Speed Freaks!(IC)

[tryrar]

As the sun wanes on this cool September day, it shines it's light on the centerpiece of shopping in Freedom, the Millennium Mall, surrounded by many other shops and restaurants. The hustle and bustle of families out shopping, friends just hanging out at the arcade together, teen girls squealing over the latest internet idol, and couples sharing a latte at the cafe is calming in its normalcy...however that calm is about to be shattered...

[JackgarPrime]

Indeed, it was a fine day. The nice transitional period between summer and Fall gives you the combination of bright sun and just enough wind to keep things reasonably cool. It was especially appreciated by one particular man walking about in the Mall area. It helped ease certain...issues he had with walking about. The figure is covered much more than most people, with a big blue denim jacket covering his entire upper body, looking rather thick for this time of year. He keeps his head down, blonde hair covering his eyes slightly, a slightly uncomfortable look on his face, as he takes what look to be very heavy steps.

[rpgronin]

Fidgeting impatiently as he wailed frantically at a pinball machine, Noah had suffered a rather dull Saturday day within the confines of Millennium Mall. He'd been here since ten, intent on meeting someone who was supposed to have shown up hours ago, much to Noah's chagrin that they apparently didn't even have the nerve to call to inform him they weren't coming. He was a little grumpy, to put it mildly, mashing the side buttons inside the arcade with equal parts fervor and furor. He'd even dressed to the nines - for a teenager, anyway - sporting his favorite pair of khakis and orange-and-white striped shirt, backpack full of school materials - and a little 'something extra' just in-case - for the impromptu date he was promised.

As the final silver ball rocketed its way beyond the flippers, Noah let out a groan, giving a dissatisfied glare at the large, flashing "You Lose!" message posted on the electronic scoreboard, his own score too low to even warrant being placed on the top twenty list.

"This sucks! You suck, pinball machine!" Ashley mentally chided, fishing around in his pockets for another quarter to no avail. With his only source of interested entertainment mocking him, Noah pulled out his cell phone and checked the time; it was getting late, and his mother was probably about ready with dinner. Another groan makes its rounds through the boy's throat, already sick to death of his mom's 'chickenless-spicy-chicken-salad.'

"I've still got a little time..." he thought, stuffing the phone back in its respective pocket. Shuffling out of the arcade and pushing his way gingerly through the crowd of people still mashing away, Noah began sauntering towards the center of Millennium Mall, eager to procure something other than another dose of greens-and-vegetables before he returned home. Perhaps one of those nice, overly-fried meat-on-a-stick things slathered in teriyaki sauce...

[tryrar]

Suddenly, alarms ring all throughout the mall! People look around in confusion, unsure whether this was a drill or not, when suddenly two blurs appear in the middle of the crowd, stopping suddenly to reveal two identical-looking men in tacky red-with-silver-trim spandex...holding shopping bags stuffed with cash! "You got the goods, Nitro?" "Yeah, I got the cash, Octane! Hey, lets hit the south side of the mall before we go, I spotted a nice jewelry store there with some big rocks. Maybe I can pick up some for Lisa..." "Heh, gonna finally pop the question to her?" "...Shut up! You know she's just an easy lay for me..." "Pphht. Don't give me that! You say that now, but man you've been sure giving her a lot of gifts..." "...Whatever. Let's just go, bro." With that, they zip off down the corridors towards the south side!

[JackgarPrime]

As the alarms go off, Victory can't help but grin. That usually means there's work to be done! And that's sure to give him an excuse to get off the ground. With a sudden burst of sound, the clothes covering his body explode off, torn open from the sudden explosion of hatches and jets! And as soon as they are off, so is the cyborg, blasting down towards the sounds of the crowd. Sure enough, that's where the action is. As soon as he gets there, he spots a pair of figures jetting away towards the south side. His grin grows wider, as he takes off after them, going so fast that the wind of his flight knocks the hats off the people in the crowd!

[rpgronin]

The sudden audio bombardment of alarms resonating throughout the mall surprised Noah, nearly jumping out of his skin at the ear-piercing electronic shrieks. Hands cupped over his ears as patrons whirl and look to and fro to locate the cause of the disturbance, Noah follows suit, peering about frantically, only to be greeted by a pair of bright streaks whirring by at tremendous, superhuman speeds!

"Well that was... totally unexpected."

