2012-10-28 Ockward!

On a cold, grey day, with intermittent rain threatening to turn to snow, Brooklyn is subdued. The Sunday traffic over the bridge is relatively sparse, a lone news helicopter chatters through the cold mist over the glassy-still river. 
In the quiet after it passes, there's a low thrum and the river's surface begins to stir. It's nothing the average citizen would notice, not until the black top vane of something under the water breaks the surface. Now, a careful observer can see a vast shadow under the dark water.
Despite the cold Selina's out talking a bit of a walk, using the pedestrian walk way to cross the Brooklyn Bridge while in the city for what is her first day-trip out of Gotham since her injury. She's dressed warmly- jeans, heavy cowl-neck sweater, boots and jacket -and has a cup of gourmet hot chocolate from a fancy cafe she happened upon on her way to the landmark held between her gloved hands.
Not truly expecting anything amiss to happen, Sel's not exactly as attentive to her surroundings as she would be normally, her gaze held directly before her instead of allowed to drift here and there as it might if she were keeping tabs on what's going on.
There's something perfect about a cold day and a stroll. Of course, it's always made better with the addition of a warm pastry, and where better to get a warm pastry on a cold day? New York, of course. So, Barry Allen took a little jog on over to the Big Apple and stopped in at his favorite bakery, dressed in normal civilian clothes, of course; a white button down with a heavy brown, leather jacket over top, zipped up against the cold. As he walked and ate his bear claw, he found himself heading for the bridge as well, walking towards Selina from the opposite direction. He may normally be on the lookout for strange, and nefarious happenings, but typically, he doesn't expect those things to come from below, and as such, completely misses the shadow.
 
The churning waters gurgle now as the black submarine slowly breaks the surface. It seems to be taking some kind of emergency measure to conceal itself as a dense cloud rolls outward from its flanks. People are stopping and staring now, some taking pictures with their S-phones. A car loses control on the slick surface of the bridge, tires screech, glass shatters, and metal crumples. Horns blare the length of the bridge.
Okay. Not even the most unclued person could miss that, the chaos something Selina notices right away as soon as it starts to happen. Pausing, she looks up at first only to then slowly arch her gaze to the side and down. There's even a bit of a slide towards the bridge's side to look over it and down into the water... and immediately regrets doing so. "Oh what the hell," she grouses under her breath, equal parts annoyed and curious. Why can't she have a nice, /normal/ trip to the Big Apple anymore?
Well, that'll draw attention. A passing blur that might not have gone noticed at all abruptly ceases to be passing, and the red-and-white-clad form of Impulse appears atop a nearby building, hanging off of a flagpole and peering toward the surfacing sub with one eye shielding his goggled eyes from the sun. He's only there for a moment before, to any but the most keenly swift eye, he vanishes from sight and only reappears near the waterline, clearly preparing to investigate.
"Mmm. Bear claw." Barry probably would have kept on walking if not for Selina looking out over the bridge. Color him unclued. "Wha's happening?" He asks, leaning over to look down at the water as well, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." He straightens up, and is about to turn, when he catches sight of a blur of kid-sized motion by the waterline, "Uh..." He scratches his head a second, before he looks around briefly to make sure no one is looking in his direction... Then he's gone.
Less then a second later, a streak of crimson comes to a stop near the crashed car, and the Flash bends down to look through the window, rapping on the glass, "Hey, you guys okay in there?"
 
The car window is broken, the airbags deployed. When the driver peels his face off the airbag, he looks blearily at The Flash. "Dude, there is a giant whale in the river," he manages to say before he passes out cold
The submarine finally seems to have emerged as far as it's going to and it's immense. The effect of its black exterior, as the water drains off, is almost velvety, a weirdly textured coating that might act as some kind of countermeasure against surveillance. 
The fog, too, that rolls out--now up to Impulse's shoulders, cold and wet--is making it hard to see with normal vision. There's a strange smell in the fog. Burnt synthetics, or some kind of toxin. It's very acrid and unpleasant.
