From shadows [Invite only]

Teleporting, now Colin really hated that power. Not only did it allow them to avoid his attacks but it also meant he would have to search for the metahuman once again before doing anything about them. ”How did I forget about the damn teleporting?” He growled under his breath as his visor would lock upon lucius rapidly, but that gave him not time to react to the next attack. It was spontaneous almost as the air appeared to ignite in a rainbow of color. All it took was a cursory glance to know that this could kill him, and probably destroy the suit in the process. This meant he would have to reroute all power to one thing, and that was the kinetic fields, if they would do him any good. Could they defend against plasma or was he screwed? Well Colin would have to find out if he even survived long enough.

Despite the suits protection the heat could be felt blistering through the polymers as he swore he heard something crackle, or maybe it was shattering. Explosive pain flashed through his entire body as if someone had set his insides on fire. He screamed but in the explosion no sound could be heard, only the knowledge that he did allowed him to realize he was. Reading denoting a temperature as hot as the sun could be read, melting the very suit around him as the pain continued. From there shock seemed to settle in as the suit tried to both cope with the damage being done to itself as well as Colin, though the medical systems had been dealt damage too great for it to handle. With the thrusters now down, all he could do was crash to the ground with consciousness fading rapidly. Colliding with the scorched earth a massive crater was created from the impact alone.

Pain became nothing more than a dull sensation as even sensation began to fade away into nothingness. There was the smell of scorched flesh in the air, likely his own mingled with the melting alien metals. Colin had  a feeling he looked like a wreck but then again that came with taking plasma head on. The heat seemed to slowly give way to cold, as his body sort of stopped moving on command save for a small twitch of the index fingers. Critical damage sustained to over 90% of suit systems, however the core has taken no damage. Estimated time of repair is thirty minutes. It sounded like his suit would be fine, but he was in a whole different mess. Third degree burns are present on over 40% of your body, along with what appeared to be multiple fractures and light internal bleeding. Please seek medical attention.

Thanks for the obvious you damn suit. Now why don’t you….oh god there goes the feeling in my legs. He couldn’t speak really, just opening his mouth was a painful sensation and his throat felt scorched as if he had swallowed sand. This appeared to be what heroing got him in the end, though the taste of it was not quite as sweet as he thought it would be. Granted that was what he got, a human trying to help people in a world of metahumans, a pointless death in a scorched field. Ya know Travis….I really hate having to admit you’re right. A soft glow emanated from the suits left gauntlet which was still intact before it faded into nothing. Black ash like snow had begun to settle over him, drifting downwards as it would form a thin layer upon both suit and scorched skin. Maybe this was the feeling of dying, though it was a lot more peaceful than he had expected.

Another human dying, it shouldn’t have been so painfully expected.

Victory never felt so horrible. Even someone like Lucius couldn't handle a blast like that, it was just too hot. Unimaginably hot, like, it makes you wonder how it's even possible. Lucius was burnt and battered to hell, he likely would have died if it wasn't for his sword, which repaired his damaged organs to a state where his own healing factor could manage. He would just lay there for several miniutes, not wanting to even move. He just wanted rest, but he knew if his opponent was only human, well he was likely dead or in critical condition. He had to get up, he didn't really want to kill the male. He didn't really deserve that, sure he was sort of stupid for even trying this sort of thing, but that didn't make him dying in a field right. Lucius was impressed with him enough to respect him, and he had to help his squishy ass.

So, he let go of his sword, signaling to Hector to stop healing him to conserve power, and then he took it up again and got up. He was still critically injured, but he had a healing factor of his own, if anyone needed the power in the sword it was Colin. He walked toward Vanguards point of impact, holding the sword out. He likely looked like he was about to finish the job, but his intentions were the exact opposite. Once he got close, he touched the sword to a bit of skin that was exposed through the suit, and the energy from Hectors core would surge into the male, healing him of his wounds rapidly, but likely causing him to pass out as well. It wasn't intended for normals humans.

After that, well it was only a matter of getting out of here. All his tech was fried except his sword, but thankfully it had Hector within it. All he had to do was do a specific motion with it and Hector would alert Daniel to come get them.

"What, the, actual, fuck." Daniel said after porting in, shocked by the state of the battlefield and Lucius himself.

