Log:Wild Bull

2009/01/08 	 Dark Horse Jennifer and Jessica Rebound Silver Spider Lightray Kismet Wild Bull 1

Scene: The Port of Colonial Bay and environs

Editorial comment: Silver Spider seems to have muddled the names of Charmer and Character.

Silver Spider sighs. o O (That jackass Charmer told me to stop following him. Looks like I've got to fight thirty super powered crooks now. Life's a beach, yo!) She settles quietly against a crane early in the evening and curls up in a crook of a girder. "We'll see if Pride or the other side bring anything in tonight."

Joseph sits at a bench overlooking the marina reading something on a battered PDA. From time to time he absently tosses some bread scraps to the everpresent seagulls.

Having gotten out of school, Mindy Benson finds a place to change her looks and become Kismet, starting to patrol the city in her unique fashion, using rooftops primarily as points to leap from and to.

Jennifer and Jessica are out on the north beach practicing staff katas.

Alex makes his way off on the boardwalk and onto the beach. He's got the two swords slung over his shoulder. "Hey Jen. Honing the old skills?"

Jennifer stops and lets Jessica carry on. "Hi, Alex. Yes. Got to stay in practice or I soon lose my edge."

Dark Horse swings from the direction of Nicholston, and lands atop a warehouse. He recoils the swingline, and attaches it to his belt. . o O (Quiet. It feels wrong.)

"Speaking of edges..." Alex hands Jennifer her swords. "Here you go. They checked out as completely normal."

Almost in answer to Dark Horse's thought, the sound of energy weapons fire sounds through the evening mist, from the direction of the docks.

Jennifer smiles. Jessica comes over to take one of the swords. "Thanks, Alex. Thanks a million. I owe you." The twins grin, "I'm going to have to work out some way of carrying them. I can't disassemble these and carry them in the jacket like I did with my old blades."

Dark Horse starts to run through the police bands on his radio, and stops to look up in the direction of the weapons fire. "Huh." He starts to run down the length of the building at full sprint to get a good view of what's happening.

On hearing the first shot, Kismet pauses and tries to figure out what it is she hears. The second and subsequent shots give her a very good idea, and she is stuck with a dilemma of either getting closer to see or staying as safe as she can. She elects to get a little closer, but changes her profile from highly visible to unseen by the naked eye. As a precaution, she also uses cover and moves more carefully.

Jennifer spins to look towards the docks where the sounds are coming from. "Alex, if you want to go change somewhere I'll borrow a hoverboard from the beach shop and get you there."

Silver Spider's legs pump off the crane and swing down towards the sound of the energy weapons in a smooth, colossal swoop. Her graceful form swishes through the mist in a glorious cloud of silence, keeping to the shadows as her shape cuts through the swirls.

"Hm. Maybe some sort of teleportation system would..." Alex begins. His thought is interrupted by the sound of gunfire. He nods to Jennifer. "Right... I'll be back in a flash." He runs off to one of the beach changing areas, abandoned in this type of weather.

Joseph turns his head at the sound of the energy weapons and stands with a soft sigh. He heads around to the back of a nearby building that has a narrow gap between the building and the marina rail and slips into the gap.

After a moment, Lightray rises from behind the building and flys at full speed towards the sound of the gunplay.

Jennifer tries one of her infrared goggles while she waits for Alex to change to see if that cuts through the mist better than normal sight.

The sound of the firing becomes more rapid - and then there's an almighty crash, combined with splintering timbers and twisted metal.

Lightray heads toward the sound of the crash.

Rebound bounces back over to Jennifer's side. "Heya. What have we got?"

Dark Horse grimaces as he skids to a stop on the building. . o O (Energy weapons probably means either ACRO goons or Pride's folks using their hardware. Best get down there.) He lashes out with his swing line to the neighboring building, and leaps clear of the building he's on, swinging down in the direction of the gunmen.

Silver Spider races towards the sound of the crash, lightly swinging from crane to crane, an arc above the fog and the smoke. o O (Oh, my god, what the hell is going on there. Someone just tried to kill all those people...dammit, you're too old and too slow)

Jennifer shrugs, "Energy weapon discharges but I can't see a darn thing from here. Let;s get closer." she answers, kicking off the hoverboard and heading to the port over the surface of the sea as a short cut.

