ic Scum Protection Squad

[Raveled]

Freedom City, New Jersey, United States
Wednesday, January 6th, 2016

Midmorning

 

A neon green bolt sped through the center of Freedom City with a tail of red and blue lights stretching behind it for a solid block. As it turned the corner with a squeal of tires, Blue Jay swung into an alley on a blue-white grapnel. She was moving fast, fast enough that the buildings were a blur around her, fast enough that one grapnel shot took her entirely through the alley, and when she shot out the other end she was just in time to see the car chase shoot past her. The archer swung around and landed on a convenient rooftop. She watched the tiny neon car with the green running lights flash past her, easily staying out of the reach of the police cars that were chasing it. Unfortunately, that same speed and agility kept it out of Blue Jay’s reach.

 

She watched the chase move away from her, breathing through parted teeth. She’d never catch up with the car with her own speed; she’d have to get smarter to stop the reckless driver.

 

Jay reached up and tapped the commlink in her ear, sending out a signal. “Blodeuwedd. Do you see where the car is headed?”

Edited January 9, 2016 by Raveled

[Blarghy]

Tristan Delacroix drummed his fingers against the steering wheel of his McLaren 650S, humming along with the radio.  He wasn't much of a gear head, but he could still appreciate the car from a technical standpoint, as a marvel of engineering.  Hand-built, lovingly designed, carbon-fiber chassis, zero to sixty in three seconds, top speed of over two hundred miles per hour...he mostly used it to sit in traffic. 

 

This morning, he let his mind wander, lulled by boredom.  As he so often did, his thoughts turned to his special project.  Leviathan was just so big and visible, he'd decided; he wanted a better way to get around unseen.  When he found the time to go back to his private lab, he planned to study the color-shifting camouflage of his pet octopus and others like it.  The picture of him tip-toeing up behind gangsters, blending into the background, made him smile. 

 

The sirens barely registered at first, relatively common noise that it was in Freedom City.  Tristan checked his mirrors as they came closer, watching to see if he needed to try pulling closer to the sidewalk in what little room he had between him and the next car, but then a green blur flew perpendicularly past him through the intersection, followed by what looked like half a precinct worth of police vehicles.  He sat up, interested.  His renewed attention caught small movement where there shouldn't be any, high in the air, zipping quickly from building to building.  Tristan squinted hard.  It was a person--a person in a costume. 

 

He'd never brought Leviathan out to play during the daylight before.  He'd also never had the chance to work with another hero.  Tristan needed just seconds to make his choice. 

 

"Parking garage, parking garage, parking garage," he mumbled to himself, flipping his turning signal and cutting the wheel hard in the direction of the fleeing car. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd sat at a vantage point that allowed her an almost perfect vantage point of the chase that was going on below. And not by accident she’d spent many years getting to know the city and it’s layout, it was a place she’d felt completely at home. Which was quite ironic for a girl who grew up in a tiny hidden village in the Welsh mountains.

 

“Take a left Tona and follow it down, it should let you catch up to the car. I’m on my way, leave something for me.”

Taking her own grapple from her belt she made her way to catch up with her friends, and the trouble they’d gotten themselves into.

[Raveled]

Blue Jay stepped up to the edge of the roof she was on, putting one foot up on the lip and watching the chase pull away from her. She glanced around the city and its confusing webway of streets and elevated train tracks and alleys, trying to orientate herself. She didn't really mean to disregard her friend and ally's advice, it's just that she disliked being lost in any situation. No better course of action suggested itself, though, so the archer stepped off the rooftop and fell to the left.

 

She sped through the air, suspended by alternating lines of blue energy. She kept her eyes on the street even as she descended at a steady rate, trying to spot the police car or the nippy neon-mobile they were chasing. "I can't see anything, Blod," she radioed back. "Are you sure this is --" She was cut off as she swept out over an intersection and the chase made another tire-squealing turn below her, aligning with her direction almost like it planned. "Nevermind," she finished.

 

The young woman dipped lower and landed on the roof of the lead police cruiser with a heavy thump. Ignoring the officers inside, Blue Jay rose to a crouch on the car roof, the tails of her coat flapping behind her. She needed to wait until the car got closer to the lead vehicle, and then she could make her move.

