March 11th, 2045, 8:53pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

Upper Atlas City Shopping Center, a row of stores lined around a large cul-de-sac in one of the busier areas of town. Busy yet, quiet. It was the farthest away from the hustle and bustle of the city but in a part of town that never quite saw much action. The combination of those factors resulted in a large variety of stores and shops, big and small, bargain bin to 'upper crust'. And because of that quiet nature, Gio Addams decided it was the perfect venue for him to do a bit of shopping. A new store opened up too. Nature's Core. A jewelry shop.

Gio walked in, a bell ringing as he pushed the door in loudly. He wore a gray hoodie and heavy sweatpants as he huddled over towards a shelf, lined with gemstones of various pricings. The staff were a bit leery of him, but didn't seem to want to say anything at first. Security, had their eyes sharply trained on him, as if ready for him to make a move at any moment.

He didn't speak much, but he did stay in the store for some time, moving from row to row, shelf to shelf if he was casing the joint, he had a lot to learn about being inconspicuous. After five minutes had passed and he seemed to be doing nothing wrong, an employee walked over to perhaps break the tension.

"Could I...do you need any assistance, sir?" he stammered.

"Assistance? No. But I do have a few questions," the man answered almost immediately, his voice muffled by his hoodie.

"Oh, well in that case I'd be happy to-"

"Rubies, Sapphires, Diamonds...which are more rare?" the hooded man asked.

"Well, rubies and sapphires are mor-"

"Ding! Ding! Ding! That's correct! Next up, what do rubies and sapphires have in common?"

"They're both....gems?"

"A pitifully pedestrian answer. Any employee here worth their salt would know they're of the same mineral. Corundrum. What are the three types of rock classified as?"

"....gems?"

Sedimentary! Igneous! Metamorphic! This is the quality of worker they hire to look after such precious stones? The children of the Earth itself?! This fledgling shop's off to a rocky start!" The man's sleeves suddenly ripped apart, mechanical cylinders expanding over his wrist. "My students could've outfoxed you! They were in fourth grade!

His entire hoodie ripped apart to reveal a sleek suit, brown with green glowing circuitry appearing alongside the body. "I thought this store would be different, but it's a cut below the rest!" The two security guards drew out their firearms, but just as quickly dropped them on the floor as the entire shop began to shake and quake. "And your security is similarly lacking! you need to upgrade, LIKE ME! Once an underpaid teacher at a dead-end job and look at me now! I'm HIGH-TECHTONIC!"

The staff began to cling on to whatever appeared sturdy as a miniaturized earthquake began to topple displays, shatter glass, and spill priceless gemstones all onto the floor.

"MY geo-suit's a work of art, isn't it? Years better spent then wasting time teaching a a bunch of brats digging for gold! Now I can get real gold! wherever I want, whenever I want! The power to MOVE THE EARTH ITSELF is within the palm of my hand!" he cackled before muttering near inaudibly, "...within a certain radius. Now where was I..."

High-Techtonic raised his hands as a pillar of rock beneath the stores floor tiles jutted upward placing the jewels that had spilled onto the floor on level with his hands. Compartments opened up on his giant cylindrical gauntlets, allowing little claws to extend and grab a handful of gems and storing them within his suit. "And with that, I bid farewell to your low grade store..." He began to leave, before putting a hand to his chin. "...Though, it does have a nice atmosphere, I'll granite you that!" he stated, fleeing the store as he howled with laughter.

Once he stepped upon the ground outside, where a crowd had gathered after noticing the Nature's Core essentially cave in on itself, his gauntlets rained down a wave to the earth below causing it to move and shake as he wished. A mudslide suddenly erupted from the earth with such violent force that it ripped apart the very chunk of earth High-Techtonic stood on and sent him sliding out of town to make his getaway.

The crowd gathered before him screamed and dove out the way...if they could. HTT thought about warning them that the store was about to collapse in on itself but what would the fun be in that. Instead he merely turned around and scoffed to himself. "Heh...pebblians."

Klaus walked the streets of Atlas City in silence, taking in the surroundings of what was now his home, at least until he could figure out where the timeline went wrong. Brunch at Sasha's had been a fine pick me up but for the most part, he'd kept to himself, simply telling the others his name and dodging all questions about his appearance. Telling someone you're a time-traveling superhero isn't exactly the best brunch conversation. Simply put, he was an outsider and unsure how to "blend" sure he'd been many places, in many time periods but for moments, nothing ever long enough to truly make an impression, aside from a smile or a wave here and there. This time he would need to adapt, blend in, understand 21st-century living. The best way to do that? wander the streets on a Saturday evening.

