Looking For Trouble

As she arrived in Chicago, Arianna smiled. Perhaps she would draw more attention here than she had in LA. She found a nice looking little alley between two buildings and decided to check it out. She found a woman being mugged by a large man. She gave him a light tap on the shoulder and as he turned to see her, she gave him a firm whack on the head with her staff, knocking him unconscious. The woman began to thank Arianna, but was stopped as a foul odor suddenly penetrated the air. It was the mugger. Arianna laughed as he smouldered on the ground. The woman screamed and ran, dropping the purse which the mugger had attempted to claim as his own. Arianna picked it up, looking inside. Mostly make-up, and a few dollars in change. Hmph! Nothing good. She proceeded to burn the purse, along with its contents. She then propelled herself onto one of the rooftops. Ah, the view's much better from here! She lifted herself a few feet above the roof, and erected a wall of fire around herself. There! Someone's bound to see this! She projected a mental image of herself onto the streets below, pointed toward herself and yelled, "What's that in the sky?" Pedestrians began pointing and shouting as well, not noticing the fact that the original witness had disappeared. And now we wait... hopefully for someone more powerful than those pathetic police officers!

Between all the business trips a cross country, doing research on new technologies, and trying to negotiate the right to have a private police force, Connor has had little time to go out onto the streets to patrol. Though, from what he could tell by the news, there were other heroes around taking care of business. Tonight though he wanted to be out there, no, he needed to be out there.

A top a roof top, Red was crouched looking out into Chicago. He had already stopped a small convenience store robbery and had scattered a small turf skirmish between some rivaling gangs. It was eventful to say the least but nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Suddenly, off in the distance he spotted what appeared to be a fire.

His HUD zoomed in on the disturbance, and he could see a strange formation of fire. "AIVAS, have there been any 9-11 calls for any sort of fires down main street?" he spoke seemingly to himself, but was truly speaking to his AI 'AIVAS'.

"Negative sir. No calls or reports have been made. By what the visuals display, there is an organism inside the fire, possibly a human." AIVAS replied, suggesting that the fire was being caused by a super human. "Right, best check it out."

"Nate, suit up, I may need your assistance ." Connor stated, as AIVAS opened a channel to Nathaniel Hixs' cell phone. "I thought i was on vacation?" Nate stated, who was currently across town doing his laundry. "Possible fire meta near main street, AIVAS will guide you to my vacation through GPS."

"Copy that." Nate turned off his cell, and left to head back to his apartment to suit up to rendezvous with Connor.

Red traveled across the roof tops, using his grapple when needed in order to swing across buildings until finally landing on the same roof as the wall of fire. "Hello?" Red said out loud hoping that whatever was in side the wall would here him.

Arianna watched as the armored stranger approached. As he shouted, she moved her flame shield below her, and floated toward the man. "Hmm.... what do we have here? You sure do look fun!" She orbited him, inspecting him closely. "So what are you, a robot or something?" She giggled and swung her staff in a playful effort to bonk the man on his head.

The flames moved and revealed a floating woman who approached Red. She seemed harmless enough, but that didn't mean she wasn't up to mischief. Red moved his head and avoided the bonk from her staff, it was obvious she might have been some sort of magician.

"No, i am not a robot." Connor stated, taking a step back to keep his distance. "You can call me Red. Just making sure you aren't up to any kind of mischief. What brings you to Chicago?" AIVAS was already at work, taking an image of the woman and trying to identify her.

Arianna frowned when the man who called himself Red dodged her playful blow, but smiled again at the mention of mischief. She dropped onto the rooftop and the hovering flames dissipated. She then did a cartwheel, leaving a projection in her place. She continued to cartwheel around the man, leaving another each time her feet touched the ground. There were eight total, and it was impossible to tell which was the genuine mage. In unison, they turned their staves vertically and hit the ground with them, erecting a wall of flame around the projections, Arianna, and Red. "Let's play a game! " said one of the Arianna's, "You pick one of me," The voice changed owners, "And I'll tell you if it's the real me." It switched once more, "If you get it right... I'll do anything you want!" The voice swapped again, "If you guess wrong, though, you have to do what I say!" Then all together, "Deal?"

'Seems like I have gotten myself into some trouble' Connor looked around him at the multiple images of the woman and then listened to her proposal. "Sorry, no deal." Red reached up to his HUD and twisted a switch changing his field of vision to thermal.

Though the heat from the fire would be intense, he could still make out the cold spot which was undoubtedly the real magician. Red pointed towards her and then shook his finger at her. "Now, if you have no business out here than go home. You are causing a spectacle and scaring people. Not to mention this building is old, and you shouldn't be playing with fire up top here."

Meanwhile, Nathaniel was already suited up and driving his CRDI hummer to the scene. AIVAS was directing him the best course around traffic and would arrive shortly.

The man's reaction upset Arianna, "No fair! You must have cheated!" The copies and flames dispersed. "I hate cheaters!" As she grew angrier, flames began to rise from her feet. "And only cowards hide behind masks! I hate cowards too!" She suddenly became calm and the flames were gone. Walking in circles around Red, she said, "What will I do with you? You say you don't want to play my little game, then you play anyway, and then you go and break the rules! You need to make up your mind... and learn some manners while you're at it!" She jumped back and hurled a fireball at Red.

