John was pleased to see Fyedka save the woman, but surprised to see the raw power in the young meta. It would seem that Fyedka's quiet personality hid a great and secret other aspect. John thought that Fyedka could be one of the most powerful meta's he'd ever seen, and if RAID got wind of him that they would surely make a big play to get their hands on him.

But RAID wasn't here now, there was just the robot, the burning building and some people that needed help. John watched in awe as Fyedka lowered the remaining trapped people down. At the ground level John and the others could hear some people near the main entrance to the building, they were just inside the the blocked doorways, rubble from the building had barred the doors from opening.

John moved to the doors and using his mech hand he pulled at the doors, they twisted and eventually pulled free from the door frame. Another 7 or 8 people rushed from the smoky hallway and into the fresher air, they were coughing and a little worse for wear but they were alive. A few of the survivors were thanking John as they loitered in front of the building. Others were expressing their gratitude at Jasper and Fyedka, they were aware that metas were outlaws but they were just happy to be alive.

"Is anyone else still inside?' John asked the people, they said that there was no one else still trapped. John was relieved to hear this as the building continued to burn, flames were licking at every floor now. In the distance a siren wailed as the Chicago Fire Department made their way to the building.

Unseen by everyone at the scene small red lights began to flicker on the face of the robot, first a single one indicating that the machine's CPU was rebooting, then a series of them lit up as it's systems were coming back online. Finally it's eyes lit up again as motors whirred and hydraulic systems pressured up.

The steel giant turned it's head to John, Jasper, Fyedka and the spread out group of residents. The fingers in it's hands flexed as it came back to life, it was quickly gaining it's full range of motion.

Some of the rescued people noticed it moving and began to point and shout as it turned away from the building and moved at the three metas.

Fyedka saw the look Jasper gave John and looked away from him. He knew what he'd looked like, but survival was survival and he didn't make this far this long by being rash. Still, the decision wasn't easy and when the people started pointing towards the stirring robot, a pained look fell over his pale face. Taking a deep breath and looking at no one, Fyedka mentally shrugged and raised his hands to about hip level, extending them out just slightly.

Again the shadows formed a kind of blob, pooling together and morphing like some amorphous living creature. As it crawled toward the machine like a kind of amoeba, it began to stretch and pull apart until those watching would find a crowd of strange creatures moving quickly towards it. Though they moved in a pack as one, they were also like separate entities. The ghostly creatures were scarcely more than rounded sort of columns that faded into the shadow itself before any feet could form. Two long, thin arms with spindly fingers sprouted from the sides and reached up towards the machine, tiny, glowing red eyes flashing.

Tiny beads of sweat began to form on Fyedka's brow as he pushed the golems to climb the robot, wrapping their tendril-like arms around it as they stretched up from the ground. Soon, the golems were tightly wound around the robots arms and legs, the unnatural twisting in their bodies making them look even more like some strange living substance between liquid and solid. They seemed to fuse together at parts so that they stretched tightly around the robot and anchored themselves to the ground. He knew it was unlikely they could hold the robot, but he hoped it would stall it or slow it long enough for John or Jasper to make a killing blow.

Jasper arranged his hat to sit a little more firmly and cast his cool eyes upon John as the enormous robot came to life once more. "Well, Mac it appears as if ol' 'demolisher' had rebooted and we be the new target", the electrical mutant surmised.

Joy Buzzer looked up at the titan, twirling his cane about. He appeared quite calm, until the thing took a single step towards them, it's immense weight shaking the ground and splitting the concrete of the sidewalk before the burning apartment block. Silhouetted by the bright light of the flames behind it the robot loomed above them like some devil emerging from the fires of hell. As its demon red eyes bore into them Jasper paled and took a few steps back.

There were no more ready sources of power for Joy Buzzer to draw from. While he could always generate a charge out the normal amount of static in the air it would take some time for him to generate another bolt that could effect the machine.

"So, John you've a plan right? Guy's like you always have a plan." Said Jasper, smiling weakly as he continued to back up, doing his best not to just turn and run away with the rest of the civilians. Then, Fyedka, seemed to conjure an army of shadowy monsters to combat the robot, scurrying upon the machine like black spiders, enshrouding it with darkness.

Joy Buzzer halted his retreat and knew then that he had little choice. It was fight or flight, and while he often selected the latter, he found himself bound by a code that he had just about believed was lost to him.

