Justice Avengers: Jump City at Dusk

It was a bright and pleasant day for the people of Jump City. The sky was blue and cloudless, the waves lapped at the shores. Ordinary people walked to and from their day to day ordinary lives. Good friends sat under the parasols to chat about their lives. Tourists drifted through the city, taking in and taking photos of the fascinating architecture. In the internet cafes, people scrolled on youvid, watching videos of the New York superheroes and their amazing exploits. It's hardly as if they had such superheroes of their own. But that wasn't entirely bad. There they were, so far removed from all the chaos, and so near to the sun and the sea. Theirs was a life of happiness...and peace.

But today might have been a little different. In the distance, there came a faint 'boom', and what might have been the sound of people screaming.

Mr. Freeze sat, in one of the alleys of Jump City, sunk in his own misery. He had moved here after Batman had put all of his henchmen in jail and had offered to help Freeze find a cure for Nora's condition. How dare he! Freeze had run away to Jump City then, taking Nora with him, to escape the law and start fresh with his research.

He heard the screaming but didn't react at all. Why should he? Investigating wouldn't help Nora at all.

Greer Nelson looked around her new apartment with satisfaction. Oh, she had only unpacked half the boxes that still stood in piles, but she had found the important things such as her clothes.

Doctor Tumalo had given her a decent sum of money, enough to rent this place for a couple of months and still have some left over for essentials. But Greer didn't like sponging off people; it was why she'd gone looking for a job as Doctor Tumalo's assistant back in Chicago. Despite all the trouble that had ensued, she didn't regret any of it.

She glanced down at the ad in the paper again. She'd called the contact number for the Drew and Mc Cabe Detective Agency, asking after the position of office administrator that had been advertised. She'd ended up speaking with a woman named Jessica Drew (one of the owners?), who had asked her to come down in few hours for an interview.

She glanced at her watch. Time to get moving if she wanted to make it on schedule. She dressed quickly, putting on a smart outfit over the black bikini. Once done, she touched the cat amulet around her next and changed from orange-hued fur to pale skin. As she locked up behind her and made her way downstairs, she reflected once again that changing back to her human visage felt... wrong somehow.

No matter that she'd spent all of her life looking like she did now, since her life had been saved by Doctor Tumalo and the Cat People by transforming and merging her into their legendary warrior Tigra, that form increasingly felt like who she was supposed to be. In her Tigra form she was powerful, confident, everything she should be.

Looking like a human, she felt weak, fragile, useless.

As you should..

She shook her head, chasing away the little voice in the corner of her mind that she had come to associate with the 'Tigra' part of her. When she was Tigra, she let herself listen to it but always being careful not to let it have free reign. But she couldn't shake the feeling that it let her win, that it was just waiting for the right moment.

Cats are patient after all.

She hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address of the Agency. She arrived with a few minutes to go and decided to go up now, rather than get a coffee and wait. She opened the door and walked up the stairs to find the door that announced itself to be Drew & Mc Cabe. She knocked and entered. The front area was deserted.

"Hello?" She called out. "Miss Drew?"

The Jump City train station:

The latest train stopped and its passengers got out. One of them was a blonde, bespectacled teenager, carrying an over-the-shoulder bag with all his belongings in it- including a certain metallic disk. This was Robbie Reed, a student from Littleville, Colorado, coming to the "big city" for the first time. "Sockamagee!" he gasped, using his personal expression of amazement, as he saw with his own eyes the splendor of what would become his home for the near future. He was both excited and nervous; sure, he was really looking to all the new experiences, but also, already missed the simplicity and safety of his small town. But, he was sure he would soon get used to- eh? what was that noise?

edited 11th Feb '13 6:09:17 AM by Sijo

I'm Wally West. Good thing. I'm the fastest man alive.