"Watch your mouth." Lucius said, motioning for Daniel to get them out of there. With that the male walked toward them and grabbed both by the shoulder, after which they would likely be ported to Lucius' lab where he would give Vanguard medical attention and make sure the suit was taken care of. He sort of wanted to talk to the male as well, once he woke up.

Colin had expected unconsciousness to take him, but he lay there as a weight seemed to fall over him almost oppressively. This whole being critically injured thing was not like he has expected at all, though not being in constant pain was likely a plus of the painkillers still running strong in his system despite how much blood he was likely loosing. Maybe the hallucinations would begin to come, oh those would have been fun. He wondered however what he would see, and if he would even see anything. Something told him that it would be someone or something of importance, a cool life flashing before your life thing. Something told him that if the metahuman had survived the attack, he would likely strive to take the finishing blow on him. Not that Colin could do anything to stop them. His body was too wrecked to actually defend itself against anything.

Seeing Lucius within the darkness of half consciousness with sword in hand suggested they planned to cut him down within his prone state. Made sense for a bad guy like him, cut down the wounded while they were….well wounded. His eyes half lidded would look upon the blade and wait for the killing stroke, yet nothing seemed to come his way as far as killing went. Instead he would poke him with the blade as an influx of energy would be exchanged. Within seconds he could feel the numbness subside but with it came a blackness that crept over his vision as he fell deeper into unconsciousness. The feeling was a nice one really, and for a moment he swore he saw a female face within the darkness, though light followed it and man was it warm. It was the warmth that had made him not want to wake up, and for now he would not need to wake up.

”Quite the mess you made Lucius.” Alpha noted leaning against wall, mask clasped to his belt while examining the metahuman with cold analytical grey eyes. ”What did you do to yourself? Well as well as the human over there.”

Alpha was a surprise, but then again popping into each others labs seemed to be part of their relationship at this point. Lucius had healed pretty well, sure he still had plenty of burns and all that, but he was starting to look normal once again. He put Vanguard on a stretcher and got him out of the armor, then put that on it's own stretcher next to him. The armor seemed to self repair, so it would be fine. That was quite the technology right there. Daniel just sort of drifted away from the conversation when he saw Alpha, leaving them to talk. Why was Travis here? Perhaps some sort of important news? Lucius didn't know, but he would soon enough as Hector immediately scanned the males face upon being placed in the stretcher, info popping up on a nearby terminal in front of Lucius. Colin Wright was his name it seemed, and he worked for......Travis.

"Ah, that explains why you're here. Colin here works for you, closely from what i see here. I wonder.......did you know he was running around in armor, interrupting Rise operations? But i suppose the bigger question is, does he know about anything he shouldn't?" Lucius asked, skipping the formalities as he usually did when he was irritated. He just kind of wanted to be angry at something, but didn't know exactly who he should be mad at.  Colin would likely wake up any minute now, as Lucius went full doctor mode, hooking him up to an IV with a cocktail of drugs and pain killers. The sword healed him sure, but not entirely. He would likely still be in minor pain if he didn't get pain killers, and he would also be quite stiff.

Something had burned Lucius but Alpha could not quite tell what had done so. None of it looked like something that the Vanguard suit would cause, but then again assumptions only got someone so far. His eyes only needed to drift from Lucius to Colin to see the damage that had been done. The sight of it alone was enough to bring about an almost primal feeling that he could not quite explain, then again emotions tended to be a confusing thing when they were suppressed for so long. One could say that his expression was unamused really, and in a sense he was far from amused. ”Quick as ever. Yes, he’s one of my employees, though I dare say one that I actually like.” Alpha stated simply, arms crossed over his chest while letting his eyes lock with Lucius’ for a moment before going back to Colin.

”I wasn’t aware of him interfering with your operations however. If I had been aware, I would have done something to stop him sooner. The only reason i’m here is because the suit showed a massive dip in his vitals, and I couldn’t quite hazard to lose an investment.” Alpha explained taking note of the fact that Lucius appeared to be annoyed for some reason. The very idea of it was an amusing prospect, but then again he likely had brought this upon himself as much as Colin had did. Actually liking someone was a pain, especially when you had to continually rent them space within your head. Not a glimpse of the internal toil showed on his face however, which was a placid as it usually was. ”However he doesn’t know anything he should not. I’m not so sloppy.” Alpha noted with a shrug.

