2013.04.18 - YAL: World on Fire: Part 2

The countdown went up earlier in the evening and the time continued to tick down. People stayed glued to their computers, trading theories and insults about what it could be. At the one minute mark, the black screen faded away to a live feed of Times Square. At thirty seconds, anyone that was familiar with the video of Ember's rampage in the Bronx would recognize the multiple video feeds becomming available suddenly. And as soon as that timer reaches zero, a bolt of lightning rains down and strikes the ground. Pedestrians nearby are zapped and others sent sprawling by the sudden electrical surprise. As the smoke and dust from the impace clear, several figures are revealed. Six costumed teenagers. The two that rescued Ember from the Young Allies but with them are five more. A blond girl in a revealing pink costume, a woman that seems to be made of cement, A young redheaded man in a black and red costume bearing a T on his chest, and a girl in a green costume that's crackling with electricity. They all look around, soaking up the attention they're getting as people start taking pictures and murmuring excitedly. 
Excitement and confusion turn to terror as the electric girl...Aftershock...steps forward. "Light it up!" she calls out, letting loose an electrical blast that causes a car to explode. The other seven teens spread out, attacking people and scenery alike as civillians run in terror. It's all being broadcast online for the world to see and someone even taken over the big screen above Times Square to show the destruction.
When the text comes, Kate... No, Hawkeye is in Central Park, dealing with someone who sought /her out/ (technically any member of The Young Allies) because she wanted to join the team. Which if anything caught the female archer off guard.
Then, right after that person started to show off her powers, that text came in. Thus she rushed off.
Towards Times Square.
Of course how the archer got there is a bit of a surprise. Sure she could of driven, but all it would of taken was a single traffic jam to hold her back. And she can't fly. Thus she used the ultimate vehicle of urban (and in some cases sub-urban) warfare!
That's right, here comes Hawkeye... On a Vespa! (Hey, it can weave its way through traffic, and it is good on gas!)
All though as she gets closer to Times Square and notices just what's happening, there is a bit of an odd curse.
Okay. Something was really annoying. Channel had a training exercise with her mentor today, and she was a little bit tired, so she'd decided to fly home a little more slowly than usual and taking a more circular route back to Westchester when the alarm came through. She glanced at her phone and tapped out a single word, which would by signed by the codename Channel.
Inbound
The woman was dressed in a pair of black jeans and her black leather jacket. Since she was flying home from training, she had the cowl portion of her suit, which masked her face quite well. The teen kicked her speed back up into high gear as she booked towards Time Square, drawing in some energy to boost her physical capabilities.
Lovely. People trying to blow stuff up. Property damage, okay, that was one thing. But attacking civilians? Now that, that was not cool. Jocelyn angles her descent downwards and holds out her hands, firing off a blast of magnetic energy at the electric girl in green as she lands just off-center of Times Square. No witty one liners from the teen right now. She was just trying to knock some sense into these villains. Or knock them out. Either one would work.
Internet access is one of the perks Lor-Zod has been given at the Hall of Justice to learn about human society, and his curiosity is definitely caught by the countdown. He doesn't end up watching long, however, once Aftershock blows the first car. He's barely even a blur, just a boom of the sound barrier being broken just outside the Hall. He comes to a sudden stop, hovering protectively in front of the largest group of civilians he can see near the teenagers, "Stop, please! I don't want to hurt you." It's not an order, it's hard to get authority in his still unchanged voice, but more pleading with them to stop.
Kiden was just doing her best to try and get the attention of a member of the Young Allies to see if she could join, she wound up hitting a jack pot in getting Kate Bishop's attention, and likely left her a bit preplexed with her stunt of choice. But then something came up, and all of a sudden Kiden found herself in position to win a live audition, and she hoped at the chance. Much like she hoped at the back of Kate's vespa, holding on to dear life while Kate was driving to the scene following her quick call. "So what is it we're going to deal with exactly, if you don't mind me asking? I'm sure I'll do a lot better if I know what's up," Kiden tries to speak loud enough for Kate to hear her over the engine sound.
To say that Longshot loved TV would be the understatement of the century so even when he went out to run errands for Felicia he would often just stare at the big Time Square TV and watch it as if it were god talking to him. And where he's from that would be pretty close to true. But he's not there anymore, he's here, and woah! Look at that! And since when did the Time Square TV have sound?
He turned around and saw that it was in fact at the scene of this very interesting television show that has just begun. Wait a second! Is he the star of this show? That felt right. He was always the star of the show. He dropped the anchovy pizza he was supposed to be bringing home to his girlfriend and rushed towards the danger and sang at the top of his lungs a song he had heard on an old cartoon he saw once, "Here I come To save the day!"
The magnetic blast causes Aftershock to stumble back several steps. She looks down at herself to make sure she's unhurt and not having a wardrobe malfuntion before glaring up at Channel. A smirk crosses her face though and she calls out. "WE GOT CAPES!" she yells before drawing in electricity from the surrounding area to charge herself up. She's not attacking Jocelyn though, just trying to keep the attention on her. Channel will find her world suddenly going topsy-turvey. Her powers will spike and lower randomly, refusing to work properly and even her energy vision wobbles in and out. "I got this one," the girl in pink is pointing both her glowing guantlets at Channel and emitting faint pink pulses at her. "Let's have some girl talk," the girl, Disruptor, actually giggles before firing a blast of concussive force at Channel. Unluckily for Channel, she might find her energy absorption powers not working entirely well. 
