ic Star Meets Star (IC)

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The gangsters looked between each other uncomfortably as Michael blabbering about them jumping him after he finished fighting Rage and Ruin, some of their expressions betraying an intention to do just that. Before they could respond however the Paragon was gone in flash. A regular human may have had trouble opening the rear door of the tipped van after it's crash, but before Golden Star they opened easily.

 

The inside of the van was a mess, a growing pool of cheap beer from a crushed six pack and the scattered remains of an open pack of chips being the most obvious sources of the disorder. Still it took bare moments for Michael to see the axe. It's haft was over a meter long looking to be carved ivory and wrapped with dark leather, while it's head was a large bearded blade of shining steel. A thousand tiny motes seemed to dance in the face of the metal, like the entire night sky was reflecting in it.

 

Michael moved to retrieve the weapon at the same time Ruin turned to run into the van, the axe seeming to leap the last few inches into the hero's hand. Michael would find it to be surprisingly heavy, resting comfortably in his hand like a baseball bat would have before he got his powers. As the young man straightened the armoured villain phased into the van, assault rifle tracking to Michael's chest. But he didn't fire, instead lowering the gun slightly. "Okay, before someone gets hurt, how about you just give me the axe, yeah?"

 

On the street, Rage dropped a smoke grenade, running to get behind Shooting Star. The heroine spun, swinging her arm to try catch the other woman. Her fist slammed into the villain's chest with a clang, but the breastplate stopped most of the impact with a dull red flash. 

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"Look man, I respect immensely that you didn't shoot me, but I'm not giving you this thing." Golden Star said, hefting the axe over his shoulder. "Here's what I know; those guys stole this axe from you. You wanted it back. You and your friend are wearing some super fancy power armor that is enough to give Shooting Star some trouble. This Axe is...clearly not normal; it's too heavy, it's very large, and something weird is going on with the blade. And you're pretty sure it can hurt Star." The Other Star sounded weird, so he just said Star. Star Number 1? Big Star? He'd have to figure it out. 

 

"So let's keep talking. What is this thing, and what does it do? Don't pretend you're not intending to use this on me and Shooting, we both know that's the whole idea. The more we talk and the more information you give me, the better the chance that we can end this all peacefully." He didn't want to use this thing on anyone before he knew what it did, but he wasn't sure he could puncture that armor, so he was trying to find the proper path to get through this relatively difficult situation while trusting Shooting Star to handle her side of it.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

Ruin tensed as Michael moved the axe, gun jerking up again despite the hero's peaceful words. He stays still and silent as Michael talks, the sound of the continuing fight outside echoing into the van. Despite his professional stance and opaque mask the man seems frustrated. 

 

And afraid.

 

The villain lets a slow exhale out before carefully responding. "I'm going to be honest, I don't know what the axe does. I know that the man who hired us wants it back, and that it is magical in some way. I also know that he's someone you don't want to cross." He takes one hand off the rifle and holds it out, palm up. "Do yourself a favour kid, give me the axe and Rage and I'll be out of your hair. Live and let live. You and your lady friend can be on your way."

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"Well now you've made me curious. I think it would be better if me and her returned it ourselves. After all, I've gotten it back from the people who stole it, we've managed to avoid any real conflict as long as your lady friend." He used the same langauge as the other guy, trying to make him feel more comfortable by matching his speech patterns. "Is willing to stop." He smiled.

 

"So you get her to stop, we'll figure out why those gang people stole it, and Shooting Star and I will personally deliver it back to your boss. And obviously all the payment is yours, Heroes don't do stuff for money."

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The man shakes his head as Michael describes his plan to return the axe personally, hand returning to his rifle.

 

"You ain't listening! I'm trying to do you a favour, you don't want to be on his radar! Hand the axe over, I'm not asking again." The rifle come up again, pointing straight at Michael.

 

Outside the fight sounded like it hadn't progressed very far. The pair within the van clearly heard Rage yell "Ruin! What's taking you so long?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"Come on now, I'm a Superhero. I'm going to end up on most people's radars anyway, so what's the issue with ending up on this one now instead of later?" He wasn't saying it as a joke, really. He was being quite serious, but he was also being a bit snarky about it, seemingly a little frustrated here.

