Getting the Story (IC)

[Raveled]

Glowstar rubbed his chin. "I don't know what to tell you guys. I mean, this is Freedom City. We do have supervillains and stuff, but we can't really predict when they'll attack." He laughed out loud at the notion. "If we could do that, we'd be able to fight them a lot better, you know!"

The teen hero looked out across the water for a moment, ending with a shrug. "I guess if you really want a story, I could fight one of your guys. Give you a demonstration of Earthling heroic combat."

[Supercape]

GM

I guess if you really want a story, I could fight one of your guys. Give you a demonstration of Earthling heroic combat."

"Yeah!" shouted number 3, cracking his knuckles, and looking at the other two.

"Whatever" shrugged number 2, who was actually having quite a fun time splashing water in this low gravity world, but would never admit to it.

"Hmmm" said number 3. "Supervillains, Superheroes? that sounds more like it. Yes. Epic battles raging across the planet! I like it!"

Number 1 leapt towards Glowstar, his fists swinging wildly...

[Raveled]

Glowstar wasn't expecting the fight to start right there. He tried to leap away but barely caught the blow on a hastily-raised arm instead of his head. It didn't help too much though, as his wrist was driven back against his forehead. There was an audible crack, a sharp pain, and then his vision went all foggy. He stumbled away from the alien, cradling his head and his sudden, splitting headache while he fought to bring the world back into focus

[Supercape]

GM

"Hurr Hurr Hurr" laughed number 3. He swung his fists around and gave Glowstar a look of contempt.

"You earthlings are so puny!" he said, still smirking. "So much for epic battles!"

Number one sighed and put down his electronic notepad. "Hardly epic" he agreed.

Number 1 lurched from side to side and gave a few hops. It looked like the squat, powerful creature was... in its own way.. dancing!

[Raveled]

Glowstar's vision cleared swiftly enough, and he saw that odd croaking noise was... laughter? From the aliens? From those damn, irresponsible aliens, who sucker-punched him, and now were laughing at him. His vision went red -- though that might have been a side-effect of the red force field filtering everything -- and he rushed forward, heedless of his own defense. His fist was surrounded by angry, flaring energy that reached out and leeched the life from the surroundings, causing the grass under Glowstar's feet to wither and die.

[Supercape]

GM

The blow glanced off the reporters body, leaving an angry red glow of energy. The power of Glowstar was enough to shatter steel and concrete, but evidently not the high-gravity adapted flesh of the reporter.

Number three took a step or two back from the sting, and a slight groan escaped his teeth.

"That all you got, puny human?" he roared, his anger getting the betting of him. His massive frame leaned forward and he bellowed "I'm going to pound you into the ground, that will be a story!"

With a little more caution, he leapt towards Glowstars, and once again the massive hand connected with the young hero.

[Supercape]

Meanwhile, on the Alien Ship...

Supercape scratched his head. To be more accurate, he was pulling his hair out. He didn't need to operate or pilot the vessel, thank goodness - he was just trying to work out where it was from. He pressed buttons, searched the bridge, and tapped at alien keyboards. He really hoped he was going to make the thing take off.

As far as he could tell, it was from another dimension. And from another galaxy, according to the star charts. In other words, pretty far. A few charts indicated his suspicion they had come from a high gravity system was correct.

He closed his eyes and focussed. If i can just...

[Raveled]

Glowstar took the blow and rolled with it as he'd been taught. The meaty fist deflected off his force field, forcing him to take a few hasty steps back lest he end up ass over teakettle. "Okay," he muttered, lips pulling back in a grim smile. "Time to take off the kiddy gloves." The energy manipulator hovered a few inches off the air and gathered energy, forming a tiny ball of red light, growing brighter and more intense by the moment. Before long it was a small sun in the hero's hands and he thrust it away from him; the energy ball broke into a thousand different blasts, hammering into the alien.

[Supercape]

GM

The force of the blast smacked the alien reporter a few steps backwards. As strong as it was, it seemed the alien flesh was built to withstand even the mighty terminus energy that Glowstar commanded. Again, his chest smoked and glowed with energy, but he was still standing.

"That smarts!" he complained through gritted teeth. He took a few steps back towards Glowstar, his hands ready to grab the hero with steel-like strength. Fast as Glowstar was, the Reporter was not as slow as he looked, and his vice like grip caught both of Glowstars arms with incredible strength...

[Raveled]

Glowstar struggled against the alien's iron grip, but it was ultimately useless. He didn't have anything like the strength of the heavy-worlders. That being said, he did have the strange otherwordly power that his body channeled so easily. He fed the energy into his force field, boosting its output so that it began tearing at the alien's suit. His smile stretched into a death's-head grin as he felt the energy crackling against the creature's hands. "Like that? Just hold on and I'll take you for a ride."

