Cheesetopia (IC)

[horngeek]

Vector grimaced. "Oh, sh-sorry. Fleur, didn't you drink some of the milkshake as well?"

She raised a hand to her forehead, thinking. "Bloody, bloody hell. We'll just have to be careful, I suppose- not much we can do. None of us have much skill in mental areas, so we'll just need to be watchful."

The young woman sighed. "And, I suppose, head straight for the prison- let's get this done as quickly as possible. Um... can either of you call for some backup or overwatch? Just in case the milk has a bigger effect than it seems right now."

[Electra]

"Yes, I had some of the milkshake, and some cheese as well," Fleur said, looking mildly concerned, but not afraid. "I have a natural immunity to poison that should hopefully stave off the effects. Besides, it sounds as though the prisoners in the jail were being kept in there and fed huge quantities, and even then some didn't succumb to the control. It probably takes awhile to build up in the system. All the same, let's keep an eye on each other. Anyone starts acting strange, we'll know why."

With the manager's office empty, she released it from the stranglehold of vines, even as she returned to Gaian Knight's stone platform. "We can call in the League to help with a major crisis situation," she told Vector, "but we need a better idea of what we're dealing with first. Let's see if we can sort the town and go from there."

[Fox]

"Flying it is," Gaian Knight declared as he followed Fleur to his reconstituting stone platform. "I don't think I've been hit with enough poison or mind-controlling cheese to know whether or not I'm immune these days, but just in case I end up spouting Greek and dropping us all out of the sky, try to stay close to Tiamat - she can probably catch you."

"You know, I'm pretty good at mental areas," the red-haired woman said, ostensibly to Vector but also apparently shot at Gaian and Fleur's backs.

"No you aren't." He didn't turn around, but his tone made it clear that he knew exactly what was coming.

"Sure I am. See this?" She pulled a heavy steel mace off her belt, thumping one end of it into her palm and giving Vector a conspiratorial toothy grin. "You apply this to mental areas, and it cures all kinds of problems. If sourpuss over there tries anything funny, it'll probably cure him, too. Might take a few tries, though!"

[horngeek]

Vector blinked as she stepped onto the platform. "I'm pretty sure that qualifies as 'cure worse than disease'..."

She looked at Gaian and Fleur as they started rising into the air. "Any particular way to handle this, or just go in the front door? I can do either one well enough... and whoever's responsible probably has a good idea we're coming anyway, so I don't think we've got anything to lose by making a big entrance.

...speaking of who's responsible... have either of you ever encountered anything like this? I've... only been doing this for a couple of weeks- this is pretty much my first supervillain. Or whatever it is, anyway."

[Electra]

"Mind control is something we see, oh, not as often as the more conventional physical force type villainy, but it crops up often enough," Fleur told the rookie heroine. "It can be very challenging to deal with. We're actually at something of an advantage in this case because there is a physical vector and the spread of the control is limited by that. If a more pervasive form of mind control had been going unchecked as long as this has, it could've spread to cover the tristate area. It's still dangerous, but it's a containable threat."

She walked to the edge of the platform and looked down, considering the town spread below them. "Stealth isn't going to be a factor," she decided. "Whatever is pulling the strings knows we're here, and I can't imagine they're not waiting for us already. I could try and put eyes and ears inside the jail, but I think our best bet and the best choice for the safety of the prisoners is a frontal approach that concentrates all the attention of the possessed people on us. If we can draw them out of the jail and into the fight, the risk of collateral damage is minimized." She looked to Gaian Knight for assent or argument there.

[Fox]

Gaian Knight mused on that for a moment as he lifted them back up into the air and back off toward town. "Agreed. We're badly outnumbered and we've already seen that it's hard to tell who's already controlled - that leaves too many eyes in too many directions to really feel comfortable trying the stealthy approach. Plus, if we force a head-on conflict, they might have to throw everything they have at us - and that includes any, ah, 'sleeper agents' they have hiding out among the prisoners."

At the back of the platform, Tiamat cracked her knuckles and grinned. "Distraction. Sure thing, boss - bosses. I think we can do that."

[Avenger Assembled]

Having passed the red brick jail building in the center of town, it wasn't that hard for the heroes to find it again on their way back aboard Gaian Knight's flying rock. Thralls aplenty there were visible down in the fields, human and otherwise, but there wasn't much they could do to heroes in the air. Down below, the only moving vehicles were two ice cream trucks and three milk floats from the dairy, each making slow, menacing circles around the jail. (Peering in the window of one of the ice cream trucks from above, the heroes could clearly see that one of them was in fact driven not by a person, but by a cow!)

