Rab-ZI 8

Impatient as always, Rab decided to investigate. After he talked to Lux and Rosa, he sped over to Pedro and gave the other boy an infodump. Finally, the race was on, and he was picking up speed as soon as he was out of the tube. He lost a few seconds dodging shoppers, but he was confident he'd make 'em up in the streets. As the alleyway portal popped open, he nearly collided with a few more people scampering in to join the knot of scared civilians he'd seen from ZI 8. A quick question later, and he was standing in front of the diner. Closed quarters. Unknown enemy. Most of the group is already there. No good for me. But he recognized the coats....

Delighting in stretching his legs, Rab headed to the bank, not noticing Izzy headed the same way. His plan once he got there? Not a blessed clue.

Edited by Booky on Jul 28th 2021 at 5:59:35 AM

Rosa

Rosa shook her head. "I haven't got anything I want to buy, thanks. But I suppose we could get some food, if you're hun...gry..."

Her voice died out as Rab sped off without warning, disappearing into the tube faster than she could finish her sentence. Rosa stared after him, confused, then turned to Lux.

"What was that all about?"

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Jul 28th 2021 at 4:51:50 AM

"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."

Lux - ZI 8

"Nah...we are done. I've finally got what I was looking for.", Lux explained to the speedster.

He was actually down to get some food. He had got the munchies. Unfortunately, before he could say anything on that matter, Rab abruptly sped off into oblivion, without any explanation.

Like Rosa, this sudden turn of events left him confused, but then he managed to hear something. "Did you hear that?", he asked her, with a tense look on his face.

This noise was faint, but he could still recognize the frantic footsteps and frenzied shouts, and the immediate stimuli (from his Guardian's Sense) caused by them made it all too clear.

Lux brought a hand to his temple, "We have to go. I'm sensing people in danger!", he stated with urgency.

Sweet dreams are made of this~ Who am I to disagree?

Diner

"It's not 'Water Girl,' you insipid..."

Before she could say another word, the blast of water slammed against James' shield, the barrier protecting him and the others even as it kept pushing through, whittling it down slowly but surely. "..but it doesn't matter, does it? If you simpering apes and halfbreeds want to escape this place with minimum casualties, then I would suggest behaving yourselves and—"

And then everything happened at once. The smoke bombs and bottles of mace hit their targets, water splashing to the floor as Nadia and Tauros began coughing and hacking in place. The cowgirl was especially incensed, roaring like her namesake as she scratched herself all over. "YOU DAMN DIRTY—"

Suddenly, Brokk lept at her horns, seizing them as he struggled like a tiny buckaroo. Tauros bellowed, stomping and snorting as she tried to loosen his grip. In a fit of rage, her eyes flashed a sharp yellow, the tips of her horns shining like metal as bolts of electricity coursed through Brokk's veins, sending a shock through his system.

For Nadia's part, the smoke and powder didn't affect her long. A quick watery aura radiating from her body was enough to cleanse herself. "I hope you've all gotten something out of your systems, because ''now..."

Suddenly, her eyes glanced towards Tauros, bright sparks filling her with fear. "YOU OVERMUSCLED INGRATE! Turn those off at once! This place is drenched enough as is, it's a wonder you haven't already killed us all!" But despite that, Tauros kept struggling, almost like she couldn't hear her. Either way, the goal was clear: Take out the villains before they electrocuted everyone by accident.

All in a day's work, really.

---

The Bank

On the surface, the bank was exactly the same as the students left it. The only difference was the absence of people in trenchcoats lurking around, but it seemed perfectly safe. But looks could be deceiving. From within the bank, a cacophony of screams and gunfire echoed throughout the open windows, with only the chaos from the diner muffling it.

But even as chaos raged, the villains' plan was already underway. A small pack of mongoose flew out of the bank through the windows, jetpacks sending them soaring as bags of gold hung around their stomachs. Black collars clamped their fuzzy necks, with bright red lights in the centers. Eyes blank, they carried out the loot, all eyes on the diner as they began to float away unopposed.

