Unkindness, Conspiracy, and Murder

[EternalPhoenix]

March 21.  Freedom City. Port Royal. Shore of Lake MacKenzie.

 

Helena Canterbury was a sheltered young woman. Born into wealth and privilege, she wanted for nothing. Except her freedom. She had the best of tutors. Private and very exclusive. The best schools and the finest university. All so that she’d be the all too worthy heir that the Canterbury family deserved. She was never given a choice or asked her opinion. Upholding the family name was the most important thing in the world. And yet…university provided a small window, a way to spread her wings a little. She joined a poetry club, where her skill at macabre verse was immediately compared to Edgar Allen Poe. The small window, once opened in such a way, allowed all sorts of emotions to spill out.

 

Helena had always resented her family and the seemingly vast circle of other people deeply invested in her success as the Canterbury heir. They never showed any interest in what she liked. In who she was as a person. The little sparks of poetic and artistic creativity, the oddball clothing she wore when she could, the interesting quirks of personality she at times displayed…all met with fierce disapproval. Don’t be like that. Be like this. Be what’s wanted. What’s expected. What’s necessary. Helena’s anger burned inside her, but she was not strong enough to oppose her parents. They had trained her too well. She had to be content with the little rebellions, like the poetry club.

 

For now, it was spring break. She and two friends from the poetry club had come back to Freedom. They had bought a few things from an old costume shop in Lantern Hill, and now they were going to act perfectly silly. Helena put on the mask she had bought. Instantly, she noticed a change. The whisper of feathers. Birdsong. A great presence in the sky. She thought it would be nice if she could see it, and birds of all kinds appeared out of nowhere. They sang her songs of understanding. Of compassion. And of power. Sparrows, pidgeons, hawks and eagles. Birds smaller than her hand and almost as large as her. Crows and ravens.

 

Helena smiled. Oh, yes. Strength at last. Vengeance would be hers. But her friends had earned her favor. With a thought they too were empowered, and their loyalties made unquestionable. She did not hear their screams of terror. They were not important. First she must find out her limitations. And then, plan well. Helena Canterbury was no more. Long live The Matriarch!

 

 

March 25. Freedom City. North Bay. The Canterbury Estate. 3 PM.

 

A flock of birds of all kinds darkened the skies about the North Bay. Screams echoed from many mansions as they broke windows and fluttered about everywhere, attacking nigh indiscriminately. For the smaller birds, like sparrows, this was not a life threatening attack. For the larger birds, like eagles, lives were very much in danger. Maybe a superhero could do something about it?

[MysticSquirrel]

Fox Squirrel may not have been a superhero for very long, but until this point he'd thought he'd seen some strange things in his brief tenure. Oh, sure, back home there'd been plenty of costumed weirdos, but this? This was something he could never have expected. Heck, he'd hardly believed it himself when the squirrels came calling, their worrisome chitter-chatter afire with fear and awe that the birds had gone nuts. But here he was, the squirrels' wild stories all but confirmed as Lee stood garbed in his heroic raiment, perched atop a distant rooftop as he looked to the darkened skies. Even from this distance the whirlwind of avian activity engulfing North Bay's manors was enough to send a shiver down the squirrely hero's spine. Whatever fear the clarion cry of the birds might have instilled within him were quickly replaced by the more plaintive of the populace below, their siren song of endangerment more than enough of a catalyst to spur Fox Squirrel into action!

 

With a quick clawed clamber and a bounding leap, Fox Squirrel launched himself from the roof to the urban jungle below, utilizing the cityscape below to traverse his way towards the panicked scene. Swinging from street lamps and bouncing off of parked cars, the acrobatic rodent-themed hero sped his way rapidly towards the fear-riddled homes in a flurry of natural athleticism, a faithful entourage of his tiny furry friends hot on his heels as they reached the epicenter of this bizarre bird-battered Bay. While putting a stop to the eerie flock was certainly up there on the list, first thing was first: Fox Squirrel had to get these civilians out of harm's way.

 

"Everyone stay calm! Help's here!" shouted the young hero over the caws and clamor of the denizens in peril in a vain attempt at restoring some semblance of hope. There were so many -- like a menagerie gone amok! While the smaller birds might be a nuisance, it was the larger ones that were a genuine menace, and though Lee was no tactician, even he knew he couldn't be everywhere at once. He needed a plan or, preferably, some backup; since he was terrible at the former and lacking in the latter, it was time for Plan B.

