The Good, The Bad and The Spandex

Her Time Stop eliminates kinetic energy as well. The Bear thought back at Mindseye. I would know, I tried some shit on her.

The gunman was just out of her maximum range, she'd have to throw her coins. Fine by her. "Topsiders? You trying to imply I like being out here more than you?" She joked, trying to draw some attention as the quarters orbiting her dropped to the ground and started rolling in a long arc out behind the armored man's field of vision.

It took her a few seconds, but Mindseye recognized the armored man: Hollowpoint, a mercenary and killer for hire, so named for his preference for hollowpoint bullets.

The villain was momentarily surprised by the (apparent) burst of flames, but not intimidated by it. He turned to look at the new arrivals, and easily guessed they were responsible.

Without a word -which somehow made it more eerie- he again lifted his arms, made a motion as if squeezing something in the palms of his hands and-

BRATATATATAT

A hail of bullets came out of his bracelets, bursts of light illuminating the surroundings even as the bullets flew towards Mindseye and her cohorts!

Sewage Plant

Mindseye threw herself into the ground, narrowly avoiding the hail of bullets.

She hadn't expected Hollowpoint to have any telepathic resistance. She momentarily wondered if he had any training, but filed the thought away for the time being. It was entirely possible that he just had an abnormally high psychic resistance- a small portion of the population did.

He's a mercenary. He has a good amount of hand to hand training, but once his gauntlets are disabled, he should go down easy, she projected to the Bear and Joie de Vivre.

To the Sewer King, she projected Don't be afraid. We're here to help. His gauntlets are his main weapon- can you help us take them out?

As she messaged her fellow superhumans, she started looking for a nearby blunt instrument of any kind.

edited 1st Aug '16 8:06:18 PM by emilyorthoclase

Joie, on the other hand, was fully focused on the scary man popping out of the back of the truck and started spraying bullets at her direction. Mindseye's dive to the side would be redundant anyway as Joie stepped in front of her once more and let the hail of bullets build a wall in front of her.

Okay, she thought as she walked forward, the guy had a full set of body armor, so striking's out of the question and he had gloves that shoot bullets. Aren't hollowpoints illegal though? Whatever, he'll go down all the same. Hopefully with a detached arm too.

The Sewer King immediately ducked for cover when he heard the sound of gunfire coming from the armored man, hiding back behind some barrels that contained the mysterious fluid that George and Lenny had been dumping earlier. Then he heard a feminine voice ring through his mind, suggesting he disable the attacker's weapons. Was he starting to go crazy now? He didn't know what to think.

The Sewer King blindly opened fire upon the mercenary... and missed his target completely. Not a single round from his double-barreled shotgun hit the target he desired. This gun sucks, he thought.

Sewage Plant

Apparently completely unimpressed by his failure to shoot down the new arrivals, Hollowpoint turned back to his original target.

Sewer King's shot flew right past him, but he didn't flinch. Not only he didn't talk- his very body language was so controlled, he seemed more machine than human.

Once again, he targeted the rat-man and began firing his wrist-mounted guns, despite not being able to see him clearly due to his hiding behind the steel drums.

Bratatatat!!

The bullets began to tear right through the drums; some were deflected, but some zinged right past Sewer King. Worse, the drums began to spill their sickly-sweet contains at the rat-man's feet! His situation was obviously dire.

FLASH-FORWARD:

Several Days Later

Location: The Easton City Music Hall

Time: Late Evening

The street in front of the Hall was filled with hundred of screaming fans. The only thing holding them back was a set of velvet ropes leading to the entrance (and the menacing men-in-black type bodyguards posted along it). At the end, a young, stylishly-dressed African-American man stood, speaking directly to a TV camera crew:

"Welcome, everybody, to Easton's biggest annual event, The Children's Hospital Benefit Concert!!"

(Fans roar!)

"I'm your host, Mike D. Tennyson! Are you ready to par-TEE?"

Fans: YEEEAH!!!

"Get ready, 'cuz the show's starting soon! But for now, enjoy the parade of celebrities! Already such big stars as Canhe East, Rinseana and Lady Gagme have entered! But here comes *another* fancy limo! Who could it be now?