 

"If you shoot me, I'm going to have to knock you out. Your friend can't beat Shooting Star, and you couldn't beat her when you two were teamed up. I might not be able to take you out as easily as her, but it'd still be a disadvantage for you and your friend versus me and her. So it's really better if we just talk this out. But if you pull that trigger, it's going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me."

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

Ruin paused for several long moments, clearly unwilling to go through with Golden Star's plan, but also clearly hesitant to engage the Paragon in combat. The air grew thick with tension as both sides, unwilling to budge stood still while the sounds of combat continued outside. 

 

The distant sound of sirens seemed to snap Ruin out of his reverie. Michael could hear the man sigh. "I ain't taking you to see the boss, kid. Believe me when I say that it's out of your best interests. Please, just hand over the axe or I'm gonna have to try and take it from you."

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"...You're really gonna hate what I'm about to do with this thing then." He said sternly and sadly.

 

He thought about throwing the Axe way up into the Sky. Up so high that it might even escape the atmosphere. But he could have hit something flying above them- though there didn't seem to be anything- and if it came down it could hurt someone. Parker or Lawrence probably could have teleported it directly away. But Michael didn't have that power. Instead, with a sigh, he turned and swung the axe down, putting his weight and energy behind it to embed it into the ground before turning back around.

 

"Alright then, let's do it." he said calmly.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

Ruin tensed in preparation to dodge as Michael swung the axe. The air rippled with the passage of the axe, dotted with pinpricks of light like stars, before it struck the ground, effortlessly parting the van's side and the concrete beneath to bury itself nearly three feet into the ground. Somehow Michael felt as if the axe itself was disappointed by his decision, but it stayed buried in the ground regardless. 

 

Ruin looked down at the weapon, before looking back to Michael. Then he pulled the trigger, gun having at some point been levelled towards the hero's face. The second to last glowing rune fades out.

 

Outside, the battle continues to rage in the cloud of smoke, another blast of fire and fury rocking Shooting Star, a gut shot that managed to wind her slightly. Still she hears the gunshots from the van, and even as she blindly swings for the villain her focus is turning away. She couldn't know what had happened for sure, but a worm of concern had wound it's way into her as the silence from the van had dragged on: She was pretty sure Golden Star was in the van.

 

Golden Star, who had admitted to only beong resistant to small arms fire. "Golden Star! Are you alright?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

He defintely wasn't expecting to get hit so hard. He hadn't just dropped his guard totally- he wasn't that stupid-, but he hadn't been expecting just how hard he'd gotten shot. 

 

He felt burning heat in his face, and then head leaving his face as he went down from the shot hitting him almost square on- he'd only barely turned his head to the side, and he went down onto the street. 

 

He was dizzy and slow getting up, holding the side of his face and feeling the massive tear in his flesh that exposed the inner sections of his jaw as he leaked blood onto the pavement and his gloves. But he had seen that rune. He was too shocked to move at the moment, unsteady and unable to get to his feet right away, but he looked up at the man he had been talking to and- despite the hole in his face- smiled.

 

"Wanna try again?" his voice was distorted sounding from the missing part of his mouth, but he almost sounded taunting.

 

"I'm okay, Shooting. I'm good."

 

Just have to survive one more shot, right? I can do that. Just let him shoot me one more time.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

Michael couldn't be sure exactly how long it took Ruin to shoot again. His head was swimming and ears ringing but it felt like forever. Maybe he said somethint but it was hard to tell.

 

Heedless of any considerations on the hero's part, the gun spoke again, the last rune flashing and fading, an energy seeming to leave the weapon. Ruin says something indistinct, before yelling to his companion. 

"Rage, I'm out of charges!"

