ic Capers and Casanovas

[Heritage]

"I have no problem fighting in the dark," Shift stated with firm resolve. "Especially since Sebastian appears to be provoking a hate crime against those two young men. If there was any doubt he was no hero, that doubt has been shattered."

Shift dropped into a low crouch as his mimetic properties altered in favor of two extra sets of arms, the better to grapple their quarry.

[RedSpine]

Zach had kept to himself on the trek so far. He'd bit his tongue to not say anything about the earlier guard. He knew well enough what that was like and seeing it happen so casually set him on edge. At charlies question though he paused to think and double check the readouts his silvered armor was giving him.
"My sensors are sensitive enough that I should be able to fight fine enough. If we act at the same time I'll cut off all sound from reaching Young Tyranny over there. No Sight to guide them. No Noise to help them figure out which way we're coming from."

Seeing the mental menace do it AGAIN in the park was nearly to much. Zach's entire posture shifted, ready to sprint ahead to cut off the teens that were just as much a victim in this as the couple could be in a few moments. Zach's anger shook him but if asked later he'd say he didn't feel heated, he felt like he had ice water flowing through his veins and a grim certainty that his fist would soon be on an inescapable collision course with Shield's face.
"Arrow I'm really hoping you've got a net arrow."

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"I think he just likes to hear his own voice," Charlie responded to Luke, while getting the blackout grenades in his hands primed and ready. As much as the rest of the group might be putting down the group, Shields hadn't chosen the members at random. The group were powerful, they were more experienced than most of the group he had gathered. They needed to strike hard and fast, end it as quick as they could.

 

"Don't underestimate them." 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The teens were approaching the couple, running, shouting and yelling at them. The first ran up and punched the man, followed by being thrown to the side by a telekinetic blue shimmering field, courtesy of Bluebird.

 

"Don't worry guys, we're the New Young Freedom! We'll keep you safe!" Casanova stood proud, while Chump and Toxin approached the last two teens.

 

"Casanova, we got trouble." Stinger was the first to notice the other group of students approaching. They all stopped, as did the three teens, while they looked towards the other group of costumed teens.

 

"What do we do?" Toxin sounded unsure, shifting from foot to foot.

 

Casanova smiled. "We'll show them who's in charge here."

[Heritage]

With shocking swiftness, Shift tore across the park towards Toxic, feeling that his powers would be best to deal with the poisonous girl. Just before reaching her, he rapidly decelerated so it's not to injure her unduly, since she may well have been doing all this under duress. The robotic teen rapidly threw his six arms around her and quickly brought her to the ground.

 

"Don't don't listen to Casanova! He is using his powers to control you!"

Edited December 3, 2020 by Heritage

[Cubismo]

"For them or for you?" She quipped back at Zack. The technie looked as if he was to blow a gasket if he didn't get a chance to deck Casanova in the face. It was sentiment, she had most of the time whenever she bothered to even think of Shield and it was something Olivia was just perfectly fine with accommodating. "Don't worry, I'll handle them." 

 

Said handling involved her trick arrows. Shift being in the mix would have been a problem for a lesser archer, but Arrow was anything but. Pulling a specialized anti-riot adhesive foam arrow from her quiver,  she and aimed at confidentially at the group of rival would-be heroes. Taking a second to pick a particularly gullible looking target, her eyes eventually landed on Chump.

 

With a coy smile on her lips she called the large teen out. "Think fast you over-sized lummox!"

 

For a moment it looked as if she was about to launch the very sharp looking bolt right into Chump's face only for her to suddenly direct her bow upwards in an arc . From that position, she actually did loosen her arrow, sending it upwards and into a curve that abruptly ended with it exploding in mid-air and bursting out five smaller arrows that fell upon the New Freedom League in a shower of bolts.

[Nerdzul]

Luke watched as the arrow darted through the air, showering the would be heroes with sticky foam. Cool. “Hey… do you have some for these people too?” He pointed at the group of kids that Sebastian has mind controlled. Yeah, keeping them still would prevent them from getting into more trouble right? “Chaz?” He faced Raven for a moment, wondering if maybe his friend had something that can help in that utility belt of his.