Dizzy

Are those... didn't I see those in a documentary once...?! Izzy thought to herself as she witnessed the... flying mongooses burst through the windows with their stolen loot. Shaking her head, she focused her efforts on interception, purposefully drawing near to the ground to pick up a trash can or two with her gravitational field.

Okay, so... fall towards them, cut off the gravity tunnel, wait 'til the trash smacks 'em in the face, then switch my powers back on before I'm floor pizza! Simple! Ugh... this is gonna suck...

With something resembling a plan figured out, she targeted two of the mongooses; aiming to fling the trash at one using her own momentum and then crash herself into another in the same(ish) move. Which was easier said than done when her limbs were flailing about like she was a ragdoll lost in space. But she persevered, and soon the two unfortunate mongooses she'd targeted would have a virtual mortar in the shape of a gangly teenager to deal with.

Edited by Enirboreh on Jul 31st 2021 at 1:33:44 PM

bork

Rab-The Bank!

He was momentarily saddened by the poor mongooses flying through the air. What monster could be responsibile for this? Izzy's plan seemed...feasible, and led to a momentary vision of him dragging her through the air like a kite. Would that ever be useful? Rab shook it off quickly. He sped past the small mammals. They were a distraction, though he did try and shift them gently toward his teammate.

Wait, I left Lux and Rosa-was his next thought before gunfire rang out yet again. ''Firearms? Losers. Who uses guns & mongooses. Mongeese?" As Rab yanked open the bank doors, he pounded his brain for the identity of the criminals inside. But he was drawing a blank.

"Then why don't introduce yourself, Drenched Lady?" Lambert said, with a shrug. "Leaving aside the very unbecoming insults, can you and your friend stand down?"

He had to play it carefully. He really wanted to keep the place from getting too trashed, or people hurt. Of course, once things started, there was just no way to avoid it.

The sound of electricity really raised the alarms, as he tried to think what to do. He had to help Brokk and keep the group from taking the discharge.

He tried to rush Tauros, he had to at least keep her from falling.

"Full Burst!" He yelled, his body starting to glow "If anyone can dry up the place it will be great"

This'll hurt

Wake me up at your own risk.

Rosa

"Hm?" Rosa paused, listening carefully. Now that he mentioned it...she did hear something. Someone was screaming—faintly, but it was still a scream. "Something is...certainly going on, yes."

Lux's mention of people being in danger caused her to stiffen, eyes widening a bit. She took a moment to regain her composure, eyes hardening as her face resumed its neutral expression. "Let's go," she said simply, and then started heading over to the tube.

"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."

Diner

Well his mace bomb had some utility at least, but now the area was starting to fill with water and electricity. Even with the ability to enchant any object at hand he didn't see an obvious solution. By and large his ability would give him something that could be used regardless of the situation, but by that virtue summoning a knife to a gunfight was still technically better then nothing. If he wanted to win there needed to be a logic and flow for his enchantment to follow and create a winning move.

Water, electricity. He ran through possibilities, he knew that rubber could handle a certain amount of electricity so enchanting everyones shoes was a solid play. But he also knew that past a certain amount heat became the issue rather then the shock. So it wouldn't be enough. His eyes landed on one item in particular and an idea flashed in his mind. "Oh this is going to be stupid if it works,"

Nathan leapt past the liquid and grabbed an empty pitcher the waitress had been using to refill drinks and poured his magic into it. "C'mon, give me something-"

Pitcher enchanted- Ability gained Thirst

"I'll take it," Nathan scrambled over, bringing the pitch to the forming water and allowing the enchantment to take effect. Any liquid around it quickly became absorbed into the pitcher, which seemed to have gained a compacity much larger then its apparent size. "Dry off." not the best one liner, but he was drawing a blank.

Lux - To the Bank!!

Nodding to Rosa's statement, Lux proceeded to head over to the tubes, eventually managing to exit ZI 8 and the alleyway that housed its entrance. He noticed that a lot of people entered the mystical supermarket to take refuge from what was apparently going on the Salt and Pepper Diner.

Upon passing by said diner, it looked like the situation was kept somewhat under control by most of the class, thankfully. However, he sensed another epicenter full of people in danger that lied at the bank.

