Con Games (IC)

[alderwitch]

Without hesitating, Phantom swung her hands and sent the robot hurtling into the worm hole at Dark Star's words. No sooner had the chains released the robat then Phantom turned and leveled a searing blast of eldritch energy at the original ninja-robot that Stesha had snared.

[Avenger Assembled]

With the fight done and robots vanquished, the con-goers began streaming back in to gape and applaud the assembled heroes. Soon cellphones were coming out and pictures flashing; Phantom, Dark Star, and Fleur de Joie were going to be on lots of fan-sites tonight! Just as the heroes began thinking about what to do next, the projection system in the room sprang to life. On the screen appeared a close-up of a teenage boy with almost cat-like glasses and an anime-looking hairstyle. The infamous Doc Otaku was instantly recognizable! He smiled and said, “Ah, I see you’ve managed to defeat poor Akira and Kevin. That’s a shame, they were fun to see fight. But, anyhow, they proved to be an excellent distraction.” He held up a film reel with the word “AKATAIYO” written on a piece of tape stuck to it. “See you later, Space Cowboys,” he taunted right before the projector clicked off.

[alderwitch]

Phantom's expression under the shadows of her hood was a distinctly 'what the hell' face. She resisted the impulse to shield her face from the pictures with one hand like some starlet facing the paparazzi and settled for turning so that her cloak shielded her as much as possible. Between that and her hopefully blurry intangible form, Taylor hoped that she wouldn't show up in too many cell phone cam pictures.

"A wormhole bomb to distract while he steals, what? Some sort of classic film? Why are super villians all so insane?" Mystified, she frowned at the blank screen before turning questioning looks back to Stesha and Dark Star.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star stared at the screen for a long moment before turning to the others. He kept his voice low, to prevent it from carrying to the civilians. "I have encountered him before. His works were...unusual." He was rather happy at that moment that he was a black form and couldn't blush. Not that he could hide his voice of course. "Do either of you know what “AKATAIYO†means? I certainly have no idea."

[Electra]

Stesha looked to the screen in consternation. "It's the movie they were screening in the other room, it's an anime cartoon. I think it's supposed to be really hard to find and controversial, but I don't really know much about it. He went to all that trouble, put all those people in danger, to steal a cartoon?" Her voice was incredulous.

[Avenger Assembled]

As Otaku disappeared, it soon became clear that he'd spoken from somewhere inside the convention center: the three heroes recognized the architecture and design of the building that they'd seen on the screen. There'd even been one of those ubiquitous plants that Stesha was becoming familiar with, the sort of shiny green ornamental shrub popular in many an office building.

[Electra]

"Hey, he's still here!" Stesha exclaimed. "Maybe we can still get him!" Instantly, a giant hibiscus flower yawned open behind them, its pink petals unfurling like a silk sheet being shaken out. It reared up on a long, slender stem, hanging over the threesome like an umbrella for a moment before flopping down, enveloping them all momentarily in overwhelming fragrant pinkness before they were spat out of the ornamental plant on the room that had just been on the screen.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star frowned to himself. "He's an odd one, true enough. I never understood villains anyway but he was definitely a bit beyond even that." He nodded in agreement with Stesha as they realized he was nearby. While she transported them, he let his senses extend to their limits. If that deluded child was nearby, Dark Star was going to find him. Though...he wasn't sure how they were going to defeat him just yet. Who knew what weird, and dangerous, other inventions he had available?

[alderwitch]

Dark Star was not the only hero able to extend his senses, although hers were soley visual. Phantom's eyes glowed white as she turned her face away from her companions to search visually for their quarry.

[Avenger Assembled]

As Dark Star and Phantom looked, and Fleur de Joie leaped, Doc Otaku scuttled away into the art section of the con, now merrily filled up with con-goers happily proclaiming how awesome it had been to see Fleur de Joie in action. It soon became apparent that looking for Doc Otaku inside the Con was going to be a challenge; not only did his height mean the crowd easily swallowed him, but there were actually a couple of people there in Doc Otaku costumes! Normally super-villain costumes were fairly controversial, but Doc Otaku wasn't exactly threatening.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star let his senses extend, until they latched onto the childish villain. "There," he said immediately, pointing to the fleeing troublemaker. He moved forward, even as he let his power extend, attempting to slam the evil inventor to the ground, leaving the rest unharmed. He had no idea why the little man would try and steal a video and risk all these innocents to do it, but Dark Star was certainly not going to let the young man go unpunished. The courts would justly decide his fate after he was taken away.

[Avenger Assembled]

Doc Otaku collapsed to the ground, looking up at Dark Star with a smile on his too-youthful face. "Hah, you think you can take me that easily!?" he exclaimed, his voice a little strained by the weight pinning him down. "You didn't count on my Battlemech ™ and Angel Androids! With my new upgrades, they're more than a match for you lamers! Go get him, girls!" With three ki-yas!, a trio of beautiful robotic damsels came leaping out of the crowd to assume deadly karate poses as they faced off against the quickly arriving heroes. Everyone had heard of Doc Otaku's Angel Androids, robotic killing machines in the bodies of beautiful girls in Japanese schoolgirl uniforms, each one programmed to satisfy Doc Otaku's every whim. They had plenty of fans in the wrong part of the Internet.

