Start of a new Legacy (Invitation Only)

"Ah, see. I'm not very well versed in all the properties of Nth metal. I'm more familiar with it's anti-magic properties." Hotwire said as he approached the front door. "Though my inability to notice that in my scan of your suit's specs is odd. I've never had an error like that before. We'll have to look into that later. But for now, I agree that we should split up to prevent any Nth metal interference."


Hotwire hummed as he looked over the door. By the looks of things, it was a simple lock, though if they forced it, it would set off the alarm. At least it would if Hotwire hadn't taken the liberty of shutting down the whole building's alarm system. "I'm moving in. Riot's running perimeter." Hotwire said taking out a small laser cutter and working the lock. After about 30 seconds, with the lock thoroughly cut, Hotwire pushed open the door. He then switched his light pointer to illuminate the room. Empty.
 
"Ok. We're clear down here." Hotwire said. Then the call came through. His hunch was dead on. It was the bomb. "I'll check on what they've found." He said. Briskly running up the stairs, he soon found himself in a room with the others. From there, he was able to get a good look at the thing... then he activated his powers.
 
"Ok. So my initial thoughts were correct. This isn't an actual bomb. Nothing necessary for a Hadrothermic reaction. If we don't disarm the bombs, there won't be any actual danger. But the device is still designed with facsimile parts and principles in mind. They're just really well constructed test dummies." He explained running his hand along it's sleek shell. "But here's the bad news. This thing has a billion safeguards in place to counteract my powers. Namely a deadmans switch on a constantly resetting power supply. If I use my powers to try and 'disarm it', the other bombs will notice and detonate."
 
 
"Now based on these specs, we're dealing with a 25 kilomole Tritium core, which, based on the size of these liquid helium injectors, are supposed to create a mini-protonic implosion. Then we have the hardronic projector. It turns the projected inward force into a fluxing outward wave. No radiation. No explosion. Just pure force that permeates everything and rips it's molecules apart. Based on these numbers, when this thing detonates, anything in a 1.93 kilometer radius will be reduced to dust."
 

He was glad these things were fake. Though by his guess, the resources needed to actually make even one of these things would bankrupt most technology firms. "And we have 10 of them scattered around the city. Riot, I'm putting everything I've got so far on these bombs on a secure channel on my wrist-com. See if you have any ideas." Riot did have a point. While hotwire was certainly a master of technology, it was still better safe than sorry.

”(Quiet.)” Jenny replied simply to Angles question while she looked over the area for traps. ”(Don’t worry I don’t, in fact if it is a trap I’m counting on someone to save my hide.)” She said with an audible smirk in her tone. ”(But just remember… the titans are said to have 3 people who can fly, I’m pretty sure if there’s traps Robin would have set up some for fliers too.)”

She warned before dropping into the skylight. ”(True I doubt the whole thing will be just hacking in alone but if it is for the off chance I can do it just fine. But copy that, Holding off for now.)” She said looking to him with a nod. ”(Noted Riot I’ll wait until you are in position before I even attempt to hack in cause I need your immediate assistance right afterwards.)”

She replied to Riot over the comm link. She then looked to the entryway to see Hotwire arrive and state that the bombs were just basically test dummies. As he continued Jenny narrowed her eyes a bit… it heavily felt like the only way they ever would have known any of what he was saying is if he was there the whole time…. If he didn’t show up today how were they supposed to figure this out if the bomb would just go off the moment it notice anyone lurking inside its data base…?

Jenny just sighed and walked off a bit she might as well let the boys handle it since they were doing pure science talk that she couldn’t understand at all despite Hotwire knowing only he and riot were likely to be the only ones that could understand anything of what he just said. Though As she entered the shadows she was sudden grabbed and pulled away and was gone without a trace.

[Exit]

Angel nodded in response to Wildfire's and Blue Blast's replies. "Peaceful, thankfully. No sudden artillery fire trying to take me out of the air, so I can't really complain." Blue quickly returned to her work, focusing on the task at hand. Fair enough I suppose. Probably best to let the person looking for traps focus on what they're doing. The masked hero finished her sweep of the skylight before admitting that she was expecting help in the event a trap was triggered, as well as warning that there could be traps for the airborne heroes. "Well then, I suppose we'll all just have to watch each other's backs. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me." he replied before joining Blue inside the building.

