Since when were we a team? (Invite Only)

A warm hand got placed on his arm, reassuring him of her safety. Sul backed off from the girl after he had realized that she wasn't in any danger of being harmed. 'Been meaning to go'? This wasn't something Sul would put off. Some sort of wound she received in an act of betrayal that haunted her still. Sul had encountered Chaos before, but he had never gotten a name. Their little scuffle didn't last long, and neither were really a victor. They both sort of just backed off. The villain had only faded into his subconscious like any ordinary subclass villain.

His glowing eyes slit, looking at Scarlet. No, he didn't want more explosions to occur. But he didn't want her killing herself out there either. He was getting better at being a solo artist, with all the experience he had gotten. He hadn't seen her yet display a significant amount of strength, only weakness. Yet, on the other hand, she knew more about the bombs. Without her, he had no leads.

"No, I don't. Don't push yourself if you're hurt bad, Scarlet. Carrying you to the Hospital will only give him more time. After all is done, you need to get some help. That looked serious." He hadn't been a mortal in years, but he knew what it felt like to be one. He still got injured, even with his durable skin. Yet, there were no doctors he could see. No physician that could heal him. His flesh had to mend by itself. There was no other way. Scarlet wasn't like that though. He knew she could get some help, if she wanted to.

He glanced her up and down quickly with a swift movement of his pupils. She seemed as human as she can get to him. But then again, he in some ways considers himself stiill human. Even though his flesh and bones will never be the same again. Surely, someone could help her though. They lived in a sophisticated age, he wouldn't take no as a possibility. However, someone wouldn't just say such things about themselves unless they had good reason to. She seemed quite skittish about the topic. Perhaps he shouldn't persist further, unless the condition worsened.

The facts didn't quite sit right with him, she seemed like a girl confused about her relationship with Pain. Though, the fact that she considered herself 'together' with him suggested she had a lot to do with them. The 'not sure' part, was beyond him. Either you are, or you aren't. Relationships shouldn't be more complicated than that. But the words she next spoke surprised him the most. She was a part of the Tough Guys, just like him. Yet, neither of them knew each other this entire time. Sul glanced to the floor thinking for a few seconds. Somehow, this isn't what he expected from a group of Heroes that work together.

Returning his eyes to Scarlet, he prepared his answer. "Then I guess we have something in common. Pain had given me the invitation to join the Tough Guys as well." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the communication earpiece that Pain had given him to contact each other in case of emergency. Looking at the earpiece, he chose his next words carefully. She was, after all, probably one of his closest friends.

"I suppose the Tough Guys just isn't what I expected. I had expected a group of heroes that worked together to stop the biggest criminals of our era. Yet, I'm the same as I always was before. Chasing leads, chasing small fries in the streets. Working solo. Til now, all I've known is me, Pain, and Sean. And Sean, I haven't seen in some time now either. He closed his hand holding the earpiece, and placed it back into his pocket.

"Is there something I'm missing here? I find it difficult to believe this is all there is."

The earpiece was a familiar sight, an identical one to his. Proof she was really one of them. He was glad to make another contact, but still wondered about the bigger picture. Wondered of what they were all about. But that would have to wait for another time, since they were at their destination. The monumental structure, which had the potential for another bomb set to explode. So far, vacant, which was good. If it was occupied by civilians, they could be harmed by the explosion or killed. That, and they just got in the way if it came to a fight. Most of the dishonorable ones used them as bait or hostage.

The gun piqued Sul's interest, as he tilted his head to the side for a second in slight puzzlement. A 'Tough Gal' with a gun. This keeps getting interesting. But at least she shared his sentiment on the regard for taking human lives. "I like your style, that's been my plan from the start." Living up to her name, 'The Inferno', it seemed she had some metahuman power after all. She materialized a sphere of Fire from seemingly nothing to guide them in the darkness. Sul would rather not alarm anyone before they went in, but it was important to see as well. So he kept his mouth shut.

Indoors, the only person there was himself. Yet via Communicator he was in touch with another. "Yeah yeah, I'll wrap this all up in a few. Getting bored of disappointment anyway. Since when were all the heroes in this world a bunch of dumb apes?" Jerome sighed. "Nobody has creativity anymore. Gimme 5 minutes, I'll be on my way." He clicked off his internal communicator through his technologically advanced helmet.

The bomb was secure, all he had to do was make his exit, and set it off. On his forearm, he had a holographic projector that allowed him to touch the projections as a personal computer. Setting the last bits of coding would take a few more seconds, as the loading screen began to start its programming, rapidly climbing to 30%. Wouldn't take but a few more minutes before the bomb was ready to blow.

