ic Lights, Camera, Action! (IC)

[Sophistemon]

The Colonel couldn't help but smile, though it was only barely noticeable due to the fleshy concrete of his face. A slight twitch of the lips was all the indication there was that he was please by their enthusiasm. "I'm glad to see you all well and rested," he said, speaking to everyone at once. "All right, let's get you all up to speed. While you rested, our investigations revealed that the home located above the Fanatic's lair is registered to a Mrs. Shondra Brown -- Gabriela's mother." He reached down, opened a folder, and revealed an 8x10 portrait of a smiling woman, posed with her family. A man stands beside her, and two children are knelt down in front. All of them are smiling and dressed in identical white turtlenecks. Chalmers moves a thick, stubby finger to the man, who Warne immediately recognizes as having appeared previously in another photograph, the one he'd found in Gabby's apartment. "Shondra was married to the late Jacob Brown. He died of liver failure in 2003 and left behind his wife and two children. Gabriella, the eldest who Agent Warne has... almost met, and his younger son Jason. We did some digging and found out Jacob worked in Hollywood during the 80s, before his drinking cost him the friends he needed to stay in the business. He worked in special effects; animatronics, mostly." He looked up, his eyes spearing the group. "You can guess which movies he hand a hand in making. It looks like he found work in Freedom City as a systems engineer before cirrhosis took him." Chalmers sighed. "Anyway. It's a very solid lead, and a strong connection to what's going on. If the Fanatic is Gabby Brown, then we know where she is, or at least where she will be."

[Blarghy]

Well, that seals it.  The whole Brown family probably has reason for a misplaced grudge now.  This being Freedom City, we shouldn't rule out the possibility of the father himself having returned from the grave.  Still, it's probably Gabriela.  Unless...

 

"How old is the son, Jason?  Is he an adult, or close to it--and do we know where he lives these days?  And do we have any other news on the mother, Shondra?  This may be a crime for the whole family; we could be looking for her and either one, or both of, the kids.  I don't suppose anyone other than Jacob has a background in electronics or engineering.  That'd simplify the matter.  Then again, either way we know where we're going.  It's just a matter of what we find there."

 

And if there's another clown in that house, then I swear to God...

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil was philosophical, sitting by herself with the strange posture of the long-limbed, shoulders hunched forward as she traced eldritch patterns on the van floor with her armored feet. "We go into battle against a ssstrange foe, to free creaturesss like none on this Earth." When she spoke quietly, her voice was a sibilant hiss as translated by the voder in her armor, rather different than the booming bellow of when she was agitated. "One to sssing to the young beneath the light of the Moon." Closing her eyes beneath the armor, she half-listened to the others as they made their final preparations, listening to the vibrations their words caused against the tough star-metal of the armor. "Let usss go and do what we mussst. We ssshould ride," she suggested, "that we might not be sssseeen."

[Heritage]

It all made a lot of sense; a broken family with ties to Hollywood, the tragic death due to alcoholism, the disposable nature of the entertainment industry, an indifferent world and self-righteous indignation. Any one of those elements would be enough to breed a new villain, and then when you mixed them all together...

 

"I can do an IR sweep of the house before we hit it, maybe give us a heads up on the number of warm bodies under that roof." Then she gave Aquaria a smile and a nod. "And I can be sneaky, believe it or not, if I need to be."

Edited February 5, 2017 by Heritage

[Sophistemon]

Colonel Chalmers sighed and eased himself into a chair, brushing an empty pizza box out of the way before settling in. He laced his fingers together and breathed. "Jason is..." he leafed through the papers until he found the proper sheet, read, and swore. "He's twenty, currently attending MIT in pursuit of a degree in engineering." The large man leaned back into his seat, which creaked beneath the weight of his bulk. "Well, that's just dandy. They might all be in on it. I mean, it says here that Shondra's a nurse, but... even without the education, she could be pulling all the strings." He sucked a breath and looked to Sea Devil. "You raise a good point. A few of you can, or could, get to the house by flying or... whatever it is the clown does." He looked over at Punchline, who stuck out his tongue and wiggled his ears, and sighed. "But I think it best if you go incognito, or at least as stealthily as possible. We have a few options, but I think a delivery truck could work. We've got a few flower vans down in storage from the old Cold War days that would do the trick." Finally, he turned his attention to Miracle Girl. "A fine idea. The more you know about what's going on inside before you engage, the better prepared you'll be when you do."

