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Towers Powers (IC)


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Saturday 17th Feb...

At night...

...At the Excalibur Building, Central Freedom City


The Excalibur building was your general purpose business sky scraper, loaded with forty floors of pens and terminals, executive suits, conference rooms, and offices. It even had a mini-canteen, known for its fine selection of cheeses.

The annual freelance reporter conference was going on, a rather miserable affair full of burnt out hacks and cynical writers. The booze flowed more freely than was strictly necessary, in a half-successful attempt to liven things up. The semi-famous comedian, Bill Flowers was winding up his routine for the crowd.

"....with two golf balls and a turkey!" he finished up, delivering the punchline to a round of inebriated laughter.

What a job...still, pays the bills... he sighed to himself, his smile not flickering for an instant.

Jack Jackson sat in the corner, downing some cheap wine and laughing half heartedly at the gag from Flowers.

Man I could do with a break...some news... he moaned to himself. He wasn't doing badly, but he hadn't had a scoop since that Towers guy...

The party was interrupted by the sound of gunfire and shouting. Into the building burst five men wearing balaclava's and holding machine guns....

Meanwhile...

At the top of the tower, a beacon was lit, projecting, into the sky, a giant glowing green "G". 

 

Over the police channels, the call came through...

 

"The Excalibur tower has been seized by armed gunmen! we need back up! we need...hell...what's that in the sky? we need a glowing G???"

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Kristin sat bolt-upright on her bed and tossed her book aside as the news report on the small television in the corner of her dorm room cut to a shaky image of the bright green 'G' above the Excalibur building. "What the hell is that?" she muttered as she fumbled for the remote to turn up the sound, then leaned forwards to listen to the confused report. After a moment of hesitation she swung her legs off the bed and stood with a slight wince, still watching the screen as she crossed the room to retrieve her costume.

"Guess that's me?" she asked the empty room as the picture fixed once again on the glowing letter. "Alright then.."

A few minutes later a suited-up Glow swept through the skies of Central Freedom as she regarded the signal-light with apprehension. It certainly seemed like she was being called out and that was cause for concern, especially so soon after her

 

More cautious than normal the young heroine took a high-altitude circuit of the building as she peered down to look for the source of the signal.

Edited by Scuffles
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  • 3 weeks later...

GM

 

At the top of the tower, by the helipad, two maintenance men were flashing the golden G sign over the skies, using a converted spotlight. 

 

The night was black, and quite chilly. At the top of the tower, exposed to the winds, the two men were cold and miserable. 

 

"Hey at least it ain't raining" said one, puffing into his chilled hands. 

 

"Look! Look!" pointed the other. "Its her...that...you know...disaster girl...the one Jack Jackson is always writing about. What's her name now?" muttered the other, shorter and balder one. 

 

The first maintenance worker sighed and pointed, with a facepalm, to the "G" on the spotlight. 

 

"Glow! thats it!" said the shorter worker excitedly. 

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When no obvious danger presented itself Glow circled lower, then finally swooped down and dropped rather carefully to the rooftop in front of the two workers. "Hey there," she greeted them as she looked around cautiously. "Care to explain what the deal is with the spotlight there? Seems like a pretty strange thing for you guys to be search-lighting a giant green 'G' on top of a building that's been taken over by gunmen?"

As the icy wind whipped around her she shivered slightly and wrapped herself more tightly with her telekinetic barriers, then looked over the two men more closely. They certainly seemed to be simply maintenance workers, which obviously meant they must be making the signal at someone's request. "Someone send you up here just to set up the lightshow or something? Any idea why?"

Edited by Scuffles
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Finishing the wrapping of a random purse snatcher Silver Spider was about to swing away on a line of her webbing when the large "G" spotlight in the sky left her blinking in surprise. After reaching a high rooftop she noticed a streak of green hurtling through the sky towards the signal.

"Oh for the love of Tesla...," she muttered before playing catchup. A few moments later she landed gently on the roof. "Hello Glow, I saw you zip by, thought I would swing over and offer a hand." Turning to the maintenance man, the arachnid themed heroine nodded, "Something we can be of assistance with gentlemen?"

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GM

 

"Beats us!" answered the shorter worker, all smiles that he had attracted two, rather than one superhero. 

 

"We just got the say so from the boss. Get up here, put that sign on the beacon, and switch it on..." he paused for a moment, reflective. 

 

"Although he did sound pretty nervous when he said so. Funny thing, he was socialising with that party on the top floor, floor forty. There is some annual backslapping events for those journalists..."

