Get The Wrecking-Ball Rolling (IC)

[Shockwasp]

It's an old cliche that appearances can be deceiving, like a comic with a short, hairy, Canadian hero on it who doesn't technically appear in the issue, or a bright sunny day holding a cool autumn chill. Freedom City resided in the latter on that day, its citizens bundled up for the cold winter months ahead. One individual in the city, however, wore more than just a coat. The people around him, acclimated to superheroes and mutants of all shades, barely noticed the metal sheen of his skin, or the heavy metal sphere on the end of his arm... at least until he starts swinging it around.

The quiet, everyday routine of the upscale district is quite suddenly interrupted by an explosion of brick and mortar. Standing in the center of the clearing dustcloud was the man known as Wrecking-Ball, his namesake embedded in the building beside him. "Yeh uppity fatcat scumbags!" He shouted at the fleeing crowd through his thick accent, "Sitten high on th' hog while th' people 'round yeh starve!" Cursing the wealth and power that they possessed, the Geordie took a couple of passing swings at panicked individuals running past, before turning his attention back to the building, apparently intent on tearing it down.

Police and emergency crews made their way towards the scene, but as always, the first to arrive were the supers.

[Raveled]

Ironclad was patrolling the city, sensors scanning the ground for trouble while she listened to the police band with one ear. She couldn't miss a sudden plume of dust and debris from near the city's center. She banked in the air, pouring on an extra bit of speed until she was over the scene of destruction. "Hey down there," she shouted, cupping one hand to her helmet, roughly where her mouth would be. "If you want to get in on demolition in this city, I suggest you apply for a job before giving a demonstration." She aimed her wrist blasters more-or-less straight down and let off a powerful blast, aiming to take this upstart down in one hit.

[Geez3r]

In between the swings of the giant wrecking ball, a white streak made its way through the streets, and suddenly many of the citizens who were unlucky enough to be on the street when Wrecking-Ball attacked found themselves a few blocks away from where the scene was developing. The white streak slowed itself to reveal Dynamo, one of the city's premier speedsters on the scene. "Hey how you doin' there broshka? Really? That's fantastic now." continued Dynamo, not waiting for a reply. "But if you're really worried about the common man, don't waste tax payer money by breaking stuff!" shouts Dynamo as he charges forward to deck Wrecking Ball with a vibrofist.

[Shockwasp]

Within moments, the surrounding area is cleared of civilians by the white and red blur of a certain speedster. Wrecking-Ball turned to face this supersonic man speaking to him, and sees his fist traveling very quickly towards him. The violent Englishman, acting on his old reflexes as a boxer, is just able to sidestep Dynamo's punch... exposing himself for Ironclad's blast, which collides with his own metal back, knocking him a step forward. "Feh! Like yeh have room t' talk, yeh backstabbin' supes!" Sneering, he turns, points his arm, and fires the heavy metal orb at the end of his wrist at the offending heroine, retracting it back into his arm by a heavy chain.

[Geez3r]

"Hey I resent that remark! If you'll consult the Interceptors by laws, you'll clearly see that Jack of All Blades handles the Stabpunching. I get enough guff from him as is, I don't need him thinking I'm horning in on his shtick too." warned Dynamo. "How 'bout you try this on for size!" Dynamo streaks off down the block, and running up buildings. He builds a charge in his body as he runs, growing in intensity until his whole arm is alight with crackling electricity when he returns from the opposite direction a few seconds later. "Hrrah!" roars Dynamo as he tosses the powerful, but not necessarily accurate lighting bolt like an ordinary person would throw a cinder block.

[Raveled]

Ironclad tried to dodge the attack shooting her way, but the overpowered blast she had unleashed made her sluggish in the air and it caught her high in the chest. She rebounded from it and managed to stay aloft, though her head was spinning. She flashed back to her first real super-powered encounter, when a drunk on a hover-board had shot up a parade float. At least this time I didn't fall, she thought to herself. A moment later, though, she descended carefully to the ground, rerouting power from her wrist blasters to the field generators in her gauntlets. A subtle, buzzing glow surrounded her hands, the atoms in the air rent apart by the power she held. The heroine waited until the super-fast hero had struck, then dashed in and tried to land her own blow. With luck, a few strikes like this would soften the target up, to the point where he'd go down to a few more barrages.