Singularity, the young man in black that had rescued Ember the last time, was destroying the front of a building and sending people flying while the girl made of cement hung off him. That was until Axiom lept at him from an alley...only to get caught by the young man's powers. Longshot's bellowing attracts Singularity's attention and he glances to cement girl (Mortar). "Get lost," Singularity snaps, sending Axiom flying at Longshot. Look out. 
Hawkeye on a Vespa? Let's hope she can drive well because there's some razor-sharp shuriken flying at her and her ride of choice. They were flung by that young man in the black and red costume who's hanging off a sign. 
The plea from Lor-Zod is directed at a very pale young man in yellow. He stares at the tiny Kryptonian for a moment before smirking. "Fool," the white-haired villain replies flatly before shooting forward with some incredible speed and throwing a punch at Lor-Zod's jaw. The littlest hero there might be surprised that this guy punches with Kryptonian strength.
Drive well? Maybe. In normal New York City traffic. But as the shurikens come flying at her ride, she tries to swerve, before she can even think about responding to Kiden, or look at Longshot!
"Ninja!" is shouted as she evades a few of them, But well...
A couple of the throwing stars do hit her ride. In fact the even puncture the tire, causing it to swerve a bit more, almost out of control before the female archer tries to jump clear. All though when she hits the ground, she practically crashes into it and slides for a bit, before she even has a chance to grab her bow and fire off a mostly unaimed shot (with a basic arrow) in the direction of that person on the sign.
"Fricken ninja!"
Of course she also tries to keep track of Kiden. but based on the power she showed earlier, she isn't that worried about how the other girl will safely get off the vespa.
Aww, hell. Power disruptors. The bane of just about every superpowered individual out there. Channel's hand flies up to her head as her vision just goes absolutely bonkers before the blast of concussive force sends her flying straight into a nearby van, the force of the blast causing her to bust right through the doorframe, the sound of steel ripping as the woman goes right on through. The impact of the woman into the van causes the vehicle to tip over with a loud crash, and that hole Channel was flung through will certainly be dripping with some of the woman's blood.
Oh, Channel was gonna get you, Disruptor. Just as soon as she figured out if all her joints, muscles, and bones still worked. She really, really hated getting sucker punched.
Lor-Zod, not ready for such strength, gets knocked back a good distance, crashing into a building on the other side of the square. Luckily, his mother has taught him well in how to take a punch. "Ow. Sorry," he adds quickly as he picks himself up, to any civilians nearby, and then he's flying forward at a blur again to try to return the favour to the one who hit him.
"You do have a license for this thing, right?" Kiden shrieks from behind Kate, grabbing on to dear life as swerving and shurikens get added to the equation. Then she finally flies with not nearly as much grace as Kate, in fact it looks like she's about to crash into the ground and likely break her nose. However, easily unheard in the chaos of all things, Kiden cries out "STOP!"
Then, just like that, instead of crashing into the ground, she's floating in the air and sets herself down gently. With everyone frozen in place for her, she has a perfect vantage to survey this fighting ground. Walking around between everyone, she figures Channel is having the most trouble with Disruptor, and so she chooses her mark.
Walking around behind Channel rather casually, while everyone is frozen in place, she swings her arm in showy manner, "here goes nothing...you're quite the slezoid, so I guess you deserve it, go go Kiden super punch!" She cheers herself on as she all of a sudden breaks out of No Time, while Disruptor gets treated to the sort of punch that's about the same as a head on collison with a Semi Truck.
As Axiom came flying at Longshot, he stopped running and in a fraction of a second he was ready to go. The scar next to Longshot's eye begins to grow bright white, encompassing his entire eye socket and he leapt through the air towards Axiom but just above him as he passed over him he began to flip in mid air and wrapped on of his arms around Axiom's body yanking him along with him, "Gotcha!"
His free hand had already grabbed three of his throwing blades which he threw with perfect precision towards the man called Singularity.
Topping it all off Longshot landed perfectly on his feet and helped to steady Axiom on his. His face wore a winning smile as he said, "Man, is this fun or what!"
The ninja laughs, leaping off the sign and flipping down to the ground as the arrow punctures the sign and rains some sparks down as the lights inside are broken. "You okay there, babe?" the young man asks, taking something off his belt. "Nice costume there. What do ya say we ditch this and hit a bar?" the caped young man, Talon, asks as he flips open a shock baton and looks Hawkeye over. 
The pale, super strong young man (Match!) is waiting for Lor-Zod. The punch hits and sends him flying back a few feet in the air but he stops himself. Floating towards Lor-Zod again, Match's eyes light up with a bright blue glow before firing a blast of pure telekinetic force at the tiny Kryptonian. 
That had to hurt. On the bright side for Channel, she'll find that once she's no longer in the path of those pulses, her powers start leveling off back to normal. She might notice some strange electromagnetic energy hovering several feet above her like a bubble but it seems to be fading in and out even with her powers back to normal. 
Disruptor hops off the destroyed newspaper machine she was standing on and starts hopping her way after Jocelyn. She's caught off guard by the punch though, send flying and letting out a yell. Kiden might notice something pushing back against her hand during the punch, a faint pink shimmer. Seems like Disruptor has a little defensive shield. Either way she goes flying and crashes through several tables that were set up for some art experiment or what not. "Oh you bitch!" Disruptor yells as she starts getting up. Of course Kiden will have something else to worry about as Aftershock is flinging an electrically charged punch for her jaw. 
