ic Sound is Golden (IC)

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette frowned slightly as Maestro suggested she retrieve the object he was looking for and bring it to him. "Well," the redheaded duplicator began, "while that at least stops you from destroyin' the place, I'm not about ta help you take an item you claim ta have ownership over. You will forgive me if I take that claim with some skepticism."

 

"But unfortunately that doesn' really resolve the situation we find ourselves in." She then continued. "An' I would note, you're currently lackin' your backup band." The Irish teen gestured around the area where all of the punk band was no unconscious. "So, I would say yer odds have significantly worsened."

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"It certainly seems that way for now, but I think numbers don't really tell the whole story." The Maestro said, looking at her and then at the golden boy. "He doesn't really seem up to the level of the conflict you and I are having, to be honest; he's out of his league. So I'm not sure he's worth counting in your comparison here. He looks a bit tired, no?" he tsk'd a little, like a teacher unimpressed at a mediocre student's performance; not at Bernadette, who seemed to have passed, but rather at the struggling Michael. "And besides that, to tell the truth...I'm against collateral damage, all things considered. I can prove that I own it though, if you want." he said, pointing at the instruments scattered on the ground. "Those instruments match the design of the speaker; if the speaker in question doesn't have the same design and patterns, then I will admit it isn't mine. That's a fair compromise, isn't it?"

 

Michael could definitely hear this, but what his response would be was unknown right now.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette did not look away Maestro as he spoke about Michael (not needing to as some of her duplicates could see where Maestro was looking as he made his comments about the other teen. "I'm not so shoor you should underestimate Golden Star. We don' need ta stop you, just keep you busy long enough for some of the Freedom League to arrive." The redhead replied.

 

When he mentioned how he could prove that the device he was seeking was his property, a couple of the Irish teen's duplicates took a close look at the equipment that band members had been using. "Well, they may all have similar design, but not shoor that proves that the other device you are after is your property." Bernadette began. "Fer all I know, you could have stolen these other instruments. An' even if you did not, you said this other device was left here by you, how do I know it was not developed on behalf o' the university?"

"So, we are still at somethin' o' an' impasse. I can' take what you say at face value an' I'm not goin' ta help you potentially steal anythin', even if it helps prevent some property damage.”

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The Maestro's easy, attractive face sat serenely for a moment as Multi Girl explained to him. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. When he opened them, his entire face was twisted into a horrific sneer, looking down at Bernadette and her ally like they were insects.

 

"...Ugh, this is the folly of youth, I swear. You offer them the world on a silver platter and they complain about their peanut allergies. This is why I don't work with the younger generation unless I have to, truly just more than they're ever worth." he turned from Bernadette momentarily, pulling on his goatee with force in a clear show of frustration. "Alright then. Let's get serious here. Orchestra, clap clap." he said, pointing his baton at the jumble of instruments laying on the green. "We've got to get moving here."

 

The instruments rose up slowly into the air on the sound of thrumming vibrations, floating slowly before they began to shift. The lines of power that mimicked the ones of Maestro's baton slowly attached together, cabling and wires going from one to the other. A humanoid form resolved itself, using the instruments as limbs and combining them into a mimicry of a human torso. It wasn't fully humanoid; it was clearly missing at least one piece, though it still seemed quite dangerous as it presented spinning buzzsaws instead of hands.

 

"Now then, Orchestra, would you please help me deal with these two before Velocity shows up and arrests us."

 

Orchestra beeped an acceptance and shifted, raising it's buzzsaws towards the two heroes. It's mechanical tones played even as it bared down on the heroes, playing a rendition of one of Maestro's original pieces, something that could be heard even with the utter silence dominating the area.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette did not take her eyes off Maestro as he considered her statements. She did not have to look elsewhere, as her duplicates took note of the instruments that had been used by Maestro's henchmen assembling into a humanoid robot.

 

"Fine, guess we will continue this row." The redhead replied with a slight shrug as Maestro decided to continue with his intended course of action.

Then the Irish teen and her duplicates leapt into action, with the original and a couple of duplicates circling around Maestro before one launched a punch at him. While he was initially able to sidestep that attack, he moved right into the path of a kick from the original that managed to catch him on his side. It was a solid hit, but not a decisive one.

Meanwhile, several duplicates landed some hits on the orchestra, knocking it down and damaging it, but again, not finishing it off..

