Date with Destruction (IC)

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Mindfire looked down at the yellow clad speedster as she heard the faint *cracks* of the ball bearings zipping by at supersonic speeds. As the other hero had turned his attention to Bonebeaker for the moment, apparently to little effect, the psionic decided she could focus on the other woman for a moment. A cruel grin came to the redhead's face as she called out, "You will have to do much better than that. Not that I plan to give you the chance."

 

"Let's see what sorts of fears are in that pretty little head of yours shall we?" The redhead reached out with a hand that flared with ghostly psionic flames. Similar ghostly flames formed around Velocity's head and the speedster felt the burning touch of her mental abilities in her mind. But somehow the speedster managed to push Mindfire out.

 

After shaking off Voltage's attack, Bonebreaker climbed to his feet. Looking up at the flying hero, the large man grinned slightly. "Nice try kid." He yelled out. "Try this on for size!" With that, he swung his two large hands together out in front of him, a loud *WHACK* echoing down the street as a powerful shockwave rippled through the air towards Voltage, shattering windows in a nearby building as it went.

Unable to get out of the path of the shockwave, Voltage felt it slam into him, but his forcefield again managed to take the brunt of the attack.

[Thevshi]

Managing to shake off the searing touch of Mindfire's mental powers, Velocity glanced up at Voltage, who seemed to be slightly hurt from the shockwave. She then focused back on the redheaded villainess. "That's it? Please, I have been more afraid helping rescue cats stuck in trees. They have sharp claws you know."

 

"Voltage, I think we were doing better when this fight was a boy/girl dance." She yells out, then she is off in a blur of motion, streaking towards Bonecrusher, who's attention was still focused up on Voltage, a satisfied grin on his face.

 

Once again the yellow clad speedster focused on putting a bit more behind the punch. She also took advantage of Bonecrusher's focus on Voltage, aiming her fist right at the side of his jaw. A loud *CRACK* once again sounded in the air from the supersonic punch, this time accompanied by an even louder *WHACK* from the impact of the blow, which rattled nearby shop windows.

 

Bonecrucher's head was thrown back even more violently than the last punch, and this time he was not just knocked back a few feet. Instead he sailed to the opposite side of the street, and probably would have kept going, if he had not hit a parked car. The side of the car crumpled inward from the impact, but otherwise stopped the villain's momentum and he fell to the pavement in a heap.

 

Velocity had been about to continue on after delivering the attack, but seeing the results, she instead came to a stop, blowing across the back of her knuckles as she looked over toward where Bonecrusher lay unconscious. "Now, who hits like a girl?"

[Thunder King]

Voltage watched Bonebreaker, waiting for the man to move. When he seemed completely out, Voltage decided now was the time to take out his partner in crime. Lightning cracked in the air as current flowed through his body, into his hands. Little jolts danced on his arms and legs as he raised his hands in front of him. He felt a surge of power in him as the current coalesced in his hands. For a moment, a split second, it was a ball of lightning.

 

The blast shot through the air, super-heating the atmosphere around it, anyone within a few hundred yards might have been convinced they heard thunder. It slammed into Mindfire, causing the psychic to take off like she was shot out of a cannon. She slammed into the wall of a nearby building and scooted to a stop in the middle of the room. She was out of the fight, but alive.

 

Voltage felt a twinge of pain in his back and arms at that moment, like it had the past few months. Any time he pushed himself with his powers caused a flash of pain, he'd need to investigate that soon.

[Thevshi]

Though her goggles allowed her to see everything going on around her, Velocity still looked up to watch Voltage blast Mindfire once again. Only this time it was with a much more powerful bolt of lightning, which seemed to strike the redheaded villainess perfectly as it knocked her back and through a wall. Though she could not see the villainess, Voltage's composure pretty much told Velocity that she was likely unconscious as well.

 

"Nice job." She called out to the flying hero. "You okay? You took a number of hits from these two."

 

Off in the distance, they could hear the faint sound of approaching police cars.

