Street Wise Hercules (Closed)

Up against the odds and his back pressed into a corner. That’s not usually how Romulus found himself, that wasn’t a situation he was used to being in. He was supposed to be good at this kind of stuff, he had been doing it for an entire year straight and never once got caught. Not once did the ‘bad guys’ catch on, they didn’t get smart. Criminals were a superstitious and crowdedly lot. They weren’t supposed to be smart, at least not as smart as him, and they sure as hell didn’t pack back up in hidden wall panels just in case someone came along and decided to break up their gun smuggling operation. Yea, that’s right not only did he get caught by a bunch of criminals it was at a warehouse filled with criminals who were smuggling guns into the city. So they were loaded.

You may be thinking to yourself ‘well at least he was able to take down a couple of men before they noticed, right?’ And you would be right he had been able to incapacitate some of the men before the rest of the group was able to take notice but that didn’t matter. He was still outnumbered 30:1. Romulus was good, hell that was being modest, he was probably the best at what he did. But thirty armed men each with guns ranging from pistols to fully automatic assault rifles against him with a Veretum, two escrima sticks, and brass knuckles? He would have to be lucky. Or have super powers and God Damnit it was times like these he kind of wished he had super powers, or at least a shit ton of money that let him buy gear that could somehow get him out of this mess.

But no. He didn’t have any of that, all he had was his wits and training and that would have to do. It always had before, this time although a hell of a lot more difficult was no different. His eyes quickly scanned the room from underneath his black mas taking in all the opportunities before him. Relaying each and every possible situation that could happen and what would happen if he did this thing or that thing. Most didn’t look good; most ended in his death. Some ended in the deaths of the men pointing their guns at him. As much as he didn’t want to die, he didn’t want them dead either. They had families probably and their families didn’t deserve to hear on the news how some vigilante had put them in the ground. So, he took the one possible situation that didn’t end in death and his victory. He acted quickly.

Rolling his wrist to the right his escrima stick in that hand flew forward with his hand smacking the hand of the man closest to him on that side. It started a chain reaction. The force of the blow made the man squeeze the trigger before dropping the gun in pain but that was all that was needed. It’s rounds firing off at the men across from him hitting at least five of them in the knees or lower causing each of them to cry out in pain and drop their weapons. Six down and twenty-four to go the masked man continued his tactic. Snapping the pistol out of the hand of the next man he used it to pistol whip him in the head before spinning and grabbing the next closest man. Disarming him the gun clattered to the ground as he put the pistol he had acquired up against that man’s head.

He knew the gun fire would have attracted some sort of attention and although he had hoped to keep himself a secret forever he knew that in this City someone was on their way. It wasn’t New York but it was filled with all the little boys and girls trying to play hero. He just hoped he got an experienced one to help him take down the other twenty. That’s right twenty. He had pushed the man forward barreling into the group in front of them knocking one guy down on the ground as Romulus flipped over on top of both of them slamming their heads into the ground before swinging his body in such a way that he went behind a wall, using it for cover as the bullets whizzed by him. That help would be really appreciated right now. But relying on someone else was going to get him nowhere, he had to act fast or he’d end up deader than dead. This was not how this night was supposed to go. Not in the slightest.

The prosthetic took some getting used to, considering that it had been a good week since his arm had been violently tipped off by that unknown metahuman. The pain itself came back in small amounts whenever he thought about it, causing a small wince of pain to flash across his features before they calmed down to a neutral expression. Colin had been looking at the limb for a good few minutes now before he grew fine with the fact that he was left with nothing more than an artificial limb which sure beat the hell out of not having one at all. Despite that he had in part even considered giving up on the whole self given crusade of heroism but then again there was always something keeping him on that path of his. That help in the form of Travis Masters as it was, the small stirring speech he had been given was even touching to an extent.

