ic [IC] And now, a Classic

[olopi]

GM

 

Sunday , February 12^th , 2017

Pennsylvania Avenue, Southside, Freedom City

2:24 PM

 

Freedom City was a strange place indeed. Some things were easy to get used to. Sure, somebody flying through the air only feet above your head was strange the first few times, but with how often it happened, most people learned to ignore it. A sudden explosion, happening somewhere off in the distance? Not that big of a deal, perhaps people walking that way turned around, but no real hysteria amongst the crowd.

 

A car driving down a street, actually gaining some airtime thanks to there being a minor hill, was a bit more strange, even for Freedom Natives. Somebody flying after in in the air only added to that. It being two people, who also happened to be fighting each other, even more so.

 

Tyson Masters hadn’t been in Freedom for long. The city truly was something. And while he didn’t have much experience with some of the things it offered, a car chase sounded like something he could help with. Even if one of the chasing parties was a single person, flying through the air. All covered in blue, with half-translucent blue wings sprouting from their back. They were currently chasing after the vehicle, all the while dodging pillars of smoke appearing out of mid-air.

 

And following them, but quickly losing distance, was a cloud of smoke. A cloud of smoke, currently yelling. Depending on his knowledge, Tyson may have been able to identify this cloud as Bonfire, one of the many heroes local to Freedom City.  

[Kolohehonu]

Tyson had been anxious. He hadn't quite realized that in a city this chock full of heroes it would be so hard to get his name out there. Sure there were plenty of villains to stop and crimes to prevent, but this wasn't Waco. This wasn't Chicago. His TV had the news always going, a good chance to get leads. And today it paid off.

 

in a flash of movement Tyson switched into costume. Locking his silver helmet in place and locking the green mask in a fully closed position. Then he was gone. 

 

In under a half minute he had not only gotten lost twice, but caught up to the car chase. While the car might have been going fast, it wasn't nearly as fast as he was. 

 

Noticing Bonfire, he speeds underneath the blue figure.

"Hey Bonfire! Here to help!" Not knowing whether he remembered to slow his voice down to an intelligible rate. With a hand up, he begins to spin it and generate a whirlwind to pull the blue flier down. "Here's a trick I learned back in the Windy City, let's see how it plays here."

[olopi]

GM

 

Catching up with the car was arguably the easy part. By now, thanks to the fight, both the combatants in mid-air had gotten stuck behind it a bit, which also meant that the car had returned to a more legal speed. The fight wasn’t entirely easy to find, but by following the trail of people creating distance, Tyson found it sooner rather than later.

 

Once he appeared, both the combatants stopped for just a second, to cast their glances downwards, to judge him. And by the time the flier was ready to carry on fighting, Hyperactive had already made his move. Fortunately, there was a fair bit of distance between Bonfire and his opponent, who, from this closer position, looked like some sort of humanoid dragon.

 

As the whirlwind began to form, Tyson could see at least two people holding up their phones, recording this event. But this wasn’t the time to be distracted. The whirlwind grew stronger, and the pull seemed to work, as the dragon continuously lost altitude. And then, with a booming voice, she yelled.

 

“Fool! I will simply have to deal with two of you then!”

 

And then, fire. While she was stuck in the whirlwind, she opened her mouth, summoning up a large pillar of fire, not only turning the whirlwind into a fire whirl, but also shooting fire outwards, towards the crowds. Including a bolt of flame that Tyson could track, right on course to hit one of the people recording the event… And worst of all, he himself was still in the middle of the fire whirl.

[Kolohehonu]

As the flames came in, Hyperactive bolted sideways. With a final flick of the wrist he tossed himself sideways. A burst of wind knocked away the front edge of the fire burst. He bolted straight for the onlookers in the literal line of fire and pulled them down. Just out of the way of framing death. 

"Gary Gygax lied, blue dragons do breathe fire." He shouted grinning and unharmed. 

[olopi]

PC

 

It felt good to be out in the field again, so to say. This past month had been rather stressful for Bonfire, what with setting up Beacon and working on the first jobs. A lot of time spent looking at his laptop, and not a lot spent fighting crime. It had its good parts, like getting a more stable income, but also was a lot less thrilling.

