ic Deviations

[RocketLord]

GM

 

A Saturday evening in early January...

 

It is dark and cold, but the streets in Southside are active anyway, with people moving around, doing their business, whatever it might be. Southside is not the nicest neighborhood in town, but it is not the worst either. Still, there is a good chance of trouble, and it has been one of the spots where Parker, Baz and Lawrence has snuck out to look for trouble and do some patrols. It has not been a regular thing, but they have done it a few times so far. It has mostly been stopping purse snatchers or would be robbers. Nothing big, nothing that they couldn't handle pretty easily.

 

But today, as they're watching from the top of a building overlooking a street, waiting for anything to happen? They all have a feeling that it might be different. 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence Harrow looked down at the street below from where he stood just back from the edge of the building so he could see over it to the middle of the street below. He could not see the sidewalk directly below from that vantage point, but would be harder to see from below as well. If he heard something below it was easy enough to move up to look over the edge.

 

The sixteen year old was wearing the Claremont training uniform, but with the addition of a warm jacket and gloves and a mask that covered the upper half of his face. As he looked out at his breath in the air, the blond teen considered the plans he had for the coming three-day weekend and getting some of his classmates at Claremont out of the city and off to someplace much warmer to spend the weekend. He pulled himself from those thoughts and focused back on the street below. So far, nothing seemed to be going on, at least in this part of Southside.

"So guys, how long we planning to freeze here before we move on the next place or call it a night?" He asked his two friends.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"I don't know," Parker responds, looking over Lawrence. "Seem like it's too cold for anyone to want to try anything."

 

Parker is dressed in a pair of jeans and heavy boots, with a thick white winter jacket over himself to keep warm, all over his Claremont uniform. 

 

"Do you guys feel weird?" Parker asks, holding his arms around himself to try and keep warm. "I'm not sure how to explain it. It's like... something big is coming? More than the robbers we usually stop? Kinda like a deja vu?" 

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"You cold this cold? Bah! I can do this all day. I mean night."

 

Baz looked left and right and twiddled his blocky fingers. 

 

"But then, I am radioactive," he admitted. "Nuclear furnace keeps me nice and warm!"

 

He squinted, cracked his knuckles (and the squat digits  cracked very loud!), and a misty green light fell from his shell onto the ground, where it sat and glowed quietly. Not much illumination, but the temperature rose a dozen degrees. 

 

"There we go! You can all keep warm now. Its entirely harmless lethal radiation. So put on your shades and bring out the sun tan lotion. If we are going to freeze ourselves playing truant, we may as well be warm whilst we do it!"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence glanced over Parker as he asked whether the other two were feeling anything unusual. The blond teen looked at Parker a moment, before looking around him but without really seeming to focus on anything in particular. "No, cannot say I feel much other than cold, certainly nothing like déjà vu. And if someone had messed with the timestream, I would feel something."

 

When Baz generated a bit of his very unusual radiation, it actually did seem to help warm the area. Lawrence gave his roommate a small smile. "It is quite a bit warmer. But I swear Baz, if I die of cancer in the next couple years, I am absolutely going to coming back as a ghost to haunt you."

 

He then focused back on Parker. "Is there anything in particular that has you feeling on edge?"

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"I'm just... I just think I'm going to take a few steps away from that..." Parker says, looking at the faint glow. Baz is a great guy, even if he's weird, but he's a bit too casual about the radioactivity.

 

Stepping back, closer to the edge of the roof, Parker shrugs at Lawrence's question. "I don't know. Just feels weird. Like deja vu, like I said." He stops. "But while we wait, I never did catch up about your mom after the big reveal at the party!" The slightly worried expression turns to a grin. "C'mon, your mom's Velocity! How did you keep that a secret?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

And then Parker took the opportunity to bring up the reveal Lawrence's mom had made at the Freedom League's holiday party. To be fair, right after the party school wrapped up till after the New Year, and Lawrence and his mom had headed over to England as they did every year (accompanying Vicki as she went back to spend the holidays with her family). They had hardly been back long at school when the trio had planned this outing. At least Parker’s grin was encouraging.

