Hot and Cold (IC) (GM)

[Avenger Assembled]

Early December, 2011

Coastal New Jersey doesn't get particularly cold, not even in the winter. But the fourth of December dawned especially cold and dark, a rain having fallen the previous night and immediately frozen over, covering much of the neighborhood in a coating of ice. Between the grim grey sky and the ice everywhere, it was no day to go outside if you could help it. Of course, some people couldn't: alongside the border of Greenbank and the West End, as a chilly morning dawned, an entire block of apartments awoke to find their buildings encased in a solid globe of ice! This was no natural effect of the storm the night before, it was as if someone had come along and glazed the block into a snow globe, one hard enough to resist the policemen with icepicks and crowbars below.

[Supercape]

"C'est Magnifique!"

Rene had been taking a morning stroll, wrapped up warm and taking the pleasant opportunity to tell every other passer by how his bones ached in such chilly climes. The truth was, he conceded, he was getting a little venerable.

Oh, of course he was in no danger of passing away yet. He had another few decades in him, at least. But, he realised, he had lived a few centuries and would probably not see one more. His lifespan had been much longer than the average mortal's, but mortal he still was, and his body was old. Sprightly still, but old. Old enough to actually feel the cold.

His mood was lifted from such morbid musings by the sight of the buildings encased in ice.

"C'est Magnifique!" he exclaimed in pure joy.

He could not ask for a better scene to paint!

[Electra]

Winter was not Stesha's favorite time of year. Oh, it had its good points, like the holidays and the way the frost painted snowflakes on windows, and the chance to indulge in extra coffee, tea, and cocoa. Not to mention the break from her groundskeeping routines while the parks and gardens of Freedom City slept for a season. In fact, winter might have been one of her favorite seasons if it weren't so doggone cold and dark and cold!

As it was, she'd added another sweatshirt and some leggings underneath her costume, which did nothing for the heroic figure she was supposed to be cutting, but did keep her warm. Ammy couldn't come out for long in this weather at all, so she was safely tucked away with a babysitter on Sanctuary, snug as a bee in a honeycomb. Really all Stesha was hoping to do was handle her Auxillary Leage patrol shift, then go home with a bag of pastries from the bakery near her old apartment. Even so, when the call came in about the trapped residents, Fleur de Joie didn't hesitate to answer.

She arrived near the buildings and took a moment to goggle at the sight. It looked like a Christmas ornament, all done up and sparkling in the sunlight, but the ice dome looked pervasive enough that breathing was going to become a problem for the people trapped inside if something wasn't done soon. This might be a situation beyond her own abilities. Looking around, Fleur was grateful to spot a familiar face. "Rene!" she called, jogging over to her friend and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "It's so nice to see you again! Any ideas for how we solve this one?"

[Supercape]

"It's so nice to see you again! Any ideas for how we solve this one?"

Rene smiled broadly as he bumped into Stesha. Then looked quite nunplussed at her question.

"Solve?" he said, furrowing his brow. "Ze Ice is perfect! What a picture! Look at ze way ze morning sunlight dances so gracefully across ze...."

He awoke as from a dream.

"Ah oui! but forgive me, madam! there are people in there! scared, no doubt! and cold, too! oh so cold, cold to their bones...oh it makes an old man like me shudder. My bones, they ache so badly in this cold, I am just a helpless old man..." he started, almost as a reflex, wincing in pain, and one sharp eye popping open to examine if Stesha was paying attention.

He sighed. She was too astute for that.

"*ahem*" he coughed into his hand. "Oui, well, it is a conundrum for certain. And also, there is ze question, how did ze ice get there!"

Such beautiful ice too...

[Airon]

Saeid awoke freezing in his own bed. At his left, Jamila was hogging all the blankets “H’ney, I tfhink the heat’rs broke dohwn.†she mumbled half-asleep enveloping herself even tighter in the blankets. Saeid moved two fingers and a heavy dressing gown flew out of the closet and fitted itself on his shoulders. The alarm clock displayed 7:08 AM, but the light oozing in from the windows was different, fainter and somewhat eerie.

