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Highanded :: Six :: Expanded
Susan didn't take her head out of the refrigerator to see who had walked through her front door. She snatched some orange juice, poured herself a tall glass and set back to her kitchen table. It was smothered under the sketches that had piled up from work. An unwinding spool rolled across the linoleum leaving a trail of gray thread behind it.
"Hey Susan," Ace stepped around the piles of fabric, utilized furniture and unpacked groceries. He decided to help her out by putting them away, "I got your call. What's up?"
"Coffee table."
He put the bread on the counter. His face lit up as he saw the finished outfit. He picked the jacket up and started putting it on over his other clothes. "It's already finished?"
"No, there's a giant hole over the ass."
Ace ignored the sarcasm and smiled, "Thanks a lot, Susan."
"Good." Her voice echoed through the chasm of papers. "Take it and go. I'm busy."
"Sure you don't want me to finish-"
"Fine!" She broke her graphite and pushed on the eraser for a new stick. "Finish putting the food away then go."
"You're welcome." He gave her a brief hug around the shoulders and turned back to the bread. When he had finished, he happily took his suit and left the house.
Susan sighed and called after him, "Thanks. Don't hurt yourself."
Ace heard her voice before closing the door behind him. He packed the suit in his motorcycle saddlebag and began riding to a place where he could change his outfit inconspicuously. He arrived at a construction lot that wasn't in use. After parking his motorcycle, he took off the plates that covered them and flipped them over. Instead of being black and green, it was now a dark blue. He put on his new outfit and stuffed his street clothes in a large PVC pipe. He took out his taser from his saddlebag and and holstered it. He got back on his motorcycle. To any eyewitnesses, a man dressed in a strange military-like outfit rode a dark blue motorcycle out of a construction yard...
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Eddie stood with a crowd of Pro-Vitality citizens leading some homeless to a Compassion Zone. A few people were volunteering to use their vehicles for transport. He knew that was risky, if the Pro-Quality people attacked the vehicle may become damaged or destroyed along with the passengers inside. The entire situation was risky; after 'The Arsonist' blew up a building the Pro-Quality people had a raised morale. That ain't going to stop us, Eddie thought, We have a duty to protect any life.
The vehicles ahead of the marching group were under attack. Molotov cocktails were thrown onto the vans, cars and trucks. Whatever poor soul riding a motorcycle was hit with glass and flame. Panic swept through the crowd. Whatever police force that was present were trying to herd people into buildings while shooting any Pro-Quality citizen with rubber bullets. Eddie heard a few call for reinforcements specialized in 'hostile citizen situations'. He and many other people swarmed to the windows, despite any authority figure telling the group to step away from them. The fight escalated when one of the police officers died in the crossfire...
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A man looked down at the carnage in the distance from a scorched window. He was dressed in a bloodstained and somewhat scorched fireman's suit. The right sleeve was torn off completely and in it's place was gauze wrapping and a wrist-mounted flamethrower over it. The left sleeve was torn where the yellow reflectors would have been. The sleeves were put over his pants, and his boots were steel-toed with the protective outer layer of a fireman's boot over it. He wore a welder's face plate.
After he'd had enough observing, he turned and jumped on the pile of rubble like a child jumping into a pile of snow. He slid down and began swiftly making his way towards the riot. He slid away from view; he wasn't ready to show himself just yet. When he arrived at the scene of the riot, pain rays mounted on trucks took aim at the buildings the Pro-Quality citizens hid in. SWAT teams began storming the buildings, making their way towards the citizens. A man in a military-like outfit riding a dark blue motorcycle took down one of the doors of a hotel some Pro-Quality people were holding closed. The man in the welder's mask tensed up. The Motorcycle Man finally came out of hiding. He had this opportunity to snuff him out. He reached inside his firefighter's outfit and pulled out a homemade grenade. After twisting the two hemispheres, he rolled it under one of the trucks. The truck blew up, and the Pro-Quality citizens that were initially under fire from it were able to aim their weapons at their assailants. The man in the welder's mask ran to another alleyway, and repeated the same process. A helicopter was overhead, searching for anyone outside of the buildings as a few officers ran down the alleys.
As a group of officers turned into the alleyway, the man took out a handgun and started firing at the approaching group. The bullets were stopped by their armor, but they fell back. Bullets were fired behind him, and they were stopped by a Kevlar jacket worn under the fireman's outfit. The man looked around for a way out, and saw one of the fire exits. He leaped up at the ladder, caught it, and climbed up.
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The Motorcycle Man rode around the inside of a glamorous hotel. Pro-Quality citizens were at the windows, a few approached him to try and subdue him. He brandished his baton taser and beat down anyone who came too close. Shots were fired, but the armor he was wearing took the punishment. The bike revved up and sped into a hallway. Navigating through the hotel, he brought down more Pro-Quality citizens and found the back doors. Crashing through them, the SWAT team was able to crowd inside.
One of the officers stopped alongside the man, "You, vigilante! The dressed up guy fighting on their side is approaching the rooftops. We'll send up a troop to help you out as soon as we get the riot settled."
He nodded and rode his bike inside, taking a different route than the SWAT team approaching the Pro-Quality rioters. He found the elevator, and fit his motorcycle inside. Nice of these rich bastards to build wide, open things like these to show off, he thought. The elevator doors closed, and when they opened he saw the golf course on the roof. Three rooftops away, he could see the man in the welder's mask and a helicopter. He began to pull his motorcycle out of the elevator.
The man in the welder's mask reached the roof and was greeted by the helicopter. He took out a tin foil wrapped ball and unwrapped the grenade covered in an adherent. He threw it, and there was a wet metallic noise as it hit the helicopter. The sound of a motorcycle revving loudly and landing on gravel was heard from an adjacent rooftop. The man in the welder's mask turned to see the Motorcycle Man hopping his motorcycle across rooftops.
The Motorcycle Man landed on the rooftop that the man in the welder's mask was standing on, and got off his bike after killing the engine. He unholstered his police baton and approached the man in the welder's mask. The man in the welder's mask took out a cigarette and a Zippo lighter. His thumb grazed the head of the lighter and the helicopter exploded. Shrapnel flew through the air, and the Motorcycle Man threw himself to the ground. The man in the welder's mask readied his flamethrower and fired it at the Motorcycle Man. He flailed around covered in flames.
Another helicopter approached the rooftop cautiously and the voice of a man on a megaphone was heard, "The arsonist is on the rooftop of the bookstore!"
Arsonist? He thought, I like the sound of that...
The Arsonist leaped down to the fire exit and smashed the window. He crawled in and the Pro-Quality citizens in the building gave a cheer as he entered it. SWAT teams attempted to lay siege to the building, but the Pro-Quality citizens held the teams back. The Arsonist gave some Pro-Quality citizens his homemade grenades and gestured with his hands how to use them. He ran with his allies and a SWAT team entered behind them. The grenades were thrown, and the SWAT team was obliterated. The Arsonist managed to escape the scene and abandoned the area...
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