[OPEN] Like taking candy from a baby

[cyborgskull]

Who: Black Ghost and YOU
Where: An apartment complex, Suburbia
When: April 15th
What: Black Ghost is out window shopping for some new test subjects
Warnings: Kidnapping, evil, probably some sort of violence

Black Ghost didn't usually handle these jobs himself, but he was willing to make sacrifices to ensure TRIDENT continued to be at the forefront as a global threat. That meant having the best scientific minds, technology, and of course the highest quality test subjects. So it was a little frustrating when the team handling genetic experiments was granted access to their newest alternian, instead of his. They'd been so close to a breakthrough on psionic fueled cybernetics with that last yellow blood they had captured, it would be such a waste if those geneticists ruined a perfectly good test subject, and psionics were so hard to come by. However, he wasn't above bartering, and he was certain they would change their minds with some more suitable subjects for their experiments on metahumans. He just had to acquire some.

It hadn't taken long to find a quiet neighborhood with medium security and plenty of cover, his accelerator made it quick work to find a young couple with an adorable baby. Exactly what he was looking for. His black outfit and the thick shrubbery around the apartment had made it easy for him to stay out of sight until the family went to sleep. Once he was certain the parents wouldn't be checking on their child for a while, he got up from where he had been lurking. It was a simple matter to jump onto the roof near the second story window, and a focused beam from one of his lasers would make quick work of the lock on the window.

Comments

[chapterfiveversenine]

"You are breaking and entering; this action is proscribed by law, and continuing will result in your arrest."

This is the only way Legion knows how to announce their presence, because one-liners are advanced classes and they haven't quite gotten past Organics 101 yet. They float about ten meters behind Black Ghost, the criminal clearly outlined on their thermal vision.

[cyborgskull]

Black Ghost spun around, cape flaring dramatically and laser pistol at the ready. Oh, great. Not that he hadn't been prepared for some superhero to show up, but surely this was a bit beneath Alpha Force jurisdiction. He'd seen news reports of some of Legion's battles, particularly his recent run in with the other alien robots (if only they'd managed to keep that blue one a bit longer, only so much you could learn from a detached limb). He contemplated leaving now to find an easier target, but it would probably be worth it to learn more about this new adversary.

"Well, if it isn't Alpha Force's latest recruit. The Geth." He kept his laser pistol lazily trained on the floating alien.

[chapterfiveversenine]

"Your surrender window closes in five seconds," the consensus points out. They recalibrate fields and prepare to break either sideways or downwards.

[cyborgskull]

Not one for small talk, then. What a disappointment. Black Ghost spends one or two of his allotted seconds determining that if he is going to test out this new Alpha Force robot, now was the best time, when the stakes were low and he has plenty of space to move.

He activated his accelerator, seeming to flicker out of sight for a moment as he scaled the house and leapt off the roof, reappearing above the geth and firing his laser, set to a high-powered purple beam.

[chapterfiveversenine]

Sideways it is, and the consensus twists the dodge into a shoulder check, accelerating Legion towards Ghost in a high-speed tackle.

[cyborgskull]

In midair, there wasn't much Black Ghost could do to avoid the tackle. Legion hits him hard, and he falls back onto the roof of the house, managing to land with his feet beneath him.

He aims again, firing another laser blast at the robot. He's not worried yet, but the new Alpha Force member is certainly competent.

[chapterfiveversenine]

Legion takes this blast in the shoulder, twisting sideways with the force. The armor sparks and smokes, but the heat is well within Legion's capacity to absorb, and they use the impact to twist their other hand up and increase the weight of Ghost's pistol.

[cyborgskull]

His arm drops as the pistol suddenly increases in weight, before he readjusts for the new weight. It's clear it's a strain, and keeping it straight enough to shoot is proving far more difficult than he would have expected. He manages a few more shots while he reaches behind his back with his other hand, trying to get to his backup pistol.

"That's quite a neat trick of yours," he says as he finally gets hold of the grip. He drops the original gun and activates his accelerator again, free of the extra weight. He dashes to the other side of the yard before returning to normal speed firing on Legion from behind.