(Limo stops. Door opens, beautiful young blonde woman dressed in high fashion clothes steps out, beaming a smile.)

"Oh My God, it's international supermodel AND movie star, Barbara Roberts!!" Mike gasped. (The multitude goes wild!)

"Tee-hee" Barbara gave a small laugh, then waved at her fans. "Hi, everybody!"

"Barb, dear, what a pleasure to see you again!"

"Thank you Mike, it's great to see you too!"

"We heard you were busy shooting your latest film, and that you might not make it to the Benefit this year."

"True, but there was a delay in production, so I caught the first plane out of LA to be here! In any case, I've already made my donation: a million dollars!"

"WOOH! Everybody give a big hand to the little lady!!"

(Thunderous Applause)

"OK dear I won't hold you back any longer. See you during the show!"

The applause continued as Barbara made her way into the building.

"Which celebrity will be next to arrive, I wonder?"

edited 2nd Aug '16 5:51:24 PM by Sijo

Sewage Treatment

"Hmm." The Bear put her hands in her pockets and held her position behind Joie de Vivre. "I'll run interference, someone needs to get some force on his weapons." Her quarters floated up into the air, behind Hollowpoint, then whirred in front of him. They glommed onto his face, in an attempt to cover his eyes. "There, fucked his accuracy, someone tear those guns apart!"

Sewage Plant

Mindseye managed to find a rusted piece of pipe about the length of her forearm and picked it up as she slowly stood.

You're not going crazy, she projected to Sewer King. I'm a telepath, my associates and I are here to help. Can you keep Hollowpoint's focus on you while we take him out? I promise, we won't let you get hurt.

Mindseye began to creep behind Hollowpoint as she projected a perception filter: nothing too strong, just something that would make her very easy to ignore, especially with the mercenary focusing on Sewer King and distracted by the Bear's quarters. She gripped the pipe and stepped to Hollowpoint's left, just outside of his peripheral vision, and swung the pipe into his left gauntlet with all of her strength.

edited 2nd Aug '16 7:31:39 PM by emilyorthoclase

Easton City Music Hall

Another limousine soon rolled up to the music hall's entrance. Out from underneath the door popped two feet, wearing red flats with a peppermint button on each- only one celebrity ever adorned herself so thematically, and a number of fans helpfully identified the passenger's name.

"TABITHA!!!"
"WE LOVE YOU, TABITHA!!!"
"WOO-HOO!!!"

Such cheers continued as Tabitha Cobbler made her way down the pathway, her entire being coated in peppermint as was traditional for her. Peppermint dress, peppermint earrings, and so forth; plus the usual smotherings of makeup and blush that covered a majority of those attending. She also seemed to visibly sparkle to those around her, an illusion achieved via a thin veil of sugar around herself. As she arrived to where Tennyson was, Tabitha turned around and waved to her adoring fans with a grin on her face.

"Hello, sweeties~!"

This feeling will never get old, she thought to herself.

sewage plant

As Joie navigated around the wall of bullets built up by her time stopping power, she heard what the Bear had said, not that it would be useful since the dude looked the other way for some odd reason. She doesn't like Mindseye approach to fighting the guy, though. Yes, her strategy of disabling the gauntlet sounded good but amateurishly throwing down the pipe like one tenderizing the chicken. Please.

Joie did Mindseye a favour and stepped in so as Mindseye was in her time stopping bubble, took that pipe out of her hand and threw it to the side, then she stepped right in front of the armored man with her back to him, her right shoulder under his right armpit with her arms preparing to grab his right arm. Of course, this doubled as her own pose and she really need to do to pretty it up was to flare her fingers out with style.

"Get to cover, ladies," Joie warned. "Bullets will fly everywhere. The Summer Begins!"

Then, as time resumed, she bend her knees, turned and sprang her butt up to execute a one arm shoulder throw. She was aware of what she was doing and that bullets come out of his fist. She made sure the gauntlet doesn't crossfire to her body as she execute the move. If she is successful in taking him down, she will immediately try and go for a side mount.

edited 3rd Aug '16 5:30:35 AM by sgtpendulum

Sewage Plant

Mindseye managed to catch Hollowpoint by surprise and the blow with the pipe damaged his left wrist-gun. But then he quickly turned around and leveled the right one at her!

