Try me (Gravity Man, Apex.)

In central park, something awful was happening. A public display of the true metahuman threat to the world. A blackmail of thousands of people. Lucius Alba had hundreds of people strapped to bombs and tied up, all on their knees as he stood at a podium meant for bands during festivals and such. He wasn't actually going to hurt these people, no, this was just a bluff. He didn't even want what he was asking for, which was control of the city.  No, he knew such a request wouldn't be fulfilled no matter what. He wanted something else, he wanted to be caught, he wanted to be found. A pesky little Agent by the name of Michael Daniels had been a pain in Lucius' side for months, attempting to find out information on where Lucius did his operations and what he was planning.

Lucius had gotten information on this man from an ally, who told him about this Agency organization. They seemed to be the ones who experimented on Gravity Man and his gang, and they had been messing with Lucius' endeavors as well, and he had no clue the whole time. Lucius was essentially giving the Agency what they wanted, he was standing out in the open, fireworks and confetti, here i am, try me.  He wanted to send them a message, and it seemed Gravitas did as well. These people had been lurking in the shadows, picking off metahumans one by one. Well it was about time they came out in the open, it was about time they faced an organized force of Lucius' race, it was about time they lost.

Agent Daniels, though suspicious, dispatched Apex and a couple of local 'heroes', or mercenaries, whatever you wanted to call them. He did this because, well, the metahumans were expendable, whereas Agents were not, at least not totally. If he could use them to take down a bigger threat, then he would. Before the attack, Daniels did a debriefing with his force. It was small, but he figured it would be enough considering their power levels.

"Lucius isn't usually like this, we have to be cautious, he always has a hidden agenda. And the fact just a few weeks ago he was spotted in Pittsburgh with Gravitas just adds to my suspicions. A trap as it may be, this is the only chance we have ever had to take him down. Apex, you've faced him before, so you'll lead the attack. Make sure the hostages are clear before you do anything drastic, but in the end, taking Lucius down is more important. You must not underestimate him, or Gravitas, if he's here as well you're up against two of the most powerful metahuman ring leaders in the world. Stay sharp." Michael said, leaving out most of the classified stuff he informed Apex about earlier as their were non agents in his strike team. They were in a helicopter above central park, and this is where they would leave from when the time came.

Lucius sat in a chair on the stage, eating an apple with his legs crossed. He was waiting, not for the ransom, but for the Agents to arrive. Michael had underestimated Hectors hardware, and the AI ended up getting some minor information on who Lucius would be facing. With this, he and Gravitas formed a strategy. They didn't hope to gain anything from this except fear really, they wanted the Agency to fear them, they wanted the best of humanity to tremble.

"Hector, make sure you and Isalia are prepared. If all goes well, i won't have to bring anyone else in for this." Lucius said telepathically to the AI as he sat arrogantly, looking at the crowd of bound people in front of him. In a few moments, the rather imposing EXOSUIT of Hectors walked out onto the stage as well, and then a teenage girl wearing similar gear to that of Lucius'. Now all they had to do was wait.

Gravity Man had a good stroke of luck recently, something he hadn't had in a long time. Something he hadn't had ever to be entirely honest. Luck was never anything he was known for, though he always made it work. And that perseverance was what he was known most for. He'd defeated supermen in the past, he had taken down tyrants and crippled even the most absolute resolves. He was the only living boy to ever single handedly escape an Agency base by walking out the front door with nothing but destruction in his wake. He was a fearsome foe that spent most of his life in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike. While he may not have been superhumanly so, his natural genius gave him a step amongst many other common criminals, and now he virtually owned all of Pittsburgh and all of Indianapolis...and there was no one who could stop him. More importantly...no one WANTED to stop him. They had no way of knowing he even existed in the first place. Just how he liked it.

The Agency, they were a problem however. They knew all about him, they knew too much in fact. They were the reason for this, all of this. The crime, the violence...the extremist views. And he had no one to blame but that goddamn Canadian corporation and their hidden ties into the organization. Gene-Tech and their corrupted past had affected his life in ways he would much rather have forgotten. But out of all the trouble, the pain and sufferings of his past...there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. There was a reason, a purpose to press on with conviction, to carry his torch, bear his cross and walk this path. Just recently his alliance with Red Tide was solidified, and they became two weapons, a sword and a shield to carve against injustice and ensure the proper evolution of the human race. No more time for fear, no more time for petty anger. No more time for regrets. Not even the regret he had of the day he lost his vision.

