This piece was originally begun by Andy Mathews and myself. Andy did not get a chance to complete it but with the help of jshowell we were able to tie up the loose ends and bring it to a conclusion.

The shimmering trail was fairly easy to pick up with thermal vision. Raphael watched from about half a mile away. She landed somewhere near LeMastre park. The Latin Dragons were going to hit members of Posse 187 there tonight. Raphael thought, Her intel must be pretty good for her to hear that.

After 9PM, the park transformed. The last of the public concerts or baseball games were over and the little league parents or concert goers were out of there fast. That’s when the freaks and ghouls came out. Raphael approached the park on the ground. He had been breaking in his new get-up now for about a week; trying to find out everything he could about his new teammates.

Ophilia would have a cow if she knew that he was making contact before the official announcement. She would also have a cow if she knew that Angelo had leaked the roster to Raphael. His reasons were his own, but Raphael knew that Angelo had little choice but to indulge him. At least for the time being

Raphael moved silently through the park, using shadows and underbrush to mask him. He saw her before he saw them. She was standing behind several trees and well concealed. Raphael only saw her because of her over-active heat bloom. She stood out as if she has wearing a strobe light to him.

The Dragons were hidden, lying in wait for three of their rivals. Raphael moved to within striking distance from the dragons. Then, he saw their guns begin to glow slightly.

Several of them shrieked in pain as the metal guns became too hot to hold. But, she hadn’t planned on that ... the 187s pulled pistols and began throwing bullets into the dark toward the cries.

Orion moved toward the trio of black men, one bullet bouncing off his defensive screen. He reached out and punched the one who seemed to be in the lead breaking his arm with the force of his blow.

Heatwave swore under her breath, her plan had been to disable both sides before anyone could get hurt; the 187s must have been farther away than she had thought. Well that was easily remedied. The Dragons' guns were still glowing on the ground so Heatwave shifted her attention to where she guessed the shots were coming from and began raising the temperature. Coherent thought was swiftly fleeing and lethargy setting in on those caught within the radius of her power.

The Dragons were beginning to recover from their shock and one, a man barely out of his teens, made to pick up his gun. The barrel was still too hot to touch and he yelped in pain as his hand closed over it and dropped it once more to the ground.

For the moment Heatwave kept her concentration on the area the gunshots were fired form, wishing the temperature would just stay raised until she decided to turn it off. Unfortunately her powers did not work that way and she was forced to keep applying her power until her targets were disabled.

Orion felt his body temperature rise as Heatwave attacked the second group. He palmed the head of one of the 187s with his invisible hand and slammed the boy head first into the sidewalk.

The third one turned and ran. Orion turned to check on Heatwave and the Dragons. “I’ll get this one.” He shouted to her; “You take those.”

The unfamiliar voice drew Heatwave's attention and she moved to get a better look at those she had been attacking. The sight of another costumed figure gave her pause; he was not someone she recognized and she could not be sure if he was with one of the gangs. Her brief hesitation ended as soon as she realized he was fighting the 187s and had told her to take out the Dragons. The guns the young men dropped had cooled enough for the gang members to retrieve them and they dove back into the trees for cover

"I'm on it." She answered.

Heatwave debated going after individual targets but the trees provided too much concealment so she used the same tactic she had on the 187s. It would take longer but she was sure of getting all of them.

A sudden impact to her side knocked her to the ground; a split second later she heard the crack of a gun firing and knew she had been hit. Her hand went to where the bullet had struck and she gave a sigh of relief when it came away dry. At least now she knew the shimmering field of heated air surrounding her gave her at least some protection from bullets. Not wanting to test how much protection she actually had, Heatwave once more raised the temperature just inside the trees. This time she was rewarded with a loud groan from one of the Dragons.

Orion launched himself high into the air, his body in a rigid pike position as he turned himself so he would land facing the gangers. He smiled when he realized that he didn’t know either of them. He back-handed one of them from 10 feet, the other he caught with an invisible hand and held him helplessly in the air.

“Drop your gun and run.” He told the one who was trying to find his feet again. “Run fast.” He said. He looked to the first one he had hit and the boy seemed to be writhing on the ground in pain, but very much alive. Maybe he was getting the hang of this hero thing. At least he had plenty of practice at cracking heads.