[chapterfiveversenine]

This one Legion manages to follow, and when Ghost stops, they dive in towards him in a tackle, dashing past the gun blasts and directly towards their target.

[cyborgskull]

"Erugh."

Black Ghost doesn't react quite fast enough to get out of the way of the tackle and is knocked backwards into the bushes. He quickly struggles out of the foliage, pulling his snagged cape off some branches and lunging toward legion in a grapple. This fight is not going how he had planned, and honestly he's a little disappointed about the lack of banter from his adversary. It was usually a good source of information.

He makes a move to block the rather obvious optic on the front the robot's face with his palm, his other hand reaching for some of the important looking wires near their 'neck'.

[chapterfiveversenine]

Banter, of course, is pointless, and the consensus has never understood it.

Legion comes equipped with three secondary optics for precisely this situation—they're smaller, placed along the side of the head column, and can watch Ghost even as the main camera is blocked. They rear back and move to headbutt Ghost.

[cyborged]

It's amazing what one finds when they're out and about in the less frequently patrolled areas. Raiden sneaks up silently, making sure that it's not just someone drunkenly trying to get into their own house or someone's secret boyfriend or something before he does anything. (Apparently people really frown on it when you scare teenage boys with swords.)

He can't tell what's happening up by that window exactly, but he's gonna go with his instincts on this one and assume there's no good intentions. Time to make himself known.

"Forget your key?"

[cyborgskull]

Black Ghost had managed to finish cutting through the lock before turning to confront whoever had caught him. He didn't seem particularly thrown to have his actions interrupted, honestly you couldn't even walk around LA anymore without running into another superhero.

"I'm just here to pick something up," he replied as he looked down on his assailant. Once he saw who it was though he couldn't help but grin behind his mask. They hadn't exactly done much to disguise the cybernetics, and he's recognize TRIDENT's work anywhere.

"Well, if it isn't Raiden. It's certainly been a while."

[cyborged]

The mask on its own means nothing to him - it's unfamiliar and Raiden assumes it's just your generic supervillain fare - but the voice. No specific words come to mind, but there's hazy memories of pain and terror and that voice rattling around his memories. Smug and poisonous.

"Not long enough," he backs up a step, almost a giveaway as to how totally freaked out by this whole thing he is, but he puts a hand on his sword to counteract it, "I'd suggest that you leave."

[cyborgskull]

Black Ghost can't help but chuckle at that, he loves it when people are unnerved. He loosely gestures towards Raiden with his laser pistol, rather casual about the whole situation considering he's the one being threatened.

"I'm not quite done here, so unless you intend on trying to stop me I'll just be taking what I need." He reaches behind him and slides open window without turning from Raiden, obviously baiting him to try and attack.

[cyborged]

Raiden very nearly takes that bait. It's easy enough to leap up to the roof to face Black Ghost properly, sword unsheathed now and ready for use. Everything in his body language would suggest that Raiden's just itching to throw down, but the agent in him figures he should at least make a cursory attempt to sort this out with as little collateral or bloodshed as possible.

"I won't tell you again."

[cyborgskull]

"If you're so hesitant to stop me, maybe you should reconsider your new calling. You know you always have a place at TRIDENT."

He swings into the window, quickly navigating to the babies crib and picking the child up as carefully as he can. Unfortunately he can't use his accelerator carrying a normal human, he couldn't risk the strain damaging the baby, but it won't take Raiden long to block the window.

He acitvates his hologram projector instead, creating a few duplicates of himself as he moves towards the shadows, ready to rush the window after Raiden enters.

[cyborged]

Really, he should've known better than to try and use reason in this kind of situation. It's just generally accepted that throwing down in a residential area isn't the best idea.

Raiden grumbles under his breath, frustrated that all his attempt to be diplomatic has achieved is giving Black Ghost enough time to get into the house unassailed, as he flips down his optics and sets them to night vision and follows into the house, careful not to enter far enough to give a clear path back out the window. He scans the room, momentarily given pause by the holograms. Let's all hope the moment it takes him to switch out for thermal imaging instead isn't long enough to be caught completely off guard.