Dog Fight (IC)

[JackgarPrime]

GM

Northbound on Route 6, heading into Freedom City

Another afternoon goes by, with a great many people making their way in and out of the city. The skies are clear, but fall is in full bloom, so the trees are vibrant oranges and yellows. As a leaf falls, it finds its way on to the windshield of an armored truck, making its deliveries into the city. It wasn't clear what company this truck was working for, however, as it was completely white. But it was quite large, to be sure. And it was doing its best to get wherever it was going as fast as possible, weaving through traffic, although certainly not at any insane speeds. But it did imply a bit of a rush....

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel had started an early patrol today; he wanted a bit of extra sleep, so a head start on his evening route didn't seem out of order. It was a good way to get "back in the groove", as some might say.

Suddenly, he noticed the truck barreling down the road.

"What in the world?"

He took flight from his perch on a rooftop, quickly matching speed with the vehicle, and attempting to discern what might be going on...

[JackgarPrime]

While the truck makes its way along, Victory flies, far above, keeping an eye on the truck far below. He was instructed to accompany it on its way into the city. Although he has no idea why, exactly, he assumes that whatever the truck was carrying was safe on its way. It was a pretty big armored truck, much larger than the normal bank ones, so it could attract itself some attention.

And it seems it does, as Victory spots a figure watching it. Keeping a note of that, he keeps an eye on him, just in case...

[Electra]

Theoretically, Miss Americana was on patrol, using her afternoon off to keep the streets and skies of Freedom City safe from evildoers of all sorts. And she was doing that, sort of. In reality, she was devoting most of her time to goofing off in the sky, making elaborate and precisely calculated loops and spirals, popping in and out of clouds and skimming the tops of buildings. It was wonderful to feel so free, so unbound in the wide open sunwashed sky. It was easy to forget about everything back down on the ground, just for a few minutes.

She paused in her antics when they took her near a familiar flying figure sharing her airspace. Angling herself in his direction, she headed over to greet Victory. "Hello!" she called genially. "Fancy meeting you here!"

[JackgarPrime]

While Victory normally keeps himself quite alert, he was spending so much of his attention down below that hearing someone talk him cordially this high up caught him a bit off-guard. He was expecting engine roars or explosions maybe, but not someone to come up and say hi. He turns his attention over to Miss A with a smile, and a casual salute.

"Hey there! Out on patrol,too? Or just out for a joyride, as it were?" He wouldn't want his superiors to know, but he's done his share of for-fun swooping and spinning when he was supposed to be patrolling.

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman flicked several switches as he exploded forth out of the Wading river in his airship, water sloughing off the egg-shaped green graft like waves off duck's back. A casual snap of the steering wheel, and the Pitchoo was spinning as it moved, cartwheeling across the skies.

"Turbulence!" he whooped, as he hit a big red button to cut out the engine, plummeting down between the skyscrapers. At the very last possible second, he hit the power once more, the controls lighting up in a spray of technicolour sparks. He pulled up inches from a hot dog cart and continued on at full speed, looking down across the city and all the superheroes flying around, whistling a merry tune as he quit mucking around and started patrolling.

[Electra]

"Can't it be both?" Miss A asked with a laugh, turning a graceful midair flip. "Isn't flying the most amazing feeling in the universe? Sometimes it's hard to make myself go back to the ground. And, of course," she added, her lovely features assuming a mock-serious mien, "it's the best way to keep an eye on the peace and Tranquility of Freedom City. What brings you out this afternoon. Looks like you were watching something specific?" she guessed.

[JackgarPrime]

GM

In the woods surrounding the highway, a group of figures, 4 on each side of the highway, keep their eyes on the large armored truck. When it gets to a more open spot, with fewer cars around it, one of them gives a move signal, and in a flash, 8 armored figures burst out of the woods, rocketing towards the truck from both sides. The armors had the numbers 1-8 on them, and the one labelled "1" took front from the ones on the eastern side.

1: "NOW! Get the parts out and let's move!"

2-8: "ROGER!"

They move quickly, and begin to bear down on the truck in short time!

