The Date

[cosmicarus]

The hall outside the bathroom is empty. Invisible Grim walks into the restaurant area to see the fleeing villain talking to a blonde woman, this one a little older. She's obviously part of the hold up. The blonde woman listens intently to what is being said to her with a hard look on her face. There is another young woman there. She looks quite a bit more, well, nerdy. She's a brunette and stands near the doorway of the restaurant. Strangely enough, there are two women with her - these women look very much (identical in fact) to the blone woman currently listening to the villain Grim was chasing.

For the moment, everyone stands still.

[Veiled Malice]

Though he was not sure who these people were, or what they were capable of, Ren had a bad feeling about all of this. Normally, he'd be able to simply flick these women into unconciousness (or better yet, get them to go away) and be done with it. Armored up, the woman currently struggling to not black out would have been well and truly boned before the fight even began. Without his ultratech improvements, however, Ren was all too vulnerable to attack.

He did have one ace, though. Lynn was still cloaked, and hopefully, she'd be able to create some havoc with those claws of hers. What she needed was a distraction. Ren suddenly popped out from behind his hiding place, hands held high. "Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!" Well, currently, anyway...

"Look, whatever you want, just take it and leave, alright? You don't need to involve these people." He spoke slowly and carefully, edging his way around the tables between him and them. With any luck, they'd focus on him, leaving Lynn free to do her thing.

[Veiled Malice]

Though he was not sure who these people were, or what they were capable of, Ren had a bad feeling about all of this. Normally, he'd be able to simply flick these women into unconciousness (or better yet, get them to go away) and be done with it. Armored up, the woman currently struggling to not black out would have been well and truly boned before the fight even began. Without his ultratech improvements, however, Ren was all too vulnerable to attack.

He did have one ace, though. Lynn was still cloaked, and hopefully, she'd be able to create some havoc with those claws of hers. What she needed was a distraction. Ren suddenly popped out from behind his hiding place, hands held high. "Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!" Well, currently, anyway...

"Look, whatever you want, just take it and leave, alright? You don't need to involve these people." He spoke slowly and carefully, edging his way around the tables between him and them. With any luck, they'd focus on him, leaving Lynn free to do her thing.

[cosmicarus]

The tall, blonde woman merely looks at you and says, "You know, that's funny. I was just about to suggest that you surrender. I applaud your initiative." She indicates to the frightened people in the room, "But, unfortunately, I can't leave these people out of anything. I'm told you had a friend with you? From the Freedom League? No matter, we'll find him. In the meantime, lets make you a little more comfortable." With that, something a little strange happens - the blonde woman's form seems to shift and quiver, as if she were a reflection in a pool that had been disturbed by ripples. In any case, where there was one, there was now three! The two new blonde women walk toward Nanowire, smiling coyly as they did so. They reach him, the one on the left saying, "If you'd like to come with us." It wasn't really a request.

[cosmicarus]

The tall, blonde woman merely looks at you and says, "You know, that's funny. I was just about to suggest that you surrender. I applaud your initiative." She indicates to the frightened people in the room, "But, unfortunately, I can't leave these people out of anything. I'm told you had a friend with you? From the Freedom League? No matter, we'll find him. In the meantime, lets make you a little more comfortable." With that, something a little strange happens - the blonde woman's form seems to shift and quiver, as if she were a reflection in a pool that had been disturbed by ripples. In any case, where there was one, there was now three! The two new blonde women walk toward Nanowire, smiling coyly as they did so. They reach him, the one on the left saying, "If you'd like to come with us." It wasn't really a request.

[Heritage]

Grim frowns invisibly; here she was hoping that Ren would get to the kitchen and make with the killer Cuisinart action, but instead now the ball was back in her court. Was he expecting her to take out these girls? Despite her best efforts, she had dropped one of them, and the slutty girl even laughed at her! As far as she could tell, Ren was the only one who'd had a serious impact on their chances of getting anyone out of this alive; the best she had done was act as a distraction-

Wait a minute, that might work...even if it only works for a few seconds, it could buy them some time...

