2013.10.06 - Supertime

Fall is coming to Metropolis- on slow steps, but nonetheless it is impossible to ignore the waning edge of the heat and the slight chill of night. This particular day is sunny and clear, but the sun doesn't warm quite as much as it did a few months ago, and there are welcome breezes occasionally blowing. This is all good, because it makes the rooftop chase a little easier for the hero known as Vorpal, who was called over the BSA communicator to indicate that some unknown powered individual had just pulled a heist nearby. Last known location? Climbing up a building, seemingly unaided by any visible technology. If Vorpal was going to jump from rooftop to rooftop, he was glad to do so without searing heat and burning concrete.
"This is Vorpal, I'm in the Upper Metropolis area near the sighting area. No sightings of the perpertrator, but I'm keeping my eyes out, over." He taps the communicator and runs over to the edge of the rooftop to peek over and see if he can spot anyone ripping off Spidey's signature moves.
Superman tears through the air, bursting westward as fast as he can. This afternoon he'd had his hands full with a forestfire on the slopes of the Alps, and had just gotten the call to head back to Metropolis. Certainly many other heroes could take care of the problem, but Superman was able to help so he wanted to help. During the trip across the Atlantic, Superman's signal on the BSA communicator had winked out; he simply goes too fast. So when he arrives on the scene, he does not realize that Vorpal's already in pursuit.
Vorpal frowns, eyes narrowing as he scans the area. Nothing, nothing, not--
Aha. There, about two buildings away he spots a shape moving rather quickly up the building. At first he had not seen it because it was transluscent... or something of the sort. He could see the building through the body, and the only thing that hinted to him that there was someone there was the rippling movement.
"Looks like someone else can turn invisible, too. Too bad they're not -as- good..." the cheshire cat grins to himself and vanishes into thin air as he activates his invisibility. Pushig off with his feet, he sails across the empty space between buildings as he levitates towards the rooftop towards which the perpetrator is climbing.
Superman arrives in Metropolis in nearly no time, and comes to a stop that would tear the fiber of most beings clean apart. His clear blue eyes scan over the rooftops looking for the adversary, but he can't seem to see anyone at first glance.
After a moment, he changes direction. His eyes go white as he begins to scan the area using his x-ray vision. Sometimes that's able to show things that otherwise cannot be seen.
To Superman's X-ray view, there are two figures that show up clear as day-- one of them, a climber heading up the building and almost reaching the zenith... and another one waiting for said climber up there. The curious thing about the second one is that that particular figure sports a tail.
Keith smirks, waiting for a little bit until he sees the ripple show up over the edge, and then a rippling body climbs over the edge and onto a crouhing position. His sensitive ears can hear the panting.
"A little out of shape, are we?" the cat says as he becomes visible, appearing with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face, "End of the line, bu---"
Keith doesn't get to finish his phrase, as a rippling wave suddenly erupts from the partially-visible body and slams into Keith, sending him flying over the opposite edge and over the gaping edge of the abyss.
~What the hell--- where did that come from?~ He thinks in a panick, trying to right himself up so he can create a construct in mid air he can cling to.
Superman realizes what's going on just as Vorpal is jettisoned by the rippling wave. Almost imperceptibly his eyes widen just a tick before he shoots into action. As Vorpal falls through the air, no one on the street can see the danger to the hero above them. As he hurtles through the air, a blue and red streak dives for him.
Superman's arms reach out and he envelopes the 'nothingness', but can feel the weight of something in his arms. "I've got you...whoever you are," says a smiling Superman.
The cats invisibility fails at that moment, and he blinks as he is caught.
"Superman?" he says, a little embarrassed at being caught off-guard like that by Metropolis' guardian. The camouflaged thief makes the best of the distraction and starts running to jump towards the next building.
"Vorpal!" Superman says, his grin widening. "Good to see you, old friend. Looks like you're tailing the same perp I am." Superman's head tilts towards the escaping man. "Figure we should go teach him a lesson. What's your play?"
The cat smirks, following Speman's headtilt. "... don't mind if we do. Someone needs to learn it's not nice to push people off buildins unless they ask for it."
Superman's face goes quizzical as he tries to think up a situation where someone may ask to be pushed off a building. He shrugs his shoulders slightly and carts both himself and Vorpal off at superspeed. "Hold on tight. Some folks like to close their eyes."
In less than a second both Superman and Vorpal are standing right in front of the shimmerer. Superman's eyes are, again, that milky white. Those who have scouted him well believe that's when he uses his x-ray vision.
