Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"So I have to help him, because I feel those missiles weren't needed."

WHY

"If I had communication with him I could have avoided that Flying attack hele and continued to chase after the girl."

Then it's his fault.

Marcus was tearing down a wall in his mind but something else made it to his ears. "You hear that.. Sounds like gunfire."

Wanna check it out?

"Maybe, maybe not. Lets just get a little closer."

The show they were watching on tv was cut off, much to the annoyance of Chris ("Ronaldo, no!" she cried as her show was canceled) as the news came on early. Right as it began to play, Gestalt alerted James that there was a development he'd need to see. "We interrupt this program due to a developing story here in Brooklyn where the armored criminal known as 'Goliath' has just now entered a firefight with the police. Details are still coming in but what we do know is that they have been inflicting major damage to the police on scene. Civilians are being advised to clear the area around the firefight...."

Crap........how do I get there?

Well simply eave the house and we can guide yo--

I meant how do we ge there without giving ourselves away to Michael dammit!

Oh......hmm.

Chris and Amy exchanged a brief glance, before Chris began to do the only thing she could think of: act. "Ooooh," she groaned loudly, clutching her stomach as she doubled over. That drew the attention of Michael, still protective as he said "Chris what's wrong?" Moaning a little and praying she was convincing, Chris said "Stomach ache. I think the pizza isn't agreeing with me......oooh man, do we have any Pepto Bismol?"

Seizing the chance, James stood up and said "No, I'll go get some from Walgreens." Before Michael even had time to say they did have some though, James was already out the door.

Stella was watching her own show when the news cut in. Goliath. Great.

And there goes Jake with the excuse he needed to go find some Tylenol for tomorrow. Of course. She groaned and slid into her room...and activated the Raincloud.
or well, her super badass hacking nest she had in her apartment. And, with the 360 degree viewing zcreens, most of them holographic...yeah...Icarus paid well.
"Okay then...there we go, let's borrow your UAV Herc, and get a birds eye view..."

As Marcus got closer he allowed his mask to form on his face and could hear the sound of... of what he immediately thought was a minigun. Getting closer, his nerves were beginning to double over but the sight of the guy who kicked Revs butt a few nights ago fueled his anger.

He remembered watching the tele over some person's window and remembered how that guy shoot at him when he realised Mark was up their. "If only I could call Rev now"

Since it was dark out, that gave James some cover to change as the nanites began oozing out over his body. His speed increased when the armor was finished, and soon he moved to the rooftops of the larger buildings ahead. Goliath was near Prospect Park, and the situation wasn't good for the cops: four officers dead, several more injured, and the only reason Goliath hadn't moved from his location was simply by choice. As he looked ahead, James could see the orange tinted smoke aglow in the darkness and city lights, a marker for Goliath's rampage.

There was a police gunship in the air, intending to use air superiority against Goliath but instead found itself shot down by a missile fired by the armored suit. Falling from the sky, James could only watch in fear as it fell into the street and out of sight, obscured by the buildings.

Crap why do the bad guys always get the OP stuff.....

Wasn't there a human saying that the measure of a hero is shown in the villains he fights?

Yeah but still.....come on, I'm just starting out here!

What are we waiting for? Dark asked as he got impatient.

We are waiting for an opportunity. Running out there now would be suicide.

When...When did you care about waiting? Dark said very surprised

Hidden among the clouds was a white armored suit. His cape billowing heroicly behind him. As Revenant approached the armored Goliath, Paladin dived down, roaring between the buildings. Sword and cannon emerged, and he flew up and landed atop a building.
"When fighting a giant robot...get another giant robot."

James came to a stop at the rooftop corner of the building he was on. He may not have been directly overlooking Goliath's position, but he was at the right street, and he looked onward to where Goliath was. It was chaos, flashing police lights everywhere and the sound of gunfire echoing from down the street. Okay, we need to plan this time. We know his armor is too thick to cut through, bludgeoning.....well we'd need to get a lot of density and speed for that, I think. Weapons will blow us apart so gotta stay mobile. Can we hack his suit?

Tried that when we first encountered him, but his suits systems are a closed network. No wireless means to gain access......but if we could get close and find a means to plug ourselves in, then maybe.

