The Destroyer roamed the avenues. He was starting to get discouraged.  He had been at it since early in the evening, now it was close to eleven. He gunned his high-powered bike and raced through traffic. When someone looked at him strangely, which was frequently, he turned to face them and drew his gun. He felt good to get respect or fear from someone -- Snake didn't give him either.

His name was Lance, but in the last few weeks he was just called "Destroyer". Lance supposed it was an honor to wear the first of these supersuits, but he didn't care. He just wanted loot and the chance to kick some ass. In this suit he thought that even Eclipse was no match. He had only been shot one time in this thing and that was the other night when that brat Blane Trask had tried to escape. Now Trask was dead; he rammed his car against the Trask Towers building, probably driven mad by fear of Lance.

As he rode up and down the street for the seventh time, Lance saw something. Lance could not believe his eyes -- a black Toyota with pin-points of light all over the surface of its frame.

Lance kicked into gear and rode after the car. He gunned his engine till it whined like a whistle. He rode up near it and drew his pistol. The weapon moaned furiously as he let loose with everything it had. The car swerved but not a scratch appeared on the surface. Lance switched to armor-piercing rounds but the black car swerved off the road and into a parking structure.

Lance slowed and descended the ramp into the parking garage. He studied the almost full lot and sought his quarry. There was no sign of life at all.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" sang the Destroyer in his hollow mechanical voice.

Meanwhile, Eclipse rolled out of his car, turning to Lane. "Stay inside the car, Lane," he warned in a hushed whisper.

Blane crawled away from the Nightmobile. He didn't want to draw any attention to Lane; he would wait for the right moment, then try to take out the Destroyer.

The Destroyer thought that he saw something and let out a burst of lead. The bullets rang off of an old Ford sedan, but no foe fell. The Destroyer walked slower, trying to pinpoint Eclipse. As the Destroyer passed by an opening across the lot, Eclipse saw him and decided to take action. Blane triggered his cable gun while firing off a shot from his machine pistol. The Destroyer came straight for him.

Blane flattened his body as the Destroyer came close and triggered the retracting motors on the cable gun. Eclipse slid across the floor at surprising speed and slammed into the Destroyer with all his weight plus the force of the cable gun's motors. The Destroyer was knocked against the wall by the force of the impact and lost hold of his gun.

The gun was, however, connected to the suit by a cable which supplied the energy necessary to fire it at such a fast rate. As the Destroyer reeled in the weapon, Eclipse rose up like a cloud of black ink. He spun in mid-rise and delivered a powerful kick to the Destroyer's face. The kick bounced off of the helmet and the Destroyer pistol-whipped Blane to the ground.

As the Destroyer brought his pistol to bear, Eclipse rolled to the side. The bullets formed a trail as he rolled. In one quick movement, the ebon-clad avenger was up and charging the Destroyer, who had suddenly run out of bullets. Blane knew all about the suit and had calculated the shots. The Destroyer lashed out savagely with a kick, only to have Eclipse catch it with his vicelike grip.

As the Destroyer struggled free, Blane extended his free hand and flicked his wrist; a switchblade snapped into his palm. Blane popped open the finely honed blade and brought it down into the leg of the Destroyer. The tip of the switchblade barely broke through the armor. The Destroyer pulled away and prepared to use one of his back-up weapons when Eclipse took to laughing.

Blane knew that his last attack barely drew blood, but that was all it took.

The Destroyer started to stagger, then shake -- finally he fell to the ground, overtaken by a powerful knockout drug. Eclipse moved swiftly to the Destroyer and began to remove his armor. Lane raced from the Nightmobile to his friend's side.

"Wow, that was amazing!" admired Lane. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" questioned Lane, who was still stunned at the ease with which his friend had taken down the armored assassin.

"My grandfather taught me," remarked Blane, who felt a sense of pride all of a sudden. He was getting to like this Hero buisiness.

"What are you gonna do with the armor?" inquired Lane.

"Not what am I going to do with it? It's yours now!" spoke Eclipse quite seriously.

Lane laughed a bit, then saw that his friend was serious. "You can't mean that I'm supposed to wear that, do you?" Lane had no qualms about showing his fear.

"I said that it was yours; you can study it or wear it, either way is help for me."

"What's happening to you, Blane? When did you become a one-man army!?" Lane spoke like a man drowning in his words.

"I became the way I am now, the moment I saw my grandfather die. He was the finest man I have ever met, a real hero. He was capable of almost anything. When I put on this suit, I feel the same way. I feel like I have purpose in my life!" retorted Blane, visually angered by his friend's questions, but yet he also saw the truth in his friend's concern.

Nothing physically had happened to him to make him a hero; he just found out that it was in his blood and decided to take on the identity.

"Listen, Blane." Lane was calm now. "I didn't mean anything -- I'm just feeling overwhelmed by this all, but, from what I have seen, I would be a target anyway if I didn't go along with Trask and his schemes. I'll try the suit on; at least I'll be safe inside it."

Lane grabbed the suit and moved back to the Nightmobile with his friend. They drove silently towards the Night Loft, Eclipse's lair. When they reached the secret elevator, Eclipse triggered the infrared flash and the elevator opened. It was not until they reached the penthouse that they began to speak again.

"I have a disk that contains the schematics for the suit; you can acquaint yourself with them." Blane removed his mask and tossed the disk to Lane.

Lane booted up the PC that had been here when Blane found the place. Lane admired the machine; it was beyond top of the line.

"Did you steal this from Trask?" inquired Lane, jerking his thumb at the PC.

"No, it was here when I found the place. My grandfather apparently had some money stashed away after he escaped from Brazil."

Lane scanned the screen quickly and checked the systems on the suit. "Most of the functions of the suit haven't even been tested yet."

"Yeah, I know," replied Blane. "But look at it this way: that means it's fully charged up and ready to go."

"Ready to go where? I mean, what do we do next?" Lane seemed really new at this.

"Next we take out the Bloodstones, further crippling Trask's power." Blane spoke this matter-of-factly.

"Sure, Blane, we just waltz into their hideout and put the smack down on 'em," said Lane sarcastically.

"Lane, it'll be OK. That suit makes you bulletproof to a degree and you know a little kick-boxing -- the weapons in the suit will do the rest. Trust me, I designed most of it," said Blane assuredly. He didn't think Lane was ready for this, but Blane was, and that was enough to take out the whole gang as far as he was concerned...

Next episode....Here, Kitty Kitty!