Time and Chance (IC)

[SpicyWaffle]

Looking up to the sky himself, Baxter felt only a mild sense of foreboding at the arrival of the Freedom League now that Fleur de Joie was here. But she was right; hanging out to get into a bout of fisticuffs with them wasn't going to do him any good if he wanted to get these streets cleaned up!

"Alright," he finally responded, having idled long enough to feel secure in his own decision as he approached the flower. He trusted his ally and part-time mentor's judgement on this one - he had to, if he didn't want to get clobbered by Captain Thunder and the others! "Zzooner we're outta here, the better!"

And with that, the Bee-Keeper strode into the massive floral transport, eager to be on his way. His deeds here were done; wherever Velocity was, it didn't matter. She'd spread the word. Jubatus and Silver Spider probably deserved worse for their treachery, but, perhaps, they were just misguided; unable to comprehend the magnitude of the Bee-Keeper's drive and determination to protect his friends and family from the scourges that plagued Freedom City. Maybe, in time, they would see the light -- he could only hope, lest he be forced to take more drastic measures in their next meeting.

[Electra]

Stesha breathed a sigh of relief as the mad robot traipsed willingly into her flower portal. As the petals closed around and swallowed the Beekeeper, she activated her commlink to Velocity once more. "The Beekeeper doppelganger is neutralized, at least for now. I want to get him to one of the engineering geniuses as soon as possible, before he makes an escape attempt or self-destructs in there. Did you say that you had casualties on your team?" As she spoke, she sent a quick text to her fellow Aux Team members. Got live Beekeeper Bot in my pocket. Where do I take it?

[Thevshi]

Fleur had just finished her message when the yellow clad speedster suddenly appeared right beside her, having already started in when she saw Bee Keeper step into the portal. "I saw. Nice job." She said with a small smile, before having a slightly puzzled look. "Self destruct?" But the speedster quickly went to answering the other heroine's question about injured. "Yes, back where Bee Keeper just went nuts. Jubatus and I think the other is Silver Spider. There are also a number of dead bikers and Russian mafia, as well as a few bystanders this teenager calling herself Quickstep killed with a lava blast. Speaking of which, I probably need to get back there to try to put out that fire."

[Electra]

Fleur's eyes widened at Velocity's recounting of the damage from the fight. "Yes, that seems like the priority for the moment. Beekeeper will, ah, keep, I guess, for the moment. The real Beekeeper III has a trusting heart, I had wondered if whoever did this would put that quality in the robot as well. Now where is the scene?" It was a moment's thought to teleport herself to the scene of the fight, which was nearly overwhelming in the scope of damage done in one small area. will b dlayed, she quickly texted Gabriel. healing 2 do. ask d fly re fireproofing thx. Already growing seeds between her fingers, she looked around to try and assess who needed help the most.

[Thevshi]

"I’ll see you there." Velocity stated after giving Fleur the address of where the initial battle had taken place, and was then off towards the site again herself, traveling at near her top speed, a loud *CRACK* followed by a deep *BOOM* sounding behind her as she broke the sound barrier.

The speedster skidded to a halt as Fleur appeared by the scene of destruction. While the other woman turned her attention to the injured heroes, Velocity turned hers to the fire burning in the nearby tenement. Okay, been awhile since last I tried this. The speedster though as she moved closer and began moving both arms and high speed, creating a powerful vortex of wind that would hopefully blow out the flames.

[Azuth65]

Silver Spider struggled to return to her feet. Taking a deep breath she felt a sharp pain in her ribs, her web shooters were currently leaking web fluid and half her mask and several bits of her costume had been shredded by the blast she had barely protected her face from the brunt of. Luckily the damage was mostly to the arms and legs but a large bit of the stomach covering had been torn away as well. "Okay, all this pain I'm feel in my... well, everything, at least means I'm still alive."

Leaning against a wall, miraculously still standing after the night's activities, the arachnid themed heroine limped towards Velocity and Fleur. Running out of wall to help her remain upright, she tripped on some rubble. "I think I made a tactical error," she muttered before passing out a few yards from the pair.

[Thevshi]

Velocity had been working on trying to put out the fire when her goggles picked up Silver Spider starting to pass out as she tried to walk over to Fleur. In a flash of yellow, the speedster was over in front of the slightly taller woman, catching her before she had fallen too far.

