2013-02-21: Rampage Redux

Millions of people used the New York subway system every day. It was how people got around who didn't want to pay for the expense of cabs, or the ridiculous cost of owning a car and using the city. It was simply impractical when such an easily-used and affordable means of conveyence were readily at hand. Even for people who lived elsewhere in the world, they spent more on gas than it cost to have a subway card, typically! Of course, this convenience was more than made up for by the ridiculous rent that was charged for even the smallest apartments.
But today people quite simply expecting a subterranean, fire-breathing lizard to be found slithering about the tunnels. The thing took up more of the tunnels than the trains, had already eaten two subway cars (which had thankfully been abandoned by screaming people), knocked many others off the rails trying to squeeze by, started several electrical fires, scared countless others, driven the police back despite firing hundreds of rounds at the creature, and closed down pretty much the entire metro.
And it was all being controlled by a man calling himself the 'Lizard Master' who was 'taking back the underground' for all of lizard-kind with his kryptonite-fed, extremely-overgrown iguana.
Stargirl received the call over her JLA communicator, and, thankfully, was NOT babysitting this time! She was still honestly shocked she hadn't been killed over that incident with sweet little Lian, especially when she'd run into the person she'd been babysitting her FOR while trying to resolve a crisis downtown! Well, she handn't been called back to babysit again, either.
Nevertheless, the star-spangled teenager, glowing bright orange with the power of her cosmic rod, shoots into one of the subway entrances civilians were streaming out of like a herd of paniced cattle like a comet. Some cheer for her, prompting her to smile and wave as she passes by just several feet overhead, a few pictures snapping off, but she doesn't slow.
And there, sitting in the subway platform, was the biggest frickin' iguana she'd ever seen, rasping its tongue out into the air. Sitting astride it was some wackadoo wearing a tan jumpsuit and a gas mask. "Hoo boy."
　
'Wackadoo'. Classic.
What else is classic? Riding the subway when it's suddenly attacked by a villain or subjected to all other manner of shenanigans. And that's what Cassie Sandsmark is doing. Being on the subway when it's attacked. Despite its classicness, this is not really enjoyable in the slightest. The blonde is not equipped with her super outfit or anything, though she does make sure to keep her 'borrowed' sandals and gauntlets with her whenever possible. And her costume. But changing into her costume while all THIS is going on is going to be hard.
That's what she thinks right up until she is the last person left on the train. Then she just goes, 'Well, know what? Strip down on a subway train while a monster lizard is on the loose?' ...That winds up being exactly what she does, and is still hopping into her pants when the train she's on is knocked off the rails from violent shaking and lizard-head-butting. "Stop! Stop it! I'm not ready yet, asshole!" she yells out fruitlessly. Eventually she manages to exit the train in some form of being dressed, picks up the same train she was just on with her SUPER STRENGTH OF SUPER and throws it right at the giant lizard.
...Aaaand she misses. By the time she's done checking to make sure she didn't accidentally crush anyone, the lizard and its master have already moved on, potentially without even noticing Wonder Girl was there (though the flying subway car might have been a bit of a tip-off). That's when she comes back, sees the iguana and Captain Wackadoo on the platform, and tries this again. "SURPRISE ATTAAAACK!" she yells out as she flies at the platform and tries to smash the ground the lizard is standing on with her fist!
She has not yet noticed Stargirl is here, having come out of the tunnel from an angle that kept her from seeing what else was going on.
The lizard lets out a ferocious roar as the subway platform is punched by Wonder Girl, cracking cement and concrete and bending the metal supporting bars all out of shape. It causes the giant mutant iguana to stumble, one of its legs sinking into the new crater, opening it's mouth in some kind of strange lizard-roar-sound. "GYAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"H-How dare you!" The Lizard Master, aka Captain Wackadoo, shrieks. He pats his 'pet' on the neck from his position on the saddle, and then points at the blonde-haired teenager. "FRY HERRRRRR!"
