"I've lived with worse regrets."
"Doll? What happened?" James put a hand on Doll's shoulder, trying to get her to calm down; the first thing he noticed was that she was cold, even for this autumn day.
"He tried to freeze me." She kept her gaze on Anders, not taking her eyes off him for a moment.
"So, um. Captain Zeppelin," Aria started, trying to make small talk while waiting for Jeff to return. "Are you working on any new robot prototypes? I'd, uh, like to take a look. See if I can help."
"As mayor of New Radio City, it's my job to stay on top of things," Ial explained to Scan. "This includes how to stay in touch with even the most elusive of heroes."
"My, what sinister purpose could you believe a lone girl in a dress up party could be up to?" Dorothy asked with a face of pretty clearly faked hurt.
Sophie's shock at facing Cassandra after all this time was diminished somewhat when she noticed how some guy had tried to pickpocket the woman.... and unfortunately for him he got caught.
... Poor guy. Chose the wrong target
Vigil made haste to arrive at the destination specified by the mayor. On the outskirts of the city there were no tall building to leap from, so the masked hero had to conform itself with the ground to run upon. Using its abilities the Vigil covered a lot of terrain in little time, each of its steps long and quick.
It was not long before it started to make out the figure of the convoy far ahead in the distance.
Clinton managed to catch up to the pickpocket just in time to see him get a knife pulled out on him by a very familiar looking woman. "Ah, good I was worried he would get away." He said walking up to the woman with the knife, "Quite impressive miss."
"Ah, well I did get the idea of applying some upgrades, and redesigns to my current Destruct-O Bots, but I don't have the supplies to add the modifications," Captain Zeppelin began. "I have some rough design documents in the Zeppelin, if you'd like to see them."
For one brief moment, as the crowd fixed its gaze on him, Henri felt like he was on top of the world.
Then they looked away and went back to what they were doing, and he suddenly felt like everything had come crashing down on him.
"... What did I do wrong?" he said to himself. "Did- did I say something wrong? Do I have a spot on my armor?" (There was a bit of ice on his right arm, but he didn't seem to notice this.) Frustratedly, he rubbed at his head, trying to tousle hair that wasn't there.
In the end, he had walked off befuddled, wandering through the festival to find... something to do. As he was walking along, he bumped into a little girl and her mother.
"Oh, sorry," he muttered.
"Mommy, Mommy!" The little girl piped up, tugging her mother over. "Look! A hero!"
The woman took several minutes to look at Henri. "I haven't seen you before," she said. "Who are you exactly?"
"The name, miss," Henri said in what he considered his best "hero voice", "is Steel Chevalier."
"Oh." Smiling, the mother nodded and walked away, child in tow. "Well, good to see you."
Now even more confused than usual, Henri continued on walking until the smell of pancakes caught his nose. The scent led him to a small stall, where he could see several others eating. Sidling up to the counter, he sat down and placed an order for chocolate chip pancakes, producing his wallet from a pocket somewhere on his person and pulling out his payment.
It was only when the order came that he realized that he had no way to fit them under the helmet.
"Er..." Henri looked around for a moment, then picked up the pancakes with a piece of paper, put the change on the counter, and walked off. "Thanks for the food!"
Henri wandered through the fair, his helmet slightly open so he could eat. The pancakes tasted better than he had expected: they were fluffy, sweet, and seemed to melt in his mouth.
"So, what do I do now?" He looked around at the crowd, expecting to see a fellow superhero or a supervillain. The problem was that there were so many people walking around in costume that it was hard to see who were the real superheroes.
His eyes caught sight of a colorful flyer on a billboard; he sidled up to it, looking through the list of events; the one that caught his attention were the speeches at the city hall, one of which would be given by a supervillain named "Black Rose".
Wait. Henri read the entry again. A supervillain? I thought they arrested supervillains in this place. Maybe it's some kind of show?
"Whatever," he said out loud, and headed for City Hall, munching on his pancakes.
edited 30th Jul '11 8:13:13 AM by Icarael
"Stealing is a crime and drugs is a crime too BUT if you steal drugs the two crimes cancel out and it’s like basically doing a good."Up close, the new guy looked kind of threatening. The expression he got on his face when the woman - Doll - explained what had happened made him even more so. Anders shook his head, trying to free himself yet again. It worked about as well as the last few attempts had. "I wasn't trying to freeze you. I was aiming for..." he began, raising his uncaptured hand to point at the silver-armored hero... who was walking away from a pancake stand, in full armor, forking syrupy goodness into his helmet. "...Well, that guy," he finished, somewhat lamely. I thought heroes were supposed to have better senses of presentation.
