Con Games (IC)

[Electra]

Stesha raised her eyebrows and grinned at the "seat of honor," but managed not to laugh. She'd seen odder floral setups at parties. "Sounds easy enough," she agreed. "If you're going to open the room now, how about I go backstage and just pop out when you're ready for me?" She stepped over to the empty planters and dropped a few seeds in them, making sure they'd be ready to go, then headed back into the green room. A little nagging voice in her head wondered what she was getting into, but she ignored it. It wasn't like she'd ever had stage fright. This would be fun.

[alderwitch]

"I wasn't ever really into them either. I didn't even dream of being a super-hero as a kid. My brother was a huge fan, but I was always happier in the background," Taylor replied with amusement at the way the world turned out. She stopped at a display of lesser known heroes and picked up a rather brooding picture of Avenger. The gritty street hero was mixed in a bunch of older heroes from around the registration act and there were definately a lot of shadows added to the picture that seemed improbable if not downright unlikely. Taylor plucked the picture from the group, thinking Jack would get a kick out of it, especially since he didn't show up in pictures anymore.

She paid for it, tucking it into the goodie bag, and strolled out of the room with Derrick. It was just about time to get herded in for the main event and she didn't want to miss Stesha's big debut. "I still prefer being in the background, actually."

[Cyroa]

He nodded as he looked over the massive amounts of fan-dom. "I don't particularly like it either. It takes away from the problem at hand when people focus on the heroes and not the issue. But I do tend to answer questions as I help do the cleanup here and there. Just to be polite you understand. But they are so pushy," he said, shaking his head. He stood in the crowd waiting. "This should be interesting though. And good for Stesha too. She deserves a little lime-light."

[Avenger Assembled]

As the hall opened its doors to the public, fans flooded room within a short time. Within a few minutes, the session Stesha was hosting had begun to fill up with a wide variety of folks. Looking around from behind the curtain, she could see people of all ages, from the kid with a Johnny Rocket action figure to a man in the late prime of his life wearing a Black Dog T-shirt. The doors eventually shut and an Asian man in his mid-twenties, one who had been introduced to Stesha as Akira Jackson, came out on the stage. He was wearing a white suit and a red tie. “Hello hero fans!” he screamed over a mic. “Are you ready to meet Fleur de Joie?” The crowd’s applause burst merrily, easily stretching backstage.

[Electra]

Standing backstage, Stesha decided to show off just a little bit. If not now, after all, then when? Still out of sight of the audience, she concentrated and began to grow the seeds in their pots out front. There was a murmur as the first shoots began to appear,that grew louder as the pots filled up and spilled over, flowers, fruits and vines beginning to appear everywhere. Vines tilted off the front of the stage, almost as far as the feet of the nearest audience members. When the applause started, she made one bright yellow tulip grow especially large and then stepped through it onto the stage. Spotting Taylor and Derrick in the audience, she grinned at them before waving to the audience and taking her seat.

[alderwitch]

Taylor ducked her head down and took thelead as she was sure Derrick would be far too nice to get them good seats. So, taking advantage of her small size, Taylor slipped through ahead of him to pick out a pair of good seats in the center. She had no qualms about dropping into one and setting her bag and jacket on until Derrick caught up. Taylor grinned gamely back at Stesha and gave her a tiny wave.

[Avenger Assembled]

The crowd proved quite fascinated with Stesha, polite and respectful when she talked, but full of many eager questions. The majority were very good questions. There was the preteen girl in the green flowered shirt who gushed over Fleur de Joie, asking with eager politeness if Fleur thought she might ever need a sidekick, followed shortly thereafter by a smiling round-faced man in an anime shirt who Fleur de Joie's toughest villain was. A young woman from Lantern Hill even wanted to thank Fleur for all the work she'd done fixing up their community garden!

[Cyroa]

"Excuse me please. Please. Excuse me. Can I get through there. Thanks. Pardon me," he repeated over and over as he politely tried to follow Taylor into the room. It was slow going though. He couldn't just show through people or be rude to them. So it took him considerably longer to find Taylor.

He plopped into the seat next to her with a grin as she pulled her stuff from the chair. And he clapped enthusiastically along with the entire room when Stesha made her appearance. He was very impressed with the massive and loyal following. She certainly deserved the lime light.