Jessica says, "I've heard that before though. ACRO weapons."

The weapons fire proves to be coming from one of the wharves at which a boat is tied up. Dimly through the mist four or five men can be seen rather desperately firing their energy weapons at another man, whose clothes are now in shreds. Other men - some also with energy weapons - are lying on the ground in various states of incapacitation. In particular, some look like they just had a decent-sized boat dropped on them.

''Wild Bull: This Chinese man is not tall, but he is extremely powerfully built, with bulging muscles everywhere. His face is set in an expression of mindless rage. He's wearing the tatters of what were probably once ordinary clothes.''

Silver Spider flicks her eyeslits to the shape. o O (Great. Pride's goons. They'll all fire at me as soon as they see me, no doubt.) She shouts out loud at the Chinese man with a voice as shrill and feisty as the wind. "Hey! You, Muscleboy! Charmer is a big fat idiot!" She races forward with sarcasm on her lips and speed in her heart.

Jennifer says, "Alex. That's the berserker brick codenamed Wild Bull from Tim Lee's crowd. Probably makes the other guys Pride's goons."

Dark Horse lands on the ground, and quickly glances around, "Oh come on...I'm going to have to protect Pride's guys against that guy? We need more normal thugs to deal with." He looks up in the direction of Spider when she shouts. . o O(Well...backup's good.)

Rebound nods to Jennifer. "Got it. Let's take a moment to make sure we know who's in the white hats in this fight."

Jessica shout, "Silver! Don't let him tag you. He'll hit like a mule."

Jennifer says, "Doesn't matter what hat he started out wearing. If he goes berserk he'll attack everyone and everything."

Kismet waits until she can see someone with a blasty gun before she goes about acting on doing something to them.

Silver Spider's legs pinwheel her over the goons. "Sorry, pretzel boys, but I have to take the meat of the situation before I clean up the fringes." She lands with a thwap on the dock within striking range of Wild Bull and lowers her hand. "Let's see how you like this..." She says sweetly. Her hand lifts up, and that corkscrew of blue-green energy races out towards Wild Bull, searing at his nigh invulnerable skin.

The man grunts at the blast, but isn't budged.

At least he seems to have noticed Silver Spider now.

Silver Spider shrugs to Jennifer. "Well, he's as tough as 3000." She says. "Let's just hope he's not as strong as 3000." She flicks an eyebrow open and stares at Wild Bull, hoping he comes her way.

Jennifer and Jessica move closer on the hoverboards stopping ten metres away from Wild Bull in Jennifer and Rebound's case, and as close to Pride's men as Jesscia can get. Jessica calls out to the goons, "Drop those weapons in the ocean and stay put. All you'll do with them is make the guy more upset."

They don't seem to hear Jenn over the whine of their recharging weapons.

Dark Horse starts running in the direction of the firefight, shouting in Mandarin as he runs, "!"

Rebound says, "It doesn't sound like they're in a listening mood." He stretches his arms and tries to grab two of the men and wrap them up fully in his grasp.

Rebound smirks as he easily wraps up two of the gunmen up like mummies with his arms. He pulls them out of the way of the raging Bull.

Lightray looks down on the scene from above. He gathers sunlight tightly around himself as he lets his gaze sweep over the area of the fight and around it.

"Raging Bull" roars and picks up the largest chunk of the smashed boat and hurls it at the most recent person to hurt him - Silver Spider.

Silver Spider's voice taunts mercilessly as the boat hurls towards her and misses by a country mile. "Nyahh Nyahhh! Your Kung Fu is pig dung!" She teases as she stands with her hands on her hips. "Come and get me!"

The chunk of boat flies clean over Silver Spider's head and splashes into the harbour.

Silver Spider sighs. "You know, there aren't enough insurance companies in the world for what you just did..." She says. "And those neovironmentalists? They'll be all over you....kkkk..." A giant wave is thrown up and splashes over Silver Spider. A horseshoe crab flops around her feet upside down. "Not again. My costume's...practically...see through..."

