ic Acorns, Axes and Apparel (IC)

[Gizmo]

Guy Fawkes II's long black coat flapped loudly in the sudden gale, the brim of his broad hat flipping upward in a manner that suggested it was somehow attached to his painted mask; if not it surely would have blown away. The aging Irish terrorist cackled uproariously to himself as he spotted the verdantly armoured heroine approaching. "Haha! Verily, a vine veiled vigilante versus various villainous virtuosos?" A line shot from one of his sleeves, a bladed point on its end lodging itself firming in a lamppost near the clothing shop Mona had suggested before retracting powerfully to pull him forward against the vicious weather. At the same time, a knife appeared in his other hand, though his sloppy, manic throw missed the ancient guardian altogether.

[Fox]

As soon as everyone in the shop was sufficiently distracted by the villains, the storm, and the other heroines, Mara ducked away into the nearest changing room; as she went out of view the choker at the base of her neck flared, a ripple in space itself flowing out over her body and leaving her armor in its wake. Then it was the armor's turn to flare, powering up with a soft hum rendered almost inaudible by the weather.

Reality not far from the front door of the shop twisted in on itself, depositing Mara - or rather, Dragonfly - on the sidewalk. She watched the knife-wielding maniac take a swing at Willow and immediately launched a twisting, rippling distortion his way...though she wasn't quite fast enough to land the hit. Recognition came a second later. [bg=#555555]"....you guys?"[/bg] she asked, sounding more put out than anything else. [bg=#555555]"Thought you were still in prison. Where's the annoying pink one?"[/bg]

[Gizmo]

Ellie was right behind Mara, hopping into the next changing room and swiftly pulling a familiar red jacket from her messenger bag. While her costume didn't have the instantaneous technology of her girlfriend's armor, practice and honed agility meant that she wasn't far behind the other heroines as she sprinted out of the store in the guise of Jill O'Cure. Sliding to a halt slightly behind Dragonfly and Willow, the tails of her bandanna mask flapping in the storm, she bit back on a string of curses. "Argh, every time, I swear..." she groused to herself before raising her voice against the wind and holding an arm up to keep the rain out of her eyes. "Watch out for the one in the red jumpsuit, he's a total psycho! And the normal looking guy is really a robot or something!"

[Dariusprime]

"Daka. Why did it have to be daka?" groaned Fulcrum. She shook her head and rubbed her arms. Even down the block, the sensation of the unshielded crystals made her skin crawl.

By the time her resolve steeled itself, she'd been largely left behind by her smaller and more nimble compatriots. Thrude didn't count as as small, especially with the giant axe. In any case, her purse landed on the window sill as she raced from the shop already in costume. A grimace creased her face as the daka sensation transformed into needling pain.

Taking a super-speed breath, she stopped short of the main group of villains and exhaled mightily. A blast of icy air admixed with the winter gales, washing over the offending villains. The pouring rain flash froze all around them and trapped them in glacial shells!

"Freeze! You're under arrest!" she yelled. A quick mumble added, "Always wanted to say that."

[Gizmo]

While alien woman Blackfire had called Khania managed to stay aloft, the sudden freezing rain pinned her arms to her sides even a Heka managed to bring up a hasty shield of defensive magics that deflected the abrupt blizzard away from him. On the ground, only Diehard's trained reflexes allowed him to avoid the worst of Fulcrum's freeze breath. To either side of him, Blackfire and the Daka Man were imprisoned in sturdy icebergs that rooted them to the ground and resisted even their superstrong attempts to break free. The android paused his string of expletives long enough to shout, "Argh, that's gotta be the ones from the restaurant, and they brought friends! Stop the one with the freaking portal gloves!"

With a distainful sniff, Heka gathered and hurled a bolt of mystical force in Dragonfly's direction, the shot going wide as the armored heroine strafed to one side. "Well, the new look isn't just for show, it seems," the cultured Egyptian noted dryly, glancing between his allies' various states of entanglement with some concern.

[N/A]

Any of the modern-day gods and monsters assembled on the street who happened to be facing the right direction at the right moment saw a series of rapid-fire flashes of light pulse and flicker in the back of the storefront, the unceasing caress of electricity dancing back and forth across Thrude's flesh. Seconds later, before the after-image had faded from their retinas, the air around them grumbled like a lion trying to rid itself of a mosquito. The sudden shift of air pressure inside the store shattered every frost-covered pane of glass protecting the store from the ravages of the elements outside, littering the sidewalk with jagged shards.

Thrude, The Daughter of Storms, soared out from behind the shower of glass as though she had been shot out of a cannon, propelled by the fierce wind yoked to her divine will. As the thunder she left in her wake echoed across Riverside, gust of wind swept through the exposed storefront, blowing a random assortment of previously-owned textiles into the rain-soaked street. She rode a spectral horse with mist for flesh and sparks for eyes, bearing down on the emerald-skinned alien warrior-princess, her opposite number among the Fearsome Five.

[N/A]

The goddess raised her gigantic warhammer above her head, gripped it with both hands (leaving her knees to guide her windborne steed), and swung it in a downward arc directly in front of her. She pummeled Khania with a blow from Vendrvapn that could pulverize concrete. The lightning surging forth from the hammer could burn a tree to ash, and the absolute cold of the striking surface could freeze steel in an instant, rendering it as brittle as pottery.

