Metropolis the RPG

[Varshanka]

Diana Prince

"Hello Diana, but the name isn't Kal. It's actually Clark Kent." he told her and showed her his press pass. "That person you knew... wasn't the real me. I was going through some things back then and wanted to hide from my real self." He tried to explain as succinctly as he could without giving to much of his secret away. Although he was well aware that she did see some glimpses of moments where he seemed more then human.

"I see." Diana replied. Taking his Press Pass she used an instrument and scanned it. A routine check that would provide her with a great deal of information about him. Getting a green light she handed tha pass back to him and scrolled through what data she had available. Height, weight, age, DOB, Hair and Eye color. Job, Phone number, address.

"You look better with contacts by the way. The glasses make you look rather.. geeky. But still cute. But, far be it from me to criticize what you wear." She finished, looking over her own thin wire rims.

 

[LuckyVic]

Lex Luthor, Clark Kent: April 11th, 2014

Clark smiled. "Well if I could wear them I would." he said with a smile. "The thought of sticking a finger in my eye just scares the hell out of me. Besides, i think in the few years I've been wearing these I've finally gotten used to them." He told her.

He hated lying about it, but it was part of the disguise. He had to make Clark Kent and Superman seem like two different people as best as he could. That included keeping his voice much the same as it was in high school, instead of the deeper voice he used as Superman.

Clark was about to say something else but the initial presentation had ended and Lex Luthor was calling for everyone's attention again.

"Now I know that many here don't understand the need for weapons such as these, in fact many of you will be blasting me for designing them tomorrow. However this isn't why I've called you here today. No ladies and gentlemen I've called you here for a far different reason. As you know I've dedicated my life to improving the lives of the citizens of Metropolis. Tonight I'd like to go further. It is my sad understanding that as a result of the accident with the X-33 Genesis, the FAA is set to rule that near space travel is something that should not be attempted by private industry. Profit aside, the potential benefits of technolgy such as this, or technology that may one day be derived by this most importantly a more cost effective method to reaching the International space station and saving the government billions of dollars every year. This technolgy cannot be lost to the people of the United States or the world. So there fore I would like to announce that the Lexsoar space plane will be ready for it's maiden voyage by the end of the week. If it fails, which I strongly doubt, then I'll accept any judgement the FAA wishes to impose." Luthor said confidently.

Clark looked at him from where he was. Same old Lex, saying he was going to do things that others told him he couldn't do. But this was somehow different. If this works out for him, Lex would stand to profit billions. And even though Lex didn't remember much about their shared past, Clark did. He knew how far Lex would go to get what he wanted. Now he was wondering if Lex had anything to do with the sabotage of the X-33.

Lex soon open the floor for questions, and Clark was actually about to ask something, but he heard something. It was faint, but growing louder as if it were coming closer. He looked in the direction of the sound and used his x-ray vision to peer through the wall of the building.

What he saw were no less the five helicopters. Two cobra combat helicopters, two cargo carriers, and the third looked like a troop transport. But as Clark watched one of the Cobra's fired a missile. He wouldn't have time to do anything as superman, however he turned towards both Lois and Diana that were next to him and lunged at them knocking them to the ground just as the missile hit the wall.

The explosion brought down the wall and took out a huge chuck of the roof, but amazingly didn't damage the rest of the building. With the wall down, and security rattled. THe troop transport landed and armed men in black suits, and havily armed began to enter the building firing their weapons in warning. The how was directly over Luthor's exosuit and the two cargo copters could be clearly seen hovering over head as they lowered extra strength cabling, It was obvious that their target was Lex's new weapon.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

Neither Jessi nor her alternate persona possessed X-Ray vision nor super-hearing.

And thus it was only a whistling roar that caused Jessi, bewildered, to turn her head towards the wall.

'That's kinda weir--'

KRAAATAKOOOOMB!

The explosion rocked the room, and part of the roof caved in, and one of the chunks of shrapnel kicked up by the blast struck Jessi in the side of the head and she went down with a squeak, barely conscious.

She managed to pick herself up onto her hands and knees. She felt blood running down the side of her face, coppery and warm, she could taste more of it in her mouth.

She blinked at the floor below her. Her glasses were crumpled, one of the lenses with a chunk taken out of it, the other totally popped out of the frame.

Somebody was shouting at her. They shouldn't be shouting at her. Didn't they know she had a headache?

Her ears were ringing...

'JESSI!' The Flash screamed at her. 'JESSI! C'MAHN, GODFUCKINGDAMMIT WOMAN THESE MEN HAVE GUNS!'

Jessi staggered a bit, managed to look blearily up at the cables dangling down, at the black-suited soldiers firing their warning shots. She was... she felt really dizzy. Out of it.

The guns were loud, too, over the shouting. Her head hurt. She wished they wouldn't do that.

'Jessi,' The Flash pleaded. 'Jessi. I don't. I don't wanna die. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. Please. Please give me the wheel; I can't just take it from you...'

"Smashed my glasses," Jessi mumbled. "Stupid."

'You're concussed pretty bad,' The Flash attempted, feeling more than a little desperate, to get through to the original personality, 'but I can heal that up in a second. Quicker. Just. Please. Please, Jess, please.'

Jessi furrowed her brow, touched her forehead.

