Execution of Intent

Adam Apex
New Member

Posts: 12

Execution of Intent Nov 21, 2021 1:55:08 GMT

Post by Adam Apex on Nov 21, 2021 1:55:08 GMT

ADAM APEX in: NEW YORK, NEW YORK!
ACT TWO: Follow-Through.
SCENE THREE: The Warehouse.

Some hours after his conversation with Mettle, Adam Apex stands outside of a warehouse in the Bronx. It's an unassuming, squat structure, one of many just like it nearby. This one in particular, however, houses several shipments of contraband. Counterfeit goods, for the most part, although there are some assorted small arms inside, for the non-powered members of Mettle's criminal syndicate. It's hardly the beating heart of the underworld, but it'll do.

Doc Apex identified this place not long after he left Goon's Bar. He hadn't exactly been able to get a numbered list of locations out of Leiter, but using his technopathy, the Eighth Wonder had successfully 'borrowed' the list of contacts on Mettle's smartphone. Cross-referencing those names with the NYPD criminal database had allowed him to identify a number of individuals who were likely involved in Leiter's illicit activities. Using CCTV feeds from all over the city, he'd been able to map their movements, and get a sense of where they tended to congregate. This warehouse had been one such location. Another step closer to solving the four-dimensional puzzle box that is New York City.

The warehouse door is, of course, locked. And since it's an analog lock, Adam can't simply open it remotely. Instead, he pulls a quarter out from his pocket, and holds it between his thumb and forefinger. Drawing the digits apart, he suspends the coin in the air with a small electromagnetic field. Then, concentrating, he shifts that field so it propels the quarter forward like a bullet. The miniature railgun works just as intended, and the lock is blown apart. Unlike a gunshot, it's relatively quiet, as there's no actual explosion involved, though the lock bursting open does echo throughout the quiet area.

Pushing the doors open, Adam scans the area for any guards, using his enhanced senses to search the dark room. The electrical activity of a human body is like a beacon to him, particularly if they happen to have any sort of extrahuman enhancements. None immediately present themselves, which stands to reason. With most of their criminal competitors crushed or subsumed, Mettle's gang has little reason to post guards on a place like this. If there are alarms, they'll have already gone off, but Adam made no effort to avoid that.

With the dubiously-legal contents of the warehouse exposed, Adam could simply call the police. But there's nothing directly linking Leiter to any of this, and having a small fraction of his merchandise impounded won't hurt him much in the long run. That's not why Adam is here. Tonight, he's sending a message. Focusing his attention on one of the crates containing guns- hidden beneath a false layer of legitimate goods, of course -he snaps his fingers, and manifests a small spark. Hardly pushing his powers to the next level, but it's never smart to play an ace when a two will do. The spark, positioned in the right spot, ignites gunpowder. The crate it's contained within quickly becomes a powder keg, consumed by flames that almost immediately spread to the next box. It's a controlled burn, no risk of spreading to the other warehouses, but unless interrupted, it'll leave all of the counterfeits, and the guns, in ashes.

"En garde."

METTLE
Member

Posts: 316

Execution of Intent Nov 26, 2021 0:05:43 GMT

Post by METTLE on Nov 26, 2021 0:05:43 GMT

"Burned up?"

"Yeah."

Miller took the gloomy report an hour later with a glum look on his face, burying his head in two of his many hands. The other arms crossed over his chest as he slumped over the table, the various arms keeping themselves preoccupied in various ways. One set of fingers drummed the table while another gripped the side.

"The sprinklers didn't go off?"

"Nope. Not a single one."

The Tarantula swore under his breath. Ten thousand dollars' worth of lasguns down the drain.

"The fire department is saying it looks like - "

"Arson."

Miller stood up.

"I'm going to go inspect the others, see about getting our stuff moved out of storage. It's not safe on the streets. And whoever did this didn't take the guns, so we know it's not a rival gang. This is a cape."

The Tarantula was his invention. It was a natural fit. Six arms, each capable of operating independently or in tandem; heightened strength and agility; the power to adhere to sheer surfaces. Miller had this power since he was born. He'd never known what it was to be normal. Sometimes he thought about Shockman, and how he'd had a normal life before it'd been taken from him completely. The Tarantula had a semblance of normal. He could eat and drink and do all the other things, only with weird looks attached.

Why wouldn't he want to be a gangster?

He pulled out all the stops for this one. His own little twist on the hero-villain formula was to completely embrace tactical gear worn over the costume, custom-made in Millennium City to accommodate his extra limbs. A special ballistic vest, replete with pockets for ammunition; two KA-BAR knives, favored by US Marines, one in each spare hand; four pistols strapped against his chest and hips; black-painted lasgun, worn over the chest with a strap, imported directly from Millennium City. Originally colored silver, he preferred the more low-key look, stripping some of the more outrageous ornamentation from the weapon. Unlimited ammunition, as long as the barrel was allowed to cool after firing. He was a big fan. It was just like Star Wars.

