The Goal of Limitless Energy, a Limitless Army

Rush let off on his trigger finger when Clayton hit the floor. The ends of his barrels were smoking from the rapid use. He swiveled his aim from Clayton to Alice, but they were both down. He let out a sigh of relief and lowered his pistols.

"Goddamn Heroes..." was the only thing he could only say. He put one of his pistols in its holster, still keeping one pistol ready incase they tried anything. He ran up to Slick who was on the floor unconscious. He grabbed the front of Slick's shirt and sat him up, checking his head for any severe damage. Rush put his arms under Slick's armpits and dragged him to the wall and positioned him sitting up against it.

Rush walked up closer to Clayton with his pistol lowered. "You're a brave soul, but I ask that you not endanger your life further. I'll permit you to leave with the girl." He flicked his pistol at Alice to indicate who he was talking about, instead of using an index finger.

"We'll still need our hostages, so don't try any heroics. Just let us do our job and get out of here. Clear?"


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Hurricane was preparing himself for another onslaught of bullets, but it never came. Instead Elaine threw herself into the whirlwind to knock Hurricane out of the air. He didn't see it coming, and couldn't react fast enough. He was busy manipulating the storm, and readying himself for when another shot was fired. He was knocked back and immediately stopped the whirlwind, hitting his back against a wall. He gasped for air, for if anything, it injured his bullet wound in his shoulder more than it already was. Instead of falling he caught himself in flight.

Elaine fell to the ground and landed harshly. Hurricane didn't understand the thought process that went through that attack. He lowered himself to the ground and stretched out an arm at Elaine. He summoned a gust of wind energy in a funnel-shaped blast to push her back and pin her against a wall.

Alice coughed a few more times, tasting the iron of blood with each cough. She was about to faint but if there was one thing Alice hated, it was stereotypical girl behavior and she ranked fainting in the top five. Of course, that wasn't the only reason but either way, she struggled to remain concious, feeling her vision black out every few moments but still, she struggled to remain up right. As Clayton hit the floor, she tried to get up but ended up collapsing again instead. The last thing she heard was Rush saying "Goddamn heroes" before she blacked out completely, dead to the world.

Clayton managed to stand up. His hand was in intense pain; it would need medical attention soon. He looked Rush straight in the eyes, “What happened to the other one? The cow girl, you didn’t kill her did you?” He asked, clutching the bleeding hole in his hand. He wanted to leave; every fiber of his being was telling him to get the hell out of there. Almost every fiber, anyway, as much as he wanted to leave he had a feeling that if he did something terrible was going to happen, and his gut was usually right. But he did really medical attention and the girl who saved his life multiple times that day looked somehow worse than he did. He was caught between a rock and a hard place but he made up his mind, he didn't owe these hostages anything. He was going to grab the girls, assuming the cowgirl was alive, and go.

The winds stopped. Elaine gazed up to the ceiling for a moment, trying to keep her mind off of the pain. Her head throbbed from the second jump, and her back ached from the fall. Blood poured from the wound in her arm onto the floor, but at least the wind stopped. "Are you ready to give up?" She muttered from her place on the ground, hoping he plummeted as well.

Strong winds shot from across the room throwing Elaine into the wall. She brought her feet up along the wall to alleviate the pressure he exerted on her. Her boots kept her shins parallel to the ground, and her legs at a forty-five degree angle. She kept a knife tucked away in her boot for dangerous times, along with a six shooter. The wind kept her firm against the wall mostly because of the sharp pain she still felt because of the jump. Slowly, she felt the pain subside. Her fervor regained. "I said, are you ready to give up?"

