The Hypotenuse is Equal to the Sum [IC]

[Electra]

"The first thing you should know about me is that I hardly ever play fair," Miss A told him with a smile that was positively feline in its satisfaction. "It's a tough world out here, a girl needs all the advantages she can get." With a soft laugh, she did a perfect back walkover on her invisible rail, coming up without a hair out of place. "But it's good to know that there's at least one freaky genius in Freedom City who isn't blond and blue-eyed," she quipped. "What's your specialty?"

[Gizmo]

"Oh, I'd say you've got plenty of advantages," the swordsman drawled dryly, tilting his head ever so slightly to one side with a suggestive smirk. "As for my, ah, 'specialty'," he continued, rubbing the back oh his head as his grin took on a jesting, boyish quality, "I guess you could say I'm a student of the 'sweet science'." Swinging himself past parallel to the ground, he scooped up a handful of loose stones and began tossing them idly up and down in his palm.

[Electra]

"Do all the girls compliment you on that, too?" Miss A asked him teasingly, giving him an unapologetically assessing look. "Your form is excellent, I'll certainly grant you that much, but you don't carry yourself much like a boxer. Definitely like a fencer." She heard the sirens in the distance and sighed a little. The police were on their way to pick up the Fearmaster, who was now rolling around on the ground and gibbering a little, possibly from madness, possibly from boredom at listening to the two heroes flirting.

[Gizmo]

Jack began idly tossing the pebbles he'd collected at Fear-Master, the bound villain making noises of muffled indignation as they bounced off of his hockey mask. "Oh, the girls compliment me on lots of things," he rejoined, leaning back enough on the rail so that his greatcoat fell backward, uncovering a black bodysuit which left little to the imagination. "Besides the doctorate in stabiture, I hold several honorary degrees in romanceology. Multi-talented," the swashbuckler elaborated with no false modesty.

[Electra]

"Ooh, and he's a doctor, too!" Miss A commented good-humoredly. "Forget about the key to the city, you must need one to lock out all the girls beating a path to your door." She looked at Fearmaster, then in the direction of the distant sirens. "So are we going to stick around and give statements and all that to the police, or can we just take off and figure that they can round up our escaped prisoner and put the pieces together themselves? I'm not sure how willing and able the hockey boys will be to testify about our friend here's crimes."

[Gizmo]

"Ugh, yeah." Jack tossed the last of his stones , skipping it off of Fear-Master's head like a child at the beach before setting his jaw to one side in annoyance. "Believe it or not, I'm not really big on public statements." Scratching his chin, he regarded the villain contemplatively. "On the other hand, I'm not really clear how this guy keeps managing to escape, considering on the whole he's a big ol' bowl of weaksauce." Cupping his hands around his mouth theatrically, he called out to the bound man, "You stink, Fore-Caster! That one wasn't even really an insult, but I used up my best ones already," he elaborated to the floating paragon.

[Electra]

"How about Fail-Faster?" Miss A suggested helpfully. "You're certainly correct about his staying power in a fight. I have heard, though, that in a more clandestine form, he can be substantially more formidable. So perhaps if he was camouflaged... you could call him Mud Plaster?" She laughed, a musical sound that made her whole face light up with humor. Settling back into her seated on air position, she waited for the police to arrive. "They say your thing is giving everyone nicknames," she told Jackie B conversationally. "Could I have something better than Uncle Samantha? I'd be ever so obliged."

[Gizmo]

"Oh dear, I'm developing a reputation," Jack mused as he stood up on the railing, cracking his back loudly. "Well, I can't just come up with a new one because you ask," he noted with an apologetic shrug. "Then I'd be reduced to putting frogs down the back of your shirt and pulling on your pigtails for flirting and, do you know, I'm fresh out of amphibians just now?" Seeing the police cruisers pull up in front of the university building, the swashbuckler reached into his greatcoat and handed the floating paragon a small white rectangle with a capital 'I' embossed on one side. "Do me a favour, get that to the boys in blue, would you? Got a buddy who'll set them up with the security footage they'll need on this one." Before she could protest, he abruptly sprinted down the railing before acrobatically leaping onto the rooftop. Turning back for a moment, he called to Miss Americana, "Tell you what, I'll work on the nickname and get back to you. I'm thinking something about apple pie; sweet, patriotic and delicious, yeah?" With a wry salute, Jack disappeared over the far side of the roof in a flash of royal blue.