 

[Thunder King]

Voltage landed and it was immediately apparent that the blast had been rough on him. "I'm alright. Might wake up sore tomorrow morning though." He chuckled and winced a bit. Costume took the brunt of the blow. You did well yourself. Never seen anyone move that fast before."

 

He glanced at the other two. "They're going to need special containment, an squad car won't work for them, Mindfire would just knock the guys out and Bonebreaker would shatter their bonds."

 

He winced again when he glanced at the wall. "I probably should have calculated that blast better, my math didn't account for the sudden surge of power I put into it." He mumbled to himself.

 

"I'm glad you came along when you did. If I'd have fought them alone they'd have just knocked me out and continued with whatever it was they were doing."

[Thevshi]

"Waking up sore is an occupational hazard." The attractive speedster said with a smile. "And your welcome, I wish I could have gotten here a bit quicker, but it all worked out in the end."

 

"My names Velocity, by the way." She added as she looked over towards Bonebreaker, the sounds of the sirens growing louder. "Yeah, they do need extra care for their trip to Blackstone. Hopefully some of the witnesses that called 911 let the police know there were metas involved and STAR is on the way, they should have the equipment to keep them under control."

 

"Otherwise we could be waiting awhile to be sure these two get properly wrapped up. And I hate waiting." She added with a small grin.

[Thunder King]

"Voltage." He said with a smile. "Yeah, waiting around for the police to show up is occasionally an annoyance, but it's part of the job."

 

"I doubt there will be a problem with witnesses. This fight obviously involved metas." It was obvious that Voltage wasn't used to lengthy conversations in-costume, especially not when dealing with something directly. He was always bad at small talk.

[Thevshi]

"Yeah, I know waiting is part of the job." The yellow clad speedster replied. "It's just that the police are sooooo slooow." She added, rolling her head slightly as she spoke. The grin on her face was a pretty good indication that she was joking, at least in part. Velocity smiled slightly as Voltage seemed somewhat uneasy with small talk, the speedster had no such problem, probably being a little over talkative when there was no threat to deal with.

 

"Well, we should probably check to make sure no one is seriously hurt." Velocity then stated. "You want to keep an eye on these two and I'll go around and check?"

[Thunder King]

"Not a problem. You're fast enough where if they do anything but groan, you'll be fast enough to be back before they can get back up." He said. He was a bit surprised at his own power, and concerned about whether or not he should have done it like that.

 

He watched the two thugs very carefully, knowing that he did not want to go through a fight like that again. "Man, I'm not sure what got into them. It doesn't make much sense for them to go on a random rampage. I don't have enough information to figure out what they wanted though, but I'm betting it was something big." He thought aloud, wondering what their real goal was.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

While Voltage pondered the possible goals of the two superpowered criminals, Velocity zipped around the area checking for anyone injured. Thankfully there were no major injuries, with Mindfire only briefly using her powers to harm someone before moving on. It certainly appeared that the two had been seeking to cause as large a scene as possible, but without any real focus on causing injuries.

 

It was not long before the first squad cars arrived, along with a couple of ambulances. While Velocity directed the paramedics to the most injured bystanders, Voltage went up to help the police bring Mindfire back down to the street to wait for the arrival of the units with the power dampeners.

 

By the time Voltage got back down, Velocity was back talking with the officers who had been keeping an eye on the unconscious Bonebreaker. The officers certainly seemed to know who the speedster was, or at least recognize her, as he heard at least one mention that it had been awhile since they had seen her.

[Thunder King]

Voltage walked over to the police, unsurprised that the cops recognized her. After all, there were a lot of heroes in Freedom City, and some of them were more well known than others. "I have no idea what those two were doing, but it was probably a distraction from something else. They seemed to just go on a random rampage. They seem to be too smart to just go crazy and wreck stuff, so I think something else is going on." He said to the police. "Bonebreaker may be a dangerous brute, but Mindfire is far more dangerous. Her psychic powers can do a lot of damage."

 

He was glad that he and Velocity had managed to stop this, but he was still worried about what they were really trying to do.

