A Game of Gods: Exemplar

Junna Hoshimi- 'Catch The Rainbow' Festival

It was very clear taking a normal (for what you can consider as such) approach with the girl that can create mushrooms was not very effective in the long run. What seemed to be (perhaps surprisingly so) was slamming her down on the ground. She made a note to make sure the new entrant to the situation didn't hurt themselves and anyone else, and to get her medical attention once this was all over... unaware she'd be likely to face the same problem soon enough.

"You're not leaving yet! Get back here!"

It seems a tree was thrown onto the stage. At this point, it was time to go for a rather tricky shot. She bounced an arrow off of the wall rising from the dorm, and attempted to pin Patty right between the tree and her ammo. Hopefully this works out for her... the spores were coming soon, and they do not mix well with archery.

Curtis Knox - Cheesecake Factory

Curtis maintains a calm smile on his face, but one may notice a tiny condescending sneer underneath that. That sneer essentially indicates that Curtis thinks that the old man's a piece of shit. As much as he wanted to throttle the old man for sassing him, this is still private property. The owners might call the cops on him, ruining his perfectly good meal in the process. And speaking of meals, his Beyond Meat Glamburger has arrived!

He didn't verbally respond to the old man, nor the sassy grey-haired demon lady mocking him while doting on her boyfriend. They're both on his shit list! After all, they annoyed the hell out of Curtis.

For now, he savors the burger in order to give those jerks the cold shoulder. By those weak vegan standards, this burger is not edible because it was cooked in beef fat while on the grill. But who cares about those wusses, this burger is simply amazing! When he was done with the burger, he dunks the rest of his bread and fries in the ranch and ketchup dipping bowls and enjoys it.

From an outsider's perspective, Curtis ate as savagely like a caveman. Food flew everywhere as the modernized caveman got his grub on. Table manners weren't a concern for Curtis, as people will always criticize others for not blending in with their culture's table manners. When he was done, he wiped his face with an armful of napkins.

Edited by josh6243 on Aug 26th 2019 at 2:00:43 AM

Black Cat, Ironhouse district

Black Cat's blood ran ice cold as the Howler turned towards her with murder in his eyes. The air was full of the lingering shreds of evaporating clones and the smell of blood.

There had been a voice in the back of her head, screaming louder every second that went buy since she saw the wolf-man in the alley outside. It's all gone wrong, get the hell out.

As gunshots rang out in the enclosed space, she couldn't ignore that voice any longer. Backing up several steps, she turned and bolted before the howler descended on Chun, sliding under the destroyed door and swinging down to the warehouse floor below.

I managed to save the chemist, at least. I need to get him to the cops. They need to be warned.

The rationalizations weren't particularly effective at squashing the sick feeling in her gut.

—

After what probably felt like an eternity, the last clone guarding Dr Feeny suddenly pulled him up to his feet again as hurried footsteps echoed through the alley. Black Cat herself ran past, and the clone hoised the pharmacist up in a fireman's carry and followed, both feline figures heading towards the sound of sirens.

She wasn't sure whether it had been her misjudging the mushroom woman's weight, or some other factor, or even just a plain mistake, but Akali hadn't planned for herself to be in the same area as the villain once she had been dragged down. Her mask turned out to be completely useless, doing nothing to stop Patty's spores from getting underneath and into her system. Or however else they took effect.

The ninja could feel it taking effect quickly, her senses immediately skewing and warping. She could feel herself slowing down, the immediate strength of the hallucinogenic already outstripping several of the poisons she had been trained to fight through. It wasn't debilitating yet, but she was on a timer now as she watched the warping and colour changing growing stronger. If that's how it was going to be, then she'd return the favour. Dropping the rope, Akali took a moment to concentrate intensely. All her focus on one thing as she channelled her jutsu. For a moment it looked as if the strange neon colours the woman was made from started to leak, and then the colours within the walled off area suddenly changed. Disorientating lights and harsh, eye-burning colours suddenly flashed in front of the fleeing villain, as if she'd been dosed with her own spores; Hopefully throwing her off.

"A god you say? Those useless existences who view people as ants to be stepped on as they wish?" If anything, the pompous words spoken by the pharaoh further served to dip Kirin into an even greater rage than ever before. Though there was a blue alien now running amok and his erstwhile fellow guardsmen were having their hands full, Kirin toned all of such out while focusing on Huni with a look of considerable reproach.

