard and the boy. Hiding the two dead officers in the bushes, AAT-08317 wrapped his fingers around the shotgun one of the officers was carrying as he lifted it to an alert carry.

Stepping from the foilage, AAT-08317 approached the scene slowly as he allowed himself to now listen to the conversation.

Being a hero by night provided a number of... certain obstacles one would not immediately jump to. Though seemingly obvious, it wasn't often one thought about how much the basic darkness could add confusion to a scenario - or better hide events that really would benefit from the attention of a superhero.
Thusly it was, that Dregan, in his flight, narrowly missed the sight of two unfortunate officers meeting their unfortunate demise. The kills were quick and efficient - and just beyond his peripheral, where his eagle eye view was shrouded both by the time.
Then again, with his attention drawn ahead, perhaps it would be safe to say that even in daylight hours, a much more extravagant event had caught his eyes.

Up ahead, the glass had exploded from several cop cars, blasting the police with an sea of shrapnel. The almighty sound of shattering couldn't help but draw the aerial lizard's gaze for a moment... before his brain put two and two together.
The figure from above - who had been shimmering in the night. The reflections were off of GLASS!

Desperately, he attempted to regain his bearings, looking around in an attempt to catch sight of the mysterious woman once more. It seemed that down below, she'd landed. Right... time to be a hero.
Taking a deep breath, Dregan angled downwards - before his weight bought him slamming down to a clumsy landing on the ground. Stumbling a little to gain his balance, he thrust a scaled finger in the direction of the young woman!
"Stop, evildoer!" he paused for a second... before realising someone else was there. There was a... a kid? They were crying and... made of glass? Oh no, this villain was so much more powerful than he'd thought!
"A-and turn this poor child back! Don't hurt him!" Someone with glass manipulation who could TURN PEOPLE INTO GLASS? She definitely needed to be stopped!

Jasper shook his head as the graceful woman strode up to him and ran with his arms outstretched to embrace her. Ever since he had ran away from home he had never felt so alone but this woman was just like him. "I don't want to be afraid anymore." Jasper cried as his sobbing continued. Then looking up at Shard's face he wiped his eyes and said, "Can you help me please?"

Glass clinked softly as Shard lowered her arms and turned her palms upwards in a welcoming fashion. She spread her arms outwards as the boy ran towards her and embraced the child as his glass skin scraped against her own outfit.  The sound was unpleasant to say the least but the sound of glass scraping against itself was one that Shard had become accustomed to at this point.

"Shh," She whispered as she ran her gloved hand through the boy's glass hair, "don't worry. You're all right now, it's going to be fine." Except it wasn't. Not really. Shard had no idea how the boy ended up this way, could have been a metahuman gene that triggered leaving the boy in this state, but there was no way to reverse a metahuman gene- at least according to Shard's knowledge. The least she could do now was to get the boy to a safe place where-

"What the fuck...?" Shard said under her breath as she watched a gargoyle lizard looking man thing landed- no dropped out of the sky, stumbled, and then pointed a finger in her direction while stammering something about villains and evildoers. Shard rolled her eyes which were hidden behind a yellow visor. "Piss off, newbie. You're out of your depth."

The pieces of silicate that once made up Shard's cape now hung in midair in anticipation of a action from the newcomer. Shard hoped that things didn't get violent with a child in attendance, but if there was one thing that she knew from her years of patrol it was that wannabe heroes were just as dangerous as malicious villains.

AAT-08317 watched as Shard and the boy were approached by the lizard-looking man. His finger dropped to the trigger of the shotgun he held as he took the side of his fellow officers. The other police seemed to look on with concern, and the least bit of emotion. But AAT-08317 had none, as his eyes fell on the shape of the boy who now hugged Shard. AAT-08317 turned his eyes to the officer who stood by him, finding his rank and name.

"Situation contained, Private Phillips?" The assassin inquired.

"Can never be sure, sir." Officer Phillips replied.

AAT-08317 glanced up to the three metahumans again, "Hm."

Anthony was at a taco truck with his chameleon device on, which made him look like a normal person. As he took his taco from the lady, his sensors picked up the police scanners. "That doesn't sound good." Anthony mumbled to himself as he dropped the taco, and super jumped to the top of a nearby building.

He scanned around and spotted what appeared to be a dragon man hybrid? He looked like he was threatening a kid made out of glass and some lady. “Why couldn’t I just find a bank robbery?” Anthony said to himself. He bounded across the rooftops and crashed down in front of the dragon man. “Hi I’m Anthony and i’ll be your waiter tonight.” He said turning off the chameleon device and lengthening the sword out of his arm.

Ooh wow okay, this lady was DEFINITELY the bad guy here. The explosion of glass teamed up with the glass manipulation of this individual was the first hint. The second was... well, as far as the dragon could see, this lass didn't seem to have a radio or anything on her - that meant she wasn't 'answering the call' per say. How else could she have known about things here if she wasn't involved somehow?
And now there was the attitude. For someone to act so immediately and deeply unpleasant... that was definitely not the attitude of someone wanting to pacify the situation! This lady was a villain, through and through!
Still, he needed to be careful... whilst the child was in her grasp he was evidently in danger. He needed to make sure that he did nothing to give her cause to harm him!

"I-it doesn't matter if I'm 'out of my depth' ma'am..." he nodded hesitantly, "What matters is making sure nobody else gets hurt here today. So if you'd care to just unhand the kid, I'm sure we can work this out..." Aaand then something hit him; "Hey, w-wait, what makes you think I'm newbie? I'll have you know I-"

Before he could finish his point, another dropped into the scene. A heavy set mountain of a man, who towered significantly even over the burly dragon - his revealed cyborg nature served only to make him even MORE intimidating. And by the looks of things... he was on the side of the villain.
"Y-y-y-y..." Dregan could only stutter as he attempted to get a word out edgeways. He'd never even taken on ONE supervillain before. Now he was having to take on two in a hostage situation! This was bad, this was really bad.
Still... he needed to focus. Falling apart now could leave that poor kid as good as toast - he needed to hold it together for them. And for gods sake, he needed to stop looking so nervous - it gave his opponents an edge if they knew how much of a state he was. He needed to BE a hero. Or at least... present himself as one.

Swallowing hard, the dragon straightened his back, took a deep breath... and spoke up;
"You realise that there are police on all sides of you?" he allowed an air of confidence to seep into his voice, "It's too late now, you need to back down."
With a smirk, he glanced over to the present officers - offering one particular shotgun-wielding individual an acknowledging nod. He wanted them to know he'd definitely got this - and that he appreciated the presence of friendly officers like him.

Looking over Shard's shoulder at the new arrival, Jasper was startled by this thing's appearance. It was humanoid in nature but looked like something from urban legend. "What is that thing? Is it going to hurt us?
Do I need to hurt it back?" He wasn't going to have this new friend he'd made that was so much like himself be hurt because of this thing. He focused on the pieces of glass hanging in the air around Shard, ready to defend the both of them if she wouldn't. Then a huge man fell out of the sky who looked like he was about to unleash a can of whoop-ass on this salamander. Jasper stood in awe as the man planted himself in front of Jasper and Shard shielding them with his menacing stature. He admired the way this man stood up for others at the cost of his own life. He didn't need protecting he found out he could do that himself, but he did appreciate the gesture. "Anthony." he whispered, happy to have such good people who cared about him more than his parents ever had.