2012-10-10 It was going so well

It started off so well, too.
After all, for a brand-new Super Hero (tm) on the New York scene, what better way to get one's feet wet than with foiling a purse snatching? It's quick, easy, mostly low-tier... Emphasis on the 'mostly' part. A tourist-from-Omaha-it's-our-first-time-here couple are the latest victims; the wife's purse was grabbed by a runner along Twenty-Ninth street. It could have ended with a still-shaking description of the perp to the nearest cop, or a good Samaritan might come by and try to stop the robber.
Robbie Baldwin had been going out to grab some dinner. Mom was working late on the set, again, so he was left with some cash and basically has to fend for himself. He was walking uptown, and sees the robbery from behind the couple. Oh, woah! The kid runs forward a few steps, then jumps forward, landing on both feet with enough force to trigger his kinetic field. "Hey now!" says Speedball, the Masked Marvel (tm pending), in that strange voice of his as he bounds forward with a *SPROING!* "Give that purse back!" Bounce. The robber looks behind, just blinks at the bubble-field-ed kid bouncing after him, and turns into a side alley. "It's not your color," Speedball adds. "You're clearly an autumn!" The joys of amateur superhero banter.
So, Speedball bravely bounces at an angle to follow the robber down the alley, though that parked car's door will need some dent work afterwards. "I said-" he says, bouncing into the alley, and is cut off by the oh-so-pleasant sound of about four to five Saturday Night Special's having their safeties switched off. Apparently, the purse snatcher has friends, all pointing their guns at Robbie as he lands. Gulp.
Axiom, not so new but still young and masked, wasn't out for dinner. Nope, he was out on his fusion of patrol and training. Of course when the sound of a purse snatching catches his attention, he's expecting that he'll have to chase. Thankfully there's already someone on the trail. Axiom grins and follows along on a couple low rooftops just to catch the action. But when Speedball ends up cornered, Axiom frowns. Time for some action.
As quietly as he can, Axiom makes his way down a fire escape and waits. Taking a deep breath, he goes with a crazy plan. "Hey! How about putting down the guns before you guys get hurt," Axiom suggests, trying to call attention to himself. Sure, he doubts it'll work. He's just hoping the other guy takes advantage of the distraction. And of course he's planning to jump right off that fire escape if shot at. He's had good luck with avoiding bullets.
From the view above, five people with guns can be seen, along with what looks like a kid with floating hair and a bright blue-and-orange custome. One of these things is not like the other... And the costumed lad has a surprised look as he eyes the guns. "Uh, look, that's...a lot of guns. Iiii'm gonna need to see your registration for all of them." He says it as if it's a joke, but it's a pale attempt at bravado.
Rescue comes in the form of a masked person from up on high! Axoim's suggestion does indeed get the mugger's attention, which Robbie picks up on. Quick! They're distracted! Run!
Wait, no, Baldwin, he thinks. That's not how it works.
Instead, Speedball flings himself at one of the brick walls lining the alleyway. The alley itself is about ten feet wide, which is basically a tunnel to the bouncing newbie. Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection, which propels Speedball off the wall, and right into the chest of one of the muggers with a trail of fist-sized bubbles following. The mugger Robbie strikes is thrown back into a pile of black garbage bags, one of which pops under the unexpected weight, and the angled propel Speedball upwards. "Thanks!" he shouts to Axoim as he rises into the air. "Be right baaaaaaaaaaack."
The remaining would-be-thieves scatter a little. One goes to check on his fallen comrade, the eyes of two other follow Speedball as his bounce takes him up...and up... The last one sees a costume, and turns and fires at Axiom!
Axiom has to stop himself from grinning as Speedball takes out the first thug. All according to plan. He's a little surprised by how far the guy goes and again by the bouncing. It's all too cool to watch. Then he remembers where he is.
Oh right. Bad guys with guns.
"Don't m-mention it!" Axiom offers. The distrinctive sounds of gunfire and a bullet pinging off metal get him him motion. Axiom slides down the ladder and pushes off, rolling when he hits the ground. You don't get thrown and knocked around by gods as much as he did during training without learning to roll with the punches so to speak. Grabbing a nearby trashcash lid, a single thought pops into Axiom's mind.
I am so not Captain America.
And with that he tosses the metal lid at the thug that shot at him as hard as he can.
The thug checking on the one Robbie clocked is already pulling his buddy out of the the far side of the alley, because to him this is really messed up. A simple-snatch-and-grab has turned into dealing in kid capes, which is so not worth the booze money they were trying to 'raise.'
The thrown garbage can lid doesn't fly as fast or as straight as the good Captain's shield, unfortunately. It doesn't konk the shooter on the head and ricochet to get the others. What it does do is turn in midair, almost going vertical as it smacks into the guy's hand. There's a bruise, but he drops the gun just as the other two get their bearings and draw a bead on Axoim. Which distracts them fron what's coming from above. Speedball, again.
