| Brooklyn Bridge Repairs 1 |
| Summary: | Three heroines do what they can to help out in the massive cleanup and repair efforts at the Brooklyn Bridge and the Lower East Side. |
| Date: | 2014-04-24 |
| Related: | Kaiju Attack on Manhattan |
| NPCs: | Damage Control, various civilians |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
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"You know, I was pretty darn worried about you the other night, especially when you started bleeding. I've never seen you push that hard." Kara comments, as she lifts another girder into place, checking the level before she starts welding it in place with her heat vision. Only after she's done does she look over again at her companion on super-powered reconstruction duty at the Brooklyn Bridge, the mighty Moon Maiden. "Even if I did have my fists full at the time."
Power Woman and Moon Maiden showed up today in the early afternoon, and have been working to help the clean-up reconstruction efforts for a few hours at this point. Already, great progress has been made, thanks to their metahuman abilities to get a lot more done a lot faster and easier than even those with massive tech and vehicles to help them. Some have wondered why the heroines weren't by the day before, immediately following the attack by Godzilla. For Kara's part, at least, she spent the time decontaminating. Otherwise, her very presence here trying to help out would be delivering lethal doses of radiation to fellow workers.
Already, the remnants of the old bridge have been torn up and removed. Moon Maiden used her powers to sink the supports for the new bridge. Because of her abilities the supports could be built quickly on land instead of section by section in the water using underwater welders. She's positioning the last support now, pushing it down into the water.
"I haven't ever had to hold so much for so long." Laurel admits. "Usually, I don't feel any strain when using my powers. The truth is, it is the alchemical engine that does all the work. But with the bridge I put so much stress on it, I guess I stressed myself as well."
Power Woman has been helping too, of course. Who needs underwater gear or special welding tools when the Kryptonian heroine can just blip down there and lase things with her heat vision. But she has been staying pretty visible most of the time, because that's what the people need, even more than the bridge back in commission: to see their heroes doing this work, caring to fix things after the disaster.
"Yeah, that was rough. I've never punched anything more resistant. Hell, even that Juggernaut guy got rocked, and we found a way to beat him. But there's just no way I could have actually beaten that thing without that guy's intel that it shrank when it breathed." Kara offers, with a shudder. "Radiation decon really sucks, by the way. Of course, would have sucked more if it would have actually done to me what it would have done to civilians and first responders."
"I wish I could have helped more." Moon Maiden says. Really, her task is simple at this point. Hold the supports while Karen and the construction crew weld things in place. "Well, that's two major threats we've defeated together." She says. "And you're right. That was bigger than all of us. I couldn't have rescued everyone who fell in the water without the help of that telepathic woman's telekinesis. And we needed the intelligence the… you know, I think that was supposed to be Batman?"
"But Batman is in Gotham. And is some kind of strange human bat hybrid thing." Kara opines, proving that even being a brilliant Kryptonian is no protection against myth and legend. "I was really worried I'd lose you." she admits to her friend, softly, when they pass very close to one another. Kara's speed, strength, flight and heat vision are proving invaluable. They might just have this bridge done in a day or two more of this kind of work. And they should be able to recover all of the surviving facing stone to put back in place over the new infrastructure. "Regardless, it was pretty amazing. Kind of wish that telepathic girl had started out communicating like that. It would have made things a lot easier. We didn't communicate well once it all started."
Moon Maiden takes a brief moment to steal a one armed hug. "You didn't lose me and you're not going to. We're friends, girl, and you're stuck with me. And the man had a bat emblem on his chest. He was in a bat shaped jet. If he wasn't the Batman he was sure doing a good job of imitating it and his intelligence and missiles really helped us." She releases the hug. "Anyway, you're right. We needed the communication up front. But none of us had worked together except you and me. I have no idea who the young woman that kept dropping down out of the sky was or the one who, I'm assuming by what I saw, reduces her mass in order to fly."
"No idea about any of them, honestly, except you. I have seen the one woman, the one in the red costume, flitting about New York when I've flown through. But I don't know who she is, and I had no idea that's how she flew. Though she is a tad erratic. It's a unique flight pattern to observe." The Kryptonian heroine welcomes the one-armed hug and returns one in kind - ever gently, of course - and continues their chat. "Well, he wasn't at all what I'd heard Batman is like. But … maybe he is. He certainly was handy to have around." Karen considers that for a bit. "I almost wish we'd had a chance to talk, afterwards."