The only thing that disappointed him, however, were the lack of people that cared. He was in his favorite guise and everything. He loved Impersonating The Black Knight. Tarnishing his good name. I mean, sure they cared, but not enough to follow the trail of fire he set. He started to coerce himself that the populace of mankind was growing more stupid every day. 69%, almost there. Then he had a 'hot date' to meet up with! Sort of. Beneath the helmet, he pursed his lips. Where were the heroes? He got no thrill out of this huge waste of time.

Following his newly found companion through the corridors, he kept himself alert. Constantly looking for a vantage point that can be used against them. She seemed overly cautious, sneaking about. He let her lead the way, but she wouldn't need to duck for cover. Sul would stop anything thrown at her. Though she may not know that, they just met after all. She knew little to nothing about him or his powers. Though his appearance should make it clearly obvious he wasn't made of paper.

"I thought we weren't killing anyone." He though to himself, as she entered the main room where the arsonist was positioned. Gun pointed high aiming at his head, and claiming that his helmet won't stop the penetrating power of her firearm. He had hoped she was bluffing, she did after all say she didn't want to kill anyone. Right? The fact remained, they needed that bomb disarmed, and she was right to the point, after all. Was the monument worth more than this man's life, though? Certainly not, in Sul's opinion. They needed to get him captured as soon as possible however.

He glanced quickly at Scarlet before returning his gaze at Mimic. He wasn't sure how this was going to go down, but he didn't seem to be in control at all. His best solution was to see how it would play out and react accordingly. It wasn't like he was going to chime in with Scarlet and repeat what she said. It was pretty apparent they wanted the bomb gone, and him stopped.

His reaction, was that he wanted to spin around quickly. Excited that he finally had guests. But no, he told himself. Cool, calm, collected. Gotta make a good first impression. After all, he was The Black Knight. He let them stand there a few seconds before slowly turning to face the duo. Inside, he nerdgasmed a little bit at the sight of heroes. Unfortunately for him though, they didn't seem to recognize a familiar face of a well-known Hero. No matter, they'd meet up with the Black Knight sooner or later. It was inevitable. A smirk grew within the helmet of Jerome. Wouldn't that be a sight.

Really now? She wanted him to just deactivate his bomb and walk away? He wondered how often that actually worked. Nobody would risk themselves unless there was a method to their madness. Looking quickly at his wrist, the download shot up to 80% and climbing. There wasn't much more these heroes could do unless they knew the deactivation codes. But he felt like mocking them for the hell of it. Heroes needed better lines than that!

"Oh really? Shh. Hmm. Okay then. I'll deactivate it." Reaching to his hip he grabbed a cylinder object and started fiddling with it as if it were the bomb controls. A beam of energy emitted from both ends, creating a rapidly forming energy shield. With his opposite hand he quickly drew his laser pistol from his hip and rapidly fired streams of energy at Scarlet and Sul, raising the shield to his torso to block any incoming blasts from her pistol.

"Tell me how many times that has actually worked!!"

An incoming hail of energy blasts came at Scarlet and Sul. Throwing his forearm up diagonally to shield his face, the bolts sizzled against his shell of a skin, making indented burns. There was more to this guy than he appeared. Sul didn't normally take this kind of damage from a nobody. Luckily for him, he didn't need to take an action to protect Scarlet, she acted on her own to get herself to safety. Taking three steps forward, he turned to listen to her.

He tended not to think about innuendos in times of crisis, maybe he just didn't recognize them til after things had settled down. Sul had known her power, her control over flame. What he didn't know was the magnitude. With split seconds to think while he reacted to the attacks, he thought of the person behind the costume, the unknown arsonist. He couldn't rest easy with blood on his or her hands. That's not what the Tough Guys were about.

"I can take all you got, just don't kill him. I dunno where he keeps the kill code." He replied, before sprinting off towards Mimic. The burns in his skin felt like small cuts and stings, but part of it drove him faster towards his target. Step after step he took, he crushed the ground beneath him in powerful strides. He reached out his hand out towards Mimic. Once he reached the villain he hoped to grab him with one arm, lift him up to the air, and throw him to the side across the room into a wall.

Jerome wrinkled his face in disgust to the fact that a Supervillain would surrender so easily. Maybe it wasn't just a lack of heroes in the world, but Villains too. He knew this already actually, it's why he chose to be what he is. Not sure which to target, he sprayed out his fire evenly towards Scarlet and Sul-Fury, though they had separated. Though once the emboldened man came bull-rushing towards him, he increasingly became a threat with every step he took. Soon all his fire was directed at Sul. He knew it wouldn't be enough to stop him dead in his tracks. Despite targeting several vital areas. It just wasn't puncturing through. To top everything off, the girl had threatened to 'heat things up' in the room. Jerome didn't like the sound of that at all.