[Electra]

Stesha politely nudged aside the idea of a sidekick, for all that she was laughing inside at the idea. "I have enough to learn myself about doing hero work, now's not the time for me to be training someone else. I have good friends who have really helped me learn the ropes, and that's really important when you're starting out. It's very hard to work on your own." She talked a little bit about the fight with Vaslev Tcheny in response to the second question; she hadn't fought him alone, but he'd certainly been a lot more of a threat than the Beekeeper, who'd at least been keeping a low profile lately. Hearing people appreciate her work was very nice too. Stesha began to relax more as she got into the rhythm of the session, sneaking the occasional glance over at her friends. Both Dark Star and Phantom would have much better stories to tell, maybe next year they would participate too. That would be fun.

[Avenger Assembled]

As many of the fans begin to tire of all the questions, a gentleman with long, blonde hair and wearing a red suit stood

towards the back of the room. “Excuse me,” he said with a smile, “I have one last question. How many more minutes do

you expect to live?” And with that, he ripped the sleeves off his suit, hurling them aside to the shocked cries of the crowd as he exposed his muscley arms, and assumed a karate combat pose!

[Electra]

Stesha stood up, looking automatically over to Taylor and Derrick before realizing they weren't in the best position to help her right now. "That's very impressive," she told the newcomer, reaching into her pouch for a handful of seeds and trying to conceal her own nerves. "But I'm not going to fight you in here. If you want to throw down, let's take it outside." She nodded towards the emergency exit doors set in the side of the room and began moving in that direction herself. She had no idea if that would work, but having a superfight in a hall full of civilians was a terrible idea on every level, and she wasn't sure what else to do!

[Avenger Assembled]

The fighter cocked his head to one side, an uncertain expression on his steely face for several long moments. "NO!" he shouted. "You shall not reject my challenge!" He flexed his arms and gathered himself up, aiming suddenly glowing fists at Fleur. "BADOKEN!" And with that, he fired a blast of energy right at the flowery heroine, flashing right towards her midsection!

[Cyroa]

Derrick frowned at the man as everyone watched. He didn't think it was serious at first. A poor joke. But when the guy started throwing energy at Stesha, his breath caught in his throat out of fear and worry for her. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she seemed to shrug it off. He almost stepped forward to get involved when he realized he was just Derrick. He was just as fragile and tough as the citizens here. Staying, he would be a distraction and likely get hurt. Time to move somewhere!

He nodded to Taylor, not knowing if she could hide him or not. He quickly moved with the crowd out of the room, looking for a room or place out of sight. It was going to take him a moment or two to change. He knew she could handle it, especially with Taylor there. But just in case, he needed to hurry.

[alderwitch]

Taylor returned Derrick's nod, her entire posture already different as she turned and shoved her way out of the crowd. Three steps into the shadows and she dove headfirst into the floor, phasing out of synch as she did so. Her flight instinct kicked in even as she reached up to touch her amulet and let the cloak and cowl of Phantom explode around her body. Grimly, she ghosted through the floor and headed for the stage that Stesha had been standing on. Ninja-boy was about to have a bad day.

[Cyroa]

Derrick, finally out of sight, took a breath and let the power pour forth. It was always there, wanting out. It was always an effort to keep it bottled up. Letting it out was easy. The blackness spread out quickly, darkening his outline. The energy destroying/disintegrating his physical form in a moments. It didn't hurt; far from it. It actually felt pretty good, the rush of the power being freed. Soon enough, Derrick was gone and the hero remained. A hero who was very annoyed that someone would attack his love and put innocents at risk as well.

[Electra]

Stesha staggered for a second as the bolt of energy hit her, but it was more from surprise than pain. The energy dissipated harmlessly over her skin, making her hair crackle under her cowl. The villain was still in the crowd, surrounded by people who were rapidly trying to get away from him, but luckily he hadn't thought to take a hostage yet. Taylor and Derrick were nowhere to be seen. Stesha hoped very much that they were finding some place to change. "Fine, in here then," she retorted bravely, turning and facing him, then throwing a handful of seeds from her pouch. They weren't aimed at the ninja though, rather, they landed on the carpeted floor around him and began growing very rapidly, joining stems and branches and weaving themselves together. In moments, they'd created a U-shaped wall about seven feet tall around the ninja, separating him from the crowd while leaving a clear corridor between him and Stesha. "But you've bitten off way more than you can chew."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You fool!" called the energy-blasting martial artist, his voice echoing oddly, lips moving out of sync with the words. Though his face was set in an expression of exaggerated determination, it didn't waver even a fraction as he leaped up onto the stage to join Stesha. "Your silly powers. cannot stand before the might of Akira-san!" And with that, he threw a hard punch at Stesha's midsection, aiming for the same spot his energy blast had hit before.