Saturday, no matter the time period always seemed to be the busiest day of the week, though it usually started off with a hectic morning, (like the one he'd joined in on) followed by quiet evenings as people simply accepted that the week had come to an end. He'd been wondering since leaving Sasha's apartment, idly stopping at small cafes eager to sample their coffee and pastry before finding some empty dive bar around dinner time for a pint and burger. Devon had mentioned at brunch that he was a brewmaster, and Klaus made a mental note to try the man's beer, sadly, the brew he'd been given wasn't from Devon's distillery, but there was time yet, there always was, and that notion is what helped give Klaus hope, there was nothing but time, and one day, he'd been home again, maybe not the same man, but at least it'd be home.

The shaking ground beneath his feet pulled Klaus from his thoughts, a frightened woman slammed into his shoulder as she ran for safety, Klaus caught her before she fell to the ground and offered her a smile, "Are you alright miss?' her eyes grew wide with terror, "The man, he-he..." she looked over her shoulder as the building collapsed, giving Klaus only a second to read the flickering sign of the former jewelry store.

He stood fast and gestured for the woman to get to safety, "You'll be okay, I'll handle this," he tugged the sleeve of his left arm down, exposing the Chrono Dialer, and ran his hand over the sleek glass display.

Nanobots poured out from the Dialer and coated Klaus' body creating the pressure suit he'd worn this morning, the suit he'd created to fight crime throughout time, and make the process of time traveling easier on a repeat user as their body could acclimate to the new location faster than usual, a sort of "anti-jetlag" if you will.

He began running toward the danger, side-stepping those seeking to flee.

"I'll admit, Diamond heist wasn't on my list of expected activities today," he began, slowing his run to a slow walk as he made his way before the over teched thief, "Forget the anniversary? Birthday? Look, we've all been there, but this, this is all a bit much for some colorful rocks," Bait, set. While Klaus had studied heroes of the era, many of the "villains" of the time escaped him, he had been looking for allies, only seeking enemies with powers that seemed "world-altering", while High-Techtonic could "alter" the earth, his power set wasn't to the level Klaus had been searching for, but he knew all the same that insulting what the bad guy was after often made them angry, and only served to help Klaus in the end.

March 11th, 2045, 10:47am: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

Richard chuckled at what Henry said, but before responding he flashed a 'v' with his fingers at Sasha to indicate he also would like an orange juice. "Yeah, thanks for the food Sasha, this is terrific, really! And Henry, I will agree but also say that grand larceny is probably one of the least terrible crimes one could commit. Not to touch on any dark subjects, but I mean... There's a reason most of us picked the 'careers' we're in." As Yue responded, he gave her a warm smile and nod in return, but he got the impression he may have made things worse with what he said.

As she and Henry both made their remarks about the Witchfinders, Richard listened intently, feeling a nagging sensation in the back of his neck, and his mind, as they talked about how theses terrorists decided to do battle. He then cleared his throat before speaking up.

"Listen, I don't want to sound conspiratorial, but... I think these guys get their 'product' out-of-house. I don't think the drugs they're using now had even been around a year or two ago, and the big guy? I ah... Heard rumors about stuff like that. Some chatter online about the Belarusian Civil War back in the 20's, when they tried to leave the USSR. Some people say the rebels had weird soldiers they used against the Soviets."

While Belarus did lose the war, and remained part of the USSR, the idea of facing down enemies like this was an unnerving one.



March 11th, 2045, 8:50pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

It was getting darker now in Atlas City, the sun going down, the crime levels going up, and the community teething with a new type of life from what it had during the day. A couple blocks away from the city's shopping center, there was a mix of old industrial buildings and offices, some abandoned, others due to be renovated. The thick, heavy concrete structures of old Brutalist Architecture made the area feel oppressive and claustrophobic, and the alleyways even more so.

A phone is being scrolled through, the new owner checking through the recently added names and numbers as they adjusted a sort of music system worked into their mask.

The owner pressed play, and Thurston Harris's "Little Bitty Pretty One" began to bounce to life in Richard's ears.

He looked down at the nicely dressed dealer sprawled out on the ground before him, spitting up pools of blood and teeth. Richard let out a slow, electrified breath as he felt the black suit hug comfortingly around him. To the man on the ground, it provided the exact opposite of comfort.

Richard grabbed his victim by the hair on the back of his head, slamming his face into the concrete and knocking more teeth out in a muffled scream. "Listen, at this point I either get some information out of you about where those drugs came from, or I get a good workout. Up to you how this goes."

"F-fu-fuuu-" The man attempted to sputter out his expletive.

