Fear and loathing in chicago (Alex)

Hannibal Held out his gun, ready to shoot the man in question. This was ending now. However, the appearance of a new variable made the plan crumble like a legal case against John Gotti, as the man in question seemed to have a rather nasty ability to transform into embers and somehow avoid the brunt of the blast. Hannibal grunted in dissaproval. This would no doubt complicate things quite a bit. However, However, he did not actually need to kill Carson to finish his mission. He only needed to buy his boss enough time to escape before departing himself.

As he heard the man talk behind of him, he quickly spun around, but it was too late, the insanely hot flames of the inferno burnt him before he managed to turn the crate around to once again shield him from the blaze. He was only singed, and even though it hurt, it did not take long for his body to regenerate the damage. He cursed his stupidity as he crouched behind the crate. He should have activated his forcefield when he had heard the man's voice rather than swivel around. The field would no doubt have protected him better than his haphazard solution with the crate.

However, the Embers were physical in nature, at least to a certain extent. That meant that they might be dispersed by a sudden shockwave. And if there was one thing he could do, it was produce shockwaves.
That was why he suddenly tossed the crate towards his opponent, He was far too close to avoid it with regular methods, so the only thing he could do would to go ember-form again, and that was when hannibal smacked his own stomach, the fist connecting with the forcefield and thus, unleashing yet another shockwave in the direction of Carson. Hopefully the embers would be dispersed to prevent re-forming, or even better disintegrate totally, killing the annoying bugger. . .

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Johnnny Five shried in rage as he crashed into the ground, he could not feel pain, but he kept getting error-messages from all regions of his cybernetic body several of his servos where damaged, his plating was more or less turned to scrap-metal and one of his arms where completely irreparable. It was obvious that he would not win this. However, he may have one chance of revenge. He decided to overload all of his systems, effectively blowing himself up. Hopefully the hero would die, and so he would win. After all, he would be reincarnated soon enough as "Johnny Six"

"You've gone and killed me! Allow me to return the favour!" he shrieked as his the process begun, bolts of electricity shooting from his cyborg body, along with jets of flame. . .It was quite clear that something was amiss. The dying, overcharged cyborg started laughing maniacally as the process continued, but it was not a laugh of joy, It was the desperate laugh of terror.

Carson was really pouring the heat into this strike, feeding the flames with his emotion. Sort of a feed back from his powers that further enhanced his flames. But he was all rage, no thought. Why bother pay attention to what the enemy could do when all one had to do was blow them away? He grinned as the crate came sliding at him

Carson: "Oh come on, is that all you can really do?"

His form shifted as he slipped into his ember form. He could turn into the form quickly, but he couldn't come out of it quickly. He was much better at breaking something down then rebuilding it. He came out the other side of the crate, his body already pulling its self together when a clap of thunder dashed him. The shockwave rolled right through him, dispersing his body to the wind. With the smell of a camp fire still hanging in the air, Carson was gone. Dead? Unknown, but gone none the less.

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"Oh shit..."

Time seemed to stretch as Alex stared down at the broken Robot. He had gone over board yet again, this time thinking he had killed the poor sod. He nearly froze with fear as the first bits of metal popped out. Alex had gotten lucky... again. He should change his name from Aegis to Lucky. The first sparks flew off from the robots body, hitting Alex in the chest. He staggered backwards, now not frozen as he shook the fog from his head. Then something hit him in the head from the other side. Looking down, the case Carson was carrying was now falling slowly to the ground. It had been thrown from the other side of the room in the same shockwave the cleared Carson.

It was one of those weird moments for Alex when things just froze. Or at least moved slowly. He grabbed the case out of the air, looked down at Johnny, then over to Hannibal. Something was wrong with the robot. With one hand, Alex moved to reach down to Johnny to grab him. In that same motion, he moved to throw the dying robot through the hole in the ceiling he had made earlier. Striaght up into the sky where hopefully it wouldnt hurt anyone.

Johnny fives laugh reached its crescendo as a few randomly fired sparks shot out and hit the hero. This would be but a taste of what that pitiful hero would experience when he finally left the earth behind. After all, this body was but a chrysalis, and soon the beautiful butterfly would metaphorically leave it. To be reborn, transformed, far more beautiful than anything. They would all love Johnny five and despair as he drained them of blood! They would all feel his touch!