"If you are a god..." Forcefully exhaling before blasting forward while putting all his weight onto bent toes that firmly grasped the earth, Kirin then suddenly twisted his body in an attempt to kip of and perform an aerial cartwheel to both bypass the giant sand fist as well as to try to build up overall momentum to spinning drop kick onto the mummy's head whose range extended even further along than the physical appendage due to his mastery over martial arts razor wind. "I shall be a godslayer once more!"

World History Museum - Reinhardt

With the mummy all but exuding hostility towards everyone, the Crusader gripped his hammer even as Cannon Dancer all but danced around his attack and launched a flying kick towards it.

Laughing heartily as he lets the martial artist take in the glory, Reinhardt nevertheless stood ready and charged his hammer just in case if the mummy turns out to be made of sterner stuff. Hence, once his co-worker made his maneuver, he quickly rocket-boosted at the opposite side of the target and swung his charged hammer in full force; the mummy now having to deal with a one-two combo from both sides all in the effort to make sure that it stays down permanently.

The Bombardier Beetle didn't really get the message from Pod, no matter how it would've helped him^* (though you have to admit, considering how heavy 2B is it's probably a good thing his helmet was this sturdy) as he was immediately shouting at Tawna, nearly frothing at the mouth with "BEETLE! Cockroaches are closer to TERMITES, the superficial resemblance between beetles and roaches is just CONVERGENT EVOLUTION, you orange dog freak! I'm the BOMBARDIER BEET—"

Someone was kind enough to shut the doors on the van, so now the strained screaming of the Bombardier Beetle was mostly muffled by the thick steel chassis. You can still hear a ruckus going on in there, though.

Sergeant Freeman could only stare at the prison van as it gently rocked on the inside. The bags under his eyes belied his true feelings. If he could, after he was done filing his report, he was gonna take the night off...

"I can only hope you don't mean a police escort, ma'am," he said to 2B, "because if we started handing those out regularly, every company in Cascadia's gonna ask for one. There wouldn't be a single plainclothes officer more than twenty feet away from one of those...suped-up vans, or bulletproof briefcases, or...whatever they use nowadays. I don't even know what they've got in this truck, anyway. Can't be much if they only sent two rent-a-cops with sidearms..."

As his attention turned to the van, the only hint towards that mystery was the Mercury personnel who crowded around it. A few blacksuits with their backs turned on it, one man in a sleek hazmat outfit carefully climbing in, a representative taking questions from some members of the press. For what transpired, it doesn't seem like that large of a group either.

"Private sec's bustling these days, though, so I'll ask Mercury to renew their contract if they haven't. Maybe you can get a job with them if you're that concerned."

"As for Mr. Roach-Beetle, of course we'll ask him some questions. Same with his cronies. These bug guys don't crack that easily, and when they do they end up leading us to some gathering place with nothing more volatile in it than an AR-15 or two. Lotta suspected gang members, but nothing like a leader. Ain't gonna stop us from trying, though..."

Medusa could see what she wanted to know with her (blindfolded) eyes. One man just left her view as he was loaded onto a stretcher, and the other was on his own two feet, getting debriefed by some corp people. The former mustn't have been that worse off, as he caught sight of Medusa and gave her a thumbs-up.

Hudiemon's search was fruitful, but perhaps not mindblowing.

There were places that people like her congregated, and sometimes they would be graced by the more vigilante-minded individuals who took it upon themselves to investigate in person. One such user, only going by the mysterious pseudonym MetallicaRox85, had compiled a list of their findings.

Some of it was publicly available and obvious; there was some chemical spill they had to pay out the butt to cover the legal fees from in the 90s, and in 2005 there was a congressional hearing on genetic modification that they attended...just like every other biotech company in America, essentially.

The more cryptic and highly illegal to possess (if the classification marks on it were true) stuff was some shipping manifests. Luckily, the user had gone and circled the important parts in bright red with MS Paint, along with some big arrows pointing at it in case you missed it. They were importing some more volatile, experimental chemicals related to cellular growth and the operation of the gene editing machines...perfectly legal in smaller quantities, but they were doing it in much larger amounts monthly than the government would like.

Said user remarks that none of this is valid in a court of law, for obvious reasons.

The next poster on the forum claims that Mercury Biotech is part of the international gangster crypto-mutie-fascist conspiracy to spread the myth of radiation, which he claims is actually the aetheric winds of the Sun breathing and doesn't truly exist...so, you know, gotta wonder...

