Roadblock
Location: Sherman Square, Lost Haven
Many would think most if not all police stations looked the same on the inside, or maybe some wouldn’t think about it at all. Richard had spent a good amount of his time in police stations, from his former station at Precinct 7, to the SCD’s building, and now Precinct 13. It was a police station all in the same, it has detective desks, interrogation rooms, and that familiar thick scent of fresh donuts and coffee constantly coming and going.
But the layout was alien to him, he had gotten lost a few times in the last few days, and it didn’t help that the leftovers of the SCD had to bunk in with Precinct 13. They were nice people, good men as far as he could, but there really was no space, luckily most of them got to share a temporary desk with their partners.
For the past few days the SCD had pooled their resources and information with their fellow officers to establish some overarching connection with the Hounds, they felt like they were making some progress, a few warehouses here and there, large movements of cash and arms, but it was all coming from somewhere, and they had no idea where that was from. It didn’t help that their Hound prisoners from the attack had all offed themselves; medical examination had found that they had hidden cyanide pills in their mouths, most likely to keep them out of police hands, or the hands of some ruthless vigilante.
Richard and his SCD officers did their best to maintain their standard quota, responding to several calls, although most of them were small to insignificant. Funny how a few terrorists put the fear of god into the troublemakers. The next chance he got Richard swore he was going to go over some of the older SCD case files again, the others mocked him for digging into the books so much, but there was one thing nobody ever talked about, the case where his predecessor died.
At least that’s what he planned to do, the loud hustle and bustle of officers coming and going made it that much harder to concentrate, and he had to give up all together when his partner Detective McMann grabbed his shoulder.
“Hunter, you really have to see this.” She said, her voice had something in it, and there was also a sudden air of urgency and fear coating the building. So he looked up to one of the few wall mounted TVs, and what he saw left him speechless. Several cities were just shot, no, obliterated by some kind of orbital weapon. It seemed like something out of some kind of sci-fi flick, but it was very real, and the Hounds quickly made it clear that they weren’t stopping anytime soon.
It didn’t take long for the building to get busy again, hundreds of people, including close friends and family of officers started calling in, or walking in, demanding answers, and answers were something they all wished they had. A couple hours later the president came out with a speech, a declaration that the Hounds were not welcome in the slightest, that the military would be moving against them soon, and that meant new orders for everyone.
And soon enough they had all been called to the briefing room by their respective chiefs, Captain Kelly from the LHSCD and Captain Brown. There was no time for comfort considering the situation, so every officer had to patiently wait their turn inside the cramped briefing room. Every single officer waited, hoping, that their orders would get them a chance to bring the Hounds in. But one by one they were all sent out to manage checkpoints or block off certain parts of the city. Finally, the only officers left were Richard and McMann, the both of which were counting on being able to do something useful with the armor.
“Detective Hunter and McMann, you and the rest of the Roadblock team are to remain on standby.”
“Sir, after everything we’ve been through you can’t sugg-” McMann was quick to announce her dissatisfaction, she wasn’t usually this volatile, but this outburst must be due to her longer connection to the team and the armor by extension. Richard had felt like he should have backed her up, but he simply didn’t have as much history with the group, and it turns out he didn’t need to.
The Captain made a loud 'throat clearing' noise to cut off McMann, he readjusted his tie and continued on.
“Official orders tell me to put you on standby, no armor, just like everyone else. But you should probably keep an eye out for Icon and Iron Knight. They’ve been seen at a few of these other events, including Pax Humana.” The Captain picked that particular day because he knew just how much of a history those two have with it, and that history showed as McMann regained her usual stern composure.
-----
Because the Roadblock armor is incapable of flight, and running across the city just wasn’t feasible, it operates out of a special police trailer. This trailer serves as a mobile command base, and as a transport vehicle for the Roadblock armor. The trailer itself had the letters “LHSCD” painted onto the sides, with lights mounted on the roof. The inside had several mechanical arms in the back, along with other devices Richard couldn’t identify, all with the purpose of mobile maintenance and transportation of the suit.
“You may not like it, but Icon and Iron Knight have been at the center, watching for them is a good way to get to the bottom of this.” McMann said, currently she was the one driving the trailer, but to where she didn’t say.
“Even if it’s true, I don’t like it, it’s not detective work.” Richard, he was clearly uncomfortable, but if was related to what he said, or because he had been forced to sit in the passenger’s seat wasn’t clear.
“Just make sure to keep your eyes open for proper leads then, and besides, manning a checkpoint isn’t detective work either.” A voice said from one of the wall mounted screens, showing a simple smile emote made of dots and lines, representing Artemis.
Several minutes later a call came in from dispatch, the Roadblock team was a little more than surprised when details came in. Helicopters, robots, and dozens of trucks all converging on Sherman square; along with Icon and several other heroes turning up for an appearance too.
