ic Pirates Over Midtown

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Millenium Mall, Midtown, Freedom City

Early June, 2021

10:34 PM

 

The sky was clear and dark above Freedom City on this particular night. The half moon shone among the stars, illuminating the night.

 

Micah had been the one to first catch the news of a new movie coming out for the summer season, and he had suggested to Pan they should see it. Pan had brought Eira, and Eira had brought Lulu. The movie's title was "The Forever Boy". It was yet another retelling of the story of Peter Pan, and of course, they had to see it. It had all been very exciting, dark and gritty. A boy abandoned in Victorian London, found by Fae and whisked away to Neverland, flying and fighting pirates in great flying pirate ships, joined by Wendy and her family. Spectacular, visually impressive, but it didn't offer much new to the story. The climatic final scene had Peter Pan and Wendy teaming up to fight Captain Hook as his flying ship sailed across the sky above London, almost colliding with Big Ben, Tower Bridge and other sights along the way.

 

As they left the mall, Pan was talking excitedly about it, holding hands apart while he mentioned how something was much smaller in real life.

 

And above, in front of the glow of the half moon, a pirate ship sailed through the sky, towards the Millenium Mall.

Edited June 1, 2021 by RocketLord

[Heritage]

Lulu certainly appreciated the invite to go to the movies, even though it was always weird watching Pan and Eira on a date, a bit like two aliens who'd watched several 80s teens comedies and were trying to get it right. But they clearly loved each other in their own fashion, and enjoyed spending time together, so who was Lulu to judge? It was also nice getting a chance to hang out with Micah. For whatever reason, in the vicissitudes of school life, they never seemed to have a chance to just hang out; there was always some horrible disaster going on whenever they were together. 

 

The movie was fun, if rather predictable, which wasn't always a bad thing; Lulu really liked the swordfights and Tinker Bell the most.

 

Once they were outside, Lulu leaped around a bit, brandishing an illusionary sword before she remembered Eira couldn't see it, and then it discreetly faded away; it didn't feel right to flaunt her powers in front of someone who was 'mind-blind'. She then happened to look up in the sky and see the massive flying ship.

 

"What in tarnation...?"

Edited December 6, 2020 by Heritage

[RocketLord]

Forever Boy

 

Pan had seemed to enjoy himself during the movie, seated between Eira and Micah, excitedly motioning with his hands and having to be pulled down a few times at a particularly exciting scene. 

 

As they left the mall, he was helding his hands out, slowly stretching them out to the sides to show how the Crocodile in the movie had been much too small. "See, the Crocodile is a great beast, not some scaly lizard! It was much, much too small! If it were to get its fangs into the Hooked Man, all of him would be gone, not just his hand!"

 

Tinkerbell in the movie had been tiny, but fierce. A blonde haired woman with wings clad in green, the source of Peter Pan's flight, the one that taught Wendy to swordfight... and perhaps Pan's friends would notice how he had made sure not to mention her at all.

 

Or perhaps they were, like him, stunned at the sight of the flying ship approaching from above.

 

"Oh." For a brief second, Pan seemed crestfallen. Then his face lit up into a giant grin. "Sky Pirates!"

[KnightDisciple]

Thunderbird

 

Micah had found the movie entertaining enough.

 

"Most versions make the Crocodile maybe two or three times the size of a person. Hence Hook having just the hook-hand, not being a hook. That last fight was pretty gre-"

 

He stopped as the others noticed the ship in the sky; it took him only seconds to see it as well. He sighed.

