Shh! It's a PSIcret!!

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Location: Jayson's Downtown Apartment

An almost blinding ray of sunlight shone through the window of the Jayson’s apartment, the warm light slowly but surely warming his forehead. He did his best to ignore it, shuffling around on the bed until he felt more comfortable. He cracked one of his eyes open and instantly shut it as a flash of direct sunlight hit it, he winced, bringing his hand up to tiredly rub away the sudden pain and rolled over, still clutching his pillow. He freed his other hand from under the covers and flopped it down on his right, suddenly starting at the distinct lack of person as he moved his hand around. Now slightly concerned, he opened his eyes and looked around, wiping the sleep away from his eyes and fully tuning into the world around him.

Jayson reached out through his empathic bond with Jimar, sensing that was he still close by and not in any immediate danger. This feeling was soon backed up by the sound of the shower turning off and Jimar making his way out of the bathroom. Jayson shifted, a slightly confused expression on his face as he looked Jimar, who for some reason was almost already dressed in his underclothes for his super suit. Jayson’s expression morphed into a lazy smile as he propped his head up with one arm.

“Don’t you know it’s bad form to leave a guy to wake up next to no one?” teased Jayson.

“Good morning to you too Jayson.” smirked Jimar.

“Let me guess, todays the day ForceTech send back your updated M.P.R.’s?” he asked, sitting up in the bed.

Jimar nodded as he rummaged around the nearby chest of drawers for a pair of socks. He paused momentarily as he sensed a wave of mixed emotions emanate from his boyfriend. He picked out a pair and turned around, making his way to the bed, sitting on the edge as he put them on.

“What’s up?” he asked

“Hm? Oh, n-nothing, just thinking.” replied Jayson.

Jimar frowned and looked over to Jayson.

“You should go and talk to that boy of yours. He was meant to get help with his powers a few months ago but just left when he realized you weren’t going to be there. I haven’t heard from him since but he said you “would know where to find him”.”

Jayson sighed and looked out towards the balcony window. Recognizing that as a sign that he didn’t want to talk anymore, Jimar rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. He got up and went down stairs soon preparing himself a steaming mug of tea and a couple of slices of toast and sat down on the couch. A few minutes later there was a sharp knock at the door and Jimar set down the mug as he walked over to the door and opened it.

A wide grin appeared on Jimar’s face as he noted that the delivery man’s uniform had the bright blue and white “FTI” logo emblazoned on his chest and cap. The man held medium sized grey metal box with one hand and a data pad in the other, he took the digi-pen from behind his ear and smiled brightly as he spoke:

“Morning, sir, I’ve got a package for a…Mr. J Domino?”

“Good morning! That would be me.” replied Jimar.

The man handed over the pen and the data pad; he accepted them and signed the data pad. The delivery man nodded his thanks as he exchanged Jimar’s package for the data pad and pen.

“Thanks Mr. Domino, here’s your package. And from ForceTech Industries, have a great day!” he grinned.

“Thanks, good bye!” he replied.

Jimar closed the door behind him and eyed the package as he walked back to the couch. He looked up as he heard the shower running and then turned his attention back to the box. He looked for some sort of panel and moved to grab one of the sides, as soon as he did the metal box made a soft clicking sound and a small circle detached itself from the top of the box and quickly scanned him. Jimar jerked back in shock.

“IDENTIFY YOURSELF.” It stated.

“Uh…Mister Jimar Domino.” he replied cautiously.

The small circular drone blinked twice and repeated his voice back to him and then reslotted itself into the metal box.

“PROCESSING…’Uh…Mister Jimar Domino’…VOICE KEY ACQUIRED. VERIFYING.” It responded.

A few moments later the mini-drone deactivated and the sides of the metal package opened up to reveal his M.P.R.’s atop a blue cushion. Jimar reached in and retrieved his M.P.R.’s, releasing a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. Ever since he parted with them a few days ago, he had been trying his best to compensate for the lack of protection they afforded him by blocking out the emotions he was being assaulted with constantly. The provisional ones provided by ForceTech Industries had been a little too heavy on the blocking of emotions and he felt somewhat muffled, but he did not want to seem complacent so he hadn’t said anything. A computerized voice lifted him out of his reviere;

“Mr. Domino, please place the provisional meta-human power dampeners in this unit.”

He looked around, soon spotting the provisional M.P.R.’s he had been given. They were lying on the kitchen counter a few feet away, he got up and collected them, quickly placing them into the metal container as the unit requested. Jimar smiled to himself as he realized he was taking direction from a mailed package and looked down at the provisional metahuman power dampeners. He hadn’t felt too good wearing them for the past couple of days, he felt stifled as if the dampening effect was turned up too high and actually welcomed whatever he felt once he took them off.

As soon as he withdrew his hands the panels which once formed the metal box, reformed and slid back together. As he reached in to lift out his normal M.P.R.’s, a column of light shot up out of the metal box and a hologram materialized above the box. Looking towards it, he recognized a familiar face of the speaker. It was Techna Ology. The hologram of Techna waved happily at him and then started to speak.

“Hey Psirus! I hope you’re okay! I’ve made the necessary fixes and updated the casing of the M.P.R.’s so it should be a tougher unit overall. I also added in a feature I think you might like…you see the two slightly raised panels on either side? That’s part of the new EMP system I added in, just press both panels to activate. The electro magnetic pulse has a fifty foot blast radius and will automatically tune itself specifically to the energy signatures of the tech systems you are focused on, it can target a section of a piece of technology or all of it. Be warned though, due to my desire to keep the M.P.R.’s primary function intact, and based on the fact that it’s on your head…I didn’t install too many charges, so it only has three charges. Once used up it’ll need time to recharge, you’ll get a small tingling sensation once a charge has been completed. The function will help you against enemies with well…no emotions to play with, like robots. Just be wary, some super powerful systems will only experience a temporary set back, not a permanent one. The pulse attack can be tuned specifically to a target group, so you don’t accidentally knockout someone like Dawn or your own communications, just focus on your targets and then engage. I hope this comes in handy one day!” explained Techna.

The hologram showed Techna waving enthusiastically and despite knowing that she couldn’t see him, Jimar waved back. The hologram shut off moments later and the column of light cut out as the metal box made a slight whirring noise and began to hover into the air, slowly making it’s way towards the door.