"Wrong answer." Richard's boot connected with the man's mouth, the audible thud almost unnerving the White Death himself. Before Richard could try to acquire more knowledge from the man, the sound of a building being ripped apart, and the feeling of the ground shaking, took all of his attention to the shopping area near by. Richard bit his lip in annoyance, but decided he'd have to deal with the drugs later.

"Thanks for the help." He said coldly before unholstering a pistol and shooting the man in the head. Richard quickly searched the dealer's pockets, grabbed a phone from inside, and made his way to the shopping district. Now might be a good time to call for backup.

As Richard rounded the corner, he spotted Klaus standing there, almost eerily convenient, and some guy in a glowing suit floating on... Mud?

A little smirk perked up on the White Death's lips as he held a hand out in the direction of the flow, watching it quickly slow to a thicker, icier sludge, and causing the man on top to trip forward and fall from his platform, landing flat on his back on the ground.

"Care for a little help?" Richard asked in an upbeat voice to Klaus.

March 11th, 2045, 10:47am: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

"This is... not my first encounter with the Black-Coats," she answered in a guarded tone. "They've always been dangerous, but have become much more aggressive in the past few months. What happened today isn't the end of it," she replied, pulling a knee up to her chest and shifting uncomfortably. Yue looked down at her hands, suddenly finding the dirt under her fingernails incredibly interesting.

"Great...not quite what I wanted to hear. Hopefully when they make their rounds again, somebody'll be more than ready to face 'em," he said, giving Yue a confident nod. She didn't want to say much. He could respect that. He didn't' want to overstep his bounds. Still, she seemed to have a personal history with the group. Hopefully she would find peace form them someday...and whoop their asses before they cause anymore trouble on the way.

Shame though, that she didn't have any answers on the mutations. Or at least didn't want to say anything just yet.

"Yeah, thanks for the food Sasha, this is terrific, really! And Henry, I will agree but also say that grand larceny is probably one of the least terrible crimes one could commit. Not to touch on any dark subjects, but I mean... There's a reason most of us picked the 'careers' we're in."

"Not me..." Henry shrugged after a moment, before chuckling, "In my case, I wish a career would choose me, haha!" Richard almost seemed the most talkative of those there, though he seemed to be keeping everything close to the chest as much as the rest of them. Mostly he seemed to want them all to get in on whatever operation he was planning, though the more he talked the less Henry was sure he would want to be involved in it even if he was needed.

The insight on the Witchfinders' mutational was more than welcome, however. "You'd think someone would put a stop to that thing being in circulation for so long...but I guess that's the state of the world right now. Too many problems, not enough solutions."

March 11th, 2045, 8:55pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

Henry sighed. The last of his tacos gone. He would get another but he had more to do. A lot more. Luckily, this wasn't necessarily the end of his meal. Places like this tended to be generous with the portions so there was always just a bit of overflow onto the plate. Like the two pieces of chorizo that he spotte-wait, huh?

Where was the food?! He could've sworn...did someone swipe it? A pigeon or something maybe? Did it fall off? He around rapidly hoping to spot if any had spilt onto the steps.

March 11th, 2045, 8:50pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

"I'll admit, Diamond heist wasn't on my list of expected activities today," he began, slowing his run to a slow walk as he made his way before the over teched thief, "Forget the anniversary? Birthday? Look, we've all been there, but this, this is all a bit much for some colorful rocks,"

"Bwuh...wuh...You..." High-Techtonic began, speaking unintelligibly, almost as if he were about to hyperventilate.

Look, we've all been there, but this, this is all a bit much for some colorful rocks

colorful rocks

"You insufferable sapphire sap! These gems are the CHILDREN of the Earth! worth more than your very life! But of course you wouldn't realize that. Just another one of the common rubble who thinks he can step up to a king...NAY...a god," HTT raised a hand in the air. "But seeing is believing eh? Maybe we'll se what you believe in once High-Techtonic erodes you from exisiten-"

A little smirk perked up on the White Death's lips as he held a hand out in the direction of the flow, watching it quickly slow to a thicker, icier sludge, and causing the man on top to trip forward and fall from his platform, landing flat on his back on the ground.

"Care for a little help?" Richard asked in an upbeat voice to Klaus.

High-Techtonic was startled as his mudslide suddenly grew out of his control, turning into a sudden slush before him and causing him to fall! WHO DARED?! His suit could've been damaged and what's worse, his gemstones could've been lost! These accursed, so called heroes...they fall by his hand, they were nought but LIMESTONE before him! "I swear it, as the days go by, you igneous ignoramuses just get braver and boulder!" A slab of rock suddenly flipped upward, lifting the armored robber to his feet.

It seemed his asinine azurite attacker was joined by some sort of...An eyebrow was raised beneath HTT's visor.

