After flying about a bit, the flame landed behind a bush and transformed, the flight speeding up the drying process. He emerged from the bush as the small boy again, and ran up to the Echo.

"Did I do good? I burned the evil rabbits all up! And the officer was real nice!"

"Carl, CARL!" A shrill voice cut through the tiny alley. A young boy no older then 17 was placing some garbage in a waste bin, he instictively slouched at the sound of the voice.

Groaning he called back, "I'll be back in after I finish taking out the trash Marcy!" He leaned against one of the walls in a moment of reminiscence, he began to ponder over his life. The life of a seventeen year old genius was a tough one, he'd been booted from his home after the destruction of the school's gym when his special muscle enhancers had unexpected side effects on the basketball team. Paranoia and giantism being just two of the more notable effects. He'd found work quickly at FOE Co. but he wasn't very happy there, he was basically slave labor and his greatest inventions we're always credited to whichever villain bought them.

His recollections of life were cut short when he heard the clacking of metal feet. "Whose there?" He asked, they didn't respond. His eyes locked on the corner of the alley as the clangs grew louder and louder. And soon, they became familiar as well. "Those sound like my design." He relaxed a little as the figure turned the corner. He recognized it immediately. "Amalgam?"

The tiny figure nodded, with a smile spreading across his electronic face, his voice was electronic but it sounded full of life and warmth. "Hello father." His frail metal arms opened for a hug, Carl quickly complied.

"I thought you had gone all haywire and you were incorporating everything you could into you, I mean they said you killed a guy and you-" Carl quieted himself as Amalgam lifted a finger for silence and then motioned towards the alley's corner, his Blight Rabbit watch glimmered in the midday sun.

"I've brought friends father," Carl watched as the alley filled with robots of all different sizes, all sporting the same watches. Each watch blinking a bright green from the rabbits cute little eyes simultaneously. "We've come for reinforcements." Amalgam motioned towards the backdoor of FOE Co.

"CARL GET YOUR ASS BACK IN HERE NOW!" The shrill voice cut into Carl once more as he stood looking at his new robotic family, his son and his grandchildren.

He smiled as boldly as he could, having not done so since Amalgam's creation, "Sure son, c'mon in, everyone c'mon in, I'm sure I could whip up some reinforcements for you. Provided you keep Marcine off my back."

Amalgam grabbed his father by the arm, a little too tightly for comfort. "Don't worry father." Said Amalgam leaning close enough to kiss his father, "We will take care of everything now on." A look of fear washed over Carl, "Mites, move in, let nothing slow you." Amalgam spoke coldly, and his face devoloped a sinister smile as the mites marched in unison towards the door.

*******************

Cindy was losing the tuffs of fur she had been holding on to, "Ringo slow down dammit, running faster wont change the fact you have a tracker in your belly." The dog complied with a whimper. "I know yer pa's gone, but he'll be back... knowing him he'll be back."

*******************

FanDingo snarled at the vigilante above him, "I told you what I know, red light means the door's locked, yellow means your wing will be opening its doors soon for exercise or therapy but green is hospital administration opening your door. The fact the wing opened meant someone higher up cleared it, or something just went wrong, I wasn't gonna stick around to investigate. But if you wanna finish things, I'm right here for yah." FanDingo lowered himself towards the ground, preparing to leap should RedWing lurch downward at him, his knuckle's cracking instictively.

*******************

Down at the airport a man with a baseball cap hurried towards the lockers. He began to hastily open up a locker, "Row 13, column 1, number 4, here it is." He opened up the locker, a greedy smile arose on his lips as he saw the bag, unzipping it with the locker his smile grew even wider.

"It's all here just like he said, all I have to do is get outta dodge, then its nothing but maitais or whatever the crap people drink when they're rich is." He began to zip the bag up hastily as a bording call for flight 9120 rang over the loudspeaker. "Thats me."

*******************

Echo patted the kid on the shoulder "You did real good kid. You're pyromania needs a little work, but other then that we're on our way to becoming another great dynamic duo." Echo looked up and saw a woman riding a hyena in the distance, "But we may be needed again." He motioned towards the woman to more closely illustrate his point.

There was a woman riding a very large dog. Actually, it looked more like a hyena, when you looked very closely, and it made laughing noises as it wet.
She was dressed like a veterinarian from Austrailia, and the way she rode the hyena seemed as if she had done this sort of thing many times before.

"You want to chase after the lady walking, errr..riding her pet?" The little flame didn't know if she was doing bad or not. Was there a leash law?

Almost forgot I had a villian
 

Mindbender: Mindbender and Hound had completely shut down the the supercenter. Armed men were gaurding all the exits, all of the hostages were surrounded in a huddle in the center of the store. He had found a rather nice rolling business chair with a high back, it's always good to have that "throne" look when trying to intimidate people. in the backa steady line of two or three people had been loading up the stolen van with various computer and other electronic supplies. All of hsi henchman had been supplied with less noticable clothing so they did'nt stick out so much and the police had just showed up. Mindbender had nothing to really worry about, they were just G.P.D. nothing he could'nt take.
RedWing: Redwing needed to finish up with Fandingo quick, he was losing his patience, getting mad. He stood up on the streetlamp, spread his arms and opened his wings out to his sides. He fell back and spun in the air, positioning his chest parallel to the ground and flew straight at Fandingo, hugging the ground and powering his wings.