Lynn sneaks back into the hallway that leads to the washrooms; once she's sure she can't be seen, she shifts into the large candy-colored form of Jawbreaker, complete with the injuries she sustained in the fight, and then drops loudly to the floor before calling out in the girl's voice.

"Wendy...that Freedom League freak got past me...I can't see him..."

She crawls on the floor to just inside the restaurant area and collapses again, seemingly passed out.

[Heritage]

Grim frowns invisibly; here she was hoping that Ren would get to the kitchen and make with the killer Cuisinart action, but instead now the ball was back in her court. Was he expecting her to take out these girls? Despite her best efforts, she had dropped one of them, and the slutty girl even laughed at her! As far as she could tell, Ren was the only one who'd had a serious impact on their chances of getting anyone out of this alive; the best she had done was act as a distraction-

Wait a minute, that might work...even if it only works for a few seconds, it could buy them some time...

Lynn sneaks back into the hallway that leads to the washrooms; once she's sure she can't be seen, she shifts into the large candy-colored form of Jawbreaker, complete with the injuries she sustained in the fight, and then drops loudly to the floor before calling out in the girl's voice.

"Wendy...that Freedom League freak got past me...I can't see him..."

She crawls on the floor to just inside the restaurant area and collapses again, seemingly passed out.

[cosmicarus]

As Grim collapses, however, she hears a commotion from down the hall where the bathrooms were. It's entirely possible that the real Jawbreaker has managed to stand and is stumbling around - that could lead to some complications later. For the moment, Grim as Jawbreaker looks very convincing, and the others don't seem to question her. The girl at the end of the restaurant doesn't look too happy about this turn of events, "A member of the Freedom League? Here? Don't they have, like, specific restaurants they can eat at or something?" She sounds convincingly distraught, but is silenced but the steely glare of the tall blonde woman.

[Veiled Malice]

For a moment, Ren stood where he was, paralyzed with indecision. The kitchen, and the return of Nanowire, was within spitting distance from him. But he didn't know if he'd be able to get there before getting laid into by the women robbing the place.

Then, Jawbreaker staggered out of the bathroom and provided all the distraction he needed to make a break for a serious powerup. So he did. All of a sudden, Ren burst into motion, hurtling towards the western-style doors to the kitchen and blew through them, legs still pumping. Unfortunately, the doors blocked the view of what was beyond them, so he was completely unprepared for the countertop that he slammed into. (and subsequently flew over, given his forward velocity) A rain of kitchen implements from the overhanging shelf joined him on the floor, with a ladle bouncing off his forehead.

"Ow."

[Heritage]

As Grim collapses, however, she hears a commotion from down the hall where the bathrooms were. It's entirely possible that the real Jawbreaker has managed to stand and is stumbling around - that could lead to some complications later. For the moment, Grim as Jawbreaker looks very convincing, and the others don't seem to question her. The girl at the end of the restaurant doesn't look too happy about this turn of events, "A member of the Freedom League? Here? Don't they have, like, specific restaurants they can eat at or something?" She sounds convincingly distraught, but is silenced but the steely glare of the tall blonde woman.

Grim continues to play possum, trying to get as accurate a picture of her surroundings as she can based on sound alone; not that she could ever be so lucky, but she's hoping the real Jawbreaker might be attacked in the confusion if she comes stumbling out in the next few seconds. However, the jarring and painful sound of Ren slamming into something solid makes her inwardly wince.

My boyfriend (and I can call him that in my head if I want to) is so cute, in a loud oafish way; dear God, please don't let Ren die crushed under the ice machine or whatever he ran into, in this or any cafe.

[cosmicarus]

The two blonde women who were standing next to Ren reach out and try to catch him, but he's too fast. The main blonde woman screams at them, "Get him!" They sprint after him, entering the kitchen just after he does and having a much easier time of it.

Before he can stand, Ren has a shadow cast over him. He looks up to see a young, Japanese girl standing over him. She points an odd looking stick at him, "Causing trouble, are we?" She tsk, tsks, a malicious smile spreading across her face, before striking him with the stick.

