I Have Had It... [IC]

[trollthumper]

Cannonade lay back in his seat, the sweat from the evening's show still cooling under his helmet. He hadn't gone to the concert in costume, of course -- he'd brought the duffel bag containing his jacket and helmet along just in case, but hadn't been expecting trouble. Then the Crusaders had shown up, and what had started as a fist fight in the pit eventually turned into a berserker rage that saw people being tossed up on stage -- and into the lightning. He'd managed to put down the crazed white supremacists easily, and the show had continued on.

I wonder if they're still pissed about the whole Ragnarok thing, he thought. It was the midnight train on a Saturday night, so things were pretty busy. You had the club kids, the families coming back from the theater, the people with nowhere else to go, the young lovers seeing the town...

...and a few guys with wide-brim hats and long trenchcoats. Cannonade couldn't see much under the wide brim, but he had the feeling that he was getting the stink eye. He'd gotten a few stares when he'd gotten on the subway -- after the time in the pit, he wasn't exactly up for jumping all the way back to Southside -- but they'd mainly broken away after a while. This was Freedom; heroes ordering burritos or riding the subway got to be old hat after a while. But these guys had kept at least one eye on him the whole time. And he could swore he heard whispering.

He didn't do anything. The car was still packed, and he didn't want a fight spilling over and putting anyone else at risk. He just clenched his fists and waited -- either for the car to clear out so he could make a move, or for them to do something that would necessitate the risk.

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl felt conspicuous in his black leather trenchcoat and mirrorshades; most people in Freedom City's mass transit didn't dress like he did at all! But it was an alien world and one he was determined to get to know before he departed. He'd expected Gina to object to his plans to roam the streets at night, but she'd actually seemed glad to see the back of him: she'd given him firm, gentle warnings about not getting into trouble, about calling if he needed help, given him a good cellphone to carry around along with his little pocket projector, but she hadn't said a word about him leaving the house while she was asleep.

He concentrated, keeping his form solid, just another anonymous face in a busy city. He didn't notice the strange people in hats at first, not attuned at all to what should actually be happening in these ridiculously slow, bizarrely undercrowded subway cars that reeked of human ordure, but gradually their unease caught his attention. Sinister as they looked, he felt a kinship with the obvious aliens, if only partially. _I wonder if they're immigrants,_ he thought. _Or criminals!_ If watching superhero news all day had taught him anything, it was that criminals were everywhere. He shot a look down at the uneasy-looking man sitting next to him, the electronic teenager himself hanging onto the strap overhead, and said, "Sir, are you all right?"

[Azuth65]

Victoria sat on the bench in the back of the subway car. It was refreshing to go out in public without having to dye her hair or tuck it under a wig. Relaxing she picked up the latest trade paperback of The Walking Dead and was about to start reading when she saw the guys in trenchcoats and oversied hats. Looking over the top of her book she tried to get a better look at them and assess the situation.

[GranspearZX]

They say 'crime never sleeps'. Someone should have probably mentioned that they don't take weekends off, either.

Weekends were easily the most free time he had during the week, Saturdays especially, so he learned to enjoy them while he could. He'd actually managed to sleep a whole six hours the night before! Normally, he would have been at home on a Saturday, too, but he'd decided to get some of his errands run today, and so far he hadn't encountered anything more weird than usual. In fact... he was on his way to a date with a fellow teacher. It was rare that he even had time to develop anything resembling a social life, but when the chance presented himself, he jumped on it. And shortly after, he'd jumped on a purse-snatching mugger. Good times.

He wasn't entirely unprepared for what had become the rigors of his daily life; he often visited his father's grave in costume, and he was comfortable enough that he very regularly was seen in it... especially when he wasn't teaching. The Crusader Shield was pretty well disguised--a simple bracer on his right arm. He sniffled a bit as the subway train rocked to a stop, peering over his newspaper and surveying the occupants, both new and old.

"Hm." He grunted gruffly and looked back to his paper. It wasn't as if Freedom City's night life was ever NOT strange, but the amount of trenchcoats in that car were certainly making him take notice. It didn't necessarily mean anything, but he wasn't getting a particularly friendly vibe. Probably just some kids out looking for trouble. God help them if they find it.

[trollthumper]

"Next stop, Liberty Dome."