This is interesting in a very strange way. It is kind of like happening upon a movie set and being caught in the action. But there are people who are very honestly hurt and scared and it pushes Selina into action. "Come on, folks, let's get the hell off of this damn thing," she yells at the top of her voice while attempting to usher some stray walkers towards the far end of the bridge. Problem is that there is a lot of distance between where she's starting to do that and actual land and probably not a lot of time to get them to where safety might be found. A lot of time for something bad to happen.
With this being what her mind's on she's not paying attention to other actions on the bridge, leaving her utterly unaware as to the fact that there are two speedy people helping as well.
Impulse is fairly oblivious, for now, to what's happening with the others, but this fog--that won't do! He raises both arms, frowning, and declares, "EEEYUCK! Really? Who ordered the fog in BARF flavor!?" He begins to rapidly whirl both arms in tight circles, swiftly creating a funnel-like vortex of air, tight and narrow, aiming to push the gross-smelling fog away.
The Flash frowns as the man speaks, then passes out again. "Riiight. Well, how about we get /you/ off the bridge and to a hospital of some sort." He reaches in through the window, unbuckling the man's seat belt, assuming he had one on, and pulls him out through the opening, then hurries on down to the nearest hospital, depositing him in one of the free stretchers near a couple of paramedics. Quickly, he turns and heads on back to the bridge, stopping next to Selina... all in a matter of seconds.
"Help these people get off the bridge, I'm going to go find out what's going on... Also... Hi, I'm the Flash, Fastest Man Alive." He flashes a quick grin at her, before he's gone, coming to a halt moments later next to Impulse. "Hey kid, what's gonig on? Also... Uh... Who the heck are you? But more importantly, what's that smell?!" He gags before he starts spinning his arms, working in tandem with Bart to clear the fog.
 
Sam's not even with Anya today--he should be totally safe. What. The Actual. Hell. He was down in a little occult shop, doing some research and picking up a couple books, when he heard the car crash. For a moment, he considers keeping his distance, then he hears shouting and panicked voices and his instincts kick in.
Possessed or not, Sam's got a sense of duty. He pulls his goggles out of a pocket, zips up his leather jacket, and takes off to drop his backpack on a handy roof on his way to the very foggy scene. 
The people on the bridge are actually easily herded. The fog is rolling up this far now and the smell is alarming. Something, somewhere is burning, if this isn't really poison.
"SABOTAGE!" A strange creature rises from the fog, spidery and unnerving. "I will have you!" 
From above, the submarine is still visible, the fog hangs around it like a curtain. A few figures fling themselves into a small craft that detaches from the side of the submarine and they begin to race toward shore. 
"I knew the life boats were a terrible idea," the creature hisses. On closer observation, it's a man--or it was--with long silver tentacles that he's using to walk. "After them!" Slim, black torpedos dart out of the submarine and give chase across the surface of the water as the man steps onto what looks like a small hovercraft and follows suit.
"That's what I am... wait, what?" Selina resorted to picking up not one but two of the smaller kids and packing them like so many pounds of squirming potatoes just before The Flash arrives, his instructions a bit redundant as she's already doing exactly what he told her to do. Of course she can't point that out as he's already gone, it causing her to mutter. And then he's back... and gone again. "Oh what the fu..." She looks down, remembering her charges just in time and she merely resorts to sighing. Looks like the swearing will have to come after she's alone. Or kid-less. Whatever comes first.
There's something happening in the water and she pauses just for a second. She can't make out the torpedoes but she can see some motion skirting along its surface, that prompting her to hurry. Hurrying sucks however as it's now her leg starts to ache a bit, the dull throb causing her heart to sink. "Move it, people, otherwise I'll be throwing you all over the edge." No, not really, but it's enough to get people moving their asses. Achievement: Bully People Off The Bridge!