It might have been that unshakable charisma or something else, that much Colin could not tell when thinking back upon it. Moisture clung within his hair from the recent rain that had fallen upon Chicago, not as heavy as it had looked but enough so that puddles were scattered over the street from below his apartment. Apparently working under a billionaire had some of these perks, such as access to rather interesting tech as well as just the money they allotted towards him. This may have been the reason why so many rumors tended to pop up but then again not like he really minded that. Not as if speaking something over and over again would make it anymore true than when it was first uttered, so he tended to let people say whatever they wanted. Padding over the polished wood flooring his eyes fell upon the suit settled within the corner.

Even with all of the deadly battles the thing went through it managed to stay within pristine condition. The blue and white color scheme was something that screamed his father's design, seeming to pay homage in some extent to mecha anime on a smaller scale.  His reflection stared back from within the visor as the suit itself appeared to respond to a single thought as it split apart upon invisible seams. Even without having to speak the suit seemed to have wired itself to his thoughts through that chip within his head, acting upon a whim almost now as if it were part of his body. Now split wide open it was much easier for him to step into before letting the strange alien metal wrap around him in a pseudo loving embrace. Despite how cold one would expect it to feel, the interior was strangely warm in an almost comforting fashion.

From there it was all about taking to the sky, though he had a small launching pad for that. Accidentally setting fire to the building due to the plasma thrusters of the suit would have been a major problem for him, so luckily Colin put a little foresight into things. Regardless he would be flying through the air within seconds, moving at speeds that most people would only dream about as his suit perused through the various channels for some manner of crime to leap upon. At the very least he had learned caution, perhaps gauging his enemies before trying to take them on like he would have weeks ago. He was not flying too high above the city, which made hearing the gunshot something that he could do if even barely. Can I get a read on where that came from? He thought and the suit would deliver, or at the very least give him a good lead.

It ran a scan over the area below him until his attention fell upon what looked to be a large concentration of people around...one person who was moving amongst them. If he knew anything about anything, that may have been where the sound had come from. "10% synch should be enough to deal with these guys." Upping the speed ever so slightly he dived downward into the fray that was unfolding, slamming into the ground with tremendous force as some of them were forced back by the ground shaking as one of his fists whipped out and slammed into the face of one of the neerdowells. "I don't know what's going on right now but I have a feeling none of it's good." He noted launching a small bolt from the suits wrist which knocked a gun from one of the thugs, reducing it more to molten slag as it hit the ground.

Under the cover of his small…cover, Romulus attempted to get back control of his breathing. He didn’t need to rush into things he needed to think and plan out what his next move was going to be, and the one after that, and so on. Always stay five steps ahead of the enemy he had been taught. In a world like this one if you weren’t prepared and ready to deal with whatever was thrown your way you wouldn’t last long. Picking up a conveniently placed broken piece of glass he lifted it into the air allowing him to see back behind him, which of course let him place the exact location of every man still remaining in the room. All twenty of them. Having their positions ingrained into his mind forever he started to implement his plan, figuring in the details as he went.

He kicked up a brick into his hand barrel rolled out from his cover and chucked it at the closest guy knocking him unconscious instantly. That man was most definitely going to have a concussion in the morning. From here he jumped up grabbing onto the metal rafter pulling himself up to the cross walk and was about to make his move to the metal bar connecting the ‘cross walk’ to the wall when something he had not thought into his plan happened. A man in a suit, or at least he assumed it was a man in a suit, came ‘crashing’ down in the middle of the group of remaining nineteen men sending at least four of them off into the opposing walls knocking them out. That apparently wasn’t all he could do as he quickly one punched a guy out, before turning another’s gun into molten slag.

Romulus hesitated watching and committing everything he saw to memory, storing it for later. This was not the first ‘Super’ he had encountered but it was the first ‘Super’ who seemed to use a suit of some sort. He couldn’t tell what powered it, only that it was powerful and didn’t seem to have a rear view mirror. Jumping, or more like pouncing, from his ‘perch’ above he landed behind ‘Super Suit’ in a roll before standing up and disarming one of the gunman and bashing him in the skull with his elbow before sweeping the legs of the other man and then punching him in the throat effectively cutting off his air supply. The man was quickly down and out like his co-conspirator.