Worth a shot.....but we'll have to try conventional. Alright, here goes, James said, and leaped off the side of the building, firing further down the edge to swing himself in the direction of the fight. Access the police car speakers. Might as well give him a distraction.

Music?

Nope. A battle cry.

And then, as Revenant reached the height of his swing, he released his hold on the roof and was sent flying through the air. Both hands began to grow as nanites replicated and expanded, forming into a single, large bulk to be a hammer. With the added density making him heavier, Revenant began falling down faster. Then the speakers in the police vehicles activated, turned to max volume as a thunderous voice cried out:

"ALRIGHT TIME'S UP, LET'S DO THIS--LEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOYYYYY, JEEENNNKIIINSSSS!"

"What the fu--?" Goliath tried to say, but was cut off as something fast moving and dense slammed into his back from above. Revenant hit him like a speeding train, though not without some drawbacks. The force of the impact was felt in his entire body, and even his reinforced bones were reaching their breaking point. The hammer he formed deformed like a bullet and his arms ached. That said, he still sent Goliath tumbling forward.

"Was...Was that... even needed." Marcus said at the event that just unfolded but now wasn't the time to stand still, this was what he was waiting for. Jumping over his cover he ran forward towards the robot and yelled. "Need any time?" In his demonic voice before summoning the darkness around him. It was almost night and Mark was at his strongest so he rushed towards the tumbling giant and Made two blades to see how tough the amour was.

Goliath was caught of guard, but recovered quickly. Hands on the ground he pushed off the asphalt, and quickly spotted the new hero. "Wow, like roaches ain't ya?" he said, before lashing out and striking the newcomer with a fist the size of a trash-can lid. "But if you don't mind, I'm here for Revenant." He spotted Revenant then, slowly getting up. "Ah the guest of honor arrives! You don't know the trouble I went through to make this happen, Revenant!" And then he opened fire with his mini-gun.

Instead of dodging, Revenant formed a shield, the nanites condensing in front of him in an inch thick solid plate. Despite the density, the rounds began denting and then chipping away at the barrier, before Goliath fired a small rocket. There was a thunderous explosion, the shield cracked and splintered, and Revenant was flung back and into a police car. His armor was blown off in parts, and shrapnel embedded in his chest. Skin was burned off where the armor had been blown away, and his right arm gone again.

Sustained serious damage. Repairing, but we are exposed, came Gestalt voice in James' mind.

Mark didn't get the chance. The giant was a little fast and Dark almost barely got the amour up when he got punched. This sent Marcus back a few feet thanks to the darkness slowing down his movement and he had to refocus his vision. He could see the Robot heading towards a injured Rev. "Hey.. Fat Fuck. Come over here." As Marcus said this he Made multiple blankets of Darkness and sent them to the robot effectively constricting him before mentally pulling him towards Himself.

zeru had woken up a few minutes earlier checkeing on bella and was currently on top of the tower watching the skyline when he saw the smoke in the far distance."please tell me he isn't involved in something again" he said sighing and hoping it wasn't the case/

He was about to hammer his fists down onto Revenant, when his armor was stalled as what looked like black smoke was wrapped around him. "Dammit, stay out of this!" he screamed. Instead of playing tug of war, he turned and gave the newcomer what they wanted: him. Breaking into a charge, he rammed into Shadow like a linebacker.

While he was distracted, it gave James time to recover, the nanites replicating the injured sections of his body while the armor moved back over place. Okay, not going to let that happen again, he thought.

As Marcus got charged into his armor Appeared all over his body and holding on to the giants arm he just started to laugh. "I'm so proud of my big boy" He said with a girlish voice before before allowing his wings to appear and flying upwards.

The giant only held on to him because shadow allowed it and as soon as Shadow was high enough he fell towards the giant with his blade and going down at the speed he was going wasn't enough, the wings were boosting him. With the weight of the armour and the Fine long blade he made along his arm, He rammed it right into the amour hoping to pierce the armour

Revenant's blade didn't have any luck before, and neither did Shadow's. Clanging off, Goliath smirked beneath his helmet and grabbed Shadow by the wing. "Was never much of a mama's boy," he said before flinging him away into an apartment building. As he turned to face Revenant, his opponent closed the distance as he leaped forward, right arm formed into a hammer again as he hit Goliath in the head.

