Gods Among Men Downtown Washington

Saarai

Lord of Bondage and Pain
Benefactor
Located just north of the National Mall is Downtown Washington, the center of business and commerce for the capital. It also home to many years museums and the White House.

Downtown is considered the place to be on any given night thanks to it's many bars, restaurants and hotels.
 
A Mobile Black Site Somewhere in Washington DC...

Blint would awaken strapped to a chair, stripped of his gear save for his underwear. The room he was in was small, cramped, and turbulent. It was moving. The room was in motion.

"Rise and shine. At least, I think it's morning by now. I don't wear a watch. When things like this are going on I enjoy taking my time." The suit from before told David.

"So, my supervisors decided you were too much of a wild card. They want us to reel you in. I got a look at your files, I plead your case as a patriot." The Suit told the man, "That's not enough these days, so you need to prove to us that you're the man for the job."

"Your country needs you, David. Answer her call."
 
Blint let out a grown as his eyes opened and he rolled his neck from side to side. As he watched the man " Look save the salesmen speech. We both have been doing this long enough to know if I say no. We take a walk somewhere with a whole in the ground. Or I suffer from a tragic overdose." Blint said dryly as he attempted to pat his pockets looking for his cigarettes. Noticing that he could not move his hands or that he did not even have pants on. He sighed "I normally would say fuck you I am retired but we both know that's not going to work." Blint eyed the man maybe he was a smoker? Then continued " So that means there are three reasons you are talking to me right now" Blint lifted a finger of the arm of the chair. "One you need information out of me but seeing how I have been out of the game for close to a year anything I know is out of date." Blint lifted a second finger " Or you need a disposable asset with zero links back to the C.I.A." Blint lifted the third finger " Lastly and the worst turn out for me is you need a lab rat with my abilities."

Blint sighed " So with my track record you probably need me to go to some armpit of the world and kill a lot of people. Am I right Agent? Does Argus know your stealing their former assets?" Blint asked.
 
"Both of the last two, really." The Suit informed Blint, "By the way, who do you think told us where to find you? We give ARGUS something, they give us you. We made a deal." He continued, pulling a knife from one of his suit's pockets. The agent used it to cut the straps that kept Blint tied to the chair, "We don't know just yet if you'll need to kill anyone, but we need you in a position to do it if asked."

"You've been very loud, very flashy, easy to bury if anything goes wrong and easy to bury if you do your job right. You don't live in a world where you can burn down buildings in major cities, leave swathes of bodies behind you, and not suffer any consequences, David. So, for your sake, try to be discreet. We don't need a hammer, we just need a killer." The agent said, digging his free hand into his pocket to retrieve a photo.

He handed it to Blint, along with the knife he just used. "That's General Sam Lane, Air Force. Father of the former journalist Lois Lane. We need you to follow him, he could be leaking sensitive information to the press. Langley, ARGUS, all of us, we don't need another scandal." The Suit told David, "We're dropping you at the Whistler Hotel, it's where Lane is sleeping while he's in Washington. You have a room there under the name David Carisi. There's clothes, weapons, and other equipment waiting there."

"An agent will get in touch with you after you check in."

The vehicle they were in came to a stop as the agent finished speaking, a door behind Blint sliding open. "Hop to it, David. You've got a whistle blower to take of for your country."
 
The Hotel Belle Monaco...

Washington was always busy, but today the streets were even business. Protesters and counter-protesters took to the streets to defend their views on aliens and the Justice League.

There was one man at the center of it all, TV host G. Gordon Godfrey. If you wanted your daily dose of right-wing xenophobia he was the man to call.

"Earth for Earthlings!" A man shouted through a megaphone, "Your mom's for Earthlings!" Someone in the crowd called out.

"Because she's very promiscuous!" Another added, "And immaturity for the xeno lovers!" The man with the megaphone retorted.
 
"The world would be fucked without Superman! Let's hear you crying about aliens the next time some supervillain's about to drop a superbomb on your goddamned penthouse!"

Luca sighed, running a hand through his hair as beside him, Rebecca yelled vitriol over the roar of the crowd, her spiky pink hair waving like a beacon as she shook her fist. He was flanked on all sides by people waving signs, wearing t-shirts covered with bold lettering, or just plain shouting. He recognised some of them from some of his classes. Glancing to his other side, where Amber was rather more reservedly propping up a sign declaring "We Welcome Our Outer Space Neighbours", he pulled a face and leaned across to her. "Remind me again why we're here?" he muttered.

Amber looked over and flashed him a smirk, flicking a lock of electric-blue hair from her face. "Because ever since Becca decided she was wet like a mermaid for Starfire, pro-alien campaigning has been her third favourite thing after Starbucks and iPhones, and we're good supportive friends?"

"Right..." Luca mumbled, scowling as the crowd jostled him, surging angrily in response to a particularly provocative statement from the megaphone-wielding talking head. "I feel out of place. Like a vegan in a B-dubs."