"God hates a coward." Jasper muttered to himself and began to move his cane about him rapidly, to assist in generating enough electricity to produce another bolt. White lightning flashed around Joy Buzzer and he concentrated a blast at the robot's knee. He didn't have enough juice to to seriously damage the machine, but he could attempt to fuse it's knee joint.

Jasper averted his eyes as a blinding bright flash of lightning exploded from his cane and arced to the robot's knee. It had enough power to melt steel, but whether or not it would actually fuse the joint remained to be seen.

THOOM...THOOM...

THOOM...THOOM..

The tall machine now had it's back to the burning building and was moving towards Fyedka, John and JB. The ground shook as it took each step moving slowly but deliberately. The people that the three heroes had rescued began to scatter in all directions, the 'Bot did not seem interested in them it seemed focused on the three heroes.

It's red eyes glowed brightly on it's dusty, dull face as it walked. Fyedka was the first to act, he used the stretched shadows of the burning building and the large 'Bot, from the inky voids he summoned a group of red eyed phantoms. The spooky forms moved quickly at the 'Bot, they swirled around it and climbed up it's arms and legs like ghostly snakes. When the forms were spread across the machine's body they began to constrict and tighten about the machine working to hold it fast.

The machine stopped moving forward and began to move it's arms attempting to force the shadows from it's upper body. The shadows held for now pushing Fyedka's concentration to the test.

The machine was rocking side to side, each time it shifted it's weight from foot to foot it was less able to move. Soon it was struggling to move at all as Fyedka's ghosts pulled forcefully at it's arms, legs and torso.

Jasper was spinning his cane as he tapped his powers, throwing a white hot bolt at the machine's knee joint. Fyedka's creatures were holding the thing still for the time being so that JB's hot shot had the maximum effect. The joint glowed orange for a quick second as it fused solid. A jarring sound was emanating from the effected leg as motors seized up and shut down. A puff of gray smoke was drifting from the knee as the cacophonous sound wound down.

The machine was taking some lumps but it was far from done. An audible short 'clank' could be heard near the machine's arms. Both of the 'Bot's large hands disengaged from the heavy arms and dropped to the ground, they landed like two large spiders and ran at the heroes with a surprising speed.

John was moving at the machine as Fyedka and JB cut loose with their powerful attacks, with each step the mechanic's large mech leg was storing up energy, it's simple but effective hydraulic motors charged up as John walked or ran. John smacked his fist into the open palm of his mech hand, the hand hummed as it prepared for battle. A subtle red glow could be seen in the small spaces at the wrist and knuckle joints of John's chunky metal hand, a sure sign it was ready to rumble.

On John's mark his mech leg released it's charge and the big man took to the air. John flew at the machine like a berserker, his hands were above his head balled into tight fists. John collided into the machine just above the damaged knee, John clambered a few feet down the armored panels of it's leg and was holding on right at it's knee now. John held his mech leg up for an epic stomp, a loud 'chung' could be heard as a large metal spike deployed from the flat bottom of John's mech leg. The mechanic drove his foot down aiming for the modest space between the armor plating around the fused knee joint. The spike pushed between the plating and made contact with the sensitive machinery inside. Blue flashes and sparks spat from the contact point as John was still putting his weight behind the stomp. Though John's leg was a mix of metals a properly insulated bootie kept him safe from most contact with electricity.

John twisted his foot as he kept the pressure on, small particles were coming loose from the knee now, it looked as if it might separate. As John hung on tight he witnessed the hands separate and run at Fyedka and JB. The mechanic pulled on his mech leg, it was still wedged pretty good between the armored panels.

When the robot's hands fell to the ground and began crawling toward he and Fyedka like giant mechanized spiders, Joy Buzzer didn't waste any time. He sprinted in the opposite direction of the other meta to separate the right from the left and give the 'shadow-master' more time in the case that he didn't make it.

Jasper leapt to the top of a car. From there he propelled himself into the air raising his slightly glowing hand into the air above him. It appeared as if he caught hold of some invisible rope, when in reality he generated a magnetic field which he used to latch on to the street light above him and literally swung himself into the air. He flew high above the next street light and once more used his magnetism to levitate in the air while balancing on the field he generated using the street light below him.

Joy Buzzer needed some time to recharge. He had enough juice to support his own body weight, but he'd need a lot more power to deal with the large metal hand drumming it's heavy metal fingers on the street below as it pursued him.

