My Fault (Jeisen)

Hours.

Days.

Weeks.

Months.

Time passed as if it didn't exist. He was in a different city every other day, but it didn't matter. Everything was the same; He'd get up in some hotel room, rub the sleep from his eyes, and go to the bathroom. He'd stare at the mirror for five minutes straight at a guy he didn't recognize. He'd limp to the shower, turn only the hot water on, and stand under it until he didn't mind. Absentmindedly, the young man would soap himself up, rinse off, and walk out. Sometimes he'd slip. Those were the exciting days.

Then, nothing. He'd get dressed and go through the motions of the rest of his routine, but almost as soon as he was done he'd go sit on the bed. If he got hungry he'd order a pizza, and perhaps have a mental battle with himself to resist raiding the mini fridge, but mostly he would just sit there, watching boring television or staring blankly off into space. Eventually 9:00 would roll around, and then he could finally let himself go back to sleep.

It was like clockwork. A perfectly scheduled, systematically executed life of nothing. It was airtight. Nothing unpredictable, save for whether the Dominos would be under or over cooked the next time around. It would have been a perfect system, if it weren't so goddamn miserable. But, miserable beat loss. At least this way he knew what to expect.

This time around, Lucas was in London. He didn't really know why. He had this grand idea that he'd go out and see the sights, maybe pick up a few souvenirs, or, God willing, meet the man that had since a few years ago caused all the tourism to this place. Yes, on the plane here he thought of all the things he would look at. He thought of all the motivation he would have. He thought of getting better, and living again. It was just like what he pictured would happen when he went to China, or Paris, or Jerusalem.....or Rome. Grand thoughts of adventure. But, when he actually got to all the places on his list, nothing.

Nothing at all.

The forth day in London, Lucas noticed his hair had lightened a bit. His face had aged a bit, too. It got stronger, and less childlike over the course of the last few months, but this was a bit striking. He'd grown over eight inches as well. It seemed he wouldn't be one of the runts of the litter for long.

Something happened when his father removed Synthesis. Lucas knew he would change without it's influence, but now he felt like he was becoming a different person entirely. The usual constant, burning and corrosive feeling of Red Energy in his veins was quickly fading, but something else was taking it's place. He'd puked a couple times during the last few weeks. The strange changes combined with his mental stage just made him want it to be over. He wanted to escape, but felt helpless to do so.

It was only a matter of time. The boy, now brought to his proper physical age of about sixteen, went to the mini fridge. It was a deviation from his schedule. It was a new variable. New variables were trouble—unpredictable. They brought nothing but pain. Every fiber of his being told him to stop. His brain practically burned with anxiety as he uncorked some bottles, but he needed this. Besides, Dad always drank to relax. Why couldn't he?

In the matter of a half hour, Lucas had drank a few mini bottles of liquor. His faster metabolism meant he wasn't black out drunk or anything, but he probably wasn't safe to drive—not that he knew how. The good part about it, though, was that he was indeed relaxing. For once in months, he pushed the constant cloud that had been hanging over his head to the background. He smiled. If he wasn't mistaken, he was happy.

It only took the teenager a few minutes to decide to actually get on with his trip. He walked out of his expensive room, took an elevator down to the lobby, and walked out the front door. He tripped more than a couple times, but nobody seemed to notice.

_____________

After about ten minutes of walking, Lucas had reached it: The center of that fight. Well, maybe not the center. People weren't allowed to go into the thick of it. There were too many hazards. People instead snapped pictures from a barrier that had been erected, right outside a gift shop. Yes, there was a gift shop, because Capitalists always find a way to turn terrible things into profit. Lucas took a couple pics on his phone, bought a little Jeisen figure at the shop, and walked back the way he came.

He had hoped to meet Jeisen, but he knew it was a longshot. The dude hadn't been seen in years. After that whole Agency fiasco, he just dropped off the map. Lucas didn't blame the guy, but he could have popped his head in now and again to give people some hope. That was kinda needed right now.

Whatever. It should have been expected. Nobody sticks around forever. Not even heroes.