He didn’t give it much thought until after the coffee pot was ready. Then he went to open a window… and almost fell on the floor from the surprise. “Oh well…†he whispered to himself, while trying to make out shapes and colors past the thick ice “No rest for the masked, in this city…â€

He went back to his bedroom, put an additional cover on Jamila "Stay in bed as long as you like, honey... I'm afraid we're not going for our morning stroll today..." Then dressed up, wearing his Weaver costume under heavy trousers and a wool sweater. He turned on the TV, hoping to learn some news about this calamity Or attack, or super-science incident… you never know.

No signal came form the antenna, of course, but maybe cable… while distractedly zapping through news channels, he tried to remember Sallah’s lessons about elemental magic, looking to understand if there was a mystical hand under that ice. Let's hope none of the neighbors is too much of a Sunday early bird... or panic control is going to be a nightmare.

[Avenger Assembled]

Not many people had taken to the streets inside the dome; the frosty cold that Weaver could feel through his window was cold enough that no one without an urgent reason was going to risk breaching the dome from the inside. What few hardy souls, out in heavy coats and hacking at the ice themselves, who had gone outside were the first to see the arrival of new players on the scene: in a swirl of red and black dots instantly recognizable as Crime League teleporters, a large group of heavily-dressed people flared to life on the sidewalk. In identical white arctic suits, faces hidden by cold weather masks and hoods, the thugs worked as a team to grab the people on the street, parting ways to reveal the armored figure in the middle of the crowd.

No one had heard much from Madame Zero recently; she'd gone to prison two years earlier after being busted by Claremont students, and busted out during the attack on Blackstone during the Grue invasion a year later. Clad in her familiar blue and white armor, the icy mad scientist seemed to be shouting something at the people on the street: evidently she got her answer, because while her thugs began breaking up to hit each individual building, she headed herself with half a dozen goons towards the building next to Weaver's. She evidently had a purpose in mind.

Seconds later, Fleur de Joie and Rene got the answer for what she was looking for as Fleur's League communicator beeped frantically to life. "Fleur de Joie, this is Lady Liberty," said the patriotic paragon urgently. "We've tracking you by satellite, but we're dealing with a Class 2 solar event in orbit right now so we can't get down there to help you. I've got news." Her voice tightened. "When Victoria Leonard escaped from prison last year, she was in the Blackstone Infirmary after giving birth. Her son was adopted out to John and Elizabeth Carlton, two retired vigilantes. The Carltons live in that block in the West End. They've got powers, but not enough to take Madame Zero alone without backup."

[Airon]

Saeid went back to his bedroom “Jami, honey, wake up.†she squinted trying to focus “People are in danger, I’ll have to go out in costume and deal with a nutjob.â€

“Again?†she mumbled without opening her eyes “You just locked up two of them last Friday…â€

“Jami, wake up and listen to me! This is serious, she’s a bad one, she’s getting into the building next to us.†He explained the situation.

“Ok, I know the drill, you go out, tie them up. I’ll go upstairs to Miriam’s, she’s probably having a hard time keeping her kids calm with this situation, I think I’ll help her.â€

He kissed her “I’d rather have you thinking about your own safety, but you’re too wonderful for that, aren’t you?†He lost his civilian clothes and put the scarf and hood on.

“You would be scarier in a dark alley than here in the hallway next to the ficus.â€

“I guess so.†He smiled under the scarf. “Stay safe. I love you.â€

He jumped on Arug and went out the hallway window, above the fire stairs. The ice was so flawless to let the light get in relatively undistorted – and scouting the perimeter, Weaver exhaled in relief when he recognized two figures he’d seen several times on the news.

They’re probably already on it he thought to himself but you never know. He looked back into his apartment, concentrated and mentally grabbed several bedsheets and tablecloths. He pulled them out and, with considerable effort, arranged them against the ice wall to create a sign

OЯƎZ ƎMADAM

“Close enough...†he whispered to himself "Now let’s see if I can at least delay her†and as saying so, he directed all the cloth towards the super-criminal and her henchmen.

[Supercape]

"Madame Zero?" queried Rene, furrowing his brow. "I think I remember something about her...in the seventies? Or was it fifties? Damn my memory..."

