Dropzone

Bones wiped the sand from his eye sockets with a hanker chief as the Buick '51 drifted towards the interstate. He pulled into L.A, running a few errands and tying up a few loose ends before finally making his way out of the city towards the Abnormal home. He got back very early in the morning, so he pulled up quietly in the garage under the home, before climbing the stairs up into his home. His family home. In the warm rising sun of California, amber light was spilling through the wide open panes and filling every room in the house with a warm open glow. The house, while having a very Gothic exterior, caught the light very well. Bones walked across wooden floorboards slowly and climbed worn smooth stairs towards the attic. He locked his door, mostly out of habit and also out of the fear that one day, little Aurora would wonder in and see his little “workshop” of horrors and be traumatised from it. He paused as he stepped inside the sparsely furnished room, a single large comfortable armchair and a TV set his only company, along with a pile of about three hundred books. In the rear of the room was a little curtained off area, a place where bones and metal and gunpowder was kept, so he could keep himself busy doing whatever he felt he needed to do. It was here the Skeleton went, spending his morning emptying his gun of sand and just generally playing around with things to keep himself entertained.

When he heard the blades of the chopper, he collected his Tommy Gun case and made sure he had a good amount of ammunition packed away for it, and his Mauser. He didn't bother with much clothing, not even his usual raincoat; just his pinstriped suit with a gold tie. A bony gloved hand held his hat down as he walked towards the Helicopter and handed his equipment off to the pilot. Over the whirring of the blades, he shouted loudly, “How long until we get to the Military base?” The guy shrugged, holding his hands up indicating a long while. Bones would have rolled his eyes as he looked the machine over. Car's he could accept. Planes were okay, but things like this always made him feel like he was from the stone age. He opened his mouth to shout something else, but out came the Ape and the Dryad, the two people Bones liked most in the world. Archie and Aurora. He waved them over and stepped out of the way, opening his jaw slightly in distaste as the pilot lifted the young girls hand and helped her in. Bones stepped forward and poked him in the chest, glaring. ”Keep your eyes on the skies, bub.”

The ride was short and uneventful, with Bones grinning like an idiot and watching his companions as he slumped back, hat drawn down in the typical cowboy lean. When they finally lowered, Bones let Archie use the other side to move toward the Checkpoint, sliding out after Aurora. The pilot had done it again, though, so before he went off he pressed a finger against the man's chest and pushed him back, against the Chopper. ”When a skeleton warns you to back off his little sister, you do it.” He warned softly, collecting his bag and slinging it over a shoulder before catching up with the two of them. It was like a damn superhero convention inside the walls, with all shapes and sizes and all walks of life looking around in much the same manner. To Bones, it felt weird and wrong that he was here, but he wasn't going to cause a fuss; Archie wanted him here, and Aurora and Leo needed him here. Not to mention whatever or whomever was causing all this could go on to make everyone on the world need them.

”Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman.” Gordon had always found it easier to simple address the Super group as a whole as any other man or woman. They had abilities, some could move buildings with the forces of blows, but Gordon never held much to giving people more respect for the things they had done in the past. The past was gone, and you could never hope to use it to measure a person in the present. So even when he spotted some of the more recognisable faces and lack there in of, there was no stirring of awe or fear in his chest. Just a man who know he had a job to do, people to save. ”My name is Rufus Gordon, and I am a General with the United State Military. Sometime, roughly three day's ago, all contact with SeaCove City was lost.” He paused, looking up at that screen behind him, sighing as he tried to work out the right way to say what he had to say. Finally, he sighed and lifted a hand, taking the hat from his white hair and placing it in front of him. He walked around the podium and over looked the faces in the crowd. ”Alright, I'll cut the official shit. This is basically what we know and what has been speculated by a man much alike to yourself.”

”No country on this world has the technology to basically erect an invisible barrier around a city that negates any and all communication devices, as well as any damn near other device you can think of. Attempt to take a picture in the general direction of the city, you get a black photograph. Attempt to do a heat reading even from space, you get a stone cold area of space.” He smoothed a weathered hand down over a slightly extended gut in his official uniform. ”At first, the boys at Nasa and the Pentagon thought the Earth could have collided with a Blackhole or something, but when America wasn't being torn apart like a hand in a mincing machine, they had no explanation.” He moved back to the Podium, an old shrapnel wound in his knee forcing him to lean against it. But not a flicker of pain flashed in his face, and it could be easily mistaken as a way for the man to stop clenching his fists. ”We were approached by many theorists before even thinking about going public. The major theme was, 'Otherworldly.'” He lifted and put down the fingers on his left hand.

”Two search teams of men were sent in. The first have been missing since Day Two. The second were fired about, by energy weapons that seemed to fire Green Mortars. They pulled back and evacuated without any casualties. Since then, we've been sending scouting parties just through the barrier and back again. Any deeper and the shooting starts. From what reports we do get back, it seems that there may be fires raging down town towards Old Town, and no one seems to be trying to stop it. There are no big flying spaceships over the city, no Tripods walking it's street, so we still don't fully understand if this is an invasion of a full war force or a tactical team.”

”Either way, it's not traditionally an Alien Invasion, we think. No flotilla from another world. Some boys are saying Teleportation, others are probably saying vessels could be hidden much in the same way that the barrier works. We just don't know. And we don't want to risk sending in hundreds of soldiers to get slaughtered when there are Men and Women like you that can withstand some of the strongest weapons we have.” He surveyed some of them and saw they weren't so happy with the whole thing, especially a face in the back belonging to someone that Rufus knew from Military reports and News reports. ”We are not saying that you are acceptable loses. You are this Nations sword and shield against the worlds greatest threats, even though some of you often turn on the nation and planet you call home. But now, we need you.”

”We've worked out a way to slide you into the city. A team of helicopters are going to cold run you through the barrier and then fly you towards Down town. There's a police station there and by our reasoning it'll be the most easily fortified place of all, especially if you're going to be combating... anything. You'll split into groups of Four, three and two. Some of you will be even escorted alone, to reduce the chance of being taken out suddenly. Now, some of you may be wondering what the phrase, Cold Drop means. The engines to the Helicopters will briefly be cut and then the machine will free-fall through the air. When on the other side of this invisible barrier, the engines will be reignited and you will be safely moved to the Dropzone.” The man sighed as he lifted his hat up and placed it on his head, looking over the crowd. ”Men will be showing you back out through the metal detectors. Some of you will be pulled back and grouped with other people. I'll hopefully be coming in with you, so we'll be talking on the other side.”

He gave a nod of his head as the crowd slowly milled out, the man stepping off the stage back into the frenzy of the Checkpoint. Being guided through the crowd was a man wearing a rather bright helmet, a young woman wearing the same following him at a more leisurely pace. “Major Signal, sir!” The young soldier shouted before pointing his way over to a helicopter. General Gordon held out his hand and shook the other man's.

”Good work, saving the Whitehouse from that Machine.”

”Thank you sir. It was really just my line of duty.” The general nodded his head in agreement as they moved through the crowd, his eyes going back to Capes moving out towards the fields beyond.

”I heard you're also the one putting forward most of the explanations, Major.”

Ignatius Clement smiled under his helmet, nodding his head slowly. ”Like I said, Sir. Duty.”