As the teen walked through an alley, a man in a hoodie came up behind him. He held a knife to Lucas' throat. How did he not hear him? Had he been lost in thought? Damn it.

"I saw your wad back at that stupid store, kid. Give it to me, or I'll cut your throat. And don't think I won't. Times are tough," the man said, pressing the knife closer. Lucas' eyes went wide with horror. This is what happened when he let the new variables in. This is what happened when he did anything out of the ordinary. The boy shook, as if having a panic attack.

"Did you hear me, kid?! I said give it up!" the man said, reaching out to grab Lucas' head with his free hand. In that moment, though, he realized the kid's shaking wasn't out of fear.....

It was pure, unadulterated rage.

In a flash of crimson light, the man's arm was seared. He let out a howl of agony, and dropped his weapon. Lucas turned around, revealing red sparked grey eyes, and a look of fury. Another flash came, which knocked the man to the ground. The acidic energy had incinerated almost all the skin on the the man's chest, instantly ripping through his clothing.

Lucas walked closer to the man, with no indication he would stop.

In a house that doesn't exist, hidden in a room that can't be found, a small monitor turned on. The gentle hum of the internal fans kicking on as an os booted up broke the silence of the morning. It displayed a string of what would be gibberish, the info moving down the screen too rapidly for a human to follow. A metallic ball formed in the air in front of the screen, taking on a spiky shape.

"Oh dear. So soon? Back not a week and already trouble in the town. Tsk, so impatient that man." Nolan tutted like an old nany to himself. His body bobbed back and forth as he debated on what to do, but there was no real option. He floated down a dusty hallway and into a spartan room. On the couch rather than the nearby bed, laid a gaunt pale man. His black hair hung lose around his face with deep shadows beneath his eyes. If it wasn't for his breathing it wouldn't be hard to call the man dead.

"Sir... Sir... Wake up" Nolan punctuated each word with a gentle budge. On the third bump, the man's hand blurred with blue around it. In a low guttural growl Jeisen shook Nolan, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"I swear to god Nolan, if you are about to ask me to build you arm right now, I will fucking lose it."

Nolan turned indigent at the accusation. Which meant he turned a slightly darker blue then normal. "No, nothing like that. Well, I mean I won't stop you, but that's not what I'm here for. We just had a spike of abnormal energy. Red energy sir. It's... odd, but we are reading an 87% match to previous data."

Now that got the eyes open. Jeisen pursed his lips as he stared hard at the ground with Nolan still gripped tightly in his hand. Quicker than he expected. Without another word, the pale man rose and approached a work table. Scars criss-crossed across his body, standing out in the low light. He picked up his chest piece and began to strap it on.


_____________________________________________________

"You in the nearby cameras yet? Why would he come to here of all places"

"Running the facial scanner program, but its Red we are talking about. If he didn't want to be spotted on these camera's he wouldn't be."

"Tsk" Jeisen's mouth was left with a bitter after taste as looked over the 'memorial' if it could be called that. It had a fucking gift shop for God's sake. This hadn't been here last time Jeisen was. Guess the world always does just keep on spinning.

"Oh how... odd" Nolan piped up, hovering just over Jeisen's shoulder. He sent over a small recording. It showed a younger man making his way through a crowd.Before Jeisen could actually get a good look at it, an energy flair registered from a nearby alleyway. Distinctly Red energy this time. Making his way across the rooftops shield by his camo cloak, Jeisen landed on the rooftop of the alleyway above a whimpering, smoking man with a second one walking towards him. For a split second the light must have been playing tricks on Jeisen because he saw Red walking there.

A revear was out, the core spirling up as he trained it on the aggressors head. The shadows shifted though letting Jeisen get a good look at the young man for the first time. It was a young man. Younger then Jeisen could ever recall Red being.

Nolan whispered rapidly in his ear " I don't know what's going on, but that's not Red. The scanner is saying its someone similar but... thats red energy he has there."

