angrydurf Posted August 15, 2009 Posted August 15, 2009 Mike lifted Erin up with one arm and launched off the boat at a slightly more gradual acceleration to skim over the water in a broad arc. "Theres more twisted scenarios out there but these certainly do seem to have that tendancy." He replied as they took off. "You see anything?" He asked as he began to angle up to gain some alltitude after the initial low flyover.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 15, 2009 Posted August 15, 2009 Going up above the freighter produced a magnificent view of the Panama Canal beneath them, the great lake at the center of the canal where they'd started. The Doom Room's simulation really was amazingly detailed, the world beneath them stretching out in wild, natural splendor. They could see cities too, nearby, the small towns crowding around the canal and its forests in a gorgeous panorama. They had plenty of time to marvel at the splendor beneath them, the view really quite impressive as they took in the natural wonders of the simulated world. Mike's radio beeped again, giving them their mission briefing. The Panamanian Strongman had recently escaped from prison in Panama City, and the League had reason to believe he might be planning to hijack a freighter in the canal with the help of one of his former supervillian cronies. They should be on the lookout for a flying machine with an escort.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 15, 2009 Posted August 15, 2009 Both Wander and Phalanx were at the top of their game this afternoon; they both spotted the fast airship coming at them, the red disc (about the size of a school bus) shaped like a flying saucer but gleaming red and bristling with weapons as it rocketed towards them. It was still some miles away, but evidently the pilot saw them too, arcing in their direction as his jet engines roared to life!
Electra Posted August 15, 2009 Author Posted August 15, 2009 "There's the flying machine, right on schedule," Wander said grimly, tensing in Phalanx's grip as she got a look at the approaching antagonist. "I don't see the escort, but it's got to be nearby. Can you drop me on top of that thing and see if you can find him? You can't hold me in the air for this whole fight, but I should be able to keep my balance on the machine."
angrydurf Posted August 15, 2009 Posted August 15, 2009 "You got it." Mike replied already building speed. He swooped in a wide Arc to try and deposit Erin on top of the machine while evading any incoming fire from the airship.
Electra Posted August 15, 2009 Author Posted August 15, 2009 Erin braced as Mike flew closer to the ship, tucking up her legs to jump and roll. "Okay, now!" she called. As soon as he let her go, she dove for the ship, tucking her arms and head down and rolling cleanly onto the top of the flying disc. She stopped her momentum by catching herself on the handle of a porthole that didn't seem inclined to open. Not that she wanted to go in there without knowing what she was up against, anyway. Leaving the bat aside for a moment, she plunged her fist into the metal hull of the ship itself. "Come out, come out, whoever you are," she muttered.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 15, 2009 Posted August 15, 2009 Erin's fist smashed deep into the metal, konging a deep dent into the surface of the flying ship. She was focused on both the job and on holding on, so tightly that she missed the presence of the presence of the other figure in the air with her entirely. "Hah-hah, Senorita!" El Diablo had released himself from his position just below the surface of the Strongman's ship, and he hurled a blast of eldritch fire at Wander that went whizzing past her head. Cursing, he threw himself closer, and his eyes widened in shock as the field of shimmering hellfire around the red-clad diabolical villain did no damage to her at all!
angrydurf Posted August 15, 2009 Posted August 15, 2009 Mike checked his speed along side the vehical as the back-up tried to knock Erin off the side of the airship. Lungeing at the flaming villian with reckless abandon he put all he had into grabbing on to the other flyer trying to free Erin up to deal with the vehical and its occupant.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 El Diablo nimbly dodged Mike's seeking arms, though from the look of fury on his face he was growing increasingly frustrated at the utter failure of his flaming aura to hurt either of the two teenagers. "Aah! Why won't either of you fall down!?" He readied another attack, fire crackling on his hands, a look of murderous fury on his face. He was distracting in his comical rage, maybe so distracting that Wander failed to notice the hole opening in the machine right in front of her. The Strongman pilot of the flying machine couldn't use any of his destructive weapons so close to his own machine's body, but he was evidently willing to use his other defenses. Suddenly, an enormous gout of water came pouring out of the machine at Erin, blasting her powerfully in the face and knocking her off her feet, away from the hole she'd punched in the side of the airship's hull. Soaking wet, she did managed to right herself without falling off despite the powerful water pressure and strong winds battling at her as the airship flew, her feet dangling just a few inches above the long, long fall to the ground.