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

Michael was pretty spent- he hated that about himself too, how fast he got tired and winded. Was he constantly giving too much, or was he just that pathetic? He didn't know, but it made him feel bad. He stood back up as Bernie went on the offensive. He only caught half the conversation between Bernie and the Maestro- only the parts the supervillain was speaking-, but Bernie had definitely told him no, given that she and her duplicates had immediately started whaling on him and the robot he'd summoned from the instruments of those band members. He felt like the actual composer was out of his league; that guy had tangled with the Freedom League before, after all, but maybe he could pin down the robot that looked like it was already not operating at full capacity. So he flew directly at it, ducking under it's spinning electrical blades as it got toppled over by the clones, and grabbed a handful of the cables that made up it's 'central' body. The creature wriggled around and swung back and forth, but Michael held it fast, and even though he quickly realized the cables were way too tough for him to rip apart, he could at least keep the creature occupied while Bernie worked.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"Darn you you young girl! I've given you so many chances and you've taken the hard path in every single one!" Basil's enticingly deep voice was splitting with rage now, and one of his well groomed strands of hair had fallen into his face as his eyes went wider with rage. "If you're going to be so insistent on taking the hard path at all times, I will have to give up on offering the easy one!" he yelled before pointing at her and unleashing a wave of sound that warped the air between them; it shattered nearby windows and bent the grass and trees as he unleashed it, as if it was coming directly from his palm and rushing directly at Bernie. Bruises or not, Basil Fatherton was intent on handling Bernie and all of her duplicates. "I've dealt with Duplicators before, child, and the secret is to always go for the original!"

 

Meanwhile, the giant Orchestra robot struggled against the glowing mosquito that had hooked itself into it's core, buzz saws flailing through the air as it tried to direct them inwards to cut out the offending hero, and cut him entirely to ribbons!

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Michael continued to grapple the machine, even as he watched the blast crash into Bernie. He couldn't do anything to stop that, he was too busy wrangling the robot. But he finally had a hold on it, the wriggling wires and cables and pieces of machine ripping and tearing and slicing at him. He grit his teeth, sinking his feet into the ground and glowing as bright as a star. He couldn't hear anything, he was disoriented and tired, but he was going to at least get rid of this thing. So he spun.

 

It was like watching a meteor; a corona of light spinning in place, the cables and machinery of the robot smearing in the air and visibility until the entire thing -the spinning hero and the robot- was nothing more than a bright flash of light. Then Michael angled it upward and released it. It cracked the air as he let it go, Orchestra flying as fast as a bullet directly up into the sky, becoming a little point on the horizon as it sped up faster and faster. The ground beneath Michael's feet cracked at the force he just released, and he watched the thing go soaring. It was going to take awhile for it to fall to the ground, at least, which was good for him.

 

Panting, he turned from that creature to take the moments he had gotten him to face The Maestro.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

With the duplicator handled, the Villain known as the Maestro turned his attention to the child- who was much too young to be on this field- just in time to watch Orchestra go soaring into the sky at high speed.

 

He was fully enraged now, his calm facade broken open to the same ranting, violent man that he'd been for years; when he was old, after he graduated, at every single time, whenever someone thought he wasn't good enough, he had felt that anger. And he was expressing now, he couldn't stop it. He'd always tried to hold it back, but these two heroes had finally roused it for real.

 

"YOU BRAT! You have no respect for other people's property! Neither of you do! I've had enough! Enough of your ridiculous refusal to just let me get what I want and leave! Your tenacity, your 'heroics', they're all foolish! They're all ridiculous! WHEN YOUR ELDER TELLS YOU TO SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP, YOU SIT DOWN, AND YOU SHUT. UP!"

 

The last word had the force of a cannon going off, and the sound wave that accompanied it shattered even more glass and ripped the trees on the green out of their placement, sending them flying. The entire force of it hit the glowing Golden Star directly in the chest, and it was on a completely different level. If he was Spaceman, if he was Shooting Star, if he was Paradigm, he could have handled it. But Golden Star wasn't them, and he couldn't at that moment. He went flying just like he'd sent Orchestra flying, the light fading from around him as he went flying across the quad and hit a building on the other side of it, leaving a hole in the wall as he slumped and fell over, unconscious in an instant, with blood pouring out of his eyes, nose, and mouth.

 

"NOW! IT'S TIME TO FINISH THIS UP!" The Maestro said, turning his attention to Bernie, fire and fury burning on his face and eyes, his mouth twisted into a fanatical grin.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Maestro’s sonic blast had knocked Bernadette off her feet and had her ears ringing even worse than before. The redhead was initially not sure that she would be able to get back up into the fight, as a wave is disorientation washed over her, her vision darkening at the edges for a moment.

But then the Irish teen managed to focus on Michael, as he tossed the damaged robot up into the air, removing it from the fight for the moment. And then the younger teen was instantly blasted unconscious by Maestro.

