A threat most dire [Moon and Hotwire

Three men in advanced armor stood in front of a green screen. There was a white noise generator in the room blocking out any background sound that would be picked up. One stood behind the bound and blindfolded girl with a pistol to the back of her head. A finely designed .44 magnum. The second was standing beside her holding todays news paper to prove a time stamp. The third finally spoke through a modulator for voices. It would break up in random pitches throughout the message.

"Hotwire, we have Ariella and will kill her in three hours from your reciept of this message, if you fulfill our demands then she walks free. We have taken great lengths to prevent your ability to track us knowing that you have control of machines. If you attempt to hack this file it will erase itself. Our demand is information on three, any three, of the titans besides yourself or the B-team. Powers and weaknesses. Identity doesn't matter."

"Deliver the information, ON PAPER. To the diner on ninth street. There will be a news paper box outside. You will buy a paper insert the pages and walk away. If our compatriots see any thing suspicious or suspect you of being clever, she dies, same as if you did nothing at all. You have three hours." None of the figures in the message had moved except slight shifting of weight, the pistol never left the back of her head. A timer would appear in the corner of whatever device he used to play the encrypted file. The recording kept going so Ella would have a chance to speak her part.

Hotwire clenched his fists at this most recent revelation. Ella had been taken again. And if they had her restrained given her new abilities, they had likely found a way to counteract them. To make matters worse, they had taken some very intense precautions. They wanted their information in paper, and from his cursory examination, the files did have anti-hacking precautions. It wasn't exactly anything that could keep Hotwire out forever, but definitely longer than it would take for these guys to vanish.

So he had 3 hours. As soon as the message ended, the clock was ticking. From the looks of things, he had until 30 minutes after noon. It would take an hour to gather the necessary information, and half an hour to make the drop. That was half his time. He would have to use the other half to come up with a plan, because let's face it, being completely manipulated by a shadowy mercenary group was not something Hotwire really wanted to deal with.

But first he set about gathering the information needed. The obvious first choice was Suzuki. Her powers were divine in nature, and would be much harder to nullify. The same was true of Toji, so he was also in the data. Finally Metamorphi. The data on him was a bit more circumstantial. After all, his weakness at any given time is dependent on the material whose properties he took on. Hopefull, with this data, they could be doing the least amount of damage to the team, while also getting Ella out of a dangerous situation.

Given the tornado that was being formed in the room the agents had to act quickly. Two grabbed each other by the arms. A grappling gun fired out of their shoulders striking the back of the chair. She could feel the impacts as she was lifted from the ground the two of them far outweighed her in the power armor. Thus when they retracted she was torn from her spot on the ground. They threw each other aside and cut the cables on the grapples. As she passed they smacked the leg of the chair. She tumbled through the air a moment before slamming into the wall head first. Unless she had a miracle plan.

The training of guild operatives accounted for nearly ever sort of meta human. She wouldn't hit hard enough to die but should be knocked out and have a nice head ache when she came to. If the winds died down they would move her back into place replacing the chair and bindings if need be.

As hotwire was placing the papers into a folder when the video cut through again, Ella trying to escape. It quickly failed, confirming Hotwire's fears. These guys knew how to negate special abilities. Getting their hands on this data could prove catastrophic. But an an idea came to him. They were relying on the fact that Hotwire's first mode of tracking them would be through data signatures. A fair assumption. But handing anything over to these guys gave an opening into the hands of the culprits. It was a small window, but a window nonetheless.

He quickly brought the papers down to the crime lab and began mixing together chemicals. "Distilled Centurium 21 mixed with a small amount of Cadron Isotopes... Together they should make a slight resonating radiation signature that is harmless enough, but should stick out like a sore thumb on a properly calibrated tracker." He said tapping a couple numbers into his wrist computer, before picking up a pair of sunglasses and installing a couple components.


"GPS mapping module installed. Synched to tracking network... and good." He said putting on the glasses. From there, he grabbed some simple black clothing for undercover civilian work. "An hour to go. I don't have much time.'

The scene was quite different at the diner, there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Some people inside having diner, others chatting and playing on their cell phones. There were a few uncharacteristic things though. Not that many would notice but on a rooftop watching the newpaper box through a spotting scope, there were two others watching from the same rooftop away from the edge.

Nothing was really going on with Ella besides a couple guys sitting nearby chatting together listening for confirmation that they'd taken care of the documents. A foregone conclusion was that they'd do something it being digital was just to make their next stage easier.

Hotwire stood outside the cafe. 5 minutes to go. He checked his watch anxiously as the seconds trickled away. The couple drinking their coffee, and the man reading his newspaper with a french roll had no idea that a trade-off was going on. He casually walked over to the mail box and inserted a few quarters. Boy, it would have been really awkward if this whole exchange had fallen through because he forgot to bring a $1.25.

Inside the box was a number of newspapers, but there also appeared to be a thin groove. Easy enough to spot, but also easy enough to miss if you weren't looking for anything other than a newspaper. He quickly slipped in the documents that, if in the wrong hands, spell deep trouble for his team. With a heavy sigh, Hotwire turned around and walked away, keeping an eye on the radiation signature through his glasses.