The Rainmaker Job [IC]

[Ecalsneerg]

"Yep," nodded Geckoman, seemingly unfazed by the teleporting. "That'd be a lie. I can smell it." The teen hero wandered around behind Rook. "So, in a town with no superheroes... why so elaborate a gig? I mean, if there's no one to stop you from stealing and cheating... why steal and cheat? It seems a little counterproductive. Get in, get out, get away with it before heroes from other towns show up. Simpler, cleaner, and might not have ended up with us sneaking up on you. That's how I'd do it, were, y'know, I a criminal. Which I'm not."

[trollthumper]

"Small stakes," Rook said, his gaze cast downward. "This wasn't about jewels, or bills, or deeds, or gold. This was about the long con. We needed to pick a town without heroes because it wouldn't have experience dealing with this kind of stuff. And we needed long enough to show them what they needed."

"'Surgeons with saws and scales'..." Nick muttered to himself. He stared at Rook. "This was never about getting the town on your side," he said. "This was about property damage. Heroes and crooks battle it out, something's going to get destroyed sooner or later. And when they're newbies who don't know their own strength, or guys who just don't care, it's more convincing. And with everything torn up, someone's going to come along and offer up rebuilding projects on the sly, or insurance in case it happens again." He got right in the cringing con man's face. "You got hired to kill the cow so the vultures would get to eat."

[Avenger Assembled]

You...you son of a bitch! "Tell us where we can find the others," said Edge flatly, the humor fading from him. In the heat of the moment, nothing was worse than perverting what it was to be a superhero. Nothing. "Tell us where we can find them, and we'll tell the judge that you cooperated with us. It'll go easier for you." He folded his arms and added, "If you don't, you'll probably be tried in Freedom City. You know what happens to people who mess with what it means to be a superhero there." They'd probably lock Rook and the others up for a long time, Rook especially since he'd pretended to be their friend. Freedom City was a society that didn't take well to what he'd done.

[trollthumper]

"They... they should be at the Harbrook right now," Rook said. "Procedure'll be like we went over in the first place -- wait fifteen minutes, and if one of us doesn't show, the rest blow. They'll be together, and they probably won't go down without a fight."

"Just what we need," Nick said, "more chaos. What do your partners do, exactly?"

"Gargoyle's a stone manipulator -- can turn his skin to concrete or something, make things shake. Virago's psychic, good at catching people off-guard. Acceleranda's a speedster, and Maelstrom does weather."

"Sounds like an interesting bunch," Nick said. "So, guessing you guys didn't come up with this yourself. Not casting any aspersions, but you don't exactly look like real estate developers. Who put you up to this?"

"He never told us his name," Rook said. "He found us each on our own, sent us into Asbury. Told us... we could get a cut of a huge pie. All we had to do was line things up for him --"

"-- so he can knock them down." Nick went into the hallway, and came back bearing a potted plant that looked to be on its last legs. "Thank you for your cooperation. Fleur, mind putting him somewhere where he'll be less likely to run for the border?"

[Electra]

"Of course, Nick." Stesha could easily have corralled the man without the use of the potted plant, but she felt sorry for the poor abused thing. It could use a bit of attention. With a gesture of her hand, the plant greened and began growing, stretching out of its pot in a long vine till it reached Rook, then opening a massive pink tulip-shaped flower. The flower opened wide, wider, widest, enveloping the man, and then closed as though returning to its bud state, with no sign of Rook anywhere. Moments later, the plant had retreated back within the confines of its pot, but looking much healthier. "We'd best get moving if we want to catch the others."

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman gaped as Rook was eaten by a giant flower. "Wooooow... that's a big flower." He shook his head. "Anyway, we should get going. At least we're not outnumbered, so, y'know, if we get 'em by surprise, it wont hurt that much. Unless they're really, really powerful..." His face fell.

Then he looked up and grinned. "Eh, it'll work out. We're real superheroes, that's how it goes. Edge, can you get some more of that sweet, sweet teleporting goodness rolling on up for us? Time is of the essence!"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Can do," agreed Edge. "Here, I've been trying something new..." He concentrated, and the world faded out, but not in the abrupt wash of blackness and color that had come before. Instead, this time the world reappeared in a gradual slotting of colors like a spectral patterns: first the deep reds, then the blue-greens, the lighter greens, then the blueish reds, then finally deep blue and yellow, all blurring together into the sudden shape of the world. "Woah, weird..." Edge looked around and said, "Okay, I think we're in an alley in the back. Let's go!" And with that, he led the way inside the Harbrook!

