Log:Clash of the Gorgon

2016/11/14 	 Dasher Griffin Breach Lightning Porter Soleri Mechanica

1

Downtown Colonial Bay is often a quiet place on Sundays. The juggernauts of finance and industry slumber, their vast glass and steel edifices lit only by the blaze of sunlight streaming down upon the city from so far above. Empty husks, devoid of all but the most basic personnel to maintain them. No sign of the lifeblood of the global economy that normally fuels these titans that dominate the city's most vital district.

Except this Sunday.

The brunchtime peace is sundered by the sound of a muffled explosion some sixteen stories up one of Downtown's mighty skyscrapers. Seconds later glass starts raining down on the street and sidewalks below, each crystalline impact creating a high-pitched symphony of danger. Errant papers and other office debris get whipped out of the yawning hole in the side of the building, raining casually down upon Downtown.

A second explosion roars from somewhere inside of the sixteenth floor of the building. It is followed by a howl of surprise in stereo. Two humanoid forms come hurtling out of the hole in the skyscraper, propelled by a cloud of smoke and fire - presumably caused by the explosions - until gravity takes cruel hold of them and drags them toward the ground below.

One of those forms is a hulking brute, easily 12' tall and looking to be made of rough hewn stone. She spins a few times in the air before finding a balanced, if precarious, position that will see her landing in the middle of the street on his bare feet. The remnants of a hand tailored suit flap in the roaring winds around her enormous form, tattered and singed, frayed in places from what appears to be a variety of different damage types.

The other form is smaller and more distinctly human, clad in a battered, well-tailored business suit. He spins a few times in air, firing energy pistols at the statuesque - in more ways than one! - female plummeting feet-first toward the up-rushing street. She lashes out with a single mighty hand and swats him clear across the street, embedding him solidly in the impact-resistant glass of another skyscraper, some five stories up from the street.

Passing through downtown at top speed (just a bit over 240mph), is Griffin Freeman taking a shortcut through downtown instead of avoiding it liek he normally would. Afterall at these speeds he's liable to destroy anything or anyone he accidentally impacted.

But on these call and quiet Sundays- he can't help but cut through the eeriely empty causeways.

The explosion is a dull din over the roar of wind as Griffin cuts through town, rushing to meet someone for patrol. But sight of the 12' stone woman and rapidly firing man giving chase is hard to mix.

Griffin lifts his CommBracer and taps a red and yellow icon of a Lightning bolt. He's gonna be late.

He runs towards the looming impact site of the large woman.

Ink was nearby enough due to exploring the city that is her new home. The first explosion sends her darting into an alley since there aren't any convenient phone booths and with zero modesty at all, she's pulling off her clothes and into her costume using just a trash bin for cover to protect her precarious identity as it is. Ahh the smell of garbage in the morning. Once done she tucks her clothes into a pack and jams the pack behind the bin so that she has both hands free. A lattice framework of energy takes the shape of angellic wings sprouting from her shoulders and another 'boom' sounds as Soleri accelerates super sonic in an instant to close on the scene of the explosions and the ensuing altercation. She stops just as suddenly as she started, floating in the air held aloft by those energy wings and she looks around trying to make sense of the situation, seeing if she can recognize any of the players and pick out who is a good guy, and who is a bad guy, or girl as the case may be.

Dasher looks up. At first she cannot hide an expression of alarm and concern. But when she takes in the nature of one falling finger and the actions of the other she pastes Dasher's cynical unfeeling expression back on her face.

Late? Late!? That's won't do! Not for an impatient speedster. Lightning's comm lights up with an alert of delay from Griffin, along with GPS coordinates. "Huuurr, really, bro?" Lightning mutters.

He's only two states over, so he may as well meet up to hurry things along to help Griffin. He doesn't even stop to think it could be personal issues. Those sort of details get forgotten when you're thinking so fast.

Lightning disappears from the finished search and rescue from a collapsed building in New Jersey. Seconds later, he appears next to Griffin. "Hey, Bro. What's with the delay?" he asks impatiently. Suddenly, Lightning zips all around to examine the area, turning into just a blurred streak before solidifying next to Griffin again. "Oh," he states flatly. "So who's the bad guys here? I don't recognize any of these people."

Soleri shouts out, "Good guy is doing his imitation of a pancake, bad girl is the reject from Greece!" She points to the indicated people as she calls out so as to give a sit rep to any whom might be able to listen.

Griffin daps Lightning, "No clue. But I'm pretty sure its going to be a pain in the ***."

He looks up and recognizes SOleri's wings and voice. "Oh- that makes two." He says a bit sardonically. He smirks to Lightning.

Lightning glances at Griffin, expression aghast. "Dude, harsh, much?" he responds as Griffin makes an inference about Soleri.

Dasher thinks after Soleri's shout, .oO(Whoever you are, that is so handy to know. Okay, hit the big girl. Protect the derp.)

"You're right. I let my tongue wag. My bad.

The giant woman made of stone slams into the dead center of, let's just say, Bensonhurst Boulevard. Lightning can probably watch the pavement compress and ripple outward in ultra-slow-motion before the full power of her momentum utterly decimates the pavement and leaves Miss Statue standing chest deep in a blast crater that absorbs a 20' long section of the street. Somehow the damage seems contained to just the street, the sidewalk is inexplicably unharmed.

Five stories up, the building shuddering impact of a giant woman finishes the work that heaving a man out of the air and into a window started. Our friend(?) in the battered, but not tattered business suit collapses forward as the window finishes shattering. Glass rains down around him, tinkling off of the street and sidewalk before Rick "Breach" Mason hits the street -HARD-. Armor or not, the impact of his body with the ground is an unpleasant sounding thing.

"Bad girl? Angel, please. I make corporate espionage look good," calls the stone woman. She plants her hands on the edges of the crater and nimbly hauls herself out of the street to stand upon it, her grey eyes still focused on the flying Soleri. Absently the giant woman dusts herself off, as though her tattered suit could really stand up to more friction like that.

"Now how about you all back off and let me leave? Your friend over there is probably going to need a whole trauma unit worth of help."

Soleri starts to fly over towards Gorgon, getting about 35m away all said and done, "Oh please, that look is so BC." She says down to the stone woman with a smirk, "Let's see what it takes to make you break. Someone get out the dust pan and broom!" And she is clearly preparing to do... something, but there's a very real possibility that others will act faster than she does.

