[center][img]http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63/NMShape/coollogo_com-85841631_zps8otwgsj9.png[/img] [img]http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63/NMShape/coollogo_com-3074577_zps258c0dea.png[/img][/center] Chris stood there for a moment when Archangel had politely asked him to wait for a moment. While he had no idea what she was about to do, Chris would soon find out. The television screen revealed the same news anchors, who had announced the appearance of the green domes around several major U.S. cities, had just reported that numerous blinding lights from the sky had been seen striking buildings where the epicenters of several of the domes were located. While the news anchors did not know whether this was a good or bad sign, Archangel soon cleared things up. “People of the United States of America. I am Archangel. Do not be alarmed. I have launched surgical strikes against the terrorist devices. Please remain calm. Other Heroes will be moving into action and the Host of Heaven suits have been dispatched. I repeat, remain calm. We are working as quickly as possible to neutralize the threat.” Chris was baffled. Only minutes earlier, he had thought that they were searching for a single device in Lost Haven. However, in a matter of seconds, Archangel had located several unknown devices and destroyed a majority of them. She had gotten more done in that short time span than what Chris had thought would have been possible to be accomplished. Soon, Archangel appeared again on one of the nearby computer monitors, appearing to be working hard to continue mitigating the consequences of these domes. She revealed that, even though she had destroyed a large majority of the devices, there were still others out there that they needed to find and either destroy or deactive. Soon, she projected a map of the entire continental United States, displaying the possible locations for other devices that she had not destroyed yet. [color=C0C0C0]“Okay,”[/color] Chris tried to collect himself after taking in all this information, not quite sure where to begin, [color=C0C0C0]“Our first target should be the device in Dallas. This device is the only one that is currently active, so the dome there is expanding at an alarming rate. Sure, they always say that everything is bigger in Texas, but I don’t think this would be a good example of that.”[/color] “The Dallas device will be in range in 5 minutes and 32 seconds. Based on my calculations none of us have the speed to reach Dallas in that time. We need to concentrate on the areas I cannot cover in the near future.” Archangel spoke as she helpfully uploaded a new version of the map, this time with the satellite coverage and projections for her strike capacity over the next several hours. It was [i]uncomfortable[/i] to show that data, something Archangel was not used to feeling. Something in the fragmentary memories that she could not access was screaming at her that this was a mistake but she disregarded it for the moment. She really did need to take a moment when her full routines could devote to plumbing the depths but this was not that time. [color=C0C0C0]“Well, the activation of the domes seemed to have been quite a knee-jerk reaction, so it might actually be more beneficial to find where the culprits are located first. Why run around collecting devices when we can stop them from turning the devices on in the first place? Honestly, if they were smart, they would have already activated [b]all[/b] their devices at once. Sure, there is a chance that they didn’t because they thought that we would think that detonating all the devices would be the smart move. While it is a gamble, I think it is one that’s worth the risk.[/color] Sometimes humans could still surprise her. Archangel had not considered the larger picture in that moment but now that she did. She reviewed her archives of emission data, checking and cross checking the many signals sent across the country against the exact times of activation for the devices. It took only fractions of a second to complete the comparison and she simulated a smile as she looked at Chris through the screen. “We can jam their signal, and stop them from activating the others. I” Archangel paused for several seconds consciously as she simulated the slower speed of a human search. She had acted too quickly several times already. “I have isolated the signal used to touch off the activation of the devices. I do not think the terrorists understood my capability to respond or they likely would have activated all devices simultaneously. There is a roughly 89.79089584% chance that without my intervention the devices would have activated almost unimpaired as you attempted to respond to only the localized Lost Haven threat and were caught off guard.” Archangel finished speaking. [color=C0C0C0]“Honestly, I didn’t know about the other devices. Only the one that “Mr. Long-Neck” mentioned when he announced his intentions to the world. But that’s why I have you, to make sure that I haven’t missed anything. Plus, with your ability to jam their signals, this should give us enough time to locate their base and apprehend them before anyone else can be affected. I am sure that it shouldn’t take too long with both our systems working together to find their base.”[/color] Archangel smiled. “Well I’m sure we can if you can keep from pinging my home with your searches.” Archangel simulated a laugh before she continued. “The first search since I patched your program should be finished in 36.6 seconds. Hopefully it will tell us where their facility is or at least narrow it down so that I can make a statistical estimation above 50%.” [color=C0C0C0]“Hey, that was so [b]unintentional[/b]. If I really wanted to know where you lived, I would have asked like the gentleman that I am.”[/color] Chris cracked a smile, showing that the shock of what Archangel had recently done faded away. “I plan to tell you anyway, we just got interrupted before I had the chance.” Archangel interjected briefly before falling silent once more. [color=C0C0C0]“Obviously their base would need a large amount of electricity, assuming that they needed it to create the devices and the mutagenic substance that it releases, let alone the energy that they need to activate them. Unfortunately, that kind of search parameter would probably pick up other sites, including apparently your base.”[/color] Chris waited a few seconds for both his own systems and Archangel’s to finish communicating and reveal the results of their search. Now that the results were being displayed on a nearby computer monitor, Chris was able to analyze the results. While there were still a dozen or so ‘hits’ on possible locations due to the unnatural power usage, at least it was a start. [color=C0C0C0]“Well, Angie, assuming that your systems were able to prevent your base from showing up as a false positive, we still have a little work cut out for us. How else could we narrow the search parameters?”