2013-02-05 Giant Robot Squid Time

The waters around New York City being polluted is a common joke. Really, looking at the water you can see all kinds of muck and garbage floating around. Boots, discarded food wrappers, empty bottles, plastic bags...all sorts of stuff you'd expect to see. And giant robot squids.
Well, maybe not much. Don't tell the giant robot squid though. Forty feet tall and pulling itself from the water, the cybernetic tentacled beast is lasting out at buildings, cars, and people. Thankfully this beast isn't going unopposed. As a metal tentacle swings down to crush a screaming woman, the air goes frigid and the mutant known as Iceman swoops down on one of his slides to whisk the woman out of harm's way. Setting her down a few feet away, he winks and gives her a finger gun-gesture. "Get somewhere safe, babe," he offers, taking back to another slide to fight the squid. This sort of thing tends to draw in attention so hopefully he won't be alone in this battle.
Tommy is in Queens because of... stuff. The less is said about it, the better. Things his team mates in the Young Allies wouldn't probably approve. But look, giant robot squid! The city is lucky he is around. And since super-speed is clearly the coolest power, he has time to change in his new white & green spandex outfit, with aviator goggles since he really hated that tear gas the other day.
First things first, he grabs people and gets them out of reach of the squid tentacles. Despite his arrogant and cocky attitude, Tommy hates seeing people hurt.
As of late, a certain girl has been spending a lot of time at Xaviers. And despite her having said over and over that she's going to leave... Or at least she did say it when she first arrived, she hasn't.
Or at least she didn't leave until sometime earlier today. But when she did, she left a small note in her room that had three simple words written on it. Those words being 'I'll be back.'
Now /why/ Laura left might not be clear. Odds are she has a reason. but what is clear is the she ended up in Queens right in time for that squid to appear not too far from her. In fact as it tries to create chaos, she frowns...
And watches it. Apparently with a bit of an impassive and emotionless gaze. At least for a few moments, before...
*SKNIT!*she up and charges directly at it?!?
Some folks spend their time in New York commuting to and from work. Some folks are doing jobs that -require- them to move about the city. Heather is the former, not the latter. She was over in Queens for a photo shoot and had just showered, changed into real clothes instead of that Victoria's Secret stuff (which is of course... the brand she's wearing under her clothes, duh.) So it is that she's heading towards the bridge over to the island from Queens in her little Toyota Priuss.
As she drives along the road towards the bridge though, movmeent out of the corner of her eye catches her attention, and she dismisses it at first until her brain basically slaps her in the face and says 'hey stupid! What was that?!'... That's when she does her doubletake.
"What... the.... " she remarks as she turns out of traffic and skids to a stop. She jumps out of her car and waves traffic to move on before she stares at this giant ... thing. She looks over at one of the street lamps made to look like a gas lamp sort of thing, and then back at the giant beast. "Where is Captain Nemo when I need'im?" she mutters as she steps over and rips the lamp out of the sidewalk. Then she rolls her neck, takes aim, and launches the thing like a spear at the squid. "Here goes nothing..." she mutters as she throws it. Yep, the blonde is a lot stronger than she looks!
There's plenty of people for Tommy to save from squid-based chaos. Mostly people gawking and running away from the tentacles. There is one guy that was fishing...but now he's flying through the air because the squid threw him. Go long, Speed!
Charging directly at the squid may not be the best of plans but it's better than nothing. And for her trouble, Laura gets a tentacle swinging down her way.
The lamp post sails through the air like an improvised javeline. THe metal crumples against the squid's armor, tearing a small hole in it. The squid's reply is to open a few panels on the side...and launch about a half dozen football sized missiles her way. Of course they won't be any fiery explosions when they hit...nope. These explode into a lot of slippery black ink. Ew.
Iceman's busy freezing one tentacle to the ground when he notices Laura down below and does a double-take. "Pretty sure she isn't supposed to be out here," he says to himself. The flying lamp and missiles catch his attention and distract him long enough for one of the squid's eyes to focus on him...and blast him with a laser. Yes, it has lasers. Iceman tumbles off his slide and lands on an improvised snowbank on the steet.