"This is the end of the beginning, the beginning of the end!" The crazed, maniacal cyborg rambled on as the hero grabbed him to toss into the air. His voice was sort of metallic now, as if comming from a busted speaker or something  "I am a brightly falling star! An asteroid, falling towards earth! the reincarnation of the one that burnt the dinosaurs the dinosaurs! I have come back for round two. I die to be reborn again! There will be fire, there will be death, Do you hear me!!? There shall be. . ." He rambled on, untill he fell silent as he slowly started to disinte, jeats of flame started to shoot from his body, and the skin and flesh that remained still remained burnt off, revealing a metallic skeleton enveloped in flame. And then he exploded.

Even though the villain was too far from any human to do any damage, the explosion was still deafeningly loud, and was enough to set of the car-alarm of Carsons car that was still parked outside.

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In the meantime Hannibal looked around in case Carson would try to reform once again, but he seemed to be gone, hopefully he was dead, but you couldn't really tell with people like that, especially not considering what kind of powers the man had. Hannibal did not like the uncertainty of the situation. he hated leaving loose ends behind, especially people like Carson, his kind usually had Deep pockets long memories and even longer reach.

However, he was still standing, and apart from the hero everyone else was either dead or incapacitated in one way or another. He shot a quick glance towards the rhino-person. He seemed to have lost consciousness sometime during the battle, and apparantly that had lead to him turning back to a human. He looked pretty beat-up, but his breathing was steady enough. No point in putting him down. He was just a hired stooge.

"Well, If I didn't know better I'd reckon it's the fourth o' July today, what with all the fireworks goin' off." Gorgeous said with a rumbling chuckle, and despite his lucha-mask a big grin could be seen on his face.

"Good work, kid. Y'sorted that out nicely, normally I'd thank ya, but since yer arrival was what started this whole shebang I reckon we're back right where we started from, eh? Oh, and I dun' worry 'bout takin' Out Johhny. The guy's a psycho. Hate workin' with them." he continued conversationally as he brushed himself off with the other hand and put the safety back on his gun.

However, there was always silver lining to these things. Apparantly whatever it was that Carson had wanted to sell Wu might not have been woth five million, but he was fairly certain he could get three from one of his contacts. Unfortunately it seemed that the heroic fellow had snatched the briefcase up somewhere during the battle. He cursed under his breath. He knew people that could sort this out, and he knew other people that would find a buyer. If someone like Wu was after it, it was hot merchandise, no doubt about it.

"I reckon I could get at least a cool three mil from that case y'got there. Y'helped me out here, so I could cut ya in on that if ya wanted.  How's 'bout we split it sixty fourty? After all, I'm the guy who knows a guy." Hannibal grunted as he walked towards the other man.

"Whotever's in the case is probably really hot, so I dun' reckon you'll find a fence that'll take it off yer hands, even if ya wanted pennies for it, an' there's even less of 'em that'd pay ya w hat it's worth." he continued, lighting up a cigarette as he spoke, he placed it in the edge of his mouth. He realized he could probably take it off the man. He was a flier, true, but at this distance all he needed to do was to grab him, Then there would be no escape for the other man. However, the Hero had done him a solid during the fight, and even if he hadn't, he wasn't too keen on underhanded tricks. He prepared to be as honest as you could be in his line of work. After all, honesty and loyalty was very desirable traits in a bodyguard.

"Whudda ya say, pal?" He said, a big grin on his face, as he held out his hand.

Alex brushed himself off slightly, a burn mark on the chest of his outfit. He had three long scratches going from his shoulder to throat, but the skin underneath looked fine. Alex maybe be tough, but his uniform not so much. A pair of thunderous foot steps made him look up. Way up as it turns out. Gorgeous George towered above him. Alex raised an eyebrow at the mans offer though it was hidden by his mask.

Alex: "I can't quite say I took out Johnny to be fair. He seemed to be mainly mechanical... though who would build a psyco robot is a good question. And you think you could get three million for this?"

Alex raised up the black case that contained the flash drive. This little thing had been what started it all. And now, Alex could get more then a million dollars for it. Just like that he could take care of his family. No more worrying about paying the house off, no more worrying about college, no more worrying about any money. Alex would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't tempted. But then, he wouldn't be much of a hero now if he gave in that easy. He shook his head and gave a rueful smile.

Alex: "Sorry there mate, no can do. This thing is rather dangerous. Best it gets destroyed."

He cocked his head to the side as the sirens grew louder.

Alex: "You only protected yourself against that beast guy. I may see it that way, but the police may have a few questions on what you were doing here in the first place. I suggest that you leave before they can."