“ENGAGING PACKAGE RECALL PROTOCOL.” It stated.

Jimar got up and opened the front door and allowed the floating box to hover out of the apartment. As soon as it passed the threshold of his apartment it unveiled a secondary thruster system and shot down the hall, flew through the open window at the end of the hall and out into the city sky. Jimar blinked and shook his head, as he turned back around he shut the door returned to his cup of tea. As he finished off the last of his tea he ran his fingers over the EMP panels on the side of his M.P.R.’s, his fingers twitching slightly as he resisted the impulse to just press them and see what would happen.

He looked over to the digital clock, it read 08:46 AM. He had around fifteen minutes until he was due to be out on patrol around the city. He stood up, taking his mug and plate to the sink, washed up and made his way back upstairs, making sure to pick up his M.P.R.’s as he went. A few minutes later, he slipped into his Delta suit and activated the anti-gravity field on his M.P.R.’s, opening the doors to the balcony. Jimar hovered through to the balcony of the penthouse apartment and turned back to close the door he’d passed through and then took off into the sky. A few minutes into his flight, his comm-link went off, he answered it and Jayson’s voice came through.

“Where are you off to?” he asked.

“Hey Jay, I’m just patrolling the city. I think I’ll stop off at our HQ after I’m done. Meet me there?”

“Sure, if anything comes up, be sure to call it in…Psirus.” Jayson reminded him.

Jimar rolled his eyes at Jayson’s tone, his playful jab at his field name discernible through their comm-link.

“Of course, I’ll see you later!”


Location: Downtown

As he flew around Downtown, Psirus soon came up past the darker area of the city where an unusual amount of DEMON cultists gathered. He reasoned that they had to be living there or at least operated close by. Psirus resisted his initial desire to check out what they were doing as he swiftly reminded himself that DEMON did have connections to The Crowns, who seemed to have taken an interest in him lately.

Looking over and seeing minimal activity anyway, Psirus opted to turn away, instead flying over the Doctor Destroyer Museum on the opposite side of the road. He flew a little lower and was startled by a series of shouts from the street below. Looking down he saw a group of officers waving at him on the sidewalk. Psirus descended, adjusting his M.P.R.’s as he touched down on the sidewalk. The tallest officer stepped forwards, his badge reflecting the early morning sunlight as he thrust his hand forward, nodding towards Psirus as he did. Psirus accepted the proffered hand as he spoke.

“Hello officers.” Psirus smiled.

“Hey, I’m Lieutenant Tim Connolly, and this is my a few members of my team, we’re part of Special Unit Omega. We help superheroes like you take on some of the tougher threats. We’re glad you’re here Psirus.” Lieutenant Connolly said.

Psirus nodded and looked briefly at each one.

“What seems to be the problem?” he asked.

“We’ve been tracking a lot of movement within the New Purple Gang. Ever since Corporal Harrison managed to break free of Medusa’s mind control and that crazy PSI plot, he has been focusing on New Purple Gang and it’s movements since Kevin Poe was caught last month. They’ve been-” started Lieutenant Connolly.

A mechanical whirring to their right cut Tim off as a squad of Destroids rose out of the ground. Psirus’ eyes widened as he eyed the small drones with mini-gun pointed in their direction. The guns began whirring as the other Destroids began targeting Psirus and the police officers.

“Aw, shit, Donaldson said something crazy was going on here but no one did anything!” hissed Lieutenant Connolly

The officers encircled Psirus pulled out their guns and pointed at the Destroids but the next couple of words uttered in a monotone, robotic voice, spurred Psirus into action.

“Targeting. Target designation; MCPD Officers. Status: Alive. Orders…orders: Destroy.”

The officers fired a few rounds which all but dented the powerful destreum metal, doing little to slow the advancing robots. As the robots moved forwards and began firing, Psirus had already maneuvered in front of them and summoned an empathic construct in the form of a wide barrier, shielding them from the onslaught. Lieutenant Connolly and the other officers were slightly startled but nodded thanks to Psirus as they began radioing in back up.

“All available units, I repeat all units, code blue 217, we’ve got Destroids attacking, expedite cover code 3. I repeat CODE 3. Location is Dr. Destroyer Museum.”

Psirus winced and bowed his head slightly as he felt the pseudo empathic feedback from his shield as the incoming fire from the Destroids intensified causing severe strain to the shield. Each impact caused white cracks to spider through the shield from the impact point. Lieutenant Connolly looked concerned as he tapped Psirus’ shoulder.

“Back up is at least fifteen minutes out. How…long can you hold that shield?” Lieutenant Connolly asked.

“I’m going to try something, I can’t keep it steady for long under this fire.” he responded.

Psirus focused on the shield, repairing and strengthening it to a point and launched it at the group of Destroids. The purple empathic construct shattered on impact with the Destroids, sending a few stumbling backwards and temporarily disorientating the rest, interrupting their fire. Psirus’ fingers flew up to the sides of his M.P.R.’s as he felt for the EMP panels.

“Run! I’ll hold these Destroids off!” he shouted.

Lieutenant Connolly and the rest of the officers didn’t argue and just ran as the Destroids began to recover from the impact and refocused on Psirus. He generated another, much smaller shield around himself as he watched the last of the officers make it out of the park and across the street. A small niggling sensation alerted him to the integrity of his shield and he focused on the Destroids. Psirus flew into the air and pushed his shield towards them, detonating it in a show of bright purple light to distract the Destroids and then pressed the EMP panels on either side of his M.P.R.’s.

He closed his eyes, praying it had worked and for a few horrible moments he thought it failed. His eyes snapped open and stared ahead at the group of Destroids. The first thing he noticed, and was thankful for, was the lack of incoming fire; the second thing was that the Destroids were completely unresponsive. He heard the pattering of footsteps on the concrete path behind him and looked back to see Lieutenant Connolly and the rest of the officers, running towards him. One of the other officers’ eyes widened as they looked at the Destroids which had paused in their actions, as if they were frozen in time.

“Didn’t realize you could mess with robots too…” mused the officer.

“I didn’t, at least not directly. That was just a very timely upgrade.” Psirus answered as he tapped his M.P.R.’s.