The iguana obeys, turning its head towards Cassandra, gas building in its gullet and then pouring out, thick and foul-smelling. And then it ignites seconds after hitting the atmosphere, becoming a column of flame headed right for her! A bright orang, circular shield of energy appears before Cassandra as Stargirl leaps into the fray, blocking and deflecting the fire that's so hot it melts through some of the concrete around the shield.
"Careful with that punching, Blondie!" Courtney yells. "Too much of that and you'll bring the city down on top of our heads! ...Plus think of the damages it'll cost to the city! I think we need to take out that wacko and then try to get his giant komodo out of here." The masked blonde glances towards the other with a small, confident, braces-baring grin to see if she's on board with the idea.
And then she does a double-take! "C-Cassie!?"
　
Ha-HA! Unbalancing this lame booger was a brilliant plan after all! Because she yelled 'surprise attack' and the surprise was she was breaking the ground under them instead of attacking them directly! Yeah! Go, Team Awesome! Sadly, before she can follow this with an uppercut to Goober Whackadoo Maximum Lame Fail the Zeroeth's FACE, the lizard turns and breathes fire at her. Frick.
She holds up her hands and yells in a panic, "Aaaah! Secret force field powers activate now!" An orange shield of energy saves her. Wonder Girl blinks and holds her hands to her face to examine them. She didn't think that would actually work! Then she realizes someone else is holding the shield, not her. Oh. OH. Another super. That'd explain it! Hahaha! Haaaa... "Yeah, well... Careful with your... Uh... Shielding! ...Other blondie! I might become a fan of yours for saving me like that!" Yeah, not so good at clever retorts or banter.
"Sounds like a plan--" she starts but while her mouth is still moving, the words stop coming out of it when she realizes who she's looking at. Her eyes get reaaallly big. "...Court!?" she says in a similar way to Stargirl. But she just shows some of the first signs of her training kicking in and she puts aside her surprise for the sake of the heroics she is about to perform. Shaking her head, she says, "We gotta' talk later, babe! Keep the shield going. They can't see us while the shield and flames are going, right? I'm going to try to pop over the top and then pop this jerk's top off!"
Assuming she doesn't get told, 'No, that's a stupid idea.' she does it. She might even do it anyway. The heat is enough to MELT CONCRETE. But with Cassie's powers she thinks she'll probably survive exposure to the heat as little bit as long as she doesn't linger. Though it's going to buuuuuurn like an expletitive deleted. Fly up over the shield, lunge at lizard jerk, punch in the face. Simple. No way this could go wrong!
"AHAHAHAHAAAAAAA, BURN, BITCHES, BURRRRRN!" The Lizard Maniac is cackling and screaming his head off. Were these the best superheroes the city currently had to throw here to stop him!? He was pretty sure they were dead by now, including that comet-girl that had come streaking in, but his pretty lizard pet enjoyed letting loose with the fire. Otherwise she had severe gas afterwards. Yes, she. Didn't you notice the tiny pink bow tied to one of her enormous headspikes?
"B-But Cassie, that's dangerous!" Courtney cries as the other blonde goes flying over the top of her shield and most of the flames. But what else could she do!? If she dropped the shield now, SHE'D get fried! She just had to wait it out... unless...
The heat probably rips at Wonder Girl like she'd just stepped into an oven, then kind that would give her something akin to a sunburn if she stayed in it for too long. Or maybe make steam rise off her skin as it burned away her clothes. Thankfully only a few gouts of flame lick at her and she doesn't stay in the midst of all that residual heat for long! When she balls up her fist and aims it at the dragonrider's face, his eyes start to go real big behind that gas mask as he offers a "HUH!? ImpossiARRRRRGH!" The punch takes him clear out of the saddle
He tumbles over the back of the giant iguana, rolls a few times, and then lies very, very still, flat on his back on the rails. The lizard, meanwhile, starts going berserk, swapping at Cassie like some kind of psuedo-scorpion with her tail!