They had been hooked up to an IV full of various drugs, likely meant to keep away any residual pain they would be experiencing. Slowly their eyes would begin to open, Alpha watching with a curious anticipation to see what state he had been left in. ”Well it looks like he’s awake. I suppose this is when you do whatever you wanted to do Lucius. I’m sure you didn’t heal him out fo the kindness of your heart.”

Well, that was rather insulting. But then again, it was quite true. He didn't heal this man for nothing, sure it was a good gesture, but he wanted something out of it as well. Colin would begin to wait, and Lucius wondered if Alpha might just want to leave, to keep up appearances and such. If Colin knew his employer was working with the guy that nearly killed him, well that would just be bad, now wouldn't it?

"You're right, i didn't. You might want to leave, when he gets up i doubt he would take well to seeing you here. Besides, i'm sure you have a lot of work to do on that project in Belarus, correct?" Lucius said, referencing something that was mentioned a little while ago. As soon as Alpha left and Colin got up, he would be free to say what he had too.

"Mister Wright, that was quite the...spill you took. Sorry about that, as you can see you aren't dead though. Anyway, you mind telling me just what exactly you were doing walking into my operation? Do you have any idea who i am? That little event was sponsored by the Belarusian government, you're interfering with international relations, my friend." Lucius said. Of course, that wasn't entirely true. It was backed by the government sure, but everyone thought it was something totally different. But that was beside the point.

Whether Alpha insulted Lucius or not was unimportant, considering that he knew the male well enough to know he would not waste his time on something. He had no reason to help a human out of all thing, as that would not help his evolutionary agenda. It was that distrust that would keep him only a few steps away really, keeping an eye on the situation. ”Oliver has his uses other than shooting angry looks at you. However, I suppose finding out his boss is a supervillain might put a damper on things.” With a shrug Alpha turned on his heels and left the room, yet not the compound. He would likely stay until he was sure things would not go unfavorably.  In the end he was in a position Lucius likely could not detect him, yet he could still listen to the conversation.

”Yeah...i’m surprised i’m not dead considering that thing you did looked like it was meant to kill me.” Colin stated as sharply as someone coming out of unconsciousness could. Something told him the reason this guy had helped him was not the most wholesome of reasons, though he still found himself wondering why he remembered hearing Travis. Could’ve been the anesthetics, those tended to do a number on someone. Still, with eyes narrowed upon Lucius he took note of them saying something about it being Belarus, a country that Lucius had taken over not so long ago. ”I know plenty about who you are, and what you’ve done actually. The body count is pretty extensive, but I guess that’s just an unfortunate sacrifice someone else had to make for the greater good, right?” The Agency files were pretty indepth on Lucius, all of the crimes done by him and things of that nature.

”I however don’t remember gang activities being government sanctioned. I’m not stupid you know, so spare me the crap.”

Well, that reaction was to be expected really considering the fact Lucius nearly killed him, but that didn't make it any less naive. Lucius truly couldn't understand the mind of someone like Vanguard, and he didn't even know he worked for the agency for a time. That would have brought an entirely new dynamic to this situation. He acted like a hero, but in the end was just punching people in the face and helping a group not to different from Nazies detain metahumans worldwide. Lucius on the other hand was creating things so technologically advanced they would change the world forever, and he was helping an entire nation out of disparity. Who really sounded like a hero in that picture?

"You know, i really hate the word gang. It implies delinquency, so distasteful. I prefer the term organization, or perhaps society. As for my body count, yes, you're right. Unfortunate sacrifice for the improvement of the world and humanity as a whole. Haven't you ever heard of survival of the fittest? Only the strong survive to insure the betterment of all, but enough about that..." Lucius said as he stared at a terminal, reading Vanguards vitals and things of that nature. Luckily the male was strapped down, Lucius figured he would likely take what he did next the wrong way. He saw something on the terminal that interested him, but needed to confirm. So he took a syringe and attempted to take a sample of blood, then made his way a to a counter a few feet away, putting the blood into a microscope looking device.

