Jasper showed John to one of the spare rooms, the one with queen sized bed that hopefully would hold up under the man's weight. He wished the mechanic a good nigh' and before he left the light bulb flickered, burned extremely bright then returned to normal. Ignoring the phenomena, Jasper headed back down the hall and that's when he ran into the very different looking street kid.

"Y' clean up well." he commented then in response to Fyedka's thank you, "You're very welcome, lad, but y'know thars really no need for thank you's. I told ye, I've been right where you've been before so just make yerself at home."

Jasper pushed open the door to his other spare bedroom and gestured to it with a shake of his head then he headed back into the living room. Despite all that they had been through and the late hour he walked with a skip to his step. In fact it hardly seemed like he was about to go to bed anytime soon at all.

Oscuro was hunched over his work table, the only light in the room was from his compact welder. His dark goggles reflected the blue arc light from his kit as he toiled away, a few feet away an old boom box blasted the Sex Pistols 'Anarchy in the U.K.'

Oscuro did not seem to hear his faithful henchman as he opened the large security door to the work area and came inside.

"I told you it would be ready in a few hours, why are you bothering me"" Oscuro asked.

"It's been all night O, you told me to come back in the morning.

"Alright then, let's get this started..."

Oscuro and the man with the unkempt beard loaded the metal device from the table onto a wheeled cart. They pushed the cart out in front of the unassuming building and placed it into the back of a cargo van.

"Hey Oscuro, what is that thing, it looks like a big skull?"
Oscuro was smiling beneath his face mask.
"This is like a skull, and this skull holds a one of a kind brilliant mind. This thing is a type of thinking machine, it is the only one of it's kind and we are going to test it's power."

They loaded the thing into the van, it was the size of large shop vac and was an unfinished gun metal color. It had a dome like top giving the unit a humanoid head/skull shape to the machine.

There were a few small blinking red lights on the face of the machine, and many more that were not lit.

Oscuro and his helper drove the machine across Chicago, they drove to a run down part of town, all around were grungy tenement buildings and many used auto part salvage yards. Oscuro motioned to his henchman to turn left ahead, they pulled into an alley behind one of the junkyards.

"The guy that owns this place has a lot of old junk military vehicles in the back of his lot, he has jeeps and old tanks and a few old vehicles from World War Two."

"So?"

"It's the type of materials that our machine needs."

"I don't get it..."

"Watch and learn idiot..."

Oscuro wrapped his arms around the machine and walked into the darkness of the alley, he soon vanished into the darkness and appeared on the other side of the fence inside the junk yard. He carried the machine over to a small row of old military vehicles. Oscuro set the machine down on an old husk of a tank and pushed several buttons on the machine's digital display.

The unit hummed, many lights blinked, a small hatch opened on the body of the machine, a thin, slender mechanical arm came forth from the hatch and attached to the old armor of the tank. The thick steel of the old decommissioned tank began to glow.

Oscuro watched silently as the metal grew soft, a second small mech arm came out of the unit and began to work the military steel like the first. The two small arms were moving at a blinding speed, they pulled sections of the heated and malleable steel to the bottom of the unit, in a matter of minutes it had formed something that resembled shoulder pads.

Oscuro was grinning wide as he watched his new toy do what is was made to do. It was now forming a chest section, the machine was creating an armored body for itself. An abdominal section soon followed, the small mech arms were buliding up metal around them forming huge robotic arms and legs.

A few short minutes had passed but the machine had constructed a full body of plate steel armor for itself, including solid arms and legs that were made from drive shafts and angle steel.

The machine stood up, it was more than 15 feet tall.

"Armature is online, I await further directives."

The big 'bot said flatly, it's voice nothing more than a low hum.

"New directive, we must test your range of motion. Proceed to nearby buildings and destroy them."

The 'bot walked and broke through the chain link fence and moved in the direction of the nearby apartments. The ground shook as it walked, it now weighed as much as the tank that it was made from, the concrete and asphalt cracked and broke as it walked.

Car alarms screamed in chorus as the big machine approached the first four story brick building. The robot slammed it's fist into the side of the building, bricks and glass rained onto the street as the machine struck the structure.

