Beginning of New Things (IC)

[Fox]

Dragonfly snorted, already building another charge in her gauntlets. improvised flamethrower - must be kidding - always have to vent to account for the kick on something that small - amateur hour - amazed it worked with those materials at all

She brought up her other gauntlet. This time she didn't have to spend her time aiming, and this time, there was nothing to shield her target.

[Raveled]

The hobo took the blast full in the chest and rocked back on his well-worn heels, then abruptly rolled forward and curled around his mid-section. The improvised weapon fell to the ground with a clatter, and it seemed he was concentrating on just breathing for the moment.

Across the way, Ironclad wasn't doing as well as her friend. The dead man managed to snag the floating heroine's booted heel and dragged her down into a savage bear hug. She tried to headbutt him, but even though there was an audible crack of his nose breaking the creature didn't seem fazed by it.

[Fox]

Dragonfly didn't have much time to enjoy her success before her friend was in trouble, and that had her full and undivided attention. Leaving the hobo inventor to deal with the aftermath of her attack, she turned to face the zombie and...disappeared as reality folded in around her, reappearing as reality simultaneously folded outward next to Ironclad and Ironclad's assailant.

"Off." One lit-up, humming gauntlet shot out to grab the zombie at his shoulder and lines grew across his figure like creases in paper, the world around him folding up until he's vanished into a tiny point in her hand. "You okay?"

[Raveled]

Ironclad struggled against the overdeveloped dead man, and when he suddenly disappeared into Dragonfly's pocket dimension she stumbled against the sudden lack of opposition. She glanced at her friend and nodded. "I'll be fine," she said, glancing over at the shabbily dressed villain. "But he won't be, I promise." The armored heroine leapt into the air and sailed across the tiled ceiling, coming down between the villain and the exits. "Give it up. Nowhere to run, and we've got you outnumbered."

When 'Buddy' disappeared the hobo's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He dropped the makeshift flamethrower and rushed towards the edge of the platform nearest Dragonfly, spitting at her in his rage. "You idiot! You have no idea what he represents! I won't let you get away with something like that!" He reached into his coat and pulled out something the size and shape of a baked potato, covered in metallic foil. He threw it on the ground and there was a sudden harsh buzzing, as randomized magnetic energy swept through every device in the subway station. Ironclad's armor went stiff and her vision blanked out; she had to physically open her helmet like a clamshell to get it off. Next to her, the vents started to spark and rumble.

[Fox]

Dragonfly watched the 'baked potato' fall, reflexively taking a step back. explosive? unlikely - destroy his own project - not that it stops some - stun device - jury-rigged flashbang - too small for a-

And then there was a horrible, awful noise over the speakers in her visor, and her devices went...dark. So did most of the rest of the technology in the area. She scowled, her gauntlets and visor shutting down and going dark, feeling...heavier, somehow, now that they were just cold and lifeless machines she couldn't touch with her mind anymore. At least she'd designed the visor to be see-through from her side, powered or not....

She nearly snarled, giving the hobo a look that could freeze water at a hundred yards. "What. Did. You. Do."

[Raveled]

Ironclad took a step forward, but just at that moment one of the vents ruptured and sprayed vile-looking green smoke across the platform. She took a breath involuntarily and felt her lungs and throat start burning. Meanwhile the hobo villain apparently had other things on his mind, as he leapt off the platform and tackled Dragonfly, wrapping his skinny hands around her throat and trying to choke the heroine. "MY BROTHER," he screamed at her. "WHERE IS MY BROTHER!?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly made a strangled noise as his hands wrapped around her neck, grabbing at his arms but not having an awful lot of luck getting free. This fight had rapidly, rapidly gone downhill. Ironclad looked frozen and choking, and the young woman herself was...well, also choking, but for entirely other reasons.

no - can't - not physically strong enough to - come on work - work - work - work - WORK

The villain holding her down, close as he was to her visor, got a view of lights flashing and dancing behind her eyes - and then her gauntlets lit up again, with a whirring humming noise that one would almost think was angry and offended, if machines could be such a thing. Dragonfly disappeared out from under him, folding back into existence a good distance away and coughing. "Where is your brother?" she managed, hoarsely. "I can tell you where your brother is."

