Sparks Flying IC

[Raveled]

Things were pretty normal as things went, in the bustling economic heart of Freedom City. The streets were packed with people and cars, the tall buildings hummed with commerce, and in the sky men and women in gaudy costumes flew in every direction. One red and gold figure was moving slowly, though; Ironclad hadn't got the suit's rapid recognition system working properly yet, so she was searching the crowd by eye.

A disturbance further up the street drew the heroine's attention. People were flooding out of a subway station. They weren't panicking, not quite yet, but they were moving awfully fast if they were just getting back to work. There was a flash of harsh, bright light from inside the station, and people started moving faster.

Ironclad shifted her weight and sped towards the light.

[Raveled]

Forcing through the crowd was out of the question, so Ironclad was reduced to hovering above their heads and waiting for the pressure to die down, before she could go in and investigate. As it turned out, she didn't have to; on the tail end of the crowd walked a giant. He must've been at least eight feet tall, and broad across the shoulders. He wore a wide-brimmed hat that hid his face from the air and a tattered longcoat that fell to the ground. His hands, protruding from the sleeves of his coat, were a pasty blue-gray color.

Ironclad cleared her throat and called out to the giant. "Sir, I need to see your face. Please look up." The giant paused, then tilted his head back; his face has the same blue-gray color as his hands, his eyes were pale yellow, and his teeth were stained brown and cracked.

The heroine recoiled from the walking dead man. She armed her weapon systems with a blink, pointing her gauntlets at the giant. "I need to see some ID," she said. Her target raised on long, powerful arm in response and Ironclad could see the electricity jumping from finger to finger. Before she could get a shot off a blast of lightning reached up into the sky towards her.

[Raveled]

The electricity reached into the sky and wracked Ironclad painfully; the suit's breakers nearly overloaded, and her vision was filled with red and black warnings. She managed to stay aloft, though, which could be seen as an improvement. However, it left her a big, floating target for the dead man's second blast.

[Raveled]

This lightning bolt picked Ironclad up and flung her across the street, where she slammed into a parked car, driving the roof into the seats. She struggled there, trying to will her limbs to move, but all they did was twitch randomly, her suit and over body overloaded by the electrical assault. The dead man crossed the street slowly and wrapped on huge hand around the heroine's neck. He lifted her into the air and squeezed; under her mask, Ironclad's eyes bugged out as she heard metal grind and compress, and her wind-pipe closed.

[Lone Star]

Blake was in the crowd, and he saw the strange man too, but took no notice. Suddenly, he saw an figure clad in a suit of armor get blasted by the strange man. At once, he recited the words that would transform him into Kid Cthulhu.

"CTHULHU F'HTAGN!

A few people screamed and ran as the boy's body became covered in mystic fire, and out emerged KC, his wings already spread and ready for battle. Wasting no time with banter, he hurled a huge ball of mystic fire straight at the enemy's back.

[Raveled]

The dead man took the mystic fire full in the chest, but it only staggered him and singed his longcoat. He didn't loosen his grip on the armored heroine's throat, but he did turn his gaze to the tentacles superhero. One long, heavy arm raised and gathered power, before launching another lightning bolt down the street. The heroine in his grasp twitched as excess energy bled into her.

Beneath her mask, Jessica's face went from her normal untanned-pale to a blotchy red as blood began to pool up in her head. Her armor had its own internal air supply, but the hand around her neck was keeping that from reaching her. She cursed the idea of fully-enclosing her suit and flailed uselessly at the limb that held her, unable to bring her augmented strength to bear.

[Lone Star]

KC easily dodges the bolt of lightning, and fires off another round of mystic fire.

"Don't worry, I've got you!" he shouts to the suffocating hero. His physical strength being below average, KC figured if he could damage this guy enough, he'd let her go.

The mystic fire roared in his hands, and he threw half a dozen more rounds at the foe's chest, not relenting for a moment.

[Raveled]

Most of the green blasts flew past the giant, but even the few that impacted didn't seem to do much. The dead man raised his arm and pointed it at the hero again... But nothing happened. He brought his palm around, staring at it dumbfoundedly, wiggling his fingers like he was expecting the energy to suddenly surge up.