Electra Posted August 16, 2009 Author Posted August 16, 2009 Erin screamed, a rather garbled sound with the water and all, but it was as much fury as fear, even as she dangled over the edge. Swinging herself back onto the dubious safety of the ship's roof, she bellycrawled back to the porthole. Ignoring the flimsy handle, she dug her fingers into the seams around the door and pulled, trying to rip it clean off its hinges.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 If El Diablo had been a hero, he might have gone to his compatriot's aid as Wander ripped the door right off the flying machine, but as it was he was far too focused on eliminating the teenager who'd made him look so incompetent. (Not that it was, evidently, a very difficult task.) "Eat hellfire, stripling!" he shouted imperiously, hurling a blast of liquid flame at Phalanx that struck him across the midsection, a fire burning with incredible blazing fury.
angrydurf Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 "Alright we'll do this the hard way then." Mike said as he flew at the flaming villian unleashing a mighty punch as he did so. The hit took the villian square on the jaw, Mike ignoring the scorching flames as if they were not even there.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 Despite Mike's best efforts, the villian held out against his attack, sneering arrogantly at him. "Oh-ho! Not so strong, are we? Maybe you'd better run home to Mommy and see if she can make you any stronger!" Just nearby, a soaking-wet, hopping-mad Wander had just torn off the Strongman's door and set it hurling away. Just as she prepared to dive inside the craft and pummel its occupant, two things happened; first she felt the craft lurch beneath her feet and begin plummeting downward; a moment later, an explosion just in front of her showed her a quick glimpse of the Strongman as his ejection seat rocketed high up into the air above her! His parachute deployed a moment later, leaving him several dozen feet above the action and getting further away.
Electra Posted August 16, 2009 Author Posted August 16, 2009 Erin had just a second to look along their trajectory and make sure the boat was going into a part of the lake with no boats before she had to act. Bunching her legs and springing into the air, she opened out her bat even as she raced towards the fleeing villain. Practically colliding with him in the air, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, bringing the bat up to throttle his neck. "Not so fast," she growled, her wet hair clinging to her face and shoulder in lank tendrils as she tightened the grip.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 Wander's powerful blow caught the Strongman off-balance just as he tried to bring his blaster rifle to bear, his head rocking backas she wrapped her arms around him. Her grip was such that it was impossible for him to get loose, and indeed as he wobbled in the air, the hardest part for either of them didn't seem so much how to get loose but how to get down! Well, besides the obvious. "Maybe I give you something else to worry about, hotshot!" yelled El Diablo. With a shout of rage, he zoomed backwards in the air and hurled a massive ball of flaming death at Mike; not at his midsection this time, but instead directly at his eyes in a huge ball of pure red light!
angrydurf Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 Mike was unable to evade the giant ball of energy but managed to wrench his eyes shut at the last second avoiding sure blindness. He did however lose sight of his foe for a vital second and was unable to manuver into an appropriate attack position his wild swings easily evaded by the more nimble villian.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 The Panamanian Strongman said nothing other than "Ack!" and "Blah!" as Wander pulled the bat tight against his neck, but it wasn't hard to guess what he was trying to signal. They weren't in free fall, really, but the parachute was overloaded and they were going down fast! Just as the airship was headed down towards the large lake far beneath them, so too were the falling Wander and her heavily battered prisoner.