 

His companion shot their own weapon, the second to last rune flickering out for her too as a blast of fire and smoke aimed straight at Shooting Star's kidneys, although it failed to penetrate her skin it still caused the heroine to stumble. Alice's fist flew back to strike the villain in retaliation, met with another dark red flash as hand met helm. Rage seemed mostly unharmed but slightly dazed, a state Alice was happy to leave her in and instead focus on Golden Star who was obviously not okay.

 

She crossed the distance in moments, arriving at the doors to the van to see the mess within- axe in the floor, rifle in Ruin's hand and blood on the floor.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Another bullet sunk into Michael's flesh as Ruin shot him. How long was between the bullets? How long had he been in pain? He wasn't sure. It stretched out forever. Every second felt like minutes, stretching on forever. Why was it taking so long? Was it taking so long, or was it his mind, always going so fast, that made it seem like it took so long? He was in control of it usually, but he was always running around so fast. Maybe that was what it was like for him to be shot and killed; going so fast he'd never actually die, trapped in the moment forever.

Wow that was a morbid thought. He chided himself. He was clearly still going to be okay. He was hurting, definitely, that wasn't a lie, and he wasn't feeling great, but he wasn't dying. He brushed himself off and stood up. He was starting to feel better, actually.

 

To the others, to those who weren't Michael, who weren't inside the brain of Golden Star, the Claremont student, with bullets in his body and a rictus tear in his mouth, was standing up slowly, even if he was bleeding. His glow was not decreasing, instead it was...shrinking. It clung to him like a second skin, washing over the wounds on his body, slowly knitting them together. He was rapidly regenerating his wounds; in a few seconds, it'd be like he'd never had them at all. The teenage Paragon seemed genuinely confused by this, poking at the hole in his cheek as it sealed itself.

 

"...Huh. What is going on?" He asked Ruin. "Is this something to do with your bullets? I...didn't realize I could do this."

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

Ruin looked at the now useless gun in his hands, then back to the rapidly regenerating Golden Star and newly arrived Shooting Star at the entrance to the van. It did not take long for him to clearly decide that discretion was the better part of valour, and retreat through the front compartment of the van with a muttered curse. Rage for her part shook her head to clear it, looking up to see her comrade retreat from the vehicle, running for a nearby wall.

 

Alice nearly collapsed from relief seeing Golden Star stand. "Thank God you're okay. Don't push yourself to keep going if you aren't up to it okay? You did good, Golden Star." She waited for a moment to hear his reply before reorienting her personal gravity to drop rapidly and slam feet first into the recovering Rage, knocking the wind out of the villain with another flash of red light.

Edited October 18 by Kaede Kimura

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Suddenly back to fully healed, Michael could only seem pretty surprised at the speed of his regeneration. He didn't even realize he could do that, and he felt like he could still keep recovering. This felt...really good. He smiled.

 

"Don't worry, Shooting Star, I'm perfectly fine. Gotta be strong, you know. For my friends and stuff. I didn't even realize that I could do this, but I guess stress is still bringing new powers out of me when I need them..." he said, offering a reassuring smile before she turned around suddenly and went after Rage. He looked at Rage and then at Ruin, and figured that Shooting Star still didn't really need his help.

 

"Hrmm...so I can't hit him...but he was scared of the axe, so..." he frowned and grabbed the axe again, then took off after Ruin, running at top speed to try and catch up to Ruin and strike him on the back with the flat of the axe. "Does this work on you?"

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

As Michael heated the axe free of the ground, it seemed lighter for a moment, like it was helping him pull it out. The blade vibrated slightly from being pulled free from the stone, releasing a melodic hum, and once again leaving a trail of stars behind it.

 

The large weapon settled easily into the Paragon's hands as he dashed out of the van and quickly intercepted the fleeing villain. Ruin turned back to see how Rage was faring just in time to see the starry expanse of the axe head consume his vision.

 

The axe once more sang, a victorious tone ringing out as it slammed into the man, sending him sprawling.

 

Alice smiled seeing Golden Star leap into the fray, although she raised an eyebrow seeing the axe in his hands. She struck Rage with an uppercut that rattled the villain even further. It seemed the Heroes had this fight in the bag. 

