Tragedy Strikes

"Well, looks like we'll be needed a new partner." Noah spoke softly, holding Nicole in his arms with one hand placed against her stomach. "I doubt you'll ever find anyone as qualified as me, but what does this mean for you?"

Noah sighed, since he and Nicole had started their love/work relationship things had been complicated. With a child on the way there didn't seem to be any room for them to continue aiding Connor in his global war against crime. Stepping back from Nicole, he nodded his head coming to terms with what was the right thing to do. "The earth has plenty of heroes...we've done our part and now it's time we let go of our pasts and move on."

Nicole knew what he meant, she too felt the anger and betrayal from her past slowly slipping away from what mattered in her mind. In fact, ever since joining Connor it had become less and less about revenge and more about simply making a difference. Knowing Connor, he would perfectly understand why they would quite and knew he would even be happy about it.

"Speaking of Connor, he wanted me to meet him at the office. I'll talk to him then. Keep the bed warm for me." Noah said with a smile and wink as he turned away, reaching for his jacket hanging next to the apartment door. He was suddenly turned around by Nicole, and the two shared a passionate kiss.

Reluctantly, Noah broke their locked lips and smiled. "I'll be back, promise." with that, Noah left their apartment and headed towards the Chicago CRDI building. Nicole went into her bedroom and opened up a locked cabinet which contained her 'equip' which was a device she felt she would never have to use again. "I used to think it would end in bloodshed, guess i was wrong." she smiled to herself, placing the device back into the box and then stretching feeling ready for bed.

Later...

The doors to Connors office opened, the disembodied voice of AIVAS announcing his entrance. Connor was sitting at his desk enjoying a cup of tea with a compilation of data floating above his holographic computer desk. "Noah!" He exclaimed, turning in his chair and walking over to him to offer a handshake. "Congratulations."

"What?" Noah said, shaking Connors hand confused if he had some how found out about the baby or if something else was going on. "Congratulations for..."

"The baby, of course, AIVAS is constantly scanning key buildings computer system to make sure nothing illegal is being processed and while going through the hospitals computerized medical records it found Nicoles' visit and what it was for." Connor motioned for Noah to sit as he himself returned to his desk chair.

"So much for a surprise." Noah said, chuckling to his friends reaction to the whole thing. "So,what now?"

"Well, your both fired." Connor said out right with a smile, "But you two process other skills and valuable resources my company could surely use so i'm going to re-hire you as a gift."

"Look, Connor. I swore i would aid you in your battle, and..." Connor suddenly cut Noah off, "We had an agreement. I'd help you get revenge for Elizabeth in exchange you help me fight crime. However, i never did help you get revenge and seeing that you are no longer seeking revenge then our deal is obsolete."

"Connor, I...Thank you. You've done so much for me, and our time together has helped me grow a lot." Noah looked up at the holographic screens, and couldn't help but notice the designs. "So this is the equipment your little special ops will be using?"

"Yes, actually." Connor stood up and started moving the holographic images around with his hands. "This is what i called you here for in the first place. I wanted to place you in charge of training and coordinating them."

"Sounds like what you did for me." The two shared a brotherly bond, one which would be formed from countless encounters against impossible odds. It was a bond much like the marines formed, and something not lightly taken. "We've done so much as three, but with a task force we can do so much more. I've already got a Captain picked out for our first squad. Nathaniel Jameson Hix, really talented and we're in luck, he is looking for work."

Five long pointed claws slid along a blood painted wall. A young woman, who had long since stopped her pathetic struggling, was being dragged carelessly through a hallway by another identically clawed hand. Her eyes were half lidded and with just one glance at her and you could tell she was basically dead inside. Her legs were mangled and broken, claw and teeth marks evident, and half of one of her feet seemed to have been ripped off. The lights flickered on and off, rather fitting considering the circumstances, and in the brief moments of darkness, nothing was visible for the exception of a dark being's bright glowing green eyes. A crimson red blood trail was left behind from where the woman was being pulled along. Psycho's face held no expression, his mouth was concealed and his pupilless eyes gave away no emotion.

Not two days ago Psycho had been asked by some unknown, but apparently wealthy, people to take out three heroes. However, Psycho didn't get the meaning of 'taking out' people and mistook it to mean something extremely different. Of course, the employers immediately rethought their decision to hire Psycho, but after approaching several other promising villains only to be turned down each and every time. Eventually they were forced to settle with the idiotic Psycho. If nothing else, they were certain that Psycho was at the very least, one hell of a killer. The victims of killing sprees in New York being proof of that. They contacted him yet again and sent him a message via courier, however they did not account for the fact he had just killed the courier on the spot and could not read. Of course that didn't really help build confidence in Psycho, but they decided to send another message, this one being electronic and once again sent by courier, but one that was more expendable that the last.

After eating the unfortunate courier, Psycho managed to start the recorded message and listened to the proposition he was given. Apparently some kind of robot, Psycho not really getting the whole altered voice thing, wanted three heroes dead. He vaguely remembered hearing something like this before, but he wasn't sure where. He listened on and got more specifics on what he was supposed to do, they mysterious employers having apparently figured that he would have went in half-assed and been unable to get much done. The message gave him a plan that seemed basic enough; find the girl; kidnap the girl; run away; wait; kill everyone. It was so simple even Psycho could follow it, or at least that's what the hope was.

