Easton Streets, 9:48
Mindseye caught a snippet of Joie de Vivre's mind, and, much as she hated to admit it, she was a little impressed- not many people had the mental fortitude to be able to dismiss telepathic projections as stray thoughts. (And it was only a spare phone. At the very least, Joie de Vivre was smart enough to not bring a phone that had all of her personal information.)
She considered just forcing Joie de Vivre into unconsciousness, but decided against it. She had no idea what Superior Industries would have waiting for her, and it would be ideal to gather as many allies as possible.
SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES IS POISONING THE PEOPLE OF EASTON CITY AND WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE UNLESS YOU HELP ME.
Hopefully that would do the trick.
FLASHBACK - Easton Streets
"What are you waiting for!?" Heinrich von Halen, defender of the Holy Roman Empire, champion of justice, and right hand of vengeance shouted at the police. "Bring me a horse, round up your men, and let us give chase to this witch before she engages in congress with Satan and flees."
Corvid watched, groaning as the train crashed into the wall. He couldn't do this alone but hopefully the security could handle it. He had no idea where that other person had gone but she could handle herself. Not really caring what happened to him, he dropped Freezerburn onto a security van and flew off towards the hole in the wall. He flipped his wings into a shield form and started trying to thin the herd, just smashing into prisoners with concussive force.
Street
The only response the knight got to his boisterous demand was to be bull-rushed by six policeman at the same time, each trying to hold to a different part of his body and force him to submit under their collective weight.
Museum
As Simon and Moon Warden explored the museum, they ran into a bespectacled, middle aged woman who was gingerly looking around, obviously afraid some armed nut might still be waiting in hiding. When she saw them she said something, but Simon could not hear what (he was still soundproof.) He did notice she wore a tag that read "curator".
Perfect, Simon thought. The traveler opened his mouth to explain, but no words came out. He slapped his forehead when he remembered his current status (and still made no sound.) He then pointed to his ears and shook his head, causing the woman to show a sad expression. Great, she must think I'm deaf, he thought. Somewhat annoyed by now, he entered an office, looked for a pencil and a sheet of paper, wrote something on it, then brought it back to the curator:
"This young woman appears to be from an aboriginal culture. I have no idea how she came to Easton but she's obviously totally unfamiliar with the modern world. can you help her?"
The curator read the paper, confusion and concern showing on her face. Then she smiled and nodded. She spoke to Moon Warden, but Simon couldn't hear what she said. Then she took the warrior by the hand and led her somewhere. Well, that's all I can do for her, Simon thought. Hopefully, it would be enough.
Simon then stealthy moved through the museum; the police were now in full force inside, arresting the Neo-Nazis and taking care of the wounded; there had been no fatalities apparently, thank good.
Realizing he might be asked some questions that he could not answer right now due to his silence (and probably would not be believed anyway), Simon slipped out of the museum unnoticed.
edited 26th Jul '16 7:41:55 AM by Sijo
FLASHBACK - Easton Streets
"Unhand me, uncouth swine!" the knight shouted, punching at the first officer to grab him, and swinging his shield at full force into the rest of the incoming police officers.
"UUNGHFF!!" the policeman Flashback struck went, as he fell backwards, unconscious; one of the cops hit by the shield suffered a similar fate (Bong!).
The other four, however, managed to hold him by both arms and legs, and struggled with all their might to pull him to the ground.
Easton City Penitentiary
Wee-o! Wee-o! Wee-o!
The whole place was a pandemonium. In addition to the rubble and cloud of dust, dozens of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances had arrived to assist with the situation.
Incredibly, no one had been killed. But several inmates, guards, and passersby had been injured.
Meanwhile, the Conductor's angry music still blared telepathically in everyone's mind.
He climbed into his vehicle, but found no one inside. That made him even more furious. He decided to take his anger out on the city, and tried to reactivate the Flying Train.
...But it didn't react. He realized it must have been damaged in the crash.
First he cursed aloud, bolts crackling everywhere. Then, still fuming, he exited the train.
He really wanted some hero to show up so he could take his anger out on him. But seeing none, he proceeded to exit the prison via one of the the collapsed walls.
The police saw him, but, knowing it would be pointless to try to arrest him, just allowed him to pass by.
edited 27th Jul '16 5:10:30 PM by Sijo
FLASHBACK - Easton Streets
"I said release me, fools! You're allowing the witch to flee!" FLASHBACK shouted at the police. He manifested a quarterstaff - at the end of the day, these were the police, misguided as they were - in his right hand and started swinging it at the officers trying to pin him down.
Normally, the Knight would have little trouble with the policemen, but they were holding on fast to his extremities and weighting him down.
"Stop (OUCH!) in the name (OUCH!) of the LAW! (OUCH!!) one cop managed to say, amid the staff's blows.