"In any case it looks like ze mother is returning for ze child. I cannot say I blame her, but this is only going to end in tears. Frozen tears, at that"

"So, how to get in? If I can get a picture of anything inside ze dome, I can paint us in!" said Rene, flourishing his paint brush. No doubt there were photographs of even paintings of various locations inside - not that he had any to hand...

[Electra]

Fleur listened to the radio message, then massaged her temples. "So she escaped without her child, and they decided that meant they could just adopt the kid out without any problems? Are they mental? Plenty of people are going to be crying by the end of this, but all we can do is stop her from suffocating an entire city block. Hey, look at that."

She pointed to the cloth arranging itself against the wall. "There's a hero already in there, and he knows something about what's going on. We'd better get in there too." Putting a hand on Rene's shoulder, she touched the flowers in her hair and teleported them to the closest plant life under the bubble of ice.

[Avenger Assembled]

Through great good luck, the nearest plant turned out to be an ornamental pot where some herbs were growing just a few feet away from Saied's position on the fire stairs, giving the heroes a chance to rendezvous with each other before they went to engage Madame Zero. That lady seemed to have abandoned her plans to attack the first apartment she'd approached, instead walking out to the center of the plaza between the apartments, right in the middle of the block. She evidently wasn't suspecting serious superheroic resistance, not with her thugs breaking off to secure the doors to each building, Saied's included. Instead, she spoke, the ice all around her vibrating to the sound of her voice.

"You all know who I am. Some of you," she added challengingly, "know why I'm here. If you come out now and bring what I want, the ice will go away and your neighborhood will be safe. I know you may have fought some little super-thugs, twenty years ago, but you've never fought anyone like me before If not, you're going to find out what a REAL supervillain can do!"

No sooner had she said that, though, than a torrent of blankets and sheets came descending on her at Weaver's command, burying the supervillain beneath a pile of cloth that thoroughly blocked her view of the world: most of her thugs were under cover and impossible to hit from this angle, but the lady herself was truly blinded. For now.

[Electra]

"We know what you're trying to do," Fleur called. "I'm truly sorry about what happened with your child, but this is not the way to solve anything. We can't let you just abandon him, then come back and kidnap him. It doesn't work that way! We won't let you risk your son and all these innocent people, and we will stop you." As she said that, the plants around Madame Zero came to life, twisting and sliding up the cold-controller's body until she was entirely wrapped in a cocoon of vines and leaves. "Stand down now and nobody has to get hurt!" Fleur called to the minions.

[Avenger Assembled]

Fleur de Joie had dealt with people trying to break her vines before, but this one was different. While the Beekeeper had relied on guile and inventions, Madame Zero was relying on sheer overwhelming power: as she watched, the vines bowed and stretched around the ice-wielding villain, spikes of white and blue slowly, agonizingly pushing themselves out of the ice that surrounded Madame Zero. A distant scream came to the heroes' ears from the woman inside the bonds, as if she was pushing her way through with her last ounce of strength!

[Supercape]

"Impressive!" commented Rene at Madame Zero's herculean efforts to free herself.

"Or, as the rapscallion youth of this uncultured country would say..." he continued, slightly spitting the words.

"Cool!...hehe!" he chuckled to himself.

"*Ahem*, Oui, and also we must stop you, Madame!" he called out, with a bit more steel in his voice, hoping Fleur would not remind him of that quip later.

Reality was just a canvas upon which Rene could paint with ancient, eternal, mystic power. For this, he decided to counter Madame Zero's ice with something hotter. He acknowledged within himself a sense of sympathy, even pity for her. It was not a happy story. He didn't want to hurt her.

But stop her, oui. That he wanted.

From the distance, a swirling, curling blast of hot air curled around like a brush stroke. IT was hard to say exactly what it was - like the distortions of a mirage, with rich orange and dusky hues. It felt like the blast of a day of desert heat all wrapped up into one angry zephyr, rushing to dessicate and suffocate all at once. And it slammed straight for Madame Zero.

[Airon]

Weaver reacted slowly, a bit startled not only by the biggest baddie he ever faced, but also by his first fight side by side with two Freedom City legends.