Fyedka's eyes went wide when he saw the hands crawling towards him. Without thinking, he merged a good half of the golems around the monster, freeing one side of the robot. He used these shadows to form a long whip which he snapped out at the hands with a flick of his hand. The shadow-whip snapped against the closest one, flicking it away several yards behind the robot. He was extremely grateful for Jasper's maneuver, intentional or not, as the other hand was still rushing towards him.

Just as he flicked the first one away, the other hand was almost upon Fyedka and he jumped back, flicking the whip at the other. He was already getting fatigued though and with the added surprise at the hand's motion, his movement was sloppy and the shadows missed their target, snapping at the ground before he lost his concentration over them and they fell lifeless against the pavement back in their natural positions. Fyedka barely kept his hold on the other shadows wrapped around the robot's other half as he shot his arm up in front of his face and batted the hand away from him. As soon as it clanged against the pavement, he stomped his foot down on it just as it poised to leap at him again like some freak, predatorial spider. He slammed his foot against it twice more until he heard a satisfying enough crunch and saw a few pieces fall off, then again just for good measure.

Sweat was beading over his reddened face and his heart pounded as he looked with shocked disgust down at the hand before he turned back to the robot. He tried to get some of the other shadows to wrap back around its other side but by then he was feeling the strain and though me managed to get some of the golem back, the hold was hardly safe enough for his conscious. Silently, he hoped John and Jasper still had tricks up their sleeves.

John gave his mech leg one more good twist, the steel spike in the bottom of it had worked it's way through most of the robot's knee. Jasper's focused attack at the joint had altered the temper of the thick steel plating making in vulnerable to John's controlled demolition. John pushed once more for good measure and the joint finally failed, the heavy leg of the robot broke apart at the knee and fell away like a fresh cut tree.

The lower half of the leg crashed to the asphalt, some smaller pieces spilled out of the top of the broken limb as it clanged to the ground. The robot began to heave forward, it was too heavy to stand on a single leg, it wobbled face first and began to fall like a knocked out prize fighter.

John did not have time to clear the 'bot before it fell, instead he shuffled around to the machine's back and rode it to the ground like a beefy cowboy.

As the machine fell it's head popped loose and rolled a few yards from the body, it's lights were still blinking and it's eyes still stared out blankly as the head rolled near a fire hydrant and came to a stop.

John was slammed into the back of the machine as it fell, his head was ringing as he got back on his feet, he could see JB and Fyedka squaring off with the large metal 'spiders'. The hands crawled around the metas, at times lunging at them like wild animals. Their large fingers pounded the asphalt as the things moved leaving softball sized pits in the street.

Fyedka was spreading his powers out somewhat as he fought to retain some control over the robot as it fell, seconds later one of the hands was upon him, the thin, dark haired meta was fighting the thing with his bare hands, smashing and batting it away and eventually getting the upper hand and attempting to crush it underfoot.

The hand was damaged and twitched and jerked under the crushing boots of Fyedka, unable to rise again for another attack. Blue sparks and a little smoke popped and belched from it's armored hide as it struggled to get to it's 'feet' again.

Jasper floated in the air like a circus performer as the other spider jumped at him, it was too heavy to get to the Irishman and a few seconds in it seemed to freeze up and stop moving, the one that Fyedka had been dealing with soon stopped moving and fell silent. All this took place at the time the machine's head was separated from the body. All of the machine was still and quiet , the fire engines were arriving now, the firefighters began to set up to put the flames of the burning building out. A single police car was pulling up near the building. There was a great deal of smoke and dust all around, the arriving authorities had not yet seen John, JB and the young Russian.

As the iron titan toppled, Jasper had been readying another bolt, his cane glowing brightly while he hovered atop the street light. Shortly after that as the robots red eyes faded to black its minion died with it and so the electrical mutant drew back his energy and released some into the metal lamp post. For a moment that light that was burned out like all the others in the area, glowed exceptionally bright, illuminating the area with cool white light before it popped and burnt out.

Tumbling down the street light pole in gravity defying fall, Joy Buzzer adhered to the post magnetically, literally scaling down 'Jacob's ladder'. He landed lightly on the ground, bounded over the still 'hand' cautiously and jogged over to John's side and studied the wreck of a robot lying before them.

"Bugger me! Just look at that thing, eh?." Jasper commented, "Look's like some junk yard came to life. What d'ya make of it, Mac?"

