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Archer looked onto the apartment with a sense of dread. It looked like it had been reduced to a pile of ashes in only a few moments which also told the reporter that it was most likely a manmade fire. The people who lived in the building, people from surrounding buildings, and the people attempting to extinguish the fire ran this way and that, separating the two people that had just arrived. Archer Roland moved more to the side of the crowd so that he would not be disturbed for a little while. Taking out his camera from the one bag he had kept on his hip and put it together, he snapped a few pictures of the building before trying to find Eclipse.

It did not take him long to find the other woman but he stayed back for a moment when he saw that she was indirectly speaking to. Archer took a moment to see what was going on and made a few mental notes, namely the size of the man, the fact he was holding a gun to Eclipse, and the way he moved. All of this told him that the man was strong and knew how to handle himself but also that he was trying to be discrete. Moving quickly, Archer moved to behind the man and tapped him on the shoulder. When the larger man looked around Archer punched him in the jaw hard, not being a physically strong person nor wanting to permanently hurt the man the man simply stumbled to the side but quickly collected himself. In one quick motion he pointed the gun at Archer and pulled the trigger.

The bullet struck Archer in the chest, breaking several ribs and puncturing his lung in two places, the only upside to all of this was that the bullet had exited the other side. The blood was hot and cold at the same time, just like always. Archer fell to the ground in a heap on his back and began to breathe hard, trying to compensate for the now faulty lung; it would all be fine in a moment just like it always was. Everything began to blur momentarily and he could not see what the woman was doing, if anything, to the man with the gun.

Fortunately everything soon began to correct itself as the healing began to take place. Had the wound be to the left by an inch or two then the healing would have taken longer. The bullet wound was closing itself off and the blood that had splattered in the ground had begun to turn into a think red cloud as it all returned to Archer’s body. As he opened his eyes, everything much clearer now, he looked for the girl as he sat up from his once blood stained grave. “Hey Eclipse, where are you?” He said as he got up off the ground. “I think I’m alright. It looks like the guy missed me completely,” Archer said, trying to shrug his accelerated healing off as a coincidence.

The shriek of a bullet rang out. Within the moment of impact in Roland's chest, Bliss shook her arm to break free of the grasp, but felt his arm take a more belligerent move over her chest. She kicked her boots up in protest of the larger man carrying her towards the van. Words spoken in soothing tone to the crowd who expressed concern and confusion over why these men would shoot an unarmed man sought to justify their actions. "Rubber Bullet." The explanation brought clarity to the situation, but still scattered the crowd from their proximity.

Roland stood back to his feet. The crowd felt uneasy about the situation, but Roland inadvertently proved their story correct. Even though they fired on the man with a live bullet with deadly intention, they felt relieved that they could take him alive. Two men walked towards Roland and produced stun batons. Fearing too much attention for brutality, the two men decided to bring the man in alive. The forced their stun batons toward Roland's neck and lower torso to incapacitate him.

Bliss sought to bring her hand to force a blast against the man. The cold steel of the barrel forced against her forehead. To keep her grasp firm she fought back against the shock and surprise from the assault. In the moment of lapse between her action, a suited thug brought a burlap sack over her head and tightened the string around her neck. Forceful impact shook her head against the back of the window and pressed the gun against her throat. "You should really relax."

As Roland stood from his spot on the ground, feeling the last of the bruise and pain from the bullet dissipate, and saw the two men coming at him with stun batons in hand. The photographer quickly readied himself for the approaching thugs and when the first one was close enough he delivered a rapid jab to his stomach, making him bend over slightly, and followed that with another jab to the throat, triggering a gag reflex. With the first man bent over and expelling what must have been his lunch the second decided to take his turn, neither of the two seemed to know much about combat as they approached him one at a time, which possibly stemmed from Archer’s small size. The man was quickly deterred for a short second but while Archer was distracted by the man the other thug took him by surprise and stuck the stun baton to Archer’s neck.

The shock was not enough to do lasting harm to even a normal person let alone a person with very accelerated healing process but the shock was enough to override Archer’s nervous system and caused him to black out. Some time later, everything was dark and all the photographer could tell was that his arms and legs had been tied together. Struggling against the restraints did nothing but make things more difficult as he was trying to not be obvious but with the, or at least what felt like, a burlap sack over his head it was difficult to tell who, if anyone, was watching him. He also could not tell where Eclipse was around him so he whispered into the darkness, “Eclipse? Are you there?” Archer had no way of knowing if she was conscience, in the same vehicle, or whether another person was close enough to him to hear him as well. Whether someone was or was not made little difference since the men would most likely be unable to do Archer any lasting damage but he just felt he would be better off trying to make some sort of secret game plan with his fellow captive.