As he arrived there, Lux was unnerved by the screams and gunshots.

We need to deal with these odd mongeese quickly! I don't want to know what happens if we leave the raid nearby for too long...

He rapidly conjured two spheres of Heavenly Plasma in his hands before throwing them at two mongeese to hopefully incapacitate them.

Sweet dreams are made of this~ Who am I to disagree?

Mara Springwood

The others all sprang into action, and Mara watched from her elevated perch, concerned as much as she was impressed. Superheroes or no, they were teenagers, and from a much softer world than her own had been. She got the sense that they were all more powerful than she was in terms of sheer force, which was a relief, but she feared that this guns-blazing approach was about to get people hurt. Where was the subtlety? The strategy? The self-preservation?

Mara's gaze fixed upon Nadia. The situation was escalating, and she was the source of the problem, so it felt important to keep an eye on her. As a result, Mara was paying close enough attention to detect the fear in Nadia's voice, seemingly sparked by the thought that her flunky might electrify the water. It gave her an idea.

It wasn't something Mara was eager to do, but the months before her enrollment had taught her that her connection the void beyond worlds went beyond macabre illusions; as it turned out, marinating in a plane of psychic terror for fifty-odd years had left behind plenty of insider knowledge about the billions whose fear and suffering had unknowingly filled it.

If she could only get close, give herself a clear enough target to focus on, she could let herself remember exactly what Nadia was afraid of - and make it real, at least for Nadia. Ideally, the current situation would bring any electricity-related fears to the surface, and the shock (physical or emotional, Mara wasn't picky) would subdue her.

At least, Mara hoped that was what would happen. The few other times she'd tried this, the results had been...unpredictable.

Mara took a deep breath, and hopped off the table. She tried to keep to Nadia's peripheral vision as she circled toward her - Nadia was distracted both by trying to break through the shield and by her rampaging ally, but a head-on approach would still give her too much time to react. Instead, Mara made a show of edging toward a diner exit, waiting until she stood the best chance at catching Nadia off guard. Then, Mara reached toward Nadia, and let herself remember.

What do you fear?

Brokk

The dwarf let out a strangled bellow of rage as the electricity coursed through him, but by either luck or sheer grit managed to keep his grip on her horns.

Brokk spat a curse in Old Norse, before swinging his leg to kick Tauros in the head. And then swinging it again, and again, hoping his repeated kicks would either knock her unconscious or at least force her to turn off the electricity.

Focused as he was on face-kicking, he didn't so much as notice Lambert charging the bull whose horns he was currently gripped onto.

What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?

Pedro — ZI 8 -> The Bank

"See you there!" And with that, Pedro followed after Rab down the tube. Once they'd reached solid ground, the speedsters made a break for it in the direction of the commotion.

While Rab had the advantage when it came to sheer speed, Pedro's trump card was his reflexes, which he made great use of while weaving in and out of the passersby. This gave Pedro the lead for a while, but Rab soon caught up with him by the time they reached their destination.

Once he was there, Pedro took a bite of a chocolate bar from his backpack as he surveyed the scene. Taking note of the flying mongooses, he scanned the bank for anyone who might be controlling them.

If I die, tell Hex Haywire I loved him.

Salt and Pepper Diner - With the Right Tool for the Job

---

Mitzi's work was not subtle. The sounds of banging, the roar of her flyer and the sound of it crashing through the wall into the kitchen after she called it and the spigot that she'd made into a makeshift jet cutter and the whirs from her multi tool and her hastily shouting at a random chef that she would pay for the wall and the tools all came from the kitchen at some point.
The machine is done in seconds though. Loud seconds but Mitzi worked quickly. Her water-be-goner (better name pending!) looked like a franken mashup of gears, dials, and chrome hardware crunched into a backpack shape. And it was heavy. Mitzi had to fly with the thing between her feet to keep it steady.
"Now...!" she started when she kicked open the door and flew through, only to see someone else getting rid of the water first into some kind of pitcher. "Sod it..." She muttered and turned on her own machine. Short arcs of power burst out as soon as she turned the dial. Water that got hit bubbled and split into hydrogen and oxygen.