The people on the street would have noticed a red blur running past them, faster than anything they had ever seen in their lives. The red blur ran past cars, trucks, anything on his way, the people looking out of their windows to ask "what the hell was that", while some already knew. That was the fastest man alive, who had recently moved to Jump City. The reason? Well, according to some rumors, his mightiest foes, like Captain Cold or Captain Boomerang, had also changed towns, in the hope they would be able to use their high-tech gadgets to break into banks and that sort of thing without the Flash stopping them. That was partly true. The other reason the Flash came to Jump City was to talk with his mentor about this... unusual feeling that went through his body when he ran too fast.

But his mentor could await. Right now, the Flash (whom we'll call Wally West, because that was his secret identity) was running towards the explosion, ready to stop whatever villain was threatening the peace and quiet of Jump City. "Excuse me, coming through!" He yelled as he ran past a particularly crowded street, as tourists pulled out their cameras and started shooting pictures of the red blur: although he was long gone by the time the first tourist pressed the button on his camera.

"Right, remember," Wally said to himself as he got closer and closer to the location of the explosion. "If it's Captain Cold... you gotta say some sort of pun with ice. If it's Mirror Master, some pun with reflections. And if it's the Trickster... just punch him in the face. Not worth it."

Katana sighed as she walked down the street, with her sword over her shoulder and all her possessions in a bag hanging from it. She had to go ahead and get herself shot. Not that the wound mattered, it was the fact that she started to be active as a hero was what got her kicked off home, perhaps she could sleep at the abandoned chapel she saw before... Was that a red blur beside her? It seemed to lead to a distant explosion. She headed into an alley to change clothes, even if she was now a vagrant she could still make the world better.

edited 11th Feb '13 8:50:17 AM by Sanojutsu

There was destruction everywhere. Wading through the carnage was a massive giant of stone with big B carved into his chest. Most of him was gray but his face was plastered sugary white.

Floating above it all was a man wreathed in white flame who looked like he was a Santa themed wrestler. He grinned widely, cheering the beast on.

The detective agency certainly seemed rather quiet, not to mention a little shaded with the blinds drawn. Near the back of the room, behind and to the side of a messy desk, a door quickly opened, and a young lady came out through. She had wavy, light brown hair, and wore a black t-shirt with purple trim and dark blue trousers.

"Hi! Ms Drew isn't here right now. She's had a, ah, real busy night. I'm Lindsay McCabe. What can I do for you?"

As Wally raced to the sound of destruction, he saw down the road that there were cars being tossed into the air. Something huge and bipedal was storming up the road. It looked almost man-shaped, but blocky in build, perhaps like an aztec statue. Its hide was made from concrete, grey and coarse, its face and chest marked with white smudges, and its tiny eyes were red and rolling. Bellowing furiously, the Cinderblock beast tossed parked cars like cardboard boxes, and beat its mighty arms against anything it saw. The people ran in fear of this great monster, though it looked like one descending volvo was about to flatten a man.

edited 11th Feb '13 9:20:01 AM by LizardOfAus

Greer smiled at the other woman. "I called about the job," She said, holding up the paper. "Miss Drew suggested I come in now for an interview."

"An explosion!" Robbie gasped. It was too far away for him to see the cause, but he decided it was safest if he lent the city a superpowered hand (not that he needed much encouragement. )

He ducked into an alley, and brought out a device resembling a rotary disk (except with some strange symbols rather than letters) out of his duffel-bag. He started dialing the word H-E-R-O in it (he had long ago deciphered its alphabet) and began to feel a familiar tingle as his very body started shimmering and transforming into-

"Woah. Now that's new." Wally said, snapping his fingers and pointing at the creature with a smug smile, before running off to rescue the guy who was about to get hit by a car. He left him a safe distance away from the scene and yelled "call the police" before running back to face the giant creature. He already had a plan. And his objective wasn't the gigantic creature, no: it was the guy laughing in the sky.

These guys gotta be less obvious.

Flash ran towards the beast, attempting to jump on top of the cars he threw. If successful, he would slowly ascend until he got to the beasts' arm, at which point he would climb whatever was left, rotate his arms at an incredible rate, produce a small whirlwind and then propel himself towards the laughing guy.