His arms were crossed, his long black cloak with the deep purple, velvet padding and it's gold lace shimmering in the sunlight as it beamed through the shadows. He remained mostly concealed, as the shadow had always been where he felt most at home. Where he felt safest. The building was an old one, an entirely undisclosed location, hidden perfectly from detection at this moment in time. Several people were in the buildings around, they would be entirely inconspicuous while being here. In his presence was a young man, but he was still far older than Gravity Man, despite the vastly contradicting appearances. The young man sat there with his elbows on his thighs, dressed head to boot in his typical gear, looking to Gravitas, concerned for his boss as they sat in total silence.

"I appreciate your trust in me, sir." Xerox said, his thick accent ringing through, Gravity Man opened his eyes, a faint purple maroon glow seen through the darkness that was cast by his hood. The small spheres vanished again as his eyes closed and silence settled for a moment. Xerox couldn't believe he had been personally selected for this, especially after all the stunts he had pulled and the failures he had caused Gravity Man in the past. The whole issue with the weed on the cruise, and then the other incident with the Red Singularity, and even going as far back as to the day he encountered red-eyes. Left and right, he had failed his boss and yet here he was. His employer, the very man whom he had failed several times before...entrusted him with his life, above all other generals. The silence was unnerving, awkward and entirely uncomfortable for Xerox, even as Gravity Man seemed to not even acknowledge that he was spoken to. "Sir, I-I'm sorry to say this but...H-honestly... I'm afraid." To this Gravity Man opened his eyes again and looked to Xerox, eyes not closing this time as the spheres watched him, like a creepy shadow monster form a video game of jump scares.

"S-sir...what are you thinking? You're trusting me with your life. I have the least success of all the generals, I might as bloody well be a tag-along on the coat-tail of your success. I screw up at every turn. Why are you trusting me with this!?" He was almost shouting at him, almost pleading for Gravity Man to reconsider. Gravity Man just released a disapproving sigh and groaned a little.

"I don't know what's more pathetic. The fact you don't have faith in yourself, or that you're actually crying over the fact you might fail." He murmured before closing his eyes again, leaning onto the wall like a statue. Xerox took a moment before deciding that he would finally voice his concerns in their truest form. Xerox had always been known as the inherently good member, mischievous as all Hell, but goddamn the kid really did care about each and every single member he met.

[color=grey]"That's not why I'm afraid. I'm not afraid that I'll fail. I'm afraid that you want me to fail."[color] In that moment Gravity Man opened his eyes again and arched an eyebrow, shooting an inquisitive look, though Xerox wouldn't be able to see, the hood masking his face with shadow oh so perfectly. "That comment...about you getting yourself killed. And then you picking me after you start an alliance with some like-minded peer. It's just bleedin' alarmin' at the bottom of it all." Xerox had finally explained his case. Unfortunately Gravitas couldn't' say he was ALL wrong, he did indeed think about his death quite a bit as of late, and in truth this would have alarmed him if he too were in Xerox's position. His curiosity was his reaction to this. Most people would plot how to usurp power, or take the reigns after he met his end. Xerox himself seemed to care for whatever reason, and that surprised Gravity man more than anything else. He was also right that he selected the Xerox with the highest failure rate for one particular reason...

"I was there when it happened...when that...that thing appeared with Poltergeist. I remember what I saw and I don't want you to become that again. I don't want you to say those things, or do those things again. Iif there's even the slightest chance that those were real then you need help. You're not anything like that-" Xerox said but a sudden motion and Gravity Man was off the wall and standing in the sunlight, the light peering through the window and splashing on his hood, slanting the shadow, exposing his mouth and part of the hair that was a very, very thin moustache.