Meanwhile, Reverb was nowhere to be seen.
FLASHBACK - Easton Streets
"I AM THE LAW!" FLASHBACK shouted at the police officer, pulling out a handful of sand and throwing it at the cops in their faces. "I'm trying not to slay you, but resisting makes doing that harder."
Street
"Oh, excuse me for not tuning into America's most biased news outlet to keep up with the organizations and their politics," Joie complained as she stood up and gave chase once more, though this time it's more of a brisk stroll. Even a whiny brat get tired of begging for a new toy eventually. "Besides, why would I turn on the TV and get sad at things that I've no immediate control over..."
She turned her head when she received another telepathy, this time she can't ignore because that's some new and random information that she'd just heard. At the same time, she also got tripped up by the money whip and forced her on the ground. Joie deal with the force by countering it with a sprawl, a move usually used when one predicted that they may get taken down at the front. Her forearms were further punished, sure, but better it than her face.
At that point, though, she stayed down there, supported her head with her hand and tapped her finger rhythmically. "You have a telepathic ally, didn't you?" she said, then sighed afterwards. "You're really damn adamant to just...run away, don't you?"
She simply shrugged,stood up and dust off whatever she had on her shoulders and arms and said "Okay, I yield. I will help with your dumb boring justice stuff. On one, completely new, condition. Take me on a date."
http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)
Street
Despite all their efforts, the brave Easton Police couldn't hold back FLASHBACK. The knight finally burst free from the cops, leaving them a bruised, tangled mess on the pavement as he ran off, disappearing around a corner.
"...Where are our reinforcements...?" one of them moaned pitifully.
A former adventurer...
It had taken a while, but Xy was confident she'd lost the Conductor by dashing through the damaged prison. She had found herself down a side street, back inside the main part of town. She was trying to avoid large congregations of people - she had several bruises and cuts that were far too questionable to be seen publicly.
That's when she first saw the flickering blue-and-red of flickering police car lights, as well as more distant sounds of fighting. Sighing to herself, she jogged over to the source of the lights, peering around a corner so as to remain mostly unseen.
She was immediately surprised to see six cops in a strange sight; two were unconscious, while the other four were nursing themselves back to standing condition. It was pretty clear they'd taken on someone a little above their pay-grade, and that the person in question had left without police consent.
Xy absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder, her body still very much sore from earlier. 'I am neither in the best condition for this...nor the best mood,' she thought to herself; despite her apprehension at the possibility of confrontation, she grudgingly rounded the corner and made her way over the struggling group.
"Sir," she said to the one cop who seemed to notice her approach, "may I inquire as to what happened here?"
He gave her a look like she was stupid, and shook his head. "Ma'am, this is a police concern —"
"I don't believe they were very concerned about you when they vacated the area," she retorted.
The cop narrowed his eyes, but answered her question nonetheless. "This crazy town...we were in pursuit of this car, yeah?" He pointed at the car nearby, which looked like somebody'd taken a giant pry bar to it. "And this Dark Age-looking guy - you know, sword, shield, metal armor - comes busting out of it like a tin can in another tin can, trying to beat up the lady drivin' it." He shook his head. "He was yelling about her being a witch or something, but she managed to slip away while we were handlin' him...anyway —"
Xy raised her hand to spare him further summation. "Got it; which way'd he go?"
He repeated his earlier look towards her, but eventually pointed her to the corner he'd rounded.
She nodded without another word, and she jogged towards the corner; once she'd round it, she figured she'd start full-on sprinting, as she doubted any superhuman in full plate armor could move any faster than she could in regular clothes.
edited 30th Jul '16 8:09:26 AM by Reservoir
Easton Streets
Mindseye made her way towards the Bear and Joie de Vivre after the latter took her fall, allowing herself to grin. She knew she shouldn't- this was a serious and dangerous mission. But it was so exciting! She was on a team up!
She paused at Joie de Vivre's demand. Mindseye wasn't under any illusions that anyone's motives- hers included- were entirely pure. She thought it didn't really matter as long as the job got done. Superior Industries was committing crimes that risked everyone's lives, they had to be stopped by whoever was available. Justice didn't really factor in; it was about saving lives.
Logically, she knew it would be better to just go along with it. The Bear was attracted to Joie de Vivre- that much was obvious- so there was a good chance she'd say yes to the date. They got a third to help stop Superior Industries, the Bear and Joie de Vivre got a date. Everyone won.
She continued to the other two superhumans, waving somewhat awkwardly. "Sorry about the invasive thoughts," she said to Joie de Vivre, "I was only trying to catch you off guard. Please, don't feel obligated to help us stop the corporation jeopardizing everyone in Easton City's lives, yours included."
