Die Fledermaus

It took Reverb a moment to realise what FLASHBACK was going on about, "I'd hate to come off as hypocritical but... DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?" The volume of her voice increased sharply and was suddenly distorted strangely. She hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and brandished the knife as she saw him throw an axe at the poor, furry worker, "Hey! What happened to burning the witch? You're gonna make me jealous!" She taunted, a hand shaking and sending a powerful burst at the knight, intended to knock either him or his axe away.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Street

"FREEZE!" a shout suddenly rang out. It was a policeman, one of about half a dozen, all with their guns drawn. Now that the chase was over, they were surrounding Reverb, and Flashback as well, since they had no idea who he was, only that he had been inside the villain's car and he carried a sword.

One cop spotted Sewer King, but considered him a minor threat and ignored him for now.

Museum

Unfortunately none of Moon Warden's references were familiar to Simon; her culture was probably unique to this Earth. But at least her story had confirmed his suspicions; she had indeed just awakened into a world that would be very unfamiliar to her. He wished he could help her, but how?

And then he remembered where they were.

I fear, you have been asleep a long, long time. Your home... might not exist anymore he 'sent' at her. But if you wish, I will help you find out what happened, and what place do you belong in now. As I said, this is a place where relics from all around the world are kept; let's look around, perhaps we will find artifacts from your people, and with them, the rest of your story.

edited 21st Jul '16 10:07:07 PM by Sijo

Street

The Sewer King shrugged in response to Reverb, who was without words himself. Nothing like this happened outside of Easton City.

"It's usually not so noisy—OH SH—"

The Sewer King narrowly avoided the throwing axe that FLASHBACK had flung with all his might, diving onto the pavement with his tail literally between his legs.

"You big city topsiders are all the same, man!" he shouted, with his hands over his head. "T-There's nothing demonic about me! I'm a human being just like you! Maybe my ears are a little bit big, and maybe I got a lot of hair, and-and, have you ever seen a skeleton before? Everyone has a tail, you just can't see it with most people! I'm normal! I'm not a demon or a w-weirdo!"

The Sewer King ended his rant when he noticed a lone policeman take a gander at him. Getting up from the ground, the Sewer King rushed over to the cop and thrust his hand on the officer's shoulder.

"Officer, I was minding my business when this superhero guy tried to kill me! My name is Joe the Plumber, and I'm a big city guy. I like eating pizza and drinking beer and paying taxes. You gotta help me."

edited 21st Jul '16 10:34:54 PM by TailsDoll

"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"

FLASHBACK - Easton Streets

"As the wise men say, two birds, one sword!" FLASHBACK replied to Reverb, holding his shield up and bracing himself against the sound assault.

"Guard!" he shouted at the policeman when he had a moment to breath. "You, guard, these heathens have brought their corruption to this area, we will require a man of the cloth to perform the sacrament to purify the land."

edited 21st Jul '16 10:49:50 PM by nman

Images flitted through her short-term memory storage as Xy's brain underwent a quick reboot — she saw a small double-wide trailer out in the country, followed by a scene wherein she was fishing with an older man in a small pond.

Why am I so short? she wondered as the momentary images began to fade. Seconds later, it was as if they'd never existed...

Xy felt her weight shifting even before she realized she was conscious. She groaned as she started to lift herself off of the floor; despite her body's successful attempt to disperse most of the electricity, she still felt like she'd been burnt inside and out.

She then realized her feet had started pushing against the Train's control mechanisms. The hell? she thought to herself as she became more aware of her shifting center of gravity. Realizing what was happening, she pushed herself up fully off of the flooring and leaned down onto the control instrumentation.

"You two!" Xy yelled at the two behind her as she cast a glance backward. "This machine's done for; I suggest making an exit now, before impact force becomes an issue." She glanced down at the controls for a moment. "I will do what I can," she said as she pulled back on a lever, causing the Train to activate some sort of leveling-system that caused it to lessen the tilt somewhat.

Corvid groaned as the train started to crash and started mumbling under his breath.

"Why can't I have proper super strength? Would come in real damn handy right now."

He decided to probably trust the other person as there was nothing he could really do here. He dug his talons into Freezerburn and jumped out of the train, flying away with the villain hanging below him. Realising there could be some bad collateral damage, it occurred to him to send a message.

Suddenly, much to the chagrin of everyone on the ground, every bird above and around the prison started making their assorted bird noises loudly for about 10 solid seconds; if anyone failed to notice both that and the flying train, there was nothing that could be done.

An Average Day in Downtown Easton

Reverb didn't have to look around to know how many guns were trained on her and her armoured opponent. She could hear the telltale sounds and count roughly six ready to fire, raising her hands in the air, "You boys are lucky I'm in the mood to do requests..." She called out, seeing the rattish man narrowly avoid being filleted by the axe and feeling a twinge of sympathy. At least for now the cops were focused on apparently greater threats, "Kid, you should get out of here!" She warned, hearing FLASHBACK demanding the 'guards' call a priest.

