Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"I am afraid I cannot allow you to leave you have access to alien technology and represent a potential threat to humanity's survival" She drew her side arm and aimed it at his head. "You may have provided an assist to our operation which I am grateful for but I have my duty to follow so I will not mind killing you in order to protect humanity"

There was a sound like ice cracking, and James felt his head get slightly heavier.

Forgive us for not asking, but we hardened ourselves around your head in anticipation of a bullet. Just to be careful.

Gee, thanks Gestalt I appreciate it, James thought sincerely as he stared down the woman holding a gun to him. Still, he had a plan, raising his hands up above his head. "Alright, you got me. Feel free to take me away....." he trailed off as his left hand gathered nanites again before punching in the direction of the walkway on the wall, shooting out the tether again to latch onto the railing and pull himself away from her. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

"Shit" She opened fire with her pistol as he moved away. "All callsigns the alien technology is mobile, assume user is hostile"
"I read you in pursuit"
This was the situation that Wolf Lead did not want, to be fighting someone with alien technology exhausted with little ammunition remaining,

Hauling himself over the railing and onto the walkway, James ran towards one of the nearby windows and jumped through it, glass shattering as he crashed through and down to the ground, the fall harmless as he landed upright, knees bent.....and four SWAT team members outside that had been moving in to the building. "Wow I have the worst luck today," he said as one of the officers shouted "It's that silver guy!"

No one had time to shoot though, James already running away and firing another tether as he yelled "Silver Guy? That's the best you could think of?"

"Damn he escaped"
"Should we pursue?"
"Negative we don't have the resources stay and secure the warehouse"
"But..."
"You have your orders follow them"
"Yes Wolf Lead"
She sighed heavily and holstered her pistol, there better damn well be some valuable intelligence and technology stored here because the UNESD certainly paid a terrible price to take it.

Even as he reached the roof, James was hardly off the hook: that he had been spotted again made it's way to the rest of the police and now the police gunships in the air were swooping in to subdue him. "Oh come on, I have.....well not a date but a meeting people!" he yelled as he ran, dodging the taser nets they fired. Ah the taser net, one of the new crowd control inventions: four, meter long metal poles housing batteries, with a net of carbon fiber and lined with electric prongs woven into the thread. Designed to release enough charge to knock someone out for a few hours. He needed to lose them, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as he tried to escape, but it wasn't going to be easy.

Lauren wrote another message to James.

Lauren wrote:

Hey are you bringing anyone along with you or will it just be us?

James wrote:

Uhm....actually wasn't thinking of it, but I can if you'd like. I've got two friends who would definitely love to meet you.

James was forced to go to the ground, slipping in between buildings when he jumped down into an alleyway too tight for the gunship. Going stealth, he made a break for the end of it and was thankful that the cops hadn't reached him here yet in their cars. The street had a few pedestrians which were busy looking up at the gunship above as it passed over. Slipping back into the alley, he changed back to his normal form and walked out with so far, no one any the wiser.

With a press of her smart phone screen, the container door slid shut. The Icarus shipping container was laden with tech, and as she sat in the main chair and booted the systems, she celt at home.
"Verify Identiy."
"Aether Rain."
"Identity Confirmed. Input passcode."
Stella typed it in, and soon the world was at her fingertips. As she checked and did the media manipulation and school hacking, she detected a wide range of radio information being broadcast from the warehouse district. She did a probing strike. Military grade encryption. Ciphers the Pentagon didn't have.
Cracking her knuckles, she began her work. She went for slipping in. Waiting and going in as it transmitted, she spent the better part of the warehouse fight hacking a sinple radio freqeuency. It was ridiculous.
But she was in.

Finding out about alien technology was bad. This was bad. Before anything else came through the speakers, she killed the line and uploaded her Dirk assault.

Pictures of him photoshopped into Gimp Monthly with a dick going in and out of his mouth. Gif images ruled.
Sending that from a student labeled "Karma" she signed off, shut down, and got the fuck out of the container and booked it. She'd have to use her secondary position until she was sure those UNESD guys hadnt traced her.

After walking for a bit, James called up Chris on his cellphone. It didn't take her long to answer, her first words being "Hey James, doing okay?" "Yeah I'm good, and got some interesting news for you and Amy so feel free to call her about this. But.....well, I've been messaging Lauren--yes that Lauren--and she invited me and some friends, namely you and Amy, to meet up with her and her band in about an hour. Do you want to come with?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?" Chris asked, her tone clearly excited as she fought down a squeal. "What brand?" James responded with a grin. "We're meeting at the corner of Prospect Park Southwest and Parkside Avenue. I'll head back home so we can go together, and feel free to call Amy and invite her."

"All units be advised are comms where just tapped"
"Are comms where hacked?"
"Confirm we are tracing it now but it happened for only a few seconds... Blast that's a no go on the tracing over"
"Can you provide any coordinates?"
"Negative Zulu Two, search area is too large besides all units are already tasked"
Wolf Lead sighed, great another threat to deal with as if the UNESD was not stretched thinly enough across Earth. Each day there always seemed to be something new capable of destroying humanity or threatening the delicate balance of power on Earth. Of course, something always managed to get through the net, to slip by and effect humanity or worse assimilate into the population of humans.

It was going to be a bit of a walk back home for James, enough that he considered going back into his hero form to get home quicker. But then he realized something, relating to what that officer called him. Silver guy......okay, I need a name or title, something better than that. Gestalt, need your help here buddy.

On finding a name? Hmm....how do you say on your internet? Challenge accepted.