 

Bernadette felt an anger well up in her, even as Maestro seemed enraged by the two teen’s efforts to stop him. Her vision went back into focus and the ringing in her ears subsided some as the teen quickly kipped herself back up onto her feet with a smooth, graceful motion.

"I bloody 'ave 'ad enough o' ya!" She shouted at Maestro, her Irish accent thickening with her anger. "Ya bleedin' come 'ere an' start a bloody row. I've 'ad bleedin' enough!"

 

The Irish teen leapt at the supervillain, delivering a solid right cross that knocked him back onto the ground and seemed to daze him, at least for the moment…

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The Maestro was still mid rant as Bernie hopped up suddenly and struck him. The right cross knocked out a tooth, sending it flying into the green grass next to the Maestro as he hit the dirt.

 

"Stupid...Stupid Children!" he yelled, grabbing his face. "You...I'm going to make you pay for that!" He screamed, almost like a petulant child, but he wasn't going anywhere, not right now. He scrabbled, trying to get his feet back under him and catch his breath, his cheeks puffing up and red, his chest rising and falling.

 

Meanwhile, high in the air, Orchestra had slowly come to a stop, a thousand feet into the air. It spun it's chainsaw, it beeped a little, hanging in the sky for a few seconds. Then it slowly began to fall, starting to pick up speed.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette scowled at Maestro's tantrum before moving over to the supervillain and pulling him up by the front of his shirt with her left hand. "Ya should've stayed an' old man, then I wouldn' feel comfortable doin' this." The Irish teen then punched him once more with her free hand, sending him into unconsciousness alongside his henchmen.

 

And Michael.

Glancing up into the air, the redhead could not really make out the robot created from the various instruments yet, so she moved over to check on her friend, glad to see he seemed to be breathing steadily, but was just out cold.

Meanwhile, her duplicates made a perimeter, warning away any bystanders that seemed about to let their curiosity get the better of them. "Stay back, that robot will be comin' back down soon, so this may not be over yet." One of them stated.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

It came back in a rush. Like the sounds had all been held back by a dam and burst open. The sound of her fist hitting The Maestro was the first thing that hit Bernie's ears besides the Maestro's voice. Then the crumbling brick where Michael was. The creaking and groaning of displaced trees. The blaring of the alarms on the campus warning of a Supervillain attack. It was a rush of a thousand sounds all coming back at once, returning the world to where it should be.

 

The Maestro gurgled wetly and slumped, his chest rising and falling slowly. The people were taking pictures, inching closer, until Bernie's duplicates pushed them back, reminding them of the robot still in the air. That didn't stop them from taking pictures, even if they backed up a little. Watching a robot crash into the ground was going to be an exciting moment, and they had trust and faith in their super heroes to protect them.

 

Of which a small whistling sound could be heard, slowly getting louder. It was coming down soon, assuredly.

 

Michael himself was slowly waking up, but the blast had clearly damaged his ears; for him, the sound didn't come back, he was still trapped in a world of no sound.

 

But why had the Maestro suddenly attacked so violently and suddenly? He'd been quiet for such a long time, what could have led him to such a sudden violent outburst?

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Michael slowly regained consciousness after a little bit, but he was quite lost as to what was going on, only appropriate for someone who'd been so suddenly knocked senseless. Plus, he still couldn't hear anything. He could only look around between Bernie and the rest of the scene. So when his voice came out, it was quite a bit louder than it needed to be.

 

"MULTI-GIRL, ARE YOU OKAY!?" He asked, still pretty clearly hurt and tired himself; he hadn't nearly fully recovered, after all. But he was worried about Bernie. "I'M SORRY, I'M NOT REALLY MUCH OF A HELP HERE, AM I!? GOOD JOB ON HANDLING MAESTRO THOUGH!"

Edited September 8 by Poncho

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

The sudden return of sound was a momentary shock for Bernadette, but one she quickly recovered from. Confident her duplicates where keeping bystanders at a safe distance (there was not much she could do about the pictures, and indeed, some of her duplicates struck poses for pictures).

 

Then Michael came back to consciousness, and immediately was yelling once more, still expecting whatever it was that Maestro had been doing to still be in place. "Easy Star, you don' need ta be so loud. Whatever Maestro  was doin' ta mute everythin' but himself is gone." The redhead stated as she held out a hand and helped Michael back to his feet.

 

"An' don' be so hard on yourself. You keep that robot busy, which allowed me ta focus on just Maestro once I cleared me head."

The Irish teen paused, and took a look back up into the sky. "Speakin' o' which, should be here any moment."