Regardless of how this went down it always seemed like Archer Roland had the knack for finding dangerous women that would give him amazing stories to tell the world. The only downside was that the photographer did not have his power gauntlets or his camera with him. If things got bad it would be hard for him to be of any use in a fight.

"I already know were we're going..." Bliss muffled from under the sack. "...I've been there before; I just came back as a matter of fact." Bliss moved her fingers along the side of the seat. One of the men still held her wrist with his hand, but left her otherwise free in the car. Knowing the likes that took her they would use some clever form of coercion to keep her in check.

She could feel the pistol release from her throat, but could still feel the haunting presence it emanated. "You don't know as much as you think, you arrogant little brat..."

"Listen, faggot, I know you think..."

"Shut her up." Two men dragged an unconscious body into the car and dropped it on the ground. "Her rudeness knows no bounds." Her captor pulled the bag off from over her head and handed her her two separate pieces of rope.

"Tie your friend up, and don't try anything funny or we'll kill both of you." He forced her down to the floor of the van and instructed her to carry out what they told her to. Bliss began to tie his hands and feet as tightly as she could not knowing if what she did really restrained him. "See, she can be helpful when motivated."

If she hated one thing more than anything it was being used and then mocked. Her rage boiled up inside her, but as she turned to settle the score the side of a pistol impacted along her face. She fell over Roland and slammed the back of her head against the metal of the van. Two bullets rang out over Bliss's head. Light crept threw the torn metal of the van shining light on particles of dust that floated through the cramped van. "Will you be a little more cooperative?"

Her fingers locked around the back of her head, holding her gaze down into her lap. The situation offered her little to no room for confidence in her ability, and the fact that she would not be able to save the man she enlisted if she tried an escape weighted heavily on her. As if she could not deal with the abundance of the problems she dealt with Roland began to speak to her. She could see him moving against the bindings she tied him with to no avail. Maybe she was too god at the job she did. "...Well." The gun wielding man asked over the smug satisfaction of the other two.

"What do you want me to say?" Bliss spoke out in defiance. She did not want to give them anything that she could keep for herself. No one in this van deserved to break Bliss, to make her fear anything. Yet, she could not help but tremble under the weight of her plight.

"I just want you to be a little more taken back with yourself. Just sit quietly and tend to your friend's wound." The man could barely hold in his laughter at his comment. It felt so odd for him to take such pleasure in giving such simple instructions.

"Are you okay?" Bliss spoke towards Roland's ear. She moved her hands along his back to lift up his shirt to see where the men bruised him. To her disbelief, and to that of the captors, he looked perfectly fine. "You don't look too bad. Minus being tied up." Bliss poked his back not knowing what to do. If she knew how she would try to massage his back, but it her fingers knew nothing of the art. "...And you look better than this situation does."

"The Baroness has a special plan for this guy..." One of the agents that captured Roland moved toward him with the baton. "We should probably put him in a more agreeable state." The baton crashed violently on his head. Bliss could only look on and view the violent act with a thirst for vengeance. She held back, knowing it would lead to both their deaths, but she wanted so much to hurt these men.

Archer heard Eclipse’s words and for a second he was relieved that she was near him but that all faded away as he heard from the tone of her voice that she was at least a little frightened. That was not good. The woman had been so confident before that it filled the photographer with his own dread to know that she might not feel so confident about the situation they were in either. The man was not worried about his own wellbeing but rather hers. Archer was not sure if anything could keep him dead but the odds that the woman he was with had the same curse was very unlikely and he wanted more than anything for her to not be hurt. He had seen too many good people in his lifetime hurt or killed and he would not let anyone die today.

Eclipse and one of the men exchanged a few words and it was all too obvious that he was throwing his weight and the someone else’s around to intimidate her. After a moment the woman turned her attention to Roland and spoke directly into his ear, asking if he was okay. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Then to his surprises she pulled his shirt up to examine his absent wound but soon found that it was no where to be seen. She mentioned him not looking too bad and Archer let out a slight laugh before saying in a whisper so that hopefully only she would hear him, “Getting back up is what I do best.” It was a somewhat veiled statement that hopefully only the woman would understand but Roland had never really been that clever despite his rather large brain.