Dasher calls out, "A counter offer. How about you don't surrender until I've had some fun?" as she runs, only slightly faster than a normal could, towards Ms Big.

Lightning still looks a little shocked, but his expression eases on Griffin. He's an easy going guy. If he's saying that about anyone, it probably was warranted. "Sorry, man. I know you better than that. Is that one going to be trouble?" he apologizes for his lack of trust in his best bud.

He looks back to Miss Statue and Rick as collapses happen. "Oh, geez. I think that man's gotta get to a hospital," he says, only just finishing the sentence before appearing next to Rick instantly in a kneeling position. "Hey, don't move...we're going to get you medical help," he says in a calming tone.

"You're right. I let my tongue wag. My bad." Griffin admits. "I was gonna say check the pancake, but a trauma unit? That's my thing. Give 'em hell Sparks."

He then turns on his heel as Lightning takes off in front of him. "Always late..." He says, running for Lightning and Rick. "Rickles?!" He shouts seeing his friend. He chuckles and says, "Figures." before turning back around and sprinting for Gargantua Stonefoot- eyes a glow with blazing energy.

Somewhere, someone mentioned pancakes. Also derps. Ok, so maybe they just thought those things. Even if no one mentioned or thought about coffee, the combination of the other two must be enough.

Or, of course, it's just coincidence.

With a merry FLASHTWHUMP of light an displaced air, what to one's wandering eyes do appear, but a pair of Porters!

No strollers, no carriers, just the two of them, in matching hoodies.

Ok, matching because they're both hoodies. Other than that, one is much smaller and is bright pink. Just out for a nice walk, to go out and get..pancakes!

Skidding to a stop on the outside of the the Statue's impact crater Griffin shouts, "You're outmatched, Ma'am. Stand down so no one gets hurt." His tone is firm, he is completely unthreatened by the statue by the looks of his body language as he casually walksa round the impact crater towards her.

"Pickles?"

Lady Stonebody looks aghast at Griffin, as though he just said the most terrible thing in the world while shouting at his friend. She reaches up, brushing a hand across the carved surface of her hairline while she tries to figure out what kind of awful battle cry Griffin is employing.

This singular focus, of course, keeps Gorgon from noticing the arrival of The Family Porter. Instead, she finishes straightening herself out and straightening up after that granite-jarring impact with the ground. Gorgon - aka Lady Stonebody aka Miss Statue aka Gargantua Stonefoot - raises an eyebrow at Griffin's demand.

"I'm pretty sure you're outmatched, Tiny. Especially if you're going to shout pickles as a battle cry."

Rick, in the mean time, jerks back to life somewhere in the middle of Lightning telling him to stay still. The Undead Soldier gasps sharply and presses himself up his belly with a crunch of decompressing joints and reknitting bones. He looks blearily at Lightning and inquires, "Are you going to waste your time on me or getting the flash drive back from Thunder Thighs over there?"

Someone's clearly not a first thing in the revivification kind of person.

"Pickl- Oh." Griffin says, turning back to Rick Mason and then to Lady Stonebody. "Tiny? Ok- sure. You got me. Now stand down." He says seriously, still nearing- just not a superhuman speeds.

Lightning looks over to Gorgon, Miss Statue, whoever she actually is, and then back to Rick as he watches cuts start to seal up and he gasps to life. He couldn't even tell if Rick was alive or dead a moment ago. "Wow. Er. Um. You think I'm strong enough to wrench that out of her hand? I'm flattered. Really?" he wavers uncertainly as he looks back to Gorgon and sizes her up.

"And usually, I don't hit ladies. It's just...wrong unless it's a life or death issue. But I'll try to help in other ways!" He suddenly gets an idea. He zips over, running circles and circles around Gorgon so fast that she starts seeing double. Triple. Quadruple Lightnings!? The number keeps going up. Suddenly, in all directions, they all seem to say, "May I have this dance?"

After building up so much momentum, Lightning grabs her by the shoulder and tries spinning her around and around. But by doing so, he reveals himself in the whirlwind blur.

Dasher/Chen's entire set of priorities just got changed. Sure Porter is a seriously capable dude. Unless his luck, mostly bad, kicks in. But a meta fight is no place for Kysmette. No place at all. Dropping the pretence of being just a gang member she zips as fast as she can to get between Porter, and Kysmette, and the big villain, Gorgon. "I'll protect you as best I can but maybe you ought to get Kysmette out of here, Porter." the Hellion gang member tells Porter.

Soleri asks Rick, "Is it ok if the Flash Drive is destroyed instead of recovered Mr. Pancake? I need to know my options here."

Rick grunts at Lightning, climbing to his feet for all of a second before he collapses onto his keister. Sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, Rick hangs his head while he tries to keep from throwing up. Apparently Rick's accelerated healing process has not yet made unbruising his digestive tract a priority.

Gorgon's attention shifts toward the multitude of Lightnings surrounding her while Griffin advances on her position. One slate eyebrow arches upward while she plants her hands on her hips. She looks between a group of Lightnings and the advancing Griffin before she inquires, "Really? You think that's going to-"

Lightning promptly gets a hold of her left arm and starts spinning Gorgon in place. She gets good and thoroughly turned around in the process, her eyes practically turning into swirlies as she is distracted entirely from Dasher and the Porters.

Rick starts to lift his head, something popping and snapping in the process, until he decides that looking up toward Soleri is too much work. Dropping his head again, Rick grunts and snorts a little bit before he calls, "Priority is the data not getting out into the wild. I'd rather turn it back over to my clients, but... Well. Accidents happen."

Porter grins down at Kysmette. "So, what kind of syrup do you want on your-" "Pickles!" she cuts him off as the battlecry is echoed by the little Pink Princess. Porter nods. "Yeah, what kind do you want on your- Wait. What?" He blinks. Then there's suddenly a zipping... gang member? there. Only now does he notice things. Like the ruined street. The four meter stone staute that's moving. You know, the little details. He blinks "Oh, shick..les. Yeah, pickles it is!" And they have a bunch of those at home in the fridge. "C'mon, Kyssie!" Without letting go of her hand, he smacks the doohickamagobber on his belt with the other. To FLASHTHWUMP her home.

