I was flying aerial patrol over the city as IP - Manhattan borough to be precise - when chatter came into the IP comm feeds. It was local PD saying there was some unusual activity taking place in/around city hall. The suspicious persons were not all Asian as one would think due to the prominent PRC involvement here, and of course Mandarin as well. It was a diverse mixture; but then many domestic commies were from diverse origins by nature. It was the homegrown guerrilla army of the PRC. PD was staying in heightened alert but not enough to sound alarmist. The IP suit had a cloaking option for recon/surveillance purposes but I wanted to be a visible superhero in this case, like a uniformed cop.
I wanted to take things to the next level though...maybe even draw out the enemy. I flew down for city hall and landed in front of it. Although the city was very used to superhero activity they still grew stunned every time one of us showed up. "Iron Patriot," the fuzz said upon approaching me. I nano dissolved my helmet. "Wonder woman... We heard you had suited up. Seeing is believing." "Yeah. I work for Stark now and this suit is more symbolic for me than tactically necessary; but this is very much an ideological struggle we are engaged in." The cops continued to gather around me. They'd already formed a precautionary perimeter so the public could only get so close.
"What's the latest?" I said. "Not much. But the suspects we've eyeballed got heavy hardware on them; they're moving it around in broad daylight too." I nodded. "It's not surprising. They have a lot of domestic support - even within local governments." The cops, mostly a patriot bunch, paled at the greater realization of that. They'd always suspected it, but having it confirmed with greater certainty troubled them even more, and on so many levels. Honestly, it should have. It just showed how much in decline the western world had sunk. There were truly forms of evil that not even superheroes could fix... It was a social rot of the highest order; I could see it plain, and without powers.
Communism was as seductive as brother was; and ever would be.
Alert chatter came in over the radio...commies were making a move for city hall... The mayor/city council were mostly still here/on duty. I restored my helmet. "I'll watch the front guys." The cops issued no protest. They called in backup and took up defensive positions. It seemed that Mandarin had developed an effective commie guerrilla network and was no doubt launching revenge/escalation attacks now that I'd attacked them first.
We heard screeching tires; the public was alarmed at the perimeter. Then - three speeding dark vans from three separate directions closed in on the city hall from the front. They came together as one coordinated assault force. They came to a violent halt; back and front doors opened to reveal fully armed guerrillas in heavy tac gear; including rockets. The cops called for them to stop but that wasn't going to be the case. The baddies opened fire... I couldn't risk hitting the enemy with suit weapons as there were still too many panicking civilians around (used as random human shields by the enemy no doubt; added tactical incentive for this bold daytime assault). Cops did get hit/dropped; it couldn't be helped for now. Magic didn't drive this; just fanatical aggression; they could often be indistinguishable though. Nonetheless...I could sense Mandarin pushing this forward from the shadows.
The best I could do for now was to remain defensively positioned at the base of the city hall steps and let the enemy come to me and/or let more civilians scatter before firing heavier ordinance at the enemy. Suit weapons ready I waited...
