Ever since the first Alpha humans appeared, those rare few lucky or unlucky enough to acquire access to super human abilities have always been left with three choices. The first would be to keep their “gift” hidden. The second choice would be for them to use their gift for good and conversely the remaining choice was to use their gift for criminal intent. In the case of the latter choices two “sides” appeared, those that protected the people and those that would harm the people. This same balance was maintained even when others “special” humans appeared such as the genetically altered hybrids, the technology enhanced humans, the cyborgs and a whole host of others. At first the “powered” criminals only needed to worry about their “good” counterparts so battles were often fought very publicly since law enforcement and even the military could do very little but eventually technology caught up and the balance of power shifted. The clashes that then took place between heroes and villains moved to the shadows which meant only very rarely did they occur in full view of the public. Criminals, powered or otherwise liked to keep their freedom and that meant not attracting the law. Only the odd few powered criminals would brave giving public displays and these were limited to the extremely powerful or the extremely insane. For that reason New Tokyo’s police chief was surprised to be called from a meeting during morning rush hour when reports came in that one half of the duo known as “Cyberus” had taken up residence in one of the city’s busy streets. “Powerslide” and his partner “Sledgehammer” were well known to many law enforcement agencies and were easily identified because they each wielded a massive sword that was nearly the height of a man. Ordinarily such a weapon would be impossible to use but the pair wore suits of powered armour which gave them increased mass as well as added strength and agility. The suits also provided good protection against small arms, so the officers that had arrived at the scene first decided to use caution and give Powerslide a wide berth. Since he was not “doing” anything they chose to cordon off the area and tried not aggravating the criminal whilst they cleared out civilians. With the area secure the officers were at a loss as to what to do next. The general consensus of opinion was that they stood zero chance of capturing and arresting him and that provoking him would probably result in massive collateral damage. Secondly none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of the sword either. Since the only “official” authorities able to contain the threat posed by Powerslide were outside of police control there was only one thing that could be done and that was contact the chief, so he could make the necessary calls through official channels. The first thing the chief did after being pulled from his meeting was to talk to a senior officer on the scene. Over the radio he learned that Powerslide was simply standing in one spot, in the middle of one of the main streets and all the armoured maniac seemed to be doing was calling for his partner. Though officer commented that the felon seemed to be unusually calm, but was convinced that he was getting more agitated as time went by and feared he might start lashing out if Sledgehammer did not appear soon. Now aware of what was happening the chief quickly barked out orders to his subordinates in the office. Their first task was to locate Sledgehammer. Law enforcement agencies both local and foreign were contacted. The chief hoped that one of them might be holding her or knew her whereabouts, but all the calls went nowhere. However, there was an interesting lead from a European Criminal Task Force. The commander of the team informed the New Tokyo police that they had encountered the pair recently when they attempted to steal tech from a research facility outside Europa. Of particular note was the fact that Sledgehammer made several tactical errors and that had allowed their strike team to nearly capture them. The commanding officer mentioned that had it not been for the armour allowing them to fight their way clear they would have been in custody. The most bizarre thing that happened in the incident from her point of view had been the fact that in the middle of their escape Powerslide had chosen chastise Sledgehammer for going “off book”. Since that event the Task Force Commander had never seen or heard of either putting in an appearance until now, so she was sorry she could not have been of more help. Though the leads had all gone to dead ends the chief could not help but wonder if Sledgehammer’s actions during the failed robbery was the source of Powerslide’s irritation. With no legal authority holding her in custody or admitting to holding her in custody, the chief surmised that either somebody was holding her against her will or she had decided to end their partnership, or she had simply not chosen to answer her partner’s calls. Whatever her reason for the “no show” the chief did not like the prospect of Powerslide getting angry and going on a rampage in the middle of his city. As there was now a good chance the situation would quickly escalate the chief decided that Powerslide had to be dealt with sooner or later and that task would be a lot easier without his partner around. There was no way his officers could take down the criminal so that meant using outside assistance. The military was one possibility, but the chief figured in a city filled with millions of people, turning it into a warzone was not a good idea. In his experience, soldiers with guns always seemed to make a bad situation worse. That meant his only option was to make a call to CLEA for assistance. In his opinion they were the only known international agency with the equipment and expertise to deal with the unique threat posed by powered criminals. Australasia’s CLEA chief got back quickly and explained that they did not have any ‘special’ assets in the area but was sending everything he could mobilise. Furthermore, the CLEA chief suggested perhaps if things went south then he should consider asking the ‘hero’ community for help, the so called “Code White.” The idea had initially been proposed by CLEA to police chiefs in major metropolitan centres around the world as a means of putting assets in place during times of crisis rather than relying on heroes to turn up at random. However, the police chief was one of those that was opposed to the idea. He felt that “vigilante heroes” were undisciplined and since they did not answer to anyone they were a worse option that the military. With the clock ticking he resisted the Code White option and hoped CLEA’s help would arrive in time. Unfortunately for him Sledgehammer answered Powerslide’s call and the clock ran out. By that time, he had access to live pictures being streamed by both the press and the world could now see the crisis unfold and his own role in the situation was now little more than that of a spectator. From the helicopter view the chief saw Sledgehammer make her approach to the area from the roof tops. The armour protected her as she then dropped some fifty feet the ground. Once there, the chief watched as she seemed to move cautiously towards her partner. He told his officers over the radio to ready their weapons, not that they could do any damage. As the two armoured criminals closed on each other, the chief had many questions going through his mind. Were the pair going to simply leave? Not likely! Was this all an elaborate means for the pair to meet? That did not seem to track since it was much too public for criminals of their calibre. Ideally, he really wanted his first thought to come true since his city could return to normal but the chances of that happening were negligible. That left another possible outcome and that was the pair would simply go on a rampage or perhaps start robbing from the area. Whatever scenario the chief expected to happen, a moment later he found himself standing with his jaw agape as even he could not believe what he was witnessing.