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There was a high pitched shriek as a girl cried out, drawing the attention of nearby passerbyers. Some people, more experienced in the matter than others, were quick to be alarmed at such a sound fearing that their worst days were about to be relived. Frantically searching for what could draw the shrill shriek, all eyes that cared found the emitter. A girl, young, maybe fourteen, was covering her eyes while her parents looming behind her, bewildered as they looked upon their daughter's sudden fright. They lifted their gaze from their daughter to where she had looked just moments before. For a brief moment, they didn't understand but then they knew.

"Aah, wow!" The mother leaned over in an excited whisper to the father. "That's the S class hero, Red!" The father nodded, appearing just as excited. It was their daughter's lucky day, it seemed. She was going to meet her celebrity idol! Slowly others came to realization when they saw who was among them. There wasn't any mistaken Red. Especially not with that glowing blue sword and her namesake, her red hair. Once the realization was made, many went back to doing what they were doing, however the girl who shrilled had finally peaked her head out, gleaming in a giddy smile at Red who was just now dismounting her motorcycle.

"Hey Red, I think you have an admirer.", Red's sword, the The Transistor hummed in a soothing voice as the red 'eye' of the sword flickered with each word. Red brought her attention to the girl alongside her parents. It was difficult not to smile but a weakly bent smile appeared on Red's face as she met the eyes of her fan. She swung the Transistor over her shoulder and a approached the girl, who was frozen in overwhelming excitement as she was meeting her idol. Red bent forward slightly and placed her available hand onto the girl's shoulder giving it a light squeeze as Red's weak smile bent upward slightly more on her right side in a sort of smirk. The girl looked as if she was going to melt so Red took that cue to release the girl and straighten back up. She gave both parents a small smile and walked around the small family, continuing down the sidewalk. As she walked by, the Transistor hummed back to the family. [color=00aeef]"It was nice to meet ya.[/i]

Red couldn't stay. She couldn't make that girl's day anymore than she just did. It wasn't that Red didn't feel anything from that, she felt great, fulfilled for the day even, but the whole occasion was marred by her true purpose here. Somewhere in City J a Demon-level threat was running around butchering small families just like that girl and her parents back there. A threat which Red was capable of responding to, but with a major problem: The thing, whatever it is, was hiding nearby. Something was motivating this thing to strike randomly and then vanish before it could be dispatched by someone capable. Why? Red hadn't a clue. Blue (Transistor) had thought it was striking at key targets like an assassin. In the recent attacks made by this thing, there were cases of a few individuals being linked together through some sort of tech company. Could be coincidence as the tech company was large and located in City J, but this city was too big to not rule out the possibility.

According to Blue, the next target might live in this area. If he lived in this area, it meant the target most likely be found here which meant the monster was likely nearby as well. However, what Blue didn't know was that the target wasn't home at the moment. The man was on his way back from his usual jog, several blocks away. A route so predictable that the thing stalking the man, decided to intercept him on his route instead of at his house.

In an dingy secluded basement laboratory somewhere under City-Z, computer monitors spread across a wooden desk in a fairly haphazard manner show live feeds from various points throughout the metropolis above, except for one screen near the middle. This one was different because it depicted a smooth yet erratically unpredictable course throughout the city from a first person point of view. Gaining speed, the camera saw its way through a chain fence and apparently over a car, muffled shredding sounds through the screen's speakers. And another car, this time a white transit van which toppled to its side before being passed over.

A cinder block wall lay in the way to which the camera stopped before seeming to decide to that over the wall was preferable, the view aiming upward along the wall, climbing up and over to the sight of a street between it and a park. A weaving path a couple feet above the side walk, over the street and finally over the other sidewalk, it then zeroing in on a large oak, it appearing to engage in a corkscrew path along the trunk where it rested its feed on pedestrians in range.

Reticule over a mother and her two babies in a two-passenger baby stroller. Target: Negative.

A police officer passing by on his motorcycle. Target: Negative.

Armored Chief Clerk riding a segway. Target: Negative.