Joy Buzzer poked the thing a few times with his cane as if testing to see if it would once more spring to life but he was actually looking for a serial number or anything else that give a clue of the robot's origins. He started towards the head, and that's when he saw the first police car arriving on the scene. The red and blue flickering lights slowly approached up the darkened street and before they were noticed JB sprinted into the shadows.

"Com'on." he called in a low voice, "Let's get our arses back to me apartment. We'll take what we need and get the car."

Jasper wasn't sure what the others planned to do, but he wanted to pick up a few things before he abandoned his home. Whether or not the car was still safe to use wasn't known to him, the transportation was John's department.

Oscuro watched the Irishman climb back down the lamppost, the surrounding area was full of subtle magnetic energy and electric static. The villain in the black mask and goggles could feel Jasper's power, it lingered in the air for a few short seconds after the dapper hero's feet touched the street once more.

Oscuro watched from a nearby alley, he was hidden in the darkness there, not like you or I could hide but truly hidden. Oscuro had the ability to 'blend' into shadow, shade and darkness, he was virtually undetectable while 'hidden' could not be physically harmed. In addition to this talent Oscuro could also 'teleport' through a single continuous field of shade, shadow or darkness, moving from one end of the field to the other in an instant. While hidden or traveling through shadow Oscuro was like a ghost, unseen unheard, and almost completely immune to physical harm.

Oscuro was now studying young Fyedka, like Jasper Oscuro was not familiar with him, he was curious about all these new meta faces coming out of the woodwork. Who were these men? Why would they risk exposing themselves to save a few poor people living on the wrong side of town? As far as Oscuro was concerned the time of 'heroes' had passed, a person with powers would be foolish to reveal themselves in this era of satellite technology, street cameras and Google street view. Oscuro watched in silence as John came into view through the smoke.

Oscuro knew of John, he recognized the big man and his specialty limbs. Oscuro knew from the newspapers that John had bullt the mechanical limbs himself, Oscuro liked this. Watching John walk to his friends, the black masked villain wondered how the mech hand and leg worked.

Cops and firefighters were arriving now, it was time for Oscuro to take his leave...but not without his project.

Anyone that was looking at the area where the robot's head had rolled to a stop would see that it seemed to vanish into the shadows. It simply was there one second and then gone from sight as Oscuro traveled through the dark side of the street in silence and picked it up and then was gone.

The villain was pleased with his 'test run' and had plenty of data now on how to upgrade and improve the robot's systems and performance. The masked man was smiling beneath his mask as he traveled through darkness carrying his prize. A few streets over Oscuro was met by his long haired henchman.

"How'd we do?" The bearded man asked.

"We won first prize at the fair..." Oscuro replied.

Oscuro's henchman lead the way to the car and the two men drove away past some arriving police.

"I'm pretty sure I saw John MacManus at the scene." Oscuro said to his aid.

"I thought he was locked away..." The man said.

"Things change..." Oscuro said dryly.

Dollonovich was stuffing an egg Mcmuffin in his mouth as his phone vibrated at his belt, 'buzzzz', 'buzzzz' it shook at his hip like an angry beehive.

"This is Markus."

"Markus, we've got a lead on your 'Russia' list, some people took some cellphone photos of some metas fighting with a giant robot on the south side this evening. There were three of them, John MacManus for sure, an unknown younger man with an Irish accent and last but not least Fyedka Romanov. We are not 100% on the other two yet but MacManus is for sure, we are running the photos through as we speak, our guys will have the identities of the others at any time. Early Intel is that the third guy is most likely Romanov, this guy was on your hot list wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he's on the short list, Russian Intelligence has made some deal with our government to swap metas, we give them some of theirs and they ship a couple of our bad apples back stateside. Thing is that some of the ones they want aren't locked up, there are just walking around."

"That's messed up."

"Yeah, like the U.S. government has the time and money to hunt down a handful of alleged Russian metas, most of which have committed no serious crimes."

"I think it's just busy work...anyway I'm supposed to turn any intel over to Kurtz, he's the man in charge of this debacle. I heard he is using a meta criminal to help him find these poor suckers. She is helping to hunt them down in exchange for some overlooking of her past crimes and a chance to stay here in the U.S. She thinks that they will let her go if she helps us, what a sap."

"What world is she living in? Who is this meta anyway?"

"It's Valyeev, Kristina Valyeev."

"Really? That's some serious shit, she is a very dangerous woman..she's a killer. I can't believe we are dealing with her."

"We'll use her and toss her back into a deep, dark hole."

"Man, I hope so!"

Thanks for the heads up, send the photos back to the office with anything else you have and I'll get them to Kurtz."