Orion looked back over to where he had heard the gunshot, and hoped that he wouldn’t be taking his new soon-to-be teammate to the hospital.

Heatwave cautiously approached the area the groans had been coming from and found two of the Dragons unconscious and the third nearly so. She applied her power to the teen once more and after he had joined his companions she set about confiscating their weapons.

The whole time she kept her attention focused on the sounds coming from the other group where it sounded like she had gotten some unexpected help. Whoever it was might have taken out the other gang but that did not mean he was on her side.

When she had the last of the weapons she stepped out of the trees and dropped them in a pile at her feet. Focusing her power on the pile she turned up the heat until there was nothing left but twisted metal. It would not hurt to let her unknown helper see what she was capable of.

She seemed to have things well in hand, so Orion turned his full attention back to the held kid. “You – you’re going to talk to me.” Orion moved him closer, but still held him in the air. The tattoos on his arm marked him as the highest ranking member of the 187s that had been here tonight.

“I’m going to put you down. But, if you run; I’m going to break your legs and drop you off at the Stars and Bars. Those rednecks would fight over you like the last drumstick on Thanksgiving Day.” Orion said casually.

The kid struggled against the force holding him in the air, but soon gave in to it and nodded.

“Good choice.” Orion said, carrying him back over to where the Dragons and Heatwave were.

“I’m Orion.” He introduced himself. “Thanks for helping me stop this mini-race war these two were trying to start.”

"I'm Heatwave." She said holding out her hand with a smile. "I think we helped each other."

Orion nodded, “I couldn’t agree more.” He said, a smile visible on his face.

A little while later they stood atop LeMastre Office Park and looked out onto the park and the river. “So, I hear that we’re going to be teammates soon.”

Heatwave went still; she had been under the impression none of the Conquistadors would know each other until the official debut of the team. How did Orion know who she was? Deciding to play it cautiously she answered, "I'm not sure what you mean."

“Oh.” Orion said, “I was pretty sure that you were contacted. Maybe I was wrong.” He said. He could play a finesse game, but he liked directness. In this case, he was willing to play out finesse a little longer. Maybe she would bolt; maybe she would stay.

"No, you weren't wrong but I was under the impression we wouldn't know the rest of our team until the official meeting." Heatwave said. "How did you find out about me?"

He shrugged, making it look mundane. “I’ve done my homework.”

"Still, you must be pretty good at what you do if you managed to find out about me, considering how hush, hush everything is being kept." Heatwave smiled, "It's nice to know at least one person on the team is going to be competent."

He smiled a thin, knowing smile. He was, in fact, very good at what he did. But that chapter had closed. What he was signing up to do, on the other hand, had yet to be determined.

“Be that as it may. What we stumbled onto here tonight is the beginning of a move by the Koreans and Chinese against the Black gangs north of the river.” He said. “My sources tell me that the 187s were looking to buy from the Mexicans and start to move into Seouple Ring and Triad territory. So, this was the Dragons pushing back a little.”

“There were three shootings on North Roosevelt last night. All Dragons in their space. All the shootings have been tied back to the Southside and my people tell me that it’s the 187s.” Orion stopped to give her a chance to reply.

"You're sources are better than mine then, I just happened to hear about this little party a couple of hours ago. I thought I'd be able to break it up and that would be the end of it. At least until one
side angered the other again." She gave a wry laugh, "I guess I was being a bit naive."

Orion regarded her briefly and scratched his chin. It was, as she put, naive. But fresh, nonetheless. “Well, that’s why we’re here, then, right? Because preventing one violent crime just isn’t enough anymore: it’s a scratch on the surface of this city and we all know it. What really counts is much deeper. And none of us can get to it alone.”

He continued to gauge her carefully.

Heatwave nodded, if what happened to her family had not been proof enough Orion was right her encounter with Shift would. She was not even sure a team of heroes working together would be enough to put an end to the evil and corruption that had rooted itself in the very core of Hudson City.

"No, you are right there. It's too big for any of us alone. I'm just worried we might be too late and even a team won't be enough."

He thought about that for a moment before speaking again, allowing the weight of it to linger between them. "You might be right," he said at last. He turned to her, then, his eyes hard, determined.

"But I think it's about time we find out."