 

Whatever. They had been spotted (Yeah and whose fault is it? Noob…), he didn’t have the time to strategize more and unfortunately his powers weren’t exactly the kind that he could use to get a few innocents out of the fight. Sure it would have been funny to unleash dragonfire on Shield’s little posse to be totally honest, but in a public park… yeah his reputation didn’t need it...

 

He dashed ahead, toward Shield, the plan was simple, he was sure he could overpower the scrawnier teenager and then bring him away from the battlefield, where he could no longer harm anyone innocent. 

 

Damn! That guy was more agile than he looked though. Despite his best efforts, Sebastian dodged away exactly at the right time. A growl of disappointment escaped from his lips as he kept dashing forward, placing himself between the young couple and the controlled teenagers. The least he could do was to try to keep them safe.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Nerdzul

[RocketLord]

GM

 

With everything happening happening around her all of a sudden, Stinger seemed remarkably calm. If anything, she was smiling, loosening her whip and starting to run away from her companions in half circle, moving closer to Arrow. "Always wanted to see if I could kick a legacy's ass." She spun around, letting the whip fly towards Arrow with blinding speed, only to snap around her bow. "That one's mine." She pulled hard at the bow.

 

"Get off me!" Toxin struggled, fighting back against Shift as he grappled her to the ground with his six arms. "Nobody's controlling me! Stop it! Get off me before you break the suit!" Or maybe... she could do something. Loosening just the tiniest bit of the suit on her palm, she placed her hand against Shift's chest. The point of contact quickly started to feel like it was burning.

 

"Get this crap off me!" The taunt had hit its mark, with Chump struggling against the adhesive that was keeping him snared to the ground with all of his strength, threatening to break it past its breaking point if possible. He was getting angry, not just as the situation, but at Arrow and at not being able to move and fight!

 

Bluebird was not happy about everything going dark. She instantly took off from the ground, flying up above the reach of anyone stuck to the ground. Throwing her hands out towards Nightscale, she let a powerful light blue wave of energy wash over him, trying to take hold around him, while she shouted "Somebody do something about that darkness! We can't even see 'em!"

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Things were moving fast. Charlie hadn't counted on them being spotted this quick. He had at least hoped to spring a little surprise, but that wasn't how it went. Alek had taught him better, anyway. Gotta adapt your plans, can't just stick to them and hope it works out. No plan survives contact with the enemy or something like that, right?

 

Everyone was a flurry of movement. Shift grabbing Toxin? Probably a good move, they couldn't be poisoned, right? Arrow's arrow hitting Shift along with the others weren't so smart, and Nightscale was overeager as usual, which... he went right past Casanova. Then again, made sense. Shields was a douchebag, but nobody said he was bad at what he was doing.

 

He grimaced at Nightscale's call, but this wasn't the moment to get hung up on codenames. He could talk to him later.

 

"Yeah, don't worry. I got this."

 

With practiced ease, he threw the few small grenades he had picked from his belt with one hand, right at the feet of Casanova. They exploded instantly, not with any power or any kind of bright light, but quite the opposite, creating a dome of complete darkness, trapping everyone inside. That should keep the kids out of trouble for a moment, at least. 

 

With a quickly raised gauntlet, he fired a grappling line to the nearest tree, almost above Casanova's group, sending himself into it with just a rustle of leaves to give him away for a brief second.

[RedSpine]

And in a sudden Cacophony everything went went to heck. Not a surprise but still rough.

Howl wanted to dive in the fray but to him there were bigger problems that needed to be handled first. Turning towards the controlled teens the augmented movement apparatus within his suit kicked into high gear, the ground was gripped a little surer and more power was put into each step than he would have been able to do on his own. It was no super speed to be sure but it was fast enough to put him right in the teens midst. They'd have to go through him if they wanted to get to the couple.. at least that was the plan.

