Hall of Science
Two police cars were positioned in front of the building. Both had strange, smoking holes on their sides.
Behind them, two police officers were talking to each other:
"You sure its The Looter?"
"Yeah" the other said. "Though he said he wants to be called Meteor Man now."
"Why?"
"I don't know! Maybe he liked the movie?? In any case, he's got a crazy powerful gun this time."
"Hmm. Several D-class villains seem to be getting upgrades of late..."
Suddenly, a voice came out: "Coppers! I know you can hear me. I got hostages! I don't want to hurt them. Just let me get away with the museum's meteor exhibit, and I leave them unhurt!"
edited 15th Aug '17 5:51:54 PM by Sijo
Angela - New York
Having wound up on the moon of an unfamiliar planet, Angela was, for lack of a better expression, not happy. This was nowhere she was familiar with, and she had explored quite a bit of the Heavens. Now she was stuck without anything familiar in a place far from home. Well, nothing familiar, save for the giant severed head of the monster she had been fighting before this business. This moon didn't seem to hold any clues, so she elected to fly down to the planet instead.Spending some time riding the severed head down to the surface of the planet, it quickly smashed into the ground, leaving a (small) crater in the asphalt of a downtown street. As the cars came to a stop and people ran, she came out of the skull and surveyed the area.
"Which of you has brought me!" she shouted angrily. Not really getting much of a response from fleeing people, she punched a fire hydrant, causing it to erupt.
Hall of Science
Tabitha Smith was having the time of her life.
She had only been in New York City for half a day. She had already gotten to ride on the subway. She had tried New York pizza. She hadn't seen the Statue of Liberty yet, but she had gotten a souvenir keychain from the gift shop. There had been the slight issue of not having any money, but it was amazing what you could grab when the store owners were distracted by explosions. (Small ones, of course. Not big ones. That would be wrong.)
As she walked past the New York Hall of Science (boring), there was the sound of someone making hostage demands (interesting).
She snapped her gum as she listened. Were meteor exhibits valuable? Or did he want them for some other reason?
At any rate, Tabby didn't have anything more exciting going on, and the cops sure as hell weren't doing so hot right now.
She slipped past the two ruined police cars and approached the side of the building, away from the entrance. She created a bomb the size of a baseball and threw it at the wall. If she couldn't find an entrance, she could make one instead.
edited 18th Aug '17 5:05:42 PM by emilyorthoclase
New York City-Downtown
Diana still wasn't used to this whole “secret identity” idea, but after her first public appearance in her ceremonial outfit got into the news, it became impossible to go anywhere without reporters trying to ask her questions. At first, she was delighted to talk to new people who seemed so interested in her, but after the concepts of paparazzi and tabloid news were explained to her, Diana decided to take up her friends’ offer and pretend to be someone else when she went out alone. Today, she was Diana Prince, personal aide for Captain Steve Trevor. The business suit was strangely restricting at first, and she was pretty sure these fake glasses were actually impeding her vision, but they did allow her to blend in.
She’d been doing her own sightseeing in New York City, though since she didn’t quite have the experience to interact with regular citizens too much without drawing attention, Diana was content with absorbing the general atmosphere and culture around her. She was happy she’d picked up enough English to read all the signs, historical markers, and understand what was going on in general,. She had even learned a few more words from some loud drivers stuck in traffic! Diana was heading over to one of the many subway entrances when a small tremor ran through the ground.
The people around her stumbled, but she stayed put, her good mood fading as she strained to see or hear what was going on. Diana pushed through the groups of running people and was greeted by the sight of a large skull smoking in a crater, along with a woman scantily clad in armor who was attacking… what was that called again? A fire hydrant.
The stranger looked around her height, and the weapons she carried made Diana come to a single conclusion. That was definitely an Amazon. Her eyes lit up in excitement, and she ducked into an abandoned alleyway to change. Moments later, her disguise was neatly folded in a suitcase hidden on a rooftop, and Wonder Woman floated over the hastily parked cars and fleeing crowds. She landed next to Angela without any sort of fear.
“Fellow sister! It is lucky that we should meet in a place so far away from our home.” Diana spoke to her in the Amazons’ language, an odd mix of ancient Greek and something completely unheard of. “...Why are you destroying this water pumping device?” she asked.
New York Downtown
Angela paused in her rampage against the plumbing fixtures of downtown New York when another woman appeared. She flew towards her, was tall and armed, and her armor - if you could call it that, considering you could see her elbows plain as day - seemed of a sturdy build. Either she was another wingless angel, or something else that was native to this hovel. For a hovel was what this pitiful excuse for a planet was. She doubted if you compressed the entire sphere into a single orb that it would even have a sliver of the majesty of a single brick in Heven.Whoever this woman was, one thing was clear about who she was not, though. She was not her sister.