The guard mentioned Roland being useful and quickly struck the tied up man in the head, cracking his skull from the force of the blow and knocking Roland out cold. A large red spot became visible on the bag over his head which grew at an alarming rate but the stopped and slowly began to recede back to it’s point of origin, almost as though it was retuning back into the man. In the darkness of his own temporary death, Roland found himself in a silent world where he had nothing to do but be alone with his thoughts. It was boring but it did give him some time to figure out how he would word his story for his article once this was all over.

"Hold still..." Without compassion the trained man pulled Bliss by her arm toward him. "...We need to get you ready for the demonstration." A metal collar latched around her neck, and sent an initial shock into her neck. She remembered this feeling. It had to be one of Clement's devices that they engineered to keep superhumans in check. Bliss felt herself pulled against the agent. He held her arms out while the agents placed a vest around her torso. Wires and a timer popped up from the synthetic device. To finish off the regalia a bracelet secured itself around her wrist. A plastic shell encased a metal ring; Bliss could only guess at what the device would be used for, but she knew the pleasure these men took sickened her. "Are you going to be good?" The van stopped and the doors opened.

The agent held into Bliss's arm keeping her in place while three agents came to take Roland out. After a few moments of waiting, Bliss found herself in the presence of an old irritant. "I told you strapping a bomb to her chest would change her tune." The Baroness wasted no time in looking over Bliss in her restrained condition. "Finally you have nothing to say?"

"I don't have anything you would find soothing." Bliss kept herself calm as the agent pushed her out of the van.

"That's where you're wrong." The Baroness grabbed Bliss by the shoulder and pulled her to her feet. "I have a device you built and want to know how it works. You could have done this the easy way, but now we can do it the hard way."

No light beamed into the garage, either through the lack of windows or the possibly the proximity beneath the Earth. The room gave her a cool chill, a spectral harbinger telling her of a horrible future. Baroness walked Bliss out of the garage and into a giant laboratory. Computers flanked glass tubes that were large enough to contain humans within. The room sprawled out under the cavernous ceiling that loomed overhead. To the back of the room, two staircases climbed up a raised level of the lab that overlooked the rest of the giant room.

Baroness pushed Bliss towards her quantum computer; she felt relieved to see it, but that feeling surrendered to the doom that awaited. "Looks good." Bliss spoke over her shoulder to the villain. "Guess you don't need me."

"You're going to plug it in and show us how it works." Baroness looked as though she would completely lose control, until a sinister smile took over her face.

"Is that why this bomb is strapped to my chest?" Bliss tapped on the timer device and wiggled one of the wires. It would serve this woman right if the thing went off in her face.

"That's to make sure you stay here; this is to make sure you do your job." A lift rose Roland out of the ground and into the glass tube. The agents removed the bag and tied him to a chair. A roll of tape kept him silent from any advice he would give to Bliss in the situation. "I'm going to release a radioactive chemical in that tube. If you want to save him, just hook up the computer and tell the machine not to release the chemical. It's easy as that."

Bliss looked for any way to avoid the demonstration without killing Roland. "There aren't enough wires to hook it up!"

"That thing on your wrist is a lie detector. Would you like to try this with you in there?" Baroness laughed while a lab technician sent the programming required to release the radioactive agent in the glass tube. "It takes a little while for the chemicals to warm up. I don't mind; I have all the time in the world. He however, well that's a different story."

Bliss worked quickly and hooked the wires into the correct place to access the computers capacity. The cackling of a calirometer echoed from a cubical box next to the glass tube. The metallic scratching noise yelled at Bliss to hurry. Hurry as she may calculations take time; she needed to account for what she would need to override this system. She scrambled over to the computer and began to access the interface of the technicians computers and found out the coding to reverse the signal sent. As her fingers placed emphasis on the severity of the information she tried to relay, she could hear the cackling increase.

Instead of merely turning off the radiation, she triggered a fan system that would suck the air out of the tube. It would leave him without air, for a few seconds, but who wants to breathe radioactive fumes anyways? Bliss turned the radioactive emitter off, and rerouted the flow of elements into another test tube. With the fear of that element no longer a danger to Roland, Bliss turned the fans off and allowed air to flow back into the tube.

"She's good." One of the higher ranked agents leaned in to speak to the Baroness.