Spotting the darkness grenades explode in a sphere of inky air Howl raised his own gauntlet in return and with a snap that echoed across the park New Young Justice would hear only silence. No Sounds from the on-going fight below, no wind blowing by or even the normal sounds of traffic from the rest of the city as the compact sensors and emitters within his armor tracked and canceled out every wavelength within a humans hearing range that could have reached their ears.

Without turning to the besieged couple he said "Get out of here i'll cover you two! Everyone else they can't hear a thing so make some noise!"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"You really think that I can't find you just because I can't see or hear you?" Casanova was yelling, looking straight in Howl's direction. "You're amateurs! Glorified sidekicks at best! We're the real deal!"

 

The three teens looked around in the darkness, they were obviously confused. They shouted, but unable to even see or hear each other, they all started running in different directions, away from. The couple looked at Howl once, thanked him and then started running.

 

As for Howl and Casanova? If Howl's will was not strong enough, everything would turn dark for him.

[Heritage]

"Ahh, it burns," cried the teen robot. Shift's nanomass had built-in pain receptors to trigger defensive reactions, but they were so rarely triggered that he almost never experienced actual pain. He released his quarry as the acid sizzled on his chest and he fell to one side in shock.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Heritage

[Cubismo]

Arrow didn't have time to grimace as she watched her stick arrow volley turn out to be less than as effective ash she'd hoped. She was far to busy resisting her bow being  pulled right out of her hands by Stringer. "You little poop slinging retrograde throwback!" She had a couple other pithy refrains but Charlie's sudden bomb toss put an end to that as the area was quickly filled with darkness. 

 

Nevermore's smokescreen might have been a hassle for the others, but for Arrow it was only a momentary problem as she quickly grabbed her night-shades from her utility belt. Moreover it was a perfect opportunity to get back her bow with a counterattack. 

 

Using the smoke as cover, she went into half-crouch and moved out in a methodically, making sure that her path towards Stringer was one that avoided the various other combatants in the escalating melee.

 

Once she was in melee range with the unsuspecting wannabe cowgirl she made her move. Said move was a taekwondo side kick that she had practiced a thousand times over with Bowman for just these scenarios when their weapon of choice was temporarily out of reach. With a quick spin and flash of movement, she struck the cowgirl hand with enough force that was she forced to either let her bow go or risk falling uncontrollable into the ground. Unsurprisingly, she picked the former.

 

Not wasting a beat, Olivia reached out to grab her newly liberated bow with a confident smile on her face.

 

"What was that about kicking a legacy's ass, cowpoke?"

[Nerdzul]

Luke felt Bluebird telekinetic grasp tightening around him, he had managed to shrug it off, this time, but he wasn’t confident that it was gonna last forever.

 

Whatever, that was a problem he could handle later. First thing first, he needed to wipe out that smug grin from Casanova’s face. Priorities, right?

 

He waited just enough to see the young couple darting away, hopefully toward safety and then charged back at the mind controller. After a short jump, to gather more momentum, he aimed his left hook square on Shield’s jaw, a grin appeared on his lips when this time he managed to strike true.

 

There was no time to enjoy the moment though, with his friend now crying in pain on the ground. The young man darted to assist Shift, landing a few steps from him, ready to defend him in case anyone thought about playing dirty and  going for the guy in pain the ground. “Hey. It’s ok. You’re gonna be ok mate.” He tried to reassure Shift, the least he could do.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Nerdzul

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Nightscale's blow connected, but Casanova rolled with the blow, evading the worst of it.

 

"What!?," Stinger spat back at Arrow, not able to hear, well, anything.. Taking half a step back, she reached for a pair of high tech nightshades from her utility belt, grinning wickedly as he spun around, then flicked the whip sharply at Arrow, striking her right shoulder, despite the short distance between them. Being hit like this, Olivia would feel something else, small barbs all across the whip, scratching at her skin.