[Electra]

"That was very good," Stesha told Edge encouragingly as she followed him into the building, puffing just a little from the exertion. She could've done the teleporting, but it was important to let the young folks develop their skills, even if the idea of sending teenagers into danger was a little off-putting. Dark Star's students were nearly grown men now anyway, and capable of making their own decisions. "What's the plan?" she asked the others, "are we just going to confront them and try to take them down?"

[trollthumper]

"Sadly, it's probably the only thing we can do," Nick said. "We could try talking them into surrendering, but we haven't got the four-on-one dynamic we did with Rook, and these guys seem like pros. They know they'll probably end up going on trial in this town -- where, let me remind you, half of them posed as heroes just so they could engage in property destruction without paying for it -- and would be sent up the river without a paddle. They're probably gonna make a run for it in any case." Nick took a quick look around the Harbrook; they'd come in to one of the hallways, which looked a lot like he remembered it. Especially the little nooks with chairs, set aside for smoking once upon a time but now likely serving as a place for people watching.

"...give me a second." He sat down in the nearest chair, and relaxed. His consciousness stepped out of his shell and passed through stone and girder, quickly coming to the parking lot. Just as he expected, he saw two people waiting impatiently at a Chevy Nova -- a stocky man who looked to be in his early 30s, and an athletic woman in her late 20s. A young woman who looked like she'd be perky if she wasn't so rushed was darting down from the main entrance, followed by a gaunt man who looked to be pushing 40.

"Get in, damnit," said the stocky man.

"Where's Rook?" asked the young woman. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"

"He's probably been made," the athletic woman said. "The heroes will be coming after us next. We need to go, now."

Nick tugged on the silver cord, and snapped back into his body. "Parking lot," he said. "About to tear out of here. So much for honor among thieves."

[Ecalsneerg]

"So, we need a distraction?" asked Geckoman pensively. But without even altering his facial expression, the rest of his body had swiftly broke into a run, then leapt upwards, flying through the air gracefully at a height the greatest human athletes could only dream of.

Declaring his presence to the assembled phony superheroes in the parking lot, he raised his hands high and proclaimed loudly, so they could all hear: "Geeeee! Kooooooooo! MAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

[trollthumper]

The stocky man uttered a word not suited for prime time. "They're here!" he said as his skin quickly took on the consistency of concrete. "Thought we'd have more time!"

"I'm not going down," said the gaunt man as the skies darkened overhead. "We're getting outta here if we gotta raze this place in the process."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Listen, you little punks," said Edge with more venom than was usually in his voice as he confronted the fake villains. Real villains. Whatever they were. Mark hated bad guys with complex plots! Not only were they doing bad things, they were confusing him too, and that annoyed him considerably. "You're just some small-time hoods with superpowers who think running away to Ashbury makes you smart. Well, you know what? I think it just makes you chicken. All you've done is show that you're too cowardly and too stupid to make a dishonest living in Freedom City. Well now the real heroes are here, and we're going to show you how we do things in Freedom City!" He walked fearlessly up to the goons and yelled, "We're going to beat you and take you to a real jail! That's how!"

[trollthumper]

The second Edge was done, a rush of air overtook him, followed by a strong blow. Geckoman was the next to feel the impact, and by the time he refocused, it was like the young woman hadn't even moved. "Interesting offer," she said. She turned back to the others. "The car. Now."

[Electra]

Towards the back of the group, still winded, Stesha looked to the trees that surrounded the car park. As though responding to her glance alone, the trees began uprooting themselves, first one, then a whole handful, shuffling forward on animated roots that dragged dirt across the concrete. "Attack any villain who gets too close," she murmured to her floral guardians, keeping a wary eye on the fight that was shaping up. These guys might not look like much, but even cornered rats could be dangerous.

[trollthumper]

As the trees surrounded Fleur, she felt something drag at her mind. She locked eyes with the athletic woman almost by reflex, who let loose a burst of psychic energy directed towards her. "Would someone just start the goddamn car already?" she shouted.

"Won't be useful if they can follow us," said the man with the rocky skin. "Taking care of that..." He touched his hand to the parking lot, and the asphalt rippled. Tentacles lashed out from the blacktop, grasping at the legs of the gathered heroes. Nick sidestepped the stony lash, but with some effort.

"You've got a real gift for that," he said. "Y'know, I can think of so many more ways to use it which don't result in jail time."

"What can I say?" The stony man gave a fierce grin. "It's fun."

[trollthumper]

"Fun? Nah." Geckoman let fly with a boomerang that coasted right towards the stony man. As he braced for impact, it swerved around him, coasting towards the speedster, who avoided it with a mere flick of her head. "Y'know what's fun? Macrame. It's creative, therapeutic, and doesn't result in jail time!"

