[center]With Muchos Help from [@DocTachyon] We Proudly Present...[/center] [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]M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Present Day | C’mon man, pay attention. Manhattan New York[/color][/sup] [color=SKYBLUE]"Hell of a lot of fighting considering the Rangers aren't even in town..."[/color] Hup, let's back up a bit. We're not up to there yet... [hr] The webline pulled taut. The dark blue X-Man caught the line, and with a single flash of flexed muscle, the Spider-Man hauled the pair to safety on the hull of the strange aircraft, the Bug. He then performed the same trick he had earlier to swing himself up there too, finding Nightcrawler still doubled over panting from exhaustion. "Zhanks for zhe assist!" Ted heard a german accent filtered through the Bug's internal speakers. Then, two clangs of a costumed fist against the battle plating. [color=#507de5]"Open 'er up, Beetle. Believe it or not, blue's in this year."[/color] The Blue Beetle opened the hatch and began to pull his craft up to a safer altitude, as Spider-Man seemingly sluiced his way back into the Bug whilst Nightcrawler acrobatically dropped in, his tail swinging, as he reached up to help the small girl safely drop into the interior. [color=#507de5]"Introducing the astonishing..."[/color] Spider-Man paused for a moment. [color=#507de5]"X... Guy? And guest."[/color] "Nightcrawler." The X-Man offered. He extended a three-fingered hand. The little girl he had brought with him fussed at his side, wringing her hands and slowly venturing out to see the rest of the aircraft. [color=SKYBLUE]"Well, you two sure know how to make a guy feel self-conscious about just slapping on some blue spandex and calling himself the Blue Beetle. Look at you two. Going the extra mile."[/color] "Spandex?" Asked Kurt, "Zat is vhat you vear?" [color=SKYBLUE]"Well, no. But what I actually wear would be too wordy and you'd miss the bite of the joke. Sometimes it's best just to roll with it and not think about it too much... speaking of which, we're coming up to Madison Square Garden now. I can have the Bug circle on autopilot with Little Miss Innocent Bystander New York City 2019 here, whilst we three go take care of business in the House of Perpetual Knicks Sadness. How's that sound?"[/color] The Blue Beetle tapped at some buttons on the console as he got out of his seat, he set a circling flight pattern over the city below and one of the monitors changed to a regular kids TV feed. He cut some of the displays to the horrors of what was going on far below. Ted lowered the drivers seat and put the little girl in it, manually adjusting the seatbelt restraints. [color=SKYBLUE]“There. Now you’re tucked in all safe. Aaaaaand you get to be in charge of your own airship. So long as you don’t touch anything. DO NOT. TOUCH. ANYTHING.”[/color] The Blue Beetle emphasized seriously. [color=SKYBLUE]“You’ve got your tv, you can see where you’re going, you’re in charge!”[/color] His smile returned. “So long as I don’t do anything…” The girl noted, with one eyebrow cocked in suspicion. [color=SKYBLUE]“Exactly. When I get back you’ll be all primed and ready to work in politics. Or as a CEO somewhere.”[/color] Suddenly the kids network flicked over to another singular face, filling the tv. [color=00aeef]“Citizens, please remain calm. SHIELD has established a safe area at the United Nations Headquarters. We have taken over the Emergency Services, and will send operatives to try and rescue you from danger. Please dial 911 and we will get to you as soon as possible. This message will now repeat.”[/color] Ted flicked the channel over for another kids channel. [color=00aeef]“Citizens, please remain calm…” “...SHIELD has established…” “...--fe area at the United Nations He--...”[/color] The Blue Beetle furrowed his brow. The last thing he needed was this girl to be worked up into a greater and greater panic being strapped in and forced to watch Captain America dwelling on the situation at hand. Earnest and sincere as he may well be. [color=SKYBLUE]“You know what? Forget TV. You’re in charge, remember?”[/color] He changed the monitor display from the TV to the assortment of towers surrounding New York that were active. [color=SKYBLUE]“So you can be a big girl and watch us fix this thing, and you can be our Eye-In-the-Sky. Here.”[/color] He slid open a drawer and removed three earpiece telecommunication devices, giving one to the girl and tossing two to the others. [color=SKYBLUE]“That way you can talk to us and tell us what’s happening.”[/color] “What about yours?” [color=SKYBLUE]“Mine’s already fitted in the cowl.”[/color] “Can I call 911 with this?” [color=SKYBLUE]“You don’t need to call 911. The heroes are already here.”[/color] He smiled reassuringly. She cocked her eyebrow suspiciously again. "Do heroes usually sweat this much?” [color=SKYBLUE]“I don’t know.”[/color] Ted shot back. [color=SKYBLUE]“Do grateful rescued little girls usually bust chops this much?”[/color] Neither of them knew it right then, but in the weeks to come Ted would come to understand that the answer to that particular rhetorical question was “Yeah, more than you might think.” [color=#507de5]"You ever get that you have a gift with children?"