The vortices of wind rapidly clear a large path through the befouling fog, and Impulse turns to grin widely at The Flash. "Oh hey! I wondered when you'd show up because it's totallywaypast time that I met you and didyouknowthatwe'rerelated? Well I'll explain it all later but for now hey let's take out this badguy before he hurts anyone!" That said, he zwips off toward the emerging spidery figure, intending to run right up one of those silvery legs to see what this is all about.
"We're... What?!" Barry looks to Impulse, eyes wide, just before he takes off across the water towards the spidery figure in the fog. "Hey! Wait a minute! What do you mean we're related?!" Only a second after Impulse is gone, Barry takes off after him, his speed carrying over the water effortlessly. He stops on the prow of the hovercraft, however, looking on up towards Bart and the figure, rather then running up one of the legs. "I must have hit my head, or something..."
 
Sam's not an expert but he's never known anyone good to have shiny extra limb *and* drive a huge black submarine. He drops down to a vantage point on the railing of the bridge to picks off the tracking torpedos chasing after the feeling life boat. At least he can feel good about blowing up mechanical things--and not good in the icky way, either. 
Then there's a screech of tires as someone breaks through the deadlock down the bridge and comes careening through that acrid fog. He throws a curved shield into the fog and hopes it's yielding enough stop the car without a mess. He's working on it. 
Selina's is actually having an effect on people, she's getting the bridge cleared. She also has kid snot on her shoulder now, too. Mark of a good day's work. She's toting the kids to safety when the screech of tires sounds awfully near her.
Doc Ock is not impressed. He doesn't even protest that he's not a jungle gym. He's backing up his hoverjet and working all four limbs to catch hold of anyone daring to approach him. Someone in the submarine finally gets their act together enough to help him out, too. A turret unfolds from the near side, then another, until a battery of six laser cannons are trying to pick off the speedsters--and taking out houses on the shore in the process.
The sound of the wheels is familar. It's one Selina has heard numerous times. And the fact that it's growing closer. Oh yes. Selina's heart feels like it's about to fly right clear out of her chest. The kids get set on their feet and told to run, hoping that they'll be able to catch up with their parents, that done at the same time she catches sight of Sam as he makes his appearance. Well, at least he's not trying to do anything to her so he gets kept a wary eye on at the same time she tries to get out of the way, not sure where the car is coming from until it's just about too late. She's not sticking around to see if the vehicle gets stopped by anyone or not. She's no fool. Sel is not sticking around.
It will be hard to target Impulse without also putting Doc Ock right in the line of fire. Of course, it's also hard to even SEE Impulse, unless you're The Flash. Swinging and hopping around between Doc Ock's limbs like a crazed monkey entering hyperspace, the younger speedster makes for a difficult target and probably proves fairly distracting as he peppers the villain with questions. "Heywhatareyouhereforandwhydoyouahaveallthesearmsandwhat'sthedealwiththatsubmarineandohheywhyaretheyshootinglasersbecauseyoushouldn'tdothatkindofthing!"
The Flash watches Impulse with his mouth slightly agape, "I definitely hit my head somewhere." Then the turrets come up, and Barry's gone, only to arrive directly next to one. "The kid's got a point, you know. You really shouldn't being doing this sort of thing." Suddenly, The Flash's arms become a blur of scarlet motion as he begins to dismantle the turret by hand, just enough to render it inoperable, or if possible, explodable, before he moves on to the next, then the next, dashing around the surface of the sub at speeds to fast for the normal eye to follow.
 
Still working on the catch-shields. The car slows enough that the kids get out of the way but the tires skid on the pavement and it careens toward Selina. Sam says a few words his Ma would not like as he wraps a full shield around Selina one second and whisks her out of the way the next. 
Once he's airborne, his attention is not on his armful of Selina but on the torpedo that just nailed that little lifeboat as it was making land. "Sorry, miss. I'll drop you off," Sam says, taking off in that direction. Fortunately, the escapees were on their way out of the boat and he thinks he can see all of them either sprawled on the shore or blown back into the water.
