ic The Young Woman and the Sea [IC]

[Heritage]

The shotgun blast to the face at point blank range barely made Casey blink, though it did rock her head back for a second, while the other blast got no reaction at all. She stopped right in front of the leader and smiled an icy smile. "I'm Miracle Girl. And I'm shutting your operation down."

 

Suddenly her hand shot up and she flicked a finger dismissively at her shotgun, which nearly sent it flying, though there was a loud crack from somewhere inside the mechanism. Then her head turned as two blinding white lances of light shot from her eyes towards the other gunwoman's weapon, super-heating the metal within seconds!

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Miracle Girl's deceptively-simple flick made the woman stumble backward along with her weapon, but she still returned fire reflexively with a small adjustment to her barrel, this time shooting at the hero's thigh.  All three villains had wide, wary eyes now--to the extent that the second duplicate's expression could be read at all--and the two still blessed with guns attempted to keep them, ineffective or not, by leaping away from her.  The one who didn't, hands red from the smoking metal she barely threw down in time, screamed a challenge from her misshapen mouth and charged forward.  She shoved Miracle Girl hard--a relative term at best, given the hero's immense strength--in an effort to distract her for the second slug that her partner aimed at Casey's shoulder.  In the confusion, the security guard was kicked aside; he looked up cautiously, hesitant to step in when he was clearly outmatched, but ready to help with the right opportunity.

 

A final attack came from behind Miracle Girl, though she had no trouble seeing it coming.  The teleporting man was suddenly among them again; he reappeared a few steps away from her, his feet already off the ground in the middle of a hard, midair swing.  He seemed to have found a piece of steel rebar about as long as his forearm, probably left over from the OCEAN headquarters's recent construction.  It came down toward the top of her head; having learned from his first attack, the man put as much force into the blow as he could manage.

[Heritage]

The shotgun blast that hit her thigh actually did smart a bit, and Casey winced a little bit when it it, but she literally shrugged off the hit to her shoulder. By this time, the blonde heroine was starting to run out of patience.

 

"Look, I don't know what your beef is with Dr Delacroix is, but you've got to-"

 

As for the rebar to the head...well, it didn't quite mold around the shape of her head, but the blow probably hurt her attacker's wrists more than it hurt her. However, now she was genuinely angry.

 

"Enough!"

 

The speed at which she spun around was truly impressive, and her piledriver of a right hook came rocketing at the teleporter's face like freight train. Thank goodness for all her training at Claremont about strength control, or else her rage-fueled blow would be capable of truly horrible damage.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Miracle Girl's aim seemed dead-on, her powerful fist speeding at the man's face faster than he should be able to actually see...and yet she connected with only empty air.  Her enemy was simply gone again; he now stood about ten feet from her, his arms crossed and the piece of badly-bent rebar tapping against his shoulder.  With a low whistle of mock-disappointment, he shook his head at her and grinned. 

 

Directly afterward, the most mutilated of the three women slammed against Miracle Girl again, hoping to off-balance her; the remaining pair of shotguns also thundered to life, as before.  Their tactic seemed to finally be working, and they saw no reason to change it.  This wasn't lost on the teleporter. 

 

"You won't win," he told her.  "Unless you do, I suppose.  But you won't.  You've got the strength of the giants and the speed of somethin' a lot smaller, 'tis true, but we outnumber you somethin' fierce.  How long can all that power o' yours compare to skills and experience?  Give it up, girly.  We need that scrawny scientist, and we'll have him, with or without you.  No reason to make this your business.  I know your fine city 'ere has a tradition of nose-stickin' and thug-hittin', but we're on a mission from fate, we are.  And you just can't stop fate."

[Heritage]

By this point, it seemed like everything they threw at her was getting through, and Casey was finally begining to flag; the shotguns thundered in her ears and the slugs shook her body, not doing the horrific amounts of damage they'd do to a normal human, of course, but to Casey they felt more like punches by Muhammed Ali. More than enough to throw her off-balance. 

 

And the blasted teleporter still wouldn't stop talking; the Irishman's 'gift of gab' almost hurt more than the slugs.

 

"You show up...with guns...to take a scientist hostage," she finally managed to get out as she panted and staggered to keep her feet. "You're not some...servants of destiny; that just makes you...a pack of thugs...that no one will help...without force." She managed a feeble smile as she blearily raised her fists up into an attempt at a fighting stance. "Not in my city."