 

"Get somewhere safe! We'll try and hold em' off!" cried Fox Squirrel again in desperation. He couldn't be everywhere at once, true, but he was hardly ever alone. Steeling himself for the inevitable, Fox Squirrel let slip the squirrels of war with a vibrant "Chkk-chkk-ckkkt!" Like clockwork, his faithful miniature pals took to the field, assembling in teams between the birds of prey and their intended human victims, ready to intercede and protect the denizens -- and their home! -- from the invading felonious flock!

[Sophistemon]

Samuel Steiner sat at what amounted to his dining room table in his dreary, substandard apartment and read the morning paper while sipping periodically from a steaming cup of bitter coffee. He didn't like bitter coffee, of course, but it was all he could afford and, so -- slurp. He grinned, slightly, at the news that an old rival had been brought to justice and finally incarcerated but his brief, gloating reverie was disturbed by a sudden thud on his kitchen window. He looked up, startled, to see a fat gray pigeon scrabbling frantically at the glass. He stood and, as he did, noticed that the bird was glaring at him with one of its baleful orange eyes. "What the devil?" he murmured, and then waved his hands at the thing. "Shoo! Shoo, go on before you break it!" The bird ignored him and continued to beat its wings against the glass, squawking all the while. Sam narrowed his eyes at the foul-tempered fowl and was preparing to ignore it... when he looked beyond the bird and into the city, where he saw the panic unfolding as countless more birds were, apparently, going completely coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. Minutes later he had dressed and made his way outside, donning his mask just as he exited the building. Maintaining a secret identity wasn't very high on his list of priorities: he'd been publicly revealed more than once already and his name was a matter of public record. He drew his wand from its hidden pocket within his suit-jacket and aimed it at a group of finches that were swarming, wasp-like, around the heads of a young couple that dashed down the street. With a word a powerful gust of wind erupted from the wand's silver tip and blew the tiny birds up, up, and away. "Get inside!" he shouted. "I'll fend them off!"

[Tiffany Korta]

It had taken some time and effort but Klara had managed to arrange to visit a new old friend down at Lonely Point Naval Base, so again she was back in Freedom City on superhero business. She was enjoying a conversation with the taxi driver when the sky darkened. Having lived for so long in the UK a suddenly darkened sky wasn’t that unusual but it didn’t take much to determine that this was caused by the weather.

 

“Someone has been watching too much Hitchcock it seems. I believe that we shall have to stop here.” She carefully counted out the fare, taking a few second to calculate an appropriate tip “I won’t ask you to stay around,indeed I suggest you get well away from the area.”

As she made her way to what she thought was the center of the disturbance, she carefully typed out a text to apologise for not being able to make her appointment. Not that she was sure that the Navy would mind her missing this one.

[angrydurf]

*whump* Ace cracked an eye at the noise against the window and shook his head, "Silly bir-"  *Whump Whump Whump* the ageless adventurer popped upright from the lovely tudor couch he'd fallen asleep on and frowned.  One bird flying into the reinforced glass of Danger! Manor was slapstick of hte highest order, four in rapid succession was something worth far more attention, if only to chase off a confused film crew shooting a windex ad.  Peeking out the window he saw the skys darken with avian antagonists and shook his head, "Well there goes the neighborhood."

 

Dashing out the front door brocaded silk smoking jacket billowing behind him him he called out to a neighbor, "Get inside, no stop taking pictures what is wrong with kids today!"  he exclaimed at the retirees snapping pictures of the attack with their phones.  Bustling them into their home just in time he turned and dodged an oncoming flight of ravens with a shake of his head as he saw fellow heroes emerge from the surroundings and ran to join them, "That my friends,"  he said with a gesture to the circling corvids, "Is a murder most fowl."