"I am no native to this pit, I am an Angel from the Heavens and will not be disrespected," she called. "My name is Angela, and you are not my sister."
She drew her sword and held it menacingly. "You will return me at once to my home! However you managed to spirit me away from my realm, you made a grave mistake in doing so. The longer I am forced to reside in this realm, the more I will do as I please to your accursed... water-pumping devices!"
New York City-Downtown
Wonder Woman didn't stop Angela as she yelled in what was definitely not Themysciran, though she could understand the self proclaimed angel's words anyway. At first she was disappointed that she'd been mistaken, and she didn't really get why Angela was so angry at her, but she did catch onto the fact that she was far from home. She remembered how scary and new everything had been when she'd left her own island, so she wasn't offended by the warrior's sword brandishing.
"I didn't take you from your Heaven, I found you in the street," she explained, switching to English as she took a step back. It was less out of fear of being stabbed and more to give this stranger some comfort room.
"This "pit" is called Brooklyn. And those fire hydrants do not belong to me. They are the..." Wonder Woman paused to think about it. "The public's I believe?" That sounded right to her. "But you're scaring the people who live here when you break things. If you stop, I promise to help you figure out what happened to you," she said, offering her a smile.
New York Downtown
Angela took momentary pause at the woman's words, slightly lowering her sword as Wonder Woman backed off. She planted one foot in the ground over the destroyed hydrant in order to cave the metal inwards, ceasing the geyser of water.Brooklyn.
That was definitely not any place in Heaven, nor the name of the Ten Realms she knew of. Though she had never been to nine of them, she knew that even millennia ago the worlds of the Ten Realms were far more developed than this backwater planet.
"How can I trust a promise if I do not know who you are?" she remarked. "And who are you on this planet, that you do not know that which I seek, yet you would be so certain to find it? I hail from Heven, the Tenth Realm. Have any on this world knowledge of how to return?"
New York City-Downtown
"I am Diana of Themyscira, Princess of the Amazons," she said, adjusting her tiara. "I admit, I've never heard of a Heven or a Tenth Realm, but I like helping people. I've been doing so on this planet for a short while now, and two can solve a problem faster than one can, right?" Maybe together they could figure out how to get Angela back to where she belonged.
"Maybe you don't have a reason to trust me yet," Wonder Woman dropped to one knee in front of her, though she kept up her eye contact. "But I swear on my honor as a warrior that I will do my best to assist you...if you allow me to."
edited 15th Aug '17 10:34:53 PM by ScorpioRat
New York Downtown - Angela
Themyscira, Amazons, this was all rather odd. Her life in general was odd from certain perspectives, she supposed, so this had to be a bit more out there to even register. Well, at least this Diana seemed earnest. Still, that left one thing."It's rather difficult to turn down a woman on her knees...." Angela said. "But there's only one way I know of to test one's honor and mettle as a warrior!"
She twirled her blade in her hand and pointed it at Wonder Woman. "Prove that you are worthy of aiding me."
New York City-Downtown
Wonder Woman was momentarily shocked, mostly because no one else around here had ever called her out in such a way, but then she stood up with a grin.
"I accept your challenge, Angela of Heven!" Diana jumped a feet feet back to put more space between them, and drew her own shortsword. Her shield was strapped to her left forearm, and she took a defensive stance.The area where they were standing was mostly empty of people now, other than a few bystanders brave enough to try and take photos from a distance.
"Come at me!" She may not have understood modern society perfectly yet, but Diana was born and trained to fight.
New York Downtown - Angela
"Gladly," Angela replied, knuckles tightening in their grip along the hilt.In the blink of an eye, she shot forward with a push of her legs, the asphalt slightly cracking as she charged ahead. Swinging her sword down, at the last moment she pivoted on her feet to change the angle and started trying to hit her with a series of blows.
New York City-Downtown
Angela's speed was a surprise, but Wonder Woman matched her pace easily, the barrage of sword strikes being deflected off her bronze shield from every angle she was attacked from. She began to back up as she stayed on the defensive. watching her opponent's movements for any patterns or habits, and then she held her ground.
"An excellent display of skill, but now it is my turn!" Her shield was dented in a few places, but Wonder Woman used it to slap away Angela's sword arm. Taking the opening, she retaliated with a series of lunges and slashes of her own. Her short-sword moved fast enough to block any incoming attacks, and Wonder Woman drove Angela backwards again with the intensity of her swings. She raised her blade above her with both hands and brought it down in a powerful overhead strike, leaving the two warriors at what looked like a stalemate, their swords locked together in a brute strength contest.