Edited January 4, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

The women scoffed with a little anger, and the Irishman outright laughed at her.  "Your city?" he asked mockingly.  "I'll have ta see some paperwork for tha' one, sweetheart." 

 

His partners at least took Miracle Girl seriously enough to approach slowly, their shotguns still raised, although they didn't yet fire again.  "You don't understand, but I don't really care," the leader told her sternly.  "We need that doctor, and we've been through too much, we've given up too much, and I won't let some idealistic hero stop me.  Now, you're nearly beaten and you should know it, so get down, stay down, or I'll put you down, for good.  Owen!  Where didn't you look?  Or...will look, or whatever."

 

"He's not in the building," the man shrugged.  He took some leisurely steps sideways, looking off toward the Great Bay.  "Not with the crowd.  Could have a panic room somewhere; seems like the type, don't he?"

 

"Then go look for it.  He didn't just disappear!"

 

"Well, we could ask this one here, but I don't think he'll cooperate.  Looks awfully grim, yes he does.  Ahh, again with the kicking; you're just not friendly at all, now are ya?"  He stretched his arms to limber up and took a practice swing with the piece of bent rebar.  The three women stared at him, coldly furious, but before they could respond, a splash came from the nearby water of the bay, and a shadow passed through the air above them.  Miracle Girl, injured or not, could watch it at her leisure, and the teleporter hardly seemed surprised, but the rest jumped back when a huge, scaly monster landed right next to Owen's new position, so hard and heavy that the asphalt shattered under his webbed feet.

 

He immediately posed with his fists on his hips and thundered, "That's enough!  Stop right there, you--"  He stopped abruptly, just now noticing Miracle Girl.  His big, pale eyes settled on the wounded hero; whatever Leviathan expected when he leapt from the water, she plainly wasn't it.

 

"--You?" he asked, remembering their last meeting. 

 

Then the teleporter broke his daze by cracking the iron rebar across his stomach; the weapon repelled off the scales and flew right out of his grip, clattering some distance away.  Owen shook his hand, gripped his wrist, and hissed in pain.  Shotguns, apparently, packed a bit more of a punch; all three gunwomen turned toward this new threat and opened fire, the third even drawing a well-crafted knife and flinging it at him.  That blade just bounced away harmlessly, but at least one of the slugs drew thick, dark blood.  Still, when the gun smoke cleared, Leviathan certainly wasn't down, and judging by his scowl, neither was he pleased. 

Edited January 7, 2017 by Blarghy

[Heritage]

Casey managed a crooked smile and a feeble little wave of acknowledgement. "Heyyy..." Yes, she was hurt, but she was far from being down for the count. Luckily Leviathan's arrival served as the perfect opportunity for the teenage paragon to catch her breath.

 

Which is exactly what she did; Saku had a theory about another way Casey could use her super-breath, and now seemed as good a time as any to test that theory. She inhaled, filling her lungs to capacity, but this time instead of a sudden direct burst of air, she blew a steady stream of accelerated airflow over a broader area, essentially creating a localized 'wind chill' effect. Directed at the three women, it suddenly plunged them into teeth-chattering, sub-arctic temperatures!

[Blarghy]

GM

 

This new tactic proved very effective; true, the leader of the trio lunged to the side with professional skill, but even she couldn't fully evade Miracle Girl's icy breath, and all three of her enemies were immediately covered in a painful layer of frost.  It appeared more uncomfortable than outright harmful, but nonetheless wore them down a bit.  Furthermore, something peculiar happened: after the initial blast, the two warped women shuddered in an odd way, something beyond pain, and their unmutated counterpart doubled over with a gasp.  She clutched her head with one hand, the shotgun loosely gripped in the other.  Whatever just took place, she seemed momentarily dazed. 

 

Meanwhile, Leviathan fulfilled the Irishman's prophecy by aiming a powerful kick his way.  The giant foot met nothing but air, despite reasonable aim; his target vanished and reappeared nearby, just as he had when faced with Miracle Girl's bone-shattering fist. 

 

"Now I told ya," he chided the reptile.  "And now I'll tell ya this as well: you can't beat me, 'cause you haven't beaten me.  I know you don't, 'cause I don't know tha' you did.  Do you see what I'm sayin', Toad-Man?  You didn't, so you can't, so you won't, so you didn't.  It's all quite logical; I'm not sure why none of ya listen to me."