[JackgarPrime]

Victory smiles wide, nodding. "You won't find anyone who agrees with that more than me. That's why I became a pilot in the first place. There's no rush that even compares." Victory does a quick spin, the boosters propelling him causing a spiraling trail behind him, and re-aligns. "I thought flying a jet was intense, but it's nothing next to being up here without having to be inside a vehicle." The two fly a bit further, before he speaks again. "Anyway, I'm here on protection. There's a..." As he speaks, a commotion from down below grabs his attention, and his face grows serious. "...speak of the devil." Looking over, he nods to Miss A. "Looks like you were in the right place at the right time....let's go!" And he moves in a flash, heading down into the sudden confusion.

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel had let himself gain a bit of altitude as the truck kept rolling without causing any accidents. He was actually not far from peeling off and heading back when the armored figures burst onto the scene. Soon after, another figure came roaring in, looking to intercept them. Our hero in white followed suit, rapidly dropping altitude as he narrowed his eyes.

"You gentlemen in the armor should back off! This can't end well for you otherwise!"

His voice boomed out, perhaps louder than one thinks it ought to be...

[Electra]

"See? Patrolling like this really does work!" With a melodious laugh, Miss A turned in the air and followed Victory downward, a sleek bullet of red, white and blue. "Though if I didn't know better, I'd say you'd been waiting for this to happen!" Turning her attention to the would-be robbers, she called out "Stop where you are! You won't be getting away with anything today!" With two... no, three heroes, she realized, seeing the third figure approaching the van, surely they were more than a match for any group of armed thugs.

[Ecalsneerg]

Suddenly, the Pitchoo's radar started emitted a low whine. <> "Oh, shut up," scowled the wall-crawling wonder, pressing 'mute' as he started banking down towards the suits converging on the truck. "Nice shinies... it'd be a shame to have to scratch them up."

But even as he said it, the laser cannon turrets dropped free from their housing on the ships's underside, electrical cannons folding out with a low HISSSSS, and Geckoman let his feet stick to the floor so he could keep his balance.

[JackgarPrime]

GM

Almost as soon as they make their move, the Power Corps. are set upon by a whopping 4 heroes...quite a few more than they expected. They knew that they'd run into Victory, considering their target, and there are always one or 2 capes just making the rounds, even out here...but 4 is more than they were counting on. But still...it could be much worse.

They turn in a circle formation, facing their foes, as Number 1 addresses them, sending orders through their comms.

Number 1: "7,8, to the white one...3 and 6, get the fly boy....2 and 5, the woman...4 and I will get that....extremely gaudy plane...On my mark...."

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman's eyes narrowed as the flying suits came at him. "Computer, switch all controls to manual," he said, pulling the lever to send the Pitchoo into a diving spin. "And get me targetting!"

As the Pitchoo came level once more, targetting reticules coming up holographically over the front windows, the computer spoke up once more. <>

At which point he squeezed a button on the control levers, shooting off a burst of electrical energy even as the Pitchoo swept upwards into the sky, spinning like a falcon in flight and moving even faster.

[JackgarPrime]

GM

Once Number 1 gave the word, 4 pairs of suits went rocketing away from the center, each pair going for one of each of the heroes. Unfortunately for Number 1, his paired-up teammate gets shot down as soon as the battle begins, zapped by the jet's guns, and plummeting to the ground below, thankfully missing a car, which swerves just out of the way in time to not crash into the smoking villain. Number 1 doesn't take too kindly, and focuses his attack to try and smash the plane up, but Geckoman's piloting skills prove superior, and the Corps. leader just gets a big ol' whiff.

His other teammates don't fare much better. They all go rocketing at their assigned heroes, their blows coming forth in an impressive display of synchronization, but to no avail. Victory and Gabriel were too quick, as they were ready for the squad's telegraphed attack, with 4 fists hitting nothing but air.

Numbers 2 and 5, however, hit home, their blows smashing against the brightly-colored heroine, Miss A. For a moment, they're confident that they would've taken her down with a hit like that, but she proves tougher than they thought, and their fists simply make a loud CLANG, and wrinkle up her costume a bit, but otherwise they get nothing out of it...and 2 braces for the counterattack she knows must be coming....

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel quirks an eyebrow as he easily dodges the blows from 7 and 8.

"All that high-tech armor, and you throw punches? Kind of disappointing, don't you think? Here, try this on for size."

In a blur and an unnatural *hum*, Gabriel flies backwards a good 50 feet, raising one hand and pointing it at #8. He clenches his fist and "punches" the air; a sphere of rippling, compressed sonic energy leaps forward, rushing at the armored thug.

