ic Street Sharks [IC]

[Gizmo]

"Son, I weigh the better part of a ton," Wail told Gabriel frankly, his voice resonating powerfully even as he kept it low. "I don't do quiet so well and I sure don't do rooftops. If you young bucks want to give sneaking in a shot, I can stay here and wait for our new friend to show." If the contact turned out to be a set-up their would-be ambushers would have an interesting time dealing with the sonic shouter backed into a corner. If the others ran into trouble inside, by the same token, he was only one shout and a lot of rubble away from lending a hand.

[trollthumper]

Cannonade shook his head. "I'm not exactly the stealthy type," he said. "And I'm still not comfortable with suggesting a straight-up B & E. Perhaps we should --"

He was interrupted by the sound of an approaching car. He raised his hand to the other heroes just as he shut up, so that he could better tune in on the noise. The van approached from the north, then pulled up into the alley they were standing over and disappeared into some hidden garage. The man who got out was smaller than the van he was driving, but not by much. He looked pretty white, though, which meant he wasn't the contact they were looking for. But he was headed for the rear door of the warehouse, a key in his hand.

"Oh hey, look," Cannonade said, "intel. Who wants to grab him, and who wants to make sure he doesn't turn into a big freaking shark?"

[Raveled]

Glowstar rolled his shoulders and stepped forward, hands glowing suddenly. "I've got this guy," he said. He grabbed at empty air and a ruddy light formed around the newcomer on the street. It looked a bit like when he'd grabbed the syringe out of the air at the asylum, and just like then the man rose into the air and rushed over to the gathered heroes. Glowstar held him in the air over the edge of the roof, grinning. "I knew all that fishing would come in handy," he said. "I think I just caught a hundred-and-twenty pound scumbag!"

[trollthumper]

The man was held immobile, hanging high above the ground. It seemed he was reaching for a syringe of his own - but Glowstar's construct was strong enough that the man barely had wiggle room, never mind the room to retrieve the syringe. All he could do was stare daggers at the heroes - once the shock of his situation had worn away, wrath was quick to take its place.

"Yeah, like we're real happy with you, either," said Cannonade. "So. What's going on in there?"

"You think I'm going to tell --"

"You should probably think before finishing that sentence." He took a step back for the other heroes to get a better view of him - and vice versa. "So. Your little business."

The man sighed. "I was just hired to distribute," he said. "Everyone's looking for an edge in this town. It's my job to get the product out. Only way I'd use it is if I got caught in this mess."

[Gizmo]

Wail make a low sound in the back of his throat, nothing so savage as a growl but still a primal noise of pure, threatening menace that carried enough force to rattle the loose pebbles and debris on the ground around them as he stepped forward. "Sucker, you have to be asking yourself just one thing," he told the captive criminal, each syllable hitting with the force of a slap. "How can you go from 'some fool pusher' to 'useful snitch' before you have to find out what happens to fool pushers?" He leaned close enough to look the man in the eye. "Think fast."

[trollthumper]

The words seemed to unlock something deep in the man. "Okay, okay, there's more!" he said. "Look, I've just been working distribution, hitting the floor a few times. But... well, I think there's something else going on?"

"What kind of something else?"

"Some of the heads - at least, I guessed they were the heads - would go off in the back of the warehouse, where they store the excess product. They wouldn't come out for an hour. Went up to the door once, thinking I'd knock and see if the boss was in. Didn't follow through. Swore I heard... chanting behind the door. And it was damn passionate. Kind of thing you really don't want to interrupt."

Cannonade rolled his eyes. "Just what we need. Pushers with a cause." He looked right at the thug. "You're gonna help us get in there, right?"

"O - of course..."

[Raveled]

Glowstar's energy field snapped off and he stepped forward, looking across the way to the warehouse for a moment before turning back to their subject. "What about this chanting," he said. "What kinds of things were they saying? Did you see anything weird -- guys with horns or scaly skin, eerie smoke, gnarly blades, anything like that?" Glowstar didn't have a lot of knowledge about the arcane and magical, but he had at least had C- and D-grade horror movies to go on, not to mention the side-effects of Morgan's experimentations.