[Lone Star]

KC looks at him, bracing for impact. He doesn't see any electricity coming up from the giant's hands, so he shrugs. He takes a deep breath, and summons the power within him.

The crowd around KC disperses and screams in terror as KC lets out a primordial roar. The tentacles on his face lengthen and twitch about as his eyes glow red.

"Put her down, creature!" he shrieked, as the lights in nearby buildings flickered. "Or I'll tear what's left of your soul in two."

[Raveled]

If the dead man was affected by Kid Cthulhu's threat, he didn't show it. Instead he charged the tentacles superhero, swinging Ironclad like a flail! Fortunately for both heroes, the giant didn't connect, thundering to a stop a few feet away.

[Lone Star]

KC gritted his teeth and flew to one side as the monster swung the girl at him. "I'm doing the best I can here, okay? I'm really frickin' sorry!"

While the monster's back was turned, he put a hand to his temple and launched a mental assault that would tear the creature's perception of reality in two. He projected the psychic attack, and fired away. "Take this, you undead jerk!"

[Raveled]

The dead man clutched at his head with his free hand, turning clumsily and swinging at Kid Cthulhu again. This time the armored form connected with the tentacles hero, and within her suit Ironclad felt the bruises forming on her legs.

[Lone Star]

KC took a hit on his arm, and he hissed in pain.

"Aaggh! Take this!" he said, shouting his frustration as he sent a bolt of pure psychic energy at the monster's temples. "Hold on, okay! I've got this guy!" He hoped he hadn't already made a bad first impression. His fists were clenched, and he was determined to take down this monster no matter what.

[Raveled]

The monster reeled from the mental assault, its tiny mind overtaxed and blanking out. It dropped the armored heroine with a loud CLANG, falling to its knees and clutching its head.

Ironclad's neck armor expanded to its normal size and she sucked in air nosily, coughing as she tried to get to her hands and knees.

[Lone Star]

KC, wasting no time, and sent another psychic attack at the monster while it was down. He ran over to the girl and attempted to elevate her.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry I didn't take him down sooner, I'm off my game today." he said, holding her up. He smiled at her, and the tentacles on his face twitched. He hoped he wouldn't scare her off.

[Raveled]

Ironclad’s throat hurt and her head swam, but she got to her feet, hands balled into fists. She didn’t turn around to look at Kid Cthulhu; she just staged up to the dead man and swung at him with a hammerblow. Whether it was due to some residual double-vision or just because anger was making her uncoordinated however, her wild strike connected only with air. Perhaps in a blind reaction, the dead man struck out against the armored heroine again and she was forced back a few steps, trying to catch her equilibrium.

[Lone Star]

KC lowered his eyes at the monster. "Bring it, Frankenstein." He raised his hand and leeched more of what remained of the monster's sanity. He was hoping to drain a little more sanity, then end the monster with a powerful psychic blast. He hoped he wasn't too late.

[Raveled]

The dead man clutched tighter at his head; if he'd been living and blood had been flowing past his knuckles they would've gone white, but they kept their corpse-gray color. The creature's mouth fell open like it was going to scream or moan, but no sound came out. After a moment it stopped rocking in mid-sway, like a robot that had just been shut off. It was overbalanced far to the left, and Ironclad pushed it onto its side easily.

The heroine sat down heavily, well outside the dead man's reach, and nodded to KC appreciatively. "Thanks. If you hadn't come along when you did, that could've been... I might've been... Oh god." She felt her gorge rise and waved away her helmet hastily. It folded into her collar and the heroine stumbled into an alley, falling to her hands and knees and vomiting up her all-too-recent lunch.

[Lone Star]

KC watched Ironclad push the dead man over.

The heroine sat down heavily, well outside the dead man's reach, and nodded to KC appreciatively. "Thanks. If you hadn't come along when you did, that could've been... I might've been... Oh god." She felt her gorge rise and waved away her helmet hastily. It folded into her collar and the heroine stumbled into an alley, falling to her hands and knees and vomiting up her all-too-recent lunch.

He winced slightly at the sound of her vomiting, but went to her side when she was finished. "Hey, take it easy. Just take a seat down on the sidewalk." He sat down with her, and breathed in deeply. To be honest, it really was a close battle. He was exhausted too. "So who the hell was that guy? Or what was he?"