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"What in the world." Michael yelped at the Axe. He hadn't been trying to hit him that hard! He really didn't like this thing at all, and he might be glowing golden and regeneration, but there was clear trepidation in his voice as he lowered the axe towards the ground, away from Ruin as he watched the man.

"I really don't want to have to hit you with this again, so please don't get up. Just peacefully surrender. If you try to shoot me or get up or whatever, I'm going to have to swing at you again. So...please don't." he repeated again. He really didn't have the heart to try and swing the axe at him again after that, but he could at least pretend.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The villain groaned on the ground where he had fallen after the hit from Michael. He looked up briefly at the glowing Paragon before dropping his head back down. "Yep. I hear ya, I'm not moving." He tapped his breastplate, groaning "Maireachtáil." and suddenly became solid once more.

 

Rage looked between the Golden and Shooting Stars, before swearing. "I surrender too." To emphasize her point she drops her shotgun and raises her hands.

 

Alice grins, picking the shotgun off the ground. "Good call." She turns to Michael after, resting the gun on her shoulder, "Nice work there Golden Star, glad you were here for this. I take it the axe is the one they were talking about?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"Smart move." Golden Star said with a grin. He projected a lot of confidence, but what he really felt was relief. He'd not had the guts to swing that axe again if the guy had run. He'd have just let him go. So he had just happened to get lucky. But better lucky than good at times, and this was one of this times it seemed. So he hefted the axe on his back and waited for Shooting Star to come back over.

 

"That's my best guess." he said, looking at the axe again. "...It's a nasty piece of work, and we didn't really talk about it too much, but I did just swing it at him and it wasn't messing around there, so I'm just assuming those other gangsters stole it for some reason. Given it could hit him when he was uh...invulnerable? Intangible? Something like that. Presumably they're using the same power 'source', so to speak." he looked down at Ruin.

 

"You wanna explain what's going on?" he offered. He slowly cooled his glowing, going back to looking normal; still a hero, still in a super suit, still Golden Star, but not lighting up like a christmas tree.

[Kaede Kimura]

Shooting Star

 

Alice nodded along as Golden Star explained what was going on with the axe, inspecting it closely as the teen talked. It seemed to hum slightly as the heroine drew near, but no other response seemed forthcoming. She considered asking to do a couple swings with it, but decided against it given Golden Star himself didn't sem comfortable with it.

 

Ruin for his part just shrugged on the ground. "It's the axe we were after, but I don't know jack outside of that. We were payed to get it back, not to ask questions we shouldn't."

 

The sirens Michael had heard earlier are much closer now, likely only a quarter of a minute away. Alice grinned at Michael with a shrug. "Well, if they do no anything I'm sure the cops'll be able to ferret it out. Did the gangsters give you any trouble?" She looked over the the van, where the man who'd surrendered was leaning out around the corner.

 

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"They surrendered, under the understanding that if they thought they could take us after we dealt with these guys, they were free to do so." He looked over and waved at the man leaning out.

 

"Hey, we're done with these two! You wanna take your shot at us, or you just wanna be cool and tell us why you stole this axe? These people don't know anything about it, apparently, so we're kind of running around in the dark here."  he said, shrugging at Shooting Star. "That's the best I got, anyway. I don't really feel like this is finished; it's like we're half done, but I'm not sure who they stole this from or why, other than apparently whoever they did take it from, this guy in armor is totally terrified of and was trying to get me to go away because they're real scary."

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The Gangster looked somewhat poleaxed at being spotted, but stepped out from hiding with the others after Michael called them out. Alice nods along with Michael's explanation as the man slowly approaches. His eyes lingered on the axe as he comes within earshot.

 

"I'm bright enough to know I'm outgunned. The guy what told us about it said it was some kinda super axe, meant to adjust to the person who holds it and amplify their abilities. We figured with a super axe that boosts us up we could finally make it to the bog leagues. Apparently some like, underground supervillain stole it in transit from a big tech firm or something. We managed to hunt down the place he was hiding it and took it. Were on our way back when these guys jumped us. You guys were here for the rest."

