The Crusaders

Chapter 7: Hero vs. Hero

New York City, NY, May 30, 2029

The wreckage was total and absolute. Buildings had been smashed, several brick walls had holes in them, and the pavement was cracked everywhere. Thankfully, the only injuries that had been sustained were from those who had been under the building when the object from the sky had hit it. When paramedics arrived on the scene, several of the victims told tales of superheroes who came to save their lives.

All of the fires that had been started by the intense strike caused by the object had been put out, leaving nothing but a billowing column of smoke. As for the object itself, however, it had been curiously removed. A few people said that it was some kind of meteorite, while others said it was a robot, and still others said it was an alien. In the confusion, whatever it was had vanished. No one had seen where it had gone. Except for one person.

Crouched on the rooftop of the building across the street from the wreckage was a man dressed in all black, with a strange-looking helmet on his head. In broad daylight, his costume didn't serve much of his stealth skills. However, he was in a perfect blind spot from everyone who might wish to look up. That way, he could observe the scene without being observed.

Warren panned his eyes over the controlled chaos on the ground beneath him. There was a police barricade set up around the building, with a few cruisers and SWAT vans set up as crowd control. The news had arrived as well, and several anchors were standing in front of the building, their cameras pointed at the destruction while they talked. Using his helmet to tune in, Warren listened to one of them.

It was a woman in a red dress and brown hair in a bun. "For those who are just tuning in, this is Holly Jones, live from downtown New York, where a mysterious event has just taken place. A few short minutes ago, an unidentified object fell from the sky and crashed into this building behind me. Miraculously, no one was killed, but several people were trapped under the rubble."

She motioned behind her, then continued speaking into her microphone. "But, the more fantastic part of this story comes from the testimony of the survivors themselves. Each one claimed that a group of superheroes, one of them being the United States Military's very own Peacemaker, rushed onto the scene and rescued them, effectively saving their lives. Whether this is true or not is still yet unknown, and the White House has refused to comment."

Warren couldn't help but smirk a little triumphantly under his helmet. Finally, they had all gotten off their ass and done something without the President's permission. Still, whatever had landed here, he hadn't gotten a look at either. He had been on the other side of town pursuing a lead on Mr. Bone, when he had heard the crash. After rushing to investigate, he had found the situation was already over. Apparently, they all worked quickly.

As he kept listening in on the various newsfeeds, something else came over his radio interceptor. He frowned, then dialled in on it more. It was too encrypted to be a regular news broadcast, or a police frequency. Finally, he focused on it, then heard a voice talking in his ears. "Incognitia-2 is secure. Prepare for transport."

Looking at the bandwith, wherever it was coming from was pretty close. He decided to follow this new lead instead. He ran towards it, leaping over the rooftops and staying low. Then, his HUD (Heads-Up Display) that was inside his helmet indicated that he was close to the frequency, showing a red dot in the lower right-hand corner of his vision, meaning it was in the alley below him.

Warren peeked over the top of the roof and looked down, seeing the source of the transmission. It was a black van with tinted windows, with it's back doors open. Two men in black armour were loading a large object covered with a tarp on a gurney into the back of it. As they lifted it up, Warren saw something fall out of the side. It was a red-scaled arm with metal parts stitched in, and bladed fingertips.