"You think I don't know that? You think that I need reassurance or that because of some magic show a freak put on that I'm going to roll over and die? No..." Gravity Man said as he reached out his index finger out, pointing right at Xeroxs before the closed part of his fist came down and thumped against Xerox's chest, making him jerk a little. "I can't change what I am. I can't change what they made me. I'm a weapon, I was built to destroy, built to ruin and remove...and that's all. But WHAT I am is nowhere near as important as WHO I am and WHAT I CHOOSE TO DO! It's true, when they made me I was nothing more than a weapon. But now I'm not THEIR weapon, and we have the chance to do something right...Now I didn't pick you because I wanted to die... I picked you because you need to see first hand just what it is we're fighting for, what we're dying for."

"Aye, yes sir." Gray said as a voice sounded off. Looking down Gravitas had a good over-view of the situation. He looked to Xerox and dropped his hand, walking past the general to leave him with this thoughts for a moment. They had a battle to win here. His opponent was none other than Atterrius' little toy... A.P.E.X. He began to run his strategy in his head one more time. This plan...was fool-proof. They were so far away from the actual battleground. It was going to be interesting to watch how his plans unfolded.

What everyone would notice about the hostages was that they were writhing in somekind of pain, though from what wasn't apparent. They seemed to be in so much agony they couldn't speak. What could the purpose of torturing these people be? Well, i suppose everyone will know soon enough. That however is not the main concern at the moment. The rag tag team of an agent, a couple heroes, and some brute showed up. Not exactly what Lucius was expecting, but it didn't cause any problems for him or his plans, whatever those were. He likely seemed like a murderous mad man right now, but his actions went far deeper then that. The vast number of hostages would serve several purposes today.

The plan wasn't really complicated, their goal was to openly mock the Agency, showing the metahuman community the agents could be thwarted under tight leadership, thus bringing metahumans closer together as a race. But that wasn't the only thing that would be achieved today. These hostages had been randomly picked out of a crowd and told to comply with being bound by Isalia, and they were also ordered not to breath a word of anything to anyone. The only question was why? It seemed like a rather dumb move to take some random people hostage, didn't it? Perhaps, but it wasn't Lucius' intention to leave looking like a fool. If all went well, him and Gravity Man would become beacons of hope for metahumans everywhere, and it would build the stepping stones they needed. Lucius threw his apple core aside and he put his mask on, which started to filter his voice.

"I was expecting more agents. Instead i got one and some amateur misguided hero types, and whatever you are." Lucius said with a sigh, finishing his sentence with a gesture toward the brute. From the little he knew of these individuals, he had formed a pretty decent strategy for making an example of them, but really that was optional, he just needed a little time.

"As fun as it may be to have you as company, i can't have you interfering, so, well, let's not just stand around, get to the point." Lucius said with a chuckle. He of course was just giving them the illusion that he was going to take them head on, in reality Lucius and the others weren't even there. They were an illusion projected by Isalia around red energy constructs, which would compensate for the lack of a heat signature and make them seem real when touched. The real Hector, Lucius, and Isalia were nearby, cloaked by another illusion. The Lucius illusion would stand, sending out a wave of energy at Jubin, Xoader, and the brute, who seemed to be close enough together to all be hit by it. At this point, the real group was closing distance, and once they all got close, well, that would not be good for the 'good guys'.

Hector positioned himself next to Xoader, Lucius next to the brute, and Isalia next to Jubin. Hector aimed to fly at supersonic speeds to grab Xoader and take him away from the main fight, whereas Lucius would get close and send out an energy attack that would engulf the brute on contact, and Isalia, well, she removed a stone from her pocket that had mysterious words on it. Once placed on the ground under Jubin, a turret of extremely hot fire would rise up from it, likely burning him to all hell if it hit. Of course, this would all only happen after the illusion dispersed, but there was only a split second left to realize what was happening, and by that time it would likely be too late. Of course, Apex couldn't be ignored, so an illusion of Gravity Man wrapped around a red energy construct ran up to him and swung a few punches, just to keep him busy for a few seconds while this unfolded.