Kismet figures the biggest problem is likely the gigantic ugly thing throwing large scary boat parts around at other things. She nestles in behind cover and focuses on his brain. Her goal: To calm him down. Failing that: ...plan B.

One of the four remaining men with guns barks something in Cantonese and they all make a rapid landward retreat.

Silver Spider's head turns and shouts at the men. "I know you guys have Pride's attorneys! Tell him I want to talk! This is NOT a joke! I swear, I'm not gonna hang any signs about him up for the rest of the year!" . o O (Oh, god! I just said that in January! !@#$#@!!@#$)

Meanwhile sailors are trying to cast off the (intact) boat at fast as they can!

Silver Spider turns to Jen and shouts "Jen! Healthy boat! Escapees! Don't let them leave!"

Jennifer looks over at Silver Spider, "Uh, why not? Let's get the sailors, dock workers, and normals out of here before any of them get hurt."

Rebound says, "Whose boat is that, and what's on it?"

Silver Spider flicks her gaze to Wild Bull and leaps forward. "Hip hip hip..." She shouts. "And away we go!" She sticks a webline up to a nearby crane and swishes up to him, engaging him in hand to hand combat. Her fist balls up and it crackles with blue-green bioelectricity, the swift punch rocketing towards his gut. o O (No fear. He's not 3000. No fear. He's not 3000.)

Silver Spider's eyeslits widen as she slips on a piece of the boat, and shakes her head. "Aww, nuts..." She says fiercely. "This might be more difficult than I thought." The boat piece slides out wetly from under her foot.

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Well, that was about as brave as chewing gum. Don't talk to yourself during combat, honey.)

Dark Horse continues running toward the fight, muttering to himself about needing to learn to just run faster someday.

Jessica holds her action willing to let Pride's goons go to get them out of the way.

Jennifer grabs a small silvery sphere from her pocket and tosses it in a gentle loop over to in front of Wild Bull's face, "To see the error of your ways you need......" she times her last word to the detonation of the flash grenade. "LIGHT!"

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Dammit! Just because I can fight this way doesn't mean I LIKE to fight this way!)

Wild Bull's face screws up at the bright light - but when he open his eyes again they seem no less focused.

Silver Spider's eyes go blank and she reaches out with her fingertips. Then her movements turn more sinuous and liquid as she extends a finger towards the brawny man-shape. "Hey, ugly...." She whispers in a coo. "Come here..."

Jessica frowns as it seems the flash grenade didn't have a lot of effect on Wild Bull. Closing in to ten metres on foot she snakes out a Wolfguard energy whip lash at the berserk man's feet trying to trip him up with a leg sweeping action that will drop him backwards.

Jessica catches Wild Bull's feet with the lash of her energy whip pulling them up and out from under him. He topples back onto the dock ground with a solid thump.

Rebound stretching his arms out and sets his captured gunmen down in a position where he can flee with his mates. Then he turns to the task of scooping all the unconscious gunmen he can and moving them to someplace safer.

Dark Horse notices that Rebound is gathering the downed people, and points to one. "That one is Charmer. Keep an eye on him."

Rebound says, "Got it, DH!"

Silver Spider blinks to Rebound. "Well...that means I can stop tailing him." She says sweetly. "This should be so interesting once we get an interview out of him." She pauses. "What's he doing with Pride's goons?"

Jessica thinks. o O (That's a very good question, Silver Spider.)

Dark Horse says, "He was shot by Pride's goons. Plasma burns on him."

Silver Spider thinks. o O (They're Chinese expatriates. They're messing with the gangs. This is political.)

Lightray flies down towards the boat as he points at one of the still standing men. "That is one of Lee's men!" He then lets loose a bolt of sunlight that lashes into the sea besdie the baot. "Heave to and preapre to be boarded!"

"Wild Bull" pulls himself to his feet and seizes the nearest thing to hand to use as a weapon - namely the ENTIRE SHIP Lightray just asked to heave to. He hefts it hight above his head and lets out a wild bellow, while sailors fall from the decks.