Hey, everything's possible! Vorpal doesn't close his eyes, though-- he's always wanted to fly, and this is a close second. His levitation is the poor man's flight- slow and not as maneuverable.
"That wasn't very nice, now, was it?" the cat says, standing next to Superman. The man from Krypton's super-hearing might catch the very noticeable jump in pulse coming from the shimmering figure- not an uncommon reaction upon encountering the Man of Steel while on a heist. It's surprising that it is his heart and not his large intestine reacting. Almost immediately the shimmering figure holds his hands forward, and another wave starts forming for impact...
To someone like Vorpal, that wave at such a close range is unavoidable. But to someone with super-speed... well, it would be very easy to move to the side with a passenger, or do something ele.
Superman looks almost irritated as he he sighs over at Vorpal. The look says it all. Why do these guys try? They know guys like us will throw them in jail eventually. Certainly there's social factors to play and many of these types have had hard lives or need mental assistance in some way, but really...
The irritated look turns back to the space where the invisible man stands, and Superman inhales deeply and quickly. WHOOOOSH! Out comes a mighty gale force wind, headed straight at the thug.
"Wow... what sort of candles do you have to get for your birthday?" Vorpal remarks as the thug is sent sailing through the air by the gale. He does not travel far, though, as a wall of purple energy appears in his path and there is an audible heee
"Wow... what sort of candles do you have to get for your birthday?" Vorpal remarks as the thug is sent sailing through the air by the gale. He does not travel far, though, as a wall of purple energy appears in his path and there is an audible heee'
"Wow... what sort of candles do you have to get for your birthday?" Vorpal remarks as the thug is sent sailing through the air by the gale. He does not travel far, though, as a wall of purple energy appears in his path and there is an audible *THUD* as the thug impacts, and the invisibility deactivates itself. Sliding to the ground is a man, probably in his mid twenties, dressed in fatigues and rather unusually well-groomed to be a common street thug. He is knocked out, and the backpack on his back is bulging with something... most likely where all the ill-gained goods were stored for his getaway.
"Nice going!" Vorpal says, reaching into his belt and taking out a pair of handcuffs "... he looks familiar, doesn't he?" the cat remarks as he goes to handcuff the kid. Even someone as remiss as he is to flip through the social pages does notice something familiar about the young man. It is likely that someone who spends a lot of time in the world of reporting would identify the eldest son of a rather well-known family, local celebrities so to speak. This is going to heat up the tabloids, alright.
"Remington Cornweather," Superman says with a sigh. "I'd think your family was well enough off that they'd be able to provide for you. I imagine the rumors must be true. Your father cut you off, didn't he?" Superman folds his arms over his chest and shakes his head sadly.
"...Cornweather? like THE Cornweather cinema chain? Geez. Kids these days," Keith says with a shake of his head as he cuffs the young man with two pairs of handcuffs-one for wrists and another one for ankles. He speaks as if he were older than Remington--- though he is only twenty himself. "They go off and have a spat with their parents. Back in the day they used to run away as the thing to do, nowadays it's 'Oh, I'll become a supervillian.' Ah well, at least he's not wearing tights. Those are not a right, they're a privilege," he says, standing up straight once he's cuffed him. "Do you want to call him in?"
Superman can't help but chuckle at Vorpal's remark regarding tights being a privilege instead of a right. "I couldn't have said it better myself," Superman responds. He nods to Vorpal, "Sure, I'd be happy to." Superman reaches down to his belt and flips a small switch. The authorities from the BSA will arrive shortly.
"Well, that was easy. I just need to make sure you're on my route every time I get a perp, and I'll just get popcorn." The cat quips, walking over to Superman. "You've been very busy... I haven't run into you since that deal went down in Louisiana. All's okay?"
"All's okay on this end," Superman says with a nod. "Just busy. Busy like always. How about you?" The last he'd seen of Vorpal, he was being shot out the front forehead of a mystical, evil, deity from hell. He looks to have recovered well.
Vorpal hehs, "Well, it took about a week to get the smell out of my fur. And a lot of crazy stuff has happened--- someone tried to kill me and nearly succeeded along with some other heroes, I ended up getting stuck in a bank in the middle of a Two-Face heist. And Batman screamed at me. You know, stuff way over my head. I should change my fur color to black, because I keep attracting the wrong sort of luck." The cheshire cat grins.
Superman gives Vorpal a knowing face and a shake of the head. "I've only met Batman once or twice and he kind of screams at everyone. I think he's just sort of that way. Don't take it personal." Superman grins wide at the comment about luck. "Bad luck is more than no luck, I guess."
