ic Midnight Run

[olopi]

So the guardians of the law had taken up the chase as well. Jann did not appreciate it, it meant that he no longer was the one hunting, and that once he would catch them, he would have to deal with the ones with flashing lights. He didn’t like them. He’d encountered them a few times, and each time, it had resulted in some sort of punishment, either by them or by the Academy.

 

But it did mean that he could easily follow the thieves. The flashing lights were impossible to miss. When they slowed down, he pushed his wings more, seizing the chance to close the distance a bit. He had seen the area they were about to enter a few times. It was where he arrived, and where he left, the city. Machines that claimed the sky, they were the source of many problems. They did not belong where they moved. But it was a matter for another time, as he was still following the pickup, this new location suggesting a more elaborate escape.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The pick up truck kept on speeding through the airport, igniting alarms and panic as it tore through. 

 

A couple of brave security officers tried to pull the car over, pulling out their fire arms. One even got a frightened shot of, a crack resounding through the night air. The trucks front windscreen shattered. Yet more glass tinkling in what would be a night of broken glass. 

 

This did not stop the pick up truck or the driver. Arguably it even helped them. 

 

For from the front of the pick up truck came a stream of fire!

 

Rightly, the two security guards jumped to either side as the fire streamed in a cone left and right. One could only imagine that the driver who was emitting this flame (through unseen processes) was not trying to roast them alive, but scare them. And in this determination, he succeeded. 

 

And so the truck sped along a runway strip...

[olopi]

Jann continued to follow. They were gaining speed, and the guardians’ futile attempts to stop them were unlikely to do much. The guns, those would possibly be able to do anything, but it did not appear to do much. And the fact that their vehicle was able to create flames was not a good revelation. It meant that Jann had to be ever more careful about it.

 

And then, they got onto one of the straight roads, made for the machines to take off. They were not capable of the same flight he was, they had to rely on speed to gain the power to take to the sky. These roads were made for accelerating. Which meant that if Jann would not do anything, he would soon be too far away.

 

He clicked down one of the buttons on his glove. It sent a signal through the lines in his sleeve, and into the main part of his armour. There, he could feel the boosters heat up, as they got ready to carry him forwards.

 

At the same time, he grabbed one of the explosives the thief had been carrying. They were too weak to do much, but since he was not carrying his weaponry, they were the best thing Jann had. He now disapproved of the club’s no weapon policy more than ever. He took the explosive, and after considering the wind, the object’s weight and his target’s speed, threw it, aiming for the car’s front, and possibly the fire.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Firecracker arced through the air and hit the front of the pick up truck just as a celebratory spit of fire was coming out of the front. Predictably, the firecracker exploded in a bright loud light right on the bonnet of the vehicle.

 

It was some distance away, and it was a noisy place, an airport. But Jann could swear he heard swearing. 

 

In response, the pick up truck screeched again, taking a hard right, and crossing the runway - this time, right infront of an incoming 747!

 

The pick up truck put everything into the gas, roaring past the incoming flight path, and on towards a more distant air field...

 

But Jann was in danger of collision if he followed...

 

 

[olopi]

As expected, he had hit. It had not caused as much as he’d hoped for, but if nothing else, it would help to further distress the fleeing thieves. They were being followed, and their own weapons were being used against them. Jann pursued them, even if the time he had to take to aim his throw was noticeable, they’d gained distance. Fortunately, it was a bright place, so he could still follow.

 

And then, the sky-machine. They’d used it to cut him off. It would fly where he had to go, his direct path, and make it so he could no longer pursue. That was probably what they’d hoped, at least. The boosters extending and beginning to tear the fabric of his jacket was the sign Jann had been waiting for. He flapped his wings one final time before closing them, right as the fire burned through what remained of his jacket’s back, and the boosters catapulted him forwards, at a speed higher than he could reach any other way.

 

As he approached the plane, he got ready. If he had to, he’d roll, cartwheel, or run across.