[Thevshi]

Velocity looked over at Voltage as he came over towards her and the police officers she had been speaking with. "Hmmm." The yellow clad speedster began as she glanced back around at the destruction the pair of supervillains had caused before they were stopped. "Yeah, it is somewhat strange, they seemed to have been pretty intent on causing as much of a scene as they could. They did not seem to focus on much of anything for more than it took to break it or knock someone out, before moving on. Until you showed up. And they only reason they did not stay focused solely on you was I showed up."

 

She paused a moment, before adding. "But as to what this might have been a distraction for, I have no idea." The speedster glanced at one of the officers, who shrugged, not seeming to have heard about anything else significant going on, or at least nearby.

[Thunder King]

"Here." He said, holding out a small card. "That's a secure email address. I use network tricks to keep my superhero ID email address untraceable. If you ever need help, or if you hear about these guys again, don't hesitate to email me about it. I'm curious now, what these guys want." He wasn't concerned about his superhero ID getting found out, he'd used the best techniques he could find to hide the email address.

[Thevshi]

"Thanks." Velocity replied as she took the card, glanced at it a moment before slipping it into one of the pouches on her belt. "I might only be a reservist now, but I still have my Freedom League email, so I'll shoot you one later today. I would like to try to figure out what all this was about as well, besides, it never hurts to have someone to call if you need backup on something."

 

"So, I wouldn't quite say this has been fun, especially considering the pounding you took, but it has been good working with you. Talk with you soon." The speedster added with a small salute and a smile, before she was gone in a blur and a sudden WOOSH of air.

 

Velocity ran a dozen blocks down the street before taking a left turn in order to double back towards where she had stashed her civilian clothes. A split second later she was back on the roof, and once again Megan Howell. A moment after that, she was back down in the alley behind the computer store she had dropped her damaged laptop in and back inside the back room, pretending to be hiding from the superbattle that had been ragging outside.

[Thunder King]

With Velocity gone, Voltage teleported away, vanishing to a nearby alley. He knew there were no security cameras watching, that there were no witnesses. Once there, he changed out of his costume and ran back into his store, into the back room. Velocity herself could be practically anywhere in the world by now, based on what he estimated her speed to be. All the better, as his superhero identity was already weakened by fighting right in front of his own store.

 

"Wow..." Thomas said, catching his breath. "There was a superhero fight right outside the store...A big strong guy and some woman up against a super speedster and a guy who shot lightning. The good guys won. I ran back here as soon as I realized the fight was over. I kept my head down, didn't even get to see most of it."

[Thevshi]

Megan slipped back into being the frightened blonde college girl as the door to the front of the shop opened up and the teenager that had helped her recover her take home exam stepped in. She immediately looked over to the grey haired teen, a worried look on her face.

 

The young blonde let out a small sigh of relief at the report that the super battle was now over. "That's a relief." She replied. "It's just crazy sometimes how common those sorts of fights can be, though a bit less so up here in Kingston compared with downtown. Was anyone badly hurt?"

[Thunder King]

"The lightning guy looked pretty roughed up, but he was fine. I don't think any civilians were hurt. The bad guys got it pretty bad though. I think the woman got blasted through a wall."

 

He walked over towards her and took a deep breath. "Wow, that was crazy. I've never seen a superhero fight up close before. That's insane." He really was trying very hard to not sound like a superhero in front of a civilian. That could be bad if she discovered his secret identity. Not that she'd seen any of the fight, of course. She'd hid, while he had apparently run off into the fight. Who looked like the genius?

[Thevshi]

"Well, the bad guys tend to be asking for it when the start throwing cars around and the like." Megan replied simply. "I am glad no bystanders were hurt." She then added.

 

As he came over and talked about never seeing a superhero fight up close before, Megan nodded. "The closest I have ever been was seeing that car fall out of the sky back in the shop. That was close enough for me."

 

"In any event, if things are relatively back to normal now, I should probably be going. Need to get home and email this exam to my professor back in New Haven." The blonde then added.