 

"Right, of course. Irony. Y'all need me to give us cover to change?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Angelik 

 

"That actress playing Wendy was obviously costumed to target steampunk fetishists," muttered Eira, who had enjoyed Pan's company and perhaps also that of her friends but had not seemed to enjoy the movie very much at all - though it was hard to feel too bad in Pan's company for too long when he was so thoroughly enjoying himself. "Deplorable people lusting after a past where they would be thoroughly lost," she added, before smirking at Pan and saying, "You must be glad you live in a place with computers and proper sanitation now, yes?" She looked up at the pirate ship and scowled, her good mood seeming to fade. "They would come now, when so many are away with the Krampus Crisis!" She bit her lip, her skin seeming to shift in colors from pink to silver, and silvery wings erupted from her back and out the rear of a T-shirt that was really too thin for Freedom City in December anyway. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The flying ship approached fast, heading straight towards the theater. As it came closer, the group could see pirates hanging off the ship, dressed in a weird anachronistic combination of what you would expect a classic pirate overlapped with strange patterns and lines and modern military wear with designs not entirely unlike Pan's uniform. Their yells and cheers could be heard as the ship turned hard, quickly firing their cannons.

 

A pair of cannonballs flew through the air, leaving faint sickly green trails behind before they slammed into the ground near the entrance to the mall. They slammed into the ground, but caused little damage. Then they opened up, glowing with a sickly green light. In seconds, pirates began to appear from the glowing, rushing towards the mall's entrance.

 

Or rather, towards Pan.

[KnightDisciple]

Micah sighed as the others started to prepare themselves. 

 

"Eira, I'm going to trust that you'll keep us from going viral. Guard your eyes and ears, I'll delay the ship."

 

He pulled out a pair of sturdy goggles and slipped them over his eyes, then pulled off his jacket and shirt in one smooth motion, revealing his sleeveless "extracurricular uniform" from Claremont. The young weather controller crouched down, and wings of emerald light unfurled from his back. The air rippled, and suddenly Micah was gone. The trail of emerald motes behind him traced far into the sky in eye-blinks, a faint roar-crack indicating he'd broken the sound barrier already. He passed by the pirate ship and slowed a few hundred feet past. 

 

Crackles of lightning surrounded him for several moments until he stopped, some quarter-mile above the descending magical pirate ship. For a moment, everything in the air seemed to still...

 

Until there was an almighty crack of thunder, and a storm of energy rushed out. Lightning bolts so thick it made the space around Micah seem half-solid, burning so bright that the crew of the ship would need to cover or avert their eyes to have any hope of retaining their vision, accompanied by a rolling barrage of thunder-booms that were sure to assault their ears and rattle their bones. After an eternity of a few seconds, the vicious storm died away, and the green mote of light that was Thunderbird hung unsteadily in the air above the ship.

[RocketLord]

Forever Boy

 

While Micah flew towards the ship, golden dust shimmered across Pan's form, revealing his uniform and mask. He looked to Micah, then to the others. "The cannonballs bring the pirates here. We need to destroy them, or the entire crew will reach the ground."

 

He was gone between the blink of eyes, leaving nothing but a trail of golden dust behind as he moved towards the cannonball the furthest away, dodging the pirates on the ground along the way. Pixie Dust gathered into a golden two-handed hammer in his hand while he moved.

 

Stopping right above the cannonball, he quickly slammed it into the cannonball. As it fell into pieces, it released a wisp of faint green smoke.

[Avenger Assembled]

Angelik 

 

Fearlessly, Angelik spread her wings and rocketed upwards, landing amidst the stunned crew of pirates actually on the deck of the ship. "You should turn around," she hissed loudly. She punctuated her words by driving her fist directly into the mast of the pirate vessel, a smirk crossing her face as she felt the wood beneath cave away beneath her fingers. She shoved both hands into the breach she'd made and began to pull, wings spread wide as electronic muscles strained. "If you fight, I will crash this ship around your ears. Shoot me, you cowards!" she taunted the crew as wood began to splinter. "Do it!" 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The ship was still shaking and rolling from Micah's storm, with the crew struggling to get their bearing while Angelik landed and started to attack the mast. The entire ship shook once more with Eira's blow, while the crew seemed unsure of what to do, looking between each others, some slowly raising their weapons, others hesitating.