Gunshots rang through his ears, perhaps he had arrived too late. The Black Knight hidden from view, perched on a building across the street from the Science Center. He was down on one knee as he stared down at the panic and chaos. The police were everywhere, spread out on the street and around the large building. They were stuck holding civillians back and trying to keep the peace, that's all they could do right now. They couldn't get inside with out endangering the hostages, but the Black Knight surely could. Holding the right side of his mask he activated his thermal vision to check out his situation from here, focusing his vision in on the building. The place was packed with hostages, but four heat signatures stuck out from the rest; He couldn't see the others that were involved from this distance. Only two of them were standing, and he had to assume the worst, he couldn't risk making a mistake. He pulled the line-launcher gun from his utility belt and prepared to fire it at the Science Center. The wire swiftly attached itself to the opposite rooftop, and with a press of a button the Black Knight was sent zipping from rooftop to rooftop. He skillfully landed on one knee and released the wire, quickly returning the gadget to his utility belt. No one on the street would notice him, he was too swift and they were all busy with the situation at hand.

He remained on one knee as he focused his thermal vision beneath him, looking around for the two heat signatures that were still standing. He rose back to his feet and moved to position himself above the two of them, being directly in the middle of the two. At the moment they didn't seem to be fighting, perhaps they were negotiating something. Now was the perfect time to strike, he quickly withdrew his torch, a hand held device that used super heated plasma to cut. He activated the device and lowered down to one knee. He dug the dagger into the roof, silently cutting a circular hole large enough for him to slip through. Just before he finished cutting it, he deactivated the device and returned it to his utility belt. He did the rest with his hands to assure a stealthy entrance, pulling the circular slab out of the roof and gently placing it down beside him. The Black Knight moved his hand to his utility belt, gripping some smoke capsules as he looked down through the hole. He examined the situation carefully, and it was obvious who he should go after first. One man's life was being threatened, and the other was armed to the teeth. The unconcious body of a young teenage girl lay not far from the man with the injured hand, and not far from the gunsman laid an unconscious man's body.

He had a feeling on who was working together, but he couldn't safely assume that anyone was on his side. He had to deal with everyone in the room as swiftly as possible, and these smoke capsules would do the trick. The Black Knight tossed them down at the floor from his position, and immediately after he slipped down into the cloud of smoke. The fall was nothing to a super human like him, easily landing on one knee. The capsules created a fairly large cloud of gray, shrouding all of their visions except for the Black Knight's; he still had his thermal vision on. Wasting no time, he pulled a taser from his utility belt and moved in with his plan.. Expecting a counter attack, The Black Knight rolled towards his opponent to try to avoid anything shot his way. If succesful, he would thrust his taser towards the gut of the unsuspecting and blinded gunsman; he would worry about the other man next.

Rush's gun was lowered from Clayton as he was trying to let the two go. However there seemed to be an interruption. A pellet landed on the floor, releasing a cloud of smoke. "Goddamn Heroes!!" Rush shouted, completely ignoring Clayton he backed away from the smoke, aiming his pistol as smoke filled the room. He backed his way towards an area he could climb up to get out of the smoke, but a taser pelted him in the gut, sending pain through his nerves. The blow knocked him onto his back, and he tumbled into all fours.

Rush winced in pain and scrambled to get to higher ground. The pain from the electrifying blow sent more adrenaline in his body than he needed, but he ignored that factor and pumped adrenaline through his veins to maximize his focus and strength. He leapt up against a pillar, kicked off of it, soared through the air to another display of environmental energy sources. He landed on it upside down with one hand, and launched his body up into the air, landing on top of a balcony-like ledge high above the room. He unholstered his second pistol and aimed both pistols at the gassy smoke which was soon to dissolve.

His gut instantly felt pain again, giving him a painful reminder to be more focused. But the more adrenaline he coursed through his veins, the worse he felt. His heart was beating too fast, and he was getting heavy chest pains. Unfortunately adrenaline rushes do have their side effects, and he was getting way too much of it.

Slick's eyes opened a slit. His head hurt, and his vision was blurry. His hand instinctively rose to his face, which was covered with blood from landing on the floor with his face. He was in no shape to fight at all, and tried to stand but fell on all fours. He looked up, the entire room was filled with smoke. He squinted his eyes to look for anything, but he wasn't exactly sure what was going on...

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MEANWHILE

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Holding one arm outstretched towards Elaine, she was pinned to the wall through a steady blast of wind energy that immobilized her from any form of retreat. She requested he surrendered, but he had given her that opportunity a long time ago, before she had shot him through the shoulder. His eyes slit at her.

