ic It's Gonna Be The Future Soon (IC)

[Electra]

Koshiro took a minute to look around, a minute really all that was necessary in the small space. In an overcrowded place like Tronik, it was obvious that no one got a whole lot of room to themselves. He was just circling the living room when Kimber smacked into the wall next to him, and automatically put up a hand to catch her. She caught herself before that was necessary, though, so he dropped his hand. "Ah, you okay?" he asked uncertainly, watching her smack herself in the head. "Maybe you should stand closer to the middle of the room."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin raised an eyebrow at Sharl's rather terse response to his remark.

"Ooookay. Fair enough. You get the idea, though."

His next thoughts were kept private, like pressing "mute" on a phone.

'Geez it's mostly just a figure of speech. It's like I insulted his mother or something. I was trying to be friendly! I know he's tense, but this is kind of silly'

He lapsed into somewhat uncomfortable silence on the rest of the trip. As they traveled, it was clear he wasn't a huge fan of the rather narrow corridors; he kept having to move to one side or turn his body sideways to let people past. He was glad when they at least got somewhere they could stop moving through long boxes that served as poor substitutes for streets around some of these too-tall buildings.

When they stepped inside, Corbin gave Sharl's sister a friendly smile and a slight bow at the waist. As cranky as Sharl was, and as little as he knew of this place's culture, he wasn't going to try shaking her hand. Sharl would probably punch him, and they didn't need a brawl in here.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am. My name's Corbin. I have the honor of working with your brother."

He looked around the room/apartment, raising an eyebrow at the refreshingly open design. He finally picked a spot along the wall and leaned against it, trying and failing to not take up too much space with so many people in so little an area.

"Indira's kind of got a point. Good nothing's gone down yet, but kinda hard to figure out what might be planned to go down, or where."

When Kimber smacked into the wall, he started to move to help, but settled back against the wall when Koshiro moved to help her.

[April]

Eve inclined her head slightly in the direction of Sharl's sister, and gave the holo-artist--whatever that was, Eve mused, holograms perhaps?--a curt wave. For the most part Eve spent her time looking out into Tronik as Sharl reunited with his sister, trying to intrude as little as possible into the paragon's personal life.

The telepath studied the city beyond the window, committing each detail to her memory. It felt more real now, especially under the weight of so many minds in such proximity, that a not insignificant part of her was bothered at one of her more private thoughts with regard to the 'Rogue problem.'

She was still going to protect her team, she'd just have to find another way to do it.

[Gizmo]

"No no, it's fine, I didn't even feel it!" Kimber assured Koshiro quickly, wide grin unabated. "Seriously, I feel like I could walk right through a mountain if I wanted to right now! Just kroosh, right through it! Everything's all 'bzzzt'!" The emphatic sound effect was accompanied by a spark of electricity from each of the excitable girl's neon blue eyes and she moved to reach for the origami artist's shoulders to better convey the magnitude of what she was describing. Instead, she caught herself midway there and drew back, very deliberately taking a small step away from both Koshiro and the wall. "Ha, see? Personal space! I do play attention!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl turned and pressed his hands against the wall, his eyes shifting to a glowing green that made his sister blanch uncomfortably: Sieva had seen this before, but she didn't like it much. "I'm interfacing with today's matrix...there's a block up in the plankton processing centers along the coast, one by the broadcast center. another in the oxygen recyclers to the north, and one near militia headquarters. Those have to be where she and her-"

Suddenly, an eerie alien wail came from the 'coffee-table' in the center of the room and Sieva's sculpture abruptly winked out. Replacing it was an translucent skyscraper like the other massive buildings in Tronik, Lor script floating in the air around it, flashing by too fast for the translation program to catch up before finally blinking red letters resolved into SECURITY BREACH: SECTOR 87. "Sector 87, that's the...broadcast center!" said Sharl, trying to keep one step ahead of his antagonist. "Damn, she was too fast! We've got to get moving, people!" He crossed to the window Sage had been staring out of and exclaimed "Open!" And sure enough, the transparent plasteel irised open almost organically at his command, exposing them all to the massive industrial metropolis outside, the air cold enough to explain why everyone wore leather jackets hereabouts. "Let's go, so we can-"

But for the moment, Rogue still had the initiative, because even as Citizen's chest symbol flared to life in brilliant electric blue, the image of the skyscraper was replaced by an all-too-familiar face: Rogue was snarling and gesturing at the holo-camera, making it look for all the world like she was threatening Corbin before she said, "-and if you turn it on, I'll pulp you as hard as I did them!" There was screaming behind her, and the sound of crunching metal; a scene of industrial carnage just visible behind the leather-clad woman.