Electra Posted August 16, 2009 Author Posted August 16, 2009 With the parachute creaking alarmingly, the water beneath them, and her opponent still clutching a blaster pistol, it was becoming rapidly clear to Erin how untenable her position was. She took a quick deep breath, then released the grapple by collapsing the bat. "Can you swim?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she ripped the parachute lines away from the chair, sending it flapping away like a released bird. As her stomach rose from the acceleration, Erin pushed herself away from the chair and prepared to enter the water at rather a higher speed than she liked.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 "So you can't hurt me and I barely scratch you, eh?" said El Diablo. "Maybe I give you something better to deal with. Fix this, hero!" And with that, the demonic supervillian hurled a massive ball of fire at the still-falling airship, causing the flying machine to explode in a massive shower of debris. The super-structure stayed intact, though, and as the others watched they saw the burning skeleton of the craft spin in the air and change trajectory from the sheer force of the blast, sending it hurtling down towards a freighter below. "Deal with that!" At that, he turned and began zooming off on a column of fire away from the two teenagers, callously abandoning his employer to the mercy of the fall.
angrydurf Posted August 17, 2009 Posted August 17, 2009 Mike ignored the fleeing villain stopping the remains of the airship was the priority now. The flying teen shot at near top speed down in front of the debris hurtling towards the frieghter interposing himself between the burning mass of twisted metal and the innocents below. Mike summoned his strength and braced himself to catch the flaming hulk.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 17, 2009 Posted August 17, 2009 Phalanx's mighty muscles were sufficient to stop the falling airship, his powerful strength easily able to foil the plummeting airship, the flames burning on it foiled by his hardened skin. A few hundred yards away, things were getting exciting for the falling Wander and Strongman. "Argh! Traitors all! Aieee!" The Strongman gave a horrible yelp as he fell further and faster, the water rushing quickly beneath them. He desperately fired a shot from his blaster rifle at Erin, the powerful blast ricocheting off her super-tough skin.
Electra Posted August 17, 2009 Author Posted August 17, 2009 Erin glared at the Strongman, then reached out and gave his chair a little nudge, straightening it so he'd hit the water upright and not in a tumble unless he started flailing or shooting again. That was all she could or would do for him, especially since the stupid villain was still shooting at her, so she left him to hit the water on his own and curved her body into a diving position, then took one last deep breath as the water approached. Her entry wasn't Olympics-clean, but she'd been diving from a high board, and it was substantially better than the fellow next to her.
angrydurf Posted August 18, 2009 Posted August 18, 2009 With a mighty heave Phalanx threw the wreckage clear of the frieghter as well as Erin and Strongman. The flying fire controller was long gone, Phalanx scanned the surface of the water for Wander and flew at full speed to meet her at the surface of the lake leaving Strongman to make his own watery landing.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 18, 2009 Posted August 18, 2009 There was a great crash as the Strongman and chair hit the water just a second or two after Erin did, a great splash of water that rose up high in the air. As Phalanx watched, Wander hit the water hard, her linked fingers knifing her through the water as she dropped deeper and deeper into the impossibly green and blue waters of Gatun Lake. With the help of her powerful leg muscles, she kicked her way back to the bright and shining surface, her target the Strongman floating and sputtering in the water nearby. And then there was another gentle hum in the air, and both Mike and Erin found themselves back in the Doom Room. Erin's clothes were perfectly dry, though her hair was still strangely wet from the dip in the imaginary water. As before, she kept the bat that had stayed attached to her waist the whole way through. Mr. Archer was standing there too, taking notes on his clipboard. "Excellent work, Wander and Phalanx. Cool off for a minute, then tell me how you think you did."
Electra Posted August 18, 2009 Author Posted August 18, 2009 Erin sneezed reflexively, a little disoriented for a moment as she went from treading water to sitting on the ground. Climbing to her feet, she looked over at Mike, popping a few vertebrae in her neck as she did so. "I saw that fire guy doing something to the ship," she told him. "Did you catch it?" She'd missed that part, being particularly concerned with not breaking her neck upon reaching the water by that point. "I think the villain was still alive, but damaged and disarmed. Seems okay to me."
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