And then the fire is suddenly gone. The cosmic-shield empowered by Courtney's staff had been pushed forward as she'd run into the flames, and now the giant beast was having trouble closing it's mouth with an energy-shield wedged into it and blocking off the flames, causing her cheeks to bulge out and smoke to pour out of her nose.
"AND KEEP IT SHUT!" Yells Courtney.
　
OW OW OW OW OW OW! Wonder Girl does not linger in the flames. No, not at all. She flies as fast as she can, though she does have to skim the upper edge of the flames and burn away some of her outfit in the process, in order to get to the bad guy in a fast enough time frame that he can't mount a defense of some kind. She doesn't know how strong he is or what other abilities he has beyond 'being a ponce', so she doesn't give him the time to demonstrate them. PUNCHAPOW! He's out!
...And the lizard is going nuts. The blonde psuedo-olympian is tail-smacked unexpectedly while she's still smarting from the burns she endured. She goes flying through the air by means other than her flight powers, slams into a wall hard enough to crack it, and then falls to the ground, dazed. "OOoghghh..." Thankfully, it appears that Courtney is taking care of Godzuki over there, but still... She can't just leave that girl to struggle alone! So, trying to get to her feet, Wonder Girl prepares to re-enter the battle and try to figure out a way to lead a giant iguana out of the subway and... Do... Something with it. What are they supposed to do with this thing!? Do they put it somewhere!? Is there a 'giant rampaging mutated beast' facility it can be taken to!? Cassie doesn't know!
For now she just tries to stagger back over to where Stargirl looks like she's trying to make the iguana explode and solve the entire problem.
"CASSIE!" Courtney screams as Wonder Girl is nailed right on and smacked into the wall like a pinata that refused to burst. But now she's got problems of her own, like pressure building up inside of an enormous iguana like crazy! The cheeks puff out, smoke comes out it's nose, and then the shield, the staff, and, by proxy, Stargirl are hurled back as a HUGE fireball erupts from the mutated reptile's maw. The enormous ball of gaseous plasma explodes against the concrete roof, sending tons of rubble tumbling down upon the Nebraskan blonde and kicking up a smoke-screen of dust.
By the time it clears, or if Wonder Girl just gets to her, there's a bright dome of energy with Stargirl breathing heavily at its center, her clothes smoking a little bit and breathing hard, holding up her staff as it keeps the two-plus tons of reinforced concrete from crushing her. She grits her teeth as the lizard shakes its head, letting out more of those 'GYAAAAAAAR' roars of its at it sneezes smoke out and twists this way and that, knocking over a column or two and compromising the structural stability of this entire platform.
"We can't keep fighting it down here!" Stargirl yells. "It'll bring the whole place down and bury us! We gotta do... some... thing..." The blonde trails off a bit as she stares at the bucking, twisting iguana, crashing around the platform like a rampaging bull.
And then she points at the beast, and the saddle and reins on its back. "C'mon, Cass! COWGIRL UP!"
　
Yeah, Cassie changes direction after that fireball. Well, first she tries to shield herself with her arms, which is why she doesn't see Courtney go flying and leap in the way to catch her. She'll feel bad about that later. But right now, she takes off and flies over to the rubble that Courtney is under, her heart racing even more than it already was from the battle. "Oh, god, oh, god, please be okay!" she calls out as she arrives only to find a slightly-tattered-looking Stargirl under an energy shield. Before she can say anything else, the Rampaging 'Lizzy' over there takes her attention back. She only pauses for a moment to steel herself, then nods to the other super heroine. "Got it." Then she flies over to Lizzy (heehee. References to old arcade/NES games. She's going to pat herself on the back for that one later), trying to avoid getting whalloped in the process, and seems to almost be ducking and weaving like she was shown to do when she first met Courtney.
She might even successfully block another tail strike with those same skills! And then she just tries to land firmly directly on the lizard's back, grab the reins, and try to gain control of the beast to get it out of here, up to the surface, where someone more qualified can tell her what to do. "Hi-yooooo, Iggy!"
