Log:The Horse versus the Harpy

2021/09/03 Dark Horse The Harpy Firefly 1

It's starting to get a little cooler in the evenings now, which is a relief from the heat of the day. It's late in the evening, when vigilantes tend to brood on rooftops. Or tiny heroines. Firefly might be brooding as she stands at the edge of a rooftop to overlook the area. The Science Museum is light up dramatically across the street in green, and there are pole banner along the streets of the district advertising the Rogues Gallery exhibit: A History of Ingenuitive Madness. It's pretty. And sickly. Firefly stands out a little due to the flickering flames about her.

Dark Horse isn't often in this part of town, but he's out and about, checking out other sections of town. Firefly's flames catch his attention, and he swings over to the building, landing lightly on the rooftop.

Firefly is a little surprised to see the dark figure swinging along. "Isn't that dangerous?" she asks once he lands, smiling behind her faceplate.

Dark Horse chuckles, "Well...sure. No more dangerous than other ways that heroes get around, though. Probably. I mean...the train might be less dangerous, I guess. More likely to get mugged."

Firefly laughs lightly at that. "I suppose. A rainy day could make for a tenuous grip. Any luck bringing bad guys to justice tonight?" the small heroine asks as she begins to float up to be more at eye level with Dark Horse for conversation.

Dark Horse shakes his head, "Nothing tonight. It's bee quiet. Which is...good, I guess. But boring."

Firefly nods. "I suppose. At least it means things are qui--"

CRASSSH!!

The sound of shattering glass is heard as the glass dome of the science museum shatters outward. A woman with bronze-colored metal wings attached to some armor bursts out. The wings look a bit patchworked together. She has clutched in her claws a harness of some sort, with folded sleek metal wings attached to it. It's definitely an upgrade to what she has.

"...et," Firefly finishes as she looks to the disturbance.

It's not the woman that's recognizable, but the thing she's stolen. It's not a relic, but a trophy from a villain named the Condor who was a famed thief/mercenary. He was killed by a vigilante in a heist over a decade ago.

Dark Horse points at the would-be thief, "There we go. Here's the bad news. She's a flyer."

Firefly looks at the flyer, then at Dark Horse, judging him up and down. "I don't think I can carry you," she says with a straight face almost. She looks back to the flyer. "Those wings look kind of sketchy, though."

Dark Horse chuckles. "I guess...let's find out, hmm?" He runs...and jumps off the building, lashing out with his swingline, intending to try to swing over to the thief and land on her back.

The woman has a half helm covering her face from the nose up, stylized like a bird of prey. It's also a little patchwork, with glowing cyan eyes. The wings are for steering and perhaps style, with sharp metallic feathers, but the main method of flight is a jet pack that is sputtering already under the weight of the additional pack.

Firefly watches in surprise as Dark Horse is off. She's a bit late to the party as she stops to stare at Dark Horse's stunt. She hopes he doesn't expect her to catch him if he gets bucked off.

Dark Horse lands on the flier, and hangs on. "Hey, can this jet pack thing hold an extra person? I sure HOPE so. Otherwise, we're going to be down on the ground shortly."

"What? No! Get off!" The woman screeches as the extra wait causes more wobbling, sending them into a moderate spin. They begin to drift downwards, losing altitude gradually. "I need more thrust!" Her jetpack begins to spin up more loudly, but along with it is a burning smell of something within the pack. Smoke begins belching out of it from the attempt to increase power.

Dark Horse considers trying to pull on the wings to guide them down, but he's probably not really strong enough to pull that off. Instead, he just holds on and hopes his weight does the trick. "Damn. We're going down. Oh, hey...your flight pack seems to be burning out."

Firefly is still staring in dumb shock and awe. She finally snaps out of it and starts flying after them. "He's got to be crazy," she says quietly to herself. But it's working.

The young woman tries to look over her shoulder at the pack and her hitch hiker. With her hands full, she can't swat at him. "No, no, no! This is mine! You're going to rue this night if you don't get off of me!" she warns. And then...the jetpack burns out and they begin to descend. It's not a sheer plummet as the turbine within is still spinning, it's just losing power, making it faster than ideal, but not lethal.

Dark Horse makes a tsking noise. "Better glide in for a landing. I'm sure I'll rue tonight plenty."

"Bet on it! The Harpy will make you p-pay!" The Harpy warns as she realizes she really does need to focus on landing. Her wings wobble, causing her to glide in a double spiral before they almost crash on an adjacent roof like they're landing from a rough parachute ride. She drops the Condor's pack as she brings her hands out to catch herself, falling forward and ending up on her hands and knees with Dark Horse atop her.

Dark Horse smiles under his mask, "Nice landing without power. Impressive. So, you're ready to give up, right?"

Harpy scowls with a growl of frustration, brandishing her gauntlet's metal claws. "Hardly. You're just a pest I need to deal with." She quickly tries to turn to throw him off.

Part strength, part skill, Harpy manages to twist her way out of Dark Horse's grip and stands off against him, claws at the ready.

Dark Horse gets to his feet after she knocks him off. "The Harpy, huh? You from Greece? Or just going for the flying clawed aspect?"