"Too good. Too good for her own sake..." She giggled at the thought of what would come. "...Too good for our own sake." She walked forward and began to clap for Bliss. "Well done miss Fokukama. I don't think anyone in here could have done it that well. And with so little effort, such an intricate plan. I don't know how you computer nerds do things so intricately, but I have a way that I like to do plans. Would you like to see?"

Bliss and Roland sat tied back to back. After the demonstration the agents removed the tape from Roland's mouth, giving him a little more comfort before his execution with Bliss. The bomb on Bliss's chest now made more sense to her; this was all a ploy. She tried kicking her feet loose, but they were tied far too well; her hands and arms shared the same fate. "You can struggle all you want but there is no escape." The Baroness insisted on giving Bliss one last hassle before she disposed of her. "Now, miss Fokukama, or I guess I can be a little more informal, Bliss." She knelt down to grab Bliss's chin. "Are you afraid?"

"No." Bliss spoke with reservation. Her bracelet showed it was a lie. "You know these things are wrong a lot."

The Baroness chuckled under the spin of her comment. "Well then let's calibrate it. Are you afraid?"

"No." Bliss over spoke the word to give her more confidence. The bracelet still called her a liar.

"Bliss..." She spoke with a friendlier tone. "Are you afraid?"

"No." Still the device swung back and forth under her pressure.

"This is fun." The Baroness chuckled. "Are you afraid?"

"No." Bliss looked to be in a great deal of pain as she spoke that one word. This time the bracelet failed to move. A look of shock came over the Baroness. How could she not be afraid of an impending death? To transfer the fear she felt, Bliss summoned all of her power to destroy the bracelet's monitoring system. Even though the fear of death sat heavily in Bliss's heart, that did not mean her will and tenacity would not save her. The pain from the collar gripped her neck with every volt in could muster against her power, but it still could not keep her from subtlety destroying that stupid lie detector in her bracelet.

The Baroness stood from her crouched position and walked out of the glass pin they found themselves in. Baroness closed the door and spoke with a camera crew outside. Bliss could only make out her lips and not words, so she assumed this glass would dampen their voices. "Got any plans on getting out of here? I can only find trouble. I need someone to get me out, so I can deal with that bitch."

Archer watched and listened, with a morbid sense of curiosity, to the conversation between the woman holding them captive and the woman who was tied up with him, Eclipse. She sounded like she was in pain but Archer trusted that she had some sort of plan to deal with the malicious and seemingly disturbed woman that would not relent with her question. With only a little more time it was obvious that the tables had turned and even though Eclipse was still tied up and appeared to be in pain it was now the woman holding them captive that was unnerved. Intimidation, whenever wielded by someone that does not completely understand its properties, is like a boomerang in that it can return a harm the initial wielder if the other person is, at least on the surface, unaffected.

As soon as the woman left Eclipse asked Archer a single question and he did not have a straight forward answer, at least not off the top of his head. “I don’t usually make plans. I just go with the flow.” Archer then quickly looked to the people with cameras on them, watching their every move. From the type of cameras they were using told Archer that they were not linked directly to the internet, they did not look like the right type from what he could make of them. “Okay, those cameras aren’t hooked up to the internet so anything we do will take a while for anyone to see so I might be able to use our powers. I can regenerate really fast so if we can break my arms so that they’re in front of me I should be able to untie these ropes and then I can get that thing off your neck.” Archer hoped his very quickly planned plan was up to snuff since the girls life might be completely dependent on him.

"Great." She muttered under the response that he only took orders. For a minute the conversation between them went dead. She turned her head to see what kept his attention from focusing on the current situation. Before she could sequester the information from him, he released the information to her that turned from irrelevant to useful. And, then to morbid. With a slanting of her eyes and a lowered brow, Bliss kept her head facing Roland while taking into consideration the downside to this plan. Not the pain that she would inflict to him, but to herself kept her cautious. The ropes kept her tightly against the back of Roland's body; with a small maneuvering Bliss secured a small wiggle room for her to move.

She began to focus a small blast of pressure to alleviate the shock from the collar. A small deal of pressure went into Roland's arm, but the recoil that shocked her was as much as the amount she used to disable the lie detector. Apparently the amount of force released did not trigger a relative amount of discharge. She would need to give a full blast against his arm. Bliss flicked her fingers and held the them up to his elbow and let loose the first blast.