Now a good several meters off the ground, it looked down, observing a jogger with his dog on a leash ahead of him. The dog, a white great dane with black spots, diverted from the sidewalk and took a stand on the grass barking repeatedly at the camera, much to the aggravation to her owner who, despite even humoring her and eyeing the tree up and down, couldn't see what she was on about. After a few seconds of lightly tugging at her leash to encourage her to leave things alone, he began to more forcibly pull her away across the street, away from the tree.

As the video feed implied that the source of it was crawling off the tree and towards a new location to continue the operation. The man watching these monitors chuckled to himself in his hideout, shortly giving way to less composed laughter.

"Yes... that's it my creation. Soon we will get revenge on the fools who dared to get in my our way!..."

---

The black scarab’s carapace shined brilliantly in the light of the sun, as the insect laid still, for the most part, on the hood of a parked car. The vehicle’s dark reddish paint job made the insect stand out to the naked eye and even more so to its latest silent admirer, an emotionless white “face” looming over its rest. The beetle’s front legs moved about its head, grooming itself, supposedly unaware of the observer. Silently, a mechanical blue hand rose over the hood, delicately reaching for the scarab. With just a few slow centimeters left, success, whatever it looked like or would entail, seemed like a certainty.

Marx? What is your status? Have you discovered the whereabouts of the monster? a familiar voice inquired in his head, startling the robot’s focus leading to a sudden arm motion that alerted the scarab, which proceeded to spread its wings and flutter away, beyond the robot’s reach. All he could do was reach out in vain at the flying bug, a forlorn whir emanating from his “mouth” peice. Now standing, Marx’s head slumped a little. This search was proving more disappointing than he thought.

The search continued, towards the last known location of what was presumed to be the next victim on his way back home. Among the general sounds of car motors and occasional honking that usually overpowered the mass footfalls and numerous conversations that were at this point atmospheric of another busy day, another set of heavy, rapid steps could be recognized, those accompanied with the mechanisms and gears of a rather tall, blue robot who was only recently becoming a common sight in the cities, this city especially.

In between the colossal masses of shade given off by the buildings and businesses, a peculiar lanky shadow ran quickly, its owner drawing the bewildered gaze of commuters and pedestrians alike. Groups of people would move out of the way, most still on some level intimidated by his appearance. That may change should he perform more daring deeds and raise his hero rank. But for now, there would be trepidation in the looks he was given.

Marx, upon noticing a large crowd incoming, leaped off the sidewalk and latched onto the side of an office building, using it as a jumping point to handily reach the top of the building next to it, where he continued his course, his metallic, long-finned autons resting stationary on his back, save for a bit of rustling when he jumped and landed on the next building. Still, those who could be bothered to notice the blue machine or the shadow he projected would look up, kids pointing, a few people calling out or cheering at one of the Hero Association’s latest spectacles trying to be a hero.

The walk to the supposed target's house had gone uneventful. No mass panicking, no chaos, no monster. Yet. When you have done this hero business for awhile, you start to get this feeling in the air that something was about to go wrong, that something was lurking nearby ready to strike. It maybe was a feeling of intuition, coming from the job experience, or it might be this super deep connection that all heroes have. Whatever the case, something was going to happen but there was no telling what.

The stakeout of the target's house would happen inside a nearby bakery with a nice front window that concealed enough behind the stacks of strategically placed pastries to prevent easy detection from anything else watching. Most times, keeping hidden wasn't necessary if you were on protection duty, experience dictated. Monsters and villains tend to be a bit unstable and really don't pay attention to the Hero Rankings as much as they should. Thus, they often underestimated just how strong Red was when it came down to brass tacks. But as always, there were exceptions. Particularly cunning villains or monsters would know the Hero Association well. Sizing up the opponent in a fight was crucial and the villains always had an advantage in determining just how strong a hero might be. The heroes, not so much, as there was a broad spectrum within an associated threat class. A cunning villain knew just how to take advantage of that.

Anyway, Red's stakeout was rather brief, only lasting long enough for an episode on TV to pass before activity would force some type of action from Red. A large blue mechanoid was moving across the rooftops just across the street. "Is it ours?" Red finally broke silence for the first time today. Her voice soft and soothing with a particular proclivity for crisp, correct pronunciation. "Eehhh.. Let me check.", Blue responded continuing to flicker as it processed information rapidly. "Yea, look at that. Azure Automation. Recently promoted Class A."

