Street Wise Hercules (Closed)

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.

Alex: "Oh hey that actually worked."

Last time it just nearly brought down the building on top of them. Not that this building was looking much better. A giant hole in the ceiling, burn marks, and now a severely fractured foundation. If this kept up much longer it might collapse down on all of them. Hopefully there would be enough of the others for Alex to pull out of the rubble. He stood up slowly, dust trailing off of his fist. Alex didn't consider himself scary, but he was a presence in the room. All this chaos and destruction, but he was just getting into it.

The biker got up, seeming to shake off the hit with little effect. Good, Alex wasn't done with him yet. Alex hovered slightly in the air, fists at the ready. If the guy could take that level of blow, Alex could afford to step it up a little. He tightened one fist into a ball, knuckles cracking. His heart was racing, but his hands? His hands were steady. With little warning, the biker began moving at incredible speeds. Faster then Alex could manage on foot, though perhaps not faster then him in the air. Speed this one had a few tricks up his sleeves too.

Planting himself on the ground, Alex followed the man's movement with relative ease. It was still fast, but he could follow it.

Alex: "First time I've ever fought a speedster... wonder what his name is..."

Mumbling to himself. He drew one fist back ready to knock this man's lights out when an explosion sounded to his left. It drew Alex's eyes off the charging metahuman for only fractions of a second, but that was all that was needed. The punch connected, sending him flying backwards through the warehouse wall. He slammed into the wall of the warehouse right next to the one he was just forcefully vacated from. He dropped to a knee, shaking his head. He rose slowly.

Alex: "Black Speedster? No thats not cool enough. Streak?"

He stepped through the hole, one hand touching the metal wall. One hand was rubbing his jaw, but he felt fine. Better then fine in fact. He felt great right now. Small grin on his face.

Alex: "Come on, I know you can do better then that."

The heat from the explosion was painful enough but luckily it appeared that his suit had managed to increase the power of the kinetic dampening shield just enough to keep the suit from being melted much like that last time. Still he found himself being rocketed forwards, bounding along the ground until he stopped with a loud thud. "This...is just not my month." Colin muttered pushing himself to his feet while the suit rapidly repaired itself, the burn marks beginning to fade away while he turned to see Shadowcat emerge from the smoke produced from the explosion as well as someone else. They were dressed within a rather ornate looking red dress with glowing orange lines along the arm sections, glowing golden eyes catching his attention more than anything.

"So you must be the one they call Vanguard." She noted with a voice laden with amusement, heels clicking against the floor as he prepared for something else. Maybe she was the one that had caused the explosion, but he saw no weapons on her. "I can't believe all three of you are having so much trouble." She noted letting his eyes hover over the other heroes and their struggles against their prospective enemies. The one dealing with Romulus seemed to be having a little more difficult as the maneuver used against them managed to slice into the back of one of their legs, releasing a small spurt of blood. Glowing energy gathered around the new woman's left hand, casting an erratic light, the same happening around her right hand. Releasing the two spheres of energy, one was directed towards Romulus and the other the biker themselves.  

While this happened, Shadowcat moved in a blur to pick up the wounded female and move her out of the way before the explosion would let off from the attack itself. The other attack collided with the one dressed in all black, exploding loudly as they were thrown back with extreme force. A low grunt released from them as they slammed through a few walls before stopping the whole being sent flying thing. Within the span of a second they reappeared, now lacking both a helmet and a good portion of their helmet which had been burned away. There was that and of course the reveal of their face which was a lot more feminine than Alex had likely thought it to be."I really hate when she sidewinds me like that." She noted with a growl, slamming her fists together in an aggressive fashion before rushing Alex even faster than before,a boom echoing from around her. The aim had been to unleash a flurry of punches aimed for the males face, each one likely feeling more painful than the last should they connect.

An explosion. After he had finished the movement he made last Romulus moved his body into a defensive stance, if only so he could turn his head towards the source of the sound. Super Suit was the target it seemed and from what he could tell the man had come out alive if not banged up. Apparently nothing his suit couldn’t handle though as it was already healing its self. Satisfied that the ‘hero’ hadn’t gotten himself killed he went to focus back on his own opponent ready to simply step up and knock her out and end this fight that had already dragged on longer than it should have when he noticed a second individual walk out of the smoke from where the bomb had come. Of course there was another person. They just seemed to come from nowhere.