Fortunately, Joie arrived then and saved her with her time-stopping field. She then successfully threw him to the ground (although with some effort; he is pretty heavy.) For the moment, he was open to attack.

sewage plant

Well, Joie thought, note to self, ask the coach about her form with her arm throw because she was sure she was not supposed to bear THAT much weight during the throw, even with the dude being almost 7 feet tall and covered in body armor. Regardless, he's on the ground and vulnerable. She assumed the side mount with her legs carefully positioned so as she was able to pinned Hollowpoint's arm to the side while she gets to work with the other arm with an Americana lock, also known as the keylock. It's a basic move but an effective one; her one arm grabbing the opponent's wrist and her other arm goes under the bicep and grabbed her own wrist, she will then twist the arm upwards and pull the arm down to opponent's hips.

She did remember about that one time during a BJJ class where she was reprimanded for doing a submission move too quickly when she already had it secure since doing it too quickly will cause dislocation and injuries. However, considering that Hollowpoint has the intention to kill, she had no qualm to bring the pain in a blink of an eye.

The Bear moved closer, still trying to keep JDV between herself and Hollowpoint. Her quarters rolled from covering his faceplate to attempting to work their way straight through his mask with spinning, drilling motions. From there she'd try to get at his eyes and really fuck him up. Mindseye, can you make him hurt more? If we can get him to white out from the pain our job'll be a lot easier.

Sewage Plant

Time seemed to slow down when Hollowpoint aimed his working gauntlet at Mindseye, and

Mindseye stared at Joie de Vivre, and not even the fact that the time-stopper was thinking unflattering things about Mindseye's strategy was enough to prevent a momentary surge of- affection? gratitude? admiration? It didn't matter, the effects were the same.

She was snapped out of staring by the Bear's telepathic message. He has unusually strong psychic defenses, but I don't think he has any actual training. I can probably disorient him enough for you to, ahem, really fuck him up.

She continued while expanding the message to Joie de Vivre. Just remember to leave him alive for interrogation.

Grabbing the pipe again in case she needed it, she projected a wave of psychic static directly into Hollowpoint's mind: a string of disconnected thoughts and memories that merged together into an incomprehensible mental glop. It was not a tactic Mindseye favored, seeing as it could leave Hollowpoint incoherent for hours, but given his unusually strong defenses, it seemed the most practical choice.

Plant

Despite Joie's efforts, Hollowpoint barely grunted under her assault. He tried to reach her with his left arm and yank her off himself somehow (he couldn't actually see her with the pennies covering his mask.)

Then Bear's and Mindsye's own attacks began. "Wtfhrnhmff!!" he gasped, saying something halfway intelligible for the first time.

For a moment, it seemed as if they finally had him helpless.

Then, in a move that may or may not have been intentional, the assassin reached for an object in his belt, and threw it into the air.

A few seconds later, it fell back down, a few yards away. Had it not been a full moon out, the heroines might not have been able to see what it was, but they did:

A grenade.

Sewage Plant

The Sewer King was not having a good night. He lost his two leads, he was pinned behind terrible cover, and his feet got covered up in more burning fluid. He was honestly considering turning tail and running from the fight, when he heard a metallic noise come from the ground after it sounded like the mercenary was defeated. Peering over to investigate, the Sewer King immediately noticed the grenade on the ground.

Yet again, his teenage hormones took over. I can do this, he thought.

Dashing for his life, the Sewer King rushed over to the grenade, picked it up, and attempted to throw it away from the group with all of his might.

Sewer King's throw was surprisingly good; the grenade almost was hurled away into the darkness.

...Unfortunately, one of the plant's old brick walls got in the way. The grenade bounced back, though it fell short by several yards.

Still, when it detonated, the shockwave reached the heroes (and villain) knocking them off their feet:

ka-BOOOM!!!

Sewage Plant

Mindseye was slammed to the ground, face first. She quickly sat up, gripping her pained nose and feeling for the presences of her three allies. Once she was certain they were all alive, she turned her attention to their enemy.

She telepathically reached out into Hollowpoint's mind; with any luck, the shockwave would have been enough to leave him disoriented enough that his defenses could be penetrated.