A few of the more brave officers sidled up to the Destroids pushing against them and a couple fell to the ground with an eerie clang. Psirus was almost about to breathe a sigh of relief when the ground began to rumble beneath him, he looked around frantically for the source and to his horror, quickly located it. Several sections of the ground around the museum opened up followed by a series of synchronized mechanical whirring’s as several large platforms appeared. The platforms lifted themselves out of the ground to reveal groups of freshly built Destroids; Lieutenant Connolly gripped his gun a little tighter as his eyes darted between the groups of Destroids now appearing in and around the museum as well as on the street.

“I don’t suppose your EMP attack can be used against all of these guys?” Lieutenant Connolly asked

“I don’t think I can get close to all of them, they’re pretty spread out. I’ve only got two charges left and it’ll take some time to recharge.” He replied.

Psirus and the officers formed a circle, looking out at the freshly produced Destroids, who were currently scanning the area. Psirus’ mind was racing as he tried to figure out what he could do and then it dawned upon him.

“Oh my god. I cannot believe I didn’t think of this earlier…” he gasped

Psirus raised his hand to his M.P.R.’s and activated his Delta comm-link function.

“This is Psirus, I’m in a near hopeless situation at Doctor Destroyer’s Museum, and I’m requesting immediate back up! Please help!” he cried.

Much to Psirus’ horror, the nearest Destroid group also picked up on his plea and began searching for the source. He ushered the officers towards one of the large rocks within the museum grounds and they hid behind there as the Destroids fanned out as they searched. He felt his heart almost beating out of his chest as he waited for a response from over the comm-link; his hands hovered over the EMP panels on the sides of his M.P.R.’s as he mentally prepared himself for a worst case scenario. Moments later, the silence broke over the Delta comm-link, startling him but he soon felt a powerful wave of relief wash over him as he heard a response.

“Ji-Psirus, I’m on my way to your location, I just sensed a lot of distress via our empathic link. Stay safe! I’m almost there!” urged Spectrum.

Psirus turned to the officers, a small smile on his face;

“I’ve got a team mate headed to help out, he should be here pretty soon.”

Lieutenant Connolly nodded and looked down as his radio beeped several times. A several sets of screeching tires sounded from the tarmac nearby.

“Looks like some of our back up team arrived early. We’ll work on evacuating the civilians in the area, no doubt the curator is still inside the building, probably with a few other members of staff, not to mention visitors. Once we’ve got everyone to safety, we’ll set up a perimeter and help you and your team mate any way we can.” explained Lieutenant Connolly.

Psirus nodded as another of the officers shuffled closer, looking somewhat panicked as he spoke.

“Tim, we’ve got reports of some of these Destroids taking off to the Renaissance Center, Defender is there but it’ll take the Westside division a while to get there.”

“Don’t worry, Defender will call in back up if he can’t hold them at bay. I think Kinetik is close by as well.” replied Psirus.

Lieutenant Connolly nodded and looked over the edge of the largest rock to see how close the Destroids were. As he looked up, his brown eyes widened as he came face to face with the cold destreum helmet and piercing yellow eyes of a Destroid foot soldier. Time seemed to slow for Lieutenant Connolly as he saw the Destroid lift its weapon and point it towards him, charging and seconds away from firing. A strong voice from above shook him out of his shocked state.

“Get back!” it shouted.

Lieutenant Connolly placed his hands flat on the surface of the rock and pushed, sending him back towards the ground, he rolled with the motion and ended up in a lowered position. His officers had already moved back with Psirus; he paused as he heard something fly through the air and impact something in front of him. The Destroid had been pinned to the rock by several bright golden-yellow constructs and had a larger one jutting out of its head. The weapon clattered to the ground and Lieutenant Connolly looked up to see a flying figure sheathed in some form of energy firing a blast at the foot soldier.

“Spec, you got here just in time!” exclaimed Psirus.

Spectrum smiled as he touched down, his smile soon turning into a frown as nearby Destroids ran towards their location. Spectrum nodded to the officers and Lieutenant Connolly then turned his attention back to Psirus, occasionally looking over Psirus’ shoulder.

“We’ve got incoming, get ready.” warned Spectrum.

Lieutenant Connolly signalled to his officers, who rushed towards the backup teams, quickly donning additional armour, suiting themselves up for metahuman level combat.

“We’ll get to work on the museum. Try to keep the fight away from us and good luck.” shouted Lieutenant Connolly as he ran to join his officers.

Spectrum and Psirus flew into the air, their empathic bond strengthening as their empathic abilities strengthened through the bond. Psirus boosted the empathic energy flowing through the bond as Spectrum prepared to attack. A nearby group of Destroids spotted them a moment too soon and opened fire. Psirus summoned another barrier to deflect the assault as Spectrum forged the emotional energy into a real world construct of coalesced empathic energy. He shaped the energy into a large hand and slammed it down on the Destroids with extreme force, flattening them completely.

Spectrum lifted the hand-like construct and peered at the crushed and sparking remains of the Destroids. He grinned to himself and dissipated the construct, keeping the residual emotional energy and forming it into several arrow-like constructs. Psirus launched the barrier into another group of on-coming Destroids, his empowered barrier managing to now stun them. Spectrum fired two of his arrow constructs into the Destroids, piercing them straight through and weaving them in and around the robots until each one had a gaping hole in their chests.

Twenty or so groups of ferocious Destroids later, Psirus heard a distant explosion and spun around; he reached out and soon sensed several other heroes on the scene.

“Looks like we’ve finally got a little additional back up. No one from Delta though, or anyone I recognize.” he said.

“Do we have any idea where these Destroids are coming from? We might be able to hit the source and stop this madness, they just seem to be in an endless supply.” replied Spectrum.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a fresh line of Destroids appeared less than one hundred feet away from them. They were about to engage when the sharp, fresh emotion of fear and pain flashed into their minds from an ally nearby. Spectrum looked at Psirus then at the approaching Destroids.

“I can handle this, go and assist. With any luck whatever is producing these Destroids will run out of parts.”

Psirus nodded and flew off towards the source. As he flew he deftly avoided several energy blasts and even a rocket powered fist. His empathic sense peaked as he looked around and in the distance saw Lieutenant Connolly providing covering fire for an officer of his who had been hit quite badly, whilst trying to pull him to safety. Psirus looked on as an Annihilator Bot stalked forwards pausing periodically at the shots which hit it, but still moving closer. Psirus wasted no time in closing the distance between them and generated a purple dome shaped barrier around himself and the two MCPD members. He strengthened the shield as the Annihilator Bot rammed into the construct, bashing against it uselessly.

