Excalibur; looking strange in his enormous, somewhat rounded, metal suit; was flying beside the helicopter, keeping contact via radio. Silver; no longer the commander, but generally assumed, should Excalibur fall, to be the second in command, was studying Arakiel while stretching his arms against the rack overhead, while Imperious was examining the chains on her flail, before glaring at Cascade; the woman immediately looking away, pretending nothing had happened; though she'd obviously been shining part of Imperious's armor.

Silver looked more like a normal soldier; a standard black and green DMA armored uniform, the only real difference being the silver breastplate and helmet. A rifle strapped to his back, a revolver in his hand; and a long row of metal cylinders along his right arm like some strange gauntlet device.

Imperious looked like an armored angel from a fantasy novel; and aside from what was on her wings, every bit of the classic european-style silvery armor was real; granted, it was hardened composites with a silver paintjob rather than actual metal.

Cascade; one Arakiel had hadn't met before arriving at the aircraft; was wearing sleek blue armor with silver accents and a breastplate just like Silver's; the water-controlling metahuman was just a teenage girl when she joined a few years ago, but had been the deadliest member from day one; and also a bit of a prankster; apparently making a damp rag dance across smudges of dirt on the angel's armor when she wasn't looking.

He knew Terminal existed, but had yet to see her; and wasn't certain if she'd be here. In theory, she was 'the team's' speedster; but she was always doing something, and might be hundreds of miles away. He glanced out at Excalibur, then at Imperious. "Why are you in here with us, instead of being out there flying?"

She chuckled. "Ex can outrun an aircraft. I can't. Still. More important things to talk about. What's the situation?"

Arakiel blinked. Was she talking to him? Ahh, no. Silver was doing something with the gauntlet on his left arm. "Alright, we've got four perps chasing after a civilian along the interstate. All of them are metas of some sort, and seem to have similar powers, so probably related or magical. The civilian also seems to be a meta; unknown powers, name of 'Jacob Mort'. He managed to stop them for a bit with some sort of energy blast, then lose them at a small town a few minutes out, and one of these unknowns did something that caused all of the drivers... and everyone else besides... to go mad. There's an ongoing riot, and the whole area is locked down with car accidents blocking every street. We're only gonna be one team that goes in of several, but they want us to take out the targets before too many enter; whatever happened, we've got security footage of cars ramming into each other all over town; if they were trying to stop this Mort guy from fleeing by car, they got it done; maybe even got an angry mob to tear him apart. We'll have to see when we arrive. Terminal is in New York dealing with a criminal speedster, so she might be out for a while, or may arrive to provide backup at any given moment. Don't count on her."

He inhaled, glanced at Arakiel. "Against the four metahumans in armor, kill on sight. The Swords don't have much of a living rogues gallery, and I'd prefer it stay that way. If the others surrender after we take down the first one, we'll let them go to jail instead. Otherwise, the plan is to fly back with four corpses and one living civilian. If they aren't wearing body-armor, assume a civilian and try to disable... but taking down the ones making them riot is a priority. People are murdering each other as we speak."

He chuckles. "Not that I anticipate you'll have much to do. Excalibur will probably handle it all within seconds, but.... we need to arrive together just in case he needs us."

***

A tall, powerfully built figure in dark green body-armor complete with helmet, Sorrow was standing on top of a police car, watching the people run around screaming; an old lady was currently beating a police officer with her purse, even as said officer was repeatedly pounding on a car door, trying to smash his way in; trying to spot the thief. Wherever he is, he should be acting normally; unless he was pretending to be enraged to blend in. "Goddamnit. This was supposed to be our debut! Our big moment! Show off, kick ass, be the next big thing... take out some heroes, rob some banks... Fear, where the fuck are you?" Sorrow focused for a few seconds, watching the people nearby. The rage faded; they dropped to their knees, weeping helplessly, all at virtually the same time. No. No fakers here.

After a moment, a voice came on his earbud. "I'm here with Hate. He told me to stick with him until we get the artifact back."

Sorrow nodded, crouched, and leapt on top of the nearest building; inadvertently slamming into a massive air conditioning unit and crushing it as he pulled back to his feet. "Fuck. On the one hand... awesome work, Hate, no way he's driving out of this. On the other... he's got a whole town he can be hiding in, how the hell do we find him?"

