Hiro Pyre/Fallout

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

This story follows the action from the story of Hiro Pyre & Annie Alias - Vengeance and Vindication.

Story was written by @Pyr9 and @Zem

FALLOUT

"Hai, General. I understand your reservations, but I trust the information. He is a silent watcher of mine in Paragon City, and will never fall in league with Freedom Corps." Standing before the desk of one of the X-Patriots' Commanders, Hiro Pyre goes over the intelligence data he has acquired from one of his former students.

General Annie Matter paces around the room, her metallic fists shaking with anger. She has been in this agitated state for the last three weeks, ever since Hiro Pyre returned from his mission with a Longbow Officer, but without the Generals twin sister, Annie Alias. Having the appearance of complete annoyance by the Generals pacing, Commander Nimrod sits in his chair in deep thought; just no one knows what exactly Nimrod is thinking about at any given moment in time.

Annie Alias has been being moved around about every two days, going from different Longbow bases to various PPD Jails around the City, locations changing each time under heavy guard. Various members of Freedom Corps have interrogated her, but each time they did not acquire the information they were seeking. Their identification process leaving them more baffled, with each test being ran. In seven hours she will be moved one more time, this time to the Ziggarut Prison. Plans and preparations have to begin immediately and are too short of notice to prepare a full-scale X-Patriot assault inside Paragon City.

• (A short time later in the Operations room of the X-Patriot base)

"Oh, sorry Annie, you were saying," Nimrod shakes his head and looks from the holodisplay of a section of the city, to Annie Matter.

"There are only a few routes the convoy can take to get to its destination, and once it enters Brickstown those routes will be set. These two point will allow us the concealed access we need, along with covered observation points for Master Pyre," Annie states as she points to two locations where alleys meet long street blocks on the display. "There will be a tracking device aboard one of the vehicles that Master Pyre will be monitoring from an elevated location, so as the convoy gets closer we’ll be able to decipher which possible route they are using."

"I am in the middle of other business dealings, and at this time, should not personally be showing my face in Paragon City in this fashion," states Nimrod. "Annie, gather whatever supplies you need. Master Pyre, get your reconnaissance team moved out and secure the staging area. Communications have to be sparse once you are in the City, and primarily just for rendezvous at the staging area, where you can brief the final plan."

As the Commander and General step out into the hallway, a forgotten figure in camouflage surrounded by a cloud of darkness steps towards them. His black beret covers most of his white hair, but does nothing to hide his pale, sunken, veiny skin. The mercenary known as Landis is no longer the man he was, but is now kept functioning by the negative energy that courses through him. "Ma’am, I am volunteering for this mission. You were gracious enough to assist me when I was getting used to my new cybernetic hands at the shooting range, and you know I can still function as a soldier with my new submachine gun." He may have a decrepit outer appearance, but he stands ready to go, already equipped with submachine gun, pistols, stun grenades, and various other explosive devices strapped to his legs and flak vest.

Landis falls in behind Annie Matter as she smiles and nods to him, and follows her to the assembly area.

--

• Across a stretch of ocean, a few hours later

Jeffrey James, a.k.a. The Fissioneer under registration as a Hero in Atlas Park, stood outside the police station next to three armored vans bearing Paragon City Dept. of Corrections logos. They were here to escort the mysterious assassin, that was caught attacking the Longbow Base in Agincourt, to her final destination: Brickstown. The massive pyramid prison known as the Ziggurat. One of the few facilities capable of detaining meta-humans.

The Longbow troops were going through their equipment checks. Jet packs. Armor. Weapons. Ammunition. So Jeff took a moment to reflect on his own "gear". While he did wear a combination of lightweight polycarbonate and kevlar body armor pieces, his ability to control moisture in the air, condense and freeze it at will... this was a part of him. Not something he wore. His ability to manipulate high energy subatomic particles had been a strange result of that laboratory accident. A mutation of a mutation he hadn't even known he possessed. His proficiency at controlling these gifts grew by the day and he had learned many useful techniques, even how to lift himself from the ground by focusing a stream of these particles around himself. Not indefinitely... not yet anyway, but enough to allow him to leap over buildings with ease. That more than any of his other abilities made him truly feel like a super-hero.