“Psirus! Thank god you got here. I’ve got a man down here, my other officers seem to be okay for now. Alaric here just can’t resist being a hero.” explained Lieutenant Connolly, smiling fondly as he finished.

Psirus bent down as the downed officer turned to his side slightly wincing as he moved and gingerly removed his hands. He winced slightly as he felt an echo of the pain, as he reached out to soothe the officer’s pain addled mind. He took a look at the injury, the armor on the officer’s side had been completely burnt away but had seemingly taken the worst of the initial impact; the rest of the armor around it was unsurprisingly scorched by the energy weapon blast. Psirus delicately peeled away the fabric covering the actual wound, muttering apologies as the officer flinched and hissed; it looked as if the worst burn marks were on the exposed flesh surrounding the actual injury which had little to no skin on it. The bright pink flesh beneath, a stark reminder of the freshness of the injury.

“How bad is it?” asked Officer Alaric, his voice significantly softer under Psirus’ renewed influence.

“Nothing I can’t help with I hope. Hmm, this might be a stretch for me, it’s a second degree burn.” frowned Psirus.

He paused as the Annihilator Bot was now slashing at the shield with an energy sword, which Psirus knew would soon compromise the barrier’s integrity. He locked eyes with Officer Alaric and his features softened slightly.

“This is going to sting at first but it’ll get better fast.” explained Psirus.

Lieutenant Connolly nodded at Psirus as did Officer Alaric. Psirus focused his empathic energy, instructing it to flow to his left hand which hovered a few inches above the burn. Psirus’ palm surged with a light purple energy and he focused it on the burn. The energies shot out of his palm and swam around on the surface of the burn; Psirus did his best to suppress the pain from the initial contact.

“I can only promote his natural healing, but I can take away the immediate pain.” explained Psirus.

Officer Alaric gritted his teeth for a few moments but soon stilled as the pain ebbed away. Lieutenant Connolly looked on as the tissue began to very slowly repair itself before his very eyes. Psirus’ focus on the empathic healing intensified as he worked to absorb the pain that the man was feeling. The barrier was holding but the Annihilator Bot seemed to have found a weak spot and was steadily chipping away at it with a particle sword of sorts, unyielding in its directive to destroy Psirus and the MCPD police on the scene. Psirus’ brow creased as he struggled to maintain the barrier and effectively heal the officer. A few minutes later and the barrier was visibly cracked from the inside; the crack spidered out more and more for each subsequent hit.

“Psirus…” warned Lieutenant Connolly

“I…know…just a few more seconds…” he replied, the strain evident in his voice.

As he focused and pushed past the pain, soothing it as he went, and brief images of Alaric’s past flashed into his mind...a brother…a sister…a father…a fire…so much pain…Psirus’ brow creased further as he blocked out the painful memories which brushed against his mind. Psirus breathed out a sigh of relief as he finished the strenuous healing, but his relief was short lived as a he was hit by the blinding pain of his barrier shattering as the Annihilator Bot finally broke through. As he tried to re-orient himself, Lieutenant Connolly reached for his gun and Officer Alaric’s eyes widened.

Before they could fully react, a purple suited woman landed behind them, she ran forward and performed a flying kick towards the Annihilator Bot; her heeled boot slammed into the chest of the Destroid causing it to stagger back as she then pushed off it and landed on the ground. It quickly attacked with a series of sharp swipes with its particle sword, all of which were dodged by the heroine. The Annihilator Bot threw a punch, but this time the woman blocked it and followed it up with a devastatingly powerful kick which landed with a sickening crunching and slicing sound as she managed knock the Destroid’s head clean off. She landed smoothly, her eyes darting around for another opponent; when none were forthcoming she turned around. Her dark blond medium length hair was highlighted with purple at the ends, which she somehow managed to pull off.

“Thought you could use a hand. I’m Chance, with Project On Call. Is he injured?” she asked.

“Yes, he is. I can only promote his natural healing and soothe his mental pain but the burn injury is still present. I’m Psirus, with Delta.” he replied.

“Lieutenant Tim Connolly, Special Unit Omega. I’ve likely got other men wounded out there. Psirus, think you could do for those guys what you did for Alaric?” he asked.

Before Psirus could respond several EMS units rolled up to the scene, helpfully running into several Destroids as they did.

“Delta? Nice, I’ve heard about your team. Alright, I’ll do my best to get him to an ambulance ASAP. Lieutenant, let’s go. Find out who else is injured and I’ll help out where I can. I’ve got a couple stim packs on me for short term relief.” instructed Chance

She moved towards Officer Alaric and took a blue and green pad from her belt and applied it to his wounded side. The officer groaned slightly and then looked towards Psirus with an odd look and then nodded.

“Thanks, Psirus.” he rasped.

“No problem Officer.”

Chance helped the Officer to his feet, she slung Officer Alaric’s arm around herself and lifting him up and beckoned Lieutenant Connolly, who nodded and followed but not before shouting back to Psirus.

“Good luck!”

Psirus gave a small wave and was about to take into the sky to check on Spectrum when a sudden, very loud and very disturbing vibration sounded through the museum grounds. The vibrations shook the very ground on which they stood, almost causing him to lose balance a few times. The remaining Destroids close to road suddenly dropped to the floor, seemingly deactivated or simply frozen in time as the vibrations sounded again…and again…almost like…footsteps? Psirus’ empathic sense reached out to try and locate the source but came up empty handed, so he activated his comm-link and flew into the sky.

“Jay…are you hearing that?” he asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I hear it but I don’t see it just yet. I’m on the other side of the museum grounds but there’s good news at least; these Destroids seem not to be appearing like mad now though.” Spectrum replied

“Or…we’ve been tricked into fighting these guys whilst something bi-OH MY GOD!” exclaimed Psirus as he turned around.

“What? What is it? Psirus!?”

Psirus’ mouth hung open as a Destroid of titanic proportions came into view, stepping away from a far off portal of some kind which vanished moments later. Psirus watched in horror as it strode towards the Dr. Destroyer museum almost with an air of superiority as it swatted away a few of the heroes on the scene who attempted to engage it.

“…rus!! JIMAAAARR!!!” shouted Spectrum.

The sudden shout shook Psirus out of his shock and he responded.

