The Reliance- #8
Fire and Ice, Part 2
The Reliance raced off to STAR Labs to see if they could prevent further harm and learn more about the foe they faced. What they found were more questions.
After easily dispatching a few hired thugs, Phanuel, Iron Hand and Surge made their way into the offices of Dr. Typson. Iron Hand started the proceedings by bashing down the door, in an effort to shock and surprise the enemy. Unfortunately, due to the noise produced by Surge's attack on one thug in the hallway, the enemy inside the lab stood poised and ready.
Machine guns blared and meta-human abilities ran rampant in the encounter. One intruder vanished in a warping of light, another caused a table to spring to life and attack Phanuel. An obvious "matrix" fan took a running dive at Surge, only to pass straight through him, a possible distraction while a grinning martial artist split into three duplicates and made a flying leap at the junior member of The Reliance.
Bullets bounced harmlessly off of the invincible Iron Hand, although the animated table proved to be too fast for his cybernetic reflexes. The trio of flying martial artists were thrown back violently in mid-jump, by a savage lightning attack from Surge. Just before the deadly piece of furniture could make contact with Phanuel, the half-angel revealed a taste of the Almighty's wrath on all nearby opponents, causing them to abandon their current efforts and make an escape.
Surge unintentionally followed in their footsteps as a final attacker, not present for the mystical assault, warped Tommy Franklin into the middle of the street two blocks away.
In a raging flash of steel and servos, Iron Hand pummeled the remaining thugs into submission, while a blast of Phanuel's arcane energy silenced the ghostly "neo wanna-be".
With all foes either escaped or unconscious, Iron Hand went about securing the area. Meanwhile, Surge unintentionally frightened a mini-van full of passengers when he jumped on its back and took control of the vehicle, forcing it to deliver him to his destination. Although he was able to erase a camera phone picture captured by one on-looker, he can't be sure of how members of the city may react to his actions.
With everyone reunited at STAR Labs and with police and STAR officials now on the scene, the investigation begins. The heroes are asked by a STAR official to investigate the work of Dr. Svoboda in the Arctic Research Center. Svoboda had sent some unusual samples to Dr. Typson, but the vial in question and all other materials sent by Svoboda were stolen or destroyed in the attack.
Tying up loose ends in their personal lives, The Reliance takes STAR up on their offer to fly them to ARC to try and find some answers. Hal Langsford, the STAR pilot assigned to the mission, drops them off near the ARC grounds and then flys a few miles away to await activation of the heroes homing beacons to signal his return.
Scouting the grounds, Reliance members discover a series of holes bored in the ice, encircling the main Dome of the ARC. Near the dome is a small igloo where Candice meets the short in stature Dr. O'Jeneus and his robotic sled dogs. Before entering the complex, all three Reliance members spot 3 frozen bodies buried beneath the ice.
Dr. Svoboda meets our heroes near the entrance, welcoming them and giving them rooms to stay in and a tour of the facility. The rooms they are using belong to members of Svoboda's research team that have left for a few days on a short expedition, however it is obvious that the rooms have been out of use for much longer. Svobada told Iron Hand that he believes the frozen bodies belong to Eskimos and may have been there for hundreds of years.
Svoboda, his assistant, Dr. Motrel, and Dr. O'Jeneus are the only people the heroes have encountered so far, however they have been invited to take tours of the facility at any time, provided they are escorted by an ARC team member, to avoid disturbing any sensitive experiments.
It's seems obvious to Phanuel, Surge and Iron Hand that they haven't learned the truth of the situation, at least not entirely. Since it's obvious that more investigation is required, The Reliance meets in one of their rooms at the ARC facility to plan their next move. It is now 7am, local time, and a very interesting day has only just begun...