Sally frowned and sighed, not seeing a peaceful way out of the ever worsening situation. On another day she might have considered letting them take her in but today she had just too much to do. She didn't want to let the Easton Symphony Orchestra down, after all, and certainly not disappoint her parents, "Nothing personal, boys, but the show must go on..." Reverb grinned under her disguise, sending out exploratory vibrations as she spoke to find the resonance of the firearms. Then the air was suddenly filled with sound, her entire body shaking and resonating with the weapons. She was attempting to, essentially, shake just the right parts in the guns to make them jam.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

The Streets of San Fran- I mean Easton

"The heck you are!" the cop that Sewer King was hiding behind said, as he turned around. "You are Sewer King, wanted for- something or other, I don't recall right now but I know I saw a wanted poster of you. Now, you freeze as well!"

But then Reverb's harmonics struck, and the cops, feeling their guns start to shake unnaturally, tried to open fire, only to find all of their guns had jammed. This was followed by myriad "Huhs?" and swears.

The Skies of San- no wait I made that joke already

The Flying Train did level a bit, but it was still barreling straight towards the Easton prison.

Meanwhile the facility became like something out of "The Birds" as guards and inmates were suddenly harassed by pigeons and other birds. But Corvid's plan worked as it led the people inside the jail to look up and see the unbelievable sight of a TRAIN thundering its way through the sky towards them. Screaming, everybody ran for cover, and soon the main yard was empty.

edited 22nd Jul '16 6:27:34 AM by Sijo

GREEN BELTS WRAPPED AROUND OUR, uh, our necks (Easton streets, 9:45 PM, a couple blocks from Mindseye's place).

"Look, don't ask questions you aren't prepared to know the answers for!" The Bear finally yanked her pants up onto her hips and stumbled up to a standing position. "Just google NRA Furries sometime, alright? All I know is motherfucker hooked me up with what I needed, alright!" Instead of actually attacking, The Bear kept running, headed for the other side of the street and gradually increasing both the yanking and the gripping force of the money. Then, just as she got to the outside of her range and the money had amped up its force slowly enough for Joie de Vivre to still keep pace with it, The Bear dropped all control of her money and backed up to the other side of the street to watch what that did.

Easton City Streets

The Sewer King scowled as his human disguise failed yet again. It had to have been the boots. They were fancy Timberlands, not suited at all for the drudgery of sewer work. He'd have to go shopping again.

The Sewer King then realized he was surrounded by police. He was probably going to prison that day, after all of the crimes he had committed on the surface world. If the regular citizens were mean to him, then how would he fare against the denizens who were so mean they had to be kept away from everyone else? And how would he feed his pets in jail? The Sewer King groaned in dread.

The Sewer King's internal, boiling angst was interrupted by a piercing noise that seemed to be generated by Reverb. It pierced his ears, but it also stopped the policemen in their tracks, who were now helpless without their guns in working order.

The Sewer King made a toothy smirk. Whoever this woman was in the tactical gear, she sure seemed to be nice. Was she supposed to be a superhero? She didn't fit his mental image of one. Her outfit was cool, something he could envision putting in his own wardrobe, and she seemed to be humble and reasonable. Plus, she stuck it to the police, which was against the law that heroes always bragged about.

The Sewer King discarded his clothing as he made a mad dash back to the manhole from whence he came, bumping shoulder-to-shoulder with the officer who had addressed him earlier as he ran. Normally, when things on the surface went wrong for the Sewer King, he went back home humiliated. This time, he felt at ease. He found a topsider in Easton City who was nice to him. He wouldn't forget about her.

But the Easton City Police Department, and that knight with the big mustache? They were going to get theirs. The Sewer King jumped down the open manhole, and closed the lid behind him. He had a lot of planning to do that day.

edited 22nd Jul '16 9:50:15 PM by TailsDoll

"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"

FLASHBACK - Easton Streets

Fortunate enough to not have any weapons capable of jamming, the knight grabbed his sword and held it firmly in one hand, while he held his shield steadfast in the other.

"Lord show you mercy, for I have none!" he shouted, running forward in a charge towards Reverb, his shield ahead of him, the metal taking the brunt of the sound waves.

A Killer Scene

Reverb laughed, a strange and disconcerting sound through her audio-distortions, as she heard the guns attempt and fail to fire. This was partly because her little plan had worked but also because their first reaction was to fire upon her, "And people say I'm violent!" The villain lowered her hands and noting The Sewer King, as the cop had called him, was making an exit. While this did improve the general aroma of the scene it did take away a bit of the colour, but at least that was another 'innocent' bystander out of the fray.