Red nodded more for her own confirmation of the facts than to mean anything to anyone else. It appears she wasn't the only one suspecting trouble here possibly. Going back to the whole stakeout thought, it seemed like what little cover Red had was blown, which wasn't a big deal. She isn't exactly very low-profile herself as an easily identifiable hero. So no harm in introducing herself at least and more than a curiosity, see what exactly the Azure Automation was doing here. Blue did say that more mechanized beings were assaulting these workers and it would be foolish to simply eliminate Azure simply because he was a hero. If angels can fall, heroes can too.

Red stepped outside the bakery and glanced up to the rooftops. She picked a roof ahead of Azure's path and took a great leap towards it, using her enhanced biology to leap far enough and fast enough to reach halfway before vanishing a blue flash. She reappeared in a similar flash right before Azure. "Hey, Azure, pal. Just passing through?" the Transistor spoke up asking Marx directly. Red merely quietly watched him as she awaited his answer.

One roof after another elapsed under the soaring bounds of the sky-colored mecha, each new block, a new area to analyze under the scrutiny of his sensors. Nothing of significant concern as of yet, at least not anything that, should Marx give an inordinate amount of attention to it, wouldn’t probably earn him a “headful” of advisements from NIS against wasting time on matters not concerning the mission at hand. All the while, NIS was directing him through his interior communicator, the mechanical spheroid acting as operator in missions like these.

You’re approaching the house. Don’t you think that now would be an advantageous time to stop and descend to ground level, NIS suggested, now on the fourth attempt and close to giving up.

During a dash that ultimately enabled a long jump clear over a building at half the height of his jump off point and onto an even lower parking garage, Marx uttered a miffed series of beeps, then landing into a straight run between a packed row of parked automobiles of varying make and model.

Aww, come on Marx… interrupted the voice of the two machines’ mutual benefactor, Dr. Oshiro. We know that you drawing attention to yourself could discourage an attack from happening. But in the long run, it’s better if the attacker reveals itself so it can be stopped for good.

The A-ranked automaton pondered her advice, a line of consideration that ended with the astonishing advent of a red-haired hero wielding a sizable sword of uncommon appearance. Having landed in a roll and standing to analyze both woman and blade alike, Marx’s autons dispersed from their stations and circulated in a speedy flourish around him, then floating in a stationary position behind him, like swords in eager anticipation of their purpose. Aside from that, the robot simply tilted his head to the right minutely, standing perfectly straight otherwise.

There is no need for alarm. According to the Hero Registry Database, it seems that orga is filed under-

“(Gasp) Red! Oh my gosh, it’s really her! And the Transistor, too!” Dr. Oshiro cut in, patching through to the robot’s speakers. “Hey ‘Azure’, see if you can get her autograph! Red! I’m a huge fan and... hey!”

“I am very sorry, Doctor. But now is not the occasion for this kind of outburst. Time is running out,” the robotic operator said, attempting to remotely operate a nearby drone to gently yet sternly coerce her out of the lab until she calmed down. Meanwhile, on the roof, Marx as well Red were subjected to this exchange, the blue automaton’s right hand rubbing the back of his head, while, in the background, the sounds of a light, mechanically enabled struggle could be heard.

“What’re you - wait! Red, I love yoooouuuu!” the young, starstruck cyberneticist called out before being pushed out of the room, her voice quickly dissipating, suggesting that she was going out of range.

“You have my apologies for the Doctor’s exuberance. She can get overly excited at times, particularly when it comes to heroes of the association. Greetings. It seems you already know of this particular robot, what you know as the Azure Automaton. He’s proven effective in combat, but less so in other aspects of hero work,” NIS acknowledged in his associates’ behalf, his unmistakably robotic voice patched through the gangly robot’s voice speakers. “He is responding to a series of assaults carried out by an unknown, but possibly nonhuman assailant. However, had the presence of a rank-S in the area been anticipated, he could have saved himself the exertion and left it to…”

As chance would have it, the operator’s explanation was interrupted yet again, this time by Marx, who could distinctly hear the screams of citizens emanating from a nearby park. The automaton immediately gave an alarmed whistle as he then bypassed Red and made his way to the site, finding park-goers in frightened awe of a large hole in the grass, a rim of dirt around the six foot in diameter opening in the earth. Despite whatever strange feeling came over Marx for not having all eyes on him for once, he peered down the mouth, the oddity looking more like a tunnel, with a clear bend in its course.