It was Fleur’s talk about a child to wake him up. He didn’t really had a clue about what was going on, and wasn’t sure he could do much that the others weren’t going to do better. Madame seemed interested in the building next to his, so he directed Arug just between her and the door.

“I have to say, I’m amazed by what you have done to the neighbor†he joked then, hiding his preoccupation with snark “the kids will love it!†he kept moving while talking, trying not to give away his position to the blinded villain “I suggest you just let them enjoy the sight and follow my colleague’s advice: call it a day, Madame!â€

[Avenger Assembled]

Madame Zero's struggles inside the bonds of Fleur de Joie's plants slowed, but didn't halt entirely, as Weaver's taunts sunk in. Madame Zero was one of the most powerful supervillains on Earth, but with three powerful heroes on the scene primed to attack her weak spots, it looked like her rampage was going to stop before it started. Her allies were still gamely in the fight, however, and a bullet zipped past Weaver's head, stitching a hole in his scarf but not actually hitting the man inside. The gunman in question was clearly visible below, cursing as he hastily reloaded his rifle in the shelter of an iced-over park bench The rest of the thugs previously in the plaza had retreated back into the shelter of their buildings, and with good reason as the temperature in the plaza dropped further and further, the heroes' breath turning to thick clouds of steam before them as the ice on the windows and surfaces thickened: Madame Zero might be bound, but her powers were not!

[Electra]

"This is very close to getting out of hand," Fleur murmured. "We'll talk about her motivations with her later." She waved her arms, and suddenly the cocoon of plants surrounding the bound villainess swelled for a moment then collapsed, empty. Madame Zero was gone without a trace, safely confined between dimensions in the belly of some giant plant somewhere. "Now would be a perfect time to surrender," she advised the armed men, "before anyone gets hurt." To Rene she murmured, "Can you do anything to melt the ice? We need to get this bubble open before anyone freezes or suffocates, and I doubt Madame Zero is going to do it for us."

[Avenger Assembled]

With the disappearance of Madame Zero, the fight seemed to go out of her thugs, those on the square surrendering right out while others fled into the block of apartments she had encapsulated earlier in the morning, hoping to take shelter among the anonymity of those buildings. After a long pause and as people in the buildings began to peek out and take stock of the heroic victory in the square, one of the rimed-over windows in the building just behind Weaver's opened up, and a man emerged: stepping out, he slid down the ice-covered sides of the building with the speed and grace that only a superhuman could have matched. When he reached the small group of heroes, he pulled back his Freedom City hooded sweatshirt to reveal a dignified African-American man in his mid-fifties, his handsome face marred by an obvious cybernetic attachment over the left side, with a red mechanical eye on that side like a laser sight. "My name is John Carlton, but people used to call me the Eye of Justice. I'm glad you three were here," he said at Weaver's approach. "All of you. I...I don't know what we could have done without risking many more lives."

[Supercape]

"Pleased to meet you, Monsieur ze eye of ze Justice!" said Rene with a little bow, doffing his beret slightly.

"And what a splendid ze eye it is!" he added enthusiastically. "So red!, why, you would make a most handsome portrait! so penetrating!"

"And tell me Monsieur" he continued, in slightly more subdued tones "can you shed any of that magnificent light on Madame Zero and what she was doing? we had come to suspect it was to do with her, how shall we say, her particular family circumstances...but I, for one, would like to know for sure. And if possible, ensure that no harm has befallen the family in question. "

[Avenger Assembled]

"I don't know for sure," admitted the former Eye. "The Raven locked her up before my time, and my wife's dealings with her were all through third parties." He sighed, looking at the place where Madame Zero had been before getting sucked into another dimension. "My wife and I have fostered a half-dozen kids for the League, usually kids whose parents are nothing but bad news, but we've never had an attack like this. Emergency foster kids either are behind seven different informational firewalls, or their parents are glad to see the back of them so they can get back to hurting innocents."

The look on his face showed what he thought of that. "Her kid's got enough trouble as it is. One of the kids who's got mom and dads powers, and weaknesses, right from the get-go. My wife's in there with him now."