...Was that a burglar?

"Think you can join forces with a hero for your own share of my quarry?" High-Techtonic scoffed. "If that's what you think then you REALLY must have rocks-for-brains!" HTT raised his hands the earth suddenly quaking before him as several huge, washing machine sized, chunks of stone erupted from the ground, beginning to encircle him like some sort of barrier while at the same time, a nearby lamppost threatened to topple over, right atop the two do-gooders!

March 11th, 2045, 8:32pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

The Witchfinders Generals, a terrorist group with the philosophy that supers are the evil of this world and need to be purged... Explains why the fellow knew that word so well... Often dress in a modernized Puritanical Settler style... commit murder and massacre in name of their misguided ideals... No shit sherlock... Mainly operate in the US... ]And that's it? Nobody has a clue how they recruit, where they meet, how they communicate or anything remotely useful? There's not even any rumor or conjecture that could be feasibly strung together to form a vague lead? Devon didn't mind a little detective footwork, but this was a wild goose chase. Perhaps another approach needed to be taken, Richard said something about strange soldiers being used in the Belarusian civil war by the rebels and didn't quite a couple of the more conservative east German newsgroups get to send whole news teams to the area, including cameramen. Hmmm, what would you call such a thing if you were a communist propaganda outlet in Germany?

After what felt like ages typing away at the keyboard writing down any and all possible words, figures of speech and potential names, that could feasibly be given to frankensteinlike soldier berserkers, all that was left to do was wait. Search applications were such great pieces of technology anything on the surface web indexed and found in a flash, but he knew if there was any information out there it wouldn't be on the surface web. He'd need to at the very least dive into the deep web, into the archives of the newspapers involved, old archived pages that only floated on the net for seconds before being terminated, and perhaps the occasional unshielded and unencrypted government source... Search applications were such great pieces of technology, especially ones integrated with a semi-sentient computer, still it would take a while before the first result would make themselves visible... And he really hoped that it had integrated some kind of tracking interference last thing he needed was the eyes of the Witchfinders and a load of government agencies around the world aimed at him.

Of course there was no sense in idly waiting, there were more preparations to be made. If he was going to fight alongside others while ensuring there would be no identity leaks, he needed a second mask at the very least. The other items that made up his attire should be generic enough to allow for him to continue using them. That being said he wasn't planning to walk around like a burglar like Richard had done in the previous fight, it would need to be something that could still instill a certain degree of fear into the ones opposing him... An airsoft shop, they have fully face covering masks that start with a little bit of protection, if there's anything on the shelves that looks quite intimidating enough that'd work. A quick search on his phone quickly resulted in a hit, a shop close by that was still open. Devon got out of the door, like always making sure to lock and arm the security system after all you never knew with the big city, and got into his car.

One 'quick' drive to the shop in question and there he stood faced with a wall of masks, he didn't exactly know what he had hoped to find, but plastic pieces of trash with holes in the front wasn't what he had in mind when he decided to come here. Devon sighed audibly as he walked out of the store. Did he really have to go through the same channels he had gone through to get that initial mask, or perhaps he could make the entire attire just change appearance. The latter seemed like the most effective solution... And the fastest, probably.

Devon got back into his car and he had barely even turned the key in the ignition when radio chatter filled the car, from what he gathered there was a storefront building that had just collapsed nearby, with a high change of people still being trapped beneath the rubble... Search and rescue really wasn't his forte, but could he really just not go there? At the very least he could stabilize some of the building to make things easier for the rescue workers and bring another helping hand with excavation, with the suit he didn't really have to fear much in the ways of injuries... Other than a sprained back or something like that of course. so after a few moments of deliberation he decided to go there as fast as the road conditions (and the law... Eh, screw it, I'll deal with the speeding ticket) would allow him.

March 11th, 2045, 9:02pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

It had only been a few minutes of driving when he arrived at the scene, but the chaos was quite a bit more extensive than he had been expecting to find, people were still running in all directions and... Why were Klaus and.... That was probably Richard if he had to wager a guess. They seemed to be fighting a super who used earth? powers, well that made things a bit trickier than needed. He'd have to maintain his cover as Freischütz... Perhaps it would be time for some extra fancy gunplay. He grabbed the rifle from his back, leaving both of the pistols holstered. Ducking into cover or trying to climb a building against someone who could use the earth as a weapon didn't seem like the greatest option, distance seemed like a better option here. From his position practically in the middle of the street he had a decent overview of the battle and the distance felt good enough, so he figured why not fire from here. Devon fired a couple of shots at the boulders attempting to form a protective barrier around the villain. He wasn't quite sure what the best method of dealing with them would be, but firing a kinetic penetrator followed by and explosive round to blow up somewhere along the path carved by the penetrator would be a good initial options to try. Hopefully the force of the blast would blow the boulders to smithereens or at least cause the villain to lose control of the stones.