She threw her head forward in pain and grimaced while the blast shot into Roland's arm. Her heart beat heavily in her chest. Pure adrenaline now powered her pain tolerance. "Okay, one more." She spoke heavily. She pressed her hands to his other elbow and delivered a second shot. With another jolt to her neck she fired another blast into his arm.

"Does that work."

Archer listened to what she said as he began to mentally prepare himself for what he knew was about to happen. While he had managed to grow accustomed to pain, since he put himself through so much on a regular basis the actual pain never got any easier. There was little doubt in Archer’s mind that he would be able to maintain consciousness but it would most definitely hurt like hell given what would soon happen. Then all of the sudden there was a loud snap, a rush of nauseating pain, and seemingly deadened arm. “Alright, that’s one down. You better get the other one before my arm heals. I’d prefer not to have to break the same arm twice,” Archer spoke through ragged breath and tears of pain. The second break felt less intense but that was most likely due to the rushing endorphins.

With both arms broken Archer had to get quickly to work, struggling against passing out and the pain that felt as though it were coursing through his whole body. Using what strength he had in him, Archer pulled his arms down below his legs, which pulled and ripped the his skin and muscles while also causing light internal bleeding from broken blood vessels. He could not see the looks of horror on the faces of the people filming him but he knew they were still there. Once the deed was done he lapsed into a moment of unconsciousness but it was only for a moment as he felt the pain subside as his broken parts were already fixing themselves.

With his arms back to normal and the pain long gone, Archer got to work on his restraints, which were easy enough to get off now that he could look at them and they were not behind his back. Now out of his confinement, he moved to help Eclipse. Here restraints were just as easy to undo since they seemed to have less intricate knots, most likely done by someone else’s hands. The thing around Eclipse’s neck was a little more complicated since it was above a simple rope. Fishing in his pockets, Archer pulled out a small loop of metal, then name of the object temporarily eluded him, and fashioned it into a particular shape and began to work on the lock. After a few moments the neck restraint, which had apparently some capacity to negate powers, was safely on the floor. “Are you okay? That whole thing seemed to take a lot out of you.” He asked the girl he had just untied.

Bliss monitored the situation in the transparent reflection of the glass. Behind her the tension of the other man's body pulled apart from her, taking away the pain his shoulder blade forced into her back when he squirmed his way out of the bindings. Driving her boots into the ground kept her from falling back while Roland secured his own safety. Relieving the pain from her wrist, Roland took to untying her wrists. Ropes still secured her feet tightly, but after seeing Roland dig for something in his pocket, Bliss took the signal. All of the commotion of the escape finally drew the attention it deserved once the guards overcame the disgusted sensation of Roland's escape artistry.

The lock in her collar split just as she freed her feet from the ropes. Bliss took to her feet to do what she did best. Energy split from her hands, shattering the glass pen that held them in captivity. "Take out the escape route; I can handle the Baroness." The pin in her lie detector went flickered at the emotional distress she gave. "Oh, God dammit." A jar of energy shot into the lie detector knocking it off of her wrist.

An aggressive guard sought to overpower Bliss, but found his shoulder dislodged as Bliss flipped him over her shoulder and let loose a quick shot of power into his extremity joint. Blasting the others back against the railing of the second floor left the guards in poor condition to fight against either of the two. The crashing of the pen and the calamity that ensued brought the attention of the guards in the lower level of the duo that sought to escape.

"I'm going to the office up that staircase; get my computer and clear the path." Bliss took off towards the grated staircase that lead up to the private offices from the hidden laboratory. The Baroness moved towards these back stairs, so Bliss knew she would find her there. Unfortunately, with the Baronesses power, she already knew Bliss was coming. Exasperated by the revenge she would extract on Baroness, Bliss blinded herself from the full attention she needed to give the search.

A hallway opened before her, darting off into several paths. Bliss pushed her energy against the doors that lined the hall, forcing the locks and swinging the doors open. Within the elaborate confines of a cavernous room in the middle laid the decorate styling she saw when the corporation brought her here earlier. Bliss walked through the door, sending her hands to immediately brace against anything hiding behind the door. Energy shot out from her hand, throwing papers from a desk to the ground and scattering ashes from clove cigarettes. As the destruction subdued, Bliss turned to face the rest of the room. Baroness waited for her with a bottle of wine to break over her head. The viscosity of the wine fell to the floor with Bliss, while the Baroness stood over her with a depraved stature to her.