"Silver is not looking good Fleur." Stated the speedster as she did her best to gently lower the other heroine down to the ground. Once Silver Spider was down, Velocity got a clear look at the half of her face exposed by the ripped mask. Jen? The speedster thought in surprise, recognizing her old friend that she had most recently seen at the Midnight Society's holiday party.

[Electra]

"Uh-oh, you're right about that," Fleur agreed as she hastened over to the fallen hero. "Poor girl looks like she was hit by a truck. I can't do anything about the costume damage, but we'll make sure she's alive to find a tailor." Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a handful of leaves she'd saved over from treating Jack of all Blades and began pasting them like green bandages onto Silver Spider's many wounds. "I didn't realize you were back in town," she remarked to Velocity as she worked. "Have you joined up with a new superteam then?" The speedster certainly seemed acquainted with the... well, Fleur wasn't sure what powers Silver Spider had, but she definitely had a few broken gadgets to her name at the moment. Crushing a leaf in her palms till it released a strong minty smell, she pushed it between Silver Spider's lips. "All right now," she encouraged cheerfully, "up and at 'em!"

[Thevshi]

As Fleur arrived, Velocity stood back a bit, not wanting to get in the other woman's way as she tried to help Silver Spider. The speedster still could not believe that it was Jen.

"Yeah, been back since last month, though been a bit quite save for stopping a couple of rampaging villains over in Hanover back before Christmas." The speedster replied to Fleur's comment about being back in town. She then shook her head when the green haired young woman asked if she had joined a new team. "No, just happened to be in the area when the shooting started here, apparently so were a few other heroes. Everything seemed normal at first, then Bee Keeper just went nuts and started killing the bikers and Russian mafia guys."

[Azuth65]

Silver Spider coughed and spat the pulpy mess that had been a leaf out of her mouth, her eyes flying open. Taking a few deep breaths, the medicinal properties working through her body, she took stock of her situation. Ruined costume, broken web shooters, sore ribs, and almost entirely missing mask..., she checked off in her mind.

"Did you stop him?" was all the heroine could make herself wheeze out.

[Electra]

"It's all right," Fleur assured Silver Spider, helping her to sit up. "He's been contained and isn't going to do any more damage. It wasn't the Beekeeper," she told Velocity, her voice grim. "There are robotic duplicates of heroes all over the city. We don't know how long they've been here, or what happened to the heroes they replaced. But they all broke character at once and started murdering people, causing disastrous property damage, who knows what else." She shook her head. "As soon as we're done here, I'm going to take the Beekeeper robot to HAX so they can try to analyze it and see where it might have come from."

Leaving Silver Spider in Velocity's care, Fleur rose and made her way over to the next casualty. This one she knew by reputation at least; there weren't exactly a lot of giant cat heroes operating in Freedom City. "Jubatus?" she murmured, in case he could hear her. "I'm Fleur de Joie, I'm going to help you, Just lay still." She repeated the same routine as with Silver Spider, though the teeth and fur did make things a bit trickier. "You all are going to need to try and get this area contained and safe," she told the heroes. "There's very little in the way of backup to spread around today, the whole city is a mess. Do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

[Cubist]

There was a bright light, and pain, and everything got confused for a while…

"Jubatus?" she murmured, in case he could hear her. "I'm Fleur de Joie, I'm going to help you, Just lay still."

Odor of mint. There was a thought that maybe he should move away from the source of that aroma, but fortunately, it wasn't catnip, nor yet any of the other mint-family plants which produced nepetalactone… and then the cheetah's head cleared. Fleur de Joie? What's she doing here? Must have been hit worse than I thought… not the most useless I've ever been, but probably in the top 10… oh, she's talking. Better downshift.

"You all are going to need to try and get this area contained and safe," she told the heroes. "There's very little in the way of backup to spread around today, the whole city is a mess. Do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

"We'll have to be able to handle it," Jubatus replied as he rose to his hindlegs. Hmm. Whatever she did, it fixed me up real good. "Hello and thank you, Fleur de Joie. If you've got any pointers to combat training for speedsters, I think I'd like to chat with you after the current mess blows over. Right now, can you clue me in on what I missed while I was lollygagging on the pavement?"

[Thevshi]

Velocity listened to Fleur's response to Silver Spider's question, as she indicated that the Bee Keeper that when nuts was not the real one, but a robot. "Robot huh? Well, things are still pretty bad, but at least good to know he and those other heroes are not really going nuts and killing people. Is there any idea where the real heroes that have been replaced might be?"