Axiom yelps as he's grabbed, grabbing onto Longshot on reflex. The world is still spinning for him. When set down, he stumbles. "What...where...Longshot?" 
Singularity rolls his eyes but it's Mortar that stops the blades. She expands an arm into a wall that catches the blades and pulls them in deeper. "Hmm, he's hot," Mortar remarks. Singularity shoots her a look and then sends a wrecked car flying at Longshot. "But not as hot as you," Mortar adds quickly to her villainous boyfriend.
And as Talon does that, Kate teaches for something she rarely uses. Namely the two batons she usually has strapped to her leg. Both of which she throws at the 'ninja' before she tries to scramble back up onto her feet!
Yeah it's not much, but hopefully it buys her a moment or two to get up, and possibly clear before he can use his own baton.
Of course she also tries to see which of her allies is the closest as all of this is happening, just in case...
Inside the van is, well, a very beaten up and bloodied Channel. She doesn't get up at first, her absorbed energy all gone, as with her powers off when she struck that van, she didn't have her enhanced toughness. Just her normal toughness. It takes a few seconds, but she does blink herself back to awareness. The teenager attempts to move and lets out a curse as just about part of her body either screams in protest or just doesn't function.
Okay, Channel. Remember what you saw. Do that. You needed it now.
The woman feels her body start to knit itself back together, the woman drawing on her own life energy to accelerate the healing process. She wasn't in the process of being attacked, and her boosted abilities were down. So, she's going to some time doctoring herself up.
So much for a good first impression.
Lor-Zod gets flung back by the blast of telekinesis, though this time he manages to catch himself like his opponent did. He's starting to look rather nervous, now, though. Still, he keeps fighting, though his next words are rather childish, "Well, I've learned how to use my eyes too." He says this as he lashes out at his opponent with heat vision.
While Kiden never really dared to try such a destructive punch on anyone, she also never got to face anyone with a force shield of any sort. So while she does successfully knock Disruptor out of the park. Kiden grins as she sees Disruptor gets knocked, but just as time was kicking back in stream, she saw something more amazing. That pink shimmer, it seems to cover all of Disruptor, but not her face. Interesting, that could be something to impress the Young Allies with. "Hey! Hit the bitch with the pink thingie in the face!" Kiden calls out, but with her attention set entirely on her discovery and finding what she takes for a weakness in Disruptor, she's entirely unprepared for Aftershock's attack. His electrical punch catches her off guard and while she manages to move in time as to not get her jaw broken, Kiden still flies from the hit to crash quite unceremoniously on the ground. She was about to give Aftershock a few choice swear words, but all she can do instead is scream in pain. She's certainly green when it comes to fighting in the superhero business. Well, hopefully the fact she helped Channel and found a potential weakness in Disruptor might even out her spectacular fail at being ready for an oncoming attack.
"Hey Axiom, haven't seen you in a while," Longshot said with a head tilt, "I'd chat some more but... you know car!"
He grabbed Axiom around the waist and yanked him along as he jumped to the right and out of the way of the car, "This is exciting. I've not been a fight like this since... never."
He considered for a moment and did a quick survey of the scene. Looks like his blades weren't going to work against those two, and they have friends. Hey it looks like Longshot has friends too! When did that happen? He looked at Axiom and said, "Now be careful I can't always keep saving you."
He rushed forwards towards Singularity and Mortar and said, "Hi, I'm Longshot. Nice to meetcha!" As he rushed at them he prepared another set of blades in each hand awaiting their inevitable attack and ready to dodge whatever they threw at him, his still glowing with bright white light.
Talon smacks the first baton away with his own but the second catches him in the midsection and makes him stumble back while doubling over. "I'll take that as a no," he growls, rubbing the point of impact while starting after Hawkeye. "Means it's okay to kill ya," he adds with a sinister smile. 
Heat Vision is one power Match is not expecting at all. He gives a yell as the heat beams cut through his costume and leave some red welts on his chest. He recovers quickly enough though, using his hands to shield against the vision. Brow furrowed in anger, Match starts floating towards Lor-Zod while pushing back against the crimson beams. "You're Kryptonian then?" he demands through clenched teeth. 
Aftershock laughs when her punch hits, electricity arcing off her and burning the ground. Thankfully enough for Kiden, the shock doesn't last too long. "And what're you supposed to be?" Aftershock asks, cracking her knuckles. 
Closest to Hawkeye would be Axiom and Longshot. Well, mostly just Axiom since Longshot is running at the villains as the car crunches into another. Mortar pushes off Singularity and smiles at Longshot as he runs. Singularity leans on thin air and watches Mortar swinging an arm in Longshot's direction. The limb stretches and morphs into a spiked mace swinging Longshot's way. 
Axiom meanwhile shakes his head. "Uh, thanks b-but you didn't...nevermind," he mutters as Longshot goes. Noticing Hawkeye and Talon, he frowns and heads over. "Hey, you're not killing anyone, jerk!" he calls to Talon, glancing to Hawkeye to make sure she's okay.
Oh, Hawkeye is okay Axiom. Don't worry. All though as the power mimic speaks up, she does get an idea... It just might take a little to set up.
"Boost that guy jumping around!" is said as she notices Lonhshot doing what he does, while reaching into her quiver. That is before the archer in purple pulls out something else she rarely uses. Something that in actuality she rarely even packs. It's something that looks almost like a slim, light weight short sword, or even a machette. Almost. And yet as Talon comes towards her with that smile, Kate actually lunges at him with that sword, and with a lop sided grin.