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"..." he frowned, looked at her. "...I can only barely hear you. I think my ears popped." he said, trying to be much quieter now. "I'll get someone to sort it out later." he confirmed, getting up with Bernie's help. "But, uh..hey. We did it. I didn't even realize you'd be around today. I was out in the park when everything went quiet. Sorry if I harshed your vibe or got in your way, like I said, I didn't know you were here."

 

The whistling had gotten loud at this point, and both heroes- and the bystanders- could watch as with a massive roaring sound, the robot Orchestra, surrounded by an arc of air, finally crashed into the ground with a thunderous bang, making the entire campus rattle and some people fall on their butts as a wave of dirt and grass exploded outwards, falling down in chunks around the assembled mass.

 

In the newly formed hole the machine beeped a sad trill, then split apart into component pieces, as unconscious as the other villains.

 

"...What the heck was all this, anyway?" Michael asked Bernie. "Why'd that guy just suddenly start freaking out?"

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette gave Michael a small smile as he commented on not realizing she was at the college campus. "Yeah, I was here fer…other reasons." She responded and when Michael again apologized as if he had somehow been in her way, she chuckled lightly. "Don' worry about it, I tend ta do best when workin' as part o' a team, an' not just with me duplicates." The redhead stated.

The Irish teen then focused back on the air as the sound of the falling robot grew louder. Backing off from the area below where it would impact, she turned away slightly as it slammed into the ground, sending off a slight shockwave that rattled nearby windows. Turning back, Bernadette saw that the robot was finished, falling apart into the damaged instruments once more.

 

"Don' really know. Was after some device he claimed he made while here in that buildin'." The redhead responded to Michael’s question, pointing towards he building Maestro had been intent on tearing apart.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"Huh..." he frowned at this and looked at the old man. "Well, if he is the Maestro..." he thought about it. "Well, suffice to say I guess there might be something here he left behind, but that obviously doesn't give him the right to wreck everything." he shrugged.

 

"Should we wake him up and ask him or do you think he's gonna be in too foul of a mood to tell us anything important and we should just leave him to get arrested? If we can make him not do this again by giving him whatever he wants even if he has to go to jail for..." he gestured around. "all this. Maybe we could avoid anything like this happening in the future? I don't know what the rules are for that. I assume someone else important might ask him if we don't, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about what riled him up so suddenly, in his own words, I mean."

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette shook her head. "The last thing we want ta be doin' is just givin' him what he was after. All we have is his word it is his. Not fer us ta decide the ownership o' whatever it is he was after." The redhead stated. "Us takin' it an’ just givin' it ta him would potentially make us accomplices. We can let others sort all that out."

 

When Michael asked about waking him up and questioning him. The Irish teen gave a small shrug. "We could try, but I am not shoor he would be interested in talkin.' Noor am I certain I would be willin' ta believe much o' anythin' he had ta say."

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"I wouldn't suggest giving it to him either. If it actually is his, it's up to the courts to figure that out, not us, obviously. So I'm not too concerned about that. I suppose I'm just curious how this is all going to shake out. Like...what the process for dealing with a Supervillain who has a legitimate claim over something would be." he pondered. This was more Michael talking than Golden Star; thinking about the processes beyond the moment of stopping a villain. "Clearly he's done crimes, but then what happens after..hrmm." he rubbed his chin. 

 

"I guess that's true too; talking to him might just get him mad. Even if he's not going to be a threat because you took him down and he'd be too beat up, I guess he might still be too mad to say anything." he was almost talking to himself as much as Multigirl, working through the processes in his head openly to try and avoid doing anything foolish or ridiculous. 

 

"Hrmm... Okay. I'll follow your ideas. If you think we're done here, then we'll wrap it up. I have some stuff to do still."

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

As Bernadette and Michael were talking, the redhead’s duplicates were moving the unconscious band members over towards where Maestro was. She gave the younger teen a small smile as he mentioned having stuff he needed to get back to. "Yeah, we should be done here. If you need ta get back ta somethin' go head. One of me duplicates is handlin' what I was on campus for, so I can wait for the police ta arrive ta take this lot inta custody."

 

She gave Michael a wider smile as she added. "Storm wouldn' want me ta pass up this chance at gettin' our names out there some. Do you want me ta mention you were here?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"I'm not in a rush, but only so much I can do, you know? I'm not a landscaper, and I can't repair buildings like Doc M. I'll do a couple of sweeps for people who might be hurt or injured, at the least. I figure you've got more experience explaining all this stuff to the cops than I do." he waved away, as he looked around curiously.

 

"But please do mention me! I'm more than happy to take a little bit of credit if you want, get the name out there and all of that. I want people to know who I am when I'm showing up to help them, it's easier that way I think." he said as he floated up to start circling the area. "Appreciate it, Multi-Girl."