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Isaac stood with his arms folded, listened to S.T.R.I.K.E’s tin soldier and said nothing.  He’d been at the centre of three of these things now and Isaac was overall unimpressed.

A technological genius, but far too keen on the sound of his own voice.  And from what he could tell from the Pax Metahumana incident he was left particularly underwhelmed by his tactical acumen specifically.  Now he’d isolated and irritated the two magical wildcards amongst the group and the third mystical powerhouse seemed less than entirely stable.

In Pax Metahumana he’d chalked it up to overconfidence and incompetence, but now given what he knew about the Hounds of Humanity and how they’d formed as a splinter-group out of S.T.R.I.K.E, his suspicions were growing more fertile every minute.  This was a man who would have set to have Icon engage a man who absorbed and could duplicate the powers of any metahuman.  Now he seems to have distanced the only three magical beings present.

Isaac knew he could be ingratiating himself at times, but for someone who was supposedly a genius… could all of this be by design, for some greater, possibly malevolent scheme?  And here, in the belly of the beast.  Whose side was he on?

Isaac thought all of this, and behind steeled eyes he boiled.

But he said nothing.  When the man in the metal suit deemed it necessary to split them all up, Isaac chose the underwater entrance by the docks by himself.  He felt confident that, short of the speedster, he could make quick work of those inside and get the lay of the land early.

He also wasn’t entirely certain who he could trust here if it was indeed a trap, with Icon busy beyond the stratosphere, and felt safer in his solitude.

Isaac strode with some confidence to the pier, a small submarine surfaced and began to motor away presumably loaded with fleeing Hounds.  Isaac reached into a specific pocket of his patch, pulled a grenade and lobbed it onto the bridge.  He reached into the other side and pulled out a red smoke flare, activating it and throwing it at the submarine just as the C4 in the modified grenade went off and decimated the top of the submarine.  This would force them to the surface, possibly even make them evacuate.  Either way, they’d be easy pickings for the Coast Guard now.

Isaac took three deep breats as he approached the edge, and without a moment’s hesitation, dove in deep.  Just a few metres ahead was his tagret.  The air lock where the submarine was attached.  This egress point.  With a few strong frog-kicks he reached the lock and slapped hard at the button to seal and drain the water.  As the water level dwindled he grabbed another grenade and threw it behind him, hitting a button to open the interior door.  He heard a few splashes as the grenade found it’s target in the exterior wall with a small clank.  Then the hair stood up on the back of his neck as he heard a few more splashes.  Heavier splashes.  More weight than just a small grenade displacing water.  He turned around to see an old man in a cloak bending over to pick up the explosive.

[b]“Wait, [h3]NO![/h3]”[/b]

Isaac turned around and with three steps he grabbed the stranger and then dragged him another few before lunging through the interior door with him, just as the explosion blasted at their heels.  Shaking off the effects, the Vigilante got to his feet and slammed the button to seal the interior door as the water level rapidly rose.

[b]“Well that’s part one taken care of…”[/b] he muttered to himself, turning around to see what kind of tagalong he’d just found himself saddled with.

It was no-one that he recognized. Just an old man in a cloak, with a length scarf and a staff which…

The one who called herself the Alchemyst also had a similar staff.  Isaac quickly noted.  It was a pretty fair bet that this man was another magician or mage or whatever term of the day applied.

The fact that the man was completely dry except for two distinct wet handprints where Isaac had grabbed the man only supported his theory.  Water vapour seemed to gather and swirl in the air around his staff.  The old man looked down at his own cloak towards the two wet patches that weren’t coming out with a furrowed brow.

[b]“Yeah… sorry about that.  Saving old men from themselves can be messy work.”[/b]

The Vigilante pulled out his sticks.

[b]“I think we’re going to have company sooner rather than later, now.”[/b]  He threw a flash bang grenade down the corridor just as armed men rounded a corner.  [b]“Since my entrance seems to have been a little less subtle than I’d originally intended.”[/b]

The men shouted as the phosphorous blast blinded them.  The Vigilante was on them in an instant, throwing combinations and quickly flooring the first wave of Hounds.  Before gesturing for the old man to continue.

[b]“Just how I wanted to spend my day.  Protecting a decrepit monkey skeleton in a cloak from a bunch of bigoted pricks with guns.”[/b]

In an instant one of the men who had been playing possum got to his feet and held a combat knife to the cloaked man's throat.

"Stay back!  I'm getting out of here!"

The Vigilante scowled, then looked perplexed as the spring steel seemed to erode away from the man.  Carbon and manganese atoms swirling like dust motes around the man's staff.

Then his expression turned to horror.  He hadn't stopped at the blade or even the knife's grip.  The man howled in pain as his hand was broken down on a molecular level, followed by the arm...

"Again?!  I've found myself with another person who can do this... and this one's not a child." Isaac thought to himself.

Seconds later all that remained of the man's existence was a pair of boots.

[b]"Great... Here I was thinking I'm protecting a decrepit monkey skeleton in a cloak from a bunch of bigoted pricks with guns.  Now I'm protecting a bunch of bigoted pricks with guns from a decrepit monkey skeleton...”[/b]