Doc Ock's computers are good--good enough not to hit him but not good enough to hit Impulse or The Flash unless they accidentally cut in front of a blast--until The Flash begins to dismantle them. However, Doc Ock has other defenses. A small filter slides out of his curious armour to cover his mouth and a greenish gas--not the acrid smell that Sam knows is burning synthetic upholstery--boils out into the air around him. The skin of the submarine has its own defenses, a blue aura of crackling electricity lights it up and extends into the surrounding waters.
One one hand this is entirely less startling than the majority of what happened to Selina over the course of the past two weeks but on the other this is frightening in its own right as she doesn't know Sam from Adam. The shock melds into surprise when she realizes he's not going to hurt her, however, and she's eventually able to point him to where a knot of people are, just shy of the bridge's end. "Down there..." she starts but then she catches Doc Ock out of the corner of her eye, that getting her to boggle. "And they say we have strange villains in Gotham," she manages to get out before her voice cracks. Mental Note: A trip to the nearest bar is definitely in order once Selina's sure everyone that she can help out gets safe.
On one hand...*
Impulse doesn't seem to have much trouble until the gas is released, and then he breaks into a coughing fit, missing a catch--and instead of looping around one of Ock's tentacles, suddenly Impulse is launched skyward, vanishing from view--even to the Flash, probably, given the distance--as he's propelled away through the sky.
As the last turret goes down, Barry takes a moment to clap his hands together as if brushing off dust and grin, "Now, when you learn to play nice, I may give you back your to-OWS!" Mid-sentence, those shock shields go up and suddenly Barry is twitching as the electricity courses through him. In pain, /lots/ of pain, and struggling to concentrate, The Flash thinks to bring his hands down, fast, /really/ fast, towards the surface of the sub, relying on Newton's Third Law to use the momentum from his hands to propel him off the sub and out of reach of those shock shields.
Splash down is about thirty yards away, and he comes up spluttering and shivering as he turns his attention back to Doc Ock, the stranded escapees, Sam, Impulse, and Selina. "This is a mess," he mutters, shaking his head, before he starts to analyze the situation, utilizing the enhanced speed of his mind to come up with some form of plan. "Hey! You! Up there in the sky! You think you can get through that exlectricity around the sub? We need to bring it down before it can get away." He then turns to look towards Ock and the Kid, and he frowns. The kid is fast, but something like that is definately in the big leagues, and he's going to need he- Uh... He tilts his head upwards to try and catch sight of Impulse, but of course, he can't. "Scratch that! Save the kid! Leave the spider to me, and you -- !" He points to Selina, then the escapees who landed on dry land and close to the water's edge, "Help those people get away from here!"
Even as he shouts this, he starts to swim, faster, and faster until eventually he build up enough speed to propel himself out of the water and pick up on the surface, running fast enough not to break surface tension. Any of the people who may have been knocked out by that torpedo shot, are quickly gathered and placed on dry land, before he turns, kicking up a wall of water as he pelts blindingly fast towards Doc Ock. As he gets closer, he draws his fist back, and sends out a speed-boosted punch towards one of the man's silver legs, then the next one in line, and so and so on until he's a blur of red sending frighteningly fast punches at every inch of the Doctor he can reach.
 
Sam glances to where Selina wants to go, then at the people he's trying to save. From his vantage point, he can see the police and emergency teams on the way. "Help is on the way for those people. I promise, I'll take you there as soon as... aww, hell." 
Impulse goes soaring over Sam's head and Sam makes a quick stop on the shoreline to drop Selina off. "See if you can help them." He points at the ex-minions lying injured on the beach and struggling in the water, hardly looking because he's still tracking Impulse's course. There's a crack as he breaks the sound barrier on his way to catch Impulse. If he stays on course, he's got a good chance.