[/color] Spider-Man said, eyeing the windows as The Bug drew close. [color=SKYBLUE]"Oh, all the time. I have so many plaques I had to start throwing them away."[/color] The Bug swooped through the air and descended on Madison Square Garden. It was alight with red and blue neon and long panes of glass stretched around its circular body. Throngs of people washed in and out of it, two waves of bodies clashing at the entrance. "Are ve sure zhat ve can get through zhat?" Nightcrawler asked. He fidgeted with the breastplate of his costume. [color=SKYBLUE]"No, but I guess we're gonna try anyway."[/color] Ted attached himself to the sky-wire and tugged against the connection point on his belt, wondering if that sounded heroic. Spider-Man pressed the key designated for opening the hatch and deploying the sky-wire. The hatch began to trundle open. [color=#507de5]"Anyone have any inspiring words? I left my phrasebook in my other pants."[/color] "Vhonce more unto zhe breach." Nightcrawler said. [i]That was way more heroic...[/i] Spider-Man web-slung his way to the ground far below, Ted dropped in on his Sky-wire and the Nightcrawler made his own dramatic entrance as puffs of ebony smoke dispersed at distant interval from the Bug towards the ground, before a final burst on the ground saw a twistng dark blue metahuman nailing raging citizens with an assortment of acrobatic kicks, clearing a safe space for the other two to come to ground. Spider-Man hit the ground and bounded forward on legs coiled like springs, bowling over rows of oncoming combatants and propelling himself forward with webline after webline. Nightcrawler vanished in a burst of black smoke and seemed to flicker across the battlefield, taking down civilians and sweeping legs as Spider-Man pirouetted in the sky. Ted jogged forward and thought that maybe twenty minutes on the treadmill every day would be a good idea. [color=SKYBLUE]"Hup!"[/color] Ted pulled himself over the turnstile with his good arm as Spider-Man launched past him and burst through the Garden's glass doors, with Nightcrawler on his heels. Ted hauled himself up and forward, sprinting through the doors and nearly slamming into Spider-Man and Nightcrawler who stood before him, surveying the stadium. “Whoa…” The three said in unison. A small tower edifice was set up at center court, protected by two armed guards. But it was what surrounded them that prompted their reaction. Dozens. Perhaps as many as a hundred… perhaps even slightly more, average janes and joes brawling all around them on the court. As vicious as earlier on the street. [color=SKYBLUE]"Hell of a lot of fighting considering the Rangers aren't even in town..."[/color] “Is it just me, or do ze vones vith ze guns not seem at all bothered with ze idea of ze others even trying to hurt zem?” [color=SKYBLUE]“Huh. I think you’re onto something there.”[/color] Suddenly the little girl broke in far too loud over the comm-link. “I think the one at the Park stopped working. The little blinking light has gone out!” Ted cycled throught the displays on his visor until he got to an overlay of the tower map. Spider-Man scrapped for his phone. She was right. [color=SKYBLUE]“Thank you very much. You’re being very helpful.”[/color] [color=#507de5]“I knew phone-a-friend would come in handy.”[/color] Spider-Man said over the line. They heard a giggle and then things went back to radio silence. [color=SKYBLUE]"If you two can keep them busy, then I should be able to get down there and check out what kind of hardware they’re rocking.”[/color] Ted said, reaching into his belt and pulling at a USB drive attached to a cord which was filled with Hack-and-Crack tools. The gesture was far less impressive than Blue Beetle had hoped, as the other two looked on with uncertainty. Nightcrawler scratched the back of his head with his tail. [color=SKYBLUE]“Oh, come on! We just jumped out of a custom aircraft which I made myself, which is currently circling on auto-pilot! You think I can’t do this!?”[/color] He whispered hoarsely. “I don’t know… There vere a lot of loose vires everyvhere in there…” Spider-Man eyed the gun-toting goons, who were just beginning to notice them. [color=#507de5]"We better get a key to the city or something for this... At least a commemorative keychain."[/color] Spider-Man launched forward and hung a webline off the rafters, swooping over the obsidian tower. "Viel glück, Herr Beetle." Nightcrawler said as he stepped forward, vanishing into a plume of smoke. Gunfire erupted enmasse from the goons guarding the tower, peppering the ceiling with bulletholes as Spider-Man dodged between support beams and launched balls of webbing down at the guards. Nightcrawler supported him, creeping up from behind in ghostly flashes of purple as he ripped assault rifles from hands and disappeared as quickly as he had come. Spider-Man dove from his perch while the gunmen searched for their teleporting assailant. He had barely kissed the ground before he was moving again, launching through the crowd and lashing out with kicks and bursts of webbing. [color=#507de5]"Hurry up, BB! I'm allergic to lead!"