The noise from this event was carrying, car alarms sounded loudly, the surrounding block felt like it was in the throws of a small earthquake.

Just a few streets over was the all but abandoned apartment building of the anonymous Jasper Flash. Jasper was the first to notice the noise and the small tremors. MacManus opened his eyes from a good sleep as the noise intensified. The mechanic slid out of bed and slipped his mech limbs on and went to find Jasper. Everyone in the building would notice the ruckus.

Jasper munched down some chips then quickly returned his hands to his controller as another wave deadly goblins came at him, or rather his character. The PS3 game rumbled and roared so much so that he could have swore that the room moved. It was only when a few books vibrated off of a shelf that Jasper realized that the loud rumbling that seemed to coming from outside really was.

Moving to the window Jasper looked out carefully, just incase it was R.A.I.D. or something but he saw nothing that lead him to believe that they were being raided. It was most disconcerting, however, that the low rumbling booms seemed to come and go in unison, like foot steps.

The sounds were getting louder and so Jasper thought it would be wise to toss on some more clothes to be safe rather than sorry. On the way he bumped into John.

"I didna' see anythin' outta the front windows, I thin' maybe 'tis behind us. The apartment cross the way, should give us a view. I'll catch ye up."

Jasper went into his bedroom to put on some clothes and left the others to figure out what was causing all the noise and setting off the car alarms in the area.

Fyedka jerked awake at the sudden boom. He nearly sat up as he threw the blanket off of himself and looked wide-eyed around the room. The low rumbling that followed seemed to shake the whole tiny apartment and while he relaxed from being awoken suddenly, he still furrowed his brow in confusion. At first, he thought it might have been construction equipment, but what the hell kind of machine would shake the whole building like this? Not to mention, who would bother building or even waste the money demolishing in this area? Getting up, Fyedka peered over to see Jasper and John already trying to investigate the sound.

As he moved up beside Jasper to look out the window, it occurred to him as well that the rumbling and crashing fell into a rhythm, like something massive and metal actually walking towards them. Also seeing nothing outside, he instinctively turned towards the door, wondering what was going on on the other side of the building while Jasper went to throw some clothes on. Maybe it was 7 years of living with paranoia on the streets, but nothing about this sound sat right with Fyedka. Saying nothing, he followed Jasper out the door to see what was going on.

John was still half asleep as he went with Jasper downstairs. The sounds were clearer now that they were outside, every few seconds the block vibrated with a large 'thoom". The sound of breaking glass and falling rubble bounced around the rundown tenements.

A large cloud of dust was drifting from ground zero of the sounds and was now blowing between the buildings.

John walked quickly towards the sounds, it sounded like a demolition, like a building was being torn down. As John and the others came to the building in question they were dumbstruck by what they saw.

A large mechanical being was actively destroying one face of the old brick, 4 story structure. It was swinging it's heavy fists at the brick facade of the building and pulling loose sections of it down onto the street.

Most scary of all was that there were people in the building, families and working folks who were unable to exit the building. A great deal of rubble had piled up in front of the main entrance/exit and all the fire escapes were on the side where the robot was doing it's damage.

Small fires were breaking out near the destroyed part of the building, people were calling for help from inside the smoky, dusty open side of the structure.

Jasper did not believe his eyes at first, thinking that maybe through the dust he was mistaking the silhouettes of few demolition machines for something else but as they drew closer the image only became more defined. It was real. An enormous bipedal robot that seemed intent on demolishing the run down building for no real reason that because it was there and it could.

Twirling his cane nonchalantly the Irishman stopped at what he and John both felt to be a safe distance and studied the powerful machine in an attempt to understand what it's motives were. Was it some new kind of demolition device? Jasper wondered. Most of his life he'd lived in slums and always the big question of the upper crust was, 'how are we going to clean them up?' The titanic wrecking machine before them seemed to be an answer but it was doing more than evicting the rats, it was killing them and was something that Jasper just couldn't abide.

"I dun suppose that thing has an 'off' switch?" Joked Jasper.