[Supercape]

GM

 

There was significant turbulence. It made a right old mess of the Leapfrogger in Jann's arms. He was however distracted from hairstyle related vexation what with a massive airplane bearing down on them. He screamed something about being crazy and everyone dying. 

 

He may not have been entirely wrong. It was a close shave, and the wind buffeted the wings powerfully. Jann was close enough to see the pilots face, full of white dread. 

 

But in the end, with the boost of speed, he could actually ride the turbulence, and was now closing in on the runaway pick up van. Maybe a hundred feet now separated them. 

 

"He's catching up, boss!" screamed the Leapfrogger in the van to the driver. The Pick up Van revved the engine, travelling at full speed towards a single prop plane, maybe fivehundred feet away. 

 

And the prop plane was idling...

[olopi]

The wind’s decisions were not an issue for Jann. He’d been trained to fly in worse conditions, and he’d even flown during snowstorms before. Compared to those, these were not even too bad. In fact, they were favourable. He knew how to use the air surrounding him to his advantage.

 

After he passed by the cockpit, the boosters gave out, their very limited fuel already exhausted. He saw what the thieves were aiming for, a smaller machine, made for escaping. If they wanted to challenge him where they could not dwell, that was fine with Jann. But it was likely they would only continue to run. And Jann had to prevent that.

 

The winds gave him an opportunity to do just so. He fully closed his wings, making him fall towards the ground at a higher velocity, before suddenly opening them up again only a dozen or so feet above the ground, the additional momentum of the earth’s pull as well as the turbulence he was still riding giving him similar speed that he reached with the boosters. However, this was more dangerous, as he could not move his wings, without likely crashing directly into the street below.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Pick Up Truck sped on, burning tyres. It was a frantic pace, its engine slammed on to full, its driver reckless. It was a straight line to the prop plane, but then, a hard break. There was the most awful screeching sound, and for a moment it looked like the driver would lose control, sending the pick up truck into a spin. 

 

The truck wobbled, and turned. It slammed broad side on into the prop plane. There would be significant repairs to the body work on both vehicles, but the prop plane still spun its rotors and looked air-worthy. 

 

The driver got out. With his eagle eyes, Jann could spot him. A six foot man, big, strong, tattoos. A cool gunslinger moustache, cool sunglasses (even in this darkness), and long hair. He looked like a biker, although Jann could see a military tattoo on his arm. 

 

And that arm held a sleek chrome flamethrower, complete with back pack full of fuel. 

 

"Its time for fried chicken!" he shouted with a laugh and a little fizz of flame...

[olopi]

And finally, his target showed. Getting out of the car, weapon in hand. Jann had seen the weapon before, once, in the Doom Room. He did not enjoy seeing it again. It meant he had to be quick, he had to disarm his opponent one way or another before he had the chance to act.

 

Of course, Jann still had speed on his side. The man had stopped, was standing still. And though he was readied, Jann was moving fast enough that he could close a lot of distance before any attack. And, he still had something extra. For the first time since he’d taken to the sky, he adjusted his grip on the thief he was carrying.

 

Yet, it would still take a few moments until he got close enough to strike. A few valuable moments.

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Leapfrogger in the pick up Van stood up, nearly slipping on A Night at the Opera and hurled a fire cracker at Jann, the bright magnesium pellet flying past him. Close, but no cigar. 

 

The driver, however, lit a cigar on his flamethrower and calmly put it in his mouth. 

 

"Those wings will look might fine roasted. With some hot chilli sauce! Yee-haaaw!" he shouted at the approaching Bird of Arms. And with a flick of a switch, and a pull of a trigger, a stream of orange fire blossomed forward, straight at Jann...

[olopi]

As Jann came closer, the wall of fire met him. He was moving too fast towards it, he would not be able to fully avoid it. So he did the next best thing. He’d learned that fire became dangerous only after a short moment, and that moving through it was generally the safest course of action for him.

