Carnival Night

[Thunder King]

Graft kept silent during her impassioned speech. He even kept silent during the other two's responses. He had nothing to say for a few moments, and gathered his thoughts.

 

"The mask I wear protects me and those I love from the evil that would do us harm." he said. "I don't fight crime for the purpose of justice, I do it for the purpose of protecting people, of saving lives. I answer to no authority directly, though I respect the laws of my country as a means to protect the populace. I don't care if this event goes off without a hitch or comes crashing down around our ears. If no blood is spilled and no lives are lost, it would be a success to me."

 

"Ideals are all well and good, but sometimes, people lose sight of them. Taking lives to protect lives is anathema to freedom, for there is no greater loss of freedom, then the loss of life.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Ana cocked her head and listened to the various speeches. Her lips curled into a smile but did not part. 

 

"As you say, as you say..." she said, ambiguously. 

 

"Perhaps we need those very speeches at the Carnival!" she suggested clapping her hands. "I am but an artist, it is the people who run a country. Not me, not the police, no, not even the government or the mayor, as delightful as he is!" she said. 

 

She gave a glance at Lady Brazil, who gazed at her without moving. 

 

"Our little figurehead, Lady Brazil, is quite an orator. I was planning to slot her in for a speech. But any of our guests would do, if they fancy taking their words to the crowds!" she explained. 

 

"But you wish to save lives, I understand. Which lives I wonder...what choices, what choices...never mind" came the endless rambling of Ana. 

 

"I can guide you around the stage, the fireworks, the lasers. Although I doubt you will find much, although it is possible. What you should do is keep your eyes and ears open for the main show...."

[Thevshi]

Velocity regarded Ana a moment as the woman offered to allow any of them to make a speech to the crowd.  The speedster recalled the impromptu speech she had had to give on New Year’s Eve during one of her stops with some US military personnel.  While she had managed to do well with that speech, she was not so sure any speech by her now would be quite as good.  "Well, I'll think about it while I search the plaza and the surrounding area, but I am not sure the crowd would understand me all that well, seeing as I don't speak Portuguese."

 

Glancing back at Foreshadow and Graft, she then added, "Anyway, I am going to get to my search.  If I don't find anything, I will probably get out among the crowd on the dance floor for a bit to keep an eye on things from there."

With that, Velocity was off in a blur of yellow, speeding around the area that Ana had indicated as the location for the fireworks display setup.  After a few seconds, the speedster had searched a large area of the plaza and some of the buildings around it.  Thus far, she had not found any sort of device like those that had been used before.

 

But, as she passed through a section of the plaza towards another nearby building, the yellow clad young woman spotted the singer, Luiza, who had been at the site of the tear gas attack against the police chief, and then sung those revolutionary songs afterward.  Skidding to a halt in front of the singer, the speedster gave her small smile.  "Hi there.  Planning some more tear gas attacks?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Luiza was singing in Porteguese, pumping her fist to the sky and half shouting. Although Velocity could not understand the words, it was clear the lyrics were somewhat incendiary. The crowd was whipped up into a frenzy. 

 

Luiza herself was looking particularly flamboyant. Still wearing a mask, and dressed in huge wafts of red clothing, she was quite a spectacle. 

 

She barely batted an eye when Velocity skidded up to her. 

 

"You would not understand! American Capitalistic Dog! You don't listen, you don't question, you just sing the tune of your corrupt government! America! Land of Slavery! America! Land of Slavery!" she chanted, whipping up the crowd with her fist. 

 

"Stay out of Brazil! Your time will come!" she hissed, spitting at Velocities feet. 

 

"This is free speech! You will never stamp us down! Come join our sisterhood!"

 

She totally ignored the reference to tear gas. Perhaps she did not remember it, perhaps it was not important to her. But it was not something that provoked the slightest response. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity remained calm as the singer called out insults at her, even spiting towards her feet (as if she would have been able to just spit on the speedster if she had wanted to anyway!).  While the heroine was a bit concerned about the agitated state her apparently inflammatory singing was bringing to the crowd, she had to admit that Luiza had a point about free speech, even if it was not something recognized in Brazil.