"Need be--" she mumbled, "need be hero."

'Yes, yes,' The Flash encouraged, 'time to Save The Day.'

"3x2," Jessi stammered, faltered.

'One more try,' The Flash pleaded.

Jessi took a deep, shaky breath: "3X2(9YZ)4A."

Krakooooooom.

...and before the nanosecond was out, The Flash was lunging for the zipper on the backpack, praying that speed and smoke and dust were sufficient cover...

...and by the end of that second, The Flash crouched, down on one knee, uniformed and healed, fists at her sides... watching for an opening...

"I'ma kick some ass," she breathed.

Jessi still sounded woozy, but her voice was clearing: 'Attagirl.'

 

[ChasNicollette]

Impulse

Standing in the bullpen at The Planet, Bart began to yawn theatrically, pretending to droop off as Lex droned on.

Man can put a shark to sleep, Bart grimaced. A.C. told me once that ain't easy.

But then the floor got opened for questions, and Bart perked up a little.

Maybe someone would get a clue and call Baldy out on the carpet for being a super-secret supervillain douchenozzle.

That should oughta be good.

But then the room exploded, and Bart's jaw dropped wide.

Mierda santa!

The shot went to static and a newsanchor scrambled to account for the sudden loss of signal.

Bart whirled, and grabbed the nearest newshound, a black guy whose press pass, clipped to his belt, said his name was "Ronald Troupe."

"Where is this?" Bart demanded, pointing up at the screen. "Where was that? Was that live? Donde freakin' esta?"

Ron adjusted his glasses and glanced, horrified, up at the screen. "Oh, God. Lane and Kent are there. Luthor Labs. (Dunno if it's live... is this LNN or GBS?) Oh God."

A gale almost knocked Ronald Troupe on his butt as the brown-haired red-clad young man seemed to vanish between eyeblinks.

Ron was speechless.

Impulse was already across town, suited up and blazing, but he overshot Luthor Labs and blew out from the river mouth out to sea. Cursing vividly, he wheeled back around and powered in...

Outside recon saw five choppers, two of which were missile-laden...

...gritting his teeth, Impulse glanced around, trying to think, trying to be rational, trying to be all tactical like Ollie, trying to be all smart like Dad...

Parking garage. Multi-level.

Roof was almost level with the rearmost attack chopper, the one that hadn't fired yet, as it flew down the middle of the street.

Running start.

In less than a heartbeat, he was on the roof of that garage... on the far end from the chopper as it crawled on by... thankfully the top level was an exclusive parking thingy, and it was nearly empty.

Parked at the opposite end was a Romanaclef sports car, and Bart blew the car a kiss goodbye as he stormed across the garage's roof, legs pistons, feet pounding so hard as to leave little craters as he ran.

"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuckers," Impulse breathed as he threw on the brakes just a tiny tiny bit, sprinting up the hood and the windshield of the Romanaclef, using it as a makeshift ramp and launching himself, running jump, out into the air, out into oblivion...

...the car's windows exploded outward from the force of his leap, a million billion tiny crystal shards...

"BOOOYAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed as he hurtled through the air, pumping his legs, pinwheeling his arms, grimacing as the wind sluiced past his sunglasses.

He hit the side of the Cobra so hard, feet first, that his impetus alone almost knocked the thing out of the sky, though this also nearly drove his legs up into his hips...

Scrabbling for purchase on the Cobra's surface, he clawed at the door, yanked it open, hauled himself inside before gravity could punk him.

The co-pilot almost had time to yell in surprise before Bart's fist shattered the guy's jaw. The pilot made a sound into his radio mic, but Bart lunged across the cockpit, latched onto the back of the guy's helmet, and slammed him face-first into the inside of the canopy.

The glass spidered from the impact.

Both men were out.

The helicopter started to careen out of the air.

Bart blinked.

"Awh," he groaned, "hijo de puta."

The helicopter started to pitch sideways towards the street, rotor-blades still spinning death. The helicopter started to crash.

Towards a Metropolis city bus.

No fucking way. There couldn't be a vacant lot? There's always a vacant lot.

Impulse shot his hand up and out, snagging the main rotor, crying out in agony as he stopped it cold with his bare hand. Like catching a bullet from the air, only bigger and slower and angrier... "Madre de Dios!"

Nursing his wounded hand, Bart hauled himself out of the cockpit, rolling when he hit the roof of the bus, coming up in a crouch, gazing up at the slow-mo falling chopper.

"Y'ain't the only one can spin, whirlybird," he snarled, and raised his uninjured hand...

He whipped his forearm and outstretched palm in a tight little circle. Once. Again. Againandagainandagain, picking up speed... kicking up a cyclone, a tornado, a windstorm, directed from his arm...

The helicopter trembled in the air as it tumbled into the windstorm's mouth, shuddered, slowed, tilted...

It fell away from the bus and landed with a resounding chitter-smash on its skids in an empty patch in the middle of the street, minus nearly all of its in-flight momentum. It landed, relatively speaking, like a feather.

Bart, still standing on the roof of the bus, took a deep breath.

Sagged to one knee.

"Damn," he grinned, "I'm good."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Ted Kord cursed himself as he whipped through the city inside The Bug. He had just taken out the main drive motor, in this state he was pushing to break 75 MPH. Seemed the cloaking mechanism was working at least.