“Sorry, sorry, but…a giant Destroid has appeared on the scene. Like a GIANT one. It’s already taken out several heroes.” he explained.

“I’ll be with you soon, give me a minute.” replied Spectrum.

His comm-link cut and Psirus looked on as the Mega Destroid began firing, unleashing a particle beam, carving patterns into the concrete as it tried to blast a hero running from it. Psirus’ instinct took over and he flew in at speed. He landed a few feet in front of the running hero and shouted.

“Get behind me!” he shouted.

As the hero complied, Psirus grit his teeth and extended his arms as he generated a large purple barrier and braced himself for the psionic backlash. The particle beam slammed into his shield causing it to crack almost instantly under the sustained beam. The intensity of the beam forced Psirus to crouch slightly, as he diverted all his power to rejuvenating the barrier. Just as he thought the barrier was going to shatter for sure the beam stopped firing. Sensing the sudden let up, Psirus cracked one eye open to see a gigantic foot lifting into the air…and then dropping towards them. Psirus’ eyes widened as he froze, the injured hero behind him cowered and let out a quiet chocked sob. Psirus squeezed both his eyes shut and barred his teeth as his life flashed before his eyes.

A muffled stomping sound rang through Psirus’ ears and he looked up quickly to see, just past his empathic construct, a much larger, golden-yellow construct shielding him.

“Oh god, J-er Spectrum!” he cried

He dissipated his barrier and his empathic connection strengthened as he flew up and kissed Spectrum on the cheek.

“Thought you’d want a bit of help!” smirked Spectrum, blushing slightly at the kiss.

“Cut it kind of close! Gosh! But…you saved our asses. How long can you keep that up?”

“Erm…a lot longer if you helped! We need to figure out something, there are heroes out there unconscious. EMS will likely try haul them away as long as we can keep the Destroid’s fire focused on us.” replied Spectrum.

Psirus touched back down and tended to the injured hero.

“Are you alright?” he asked

“Shit…yeah, I…I just needed breather to heal. Thanks man, honestly thought that was it back there but…thankfully your guy came through. I’m going to try and get some of my team on the situation. But my communicator got blasted out of my hand. All I need is a brief window to recover it. Think you two can provide that?” the hero responded.

Spectrum looked at Psirus, the strain on his face slowly becoming evident as the Mega Destroid continued blasting and hammering in an effort to get at the heroes.

“If Psirus and I sustain the construct, that’ll give you enough time to jump out. Are you fast?” replied Spectrum.

“Hey, I ain’t just called Bolt cause of the lightning on my costume!” he grinned as he stood up.

Psirus nodded and flew up next to Spectrum, he focused his empathic creation abilities and infused the construct with his purple energy. It soon took on a swirling mix of bright purple and golden-yellow; Psirus and Spectrum controlled the shape of the construct turning it into a large shield shape, allowing the previous dome-like structure to fall away, allowing Bolt to speed off into the distance with a shout.

“Thanks!”

“You do realize…that…by letting him go…uh…we’re pretty much….the only ones….in this Mega Destroid’s way? Where the hell….is everyone else?” strained Spectrum.

“…N…No idea. But this is getting ridiculous….not even…the Champions are here!” replied Psirus.

“I’ve got an idea…but…I’ll put out a call first. Just in case.” Psirus continued.

Spectrum nodded as Psirus activated his M.P.R.’s built in comm-link.

“This is Psirus…calling all and ANY Delta member available, we’re in a difficult situation in Downtown!...Mega Destroid…attacking and we’re the only ones here! HELP!” shouted Psirus.

“Okay…so…what’s you’re i…idea?” asked Spectrum

“I think the EMP inside my M.P.R.’s might be strong enough to…shut down this Mega Destroid.” replied Psirus hurriedly.

“You think…or you KNOW?”

Psirus strained as the Mega Destroid began pummeling the shield with missiles, several bouncing off the construct and exploding around the shield. Despite their best efforts, the empathic construct had begun to crack and was minutes away from shattering. Psirus strained and looked worriedly to Spectrum.

“It’s better than waiting for the inevitable. Isn’t it?” asked Psirus

Spectrum grit his teeth but nodded.

“Okay…okay…on three we throw the shield and I’ll distract it.”

Psirus nodded and readied himself, focusing his energies offensively as he got ready to shove the mighty construct at the Mega Destroid.

“3…2…1…NOW!” shouted Spectrum

They both grunted as they launched the construct at the Mega Destroid. Psirus enveloped himself in a personal shield as the Mega Destroid’s right arm smashed into and then through the dual hued construct, almost striking him as he flew. True to his word, Spectrum flew up in a flash and unleashed several golden-yellow blasts at the Mega Destroid, firmly gaining its attention. It fired short blasts of energy at him, as he directed it away from Psirus who was flying towards its head. He stopped as he reached the crown and his hands hovered over the panels on his M.P.R.’s. He muttered a brief prayer as he angled his head towards the Mega Destroid and pushed down on the panels unleashing an EMP at a very close range. The Mega Destroid shuddered as its flailing limbs suddenly froze mid swipe, the particle energy lasers in its eyes shutting down and dimming until they were just dark orbs. Everything seemed to slow to a halt.

“Did it work?” asked Spectrum

“I think so…although I’m not sure how well…Techna said something about advanced robotics not being shut down permanently…so…” mused Psirus

Against his better judgement, he flew closer to the Mega Destroyer until he was level with its eyes. Psirus narrowed his eyes as he gazed at it, flying closer when he heard a low robotic voice sounding from inside its head. Spectrum hissed over his comm-link, concerned at how close Psirus was getting to it.

“Jim, what are you doing?! Get back!” he hissed.

Psirus waved him off furiously as he responded.

“Shh! There’s a voice inside saying something, trying to work out what it is saying!”

