[center][h1][b]Roadblock[/b][/h1][/center]


[b]Time: Night (Day of the Hounds of Humanity's first appearance)
Location: Lost Haven Special Cases Building[/b]


[color=f7941d]Particle Dispersion Field: 54%[/color]

[color=00a99d]Polarized Armor Integrity: 77%[/color]

“[color=00aeef]Shit, this gap is a pain in the ass, why can’t [i]we[/i] fly?[/color]” Richard grumbled as he picked himself up.

“[color=6ecff6]I’ll overcharge the boosters, use this to close the distance, but be warned it’s a one use. After this they’ll burn out.[/color]”

“[color=00aeef]Alright, on my signal.[/color]”

The Hounds started again, more missiles, and a moment later a warning directed him to another energy build up.

“[color=00aeef]Now![/color]” Richard shouted, the boosters on his backpack, and the back of his legs practically exploded, launching him in a blurry arc towards the flying Hound. Richard gritted his teeth together, the g forces were a little too much, along with the fact that he never trained as an astronaut. But his maneuver caught his enemy by surprise, the Hound quickly switched back to his sword, hoping to catch Richard with the blade. 

Richard had never actually fought with Artemis before now, so entrusting her with something as important as saving his life was risky, but he had to while he readied the cable on his left arm. Fortunately his trust was well placed, Artemis remembered what he had said earlier, and the small manipulator arm on his back rotated the shield on around to block the sword. Unlike his enemies, the Roadblock shield was simply a stronger, larger, riot shield with the letters “LHSCD” on the front.

The blade swiped down at Richard and collided with his shield, the blade let out a loud ‘fizzing’ noise as it struggled to burn through his shield, molten metal dripped down the sides, and a tiny slit appeared giving Richard a look right into the fading blade. The shield suddenly swung back around to the side, throwing the blade up and away, creating an opening. An opening he used to unload his rifle on the Hound, and extended his free arm, giving the grappling cable a perfect angle.

The higher caliber bullets from his rifle put some decent dents in the Hound’s armor, but the real attack here was the cable, it swiftly wrapped around the Hound and electricity shot through it a moment later, causing the Hound to shout in pain; sparks of electricity jumped out of the Hounds suit, along with various lights along his body flickering. Richard reached the peak of his jump arc and began to descend, he attempted to reel in the Hound as he fell, the cable went taut as Richard dangled in the air, and the motor in his arm began to loudly groan as it struggled.

“[color=00aeef]Fall dammit, fall![/color]” Richard shouted as he dropped his gun to lay his other hand on the cable, thankfully Artemis stopped the electrical current for him, and he yanked the cable downwards with both arms. The sound of the both of them falling and crashing into the wet cement boomed through the night.

The both of them landed right on top of each other, with Richard on top, which was lucky because apparently the other guy wasn’t willing to risk friendly fire. The man tried to get up, but Richard wrestled with him, they traded blows with each other multiple times, but the Roadblock armor was in better condition, and managed in gaining the upper ground.  

“[color=6ecff6]We have nothing to cuff him with; the reinforced cuffs we use on metas won’t fit his armor.[/color]” Artemis said as Richard and the Hound struggled against each other.

“Mark 2, disengage friend or foe tags!” The man shouted, a loud chirp came from the other Hound and its chest opened up.

“[color=00aeef]A robot?[/color]” Richard muttered as the second Hound’s chest plate opened up, revealing several cylinders inside, he quickly realized those were gun barrels.

“[color=00aeef]You idiot, you’re right here with me![/color]” Richard shouted.

“The mission will continue without me.” He replied, his voice was empty, like he was accepting his defeat. Bursts of yellow shot out from all six chambers, aimed right at both Farland and Richard.

“[color=00aeef]Artemis, the shield![/color]” Richard yelled out as he moved himself to cover the downed Hound, the shield promptly rotated around to defend the both of them. The blasts were mitigated by the particle field, but they still proved to be powerful as they melted through the shield, splashing against the back of the Roadblock armor, leaving behind blast marks.

[color=f26522]Particle Dispersion Field: 33%[/color]

[color=00a99d]Polarized Armor Integrity: 66%[/color]

“You saved me?” The Hound asked, even going so far as to meet eye to eye, as best he could anyways.

“[color=00aeef]The police have always been a lifesaving organization, besides, you’re the main suspect.[/color]” Richard said as he slammed his elbow into the man’s head, his head fell to the ground. After confirming that he’d been taken out, Richard unhooked a grenade from his hip and tossed it at the unconscious man as he took off into a sprint. The grenade exploded a moment later, covering the man in a yellow-white coating.

Richard spotted his rifle from earlier and double timed it, he dove onto the ground and let his body slide, his fingers were only inches away before a barrage of yellow energy blasted the gun into bits, along with scoring several hits onto his left arm. Richard grunted, his armor held out for this long, but with its defenses running lower he was starting to feel it even through the armor plating. He furrowed his brows as he eyed his gauges.