And she did, rubbing her throat and bringing her force field back up. But the vocabulary she employed wasn't awfully polite, not to mention that the answer was anatomically unlikely.

[Raveled]

The villain stared at the revitalized heroine, his face turning red under the layer of grime. "You haven't won," he snarled. He gestured towards the station, which was quickly being enveloped in sickly-looking green clouds -- and at Ironclad, barely visible inside the fog. The heroine was coughing violently and crawling blindly on her hands and knees, searching desperately for a way out. "That fog was supposed to cover the entire city and kill them all -- unless they came to me for the antidote. But now I guess it will just be your friend that gets it." He stumbled to his feet and backed away down the tunnel, presumably headed for some bolt hole. "Merry Christmas, hero! And a happy new year!" There was a shimmer in the air, and the villain disappeared, abruptly hidden behind some sort of light-bending technology no doubt.

[Fox]

Glancing back and forth between the disappearing hobo and her best friend, Dragonfly swore, coughed, and ran to Ironclad's aid, one hand over her mouth as she made her way through the fog. Kneeling down, she put one hand on Ironclad's shoulder, and leaned in close to talk. "Hold still. Going to -" She paused, turning her head to cough. "- get you out. Try not to panic, and watch out for my bike. ....I'm told it's unpleasant. Sorry."

Creases ran across her friend's form, and she folded away - but from Ironclad's point of view, the world itself folded up and twisted, warping in ways the human eye wasn't really intended to process before depositing her in a very odd Not-Place with a motorcycle and some odds and ends. Standing back up, Dragonfly looked around to get her bearings again and made a dash for the exit most likely to take her up and away.

[Raveled]

Ironclad shivered as she looked around, noticing the bike and the odd collection of tools and... not much else. A featureless plain, stretching away to infinity. The noxious fumes were gone and she could see again, but something wasn't right. She felt queasy, and her esophagus still burned unpleasantly. The pain spread to her limbs and belly, and the heroine slowly curled into a ball around her belly. Her muscles felt liquid and shaky, like a bad case of the flu; every time she tried to marshal her thoughts and figure out what was happening, her entire body would spasm painfully and her mind would go blank again. She started whimpering quietly, wondering just where she was.

Dragonfly, for her part, followed the trio of vents up dusty stairwells, loud noises coming from above and echoing between the walls until they were almost a physical thing, a wave of sonic energy that rattled the young woman's eyeballs. When she finally emerged into open air, she realized that the noise was a jet engine, or rather several dozen jet engines in close proximity. The abandoned subway station was, apparently, just a stone's throw from Jameson Airport.

[Fox]

Dragonfly shivered a little to be back in the cold, but her priorities were elsewhere. Reaching out with a hand she brought Ironclad back into reality again, adrenaline wearing away and prepared for a joking insult or advice on making the transition in- and out-of-pocket less disorienting...and instead, got a person who looked like they'd gone from good health to pneumonia in the time it took to take the stairs. That froze her for a moment, and then her adrenaline kicked back into high gear again. Her phone was dialing before she even pulled it out of her pocket.

"Dragonfly," she opened, not wasting any time and talking faster and with more frantic worry in her voice than she intended. "Jameson Airport, near the..." She looked around for a better landmark than a large airport, and realized what was right behind her. "The abandoned subway station. Need an ambulance for a hero, a police team for a powered villain - undead, strength, electricity; temporarily restrained, still awake and active - and a response team for a contained chemical attack in the tunnels. I...."

She looked down at her friend. "It...please hurry. Please."

[Raveled]

Freedom City Medical Center was on the other side of the river, but luckily the airport had their own clutch of emergency services. Almost as soon as Dragonfly made the call, she could spot flashing lights moving towards her, cutting across the tarmac and scattering baggage handlers. Even before the ambulance skidded to a halt, a young EMT flung the back doors open and jumped to the ground. He hurried down and knelt next to Ironclad, feeling for a pulse at her neck and opening a bag marked with a big red cross. He pulled out a back of IV fluid and grimaced at the armored heroine, before glancing up at Dragonfly. "Miss? Can you get her out of this armor? We need to get fluids and antibiotics into her."