The banter throws her off her rhythm and works to annoy her more. Harpy looks like a fledling villain wannabe with her cobbled together gear. The design is similar to the one she's stealing, though. Just more elementary. "Greece? No. The wings! The claws! You're one to talk. What's your deal even?" she sneers and tries to swipe her claws toward Dark Horse's midsection.

Dark Horse deftly avoids the attack, ducking under it, and planting a hand on the roof before attempting to drive his foot into her side.

Harpy has some fighting skills. She leans back, and her wings flap to get her out of the way just in time to avoid the surprise kick maneuver.

Dark Horse misses cleanly, "I'm Dark Horse, by the way. I'll let you figure that one out as to why." He follows up the missed kick by standing and throwing a solid punch.

"Is it because you kick like a mule?" Harpy taunts, then tries to get out of the way and gets struck with a grunt. That shuts her up for a moment as her anger takes hold and she tries to claw him from gut to sternum.

Dark Horse is almost like water as he seems to flow around the claw strike, avoiding it. "It's because I'm lucky. And someone that others are...unlikely to bet on. You know...no powers."

Dark Horse takes a chance...and tries another side kick, attempting to hit a bit harder than last time.

Harpy retorts, "And no brains to use technology to make up for --EHH!!" The side kick connect solidly and boots her back causing her to fold over the impact site before tumbling across the rooftop with the scraping of metal along the ground. She ends up on her stomach in a tangle of metal wings.

Dark Horse taps his ear, "Sorry. What was that?"

Firefly flies over and pulls up alongside Dark Horse at eye level, hovering. "Oh. Wow. You kicked her clear across the rooftop. That was impressive! Is she out?"

Harpy shakes her head to clear it as she gets the wind back in her lucks from that kick. She growls at Dark Horse's mocking.

Dark Horse shakes his head, "Maybe? Wait...nope. She's awake. I hear a growl."

Dark Horse isn't like some of the other heroes in town, who might have let Harpy up. He hurries over to the would be robber, and he tries to sock her again.

"Oof!" Harpy tries to lean out of the way, but Dark Horse is able to out maneuver and strike her. "Just...let me go! That pack is mine by right!" She's on the ropes and sounds desperate now.

Firefly zigs and zags as she flies after, hands beginning to flare up. It's not much more impressive than two lit candles. For now. She holds back, though. Her hands close, snuffing out the two flames for some reason.

Dark Horse shakes his head, "I'll hit you again unless you give up. Now. It's not yours. You stole it."

"It...it should have been! It was my father's," Harpy says, angry...and some pain in her voice. She looks toward the sleeker wing pack and is assessing the situation in her head. She's smart enough to know the fight is lost, as is the pack. In a swift movement, she both stands and takes off as her pack suddenly winds up. There's a smell of burnt wiring as she pushes the pack to make her escape.

Dark Horse tries to get a quick punch in before she manages to flee.

Dark Horse manages to knock her out just as she's starting to escape, and she slumps to the rooftop.

With a sputter, the pack turns off as well.

Firefly gasps. "Wow. Well done. I feel a little bad for her. But not too bad."

Dark Horse rubs his knuckles a little bit. "I do too, honestly. If that was really her father's gear, I'm pretty sure there's another way she could have gotten access to it."

"I suppose so. Maybe a GoFundMe to raise money to buy it back from the museum's collection?" Firefly looks at Dark Horse. "You okay?" she asks before she flits around Harpy in a circle looking for something, then lands on the unconscious woman's shoulder. "Found the straps," she says. The tiny heroine leans down and tries to pull the fastening clip with a strained grunt. She makes it budge a little, but not enough to get it to release.

Dark Horse comes over to help undo the straps and remove the flying gear. "Yeah. I'm...well, just a normal guy, more or less. Not super strong, or anything. So, punching armor isn't ideal."

Firefly gives up and lets Dark Horse doing it. She shakes out her arms from the effort. "So you were serious about the no powers?" she asks as she takes off from Harpy and half circles to hover opposite Dark Horse. "I'd help, but...I'm not all that strong. You have super strength by comparison," she chuckles. With some work, he manages to take off the pack and claw gauntlets.

Dark Horse nods. "Well, I do have some powers, but they're hard to define. I'm lucky. To an extreme."

Dark Horse chuckles. "And I suppose...I'm also quicker and more agile than a normal person. But really...that's about it."

Firefly has to think on that. "I mean, is that an actual power, or just a lucky streak?" she asks uncertainly. It's not like he glows when he's lucky. "I'll definitely say you were very quick and agile. And that look like you hit hard." She looks around the rooftop for something. "I suppose this is where we're supposed to tie her up and leave her for the police?"

Dark Horse shakes his head, "On a roof? No, I'll takes her down to the front door of the museum. The police can't get up here too easily."

Dark Horse starts with the flying gear, though. Just in case Harpy wakes up. He swings down to the museum with it, and sets it down before climbing back up to where Harpy and Firefly are.

"Good to know," Firefly notes. There's a pause before she states, "You know that is going to have to be all you, right?"

Harpy is still unconscious by the time he gets back.

Dark Horse nods. "Yeah...I know. It's okay." He carries Harpy in one arm as he swings down to the street level again. Once there, he makes a call to the police.

Firefly flies along with him. "I feel more like an emotional support heroine than an actual heroine," she chuckles. "I'm glad you were able to handle her."