 

So, when TroubAlert pushed him a notification of a crime happening in his vicinity, he was all over it. He’d just returned from a short meeting, and now this? Immediately he’d smoked up and taken up the chase, even if he was slower than the criminal. The criminal, who appeared to be quite similar to one Bonfire had fought before. Last time it was the Green Dragon, so perhaps this was the Blue Dragon?

 

He’d struggled to keep up, having to rely on slowing down his opponent instead. At least, until, out of nowhere, a fellow crimefighter appeared. Cass had never heard of this one before, had to either be new or from out of town. And he seemed to know his things, trapping the Dragon in a whirl … of wind. Great, actually dangerous to Bonfire too.

 

Either way, he couldn’t let this chance go to waste. He could capitalize on this. So, after adding some distance between him and the whirlwind, he began to speak. His voice sounded over the various other noise around the street, even the wind whipping around couldn’t keep up.

 

“Oh, you turned up. Great! See, this is what I mean, Dragonlady. I gotta know, what is it? “The Blue Dragon”? That sounds kinda right. Anyways, as I was saying… I have contacts. There’s always somebody on call. Speaking of which, did you bring the others? You know, then ones I called you about?”

 

It certainly seemed to get the Dragon’s attention, who, between struggling against the wind, and wondering just what Bonfire was blubbering about, didn’t go for any attack.

[Kolohehonu]

Tyson didn't have a way to hit the dragon from his position on the ground, but looking around, there were plenty of buildings that would let him get the drop from above. Bonfire's statement that there would be others meant that Hyperactive should try to be decisive. This was a chance to show off what he could do, and if they got here before the fight was over, he'd have to share the glory. In a burst of speed, he sprinted for the side of a building and straight up it. As he went a story above where the dragon was, he pushed off. What should have been a neat back flip was turned into a sloppy and almost catastrophic tumble. It didn't stop him from making a hammer kick on the way down, but he definitely looked clumsier than he would have liked. 

"I don't know if the rest are on their way, but this fight will be over way before that." 

[olopi]

GM

 

The kick managed to connect just fine, the extra spin from the stumble perhaps even adding in some unpredictability. It connected with the Dragon’s shoulder, slightly above where the wings were sprouting. On a closer look, they definitely weren’t solid, as part of Hyperactive’s arm actually went through them on his way downwards.

 

The kick wasn’t one that would directly damage. No, it was something more spectacular. Or, less, depending on one’s viewpoint. When almost every hero in FC could punch through cars in some way, strong kicks weren’t as impressive. Kicks that completely disabled their opponent, if just temporarily, however, were. Impressive, and tactically important, as the Dragon plummeted to the ground, hitting it belly-first, yet not looking worse for wear.

 

Whatever the kick had done (and that was something Hyperactive had not revealed yet), it was effective, as the Dragon did not move one bit. A boon for Bonfire, as yet another pillar of smoke formed on the ground around the Dragon, only to shoot skywards, fairly high up, only moments afterwards. And yet, the Dragon looked just as fine as before.

[Kolohehonu]

Seeing the dragon on the ground was a good feeling, what hadn't been that great a feeling was the feeling of the kinetic drain not taking hold. The blow had done enough to stall her, but it wasn't going to last long. Hyperactive could already see the effect wearing off. which meant that this thing was tough. He charged forward, arm vibrating and reached down to grab at the still form, ready to pull more of her Kinetic Energy. 

[Kolohehonu]

She was still laying on the ground, so Hyperactive grabbed her and began to pull more kinetic energy, now from the deeper tissue. It was a delicate process, he needed to keep the dragon from just getting right back up, but he also didn't want this to be permanent.

"Bonfire? Do you have any hand cuffs, or some way to keep her down? The tougher ones can shrug off the kinetic drain quicker." 

[olopi]

GM

 

The second time, the dragon seemed to be more prepared. While Hyperactive’s attack still hit, and still did the same as before, this time it felt weaker. The drain didn’t affect the dragon as much, clearly. It was hard to tell for an onlooker, but it was something Hyperactive felt. The lack of actual drain, as if he’d hit some sort of natural barrier.

