A frantic and confused line of trainees filed into the arena, most in varying stages of dress. It wasn’t early, but not everyone had morning training this month so only a few were even in their gear. But more concerning than the sudden summons was that Para didn’t look pissed off. In fact he almost seemed a little pleased, which was probably an even worse sign.

“Alright recruits, it is truly your lucky day. Just about every hero on station is busy, exhausted, or unsuited for what is occurring. About five minutes ago some dipshits robbed a bank downtown as it opened. They’ve taken the morning rush of customers hostage. But the real issue is these morons are heavily armed, and I don’t mean some namby-pamby standard issue crap. These guys have grenades, launchers, reports are saying an antitank gun. These fools came loaded to kill heroes, and ended up choosing the time when none are available. So, WE are the only ones who can deploy in time to stop this from getting worse. Each of your trainers have given you the green light to start patrols by now, so this is not out of the question. Now, get dressed and prepped then head down to the loading dock, elevator 5. We’ll take one of the UTAHs and I’ll explain more on the way.”

Most of the trainee’s worry turned to excitement, Seth’s included, they were finally getting to do real hero work. They started to flake off and run back to their room as fast as they could, just as Para walked up and stopped Seth in his tracks.

“Not you.”

Para’s tone shifted completely back to his dismissive old self. And Seth was having none of it.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean!”

“It means someone doesn’t have a trainer to sign off on their progress, someone to say they ‘deserve’ to be a hero.”

Seth’s expression practically ignited, power trying its damnedest surge right out of him, but Para just kept walking away under his glare. “Just stay put. This won’t take long.”

Seth slammed the automatic door to his room, almost cracking it apart, but quickly tried to calm down properly. This was a perfect chance to thread his suit, everyone would be away and focused on the bank. But…

"FUCK!! I can’t fucking stand this stupid shit!!"

Hands were trying to rip out his stubborn hair, anger locking the Garkah out of his ear, but he felt them try to calm him down as well. Stifling compounding memories. Seth took a second to breathe, seething rippling intakes that tensed every muscle they tried to relax. It wasn’t enough to put all this brought up power away, only really succeeding in tightening his resolve.

‘You know what… fuck it! I’m going, whether he likes it or not!’

Seth shot his focus out, followed the Hill’s cameras to the loading dock in question. A few trainees were already lining up outside the elevator. He probably wouldn’t have been allowed on anyway, but then again, he didn’t need an elevator. He snatched up his freshly coated suit, he could thread it later.

‘It’s time to go to work.’

Seth changed into the still pretty ripped connector suit he’d neglected for a while and snapped into his armor. The Garkah made ancillary checks to see if the upgrades were good enough, but he was leaving one way or the other. Stomping out into the periphery, he headed straight for the main entrance, knowing exactly where the loading dock let out. The receptionist Felicia watched over her tablet as he stormed through the lobby and out the door, some bit of buried fear causing her to duck behind it.

Seth ignored her, hooked sharply to the right, and ran to the outside walkways that surrounded the building. Rounding the Hill’s main hall, skipping past empty landing platforms, and stopping at a spot between hubs. The Hill was just a massive façade of dirt and turf, from here he could run/slide/descend violently down to the loading docks below without having to run the entire base of the Hill in a vain hope of beating the trainees there. After a few testing moves he hopped the railing and angled to meet the grassy façade as best he could, but weight was a heavy factor. He landed hard, his heels digging an ugly rut into the now obviously fake grass, sliding him to an actually controllable speed before he leaned over and started running down the Hill. The grade wasn’t ridiculously steep, but he was reaching terminal velocity rather quickly. Deciding against impacting whatever was at the bottom like a metal meteorite, he turned heel hard and slid the rest of the way. A few ugly ruts on the non-public side of the Hill shouldn’t hurt things right?