"You had your chance." He threw his second arm forward, unleashing an extreme amount of energy into the funnel of wind energy enough to blast a hole through the wall 12 feet in diameter and hurdle Elaine through rubble into the next room.

Alice was still unconcious when the Black Knight came crashing through, but when the smoke bomb went off, she found herself being pulled out the figurative darkness. Since she was on the ground and her bandanna was slightly moist from the blood, she wasn't breathing in a lot of smoke... but it was enough for her lungs to become irritated. She woke up with a cough and found herself lying on the ground. She looked around, seeing nothing but grey smoke. She rubbed her eyes, the smoke causing them to tear up and itch. Pushing herself up to a sitting position, she rubbed her eyes a few more times before putting the goggles on, hoping they'd at least help a bit... and they did... a bit. "What's going on?" she thought, her eyes trying to penetrate the thick smoke. Then, she heard sounds of fighting, with that, it came rushing back to her. "Shit..." She was still weak and unable to do anything of use, and she knew that. And so she sat there, trying to see where the smoke was coming from.

The smoke that filled the room irritated Clayton’s eyes so he raised his arm to cover his face. “Oh what now?!” he muttered, Clayton was sure that there was a god, and whoever that god was definitely had something against him.

Out of everything that happened today, this is what startled the hostages. They began to flood towards the doors. “Could this day get any worse?” he thought as he crouched low and awkwardly wrapped his hand with a shop rag he kept in his pocket. He heard the zapping sound of a taser, but he wasn't sure where it came from.
He moved as quickly as he could in Alice’s direction, she wasn’t going to get trampled on his watch, he owed her that much.

Hurricane threw Elaine's confidence back into her face. The fury of winds intensified and blew her through the wall and into the room she previously snuck through. She collided with the ground and felt her head go light. She could hardly feel her arms or legs anymore, which may actually come as a good thing with how bruised and bloody they looked.

She squinted her eyes and laid her head back against the ground. "Would you be so kind as to give me my pistols?" She asked with her eyes closed. She couldn't see if Hurricane approached or if he gave his attention to other matters, but she knew this fight couldn't continue without her weapons.

Dust fell from her right arm as she lifted it above her body towards the air. The fact that she could move it seemed great. The fact that she was trying to lift both arms made it only half of an accomplishment. I've got one arm and no weapons. I'm going to need a miracle to get out of here.

The Black Knight had successfully tased the gunsman with his tase gun, but it did not have nearly as much effect as he hoped for. He must have had some unique power in order to shrug off the power of his gadget like that. Using his thermal vision, he could easily track where the man was going, and where everyone else had been. The gunsman was trying to get to high ground, trying to get away from the thick gray smoke cloud. However the Black Knight was still hidden from view by it, and he still had the major advantage here. It was a good thing the hostages panicked and tried to get out of here while he made a distraction. He hadn't planned for it, but he was surely grateful it happened, it saved him a lot of trouble. Well it would as long as he dealt with the criminals swiftly and effectively.

When the gunner took off, he stood still for a brief moment to calculate and think his next move through carefully. He quickly thought of all the gadgets he could use for his situation, and he figured his grappling gun was the best one for the job. Before he made his move, he noticed that the man that he had thought to be knocked out was regaining consciousness. He wasn't sure if he was an enemy or not, but he couldn't risk anything. The young girl and injured man did not seem like an immediate threat to him, but he would worry about them once the others were dealt with. The Black Knight sprinted through the smoke towards the man regaining consciousness, leaping towards him to assure he got there as swiftly as possible. He quickly pulled a pair of handcuffs from his utility belt with one hand and with the other he tightly gripped the man's arm. He yanked the man's arm around his back and slapped the cuff's onto his wrist, proceeding to do the same to his other arm. The Black Knight successfully dealt with him and pushed him over onto his back. He seemed like he was in no shape to fight or resist, and he hadn't seem it coming at all.