Soleri watches the battle start and with a grin she waits for her moment to strike. She's got options, should she see if she's more resistant to energy first before striking, or should she just go all out at the very start. There's the possibility she can take the best Soleri can give after all. Then again, if she does break her into pieces, would she die? Such are the thoughts that run through Soleri's mind as she wrinkles her nose up in a little frown. Options will be the death of her some day... even if in the end it ends up being punch or blast as the only two options she has more often than not. "Ok good." She answers Rick, "I didn't want there to be trouble if it gets broken in the melee." And then she is flying towards the hopefully still distracted Gorgon, fists leading the way as she tries to power right /through/ the statue. Guess she decided to put the notoriously tough villainesses durability to the test!

With Kysmette safe Dasher watches Soleri's strike againsy Gorgon. .oO(Note to self. Do NOT make her angry at me.) flashes through her mind.

Griffin uses Gorgon's attention being off of him, to quickly close the gap between he, Lightning, Soleri and Gorgon.

He slides defensively in front of where Lightning came to a stop.

His eyes glow unrestrained, heatwaves come off his temples like the air above a hot desert highway baking in the sun.

'We should call this "the Rotisserie"' Griffin thinks to himself as he lets loose the built up energy store behind his eyes.

Golden lances of light dart at lightspeed-straight for the giant stone woman.

After pounding Gorgon into the pavement, leaving her set up for Griffon to cook her with those eyebeams of his, Soleri has skidded to a stop some five meters away from the statuesque woman. She straightens up, flexing her hands and brushing dust off her knuckles, "Ha!" She says with a grin, even as she rubs her sore knuckles after that hit and thinks to herself .oO(At least she didn't break into a million pieces. Glad my information was accurate... Oh Em Gee... I can go all out for once!) And Soleri's smile grows even wider.

Soleri charges down from the sky and plows into Gorgon hard enough to knock the enormous and enormously heavy woman clean off of her feet. Drilled almost dead in the core of her still spinning body, Gorgon bends over double with a terrific WHUMPF as the air is knocked out of her lungs - or what passes for them in her stony physique. Launched backward, Gorgon slams into a massive white Escalade hard enough to blow out the SUV's tires and deform the springs in its suspension.

Gorgon lays sprawled across the hood and cab of the truck, her head nestled into the rear bench seat as 1's and 0's float merrily about her head. The din of computer bells and alarms drags Gorgon back toward consciousness a few moments later, the statuesque woman struggling to sit up on top of the collapsing Escalade just in time for Griffin to rake her from shoulder to hip with his eye beams. Layers of stone heat up in a hurry while several tatters of cloth burst into short-lived flames.

"Oh," is all the verbiage that Gorgon can bring to bare. She may be thoroughly stunned.

Lightning winces as Gorgon gets pummeled beyond all reason, and then blasted. There's a sympathetic expression, visible even beneath the blue tinted visor he wears. His eyes rove over the car. "That's gotta be expensive..."

He shakes his head, realizing he's getting distracted. He zips over to Gorgon's side an instant later. "That's...not what I was intending to have happen," he says apologetically to Gorgon. He may have completely forgotten that she just tried to kill a guy.

"Look, you've got to be smarter than this if you're capable of stealing what I imagine to be encrypted data. You've got the beauty, brawn, and brains, the whole deal. You could do anything! You could turn over a new leaf. Change the world. Be a symbol for good!" He gets a little carried away while he has the benefit of her being dazed and confused. "But you can't be all that if you're just stealing intel. Tell you what...I'll take back the data, and you can go on with a new life and become a new person." He glances over as Rick seems to recover. He looks back to her and flashes a charming smile. "No harm, no foul, right?" He'll ignore the property damage. That's what insurance is for!

While she's completely dazed, he tries to pluck the thumb drive from her hand, if it's in any sort of working condition, and zip back to a safe distance.

Endurance set to 89.

Dasher stands with her hands on her hips watching Soleri, Griffin, and Lightning piling in on Gorgon. Somehow it hardly seems fair. So she stays out of combat and heads over to Rick, who she's finally recognised. "Hi. Anything I can do for you?" she asks him.

Lightning gets a good, solid hold on the flash drive.

Gorgon doesn't put up much more than a dazed, fleeting attempt at a fight.

Somehow Gorgon manages to keep her fingers wrapped around the miniscule device in her hand. Lightning may feel like kind of a derp while he fights with a visibly dazed statue to free a flash drive from her stony grasp. On the plus side, Lightning thinks he may have made a positive impression on Gorgon. Maybe she won't grind his bones and use him to make her bread.

Rick looks up at the approaching Dasher, whom he doesn't recognize. Blinking a few times as he notes the Hellions colors flying, Rick cocks his head to one side. Immediately he regrets that decision, flinching as he pinches some nerves that haven't quite finished restoring normal service.

"You could... I dunno. Today's turning out to be a weirder day than I was expecting."

Porter deal with opening a pickle jar. A stubborn one. But the important part is that he got Kyssie home, safe and sound. He'll be back, though! Probably. Unless he gets defeated by a jar.

Soleri saunters over towards the downed Gorgon, "I'm guessing someone is second guessing her bravado right now." Reaching down she goes to grab hold of Gorgon with one hand and tries to pick the woman up over her head and slam her down on the ground for good measure to just knock the fight clean out of her. "So, someone want to call the authorities for a pick up?" She asks with a grin before she looks at Griffin and cocks an eyebrow up at him with a defiant expression on her face.

"Woah, woah, woah" Griffin says, "She was big one, we put her down easy- she won't be fighting anymore, not today, ma'am." Griffin says trying to stop Soleri from killing someone.

But his words seem to fall on deaf ears... lately.

Lightning stares in disbelief as Soleri beats up a downed woman. "Whoa, kicking someone when they're done is SO not heroic!" He's on board with Griffin on this one, wincing as Gorgon is slammed again. Something sours inside him at the low blow.

Dasher nods, "Gotta say the speed guy is right. And when a Hellion from the burg thinks that's over the the top could be it is."

Griffin reaches down into his MEDkit and begins walking over towards the downed woman- the villain who just became his patient.

He drops to his knees next to her and begins running through the meta-medic training he's added to his already robust field medic skillset.