Then it hit him that he'd basically just confessed to being a villain.
edited 30th Jul '11 4:57:25 PM by RedSavant
It's been fun.Rei shakes his head at being elbowed and takes a look at the situation.
"Oohh... You're a feisty one."
The bug-man then smacks Cassandra in the face with a palm strike before attempting to twist his arm free.
Shameless Self-promotion ho!"Why? Do you have some vendetta against him? Is he a criminal? Or are you a criminal looking to take out an aspiring hero?" Doll questioned. James, meanwhile, stood there in silence, glancing at Doll, Anders, and the man he singled out and pointed to. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation.
"Oh, I'd love to!" Aria exclaimed, before backpedaling, "Ahem. I, uh, mean, if you're really okay with that, of course."
The smack to the face sent Cassandra stumbling backward... but her grip still kept firm on Kiribattaman's wrist. Fumbling over the shooting gallery's counter, she dragged the would be thief over with her, bringing the bug man on top of her as she fell to the ground.
"I don't mind being treated a little roughly..."
Sophie saw the man slap Cassandra... and then how the woman and her aggressor both fell down to the floor.
Something reacted pretty badly inside the maid once she saw this. Holding the fake rifle with both hands, she moved behind the two figures on the floor then attempted to strike at the back of the man's head, using the butt of the weapon.
edited 31st Jul '11 1:34:23 AM by daltar
The Bug-man is sent tumbling to the ground.
"Hey, I'm just a guy trying to earn a living here!"
He kicks her on the crotch as hard as he can then frantically tries to squirm away.
Shameless Self-promotion ho!"I was trying to... well, not kill him," Anders explained, feeling suddenly wretched. These two were obviously vigilante supers - since they were in plainclothes, more vigilante than regular supers, which was saying something. "I need an archnemesis, don't I? Or a sworn enemy at the very least... and I figured he'd be a good choice. I hoped he would dodge anyway. If I'd been able to freeze him, well... for one, he wouldn't make a very good archnemesis, and two, there're a lot worse than me running around this city, and I'd be doing him a favor getting him off the street before he decided to go after Motorpocalypse or Black Rose or someone like that, right?"
Anders was aware that he was basically babbling his (admittedly cobbled-together) plan to literally the first hero to look at him askance. That'll take some fixing. But what else was there to do? He couldn't break Doll's grip, couldn't freeze her off of him... but maybe there was something he could do. Delicate tines of frost began to creep across the ground from his feet as his internal temperature began to rise - slowly, as he waited to see what Doll would do next.
It's been fun.Guy was taken aback by the sudden flurry of movement. Instinctively, he reached for where his utility belt should be, but felt only the plush of his now regrettable costume. When Cassandra was slapped though, he tried to help in whatever way he could. Following Sophie's lead, he grabbed another rifle, and swung for the bug-man's back. "You get off of her!"
Gale hadn't seen much from his vantage point so far. That can't be right. He slowly rose into the air, hoping to get a better look.
"I'm honestly shocked that you bother with this little guise anymore," Mimic replied. "You don't fool anyone, and you make no real effort to." Mimic was growing bored, so he began to wander off. "If you'll excuse me, I feel the need to find something more entertaining."
"So, until we see each other next. Maybe under more exciting circumstances" Dorothy said, turning her back to him as she started walking once again "Bruno"
"Yes, Madam" The arge man said, giving the Mimic one last glance before he made his way to the front of his Mistress, intending to clear the way for her to walk.
"Hey, do you already have a venue and a place to stay arranged, Uncle Ben? If you do... Maybe I could go around and talk up the show!" Sophie was enthusiastic, but it seemed she was more eager to explore their new surroundings than to actually advertise their show.
Justin, meanwhile, was getting a little frustrated with the traffic, "I love how these people have the balls to try to cut me off. When I'M the one driving a GIGANTIC TOUR BUS and could easily plow them over if we were to crash."