Jeff checked his watch as a familiar figure walked over to him. Right on time... as usual. Tommy, swordsman and sometime sidekick. He and Jeff had gone into many a dangerous lair of villains always to emerge, if not unscathed, at least victorious. He carried only a Japanese longsword and countless hours of trained skill in its use. Jeff wasn't sure the kid did anything else but train, eat, sleep, and fight crime. Not that he was one to talk about having a social life. Not since...

As if on cue, the Longbow snapped their weapons up to a ready position as the prisoner was brought out through a side door in the precinct building. Shackled hand and foot, the slender figure shuffled with measured steps towards the waiting van. And then... she looked at him. Wearing the face of the woman who was too often in his thoughts. In his nightmares. Never once stumbling because of the restraints, she climbed a ramp and entered the armored transport followed by two plainclothes PPD officers. Had he imagined it... or had she smiled ever so slightly at him?

"It seems we are to take up the rear," Tommy said, snapping him out of his reverie. He glanced over and saw the Longbow officer waving the two of them over. "Are you well?" his friend continued.

"Yeah, sure. What could go wrong, eh?" Together they climbed into the back of the last armored van and the convoy began to move.

--

The cement is not only coarse and hard but the cold emanating from the ledge can be felt through Master Pyre’s black outfit. Shadou-ken and Hiro Pyre are in position overlooking the ambush site, their bodies pressed against the ledge of a building several stories above street level. Across the way, atop the roof opposite the ninja master, Annie Matter waits beneath a gravel-colored camouflage blanket, the polished highly-reflective surfaces of her cybernetic limbs hidden from view. Passers-by go about their regular business below, unaware of those watching them. Paragon Police helicopters had circled the area ten minutes ago and were just as unaware of the imminent violence about to erupt.

Hiro Pyre grips his communicator in hand, and keys the mic three times, but speaks no words. This signals the rest of the teams that first visual has been made, and a relief is accompanied by it, since this means the convoy has not used an unforeseen route. Three armored cars identical to each other, turn the corner and proceed directly towards the kill zone. Alias could be in any of the three cars so the Assault group will have to be careful not to damage the wrong one, but either Paragon Police SWAT units or Longbow Troops will be in all three of them.

The communicator clicks two more times. The convoy is two blocks away. Sweat rolls off the brows of the attackers as the anticipation grows. The time for action is only a moment away, and speed and timing will be crucial. Across the street, Hiro can see the roof of the building begin to glow with a sickly greenish light. The General is preparing an appropriate welcome.

“GO!” This time the ninja master only keyed once and spoke deliberately.

In a blur of movement, Annie is airborne, the gray blanket fluttering away in the breeze as she reaches the apex of her leap and begins to plummet back to earth, falling three stories to strike the top of the second armored van with enough force to drive her to her knees and buckle the roof of the vehicle. Throwing her golden arms wide the jewel embedded in the center of her chest suddenly flashes a brilliant green-white and the air around her ripples, a shockwave expanding to cover the armored convoy.

Smoke pours from the wheel-wells of all three vehicles as emergency systems bring the transports to a halt, their engines and navigation systems dead from the electro-magnetic pulse. Thirty yards down the street a sewer grating flies into the air and lands with a metallic thud. The soldier Landis and mentalist Dr. Amperical climb from beneath the streets to take up positions ahead of the now stationary lead vehicle.

Like a shot from heaven, a thick arrow plummets to the street from high above, impacting behind the second armored car and spraying a synthetic glue substance across the street there. Longbow troops exit the vehicle with miniguns at the ready, only to find their boots sticking to the ground. It takes all their energy just to get around to an attack position. Lying prone next to a fire hydrant, Landis continually sprays bullets from his submachine gun, keeping the Longbow from moving anywhere, but their glue trap.

The hatch to the third armored car flies open to deposit more troops followed by two men not wearing the uniforms of Longbow agents. The heroes known as Pyre Shito, a.k.a Tommy to his friends, and The Fissioneer gain their bearings quickly and with a nod to each other move around opposite sides of the van to assess the battlefield. They both come to the same conclusion.