Ted whipped toward what had been described on the police band as the scene of a terrorist attack. He threw up a little in his throat when he saw the carnage and the 4 remaining choppers.

"I think I am gonna need more'en a fricken grapple and some gas..."

 

[camerindrake]

Ollie said little as he walked out of the Planet and went to his car. He saw the footage go out and Bart make his scene with the reporter. Ollie reached his car and hit the alarm system and locks.

Ollie sat in the driver seat and pulled up on the seat of the passanger revealing a secret compartment. in the compartment there were one of his back up compactable bows. and his new compact design on his arrows. Under those items was his back up vest voice modulator and shades.

He started the car and put it in gear and headed towards the site of the activity. He put on the shades and grabbed his bluetooth from the cup holder and turned it on as he placed it on his ear.

He said few words, "Status report."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Impulse

He said few words, "Status report."

"Hey-hey Fearless Leader," Impulse replied, touching his fingertips to his earpiece as, with a blinding rush, he finished tying up the Cobra pilots to a telephone pole. "Status is verde. (Sorry I didn't check you back at the paper, I know how you hate fraternisin' off the clock.) Looks like we got some kind of terrorist action goin' down at Luthor Labs. (Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, but there's civilians in there. And Boy Scout. Boy Scout could need back-up.) We got multiple tangos, gnarly hueys. And it looks like they're trying to extract somethin', can't see what from here."

And then Bart did something that came very unnaturally to him. He hesitated, and waited for instructions.

"Uh," he mumbled. "What's the plan, Arrow?"

 

[LuckyVic]

Clark Kent / Superman: April 11th, 2014

Some rubble had fallen on Clark and the ladies. Fortunately, at least from his point of view, the heavier items had fallen on him. He shrugged it off with little effort. His glasses had been knocked off in the explosion, so he didn't have to worry about lowering them so he could x-ray Lois and Diana. The both appeared to not have suffered any damage, just covered in dust from the plaster that had fallen on them. Once he was assured of their condition Clark disappeared with a burst of superspeed.

The ground troops had split up, half of them were trying to keep the people afraid and on the ground, while the others had made their way to the war-suit that Luthor had created. They moved with military precision and soon had the suit connected and was being hauled up into the air by the cargo copters. The ground leader then called out to the men to make their way to their transport.

Moments later Superman was in the air chasing the two transports. He smiled in disbeilf as they were trying to outrun him. Little did they know that was virtually impossible. But it was that brief moment of over confidence that allowed him to forget about the 2nd Cobra helicopter that had was taking a different route originally, but had circled back to see what was following the cargo craft.

The combat pilot couldn't believe that he was looking at a man flying, however that didn't matter much to him. He had a heat source locked on, and even though it was going to be overkill he wasn't going to mind the waste of a missile. So he fired.

Clark was so distracted that he didn't hear the missile until it was almost to late. He managed to brace himself just as the missile hit him and sent him hurtling down to the ground. A blast like that would have killed any normal person, but Clark was far from normal. While still a few hundred feet of the ground he was able to regain his compossure and took off after the Cobra.

The pilot was no rookie and he used every known evasion technique at his disposal. He even got off a few shots from his gattling gun, no effect. He fired a few more missiles, this time didn't even knock this... Superman off his course.

Clark got as close as he dared to the Cobra, his eyes turned red followed what seemed to be beams of flame leaving his eyes and hitting the Cobra's top roter. and turnning it to slag. For a few moments the cobat craft had begun to fall, but it was only a few moments. Clark went underneath the craft and landed it gently on the Metroplois expressway's accident site. He welded the canopy shut to make sure that the pilots couldn't get away. However the cargo haulers had disappeared. And in the confusion of the battle he didn't know what direction they went in.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

The Flash took a moment watching the skies and the ceiling for falling bullets, trying to make sure that no-one got tagged by a shot fired skyward that had gotten hauled by gravity back to Earth. Seeing none of these, she suddenly realised, with a hiccup and a start, that Clark was nowhere to be seen and Miss Lane and "Judge Hershey" were on the floor dusted down with debris.

She took a stride towards the two women...

'Flash,' Jessi interrupted, 'bad guys with guns exiting stage left!'

The Flash glanced up and, to her horror, she saw that the men whose collective ass she'd desperately wanted to kick were strolling out of here like they owned the place and that was So Not Cool.

And in a flurry and a slipstream of plaster-dust, The Flash struck out after them, hoping against hope that the ladies were okay.

As the first man reached the personnel carrier, he found his hand slapped away...

...and a beautiful blonde in red stood there, jaw grimly set below the visor of her headgear.

"Leaving so soon?" she growled, an unmoving sentinel, blocking their getaway. "Here. Lemme just validate your parking."

(And then she was among them, a lightning-blurred ball of fists and feet, fighting a dozen armed men at once with her bare hands...)

 

[Lunaramblings]

Ted watched as the carrier units took off with something. Then watched as Something took off after them.

"What the Hell was that? A bird? A plane?"

Ted struck a few keys on the board before him. A small baseball sized object flies out of The Bug. Taking off after the thing and the choppers. Ted pulls on his helmet and dives out the bottom hatch, firing his grapple as he does. He catches a piece of the wall where it was blown in and swings into the building, kicking one of the goons hard with both feet square in the back. He spins toward a second one and lets out blast of compressed air strong enough to send the man flying.