His arms are spread out, trying to guide his fall, but there's not enough mass to really effect a glide. "Jaaaane, stop this crazy thiiinnnng!" He lands on the two new shooters when he finally comes back, knocking them to the sides of the alley, but without as much knockout force as the first one. They're staggering, but their guns are no longer pointed at the other masked kid.
Speedball lands on the guys, then ricochets up at an angle, hitting the bottom of the fire escape hard enough to bend the metal on the lowest landing floor, then back to the ground, then off the opposite wall, then down the alley against the opposite wall. "Notgonnahurlnotgonnahurlnotgunnahurl," he can be heard to mutter as he bounces around.
"Whoa...I actually hit them," Axiom smiles. "Ha! Take that, criminal jerks!" he laughs, pumping a fist in the air. He's not stopping though. Darting forward, he targets the first thug he hit and puts some of that Asgardian combat training to use, swinging a kick at the man's mid-section. The guns being pointed Axiom's way don't worry him. Well...they do. But he knows Speedball is coming back so he just smiles. Once the men are staggered, Axiom's moving to try to grab one's arm for a quick martial arts flip. "You going to be okay, bouncing guy?" he calls.
As for the count, there's one ganger fleeing with an unconscious buddy. One is trying to get the feeling back in his gun-using hand but is doubled over by Axiom's well-placed kick. The fourth is winded as Axiom's manuver causes him to land on his back. This leaves one last one, still staggered from Robbie's ricochet landing, as he reaches for the gun a few feet away on the ground.
Robbie, on his part, has managed to aim himself back down the alleyway, towards the area where all the action is. Sounds like 'Sproing!!' and the trail of multicolored bubbles mark his trail as he comes back. "Bouncing guy?" he says, and he's close enough that the last robber stops reaching for the gun, turns around, and realizes the loud bouncing kid is coming...right into his face.
That takes down the last one, and before Robbie can bounce away, he makes a wild grab for the fire escape. His kinetic momentum lifts him up over the railing onto the landing, where he bounces and flips right back over, since his hand with the death-grip on the railing is acting as a fulcrum. "It's Speedball!" he says, as he finally manages to slow down just enough to drop to the alley floor without bouncing away. "And thanks, fellow hero," he says. He tries to make his voice deeper, to sound all adult, but his voice cracks. "No, seriously, thanks. Did you see that purse...?"
Axiom is glad his moves are working. Doesn't have much else other than them since he isn't so sure copying Speedball would be that good an idea. He winces as the last thug goes down since it looked like it hurt.
The power-boosting teen watches as Robbie slows himself down, hoping he'll be alright. When he drops down into the alley, Axiom approaches with a smile. "Oh. Hi, Speedball. I'm um...Axiom," he offers a hand, just smiling at the cracking voice. "Oh, no umm...we should find that..."
The words 'Speedball' and 'Power control' are two terms that...well, 'Power Control' would just shove 'Speedball' into a locker and give it a swirlie in the bathroom. His hands slide down to his thighs, the adreanline rush starting to wear off. "Axiom? Uh...cool. Nice to meet you," he says, with that weird reverb voice thing, shaking the other kid's hand. He's still surrounded by bubbles, but they don't really move too far away before fading. Like very solid soap bubbles.
He starts to look around. "I swear, if one of the two who ran had it...aw man," he says. Yeah, despite the voice-reverb, he sounds like a kid. "Those were some sweet ninja moves you got there," he says, shooting Axiom a 'help me look, please' semi-beeseching look.
The reverb and the bubbles just get a smile from Axiom. It's all cool to him. "Nice t-t-to meet you too," he says. He's got to resist the urge to try poking a bubble as he examines one.
"Oh man. I hope they didn't take it," he says, sounding on the younger side himself. The compliment makes him blush. "I umm, thanks. My teachers are way better though," he says, starting to look for the purse. In his search, he manages to trip and fall. "Ow..oh hey!" he exclaims, reaching under some trash bags and pulling the purse into view. "I found it!"
There's a slight tilt of Robbie's head at the stutter. When Speedball moves away, the bubbles still trail behind him. He's searching behind the dumpster on the oppoosite side of the alley, but peeks out from behing it at the sudden crash. "Ax-man?" he asks, but breaks into a wild grin as Eddie holds up their prize. "My man!" he exclaims, moving over for the high-five. "We rule! Oh yeah!"
He puts an arm around Axiom's shoulders, leading him out of the alleyway. "Great! We can give it back in full view of our adoring public." Strut, strut, half-bounce, strut. "You new, too?"
Eddie has some issues to work through that cause his stutter. He's still working on it. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be thankfully. He stands in time for the high-five, smiling wide when he gets it. Nope, not used to those.
The arm around his shoulders makes Axiom blush a little again but he's got no objections. "Adoring public?" he just about squeaks. "Umm. Kinda? I've been d-d-doing this for a few months."