[Raveled]

Jessica let herself be lead to the curb again. She took a sip of water from a tube extending out the neck of her armor and spat into the street, trying to get the taste of bile out of her mouth. Her face was even paler than usual, and he fair fell just below her earlobes. She pushed it back from her face with both hands and sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "He was strong, and tough, and he could shoot lightning, but that doesn't narrow the search much in this city. I'd lay money on it being dead a long time, though, so probably some kind of automaton. At least," she added, "I hope it is. I really don't want to have to burn the thing inside a confessional, or whatever it would take to keep some kind of golem down."

Jessica was breathing easier, even if she didn't look directly at the hunched over dead thing. It would seem being able to approach the situation with cold logic and reason was helping her deal with it.

[Lone Star]

"Yeah, I was thinking like a revenant or some kind of zombie. No doubt it's a mystical creation, maybe by the Samedi fellow I've been hearing about. But whatever it is, it seemed not to like you. At least we're okay now." KC was thinking who could have been behind this. Although he hadn't seen anything like it before, it was made by a magician with very few morals. "Oh, do you want me to help you up? KC said, offering his hand.

[Raveled]

"No," she said, "I can stand. I'm just... a little unsteady after everything. I've never come that close to..." She swallowed hard, but stayed upright and vertical. "I'm good."

Something caught her eye and she turned to see someone climb out of the sub-way and make a bee-line towards the pair of heroes. Jessica waved at a command hanging in ehr air and her helmet folded around her head again, hiding her face from view; and just as quickly she was Ironclad again.

The armored heroine stepped forward, interposing herself between the dead man and the new figure. "Stay back, citizen," she said, the suit's speakers adding an electronic buzz to her words. "This area may not be safe yet. Please wait until police units arrive." but if the man was worried about her personal safety he didn't show it. He marched right up to Ironclad and started poking at her chestplate. "What'd you do to him," he demanded. "You broke him!"

Up close it was easy enough to see that this wasn't a normal citizen. He was a head shorter than Ironclad, and his gray woolen overcoat was stiff with dirty and going bald in patches. His eyes were bright and angry, and his face was dominated by a bushy beard speckled with grime.

Without waiting for an answer from Ironclad, the vagrant turned on Kid Cthulhu. "You! You did something!" He reached into his coat and pulled out something that looked like a portable cassette player. He pushed a button and brandishes it at the hero, filling the street with discordant tones.

[Lone Star]

KC screamed and put his hands over his ears. The waves of sound stuck in his head like a Rick Astley song, but he managed to block them out. He raised his head and stared at the man, gathering mystic power. He held out his left arm, his hand already beginning to heat up with otherwordly fire. He concentrated, and fired a bolt of glowing emerald flame at the man's cassette player. "That's quite enough of that, sir."

[Raveled]

Kid Cthulhu's blast of green fire stuck the cannibalized Walkman and the vagrant dropped the cassette player, flapping his hand to cool it off. Ironclad stepped forward and grabbed his sleeve. "For that, you're going to have a nice, long talk with the police." The vagrant didn't seem scared; in fact, his face twisted into a triumphant sneer. "You'll never hold the Under Doctor!" He slipped out of the coat and away from Ironclad's grasp with surprising ease, revealing himself to be mostly spindly limbs. He threw himself over the collapsed dead man, screamed "Back to the Under Lab, Franky!" and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Ironclad was left holding the tattering coat, her brain running in circles as the howl of emergency vehicles rose in the distance. She threw the coat to her feet in disgust, scowling behind her helmet. "The Under Doctor," she spat. "I can't believe this! I swear all the real loonies come out on my watch." She rubbed at he helmet, feeling a headache building. "I bet Doctor Tomorrow never had to deal with jokers like this."

[Lone Star]

"Yeah...the crazies tend to like me too. The Yellow Kings seem to have a thing for me. Oh! And this guy named The Collector thinks he's my arch-nemesis. Just a nut that steals art. But yeah." KC said. He looked at her, and kind of smiled to himself. She was kind of cute. He took a deep breath, and said it.

"Want to go out sometime?" and then he braced for impact.