"Hmm, interesting. Before i tell you what I've found i want you to answer a few questions for me. Who made the suit? And if they could create such high tech equipment, why not use it for more then a weapon? It seems everyone with high end technology is withholding it, and that's just upsetting. I plan to use mine to actually help people rather then go around beating the tar out of criminals. The thing none of you 'heroes' understand is that if you don't improve the economy and make the world a better place, criminals will always reappear. You don't know how to fix things at their roots, or maybe you don't want to, maybe you just get a kick out of sending them to the hospital." Lucius said, amused by his own words. He looked quite normal now besides his tarnished armor, but at least he didn't look crispy. From there he would move on to something more related to Vanguard, but not before activating the scanning system on the stretcher Vanguards suit was on. He wanted all the info he could get on it, and the scanners would give him that.

"Anyway, did you know you have a dormant metagene? I find that funny. The agency sure would get a kick out of that one." Lucius said. His words didn't really mean anything, it wasn't like he was going to experiment on this guy. But then again, it may be fun to make him hate himself.

He acted much like Colin had expected really. Once they had control of the situation, they would talk as if they were so morally superior and that he was the bad one. Strange for someone so mired within the blood of unfortunate sacrifices he had willingly martyred for his goals. The fact that someone would do something like that made Colin sick, though he could do nothing about it at the moment. It was likely that his suit wasn’t in the best state that actually do anything, though something told him a fight here would go way different than it had in that field. This place looked a lot more important than a barren stretch of land with a few trees dotting it. It was now that he became aware of the restraints holding him down, keeping Colin from doing anything than shifting his weight. ”Gang fits something it just fine. Though I guess pawns fits more, doesn’t it?” He stated with a small amount of venom in his voice.

Just the way this guy talked spoke of some kind of malevolent chessmaster, playing around with people and disposing of them when they served their purposes. Someone who thought of human lives as nothing more than...well the lives of an insect than actually as people. He had fought a emta or two similar, monsters having taken the form of humans. ”How you can say it improves anything though, just shows how full of yourself you are.” He had seen files showing the crimes this man had done, and over half of them did nothing to improve anything. If anything, they seemed more like something done out of petty anger or even something along the lines of revenge even. Part of him wanted to strike him, but Colin knew he couldn’t do anything to him even if he could.

That was when his eyes took note of a syringe, being lowered towards him as he squirmed a little. He couldn’t exactly get out of the bed now, considering that...well he was not the strongest persona round and that likely gave him an easier time hitting the vein. There was the bite of the needle as they drew blood into the syringe. ”A better man made it.” That was the answer to who made the suit, and in a sense his father was a vastly superior man to this Lucius. He would never do something like murder people and then call them nothing more than necessary sacrifices. ”And why don’t you ask him yourself? Though you might need a medium for that.” Honestly he didn’t feel like cooperating with Lucius at all. If the only thing they would do was talk down to him, act superior and all that there was nothing really to say to them.

His suit, well it would need probably a few more minutes to fully repair itself so he was stuck for now. ”You make it sound like you do any better. Should I start murdering people because they’re in my way? You act like you’re better than me, but zealots like you always end up doing more harm than good.” Even if they did not understand,we ll that didn’t matter as they seemed to have found something within his blood. Something had been said about a dormant metagene, not quite expected really, but then again things were never as expected. It had been something that was a possibility within the back of his mind, but Colin never considered the possibility.

Still, if it was dormant that meant he was a metahuman of some kind. Considering that he worked with The Agency that would have made things a little messy really. Those shackles as they had been called did not look very great really, but then again he had a feeling no matter what he had they would put one on him. ”Well...that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.” Luckily enough his surprise did not get the best of him,or maybe he was just hiding it pretty well right now. Something told him that Lucius wanted to get some kind of reaction out of him, but he did not know what that was. ”Now that you have me….tied down. What are you planning to do? Painful genetic experiments or do you have something else in mind?” He did not like the idea of going through something like that, but then again he had no choice right now.

