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"Hey, I think I saw purple. Is that her?"

"...no, that's just a car. The purple is going to be a flash of light, remember?"

The skinny guy with greasy black hair groaned as he took the binoculars back and lifted them to his eyes again, shivering slightly from the sea breeze despite his leathery biker jacket. His teammate for the night kept lookout, a hand resting over the weight of a pistol in her jacket pocket as he paced back and forth. 

"Dude, would you stand still? You're distracting me," the man said irritably. "And the sooner we spot this alien chick the better."

"This is pointless," the woman spat out, not hearing or not listening to her friend as he glared at her. "The Neo-Ronin rule these streets, why are we chasing this squid-headed [i]baka[/i] around?"

"The 'squid-headed [i]baka[/i]' has been hitting our operations hard, idiot," the greasy biker grumbled, dropping the pseudo-Japanese pretense. "You heard about that armored car fiasco with the tarantula chick? It wasn't the first time the xeno has been causing us trouble since we took out the other gangs."

"But the Neo-Ronin are invincible!" she declared, her voice almost trembling with reverence at the very idea. "We cannot be stopped by anyone!"

"And that's why you're not the Shogun," he responded coolly. "See, the Shogun's smart enough to know when to remove a problem before it gets too big to handle. That's why we're here helping to track her down."

"Oh....fine," the raven-headed girl conceded with a huff. "But I would have went out and fought her myself, not hire this....mercenary." Her pouting turned into a scowl as she filled the last word with as much venom as she could muster.

"What, are you offended by the concept of someone working for money instead of honor now?" her companion said disdainfully. "News flash sweetheart, that's kind of our shtick too."

"I was thinking more about the man being a creep," she snapped back, dropping down to sit on the ledge next to her friend. "I don't like...wasps, that much." 

"...okay I'll give you that, the dude's a creep, but have you heard the stories about this guy? Hell if even half of them are true the dude deserves to have a gimmick, even if its a weird one."

"Someone tell that to the ninja robot," the girl retorted out the corner of her mouth.

"Besides, better him fighting the alien chick then me," the man said, ignoring the comment again. He considered defending some of the Rogues that popped up recently, but given how much the other Neo-Ronin disliked that colorful bunch of mad scientists and cat-headed DJ's, it was always a losing argument. "I saw what she did to that big guy in the diver's suit, and I don't...aha!" 

"Did you see something?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, something flashed purple right past South Barkley..." Almost on cue, the radio transceiver crackled to life with the other teams reporting on the location of the flash.

"She's headed up 5th street past South Barkley!" one of the teams sounded out clearly over the other voices on the line.

[i]"Perfect,"[/i] came the response over the transceiver in a cold, electronic voice. [i]"Delta, you're on, burn it. Everyone near zone C converge. Rest of you...sit back and watch the fireworks."[/i] The voice laughed, low-pitched and distorted, dripping with cruel bemusement before the radio went silent. The woman shivered, though this time not because of the cold.

"Guess we're the lucky ones," the greasy haired guy said as he pulled himself to his feet, tossing the binoculars aside with a careless toss. His partner strode over to a small pile covered by a dark blue tarp deposited earlier in the day and roughly ripped it open. The gas vapors assaulted their sense of smell as the woman took one of the cans in both hands, shouldering open the stairwell door and staggering down. The man took another one of the cans and started pouring the contents onto the roof. Tossing the can into the puddle, now wafting fumes across the air, he paused to admire his handiwork while he fished around in his pockets for the signal flare.

Time to burn the house down on this alien.

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[color=MediumOrchid]"...and then I zapped the gun with the Psibeam and Fangs shot off into the harbor! Splash!" [/color]Riley waved around her arms for emphasis as she landed from her jump down to street level, despite the fact that she was communicating over a headset.

"Yes, glad everything is working," Dr. Martel replied, sounding a little distracted. "I take it the lens' work, then?"

[color=MediumOrchid]"They went a little fuzzy after I used the beam but they are still in once piece!"[/color] Riley declared, tapping the goggles with one long finger for emphasis.

"Good, I was hoping the same material in the inhibitors would function like that. When you're finished for the night head back and I'll see what I can do about the fuzziness."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Oh dear, it is quite late,"[/color] Riley lamented. [color=MediumOrchid]"And it was such a lovely day too. Couldn't Jordan take over so I can stay out later?"[/color]

"She had to leave, something about her girlfriend having the flu," Martel explained.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Okay, I guess I will return shortly,"[/color] Riley said, sounding more dejected then she had in a while. Things had been going so well that it was harder and harder for her to come back 'home' after being out all day doing hero things. She'd fought with those street gangs, traded blows with villains like Monsterk4T and Amorphous, and just helped out in any way she could. Riley got the feeling people liked having her around, and someone even took a picture of her for the newspaper! Dr. Martel wouldn't let her tape the picture to the test room wall, but Jordan had a nice little frame made for it the other day and hung it up on the wall anyway. It made her feel fuzzy inside just thinking about it, and she was so appreciative that she almost knocked Jordan over when she tackle-hugged her.

Riley's thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sounds of sirens. She quickly jumped off the sidewalk into the bushed out of surprise as the fire truck peeled around the corner and shot past her, the lights flashing and the horn blaring. Poking her head out to get a better look, Riley thought she saw an orange glow in the distance.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Fire!"[/color] she announced to no one in particular, and without a second thought she jumped back out of the bush and took off after the truck, eager to help in any way she could. Voyager wasn't done for the night after all!

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[i][center]Props to NMS for the sexy banner.[/center][/i]