It was a primal howl of delight from the figure in crimson bounding over the rooftops towards the Youth Services Division Office.

"Hotspur, would you tell that moron to shut up? He's decided not to listen to me anymore." Gabriel's voice was frosty over the crackling comlink.

The synth couldn't help but laugh as he followed behind, a dark shadow in the wake of the Red Impulse armor. "Don't worry about it, Gabe. Tosh has his faceplate down..we're the only ones who can hear him. Besides, wouldn't you rather he enjoyed himself doing this?"

"I want him to take it seriously." There was a decidedly sour note to Gabriel's tone. "Do you know how long it took me to build that smegging suit?" If Hotspur closed his eyes, he could envision the drawn, prissy expression that probably now graced Karada's face.

The Youth Services building stood before them, looking much like any other piece of architecture in the city.. monolithic, generic, faceless. Much like the government that created it, Hotspur mused as his charge came to light on the edge of an overlooking rooftop, crimson armor gleaming dully in the diffuse light from below. White-suited Enforcers prowled beneath them, worming through the bland landscaping in front of the building like so many armored maggots.

"Get in, mix it up, and get out, ne?" Tosh's voice was crisp, if a little breathless, through the suit's comm. "I feel like I can take on the world right now." Hotspur snorted, a gravelly laugh grating in Tosh's ear. "Don't get cocky. And whatever happens, do not let them get their hands on your suit, got it? Gabriel's already having fits about your disregard for it, and you've only been in the damn thing for fifteen minutes."

"Yare, yare." One red glove waved the synthetic off, as the helmeted head tilted to look over the building. "Ok, Mr. Wizard. You said you had the building plans?"

"Don't. Call. Me. That." Gabriel sniped as a glowing wireframe appeared on the visor's display, snapping into the correct perspective for Tosh's viewing angle. "Magnify, sector.. four? Dormitory. Overlay heat-sensing." Both the wireframe and the actual image of the building zoomed in at a nauseating speed and Tosh made a queasy little sound. "yoogh. We gotta work on that." He muttered, narrowing his eyes at the indistinct glowing shapes of people moving about inside, coupled with the colder, crisper shapes of the Enforcers.

"Hotspur…." Tosh murmured. "I've got… " he paused, counting softly, but out loud to himself. "sixteen potential rescues.. but there's one..two.. five Enforcers prowling the hallway.." The synth patted him on the top of the helmet. "You're not chickening out are you, Baby Eagle?"

"Don't. Call. Me. That." Tosh muttered in unconscious imitation of the agitated scientist back at home base. "Of course I'm not. You got me to wear this thing, didn't you? And I want to find out what the hell is going on."

"Then you'll be fine. Enforcers or no, they're just men. Remember that." Hotspur patted his helmet again. "Now come on." He grated. "and mind the sensor grids on the roof."

The sensor grid latticing the roof of the Youth Services building sprang to life, glowing green across Tosh's field of vision as the wireframe faded into a faint background image and the building itself returned to it's normal perspective, distance measures lighting up in the periphery. Tosh swallowed, squared his shoulders, and the gleaming red helmet bobbed at Hotspur. "Let's rock."

*-*-*-*

Mel sat in Tosh's room, fingers drumming nervously as the young man calling himself Makoto Washio picked through his cousin's things. "Very spartan. Effective." The youth mused out loud until he came to the animated rabbit clock sitting on the windowsill. "Cute." The emphasis on the word gave Mel a sickly feeling in her stomach as he picked it up, turning it over in his hands.

The rabbit, a small bit of nanotechnological animatronic silliness, awoke at the shift in the position of the clock, and wagged a three-fingered white-gloved hand at Makoto. "Hey, Tosh, you big dumb cro-mag! Do you know what TIME it is? What's with you???" One dark eyebrow inched up the boy's face and he took the tiny rabbit in hand and squeezed.

There was a brief, hysterical shrill of sound from the little machine as the fuzzy pink head fell to the floor. "…but stupid. You purchased that for him, correct?" He asked, coldly, sapphire eyes glittering. Mel found herself suspended somewhere between being terrified of him, and being deeply offended. "So what if I did?" she managed to get out with a fair bit of venom.

Makoto dusted off the remainder of the broken clock from his hands, bits and pieces of components and pink fuzz floating to the floor like acid snow. "It was a pleasure to meet you Mel." He gave her a frozen smile. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you again once you find Toshi."