"He screamed at you, too? He screamed at Sue Storm. If I hadn't been nearly peeing my tights with fear at the time, I would have slapped him for it. And then I'd be dead," he adds logically. "... I did meet Nighwing, though, and he is great. I really, really like him. I also met Robin, but we didn't quite have a chance to talk because he blew up his bike and deafened me for several hours... hey, how's Jimmy doing?" Vorpal leans back, seemingly against the air, and floats a little. The benefit of his levitation, slight as it may be, was that he never needed a chair. "I haven't had a chance to visit him as of late with all the crazy that's been going on. I'm curious to ask what level of crazy you have to deal with on a daily basis, but it'd probably make my hed spin."
"I've never had the opportunity to meet Nightwing or Robin, to be honest. But, cross apply my first part about Batman and that's probably the reason why." Superman nods, "Jimmy is doing well. I've not seen him in a while, but whenever he's found danger he gives me a ring. He's an old friend and a good one."
"Every time I see him he keeps mentioning these crazy things that keep happening to him. It at least made me feel better knowing I wasn't alone in the Weird Magnet area. One of these days I'm going to set up a chunk of time to just let him tell me all of those stories... I'm surprised he hasn't written a book. It'd be a best-seller."
The cat nods emphatically, "Yeah. I totally understand. I didn't meet Nightwing in Gotham proper, I met him in Bludhaven. I was trying to put as much distance between Batman and myself as possible." He smirks. His ears twitch. "... it's a little surreal chewing the fat with you, actually."
"Surreal?" Superman asks, raising an eyebrow and looking somewhat confused. "What do you mean, surreal?"
"Well, look at it from my side of the spectrum. You're -the- top hero on the planet... don't argue, you are. I'm a ragamuffin from the Bronx who looks like an escapee from 'CATS'. In entertainment terms, it'd be like a community theater actor getting to hang out with Tom Cruise. Minus the crazy. It usually just doesn't happen." Keith chuckles and shrugs. "And I know you're going to say it's not like that among heroes... and it's not quite like that, but we -do- have a certain unspoken tier by the level of threats we can handle. I'm down there, and you're up here..." he says, gesturing low and high. "Just a little surreal 'cause I used to have clippings of you all over my room, back when I had a normal life."
Superman opens his mouth to say something, before closes it. There's a beat, and he's about to say something again, but once more he closes his mouth, and looks at Keith out of the corner of his eye. Finally, after nearly a minute, he says, "Tom Cruise? Vorp, you have to use someone different than Tom Cruise. Please." He breaks into a little laugh and gives Vorpal a light shove.
As he is floating, the shove causes Vorpal to do a slight cartwheel, going upside down before righting himself as he chuckles. "Sorry... it's the hair. Alright, alright, how about... um... Al Pacino? No, nevermind, he's a pervy neurotic. Matt Damon? Give me a hand here!"
"If you say Ben Affleck, you're getting slugged," Superman says.
Vorpal pauses to consider this. "....oookay, how about Matthew Mcconaughey? At least he's ripped."
Superman laughs and shakes his head, "I'm not sure I like where this is going." Desperately, he changes the subject. "How has the heroing been working out? As I rmemeber you're still pretty new to this thing."
The young hero chuckles and leans back in the air a bit. "To be truthful? Most of the time I find myself thinking I don't know what it is that I'm doing. Other times I feel terrified and out of my depth, and a few times things seem to click together and by some miracle, something happens that makes me look way more professional and put together than I actually am. So it's been a wild ride."
"If I tell you that it gets better, will you believe me?" Superman asks. "That's what they say about me; that I don't lie." He puts a hand on Vorpal's shoulder, "It'll get better. You just have to keep at it."
"Well, do you lie? Wait--- I can't ask you that question, because if you lie, you'll say you don't lie. And if you don't lie, you say you don't, and..." a pause as Vorpal thinks. "How the hell did that girl in Labyrinth work it out?" he smiles at Superman. "I don't know... it's hard to believe, I guess, mostly because you do hear of tons of wannabees for whom it didn't get better, it just got over. It's hard to predict how anything is ever going to turn out... unless you can see the future."
A pause, and then the cat looks at Superman intently "....can you predict the future? Or I guess I could ask Booster if, in his time, they ever heard of a purple cat who got splattered and turned into a purple pizza by a wrecking ball or something--" he laughs good-naturedly.
"No, unfortunately seeing the future is not one of my powers," Superman responds. "But until you talk to him I'd stay away from any wrecking balls. And maybe any cracks on the pavement too."
Superman says, "Can't be too careful."