 

"Yeah, real swish!" added his partner. "I heard Jack Jackson was there. Man, I love his columns!" he chuckled to himself, oblivious to the apparent grunt of embarrassment  from his co-worker. 

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Glow gave Silver spider a slightly sheepish grin and a shrug, then turned back towards the two men.

 

"Alright, who's your boss then?" she asked the shorter of the two. "Maybe we'll ask him about it. And is there any way we can get into the top floor from up here? might not be a good idea to catch the elevator, it seems like there's trouble in the building. Probably best that you guys don't go back inside, we might take you down to ground level and you can tell the cops the same thing you told us. They might find it useful too."

 

That the taller man was a fan of Jack Jackson made her roll her eyes. Just my luck that he'd be here she thought as she glanced over at Jen. "Hope you brought your bag of tricks?" she said with a grin. "Looks like we get to save Jackson again."

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After getting the run down of the situation inside, Silver could not help herself and asked, "Did anyone else here read Nothing Lasts Forever?" At the blank looks from the maintenance men she sighed, "Let me try again. Did anyone else here see Die Hard? I just hope whatever caused your boss to call for the Glow-light doesn't involve a band of thieves."

Turning to Glow she said, "Your carrying capacity is considerably higher than mine, and your flight is faster than my web-swinging. If we're going to get these guys safely off the roof, perhaps you should scoop them up and head a few blocks away, in case anyone saw your arrival."

At the younger heroine's look she added, "Don't worry, I'm not going to start the party without you." Her mask hid most of it Kristin could see the telltale signs of a teasing smirk under it. "I don't have all my party favors anyway, still working on some of them."

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"Alright guys, hold on tight, this won't take a minute!" Glow advised the two workers as she enveloped them both in a field of shining telekinetic energy. Unable to keep a grin off her lips at the obvious terror on the face of the taller man she glanced over at Silver spider and winked, then disappeared over the edge with them in tow. The descent was slightly swifter than might have been strictly necessary, but the men were quickly deposited with the police, under instructions to repeat everything they knew to the officer in charge.

 

A few moments later she landed - rather gingerly - atop the tower once more and gave Jennifer a smile. "So I heard on the news that guys with guns stormed the place," she started. "And the whole green 'g' thing..."

 

There was a slight pause, and she chewed on her lip as she ducked her head guiltily. "Yeah I know, I should have called you. Sorry."

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"Well, if it had been a giant spider shaped light being shone against the clouds, I'm not sure my curiosity wouldn't have gotten the better of me either," the arachnid heroine said, leaning against the now deactivated spotlight.  Stepping closer to her girlfriend, she pulled up her mask and placed a serious hand on her shoulder, "I trust your judgement on this, so I'll get the obvious question out of the way.  Are you up for this kind of action?"

 

Jennifer's eyes shone with her concern but she understood, to some extent at least, just how powerful the younger woman was.  Which was why after being informed of Nephilim's savage beating on the Aussie, the scientist's stomach had seemed to turn to stone until she had seen Glow in person.  She still worried but the level of hypocracy involved in making Kristin go back to her school would be astronomical.

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The instinctive response that popped into Kristin's head was "I'm fine", but she paused for a moment, forced into an honest self assessment by Jennifer's concern. "Look, I'm not a hundred percent here and we both know it," she said and then gestured at the spotlight. "But that thing doesn't make a green 'G' by mistake I'm sure, and I just can't let that slide without checking it out. I mean, mostly sure it's a trap, but it's my trap. I can't stand by and let someone else spring it for me."

 

She reached up and put her hand on top of Jen's where it rested on her shoulder. "I would have called you but I figured you'd have wanted me to stay home and let you check it out," she admitted. "I'm glad you came though. Let's go look and if it's too hot to handle we bail and call in help alright? And remember, guys with guns are my problem, I might be beat up but I'm still better at stopping bullets than you!"

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Jennifer did her best to push her worry aside.  "No it doesn't," she said, "I'm not going to try and make you stay back.  Like you said, even hurt you stop bullets with a not inconsiderably higher degree of skill than I do.  And with a great deal more flair."  She leaned down and gave Glow a quick peck on the lips, "Time to go save the ever lible tabloid journalist," she said pulling her mask back on, hiding her slight grin.