 

He didn’t stop. He didn’t slow down. He didn’t do anything beyond continuing on his path, towards the ones who were now attacking him, the ones he had dubbed his prey. The ones who would soon be just that. The fire was hot, he could feel it weaken his body. But after a short burst, he was through.

 

It would’ve bought him a moment of surprise. They would not have expected him to act that way.

 

“Ra’tharakk!”

 

As he passed by the driver, Jann slammed the thief he’d been carrying into him, using the freerunner’s body to gain the additional range required. And then, he spread out his wings all the way, slowing him down, a few of the feathers having caught on fire.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The free runners head slammed into Blowtorch, who took a step back. 

 

"You headcase!" he grunted, determined as ever. He was not exactly nimble, but he was bold. He took a short jump from to the roof of the truck, then another short hop onto the wing of the plane, spinning round to stand a few feet above Bird of Arms. 

 

"I sure like standing on wings..." he explained, and with a satisfying hiss, a small ball of flame, like a sizzling golf ball, was fired from his weapon. With a puff, it hit Jann square, exploding into fire. 

 

The Leapfrogger below Jann took something out out of his Jacket, and stabbed himself with it. 

 

A hyperdermic needle....

 

Hie eyes rolled and his body jerked, with tremendous speed. It could only be zoom, and he was up, flailing his limbs like a high powered windmill. Not used to the speed quite yet, he could not control himself. Which was fortunate, for at that speed being hit by a flailing limb would be most unpalatable. 

[olopi]

The fire struck Jann directly in the chest, further reducing his jacket to pieces. By now, it was not much more than scorched fabric and plastic hanging onto his armour below. His armour, which conveniently absorbed the attack’s damage, leaving him to only feel the heat. It was unpleasant, it was hot. But he could survive it.

 

And then, the one thief that had managed to flee did something. Jann was no stranger to injecting things into his bloodstream to gain more combat power, but he’d never seen anything just like that. It was not a small change, but a massive one, and Jann could only imagine the effect it had on the thief’s body. Dodging the attacks wasn’t that hard by comparison, since just taking to the sky got him out of direct striking range.

 

Something he had to do either way, as he pursued the man who used fire. He caught up quickly, aiming a few blows at the man’s arms, before slipping low, raising up his leg to kick the flamethrower upwards, and also grabbing onto it, trying to get it out of the man’s hands.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The move caught Blowtorch by surprise. Perhaps the boldness of it. The flamethrower slipped from his hands and into Janns. He swore loudly and bared his teeth. 

 

Slowly he pulled out a rather magnificently unpleasant knuckleduster from his jacket. It had "B U R N" written on it. He slipped it over his right hand. 

 

"Bird's don't have teeth, chicken-breath. So lets get with some dental surgery...make you look the part..." he grinned, and gave a strong wide telegraphed punch at Jann. 

 

The Plane started forward, throwing him a little off-balance. Enough to swing wide. The whole plane started coasting down the runway, gently picking up speed. 

 

On the subject of speed, the zoomed up leapfrogger jumped onto the wing, still unused to his boost. Perhaps he whirling arms might have hurt somebody. Perhaps even himself. But he was almost too fast too co-ordinate. 

 

"Frek this!" swore the other leapfrogger, clutching his bruised head. He nimbly jumped off the Pick up truck and ran as fast as he could. Jann noticed he had that rather valuable first edition of dark side of the moon in his hand. At least he had taste. 

[olopi]

Jann grabbed onto the flamethrower and pulled it away. He used it to smack away the man’s arm, making his blow go wide, before turning around the weapon and holding it the way it was intended to, the barrel staring down its previous owner.

 

He saw the other man come in, ready to strike, and jumped off the plane’s wing with a backflip, using his wings to carry him backwards a bit, so he was in front of the plane and facing it down. It had worked as he’d intended. He had to remove the escape route. And the guardians would take care of the one who was running away.