"You can try!" is said. All though as she lungese, the blade itself starts to... Crackle like its electrified?!?
Channel forces herself to sit up. Hey. That worked! Functionality was a very good thing. Okay, so she wasn't a hundred percent yet, but she didn't have time for that. The woman peers through the bottom of the car, her energy vision letting her pinpoint Disruptor. That one had to be dealt with, or she was going to be completely useless this entire time. Locking in on her, Jocelyn turns around, boosts her physical abilities once more, and rips off part of the van's ceiling to allow herself to escape. Her jacket was cut up in several places from her meeting with the van, and her jeans have a once-fashionable shredded look to the legs now. Channel flies out and around, using buildings, vehicles, and whatever else to mask her location.
Once she gets to an appropriate spot, Jocelyn flies towards Disruptor, intending on striking her from behind. As for that forcefield? Just as Jocelyn is about to strike, she opens up her energy absorption powers to try and cut through that shield much like she did to Fatality's. She's simply going for a knockout blow instead of a killing blow here, because she wanted that woman down fast, and so a sneak attack seemed like the best plan of attack to the woman.
Lor-Zod nods slightly, while keeping his heat-gaze on the approaching Match. "Yes. I'm Lor-Zod. But it's not, really, nice to meet you." He waits until Match is a little closer, and stops his heat vision, swinging with as strong of an uppercut as he can manage, timing it for the assumption that Match is putting enough power into his flight it'll take him a moment to stop. Of course, if Match is quick enough to compensate, he'll look pretty silly punching at thin air.
Wincing and jerking from the crackling electrical shock, Kiden starts to shift while looking quite out of it on the ground, as if one stomp from Aftershock could probably end her. However, despite how roughed up she looks, Kiden grins exaggeratedly at AFtershock, "that was refreshing," she coughs out the words, unable to mask the fact she is feeling quite a bit of pain at the moment. "So, you want me to introduce myself Sparkie? Sure, I'm the gal that's going to teach you how to fly," Kiden offers rather arrogantly, before whispering a quite "stop." As she goes to No Time again, Kiden has enough time to get up, walk around, shake her limbs, feels the rejuvinating affect that No Time has on her, while everyone else are more or less frozen in place. Turning to look at Aftershock, Kiden grins, "right, your flying lesson," she moves to position herself behind Aftershock, takes a look around, and figures Lor-Zod might know what to do with an fastball. Taking a bit of a space to run, she rushes at Aftershock from behind and kicks her as hard as she can, hoping to send the girl flying in the direction of Lor-Zod, so he can tear her apart, "incoming!" Kiden announces just as time shifts to normal stream for her.
"Thanks! That's exactly what I wanted you to do!" And with what seems like no effort at all Longshot leaps over the attacking mace-arm and then quickly throws three blades at Singularity hoping to catch him without his girlfriend defending him.
The other three blades he held on to for right now, landing right in-front of Mortar. He smiles broadly and then back flips away from her. Landing in a defensive posture he held up the hand holding the three blades and says. "So I just have to ask, am I on TV right now? I've always wanted to be on TV."
"Got it!" Axiom calls to Hawkeye. He glances Longshot's way and his eyes light up bright blue as he applies his boosting abilities to Longshot. He doesn't linger there though, staying close to help Hawkeye out. Of course he's not standing still, diving out of the way as Disruptor fires off an energy blast at him. 
Talon just grins as Hawkeye takes out her sword. "Ooh, a woman with good taste in weapons," he laughs, using the electrified baton to block the lunge and pushes back to keep Hawkeye locked in the little weapon struggle. 
Disruptor pouts and stomps her foot as Axiom avoids her blast. "Hold still!" she demands, firing another blast. She's a bit too busy trying to hit Axiom to notice Channel. The mutant gets a nice bit of kinetic energy the shield before Disruptor goes down. She groans, mostly dazed but not getting up any time soon. Channel will be able to see a pair of glowing pink cables attached to a power pack on the back of that pink costume leading to the gauntlets the blonde wears. They might be important. 
Match keeps pushing back as he flies for Lor-Zod. "You are affiliated with the alien invaders," he states it more than asks. Match isn't expecting Lor to have any decent fighting skills. The blow strikes with sickening crack and sends Match flying up into the air. He'll be back soon enough but Lor bought some time. He might want to worry about Aftershock though...
Because Aftershock isn't nearly fast enough to avoid Kiden's attack. She goes flying but hopefully Kiden wasn't too attached to her footwear since it's probably burnt and/or melted as the impact of the kick earns the time-stopper another shock. 
Mortar's arm shatters a wall, sending bricks and glass falling to the street. Singularity just looks bored, Longshot's blades stopping in mid air. He rolls his eyes again and sends them flying at the blond only for them to just drop out of the air and clatter to the ground. "You're on the internet, moron," Sigularity replies as Mortar becomes less female shaped and more liquid, flowing at and around Longshot like some kind of strange cement snake.
Hopefully this works... 
Hopefully this works...
Well, since Eddie got that part of Kates idea, and Talon, whether he knows it or not is helping with another part, there is a chance. Not that the archer in purple is known for being a tactician. But sometimes...
Well, sometimes things still work out. Disruptor falling is an example of that. Then again that does deal with a certain amount of hard work and team work too.