[Blarghy]

The chase had probably moved well away from him by the time Tristan found a place to leave his car; the anxiety of potentially missing this opportunity gnawed at him until his hands began to shiver.  After fumbling impatiently with his wallet at the toll booth, he parked sharply in the first available spot and hurried at a brisk walk to the stairwell, away from pesky cameras.  Ninety seconds and four stories later, Leviathan all but kicked down the roof access door, squeezed through, and ran to the edge of the building.  He lifted one massive hand to shield his eyes from the sun and scanned the streets below.  No sign of the car, or its trail of pursuit.  Leviathan mumbled inaudible frustrations, trotted back a dozen paces, and took a running jump in the vehicle's original direction. 

 

He landed on the complex across the street, jumped again to the next one, and by the fourth building, was giggling maniacally to himself; he'd never traveled this way, and the image of how he must look sailing through the air, let alone the feeling of weightlessness and wind on his face, made for a new thrill.  Leviathan almost forgot what he'd originally came to do until he caught the sound of sirens again.  He changed directions, hopped a few more roofs, ran out of convenient same-height options within a few blocks (he saw King Kong, and he knew better than to try climbing skyscrapers in this body), so instead dropped over the edge to the sidewalk below.  From here, he shot away on foot, easily reaching highway speeds.  The environment was his main limiting factor; body-checking the civilians in his path didn't seem too heroic, so Leviathan either crisscrossed through traffic as needed, or leapt well over humans and cars alike. 

 

In all his excitement, it only occurred to him as he rapidly approached the tail end of the chase that the police might get the wrong impression after seeing him in their rear-view mirrors. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd was following rapidly behind on one of the building running alongside the road the car was due to arrive soon.

 

“Trust me I know this kind of thing, just try not cause as much trouble as last time.”

 

From her vantage point she had a pretty good view of what was going on and it didn’t take her long to spot that someone else had joined their little chase.

“Look’s like we’re not the only one interested in the chase. Anyone we know? Freedom get’s so many powers that it impossible to keep up with them all.”

[Raveled]

Blue Jay bared her teeth as the police car raced through the city's streets, staying low and leaning into the turns as it skidded around, staying close to the suped-up subcompact. "Can't talk," she replied. "Car surfing."

 

It was dangerous. She had to time her movements just right and anticipate the vehicle's movement; if she jumped too early or in the wrong she would land on the pavement and end up as so much road rash. It was unnecessary, it was foolhardy, and it made her blood sing.

 

The moment came and the archer launched herself. For a moment she was suspended in midair and knew, deep in her bones, that she was going to land in the street; then she made contact with the neon green roof and dug her fingers in tight, her textured gloves gripping the smooth metal. She grinned fiercely and began pulling herself up the car, inching her way towards the windshield while remaining spread out on the roof. "Blodeuwedd, I need some place to stop this car," she called up. "Find me somewhere that a crash won't kill anyone!"

[Blarghy]

The new arrival, in fact, had a plan for that.

 

Leviathan, thankful for the lack of bullets he expected from the police cars he rapidly passed, opened into a full sprint for the remainder of the chase.  Blue Jay's leap delayed his own; Leviathan studied this hero from his new, closer viewpoint, couldn't remember anything about her off-hand, but still felt eager to meet someone new after they handled the vehicle. 

 

I hope you're not full of innocent people who're fleeing with good cause.

 

Once Blue Jay seemed to have a good grip, Leviathan jumped with arms stretched out, hoping to put his hands right through the trunk for a powerful grip.  He should make a hell of an anchor, even before he dug his heels in.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Blarghy

[Blarghy]

Sometimes, the world just seems to be on your side.

 

Leviathan could feel instinctively, in his bones and muscles, the rightness of his impact with the car.  For a moment he knew he could sway it any way he liked--lifting the rear end to drive the nose down against the pavement, wrecking both vehicle and occupants, or something more delicate.  The rider clinging to the roof, he expected could leap free to safety on her own either way, but Leviathan still felt like displaying some finesse.  He normally put effort into giving the impression of a blunt, forceful instrument, but perhaps there was something to gain from showing potential allies that, when he had to, he could be counted on to perform more gently. 