He hovered off the ground, flying upwards a small bit. He looked like he was about to say something but then shook his head. He soared upwards and out to the police. He had some explaining to do. And had to buy Hannibal some time. No need to miss dinner now.

Gorgeous George frowned as the young hero answered his proposition. Either the guy was an idealist or he was alot cleverer than Hannibal had given him credit for. He might just pretend that he was going to destroy it and keep all of the millions for himself, though for some reason Hannibal suspected that it wasn't so. He had seemed too genuine in his approach to heroics

"Really. Is yer financial situation so rosy ya can just walk away from this?" the gargantuan man rumbled skeptically, crossing his massive arms across his chest. They moved and looked sort of like skin-coloured sleeping-bags stuffed with jello with hands attatched on the ends. He was feeling a surge of bitterness washing through him as he thought about all the things that he could have bought for the money. A new house, a hunting trip to africa, his own bar, another house for when the first got dirty. . . Ah, well. C'est la vie.

The hero told him to get out before the police arrivedwith their endless question. Usually they presented no problems. He was a bodyguard, and that was exactly what he had done, and his associates would toss competent lawyers his way if that happens, but he was not going to cost him a pretty penny, and he had already lost a veritable fortune today.

"Yeah, kid. Thanks." He grunted bittedly.

"Oh, and if ye'r gonna destroy that thing, why not do it right now while I watch? I mean, I think I trust ya, but I've always been more of a "trust and verify" kinda guy, y'know" He added, and even though he was smiling goodnaturedly, his eyes were suspicious and observant. It was quite clear that even though the question was put forward in a relatively friendly fashion, that the answer "No" would have quite a few follow-up questions.

Alex paused in the air, floating a good 10 feet up. He turned back to Han, rubbing his chin.

Alex: "Was going to show it to the police first before I destroyed it there, but then again they don't really need to see it in the first place. I could just say it was destroyed in the fight. This thing is after all dangerous and letting more people know about it wouldn't exactly be the best thing to do. Problem is though."

Alex brought the case up to chest level and began pulling at it in two different directions, trying to tear it open. For a guy who was throwing around a two ton crate just moments ago, he now felt like a old woman trying to open a jar.

Alex: "Case is... suppose to.. be indestructable!"

He was gritting his teeth with exertion then gave up with a sigh. He paused looking at the case for a second. It didn't even budge an inch. Then, slowly, Alex reached forward with a finger and clicked a button on the case's latch. It opened with a click.

Alex: "Oh.."

He pulled out the flash drive from the case, holding it between his forefinger and his thumb. With a small little pinch he crushed the device, shattering three million dollars like it was nothing. Alex gave a grin to Hannibal.

Alex: "Have to do this again sometime, though preferably without you buying stolen goods."

And with that, Alex flew up and out of the warehouse. Day wasn't over yet.

"You ain't doin' it right, give it here." he rumbled as he started to walk towards the kid. No doubt he would have a better chance of opening the case with his man-strength. After all, he had handled so-called indestructable thingamabobs before without too much trouble. However, before he had a chance to give it a go the case just popped open in a disappointingly anticlimactic fashion. What was inside looked like a surprisingly ordinary usb-drive, hardly the sort of thing that would be worth five million dollars. George was sorely tempted to snatch it right out the hands of the young hero. However, he did no such thing. A deal was a deal was a deal. He was a professional and professionals did not break professional agreements.

"Yeah, technically I wasn't buyin' nuthin'. I'm just a bodyguard, hired meta-muscle, y'know." Gorgeous rumbled as alex accused the monstrously fat man of wanting to buying the weapon

"I dun' really care 'bout these deals, ain't nuthin' ta do with me. It's just a job" he continued as the hero flied off. He nodded and started plodding towards the exit. He heard a groan as he walked past the pile of crates that had collapsed over the Rhino-man. His human form looked surprisingly brittle as he tried to crawl out from under it, no doubt hintered by his broken ribs. Gorgeous sighed heavily as he stopped to picked up the writhing man.

"Dun' worry, pal I ain't gonna kill ya or nuthin' Just gettin' ya outta here before the police pick ya up. Y'see, if they get you, there might be uncomfortable questions for me." he rumbled glumly as the man grunted in pain. Regardless of the pain he seemed rather thankful, as he offered his former enemy a confused but sincere smile

"Let's call it professional courtesy, boy." he stated as the pair exited the warehouse.