Which actually is what Hawkeye is counting on, because as Talons Baton touches her sword, the amount of power ramping through it suddenly ramps up. A lot. It's almost like all the power of a stun gun. That is before the archer tries to push against her opponents weapon with her own, before just as suddenly stepping backwards to try and get them separated.
Hopefully the next bit works out as well. Especially after that 'Zap'.
Ohh! FREE GEAR! YOINK! Channel rips the power pack off the back of Disruptor and slips those gauntlets on herself. "Pink is so not my color," the mutant mutters with a shake of her head. Okay. Time to see who was still up. Lor had Match pretty well tied up. Talon didn't seem to be using any powers. Aftershock was currently an afterthought since Kiden had dealt with her perfectly well. But Longshot seemed to have a pair of baddies on him. She should go help him.
Plus he was hot. Always a plus.
The woman darts towards where Singularity and Mortar are fighting with Longshot. A blast of magnetic energy is launched at Singularity even as the woman rushes him, attempting to go for another knockout punch. "Two on one? We'll even these odds up a little bit," Channel remarks.
Lor-Zod watches as Match is knocked up and away, but then spins around at the call of 'incoming'. Seeing Aftershock flying at him, he fires a quick blast of heatvision again and positions himself so he can knock her back to the ground.
"Fuck!!!" Kiden screams in pain as she didn't quite expect the shoe she used to kick Aftershock to get burnt on impact, clearly having underestimated the effects that might occur as time aligns in place. Kiden starts jumping on one leg frantically, swinging her barefoot to try and ease the burning pain. "Why is nothing simple with these guys!?" She curses while still hopping on one leg back and forth, for the moment unable to focus on any other enemies, because her freakin' foot feels like it's on fire after her shoe got burnt away.
Okay, Longshot was starting to realize he was a bit out of his leauge now. So the guy didn't need his girlfriend to not get hit with blades, and she was made of rock so that's out too. Time to change strategies. Felicia said he always dove in without thinking, and that she liked that about him too, but yeah. This was not the time for that. Time to think, not something Longshot is best know for.
Then something interesting happened as Axiom's powers boosted his own abilities he gave a surprised look for a moment before grinning and rushing forward, his eye glowing even brighter than before, "I watch the Internet on my TVs so it's all the same thing to me!"
He leapt up onto Mortar's shoulder's and wrapped his legs around her neck, intending to swinging down and taking her with him, to throw her into Singularity. It was a move Longshot saw while watching Impact Wrestling, it was called a Hurricanrana.
Talon grins at Kate, maybe looking a little crazy behind that mask of his as he pushes against her in hopes of zapping her with the electrified weapons. The sudden surge in electricity is a little much for his baton though. As Hawkeye steps back, Talon does as well. His weapon sputters and sparks before Talon tosses it away. It explodes after hitting the pavement. Shaking a singed glove, Talon tosses a trio of those razor sharp shuriken at the archer. Axiom charges him a moment later and throws a few punches only to end up sidestepped and kicked in the back. He falls flat on his face a few feet behind Talon. "Ow."
Free gear that might not be all that useful. The gauntlets are a tight fit for Jocelyn since it seems like Disruptor does not know what food is. Finding firing controls seems to be a lost cause too...but hey. Power pack has a nice bit of energy she can drain. She might want energy sunglasses though. While Mortar is able to be detected by faint radiation somewhere in her cementy form, both Singularity and Aftershock are BRIGHT sources of gravimetric and electrical energy respectively. Her magnetic blast hits Singularity head on, surprising him enough to make him slide back a few feet. He looks up at Channel and smiles before cars and debris alike float into the air and fly at her. Thouhg perhaps of more concern are the two unfortunate bystanders that had been hiding behind one of the cars...they're being thrown at Channel like projectiles too. Catch! 
Aftershock is too busy being an out of control flailing ball of electricity to avoid Lor's attack. She yells again as she strikes pavement, ending up in a little crater. "Oh you little brat," the burnt and angry electric metal snarls, firing off a large bolt of electricity at Lor-Zod from where she landed. 
Mortar makes a surprised noise as she gets Longshot's legs around her neck. If she could, she'd be blushing. The Hurricanrana doesn't have quite the intended effect but it still has one. Mortar's body ends up stretching and deforming so while the top half of her goes flying and bounces off Singularity's forcefield...her lower half is still connected by an incredibly stretched torso. It ripples before taking on a liquid-like state and starting to flow over Longshot's legs. Of course he might notice a cementy hand trying to cop a feel of his rear instead of attacking at first. Still no sign of Match yet.
And /THAT/ is what Kate has been waiting for. Or at least one of the things. Not the shurikens mind you, but what Eddie does. Because as those flying blades come flying at Kate...
One or two actually hit her exposed side. Worse they hit where she had a both of road rash due to her slide earlier. Thus. /Ow/.
All right, so one ends up slashing her open as it grazes her, but the other ends up slightly embedded. But as the pain is driven home, Hawkeye reaches for her bow, and a trick arrow as soon as she can let go of her sword. A trick arrow she tries to fire at Talon. Or more specifically his chest. This time the arrow is an.... Oil slick arrow?!?
"Please tell me you're copying as well Axiom!"
Channel has been to Asgard. Sure, Singularity and Aftershock are bright energy sources, but compared to that, or even compared to Carol or Nate? Psh. Channel has seen worse.
However, her attempt at punching Singularity is aborted when those people go flying. The woman quickly moves to catch both of them and in mid-air, flying quickly to the sidewalk and setting them down. "Go," the woman commands before turning back at Singularity and Mortar.