Giving his friend a wide smile, Lawrence gave an initially curt response. "Simple, I didn't tell anyone."

He let that hang there for a moment before adding. "Like I tried to say at the party, it was never my secret to tell. But I knew it was going to come out at some point, and so did my mom, so she decided how she wanted it to happen. She also did mean what she said just before about feeling a bit guilty about how many identities she had learned over the years while keeping hers secret."

 

"I am not sure how many on the school staff knew before, but Headmistress Summers certainly did." Lawrence was quiet for a moment and then continued. "I mean, even if I had been free to talk about it before, I can just imagine how arrogant that could have come across if I was going around campus announcing that my mom was a member of the Freedom League."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buz

 

"Honestly, its just a bit of harmless lethal radiation" said Baz, shocked at the Spaceman's reticence at standing in a green glow. 

 

"Velocity eh? You got one hot mama, Lawrence. She's got a magnificent pair of...err... I mean she's a really amazing superhero and really heroic. And shes as superhero too. A heroic one. That's amazing. And heroic."

 

Fortunately, green armour plates and glowing green skin prevented Baz from blushing. 

 

"I can see why you keep it quiet. Parents footsteps, and all that. You can stand on your own two feet, don't need no special favours, I am right?"

 

His antannae twitched. 

 

"If she was here, would she have any tips on how to go on patrol? I mean... to be be honest, I havent got a clue how to do it. I mean, what do we do? Just watch and toast marshmellows in some really amazing green radiation?"

 

"Did anyone bring marshmellows, by the way?"

Edited January 3 by Supercape

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"Don't talk about someone's mom like that," Parker says, a bit of laugh to his voice as he playfully pushes Baz's shoulder lightly. "C'mon, that's just..." Whatever serious thoughts he had about Lawrence keeping this from him are clearly gone after Baz's statements.

 

Alright, he can understand Lawrence's way of thinking. It isn't like he is going around announcing that his parents are the owners of Powers Holdings or that his sister runs the company. "Yeah, it makes sense. I get it. But still... your mom is Velocity. That's pretty awesome." He is grinning at Lawrence as she speaks, before turning back to Baz.

 

"Sorry Baz, I guess we just wait around or start moving? Guess it's just a quiet night, right?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Or it was, at least.

 

Of course, there is nothing that tempts fate like wondering what you should do, saying its a quiet night or contemplating toasting marshmallows in radioactive green fire. 

 

Down the street, from not far away, there is a mighty roar, followed by a scream. As the groups look out over the edge of the roof, they see a small figure, a kid, maybe twelve years old, clad in heavy clothing to stay warm, rushing out from around a corner between two buildings, running as fast as they can.

 

And then with another roar, the pursuer appears. A mighty beast, a tyrannosaurus rex, follows, sliding on the slick ground before crawling up and giving chase once more. It is wearing a human sized black top hat.

 

"CEASE, DESIST, GIVE UP! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE, GET AWAY OR RUN! GIVE BACK WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN FROM ME! SO SAYS, PROCLAIMS, SHOUTS THESAURUS REX!"

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz!

 

"Woohoo! Yayayaya! Action!"

 

Baz hopped from foot to foot. 

 

"Time for a Slowball Slam, Lawrence! Wait... did we ever work out what a slowball slam was? It sounded cool, right?"

 

Baz pulled his antenna straight with clubby hands, and started to glow a magnificent green. 

 

"Right. Tyrannosaurus Rex, top hat, lots of fancy words. Well, I can use fancy words too! Trimexicolopezometrez! There! Take that!" he yelled at the top hatted gentleman. 

 

He paused and looked shame-facedly at Spaceman and Lawrence. 

 

"Wait they have to be real words, do they? Dang. And also... errr... .where we meant jump in and use the element of surprise?"

