Some aggressive speed-reading and a quick call to Sparrow to run operational intelligence for him later, Aztech felt fairly up to date on the situation on the ground. This boy was superhuman in some form or another, and evidently had some capability to tap into these at times of high stress (Sparrow reported Shrike had about 4 possibilities listed for his capabilities, none of which seemed particularly safe in a hospital).
Complicating matters was the fact that he had been kidnapped by three anarchists pushing some bizarre agenda that he didn't really have the time to dig into. This was made marginally more difficult by one of them being a superhuman, who, supposedly, could turn into a dragon. Which was weird, but, hey, he'd dealt with weirder (see: demon luchadore, lying unconscious in the middle of Rodeo Drive).
Further complicating matters was that the SFPD, generally inflexible at the best of times, was actively gunning for the boy because he'd killed LVPD cops (never mind that, legally, he wasn't deemed responsible). This meant working with them would be difficult, and so he probably wouldn't try. 'Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission' seemed to be the principle on which LAW and most superhuman vigilantes operated anyway. No reason to change this working relationship. They'd have to be all smiles when he left the anarchists glued to a wall anyway.
Furthest complicating matters was that Sparrow had taken the liberty of checking in on the IC networks for anything on the unfolding situation, and the
FBI of all agencies (he'd expected those hacks at the Office of Superhuman Activities, but the FBI?) had brought together a team of...
varying moral fibrousness (the most charitable tone he could take concerning some of them) to resolve this in the most, stupid, black op, CIA-style fashion possible, and this same team had engaged a SWAT team in a stairwell in the hospital. No reported injuries as yet, fortunately, but that could change very quickly. Always wound up doing so with teams of this...caliber.
Good thing he'd come, and hadn't just tried to palm this off on Victory whenever she got back, or worse, left it in the hands of local PD. He hadn't even gotten there yet, and this was already shaping up to be a pretty rough situation.
Still. Four objectives, in order of importance. Secure the boy. Capture the anarchists. Prevent the black ops team from causing casualties. Keep the police in check.
"We will arrive in thirty seconds," Suit told him, and he snapped out of his mental recap to get ready to deal with this situation before it got even more out of hand.
Time for a big show of force. Use that reputation LAW had to de-escalate the situation.
"Sparrow, get into SFPD comms and the hospital PA and get our theme song going. Time to make an entrance."
And so as Aztech streaked into the heart of San Francisco like a green-and-gold comet,
the police officers besieging the hospital stared incredulously at their radios as a rather aggressive guitar solo began blaring from them. Amidst the distraction, he took up a position facing the ward the anarchists were believed to be in, hovering midway between the third and fourth story, and calling for their surrender (while implicitly telling the SFPD to stand down as he hovered above them).
"
LAW is on the scene. Surrender now and we can all walk away from this. Fail to surrender and you'll be thanking your lucky stars you're already in a hospital when I'm done with you. You have one minute to indicate your surrender, or I'll come in and drag you out."
Now the usual awkward silence while they talked out the merits of surrendering. He'd give them 30 seconds or so before he'd press them again. But hopefully these were smart people, who'd do the smart thing and surrender. Who knew what kind of damage a dragon might do? I mean, one, who even knew how bi-
Wait.
"Sparrow - how big is this dragon supposed to actually
get?"