"Stick to the plan." The battle had begun. Gravity man looked back to the conflict's direction before looking to Gray. Gray knew this was going to hurt, but he didn't care as much as he cared about what was going to happen to Gravity man. His plan was insane, and it wasn't something that he wanted to let happen, but he knew arguing would do little good. Gray just nodded as another copy of him stepped forward, Daniel's power up and active. With great precision he calculated and then teleported between Red and Xoander. Unfortunately the timing was off as they were moving to fast, and rather than having a badass scene of batting them away Xerox had teleported less than an inch between them, and collision was unavoidable. The teleporting Xerox wasn't caught in the collision, but damn was this going to be a pain. Colliding with Xoander did produce the desired result but unfortunately Gray himself took some serious damages.

The Xerox clone produced by being smashed by Xoander had his power, and subsequently the same mimicked power, though the laws of Xerox were still in effect. There were many factors that he needed to deal with, but for right now, ensuring the safety of the original Xerox was priority. The copy Xerox let out a telekinetic blast equal to that of Jubinhof's telekinetic output and attempted to blow Xoander back, keeping distance between him and the original Xerox as he utilized the super speed to let out a loud boom and appear next to Lucius. So far the plan was a decent success. The primary problem was Xerox almost dying. When Xoander made contact the xerox-copy was made and was able to absorb a good portion of the damages, but the percussion and the backlash alone was enough to damge him.

"Anyway we can make sure I don't die?" He asked cautiously as he set the original version of himself to the ground, the teleporting clone appearing right beside them, for a grand total of the original Xerox and the two clones. If Lucius couldn't render aid to the orifginal Xerox, these two clones were going to be forced into a sheer defensive maneuver. Meanwhile, Gravity Man had to deal with APEX... and he knew just how to do so. Armed and dangeorus, Apex decided to up his speed and charge for Red, unfortunately for him he would likely find himself floating, where his running speeds meant nothing and he was utterly helpless. A large mostly transparent warp in gravity made a large funnel, and ultimately a vacuum that would pull Apex back with astounding pressure.

All of this from Gravity Man pointing at Apex and then crooking his finger with a single motion. With his other hand he made a fist like gesture at Vindictus. Like a roman emperor he made a thumbs down, and the superhumanly strong brute would meet his match. Gravity increased as an influential telekinetic force down, augmented by the density and the weight of Vindictus. The superhumanly strong rarely ever stood a change against one with his abilities. The stronger you were means you have more mass, more tissue, greater density...and ultimately it was used against you. The stronger you resisted the more impossible it was for you to move, akin to quicksand. But this overgrown science experiment gone wrong didn't seem the type to use logic over his muscle.

"So this is Atterrius' newest project?" Gravity Man asked, not condesceningly at all actually, rather more of a musing out loud. "This doesn't need to be a conflict if you're willing to talk." Gravity Man said to Apex, trying to gauge if the enemy was doing this of his own volition, or if he was just another poor soul, shackled to the whims of the Agency. The vacuum faded and Gravitas released all influence while letting Apex touch down gracefully...well as gracefully as Sean could that is.

Lucius saw Apex running at him and was about to gracefully switch his focus from the brute to him, but found that Sean had been funneled away from him by Gravity Man. Well, that was convenient. His grim reaper looking ally also seemed to have sent a pulse downward on the brute, likely pinning him to the ground but it wouldn't matter either way.  Lucius raised his hand in front of him and a long, seven foot spear of solidified red energy formed, humming and hissing at the very air as it tried to find matter to eat at. He then took this spear and brought it down hard on vindictus, aiming for his head whether the being was pinned or not. On contact with any matter it would begin to disintegrate it, or at least burn like a bitch. Lucius would hold and press the spear as long as he was able, allowing it to do the work for him for the most part and only stopping once the being was either down for the count or it started to get yanked from his grasp, in which case he would disperse it.

There seemed to be a problem with Xerox, and the original by the sound of it. Lucius really didn't have any way to heal him, but Isalia might. She was dealing with someone at the moment though, getting pulsed backwards telekinetically. Did this guy really just do that? Seemed he did. She easily just caught herself using her own power, then saw that Lucius was waving to her. She let out her own pulse at Jubin then pointed to the ground and Lucius formed a construct of his daughters body which Isalia wrapped in an illusion like before, then cloaked herself before walking to Lucius and Xerox.

"What?" She asked, not rudely just kinda simply.