This is one hell of a mess.

--

Jeff ducked back behind the cover of the armored vehicle's open rear door as another hail of bullets sped past. The gunman had them pinned down on this side. "How's it looking over there?"

In answer, Tommy crouched low as an arrow flew scant inches overhead and embedded itself in a nearby mailbox. "They seem determined to keep us here, my friend, but I should have no difficulty reaching cover over there." He pointed to a building on his side of the street.

"You see an opening, you take it." Peeking around the corner of the van again he saw the gunman fire another burst at the center vehicle where the Longbow troops seemed in worse shape than those with him over here. They were hemmed in on both sides by gun and bow-fire from the attacking villains. They were stuck in some sort of glue trap on the ground, and above them...

Annie! Still standing on the dented roof of the center vehicle, was the real Annette Matthews. This was the one he had seen at the trial. Cybernetic mods and all. It was really her! And she was taking a toll on the trapped Longbow below her. Raining down blasts of energy from her metallic arms, she'd put several men out of the fight already. A few quick flashes and they were gone, whisked away by the emergency medical teleporters. They might still have numbers on their side, but they were rapidly losing that advantage. He had to distract her! But how?

Make her mad. If there was one advantage he had in this situation it was that he knew her. Annie had one hell of a short temper and she hated, above all things, to be embarrased.

He put his hand out in from of him, palm downward. He didn't need to, but he found it helped him visualize. Concentrating, he caused a sheet of ice to form on the roof of the van. As Annie stepped forward to deliver another blast of radiation to the hapless troops below her... she slipped and fell, over the edge and down on the side of the van being covered by her accomplice, the man with the machine gun. He immediately pulled his weapon up. Annie was in his line of fire. Wasting no time, Jeff added insult to injury by gathering about her an infectious cloud of radioactive particles. Not enough to cause any real damage, but she'd feel it and she knew as well as anyone she'd have to deal with the source of that problem... him. He saw her pause and wince as she attempted to stand. He found that despite the violence of the whole situation he actually felt bad about hurting her.

Stop it, Jeff! Thinking like that would get him killed, he knew. She wouldn't recognize him. Wouldn't hold back. He had to focus! Gathering his energies, he crouched and then leaped to the rooftop of a building opposite her position, being careful to stay out of the line of sight of the gunman. He took a few shots at Jeff anyway, but he was moving too fast to be hit easily. Annie was looking around for her attacker. Time to announce himself.

A dozen shards of ice slammed into the side of the van just a few feet to the right of where Annie stood. She stopped and looked up. And now the finisher, he thought. As casually as possible, he raised his right hand... and waved.

The TV antenna next to him on the roof vaporized as a pair of beams struck it. He had a split-second to be surprised by this before snapping his attention back to Annie, whose eyes were glowing angrily. And then she was airborne and heading his way fast.

Well you wanted her attention.

The chase was on across the rooftops.

--

Tommy bolts from behind the third armored car, and dives and dodges from cover, moving from the middle of the street to the sidewalk. The black-clad ninja warrior, Shadou-ken, sees his previously assigned quarry, and leaps from the building, plummeting four stories before applying pressure to his rappel line, landing safely on the street below like the skilled assassin he is. This puts Shadou-ken between Tommy and the X-Patriots, and the two swordsmen charge each other with their deadly steel blades meeting with a harsh clash. The fury in each of their eyes would be enough to keep any individual out of their way, let alone the battle that rages on behind them that has cleared the neighborhood.

The whup whup of the advancing Police Helicopter is unmistakable to everyone involved in the situation, and will easily give the Longbow an advantage. Hiro Pyre readies his bow and an explosive tipped arrow, while remaining in the shadow. The Helicopter banks hard, heading straight to the besieged Longbow and Police guards. It slows to a hover above the scene and the side door opens to reveal two SWAT Officers bringing their assault rifles into position.