“Watch your back.” He growled out, his voice deep and low but not smokey or something you couldn’t understand. It was however intimidating and worked perfectly when it came to getting answers from thugs and keeping his actual voice from being discovered. They were now eleven left and this fight was much more in their favor. “I don’t feel like carrying some hot headed guy in a Super Suit to a hospital because he couldn’t handle eleven thugs with guns.” Sliding his Veretum, a roman styled short spear best used for close quarters or mid-range combat, off his back before sweeping one man off his feet and hitting him in the head with the rounded off metal butt end. Ten.

Some nights, Chicago felt like a old soul. A man singing jazz well into the small hours of the night. So full of life, but still so comfortable. Tonight, was not one of those nights. Tonight, Chicago was a mean bitch that spat in your face if you so much as looked at her cross eyed. Alex was feeling her wrath and the night had barely begun.

He set down a would be mugger, arms tied behind his back. Only two hours into the patrol and he had already been shot at, stabbed, and propositioned more times then he cared to count. He nodded to the police cruiser next to him before lifting off into the air. He was building a repertoire with the local cops pretty well these days. He had even been on the front page of a local news paper with the title Aegis. The name was seeming to stick. Alex didn't mind, he rather liked the sound of it. He put one hand up to his ear, speaking into a small ear piece.

Alex: "What's next Watcher?"

Watcher: "There seems to be an excessive amount of gun fire emanating from a warehouse over on 9th street. Head North East till you reach the construction sites. It should be the second to last warehouse on the edge of the street."

The AI spoke into the ear piece, a recent addition. After finding the hidden base, Alex had found some new help. Watcher wasn't the only recent addition either. On the shoulder of his uniform, the was a K that stood out clearly. Alex was declaring his new allegiance to the Knightwatch though no one seemed to recognize it yet. Hopefully they soon would.

He came to a hover just above the warehouse, watching the flashes of light from within. Seemed like the party was still going on. Good. Alex threw himself forward, breaking the sound barrier with a large boom as he crashed through the warehouse roof. He landed hard on one knee, a small crater forming around him. He stoop up slowly right in the middle of a group of gun men. They seemed to all be focusing on two other men, but Alex got their attention quick. One of them opened fire on him, but to no avail. Alex didn't even flinch as the bullets bounced off him.

Alex: "My turn"

He flew forward again towards the shooter, picking him up. He head butted the man hard, busting his nose wide open. Alex spun and threw the man into a small clustering of three men, knocking them all over. He came down and smashed both fists into the ground, causing a shock wave strong enough to knock down the rest. It was actually getting harder, not easier for Alex to limit his strength. It seemed to be growing rapidly.

Within so few moves it appeared that he took out a large portion of the offenders, leaving him with so few to clean up. Armored fists clenched tightly as the sensors of the suit rapidly scanned over everyone within his field of vision, considering each of them as well as the weapons within their hands. Mostly they just had small ineffectual things such as pipes and your occasional handgun. Not even a high powered rifle on them, suggesting that they were not expecting to deal with anything that could shrug off their tiny bullets. His suit itself was dialing back the strength, just enough that it would incapacitate and nothing more than that. Just the thought of ending a life was more than enough to put a sour taste within his mouth, thus making Colin resort to all of these non lethal methods of taking them out. His next few moves were already mapped out, ready to be performed upon a thought.

However something happened that required a little more calculation on his part. One being the person that he had jumped in to help seemed to be more proficient than originally thought and someone else had a similar idea in helping. One spoke with a low growling voice, one that despite his superior firepower managed to put a small amount of apprehension within him. Something about them spoke of danger, and something that he did not want to mess with, but then again he did come here to save them. "The peashooters these guys have wouldn't do anything." Colin stated rather simply, more than confident within the suits capabilities against something like a gun. That much he could be confident within, even if his mind continued to go back to why he should not be so confident.