As soon as the glass was broken and Eclipse ran off to take on the ‘Baroness’ Archer did what he had been told to do; he went to get the computer thing. As he sprinted for the computers his companion had been working on earlier Archer noticed one of the guards from earlier coming at him with a taser in hand. The regenerating man prepared himself for the incoming assault as quickly as he could, bracing himself for the larger man’s attack. The large man swung at him, attempting to press the taser to Roland’s neck, but Archer was ready and grabbed the man by his wrist pulled and twisted it so that he could maneuver his hand, with a still working taser in it, and pressed the electric prongs to the front of the man’s pants.

With one man on the ground convulsing in pain Archer reached down and grabbed the man’s gun from his holster, while firearms were not Archer’s preferred combat method it seemed that drastic times called for drastic measures. Resuming his sprint for the computer, Archer quickly found the thing he was pretty sure he was looking for, grabbing it and quickly yanking it so that he could get on the move to hopefully help Eclipse with whatever she was doing upstairs. As Archer turned around he saw two more men moving towards him with guns in hand, these guys were not playing around anymore, taking a few quick shots at the both of them Archer ducked behind a desk and hid from their return fire.

Breathing heavily, Archer quickly stood and sprinted for the two men that were now standing and opening fire on him with reckless abandon. A bullet caught him in the shoulder, breaking his shoulder blade, two bullets punctured his stomach, although only one did any real harm, and one bullet managed to graze his knee, doing almost nothing. All of these wounds hurt and would have crippled a normal man but Archer would not let himself fall, not while a friend of his was in potential danger somewhere around him. As he reached the first of the two gunners his battle scars were already disappearing and he punched the man in the face with all of his might, which was more than normal since he had no concern for whether or not the hand broke from the force, and then grabbing the man’s hand and directing it to the other gunner. Archer took quick aim, which was easy since he was at almost pointblank range, and fired two bullets into the man’s kneecaps.

With both men on the ground and almost completely healed now, Archer began his sprint to the stairs Eclipse ha used only moments ago. He continued up the stairs, taking at least two at a time. The hallway was easy to navigate, or at least it was easy to follow the path Eclipse had taken given the broken doors that led down most of the hallways. Taking a corner and looking all the way down to the end of the hallway, Archer saw Eclipse limp on the floor and the evil woman standing above her, what she was about to do Archer could not tell. “Hey ugly, you forgot something.” Archer yelled trying to take the woman’s attention away from his partner. Raising the gun, the regenerating man aimed and fired but given the distance he was not completely sure how well he had shot.

"Why would I remember an insect like you?" She smiled at the gauntlet he stepped into. " I was thinking of using this on this poor girl..." A cold hand ran over Bliss's groggy head. "But, I have a way inside of her head. Boys!" Two doors rose up from the ground into the ceiling. The Baroness wanted to try out a new weapon, but needed could not let the public see them. No eyes would see this. Two mechanical golems strode into the hallway standing at lumbering seven feet. Metal hands clasped together with the full range of movement of a normal human. Walls shook while the two automatons stepped towards the small man. Cold blue eyes illuminated the black chassis of the giant machines. The first golem lunged forward with a blinding speed to deliver a metallic punch to the man's jaw. Artificial intelligence gave the two golems a tactical understanding of flanking and trapping opponents. The attacking golem would try to move with the momentum of the punch and get behind Roland, allowing his counterpart to launch an attack that would open up his back.

The Baroness finished tying Bliss one of the ornate pillars in her cavernous office by wrapping a handkerchief through her mouth. Bliss drunkenly tried squirming her feet out of the bonds while Baroness walked over to view the security footage of the fight. "I wonder if those machines have enough empathy to leave survivors. I guess we could take a bet. What do you think?" Bliss rolled her eyes at the statement. "That's not an answer my dear. I can hear what you are thinking." A sense fell upon Bliss that made her uncomfortable in the incident. "You're still a little drowsy from the blow to the head, so it's a little hazy, not as good frequency as when I saw you coming to attack me. My, my, you and I waste so much wine don't we?" She placed her hand against Bliss's neck. "Now, for a little pre-fight warm-up." A fist landed against Bliss's stomach; she lunged forward against the ropes in pain. Baroness threw a blinding powder out of her sleeve into the grimacing girl's face. "I'm going to break you apart."