Klaus internally facepalmed as High-Techtonic continued the rock puns. "I mean, my partner here, despite his looks isn't after your gems, well, not in a thieving sort of way, but more in a 'they aren't yours put them down' way," Klaus began, giving a nod to Richard, "I feel this might be a waste of your time, however, if you have nothing better to do, I won't turn down a helping hand from The White Death,"

He gestured towards the would-be jewel thief, implying Richard could take the next move. Richard's ice powers would render the suit inoperable fairly quickly, after all, Earth was weak to Ice. Elemental differences aside, Klaus smirked under his helmet and took off a run towards the suited villain, the ability to make earthquakes, while troublesome, wasn't too hard to deal with, not with one of his Zeittasche. Tossing the device as he got close enough, High-Techtonic was trapped in the moment, struggling to find footing among the slush created by him and The White Death. Keeping him trapped out of time was key, as Klaus jogged around the villain, studying the suit, his HUD picking out what could be key components.


"Well then, are your powers organic or technological? Does the suit serve as an amplifier, or is it the source of the power?" he asked the questions rhetorically, stopping in front of The High-Techtonic's face, the man appeared frustrated, confused by how Klaus was moving so "quickly" not realizing he was a step out of time, a second behind the world around him, but in a fight, one second makes all the difference

March 11th, 2045, 8:50pm: Atlas City, North Carolina, USA

Gunfire had come from a little ways down the street, shattering the rocks that had been previously guarding the super powered villain, and in a moment of his vulnerability, Klaus had seemed to... Freeze him?

Richard nearly thought Klaus might have ice powers, but there was nothing cold about it, something else was amiss. Still, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. "I've got a moment to spare buddy. The White..." He paused, cutting himself off as he realized this guy knew what his vigilante nickname was. How could he possibly know that! He never even used that name quite honestly, not unless he thought the person hearing it wasn't going to live to repeat it!

Before he let himself get any more caught up in the thought, he began to will ice to slowly crawl its way up the villain, coating him in a thin layer of frost, though it mainly clung to the suit he had donned. While this happened, Richard gave a brief wave to their 'backup' down the street, not entirely certain of who it was, but grateful for the support. Could it have been... Devon? He'd been shooting at the Witchfinders earlier, from the rooftops.

Once a decent amount of frost had accumulated on High Techtonic's equipment, Richard slipped something from his back into his hands. He adjusted the strap of Tizona and leveled it at HTT. "So, shall we wrap this up?" He said with a tiny hint of venom towards High Techtonic.

He wasn't quite sure what the best method of dealing with them would be, but firing a kinetic penetrator followed by and explosive round to blow up somewhere along the path carved by the penetrator would be a good initial options to try. Hopefully the force of the blast would blow the boulders to smithereens or at least cause the villain to lose control of the stones.

KA-BLAM!

Without warning, his barrier exploded! But how! He kept his eye on the two festering pieces of flint, so who was it?! A THIRD Interloper?! Before he could retaliate further, that SAPPHIRE SAP seemed to speed up before his very eyes! What in the name of terraforming treachery was this?!

"Well then, are your powers organic or technological? Does the suit serve as an amplifier, or is it the source of the power?" he asked the questions rhetorically, stopping in front of The High-Techtonic's face, the man appeared frustrated, confused by how Klaus was moving so "quickly" not realizing he was a step out of time, a second behind the world around him, but in a fight, one second makes all the difference

"Denser than quartz, aren't you boy? The name is HIGH-TECHtonic! I'll have you know this suit is the greatest invention in geological history! Powered by an emerald to reflect my 'Terra-Wave' Ions! You couldn't even begin to master such a thing...now just..stand...still!" HTT cried out, attempting to launch human head-sized rocks at the cobalt clock and missing each one, but only just so.

Once a decent amount of frost had accumulated on High Techtonic's equipment, Richard slipped something from his back into his hands. He adjusted the strap of Tizona and leveled it at HTT. "So, shall we wrap this up?" He said with a tiny hint of venom towards High Techtonic.

"M-M-M-M-MY SUIT!" High-Techtonic yelped. "W-w-w-what is this sheer cold?! Let me go you..." he tried to struggle free whilst shivering, only to truly freeze at the sight of the White Death's weapon. "Well, just a minute now...this seems a little extreme, does it not? What say I give back the gems, wipe the slate clean, so to speak? Eheheh..."