Slipping her hands out of those useless gauntlets and crushing them, Channel flings them at Singularity, attempting to knock him out with the metal projectiles. As for the forcefield that Singularity had up? Channel attempts to pull it down as the the gloves reach him, hoping for a clear shot at him.
Lor-Zod has, at least for the moment, learned not to rely on his toughness, flying to the side to dodge the electrical attack from Aftershock. Staying high in the air, to make dodging easier, he responds with another blast of heat-vision.
While Kiden would truly like to impress and get right back to the battle, her foot still burns a great deal and when she tries to walk and puts some pressure on it, she soon falls ungracefully to the ground and curses loudly as she rolls on the ground for a moment and reaches to soothe her leg by bringing it close to her mouth and blowing on it. Sure, it's not going to be the most heroic moment in history, actually, it's best be forgotten, but she's too much in pain right now to consider anyone might be seeing this.
Longshot knew when he was out of his league and he most definitely was at this point. Steel blades don't matter when the people you fight are made of liquid concrete or can stop his blades in mid-air. Still he was feeling stronger and faster than he ever had in his entire life; he needed help. And did that Mortar girl just grab his butt!? I mean Felicia always did call it 'Dat Ass' but weren't they in the middle of a fight.... no come to think off it his butt had stopped a few of their arguments as well, perhaps this was a new power he didn't know he had.
He attempted to jump out of the concrete goo that was Mortar and to get himself back in a more defendable position. At the moment he saw what Channel was doing out of the corner of his eye. Well, perhaps she knew something he didn't about this guy, or atleast maybe she needed a distraction, "Hey, you, guy with the stupid face! Catch!"
He threw his other prepared blades towards Singularity letting his own connection to the Luck Force guide his throw so they would go where they would do the most good.
"What?" Axiom asks. Even as he's asking that, he starts mimicking Longshot as well. The power booster's costume shifts into a fusion of his own and Longshot's and he gets the same eyeglow. "I am," he calls, hopping back to his feet. Talon meanwhile gets struck by the arrow and blinks. He was expecting worse, his costume absorbing most of the impact but still ending up all oily. "The hell's this supposed to be?" he asks, glaring at Kate. 
Singularity laughs as Channel flings those projectiles at him and they slow in mid air. This guy's only getting brighter as he uses more energy and starts flying at Jocelyn. "Don't you losers get it? You should be fighting with us, not against us. We're better than all these pathetic people around here. Look at them running around scared. They deserve to get crushed," he gloats, arms held out wide. That's when the Luck Force, currently enhanced by a bit of fanboy faith piwer, comes through. One of those blades gets stopped by two find the tiny openings in Singularity's shield provided by Channel. One slashes a mark across Singularity's cheek but the other imbeds itself in his shoulder and he gives a pained yell. "You bastard!" Singularity snarls, firing a blast of pure gravimetric energy at Longshot...and apparently forgetting about Channel. 
Aftershock sees the heat vision coming this time and fires off another blast of electricity. It meets the heat vision in mid air, pushing back against it and creating an usual struggle of energies. Hopefully one of them does something...and doesn't spend three hours talking about it or yelling to power up. 
Thinks are just not going well for poor Kiden. Not only is her foot burnt but she'll notice a shadow suddenly falling over her. Match is back and he's floating towards her with some kinda scary glowing eyes. Coming in for a landing, he glares her way. "You should have run."
"Oh snap," Kiden mutters as she sees that shadow looming over her with Match now coming right at her. She would have loved to do something, but her foot is in too much pain and she's not sure how good she'll be if she puts more pressure on it standing up. "You know what, dweeb, you're a slowpoke," Kiden spits at Match's direction and before he knows it, he's descending towards the ground, because Kiden is just not there.
"Good!" is said as Eddies costume morphs.
Or at least that's before she shouts one of those phrases that people never expect a hero to shout. Heck, something they never should. Period.
"ALLIES! CUT LOOSE!"
Wait a second. Did Kate just tell people... Not to hold back?!?
Yes. Yes she did.
"And that's oil. A rather highly slippery and /flammable/ oil."
Is it a bluff? Maybe. But as her gaze flickers to Longshot for a moment, and it kind of holds there, she shakes her head. In fact it feels a lot like she has to rip her gaze away from him against her will. That is before pulling out another trick arrow that she tries to fire at Talons feet while she jumps to the side.
What is this one? An epoxy arrow.
With all the fireworks being tossed around, it might not take much to set that off. And well... Flame on!"
What, you thought Channel had been holding back? Okay, she hadn't been using lethal force, but still. She didn't know Hawkeye's style well enough to know what Hawkeye was trying, but she knew that it had to be some sort of bluff. Well, okay then. Channel could play along. Seeing that Singularity has forgotten about her, Channel just shakes her head. Never forget about your opponents. She focused a magnetic burst of energy directly under Singularity, attempting to blast the guy back and to the ground, even as she continued to try and drain his shield away. Why below him?
Because people with shields almost inevitably forgot to shield the bottom of their feet. It was the classic flaw in most people's shields.
Uh-oh. Lor-Zod has only had control of his heat-vision for all of two days. He's not really to the point of winning a power struggle. So, after a few moments of the struggle, he stops and, at a slight curve to dodge the electricity blast, he blurs down to try to smash into the ground right next to Aftershock, trying to shake her up if he doesn't accidentally send them both into the subway or sewer system.