 

"While I might find myself working together with the American government at times, I am far from being blinded to its problems."  She replied when the singer had finished her rant. 

 

"But you are right, there is nothing wrong with expressing your opinions through speech, and I am certainly not here to stop you from voicing them.  And I will admit I am not as informed about your cause as I perhaps should be, so perhaps you will enlighten me?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Of course Sister!" said the flamboyant Luiza, in a half yell!

 

"You know the horrible history the world! Slavery, oppression, the poor ever crushed! And we sisters, we women, always bear the brunt of it! Every country, every religion, every empire, every king, always, always, women are second class!" she hissed. 

 

"And Brazil, for all its splendour, is no exception! But today, enough! enough! Join us in emancipation! Join us in Anarchy! No more chains! No more chains! Every leader, every government, every monarch, all they want is to serve themselves! But today...revolution!" she said, smiting the sky. 

 

The crowd seemed energised. Here and there, Velocity spied some masked women who seemed to be stooges, uplifting the crowd. 

 

"Join us! Today will bring the downfall of La Rosa, the Police, the Courts, we have brought them to us! Join us!" she said, offering Velocity a carefully wrought silver mask with antlers. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity listened to Luiza with a faint frown, noting the mood of the crowd around them at the woman’s words.  "Look, I certainly will not deny that women face a number of difficulties, if not outright oppression, all around the world.  But your arguments are merely a series of generalizations, and not completely accurate.  The United States, while not perfect, has improved greatly from what it once was like.  And last I checked, Brazil had a female president, something the United States has yet to do."

 

"If you feel you are oppressed and want to protest, that is fine, I fully support that.  But you appear to be calling for violence, against a number of people, based solely on your generalizations about oppression.   And I cannot support that."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Luiza pulled the mask away, a look of rejection and anger on her face. 

 

"Then if you are not one of us, you are against us!" she said, glaring at velocity. 

 

"I know you are powerful. I cannot fight you in body. But the streets will be won with hearts and minds, even if you arrest me, beat me, or...yes, even kill me. You cannot stop what is in motion here, sister!" she said in a sing song voice. "The force that guides us is too strong, even for you, with all your speed, all your strength. You cannot be everywhere at once. You cannot hope to defeat the power that spreads, even now, like a plague, amongst the sisters of this fair city. Tonight is Carnival night, and with the setting sun, the night shall be ours!" she said. 

 

"Do what you will. You cannot win. The police, the courts, the army, La Rosa, they will are all being taken over by us. Every node of influence and power is being swept up by the sisters...."

 

"But I will not speak more! Do what you will!" she said defiantly, crossing her arms and looking at the crowd, who seemed to be under her spell and were spitting hisses and boo's at Velocity. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity regarded Luiza a moment, somewhat disappointed that the woman was so quick to turn hostile, but supposed it was inevitable.  What the singer had to say about the movement was somewhat unsettling, and certainly suggested that there was more to what was going on than met the eye. 

 

"Look, I have never killed anyone, and I hope that I never have to, so I certainly have no intention of starting with you.  I would prefer to even arrest you, let alone have to fight you.  But if you give me no choice, it may come to me having to arrest you.  As for stopping whatever you have in motion, well, that remains to be seen."

With that, the speedster was gone in a blur of yellow, making her way back to where she had left Foreshadow, Graft and Lady Brazil.

 

"Well, no sign of any devices like the one used on the police chief, but I think I may have more of an idea of what is going on."  She stated as she came to a halt near the group.  The young woman then recounted her encounter with Luiza.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Ana, who was still with the three heroes, and showing them the detail of the stage and fireworks, raised an eyebrow at Velocities entrance. 

 

"My, you do work fast!" she said with a smile on her face. "I would love to see the world through your eyes for a day. Or, perhaps, a year, depending on how you look at it! You must have a unique perspective on the flow of life, hmmm?"

 

She looked solidly on as Velocity gave her explanation of Luiza's rant. 

