Aldrich said those last few words without any hint of threat in them.
The intent was, of course, a threatening one.
At face value, it seemed like Aldrich was telling Solomon Solar that he was one of the few genuine ones out there, but in reality, it was a jab at the fact that Solomon Solar, the golden hero who everyone looked up to, was anything but clean.
Still, Aldrich did not want Solomon to know that Aldrich knew this. That was why he kept his tone neutral. He would keep the rank 1 hero guessing until it was too late, until Aldrich had Solomon dancing right in the palm of his hand, at which point Aldrich would close his fist and crush Solomon.
All the knowledge that Aldrich knew about Solomon, about Blackwater, about his criminal involvement, about his son, all of that would come crashing down on the golden hero soon enough.
But now was not the right time. Solomon Solar's smile cracked for the slightest of moments as he stared at Aldrich with a questioning gaze. But his usual smile returned right afterwards
so that the media could never capture him without It.
"Further delays will not be tolerated," said the two Guardians that came back to Aldrich's sides. "Please proceed to the transport or face retaliatory force."
"Ah, looks like my time is up here," said Aldrich. "I'll keep you to your word, Solar. Once I get out, I want to see you here, in Haven, so that we can work together. You called me a 'friend'.
I'm looking forward for you to prove that."
Aldrich looked over to the crowd and spoke up, over the din of the carrier above. "Before I leave, I want you to remember what happened tonight. Solomon Solar promised his assistance to me, and with that, Haven's renewal is all but guaranteed.
Until I come back, though, keep yourselves safe. Keep yourselves healthy. I just sat down and got to know all of your names - I'd feel bad if I couldn't see some of you again."
Aldrich stepped away and let the Guardians escort him. They marched behind
Aldrich, pushing him towards the open carrier.
"Remove all armor and armaments from your body" stated the Guardians.
"This armor is a part of me," said Aldrich. "It cannot be removed."
"Initializing confirmation scan...," One of the Guardians pointed their
mechanical hands at Aldrich, and the hand broke down into a cloud of grey
particulates that then quickly reshaped into a cylindrical scanning mechanism.
A green light streamed out from the mechanism, washing over Aldrich.
"Physical scans show an irregular skeletal system covered by unidentifiable
metals and organic matter," said the Guardian. "Attempting AC scan..."
"Forget the AC scan," said Aldrich. "My powers are automatically concealed.
You won't get anything out of me even if I wanted to show you."
The Guardian ignored Aldrich and continued to scan Aldrich. After a few
seconds, it reported, "Scan unsuccessful. Unable to determine whether
removing armor from the target will cause physical distress.
Erring on the side of safety, we will allow you to maintain possession your
armor. Be warned that any hostile action will be met with appropriate force
and-"
"I understand, so get on with it." Aldrich nodded and stepped forward, right
below the square shaped opening that led directly into the black and purple
light of the Iron Box.
He looked up at the glowing darkness above expectantly. He had removed his
Materius, stripping away his physical flesh to leave nothing but his skeletal
form covered by Volantis.
This made it seem that Volantis was a part of Aldrich's being or, at the very
least, absolutely necessary to keep him alive.
Aldrich saw as a sudden blue beam projected downwards in a pillar that
completely covered him.
Aldrich felt weight push down on every inch of his being. The Guardians
stepped aside, and as they did so, the weight bearing down on Aldrich suddenly
completely faded, instead turning into the direct opposite sensation of
complete weightlessness.
A fast retrieval gravity beam. A high-tech piece of equipment located on new
transport aircraft that allowed them to easily pick up personnel or key targets
on the ground. Normally reserved for high level military or hero operations.
Aldrich was in the big leagues now. Any force used against him was going to be
near the highest end. High tech like this, the Guardians, S rank heroes, those
were all free game to use against him.
It was both a compliment and a warning.
Acompliment in that it confirmed Aldrich's power and potential influence.
Awarning in that if Aldrich made a misstep, then all this force would rain
down on Aldrich with no restrictions.
So be it. Aldrich had never been the type to take risk before. This was the first
time he had ever taken as much risk as he did, but he had to admit, he was not
opposed to it.
It made him anticipate just how much sweeter his victory would be.