"Xerox is hurt, i would rather not have someone die today." Lucius said before turning his attention back to the brute, if he was down Lucius would just kinda poke at the brute with his foot and if he was up he would send out a blast. Isalia then went down to Gray's level, looking him over with red optics before removing a pen from her belt. She then found a bit of skin and started writing odd symbols which then glowed when she was finished. Xerox would find himself rapidly healing and then the rune would disappear.

Hector had taken Xoader several hundred meters away from the fight, smashing into the ground and tearing up grass as they both likely flipped around. Eventually the exosuit would get up, but then instantly speed at mach 3 with assistance from his thrusters at the power copy cat. Once he got close, his robot body would bend oddly but quickly to kick the male in the head with the force of a jumbo jet, maybe more. So it seemed everyone was doing fine with their respective opponents, though Daniel had something in store to get most of the add-ons out of there if she set it up right.

"Another mouth piece of garbage. I swear, the only thing Atterrius ever made that was half decent was that kid of his." Gravitas said as he made a motion with his arm to actually REVERSE gravity under where Apex was standing, likely launching him into the air. The wave produced a spark of violet energy which shot out to hit the ground, so in theory it was avoidable, but with his Gyrosense kicking in Gravity Man was ready for battle. Xerox was under supervision and restoration, guarded by the two clones of his while Gravity Man dealt with the Xenogenic creature. "If you work for The Agency then you're either shackled or retarded. Judging from your vernacular, I'd say it's a little bit of BOTH!" He roared as he attempted to increase the gravity of the nearby area. If Apex were in the air he'd likely be hurdling down towards the ground at incredible velocity, if not and he were nearby then he's likely feel the weight of an elephant being added to his back, bringing him to the ground as the blacktop began to crack and cave in.

Providing Apex managed to escape all of that, his Gravity sense was still perfectly applicable, looking about and watching everywhere in a good radius to try and discover the secrets of this unknown enemy. His own body increased in density and the gravitational field warped, granting him his own unique combo version of superhuman durability.

So Apex was being distracted, that was good. Now all Lucius had to do was get rid of the others. Really, Apex was the one he wanted. Humiliating him would show the Agency there were some out there that even their greatest champion was no match for. That of course was a secondary motive for this whole thing, but one that needed to be fulfilled to get to the primary one. With a command from Lucius, Daniel would get to work on the whole getting the others out of the way thing. Isalia dispersed her illusion, and Lucius did the same to his construct, there was no need for that anymore. Daniel would then appear out of nowhere next to Jubin, touching him on the shoulder which teleported him to Italy. He then disappeared and reappeared next to the brute and did the same, then did so one last time to Xoader. Likely a bit inconveniencing for the trio, but then again they could have some truly epic pizza while they were there. Daniel at this point was exhausted, mentally and physically, but he would be able to get himself and the others to safety.    

"That's all i needed you for Isalia. Go with Daniel and Hector and standby, if the situation starts to get out of my favor, well I'll call you and the rest of them." Lucius said. This wasn't really their fight, and with the exclusion of the others they could go. Gang banging Apex wouldn't prove anything, no, he needed to do this with as few people as possible to send the proper message. So with that, Isalia nodded and Daniel ported both her and the Hector exosuit back to the Sanctuary. As Lucius said, they would be on standby with the other two hundred metahumans under his command, but it was unlikely Lucius would call on them. With the battle field now clear, Lucius would approach the confrontation between Gravity Man and Apex, charging up energy as he slowly and deliberately walked toward them, watching Gravity Man perform his impressive powers. The fifteen hundred hostages seemed to still be writhing in pain, not saying anything really except for a grunt or shriek here and there. If the city was smart they wouldn't send anyone else besides Apex, otherwise Lucius could just blow them all sky high.

He likes to hear himself talk? Did this freakishly small human even think about what he was saying? He was already talking more than Gravity Man had, the only difference was that this person was an insufferable little prick with a napoleonic complex and several years of daddy issues. Gravity Man was impressed he was still alive, but that was only the beginning of what he had in store for this opponent. The person said something about a low blow or something to that effect. Where was a low blow given? Gravity Man was simply calling a spade a club. Meaning they weren't shackled and they weren't quite sure of their mental capacity. Hey, he was blind! It was pretty excusable with Sean at least.

