Lunch Time Meeting [IC]

[Azuth65]

Feb 1

11:30am

Jennifer Owens walked into one of the small family owned restaurants a few blocks from where she worked. The place, called The Settlement, happened to be nearly equidistant to four lawyers offices so it was a common place for working lunches among the law crowd.

She checked her smartphone, noticing she was about five minutes early for her appointment with Megan. After grabbing a booth and ordering a coffee, she looked over the menu, despite knowing she was going to be ordering the fried haddock sandwich. 'And now, to wait,' she thought to herself,'Going to be nice to get to talk to Megan without all the old money like back at the Midnight Society's party.'

[Thevshi]

Outside, Megan Howell climbed out of the back of a cab that had brought her from Summit Transnational's headquarters in the Wadding Way. After paying the cabbie, she turned to look at the restaurant, as the daughter of a well known attorney here in Freedom City, she could appreciate its name, even if her father was not a litigator.

Stepping inside, the blonde young woman quickly scanned the room, looking for her friend. It only took a moment for her to spot Jennifer back in a booth.

"Hey Jen!" Megan said with a wide smile as she came over to the booth. "How have things been? Hard to believe it has already been more than a month since we saw each other at the party!"

[Azuth65]

Jennifer smiled warmly as Megan approached, "Yeah, busy month. What with a bunch of our city's protectors apparently going crazy. But otherwise, things have been good. New projects at work have kept me delightfully busy. How's your internship over at Summit going?"

As much as Jen wanted to discuss her new projects, non-disclosure agreements were something she did not break lightly. Even her girlfriend was unaware of what exactly she was currently working on. And she sure was not going to talk about them in someplace so public.

[Thevshi]

Taking a seat across from the other young woman, Megan nodded in understanding as Jennifer mentioned being really busy and mentioned the unpleasantness from the middle of last month. Yeah, I know you were pretty busy during that. The blonde thought, recalling when Jennifer's mask had been torn while fighting the robot Bee Keeper III in the Fens. Of course, Jennifer did not know that the blonde across from her was also Velocity.

"Oh jeez, please don't remind me of that day." Megan replied, referencing what the media was calling the Day of Wrath. "I had been at an early morning meeting for some real estate deals Summit and Amir had made in the Fens when I almost got caught in the middle of some gang shootout. Luckily I was able to avoid that, but my nerves were so shot I headed home, thought just as well considering."

"But, otherwise things with my internship are going great." She then continued. "I work with some great people and there is a larger variety of interesting and complex things to work on. Though, I sometimes have to keep strange hours, especially if I am working on something with other Summit offices on the other side of the world."

[Azuth65]

"I know how the odd hours deal goes, I'm usually the one who has to make midnight video conferences with our partners in China, London, Tokyo, New Delhi, and more. Makes me glad for the little bit of office space I have so I can grab a nap on my couch between the end of the day and making those calls."

After placing their order, Jennifer gave her friend another look, "You certainly look happier than at the party. Is it just the interesting work or did you find somebody to spend time with during these long, cold winter nights?"

[Thevshi]

Megan gave a small smile as Jennifer mentioned having to handle late night video conferences with partners around the world. "Well, I would say it was part of being the low person on the totem pole, but Amir keeps even longer and odder hours himself."

Megan ordered just a water and salad when the waitress came by. Her smile then broadened as Jen mentioned her looking happier and asked if she had met someone. "Well, work is great and all, but yeah, I have started dating someone. We met at the Millennium back at the start of last month, when I went out with some of my co-workers to celebrate my first week at Summit. His name's Kyle and he used to play football for the Southside Eagles, and was on the team when they won State back during Samantha’s Senior year at North Bay. He then played at FCU on a scholarship."

[Azuth65]

"Sounds like he's been good for you," Jen said, "Not sure if you're aware but you were practically dancing on your way in." Then with a wry smile she added, "So, Valentine's is coming up. Does he get to see you in your old cheerleader uniform yet?"

"Amir has always been a bit of an odd duck," Jen replied with a chuckle, "I think it's why he and dad get along as well as they do."

Before she could say any more, the screech of tires and the sudden appearance of a car bursting through the front window, barely missing the people at the tables, and coming to a rest upside down against their table. Outside, a man and woman in matching black combat fatigues stood in the street. Their black uniforms broken only by steel-grey patch in the shape of a shield with a single feather in flames across it. "Owens! Jennifer Owens! Get out here!" the man called into the sudden silence.