Several passengers rose from their seats, ready to disembark. Among them was one of the subway cops, who, like Cannonade, had been keeping his eye on the mysterious passengers in the trenchcoats. He approached one of the whispering men, who stood just a few seats down from the sliding doors. "Sir, are you all right?" he asked as the man just stared forward, whispering something under his breath. "Sir, may I ask your destination?" The man did not answer. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to get off --"

Swift as lightning, the man standing across from the whispering man drew a rod from under his trenchcoat. With one swift motion, it folded out into a spear, and with another, the cop's legs went out from under him as he fell to the floor of the train.

"The ritual isss not to to be interrupted," he said as panic gripped the train. "The Coils mussst be completed." He rose the spear, aiming to drive it into the cop's chest when Cannonade collided with him like a charging bull. The man stumbled backwards, but regained his balance.

"God, more freaking cultists?" he said. "I'm really getting tired of you guys setting foot in my town."

"Your town, mortal?" The man, and his strange companions, flung aside their coats, to reveal a strange flesh-colored motley beneath. The motley shifted like clay, the legs merging into a long tail. Their eyes turned yellow, their ears grew and expanded into hoods, and their canines grew into sharp fangs dripping venom.

"You are underground," said the Serpent Person. "In our domain."

[trollthumper]

The Serpents struck quickly, but the effort of shifting back into their true form must have left them disoriented. Cannonade dodged a spear that looked like it could go through steel without stopping, leapt over the lashing tail of another snake-man, and ducked a blast of potent venom that splashed harmlessly against one of the train windows.

"Nicccce demonstration," said the first Serpent Person. "But you can't keep thissss up forever."

"Eh," Cannonade said, driving his fist into the Serpent Person's scaly chin. The blow sent the Serpent Person reeling, pushing the flat end of his spear onto the car floor for purchase. "Guess I just have to keep it up until I can get someone to make you into a set of boots."

[Azuth65]

Victoria watched the snakemen reveal themselves and groaned, I just can't get a break. After sticking her graphic novel back into her backpack she pulled up her the hood on her Chicago Cubs hoodie up to obscure her face. With a puff of her trademark smoke she vanished from her seat, reappearing behind the snakeman leaning on his spear, her shoes connecting with his ribs. Before should go survey the damage, she puffed away again to appearing behind the one who spat the acid, delivering a spinning elbow shot to the back of his head. Once again, she was gone in a puff of dual-colored smoke to appear behind the last of the reptiles where she delivered a series of quick jabs at his back.

"This is where somebody makes an Indiana Jones reference right?" She asked, her fists raised and ready to go strike.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hey! You shouldn't do that!" said Sharl, pointing a finger at the Serpentmen. _Argh, they look like aliens!_ He knew that this world didn't have the programming problems his own did, but it was hard to not be a little unsettled by these shape-shifting monsters who turned from men to hideous reptilian things in an instant. _What are these things?_ He was tempted to retreat and call Gina or Miss A, but he couldn't just run away when heroes were fighting bad guys, especially with all the innocent people around. At his words, the teenager's body seemed to shift, his skin glowing and radiating a faint pattern like a wireframe drawing, He didn't just let go of the overhead strap; his hand went right through it! "Stop fighting! Can't you see how many people there are here?" Clipping right through the people in front of him, Sharl gave the lead serpent man a punch in the face!

[GranspearZX]

For a moment, the Crusader was more concerned with the fleeing passengers and the downed officers than the actual fighting. Once the area was clear, though, he stood up, and his right arm sank to his side. The bracer shifted and expanded into the Crusader Shield and he finally took a good look at his opponents.

Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?

With his left hand, he brought his middle finger and thumb to his mouth, giving a sharp whistle--fair warning before his shield was hurled across the distance between himself and the cultists. It sailed in an arc, spinning with a faint red trail of light behind it before it bounced off one to strike the second, returning back the red-and-white clad hero who caught it with practiced precision.

"You boys really didn't think this through, did you?"

[trollthumper]

The volley of blows kept two of the snakes off their... well, they didn't exactly have feet, but off their coils. Their companion, responding to the onslaught, drove at Cannonade with his spear. Cannonade managed to dodge it, and tried to return the blow, but the serpentman blocked it with his spear. "So," he said. "Mad, creepy snake cultists. This the part where you rant all about whatever the hell you're trying to unleash upon the world?"