"You should try holding a sign, for a bit," Amber replied with a jovial grin. "Gives you something to do, distracts your mind from questioning how your life led you to this moment, surrounded by angry, sweaty people having a shouting match with a megaphone."

Luca rolled his eyes. "I'll pass. I just hope it's over soon. He can't talk forever, right?"
 
"Godfrey's arriving!" A nearby protester said, the crowd's attention slowly moving to focus on motorcade approaching the hotel.

Local police began to part the sea of people, making room for Godfrey and his police escorts to approach the front of the hotel.

Godfrey's vehicle, a black sedan, stopped in front of the hotel and the man slowly climbed out. Half the crowd cheered for him, half of them booed his very existence.

Never one to shy away from attention, Godfrey grabbed a megaphone from a protester and brought it up to his lips.

"Thatcher, Reagan, and Godfrey! Earth belongs to humans!" He shouted, only prompting the crowd to become much more intense.
 
"Bigoted scum!" Rebecca yelled, prompting Luca to wince.

"Ever think that name-calling isn't the best way to change people's minds..?" Luca grumbled, though far too quiet for either Rebecca or any of the other yelling protesters to hear. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rolled his eyes.

"Some minds can't be changed, dude," Amber remarked. "Don't think that's the point here."

"So the point's just to get angry and yell a lot?"

"Pretty much. Making a statement, or something. I dunno. I'm mostly here for the drinks afterwards."
 
The crowd's focus was on their anger, their politics. Luca was right, for many present the point was to just get and yell.

For a select few it was silence that was the most advantageous in this moment. They were unseen, cloaked by the sounds of the vocal majority.

No one seemed to notice when several men and women dressed in white military gear with yellow stars on their chests and wearing gasmasks dropped several canisters of tear gas.

When some of their raised handguns in the air and fired up. The shots, the tear gas, sent everyone into disarray.

The police moved quickly to usher Godfrey into the hotel, but the damage had been done.

The white clad paramilitary force were faster and they had the element of surprise on their side. More shots rang out, police officers fell and the apparent terrorists took their place.

When the dust settled Godfrey was gone and the hotel doors were closed. The hotel was meant to be Godfrey's platform but instead became his prison.
 
"Shit!" The moment the shots went off, Luca grabbed Amber and pulled her close with one hand, doing the same for Rebecca with his other, and quickly tugging them towards the edge of the crowd, while the rest were panicking. The tear-gas stung his eyes and burned in his lungs, but holding his breath, he managed to drag the girls to the edge of the panicking protesters just as they were starting to scatter blindly.

"Oh my god," Amber coughed and spluttered, trying to cover her face. "What's happening? Luca?"

"Still here," he said reassuringly, swearing as he realised that the police officers had been taken out. "Shit! I have to go, Amber, get to safety."

"You're not going in the-

"I have to. They won't be expecting anyone this quickly, if I act fast enough they won't have time to round up more hostages." Luca gave Amber's arm a reassuring squeeze, then ran for the alleyway at the edge of the building. He was already swinging his backpack off, pulling out the mask and the jacket inside as soon as he was out of sight.

Masked up, Archangel went for a side-door leading into the hotel kitchens, wrenching it open and running inside.
 
"Still securing hostages." One of the gunmen said, shotgun in hand as he entered the kitchens mere seconds after Archangel.

"To the lobby! Now!" He shouted at the kitchen workers, "Anyone trying to escape is going to catch a bullet." He threatened, kicking over anything he could find to scare the civilians.

He'd yet to see the young hero, but it was only a matter of time before they were the only ones in the room.
 
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As people panicked around him, Archangel moved into action. He extended his palm towards the gunman, and a beam of brilliant light burst forth, searing through the air towards the man's gun in order to blast it from his grip, and knock him off balance. With a burst of speed, Luca followed his attack, dashing across the room and vaulting over a counter in order to tackle the terrorist to the ground and deliver a punch aimed to knock his lights out before he could recover.

"Everyone, get out the back to safety!" he yelled at the kitchen workers. "Quickly!"
 
The gunman was taken down rather easily, clearly unprepared for a heroic super to be on the scene so quickly. The noise he was making earlier kept his friends from looking for him, assuming the commotion was just him rallying their hostages.

"Don't have to tell me twice." One of the kitchen workers said, he and the others rushing the side door.

"We're setting the explosives. Secure as many exits as possible and the TV cameras. Revere is going live in five." A female voice said over the unconscious terrorist's radio.
 
Scowling at mention of the explosives, Luca grabbed the radio from the unconscious terrorist to stay updated on the movements of the rest, before cracking open the door to the hallway outside to peer out.

I have to find those bombs and the hostages before I'm found out. If they realise someone's trying to stop them, things could get ugly with either of those. The hostages have to be first priority. I'd guess they're probably somewhere close to the lobby, since that's where most of the people on the ground floor would have been when they burst in.

With that in mind, if the coast was clear, Luca began to hastily slip through the hallways of the hotel towards the front lobby, hoping to get the drop on the terrorists there.
 