[color=f7941d]Polarized Armor Integrity: 58%[/color]

Richard mentally recapped his viable weapons, his destroyed MHS-42P rifle, a couple more foam grenades, the cable, and his fists.
“Damn, we got nothing.” Richard muttered, he got up and continued trying to dodge the energy shells, but he felt like he’d been driven up the wall.

“[color=6ecff6]Don’t give up yet, look.[/color]” Artemis pulled up a zoomed in image as she spoke. Rolling out from around the front of the building was one of the mechanical scooters from the garage, on top of it sat one of the Roadblock backpacks, attached to it was a large weapon, about five meters long and two meters wide. An id tag popped up, identifying it as the AC-107 Beam Launcher, an experimental weapon he hadn’t been allowed to see yet. 

“[color=00aeef]I won’t be able to make it; it’d see that as a threat, just like my rifle[/color].” Richard was starting to run out of breath, he’d been fighting at his hardest for a little while now, and avoiding that robot suit’s shots was no easy task, especially without his boosters.

“[color=6ecff6]It’s on remote control, but without access to our power core it only has one shot.[/color]”

“[color=00aeef]Alright, I’ll flush him out, you catch him[/color].” Richard said as he slipped another foam grenade into his hand and tossed it, the foam exploded and quickly covered the MK2’s shield, but it turned off its defenses at just the right time to escape, but this movement left it open.

The AC-107 let off its only shot, a thick red beam pierced through the air like thunder, impacting the MK2 in the side, and blasted it into one of the empty Hounds vans. The force and weight of the impact caused the van to explode in a giant fiery explosion. The remote controlled scooter flew backwards from the recoil of its shot, toppling over and spinning into a fire hydrant. 

“[color=00aeef]Nice shooting, Artemis![/color]” Richard shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

“[color=6ecff6]I wouldn’t celebrate just yet Mr. Hunter.[/color]” Just as Artemis said that, a missile shot forth from the van wreckage, the warning alarm barely gave Richard enough time to duck.

“This thing just won’t die.” Richard said, but he noticed something, the energy shield looked like it was trying to block out the flames, but it kept flickering in and out, whatever that was powering those shields must have been damaged. A large hole in the side of the Hound furiously shot out sparks, the suit itself jittered and jerked as it tried to straighten itself, most if not all of its gun barrels were damaged. 

[i]It’s over.[/i]

Richard sprinted as fast as he could towards it, Artemis had rotated what was left of the shield to help block the missile shots, the multiple consecutive missile blasts shattered what was left into several dozens of metal fragments, but now he was close enough.  He threw his fist forward, fully intending to smash the head part in, instead the robot Hound caught him by the arms, twisted it’s torso around and attempted to throw him.

But Richard reversed it by quickly turning his head, twisting his own trajectory mid-air, allowing him to land on his feet. He then lifted the Hound and slammed it into the ground, crushing its head in, sparks and several miniature explosions shot out across its body as it fell onto the cement.

“[color=00aeef]Finally.[/color]” Richard breathed a sigh of relief.

“Detective Hunter.” The radio in his helmet cackled, and another voice spoke through his helmet radio, a man this time, he sounded almost as tired as Richard was.

“[color=00aeef]Captain Kelly?[/color]” Richard was startled to hear from him so soon, but he was glad the chief had managed to survive, and let that show in his voice.

“There’s something you and Artemis need to see, get down to the cells.” Chief Kelly replied, his flat response worried Richard, and he braced himself for some bad news.

[center]----------[/center]

The scene was just as grizzly as the upstairs, the guards on duty had been gunned down like many of the officers upstairs, except this time there was more. The metahuman’s the LHSCD had arrested earlier were all dead in their cells, most were simply shot as they stood, some still clinging to the bars. The more durable ones sat disfigured on the floor, some kind of chemical had melted them down, making them easier to kill, if not outright doing it itself.

"We managed to incapacitate the other, Hounds of Humanity, men over in the hallways. But, a few of them must have slipped by somehow." A officer said solemnly as he and the rest of the LHSCD looked into the cells.

“Jesus…” One of the surviving officers muttered as they gathered behind the doorway, as law enforcement officers, they sometimes saw the worst of humanity, but it wasn't something they all got used to, and it certainly wasn't something they all enjoyed. Everyone's faces twisted in their own ways as they saw what was written at the far end of the hall.

Written in red paint. H.O.H.

The weight of their failure sunk into each and everyone of the officers present, a heavy, oppressive mood filled all of them until a booming voice caught their attention.

“The next time we see these Hounds of Humanity I want to be ready! Dr. Frasier, take the rest of the R&D team to take a look at those Hound suits. Detective Hunter, I want you with the rest of the detectives, follow up on any leads.” Captain Kelly barked out their new orders, usually he was cheerful and loud, easily the heart of the entire station, but his switch to a stern and anger disposition was jarring.

“Sir, there’s not many of us left.” Another detective uttered in a low voice, his eyes made an effort not to stare back at anyone.

“That’s for later, for now, you have your orders.”