The man in the baseball cap got to security, and handed over his boarding pass. Inquisitively, the man looked at it. It was good. Then he looked at the baseball cap man, then a picture of people to look out for. The baseball cap man was there. It matched.

"Sir, I'll need you to come with me."

The guard was wearing what was usually a shoulder holster for a gun, but instead had a folding knife. Looking around frantically, the baseball cap man stepped away. Then he went into his bag. There was a clacking heard, and the guard went for his knife. A series of futuristic high-pitched pops was heard, and the guard fell backwards with bullets riddling his torso.

Someone screamed. No one knew who. Several people around the concourse stood and pulled guns of their own, spraying fire into the air.

"EVERYONE DOWN!"

Within a matter of minutes, people all around that concourse had locked it down and made a very nice hostage situation. This call was routed to the police, which when told of who started it routed it to IMCU. This call then reached Alec, who was back from his coffee run.

"Oh fuck me!"

He soon leapt into his car, and got to the airport just as a perimeter was established. First of all, this didn't warrant his assault suit. He wasn't on an entry team, and there were people better qualified to do it. Thus, Alec got out of the car and blended in. There was his usual torso body armor, with a jacket thrown over top. Along with this was a pair of bracers and armor on his thighs, establishing a simple energy shield about his body. To top things off, his handgun now sported a laser sight, and he had a small earpiece that hooked him straight into the tac team's communications.

"Okay, explain the situation."

"Thirty minutes ago, the concourse was taken hostage. Known casualties are one security guard, and some roof tiling."

"Anyone important on the inside?"

"Zao Long, the delegate from China is among the hostages."

"You can't pick him out by sight. Who will they use to provoke a media reaction?"

"We got three girls fresh out of high school, they were headed to Europe. One was homecoming queen. There's a mother with a newborn son, and on an unfortunate note, we've got an off-duty police officer. He was just going on his break for the first time in two years."

"Army's been informed?"

"Delta Force is inbound. ETA is three hours."

"Got any camera footage?"

"Just this." The officer gave Alec a thin tablet which was showing security footage. Alec saw the whole event, and then saw the face of the man with the hat. Exact same as Lewis. Either a twin, or surgery to imitate his face. Or...maybe a Metahuman. Regardless, it meant they had the wrong guy in interrogation.

"We got any demands so far?"

"Every half hour, starting now, they're going to kill a hostage. They've demanded that we provide them with transport to Italy."

"Shit...there's about 50 people in there. They can afford to be trigger happy. How many?"

"Last count? We got 12 tangos."

Alec put his face in his hands, then pulled out. His eyelids returned to normal with a snap. "FUCK!"

OOC: I'd really prefer no superheroes. Let the police handle this one.

PyrosNine
Echo sighed as he began scrambling through his pockets, "Theres a creature known as FanDingo, he's part man, part animal. He thinks he's a real ladies man." Echo finally pulled out what appeared to be a deck of cards, sifting through them he flicked one to the flame. As the little flame clutched it, a hologram came into focus above it displaying all of FanDingo's biographical info. Echo motioned back towards cindy, "And that right there, is his lady."

*********** Prem 1

The officers stood solumnly behind their vehicles just outside the super-store. "What are we gonna do? They got their people filtering in with the prisoners." Said an officer examining the situation with a set of high tech binoculars.

"We just have to stall them, all our resources are tied up at the airport. We have no strike forces to deploy." The commanding officer was not having a good day.

"Your kidding me."

"Nope, they've got the delagate of china being held prisoner there, we got almost nothing but white trash here, no compitition. It's all politics, no matter how long we take to save these people, they'll be grateful. There's a time limit on delagates." At this rate he was never gonna become chief of police.

"Fucking politicians... lets just hope they don't find the sportsman department, last thing we need is them getting ahold of rifles." The second officer sighed, as he felt his worry might have become prophetic.

*********** Prem 2

Catching RedWing with a snarl, FanDingo's claws tore the asphault beneath them. Clutching the vigilante with his left arm as he drew back his right and heaved a punch into Redwings kidneys as he felt the wind flow from his lungs in one final giggle.

*********** Darth SS

Inside the airport the baseball capped man growned, his head fell into his hands. His hat fell limply to the floor as the cold steel of the pistol he had stolen pressed against his head. "God dammit, this was supposed to be easy."

"Never is, is it." One of his fellow tango's replied. They looked quite similar and at a closer inspection, except for the fancy suit the second one wore, they were exactly the same. "It always grows more complicated." This second man was standing above the Chinese Delagate with a pistol pressed the man's head, he was idly flicking the hammer of the gun back and forth. "Like this guy right here, his plan was to go home and see his family, and I may just have to splatter his brains all over this place to prove our point."

"I know, why couldn't they just let me on the plane." The first began rubbing the gun against his temple, the cool steel was already beginning to warm.

