| They Must Not Know Who I Am. |
| Summary: | Three teenage heroes take on the Unstoppable Juggernaut. |
| Date: | IC Date (2014-09-26) |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | Random Mook |
| Scene Runner: | Juggernaut |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
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Gotham City on a friday night! Everybody is out enjoying themselves. Some people are doing this legally. Some are not. Case in point…a secluded building in Gotham, non-descript on the outside. But on the inside, luxurious carpets, expensive wooden paneling, and various other signs of high society abound. And less than scrupulous movers and shakers of the city are in attendance, playing cards, throwing dice, spinning roulette wheels and yanking slot machines. In short, a gambling club. Still, fairly peaceful overall and relatively harmless. Just another evening of dirty money. If one were famililar with the underworld around here, they might know this place was run by the Falcones.
Of course, the peace and good times sort of end when one of the walls of the main hall sort of explode inwards, showering the room with rubble and dust. The first thought is a bomb, and that's what some people are shouting. Until they notice the massive red figure stepping out of the dust, glaring around the room. He bends down, grabbing a roulette wheel and ripping it from its moorings, and turns to fling it like a frisbee. It flys through a window high on one wall, sailing off into the night. This is followed by a craps table being smashed with a fast, a dealer backhanded, a cigarette girl getting her ass pinched (okay, maybe not that last one). In short, he's wrecking the place and not bothering to explain why.
Aerial has business in Gotham sometimes, but her meeting with whoever will have to be delayed because there's now a roulette wheel entering her airspace. She sticks two fingers out and lets the wheel hit her, immediately matching speed as it knocks her back. She grabs the rim and spins with it, holding on as the mass leeches out of it. Once it's weightless, she stops and it stops with her. Then she plots a downward angle flight that takes her on a return course. "Hey, I'm gonna be late for the meeting. I just caught a roulette wheel."
Cessily Kincaid hates night shift. Especially on a Friday night. She could be at home, reading, or watching the last episode of her favorite series, but noooo… her boss HAD to give her extra hours to work tonight. Typical. And, of course, she is pretty sure she won't be seeing extra cash in her salary for those extra hours. All in all, walking down the street is a not-so-happy metallic girl, grumbling to herself as she pretty much tunes everything around her out. And of course, life doesn't like being tuned out, and Cessily is reminded of that when a broken wooden table leg flies through the air and impales the girl in the chest, the impact making her tumble backwards. She then looks down at her chest, blinking at the wooden stake sticking out of her chest, then she groans, "Great… it's not like the night couldn't get any worse, of course…" she grumbles to herself as she stands up, then grabs the broken wooden stick and pulls it out, the hole in her body closing itself.
In general, Virgil doesn't have much cause to visit Gotham City… yet, anyway. He's just barely getting settled in New York and getting used to -its- nightlife, and Gotham… well, let's face it, has kind of a bad rap for some colorful characters. Of course, he's not really in position to throw stones considering the kind of characters in the town -he- came from. That, and an interesting girl he met at a rave party one evening, has made up his mind to try his luck again. And so he's making his way down the street as he just sort of takes in the sights without looking -too- obvious — as growing up on a city rife with street gangs has taught him, looking like a tourist is a the next best thing to having a 'MUG ME' sign pasted to his back.
Of course, there -are worse things that can happen besides a mugging, as he discovers a moment later with a roulette wheel coming crashing out a nearby window — only to be snapped up and disposed of by — another metahuman? " …whoa!" It's probably nothing she can't handle, of course, and this really isn't his turf. …buuuuut, it wouldn't hurt to lend a helping hand, right? You know, be a good neighbor? …from the next town over?