"No," the serpent man said. "Why would we bother to share ssssuch a thing with you?"

[Azuth65]

As soon as the words left the snakeman's mouth, Wisp's fist impacted the side of his jaw several times before she moved in yet more red and white smoke, to lay waste to his companions with a series of vicious kicks and punches. "This was my night off. All I freakin' wanted was to get my comics, grab a meal, and go back home but no. Had to mess with the civilians." She punctuated each word with either a fist or a boot to the head.

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl felt a momentary hesitation at hitting people, even obvious bad guys. Though he'd had the same unarmed combat training that anyone who came from money had in Tronik, he'd never thought himself likely to use it, much less on alien snake-people in another reality entirely. But between their hissing demeanor and vicious attacks, it wasn't hard to tell who the bad guys were here. We'll just get this done, and I'll go home! Sharl advanced on the last Serpent-Man, fist raised, and walked right through the collapsed bodies of his cohort. Startled by the teenager's seeming insubstantiality, the Serpent-Man hissed, "What are you?"

"I'm just a good citizen!" exclaimed Sharl, driving his fist into the snake-man's belly.

[GranspearZX]

The Crusader kept his distance, shield at the ready. There wasn't really enough space for him to go charging in, and there were already three combatants in that range. He might've actually felt a little sorry for the outclassed and outgunned snakemen if they hadn't tried to skewer a civilian in front of him. That much was pretty unforgivable, and he moved forward, intending to punctuate his displeasure with another shield throw aimed for the snake man's hooded head.

"Well, if you boys aren't in a sharin' mood..."

[trollthumper]

The Serpent Person reeled under the blow, twisting right into the path of Cannonade. He linked his fists together and brought them down on the snake-man's head with the force of a sledgehammer. The eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to the floor.

Around him, the passengers began to calm down. Panic was still everywhere, but it was clear that the car was safe. At least, until someone at the rear of the car gasped. Cannonade took off down the car and saw what the matter was. They were peering at the next car up.

Through the windows of the sliding door, he could see more Serpent People abandoning their human forms and rounding up citizens. Some had their spears drawn and ready...

He reached for the sliding door, easily breaking its lock. The sound of wind whipping by and the clanking of the couplings filled his ears, but he tried to drive it out. "Come on1" he called back to the other heroes. "They're in the other cars! Whatever they're planning, it's not done yet!"

[Azuth65]

Wisp grabs the spears from the snakeman and moving next to Cannonade, throwing them out the gap between cars. With that task done she looks into the next car, getting ready to sneak in and maybe take one out early.

[GranspearZX]

"Hey, wait a m-... ah, hell..."

Everyone was already moving, and Crusader didn't really have a whole lot of reason not to do so himself. Checking first to make sure the downed officers were alright, he joined Cannonade and Wisp, his shield still held on his right forearm. He narrowed his eyes a little bit as he tried to look into the next car.

Crap. Well, there goes my night. If it weren't for the high winds between cars, one could hear the leather creaking in his gloves when he clenched his fists. For a moment, he stood perfectly still, watching the group, counting their number, and quickly trying to gauge their relative ability...

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh man oh man..." Citizen shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling the phone Gina had given him. She said this would work underground, he thought, and tap right into the network... But there was a crisis now, he couldn't just run off and call her. I'll call her as soon as we're done here. I don't want to scare her; she'd have to call Miss A and who knows where she is?"I'll...I'll draw their fire!" Fearlessly, the teenager yanked open the subway door and yelled, "Hey, you lizardmen! You, uh, want a piece of me? Well, come get some!" He'd seen that kind of talk in action movies, and assumed it made sense to these people.

[GranspearZX]

#!@$%. The Crusader's eyes widened a little bit as Sharl boldly made himself known to the snake men. "Draw their fire, huh?"

All he could really do was roll with it, and that was exactly what he did, moving forward without a hint of hesitation or doubt. He draw his arm back and let his shield fly at the two leading snakemen, though his aim was something less than stellar...