"Oi! Big boys! Leave them folks alone. Try taking a piece of me, eh?!" Ted yells as he draws a grappling gun and loads a new cartridge into his wrist.

 

[Varshanka]

Lois Lane - April 11th, 2014

The wall exploded and slammed into her.

She watched as Superman walked away from her, his shoulders and back straight. For the briefest of moments he turned back to look at her. The heart melting eyes, the kissable lips, the strokable chest. God he was so damned cute.

*****Flick*****

She watched Clark walking down the school hallway. This place sucked, half a damned point and now she was back in High School. At least Chloe was here.

*****Flick*****

Where, the hell?' she wondered. "What am i doing at the Prom?" Snapping her eyes to the right, and up, she saw Clark in a Tux. "What the hell am I doing in a dress? And why am I at your prom?" Damn, she was almost falling out the top of the Dress!!!! And it was PINK!!!?

Tux. Prom. Looking down she saw the corsage. "Did you pin that on me?" She asked, thrusting her cleavage in Clark's direction. "Put it a little close to the boob, don't ya think?"

*****Flick*****

She was at the Torch sitting next to Chloe and listening to her ramble on. and On. and On. about a story. More like a fixation with Lionel Luthor.

*****Flick*****

Chloe was going through pictures from the Prom. Clark and Chloe. Clark and Lana. Lana and some kid. The King and Queen, Chloe Sullivan. Clark and Lois. Clark and Lana dancing. And Kissing. Clark and Lois dancing.

Damn, Chloe had a thing for Clark Kent. A big thing.

*****Flick*****

Where, the hell?' she wondered. "What am i doing at the Prom?" Snapping her eyes to the right, and up, she saw Superman in his red and Blue spandex suit.. "What the hell am I doing in a dress? And why am I at your prom?" Damn, she was almost falling out the top of the Dress!!!! And it was PINK!!!?

Tux. Prom. Looking down she saw the corsage. "Did you pin that on me?" She asked, thrusting her cleavage in Superman's direction. "Put it a little close to the boob, don't ya think?"

*****Flick*****

Superman was leaning over her, a pair of glasses on the floor beside her unnoticed. A press badge dangled from his jacket. Clark Kent. Flick. He was gone.

Dazed Lois reached out and picked up the glasses, stuffing them into her purse.

 

[Varshanka]

Diana Prince - April 11th, 2014

Diana slammed into the floor and Kent was gone. Looking around she jumped to her feeta nd took off running. Get out of sight. Don't let anyone see. A mantra she repeated over and over until she was around a corner.

Pushing her sleeves up she reveal two thin bracelets, one on each wrist. They chimed as she tapped them together, Ting-Ting. Spinning in place she called upon the speed of Mercury. Fastest of the gods.

She blurred.

A foot lashed out and impacted the wall, stopping her spin, and caving it in, and on, several thugs as they prayed and sprrayed the room with bullets. Bullets silenced by the wall. Running aropund the corner she leaped. A forward flip followed by a double roll and shew laneded on a helmet. Pirote crouch, with a snap kick to a jaw and one was flaing backwards.

Back flip, hand stand on the helmet. Grabbing the sideas of the helmet she rolled forwards, pulling the unlucky soldier upwards and over her head. Look.. Spuerman.. and he slammed into his friends.

Spin, and leap, landing in front of a defenseless female report she glared at the submaching gun weilding thug. "You've got to be kidding me.." she began as his weapon lifted, bullets already spraying from the barrel.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick... Bullets flew from the bracers as she scowled. He was really beginning to piss her off. Shifting the angle of deflection by a few degrees she directed the bullets back at him.

Thunk, splat, splat, thunk, thunk, spang, thud thud thud.

Moving again, leaping to a falling wall and pressing it back into place. 'Thor!!! Give me Strength, she prayed.

Thwap, Thwap, Thwap. The choppers were leaving and man was giving chase.

A flying man. 'Eyes of Hera,' she breathed, her vision increasing 10 fold she recognized him. KAL. 'Clark Kent', she mentally corrected herself.

A gust of wind alerted her to others. A girl. A very attractive young lady in fact moving almost as she herself could. And at top speed that was pretty fast indeed. Turning she ran up the wall and leaped from a broken section. Sparkling she ripped across the sky. Wether it was flight or just a very fast leap. Well, that was a question for another time.

 

[camerindrake]

Ollie thinks for but a moment which he knew for Bart would feel like forever however it had to be done. He then responded, " I am almost in range to handle the Helecopters, Go in and handle the civilians. If you come accross any resistance, take them out. Leave at least one with his jaw intact. We are going to need information. Once they are safe. Return to the choppers they are going to be coming down hard. Ill need some updraft to keep them from crashing."

At that moment he pulls into an alley and removes his coat and shirt. He places the vest and shades. He then gets out of the car and goes to the trunk opening it and gets his kevlar reinforced pants. He hops into the trunk and changes into them and out of his pants. Confined space but he had trained to be able to get into the new design. He had it down to about 12 seconds. Houdini would be proud.

