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[i]24/05/2047
TONDE[/i]

Alex kept his arms folded, even as a man appeared spontaneously out of nowhere. He had an image to maintain, damn it, and the appearance of another super wasn't supposed to phase him. But he'd done several detailed scans of the area, why hadn't this man showed up on his optics? He briefly scrolled through logs of supers with any powers that could confuse or obfuscate cybernetic optics and found several, alleviating his worries at least for the moment. A few of those supers he'd known or heard about; doing things like fooling infra-red or x-ray scanners or even enhanced optics like his.

He didn't really pay attention to the talk after that. He was more focused on pulling up what information he could on the new arrival. Facial recognition almost instantly tagged him as the lead suspect in a number of robberies, homicides and missing persons reports in several places in the US, but not much else came up after that. Mostly rumours and hearsay among the bigger PMCs about some new super with the ability to obfuscate and conceal himself from virtually every kind of surveillance device known to man. A formidable power to be sure, but what came up on his optics told him that this man, past the powers, was still just a man. A bullet in the right place would end his career in the criminal world faster than anything. Alex made sure to save the man's face and bioelectric presence into his cyber's systems, just in case.

Then someone made a play. Someone powerful enough to knock out just about everything in the club save for the single light bulb above their table. Alex felt the wave of electromagnetic energy pulse through the entire building and his back's contact with the wall behind him was enough for him to feel it. No hard reboots, no alarms, but he felt his optics glitch out slightly, along with everything else cybernetic about him. His second skin of nanites rippled and hardened all over his body for a split second before his systems got a hold of the situation and regained control. The Tower immediately scanned for where that wave had come from and his optics settled on Arbiter.

His gaze narrowed at the cop. Did he do this? The question was briefly shoved to the back of his mind as the meeting seemingly wrapped up after the show of force. Hotel rooms were recommended and a rendezvous given. A time and place at a smaller bar in the city. Alex pushed off the wall as he made sure the hotel rooms were indeed being booked for them silently using his cybers, then dusted his hands off and placed his empty glass of water on the table. The big man left last; he sure as hell was going to make sure their new contact wasn't going to stab them in the back.

For Addison. For Hex.
[hr]
Shirtless, Alex slowly paced his hotel room. A burger wrapper, french fry carton and empty cup of soda sat on the coffee table. The meal had done little to soothe his nerves. Ever since he'd gotten to his assigned room (and ordered food along the way), he'd been itching to get answers. Mostly on their comrade, Arbiter. Who was he really? He sure as hell wasn't some backwoods cop with a shoestring connection to Hex. That much was obvious. And what were those powers he'd displayed earlier at the club?

Alex sat down in one of the two armchairs in the room and let a long sigh escape his chest. He knew Arbiter was in the room next to him; Alex's room was sandwiched between Stardust's and Arbiter's, and he could also see the man through the walls. His optics allowed him the benefit of x-ray vision so he knew precisely where the cop was: sitting at the smartDesk and talking with someone. Not like he could hear the conversation but the movements of the man's lower jaw suggested conversation. So Alex did the only thing he could: use his own systems to dig around for information.

He moved to his Desk and, after a brief moment syncing his cybernetic systems with the hotel's internal system, took to the phone immediately. His sister picked up on the second ring.

[color=lightblue]"Shirl?"[/color]

[color=lightgreen]"Alex."[/color] She breathed a sigh of relief over the call. [color=lightgreen]"You're alright. Thank god."[/color]

[color=lightblue]"Yeah, I'm fine."[/color] He lowered his voice. [color=lightblue]"Listen: do me a favour. I need you to look up our cop friend for me."[/color]

[color=lightgreen]"Who, Arbiter? Yeah I can, but why?"[/color]

[color=lightblue]"I have a suspicion he isn't who he says he is. He shut down a club today by standing up and slamming his hands on a table. And I mean electronically. I felt the EMP wave come from him."[/color]

Shirley squinted at the screen and screwed her lips in a frown.

[color=lightgreen]"That bad, eh? You suspect super?"[/color]

Alex nodded. [color=lightblue]"Yep. That's why I need you to look into him for me."[/color]

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. It was abundantly clear that she was also running on little sleep and a bundle of nerves.

[color=lightgreen]"I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, go get some sleep. Isn't it 3 AM for you?"[/color]

[color=lightblue]"Ish. Send me what you find and I'll have a look at it later."[/color]

[color=lightgreen]"Alright. Oh, Alex?"[/color]

[color=lightblue]"Yeah?"[/color]

[color=lightgreen]"You got any leads?"[/color]

He shook his head. [color=lightblue]"No, but we've got a job to do to get us a lead. A drone from Envoy's fortress crashed in a Carolex facility. We're going to...steal it."[/color]

Shirley's eyes widened.

[color=lightgreen]"Carolex? One of [i]the[/i] biggest supercorps in the world?! Are you insane? Are your friends insane?! You remember what happened when that corp wanted to test its new security measures."[/color]

He knew. All too well. One of the few scars he did have was from a Carolex hyper-sonic high explosive squash head anti-super round fired directly at his chest. Obviously the strength of the round was dumbed down because he was just a test subject loaned to the corp by the British Military for a weapons test, but it still had hurt. Penetrated his first and second layers of armour and did him some damage. Fixed without a worry, of course, but his chest still bore the vaguely circular scar and burn marks from the round.

[color=lightblue]"I know, Shirl. I...am not gonna say that I might come out of it without a few more scratches. But we have Stardust with us, along with some guy named Void who can conceal himself from cameras and hypersensitive optics. And we both know Maysah. She's powerful. Way more powerful than both of us combined."[/color]

[color=lightgreen]"Yeah, and remind me again if her reflexes are superhuman? Or if she's hardy like you? She might not survive a few of those Hyper-HESH rounds you know. You might not either."[/color]

Alex sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed.

[color=lightblue]"I- fuck, Shirley. I don't even know what we're doing here. This is like, the furthest we could be in finding out who killed Hex and Addison. But if it gets us a lead, I have to try."[/color]

His sister's expression softened in the call.

[color=lightgreen]"Stay safe. After that missile...and since we're apart right now, I can't be there to help you."[/color]

[color=lightblue]"I know, Shirl."[/color]

Alex placed a hand to the holographic screen and Shirley reciprocated the gesture; their palms together even though they were several hours apart.

[color=lightblue]"You stay safe too, okay? We'll be back together soon."[/color]
[hr]
[i]24/5/2047
A Morning Cup[/i]

Alex arrived next, having stopped by a clothes store to make a few more purchases so he had some better clothes than his superhero get-up. Simple stuff; a t-shirt with the American flag emblazoned across the front, blue jeans and the same work boots from earlier. His imposing figure made his journey through the obnoxious flyer-givers, suits and expensive cologne a lot easier; people parted when a tall, obviously augmented for strength, man made polite nods and soft 'excuse me's to the crowd in the bar. Once he spotted Arbiter and Stardust, he made a beeline straight for them and took a seat at their table, trapping Arbiter between himself on one end and Maysah on the other.

[color=lightblue]"You can say that again. Why are we even agreeing to steal this drone back from one of the biggest bio-tech engineering corps in the world?"[/color]