Alchaea
Administrator
Annoyance
An acorn by any other name would taste as bad
Posts: 697,037
Hero or Villain: Hero
Marriage: the legal or spiritual romantic union between two or more parties
Element: None
City: Delmont
Staff Member
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Post by Alchaea on Jan 23, 2014 2:33:22 GMT -5
James sat alone in the pitch darkness of a shipping container, his mask stretched above his nose as he silently ate his turkey-and-mayo sandwich. He couldn't see it at the moment, but he knew he was sitting on what would soon be New Haven's biggest drug bust of the year. Normally he wouldn't use his free time to investigate crime within any city other than his own, but this entire shipment was headed for Delmont. A flooding of the streets that were already suffering from a drug problem was something he simply couldn't allow, and he was here to send a message.
He heard voices approaching. I can't afford to leave this. Too much evidence to link me to the Ant. Shoving the rest of his sandwich down his mouth as quickly as he could, the young genius slid his mask back down, adjusting it carefully as he stood, making his way towards the closed door to await his prey. He heard too men talking casually, although he wasn't quite able to make out what they were saying. Until they were close enough to see what you had done to the padlock, of course. "What the hell... WHAT COULD HAVE CRUMPLED A PADLOCK!?" It dawned on the second man quickly, "QUICK! CHECK THE STASH! If the stuff is gone, Romero will kill us!"
The door swung wide open, and the two men found themselves face-to-face with the Ant. "Who's Romero?" the costumed man asked, tilting his head to the side to convey confusion. The man to the Ant's left reaches for his gun. It takes the average man 3 seconds to draw a gun, as the man on James' right began to do. It took the Ant only 2 seconds to grab his wrist before swinging him violently into the inside wall of the container. The man slumped to the ground, out cold underneath a large dent in the side of the container. "Oooh. That's going to be a concussion," he mused in fake sympathy as he turned his attention to the second man, the crimson eyes of his mask pointed directly into his. He was terrified. "Now what were we talking about? Oh, right, how some other guy was going to kill you. Romero, right? Do you have a way I can contact him? Maybe compare notes? Because I want to know if he can remove every one of your limbs with his bare hands, too. Of course, if I can't tell him myself, I'd have to find some other way of letting him know I can do that..."
The young hero stood for a moment, letting the larger man consider his options for a moment before motioning towards the mountain of drugs inside the container. "How about you come inside, and tell me where I can find this Romero?"
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Post by gambino on Jan 29, 2014 1:30:09 GMT -5
"I was really in more of a 'party' mood tonight," Jessica whined into her cell phone as she slid down the sidewalks of New Haven on a thin path of ice she created effortlessly with her free hand. She had mostly grown accustomed to the quiet whir of the cameras specifically built to follow her around, but this particular moment the sound was wearing on her nerves. Her producer, Romero, had a lead on some bad guys that he hoped would increase ratings for sweeps week. Romero was a pro: he knew exactly how to prod at his star to get her to do what he wanted. "Alright, I'm on my way. Uh-huh... Yeah, yeah, right away."
With her phone safely tucked into her back pocket, the young starlet began using both hands to lay down a thick enough coat of ice for her to skate at full speed. "About 35 mph," she mentally clocked herself as she skated through New Haven at Olympian-speeds, slowing only to do simple tricks for any tourist with a camera she happened to pass. She smiled to herself at the thought of joining the American Olympic team before remembering the games' stance on mutant participants. She created a ramp of ice before the closed entrance of the shipping yard Romero directed her to. She flew off of it, briefly allowing herself to enjoy the floating sensation before creating her landing ramp and skidding to a stop on the wet pavement. She grinned as she saw exactly what Romero wanted her to: two shady men opening a shipping container.
As if that wasn't enough, in a flash, a man dressed completely in black dragged one of the men into the container before a loud noise signified he had been removed from the equation. The second man, clearly terrified, followed the masked man back into the container. "Perfect," Jessica whispered to the camera before speed skating towards the container before laying down a thick layer of ice to cover the entrance to the container. "Easiest bust ever!" Jessica declared, shooting a peace-sign towards the camera to pose in front of her capture. "Do you have anything you want to say to America before they put you in a cage?" She called behind her, grinning from ear to ear for the camera. "Dammit, Romero, this isn't going to cut it for sweeps week..."