As the duo come to a stop and exchanged their banter - and inexplicably flaunt their future plans about robbing - it soon became obvious as to who they were: nothing but super-fast thieves! Noah's face curled into a frown, and he knew it would be him who had to do something; after all, that's what a superhero is supposed to do! Ears still ringing, the young teen hero peered around, utilizing the distracted crowd to slink off some place more private; now grateful that he'd brought that 'something extra' with him: his costume. In a flash, Noah was in disguise, begoggled and sporting his typically tacky red hoodie, already a blur as he charged off towards the south side of Millennium Mall to intercept the would-be crooks.

"And I thought today was gonna be totally boring!"

[tryrar]

As Victory and Momentum race to intercept the two supercharged smash-and-grab artists, they are just in time to see them speed out of the store! "Heh, I think that's enough 'shopping' for one day, Nitro." "Yeah, better not push our luck, Octane. No doubt there are some heros already on their wa-" The one on the left-Nitro-spots the Victory and Momentum coming up fast! "Speak of the devil, there's two now! Let's jet!" The two crooks speed their way out the mall exit!

[JackgarPrime]

Just two little punks out for a smash n' grab, huh? Well, they're certainly fun for a chase, and that's what matters, as far as Victory's concerned. As he catches up, he's trying to be careful not to crash into any civilians. And, as a precaution, gets ready to switch to combat-maneuvers mode. But if he can just scoop 'em up in Pursuit mode ASAP, then all the better. He isn't aware of Momentum coming up just yet, however. He tends to get a bit of tunnel-vision when he's going after high-speed target. But if he knew, he'd sure appreciate any extra hand.

[rpgronin]

Blinking through his goggles as he tries to keep pace with the first pair of crooks, Momentum's eyes drift to another, much more awkward sight. There, with all sorts of weird gadgets and gizmo-deedly-dos, was some sort of bizarre robot-man, looking quite out of place even in comparison to the trio of young men in odd-ball costumes. Who was he? Was he with the crooks? It was hard to tell. For all he knew, this could just be some sort of really, really weird coincidence. On the other hand, it could be just as likely this was their "back-up plan" in-case something - or someone - were to interfere with the trio's escape plans.

"Hey!" Momentum cried, striving to keep pace with the zippy crew ahead of him, a streak of super-fast red as he went. "You can't just, like, go around taking stuff! Are you even listening?! Stop!"

[tryrar]

To Momentum's surprise, his challenge actually gets the pair to stop! as everyone grinds to a halt in the parking lot, the one on the right, Octane, looks over the two heroes and sneers. "And why not, little man? Why shouldn't we take what we should have? It's not like you are gonna stop us or anything!" His partner, Nitro, shares a similar look of contempt. "Heh, what he said! We've been dumped on for so long, when we got these powers we knew it was time for us to take what is rightfully ours!" He turns to Victory. Heh, you look like you need a polish, mister Rustbucket! What, you forgot your 100,000 mile maintenance check?" Octane turns to his brother. "Good one, bro!" He turns to Momentum. "It's not like you or Robotron 9000 could ever catch us anyways! We're the Turbo Twins! We're the fastest brothers alive! Now, I'd like to stick around and chat, but we got places to be, jewels to fence, so catch ya on the flip side!" The twins jet east, towards the heart of downtown!

[JackgarPrime]

Victory just gives the wise-cracking brothers a grin, as he goes to close the gap between them, his boosters roaring. "Kid, if I look rusty, it's only because you two are so full of hot air that I'm starting to oxydize!" He looks back and gives Momentum a glance and a nod, as if give him the sign to really kick it, as he blasts up to his full speed, now that he doesn't have to worry about the limits of an enclosed space.

[rpgronin]

Before Momentum has a chance to interject a swift one-liner to rebuff the twins proper, they're already off, their insults causing the boy's lower lip to curl in frustration as they zipped into the distance. They were nuts, obviously, and blinded by their own greed and superiority complexes. The duo might not be a hazard, but they were at least a menace in their current states. If nothing else, they'd certainly earned Noah's ire by calling him short!

Turning and acknowledging the older robot-man - but cringing at his terrible excuse for a sharp remark - Momentum follows suit, flooring it as fast as his kinetically-enhanced movements can take him as he streaks off like a bright red rocket towards the pair of crooks eager to make their escape.

"I'll show them fast! Jerks!"