Soleri rolls her eyes, "She's not hurt. She's just dizzy. By all means, give her a few seconds to recover. Gorgon is /known/ for being amazingly tough. Her life isn't in any danger... but when she wakes up because she's not even unconscious yet... yours might well be." She lifts a shoulder in a shrug.

Soleri adds, "If she was unconscious, why is she still holding the flash drive zippy couldn't get out of her hand?"

For anyone else, lifting Gorgon might be a challenge - she is a giant made from stone, after all - but Soleri finds it well within her power. Dragged off of the wreckage that was once an Escalade, Gorgon is hauled aloft one-handed before being cast down into the pavement hard enough to create a new, smaller impact crater.

There is a brief pause before Gorgon lets out a deep groan and goes slack. As soon as Gorgon relaxes, her stony facade starts to crumble away. Within seconds, there is a tall, leggy woman of indeterminate ethnicity sprawled awkwardly atop a gravel-filled pot hole. She is, mercifully, clad in an expensive, hand-tailored suit that has probably seen better days.

Grenades have a tendency to ruin expensive suits like hers.

Long blue-black hair pools around her head and shoulders while Griffin sets to work assessing her medical condition. Someone could probably filch the flash drive now that her hand is completely unclenched and not holding onto it any longer.

Soleri adds, "Now she's unconscious."

"Sure- but the situation ws contained. There was no reason to 'put her under'- but thanks." Griffin says a bit brashly as he continues checking the leggy woman out- medically.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Lightning mutters as Gorgon's armor crumbles away. He zips over to fetch the hard drive in a flash and dashes to stop in front of Rick. "Here you go," he comments as he holds it out. Only now does he actually look at the condition of the thumb drive. "What was so important that it would interest someone like her employers?" he asks with a mild hint of suspicion.

With impeccable Porterific timing, there is another FLASHTWHUMP. Porter returns, sans Kysmette... and with a large wet stain on his shirt. That reeks of vinegar.

"Corporate espionage is a thing, kid," replies Rick to Lightning. He pockets the flash drive and, after looking over at Dasher again, Rick starts to force himself back to his feet. Rick grunts uncomfortably, but does not fall this time. Instead he turns around and starts to look for his guns.

Dasher can probably spot them easily. Some kind of outsized revolver and a small, comparatively common laser Derringer are strewn haphazardly within the debris field of the window that came down with Rick.

Dasher points out the weapons, "Looking for those?" she asks with a slight smug smirk.

Soleri sighs and throws her hands up in the air, "Excuse me for not wanting her to recover consciousness and do whatever it is she can do to hurt people. What if she'd gotten her feet under her and lept kilometers away and then there was only zippy and myself to follow her and zippy got squished?" She shakes her head, "

"You people are nuts if you think she was contained at that point."

Porter looks around. Street still broken (which was NOT his fault!), people still gathered around and/or lying down. "Uh... so what'd I miss? What happened?"

Griffin checks pulse, eye dilation and a battery of other tests before standing up and packing his gear.

He looks to Soleri, "If she gets up, let her. Do not let her leave." He says commandingly before walking over to his boy Mason to get a SitRep. He deflects Soleri's know-it-all-attitude with a sigh.

Griffin strides over, quicker than a baseline human's sprint but not really faster than a good speed walk for Griffin.

"Mason! What the hell was that?" He asks, once he's close enough to be heard by Rick & not be shouting.

"@#$! You old man." Soleri spits at Griffin, "She's all yours now." And with an explosion of sound as the sound barrier is broke, Soleri takes off into the sky instantly ascending to hypersonic speeds.

Dasher grins as Porter returns with his usual perfect timing. "Big girl got pounded. I'd say my normal complaint that you metas don't give norms a chance... but I guess being like 100ft tall and stone ain't what anyone can call a norm."

Lightning winces at the sonic boom reverberating through the district. "And...THAT'S why I don't travel past the sound barrier inside cities. Probably scared the bejeezus out of the civilians within a several block radius. You should totally talk to her about that, Griff." He completely passes on any responsibility where the cursing woman is involved.

Rick clutches at his skull with one hand, the other hand busily retrieving his guns from the glass-strewn sidewalk. He glances over at Dasher, offering an expression that is both apologetic and appreciative at the same time. There's a chance the Undead Soldier is over-estimating the volume of Griffin's voice at the moment.

At which point Soleri explodes into the sky with a sonic boom.

"... why does the universe hate me?" whimpers Rick, dropping into a deep crouch while he squeezes his brain pan harder in his fingers. There is a weird, off-putting click-snap and Rick blinks.

"... Okay... That's a new one... But at least it doesn't hurt any more?"

Lightning rubs the back of his head after the angry Soleri flies off. "Sorry for doubting your call on her, Griff. Man, a woman that strong with a temper like that? I don't know who to be more afraid of. Gorgon or her. And what does she mean old man? It's not like you're THAT much older than her."

"Oh yeah- I can't wait to find her out and tell her about another one of her personality flaws." Griffin says to Lightning. He really isn't looking forward to it, but Lightning is right, and he's likely one of the only people who could stand up to someone that strong for more than a sentence or two.

His attention is diverted to his other pal, "Sorry, Brother..." Griffin says much quieter than his intitial volume followed by a terrble cringe as a sonicboom erupts from Soleri's departure and Rick's body continue mending itself.

Porter nods at Dasher, then blinks at the startling sonic boom. "Ok... so bad guy... girl.. got caught. And everything is Ok. Everybody's Ok...?" Which is how it should be, he thinks.

Dasher ambles forward. "The little kid safe and sound?" she asks Porter. Then turning to Griffin and Rick, How about the price of a cup of coffee for my invaluable assistance?" she says with a grin, since she didn't have to do anything. Not even having to break her cover identity.

Slowly, cautiously, Rick stands up again. He looks almost surprised to find himself in basically normal condition. Flexing his fingers a few times, Rick eventually gets with the program and holsters his guns again before he looks over at Porter. An eyebrow quirks upward, but Rick doesn't comment.

Instead, Rick shoves his hands into his pockets. Eventually one hand emerges with a $10 bill that he holds out to Dasher. Apparently the price of a cup of coffee is good enough for him.

"Wait, you know that loose cannon?" Lightning asks Griffin with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder and skyward. He then folds his arms over his chest and spends a record two seconds thinking on that. He must've been lost deep in thought.