A soft crackle. The distinctive deep, synthesized voice of Hate; the paranoid nutjob always used something to mask it; "The artifacts are all meant to be housed in one control device. There should be a 'pull' drawing them together. If we split far enough apart, unless he's right on top of one of us, we should feel a sort-of 'tug' towards his location. It's why I told you idiots to split up to begin with."

Sorrow frowned, laying his hand on his chest. The artifact there was hidden behind armor plating, just over his heart; but he tried to connect with it. To feel where it wanted to go. He nodded, and studied his compass. "Ahh.... I can feel it pulling me.... east. And south."

A few seconds of silence as he watched the crowds; he hadn't charged it up much, so the weeping was fairly localized; most of the town was still just hitting each other, or whatever random objects happened to be nearby. When Hate's voice next emerged, Sorrow smiled.

"We're all along a line to the east of you, roughly, and I feel the same. He's gotta be south of us. You feel it too, Jealousy?" "Confirmed. Lets all head south, keep an eye out. It doesn't feel too precise, but all we should need to do is pulse ours for a second and anyone who doesn't react has to be him."

Sorrow blinked. "Wait. I didn't think yours worked that way? I know our three are all a sudden reaction, but yours..."

"Takes more time to matter, yes... but it will also make them stop just randomly breaking shit."

Sorrow nodded, smiled... and then stared. "Incoming aircraft! Looks like we've got our first victims! And... wait, is that..."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

One moment, the green-armored figure was staring at the unknown silver orb in the sky. The next... a humanoid mass of death was hurtling at him at unbelievable speeds. Sorrow reflexively raised a hand, triggering the artifact again; moments before being struck... his torso collapsing, his last moments filled with horrible pain as he shifted and twitched on the ground... not living long enough to see the massive armored figure drop to his knees, holding his head in his hands.

***

Arakiel stared down at the weeping form of Excalibur, crouched atop what was left of the green figure; were these guys all wearing green, or was this a Power Rangers sort of situation?

Silver looked for a moment.. and shook his head. "Some sort of emotional control power, definitely. We'll get him sorted out back at HQ, but we need to be careful with the others. One down, three to go..." He glanced at Imperious. "You were almost as close as Excalibur. Did you feel anything?"

She shrugged, hovering outside the chopper. Her voice sounded slightly strained over the radio. "Someone tried to use a magical effect on me; an extremely powerful spell. But... it focused on something that doesn't exist in me. I should be fine against the rest of these; we're not talking about mutants. We're talking about some thugs with some sort of magical item.... I'd recommend any humans keep a safe distance."

Silver nodded. "Confirmed. Alright; there's a pair of them together in one spot, and then one solo further east. We'll go around first, clear up the one on his own, then come in to take out the last duo. Command, we need emergency support to Excalibur's location, magical if available. He's got a dead charlie under him and seems to have been hit by some sort of emotional manipulation spell.."

The aircraft swept around the city, Arakiel studied the area below, getting a good overlook on numerous fires, hundreds of car accidents... brutal beatings and clusters of people just lying in the street, weeping, or clawing uselessly at windows. This.... was going to be a messy cleanup. "Fuck. How long do you think this stuff should last?"

"It's magic. No way to know. Usually an emotion-influencing spell just lasts a few minutes, or even seconds. With the amount of power the one Excalibur took out was pouring out, it might be days. Or permanent. On the plus side, its not mind control. People can eventually adapt, its just... a struggle. You can actually train to resist it."

Arakiel inhaled. "Fuck. I don't suppose you know who to talk to for that? I don't like the idea of becoming a liability."

As they reached the next solo enemy, they spotted a tiny blue figure in the distance, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, headed south. "Ahh... yep. Power-Rangers style. What the hell." He chuckled. "Opening the hatch! Just get it close enough and I'll take the shot."

Silver glanced at him, about to say something... but Arakiel had already hooked himself to a rod over the hatch and started yanking it open. He sighed. "Look, kid, I can make my bullets curve in midair, but we need to wait til he stops moving, or we get closer, or there's no way to..."

Arakiel raised the rifle to his shoulder, focusing. He could see hundreds of possible angles and outcomes. Raise it a millimeter here, a headshot... but the bullet didn't pierce the helmet. Whatever it was made of, it was durable as hell. Ahh! He was about to turn and focus on them. And... the armor around the throat wasn't nearly as thick. He pulled the trigger, ignoring Silver's continued complaints...