Given the distance Archer had completely missed the ‘Baroness’ and had instead hit the floor and one of the walls not too far off from his target, but close is never quite close enough. The woman was tying Eclipse to a chair and yelled something that must have activated some type of defense program as two large doors rose up from the floor. When the doors opened two large and thoroughly intimidating robots stepped from the confines and began to approach Roland with shocking speed. The regenerating man ran to the two constructions with the gun he had stolen at the ready. When the first robot had reached him at about the middle of the hall Roland quickly aimed for what looked to be the head of the hunk of steel and fired three rounds. The bullets did not so much as scratch the giant steel machines.

The first of the two robots swung and almost clocked Roland in the jaw, which would have broken something for sure, although it missed with its initial attack it quickly moved to the side and around the regenerating man and prepared for yet another attack. The second was aimed at his mid-section and it would have been easy to dodge but with the other robot preparing to attack as well it complicated things a bit. Roland moved to the side and dodged the attack from the one behind him and allowed the attack to travel past him and directly into the middle of the other robot, knocking it off balance. Seeing the robots inadvertently harm one another gave the man an idea, Roland then jumped on top of the robot on the ground and waited for the one still standing to make its move. When the metallic being swung once more Roland moved yet again this time jumping over the fist and the grounded robot alike as the robot beat its companion. It did not take long for the robots to be in bad condition, in fact it took less time and less effort than Archer had anticipated. Roland looked away from the still standing robot, which was now slightly crumpled and missing one arm, to see if Eclipse was alright and in that moment the damaged hunk of metal took advantage and struck Roland in the back. Archer’s back was broken and he no longer had the use of his legs, which meant he could no longer escape. As the robot walked around the regenerating man, who tried his hardest to crawl away, Roland knew that it was all over it only became clearer after the robot stepped on and smashed his head into a fine paste.

The robot picked up the remains of the man, which was mostly a crumpled mess with a missing head, and brought it to the ‘Baroness’. As the robot carried Roland it was obvious that he was already regenerating, his blood and gooey bits were returning to the source and were already reassembling his head and back so that he would be in working order. Though Roland was on his way back to working order he would still be passed out for a good while, looked away in the dark recesses of his own mi

Baroness smiled over the triumph of her resources. A few years of research and several billions in unchecked spending gave her exactly what she wanted, loyal foot soldiers capable of taking down a superhero. "Pretty flimsy." The Baroness stroked her hand across Bliss's head as she strode towards the living dead man. "But he keeps coming back; what I wouldn't give to have a little bit of you in these...toys." The sharp stiletto dug into the regenerating man. The stiff heel twisted in his back letting Baroness face Bliss. "He'll be back." Bliss remained silent in her protest. "I'm just going to take a little bit of him for a paradigm of what he can help my little soldiers become."

With a coldness that subverted the refrigerated needle, Baroness drove the needle into Roland to take a sample of his wonderful genetics. "I'm such a lucky girl. I get everything I want." She let out a light chuckle. "Apparently we have a sad little soul here. I'm not talking about you either. We all know what a sad little specimen you are." Baroness spoke to Bliss while she moved her hands along Roland's head. "Apparently, he doesn't care for regeneration the way I would. He would prefer it all just go away. The powers, the pressure, the loneliness, he just wants it all to go away for ever."

"We need to go my dear." A uniformed man pushed an elderly man into the room. "We can dispose of these two with vats of acid." Bliss recoiled at the suggestion, but found no leeway in her binds.

"This one is special. Too special to die like that." She looked over coldly to Bliss. "You can erase her forever if you would like. The little tramp means nothing to me." Dried blood around Roland's head pressed red rings on the Baroness's hands as she leaned in for a soft touch. "She's a little liar you know." Words dripped out like the softest of silk against Roland. "A two faced criminal who uses people and throws them aside. But you know that. Deep down you always knew she was simply using you to get what she wanted; everyone does that to you. That's why you can't stand it anymore." Words like venom. "I can help you out. I just need to get rid of the girl, and then we can talk about what you want. What if you wanted to live in wealth and joy, or what if you never wanted to see another day again? I can grant either of those." Baroness waved her hand to signal her guards to remove Bliss from the room.

The central hub of the Baroness's office opened into several open room and secret rooms. The decrepit old man found himself pushed out towards a helicopter pad that awaited his return. He waited for the Baroness, but knew that her sick pleasure would take her more than a few minutes to complete. "Just to let you know a little about your friend, who hasn't even told you her name, before coming to Germany to try her hand at stealing electronics and dealing with cyberterrorism, she made a good living shacking up with wealthy trust fund kids. I should mention that she made those trust funds really expand after she slept with and killed the guy whose name was on the trust fund." Bliss shot against the ropes and tried to exclaim against the accusations as loudly as she could. "Her name is Bliss by the way. I think you at least deserve to know that much; she clearly didn't think you did."

