ic [IC] And now, a Classic

[Kolohehonu]

This is bad. Tyson thought as he forced himself to keep up his max speed over difficult terrain. He could move fairly quickly even off the beaten path, but with the lead that the dragon had gained, it might be a lost race. But he couldn't give up. he pushed himself as he darted and dashed through the open space, his head constantly looking ahead and up to avoid another nasty trip or losing his quarry. The twister hadn't worked, though to be fair it would have been very bad if he had gotten the dragon and created an out of control tornado. Hyperactive kept pushing through the open space trying desperately to keep the pace, but he could feel himself falling behind. Was this creature going to just keep flying? Did it have a base, or would it need to get back to the city? The questions were important, but they were probably better suited for after the high speed chase. 

[olopi]

GM

 

And still, the chase continued onwards. By now, the cloud cover was getting thicker. Less light punched through it (bad), and both the wind and rain became stronger (bad, but also bad for the Dragon). Fortunately, the area was mostly flat, and the farmland was empty at the moment. Which made for easy enough travelling, even if he had to dodge the occasional barn, lake, or small town.

 

Meanwhile, in the sky above him, the Dragon seemed to struggle somewhat. He’d kept up most of his speed, and still had a fair lead, but the strong winds seemed to throw him about just a bit. Not enough to actually slow him down noticeably, but enough for him to have to take some adjustments. And by the time they continued running, first signs of a city popped up in the distance. Just the suburbs so far, but it wouldn’t take long before the chase would be inside the city.

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive was rushing after the flyer as the city finally came into view. He needed to stay on pace with the flyer, and he was getting closer. He wasn't noticeably chipping away at the lead, but if the dragon was headed to New York, it might be able to close the gap there. Hyperactive was definitely hoping this dragon was not as tough as the other one. The high buildings would definitely give him an edge. Hyperactive began to steel his nerves. when he hit the city, he would probably only have one shot. He would probably be unable to get another shot if he missed the jump onto the dragon. The other dragon had dropped from a kinetic drain, and hopefully this one would too.

You can do this, come on Hyperactive keep running. 

He kept running forward as he phased through any barriers. At this speed no one was going to notice the nigh invisible speedster, though he did try to stay out of private residences. 

[olopi]

GM

 

Blah blah, chase continued onwards. By now, the two had covered most of New Jersey, if the skyline far off in the distance was any indicator. The chase through the suburbs wasn’t too special, it wasn’t much different from before. There was a fair amount of people in the gardens, which meant it took a bit more effort to actually get through them, but all in all, it wasn’t too difficult.

 

 

And then, the two arrived in the city itself. Most of it was just somewhat tall buildings, true, but skyscrapers were starting to appear. The Dragon seemingly didn’t care much, as he tried to keep up his full speed, adjusting his angle of approach in order to avoid the obstacles. And then, he almost crashed into one, and, for the first time during this chase, had to actually slow down, as he navigated a path around the skyscraper. Granted, he was still moving rather fast, but at this speed, Tyson could catch up, and perhaps even get close enough to act.

Edited February 26, 2017 by olopi

[Kolohehonu]

As the dragon slowed Hyperactive saw his opening. The dragon had to slow to just barely avoid hitting a window, which would have been a potentially messy and anticlimactic end to the whole chase. It instead turned just a tiny bit, exposing it's full back for an instant. 

 

"I have you now." He said to himself. His right arm shot forward, and he began to turn it. His fingers dragged through the air as though he was a child at the beach, running his fingers through a fine sand. He felt the kinetic energy flow through him as another spinning flow of air bloomed from his outstretched arm. The air cone hit the now slower dragon and enveloped it. Tyson was fairly certain he had a grip as he slammed his arm and the air flow downwards. 

[olopi]

GM

 

The Dragon did his best to avoid the incoming cone of air, as difficult as avoiding a bunch of air was to begin with. But, with his current speed, that wasn’t really something he could easily do. So, after struggling against the air for some time, he finally got properly caught up. He continued to struggle, even as he was shot downwards.

 

And even on the way down, extending his wings to slow the fall. But with the amount of air pushing down on him, that only did so much. And, after some time of falling he hit the ground. It went quickly, but after the chase seeing somebody move at more mundane speeds felt like it had taken forever. And then, the Dragon impacted with the ground.