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Alchaea
Administrator
Annoyance
An acorn by any other name would taste as bad
Posts: 697,037
Hero or Villain: Hero
Marriage: the legal or spiritual romantic union between two or more parties
Element: None
City: Delmont
Staff Member
|
Post by Alchaea on Jan 30, 2014 23:59:09 GMT -5
"So let's begin with this Mr. Romero," The Ant whispered into the face of the young man he was leading into the shipping container. "Where can I-" He found himself interrupted by an unfamiliar sound behind him which, as he turned to look, just happened to be a skinny blonde girl forming a wall of ice between herself and the two men. "You've got to be kidding me..."
Of course even someone like James who generally avoided celebrity gossip knew about Jessica Frost. But here? Now? Near an -actual- crime? He had always assumed they had all been stage before. The quickly-chilling temperatures around him, however, seemed to show that he had been wrong. The masked man exchanged looks with his captive, who seemed very worried himself. Not going to be useful in this wigged-out state. With a stiff chop to the back of his neck, James removed him from the equation. This was going to be hard enough without worrying about this nobody...
The Ant walked towards the ice, his questioning eyes scanning every inch of the wall. It must be about a foot thick, and he could barely hear what the girl on the other side had to say. She was trying to cast him as a villain? On national television? His persona couldn't afford to take another hit like this, and he refused to take it sitting down. He could probably escape easily: Nobody would think to watch the sides of a metal shipping container while he peeled a hole big enough for him to get out. But maybe the nation could see him putting this uppity girl in her place, instead. "Yeah!" James finally called through the ice, "You're welcome, America!"
He slowly reached his arms wide apart, gently apply progressively more pressure until he began feeling the ice crack around the edges. Smiling broadly from under his mask, James briefly imagined how this would look on camera before, with a loud grunt, he rocketed the ice back towards the young girl and her cameras.
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Post by gambino on Feb 4, 2014 2:41:53 GMT -5
It honestly hadn't occurred to Jessica to keep an eye on the men behind her. The layer of ice she had put down was thick, and it would take a fantastic feat of strength to get through it. She visibly rolled her eyes to the cameras before turning to respond to the scrawny man's rude quip. Her brain took a moment to comprehend what was happening as the wall of ice shot towards her. By the time the blonde starlet realized what had happened, it was too late to dodge. She spun her hands around in a frenzy, desperately trying to form a protective cone around herself. Just barely enough.
With a loud crash, the wall of ice bounced off of the girl's improvised defenses before colliding with a few other shipping containers, even managing to knock over a large pile of the containers. "That's going to be a great shot for the promos," the woman whispered to herself as she fortified her cone further. She needed a few moments to catch her breath. Forming something this thick this fast wasn't easy.
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Post by wandamax on Feb 27, 2014 9:57:32 GMT -5
Wanda stretched unhappily in her bed as her phone rang. She had enjoyed her days off as her body recovered from her last super-encounter. There were still a lot of unanswered about that encounter, but her handlers seemed to be taking care of that themselves. The young track superstar decided to let the phone ring for a moment as she took her time to play with her hair until it was perfect. "You know the phone is just a courtesy," a familiar monotone voice rang through a hidden speaker somewhere in the room. "You need to make your way to the shipping yard on the eastern side of the city. Very high-profile action going on right now, lots of cameras, sure to be played over and over for sweeps week."
"You know," Wanda snickered as she finally got her hair the way she liked it, " It's creepy enough that you watch every second of my life. But do you need to put cameras in my bedroom, too?" She didn't wait for an answer, sprinting around her room as she changed into her Maching Bird disguise, and out the door as she headed towards the organized chaos she was directed towards. The young heroine shot through the streets of New Haven, weaving in and out of traffic as her handler did his best to give her directions at a speed she could actually use.
What would have taken her half an hour in a cab took her just under half a minute on foot, and as she arrived she instantly understood why this was her first mission back. There was Jessica Frost and her special cameras on her right, and to the left was a masked man, clearly gifted with super strength, chucking her ice right back at her. Time for the shot they'll play over and over in the promo spot, and then again in slow motion.
Maching Bird shot towards the masked man like a bullet as the ice wall collided with Jessica's defenses. She extended her arms to her side before leaving her feet in an attempt to connect both her feet to the man's chest in a super-speed dropkick.