Fortunately Tommy is so he can be there before each tentacle, moving away people with surprising ease. Like Heather, he is stronger than he looks. That means Laura too, although when he comes closer to the girl he does a double-take. "You are running the wrong direct... woah, claws? Okay. Nicetomeetyou!" He zooms away. Deciding Laura must be some superheroine too. Once the civilians are cleared he pauses a second. Lasers too? Damn. Then runs to the closest tentacle and pushes, transmitting into it the largest hyperkinetic charge he can, and hopes the metal is not so hard he can't damage it with his matter disruption abilities.
Really? Mechanical squid time? Wait.. incoming! Heather turns and makes sure there's no civilians around. She has no idea what sort of missiles these are. As far as she knows, they are going to blow up lots of stuff. She it is that she lifts a park bench and does her best to baseball at least one or two of the middles. When they explode on impact into ... ink... and cover the bench and her, she narrows her eyes. Ink in her hair, ruining her nice clothes. "Okay, that tears it..." she mutters as she starts moving forward with purpose... that bench in hand as she goes. "There'd better be people inside that big mechanical claptrap. Because I'm coming in there and I'm going to give you all a -really- bad day!" she yells as she starts picking up speed. Starting at a walk, then a jog, and she ends up sprinting towards the thing....
A tentacle? Really? Sure it's a big and thick one but...
As it comes flying at her, Laura jumps and rolls to the side, the tentacle just /barely/ missing her. It's that close a call. And as she rushes to get back up to her feet, she changes direction and tries to slide and dice that tentacle with her claws.
All though as she maybe catches a glance of other people with powers around here, she doesn't react to them. All though she probably would if she had any clue as to who Iceman is and what he's a member of.
The hyperkinetic push from Speed has an effect. The other side of the tentacle explodes outwards and leaves that metallic appendage hanging. There's a roar from the robot before a laser blast is launched Speed's way. They're more force and light than heat.
Yes, really. A tentacle. It shatters the pavement where Laura had been. The sudden claw attack cuts through the tendrils like a knife through a biological squid's tedril. Sparks fly as the squid pulls back what's left of the limb. This time, Laura is the target for a salvo of ink missiles.
Giant squid time indeed. If there are people inside it, they give no indication of being fazed one way or another by Heather's inky approach. The squid just flings a car at Heather...which gets blasted out of the air by an icy beam as Iceman rises from the snow. He flashes a quick smile towards Heather as he 'skates' alongside her on a sheet of ice. "Hey, tall, dark, and stunning. You gonna be okay in that goop?"
"Hah! Take that!" Yes, yes... Lasers. The problem with lasers is that they need at least a few milliseconds to do damage, and Speed does not let the squid any time to cut him. He gets out of the way of the laser so fast he is almost invisible and runs around the squid, even running over water as if it was a solid surface. Looking for a cabin or something, otherwise he is just going to run up to the head and just see if he can make a hole with his powers.
And as the tendril (or at least the part still connected to the main 'bot) starts to pull away, X-23 does something odd. She tries to jump at it, so she can dig her claws in it, and then tries to 'climb' the tendril, even as it moves, back towards the main body of the robot.
Of course between her own speed and the tendrils speed (if it doesn't trash around and send her flying) she yet again gets lucky, as the missiles miss her. Or mostly miss her. One of her legs does get glooped a bit by the 'explosions' and a few bits do hit her higher up.
".... fine." mutters Heather. "Aside from needing about a dozen showers in a row. Know anyone with one of those omnidirectional showers? With maybe hundred and fifty degree water?" However, Heather is not stupid, and she notices the fact that Iceman seems to be... well, ice and cold based. It doesn't take a genius to realize this, but she grins... somehow managing to make it look good even covered in ink. "Think you can flash freeze a section of the armor on the main body so I can shatter my way inside?" she asks, still carrying that park bench out to one side with one hand. Hey, she can do 5 tons without -really- pushing herself, so a bench is easy.
Either way, she's pumping her other arm and accelerating within the boundaries of normal human speed. The bench will be used as a shield or bludgeon to try to at least help her get close to the body...