 

He lined up his shot, directly at the plane’s nose, and then pulled the trigger…

[Supercape]

GM

 

The flames flowered over the pilots cockpit, probably blinding the pilot. Not that it mattered...it was a straight runway and one only had to hold the plane steady astream it coasted forward.

 

Blowtorch, for such was the name of our flamethrower villain, jumped into the passenger door. He was a ignore man and strong, but not agile. He clung to the doorway awkwardly,  the door flapping wide.

 

"Planes can be hazardous to birds..." he yelled over the increasingly loud engine.

 

And with a signal to the pilot, the plane jolted forward with a startling burst of speed, ready to ram the bird of arms...

[olopi]

It appeared the flames did not do as much to the machine as Jann had expected. A setback, but not one he could not deal with. His enemies now were concentrated in one spot. The machine’s inside. The machine, which was now heading towards him at a dangerous speed. But still, it was sluggish.

 

Without much in the way of effort, Jann moved to the side, letting the plane pass him by for just a moment, before grabbing onto the pilot side’s door. He dragged himself up close, and then got to action. He wondered just how sturdy the material was. And there was only one way to find out. He smashed the flamethrower’s hardest part into the door a few times. It was a good way to open doors, he’d learned as much. The window was the weakest part, it was where he concentrated his attacks. It would break at some point.

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

Jann smashed through the window and the door flew open. It almost came off. If the plane took off it would be a windy journey inside. 

 

The pilot looked startled. On one side, he had Blowtorch hanging on. On the other, Jann also hanging on, the flapping wings impeding him in such cramped quarters. 

 

"Shoot him!" demanded Blowtorch. 

 

The Pilot was rattled, but did not want to go to jail. Or be caught. And this was the greater fear, perhaps multiplied by a furious looking large man to his left. He was already holding his pistol, and he aimed it to his right...

 

Bam! Bam! Bam-Bam!

 

Four shots slammed into the Bird of Arms at point blank range. It was hard to miss, really, and the Pilot knew how to shoot. 

 

Not a second later, something zipped overhead. The final member of the leapfrog gang, high on zoom, full of macho desperation, eyes fairly popping out of his head with the buzz. He was always agile, now he was faster than a speeding car. 

 

Over the roof of the plane he ran, and then down the other side, landing heavily on Jann. Only when they had collided did an inkling of his reckless folly seep into his drugged brain. He went tumbling, his hands grasping for anything to hold onto...

 

...but down he went, colliding with the runway beneath them, and in a second he was twenty feet behind the plane, rolling, rolling, like a bowling ball...

Edited September 22, 2017 by Supercape

[olopi]

Jann got hit by the falling thief. He managed to knock him off-balance, a balance which was already difficult to keep up courtesy of the cramped interior of the machine. Jann was beginning to like all of these types of movement less and less, they didn’t work for him.

 

But other than his attacker, he managed to recover before hitting the ground. He spread out his wings, and before the plane managed to get any real distance, flew back to where he’d been before, legs first. He aimed directly at the pilot’s center of mass, if executed correctly the attack, and its angle, would be strong enough to have a further effect, with the second of the thieves lined up directly behind.

 

He connected with full force, a nearly perfect hit by all accounts. As was expected of him. He could feel his feet make impact, as he pushed his wings again one final time, for an extra burst of force behind his attack.  

[Supercape]

GM

 

The pure force ripped out the pilots seat belt, and threw him into Blowtorch. Together, they both rocketed out of the Plane, tumbling through the air, hitting the grown and rolling over and over. It looked like a bone crunching event. One could almost hear the cracking of ribs and skulls as the two men bounced down the runway, leaving the plane unmanned and speeding ...

 

But...

 

Jann caught sight of the pilot wheel, jerking to one side. 

 

He felt the Plane start to turn...at far, far to high a speed to turn...

 

And the wings begin to judder...