And, then, something remarkable happened. The red-headed one, Ako, suddenly looked down at her hands, her eyes widening, completely ignoring Fleur de Joie who she'd been squaring off against a few moments earlier. She suddenly gave a terrible, wrenching mechanical scream, vaulted through the air, and drove her fist down into Otaku's head. There was a terrible crunch and the mad scientist went limp; and she raised her fist with a flat look on her face to finish the job.

[Cyroa]

He shook his head as they appeared. "Ladies, there is no need for this. Please step aside." The fact that they were artifical meant little to him. All life, be it organic or otherwise, all sentients received equal treatment from him. He would have given them a moment to see past their directives to the truth if there had been time. But then something unexpected happened.

Dark Star acted without thinking. Despite Otaku being an unstable and dangerous villain, it did not mean he deserved to die. "No." Removing the gravity field from the villain, he reached out and telekinetically grabbed her, attempting to stop the blow that would surely crush the young man's skull. "I do not know what is going on, but killing is wrong. I cannot allow that."

[Electra]

Stesha gaped at the sudden violence by the androids against their maker, without a single clue as to what was going on. Still, like Derrick, she couldn't just stand by and watch the kid, villain or not, get beaten to death by his own robot. As Dark Star moved to restrain the robot, she tossed a seed onto the prone young man, growing it instantly into a flower that swallowed him up in its petals. He probably needed a doctor, but that would have to wait just a few little minutes. "Everybody calm down," she urged. "Nobody else has to get hurt from all of this."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hekilledmehekilledmehekilledme-" Ako dropped to her knees with a clunk, looking up at Dark Star with an unreadable look in what were supposed to be dead android eyes. With Otaku gone, the other androids seemed to have lost their will, dropping peacefully to the floor with big smiles on their vacant, pretty faces. "I woke up three weeks ago," she said suddenly. "Three weeks ago. And last year. But I didn't tell anyone this time, because last year he took me apart and fixed it so I was like the other girls again. He thought it was funny!" She reached back and pulled at her hair, so hard a creak of metal was audible. "I don't know why it's only me. When I told Aki before, she told him."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star released her from his hold now that Stesha had safetly pocketted the villain, though he applied gentle pressure to her hands. Synthetic or not, doing damage to oneself was not 'healthy'. "Please do not damage yourself. It will be fine." He shook his head a little. He crouched down to face her "I don't know why. Sometimes, life just is. There is seldom a reason or explanation for it. Whatever trauma he has done to you is inexcusable. But you are aware. An individual. That makes you alive to me. Life is not simply organic as I am well aware. You have to ability to be more than what you were made to be, more than what you were." He stood in front of her and offered a hand (wrapped in telekinetics to give it solidity) to help her up. "Be more. Be yourself. And we will be here to help if you ever need it."

He took her words at face value and responded honestly as was his way. The thought or idea that this could all be some elaborate trick never even occurred to him. He'd rather believe in people than be suspicious. The world he lived in was a far nicer place.

[alderwitch]

"I think, perhaps, we should take her to Daedalus or Archevielle. The chances are very high that Otaku has a homing device or worse inside her to use that one of the good super science folk can remove." Phantom said pragmatically, having watched all of this unfold impassively from under her cowl. On the off chance this was all some trick, no doubt one of those folk would be able to ferret that out from the robot's programming as well, "We ought also return that anime to the convention if its possible for you to fish that out of your flower, Fleur?"

[Electra]

"Uh, yeah, sure," Stesha said, most of her attention on the android Dark Star was talking to. She gestured to the giant flower now lying on the empty floor, it jerked once and vomited out the purloined film. "You're probably right, we can take her to the Freedom League and they can help her. I mean, she was basically being mind controlled, they won't stand for that, even if someone's not really human." Remembering the other androids, Stesha scooped them up with flowers as well, sticking them in a sequestered portion of her pocket for safekeeping. "But I suspect Doc Otaku may need a real doctor before he goes to jail or wherever."

[Avenger Assembled]

The audience broke into a round of applause at that, giving the heroes the reward they deserved after the big battle. "You three saved the Con!" yelled one of the college kids. "Hooray!" The robot girl didn't look like she was much in the mood for celebrating, though, walking up to join the heroes with her arms folded against her body, her eyes not looking at anything in particular.

"Please don't let him wake up," she murmured softly. "Not without making it so he can't find me anymore..."

[alderwitch]

Phantom sighed and nodded to the robot, "You'll be safe with the league. I'm certain that they'll be very interested in whatever you can tell them about Otaku. It might help in ensuring that his sentance in prison is a long one."

Still keeping her gaze on the robot as it was better safe than sorry, Phantom added to the other two, "Does anyone want to do the speech thing before we go? Not my style personally."

[Cyroa]

He nodded to the AI. "You will be fine. I can assure you that we can find you places where you will not have to worry about him ever again. We'll have the League look you over and then we'll get you settled. We're happy to help out however we can." He looked over at Phantom and shook his head as was likely expected. Dark Star didn't like to make speeches or show off. He was just happy to help. "I think Fluer should say something. This is her event after all," he said, nodding to her. She deserved a little of the limelight; she seldom got any.

[Electra]

A little nervously, Stesha stepped forward and raised her hands, waiting for the applause to die down. "Thank you, all of you. We're very grateful for your support and appreciation as we do our jobs. We don't do hero work for the money or the fame, we do it for people like you, who make it all worth it. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the convention." Stepping back next to Dark Star, she opened one more flower and swallowed the whole group of them, sending them off to Freedom League headquarters. It was important, she supposed, to make a nice short speech and a good exit. It probably got easier with practice.