[center][img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYRw8fNlTMc/WS7os0sjymI/AAAAAAAA1CU/0U37v2bqWSEARLAtl1DJmlJf1-erLHrAACK4B/s1600/ted_kord____the___real___blue_beetle_by_spidermanfan2099-d4qhf7q.jpg[/img][/center] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]H O M E W O O D S U I T E S B Y H I L T O N N Y / M I D T O W N[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Present Day | Manhattan, New York[/color][/sup] Ted sat at his small hotel table setup with his Blue Beetle gloves and cowl on and no shirt, his tongue slightly protruding from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on soldering the last of the circuitry to what would become his new B.B. gun. His gut was also slightly protruding and his lap was covered with crumbs. He stopped for a break to take a slice of toast and to add more crumbs. He reached over and brought the Hotel room phone closer. Pulling his own phone out he video chat dialled a number. In a few seconds it auto-answered, revealing a dark room and a large ominous shape. Resting his phone where he could watch the video he dialled a number into the Hotel room phone and waited. In a few seconds a bright blue light appeared on the video chat screen, before blinking a series of times. The light revealed the shape of the Bug in it’s hangar. He hit some buttons on his glove remote, the lights flickered again a darker blue and a single yellow flash. He hung up the Hotel room phone, satisfied that he had logged the Bug back in to his glove’s remote. Ted ran diagnostics and checked for the telltale change to the video chat screen’s lighting. He smiled and returned to his breakfast. He grabbed the remote and flicked the TV on behind him for background noise. Started on the now cold coffee, and picked up what would be the B.B. gun’s circuit board to inspect the quality of his work. It was a neat job. Sure he’d have to mould a new casing for it soon and pick up components for the sonics settings, as well as to complete the taser rigging, but there would always be time. Given how long he’d worked on the first, this one was coming along very well. There’s something to be said about learning from experience. He toggled through the view settings on his cowl with his index finger until the results of the diagnostic scan started to scroll in front of his vision. With another selection he pushed it over to just the right lens. Ted rubbed his left lens with his bare wrist and then furrowed his brow. The scorch marks were still there from when Abner Jenkins had nearly flash fried his face. Ted got up and walked to the bathroom to try and clean the lens as best he could with basic soaps and water, when he heard it... "The time of Men has come to an end..." A voice distorted to be absurdly baritone uttered. Ted raised an eyebrow. He thought he left the TV on to catch the morning news. He poked his head around the bathroom door, the left lens of his cowl comically caked in soap and suds. On the screen was a man in heavy metal armour, with a heavy looking bladed helmet. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/j32UPAs.png[/img][/center] [color=SKYBLUE]“How do you even put a thing like that on? I mean it looks like it’d hurt your neck anyway, but... Oh he’s wearing gloves! Well that makes sense. You wouldn't put a helmet like that on without gloves…”[/color] "You sit atop your ivory towers and in your arrogance believe yourselves to be the superior people. You think your government, your armies, your heroes can keep you safe- that they will protect you from people like me. You're all fools. I am called Stryfe, and we are the Metahuman Supremacy Front. We will show America- and humanity- humility. We will tear down your palaces, put to the pyre your precious law and order. We will show you how truly vulnerable your nation really is. Safety is an illusion." Stryfe uncrossed his arms and approached the camera until his masked face dominated the entire screen. "This is your reckoning." [color=SKYBLUE]“Where is this anyw-- oh!”[/color] Just as soon as Ted asked the question the figure was gone, replaced by the view of Central Park. A workman began to tap several buttons on a remote he held, and a sculpted art-piece reacted. The polished sides of what was a roughly 6 ft tall obelisk sprang open and fell away into the grass, revealing what lay inside. [color=SKYBLUE]“Oh… Oh no.”