When the cameraman's nerves stilled, Rogue straightened her jacket and stared into the camera, her eyes invisible behind her heavy shades. "People of Tronik. My name is Rogue." There was an echo in her voice that it took Sharl a terrible moment to realize was coming from outside, from the screens built into the walls of the building. Terribly, she was everywhere. "I am here to tell you that your hero, Citizen, is nothing but a liar in league with the alien savages who have seized control of our future."

"C'mon! I know the way!" Ever-impulsive, Sharl responded by rocketing out of the open window towards Sector 87, the air cracking with speed as the electronic teenager flew like the cannonshot he was in his native land. Those who lingered in the building heard the remainder of Rogue's message. "-to tell you that this is the dawn of a new age. An age where we can be emancipated from this alien prison cell and take back a reality that is rightfully ours. Today is the day of our liberation. Today is the day their world will fall!" And with that, the 'line' went dead, the whirling hologram replaced with a pleasant green fog that was the color of the sky on a good day.

[Fox]

Indira hesitated for just a moment; running straight into the waiting jaws of the enemy didn't seem like a very good idea, but letting Sharl (and anybody following him) run there alone seemed even worse. She frowned...and then her frown was gone. Along with her mouth. And most of her other identifiable features, really; her human body and clothing melted down into something smooth, sleek, and silver, with clawed feet and powerful hind legs.

She paused just by the window to crane her head back and politely smile - well, from her eyes, it looked like she was smiling, anyway - back at Sieva. "Thank you for allowing us into your home," she said. "It was a nice visit, and I am sorry we could not stay."

Then she was off, those powerful legs launching her out of the window, loping along buildings and leaping to the next when she ran out of wall that was headed her way.

[Gizmo]

"Sheesh, what a-- yeep!" Kimber's appraisal of Rogue and her broadcast was interrupted by Sharl rocketing past her through the window. Admittedly, the electrified teenager had been waiting for an excuse to let loose since arriving in Tronik, but even then she hesitated for a moment. She wasn't used to seeing the Tronik native so worked up; usually Sharl was the one checking video cameras before charging in. When Indira followed suit, however, the balance of indecision shifted in favour of an exuberant exit. "Hey, wait up!" she cried out as her eye sparked with power and she shot out into the why after her friends, leaving a lightning blue streak in her wake. Swooping down towards the rooftops for a moment, she caught Wraith's arms, easily lifting the surprisingly weighty Kinigosi and carrying her along so as to better keep up with the determined Citizen.

[Electra]

Koshiro blinked and stared for a moment as his teammates leapt through the window and away. "So, guess the low profile thing is shot to hell," he muttered aloud. "Whatever. We better catch them before something stupid happens. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper and folded it with a look of great concentration. It was an airplane, but quite different from the simple platform he usually rode. When he launched this one out the window, it grew into something that looked a lot more like a paper puddle-jumper, with an enclosed body and a ramp that stretched to the open window. He clambered up, then looked back. "Come on, we can catch them if we hurry."

[KnightDisciple]

"No, wait. Something's not right."

Corbin was still staring at the spot on the table where Rogue's face had been. A deep frown marred his features as he spoke, still unmoved from his spot against the wall.

"While coming here in the hurry we did was a bit reckless, I felt it was a worthwhile risk considering the danger to the people here. But now? Something's going on. She's playing us, I wager. Think about it. Sharl listed four sites with blocks or troubles. Broadcast center, plankton processing center, militia headquarters, and oxygen recyclers. Food and air, military protection, and information flow. She's hitting all the lifelines of this place. But she's drawing attention to the least important one. Because she knows he'll go charging in. The question is whether she knows he's got all of us with him or not.