 

He managed to land on one knee even with everything going on. But he did not immediately get back up, he did not immediately move again. And even an opening as long as the blink of an eye was enough for Hyperactive to gain the upper hand.

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive closed the distance as fast as he possibly could. The dragon looked like he had gotten the wind knocked out of him. Which Tyson thought was hilarious, considering the entire afternoon. he rushed up and grabbed the dragon by the coat, physically lifting it up to a standing height for a moment. Then he began to whale on it. For an instant he wondered if this one would be as tough as the other one. He opened with a quick double roundhouse to the chest, and when he saw the dragon flinch, he let out an internal sigh of relief. He could go to town. 

Hyperactive took a double kick at the dragon, one in the chest and the other in the jaw. As he landed his left foot came up into a back hook kick at the head. It seemed to raise it's hands to guard itself, but Hyperactive kept kicking, his feet striking at lightning speed. He wasn't just hitting hard, he was aiming his strikes deliberately at pressure points. And while his blows may not have had the full effect of a kinetic drain, Tyson could feel the energy he pulled with each blow. He struck hard with each kick, determined to incapacitate the dragon. 

[olopi]

GM

 

The Dragon barely had time to react. As he began to get back onto his feet, he already had to face down a barrage of kicks. And even if he was fast enough to see each individual kick, his body did not want to move fast enough to dodge. So, he braced for the impacts.

 

He couldn’t brace for all that though. The kicks were powerful, getting smashed into the ground from the high altitude was barely a scratch compared to them. And as quickly as the fight had started, it had ended, with the Dragon going unconscious after a further barrage of attacks.

 

And at that point, Tyson managed to get a look at the environment. The street below was a bit battered up from the impact. And all around him were various onlookers, most of which were pulling their phone our or had just done so, some of whom had probably even managed to get pictures or videos of the fight.

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive managed a sigh of relief. his body shook as he rolled out his ankles. Breathing hard he grabbed up the dragon and heaved it onto a shoulder. He took in the crowd and waved. He should probably get his guy into custody, but he was working with bonfire. Hyperactive crouched down next to the defeated dragon and pulled his phone from the sleeve compartment. he snapped a few quick selfies and sent one to his sister.

"Guess who I'm working with." he texted. Then he sent one to Bonfire. "That took forever. Want Pizza?" without really waiting for a response, "I'll get you some." Hyperactive stowed the phone away and smiled at the crowd.

"No need to worry citizens, just had to chase this guy from Freedom City." He said into the crowd. Tyson felt his stomach grumble at him as he created a short whirlwind to lift the unconscious dragon. Food now, plus he needed people in Freedom to know his name. Still the internet was a big place. He had surely grabbed a little attention. With his quarry in tow, Hyperactive actually went further into the city. There was a pizza place off Broadway, and he needed carbs. 

In a flash of motion he bought three pizzas: cheese, pepperoni, and sausage. Then he turned and with the pizzas under one arm and the crook held up by the other, he hustled back to freedom. While the chase had felt like forever, the run back was almost relaxing. He ran straight back to where he had left Bonfire and the blue dragon and dropped the brown one on top of it. Hyperactive put put each box in mid air and robbed it of it's kinetic energy, leaving them hanging a few feet off the ground in front of Bonfire. The cops still hadn't got there, which wasn't unusual. 

"I don't usually do thin crust, but when in Rome. Well New York City in this case." Hyperactive made sure to say at normal speed. then he proceeded to eat half the pepperoni pizza before Bonfire could even blink. If Bonfire blinked, with all the smoke it was hard to tell. Was it rude to ask? No it shouldn't be. "Do you blink in smoke form?"

[olopi]

PC

 

It didn’t even take a minute. All the way up to NYC, and back down. All the while fighting somebody. And it didn’t even take a minute. Sure, super-fights hardly ever lasted beyond a minute, but this? This was why speedsters were unfair. Cass didn’t hate, or even dislike them. But there was just a bit of envy. Sure, he could do a bunch of fancy stuff. But not travel to NYC within seconds. And that was something he’d’ve loved to do.

 

Either way, by the time the selfie came in (something that Bonfire was fond of himself, even if recently he had more doubts on protecting the people he fought and rolled them back), he got the first AEGIS alert. They weren’t too far away.  This stuff went directly to AEEGIS when they had personnel available, no need for the FCPD to bother with it.