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Alchaea
Administrator
Annoyance
An acorn by any other name would taste as bad
Posts: 697,037
Hero or Villain: Hero
Marriage: the legal or spiritual romantic union between two or more parties
Element: None
City: Delmont
Staff Member
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Post by Alchaea on Sept 15, 2014 0:41:42 GMT -5
James watched with satisfaction as his counter-offensive actually managed to keep that ditz quiet, if only for a moment. "You know, trying to trap me in a shipping container is a really lousy way to thank me," he chuckled from beneath his mask as he took a few cautious steps forward. He appeared to have the upper hand right now, but he wasn't aware of the upper-limits of her powers and had no intention of testing them tonight. "I did just do almost all of your job for-"
Without warning, the Ant felt an intense pressure against his chest as he rocketed back, colliding violently into an inner-wall of the shipping container. "Okay," James thought to himself as he tried to reassess the situation. "That's a few broken ribs. That's a given. My head is throbbing, but I don't think I've got a concussion. Alright, genius, just figure out what hit you and get out of here." The injured hero struggled to his feet, clutching his abdomen with an arm as he began reassessing the situation. His heart sank when he realized what had hit him. It didn't take him long, anyone would recognize that black-and-white leotard and black ponytail. "Maching Bird," he groaned in despair. "I get it. You're intimidated. If you leave now, nobody has to get hurt," the young man joked, obviously outgunned at this point. He slowly reached for his belt, slowly gripping his newly-invented light grenade. It was about time he got out of this mess.
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Post by gambino on Sept 17, 2014 14:06:42 GMT -5
Jessica listened in confusion as her foe's pontification ended quite abruptly with a loud 'clang.' Knocking lightly against the ice that formed her defense, Jessica emerged ready for a fight as the ice surrounding her shattered into a thousand pieces. She would have preferred a fight to what she found.
"Maching Bird," the young starlet muttered to herself, shaking her head in disappointment. Ratings-wise, getting a Maching Bird appearance would certainly give her show a boost, but the focus certainly wouldn't be solely on her anymore. "I guess I thought you were still out of commission after letting the governor get stabbed," she commented with venom dripping from her voice. "And I swear, if you make an ice pun, I will destroy you..."
The young blonde chose to ignore the bluff of the man's obvious stall-tactic. He was trapped in a metal box facing down two superpowered women. He wasn't going anywhere.
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Post by wandamax on Sept 25, 2014 20:09:33 GMT -5
Wanda straightened up with a grin at the challenge to make a joke without the crutch of an ice pun. She looked Jessica up and down, wracking her brain to quickly come up with something before slumping over in defeat. "Fine," she muttered bitterly, turning her attention back toward her injured target. He was struggling to get up and clutching his side, clearly in no place for an extended fight. "I'll check for possible escape routes," she barely finished before shooting around the shipping container in a tight circle, checking carefully for any obvious ways out. Finding none, Maching Bird returned to her spot facing the only opening and continued talking as if she hadn't left. "What do we know about this guy? Other than the fact he's crazy-strong?"
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Alchaea
Administrator
Annoyance
An acorn by any other name would taste as bad
Posts: 697,037
Hero or Villain: Hero
Marriage: the legal or spiritual romantic union between two or more parties
Element: None
City: Delmont
Staff Member
|
Post by Alchaea on Sept 27, 2014 9:27:59 GMT -5
James grinned under his mask at the animosity Jessica was dishing out to Mocking Bird. Maybe he could turn them against each other and escape? It always worked in the movies, anyway. It was a possibility he'd have to keep in mind. For now, however, they seemed perfectly content just talking to each other. How nice of them to give The Ant some time to prepare a real escape strategy. He looked around for inspiration, settling finally on the gentleman he had knocked out earlier. This was his best chance. "Hey! Strawberry Poptarts are the best!" he yelled wildly, hoping to gain the women's gaze, even if only for a moment. He squeezed the Sticky Light Grenade in his hand, causing a blinding light to temporarily fill the area. If they were looking that will only buy me 30 seconds at best. Gotta move quickly.
James ripped off his mask, quickly sliding it over the head of the man he had knocked out earlier. It didn't fit quite right, but it was good enough for his purposes. The young hero quickly slung the man over his right shoulder as he used his left arm to open a hole in the side of the container. The sound of the metal ripping apart was sure to give away his exit, but he hoped the secondary distraction would buy him some extra time. Once the whole was big enough, he quickly exited, the unconscious man still in tow. With only a few seconds left he had to hurry. "Quick!" he yelled for the girls to hear, "to the harbor!" With a great effort, The Ant tossed the man towards the empty harbor, hoping the young heroines would see the mask body shooting towards the water and assume it was him. As for James, he quickly hugged the back corner of the shipping container, holding his breath. If this didn't work, his identity would be revealed, and that would be the end of his rather short-lived crime-fighting career.
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