His eyes darted up to view the gunsman who had by now reached his destination, a ledge very high above everyone. He moved to grab the grappling gun from his utility belt, intending to put his plan into action. With his skills and quick thinking, it took him no time at all to perfectly aim his gadget at the dangerous man's left leg. With out warning his finger pulled the trigger, quickly sending the wire hurling through the air towards him. On the end of the of the wire was a grappling hook, which would cling to the man's leg if it successfully reached him. If this were to work, The Black Knight would pull on the wire with all his natural strength, intending to send the man crashing into the ground below.

Assured that his trick would work, he turned around to view the young girl, who had also just regained consciousness. The man with the injured hand was also moving towards her, and the Black Knight assumed he was an enemy. He quickly sprinted forward, cutting him off from her literally just two feet away. He more than likely startled the man, appearing out of nowhere in the gray cloud that surrounded them. Wasting no time, he moved to tightly grip the man's wrist, pulling it close so that he could treat the injury. "Hold still." Was all the fierce hero said as he used his free hand to pull out a device from his utility belt, the gadget looking almost like a gun. He pointed the barrel at the injury, pulling the trigger and releasing a thin light green gel from the device. The gel quickly worked to heal his injuries, working at a super human level his wound would heal up in no time. The Black Knight then released his grip on the man's wrist and moved it to his collar, gripping him tightly and pulling him closer as he viciously stared into his eyes. "Now talk. What are you doing here?" He demanded boldly in his deep and poetic voice as he returned the gadget to his utility belt.

His interrogation would be interrupted by a loud crashing noise, it clearly had come from the other end of the building, back towards where they kept the most valuable pieces of technology. These fools had to be after that orb! Their intentions with it didn't matter, it was a dangerous thing for anyone to have. He knew failure was not an option, he had to stop these crooks no matter what the cost. The Black Knight didn't give the man a chance to respond, instead he continued his aggressive interrogation and gave him a violent shake. "What the hell is going on?! How many of you are there?!" The thick cloud of gray smoke was finally starting to fade away, slowly spreading out through the large room, but it would still take some time.

Rush aimed his pistols, darting them left and right through the cloud of smoke. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he was completely on the defensive. A grappling hook sprang out of the cloud and hooked around his ankle before he could react. An instant tug pulled him down and off the ledge. He tried to grab onto the ledge but had two pistols in his hands.

The helpless man fell into a freefall off the ledge, flailing his limbs in a panic. He aimed his two pistols into the cloud to fire aimlessly hoping to hit someone, but conscience overcame him. He raised his pistol to the air and fired a single shot before landing harshly on a glass display, shattering glass everywhere and cutting his skin to shreds. The whole display rattled when his bones hit it with a heavy thump. He was lucky he did not land on one of the shards in his chest or head, but he was out cold.

Slick was delirious and dazed. When the Black Knight came he could offer no resistance, and was subsequently cuffed with his arms behind his back. He seemed to be busy controlling the situation, however. Slick was just trying to get his strength back. A shot rang across the room followed by a shattering glass sound and diverted Slick's attention but he couldn't see anything. He was amused by the handcuffs for a while. He secreted an oily substance on his wrists, and wriggled them loose. He slipped his hands in his pockets and walked nonchalantly walked off through the museum behind Black Knights back. He mumbled in his 2-way radio to Hurricane.

"Heroes showing up dime a dozen, we gotta get outta here."

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Hurricane's shadowy figure hovered half a foot off the floor, with his arms crossed over his chest. The girl was growing weaker, and he felt empowered despite his bullet wound which was bleeding extensively. He whispered into his intercom to Snoot. "Deactivate the security on the Clockwork. We're getting too much attention. We're pulling out." He entered the next room that Elaine was in, determined to kill his foe who injured him. He could show no weakness.

Elaine asked for her weaponry back, which was not going to happen. Hurricane repeated the same blast attack at her, thrusting forward both his palms to channel wind energy. A funnel-shaped blast hurled forward low to the ground where Elaine was positioned. The blast paved a path of destruction, shredding tiles up off the floor and hurling them into the air. He aimed to knock her through another room until she was beat to death.