 

And then, Hyperactive arrived. Pizza in … well, sort of hand. Which actually was quite nice. Bonfire appreciated food. Especially food he didn’t have to pay for. He grabbed a slice of the pepperoni pizza, before stopping for a second to reply.

 

“Uuuh … I actually … don’t know? And something tells me I don’t want to find out. The less I think about how this all works, the better.“

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive was actually shocked by the last part. 

"You don't think about that stuff?" Hyperactive had practically grown up in labs. He and his mother had tested and experimented for hours on his abilities. Though, he hadn't enjoyed all the times being a lab rat. "Must be kind of nice, I grew up always thinking about and testing my powers. I can't stop." He sighed. A pause. Half of the cheese vanished. "So now what?" Someone had to be behind this. Waco villains tended to be bland in naming. Ring Master. Drone Master. It was "Noun" Master. There had even been a Noun Master. That had been a dumb fight. So was there a Dragon Master? These crimes had to be related. Even this city can't be that weird. "I guess we'll need to track down Dragon Master." The whole train of thought took less than a second though. 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Kolohehonu

[olopi]

PC

 

“Oh, I test my powers. There’s a lot of it. But it’s less “stand in a lab and wait”, and more “huh, that sounds neat, maybe I can do that.” It was true. Sure, he usually tested things out once or twice (or more), before deciding to use them in combat, but he’d never been inside a lab to actually test his powers. There was that one time that could technically have qualified, but … no, not really.

 

 

“…Dragon Master? No idea. I’ve looked up things, and there’s no connection. I wouldn’t know who to track down, or where to start even. A bit of research revealed no connections between the last two, apart from the name, outfit and powers. And that’s not a whole lot. “

 

 

Actual investigation wasn’t exactly Cass’ strong suit, truth be told. Sure, he knew how to do it, and he’d gotten involved in one at least one too many times. But all in all, his job was the more classical “reactive force of good”, where he showed up, did things, and left the rest to the authorities. And with these dragons, that somehow felt a lot less frustrating.

 

 

“Personal suggestion is to leave it to the authorities. They’re the professionals when it comes to tracking down further attacks, and AEGIS certainly puts those tax-dollars to good use, if my experiences with them are any suggestions. “

 

 

Well, somewhat good use. The use of a man-size flying tank still eluded Cass, especially for the prize, but there was some, he was sure of it. Then again, Hyperactive being a speedster meant that perhaps he’d insist on investigating? Speedster, man.

Edited February 26, 2017 by olopi

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive pulled his phone out again. The first text was from Kas: "No. Way. Pics. Pics. PICS!"

"My sister wants us to take a selfie." Hyperactive said. Business first Tyson. He did a quick search of this Reagan Security company. Well, these guys trained security officers and moved money. Frustratingly simple and without Wifi, a more in depth search would have to wait.

Maybe hew was working the wrong way. It no longer felt a question of why. "Why" was for villains who weren't incredibly dumb or incredibly intelligent. He was fairly certain the blue one was of the former. The brown one, might be worth talking to later. But, he seriously doubted either were the mastermind. Since he couldn't get a good grip on why, he had to ask a different question. Now was the time for "how". How tended to be a question anyone could answer, with or without the villain. And if you kept asking how, sometimes you learned interesting things. Right now, the answer to how felt kinda obvious. The cars had trackers, someone probably hacked Reagan and was watching the movements of cars. Maybe they were dealing with a tech person. That could explain why the wings had felt wrong. Maybe they were tech. 

Well if that was the case, it was time to investigate. Speedster style. Which meant brute forcing it more often than not. Hyperactive locked his face shield in place and began to examine the two unconscious dragons. There was a blur of motion as he looked over both suspects. In an instant he had inspected every inch of the dragons for anything out of place. He'd made sure to take his time and took time to look closely at those wings. Then he stood up, and raised his phone for a  selfie with Bonfire. 

[olopi]

GM

 

By now, the wings had actually already disappeared. Tyson had noticed it on the way back, the brown Dragon’s wings had become more and more translucent as time went on, before completely disappearing around the time Hyperactive dropped him off back in FC. So, about a minute later, if his judgement of time was any indication.