 

The burning sensation on Shift just wouldn't go away, like it was eating into her, through her body. "You just couldn't stay away, could you?" Toxin sounded almost apologetic, but obviously puzzed when she couldn't even hear her own voice. She ran straight at Nightscale anyway, reaching out and placing a hand on his wrist, letting her toxins run into the dragon man, before pulling back abruptly. His stomach suddenly started feeling very uneasy.

 

"LET ME GO DAMMIT!" His temper finally getting the best of him, Chump tore straight out of the adhesive. Seeing Howl advancing on Casanova, he set into a run, quickly planting himself between the two.

 

Bluebird continued to soar ever higher, quickly coming out of reach. A telekinetic blue force slammed into the ground next to Howl, thankfully leaving him unscathed, for now.

Edited December 11, 2020 by RocketLord

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Things were moving... in interesting directions. From his hiding place in the tree, Charlie could see the group he had gathered fighting, and struggling a bit, against New Young Freedom. It wasn't ideal. He could think of a dozen strategies, but he had to stick to the plan. Stop Casanova first, before he put the whammy on any of them.

 

Shifting just silently, he reached into his belt and pulled out a snare, then quickly dropped it towards Casanova's feet, before pulling back on it, sending New Young Freedom's leader up, into the air and dangling from the tree.

 

Step 1 complete, at least, but he couldn't help himself. He had to shout. "Switch partners! Keep away from Toxin! Stay at a distance! Shift, go for Stinger and get that whip away from her! O, you're the best shot against Bluebird!" It felt off, he didn't even know if they would do as he asked or not. He really wasn't used to give orders, but... He couldn't help it.

Edited December 11, 2020 by RocketLord

[RedSpine]

It felt like everything came crashing in at once as the regrettably familiar 'taste' of Casanovas psionic abilities came prickling it's way into Howls mind threatening to steal away the teens sight. Not today however. Howl focused his will, tracing along the mental paths casanovas power had taken before and with great effort snapped shut the proverbial gates.
Eyes unblinded let Howl took a quick sidestep moving him was out of harms way as Bluebirds telekinetic assault slammed into the earth. He had to admit she had pretty good range on that power and if she kept floating up there she could take pot shots at her leisure. Priorities being as they were however Howl would have to avoid her for now. Focus on the prize, once Casanova was out of play the rest could be handled or if luck was willing maybe they'd just call it a day. He hoped Casanova hadn't been controlling New Young Justice with his power and had instead just used normal lies. Or was it the other way around? Pushing that disquieting idea out of his head he ran towards the darkness keeping himself out of range of Chumps mighty fists. Howls armor was strong but he really didn't want to see what a strongman of Chumps caliber could do to it if given the opportunity.
Taking a chance Howl fired a sonic blast at the entangled Casanova, but failing to account for how the air density was changed by both the darkness grenades and his own Muting of New Young Justice caused the the shot to go wide leaving it little more than a fancy air horn for all the good it did.
"@#$%, Big Guy is free from the gunk. Blue Bird is raining shots from above!" Howl knew the other probably already knew from their own abilities, but if not it'd help keep everyone on the same page.

 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Let me down from here! I swear I'll &%¤# you up you pathetic excuses for heroes!" Casanova was dangling back and forth on the branch, but even if he couldn't hear his own voice, it sounded like he still wanted to be heard anyway! He might not be able to see or hear, but somehow, he still knew exactly where Nevermore was hiding.

 

He focused, letting loose a psychic torrent, focused psychic energy whirling in a chaotic light blue pattern towards Charlie in the tree, only barely missing him, more by luck than anything else.

[Heritage]

Shift was more than happy to change targets, and rolled to his feet. His IR vision quickly picked out the whip wielder, and his right arm stretched into a long lash of his own! He brought it up over his head and swung it towards Stinger, but she must have heard it coming, as she nimbly stepped out of it's path.