 

After checking her web-shooters, she couched and drew in the layer of snow across the rooftop, "If the party was on the fortieth floor, there's a good chance they had guards checking the nearest floors for party goes who wanted to get a room and by now are watching the stairwells incase anyone sneaks off or tries to sneak in."  Thinking for a minute she looked up, "Our best bet might be to incapacitate a stairwell's watchman then sneak in, taking down gunmens as quietly as we can.  Or, squeeze in through the ducts and take out their leader in a very 'Shock and Awe' type attack but I can't see that ending well."

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Kristin smiled in relief when she didn't get a scolding for taking on a mission, and nodded at Jennifer as she put her game face back on. 

 

"I was just going to bust in a window," she admitted sheepishly. "But I think we should probably try the stairs. They must have sent those workmen up and they're probably expecting them to come back down, so I think we might have a chance to get the drop on someone. Well, unless it's a trap and they're expecting me to come down the stairs. Then they'd pretty much be ready for us. Or ready for me at least, I don't think they're going to be expecting you as well."

 

She shrugged. "Like I said, I'd have just smashed my way in, so I reckon you're in charge of the plan.."

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From where she crouched on her haunches, Silver Spider nodded, "Sometimes the direct approach can be the most effective. But, I think the element of surprise will serve us best in this case given the hostages." Rising the older heroine shrugged, "That and, like you said, neither I nor my costume are very bullet resistant. Though, with some supplies from the shelved projects warehouse, I'm hoping to change that..."

Leading the way towards the elevator, the scientist opened the doors and sprayed the wall they slid into down with a thick stream of webbing, holding the car in place at the rooftop level. "This should be of some assisstance. The less freely they can move about, the better for us."

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GM

 

Sliding down the elevator shaft was not difficult for the pair, although any who experienced vertigo would not have enjoyed the ride. The Excalibur tower was, if nothing else, tall. Forty stories, and not skimping on head room. 

 

The elevator itself was frozen, presumably disabled by the armed gunmen. The elevator doors to the top floor, home to the journalists and the gunmen, were also frozen, but easily parted by Glows power or even the Strength of the Silver Spider. 

 

Peeking inside, they could see the six gunmen, wearing masks, carrying submachine guns and seemingly well equipped - grenades, communicators, body armour. They would make a SWAT team look underequipped. Whoever these guys were, they appeared to have the lastest and best arms. 

 

"Keep quiet and none of you will get hurt!" yelled the leader to the frightened journalist. 

 

"This is a hostage situation! We have the area completely locked down! It would take a real hero to free you!" he explained, emphasising the last words as if reading from a vitally important inner script. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

On any normal day Glow would have delighted in shimmying down an elevator shaft, but with her injuries she took the more sensible option and lowered herself gently on a cushion of telekinetic energy. With the elevator door cracked open just slightly she dimmed her powers down and watched the surreal scene as the heavily armed men milled around and the apparent leader made his over-emphasized speech.

"This is so a trap," she whispered to Silver Spider as she continued to watch the villains with a skeptical expression on her face. "But I don't see that we have a choice, do we? I'd say we do it like the church - me in first to rip the guns off them, then you follow up to web them up, but they've got grenades and all kinds."
 
A grin crossed her face as she remembered the debacle that had been her first 'date'. "You got any better ideas?"

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"Look on the bright side, at least you're properly dressed for the evening's activities this time," Silver Spider replied, with a smirk evident in her voice.  "But yeah, this is so obviously a trap.  When we find the mastermind of this little plot, after we leave him hanging upside down from the ceiling I'm suggesting he hire minions with better acting skills next time."
 
"Well, it's an idea I don't care for but we could play this by having you go out while I stick to the shadows or the ventilation shafts looking for a more advantageous ambush point.  If it weren't for their grenades, I would be completely on board with a repeate of our plan at Saint George's," the scientist whispered.

Edited by Azuth65
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"Now now," Glow chided with a grin. "Haven't we talked about coaching the bad guys to be better bad guys? Let's not give them hints!"

 

She chewed on her bottom lip and regarded the scene that faced them seriously for a few moments then nodded at Silver Spider. "I like that," she agreed. "Likely they're not expecting me to have brought backup along, so you should be able to spring a really nasty surprise once I've got their attention. And don't worry about the guns and grenades. If they're really crazy enough to start chucking those around I'm pretty sure I can cover them up enough to make sure nobody gets hurt."

 

Unless they throw half a dozen at once...

 

The Australian heroine didn't think it wise to mention that little doubt out loud, so she glanced over at her partner again. "How long do you need to get in position? I'll count it off and then jump out and make with the gun-stealing."

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  • 2 weeks later...

