| Terror Twins For the Calculator |
| Summary: | The Terror Twins attack STAR Labs in Metropolis, stealing the tech returned by Green Lantern and Power Woman the week before. But the Justice League and their ally, Green Lantern, arrive to put a stop to that. |
| Date: | 2014-05-19 |
| Related: | Out of Their Leage: A Metropolis Heist |
| NPCs: | Terror Twins (Tuppance, Tommy) |
| Scene Runner: | [Moon Maiden] |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
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Thanks to the Kryptonian knowledge of Power Woman, the resources of Iron Man and the hard work of both members of the Justice League the team now has three functional Zeta Tubes. One is located in the Perisphere. One is located in Stark Tower in NYC and one is located in the Stark Enterprises branch in Metropolis.
Good thing, too, because several minutes ago an alarm sounded at the Metropolis STAR Labs. Reports suggested two blonde teenagers literally punched their way through the walls of the building until they reached the project vault.
Moon Maiden was on monitor duty at the Perisphere and she sent all available Justice League members to deal with the emergency. By the time they arrive on scene the two vandalizing teenage thieves are on their way out. In fact, they just punched a large hole in the outer wall above the Route 9 skyway.
"I think the Calculator will be pleased with our performance, sister Tuppance." the blonde guy says.
"I do believe you are right, brother Tommy." the blonde gal says.
So, to recap: two blonde teenagers with the power to ram their way through a building are currently about five stories up, standing on the edge of a hole they just created. Flying car and ground vehicle traffic has been diverted from the area and the Metropolis PD has set up a perimeter and the Justice League has just arrived on the scene.
When the call came in , Steve Rogers was where else? in Brooklyn. A motorcycle ride to the Perisphere and a zeta beam hop over puts Captain America on the Route 9 Skyway. He looks up and sees the two culprits.
Cap puts his right hand to his ear and says "Captain America to all Justice Leaguers. I have visual on the enemy. Let's contain and subdue before there are casualties."
Throwing his shield with his left arm, Captain America aims it at the male figure, so that it should rebound directly back to him. "I don't know who this Calculator is, but I think you should be less concerned with your performance and more with your surrender."
The shield slams right into Tommy's chest and knocks him backwards. Then it bounces right back to Captain America. The bad news, though, is Tommy gets up again. No worse for wear.
"I believe I was just the victim of Northern aggression." Tommy says with a smirk.
"You may well be right, brother Tommy. I think we should teach this Yankee barbarian a lesson in civility." Tuppance replies.
Zeta tubes are excellent things, but there's nothing like a good old fashioned flying car. Black Widow enjoys taking patrols when it means driving the flying car. She's been zipping around buildings and swooping over muggers, gangsters, and people with yappy dogs. It's been such a nice day.
So when the call comes in, it's only a minute or two as the car flies. Hopefully her passenger hasn't been getting too carsick. "I think those poor kids have bitten off more than they can chew," she drawls. Glancing over to her passenger, she inquires: "Don't you think it would be a good idea to help them down from such a high place?"
Marvel Girl grins over at Natasha, "Certainly! I'm just glad I was in New York with the semester being over." She glances down, concentrating as she forms a psychic link with herself, Natasha, and Captain America, » Cap? Widow and I are inbound. Establishing mental link. « With that, she keeps the link active in the back corner of her mind, looking at the pair as she focuses on team communications first, and smiting these two teen crooks second.
In the aftermath of the transport hijacking, Green Lantern has been doing research. He's not a computer guru, so he can't exactly do in-depth research online about this 'Calculator'. But there are ways to at least attempt to discover information. This was what the figure was doing in Metropolis. That is, before his ring flashes, and he tilts his head, listening to its report. He's had it monitoring certain frequencies since the attack, just in case.
It would seem that this caution has yielded resulits.
And thus, a green light flahes across the sky, aura flaring as it protects the Lantern from the punishing wind that would otherwise scour skin to the bone. Hovering in place over the Star Labs building, his gaze falls first upon the pair of blonde twins, and then others who have appeared. Watching the path of the shield and its rebound, he shakes his head once as the young man gets up, "He's tough, I'll give him that." This is said to himself, before the figure lifts his hand, fingers outstretched. The aura around him strengthens. He's about to speak when others arrive, and he shake his head once, murmuring, "Perhaps I won't have to do anything myself." He sounds amused. It's /Captain America/ and his friends for god's sake. He does, however, speak, "I'd surrender, if I were you." It's a warning. To Captain America? "Sir." Yes, you call Captain America sir. It's just how things work.