 

Leviathan's forehead scrunched in even more confusion than before.  "...What?" he asked; his shoulders relaxed a bit, and his inability to cut through these puzzling words, or better yet, ignore them, would cost him valuable time in the fight. 

 

The leading duplicate wasn't quick to attack again either, but her subordinates jumped to the task.  One shot another slug at the huge lizard; it once again did no more than scuff his durable scales.  The other, now not even armed with her knife, having thrown it seconds before, was forced to step quickly to her bent-over ally and take her shotgun.  She lifted it and fired on Miracle Girl, her aim still impressive, but the young hero might be glad to see fear growing in those mismatched eyes. 

[Heritage]

It worked! It actually worked!

 

Sadly, Casey internal celebration was short-lived; the fact of the matter was the stress of repeated injuries and drawing on her reserves of strength had badly depleted her bioenergy field. The warm golden aura that normally surrounded her had grown dim, and even occasionally flickered; it was during one of these 'brownouts' that the duplicate's blast caught her square in the face.

 

No, the shotgun slug did not kill her as it would a normal human, but the force of the impact snapped her head back, her golden hair flying backwards like a shimmering fan. Casey's vision swam as the flare of the blast was burned into her retinas for several seconds.

 

No! Can't let them escape...

Edited January 21, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Escape, however, seemed to be exactly on their minds.  The two warped duplicates looked with uncertainty toward their leader; when neither of the heroes moved to attack again, one of the gunwomen turned hastily toward the car, and then to their male partner.

 

"Owen--"

 

"No," he replied immediately.  "And yes.  And deeefinitely yes." 

 

"...W...wh...?"

 

"You were gonna ask if I really couldn't find tha' doctor, and no, I really can't.  Then you say we should be on our way, then, and to that I say sure, why not?  And next you tell me Julia will be teeerribly cross with us, which I know is true.  Now, from there, looks like the two o' you grab the third o' you--or would it be the first?  Ahh, who knows?  Chickens and eggs.  But the important thing is, I get to drive, leastwise until Sleepy over here rouses herself.  Do you want to know where we go, or--"

 

"Just get in the damn car!"  As he predicted, the gunwomen grabbed their fallen comrade under each arm and hurried to drag her back to the SUV.  Owen merely vanished and reappeared in the driver's seat, key already in the ignition and a thrilled grin across his face. 

 

"Who wants ta guess if I have a license?" he cackled. 

 

Meanwhile, the prone security guard risked a look up, but didn't yet dare to stand.  He mostly checked to see if Miracle Girl was still close enough to protect him, and upon noticing that she appeared in rough shape, he wisely decided to stay out of the way.  Leviathan wasn't any quicker; although unharmed, he looked very confused.  The most he could manage at the moment was to turn his big head back and forth, trying to get a handle on the situation.

 

"Who are you crazy people?"

[Heritage]

"They're here to kidnap...Dr Delacroix," Casey managed as she shook her head, attempting to shake the stars out of her eyes. "They don't want him for ransom, though; they said...they said they need him." She waved her hand in the general direction of the SUV, then doubled over with fatigue. "I think...something to do with their powers. Bad side effects, I bet...looking for a cure." Finally she sank down to her knees. "I can't fight 'em, not like this, but...can't let 'em get away."

 

Looking up at Leviathan, the blonde heroine squinted as she tried to focus her thoughts. "Have you seen Delacroix? Is he safe?"

[Blarghy]

GM

 

"...Ahhhhh..."  Something she said appeared to put Leviathan off-guard.  He frowned uncertainly and made a vague gesture without answering Miracle Girl's question.  Could the lizard be involved in this mess somehow?  His mannerisms certainly seemed suspicious at the moment. 

 

"Well don't let them escape!" the security guard on the ground interrupted.  He came to his knees and waved at the SUV, now screeching out of the parking lot and headed back west, toward the city proper.  "You've got to do something!"

 

I thought they might be after me, or the guests, but not for ransom?  That's unexpected.  If these people needed help, then why wouldn't they just ask?  Probably because of criminal backgrounds.  But then how do they know about me at all?

 

Leviathan intended to have answers to these questions.  His motives weren't so pure as Miracle Girl's, but since they shared the same goal, he quickly came up with a plan.  It had worked before, after all.

 

"We'll catch them," he promised.  The monster hurried to his partner's side and crouched down with his back to her.  "Quickly, climb on!  I'm not as fast as you, but I may be fast enough!"