A bolt of lightning descended from the heavens in response to Geckoman's taunt, fusing the pavement where it struck not inches from the green hero. The ensuing crack of thunder drowned out the noise of a car engine turning over. "Get in!" shouted the gaunt man. "We're getting out of here!"

Between his shouting comrade and the attack from Geckoman, the stone-faced man was drawn in many directions -- and thus was caught off-guard when Nick came running up, his fist clad in a cruel gauntlet of solid ectoplasm. The blow caught the man broadside, chipping his skin and causing him to stumble. "How many towns?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice. "How many homes ripped apart? How many people living in fear? How many times you gonna keep up the game?" He put his boot to the stocky man's thigh, causing him to stumble a little. "Money train's gotta crash, boys. Think of us as your own personal wrecking crew."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You're not heroes. You're not even villains. You're parasites, feeding off the blood and sweat of good and bad people both so you can make money." Edge concentrated, and suddenly the parking lot came alive, cars rolling forward and streetlights cracking downward like flexible whips, the air darkening menacingly as big hailstones fell from the sky, smashing nothing but bad guys, the universe itself seeming to turn against the bad guys in a very real and meaningful sense. "You can't hide. And you can't run!" Suddenly, from out of the sky, an assembly of red-hot electronics came crashing down from nowhere and hit the hood of their car. "Stop fighting!"

[trollthumper]

The blow struck the engine block hard enough to embed it a foot deep in the pavement. The gaunt man tried to get out of the car in the second before impact, but a shard of metal went crashing through the windshield and caught him right in the forehead, knocking him for a loop. Red hot metal and glass scattered across the parking lot, raining down on the criminals. One particularly large chunk caught the young woman in the back of the head, sending her to the ground. Another went flying towards the athletic woman, but seemed to curve away at the last minute as she dodged.

"Crap," the athletic woman said, looking at the wreckage of the car. "Oh, crap, crap, crap. Car's down, Acceleranda's down --"

"Your means of egress are looking rather limited at this point," Nick said. "In English, that means 'you're screwed.' Now might be a good time to just lie down on the ground, put your hands behind your head --"

"NO!"

A storm of thought, like a pick to the head, washed out over the parking lot. "I'm not going back in there anytime soon! I won't be cut off from the outside world with a high-tech bucket over my head! You'll never take me!"

"Guess they call 'em cliches for a reason. They're such well-worn standards."

[Electra]

"If you don't like jail, you should've thought of that before you turned to crime!" Fleur de Joie raised an arm and pointed it firmly at the ranting woman. "Edge is right, you're all disgraces to everyone who ever put on a uniform to protect a city." The trees she'd animated began to converge, lowering their branches menacingly and surrounding the athletic woman. Fenced in by leaves and wood, it would've been hard for her to even notice the long leafy vine spiraling up from the concrete and wrapping itself around her. All at once, the vine drew taut, the branches closed in, and she was well and truly caught!

"And no more psychic attacks, either!" Fleur added! With another wave of her hand, the vine grew an enormous yellow tulip head that opened like a cup before upending and toppling down over the captured villainess! There was a puff of pollen, and when the dust cleared, she was gone!

[trollthumper]

The ground erupted in the wake of Fleur's plant, with jagged teeth erupting from across the blacktop. "So we do what we can," said the stony-faced man as the stalagmites slammed together. "So we take a little pleasure in our work. There's only so much you can do with powers like this and turn a profit."

The sky split overheard as the Pitchoo streaked into the wrecked parking lot. "Wow, you really don't get economics, do you?" said Geckoman. "Not like there's a big market for an earthmover, landscaper, feng shui consultant, or whatever!" The Pitchoo's blasters opened fire on the gaunt man,knocking him for a loop. "Consider this a lesson in the free market!"

Geckoman's blast had seemed to stir the stony-faced man out of his lull, however. With a glare, the sky darkened, and golf balls the size of hail stones rained down around the heroes. "You have no idea where I've been," he said. "What I've had to do. How often I've had to beg and scrape. It's always about being righteous with you guys, but I bet the second someone offered you a big score -- "

"And what did it cost you?" Nick said. Weird green-blue flame that seemed wholly ephemeral began to surround his hands. "All you had to do was close your eyes and ears as good people grew afraid the 'bad guys' would come and rain destruction down on their heads. They trusted you, and you picked their pockets while holding their hands." He lashed out with a blast of eldritch flame at the stony-faced man; the phantasmal gout seemed to stream right into his eyes and ears. "How many times, you filthy dogs? How many times?"