"There's a difference between being a better bad guy and basic competancy," the scientist said as she climbed up the wall of the shaft to a ventilation grate.  "Hiring guys like that one is almost insulting."  Pulling a small tool from her belt she unscrewed the barrier between her and the dust filled aluminum crawlspace beyond.  Webbing the grate to a wall she muttered, "And now I get to know how a tv dinner feels."

 

Looking back at her girlfriend, "If they do start chucking the grenades, I guess this would be where the skeet slinging I've been doing will pay off.  Now, give me just a minute to get into place then do something dramatic to get their attention."

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  • 4 months later...

Glow counted off the time silently in her head as she watched the gunman mill around - and felt more certain by the second that she was about to spring some kind of nasty trap. She gave Silver Spider three full minutes to get into position just to make sure that her stealthy comrade had plenty of time to prepare, then took a deep breath and slammed the elevator doors open with a telekinetic shove and an accompanying blaze of green light. With her telekinetic barriers wrapped around her the diminutive heroine strode into the room in dramatic fashion and raised her hands as she summoned her powers again and reached out towards the sub-machineguns.

 

The room seemed awash in a flickering display of fluorescent green as the teenager deliberately created more light than necessary while her mental powers sought to disarm all six gunmen at once.

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GM

 

With a furious glow, the submachine guns all whipped across the room, torn from the disbelieving hands of the terrorists. 

 

"What?"

 

"Who?"

 

"Where?"

 

Came the shouts of disbelief, as the masked men looked left, right, up and down to try and figure out what was happening. The mysterious glow around the telekenetic that marched in was clue enough for their less than agile brains to put two and two together. 

 

They were well equipped though, one had to give them that. They carried back up knives and grenades, and started to reach for them...

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As the nearest one of the terrorist reached for his belt, presumably going to pull the grenade hanging from it to throw at Glow, Silver Spider took careful aim from her hiding spot behind an air vent. With just the minimal amount of web stream to lock the criminal in place she let loose her blast, trapping his hands to his sides, his feet to the floor and his mouth shut. Good thing he hadn't pulled the pin yet... she thought as she tried to quietly untangle herself to move to a new firing position.

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GM

 

There was an almighty crash as the windows caved in. 

 

"NEVER FEAR! CAPTAIN TOWER IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!!!" came the roar. 

 

Coby Towers was still tall, dark, and handsome. And he seemed to be as superhumanly fast as ever. 

 

But know, he was wearing what could only be described as a super suit. It was a mixture of kevlar and spandex, with two massive boots that projected out to stilts that reached all the way to the ground floor. The man was standing hundreds of feet high on artificial stilts. 

 

On his back he had five basketballs, which clicked into his hand. He threw the first into the hostages and kidnappers, and it exploded into a bright ball of light. 

 

Just before the light shone brightly, the two heroines caught sight of the man's. It appeared to emblazoned with the names of companies are organisations. 

 

Captain Towers was selling himself for advertising. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

The captured firearms whizzed past Glow's head then clattered their way down the elevator shaft, and the green clad heroine grinned in approval as she spotted Silver Spider's giftwrapping job out of the corner of her eye. Good, we can question that one she thought as she turned back towards the remaining villains and narrowed her eyes as she saw them reaching for their belts. Grenades in the middle of hostages is... what the?!

 

The explosion of the windows inwards caught her off guard but she reacted quickly enough to shield her eyes from the flash, and turned towards the new threat. A moment later she blinked in disbelief at what she saw. "Towers? What the he-"

 

The movement of one of the blinded terrorists caught her eye before she could complete the question, and she spun back towards the men with both hands raised. Light - green this time - flared in the room once again as she wrapped each of the remaining five with her powers and pinned them rather roughly in place - two to a wall, two to the floor and one unlucky man to the ceiling. With the situation seemingly in hand Glow turned her head towards 'Captain Towers' once more. "Alright, what's all this then Towers?" she demanded, watching the villain-turned-hero (apparently) closely.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Silver Spider blinked back the sting of the light she narrowly avoided being blinded by and looked back out the vent.  Seeing Towers, she sighed and gave the covering two solid kicks, causing it to fall to the floor with a clatter before she followed suit.  With a slight surge of her gravitational control, she slowed her decent enough she was able to land gently on her feet.

 

She had to restrain herself from slugging the goon who had reached for his grenade, instead settling for offhandedly webbing him further as she made her way towards the broken windows.  As she neared Glow, "Shameless advertising or not, at least he isn't tearing up sporting goods stores anymore."

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