 

Meanwhile, Bonfire closed the distance somewhat, moving towards the two combatants on the ground. He spoke, once again drowning out the ambient noise the city brought. His tone suggested he wasn’t entirely serious, offering his advice as a joke more than anything else.

 

“For next time, mind moving away from her after you punched her? Makes my job easier. “

 

“As for handcuffs … Nah, but I’ve got this. “

 

A part of Bonfire’s smoke body split off, shooting towards the dragon at high velocity. And then, one moment to the next, her face was covered in smoke, with her coughing a few times. And then, suddenly, her fist flew upwards, connecting right with Hyperactive’s gut.

[Kolohehonu]

As the blow connected Hyperactive rolled with it as well as he could. Which was poor, but not horrible. He felt the ground go out beneath him as the force of the hit lifted the speedster off the ground. He had been hit by worse before, and really at this point it was more a blow to his pride. 

Hyperactive gasped for breath and raised his hands into a fighting stance. That was going to hurt a lot more tomorrow. 

"No more drain." Hyperactive managed.

[olopi]

GM

 

And then, everything got a bit more quiet. The flashiest phase of the fight had stopped. The Blue Dragon was slowly getting back on her feet now that she had bought herself some space. She didn’t have the power to fly back upwards just yet, not with the smoke continuously covering her face, and streaming down her mouth. Bonfire seemed to know what he was doing, as the Dragon began to cough once more, even more than just before.

 

And then, suddenly, the Dragon moved forward, towards Tyson. Which wouldn’t have been a concern, if not for the fact that suddenly, she sped up, and, fist first, flew towards him, covering the distance in the blink of an eye. A problem for many people, but not for a speedster. Hyperactive managed to think and move fast enough to avoid the punch. But it had come close, she’d almost hit him square in the face. And that probably wouldn’t have been nice.

[Kolohehonu]

As Hyperactive dodged the punch he dashed perhaps a dozen feet from where the dragon was. 

"You're pretty quick." He admitted. That was when he took off. He started to make laps around the dragon as he accelerated to his combat speed. When he was fairly certain he had hit Mach 10, he cut in from the circle. As he passed the dragon he took a powerful round house kick at her gut.

 

"I'm quicker." He said as his leg impacted. Hyperactive knew she couldn't understand him, which was fine, it was more for his benefit anyways. As the kicking foot hit the ground, he took it in stride. Hyperactive sped back out to where he had been and inverted his direction, now running counter clockwise in an effort to add a little unpredictability. 

[olopi]

GM

 

Surprisingly, and worryingly enough, the Dragon barely reacted. She did not get thrown backwards. She did not flinch. No, none of that. She simply stood there, took the leg, and tanked the damage, looking none worse for wear. Or, at the very least, her body did, as her face was still covered by a layer of smoke, one that just continued to grow.

 

Still, the kick not even scratching her was concerning. This hadn’t been some random, basic attack. This had been a strong attack, one that could probably take apart a car or narrow wall. And here she was, just standing there afterwards. She reached out for another attack, raising her fist, when suddenly, she coughed one final time, then dropped to the ground. And immediately, the smoke was gone.

 

As Bonfire approached Hyperactive, and the seemingly unconscious dragon, Tyson could make out sirens in the background. The police had already been called, and already was on their way. And then, Bonfire touched down next to him, the cloud of smoke becoming a rather average human body, only the head now smoke.

 

“Hey, thanks for the assist. You new around here?”

[Kolohehonu]

"Yeah I'm fairly new around here. I've been here since December. Funny story," Hyperactive replied retracting the bottom portion of the mask. "I read your blog, I'm a fan. In fact you're part of the reason I chose Freedom City to make a new name in." He extended his hand. "Hyperactive by the way, I don't know if you caught it earlier." Hyperactive looked down the street to see if he could spot the truck. "What was she chasing?"

[olopi]

PC

 

These dragon attacks really had to stop. This was the … third or fourth that Cass had heard of, and the second time he was involved in one. What were they planning? What were they even doing? Their crimes didn’t seem to have much motive behind them. Targets always were some sort of big-money. Jewellery, and now whatever that transport had been.

