Elites Chapter II: Blackguard

Chapter VII: The Guardian

Chicago, Illinois

8:04pm

After the small jet landed near the convention center, Ruby quickly tuned in to the police radios. She would have to know where the police were headed in order to find her mystery man. The radios chimed in after a few moments. There was a shootout a few blocks away occurring and Police were a few miles away. Ruby quickly ran into action. As the men were shooting, Ruby tossed a flash grenade into the area. It quickly disoriented the crooks and gave her enough time to jump in and disarm many of them. She then went on to knock many of them over before their senses could come back. Seconds later, she noticed a hooded figure taking down many of the other bad guys. The figure had a red mask without a cowl, similar to the Elites. However, his eyes were not visible and were covered by white spots. He was wearing a crimson suit with gold trim in certain areas. The two tied up the crooks before the police could arrive. Once they did, he was off, running away. Ruby quickly went after the man. He ran and hid down an alley. But Ruby was right in front of him and he was trapped.

"You're William Turner aren't you." The figure replies "Only when I'm out of the mask. I go by Guardian now. And folks call me Wade. Who are you? How do you know my name?" Ruby replied "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. And there will be time to answer all of them." Guardian replied "Maybe we should go back to my apartment. This seems important." The two then ran towards a building and jumped through an open window on the third floor. Guardian was quite agile, but a bit sloppy in performance. When they arrived, he turned on a light. "Sam? Sam! We have a guest." Guardian then took off his mask. He was a bit taller than Ruby, with light skin, green eyes, and brown hair. Another girl then walked in. She was short, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Ruby stepped in and they all sat down around a table. Ruby began talking "I'm sure you both have a lot of questions about why I am here, so let me just introduce myself. My name is Nicole. My codename is Ruby, and I am an Elite. The girl chimed in "I've heard of you before, you all stopped IATO from launching their program. I'm Samantha by the way, but you can call me Sam." Nicole replied "So I've heard. Anyway you both volunteered for an IATO experiment a year ago, that was being run by Director Liam Pierce." Wade interrupted "Pierce was a good man. He always helped us out with adjusting to our powers." Nicole interrupted back and said "He's dead. Murdered. And he was no saint. He was responsible for running a branch of a terrorist group in America. That's why we had to stop him. But we weren't the ones who killed him. We need your help trying to find the killer. I know we're getting off topic, but what powers did he give you?" Sam replied "As of now, I don't have any powers. But who knows." Wade said "My sense of sight and hearing were enhanced. He also gave me the power to heal people's injuries." "Why did you even sign up for something that dangerous? Were there others?" Ruby was curious. She needed to know everything about them. Will replied "I don't know of any others. And I signed up for one reason only." "Oh God. Not this talk again" Sam said. Wade kept talking. "It all started last year. I was 15, both our families were murdered by a gang. For the longest, all we had was each other, and I made a promise to her. I would protect her at all costs. But sometimes I wasn't enough. That scar on my arm. It was from getting stabbed protecting her from some extremely aggressive lady-killers. That's why I signed. My senses were dialed up from maybe a 6, to a hard 11. After months of martial arts classes all over the world, I returned to Chicago as Guardian."

Ruby was appalled. "Oh my God. You've been through so much." She then took a closer look at the uniform he was wearing. "Did you make the suit?" She asked. Samantha chimed in and said "I did actually. It's made from Kevlar. It takes gunshots pretty well, but not that good against knives. That's why I applied a thin layer of Iron Alloy for padding. And the eyes were made from..." Ruby interrupted "I know. You used metal mesh to give off a mysterious vibe while creating protection for your real eyes." "Exactly. How did you know?" Samantha was surprised that Ruby even knew the different parts of the armor. Ruby then took off her mask. "I know a thing or two about designing armors. I helped design the suits for my team before we joined IATO. I made the designs, and my friend Jayson decked it out with the technology. Now Wade, we need your help with a situation in our own city. We need you to come with us to solve this problem. I swear that you will be back home by next week at the latest." Wade pondered on every last word, and then gave a long sigh. "Fine." He then packed up his armor, as well as some extra clothes. He kissed Sam goodbye, and walked out the front door. As they were walking back to the convention center, Wade then asked "Where is it that your team is positioned?" Nicole said nothing, but she smirked and kept walking. "Oh you'll love it. Even around this time of year, it doesn't get cold." After a few minutes, they got inside Ruby's two-person aircraft and left Chicago, and back to Miami.