So as they walked for a few blocks, they discussed James and the AI, looking for a name. NaKnight was terrible, Shifter seemed fitting for their ability to shapeshift but that wasn't enough. Changeling. Techno Man. T-1000 was already in use. Eventually though, they reached an agreement on a name from superstitions: Revenant. A person who returned from the dead to be a terror upon the living. And James intended to be a terror upon the living, the criminals of it anyway.

Satisfied with the name, he found another alley, hiding behind a dumpster to change before using his cables to pull himself up to the roof. Gestalt once more painted out a path for him back home, and he quickly headed that way.

James wrote:

Could just hire a cab to take you there, they'll know where it is. Or even your personal driver if you're afraid of getting lost.

Soon enough, James arrived home. Having found a decent spot he hid and changed before walking inside, finding both Chris and Amy waiting for him. They were in different clothes than what they wore earlier at school. "Hey James," Amy said, clearly excited. The look on Chris' face mirrored her friend, and it was clear that they were both overly eager to meet Lauren personally. "Hey," was all James said. "Okay so she left a little early, but we'll still be meeting her at the same place. I might as well take a shower, since I kinda stink." As he walked up the stairs, Chris asked him politely "Uhm....don't take this the wrong way James, but are you going to be okay taking a shower?" as she looked at his arm.

Sighing, he stopped and said "Thankfully yes, I will. The doctor told me that the limbs were waterproof so taking a shower or bath or even swimming is perfectly safe for me. But thank you for the concern Chris." With that, he went upstairs, grabbed a towel from the linen closet, walked into the bathroom and took a shower. It was a quick one, just to cover the basics, and it took less time to dress up. Ten minutes later he was walking down feeling slightly more awake and fresh. "So.....who's got cab fare?" he asked, to which Chris groaned as she reached for her wallet.

Lauren wrote:

If I take a cab I will get kidnapped and nah my mom and my stepdad have taken the personal driver so... That leaves me with walking left.

Lauren left her house, locking the door before walking down the front steps and making her way towards the planned area to meet everybody. She walked quickly slipping in around and through the crowds of people. When everyone was going somewhere or seemed otherwise to be busy no one cared for the teenage celebrity in their midst.

A few minutes later, the trio sat in the back of a yellow cab, heading for the meeting point while James silently texted Lauren.

James wrote:

Hah, other than being a star why would a cab-driver kidnap you? ....okay yeah probably a valid reason.

James wrote:

Hey I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, just giving you fair warning. We can be fairly quirky people.

They weren't. They really, really weren't.

Lauren

Quote :

You haven't met my band then if you think that will bother me, besides it will be good to meet a couple of the fans :P gotta stay in touch with the audience.

James wrote:

Fans and one friend of the fans.

Right as it was sent, the cab stopped at the destination and they got out, stepping onto the corner. It was a round corner actually, a circle with a large patch of green in the center and some trees while the road circled around it.

James wrote:

Yeah you're going to have to work really hard to make me a fan Lauren. Anyway, we're here so we'll be over in a Starbucks

It wasn't that surprising that Starbucks survived the economic rewiring and war.

James wrote:

It's bad everywhere.......but from what I hear it's better in the US and Britain, few other places.

Sitting at a table outside, James had bought a bottle of water while Chris and Amy sipped out of coffee cups, though James was still unclear as to how Chris thought the stuff good to drink. He had tried it once, all it gave him was stomach cramps that made it impossible to run.

James wrote:

It's only two..... Anyway, you'll know you're here when you arrive at a large, round area with a tiny little park in the middle. Just look for the Starbucks.

"Hey James," Chris spoke up with a sly grin. "You going to talk to us at all, or are you too busy texting with your girlfriend?" Blushing slightly, James simply snorted and said "Yeah......she's not my girlfriend Chris. Hell we're barely even friends right now, and all I'm doing is having some friendly conversation." Amy chuckled and said "That why you drop everything to respond to her?" Giving her a sour look he responded "I do not drop everything to respond to her."

You sorta do. You were messaging her during the fighting and the running.

Okay you stay out of this.

"Excuse me for a moment," James said as he pulled out his phone again to respond to Lauren's text.

James wrote:

What coffee? I'm keeping the water cold right now.

Lauren wrote:

I never knew you where a water cooler James.

Lauren turned the corner, pocketing her phone and making her way towards the Starbucks, trying to spot James and his friends.

Amy was the one to spot Lauren first, facing her direction where she sat. When she saw Lauren she waved her hand in the air to grab her attention, while James and Chris turned their heads to see what she was waving at.

Lauren saw the wave and smiling returned it as she made her way over. "Hi guys" She said as she pulled up a chair and sat down. "What's up?"

James stayed quiet as he waited for Amy and Chris to find their words. They just sat there, grinning broadly as they stared at their favorite musician. "Wow......oh my god, this is unbelievable," Chris said as she started to geek out. "Lauren Milan is sitting at our table!" A few people turned their heads to see what the ruckus was about, but they didn't pay attention for long since in the grand scheme of things, they didn't care that much.

Lauren laughed. "Yeah I guess I am nice to meet you both" She held out a hand for them to shake in turn.

Stella pulled up next to the next container. Icarus had them everywhere for her, so he absconded inside and began to double check everything. Her last hideout was not being invaded so there was some respite. She breathd a sigh of relief before going in and finishing up with everything else she needed to do. Nexus was a giant, and the firewalls were better than the Pentagon, which was stupid.

As she continued her hacking, Jake called.
"Yeah babe?"
"Where are you? Better not be kidnapped!"
"I'm fine."
"Fine. I'm at home and bored. I'm gonna go for a drive walk, call me when you're on your way back."

Hanging up, Stella continued as Jake headed out for a walk.

With looks of disbelief, both Chris and Amy shook Lauren's hand. "Oh wow......Lauren we are huge fans," Amy squeaked out.