"Well, based on how she interacted with water, for example, I'm assuming that is how it works. Likely it is less about propulsion like with you and me and more about removing her mass and the effect of gravity on it. A guess, though. She was very brave but I think her talents would have worked better helping the search and rescue teams." Moon Maiden can't help but agree on the last point, though. "At least exchange contact information. But there was so much to do. People to dig out the rubble and you were practically glowing. You got hit, what, three? Four times with that fire blast weapon?"
"Four. Once point-blank and full-on, extended." That would be when she got cooked and slammed into the molten street below. It was anything but a pleasant experience for Kara, and she makes no secret of that. "It tempts me, though, to try to set up a double-blind communication exchange, to allow heroes to connect with each other without having to expose their secrets." Power Woman offers, as they continue working on the bridge. "You and I made it all work out, but we trust each other pretty implicitly. I can't imagine it will be that easy for everyone."
"As good as you are, there are too many people out there who are better." Moon Maiden points out. "You need to trust someone to invite them into that sort of network. Trust the wrong person and suddenly you're hacked and…" Laurel just shakes her head. "Some sort of group effort is needed, though. The threats keep getting bigger. This Godzilla monster. That invasion you shut down in Metropolis that transformed the city. Even normal natural disasters. One of us alone isn't enough to help after a typhoon."
"Probably true. After all, with everything we've seen, for someone it's actually going to be their power." Kara admits with all honesty. Not that she likes it. She relies on her ability with advanced technology, and she doesn't find it pleasant that she can't trust this problem - communication - to it. That's what tech is supposed to be for, after all! "The double-blind system is needed. I just have to find a way to build it that won't allow for it being compromised. The anonymity and safety have to be intrinsic to its form and function." Maybe communing with the knowledge and wisdom of her ship will help? Who knows? "I heard a rumor about these guys. But I wasn't sure they existed." Kara is referring, of course, to the people they are working with: Damage Control, here to rebuild the Brooklyn Bridge, and New York City.
"No, I've met them before. They're very nice people." Moon Maiden says. "If you ever loose something in a fight? They'll pick it up at the site and save it for you at the lost and found. Give it back to you for no cost. I lost my cape once. They found it for me." She says. "I know Tony Stark. Maybe he could help you with the project? He and I had dinner last week. It was very nice."
Kara cannot help but chuckle a bit at the thought of dinner with Tony Stark. "With my luck, he'd spend the evening staring a good foot lower than my eyes, and completely miss the topic of discussion." she quips, honestly enough, while hoisting several more beams into place, letting Laurel hold them once they're in place while she adjusts the level, and starts lasing them into place with her heat vision. This span is nearly done, at this point. "They certainly seem like great people. I'll keep that in mind. Though the only thing I ever 'lost' at a fight was … not mine, really, to begin with." Darned glowing green rock. Muttermutter.
The Brooklyn Bridge. Damage Control is in the middle of reconstruction and the whole process is going faster thanks to the help of Moon Maiden and Power Woman. Right now, the two women are hovering above the bridge. Moon Maiden is using her lunarkinetic powers to hold one of the bridge's main supports in place while an army of Damage Control workers are busy welding and hammering and bolting things into place. "Not all of us have the advantage of eyes that can see through almost anything, to almost everywhere and down to the subatomic level, PW."
Jean was, really, helping out with the rescue teams, but now that is mostly done, she's come to volunteer to help out with the bridge. Though she was looked at a bit skeptically, a quick display of her telekinetic powers put that to rest quick enough. She glides over by the other two metas, and smiles up at them, "Hello again!" She starts to telekinetically stack and arrange some of the girders for the other workers to secure in place.
"You implying that's why Stark would be staring?" Power Woman teases her friend, smiling brightly, before shaking her head and flying off to gather up another stack of girders, bringing them over so that they can be distributed, laid out, lined up, and then welded in place. Whatever it takes to help, they're here to do it. "It's true, though. I don't usually carry much, so I don't have much to lose. But it's great that they do that. I just hope they don't give out something like Kryptonite if they find it. That stuff is scary."