"SURRENDER, BRIGANDS! YOU FACE THRUDE! CHILD OF THOR THUNDER-KING AND SIF HARVEST-QUEEN! GRANDCHILD OF ODIN ALL-FATHER AND GAIA, THE VERY EARTH UPON WHICH YOU STAND! I AM THE DAUGHTER OF STORMS! CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN! PRINCESS OF ASGARD, AND SWORN PROTECTOR OF MIDGARD, AND ALL ITS PEOPLES! STAND DOWN, OR KNOW MY TRUE WRATH!"

[Gizmo]

Thurde's mighty blow crashed into the alien princess with crushing force, shattering the ice that were restraining her. With the bonds taking the brunt of the force, Khania's superhuman resilience was able to shrug off the rest of the attack, and quickly recovered from her airborne tumble and surged against the rain and wind toward the one-eyed goddess, eyes glowing with furious red energy. "WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW OF WRATH, EARTHLING?! I AM THE CROWN PRINCESS OF ZULTAS AND THE STELLAR KHANATE! WORLDS FAR GRANDER THAN THIS MUDBALL BOW AT THE MENTION OF MY NAME! I AM KHANIA, AND YOUR DOOM!" With that, she launched twin beams of burning light squarely into Thrude's stomach, knocking the wind out of the daughter of storms for a moment.

"Great. Stereo," Blackfire groaned as he continued to struggle futilely against his icy prison. Nearby, Diehard's eye went so winde they looked as though they were about to burst from his skull as the disoriented and mentally unbalanced martial artist similarly failed to break free of frozen rain pinning his arms to his sides. With an inarticulate scream, he charged the assembled heroes, rushing past Fawkes to make a running tackle at Willow, missing by a wide margin.

[April]

Willow twisted to the side to avoid rushing Diehard, her movements graceful despite the considerable bulk the plant based armor added to her slender form. The ancient guardian took her eyes off the martial artist, assessing the field of conflict and noting that the others had things well in hand.

That left her with Diehard, the one who had the temerity to assault her.

Stalking toward Diehard, tearing up small chunks in the pavement where tendrils where lashing to the ground to brace the dryad in the windy conditions, Willow brought both armored fists high above her head and brought them crashing down on her foe.

[Gizmo]

The blow caught the frothing martial artist squarely, sending him reeling backward, clearly having trouble even keeping his feet underneath him and his bearings in the wintery gale. The crimson suited villain did manage to provide a distraction for his porcelain masked compatriot, and Guy Fawkes II took the opportunity to make furious assault on the young inventor who had cause so much trouble in their last encounter, spinning knives jabbing at Dragonfly's defenses but failing to find purchase there.

[Fox]

Dragonfly remembered her last encounter with this bunch all too well: she wasn't going to fall for Guy Fawkes' tricks so easily, twisting out of the paths of his weapons before they could reach her, but she doubted she could keep that up forever. She also wasn't terribly inclined to let the masked man dance those blades toward her fellow, less metal-clad companions. Much less the companion who'd spent that last encounter injured by enemies who got too close.

One of her hands flexed, electricity crackling against the chaos of the weather as she grabbed at Fawkes' passing arm.

[Gizmo]

Fawkes found himself hard pressed between both the armored heroine's sparking gauntlets and the virulently glowing touch of her girlfriend, as Jill O'Cure stepped in to harry the knife wielding maniac. The Irish terrorist proved surprisingly hardy for his advanced years and lack of metahuman abilities, his billowing black cloak taking the brunt of the attacks and he shrugged off the remaining effects, cackling madly all the while, emboldened by his opponents' inability to bring him down.

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum considered the situation critically. Realistically, she'd like to carry off this "Daka Man" to prevent anymore pain. Unfortunately, his companions would most likely object to that. Particularly the one nominally unengaged one: the ancient sorcerer Heka. Thankfully for Fulcrum, the Daka Man looked confined by her ice prison for a bit longer. That gave her time to neutralize the magic user.

Glancing around at the scene, Fulcrum had full faith and confidence in her team mates. They looked to hold their own, and that gave her some peace of mind. Plus one had the audacity to fire at Dragonfly, thus diverting attention from his flanks! That could work to her advantage.

All she did was give Heka a slight "tap" to the back. Nothing more forceful than a friendly pat on the back from a super strong person. Almost like what Altas would do if he forgot his strength. Yeah, up she flew and THWACK! went the sorcerer. She doubted he'd go down. Likely he was made of stout stuff, or more likely, had some sort of mystical protection. Well, time to test that hypothesis!

[Gizmo]

Fulcrum's blow crashed against a sphere of mystic protection that sizzled into existence around her fist before disappearing again as the ancient sorcerer was sent tumbling end over end through the air helplessly. By the time he righted himself, Heka was clearly the worse for wear, bobbing unsteadily up and down in the air and sputtering, "The impertinence...!" On the ground, Blackfire and the Daka Man had made little progress freeing themselves from their frozen cocoons, but even the mere presence of the crystalline villain was proving weakening to the Terminus powered heroine.