But...we might need to split up. Cover more ground. Those three are headed for the broadcasting center. Theoretically the three of us could cover the other three locations. But I don't like that. What do you think, Eve, Koshiro? Do we stick together and hit those places one by one? Or do we split up?"

He turned to face Sieva, giving her a concerned look that he hoped gave her a bit of comfort.

"Your brother can be almost as boneheaded as me sometimes, but I think he'll be fine with the other two helping him. But we need you to help us. We don't know where anything is here...can you help us out? Show us a map or something?"

[April]

"Our guide just bailed on us, and he's getting further away by the second," Eve replied. A half-dozen impolite thoughts raced through Eve's with regard to that fact, but she didn't give voice to them. Now wasn't the time for it.

"You go on ahead Templar," the telepath said after a moment, turning away from the window. "They'll need your help, and Papercut will be able to spot you easier. Give me a moment to memorize a map of the city and we'll catch up."

Glancing at Sieva, Sage added, "A map, if you please."

[Electra]

Koshiro paused on the ramp, halfway to his paper plane. If he was at all worried about sitting on a bridge made of a single sheet of paper, hundreds of stories above the ground, he didn't show it. Instead, his brow furrowed in concentration as he looked after the rest of the team. "I think Templar's got a point," he admitted. "That chick didn't get out to Prime and handle herself there by being stupid. She had to know that bringing the fight here would unbalance Sharl, get him messed up. We better have his back and watch for the ambush. Sage and I can hit up the oxygen recyclers, and CT, you go for the militia HQ. That at least covers most of the locations. We'll stay in touch and hope we can spot where the real attack is going to hit." He climbed into the paper cockpit of his plane and waited for Sage to get the all-important map.

[Avenger Assembled]

The trio heading for the broadcast center rocketed there without delay, Ghost Girl picking Wraith turning out to be a good diea: the spaces between the massive sector-buildings, even with the translucent sky-tunnels who stared in fascination at the heroes as they went, were just too big for the shapeshifting Kinigosi to keep up with the two fliers when they were both going all-out. In another time, Sharl might have been more interested in studying Kimber's new powers, but for the moment he was focused on saving his people from the madwoman who'd seized power there. To the citizens of Tronik on the multi-layered streets and in the sector windows, Sharl called authoritatively, "It's all right, citizens! Citizen and his friends are on the scene, and we're going to save the day!"

"When we get to the building, hit her hard and hit her fast!" Citizen called to Ghost Girl as they flew. "Rogue's not afraid to fight dirty, and she's not afraid to hurt civilians to get away. We need to take her out fast before she hurts any of the other people in there, or before the militia shows up and tries to be a hero!" The broadcast sector loomed up at their approach, a massive tower of grey and black steel rising a mile high at their approach. It was easy to see where their target was; a visible crater in the side of the building showed a deep puncture wide enough for them to fly through: Sharl took the lead, not wanting to expose his friends to the danger of his enemy inside, and rocketed right through the opening!

Inside, a scene of chaos greeted the trio of heroes, in a high-tech room that might once have been a scene of beauty and scientific wonder, a handful of terrified civilians were cowering behind broken computers and holographic displays, fizzling scenes of oceanic beauty and Lor-dressed humanoids providing some protection from the rampaging paragon in the center of the room. The black-haired woman in sunglasses looked up with a gloating smile as the heroes made their appearance, tossing aside the battered-looking militia officer she'd been in the middle of beating down. "I knew you'd come! Come to DIE, Citizen! Who's the refugee from Jem? Is GI Joe going to come next?" she taunted.

------------------------

The map Sieva called up was enough to guide Sage and Papercut to the oxygen recycling centers, massive low-slung buildings (though even these were easily as large as a small skyscraper back in Freedom City, towering a good twenty stories high from ground level) near the edge of the inhabitated part of Tronik. Industrial centers didn't look that different from world to world with massive pumps and parts dwarfing the humans working below, but the processing center still seemed oddly sterile for the teens used to the dirty, smelly industrial processes of Earth.