Back out in the restaurant, there's a loud crash from the bathroom, causing the blonde woman to look up, "Seems like out Leaguer is back where it all began..."

[Veiled Malice]

"" Ren yelled in Japanese as he lay on the floor just before the Japanese girl nailed him with that stick of hers. Fortunately, his tough endoskeleton warded off the worst of the blow. The electrical follow-up shock, however, came as something of a surprise. But even that castcaded off harmlessly, arcing towards the nearby metal table leg with a small *crack*.

Once he realized that he hadn't been hurt from the shock stick, Ren grinned victoriously up at his attacker. "You know, that would have worked out a lot better if you didn't suck so much." He kicked off the oven he lay near and rolled to his feet, his grin now growing to maniacal proportions. "Well, it's been fun, what with the robbery and mayhem and all..."

His arms suddenly shot out, silvery lines of concentrated nanomachines stabbing into the various cookers, ovens and implements that made up the kitchen. For a moment, he looked like a man suspended solely by wires, as if some horror movie was playing out in front of the Japanese girl's face. But then, the entire kitchen seemed to melt all at once. The metal slurry created by the nanomachine's breakdown of their molecular structure created hundreds of reflective surfaces, futher adding the surrealistic nature of what was happening.

All the liquefied metal condensed around Ren, coating him from head to toe in an instant. The amorphous blob solidified quickly, shaping itself into the lines familiar to him as his armored form. Power flowed through him once again, almost drug-like in it's heady quality. Ren, now Nanowire, reared up to his full seven feet, almost scraping the ceiling with his skull plate. "...But now you are the one in trouble," he rumbled, the synthetic properties of his body turning it into the throaty growl of a Mack truck.

[cosmicarus]

The blonde woman head flicks up, staring down the hall at the cacophany coming from the kitchen, "What is..." She turns her head to the small woman near the door, "Wallflower, check it out." The girl she was talking to merely looked back with a scared look on her face. The blonde woman shot her a steely glare before once again splitting two more off from herself and taking a few tentative steps toward the door, "If you want to get something done..."

Meanwhile the two blonde women in the kitchen with Ren break for the door, running back out to the restaurant. When they see the blonde woman, they stop, "We've got problems..."

[Heritage]

Grim has to work hard to hide her smile when she hears the deep metallic rumbling of Nanowire's altered voice.

Oh, you girls are in all kinds of trouble now. Ren honey, you are now truly made of awesome.

Playing possum has started to get boring, so she decides to mix it up a little; with great effort (or the appearance of it, anyway) 'Jawbreaker' struggles to a crawling position, and starts moving towards the geeky girl with the glasses as she continues to strain her hearing to keep up with what the real gumball girl is doing back in the bathroom.

Dorkenstein better not be a super-telekinetic or something, because that would really blow.

[cosmicarus]

"...But now you are the one in trouble,"

The Japanese girl looks stunned for a second, before her mouth curls up into a sadistic smile, "Synthetic? Good. Wendy doesn't like it when I slice up flesh. Circuitry should be fine. Domoarigato, Mr. Roboto!" With that, she raises her stick again, realeasing a bolt of energy thatbrushes past Nanowire's head. Meanwhile she starts backflipping, putting some distance between her and Ren, while at the same time, she shrinks! By the time she's finished she stands a mere 1 foot tall, but the look of defiance in her eye hasn't diminished.

It's only now that the cooks finish screaming that they're noticed. They're pressed back hard against the shelving as far away from the two Japanese combatants as is possible, but aren't doing anything to run away.

Elsewhere, the door to the bathroom opens, and though no-one can be seen that far down the hall, the voice of Jawbreaker is clear, "Wendy. Wendy! They got past me...!"

The Wallflower that Grim is slowly making her way toward is shifting anxiously. She retrieves a small device from her backpack and holds it close to her. She makes no move to stop Grim as Jawbreaker.

During this whole time, the waitstaff and the customers sit silently in their seats, too worried to move, perhaps?