Edited February 1, 2017 by Sophistemon

[Blarghy]

"When I flew back from Brown's apartment, I wasn't able to hide from the Fanatic while doing so," Adept agreed.  "Much faster speeds or higher altitudes might solve the problem, but most of us should go by enclosed vehicle and hope that this villain can't somehow still find us."  He drummed his fingers on the tabletop impatiently.  "I think we have our plan, then.  Are we ready to put it into action?"

[Avenger Assembled]

In the inside of the truck, Sea Devil kept to herself, crouching on the floor and spurning seats and benches meant for beings with shorter legs and joints that flexed in different directions. She'd been in fights since coming to the Surface, but this felt different from those. It was more like a raid - something she knew only too well. So she took the opportunity to make her mark, extending her tri-fingered hand and summoning a glowing verdigris trident that hummed faintly as the star-stuff of its body interacted with the air around her. She made a small sign on the floor, not cutting deep enough to go all the way through the metal, while chanting softly to herself in a mechanical rumble that echoed through the truck. " Run-tun-run-tun-tun..."

[Sophistemon]

@Avenger Assembled

The truck trundled through the city. Its exit from the AEGIS building had been hidden by a clever manipulation of the area's CCTV cameras, masking its departure from the Fanatic's prying eyes. By the time the manipulation ended, the flower van had already entered traffic and disappeared into the teeming throng of vehicles that ebbed and flowed along the city's motorways. Inside, Punchline watched Sea Devil carve symbols into the metal floor. Smiling, he followed her example by pulling a crayon out from behind his ear and doodling a large, goofy smiley-face onto the interior wall. He admired his work for a moment before adding an extended tongue, so that the face was blowing a raspberry. "There," he said, not immodestly pleased with himself. "Now that we're done with arts and crafts, let's Vincent van Gogh get this guy!"

 

@Blarghy & @Heritage

As the van neared its target, Adept and Miracle Girl soared through the sky at great speeds. They had left the building alongside the vehicle, their exit hidden by the same manipulation of the cameras, and they flew high enough above the city that they were invisible to those below. Equipped with earpieces, they would be able to communicate despite the distance between them. They arrived a few minutes before their team-mates would, aided by the absence of traffic, and hovered above the house. Miracle Girl would have ample time to utilize her superhuman senses to inspect the house's interior for obvious threats.

[Heritage]

"I can see two women," said Casey over the coms as she squinted down at the house. "One is making dinner, the other is...studying? They're both in the kitchen. There's a large, lead-lined bunker beneath the house that matches the model Punchline made us, though it looks like there might have been a few changes since he was there last. I can't see anyone else, though obviously someone could be in the basement."

 

The blonde powerhouse shook her head as she floated above the house; this was all kinds of weird. "Neither of the women look like the Browns, unless they're somehow shapeshifters; if anything, they look like...maybe sitcom chatacters? Their hairstyles are all old fashioned." She gave Warne a puzzled look and a shrug. "Maybe he made himself the 'perfect family'? Kind of fits his M.O."

Edited March 4, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

"Or maybe they're part of a trap," Warne guessed with his usual paranoia.  "Either prisoners from the other world to decorate this villainous lair, or allies of the Fanatic.  We won't know until we engage them, I suppose.  I recommend that we try to quickly contain them upon entry, but focus on gaining access to the bunker under the house.  The longer we wait after revealing ourselves, the more time it gives the Fanatic to prepare, or to simply escape, either into the streets or another reality entirely.  Miracle Girl, you're the fastest and most durable agent here, so I would prefer to have you on point--but that's not to say we should split up for any longer than we have to.  Best to confront our enemy as a group, to bring our full strength to bear.