Sally cocked her head to the side as FLASHBACK made his charge, utterly bemused by the scene and apparently in no hurry to escape. His armour didn't seem terribly move by her sound waves and did prevent much of her burst from actually hitting the man presumably lying within. Reverb waited until the absolute last moment before she finally rolled away on the side he held the shield, rising again behind him and giving his helmet a playful smack with her knife, "Is this how you normally repay people how give you a lift?" The villain quipped, kicking the knight in the back.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

FLASHBACK - Easton Streets

"A lift? Believe me, nothing rises when I gaze upon your visage, harlot of Satan!" the knight shouted. He rotated and thrust his shield forwards with one hand, slamming it hard into the incoming kick, while bringing his sword around top for an overhead slash.

Exit, Pursued By Knight

Reverb was too committed to the kick to avoid hitting the great shield but instead used the opportunity to push off the shield, bring her other legs up and propelling herself backwards. She spun in the air, launched away but the sword managed to slash her left leg. Sally yelped but still managed to land gracefully some distance away, near one of the police officers. The cut wasn't very deep but long and nevertheless bleeding quite a bit. This was enough for the villain to decide it was time to go, a fight with FLASHBACK not worth risking missing the benefit after all.

Sally lunged at the officer, striking him in the crotch and throat before using skilled throw to send him back at the knight. She sprinted for an alleyway nearby, limping slightly from the injury to her leg and trailing blood.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Easton Streets, 9:46

From her spot a couple blocks away, Mindseye picked up on two familiar presences- the Bear and Joie de Vivre.

She raced over to the battle, just as the Bear was pulling her pants up. Mindseye was suddenly very happy no one could see her blush, and she ducked into a nearby alley where she could watch from a distance.

I don't suppose you want your phone back? she telepathically projected to Joie de Vivre. Don't be alarmed; I didn't go through it. Your secret identity is safe.

Hopefully, this would be enough to distract the time-stopper, at least long enough for the Bear to take her down.

Street

The policemen, once they recovered from their bafflement, put away their jammed guns and tried to pursue Reverb and the Knight (Sewer King was gone by now.) But they soon realized what a bad idea this was after watching them fight.

One of the officers reached for his phone. "Central? We cannot catch Reverb on our own, she did something to our guns, and there's some unknown guy with her too! Send reinforcements! ...What do you mean, there's a TRAIN flying over the city??"

Easton Prison

Finally, the inevitable happened.

The Nazi Flying Train came to a landing on the jail, smashing its way thru its concrete walls like they were made of wood. Debris flew everywhere, and the thundering noise was deafening!

TOOT TOOT TOOT BOOMCRAASH!!

People were also screaming, but their shouts were drowned out.

Incredibly unharmed, the train continued on, carried by sheer inertia, demolishing the wall on the other side of the courtyard as well.

And then suddenly there was silence; the train had finally stopped [1]◊- only a cloud of dust, settling everywhere, remained.

Above, the Liberty approached as well, its own fate as yet uncertain.

edited 23rd Jul '16 6:00:43 PM by Sijo

Easton City Cistern

Hieronymus had quickly returned to his home in the spacious sewers under the heart of Easton City. He had big plans that day, bigger than just sitting around and listening to punk rock. When he slid down the ladder and stepped into the ankle-deep sewage, he immediately felt a burning sensation in his feet. Was it because of the boots he had just taken off? As he walked past the pillars and the piles of trash decorating his home, he noticed things were amiss. His "cousins", the hundreds of rats living in Easton City's drains, all seemed to be coming down with a debilitating sickness. Hieronymus knew sewer rats didn't live long or healthy lives, but it wasn't normal for them all to all come crashing down at once.

Hieronymus was about to enter his personal quarters when a stream of unidentifiable liquid came pouring down from a drain, dumping all over his body. He fell down and writhed in agony, as now his entire body was feeling the burning pain that once just hurt his feet. Screaming, Hieronymus fled deeper into his room, where Amos and Moses, his two alligator pets, were sleeping.

Hieronymus 'cleaned' himself with a filthy rag. Fortunately, his thick fur and his innate resistance to poisons prevented any long-term damage being done to his body. But his smaller cousins weren't as lucky. They were goners. Hieronymus picked out a homemade double-barreled shotgun◊ from his arsenal and adjusted the collars on his alligators, attaching two rusty chains which he normally used to walk them like dogs. Hieronymus leaned down to address his two pets.

"Hey, h-hey boys. You know those people up there, the topsiders? All of t-those people that abandoned us, and-and-and are mean to us? I think they're trying to kill us now."

He stood up tall.