The vest though appeared the same now had plate rienforcements through out it. He put the hood up and put on his shades and voice modulator. He turned it on and grabbed his bow and ammo out of the passanger seat. the ammo pouch fit on his left thigh and the bow could hook to his right.

At this moment, however, in its compact form he used it as a grapple gun and launched a grapple arrow with line up the building. He pushed the retractoer button and pulled himself up. He ran what little distance left and watched the last two choppers still on the scene.

Why are they waitingm he thought to himself. As he pulled out the compacted arrow with the blue coating. he pushed the protruding button and it extended to a full length arrow and he released the bow to its normal shape. the voice responce from the bow confirmed the line calibration and it was ready for use.

 

[ChasNicollette]

(Soundtrack: Suidakra. "Dead Man's Reel (Instrumental.)" From Command to Charge.)

Bullets peppered the air around The Flash, though for all their silvery-steel deadly bluster, they crawled through the wind as though at a snail's pace, and almost without giving the projectiles a thought, the speedstress batted them out of the air and harmlessly to the ground with her gloved hands.

There were twelve men. And armed.

Neither Jessi nor The Flash had specialised combat training, as such, but Jessi had taken a self-defence course once in college and Bart had been pretty handy in teaching them some meat and potatoes basics, as well as a couple of more advanced moves he'd learned from "O.J."

Basics were all one generally needed when one's fists could break the sound barrier, but the advanced stuff was fun, too.

The first five fell taking less than a second each. A right hook an up-thrown elbow a roundhouse kick a knee to the face a left cross, every move flowing into the next, liquid motion and lightning.

The next two had their heads bashed together, and the eighth man fell wheezing after a strike to his solar plexus.

Number nine got grabbed by the bandoliers and hurled head over heels into a wall.

Ten got his feet swept out from under him, and a follow-up jab cracked him out cold, skull against the floor.

Eleven's belt got yanked out of its loops, which then lashed twelve across the face.

Both of these men hesitated, eleven grabbing for his pants and twelve clutching at his face.

In a singular flourishing balletic manoeuver, The Flash lashed out with one fist and one boot and both these last two men crumpled, jaws asunder.

The Flash paused, grinning, glancing about her, a job well done, last one standing.

She glanced up, mystified, at the beautiful shimmery creature who was sailing off into the sky.

She only caught a glimpse of the woman but...

"Lord a'mighty," The Flash breathed. "Stay awhile. We could have coffee and dessert and tomorrow morning I'll whip you up the best breakfast you've ever had."

'I'm a little jealous of her, too,' Jessi commented. 'I never could rock the strapless look.'

And then K-BLAM!

Red hot searing -- line of agony -- left flank.

"Gaaaaaah!" The Flash bellowed, clutching at her own injury.

K-BLAM! K-BLAM! K-BLAM!

Left thigh! Right shoulder! Left forearm!

Glancing blows, grazing shots, but God they were painful, neither persona had ever been shot before...

Crumpling into a heap, eyes watering, unable to move, barely able to breathe, The Flash looked up at her attacker.

The eighth man, standing with a stagger, holding up a trembling fist in which was clenched an automatic pistol.

"Bitch," he snarled. "Not so fast now."

"Shoulda hit you harder," The Flash opined with a guttery wheeze.

(She was healing, she was healing, so quickly, not fast enough not healing fast enough...)

Both hands steadying his shot, face red with anger and humiliation, the man centered his sights on the spot between her visor-covered eyes.

"Law goes through," he mumbled, "I'll be a hero."

K-BLAM!

The bullet drilled through the air, inch by inch by inch and Jessi was screaming and The Flash was swearing as they both watched the shot drag its way towards them, riveted, unable to dodge unable to catch...

The Flash was able to gaze at her reflection in the surface of the bullet, all stretched out like a funhouse mirror, all smeared out across the entirety of Time.

'G'bye, Flash,' Jessi whispered. 'We had a good run.'

"It was fun to be real," The Flash replied with a whisper. "But being imaginary ain't so bad. I'll show you the ropes."

'I'd like that,' Jessi breathed back, not untruthfully.

The Flash scrunched her eyes shut. "I hope this doesn't take too long--"

FWOOOOOSH.

The Flash's eyes snapped open. She saw a hand. A human hand.

Her brother's hand. Holding the bullet, clenched in his fist.

His face was fury, and every erg of that fury swung 'round to glare at the eighth man.

'Better run, toolbox,' Jessi remarked.

Eyes wide, the merc went to squeeze off another round but then Impulse was right there in front of him and his fingers were broken and his gun was in Impulse's hand.

"Leave my hermanas alone, cabron," Impulse snarled.

"Oh, Hell," the mercenary whimpered.

"You ever been pistol-whipped, bandito?" Bart wondered, twirling the gun on his fingers. "I've been pistol-whipped."

The merc opened his mouth to protest, but then everything went black, and as he folded to the floor Impulse was standing behind him with the gun fast in his grip.

"Hurts, don't it?" Bart growled, then shook his shoulders out and shook his head. "D'ahhh, you're unconscious. We'll talk later."

The Flash smiled at him, lopsided and grateful. "Thanks. Guess I'm still a rookie."

"De nada," Impulse dismissed. "Y'all copasetic?"