"I have never met someone so stubborn and ignorant, that's a combination i can't quite deal with. I've come to terms with my sins, and i hope to make up for them someday. You on the the other hand aimlessly do something that is pointless when you could be doing something greater, that's just selfish in my eyes. Truly, do you think you are helping anyone by stopping a bank robbery? You think the world is going to become a utopia because you stopped a car from getting stolen? Give me a break." Lucius said. They were all the same it seemed, he had had this conversation a thousand times over and it always ended the same way, they just blindly continued what they believed to be right and stuck their fingers in their ears like some child. Lucius had done wrong sure, but he had done good as well. Everything had an equal and opposite reaction, bad things needed to happen for good things to happen. Even civilization itself was founded on that, people were just too stuck up to see it. Everyone had evils, everyone did wrong, yet they hid behind this facade of being naturally good. In the end, everyone was wired to only care about themselves, heroics were a shining example of that. People went out and crammed themselves into situations they didn't know anything about and said they were good guys because they managed to bloody some thug. They weren't heroes, they were arrogant self centered fools who ignored the bigger picture.

"Why would i save a random human just to experiment on them? I'm not going to experiment on you, unless of course you want those powers hidden deep within you, but I'm guessing you're too prideful in your humanity to accept that. You like the feeling of being a normal person, makes you feel like the underdog right? But no, i got what i wanted from your suit. I might be able to adapt some of this to my own designs, very interesting.... Anyway, you should be grateful, a few months ago, well i would have killed you without a second thought. Do yourself a favor and find another line of work, or at least do something that actually matters. If i see you again you won't be as fortunate as you were today. Now get your suit and I'll port you out of here." Lucius said. The straps would then released Vanguard and he would be free to get up and move around, perhaps get his suit and if he wished, leave. That or bicker with Lucius some more.

Stubborn and ignorant was an interesting choice of words considering that they were the same way themselves. Saying you do something for the greater good did not make you good, it just made you a greater fool. He didn’t however go under the delusions that he could change things by being a hero, not like whatever this guy thought he was was doing. No, Colin could see they were too deep into their own beliefs to see anything else really. ”Save the lecture for when you actually know anything about me.” He noted with a roll of his eyes, growing slightly sick of the metahumans rambling. In the end it wasn’t about saving the world through bank robberies, sometimes it was just about the people. When someone looked at the bigger picture, they tended to stamp on the smaller pieces as if they were disposable.

However pride in his humanity had nothing to do with it, as he actually did not like that portion of him. Being born human in a family of metahumans tended to make one despise what made them so different, but then again this guy showed more how they knew nothing about him. They had said something about doing something that made a difference, but then again he likely did not even know what that was. ”So I assume that explosion was just meant to incapacitate me, or was there a second thought before that?” Honestly, with each word they spoke he was only more sure about their arrogance. They thought they could change the world, and anyone who didn't agree were ignorant, or foolish. Anything was right to them, something that more than anything annoyed him. With a mental command, he called the suit to himself and it actually responded. Now free of his straps Colin could stand to his feet, though he didn’t have much when it came to clothes.

Honestly the feeling alone was not a pleasant one really, but then again he was still annoyed by the metahuman in question. Sure, he knew he had a dormant metagene but that didn’t matter really, especially since he could not trust someone like this to awaken it. They would have probably tampered with it or even worse, so he would have to go to someone that he could trust, which boiled down to one person really. Powering up the suit would be for the most part repaired save for a few cosmetic scratches, but those could be fixed up easily. With a motion the suit would break apart and form around his body, taking away that powerless feeling. Systems back up to 100%. The voice would echo through his head as the helmet would close around his head.

”The next time we meet, it won’t end the same way..” That much he was certain of, and something told him losing next time meant death. At Least he knew he would need to go all out if he wanted to stand a chance at any rate.  

So from there he would take his leave.

"It wasn't meant to kIll you, it was the first time I had done that, didn't think it would have such a violent effect. If I wanted you dead I would have rammed that sword In your chest after you were down. It seems you cant even Identify an honorable action through your delusion that I'm some Irredeemabie villain" Lucius said just before the man left. He wanted to clear that up. Did the guy really think he wanted to kill him? Because he didn't. It made no sense to throw that blast at him then treat him if Lucius' intentions were to send him to whatever life was after this one. Either way, the male would leave with a 'I'll get you next time' comment. He would be ported back to New York, though that little gathering was already finished. Today was rather eventful really, he learned more about his powers, and got information on what he assumed to be some kind of magiteck. Very interesting stuff, all of this would likely help him. There's that thing about heroes only making things worse again. Vanguard came into the operation intending on stopping it, but ended up helping Lucius In the end.