Could this have been made by the suspect? Do you think it might have seen you and retreated underground? Perhaps you’ve accomplished what you have set out to do after all... NIS offered to his companion, disappointed that Marx had probably mishandled this mission, but not at all surprised.

Yet, when the mecha departed from the unsettled onlookers, what might have started as a walk of shame grew into a mad dash towards the supposed target’s house, the man now on the home stretch in his jog.

What is the purpose of this! Marx! What is happening?! You cannot be serious!...

Objections be damned, Marx picked up the pace when the target came in sight, within yards of his dwelling. Right before the target could turn to the walkway, Azure snatched him off his feet, just as the entire front of his house blew apart, shreds and fragments of door, window and everything in between shooting out to the sidewalk and parts beyond, all to the menacing mechanical rowr of an unseen force. The mechanoid slid, him and his charge narrowly ducking under debris and invisible, curled inward mechano-legs alike, before resuming a sustained sprint down the street, followed by the monster whose only claim to existence were the street fixtures, poles, and parked cars it knocked away or crushed.

“Whaaa! Let go of me, you…!” The man said, then directing his distraught gaze over to an oncoming semi truck, the driver of which had already deserted the vehicle in favor of running for his life, requiring Marx to hastily vault over it. “Aaaahhh!” Next, he turned his sights to the cold, emotionless face of his would-be savior. “Aaaaaahhhhh!” He then peaked over Marx’s shoulder and beheld his autons firing searing red bolts of energy at what would appear to be nothing if it weren’t for them inexplicably making contact with something, each hit disrupting the cloak and allowing localized glimpses of an abominable, insectivorian war machine easily larger than a schoolbus. “Aaaaaaahhhhhh!” he screamed hysterically until he finally fainted in Marx’s arms.

Red's eyes opened a little more to express her surprise in the girlish voice, fan-girling. "Man. Nobody ever wants my autograph.", Blue hummed quietly to Red, with a bit of sincere disappointment in his tone. Red didn't pay Blue any mind though, and continued to watch the spectacle of Azure seemingly have an internal argument with itself in two voices. Red gave a bashful wave at the female's outcry of love, her face lightened in a smile but it was a weak attempt at hiding her discomfort. This type of fan-clubbing wasn't unusual to Red, heck, sometimes a few games came on a little too strongly, but for some reason hearing it come from a more upper classed hero was very unusual. Of course, Red knew Azure himself wasn't shouting his adoration but she had to admit to feeling a tinge embarrassed for the blue mechanoid.

"It's okay.", Red replied immediately to the robot's apology, sort of interrupting but she was quiet enough to where it might have not even been heard. "Huh. A robot who speaks third person.. Or is that a guy in there? On the other end? I'm not sure how he works, to be honest., Blue chimed quietly to Red. She had to agree with her companion's blabbering. She wasn't entirely sure if how Azure was made up. Was he a suit or droid?

Fortunately, Red was saved from her confusion by the familiar cry of citizens fleeing for their lives. Azure seemed to have noticed this two as the moment he stopped talking, he sprung past her with a sharp whistle of alarm. Red casually turned to follow Azure with her eyes, not really leaving her current position on the roof. "Going to let the newbie tackle this one, huh.", Blue hummed no longer whispering. Admittingly, Red did kind of want to let Azure take this one. She felt she was a bit over qualified for the job, but no harm in lending a helping hand she supposed. Besides, there was the grim fact that if there were citizens screaming in panic already, the target was already dead. No sense in drastic urgency. Yet.

Without much of a sense of urgency, she leapt from rooftop to rooftop in a brisk pace before stopping suddenly as she witnessed Azure speed into action. He scooped up a man just as the building next to Red exploded. Instinctively, Red leapt away using the Transistor to cover her. Debris the building bounced harmlessly off her sword and transparent veil of protection, causing her to glimmer slightly. "Woah. Big guy.... Wait. I don't see anything." Blue's comment came as a surprise as Red immediately pulled her attention to what should have been a pursuit. At first it looked like nothing was following Azure but as the mech fired back, impacts would cause a sheen of a metallic surface before vanishing from sight again. Blue must have noticed the same thing as he suddenly commented on the obvious. "Damn. Invisible. No wonder this thing has been hard to keep tabs on."