Virgil's wearing street clothes, but he'd brought his backpack with him, and so takes a quick glance around before ducking into a nearby alley to change. "Never a phone booth around when you need one." Turning away -just- in time to miss seeing Cessily get Buffy'd, as that would likely be a -real- shock to the system…
It's not exactly hard to figure out where the debris is coming from. The sounds of more things smashing, as welll as gunfire, point it out easily enough. Occasionally something will fly through one window or another. Other times, they'll hit a wall with enough force to make it shake. Still, the massive red behemoth inside isn't killing anybody. Since his few superfights were against fairly high profile people, the two besides Aerial might recognize the Juggernaut. Aerial has first-hand experience with him, going back to the criminals first ever appearance. "Get out of here you meta psycho! Don't you know whose place this is!?!" "Yeah. That's why I'm trashing it.' "You'll never awaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The next thing to fly through a window is a man in a suit, who lost his gun on the flight. He's flailing his arms franticaly. Okay…so he's not TRYING to kill anybody, but doesn't really care who gets hurt either.
And then Aerial's by one of the holes in the wall, and the roulette wheel is floating beside her like a balloon, tied to a thin thread that encircles her wrist. "Hey, someone dropped this." Her new suit has a digitally altered face and voice, but Juggernaut would recognize the color scheme and signature flight patterns. "So uh…" Oh snap, they have guns. She's sent flying as the wood of the table soaks a bullet, sending her flying out into the sky at the speed of sound. And as soon as she notices it's been hit, she's on her way back. Though now she's hiding more behind the wall. "Right, well. Guns make everything terrible. Wanna explain what's going on here?"
Cessily Kincaid did not need to be a mathematical genius to estimate from WHERE the broken wooden table leg came from. The Juggernaut isn't exactly being stealthy and subtle in his approach, really. So she decides to check the place and see what is going on. Her advance is delayed, though, as she sees a man fly out the window. Shocked, Mercury quickly elongates her torso and arms toward the flying suit-man, to wrap her arms around his body and bring him safely to the ground, "What is going on in that building?" she asks him, frowning.
Virgil hasn't -quite- reached some of the leading superheroes' quick-change abilities, but he's a few years to get good at it (it helps that he's managed to escape the fate that befalls some superhero costumes, like ridiculous amounts of pouches). Before long Virgil Hawkins is nowhere to be seen, and instead it's Static who comes flying out of the mouth of the alleyway — literally, crouched down on the silvery flight disc he'd carried folded in his backpack along with his costume. And the first thing he sees is Mercury just finishing making the save and keeping the not-so-innocent bystander from becoming wall pizza.
"Whoa… it's her!" Static may have a mask and a nifty disguise, but Mercury… to be fair, does stand out just a smidge. So he doesn't have trouble recognizing the young woman from the rave party. As much as he'd like to hear what's going on as well, the sound of gunfire is the first thing to get his attention. " -That- can't be good." And crouching down lower as he flies straight through the window that someone obligingly smashed out. Any bullets turned -his- way will find themsleves neatly stopped by the magnetic shield he holds ready to deploy — very handy for charging blind into a firefight.
The bullets weren't aimed at Aerial, but…Juggernaut is tall. Strays are going to go high. The flailing, yelling mafioso oofs as he's caught, clutching at Mercury, and finally registers what happenned. "Wha-? Ah! Some psycho is wrecking the place! You're a meta, stop him!" He points towards the club. Of courrse, once he's on his feet he seems in no hurry to go back in himself. When the others look inside, they'll see Juggernaut ripping out a slot machine with either hand, then smashing them together over his head. This causes coins to rain down. Then he tosses them aside, and picks up a card table, turning. He spots Static entering, and the other person peeking in, and scowls. He heaves the table at Static since he's the one actually inside. "Mind your own business!"
Cessily Kincaid turns her head toward where the man pointed out and runs toward it, frowning. Well, at least I can unload my frustrations on someone, goes through Cessily's head. Once arriving, she sees Static by one of the windows, and through a hole in the wall, she sees Juggernaut, and her eyes widen, "Aw, scrap…" she mumbles to herself as she recognizes Juggernaut from the news she saw about him. This is not going to be fun. She is technically immune to the pain of blunt impacts, but she was never hit with the strength the Juggernaut can punch. She hopes beyond hope her pain immunity doesn't have limits. That's something she wished she'd never test.