Finding the building wasn't too difficult, all it took was a few forced directions from a couple of choked pedestrians and he was there. Now was the hard part, as Psycho had no real easy way to find the room the girl was staying in without causing a disturbance and scaring her off or giving her time to prepare. After much thorough thought, for Psycho that is, he chose to just wing it. He walked in, casually enough and asked the receptionist nicely which room 'Nicole Landal' as he had been told, was staying. That approach however, proved ineffective as she just stood there staring at him like he were mad or some kind of monster. He was both of course, but she didn't need to treat him like that, it seemed rude. All it took was a few broken bones and a little mutilation and he got her speaking though.

Sadly for her, he was smart enough to realize that a room number was useless in the hands of someone who couldn't read or count. Picking up the poor girl, he started dragging her through the building to be his 'a little more than forced' guide. He trailed his claws across the wall until finally stopping at one door in particular. He stopped at looked at the door for a second before raising the woman's head up to the number that was imprinted on it. She, in turn, nodded dimly, almost no life remaining, her eyes begging for the pain to just end. Relief was granted in the form of Psycho's fist puncturing her chest silently. Dropping her carelessly to the floor, a pool of blood started to build and started to seep closer to the door, Psycho slightly hoping that it wouldn't tip the woman off too much. He lifted his fist and knocked on the door. "Heeeeeelloooooo, anyone in there?" He spoke darkly, his voice oddly childish and rather creepy. "I've...umm...got a package for a...Noah Claret..." In Psycho's mind the excuse was good enough, but he would be breaking down he door anyway so it didn't really matter.

"A package for Noah CLARET." Nicole thought to herself, opening up the case containing her 'equip' and taped it once pulling out her LNR Bolter. Checking the clip for shock rounds, she approached the door cautiously. "One second."

"Whose the package from?" She asked, standing a few feet away from the door and making sure to speak loud enough as to make it appear he was closer. Readied, she waited for an answer. This was obviously some sort of set up considering Claret was not Noahs' last name.

((Sorry for the short post, but no point to post for the other two just yet.))

Suddenly, Psycho's eyes darkened when he heard the woman speak. His target was in there, that much he knew. Now, anyone of intelligent thought would have realized that asking who the package was from instead of just taking the thing showed that she was suspicious of him, but anyone who knew Psycho for more than a few seconds could tell he was far from anything even half intelligent. Now in Psycho's opinion there were only two ways to get this done. There was the obvious straight forward approach, where he would just kick the door in and grab her. On the other hand was the subtle approach, convincing the woman he was genuine and try to get her to open the door where she'd be in arms reach and his job could be over with a lot less bloodshed. Of course it didn't take a genius to decide on which was best. On the outside Psycho's expression remained the same and his mouth was still concealed, but on the inside he was grinning like a lunatic. Lifting his right leg, he gave the door a mighty kick, aiming to hopefully wound the woman on the other side. The moment his foot made contact, the door was lay to waste. Its shattered and splintered remains sent flying across the inside of the apartment.

The door suddenly exploded into splinters, forcing Nicole to cover her face as shards of hit against her skin. Knowing she was in danger, she lowered her hand gun down and fired of a few quick rounds into the door way trying to get a view of what ever just blew her door to chunks.

Meanwhile...

Connor and Noah were enjoying a cup of tea when suddenly a red screen popped up onto his desk screen. "Whats that? Some sort Red signal?" Noah said jokingly, drawing closer as a diagram of a building was pulled up. "Wait, that's..."

"Your apartment, somebody just forcefully broke in through your front door." Red said, standing up from his seat as a phone number pulled up on the screen as well. "Neighbors have confirmed the disturbance by calling 9-11. Noah, we need to move NOW!"

Bad things happen, especially when you least expect them. This was a fact Connor knew all to well from his own childhood drama. Tapping his 'equip' his suit spawned, replacing his clothing and immediately booting up AIVAS. "Have the CRDI satellite get a lock on the building and tap into the cities camera systems. I want eyes all over the city."

Connor approached his bookcase, followed by Noah who was already suited up as Blue. "What are you doing?" He asked impatiently, worried for his lover. Connor pulled out a book and the case suddenly opened revealing a high speed elevator. They both got on and it rocketed to the garage level were Red Vengeance was waiting.

They two roared out of the building at high speeds, Red carefully monitoring the road as well as the apartment trying to get a fix on what was happening. The satellite was having issues using thermal visionary to get an idea on how many targets were inside the room.

Heavy, over-exaggerated, yet clearly malicious laughter burst out from Psycho's throat and echoed throughout the entire apartment complex. Oh how he loved it when his prey struggled, to him it only made the experience so much more enjoyable. A single bullet managed to embed itself in his left leg, a little above the knee. Of course with his superhuman durability the bullet could only just manage to stay stuck, the damage was superficial. The other few rounds the woman fired had only grazed him or had stopped short of breaking the skin. His sharpened fangs ever visible in his signature psychotic grin, he spoke.