 

"It seems best to enter via multiple entrances to cut off escape routes.  Let's all cover a door, perform a quick search on our way in, and meet in the kitchen to capture these individuals, whoever they may be, and from there, hurry to the bunker.  Miracle Girl, can you see where that is, so we know in advance?  Does anyone have other suggestions?" 

Edited March 9, 2017 by Blarghy

[Sophistemon]

Punchline tapped his earpiece, then tapped it again a few more times so that several dull, heavy thumps echoed through the radio. "Hello?" he squeaked. "Hello, is this thing on? Operator?" He sniggered, then composed himself. "It sounds like we've got a plan forming. I think I can help; I might be able to jump into the kitchen and cause a commotion. I can be pretty... distracting when I want to be, you know?" He grinned, so wide it looked as though his mouth might split his face in half. "And I can take a beating, too -- as Tall, Dark and Gritty can vouch for. If you're all game, I could pop in there and make enough noise that they don't notice the rest of you. Whaddaya say, how's about we quit clowning around so I can start clowning around?" The smile faded. "Just make sure you come to the rescue before I get sent back into Teeveeland, okay? It was bad in there!"

Edited March 13, 2017 by Sophistemon

[Avenger Assembled]

For her part, Sea Devil took the rear of the house. From Miracle Girl's description, the white door in front of her led to the house's kitchen, a place she knew well from her own apartment - but also the place where the two Surfacer females were going about their business. They'd either flee her approach or attack - the former she was familiar with. The latter, she was confident that her own physiology and armor could handle. Playing her own part of distraction (knowing her fellow heroes would be stealthier than she was likely to be), she kicked in the door and croaked loudly, "There is a BAD CRIMINAL in this house!" as she hopped inside the kitchen, making sure that she still blocked the door as she came in. "I AM HERE FOR HIM!"  

[Blarghy]

Warne mused over Punchline's offer, weighing the pros and cons.  On one hand, using the clown as bait appealed to him more than he cared to admit, but then again, this would keep him from being able to supervise their team's wildcard. 

 

Then the other wildcard made his choice for him.  Adept said a few nasty words over the comms and activated his force field.

 

"Let's go!" he snapped to Miracle Girl.  "We've got to breach that bunker and find the Fanatic before he is alerted to our presence!  I'm right behind you; the others can handle whatever they find in the kitchen and join us below."

 

He knew that the powerhouse was fast, so Warne started to fly down toward the house even as he spoke, but Casey's true speed would likely take him by surprise.  Hopefully she would leave a trail of busted doors for him to follow; otherwise, the younger hero would certainly move too quickly for him to visually track. 

[Heritage]

"I'll get us in there," said Miracle Girl as she began to tie her hair up into a ponytail; it seemed an odd time to try on a new style, but soon it became clear she just wanted it up and out of the way when she had work to do. Carefully positioning herself directly over the suspect's house, she took a deep breath, held out her arms...and began to spin. Faster and faster until all that could be seen was a glowing golden spindle hovering in the air. It spun there for several seconds, slowly building up speed as it began to hum at a teeth-rattling frequency.

 

Until that spindle dropped straight out of the sky and effortlessly plunged through the roof like a hot needle going right through butter, forcing a cloud of sawdust and debris to plume upwards as the blonde powerhouse disappeared from view. 