The concrete tunnels that formed the loading docks finally brought his slide to a halt, only a few dry dirt clods and a bit of astroturf to shake off his feet. Another quick check and he leapt and turned over the concrete lip, claws extending and latching on to it before leaving it behind so he could observe what was below. The docks were massive garage doors, the key land hub for the Hill’s logistics. A few trailers were even hitched and unloading cargo onto their respective docks on the sides. A massive door dominated the center, the main garage for the League’s land transports, the UTAH. Urban Tactical Armored Hauler. Beefy, bombproof, and more than likely bad for the planet. Seth locked his suit arm to stay in place and wait for the trainees’ UTAH to leave so he could follow them.

And in no time an alarm sounded over the central door as it rose to let a UTAH leave. It was a drab grey, its body more like the hull of a boat than a truck, but it ran on six independently steered wheels on heavy duty swiveling motors. Like a military shopping cart. Seth let the UTAH pass under him before releasing the suit’s grip and falling down to the asphalt below. He landed with a definite crunch, thankfully the asphalt was laid out here like gravel just for this purpose. Not very economical to need to replace concrete every time a hero needed to land down hard. The UTAH crunched off onto the road surrounding the Hill, the sound of tires being smooshed over loose road the only thing produced.

‘Huh, maybe it’s not so bad for the planet after all?’

Seth dropped down into a sprinter's stance and kicked off after it, tracking a few bits of asphalt as he followed the UTAH’s path. Before it could reach the public street in front of the Hill he caught up to it, power focused in his legs and distributed between the suit and the threads there. Also the UTAH wasn’t going very fast yet.

As he reached tailgating distance the rear assault door slammed open, a very perturbed Para standing straight up in the door frame.

“What the HELL do you think you’re doing Tinman!?!”

Audible over the rush of air, hell probably audible from across town. He was pissed, but so was Seth, as he smirked and popped his helmet open. Knowing full well he would hear him over the steadily increasing noise.

“Just going for a jog around town! Since I’m off the Hill and all, I probably need a chaperone! Do you mind!?”

Para could hear everything judging from the defeated yet extra pissed off look he was giving.

“RRgh! Fine! But YOU are not entering combat you understand!?!”

“Loud and clear!!”

Seth was beaming before flashing a wicked smile and slamming his helmet shut.

Heavy metal boots cracked the road as Seth powered into line with the UTAH, looking around for the nearest metal coped roof he could use to escape traffic. He mockingly saluted the shocked drivers before dropping down and cracking that asphalt open for real, rocketing over to the nearest building. Metal claws latched onto the heavy metal coping as friction sparks flew and armored boots ran across the building’s hardened facade. It was just like the old days, though really it had only been two and a half months. He hooked the corner, bending it a little with sheer weight, but pressing it back down as he pulled into it and switched latching arms. Like a steel gargoyle he watched the UTAH storm down the cleared thoroughfare in front of the Hill before turning sharply off of it, a string of orange alarm lights popping up and down along the route it was taking. Seth shifted and released his latch as he leapt to follow from his higher route.

Quickly, he regained parity with the UTAH, watching as it rumbled down the center of the road between rows of displacing cars. Out ahead of it the wave of hazard lights rose up to warn traffic to turn off the road while traffic lights turned green to clear the way and stop more cars coming in. Far ahead Seth could see rising puffs of smoke, quickly reaching ear shot for the cause. The harsh blasts of heavy ordinance, the strung together cracks of automatic fire, the

‘SHIT!!!’ *KHKHKHHOOOOOOOoooooooo*

Seth ducked and slammed to the deck, crashing down on a low rooftop he was crossing, just in time to avoid an unexpected streak of full metal death directed straight at him. Jet motors and sonic cracks shaking the smile off his face. He took a moment to collect himself off the shock of really getting shot at. And to fully grasp just what they shot at him.

‘Fuckers have a goddamn hyper 50!’

