You're My Butterfly (IC)

[Sandman XI]

Back in the 60s Samantha Cline was the villainous Luna Moth. She didn't somuch as terrorize Freedom City as much as she gave it an eye full of sex appeal while taking it for everything she could. Still she was a villain, a villain with an obsession for being the fairest of them all. Before they caught her back in the early eighties, she was finding her once needed gadgets were not needed anymore. The pheromones she used had seeped into her body causing her to be transformed into a literal butterfly! This took a toll on her sanity. She didn't want to become some horror sideshow freak! She wanted to be beautiful! They eventually caught her when, in a most odd revelation, she stripped down to show the world what Samantha Cline had become. Bug eyes, antennae, and actual wings of a butterfly. She was half crazed in her grief and endangered the lives of many people by using her newly developed spores to snatch them up into the air and drop them into the river. She was eventually talked down by the one man who she longed for all her villainous life. The Raven. The Raven suggested she not be put in prison, but under observation in Providence Asylum. There she has stayed until this day.

Recently though, she has began to stir again. Much of her lamented looks gone due to the transformation, she is getting old also. This has drove her deeper into depression, that was until she met one of the new guards. A beautiful young woman named Liane Sorkin was her guard. And, while the power dampeners in the cell blocked Samantha's spore powers and limited her flight some, She had developed something... interesting. She saw Liane as a more than just a guard, she also smelled something different about her. It was her beauty? It smelled delicious! She wanted to drain Liane of everything the beauty possessed. And she would get her chance soon. When Liane came to escort Samantha out of her cell for cleaning and recreation is when it happened. before Liane could put Samantha in her shackles, she grabbed Liane ant kissed her. Liane tried to fight it, but it was useless. She was eventually left a catatonic mess. Samantha was different again. She was her young beautiful non bugged self! Not taking too long to marvel, she escaped her cell and flew off into the night. No one has seen her since.

[Sandman XI]

Samantha had all the powers of Luna Moth with none of the gadget or bug baggage. Truly, she thought she was free. After spending almost thirty years in a mental institution, she was going to grab the world by the balls and have fun again. Her first appearance after her escape was appearing at a small pageant in the park. Taking her cue from Lady Godiva, she entered the competition herself... sans clothing. Surely she was the most beautific out of these homegrown normal humans! And she would prove it. When people protested her garish behaviour, they were quickly bathed in spores. They no longer paid attention to the obvious problem. And the pageant continued normally until...

[Flare Knight]

Tim, the man who was called Powerhouse in his actual look, sitting in a park eating a turkey and dressing- he loved Thanksgiving, just for the dressing and the leftovers after the day itself- sandwich. The reason he was in the park wasn't for the girls at the Pageant, despite what most people would say the man was here for, he had actually been eating lunch and enjoying his hour off. He ate at the park a lot, because it was bright and quiet, usually, or quiet enough that the birds didn't bug him. So when the screaming began, he had just taken a bite out of his Sandwich. He gave a blank stare at pageant contestants and judges as they ran by, then calmly ate his sandwich some more. Eventually, the flood of people stopped, about the time he finished his sandwich, and he stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. "Alright, let's go see what's up." He said, grinning, as he began to walk, only to realize he was wearing his normal clothing. Being a superhero and remembering he couldn't be a Superhero when dressed as himself was annoying. Grabbing the bag that held his clothing and looking around carefully, he spotted a bathroom pavillion, and walked over to it. Checking to make sure that no one was watching him enter the building, he entered the men's side of the building, found a vacant stall, then began his changing.

It only took a few seconds, and Powerhouse stood in the potty where Tim had been, his Tim clothing in the closed bag. Opening it and stepping out, he locked eyes with a 8 year old who had been in line. There was silence for a moment, then Powerhouse raised a hand in greeting. The kid shrugged and walked into the vacated stall. Powerhouse shrugged and walked out of the building, then aimed to where the people had been running from. He didn't want to over-shoot his leaping, so he ran instead, at a pace fast enough that professional runners might have only been able to keep up for short bursts, towards where he knew the pageant would be.

As he finished his approach and slid to a stop near the stage, his instinct quickly over took him and he closed his eyes and put his hand in front of his face at the appearance of the woman, his cheeks flushed red. So she wasn't wearing anything, that was juuuust great. Even better, she was obviously the person who was causing the ruckus and it made him even more uncomfortable at her wings and such."Put some clothing on please!" He said to the winged woman in an exasperated voice. "Also, I'm gonna have to put you under Citizen's Arrest for Public Nudity and Assault. There's a law whose name I forget that says that I, as a Superhero, am allowed to put you under arrest without your rights." He explained, still looking away from her. "So please put on something, and come down peacefully."