Edited July 5, 2017 by Heritage

[Sophistemon]

@Avenger Assembled & @Sophistemon

Punchline popped out of thin air with a flash, balloons and streamers bursting into existence around him as he made his entrance. He stood, bowlegged and arms akimbo, with a face-splitting grin. "Hello, l-l-ladies," he crowed. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Tall, dark, and armored. Have you seen the guy? He's done some pretty gnarly things lately and I'm here to kick his butt all the way to China!" The women stared at him, wide-eyed and open mouthed, until Sea Devil made her appearance. When the monstrous creature from beneath the waves burst into the room, spitting demands in her booming croak of a voice, the paralysis was broken. The older of the two women dropped the tray of cookies she'd just pulled from the oven -- chocolate chip, of course, and steaming hot -- to raise her mitted hands to her face. The younger, sitting at the table and working on her homework, dropped her pen and shrieked. She pointed at the terrifying monster in front of her and screamed.

 

"Clown!"

 

@Blarghy & @Heritage

Miracle Girl sped past Warne in a twirling blur of color, so quickly his eyes could barely follow. The older man might have fight a bit awestruck as the whirling super-heroine drilled into the roof feet-first, tiles splintering beneath her as she powered down, down through the layers of the house and the earth below it. For Miracle Girl, it went by in a flash. Roof, ceiling, floor, ceiling, floor, dirt... metal. It resisted her at first. Solidly constructed, it didn't take well to the idea that someone, no matter how strong, could plow through it while twirling around like a top. But it gave, eventually, and Miracle Girl found herself hovering in a vast underground chamber, the walls of which were lined with blinking electronics scavenged from various junkyards and second-hand shops located throughout the city. A voice spoke in the darkness. It was low, and weary, and void of hope.

 

"Ah," it said. "Another vision, come to taunt me. Do it. There is nothing left to feel."

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria croaked in alarm, arms waving for a moment as her trident deactivated, briefly flinching away from the sight of Surfacer civilians in a panic. But she pushed past her fear even so, lowering her arms and declaring, "There is a fiend below your house with intentions! Run away so we can save you!" It was clear that these people either knew nothing of the crimes taking place below their feet or they were good actors - either way, it was best to get them out of the way before they panicked. She stepped between the civilians and Punchline as she did, giving the dimensional traveler shelter from their strange fears - a fear she knew only too well. Surfacers always did judge! 

[Heritage]

Casey had done her job; she'd forced her way into the bunker in a rather loud and flashy way, drawing attention away from Warne and the rest of the team. Yet she found herself glowing and hovering in the air, fists clenched and long blonde hair billowing around her, rather taken aback by the voice she encountered.

 

"I regret to inform you that I'm very real. My name is Miracle Girl, and I am here to save the hostages."

 

As she spoke, she cast her eyes around the chamber, looking for any sign of either the speaker or any of the captives.

Edited April 14, 2017 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

It happened so quickly that Warne initially reacted with just confusion, despite being given the entrance he demanded.  He thought about how the government might weaponize such a power; breaching techniques were rarely so precise or quick, at least at the same time, and Miracle Girl had somehow left the rest of the house still standing. 

 

Maybe the kid would like a military career.  Someone nicer than me should ask.

 

He flew down in pursuit as quickly as he could, which wasn't too impressive at the moment, and navigated both the new skylight and, presumably, a fair amount of dust.  Warne couldn't see through the grime in the air, much less pierce the basement's shadows, and by the time he reached the bunker, their host's greeting probably already came and went.  Miracle Girl cut an impressive image without his help, so the agent hung back slightly, reaching out with his mind in preparation to attack the Fanatic at the first opportunity.  Whoever they were, AEGIS had found them in their own lair, and there would be no escape!

[Sophistemon]

@Avenger Assembled

The women looked at one another, red-painted lips parted in surprise. The older of the two dropped to her knees, adjusting her dress for modesty, and began to gather the scattered cookies. "Oh," she puffed. "Oh, what a waste. Now I'll have to make more." Punchline watched, his own red lips pulled down in a slight frown. Everywhere he went, it seemed, nobody wanted him there. He moved towards her and, with a rather unnervingly fluid grace, sank to the floor and began to help. The younger of the two, the daughter, had her eyes focused on Sea Devil, before looking back down at her schoolwork. Neither woman appeared willing to acknowledge Miracle Girl's entrance into their home.