But… no time to loiter. Steeling her mind, and then shaping her hands into spherical mace heads with spikes, she jumps into the crashed building, "Hey! Lil' Red Riding Hood? Why don't you go pick on someone your own size!" Yep. The super-intimidating five-foot-and-a-half is super-intimidating.
Beep Boop Boop. "This is Aerial, at <location>." The flying red-suited girl is for the moment letting Static handle things. "Reporting crime in progress, metas involved, shots fired. It's a mess down here. We have the Juggernaut outnumbered, but he's hard to contain. I'll keep you advised, but I'm moving to intercede. You'll have film in the morning."
Aerial moves to float behind Static, since he seems able to deflect bullets, and the tosses a marble-sized pellet over Static towards Juggernaut. Regardless of if it hits him or the floor, the barrier gel starts to bloom out into a rapidly expanding sticky foam.
Hooboy, incoming! Not being a local boy, Static doesn't recognize The Unstoppable Juggernaut right off the bat. He -does- however, recognize that a freakin' -table- is flying at him. Eyes widening briefly before he pumps a surge of power into the magnetic shield, hardening it enough so that the table smashes itself into fragments against it. Wincing though, at the feedback from it - even with that casual 'go away, pest' toss had a -lot- of momentum behind it. Looks like he's gonna need to break out the big guns for this guy.
Problem is that while emptying, the place isn't -quite- empty yet. And throwing lightning bolts around in an enclosed space with scattered metal machinery? Probably not a good idea. Fortunately, Static is saved (for the moment) as Mercury makes -her- entrance, making him look over — and that's what Aerial makes her play. Attention forwrd once again, blinking as he sees the barrier foam expanding. "Um… I think we're gonna need a little more than shaving cream here."
The Unstoppable Juggernaut stops when he hears Cessily speak to him, turning towards the silvery girl. And…he actually recognizes her too. Though from a meeting in civillian disguise. And since he's considerably smaller out of costume, she probaly doesn't recognize him. He growls and says, "I'll give you one chance to back off. Take it, if you know what's good for you. This ain't any of your business." He looks up as Aerial throws her pellet, following the path down. When it begins to put of the foam he scowls and pokes at it with a finger. "The hell is that suppossed to be?" He doesn't seem too worried by whatever it is, starting to walk towards the trio of heroes. "Okay. I gave you guys the chance to run, now…eh?" He stops, looking down at some of the foam that has expanded to encompass his leg. "What is…." He reaches down to tear it off, but finds it strangely durable. And…it keeps expanding. "Okay, now I'm getting pissed!" The stuff soon envelops the criminal, leaving him out of sight. Andn then, for a while at least, nothing. Also, he's not from Gotham. He spends most of his time in New York. But you go where you're paid to go as a merc.
"That won't hold him," calls Aerial. "His power is momentum based. You literally can't stop him if he gets up any speed. Goes through walls, floors, whatever. He's also tough and strong. Fall back, huddle. We need a way to keep him off his feet." She eyes Static's flying disc. Eyes Mercury. "I can fly and take things with me, but I have to be tethered. Even if I could grab him in something, he'd reel me in and pulp me. What do you two have?"
Cessily Kincaid isn't intimidated by the Juggernaut's size and musculature. Being pain-immune can do that. "Yeah, well, I was having one hell of a bad day, and I was kind of hit by one of the stuff you threw out the window there, so you kind of made it my business, 'Red." she says, frowning at Juggernaut and lifting her hand-maces a bit, getting into a fight-ready position as the Juggernaut starts walking their way, the girl ready to fight. But then the expanding foam ends up trapping the Juggernaut, "Aw, dang it. I was hoping for a fight…" she groans, lowering her arms and her shoulder slumping a bit in disappointment. She then turns her head to the flying robot, "You sure? He seems pretty contained right now. And looks like he won't get any momentum now, covered in that sticky… thing."