[Sandman XI]

Tonight was gonna be busy for Knight's Ink. After all the mad shopping and travelling was done, the shop would be full of new and old alike. This is why he decided to give him and his crew a few hours before work started. To mentally prepare themselves.Wesley decided to wing it over the city as Knight in his sparetime. This time he was over the park. Such a serene place. It was hard to keep an eye out for trouble when he was looking at the beautiful scenery. Though unfortunately, his serenity came to a sudden stop when he saw the pageant area. It looked normal at first but then he noticed there was a naked woman with butterfly wings and people that that looked... comfortably numb? What kind of pageant was this? Swooping down, he found that another hero was trying to take matters into his own hands. When Wesley landed, he could see why the other guy was flustered. The woman was gorgeous. "What's this all about," he said in a stern tone.

[Sandman XI]

Luna Moth was too busy soaking in the praise of her followers to notice that a few had escaped. But escape they did, alerting one Powerhouse. By the time he got there, the audience and other contestants were obliviously struck by her magnificence and less obviously by the spores in the air. She smiled when Powerhouse spoke to her. "A superhero, huh," she put on her best Marylin Monroe voice, clasping her wings into a gossamer thin dress around herself and slowly walking towards him, "Well you'd be the perfect type of judge? Though you shouldn't take my rights away," she said entering his personal space as her wings quivered, "That wouldn't be fair, would it?" And then a second person was on the scene. She stepped back from Powerhouse and looked to the new guy. "Looks like you guys are falling out of the sky," she chuckled, "Don't be so mad. This one got here before you. You can come next time."

[Flare Knight]

Bothering to look through his fingers with a barely open eye- he was foolish like that- Powerhouse was glad when the woman had, somehow, put a dress on from her wings- as much as it was less a dress and more of a flaunting through a barely hidden idea. Of course, it didn't make him feel much better, but you work with what you had to go on, and she was close enough that he couldn't really turn his back on her or avert his eyes- she was a super villain, which meant bad things would happen if he did that- when she was standing right in front of him, so he uncovered his eyes and wished he was a bit taller so he could pull the 'looking down from above' judgment thing. He took for standing straight up and looking her square in the eye instead. "I can't judge you, there's no other contestants. You judge based on all the people, don't you? So really, you can't win. Also, you still have to go to jail, you committed crimes. If you wanted to compete in the Pageant thing, you should have signed up like all the other contestants." He explained, slowly, because it seemed like she didn't really understand what he was talking about, so it was his duty to explain to her, carefully, what he meant, maybe she was a bit strange in the head, so he'd just have to be very careful in his wordings.

[Sandman XI]

"You can't say that, darling," Luna Moth smirked, stepping towards Powerhouse again, "Sure they're not as good as me, but they are there." She looked over to Knight. She was unsure of her hold on Powerhouse, but Knight's affliction was more obvious. He stood there motionless as the spores worked though his body. She looked to powerhouse again. "Are you sure you want to take me to jail. I wouldn't last very long. I'm too pretty!" She turned around showing off her 'dress'. "Now why would you want to put something like this is jail? It would be a crime in itself!" She put her hands on her hips and sashayed back up to the stage, "Come now darling," she said in a beckoning tone of voice, "you wouldn't want to keep us waiting, would you?"

[Flare Knight]

The gears that had been turning in Powerhouse's head this entire time finally clicked on an idea. In a flash of insight, he moved to the front of seats and, pushing one of the Tranquilized Judges out of their seat, he took up position. He put on his best upperclassman act, sitting up straight, his arms crossed in front of him. Clearing his throat, he adjusted a non-existent tie and grinned in what he thought was his most seductive grin, however, this being Powerhouse, his 'seductive grin' looked more like he was about to jump on stage and bite off someone's head."Alright, Let's see what you got!"He said, clapping his hands and gesturing to her to get a move on. "It's the talent portion, what are you going to do and please do so, we are on a schedule people!" He barked, tapping his non-existent watch.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley saw and heard everything from his little spore induced stupor. He wondered what Powerhouse was up to. Shaking off the effect as the two were walking towards the stage, he rubbed his eyes and followed them. He sat next to Powerhouse with a confused look, then a a look of realization. This guy was either under her spell or just playing along with her. Wesley would have to wait and see which it was. Until then, he would play along with the little scene. He had seen enough American Idol to know how these judge things work. He was not going to be the ethnic stereotype judge or the mean judge. It seemed that the guy was duped into playing the mean judge part. So he would have to be the nice judge. He nudged Powerhouse and reached out a hand, speaking quietly as Luna Moth was setting up her act, "Hey, I'm Knight."