 

As her head began to clear a little, Casey would hear something else as well, this time through her special senses: radio waves were coming alive with police chatter about gunfire and supervillains at their location.  The cops didn't seem certain about what was happening, nor did they have the latest news about the criminals fleeing, but units were apparently being dispatched.  Perhaps this would help their situation...or complicate it even further. 

[Heritage]

"Okay." She was feeling a little better, but not by much; Casey easily climbed on the behemoth's back, and got a good grip. Suddenly she cocked her head to one side.

 

"The cops are on their way, talking about shots fired and supervillains sighted; maybe I should give them a heads up."

 

Pitching her voice at the same frequency as the police band, she made a brief announcement. 

 

"This is Miracle Girl. Myself and Leviathan are in pursuit of a blue SUV in North Bay. The driver is a Caucasian male, mid-thirties. He's joined by three women, mid to late twenties, race...unclear. They are armed and dangerous. Over."

Edited March 26, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

A moment of puzzled silence followed over the radio, even as wind powerfully rushed past their heads; Leviathan focused so much on picking up speed and maintaining it that he didn't appear to initially hear his companion. 

 

"...Ahhh, who?" someone asked via Miracle Girl's special hearing.  "Are those callsigns?  Please identify yourself and your location more precisely.  Over."

 

Another voice broke in, more angrily this time.  "No, please stay off this channel altogether; we can't stop you from listening in via your police scanner, but interfering with rescue communications is against the law.  If you have an emergency to report, then call 911."

 

Miracle Girl, with her fantastic vision, was actually able to put a face to that response before it finished.  Ahead of them, she could see a police cruiser coming over the hill, blue lights flashing; the officer in the passenger seat was speaking, and his lips matched the final few words she heard.  In a flash, the car and her own transportation reached one another so quickly that only she could fully anticipate it.  Leviathan only saw a blurry obstacle to leap over, and the police--Casey could see right through their vehicle, in slow motion to boot--dropped their jaws comically.  The driver hit his breaks and made a hasty U-Turn, but by the time he hit second gear, the heroes were nearly out of sight...and within sight of the distant SUV.

 

* * *

 

"Move!  Move, damn it, and let me drive!"  Holly Page, feeling better now (at least physically), climbed from the back seat to reclaim her preferred spot.  Owen complied by vanishing altogether and reappearing in the front passenger's chair, forcing his partner to lunge forward and grab the wheel to keep them on the road.  Much cursing followed on her part. 

 

"Why didn't you warn us about the capes?!" she demanded.

 

"I did!" the teleporter protested.  "...Or I will.  In any case, you know now, don'tcha?  And isn't that tha' same thing?"

 

Her glare could've peeled skin from bones.  Owen smiled awkwardly for a moment, then distracted himself by fiddling with the radio.

 

"--ull me closer, in the back seat of your Rover, that I know you can't afford..."

 

"Love this song," he announced. 

 

Copy Error didn't reply, being more concerned with the road, her increasing temptation to have one of her duplicates in the back seat turn their shotgun on Owen, and watching the rear view mirror just in case of...

 

"Trouble," she said flatly.  They all looked behind them, seeing a small but clearly unnatural shape from back the way they came.  A strange green blob that jumped right over another car and, while probably not catching up, also not falling behind as she would like.  The women in the back began reloading their guns without comment.

 

* * *

 

Leviathan could barely hear the gunshot; Miracle Girl could outright watch the bullet that went past his scaly legs.  The police were at least trying not to hit her, for the moment, but that was at best a silver lining.  Their radio band was aflame with confusion, but she gathered that the cruiser pursuing them thought she'd been kidnapped by this huge beast.  Incoming sirens announced more police approaching the scene, too. 

 

"This is not how I thought I'd spend my afternoon!"

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Despite their initial gains, Miracle Girl and her unusual mount started to then fall behind again.  The sharp-eyed heroine could watch their speed increase, even see the flush of extra heat from the engine, and for a long moment, look right through the SUV's back glass to see the driver (now the leader of the duplicates instead of that annoying Irishman) staring at them in return.  Meanwhile, the police cruiser, pursuing the pursuers, stayed on Leviathan's heels, sirens blaring. 

 

This went on for several quick, blurry miles, until they began to enter the pseudo-suburbs of Kingston.  Traffic here was heavier, forcing the SUV to slow down, and the tighter roads offered other advantages for the heroes too.  Miracle Girl was able to calculate some short cuts, directing Leviathan to leap across multiple adjoining roads, three front yards, and even a house.  They soon found themselves much closer to their quarry; Casey could see the villains clearly getting nervous in their movements, and now and then she spotted a barrel of a shotgun peeking up through the rear window.  Neither of the armed women attempted to attack them yet, which was more than they could say of the police.