The glowing spheres in her hand screamed something bad, and thus Romulus made to jump to the side in an attempt to get out of the way of the blast. He had seen what damage it had done to Super Suit and was not at all willing to let himself get hit by the thing. There was no way he would come out looking anywhere near as good as Super Suit did. The fact that a blur raced by sweeping away the umbrella-sword wielding female at the last second. Luckily for Romulus he had dived behind one of the piles of crates holding the weapons and the explosion didn’t hit him. It did however send a shockwave through the crates that he felt, but in the long run he was in all that bad of shape. The same could not be said for the area that the energy bomb thing hit.

Cursing mentally he looked around wondering if there was anything at all he could somehow use to help them get out of this situation as he re-sheathed his Veretum. This new metahuman added yet another unexpected element to this already practically unpredictable climate and he was not happy. This was supposed to be a quick and easy op, get in, disarm arm the men, take them out, count the weapon cache, find out who the supplier was, alert the cops and get out. Of course nothing happened like it was supposed to in Chicago. The place was worse than New York was back in the old days and that was saying something.

He needed to somehow get in close, up behind the three females and take out the center one. The one who just so happened to have glowing exploding spheres that she could throw like bombs. Jumping out from his cover he kicked off a wall nearby and propelled himself up onto the catwalk above. From there he made his way up into the rafters/metal cross beams connecting the top of the two story warehouse together. Quietly moving through the shadows, staying out of sight. He didn’t know what he was messing with and if he rushed things that could be the end of it. For now he’d have to wait for his window to strike and hope Super Suit and the Kid could handle this by themselves for a little while longer.

Apparently no, that was not all this man had. Even more surprisingly, this man was a girl. A sonic boom rippled outward from the woman just like when Alex himself took off. It was weird watching her approached, the sound not quite reaching his ears. She was just running silently, heading straight at him. Normally he would be overjoyed at a woman running at him, but this time all he felt was a growing need to hit something.

On his feet Alex couldn't run as fast, but his eyes could. Like a boxer he began to bob and weave, using good footwork to not get his face smashed in. He bought himself a second to think

Just how the hell did this woman get so much faster? Was that energy burst some sort of powering up ray? Is that even a thing?? But... her helmet had been burned off, damaged. Was it just like the explosion from before? Still doesn't explain how she got faster... and stronger

Her blows were only glancing, but they still carried a hefty sting. Fine, if she wanted to play that why Alex would too. He ducked under one particularly heavy blow, stepping into her guard and coming up with a hard uppercut. Romulus wasn't the only one who knew how to fight here tonight.

Unwanted interference, now that was something that would make this all the more annoying when he thought about it. Colin's mind was running over the various methods he could employ to deal with the newcomer. Their powers seemed to derive from some manner of explosive energy, meaning that contact with it would have been something that he wanted to avoid if staying alive was on his list of things to do. The bruiser seemed to be having minor difficulties with the flying one, but then again how they improved rapidly over the course of the fight was something that he did not understand either. Dammit, I don't know what all of these people can do. He cursed to himself as the woman dressed in red considered the explosion intended to kill Romulus. What she was thinking he could not even begin to hazard but then again he could not waste time trying to do just that.

Jets from the suits feet would propel him backwards, enough to make some distance between the two before she could make any attempts upon him. "Well I'm not going to stick around here longer than I'm needed." She noted while flourishing,  creating seven floating spheres of the strange energy in a circular formation. Colin did not need to think too hard on what those things would do, and considering the look upon her face he could easily tell it was nothing good. His scanners caught onto a heat signature above him, meaning that was where the one vigilante had gotten to.

Meanwhile the bruiser was beginning to get a few hits off on the hero, though they did not appear to be doing anything beyond annoying them. All seemed to be going well for them until a fist collided with their jaw, finding home as they were rocketed upwards into the roof above. Removing themselves from their lodged state, they let themselves drop down to the ground with a resounding boom. "Yeah, that'll leave a mark." She noted spitting a small glob of blood to the floor. That was when they paused for a moment. "Well would you look at that. Seems like the boss is done with playing around." They noted almost disappointed with that.

"Well it was fun but I got other places to be." That was of course when the explosion went off, and the building began to collapse in on itself.

Great. Things had definitely just gone from bad to worse to even worse. Tonight was supposed to be simple, things were supposed to run smoothly. It was something he had done at least a hundred times by now over the past year. Gun smuggling was so simple, you went in took out the guards on the outside and then went in and took out the men who were off by themselves or messing with something and dead to the rest of the world. If nothing like that was going on then you did your best to disarm everyone still left and then knocked them all out before taking account of what it was they were shipping and notifying the police. Of course tonight had to be this different.

Sitting up in the rafters slowly moving closer and closer to the three women standing, well two standing and one limping, opposite of the Super Suit or ‘Vanguard’ as he heard the explosion lady call him. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was he was going to do when he got there but he knew for sure that he could not allow this to carry on any longer ‘less something worse happened. When the explosion lady started ‘warming’ up with what looked to be seven of her glowing yellow spheres he knew he had to act quickly or that worse was about to happen. He dropped down behind her from the celling bending his legs at the right moment to cushion his fall.