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives

Rosa

"What the—?!"

Mon...mongooses. Mongooses. Rosa stared, stunned, as mongooses flew out of the bank, carrying money. What...what am I looking at?

Well...as strange as the situation was, it was clear she had to do something about it. Throwing out her hand, Rosa willed vines to grow out of the ground, grabbing the mongooses and hopefully keeping them from getting away.

"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."

Diner

Charging full steam ahead, Lambert rammed into Tauros, blasting her and Brokk through the back wall and sending them into the parking lot. The good news was the electricity had ceased, but within the diner, the battle continued to rage.

Between Nathan's pitcher and Mitzi's genius, the water was quickly sucked up and dispersed. Not a single drop remained, leaving Nadia little to work with. Seeing her chance, Mara seized her wrist, briefly catching a glimpse of... *something.* Memories of dust. Echoes of past glory, reduced to a parched wasteland.

But she barely got to the heart of it before her grand plan went sideways. In moments, the image collapsed in on itself, shattering into a million pieces before reforming into a large pair of burning eyes, hollow and filled with grim intensity. And they knew. They knew Mara was there, trying to wiggle her way into Nadia's head. And they weren't about to have any of it. In a blinding purple flash, she was forced out, blown to the floor with that last image burned into her brain. It felt like burning, like her head was about to burst into flame. An eternity of sheer searing pain.

But Nadia knew when to fold them. Shaking her head, she ran towards the hole in the wall, cursing under her breath. "That's enough, Tauros! We've played our part. We need to leave, now!"

Tauros snorted, but wasn't about to complain. Livid as she was, these students were more trouble than they were worth. Tossing Brokk back towards the diner, she flung Nadia on her back, stampeding towards the streets like a freight train.

---

Bank

Between Izzy, Lux, and Rosa, the mongoose were swiftly dealt with. They clawed at the vines entrapping them, hissed as the trashcans or Izzy blasted into them, but they were hardly a threat. They fell to the ground, surrendering their loot without a struggle.

But the real danger was in the the heart of the bank. Scores of helpless civilians huddled against the halls in the lobby, crouching down in fear of the massive crosshairs aimed at their heads. A giant robot stood above them, smooth and sleek, and painted like a flaming hotrod. Its hands were shaped like comically large rifles, and were itching to pull the trigger at the slightest twitch.

At the top was a see-through cockpit, with a motion-control pad sitting on the floor. Sitting pretty was a young man dressed in a garish green trenchcoat with orange highlights. His bunny slippers, orange afro, and fluffy porn stache only added to the absurdity. Even his gold sunglasses and black leather jeans drew more attention to how ridiculous the rest of his ensemble was.

As soon as Rab darted in, he aimed one of his big shotgun hands at his very shootable face. "WHO DA #@$% ARE YOU?! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M DOING SOME #@$%#&!* BUSINESS?! YOU WANT A FACE FULL OF GUNS AKIMBO OR WHAT?!"

Diner

Nathan watched as the villains beat a hasty retreat from the students, holding firm on his feet for about a minute before stepping back and using a booth to hold himself up, setting the pitcher down and releasing the enchantment on it. The water would be emptied into a nearby body of water without anyone around. Still performing two enchantments back to back was exhausting, he normally stuck to an all purpose tool rather then using whatever was around him due to the drain. One really good enchantment on a solid bat or crowbar tended to be more useful then a bunch of minor things, even if this was his second or third fight in his life it proved true even for mundane activities.

"I'm going to need a minute to get my feet back under me," he moved over to Mara and offered a hand to her in order to get her back to her feet. "Anyone who wants to go after them should, I can at least stay behind to tell the cops, maybe put out some feelers with my friends and see if they can get someone whose seen them," with his free hand he pulled out his phone and sent a mass text to his friend group.

Dizzy

Part of Izzy wanted to retort “How about a face full of FOOT!” but it A: sounded ridiculous and B: would warn the guy of the fact that she was blasting in like a shot from a railgun. Which was her plan as soon as she'd peeked in and seen the oversized mech, and Rab's distraction was good for a second or two of leeway.