"What will your next move be?" she asked, though she seemed to be genuinely curious. She almost sounded winded, but the amount of force she was subjecting Angela to felt like it was slowly increasing as the seconds passed.
New York Downtown - Angela
Angela gritted her teeth and formed a wicked smile as she struck her opponent's shield, taking pleasure at seeing the metal deforming with every blow. The tides turned though when she went on the offensive, forcing the Angel to defend. Not being one to care much for a shield, she used Xiphos to defend with, but couldn't seem to get any openings. Whoever this Amazon was on this planet, she was truly skilled."Now..." she said. "Now I will need to offer you my aid," she suddenly stepped back and pulled her sword away, lowering it. "I cannot repay your assistance in returning me home after you have already done so, and an Angel always settles her debts. I will have to claim a debt from you first. Are you a Hunter, Princess of Amazons? I am Lord of the Hunt of Heven, surely you can make use of my talents."
New York City- Downtown
"A debt, huh?" Wonder Woman sheathed her own sword and thought about the offer. "I'm more of a guardian than a hunter. I wasn't planning to ask for any reward, but until you leave... you are welcome to put your strength to good use by protecting this city. Is that an acceptable deal?" With her now dented shield on her back again, she offered Angela a hand. She remembered seeing people shake hands when they met someone new or made an oath of some kind together, so she wanted to try it as well.
New York Downtown - Angela
"A Guardian?" Angela echoed. "These people seem so weak, whatever troubles them cannot truly be so grave. It does not seem to be a fair debt to settle, but I will accept for the time being."She gave Diana's hand a curious look. Sheathing her sword, she put out her own hand, hooking her thumb against the Amazon's. With a flex of her arm, she pressed against her wrist firmly with her own.
Museum
Ka-
BOOOM!
People could be heard screaming inside the museum when Boom-Boom's plasma bomb blew up a hole in one of its walls.
One of those people was The Looter/Meteor Man.
"YAAH what was that you stupid cops I warned you!!" ZAP ZAP ZAP his strange raygun went, as he grabbed a bunch of strange rocks marked "meteorites" from an exhibit and, ignoring any of the hostages, ran towards the back of the building, looking for a way out.
Street
A female figure watched from the shadows as Angela and Wonder Woman clashed.
Who is this stranger? she thought, angrily. Diana's life is mine to claim. MINE!
But then she smiled- sinisterly. While she doubted this warrior could defeat the Amazon, perhaps she would at least be weakened enough to give her a chance to strike...
edited 16th Aug '17 2:42:42 PM by Sijo
Museum
Tabitha stepped through the hole she had made.
The hostage taker was easy to spot; he was the one running away and wearing the dorky helmet that made him look like a shiny egg.
The museumgoers seemed either stunned or panicked, but at least they weren't in any immediate danger.
She followed the guy closely behind and nicked a piece of meteor from his hand.
"Hey, are these valuable? 'Cause if you're willing to take hostages for them where everyone can see you, I hope they're expensive."
edited 18th Aug '17 5:06:28 PM by emilyorthoclase
1945, a Small Village
Steve Rogers and Bucky were sitting atop a tall warehouse on the outskirts of a small village, one that one would think wouldn't attract much attention. However, when a madman with a red skull-shaped mask on his face decides to attempt to turn such a village into his own personal hideously mutated manservants, that's bound to make people notice. Case in point, it made the Freedom Fighters notice. With Cap at the helm, he took a small number out to the village to stop the Skull's plans and take him out for good. Unfortunately, they weren't able to achieve the latter, but they were able to do the former. The day was saved and so was the village, and Cap and the others had spent the night there as the village offered the FF anything they had as thanks. Or at least they tried. Cap said no despite the Blazing Skull's protests. ("If they're offering free booze, we should take it. A little hooch never hurt anyone, ya know what I mean?") But even with Namor's shuttle, it would be a long trip back to base. If they were offering a place to stay, then they might as well accept.
Cap and Bucky woke up earlier than the others, as they always did. They were trained soldiers, even if one of them wasn't even 18, and being early risers was a force of habit for them at this point. The others were still fast asleep, and with nothing better to do, they decided to climb up to the nearest rooftop and watch the glorious sunrise.
"Cap?" said Bucky.
"Yeah Bucky?", said Cap.
"What do you think it's gonna be like? After the war's over I mean?"
"After it's over," said Cap. "You know, I"m not sure I've ever really thought about that. I guess I've been so busy with the here and now that I've never had a chance to stop and think about what might come after. Sometimes, I wasn't even sure if there'd be an after."