Doc Ock takes off to get away from The Flash, but even his hover jet's high tech systems can't respond in time. Doc Ock's limbs are resilients, his armour excellent, and his security systems very advanced. Still, he goes down in a heap on the surface of his hover jet as his defenses try to keep him from being completely dismantled. 
His words are distorted through the gas mask. "Cease and desist, tell me what you want." Fresh gas--orange and green, tear gas and sedation--pours out now, the surface of Doc Ock's body crackles with electricity, and the hover jet plunges down into the water to try to shake The Flash off of its master.
If she were Batman she'd be able to deal with all of this, kick Ock's butt, get the cape to Alfred to get washed, ironed and starched and put back in its proper place and help everyone, all while coming out smelling like a rose. But all she can do is scream, and yell, and eventually hit Sam on the shoulder. "Just put me down somewhere," she hisses, forgetting to even say thank you to her savior. "We /got/ to help them!" Which 'them' is she talking about, though? She's not pointing and there are several groups of people, some of whom the emergency services people might not get to in time. Someone'll have to make up their collective mind for her as she's not really thinking straight, uncharacteristically flustered.
Impulse has been trying to slow himself down with various high-speed twisting and flailing, and so Sam has little trouble catching up to him, and as Imp finds himself caught up by a flying person, he blinks a bit and says, "Oh. Hi! Nice catch. Hey can you point me back at thatspideryjerk guy 'cause I really need to tie his legs together forthatone!"
As the gas starts and the electricity with it, Flash recoils his hand and shakes it off, wincing, but he's not done yet. "What I want? I mean it's cold, and you've certainly got some weight to you, but I never would have taken you for the Santa type. Plus, isn't it a bit too early for that?" With a quick grin, Flash continues to circle Ock, but he's starting to get faster, and faster, and faster -- until a wind funnel starts up in the center of his circle! He's making a vortex to get both Ock and his gas, out of here.
 
"No problem, I was thinking the same thing." Sam makes an immediate shift in direction and takes off back the way he came, painfully slow by Impulse standards, of course. "You okay?" The kid is pretty much a bundle of nothing by Sam's standards--Sam's got a foot of height and a hundred pounds on him--but he knows most mutant-types are a lot more resilient than they look. 
Selina's been left on the beach with the ex-minions, the ones who couldn't take it anymore when they realized what Doc Ock was up to this time. The sabotage certainly worked and Doc Ock isn't going to be hiring New Yorkers again any time soon, not for a hit on New York... after he eliminates his HR department. For their troubles, they're all in pretty rough shape. Nothing fatal, mostly smoke inhalations and broke bones, but none of them are very happy.
The Flash's tactics are working. He manages to make a whirling vortex of wind and water on the surface of the Hudson, trapping Doc's poison gasses in with him and keeping things moving so fast that Doc's hover jet and his internal systems are unable to orient themselves. The villain is shrieking curses and threats but it's impossible to actually hear what he's saying inside the whirlwind.
Okay. Now this is better. Selina's feet are on solid ground, she is able to help the former Ock-tarians who are ushered away much like the first people she helped were. And yes, that includes the threats and grumpiness on Sel's part. Thankfully the twinge of pain she felt earlier has passed and she can move just as swiftly as some of the more sure-footed people do. "And we're moving.... and we're moving... and we- hey! Numbnuts, are you wanting to get killed or something just because you decide now's a good time to sightsee?" The snapped words gets the straggler to hurry up and soon they're moving as one tidy little knot. Mostly.
After a second Selina yells, "Thanks for the save," after Sam although he probably won't be able to hear her now.
Impulse says, “Finethanks!" Impulse declares, and then he hops free of Sam's arms, plummeting toward Doc Ock, below. As he falls, Impulse twists his body into a tight spiral, accelerating until he's riding a tight funnel of wind. He aims this down toward the villain, noticing that The Flash seems to have the same idea--and so Imp just tries to join his own whirlwind right up with Flash's!”
