ic Teen Romance Superhero Drama

[trollthumper]

The doors opened, revealing a hallway cloaked in darkness, with traces of neon at the end. To Set's senses, there weren't any booby traps, warding sigils, or any of the other surprises he might have prepared back in the day. As Set turned the corner, he found the source of the neon. The room was ill lit, save for blacklight, and the walls had been painted with illustrations of monsters, spirits, and other nightmares in fluorescent graffiti. Some looked simple, while others were detailed enough to create all the wrong ideas about the artist. 

"Oh, this won't do."

A voice rang out from a walkway. Over Set's head stood Madame Marvelous, who'd switched out her nun's dress for a robe that threw up a fractal pattern under the blacklight. "Do you like my room of cauchemars? It may not look like much, but under the proper influence, it can... transfigure the mind and soul. When they put me in my nightmare room, I saw so much..." She paused, taking it all in. "Sadly, I think the effort's wasted. You left the pretty boy at home. And I went to all this trouble, too. It's like you don't want people to claw their way out of the plastic womb."

Temperance, meanwhile, had found the back entrance - shockingly unlocked. She did her best to sneak through the back corridor, keeping an eye out for more of Madame Marvelous's hired thugs. 

Edited June 4, 2015 by trollthumper

[Gizmo]

"Firstly, child, I be the pretty boy," Set corrected, swinging one hip out to the side and planting and hand upon it, arching a painted eyebrow. "Second, I be Set. Mayhaps you've head of me? Recently improved word of mouth aside Set has not abruptly entered the business of aiding hapless mortals for the warm, fuzzy feeling of a good deed. Doing battle with villains grants me pageviews. Interesting villains, mind." Casually wandering about the room with a snide, unimpressed expression the godling shook his head. "What a disappointment. Were the bowels of a surplus lawn ornament warehouse expunged here? I thought I might find some meager amusement in coming here to mock your 'wasted efforts' but I genuinely cannot think where to even begin. Be this..." Set gestured about the room's ornamentation with a disgusted wave of one arm. "...all that was required to crack your little petrel egg of a brain? Tragic."

[Avenger Assembled]

For his part, Citizen floated up to the roof as clandestinely as he could. Once he was there he left his mobile emitter wedged firmly by the building's transformer - then stepped forward and allowed himself to enter the computer networks inside Madame Marvelous' headquarters. Even with Terra's primitive datasphere, there was almost always _something_ in a city like Freedom's. A smartphone, a laptop, even a washing machine's central computer had enough connections to allow the disembodied EM pattern of his consciousness to reach them. And from there, it would be easy enough to find his way into whatever primitive systems Madame Marvelous used to store the records of her crimes. He could just picture the place, a typical e-void floating with ridiculous patterns, perhaps one with nothing but its owner's picture saved over and over again, or one of the many signs of mania he had encountered in the silicon heart of Terran criminals. 

[trollthumper]

Temperance drifted through the back corridors of the warehouse, keeping her ears open. The darkness contributed to her efforts; she may not have been the sneakiest of heroes, but she at least knew how to hug a wall. She heard voices drifting out from a nearby room.

"...off her gourd, but she pays well."

"Long as she doesn't try to turn me into an art project. Why's she got us guarding this pod thing?"

"She says it's 'essential to the apotheosis.' No goddamn idea what that means."

---

Citizen, meanwhile, found himself drifting through the networks on the local computers. There was some surprisingly sophisticated equipment here, more than just the type of towers you'd pick up at Best Buy. On them were notes in what he could only assume was the florid, fervid script of Madame Marvelous... but there were other files, too. Much more advanced, dealing with gene therapy and mutagenic substances.

---

"I'll admit, I have followed you on Tumblr," said Madame Marvelous, "and you are pretty. But beauty can only be skin deep. It's once you peel it away that something bright, shiny, and transcendent comes through." She waved her hand to the images. "These? These are little nightmares. You're right; they really don't do much as they are. Even the good drugs just make them dance a little. But I've given him something more than a drug. I've given him the seed of the new self."