Lasers smash into random warehouse number 342 instead of Speed thanks to his well...speed. There's no cabin or cockpit on this squid to be found though so it's a clear path up to the head. A hole is made into the monster easily enough and there's a lot of important looking electronics inside. There's not alot of time to enjoy the view though. One of the smaller tendrils from the squid is coiling around one of Speed's ankles and then yanking hard to toss him towards the water.
The squid scores a victory...over Laura's pants and footwear. The girl itself, not so much. Her luck holds out until about half way up the tendril when it starts flailing to toss her into the drink as well.
Iceman just grins at Heather. "Babe, I know one person who's got a shower you can make hot and steamy any time," yes, he's flirting during a fight. It's Iceman, he does that. "I can freeze anything. I'm the Iceman!" he declares. "Just watch," he adds, rising onto an ice slide to head out over the main body. Meanwhile, one of those tentacles is whipping Heather's way with intent to slam her into the pavement.
Tommy allows himself a second of rest when he cracks the armor of the squid's head. Also, he is a bit drained. It is also a serious mistake, a tentacle grabs him and before he can build another kinetic charge, he finds himself flying towards the water. Crap.
There's a second *SKNIT* as a second pair of claws emerge., one on each foot, as she continues to climb.
Or at least she tries to before she's sent flying as well!
Only unlike Speed, Laura isn't sent flying into the drink. Instead she crashes into the side of a building.
Well, flirting is something Heather is good at. "Well, I won't feel bad if you give -me- the cold shoulder. Just promise me I get some hot cocoa after my hot shower when this is all over. And a steak... and potatos... and maybe some pie." Yeah, she's talking about food as she goes, and her attention is on Iceman, not on the monster where it belongs.
She doesn't have preturnatural agility -or- speed. What she does have, is an impressive vocabulary. When she sees the flicker of movement up ahead, her blue eyes turn forward and upwards and... to quote a certain Adam Sandler movie, her eyes widen, and she tries to bring that bench up as a shield as she yells, "VOLKSWAGON!" and then she vanishes. The car shatters the bench and lands upon her. For the moment... all is still there... in fact, there's a pool of blood spreading out from the impact.
Thankfully it isn't a hard throw for Speed. Just one of those 'GET OFF ME!'. Hopefully he knows how to swim. At least the bot doesn't seem concerned with him once he's in the water.Bits of robo tendril fall as Laura claws her way up the beast. A laser blast is sent after her to further damage that building...and her if she's unlucky.
Volkswagon indeed. At least the squid didn't call it out like some anime special attack. Iceman's busy flash-freezing a section of squid armor and dodging missiles so he doesn't see HEather get squished at first. Catching sight of Tommy going flying, Iceman forms a quick set of cold stairs from the shore into the water for ease of returning to dry land. And then he catches sight of Heather getting squished. "WOAH!" he yelps...and gets knocked off his slide into the water. SPLASH.
It is water, but it is also pretty tall. Tommy knows how to swim, but falling into water from so high hurts! Of course, he recovers quickly, he has little choice, because he would drown very fast if he didn't.
In fact he is back to land in a few seconds, very wet and very annoyed. And then he looks very worried because it looks like the two girls fighting the squid have been crushed. The blonde at least had super-strength, so maybe she is fine, but the brunette with claws just got thrown through a building. And on top of that a laser is cutting through the building. So Tommy runs there, climbs up the wall and into the building, looking for Laura, to try to get her out if she is still alive.
And yes, Laura is grabbed by Speed. And moved clear before she really has a chance to move herself.
But once she is clear, she manages to let out a slight, "Thanks." as she tries to stand up, her claws retracting. And then though she notices the car crashing on Heather (or at least where Heather was)...
"We need to end this."
The car doesn't move at first. There is quite a bit of a delay before it starts to shift. Then the car rolls off of her and Heather sits up. "Ow..." she mutters, and then she is starting to curse. At least she's not repeating herself... just grousing angrily as she stands back up, blood seeping from many injuries. As she gets up, her leg which was broken... unbreaks. Laura should be familiar with the idea of what she is doing... it'd be a lot easier to heal with unbreakable bones though. But she lifts the Volkswagon and mutters, "I'm marking this one... return to sender." before she hauls off and throws it with all of her might, aiming for the frozen area before she starts moving and spits a glob of blood on the ground.