[Sandman XI]

Luna Moth smiled and clapped joyfully as Powerhouse followed her. She was sure the spores were slowly but surely sinking into the hero, then she would have a really nice play thing! She nodded happily as Powerhouse gave his stern command. Pondering what to do, her face lit up when she formulated a plan for a song and dance act. The inclusion of the second judge made her mentally scowl, but having a weak hero under her command would be fine too. She took one of the other contestants and a chair and sat the girl down. "Alright," Luna Moth smiled deviously, "hit the music!" The song was a saucy little ditty about the troubles of treating her right and treating her wrong. She used the barely lucid girl in more than one way. Dancing around the poor girl in ways that made that accentuated every move she herself did. It truly was not a bad performance. Heck it was one of the better the two fully aware judges had seen in their days. The barely there audience gave what praise they could as Luna Moth blew kisses and took bows. The only thing missing, it seemed, was someone giving her roses.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley was quite impressed. He clapped along with the crowd. When the applause died down he looked to Powerhouse, seemingly silently asking him if he wanted to go first. after a few seconds of the silent negotiation, it was decided he would put his judgment in first. He smiled and looked to Luna Moth, his voice resounded cheekily, "Lady, I don't even know who you are, but damn you got some moves and a voice to match. I say you got star quality. Take that raw talent and march yourself to number one, girl!" The audience cheered again. Once they were done with their admiration, it was Powerhouse's turn.

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse was silent for a long time, his face completely stern, as his brain tried to adjust. 'Tough guy, not nice, rough...remember that' He thought to himself, his mind mostly blanking out. He saw the dancing, but didn't really pay any attention- it was good or something, he knew, but he wasn't sure how to judge it by. Letting the world move by, he focused on each individual thing.

First, he turned to Knight with a smile and an extended hand. "Nice to meet you Knight, I'm Powerhouse. Because I'm strong. I don't think hard about names." He said, his smile turning into a grin as he reclined in his chair, his focus moving swiftly from the other man to the woman- He was unsure if the man was under the woman's control as the others, so he just had to be prepared, but even so, he should be able to move fast enough to finish his plan before he was taken. Assuming he was under mind-control, it was hopefully being fought off by the man, and if he could knock out the woman, he'd be safe.

Secondly, when the Woman gave a smile and a clap as he followed and sat down, he arched an eyebrow- was this woman a psychopathic hypnotist or a fifteen year old girl?-, but walked exactly as he assumed a person under her spell would look, a blank look without moving his brows and letting her begin her number. He hadn't seen many dances- he usually wasn't invited-, but he was nice enough to offer a clap and he knew it was good- somehow-, but he also focused and only clapped a little bit, knowing he had to prepare for what was coming.

As Knight stood up and spoke, Powerhouse could only barely consider if the man was captured or not. It seemed not- he didn't know this woman either-, but it was hard to say. Shaking his head as the man spoke- as if disagreeing with him-, he waited with an aloof look at both Knight and the woman on stage, then, when he finished, stood up to his full height. "That. Was. Horrible." He said, agonizingly slowly, placing his fists on the table and leaning over it. "Worst performance I've ever seen, and I've watched Snail Races! Not only did you attempt to sing in your shrill harpy voice, but you even had to bother to pull someone up to dance with you! That's not how this Pageant works! Each Individual is supposed to do their own actions, not require the help of someone for it! Your dancing reminds me of an Epileptic Worm having a seizure, while your backup dancer was a mindless husk who did nothing! And her actions will be on your head because she was your dancer!" He finished, slapping his hands on the table before falling back in the chair. "Get off my stage and never come back!" He finished, pointing to the stairs.

[Sandman XI]

With a gleeful smile on her face, Luna Moth gently bounced to and fro from her left foot to right as Wesley spoke. He would be her favorite puppet she thought, she wondered what he could do besides fly and get trapped in her spores. Then Powerhouse spoke. She stopped and looked in shock at his scathing review. She dropped to her knees as he berated her. "I..." she barely got a word in edgewise. Her shock turned into anger as he finished. Her voice was angered as she stood up, "And to think I dressed for you! I am not to be trifled with, foolish male! For I am not only beautiful, but a queen!" Every one in the audience and the contestants on stage stood up as she unfurled her dress into wings again and flew up into the air. slowly they lurched towards the offending male. When she couldn't contact Wesley, they started surrounding them both!