As soon as it's leapt upon, 'Lizzy' knows that it's not her master gathering the reins back there! She bucks and rears like a horse, kicking and scrabbling about, trying to throw Cassie off like a bull that doesn't want to be broken. And then it rears up on its hind legs... and takes off up the stairs. It travels through the small personnel tunnel with the speed of a subway train, and then suddenly Wonder Girl will find herself out on the street, bursting into sunlight while riding a giant lizard-bronco.
The police have cordoned off several blocks, so thankfully when it runs out into the street, there's no one around, though its claws do scrabble up the paved streets and cement sidewalk. It spits up some more fire as it bucks and tries to throw her off. Meanwhile, the gathered crowd begins to... cheer from behind the police line!
"Yeaaaaaah! Go Wonder Girl! Ride 'em cowgirl!" Little kids begin screaming in a frenzy. Why were their parents just letting them hang around!?
It's a good minute before Courtney wiggles herself free in a manner that won't let the debris crush her when she lets the shield down, and she has to reshape the dome a bit for that to happen. But then she's busting out of the ground as well, orange energy emanating from around her... and she takes the time to smile and wave to a few fans that scream out her name.
"Cass! Cass... what do we do now!? Should I... Should I hurt her?" Courtney asks, hovering several feet off the ground and holding her weapon unsurely. "I think she's scared!"
　
"Auuuuugh!" Wonder Girl cries out in a mix of dismay and frustration as she can NOT seem to get control of the scaley little bitch! When it goes up to street level and there's still people in the area, the blonde becomes even more desperate for a solution. Courtney thinks it's scared. Well, geez, Cassie is scared too! But she has no beast-taming powers so she just settles for the next best thing. She climbs forward in the saddle as much as she can, raises a fist, and attempts to just punch Lizzy in the back of the head hard enough to bounce her chin off the street, and hope that dazes, stuns, or knocks out the thing long enough for people to show up who are actually qualified for lizard-wrangling.
If successful, she just wipes her forehead, and finally takes note of all the holes in her costume and that she is out in public. "Eeek!" she'll squeak out as she blushes and tries to cover herself, or maybe gesture for Stargirl to come over and stand in front of her. There's probably going to be some very interesting pictures of Wonder Girl up on the internet tonight one way or another. Oh, maaaaan!
The giant lizard bucks, twists, and writhes, doing everything EXCEPT following Wonder Girl's instructions with the reins. But when the super-strong Amazon rears back her fist and whallops the beast in the back of the head, it face-plants into the concrete. Stargirl yells, "OH NO, LIZZIE!" Yes, apparently she came to the same nickname conclusion as Wonder Girl. The burly reptile pulls its snout out of the ground, a small stream of blood leaking from its nose and stumbling a few steps, shaking its head dazedly.
Stargirl shoots forward before it can recover, landing on the mutated iguana's nose and holding up a hand. Shooting stars erupt from her red gloves like multicolored fireworks, darting right into the reptile's head like miniature comets. The fireworks serve to short-circuit the dazed creature's mind, which was already weakened from the inhumanly-strong blow. The concussive force coupled with the electrical disruption causes the creature to pass out, slumping heavily to the ground, tongue lolling out, but still breathing.
Stargirl breathes a huge sigh of relief. "Geez, Cass! You didn't have to be so MEAN to her! She couldn't help it!" Yes, Courtney Whitmore is an advocate for animal rights. Don't you ever check her blog, Stars n' Bars!? But then cameras start flashing, reporters have video rolling, people are shouting and cheering for the two heroines and... Courtney sees how embarassed her friend is to have her partially-burned costume revealing a little more than she intended to it all.
Leaping to the rescue, Stargirl jumps in front of Wonder Girl like a camera hog with a huge, cheesy grin. "Don't worry, people of New York! Your subways are safe again thanks to *STARGIRL* and ~WONDER GIRL~! Now we have other important work to do!" Stargirl's staff envelopes both heroines in its energy and the blue-eyed blonde flies her and her friend off VERY QUICKLY.
Before too many pictures can be taken of Cassie.
 
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