"You never know when the haitian god of the undead will come out of one and pull you right in?" Vorpal winks. "... is that the craziest thing you've seen yet? I bet it isn't."
Superman rocks on his heels and looks upwards, trying to think back. "It's up there. I think the first time I ever saw Bizarro was pretty crazy too."
"... has anyone asked you why do you do it?" The question comes from real curiosity, the cat's eyes are intent on the Man of Steel.
"Not as many as you might think, oddly." Superman says shrugging his shoulders. "The answer I always give is that I do it because I should. Because I can."
The cat smiles hearing this, and ponders. "Deontology, I think it's called." He pauses, and his smile turns sheepish. "Sorry, I've been reading philosophy during my downtime. My boyfriend insisted I read more and spend less time traipsing around roofs all the time. He has this funny notion of 'down time'"
"Reading philosophy is probably a lot better than what I've been reading." Aside from newspaper articles Superman's mostly been reading sports websites. Perhaps he should start reading more philosophy. Maybe after the Royals' season is over.
"It tends to mess with your mind a little, sometimes." Keith's been taking it seriously, to the point that he finds himself asking uncomfortable questions sometimes.
"What was it like... when you found out you were not quite the same as everybody?"
"Terrifying." Superman's response is quick. "I can't remember not ever feeling different, but I remember when my hearing and vision powers kicked in, I couldn't control them. It was sensory overload. And going from regular vision to x-ray vision was quite a shock."
"Oh man, I can't even imagine... I was forced to change overnight. The weird thing is that..." Keith trails off.
"I imagine that'd be worse...changing right away. I mean, I never knew any different," Superman replies. "What's the weird thing?
"Well... I never really went through a period of adjustment. When I woke up, I knew my powers were there... the way you know where your tail is." A pause "Or your arm. But I went from a normal body into..." he looks down at himself, sounding slightly disdainful "this, pretty much instantly."
Superman nods, "That sounds like it could be difficult. How long ago was that?"
Vorpal thinks about this for a few seconds, counting on his fingers. "...Eight months, two weeks and two days ago, specifically."
Superman nods again, soberly, and waits a while before continuing on. "And how are you dealing with it?"
"Well... I look like a total and complete freak, in technicolor. It's hard, some days. It was harder at the start because nobody knew who I was, so people looked warily at me on the street. Now that I've done a few things, some people know who I am and they don't look as if they think I'll be exploding at any minute. The BSA doesn't pay a lot, but the stipend is enough to afford me a modest place in South Gotham with my boyfriend... a lot of people are reticent of hiring someone who looks like me."
He holds up his hands, "Not for the reasons most people think. A lot of business owners look at me and know I'm an aspiring hero, and they fear that since I can't conceal my looks, some tights-clad madman will try to take revenge on me at work, and goodbye their business. It makes sense, if you think about it."
Superman nods, "I guess I never really thought of it that way before. I'm lucky in that even though I'm an alien I look the same as everyone else. I don't know what I would do in your situation. I know some heroes have explored endoresment opportunities."
"It is rather funny how many human-looking aliens there are out there. Makes me wonder if that Star Trek episode was on to something," the cat chuckles. "Endorsement? Yeah, that's what Booster does... nothing bad with that, but I'm not sure I'm endorsement material. Unless it's for Hello Kitty or something like that. I need to prove myself as someone who won't, you know, accidentally blow the city up while trying to stop Doctor Octopus before I'm endorsement material. At least right now I think I'm at the 'Can be relied upon not to kill anyone by accident' stage." A wink.
Superman chuckles, "Personally, I think you're the too hard on yourself type."
"What makes you say that?" The cat floats down to stand up. "I mean, I let the Joker and Harley Quinn escape from Arkahm... I don't have a lot of reasons to consider myself at a certain level just yet."
"I think you've done a lot of good in this world already, even if you've only been on it 8 months, two weeks, and two days ago. Specifically." Superman sigh-smiles. "I think you're going to be fine Vorpal. Give yourself some time."
"Are you doing any training?"
Training. Training... oh right, training. "Well, I trained in Black Tiger First before The Change..." he pauses "... it just sounded like I meant menopause, didn't I?" he chuckles. "And I've had one training session with Daytripper about four months ago, and one session with Booster about three months ago. That's been about it, outside of the exercises my boyfriend drills every day. Nightcrawler offered to train me, but something happened and he fell off the face of the earth, I haven't heard of him in as many months. Nightwing did give me pointers one night, but we couldn't continue talking because he took a bullet."