[Veiled Malice]

Nanowire slid out of the way as the electrical bolt flew past, narrowly avoiding getting hit by whatever it was going to do. He was fairly certain it couldn't hurt him, but it never hurt to be careful. But as he hurtled towards the girl, intent on laying her out, she shrank right in front of him!

"If you think that turning fun-size is going to stop me from hammering you into the next time zone," he said, cocking back his massive fist, "you are sadly mistaken."

So saying, he blasted forwards on a cushion of gravitic force and drilled her dead-center, despite her small size. The force of the hit picked the girl up and flung her out of the kitchen. Nanowire followed closely behind, smashing the western-style doors off their hinges and gouging a neat half-circle in the frame with his head. He finally stopped his forward momentum after moving through an empty table like it wasn't even there.

"Next," he growled, directing his emnity towards the cloned woman and her companion.

[cosmicarus]

The, now tiny, Japanese girl is caught completely off guard by the sudden and savage attack. The initial impact itself is enough to make her think twice about coming after Nanowire ever again, and the many obstacles she hits as she flies through the air don't help either. By the time she lands, some 5000 feet away, Pixie is a whole lot of unconcious.

The blonde woman who seems to be leading this outfit just watches her teammate fly through the air with the greatest of ease in silence. After a few moments, she turns back to her people, "I think it's time to go." She sprints for the front door of the restaurant, while the six copies in standing amongst the tables open fire at Nanowire; but they watch unhappily as the four beams that hit don't seem to phase the metallic monster. They all decide to follow in their originals footsteps, racing for the door. One of those near the door opens it, allowing the other to make it out. For the moment, however, the other six (including the original) are still in the restaurant.

[Heritage]

For a second, Grim's jaw drops and she almost breaks character as she watches the tiny Japanese girl fly through damn near everything in sight.

Now there's something you don't see every day.

Returning to her prey in front of her, she rises unsteadily to her feet as she speaks in Jawbreaker's voice. "Y'know, it's a shame a girl like you fell in with this crowd." Then she smiles and reverts to her true form, brandishing her claws. "Now are you gonna come quietly, or do I have to tear your nerdy face off?" :twisted:

[Veiled Malice]

The girl in front of Grim jerked in surprise suddenly as her "friend" turned into someone seemingly intent on doing her serious bodily harm. She fumbled with the device she had clutched to her chest, finally stabbing the button after a couple false starts. All at once, the girl's outline becomes more indistinct - not truly blurred, but less defined - and she glared back at her antagonist. "I don't like being called a nerd," she said, with only a small quaver in her voice. "Especially someone dressed like they just stepped out of the Salvation Army."

She made a move towards the door, after her companions while fishing a small blaster out of her pocket. Apparently she wasn't ready to fire it inside the restaurant, however, as the patrons had finally had enough. Dozens of them swarmed the doorway, sweeping the autocloning woman out the door. For a moment, it seemed like the glasses-wearing "nerd" would be trampled under the stampede of panicked patrons, but instead of being mowed down, she went straight through them, as if she was a ghost.

Nanowire wasn't able to do much more than stand aside and let the restaurant goers get out. Any move on his part would only exacerbate the situation - which he realized was mostly his fault. In the chaos, all of the women had gotten away...

"Oh man, I am so going kick all of their butts when this is over..."

...Except one, it seemed. Nanowire moved around behind the half-wall where Jawbreaker lay slumped against it. The very sight of the giant robot was enough to cow her. "Easy, big... guy, I guess. I'm done for today, alright?" She raised her hands as much as she could under the circumstances. "See? I surrender. I give up. Throw in the towel. Knuckle under. Some other word for raising the white flag that I can't think of right now." She sagged under the weight of her words until she sat down against the divider wall. "Can't believe they left me like this. Heh. Guess they really isn't any honor among thieves, huh?"

Nanowire looked between her and Grim. There were sirens in the background already, and he really didn't feel like hanging around to explain how the cafe got to the state it was in. "Time to go," he said to Grim as he moved towards the door.

