Superteam, Issue 1: You Can't Stop Phase One

[Arhra]

It was a peaceful day in May until a large portion of the street facade of the Principaea Particle's High Energy Research Laboratory exploded. The muted side of internal alarms could be heard through the hole.

A figure wearing a white labcoat over the silvery bulk of his spacesuit staggered out of the breach, waving a raygun in one hand and half dragging a stubby, metal capped glass cylinder in the other. Sluggish, murky red liquid slowly sloshed inside the capsule as he lugged it with him.

A white van came roaring up the empty street industrial district, swerving into a gap between the parked cars lining both sides of the street.

"They upgraded their security systems, but they should have known they were no match for the genius of Dr Xenopolis!" the eponymous mastermind crowed. A identical pair in white labcoats jumped out of the back of the van, hefting the capsule into the back of the van. "They were fools to believe they could keep the precious allotropic iron out of my hands!"

He started clambering into the back of the van, about to make a clean getaway.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Today was another easy day breezing through subjects in the Panadis School for the Gifted (Since her parents are major contributors to SCIENCE and GENIUS WORK, it was no wonder the school for Advanced studies was named after her family).

Alexandria was daydreaming though. The integration of complex theory mathematics into quantum astrophysics is such a boring subject, especially when her daddy was teaching it. Ugh. She could be... I dunno, out there! Doing stuff! Like flying around on her rocket boots looking for baddies to be defeated and doing good stuff like helping old ladies across roads or solving a crime scene with only a toothbrush and some nail clippings!

Then out the window she noticed the distant lighting of the sky, indicating something went "Kaboom!" and it wasn't her fault this time. Then the sound of sirens!

Daddy noticed it too, though, mainly because he was watching his daughter nod off in a class full of adults. Daddy also noticed Alexandria turn around excitedly to him and enthusiastically shoot a hand up in the air, despite him not even asking a question to the class. He heaved a heavy sigh. She is his precious little thing.

"Alexandria Panadis, if you can promise to complete all exercises thirteen through to twenty-four as per covered by today's lecture before your bedtime tonight, I will let you go do your little thingy."

The little girl leapt to her feet, squealing happily.

"But-" At this, Alexandria's mood dropped a little bit, "first you have to pinky-swear."

Ah, the Pinky Swear. The Mightiest of Contracts within the realm of parent-vs-child vows. If you break it, you get the Grounding Of Your Life. Alexandria shuddered to think of what would happen if she reneged on her end of the bargain. She's going to be on a time limit! Squaring her shoulders and standing up as tall as a 7-year-old could muster, Alexandria Panadis picked up her pink Ponies bag, marched up to the front of the classroom amidst a small chorus of cutesy "Awws" and "heeeheee"s, and stuck out her right fist, pinky extended like a champ.

Daddy solemnly extended his pinky, and the deal was sealed. Alexandria Panadis was out of the room like a shot, and into the open gardens below. There, she pulled out Rocky, her beloved pet, and grinned at him.

"Time to go, Rocky!"

~~

Gadget Girl is the first to arrive on the scene! Sailing through the air with obvious ease (and the aid of aerodynamical stabilizer bullcrap), she spies the white getaway van, and the obvious villain, cackling madly, trying to make his, well, getaway!

"STOP, MISTER BADDIE! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Gadget girl shouts in her best authoritative voice, as she hovers impressively in the air with her rocket boots. She even managed to make the arms-on-hips pose that she'd seen her mummy and daddy do so many times when she did a mistake. This pose always strikes fear into the person who did the wrong thing!

"Stealing is bad and you should put it back where you found it!"

[Red Mage Black]

"Superteam assemble!" Shouted the voice of a heroically muscled man as he was joined by 4 others. The van peeled out as the heroes oh so heroically annihilated the bad guys henchmen. "Oh no, he's getting away!" One of the female heroes shouted as the van sped off into the distance. Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared several feet away. The evil mastermind inside seethed with anger at his henchmen's incompetence, but was so close to actually getting away. "I won't let you stop my plans! The world shall pay for mocking me!" He stated as he pushed down the pedal as hard as he could for more speed. The silent figure stood there undaunted, raising his fist to the air. Unlike the other superheroes, this one was veiled in shadow and mystery. As the van approached, the figure slammed its fist into the hood of the van, sending it flipping over the figure a few times before landing upside down. As the heroes approached, they watched their mysterious helper dash off and vanish. "Who was that guy?" The big muscled hero asked, casually ripping the driver's side door off the van while the others gathered up what the mastermind had stolen. "I don't know, but we should thank them for the help. Bang up job they did on the van."