As for the jail proper, it was well-guarded: six townspeople, three police officers, two teenagers in black, baggy clothes with punk band labels, and one elderly woman in a flower-print dress stood guard outside, three in the front and three in back: each carrying rifles. The jail itself stunk of sour milk from the air, obviously having been sprayed at least once, and people inside could be seen peering out from cells that looked very crowded even through barred windows: a small city jail like this had to be overflowing with people if all the tourists who had come to town were in there! "Help! Help!" came the distant cry from down below, even as the thralls leveled their rifles at the oncoming heroes.

[Electra]

"All right, Tiamat," Fleur said with a nod towards the dragon lady, "go ahead and do your thing. Get as many of them as you can away from the jail and out past the parking lot where they won't hurt anybody. Incapacitate them, but try not to do any permanent damage. Vector, can you help her with that? Gaian Knight, you and I can sweep whoever is still at the jail and get the doors open. If the tourists and such aren't being mind-controlled, I can move them to Sanctuary." Even as she spoke, vines were twisting around her arms like strange bracelets, ready for deployment against whatever awaited them in the building.

[Fox]

"My thing." Tiamat's grin was entirely too toothy as she backed up to the edge of the stone platform, parking lot passing by beneath their feet. She threw what was probably a mock military salute - though not a salute that had seen much use since plated armor went out of style - and laughed. "Yes ma'am."

Gaian Knight brought the platform low to the ground long enough for Tiamat and Vector to get off safely in whatever fashion they saw fit, though with gun-wielding thralls around he didn't stop moving; Tiamat used the momentum to tumble right into one of the mind-controlled men, picking him up by the front of his shirt while he was off-balance and tossing him toward the parking lot. "" she shouted, in challenge, and in Greek, though she was keeping a careful eye on who was armed and pointing their weapons where. "

"All off who're getting off," Gaian Knight intoned before sweeping the platform back up and flying further in toward the jail. The thrall unlucky enough to catch his attention first found the asphalt under his feet shooting up at his chin, part of the platform reforming into protection from any of the rest who might be inclined to take a shot at them as they landed. "Next stop: jail. Never thought I'd be on this side of a prison break."

[horngeek]

Vector leaped off the platform as it skimmed low to the ground, the young superhero throwing herself at a group of policemen. Her fist smashed into one of the guns, shattering it and causing the policemen to flinch back, as Vector swept her leg across- somehow tripping the policemen and sending them to the ground. "Tiamat? You handle that area, I'll handle over here!

Now, anyone think they can beat up the 5-foot girl?"

[Avenger Assembled]

There were no monsters waiting inside the jail, but there certainly was monstrosity: the half-dozen cells of the small Pleasantville jail were filled to capacity and beyond with what had to be at least a hundred tourists. They'd been caged there for days in cramped conditions, hosed down with sour milk and fed nothing but cheese and yogurt, and the smell of the various byproducts thereof was as grim as the looks on their pale, frightened faces. "Oh thank god, it's the Freedom League!" someone exclaimed, a round-faced elderly woman from the nearest cell as she waved, "Come help us! You've got to watch out for the people in town, they're crazy!" They'd had to come in through the sheriff's office to reach the jail cells. In the office, at the front of the jailhouse where the keys and the records were kept, was an enormous pile of the captives’ confiscated belongings. Among them are several dozen cell phones that occasionally rang.

"Vector! Vector! Over here!" yelled a familiar face, one who was being careful not to divulge her roommate's secret ID but still looked tired of being locked in an overcrowded cell. As the bars gave way to viney yanks or sword blows, the victims crowded out of their cells to surround the heroes excitedly. "Are you going to stop the bad guys? Do you have any idea what happened? The place is a madhouse!" And it was, a din of voices and faces in the gloomy cells that was hard to sort out. "Why did they feed us so much cheese!?!"

[Electra]

"Everyone, please calm down!" Fleur shouted, her voice barely cutting through the din. "We're from the Freedom League, and we're here to help you! We're going to get you out of those cells as soon as we safely can. There is a mind controlling agent being passed through the milk and dairy products you've all been fed. The people in the town are not in control of their own actions and need to be stopped for their own safety, as well as the good of everyone else." She picked up the ring of keys and looked at the various cell doors. "I can send them all straight to Sanctuary," she murmured to Gaian Knight, "but if anyone in the group is mind controlled, they might turn on the others. I'm not sure they can give us any information we don't have."

[Fox]

Somewhere outside, just barely audible over the din of the jail, a loud thump could be heard, followed by a triggered car alarm, and then another loud thump and a sound like cracking glass, and the cessation of the car alarm. Gaian Knight winced at the knowledge that Tiamat was likely enjoying herself out there, but he trusted her not to do anyone any permanent harm. That didn't mean they should take their time, though....