"You wanted to mess with -that-?" Static isn't a local New Yorker either, but one look at the massive figure was neough to tell him that he'd be trouble, and probably not much else. As such, he stares at the silver girl before shaking his head. "Have you ever thought about taking up a hobby? Something peaceful, like, I don't know — moving to Florida and wrestling alligators?"
As for Aerial's question — what has he got? "Nothin' but style! Though I guess you could say I've got a magnetic personality to go with it." Cue action to word — the young hero spreads his arms wide, tendrils of cracking force blasting out from his hands (luckily -away- from Mercury) to snare fallen slot machines, coins, pretty much anything that's metal in front of him for the taking. "Let's make sure big boy here -stays- put!" And bringing his hands sharply together, concentrating the metal onto a central point in the room. The various iron-and-steel-mongery crushing itself out and becoming misshapen as it goes, looking to encompass that foam mass in a (very) rough shell of fused metal to try and bolster it further.
It seems that Aerial was right. The shape in the translucent good is still for a while, then starts to slowly move, shifting forward. Forcing himself through the material with sheer strength. One step, another. The movements coming faster as he goes, until in seemingly no time he's running at…well.. Not as fast as he could. The stuff is definetly slowing him down. But he IS moving. And still heading towards the assembled heroes. He's probably not too happy right now. His progress is hidden from sight when the metal shell is put over the foam. Silence for long seconds. Then…a thumb. Another, louder thumb. One louder than that. A dent appears in the metal, then a second one. Apparently, he's working himself up towards full punching power. Gradually. They have a pretty limited amount of time to think of something before he's out and swinging.
Aerial just shakes her head at the metal shell, then turns to Mercury. "I don't know how your thing works. Can you… carry stuff inside you? He's almost deifnitely after the money. Can you like, melt over the floor and grab the cash and make a break for it? Or be under his feet and slippery?" She's already preparing another pellet of barrier gel, though she sticks this one on the end of a spool of thread, and hovers up near the ceiling upside-down.
Cessily Kincaid watches as the Juggernaut starts moving, "What the—" she says in shock, eyes wide, but then Static's idea of adding stuff around it helps, but it seems it won't hold for long. At Aerial's idea, she frowns and shakes her head, "Wouldn't help much. He'd just follow me around, trashing whatever and whoever stands in his way…" her lips then become a thin line as she thinks for a moment, and an idea comes to her mind, "I know!" she says, and looks at Aerial, recalling the fact she can make stuff float. "Hey, Schoky!" she says, calling at Static, "Add more stuff around that guy, I got an idea! Then she turns toward Aeria, "Hey, Floaty! You can make things float, can't you? Do you think you can float up the Juggernaut while he's trapped in that goo and wreckage, and toss him out into the sea!?"
Static had folded his arms over his chest with a satisfied smirk as the metalwork settled into place, seeming to stop the motion that was beginning there. A smirk that promptly vanished with that first denting punch. " …uh oh." There -isn't- a lot more metal that he can throw at the shell without starting to rip rebar out of the walls — but he -can- try and strenghten what's there. Throwing out his hands again as another crackle of force explodes forth from them, snaring around the metal. Another magnetic field, and layering his signature 'static cling' atop it, trying to simultaneously cinch it the metal shell tighter and anchor it to the floor as well, Which is actually -very- hard, especially with all the opposing force working against it.
Which is probably why he finally stops quipping, sweat breaking out beneath his mask. "The name's Static! And whatever you're coming up with, you'd better hurry!" Because through the field's feedback he can get a feeling of just how -much- force is going into those punches. Chances are he's not going to be able to buy more than a few extra seconds.
This is a guy who managed to make Power Woman bleed, so he can hit pretty hard. The effort by Static helps though, and in the good Cain is exerting himself more than he expected. Eventually he digs his fingers into the metal, and begins trying to pull open a hole in the shell. Once he has a bit of space to work with, his head thrusts through the foam and he growls out, "I'm gonna throw the lot of you to Metropolis when I get out of here, I swear to god!" More straining, the hole widening more, and then he's wedging his huge frame through the gap, struggling to get free. If any of them gets too close, he takes a swipe and tries to grab them.