Psirus strained his hearing just enough to make out what was being said:

“INITIALIZATION COMMAND RECEIVED: INITIALIZING OPERATION: WRATH OF DESTROYER…INITIALIZING FACTORY…ERROR LOCAL FACTORY OFFLINE. BEGINNING SECONDARY SOLUTION….INITIALIZING DESTROIDS. COMMAND SOURCE IDENTIFICATION: DR. DESTROYER. REQUESTING CONFIRMATION…. REQUESTING CONFIRMATION…. REQUESTING CONFIRMATION….CONFIRMATION FAILED. VERIFYING COMMAND SOURCE VIA SENNACHERIB…VERIFYING….VERIFYING…VERIFYING…ERROR! VERIFICATION FAILED: UNABLE TO CONTACT SENNACHERIB DUE TO OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE. NO SOLUTION AVAILABLE. BEGINNING SYSTEM LOCK-OUT…ALERT! SYSTEM REBOOT AND OVER-RIDE CODE ENTERED FROM REMOTE SOURCE. SYSTEM REBOOT AND OVER-RIDE CODE CONFIRMED. REBOOT IN PROGRESS….5…4…3…”

Psirus’s eyes widened as he jerked his head back and flew at speed towards Spectrum.

“GET BACK!” he screamed

As the words left his mouth the Mega Destroyer’s eyes flashed dangerously as it reanimated itself.

“SYSTEM REPORT: PARTICLE LASERS - ONLINE. DESTREUM MICRO MUNITIONS – ONLINE. DESTROYER WAVE GENERATOR – ONLINE, 75% AND CHARGING. ARMOR INTEGRITY AT 85%. SHIELDS - OFFLINE. DESTREUM ENERGY CONVERTERS – ONLINE.”

Spectrum’s eyes widened and an expression of horror would have been almost comical if the situation he was in was not very real. He quickly shook the feeling from himself and allowed his instincts to take over. Spectrum generated several serrated constructs and spun them at a high speed as he launched them into the Mega Destroid. The constructs cut into the Mega Destroid causing it to stagger back as they exploded, causing noticeable dents in its armor. Psirus touched Spectrum’s shoulder looking intently as the smoke cleared. Spectrum’s expression soon turned sour as a cold, robotic voice cut through the temporary calm.

“ARMOR INTEGRITY AT 75%. RESUME OFFENSIVE MEASURES.”

A bright yellow particle beam cut through the thin veil of clearing smoke, headed straight for Psirus and Spectrum. The two empaths combined their power and created a spherical shield around themselves just moments before it hit. The shield whined loudly as the particle beam ploughed into it with such force that it hurtled towards the ground with a sickening crunch as the concrete beneath the spherical shield construct gave way under the incredible pressure. Psirus looked around in shock as large slabs of concrete stuck out of the ground jaggedly, he looked up to the shield they were sustaining and focused as he and Spectrum repaired the cracks that had spidered through the shield.

“We…need a plan. I’m tired of playing….DEFENSE!” grunted Spectrum

“You’re right…but unless we have cover…it’s going to be hard taking out this Mega Destroid.” agreed Psirus.

The two empaths had almost finished reinforcing the shield when a gigantic shadow loomed over the shield; they looked up and Spectrum swore colorfully as a giant fist rained down from above.

“GET CLEAR!” shouted Psirus.

Just as the words left his mouth the empathic shield construct began crumbling under the continuous barrage of fists and the two empaths jumped out of the crumbling shell just as it shattered into several jagged pieces. Spectrum glanced over to check on Psirus who was staring up at the Mega Destroid, once satisfied that Psirus was okay he flew up in a flurry of empathic energy and grit his teeth as he threw several strong solid empathic bolts at the Mega Destroid. It raised its arm in front of its face and the bolts slammed into the arm, it lowered its arm and swung for Spectrum who generated a quick barrier, the barrier soaked up the initial impact but sent him flying backwards.

“JAYSON!” Psirus screamed.

He reached out with his mind and generated a large pad behind Spectrum and attempted to reduce his eventual impact by pulling it towards him. Thankfully Spectrum blinked awake and caught himself within Psirus’ purple construct, he nodded his thanks as it dissipated and righted himself. Psirus flew into the air and focused on the right arm of the Mega Destroid as he reached for the panels on the side of his M.P.R.’s. As he fixed his attention on the arm, he slammed his hands into the panels and unleashed a targeted electromagnetic pulse. The Mega Destroid paused as its right arm suddenly became dysfunctional.

“ERROR. EXPERIENCING LOSS OF FUNCTION IN RIGHT SERVO MOTORS VIA EXTERNAL SOURCE. RE INITIALIZING SERVO MOTORS…RE INITIALIZATION FAILURE….IDENTIFYING EXTERNAL SOURCE. TARGET LOCATED….DESIGNATION: PSIRUS OF DELTA. SOLUTION: DESTROY.”

“Oh my…shit.” gasped Psirus as his eyes widened.

The Mega Destroid moved oddly with its dysfunctional arm and reared his head back as its eye beams charged up, its head then jerked forwards as it unleashed the deadly beams. Psirus darted through the air as the thick particle beam crashed into the ground, the sheer force and heat of the blast cut into the concrete covered ground leaving small but deep trenches in the ground. Psirus looked down as he flew swerving to miss a tree which was soon sliced in half and looked at the trail of destruction that followed him as the Mega Destroid maintained the beam; the turned up concrete had a strange grey liquid substance in it which was rapidly cooling. Psirus’ eyes widened as he realized it as concrete.

“Jimar! What are you doing?!” shouted Spectrum through the comm-link.

Psirus almost let out an undignified yelp as the Mega Destroid began firing in blasts, he was managing to narrowly avoid the particle blasts, twisting through the air as he evaded the shots.

“At the moment I’m flying for my damn LIFE! We need back up, try calling anyone! Someone has to be around!” he shouted.

Spectrum looked on worriedly as Psirus distracted the Mega Destroid, he massaged his left arm which had absorbed a small portion of the impact from the Mega Destroid but still stung, probably forming a nasty bruise. He launched several blasts at the Mega Destroid’s back and reached up to activate his comm-link, he adjusted it to the Emergency channel.

“This is Spectrum calling any Delta member we need urgent back up!! Please hurry!” he cried.

For a few agonizing moments there was just silence and Spectrum released a defeated sigh, closing his eyes as he silently prayed for someone to answer. He almost jumped when a flurry of different noises sounded through the comm-link followed by the familiar sound of someone flying through the air at high speed.

“Hello?” he asked frantically.

“Joule here. I’m almost there, give me a few more moments. I suggest you and Psirus get to some cover or something.” replied Joule.