"You should probably worry more about yourself." Vanguard added before turning towards the latest addition to whatever this was, seemingly walking through a small hail of bullets being fired at them. From there they seemed to jump into a show of superior power, managing to take out around four with a single rather brutal yet efficient motion. It was obvious this metahuman was nothing to scoff at but then again that did not mean he would let himself visibly be intimidated by something like that despite the apprehension he was feeling within. Really hoping I don't have to fight that guy. Colin thought to himself as he took notice of them slamming their fists into the ground which seemed to cause destruction from them simply meeting with it. It was strong enough to knock down the rest, as well as force him to hover above the ground to avoid the brunt of the created shockwave.

Woah there. We're not trying to level the block or anything like that.""

It may not seem like it from anyone else’s perspective but from Romulus’ things just went from bad to worse. Before he could even react to the things going on around him or let alone make some sort of reply to the man in the ‘Super Suit’ something else happened. As soon as he heard the sonic boom the man in black jumped, kicking off the nearby wall and using the force to propel him up into the air and back onto the support beam swinging himself up onto it sitting in a perched position steadying himself from the inevitable power struggle and ricochet of bullets. Because of course not only did this metahuman fly and have apparent super strength he was also seemingly invulnerable. Not something Romulus was prepared to deal with.

However it was the second ‘shock wave’ the man caused that made Romulus decide this guy needed to be stopped. Or at the very least monitored somehow. He was hot headed and didn’t seem able to control his powers. He used way more force than needed to deal with a couple of thugs and didn’t even seem to notice. Before doing anything rash though the man in black analyzed the situation the was underneath him; making sure each and every person besides the two ‘supers’ were totally out and wouldn’t be getting back up anytime soon. Upon coming to the conclusion that yes this battle that had at one point seemed so far out of his hands was over he jumped down to the ground and broke his fall into a roll before getting up into a sort of kneeling position.

He didn’t talk to the two ‘supers’ didn’t even acknowledge them. They were in his world now and if they wanted to beat up on some low level thugs they could sure, fine as long as they cleaned up after themselves and didn’t make too big of a mess. Something the flying kid, because just from his visible facial feature and the stature the kid held he was a kid, probably had trouble with. The actual work, the entire reason he had come to this warehouse in the first place. That was Romulus’ job and he didn’t need these two messing it up. He made his way over to the slightly shaken up pile of guns and other boxes of what was more than likely illegal goods and he started making a mental note, cataloging each and every item.

It was a relatively quick process and when he was done with that he turned to an adjoining table that just so happened to have a piece of paper and a pen and he quickly wrote down every item that was in the ten boxes and of what quantity. Leaving it within plain view of the boxes and secured so it wouldn’t blow away when the police arrived. Almost everything had actually gone pretty smoothly, except that now all of the men were unconscious and Romulus was unable to get answers. He usually left at least one person awake and able to talk so that he could find this groups suppliers or bosses. Without that they’d just be up and running two weeks from now. The cycle was just going to continue and next time they’d be more heavily prepared. He’d have to try harder next time.

“I assume one of you has some sort of way to contact the cops?” He growled out. They looked like spotlight heroes. They type of ‘supers’ who basked in the lime light and made sure the world knew about them. Especially the flying kid. ‘Super Suit’ seemed to be a bit of a green horn due to the way he reacted to the situation, skilled perhaps but not nearly enough experience and the Kid was just all reaction and no planning. Most likely due to his power set. Was probably one of the ones who thought they were invincible. Lucky bastards. “Do it quickly, let them know the location and what went down. The weapons are all in those boxes and the note on it is the log of what’s inside them. Mostly medium range fire arms, some explosives, and a rocket launcher.” He hated relying on others and was ready to leave when something else happened. Something he definitely hadn’t been expecting.

Alex: "The block? No. The building? Maybe"

Though Alex was a little unsure of that himself right now. He stepped out of the small crater he made looking over to the mech guy. The man was floating a few feet off of the ground. Neat. But where the hell was the second guy? Wasn't there two of them when Alex came in? A light thud sounded behind him as the man fell from the ceiling. Just how the hell did he get all the way up there?