The people there weren't getting much in the way of work done, from the sound of things, the workers were too frightened by Rogue's announcement to pay much attention to anything but their own fears. Only a few workers were still concentrating on the anti-grav assembly line that was sending rows of anonymous silver boxes into the cold-burning fusion reprocessors that transformed the organic material within into free oxygen for the people of Tronik to breathe.

------------

Meanwhile, Cobalt Templar was on his way to the militia headquarters, a massive building even by the standards of Tronik, near the heart of the incredibly-developed city. He was in the air, a shining symbol of glowing blue righteousness, when suddenly a crishash! of sizzling red energy just missed him, so close that he could feel the heat of the plasma weapon through his armor. Corbin had been around enough to recognize a military vessel when the big black flier that had fired the blast closed in on him, its running lights glowing in a cascadaing blue and red weirdly like a police car's lights back on Earth.

"STAND DOWN, ALIEN!" boomed the mechanical voice from the militia flyer, a humanoid face covered in a heavy black mask projected on its otherwise featureless front surface as it approached, the civilian craft in the air giving them a wide berth. "STAND DOWN OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE AGAIN!"

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin had thanked Sieva for the directions she'd given him for the militia headquarters before stepping up to the edge of the window. As he stepped into open air, he was suddenly clad in a black and blue outfit that seemed like a sleeker, futuristic version of his armor. With a smirk on his face he shot into the air, quickly getting above even the tallest buildings, at least for a few moments. Simulated that it might be, he enjoyed the feeling of wind on his face.

In retrospect, the rather obvious arcing path was his biggest mistake; the intelligent thing to do would have been to stick close to buildings and keep the aura to a minimum. He moved fast enough people wouldn't have been sure what was going on.

Now he had an armored car floating in front of him, threatening him with violence if he didn't "stand down".

"There had better be something going on here or I'm going to be displeased. Probably with Sharl."

Rather than fighting back, he opted to stop flying and start floating in mid-air, arms crossed over his chest, as he waited for the militia to make the next move. When he spoke, his voice was jovial and friendly.

"You sure you don't want me to at least land on a walkway or something? I mean, I can hover out here all day, but we're blocking traffic, fellas."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Look at you, Rogue," said Citizen, holding back his desire to throttle the leather-clad woman only by sheer force of will. "Your program's losing cohesion." And indeed, now that he pointed it out, there was something distinctly artificial-looking about the mad-eyed paragon, her clothes and accoutrements looking almost painted-on to her pale-skinned face and tightly muscular body. He took a few steps toward her, deliberately drawing attention to himself and letting the stealthy Wraith move around behind him. "It's not too late. We can take you back to Freedom City and they can treat you there. You can be so much more than just a pawn of-"

"Please," Rogue sneered, dropping the civilian she'd been tormenting to glare at Citizen. "You're nothing but a lackey of these stupid humans," she went on, "betraying your people so you can feel like a big hero. You're the one who wants to keep these weaklings in chains!" she added, waving a hand towards the battered civilians all around. "We're going to _liberate_ them."

----

Corbin didn't need Eve's psychic powers to know weapons were being trained on him right now. "YOU WILL PROCEED UNDER ESCORT TO MILITIA HEADQUARTERS WHERE YOU WILL BE INTERROGATED AND CONFINED, OR YOU WILL BE FIRED ON. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING." Inside Corbin's head, though, he heard a voice that sounded nothing like the booming, mechanized voice coming from the flying armored car, a voice that was speaking in of all things Latin.

"" It was an old man's voice, thin and reedy, but no less powerful for all that. ""

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin didn't need Eve's psychic powers to know weapons were being trained on him right now. "YOU WILL PROCEED UNDER ESCORT TO MILITIA HEADQUARTERS WHERE YOU WILL BE INTERROGATED AND CONFINED, OR YOU WILL BE FIRED ON. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING." Inside Corbin's head, though, he heard a voice that sounded nothing like the booming, mechanized voice coming from the flying armored car, a voice that was speaking in of all things Latin.

"" It was an old man's voice, thin and reedy, but no less powerful for all that. ""

The large young man simply raised an eyebrow at the not-very-subtle threats being leveled his way.

"Sure fellas. You lead the way and set the pace, I'll follow all nice and easy-like."

