Richard had been on standby for a couple hours now, just outside an aged apartment block, inside his command carrier. The plan was for a SWAT team to flush out some metahuman drug den for officers outside to arrest. After doing his own detective work, he found out that they were chasing a small group of buyers, but that didn’t mean they could be ignored. Some of the kids, straight out of high school, had some low-level strength enhancements, the level that could easily break walls and dent cars; and that was exactly what they did, along side ripping ATMs right out of the wall.

	The monitors inside the back trailer connected right to the SWAT team cameras, allowing them to sync up in real time. Richard’s partner, Jennifer, was seated near the wall watching the monitors alongside him. A few moments passed as they formed up on the door, the SWAT leader placed his arm in the air, by his head, and signaled with his fingers.

3… 2.. 1

“Go, go, go!”

“Police, get down on the ground!”

Despite being super strong, they weren’t at the level that they could ignore bullets, and tear gas was something else altogether. 

“That’s my cue.” Richard nodded to his partner and climbed into his suit, as soon as the armor panels hissed closed, he strolled out.

[center]-----[/center]
	Three figures jumped out of the third story window, collecting some good air-time Richard noted, before falling almost literally into his arms. The first boy landed almost a meter from the command trailer, right in front of Richard who was now standing outside. His eyes widened and darted from side to side as he considered his options, and then tried to punch through. Richard sent a swift uppercut, knocking the first kid onto his backside. The second tried to make a break for it, before being closelined by Richard’s extended right arm, and fell right onto his friend.

[color=0072bc]“Sorry, this road’s closed off.”[/color] He said with a smirk under his helmet.

	The third, misplaced himself. On the way down he clipped his feet on a streetlamp, fell forward, slammed his head on the roof of the command car, and then again on the pavement. Instant knockout.

[color=0072bc]“That brings this chapter to a close. Any word from Forensics on those pills?”[/color] Richard asked out loud. Artemis was strangely quiet, usually she at least had something to say, congratulation at the end of a case or something.

[i]“Richard, look up.”[/i] Jen, said over the radio. A giant shadow now eclipsed the sun from their view. An enormous object hovered over the city, and Richard had no idea what to think.

[color=0072bc]“What the hell is that?”[/color]

“A-aliens? For real?” One of the officers on standby outside had stuttered out.

	The alien ship had already left an impression on them, but then a fiery rock easily the size of a few football fields rocketed towards them, and Richard could only stare. This was something that his armor couldn’t stop, he was going to die in an instant; his body tensed up on instinct, as if standing firm was going to help. 

[color=6ecff6]“It’s Icon.”[/color] Artemis finally spoke up. Richard squinted his eyes to get a closer look, a small window suddenly popped up, giving him a zoomed in look at Icon as he struggled.

[color=0072bc]“You have to, come on!” [/color]Richard shouted; he was clearly having trouble as he flew out of view, blocked by several buildings as he continued to fly away. A few moments later, Richard along with everyone in Lost Haven, could see that same asteroid flying back up into space.

“Yes!”

[color=0072bc]“Woo Hoo!”
[/color]

“Go, Icon!”

Everyone on the ground shouted and cheered, then Artemis suddenly spoke up again.

[color=6ecff6]“We need to get back to the station, we’re going to be sitting ducks for what comes next.”
[/color]

[color=0072bc]“Hey, Artemis, you saw that right, can we really do anything right now?”[/color] There was a slight tinge of despair in his voice, he had just seen his own life flash before him, and he wasn’t confident he could fight that. His eyes widened again as hundreds of smaller darts left that same ship.

[color=0072bc]“Fighters? What can [i]we[/i] do against that?”[/color]

[color=6ecff6]“Trust in me.”
[/color]