Backlash (IC)

[Thevshi]

The North End

Freedom City, New Jersey

Wednesday October 22, 2014, 10:23 PM

 

Coiled Lightning

 

Charlie Stevens was crouched in the shadows on the roof of one of the low buildings in the North End neighborhood of Freedom City.  He was in the costume he wore as Coiled Lightning, the strange electrical whip he had discovered in one hand as he looked out over the streetlight lit street below.

 

Charlie was here because he had received information from a Sergeant Turner of the North End precinct of the FCPD about a string of recent thefts at some high-tech companies in the area that had been committed by the costumed criminal Slice and a group of hired thugs.  Tonight was the second night he had been staking out the area north of the Freedom City University campus in the hopes of running into Slice and his goons once again.  Last night he had managed to stop a mugging, but otherwise had not caught any sight of his quarry. 

 

Liquify

 

Matt Sol was in the shadows of an alleyway in the North End, looking out at one of the high-tech companies situated in the area near the FCU campus.  He had read about some of the recent break-ins at some of the high-tech companies near the campus, apparently carried out by a costumed criminal and some henchmen.  It seemed like a good opportunity to try to uses his powers to be a superhero, like so many others in Freedom City.

[gankun]

Matt approached the building with his hands in his pockets. He figured this was a case that was perfect for him. At the edge of the alley he paused to take a breath. Once he transformed he would have to be careful. It would be risky to transform back anytime soon. He already left his wallet and phone at home, Matt hated losing stuff after transforming into a liquid.

After he mentally prepared himself, Matt transformed and slithered towards the building to keep watch.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie stood up and stretched his back, walking across the roof to the other corner. The night was so quiet, no sign of his prey, same as last night. And cold, at least out in the open on the rooftops. But he couldn't give up this chance for a rematch with Slice.

 

The energy-gun toting criminal had gotten away from him last month, after Coiled Lightning had foiled his attempts to steal a time capsule, but Charlie couldn't shake the gnawing regret about letting him escape.

 

He knelt down again and resumed his surveillance of the streets below, suddenly sure that tonight something was going to happen.

[Thevshi]

The two separate crimefighters began to settle in to keep watch over the area in the hopes of spotting the criminals responsible for the recent break-ins.  So far things were looking normal, the streets and the nearby buildings quiet.  After a little while, both heroes were starting to consider whether they should move to another part of the North End, when the stillness of the night was broken by the echo of a gunshot.

 

The sound came from a block or more away to the east, towards another of the tech companies located in the neighborhood.  Almost immediately after the gunshot, there was another sound that echoed through the night, sort of a "ZAP" like sound.  Charlie recognized it as the sound Slice's energy pistol made when fired...

[gankun]

Liquify jumped at the sound of the gunshot. No longer a puddle, Liquify grew into a humanoid form and listened for more noise. He turned at the direction of the fire and bolted forward. That Zap didn't sound like a normal bullet. I might really be in for a fight if these guys aren't your average thugs. He jumped through some alley ways, hoping to get to the site before any more people got hurt.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

The gunshot caught Charlie off guard. He must have been nodding off, but he quickly snapped to full awareness and started to activate his whip. Then he heard the all too familiar zap of Slice's weapon. "Time to get rolling." he said to himself.

He looked down the street, but couldn't see the source of the gunfire yet, so a flick of his wrist sent the electric whip's cord arcing across to a nearby building. Charlie leaped off the edge of the building, held tight and swung down through the center of the streets, a streak in blue spandex. He headed down the street, swinging between buildings and looking up each cross-street for the fight.

[Thevshi]

Both heroes moved towards the sounds as quickly as they could.  The building in question turned out to be about two blocks away from where Coiled Lightning had been keeping a watch on things, about just about a block down from the alley Liquify had transformed in.