Aerial nods to Mercury, "That's sort of the plan, but the gel's sticky, and it takes time to charge something up to take with me. I won't be able to pull him off the floor. Smother him in junk and dust, it doesn't matter if he smashes it as long as it stiiick—." The barrier gel is sticky even after being torn through, gluing clumps of things stuck to Juggernaut like some weird katamari. She turns to Static. "Can you roll him upside down?" She twirls her string with barrier gel on the end of it, and lets go to stick it to Juggernaut. It blooms up into a ball about the size of a baseball - she didn't use much of it this time, just attaching the thread. And she holds the spool of thread in her hands, letting it unwind as she retreats. "Keep him off balance. I'm nulling his — mass — damn this feels weird, I'm having to fight his power for it."
Cessily Kincaid nods to Aerial, "If you can do it, do it fast! The Juggernaut won't remain still for too long!" she says, and then she turns her attention toward the Juggernaut again as he starts pulling himself out of the junk, and she reforms her hand back to normal. "Hey! Stop struggling!!" s he says, throwing a punch with a normal-shaped metallic hand at his face, her arm elongating to cover the distance. The plan is to have her hand split in two near his face so her metal goes into the eye sockets of the helmet to poke both his eyes. "Static! Can you do something other than telekinesis? Can you shock him or something!?"
"Not with you -that- close!" Static cuts out the magnetic field as Mercury lunges in — he can throw lightning like a pro, and he's got one attack that has heavy-hitters specifically in mind. But at this range, she metallic girl would end up getting caught it in too. And just sort of staring as she goes all nyuk-nyuk-nyuk on the behemoth before turning to stare at Aerial's suggestion. Upside down? "Are you -kidding- me? He's not exactly a lightweight, you know!"
Of course, Static has done his share of heavy lifting in his time, but -this-… hooboy. Hopping off his flight disc and dropping down to one knee on the floor, pressing his palms flat against it. Abandoning the 'ensnarement' field to settle for a flat plane of energy along the floor's edge, a sheet of cracking force spreading out and looking to spread beneath the Juggernaut's feet. "Normally this would be my 'static cling,' but maybe I can flip the script on this guy!" Because this time instead of a clinging field, this time he flings his arms updwards, aiming to create a 'repulsion' field instead. He might not be able to neatly flip and hold something like the Juggernaut upside down, but maybe if he can catch him actually standing -still- for a moment, he might be able to at least take him off his feet. …maybe.
As Aerial tries to leech the mass from Juggernaut, he finds it strangely slightly easier to move. He grunts, and then….augh! Silver in his eyes! He grabs at Mercury's arm. If he he manages to grab it, and she DOESN'T manage to slip free of his grasp in time, the mystical metahuman 'snaps the whip' that is her arm. What will that do to her? Probably nothing too pleasent. Then he releases her, leaning down to slam his fist into the ground HARD. So hard, in fact, that the entire floor for a good ways around shatters under the blow. And if there's a basement, after a few more punches the whole room might start collapsing into it. And…then Static is lifting him. He's around 900 pounds at full weight, and less now, so maybe he'll be able to do it? Though he's also trying to lift all the crap he's stuck to as well, so that might add to the difficulty. He grunts as he ends up off his feet, the punching of the ground possibly having actually aided him lifting him, since it was SORT of like pushing himself up. Sort of.
The face displayed on Aerial's visor twists in strain and effort. "It's never been hard to do like this. I can't…" 800 pounds. 700. Aerial gets drug around through the air behind him as he flails and moves. Juggernaut gets faster from lack of weight, but that also gives him decreased traction to start moving with. It's like trying to run on a moon bounce. 600. "His power keeps adding the /momentum/ back… and it's… GAH, I hate you, physics!"