Edited January 5 by Supercape

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence's eyes narrowed slightly at Baz's comments about the blond teen's mother. However, that faded quickly as he gave his friend a small smile and Parker spoke up about the comments. If it had been anyone other than these two, the teen might have more an issue, but he understood a lot of what Baz tried to hide from everyone else. "You don't think I realize my mom is attractive Baz? Why do you think my dad bought a private island with her in Fiji before they got married?"

 

He then then chuckled at Parker's comment about having Velocity as a mom being awesome. "Yeah, it can be. I have been able to practice in the League's Wreck Room since I was ten, among other things."

 

Lawrence then chuckled slightly at Baz's question about what advice his mom would have for patrolling. "I am afraid her advice would probably not be super helpful for us, as it would mainly be 'run around the city a couple times until you come across trouble,' although, at our age she probably would have added 'or some cute guys to talk to for a bit."

 

But it was not long after that the wait came to an end, as a very strange scene played out before the three teens.

 

"I think you have already given that away Baz." Lawrence replied in response to his question about using the element of surprise and prepared to get back down to street level to get in the middle of whatever was going on.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"I could get up high and have a look, at least?" Parker offers, looking up. Moving himself around in jumps probably wouldn't help much, would it?

 

And then yells, and screams, and a dinosaur with a top hat that it yelling about wanting something back.

 

"It might work anyway, go for it Baz."

 

The dinosaur is busy, the kid is running... They have to save the kid, then figure out what is going on. That's what the Centurion would do, isn't it? 

 

"I'll grab the kid."

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"C'moooon! You don't need it!" the kid yells back at the dinosaur, as the mighty Thesaurus Rex continues his chase.

 

"I own it, I made it, it is MINE!" he shouts.

 

The ground shakes under his steps. He is close to the kid now. He can almost taste him. 

 

"A snack, a bite, a pick me up would do WONDERS right now!"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

"Sounds good." Lawrence commented as Parker indicated he would get the young boy clear. The blond teen could not help but think of the T-Rex with cybernetic collars that roamed the Null Time, but this unusual creature seemed nothing like them.

 

He was then gone in the blur of temporal distortion as he shifted his movements with in time and made his way down from the roof access and onto the street, where he moved over to "reappear" between the youth and Thesaurus Rex.

 

"You seem like someone who likes to talk, how about we talk about this? What is it that this boy has?" The teen said, even as he prepared to dodge aside if attacked.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

Baz still didn't know what he was doing, but when did that stop the Cockroach Kid? Never, thats when!

 

He leapt into the air, leaving a faint green blur in his wake, and pulled back one three-fingered fist. 

 

"I don't think dinosaurs listen to diplomacy, Laz?" he shouted at Lawrence, making up a nick name on the spot. Maybe it might stick? "Especially the talking ones! In my vast experience, I have never met a talking Dinosaur that listened to reason. So therefore there arent any. Logical, see?"

 

Irrespective of the logical merits of his reasoning, Baltazar determined that the best way to stop the Dinosaur was with a well placed cockroach fist!

 

A glowing GAMMA COCKROACH fist!

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

The others are already moving. Still feels weird to have others listen to him, even if its Lawrence and Baz.

 

A moment of focus, and Parker disappears, reappearing near the kid and grabbing the kid. He has already moved his own molecules around to be dense enough to withstand most hits.

 

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here." 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"Bah, ew! You are disgusting, vile, horrible! Thesaurus Rex yells, as he pulls away from Gamma Buz, only just managing to dodge the hit. "Stay away, keep your distance, go in that other direction!"

 

He roars, as he charges at Timeout. Now that they are up close like this, both Gamma Buzz and Timeout can see that Thesaurus Rex is wearing a small monocle over his left eye, not that it seems to say much.

 

"Stand still, stop moving moving, you infernal, annoying, stupid speedster!" he roars, as he moves in to clamp his jaws around Timeout.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence watched as Baz leapt into action, trying to attack the Thesaurus Rex, but missing with his punch. While the direct attack missed, there was still the glowing aura that surrounded Baz, which caused the strange T-Rex to back away from him. As planned, Parker was over by the kid, offering to get him clear.