The irishman continued to twirl his cane an action one might perceive as a nervous habit but as he watched the powerful machine tear apart the building it became evident that it served a purpose. As the aluminum can spun round his fingers electrical sparks began whip into the air and those around Jasper could feel static building on their skin. Above them a street light flickered and went dead and in the shadows a pale light could be seen radiating from Joy Buzzer's eyes.

"We need ta draw 't from the people, 'Mac'." Jasper said to John as he took a few steps closer.

He was focused on the transformers on a power pole only thirty meters away from the robot and as he drew a little closer could feel their energy start to surge through him.

"Stay away frum me." Warned Jasper without looking back as his hair began float from the static electricity about him.

A charge was building around electrical mutant and as it approached critical mass some of the hispanic gang members from his apartment block charged the robot. They began to unload rounds from semi-automic handguns and automatic rifles at it, some even threw bricks as they shouted spanish obscenities.

The transformers exploded sending a shower of sparks to the ground and causing the top of the wooden pole to burst into flames as a massive bolt of electricity arced to Jasper's cane. Street lights all around burnt out as he tensed. Bright tendrils of energy licked from his body, lifting him off of the ground then he unleashed a massive bolt that was drawn by conductive body of the robot. 'KABOOM' A powerful burst that Jasper could only hope would disrupt some of the machines internal mechanisms but he had no way of knowing just how insulated the thing was.

The machine was pulling large sections of bricks down, the top 2 floors of the building were exposed now, Jasper, John and Fyedka could see the outlines of trapped people behind the wall of dust. Somewhere inside the building a baby was crying.

Jasper, using his cane was drawing power from a nearby transformer and directing the raw volts straight at the machine. The white hot bolt struck the 'bot, the tall mechanoid shuddered, it's bright red lights in it's face and head blinked and went out. The machine stood still frozen in a menacing attack pose, bricks spilled from it's open hands. Small hums and clicks could be heard emanating from the 'bot as it stopped moving.

Though the machine was no longer moving it continued to hum and click as if it was idling down.



"We gotta help these people..." John huffed as he sprang into the air using his mech leg to get altitude. The mechanic 'flew' at the opening of the damaged building. The big man just missed landing on his feet on the 3rd floor, John pulled himself over the crumbling lip of the floor and into the opening.

Now he was standing firm in the hallway of the building, the mechanic listened for anyone trapped on this floor.

"I'm here to get you out...yell if you can here me and I'll find you!?" John shouted.

John could here some coughing just down the dust choked hall, it sounded like more than one person.

"Hold on, I'm coming for ya." He shouted as he came to the first apartment door.

After his transfer of the electricity Jasper was temporarily weakened. He watched the big meta as he leaped three stories into the air and gasped a little as he missed his landing. Thankfully John was able to pull himself over the edge of the crumbling floor and into the building.

As John disappeared from sight, Jasper was already beginning to feel like himself and approached the cheering hispanic gangsters who continued to the shoot at the immobilized robot. He didn't think of telling them to stop, it was probably the first time they'd ever pulled together to help the community, even though he felt that their bullets had little effect on the machine's heavy armaments.

The front doors of the apartment block had been blocked with rubble and if there was another way in it was probably locked tight. He couldn't leap as high as John but Jasper could make it to the second floor, so with a running leap he caught the mangled railing of a second story balcony and climbed it like a ladder into the building. Stepping in he had to quickly avert his face from a waft of hot smoke.

Fire had broken out in the building. the second floor was already engulfed in flames, cutting off any chance of escape from the third. Jasper made it as far as the hallway, calling out for any survivors but there was no response and the fire was so hot he couldn't see anyone being alive if there were still in there. Stepping back to the balcony, Jasper leapt up to another on the third floor and pulled himself onto to it. In the rubble he could see a group of people huddled near the open air, billowing black smoke was pouring from beyond where the door of the apartment used to be.

Jasper was now out of his depth. He wasn't sure how to get the people down and needed some leadership. Where was John? He had now been in the building for a while, how long could the big man hold out in all that smoke?