[Thevshi]

"Really?" Megan asked with a smile as Jen mentioned her apparently more energetic step. She then got a bit of a mischievous grin of her own when Jen mentioned Megan‘s old cheerleading uniform. "Well, he has actually admitted wondering if I still had that somewhere, so Valentine's might be a good time to get it out."

Before Megan could respond to any of Jen’s comments about Amir and Jen’s dad, there as a faint commotion outside and a car exploded through the front window of the restaurant and came to a halt up against their table. The blonde young woman instinctively ducked down, having to force herself to move at a more normal speed, though she had been ready to try to get herself and Jen out of the path of the car if it had kept going. As she ducked, Megan’s right hand snatched a piece of glass that was flying at her out of the air at a speed far faster than the human eye could follow. She then casually dropped the piece of glass to the side after ducking down. Oh no. She thought as sheglanced up to see the similarly dressed man and woman that were calling Jen's name and demanding she come outside. While Megan was aware that Jennifer was also the Silver Spider, Jen did not know Megan was actually Velocity.

"Umm, they don't really look like friends I would guess?" The blonde stated, wondering how she could get clear in order to change and be there to help Jen if it came to that.

[Azuth65]

Rather that immediately comply with their demands, Jennifer ducked down, keeping the car between her and the pair outside. While she was crouching she checked through the window, seeing the car was empty she breathed a short sigh of relief. Guess the screech was just somebody breaking to avoid it. Thank God for small miracles, she thought to herself.

"Not even a little," Jen replied. "Ran into a few of these jerks on that last mission to Antarctica after the Gorgon thing. Phoenix Squad, a collection of mercenaries operating out of New Freedom. They were upset that my expedition recovered some extra-terrestrial salvage before they could. Guess these two finally got around to settling up."

As Jen explained what was happening, her mind was racing trying to find a way to get into costume without one of her friends seeing her change into costume and also keep the civilians out of harm's way.

[Thevshi]

Great, not good at all. Megan thought as Jen explained who these two appeared to be. Right now they were both rather trapped, with neither being able to get clear to change into their heroic identities. The blonde thought for a few moments, or a few moments for her, which was in reality only a fraction of a second.

"Maybe I can try to distract them while you sneak out of here?" She offered with a tentative look. It was a pretty weak plan, not that Megan did think she could take care of herself, but that it would be hard to do so without showing her superspeed. But if she could delay things just enough for Jen to get clear and return as Silver Spider, that might be enough, and then Megan could get clear herself and change as well.

[Azuth65]

Giving her friend a level gaze, Jennifer replied, "Megan, unless you've got some super-human strength and endurance you've been neglecting to mention all these years, that is a bad plan." After a minute the younger woman hissed out a breath, "Smart on their part waiting until I went to lunch. If they had pulled this little stunt at work, security has the kind of hardware to neutralize this level of threat."

From where they crouched, the young women could see the two mercenaries becoming impatient, the female of the pair raising her right hand and suddenly a beam of near blinding light struck one of the support beams, showing the area around with splinters. "Tick-tock girl!" came the mocking call.

"I don't see much of a way out of this. I'm going out there, when I do, call my parents, tell them what happened," she said before rattling off their phone numbers.

[Thevshi]

Megan was quite for a moment when Jen shot down her idea of trying to distract them, not sure how she should try to handle that. But the villains outside were apparently getting inpatient as one fired a blast of some kind of energy into the restaurant. When Jen suddenly stated she was going to go out and confront them, all sorts of warning bells went off in Megan's head. While that would give her a chance to get clear change into Velocity, it could well mean Jen would end up a hostage, which would only make things harder.

"No Jen. I can't let you do that." Megan said in a low, steely voice. “And no, I don’t have super-strength, but I've got a lot of super-speed, and I've been at this hero thing a lot longer than you have! I'll go distract them for a moment or two, then make a convincing break for it. That should give you time to slip into the back, change in to Silver Spider and then get out there to confront them. I should not be far behind once I can get clear to change as well."

With that, the blonde young woman began to stand up to climb out of the booth and make her way towards the wrecked front of the restaurant to try and bluff the two villains just enough to give Jen a chance to get clear.