[/color] Ted quickly confirmed that diagnostics were complete and the Bug was clear for use, he used his wrist controls to summon it. Less than 8 minutes and counting. A black mass exploded out of the tower like a swarm of innumerable locust. They swept across Central Park with terrifying speed. Everyone in view was in a panic, sprinting away in an attempt to escape, only to disappear into the swarm as it passed by them. For several, chaotic moments nothing could be made out through the screeching swarm, the entire screen obscured by their presence. It wasn't until they'd moved on that the bodies came back into view. Ted rushed over to the sliding door to his balcony and looked out. He checked all down West 37th and there was no sign of anything. But then he heard it, a murmuring wave of human screams slowly getting louder and more high pitched, like a wave of terror. He saw people trying to run from far off down 7th Avenue, a few seconds later they were swept down upon by the black wave. A few more seconds passed and he saw the same people trying to flee down 8th Avenue, before the black tide descended upon them even faster this time. Ted turned his head just to see the same sight once more on 9th. A ball was forming in Ted’s throat and he went back inside and slid the balcony door closed. He grabbed the bag with the rest of his Blue Beetle gear and started to put the rest of the suit on, whilst taking what he could from the TV footage. There wasn't a scratch on any of victims. Every single person was on the ground, in some way, but there appeared to be no blood or gore, and before long they started moving again. But that was even worse. The first one broke the silence with a blood curdling, furious scream. A man, perhaps in his late twenties, sprinted across the grass in an awkward, stumbling gait, running straight for the nearest person to him. He threw his hands at her like they were clubs, bashing away at her skull and face with an animalistic fervor. She roared right back at him, sinking her teeth into the other man's ear and tearing away a chunk. [color=SKYBLUE]“Like zombies.”[/color] Ted uttered, watching on. [color=SKYBLUE]“28 Days Later zombies, to be exact. Zombies with get-up-and-go.”[/color] He corrected himself. [color=SKYBLUE]“Danny Boyle has something to answer to…”[/color] Ted checked the time for the Bug’s ETA. Still 7 minutes. Time was crawling. He was dressed, stressed and ready for success. He looked down at his work table. The circuit board was ready, but he had no casing. It still had some basic functionality though. He tore into a cupboard and started looking for things to work with, finding the complimentary Hotel Room hairdryer. He rushed over to the desk and took it apart with a screwdriver. He took the circuitboard and some caulk and worked magic. Finishing with the gun he left it to dry as best it could. He checked the time once more. 3 minutes. He pulled open his wrist controls in his gloves and found some wire and grabbed the soldering iron and set to work on Plan B. Working as fast as he could, he used his spare seconds within tasks to hangup his phone from its video chat, and sent a text message to Hank and Jan via voice command. [color=SKYBLUE][b]“Lockdown the compound. Seal yourself in the Clean Room and I’ll get to you when I can. Stay safe.”[/b][/color] His thoughts strayed to hoping Tora was OK, as well as her friend Bea. He had no way to contact them yet. Then those same thoughts spread to Tony Stark, then Norman Osborn, then his son Harry, then-- He shook his head. This wasn’t useful. Dwelling on individuals could only cloud things right now when he needed the most focus. There was a loud banging on the door. “Ted! TED! Are you in there! They’re evacuating us down to Meeting Room spaces in the Lobby!” Murray yelled. “Is he in there?” He could hear Jeremiah ask on the other side of the door. “I don’t know. I left my phone back in the room and I’m not going back in there now. He left early yesterday, [sub]maybe he did the same again today. No way he didn’t hear me…[/sub]” Ted could hear their voices shrinking as they followed the evacuation procedures for the Hotel. Ted sighed and kept working, finally finishing and checking the time. 30 seconds. Better get ready. Ted carefully lifted his hamfisted new B.B. gun and holstered it gently. His arm still hurt, doctors had said he had a hairline fracture to one rib, his weapon of choice was untested and held together with fresh caulk, a cheap hairdryer casing, four screws and prayers, he had no idea who he was fighting, what they were or why. But he had a direction. Central Park. The Bug’s skywire dropped down to his balcony. Ted stood on the bars and retracted the cable. As it carried him up to the safety of the Bug he watched the pandemonium breaking out on the street far below, fighting too chaotic to even call a series of brawls. He thought back to what Abner Jenkins had said about him the previous night. ‘An immature reaction to an imperfect world’. He thought about Murray and Jeremiah and hoped they could at least get to ground level as he saw wild people throwing themselves from buildings multiple stories up with no sense of self preservation. He thought about Tora and Bea and how different they had been from the man in the metal armour. He thought about Rosa who turned over his Hotel bed, Mike who had helped him with his bags, Julia who checked him in on arrival. He thought about all of the people, and how he knew he would remember them all, and in that instant confirmed there was nothing immature about this response at all. For a man in his position it’s the only common sense response to a world bad men make imperfect.