Like a bolt from the blue, Tawna had a microphone shoved in her face.

"Aya Samuelson, KNEC News, doyouhaveaminutetotalkabouttheeventsthathavetranspiredandhowyou'relikingAmericasofar Ms. Tawna?"

The reporter, with a pair of cameramen setting up around them that had already gotten Sergeant Freeman to roll his eyes and step back, was a short Asian woman with a trim build and similarly trim black haircut. She spoke at an incredibly clipped pace, and stared confidently as if she knew the answer was already "yes".

Those who had been around here long enough could probably recognize her from the local newscasts as the reporter-on-supers du jour, being one of the more well-known regional media personalities.

She was looking at Tawna, but the other two were well enough into the camera's line of sight that they could easily throw their own two cents in.

Upon being faced with a full sized tree pointed at her like an arboreal spear, and unaware of both the arrow and cable lasso that were a split-second from stopping her, Puff-Puff Patty the Phantastic Phungi Pal had this to say: "Aw man."

The moldy maiden was able to turn around at the last moment, but it did nothing as she was impaled, shot in the stomach, and coiled up at the same confusing time. The sensation of having a foot of tree poking through your torso evidently didn't bother her that much, as she immediately tried to strain against Toph's bindings...but in the end, Akali's dazzling disorientation did her in.

Hanging up there, subjected to a bright glare of every color she could see and then some in rapid succession, Puff-Puff Patty was subdued as the lights dazed her just as strongly as she did to them. She was still alive, just limply waiting and lolling her head about in confusion.

Though, for the rest of you, it wasn't getting much better. The battle and the aftereffects of it, especially Toph's earthen ring, managed to contain most of the spores from leaking out into the evening air...but had the side effect of turning this stage into a veritable hotbox!

The effects were getting strong now, and even stronger for Akali, as the wood floor started to bend and twist like an Escher painting under their feet, and the light show that Akali threw on was even more intense from their point of view. Even if Toph couldn't see it, it was almost as if flashes of color occasionally flitted by her view, courtesy of the psychotropic effects.

Also, now the other three started to, collectively, have the odd feeling that Espeon is an oversized talking cat.

Puff-Puff Patty didn't seem to be going anywhere just yet, but it's probably time to make sure she definitely couldn't...and, with you all high off of your asses, that's easier said than done.

Ultimately, nobody wanted to let Mr. Chun live, so his body and his head made their goodbyes and left for greener pastures.

The police worked fast, though. Warwick would have the time to himself that he wanted, with bullet wounds and a bunch of dead guys and Godzilla and also some guns in case he was a firearms enthusiast, but sooner than later a trio of officers arrived.

They were, understandably, a little upset by the spray of blood and the charred corpses and big angry doggy so the pulled their guns out. "FREEZE!" was the word of the day, as one of the other officers immediately phoned for backup. Oddly enough, they...didn't seem that bothered by the giant dinosaur-woman, only that she didn't seem that enthusiastic in making the wolf monster comply with police orders.

Black Cat and Feeny found the other contingent of officers, who already had both Joseph Seed and a member of the Triads pushed against the hood of their cruiser. Perhaps it was just Cop Sense, but they refrained from ordering the costumed person who was escorting a scientist to safety to stand down.

One, who looked fresh out of the academy and seemed a bit worried, shouted over the sound of the sirens "What the hell is going on in there?! Are there any injured?"

Edited by wikkit on Aug 28th 2019 at 12:37:15 PM

Warwick-Ironhouse District-Resist Arrest◊

As Warwick's mechanical claw dripped with the blood of Mr Chun, the beast seemed to calm down, as his the color of his eyes returned to his green color, and the machinery on his body changed from red to green.

Warwick was back in control. Warwick looked at the bodies of Chun and his bodyguard. Hopefully this will send a message to the Songshuo Hao Pengyuo gang that their recklessness and cruelty will end up in their deaths if they keep on the same path. A shame he didn't catched the priest and his bodyguard, but now...he will hunt them down like the animals they are now that he knows they are dangerous to Emerald City.

He then clutched his chest and growled. Too many bullets for his liking. It'll heal..but he will need to rest at the abandoned factory which is his home. That and shower away all the blood. His glance turned to Godzilla, who apparently didn't stopped him from gutting the triad leader. He seemed pretty curious and grateful from his facial expressions. "....Hero. You didn't stop me from making the scum pay with their blood. You seem to understand that extreme methods are needed against them. I am grateful for this. What...is your nam-"

Before both monsters had a chance to be besties, the trio of officers bursted out of nowhere. Warwick sighed. The bloodlust made him too careless. Normally he was fast enough to leave before the police would have a chance to stop him when he inflicts his hunts on criminals.