He mulled over what they knew about this whole mess for a moment before straightening his shoulders. "So I'm about to do something pretty smart, or really stupid," he muttered back. "Keep an eye on the rescuees, here...."

The hero mentally felt around the earth for a moment, then thrust a glowing hand straight down. The concrete under the layers of yuck broke with a sudden, sharp noise, a piece the width of a prize melon snapping away from the rest of the floor and slamming down into the foundation like it had been hit with a giant hammer. It was only a couple of inches deep, the hole quickly filling with goodness knows what dairy products (and it was best not to consider what else), but that concrete was merely the tip of a column that went all the way down...clear down to jabbing whatever it was that was spreading out near the water table.

[horngeek]

Vector breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Charlotte, heading towards her. "Hey, Charlotte. Good to see you're okay."

She turned her head around, trying to keep the slight worry off her face. How would they know if any of the tourists had been taken over? Even worse, what if they all had been? But they couldn't just keep them imprisoned on suspicion, either...

"Charlotte, I need to check with the Leaguers on something, all right?" Taking her friend's hand, she pulled her along towards the two League members, in time to hear Gaian's muttered comment... at which she turned, watching the tourists closely.

[Avenger Assembled]

Rumblerumble

For a moment, it looked as if Gaian Knight's ground probes had done nothing more than suggest that no one with them was cheese-possessed. The rescued tourists did no more than look around in surprise and a little fear at the mini-earthquake beneath their feet, while the still-enslaved townspeople twitched. A second later, though, Gaian Knight could feel something pushing back against his probes, something big, fast, and coming up! It erupted out of the street outside the jail within seconds, roaring defiance as it scrabbled to the surface with massive fleshy limbs larger than a car, towering over the jail and the small town like a giant mastiff above a Lego city. It might have blended in fine among the creatures that occasionally attacked Freedom City, but as it was the great beast was the most impressive thing this town had ever seen.

With glowing yellow eyes fixed on the jail, the great beast bellowed with a terrible roar. "FOOLS! WHO DARES TAMPER WITH THE POWER OF THE CATTLE OF...THE GODS!" The massive bovine was five or six stories tall if it was anything, and big to match, clearly female as massive udders swayed just above the shadowed streets below. Those eyes, flaring like twin suns, seemed to gaze directly on the heroes and the people they'd come to save inside the jail.

"COME AND FACE THE LIGHT OF HELIOS, MORTALS!"

[Fox]

"Well, it was effective, at least...?" Gaian Knight looked out at the beast, and then back at the crowd of rescuees, and felt like swearing. "Maybe a little too effective. Fleur, if we get out of this and I ever tell you I'm going to try something stupid, smack me, okay? I'm going to try to draw its attention away from the jail - keep it from dropping the whole building on us."

With that he stepped up onto a platform that hadn't existed a moment ago and was off out the door, rocketing sideways as fast as a rock could fly - which, thankfully, was at least moderately fast. He swept out a hand as he went, a collection of large debris and stone that he passed over leaping up to hurl at the bovine's tremendous hide. "Hey! I'm pretty sure the cow-judging contest isn't scheduled until later. Can't you just go chew your cud somewhere until we're ready for you?"

[horngeek]

Vector ran outside, heading for the leg of the great beast. Skidding to a stop, she drew her fist back, preparing her powers-

And then her fist shot forwards, her powers accelerating the punch to well beyond human capability... as the fist impacted, Vector's powers diverting all the forces involved into the leg of the massive cow, turning the force that might have cracked her knuckles into the leg, and...

Leaving it unharmed. "Oh, you have got to be joking me..."

[Electra]

For a moment, Fleur was too flabbergasted to say anything, just staring at the massive beast. Watching her colleagues leap into action jolted her out of it, and sparked a memory as well. "It's an aurochs," she called to the others. "Like an ancestor of the cow, but much, much bigger! Stay out of its eyeline, and go for the udder! This thing may have been a terrestrial cow at one point, but I imagine that is buried very deep!"