There's some nice open holes in the squid armor. The one the lamp made, the one Speed made in the head, and now...Volkswagon 2: Revenge of the Bug. The car punches a nice big hole in the robot squid's head. More nice electronic parts are on display now. And the squid is down two tentacles, the damaged ones sparking a few times before going limp now.
Iceman slides himself out of the water looking pretty annoyed as well. One of the eyes tries to blast him only to get iced over...and explode. Three giant holes in the head of the squid.
"You are tougher then you look," replies Tommy, looking relieved to see Laura is not just alive, but still able to stand up. Oh, the blonde too, thank god! "But yes. I broke a chunk of the armor in the body before it grabbed me. Want to come up with me and see if we can do some damage?" He is going anyway, but if Laura agrees, he carries her up there, moving at near supersonic speed to and then up one of the tentacles, even if that means he runs on a vertical surface. And look, there are several holes here from which he can start pulling cables, or find stuff to charge with energy.
"Let's do it."
Yeah Laura does agree. In fact, she not only agrees, but as Tommy rushes off with her, she tries to reach down with her claw so that it's almost dragging on the ground, and then hopefully /into/ the tentacle he's running on. if only to maximize the potential amount of damage per second that can be done to this mechanical monstrosity.
All though at the sight of those holes as they get closer (Or to be more exact, she blinks once and they're probably /right there/), X-23 smiles. After all, if she can get inside, just image the damage she could do.
Kinda Heather's plan too. She's starting to move once more, towards the body of the squid. But along the way, she reaches out whatever she can get her hands on. A garbage can, another bench. These things are launched. She's not Colossus's strength level, but she's planning to keep up a barrage of hurled items. Even if they're rocks thrown with all of her strength. They might do some damage, but they might also keep attention focused on her, "Hey! Inkbreath!" she calls out as she starts throwing things. "Yeah you! Is that the best you've got! I bet you can't kill me no matter how hard you try! You're just too limp! Ever think of the little blue pill?!"
It's a good plan. Between Tommy's supersonic removal of important cables, Laura's trail of destruction, and things being blown up with hyperkinetic explosions, the squid is off balance entirely. Heather's barrage of random things is joined by a torrent of ice and snow from the Iceman, the combined assault even breaking the monster's other eye. It fires off a few more missiles but with targeting down there's just an inky mess. And then X-23 gets inside where she'll find all sorts of things that just scream 'destroy me to kill the squid'. Of course she'll only have to do a little slashing...like of the cables marked 'POWER!' before the beast lets out a screech and starts to sink back down into the bay. Time to abandon ship...squid!
After a bit of random destruction Tommy is also interested in meeting the crew. Maybe even rescuing the crew, given the squid is now sinking. No? Maybe it was a robot. "Iguessitistimewego," mentions the speedster after it is obvious it is sliding back into the water, and pretty much not moving. Maybe Iceman can freeze the water so the police can retrieve it easily, but Tommy can't do much more. "Coming?" He offers Laura, moving her to solid ground. "I'm Speed, by the way."
Oh those power cables are noticed, targeted, and slashed.
And then as there's that reaction, and Speeds question...
"X-23." the girl says, as she lets the speedster get her out of there!
"Here's mud in your eye!" cries Heather as she and Iceman team up and break one of those eyes. "Yeah, I know... horrible pun eh?" she asks with a smirk towards Iceman. By now, she looks like she's pretty much in perfect condition again. Blood and ink still ruining her clothes sure... But then she eyes the retreating squid. "Can you turn the water into a hockey rink and let me go for a goal?" she asks as she starts sprinting forward again, intending to simply jump onto the water. She's expecting it to be frozen by the time she gets there. No skates for her, but she wants to slide until she's able to get onto or into the superstructure as well.
The squid isn't really retreating so much as sinking to its doom. That doesn't stop Iceman from reaching out and freezing a path along on the water for Heather. "Babe, I'm the Iceman. Try to keep up," he teases. The icy mutant glances towards Speed and Laura when he notices them. "You two alright?" he asks."X-23, that is an interesting name, er..." Tommy needs to bite his tongue not to ask about X-1 to X-22. At Iceman's question, he glances at Laura and then replies, "I think we are alright." Well, he is all wet with seawater. Not so good.