[trollthumper]

"N- no," the pusher said. "Nothing like that. Just some... well, some growling. Weird, raspy stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"They weren't really saying anything! Just... growling at each other."

Cannonade sighed. "Why do I have a feeling these guys are sampling their own product?" He leaned in towards the pusher. "Guess the only way we'll figure out what's behind the curtain is by getting in there, right?"

The man didn't even try to say anything. He just led the heroes down to street level, then led them into the warehouse. As Gabriel had surmised, there was nothing on the main floor - just hundreds of crates and empty truck bays. With a little push, the pusher led the group to a set of stairs hidden behind some rather light crates in the back. The stairs, cloaked in darkness, led down into a thrumming, red-lit chamber. A skeleton crew oversaw chemical labs, where amounts of the same mutagenic drug were pumping through the apparatuses. The cookers were all focused on the processing of the chemicals - but in time, they noticed the heroes walking in.

"Think about this practically," Cannonade said. "Isn't it time you guys took your fifteen?"

The cookers stood still for a few seconds. Then, slowly, they began to break ranks and slip out the back. "They could be running... or they could be running to find the boss. Let's find out what the hell they're doing down here before they bring back the management."

[Raveled]

Glowstar floated down to the street and through the door, force field crackling and snapping. He waited until the drug cookers were in full retreat, then let himself touch down and dropped the force field. He stepped up to one of the labs, peering at blue flames, bubbling flasks, and tubes filled with some fluid or other. He examined in all, leafing through some papers someone left on a lab top. "So," he said finally. "Anyone here get more than a C- in Chemistry?"

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel kept a steady stride moving through the lab/production area. He was careful to not bump any tables, but his countenance was enough that the fleeing works steered clear of him. He slowed as Glowstar looked over what had been left behind, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"I took Physics in college and barely squeaked by Chem in high school. Besides, this is just the sideshow. The workers are gone, we know where all this is. We need to go for the ones running the whole show. Then we can call in Hazmat to clean all this up."

His tone wasn't angry, but it was determined; it was clear he was trying to keep them moving toward their goal. He turned and started walking again, right toward where they'd been told the ringleaders were.

[Gizmo]

"Now, is he talking about an actual hazmat team or is that the name of another of you young bucks?" Wail asked Cannonade in as lowered a tone as the sonically empowered veteran hero could manage without straining himself. He'd managed to meet a good number of contemporary heroes since coming out of retirement but there was a big difference between that and the way he'd once been connected to the city's vigilante community. "Either way, I'm not arguing. No use standing around when there's pushers who need their sense of civic responsibility realigned percussively."

[trollthumper]

"Haven't run into a 'Hazmat' yet," Cannonade said, "and seeing as I wasn't exactly a wiz with a Bunsen burner myself, I guess we should leave disposal to the proper authorities." His eyes fell on something hideous bubbling in a flash. "I mean, I'd be cool with setting this all on fire, but for all I know, this stuff's volatile as hell. Last thing I wanna do is take out the entire neighborhood --"

The thought was cut off by the sound of sliding steel. The far wall of the lab flew open, revealing an isolated area that looked more like a temple. A small altar, jawbones spread wide, and incense thick as fog. Four men strode out, clad in robes... which was more than what the leader was wearing. The "big Hawaiian" Lavigne had spoken of, shaved bald, heavily tattooed, and nearly nude.

"Intruders," he said.

"Got that right. Sorry we interrupted your... on second thought, I don't wanna know what you guys were doing..."

"So we move forward," the leader said, the others joining in a step behind, "on the charnel surf. We move, or we die the greatest death of all. We smell the stuff of life, and pursue it in all moments. We have tasted blood..."

Before Cannonade could move, the leader and his entourage had the needles at their necks.

"...let us draw forth the perfect beast."

The five all began to shake and stir, their forms swelling and turning sharklike. And the one at the front of the line was quite larger than the others, staring at Cannonade with eyes full of murder. He just cracked his fists.