"Moon Maiden online." Laurel says through the commlinks since she's not included in the telepathic link. "Facial recognition suggests our thieves are Tommy and Tuppance Terror aka the Terror Twins. They've been in a crime spree across the south for weeks now. JARVIS ran an analysis of footage of the twins and he puts them close to Power Woman's weight class. Be careful."
Of course, the twins haven't heard that. All they know is they're under assault. And so, they move into action.
Tommy Terror, with a thick, padded backpack on, leaps into the air. Its an impressive jump and it easily takes him towards Kyle. "I'm gonna smash me a leprechaun!" He crows as he brings both fists down towards Green Lantern's head.
Tuppance, meanwhile, leaps as well. Except she's doing a feet first jackknife dive and aiming to drive Captain America straight into the sidewalk.
"Roger that, Moon Maiden" Cap says over the comm. «See if you can get them down without any further collateral damage. And Widow, if physical force won't work, feel free to try your bag of tricks. I hope we don't rue not having our heavy hitters here.» he thinks.
Cap is just about to say something to Lantern when Tuppance is leaping at him. The Star-Spangled Leaguer drops his left knee to the ground and raises his shield over his head. Pressing his right palm against the inside, he gives the woman a nice bullseye to aim at. When he feet hit, Cap lets the absorbtion properties of the vibranium do its work, and then rolls on to his back, trying to fling her up and behind him.
Cap grits his teeth as the impact runs up his arm. Wether or not the trick works, he's going to need a moment to recover.
Tuppance expected Cap to be shoved into the pavement. Not thrown into the air. Despite her superior strength she's still subject to the laws of physics (such as they are in the Age of Heroes universe) and goes flying, tumbling into a nearby parked sky truck and crushing it.
"He … called me a leprechaun? I'm not even Irish." Green Lantern mumbles this to himself even as he lifts his hand. A glimmering green barrier appears in front of him, taking the attack. It shimmers and actually rings with the force of the blow; a few glowing fractures appear in the shield before his will replenishes the shield. Flying backwards, he states, "That's some hit you have there." He is calm enough, though he wasn't expecting hard hitters of that caliber! He clenches his fist, and the shield suddenly warps, becoming a glowing creature resembling a crab or spider. It flies towards Tommy, trying to encircle him with its 'limbs' and pin him. With the power that fractured his shield, the Lantern doesn't expect it to hold long, but it might distract the man so others can take a shot. If it lands.
Not long at all. Tommy is captured by the spidercrab thing but already it is cracking, emerald shards raining down like glass only to vanish before they hit the streets. It won't hold Tommy for long at all.
Wincing a little at the crash of the flying truck, Black Widow is nevertheless rather pleased to see Cap's shield doing its work. She parks the flying car in the air and stands straddling the two seats, narrowing her eyes and watching where the Terror Twins end up. "Loud and clear, Moon Maiden," she replies, adding on the psychic link: «On it. Might not want to touch them for a minute.»
Reaching down to her belt, she taps her discs to ready their maximum charge — about double what it would take to stop a man's heart — and flings the discs at the twins, one with each hand. «I do hope they can take a beating.»
Natasha's no bowman but the discs hit their mark nicely. Tommy and Tuppance scream in creepy twinified unison as they literally light up with electric current. Tuppance is the first to deal with the problem, smashing the disc attacked to her chest with a closed fist. "That hurt." She growls as she climbs out of the wreckage of the skytruck, literally smoking from being fried.
Tommy, on the other hand, doesn't deal with the problem quickly. He's still screaming as he breaks free of the construct and hits the pavement several stories below, turning it into a crater.
Marvel Girl concentrates from the passenger seat, » Going to do a mental blast here on Tweedledee. « Then she focuses on Tuppance, not holding back as she unleashes a psychic bolt at the female antagonist as she thinks, » TAKE THAT TRAILER TRASH! «
Tuppance staggers and drops to her knees, screaming as she gets brain blasted by Marvel Girl. It seems like she's not the sort of person who curls up into a ball when subjected to intense pain, though. Instead, she begins pounding the ground over and over and over again at full strength. Cracks form in the pavement. The low level earthquake can be felt for miles and there are car alarms going off as far as the non-Kryptonian ear can hear. If she keeps this up, she might just create a new Metropolis sinkhole.