Jeisen hesitated for a second, but another step towards the fallen man pushed the guardian forward. He pulled out a flash bomb from his pack and dropped it down in between the two. With the cover of the flash Jeisen hopped behind the mugger. He dropped his camo cloak as he pulled the man out of the way, placing him behind a dumpster. He kept a gun aimed at Lucas, waiting for him to recover.

From underneath a dark hood, two blue lights shown out on an armored face. With a distorted voice, "Stand down." The gun flared up to add a threatening point to the command. "Why are you in my town?

Lucas would certainly have killed the man had he been allowed to continue, though it wasn't out of a true desire to murder. His head was foggy, his emotions were running wild, and the rapid change of his bodily chemistry was in it's final stages. All this mixed to produce an individual that wasn't exactly stable at the moment. He had felt threatened, and lashed out as any overly-defensive person would. Once he came down from his fury, he surely would have been devastated at his actions. Luckily, he was stopped before anything so drastic could happen.

The flash bang hit him dead on, blinding the teen with white light. He yelled out in shock, hands immediately moving to his eyes as he fell onto his backside. The ringing in his ears was even worse. He knew something was going on around him, but he didn't know what, nor did he care. He was too busy trying to shake off being stunned so thoroughly. All he saw for a good twenty seconds were shapes, and all he heard was incomprehensible muttering.

Eventually, a shadow moved over the boy. Lucas looked up, his vision finally correcting enough to actually see properly. The man said something, but Lucas only made out 'in my town' as he sat stunned and confused on the ground. The first thing the boy's vision made out was the barrel of a gun, which made him fearfully crawl backwards. He was slightly relieved, if a bit perplexed, when he finally noticed who was wielding the weapon.

"J-jeisen? Is that actually you?" Lucas said, slurring his words slightly. He held his hands out to show he wasn't a threat as he stood, slowly but surely. Anyone could tell the kid was scared.

"What...... What happened? There was someone with a knife. He attacked me, and, I.... Oh no," Lucas said, worried. He tried to look around for the man, but couldn't see him. Bits of memory flowed back in, and the boy began to panic.

"Did I kill him?! Please, tell me I didn't! It wasn't my fault! I-I didn't mean to!" Lucas said, stammering a bit. The slur in his words was even more evident now. He even tripped backwards, falling onto his rear once again. What had he gotten himself into?

"You believe me, right Jeisen?" Lucas said, grey eyes watering. He looked like he might just start sobbing at any moment.

Who... who is this? Jeisen thought to himself as Lucas began almost blubbering at him. He ignored the man's questions, simply doing some peripheral scans of the area. Nolan slipped out from underneath his cloak, out the back of his armor as Jeisen maintained his gun pointed at Lucas. The small robot began to run its scans.

Radioed into his helm comns, "Facial scan of the man pulled up a hit for a Greg Ottowar in the London PD. Previous charges of attempted robberies and assaults. Knife located just behind those trash cans. Story holds up at 94% likelihood." said Nolan. He bobbed up and down in front of the would be mugger, his great blue eye lighting up his face.

"Apply the medi-gel." Jesien said out loud this time. Nolan nodded then whispered loudly in a cheery tone to the downed man. "Now stay still, this is really going to hurt, mmkay? Try not to pass out"

That, frankly, was not really an option for the man. Medi-gel was some of the best field repair medicine, but it had one hell of a nasty pain kick back. The man's eyes rolled into the back of his skull as he passed out from the pain. He slumped over, out cold.

Nolan tutted "What a big baby, it's like he's never been roasted before."

Jeisen ignored his robotic compatriot like usual, gun still trained on Lucas. "Explain why you are using Red energy. You aren't Lucias, why do you look so much like him? Who are you?" Even through the distortion, Jeisen's voice was tense. An icon popped up on his hud display inside his helm. A call had gone out to the police due to the screaming. They would be here in under five.

Lucas was relieved when he saw the man. He hadn't seen his mugger because Jeisen was in the way, but when the hero moved to heal the man, his mistake became apparent. Lucas just sat there as medi-gel was applied to his attacker, most likely saving his life. He was of course glad. He didn't want blood on his hands. Not ever.