"So, what's worse than pushers?" he asked. "Pusher cultists who turn into sharks. This town..."

[KnightDisciple]

"At least they aren't Zombie Pusher Cultist Shark-Men. That might actually be ridiculous."

Gabriel's face was completely straight as he spoke. He took a single step forward, and suddenly his right hand was holding his shining spear once more, the tip barely resting on the ground.

"I move forward, to a better day."

Three steps closer, the spear tip slightly scraping the ground.

"A day where children walk the street free of fear, free of danger, free from poison that twists their minds, tears their bodies, darkens their souls."

He dashed forward, the space shrinking.

"You hunt life, I protect it."

And then he was in the monster's face, the only thing between them a few inches of air and the shaft of his holy weapon. In that moment, some men might quail in fear at the predator-stink rolling off the man-beast in front of him. Some men might step back at the sight of the teeth brimming from his mouth.

Gabriel simply gave him a smile.

"Anyways, you're too ugly to be a perfect beast."

Then his left hand came up, brushing the shark-man's stomach, and waves of sonic energy rolled into the leader's body, shaking at his shark-like skin, trying to make his whole body weak and vulnerable.

[Raveled]

"Don't be stingy, Gabriel." Glowstar flew into the air and circled around to the side, easily flanking the shark-men. "This is a party, spread out and meet new people! Here, I'll break the ice with a little dancing." The young hero summoned a ball of black-red energy and tossed it easily from hand to hand, then suddenly grabbed it with both and stretched it out to a large arc. He wound up and tossed the blade of solid energy, angling it to hit as many of the shark-men as possible while avoiding the heroes. "Limbo down, everyone!"

[trollthumper]

If the shark men could attempt a rebuttal to Gabriel's dismissal, they likely would have punctuated their swings with little bits of carnivore theology. Instead, they growled - as much as sharks could growl - at the gathered heroes, though their growls were cut short as Glowstar's bombardment cut into them. Once the initial pulse died down, Cannonade cleared the sharks with an able leap, taking a place right in front of Glowstar.

"You wanna worship sharks?" he asked. "Fine by me. Way you're evangelizing, though? Got a whole lot of problems with that."

He brought his hands together, sending a shockwave of force out rippling through the crowd of sharks. It knocked a few of them for a loop, including the staggered leader. One of the sharks was able to take the blow, however, and returned it by taking a swipe at Cannonade. It managed to bite down hard on his forearm - not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to shake him a little.

"Yeah. Really not a fan of your creepy fish cult."

[Gizmo]

"Wasting your breath," Wail advised, taking his time in moving into a more favourable position while the younger heroes charged into the fray. "With jokers like this, it's not what you say... it's HOW!" The single syllable crashed forth in a palpable tidal wave of force, distorting the air in a wide swath in front of the aging educator, superdense lungs and vocal chords turning vibration into punishing sledgehammers that knocked crazed shark men from their feel like toy soldiers. Their leader took the brunt of it, going down hard.

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel took a half-step straight back, then moved a bit further with a full 360-degree motion, his coat flaring and flapping in the air, one corner whipped up by the passing of Wail's shout. He smirked as the leader dropped and the others were struck.

"Indeed. Though sometimes, actions speak louder than words."

His hand raised and pointed to one of the sharks devastated by Wail's shout, its head clearly still ringing. A barrage of small, powerful bolts of sonic energy roared from his outstretched fingers, striking the man-beast all over.

[Raveled]

As Gabriel moved away from melee, Glowstar moved in to the fray. His upraised fists were surrounded by a baleful black and red glow, the energies reflected in his glowing eyes. "Come one, come all," he shouted in his best carney voice, "to see the amazing, the astounding, Glowstar!" Even dazed and unfocused the shark men had the capability to be dangerous opponents, but the hero was too fast, ducking under an angry swipe and returning the favor with a series of quick jabs to the ribs. "C'mon guys. If you can't fight back better than this, Jaws Jesus isn't going to be too happy to see you in Shark Heaven."

[trollthumper]

"...yeah, that's gotta be some sort of blasphemy."