When Fleur moved over to help Jubatus, the speedster looked down at Silver Spider, still not quite sure what to make of the fact that it was some she had known for years. Pushing that from her mind, she gave the other heroine a small smile. "Hi there, I'm Velocity. We didn't really get a chance for introductions earlier."

Once Jubatus was healed and back up on his feet, Velocity looked over his way as she answered his question. "Not as much as you might think really." She began. "That teenage girl that blew up the building, well, if it really was a teenager and not another robot, teleported away after the Bee Keeper robot managed to blast both of you. I tried to put him down, but could certain take a hit. I figured it would be best to lead him away from the two of you, so I got him to chase me."

"Then I put in a call for some assistance for you two and dealing with the Bee Keeper robot over the Freedom League channel and Fleur responded. So I led the robot into a trap where she contained him and then we made our way back here to help the two of you. So, you know, its maybe been about minute or so since he blasted you and Silver Spider."

[Azuth65]

"Robots, I freaking hate robots," Silver Spider muttered to herself, remembering one of the adventures she had with her father. Shaking her head, she nodded and gave a small smile in return, "Yeah, clouds of tiny robotic bees do make introductions rather difficult. When I'm having less of a bad mask day, I go by Silver Spider."

Looking down at her web shooters and the leaking fluid still stuck to her arms she sighed. "Any of those blaster pistols still around? I might be able to whip together something to help secure the area with those," she said, pulling a miniature toolkit from her belt.

While having her mask shredded and her face exposed was making her feel somewhat twitchy, Jennifer did her best to ignore the feeling, doubly so the odd looks she was getting from Velocity, and concentrate on the idea she felt forming, hoping the weapons would have the components she needed.

[Electra]

With Jubatus up and feeling better, Fleur rose from the ground and brushed herself off fruitlessly. Between blood, sap and rubble, this uniform was going to be entirely beyond saving by the end of the day. "I don't have any experience with super-speed myself," she admitted to Jubatus, "but after we've taken care of all this, I'm sure I can put you in touch with some people who might know more." She made a quick lap of the scene of the battle, healing up a few civilians who were injured, using vines to prop up a few dangerous-looking damaged buildings. Dr. Metropolis would have his hands full for awhile, she imagined.

"I need to get the Beekeeper bot over to HAX before he realizes he's been tricked," Fleur told the other heroes. "If you need anything, you can reach me on my comm unit, or over the League frequency. Good luck, all of you!" With that, she touched the flowers in her hair and was gone with a little puff of dust.

[Thevshi]

Not long after Fleur had departed, Velocity received another call over her Freedom League communicator. "Okay, understood." She finally said after listening for a few minutes, before turning to look at Jubatus and Silver Spider.

"Sorry, but I am going to have to head down to Bayview for a little bit. There was another of these incidents at some rally Congressman Walsh where a lot of people were injured or killed. I need to go there and see what's going on. Also, some of the brainy types apparently have detected radio signals being sent from various transmitters scattered about the city to these robot duplicates. The League is trying to coordinate heroes to go and take out these transmitters. Apparently they are being guarded by Foundry war model Myrmidon robots, the big eight foot tall ones."

"There is one not far from here, and another over in Greenbank if you two feel up to trying to go deal with them."

[Cubist]

"…some of the brainy types apparently have detected radio signals being sent from various transmitters scattered about the city to these robot duplicates. The League is trying to coordinate heroes to go and take out these transmitters. Apparently they are being guarded by Foundry war model Myrmidon robots, the big eight foot tall ones."

Jubatus mentally reviewed his meagre store of knowledge of the Foundry's warbots… and as he'd expected, he simply didn't know anywhere near enough about them to work up an effective battle plan. Meh. Sure would be nice to deal with opponents I don't need to improvise against, he thought.

"There is one not far from here, and another over in Greenbank if you two feel up to trying to go deal with them."

"I'm about as good as I get," the cheetah replied. "In fact… hrrm. Let me check something." With these words, Jube upshifted to search out any and all deactivated cyber-bees from the site of the recent battle. If any of them are sufficiently intact that I can convert 'em into pocket EMP generators, that'll give us a weapon that should hopefully do some good against Myrmidon 'bots…