[Azuth65]

When Megan mentioned super-speed, suddenly Velocity's odd looks at her after being unmasked by the latest Bee-Keeper's robotic double made a lot more sense. At her friend's tone, the black woman seemed to shrink a little. "Fair enough," she replied, her tone deferential. Jen pulled her handbag over, ducking away with it to a dark corner not currently occupied by frightened civilians.

As Megan stepped outside, she could see the man had picked up a nearby manhole cover and was bouncing it easily in one beefy hand. Being nearly a foot taller than the speedster, he loomed thugishly, "Step aside cutie, you're not the one we're after."

[Thevshi]

Megan pretended to stumble slightly on rubble as she made her way out of the hole in the restaurant's wall, letting out a fake cough due to dust and smoke. Glancing up at the large muscular man in front of her with a half frightened look.

"I know this seems like a cunning plan and all, but in case you two hadn't heard, there was a pretty rough day here a few weeks ago and the heroes in this town are still somewhat on edge. So, it might be a good idea to cut out now, before some hero happens by and decides you two look like great stress relief punching bags." She stated, before turning down the sidewalk and making a break for it, focusing on staying at what would be a normal running pace for someone, as she tried to get to an entrance to the lobby of the building the restaurant was in, to hopefully find a place to change in order to get back out and help.

[Azuth65]

The pair of mercenaries pause and look at each other while Megan makes her escape.  A good thing she had because as just after she rounded a corner, the hubcap the large man had been playing with flew through the air to embed itself halfway into the wall.  A few seconds after getting to relative safety and privacy, a strand of silvery webbing dangeled inches from her face, her friend's voice coming from the rooftop, "Grab hold."

 

After the blonde took the line, Silver Spider quickly pulled her friend to the rooftop.  Once on the flat top she said, "One chance to get clear, enjoy your wardrobe change.  Sorry for the less than steller changing rooms."

 

After a quick check of her web cartridges, the masked woman jumped from the building's ledge and down towards the pair of New Freedonian mercenaries.

[Thevshi]

Megan gave Silver Spider a wide smile.  "I've gotten a bit used to having to change wherever I could over the years."  She replied.  "Be careful, I'll be down in just a few moments."

 

As Silver Spider jumped over the edge and down towards the two super-mercenaries, the blonde young woman became a blur of movement, rushing to one shadowy corner of the rooftop and by the time she came to a stop, was wearing her Velocity costume.  Stowing her bag with her clothes behind an air vent, she was then off down another side of the building, quickly looping around several blocks in a blur of yellow, coming back at the front of the restaurant from another direction.

[Thevshi]

Velocity was just as fast as her name made her sound, speeding down several blocks of city streets and doubling back just as Silver Spider was coming into view of the two superpowered mercenaries. 

 

The yellow clad speedster wasted no time, zipping right up in front of the muscular man that had thrown the hubcap at her before she had changed.  Her right hand shot out at supersonic speeds, a loud *CRACK* sounding as it broke the sound barrier.

 

*WHAM*

 

The impact from her punch shook nearby windows as she solidly connected with the supervillain’s jaw, his head snapping back as he went flying backward at least a good thirty feet before slamming into a wall.

 

"Hi there, I'm Velocity.  You two might want to consider surrendering before things really get bad for you."  She commented, pausing a brief moment at the spot where she had hit the supervillain.

[Azuth65]

Velocity's strike sent the large man flying backwards and through the brickwall of the building across the street.  His smaller companion looked quickly between the yellow-clad speedster and the man-shaped hole, her confidence shaken slightly.  She had just enough time to call up her force field before Silver Spider swung down on a web-line to deliver a powerful kick into the New Freedonian's stomach, sending her crashing into a nearby parked car.

 

"On second thought, stick around.  I don't know about my checkered friend here but I certainly have some frustrations that need exercising." the silver and blue-clad woman said, assuming a defensive stance.

[Thevshi]

Velocity winced slightly as her punch put the large man through a wall across the street.  She had expected him to be a bit harder to knock off his feet.  But then she had landed a pretty solid hit. 

 

She smiled slightly as Silver Spider arrived, knocking the female supermerc off her feet as well.  Thus far the supervillains were not fairing particularly well, though the experienced heroine knew that could change in an instant.