Spectrum let out a short, relieved chuckle and with renewed vigor flew into the air, he fired off several blasts as Psirus turned in the air flying back towards him as he generated another empathic construct. He sealed it just as Psirus flew in, their empathic bond singing as they fed off of each other’s emotions, strengthening them and in turn strengthening the empathic shield construct. The empaths waited with baited breath as muffled explosions sounded through the thick construct, accompanied by tiny flashes of bright light as the Mega Destroid unleashed a barrage of destreum micro missiles at them. Psirus wiggled his fingers nervously as he waited for Joule to appear. As if on cue, there was a sonorous rumbling sound from high above, the sound was loud enough to penetrate the shield and alert the two empaths to something happening on the outside.

“I think Joule’s here, let’s reinforce the shield.” urged Spectrum

Psirus nodded and together they infused the empathic shield construct with more energy, strengthening it. On the outside the Mega Destroid ceased its fire and turned its head towards the heavens as the clouds above the museum had begun to grow dark accompanied by sharp, sudden sounds which transformed into deep rumbling thunder. The Mega Destroid began to scan the skies, it watched as the clouds continued to darken and then its voice sounded above the two shielded empaths.

“SCANNING. ABNORMAL ABUNDANCE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA DETECTED. SOURCE DETECTED…ERROR. CLASSIFICATION ERROR. SUBJECT IS NOT A METAHUMAN. DISREGARD CLASSIFICATION, UNIFORM INDICATES SUBJECT IS AFFILIATED WITH DELTA. SOLUTION. DES-”

Before it could finish its sentence the heavens shook with a terrifying rumbling sound as Joule made a powerful dragging motion with her hands and gritted her teeth as she pointed directly at the Mega Destroid. Milliseconds later, a gigantic bolt of lightning pierced the dark clouds and tore across the sky towards its intended target. It skimmed past Joule and followed the angle of her pointed hands and smashed into the Mega Destroid’s chest plate. The impact was an impressive display of light and heat and forced the Mega Destroid to stagger, backing away from the two shielded empaths.

Psirus ducked his head as the loud and explosive impact reverberated through their empathic shield. Spectrum released the shield as he saw the shadow of the Mega Destroid back away and was followed by Psirus as the looked towards the slowly recovering killer robot. Moments later in a brief flash of lightning, Joule appeared a few feet away. She blinked a few times as electricity arced over her energy sheathed body, she rose to her full height and then jogged over to the two empaths.

“Sorry about the late arrival, I’ve been feeling…a little strange,” she frowned “, nothing to worry about though. How are you two holding up?”

Psirus said nothing but subtly jerked his head back as residual arcs of electricity danced around on Joule’s costume. She picked up on his expression and smirked.

“Sorry, I forgot about the whole issue with lightning. I’ll stick to my energy okay?” she said.

“Uh, sure. That would be great.” nodded Psirus, still wary.

“We’re okay but that Mega Destroid is getting up, we need to take it down for good.” noted Spectrum.

The ground shook as the Mega Destroid began making its way back towards them and then unleashed its particle beams. Moments before it hit the three Delta members dashed out of the way and then flew up into the sky. The particle beam left melted concrete and stone in its wake as it sliced through the air towards Joule. Joule turned just in time to cross her arms over her chest as the particle beam slammed into her. She slowly but surely began to push back as she rapidly absorbed the particle energy. Spectrum watched as Joule began to counter the particle beam with her own pure energy, the two energy streams fighting for dominance. He shook himself into action and generated several wickedly curved bladed constructs and launched them at the Mega Destroid’s severely damaged chest plate.

The chest plate buckled under the impressive impacts from Spectrum’s assault and was close to dropping off the robot completely. The Mega Destroid’s left arm flew up and out towards Joule at great speed.

“Watch out!!” shouted Psirus.

Joule barely had enough time to dodge the arm which then lashed out at both Joule and Spectrum.

“Psi, take the arm out of play!” shouted Spectrum.

“Lock it down for a few moments!” countered Psirus.

Spectrum nodded and fashioned a long length of rope from his empathic energy and then created two large anchor-like constructs and connected the two. He secured it to the ground and then handed the other end to Joule.

“We only need to hold it down for a few seconds, wrap this round its arm!” he cried

Joule grabbed the empathic rope and flew around the Mega Destroid’s arm encircling it several times before landing back on the ground and tying it to the two large anchor constructs. The Mega Destroid made a noise of protest as it found its arm restricted by strange energy constructs. Psirus flew into place and was about to use his final EMP charge when the Mega Destroid violently yanked at its restraint, shattering it almost instantly. Spectrum winced at the empathic feedback and flew back. He looked up to see it crouching oddly as its left fist glowed brightly.

“INITIATING DESTROYER WAVE BLAST.” it announced.

Acting purely out of desperation, Psirus unleashed the final EMP charge and much to his surprise it shorted out the charging of the Destroyer Wave weapon and the Mega Destroid was frozen in place for a while.

“Ooh, thank god for Techna.” he sighed heavily.

“What was that?” asked Joule

“EMP device, although I’m fresh out of charges. It’ll need time to recharge. But we need to stop that thing before it realizes that UNTIL Headquarters is just around the corner, not to mention Champions Headquarters.” replied Psirus

Spectrum took a few precise shots at the Mega Destroid before relenting as it started to re-initialize. He flew over to where Psirus and Joule were hovering.

“So…we got a plan?” he asked.

Psirus frowned and then looked between them both.

“Joule, do you think you can shut this Mega D down by draining its core?” he asked.

“Definitely, I’ll need to be uninterrupted though, so I can drain it completely.”

“Alright, Jay and I will keep it busy.” replied Psirus

The trio split up and Joule flew into position, she focused on the damaged chest panel on the Mega Destroid, which was soon blasted right off by a powerful golden-purple blast from Psirus and Spectrum. The chest panel spun wildly through the air, it soon fell out of the air and hit the ground with a loud clang as it rested just beside the right wall of the Destroyer Museum. Psirus gave Joule a quick thumbs up and then continued assisting Spectrum with their efforts to distract the Mega Destroid.

Joule stretched her hands outwards in a masterful pose as she began to draw energy out of the Mega Destroid. She started off by siphoning small amounts but then quickly increased her draining to remove copious amounts of energy out of the Mega Destroid. She was almost half way through siphoning the Mega Destroid’s energy core when she heard Spectrum’s voice through the comm-link.

“JOULE WATCH OUT!!” he shouted.