“Sounds like a mess, let’s get ready Richard, we’ll need the heavy load out.” The pixelated smile of Artemis’s avatar flattened out before the screen went completely blank, a moment later the back of the Roadblock suit opened up, allowing Richard to climb in. The suit booted up quickly with a soft ‘whirring’ noise, the armor panels closed and secured themselves behind him with a dulled hiss, and the manipulator arms around him quickly began attaching more equipment and armor to his body.
-----
As they drove closer to Sherman Square the sounds of gunfire and explosions grew ever clearer, and more frequent, a sign that the fighting was only ramping up; followed by the sounds of helicopters swooping in and around the square. From their angle they could see just the top of some kind of blue dome, and only a moment later it was assaulted by a barrage of artillery.
“Just look at that, normal law enforcement doesn’t stand a chance.” Richard had absentmindedly said, although his circumstances had chanced, he couldn’t help but still picture himself as just a detective.
“Then luckily, we’re not normal.” Artemis said, using the suit’s speakers as her own; her pixel avatar appeared in the bottom center of Richard’s screen, giving him a small smile.
“Jen, open the doors please.” Artemis continued on. She was one of the only ones to address Detective McMann so casually, and it drove in further just how new he was to the unit.
“We can’t get any closer with the trailer?” Richard asked, although he started to position himself near the back anyways, being careful not to get stuck on an arm, or any of the shelves hanging from the walls.
“We’re armored sure, but this is far from a tank, we wouldn’t last very long in that.” As soon as McMann said that she furiously twisted the steering wheel, sending the trailer into a hard turn, the wheels screeched and the vehicle itself almost tipped over in the process. Richard started leaning the other way, and somehow the trailer slammed back down onto its tires. The rear doors opened up a few seconds later giving him a good look into the street in front of him, there were still cars parked on the side of the road, but he was glad to see it was emptier than usual. The trailer had to turn away from the square for its own safety, but they did their best to get as close as possible.
Richard leaned forward, and placed his arms on the edge of the doors, ready to push himself off. A wall of metal plating rose up from the floor to protect those behind him, the boosters on his suit burst to life with a thunderous boom, and a subtle whine from the boosters themselves. Richard shot out from the back of the trailer, doing his best to twist and turn himself towards the square, his jets cut off soon enough and he landed with a short skid, sliding into Sherman Square.
First thing he noticed was that it was incredibly windy and it was raining harder than it should have been according to projected weather reports, though that could have been due to those disks in the air shooting out ice. Those disks were shooting out some kind of coolant that quickly turned into icicles, coating the ground in a slick frozen surface. The ice might have been a problem if he was forced to run around on the ground, but he didn’t have to fight like that anymore, with the armor’s jets he could jump around, and if he did have to make tracks the heat from his rockets would most likely melt the ice enough for him.
There were also several story tall mechs running around, Icon and a couple others he couldn’t recognize were fighting some of these on their own.
“They made more of those suits, helicopters in the city, and that damn satellite in orbit. These Hounds are seriously backed, where in the hell did they get all this?” Richard started muttering his disbelief, it was obvious even before today that the terrorist organization was well equipped, but this was ridiculous. He also managed to spot Iron Knight in a fight with someone else, probably a Hound as well.
“That blade, it looks a lot like..” Richard had started to let his mind wander, but luckily for him he had someone to bring him right back.
“I saw it too Richard, but we need to focus.” Artemis said, shaking him out of his surprise, just in time to catch a couple of the helicopters turning their attention towards him. A hailstorm of bullets rained down on him, leaving only scratch marks and light dents, all thanks to their polarized plating. The jets on his armor fired up again, letting him dash around, avoiding most of the gunfire and the incoming missiles.
It didn’t take him long to return fire, he leveled his rifle upwards and fired off several rounds in response, the helicopters shook as they took fire, but their armor held up and they flew off to do another firing run. It only occurred to him now that the helicopters would be heavily armored, and bullet resistant, as expected of military craft.
“Ah, damn, I really need a stronger gun.” Richard said, chastising himself, along with giving himself a soft palm to the face.
“Lucky you, we have two.” Artemis cheerfully replied, and in response the guns over his shoulders began to hum to life.
“Aim your gun to the left, and I’ll take the one on the right.”
Richard aimed his gun up again and waited for the helicopters to come around for him again, and luckily it didn’t take long. The machine gun over his left shoulder spun to life in an instant and tore into the left helicopter, assisted by his own carbine. The helicopter shook again, except this time it couldn’t withstand the barrage, the armor crumpled under the combined fire of his mounted machine gun and his rifle, and it exploded in a fiery explosion.
The second helicopter hadn’t lasted even half as long, the gun on his right pointed itself up and over to the right, a red stream of energy shot out, and pierced through the helicopter, burning a bright red hole into it, ignoring the armor completely. It exploded not even a moment later, bringing a sudden and well deserved end to the Hounds pilots. The gun hissed as steam escaped the barrel, marking the end of that encounter.
But it wasn’t the end of the fight, there were still Hounds around, and they weren’t going to leave on their own.