[/color] “They were. We can also screen out any government facilities, or suspected government facilities. And compare the sites satellite imagery, if the base is not visible that increases the chances since most legitimate places are not hidden.” [color=C0C0C0]“Why didn’t I think of that, Angie?”[/color] Chris joked with his partner in crime on the computer monitor, [color=C0C0C0]“So, while that appears to have narrowed down the possible locations, we still haven’t found a clear match yet. What else could we search for…”[/color] However, while Chris was pondering on what would be the best solution to their current situation, one of the college-aged metahumans from Albany, approached him. The tall brunette girl then decided to speak up. [color=khaki]“Um, have you checked wherever you found us the first time? I mean, these are supposed to be the same people who kidnapped me, my boyfriend, and your sister, right?”[/color] Kelly was talking so softly that Chris barely noticed that she was speaking. In fact, he almost jumped when he realized the tall girl was standing next to him. [color=C0C0C0]“No, I haven’t, but only an idiot would keep their base in the same…”[/color] Chris’ jaw gaped open when he checked the list of possible locations and, sure enough, one was located in West Virginia. And when he did a quick search on where it was located in that state, Chris was shocked that it was still in that same abandoned complex, or at least what was left of it. [color=C0C0C0]“Are you kidding me?”[/color] Chris shook his head at what he had just saw, not believing the data that appeared before his eyes, [color=C0C0C0]“S.T.R.I.K.E. literally carpet bombed that place! How could anyone still be living there, let alone running their secret operations! This is almost too good to be true!”[/color] “There was a 0.00001% probability of this being the case.” Archangel simulated surprise as she responded with her nearly instantaneous probabilities. “I have Host of Heaven suits in the area and can personally meet you on site. But who would make such a foolish decision? This is tactically unsound and just plain stupid even for” Archangel stopped herself and with only a slight hitch pivoted away from saying humans, “already demonstrably foolish terrorists.” [color=khaki]“Um, I might not be a genius like the two of you, but maybe they [b]want[/b] to be found.”[/color] Kelly interjected, [color=khaki]“I mean, they’re a bunch of animal people like us.”[/color] Kelly then gestured towards Zac and Sammy, [color=khaki]“Subtlety is definitely not any of our strong suits.”[/color] [color=C0C0C0]“Well, assuming this is the correct location, we probably should assume that there is some sort of trap waiting for us. Why else make it so easy to find?”[/color] “They picked such a statistically unlikely place to make it difficult to find. It would be an astronomically slim chance that they would both reuse an old facility that was already known and plan to use it as a trap.” [color=C0C0C0]“Whether it is a trap or not, we nevertheless need to get in there and shut them down. The longer they’re out there and not put behind bars, and I mean bars for superhumans, the more innocents might have their lives ruined.”[/color] Chris then turned to look out the window. [color=C0C0C0]“However, we will have to wait for the others to get back. We have to be at least somewhat organized to eliminate this threat. Plus, apparently War-Pulse has some intel that might prove useful for understanding what we are up against.”[/color] “It might be best if I excuse myself for a bit. I do not want him to see my face, and I need to run some tests before we assault their facility. If you would call me back when everyone has gathered Chris?” Archangel asked after a moment. She did not need to step away, she actually could not, but it would reinforce her humanity to the others, and especially him after her seemingly supernatural display earlier. [color=C0C0C0]“Oh, I totally understand. War-Pulse is, well, it takes a special type of person to get along with him. To be honest, when we tried to convince him to help us out, we didn’t get along very well. But that’s pretty much what life is about: finding a way to get along with annoying people. Anyways, how would you like me to contact you?”[/color] “Don’t tell me you forgot my phone number Chris. You did ask me for it remember?” Archangel laughed there and then in a bit of a childish display stuck out her tongue at him. [color=C0C0C0]“Well, I’m a busy man running a multi-billion dollar company. I should get some slack, shouldn’t I? Plus, I’m never good with names, so how could you expect me to remember a string of numbers?”[/color] Chris laughed as he made fun of himself. “And I’m busy creating synthetic suits, producing weapons to stop Nightmare, pioneering a synthetic force to fight crime, and projects you know nothing about. I still remember your phone number.” Archangel laughed herself again and then smiled. “But here it is again…. remember you can call me any time.” She might have put a little stress on the last bit. [color=C0C0C0]“Well, that’s why we have a ‘contacts’ section in our phones in this modern world that we live in. Once all of this craziness is over, maybe I can give you a call and you can show me around where you live? Talking via video streams or phone calls just isn’t the same as meeting someone in person.”[/color] “Ugh!” Chris heard his sister from the couch where she was lying down, “Stop with your sexting already and get a room please! No one wants to hear that crap, Chris. I can’t hear the freaking television either over your Skype conversation!” After Chris and Archangel had said their goodbyes, the screen that Archangel had used to communicate with Chris suddenly turned black, showing that Archangel had turned off the signal from her side. Now it was just a waiting game. Unfortunately, Chris had not thought about giving Icon, Thunderbolt, and Boom any way of communicating back to him. Hopefully they have seen or heard the news so that they knew to come back immediately. Maybe next time Chris would come up with some communicators for everyone something like this does not happen again. Then suddenly, Chris and the other metahumans who were in that room heard the elevator chime, signalling that the elevator carriage had stopped on their floor. Maybe this was a good sign? Maybe the others have actually heard the news and have come back immediately. And then the doors opened.