Silver Spider's eyes open wide. "Ohhh, crap..." She mutters as the massive boat is lifted into the air. "That's...really...really...bad." She wilts for a moment as the boat is lifted above Wild Bull's head.

Kismet effects plan B -- Unable to get into the head of the raging Wild Bull, unlikely to survive getting anywhere close, she decides instead to assist Rebound in keeping an eye on the group including Charmer.

Lightray watches the boat get raised into the air by Wild Bull with widened eyes. "Well, imagine that."

The twins gasp as the boat is lifted... "Holy..!"

Dark Horse is transfixed as the boat is hefted into the air.

Rebound freezes, awed by the sheer strength of Wild Bull.

Silver Spider snaps out of the shock she is in and shouts "Jen, Jess! CATCH PEOPLE! They're gonna die if he shakes that thing!" She leaps forward and grabs as many falling sailors from the boat as she can. o O (I am so !@#$#@ed)

Jessica is shocked by the display of raw strength. But then her tactical training kicks in. Plus a warped sense of humor. She reacts a little late maybe, but the energy whip snakes out again to sweep at Wild Bull's legs. . o (If you hold a boat over your head... don't lose your footing.)

Silver Spider's hands reach out and grab people as she swings through the air, pulling them from the air and gently lowering them to earth, landing with a series of heaving breaths as she puts the four people down to the ground. She's got one in each foot and one under each arm, and drops them all in a heap. "Get UP! RUN!" She shouts.

Wild Bull's feet are yanked out from underneath him - and the whole boat comes crashing down through the wharf.

Lightray watches Jennifer yank the feet out from underneath Wild Bull and then the man being piledriven through the wharf. He winces as he says, "I hope he can swim...Or breathe water."

Jennifer plays catch with the falling people with her own whip snatching them out of the air where possible and bringing them safely if bumpily to the ground even as the wharf fragments beneath her own feet.

Jennifer says, "He'll be back. Don't drop your guard."

Lightray grabs a man who was catapulted through the air as the ship was lifted.

Silver Spider's eyes flick to Jennifer. "I don't think so. I think he'll swim away." She says quietly as she blinks her eyes. "Oh, and I can see again." She quips lightly.

Jessica shakes her head, "He's out of control. Consumed by a rage that allows no options but the attack and destroy. I'm figuring on him being back real soon now."

The ship is again lifted upright, end-on, reminiscent of a caber about to be tossed, though one end remains in the sea.

Silver Spider's head turns as she looks at the boat and says "Wow. This is bad. I hope I didn't blow this one up too bad." She takes a deep breath and settles quietly in place, relaxing for a moment, scanning for other victims.

Luckily, most of the sailors managed to jump into the sea when things got bad.

The twins realize they have to get the boat away from Wild Bull. The easiest way.. huh.. to to let him throw it at them and try to catch it. . o O(Sure, I'll get flattened but I can cushion the impact for the sailors still aboard and Wild Bull won't have it anymore..)

Silver Spider peers at the boat for a minute and shakes her head. "This...is bad..." She says, as she begins treading water. "How the heck am I gonna fix this?" She stares at the boat and looks around for something to attach a line to.

Suddenly the boat is tossed, indeed, rather like a caber, from under the waves. Luckily, Wild Bull seems to have got turned about under the water, and it lands back in the water again, end-on, not far from where is had been moored. Unfortunately it then begins to topple landwards, where there is much to be crushed.

Silver Spider shouts "Ohh, !@#$@!" and extends a webline towards the boat, trying to knock it away and into the water now that it's empty. She tries to kick it back seaward, and make it land in the water.

Jennifer and Jessica see what Silver Spider is trying to do and add their efforts and strength to the attempt.

Silver Spider's arc carries her forward towards the boat, in one mad desperate dash to save people from being crushed.

Rebound waits a moment to see if more muscle is needed.

Pride's men recover their senses, and the able-bodied ones among them resume running for their lives.

Adding their efforts to Silver Spider's initiative the three heroines tip the boat out to seaward instead of having it fall across the docks. The splash of it's impact with the ocean sends a cascade of water pluming up as spray and a small tidal wave flooding over the seaward side of the docks themselves.