[Flare Knight]

"Come on lady! It's constructive Criticism! You know, showing you how to get better? or something. I don't know!" He said, as the two were surrounded, but he spared a laugh. "At least give me a chance, Please?" he said, putting on his best begging face and looking up at the woman. "How about we just all calm down, I can take you out to get something to eat, we can all calm down, your performance was actually great, I just got caught up. It's the TV, you know? There's always one evil judge, and I thought it was supposed to be me. I figured you'd know I was kidding!" He said, waving his hands frantically. "I mean, of course your dance was great, I mean, perfect, there's no way anyone could do any better, so let's calm down, and your singing, Tres Magnificant!~" He said, in horrible, incorrect French, like he knew what he was saying at all. "So lets all just calm down, We can have a seat, and me and Knight here." He slapped the other man on the back. "Will do whatever we can to make it up to you. So lets all calm down." He said, backpedaling so fast that the bike tires lit on fire and he went back in time. He gave his best grin, mildly wondering why he was trying to be nice to the woman who was obviously insane, but whatever, if he could just get close enough to get her distracted, he could end this, hopefully. Then the lightbulb went on again, and he added one more thing, mostly to save his poor eyes- he shouldn't have to be submitted to the treatment of having to look at a naked woman! He wasn't a pervert like that!- "Also, you should make the dress again! You see...uhh...people think you look sexier when you have enough clothing to protect all the...you know....and a little more. Exhibitionism isn't that good at all, not really. Let's all calm down." He added at the end, looking at Knight.

[Sandman XI]

Luna Moth was not impressed with Powerhouse's groveling. She crossed her arms and looked away as he did so. After he stopped she looked down at him and then to Knight and then back to him. "You did insult my singing AND my dancing. But you were kidding? I find that hard to believe." She sighed and looked down to the ground, "You see, all I wanted was to be rich and famous. Everyone would be at my beck and call! But what did I get? Well, everyone at my back and call. Every one but one man." She mumbled under her breath, "and he has to be damn near dead by now." She looked back at the men and the audience lazily pawing at them in a futile attempt to bring them down. "Now, you said you'd do anything for me? And a hero is as good as his word, right? So I have a task for you both. I need your assistance. You see, I am only one woman and I need help. Good lucid help is so hard to come by these days." She paused as a light smile crossed her, "Will you keep your word and accompany me?"

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse's face became utterly impassive after the woman turned away- though he continued his words, his face was blank- but when she spoke, he grinned again, in the same grin that was probably mildly disturbing. However, he did his best to sound and act like he cared, all the more becoming more and more sure that this woman really, really, really needed to go to some insane asylum, or just be locked up. Then again, he didn't want to get into an actual altercation, better to take her out when she wasn't paying attention, so he simply leveled his gaze back at her and scratched his chin. "I'm a Hero," probably, possibly...no chance in the world. "But we have to know what the favor is before we do it. I agreed on a certain set of terms, but if you try to do something that goes against those terms I would be unable to accompany you."

[Sandman XI]

Luna Moth 'walked' back and forth in the air, "Well, like I said I need some lucid help. You guys would do my heavy lifting. Others are only good for throwing themselves at my complications and posing like little mannequins. But you, you can do so much more. Come my little enforcers!" She cackled maniacally. It felt good to get back in the spirit of things. Not much had changed in thirty years, it seemed. "So, are you heroes of your word? Or are you low down dirty lying rats?"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley chuckled when Powerhouse mentioned that he wasn't good at names. Here he was using his last name as a cover. And then the loud words came. Wesley was shocked at Powerhouse's near perfect interpretation of the evil British judge guy. He was surprised that he didn't throw the chair in his righteous anger! The winged girl did not take the judgment well. Oh lord, she does look sad, Wesley thought, Something so beautiful, I should go over and cheer her up... WAIT A MINUTE! She deserved it! What is wrong with me? He shook his head and then he noticed that Powerhouse was surrounded by the people from the audience and now they were mobbing him too! It seemed that Powerhouse was under the effect now. He was negotiating with the butterfly lady. He gave Powerhouse a shrug when he told him to calm down. This was the weirdest situation ever. He listened to the dealings between the two, ready to act if this got too off the handle

[Flare Knight]

His lips turned down into a frown as the woman repeated her statements without answering his question, seriously annoying- this woman was clearly not all there-, so he tried again, accenting every syllable extremely heavily. "Lady, you sound like one of those Medicine commercials. What exactly do you want us to do? I can't agree to help you until you tell us how you want us to help, so stop talking in circles and just tell me." He said, sitting back in his chair and tapping his finger on the table impatiently, for all of his 'plan'- which was making it up as it goes along until something good happened-, he was badly impatient and couldn't wait to get it over with.