He remembered back to a few military spec suits he’d worked on. Basically gun carriers for this kind of ridiculous man portable firepower. Half 50 millimeter cannon, half gyrostabilizer rocket, and all too much kinetic energy. He took a breath and poked his head up and shot it back down before whoever was firing could reacquire him, deciding quickly to roll to the side again because the metal coping and concrete lip of this building were NOT going to stop that thing. No second shot tore the air apart though as Seth the remaining half of his suits ocular sensors to full effect. Slowing their recording down to get a glimpse at what could be seen.

The bank was facing this direction, set back from the street by a moderately full parking lot. The surrounding intersection was walled off by massive bollards, another defensive mechanism put into much of the city’s infrastructure, Seth was just unlucky to be visible above them. The bank was occluded by smoke, but Seth caught a scope glint on its left side.

‘Be kind of nice if I still had that recon unit.’

Seth flipped back over and stayed low below the lip, crawling over to a more occluded side of the building and climbing off. He cracked the concrete next to a few startled drivers stuck at the red light, giving them a light wave as he started running back to the street to follow the UTAH.

Seth picked back up to speed as he saw it slow and spin on its axis, wheels turning the whole thing about so the assault door faced a prepared police line. He skipped to a less destructive halt just as the UTAH rumbled to a stop, assault door slamming open. Para jumped out and waved the trainees out of the truck.

“Alright, line up!!”

Knowing he’s not officially part of it, but still feeling cheeky nonetheless, Seth took his place at the end of the lineup as always. Para went straight over to the police line, meeting a captain who looked to be directing the response.

“Captain McMathews, your support is here as requested.”

The police captain, wearing fully militarized flak armor in navy blue and black, looked over at the trainees as a blast rocked the wall behind him. His expression read like he was just flipped off.

“Para, what the hell is this? I ask for heavies and you bring a bunch of kids!”

The captain scanned down the line looking for any real bright spot.

“Sorry sir, short notice, this is the only team we could deploy within the hour. But these trainees have-”

“TRAINEES!?!”

“Yes sir. But these trainees are a week from graduation. They’ve trained for harder scenarios than suped up bank robbers. They’re prepared for this.”

‘…I don’t know whether to feel complimented or concerned that Para thinks we’re all ready for whatever this fully was?’

Another heavy shot cracked the air over the wall, a section shaking to the dismay of the officers gathered next to it. The captain was unfazed, his face too slammed into his palm.

“Aagh! Like I have a choice. We’ll take ‘em, but they better understand just what the hell they’re walking into!”

Seth smirked as he quickly popped his helmet and stepped forward, a *thump* sounding from over the other side of the wall.

“Sir! *BOOM* 40 millimeter rotary grenade launcher with 6 round drum! *KrKrKrzingzing* 12.7 heavy belt fed machinegun with 200 round box. *KHKHKHHOOOOAAAMMM* 50 millimeter hypervelocity, armor piercing, shoulder mounted cannon with 5 round external feeder magazine.”

Seth took a step back into line. The captain looked taken aback and Para was pissed, though that was expected. Seth kept the smug feeling he was having down so he wouldn’t make things worse. But still had to answer that glare liable to turn him into denatured slop in a can.

“You said I couldn’t be in combat, you didn’t say I couldn’t support, sir.”

Para’s expression deepened, but was stunned as the captain approached the line, headed straight for Seth.

“Son, how in the hell do you know what they're firing?”

“I’ve done plenty of military contracts to know what suit mounted ordinance sounds like sir. And intel said these guys came loaded for bear. So the only hope they have is powersuits sir.”

The captain was less than enthused, but Seth could see the relief on his shoulders, even as he wheeled back around.

“Alright Para you’re on!”

Para twisted his neck in unmitigated displeasure, but continued on his spiel nonetheless.

“What’s the situation on the other side then?”

“We have about 5 confirmed hostiles inside the bank, around 15 hostages, and 2 officers stuck on the other side of that wall."

*BOOM*

"We can’t pull them out without some serious cover, and we only have a few hits left on that block before it gives out and these bastards are back to taking pot shots at traffic.”

“Who are we dealing with?”