There's a pause as Laura hears the question from the 'Ice Man' on the scene. She doesn't even glance down to check things, and instead makes a fist before...
*SKNIT!*
Her claws pop out for a few moments and retract.
"I am normal." is said before she shrugs. Of course she knows that even if she isn't fine, she'll be better soon enough, so why bother thinking about it, even if she was thrown a good distance into a wall.
Of course her jacket is probably ripped up now, but of well.
"And you two?" is also asked of heather and Bobby as the younger woman notices her.
Whoops! Haether lands on the ice and ends up on her ass as she slides right into the hull of the thing, feet in the air. "Well, this is awkward." she mutters as she reaches a hand up and gets a grip on the hull by digging her fingers into the material. Sure, her fingers bleed and break as she does that but they heal even as she does it.
That grip is used to help her get to her feet, and then she rips a panel off of the hull. "Hello?! Anyone in here?!" she calls out.
Of course, folks who ask who she is... it's understandable what with her appearance ruined by the ink and all. But she's on a billboard not five hundred yards away... Victoria's Secret's face these days. She looks up and shrugs, "Name's Heather." She hasn't come up with a codename yet. She bought a costume but that's at home, not here.
Nope, no one home inside. Just electronics that are sparking and breaking as bay water floods in and adds up to the damage.
Iceman looks Speed and Laura over and nods. They look well enough to him. "Me? I'm good. Takes more than some cyber-kalamari to hurt me," he says. Never mind that he's bruised up under his ice armor. "Hey! You can probably come back up now," he calls to Heather.
"I think it was a robot," comments Speed from where he stand, well away from the sinking squid. Then he turns to Laura, "hmm, I usually would try to get to know you better, but I am freezing here." On account of being soaked and, well, winter. "Before I leave, can I have your phone number?"
Insert Laura rolling her eyes here, before she kind of flashes Bobby and Heather a fleeting momentary 'Can you believe this guy?' look.
"No."
Yeap, that's all she says in regards to that question.
Then to Heather though, the younger woman says, "Laura." as she points to herself, then she jerks a thumb at Tommy. "He's Speed. Just met him."
And then, there's a blink in Bobbys direction.
Carefully working her way along the ice to climb up onto the embankment, Heather smirks as she hears Tommy asking about the phone number. She shakes her head as she hears Laura's reply. She leans in and grins, "atta girl, make'im earn it." she remarks. Then she looks down at her shredded jacket, torn shirt, ruined jeans, and she groans. "God... I need a shower, and a bath, then another shower. Maybe with steel wool." she mutters as she reaches up and hesitates. "Do I even -want- to touch my hair?" she asks Laura.
Iceman misses that look from Laura. He's too busy giving Speed a look of approval. There's a wince of sympathy when Laura shoots the speedster down though. He finally looks to Laura and offers a smile. "Hey," he offers a little wave and glances to Heather. "So, speaking of phone numbers...mind if I get yours?" he asks, checking Heather out.
Tommy grins, "maybe next time. Ah, Laura? Alright." As codename X-23 is pretty unusual. There must be a story there, but he is not going to learn it anytime soon, it seems. "Cops should be here in a minute, and that thing is not moving anymore. I am going to do a quick search to see if anyone is injured and needs immediate help. See you around, Laura. I am Tommy to my friends." He waves at the others, and speeds away.
And as Tommy leaves, Laura shakes her head yet again. That is before she offers Iceman and heather a slight nod...
And she starts to head off without so much as another word.
Shaking her head a bit, Heather mutters, "Must be nice to be able to withdraw so fast when shot down. Guess that means there's a crash without a burn." And then to Iceman she smirks a bit, "Sorry hon. Not on the -first- date y'know." And she grins then. "How about... coffee, Danny's place on fifth... in about three hours. That oughta give me enough time to get home, shower, bathe, shower, scrub, and meet you there. We can discuss digits over a mocha."
"Good kid," Iceman remarks about Speed. He watches Speed and Laura go, frowning just a moment. "Sure thing, hot stuff," Bobby smirks to Heather. "I'll meet you there."
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