 

"I know this woman. I passionate woman, a voice that is without age. She speaks, no doubt, from her heart. I feel that. But what do you make of these words? what is behind them? what does it mean?" she asked emphatically, and impossibly. 

 

"Nothing should stop Carnival Night!" she said, stamping her foot down like a spoilt child. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity regarded the Ana for a few brief moments when the artist commented on how quickly she worked, and how the speedster’s perspective of time was likely rather unusual.  "My perspective on time is likely quite different than most."  She said in agreement before focusing on the more pressing issue at hand.

 

"Well, that is really the question isn't it?"  The heroine began.  "What did she mean?  For the most part she mentioned various government agencies or branches in her complaints of oppression, but then specifically mentioned the criminal organization La Rosa.  From what I have read, there may well be a connection between La Rosa and some corrupt elements in the government, but I am sure La Rosa is not unique in that.  There must be other criminal groups beyond La Rosa, why did she not name them as well?"

 

"There seem to be a number of possibilities, either Luiza and some other like minded individuals are behind all this, targeting the government elements they see as corrupt and La Rosa as well for some unknown reason.  Or, there could be some other individual/force behind all this, manipulating Luiza and those helping her, and that unknown entity could either be seeking to destabilize the government, or are specifically seeking to harm La Rosa."

 

"Whatever the goal is, from what Luiza had to say, her and those helping her appear to have some means of influencing others, be that some form of mass mind control, or perhaps even some sort of mass drugging by some means.  It seems rather clear that they believe they have some means of spreading their influence, and in particular by the efforts of other 'sisters." 

 

"So we need to see how we can learn how they plan to do that and disrupt those plans."

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow looked between the two women before interjecting himself in the conversation.  If the Fens were any frame of reference on a subject matter this would be it.  "Organized crime regardless of the country tends to have some similarities.  It can't exist without three things.  A lower possibly oppressed class, money laundering, and public corruption.  On this scale it's impossible that there's not some sort of political protection.  Even if it's not immediately apparent to what degree.  Why name someone other than La Rosa they're the beast that lurks beneath every other group isn't the top of the food chain.  Could even postulate that the only thing these 'sisters' have to influence people is charisma and propaganda to an awful situation.  What I'm worried about is this is winding down the road to opening up a new beast.  A new group to take place of the old after they clean out La Rosa.  For better or worse.  And it's almost never better."

 

"I'm more used to this type of work than the more surreal stuff you guys must face at the league.  But on either scale it always comes down to the fact that no matter how much work you do to clean up whatever evil lies in wait the beast ultimately doesn't die off.  Something always takes its place.  I'll even admit part of me is afraid of the fact I might not even completely hate the idea.  A little scary to think I might enjoy that it never really ends because there's always something to fight against.  But it's also why I don't see a win being destabilizing their overall plans.  Just making sure tonight doesn't go their way if we're lucky."

 

"Personal fears aside.   From a business standpoint and not an ideological one, in a successful takeover one would be wise to get rid of those you can't use.  For example if they're smart and not just fanatics they're not targeting officials that solely oppose their ideals.  Just the ones that won't benefit them after they take control.  Perchance the mayor qualifies.  Anyways It's just an opinion don't take it as fact.  But knowing the who's who of the political worth around here would help.  Or even just someone they are dissatisfied with that we know will be here.  Information someone with your way of thinking could offer up Miss Tavares if you wanted to I imagine.  Unless Carnival Night is less important to you than whatever views you may share with Luiza's sisters.  Again just another opinion, but to say your body language towards myself, Graft, and Lady Brazil hasn't exactly been welcoming."  Crossing his arms the acrobatiic hero would look towards the direction Velocity had come from.  

 

Of course, if there is someone bigger and badder pulling the strings like Velocity thinks.  And Luiza's confident enough to try and recruit a cape.  There's the possibility their influence has already spread to Brazil's heroic community as well.  If not run by it road to hell, good intentions and all.  It was a train of thought he dare not speak.  One doesn't exactly make themselves feel welcome in another country by accusing the local heroes on an afterthought after all.  Especially with no basis aside from being a man mired in a suspicious mindset.  It was after all just a passing thought, but did give room to account for the heroine's mind control theory.  Of course a strong enough voice could be all it takes to win hearts and minds.