Cessily Kincaid widens her eyes as her arm is caught. The thought 'rats, he's fast!' courses through her mind as the Juggernaut was about to snap her arm, luckily, she lets her arm melt off his grip, as a closed fist just cannot hold liquid, her form literally leaking between his fingers as she pulls her arm back, "Forget about me!" she says to Static, "Just blast him! We'll be in a LOT of trouble if he breaks free!" A quick look around and she notices a few wall sockets, and then she looks at the Juggernaut again, watching as how he's fighting against what Static and Aerial are doing. She then has an idea and she doesn't like it one bit. "Hey, Red Riding Hood! Open wide!!" she says, again attacking with her arm at his face, but this her intention is to flood his mouth and nostrils with her liquid self. If she manages to do so, her other arm will quickly lash out and split in two to plug themselves into two wall sockets, and let the electricity course through her and into the Juggernaut's mouth and nose, hoping to affect him, in some way. Of course, the girl lets out a loud cry of pain as she does so, the shock only lasting a few seconds before she lets go of Juggy and the wall sockets, the girl falling to the ground in pain. Of course, all this provided she DOES hit him with the first strike.
The fact that Juggernaut's weight is slowly coming down takes -some- of the strain off Static — he's moved tonnage before (if a giant anvil is any indication), but this is a new trick for him. Hard magnetic shields aren't, but creating a repulsion-charge field and maintaining it as what amounts to an electromagnetic slip-n-slide for several hundred pounts of weight… well, the ratio of effort-to-result is waaaay off, and Static feels himself starting to approach his limit. The significance of what Aerial is saying about physics is lost, unfortunately — where's a handy science buddy when you need him?
The young hero clenches his teeth as Cessily turns herself into a living conductor — and while that pained flailing at the very least (for some small favor) does take her out of the field of fire, they -still- need to get Juggernaut out of the enclosed space before he can really cut loose.
Virgil is going to be in for a -very- unpleasant surprise when he realizes just how little 'cutting loose' is going to mean against someone like this…
Cain isn't great at dodging, and isn't really in a position to try anyway. So he doesn't manage to dodge the blow form Mercury. He growls at the feeling of her liquid form leaking into him, biting viciously down on it. Not that it'll do much. And then….electricity! Flooding through his body, his muscles, and….well. Not really doing much of anything. Still, it was a good try! He manages to pulll himself out of the mass of foam and metal, rising to his feet and takking a step forward…one that turns into a sort of spacewalk jump instead due to the unfamiliar lack of mass combined with his strength. He grunts loudly. "What the hell?" The badly damaged floor is creaking around them, and NOW it starts to collapse downwards, dropping into the basement. The walls are still standing, mostly, resulting in the Juggernaut landing atop the heap down below, grunting when he does. He looks at the foam stuck to him, the string leading to Aerial. He glowers at her. "What did you do to me?" Then he's leaping up at her with outstretched hands, growling as he tries to catch ahold of the Movable Object.
Aerial glowers back, "I'm /stopping you/." 400. Her motions are jerky and erratic, launching herself from one corner of the ceiling to another, then back towards the hole out of the building. 300. He leaps and SOARS, his strength acting on a far lighter body than it was meant for. More thread unwinds as Aerial maneuvers backwards, following his flight through the air, and in mid-leap she flings another pellet of barrier gel at him. "Need to land on something!" she calls, "Sheet metal would be good!" 200.
Cessily Kincaid falls back, gritting her teeth. That shock REALLY hurt, and it seems it has little to no effect on the Juggernaut. Crap. Not her best idea, but she had to do something. After he falls into the hole, she watches as he jumps toward Aerial. She would pull the girl out of the way, but she is too weak to even lift a finger, remaining laid on the ground. Even remaining (kinda) solid is a chore, right now.
