(2014-05-12) Out Of Their League - A Metropolis Heist
Out Of Their League - A Metropolis Heist
Summary: Green Lantern and Power Girl meet while investigating a high-tech heist in Metropolis.
Date: 2014-05-12
Related: None
NPCs: Common Thugs, Calculator Mentioned
Scene Runner: NA
Social/Plot: Plot
Players:
green-lantern..power-woman..

Some things are incredibly difficult. They involve struggle, hard work, and careful consideration of resources. On the other hand, sometimes you end up dealing with criminals who are far out of their league and don't know how to hide their tracks.

This is the latter case.

A figure can be seen streaking across the sky of Metropolis at high speed, glimmering green trail spreading out behind him and fading slowly away. A glimmering emerald ring is held in front of him, and flickering abstract patterns can be seen floating over the ring. Amidst these patterns is the following word: Scanning… Of course, Power Girl can read this from far away. Reading the patterns as they appear, the green figure turns, gliding between two skyscrapers, and hovers a moment. Then, slowly, he begins to descend towards a loading dock and alley. Outstretching a hand, a green aura forms, and the manhole cover in the alley is pulled aside, placed carefully on the ground. On the ring's hologram, a small depiction of a molecule can be seen rotating in three dimensions, and it would seem the green figure is heading underground.

So tired. Kara is so tired of rushing this way and that. She has been on Genosha for almost thirty-six hours straight at this point, protecting everyone - citizens and soldiers alike - while waiting for the events there to work themselves out. She has been concentrating her efforts on lifesaving, trusting that eventually there will be trials to handle this under the law. She has spread remote cameras around the country, gathering data which has helped her to focus her efforts, and gather intelligence on who and what is where and when. But at least for the next several hours, Kara is off Genosha. Moon Maiden showed up and agreed to take over, sending Kara home with the intent that she would get some sleep and some food.

But when Power Woman comes home to her City, she picks up news of the attack. She leaves the City for a while to deal with an international crisis of epic proportions, and some group of morons decided to risk people's lives stealing dangerous Brainiac tech. And then she catches sight of a glowing green trail across her City. Concerned at first this might /be/ Brainiac, or perhaps something powered by Kryptonite, she is a bit relieved to see it appears to be the 'Green Lantern' Laurel mentioned. But he's scanning for something in her city, and headed below ground. Telescopic vision picks up the molecular structure displayed in the hologram, and a lifetime's advanced knowledge in science identifies it, even as the Kryptonian woman streaks down to ground level, hovering above the street by a foot, about a foot to the left of the open manhole.

"I don't mean to just butt in. Well, to be honest, I do mean to do just that. But I thought I'd at least be polite enough to ask, what is it you're looking for?" she inquires of the Lantern.

Turning in surprise, Green Lantern blinks. For a brief moment, he is tempted to fanboy: this is /Power Woman/ after all! However, at least on the job he's more focused, and he responds with a nod, "Ma'am." A smile is offered, "I'm following a trail. Some criminals stole some high-tech equipment from a Star Labs transport. Whoever they are used chemical packs to fly."

He shrugs, lifting the hand with the ring, as if to show her the chemical formula hovering over its surface even though she can see it from where she is, "I was tracking the traces of the chemicals used. I don't know who they are, but choosing to use chemical packs in /Metropolis/ was a rather bad idea, the city's a 'clean' city and tracing the chemicals is fairly easy. The trail leads down into the sewers.

Gesturing with his other hand, he adds, "My sources indicate that the technology they stolen could be used in a lot of dangerous things, so I figured it best to ensure that it's recovered." Said source being the AI in his ring, but hey.

"Good plan." Power Woman offers, with a firm nod to the Green Lantern. "Tech related to the city's power core is very dangerous, potentially." Given she's the closest thing anyone has to an expert in Kryptonian technology, she's concerned. "I hope you don't mind, Lantern, but I'm going to tag along. I can smell the exhaust from their packs, and I want to be sure that tech is secured."

"Not at all," the figure says with a smile. "I'm always glad to have help, and this is your city after all. I wouldn't dream of telling you that you cannot look into something." He gestures with a hand, and floats down through the manhole, heading into the sewers. "Honestly, my suspicion is they're hired flunkies. I can't imagine a professional being stupid enough to use chemical fuel in Metropolis." He shakes his head once. Regardless of his inexperience, he does have training. Green Lantern flies down the tunnel, following the trail with Power Woman. "Will have to be careful in case they have high-end equipment, of course. Better safe than sorry." He follows the path through the tunnels. The pattern on the ring flashes, and words appear on the holographic figure above it: Proximity Alert… This causes him to pause.