"I know," said Bucky. "Sometimes, you just can't help but wonder if this is gonna be it, you know? Anyway, personally, I don't think anything's really gonna change much. Even if we beat the Germans and the Italians and the Japs, we're still gonna have a lot of the same problems we've been having. Heck, maybe new ones. Word is that the top brass are already trying to plan things out in case our side winds, and they're more concerned about the Russians than anything else. What, we go to all this trouble and we've still got to deal with some foreign power breathing down our neck? Nevermind all of the stuff we'll still have to deal with homeside."
"Maybe,' said Steve. "But personally, I think we might just stand a chance."
"At killing ourselves?"
"Very funny," said Cap. "No, what I mean is, as horrific and frightening as this war has been, it might have finally been the wakeup call the world so desperately needed to get itself back on track. I'm not going to fool myself by thinking everyone's suddenly going to throw down their arms and that it will all be sunshine and rainbows, but I want to believe that given time, we'll all strive to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. And the only way that can happen is if we work to better ourselves. To make a better nation. A better world."
"Ever the optimist," said Bucky.
"Maybe," said Steve. "But if it means getting me through the day, I'll take it. Besides, I've got a feeling everything will work out just fine."
15 Minutes Ago, Steve's Apartment
Everything was not fine. Steve was busy thwapping the side of his of his fancy new smartphone trying his best to get it to work. To be honest, everything these days might have well been like visiting another planet, but Sharon had told him that if he wanted to make it in today's world, he needed a smartphone, or at least a cellphone. Sometimes he wondered what the point of it all was. Back in his day, if you wanted to call someone, all you'd have to do was dial up the right numbers and that was that. Now you had to use some sort of contraption or another and pray to God you had a decent internet connection, whatever the heck that meant.
Sometimes he wondered if it had all even meant anything. Why was he even here? He had wanted to make a difference. To help his country however he could, to make it a better place. To make the world a better place. But one look at the news was all it took to know he wasn't anywhere closer than he was over 70 years ago. What was it all for?
Just then, he heard a number of police sirens go off just outside his apartment. Racing to the deck, he looked down to see a number of police cars heading off in the direction of the New York Hall of Science. He didn't know what was going down, but something was.
This was what it was all for. Just several blocks away from his apartment, he could hear some sort of explosion go off. He wasn't sure how or why, but he knew one thing: Captain America was still needed. He put on his costume and grabbed his shield as quick as he could before bounding over the railing on the deck and heading off to the museum, a man on a mission.
Now, The New York Hall of Science
BOOOM!
Steve made it just as the explosion went off. Not having time to chat with the police, he raced over to where he heard the explosions came from, only to see a giant hole where a part of the wall had been. He peered through, only to see a young girl nicking a piece of some sort of meteorite from a man who in all honestly seemed to have a few screws loose. If he'd had the time, he would have conferred with the officers, gotten the full scope of the situation, but as long as that man was firing at civilians, he knew there was only one thing to do.
He called out to the girl. "GET DOWN!" He then fired his shield straight at the man, intending for it to hit the man straight in the stomach. With any luck, the wind would be so knocked out of his sails that he'd let go of the gun in the process. If he had aimed it at his hand, it might break it if not worse. In any event, all he could do was pray that this would work.
edited 16th Aug '17 9:05:35 PM by kkhohoho
Museum
Tabitha heard someone shout a warning in the nick of time, and she ducked just as the shield whizzed above her head.
She stood up, still clutching the piece of meteor, and turned around to see a guy in a Captain America costume standing tall.
She almost panicked - the last time she had met a superhero was when Wonder Man had broken her dad's nose in LA - but the guy had warned her, which meant he didn't think she was a threat.
She approached him, eyeing him warily and still keeping a safe distance.
He did look like the guy from her fifth grade history textbook, not that the mask was making it easy to tell. Still, Tabby had gotten involved in this, which meant she was maybe a superhero now, which meant she and maybe-Cap were allies, sort of.
"He's trying to steal these." She held up the meteor piece. "He wouldn't have pulled this in the middle of the day with lots of people unless he's desperate or stupid. Or trying to get someone's attention."
She blew a bubble and popped it.
"I'm Boom Boom, by the way."
edited 18th Aug '17 5:06:58 PM by emilyorthoclase
someone
Rose, Hall Of Science
She may have the worst luck in the world, Rose found herself musing. A couple of weeks into her life in New York, and she had her first day off. Her employers, (and they were wonderful people), suggested she came here.
And she was taken hostage. She wondered if she should try to help, or get involved, but she still wasn't confident with her powers, and she was scared of... well...