That is, if she even hit the guy. She hadn't aimed herself properly. Heck, she was still riding the high off of mongoose-stomping.

...Oh god what am I doing—?

bork

Rab

He stared in amazement at the...colorful...being in front of him. Sure, Rab had seen a robot before in his life. Cogface usually had one or two around, but they were usually more steampunk-y. And that outfit. Thinking fast, he put on an authoritative voice. "Hey! Language! I'm here to see if you're licensed to drive that thing! We can't have just anyone running around in a mech these days! Now, press your C-3P0 Permit against the glass or you'll have to pay some steep fines!" He pointed at one of the guns in mock frustration. "And those rifles are all wrong! Why didn't you uncouple the secondary assembly before you installed these?" As he spoke, Rab edged closer and to the side, hoping to continue his distraction. If the doofus fired his guns in here, there was no telling where the bullets would end up or who they might hurt. At the first opportunity, he was going to start dragging people out the door or tossing them out the window. A mech? His fists wouldn't cut it.

Lux - Bank Heist!

Fortunately there were no casualties...from what he could see, though.

We need to get them out of here, he thought, but said task would be nigh-impossible as long as they were under the watch of that potty-mouthed robber.

Rab was trying to distract him. Lux himself, due to his size, was surely gonna be another distraction, unless the speedster could manage to dissuade him from noticing the giant.

However, just to be sure, Lux threw a Heavenly Plasma orb at one of the mech's gun arms, the one that isn't aimed at Rab, to be precise.

Sweet dreams are made of this~ Who am I to disagree?

Brokk

Brokk was not sure if his kicking was actually doing anything, as his mind was still in something of a haze from the shock.

He didn't fully snap back to reality until he felt drywall and brick crumbling around Tauros, and realized he was in the parking lot. He prepared to try and jab her in the eyes, but she managed to pry him off and fling him back into the diner, where he cracked the floor on landing.

Rolling to his feet, wobbly from all that had just happened, and managed to stumble over to Mara and Nathan. "Can't exactly offer you a shoulder, lass, but you can use me to lean on if ya like. I'll probably stay here to help clean up. I'm not in much shape to help in a fight, after that. Especially not without my armor."

Brokk groused a bit at that. "Gonna hafta start bringin' it with me everywhere I go, ain't I?" He grumbled.

What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?

Diner

"I'm on it! Markus yelled out in response to Nathan. He bolted out of the diner, after the escaping villains. His mind was racing as fast as his body was. He knew his skinny, physically ordinary half-elf body couldn't keep up with the speed of a raging bull for long. He needed a plan to slow them down, and he needed one now.

Markus froze in place and his eyes locked on a singular point in the streets ahead of the villains. "This is gonna hurt my head..." He thought to himself as he clapped his hands together and manifested the biggest, loudest steam pipe explosion that his illusory abilities would allow. (6 ft tall, 5 ft wide, and as loud as a shotgun blast).

Edited by ItsDrFunk on Aug 9th 2021 at 6:34:40 AM

I'm up in heaven but I came from hell...

Mara Springwood

Mara struggled to rise from the sticky diner floor which had arrested her momentum. After a moment of scrambling, she was forced to settle for sitting up slightly, legs curled under her and one hand braced on the floor for support. Some hardened instinct compelled her hide the extent of her pain while enemies were near. She watched the final moments of the confrontation, though she could barely understand what was happening through the afterimage of burning eyes which lingered in her head. Her free hand was clenched so tightly that her fingernails left crescent-shaped marks on her palm.

Mara watched the attackers flee the scene, not moving a muscle. Only once she was sure they were gone did she allow herself to react to the heat turning her skull into a pressure cooker.

The moment the sound of footsteps faded, Mara released a shuddering exhale and curled in on herself, eyes closing. The arm supporting her gave out, and she lay on the ground with her hands over her face. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eye sockets, hard, a futile attempt to counterbalance the explosive pressure in her head. Though obviously distressed, she still made no sound beyond the hiss of air through her clenched, grinding teeth.