Static cuts the repulsion field the Juggernaut crashes through the floor, only to have Aerial takes to the air and yank the massive figure out of the basement and along for the ride with her, his own momentum taking him on a soaring fligh of his own. Immediately he hurries over to where Cessily has fallen — but that's when Aerial calls out. "You have -got- to be kidding me! Do you -see- a steel mill around here?!"
Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. Time to suck it up and be a hero. "Hang tight, okay? I'll be right back." This last said to the fallen Mercury as he sprints forward, whipping out a hand to call his flight disc back to him and under his feet as he jumps, letting it catch him and send him flying after them.
Sheet metal, she said. The flight disc itself would actually be perfect, except that it's got far too small a surface area to work as a landing pad for anything other than himself. A quick scan and what's below, and a hand reached out —
— and someone's going to have to hope their auto-insurance is paid up as another tendril of force snags and rips the hood off a nearby parked car. And then another one. And then — not that one, fiberglass, dangit. On the karma side, anyone who parks their car around an illegal gambling den probably didn't get their ride on the up-and-up. But Static whips out his arm, working rough and on the fly as a series of flat metal squares slide themselves an overlapping surface…
This time when Aerial throws the gel at Cain…a barrier of red light springs up around him, one that keeps the pellet from touchingg him. And probably snips the string connecting them in half too. His weight suddenly returned, the big red villain drops down towards the ground hard, hiting with a crunch of shattered masonry. He just crouches there for a few moments, then slowly raises to his feet. He begins to rip clumps of foam and debris off and dropping them to the ground, glaring up at the three heroes. Aerial in particular. "That trick is only gonna work so many times, kid." This may be considered an unfortunate turnaround. Stepping forward, Cain begins to climb up and out of the hole, taking his time about getting to the street above. "You guys got two options. One, keep trying to stop me and end up in worse shape than her." He hooks a thumb towards Cessily. "Two, just drop it and leave. I'm done here anyway." So…he wasn't after money? He just felt like trashing a casino?
Aerial freezes in the air and watches Juggernaut fall, grand plan unravelled. Playing back the footage to see what happened. "New power, nullification forcefield. Severing. Crap." Now she's thinking quickly, her voice a blurred rambling jittery stammer of half-formed syllables. "Tethers won't work. Can't take him… Foam won't stop him… Colony drop? No, collateral damage. Ah…" She gulps. "I'm… I'm not giving up." She drops to the ground in a sudden motion to collect a chunk of brick, and then jerks slightly up and mostly back. She's trembling.
Cessily Kincaid reeeeeally wishes she could do more. That last idea of hers helped quite a lot of nothing, the only result was getting HER out of the fight. She grits her teeth at Juggernaut, but at least she recovered enough to make herself fully solid and be able to sit up, "… Why?" she manages to say, working her damned best (although mostly futile) to once again stand up. Looks like she still wants to fight.
Not looking good. Static isn't sure what just happened, but it's pretty clear whatever Aerial was planning has fallen apart, just as they were making some headway. Aerial herself is looking shaky, and while Mercury is looking gutsy, she also looks pretty insteady on her feet. Static bites back his first answer to Juggernaut's offer — which would include the sort of language his Pops wouldn't approve of — and releases the snares he was holding, letting all that metal clatter to the pavement instead. Hovering his fight disc up and (hopefully) out of arm's reach as he peers down at the hole Juggernaut is climbing out of. "Gee, Bob — " That would be Bob Barker. " — before we pick Door Number One or Door Number Two, you wanna explain you wildin' out back there? You culd have killed someone!"