"Oh, hey, you know this guy, too?" he asks, looking to Rick and studying him for a moment. Nope, doesn't ring a bell.

Dasher takes the offered $10 bill. "Cool. Thanks." she says. "Any time you need help give me a call." she adds.

"Unfortunately, you're right on both notes." Griffin says teasingly. "Though I jsut met that one." He throws his thumb over his shoulder in the direction Soleri went. "Never even got her name." He adds before introducing his pal to his buddy.

"This tough bastard though, this is Rick Mason. Super-Soldier Extraordinare. RIck, this is my Pal, Lightning. Fastest man on Earth." He beams proudly for knowing both.

Dasher says, "I'm Dasher. The toughest roughest strongest girl alive. Modest too."

Rick starts to say something to Dasher, but he cuts himself off. Instead, the Undead Soldier shrugs at her and replies, "Will do."

At which point introductions are actually made. Rick tilts his head slightly, looking back and forth between unfamiliar people. Gradually, Rick crosses his arms over his chest and offers hands to Dasher and Lightning.

"Good to, uh, meet you both. Thanks for the help with keeping Sister Sticky Fingers from robbing my clients. It's appreciated."

Lightning can't help but grin at Dasher's modesty. He's not familiar enough with the gangs in this city to realize she's flashing Hellion colors. "-So- modest," he agrees playfully. After all, she got rewarded with coffee money. Something he should avoid. He's jumpy enough without it.

"Wait, maybe I should take notes. I'm never going to remember any of these," he murmurs as he pulls out his phone from his utility belt and starts rapidly typing. "...Ms. Ghostfist suggested I should start taking pictures cuz they would last longer..."

Ink returns, via maglev, to get her clothes she left behind wedged behind a garbage bin now shielded by sunglasses and street clothes to protect her identity. She avoids the damaged street and cluster of capes as best she can to make her way towards the alley she left her things behind.

"Good idea. You might actually recognize someone in the future that way." Griffin says grinning.

He turns to Mason, his face growing more serious, "So your client's gonna press charges? Did someone already call Emerency personnel?" He asks.

MEANWHILE, IN OLD TOWN:

Ghostfist's eyebrow twitches. She looks up from writing out a report for a client to stare out a window at the sky. Who would dare use such a stentorian title with her awesome name?!

Lightning smirks at Griffin's shot. "It's not...-that- bad, is it? I mean, in the grand scope of things?" He starts typing away one-handed with his left as he shakes Rick's hand with his right. Suddenly he appears right next to Rick. FLASH! Surprise Selfie! And then he stands in front of Rick again, still shaking hands as he writes notes on the photo. "Nice to meetcha. Any friend of Griffin's."

"We blew up a floor in an office building and ruined windows in two different skyscrapers, Griff," replies Rick, "I think emergency services is aware of the situation."

Not to mention the security alarms going off in whatever skyscraper started housing the fight. The janitors are probably screaming in agony as the alarms sunder their ability to hear.

Dasher nods, "Yeah. Police on their way I'm sure. They'll probably try to blame me. Just cus' I'm a ganger from the burg. Been fun. But I better get going." she says, and with a cheery wave heads down an alley to get out of sight.

Griffin simply nods, "Thanks for keeping the trouble to a minimum Hellion." Griffin says with a wave. He's as surpirsed as anyone that Dasher the Hellion didn't make things wrose.

"Agh!"

Rick flails his one hand as he finds himself in the middle of a surprise selfie. His other hand somehow continues to shake hands with Lightning despite the fact that, for almost half a second, their hands were not in contact. The Undead Soldier blinks a few times, starstruck by the flash from Lightning's camera phone, trying to clear both blindness and surprise by the speedster's shenanigans.

Ink pulls her pack out from behind the bin and slings it over one shoulder casually before heading out of the alleyway. She looks over towards the scene and takes up position nearby, just to make sure things don't go bad if Gorgon hasn't been rounded up and on her way to Stronghold or whatever it is they use for a metaprison these days.

Griffin seems to enjoy Rick's surprise speedster shenanigans salvo as he claps and says, "Oh do it again!" he then lets out a good hearty rumble of a laugh. He is clearly not too concerned with Lady Gorgon regaining her senses any time soon.

Lightning finishes making notes, taking even a quick snapshot of Dasher as she leaves and typing more notes to remind him who's who. "Hm, do what? Oh, Meta cuffs. Should probably grab those from the local MCU, which should be," he rapidly googles the location and promptly disappears into a blur that heads northwards. The blur hasn't even faded when it renews and Lightning is...still standing where he was, now holding a pair of metahuman restraints. "Yep, found it," he says with a grin and tosses them to Griffin.

Gorgon - or whatever her real name is - remains sprawled unceremoniously in the pile of rubble that used to be her much more enormous stone body. She probably won't bite Griffin when/if he goes to put the power cuffs on her. Probably.

Griffin snatches the meta-cuffs out of the air deftly with a grin. "Handy, as ever Sparks."

He strides over to Lady Stonefoot at a normal, casual pace. He slows as he nears her makeshift self-made altar.

He watches her a moment for signs that she's faking being unconscious.

Lightning looks over to Rick as Griffin handles Gorgon. But really, his attention is split between the two as his head subtly seems to just shift instantly from one position to the next as he 'looks' at Rick. "So how do you and Griff know each other?"

Gorgon remains largely still and definitely unconscious. The list of injuries Griffin noted earlier, however, appears to be diminishing over the course of time. Apparently she can't just take a hit, she can heal from one quite quickly too.

Free of the usual signs of someone playng posseum, Griffin lifts the limp body of the statue woman and puts her over his shoulder, once there he puts her hands behind her back and slides them into the meta-cuffs. It looks like he's done that once or twice.

Still he seems like he's in a hurry to get that over with, before she's all healed up.

"Good timing Sparks!" He shouts as he's finished the job.

"Popcicle support group," grunts Rick, in response to Lightning.

Even with Gorgon put in cuffs, Ink still hangs around pretending to be a gawker as she waits to make sure the villainess is properly taken by the authorities. (I wonder how strong those cuffs are... most stuff breaks so easily... But I was expecting Gorgon to be a lot tougher from the information on the net...)o. Ink thinks to herself. Then she looks over towards Griffin and has to suppress a scowl, it's mostly successful.