He growled at the officers, not willing to hurt them, but at the same time ready to act if they fired upon him. "Leave. Now. I will not kill you, but if you intend to arrest The Howler for killing criminals who have harmed innocents and spilled their blood..."

He then clenched one of his claws.

"Then I will have to take you down."

2B shrugged at the cop as he explained why her suggestions would not work. She clearly wasn't super invested in the idea, and wasn't gonna stand here and argue about it. She turned toward the other non-human among them, and then raised her eyebrow as a reporter commited what probably counted as Assult in some places.

"Probably more then they are." She said as she motioned backward at the police truck carting the bug people away. "And take a breath, most humans probably can't keep up with how quick you're talking."

Meanwhile, with the Beetle ignoring his well placed advice, Pod floated away, before he detected a major data transmission. He looked over at the person sitting on a bench with goggles on, and slowly floated over.

Statement: I detect a 96.32 percent chance that your ongoing data stream is related to the crime that was just stopped. Hypothesis: Based on the position of your eyes, it is most likely related to the owners of the van, Mercury Biotech.

He paused a second to give her a chance to look at him.

This unit is designated Pod 042, assigned to the service of Unit 2B He pointed with one of his hands over at 2B, who was staring at a news camera with one hand on her hip.

We are new arrivals to this city, and the first priority is data collection. Request: Do you have any data to share?

Edited by Meanken on Aug 26th 2019 at 9:40:51 AM

Kiryupalloza, Museum

Hirasaka used some of his smartphone tech to search for the credentials of Doctor Olivier. Not the thing that Kiryu would think about, admittedly, but his phone was just about good for calling, texting, making photos and playing 2048. Well, then the alien made use of their brief distraction to all but bamboozle them. As he and Hirasaka collided, the ex-yakuza let out a grunt before reaching out blindly towards the blue menace, hoping to slow it down with a solid grip.

It might have been much stronger than him, but a strategic hold could, if not slow it down, then at least buy them a few seconds. It was unfortunate that most heroes were dealing with an ornery pharaoh at the moment, but them were the breaks... and he still had to micromanage the not so legendary archaeologist in his other hand. "Care to comment on that?!" He called with a growl, busy trying not to get his arm dislocated by an angry extraterrestrial.

Espeon, Catch the Rainbow Music Festival, Fremont

"We need to... get out... of here... now," said the oversized talking cat that was once Espeon who was not even bothering with her telepathy given how... affected everyone was getting. She was about to fire her Psybeam at Toph's Earthen wall to give holes so they could breath something other than Patty's Puff-Puff, but she saw... she saw the strange dog of her dreams in front of her. To everyone else, it would seem like the oversized talking cat was trying to pet the air, but to Espeon, she was now trying to pet her pet from her dreams.

Edited by GameGuruGG on Aug 27th 2019 at 3:02:25 AM

The Ironhouse District

Dr. Feeney was quickly taken in by the cavalcade of officers who were gathering outside the scene of the crime. Before he was completely drowned by a tide of badges, he looked over to Black Cat's shadow. "You saved my life. Thank you. I-I'll spill everything I know about the Seed family, and the Project At Eden's Gate, and the Bliss."

Joseph Seed? He was pushed over the hood of a squad car and being searched, but he was far more calm and composed than the Triad member who was similarly being arrested.

"A seal has been opened," Joseph muttered.

World History Museum: You Ain't Never Caught a Rabbit an Alien & You Ain't No Friend of Mine

One fell, then the other. Maybe Hammer Man would put up more of a fight; he'd have to start a fight with him later, when there weren't so many useless noisy humans to get in the way.

So with a playful wave goodbye to the two stooges, the little alien made for the exit. Thankfully for him, Wrangler and Stupidhead had been moving Whimpers towards the doors since —aww C'MON! The burly ex-Yakuza man had wrapped a bicep around the alien's torso and tucked him close to his ribs and stinky stinky underarms!

The alien grunted in growing impatience. If the weight of a bench, and the combined weight of two humans couldn't bind him, what did Stupidhead think just one arm could do? All he'd need is to pry himself free with all four arms and...

