Half-Time of Doom (Riot)

Tonight was the big game. Precious few were the souls who weren't watching this game. Even Harmon "How do you even Sport?" Tessain himself. Although, he was here on business. Hero business. The week prior, the famous Hystel Diamon had been stolen from a Gala in Crater Cove. Harmon's chief suspect was the lead vocalist for a band called "Dire Refraction", a Mr. Chris Talon. Dire Refraction had been the band playing the Gala, And now Dire Refraction was set to play halftime at the final game of the Jump Bowl.

So here he sat, in the front row. After a cancelled ticket, Hotwire had used his knack for the hack to procure it. Hopefully that would get him close enough to Talon to maybe hack his cellphone and get some clues. Little did he know, his answers would come in a far more blunt way. A bunch of stagehands carted a massive float-like stage into the middle of the field before dispersing. In the middle of the stage was what appeared to be a massive crystal, totally see through, surrounded by the tools of the musical trade. Guitars, drum set, microphone... in fact, it seemed kind of "High school garage band." Odd for a big time rock band.

The crystal exploded into thousands of shards, launching the various bits of musical equipment all over the 50 yard line. And out strolled Chris Talon, decked in a highly reflective cloak. It shined in the spotlights of the stadium, before whipping out a cane. At the end, the Hystel Diamond. Harmon had a feeling that something was off when that crystal exploded. But him bringing such a recognizable stone out in the open confirmed it. He was going to try something.

"Good evening Jump City! God how I hate all of you." He said twirling the cane. Everybody in the stadium was dead quiet. "You all stood by and watched as my family, one of the most well respected in the history of the backwards burg, thrown to the wolves. You'd think that would be enough, but NO! You took the symbol of our family. The Hystel Diamond." He said holding the cane skyward. "Passed down in our family since the middle ages. Now, together again with the cane it was made for... I will have my revenge." He said, slamming it down.

All of a sudden, a wave of refraction flowed across the field, almost like the whole stadium was a video game glitching out. With a whirl, Talon thrust the cane skyward, a beam launching up. From it spread a crackling of the air that formed a dome over the whole stadium. People began screaming and running, but the lucky few who got out would find the dome impeding their escape. Those who weren't as fortunate were starting to meet a different fate. With another wave, Talon shot swaths of energy across the seating areas. Anyone it struck would freeze, before glitching out in much the same way as the turf of the field.

In the confusion, Harmon managed to sneak down into one of the bathroom. With a glow in his eyes, his backback began to unfold. Metal and cloth expanding over him, metal plates locking in place. He was soon in his new hero identity. That of Hotwire. This was it. His debut, and a lot of lives were riding on it. Better not louse it up.


 In the meantime, obviously enjoying the carnage he was causing, Talon yelled out again. "Run you rats. Run from Mr. Crystal!"

Hotwire simply walked out onto the field. The ground beneath him was uneven, as if he was traversing the worlds most turbulent waterbed. 

"Ah. Looks like I caught something slightly more along with the rats! It looks like you're all alone kid."


"Halftime show's over Talon! I'm bringing you in!" Hotwire said pulling an explosive disc from his belt and making it hover over his hand. With a flick, it shot off towards Talon. It never reached him, as Talon fired off another blast from his cane. When the wave of light passed over it, the disc froze in midair, and began glitching out like the rest of the stadium. Hotwire couldn't even activate it.


"Then name's Mr. Crystal. And my show is just beginning. Shame you won't get to see it all." He exclaimed stepping forward and firing off another wave with his staff. This one was way too wide for Hotwire to even hope to dodge. This... was not looking good for him.

Hotwire braced himself for the wide flashing hit... that never came. Sure, he was slightly blinded by the energy surging off either side of him, but whatever was in front of him was tanking the shot. "What on..." Hotwire said. One thing was for certain. This thing was tech. And on further inspection, it appeared to have the necessary components for biological interface. So this was a guy in a big suit of armor. Ok. Hotwire could appreciate that. The only thing he still didn't understand was how he withstood a blast from that thing.



"B-but my magic crystal!" Mr. Crystal stammered. He was only met with the clicking of Riots guns, and an order to surrender or be hospitalized. Good. Some backup. And he was most certainly not afraid of Mr. Crystal or his odd refractive powers. Clearly that shook him... because he immediately fired another shot... which bounced cleanly off.