Easton City Music Hall - Backstage

"It's times like these I remember why I prefer to stay on this side of the stage..." Sally Bowles quipped to an amiable pair of clarinet players checking their reeds and running through a few problematic sections. They shared her sentiment, "Maybe we should take bets on which celebrities are arriving?" One added as the pianist attempted to focus on smoothing out her solos, her peculiar abilities making it extremely difficult to concentrate under the circumstances - Her advanced hearing allowing to hear every cheer, conceited witticism and nauseating platitude amongst the throng and elite, even from inside the building. The whole display was rather sickening, distracting the masses with pretty dresses and the sparkling teeth of the favored Übermenschen. Reverb only tolerated the charade because the outragious money entering was, allegedly, going towards charity. That and it meant she could perform with a symphony orchestra, with her parents in attendance.

There was a little issue getting her father through the door, not so much because of his wheelchair but because of his criminal record. Apparently after the museum incident there had been some security concerns, and they were running background checks on attendants. Reverb couldn't truly blame them. She could hear the crowd cheering for Tabitha Cobbler, the disconcertingly young sugar mogul, "I'm gonna search for some ear plugs, I'll be back soon." Sally told the other players, slipping out of the backstage to find her parents waiting for the show to begin. "Saliha! Tumi ēkhānē!" Her mother called. The mercenary smiled and embraced her parents, "Mā bābā. Āmi āpani ēkhānē āchēna ēta khuśi..."

The Bear flew flat on her back, the wind totally knocked out of her. Her quarters fell limply to the ground as she stared up at the sky, struggling to breathe through her mask. She'd been running and fighting all night, this mask was starting to get to be a bit much. She sat up, though, and raised a hand to once again direct the quarters. She couldn't let this bastard beat them. The coins gathered up into a single swarm once again and instead whipped around to the back of his knee, attempting to throw off his balance with brute force.

Sewage Plant

Hollowpoint was knocked flat on his back. Despite the pain, he groaned and began to stand up again, when The Bear's attack knocked him off balance and he fell again.

His mind still reeling from the previous attacks AND the explosion, it was now open to Mindseye's influence.

Charity Event

Another limo stopped by the entrance to the Easton Music Hall. A distinguished-looking, well-dressed middle-aged man stepped out, accompanied by a lady of similar age and composure.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Mick Tennyson began hooting, "The Man Of The Hour has arrived! Everyone give a big hand for our fair City's Mayor- (*snicker*) Mayor Major Mayor Major-Mayor!"

(Audience claps!)

The Mayor gave Mick a slightly raised eyebrow, but quickly went back to his well-practiced public persona. "Thank you, Mick. It is my honor to host our yearly show of civic kindness."

"The fact you're also a (holds back another snicker) superhero also helps the public trust that nothing will go wrong tonight!"

"Well, let's certainly hope so, young man. Come on, Madeline, the people await!"

(More applause as the Mayor and his wife walk inside.)

Location: Classified

Time Frame: Unrevealed

A secret TALOS base

The boardroom was eerily silent and illuminated only as much as needed. A figure in a military uniform stood in front of a desk where several men and woman in formal attire sat.

"Any luck finding The One Eyed King?" one of them asked.

"No" the officer responded. "There are rumors he's been active in Easton City, but nothing concrete."

"Should we ask the local authorities for help?" someone asked.

"And tell them what? That a possible terrorist cult of which we have no conclusive evidence might be operating there?" the officer countered.

"Should we send one of our superhuman agents to investigate?"

"Not yet" the officer recommended. "They should concentrate on finding Warcrime for now."

Kerensky's Korner Koffee - across the street from the Easton City Music Hall, and thus the Charity Event

Xy took another sip of her coffee, which was unsullied by such things as sweeteners or creamers. She mused to herself the events from a few days before; having been unable to track the 'medieval knight' who'd assaulted the police officers, and nearly bowling over a homeless man in the process, she'd given up the chase to pursue a speedy recovery in her small apartment. She spent the next day treating herself to relaxation, ASMR videos, and a voracious diet that defied expectations, especially given her physique. "I do a lot of physical work," she'd tell people who'd stare at her as she made her third trip to the buffet. And it wasn't entirely untrue, as her enhanced body burned through more calories, carbs, and other vital nutrients in one super-heroing day than most people would in two stressful ones.