Superman's eyebrows go up, "Yeah, I suppose taking a bullet puts a damper on training. Was he okay?" He nods, "Daytripper seems like she knows what she's doing. Stick close to her."
"He's ok, I saw him the next night and he was walking normally. No idea how he does it, but I haven't seen him since." Of course, Vorpal had no way of knowing that he had, in fact, seen him at the Expo... just not as whom he was expecting. "I will stick to her, when I see her again. She's been hard to find like Nightcrawler... which I guess makes sense, since I understand they often hang out together, by her words."
Superman shakes his head, "To be honest I'm not quite sure who Nightcrawler is. Never heard of him before this. But that would be my advice...Get as much training and as best quality as possible. After that, it's pretty much just decision making.
Vorpal thinks for a second, and then extends his hand. A full-sized image of Nightcrawler appears before him, in his black and red costume. The illusion looks completely solid... but, of course, it isn't. "This is what he looks like. He's blue and fuzzy and has a tail... which works, since I'm purple and fuzzy and have a tail. He and Daytripper are friends, I understand."
Superman nods, looking at the image and commiting it to memory. "Never seen the guy. But I have a lot of respect for 'tripper, so I assume that he must be of good stock."
Vorpal looks at Superman with a sidelong glance and a grin, "That's a very Victorian turn of phrase, hehe... but yes, she's fantastic. I have been trying to look for training that emphasizes my skills over my powers, because I find myself relying too much on my powers, which isn't good. I thought about maybe dropping in on the Themyscyrian embassy and see if I could convince them to let me in one of their self-defense lessons, even though I'm a man... but I thought better of it. Mostly because I don't want to be castrated." He chuckles and walks over to the edge of the building, looking down at the street.
"I know Princess Diana pretty well. I don't think she'd harm you. At least not without warning." Superman joins Vorpal by the edge. "I have the same problem, relying on my powers I mean. I've been trying to better myself, but it's harder than it sounds."
Vorpal looks over at Superman, "... well, you've got super-strength, I assume that probably makes practicing hand-to-hand in a regular environment kind of tricky. Unless... I don't know, can you turn it off? Or however it is one controls that sort of thing?" A moment, and then Keith grins "Princess Diana, heh... I suspect Booster may have a liiittle crush on her. Every time he mentions her it's like he is reciting a poem, if you know what I mean. I met her once... at Anita Bella, of all places. But I'm afraid I made a fool of myself, my powers sort of misbehaved and they caused a scene." Vorpal stretches, "... three Motown singers appeared and started *singing* my inner monologue. Suddenly everybody knew how insecure I felt... in Anapestic metre, no less."
Superman laughs, "Well that sounds like a heck of a dinner party. As far as my powers, I'm not sure how to explain it. I mean, I can be as 'gentle' as anyone else. I can just...I don't know...lift more. I don't have problems 'reigning it in' or pulling my punches."
Vorpal huhs, "So, for example, you don't have to make an effort not to crush my hand when you shake it? I'm sorry if I sound morbidly curious... it's just that it's fascinating." He looks wistful, "I've always wondered what it was like to fly. I can float... but it's not really the same, is it? It's the difference between a jet and a balloon."
Superman shakes his head, "No...and it's okay, I get asked a lot more odd questions than that. Suffice to say, that I don't have to consciously be wary of hurting people if I lose my concentration. Flying? It's great."
"Maybe someday I'll be able to fly... some people say some powers grow... who knows? I can always hope!" Then a curious look comes over him, "odd questions?... like w---nevermind, I get the impression they might break my mind."
His ears twitch, and the sound of sirens follows a few seconds later, though Superman's super-hearing most likely detected them way before Keith's ordinary feline ears could. "Sounds like the paddywaggon is here."
Superman nods, "I should probably get going too. I promised my mom I would be home in time for dinner. It was good seeing you, Vorpal."
"Yeah, I promised the same thing... it was good seeing you too, Superman. Call me Keith, okay? I don't have a secret identity." He holds his hand out to Superman. "Take care of yourself. You know how to reach me..." he says, taking out his card and offering it to him. "So feel free to call on me if you ever find yourself short on the real talent. And don't take any wooden nickels," he says with a grin.
Superman smiles and nods his head, "I will call you. And I'll try to stay away from all faux forms of currency. Take care." Superman shakes Keith's hand and rises up into the air, before long he disappears from view toward the south.
Vorpal watches Superman fly into the distance. "Up, up and away..." he says wistfully. "So frickin' cool!"
He turns around as he hears the BSA officers walk onto the roof. Well, it was time to give his report.
Category:Log