“Hell if I know. No demands, no monologues, we don’t even know if they’re even looting the vault. All we know is they’re heavily armed, heavily armored, and looking to kill supers. Just like your tin can said.”

‘Well I should have expected that a little.’

“What’s the terrain like?”

“The lot’s been blown to hell, cars and bits are spread out every which way. Our officers are behind a good chunk of them, their cruiser is on its side giving them what cover there could be from-"

*KHKHAAAKKKK*

"THAT!! Fucking thing!”

The captain’s nerve finally seemed to falter as Para stepped back and thought through the intel.

“Okay, we can handle this from here.”

He swiveled back to the lineup, meeting quite a few concerned faces as another strafe of machinegun fire raked the wall.

“I know you’re scared, this is real, and you’re liable to get hurt. But that’s the job. Suck it up and listen. Combo Breaker, we need walls on demand. Thicker the better. Princess, be ready to pull people out if things get bad, but set up to catch those grenades till then. Tabby, Butterknife, you’re our extractors, you’ll be sent in to grab those officers. Snowcone, we’ll need an ice slide to their position. Waterboy, Toaster, we need steam clouds for cover. Polo, keep those clouds over our extractors. Green Thumb, Ditto, you’re on recon. Fly to the other side of the bank and over to the roof. Ditto, I know you learned enough from Marvelous to copy her, we need unseen eyes on the hostages. Clarence, Kaze, you’re on standby while recon is scouting. Once we know the situation you’ll be set to cut power and run interference for the hostages. That all clear?”

“Yes sir!!”

The trainees had lost all the apprehension they had before, a continuous look of determination across the line up.

‘Damn… I feel kind of left out.’

Para shifted back to the captain.

“We need an opening. Preferably one in line with the officers.”

“Already there.”

The captain turned and pointed over to the right side, through a marked up alleyway around the corner building leading to the other street.

“I’ll call ahead for the bollard, you just make sure everyone is clear.”

The trainees all moved out as Para waved them along behind him over to the other street. Seth followed along at the end, just in case. He felt the police captain eye him as he passed though, radio up to his ear relaying the situation.

‘I can understand the indignation, but the least you could do is not look at me like I kicked a dog or something.’

The other street was thronged with heavily armored SWAT units waiting to be called, similar flak armor to their captain in more obvious black. A few crowded a block like it was a door set to be breached. Para took command immediately.

“Alright, clear the lane!! We’re opening the bollard!!”

The officers moved away, setting up deeper in and moving away from the building the trainees just circumvented. Once that wall dropped it was going to be in prime range for that cannon. Para turned back around, looking at each of his trainees lined up based on their rolls like they knew them perfectly. Seth stayed a ways back, watching with the support teams. Para slammed a hand on the wall.

“This is the real deal! No take backs! No second chances! What happens from here on out is all upon you! Don’t let the people who need you down!! Are you ready!?”

A resounding “YES SIR!!” came from everyone, even Ohm.

'Well... now I just feel out of place.'

He pulled a finger to his ear to click an acknowledge button on an ear piece set inside, a few others spread about among the set teams lighting up as well. Suddenly the bollard shook and slowly began to pull down into the street.

The trainees prepped as it agonizingly rumbled its retreat. Maya clenched her hands, flexing the asphalt under her. David was collecting water and forming a flow to Kabar, who had his hands heated up to crazy levels. Marco was cycling air to pull that steam out onto the battlefield. Cleo was a ways back, ready to watch for grenades, set to flash catch and redirect them with her straps. Jacob had a prepped water ball from David for the ice slide. Razor was hyperventilating next to Tabby in the form of a cheetah. His expression didn’t hide anything as he darkly smiled and turned to Cleo.

“H-hey Cleo, could you make that armor for me again? I’m starting to miss it.”

Tabby bopped him in the shoulder.

