Times Square Rooftops - Manhattan - United States
Three muffled shots rang out and echoed through the labyrinth that was the twisting and turning streets of New York City. Gunshots were not as uncommon in the city as they had been in recent years. With all the new criminal organizations sprouting up and trying to get their hands on these outrageously overpowered video game characters, firefights or shootings were increasingly common. Firefights more so, however, as there were many action-game characters that refused to join these organizations. This was less than appreciated...
A lone EXCALIBUR-clad Tenno (who had recently begun identifying himself as "Excalibur") stalked atop the towering structures that surrounded Time's Square, watching the commotion below. His visor told him the tale very clearly. The built-in zoom function showed a character that appeared to have at least minimal combat training attempting to evade one such criminal organization. The words of the Lotus from his first days of training echoed in his head.
You were bred for combat. You were created as a guardian. You were trained to protect those who cannot protect themselves. You are their sword. You are their shield. Seek out oppression. Liberate the oppressed. Balance above all.
These words reminded him of his duties. Like most Tenno, he was trained to adhere to a strict code of chivalry. He was not to discriminate between good and evil. He knew this from his encounters with the Infested. They were neither good nor evil. They merely sought survival, though they posed a great threat to the rest of the galaxy. At the moment, the only oppression Excalibur could see was the criminal organization chasing down another Character. They had him outnumbered and outgunned. How despicable... He continued to watch the chase though. He switched the visor to X-ray mode.
The three shots managed to take out a pair of pursuers, but the prey was still in danger. He escaped into a subway terminal, temporarily escaping his assailants, who were quick to disperse. Not long after, however, several unmarked vans sped down a street in the corner of Excalibur's eyes, haphazardly driving through the crowded New York Streets. They were too quick for him to get a good look at, but he deemed it urgent enough to investigate, considering their lack of sirens. He started toward in the direction the vans were headed, following the sounds of the traffic reacting to the reckless driving. Tires screeching and the angry cries of drivers run off the road acted as his compass, leading him closer to the vans as he leaped across the numerous rooftops throughout the city.
Eventually, Excalibur came to a street riddled with old brick-built apartment buildings, arriving shortly after the vans. Whoever inhabited them was loaded for bear. The four vans in total offloaded around two dozen... what looked like soldiers, but they didn't have any sort of patch identification. In addition to lacking patches, they were heavy body armor, almost like riot gear. It reminded Excalibur slightly of RHINO Warframes. Getting closer to the commotion, Excalibur could hear the men below.
"Come on, come on, come on, let's go! This Character is marked, pick up the pace!"
"Get those explosives around the base of the building immediately! I don't care if there are still people inside, go clear them out if you need to!"
The men complaining about the tenants of the building in question promptly rushed in, waving their guns and shouting. Several screams could be heard inside, no doubt the terrified occupants who were quickly rushed out of the building... Before long they decided to check the target's unit while they were inside, only to find it was empty. Strings of obscenities flooded the air as the breachers called out.
"HE'S NOT FUCKIN' HERE!"
"WHAT?!"
"THE TARGET'S UNIT IS EMPTY!"
"FUCK IT, LEVEL THE WHOLE PLACE! HE MUST HAVE SEEN US COMING AND HID! HE CAN'T BE FAR!"
The... troops, if you could call them that, excitedly began offloading tons of high explosives and lining every nearby building, no longer clearing them out. They couldn't be bothered anymore. This Character was a high priority and deemed a threat to humanity... at least in their minds. With explosives strung and planted in abundance, the men cleared the blast radius and Excalibur retreated slightly himself. He was certain his shields would hold against an explosion. They had survived the vacuum of space many times when a stray Grineer or Corpus round punctured an explosive barrel and breached a section of the hull of one of the many space-faring he had been deployed to. But it was better to conserve them just in case.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE--"
"Oh for CHRISSAKES, GIMME THAT!"
One of the men yanked the detonator from his colleague's hands and squeezed the trigger on the side. The street was filled with a brilliant fireball as the buildings that lined it were flattened and replaced with smoldering piles of rubble. The explosion ripped through two parallel streets, and the block was soon little more than disintegrated masonry and craters.
The troops re-encroached upon the flattened area and began to search the rubble for any sign of their target. Excalibur took this opportunity to descend upon them from what was left of one of the larger buildings. The thud of his landing alerted the bombers, who turned their guns on him.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" one cried as another spoke into his radio, requesting backup.
Excalibur stood slowly, pulling his Heat Swords from their magnetic homes on his back, the Orokin suit reacting to his movements and releasing the weapons with little resistance.
"Seek out Oppression. Liberate the oppressed. Balance above all. I am Tenno."
Sometimes I feel like the only normal person here
"My Threshing has been Extra Princely Fresh"

Hazmer Baybee