"Me? Find … no smokin' way. Not for you, sport." She folded her arms and hoped she sounded braver than she felt. Makoto Washio was nothing like she could have imagined from the interviews with him on the megaband vids, or the reputation that surrounded his famous family… and the longer she was around him, the harder it was for Mel to imagine that Tosh had waded out of the same genepool. "I don't know what kind of badnano you're looking to mix up with him…"

The dark-haired boy looked down at her with a look of contempt so virulent, that Mel suddenly felt only a millimeter tall. "You will find him whether it's for me or for you… and how could you imagine I would do anything bad to Toshi? He's like a little brother to me…."

*-*-*-*
It seemed he'd leapt with barely enough force to hop a few inches off the ground, but the armor seemed to recognize his intent and carried Tosh over the yawning gap between buildings without effort. He twisted, catlike with encoded skill and landed lightly between the glowing green pattern his visor showed. He could hear his heart thumping in his ears, some inane oldies tune he'd heard Ferdy singing in the shower once suddenly soundbiting in his frontal lobes.

Fly like an eagle//to the sea
Fly like an eagle//let my spirit carry me

Hotspur landed beside him, harder, his heavier synthetic's body leaving a crack in the roofing material. They synth's black overcoat flapped out around him for a moment with a snap of leather, then fell softly, black wings draping at rest. "Let's go, kid." His voice ground as he pulled an undamaged pair of mirrorshades from the chest pocket and slid them over his dull-glowing eyes. "We're on the clock."

Gabriel's voice whispered through the comm in Tosh's ear as they made their way down through layers of security. "Suit possesses metamorphic camouflage and temperature distorters. You, my friend, are the original invisible man." Gabriel sounded very proud of himself. Toshi allowed the scientist to continue on in that self-congratulatory vein until something red lit up the corners of his vision. "..What the smeg is THAT?" he hissed.

"…Proximity alert. Hotspur..?"

"Birdboys." Hotspur's voice ground in the comm, but not Tosh's external audio. The synth was equipped with subvocalization, not exactly a standard issue with most model years, Tosh mused. "I'll dance with this batch. Get your little red wagon down to that dormitory floor, eaglet."

Tosh slipped silently into the access stairwell as behind him the peculiarly brittle crunch of polygel composite armor mingled with the duller sounds of flesh against plaster.

"Sounds as if Hotspur's dropping a packet of asswhup on those birdies…" Tosh mused, mostly to himself as he took the stairs several at a time, leaping over the railing to the next landing. "Hotspur.. is surprisingly good at that." came Karada's rejoinder. "Next level, Tosh. The door'll have a five stenciled on it."

"Got it." He silently dropped to the next landing. "..what's the infodump with him anyways? Hotspur, I mean." Static sputtered across his visor for a moment and he shook his head. "I'm gonna turn off the cloak. Something's funny."

"There's nothing wrong with the armor. And what do you mean about Hotspur?" There was a lack of emotion in Gabriel's question beyond what was apparently a natural chilliness. "What do I mean?" Tosh flexed his hand and the suit obligingly extruded a shimmering ghost of monomolecular knife from a socket on his arm. "He's a synth, right? I mean.. he's not human.. but never seen a doll act like that before.."

"A doll? Oh. Right." Gabriel sounded distracted as the door came apart, wet tissue under the blade. "….It's a long story. Tell you about it later, Tosh."

"Why? Nothin' wrong with the present."

"Because…" Something red flashed in Tosh's peripheral vision moments before something hard hit him, slamming him into the wall. "….you've got other things to worry about." Nanogrown synthplaster rained down around him snowy, frosting the crimson armor. The visor's viewscreen fuzzed out for a moment before snapping back to clarity with a nauseating jitter.

"Ghod. Thanks for the newsbyte." He muttered, extracting himself from the wall. The Enforcer's white armored fist lashed out again, but this time Tosh caught it, feeling the the man's armor crack under the pressure of his grip before spinning, tossing the soldier over his shoulder. The armored figure hit the hard floor with a satisfying thud before one of the others leveled a riot gun at Tosh's helmet. "FREEZE!! You are under arrest for breaking and entering on ISO property, assaulting an officer, you ha….." Her recitation trailed off as Tosh casually brought his arm up, the ghost-blade splitting through the barrel of the gun. ",…..what the smeg?"

"Oops." Tosh grinned at the white-suited figure, even though he knew she couldn't see him, one fist shattering the reinforced beaked visor as his other backhanded her once-again vertical partner.

"I could get used to this." Tosh laughed as the two Enforcers dropped to the ground. "Are we green, Mr. Wizard?"

"You're green, Tosh." Gabriel sounded sour. "and stop calling me that." Tosh knelt next to the two Enforcers, producing a key card from one belt. "Well, chill. Lookee what I found." The suit's visor immediately began to do a flyaway dissection of the keycard before Tosh asked Gabe politely to stop. " I think I can figure out what it does. I'm not a total flatscan.."