[olopi]

As expected. A perfect hit, the right angle, and enough force to gain the wanted effect. It was times like these that Jann was able to show just what he could do. They’d be out, ready for the guardians of the law to take them further. Jann did not care much about what happened after the point of defeat, it was not his to bother with. It was something that those more versed with the local customs could deal with.

 

But he was not done yet. The machine was still moving. An abomination, for all he cared. The sky was the place of his people, not of massive constructions of steel. They did not belong there, and he had no intention of piloting it there. It was different than how he moved, he did not fully understand it to begin with.

 

So, he got out. It was easy enough, he could simply push himself backwards, and as soon as he could move his wings properly again, he spread them out fully, stopping him in mid-air while the machine continued forward, away from him.

 

But he wasn’t done just yet. Some were still standing, and at least one of them had run before. He turned around, looking back at where the car had stopped, trying to make out what he could in the dark.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The plane's front tyre burst, a victim of horrible shearing force. It was only a second, and then the whole plane started to roll, the fuselage crumpling like a wet paper-mache. It completed two full rolls down the runway until it exploded in a ball of rather pretty orange flame. 

 

Down the runway, safe (lamentably or fortunately depending on ones viewpoint) lay blowtorch and the pilot, both out cold. Perhaps worse. With his most excellent of eyeballs, Jann could spy them at this distance, illuminated by the flames behind him. No bones seemed to be poking out of skin. No fountains of blood. Nothing to indicate perilous injury, although he was no doctor. 

 

The last leap frogger, high on Zoom, paused. Perhaps common sense was kicking in. The reality of the situation. Bravery was ebbing. Practicality was on the rise. 

 

"I ain't going to no razafrikin jail!" he proclaimed. 

 

With a turn of the heel, he sped off at remarkable speed down the runway, in the other direction. 

 

To the side, a police car was pulling up. A rather fast police car, driven by two rather startled police officers...

[olopi]

The guardians could deal with those he had incapacitated already. And the one who had taken combat drugs was outside his reach, not somebody he could pursue. Too fast to follow, even. But there still was one loose end. The one he’d carried all the way. The one who had decided to flee as soon as he was able to.

 

He had not yet gotten far. There was still time to capture him too. He was running, and soon he would be where there was little light. He knew how to get away. But Jann was still pursuing him. The hunt was not yet over.

 

Once he’d risen far enough to get a good grasp of the situation, Jann shot off towards the last fleeing Leapfrogger, the one that he’d carried quite a way. He didn’t pay any attention to the police below, instead focusing all of his power on the pursuit. It was some distance, but he’d catch up eventually if things continued to go his way.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The leap frogger was half way over a mesh fence when Jann caugh up with him. He fumbled a bit for some firecrackers to lob, but the truth was he was balanced on a ten foot high fence, exhausted, and facing a winged opponent. 

 

"Aw man! Let me go! Here, I'll give you the rubies! It was just a bit of fun, man! C'mon, ya gotta give a guy a break!" he sighed, fumbling this time for the rubies he had stashed away from Verity. 

 

The cop car had it's sirens on in the background, as the cops dutifully trundled Blowfish and the Pilot into the boot. 

 

"Look, its hard streets..." pleaded the freerunner. "The gangs are going crazy. New ones springing up all over. The Cheesemakers, the Beastly Boys, the Chain Sores...." he muttered, almost bitter at the competition. "Give me a break! I'll tell you all about them if you let me go!"

Edited September 23, 2017 by Supercape

[olopi]

Jann stared down the man, unmoving but for his wings. He came close, within an arm’s reach, but didn’t act beyond that.

 

So there was more prey. More packs of criminals. Three groups, enough to last Jann for some time. But names did not do much. They would help, but Jann needed more information, somewhere to start. A track he could follow.

 

Jann spoke, still unmoving, but ready to grab the thief should he try any sort of escape.

 

“Point me their way. Who are they, what is their reason?”