For her own part, Stesha had priorities that came before joining the attack. "Listen, everyone!" she called to the imprisoned civilians. "Everyone hold still, I'm going to send you where you will be safe. When the battle is over, you'll be returned to your homes and everything will be all right," she promised. With that, a giant blossom seemed to envelop the whole jail, picking up all the prisoners and whisking them away without a trace but for the lingering smell of spoiled milk and fear. Fleur brushed her gloved hands together. "Right then. Giant cow, make a note about smacking Gaian Knight."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Taste the wrath of Helios, foolish mortal!" boomed the giant cow a moment before red-orange light erupted from its eyes in a burning bolt that blasted against Vector's shields with awesome fury! Vector could feel the heat burning her skin and licking at her clothes even through her protection, an awesome show of celestial bovine fury that would surely have killed a lesser woman. "Your flesh will be roasted and you will be consumed in the cleansing inferno! The world will belong to the cows of the gods!" the great dire cow bellowed, its voice loud enough to vibrate the glass in the windows all around the area. Its thralls didn't seem to be helping it in the fight, but as ice cream trucks slowly collided with walls and people fell down just at the edge of the heroes' vision as the army of thralls fell apart, that didn't mean they were out of danger!

[Fox]

"Hahahahaha! Inferno?!" Tiamat had still been mopping up a couple of thralls when the aurochs appeared, but as it spoke she released an unfortunate civilian from a headlock and started laughing. "Don't start talking about fire, rib-eye. You're big and all, butcha aren't that big. You talk like you're hot stuff; I don't know what they've got where you come from...but here there be dragons."

And then she exploded. The tall, muscular woman with the mace disappeared in a wash of flame, flesh twisting as she grew and grew and grew, until she wasn't a woman at all: she was a dragon, straight out of the storybooks, horns and wings and terrible claws. Even at her full size, as the fire dispersed and left behind deep crimson scales running charcoal along her underbelly, she wasn't quite as large as their ungulate enemy...but she was no less fearsome, flaring her wings and bellowing at the aurochs with a noise that was almost more felt than heard, threatening to rattle the already-strained windows out of their frames.

[Fox]

"Just try not to burn anything!" Gaian Knight stopped his flight now that the cow - what had Fleur called it, an aurochs? - was sufficiently distracted. Hopefully Fleur had had time to get the prisoners to safety. "Except for the aurochs. You can burn that."

Though, speaking of burning....much as the hero was loathe to leave the divine bovine wandering around any longer than absolutely necessary, he wasn't comfortable leaving Vector hurt and exposed. The ground under her feet shifted, gathering and twisting to form a curved wall and roof between the young heroine and her oversized enemy.

[horngeek]

Vector staggered as the edge of the blast caught her. Ow... so, now we know why Fleur said not to get in eyesight of it.

She groaned, shaking off the aftereffects. Instead of dazing her, the Auroch instead managed to annoy the young superhero, as she glared upwards, catching sight of the giant udder. ...weak spot. Let's find out what happens if I hit it hard...

She jumped over Gaian's wall, bracing against it then pushing off, altering the forces involved so that, instead of simply jumping a few feet, Vector soared towards the beast's belly...

Where she delivered a punch at full force right to its weak spot.

[Electra]

With the civilians safely out of the way, Fleur turned her full attention to the battle. She winced sympathetically as the doom-cow turned its attention to Vector, but before she could move to assist, Gaian Knight was there to defend the young heroine, who seemed only slightly rattled from the blast. The transformation of Tiamat was a sight worth a moment's pause as well. Stesha had seen many amazing things during her years in Freedom City, but a woman suddenly exploding into a giant winged fire-breathing reptile was still one for the mental scrapbook. "Catch its hooves!" Fleur suggested to GK, even as she raised her arms and prepared a little spectacle of her own.

All around the field where the cow stood, the torn ground gave a little grumble, then seemed to explode with life as vines sprang forth, each one as thick around as a man's torso. They whipped along the ground like loaded fire hoses, then raced up the legs and body of the massive beast, twining around it and binding it to the ground. It could still shoot, but for the moment, the massive cow wasn't going anywhere.

[Avenger Assembled]

With a fearsome roar, the cow pulled with all its might, the fire in its eyes dimming as it exerted all its Herculean strength against the bonds holding it down. Fleur's vines were mighty, but this creature was mightier still, seemingly drawing on its innate reserves of power to pit itself against her. "No, no, not when I am so close! Demeter's daughter, you WILL NOT CONTAIN ME!" And so with a terrible sound of cracking steel and concrete, the cow tore itself free of the earth, vines and leaves hanging off it now like so much festive decoration. Exhausted by the effort, the cow breathed with a massive exhalation, eying the trio of heroes as it waited for their next attack. "If we had known it would be so easy," it hissed in a whisper so low it made the ground throb, "we would have come here years ago!"

[horngeek]

Vector landed lightly on the ground, grinning up at the cow as Fleur's vines entangled it... a grin that faded as it ripped its way free. "Oh, you've got to be kidding... right, let's try this again."

Again, the superheroine braced, and launched herself off the ground, calculating forces in her mind as she rushed up towards the udder of the giant cow (or Auroch, whatever it was called), and delivering a second massive punch to the beast's udder.