Meanwhile, Tommy crawls out of the crater he created. "Leave. us. ALONE!" Tommy screams as he grabs hold of the nearest skycab and tosses it as a twenty ton missile straight for Natasha's skycar at speeds faster than an MBA fastball.
Whoa. That's not good. That's several /tons/ of not good. Black Widow has just enough time to drop low, the foot on the driver's seat dropping to hit the gas, her other knee bending as she crouches and yanks the steering wheel to get the flying car — and its passengers — out of the way. « Save them, Marvel Girl! » The thought is broadcast with as much intensity as she can.
Marvel Girl nods, » Got it! « She relents on the psychic attack on Tuppance, focusing her telekinesis on the tossed car, catching it as she strains, » Widow, keep us steady, this is pretty heavy! « Spying Green Lantern in the sky, she thinks up at him, » Hey, a little help wouldn't be bad here to play catch if you can. « Wow, that mental voice sounds familiar…
Captain America climbs to his feet only to have an tremors keep him busy keeping his footing. He looks between the two twins. It's hard to tell which one is more shell-shockied. Logic would say Tommy seeing as he took more of Widow's electric attack. Maybe his sister is the smart one. Compartively.
Figuring the angle between the two, Cap hurls his shield toward the ground in front of Tuppance, intending to kip it like a stone on a pond into her, and have the rebound go toward Tommy. While it flies, Capatn America turns his back on it and runs toward Tommy, hiding the oncoming shield from view. He leaps up into the air as it approaches the young man, landing on his feet to catch it. If this is all timed right, he'll cartwheel over Tommy, using his shoulders as a springboard.
"Lantern!" Cap tells, eschewing comms and psiloinks, "catch that thing so Marvel Girl can psi-bolt the brother! Pile on him and take him out first!"
Poor Tuppance ends up flat on her back when the shield hits her face. Hard. She's stunned for a moment. Tommy, on the other hand, is turning as Cap vaults over him so he only gets a glancing blow off the temple. Just enough to stagger him. Not enough to stun him.
That worked well. Green Lantern cannot help but wince, however, at the electrified disc, and makes a mental note not to piss Black Widow off. As the young villain craters, he flies a little higher, and then points down towards him. And then Tuppance starts acting like a super-jackhammer, and Tommy throws a cab like it's a baseball.
He startles as he hears a mental voice in his head - for /two/ reasons, in fact - and can be heard to respond to both Marvel Girl and Cap, « I'm on it. » The mental voice might be familiar to at least one, yes: and this is /not/ the time for humor. A glowing nimbus of force springs into existence around the vehicle in the shape of a giant hand, even the musculature and fingernails carefully formed. He helps Marvel Girl lower the car to the ground, taking the full weight if she does decide to psi-bolt one of the young meta-criminals. His attention is focused on ensuring those inside are unharmed. Risk to himself is far more acceptable than putting innocents at risk.
"I am going to rip your head off, little man!" Tommy swears. He might be getting angier. He might also be trying to grab hold of Captain American in an attempt to literally do just what he said. Or close to it. It seems he'll settle for ripping whatever body part off of Cap's body that he can.
Tuppance sits up, rubbing at her head. "Feel like that time we snuck into daddy's moonshine stores, brother Tommy." Tuppance mutters. She stares at the blurry vision before her before it slowly resolves into the sight of her brother fighting the Star Spangled Man with a Plan. "Oh, hell's bells. I do believe we might be outnumbered and outgunned." She staggers to her feet and, instead of joining the fight, begins punching the support structure of the raised Atlantic Avenue byway. The first punch cracks it. The second begins breaking it. A few more and the support will snap and the whole street will come tumbling down. There's no one on Atlantic Avenue at the moment… but there are buildings beneath it. Buildings with people in it.
The skycar that was tossed and then caught and put down? It takes off right quicj.