As for the stutter, Robbie won't judge. He's trying to act all the leader-y I-know-what-I'm-doing type as he walks Axiom out of the alley, but he looks a little pale as Axiom mentions a few months. It's clear from his look that Robbie's been at this for much less time than that. That, and the chaotic nature of his wonky bouncing powers. "It shows. You're doing great. And of course! We're the heroes, here!" he says, and it suddenly stopped by a small wall of blue. Namely, police officer blue.
The bull-necked cop looks down from his six-foot-oh-my-God in height. "That your purse, kid," he asks the boys. "Doesn't seem like it. You're clearly an autumn..."
Axiom pauses when he notices the paleness, giving Speedball a concernd look. "I am? Oh um...thanks," he says, still not used to praise. And then there's a cop and Eddie's giving a little squeak. "I'm a what?" he asks, lost. "Oh um, n-no, sir. We got it back from those bad guys in the alley and were g-g-going to go give it back to the lady they took it from," he answers quickly.
Mmm-hmm," the officer says, not quite convinced at the two youthful heroes. One in blue-and-white, the other in blue-and-orange. Robbie steps up. "Hey, Axiom's telling the truth! We just saved-!"
"No, that's not him, officer," says a voice coming up. It's the couple from earlier. "That's my purse, officer!" the distaff half of the couple says, with a smile. "Oh my God!" she says, beaming a smile at the boys. "We got our purse back thanks to Blue Lantern and the Human Torch!"
Robbie's face falls. "Uh, ma'am, it's actually-"
"Oh, this is fantastic! Harold, take a picture! The girls at the DAR will be so jealous when I put this on the Twitter!" The wife moves behind the two young heroes while the husband, Harold, gets his camera.
The cop just smiles, which doesn't really help his brick-wall look. "Well...guess you're 're not suspects, then." He sidles past them, part to see whe alley they came out of and partly to get away from the Photo Op.
"Blue Lantern? But I don't..." Axiom trails off, holding the purse out for the woman to take. "He's not the Human Torch..." he adds, glancing at Speedball. He blushes at the sight of the camera, trying to puff out his chest to not look quite so scrawny for the picture. If the woman really wants the picture that badly...
Harold snaps a picture or two. Robbie, on his part, tries to look the hero, but he's a toothpick, all told. This picture might end up online, but it will probably be a few months until anyone who knows Axiom (lots of folks) and Speedball (which is...Axiom, at this point) notices it. Which Robbie will have forgotten about by then. it promises to be embarassing.
The wife, who introduces herself as Angie Jenkins from the Omaha Jenkinses, is grateful to have her purse back, and thanks the two profusely with kind words and armor-piercing cheek-pinches before she leads her husband off. "Real superheroes, Harold! Imagine that!"
When everyone's cleared out, Robbie turns to Axiom. "Okay, this...adoring public thing? Seriously clue-lacking." He shakes his head. "Blue Lantern? I thought those only came in Green..."
Axiom just blushes furiously the whole time. Even though he's been at this awhile he is not used to such one on one adoration. When the Jenkinses finally head off, Eddie looks to Robbie with a sheepish smile. "I think they only c-c-come in green too. But I've been um...hanging out with Green Lantern sometimes. And then there was that concert that got invaded by aliens in the park which was on TV..." and embarrassing.
"I heard about that!" Speedball says, as he keeps walking. "I didn't see you there," he says. There were more well-known heroes to get all the attention in Robbie's eyes. "And you've met Green Lantern? Dude, that is so /awesome!/" Exciteable little chap, he is. "Hey, I was just about to hit TGI Fridays because oh my God those breaksticks with the cheese dip is so calling me. You should totally come with! I want to hear all about it!"
"You d-d-didn't?" Axiom's not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. "Yeah. He's a friend off m-mine. It is really awesome!" he agrees, happy to meet someone with energy levels like his. "R-really? Umm, sure. Okay. In costume?"
"Hey, there was a ton of people there." And like all newbie heroes, Robbie is not cognizant of how chaotic it was and wishes he was there. He'll learn. Someday. "Wow, that is amazing," he says, but stops as he realizes he's in costume. And his money is in his not-costume. "Uh..." The blond kid looks around. "A raincheck? Or meet someplace sometime? Secret identity and all..."
Axiom's got a couple dollars in his belt but the secret ID thing gets a nod. "Sure," he replies with a smile. "Umm...here," he takes a pen and scrap of paper out of his belt, quickly scribbling down an e-mail address and a twitter handle (@universal_fanboy) before holding it out to Speedball. "You c-c-can reach me through either of those."
"Oh, cool!" Speedball keeps the slip of paper on his hand, because he has no pockets this costume bites I swear. "I...look, I'll send you a message with my e-mail and stuff. I don't have any paper. Later, gator!" he chimes, before jumping forward to get some momentum. He uses it to bounce to the rooftop, taking the high road home.
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