[/color] "Vell, zhey seem to be allergic to X-Men!" Nightcrawler erupted from the floor in a wave of smoke and caught a gunman in the stomach. Ted saw his opening and raced over to the tower, his shoes’ squeaks echoing as he crossed the hardwood basketball court. He slid unnecessarily over to the tower, took off a cover panel which revealed a display monitor and auxiliary ports for the device. The Blue Beetle jacked in his USB and quickly got to work on cracking the tech. A few seconds passed as he tried various things before he found a way in. The display monitor started regurgitating code at a rapid pace, scrolling down the monitor. [color=SKYBLUE]“I’m in!”[/color] He alerted the others through comms. “Ja wirklich??? I mean, Vell Done! Now hurry up and turn it off or self destruct it, or somezing!” Nightcrawler’s voice came through, muffled presumably from physical altercations. [color=SKYBLUE]“I don’t think that would help, unfortunately.”[/color] Beetle said, trying desperately to keep up with the code. [color=#507de5]“What do you mean?”[/color] Spider-Man called through, backflipping over a small mob, before webbing them to the ground. [color=SKYBLUE]“They’re semi-autonomous. They’ll just look for another signal. Another tower. They’ll pick up a faint tertiary signal, divert and resume full control once they’re in close enough proximity to resume primary signal.”[/color] [color=#507de5]“So what now..?”[/color] Spider-Man asked, thwipping away. [color=SKYBLUE]“Well, gimme a minute to see all of what I’m working with...”[/color] Ted kept his thoughts silent, that he wished that Murray Takamoto could see what he was looking at. Murray was the real cyber-wiz at K.O.R.D. Ted kind of just tinkered in his free time and muddled along, figuring things out as he went. What he needed was an anchor, something that he recognized which he could-- [color=SKYBLUE]“I’ve got it!”[/color] “What?” The pair of acrobatic, scrapping heroes said in unison. [color=SKYBLUE]“This string of code here. I’ve seen it before. Air traffic control use it. For T.A.C beacons and automated flight paths.”[/color] Ted’s excitement grew. [color=#507de5]“You can remote deactivate all of the towers at once? End this?”[/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“No. But I think I can--”[/color] Ted paused in mid-thought. “Vhat?” [color=SKYBLUE]“How much do you two want to be heroes..?”[/color] [color=#507de5]“I don’t like the way you’re asking that question, Blue…”[/color] Spider-Man said down the line, his breath steady as he was taking a short rest break on top of a backboard, whilst deranged civilians floundered around beneath, trying unsuccessfully to jump up to where he sat. [color=SKYBLUE]“I can’t shut the others down. But I can limit the damage. Change the battlefield. I can set this tower as the ‘master’ signal. Bring it all down on us here. It will leave the other towers less defended. Just the goons with guns. No more crazy civilians or hideous nanodrone swarms anywhere else. Because they’ll all be on their way here. You heard what Captain America said, they’re working on taking the other towers down. We can make that easier for them. And limit the number of people geting infected as this sprawls out across all of New York...”[/color] Ted spoke earnestly down the comm-line. [color=#507de5]“And kill us?”[/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Not necessarily,”[/color] Ted said with probably not enough optimism to sell the idea, [color=SKYBLUE]“we buy them time and monitor the way they’re taking down the other towers. The second they’ve taken down the last one, we disable this one and it should end all of this.”[/color] [color=#507de5]“Are we going to be able to take down the tower, once we’ve brought all of the swarms, and all of New York’s infected civilians down on ourselves, fighting in this little box?”[/color] Spider-Man asked. [color=SKYBLUE]“...”[/color] “Do it!” Nightcrawler said. “I vill not have zhis plague spread any furzher across zhis city in zhe name of mutantkind!” [color=SKYBLUE]“It’s done.”[/color] Blue Beetle said. [color=#507de5]“Why not?”[/color] Spider-Man said. [color=#507de5]“We’re already having a Hell of a party here, it’d be rude not to invite everyone.”[/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Just give me a second… Cap left a message for us. So, I’m just going to leave an invitation for everyone else… and done.”[/color] Ted typed rapidly, then put his USB back in his belt, and dropped the cover panelling back into place. [color=SKYBLUE]“Now get me up and out of here, before they see me and tear me to shreds.”[/color] Spider-Man swept down, and grabbed the blue garbed hero, before shooting a web-line for the rafters far above. [hr] Suddenly all of the towers across New York City began printing reams of paper, and flashing a message across their internal display screens. [color=SKYBLUE][b]“Yoink! Got your swarm! BWA HA HA! Take out the other towers and come on down! The Blue Beetle, Spider-Man, Nightcrawler and Marv Albert Live from Madison Square Garden! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!”[/b][/color]