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Houston had become a disaster zone in the hour since Booster had arrived in the city. Explosions had ripped through the downtown business district as rush hour began, and she saw  that some of the city's extensive highway system had collapsed. Cars and people were strewn about along the ground, some under mounds of rubble that other people were trying to dig them out of.

She cursed herself as she looked over the scene. If she hadn't hesitated maybe she'd have been here to save people. Maybe if she hadn't considered following the rules Agger had given, she may have gotten here in time.

Those thoughts were nothing but distractions though. She got here almost as soon as she had heard about the explosions. Blaming herself for something these monstrous act was nothing more than self pity and doubt from her current situation. Booster couldn't allow her doubts about what Roxxon was doing to stop her from doing her job correctly.

And her job was to save people.

Swooping down towards the nearest pile of rubble, Booster moved between the citizens standing and gawking at the destruction and towards the ones doing their best to dig out their fellow commuters.

"How many are underneath!?" she asked, coming up alongside them.

A man beside her hurled a small boulder of conrecte down the hill. It clunked against the rest of the rubble before coming to a stop next to a crushed car. He shook his head, "At least three cars. Dunno how many people. But we don't need your help, supe. It's because of your kind this happened in the first place."

Booster recoiled as if she had been slapped by the man's words. She knew that the public sentiment towards the superpowered was turning ill ever since the incidents in New York and Star City, but she had never experienced anything like this. Usually she just got a dirty look or two. This was full on hostility.

"Wh-what do you mean?" she managed to get out. It was all she could say through the daze of surprise.

"I saw her," the venom in the man's voice was palpable. "Blond woman on a pink motorcycle. She touched the supports with her hand. They started to glow. She took off on the bike, and once she was clear the whole damn thing went up. Came crashing down. Because of you people."

There was no point in arguing with the man. He had made up his mind about her, and she couldn't blame him after what he had seen here and all the propaganda that the government was putting out. But he had given her enough information to start tracking the subject. She motioned for him to move, and he did reluctantly. Using her force field emitters, she scooped a large amount of the rubble off the top of the pile, and moved it to a safe location. Underneath, she saw the people in the cars were alive, but injured. First responders rushed by her and down to help them. With a nod to the man, she took off once again.

"Skeets," she asked her AI companion, "can you track the woman that guy was talking about? I figure it's the only way we're gonna stop whatever's going on here."

"Affirmative, ma'am," the robot said with a chipper demeanor. "Showing up on your heads-up display now."

Instantly, a line running away from the disaster site appeared on her visor, "Skeets, what would I do without you?"

"Probably very little, ma'am."

She took off towards the culprit, hoping she could stop them before anything else went wrong.
[hr]

The door to John Henry Irons's lab slid open with a barely-audible whoosh, and a guard stepped in through it, before locking it behind him. The engineer peered up from his work thanks to the odd occurrence. Never before could he remember being locked into his own lab.

"Something wrong?" he asked, almost bored with the entire situation. He didn't think there was any reason for him to be moved here in the first place. Surely if he was going to be defended, it was better to do so away from a population center. Here in Houston there were far too many variables. As a scientist, that was disconcerting. But the people who signed his checks felt better with him being here, so here he was. He wasn't about to upset the cart and lose his funding.

"Wrong? No, Doctor Irons," the guard shook his head but continued to move around the room. "We just want someone in here with you until we have the all clear. With the superhero gone and all, we don't want to risk someone getting in under our noses."

"Mhm," the engineer's eyes narrowed at him. "Shouldn't you be standing by the door then? Just in case."

"No I think I'd rather be-"

Irons flipped one of the sonic gauntlets he had been designing for the suit around and shot it towards the guard. Unfortunately the impostor was ready for the move and rolled out of the way of the blast, which shattered part of the gleaming white wall behind them. The guard raised a gun and fired on the doctor, striking him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart. The guard smiled maliciously as Irons fell to his knees.

"Sorry about that, Doc," the guard grinned hungrily. As he did his face began to contort and change. It lost color, quickly become a pale, chalky white. The skin started to hang loosely on his face, almost as if it wasn't attached to the bone at all. Scars ran through it, and John Henry Irons was disappointed he hadn't added to them. "Name's Chiller. I've been paid a lot of money to bring you and your toys in. No hard feelings, okay?"

As Irons began to slip into a medically induced sleep, he heard the Chiller say into his comms device, "Package is secure. Waiting for extraction."