Alex: "So... what were these guys up to? They were far more armed then anything I've seen lately.... oh."

With a casual motion, Alex ripped off the lid of a case like peeling the top off of a can. Inside there was a large supply of very dangerous looking guns. This was a whole lot more serious then what he had been dealing with. He put two fingers up to the device in his ear.

Alex: "Uhhh Watcher, this is some serious firepower here. Any ideas on what it is for?"

Watcher spoke into his ear, : "Unknown. I recommend further investigation. No known reports of large cashes of weapons found by police. Either this is just moving in or they have done well in covering there tracks."

Not exactly the best news, but at least this buy had been stop. He gave a small nod to Romulus.

Alex: "Watcher, can you put the call in?"

Watcher: "Doing so right now."

Alex: "Thanks. Soooo... what do we do next?"

He said as he turned to the other two.

With all of the criminals taken down that for the most part meant that the trouble was done with and in a sense Colin was fine with that. With everything brought into perspective he found himself wondering why he even jumped into the mix, considering that the three of them simply were overkill in all of this. One thing that he did notice was that the one in black didn't even give them the courtesy of talking to them beyond growling about them for one reason or another. They may have been one of those lone hero types, which Colin could respect considering that many people were like that within this world. Whether that worked was another story really, but then again it wasn't his job to make sure every vigilante was safe within their own fights. That was when his ears caught a feminine voice, one that seemed to come from the rafters of the semi-destroyed warehouse. "Wow these heroes just love to wreck things." A chuckle of amusement seemed to resound through the building as a shape dropped to the floor. "Looks like we need to clean up this mess."

"Should be easy enough." Another chimed in as his scanners ran over the room to catch sight of the two. What he saw was a shape dressed in mostly black with a hood up and a cat mask covering their face, easily identified as a criminal by the name of Shadowcat. A dangerous criminal but it was not known if they were a metahuman or just incredibly skilled human. Strapped to their sides were to blades, likely something meant to deal with the more pesky metahumans. This was getting annoying but something told him that these were the least of the problems for tonight. His body slid into a defensive stance as if preparing for some manner of attack, because one would likely come. "The boss would not like this..massive screw up on her subordinates part. It appears a little discipline is in order as well." Another emerged from the shadows but she did not have a mask like her ally. She appeared to be tapping an umbrella or maybe a parasol against her shoulder.

The only thing strange about them really was the fact that their hair had a large section of it dyed a brilliant pink. "You might be right about that." The masked female noted drawing both of her blades, electricity sparking outwards from them before seemingly forming a blue line along the edge. A high frequency blade, well at the very least he was not wrong about what they had on them. Still, that meant he couldn't afford to let the blade cut him, and likely any of them wouldn't want something nasty like that cutting them. Durability, well it didn't last too long against a weapon like that but then again what did one expect when dealing with weapons meant to slice superhumanly durable people?

"Well it looks like this just got worse." Indeed it did, especially when something hit him square in the head, sending the suited male flying into one of the walls with a resounding crash. "Ouch....I did not expect that one." Colin muttered realizing that his ears were ringing. Well either one of them had hit him when he wasn't expecting or there was a third person, likely the latter considering the two hadn't moved.

"Alright I'm here." The last to arrive was dressed similarly to Shadowcat but long blond hair seemed to be flowing from the back of a black biker helmet, fists adorned in rather ornate looking gauntlets. Colin pulled himself form the debris, looking to the one that had sent him flying.

"Okay, now that was a cheap shot."

When he heard the voice of someone he didn’t recognize as the other two ‘heroes’ Romulus immediately snapped to attention. His muscles tightening as his hands and bending his knees, usually he’d reach for his escrima sticks or his Verutum but both of the females were armed even if one was armed with an umbrella. The first course of action would involve disarming them as quickly as possible to gain the upper hand and then if need be he’d step it up to using his weapons. For now though he needed to act, needed to identify the two unknown variables and determine which one he could safely take down quickly before needing to move on and help the other two deal with the remaining person if need be.