After Jeisen did his thing, the vigilante approached Lucas once again, asking a flurry of questions. Lucas wasn't as quick as usual, the alcohol in his system making him dizzy. He thought about the questions for a moment. He knew they would come up if he ever met Jeisen, but he'd never considered the answers. The teen really didn't think he'd ever meet the guy.

He held his tongue for a moment, wondering if he should give this information out so freely. In the end he couldn't decide whether it was a good move or not, so he just told the truth. When all else fails, be honest, like his Dad used to say.

"I'm Lucas. Lucas Julian Alba. Lucius is my father. I look so much like my Dad and can use the energy because up until recently we've been nearly identical genetically. It's going away, but, I still got it.... Along with the temper tantrums, unfortunately," Lucas said, trying to stand up again. This time he managed it, but he still seemed off balance, and his eyes still looked glassy.

"I'm not here to fight, ok? I know it's um, suspicious, but I just came here to see the sights. I had to get away for awhile, after what happened. I figured I might even meet you. Figured you could tell me about him, back in the day. I don't know. It's stupid," Lucas said, realizing he was just rambling now. Something in the back of his mind told him he shouldn't be telling Jeisen any of this, but another part of him just wanted to talk to someone. It'd been months, after all. And who better to talk to than the Hero of London?

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come into your turf.... I just had questions, and that guy set me off. Please don't turn me in," Lucas said, hearing the sirens in the distance. It wasn't that he thought he couldn't make a reasonable self defense case, only that he just didn't want to go through the hassle. Plus, he didn't want to leave a trail that Alpha or someone else could find. He needed some alone time.

"You have questions? Well..." That makes two of us Jeisen left the second part unsaid. This day was going to be a weird one, he could feel it. A finger tapped on the side of his gun barrel, debating on what to do. After a tense second, Jeisen took his aim off of Lucas. "Alright fine, but lets get out of here. Find a quieter area, I'll find you."

With that effective dismissal, Jeisen crouched down eye level with the unconsious man. His eye scanners did a once over. The man would wake up with painfully sensitive skin on his arm and chest, but he was stable. Leave this problem for the police to sort out. Jeisen gave one more glance at Lucas before reactivating his camo cloak. To an onlooker, it was as iff Jeisen melded into the background with his shape broken up.

He grappling hooked up into rooftops once again before following lucas from above. It might have been a trap to let him lead, but if this was a trap it was one of the weirder one Jeisen had ever been caught in. Besides, Jeisen doubted someone would want to make a trap for him just yet. Back what three days and people already want to kill him? That would be a new record for even him.

Jeisen lowered his gun. Thank God. Lucas had no interest in fighting this guy, or otherwise going to jail. It seemed what the teen said was of enough interest to the hero as to avoid conflict. Jeisen told him to find a quieter place, and as the hero disappeared from view, Lucas ran out of the alley. The sirens were getting more intense now, and the teen really didn't want to be there when they arrived.

Now was the time for figuring out where to go. It had to be a good distance away, and private, otherwise they might arouse suspicion. Lucas walked around for some time, thinking of where to go. He eventually decided on a rooftop of a seemingly abandoned building.

Lucas expertly climbed the fire escape, getting up to the roof in no time. Once he got to the top, he sat against a rooftop vent. waiting. He wondered if he should just run off. This might not be a good idea, talking to one of his Dad's old rivals. He eventually decided it was worth the risk, but he would still proceed with caution. He had to make this man trust him if they were to get anywhere.

"I'm.... Guessing you have a couple of questions, too. Wanna start with that?" Lucas opened once Jeisen appeared. He seemed relaxed as he sat on the rooftop, no tenseness to his muscles. That was probably more due to the drink than his confidence, though.

"You know, I'll never understand London. Why are there so many rooftops with that have been abandoned? This is such prime real estate, look at that view out there.... Also I still have problems with why humans care so much about a view. Its not like.."

"Thats enough"

Two figures slowly materialized in view, Jeisen sitting on a nearby ledge. Nolan bobbed up and down near his shoulder facing the other direction out the city. But the two blue eyes from underneath the hood were firmly fixed on the young man before them.