 

So, after the car's initial rocky dip from the new weight at the back, Leviathan put his heels down to the asphalt, flexed his powerful shoulders, and pressed harder against the trunk while also leveraging the front tires upward.  He balanced there for moment, to give the police cruisers time to catch up and probably surround them, then twisted his body.  The car came down again, this time with its rear axle bent to make a second escape impractical.

 

His rectangular pupils flickered across the windows, trying to get a look at whomever he'd helped to catch, but then moved up to settle on Blue Jay, whom he considered more interesting. 

 

"Hi," he rumbled.  "Nice weather out today."

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd watched everything going on from a good vantage point, she’d been calculating a good route before there little friend showed his hand.

 

“Look’s like our friend has made that a bit of a mute point.”

 

Right now it was difficult to tell what the newcomers intention was, it wasn’t unheard of for anti-heroes or even villains to apparently help heroes out.

“I’m going to make my way down to you, try not to provoke the giant man until I get there.” as much as she liked Tona she could at time be a little impetious.

[Raveled]

Blue Jay barely had time to open her mouth before the big man picked up the car and dropped it. She bit off a scream as it went up and down again, the textured pads of her palms and the insides of her knees giving her the extra grip she needed to not go flying. Still, her bones felt like jelly when the car skidded to a halt, the rear axle a smoking ruin and the front wheels squealing impotently against the weight.

 

When the car came to a halt and the police cruisers began piling up behind them, Blue Jay shakily climbed down from the roof. "That's one way to stop the car," she hissed, willing herself to stand up straight. She moved over to the driver's side window and smashed it in with a single hard, focused blow; behind it was a teenager with wild hair and wild eyes, fumbling for a handgun. Jay rolled her eyes and reached in, swatting the gun out of his hands and grabbing the man by the collar. "Alright, out of the car and don't reach for anything else or I'll start breaking thumbs."

[Blarghy]

"Man" in this case was at best an academic description, as nothing about Leviathan beyond his impossible bass voice suggested a gender.  His massive, scaly, naked body might've been bipedal, but little else resembled humanity either, from his broad webbed feet to his stubby snout, between those big, pale eyes.  This was a beast more likely to have swam out of the bay than anything else.  As such, he still worried that the police might make some nervous mistakes, and took care to keep his movements fairly slow and nonthreatening now that the crisis was over.  If one officer started shooting, then the rest were bound to follow, and such a firestorm could spell disaster in a public street.

 

Now, his near-lipless mouth frowned a bit; he'd expected (and hoped for) more of a reaction to him personally.  Then again, work came first, he told himself.  "Work" appeared to be some punk kid, hardly worth all this attention.  Leviathan stomped around to the front of the car and peered through the windshield. 

 

"I'd do what she says," he suggested, before adding ironically, "She looks mean."

Edited February 17, 2016 by Blarghy

[Tiffany Korta]

With the chase now apparently stopped Blodeuwedd slipped down to the ground and made her way closer to the action, whilst almost out of habit sticking to the shadows. The roads were unhelpfully well lite but she found a spot close enough to help if trouble started, not that she need the shadows but she tended to stick to them incase her equipment failed.

 

“I’m close by if trouble start, though really try not to antagonize the large monster.”

She slipped a couple of throwing knives ready just in case someone started trouble, she wouldn’t start anything but she would finish them.

[Raveled]

The wild-eyed teenager in the car continued to try and fend off Jay's hands, his movement ultimately ineffectual. He screamed and babbled at her, evidently terrified, keeping the heroine from getting a word in edgewise as she tried to calm him down. Finally, her short patience spent, she snagged both his wrists and pinned them against the ceiling with one hand, while the other one popped the door open. A quick blue blade slashed the seatbelts to shreds and she hauled the man out by the scruff of his neck, sending him sprawling across the street.

 

"I'm going to be really pissed off if you're just high," she said, standing tall and looking down at the man. For his part, the driver was doing his best to crab-walk away from everyone at once and really only succeeding in swiveling around on his rear end.

 

"You don't get it, man," he moaned, past caring whether he was talking to a man or not. "They're gonna get me. I can't stay in town or else they'll get me!"