"He he he...Well that's no way to treat a guest..." His tone was calm, but far from soothing or smooth. He started stepping towards his target and while he did so, he raise his right hand in front of his face and expanded the length of the already larger than normal claws. Nobody ever said he had to be gentle when taking her, just that it had to be done. After all, people could still survive for a while after losing a limb or two...Pulling his arm back in preparation, he lunged forward and stuck out at the woman's arms.

It was some sort of monster, letting out a sinister laughter as the rounds Nicole shot into the creature bounced off him like they were foam darts. Holding up its arm, it slowly began to extend its blade towards her before making a quick motion to slice at her arms. Nicole instinctively ducked and rolled into her bedroom popping off a few more shots aimed at the head before disappearing behind the door.

Quickly acquiring her 'equip' and attaching it to her belt transforming into Violet. "Red and Blue are in route, evacuate the building immediately." Aivas stated, as Violet tapped equip for a few 'tweeters' and dropped them to the ground letting out a high pitch sound as she ran her window, diving straight through it.

Using her glove, she grappled the ledge and slowed her fall down. She hopped the tweeters would hold the creature off long enough for her to get down to ground level.

On the ground floor, Red and Blue pulled up in Red Vengeance. "She is above us, get ready." Connor stated, tapping his equip and pulling out an LNR SMG loaded with SHOCK rounds. Noah stood prepared, ready to us his powers if he needed too.

Psycho howled out hatefully. He gripped the sides of his head with his clawed hands, careful not to slice his head apart, covering his imaginary ears from the annoying sound the infernal contraptions the woman had used. The girl was dead, if he wasn't going to do it before, he certainly was now. With a look of rage spreading across his face. With a sudden burst of speed, he ran on after the superheroine with the intent to kill. Quickly running through the woman's bedroom, Psycho leaped out the window after her, though unlike her he took a significant chuck of wall, and the window itself down with him. Also unlike Violet, he wasn't using a grapple to slow himself down. Falling at a superior speed, Psycho attempted to grab her at take her down to the ground with him with a bang.

While Psycho was tangling with the woman, Vengeance was hovering around out of site. The black leather attire-clad black-angel-winged Incubus Demon/Mutant hybrid watched with narrowed violet-colored eyes as his little brother and the girl fought it out against each other. He felt no reason to interfere until he saw two men arrive in a vehicle and exit it, dressed up in similar attire to the girl. His demonic mouth, that was hidden behind a black veil that covered the lower half of his face, stretched down into a frown as he watched the two, deciding to take care of the two interlopers before they harmed his now precious little brother. He cocked his fist back and dove downwards into a power dive. He let his arm fly out and watched as the impact of his super-powered fist not only completely crush the car, but seemed to fold it in half as it caved in. He smirked a cruel, demonic, mocking smirk behind his veil as the shirtless, muscular, humanoid oldest son of the Big Bad let out a few 'tsk, tsk, tsk' sounds with his teeth as he waved a finger at them and then maneuvered in front of them. "You two aren't going anywhere. My precious little brother is taking care of your little friend and as his older brother, the least I can do is make sure that no one interferes in his playtime with his new chewtoy" he hissed at them in a sikly, cold tone of voice as the 6 foot 17 year old cracked his knuckles and prepared to put these two fools in their place.

((OOC: So i just moved, and today i got finished setting up my internet. Sorry for the long wait, lets do this!))

A loud crash came from behind startled both Connor and Noah as a winged tyrant had dropped down from behind them crushing Red Vengeance. Drawing a sword from his back, Connor flipped a switch and a blew hue surrounded the blade letting out a low humming noise. "Save Violet, I'll hold of this one."

Noah nodded and launched his grappling hook to a near by fire escape which pulled him up into the air towards Nicole. Using the communication link in their helmets, Noah could talk to Nicole without having to give out their plans. "Enter the fourth story window and I will follow after you."

Hearing this, Nicole kicked off the wall of the building and with great timing smashed her feet through a glass window into an empty, unoccupied, apartment where her 'gauntlet' snipped off the steel cable, installing a new hook immediately. She hit the ground performing a roll forward with a twist turning her towards the window she just smashed through. Tapping her equip, she now had in her hands her sniper rifle loaded with a .50 caliber clip of hollow-points aimed straight at the window.

Noah approached the window quickly, but not before the rubble, which was considerably faster than the falling monster, got there first. He used his push powers to shield himself from the rubble and then jumped through the same window as Nicole did. Nicole had already stood up on her feet and was ready for what ever was next. "Shock rounds don't hurt him, but let's see what .50 cal can do." Noah stood ready to act as a shield in case it didn't work.

Meanwhile, just a Blue left Red sprang into action and tapped his 'equip' for a LNR Bolter loaded with Shock rounds. He then proceeded to open fire on the winged beast, aiming some shots at his wings and others at his head. "What's your purpose. What do you want with her?" Connor demanded, AIVAS already calling in for back up from the Hercules M-1. It had a distance to travel from the CRDI building but it was traveling by roof tops.