"Woah!" Longshot let out and he was thrown backwards by Singularity's attack. No amount of flipping around was going to avoid that. He smashes hard against the windshield of car. Fortunately for him (or rather lucky actually) nothing was broken, and the leather of his entire outfit meant that he was all that cut up either.
He slowly began to pull himself out of the big hole he made of the windshield. As he gotten out, the small cuts he had started to close thanks to the boost to his powers. He heard Hawkeye's shout and smiled, getting to his feet he said a line from another cartoon about superheroes he had watch, "Guess it's time to Hero Up!"
"You think I'm going to fall for that? You're one of those goody-two-shoes heroes. Burning people alive isn't your sty-AH!" Talon ends up stumbling and then sliding to his knees as he gets a dropkick in the back from Axiom. The arrow hits, leaving the redhead stuck to the pavement on his hands and knees. This combines with Hawkeye's cry bring something new to the battle. Cheering. Lots of it. Yells, cheers, clapping...people did run, yes. But many hid instead. And natural curiousity led to people watching the battle. Of course there's also people in the buildings, those brave enough to stay near windows...and newly created gaping holes...also watching. And now they're showing their support and gratitude for the Young Allies and others. When it registers with Axiom what's happening, he just grins. "This should help," he says, stopping the use of his powers on Longshot. His costume shifts back to it's normal form and something new happens. Axiom gets surrounded by a bright white glow. Hawkeye did say cut loose and this is as loose as Axiom can cut. 
Aftershock grins when it looks like she's about to win the struggle. She's not expecting Lor-Zod's next course of action. As her blast destroys several ads and parts of a building, she gets sent stumbling back in Longshot's direction by Lor-Zod turning the pavement into a cracked mess. 
Sigularity is about to pick up another car with his powers to fling at Longshot when Channel's blast hits him. He didn't so much forget to put his shield below as...well...he was too arrogant to think anyone would attack there. He yells as he's sent flying. Before he can hit pavement, Mortar stretches and catches him. She glares Channel's way as she cradles her boyfriend. 
Match's eyes narrow as Kiden leaves. The cheers get him looking up with an expression of disgust. Pale eyes scan the battlefield and eventually settle on Axiom. He's glowing bright enough so he looks swattable. The yellow-clad partial Kryptonian blurs into action and throws a punch at the power booster. Now...people would expect such a blow to pulp the kid. Match certainly does. But he's not counting on Axiom's new power...the one that lets him catch Match's fist. Feet dig into the street and Axiom smiles. "Lor-Zod! Bad g-guy coming your way!" he calls before throwing a punch. Any other time he'd just break his hand but with the self-boost active, Match is sent flying at Lor-Zod with a pretty shocked expression on his face along with a shiny new bruise.
And as Eddie cuts loose that way, Hawkeye lets out a faint "Woah."
And yet she doesn't hold up. Not as she reaches for another arrow. This time a plain ordinary one. And while the remaining targets might not be as 'easy' to take down (at least for Kate) as Talon, the arrow is aimed at Mortar. Or to be more exact Mortars shoulder.
But as long as she doesn't move to do anything to anyone besides Singularity, she just... Doesn't fire for some reason.
All though if Mortar so much as blinks wrong that arrow is let loose.
Why does Channel always end up fighting the ones with forcefields and the nasty energy fields and such things? Oh, yeah. Energy absorption powers. And energy sight, which lets Channel see the crazy faith power that Eddie is glowing with. "Whoa," is briefly echoed by the woman before she darts to get in front of Longshot. She reaches into her coat, her hand gripping something she's got stored inside.
"Care to give up now? It'll be easier on you if you do," the woman states. She wasn't going to attack; she was giving them the option to surrender. However she was ready to defend if necessary.
Lor-Zod stands back up, and perhaps was going to blast Aftershock again while she was distracted, but then he hears Axiom's call and turns quickly. Grinning, he says, "Got him." This time, he tries to catch Match with a spinning kick right to the jaw.
Longshot jumped off the hood of the car he was knocked into and smiled. He reached to the bandoliers built into the sides of his jacket and ready an new set of throwing blades. He ran forward to get back into the fray, making sure not to block Hawkeye's line of sight on Mortar. After hearing what Channel said he added, "Because seriously guys, your just going to lose. We're the heroes of this show,"
Longshot gestured behind himself and the Time Square Screen that was still showing the battle unfold, "Rules of televised combat. In the end, the heroes always wins. Makes for good ratings"
Mortar scowls at Channel, fingers becomming sharp and pointed. She starts to lunge for Channel only to be struck by the arrow. Sure, it just punches clear through her gooey body but it still shocks and startles her enough to stop her attack. She looks a lot like she might want to kill Hawkeye. "Going to kill them all," Singularity growls as he starts to get back up. 
Match can't stop. And he certainly can't defend against Lor-Zod's kick. The blow is audible around the area and Match goes flying. He crashes right into Aftershock as he ends up flying right into the building below the big Times Square Screen. He ends up stuck and unconscious in the indention he makes in the wall. 
Singularity and Mortar share a look and then freeze suddenly. Talon's struggling in the sticky trap freezes too. Channel will see it first...someone made telepathic contact with the enemies. The voice then hits the assembled heroes. It sounds young but angry. "This isn't over!" echos in all their minds, the voice not belonging to anyone there. There's a sudden bright flash of light from above and when it clears, Match, Aftershock, Singularity, and Mortar are gone. Just the freshly unconscious Talon and the already out cold Disruptor remain. There's silence for a few moments before the cheering erupts again. 