 

And then Thesaurus Rex charge Lawrence, opening his massive mouth and trying to bite him. For a moment it looked as if the blond teen would be bitten, but at the last moment, there was a blur of temporal displacement as Lawrence was suddenly just off to the side and out of the way as the T-Rex's jaws clamped shut.

 

Moving a bit further away in another blur of temporal displacement, Lawrence stopped and looked over at the massive creature, a small smile on his face. "Well, if you don’t want to talk, maybe you should at least relax." Raising up his left hand, the blond teen caused a burst of temporal energy to emanate out from him, spreading in all directions until it washed over Thesaurus Rex, but bypassed his friends and the kid.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Thesaurus Rex looks up at the wave of temporal energy. For once, he has nothing to say, as the waves washes over him. He freezes mid-sentence in a "What the bl-" and then, he just stands there, frozen in time.

 

The kid looks up at Parker and pushes against him to little effect. "Lemme go!" The struggles causes the hood to fall away, revealing a girl with glasses. One of the lenses are cracked. Her hair is cut short, like it had been shaved recently and is slowly growing back. She is maybe 12 years old at most. "Lemme go, I'm not going back!" 

 

In her fight to get away, she drops the a small piece of technology, what appears to be a small tablet, barely larger than a cell phone. 

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

With another leap and flip, Gamma Buzz was on one of the walls of a nearby building, peering at the most peculiar scene. 

 

His eyes glowed slightly; ready to stream out charged green particles-his amazing "laser" vision. Lawrence may have frozen a dinosaur, but to put the whole thing in context: a talking T-Rex had just stomped down a street. Anything could happen. 

 

Another day in Freedom City. 

 

And there was the kid. 

 

"What the flipping flip is happening?" he shouted at the Kid. "Going back where? Who are you?"

 

The Kid might have been an andriod electro-bomb ninja, or something. Best to be alert!

 

What was its temperature, for starters? Regular for a kid?

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence relaxed some as he managed to freeze Thesaurus Rex in time. With no other immediate threads, he walked over to where the twelve-year-old girl was struggling to get away from Paker. "Easy, we are here to help. Not planning to send or take you anywhere." He stated as he picked up the device that she dropped.

"I take it this is what Thesaurus Rex was after?" The blond teen asked as he began to study the device.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"It's alright, calm down," Parker says. "I'm going to let go, but please don't run away, alright?" 

 

He waits for a moment to make sure the kid listens, then lets go and steps back, hands held up to show that he isn't trying to grab the kid again.

 

"See? We're here to help. Timeout stopped the dinosaur. Gamma Buzz is just keeping an eye on him from up on the wall, and I'm Spaceman. Just calm down, and we'll do our best to help you."

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The kid looks around at the three young heroes, especially staring at Gamma Buzz up on the wall. She seems hesitant.

 

"Ye-yeah," she says, finally mustering up the courage to respond. She glances over at Thesaurus Rex, still frozen in time. "The doctor keeps us all locked up, wants to use us for something... and I think this controls his generator? He got real mad when I broke out and stole this, and then Thesaurus came after me and..." 

 

She stops, falling silent. 

 

"Did he get you, too? Since you're looking like that?" she asks, looking up at Gamma Buzz.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Looking like what?" spat back Gamma Buzz, clearly vexed. "Like an awesome superhero? No --- the doctor didn't fix me. Not that I need fixing..." he added, waving his hands in front of him defensively. 

 

"Because I'm Gamma Buzz, baby! All your radioactive insect superhero needs catered for! And my sidekicks here..."

 

He nodded at his chums. 

 

"...an I intend to smash evil and right wrongs. Which means helping you!"

 

He paused, realising he had run out of steam. 

 

"And Timeout here will tell us what to do, right?"

 

His pleading eyes looked at Lawrence to see if brains would be better than bravado.