[tryrar]

As the chase rockets through downtown, the brothers are pretty certain they've left our heroes in the dust. "Heh, hid you see the look on that bucket of bolt's face?" Yeah bro, I bet they don't even know where we ar-" Octane looks back and sees the heroes closing fast! Bro! The...the..THEY'RE ACTUALLY CATCHING UP TO US!!"WHAT?! Impossible! How can that be? We're the fastest dudes around! Grrrr...Move it Bro! Let's ditch them! You go North and I go South! We'll meet at the usual place when we lose these jokers!"

The Twins put on a burst of speed, and split up! What will the heroes do?

[JackgarPrime]

As the twins split up, Victory's visor flashes a quick series of displays, before it quiets again. He quickly shouts back to Momentum. "They're really moving, but I think that's all they got! We should be able to catch 'em both in no time! You follow the southern-bound, I'll head to the northern one!"

[rpgronin]

Zipping right along behind the pair of speedsters, Momentum's face was affixed with an amalgam of emotions. He was angry, he was frustrated, he was hungry; but mostly, he was angry and frustrated! As if things weren't bad enough, the pair of ne'er-do-wells thought it prudent to split-up! Typical, really. It's not like Noah was in a hurry to get home before he was grounded or anything.

"Whatever you say, robot-guy!" the hoodie-clad teen hero barked out from below whilst he and the mechanical man were still kept relatively in-pace. He was surprisingly unflinching about the existence of a giant, hulking metal man; but perhaps that's par for the course given all he's seen in the last three weeks in Freedom City.

Diverting his current course to compensate for the splitting of the two thugs and vagabonds, Momentum poured on the steam as he continued on in hot pursuit. It wasn't like he was going to let that short joke stand!

"Dude, I said stop!" he cried again as he closed the gap with the ever-persistent speedster. It was quite obvious this rather dapper-clad fellow wasn't going to have any of it though. If that's how it was going to be, that's how it had to be! As Momentum grew ever closer, he balled up a fist and hurled a blast of force at the speedy Nitro, his aim faltering due to the high-speed pursuit.

[JackgarPrime]

Victory turns on a dime, blasting his way down towards his foe. His rockets screech, before making a strange shifting noise as he readies his body to strike. Rearing his arm back, he speeds towards the punk, and lets loose. Unfortunately, the adjustment in booster power threw his punch off by a few centimeters, and, combined with the kid's no-doubt tiny brain, he ends up whiffing. However, he's now exactly above the thief, which may be even more worrying for the crook!

But even as he whiffs, now that he's so close, he produces a holographic AEGIS badge on the front of his visor, like a cop would flash theirs. "This is AEGIS! If you turn yourself in now, you might get a reduced sentence!"

[tryrar]

As Nitro burns his way south over the Pramas Bridge, He laughs at Momentum's poor aim. "HAH! What's the matter kid, sand in your eyes! My MAMA could aim better than that, and she's a blind old bat!" He continues his breakneck pace along State Route 4, quickly leaving the city in the dust as Momentum follows in pursuit!

Meanwhile, Octane motors across the Lindroos Bridge, burning northward at a fast rate... and narrowly dodges a viscous assault by Victory. When Victory tries to get him to surrender, he replies "Yeah right, and I'm a purple-assed baboon! Police, AEGIS, they're all the same! So come and get me, pig!" He continues pouring on the speed, intent on trying to get away at all costs!

[rpgronin]

Wincing at the equally terrible taunt, Momentum can't help but emulate a tinge of pain as the young super-speed mentally hurts with his horrible banter. It was just so bad. So very, very bad.

"Dude, that's... that's just sad. Has to be the worst taunt I've heard since I got here!" Momentum chided back, still keeping pace despite beads of sweat forming on his brow.

Cocking another fist back, Ashley lets loose with another blast of rippling red kinetic energy as he bolts along, weaving through obstacles in stride with his just-as-quick counterpart.

[JackgarPrime]

Trying repeated blows at this speed may not be the best continuous strategy. Especially since the perp is just trying to get as far away as possible. Well, there's his first goal right there: Stop the movement. Looking ahead for a moment to see what was coming up, Victory goes to make his move. "The same? Not quite. Remember: AEGIS is a shield, first and foremost!"

With a quick bit of acceleration, he shifts, his incredibly rapid acceleration pushing him to weave right in front of the young criminal, putting himself less than inches in front, bracing his body to serve as a living wall.