Connor switched to normal vision and kept his eye on the girl as she circled him, she was apparently trying to decide what to do with him. The funny thing about that was that Red was trying to figure out the same thing. So far, she seemed harmless, and simply looking to have a little fun. Suddenly, AIVAS brought up a small window about a fire in LA with eye witness reports which depicted the girl before him.

The window disappears just as she hurled a fireball at him. "Shi..." Connor dodged to the left, drawing his LNR bolter and firing off three rounds. They were meant to shock and cause temporary paralysis. Enough time for him to hand cuff her so that he could bring her in for questioning.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel was stuck in traffic just a few blocks down. Annoyed, he turned off his car and stepped out grabbing the AR-13 from the back and slinging it on his shoulder as well as holstering his HG-11 with a few clips. He then proceeded to start jogging to Reds' location, leaving AIVAS to take control of the Hummer and remote pilot it to their location.

Arianna, not expecting the three electrified rounds, took the shots to her torso and fell to the ground. As she fell, a small stone fell from under her cap, glowing. In a split second, Pom-pom appeared with an angry expression in its eyes. It immediately began to close the space between the paralyzed Arianna and the cause of her suffering by copying itself. The original attended to Arianna, though until the charge of the bullets ran dry, it could not reverse the paralysis. So it simply had its copies defended her as much as possible until it could finally heal her. The furry copies began forming a protective dome over Arianna in an attempt to stop any further attacks before the original Pom-pom could heal her.

Despite having hit his target, it seemed that she managed to summon some sort of creature capable of multiplying itself in great amounts in order to form a protective dome around her. Even if they did seem soft and cuddly, Connor wouldn't charge head strong into a crowd of them. Connor tapped the 'equip' on his belt and a small sphere appeared in his hand as he waited to see what she would do next.

"I don't want to harm you." He stated, losing sight of the girl behind the walls of fluff. "But i need to take you down to the police station for questioning. You may or may not be the one responsible for a fire in LA. If you are than i will have to bring you to justice. Now, call off you pooches and come quietly."

Suddenly the creatures began to retreat, forming back into the original Pom-pom, who then took shelter within his stone. Arianna was standing where they had been, and she picked up the stone and tucked it into her chest. She erected another wall of flames and floated above it with a twisted look in her eye. She created a ball of flame in each hand, as if to ready an assault. At the same time, backed away, leaving a projection in her place and attempting to flank him by going down and around the building.

The fur balls retreated and eventually return to some sort of stone form before she picked up the rock and placed in her chest. Fire erupted around her which she then levitated above with a sinister look. It was obvious she planned to attack as she formed two fire balls in her hands.

'She must have to concentrate, this should break that!' He thought to himself not knowing the real mage had already disappeared, Connor tossed the tweeter ahead of himself letting out a high pitch squeal.

Meanwhile, beneath the building, civilians were talking about a fight going on above the streets. A camera man and an ambitious reported had already made there way to a roof top adjacent to the one Red and the fire mage were fighting on.

Nathaniel had just arrived, and AIVAS was already bringing him up to speed. "Right, pretty blond bad news, roger." AIVAS brought the news cast up on Nathaniel's HUD and showed that the two were fighting. Looking up though, he saw the same woman Connor was fighting floating around the building to flank him. "Damn, Connor its an illusion, behind you!"

Red turned from the illusion, as the Tweeter self destructed itself as it was designed to, and readied his bolter for an attack from behind. Luckily, Nathaniel had arrived in time to aid him in combat but there was no telling on what this girl was capable of doing.

Nathaniel quickly drew his HG-11 and started rapping off rounds at the floating girl. Unlike Connors rounds, these were live, and very lethal. Nathaniel, however, wasn't aiming to kill but only divert her until he could receive further orders.

Arianna was frightened by the sudden gunfire from the streets below. She lost concentration and her illusion and fire disappeared. Looking down at the shooter, she yelled, "Hey, where did you come from? I was having fun! I can play with you later, wait your turn!" She threw a few fireballs toward the intruder and floated back up to see Red. "Now, where were we?" She landed on the roof, took a defensive stance with her staff and waited for the armored man to make his move, not thinking about what the new threat might do.

Civilians around Nathaniel scattered as the multiple fire balls descended down towards the streets. Running forward, Nate aimed his gauntlet upward and fired a grapple to the roof having it pierce the ledge, latching onto the concrete. The steel cable suddenly pulled tight as he was lifted into the air towards the roof of the building.

Connor had his bolter trained on her as she came up and landed in front of him. "We were at the part where you come with me quietly." Red stated with confidence as Nathaniel climbed up over the edge of the building behind the magician. Their HUDS were linked, so Nate had heard everything Nate had just said. "We won't harm you if you if you cooperate." Nate had his HG-11 trained on her, if she tried anything he would incapacitate her with a leg wound.

Arianna grew frustrated. "I said wait your turn! Don't you people know how to play fair?!" She blew a stray strand of hair from her face, then hit the roof with her staff. As she did, a torrential flame erupted and began spreading over the rooftop. She then tossed a few fireballs at each of her foes and propelled herself through the air in an attempt to escape.