With his right hand his escrima stick flew out in an attempt to hit the back of her right knee. If all went correctly the unexpected pain should have her bend slightly stumble forward where his left hand would reach forward to her face and try to pull her back down onto the floor where he’d slam her head into the concrete floor of the warehouse. It should knock her out, but that’s only if everything worked. Of course as soon as the stick flew out the explosions happened and everything started coming down around them. Meaning this needed to happen now…he needed someone to question if he got out of this alive.

Man that felt good. Alex bounced on his toes, keeping himself light after the punch connected. It sent the speedster flying up into the roof, a solid hit. He waited on the ground for the woman to come back at him. He could have flown up after her, but he didn't want to push it just yet. This was just getting good after all. She landed with a thud, sounding far heavier then a woman of her size should have. She didn't seem to perturbed about just having her clock cleaned.

Alex: " Oh like hell you are leav... oh...."

He rose half an inch off the ground, ready to zoom on after her when another explosion resounded from inside. Not good. He looked up as the roof began to collapse inward. He would be fine, but everyone else might not be. He looked back down at the blonde, but she was already gone.

Alex: "Damn"

Wasting no more time, Alex rocketed forward to a nearby crate. It was one of those heavy metal crates used to transport things like cars across seas on boats. He lifted it up with ease and took off above where the others were standing. He held it above his head as the roof collapsed around them. It acted like a shield or an umbrella, protecting those underneath from the worst of the collapse. Now Alex was effectively holding up the ceiling or at least part of it. He couldn't quite tell what he was holding up right now, but it felt heavy. Very very fucking heavy.

Alex: "Guys! You might want to move. Now!"

His scanners continued to follow the one within the rafters who appeared to be making a move within the darkness, likely trying to strike before anything could be done by the unknown female. However that was easier said than done as before they could finish their move the explosion took hold, shattering windows and reducing the things that supported this building to matchsticks within a matter of seconds. This meant he had to find a way to get that guy and get out of here before there was a body caught under the rubble as well. That was when the third hero decided to make their move, making use of a crate to provide some protection from the falling ceiling but that made him wonder how long something like that would last. From their actions he could tell they assumed he would likely not be able to take the fall of this place very well.

If that was the case then at the very least they had the foresight to consider that not all vigilantes were superhuman. That was when his attention fell upon the more human seeming one of the bunch, considering just picking them up and making it quick in getting all of them out of here. Hovering a few inches into the air, the suit moved through the air with impressive speeds as he snatched them up with an arm around the waist. Likely they would not be too pleased with being picked up, but then again that problem of theirs could be dealt with later. Within the chaos he took notice that the others had managed to make their escape, which was an annoyance but things like that tended to happen. Taking advantage of a hole within the wall, Vanguard flew through before landing within the lots outside, with enough room to avoid any potential danger form the collapsing building itself.

Quickly setting the vigilante down, he flew back a few feet and landed on the ground with a low metallic thump. "That was pretty close." Colin noted with a soft sigh, not that he felt as if he was in any real danger within that collapse. That made him consider if the only person that was in any peril was this unknown person, but then again that was an assumption more than anything else.

His hand flew out ready to nullify the woman and end whatever it was she had been planning when the explosion occurred. His balance was thrown off and if that wasn’t bad enough he felt himself get scooped up by an outside force and flown out of the building at speeds his could never hope to achieve by himself. Theoretically neither could the person who had ‘whisked’ him away, it was the suit that enabled him the super human flight and speed but that was not the point. When he was placed down a noise escaped Romulus that sounded like a low snarl or growl. Obviously not pleased that he had been taken out of the building before he had been able to secure the lady who caused the explosion, if not all four of them. Now he would have to add each of them to his unsolved cases.

His eyes scanned the scene that was laid out before him, a crumbling warehouse, piles of cement rocks, metal, and other construction trash littered the area where the building had been only moments before. The Kid was flying out of it making their way over to them so it seemed he too had made it out of the explosion but what Romulus did not see was the four women, or any of the thirty or so ‘goons’ he had taken on before the situation escalated into something that it should have never been. Until he knew otherwise tonight was a failure in the colossal sense. Not only had the gun shipment been buried in the ruins but at least thirty men were killed in the wreckage, as well as possibly three or enhanced individuals. Three because he wasn’t entirely sure the other bruiser would go down that easily. Sure, they were all ‘villains’ but that didn’t mean they deserved that.