[Thevshi]

Velocity listened as Foreshadow interjected some of this thoughts and ideas on what might be going on.  Once he had finished, the yellow clad speedster was quiet for a few moments.  "I certainly agree you likely have considerable more experience in dealing with organized crime, but from what I heard Luiza saying, what is going on here might be far closer to what the League tends to deal with."

 

"While it could well be that these 'sisters' only have charisma and other normal influence, that certainly is not how Luiza made it sound.  While it could certainly just be empty rhetoric, she certainly made it sound like far more than simple influence.  She told me the force guiding them was ‘'oo strong' for me to be able to stop, calling it a power that was spreading like a plague.  She said all the powerful and influential groups she railed against where being 'swept up' by the sisters.  Unless all that is simple posturing, it certainly sounds like something more is going on here."

 

The young woman paused again a brief moment, then frowned slightly.  "Now I wish I had at least taken that mask she offered me before turning her invitation down.  I would really like to see what it was about right now.  That could somehow be a part of all of this, as Luiza and all the women that seemed to be helping stir up the crowd were wearing them."

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The musings of the Heroes was interrupted by an arrival. The Mayor and his wife, complete with a few requisite bodyguards, had entered. 

 

"Aha! Our patron arrives!" smiled Ana, as she kissed, with perhaps over-zealous passion, the Mayor. His wife merely smiled at the extravagance. 

 

"I see you delivered not one, but four magnificent protectors for the evening!" said Ana, taking the poor Mayor, swept along by the force of her personality, into her arm. 

"What fireworks shall we see tonight?" she asked cryptically. 

 

"But no matter! the party has begun!" she announced, as a stream of fireworks signalled the beginning of the final party of the night. 

 

"Please, I think it is time for you to make your speech!" she announced. 

 

"Lady Brazil, too perhaps!" she asked the silent spandex wearing hero, who merely looked at her with penetrating eyes and no inclination. 

 

"I have spoken many speeches" said the heroine. "But tonight, I think I will be at the side of the stage. I am sure the Mayor can give words enough" she said. It was true, too. Lady Brazil was more than just a super powered heroine, she was a figurehead, and a carefully neutral but patriotic (even jingoisitic) speaker. She was there for Brazil first and foremost. 

 

Ana shrugged her shoulders. "Perhaps, but maybe the mood will strike you!" she winked. 

 

The Mayor, meanwhile, wiped his brow and stepped up to the centre stage to the applause (most of it genuine) of the crowd, and started to speak into the microphone above the whistles, cheers, hoots, and odd jeer. 

 

"Marvellous!" clapped Ana as the Mayor droned on, in a rather uninspiring drawl. 

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow couldn't decide if Ana was playing the mayor lip service or if she just loved to see the night she had worked so hard on come together.  To speak nothing of the possibility that she was truly inspired by the speech.  The only thing that he was certain about was the man did not get elected into office through the merits of his charisma.  Almost as if it were reflex memory, the moment Foreshadow's eyes locked on to a questionable stage hand his hand shot up for his utility belt.  Grasping for one of his Bolas as he pieced together what the masked woman was up to.  Without saying a word he would quickly grasp the lightest weight letting the two heavier weights dangle down the side of his leg before Foreshadow began twirling the bola.

 

Once enough momentum had been built up the weapon found itself sailing through the air as Foreshadow propelled it towards the masked woman.  The woman was caught off guard as the cord struck against her torso.  The weights binding her arms to her sides before the force of the motion brought her to the ground leaving her helpless for the moment and keeping the mayor out of harm's way.  "Well that was almost a shocking display.  But it looks like an invitation to get some answers.  Keep your eyes peeled she just tried to fry the mayor and may not be working alone."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Crowd gasped as the Bound woman fell headlong onto the stage, almost bumping into the shoes of the Mayors. The two bodyguards reached instinctively for their guns, and pulled them. But they would have been to late. 