It takes a second or two for that to sink in. "Huh? You both like smoothies, huh?" Lightning concludes. "Guess that's got a big following in this city..."

Rick looks at Lightning.

He slowly lifts his hand and presses his face into his palm.

"With a name like Lightning, you'd think he'd be brighter," mutters Rick into his hand.

Lightning folds his arms over his chest at Rick's comment. "Is there something I'm missing...?" he asks, because clearly he is. Did Griffin ever tell him of his frosty past? Would Lightning have even remembered?

Rick lifts his head out of his palm and looks Lightning dead in the eyes. There is a long, extra pregnant pause before Rick rolls his eyes and darkly comments, "That's too easy, even for me."

Griffin sets the unconscious corporate data thief down gingerly on her own leavings. He finds that quite suitable in the grand scheme of things, fitting in its own way.

He turns and begins walking back to his two friends. He has no idea that they're not really getting off to the rousingly spectacular start that he had hoped for.

Who is Griffin fooling? When does Rick ever get along spectacularly with anyone aside his fellow popsoldiericle?

"Dude, you have zero chill," Lightning says flatly, accidentally hitting it right on the nose.

Rick stares Lightning dead in the eye for another three seconds.

He promptly collapses to his knees in uproarious laughter.

You'd die of laughter too if it happened to you!

As the Meta Crimes Unit arrives to take Gorgon into custody, and probably to a hospital for a checkup, the crowd disperses and cleanup crews will surely be scheduled to arrive with dumpsters and cleaning bots to take care of the broken glass and debris. The police have already tapped off the crime scene to keep the public safe come Monday morning.

During all the boring stuff, Lightning gave a statement and zipped on out, with Griffin probably still accompanying the EMTs.

With the thumb drive in hand, all that's left is to return it to his current contract employer.

Rick Mason gives a statement to the cops. He submits to no less than fifteen different forensic tests. There is even a pee and blood sample taken. As ever, Rick Mason deals with it because such is his lot in life.

While the crowds and cops disperse, Rick finally receives an opportunity to straighten out his B.O.O.M. Suit. He even manages to clean some of the dried blood off of his face and hands with spit and elbow grease while he studies his reflection in a skyscraper window. Satisfied that he is once again passingly presentable, Rick walks over to the skyscraper where this all started.

Quietly he buzzes himself into the building and sullenly walks to the security desk to sign in - again! - before he heads for the elevator bank. It's going to be a long, obnoxious ride up to his client's floor, Rick is sure.

The elevator music drones on. It's an acoustic version of what Rick is quite sure is a Nickelback cover song. It's...torture to most. What's next?

Finally, upteen floors up, the elevator doors open mercifully to his client's floor.

"This is a cover of Nickelback's cover of a song," comments Rick.

He sounds equal parts incredulous, horrified, beaten down, and morally aggrieved. It's basically exactly like listening to Nickelback.

Rick sighs heavily as the elevator doors finally open. He steps out of the elevator and reaches into his suit jacket's inner pocket. While he moves out of the elevator and retrieves the data device, Rick's brown eyes scan his surroundings suspiciously. It's been a rough enough day, he doesn't need surprises now that he's five minutes from completing his terms of employment for the day.

As Rick pulls out the data device, he pulls out ...what is this? It's a similar shape and weight to the data device, only it has a logo printed on it that looks like a winky face with its tongue sticking out. That...is definitely not what was on that before. Not when he was downstairs after Lightning handed it off to him. And not before this whole thing started.

There's laughter behind Rick. Someone couldn't help themselves. Pixelating into view with a pink matrix to flesh is a young hispanic woman dressed in what can only be described as cyberpunk. She's wearing an assymetrical overcoat with a hood up, black and magenta pink hair spilling out from underneath it on the right side of the woman's face. Instead of a mask, a black bar of face paint is streaked across her eyes, with two more bars beneath it, making it look like a series of lines going from thick to think. Her dark gray pants are skin tight, and made of some sort of armored mesh.

She raises a hand and waves her fingers as she winks, much like the device decoy icon in Rick's hand. Her leather, fingerless gloves end in claw-like nails that glow magenta faintly. "Adios, Amigo," she chimes playfully as the elevator doors close and the shuttle starts descending.

"..."

Rick Mason turns around to stare at the Latina standing in the elevator with his client's flash drive. He looks up at the floor display over the door and then down at the closed elevator doors. With a shrug, Rick steps forward and rams his hands into the elevator doors to apply his super human strength to the task of prying the doors wide open.

"I swear to god, I died in Afghanistan and woke up in a Saturday morning cartoon with a huge art and casting budget," grumbles Rick.

As the doors groan and protest before sliding back along their tracks, Rick can see the elevator three stories below.

Rick looks down at the elevator. He looks over his shoulder, just for good measure, and then reaches into his jacket again. The Undead Soldier pulls out a grenade - or, at least, he is very much intending to pull out a grenade - whose pin he pulls before dropping it down the elevator shaft.

The grenade should explode on impact with the roof of the elevator car. Half-way down the shaft, the grenade will start glowing blue as the spoon sails away from the body of the grenade. Streamers of extremely hot, blue gas billow upward from the primed grenade. When it hits the car, however, the grenade should explode in a massive spray of superheated plasma.

Because one good video game reference deserves another.

The grenade bounces twice on the elevator car, and then blasts it open like a tin can. Mostly it just melts it open, causing superheated metal to caving into the center of the car. Rick catches a glimpse of the cyberpunk thief gasping in pain as a few molten drops hit her right shoulder.

She pins herself flat against the door to avoid getting any more burns. She gazes up at Rick with a fiery, offended expression, as if he were playing unfairly.

But then, her eyes flicker to the cables at the top of the car as they burn away and start to stretch thin. Her mouth opens in an expression of fear just as the cables snap and the elevator starts plummeting.

Rick watches the elevator cables melting, stretching, thinning, and, ultimately, snapping. He reaches into his suit jacket again and produces a pair of metal tonfa, spinning one in each hand for a moment. The Undead Soldier points one at the wall of the elevator shaft and squeezes the cross bar, causing the end of the tonfa to open and fire a grapnel at the service "ladder" built into the wall of the shaft.