It took a moment for Jeisen to collect his thoughts, as spirling in a multitude of directions as they were. His hands played with a mechanical bit, rearranging the wires in it on the fly so it were seem.

"So you are Lucius son" He said "And needed to play... hooky? From dear old pops. Well that does sound interesting at the very least. So tell me, what has happened. Red isn't exactly the type of man simply to let someone run away like this."

Nolan quibbed at this moment. "I am still convinced this is some elaborate trap set up. Like 99% sure this guy right here is just a master baiter to draw you into a ploy or something. I swear if this is a plot to see Jeisen do some drugs or something, Entei has been trying for years with.."

"Alright twice is enough." Jeisen reached out with hand so fast it left an afterimage in its place. He snatched Nolan out of the air and absorbed him back into his suit. "Right, so tell me your story. Try to spare the daddy issues a little bit, I have a tough time with Nolan as it is."

Lucas smiled a bit at Jeisen and Nolan's comments. They were quite the humorous duo, that was for sure. They were just like his father had described them. Well, perhaps not totally. Lucas had a hunch Jeisen wasn't such a bad guy. Lucius respected him, but still found the man's talents hopelessly misused. Red would always talk about how this man always refused to explain the reason he stood against him, like all heroes did. His father said it was because they had no rebuttal, but Lucas was starting to think it was because most didn't have the same amount of verbal stamina. Red could, after all, seemingly monologue indefinitely.

"Yeeeahh, about that..... It's sorta all Daddy Issues," Lucas said, chuckling a bit as he stood up. He still leaned against the vent, though. He could tell the man was still a bit tense, and didn't trust him. Moving would only make him anxious.

Lucas then cleared his throat, preparing to tell his tale.

"I'm a genetically engineered member of the race known as Homo Superioris. Alpha and his clan? Yeah, like them, only they made me with some of Lucius' DNA. They're my parents, in effect," Lucas explained. He was weary of telling Jeisen what happened to Lucius. Not many knew the truth, and he didn't know if Jeisen could be trusted with it.

"But, it wasn't always that way. I was initially made to serve as Lucius' new body. He seemed to have a heel-face turn before that project finished. Since then we've had a, well, let's say strained relationship, to put it lightly. I..... Still love him though. I just hate what he does," Lucas said. He looked off into the distance as he spoke, observing the partially destroyed city. He didn't want to face Jeisen as he spoke, for whatever reason. He swallowed hard as he prepared to at least tell a half truth about what happened to his father.

"I'm here because I don't know where to go. I've been in two dozen cities the last few weeks, just.... Looking. Waiting for who knows what. Red's gone, Jeisen. We fought something called the Black Beast. It was trying to destroy us all. My Dad—my Dad left us. I don't know where he is. He could be dead, or could be lost in some existential crap. I don't know anymore. But, I do know the guy running things in Belarus now isn't my father. He's some kind of imposter, probably made by one of the others," Lucas said. You could see the water appear in his eyes at various points. Anyone could tell this topic made him rather emotional, but he was pushing it down. He wanted to impress the hero, after all. No crying.

"I didn't expect to see you here. I hoped, but I didn't think it would be possible. I had all these ideas of what I might ask you, but now that you're here, standing in front of me, I don't know what to say," Lucas said. He wasn't slurring his words as badly now, but he still seemed off balance. He sat back down, head hung low.

"I guess..... I need your help. I've never known anything but the world my parents made for me. I just—I don't know who I am, ok?." Lucas broke down a little now. His voice cracked. He hid his face the best he could, but you could tell he was breaking up.

"Now Alpha's involved? God this is just going be an entire thing isn't it?" Said Nolan inside Jeisen's helm. The cocky little robot hate when had to track down that guy's latest mess. Things got so convoluted it was hard to tells who' ass was being screwed at the end of the day.

Jeisen flicked the wired device back into his suit, the nanobots absorbing it as it came into contact. He leaned forward with his hands together underneath his chin. So Red was gone. That was... unexpected. A few people were dead in his time gone, but that was one name he hadn't thought would bite it in the time. This black beast must have been something to demand so much.