 

Two more patrol cars had joined the first by this time.  While they were previously content to loudly follow and demand this odd pair's surrender, now that Miracle Girl and Leviathan were entering more populated areas and clearly chasing after one vehicle in particular, the police decided to take more drastic actions.  The leading car suddenly lunged closer; Miracle Girl could also see the cop in the passenger seat preparing to fire his pistol again, but perhaps more importantly, she suspected that the driver wanted to ram them. 

[Heritage]

Darn it darn it darn it DARN IT!

 

This was all going badly; more frightened of the cops hurting themselves by trying into ram them than at the thought of being shot, Casey's mind raced as she tried to come up with a solution, and a rather odd one finally floated to the surface. She turned her gaze upon the officer with the gun, she 'zoomed in' on both his name tag and model of cellphone. This would be tricky, but it was worth a shot. Focusing intently on the smartphone, she sent a high-pitch cry straight at the device, far too high for most living things to hear. She had to shift the frequency up and down a few times, but eventually she saw the phone light up.

 

C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, pick up, pick up, pick up!

 

A few seconds later, she heard the officer's voice, tense and impatient. "Hello, who is this?"

 

"Hello, is this Officer Ramirez? This is Miracle Girl." She raised her hand to wave. "Hi, can you see me waving? Listen, I need you to not shoot me and my partner Leviathan, okay? We can take down these jokers in the blue SUV, I swear! Just give us a chance, please?"

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Given that the officer had his hands full with the pistol--and his attention more than occupied by the bizarre sight in front of him--he only took a moment to fumble with the center button on his phone, managing the rest via speaker-mode.  Whoever he was expecting, he apparently didn't consider it too vital, as he leaned out the window and continued lining up his sights. 

 

"Listen, I need you to not shoot me and--"

 

Bang!

 

The bullet went just above Miracle Girl's head and impacted the back of Leviathan's own skull.  He didn't even notice; Casey watched the projectile flatten against his scales and bounce off, without any apparent reaction from the reptile.  On the other hand, the police seemed to finally register who was on the line.  The passenger's face turned pale; his partner behind the wheel still surged toward them, but perhaps due to his surprise, he veered off-course to the left of the heroes. 

 

Leviathan responded by jumping sideways over their hood, then leaping again to the second-story rooftop of a pizzeria, and from there they both sailed through the air to the perpendicular street on which their enemies had turned.  Nearby pedestrians scattered, and the few other cars that hadn't yet pulled over from the sirens, had plenty of reason to do so now. 

 

They were catching up--and Miracle Girl could see the driver of the SUV narrow her eyes dangerously in the rear-view mirror. 

[Heritage]

Casey shook her head in frustration as she continue to cling to Leviathan's back; this was ridiculous! They should be working together to bring down these bad guys, not dodging bullets and trying not to hit each other! The blonde heroine continued to speak through the cellphone, her tone becoming increasingly assertive and confident.

 

"Officer, you are wasting your ammo by shooting at two bulletproof people! If anything, you're only putting innocent bystanders at risk due to possible ricochets! Please stop shooting at us!" She didn't mention how much the shotgun blasts from earlier hurt; declaring themselves to be 'effectively bulletproof' just made for a less compelling argument.

 

Straining her eyes to the max, she focused on the rear right tire, which her amazing eyes brought into sharp focus as it spun. "I am going to try and take out one of their rear tires with my heatvision; hopefully this will get them to slow down a bit."

 

There was a bright flash of light, like looking directly into the sun, as she struggled to hold her gaze upon the tire; in a few seconds, she would know if her tactic worked or not.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Even as she stared down the ring of rubber, a second police cruiser--this one unconnected to her phone call, which seemed to perhaps be taking effect, judging by the unsure expressions on the officers' faces--passed the first and started to align itself toward Leviathan.  This time, he might not be so lucky; the driver's jaw was set firmly, and the new ramming attempt could be less gentle than the last.

 

But before the vehicle could charge them, the SUV turned sharply, giving Miracle Girl a prime view of the tire she had chosen.  A second later, it bubbled and burst, sending the car lurching sideways, then fishtailing wildly.  For a moment, it looked like the SUV might regain some measure of control, but then the front passenger wheel hit a curb and suddenly it was rolling through the air...