“You really think all that leather is going to protect you from that.” *KHKHKHHEEEAAAMMM*

Razor quickly went back to hyperventilating. Zeleny and Alex were already over the bank, Alex copying Marvelous as a red cloud of smoke and hovering down onto the roof. Zeleny stayed up and spotted for Cleo. It seemed like Ohm and Kaz were already headed to the bank’s breaker box and looking for a side entrance. All cards in place, the bollard rumbled its last. As it locked back into the depth it came from.

Like a deep starting bell, it thunked into place and Maya went to work. Both arms pulled low and dragged back up, pulling a mass of asphalt and underlying concrete up into a new wall to fill the gap. Once half as high as the old one, she took a heavy step forward and pressed her right hand against it like she was opening a door. The wall gave and slammed open, swinging out onto the battlefield just as- *KHKHKHHAAAKKKKkkk*

The door took a direct hit, smashing apart as a fat kinetic shot obliterated it. It was almost too fast to perceive, the round skimming the bollard door frame and bashing a hole into the wall of the corner building. Brick and mortar turned to dust as the round slammed through into the alley way everyone had just gone through. The trainees were buffeted by a shower of obliterated road, and Maya hesitating as she looked at how close her hand came to being another casualty. What perception and sudden shellshock that had slowed things down sped back up as Para screamed.

“KEEP GOING!!!”

Maya snapped back in, reforming the material that was just obliterated and adding more onto it. *KHKHKHAAAAAKkkkkkk* Another shot and it was rubble, the round ricocheting off the inside wall and imbedding in the other street’s bollard wall.

“THICKER!!!”

Maya tried again, more material, more thickness. *KHKHKHAAAKKKANGGGBrBrBrbrbr*

Another round bashed through, the sudden materialization of a solid fat shot sticking into the bollard door frame like an overweight arrow gave the trainees another dose of shellshock. Its rocket motors sputtering as Maya was showered in more rubble.

“MORE!!!”

And finally-

“AARRAGH FUCK!!! THIS!!! SHIIIIIITTTT!!!”

She slammed a hand to the ground and swept it right at the bollard that had been giving everyone cover. A spray of material through its base signaled clearly she had just cut right through it. In the same motion she side stepped and slammed her hands into it, burying them in and grabbing hold of the whole fucking thing! She then took a massive step and pushed the bollard like a grand door opening into the battlefield, en mass scrapping over the- *KHKKHHAAAKKKkkkkk* A shot slammed the wall, dust and rubble shocked free from it and Maya. But it held.

“HAH!!!”

She was beaming manically. Shifting and pulling her left hand out and twisting her right, pulling the bollard over on its side to create a long wall. It slammed down as machinegun fire raked it. Maya pulled out and kicked it into place against its neighboring bollard so it had no gaps, then slammed a foot down. Three supporting spikes shot up to keep it propped as she turned hard back toward the rest of her team.

“YOU FUCKERS ARE UP!!!”

She shifted back, moving over to the bollard that had tried to hide away to let them in.

Kabar and David moved up to her place low opposite the new bollard fortification. Kabar held his hands at his shoulder like he was holding a pipe, intense heat emanating to glow them almost white hot. David swirled the water he had collected into a concentrated flow that aimed directly in between Kabar’s hands. It passed into the superheated gap and was almost immediately turned to a jet of steam that shot out over the corner. Marco came up beside David and swirled a current of air, flowing it high and over Kabar’s head. The air current pushed the steam cloud out across the battlefield as a growing smoke screen.

Meanwhile, Seth looked out ahead at what the final goal was. Out in the middle of the intersection was a police cruiser on its side, and a gradual mound of smashed and smoking car parts forming an earthworks on the leading side. Behind it sat a huddled officer, navy blue uniform and comparatively limited flak vest. She was just a beat cop. Next to her was an unconscious body, the other officer, he could see his head was bloodied but he looked still intact at least. She cowered with her arms over her head as another shot slammed the bollard fortification.

‘Just a little longer, hold on.’