 

[Gizmo]

"Taking an awful lot of credit for someone else's work, nay?" Set scoffed, still looking unimpressed as he planted his hands on his hips in a manner that caused his bare pectorals to flex noticeably. "I've mutated a cadre or two of minions in my day, child, and no amount of dime-store philosophy makes rattlesnake tail arms any less gauche. Come now, we both know perfectly well that the chemical cocktail sprung not from your shriveled intellect. Truly, tis fine; you must be honest about your shortcomings with yourself if not with me, aye?" He had no way of knowing how far along Temperance or Citizen had gotten but he was reasonably sure he could continue pushing Marvelous' buttons indefinitely. The godling made a shooing motion with one hand, looking like he was stifling a yawn. "Now, why not run off to piece together another outfit from last season's scarab dung and allow me to speak with the actual mastermind?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Citizen took it all - the gene therapy, the mutagenic substances, the quantum restabilizing, shaking his head as if he was removing plasma torches left in the hands of an ignorant child. And maybe I am! He thought irritably - by the limited standards of Terra, this was impressive work for someone operating with no significant budget or other forms of resources. He combed the archives carefully for anything with the slightest connection to medicine - then anything encoded that might have something to do with medicines or encoding in disguise, gathering up the files like so many thoughtdrives to slip into the many pockets of his trenchcoat. When he was done, he went to work 'cleaning up' after himself, a phrase that Gina had taught him had many meanings. In this case, it meant making sure these computers could never be used for such dangerous purposes again. He slowly began tweaking files as he went, removing security systems and then casually crushing ideas as he flew by them, not just wrecking the software but making a point to target the places that held Madame Marvelous' ideas. She wouldn't simply own bricks when he was done - she'd own perfectly functional computers with the processing power of Gina's washing machine, like something from the beginning of Terra's age of computing. 

[trollthumper]

Temperance heard a loud thumping noise coming from the room ahead. She took to the shadows, aiming to hide from whatever was happening, until she realized it was a sound she'd heard a few times before - somebody punching the plastic casing of a computer.

"You're not going to make it work by hitting it."

"I know how to make it work, idiot. That's why she hired me. It's a whole complex system of balances, making sure neither the containment chamber nor the subject blows."

"And?"

"And, the rubric I was supposed to use is gone! And the only thing this computer can manage is 2 + 2 = 4!"

"What? Aw, crap. You think she's gonna be pissed?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

---

A flicker of consternation passed across Madame Marvelous's face as Set tore into him. "What was done to me wasn't entirely my own will, no," she said. "I made something out of the chaos, but I wasn't the one who started the storm. If I knew who did, however, I'd properly exalt them. I may have pieced a few things together from the notes I found in that desert house, yes - and persuaded a few to help me understand the things I couldn't - but this, right here? Is all my own project. And soon--"

She was cut off by a soft beeping coming from her ear. "This had better be important," she said. As the person on the other end spoke, something approaching panic flashed across her face, before she gritted her teeth and regained composure. "All right," she said. "Stand at attention. I will call you back when necessary."

She turned to Set. "You," she said. "This was you, wasn't it? Do you know what you've done? Do you really want him to die?"

[Gizmo]

"Me!" Set agreed, looking insufferably smug. "Tis the thing about being a god: tis usually me." His smile remained fixed but something in his eyes darkened like looming storm clouds rolling in over a desolate expanse. "And one monster to another, child, I expect we both know that between death and letting you have your way with him, death be not the worse option. Still, my plan would be to foil your plan, dismantle your operation and save the square-jawed damsel. Tis a burden being so good, truly." Wandering over to a nearby stool, the godling hopped onto it and crossed his legs. "Mayhaps we can even find time to set you up with a Tinder account, eh? I can show you the best self portrait angles to help minimize all of..." He made a finger wiggling gesture that took in all of Marvelous from head to toe. "...that."

[trollthumper]

GM

Madame Marvelous studied him, the anger from his last comment just barely restrained. "Well," she said, "I suppose you do have the right of that. Not about the looks, of course. But about plans against plans. As they say, game does recognize game, and oh, what a game we've played. I could try shooting you, but our little tussle at the club proves that would end badly - most likely for me. And I could have used better talent this time, too. You'd think a girl would learn." She sighed. "I have the cure, of course. It's been here all along. But... a girl does have a reputation to maintain."