[alderwitch]

Pissed as she was, Phantom's arrival was more frightening than usual as she rose from the floorboards of the stage, her cloak billowing out like dark wings around her form. Eldritch power already crackled around her fingers as she rose up behind Stesha. Her eyes glowed like twin angry stars below the shadow of her hood.

"Hey, blonde-and-badly-dubbed," Phantom growled, bringing her hands in front of her as she fired off her own massive crackling bolt of energy, "Enjoy some eldritch blasts."

[Avenger Assembled]

Phantom's blast didn't just hurt the karate fighter; it ripped away most of his face! A grinning mechanical skull leered underneath, white teeth in a metal jaw as an exposed robotic eye glowed. "It takes more than a single blast to defeat the awesome kung fu fury of Akira-san!" shouted the robot in a mechanical voice now gone hollow and tinny, rearing back for another punch in Stesha's direction after the last one had failed to do anything more than knock her back an inch or two.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star frowned as the Phantom's blast did little but reveal the deception. But instead of immediately attacking, he sunk into the floor and used his power to conceal himself. The two ladies could handle themselves for a moment. Dark Star was concerned. Something about this whole situation was very wrong. And while he was confident, he also learned from his mistakes and past encounters. He let his senses extend, searching the area for anything else that was amiss. He didn't want to join the battle and be caught in some elaborate trap simply because he rushed in. And Stesha seemed to be shrugged off the tin can's attack with apparent ease so far. Phantom and Fluer were heroes and could handle this after all. But if they needed him, he'd be getting involved shortly.

[Electra]

Stesha breathed a silent sigh of relief as Taylor arrived to back her up and do some actual damage to the... robot? A ninja that was actually a blaster that was actually a robot? What? Setting aside her confusion for the moment, she looked for Derrick, but he was nowhere to be seen in either form, either still off changing or obscured by the wall of plants somewhere. Biting her lip, Stesha tried the only trick she knew that might work against robots and tossed out another seed, turning it into a vine that wrapped around the robot's legs and snaked up his body. Somewhat to her surprise, it actually seemed to have some effect, at least slowing the thing down! "Get it quick!" she encouraged Phantom, looking around to make sure the civilians were still clearing the area.

[Avenger Assembled]

Most of the civilians had escaped by now, but some hadn't. The sight of their heroine in action had left a couple of the college kids to stick around and take pictures of the fight! Fleur de Joie's tangling vines wrapped themselves tight around the oncoming robot, binding him securely in cords of plants and vines as he struggled to escape. "Kaneda!" it shouted in an eerie mechanical voice. "You will NEVER ESCAPE! BOO-HA-HA-HA!" And with that, its eyes began to glow in a really quite alarming way.

[alderwitch]

"... Wait a second," Phantom frowned and flicked her hands out, tossing her cloak back in the process. Chains of eldritch energy snaked out of her hands to wrap around a pony-tailed bystander. "Something's not right with you. Why don't you come join the party?"

She jerked the chains, dragging him up on stage next to the snared robot. While Phantom expected the robot to explode, this other fellow was pulsing with a distrubing amount of dimensional energy. In her experience at least, interdimensional threats were always worse than explosive ones. Even if fire was a bit of a problem for her specifically.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star blinked as he realized what was happening. In a flash he was floating up on stage, concentrating. If she put him in her dimensional pocket, a wormhole with dimension capacity could rip its way out. There was a different option. "Phantom, he's generating a wormhole bomb and it is in immenent danger of going off. Toss him through." He forced open a wormhole of his own to somewhere...far from here. A wave of cold issued from the dark openning and there was a slight pressure differential but it wasn't a vaccuum on the other side. Once this threat was removed, he'd return to finding out who was setting this whole thing up.

[Electra]

Stesha watched uneasily as the guy with the glowing stomach was hauled up on stage. He still had a human face, but he somehow seemed a lot more dangerous than the robot squirming to try and escape from her vines. Still keeping half her attention on the one Phantom and Dark Star were dealing with, she opened a gigantic tulip flower on the end of the vine that entangled the robot, making it swallow him down whole. That and the snare should at least keep him busy for a few minutes.