Interesting. /Very/ interesting. Natasha watches the car get caught and lowered, but she only takes a moment to observe that before throwing their flying car into park again. « Hold onto the vandals. I'm going to see if I can figure out what they were after. This *stinks* of distraction. » Without further ado she reaches one fist into the air, firing a grapple up at the hole in the side of the building to haul herself up and into that vault.
Marvel Girl concentrates, » Thanks Green! « She smiles a bit to herself, as she then focuses her energy on Tommy, trying to give him the mental urge to just sleep. Sleep, for a long long time. Like, say, until the next Daytona 500 or so. She then nods at Natasha, » Go, check that out, we can handle these two here. Be careful! «
Tommy begins slowing down. "Not… gonna… sleep…" He mutters, mostly to himself. Making it harder for him to catch hold of Captain America to be sure. It is like he is shoving himself through molasses.
After a few blocks, dodges and counterstrikes, Tommy gets his hands on Captain America. The Living Legend of World War II winces as the twin starts pulling at his right arm. He puts his heels on Tommy's chest for leverage. Luckily before Cap's shoulder comes out of the socket Tommy starts to slow doWn.
Twisting free, Cap wraps his legs around Tommy's neck , locks his feet at the ankles and starts to squeeze. "Saved by the bell," he says. "Let me see if I can help you along."
Once the civilians in the vehicle are down and out of the way, Green Lantern turns, appraising the situation. « I have the bridge. » He flies underneath the bridge, and lifts a hand. Suddenly, the ring glows brightly - incandescently - too brightly to be easily looked upon as an ornate green pillar resembling a Corinthian column appears underneath the bridge, supporting it. He couldn't easily lift an entire /bridge/ this size without trouble even if the ring /does/ get stronger the more will you pump into it, but one section? Sure. Once again, he focuses on what he's doing, simply hovering in mid air, though he /is/ facing Tuppance. A /lot/ of people could be hurt if the bridge falls. « Someone stop her, when you can, I'll hold it up in the interim. » If he tried to attack her and didn't stop her, the bridge might fall. Better safe than sorry, after all!
Between the mental whammy ordering him to sleep and Cap doing the scissor lock around his neck to cut off his oxygen Tommy manages about two more steps. "Gonna… break…" And then he collapses to the ground. He's out like a light.
Tuppance, on the other hand, sees that her carefully crafted plan of desperation's gone the way of the dinosaurs.
"TOMMY!" Tuppance shrieks and begins running in a full out bull charge for Captain America. "GET AWAY FROM MAH BROTHER!"
Meanwhile, Green Lantern finds he won't have to hold the bridge long. Already Metropolis worker robots are buzzing about, repairing the broken Atlantic Avenue with uncanny precision.
As Tommy passes out Captain America rolls off him and stands up. Seeing Tuppance come at him, he takes a defensive stance as if he going to let her run into his shield again. It's a ruse. Stepping to the side , Cap darts one foot at the charging girl's ankle and pulls. At the same time he bends his arm at the elbow, to aim the shield at the back of her head.
"Don't worry," he tells her, "you can have him all to yourself in prison."
Black Widow's not visible for some moments. Possibly some other confederates of the twins' have waylaid her before she could even think a warning? Perhaps she's locked in some particularly intense combat?
Nope.
« Check the boy's backpack. Apparently Sticky-Fingers lifted something that our new green friend and Power Woman returned the other day. Whatever it is, someone sure wants it badly. » She walks up back to the edge, crouching there and resting her elbows on her knees.
"Aren't you done yet?" she calls.
Tuppance hits the ground hard. Cap's shield hits her harder. She's still not out, yet. Even now, after being knocked about and brain blasted and electrocuted, Tuppance begins crawling up to her feet for the next round. "Bell ain't run yet, yankee." She spits blood.
Marvel Girl looks at Tuppance, and just concentrates on her, bringing that same sleepy pattern of thoughts to Tuppance that she brought to Tommy, as that definitely seemed to work. » Relax, don't do it, when you want to go to it… « Hey, it could be worse, it could be rickrolling her…
Green Lantern simply waits. One thing that was drilled into him over and over again was not to rush. Always be sure of things before letting a construct go, otherwise terrible damage can result. In this case, that damage includes 'innocent lives'. Once the robots finish their repairs, he flies towards the group on the ground. Rather than attacking Tuppance, he decides on something else: a glowing octogonal dome appears, covering Tommy and himself. Captain America and Marvel Girl are more than capable here, he's focusing on helping rather than rushing in and possibly throwing their actions off. Of course, Tuppance can bash through it, but it'll slow her down, and that's enough. « I'll take a look, » is sent over Marvel Girl's convenient psychic link. He bends down to look over Tommy's backpack. Well, start to anyway. He took some time waiting for the robots to finish.