 

Alice frowned, looking between the axe and the man. "It wasn't guarded or anything? And none of you decided to use it against your attackers?"

 

He shrugs, "Place was just hidden, far as we could tell. No guards or alarms. Guy must've wanted it on the downlow. I tried to grab the axe when the van tipped and it fell out of it's case, but suddenly I couldn't lift it. Damnedest thing."

 

The sirens Michael had heard earlier are closer now, it won't be long before the police are on the scene.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Michael rubbed his ears in annoyance suddenly. He was still getting used to the super hearing. He looked at Shooting Star, then the Gangster, then frowned.

 

"...Alright. You get one Get Out of Jail free card, this time, if you wanna take it." he said, looking at Shooting Star again. "If she says it's okay. The cops are almost here, but this one time, if you'll promise to try and go straight, I'm fine letting you go. We clearly have bigger things to worry about then you guys. I hope you've learned a lesson, at the least."

 

He sighed and turned away from the Gangsters, pretending not to see them.

 

"...I'm distracted right now, thinking about how to go after this guy that we just learned about."

[Kaede Kimura]

Shooting Star 

 

Alice smiled bemusedly at Golden Star's willingness to let the gang members go, nodding when he stops and defers to her, "We clearly have bigger things to deal with. They can go." The gangsters don't seem to need much more encouragement and flee post haste.

 

Alice had to admit that she also didn’t like that they were apparently just now hearing about some supervillain big enough to be tossing mercenaries around through the streets after magic axes, and nodded at Golden Star's comment about thinking of how tp go after them. "But how are we supposed to go after a guy we don't even know the name or face of?" She looked over at Rage and Ruin, the latter of whom was already shaking his head.

 

"Even if I knew, I ain't gonna make the mistake of crossing 'im. I don't have a death wish." Ruin said, while Rage stayed silent.

 

"Well in that case our best bet is probably the axe. If the villain took it once, he'll probably try to do so again." As she finished her statement the first police car rounded the corner, a total of three pulling up before the fight scene. Six officers stepped from the cars, the first of which apparently recognized the pair of heroes, and he approached the heroes while the others began securing the scene and the villains.

 

"Shooting Star, Golden Star. I'm Officer Morris. Didn't know you two were a team, although I should've guessed from the names. Can you tell us what happened here?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"I agree. The Axe seems like a good plan. I've dealt with a magical crystal that gives people super powers and it usually turns out that the people who have weird magic weapons and things like this often have the ability to track or scan it. If they want it back, when they see these two didn't manage it, they'll send someone else after it." he was pulling on his own knowledge from things he'd seen, but the truth was he was only making blind guesses in the dark.

 

He smiled at Officer Morris, though.

 

"Ah, we're just doing a little teamup. They're fun, right? After all, aren't we all on the same team when it comes down to it." he waved his hand a bit.

 

"As for what happened...well, we found these two attacking a van; it seems like someone had stolen that Axe from their boss, who sent them to get it, but the people in the van fled before we got here. These two are quite dangerous, at least to me and people who aren't as strong as me, though it seems like they were less than a match for Shooting Star."

[Kaede Kimura]

Shooting Star 

 

Alice nodded along as Golden Star talked about his experiences with villains being able to find the things they were seeking, adding her own comment. "Even if they don't have a power that lets them track things, if they're well linked in the underworld or decently internet savvy it won't take long for them to know it was us. There's almost certainly videos starting to circulate by now."

 

She smiled at the Officer warmly. He wasn't one of the many she'd met over the course of her career, but she'd always gotten on well with the police. She was a little flattered at Golden Star talking her up, but had to admit to herself if no one else that if the pair of them had stuck to fighting her she would probably have been in trouble. And he wasn't he only one who could give complements. She leaned over conspiratorially and faux-whispered to Morris. "He's being modest, he took down one of the villains on his own."

 

Officer Morris for his part chuckled good naturedly at the pair, before moving on. "Any idea who the boss is or where they might have gotten the axe? If it's got a proper owner I'd like to return it if possible."