"I'm so tired of it... I never asked for this, it's not my fault... I'm so sick of these bullies pushing people around, and I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

Hieronymus bared his teeth, and hissed.

"We're going to poison their homes, and kill their pets, and make them feel weak and sad! Get ready, boys. We're going to have some fun today."

"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"

FLASHBACK - Easton Streets

Seeing the wave of police who had started running after them, FLASHBACK chose not to pursue Reverb, instead approaching the few police officers who had started heading at an angle towards him. "What are you doing? I'm trying to stop her!" he shouted. "You're letting the witch escape!"

Street

The police seemed surprised at Flashback's explanation. Then one confronted him.

"Oh yeah? Just who are you buddy? You don't look like any of the city's heroes I've seen!"

Jail

It didn't take the prisoners long to realize that, with the prison walls demolished, plus the cover of the dust cloud and the chaos of the crash, this was a great chance to escape.

And many did.

FLASHBACK - Easton Streets

"Who am I?!" FLASHBACK asked the police rhetorically. "I am Heinrich von Halen, defender of the Holy Roman Empire, champion of justice, and right hand of vengeance!"

"Ooo-kay..." was the policeman's reaction to the Knight's effusive exclamation. The cop actually took a few steps back, then signaled the others to come over and help him. Hero, Villain or whatever, it was obvious this guy was *nuts*. Since their guns were still jammed, hopefully they might be able to restrain him with sheer numbers.

I'm Surprised He Didn't Land Himself in Prison Sooner - The Conductor

The Angel of the Alliance was surprisingly still intact, albeit flipped over and smashed up completely vertically against a wall, but still glistening without a scratch. Super tech always did pull of some amazing feats. The Conductor... a bit less so. The cockpit popped open and the supervillain stumbled out, dazed and bruised, swaying this way and that dizzily. Attempting to shake himself out of his daze, Amadeus glanced at his train smashed all the way through the prison, and screamed, searching for the ones (aside from himself) responsible for the wreckage.

"HOW DARE YOU MISTREAT AND JOYRIDE MY VEHICLE IN SUCH A MANNER? HOW DARE YOUUUU?!!!?!?!!!"

Easton Rooftops - Running Up That Hill

Reverb was very relieved to see both the hapless police and her metallic pursuer had given up any chase but nevertheless didn't slow her pace. Her leg hurt and was still bleeding, leaving behind an unfortunate trail as she limped through the streets. Once the good-doers were out of sight she took herself off the streets, managing to leap and climb her way onto a fire escape and then an empty rooftop. Sally stopped for a moment, catching her breath and removing her mask, "This is what I get for offering rides to strangers..." She laughed to herself, taking her normal clothes from the backpack and making a hasty tourniquet for her leg, "I should have listened to my mā!"

Conscious of her somewhat ostentatious appearance the mercenary changed into her civilian attire and eventually returned to street level after a little roof hopping. Sally pulled out her phone and immediately called the police. After all, Sally Bowles' car had been stolen by a pair of nefarious villains. Reverb was unsurprised and quietly overjoyed to hear the police had too many calls to pay much attention to hers. That out of the way, she made her way to her downtown apartment to fix up her leg and get ready for charity benefit.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Xy groaned (again) as she pushed herself off of the ground (again).'This really isn't my day', she thought to herself as she stood to survey the carnage before her.

She remembered bracing herself to jump, but the Train had impacted the prison before she could properly execute the move. The only thing she could gather was that she hit part of the Train on the way out, explaining why her arm felt like one big, half-numb, half-throbbing bruise.

Despite sharing the same momentum as the Train, she'd landed behind it, as the machine had carried far more kinetic energy than her little body could've matched. The prison walls had been thoroughly smashed, and it was obvious that those who'd wanted to escape had done so, or were still doing so. A few of the stragglers glanced in her direction, but her appearance must've given away her super status, and they avoided her like she was diseased.

That's when she heard the Conductor's ravings; he'd clearly survived a crash of his own, and whatever vehicle he'd used was in a similar shape to his Train.

'Shit, that's probably the one with the electrical powers', she realized with a small twinge of horror. Knowing he could fry her before she'd close the distance, she glanced around the prison, quickly realizing her one option; with no other choice, she gritted her teeth and bolted towards the main building of the prison complex.

Street

Joie wasn't really sure how the fuck did the Bear escaped her mount until she realized that the whip had yanked her far enough back that she created an opening in her legs that the Bear can easily get away from. Meanwhile, although she got a burning hot rope burns all over her forearms and her face feeling sort of squished from her forearms being forced upon her face with the whip, she got out of the whip chokehold and gave chase once more to the Bear.

"What's the fuck's even an NRA?" she shouted.

When Joie got the telepathic message tho, she merely dismissed it as if it's were a part of her stray thought process on whether or not she'll get her spare phone back.

http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)