She paused her draining just in time to see the Mega Destroid’s hand focused directly at her, charging some form of weapon. Before she could react the Mega Destroid fired a powerful sonic pulse at her. The sonic pulse ripped through the air towards Joule and shattered the windows in the surrounding area and then slammed into her, knocking her out of the sky and sending her spiraling towards the ground. Psirus watched in horror as Joule’s energy sheathed form slammed into the museum wall, the heat from her energy combined with the initial impact allowed Joule’s form to melt through the wall.

“Oh god. Jay, I-” he started

“Go! I’ve got this!”

Psirus flew towards where Joule lay and grimaced as he saw the bubbling concrete that had formed around her, the area around her was quite hot and oddly charged; the fresh tears in her uniform revealing the bright blue light of the energy beneath that stirred as it began processing the residual energy from the sonic pulse. Psirus looked back to Spectrum who was darting about firing off blasts when he could as he avoided the incoming assaults, he then leaned forward towards Joule.

“Joule? Jooule?” he said.

The energy around her looked as if it was dying down and the tears in her uniform slowly closed up and he reached out and shook her shoulder and she jolted awake, blinking several times as she did.

“Are you okay?” asked Psirus, concerned visible on his expressive features.

He helped Joule to her feet and she nodded rubbing the back of her head.

“El’sai…I’m alright, caught me by surprise though. I’ve depleted enough of its energy to weaken it. If you and Spectrum can just hold it in place, I can take a clear shot and we can stop this thing in its tracks.” suggested Joule.

Their comm-links crackled briefly as Spectrum’s voice joins the conversation.

“Sounds good to me. Ready when you are!”

Joule shot into the sky and her fists glowed with her signature blue pure energy as she took aim. Spectrum and Psirus focused as they created colossal restraints to lock down the Mega Destroyer. It attempted to escape but the empaths were too fast and chained it to the ground, it strained against the restraints trying to use its now severely limited movement to break free. Spectrum and Psirus both strained against the killer robots attempts to break out, the empathic construct whined and flashed rapidly as they struggled to keep their form against the Mega Destroid.

“Joooule!!” shouted Spectrum

Spectrum looked back to Joule and his eyes widened as she unleashed a titanic barrage of energy at the Mega Destroid’s head; the Mega Destroids head snapped back violently and continued to be forced back against the barrage of energy until seconds later it exploded in a spectacular burst of fire. Spectrum and Psirus relinquished their control over the giant empathic construct as the Mega Destroid swayed briefly and then fell forwards. It hit the ground with a loud thud, and shards of debris from the exploded head rained out of the sky.

Joule became intangible and watched as the shards passed through her. She looked down to see Spectrum and Psirus shielding themselves. A few moments later when the shards had finished raining down on them, Joule flew down to meet Psirus and Spectrum.

“You two alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re fine, just a few scrapes for me. Jay?” replied Psirus

“Oh, I’ve got the beginnings of a killer headache but I’ll live. I’ll definitely have a few new shiny bruises in the morning though…” he sighed.

“Well…we’re not done yet. I’ll use our comm-link to contact SOCRATES, hopefully she’ll put out a call for heroes to aid with clean up. Spec and I will get started, it looks like someone wants to talk to you though Psirus.” nodded Joule.

She pointed past Psirus’ right shoulder to a rapidly approaching figure who he recognized as Lieutenant Connolly. Spectrum glanced at the Lieutenant who looked like he’d just finished with the EMTs and then took off after Joule to aid with the clean-up effort. Psirus hovered toward the approaching police officer, managing to meet him a little over half way.

“Lieutenant?” questioned Psirus.

“Psirus! Thank you so much for helping out. I guess we were just really lucky you were in the area huh?” smiled Lieutenant Connolly.

“No problem, it’s all part of our job. How are your men holding up? What’s the status with the other Destroid groups?” replied Psirus.

“They’re fine. That other hero, uh, Chance? She helped get most of my men to safety so that was very helpful, aside from a few moderate injuries, nothing major to report. The other Destroid groups were soon taken down by a mixture of heroes, even Defender and Kinetik were on the scene. The rest that we weren’t able to take down simply vanished a few minutes ago.” he replied.

“Oh I see. By the way…what were you mentioning earlier? Something about the New Purple Gang and PSI?” asked Psirus.

Lieutenant Connolly nodded vigorously and coughed a few times.

“Right, that’s why I rushed over here. As I said earlier, we’ve been tracking a lot of movement within the New Purple Gang. Ever since Corporal Harrison managed to break free of Medusa’s mind control and that crazy PSI plot, he has been focusing on New Purple Gang and it’s movements since Kevin Poe was caught last month. We think they may be amassing resources and members in order to bust Kevin loose from the Westside Prison Complex. Normally we’d send in agents or contact PRIMUS for back up but we’ve tried both those options and our agents either return to us with suffering some sort of fugue state or they come back to us without any memory of what they’d seen.” he explained.

“That sounds a bit far fetched for the New Purple Gang to accomplish, they’re mostly just a group of thugs. There might be someone else or something else involved.” frowned Psirus.

“Exactly. That’s why I figured I’d call in some superhero assistance. I cleared it with my superiors but I’ve not been able to find a hero who’d fit the bill yet. We’ve had a lot of strange activity in Downtown with DEMON around but it just got weirder as a group of scientists from Harmon Labs followed an group of old ladies out of their labs and then were never seen again. We don’t know if that’s at all connected but we’re looking into it. There’s a PRIMUS agent on the inside trying to determine what is going on but he’s missed his check in and we’re getting concerned.”

“So what would you like me to do?” asked Psirus.

“We got a recent tip off that there’d be a meeting later today at the site of Kevin Poe’s old hideout. It’s just North West of Corporal Harrison’s location. If you could somehow use your powers to get in and I dunno…have a look around? Try to determine where the PRIMUS agent is maybe?” suggested Lieutenant Connolly.

“Alright. I’ll let you know if I find anything useful.” he nodded.

“Thanks Psirus, your help today and with this is very much appreciated.”

The Lieutenant flashed a brief smile Psirus’ way and then jogged back to the EMTs. Psirus activated his Delta comm-link.

“Hey guys, I’ve been asked to look into something so I’ll be back later. It’s something to do with Kevin Poe and the New Purple Gang.” he stated.

“Alright Psirus, if you need help don’t hesitate to say so.” nodded Joule

“Take care love!” replied Spectrum.

--

Click here for Part 2