Holstering his pistol to his side, but keeping the energy shield alive, he already had a backup plan in mind. Reaching behind him on his belt he grabbed three smoke grenades and whipped them in a scattered array before his enemies. Though the exploding grenades didn't do any damage, they completely fogged up the battlefield. Shutting off his energy shield, he put it away and grabbed his dual energy pistols again.

Pushing the two pistols together, he aimed at the ceiling and increased the energy output of the blasts. He fired the pistols, each moving in a half-circle in the opposite direction in an attempt to cut a hole in the ceiling. The ceiling cracked and split, as it threatened to cave in on the inbound Sul-Fury in a matter of seconds.

The smoke rapidly filled the room, making sight of his target impossible. He had a general idea of where Mimic was, but once he reached his intended target, he grasped at air. Sul hadn't been in this kind of situation before. He reached out, walking forward incase Mimic had backed up a bit, but was finding nothing. He thought about swinging his arms to see if he could clip his enemy, but he also lost track of Scarlet. He didn't want to risk her getting in the crossfire.

The ceiling had cracked and crumbled, and was prepared to come crashing down. Crumbled rocks clinked against the top of his head, as he looked up. Still not able to see anything, he knew something was up. But thanks to Scarlet, the roof wasn't going to cave in on him just yet. If Mimic had thrown just one smoke grenade, it wouldn't have been so bad. But three was enough to fill the room with the clouded smoke. He didn't know whether to yell out to Scarlet or not, since it would give away his location. But he felt that Mimic had a backup plan anyways. Nobody throws smoke grenades unless they have something to follow up with. Sul just couldn't figure out what it was.

Jerome tapped the side of his helmet that switched to heat vision. He was now the only one that could see past his smoke bombs. He smirked at Sul waving his arms around, not able to determine his location. He looked to see the progress of his bombs uploading. It was at 100%, but not able to detonate. The smoke must not have filled the room yet near the bomb, because Scarlet had seen his handiwork on the ceiling and welded it back together. But it was too late, he thought. The foundation was cracked and it was ready to fall. All it needed was a little convincing. Grabbing a grenade from his belt, he threw it up at the damaged ceiling. Spikes protruded from the grenade as it stuck there. Flashed twice, and exploded, sending crumbling rock down on Sul-Fury.

Whipping his head at the direction of the bomb, sure enough Scarlet was there next to his dissected creation. He wrinkled his nose. If she thought that was enough to disable the bomb she had another thing coming. He had a backup for the bombs, but had to manually activate it. Once the timer was activated, he had 30 seconds to get out of there. If any wire cutting was made, the bomb would automatically explode. Jerome had to make sure that didn't happen. For now, they were all safe, but he had to get that bomb active again.

He had just the thing for her. His replicated Black Knight technology. Except, The Black Knight used his muscle amplifiers to give his arms strength. Whereas, Mimic's amplified his leg muscles so that he could reach up to 250 MPH for a short period of time. Activating the technology, his muscles flexed hard as if they were about to spasm. Mimic took off like a blur at Scarlet's direction, quickly closing the gap and swung a sideways kick at her stomach. Hoping to knock her back far away from the bomb. With any luck, she couldn't see him coming through the smoke cloud.

Smoke was stinging her eyes and causing tears to form but she was not moving from the bomb. She had to get it out of there encase the fire hit it - which she doubted - or this guy had a back up. Scar was far from thinking this was over. Tugging up her shirt she used it to cover her mouth and her nose, breathing in and out very slowly. Smoke naturally came with fire but this was artificial smoke, chemically made to sting your eyes and blur the world around you. Carefully she began to gather up the bomb and stood up at the same time the ceiling exploded. Scar swore and pushed the knife through the belt loops so she had another hand free to feel her way around the room. That was when the flash of colour caught her attention and she was hurtling through the air. Instead of catching her on the stomach he'd hit her on her hip bone. The force of it cracked the wall and she pushed herself up very slowly. She'd suffered worse though Pain was going to kill her for not moving quick enough.

Get up Scarlie, Faith's voice echoed and she pushed herself to her feet. The left side of her body had gone into shock and so the pain hadn't yet set in. While Scar had begun to blink back the stars, the bomb she had managed to throw in the opposite direction to the hit. It bounced off the wall at the same time Scar did and came to stop by Sul's feet. Spitting out a bit of blood Scar drew four blades.

"Now that was cowardly," she scolded and held the tip of one blade in her fingers before throwing it. Blue fire erupted down the blades as they flew towards Mimic in quick succession giving her time to create a blast of fire that cleared most of the smoke in the room apart from around the edges. After the fire circled the room Scar directed the ribbon directly on top of the male who was attacking them in a flurry of molten hot flame.