"Sorry Talon." Hotwire said standing aside the lumbering figure. "Looks like your magical power just can't mirror good old fashioned science." He said as the blue lines indicative of his powers ran up his arms. This guys abilities were based on reflections. So maybe he could 



Cameras



Spotlights


Cell Phone


Headset


Remote Control


The part whirled around his shoulders, forming in place, until two large spotlights, with parts and wired forming out down Hotwire's back in some kind of backpack configuration. All he had to do was adjust the lights like so... and...

"I've managed to put together a rudimentary light based heat canon. It'll get pretty bright, so I'm uploading the proper polarization patterns into your helmet. I should be able to distract him long enough for you to get in a good hit." He said. "Let's light him up."

"Reality? Hah. My reality is a cracked lense. And now. You shatter." He said waving his staff one more time. Only this time...  nothing happened. In fact, the mysterious phenomenon that had been effecting the stadium was starting to clear up. "Hm. He just activated some kind of field generator. I can't quite get a fix on it's signature. Fascinating." Hotwire thought to himself. The explosive disc he had thrown glitched back into existance, hitting about a meter from it's intended target. The explosion didn't physically hit him, but it was obvious that this complete reversal had completely bewildered him.


'No! But! My staff!"


"Is bust" Hotwire said. "Now drop it like it's hot." He said leveling his arm mounted device. It would light up as he pointed a small reticent at the staff. All of a sudden the staff glowed red hot. The man immediately dropped it.

Hotwire calmly walked over to where riot was standing. Talon looked around in fear for a couple seconds before silently picking up the handcuffs and putting them on. Hotwire had to hand it to him. This walking rockem-sockem robot had an intimidation factor that he could only dream of. Hotwire bent over and picked up the staff, the various apparatus on his arm falling apart at his whim. While he watched Riot handle Talon, Hotwire began prying the gemstone on top with his pocket laser.

"The Lafroches will be happy to get their gem back." He noted. At this point, the police would begin flooding the stadium.

"Yeah. By the way, make sure the lead detective gets this." Hotwire said handing the lieutenant the diamond. "Talon stole the diamond from the Laroche family last week." He explained before being thrown off by the Lieutenants next question. Together? Why was everybody these days referring to heroes teaming up like it was a bad teen romance? First that thing with the Tamaranian, and now this.

"Uh. No, not formally. We just happened to respond to the same emergency at the same time." He said before tapping the foot of Riot's mech suit with his, the metal clinking. "Though from what I saw, I wouldn't be opposed to it. That suit is something else." Holding up his hand and searching through all it's specifications.


"Titanium-Nth Metal Alloy. Impressive. And those are military grade accelerators in the actuation system. But it looks like you made some modifications. Top notch work!" He said, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Actually. I only know about Nth metal in passing." Hotwire pointed out. "The rest I know because I accessed all your system specs. But yeah. I control technology. Anything that has an electric current running through it at the bare minimum." He stated pulling up an image on his wrist computer. As his hand lit up, the image would appear in his vizor. It was some sort of nanomachine. "I have these little guys stuck in my nervous system. From what I've gathered, they're quantum powered, and subsequently, so is my nervous system." He stated.


"I'm basically a walking quantum supercomputer." He said with a little bit of pride before slouching down a little bit. "But that's about all I know about them right now. My powers ironically enough don't extend to the technology in my own body.

Hotwire put a hand to his chin, a gesture he often made when going into thought. "I see. Well, I think it would at least be a good idea to keep in touch. So..." Hotwire said pulling up something on his wrist computer, and tapping a few buttons. Then with a wave of his hand, Riot would notice a small program load into his HUD. It was a brain that had been overlayed with a circuit diagram.

"I've been working on a network to keep heroes in this city in touch with one another. I met a few a couple weeks back who joined up pretty quick." He noted. "So if you need to reach me... I'm just a com-call away."

Then, knowing the ridiculousness of the gesture to a giant hulking mech suit, Hotwire held out his hand. He knew the officer had said both their names, but he felt a formal introduction was still called for here. "Hotwire."