Flash can, of course, keep this up all day, and his efforts are made even easier as Impulse comes along to aid in the creation of some seriously powerful winds. 
Barry utilizes a trick all speedsters should know, he begins to speak at the same speed he's running, making his words sounds like someone hit the fast-forward button on those old VCRs, gaining a chipmunk-esque sound to it as he speaks so fast that only Bart should be able to understand what he's saying, "Very good, kid, but we need to end this. Try to keep up!" And then he's off, back to the riverbank as he scoops up an armful of fist sized stones, then he dashes back into position, appearing as if he barely left the whirlwind, which should still be going after Bart's little boost of speed. Once in position, he starts to pelt Doc Ock with the stones like a machine gun, though not quite as fast. No need to kill the guy, after all. "Hopefully we get a lucky shot and knock him right out!"
 
Sam realizes at the last moment that the submarine being dead in the water hasn't stopped it from moving with the current. He drops into the beams under the bridge and wraps the pillar under him with his shields just moments before the submarine bangs into it. He's never handled a hazard that size before. 
Selina's people herding skills are getting sharper by the moment. She's managing to direct them and draw the attention of emergency personnel who are on their way down toward the shoreline.
Impulse and The Flash have Doc Ock completely overwhelmed. The poor villain's limbs are having a nervous breakdown. A well-thrown pebble breaks apart the hover jet, another causes Doc's power pack to short out. His howls of rage get louder until The Flash pegs him between the eyes with a pebble and he finally falls silent.
Barring the unexpected like giant squid throwing themselves out of the water in an attempt to land on her or something equally out of left field Selina keeps playing Momma Goose. "Alright... this way... hey! Over here!" Emphatic waving and whooting follows, that done so she can maybe get the EMTs and other people's attention as well as point out that hey, there's help coming to the former minions. Whoo-hoo. Yup. Right here. That's good.
Once Doc Ock goes down, Impulse drops down to begin wrapping the villain up in his own arms. Impulse's portion of the vortex dissipates, replaced by a whirling blur of red and white motion, and when the dust settles Impulse is indeed standing right beside Doc Ock, who's been bundled up in his own robotic arms like a parcel ready for delivery.
The Flash comes out of his whirlwind the second the cursing silences, skidding to a halt on the hovercraft right beside Impulse. "Nice job, Kid... So uh... About that whole, related to me thing... I think you're mistaken. I don't have a brother, so you can't be my nephew... And I think I'd recognize one of my cousins, who, by the way, are all about my age." He plants a red boot on Doc's face and leans on it as he bends over to get closer to Bart's height. "Your hair though... Reminds me of... someone's."
 
Sam has the submarine under control for the moment but it's taking up all of his concentration to keep it from swinging around until the tugboats get past the police boats to deal with it.
Selina has all the attention she'd like from the handful of firemen who catch up to her. "Did you see where that small boat crashed?" One of them asks. "We heard there wsa a craft that ran aground."
Doc Ock's defeat is going to go down in infamy. First a fire on board his fancy new submarine and now this. Hoist by his own petard... or tied up with his own arms. The fog has cleared and spectators are gathering to cheer, and jeer, at the scene.
The exact location isn't really known by Selina but she waves in the vague direction. There should be enough debris and left over junk for them to find. On Sel's part, she's tired and really in need of a nap, or a shower or something and it shows in how harried she looks.
"Ummmm," Impulse says, rubbing his chin a little. "We should probably talk about this in private." He glances around at all the others. "Even if we talk really fast someone might figure it out, and this is SECRET stuff."
"Right." The Flash glances down to the good doctor briefly, before he grabs the scruff of his color and hauls him up. "Then you better follow me. And keep up." He shoots off a quick wave to the cheering people, before he's a blur again, dashing across the water and depositing Doc Ock at the feet of whichever police officer seems to be in charge. After a quick course correction, he dashes off to reach a much more private location... One with a lot of food, preferably.
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