If that didn't work, well, at least he could still make a very cool landing.

"Oh! You must be Greer Nelson. Here, have a seat." McCabe went behind the messy desk and took her seat. "Jessica said sorry she couldn't do the interview herself. Twisted her ankle last night on business. It's a long story."

As Robby dialled in the code on his strange device, the H-Dial broke apart, and circled around him leaving trails of light. He hovered into the air, and felt strangely tingly as the strange energy completely enshrouded him. There was a blinding flash, the H-Dial fell to the ground, and suddenly Robby wasn't Robby any more. In his place stood a muscular teen, dressed in a black and white surgeon's uniform. In his hand was what looked like a small scalpel. Instinctively, he knew that he now had the power to emit lasers from his eyes, and that every time he called out the name of a weapon or tool, his scalpel would turn into that tool. All he needed was a name, and the first thing that sprang to mind was the Laser Eye Surgeon!

edited 11th Feb '13 9:58:44 AM by LizardOfAus

The man called Sorrow straightened his tie and dusted off the section of jacket the thug had been clinging to. The man sank to the ground, a look of abject terror frozen on his face.
"Yes, I know. Frightful, isn't it?" he said apologetically to the collapsing figure. He wished he hadn't wasted another resource but if these petty criminals would persist in trying to rob him...

An explosion. The suspended mask swivelled ninety degrees towards the direction of the sound.
Oh my. Sorrow mused to himself. Fresh talent.

Perhaps this disturbance was worth investigating...

Katana walked out of the alleyway, now suited up in her red and yellow disguise. Her signature weapon in hand, a cursed sword, she ran off towards the source of the explosions.

Robbie was amused by his new identity, but then again the dial had a tendency for creating strange ones- this was far from the freakiest he had ever become. Besides, if anybody at the site of the explosion needed emergency surgery, maybe he could help with it now. Whatever the case, he started running towards where the smoke from the explosion (and sounds of a battle) were still coming from. He would be there in a few minutes.

It was a rather pleasant day. Not a cloud could be sighted in the clear, blue sky, especially not a storm cloud. This, of course, made the bolt of lightning and the booming crash of thunder all the more surprising. If anyone had been near the alley where it struck, they might have heard a single word spoken in the moment before it hurtle to the ground.

"SHAZAM!"

Whilst it might have sounded like a made-up, nonsense word, it was in fact a word of great magical power. It was the name of an ancient, powerful wizard, a name formed from the initials of six great legendary heroes, and one which would bestow the powers of these heroes into the body of the wizard's chosen champion. A champion who went by the name of...

CAPTAIN MARVEL, THE WORLD'S MIGHTIEST MORTAL!

...No, not the alien from New York. This was a different Captain Marvel. For one thing, she was younger, and more female, and not an actual military officer of any sort. What few (if any) people knew was that she was none other than Mary Batson, an orphaned girl who worked as a special correspondent for WHIZ radio. Speaking of which, she was already beginning to think that the upcoming fight would be something great to talk about on-air. From the point of view of an innocent, helpless bystander, of course; she wasn't going to reveal her secret identity so publicly, after all.

"Holy moley!" she exclaimed, as she flew towards the coked-up collosus. "Did Rudolph get the sack or something?" ...Okay, so that wasn't the best quip, but she'd make up for it later. Like a bolt of red lightning, she streaked straight towards the giant's head, balling up a fist for a punch in the face delivered with the strength of Hercules.

The man stared at the Crimson Blur flying up at him and his eyes blazed white. A thin stream of fire shout out of his eyes like a flame thrower, trying to throw Flash off course. He then flew up higher in the air and just to be dramatic shout streams of white fire high in the air from his hands.

"My name is Snowflame!"

"I DO Cocaine!"

Away from the Jump City......away from the City and its rampaging monster problem......there rode a lone motorcycle through the forested roads towards this city......