 

"Save us from who?" asked the daughter, her voice rising at the end. "What intentions?" She paused, and took a moment to think. "You don't mean my brother Jason?"

 

@Heritage

The voice huffed a dry, humorless laugh. "You're wrong," it proclaimed. "You aren't real. Nothing is." Casey's infravision cut through the darkness and found the source of the melancholy. A man, a large man, was seated in the corner of a cell not a few feet from her position with his back pressed against the juncture of walls. "I used to think I was Rhekgar the Raider," said the man. "Slayer of hundreds, savior of thousands. Heir to Eagland-of-Old." A hand, glowing like molten fire in Casey's stupendous senses, reached up to tug fitfully at a lock of matted hair. "I am not that man," moaned the warrior. "I am a figment of that man, as you are a figment of some higher power." He barked another mocking laugh. "We were never meant to meet our gods," he mused. "We disappoint them, and they us."

 

@Blarghy

Adept descended slowly, taking in the path made through the earth by Miracle Girl's drilling passage. He could reach out and run a hand against the shredded metal of the complex's ceiling, were he not mildly concerned about lacerations. The young woman was impressively powerful, and he was right in his assumption that she'd make a fine addition to the organization. He could hear talking as he descended. A gruff, humorless voice answered by Casey's more melodic one. He thought, for a second, the unknown voice might be that of the Fanatic, but it lacked the metallic, mechanical inflection. There was some light to see by, pouring down the passage from above, but the way below was hazy. A split wire spit sparks to his left, and the thought occurred to Adept that their entrance might have unforeseen consequences.

[Heritage]

When Casey was about ten years old, she stumbled upon a Will Ferrell movie on cable called Stranger Than Fiction; like many young kids, she thought he was really funny, especially in movies like Anchorman and Elf, so she decided to watch this movie, too. Except it wasn't very funny; it was about a man who found out he was only a character in a story, and his whole life was a lie, and at the end of the story he was going to die. And even though it had a happy ending, Casey thought it was the saddest thing she'd ever seen in her young life.

 

Rhekgar now knew he was fictional, and she couldn't imagine a crueler thing to do to someone; what could she possibly say to someone after they learned that? She landed gently on the floor near his cage, and then crouched down to have a seat.

 

"I'm sorry this happened to you, sir; I can't imagine how you feel right now." She sighed as she tried to think of something, anything that might offer him some solace.  "Look, in your tribe or clan or whatever, you tell stories about the great deeds of your forefathers, right? About who slew the most men or saved the prettiest princess? So that means that after a hero dies, that's what they leave behind: their story." She shrugged. "I don't know if this will help or not, but here in our world, millions of people know your story; they can describe your greatest battles and adventures, they're inspired by your courage, and little kids wish they could grow up to be you. Isn't that what every hero wants; to live in the hearts of men and women forever?"

 

The blonde heroine scooted a little closer to Rhekgar's cage. "Now what was done to you was wrong, ripping you away from your world, your life and your loved ones." Then she laid a hand over her chest. "You don't have to believe I'm real, but believe that my desire for justice is real. If you can help me defeat the man who did this to you, I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to get you and the other hostages back to where you belong. Can you help me do that?"

[Blarghy]

Down Warne went, his haste tempered by the narrow and potentially dangerous channel; his force field should protect him from nails and splinters, but he also didn't want to risk bringing down chunks of the bunker by bouncing back and forth between the walls.  Maybe this was a wise choice after all, as his caution let him spot the damaged electrical cable. 

 

Good, he thought initially.  The Fanatic relies on his equipment; if Miracle Girl cut his power, then he may well be blind and trapped.  But then the agent realized, ...What if his technology is also stabilizing the hostages in this plane?  Would a blackout release them gently back to their own reality?  Or sent them howling into the void?