A third of the same man dressed like a college student was tapping the handle of a flip out blade on the pregnant womans stomach as she wept uncontrollably. "Hey don't worry buddy, we'll get out of here. You'll think of something, I mean you always do."

"How much time is left on the deadline?" Said the first.

"5 minutes," His duplicates replied in unison.

"Then we better be prepared for a strike in 2. Get on it, if you need any reinforcements though..." He removed the gun from his temple as he looked up at his men, his eye was now a bright red and his temple pulsed with a mighty vein. "remember its only 11 an hour otherwise we have problems, problems like Lewis." All of the men nodded in agreement.

Mindbender: He was walking swiftly to the small area where the hostages were being held at gunpoint, he licked his lips, "Okay everybody eyes up front!" the scared group of people had little choice, they alll faced him. He secretly pressed the button in his glove and the lenses on his goggles clicked back revealing his infamous eyes, he then proceeded to walk around rambling aimlessly, to give the impression that he was making a villinaous speech, anybody who had ever met him would know different..
RedWing: RedWing had just gotten the wind knocked out of him, but he could'nt hesitate, Fandingo had him by the arm, so that meant that Redwing had Fandingo. Redwing swung down his left arm carrying his furry hanger-on with it and slammed him into the ground, he then raised his leg to stomp on the grounded criminal

"Ohh....okay." The little flame felt a little better about it now, if she was a villain's lady that meant she was a villain as well. The flame knew that was a bit stereotypical, but usually when one lived with a greedy psycho one tended to pick up his traits. Even if they were really nice beforehand.

Well, she didn't look like as much danger to the Echo as the creepy rabbits and that strange monster in the toystore, and The little flame was certainly back in full spirits after drying off and soaking in the lovely sunlight. "Alright then. I"m ready to go after her."

The woman was making decent time on the back of her pet down the sidewalk, and if nothing was done, she'd be out of sight soon. The little flame knew they'd need some form of transportation to catch up. Well, he was a good method of transportation if the entrance into the toystore was a good example.

"What form should I take?"

"I don't know what he's saying but it looks important." The policeman said as he watched Mindbender.

"How important?" The commanding officer had lost almost all the authoritative qualities in his voice.

"Shit is going down soon important." The officer tensed, when were those strike teams going to finish up at the airport.

******************

"What did you call yourself again?" The first was wiping his forehead clean of blood as he questioned the one next to the homecoming queen.

"Darian Sir." He answered as he scratched his chin for the fifth time.

"Darian, press that girls face up against the window, and in one minute if that deadline isn't met splatter her brains against it so that every news station in the nation pumps the image over the airwaves." He looked up with a sinister grin, "Can you do that for me Darian?"

Darian nodded an ok as he dragged the now hysterical prom queen towards the window, the man by the delegate sighed.

"Aw, I wanted to go first."

The leader's smile faded, "You go last, he's our trump card, we keep him alive. The girl will pull at the general populace's heart strings, next is a few of the business men, and if they still don't comply within two hours. We take out the mother and her unborn child. We'll show them what real monsters look like." The leader ran a hand gracefully down his nearly feminine chin. The group simply laughed. (ooc: Now or never D:SS)

******************

FanDingo caught the stop with a set of crossed forearms, heaving them upwards with a near shriek of anger he launched RedWing into the air. "I don't have all day for this, let me kill you now before my fans begin to worry that I've grown old."

******************

"Something... discrete. We shall follow rather then attack, chances our she's headed to her base, it'll be better to bust her there. Then we can get FanDingo too!" Echo was getting excited now, "You ready?" They would have to be quick to keep up with her.

OOC: Sorry, I've been on a band trip.

IC: "Darian" took it a step farther and even stepped outside, to bring full view on what he was about to do. Alec watched the scene unveil, then said into his comm, "Team 4, misfire your charges now!"

SWAT Team 4 did as told, and let one of their charges blow for no reason. The noise prompted everyone to spin and look towards there, taking attention away from the would-be executioner. As this happened, DeRaine sighted down his gun and put a bullet through said executioner's head.

Then he sprinted, holstering his gun as he did so, and using his augmentations. He actually beat the body's fall to the ground, grabbed it and then threw it down while putting his weight on top of it. The distraction wore off, and everyone turned around.

What they saw was the girl running to the line, and Alec handcuffing their ally. There wasn't any sign he was dead, even as Alec roughly hauled him away. As soon as he was back to the line, he let the body fall and dropped onto the ground behind a car. He was fighting down the urge to throw up. The situation had just become incredibly stressful.

"Tango down, repeat we have a tango down. Snipers still on hold, SWAT teams standy. 4, reposition."

He then rose and pulled his handgun again, sighting back into the concourse. Some part of him wished that Delta would arrive and just handle the situation on their own, but he knew that that was wishful thinking. Somehow, he himself would need to find a way to handle the situation.

Alec glanced up and the beginnings of a plan formed in his mind. There was a skylight. Perfect for rapelling, as the hostage takers undoubtedly knew. Maybe he could use that somehow...