For a few interminable moments, Mara was wholly unaware of the world around her. If she'd had the room in her head for the thought, she would have wondered at what she'd just seen; in the relatively short time that she'd had her powers, this was unprecedented on so many levels. But for the moment, all she could do was wait for whatever was drilling through her skull to either call it quits or actually finish the job.

When the feeling in her head settled from an inferno to a bonfire, Mara forced herself to uncurl and tune back in to the scene in the diner. She was just in time to catch the tail end of Nathan's comments, and his mention of the cops was alarming enough to shake her a little further out of her stupor. If this cat was gonna get the pigs involved, she'd prefer to be elsewhere.

Belatedly noticing the offered hand, Mara grabbed hold of it and staggered to her feet, leaning heavily on Nathan's shoulder as the head-drilling began anew. She offered a distracted 'thank you' as she rose, but was otherwise too preoccupied staving off a bout of nausea. She gladly took Brokk up on his offer when he approached, shifting some of her weight off of Nathan and using the dwarf to keep herself a little more upright. More than anything, Mara wanted to find somewhere safe to sleep off this mother of a mental hangover, but there wasn't time for that, not when shit had just hit the fan.

Actually, now that she thought about it, shit was definitely still in the middle of hitting the fan.

"Ah, wait. The bank, some of the others are still at the bank. They could...be in major trouble."

Trying to conceal her temporary weakness, Mara released her living crutches and started to make her way to the exit, swallowing against the vertigo which threatened to send her to the floor again. She knew she wasn't in fighting form, to say the least, but she had to at least make sure the others were okay, see if there was any way to help. Hell, she'd practically sent Izzy there herself; she refused to bail on her now.

She'd nearly reached the exit when the sound reached her. It was as loud as a shotgun blast, and, to her overtaxed brain, just about as painful. Mara flinched, hard, and staggered to the side, catching herself on the door frame and clutching her head with one hand. She forced herself to take a deep breath, closing her eyes just briefly. Then, she made to keep going - she had a bank to get to.

Diner

Seeing one of the others charge out and Mara make for the door put Nathan in a tough spot, feeling like he was just backing out of the fight because he didn't have the power to actually do anything. To be able to help his friends. But while this situation might unlock more power for others the reality of the situation was that there was a limit to what he could do and his magic needed time to come back. As it stood he couldn't make pepper into an instant mace like he had before. But if he had something a bit more offensive...

"Wait if you're going to go," he dived behind the counter and grabbed a few things along with a paper to-go cup. He dumped in as much tobasco sauce, hot sauce, and salsa as was kept behind the counters, while also making a cup that was a mix between coffee poured over ice and a bit of all of the sodas. Once both horrible things were created he put his hands over them.

The extra hot mixture in one cup was already basically toxic waste in a cup, so his magic had less resistance in just enhancing it. The coffee and soda mix would be a little more difficult given what he was going for, but he would have to hope for the best.

Hot sauce enhanced to 'Hell Blaze'

Coffee/Soda enhanced to 'Perk Up'

He put both cups in Mara's hands with a straw in the Perk Up. "You're dead on your feet, this should put some extra fire under your feet for about an hour, and then it might be good to have something soft under you," he pointed toward the other cup. "That is basically death in a cup, think of every party game of 'eat the hot pepper' turned up to ten and then multiply it. If any of it gets in the mouth, eyes, or nose of someone they aren't going to get injured permanently, but it won't be fun. Scratch that fun shouldn't be in the same room as what might happen." at the very least he wouldn't be forcing her to leave without something in hand. "And thats really the last bit of magic I'm pulling off today."

Pedro — The Bank

Putting the rest of his bar away for later, Pedro took out his kali sticks from his pack as he waited outside the door for an opening. Once he saw Rab distracting the hotshot in the mech, that's when Pedro made a break for one of the pillars to hide behind.

Catching the eyes of some of the patrons huddled in the corner, Pedro held up a finger to his lips before looking for his next chance to run. If this all went well, he'd soon be in an optimal range to strike before the sucker knew what hit him.

If I die, tell Hex Haywire I loved him.