[Thunder King]

He nodded. "I get you. Just come down when we agreed to and your laptop should be done." She was probably very cute, and part of him regretted that he was so distant from things like that. Otherwise, he may have tried to flirt with her. She was certainly a pleasant enough person, either way.

 

He handed her a business card from the shop, hoping to get repeat business. After all, he prided himself on his efficient work, and knew the shop required a reliable customer base.

 

His mind was still on Mindfire and Bonebreaker. What had they wanted? Why did they just go on a rampage? Those thoughts turned in his superhuman mind even as he smiled amiably. He was glad she hadn't gotten hurt. The situation was far too close for comfort to him even then. He was glad he lived and operated in Kingston; after all, there weren't many villain attacks in the neighborhood. At least, most of the time.

 

Of course, he could just make the part with scraps, and intended to. He just thought it was a bit too suspicious for someone to operate the front desk of a computer repair shop, to be able to build computer parts from scratch.

[Thevshi]

Following Thomas back into the store, Megan nodded as she took the business card. "Thanks again, I'll see you later next week then." She replied as she continued on to the front door and out onto the sidewalk.

 

Glancing back over towards the site of the fight with Bonebreaker and Mindfire, where the police and emergency services personnel were still busy cleaning up the mess. The young blonde again ran through what Voltage had said about not understanding what the goal of the two villains could have been, and whether it had just been a diversion. But a diversion for what? She thought as a small frown came to her face.

 

Realizing she would likely gain no new insight now, Megan turned away and started back towards where she had parked her BMW. After all, she did indeed need to get her exam off to her professor to officially be done with the fall term.

[Thunder King]

He watched her as she left, contemplated Mindfire and Bonebreaker. He wouldn't be surprised if they popped up again. They'd been working for someone, that was obvious. He turned towards the back room and began to get to work, even as his superhuman mind mulled over what they wanted. Then, he stopped and picked up the now cold coffee he'd bought earlier that morning. Ah, well, can't have everything work out all the time.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

A short while later!

 

An armored FCPD van was making its way across Centery Bridge with a patrol car escort clearing the midday traffic out of its way. Inside were a trio of STAR officers, keeping a close eye on the still unconscious forms of Mindfire and Bonebreaker. Both supervillains were bound with power dampening manacles for when they woke up, which hopefully would not be until they were already at Blackstone.

Suddenly, a beam of energy struck the side of the patrol car, flipping it over onto its side. The armored van swerved to the right, just managing to avoid hitting the damaged patrol car. The three STAR officers in the back of the van moved to try to get a look out some of the view ports at where the attack was coming from as the driver began to accelerate.

 

The van had not gone very far before a second beam of energy struck the rear driver-side tire, blowing it out completely, along with part of the rear axle. The van swerved out of control, the officers in the back grabbing a hold of whatever they could to keep from being thrown around. Somehow the driver managed to keep van from flipping over, but it had come to a complete halt, and was not going to be going anywhere on its own.

 

The officers had barely a chance to start picking themselves up when a dark clad from suddenly appeared inside the back of the van, delivering a powerful kick to the midsection of one of the three officers, knocking him into the side of the van and into unconsciousness. And just as quickly as he appeared, the figure was gone again, leaving two very confused officers behind.

 

Another blast of energy struck one of the back doors, blowing it inward with enough force to knock over one of the two standing officers. The third was looking down towards his companion when the dark clad figure reappeared behind him, knocking the officer to the ground with a blow to the back of the head.

 

A glowing figure floated down in front of the open back door of the van, looking at the two unconscious villains inside. "Well, you two did your part, even if you couldn't avoid being captured. But lucky for you, our employer still has need of your services." Glancing at the dark clad figure, the man added, "grab Mindfire and get out of here. I'll bring Bonebreaker."

 

The dark clad figure scooped up the unconscious redhead and in an instant, both were gone. The glowing man picked up the large form of Bonebreaker, and then flew them both out of the back of the van and off into the sky!