The Bear was this fucking close to squealing and jumping and yelling. A date! Her social life had been dead and cooling after taking up both of her secret identities, but this extra layer of secrecy made dating perfect. Instead she held it together enough to form up her money into a big hand giving the thumbs up. She planted her legs wide and pointed at Joie de Vivre.
"You got yourself a fucking deal, Dio. Now let's go speak some fucking truth to power." The hand thumbed over her shoulder at Mindseye, and The Bear turned and walked towards who she figured their new leader was. "Lead the way."
Hours Later, that same night
The old Easton City Sewage Treatment Plant [1]
◊ had been closed for years, for safety reasons. A new one had been built elsewhere, but this one still connected to the city's sewers.
The still of the night broke as an unmarked truck drove up to the front gates. Two men could be seen in the front seats.
The taller one, a middle-aged, rough-looking individual, his face obscured by a cap, got off the driver's seat, exited the truck, and opened the gates. Then he returned to his seat.
Next to him was an almost identical fellow, except shorter and more rotund. He looked really unhappy for some reason.
"Somethin' bothering you, Lenny?"
"I don' like this, George" the sort one responded.
"Oh, you're not gonna start THAT again, are you? Listen, no one is gonna catch us. Everybody in this town is 'on the take.' Nobody cares."
"It ain't just that" Lenny responded, looking over his shoulder. There was a figure in the back of the truck, hidden by shadows.
"Look, I don't like it either. But they pay us to follow orders. And he's here in case that rat-guy shows up, remember. Now let's just do our job and get outta here!"
The truck then drove into the abandoned plant, leaving the gates open. They drove all the way to the back. There the two men got out and opened the back of the truck. The figure inside didn't respond at all.
They then began unloading several unmarked steel drums. They carried them over to a manhole, which they pulled open. Then they started opening the drums, and a strangely sickly-sweet smell filled the air. Carefully, they began to tilt the drums one by one, pouring their contents into the sewers.
I have a plan.
Old Sewage Treatment Plant, Night
After giving all of his cousins a proper burial, the Sewer King was finally ready to make another excursion to the surface. The 'Sewer King' as he had dubbed himself was usually just a joke, an urban legend passed around by bored policemen who wanted to discuss the sheer absurdity of the Easton City criminal element. And now, for some reason, everyone just turned against him. Tonight was the night the Sewer King made a real name for himself, and if he had to murder someone for it, so be it.
The Sewer King crawled out of the shadows of the night, wearing nothing but a dirty duster and a battered fedora as his new disguise. He pulled out his handmade shotgun and pumped it, brandishing his weapon at the two workers from behind.
"Drop the barrels, boys. Hands where I can see them. Don't do anything you might regret."
The Sewer King circled around the two workers so they could see his face, keeping his weapon pointed at the two men. At this point, his horrible odor could reach their noses.
"Yeah, it's me. The rat-guy. You knew I existed, and you, you tried to poison my home anyways. But that's not all of it. Like, do you know how wastewater works, guys? Everything that goes through the sewers gets dumped back out in the environment at some point. Some of it even ends up in your drinking water. You're going to poison yourselves, your families, your friends, your kids, for what, money? It's worth a paycheck to you?"
The Sewer King chuckled.
"Listen, I'm going to work out a deal. If you guys tell me who you're working for, I promise I won't force-feed you whatever the hell that is you're dumping into the sewers."
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
Street
Mindseye hesitated for a moment before realizing that she was the default leader. Squaring her shoulders, she gestured for her compatriots to follow her.
Don't speak out loud until absolutely necessary. Stealth is important, so we'll be using a telepathic link.
When they reached the sewage plant, the gates were already open, and the tire tracks were still visible.
Mindseye felt for people. Three people are here, in the back of the plant. Two of them work for Superior Industries.
The other presence felt distinctly...odd. Mindseye couldn't quite place why, but her curiosity was piqued. She signaled for the Bear and Joie de Vivre to follow her inside.
"AHH!!" Both men shouted when Sewer King showed up and pointed at them, dropping the drum they were holding (which started spilling some pink, noisome substance at their feet.)
"D-Don't kill us!!" Lennie begged. "We-we were jus' doin' what they told us to!"
"Shut up, you moron!" George spat out, sounding strangely unconcerned, although he did hold his hands up on the air.
And then-
BANG!
A shot rang out into the night!
The bullet, however, missed Sewer King. Instead it hit some pipes, ricocheting away into the darkness.
A figure then jumped out the back of the truck. It was a tall man, like 6-7 feet tall, bulky, wearing grey-black armor from head to toe, covered in bandoleers full of bullets- but no visible gun!
Whoever the man was, he confronted Sewer King in an unemotional, silent, sinister way.