It staggered him, a gong like sound echoing from the impact as Thomas got his bells rung. "You went through all this for moi?" Revenant asked. "I'm flattered." "Heh, don't be," Goliath said as he steadied himself. "I'm going to kill you, Revenant. And I'm going to enjoy watching you die."

How.. did he grab the wings?

"I might have made them solid to increase the weight."

Idiot.

Marcus laid their as his bones started to heal up he turned his head to see a young kid. Switching back to his normal demon voice, Marcus said. "Sooooo.. Be a good kid for your parents ok." The kid quickly shaked his head as Marcus got back up.

"We need a plan."

We need to communicate.

Marcus thought of something just then. "REV, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, CALL ME." Marcus shouted which was a bit magnified by the voice he was using before jumping out of the hole he made and landing on the ground he started to go right back to the goliath.

"Oh again with these interruptions...." Goliath groaned. "Can't you see I'm having a conversation here?" he asked as he turned to aim his right arm at Shadow, the minigun firing. "Dammit move!" Revenant shouted, even as he fired a cable at Goliath to pull himself in.

Marcus was a little sick of this guy and made his own wall of darkness in front of him. "Mate, I'm not leaving until I know Rev is safe and your on the ground." Marcus called out to the giant.

"Then looks like you're both dying tonight!" Goliath roared. The cable latched onto him, but he grabbed it along the length and yanked Revenant from where he stood like a yo-yo, before swinging him towards Shadow. Revenant went crashing against the shield, the shots already done.

Marcus had some sight though the wall of darkness and was thankful for it now as the wall made soft to catch Rev before flipping around so Rev was Next to him. "Sup Rev. Have a head piece because I think we need constant communication." Marcus said as he made another hardened wall.

"No, we just need to hit him hard," Revenant said. "Take one side and I'll take the other." With that, Revenant fired a cable to one of the lightpoles, rappelling to it quickly before releasing the cables grip, his momentum letting him continue upwards to the rooftop. He'd need to come from above while Shadow distracted Goliath.

"Hit him hard, got yea." With that Marcus walked though his cover as it dissipated into him and he made 20-100 tendrils around him before sending them all at the goliath, last time he did this their was nothing left of a rock his size and the good thing was it was almost night.

Goliath fired another rocket at the oncoming mass of darkness, not exactly fazed by what was coming. As for his crew, they got the cash but needed an opening to escape. The police could only watch as the battle among the vigilantes and Goliath continued, with forces from Hercules underway to squash the situation. From her home, Chris and Amy nearly screamed as they watched the fight on the news, as James was nearly blown apart.

For his part, Revenant/James came flying down from the roof, firing a pair of cables to latch onto Goliath and pull him down. His right leg took on a new shape, a hardened cone which he intended to bust Goliath's armor with.......right before looked up and moved back a few steps. The cables had already released, so James crashed like a missile into the road, his leg piercing the asphalt like a nail, and sticking him to the road. "Well shit," he said.

"Need help?" Marcus yelled while sending more hard hitting blocks of darkness at goliath. This big bugger may have thought a simple missile would stop them but if he got constantly hit he would be in trouble.

"No I was just gonna sit here for a bit," Revenant snarled. The nanites softened, and he was able to get his leg out of the hole he had made. Instead of firing a rocket this time, Goliath threw a car at the tendrils and said "How many more of those can you keep up little man?"

"How many hours are there of night." Marcus said as the tendrils started to wrap around the car and rise. You could see the sweat on his Mask as he lifted the car at least 30-40 feet into the air. "Taste this you overgrown machine." And with that Marcus threw the car at the giant.

Goliath caught the car, the hydraulics of his suit pushed near the limits. Then he threw it back at Shadow, rocket launcher trailing the car as he waited for the right moment. But then Revenant appeared, using the distraction made by Shadow to get in close and land an uppercut with a hammerhead-tendril. Hitting him in the chin of his helmet, Revenant sent Goliath staggering back once again.