 

* * *

 

It would be inaccurate to say that Owen failed to see the problem ahead of them.  However much he might want to, he couldn't fail to see anything.  While Miracle Girl was busy lighting up her corneas, he was of course still sitting in the front passenger seat, listening to the radio...but he was also six years old eating ice cream with his sisters back in Dublin, and having a beer with his father a decade later, and his first kiss with the pretty girl who lived next door, and attending his grandmother's funeral, and fighting with the police who caught him trying to steal a car, and screaming at the doctors who strapped him to a table to fill his veins with something that no human was ever meant to inject, and escaping from the facility with Holly, Julia, and Caleb, and taunting those two heroes back on the beach of North Bay...

 

On and on and on, a swirling endless chaos, right up to that solid wall of shadows at the end of his timeless vision, after which, all his madness...just wasn't. 

 

He felt the tire burst about a second before it actually did, shouted, and flailed his arm, which distracted Holly in the driver's seat, which doomed them all.

 

Holly clenched her teeth together and fought with the steering wheel.  She thought she had it, doing her best to ignore Owen's wordless gibbering, until one last wild swerve brought them to the sidewalk, and impacting the curb at such unsteady and high speeds caused the SUV to roll.  Glass and metal crunched all around them.  A final hard slam brought their car-turned-cage to a stop, partly wrapped around a birch tree in some very confused person's front yard. 

 

Fortunately they had airbags, but rattling around in a tumbling vehicle still knocked Owen unconscious, and Holly felt their crash three times.  Her duplicates in the back seat collapsed into gray-and-pink goo by the time they hit the tree; it turned Holly's stomach and made her head pound.  Even so, she still managed to fumble her hand behind her, searching for one of those shotguns. 

 

Then she heard something hit the asphalt beside her broken window.  The door--crunched so hard into the rest of the car that she'd need machinery to extract herself--just peeled away like the lid of a tuna can.  Past it, through her blurry vision, she could see a pair of enormous scaly feet.

 

"Tag," Leviathan said in a deadpan voice.  "You're it."

[Heritage]

"Oh no!" Casey was horrified to see the SUV flipping end over end; it had never been her intention to kill the perpetrators, or even put them in the hospital. She just wanted to bring this nightmare to an end.

 

As soon as Leviathan landed, she dropped to the ground and approached the ruined vehicle, her eyes full of concern as they began to scan for vital signs and possible fractures. "Are you okay? Can you move?" Spotting the shotgun, she grabbed it and effortlessly tossed it well out of reach before turning back to their captive. "I am so sorry about that; I just wanted you to stop, not put your life in danger!" She reached in to pull her out, much more gently than the cops would be. "Here, let me help you get out of there. How's the annoying Irish guy?"

Edited March 13, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Miracle Girl's fantastic vision let her quickly scan her patient; the older woman had a number of superficial cuts, sprains, and some swelling, but her more serious injuries came down to a pair of bruised ribs and a thin fracture down the length of her left ulna.  Judging brain health wasn't so simple, but Casey felt that a concussion was pretty likely too.  Even though she couldn't fix all that with her medical kit, she was able to start working and ensure that the villain wouldn't suffer further harm from moving the wrong way.

 

"...Who are you?" Holly asked Miracle Girl for the second time that day, the question now having nothing to do with names.  Whatever she'd expected from the heroes and police when she crashed, this plainly wasn't it. 

 

Leviathan was also surprised, and a little sullen too.  He'd been having fun until now, but his companion's reaction brought him back down to Earth.  It wasn't just a game anymore.  His experience as a physician started to overtake the wild adrenaline he so craved in this form, and all that joy and pride turned to shame. 

 

He plodded around the car and dislodged the other front door to answer Miracle Girl's last question.  "Out cold," the lizard grumbled.  He gave Owen a professional look, quickly determining as much as a doctor could without an actual examination, and simply added, "But he looks ok.  Still breathing.  Little blood."

 

Then he folded his arms and went back to silently feeling sorry for himself.

 

The police weren't much more cheerful.  As they surrounded the scene, most of them kept their weapons handy, especially those nearest to Leviathan.  Officer Ramirez, however, only held his cell phone.  As of this moment, he wasn't sure if he should throw the thing into a lake, or frame it on his desk back at the precinct. 