Madame Marvelous pulled a small black device out of her dress, pressing a button on it. The device let out a soft, steady chirp. "I put some work into this place," she said. "It was going to burn eventually, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I'm assuming your friends are already proximate to the building. They, and you, have about a minute to find the cure."

[Avenger Assembled]

Suddenly, a nearby screen flared to life - a bright, static glow that visibly resolved itself into the unmistakable form of Sharl Tulink, the chest symbol of Citizen glowing brightly on his chest. The glow sharped, flickered for a moment, and then Citizen appeared in the middle of the room, a faint glow above his head tracing its way to the projector he'd left on the roof. "All right, I got the cure!" he exclaimed, something like a high-tech iPad in his hand. "Hey, what's that?" he demanded of Madame Marvelous, whirling away from Set to look at the remote in her hand. "Is that an...analog device? What century are you living in?" he demanded. The truth was there wasn't much he could to affect a device of that nature, but there was no reason to show that kind of weakness before the bad guy. "Hand it over now, and we won't beat you with it!" 

[trollthumper]

Half a minute ago

Temperance was still clinging to the shadows as close as she could, trying to get a peak inside the room. Fortunately, the goons were too distracted by whatever horrible things Sharl had done to the computer to pay her much notice. They were clustered around some sort of containment unit - her mind flashed "cryogenics," for some reason, but this tube didn't look exactly like that. It was hooked up to some very complex, likely very expensive computers that Madame Marvelous's hired thugs were doing some very unfortunate things to. She turned her attention above their heads - to the sprinklers, rusted and disused, hanging above.

Most of these places have independent systems wired up, she thought. Of course, that also means whatever water's still in there is likely to be stagnant and dank, but.. small price to pay.

With a bit of will, the sprinkler blew. She held her breath as the stench of stagnant water filled the room. The goons likewise started gagging as the water came down much faster than it should have, slowly flooding the room. The computers weren't sparking - they were waterproofed, which meant she could feel good about not electrocuting these people. It filled the doorway and held the shape of gel, keeping away from rushing out - until she willed it. As it got to chest height, Temperance collapsed the gate, sending the water rushing out at high speed - and the guards with it, flooding out into the night.

Not gonna be fun, being damp on a winter's night... but I'm sure they'll find somewhere warm quick. She ran to the main room, ready to help Set and Sharl with whatever fight they were likely knee deep in - only to find the two staring down Madame Marvelous, who was holding what looked like a detonator in her hands. She stared at them, then the detonator, as if contemplating whether letting it count down might be truly fitting... then clicked it off.

"Ah, well," she said. "Sometimes you make a Pollock; sometimes you dribble on the canvas." She put her arms forward, cuffs stretched out. "Bring forth the jewelry. Next time, I shall simply have to strive harder."

[Gizmo]

"I already referenced Pollock whilst we spoke on the telephone!" Set objected, pursing his lips in genuine annoyance and placing his hands on his hips. "Truly, the derivative detritus which drips from your diseased delirium knows no dissolution. Mayhaps some restrains fashioned of ice, oh noble nymphaeaceae?" He kept a cool grey eye on Marvelous while inclining his head toward Temperance. He spared a moment to look both the elementalist and hologram over head to toe, irritated frown smoothing as he found them none the worse for wear. "Neither of you encountered much trouble, I should hope? I rather believe I took on the lesser task, matching what passes for 'wits' with yon dullard. Oh, another D word, fabulous!"