During this whole process, she'd seen on the news channel - one of the few her old-school flatscreen could pick up - that there was going to be some sort of charity event at the Music Hall. She'd always wanted to go and hear a concert there, but the tickets were always outrageous in price, so she'd settled for dreaming about it, rather than trying to save enough of her meager, under-the-table earnings to afford a ticket. Today, however, she was capable of getting something of a seat...even if it was past the road.

Xy absentmindedly ran her fingers through the loose end of her ponytail; normally she'd take the time to straighten it, but had decided to let it keep it's wavy ends for today, creating a nice fluff of hair just below her nape. 'I wish I'd thought of this sooner,' she thought as she took another sip, admiring the Russian coffee that was far better than what she could brew from her four-cup Cup-O-Coffee machine at the apartment. She'd even been saving a special outfit for any 'dressy' occasions, though in truth this was the only kind of event she'd ever considered wearing it to. Thus, today she was wearing a white button-up shirt, with the top button undone, and the long sleeves carefully rolled up to just above the elbows, showing off both her olive tan and her muscular, but still feminine forearms. Beneath that, secured to her waist by a black, somewhat-leather belt, was a good pair of khaki's that loosely held their shape around her legs, and her one good pair of 'official' police boots, kept in near-pristine condition via infrequent use. Her only accessories were a black watch strapped to her left arm, and a lone, small silver earring less than an inch in size around the edge.

Of course, her usual army-green, sleeveless coat was as present as ever, though it was currently draped over the back of the bistro chair she had planted herself in.

"Looks like another parade for the rich, huh?" she heard a male voice say beside her. She glanced up from the delicious coffee aroma of her cup to a gentleman standing about a foot away from her. He wore fairly average clothing of a middle-class man, although his chin scruff and shaggy, wavy hair made her imagine him as more of a front-man for an alt-rock band than anything else.

Xy grunted finally in response, taking another sip of her coffee as she her head back to the spectacle across the road. "Maybe; I'm just here to hear the music."

He scoffed, then took a slurp of his own coffee. "From here? I doubt you'll get to hear much. And the prices for the tickets were outrageous; I'll bet you twenty bucks that the only people that'll be in those seats will be the kinda people who could hire the whole orchestra for a day."

She squinted her eyes as she thought about what he said for a moment, then realized the glaring error in her own plan. She frowned, snorting in irritation as she thought now about how little of the concert she'd actually hear. She heard the gentleman slurp his coffee again before he crushed the cup, obviously finished. "Well," he said to her, nodding, "I hope you get to hear some of it, at least." With that, he stepped off to find a trash can, and never bothered to come back.

She was still glaring at the in front of the Music Hall, coffee still in hand, when Mayor Major Mayor Major-Mayor made his grande appearance.

Sewage Plant

Mindseye stood up, somewhat shakily, and stumbled over to Hollowpoint, planting a foot on his chest. It was largely a symbolic gesture- there was no way Mindseye could take down a man this heavily armored. She planted a suggestion in his mind. Hollowpoint would be much more willing to spill his secrets now.

It was possible to simply go inside Hollowpoint's head and take whatever information she needed, but the human mind was a) more complex than that, and b) more fragile than that. It was entirely possible Mindseye could end up dredging up lost memories of beloved childhood pets or leaving Hollowpoint unable to remember how to blink. Force was inadvisable in telepathy.

"Mr. Hollowpoint," she said, "where to start? I suppose at the very beginning- what did Superior Industries tell you about this job?"

Even in his stunned stunned state, Hollowpoint had enough presence of mind to think: B*tch! Must.. not... tell... her... anything! He also struggled to regain his senses and/or get back on his feet.

However, Mindseye could sense that his mental defenses were still down. If she pried, she would easily read his recent thoughts.

Sewage Plant

"I'd be impressed by your dedication to your employers if you hadn't called me a bitch," Mindseye drawled, "so I suppose we'll be doing this the hard way."

She started rifling through Hollowpoint's memories. Snippets of Hollowpoint's life went through her head at lightspeed, and she soon found what she was looking for: the briefing with Superior Industries.