Casually, Rick steps out into space and swings around on the ultra thin, ultra high tensile strength cable extending between grapnel and tonfa. Twisting in air, Rick plants his feet on the wall of the elevator shaft and starts rapelling downward. When he reaches the end of his line, Rick plants his feet and repeats the procedure with his other tonfa. Naturally, as he starts relying on the second line, he releases the first grapnel and reels in the first swingline as he begins rappelling down the elevator shaft again.

Somewhere along the descent, Rick thinks to himself,. o O ( I bet it's going to be chunky salsa down there. )

Because sometimes you just have to be an ass hat in your own head.

The woman slaps her hand on the control panel of the elevator, her hand lighting up as energy seeps into the controls from her spread fingers. The elevator's emergency breaks engage, making a horrible screeching sound and spitting sparks as the elevator car starts to slow down.

She still has her eyes on Rick as he starts to draw nearer with his tonfa. "No bueno," she mutters, cursing her own arrogance. Still hacking the elevator, the doors open, as do all the other doors along the shaft.

The elevator slows to a stop on the third floor, really just a little past the third floor. The thief plants her hand on the raised floor and hops out of the elevator in a scramble.

From above, Rick can spot reticulated cybernetic implants down her spine. He hears her tsk as she gets her feet up to the ledge and starts running, "Null, we have...un poco situation."

"Hey! I don't even speak Spanish and I know it's pronounced "situacion", chica," shouts Rick as he continues to rappel down the elevator shaft. He lands on the smoldering slag ledge that used to be the elevator car's roof and reels in his swingline again. Crouching down, Rick wraps his fingers around the smooth, rounded edge of the car.

With a simple kick, he swings himself out over the edge and around the pivot point created by his grip on the still scalding hot roofline. Rick twists around at the apogee of his swing, feet almost brushing the far edge of the car, before he enters into the true grasp of gravity. The Undead Soldier swings downward, tucking his legs up against his body as best he can before lets go of the roof.

In a smooth motion, Rick simply launches himself out onto the third floor.

No, really. Rick lands on his ass on the polished tile floor and slides out into the hallway, away from the elevator bank while his brown eyes scan his surroundings for signs of "Chica".

"Chica" can be seen sprinting down the hallway to the emergency stairwell exit, where she skids to a stop just as she hits the crash bar. She looks back at Rick with narrowed eyes, but then gives him a shrug.

"Hey, some people aren't as culturally enriched as you, gringo," she snarks back at him with a grin. She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a small device and slaps it on the wall next to the door.

"Buena suerte," she says as she blows a kiss to Rick. She slips through the door and it begins to slowly swing shut. The device sticks to the wall. It's a small, half-dome shaped object of metal, maybe two inches high at its thickest point. It begins to transform as a slit opens along the top and a small muzzle telescopes out. A blueish-white dot begins to glow down the center as the muzzle swings about and then locks onto Rick.

Rick watches the device starting to transform. When the blue-white dot starts tracking up the hallway toward him, Rick feels the world slow down for him. He rolls, driving his lead hand into his jacket once more.

As his chest and arm come free of the ground, Rick's lead hand emerges with another grenade. With his thumb already in the pin and his index finger depressing the spoon, Rick flicks the entire assembly apart. He uses his body as a trebuchet to heave the grenade down the hall, letting it bounce off of the ceiling, the wall, and the floor before it skitters to a stop at the end of the hallway.

The tactical black canister beeps, abruptly spinning up until it stands upright. Its top segment promptly pops open, revealing some kind of emitter array just inside of the canister. Red LEDs light up all over the surface of the canister, which beeps a second time. Unspecified red energy bolts erupt out of the canister, spraying - and praying - across the wall, doorway, "Chica"(?), and her portable turret.

The device gets blasted wide open. It was made from cheap, expendable materials, possibly even aluminum with a small power core. The tiny turret explodes in itself as it misfires in its state.

The cybernetic Chica isn't all that lucky, either. She gets struck in her side as she tries to run, tearing a hole through her coat. She grits her teeth and grunts as she clutches her side with her opposite hand and keeps running.

"This could have gone better. Why'd I have to open my big mouth?" she mutters to herself with her accented voice as she books it down the stairs. She speaks english fluently. Once she's out if sight, she activates her cloaking field again.

Her cloak may conceal where she is, but she's left behind a blood trail down the the stairs. A few drops here and there that Rick can pick out to the ground floor.

While the turret is exploding in the background, Rick gives his body a sinuous roll that sends him hurtling upright as "Chica" ripples out of sight somewhere in the stairwell. Rick sprints down the hallway and plows straight into the emergency door, hip checking the crash bar to ensure that the door sails back open without losing his momentum.

The Undead Soldier attempts to vault the railing without using his hands. He planned on sailing out into the open space at the center of the stairwell before twisting as he draws his Line Tonfa from where he stashed them in the waist of his slacks. Rick was sure he was going to get his woman this time.

So.

Damn.

Sure.

Rick's loafer catches on the top of the railing as he sails up and over it. If "Chica" were there, looking up at him, his expression would surely be priceless as he realizes what a foolish fool he's been. The Undead Soldier doesn't even get a chance to say a word. His foot catches on the railing and he spins over, around the rail, to slam face first into the structural girder beneath the floor.

A second later, Rick plummets awkwardly down the stairwell. He slams into the concrete at the base of the well hard, bones cracking on impact as most of his joints pop out of their sockets from the transfer of energy through his body. The lights go out for Rick for at least the second time today.

Rick may not be sure what sort of lights out it was. He doesn't really remember any hazy dreams, except light for a moment, and then darkness. Could be he was dead again, however he experiences such a thing.

When he does recall was landing face down before lights out, but now he's face up. And the chica he was trying to capture is knelt over him, trying to apply CPR.

She straightens up and falls back to sit on her feet as she gives up after no results, gasping in pain as she clutches her bleeding side. Kneeling over him to perform CPR has only managed to aggravate it.

And she's...crying?

"Mierda! Stupid Saberline gringo. This...this wasn't supposed to happen," she sobs, genuinely distraught over Rick's death. Her free hand covers her eyes as she tries to compose herself with a sniffle.

Dead is the same as unconsciousness for Rick. There are no dreams - no phantasms nor out of body experiences - only a deep and infinite void of thought and sensation and reality. It is bleaker than the bleakest bleak times a thousand. Rick's inner Nathan Explosion finds it deeply comforting.