The blue optic sensors became hidden as Jeisen looked down at the ground. His thoughts raced as he debated his options, counted the possibilities, weighed the odds. In the end though, it only came down to one thing though. Did he believe Lucas or not.

And Jeisen.... did in a way. Maybe not all the way just yet, but it was at least worth checking out. He need to verify this. At least what he could. Maybe it would have to take a trip to Belarus. Now that was an exciting proposition, but for another time. Nolan's face appeared on the hud screen inside his helm.

"You're seriously not going to accept this are you? I know that face of yours, you can't be serious... You wanna play... babysitter for him?? What the hell are you thinking?"

"That maybe we should clear off the attic room. Get the cleaners on it, please and thank you."

Jeisen stood up, killing all conversation and protests Nolan might have had.

"Okay. I'm not sure what help I can actually give but I at least have a spare room. It should give you some.... time. But there's a rent cost." Jeisen crossed his arms as he leaned back against the railing. "London's a big city and the Guardians are.... inactive. You'll have to do your part when and how I say. None of that burning people to a crisp bit. Had enough shit with Entei about that. You have combat training I assume?"

The last part sounded a little bit skeptical. Not many could meet Jeisen's level of standards when it came to combat. Sure lots of people knew how to throw out powers or even a punch, but Jeisen demanded more then a little skill.

Lucas smiled brightly now. Jeisen was going to give him a room? Seriously?! He was going to see what a real heroes base looked like! And if Lucas wasn't mistaken, the man was also offering to let him help with the heroics in the area. Lucas almost couldn't contain his excitement. What kid wouldn't want this?

"Yeah I'm.... I'm sorry. That was an accident. That's not me, I swear." Lucas stammered over his words, embarrassed at his earlier outburst. He really was sorry, though. That was a part of himself the teen wasn't proud of.

Lucas nodded when asked about his combat training. He'd had plenty when staying at the facility, and Lucius had personally taught him a good deal. Though, he guessed it wasn't the kind of training Jeisen had in mind.

"Yeah I'm, uh, I've had some I guess. Mostly how to use my powers, acrobatics, swordsmanship, and tactics. Dad taught me how to read a battlefield and analyze opponents and stuff." Lucas explained like it was no big deal, or wasn't that intensive. In reality his training was far beyond what any normal person could tolerate, but he didn't exactly have anything to compare it too.

Lucas was about to ask a couple more questions, but then something strange happened. The building started to shake. Yes, like a Earth Quake. Though, if anyone were to analyze the rest of the area, they'd find it wasn't being effected. Only the building vibrated, and with such force that the gravel on the roof started to kick up, creating a thin screen of smoke.

"This isn't you, is it?" Lucas asked, eyebrow raised. His OPTIC lenses scanned the area, trying to look for any indication of what was causing this. Unfortunately, the super computer contacts turned up empty. What was happening?

Electric now sparked in the air in various places, and the quaking picked up. Wind started to reach speeds around the building that were undeniably unnatural. It was as if a storm had enveloped the building. Lucas was starting to think they might want to get out of there. No, he didn't think they should just run, but maybe get off the building before it collapsed.

Yet, before he opened his mouth to verbalize his concerns, everything stopped. The quaking, the wind, the sparks. It was calm as can be. Lucas was, to put it lightly, confused. After a few moments of silence, a portal—yes, a portal—opened up between Lucas and Jeisen.

"Ah, just the moment I was looking for....... Good morning, gentleman," a man who stepped out of the portal said. He wore a fine suit, and some kind of high tech helmet. His voice was calm, and his words were well paced. He didn't move hostilely, or even at all. The portal closed behind him, and Damocles turned to Jeisen.

"Ever the rebel, Jeisen. You aren't supposed to be here, and certainly not with.... Him," the man said, gesturing to Lucas. Damocles turned away from Jeisen, instead looking out into the city.

"Do you really think this town wants you back after what happened? You should go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. Do you have any idea what associating with the child will do? Of course not...... You geniuses are always so naive, I tell you." Damocles started to walk over to Lucas. This time, he clearly had hostile intent.