"Less than a minute," The Flash replied, nodding easily. "Guy was too shook up, none of his shots found meat."

Impulse nodded, extended her a hand, helped her up.

She squeezed his hand hard, and grinned. "Wonder Us Powers, Activate."

He smirked. "Gobabygo."

He glanced towards the man in the blue suit and the whacked-out googly goggles kicking merc ass, preventing the other chopperful of guys from escaping.

"Get the blue guy's back, will ya, when you're cleared for takeoff? Dude's got mad skills, looks like, you guys should make short work." he murmured. "(Plus, there's this other dude 'round here somewheres.) Meantime, I got me more work to be done."

And then he was gone again, and The Flash, though still hurting badly, was back on her feet.

She had both feet on the ground, and that was all she'd ever needed to hit the ground running. That was all either of them had ever needed.

Neither she nor Jessi stopped yet to consider the number of people here in funny outfits. It was like a convention.

Right now, their minds were on the business at hand. Which was to say, rolling up The Flash's sleeves alongside this scaraby guy in the blue and handing out a few more asses.

"You seem pretty well at home on a dance floor," she drawled to The Blue Beetle as she rolled on in, belting a guy across the face. "Mind showing me a few moves when the next slow number comes on?"

'Incorrigible!' Jessi crowed, but for once she wasn't complaining.

 

[Lunaramblings]

The Beetle fired his grapple, richocheting off a soldiers helmet, wrapping around his friends throat. God, I love math. He yanked the grapple and activated a reel. The man came hurtling toward him and was met with a hard spinning elbow.

The Blue Beetle was back on the move, using the gun and the air blasts to batter the soldiers into each other, stunning them before he delivered several hard blows to each.

His armor took s few hard blasts, it hurt like hell. Heavy arms at close range was a bitch.

Then she was there.

"You seem pretty well at home on a dance floor," she drawled to The Blue Beetle as she rolled on in, belting a guy across the face. "Mind showing me a few moves when the next slow number comes on?"

"Girly, I would show you a few moves anytime. Anywhere. Ay caramba!

As Ted talked one of the soldiers stood behind him. Without looking he launched a low kick out behind him. Hard and fast right into the mans groin.

"That fella... he won't be dancin any time soon." The Blue Beetle winked at The Flash. "Let's dance Mami!" He took off toward the chopper and the men attempting to board it.

 

[camerindrake]

Ollie pulled back on the bow, the line going completely taunt as the roders inside giving the extra resistance that he wouldn't be able to put on the arrow at proper human strength alone.

He aimed his shot as his mind went completely blank. All that mattered was the shot. He didnt looke for his target with just his eyes. He seeked it out with his mind. Once he found it. He closed his eyes and loosed the arrow. A small smile creeped along his face knowing his shot was true.

The arrow flew true and hit one of the hovering choppers. Ollie just hoped peoples electronics where insured cause it was his emp arrow that he launched. A blue shockwave sprung from the arrow as it hit the side of the chopper frying every electronic device ins a mile radius.

He then compacted the bow and shot its grapple out and started on his way to the choppers.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

"Girly, I would show you a few moves anytime. Anywhere. Ay caramba!

As Ted talked one of the soldiers stood behind him. Without looking he launched a low kick out behind him. Hard and fast right into the mans groin.

"That fella... he won't be dancin any time soon." The Blue Beetle winked at The Flash. "Let's dance Mami!" He took off toward the chopper and the men attempting to board it.

'You make friends everywhere you go,' Jessi mumbled, bewildered, amazed. 'How do you do that?'

"People dig a free spirit," The Flash explained sagely out of the corner of her mouth as she snapped an automatic rifle in half with a kick and finished the corresponding gunman with a haymaker to the face.

'This one even speaks Spanish, apparently,' Jessi chuckled. 'So we know he'll get along well with at least one of his in-laws.'

"Who thinks that far ahead?" The Flash wondered breezily-- talking at superspeed so as not to be audible --as she blurred around The Blue Beetle in a scarlet cordon as he ran, deflecting bullets for him so that he might attack the bad men unimpeded by wounds. "I was just thinking of telling him I'll be his second Silk Spectre if he'll be my second Nite-Owl; if he's geeky enough that'll get him to pounce me on the spot."

Jessi was speechless for a moment. 'This is my body too, you know.'

"Spoilsport," The Flash grinned as she backhanded a mercenary ass over teakettle.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Ted charged on towards the men. Watching The Flash kick ass. Not to mention just plain watching her ass.

Cute. Funny. Can fight. Has a sweet get up and DAAMMMNN, can she fill it out! I need to get me some digits before we get done here. Ted thinks as The Flash seemingly surrounds him all at once.

"You know love, I hope you dont go this fast all the time. Some things in life should be savored slow and sweet. Remind me to show you a few of those later. Ted leaps into the air, driving a knee into the face of a soldier. The man's face becoming a crimson mask. As the man falls Ted is past him. A Clothesline for the next. As he tackles another the man spins into him, getting his gun up into Ted's chest.

The man fires accidently, a grenade round at point blank range. As the round detonates, Ted is sent sailing backwards. The chest plate of his suit a tangled mass.

Ted rolls to his stomach, pushes up and staggers towards his downed assailant. The man was in worse shape then Ted was, but he was still moving.