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS."Benjamin shook his head. "Sadly, no, i don't have a venue just yet, and hotel preparations will also need to be done. But that doesn't mean you need to stick with me for that. I can easily take care of it myself," he told her, offering a slight chuckle and smile at Justins frustration.
"Whenever we find a place to stop, why don't you go enjoy yourself too, Justin? I think you've earned it."
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill"Mmmm, those were some good pancakes!" Sugar giggled with glee, reaching for a napkin to wipe away the maple syrup clinging to her soft lips. "Huh... Weird design, looks kinda like writing..." She unfolded the napkin and quietly read the message to herself. "Uh... Um... The guy... Wanted to go camping with me?"
"...Huh?" Spice swallowed the last of her pancakes. "What about camping?"
"Well, uh, it says, uh... Something about "in tent"?" The white-clad girl scratched her head. "So... Something about camping?"
"Lemme see..." The redhead snatched away the napkin and read it herself. "Hmmm, I see..."
After a moment of letting it sink in...
"...Wait, someone was listening in on us!?" Not that it was all that difficult, seeing how loud the two were, but Spice was surprised none-the-less. "Crap, crap, crap! Our security may be compromised, Sugar! Be on guard!"
"Oh, um, okay." Sugar reached for another napkin, as the one she had before had suddenly turned to ashes. "Well, as long as it's nothing bad, eheh!"
edited 31st Jul '11 4:27:46 PM by Moerin
"Oh, really? I just didn't know if you'd be worried about me, Uncle Ben..." Sophie still seemed happy nonetheless.
"Nah, if we find a place to stop, you know the first thing I'm going to do is fix that wheel. Y'know, so it stops that annoying squeaking... Oh, hey! There's a hotel right there. I think we can stop here, right Mr. Miller?" Justin inquired.
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS.""That we can, Justin, if you'd be so kind." Turning to Sophie, he folded his arms and gave her a solemn look. "I'm always worried about you. But i can't keep you under my watch forever. Just be careful, alright?"
edited 31st Jul '11 6:24:57 PM by InfiniteParagon
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank HillThe bus turned into the parking lot of the hotel, and once Justin found a suitably large enough space, he stopped the bus.
"Ahaha! Alright! Don't worry, I'll have my phone on me," She paused, and gave her father a hug before getting off the bus, "I'll see you in a bit!"
As she left, Justin took the key out of the ignition and turned to face Benjamin, "Do you want me to head in and get a room here for the night, or...?"
edited 31st Jul '11 7:12:50 PM by Motree
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS.""I'll get the rooms. Be back in a bit.", Benjamin replied thusly, quickly exiting the bus and heading towards the hotel. He really wanted another cigarette, but for the time being he pushed the thought out of his mind, trying to focus on the task at hand for now.
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank HillScan's eyes went wide, looking at Ial, "Impressive."
edited 31st Jul '11 7:34:46 PM by GameGuruGG
Wizard Needs Food Badly"Right, sir. I'll get to work on the Squeaky-Wheel-Gremlins, then!" Justin replied, jokingly giving a salute to his boss.
He got out of the driver's seat, retrieved his toolbox, and headed out to take a look at the wheel.
Sophie wandered about the festival, occasionally looking at various stalls and whatnot. Seeing as she was new here, she figured it'd be a good idea of what was going on and what the city was like.
That, and she was anxious to meet some new people. As much as she missed old friends, making new ones made it all worth it. Plus, it never took long for people to notice her. She was arrogant enough to realize she had a cute face.
She noticed some commotion going on.
A... Fight?! She let out a slightly shocked gasp.
What should I do... Ignore it, or try to break it up diplomatically?
After mustering up a bit of nerve... She moved towards the fight- Not threateningly, but purposefully. It seemed to be between a woman and a couple men, one of which was in armor, of all things. She looked rather ordinary in her floral, slightly ruffled dress.
"All right, what's going on here?" She inquired sternly, "B- Break it up! The only thing fighting'll do is get you all hurt and all in trouble!"
edited 31st Jul '11 7:15:38 PM by Motree
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS."

“If that’s what you want,” replied Percival as he turned a second time and walked away. So much for that then… There must be another way—Wait, left peripheral. Percival ripped off a flyer hanging on the side of a food stall, detailing the major events for the festival. Of note were the speeches to be given at city hall, one of which was to be conducted by the supervillain known as Black Rose. Percival checked his watch and jogged off towards the building.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.