From her place on the floor, Jawbreaker leveraged herself up onto the wall and yelled, "Hey! Aren't you going to arrest me or something?" Her mind suddenly caught up to what she had just said and she waved them off. "Nevermind. I'll... just be over here..." So saying, the girl started dragging herself over to the vacant kitchen.

[Heritage]

Grim nods at Nano's announcement. "Okay, yeah, we gotta get you out of here." She moves to join him by the door, and then turns back to yell in Jawbreaker's general direction. "Sorry about your massive abdominal injuries! I hope you get better, and, y'know, learn your lesson and stuff! Take care!"

'Take care?' Lamest superhero exit line ever.

She shakes her head and laughs. "Okay, so can you fly me to the moon or whatever? Or I can show you my secret hideout, but all you'd be getting is a Diet Coke as a nightcap. Plus you would have the honor of meeting my three cats."

She shrugs.

"Or, the night is young; there's always time for karaoke, or a flight around the skyline or something."

She starts worrying at a bit of combat schmutz on his exoskeleton with her thumb.

"You know I'm flexible."

[Veiled Malice]

She shakes her head and laughs. "Okay, so can you fly me to the moon or whatever? Or I can show you my secret hideout, but all you'd be getting is a Diet Coke as a nightcap. Plus you would have the honor of meeting my three cats."

Nanowire grinned under his skull plate at the simple wonder of being with someone so capable of shifting from fight mode to date mode in the blink of an eye. It took him several minutes to accomplish that same feat. The rapidly approaching siren's wail, however, didn't give either of them the luxury of time. He scooped her up into his arms. "Hold on," he said, preparing to take off.

And then they were up in the sky, flying away from the disaster area he'd made of The Monorail Cafe. Though he honestly was sorry about the mess, he couldn't be bothered to care as long as he had Lynn in his arms. "I don't know about the moon, but there is something I'd like to show you." He banked sharply, keeping his speed under a hundred so as not to ruin her view of the Freedom City skyline as they flew towards their destination.

The rain had cleared up, leaving clear skies and unlimited visibility for as far as the eye could see. Freedom City twinkled like a flawless jewel in the darkness of the February night. Buildings and streets blurred together into one unimaginably beautiful sight, almost as if the city was a living being made up of luminescent veins and arteries.

"It's nice up here, isn't it?" Nanowire said after a while. "I don't really fly around a lot, to be honest. I never really had the inclination. Too mired down in my own problems, I guess." He looked down at Lynn and cuddled her in a bit closer to his chest, hoping that some of the waste heat his gravitics were radiating would reach her. "Sorry, are you cold up here? I can go lower..."

[Heritage]

"It's nice up here, isn't it?" Nanowire said after a while. "I don't really fly around a lot, to be honest. I never really had the inclination. Too mired down in my own problems, I guess." He looked down at Lynn and cuddled her in a bit closer to his chest, hoping that some of the waste heat his gravitics were radiating would reach her. "Sorry, are you cold up here? I can go lower..."

Grim shakes her head and smiles. "Mmm, don't worry about me, I don't get cold; I mean, I might in space or even the upper upper atmosphere, but if I can see the ground, I'm fine." She lays her head back into the crook of his arm and closes her eyes, and in a minute she's softly singing 'Fly Me To The Moon' in an untrained but not unpleasant voice.

Fly me to the moon

And let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

In other words hold my hand

In other words darling kiss me.

As she gets to the end of the first verse, she begins to trail off, until finally it's clear she's fast asleep... ;)

[Veiled Malice]

"That's a nice song," Nanowire said after it appeared she was done singing. "What's it called?" When Lynn didn't answer immediately, he looked down at her. "Lynn? What's it... oh." Suddenly very aware that he cradled a sleeping girl in his arms, Nanowire slowed down even more so that he would be barely breaking the speed limit on a city street.