"Reports coming in from mid-town Jump City say infamous monster known only as Cinderblock is rampaging through the street," the radio reporter announced. "While similar attacks were made earlier sporadically during the past decade, it is reported this latest one is the most violent yet. Citizens are warned to evacuate the area as soon as possible and - "

The rider shut off the radio. He groaned, resigned to his fate that he tended to either attract crap like that or, in this case, heads towards it. He had hoped that kind of insanity would actually just stay in one area this decade, in this case being the East Coast. He was really getting tired of all the superheroics and everything which came with it. He already had his fill of it during his stint as one of the senior member of X-Men, and was hoping to relax a bit when he was in Jump -

No........in the man's mind, it would always be known as San Fransisco in his mind. No official name change would change that. He was there during the city's beginning, and he refused to acknowledge its new name just because some star-struck politicians said so. Still though........he was getting a bit bored as of late.....and his claws were aching for some action.......

The man punched it.

Mr. Freeze saw Katana duck into the alley to change clothes. He hid behind some nearby boxes to observe. When Katana changed and dashed out of the alley, he followed. He shouted, to get Katana's attention.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Freeze asked, in his cold, deadpan, voice.

Katana stopped and looked back, she walked once again towards the alley. She looked down at the man. "I call myself Katana... this looked like a seclude place to change in"

Half an AU away in the cold darkness of space was an escape pod. The Gordanians had surprised her. She had come to this star system from the Vega star system to try to form an alliance with the Ma'aleca'andrans against the Gordanians, but it seemed that someone had told them what exactly she was planning to do and seized her spaceship. Her guard was able to stall them long enough to allow her to escape and destroy both the Gordanians' and her own spaceship. However, that didn't change the fact that she was dead. The explosion from the two spaceships had knocked her off course from Ma'aleca'andra and she only had enough oxygen in this pod for a month. Her only real chance was to steer the ship towards the other habitable planet in the star system, an insignificant blue planet which had somehow aroused the interest from the Guardians of the Universe.

However, even if she did reach the planet, her planet... her home would not even know she survived, especially with the of the two spaceships currently taking orbit around Ma'aleca'andra. If nothing else, her people would believe she was dead. She struggled to guide her escape pod towards the planet that she had no choice but to land on.

The word koriand'r in the Tamaranean language means meteor and Koriand'r, Princess of Tamaran, got her name because a meteor appeared in the sky on the day she was born. However, it should be noted that koriand'r is a compound word that when translated blindly means starfire.

In the skies of Jump City, people might see what looked to be a meteor... a shooting star... a starfire! One that had crashed on the outskirts of Jump City, destroying part of a forest in its wake. The door to the escape pod was blasted open by a green energy blast. The Tamaraneans call them starbolts, because the power comes from their sun. Soon Koriand'r was floating out of the escape pod looking it over. It would never fly again, of course, but Koriand'r already knew that. She crossed her arms.

"<What am I to do?>" Koriand'r said to herself in Tamaranean as she scanned the forest. "<I cannot go back to my planet, but how am I to survive here?>"

-*huff huff* Robbie panted as he ran down the street. Why couldn't he have become a flying superhero, dammit? He probably would have arrived at the explosion site by now that way. But that was the thing with the Hero-Dial, you never knew what powers you were going to get and had to adapt to the situation.

Overhead, he saw something like a meteor soar. Is that it? Is the city being attacked from space??

edited 11th Feb '13 2:02:02 PM by Sijo

"I hope she gets better soon," Greer responded. She opened her shoulder bag and brought out her resume. "As requested," She said with a smile. "I did email it but Jessica said to bring a copy with me."

"It is not." Mr. Freeze stated, quite unnecessarily.

"I wonder why you would choose to change here, of all places? Could it be you are some costumed criminal, desperate to maintain their secret identity? If so, give me an adequate reason why I should not sell the details concerning your identity to the police? Or perhaps to the Mafia? My wife is sick and I need money to further my research into her condition." Freeze threatened.

This post was thumped by the Shillelagh of Whackingness