[Sandman XI]

Luna Moth frowned at Powerhouse. Was he dense? Was he retarded or something? She smirked, "I know your game. You're trying to get me to incriminate myself. Clever girl." She cackled before looking at the two. The spore zombies had backed off. "Now, you I can give you one more chance to join me in my escapades, or i can have these little old ladies and desperate middle aged men try to tear you apart." She laid 'back' on her wings, showing off again, "Come. Join the dark side! It's much more fun than being responsible! Me and you two could rule!"

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse's response was a completely blank stare at the butterfly lady, which sat for a little bit, as he realized this woman really was retarded, followed by more talking. "Mam, I don't even know what Incriminate means.", according to how I act, "but you commited a crime, Superheroes are coming after you to stop you and send you to jail, and you are saying the Darkside is more fun. This doesn't make sense. You said earlier you didn't want to go to prison, but being a Criminal means you go to prison, no questions asked. Think about it. I'm not that strong a Hero, I couldn't protect you from all the stronger ones even if I wanted to, which means that me joining with you seems to be a seriously stupid idea, because then I would be sent to jail. So the best option, if you want to avoid going to jail, isn't to be evil and hurt people, but to either do nothing, or be a hero. If you don't want to be a hero, that's fine, I'm sure there's super-beings around who refuse to pick a side, but when you think about it, how many villains are there who have always avoided capture? So really, being a Villain is a repeating cycle of breaking out, going to jail, and breaking out again. It's cause and effect, and you can't just do the cause and not expect the Jail to happen. Really, I think the best situation here is if you give up, serve your Jail term for this offense, then you can be let out and, so long as you don't do anything like this again, you'll be free." He explained simply, drawing out each word and stressing each syllable. This woman, who was so clearly mentally deficent, needed serious help. It almost made him sad, because the woman was so obviously unfit to even exist next to herself, and she had been given superpowers. Of course she would make an uninformed decision and become a villain. This actually made him wonder if all villains were just mentally stupid people who became villains because their powers had just been given to them when it would have been better to give them to someone who understood what they meant. This made him frown, and he added a single sentence to the end of his statement. "I am so sorry for you, by the way mam, but your struggling gives us all hope." He finished, nodding at his own statement- it was obviously teh correct thing to say- and feeling supremely confident that the woman would see the errors of her ways and willingly turn herself in. "Also, can you land and do the dress thing again, please?" He asked, having finally turned to look at the woman instead of talking to the stage at her feet, and getting an eye-full of what he really didn't want to see, causing his face to turn scarlet red as he covered his eyes again.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley shook his head during the speech, as soon as Powerhouse was done talking, he grunted. "OK, enough games!" He began to glow a pale yellow color as did Luna Moth. She could feel herself tiring. Though not enough! She snapped out of the fatigue right quick and scowled, "You'll pay for this!"

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse sighed at Knight, but did grin after a second. "I was getting through to her!" He said unhappily. "Then I was going to throw a chair at her, but whatever. You know I can't reach her, right? So this is all you." He said, kicking the table in front of him, kicking it so hard that it rocketed high into the air to where it was almost invisible due to sheer height. "I can do this though." He said, holding out a hand as if waiting for something.

[Sandman XI]

Luna Moth was not pleased by trying to be knocked out. She was going to target Knight alone, but she thought, why not share the spores? She was always finding new ways to use them, and drowsy was just one of her specialties. No, she would not be a copycat! She was going to do something original and unique! With a flutter of her wings sparkles flew everywhere. Well, not sparkles, but they damn sure looked like them. They tried to reach onto the boys' eyes. burning them into submission!

[Sandman XI]

Wesley was not quick or fast enough to get the tiny things out. Even though he did get an eye full and they did burn like heck, he didn't feel them much. Like they were barely there. "Glitter?" Wesley said, "What's next, bug lady, you gonna shoot us with rainbows and unicorns?" He began to glow a pale yellow again and so did she. She was overcome by the same sense of sleep, and again she did not slip under!