2/2

"Nothing?" he asked in disbelief as he lowered his rifle and stepped into the barren room. His footsteps echoing off the concrete floor. The place was nearly completely empty, a few pallets were stacked up and there was a forklift off to one side. "Think Cooper. Think" he snarled as he idly pulled out his pulse blade and spun it around, balancing it on one finger and tossing it up into the air. "Ah shit" he cursed as he missed the knife on its way down and watched it imbed itself into the floor.

Only to see the ping extend not only around the barren warehouse, but also beneath the floor was well, the outlines of a few individuals and 40 foot shipping containers beneath what he thought was a solid floor. "Well I'll be goddamned" he muttered as he scanned the room again, his mind going into overdrive. "This is some fucking Tomb Raider shit now" he said with a wry chuckle as he spotted a control panel and made for it.

Pulling out his data knife, he pried the panel open and looked at the confusing array of controls within. "And…" he said as he extended the interfacing components from within the knife and jammed it into the circuitry, slowly watching the holographic interface fill until…

"Open sesame" he said hopefully as he waited for something, anything, to happen. The silence was broken by a dull click and the sound of massive hydraulic systems lowering a section of the floor in the back of the room. "Definitely Tomb Raider shit" he muttered as he pulled the knife out and readied the Softball.

He approached the massive freight elevator that had descended to the lower level and could hear voices down below. "You two, check it out, see anyone who isn't supposed to be there…kill 'em" ordered one in a suitably gruff sounding tone.

Cooper reached the edge of the lift and aimed the 40mm grenade launcher. "Come have a go if you think you're hard enough" he yelled back, causing the three men to look up at him and reach for their weapons.

The Marauder triggered his own, firing two grenades into the cluster, the mobsters barely having time to react before the two grenades blew them to bits. "The Marauder's here!" he heard someone yell from within the bowels of the facility.

Unable to suppress a grin, he jumped down. "Best job I ever had" he said as he triggered the weapon again.

Outside, Yuri Watanabe was not having similar thoughts about her occupation. "Any sign of him?" asked the Captain over the radios she and he two detectives had, each in their own unmarked patrol car stationed at a different vantage over an entrance to the distribution hub.

She sipped her coffee and shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the Kevlar vest she was wearing was far from comfortable but could be lifesaving. "Nothing yet Cap" responded Johnson.

"All quiet on the western front ma'am" reported Martinez dutifully as she watched the rooftops for any sign of the Marauder. She hoped that this would pan out, they didn't have any other leads.

The silence resumed as she checked her pistol again and waited for something to happen. Looking up, she saw a flicker of blue above her and her eyes soon focused on the source. "It's him" she said over the radio as she threw open the door and watched him sail over the fence. "Converge on me, we gotta get inside" she ordered as she ran to the gate.

A few minutes later the two detectives ran up briskly. "Martinez, get the gate" said Watanabe as the older Hispanic man nodded and crouched down. The detective pulled out a lockpick and set to work as the two women went on the lookout. They heard a commotion inside the building that set all three on edge. "Hurry it up Detective."

"Is that strictly legal?" asked Johnson as her eyes flickered down to the back of her fellow detective as he continued to work on the lock.

Yuri's face remained impassive as her eyes scanned back and forth. "Does it matter?" she asked flatly.

A flicker of worry flashed across Johnson's face, "I suppose not" she answered when they heard the lock click open and Martinez stood up and pushed the gate open. Without hesitation, Yuri pushed her way to the front and led the three inside.

"SHOOT 'IM!" cried one of the goons frantically as Cooper hit the deck. "SHOOT 'IM!" repeated one of the gunmen as the remaining hostiles turned their attention to the Pilot. Sliding into cover behind one of the shipping containers, the Marauder pulled out his Carbine and readied an arc grenade.

Of course, the writing on the side of the olive drab container didn't escape notice. Moving past the large 'U S ARMY' on the metal he poked his head around the corner, only to immediately duck back as a barrage of rounds peppered the metal. Again, failing to meet any sort of originality quota, Cooper yelled out "Catch!" as he hurled the grenade around the corner and slid out shortly after.

The -201 was set to rock and roll and he cut loose with a long burst as he crossed the gap. His jump kit fired as he leapt up to the highest of the stack of containers and began a wallrun, spraying the remainder of the magazine from the hip as he went. Fisk's men scampered for cover, but two were too slow as tungsten tipped armor piercing rounds shredded bone, flesh, and Kevlar with cold efficiency.