John had gone into one the apartments where he was sure he heard survivors, huddled in a back bedroom he found a young Hispanic woman holding a toddler and a teenage boy.

John scooped up the woman and the baby, the woman was practically frozen with fear. The teenage boy got to his feet when John came into the room.

"Come with me, I'm gonna get you out of here." John barked as he moved back out of the smoke filled apartment.

"Are you a fireman or somethin'?" The teenager asked looking at John's leg and arm.

"Yeah kid, somethin' like that...let's go." The mechanic mumbled.

When John came back to the hallway fire was blocking the way he had come, John went back into the apartment and into the front room. John kicked at the living room wall with his big leg and opened a hole back into the hallway closer to the open side of the building and further down the hallway away from the spreading flames.

"Go, quickly!" He ordered the teenage boy. The young man did not waste any time, he ducked through the hole in the wall and moved down the hall to the open side.

As John came back out to where he had entered the building he saw Jasper with a group of survivors.

"Jasper, I gotta get her and the baby outta here, stay with these people for a minute, I'll jump down with her and come back for the others."

John then leaped from the crumbling lip of the third floor and down to the street below. He ran a few yards from the damaged building and set the woman and child down, some of the men that were firing at the machine stopped and came to see if the woman was okay. They seemed to know her, John nodded to the young men and hustled back to the building.

Fyedka looked helplessly up at the crumbling building, listening to the screams for help above him. While John and Jasper had already displayed super-human abilities, Fyedka was less eager to show off his. Still, there was no way he was going to get up there with the entrances blocked off. Scurrying up to Jasper, Fyedka leaned in close, keeping their conversation private from the others.

"You can jump up there," he said, "I can't. Go get more people out. I'll stay here with them."

Jasper watched John descend three floors to the ground cradling the woman and her child in his massive arms and cushioning the shock of the landing with a deep knee bend. He looked over at the desperate people and though he himself could land a three story fall, there was no way he could make it with a passenger.

There was a loud groan and Jasper fearfully expected the giant robot to come to life but then he quickly realized that the sound emanated from the building. There was another groan, and he felt the entire floor shift beneath his feet. He knew then that the main supports were giving way. The combination of the fire and destruction caused by the robot had compromised the entire structure and the building was starting to collapse in on itself.

Jasper dangled over the rapidly disintegrating edge and shouted, "She's comin' down!"

He then turned back to the people. There were five of them, two full sized men and three women ranging from their teens to middle years.

"No pánico." Jasper told them, but his words were hardly comforting. He didn't blame them he didn't trust himself either.

Looking over the edge once more he considered trying to get them to jump, but as the floor began to shudder he knew there wasn't any time. John had just laid down the mother and her child and was on his way back but the third floor could go at any moment, and the big man couldn't take them all. Suddenly there was a loud explosion. The windows of the second floor blew out, showering everyone below with a hail of glass as flames burst through them.

Jasper fought to keep his footing as the floor shifted beneath his feet. The entire level was caving in and as it began to sink in the middle the people tumbled back against the wall. The floor was now at forty five degree angle depressing into the building and Jasper stood on the edge looking down at the trapped tenants as they fought to scramble up the incline.

The electrical mutant didn't know what else he could do. He looked back over the edge and considered saving himself but he couldn't ignore the screams of the people, then he saw it! A long piece of conduit had become exposed in the floor. Wasting little time, Jasper slid down and generating a powerful charge in his cane struck it and sheered off a long piece. He pushed down to them, but the people had no idea what he had in mind.

"Grab it!" he screamed, "Grab it, if you want to live!"

Those among the group that understand English did as he said and the others followed suit, then still holding one end, Jasper magnetized it. He focused his power into the long steel pole and used it like a crane to lift the people up to the edge. He climbed along with it holding the pole horizontal to himself and towing the people but when he got close to the crumbling edge they began to panic. They did not trust that he would be able to manipulate the steel pole and lower them to safety and he himself began to doubt that a few of the women and maybe one of the men would not be able to hold on.

John was making his way back to the building when it began to come apart. The large machine had peeled away a whole side of the structure and the fires were undermining the last of the building's strength.