"You Bastard! Do you know how hard it is to get a suit like this fixed? You cant just flop open the bloomin Yellow Pages ya know!" Ted delivers a savage kick across the mans face. Knocking him unconscious.

Ted keeps moving. 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ted drops to a knee. His ribs shattered. His breathing ragged and short. Ted stands and begins to push on.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Impulse blurred out into the street, takking his earpiece with a cupped hand as he sprinted like blazes, tracking Green Arrow.

"Yo, Gee-Ayyy," he wondered, city streets and edifices a swirling blur beside him. "What's your 20, boss-man? My engine's on idle and I'm circling the block but--"

And then a squawk and a squeal and a wail came through on his earpiece and he yelped in dismay, screeching to a halt.

"Dude!" he griped noisily. "Uncouth!"

But then he glanced to his left, and saw an electronics storefront with all the TV's dead. He glanced around, and around and around and everywhere people were staring horrified at cellphones and poking iPods and stabbing crosswalk buttons wondering why nothing was lighting up.

Okay, so, Impulse mused. Somebody just microwaved Krusty's pacemaker, and that means -- one-mile radius.

He took off again, practically leaving twin fire trails behind him.

Searching a one-mile radius took him less than a second, and he saw the choppers coming down, practically side-by-side... (These ones he hadn't seen during recon. A back-up contingent?)

Two at once? he groaned inwardly. Catching one of those things almost put my shoulder outta joint. Now I gotta do a double-or-nothing as my encore?

He squared his stance, set his jaw.

Okay. Time to make the donuts.

As the choppers careened out of the sky, he pedaled into a loop beneath them, a figure-eight, a Moebius strip, looping endlessly round and 'round and 'round, twin cyclones erupting skyward...

Now seating 'Red Tornado.' Party of two.

He skidded to a halt across the street from the choppers, facing the way he'd come, making a gang sign between his knees as he crouched, face an incorrigible grin.

The choppers landed side by side, even gentler than had landed the single chopper he'd crashed earlier.

The gang sign became a fist punching the sky. "I got your updraft right here, Quiver Boy."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

Two men with machine guns jumped off of the chopper, taking aim at The Blue Beetle. The Flash was on them before they could even squint through the crosshairs, yanking the gun out of one guy's hand, swinging it like a bludgeon to smash it across the face of the other man, and as he fell, ganking his longarm to take out the first guy. BAMM. BAMM.

She whirled to check on Ted, ready with a requisite quip about "quickies" versus "taking it slow," but just as she did so, a plucky unlucky merc got in Ted's grill with a weapon of his own.

K'BOOOM!

"Agh!" The Flash yelped, one hand across her face.

'Holy God,' Jessi cried, 'he's-- he's--'

The Blue Beetle got back up, looking like he'd gone ten rounds with a propane truck (and he'd been armed, unfortunately, with naught but a book of matches) but somehow, he was still coherent. Tough armour. Tough cookie.

"He's my boy," The Flash grinned.

But then he sank to one knee and it dawned on both women how bad he really was off. It was impressive that he was doing this thing with the getting up all over again, but still.

He'd done his part. And he'd gotten his ass kicked.

And The Flash was Not Pleased that such a cute witty stalwart lad should suffer so ignominiously.

A growl on her lips, she scooped up the clip from one of the guns she'd just broken, and she sprinted to block The Blue Beetle's path.

"Hold on there, Buggy Baby," she purrrred to him, one hand on his cheek. "You just broke your Rubber Bumpers. Let me take it from here, okay? (Lemme take care of you.)"

She whirled to face the remaining soldiers, who were firing. But whatever. She caught their bullets one-handed, discarded the smouldering rounds.

'"Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers?"' Jessi wondered, incredulous, ashamed. 'He just quoted Romeo and Juliet and that's the best you can do? You should've... you should've... "Tomorrow you will find me a grave man." You should've done something with that!'

The Flash held up the clip she'd retrieved. Her voice was iron: "Olly-olly oxen free."

And she began flicking the bullets out of the clip with her thumb one by one by one by one at blistering speed one at a time single-shot rapid fire a burst of spark and steel...

...each bullet, one by one by one by one, spinning into a man's knee.

One by one by one by one by one the remaining men went down screaming, clutching at their knees. Getting shot in the knee was unbelievably painful. They deserved it for hurting Buggy Baby.

The last guy standing, she just threw the clip at his face.

Yet another merc with a broken jaw. Down he went.

The Flash snarled: "'Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel, —
Will they not hear? — What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins!
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your' pissed Flash."

She threw her hands out to her sides, eyes flaring behind her visor, teeth clenching briefly before: "'....Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.'"

Jessi hesitated, proverbially slack-jawed.

"I read a book," The Flash shrugged, muttering softly. "Once."

'You so did not,' Jessi harrumphed.

"Cliff's Notes," The Flash hmmmphed, and then whirled to look at Ted.

"You okay, Sweet Prince?" The Flash asked him, gazing at him worriedly.

'Hamlet,' Jessi corrected, stiffly.

"Shhh!" The Flash shushed her as quietly as she could, trying to keep from laughing.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Ted couldn't help but smile. "Bah! its nothing. Tis but a scratch. I've 'ad worse. Starting rotation, Cambridge Rugby team, now there's pain. Full contact. Which, if you like maybe some time when us ne'er-do-wells arent playing hero, I can teach you a bit of that "Full Contact". Ted smiled again. His teeth a bit red.