The hallways were, for a short of amount of time, filled with gunman herding their hostages towards the lobby. Eventually the halls of the hotel were empty.

The terrorists needed a captive audience for whatever they planned.

"Halfway done with the explosives. How much time do we have?" A voice said over the radio, "Revere is going live right now." The female voice told the other.

What exactly they meant by that would become clear when Luca reached the hotel lobby.

The lobby was filled with people, gunmen sprinkled in with them. They were using their hostages as human shields. If the law came in shooting they risked hurting innocents, if any supers showed up it was the same.

Television cameras were set up and focused on Godfrey, who was seated on his knees, and a man standing behind him in the middle of the room. The man was dressed like an American revolutionary.

In place of a musket he instead carried an assault rifle. It was anachronistic, but these guys didn't seem to be too concerned with historical accuracy.

"We're good to go." A cameraman said nervously, "People of America, I am Revere. I fight for you as a member of the Sons of Liberty. And I will free you from tyrants." The American revolutionary said to the cameras.

"I will free metahumans, aliens, and anyone else who is different from the overreach of the American government. Or die trying."
 
Shit. Too many of them, and too many hostages. Going in there is risking getting people shot.

Luca ducked back around the corner and lifted the radio to his mouth, trying to affect a convincingly gruff voice. "I need backup near the kitchens. Some cops are trying to sneak in, and I'm outgunned. They've not spotted me yet."

Hoping against hope that the ploy worked to draw some of the gunmen away from the lobby, Luca hurred back down the hall and hid himself in the entry to a stairwell, listening for the response on the radio and keeping an eye out for the terrorists' approach.
 
"Copy that. Minutemen, go check it out." The female voice ordered. "Hamilton, Madison, check any other possible points of entry for tampering."

Three of the terrorists made their way into the hallway near the kitchen, small machine guns raised as the inched closer to their destination.

One of them grabbed their radio, holding it close to his mouth. "Nothing so far, Jefferson. No sign of any cops or Franklin just yet." One of the Minutemen said, he and his two cohorts stacking up outside the kitchen entrance.

"On my mark." The first said, "Three... Two..." He began.
 
A blinding flash of light that would leave their vision shot was the only warning the men would receive as Archangel burst from the stairwell behind them. His wings spread from his back with a radiant flash, and he shot across the hallway towards them before they had a chance to recover their vision.

With a flurry of punches, elbows and kicks, each impact compounded by a burst of celestial energy, he attempted to knock the lights out of two of the hopefully-blinded terrorists before they could get off a shot or any sort of coherent warning into their radios.

The third wasn't spared a beat-down, but Archangel deliberately avoided a knock-out blow, aiming instead to disable his radio with a concentrated burst of flames to melt it, then slam him into a wall and pin him there, disarmed and with his mouth covered by a gag of solid celestial energy.

If successful, the hero would lean in close to speak to him. "When I remove that gag, you're not going to yell. You're going to tell me where the bombs are being planted. If you scream, or if I find out you lied to me..." With his free hand, Archangel conjured a palmfull of searing hot white fire, holding it uncomfortably close to the man's face. "...you will regret it."
 
The Minutemen were caught with their pants down, despite their best efforts to fight back it was impossible to take down an enemy you couldn't see.

With his friends taken down, the third Minutemen didn't have much of a choice but to comply, at least a little, once Archangel pinned him to the wall.

He slowly let his gun fall, nodding at the young hero.
 
Accalia watched the news closely in her ice cream shop, before a BREAKING NEWS flashed across the screen. She stood stoic, staring at the screen as she prepared herself.

"Havoc has broke down in downtown Washington!"

The news reported basically yelled into the ears of her customers. Accalia took a deep breath and knew what she had to do. She turned her head to the Assistant Manager, Chloe, "You're in charge. I have a brother who lives down in downtown I need to make sure is okay." Before Chloe could say anything, Accalia walked out of the shop, heading towards an empty, unoccupied building. It seemed like a decent excuse, she had brothers after all, but nobody at the shop knew she was abandoned.

I have to fight for what I believe in..

She told herself. A gust of cool wind covered her body in a chill, before she was wearing a white leotard. Around that leotard was a furr-like cloak with a hood. She tossed her hood up, her face being completely black minus her glowing blue eyes. Her white booties were placed lightly against the ground.

She then peered out the window, making sure nobody saw what just happened.

She adjusted the crown under her hood, it being made of some sort of ice crystals. She nodded to herself before looking back and forth, seeing as the coast was clear, she took off towards downtown Washington. She heard the ruckus, seeing the smoke and people rushing to safety.

The downtown was bustling, and not in the good way either. She took a deep breath, thinking the situation through before acting.

She began to sneak past everyone quickly, making sure nobody saw her as the police tried to get people to calm down. Kids were screaming and crying.

She made it to the hotel before forming an ice ramp up to it. She slid in through a side window that had shattered from the commotion. She was careful not to cut herself.

As she made it into the hotel, she heard a loud crash against a wall, and a bright light. She winced slightly, sneaking her way to the area she heard more commotion coming from...
 
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