Archer began to awake as his head reformed and was no longer a little stump of a neck and he felt a jagged heel stab into his back and he let out a slight grunt of pain. Though he was beginning to come to it still felt like the entire world was spinning, having your head reform from being smashed occasionally had that effect. He listened as best he could to her as she spoke to him and he did not want to hear or believe any of what she said about Eclipse, whose name was actually Bliss. Roland was not sure if what she was saying was true since he could not see her face her to see what expressions she was using and Eclipse was on his other side, also out of sight.

When she knelt down and started talking directly into his ear he was almost completely back and ready to start fighting, aside from the heel in his lower back just to the side of his kidney. Then she offered him something he thought he would never experience, a final way to die, and all he had to do was take her side and give over a little of his blood, which he could just make more of. Although Roland wanted to accept the offer and leave the world forever so he could see his family once more he could not take the Baroness up on her offer. The woman speaking to him was evil and whether Eclipse was really a good or bad person did not matter, the Baroness was worse. If he accepted there was no telling how many people would die, and Roland would never let something like that happen if he could help it. No one would suffer as he did.

“You know lady,” He choked out with again ragged breath, using a new throat and all, as he continued speaking, “You sure like to hear yourself talk.” With one fluid motion Archer pushed himself off the ground with all the force he could muster and through the woman atop him to the floor. As the woman fell one of her guards made his way forward, raising what looked to be a small club and readying himself to crack Archer’s head once more, but the hero quickly readied himself. Once the man was within range Archer made for a quick kick to the midriff which the man caught and held it with both hands, just like Archer had planned. Jumping with his body horizontal to the ground, Roland brought his opposite leg over and struck the grunt across the face with his foot, dropping the hired muscle to the floor. With the man on the floor, the photographer stole this man’s gun as well.

Having a gun in hand, Archer spun on the spot and faced the Baroness who had been stunned from her fall and was only now making her way off the ground. He aimed the gun in his hand directly for the center of her chest, a guaranteed kill shot. “You. You stay right there and don’t move a muscle,” His voice no longer trembled and neither did his hand. He would not miss a shot at this range. Keeping his eyes and his gun on the Baroness Archer made his way over to Eclipse, who was tied up again although this time it was to a chair. Once he reached her he spoke again, “We need to get out of here or something.” He tried not to sound worried but his nerve was beginning to fail him once more so he asked the woman a quick question, “Are you alright?”

Bliss looked up to Archer who took his position by her side. He spoke to her as though she could rightfully answer. A mixture of sounds came through the the red and black handkerchief tied through her teeth. Her eyes narrowed and darted down while she squirmed her hands against the ropes that kept her hands together. After rolling her hands around each other she only succeeded in bringing her hands closer to each other. This guy would need to get her out of this, but he needed to stop talking. By the time she could tell him that it would either be after he secured this situation or in Heaven, both would come too late, but one would keep them alive. The inability to speak granted Bliss the insight that things she said came out really bitchy.

"Young man, you have no right to speak to me in that manner. I'll make you regret this..." She started to regain her clarity. "Everyday that you wake up, or when your body recomposes itself after another one of your inept little suicide attempts, you'll regret this. For what?" Pain came from her ankle; she twisted it when she tried to balance foot upon her heel. "For this girl? She'll die and you'll go on living. She can be another wasted life in your pathetic never ending existence. The chain of agony that you constantly tie around your neck to tighten the grip that you will never have over your life. That's all you have, a millstone."

Blades roared into action from the helicopter pad outside. An elderly man rolled into the calamity that occupied the room. From behind his wheelchair a guard bounced into action to try and occupy Roland. With the abrupt distraction the Baroness rolled behind the over sized desk to try and make her way to the helipad. Bliss kicked her bound feet against the floor to remove herself from the fray of this confrontation. Only a few inches gave way with each of her kicks while she felt the pain in her heels like her she was trying to force her heels into her calves.

Nothing about shoving herself behind an elderly man in this kind of situation bothered the limping woman. The old man crashed out of his wheel chair and onto the carpeted floor; by his reaction the action of violence directed towards him and the feel of carpet were things he left behind long ago. "Get ready for take off." She shouted over the roar of the rutters.