"Even for a low blow, it was pretty eye leveled with you!" Gravitas said as he tried to lash out a massive force of a backhand, sending presurives Gravity at him, but he remained unharmed and utterly unhindered. His mind was running with possible solutions, what could he do against an opponent he could not hurt? He's laugh if he really had taken the time to think that. Honestly he was surprised and he couldn't have been more terrfied for that split moment in time. But a little thing like fear could flicker all it wanted as it paled in comparison on the battlefield of the Titans. Sean rushed in with speed and with his speed his mass moved, the gravity giving away it's location. His movement to step backwards amplified the gravity before him, causing an intense pressure around his already enhanced durability. That would likely stop him, after all he would likely have to phase back intot his world to have any immediate impact, or at least that part of him.

This son of a witch was fast, and he needed to be delt with. Now. Gravity Man began to fling his hands and fingers about in a style that seemed almost chaotic, but unfrotunately the results were clear. His target didn't seem to be Sean, however he did in fact topple a building or two. However the cowering and screaming people would find that Gravitas had become so exceptionally adept with his powers that they all escape casualty, while he used his power to defy Gravity on the rubble or debris. They seemed to be in shock and then took of screaming. This was unlike how The Agency likely portrayed him. "Try that again you angry midget."

Lucius eventually got close to the fight, where he watched everything that was happening, calculating it. There was some trash talk, which was rather amusing. And Gravity Man made several impressive attacks. Lucius truly marveled at the males powers, their possibilities seemed to be endless. But despite his power, Gravitas was a good man, he really only had good intentions in the end, that and revenge. Lucius could respect him for that. Apex was a tricky opponent to deal with, very versatile. Lucius didn't know exactly how the males powers worked, but he guessed it was some form of adaption. Whenever Lucius threw something at Sean in their last fight, it seemed to have no effect. Only when he mixed and matched multiple at a time did he leave a scratch. To reinforce this, there was that blue energy Apex created, which was a perfect match against Lucius' Red Energy.

So, with all that information, Lucius came to the conclusion that yes, Apex had some form of adaptive power. That would make this tricky really, would he lead with his energy like before? Would he be able to adapt if he was also being hit by Gravity Man? Lucius didn't quite know, but he knew he had to be extremely unorthodox. Lucius found it funny Gravity Man was calling Apex short, which reminded him of Sean's rather violent outburst toward Daniel in their last encounter. Apex seemed to forget all about the hostages, which was interesting. Lucius wouldn't draw attention to it though. He wasn't worried Sean could stop what was happening, but he wasn't going to draw the focus back to them.

"Bold of you, Sean. Diving head first into a situation you know so little about. But don't worry, I'll be finished here shortly." Lucius commented as he approached the pair from the right. He was about twenty yards away, so he needed to make a plan of action. Apex was trying to use his speed, which was a mistake. Against Gravity Man and Lucius, speed was rather useless. Red's gear was fitted to fight enemies with insane speed. Lucius wasn't worried about his defense, just his offense. These three were very difficult to damage, so this theoretically could go on for a long, long time. He continued to make his way toward Apex, and once he got close he would draw his sword and use a bit of the blades energy to turn on its vibration function. This would hopefully do some damage, even if Apex was durable on an ungodly level.

This was a true test to see the level of Apex's adaption, because adapting is the only way someone would be able to resist it really. Using his speed assisters, Lucius swung his sword, his limb becoming a blur as it slashed at Apex. He wasn't just flinging steel around either, these were actual sword techniques. He was using precision and skill to feint and jab at his opponent, focusing less on power and more on just touching Sean with it because that was all that was needed. He was fencing with his left hand, and his right was folded behind him. It looked like a classical stance, but there was another purpose for it. Lucius was using his right hand to unclasp a very powerful bomb and activate it. With a sudden shift of his stance, Lucius would throw this at Apex, then activate his teleporter to get out of the explosives blast range. He was confident Gravity Man would be able to get out of there as well, that or just tank it. The bomb would explode violently, large and hot but luckily out of the range of any bystanders. That whole attack was pretty much just information gathering, and wasn't really meant to hurt, though it would be nice if it did.