Being inorganic, sleep was a pleasant memory Nanowire was incapable of taking part in any more. He envied Lynn; that she should be able to escape the world by simply closing her eyes. The nights got terribly boring around here, and there were simply not enough ways to entertain oneself. There were times he sorely wished to go to sleep, if only to make time pass more quickly.

Making time pass was the last thing on Nanowire's mind as he looked down on the angelic face of Lynn Epstein, however. (Though she'd likely contest the "angelic" part. She would probably identify with something a bit more hardcore.) He set down on a nearby rooftop, making sure not to jostle her about. There he sat down cross legged and settled her into the space created.

One of his hands reached up, almost of it's own accord to stroke her hair, but stopped bare centimeters before her face. It wouldn't be right. Not with an appendage made of steel and plastic. His form seemed to shift and expand, then melt away. All the things that made him so monstrous to look upon shed off of his like a butterfly leaving it's cocoon. Before long, all that remained was Renichi, cradling Lynn in his lap, looking out across the water towards the giant Centurion Statue with a smile on his face.

"Happy Valentine's day, Lynn."

[Heritage]

"Happy Valentine's day, Lynn."

Now that the wind is no longer rushing past them, Lynn's sensitive ears pick up Ren's murmured endearment, and the diminutive heroine stretches, yawns and scrunches up her face like a kitten.

"Are we at the moon yet?" She rises to a seated position, her short hair sticking up in all sorts of crazy directions, and squints around through one open eye; once she gets a look at the view across the river, she smiles and opens both eyes. "That's beautiful; God, I love this city so much sometimes it hurts."

She turns back to Ren, sees he has reverted to his more human form, and her sleepy grin could melt through hardened steel. "There you are." She worms back into his arms, head leaning back against his chest, and sighs in pure contentment. "This is the good part; we have to figure out a way to make this last forever, bare minimum."

She peers up at Ren's smooth handsome face, searching his features for a few seconds. "I live on the seventh floor of the Imperator Hotel, the suite in the southwest corner." She scrunches back down and returns to watching the lights on the boats chugging up and down the river. "I could, like, put a sock in the window when I wanted to see you; then you would fly by, see the sock, and bring me ice cream. And maybe one day-"

She laughs and shakes her head. "See, that'll never work - I'd just put a sock in the window every day; more like ten socks." She looks back up at Ren. "But I could give you my patrol routes, and you could hang a sock, or, y'know, whatever you want, and I would go to your place, or we could take turns..."

Grim stops herself from getting too worked up and looks back across the water; after a minute of silence, she speaks with great determination. "I want you in my life...a lot. I'd like to see you every day, barring crime waves, undercover work or major Jewish holidays."

She sighs and closes her eyes.

"So that's it."

Pause.

"And I think I left my stuffed cat back at the crime scene."

[Veiled Malice]

Ren settled down so he could put his back against the surface behind him. "Sounds good to me. And I'd like to see a lot more of you, too. I don't have to tell you it'll be weird, at first. I barely have any experience with relationships, and certainly nothing this complex, but..." He brushed a hand through her longer hair, gently trying in vain to straighten out some of the crazier snarls. "But it'll be worth it."

"As for exactly how it's gonna work, I have no idea." He chuckled as he thought back on her stated idea for non-verbal messaging. "The... ah, sock idea might not work out all that well. I live in Southside right now, y'know? They're not big on clotheslines down there." He pulled her in a little closer to him, so they were spooning while sitting up. "Maybe we could get with the times a little more? Get some cell phones or something? It's not like we could move in together..." The last part was mostly rhetorical, said as Ren looked off at the bay.

"Listen, this is gonna sound really cheesy, but I just need to get it off my chest." He ducked his head down so his breath tickled Lynn's ear as he exhaled. "You saved me, you know? I was going down a dark path and was going to end up either dead or in prison for the rest of my life, even more guilt-ridden than I am now. I'd already started out that way. All it would take was one real bad day, and I'd be beyond redemption. And then... you showed up."

"So... thanks. If we never see each other again, just know that I owe everything - everything - good about my life these days to you."

He looked away again, his face burning red from embarrassment.

"Oh... and I'll get you another cat."