"This moment requires....... Correction. Leave me to the boy and never come back. I may let you finish your story if you do..... Maybe," Damocles said as he rushed Lucas with a burst of intense speed. Lucas tried to react, but his body wasn't fast enough, even if he did see the man coming. The only way he could have done anything was by using his Red Energy, but he found he couldn't. It wasn't coming, no matter how much he willed it. Damocles held the teen by the neck with a cybernetic arm, a nasty looking gauntlet charged and trained on him.

"My... My energy isn't working!" Lucas said. His mind started to race. He had to think of what to do. This guy was serious. Maybe if he could get out of this grip, he could figure out what was wrong, or plan a strategy. Right now though, he was pretty much useless.

"Well that's not normal" Jeisen muttered to himself as wind began to whip up into a gale suddenly. His boots locked him in place, holding him against the storm winds with one arm in front of his face to block the wind. Yet the gale force winds were gone as soon as they had arrived, leaving behind a masked man in a... business suit? Nolan slipped out from underneath the cloak with his single blue eye scanning for all he was worth.

Internally to Nolan, Jeisen spoke up "What's going on? Is that a radiation I'm seeing on screen?"

"Its from the portal sir" Nolan had dropped all his usual sarcasm. A worrying sign that meant a fight was in bound. "Annnndddd its gone. Single rad emission. More powerful the the Carriers teleporters, but hard to tell by how much. Threw out some funky signals as well."

"...Do you really think this town wants you back after what happened? You should go back to whatever hole you crawled out of....."

Now that was just rude. If this man knew about him enough to insult him, then knew him well enough to know these threats wouldn't work. That meant that... Time seemed to elongate as the unnamed man broke out into top speeds. Quickly doing some trajectory paths in his head, Jeisen came up with his plan

Jeisen's Reavers formed in one hand as the other threw a knife. Sound waves rippled around the knife as it took off past mach speeds thanks to the motor servos in his armor and his own mach speeds. Its path took it slightly to the right of the Lucas's head, reaching that point in an instant. In a flash of light Jeisen teleported to the knife. One hand gripped its handle as he was in mid air with both feet up drawn into his chest. He was just mere inches away now. With gusto, Jeisen unleashed a double jump kick at the mans head, hoping to clear him away from Lucas.

He could feel the air resistance build underneath his feet as kicked, the servos adding in more force. Jeisen himself may have not been super strong, but moving at above mach speeds added quick the kick to most things. Then when adding a machine that could give him low superhuman striking abilities on top of that, it became downright dangerous. He flipped himself backwards to land after the kick, his gun already springing up with both hands on it.

"Nolan, full scans now!" was all he could yell through their comns system. Even Nolan's advance mind was moving to slow for him as the adrenaline hit his system.

The teleportation was indeed quick, almost too quick for Damocles' systems to react. However, the well dressed man didn't need to be that fast. All he had to do was activate defenses as soon as he saw Jeisen throw his knife, which he did. The Telekinetic Shielding System was already active by the time Jeisen reached the man, acting as a barrier between Damocles and the hero's kick. With such speed and force behind the strike, though, Damocles was momentary pushed back a couple feet, freeing Lucas.

The teen ran as soon as he had the chance, diving for cover. He knew that the man's strategy would revolve around him. It was only logical. Why fight someone straight up when you could instead use a hostage to deviate their attention? Lucas needed a way to defend himself, otherwise Jeisen would be at a disadvantage.

Lucas sent a message to Sven with OPTIC, instructing the AI to bring Cora Zen to him. It wouldn't take too long, since the hotel wasn't too far from their current position. Still, he'd have to be evasive until he got his hands on his sword.

"So you've chosen to fight? Very well. Your mistake," Damocles said. In a flash that couldn't be seen by normal human eyes, he rushed Jeisen. Once close, he unleashed a flurry of around a half dozen punches, aimed primarily at the head. The strikes were wicked fast, but he was sure Jeisen could counter. That's why instead of finishing his seventh strike, he used it as a faint, instead opening his had midway through to blast the ground underneath the hero with his Particle Beam Gauntlet. Whether or not Jeisen fell through, the space he previously resided in would be nothing more than a hole...... Three floors deep.