Power Woman floats down, pausing long enough to grab the manhole cover and haul it into place above her head, then follows Green Lantern down the passageway. She may be able to smell the fuel, but not as clearly as that ring's systems can detect it. She would prefer to trust the ring, right now. Thankfully she can still see, despite the pitch dark; rather useful for spelunking around the sewers. "Probably true. They wouldn't be the first to make that mistake. But they'd be the first I'm aware of to take something this powerful and dangerous while doing so." Her voice is soft, a whisper to prevent it from carrying too far away and giving away a warning to those they are following.

When Green Lantern stops, Power Woman floats up beside him. She doesn't say a word, but does scan ahead, Kryptonian vision piercing the walls here with little difficulty. She holds up her hand, fingers spread wide. 'Five'. She points in various directions, one at a time, allowing Green Lantern to register each direction, offering up their positions. She spells out 'Laser rifles' in ASL, which the ring should be able to translate for him. And then starts slowly counting down with her fingers.

Five
Four
Three
Two

"Indeed. Why I believe they were hired," Green Lantern states quietly. This is said before they near the area. He can see via the ring's light and sensors, which … isn't as good by far as Power Woman's for actual vision. Thus he's moving more slowly than she might by herself.

At the other hero's signed words, he nods his head, and as she counts down, when the proper time comes he darts in. Lifting his ring over his head, a glowing barrier appears. Oddly, the barrier looks like a beehive, octagonal patterns fitting together as the barrier quickly block off escape. Glowing brightly, he announces, "Surrender." His soft tenor is firm as he states this, another barrier flares into existence near the stolen goods. Some of those items could have /bad/ repercussions for the environment. Let alone possible explosions.

He's not going to go in fighting: he gives them a chance to surrender peacefully. It comes from being an intergalactic /police officer/. Even if the Guardians have different rules than planetary authorities.

Power Woman streaks in fast, so fast she is a white, blue and crimson blur that suddenly resolves in their midst, facing the five men inside. She hasn't the ability to seal off the exits like Green Lantern does; her way would be destructive, leaving damage that would have to be repaired later. This way, none of that is necessary.

The tall, broad-shouldered blonde woman hovers, crimson cape fluttering with the after-winds of her approach as her hands rest on her hips. "You heard the man. You came to my city. You stole technology you don't know how to use or control. You endangered the citizens here. Now, you're going to surrender." Because if they don't, she's going to quite possibly vent some frustrations on them.

There are, as stated, five men. Each wears one of the chemical burn jetpacks. Each carries a heavy laser rifle. The carry container they were watching over is now surrounded by the Green Lantern's emerald honeycomb. So they turn the rifles on their attackers, the posing and posturing heroes.

Proof that they're not from around Metropolis? They don't know better. They fire.

Mere lasers aren't enough to hurt Green Lantern, unless they're putting out a -lot- of watts. He simply hovers there with a sigh, watching the lasers impact on him, or rather, the field of energy surrounding him. He looks towards Power Woman, inquisitively. Almost idly, the shield holding the stolen cargo changes. Some dust wafts its way into the air as he simply lifts the cargo away from the area, settling it in the tunnel behind them. Any stray blasts that hit the barriers deflect off it. Once the items are out of sight, Green Lantern lifts his hand, creating a shield to block the rays: amusingly, the shield looks like more beehive barriers. Has Power Woman played Mass Effect? It's not likely they can hurt him or Power Woman, but better safe than sorry, right? That's one thing Kilowog beat into him: ~A reckless Lantern is a /dead/ Lantern, rookie!~ "That's not going to hurt me," he tells them. "And it's DEFINITELY not going to hurt her. You're shooting at /Power Woman/ for god's sake." He has a lot of respect for Power Woman, it would seem. "Surrender, before she's forced to knock you cold."

A word is whispered. A word in a language no other being alive on Earth can understand.

But the Ring's AI will translate: Drop it.

Those Kryptonian words are the first 'volley' of Power Woman's actions. "I told you to surrender. You decided to shoot lasers. You want lasers? OK. Fair enough. I'll give you lasers. Don't say I never gave you anything."

Pinpoint beams of extreme heat - lasers, barely shifted into the red spectrum - lance out in bursts from Kara's eyes, slicing across the barrels of those laser rifles, destroying the weapons without compromising their power packs, which would be explosive and disastrous. But with emitters no longer attached to those power packs, they should be useless.

"Now. Surrender. Or I start bouncing your heads off the concrete." It seems Kara is feeling cranky.