The 24 round magazine went dry with a click as he leapt back across the aisle, sliding across the top of containers as he inserted a fresh mag and jumped off the end and into another hail of gunfire. Turning, he fired his grapple as the nearest gunman and pulled himself closer as he fired the Carbine at the others, barely pausing when slammed his boots into the man's chest and drove him to the floor.

His rapid movement had put him out of the line of fire of most of the remaining goons, but one decided to put their new toys to work. Cooper's eyes widened as he saw the small green sphere bounce over the container and then hit the floor. The grenade rolled towards the Marauder as he dove away and tried to activate his phase shift.

The world went to black and white and he felt his right side burst into flames as shrapnel embedded itself in his right thigh and pepper his armor. Those feelings were soon replaced by the flood of painkillers and surge from artificial adrenaline entering his system. Rolling onto his back, face twisted into a ferocious snarl, he pulled out the R-6P as the air crackled and he exited the phase shift.

Only to be forced to barrel roll as the last of the guards and came up and received the last of the grenades in the Softball. One by one they detonated, sending white hot shrapnel shards throughout the room, one of which started a chain reaction of stored ammunition. The weapon ran dry as the pilot soon staggered to his feet and surveyed the carnage that he was responsible for. The series of explosions had started a quickly growing fire as containers began to belch thick black smoke, the fire continuing to spread.

The surreal silence was broken by a feral cry as he spun around and was tackled to the floor by the last goon who pinned the pilot rather well. After a few frantic moments of struggle, Matt managed to get his right hand free and land a punch, shoving his assailant off as he tried to get to his feet. It was useless, with the painkillers fogging his mind and slowing his movements, he was unable to react in time when the thug charged again, and Cooper was thrown onto his back once more as the enforcer pulled a knife from his belt and raised it before bringing it down at Matt's throat. Cooper tried to raise his arms to block as he ducked to one side, biting back a cry of pain as the tip of the blade went into his left shoulder. The Pilot gripped both hands on the man's wrists as he tried to push back, fighting against the man's body weight and gravity.

Matt could feel the knife slice further into him as his left arm weakened. "Not going out…like this" he snarled as he brought his knee up and hit his assailant right in the balls, forcing the goon to loosen his grip on the blade. With his remaining strength, the SRS pilot slammed a haymaker into his jaw with his one good arm and kicked the thug off of him as he finally managed to get to his feet.

Before the thug could recover, the Marauder was on top of him, the bloody knife pulled from his shoulder in his hand as he brought it down at the man's face. Only the man brought his hands up to protect his face as his own knife was driven through his hands and given a savage twist.

Ignoring the cries of pain that came from the man as more explosions rocked the space, Coop relinquished his grip on the shoddy knife and pulled out his combat axe and switched it over to his good hand. With one final effort he slammed the tomahawk into the side of the man's head, causing all resistance to cease. Prying the weapon from its new resting point and flicking off bits of brain matter, Cooper limped towards a console as he saw the fire continue to spread. Time was quickly running out.

He pulled out his data knife and pried open a keypad and inserted the multi purpose tool. "Hurry it up" he encouraged, his desire to leave only increasing as he felt the heat of the fire increase. The circles filled agonizingly slowly as the knife transferred all the data at the terminal to BT before wiping the servers. While he was thankful for the quantity of information, he did not want to share a room with ordinance and a spreading fire any longer than he had to. "Finally," muttered Cooper as he sheathed the knife and ran towards the elevator, managing a jog as his left arm refused to do anything but hang limply at his side.

Propping it up with his right, he fired his grapple and bit back a curse as he approached the lip and pulled himself up and stumbled away from the increasingly large smoke plume that was coming up behind him. Shaking away the pain he looked up and was greeted by another complication.

"NYPD! HANDS UP!" called an unknown female voice as the Pilot saw three figures approach him, weapons drawn. All were wearing bullet proof vests and stern expressions. "You're under arrest!"

Cooper straightened, more natural and artificial adrenaline seeping into his veins as he looked over the three. "BT" he said quietly as he watched the two subordinates' expressions waver ever so slightly, "Any ideas?"

The two detectives and Captain Watanabe stood motionless as they waited for the Marauder to do something, anything. The man certainly looked imposing in his armor, the battered chest piece, blood stains, and glowing x shaped visor leaving no question as to how dangerous he could be. Behind him, the thick black smoke continued to pour from the hole in the floor, slowly beginning to conceal him again as he stood motionless, giving him a demonic air.

But Yuri narrowed her eyes as she saw the Marauder's slight limp and the massive bloodstain covering his left shoulder, he looked vulnerable, human almost. "Captain Watanabe I presume?" he said finally, his voice electronically filtered. "Sorry about the mess" he said dryly.