Right. Well, that'd be a wasted effort, anyway. Time for the secret weapon!

With a loud curse no one but the alien understood, the vandal turned his head towards his burly prison and gave it one big spiteful CHOMP!

The alien's teeth were large, but quite dull. They were designed for crushing more than tearing, and the alien wasn't even trying to break Stupidhead's arm. The strike would be undoubtedly painful, but nothing Kiryu couldn't walk away from. The alien just wanted him to LET 'GO' and the pressure would cease the second the little vandal could feel himself free from the hold.

...however, while the bite might not have endangered Kiryu's bones, there was no telling what the little bastard ate or how hygienic it was (the stench of garbage on its fur and clothes suggested "poor").

He should probably get that looked at.

The Doctor's lips curled up into a snarl as bits and pieces of a meat atrocity were thrown around the table- he had half a mind to devour his cheesecake with just as much disregard for table manners, were it not for the fact that his cheesecake had already been gently devoured... and the fact that lowering himself to Curtis' level wasn't that interesting to the Doctor. Not anymore, any way.

"You dropped your manners along with those names." He hissed at Curtis, setting down his fork and turning his attention to Dexter, who had either lost the will to speak, or had lost himself in a sea of his own thoughts. Either way, the Doctor could probably relate. "And what about you? You're quiet. I don't like quiet, because then I have to look at the face and analyze all those face-y bits. I don't like the face-y bits."

Washington State World History Museum

Hirasaka hit the ground, and his picture of the world shook and wobbled like a famed West Coast earthquake; once everything settled, it didn't get much better. On the one side, you had his own phone giving away the details on the very man that their new guest wanted to make just as dead as he used to be—on the other, his new comrade was struggling on two fronts, to deal with both the newly-escaped creature wriggling in his grasp, and the limp adventurer who still hadn’t saw fit to give either of them the full story. But as the distant reading of the article played across the hypersensitive man’s ears, he reflected that he might not need that explanation after all, even as he took in an object by his side that hadn’t really registered as either relevant or important until that very moment.

An entirely different series of pictures began to take form behind the uncostumed hero’s unseeing eyes as he rose into a low crouch, jerking the length of the strewn whip towards him with a mighty yank so that the weight-creating knot that he’d previously tied into the whip’s end came sliding across the museum’s floor to bump up against his shoe. “Dr. Jones, do not worry—you don’t have to explain yourself to me.” He said, the fresh crack that ran down the middle of his sunglasses' lens splitting the image of the knot he was busy unravelling clean in two. "I think it's obvious enough, the unfortunate series of events that lead us to knocking on this door of life, death, and above all, self-sacrifice!" He laid his palm across the portion of whip he'd just finished untying, briefly pressing it against the floor to keep it from curling back in on itself—before then emphatically lifting said hand, and pointing it in the direction of Iowa Jones himself. “Stop me if I’m wrong! You and your mentor, after weeks and weeks in the most hostile environment on this planet Earth, make the discovery of both of your lifetimes—a fully intact mummy’s tomb, filled to the brim with everything the man cherished in both life and death!” He said, nodding as though he were narrating something on a nearby screen. “But then, one way or another, you realized the terrible truth; this tomb, like so many others merely claimed to be, was in fact plagued by a curse, just as the two of you were plagued by your duty to show your findings off to the world! But how could you let your discovery be known, without incurring the wrath of the tomb's inhabitant?!" He quickly turned on his axis to point cleanly in the direction of the battling pharaoh, even though the man's shielded sightline didn’t quite match up with his finger. “So you did the only thing you could. You convinced your precious friend and teacher to retire. You took on the responsibility of the undead king’s anger. You came here tonight, knowing that it might be your last. And above all, you never suspected that this avenging specter already knew!”