So there was shielding around the man it seemed. He wasn't sure before he felt that kick land, but it had definitely felt displaced. Maybe it was a dispersal shield instead of absorption? Perhaps both, it was hard to tell at the early stages.

"Sir, this kid is moving out of the way. Projected data leaves him far away enough to avoid a dash, but not explosive range. And can I tell this bastard that he looks like a wannabe deadmau5 dj. I bet he just googles his playlist."

Jeisen mearly grunted in response, mentally filing the data away. His fingers squeezes off a pair of shots as the man rushed him. The two speedsters blurred as sonic booms echoed around their fists. Jeisen's hand to hand combat was unusual to say the least. Multiple knives seemed to hover in mid air around them as Jeisen yanked them to get in a quick swipe with them then let go. Yet somehow in between the swipes with the blades and kicks a Reaver would form in his hand to take a body shot at the fellow. The fight quickly became as impossible weave of metal and shots with the two speedsters just a muddy pair of images inside of it. On each parry Jeisen tried to simply leave a touch on the man to mark him, but it was hard to tell with the shielding if he ever managed to get a clean one.

"Sir, detecting energy signature rising from in the man's gauntlet. Nuclear spin up cycles.. Looks focused." Nolan chimed in his ear. In the middle of their seventh exchange the man's hand lurched open, energy pouring out of it. Thanks to the timely warning of his compatriot Jeisen managed to not be too terribly surprised by this. The floor angle was a bit confusing though.

Not wanting to get to predictable and simply teleport behind the man the intrepid hero used his grappling hook to counter his own momentum and pull him off to one side. He did, however, leave behind a little present. A sonic grenade bounced towards the not-cyborgs feet before unleashing its unearthly wail. Jeisen's own suit locked down preemptively preparing for the sonic waves, but he was hoping he could catch the man off guard for a split second. Sonic attacks, after all, were not the most common. All the while Jeisen maintained his steady firing rate with one Reaver. Multitasking might have been a bitch to most, but being a genius did have its perks.

Damocles seemed to be fast enough to keep up with Jeisen for the most part, but he caught a few glancing blows in the scuffle, including a shot from one of the hero's Reavers on his arm. The damage was mostly superficial, however. His suit was tattered, but the armor underneath only seemed to be a bit scrapped and burned. Nothing critical, that was for sure.

Jeisen managed to dash away from Damocle's gauntlet attack with relative ease, leaving behind a device of some sort. The well dressed man instantly knew what it was based on his atomic level scans. He didn't dash away because it was really no issue. The sonic waves were released, and Damocles experienced momentary pain, but his armored helmet mostly protected him. Even if it wasn't doing the job, though, the grenade was taken care of; he blasted it with his gauntlet, taking a portion of the roof with it. If it wasn't turned to dust, it would surely be blasted away.

All while this was happening, Jeisen maintained a steady rate of fire, and Damocles in turn maintained expert evasion. His computers had now adapted to Jeisen's specific style, subtle as it was, to the point where Damocles' reaction was more than fast enough to dodge the shots. His scanners could even tell when the Reavers were charging up to fire nanoseconds before they did by analyzing them atomically, giving Damocles a slight predictive edge. The shots didn't land. Damocles was getting comfortable again.

"You're not half bad at this," Damocles said, giving no indication of what he was going to do next. He knew with someone as fast as Jeisen, slight tells could tip him off. He didn't make that mistake, acting as if he was just making a one off comment as he looked at the hero. Without warning, though, his optics sent out two intensely hot laser beams at Jeisen. These were of course light speed, so unless the hero could figure out what was happening before the lasers fired, he would have issues. Whatever was hit by this attack would be absolutely pulverized. These lasers cut through solid steel like butter.

Lucas in the meanwhile had moved down the fire escape. Damocles' scanners were keeping track of him, but curiously the man did nothing in trying to pursue him. The teen was free to get to ground level, where he awaited Sven's delivery of Cora Zen.