Axiom blinks a few times, the glow fading from him. He slumps slightly, trying to catch his breath as he looks around. "We w-won?"
And as the attackers freeze...
Hawkeye is already reaching for another arrow.
As that Telepath says what they do, she /almost/ freezes up herself.
And then, as the villains vanish. the female archer almost slumps, before she tries to sling her bow back over her shoulder, letting out a loud wince as she does, even as that cheering continues.
"Yeah. We did Axiom." is said towards the teams power mimic, before she glances at the others here. All though as her gaze locks on Longshot again, she mutters something under her breath about a 'cold shower'.
Channel would normally pause to say something back, or make some comment to the hot guy next to her. But she frowns a little bit as that voice breaks through her telepathic shields. "Looks like it," Channel responds before she's darting over to Hawkeye.
"If I can take a quick look at that?" Channel offers, putting a hand on Hawkeye's shoulder. If the woman doesn't object, she'll feel her life energy, for lack of a better term, speed up and her wounds quickly knit together at a supernatural rate, as well as keep them from getting infected.
Lor-Zod blinks a moment at the words before the enemies all vanish. He looks around at all the cheering that follows, and smiles. He doesn't really take any time to bask in the glory, though, happy enough that nobody's threatening to arrest him this time. Instead he walks over towards Axiom and says, "Nice throw!"
Putting his blades back into his bandoliers, Longshot says, "Well that was exhilarating! No crashing a jet pack because I was being selfish kind of exhilarating, but exhilarating all the same. Honestly it probably could have used a tragic death scene... that always increases the ratings, especially when it's spoiled online." 
He looked at his comrade-in-arms, "Hi! I know Axiom, I saved him from some gang members once, but I don't know all of you! I'm Longshot, ally of the Scarlet Spider, boyfriend of the Black Cat!"
"AWESOME!" Axiom exclaims tiredly, pumping a fist in the air. Finally noticing Hawkeye's wounds, his expression goes from triumph to concern. Eyes flare up bright blue as he boosts Hawkeye to help her heal. With Channel joining in, it should go even faster. He jumps slightly when Lor-Zod comes over, smiling. "Thanks. I p-p-punched him actualy. That new power is intense," he says. It's draining too judging by how much he looks like he needs a nap. Longshot's speech gets Axiom staring and eventually sighing. "Hi, Longshot..." he offers. 
Above the cheers and noise of cameras, the sound of approaching sirens can be heard. The news crews are coming out of the nearby studioes too, eager to get an exclusive with the heroes.
There's actually a faint smile and a nod at Channel as she offers to take a look at what happened to Kate. But between what she does, and what Axiom does, the wounds are closed off. If not better off than that. Which is a bit of a relief to the female archer.
"Thank you." is offered to both of them. All though as Longshot introduces himself, the girl in purple manages to let out, "Hawkeye." before she hrms at him, and Lor for a moment. 
All though as the news crews head towards the group, and those sirens can be heard, she then manages to say, "Unfortunately, that's my cue. If you'll excuse me..."
"My cue as well," Channel responds. "I'll see you all later. Good to meet you, Longshot. A pleasure as always, Lor-Zod," she adds to the guy. And with that the woman takes off into the air, making her off, away from the sirens and the news crews. No interview for her!
Lor-Zod waves to Channel and Hawkeye as they leave, and then says to Axiom, grinning again, "/Really/ nice punch, then." He looks back to Longshot at the introduction, and says, "Hi. I'm Lor-Zod."
Longshot was shocked! Was he... could it be that... "Am I a super hero now? Last time your news reported my face on the air it was for Grand Theft. This is definitely a new experience!"
He had to admit the departure of the two ladies did sadden him a bit, but he understood it. His girlfriend hated been seen by cameras as well. Something about being wanted. But Longshot loved being wanted! He could easily spend the next hour being interviewed. 
He looked at Lor-Zod and said, "I heard someone call you an alien? I'm an alien too! That's exciting!" He started looking towards the ground trying to find the blades he dropped. They were -his- blades, they needed to be retrieved.
"Thanks. That was a great k-k-kick," Axiom offers to Lor-Zod. The cameras and news crews get him letting out a little squeak. "I'm going too," he offers. "Bye! Sorry we c-can't stick around. We've gotta go help some more people!" he calls to the news crews as he heads off with Hawkeye. Of course they'll be quick to crowd around Lor-Zod and Longshot, asking them all sorts of questions ranging from being about the battle...to 'are you dating Hawkeye?'. All of Longshot's blades save for the one that was stuck in Singularity will be findable but he ccould always take one of Talon's shurikens to make up for it. Either way, the news will be happy to interview those that remain until the police arrive to chase them off and start dealing with the crime scene. EMTs arrive as well to help the injured...
Online, the video ended around the same time the bad guys froze to the spot and became a blank screen. Eventually a new message appears in bright red letters: 
"You have only delayed the inevitable. - Your Betters"
---
And sometime later...
Axiom, Jocelyn, and the other Young Allies will get a series of text messages via the YAL app.
Messages that say 'Zod kid, Longshot, that new girl. Recruit? Y/N'
Eventually Axiom sends a reply...
Need to talk to Scarlet Spider about Longshot and Lor-Zod first. He knows more about them both. Other girl seemed alright.
Category:Log