[trollthumper]

"Oh, did I?" said Madame Marvelous, sounding like she was on her last nerve. "Perhaps it was merely a matter of punctuating the point. Some people put their very being into a project, and --"

"You must have stretched it rather thin, then," Temperance said. Bowing to Set's request, she brought a curtain of ice up around Madame Marvelous's feet, one that swiftly crept up her body, pulling itself up inch by inch. She couldn't say she found Marvelous's shivering amusing. The ice curled and stacked around the mad artist's wrists, forming into a pair of manacles - with the hand that still held the detonator safely encased in ice, just in case she got any bright ideas. "Let's get her to the authorities and get this cure back as soon as possible. Citizen, do you know where we could synthesize something like this?" 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Can do," said Citizen with a nod, glad this was taken care of. As bad as Madame Marvelous was, in his eyes she wasn't really any more irritating than your average Terran supervillain with their love of grandiosity. "I can get this over to one of Miss A's chemical labs - they can have this synthesized in half an hour, maybe less." Maybe he didn't have the pull at Archetech that he'd once had - but he certainly had enough pull given that his mentor was still the boss there. "I'll meet you guys back at the hotel - text me if you have to move the actor. Nice work, everybody." And with that, he disappeared in a faint flash of energy as he once again stepped into the 'Net - without so much as a backwards glance for their antagonist. It wasn't until much later than he decided that was probably the most embarrassing way he could have treated the flamboyant villain. 

[trollthumper]

"Very well," said Temperance. With a little bit of effort, she was able to draw back the water she'd unleashed from the sprinklers - and, with a little bit more, turn it into something that wasn't quite drinkable but which didn't smell like a swamp that many things had died in. She was soon able to form it into an ice sled, large enough to fit her, Set, and their prisoner, who was keen to just stew and glare at the others. 

"I believe there's a precinct with a STAR attachment half a mile away," she said. "That should work for purposes of containment." With a bit of effort and the pushing open of large doors, the sled took to the air, leaving the two - and their passenger - to once again look over Freedom City, standing out against the winter's night.

"Shame about all the chaos. And we're not out of the woods yet. But... I have to say, I've enjoyed good portions of this evening." 

Edited July 14, 2015 by trollthumper

[Gizmo]

"Well naturally, oh charming champion!" Set crooned, voice smooth as golden honey as he slid gracefully closer to Temperance on the ice sled. "Enjoyment be assured in the company of-- hrm." The godling stopped short of finishing that though, something feeling just off enough to make him uneasy. It wasn't Madame Marvelous being trussed up in ice at the back of the platform; Set did his best work in front of an audience, really. Making a genuine if characteristically effusive pass at the elementalist while Citizen was off racing against time to save an innocent's life, however, seemed... unsporting? You have a higher opinion of Temperance's grasp of object permanence, surely, he chided himself internally. No, she was obviously more than capable of making decisions without the options physically represented in front of her. Still, this felt like settling and Set was not a deity work dealt in half-measures.

Instead, he bowed deeply, his smile simultaneously more contained and warmer as he rose. "We three made a team worthy of the telling, aye." Eying the recognizable emblem of STAR rapidly approaching he puffed out his chest in a pose of comically exaggerated indignation. "But hold! 'Shame about the chaos'?! Cutting words to the crown prince of chance! The raja of the random!" He placed his hands over his chest as though mortally wounded, swooning.

[Avenger Assembled]

Temperance got a text message at this point. 

IN THE LAB. MISS A IS WORKING TONIGHT. WILL BE DONE SOON. 

The ongoing crisis helped Sharl - it meant that he could focus on saving the poisoned man rather than his own strange feelings about the people he was working with. His conversation with Miss Americana was all business as they worked together in the science lab, and when he left with the sample in hand he had a mission in hand. Of course, leaving posed a problem. How could he get back to the hotel with a material object in hand without using his robot body? He wound up pushing himself, accelerating his electron flow and straining his mobile emitter as he flew back to the hotel, enough that he was tired when he reached the window of the hotel suite the heroes had started their part of the evening in. When he was there, he slipped the emitter in his pocket (really a magnetic sculpture projected by the emitter itself) and headed inside the open window. 

[trollthumper]

Sharl slipped in through the window to find Alicia standing back in the corner, clutching a bottle of soda for dear life, watching as three medics tended to Harry, who was trying to speak through a face mask and bucking against restraints. "Thank God you're back," she said. "I don't know what they're doing, but... they said something about how putting him in a coma might cause an interaction, because they don't know what was in that stuff, but... you have it, right? The cure?"