Thankfully, Blue was willing to wait before attempting to disarm the bomb, an idea that Riot seemed to approve of as well. Hotwire approached the group shortly after the armored man's call came in, using his powers to scan the device and report on it to the group. "...I'm not going to lie, I probably understood about a quarter of that. Key points being "not a real bomb", "deadman's switch", "other bombs detonate", and "reduced to dust"." The teen took a moment to think, processing what he could about Hotwire's rundown. "So what I'm hearing here is that even if we disarm this bomb, doing it incorrectly will trigger the others, throwing us straight into failure. Would there be some way to fake a signal from this bomb while we disarm it? Keep the other ones thinking it's still active? What do you think..." Joshua turned back to where Blue Blast had been, trailing off as he noticed he absence. "Blue? You ready to take a stab at this?" he called out, looking for any traces of the hero.

Wildfire let the others speak -- he managed to understand a portion of what Hotwire said, and figured maybe one of the others might have known what he meant. The main thing he understood was that if Hotwire attempted to disarm the bomb with his abilities, it would notably cause its siblings to detonate along with it. That legendary titan probably thought this through -- it might have been too easy if Hotwire was able to take the bombs apart with an effortless use of his powers. They would have to be creative and think outside of the box; the solution was there, but they just had to discover it first. His green irises examined the bomb from where he stood, as he was aware of his urge to touch it. Noble and Blue would know what to do, right? They were native to the planet, and might have known things about this type of weapon, that he didn't due to the fact that he was an alien.

Speaking of Blue Blast, Wildfire hadn't seen her in a few moments. He noted her expressive suit, and surely would have noticed her had she been in the room, but now she was just..gone. He glanced towards Angel when the question was asked, a worried look in his facial expression, "Angel.." His tone was cautious, as the realization began to set in. Blue was gone, without a trace for them to follow. Taking out his communicator, he spoke over their team network, "Blue Blast has disappeared; I am unable to locate any clues that would lead to her disappearance." Raising a hand, he produced a bright, green bolt of energy to illuminate the dark areas of the room. However, he was still unable to find his comrade.

"Good call Riot. Guys, come over here and check this out." He said, displaying a constantly shifting diagram of the bomb. Hopefully he could find some weak points, so he could begin devising countermeasures. By the looks of things, the problem wouldn't be whether he could defuse these bombs, but how quickly. This thing had a lot of moving parts, and if he were to have to go through every bomb like this, they wouldn't stand a chance. 

This is why you worked with a team.

A team that was apparently growing smaller. Not even an hour in and Blue Blast had dissapeared. He was going to chalk it up to being part of the test, when the coms crackled to life in response to Riot's inquiries.


"This is Robin." The voice cut in. Something was happening on the other end. Maybe a fight, maybe a chase. Whatever it was, it was making a lot of noise. "We have a problem. Somebody found out about your test, and planned an abduction of Blue Blast. We're in pursuit right now, and we're working up some countermeasures to keep you guys safe. Whatever this is, it's beyond you guys right now. Just keep going on your test, and we will do everything within our power to bring Blue Blast back."


Now under any other circumstances, Harmon would have found this quite patronizing. But this was Robin. If whatever took Blue Blast had the old titans on the ropes, what chance did their little merry band of misfits have? Still, it did feel wrong to just keep going on with this fake test and do nothing to help Blue. Hotwire slammed his hand on the floor where he was stooped over.


"Damnit!"

Angel frowned at the lack of response from Blue. Where could she have wandered off to...? The teen noticed Wildfire's nervous look as he addressed him. Right, don't panic. Nobody needs that. "Ah...she's probably just playing a joke on us. Nothing to worry about, right?" he replied, somewhat unconvincingly. The alien prince didn't seem to believe that scenario either, as he quickly reported Blue missing to the rest of the team. Riot responded as well, telling the group to stick together and calling out to Blue over the comms. Why isn't she responding? Is this part of the test? But then why would Robin pull us to work as a team and then take someone away?"

The hero's questions were answered when another voice came over the comm link. Robin. Apparently Blue's disappearance was not part of the test, and the group was supposed to carry one with the exercise while the Titans pursued whoever had taken her. Hotwire seemed about as pleased with the response as Angel was. Joshua's eyes went out of focus for a moment as he processed the scenario before snapping back to attention, this time with a bit more anger than before. The teen looked to the two other teammates in the room with him. "So, screw that noise, right? They can't really expect us to just keep going along with their dummy bomb scenario while they chase after our friend who's been actually kidnapped. I vote we regroup with Riot and chase after them."