 

On the ground, the pirates shouted for the Forever Boy. Three of them ran at him, two shooting what appeared to be bright red bullets made of lightfrom what appeared to be highly advanced blunderbusses, while the last swung a saber.

 

The final pirate spotted Lulu and shouted at her, raising his own blunderbuss and took aim, then shot directly at her.

[Heritage]

Okay, so not ghost pirates then, Lulu thought as she winced in pain from the pistol shot. But she could take a hit, more of she had to, but her first thought was to follow Pan's instructions. If there one thing she'd learned all those hours playing Gauntlet: Dark Legacy on her family's old N64, it's that you had to take out the damn generators as fast as possible!

 

Fading from view until she was little more than a blur in the air, Lulu reached out with her mind to grab the nearest cannonball, and smash it into the ground as hard as she could.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Heritage

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The second cannonball was smashed, keeping the ground free from any more suddenly appearing pirates, at least for the moment. The coast was not quite clear yet, however, with three pirates surrounding the Forever Boy, while the fourth took aim at Crystal-Gazer.

 

Above, the flying pirate ship rocked unsteadily, while stood unsure on what to do about Angelik. Take her threat seriously, attack her? Thunderbird seemed all but forgotten for the moment, but how long would that last?

[KnightDisciple]

Thunderbird

 

Micah shook his head, his flight wobbly for several crucial moments. He was able to clear his head as the battle raged below; a frown creased his face when he saw the pirate ship still flying, if doing so with less surety than before. He'd hoped that his initial attack would do more. It certainly took its toll on him.

 

'Don't have time to be tired.' he thought grimly to himself.

 

Instead, the weather-riding teenager dove down toward the ship he'd passed moments ago in a burst of sound and fury. His right arm reached out, and as he drew near, the clouds above rumbled. A moment later, a thick bolt of green lightning sparked from cloud to hand and then toward the pirate ship....before arcing away from the ship and striking empty pavement below. Thunderbird sighed in exasperation and shook his head again.

 

"Get in the game, Roebuck..." he muttered angrily to himself.

[RocketLord]

Forever Boy

 

"Good one!" Pan exclaimed, as he soared past Lulu, a chaotic mess of golden dust and green and red bouncing all around them. Stop the pirates here, get to the ship, that had to be the plan, but... Eira was up on the ship. Micah was there, of course, and Eira was strong. She could handle herself, and yet, these were Sky Pirates. She only knew what he had told her.

 

The weapon in his hand changed to a glowing sword as he moved between Lulu and the nearby pirates, swinging the sword at the first of them... and missing! He let out a colorful curse in a language that no one else around him would understand. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Idiots!" Angelik hissed, her fingers sinking deeper into the wood of the mast, pulling it apart with the crack, crack, crack of shattering fibers. She was strong, she knew from personal experience, strong enough to tear a tree down with her bare hands if she was so inclined. "You have until the count of 10 to surrender." She pulled and a crack shot up the side of the mast, rising higher above her head. "One!" 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Get him!" The pirates only seemed to grow bolder from the Forever Boy's somewhat lacking strikes, all swinging their own weapons at him in close quarters, caring little for anything else that happened around them right now. The last two pirates on the ground fired their strange weapons at Crystal-Gazer once more, seeming none to happy that she had destroyed one of the cannonballs!

 

Aboard the ship, the crew stared at Angelic, looking quickly between each other. "What will we do?" One asked another. The other took a step forward. "Easy now. There's no need for all of that, is there? You obviously do not know what will happen if you break the mast, so... step away, and we will parlay, lass."

 

As soon as he finished, the ship set into a wild spin to the starboard side, threatening to throw Angelic towards the railing, away from the mast. All the pirates stood their ground, somehow secured to the ship itself.