(Meanwhile, Mindseye and her team could hear all this noise)
edited 30th Jul '16 3:51:48 PM by Sijo
Easton Streets
As Mindseye appeared from out of nowhere, Joie's first thought was that she remembered that she gave her spare phone to this very same stranger. She was planning to find it with that fancy app that allows you to find your other phone via GPS but there's no time like the present. She was about to ask for her phone back but then Mindseye and the Bear kept yapping about inconsequential shit like explaining her mind powers and them talking about justice and stuff. And then the Bear mentioned someone related to Jojo.
Now it's Joie's turn to resist bursting from joy and keeping a straight, stoic face. Did she just call me Dio, she thought, oh my God, finally someone actually watch the proper patrician anime! As soon as she got her emotion in check, she get herself going at a rather unenthusiastic pace and said "Woohoo for justice."
While they were walking to the sewer plant, following behind Mindseye, silently going through her pocket until she finally found her phone. Then, she opened up her phone contact and tossed it backwards to the Bear without a care in the world and ordered "Put your phone number on the phone, I don't care if it's your secret identity or real phone number, I want to keep in touch."
When they arrived at the sewer plant, Joie had never felt more underwhelmed and before than before. 'yeah, no shit someone was in this place, what do you think, a huge rat chewed through the gate and lived here?" she retorted as she pushed Mindseye aside and overtook the lead. "And who cares about stealth, we're not facing a miltary base-"
And then the echoes of a gun shot reached them, surprised Joie a bit, to her dismay of her scratched pride. "Okay then, we now know they have guns, no biggie. The Summer Ends," she said nonchalantly as the time bubble surrounded her. "Stay behind me."
edited 1st Aug '16 8:32:35 AM by sgtpendulum
http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)
The Bear couldn't bring a ton of money covertly with her, so she was just left with a pocket full of quarters; all other currency would have to be OSP. Mindseye's reach into her mind was strange, but Lenora's experience with her Economancy's radar pings had readied her for weird otherworldly senses.
Contact's in your phone, by the way. Lenora Telepathied back to JDV, then fell in behind her with her quarters rotating around her head. We can probably afford to pick up the pace if there's an active firefight going down.
The armored figure turned around, staring directly at Sewer King. It brought up is arms as if in no hurry. There were *still* no visible guns in his hands; in fact, both his fists were closed.
However, two black, bracelet-like devices could be seen mounted on his wrists.
"RUN FOR IT LENNIE!!" George suddenly shouted at the sight, and ran away into the darkness.
"WAIT FOR ME GEORGE!!!"
((OOC: Tails: DUCK!!))
Sewer Plant
Mindseye was fully aware of Joie de Vivre taking her phone back, but ignored that. They had more important things to deal with, and at any rate, Mindseye was certain she had enough information to ferret out the time-stopper's secret identity if she had to. (Plus it was her phone anyway.)
Recall that most of us don't have bullet-deflecting time powers, Mindseye sent to Joie de Vivre after the gunshots fired. Risk your own life all you want, but don't risk mine or the Bear's. You're skilled, but don't think I trust you that much.
Fear surged in all three of the psyches Mindseye detected, and she motioned for the Bear and Joie de Vivre to follow her.
They reached the back of the plant quickly,
He was a humanoid rat, or a ratlike human, wearing a loose coat with a long tail poking out from underneath. He was covered in soft, downy fur and had large, round ears, along with a nose that was twitching in the cutest way and big, expressive eyes, one of which was covered by a mop of floppy hair. There was a palpable aura of emotional pain around him, and Mindseye felt an involuntary surge of sympathy (or was it pity?).
He was, in a word, adorable, and the telepath clapped her hands over her mouth to stop any embarrassing sounds from coming out.
She almost missed the armored individual until she glanced back and saw him. For a moment, she almost panicked, but she quickly picked up on emotions- faint but there. She definitely couldn't put him to sleep, so she settled for the next best thing.
Projecting at full blast, Mindseye created the first image that came to her mind- a fire, surrounding herself, her teammate, and the rat-man, cutting off the armored individual.
I have a plan.
Sewage Plant, Night
The strange armored man triggered the Sewer King's fight-or-flight response, as few people got the chance to get their hands on the greasy rat. He decided to stay and fight. The Sewer King brandished his shotgun at the armored figure, letting Lenny and George escape unharmed. His teenage hormones took over, and he felt indestructible. Nobody has ever inflicted harm on the great Sewer King, so why would it happen now?
"Alright, hands in the air. What I said to those two idiots applies to you, too."
The Sewer King remained planted where he was. His sensitive ears picked up three other people coming to investigate the sewage plant.
"You don't sound like the police!" he yelled. "Help me out here, and I'll give you topsiders another chance!"
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
"THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION, DIPSHIT!" The Bear was actually kind of genuinely angry at that part. The snaking money rope wound back to her and went for a feint. It at first appeared to go for JDV's neck, but after a second of grabbing quickly whipped around to more earnestly try to swipe at her legs. "HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHO THEY ARE?!"