When the telekinetic redhead appears to help out, Power Woman nods and waves a hand - once it's free. "Hi there. Hope your ears aren't burning too badly. We were just talking about you a bit ago. Your telepathic trick was really handy for communication the other night. We were considering what other alternatives there might be, if something like this comes up again."
"Technology can be hacked." Moon Maiden says as she offers Jean a wave. "If you don't mind, would you help me support this post? I could use the help, honestly. I've done three of them so far and it isn't hard but the thing is heavy. I've put a lot of strain on the alchemical engine. It could use a few minutes break. I'm Moon Maiden, by the way. Laurel to my friends. This is Power Woman."
Jean smiles up at the two, "Well, it's what I was trained for, really… seemed pretty natural for my powers." She nods a bit, "Marvel Girl is what I go by, but you can call me Jean if you like." Her eyes look over at Moon Maiden's post, then she concentrates, "Okay, I got it." She looks a little wry, "I did try to make contact with the monster itself, but… yeah, that didn't go so well." She shivers a bit, subconsciously recalling the Fire and Hunger, which gives her some unpleasant sense of deja vu.
"Any tech can be hacked, sure. The point is to make sure that there's nothing to gain with the hack. That there's no exposing of secrets by cracking the security." Power Woman offers Moon Maiden with a wry twist of her lips. Welcome to tech discussions one-oh-one, folks. "Nice to meet you, Marvel Girl. And thank you for helping out; everyone could use the help around here, after everything that happened." Without much experience with telepathy, Kara isn't quite sure what really happened with Jean's attempt at contacting Godzilla. But maybe it's better that way.
"I'm glad you're alright." Laurel doesn't understand telepathy either but she imagines a mind that huge and alien couldn't have been pleasant. She's read enough science fiction stories to have an inkling. "So, we were debating." She says as she allows Marvel Girl to take the bulk of the weight of the support. It isn't like lifting the whole thing upright but rather holding it in place while the workers… work. "Do you think the guy in the jet was Batman?"
Jean considers for a moment, "Yes, I think so. I didn't have much contact with him, but he felt familiar. I encountered Batman once before." She smiles a bit, "I was hoping we would have had more of a chance to talk after, but it was completely crazy afterwards."
"I was hoping for that too." Power Woman admits to Marvel Girl. "But I was spiking rads so hard I'd have given cancer to half the City at that point. I had to decontaminate, which is why I had to disappear." Which is part of why the press decided to blacken the names of the heroes and blame them for the damage done, as if they hadn't done everything they could and more to prevent it, to limit the damage, to save lives and property. "You've actually /met/ the Batman? Seriously? What was that like? I'd always heard that the Batman was some kind of vaguely humanoid bat creature. Hard to imagine it's just a guy with good tech."
Well, a lot of the bad press was in one paper and came due to the influence of Mr. J. Jonah Jameson… "I've heard all sorts of rumors. That he's a man in a suit. That he's a demon. That he's the spirit of the city itself rising up from the ashes to drive out those who would defile it…" Laurel laughs. "Whoever he is, he has money. That jet must have cost a lot of money."
Jean nods, "Pretty much a guy… I didn't pry too hard, but he does have some pretty nice toys." She chuckles, "I'm sure he's got access to a lot of money, and he seems pretty skilled too. It isn't just tech. He has some good moves and training, too." She sighs as she picks up the thoughts of, "Jameson… ugh. What a jerk." Succinct and to the point.
"He blamed us for this. We risked our lives to save as many people and as much property as possible, and he blamed us for it." Kara mentions, showing her emotions clearly. That hurt her, in some ways worse than the radiation. "Hard to believe that the legend of the Batman is just about a man."
"The press is the press. Other papers gave us favorable coverage and we saved lives." Laurel says, hovering over so she can put her hand on Karen's shoulder. "That's what matters." Maybe not enough lives, though, and she knows that's what is really bothering her friend. That anyone died because Karen wasn't strong enough.
Jean nods, "Yeah, you can't always worry what people say about you. We might not have saved everyone, but we saved a lot of people that would have died. That beast was gunning right for the nuclear reactor, and it wasn't going to let anything stop it."