[Cubismo]

"Ready to get trashed you glory-seeking poser?" Despite the remark and the smirk on Arrow's face, Stinger's electro-whip had honestly taken a lot more out of her than she cared to admit. So much so, that when she shifted her bow into its staff configuration and tried to swing it at Stinger's sides, the blow went completely wide with the cowgirl easily dodging the flimsy attack. 

[Nerdzul]

Luke had to collect all of his willpower to stop himself from using Casanova, still tied as a hog, as his personal punching bag. Then again, he wasn’t sure if there was much else he could do with him and Chaz seemed to have the situation out of control. 

 

He took a deep breath, trying to assess the chaotic flow of the fight and gazed at the sky, Shift seemed to have somewhat recovered from Toxin’s offensive, but Bluebird was still a definitely a problem. She could bombard them with impunity and was flying too high for him to reach without his wings. Maybe Arrow could short work of her? But Miss Trust Fund was too occupied dealing a psycho cowgirl with a whip.  

 

Not for much she isn’t. 

 

The young man dashed through the battlefield, charging Stinger and locking her in a powerful grip using the rest of the momentum to carry her away from the fight as much as he could. 

 

“You can thank me later.” He gave Arrow a playful smirk…  

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Hey! What the hell!?" Stinger clearly didn't see Luke until it was too late, the larger young man charging out of the darkness and grabbing hold of her. Dragged along, she struggled and cursed along the way, pushing back at him. Moving in close, grabbing her like this so she couldn't use her whip? Probably the best way to handle her.

 

With Shift turning her attention away, Toxin seemed at loss for what to do, at least for a short moment. Without a word she ran after Shift, flailing wildly and trying to touch her again, but unable to fully find her in the darkness.

 

"Get back here! Fight me!" Chump rushed through the darkness at full speed, caring little for what might be in his path as he chase down Howl in the darkness. He started throwing punch after punch, but with little luck.

 

High above, Bluebird homed in on Nevermore, sending a wave of telekinetic energy at him that hit the ground, drawing a curse from the telekinetic.

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Charlie winced briefly at Arrow continuing to attack Stinger, but, alright, what did he expect? Things weren't going quite according to plan, but Luke swooped in and got Stinger away, at least.

 

Below him, Casanova was cursing and complaining while throwing psychic bolts at him. Reaching for the baton at his side, Charlie leapt from the tree, landing in front of Casanova. He held the staff out to the side and let it stretch out to its full length, before he flicked the button that send a charge running through it.

 

"Man, you don't even know that you've lost, do you?" 

 

With a sudden move, he launched forward, spinning and swinging his staff at Casanova's side, the electric shock quickly coursing through his body as the staff connected.

[RedSpine]

This wasn't a fight he could avoid. Howl didn't have anything against Chump really. He had a poor choice of friends but he'd seemed decent enough. Not the brightest bulb in the box but that was no reason to hate the guy. Stuck in that rage though chump made it clear that he was going nowhere unless he got thrown out.

Ducking underneath one of Chumps wild swings Howl saw his opening and let loose a steel clad right hook right to the older boys jaw only to inwardly curse as the focused sonic waves behind the punch seemed to do little to nothing.

Pulling his guard back up Howl swiftly side stepped to Chumps non-dominant side. He hadn't managed to put him down in one blow like he'd hoped but he could wear down the mountain so long as he avoided getting hit by any of it's avalanches.  Howl just had to keep things moving one punch at a time.

Edited January 19, 2021 by RedSpine

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Bluebird continued to fly about 100 feet above the group. So far, she had not been lucky, but could they even get to hear?

 

Nightscale had pulled Stinger away from Arrow, grappling her in a crushing hold, while Toxin continued to attack Shift.

 

Casanova was hanging from the branch of one of the trees, twitching lightly from the shock. The hit had sent him spinning widely, slamming face first into the trees, some blood dripping from his now broken nose.

 

On the opposite side of the tree from Nightscale, Sting, Arrow, Toxin and Shift, Chump still had his sights set on Howl, so far shrugging off everything the armored teen had thrown at him.