The field began to fill with thick steam, clouds kept at a low roil so they wouldn’t disperse too quickly. David and Kabar remained thoroughly locked in their rolls, but it was clear they couldn’t do this forever. Suddenly Cleo leaned into her ear and shot her arm out, forming a strap above Kabar’s head, just as a grenade came lazily in through the steam cloud. The strap whipped around and stopped the grenade just short of Kabar’s nose before whipping it high to avoid collateral damage. The round flew up, ready to be shot by Zeleny once out of sight, but- *BOOOM* It exploded not far above the intersection.

‘Wait… these bozos didn’t disable the timed fuses! Their ordinance is fresh off the line!’

Kabar took a breath as he refocused and kept up the heat. Just then, Maya remade her presence known. Her hands slammed down through the crosswalk and on to the sunken bollard, sliding her feet in purposeful motions to sever the bollard from its moorings. With a heavy heave she pulled the bollard up from its hidey-hole, scrapping everyone’s ears with little regard. She slid her foot toward it and stopped it from descending as she let go of the top of it. She took a hard step back and brought her hands low to the ground, pulling them up under strain as the bollard rose back up and over top of her. It uneasily towered over her as it leaned in her direction. But Maya’s strength was rather undeniable at this point, so it fell into her waiting arms with hardly a flinch.

She wobbled slightly as she steadied and began walking the bollard to the next free gap, machinegun fire raking overhead as asphalt cracked underneath. Another heavy shot rang out, clipping the end of the bollard and spinning Maya out of balance. She swiveled enough to not get her ankle snapped off, but the bollard slammed hard onto the street behind the first wall. Maya sneered in the gunner’s direction before turning back and slamming her hands back on to the bollard, pulling it harshly the rest of the way and kicking it into place, spiking more supports into it. Just a few open feet separated the fortifications and the officer’s cover, but time was thinning. David was wincing as the water he was using waned.

“Hurry!!”

Maya moved back as Jacob stepped up, prefab water ball set to roll out to the officers. Like a practiced bowler he rolled the ball under the fortifying spikes and froze the resulting trail solid as it splashed the beat cop’s leg. She flinched and looked at the source of her new torment, but saw Jacob hand signing at her.

“WE’VE! GOT! YOU!”

Tabby and Razor moved up now. Razor, still venting hard, turned to Maya.

“You think you could cover that last few feet Maya?”

Maya glared and grabbed him by the back holsters.

“Just FUCKING GET IN THERE!!!”

“Wait WAIT WAIIIII!!!”

She underhand tossed him down the ice lane without a second thought. Razor sliding down the lane fast, gripping a razor knife as a makeshift break. He rocketed into the open section and over to the officers, stabbing his knife into the asphalt to stop himself from bowling them over, or sliding out to the uncovered other side.

He got up fast and snapped back “hu hu NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!” before pulling to the side to get out of Tabby’s way.

Maya scooped up Tabby with a little more consent and slid her out feet first. As she crossed the second block it- *KHKHKHKHHAAAAKKKKkkkkk* took a hit. Rubble evaporating in the overpressure and the spike supports cracking, showering Tabby in dust. She slammed her claws down and dug into the asphalt to break as she passed the uncovered section, before flipping up and stopping just short of the shell-shocked officer.

“Hi, we’re here to save you.”

The officer could only blurt out a few sounds as Tabby and Razor scooped her up and lined up to shoot her back down the lane.

“Wait WAIT!! Save Carson first!”

Razor pulled her up.

“We’ll get to him next, we just need you out of the damn way first!!”

“Wait but AAAHHHH!!”

Both trainees tossed her down the lane, arms covering her face as she barreled passed the open space and under the supports. Maya caught her and dragged her back behind the wall, her shock turned to relief as she was handed off to the SWAT team’s medic. Tabby and Razor meanwhile prepped the unconscious officer, Tabby laying on her back and wrapped around him so he doesn’t get hurt further. Razor grabbed the officer’s vest and belt and lined the two up on the lane, taking a few steps to get a good run up before the gap. He bull rushed the two forward and tossed them away to Maya. As another shot slammed the wall. The spike supports cracked further, the bollard wall began to creep over as they lost staying power. Razor watched in horror as his escape window started closing.