Indeed, whenever the militia vehicles started herding him, he'd match their speed as best he could, doing everything he could to appear easygoing and non-threatening. Which was a bit of a challenge between his size, his rather obvious state of dress, and the faint trail of fire he left behind. He probably could have eliminated it entirely, but he felt a subtle reminder he wasn't helpless would be good.

He manages not to twitch when the voice came into his head. He did smile when he heard the language, and thought back in the same tongue.

"<I recall him mentioning you a few times, sir. I'm playing along with the cops so far. And I wasn't planning to hand over the ring anyways. No telling what that would do since my actual ring's still on my finger no matter what.

Any hint on what the device looks like, where it is, and what I should or shouldn't do to make it permanently non-dangerous?>"

[April]

Neither Sage, nor Papercut the telepath would note, had any difficulty approaching the facility, which bothered the telepath. A building of such vital importance--it had to be, if it was a target of Rogue and company--on Earth-Prime would have better security; nothing she couldn't handle, but still better.

Jumping down from the airplane to take a better look, Sage landed silently on the roof and peered through the skylight. She noted an access point into the building (she was certain Papercut saw it too) so that the two teens could find whomever, or whatever, they were looking for.

She was starting to think Young Freedom was being played when she spotted the corpse. -We might have a problem here,- she thought to the Detroit native, indicating the bin with the body.

[Gizmo]

"Ooh, like you'd know fashion if it zapped you upside the head anyway!" Kimber called back to their opponent, recklessly pulling upon the wellspring on energy she could feel buzzing inside of her and sending a lance of lightning streaming from her outstretched hand. Flush with the unexpected display of raw power, Ghost Girl -- well, that wasn't really an appropriate name at the moment, actually -- moved her passenger into an advantageous position and continued to shout, "Besides, that's a pretty dumb line coming from an actual holo- wait." It took her a moment to work out what was giving her pause; she never got to make clever pop culture references in the middle of fights, after all. None of her friends ever knew what she was talking about when she tried, since a lot of things she knew about were literally before their time. Which was precisely the problem here. "Uh, Citizen? Why does Rogue know about 80s cartoons from our world?"

[Fox]

Wraith hit the ground running - running on all fours, no less, taking advantage of Citizen and Ghost Girl's distractions to sweep in from the side, one arm flowing into a hammer as she came near and ready to beat some villains into the ground. Something about Kimber's question gave her pause, though, combining with an uneasy feeling in the back of her mind to create just enough hesitation that her attack caught nothing but air.

The alien's three eyes narrowed, neck craning out a bit as she inspected their adversary. "....I do not believe this person has done a very good job of changing their shape," she concluded, shooting a glance back at her comrades. "The bone structure, and the clothing...it is strictly....childish, like somebody with the ability but no sense of detail or practice. I do not know who this is, but I believe that they are attempting to trick us."

[Electra]

Papercut joined Sage on the roof, collapsing the large plane into a sheet of paper with a careless shake of his hand. He frowned as he looked to the body, then to the assembly line it traveled on. The corpse seemed to be an old man, and though Koshiro was baffled by Tronik fashions, the clothes didn't seem at all appropriate to a place like this. They looked more like something Sharl would've put on to get dressed up. "Not a good sign," he agreed. "We need to get a better look. If we sneak in here, we can get onto that catwalk and get a closer look before the line workers get to it."

Matching word to action, he slid through the narrow ventilation opening at the edge of the glass, then dropped to the catwalk a few yards below. He teetered for a moment, wishing for a little of Sage's agility, but managed to right himself on the narrow walk. "That guy doesn't seem like he belongs here. He might have been killed somewhere else, but if it was here, we better be careful."