Alice had now managed to get up to her knees when she thought she made out a figure approaching her, as the figure moved closer, she thought it was the non janitor when all of a sudden, someone cut him off. She startled slightly, falling back until she caught herself, the mystery man was way to close for comfort... but she was still weak, and only able to scoot back about another two feet before having to stop. The next thing she heard was "Hold still." and... a spraying sound? She really wasn't sure who it was but maybe he was here to help. Then he demanded to know what happened but before anyone could react, a crash came from the main exhibit... not good. That's when the mystery man got aggresive and Alice guessed he thought non janitor was one of the criminals. She coughed a few times before trying to speak, "There were..." she coughed violently for a second before continuing, "There were three or four guys... he's not one of them." she said, hoping she was heard.

Clayton was astounded by how quickly his hand began to heal, “What the hell? Is this the Black Knight? And what did he just spray me with?” he wondered. Funny, the Black Knight helping him like that, under normal circumstances he would have been chasing him.

"Now talk. What are you doing here?"

Oh fuck. Did this Black Knight character think he was associated with these clowns? Clay slowly rose to his feet and began to answer, “Me? I’m just a j-” he was interrupted by the blast. He turned his head to see what it was but that was a futile effort, the smoke still obscured everything.

"What the hell is going on?! How many of you are there?!"

Wow, he really did think Clayton was one of them. Just before he could answer the man he heard Alice’s weak voice chime in, answering for him. She had a terrible cough but he was glad she seemed to be all right. “What she said, Mr.” Clay replied to the Black Knight, “But there was three of us and one made the stupid mistake of going after them all on her own. She might even be dead right now.” He continued on, “We’ve got to go save her.”
Just what was he thinking? He didn’t know Elaine at all. As a matter of fact, they had never even spoken. Why was he suddenly so willing to stick his neck out for people he didn’t know and would probably never see again? This was not like him.

Tiles shattered at the violence of the winds summoned before her. "I asked you nicely..." The vortex made its way towards her in the classic villain crawl towards her. Elaine reached her right hand into her boot to grab her knife. In order to garner some momentum to jump, Elaine rolled forward taking a few cuts to her face from tiles that flew through the air.

Drops of blood dripped down her face as she made her intangible leap into dissipation. Her jump brought her out just behind Hurricane's back and Elaine sought to plummet her knife right into his kidney. Blood coughed up form her mouth and her hand left the knife limply. Elaine fell to the ground and attempted to roll to the back wall.

Weight fell upon her beaten right arm. She tried moving her legs, but found them slow to generate any force. Her eyes rolled back and Elaine dropped to the ground. Blood poured out from her left arm and mixed with a stream of sweat along the ground. Her left eye blinked rapidly, which was more than could be said of her right eye. Limply, her body relaxed and gave out a deep sigh of pain from her excruciating second wind's retreat from her body. She said a quick prayer to whatever spirits could hear her, anything that could save her from Hurricane. She brought her finger over to the puddle of blood and wrote out a smiley face with her blood.

The Black Knight's plan was going smoothly, he brutally incapacitated the gunsman and handcuffed the other man he assumed to be his ally. However there was one small problem, he had been too busy interrogating the janitor to notice the man slip out of his cuffs and make his escape. Perhaps if the hostages hadn't been panicking and trying to escape so loudly, he would have noticed him casually walking away. His bold question was answered by the young girl who had just regained consciousness a few moments ago. Her voice was light and weak, but she didn't have any clearly visible injuries, he wondered what put her in this condition. He did not loosen his grip on his collar at all, but he did stay quiet while the man explained himself and the situation. "Very well." He said calmly as he softly pushed the man back and released his vicious grip, allowing the man to stand properly on both feet once again. He usually didn't trust people to tell the truth that easily, but given the situation, it was obvious that the two were being sincere. "WE, aren't doing anything. You've done your part. Now I will do mine." He spoke boldly, putting emphasis on the word 'We'.

The man said to save 'her', well hopefully the one he was saving would be the only female, it would surely make it much easier to tell who was ally and enemy. He had no time to ask for a description, he had to act quickly if he wanted to be successful. "Just in case one of them come after you again." He moved his hand to his utility belt and pulled out his taser-gun again, immediately tossing it towards the Janitor. Whether he caught it or not, The Black Knight would turn his back to them and speak one last time before sprinting off to save the girl. "It works just like a gun, point and shoot. Use it to defend yourself and that girl. I suggest getting out of here as soon as possible." He did not give them a chance to say anything else to him, taking off at full speed towards the main exhibit. Hopefully he would get there in time to save this woman and stop the thieves from accomplishing their goal.