Wildfire was beginning to excessively worry for their missing comrade. Was this supposed to be a part of their test? Before he could continue crafting questions in his mind, Hotwire's voice drew his attention. The green bolt of energy diminished in his hand as he approached Hotwire. Green irises landed on the diagram of the bomb, before another voice went through his communicator. This time it was Robin, and it did not sound good. "..She has been taken.." He mumbled to himself as the realization truly settled into him. One thing he didn't understand was how they were expected to continue with the test with a comrade missing. That defeated the purpose of it in the first place, as they were all supposed to work together. He felt as though they were being treated as children, that they were supposed to ignore the fact that Blue was in danger, and just keep moving. That wasn't how he was raised; his Tamaranean ideals were to always protect those who you cherished.

Aggravation began to course through him, replacing the worry that previously occupied him. Glancing up, Wildfire's eyes locked onto Angel's, spotting the exact same rise in him. He nodded his head to Angel's words. "I agree with Angel. However if someone was aware of our test, and where we were located, they would most likely be aware of the bombs as well. It is a possibility that they may have tampered with the bombs to make them active," His eyes suddenly widened in thought, "What if Blue Blast's kidnapping is a diversion for us to lose focus on the bombs? What if they are not counterfeits at all? Mm, if so, it would be wise for you all to go after Blue while I handle the situation. As long as I have the location of the bombs, I will be able to collect them and transport them into a deep vacuum of space."

Yes, this was simply a possibility, but it was one that truly made Wildfire afraid.

"While under normal circumstances I'd say that replacing the bombs with actual working models would require insane resources that would take years to amass, we don't know how badly we've been compromised. We very well could be dealing with a group with that kind of power. This bomb, definitely a fake. No doubt about it. But the others? Now I'm not so sure." Hotwire responded to Wildfire's suggestion that perhaps the rest of the bombs could be real. A terrifying thought to be sure.

He was going to add more, but then Riot came forward with a speech of his own. It was reassuring to say the least, but still didn't completely close up that pit in Hotwire's stomach. That feeling of just abandoning a team member... it wasn't right. But right now, they had their own fight. So hotwire began looking things over once again.

"Ok. It looks like I can get a closer look at the core if I unlatch it. But in order to do that, I'll need to supply the backup circuits with a constant energy stream to trick it into thinking that the core is still there." He said as a couple parts from a nearby machine flew over to him, and worked themselves into a small box with cables coming off of it, and a metal post on the top. He quickly worked plugging the cables into the side of the device.


"Wildfire, can you provide this post here with a constant energy stream? It should let me safely open this thing up and get more physical with it."

Angel listened patiently as Wildfire first gave his thoughts. While the prince seemed to agree with him at first, he noted it was entirely possible that whoever had kidnapped Blue had also modified the bombs to explode, offering to carry the bombs into space while the rest of the team went after Blue Blast. While Hotwire confirmed that the bomb before them was a fake, he admitted the possibility that any of the others could be real. The realization shook Joshua out of his angry mindset. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course they're right, but still...just leaving Blue's fate to others while we abandon her? Even if it is the Titans and there's the possibility of actual danger to the city... The feeling that had begun to hit the other heroes sunk on the telekinetic teen as well, however as Riot spoke he did his best to pay attention.

As much as he hated to admit it, Riot's words rang true. There's too much at stake here to just abandon everything. If even one of those bombs is real, the city will suffer huge damages. As much as the teen wanted to go after Blue, abandoning the rest of the group wouldn't help them with the task at hand. We need to support each other fully...even if the call is a tough one. Thankfully, Hotwire appeared to be in agreement, moving towards "disarming" the fake bomb. Angel nodded to Riot in an attempt to reassure him before voicing his own thoughts.

"Even if it's fake, treat it like it's real. This'll be good practice for the others - which, as fun as it would be to watch them fly into space, I think we'll still need to diffuse. There's a lot of stuff out there, and it sounds like these are no kiddie explosives. Even outside the atmosphere they could cause problems, not to mention raise a lot of questions." After giving his advice, Josh would watch Hotwire work, learning as much as he could about the diffusion process while waiting to see if he was needed.

At least they were all aware that the bomb they had first came upon was a fake. Wildfire approached Hotwire, allowing a glowing orb of green energy to form around his hands. Placing both of his hands on the post, he closed his eyes and focused on concentrating his energy into it. "Fair point, Angel." It would be unfortunate if the bombs' detonations in space disrupted something which could lead to a catastrophic event. He wanted to avoid anything that could tamper with the atmosphere, or possibly risk the lives of the innocent, so maybe it was a good idea not to transport the bomb's into outer space.

[ OOC: I apologize for the delay; my email notifications for the thread are not working. Also, the shortness is because I did not want to be repetitive, however my next post will be longer. ]