Welcome Back (IC)

[Breella]

Gwen blushed. "What can I say? I think every white bread american girl has a thing for that accent." Gwen smirked and twirled around, her dress fanning out around her small body. "Maybe it's a bit of the Stockholm syndrome thing." she shrugged and looked up at Brian for a long moment. "I-- I have my own thing that we need to talk about-- but I think it's best that we head back to the Greenhouse." Gwen interlaced her fingers with Brian's and stopped to kiss him.

[Raveled]

Brian kissed Gwen back, his lips curling into a smile. "Okay," he said. "Sure thing. But don't we just walk for a bit so that--" Brian's train of thought was derailed when sirens rising in the distance approached them rapidly, flashing lights drawing their eyes down the road. The young man stood on his tip-toes and craned his head to see down the road. He could just pick out a heavy, square-built truck speeding down the road, juking back and forth on the road; it trailed a tail of police cars half a block long.

Brian grabbed Gwen and the pair jumped back as the lead truck, a heavy, metal-reinforced type normally used for moving large amounts of money, mounted the curb to make a steep turn. They rushed forward in time to see it make another turn into a parking tower; the police cruisers pulled up in front of the only entrance and the cops jumped out, forming a cordon and pushing the inevitable crowd back. Brian glanced down at Gwen. "I think the greenhouse will have to wait," he said, heading to a convenient alley.

[Breella]

Gwen dashed down the same alley. She began to change but when a note struck her. She made a sour face. This was NOT the way she wanted Brian to find this out but circumstances and all.

Gwen looked down the alley, then back down at herself. Her rough brown bark covered skin solved one problem. Gwen no longer needed to carry around a costume. While she retained a mostly human form there was little anatomical correctness other than her curves. However to be save a vine snaked its way around her chest area wrapping it up and down across her stomach to cover lower areas. She emerged from the alley looking like a fire topped tree spirit.

[Raveled]

Brian touched his ring and threads of metallic silver sprung out, covering his body from the neck down. In a moment he was covered in shining silver, with a red-lined cape hanging from his neck. As he glanced back at Gwen, his jaw dropped. For a long moment he simply stared as her clothes were shed, her soft skin replaced by hard, knotty bark. His breathing and pulse sped-up, not all from the anticipation of the battle ahead, and he had to remind himself that their date was temporarily on hold. It was a hard thought to keep in his head, especially with the vine wrapping around her body like that. He resolutely closed his eyes and thought of baseball statistics.

After a minute, Glowstar faced forward and strode across the road. He bypassed the police blockade and lead Flora down a side alley. A red bubble popped up around each of them and they rose slowly in the air, the heroes scanning each floor for the truck. They found it one floor down from the top, surrounded by a group of people in dark-colored costumes. Glowstar landed them inside the structure. "Give it up, villains," he shouted, standing tall and proud. "The heroes are here. Your crimes are going to be punished!"

The group around the truck turned to face the heroes. One of them, a blonde man in a dark blue outfit, scowled. "Bloody children," he muttered. "Not a pox on the League, but still very capable of messing up our night. Get-Away! You and Grab get back to the Loft and wait for the signal."

A petite Asian woman in a gray jumpsuit, nodded sharply. "Got it, Trap Door. Come on, Grab." She reached out to touch the other woman of the group, a tall, leggy brunette with a mass of hair and a green one-piece, on the shoulder. Grab opened her mouth to say something, evidently though better of it, and then the pair of women were gone in a blur.

Trap Door grabbed a short cylinder from his belt and shook it sharply, a glowing green staff expanding to length with a snap. "C'mon, Smash. Let's entertain our guests until the girls come back." The last member of the team, a hulking man with steel-gray skin covered in tattoos and dressed only in red cargo pants and leather work boots, stepped forward and cracked his knuckles ominously.

[Breella]

Gwen moved closer to the pair, Vines inching out from her bark covered form. She gracefully covered the distance and came up close to Brian. Shake him up a little, and squeeze. Gwen watched as the Vines shot out and easily wrapped around the larger man. She smirked, a rather odd look on her new tree like face. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

[Raveled]

Trap Door easily shifted to the side, avoiding the questing vines, but Smash wasn't so lucky; the leafy tendrils grabbed him and hoisted his huge, metal-covered form into the air, smashing him against the roof and the floor in quick succession. As that was happening, Trap Door danced towards Flora, the green staff spinning in his hands; he suddenly thrusted with it and it cracked solidly off her head.

Seeing that enraged Glowstar and he rushed forward, screaming, his hands glowing a deep and baleful red. His launched a roundhouse blow that took Trap Door by surprise, lifting the man off his feet and throwing him against the armored truck. The super-thief fell to one knee, slowly pushing himself up. By the light of the staff and Glowstar's glow, his face was noticeably more pallid and drawn. "Dammit," he rasped. "I guess I'm getting too old for this!"