Tonight had not gone the way he planned at all. He would need to recalculate how he would do things from here on out. For an entire year he had done things smoothly, taken out organized crime, drug busts, small time criminals, theft, muggers, you name it he had done it and not once had he messed up as big as tonight. Chicago was a big city and there were tons of enhanced individuals running around playing at being heroes in his City. He’d need to start cataloguing every one he came across or heard about in the news or from his contacts. He couldn’t trust any of them, and thus not only would he need to know which ones he had to especially watch out for but also on how to defeat them if need be. Or how to work with them long enough to ensure that no one died. There would be no repeat of tonight.

He didn’t wait to see what the other two were going to say, didn’t care what they thought. He had already mentally logged everything he had seen concerning the two that night. Their strengths, their weaknesses, or at least assumed ones, their preferred methods of fighting, apparent age and facial structures or what he could figure out from Super Suit. The Kid he had enough to go on that he could already pick the kid out of a line up or reconstruct his face in a police scanner to identify him. All he needed now was to leave, and he made to do just that when he turned and started to walk away.

((So Romulus isn't gone just yet, Lots can give his KW speech))

Metal creaked overhead as Alex was slowly forced down onto one knee. His fingers crunched into the metal of the crate. Alex gritted his teeth, veins bulging in his neck as the wreckage slowly rose upwards. Inch by inch, Alex rose upwards till he was floating off the ground. This new surge of strength seemed to becoming from within as Alex dug deeper into himself. He spared a glance around only to find himself alone. The other two hero's seemed to make it out. Good. That meant Alex could blow this junk heep.

With a crack of thunder, he was gone. The building collapsed down on the center, the rubble pouring into it. Alex rose from a crouched position near the other two, brushing off the dust. He carried himself like a titian, unhurt and unafraid. He gave a small cough to clear the dust out of his lungs.

"Oh man, guys what a night. Seriously, what a night.... Hey wait! Where are you going? Damnit man!"

With more then a little escperation, Alex called out to romulous as he walked away. Never even got a chance to really talk to the man! He had some killer moves too. Rubbing the back of his head, Alex leaned his head to the robot guy.

"Gotta be honest, you guys both had some killer moves tonight. I know I didn't look like much, but I'm actually trying to start something. Found an old base. Every heard of the Knightswatch? I'm trying to start it up again. Uhhhh... watcher, little help"

Watcher: "Here, give them this number to contact. I'll handle the rest of it."

Alex: "Thanks! Uhhh... Don't you suppose you have a pen in that suit eh there metal man? No, I suppose not"

Grabbing a piece of rubble concrete, Alex began carving a number into it with just his finger. He tossed it to Vanguard. He floated a few feet off the ground.

"Running a little, so I got to go. Name's Aegis! Nice to meet you. Ever need help in Chicago, I'll be here!"

And with that, Alex soared up and into the sky.

Tonight had been an interesting one really, mostly due to him having a chance to work together with what seemed to be fellow heroes. That was more of an assumption on his end, seeing as some people preferred not to go by the title of hero. The really serious one seemed to be on their way, likely to brood or whatever it was vigilantes did these days. Not like Colin had any room to talk with his own occasional brood fests, which would likely annoy if they were external rather than internal. The other with the strength seemed to be alright, not that he expected a falling building to take a tough guy down. Usually they tended to shrug that kind of stuff off, or so his brother with similar powers usually did when he talked about buildings falling on him. Just thinking about them made him smile behind the mask, though his mind was running off on a tangent at this point.

The metahuman sorta leaned towards him, saying something about them not seeming like much tonight but then again he wasn't paying too much attention to them in all honesty. For all he knew they could have been doing awesomely, but that was just his own assumption. "Knightswatch? Sorry, I can't say I have." It sounded familiar but he could not quite place where he had heard the name before, beyond the fact it was probably some manner of heroic group. He was part of one not so long ago, however that fell apart either due to incompetent leadership or something else entirely. It was something that left him slightly hesitant when it came to dealing with these organized hero groups. Still, if anything he would listen to what they had to say if nothing else.

He didn't have a pen on him, but the suit was pretty awesome when it came to retaining information, so maybe that could help him. Instead they engraved something in a piece of concrete before throwing it his way, the scanners running it over to retain the information. It looked like some kind of number, but that made him wonder if it was a phone number or something else. Regardless, he now had something to be used to contact some unknown hero and so he could go from here with that information. With that they flew off, giving what sounded like a hero name before leaving. "Well...that was interesting." He muttered to himself, letting the piece of concrete fall to the ground with a clatter. There was no other reason to be here however, so he did what he would have done anyway.

Starting up the thrusters he flew off as well.