Cannonade watched as Glowstar's strike cut into the shark man. It struck home hard, leaving the mutated gangster reeling and trying to retain his footing. "Mind you, there's a lot better things to worship out there," he said. "So your god's a gigantic shark, and it just eats the hell out of everything. Whoop de crap. Guessing he doesn't care about his flock. Guessing he doesn't give a crap about anyone unless they're sliding down his gullet. Your god really that good?"

All the shark could do was snarl at him. Cannonade took a swing at the mutated murderer, but the shark man spun away. "Yeah. Thought so. Man, must hurt to see your god get blown up by Roy Scheider."

[Gizmo]

"Well now, it's not always about being saved, is it?" Wail noted, charging into the melee with surprising speed for someone so large, his fist plowing into one of the remaining shark men hard enough that he could feel at least two rows of teeth cracking against his knuckles. "Sometimes it's about having a super-special club with a sign outside telling other folks they're not allowed in." He carried through on his momentum with practiced ease, catching and twisting one of the cultist's arms around and pinning in behind his back, holding the half-man in place. "Somehow I figure we'll live with being excluded."

[KnightDisciple]

"You're both missing something very important here."

Gabriel gave a smirk as he lined up the index and middle fingers of his right hand like he was aiming a gun at one of the shark-men, his other hand resting his spear against his shoulder.

"These folks would throw absolutely terrible potluck dinners."

He fired off a couple of quick bursts of sonic energy, striking the shark-cultist in the side with bone-shaking force.

In truth, he was using humor to disguise his slight discomfort at trying to debate theology while fighting a cult of shark-god-worshipping cultist drug-user were-sharks. Which in and of itself was enough of a concept to make a man's head spin...

[Raveled]

Glowstar moved through the press of the melee. Part of him wanted to take off and strafe the sharks again, but in the crush it would be too easy to hit another hero. So he switched targets to the monster Cannonade was pressuring. "I dunno, guys, maybe we're looking at this all wrong." He delivered a quick pair of jabs to the twisted creature's ribs, fists still glowing with the baleful energies of the Terminus. "A huge, all-devouring god who cares nothing for its followers and leaves only devastation in its wake? These guys aren't worshiping some shark demon, they're worshipping the Kardashians!"

[trollthumper]

The blast caught the shark-man in the stomach, causing it to double over in the pain before falling unconscious on the floor. "Great, that's just what we need," Cannonade said. "Not enough that they're drug-dealing, all-devouring religious fanatics, they're famewhores, too. Or is that a bridge too far for you guys?"

All he got out of the shark he was tussling with a series of growls.

"Eh, not like I was expecting passionate debate." He drove his fist into the shark-man's gills, leaving the target short of breath. He was then able to travel on the momentum of the punch and attempt to get him into a grapple, but the shark-man just managed to slip by. "But at least a nod would be appreciated."

[Gizmo]

Wail held his opponent in a tight arm lock, shifting to avoid the beast man's frenzied attempts to snap at him with his remaining serrated teeth. With an unimpressed grunt, the veteran hero took a moment to line up his stance before letting loose with a wordless syllable of terrible power directly into the cultist's face. Though the attack lasted for a mere beat, the sonic force rippled the cartilage of its target in a visible wave of trauma that ended with one more unconscious shark on the floor. Turning back to the rest of the fight, LaMarr paused for a moment before flatly telling Glowstar, "...I have no idea who that is."

[KnightDisciple]

"Trust me when I say your life is richer for that fact."

Gabriel's reply to Wail was equal parts sarcasm and long-suffering. When one dealt with college-age kids and the occasional teenager, one tended to pick up on all the inane happenings in the "larger world". He turned his attention to their last foe, considering the sight of the shark-man for a moment.

"I think they've lost the ability to nod. Which also means they can't headbang. Which makes them all the poorer, not that they'll get much music in prison..."

He snapped his hand toward the last cultist, firing off another well-aimed barrage of sonic bolts. He smiled as they all struck home, a good, tight grouping.

"Other than the ringing in their ears, I suppose."