[Fox]

"What?"

Dragonfly glanced up, having been watching Ironclad like a hawk and so distracted by the prospect of losing her best friend that she'd barely registered the ambulance showing up. "Right, vitals access. I should be able to...." Frowning, lights danced behind her eyes as she dug a little deeper into the battlesuit's systems than she'd been comfortable with before now. Connecting for silent communication or hacking for a prank was one thing; this time she dug around as deep as she could, searching for something. know you're there somewhere - helped design you - always easier to find my own bits of - ah

The lights stopped dancing as she triggered the bit of the armor that collapsed it into a wristwatch (a part they'd consulted together on, and, she bitterly thought, hopefully not the last bit they'd consult on), gently removing the same for safekeeping.

[Raveled]

The armor collapsed into a blaze of light, which vanished into a slim wristwatch. It left Jessica in a tee-shirt and jeans, which the now on the ground quickly got to soaking through. To his credit, once the energy dissipated the EMT didn't waste any time in calling his partner over. This one wheeled over the gurney from the back of the ambulance. It telescoped down to the ground and the pair of EMTs lifted Jessica onto the litter. They loaded the gurney into the back of the ambulance; one paramedic jumped in the back and pulled the doors closed, while the other turned to dragonfly. "We're taking her to the Freedom Medical Center," he said. "We can't treat her here."

As the ambulance pulled away several police cruisers arrived, adding their flashing lights to the mix. The officers spilled out, jackets zipped tight over Kevlar vests. Most of them had their sidearms drawn, but a couple hurried to grab riot guns from the trunks of their cruisers. One of them, a big bald sergeant fighting a potbelly and losing, hurried over to Dragonfly. "Hero! You called in the sighting?" He glanced around as the half-dozen officers fanned out. "We've called in the STAR squad, but we need to secure the area."

[Fox]

Dragonfly just stared at the watch for a minute, and then let it fold away into her spacial pocket, to appear unobserved in a place of honor on top of her motorcycle. "I...yes." can't do anything they can't - focus - keep it safe - do my job

She shook her head, brushing hair out of her face. Distractedly, she gestured back at where she'd come out to the surface. "Abandoned subway station and tunnels. Wouldn't go down there without airtight suits. Have the villain...contained," she added, holding up a gauntlet like that was supposed to mean much. "Trapped. Will hopefully hold long enough for STAR. Would keep a careful distance if he escapes before that - lightning, high physical strength. Zombie of some kind."

[Raveled]

The officer nodded and opened his mouth to question Dragonfly further, but at that moment several of the flashing lights on the heroine's gauntlet turned amber and red. There was a disquieting ripple in the air and the large dead man, looking none the worse for struggling with Dragonfly's extradimensional bonds, burst free from her pocket prison. Neither hero nor villain were quite prepared for this, but the police reacted in amazing time; the sergeant grabbed Dragonfly and threw them both to the ground, while the other officers aimed at the huge creature and opened fire. Their bullets tore into unfeeling flesh, but the creature didn't even seem fazed by the attack.

[Fox]

Dragonfly, to her credit, wasn't too far behind the police - it helped a lot that her gauntlets basically screamed a warning across her link with them every time something forced its way back out of her pocket. Even as she fell her force field came up and her shield went online, one gauntlet trained on the zombie and sending a shockwave close on the heels of the hail of bullets. She'd barely hit the ground before she disappeared, reforming a short distance away from the police.

"Hey! Rot-brain!" Dragonfly had an awful lot of pent-up emotions to work through, and to be perfectly honest she was glad to have something to do with them. She wasn't even really cold anymore - she just stood defiant in the snow, her force field twisted around her profile as she made a very rude gesture at the zombie. police not equipped for lightning "Over here."

[Raveled]

The giant stood there for a moment, glassy eyed and staring, until the superheroine's blue-edged blast slammed into his chest. He turned to Dragonfly and his eyes glowed electric-blue for a moment, then the power transferred to his arms. He raised one heavy limb and sent a bolt of lightning shooting at the heroine, which slammed into her shields and melted enough of the snow to wreath her in steam for a few seconds. The police, for their part, kept up a barrage of fire on the creature even as the sergeant scrambled back on his ass, pulling out his radio and screaming for the STAR squad.