"You said it, not me, joqboy. And don't forget you owe me homework." Gabriel actually sounded as though he was lightening up, although Tosh wasn't entirely sure of that as he made his way to the door. The locklight flashed green as he passed the key over it, and there was the solid click of a lock opening.

What he saw in the room wasn't what he expected, by any means.

*-*-*-*

Meeting the legendary Gatchaman had left Mel with a sour taste in her mouth and a nervous tremble in her hands. Makoto had turned on his heel and left the room, leaving her with the impression that he didn't even consider her a human being.

The thought made her mad. Mad at him. Mad at herself for letting him frighten her. And mad at Tosh for not being here.

"Ghoddamnit, Toshi Washio. Where the SMEG are you?" she muttered, gently scooping up the shattered remains of the toy rabbit. She was going to find him all right. Just not how mister birdier-than-thou would be hoping for.

*-*-*-*

"…holy smeg."

The heat sensors outside had given him an image of sixteen figures milling about. What he found when he got into the the room labeled "Dormitory", was sixteen figures, all dressed the same, visor-like glasses on their faces. A sickly blue-white light flickered from under the opaque lenses as they wandered around, some sitting on the featureless beds, others, their hands moving as though reading or making a snack. "Gabriel……" Tosh started, feeling a shiver run down his spine. "What's all this?"

The armor's sensors brought up a wireframe of the glasses. "Low level VR, in conjunction with a fairly light dosage of subliminal reconfiguration. They dose out a little bit of neurotropic suggestion stimulators, they flashcard good citizen messages into their frontal lobes, and there you have it."

"It's only for the good little boys and girls…" Hotspur's voice ground against Tosh's ear as the synth took up a position at the door. "Next time, by the by, Washio.. you might want to clean up your mess in the hallway, rather than just leave the bodies lying around.'
Tosh winced, not liking the irritated disciplinarian that suddenly surfaced in the synthetic's voice. "Don't worry. I swept up after you."

Tosh nodded. "I..I wasn't expecting.. this.." He said, sheepishly, reminding himself that he'd only gotten into the whole hero business roughly two hours ago. "How do we get them out.. and.. and where's all the other kids that were there?" He asked, hopeful, as he knelt by one girl, her head bobbing to some unheard music.

Hotspur walked over, put his hand over the girl's mouth, and yanked the glasses off, the tiny drugfeed tube popping and spitting pinkish liquid onto his black gloves. She made a muffled scream, and blinked her hugely dilated pupils before Tosh slid up his faceplate and put a finger over his lips. "shh.. it's ok. We're the cavalry. You from the javashaq shakedown?"

She made a little squeak, and nodded vaguely, the look of being startled out of a deep dream on her face. "Where's Ferdy? Skinny guy? Looks like a ferret?" She shrugged, looking queasy. Tosh had a feeling he knew how she felt, as they moved through the room, unplugging the rest of the residents. "Hotspur.. how the smoke are we…?"

"Don't worry. I have friends on the outside who'll take it once we get out of here." He grated, brusquely working his way through the room. He paused to look at his chrono. "Next sweep of guards is going to be coming through. They're all yours, Red Impulse."

Tosh could have sworn the synth was enjoying some joke at his expense. "I'll get the kids out.." Hotspur said offhandedly, putting one heavy-booted foot through the window, shattering plasteel pane and ripping out the reinforced grating. Down the hall, an alarm began to whine. "and now they'll be here even quicker, baby eagle. Get on your toes."

The heavy rhythm of booted feet came stampeding through the corridors, as Tosh looked frantically over the ashy faces of the teens Hotspur was corralling and leading towards the gaping hole in the wall where the window had been. "Ferdy..where's…?"

"I said these were the good little girls and boys. If your bud isn't here, it's too late for him." The synth's expression was hidden behind his mirrorshades as he pulled a slim card from one pocket, and produced a small shooter from somewhere else in the interminable blackness of his overcoat. Tosh felt sick at the casual attitude in the grating voice. There was no time to question him further, though.

The the soft hum, and a softer "thwwp" sound was almost obliterated by the guards' shouts as Hotspur apparently clicked on some larger scale version of the cloaker that the Red Impulse armor held. He tried to remind himself to ask about that later.

"Washio, you need to buy Hotspur about five minutes. After that, you get out too.." Gabriel sounded thoroughly distressed. "You're worried about me, Mr. Wizard, that's really decent of you."

"You? I just don't want you ruining my armorsuit."

Tosh's retort was cut off by the mass of Enforcers filling the hallway with the sounds of gun safety's being clicked off.

To be continued…