For reference, this is in the X-Men Evo universe, but the X-Men themselves won't be involved for awhile. K?
Now that that is out of the way...
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"Well, at least I can see where I'm going now." James said as he wandered the old tunnels. OK, glowing like a firefly still bugged him a bit but it let him see where he was going and it seemed to be easy enough to keep doing. Unfortunately now that he could see where he was going he realized he had a new problem.
Every tunnel and passage looked the same! He was standing with a tunnel behind him, a tunnel ahead of him and one to the left and another to the right. Any of them could lead out of the tunnels or deeper into them. He shook his head.
"Einie, Minie, Minnie, Moe... Out of here I hope I go..." James began to walk down the passage to his right, hoping it led somewhere.
X
HK-1-0000-001: Searching for Target.
Approaching Target-003's Location. Battle Systems at 100.0% Operation Status.
X
Alex walked over and peered behind a rock, smiling as she saw some familiar faces. "Tom, Randy, are you all right?"
The two boys turned to look at her and nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. Randy here just found me." The brown haired boy said gesturing to the blonde.
"Yeah. Say where is James at?"
Alex's expression dropped a little. "I don't know, I lost sight of him."
"It's all right, we'll find him. In the meantime, let's get to the bus, maybe a couple of guys went back there. James might have gone back." Tom suggested.
Alex nodded and took and began walking away from one of the rock formations she saw on the way in. With any luck it would lead her to the road.
O
Meanwhile, in the caverns below...
O
"Einie, Minie, Minnie, Moe... Boy these choices are getting old..." James said. In own mind he added 'Yeah keep up the smart talk. Might keep you from freaking out a bit longer.'
Once more his back was to a tunnel he just exited. And three more tunnels were laid out before him, each looking the same.
He looked at each one trying to find some hidden sign that could tell him which way to go. He was about to just pick one when a noise interrupted his thoughts. Looking down the left tunnel he peered at tried to make out the sound. To him it sounded like really heavy footsteps... Almost like...
"Crap! It's Robo-Creep!"
Looking at the two other tunnels he hadn't gone down he made his choice, the one to the right. "Einie, Minie, Minnie, Moe... To outrun a robot, here I go!"
He dashed down the tunnel, the footsteps still behind him. He hoped he was outrunning it anyway, but who knew. He ran into an open room and looked around. Beams. Rock walls. An old shovel nearby. No other exits. He turned around to go back the way he came, then froze.
The robot was already there, walking closer to him, arms raised and missiles exposed.
James took a step back, eyes wide. "Not good..."
X
HK-1-0000-001: Target-003 Acquired
Preparing to Terminate.
X
As it arms raised James brought his arms up over his face in instinct in a futile attempt to prevent damage. One of his palms face the robot and began to glow brighter as he literally felt the energy push down his arm. Suddenly a beam of bright blue light shot from his hand into the robot's chest, knocking it backwards as it fired it's missiles, changing their path upward into the ceiling above James causing a piece of rock to drop towards his head. He yelped and raised his arms over his head to block the new threat, which slammed into his arms then fell dropped off of him to the ground beside him. He stopped and looked at the rock as sunlight shone through the hole in the ceiling.
It was probably as big as he was and should have crushed his body by all rights. How did he take that like it was a fluffy object in one of his and Alex's pillow fights? Did this glowing... aura around him protect him? And how did he fire off that blast?
Looking at the robot and seeing stumble to it's feet James decided to wonder about that later. He raised his palm and tried to recreate the feeling that had created the blast. Breathing slowly he pushed the energy down his arm again, this time focusing on pushing more of it out. This time a brighter blast burst forth striking the chest of the robot again. When the blast stopped James could see the hole in it's chest as it fell forward. An explosion in it's chest told the story as it hit the ground. It was done for.
X
HK-1-0000-002: Contact with HK-1-0000-001 Lost
Possibility of Unit Signal being lost: 13.1% Possibility of Unit Being out of communication range: 2.4% Possibility of Unit Destruction: 79.7%
Probability of Destruction by Target-003: 66.4%
Suggested Courses of Action: Locate Target-003, Retreat to Waypoint-HQ Course of Action Selected, Locating Target-003
X
"OK, so what am I now? The Blue Lantern?"
On a whim he looked at the shovel in the room and raised a hand at it. He raised a hand and drew the energy down his arm again, this time focusing, willing the energy to surround the shovel. Soon the shovel gained a blue aura like himself and as he lifted his hand the shovel lifted off the ground. Then with a bit of practice, the shovel rose higher, then lower, back and forth, left and right. Smiling he let the shovel drop and concentrated on the rock that fell on him. Like before he 'grabbed' it with the blue energy and with a slight effort lifted it from the ground.
He smiled as he twisted the rock in mid-air. "Now this is cool... what the?" He held the rock still as he heard another set of heavy foot step approach. "Robo-number-2 huh? I can handle it." He grinned readying his new found power as the robot began to come into view. The energy in him seemed... alive... as if it was awaiting his command and direction. He leveled his hand at the machine and willed the rock to fly very fast into it. Although it flew to the robot it was far from as fast as he had hoped. The robot easily backhanded the rock away.