----

Temperance smiled slyly, trying to cover for her little trip in words. "Well, there are two different strands of chaos, Set," she said. "The kind that leads to an upjumped villainess attempting to sow mass destruction out of some hideously misguided sense of creativity --"

There was a sound somewhere between a sharp intake and a clearing of the throat from Madame Marvelous behind them; when Temperance turned to look back to her, however, she seemed to have come to her senses and kept her mouth shut.

"-- and the kind that leads to a night of wonders and luxury because you just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. So... we had both strains tonight. For good and for ill. I guess I gave chaos a bad rap." 

After Madame Marvelous was swiftly deposited at the nearest precinct - the STAR team was quick, getting a power-dampening gag around her mouth before she could reel out the patter - the two flew back to the hotel, dropping off on the balcony. They stepped in, to see one of the medics drawing the cure out of Sharl's magnetic container and into a syringe. "We don't know what's going to happen here," he said. "From what we've heard, it's standard administration - intramuscular - but for all it's done... we may need some breathing room for this."

Edited July 27, 2015 by trollthumper

[Gizmo]

"I shall remain close at hand," Sekhmet declared, arms folded as she leaned against the wall in the spot where she'd maintained her vigil throughout the ordeal. "Know, physician, that thy have the blessing of thy calling's patron in thy endeavors!" None of the medics seemed entirely sure how to respond to the unlikely goddess of medicine but since she'd already demonstrated her very real ability to keep the actor stabilized while they'd all waited on the cure it seemed prudent to stay on good terms.

"Success be surely guaranteed, in that case!" Set agreed, guiding Eliza and Sharl into one of the suite's adjacent rooms with a hand gently pushing on small of each of their backs. Nominally a bedroom it was as large as most other entire hotel rooms, with its own collections of armchairs, a desk and private bathroom. The godling's touch was familiar with an underlying note of tentativeness, carefully watching the couple's reactions as his fingertips lingered distinctly longer than strictly necessary, trailing upward between shoulder blades before he turned to close the door quietly behind them. "Best to let them work in peace, methinks," he added reasonably, wandering further into the room with his hands on the waistband on his shendyt. "Laudable work procuring the cure, oh digital defender! I was only just proclaiming to the elegant Eliza that we made a surprisingly excellent combination."

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl's hair, digital or otherwise, stood on end as he turned to look at Set. He folded his arms, then half-unfolded them, as if he wasn't actually sure if he wanted to protect his torso or not. "Yeah, well, I'll admit you're a lot better than I thought you were." He stepped close to Eliza and decided what to do with his arms, which was to say put one around her waist. But the only combination that'll be happening is between me and Set. i mean, between me and Eliza! Dammit! His pale cheeks colored slightly. Set was in a male body and Sharl wasn't really attracted to male bodies - which left open the pleasant-yet-unpleasant idea that it was Set who he was actually attracted to. This would be easier if Set were in a female body, so I could just want to fornicate with her and not make it so weird. "Sometimes you can't really judge a person till you've seen all of them," he went on, meeting Set's eyes, then looking over at Eliza. "And we've certainly saw a lot of each other tonight." 

[trollthumper]

"Yes," said Eliza, trying very hard to figure out where this was going, "we came together very well." She liked to think of herself as an open-minded girl of the Tumblr generation, but she still had a certain old-fashioned sense of what a relationship was. She wondered if this was a god thing - there were myths of how the standards of interpersonal relationship were very, very different for those at the top of the ephemeral food chain. But, no. This wasn't imposition. This was an invitation. And, despite the fact that a good part of her wanted to say that Set was a very good friend and all of that... she couldn't bring herself to drop the heavy lead curtain. Because a part of her didn't want to say no. "Getting into action together really helped to clear the air. Hopefully, it means stronger showings down the line." 