[Supercape]

GM

The reporters suit blistered and smoked as it brushed against Glowstar, who really was glowing.

The brute raised the young hero high above his head with both arms, energy feeding into his body. Then, with a mighty swing of his arms, he swung his enemy to the ground like a club, rupturing the earth beneath them. The sound was loud enough, but the collision of the young man with the earth at such speed and force, combined with the crackling terminus energy caused soil, rock, and glowing energy to explode out from the entwined combatants, and rain around them.

This time however, it seems the incredible energies of the Terminus proved a little to much for the reporter, as tendrils of energy coursed through his body. He sank to one knee and let go of his quarry...

[Raveled]

Glowstar hit the ground hard but managed to keep his head this time. He bounced out of the alien's grip and stumbled a few feet, just barely keeping upright. With a yell and another flare from his force field he charged the alien again, aiming a kick for the brute's face. He wasn't using his powers for this, but he'd played sports for years back in Little Rock, and felt confident that he could at least put a dent in that suit.

[Supercape]

GM

"That's a neat trick..." said number 3 as Glowstar's energy field enveloped him once again. The force threw him several feet this time, and he landed without ceremony on his rear, still crackling smoke and smelling of ozone. This time his eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head, and his reporters suit was shredded.

"You puny human..." gasped number 3. "...that...was pretty good..." he said, crawling back to his feet, and visibly unsteady.

"Hey" said number 2 "that was actually quite a good story! hmmm, Puny humans put up a fight!"

[Raveled]

Glowstar backed away from the group, leaning over with his hands on his knees and taking deep breaths. This was more physical activity than he usually got up to in a battle -- he always forgot how quickly a good tussle could leave you winded! The reporter's comment caused him to bristle, though. "You know, this isn't really a very out-of-the-ordinary day. I mean sure, I usually don't show alien invaders around town before I kick their ass, but the ass-kicking happens on a regular basis. Especially since this is Freedom City!" He straightened up and stretched, throwing a glanced across the water at all the civilians watching this odd encounter. "Center of the universe, seems like sometimes."

[Supercape]

GM

"Center of the universe, seems like sometimes."

The three reported picked up their ears at this comment.

"Centre of the universe!" scribbled number 1 on his notepad. "Really? You mean fights like this happen all the time? extraordinary! what have we been missing! and we thought this was just a planet full of puny humans!"

Number 2 and 3 nodded in agreement, although number 3 still looked somewhat glazed from from the tussle.

"How often? where? who?" continued number 1, almost in a frenzy... "how can we get in on the action???"

The three reporters were now quite excited, and whilst they still seemed ignorant, they were certainly giving Glowstar more respect.

[Raveled]

Glowstar sighed and shook his head. "I told you before, no one can predict when supervillains will attack. If we could predict is, we could stop them before they did something." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, someone like Foreshadow or the Scarab could probably predict when a villain would attack, but then they'd probably stop it before it could happen, so it would be a self-defeating prophecy." The young hero glanced over at the aliens and gave a helpless shrug. "Don't know how to provoke an attack. Don't think I would do it if I could."

[Supercape]

GM

"I see" said number 1, still scribbling down on his electronic note pad, quite serious now.

"I gotta idea!" said number 2, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. Number 3 was still sitting, exhausted after being thoroughly bested by Glowstar.

"What if there was some kinda disaster or something? then we would see some action from these heroes!" continued number 2.

"Thats true..." said number 1, scratching his head without much certainty. "But we cant hang around forever waiting for an earthquake..."

"We don't need an earth-quake!" replied number 2 excitedly. "The lake! If I go down to the bottom and hammer a crack in the ground, I can create a crack! spill water right into the city! then all the heroes will come to clean up the mess! watch!"

No sooner had he said his piece, than he had jumped into the centre of the lake with a huge splash, and was gone.

"Hmph" said number 1. "Studied Geology at university, failed his finals and became a reporter instead. Never did shake it out of him..." he muttered.

[Raveled]

Glowstar watched the alien reporter dive into the lake and felt the anger and frustration rising in him. He stalked over to the lead 'reporter' and started jabbing him in his suit. "This is disgraceful," he said. "You can't even control your own people! How would you feel if I came to your planet and started wrecking things? Just started knocking over buildings and frightening your civilians!?" He shook his head and stepped away, toggling the radio on his belt. "Supercape! You're going to need to dredge an alien out of Lake McKenzie in a moment. Just FYI." The teen stepped up to the edge of the lake and stretched his limbs, rapidly exhaling before sucking in a big breath.

[Supercape]

"Wha...?" replied Supercape to Glowstar.