[trollthumper]

The snake-men darted and wove around the shield's path and slithered to the mouth of the train. They drew back, gathering venom in their closed maws, ready to spit... just as the train took a corner at full speed. The tilt caught the two snakes off guard as they fired, and sent their venom off to spatter harmlessly against the tunnel.

[Avenger Assembled]

Standing boldly in the doorway, Citizen ostentatiously reached into his pocket and pulled out the programmed cell phone Gina had given him. The phone was as real as he was, which is to say it was an electronic construct, one that let him connect to anywhere on the world's computer network. "Hey, you ugly snake, uh, people! You think you can handle a free Citizen of Freedom? Well...you've got nothing on me!" When he found service, he texted Gina. "Look! I'm calling the militia to let them know they don't need to come, because you guys are wimps! Hit me with your best shot!" He typed

GINA. SNAKEMEN ON SUBWAY. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

, then sent the message off to his friend.

[trollthumper]

The snake man without the fancy decorations reared up, preparing another blast for Citizen. "No," said his more martial companion. "No ssscent. He is --"

"Hey!" Cannonade said. "Kinda got an unfair advantage, don't ya?" He reached out across the gulf, grabbing the warrior by what approximated its neck. "Why not join us over here?" Under his grip, he could feel bones breaking as he dragged the snake man across the gap between the two trains and threw him to the floor of the car.

"See?" he said. "Isn't that bett - ah!" He felt the point of a spear brushing up against his back -- not hard enough to break skin, but the impact wasn't exactly pleasant. He looked over his shoulder to see another decorated warrior filling the gap.

"Return him," the snake man said, "or we shall --"

He was cut off by a burst of venom, rocketing past him towards Citizen. The blast passed harmlessly through Citizen, though it did burn through some of the plastic on the seat it landed on.

"An illusssssion," said the warrior. "A trick."

Meanwhile, Citizen received a reply from Gina over his private band: LOCAL HEROES SHOULD SAVE YOU ASAP. IF NOT, AND TOO MANY TO FIGHT OR FLEE, HIDE PROJECTOR AND DEACTIVATE. I WILL FIND YOU.

[Azuth65]

Wisp watched the serpents close around Citizen and Cannonade and balled her fists, getting ready for another of her teleport sweeps. Her fists, knees, and feet impacted in a rapid series solid blows as the area around the snakemen filled with thin wisps of her trademark bi-colored smoke. "You fight like dairy farmers!" she mocked with the last strike being a savage backhand to one the snakemen with the heavy decorations.

[GranspearZX]

For someone who had no actual metahuman powers of his own, Crusader was always a bit curious to see others' in action. The teleporting girl and the other odd teenager were definitely unusual, and even his mask couldn't hide the look of mild surprise on his face at just how effective they were. Not to be outdone, he moved forward and sent his shield sailing again, watching it curve in a lazy, impossible arc before it smashed into the two leading snakemen again, one of the ones from before and his more decorative superior.

"Surrender's still on the table, y'know!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Citizen started to type in a new message to Gina, but decided to concentrate on the bad guys first. If we stop the lizardmen, maybe there won't be a problem at all! Fearlessly, he walked further out onto the platform, striding along the small walkway between the cars without hesitation. After all, he wasn't really there, his feet making no concussion as they gave the illusion of striking the metal path beneath his feet. "Illusion, am I?" He walked right into the other car that held the lizardmen. "Illusion this!" He concentrated, solidifying his body even further than before, and threw a right cross right at the snakeman Cannonade was dealing with.

[trollthumper]

The snake-man reeled at the blow, and looked up at Citizen, confused. "Little heat," he said. "Little pulse. But sssstrong blowssss. How -- ?"

Cannonade took advantage of the serpent warrior's confusion to bring his elbow down on the snake's scaly head. His forked tongue darted out of his mouth as his eyes rolled backwards, and he fell to the floor of the train. "One of life's little mysteries," Cannonade said. "Think on it a while, won't ya?" He took advantage of the chaos to reach across the gap for the warrior's companion, only to miss the snake-man's scaly hide by inches. The train car swerved again, giving him a look at the snakeman near the rear of the car -- and giving the snake man enough time to launch a burst of potent venom right at Cannonade's face. It collided right with his helmet, and he swore he could hear metal sizzling.

"Son of a --!" He scraped the foul concoction off his face. "God, what do you guys eat?"