[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/H3gQQuc.jpg?1[/img][/center]
[right][sup][b]The Bug. Gotham City. New Jersey.[/b][/sup][/right][hr]Even flying over the city, Gotham gives Ted the willies. While the pandemic may have affected New York to a greater extent than other American cities, causing a spike in crime and a breakdown in order, Gotham was in a permanent state of collapse for as long as Kord could remember. Its streets were a maze of twisting alleys and winding paths, owning to its Gothic design inspirations. When you walked its sidewalks, it was as if the buildings themselves hovered over you, their gargoyles peering down like hungry predators. 

He had never liked to visit the place, mostly because of the Wayne murders back in the day. His father had told him all about them, and the similarities between his family and the Waynes led Ted to be paranoid about his father coming here for business. After all, if it happened to one rich family, why couldn't it happen to another? He had gotten over that childish fear, obviously. He came here himself on business often. But there was still something in the back of his mind whenever he was in the town, like an itch he could never quite scratch.

Crime was rampant here, and always had been. It got worse when New York started to clean itself up in the 90s, displacing a ton of, for lack of a better term, goons. What easier way for an out of work criminal to get gainfully employment than to move across the river? So as New York began to rise, Gotham just seemed to get worse. It was tragic, but the city seemed to bring it on itself, continually emrbacing its seedy and corrupt nature.

Whatever was going on at the train station, however, had nothing to do with Gotham's normal level of crime. A terrorist takeover was not the norm, and someone taking a bunch of hostages screamed bad news in Ted's mind. Terrorists didn't take hostages, at least not ones inside a huge, easily breachable building in the center of a city. These guys, whoever they were, wanted to put on a show. 

As the Bug made its way towards Gotham Central Station, the proximity alarm started to blare inside the ship. Ted panicked, thinking it may have been an attack from some sentry the paramilitary terrorists had left on the roof, but instead he found that another aircraft was hovering over the train station.

[color=6ecff6]"Kha, any heat signitures inside the aircraft?"[/color]

"No, sir."

[color=6ecff6]"So it's hovering there automatically?"[/color]

"Why are you so surprised, sir? That is what this aircraft will be doing shortly."

[color=6ecff6]"Yea...I know...I just...thought I was the only one who could do something like that,"[/color] Blue Beetle was obviously crestfallen at the realization he was not as brilliant as he had hoped. He studied the readout of the aircraft, and saw it had a striking profile. Swooping crescents on each side gave it the appearance of a...bat? Yea, something like that. 

[color=6ecff6]"Man, he's even got a cooler gimmick than I do,"[/color] Ted sighed. Why did he pick a bug?

"There is a heat signiture on the roof, sir," the AI program informed him. "Possibly the owner of said aircraft. Maybe you can ask him on some style points."

[color=6ecff6]"Seriously, I don't know where this sense of humor came from, but I'm going to have to look into it,"[/color] Ted sighed again and made his way to the center of the Bug, where in a few seconds he'd drop down towards the hostage situation. Before he did, however, he had another trick up his sleeve he wanted to try out. "Kha, dispatch two of the mini Beetles. Have one disrupt the power into the station, have another take out the generator back up the place turns to in emergencies. I want to make sure we're the only ones who can see well down there."

"Understood, sir."

With that, the bottom dropped out from below Ted, and he hung onto the drop rope tightly until it stopped a foot above the roof of Gotham Central Station. He stepped off lightly, and made his way to where Kha had indicated the heat signature was on top of the roof.

What Ted found surprised even him. Hunched over, peering down into the station through the large, glass-domed parts of the roof, was a man dressed, if Ted was being generous, as Dracula mixed with a SWAT officer. A long, flowing black cape hung off his shoulders, a pointed cowl obscured his face, and black and grey tactical armor covered his frame. 

Blue Beetle approached, but before he could say anything, the man in black moved like the wind. He swept Ted's legs from under him, and pinned him to the ground with a knee to the chest, fist ready to strike.

The Beetle waved his hands, [color=6ecff6]"Chill, dude! Same team! Same team!"[/color]
[center]**********[/center]
[hr][center]**********[/center][sub]IC: Kobra Soldier[/sub]
So far, everything had gone as their leader has predicted. The pigs of Gotham were oblivious as Kobra slithered into their presence, the glorious soldiers of the true order coming in through multiple entrances, all dressed in their green and gold. Once they were inside, every soldier found their weapons exactly where their grand leader had told the security guards they had paid off to put them. Gotham was rotten to the core, and there was nothing easier than finding someone in the city to bribe. It was the perfect place for their sacrifice. They would wash the world of the filth of these people, showing the true God that it had servants ready to make the world ready for it.

He only wished he was on the kill floor when the sacrifice happened, not patrolling the outer corridors of the train station. Even though his master assured him he would reap the same benefits in paradise, he had his doubts.

But suddenly, the sound of broken glass behind him drew his attention. He turned to find a door opening slowly. Without thinking, he fired a round wildly into the door, hitting the top corner, and called out, "INTRUDER!"

[@Master Bruce][@Polyphemus]