 

At the back of the building, a grey van was pulled up at the otherwise empty loading dock.  There were a couple of men standing up on the loading dock dressed in black clothes and ski masks.  Each was holding a pistol in one hand.  Lying on the loading dock was a security guard, although from this distance it was impossible to tell what condition the man was in.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie swooped around the corner and released his whip as he came to rest on top of the van. Standing tall with his shoulders square and his hands on his hips, he retracted the whip to normal length and shook his head, "Did it really take both of you boys to overcome a single guard? I'm shocked at the poor state of villainy these days." He picked out the closest of the thugs and cracked his whip at him, showering the loading dock with sparks.

[gankun]

Liquify arrives at the scene to see a blue superhero taking out the thugs with a whip. Looks like he's taken care of those thugs with no sweat. Maybe I ought to... However before contacting the hero he turns to see another thug in the getaway van. "Oh no you don't!" Winding up his arm, Liquify leaps towards the van and throws a long punch while midair.

[Thevshi]

With two quick snaps of his electrical whip, Coiled Lightning made quick work of the two men standing on the loading dock.  Liquify closed towards the scene, and spotted the man behind the wheel of the van, his arm stretching out as he sent a fist through the open passenger window to crack across the driver's jaw, knocking him unconscious as well.

 

But before the two heroes could greet each other, a pair of doors swung open on the loading dock and a group of men made their way out.  In the lead was a man wearing a dark green costume with a red mask that covered the entire upper half of his head (with black around his eyes shaped like a domino mask).  In one red gloved hand he held a futuristic looking pistol.  Coiled Lightning of course immediately recognized Slice.

 

Just behind him were three men in black with ski masks.  Two were pushing hand carts stacked high with boxes.  The third was a massive man well over six and a half feet tall.  Coiled Lighting was pretty sure he was the strong man that had accompanied Slice in trying to seal the contents of the time capsule last month.

 

Slice came to a halt at the sight on the loading dock, his gaze fixing on Coiled Lighting.  "You again?  Get em!"  He shouted.

The two men with the push carts let go of them, pulling out pistols from their belts, each taking aim at one of the crimefighters and opening fire.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie felt the van rock as Liquify punched the man inside. He started to say something to the new arrival when Slice and his cronies stepped out. "It's not so easy to slip free from my snare, Slice." replied Coiled Lightning.

He jumped off the back of the van, running forward to stand over the fallen security guard. Then he cracked his whip, attempting to wrap it around Slice's gun. But the criminal was too quick for him and snatched his weapon arm out of the way. Charlie shrugged sheepishly at the armed thugs.

[gankun]

Liquify paused when the villains exited the van. Ok, these guys aren't your average thugs. This looks like it's gonna be a rough battle. Uhh, He then broke out of the trance when the blue hero leaped into the air. The guy looked like he was familiar with the super-villain. As Coiled Lightning made a move on Slice, Liquify turned to the approaching thugs. "You focus on him. Let me take care of these guys!"

 

Liquify ran towards the thugs winding up his arm for a ranged attack. Lets keep the big guy busy, then I can take out the small fry. He then hurled his arm forward as a ball of blue slime slammed into the big thug's feet to snare him. That should slow him down for a bit.

[Thevshi]

Slice managed to pull his hand away from the crackling electrical whip as Coiled Lightning tried to disarm him. The costumed criminal then took a couple step back as he leveled the energy pistol at the hero. "I should have figured you might eventually show up." He stated, as he fired an energy blast at Coiled Lightning, but the crimefighter was already dodging aside, as the blast streaked harmlessly by, streaking across the street to blow out a window in a nearby building.

The large thug meanwhile had been fully entrapped by the blue ball of slime Liquify had thrown at him. The muscular man strained against the liquid encasing him, pulling himself free and taking a few strides forward, he gaze fixed on Liquify.

Meanwhile, the two other thugs turned their handguns on the watery hero, each firing off a shot. But both were off with their aim, the bullets impacting on the pavement to either side of Liquify, but well away from their intended target.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled Lightning called back to the watery hero, "Thanks for lending a hand here, the name's Coiled Lightning. I've tangeed with these two before and they're a bit much to handle solo. You want to be keep an eye on that big ugly brute. It's no fun being on the wrong end of those fists."