The Juggernaut studies the trembling Aerial, and sighs loudly. "You know what? Screw it. I'm leaving. You kids have fun here. Don't know if anybody else was in the building, so you might wanna check the rubble for survivors. Better use of your time than following me. That and maybe getting your friend some medical help." Then the injured person in question sits up and talks. He turns towards her, raising a brow. "Why? Why what? Did I do this?" He gestures at the building and shrugs. "Everybody has to work for their money. If it helps, it was a mob-run place. Here's a bit of advice for you three. When lives ain't on the line, you don't have to throw yours away stoppin somebody. I'd rather not kill any of you. And you gave it a good try, really." He glances up at Static. "Well, I don't think I did, unless somebdoy was hiding in the back when it collapsed. Anyway. I'm gone. Don't try to follow, any of you." He turns, and starts off down the street, calm as can be. "Goddamn kids…"
Aerial's grip tightens on the chunk of brick. And he just walks away? And expects that to work? Think, Aerial. Think. She could hurl it, sure, but even at the speed of sound it wouldn't do much. Anything big enough to possibly do damage would make a crater of Gotham. Barrier gel is low and doesn't work anyways now… No, no she's played out. The only thing should could do is follow him around and wait for some other hero to come clean up. And that's not an efficient use of time or resources at this point. Beat. Beat. "I'm going to stop you." She swallows. "It's always the money, huh? I won't follow you then. I'll follow /the money/. We'll see who still wants to hire you with a fly you can't swat buzzing around."
Cessily Kincaid manages to pull herself up to her knees, and, with some strain and the help of a support beam, she slowly pulls herself up to her feet, albeit shakily, watching the Juggernaut walk away. As loathe as she is to admit, the guy is WAY out of her league, in power and experience. She says nothing, right now, mulling in silence.
One can only hope the Juggernaut is sharp enough to see that Aerial is talking with her guts at this point — because when the bad guy has the upper hand, it's probably not a good idea to say something that'll make him go 'Yeah you know what, you're right, let's just get you out of the way right now.' As for Static, he likewise says nothing. Because he's not new at this. He knows the difference between bluster and confidence — he's seen it before, and in some truly horrible people too. Whether or not Static can pull something to turn the tables, he can tell that Juggernaut is at least, supremely confident that he can wreck all three of them, to the point of literally turning his back on them and walking off. Glancing over as Aerial speaks up, but still biding his silence… but tensing himself in case that hulking figure decides to change his mind…
Cain Marko glances over his shoulder at Aerial. "You gotta have a start to a money trail to follow it, Aerial. I'm not exactly planning on sharing my bank accounts with you, so good luck there. And so you know…if you push me too far, I WILL hurt you. And somebody else might kill you. Pick your battles, darlin." His lips twist and he adds, "And hey. You guys were at least able to really piss me off with your tricks. If I was most anybody else, I bet you woulda stopped me. So better luck against the next one, yeah?" Then he loos ahead, keeping walking. And eventually turning down a side street and disappearing.
Aerial drops the brick and slowly turns upside-down, running her hands over her helmet in a through-her-hair gesture that doesn't work because the hair is under the helmet. She shakes her head and returns to the other two. "My fault. Bad plan, poor synergy. Old tricks. Bad intel." Pause, "You guys okay?"
Cessily Kincaid would be breathing erratically and probably a heard attack if she had either lungs or a heart, but still that hurt A LOT. "I'll… manage." she says, leaning her back against the support while she recovers, while keeping her eye on the departing Juggernaut. "That guy is… unstoppable."
Static waits until the Juggernaut is… well, as out of sight as a walking force of destruction can be. THen he lets out his breath, letting his flight disc descent and sagging his shoulders. "Man… I am -really- starting to hate Gotham." Glancing over at the two obviously winded girls… and while he's not feeling that spry himself just now, he rouses himself enough to try and get the last of the night's debacle tended to. "You two take it easy for a second — I'm gonna go check and see if anyone got caught in there." As much as he hates to admit it, Juggernaut -did- have a good point there, at least.
Aerial nods. "I— He.. yes. Literally, that's his power. I stopped him before, but that was by denying him his target, while he beat Wonder Woman to a pulp. You really can't do anything TO him. I had a clever idea and near as I could tell, he got a new /power/, on the /fly/, to stop it. Dunno if you saw that red forcefield thing cut my thread and stop my foam when he fell. I was hoping I could maybe leave him in orbit or something where he wouldn't hurt anyone…"