[Avenger Assembled]

"They warned me about you," Rogue sneered, her body almost imperceptibly beginning to warp and shift as she transformed back into her natural state, an angular, off-kilter humanoid with greenish skin in a red and grey costume none of the kids recognized. "But maybe they should have warned YOU about ME!" she said, suddenly leaping forward and landing a double-fisted smash against what passed for Indira's midsection, hitting Wraith hard enough to rebound the metal teenager off the polished ceiling before she hit the floor again. "Stupid aliens, you have no idea who you're dealing with! I'm-"

"...you're not her," said Citizen, his face suddenly twisting into fury. "She knows nothing about your cartoons, which means you're not her at all! You're not her, you lured us here!" And with that, the defender of Tronik suddenly swooped up and out of the building, rocketing back a moment later in a blur of speed that was almost impossible to see, a blur of black costume and glowing blue chest symbol as he smashed the fake Rogue across the jaw, sending her hurling backwards against a support pillar hard enough to shake the room as tougher-than-impervium metal vibrated. "Where is she?" he demanded. "Where's Rogue?"

"By the time you know," the shapeshifter sneered in reply, "We will have annihilated your world, Citizen."

By way of response, Citizen stepped forward and punched her in the face,this time smashing her against the wall with a final boom. The shapeshifter dropped to the floor, bleeding from the mouth and only half-conscious, eyes rolling back in her head. For his part, Citizen looked appalled at his victory. "She lured us here, she lured us here!" He turned to the others, hastily readjusting his shades. "See if you can get anything out of her. I've got to help these people."

The small broadcast crew was shaken, with some minor injuries; as Sharl tended to his wounded people using a medical kit from the wall, and as they deal with the rousing shifter, the others heard the story: 'Rogue' had simply flown right through the wall, tossed people around like they were toys, and hijacked the emergency broadcast system. No one had ever seen an alien like her before...or, from their shocked whispers and stares, like Wraith and Ghost Girl. "These are...these are my friends," Citizen was telling the civilians, "We've come to save our city from the invading aliens."

[Avenger Assembled]

There was no sign of foul play on the old man's body, nor any clear indications of how he died to the two high school students. Old being the right word, on closer inspection he appeared to be a centenarian or more, though it was tough to tell with how long Sharl had mentioned people lived thanks to the advanced technology hereabouts. There was no sign that the workers on the floor beneath them had noticed anything suspicious, with their focus either on restarting the stalled antigrav line or concerns about the terrifying message from Rogue that had been broadcast all across the city.

Suddenly, there was a distant bang from outside the building's thick walls, and the overhead lights flickered and cut out, plunging the massive recycling center into a gloom cut only by glowing red emergency lights along the walls. "Circuit's blown! Everybody out!" a supervisor yelled, and beneath their feet the workers began a hasty, if obviously well-rehearsed, evacuation. Distracted as the workers were, they failed to see what the heroes noticed, a black-clad figure standing at the top of the big recycling unit, seeming to survey his work with a satisfied posture.

[Avenger Assembled]

Following the militia got Corbin to a helipad along the side of a massive black building bristling with armaments, looking something like a cross between a huge police station and a military installation. It didn't take long for his hosts to come hustling out of the building, stormtroopers in heavy black body armor and full face masks, each carrying impressively huge blaster rifles glowing with a visible plasma charge. The leader, his rank denoted by blue stripes on his sleeve, approached Cobalt Templar with his men's weapons aimed and boomed, "Who are you? How did you come to this city?"

"" He hesitated, then went on, " seized from an alien the militia captured during their battle with the . It is a large black sphere, reflective on its surface. If you can it with your ring, you can prevent the " The mental voice, which had been getting shaky, suddenly went out entirely, leaving Corbin to face the militia!

[KnightDisciple]

Following the militia got Corbin to a helipad along the side of a massive black building bristling with armaments, looking something like a cross between a huge police station and a military installation. It didn't take long for his hosts to come hustling out of the building, stormtroopers in heavy black body armor and full face masks, each carrying impressively huge blaster rifles glowing with a visible plasma charge. The leader, his rank denoted by blue stripes on his sleeve, approached Cobalt Templar with his men's weapons aimed and boomed, "Who are you? How did you come to this city?"

"" He hesitated, then went on, " seized from an alien the militia captured during their battle with the . It is a large black sphere, reflective on its surface. If you can it with your ring, you can prevent the " The mental voice, which had been getting shaky, suddenly went out entirely, leaving Corbin to face the militia!

'Right. Shiny black sphere that'll kill everything here. Taken during a fight. And I can do...something...with my ring.'

For a brief moment, he stared straight up into the sky.

