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Leanna watched as the various group of terrorists gave up under the onslaught of heroes from the Square and the police from outside. She signalled to several officers to follow her and led them to the bubbles she had trapped Hounds in, then, once they signalled they were ready, constricted the bubbles once, then let them fade. The constriction left multiple broken bones and burns, but nothing serious, and far less than these men and women deserved.

With her powers returning to her after the expenditure of keeping her constructs up, she sighed, stretching her arms until her shoulders popped. Iron Knight’s announcement didn’t go unnoticed to her, but she needed a minute to regain her composure. Which was when she heard the request for assistance. She walked over to the mech suit with the police insignia on the surface and said, hesitantly, [color=c71585]“Officer, how can I assist?”[/color]

[i]Artemis, damn you, If I speak now..I’ll…[/i] Richard shifted his face into a grimace as he hesitated on using the mic for himself, and then Artemis saved him, or rather, finished what she started.

[color=6ecff6]”Oh, I recognize you from our files, you’re Blacklight right? It’s good to see an older hero like yourself out and about again.” [/color] Artemis replied with a cheerful tone, and Richard continued to stretch his face into a scowl as he felt as if he’d been taken hostage; but his face softened slightly as he realized she had just introduced the new, or rather, older meta to him.

[color=6ecff6]”Yes, I can’t fly, so I was hoping someone would be kind enough to give me a lift.”[/color]

[color=c71585]”Well, that’s only a little of a problem. I assume you’re coming with to the raid. It’d be good to have an official presence around.”[/color] She looked the mech up and down once, critically, with her dark eyes.

[color=c71585]”So how much pressure can this tin can take? Better than a car? A tank? If I’m gonna get a grip, I don’t want to violate the structural integrity of your armor. Also, how much does it weigh? That’s going to effect speed by quite a bit. Even as strong as I am, carrying a big hunk of metal is going to slow me down.”[/color]

[color=6ecff6]”Hhhmm, well, it might be best to treat me like you would a car. Hard metal shell with with some delicate insides. As long as you’re not trying to blast off into orbit, I can probably take the G’s.[/color]

[i]Dammit, Artemis, I’m a Detective not an astronaut, don’t go giving her ideas![/i] Richard chose not to voice his feelings due to how close this, Blacklight, was, but he really did feel like he was losing more and more control each second.
[color=c71585]”Alright, but if you feel like you’re going to pass out, let me know.”[/color] Her ‘wings’ flared to life, and she flapped once to launch herself over the mech, then, turned and placed her forearms under the ‘armpits’ of the machine. [color=c71585]”Alright, lifting off now. Don’t touch my wings or you might lose some parts, ma’am.”[/color]

The wings flapped once, twice, and then were beating rapidly. And Leanna hauled with a significant amount of her might. Not enough to tear things apart, but lifting with her forearms took more than she thought it would. Glancing around as she rose into the air, she followed to the plans she remembered from Iron Knight’s projections and moved towards the east, rain spattering on her head in ever-increasing patterns as she sped up. At this point her black hair was plastered to her scalp.

[color=c71585]”You doing okay, officer?”[/color] she called out. [color=c71585]”I guess we’ll probably be there in around fifteen minutes. Sorry I can’t move as fast as some.”[/color]

As Blacklight lifted him, or them, up into the air Richard had to fight down a slight yelp as the liftoff had felt a bit sudden. But this was going better than he thought, he had the impression she was one of the faster metas, and that he’d start losing his lunch upon take off. Although, as soon as he looked down at the ground he realized that possibility wasn’t too far off.

Artemis had a different view on the situation. She had several hundred files on Meta’s and their powers saved to the on-board storage just in case she and Richard ever needed a reference to them, and Blacklight, a former STRIKE sponsored hero, would no doubt be in there. According to notes and history files it looked like she had spent some time voluntarily at various labs, not everything was recorded, but what was written down was amazing. Her powers interacted with light and temperature very similarly to a black hole in that everything was absorbed, head and light were touched and absorbed completely, her powers even put out heat, but thermal scanning showed that the ‘center’ of her powers was completely cold.

To think, that energy was doing this, was impossible, and this spoke to Artemis on another level. The Roadblock suit had to be redesigned for general use, but it was still outfitted with numerous imaging and sensor capabilities to track Metas, so she wasted no time pointing it all at Blacklight, unfortunately, she wouldn’t be gathering much. The R&D team had often played with the idea of changing out certain parts for more detailed sensor equipment to follow and study some metas, but those ideas had never actually reached the light of day, nor would they have ever been approved by the LHPD top brass.

[color=6ecff6]”You’re doing great, you’re faster, and safer, than the alternative!”[/color] Artemis shouted back. Richard continued to stay silent for this, but he felt like part of that was directed at him, no, some of it definitely was.

Blacklight curved as they flew over Carver, the rain that slammed into her energy trail slacking off and leaving them in relatively windblown silence. She guessed they were probably going a quarter of her maximum, or around half the speed of sound, which was alright with her, as sonic booms over residential neighbourhoods were extremely restricted.