As the helicopter slowly rotates, the awaited opportunity comes, and an arrow strikes the engine with a small explosive pop. The engine begins a sputter that is enough to frighten the crew, and they pull away before even joining in the fight.

Dr. Amperical, the technological, and some would add mad, scientist, having incapacitated a couple of Longbow troops, kneels beside Landis, probing the minds of the individuals inside the first armored car. With the technology increasing his abilities, Dr. Amperical controls the mind of Alias’ guard long enough for him to toss the keys to her restraints, and then attack the second Officer with them inside the vehicle.

“First car,” Dr. Amperical yells to the three grey-clothed shinobi archers that had taken up position across the street from him. The three move with speed to the rear door of the designated vehicle. The plastic explosive charge is small, but the lead one plants it exactly as they had been instructed on the lock mechanism, while the other two keep him covered. With a short fuse, the lock is blown but it takes two of them to pry the damaged handle enough to move. They know they must hurry and at the same time be ready to eliminate the guards holding Alias as soon as the door opens, otherwise they will be on the receiving end of a bullet. All three of these warriors had worked with the mysterious blonde on several missions, and know she is a valued assassin to their master. Personally, they would feel ashamed if her guards killed her because it took them too long to get to her, let alone mourn the loss of such a deadly beauty.

Underneath the chatter of machine gun fire, explosions, and the agony of the injured, the clash of metal on metal is heard as the two swordsmen, one in gray, one in black, still duel. Sweat and blood drip from both in this one minute of chaos that seems to have lasted much longer than 60 seconds. Tommy, Pyre Shito, raises his sword high in the air, seeing Shadou-ken’s next strike in motion he holds his pose rather than block the easily deflected attack that slashes from right to left across his chest. Tommy drops his sword to the sidewalk and bows his head as the front of his tunic turns dark and wet from the wound.

“The Buzoku is strong young one”, is the only words Shadou-ken utters before jumping into the air and kicking Tommy in the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. Making a dash for the nearest alley, Shadou-ken leaves the fight, and leaves his former friend lying unconscious.

The weight of the rear hatch of the first armored van shifts, and the door swings open quickly. Arrows are pointed into the opening, while the expectation is for bullets to come out, the scene is only a little surprising. Annie Alias is standing in the middle of the vehicle unchained, while two men in suits with badges lay unconscious and bleeding on the floor of the vehicle. Alias bows to her rescuers before casually hopping out of the armored transport.

“BREAK CONTACT! We have the package, I say again, break contact,” overseeing the operation from high above, Master Pyre announces over the comms for everyone to pull back for their escape and evasion, before he himself rappels down the rear of the building. There he meets with Shadou-ken to take a separate escape route from the assault team.

Dr. Amperical looks around, and taps the gun-toting mercenary Landis on the shoulder, “Where’s Annie?”

“Move it Doc,” Landis barks over the noise of battle, “those sirens are incoming.”

The three ninja warriors and Alias followed by Dr. Amperical, make a dash back to the sewer hole. Landis rises up, firing submachine gun bursts at the remaining enemy units with one cybernetic hand, and tossing out stun grenades with the other. He drops a smoke canister in the street before dropping into the hole himself; effectively disappearing before police reinforcements arrive on scene.

--

"Where do you think you're going?!" she screamed.

"Out drinking with your friends again?"

Yeah, this is just like old times, Jeff mused. Then the chimney he'd been taking cover behind exploded. Shielding his face he leaped again to the next rooftop. Okay, maybe not 'exactly' like old times. They were about three blocks away from the scene of the convoy attack and had already racked up a somewhat impressive amount of property damage. His radiation infection was still playing havoc with her targetting systems apparently, which was good for Jeff. Not so good for that rooftop air conditioner, he winced. Hope that's not coming out of my pay for this job.

He needed to take this someplace less expensive. Halfway through another leap, he looked down and saw just the place. Warehouse. No visible activity. Adjusting his trajectory, he landed near a side door in the large building. "For sale or lease!" the signs proclaimed in large red lettering. Lease, he thought. And the odds are good I won't be walking away with my security deposit. Quickly he moved through the door. Behind him in the work yard a stack of wooden palettes disintigrated. He slammed the door shut behind him, pulled a nearby steel worktable over in front of it, and then began looking about for a defensible position.