He had already identified one of the ‘villains’ as ‘Shadowcat’ a well-known wanted criminal who some believed to be a metahuman. But as one of those ‘believed metahuman’ himself he knew she wasn’t. He had determined she should be his best bet and moved to take her down when something he hadn’t expected at all to of course happen. It seemed the world was not yet done screwing with him. Someone else had entered the fray and quickly smashed Super Suit out into a wall with one punch. Great another unknown. At least this one seemed to have already displayed their strength or at least somewhat. Which quickly decided in Romulus’ mind which of the three should deal with him. The kid liked showing off his strength he could deal with him. “Kid, take the bruiser, Super Suit take Shadowcat.” As sure of his abilities as he was that sword didn’t seem inviting and the Suit looked like it could handle its self.

His leg muscles exploding he made his way in the direction of the umbrella wielding foe and picked up a brick along the way. Sending the thing flying in the air in her direction. It was meant as a distraction something to allow him to get in close, grab her by the wrists and quickly snapping them up while pushing down. A move that would drop the umbrella from her hands and hopefully have it clatter onto the ground. He didn’t like unknown variables and dealing with them as quickly as possible to even the odds was the main focus of this ‘operation’ right now. Reduce whatever threat she held with the umbrella, bring things down onto a more even level where both of them didn’t have weapons and then upgrade himself to weapons if she proved stronger than he was.

Watcher: "Alex, heads up. You have company."

"Hmm?"

A voice sounded behind him, coming up from the rafters of the warehouse. The sound sent chills down his spine as he turned around to face it. Two people seemed to just appear out of the shadows like ghosts. Alex backed up slowly, arms up and ready, towards the other two heroes. He for one was glad to have back up right about now. Something about these two just screamed danger to his gut. He lined up next to Romulous, ready to dive into the action

Alex: "Got a plan?"

He didn't recognize these two, but he did understand that they were dangerous. They moved with a confidence Alex had seen in other martial artists. A swagger that came with knowing you were the best. A small grin played on his face. This was about to get interesting. A solid crack sounded just to the left of him, Vanguard flying right by him. A third person entered the warehouse, this time with a bang. Alex could only spare a quick glance to Vanguard, but judging from the debris the hit had cause the new arrival was packing some heat. He focused in on the blond. Romulus gave him his target then dove into the action.

Alex: "Got it! This one is mine!"

With one hand, Alex hoisted up a metal storage crate weighing over two tons like it was nothing. He threw it with gusto at the blonde biker before soaring into the air. He should take this fight somewhere else or the others might get caught in the cross fire. Thoughts for later, he had his target now to see what they could do!

So two out of the three seemed to have shown their hands as far as it came down to abilities, though something told him they were intelligent enough not to reveal their hands within the first minute of a fight. Quickly his suit increased the overall output by a small percentage to make up for the fact that he had no idea what he was dealing with, and hopefully to avoid what would end up being likely an even more annoying confrontation.  Already they seemingly had been split up to deal with their own threats, though Colin did not know enough about this Shadowcat to know exactly what they were capable of doing. Everything around him appeared to slow down rather exponentially as his suit calculated everything, probabilities and what he should do next before this masked woman made the first move. With an impressive burst of speed she moved forward, much like the vigilante did towards the umbrella toting female.

The energy rimmed blades flashed through the air, one aimed for his neck in a likely attempt to decapitate him with a clean stroke. His left arm shot up as a shield of energy leapt up from the wrist of that arm, forming a circle as the blade clashed with it. A spark was produced from the meeting, a loud sound echoing throughout the building as Colin pushed against the blade with enough force to push the female off balance as he slammed his free hand forward to knock her out. Not being one to just take a hit, the female moved her head out of the way at the last second before slamming her knee into his stomach with force she did not seem to be capable of exerting, forcing all of the air out of his lungs. Beyond that the damage wasn't really anything to worry about beyond needing to catch his breath. Still he had enough time to meet her blade with an energy blade that formed from his right wrist, as their dance of blades began.