"OK, that didn't work... plan B then."
James threw his fist at the robot as the energy ran down his arm and burst as a blue beam at the robot. The energy slammed into it and punched into it's amour. The robot dropped backwards, something inside of it detonating as it did so. James smiled and dusted his hands off. "Now that is more like it." He looked at the sunlight coming from the ceiling and nodded. "And I have my way out. Once I can reach it. But how am I going to get up there, by fly... ing?
James blinked and looked at his energy surrounded body. "Wait a sec. If I can move those things around without touching them with my power... Can I move myself with it? Guess I can try it." He took a deep breath and focused on his own aura which glowed brighter than before. Slowly his body lifted from the ground, his head turning upwards to the sunlight. Slowly but surely he lifted himself from the hole, back to the outside world. Gently he set himself on the ground looking around. Taking a deep breath he 'let go' of his power, waiting for a moment before it faded. He took a deep breath and looked around. He was near the road with the yellow beam of the Kinas Planet behind him and to the left. He walked on to the road and looked around seeing the bus down the ways with the students returning to it. He quickly got up to a jog and approached the yellow bus.
O
Meanwhile...
O
Alex paced nervously outside the bus. The teacher had done a head count and only one person was missing.
James.
Some of the students thought the two of them were dating. In truth they were best friends, almost siblings. They always went to the same school, lived in the same block and liked the same foods, even the same movies. They were confidents to each other and would watch the other's back. That was the reason they never dated like some thought. Heck, until he turned fourteen he practically lived in her house, his father traveling the world as a go-between for big businesses.
In her mind James was her brother, even if not by birth. And she was not into incest, thank you very much.
And who knows what could have happened to him. She looked up at the sky and wondered where he was...
"Hey, Alex!" Funny, she was starting to hear voices now...
"Alex, you OK?" Alex in turned blinked and spun around.
There jogging up to her was James, looking none the worse for wear. With a quick shout she rushed him with a quick hug.
--BAP--
Followed by the hitting of the back of his head. "Where the hell were you!?" A few of the other students walked closer and started to ask the same question.
Thinking fast James decided on the truth, leaving out the glowing and robots. "I fell into a cave, took me awhile to get out of there."
"Who cares?!" One of the student's shouted out. "Let's get out of here before anything else shows up!"
After that statement everyone piled into the bus, undamaged save a couple laser holes in the seats and windshield. The teacher drove as fast as he would dare until he came close to Liberty City, at which point he began to slow down.
All the while James looked out the window, brow furrowed. Alex looked at her friend and wonder what happened. She knew he didn't tell the whole truth, not yet anyway... And when she asked the only thing he said was 'I'll tell you later'.
Which lead her to ask... what happened in those caves?
O
Meanwhile...
O
Jester looked over his gang of thugs and smirked. A few checked their new hardware, AK-47s a handful of grenades and one RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) launcher with two grenades.
Oh yes, he had a plan... One to make him very rich...
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Profiles: HK-1 (Hunter-Killer) Occupation: Hunting Mutants Likes: None Dislikes: None
Although the HK-1s were the first Sentinels deployed by Bolivar Trask they were only his second design, the MACK-1s (Massive Assault, Capture and Kill) were bigger took much longer to produce and prepare. The smaller HK- 1s not only took less time to make, but at eight feet tall they are able to follow mutants inside any building they take shelter in. They look for the most part like walking moles with steel armor.
The HK-1s are equipped with lasers in each arm, capable of piercing concrete with ease and are able to incinerate human tissue. Also each shoulder has a missile rack with two missiles in each salvo and each rack having up to four more salvos. These missiles are capable of destroying tanks with one salvo.
Thrusters in the upper back and legs of the HK-1s gives it air maneuverability, however it is primarily a ground based machine and is not very agile in the sky. It has a maximum air speed of 64 Miles an hour. On the ground the HK-1 is a reasonably agile machine, comparable to a man in medieval armor, however they are not programmed to do rolls or other such maneuvers. HK-1s normally moves at the same pace as a human does while walking but can run up to 26 miles an hour if necessary.
The HK-1s armor is comprised of a special light steel of one of Trask's associates. Called 'Frozen Steel' for the sub-zero cooling process in it's manufacture, a plate of Frozen Steel can with stand up to eight direct hits from an RPG Launcher before it starts to give way. It is also half the weight of conventional steel. Anything smaller than an RPG will do almost no damage. Although a mutant with the power of Cyclops could destroy an HK- 1s armor with little trouble most mutants do not have that level of fire power and can do little but run from the HK-1s, an example of such a mutant is Jubilee.
There are, however, numerous design flaws. It's AI Program is 'basic' keeping the HK-1 from being able to make complex and effective plans. It also loses targets after it leaves it's line of sight. Without human direction HK-1s are, in a word, stupid. In addition the HK-1s joints is lightly plated, and most of it's back armor is thinner than the front. Weaker powers may be able to pierce the armor there. Trask is aware of most of these problems and is designing newer HK-2s to address these issues.
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