Sterling Heroes Adventure Log - May 23, 2010

Leopold Stronghold was representing his corporation at a small fundraiser in the devastated neighborhood of Hero Heights. being a prominent public figurehead, word of his appearance spread and he was approached by many attendees in the hopes of discussing business. Most notable of these were the real estate developer Mr. Rogers and the businesslady Ms. Stacey.
Mr. Rogers goal was to buy the Citadel(The famous headquarters of Stirling's fallen heroes.) from Leopold in an attempt to rebuild it and reestablish the economy of Stirling.
Ms. Stacey was acting as an agent for her company whom were working to build a new supermax prison for metahumans right outside Stirling city limits and were looking for new security technology. After a brief discussion, Leopold agrees to take her to see the testing of the "Aegis" program.
When they arrive, "Aegis", piloted by Walter was deep in a brutal sparring match with Catalyst and the armoured Zoe. Despite the strength of all combatants, neither side could gain much ground against the other. The match finally ended after a lucky shot was able to hurl Catalyst against the wall, leaving her breathless and wounded.
Ms. Stacey, evidently quite impressed, asked to have a pilot of her own choosing placed in an Aegis suit to determine it's viability for her employers. Afterwards Leopold takes the others to his mansion for dinner, during which they see a program on TV about a protest meeting downtown that ended abruptly with one of the protesters firing a pistol multiple times into the air.
Following dinner, Leopold, Walter, Catalyst and Zoe all travel to the Citadel...

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Meanwhile, young Alex North, having just gotten out of class for the day, dons the garb of a hero and ventures out into the slums of hero heights looking to pit himself against the injustices of the city. Before long he sees two armed robbers holding up a gas station. After teleporting to the roof and phasing through it, Alex is able to determine that both of the robbers are new at this and very nervous, he attempts to take them both on, when Jack enters the gas station, having seen the trouble from outside. The robbers, having no luck against Alex turn and fire upon the newcomer, one missing completely and the other seeming to hit him with no effect. In panic, one decides to surrender to these powerful vigilantes. The other surprisingly fires at Alex, who, also distracted by the newcomer was not fast enough to avoid the bullet, taking it full in the chest.
Jack quickly ends the fight by using some mysterious power to slam the two thugs together, before handcuffing them to the counter. He hurries over to Alex, who agrees to go with Jack to a doctor he knows. They make a quick stop at Jack's workplace, a bar named Kirby's to get a bottle of whiskey to use as payment to Doctor Olsen.
Doctor Olsen, accepting the bribe, operates upon Alex who reveals that, due to his age, has been unable to acquire a license for his heroic persona. Jack and Alex begin watching the program about the protest before the channel goes out in static.

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Elsewhere, Justin Silcott's life turned upside down when he found out that his younger sister has contracted radiation poisoning. Rushing her immediately to the hospital, he learns that treatments for this do exist, but they would cost a thousand times what the impoverished Justin would be able to afford.
With no visible solution, Justin heads down to the protest in an attempt to enlst the aid of Phaeton, Stirling's only known metahuman. Justin finds Phaeton defending the mayor from rocks thrown by irate protestors, and fires his pistol several times up into the air to break up the mob. Dropping the gun, Justin uses the shock to present his case to Phaeton, who, unable to help the grief ridden man, attempts to bring him into the custody of the police, but is unable to locate him in the fleeing crowd.