I could wipe the floor with him, and you know that, flower girl.
And kill him in the process.
Tomato, to-mah-to.
Go to sleep, Thorn.
You're making a mistake.
No, I'm not.
Rose stood up slowly and reached for a nearby plant, and asked it to wind itself around the ankles of the Meteor Man.
[TOP SECRET]
New York City- Downtown
Whether Angela's handshake was correct or not wasn't clear, but it was acceptable enough for Wonder Woman. It had felt right, and that was more important. She gave a short nod before letting go again.
"Yes, most of the people that live here are fragile, at least physically, but they make up for it with their words and actions. Though some of their ideas and ambitions are less...noble than others are. Most of the time, I try to help the law enforcers by chasing after the ones that go too far and hurt innocents," she explained to Angela. "But once in a while, a threat will appear that no average human can handle on their own, and that is when they need protection the most." She usually left the smaller criminals to the police to handle once she caught them, but if someone more supernatural like Ares revealed themselves, she'd only really have herself to rely on unless the gods stepped in again.
New York Downtown - Angela
"Humans!?" Angela said in surprise. "You mean to tell me that this is Midgard?"She let out a laugh. "Then I am the first Angel to set foot in these Nine Worlds in an entire age! I can see why you would need to guard this world, then. You never know when the Asgardians may attack. Being sent home will be no easy task, to bypass the Odinforce itself. But I think I will very much enjoy traveling with you if it gives us an opportunity to fight the spawn of the Aesir and Vanir."
Gwen smiled behind her mask as she swung around from building to building. She had been a vigilante for a while but her preferred method of transportation was still as exciting as ever—if you ignored the 80 foot drop. And that's exactly what Gwen was doing. Her brain was busy with other things, like trying to convince her father she didn't need a sitter. Or pretending that she was still home and not running around trying to catch bad guys.
"Come on, dad. I'm almost seventeen. I'm pretty sure I can look after a cat by myself"
"Look, I'm sorry... Is that wind I'm hearing?"
"What? No! That's the... videogame I'm playing... Wind Simulator" Gwen said, the mental work to come up with that lie absentmindedly making her shoot a web that missed a building by a couple of feet but she quickly corrected her trajectory with more webs before things turned ugly. Never a dull moment while swinging, huh?
"You sound out of breath"
"Uh, yeah, I'm running in place"
"I thought you said you were playing a videogame"
"...I need to maintain a healthy lifestyle, right?" Civilians running away from something made it clear this conversation had to wait "Look, I gotta go. I think Murderface just puked"
Gwen made her way to where the problem was and landed on top of a lamppost to overlook the situation.
"Don't worry, citizens! Spider-Woman is here to save the... " Two women shaking hands wasn't exactly what Gwen was expecting to see. She slowly descended the lamppost to see the women at eye-level "Okay, I give up. What am I looking at here? I swear, these wrestling storylines make less and less sense each year"
edited 16th Aug '17 11:11:51 PM by DeisTheAlcano
Museum
"YAAHH" Looter screamed once again as Boom-Boom burst one of the meteors he was carrying. But particles that came out of it covered him. Suddenly, he felt stronger...
"My Powers! They are back!!" he gasped, sounding giddy. "YES! Once again, I'm Meteor Man!!"
It was then that Captain America showed up, threatened him, and threw his shield at him.
But amazingly, the newly empowered crook was able to catch the shield with one hand!
"HAH! Joke's on you, Flag Boy! I'm now powerful enough to kick your ass!!"
Street
The female figure grimaced. Things had not gone like she expected. Not only was Diana unscratched, but she seemed to have found a new ally! She had to act quickly.
Taking advantage of her distraction, the figure lifted a spear and, with superhuman strength and speed, hurled it towards the Amazons' back!
J.J. Jameson
was not happy.
(Some people might argue that he's never happy.)
As he drank his coffee (black) he stared outside his office's window.
The globe of his newspaper's #1 rival, The Daily Planet
, was clearly visible from there.
He grumbled under his breath. He could bet his hide that Perry White had the New York branch of his paper built there just to tick him off.
That the Planet had been outselling the Bugle lately did not help things.
He snorted. The Planet's stories were all about the fancy new heroes, like Superman. Meh. He remembered the true heroes, like Captain America. Which by the way reminded him that he had to investigate that fellow going around calling himself the actual Captain America, somehow alive after being missing for 70 years!
Suddenly, his phone rang. "What is it?" he barked.
"Sir?" a young woman's voice
answered "The Looter
is trying to rob the New York Hall of Science!!
"What!?" the middle-aged man spat, almost choking on his drink. "Send someone there!! Where the hell is Parker!?"