[EternalPhoenix]

While the heroes tangled with birds galore, the main flock assembled over the Canterbury Manor. Ace Danger would know of them. Bluest of the blue blood types. Aristocrats to the bone. Stuffy, and far less fun than the rest of his neighbors. He might have even met young Helena at some point, who wouldn’t have made much of an impression at all. At any rate, if birds were making the sky thick and being outside dangerous away from the Canterbury Manor, the situation there was much more…quiet. Ominously so. For the two kinds of birds that were missing from the aviatastrophe were crows and ravens. This was specifically because just about every single one of either species in Jersey seemed to be sitting on the Manor’s grounds right now. Just…sitting. And staring.

[Tiffany Korta]

Klara pondered why it was is that she’d kept bumping into so many (near) immortals since she’d come out of retirement? She remembered a quote from a book about only so many real people, which was why the kept running into each other. Right now that seemed very much to be the case, but at least there was less likely to be violent disagreement.

 

“Please to meet you all I’m Zhenshchina-voin or in English Warrior Woman, though Klara will do fine.” She gave the other heroes a friendly smile, meeting new heroes was also interesting.

 

Introductions out of the way she turned her attention to the problem in front of them

“It is a shame there are no Magpie’s among them, that’ll would give us a bundle of good luck. Instead we apparently have a Parliament of Corvids, generally not a good sign but it may point to where the problems lies.”

[MysticSquirrel]

"Nice to meetcha! I'm Fox Squirrel!" replied the young squirrely lad bedecked in brown-and-red, tail swishing briskly as he greeted the astoundingly tall woman and the other heroic comrades now assembled amidst this strange menagerie. With the cavalry arriving and the remaining patrons more or less out of harm's way, and with Fox Squirrel's own furry lil' pals beginning to converge into fewer yet larger gaggles to fend off the remaining avian offenders, the chipper teen hero could breathe a sigh of relief.

 

While he wasn't exactly sure what a Corvid was, Lee nevertheless gave the giantess an affirmative nod before he shifted his gaze towards the massive flock perched among the grassy landscape in front of the nearby manor, an eerie chill creeping up his spine as the flock bored a hole straight through him -- straight into his soul -- with their beady little eyes. "Maybe. Also, they're totally creepy. I mean... I swear those crows are just staring at us," Fox Squirrel continued, rubbing the goosebumps prickling up on his bare arm with the tips of his fingers, replete with a shudder. "That can't be normal around here."

[Sophistemon]

Presto eyed the birds a bit warily before turning to address the others. "A parliament?" he asked. "I'd always heard that a group of crows was called a 'murder.' I prefer yours." He looked, then, at the young man in the squirrel costume. "They're waiting for something," he explained. "Crows are very smart. Ravens, too. They learn quickly and remember for generations. Much, much easier to train than doves. I used to work with crows a bit when I toured -- you never do get used to how they stare at you." He reached one arm up to a shoulder and brushed off a stray pigeon feather. "Pigeons, on the other hand, are dumb as a stump. Filthy flying rats, pigeons." He looked at Warrior Woman. "I'm, uh, new to all of this. Who do we know that can control birds, or other animals? Should we be worried about more dangerous creatures coming around?"

Edited April 7, 2016 by Sophistemon

[angrydurf]

"Canterbury Manor."  Ace considered aloud as he looked to the flocks covering the spacious grounds, "There may be some that call them enemy certainly few of wealth and privilege get that way well liked by all."  he said with a sardonic smirk.  He however shook his head, "But they are not attacking, they are roosting."  he frowned slightly, "The leader of this Fowl Plot lies within."  he assured them and looked to the assemblage, "They'll attack as soon as we approach, indoors will be safer but not safe,"  he looked to his fellow heroes, "Have any of you a power ring to generate force fields or perhaps some kind of sonic repulsion device?"  he asked completely straight faced as if these were the sorts of things one found in their pocket.

[Tiffany Korta]

Though Klara had been retired for quite some time her instincts were those of a soldier, having trained for the job for hundreds of years, rather than Ace’s more adventuring background. She considered there options about the best, and safest, method to get to the manor.

“Corvids is the term for the family of birds including Crows and Ravens, like Sciuridae for squirrels.” She gave a little smile “If we are unlucky enough to lack such powers I can teleport thanks to these.” She tapped together a pair of elaborately decorated bracers “But alas I can only take myself, and only to where I can discern. So I suggest that one of use acts as a distraction as the others make their way inside in relative safety.”