[KnightDisciple]

Thunderbird saw the pirates on the ground going for his friend, but there were only a few of them. But on the ship, only Angelic stood firm. Micah and Eira weren't the best of friends, but he'd been around her enough to know beneath the prickly exterior was a good heart and soul, regardless of what she believed about herself. And these pirates wished to harm her?

 

"NO!"

 

His voice echoed out as he flew closer. 

 

"Pirates! Thieves! Murderers! Terrors of the sky and sea! Behold your judgement!"

 

HIs ethereal wings flashed with every word, even as the sky above rumbled in time with them. Then, with an almighty CRACKATHOOM, a bolt of lightning the shade of shining emerald jewels raced down to his waiting, upstretched palm. Thunderbird snapped his hand forward, and the ball of electricity he had gathered scorched the sky as it streaked toward the ship's decks. There it struck true, as if the ship were no more than a prideful tree laid low in a thunderstorm. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

And behold their judgement the pirates did. 

 

The lightning bolt coursed through the sky, towards the ship. As it collided with the ship, the shock surged across the deck, pirates and Eira alike being hit by the shock as it struck! The ship was sent spinning wildly about, swinging widely from side to side, heading straight towards Micah at rapidly increasing speed.

 

The ship was out of control. The stars around it began to seem to stretch into long lights, their colors changing into a brilliant rainbow that surrounded Micah and the ship, as it hit into him, throwing it and him into the rainbow portal that was opening before them!

 

Both Eira and Micah could hear a faint ticking sound from the other side of the rainbow portal.

Edited January 27, 2021 by RocketLord

[RocketLord]

Forever Boy

 

"Eira! Micah!" Pirates still around them, Pan's attention was drawn towards the sky as Micah's lightning struck the ship and it tossed and turned wildly towards the rainbow portal. 

 

And then, from below, he could feel it almost as much as he could hear it. The ticking. That horrible ticking sound.

 

His features froze for a moment, as he looked at Lulu, and the parents. He looked apologetic. "I have to help them!"

 

Then, he was gone, a trail of golden dust behind him as he flew straight up, as fast as he could, towards the glowing rainbow that were swallowing his friends and the ship whole!

[Avenger Assembled]

Angelic 

 

Staggering to her feet from the earlier rocking, Eira turned and looked at the shimmering rainbow portal, lightning crackling through her, taking note of damage but focusing on the scene in front of her. A moment later her automatic distress beacon activated, broadcasting the last six seconds of what she'd seen and heard - which were mostly her shouting threats at the pirates, a flash of lightning around her, and a moment later the vortex tearing open in the sky in front of them. Time went by and neural impulses kicked their way through a diamond-pressed mind and as the doorway swung wide, she spread her wings and dived down as deep as she could into the powder hold in the very belly of the ship, down in the most sheltered places it held. 

[KnightDisciple]

Thunderbird

 

As the ship hit him, Micah uttered a couple of choice Cherokee curses before the wind was knocked from his lungs. His powers fought to keep him pinned to the railing of the ship, while his arms and legs grasped the thick wooden beam. He saw Eira dive below decks. This hadn't been the plan; he'd wanted to cripple the ship, get it heading down to the ground. Worst case, summon enough wind to make it a gentle crash (his cousin's voice echoed in his mind, "no such thing"). But tearing through dimensions? 

 

And now he heard a clock...

 

"Oh fu-"

 

The roar of the vortex swallowed the rest, as Thunderbird fought to roll himself over the side of the ship. He managed to plant himself on the deck, still clasping the railing. The ship was moving too wildly, the vortex howling too fiercely, for him to feel safe trying to move after Eira. He'd have to trust she could handle herself until they stopped this mad journey.

 

If it stopped. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The Forever Boy reached the ship just time, and then, it was gone. 

 

The few pirates left behind just stared at the spot where their ship had been moments before, while heroes and law enforcement started to react to the disturbance. High above, a single star shone.

 

And the Forever Boy and his friends continued their journey to Neverworld.