 

There wasn’t much to the Dragons. Judging by their look, they both were fully human. Well-trained and muscular, but human. The blue one’s outfit was a form-fitting leotard, padded in a few places, plus a set of pants, probably made from the same material. Blue, with a printed scale texture, and otherwise uninteresting. It didn’t really look like it would hide anything, and removing the clothes to check probably wasn’t the best idea.

 

The brown dragon’s outfit was less costume-y. A brown vest, a size or two too small, and below it a tee in a slightly lighter colour. Pants in the same colour as the vest, forming a well-coordinated outfit together with a headband that covered the Dragon’s nose, eyes, and hair. While he had pockets, there wasn’t much in the way of leads here either.

 

And as Bonfire also posed for the selfie, the sirens in the background became louder.  

 

“Chances are if there’s any motive to these attacks there’ll be more. And if there’s more somebody will have to respond. And guess who can respond within moments, eh’”

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive snapped the selfie and sent it to Kas. She was gonna flip out over that. 

 

"Yeah, I guess I'm not used to the police being equipped to do anything in cases like this." Hyperactive said. "Waco tends not to be able to handle anything my team doesn't put down." Hyperactive rolled out his shoulders. There was not a whole lot of a lead... Oh well. Bonfire was probably right, the authorities were the real detectives here. That and if he was out too long after the fight was over Emily was going to kill him for the mess he made earlier. Well, if he came back empty handed. Good coffee usually smoothed things over for her. "This was cool. I guess the back up thing was a bluff earlier, but if you need a speedster, I'm sure I can swing by. Would be nice to be on a team out here. The Waco Warriors tends to be a one way thing." 

 

"Let's go grab coffee, I still don't know any good local places." 

[olopi]

PC

 

“Waco, huh? Yeah, we probably get a lot more activity up here. You’d think with there being more heroes up here, the police would rely on them more, while in other places they’d arm themselves to be better equipped, right? It’s a bit strange. But I guess it’s expensive and all.”

 

He decided not to think about it for too long, surely within the oceans of bureaucracy there was a good reason for it, perhaps even one that wasn’t political. A team in Waco, then? Speedsters, man. Everywhere at once, and able to keep it up. It was cool. Good backup too, as Hyperactive mentioned himself.

 

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll be sure to tell you should I ever need your help for something speedster specific. Now, coffee… let me think. How local do you want it to be? And how far could you get the two of us? I know … most places in FC by now, I think.”

[Kolohehonu]

"Yeah Waco. Nice place, you ever want to see our gig just let me know. I think it's more that outside cities people would rather be protected by those "like them" rather than the man." Hyperactive shrugged. "That and they can't afford not to rely on us. The whole county pays the Warriors more by making us tax exempt, they can't afford to pay us any other way. And free food. But that's more southern hospitality. Not that two of them even eat. I'm worried about when they graduate honestly."

 

Hyperactive stood silent for an uncomfortable moment. Yeah Doctor Orion and Alan Alchemy might stay in Texas, but they probably wouldn't stay in Waco. Which would make it ripe for retribution. He had a few years. Coffee. Focus. 

 

"Yeah, I'm living in Midtown. Know any good places round there? I could probably get us across the country to one of my favorite places in LA, but I want local. I want to feel connected to the city. You know?"

Edited February 21, 2017 by Kolohehonu

[olopi]

PC

 

 

 

“Hey, free food’s always good. Our line of work isn’t exactly one of fancy dinners, usually. Unless you’re on one of those jobs, are somebody like Asad or can somehow make money off of your powers, like some of the really smart ones. I mean, I’m scrapping by, but I’ve spent a lot fo time building up a following. “

 

 

It was more or less true. Money wasn’t nearly as big of an issue anymore as it was just two months ago, but there still were those days where Cass had to really watch his spending. And he wasn’t going to let his coffee-budget decrease unless absolutely necessary.

 

 

“Graduate? Some kind of secret program?”

 

 

Perhaps it was best to not dwell on it, but asking once felt like the right choice. Perhaps he’d learn something.

 

 

“As for local places … it’s not exactly mid-town, but let me show you one of the best places for coffee when it comes to FC. “

 

 

~ Continued in Hyperactive? Coffee helps! ~

Edited February 22, 2017 by olopi