As for the one with the umbrella, she did not appear to be taking anything seriously. A brick sailed towards her, obviously a trick of some fashion considering that it could not be anything else when someone was rushing towards you. The point of contact would have been the chest, however she moved into a fluid motion as soon as she saw the brick being hurled in her direction. It involved a flick of the wrist, while turning her body enough as her hand gripped onto the brick, while she turned and aimed to strike at the human with her umbrella. It was of course meant to force him to keep his distance, as likely he was stronger than her considering both build and overall biology. Though the sharp blade that appeared from the end would likely help deter the further.

Meanwhile the battle of the brutes was going interesting as well, considering very heavy things were being thrown around. "I am liking how things are looking." The biker noted with a chuckle. They raised both hands as the crate collided with them, a low grunt releasing from them as they managed to slide back a few inches from the force put behind the metal crate. Stopping it was not too difficult really, as they lifted it above their head and set it aside. "Come on dude. You're going to need a lot more than that to hurt me." With one fist raised into the air they slammed it down, causing the very ground beneath them to crack, spiderwebbing outwards almost as if showing off. "I can't fly though, so that just means I have to bring you down to earth." With that thought in mind, they reached for the crate and decided to use it as a form of bat in an attempt to swat Aegis down.

Before Romulus was even able to perform the move that would disarm the umbrella from the umbrella wielding female she flicked it out in his direction and activated what appeared to be a hidden blade. A blade that extended from the end of the blade, a weapon seemingly built for stabbing and only stabbing. Slashing with that thing would prove to be futile not only because if she went to swing the thing he’d see the slashing movement coming from a mile away and his suit should protect him from it. Key word was should. It did however give her that reach he was going to attempt to take away from her and it made him back off momentarily in an attempt to not get skewered but it wouldn’t keep him at pay for long.

He had a goal and when he set his mind he was not easily deterred from that goal. That and due to the fact that her umbrella now had a blade on the end of it only proved his point that he needed to disarm her so he didn’t get stabbed and die. Because dying was bad. His hands shot down to his side and grabbed hold of the escrima sticks, wielding them in both hands before bending his knees and ducking down underneath the extended umbrella. From here he used one stick to push up the umbrella while he moved his body so that he went inside her space using the other escrima stick to slam into her leg in attempt to hit the knee and knock it out of place. See how she fared with a broken knee.

((kinda short but didn't know what else to do))

Alex: "What the hell do you mean that you can't fly?"

Spinning into the air towards his left, Alex rolled out of the way of the crate. So this guy was another strength user, which was kinda obvious, but Alex really needed to find out how much exactly. His mouth kept on moving though. He was rather excited. Not everyday he got a chance to fight another super strength metahuman.

Alex: "Do you know how awesome it is to fly? Like, out of all the things I can do flying is by far my favorite."

He soared above another swipe.

Alex: "Seriously its so... will you stop that??"

He backed up to avoid another swipe.

Alex: "Seriously man, swinging around that big thing just makes it look like you are compensating. Anyways, ya, flight is seriously damn fun. But..."

Like a stone, Alex dropped to the ground. He brought both fists down, the ground rippling under the force. Large chunks of the ground broke from under them, jutting up at weird angles.

Alex: "... doing that is fun too."

The blade at the end of the umbrella did not make its mark but then again it did allow the woman wielding it to force the male into changing their direction of attack ever so slightly. It appeared that she would need to try something else against this human and an idea came to mind in the form of one thing. A low click could be heard as the end of the umbrella fell away, leaving a long blade being pulled from the rather ornate looking thing. Still within the twirling motion, her eyes fell upon one of the sticks coming up to strike her hand, tossing the blade up into the air she moved her hand to avoid being struck with the full brunt of the attack leaving only a jarring sensation within the limb as the handle of the blade itself would fell into her hand once again. With a deft motion the weapon was in motion, serving to parry the strike at her knee with just enough time to avoid having it broken before she skipped back a few feet.