"… gonna… feed you…. your own…. balls…" Tuppance manges to say before she face plants into the ground. It seems that being tossed around, electrocuted, brain blasted, shield bashed and then given a sleep compulsion is what's needed before she finally goes down. Meanwhile, inside the bag? Green Lantern finds some very familiar Metropolis power station technology. The same tech he and Power Woman rescued only a few days prior.
As Tuppance goes down, Captain America lets out a sigh of relief. "I thoughy Southern women talked less like sailors and more like ladies." He looks up at the perching Black Widow and grins. "I think we are now." Strolling over to the dome, he raises his right hand and waves at the emerald figure inside. "Thanks for the assist, Green Lantern. Good work."
Marvel Girl smiles over at Cap, "Well, I think the common parlance for such individuals is 'trailer trash'. Apparently for a reason." She glances over at Green Lantern and gives him a rather sly look, "Yes, very good work by you there, ah… Green Lantern, is it?" Even though she turned down the mental link, she has a fair amount of amusement and bemusement evident coming from her.
"It's a common phrase." Black Widow leaps from the hole in the building, flipping through the air and landing lightly on the driver's seat once more. She pilots the flying car down to where Kyle and Cap are standing, looking over the downed pair from a safe distance. "But I think 'delinquents' is sufficient."
« Yep. This is what I and Power Woman dealt with the other day. This Calculator must be -really- interested in it. » As he thinks this, he relaxes as the girl finally drops. He shoots Marvel Girl a glance, before taking a deep breath, and then releasing it. "That was interesting. They are certainly a challenge. Very few people can cause damage to my barriers, but a few of their hits and they'd shatter them. And thank you, sir. I figured it best if I offered primarily support as we haven't worked together in the past. Less chance of throwing someone off balance and putting someone in danger." The young man's light tenor voice is relaxed. "Certainly wasn't expecting to bump into another Star Labs attack when I was in Metropolis." He nods at Marvel Girl, looking rather bemused himself, "Yes, Green Lantern." When Black Widow appears, he nods at her politely.
Jean glances around as the others leave, and then looks at Green Lantern, then his ring, then back to him, "So, ah, I guess that explains the strong Will, huh?" She smiles a little wryly at the other hero, absently scratching at the back of her neck where the outfit doesn't really hide her identity that much from those that know her.
Business East and Seaport — Metropolis
Several large conglomerates have their gleaming, sky-scraping homes here, including Soder Cola Inc., Eagle Oil, RAMCO, and Hawkes Industries, as well as a variety of advertising firms and fashion agencies. Landmark towers such as the venerable Newstime Building and the Art Deco splendor of the Emperor Building add a great deal of interest to the skyline. Smaller businesses also line the streets, as well as certain educational edifices, including the Metropolis Museum of Science and Industry.
To the east is the massive Metropolis seaport. There many ships come and go at all hours delivering and departing with cargo from all across the globe. Many warehouses line the piers and are often rife with nefarious individuals.
As with all of New Troy (the island of Metropolis), this area is maintained by robotic drones that clean the streets, take out the trash, and keep everything looking nice. If damage is done to an area, robotic drones will automatically repair the areas to keep life undisturbed. Above, flying cars zoom through the cityscape.
- Contents:
- Black Widow
- Green Lantern
- Marvel Girl
- Captain America
- Moon Maiden
- Obvious Exits:
- [00] - Subway East — Metropolis
- [01] - Metropolis Park — Business Ea
- [02] - Double R Diner — Business Eas
- [03] - The Horizon — Business Distri
- [04] - Warehouse 27 — Seaport
- [05] - Abandoned Warehouse — Seaport
- [06] - Back Alley — Seaport
- [NE] - St Martin Island — Metropolis
- [SE] - Hell's Gate Island — Metropol
- [W] - Metropolis Village and Financi