[Shockwasp]

The bolt of electricity whizzed by Wrecking-Ball as he charged to meet Ironclad, exploding at his feet. The metal hulk's momentum continued even as he was struck in the face by her armored fist, and its effects began to drain his strength, and before she could resist, the heroine was held tight in his heavy metal arm, his heavy weight poised at the ready. Gritting his teeth, Wrecking-Ball turned towards Dynamo, holding his combat companion before him as a human shield. "Dun move, cape, or eh snap 'er 'ead off!"

[Geez3r]

Dynamo's eyes hardened into a glare as Wrecking Ball grabbed IronClad. "You have no idea who you're dealing with. I'm taking you down, now!" And then suddenly, Dynamo was gone. He put on a burst of speed, far surpassing his previous exploits by orders of magnitude. In the space between seconds, Dynamo had closed the distance between him and Wrecking Ball, and began hitting every single square inch of Wrecking Ball that he could get to. Punches, kicks, elbows, knees, didn't matter. If it could be used, Dynamo used. He pushed his body its normal limits, doing everything in his power to end this fight right now, cursing himself for not having done this in the first place.

[Shockwasp]

The speedster was on Wreck before he could respond. His metal body clanged and dented as he was pummeled by blow after blow. A strong hit to the jaw knocked him back, and he lost his grip on Ironclad. This, however, did not stop Dynamo. Closing the distance instantly, he continued his relentless barrage, knocking him back with each blow, back against the wall. Finally, the attacks ceased, and the metal-skinned criminal collapsed onto the pavement.

[Raveled]

Ironclad was dragged back with Wrecking Ball, and she was almost dragged down onto him as he fell. She managed to pull away, though, and stumbled a few feet away before she got her feet planted and turned to Dynamo, rotating her shoulder and feeling the bruises from the villain's ball-shot. She offered the speedster her hand, making sure to power down her disruptor field before she did so. "Thanks for the assist," she said. "I go by Ironclad." She jerked her head at the defeated super-criminal. "And idea on this one?"

[Geez3r]

Dynamo stands over the fallen Wrecking Ball for a moment, breathing a little heavy to catch his breath. He broke into a smile when he saw Iron Clad wasn't any worse for wear. "Hey, no problem! You'd a done the same thing for me." called Dynamo happily. He strode over and shook Iron Clad's hand firmly, even if she couldn't feel it through the armor. "Pleasure working with ya." Following her gaze, he shook his head. "Not a clue. Figured he just woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. Since we don't want that happening again, why don't we see to it that he gets a new one in Blackstone? Got a radio in that thing to let FCPD know we got one for 'em?"

[Raveled]

"I'm sure plenty of folks have called the police already," she said, "but we can do this." The heroine went to one knee next to the villain, cupping the man's face and turning it to face her full-on, then looking at it in profile. She blink-clicked two pictures, arranging into into a rough mugshot using a program already on her armor. While the composite image was compiling, she accessed the FCPD public website and logged in with a special account, limited to the cape and cowl set. She shot off the mugshot and her location, appending a note that the perp was down for the count.

Ironclad had performed the entire procedure with only her eyes, blink-clicking through menus and operations almost as fast as she could have done with her hands. She found that people looked at her funny when she waved her hands in the air; though, the heroine hadn't considered what it would look like to freeze for several minutes while she worked in the privacy of her helmet. Unawares, she stood and stretched, wincing at the bruise she could feel forming where that huge iron ball had hit her. "The police have been updated. The paddy wagon should be here for Mister Social Commentary before long." The heroine turned her head a bit, focusing past Dynamo to the wreckage the villain had crated before they had intervened. She slowly scanned the debris; it was just possible that there was a civilian trapped under all that rubble, and Ironclad had to be sure.

[Geez3r]

Dynamo just kind of stood there for a moment while Iron Clad did her thing. And then he promptly got quite bored. He assumed she was doing something in that helmet of her's and didn't just fall asleep or suddenly decide to ignore him. Therefore the "shut up Zippy" reflex kicked in and Dynamo just let her do her thing. He did however go through the streets and start cleaning everything up. He got some of the smaller pieces of debris out of the way, got some cones and caution tape up to make sure others were aware of what had transpired. This was Freedom City though, people came to expect stuff like this. "Alrighty. We just need to hang out until they get here in case Mr. Sunshine hear comes too."