He could carry all of those wonderful toys because of his enhanced strength. It was like they didn't even weigh him down.

This was a classic stakeout job. He crouched against the ceiling, immune to the vertigo, superior blood vessels keeping his circulation in perfect equilibrium even as he hung upside down against the roof of the warehouse, watching the gun collection below.

Waiting.

METTLE'S GOVERNMENT FILE
SOCIETY OF SUPERVILLAINS

Elusion
New Member

Posts: 47

Execution of Intent Nov 29, 2021 21:58:08 GMT

Post by Elusion on Nov 29, 2021 21:58:08 GMT

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Cory Carrick didn't have a whole lot of experience with New York City just yet, but she was relatively certain that it wasn't supposed to be on fire. Call it wisdom or premonition or just plain common sense - cities tended to have a lot of buildings, and when one of them got set on fire, it was all too easy for that to spread to other buildings. She wasn't even supposed to be here - well, here specifically, that was: she was supposed to be in New York City, just not in whatever weirdly named district this was where the buildings were on fire.

Seriously, who came up with some of those names, anyway?

Also seriously, why were the buildings on fire? Most of them had installed systems to put the fires out, or at least get a decent start on it. Presumably the fire department was on the way - that was a reasonable assumption, right? It went hand in hand with the "buildings should not be on fire" assumption, anyway. The fire department wasn't here yet, though, and Cory... well, Cory had been on public transit crammed in with some people who could use some common sense assumptions about taking showers, and also someone claiming that this was the END TIMES (the capital letters were definitely implied), and they were all going to die and should REPENT. And someone who was trying to sell her "goods," of an unspecified nature, but she was assured that they were very good.

At that point, hopping off to check out the fire had been the easy choice - especially being who she was. Cory had gotten an aching ear full of one last "REPENT!!" and rolled her eyes unto the heavens, then stepped through the doors of the train. The doors were closed and the train was in motion, but this was not actually an obstacle for Cory. Intangibility was something she'd been turning on and off as long as she could remember, and even if she had no desire to go about superheroing, she had a very strong desire to get off that train.

But the buildings were still on fire, so Cory walked into the nearest flaming warehouse, through a wall and a curtain of fire, because she was just that extra sometimes, particularly on Tuesdays.

"Hello? Is there anyone in here? Anyone need help?" Oh, and the place seemed to be filled with guns. Well, that was just great. If Cory had walked into the set of the next Godfather movie, she was going to feel pretty silly. Her Italian was terrible.

Adam Apex
New Member

Posts: 12

Execution of Intent Dec 2, 2021 0:37:39 GMT

Post by Adam Apex on Dec 2, 2021 0:37:39 GMT

ADAM APEX in: NEW YORK, NEW YORK!
ACT ONE: Follow-Through.
SCENE ONE: The Warehouse.

A metahuman. Not entirely unexpected- New York has quite a high density, even compared to other sizeable cities, and unexpected fires do often bring out concerned citizens of a costumed nature. Adam is able to identify her immediately by the irregular electrical activity in her brain, something virtually every metahuman- particularly those with an 'active' power -has. It's necessary for them to regulate their ability, like this young woman's intangibility, or they'd simply be stuck in one state or the other at all times.

The altered density of her molecules is something of a curiosity as well, of course. Doc Apex peers at her curiously, examining her atomic structure. Could he manipulate that density as well? Condense her into a superheavy cube of flesh, or disperse her into a human cloud of gas? It's likely to be entirely within his power- one day, almost everything will be. After all, Adam Apex is a reality-manipulator. Not of the base sort, either. Those who can simply wish for reality to be one way, paradoxically, are often the weakest of their class. If their alteration is held together solely through their own desire and willpower, even the slightest break in concentration could shatter it. But Adam manipulates reality on the level of physics, and with sufficient control over his powers, could one day permanently rewrite the laws of nature themselves.

All of that is, naturally, quite a long way off.

"Just one," he calls out in response, quite calm for someone in the midst of an inferno. "But I'm quite alright. In fact, I'm almost done here."

With a slight theatrical flourish, Adam sweeps his arms and extinguishes the flames in an instant. A simple subtraction of heat, though not true destruction. The amount of energy in the universe is finite, and such a small expenditure of power would be insufficient to truly reduce it. Instead, it's shunted elsewhere, distributed into small enough portions that it's virtually unnoticeable.

"My apologies for any distress this may have caused you. This was not an act of terror, I assure you. This warehouse was home to an illegal shipment of advanced weaponry meant to arm the street soldiers of the Mettle Gang. I've already destroyed one other tonight, and there's a third on my list. You're welcome to accompany me, if that's the sort of thing you're interested in."