"… I think you'd better do as she says." Green Lantern is simply supporting Power Woman, keeping his shields up to block their escape and keep the equipment from being damaged. He doesn't want to attack himself; when one hasn't fought with someone else, that's how mistakes happen. Besides… this is not something that Power Woman NEEDS help with. His ring flares and the shield at the rear grows, octagons building upon octagons as it expands. Approaching the criminals. As if urging them towards Power Woman and surrender. Unless they want to get into a -fist fight- with her. (Bad idea.)

Power Woman waits, impassively, hands on her hips. She glowers at them, and waits.

"Alright! Alright, damnit! Throw 'em down. May not be the Bat, but she just sliced our crap apart by blinking. Screw this." one of the men calls out sharply, with a foul mouth. The other four drop their weapons, and then unsling their jetpacks, under the watchful gazes of the two heroes.

A couple seconds later, and the remnants of all five weapons, and all five jetpacks, are now stacked up at Kyle's feet. Handy, having a partner that can move that fast.

"You brain trust members didn't steal this stuff for yourselves. You have no idea what to do with it. So who did you steal it for?" Power Woman growls out.

A slight blink is given at Power Woman's speed. Green Lantern is still a rookie at this, he's not used to people moving as fast as she does. It's over quick, however. Flickering green energy slides into another matrix-like form, and all of the weapons and equipment hover, gliding behind him to rest near the stolen cargo. Green Lantern nods towards Power Woman respectfully, then comments to them, offering an easy smile, "Answer her. We have you dead to rights. Who knows, the police might go easier on you if you cooperate and give us the information." He slips easily into being the good cop to Power Woman's bad cop. As he says this, the shields behind him change. Instead of beehive, it becomes a latticework that resembles snowflakes.

"We don't know him." the earlier speaker calls out, sharply.

"Never met him." another admits.

One of the others finally calls out, "We picked up the job from a bulletin board. All we know is the guy's handle, and the router for the message traffic."

Kara nods, impassively. "Alright. Then I want both. Now." It's Power Woman at - nearly - her most intimidating. It isn't long before one of them cracks and gives it up.

"He was the Calculator. Dumb, I know. But he paid the up-front fee. So we bought the gear, and came here to do the job, like we promised."

Another gives up the router code for the secured message traffic they've been using to request pickup.

"Alright." Power Woman glances at the Lantern, offering a nod. "I know the tech. I'll get it back to STAR Labs. Can you gather them, and deliver them to the police? Ask for Detective Magaret Sawyer. She's their Heroic Liason Officer. If you have time, give her a basic statement, it will empower her to hold them for a full forty-eight hours, until they can get the lab reports on the gear to tie them conclusively to the attack."

Apparently, Power Woman intends to split them up, at least for a bit. Of course, it should be easy enough to locate her at STAR Labs after work at the police station is over. And it would give Green Lantern a positive reputation with the police of Metropolis, which couldn't hurt.

Wrinkling his nose, Green Lantern can't help but mutter, "Calculator?" He shakes his head once, listening to their words. With Power Woman's request, he nods, "Of course." He's not going to argue with her, it's a logical displacement of duties. "Stay together, boys," He says, "You don't want to fall out. That could hurt." Suddenly, all around the criminals, a green cage of energy forms. It slowly closes around them, not so tight as to cause damage but tight enough they can fit through the tunnels. "Margaret Sawyer, got it." His ring flashes, and he looks towards it. Suddenly, a map of the sewers appears in the air and a line showing directions appears on the map: it's showing him a way out where he doesn't have to take them one by one through a manhole.

Then, he glances at Power Woman, offering a smile, "I would like to visit you later at Star Labs, see if you get any leads on the bulletin board, is that all right with you?" Even as he says this, the criminals hover in midair, and he slowly levitates them over the cargo he's leaving for Power Woman and into the tunnel itself. Idly, just in case, the cage closes itself off entirely other than a few small holes so they don't suffocate.

"Fine with me, Lantern. Travel safe, and I'll see you soon." Power Woman offers. Then she scoops up the armload of gear, and binds it together with some rebar borrowed from the abandoned station. That AI is darned handy, to be sure. "Up, up and away, as Jor-El would say." The Kryptonian woman lifts off, and streaks down the tunnel they entered, heading for the manhole, and then heading for STAR Labs.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern follows the route out into sewers, and not long later is delivering the criminals to the proper authorities. Staying behind, he gives a statement to Ms. Sawyer, the young man flashing a smile and being friendly in a polite sort of way. He might be serious while on the job, but he's not a stern, solemn sort of person by any stretch of the imagination! Finishing this, he's off in the sky. He has things to do, and then he has a meeting at Star Labs to go to.

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