Eyelids snap open as "Chica" sags back onto the balls of her feet. Brown eyes focus on her face just as she covers her own eyes. Involuntary muscle contractions start again as that sniffle fills the air. One hand shakingly snaps across his body to pull the enormous form of his Particle Revolver from its holster, but the damn thing sails out of his grasp and past her head to clatter across the concrete floor.

Rick rolls after the weapon, toward "Chica", and somehow turns his momentum into an awkward motion that can only be described as a pounce. He attempts to wrap himself around "Chica" and drag her into a choke hold with what little strength his body can manage as it stitches itself back together inside.

As Rick flops to life and pounces on her, the Latina cries out in surprise as he dead rises. "Ay, Dios mi---auuck!"

Her words get cut off with her air supply as Rick wrestles her into a chokehold. She flails her arms and kicks her legs as he starts to suffocate her, fear instinctively taking over. It takes her a moment to try and grab at the arm wrapped around her throat and cutting off her air and circulation.

"You," rasps Rick, "Are going to put the flash drive on the floor."

He waits until the Latina in his grasp has grappled his forearm across her throat. Rick maintains the hold with his awful, superhuman strength, but he doesn't apply additional pressure to it.

She twitches and struggles in the grapple, a strangled cry of pain as she aggravates her injury. She's not superhuman strong by a long shot. She's more lithe rather than muscular.

Her hands wrap around his forearm, but can't make it budge. "That information...belongs to the People," she decries. "But...unngghh...Saborline and Sabot does not hire people who will care about the public good."

She reaches into her coat to one of the interior pockets, and pulls out the flash drive, setting it on the floor to her right.

Rick frowns at the strangled cry escaping the Latina in his grasp. Killing her would probably be another public relations nightmare with which Saberline & Sabot won't want to deal. On the other hand, knocking her out is probably also a scenario that Saberline & Sabot would find uncomfortable.

Catch twenty-twos are one of those things that Rick has learned he just has to deal with sometimes. His life, since he woke up from being dead, is just chock full of these damned things and the easy way of dealing with them is usually not to burn the whole thing down or blow the whole thing up. Besides, blowing her up would probably be terribly messy.

"Let me tell you exactly what is going to happen here," rasps Rick, "It all starts when you stop struggling."

The Latina hacker has to fight against her own survival instincts. She tries to swallow, but finds it extremely difficult. Finally, she quells her own terror at what is about to happen and manages to still her flailing.

Rick pauses a moment. He tilts his head and eyeballs "Chica" from entirely too close for comfort. Apparently satisfied, Rick tilts his head back to its original position.

"And neither one of us is going to speak about this because in three days neither Saberline & Sabot nor Bad Company is going to be providing security for this drive. In four days all of the security the company has that's worth a damn is going to be protecting the investors' meeting across town. And in five days, the executive board of the company will be voting on what private security firm will be getting the company's new security contract."

"Chica's" body is tense as Rick's voice strengthens. He's not at all what she thought he was. She must be expecting something dire is about to happen. Preconceived notions of what a Saberline & Sabot employee would do.

Her body relaxes as he offers to release her. But that relaxation is all too brief as he eyeballs her well past anyone's personal bubble. As he stares into her purple-irised eyes, he can see, just barely, the hints of tiny circuitry laced over her irises.

"You're...letting me go?" she asks uncertainly once he's backed his head away. She doesn't seem to know what to think of it. But her confusion is soon one of suspicion as he gives her all the unusual intel.

"Veeerry interesting," she almost purrs. "But...why are you telling me all this?" she says in a way that seems to preempt a question of what he wants from her.

"I didn't tell you anything," replies Rick. His arms start to loosen around "Chica" and her much abused throat. Rick's weight shifts as he very pointedly places his foot over the flash drive.

"If you managed to escape while I was incapacitated and somehow decided to come back so you could Snowden proprietary corporate data during a naturally occurring gap in security, I can't be held liable for that. Just like I wouldn't be held liable for property damages caused while chasing a thief through the facility in order to recover extremely valuable proprietary corporate data - or what I have been led to believe is such - so long as there is actual security footage to support my claims of such a chase having occurred."

The Latina starts to breathe easier as he loosens his grip on her throat. There's already the start of some bruising starting to show. But as per the arrangement, she doesn't move as Rick claims the flash drive with his foot.

As she listens to Rick's plan, she actually begins to smile a slow, seductively charmed smile. "Pelirrojo, you are full of surprises," she murmurs slyly, rolling her R's richly.

"I can guarantee there is footage to support your claims. And that this little exchange? Never happened."

"Good," replies Rick as he fully withdraws his arms from around her throat. He instead folds his arms across his chest and looks her up and down again, for good measure. "Go on. Get going before I regret my life choices."

She gasps and rubs her throat as she slumps forward and away from him. It takes her a moment to get her feet under her and stand up. She tries, but can't stand up straight, her body hunching over to favor her injury with a hiss of pain.

"You don't have to tell me twice. Muchas gracias, pelirrojo," the Latina manages to force a pained grin of gratitude before her whole form appears to glitch and fade from sight, light fields bending around her. A few moments later, the emergency exit door opens and closes.

"I swear to God, I will be /IRRECONCILABLY FURIOUS/ if I lift my foot and find the fake flash drive," states Rick to the empty air after the emergency exit closes.

He drops into a crouch and duck walks backward, exposing the flash drive for retrieval.

As the flash drive is revealed, it does indeed look like the true flash drive.

AND SO THE DAY WAS...

... saved... ?

By our intrepid Undead Hero, Rick "Breach" Mason!

Once at a safe, secure distance in an alleyway, the Latina reaches into her interior pocket again, unplugging the fake thumb drive from the copying device hidden within. She looks over it in appreciation with a smile, turning it twice.

In her ear piece, a growling voice commands, "Mechanica, status update. Did you retrieve the data?"

Mechanica smiles even more to herself as she tucks the drive back into her pocket. "Mission was a failure," she says, faking her disappointment over the comms. "Coming in to get patched up."

There is an angry growl over the comm as Mechanica starts walking slowly again, vanishing from sight once more after securing the prize for herself.

The growling voice in Mechanica's ear piece definitely is -NOT- Breach.

You can't fool the readers with such paltry parlor tricks, cybermagician!