[Fox]

Dragonfly didn't quite get her shield up in time - the circular distortion started to form and immediately dissipated as the lightning attack tore through it and into her force field. The entire field lit up like a bulb as it tried desperately to shunt the energy and heat somewhere - anywhere - that wasn't her; though it did its job valiantly she still got a pretty nasty burn at the site of impact, and the momentary flash of lightning and energy dissipation threw her aim way off, sending her responding attack clear over the creature's shoulder into the cold winter air.

She swore in Japanese, putting a hand on her stomach and trying to take better stock of the situation. well - wanted it distracted - seem to have done that - be careful what you wish for

[Raveled]

The creature didn't even bother trying to dodge the blast; the steam and the pain pulled her aim off enough that the distorted blast zipped harmlessly into the night air. The huge thing began stomping towards the heroine through the snow, but it took the opportunity to charge another blast and send it flying towards Dragonfly. As for the police, the pair with riot guns clacked on their last shells and abandoned the smoking weapons, resorting to their sidearms. The volley of gunfire still didn't seem to be having much effect on the monster, though.

[Fox]

That blast didn't have the luck the last one did - this time Dragonfly brought a hand up and formed her circular distortion of a shield, scattering the lightning into harmless forks of electricity that was happy to lick the edges of her shield or ground themselves into the wet soil.

can't keep this up forever - come on - go down already She growled, letting a charge build a bit as the thing charged close...then unleashing it at the thing's face and teleporting a good distance away, still trying to both stay out of its reach and keep the thing distracted from (awfully helpful, she had to admit) targets that didn't have the benefit of high-tech defenses or teleportation.

[Raveled]

The creature rocked back from the heroine's blast, then roared in defiance and reoriented on her new position. He brought up his arm for another lightning bolt, but one of the young police officers charged in the way instead and clubbed at the dead man's arm with the butt of his empty riot gun. It connected and shifted the creature's aim a tiny but crucial degree, sending the attack into the frozen ground and creating a plume of steam. The dead man roared and clubbed the officer over the head; he dropped in a moment, falling unmoving to the ground.

Through the noise of the battle, Dragonfly could make out a low whump-whump-whump sound, like someone beating on a wet blanket.

[Fox]

Dragonfly winced, watching the police officer crumple. "Stupid...shouldn't've...not for me, anyway...."

The whump-whump-whump was encouraging - probably a helicopter - but she couldn't take her eyes off her enemy long enough to check. She really, really hoped that it was, because this thing was...annoyingly sturdy. Silently reconfiguring her gauntlets, she disappeared...but the distortion remained behind her as she appeared right next to the zombie, a long blade of blue-tinted twisted reality forming about an inch off her fist. That blade got thrust right through the dishabille undead, not actually cutting but leaving a nauseating pattern in his clothes and flesh where it touched.

An instant later she was pulled away, her own teleportation snapping her back to her spot in the snow like she was attached to a physics-defying bungee cord.

[Raveled]

The dead man twitched as Dragonfly's immaterial blade sliced through him. Maybe the creature didn't need his internal organs, but the heroine's attack had clearly hurt it somehow. The police kept up their barrage, though two broke off to grab their unconscious comrade and drag him out of the line of fire.

The whump-whump-whump intensified, growing steadily louder as a genuine black-painted Blackhawk helicopter rounded the last building visible in the distance. It was hard to make out in the distance, but it looked almost like some humanoid figure was hanging out of the helicopter on either side. In any case, the vehicle would be on-scene before long.

[Fox]

Dragonfly took the free moment to glance at the helicopter, and scowled. not sure whether to be too proud or just grateful - think I'll err on grateful - still "About time!" she called out, though she knew full well they couldn't very likely hear her. "Not like you wouldn't have been useful an hour ago-"

She'd gestured as she talked, unfortunately - in her worry, her frustration, her general angry venting - forgetting that she was kind of in the middle of firing at the electric corpse. Her shot went wide, though it made a pretty neat pattern in the snow where it hit. What she had to say about her lack of focus and continuing failure to take out a shambling frakenstein's monster were awfully impolite and probably melted some more of the snow around her.