 

Only Foreshadows' lightning fast reflexes and eagle eyes had saved him from a nasty shock. 

 

The Crowd were growing restless, perhaps stirred up by the women in the crowd who jeered. Perhaps the Mayor's guns...perhaps a bound woman. There was nothing ill in mood yet but the rumblings were there. 

 

"<Save me!>" yelled the bound woman to the crowd in Porteguese. 

 

"<See what boot is on me?>" she yelled to a growing rumbling discontent and ever louder jeers and boos from the crowd...

[Thunder King]

With inhuman speed, Graft dashed towards Foreshadow and stood in front of him. He knew the other man, while a skilled fighter, was likely not as resilient as himself. Standing at his full height, Graft folded his arms.

 

"Is this what you want?" He said. "To hurt people? To be manipulated into tearing this city apart? Because this will lead to a riot. The person standing next to you might hurt you and yours. Injuring your friends, your family. Is that what you want? You're being manipulated. Your anger and passions are being inflamed and manipulated. When tomorrow comes, you will not have memories of a carnival, but of pain and suffering. That's not what you want, is it? To blacken this day with regret?"

[Thevshi]

Velocity had spotted the various women gathered in the crowd, but she had failed to see the stage hand that had been about to try to electrocute the mayor.  Thankfully Foreshadow had spotted her and quickly stopped her from completely her task. 
 

As Graft moved forward, though to block Foreshadow, and not the mayor who had been the target, the yellow clad speedster was quickly scanning in every direction for any sign of other that were going to try to harm the mayor.  At least Graft spoke up in a rather well delivered speech, though Velocity wondered how many understood what he had to say, as it was not in Portuguese.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Crowd did not all speak English, and those that did, only to a variable degree. However, enough recognised the potency of Graft's words to stop. And when they stopped, to discuss...

 

Despite the urges of the stooges who carrying on jeering, the mob had swung back to a neutral position. Cautious, still. Anrgy, yes. But no longer boiling. Murmured discussions, and even shouted arguments could be heard amongst them. 

 

Onto stage, sprung Lady Brazil. 

 

She seemed to sparkle, or shimmer slightly. Her colours were more vivid, her voice stronger, full of confidence. Was this part of her practised oratory...or was it something more? it was powerful - even the heroes who could not speak Portuguese could recognise that. 

 

She wore a magnificent carnival mask now...a huge golden deer with sparkling antlers. 

 

"This is Carnival Night!" she roared. 

 

"<It belongs to the people! Not the politicians!>"

 

"<We shall scream, we shall shout! we shall tear down the pillars of the corrupt elite! Tonight, and for all nights to come...we shall be free!!!!>"

[Thevshi]

Velocity had been waiting to see if something else happened, when something did.  Lady Brazil appeared on stage, this time wearing a gaudy golden mask as she began speaking to the crowd in Portuguese, calling out to the crowd in a very charismatic speech. 

 

"What?  Lady Brazil?"  The speedster said at first, unsure what was going on, but then she focused on the mask.  Again with the masks, just like those worn by the other women out there trying to incite the crowd, or that had been behind much of the problems earlier.  There had to be some sort of connection.

 

In a blur of yellow, Velocity crossed the distance with Lady Brazil.  "Can I borrow that for a sec?"  She said as her hand shot out and grabbed ahold of the golden mask.  Lady Brazil began to try to pull her head away, but the speedster was too fast.  Snatching the mask off the other superheroine’' face, she speed way once more, coming to a halt near Foreshadow.

[Supercape]

GM

 

To the sounds of gasps of shock from the excited crowd, the Mask came off into Velocities hand. 

 

Lady Brazil fell to her knees, eyes rolled to the skies, and a wail from her lips, low and powerful. 

 

She fell forward, one hand smashing straight through the floor of the stage. 

 

"What power...." she whispered, audible to all, before crashing face first to the floor. Maybe she was unconscious, maybe not. She was convulsing as if having a seizure, however. 

 

Cries of dismay shot through the crowd. 