 

“Looked like an armored transport of some sort. If previous attacks are any indication, probably transporting money, gold or something along those lines. “

 

And with that said, he dropped his professional tone, becoming a lot more upbeat all the sudden.

 

“Gotta say, that’s the first time I’ve heard that one. I’ve had people tell me I’m the reason they got into the biz, but not that I’m the reason, or, well, part of it, of moving here. “

 

Bonfire extended his hand too. A fairly warm grip, not too tight.

 

“Now, any ideas where the truck went? You look like you’d be able to find it before I even take off again. “

[Kolohehonu]

"Gimme a sec." Tyson replied, locking his lower face shield in place. He took off running and did a quick sweep of the next few blocks. This was easy, it was one of the things he would do daily in Chicago and even in Waco. The car had slowed down so it couldn't have gone very far. Sweeping the area a few blocks each way in a simple grid, it didn't take long for Hyperactive to find the driver talking into the radio. Making note of the brand on the car Hyperactive made a quick but thorough examination of the outside. At this speed, he doubted the driver would even notice. He looked over each of the panels checking for any trackers that might seem out of place. Then he leaned down and looked on the underside of the car. The perp might look like a dragon, but Waco had taught him that people who want to look magical often used tech. 

Once he was satisfied with his sweep Hyperactive could rush back and tell Bonfire if he had found anything. 

[olopi]

GM

 

There was nothing about the truck that stood out at first glance. Fortunately, Tyson didn’t have to rely on first glances. He could easily take his time, without anybody else realizing it. And that was part of the fun of this all. He found the van a few blocks further down the road; it had only taken one minor turn into an alleyway. The driver, a gruff looking man, was on his radio, most likely informing other drivers and/or the company of what had happened.

 

A scan of the entire van didn’t reveal much else. Getting a closer look at the underside wasn’t entirely easy, but after some shuffling around (it felt like it took a while for Tyson, but it probably didn’t take more than a second tops for the outside world), he found a single object that looked very much like a tracker. It was built into the hull, so unless this had been some long ploy, it probably belonged there.

 

The car itself belonged to a company called Reagan Security, their logo and name on both sides of the truck as well as the engine cover. That was all he found even after a fairly thorough search, so he headed back, where, by now, Bonfire was on his phone, checking something.

[olopi]

PC

 

Speedsters, man. Cass had barely had enough time to check his phone for any new alerts or messages, and Hyperactive had already returned. This was the second time Bonfire was actually working with a speedster directly. And it was just like last time, except that Hyperactive seemed to be a fair bit more controlled.

 

It was good news, all things considered. Cass hadn’t heard of Reagan Security before, but he’d gotten this alert, and that, plus the fact the dragon was actually attacking the car recklessly, was enough to prove that he’d probably done the right thing. The news of the truck being fine, and there not being anything that shouldn’t be attached to it, were relieving. Of course, the police had yet to arrive.

 

“Good to hear. Say, you wanna grab a cof-“

 

And then, his phone, still in his hands noticeably shook.

 

“Scratch that. Another attack, by a dragon, on Reagan Security. Up in Hanover, 4^th Wilson. I won’t really get there in time, think you can handle that one? You know where to get my number, send me an e-mail or something and we can talk, I’m gonna stay here and watch this dragon. “

 

 

 

[Kolohehonu]

"Yeah I should be able to handle that. I'll shoot you an email when I finish." Hyperactive nodded, "If you don't hear from me by the time the cops get her you should probably come help me finish it off." With that, the speedster turned. Hyperactive actually bolted for a tour stand and grabbed one of those free city maps. After finding Fourth and Wilson he sprinted at double speed to the intersection. 

The running would give him time to think, physical attacks had been useless on the last dragon, but the suffocation had given him an idea. Also at the very least the twisters could hold it until Bonfire arrived.  

When Hyperactive made it to the scene he made a quick sweep around before he moved in on the dragon. Spotting the dragon, he began to run in a circle beneath it, forcing the air out from around it. At the very least, he could stop it in place, at most, he might be able to suffocate it."

"Alright Dragon, what's your game? I already took one of your group down, you can come quietly and spare yourself the same beat down."