Far above and behind him, a skylight shattered. Damnit! Whirling about, he caught the ball of energy square in the chest and staggered backwards. Annie landed ten yards away and was already sweeping both arms towards him. A carpet of light sped at him along the floor of the warehouse, picked him up, and threw him violently into a stack of empty oil drums. Christ, she's fast! His body ached all over. He tried to sit up and a stab of pain told him he'd probably broken a rib or two.

And then she was in front of him. "Not laughing now, are we?"

"Not exactly", he was going to say, but it came out as more of a hacking cough than a coherent sentence. He wiped blood from his lips with his left sleeve.

"Any final requests? There may not be enough of you left for the emergency teleporters after this," she sneered.

"Buy me a drink?", a voice from the past floated through his mind.

Desperately he searched her face for any hint of the smiling woman he'd met in the bar that night. His heart sank. Here was someone who'd killed before. Who was about to kill him now. Was the Annie he knew really gone?

"Fine. Might want to close your eyes for this." she said matter-of-factly. So this was it. She'd kill him just like that. She'd never know it was him.

Except that 'The Fissioneer' still had a few tricks left to play.

As Annie raised her robotic arms overhead, a mist began to swirl behind her. As an angry green ball of crackling energy grew between her hands, the mist coalesced... hardened into blocks of ice in the crude shape of a man. Head, torso, arms, and legs. At the end of its thick right arm, it held aloft a glittering translucent blade.

Annie took a step forward, about to hurl that ball of destruction when the blade descended. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but it seemed to Jeff that it took forever to fall. Down it came, striking a metallic shoulder, skittering sideways down its length before catching at the elbow, severing it cleanly.

The force of the blow spun Annie around and she fell to her knees, her eyes wide at the unexpected attack. Above her the ball of energy lost cohesion and dispersed, the magnetic fields that had contained it no longer present. The creature's left hand came down on her shoulder and the cold emanating from it chilled her to the bone. Ice formed around her legs, mid-section, climbing to encase her chest. The creature held its icy blade high for another strike.

No!!

The creature stopped, obeying its master. Indeed, it was no more than an extension of his will anyway. And Jeff didn't want her dead. But she didn't know that. With the last of her strength she raked the creature across its chest with her eye beams, the sustained burst finally faltering and sputtering out as she finished her cut.

The creature's upper half slid to the left and shattered on the floor, the rest of it toppling backwards to lie still. Jeff couldn't hold it together anymore... not that he wanted to. He could tell Annie was exhausted. Her head slumped forward against the ice that encased the rest of her body, still kneeling on the floor. Jeff got up slowly, each step accompanied by a stab of pain in his chest.

She heard the ice crackling beneath his boots as he approached from behind. "Is this the part where you read me my rights, hero?" She was still trying to sound tough, he figured. But her voice had lost its edge. He'd imagined this moment a hundred times over the past two years. He'd reveal his secret identity. She would confirm that this whole mess was all her father's idea. She was as much a victim as Jeff was. And then...

And then what? What a fool I've been, he thought bitterly. Love-sick naive fool. He saw what she'd become. No words of sympathy came out of his mouth then. He realized with a cold clarity brought about by the day's experience that he had only one real question to ask before he arrested her.

"Did you know I was there when you blew up the lab, Annie?"

The warehouse was utterly silent. Far above he could just barely hear the wind whistling past the broken skylight. Even in that silence, her voice sounded suddenly very small. "Oh my god...." she said. "How-?"

"How did I live? Wouldn't you know it... I'm the human ice cube! And thanks to your little performance back then, I glow in the dark now too!" Two years of childish fantasies about this moment shattered, he couldn't keep the sarcasm and anger out of his voice. He moved in front of her and knelt, looking her straight in her synthetic eyes.

And then his anger broke and washed over him, receding like the tide. This close, face-to-face he could almost imagine she was the Annie he once knew. "Why?", was all he could ask.

