Epsiode 25 - Detente and Detonations

The Immortals went to the Law Offices to meet with the Lawyers who claimed Hephaestus's power suit, only to leave minutes later, after the scheduled Lawyers were not punctual. Days later they received a subpoena to meet at a Federal Courthouse.
Present: Judge Warren Wilson, Attorney (Tarot Priestess) Samantha Sussex, Congressman (Tarot Lovers) ....., Super Patriot - Patriot, and the Immortals.
The Federal Judge Warren Wilson insisted that this was in informal meeting, but that he could arraign a true court case if either party wished. Charges made by Sussex and Co were primarily focused around the claim the Thompson (Hephaestus) stole the Warden suit, which was property of a secret government project.
Hephaestus claimed to be saving the world from evil-doer who use the suit for nefarious ends, if they had it.
The Immortals claimed that the group who claims the suit (no one mentioned the Tarot by name) kidnapped Marduk, impersonated federal agents, and left their own people dying at the scene, during the siege on Torrent's hide out in Blount Bay.
The opposition put their own spin on the event, but admitted to using extra-legal force where needed.
There was a general tension. In the end, both parties agreed that Hephaestus would hand over the battlesuit so they retrieve schematics and data that belonged to them, and then they would return the suit to him so that he could continue to use the suit to fight superhuman threats.
The judge ordered that nothing be altered by either party.
Reluctantly Thompson removed his suit and handed it over to Patriot. In less than a week it was returned, physically undamaged but bearing a mark inside the suit of a Tarot Tower, and containing several thousand lines of additional code. Hephaestus hoped to go to work deciphering the code, but his first priority was checking out the suits systems which all appeared to be working.
Then something unusual happened, in a corner of his Heads Up Display a set of GPS coordinates appeared. The team boarded the Osprey to go investigate the strange message. This led them to a decommissioned Coal Power Plant. Jack Flash scouted the long abandoned site and found evidence of recent activity, including chains cut away from a supply door lock. The team moved cautiously into the huge building. Above them, a cathedral like expanse of iron, concrete and brick. The building was coated in coke and soot. Most of the main structures were still intact. They split up and investigated further. Marduk and Hephaestus walked towards where they estimated the GPS coordinates centered. When Hephaestus reached the point, a small pop-up appeared on his HUD. This one said only "Your services are no longer required." As he spoke the words out loud trying to make sense of them a serious of explosions ripped through the building. A well orchestrated implosion and demolition took place bringing the whole building down upon the Immortals. The team survived the initial blast and collapse only to find themselves trapped under a mountain of rubble. C4 was quickly able to turn liquid and maneuver through the wreckage. Jack Flash tried something he never had before. By pushing his speed to the limit, he was able to vibrate at such speeds that his body was able to move out of alignment with the physical world. He was able to move himself out of the rubble and into the smoke-filled surface. He surveyed his surroundings while trying to catch his breath. The effort of this action has exhausted him.
Meanwhile C4 was able to locate Hephaestus and Marduk by sensing tremors in the rubble as the two strongmen battered away at their prisons of stone and iron. Marduk was dangerously low on air, and holding his breath while pummeling the walls. He would not last long in that situation. Hephaestus was out of immediate danger, having his own life support, but he was trapped nonetheless. Neither of their great powers were enough to effectively move the rubble without bringing more down upon them.
Luckily for them, C4 was a trained mining demolitions experts and he quickly calculated the size and placement of his explosive force to free Marduk. Sadly he estimated it would require a blast at least as powerful as the one that disabled him in the Mandrill's Massive Tank, but the principle was the same. He explained it to Hephaestus who modified his suit enough to channel raw electricity into a tendril of C4 which acted like a fuse connected to the rest of him which was planted as a shaped charge inside the rubble above Marduk to achieve maximum blast energy. Marduk girded himself with his Armor of the Gods, and C4 signaled Hephaestus to unleash the blast.
Marduk remembered a brief moment of blinding light before being rendered unconscious. Hephaestus registered enormous energies on his sensors before a concussion wave from the blast washed over him sending him into darkness. Jack Flash saw an eruption like a massive volcano from the mountain of rubble blast into the sky as far as he could see. The blast liquified iron and lead, pulverized concrete and brick. When the dust and smoke cleared, he moved over to see a conic crater, and the limp body of Marduk at its bottom. He was able to revive Marduk with first aid, and the two of them pulled Hephaestus out of his stoney prison as well and revived him as well.
The three of them looked for C4. They combed the rocks, they sent Jack Flash out miles to check for debris, the carefully studied the discolored stones and metal for any sign of their teammate. To no avail. The elastic hero was gone.
As night fell and the searching become impossible, the heroes returned to their plane. Each one contemplating what seemed like an undeniable fact.
No one could survive that blast.
They each started to deal with it their own way.
Marduk with optimistic denial.
Jack Flash with quick if cautious acceptance.
Hephaestus with a stoney silence, and a bottle of scotch.