[Shockwasp]

Dynamo had indeed managed to clear out all the civilians in the area, though Ironclad does notice someone watching the goings-on from one of the other nearby buildings. After a moment, he turns, and walks away from the window, and presumably back to his own business.

The police took almost no time at all to arrive, and within minutes, Wrecking-Ball was restrained (quite heavily, in fact) and dragged into the back of a police car... which sagged heavily on that side as the weighty man was dragged in. Approaching the heroes, one of the officers nodded, smiling a bit. "Thank you both for your help, and for getting the civilians out of the way. This guy could've done a lot of damage if you two hadn't shown up." Turning, he looked at the taped-off damage. "Yeah, might be a bit of work, but that should be fixed up in no time. To be honest, we expected at least one building downed by Wrecking-Ball's little rampage. This is a pleasant surprise."

[Raveled]

Ironclad touched a finger to where her hairline would be if her helmet wasn't a featureless mask. She saluted the police and emergency workers, making sure to stand up a little straighter in their presence. "It's all in a day's work, officer." She looked down at Wrecking Ball. "So this one's a repeat offender, is he? Did he get out when the Grue invaded? I would what special precautions are in place for him?"

The gears started turning in the young woman's head; presented with a straightforward problem, she couldn't help herself. "You'd have to separate him from that iron ball at a minimum, but how to counter that strength? Maybe increase the effect of gravity on him? Could it be done to an entire level of Blackstone?"

Ironclad blinked and came back to herself, remembering who she was talking to. That's right, Jessica, she though to herself, take a big helping of your own foot. "I'm sorry," she said to the police officer. "I didn't mean to be a, ah, armchair warden."

[Geez3r]

Dynamo just chuckled. "Anytime officer." he added with a smile and a nod. He was a lot more laid back than Iron Clad, or at least acting like it. "It probably would have been worse, but we got on scene pretty much as soon as he started acting out. I over heard it on a police scanner, and 'Clad here was in the midst of blasting him when I showed up on site. I got the crowd out while 'Clad here keep lead-for-brains busy." continued Dynamo as he brought the officer up to speed. "Before we smacked him down, he was going off on a rant about the "fat cats" keeping the lower class down or some such. Seemed intent on bringing that building down. Is that his usual MO?"

[Shockwasp]

The officer chuckled a bit at 'Clad's suggestions, and the subsequent realization and apology. "Don't worry, we've got him, and we'll be sure to alien-proof his cell this time." He joked, trying to ease the girl's tension a bit. Turning his head towards Dynamo, he nodded. "Good teamwork. The paramedics will have to check everyone over before they go, of course. Personally, I'd just let 'em all go home, but, to be honest, I'm already in a bit of trouble for ignoring protocol as it is." A single brick falling out of the hole in the building punctuates the speedster's next question. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like him. Though it's a little surprising to see him get this far up-town before losing his cool. He's normally quite the hothead."

[Raveled]

Ironclad cocked her head to one side, listening to the police officer. "Really? You usually find him closer to Blackstone?" She took a few steps towards the devastated area, going over the visuals more carefully now. "That would suggest a team-up between the one we grabbed and someone else." The superheroine abruptly began floating, drifting a foot or so above the ground, examining the area carefully. If Wrecking Ball was ferried in via truck or car, there should be some clues left. "Officer, could I have the assistance of a few uniforms? This could be the precursor to something big."

[Geez3r]

"Uh yeah dude. Don't mean to horn in or nothing, but casing the city looking for clues. It's kind of my deal." said Dynamo slowly. "And I'm sure the police have better thing to do than wander around the city looking for some vaguely defined clue. I've got nothing but time." added Dynamo. "So hold the fort for a sec, I'll see if I can get something to turn up." said Dynamo before he rocketed through the city streets, using one of his more common search patterns. Vince had made him run simulations of finding stuff inside the city, and even occasionally aboard. Things sort of fell into a pattern after the first couple of times he had done it.