 

"Ahhh..."  The man hesitated as he approached Miracle Girl.  How did one apologize for shooting at someone, especially when that someone apparently had laser-eyes? 

 

He started with, "Paramedics are on their way."  And followed it with an unsure, "...Ma'am." 

[Heritage]

 "The girl who can stop fate, apparently," Casey said with a wry grin as she finished tying a sling around the young criminal's arm. "There you go! You've got a minor fracture, and probably a concussion, too." She looked down at the unconscious Irishman and sighed. "He's almost certainly got one; I hate to say it, but it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. At least the impact shut him up for a bit. How could you stand being his partner? What a jerk!" With some reluctance, she did a quick scan of the unconscious precognitive as well; he was out, but she didn't want to risk moving him, in case he had a neck or spinal injury.

 

When the police showed up, Miracle Girl stood there with her arms crossed, attempting to looked annoyed but not uncooperative.  "Thank you for your prompt response, officers; nice to see that we're all on the same side." Noting the officer holding the phone, she did her best to suppress as grin as she nodded at him in acknowledgment. "Officer Ramirez; nice to meet you face to face."

Edited March 20, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

"We didn't have much choice," the woman replied softly.  Her thoughts were already turning to what might happen now.  When Julia's information directed them to Freedom City for help, Holly was originally against it, thanks to the long reputation of powerful vigilantes.  Clearly her worries were justified, but on the other hand, now maybe the same institutions would be able to protect her until she decided what to do.  Blackstone was good for more than just keeping people in.  A career of crime and violence had long-since worn away her fears of death or prison, and replaced them with deep misgivings about cooperating with the police or government agencies, but the thought of going back to that lab...

 

Meanwhile, the police set to roping off the area with yellow tape, and speaking with some of the curious civilians, especially whoever owned the yard they'd landed in.  Ramirez scratched the back of his neck in mild embarrassment. 

 

"Yeah, we were...definitely prompt." 

 

Leviathan jutted his chin toward the car after a moment.  "They're both special.  Be careful.  The lady, she can split into different people.  That guy teleports around."

[Heritage]

Giving the cops a brief glance over her shoulder, Casey took a step closer to Holly and lowered her voice. "Look, I get that you felt forced to do this, that for whatever reason you felt you had no choice; that doesn't make what you did right, but-" She closed her eyes and sighed. "I'll...see if I can talk to Dr. Delacroix; if there is something wrong with you, maybe he could visit you in Blackgate, and maybe come up with a cure. And don't say anything until you get a lawyer; everyone has a right to a fair trial."

 

Stepping away from the would-be kidnapper, she rejoined Leviathan as she watched the paramedics examining Owen, still inside the car. "Boy, I am wiped out; those shotgun slugs really take a lot out of you! I really just want to go home and take a nap, but the cops probably want us to make a statement or something." She made a frowny face.

Edited March 20, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Even while she was gently moved to a stretcher--and then handcuffed to it--the kidnapper continued to watch Miracle Girl with mild bewilderment.  Someone like her didn't come along every day. 

 

"I usually don't stick around for that," Leviathan rumbled, looking at his partner in a little awe as well.  Their last run-in together against those speedsters went too fast--hah--for him to properly assess her, but today she demonstrated not only power, but ethics as well.  Seeing another hero, even younger than himself, so easily follow a strong code of integrity didn't help his glum mood. 

 

Why can't I be like that?  It's just not fair.

 

"...You did good, by the way.  Lucky you were here."

 

Ramirez then returned and agreed that, "Yes ma'am, we'll need a thorough testimony of what happened here today.  But...the FCPD might just have to share."  He looked away, toward the sound of more incoming sirens. 

 

Instead of a new wave of police cruisers, these were black SUVs, sagging a little low under the weight of subtle but heavy armor.  Four of them parked beyond the police perimeter.  Out came about a dozen people in formal suits, ties, and sunglasses; despite varying in gender, ethnicity, and physical builds, they somehow managed to look almost interchangeable.  The team spread out, some going to speak with the officers, most surrounding the two injured villains, and the last pair approaching Miracle Girl and Leviathan.

 

The lead woman with close-cropped red hair flashed her badge, a golden stylized A.  Ramirez frowned, and further away, a few of his comrades outright grumbled and scowled.  No one liked jurisdiction conflicts, but under the circumstances, AEGIS involvement was inevitable. 

 

"Agent Thornton," she introduced herself tersely.  "I am told that these individuals attacked a scientific facility, and you two stopped them?"