"Get on your knees, keep your hands where I can see them" ordered Yuri sternly as they kept their weapons trained on the grey armor plate. Though the Marauder didn't seem intimidated as he shook his head slowly, the glowing visor standing out from the dark smoke that was slowly filling the room.

"We both know that Kingpin is planning something" said the Marauder, "he's the real threat." The NYPD Captain knew the man was right but said nothing as she slowly approached, "I have the data to pick his plans apart piece by piece and that's what I'm going to do" he vowed as he lowered his helmet and stared straight into the Captains eyes. "So, stay out of my way" he threatened.

"And you're going to go do what? Play hero?" asked Johnson as the distinct visor shifted to the blonde woman.

The vigilante chuckled. "Wouldn't be the first time" he responded wryly. "Doesn't change anything Detective. I can stop him, and I will."

"By going outside the law? Being judge, jury, and executioner?" challenged Martinez as he adjusted his grip on the pistol in his hands, Yuri able to see the anger creeping onto his features. "What gives you the right?"

The man shrugged casually, "I suppose the best way to put it is that I have the Right of Might" he said. "No one will stop me because nobody can stop me. Especially not any of you" he said as she saw his hand twitch.

All three opened fire, Yuri swore she saw her shots hit the armored vest before he simply vanished into thin air. "SHIT!" she yelled as all three got their heads on the swivel and looked for the Marauder. "Where did he go?" she asked.

"No clue ma'am" responded Martinez before he fought off a cough, the black smoke was getting thicker. "But we can't stay here to find out!" he called, as if to emphasize his point, a larger explosion than any of the previous ones rocked the building.

Holding back a curse, she looked around one last time. The floor was cracking under their feet and the man they were hunting was nowhere in sight. "Everybody out!" she ordered sternly as the three police officers turned back towards the door. Looking back over shoulder, she saw a massive chunk of the floor fall into a massive pyre below. "GO! GO!" she yelled as she took off after them in a dead sprint.

She saw Martinez and Johnson go out the busted door they came in just as the floor she was running on began to give out and she felt a sensation of weightlessness. In a state of shock, Watanabe looked down to see that she was falling into what would likely become her funeral pyre before she slammed into the top of a container and blacked out.

Cooper sat outside the now structurally questionable building, his cloak active as he saw the two detectives come out of the building and waited for Watanabe to exit. But the Asian woman did not emerge from the building. "God Damnit" he muttered; he had listened to what BT had told him about the Captain.

The more the Vanguard told him, the more Yuri reminded him of his father. Hardnosed, lead from the front type who went above and beyond to get the job done. She was trying to stop him, but she wasn't really in the game, a bystander caught in the crossfire.

Standing and fighting back the pain, he sprinted forwards and past the two detectives, ignoring their shouted demands as he entered the burning building and looked for any sign of the captain through the smoke. When that failed, he tossed out a pulse blade with his bad arm into the burning pit of fire and spotted the woman sprawled out on the floor.

Jumping into the smoke-filled room and immensely thankful for his helmet filter system, he made his way towards Watanabe. Ignoring the spikes of pain from his right leg and instinctually raising his right arm when he heard another explosion on the far side of the room and saw a support beam collapse.

The woman wasn't stirring, and he didn't try to wake her, hissing in pain, he slung the cop over his right shoulder. Looking up, he saw the fire had cut off the closest gap in the floor and was now surrounding them. Taking the only option available, he wall ran along the wall and jumped across to a container before jumping back to the wall and strained to raise his grapple and fired it off, growling in pain as the device pulled him and the Captain up out of the fire and back onto the ground floor.

Because of the smoke, Cooper was forced to kick down the door to the offices closest to the elevator exit and quickly pushed through them until he found himself back in the cool night air of the city. The shadows projected by the massive fire onto the neighboring buildings made the experience of hopping the fence and carrying the Captain across the street almost surreal.

Gingerly placing the woman on the sidewalk, he saw her eyes open a fraction of the way as she began to stir. "Sorry for the bumpy ride Captain, but you're safe now" he assured as he rummaged around in his belt for a particular item. He could see her try to regain her senses as he found what he was looking for.

Of course, the better lighting also meant he could see more of her injuries, chiefly the massive and bloody gash on her forehead. "I'm giving you something for the pain, when you wake up you should be much better" he told her, very familiar with what would happen as he jammed the injector into her thigh and let the medical cocktail do its thing. Her head immediately dropped back down to the pavement and all attempts to struggle ceased.

That still left the problem of an unconscious woman sitting on a New York sidewalk. Cooper wracked his brain to find a way to get the attention of the other officers. He didn't see a radio on her and his was set to only receive, not transmit. Almost on instinct, he pulled out and reloaded his R-201 before a realization hit him like a freight train.