 

[Varshanka]

Wonder Woman - April 11th, 2014

Slamming into the side of the low flying chopper Wonder Woman ripped the door off and flung it out of her way. The pilot looked at her in shock, looking down for a moment, his eyes going wide as he took in her ample (and almost visible) chest, then lifted a hand gun and pointed it. That got his fingers crunched.

Screaming in pain the pilot flew from the open doorway, tumbling in the air before she collected him and landed. Settling him on the ground she tilted her head, her long and sun tanned legs parting slightly as she observed him.

"So.. who are you? Who sent you?" she asked, politely.

"Harcourt Fenton Mudd, The Starship Trooper." the pilot replied sarcastically.

Shaking her head Wonder Woman unrolled a golden rope from her shapely hip. Walking around him slowly she waited for him to run, but after a full circuit he'd apparently decided that sitting was safer than running.

A flick of her wrist landed a loop of Golden threads around him. As the lasso landed around his arms she twitched her hand and the rope tightened, binding him. Standing over him like a dominitrix out of an erotic dream she smiled and asked him again.

"Who are you? Who sent you?"

"J.. Joseph." He blurted.

"Full name?"

"Joseph Artor Jennings." he answered, sweat beading on his forehead. He was trying to not answer, but he couldn't refuse.

"Who sent you.. Joseph.." The star spangled female asked.

"Quarc," he spit out, his lips trembling from his efforts to refuse her. To refuse speaking a truth he had to speak.

A small pfft wizzed past her ear, slamming into the skull of the pilot and throwing him backwards. a red and grey pool of blood and brain matter smear the ground around and underneath him.

Whirling Wonder Woman snarled and looked, her bracelets flashing and deflecting bullets away. Spotting the enemy trooper she began running for him. Only to stop when he put his weapon in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Standing there she looked around, wondering what else was gonna happen, as she looped the lasso back up and set it back on her hip.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

"You've played rugby?" The Flash grinned.

'He's studied at Cambridge?' Jessi breathed, bewildered, incredulous.

"See, now," The Flash purred, touching The Blue Beetle on the cheek. "Now you're just bragging."

'He's bragging and he's totally making stuff up,' Jessi added, highly dubious. 'Guys'll say anything to impress a blonde.'

"Still, though," The Flash murmured as she hunkered down in front of Ted and smiled at him a little sultry a little sweetly. "I can respect a good 'Full Contact' man. Me being a Keystone City girl at heart? Two words: ice hockey. Many's the time I'd watch The Combines play and wonder what it would be like to get put up against the boards by a suitably thuggish fellow."

Jessi meeped. 'I suppose it was too much for me to hope you'd ask him what his major was.'

The Flash's lips almost brushed Ted's, but then she withdrew, straightened up, tossed him a roguish wink: "It's too bad. I generally kiss on the first date, I'm all modern that way. But you're going to have to rinse and spit a few times first."

And then she blazed off, rounding up the various unconscious soldiers of fortune waylaid around the room and just outside, tying them to their own choppers with lengths of chain she'd retrieved from a nearby construction site.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Ted watched as The Flash cleaned up. She was amazing. His heart was in his throat a moment ago when her lips were oh so close. Ted gazed longly at The Flash.

"Me brag? Never. But anytime you want to go to the boards... Say, hows about that second date?"

Ted extracted a canister from his belt and started spraying a thick foam onto the front of his armor. The foam hardening instantly.

"Any clue who these guys are? I mean, they aren't the local boy scouts on jamboree. And the hardware they are toting is serious."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

"Second date?" The Flash mused, finishing tying off a chain and kicking a groaning merc lightly in the head. "Fine. Just so long as it's not dinner and a movie. Unless it's a good movie. (Or a bad one I don't mind missing most of 'cause we're 'snogging' or whatever they call it in Cambridge.)"

The Flash strolled back over to him, dusting off her gloved hands and checking the fading scars that were her bullet wounds.

'Too bad we can't pay that forward,' Jessi mumbled. 'The rapid-healing thing. Might be cool to pass that on. That would be a useful super-power.'

The Flash quirked an eyebrow at the foam, like a spray-on layer of armour. Not to mention rib support. "Does all your gadgetry firm up that quick?"

'Why has no-one sued you for harrassment?' Jessi wondered, a little bit bitingly.

The Flash grabbed one of the chairs from the press conference and sat on it backwards, straddling it and leaning against the back of the chair, her chin resting on her crossed arms.

"I don't know," she admitted truthfully, replying to Jessi's snark and Ted's legitmate query at the same time. But then she switched fully to Ted, because she'd make fun of Jessi's prudishness later.

"I don't think they're actual soldiers," she murmured. "Like in a national military thing. I think they're for-hire, based on their evident training but lack of actual discipline, which means whoever hired them paid them hardcore. There were a lot of them, and they had wonderful toys. You don't find that kind of coinage 'tween the cushions of your couch."

'Maybe it was that evil businessman Bart was always talking about,' Jessi wondered, softly. 'Stands to reason he'd have a rivalry with Luthor.'