[color=c71585]”So how, exactly, did the LHPD get a mechanical suit, or is that on a restricted knowledge basis? It seems kind of…” [/color] she struggled for the right word. She had never been much of a speaker.

[color=c71585]”It seems a little excessive for street crime, you know?”[/color] She glanced at the houses down below her, remembering the tactical layout. [color=c71585]”Around ten minutes, officer. IK says there’s three targets. How mobile are you in this thing?”[/color]

The pixel face at the bottom of the Roadblock screen changed into a wide grin, then Artemis let out a short and hearty chuckle.

[color=6ecff6]”Heheheh, this isn’t just for street crime! This suit was designed for the Lost Haven Special Cases Department to use in ‘special cases’ which more than often, turn out to be the rogue metahumans known as supervillains!”[/color] Artemis sounded insufferably pleased with herself for some reason, even giving the odd sense that she was proud of it.

[i]She didn’t even make this thing![/i] Richard thought to himself as he was forced to listen to her spout off.

[color=6ecff6]”Hhmm, as for how mobile, that’s situational. We can move pretty well on the ground, but as you might have guessed, we can’t fly. The jets aren’t for show though, they just aren’t meant for flying, and they wouldn’t hold up under the stress they would take to make it to Carver.[/color]

[color=c71585]”Well, if you’re not a flyer, there’s two other targets, I think? Sounds like we’re sealing them off and closing in from each entrance. Looks like flyers are heading for the helipad, which means I’m dropping you off to decide on your own, ma’am. If you have a preference, I can drop you at either location.”[/color]

The rain looked like it was heading inland, chasing them as they flew, though Leanna was sure she was outpacing it. She adjusted her grip on the mech beneath her, careful not to drop it or to grip hard enough to damage systems in it, a delicate balance she wasn’t used to.

At a glance the Hound base looked abandoned and in disrepair, the rain emphasized upon the moisture eroded surface, and it was easy to see why the building had been overlooked until now. As Blacklight brought them closer to the ensemble of heroes Richard noticed her shifting her grip occasionally, and he didn’t blame her. 

The suit wasn’t designed to be held by human hands at any angle, so it was undoubtedly a little unwieldy, but that wasn’t the first thing on his mind. It would have made more sense for him to be a little more worried about her slipping, especially with the rain moving in, but as they approached the other heroes he was just glad he wasn’t being held bridal style.

[i]An abandoned building...[/i]

[color=6ecff6]”How cliche.”[/color] Artemis said as they closed in on the Hound’s base, she coincidentally finished Richard’s thought, but it didn’t strike him as weird. As a normal detective there were dozens of cases that led him to an abandoned apartment or building of some kind, it must have been the same for her and the others before he joined.

[color=6ecff6]”Looks like that garage and the rooftops are covered. Take us over to that dockyard, if worse comes to worse this armor is more or less waterproof.”[/color]

“More or less? You can’t be vague with something like this!” Richard hissed through his teeth, doing his best to keep his voice from activating the outer mic.

Leanna looked down at the top of the...head? She wasn’t sure how to describe a robotic suit, honestly. [color=c71585]”Alright, I can do that, Officer. Speaking of which, while you know me as Blacklight, I feel kind of awkward just calling you by your title. Have you got a name, ma’am?”[/color] As the rain slacked off, the hiss from the outer area of her energy continued to slack off, but she still had to shout over the wind of their travel, or at least she felt she needed to. As she streaked in to land, she set the mech down on its feet, careful to not over balance, and nodded to the two women she had seen earlier, one of which was looking at her almost analytically.

[color=6ecff6]”Hhhmmm, everyone likes to refer to this suit as ‘Roadblock’, so that should suffice, and thanks for the ride, you were very gentle.”[/color]

She grinned, hovering just in front of the mech. [color=c71585]No problem, Officer, any time. Maybe we can grab coffee after all this is over. I’ll leave you to this section, I’m going to go help the flying team and provide some overwatch and support.”[/color] She held out a business card. [color=c71585]”My cell phone number’s on that, use your fancy suit to call me if there’s any trouble over here and I’ll be as quick as I can.”[/color]

[color=6ecff6]”Hmm, it would be nice to see you again, and you know where you can find me.”[/color] There was a momentary pause in the conversation, Artemis had no control over the limbs, and so Richard reluctantly played along by accepting the card.

[i]Oh no, Artemis, I don’t know how much more I can handle.[/i]

[color=6ecff6]”Thanks I’m sure we’ll be fine, good luck.”[/color]

[color=c71585]”Good luck to you too, Officer.”[/color] with a final, frosty salute, Leanna turned and, with a flare of her strange energy, she flapped her ‘wings’ and took off north towards where the flying heroes had started gathering near the helipad target, leaving her passenger and other nearby is a hissing cloud of oddly cold steam as the light rain hit the trail she left behind.