 

"Lady Brazil! Lady Brazil!"

 

"The American! She killed her!"

 

The tone was ominous at best. Lady Brazil was a national heroine, and whatever words had swayed them, an American apparently knocking her cold was a hard thing to swallow for national pride. 

[Brown Dynamite]

Now more grateful than ever to have Graft as body shield, Foreshadow really wished that Velocity hadn't made acted so quickly.  The situation was public and a bit too unfavorable.  Above all else, she was Lady Brazil.  There was no way the crowd wouldn't take it personally.  However, it wasn't as if he felt the Speedster made the wrong call.  Her quick thinking and even faster reflexes helped to confirm there was something mysterious about the mask.  The only downside being the cost to the national heroine.  Of which no one could have predicted and it could not be understated how serious the incident was now.
 
Ever since Lady Brazil took to the stage, Foreshadow felt sluggish his muscles screaming out in exhaustion.  Every movement heavier than the last.  It was a feeling all too familiar to the athlete behind the mask.  But it made no sense, there was no reason why his body should feel so tired.  Taking a second look towards the deer shaped mask he knew he had to let the others know where he first saw it.  Aiming for a little bit of tact rather than outright publicly accuse someone else after Lady Brazil began to look downright epileptic.  "It's too bad that corruption was the architect of her own undoing.  A deer finely carved for a night of Freedom."  Accentuating his message with the slightest stomping of his right foot.
 
Foreshadow hoped his allusions to Ana's tampering of the mask made it through to the others without outright alerting her.  He figured the message was straight enough to the point. So, on a scale from 1 to 10 the likelihood of things breaking out into a full blown riot.  Actually I don't even want to give it a quantifiable number.  Well at least we can be grateful Velocity didn't take the other mask when offered. It's no longer looking like a missed opportunity but a blessing.   Well let's see the theme of the night seems to be any woman I find attractive is in on the chaos.  So following that natural chain of progression the Mayor's wife is the true Mastermind. The costumed acrobat couldn't help but chuckle at his own internal monologue even in the midst of the tense atmosphere.  He was of course jesting falling back on a tried and true coping mechanism.

[Thunder King]

"Lady Brazil is not dead!" Graft said, shouting as loud as he could. "She's having a seizure, but she's okay! She will be fine! I have seen these before! I will make sure she lives!" He knew they could not understand him well, but he hoped that they trusted him enough to understand that she lived, even though the crowd feared otherwise.

 

he kept an eye on her, making sure that she still breathed. He hoped, perhaps, to convince them that her state was not Velocity's fault, but rather that of whoever put the mask on her. That would wait after she came out of the seizure, though.

[Thevshi]

Whatever sense of accomplishment Velocity might have felt at getting the mask of Lady Brazil's face quickly dissipated when she saw the result of those actions.  She could only look on with shock as Lady Brazil collapsed and the crowd reacted.

 

"What…..No, all I did was take off the mask."  The speedster stated, in part reassuring herself.  "I did not hit her or anything."

 

Luckily Graft seemed to be able to sway the crowd somewhat and was making sure the other heroine was alright.  Velocity took a brief moment to study the mask she had removed, looking for any sigh of why removing it might have had that result, before passing it on to Foreshadow to examine. 

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow wanted to try and reassure Velocity that Graft was going to make sure Lady Brazil was going to be fine.  There was enough guilt going around due to their actions ending with possible lives lost tonight, the assassin from the bar still fresh in Erick's head.  But now was not the time to focus on the negatives.  Despite having no basis on how medically capable the other hero was other than his confidence in making a diagnosis, he figured a little faith went a long way.  Granted Graft's choice of outfits could have been a little easier on the eyes.

 

Their current plight did at least provide the costumed gymnast with plenty of opportunity to follow a lead.   Especially with the way that Graft was controlling the momentum of the crowd.   Attempting to move as quietly as possible he relied on the misdirection to aid in hiding his intention.  Foreshadow was making a silent beeline for the back.  Miss Tavares had a few questions to answer for.  Hopefully finally bringing about clarity to just what exactly was going on.