[Breella]

Gwen smiled as the stick bounced off her head. "Bad idea!" Gwen smiled and a group of vines lashed out and strung up the man. "You've gone and made them mad!" Gwen pulled him up with the Vines and his limp form sagged. We break him? the Vines sounded sad and Gwen cast a look at Brian. "Is it just me or..." Gwen trailed off as she could feel the larger man renew his struggles.

[Raveled]

Smash struggled free of the vines and struggled to his feet, roaring triumphantly -- before Glowstar slammed a fist into the metal man's elbow, red Terminus energies flowing from him and into the criminal. Smash staggered back, coughing hard, giving the teen hero a cross look. Before he could retaliate though, the slim Asian woman reappeared, blurring to a stop. She gasped when she saw the unconscious Trap Door in Flora's grip, dashing forward and cutting through the vines with forearms like buzz saws. Get-Away caught him with a grunt, quickly passing the blonde criminal to Smash. She touched his arm and said, "Get him to the Loft. I'll be right behind you!" Smash stared daggers at the pair of teen heroes but did as he was told, speeding away faster than the eye could follow.

Get-Away dashed to the rear of the armored truck, unlocking the heavy doors and throwing them open. "Didn't even wonder what we were stealing, did you heroes," she spat. "Well, the Labyrinth can sit and spin for all I care. You're going down!" She blurred inside and then was a gray streak disappearing down the parking tower.

Before Flora or Glowstar could follow her, they heard a loud, metal clanging from inside of the van. A pair of huge robots climbed out; easily twelve feet tall and bulky, each had a solidly built, roughly humanoid body that was topped in a conical head. A single red eye-slit scanned the teen heroes. A moment later, the robots brought up both arms, focusing on Glowstar. "TERMINUS RADIATION DETECTED," they bellowed in unison. "PRIMARY PROGRAMMING ENGAGED. DESTROY TERMINUS RADIATION. DESTROY, DESTROY!" True to their words, one of the robots fired off a salvo of rockets that, thankfully, curved wide around the young man; perhaps their targeting systems were still warming up?

[Breella]

Gwen's Vines recoiled from the pain, they retracted into Gwen's body and she cringed. She watched the Robots emerge and a panicked look crossed her face. Not good! Gwen watched the rockets go wide around Brian and she gasped with relief. On reflex her vines shot out and went for the first robot. They fell short of their target, still short from their cutting. "Crap, Crap, CRAP" Gwen belted out.

[Raveled]

The second robot ignored Flora, letting loose with another volley of rockets at Glowstar. He was ready for them this time, though, leaping to one side; the mini-muntions missed and instead exploded a random car. The teen hit the ground rolling and came up with his hands cupped close to his body. He concentrated and a sphere of crackling energies grew between his palms. With a wordless grunt he flung the sphere away from him and it broke into a thousand different streamers, slamming into one of the robots and denting its metal surface.

The targeted robot stumbled back, hitting a concrete-and-rebar pillar with a resounding, echoing clang. "Al-Al-Al-Alphadro-ro-ro-roid zero-zero-zero-four requests ass-ss-ss-ssitance from ground personnel-el-el. Request... Request... ERROR! Terminus energies detected. DESTROY!" Its slit of an eye turned and focused on Flora. "Additional Terminus agents detected. DESTROY!"

[Breella]

Gwen stumbled a little on her feet as the rockets wizzed by again. She groaned and tried to lash out with the Vines to no avail. Bad robots! the Vines became curious and clumzy. Keep your head in the game! Gwen wove her body closer and the Vines made contact but still weren't 100% behind the strike. "Come ON!" Gwen belted out as she again fizzled.

[Raveled]

The uninjured Alphadroid ignored Flora's attempts to harm it; instead the robot kept up the assault on Glowstar, who continued to dodge the rockets nimbly even as the rockets did more and more damage to the parking tower. The teen hero stopped for a moment to focus on another attack; more crimson beams arced out and struck the already-battered robot about its conical head. It sparked and its voice box started stuttering so hard it was impossible to understand what the creature was trying to say. "Flora," Glowstar called out. "These things are too damn big to miss. Just put more oomph behind those attacks!"

[Breella]

Gwen found herself a little agitated. Both at the lack of concentration on the part of the Vines and at herself. Brian's comment sent her over the edge and she pushed both herself and the Vines. A satisfying thud of greenery against metal met her ears. Good one! Gwen thought that maybe some positive feedback would help inspire the Vines. Keep that up, just like that! Gwen watched the robot stagger backwards and she smiled.

[Raveled]

The vines struck hard against the robot, so hard in fact that they left smears of plant material against its visor. "Error. Error," it bleated bassily. "Visual systems occluded. Initiate cleaning mechanism."

Glowstar himself rose in the air, gathering energy deeply into himself. The second Alphadroid levered itself upright. "Warning. Warning. Build-up of Terminus energies detected. Prepare emergency counter-measures! Prepare for ar--" Glowstar let loose a mighty blast of energy all of a sudden and knocked the robot's head clean off. "Counter those measures," he spat.