John ran quickly to the robot, it stood like a statue it's arms outstretched. John jumped up to one of it's hands, he was now just below Jasper and the group of people. John could see that the Irishman was already literally swinging into action to save the people trapped in the building.

"I got yer back JB." The mechanic shouted as Jasper and the cluster of people swung out over the edge of the slanted floor. Those that were nearest to Jasper were holding on well, one or two others further down the piece of conduit were less optimistic about the plan and let their grip slip from raw fear.

A young man in his 20's slipped from the conduit and began to fall, he was close to John as he fell, the mechanic reached out and grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him onto the robot's hand next to him. A young woman fell just out of reach, she fell too quickly for John to nab her and she vanished into the billowing smoke below.

The only one who had a shot at helping her was the young meta below.

"Fyedka grab her!" John yelled as she fell.

Jasper had to focus, any deviation in his power output would disrupt the magnetic field and cause the long piece of conduit to vibrate, potentially shaking the people off. There was a burst of flames from the area where the people had been huddled and pieced of concrete flew into the air. Joy Buzzer did not look, nor attempt to dodge any the small pellets that rained down on him, one larger rock glancing off his head, his hat offering just enough protection to prevent it from breaking the skin.

He was hovering in the air now, the great body of the robot providing the opposite pole for Jasper's field, and the mechanized hero could feel a slight tug on his metal body part as he balanced on its great hand. He was able to keep the descent smooth, but fear caused two of the evacuees to lose their grip from what was otherwise a stationary bar and there was nothing he could do about it.

Jasper watched helplessly as the two people fell, but John snatched the man out of the air like a baseball, unfortunately the girl continued to plummet in an uncontrolled tumble. Her screams burned into the pit of his stomach and Jasper closed his eyes and concentrated on maintaining a slow and level descent for the others. He forced himself to ignore the fate of the girl else it break his concentration and put the others in jeopardy.

Never before had Joy Buzzer used his abilities in such a fashion. He had always used his abilities to defend himself, carry his own body or haphazardly move objects about. Never before had the lives of innocent people been reliant upon his magnetism. John's heroics were obviously rubbing off on him.

Fyedka had scurried back several yards from the building when it began to fall, positioning himself in front of those who had been rescued. He had been watching the whole time and his eyes went wide when he saw the two people drop off of Jasper's pole. Without thinking, he thrust out his hands and just as John yelled to him to grab the girl out of the air, the shadow cast by the tilted building suddenly concentrated into one large, black pool of darkness. It then mushroomed upward, stretching out like so many long-fingered hands. The girl landed on what would feel like solidified . . . nothing. She felt herself land on something, unharmed, something that gave just slightly to cushion the impact. Gasping in, she looked around at the pitch blackness that surrounded her and seemed to be lowering her gently to the ground before tipping her out onto her feet.

Mingled feelings of relief and fear rose up within Fyedka. There had been no other way to save the innocent girl's life, but he'd been pretty much exposed as a meta with his hands outstretched towards the oddly-behaving shadows. Sighing and averting his eyes from the baffled humans around him, he figured he'd just finish the job and guided the shadows up towards Jasper where they settled beneath the people, providing a kind of platform that lowered them safely to the ground.

Joy Buzzer watched as the people were carried safely to the ground upon what he could only describe as corporeal-shadow. No longer required, he discarded the magnetized piece of conduit tossing back into the burning building, the cast John a troubled look upon witnessing the power of Fydeka.

It became very apparent to Jasper that this mutant had saw fit to conceal his abilities even when they could have made a difference in peoples lives and even Joy Buzzer found this disconcerting. Could this young man truly be trusted? He had already passed his judgement based on this 'shadow-master's' actions but Jasper would follow the lead of their unofficial leader in this matter. Macmanus had proven himself to be the caller o' the shots as far he was concerned and so he'd keep his pie-hole shut.

Joy Buzzer slowly lowered himself to the ground via his magnetic field. Soft wisps of electrical energy licked out from an invisible aura around him that vanished when he set foot on the grass a safe distance away from the burning building and deceptive shadow mutant.