 

He gripped his whip and upped the power, spinning the lash around as it grew brighter and threw off more sparks. "And be careful not to get caught in the sparks." He whipped the end toward Slice, but it arced over his shoulder harmlessly.

[gankun]

Liquify responded back to Coiled Lightning. "No problem. I'm Liquify, and thanks for the heads up." Yeah, gotta watch out for those sparks. Then as the big thug broke out of the snare, Liquify turned back to his opponent. "Tough guy huh, well then let's try this!"

 

He charged right at the big thug and shifted most of his mass into his right fist and hurled it at the brute. The attack connected right in the chest and knocked him back while Liquify leaped back into a fighting stance. The thug looked a little out of it but was still standing. This guy's a lot tougher than I thought....

[Thevshi]

"I see your aim is still about the same." Slice commented as he dodged another attack from Coiled Lightning. The costumed criminal then fired his pistol at the hero again, the energy beam just missing this time.

The large thug took a half step backward at the impact from Liquify's powerful attack. He remained on his feet, but was clearly dazed.

As the watery hero back off again, the two other masked thugs opened fire once more. This time one managed to hit Liquify, but the bullet glanced harmlessly off.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"And it seems your aim has gotten worse. You tagged me from across the block last time." Charlie quipped as he ducked to avoid Slice's attack. "What brings you and big ugly over there out here on a night like this?" He snapped the whip at Slice again, but the criminal was too fast tonight, and he couldn't land a hit.

Coiled Lightning groaned in frustration, this wasn't turning out to be a good night. He was glad to see Liquify was being more effective than he was, but couldn't help but wince as he saw the bullets strike the watery form.

[gankun]

Liquify looked down as one of the bullets glanced off of him and exclaimed, "Good thing I'm a liquid or that could have really hurt. Either way you're gonna regret shooting me when I'm done with the big guy." He then turned his focus back on the dazed thug. "Alright! Here's another serving!" Liquify winded up another punch and slammed into the big thug. There was a faint grunt when the punch hit. He pulled his arm back, and even though the attack had a clean hit, it didn't even seem to affect him. A little shocked, Liquify said out loud, "Uhhhh... you are tougher than I thought. I should stop playing around." However in reality Liquify wasn't pulling any punches.

 

Coiled Lighting didn't look like he was having any better luck with his opponent. I better deal with these thugs fast. I don't want him to deal with the super-villain all by himself. Really need to step up my game if I want to do this right. 

[Thevshi]

Slice rolled away from Coiled Lightning's most recent attack, quickly getting back up to his feet. "Oh, just a bit of midnight shopping." The costumed criminal replied, although he seemed rather annoyed with his inability to hit the crimefighter, but once again leveled his weapon at Coiled Lightning and fired. And once again Coiled Lightning had dodged at just the right time and the blast went wide and shot across the street to blow a small chunk of concrete out of a wall.

"This is getting ridiculous, we need to get out of there. You two, get the stuff in the van and get it started." He shouted to the two thugs with the pistols.

Meanwhile the large thug easily shook off another attack from Liquify, before he strode over toward the watery hero. He swung a large fist at Liquify, but the hero managed to bend back out of the path of the attack, standing back up straight once the large thug had pulled his fist back.

The two men with the pistols saw how ineffective their weapons had been on Liquify, and decided it was best to do what Slice said. One ran over towards the driver’s door of the van, opening it and pushing the unconscious driver out of the way. The other meanwhile grabbed his hand cart and moved it over to the open back of the van.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled Lightning shook his head at Slice. "Oh, you're not going anywhere. You've got a date down at the precinct house." He took a moment to watch the thugs loading up the van, but they could wait.

Turning back to Slice, he watched the villain's movements carefully. He waited as he ducked to the left then quickly drew back his whip and lashed out at him. The electric whip struck Slice across the chest and delivered a satisfying shock, and a smile crossed the blue-clad hero's mouth. Thought I was losing it there for a moment, he thought.