[olopi]

GM

 

This dragon looked somewhat different from the last. His outfit was more street-clothes it, not a proper costume. And, instead of light blue, his colour seemed to be a yellow-ish brown. He moved quite quickly, chasing the car and managing to keep up, even overtake it, with little effort. However, he didn’t move in to stop t just yet.

 

By the time Hyperactive had arrived at 4^th Wilson, the car had already moved somewhat. Fortunately, it was easy enough to find. Trucks going at high speed, followed by people with huge wings flying above, were rare, even in FC.

 

By the time Tyson got to work, the dragon seemed to already have noticed him. The aerial attacker wasn’t fast enough to dodge the wind that was building up. But, once he got stuck inside it, not a lot happened. With one simple movement, he had turned himself around, and after only moments, was resting in the air, outside the whirlwind’s reach. And then, Tyson spoke. Faster than normal-no-superspeed speech. But, apparently, slow enough for the Dragon.

 

“… Fine.”

 

He looked downwards, a bit of concern on his face, and then flapped his wings, bolting off at really, really fast speed. As in, probably near Tyson’s speed fast.

[Kolohehonu]

"You can have a head start." Tyson said before taking off after the Dragon. He was fairly certain the creature would out fly the words, but it still felt good to use the tagline. He ran up the side of the nearest sky scraper and was after the dragon. He had experience taking on fliers in the city, but never a flyer this fast. He took each gap between buildings in stride as he ran after the fleeing dragon. The creature was fast, and frustratingly smart, it didn't come near enough to the buildings for Hyperactive to grab at it. It also was too far from him for him to leap after it either. So he stayed in tight pursuit northwards, out of the city. Well if I couldn't expect help before, I'm certainly not getting any now. Ok this is fine, you can keep up with this guy, and he'll have to slow down to breath fire at me. 

[olopi]

GM

 

The chase continued onwards. The dragon flew in a completely straight line, keeping his altitude and just moving. At that point, it was clear he knew somebody was chasing him. The environment gradually changed, but fortunately, there was a high-way that ran similar to how the dragon was flying, which meant that it was easier to keep up the pace.

 

And then, at one point while running, Tyson realized that, if he and the Dragon continued on in this direction, they’d sooner or later be in NYC. He’d travelled there before, but used different routes. This, this was the most direct one, probably. And the chase went on, for what felt like a really long time, but actually was just a few seconds. The two got closer to a town, and in less than a second, had buzzed past it.

 

And it continued onwards like this, with the highway fortunately still running in a similar direction to the one the Dragon was taking. And, coming up, a layer of rather thick rainclouds. Perhaps it would help, perhaps it would allow the Dragon to get away, it was hard to tell just yet.  

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive kept up his speed, phasing through objects where he had to to stay on pace and keep up with the flyer. The storm system ahead could be a problem. of course, maybe it was a lightning storm, and that might at the very least dissuade the flyer. Both of them kept going. It was a long run, made all the longer by Tyson's perception of time. He had to think of something, or else he would lose the flyer. He kept running hard as he started to look at the rain clouds. Summoning all his will power, he held his hand up and began to form a twister in a last ditch effort to grab the flyer. 

"Get Back here you scaly freak!" Hyperactive shouted as he formed the tornado to desperately try and grab the dragon. 

[olopi]

GM

 

 The chase continued onwards even longer. The two passed through below the rain-cloud. As Tyson summoned up his will power and created a tornado, it seemed to work. There were enough clouds to hold the Dragon with no problem, so long as Tyson could get everything to work right in the short span of time he had. And as everything fell into place, the Dragon suddenly burst forwards, out of the range of the twister.

 

All the while, the two had continued moving forwards, and now both were below the cloud. It was just a raincloud. Not too good, for either of them. Flying through rain was more difficult, and forced the Dragon to slow down a fair amount, even if the cloud-cover didn’t extend too far north from what Tyson could tell. Something he could’ve capitalized on, if not for the fact that he himself also had to slow down. Slippery roads were a bit of an issue, even for him.

 

And then, as the highway went into a turn, he couldn’t react properly in time. He stumbled over the railing, his speed carrying him forward through the air. He managed to stick the landing, and as he looked up the Dragon was still in view, even if his lead had increased ever so slightly. But, now Tyson was running cross-country.