He fired a long burst into the ground, the automatic weapons fire slicing through the night and echoing off the surrounding buildings. Not wanting to be there when the detectives came running, he activated his cloak and began to scale a nearby building to make his egress. When he reached the roof, he turned back to see the two other cops with Watanabe at her side and could hear the sounds of approaching sirens. One of the detectives looked up and saw the Pilot, illuminated by the burning distribution center as he gave a half salute and turned, disappearing into the darkness.

"Pilot, you are suffering severe injuries, you require medical assistance" said BT as Cooper limped into the armory and saw the Titan sitting in its racks. Matt knew more or less what he was dealing with, he had to deal with the flashing alerts until he got the armor off. He had to pull four pieces of shrapnel out of his right leg and it was wrapped in enough bandages to make it look like it belonged to a mummy. His shoulder had a healthy amount of bio-gel stuffed into it to seal the wound, even if it was now quite stiff.

His chest piece was worthless, compromised by the punishment it had taken, and he had also been grazed by a bullet from the cops on his right side. He wasn't quite sure how he had managed to drive off the island in a red Dodge Viper while under the effects of a substantial number of painkillers and with a enough blood seeping through the bandages to ensure the clothes he was wearing were destined for the trash without being stopped by the police, but he didn't particularly care.

Opening a cabinet and pulling out a selection of medical supplies he set to work. "I don't think that's much of an option right now buddy" he said. Chances are the cops would have all the hospitals looking out for someone with a beat up leg and shoulder and he had no intentions of being a guest of Rikers. "Chances are I can get through this on my own" he assured as he began taking off his bandages and his expression soured.

He had seen gruesome wounds, and he knew from how painful it felt that it would be ugly, but that didn't make removing the blood-soaked bandages an easier task. "It is recommended you seek assistance from a medical professional when you have sustained wounds of that level."

"Not an option" he repeated as he started cleaning the wounds properly, "We need to keep a low profile" he snapped as he continued to work in silence. The shoulder wound proved to be much less of an issue, but received the same cleaning and disinfection treatment. By the time he had finished, the last of the painkillers had worn off and Cooper was feeling the effects of the nights combat full force. "Go through that intel we got BT, chances are we're going to be busy" he said with a wave as he turned in. Once settled onto his bed he inserted the same kind of serum he had given Watanabe and was out like a light.

Outside the hideout, a figure smiled from the shadows. The efforts of the past few hours hadn't been a waste after all. The black clad prowler smirked; a new hunting ground found.

Cooper's Logbook – Armor

This new armored vest I got when I arrived in New York, which I've been calling 'Dragon Scale' because I have no better ideas, is incredible. Multiple layers of this interlocking hexagonal pattern make it tougher than anything else I've seen. While rifle caliber rounds easily pierce the first two layers, the third is usually enough to top them. Pistols get through one, maybe two at point blank range. In addition the protection against shrapnel, edged weapons, and blunt force trauma is good considering the vests absorbing qualities.

Because of whatever the hell its made of, it can repair itself. Quick fixes can be made in about a minute, but substantial damage will take up to six hours to fully repair. Successive hits strip away the top layers and make the armor weaker the more punishment it takes, and the field patchwork is never 100%. But still, it's better than nothing and saved my bacon more than I can count in the week or so I've been here.

Log – Pulse Blade

I've been playing with this thing in my spare time and I swear it makes even less sense then the Phase Shift. Of the six tactical abilities in this gear this has been the hardest one to get to grips with. What looks like a simple kunai knife is in fact one part of a larger and far more advanced information gathering and display system. The knife itself is flash forged from simple materials, aluminum, with a steel edge for the blade and carbon fiber for the handle. Inside the handle is the simple pulse generator and the self-destruct system. On contact, the blade buries itself into whatever it hits and triggers the pulse, the module on my suit is what turns that pulse into the highlighting of important information.

After a set time, the blade self-destructs to keep it out of enemy hands before another is created Due to the limits of the system this takes some time and cannot begin until the deployed blade is destroyed.

That also means that anyone that get hits with it just received a death sentence.

Closing notes: Hopefully y'all enjoyed this chapter, from here things are going to go at this fairly breakneck pace. I personally hate when things drag and so this is not going to until the end of the story arc.

Next chapter along with updates coming Thursday (ish). If any of you reading have questions you would like to see answered in the forthcoming 'Cooper's Logbook' entries, then let me know so I know what to prioritize.

In the next installment, you miss every shot you don't take, but sometimes scoring only takes One Shot.

Until then, stay frosty, Misfit Delta out.