 

"We might have a problem," he told the others through his comm.  "I see damaged wiring leading to the bunker.  If we're lucky, this could deprive the Fanatic of his toys, but it could also harm the prisoners, if they are reliant on any kind of...I don't know, television life-support.  Does anyone know enough about electronics to get down here quickly and check?  This is not my field."

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil hopped from foot to foot, genuinely unsure about how to handle this situation. She was fairly confident that if she opened her visor and bared her gnashing teeth and fangs at the pair of Surfacers that she'd be able to chase them off, but she didn't want to get in trouble with the AEGIS agents not far away. She'd already worried Jessie by going out on her own for this mission, going out and getting herself in trouble with the Surfacer lawgivers would only make matters worse. "There may be a fight here! You should leave!" she croaked again before leaping over the heads of the mother and daughter and scampering towards where Miracle Girl had made her sudden entrance, trusting the ceiling to hold her up as her armor slid open just far enough for the sticky pads on her hands and feet to grip the wood and plaster. 

[Sophistemon]

@Avenger Assembled

Sea Devil's powerful legs propelled her over the head of the startled mother and toward the hole drilled in the floor by Miracle Girl's rotating entrance. Her adhesive skin adhered to the uneven walls of the impromptu tunnel and she began her descent in earnest. She went down, down, her sticky flesh slapping wetly against the hand- and footholds she found by probing touch, until she found herself nearly bumping into Adept, who hovered in midair and inspected a damaged cable jutting from the wall. It spit sparks into the dark, and Sea Devil could feel her skin crawl with apprehension.

 

@Blarghy

There were sounds in the tunnel, wet slaps and the occasional grunt of exertion that echoed like ghosts. The agent could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and it wasn't until he realized who it was before he allowed himself to relax -- or to come closer to relaxing than before. When Sea Devil made her entrance, nearly bumping into the top of Warne's head before stopping her climb, the cable surged with power and threw another arc of sparks into the tunnel. Below them both, a conversation was being held. They could hear the sound of voices, but not make out the words.

 

@Heritage

There was silence, save for breathing, and that breath was slow and pregnant with anticipation. Finally, Rhekgar spoke. "If our lives are nought but stories," he mused. "We are best to end them well." He placed a wide hand on the ground beneath him and pushed regain his footing. Once standing, he approached Miracle Girl and she could see clearly just how much more he was than she'd expected. He didn't look like the actor that played him in the films. Rather, he looked like who that actor was trying to resemble, larger than life and even more impressive. He reached out and gripped the bars that stood between them. "I am mighty," he told her. "But yet mortal. This cage is beyond my power, or I would have escaped days ago." He tilted his head, using his chiseled features to indicate the hole in the ceiling created by her entry. "You are mightier than I; release me, and I pledge to you my service."

[Avenger Assembled]

"The lightning in the wall is broken, eh? My armor can channel-" she tried to remember the numbers she'd once been quoted, but couldn't quite recall them. "...a great deal of lightning." She'd once absorbed power from a ship that traveled the Sea of Stars, how much more power could this be. "Stand away, Agent," she croaked to Warnke before going into action. With one three-fingered hand, securely wrapped in the confines of her space armor, she gripped down on the edge of the damaged conduit. It had a striking effect, electricity now pulsing over the surface of her armor in short zaps - stretching out, Aquaria ignited the trident in her other hand and plunged it directly into the other side of the conduit, electricity crackling over armor and weapon both in a near-dazzling display of power that soon had her shutting her gigantic dark-adapted eyes and going entirely by noise - and such noise there was! 

[Blarghy]

Given that noise from the bunker sounded like conversation instead of earth-shattering punches, Adept assumed that Miracle Girl was probably still ok.  He continued to focus on the wires; his training was limited in this matter, more in tune with destroying dangerous electronics than maintaining them.  Warne was about to call for backup when Sea Devil came shimmying down the tunnel right on top of his head; he let himself drop out of her way and looked up, shielding himself from the sparks with his force field.

 

"You're welcome to try," he said from below the Deep One.  "I just hope that whatever it's powering is something we want to keep."