Rebound sets the unconscious men down on safe ground, except for Charmer who he maintains his grasp on.

Silver Spider winces as her legs connect with the boat, breathing a little hard as the vibration jars though her legs. "OWWWWWWWWWW!" She manages just before the water splashes over her. "UGGGGHG!" She manages as she drenches again. "This is just NOT my day..." She peers down into the water, looking around for a sign of Wild Bull.

Jennifer and Jessica position themselves as best they can, not knowing where Wild Bull is at the moment, between him and the boat and him and the shoreline. They hope either way he moves they'll be the first thing he encounters and will draw his attention. But at the same time, they do make as sure as they can they are ready to react.

Wild Bull leaps out of the water high into the air, in the same general direction he tossed the boat. He lands just on the shore. He still looks angry.

Silver Spider swings towards Wild Bull and fires another bolt at him, launching it on the go as she races for the madman. o O (I cannot let him pick up anything else. I cannot let him pick up anything else.) The blue green blast of energy rockets forward from her hand as she swings towards the crazed Chinese super.

The blue green beam blasts into the side of Wild Bull and roars against him. o O (This time, it's gonna be different.) She shouts. "Hey! Stupid! Over here!)

Silver Spider gets his attention - he turns toward her and roars....

Rebound looks to the twins. "Jenn, Jenn... Hit him when I do, ok?"

Jennifer advances to whip range and gets ready to strike with Rebound. Jessica blesses Timmy's inventiveness. She gets out the tiny grapnel and line he created for her after the Silver Spider sparring session. The grapnel is fired at a overhead crane and she swings herself towards Wild Bull pushing the line winch to the extreme level in order to join in the combined attack if she can get their.

Rebound stretches his fist towards Wild Bull. By the time it reaches the brute, Rebound's fist is the size of a refrigerator.

Jessica doesn't quite get into position.

Lightray turns his attention back to Wild Bull and if no one is attached to him at present, lets loose wth a bolt of sunlight.

"Well I'll be..." Rebound says. "I think our boy Bull is a psychokinetic..."

From his growl he felt that too, though this time he's not budged.

Silver Spider swings forward, smoothly arcing towards the Bull, extending a webline to pull herself towards shore. o O (If I fire this, I might not land right...) She lowers her hand and charges up the bioblast, the green corkscrew of energy twisting over and over as the bioelectric light sears towards Wild Bull. o O (Dammit. There is no distraction! Charmer lost control of him and he went berserk!)

Silver Spider winces as the blast goes a little wide. "Oh, I think I broke a nail..." She winces and shakes her hand bitterly. "That's the last time I use that "Your Kung Fu is pig dung" taunt on a guy who doesn't use it."

Jennifer waits for Jessica to move up and Rebound to coordinate with them again.

Rebound continues to hold Charmer as he stretches his fist to batter Bull again.

Silver Spider's eyes widen as she closes in. "WOW!" She says out loud. "That'll leave a mark. Who the heck repairs the roads around here anyway?"

Lightray looks down at the shortened figure as he remarks, "Will you just surrender already?" He then flies over again and blasts again with sunlight.

Rebound sighs. "How much more is it gonna take, Jenn?"

Jennifer looks at Rebound, "Likely we're hardly touching him. The Chinese files say once he goes berserk the best bet is to let him wear himself out."

Wild Bull pulls himself to his feet, still in an indentation in the earth, looking as angry as ever. The good news is, he has nothing nearby to use as a weapon, surrounded as he is. The bad news is that means he' going to punch someone.

Jennifer ducks under the blow hearing the whistle of displaced air from the fist.

Wild Bull roars as he misses Jennifer - if not quite as widely as one might hope.

Silver Spider swishes gracefully forward as Wild Bull stands, hand charging up with energy again. "I'm sorry about this..." She says sweetly. "But sooner or later, you can't withstand everything. Have a nice day..." She coos as she flips upside down on her webline. "Oh, thank you so much, it's ground...I see ground. And now...so do you..."

Silver Spider sighs as the bolt slams into Wild Bull, and shakes her head. "This is going to take a little longer than I thought. Guys, I'm sweating here, I can't keep this pace up much longer..."