Two seconds later, the blue-armored figure, apparently named Jealousy, having heard the approaching aircraft, spun, ready to focus the artifact on the upcoming craft to see how effective he could be against them... only to feel, the moment he saw the chopper... a horrible pain. His body went limp. He couldn't feel his arms or legs... and collapsed to the rooftop. As the aircraft sped by, he struggled to breathe... but couldn't even feel his chest. Nothing was responding. The world went dark.

Arakiel yanked the hatch back closed. Silver studied him for a moment... looked at the rifle; just a standard-issue M-45, likely the same type he'd used in the desert. "....Why didn't you get a plasma rifle, or one of the others from the armory?"

"This is what I'm used to. Best not to switch til I've had time to get used to a better weapon. Kinda regretted it for a second there; whatever helmets they're wearing are tough enough to take one."

Silver shook his head, and called it in. "Command, charlie two is down at our coordinates, moving to the location for charlies three and four." He glanced down at the streets below through the window... and blinked. For whatever reason, the locals weren't beating each other anymore... though, they certainly didn't seem well. One of them was trying to hide under a car. The hell was going on now?

***

Fear grunted as he hit the ground, and pulled to his feet, glaring ate Hate; only moments ago, he'd been held by the larger, black-armored figure in what someone might call a 'princess carry'; but then he'd let out a shriek of terror, gripping onto the other man tightly... and inadvertently pissing himself in the armor before being casually dropped to the rooftop. Fear couldn't stand to look at the massive, intimidating figure... or anything else. He... needed a place to hide. He needed to...

He pulled to his feet, looking for the nearest building, and shrieked, as he ran for cover. Hate watched him go, shaking his head. Useless. Even without the protection afforded by his own artifact, he would have been able to resist better than that.

While Fear was cowering beneath a pile of cardboard boxes, the black armor stepped to the edge of the rooftop, and seemed to be looking downward. Not fifty meters away, hidden behind a dumpster, a tiny, weak-seeming figure; a scrawny sorcerer wearing a brown trenchcoat and hat like some old-fashioned detective; was using Fear's artifact. Suppressing the burst of Hate that had driven everyone to start the violence with a layer of fear; undoubtedly saving numerous lives.

As the helicopter approached, and the distant wing-flaps signaled the arrival of someone no human emotional manipulation could work on, the man controlling the armor considered his options; the armor turned to focus on the oncoming angel with her glowing silver flail; and casually stepped off of the rooftop; vanishing the moment he entered the air.

When Imperious landed on the rooftop, she could see a supervillain; possibly; hiding poorly under a pile of soggy cardboard... and shook her head. All that effort, all that flying, and the only takedown she'd get credit for was one who, from the smell of things, had pissed himself in fear before she'd even gotten a chance to touch him. Ugh. She stepped closer, grabbing the miscreant by his ankle, lifting him into the air.

He covered his face with both armored hands. "Please! Please don't kill me! I surrender! I'll tell you everything! Anything!"

She sighed... and dropped him to the rooftop. "Ugh. Fine. You know, I wanted to show off a bit, really have some fun dealing with a magical threat. Most of them are mutants, or robots, magic is always more... fun. But no. You just had to be a pushover. Stay there."

She casually hopped off of the rooftop; a single powerful flap of her wings settling her down beside the man in the trenchcoat. "So. Care to explain yourself? I know you were doing something down here... but what?"

"Oh.... Uhhh..." He seemed a bit awed; or perhaps simply shocked; at the arrival of the angelic heroine. "I'm the Artificer. Or, well. Some people up in Canada, and down in New Orleans, call me that, my name's Jacob Mort. I deal with magical trinkets, spells, that sort of thing. I just.... activated this artifact to try to turn people from anger over to fear. It's... not pleasant, but less destructive. Nobody's gonna wake up happy about it... but it might save some lives."

She looked down at what he had laid down on the concrete, inside a ritual circle he'd apparently just drawn in his own blood, in a dirty alley behind a Mcdonalds. It looked like... a wand maybe? A simple spherical clear gem; perhaps a quartz or a diamond; at the end of a stubby silver length of metal. "And what exactly is this artifact?"

"Just one of the levers. There's this... giant mind control device, and this was one of the triggers. I'm going to have to ask for your assistance; we need to get these back, all of them are property of the Canadian government."

Imperious blinked. "Why the hell does Canada have a giant mind control device?"