Still, the speedster had suggested they surrender, so she should at least give them the opportunity to do so before she continued pummeling the large man into unconsciousness.  So, instead of following after the large man and pressing the attack, she waited outside to see what he did when he got back to his feet.

 

But she was not about to make herself an easy target for him however.

[Azuth65]

The light shooting mercenary pulled herself out of the dent her impact had made of the car, gathering light in her hand to send streaking at the woman who had assaulted her.  "You have guts, I like that in a victim," she sneared as the blast took Silver Spider in the stomach.  Her aim must have been slightly off however as the armored costume took the bulk of the strike.

 

Spider's retaiation was swift if poorly aimed, spraying webbing to the windshield, hood, and wheels of the damaged vehicle.  Stupid gut shots she groused mentally as the super-mercenary dodged her attack.

 

The sound of shifting rubble drew Velocity and Silver's attention before a large chunk of bricks sailed past the speedster's head to knock out another shop's window.  A second later the larger of the mercs shambeled out of his impact crater covered in morter and brick dust, various veins sticking up from under his skin though they were showing a coppery tone rather than looking like normal blood veins.  "Lucky shot girl," she growled, "The contracted said just the Owens girl but I'm sure a couple new subjects will get us a nice bonus."

[Thevshi]

"Lucky shot?  You wish."  Velocity shot back at the muscle bound mercenary.  "I know you think your tough and all, but I joined the Freedom League just before I finished high school.  I've fought plenty of opponents tougher than you."

 

With that, the yellow clad speedster became a blur of motion, moving back up next to the large mercenary.  Her hand shooting out once again at supersonic speeds with another loud *CRACK*

 

*WHAM*

 

Once again she delivered a solid punch to the mercenary's jaw.  But though his head snapped to the side for a moment, he remained standing where he was as he quickly brought his head back around to face Velocity.  But she was already back down the block, having moved away from him after landing her punch.

Edited April 11, 2013 by Thevshi

[Azuth65]

The more petite of the mercenaries fired a short volley of photonic blasts at the blue and silver heroine, who dodged almost all of them.  The one blow that did connect with her was completely absorbed by the subtley placed sections of armor in her costume's chestpiece.  The light controller spat a short series of words in a language neither Velocity or Silver Spider could understand, though given her body language and glare she was clearly cursing.

 

In response, Silver fired off a stream of webbing at her opponent.  In a taunting tone she called out, "Watch your mouth!"  Her mocking tactic didn't seem to be of much help however as the merc rolled out of the way of the webbing.

 

Coppertop was considerably less chatty in combat however, he just pulled a sizable chunk of asphalt out of the road to hurl at Velocity.  An almost insultly slow attack to the speedster's perception, allowing the yellow clad woman to sidestep at the last second.

[Thevshi]

As Velocity sidestepped the large chunk of pavement thrown by the muscle bound mercenary, she watched as Silver Spider and the other mercenary traded attacks.  Silver Spider had taken a couple of hits, but had seemed unhurt by them.  Unfortunately, she was having less luck in dealing with her opponent.

 

Need to put this guy down so I can help out Jen.  The speedster thought as she focused back on Coppertop.

 

"Okay, enough tearing up the street."  Velocity called out as she closed the distance with the mercenary in the blink of an eye, her hand shooting out supersonic speed with another loud *CRACK*.

 

*WHAM*

 

Once again she landed a solid hit on Coppertop, this time with an uppercut aimed right under his chin.  The larger mercenary was lifted up off his feet and sent flying backward to land on his back about a few feet away.  This time he not only looked dazed, but as if he just hanging onto consciousness. 

 

"You ready to surrender now?"

Edited April 29, 2013 by Thevshi

[Azuth65]

Watching her comrad get knocked solidly on his back, Photonia summoned her will and took off into the air while gathering the energy to send another blast at Silver Spider.  Silver however had other plans, nimbly jumping away from the impact before loosing a webline towards her foe.  Yanking on the webbing now attached to the mercenary she all but flew towards the New Freedonian, impacting with a solid crash before pushing against her to flip backwards and stick to a building's wall.  "Now would probably be a good time for you to surrender," Silver observed.

 

Meanwhile, on the ground, Coppertop slowly shook his head as if to clear it.  As he rose to his feet, his eyes had a glassy, punch-drunk look to them as he tried to focus on Velocity.  Pressing his hand to the patch on his chest he grunted, "Phoenix One, activate From the Ashes."