'If nothing else I could drag it into space, or as high as I can go. Maybe that would help. Maybe drag it up high, then burn it?'

He didn't even consider the risk to his own life in these plans, only the chances of success for the rest of Tronik.

As the leader approached, Cobalt Templar stood stock-still, making absolutely no movements. The militia had some pretty big guns. When the man stopped and ask his questions, the young man in black and blue inclined his head and upper body in a slow, obvious gesture of respect that was about as nonthreatening as one his size could manage.

"Hello, officer. My name is Cobalt Templar, at least when I'm...on duty, I suppose you could say. I came here via some means that, well, I don't totally understand, but I came to help. I am an ally of the one called Citizen. I only want to help you, all of you. There are dangerous people in this city right now. One of them high-jacked the broadcast a bit ago. But...we received word of odd things going on at other places. Myself and some of the others surmised it was a multi-pronged attack, one using more subtle means."

He glanced around the helipad, then back to the leader.

"Could we perhaps go inside and speak more? I promise I'm not here to cause trouble with you and yours."

[Gizmo]

Kimber's face fell at Sharl's distress and the realization that they'd jumped in without thinking and in doing so played right into Rogue's hands. The atypically solid poltergeist just hoped that none of the city's people payed for that mistake. Tilting her head slightly to one side, she relayed the events over the psychic link she hoped Sage would be able to hear her over. <...looks like we messed up,> she finished, the full extent of her remorse coming across. <Be careful, everybody!>

Leaving their downed foe to Wraith's tender ministrations, she floated after Citizen, little sparks of electricity lighting up the air behind her as she waved and gave the media personnel a big grin. "Hi, everyone!" she greeted her voice chipper and eyes bright with cheerful enthusiasm. "I'm, er..." Glancing down at the large 'G' still emblazoned on her new outfit, she quickly recovered and supplied, "I'm Gal Vanic, and it's a real charge being here in Tronik, let me tell you!" Both puns were absolutely atrocious, but the broad wink and 'aw shucks' arm pump managed to sell it. "We're just going to have a quick chat with this crook then we'll go round up the rest of her gang, so you've got nothing to worry about!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Between the two of them, Citizen and Gal Vanic managed to calm down the frightened journalists. Gal Vanic also managed to calm down Sharl too, though maybe it was just because her obvious joy at her pun was infectious. Bad as this was, for him and everyone else in Tronik, at least he wasn't alone here the way he'd been in earlier crises. "Thanks. Hope you don't mind your face on the holos," he joked weakly to Kimber before turning back to the news crew. He wasn't very good at ordering adults around, but he could give it a try: these were his people. "We'll get through this. Tronik's faced a lot worse than some alien frea...invaders and a traitor with an ax to grind," he said decisively. He wasn't going to play Rogue's game anymore, and that meant not talking like that about people from Earth to their faces.

The shapeshifter was just now drifting back to consciousness, and she gave Wraith a jaundiced look through a bloodshot eye. "I know you. What's a Kinigosi doing in a human simulation, anyway?"

---

The militia didn't look mollified by Corbin's words, but they didn't look angered by them either. "We have captured another alien in the city," replied the militia commander evenly, his face still hidden behind his mask. "But you look like a person." Evidently for these people, that was enough to win the early stages of trust. "Perhaps he will talk when he sees you." With the militia's guns at his back, Cobalt Templar was escorted deeper into the militia headquarters. Corbin could easily see what a crisis he was walking into; armed militia occasionally ran back and forth through the narrow hallways, an alarm was blaring from somewhere, and everyone was obviously on edge.

The walls looked decidedly odd to Corbin, as they would to any human: there was no sign of doors, the walls simply irised open to reveal rooms on the other side buzzing with activity and heavily-armed alien soldiers. Finally, they reached what at first looked like a blank wall, and then transformed itself into an open cell door: inside a figure in shockingly human garb lounged, a red-eyed man in a red jacket, white tee, and blue jeans. As the door opened, he turned and smirked at his captors, who looked ready to go in there and whip the smirk off his face. "Alien! This man would have words with you."

"Are you going to beat me up, superhero?" asked the man with a wink. "I don't think we've met. My name is Keres."