Now it was her turn. "Why?! Have you forgotten already what is was like? To be a normal? A nobody? A mundane everyday weakling in a city of heroes?" She looked down.

"That's just how it is, Annie." But the words sounded hollow, even to him.

Her head came up. "How it is?" she accused. "My father never accepted that and neither do I! He spent his whole life inventing things. Brilliant creations. Marvels of modern technology... and for what? So some mutant kid or mystical prodigy could just wave his hand and do the same thing just by wanting it to happen? Not even knowing how?! Those are the people they put in charge. Super-heroes. New class of human. All hail our homo-superior masters!"

He stared at her in shock. And I thought I knew her.

"Congratulations, Jeff... you made the cut. You're one of them. Having fun lording it over the common folk, yet?"

"Stop it, Annie! That's not who I am."

"Isn't it? They give you the Atlas Medallion yet? Are you Statesman's Pal? What's next on your agenda?"

"I miss you.", he said quietly.

Another uncomfortable silence and the rant seemed to go out of her. "I'm sorry, Jeff."

"You're sorry? Sorry for what? Sorry for the six months I spent in a coma? Sorry for this?!" he ripped the scarf from his face and with some small satisfaction saw her shy away from the ruined, burned, ghostly white skin of his face. But his anger was short lived. She couldn't look him in the eye and some part of him still couldn't bear to hurt her.

The ice was melting around her, but he didn't care. He held her in his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder. He supposed she might be crying if she still could. He felt a metallic hand touch the back of his neck and was surprised how delicate that touch was. The metal was warm, almost hot to the touch.

"Sorry for all of it" her answer came finally and she lifted her head to again look him in the eye. "And for this too..."

"Wha...?"

A halo of light blossomed around his head as the blast went off at point blank range right at the base of his skull. His entire body went rigid, then slumped. Annie caught him and gently laid him down on the factory floor.

"You can never go home, Jeff. Don't think I haven't wished for it."

The last of the ice around her boots gave way as she rose to her feet. A little unsteady. Sirens wailed in the background growing louder. They'd left a trail of destruction that was easy enough to follow.

["BREAK CONTACT! We have the package, I say again, break contact."]

Time to go. She headed outside and towards the nearest sewer access grating.

What's next on your agenda? she asked herself.

--

Annie sat at the small work table in her quarters and flexed her arm.

'The' arm, she corrected herself. When did I start thinking of these things as mine? Staring at the mechanical limb, she realized she was slipping. Adapting. Accepting. She'd forgotten where she had come from and didn't know where she was going. Meeting Jeff again had reminded her of this.

'The' arm required an adjustment.

"Do you need this?"

Annie took the screwdriver from the outstretched hand. Now that was her hand. Or what it had looked like anyway.

"Are you well, sister? Should I get the doctor?" Alias inquired.

Annie looked over at... herself. There was something she was sure she'd never get used to. "I'm fine," she replied. Annie 'Alias' was her twin sister. A clone to be exact, created by Dr. Amperical. But she had little in the way of personality. She hadn't been born. Hadn't experienced a childhood, a loving family, a troubled adolescence. All the things you were supposed to go through to be considered human. Alias did what she was told and never, as far as Annie had ever seen, expressed any emotion whatsoever.

Making a few final adjustments with the screwdriver, she placed it down on the the table and again flexed the arm.

"Better." Alias offered.

"Sure, good as new."

"You should get some rest."

She was right. Annie got up and walked across the small private work room in her living quarters. She had an office in the operations center and the med-bay was right next door to that. Fully stocked. State of the art. Annie still felt more comfortable working on... herself here, though. The doctor had insisted Alias be near. Like Annie needed a personal bodyguard! So Alias slept on a simple cot in Annie's work room, right next to her own bedroom.

"Annie?"

Annie was on her way out of the room, heading for bed, but something about the way Alias had said that made her turn suddenly. Was that... was that a slight smile on her face? Alias was looking away as she spoke, as if remembering. "Can you tell me something?"

"What is it, Alias? What's wrong?"

She looked intently at Annie, then, and actually lowered her voice.

"Who is Jeff?"