"Will do Markus."

Markus slipped his phone back to it's small holster and finished his cold breakfast sandwich. It was becoming a strange world when the F.B.I. and RAID would use convicted meta criminals to hunt wanted ones. The agent made haste back to his office to look over the cellphone photos and read the report. The sooner he helped Kurtz gather up these Russian illegals the better, Dollonovich was not happy to be helping in the hunting of his own people.

As the three meta's made their way through the shadows, Jasper was kicking himself for not grabbing that robot's head but there was no going back, not unless he wanted to tangle with the cops. As they moved behind a tall wooden fence toward his apartment block the Irishman whispered to John, "Hey, Mac. Did ya get a good look of that robot's parts? It looked no different than a patchwork quilt and most'a the pieces seemed to be military. Have ya any idea where the closest scrap yard be? Perhaps a military salvage yard?"

Jasper figured that thing hadn't come very far before it decided to use the apartment block as a punching bag. They could also easily trace it's heavy steps back to its origins but he figured the cops would probably do the same and they didn't need to be crossing their paths.

"If'n ya need you're both welcome to come up. I'm jus' gonna grab a few essentials. No tellin' the next time we may hit a store, eh?" Joy Buzzer informed his companions.

JB was right, the machine seemed to be constructed of basic military grade armor and steel, in fact it's body seemed hastily constructed and unfinished. It's head was another story, it did not seem to go along with it's rather industrial look. The head was the key, those gleaming red eyes, they almost seemed intelligent.

John went with JB and Fyedka back to the Irishman's apartment, the cops would be looking for witnesses and clues and it was best that they get off the street for now. John thought about the news story, the one about the department of defense items that were stolen in a break in just a day before. Somebody had them a new toy and had chosen this working class neighborhood to test run it.

"Let's gather up our gear and get the hell outta here." John said seconding Jasper's plan.

Kristina walked several paces behind the agents, they were spread out all around the dilapidated warehouse. They were taking pictures, writing notes and gathering evidence. Kristina could almost sense the fading meta presence here, she could almost taste it. Kristina's subtle power extended from her and drifted around the room, some of the F.B.I. and plainclothes RAID agents began to feel slightly nauseous.

The agent that was assigned as her 'handler' approached her.
"They were here Kristina, three of them, it seems they had a small fire and warmed up some food. They did not stay long..and we're fairly certain that they have a car." The agent watched the woman with the blood red dyed hair for a response. She pulled her power from the room around her, releasing the unknowing agents from her influence.

"Take me to where the robot was seen..." She replied and she and her 'handler' got into a car and drove to the run down neighborhood where the machine had damaged the tenement building.

Disorderly as the apartment was one item was meticulously organized and that was Joy Buzzer's travel pack which he always had on hand just in case... well this case being big freaking robot terrorizing his neighborhood. Snatching up the leather backpack, he was in and out of his apartment in a matter of moments. All that he had with any sentimental value was in his arms and the Irishman didn't give anything else in the apartment a second look; it could all be replaced.

"Take what ya be needin' gent's. It's all up for grabs now." Said Jasper as they hastily departed but before he left, the Irishman popped off the light switch cover off using a screwdriver on his key chain. Inside was a small circuit board that the mechanic would admire.

"This bloke owed me a few bucks." Jasper explained as he entered a code on a tiny pad with his screwdriver, "Turns out he was broke, but the guy was a bit of a genius, so I had 'em work of the debt by installing this."

As he closed up the light switch cover and they made their way down to the garage, Jasper explained the last time he had to vacate his home knowledge of who was pursuing would have been invaluable. Basically hidden all over the apartment were a series of cameras and bugs that would record and relay information to a secure location on the web that he could access. Then by punching a code into his iPhone he could activate a self-destruct sequence that would pretty much disintegrate all of the devices preventing any chance of a specialist using the hardware to trace him.

"The guy said that the signal bounced around so many servers that it was virtually impossible for anyone to track it." Jasper finished as they entered the garage and headed for John's stolen Caddy.

In the passenger seat, Jasper was already surfing the net and checking out the local junk yards. "Well, John,"he said, "seems there's a junk yard that features World War II wrecks only a few blocks away, it's called 'Sergeant's Scrap Yard'." He held the iPhone in front of the steering wheel so that John could see the address.

"We'd better move. I don't think it'll take too long for the coppers to put two and two together after they take a look at the heap o' junk we left behind."