Broke the armor......hurt me.....I'm not going to let him hurt me again, James thought as he pressed forward with the attack.

Marcus lost the armour to get some extra speed and momentum as he rolled out of the way. He had to saty back and recharge a little. "Come on Rev. Kick his ass." Was all he could say while formatting a plan that didn't include blades.

"Not bad Revenat," Goliath chuckled as he regained his balance. "Come on!" he roared, charging Revenant, who jumped up to flip over the oncoming suit of armor. That did nothing to stop the charge though as Goliath went crashing through the line of police cars, making officers shout and cry as they ducked for cover, the cars being pushed aside.

Marcus felt better and moved to Rev. "I think the plan of attack attack and maybe a surprise attack isn't working. He's using technology right? Then we can hack him or spray water on him?" Marcus said to him as he watched Goliath

"Hacking won't work, his suits a closed network," Revenant said. "And that suit's got waterproof seals, if up close looks I've had are any indicator." While Goliath struggled to move and get out of the deformed cars, Revenant ran forward, clambering up the back of the suit. His fingers extended, the nanites forming claws as he started to claw at the metal plating. It did little more than start to make claw marks, until Goliath tried to shake him off.

"Get the fuck off me you pest!" he screamed, trying to dislodge him. It wasn't until he moved close to an apartment building, that he hit on the idea of slamming himself backwards, squashing Revenant into the brickwork. A crater formed and, as if in a comical fashion, an imprint of Revenant was pressed into the same crater.

"Ow...." came Revenant's muffled cry.

"What gave him the idea of doing that." Marcus said as he moved over to a car. He regained most of his tendril ability so in a fit walked up to a police car and asked the owner if he could borrow it. The officer just shook his head in approval and Marcus decided to try ut a new trick that was just meant to be flashy by bonding the darkness to his arms and hands he was able to do the same as the tendrils and he lifted the wreck of a car over his head and moved towards where Rev and goliath were.

Please Rev, Don't be there. and with that thought he flew into the air as Goliath turned to Rev and threw the car from above

Goliath saw the car coming, his suits sensors alerting him and he moved to the side right as the car flew past him and fender first into Revenant. The car rammed into Revenant and sent him fully into the apartment and then into the next, bricks and drywall all crumbling as he and the car destroyed furnishings.

Barely awake now, he was out for the count, for a moment at least. Super powered he may have been, but this was pushing it. Bones broken or out of place, the nanites worked on putting him back together. In the meantime, Goliath rounded on Shadow and spat "Eat this," and fired a rocket.

"Think if we make the darkness soft enough we can catch it and send it right back?" Feeling sorry for missing and hitting Rev

I wouldn't try.

"Right."

Marcus said as he flew past the missile barley and headed right for Goliath Equipping his armour he moved around to goliath's back while his own back produced tendrils to hold The Robotic man still. "Taste your Meds be guy, maybe your feel better." Marcus said as he attached himself to the giant and kept producing enough tendrils to hold an elephant if Mark tried.

"Oh you little shit, if you think this is gonna hold me you're in for a world of hurt," Goliath said. He reached back, struggling against the tendrils holding his suit. But it was no good.....until one of his crew still at the armored truck, huddled there looking for an opening to escape, fired on Shadow with their assault rifle, rounds hitting him as the shooter hoped to get their boss free.

"Conventual bullets won't do shit mate." Marcus laughed As he sent one of his tendrils at the fellow. he felt the impact of the bullet but it did little to stop him. "So hows your day been?" Mark asked in his demonic voice, hoping Rev would get up.

Revenant was still down for a bit as his bones got put back in place. Okay.......plan of attack?

Right idea in clinging to him, but wrong attack. Get back on there and we will try and get into the suit.

Yay....

Up above, one of the police gunships had been shining a spotlight down on the street. They got the greenlight, and their mounted gun opened fire on both Goliath, and by extension Shadow. Light rounds hit both Shadow and Goliath, though the latter's armor managed to deflect some of the rounds.

Of course, the moment arrived. With Revenant down and the gunship firing, Jake cut his anti grav and dropped. Using a building to slow his fall (screw property damage) he landed in the badass Iron Man pose and rose, blade draw. "Hey tincan. Fight someone your own size." He charged, blade gleaming. "Name's Paladin. Got it memorized?"