The blade she wielded was thing sure, but the metal it was made from would be able to pierce any man made materials with enough ease.With a sudden lurch forward, she began to unleash a rather swift flurry of jabs, some aimed to be nothing more than feigns and others meant to actually hit.

"Or maybe you're just flying around because you're too scared to actually fight me!" They roared continually trying to hit the flying hero with the large bit of metal, swinging it around with exceptional speed. However that would be brought to an end when the hero came down once again with that strength of his, causing the ground to practically shatter with overwhelming force that would cause the flooring to become even less stable considering how often that was occurring. Thrown back by the sheer shockwave, they were thrown through the wall before slamming into what felt like a dumpster which dented inwards from the impact. "Okay, let's see you dodge this." With a sudden start they took of in a blur, likely too fast for a human to see as they rushed forwards through the whole within the warehouse with a fist aimed for the flying heroes face.

"Alright this is getting really tedious." Vanguard growled as the spark danced form their continually clashing blades. While he wasn't getting close to being tired, it did not appear that this person was close doing the same either. The fact that someone was keeping up with him was something else entirely, but then again it may have been because he was holding back a lot. Regardless, this felt like a fight that he did not want to let go on for too much longer. Without his suit this would have been over a good time ago, but then again that was not something that he wanted to think about too much. Besides he had more important things to worry about....like why his opponent was suddenly backing up.

"I swear, you three just like to play around." That was when he caught sight of what appeared to be red dust and then the explosion hit him.

This person was skilled. She was exceptionally skilled but she was nowhere near as good as Romulus was. She hadn’t traveled around the world for eight years honing her skills to the point of near perfection. Hell she hadn’t served with the Marines for five years. They weren’t called Devil Dogs for no reason. They were the best of the best, and Romulus was top Dog even back then. Now there was no one in this world who didn’t have super human abilities or powers who could match him. Was it arrogance? More than likely but that didn’t mean there wasn’t truth behind his words. He had trained with the best, seen the best, and none were anything more than a small obstacle in his path. She was no different.

She was able to not only move her hand out of the way of the upward strike meant to disarm her, change her umbrella into a full blown sword (something he admits he should have seen coming), but also deflect the strike intended for her knee only to jump back a few feet to regain her composer. It also however allowed Romulus the time to stand back up and move into a defensive stance. Not something he had intended on doing but sometimes the best offense was a good defense, and escrima sticks and his Veretum was pretty good at defense if he was given time to grab it. It would seem however that was not something that was going to happen as she quickly unleased a series of jabs aimed to….well stab him.

Each of the jabs were blocked with a few well-placed movements of his hands, the metal escrima sticks blocking or deflecting them to the side leaving him able to focus on her movements. He may not have had a super power that allowed him to copy everything he saw perfectly but that didn’t mean he wasn’t skilled or that he didn’t have a good memory. He didn’t have her completely figured out, not by a long shot. The fight had only just begune. But he was getting there and if she somehow lasted long enough he’d have her figured out by the end of the fight. If it lasted that long. When the next jab came he dropped both hands to the center of his chest turned his hands, and thus the escrima sticks, sideways and pushed up and backwards.

This of course was done in hopes that from her previous movement and his own counter that she’d stumble backwards off balance or something. Giving him enough time to ‘pocket’ the escrima sticks, reach to his back and unsheathe the Veretum. Spinning it in his right hand before the pole smacked down into the palm of his left hand. With that done he quickly made a movement to the side, swinging his body with it so that now he was on her right side looking forward facing her. In the same movement the bladed end of the short spear shot forward going past both her legs in an attempt to come back and get stuck in her left calf before he pulled it back towards him, thus slicing and cutting through both of her calves. Which would hopefully render her immobile and have her fall to her knees. Romulus was no hero, and wasn’t afraid to do what was necessary to win.