With his words still hanging in the air before him, Hirasaka kneeled back down, his tongue darting ever-so-slightly out the side of his mouth as he made to bring the end of the whip around in a wide loop down to an earlier part of the body, making a roughly head-sized hole before he began the work of tying the two parts together with yet another knot. "You did it for love!” He said, keeping his awareness on the growing struggle between Kiryu and 626 even as he attempted to use his body to block their view of the urn behind him, that'd been thrown across the room by the force and ferocity of the miniature monster's earlier rampage. He reached behind himself, the whip’s handle in tow, before perfectly threading it through the urn’s handle, and turning the whip's handle awkwardly to the side so that it was wedged firmly in place. “You did it for valor!” Raising almost to his feet, knees bent squarely beneath him to increase his footing and stability while giving him better leverage, Hirasaka made to cast the improvised lasso out, up, and over the experiment's struggling head, trying to catch the creature either past his open mouth and against the back of his open jaw, or simply loosely around the animal’s neck. “You did it for JUSTICE!” He would shout out as if a battlecry, before waiting for the moment that 626 would seemingly inevitably break free of Kiryu’s grip. Once that happened, Hirasaka would tug back on the weapon's leathery length, as if trying to reel the creature back in—up until the moment that 626 tried to tug back. As soon as the diminutive monster either did or at least visibly geared up for a yank in the opposite direction, Hirasaka would attempt to release his grip on the whip, lean his torso abruptly back as far as he could reasonably manage, and overall just try and avoid the hurtling mass of the urn as the creature's own strength would send it went sailing past, zeroing in on the alien skull that it was partially anchored around. Hopefully, it would build up enough momentum to at least daze the beast, and if they were lucky, maybe even knock him out.

Edited by Uncandescent on Aug 31st 2019 at 6:36:32 AM

Trapped at a table of absolute weirdos, completely and utterly out of his depth, young Dexter almost doesn't notice the food arrive. At least, not until the strange Mr Knox pauses his passive-aggressive war of attrition to pig out on his own morsel. No, hold on folks, the studio would like to apologise to pigs everywhere, because this man's table manners are far less polite than yours! So much for the sophisticated gentleman Curtis Knox.

Dexter lifts his Chicken Parmesan Hero, staring deep into its juices, as he tries to figure out how to worm his way out of this mess. Freakazoid would be way better suited for all...whatever this is, he thinks to himself. But I can't just go out and change, can I? People will wonder why this weird blue stranger is stealing my seat and eating my dinner out of nowhere. And what about paying? If Freakazoid pays for my dinner, there goes my secret identity, right? Oh, I haven't even thought about the tip... Sinking deep into the many-questioned quagmire of anxiety, Dexter raises the fateful sandwich to his lips-

Too late! Not even a bite out of his sandwich and already he's being roped into the conversation. Dexter's escape plans have melted, and now he has no choice but to join in this cavalcade of craziness. "Me? I- uh- well, I mean... I'm not really anybody special, I just, um...felt like getting a big meal tonight, and now I'm here. Guess I could've gone to Costa Lotta or something, but uh, been having a few too many snack meals lately. Studies and all, not really had time for...not even really been thinking about meals this week. You know how it is- I mean, maybe you don't, don't wanna 'ssume." Dexter silences himself with a bite of chicken parmesan.

World History Museum: It's Now or Never

The tail. Again.

Wrangler was gibbering about stuff (that sound "Just is" kept popping up with these humans. Was it a name or something?) and then out of nowhere that stupid stupid tail found its way around the alien's neck!

Perhaps the humans thought he would just ignore the thing and use his overwhelming strength to rush for the exit. It wouldn't be hard to do that, but why force yourself around an obstacle when you can just break the obstacle instead? In little more than a second, the little vandal had his hands on parts of the restraint, and ripped the thing in half. To human standards, interwoven leather strips were durable; to the alien, it was about as durable as construction paper. One flex of force was all it took, and in an ironic twist, the exhibit piece intended to break on the vandal's head remained entirely intact.

It couldn't waste any more time standing around; Pinky, Hammer Man, and Flaily Limbs would notice him soon, and then his escape plan might get tricky. So taking a rain check on the impish taunting, the alien bolted for the exit before Wrangler or Stupidhead could make for another grab.

Nobody was going to spoil his fun. Emerald City was his to destroy!

Toph, Fremont Festival

-Even with the girl caught, something is wrong. Utterly alien sensations explode in Toph's mind, and she takes a deep breath to calm herself. Feeling an urge to sneeze, she holds her sleeve to cover her mouth and nose, reeling in the prisoner on her wire.-

Mean Streets of Downtown - Medusa

Medusa smiled at the guard, shooting back with her own discreet thumbs-up for a moment before turning away and facing the crowd. It seemed like Tawna was being approached by the media. She smiled slightly. At least they weren't hounding her. She was slightly guilty for enjoying having some new hotness taking the heat from the reporters, but at the same time she was glad to not have to deal with that headache. Though... maybe she could take advantage of all these cameras.