[Electra]

Miss A smiled broadly at her two assailants, her smile sharp and bright as the edge of a blade. "Oh my," she said with mock disappointment, "you didn't really think you were going to hurt me, did you? That's so sad. You really should've stayed home today." She threw out her hands like a magician about to perform a trick and blasted both hapless villains with her red, white and blue laser beams, one with each hand!

[JackgarPrime]

Victory, too, has a smile on his face as his foes attacked, as, to him, they practically were moving in slow-motion, even at a speed that would be impressive to normal people. As they rocket toward victory, he seems to vanish right before their eyes as they whiff, leaving only a faint trail of energy behind. Before the can look up, Number 6 goes plummeting to the ground, a fist in his place. The armored criminal makes a nice, big crater in the ground, just missing the highway. As Number 3 turns to see what had happened, a jet-propelled foot meets him right in the face, and he finds himself fading out of consciousness, hurtling far, far off into the distance, Victory being sure that said distance is as far from the city as possible. A smirk on his face, he dusts off his hands and turns to help the other heroes....just to see that they're not exactly struggling, either....

[Ecalsneerg]

"Too slow," grinned Geckoman as he effortlessly darted across the controls, fingertips flying like a man possessed. The whole ship looped to avoid the leader's punch, and then plummeted down past the Power Corps leader at a terrifying rate, turrets swivelling as he did so.

Firing blindly, because the targetting was on the front, not the rear view, Geckoman spun a dial to pump an extra 35% power into the cannons, and shot them both simultaneously at the flying suit. "Yee-haw!"

[JackgarPrime]

GM

Number 1 seems to prove Geckoman at least slightly wrong as he skillfully dodges the laser fire, moving towards the ship as he does, with a barrel roll every now and then as the fire rains...up at him. As he goes down, he notices how quickly their numbers have diminished, and sends some sort of signal to Number 8 through their comm.

He nods, and, while it looks like Number 1 was trying to follow the jet down to attack it, he swerves away, and smashes a big hole in the side of the truck! Number 8, moving quickly, flies in front of the hole and braces himself, not wanting to let any of the heroes through. Number 2, knocked for a serious loop, falls back down towards the highway, as she tries to get her head back together.

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel frowned as the remaining Power Corps members moved towards the truck. He adjusted his course, closing some of the distance, and bringing up his hand to fire another concentrated bolt of sonic energy. He then called out to the others.

"I've got the one guarding the door! You should go after the one inside the truck!"

[Electra]

Miss Americana did not like leaving jobs half-done, or shoddily done. It just wasn't her nature. So when she saw the villain she'd belted start to get up without a scratch on her, that was very disappointing. It was a situation that had to be rectified immediately, before her failure to properly dispatch the unsavory character led to someone else getting hurt. Flying down low over the street, she blasted the lucky villain twice, once with the laser beams of each hand, determined that this time she would ensure her own handiwork.

[JackgarPrime]

After he finishes with the scum he fights, Victory catches the end of the Power corps. little fake-out (or whatever it is they're trying to do), and Gabriel blasting one of them. The body is taking up the hole's space, and not letting anyone else in. Moving fast, he blasts over to the truck, right in front of Gabriel.

"Excuse me a moment."

he reaches in and pulls the body out and looks in. Seeing inside the truck, he catches Number 1 getting ready to blast out the other side, briefcase in hand. Shouting up to the jet, he hopes that the pilot inside can hear him. "Get on the other side! We'll trap him! But don't shoot the truck!"

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman nodded to the flying guy, twisting the controls as he plummeted down to level out beside the moving truck, on the side that hadn't a huge hole in it. "Now... to trap a crazy guy in shiny armour!" He hit a big green button on the dashboard, while holding down a shiny pink one underneath it.

The door slid across the side of the hull, leaving the Pitchoo wide open to lure the Power Corps member into if and when he burst out.

[JackgarPrime]

GM

As the heroes move into position to intercept the Power Corps.' leader, he thinks quickly, and sees one of his avenues of escape was gone, and from the sounds of it, a second was blocked as well. No matter. There are still plenty of other directions! Grabbing an expensive-looking briefcase in lieu of any of the giant metal boxes, he rockets out of the truck, blasting through the back, heading out at full speed. He knows he can't possibly outrun them, but if he can stay away from their grasp for long enough....