[tryrar]

Somewhere in upper New York State, Victory and Octane race neck and neck...until Victory pulls ahead just enough to put him in front of Octane-then he stops completely! Octane, thrown off guard by this maneuver, has only time for a "WHAT THE FU..." before he slams full force into Victory! Octane bounces off, skips across the ground for a few yards, and comes skittering to a halt, where he gets up, swaying on his feet a little and seeing stars. "Damn man, what the hell are you made of?!" He says, a little woozily. Victory, on his part, also sees stars for a moment, though he shakes it off.

Meanwhile, south and west of Freedom City, Nitro and Momentum push speed to the limit as they blur past cities, towns and scenery in their high-speed duel! Momentum tries another Kinetic blast, but misses again as Nitro easily dodges! "Kid, I think you should quit while you're ahead, I could keep this up all day! You'll never hit me!" They continue to race across America at breakneck speed!

[rpgronin]

Growing ever impatient as the duo dueled across the borders of here-and-there at ridiculous speeds, Momentum conceded that the fellow had a point. At such velocities, it was unlikely he'd hit anything if ever that he actually took aim at. If he could just get this guy to turn around and face him mano-a-mano, maybe he could beat some sense into him the old fashioned way...

"All day, huh? That's not what she said!" the behooded boy quipped back, childish as ever in his taunts about whoever the heck 'she' was as he continued racing along after the perpetrator. All it took was a good goading, Noah pondered, and he'd be on level footing to bring this speedy freak down!

[JackgarPrime]

Even after bracing himself, the impact at that speed was still quite hard. He managed to stay up straight, but it still jarred him ever so. In the back of his mind, he's hoping that the suit recorded the impact, as it will be great as a stress test for the guys back at R&D. But even with the pain of the impact, he stays strong, folding his arms across his chest with a huge, heroic (or at least he thinks so) grin on his face.

As the kid reels and asks his slightly-fuddled (due to the impact) question, he leans forward in his hover, getting the boosters ready in all his joints. "Sorry, kid. That's a state secret!" Off he rockets, but not straight ahead. The kid's quick, so he'll do this the smart way. Using his maneuver verniers in quick, alternating succession, Victory darts back and forth, while moving forward, the rockets in his arm gearing up. He moves like a blur, seeming to be everywhere at once, like a big wall of flickering silver coming towards him, when he finally connects. The big, metal fist roars forward, slamming into the thief's skull, the speed of the punch moving with a greater propulsion than the rocket of a space shuttle, and all right square in the cheek. Even as he hits, he gets ready to move again. Because that little jerk's gonna go FLYING!

[tryrar]

Octane doesn't even get a chance for a reply before Victory's fist connects to his face, sending him rocketing away at high speed! He doesn't fly far, however, before Victory zooms past his unconscious body and catches him. That's one down!

Meanwhile, somewhere on the Great Plains, Momentum and Nitro continue their warp-speed chase! When Momentum tries to goad Nitro into attacking him, Nitro only laughs. "Kid, I think you have a career in comedy, cause that was just gold! Though, if your aim was to get me mad, instead of make me laugh, then that was just pathetic." Nitro continues his blazing run across the center of the country!

[rpgronin]

"That's what... she said?" the young teen hero replied again, this time more dry than in a vain attempt at goading. This was getting ridiculous! Momentum didn't even know where he was anymore! Drenched in sweat, thoroughly annoyed, and progressively growing more and more impatient as the situation wound on for what felt like forever, his brow creased below his goggles as he kept stride with the quick-witted and quick-footed thief.

"But seriously, guy. Just give it up or whatever!" Noah pleaded, already readying another blast of raw kinetic energy. "You're gonna make me late for dinner!"

[JackgarPrime]

With his swift catch, Victory was already starting to go back into the direction of Freedom City. But, he realized that at the speeds they were moving the other two could be anywhere. As he starts going, he makes a check-in with HQ. "Dispatch, this is Victory. I got the first perp, but I lost track of the other one and the third speeder. Did you get a lock on them while we were still grouped?" He listens, the kid under his arm very much done for the day. He'll have to remember to drop him off at Freedom City Police Station on the way back, where AEGIS will pick them up later. And on his way back, the base starts to send him the details on the trajectory of the other two, and makes ready to help out with the rest of the chase.