[Airon]

Weaver landed smoothly near Rene and Carlton, then stepped down from Arug. He looked at the building the Eye of Justice just left, then at his own apartment a few dozen yards away, then again at the older super-hero. I really should start paying more attention to my surroundings if I am to make it as a super-hero he thought to himself scratching his chin under the scarf this guy is a damn cyborg, and probably a Freedom City legend too! he lives a rock's throw from me and I never even saw him!

“I – I’m a bit lost.†he interrupted “I’m Weaver, by the way… †he leaned his hand towards John "Very pleased to meet you, mr Carlton, and you too, Monsieur DeSaens. I'm a big fan of your work - and I'm not only talking about the crime-fighting." he smiled at the old artist, a bit star-struck.

“I’m getting that nutcase was after a child, but it seems he’s not yours – so it’s not your basic villainous revenge plan. The League gave you… her child?†his brow furrowed in confusion “And said child has powers? And does he know his heritage?†for a moment Weaver lost control of his usually calm demeanor “For once that the fight with the villain went smoothly… of course there’s complications…†he added in sarcastic whisper after regaining calm.

[Avenger Assembled]

"He's only a year old," said Carlton, shaking his head. "He barely knows how to walk on his own, much less who his parents are. Zero told the cops his daddy was Gla-Zer, that ice prince guy from up north." Gla-Zer was somewhat younger than Zero, but the two were the most famous ice-wielding villains in Freedom City and had teamed up on more than one occasion: evidently for more than one meaning of that word. "Nobody's seen him since he tangled with those guys on the West Coast back in summer." He shook Weaver's hand, pulling himself back into the moment, and said seriously, "Nice to see someone stepping up and defending the neighborhood again." Up over their heads, with Madame Zero in another dimension the ice slowly began to melt.

[Electra]

"It's nice to meet you, Weaver," Fleur said, her smile genuine even if she seemed a bit distracted by the circumstances. "That business with covering her eyes was excellent work. I'm Fleur de Joie." She turned to Carlton, her brow creasing with puzzlement. "You and your wife are foster parents?" she asked him. "I was under the impression that the child had been adopted." That could simply have been a miscommunication, she knew, especially in the heat of the moment. "Do you have any idea how Madame Zero would've known where to find you?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"We've been fostering through the city ever since our son went off to boarding school down in Bayview," agreed the cybernetic hero. "We've thought about adopting sometimes, but there are too many super-kids in the system that most parents aren't equipped to take. At least when they're with us, we know they're as happy and secure as we can make them." He frowned. "I can't think of how Zero would have found us. She's smart, but I never heard of her doing any computer hacking, and she's not the subtle type." He hmmed. "Our usual contact with the city is Rayford Cameron, he works out of DCS in City Hall. He might even be there now. They're always working around the holidays."

[Airon]

Weaver blushed a bit when Fleur complimented him.

"Yes... yes it's nice to meet you too, Fleur." he answered. Meanwhile, his brain was screaming Oh boy, I'm really teaming up with Fleur de Joie!

They were talking about computer hacking though, and that was a area where he was useless.

"We should probably contact this Mr Cameron right now, at least to make sure they didn't have any problems there." he scratched his head under the hood. "Do you think there's a chance that your role as foster super-parents has been revealed for good? Or do you think Madame Zero kept the information for herself?" that was a huge concern of his - Carlton and his wife were doing a priceless service to the City, in an area he hadn't even considered. If the underworld knew, it could make stuff very difficult for them.

[Supercape]

= "I can't think of how Zero would have found us. She's smart, but I never heard of her doing any computer hacking, and she's not the subtle type. Our usual contact with the city is Rayford Cameron, he works out of DCS in City Hall. He might even be there now. They're always working around the holidays."

Rene nodded. He pretended to know what computer hacking was.

He hardly knew what a computer was!

"Oui, computer hacking..." he replied "..a very serious offence. Not subtle. No doubt she used an axe or something for ze hacking..."

He coughed slightly into his hand.

"In any case, I think Monsieur Cameron may have some of ze answers we need. I suggest we try and catch him at ze City Hall. Perhaps it has some handy plant-life nearby?" he queried, addressing Fleur.