[Gizmo]

Turning back around Set looked between the pair, clearly reading the indecision behind the careful staccato of their words and let out a short breath. "Well. <Naturally the etiquette surrounding such matters differs by culture and era,>" he began in crisp, perfectly enunciated Lor before switching seamlessly back to his richly accented English and stepping forward. "And so I shall present for your consideration--"

All at once the godling was right in front of Eliza, close enough for their hips to touch and his left hand to rest on her waist, light enough to be easily pushed aside but firm enough to feel each fingertip distinctly. Storm grey eyes outlined in brown-black locked with hers a split instant before Set leaned forward and their lips met. The open mouth kiss tasted very faintly of earthy cinnamon and despite the suite's quietly humming air conditioning an even warmth rolled off of the Heliopolian's bare chest like desert sand shedding a day's worth of heat just after sunset. The kiss deepened gradually but steadily, shifting responsively to Eliza's reactions, only a few teasing shades past chaste, promising exactly as much as she could find it in herself to ask for.

Sharl had just enough time to open his mouth, either in objection or surprise before Set's form rippled and she broke away from Eliza to grin wickedly up at the artificial atheist. Her right hand bunched up the emblem on his shirt and yanked him downward to make up the differences in their heights and deliver a second kiss. This was more insistent, more urgent, her teeth scraping lightly at his lower lip as she pushed upward on tiptoes, hand twisting in the projected fabric to explore the edges of his abdominals. Her nose was still slightly chilled from the ice of Eliza's mask and a faint static tingle rippled from Sharl's lips out to the tips of his fingers and toes. Even as Set did a thorough job of testing him need to simulate breathing the fingers of her left hand never left the elementalist's side.

When she did finally step away from the couple, leaving a smudge of brown-black lipstick behind and wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of one pinkie finger, she looked extremely pleased with herself. "Mmh. I trust I've adequately made my case. You'll want to discuss amongst yourselves, I expect. I shall see how the physicians' work progresses." Sashaying around the pair, the godling almost succeeded in turning to face the door before a flicker of self-conscious apprehension flickered across her features, quickly smothered by a layer of smug assuredness.

[trollthumper]

Well. 

Well, well, well.

It had gone there. Not that she hadn't expected it to - for all she knew of Set, if s/he wasn't given the direct brush-off, she would still carry on. She could have pushed... but she didn't. She let it go forward, knowing where it would likely end up. And Sharl... oh, Sharl...

...Sharl hadn't exactly pushed against, either. 

This was... after a night of dealing with a mad wannabe artist and the attempted genetic alteration of a celebrity, this was a lot to process. She leaned against the wall for some sort of support and looked right to Sharl. 

"So. How do... I mean, I'm not... how do we want to handle this?" 

[Avenger Assembled]

For his part, Sharl was listening to the conversation in the other room, laying his hand against the wall and tapping into the speakers of the landline phone in the other room. "I think Set has it handled - the EMTs are taking the patient away, but he's already up and talking. Even for Terran medicine, I think he'll be all right." He looked back at Eliza and a faint bit of color crept into his pale cheeks. "Oh! Well...the walls are pretty thick here." He didn't add "for Terran architecture" , not out loud, anyway. "And when the doors are all locked I don't think there's any risk of paparazzi." He was fairly certain Eliza wouldn't have been interested in romance with a medical procedure going on just through a thin Terran door. Thinking more about what she'd said, he shrugged, then patted Eliza on the arm. "If you're worried about me," he told her gently, "I may have blown up at Set before, but I was in an unhealthy place back then. I'm not blind. You're attracted to Set, I'm attracted to Set..." He shrugged. "Why not?" 

[trollthumper]

"I..." How the hell could Sharl be so... logical about this? Yes, Eliza found Set attractive. So did half of the eastern seaboard. And she dealt with that, the same way that she dealt with the fact that he could be an infuriating jackass at times... or that he had his own traumas that were keeping him from getting on an even footing. She didn't truly know where she stood with Set... but she knew where she didn't stand. 

Or did she? What Sharl was proposing... she was a modern girl, but... what would he mean? Just getting it all out there in one big burst, then going their separate ways as if nothing had happened? Or... something more long-lasting, like some sort of teen drama that didn't have to break off the third in order to please the censors? She... she...

"I... I don't know."