"Oww" Marcus yelped as the bullets dug into his armour. He couldn't hold on so he fell off as the tendrils slowly dissipated. He slowly got up to a knee because of the mixture of pain and gone energy drained him. "Cr..Crap."

But it surprised him when a giant knight appeared

"Oh for fucks sake," Goliath groaned. "All I wanted was the one guy and instead I get Revenant and a pair of whores just asking for it."

"Watch the language!" someone yelled, and the car lodged in the apartment building was shoved out, Revenant behind it. "Good to see you're alive Revenant," Goliath said.

Because of stupidity, Paladin rammed his massive arm mounted sword directly into Goliath's upper shoulder, cannon hand smashing into the face. "Well how about I fuck you and leave you in a gutter like sensible whore should?" Paladin quipped. "Or just give you a headshot and be all Call of Duty on your ass?"

"Ahh you son of a bitch!" Goliath roared. Not caring there was a cannon to his face, he shoved it aside with his other arm before aiming the same arm at Paladin's chest, and let fly with the minigun. Armor piercing rounds fired at pointblank.

Marcus regained his composure and jumped on his back again with the same old trick of wrapping tendrils around. "Anyone of a plan?" he asked while wrapping more and more.

Paladin jerked away and took flight. His chest plate was fucked up badly, and he couldn't risk his cannon missing. "Rev, I got his attention!"

"You can still do that?" Revenant asked Shadow, a bit amazed. As for Paladin, Gestalt spoke for James.

"Paladin, your armor was damaged. How serious?"

"When I'm angry... I can do stuff now do something because I'm tiring out." Marcus said as he grew slightly weaker. some of his tendrils were starting to disappear.

Why the hell would he ask me that when he should be attacking

The weakening of the tendrils allowed Goliath to move, and with that new freedom he grabbed Shadow from his back and flung him like a ragdoll with bone-breaking force. "Men......get going, you know the plan. I'll handle Revenant." The thieves got the message, and went according to plan: they had flipped the armored truck next to a manhole leading to a sewer main. The manhole was open and the thieves already fleeing, leaving it to just Revenant and Goliath. "Let's finish this," Goliath said. He was down to one arm, but still highly dangerous.

Revenant though wasted no timem charging forward as one arm formed into a blade. Goliath fired his minigun but James formed his other arm into a shield mid-run and deflected the bullets. Intending to repeat what happened before by firing a rocket at Revenant. Instead, Reveant dissolved the shield and had the condensed nanites fire into a whip, latching onto Goliath and pull him in. For a brief moment, he and the rocket passed by and he felt as it raced past him, before it hit the ground where he was before, and as for him he landed on the front of Goliath's suit and rammed his blade into the stab wound caused by Paladin, sparks flying as the blade tore through the weakened metal.

We are now inside.

And then the nanites began to spread into the armor from the blade, infiltrating the suits systems befre shutting down Goliath's suit, one function at a time. "No," Goliath said in a panicked tone. "What are you doing? You can't do this!"

"Too late, done is done," Revenant said.

Marcus wasn't dead. Dark made sure of that but he was weak and injured and unconscious and Dark longed for control, so he took it. Rising he felt new. Marcus was strong and his sense's were magnified but he was weak because he made it so. Marcus never truly hit hard enough or used the power right but now Dark was in control and he loved it.

The filters in the mask made Marcus's vice demonic but Darks was an entire new level of creepy and he showed it. "Well thats done. We are glad to have helped you human but now I'm going on a walk and it's thanks to the giant lug and you." He said with a Dark laugh before walking away. "Time to have some fun."

"Dammit, get back here!" Revenant snarled, but it was too late. Shadow was gone......and about to do God knows what. Instead, he focused on shutting down the suit for good, accessing the power core and ordering it to eject. It was after all basically a battery, and the rear of the suit opened from a panel and a greyish block extended out. Now, the suit was down for good.

"The Night is young and I'm hungry for death." Dark said as he moved through the streets smashing any light he come across. It was perfection for him, he was excited and he was ready to kill any he came across. And thats when he came across her.