The Black Knight pushed his body as hard as he physically could while sprinting towards the main exhibit, quickly cutting the corner and moving into a massive hallway. Thanks to his thermal vision, the group was now in sight, and he counted three different people. Only one was actually in the main exhibit, his heat signature was difficult to make out from here, but he seemed liked he was hiding. The other two were clearly combating each other in the next room over, the room he had to go through to get to the main exhibit. He assumed the one propped up against the wall was the woman he was meant to save, and the one hovering was his enemy. His assumption could be wrong, but that would be made clear in just a moment. His sprint came to a halt just before the room, taking cover behind the doorway and readying himself. With a simple tap of the side of his mask, he turned off his thermal vision and moved to withdraw the two guns he had holstered on his utility belt. They were both six-shooters armed with tranquilizer rounds, some would say that his weapons are ineffective, but not to him; he never used lethal force. He peeked around the corner to assure himself of his situation, and his assumption turned out to be correct. This man was clearly super human, he would have to go about this the right way otherwise things could get ugly. The super human seemed like he was getting ready to make another attack, and judging by the woman's condition, she wouldn't be able to handle much more punishment. He had to act quickly, and he would use a stealthy entrance to his advantage. Even with his limited time, his advanced brain calculated the situation and quickly came up with a plan.

The Black Knight swiftly turned the corner and immediately opened fire, quickly firing off three rounds from each gun before leaping into a roll towards the severely injured woman. Despite how quickly he turned the corner and fired, his shots were very accurate, all aimed towards the chest of the super human. He came out of the roll onto one knee, crouched a few feet in front of her with both guns pointed at the man. He turned his head to talk over his shoulder, speaking boldly in his deep and poetic voice. "You've done your part hero. I'll handle the rest."

Slick watched the man run off in Hurricane's direction. He brought his 2-way radio up to his mouth and whispered into it. "Got another hero comin' your way, dressed in black. I think he took out Rush, I can't see a damned thing with this smokescreen. We gotta bail and quick, we've lost the hostages. We've got no leverage now."

Slick cared not who was still inside, he started setting up their finale. Out of view from the hostages, he started placing small circular detonation charges about the size of a fist in carefully selected places. On pillars supporting the structure, and on the walls. They were going to obliterate the museum.

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Elaine successfully dodged the attack, but was desperate for survival. She attempted to leap at him with a dagger, which he saw the attack coming all too easily. As the blow came at him, his hovering body shifted to the side, and he extended his arm to deflect the blow aside. He blasted enough wind energy through his hand that it almost appeared he slapped the knife without any damage to himself.

Elaine fell down and rolled against the wall. Slick came in on the two-way radio, warning him of another hapless Hero coming his way. As well as the dangers of the loss of his hostage leverage. Hurricane knew where Slick was, and he knew where the Black Knight would be coming from. The same direction Elaine came from. He was extremely tempted to finish off Elaine but wasn't sure he had enough time.

He retreated up into the air a distance away from ground level, channeling the wind energies to circulate in the room. As predicted the Black Knight came swiveling around the corner, quickly assessed the situation allies from enemies, and fired six tranquilizer darts at Hurricane. He smiled as he lunged both his arms forward, creating a wall of wind energy to stop the darts in their tracks.

He levitated them in the air, as they bobbed up and down, barely kept afloat by a constant pressure of wind energy beneath them. Hurricane exchanged his glance from the darts to the Black Knight, and hurdled his arm downward. The wind energy blew the darts back at Elaine and The Black knight at a velocity almost as fast as they were shot out at.

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Snoot had deactivated the Security on the Clockwork, but also heard the chatter over his radio. He pulled out a Glock, and ducked for cover, not knowing where the Black Knight would come from. The security fence around the Clockwork slammed open, with a clank that echoed throughout the entire museum. They were that much closer to victory.