“fuck Fuck FUCK!!!”

He ran up to the lane and slid for his life as the spikes gave out and crumbled.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

He slid under just in time as the wall crashed down at his escaping feet. He slid out into the street and rolled to a unceremonious stop, Maya not bothering to catch him as she helped the injured officer to a stretcher. Razor popped up, turned and pointed at her.

“NEVER AGAIN!!!”

The officers clear, David, Marco, and Kabar let up their steam screen, David falling backward from over exertion and getting pulled back into cover. One crisis down, two to go.

Para shifted everyone back away from the gap, a slight tinge of pride crossed his face as he looked over his successful trainees. But this wasn’t over yet. He pulled his finger up to his ear piece again, flipping it to transmit.

“Ditto, what’s the situation inside?”

No one else could hear what was said, but Seth was able to patch in with his powers.

“Captain was one off, we’ve got 6 bad guys. 2 are covering the hostages, 1 looks like he’s directing everything from the back. The other 3 are in firing positions at the windows. And sir they are ‘really’ heavy. Seth was right, they have powersuits with heavy ordinance. And a fuck ton of ammo. These guys came for a siege. And… there’s another wrinkle.”

“What?”

“Can’t get a good look, but I think some of the hostages are wearing bomb vests. Command guy is waving around a detonator every so often to keep them down. This isn’t going to be easy sir, these guys look like fucking psychos and… wait. Command guy’s on the move!”

Para pulled his finger away and turned to the gap, shifting over to the corner bollard to poke an eye over.

The steam was dissipating… and strangely the enemy fire had stopped. Seth shifted over to match Para’s angle, inching carefully so he could react if that cannon fired again. He saw them first, barrel raised up and still smoking from the repeated firings. The gun was haphazardly mounted to the shoulder with what looked like a mismatched bracket, different paint jobs and a little too much space between the suit and the mount. Their suit had a silver sheen and… no wait… chrome. With a denoting strip on the chest. A security blue one.

‘Oh you’d better hope to GOD that isn’t…’

But there it was, S2-10 marked on the chest. They were using one of United’s suits. The same kind Seth worked on before leaving. He was livid, but kept his pace so he wasn’t obvious.

‘I mean who knows, maybe they were just customers?’

He continued deepening the angle, another suit came into view at the center of the bank’s façade.

‘Are you FUCKING kidding me!?!’

It was a military suit just like the one Seth had passed over, the one that had lost its arms. No fuck that, it was the suit he passed over, a new set of arms installed to replace the ones that had been ripped off! It was beefy, uparmored compared to standard units, and painted a drab tan. Or at least the body was drab tan, the arms were bright orange, still unpainted models from an assembly line. On top of one arm was a hump sporting the grenade launcher he had identified, but instead of a drum mag it had a ring magazine over the arm. Better ergonomics, but weirder fashion sense. The other arm was obviously for close quarters fighting, a high speed razor claw complete with a central spike harpoon launcher.

Seth stopped his angling, the commander was in view next to the refurbished ‘AND STOLEN!!!’ military suit. He wore an old style BDU, camouflaged for a European forest, a modern black flak vest, and a rather off putting purple beret. He fought back his anger, but couldn’t put his finger on it. He looked familiar. His hands were behind him, a smug look crossing… what was left of his face. He was scarred across the right side, an… ‘Uggh!’ empty eye socket dominated over several old gashes that streaked over and toward the back of his head. His grey hair somewhat scarred away on that side. Seth looked over him again, looking for anything denoting who the hell he was. But then he saw it, just as Para silently mouthed out the answer. A patch on his left shoulder as he turned to take a megaphone from the military suit, three overlapping target reticles on a thrice shot skull.

“Tango Delta.”