[gankun]

Liquify dodged the big thugs attack as a fist came towards him. His body bended around the heavy arm and snapped back after the thug pulled his fist back. Whew, that looked like it would have hurt. He took a second to plan out his next attack on the big thug when the others dropped their guns and ran for the van.

 

"Oh no you don't!" Liquify yelled as he threw a punch at the thug making his way towards the van's door. The long arm hit the guy in the gut, but this time the thug rolled with the attack, not taking any damage. As Liquify's arm slowly retracted back, he thought to himself, Damn it! They're gonna get away. I better hurry up and.... Liquify lost his train of thought when he turned his direction back to the big thug and realized he left himself wide open for a hit. He closed his eyes as the attack closed in. This is gonna hurt.

[Thevshi]

Slice staggered back a couple steps as the electrical whip shocked him, but remained on his feet.  The hit also seemed to quiet him down, as he focused back on Coiled Lightining and simply aimed his energy weapon at the hero once more and fired.  But his hand was still shaking from the electrical shock, and the blast went wide once more.

 

The other new hero however was having a bit more difficult time.  As the new thug behind the wheel of the van managed to shrug off Liquify's attack, the large thug took another swing at the watery hero, this time connecting.  As Liquify had anticipated, the hit hurt.  He found himself lifted up off the ground and sent flying backward about ten feet, stars forming before his eyes as he landed.

 

The thug now behind the wheel of the van started it up, as the other thug loaded the stolen goods into the back.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled Lightning grinned at the suddenly quiet Slice as he ducked aside from another energy blast. "What's the matter, Slice? Whip got your tongue?" He made a wild attack, reaching toward Slice and catching the villain across the face with the sparking whip. Slice stumbled backward, grabbing at his face and slammed in to the wall.

Letting his momentum carry him forward, an enthusiastic hero swung the whip toward the big guy with his backswing, catching the brute across the back, but leaving himself slightly off balance.

[gankun]

The hit connected and had sent Liquify a good distance. "Ahhhhhh" He screamed as he hit the ground with a splat, shaping back into a regular form as stars circled around him. Unable to move, he took a breather as the puddle he made started flowing back into him. What happened?... He thought as his senses slowly came back to him. The last thing he remembered was not taking out the thug and a large black shadow moving towards him before he saw stars. He hadn't taken a blow like that before, most street thugs weren't as tough and only used bats. Even the damage from bullets were easy for his gel to deflect. Finding out that he wasn't invincible was a bit of a shock.

 

While his vision cleared he saw the other hero make an attack on the villain and big thug.

I've gotta help. I can't just sit here and... Liquify tried to move up but sloshed back into the ground, having difficulty pulling himself together.

[Thevshi]

Slice was clearly on the ropes after the powerful shock from Coiled Lightining's whip, which had sent him flying backward a good ten feet to slam into a wall. While the costumed criminal had somehow managed to hold onto his energy pistol, he could barely lift it at the moment, let alone line it up to even try to shoot back at the hero.

Down on the driveway of the loading dock, the big thug noted with some satisfaction that the other, watery hero seemed to be taken care of for the moment, even having some trouble holding himself together. So the hulking figure turned his head to note the difficult Slice seemed to be having with Coiled Lightning. Crouching down slightly, the large figure leapt into the air, easily covering the fifteen feet between himself and the electrical whip wielding hero.

As he came down to land on the loading dock, the big thug swung one of his meaty fists at Coiled Lightning, who was able to pull back away and avoid the clumsy attack.

The other thug who had taken over behind the wheel of the van put the vehicle in drive, clearly eager to be leaving the scene. "Come on, hurry up!" He yelled back through the van, as if that would allow his fellow criminals to somewhat break away from their fight and just board the van. The other thug ran out of the back of the van and over to Slice, bending down to help lift the costumed criminal back up to his feet.