She waved goodbye to the others and leaped into the air, landing on a Pegasus that had suddenly swooped in from the heavens, and rode him off into the horizon.

Ironhouse District

Black Cat and her clone gladly deposited Dr Feeny into police custody, after which the clone promptly dissolved back into shadow. Black Cat had to hold back a relieved sigh. How many clones had she gone through back there? Six? Maintaining just that one had begun to wear at her.

As Feeny was taken away, she spotted another familiar figure by the squad cars - Joseph Seed. While part of her was glad that another senior figure from the meeting had made it into police hands alive, she remembered his bizarre behavior during the fight, before the wolf-man had shown up. Did he... want to get captured?

Feeny's words were, at least, something of a comfort. At least I managed to achieve something tonight...

Instead of finding a quiet corner to curl up in, like her body really wanted her to do now that the adrenaline was starting to subside, she turned to find the senior-most police officer she could. When a distressingly young voice called out, the heroine just gave the rookie a glance, her mask hiding the flash of pity that crossed her tired face.

"The Howler and Godzilla attacked the meeting, the Triad fought back." She told the officers, her voice rendered somewhat flat and distorted by her shadows and her mask. "There are... a lot of casualties."

Tawna (Mean & Clean Streets) - Choice Words

("Well, that was quick.") Tawna thought to herself as a microphone nearly jammed her in the face; the paparazzi worked fast here apparently. She'd need to be on her toes if she wanted to go out in public without getting mobbed. But since she was already here, and in full hero mode no less, Tawna figured she could at least make a good first impression for the city.

"Oh, it's a real treat being down here. Happy to meet the locals, and I'll be looking forward to everything this wonderful city has to offer." Unable to help herself, Tawna gave a playful pose to the camera; she knew this would only encourage them, but she couldn't help it, she had a soft spot for her fans.

Junna Hoshimi- 'Catch The Rainbow' Festival

("Hold it together, Hold it together...")

She's fine. She's fine. Really. She's okay. The mushroom girl is subdued, the police should get here shortly. They should, at least, at least when the barrier goes down. She's done her part, quite well, actually. At least she thinks. Well, besides that time the physic woman needed to come to protect everyone from a rather rash decision, but surely she wouldn't be penalized for that, right?

... Right?

... Well, if she did do that well, why was she so unnerved about it? Was it the lights? They were a more than a little bright, at least moreso than the spotlights she was used to. Well, speaking of the psychic woman, though... where was she... and when did this cat come here? Did cats always look like this? She's sure she was supposed to know this. She really should have studied more.

"Yeah, I agree, I need to go..."

Then the mushroom started being dragged, almost as if it was the typical Vaudeville Hook gag to get her off stage. Which was fitting, because the last thing she was having was a good time. She looked around skittishly, looking for anything, anything that would upend the currently settled case, bow and arrow trembling in hand.

Starting to feel a touch queasy as the area around her began to warp and ripple like the surface of the ocean, something she would never feel in normal circumstances, Akali dropped the larger jutsu and closed her eyes. It didn't stop the disorientating sensations entirely, but it allowed her to keep herself focused entirely on a single sense and push her way through the false information the hallucinogenic was feeding her.

Taking a firm stance, the ninja kept her feet firmly on the ground as she slid them along; Arms out and feeling around in something akin to Tai Chi. With her eyes closed, she could feel the ground, and was able to tell when it was her body that was shifting and twitching rather than the floor. It was slow going, but it left her stable and able to move. Soon, just as she had planned, her hand made contact with the wall.

Much like she had been doing with her feet, Akali began to feel out the surface of the earthen structure. And then, slowly but with a skill that would likely be surprising to others, she began to scale the surface. Relying on her touch to find handholds, her focus entirely on her single sense and keeping it clear.It wasn't long before the woman was halfway up the surface, and showing no signs of stopping.

Kiryu's Never Killed An Alien

...ouch. Kiryu bit back a grunt as the extraterrestrial chompers left a mark on his bicep. Where to go with this? A doctor or a veterinarian? Questions for later. 626's hunch was correct however - this did make the ex-yakuza loosen his grip and eventually let him go. Why Hirasaka was suddenly buttering Jones up was beyond him, but then again, the sunglasses man seemed like someone who lived on the edge.

Oh, there was a history in the making here. Or maybe he was still buttering Jones up. He leaned back just to see Hirasaka multitask way better than he was, attempting to smack the escaping alien with one more trick. Or not, seeing as 626 just escaped. "Dammit." With a groan, Kiryu flopped onto his back, suddenly feeling very tired. "At least don't let our errant archaeologist escape..."