Jennifer holds and and Jessica moves up to hand to hand range and then holds.

Jennifer says, "Stay back and pound him while I hold his attention."

Lightray shouts down at the others. "How important is it to take him down? Should I risk my sword, Jennifer?"

Rebound swings, hopefully with the twins backing him up. He raises his fist in the air and tries to pound him down in the beach.

Silver Spider looks at Lightray. "Are you kidding? Hit him with EVERYTHING!" She wheezes a little bit. She hasn't been tested like this in a while.

Jessica shakes her head. "We don't know if he can take that. And chances are he'll either go down or wear himself out trying to hit me."

Jennifer says, "Silver, if I hit him with everything I'll kill him. That's not in my playbook."

Lightray seems to think over the conflicting advice over and then lands next to Wild Bull. He summons a sword composed of sunlight into his hands and swings it at the man.

Rebound's punch slams Bull down to the ground again.

Jennifer snarls, "What part of I'm trained for this $*&! don't you understand. Stay back. Don't give him any alternative targets. Let him waste his effort trying to hit me."

Rebound blinks, surprised little by Jennifer's ferocity. "Right. Ok."

Lightray hits the man with the sword, but it mostly seems deflected by the man's defenses. His gaze turns to Jennifer, then his expression becomes closed. He nods curtly.

Wild Bull picks himself up again, and strikes for the person who has his attention most - the guy who just hit him with a sword.

The twins wince as Lightray goes flying. "When he wakes up someone remind to to show him, if he really wants to get up close, to move in when the opponent is off balance so he can dodge back out after swinging that sword."

Wild Bull roars in triumph as Lightray goes flying - and then suddenly looks rather unwell, going pale - and then falls on his face on the ground.

Despite the apparent harshness of her words there's worry on her faces and tears shining ready to emerge as Jennifer turns to see how Lightray is after the mighty blow.

Jessica uses a shock baton on Wild Bull, just to make sure.

Silver Spider swings in and cocks her fist back. "Let's see how he likes this..." She says icily as her fists clench and her hand charges up. The blue-green light charges up and she lands, staring down at Wild Bull with a shaking head. "He just...fell over..." She says. "I'm pretty sure Lightray's okay, Jen..."

He jerks about a bit, but doesn't wake up.

Jennifer runs over to use the medikit of Lightray. "Are you okay?" she asks worriedly. "Is anyone a paramedic?"

Jessica looks at Wild Bull. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that before?"

Silver Spider walks over to Lightray. "I am." She says. "I'll bring him around, I hope..."

Rebound bounces over to Lightray, still carrying Charmer in tow. He assists Silver Spider in treating Lightray.

Silver Spider looks over Lightray and says. "Just don't move him. Come on, buddy, come, on, come on..."

Oddly enough, Lightray seems to be breathing perfectly fine, but he also has no pulse. After a moment, his eyes flutter open and he shakes his head. He looks up at the various faces over him. "Is Wild bull down?"

Jennifer smiles tearfully, "Yes. You beat him with your head, Lightray. When you hit his fist with your head he stopped being berserk. And that let the pounding he'd gotten finally get through to him."

"Lie still a sec," Rebound says to Lightray. "Jenn, you have your medkit?"

Silver Spider nods and says. "Yeah, he's down. I gotta get out of here, there's places I have to be." She flicks her gaze to Jen and extends a webline. o O (I'm so late...)

Jennifer nods and shows Rebound it's in her hand. "Yes and used it already."

Lightray slowly sits up. "Well good. I would hate to think I got hit for nothing." At Rebound's statement, he stops moving, a wry smile on his face.

Jennifer hugs Lightray if he doesn't avoid it. "Next time though, take my advice. This," She gestures back towards Wild Bull, "is the kind of stuff I was trained to handle. No point in others putting themselves on the firing line when they can affect the gy at range."

Rebound shrugs. "You can get up. If you can survive a hug from Jennifer, I'm sure that you're ok." He smirks.

Lightray pats Jennifer. "I will try to remember, Jennifer But the habits of a lifetime are hard to break."