[u][b]Who protects the rearguard?[/b][/u]

[b]In a helicopter above LA[/b]

"Wonderful little stunt that's being performed down at that riot. Whomever is behind it certainly knows how to attract every person with a scrap of authority in a twenty mile radius." This statement was followed by a smooth chuckle as the Doctor filled Ruby in on what exactly she was doing so high up. "Every Hero in this city is down there trying to keep the peace. Every cop is either dead, dying or holding back from a crowd that they don't even want to approach. So, who else to call up but the Federal Bureau themselves! This really is quite wonderful! I'm sending details to your system now, I'll fill you in as you go."

Ruby was precariously leaning from the side of the helicopter as the pilot made a quick turn, heading deeper into the city. They were high up and their unmarked copter wasn't going to draw much attention - the entire area was covered with either police helicopters or news helicopters. Ruby did spare a slight thought to the chaos she could cause by slamming one into another but that wasn't her objective right now. She could see the chaos mounting down below as the swathes of rioters clashed with people who were genuinely interested in helping them. "I know how you love infiltrating places you aren't welcome so this mission will hold a special place in your heart, Ruby." That did earn the Doctor a small smirk beneath her helmet as she surveyed the scene.

Soon enough, all vision of the chaos was lost to her and the small team of confused-looking soldiers. She was going in by herself, they were just the mop-up crew if everything went awry. "Got that Doc. Bringing files up now." She informed him, sounding preoccupied as she checked her wrist-mount for the details of the job. Terrorist plot mock-up: easy. "They must have pissed you off something serious Doc." She murmured as she analysed just what she had to do.

"Not particularly." The man languished, she could hear the boredom from his tone of voice. Doctor Taylor was a man of science and corruption - blowing stuff up wasn't exactly his most favoured process of bringing something to heel. "It's just that the president thinks he can rely on those fools. I need him to invest in building a small army of those new comba- well, you know the rest." She smiled softly at that - girls were usually impressed by flowers or romantic acts. What impressed Ruby was when the Doctor, an admittedly attractive looking man, built her a whole suit of [url=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/051/f/7/f75eb1148a64592f39f9cab29c68da18-d3a0a5y.jpg]armour[/url] (the third one), some brand new weapons and then began development on some new machines directly for her to control. She was starting to think he liked her.

As they slowly hovered above a building opposite the FBI LA Headquarters, Ruby stepped to the edge when she heard a worried voice in her helmet. "Ma'am, it's much too high to jump." Smiling brightly, she slipped her helmet off before turning to the source and leaning down to him. "It's not dangerous. It's just falling with style. Thank you for the concern though, I'll see ya around!" She smirked and pulled a piece of gum from his armour before popping it into her mouth, lowering her helmet and hopping free of the moving vehicle.

It wasn't a particularly long fall and if it wasn't for wonderful Aperture, she would have been squashed under the weight of the armour. The suit handled it wonderfully though and as her feet hit the ground, the shock was instantly dispelled by the shock-absorbers mounted to her boots. Giving a small salute to the helicopter which continued flying off, she turned towards her target. "Systems are looking good, Ruby. Deploy aero-bots when you see fit." She climbed to the edge of the building before analysing the opposing windows. Almost naturally, four small robots unfurled from her back and took to the air, following her hand gesture and flying towards a window on the FBI building. Waiting for a few seconds, she allowed them to do their job of cutting the glass away as they stuck themselves to the high-rise window before pushing it open, the entire glass pane falling in a controlled heap.

What happened next wasn't too hard, she just shot a hook that embedded itself in the floor before sliding over there. The next bit was the hard bit - navigating the building. Of course, her drones had now taken up defensive positions around her, sweeping areas and making sure Ruby was safe. The building was nigh-on empty but she kept to the maintenance ladders and various other less-used areas until eventually, she was in the basement. "Doctor Taylor. I've reached the basement. What do you want now?" She questioned a little impatiently, holding her newly-developed weapon out in front.

"You're not allowed to be here!" She heard - big mistake, he should have just shot. Turning, she pulled the trigger, causing an invisible laser to catch the target. What happened next was pretty interesting. Due to the small amount of exploding plasma, the guard was knocked off his feet and looked to be in a lot of pain. Unfortunate - she had used it at a range where permanent paralysis was incredibly likely. Stepping over the man, she took a step into the server room before pulling a small device from one of her utility belts. Guiding it towards a nearby socket, she linked the data up with Aperture. "You got it, Taylor?" A quick grunt indicated he had and he was interested - they wanted info on a few Metas the government had been keeping tabs on.

Second order of business - explosives time! "You really know how to show a girl a good time, Doc." She mumbled as she finally planted the last high-intensity explosive. Moving to the elevator, she ignored the two writhing bodies of the other guards that had got in her way and slowly keyed in the correct floor. Humming softly along with the elevator music, she relaxed and scanned through some of the packets of data she had received before stepping out and padding towards the gap where the window used to be. Although not specified earlier, Ruby had ran into quite a number of individuals that were now shuddering on the floor. "Hive. This is Queen Bee requesting pickup at rendezvous." She spoke through the coms before dropping it as a confirmation came through. Whistling softly, her drones attached themselves back to her armour before she began the long climb back up along the grapple.

Finally, she climbed into the waiting helicopter and sat before willingly pulling her helmet free as they took to the sky. "Hurry up and press the button, Ruby." Ruby sighed at that - he liked spoiling all the fun! Raising a small device, she flicked a key to the right before a button popped out, which she poked. The delay was only momentary before bam! The explosives triggered, burning through a number of floors and quite a few foundations in a matter of milliseconds before dispelling a shock wave that nearly ripped it in two.

"Pity. I would have liked to blow up the cavalry as well."