"I think you're underestimating the people here, miss," Samuelson said to 2B, taking back the microphone to herself for a moment. "You must be a bit new here, but thank you for representing disabled heroes in Emerald Ci—"

There was a commotion as one of the stalwart heroes of this very day took off in one of the more spectacular fashions of the current roster, and Samuelson was quick to pull her head away from the microphone and loudly whisper "Did you get that? The horse?" to her cameraman.

Said cameraman gave an OK sign, which was good enough to get Samuelson to then continue as if nothing had happened.

Tawna's posing got at least some reaction, if the sudden increase in tempo of the camera flashes told her anything. The reporter leaned towards her and said "Glad to see you're enjoying things here! Ms. Tawna, I'm familiar with your exploits in Australia, but perhaps you would mind sharing what brought you up north? Is there anything the people should be aware of?"

The microphone was shoved into her face. Her turn.

With a slick noise as she slid off of the tree, leaving nothing behind beyond the spores of her cap, Puff-Puff Patty was dragged down to the ground in front of them. Aside from a low whimper, she didn't have any fight left in her.

Junna could crawl around the stage all she wanted, but there wasn't anything that would give anyone pause...or was there? A couple arrows managed to hit equipment that looked expensive, would someone point the finger at her over that? There was a thick coating of spores on some of the wall, what if they blamed her for not blocking the shots...it was as if there was a voice in the back of her head, whispering "Whatever you did, they'll know! You'll never be able to hide it in time!"

Espeon could almost swear that she was running her hand through the softest fur she'd ever felt, and the dog seemed content with her. It sat there, enjoying her company as it skewed towards impossible angles, until at one moment it looked up at her and said in a clear voice "Stand back, we're coming in!"

*THUMP* *THUMP* *CRACK*

The haze of this place was interrupted by a battering ram, breaking in a man-sized hole into the stage. A half-dozen people clothed head-to-toe in biohazard suits, armed with backpacks and nozzles connected to them, rushed into the place and started spraying every surface with a strong-smelling solution, aiming away from the heroes and their captive villain.

Patty was immediately dragged away by a team of people hoisting her up, and the rest were brought out with a much softer hand (if they let them).

The dark backdrop and freakish lights settled into something more serene and sterile as they were all led into a tent.

The heroes, fed with a number of different possible ways to treat the strange spores' affliction and currently being looked over by many more men in full-body suits, sat opposite Patty as she sat down in a hermetically sealed tank. The symptoms had mostly dissipated by now, beyond the colors they could see being just a bit more vibrant, and a gentle feeling of elation that wasn't there before.

"Guuuuyyyys," Puff-Puff Patty the Phantastic Phungi Pal said, muffled by the glass, "You could let me out, you know? Prison's not going to be even the teensiest bit enjoyable. I didn't even hurt anyone..."

The two officer's body language betrayed their words. "We're not leaving. You need to stand down, sir...we need to take you in for question, or debriefing, or, or..." one said, not yet lowering his gun...but at the same time, perhaps the Howler could see those truths peeking through their deception.

Even as he held the gun in the air, he could see his feet fidgeting, always moving backward. He only looked the wolf in the blood-red eyes every few seconds, casting his gaze on the rest of the scene in its crimson dress. His stance was rigid and unbending...

It was a miracle he was still holding up his sidearm, yes, but if he could piece together the clues, he could tell there would be no true resistance coming from these two.

Casualties was never a good word to hear in the context of a crime scene, and couldn't be worse in the context of one a hero got to first.

Immediately the most senior officer, one Asian woman with her reddish hair tied into a bun and her badge reading "Hong", waved off a subordinate who started giving rushed calls and codes into the cruiser's radio. There was going to be a lot more help on the way, in just a minute.

Whatever the significance of Joseph's words, they were lost in the middle of a storm of Miranda rights. That lot of ne'er-do-wells would be loaded up into the squad car shortly thereafter, but it had yet to pull off until they could receive relief.

"Jeez," the sergeant said, scratching the back of her head. "I know Godzilla, of course, but...the Howl—wait, the Dogman of North Seattle? Him? It's a miracle you got these few out anyway, ma'am. What was even going on in there to bring those two about?"

Edited by wikkit on Sep 5th 2019 at 6:57:24 AM