Damn he cursed to himself. He had just worked out the aliens home star system - and home dimension. He really hoped that Glowstar had been joking, or at least bending the truth.

With the correct nudging of the correct superstrings time and space distorted, and he opened up an entanglement between here and the aliens home. Whilst he maintained it, electromagnetic radiation could pass freely through the two points. For one thing, he could feel the distant point with his radar sense.

For another, radio communication could be established.

"Hello hello! testing one two three! anyone there?"

[Raveled]

Glowstar took two quick steps and launched himself in a high arc that splashed down the near the center of the lake. His force field provided him with a bubble of air, but it was more useful in keeping the water away from him. The hero moved through the water easily, quickly locating the alien at the bottom of the lagoon. The extraterrestrial reporter didn't notice him at first, but Glowstar grabbed the alien's arm and got his attention. The teen didn't want to use some of his precious reserve of air to shout at the alien, so he simply shook his head sharply and pointed at he surface of the lake.

[Supercape]

GM

The alien looked at Glowstar at first with bemusement and then with annoyance, as he pounded away at the earth. It seemed he could hold his lungs for a considerable time, but was not amphibious.

However, his robust beating by Glowstar had not put in the mood to further test the young heroes mettle. With a sullen and petulent face, he gave one more angry pound at the earth beneath him, then propelled himself upwards towards the surface of the lake.

It seemed a good thing too, because the mighty fists of the Alien appeared to have opened up a massive gash in the Lake, and turbulence was building up around Glowstar. There was one particular crack that seemed to penetrate twenty or thirty yards into the rock and earth, and at the end Glowstar could dimly make out some water lines that had been exposed, and cracked, by the geological forces...

[Raveled]

Glowstar gave the pipes a hard look while his heart started to pound in his chest. He wasn't too concerned about Lake MacKenzie draining away, but he didn't think introducing lakewater into the city's drinking water was going to win him any accolades. Fortunately there only seemed to be hairline fractures in the pipes, sending up a steady stream of bright, silvery bubbles up to the surface.

Glowstar floated close to the damaged pipe and put his hands on either side of it. Intellectually he knew that he wasn't strong enough to seal the pipe this way, but he felt that he had to make the effort. So the young man pressed and strained, the muscles on his arms standing out starkly as he tried to bend the metal with his bare hands. Not surprisingly, he wasn't successful -- but then a strange thing happened. His hands started to glow a pale red color, almost pink. The weird energy aura moved to the pipes and wrapped around them, tighter and tighter, forcing the cracks closed and fusing the main together.

Glowstar sped to the surface, breaking into the air in spectacular fashion. He arced back to where the aliens were and floated there, glowering. "We're all going to sit right here," he said grimly, "until Supercape calls back that someone's come to collect you. Because I've had just about enough of your devil-may-care antics. If any of you tries another stunt like that again, I'm going to rip open your suit and introduce you to some of the city's famous ship-wrecks!"

[Supercape]

GM

Number one looked rather glum, but resigned, as he packed away his note book.

Number three sat down, wet, exhausted, and thoroughly dejected. Of course, he would have loved to play merry havoc with this world but he still remembered the sting of Glowstar's energy.

Number two looked...frustrated...

"Damn this boring world" he yelled "all these stories we are missing!" he spat. He looked around desperately for something to do.

With a grunt, he jumped off back to the city.

"Wait!" said number one after him "this isn't part of the Job!".

[Raveled]

Glowstar watched the alien bounce over the horizon and took a deep breath, trying his best to keep his temper under control. After counting to ten (forwards and backwards) he turned to the alien who seemed to be the most sane of the lot. "Why in the world did you think there'd be anything exciting here? We're just another city on another planet! You're coming here and you're causing all the 'excitement' -- by putting people in danger and threatening to destroy the city! If it was up to me, I'd toss your spacecraft off this planet and blast anymore of you folks that wanted to visit."

With his piece said, the hero leapt into the sky and headed back into the city. He didn't expect that it would be very hard to pick up the bouncing alien's trail again.

[Supercape]

GM

And indeed it was not...

The enraged alien was making one final attempt to create a headline.

He was atop a skyscraper, holding an oil truck in his hand. The driver half leaned out of the window of the drivers door, screaming in fear.

"Let me down, please! I have a wife... and two...err... three kids!!!"

Number two spied Glowstar on his trail and gave the huge lorry a shake. "Still using petrochemicals? How barbaric!" he laughed. "Still, the nice thing about them is how explosive they are! and they sure make a good story!"

With a laugh that suggested number two had lost any sanity he had in the first place, he flexed his mighty arms and hurled the massive vehicle into the air, launching it upwards, curving straight for central freedom, as the drivers screamed in pure terror!