Red was quick to join the chase, but she had the high ground running across rooftops before vanishing in a flash when she ran out of 'road' before appearing on the next rooftop. She caught up, laterally to Azure's progress and turned her attention to the glimmer of something else. Another machine, it seemed. Azure's light projectiles weren't doing much to harm the shell as the camouflage quickly swallowed the exposed metal carapace. Since light projectiles weren't working, Red was going to take things up a notch. Waiting for a particularly long run across a roof, she swung the Transistor around and pointed the sword, one-handed, at the approximate center of mass for the pursuer. The Transistor began to glow, rapidly growing in intensity before releasing a thin energy beam that hit it's mark slicing through the war machine's armor and out the outer side disappointing once hitting the concrete. Now it looked like there was a floating clump of loose metal and sparks as the outer camouflage still concealed everything but that hole now. The mechanical beast gave a metallic roar but continued it's pursuit.

"Nice. We should probably drop in." Red took that has her cue as she swung the Transistor back over her shoulder and leapt from the rooftop, still using her forward momentum to carry her along with the pursuit. She tried aiming for the center of mass again as she fell, swinging her giant sword down like a guillotine. The blunt sword found something as it slammed into the outer layer of the war machine. The sword and Red, continued to fall slicing through the machine like butter before hitting the solid concrete. Red gracefully landed on her feet while the Transistor slammed against the concrete, cracking before breaking a section of the street

Red got a good look at the damage. It was glancing, at best, as only a few inches off the war machine's side were crushed. But with Red tossing her hat into this bout, the insectoid mechanoid had to make it's choice now.

With the creature’s initial attempt at the man, Mr. Saburo Ueda, the Chief Operating Officer of Millennium Cyber Works, now foiled and forcing it into continual harassment by Red and Blue, the beast could process that it couldn’t keep up the pace for very long. Sans the S-rank’s involvement, it would only be a matter of time until some combination of its speed, oncoming obstacles or its own firepower would overtake the retreating mecha.

As it stood now however, the sizable machine slowed to a halt to face his new foe, but not before it fired a volley of superheated emerald beams from a pair of head-mounted cannons at Azure, who manipulated his four flying drones into projecting an tangible energy-based defence, the bolts violently fizzling into spectacular yet less harmful instances of light and heat. So with that tactic not yielding any results, the mechanized monster directed its shots at an abandoned tanker truck about 8 meters away from where Marx was attempting to take the unconscious COO. The resulting, erupting detonation forced the robot to nearly fumble Mr. Ueda and to promptly diverge from his path and towards an alleyway.

Marx had intended not to break off from the street, not wanting to facilitate a trail of destruction through entire buildings. But with Red facing the monster head on, he took the opportunity to duck out of site and attempt to get the target to safety. He gave off a direct series of beeps, a sequence that left no guesswork at what he meant.

Understood. The Doctor will prep the package immediately.

The creature, now free from the relentless pelting courtesy of Azure’s autons, was very much cloaked, save for that conspicuous gap from earlier, its damaged machinery sparking a small measure less. But the break in the cloak was still only clearly visible when viewed from the correct angle. With that in mind, it needed to throw Red off somehow. To that end, it turned and lashed out at the building behind it, its powerful, crushing front legs swiped at the walls weakening the side that exuded its contents in the form of smoke and debris in the heroine’s direction. The monster then dove into the ravaged, empty construction, working its way to the opposite side, where it forcibly lifted and pushed the already impaired building towards Red, the toppling structure’s shadow threatening even the business across the street with more than two hundred thousand pounds (200,000 lbs) of rubble.

Even it Red should survive, the automatic atrocity intends to stalk her through the thick cloud of dust and wreckage, which has spread to a fifty meter radius, with its superior visual sensors, attempting to keep its “wound” near the top of its midsection out of sight. It would still need to move cautiously however; even the clouds would give away its position. Every attack counts and the killbot is not above reusing its previous ploys again.