Kenny continued to watch the cartoon over his bowl of fruity loops until the explosion happened. It was like a pin dropping, he could hear that over an explosion and it was because of the stupid training he received. Oh well, now it was time for action! Quick strip, remembered the undies this time, zipped up the orange jumpsuit and threw the green headband with eye holes cut in and he was ready! Out through the back door, he sprinted towards the noise at top speed. Neither cat, nor dog, nor flock of pigeons or garbage cans would get in his way. He was now Hercu-Li, the incredibly strong and spiritually gifted defender of justice!

As he arrived on the scene, he valiantly leaped in front of the van, pointed a finger at it and placed one hand on his side. "Stop evildoers!" He shouted, then looked up. "Wait, is that a midget in rocket boots?"

[Arhra]

"I won't let noisy children stand in the way of my dream!" Dr Xenopolis hurled back at Gadget Girl and her stern aerial pose. His unstable footing in the back of a speeding van left him unable to mount an effective counterattack on the posturing front.

Gripping the door frame to steady himself, he snapped off three blasts of paralysing energy at the meddling child.

But Gadget Girl was not the only superhero out to stand in his way this day!

With his green hairband, orange jumpsuit and noble heart, Hercu-Li planted himself in front of the criminal's escape vehicle and calling on them to stop before getting momentarily distracted by the spectacle of Gadget Girl.

Something predatory sprinted out of an alleyway and slammed into Hercu-Li's side. It was like getting tackled by a cannonball. Hercu-Li found himself tumbling tangled up with a ridiculously dense young teenage girl who appeared to have a lot of bug in the familiy tree. Ordinary girls weren't drab olive and semi-chitinous.

"Ohohoho, how can you stop me when this time I have a genuine alien from space on my side?!" the mad scientist cackled from the back of his van as it swerved past the pair and careemed down the street, rear doors flapping wildly.

Dr Xenopolis had clearly planned his escape route.

"Hello dinner!" the (maybe) alien yowled, flashing a lot of teeth. "You can call me Sekta and I will call you whatever I want!"

[mauve]

"How 'bout I call YOU Roadkill!"

A blur of silver and blue rocketed around the back of the getaway van, smashing into the insect girl. Then it jumped over the fallen Hercu-Li and landed next to him, solidifying into a human form with a screech of plastic on pavement. The masked woman on roller skates grinned, cracking her knuckles as she surveyed the scene before her.

"Ha!" she laughed. "I knew I wouldn't be too late. I was only 50 miles away. I win the bet!"

She looked around, just now noticing Gadget Girl.

"Awwwwww, shoot." she grumbled. "I'm the third one here. I was hoping for better than that. Second, I can deal with. But third? I'm losing my edge here."

Oh well. There was evil to fight and Silver Bullet was ready to dish out some JUSTICE!

"Hold it right there, Dr. Xenopolis!" she yelled, pointing intimidatingly at the villain's getaway van. "You can't outrun JUSTICE!"

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

"GAH!" Gadget Girl's pose was cut short as Doctor Xenopolis fired off several blasts from his raygun. Her rocket boots flared as she spun out of the way, but one of the blasts clipped her on her armguard. Static and electronics fizzed. The arm joints were effectively locked!

"Oh drat!" she muttered, "I just fixed that too. Rocky! Multitool!"

A thin, third arm snapped out from a hidden compartment in the suit. Completely automated, it immediately sought out the offending paralysis and attacked it with sparks, screwdrivers, and other mechanical vigour!

While the multitool was at work, she looked at the other two that had appeared on the scene. Silver Bullet, she knew (because sometimes she'd arrive at a crime scene only to see the other heroine leave, job done, awwww). The other guy, not so much. Ah well! He was fighting an insect kid...

"Wait, he's getting away!" she said as she blasted off after the van! Time for some retaliation! Using her good arm, she aimed carefully, metallic apartments sliding open to reveal the cutest, smallest rocket launchers. They in turn fired off a small stream of mini pink rockets, speeding towards the van!

[Red Mage Black]

"I am Ken- Hercu-Li! Defender of justice!" Hercu-Li bravely shouted in response at the bug girl on top of him. While fighting back the villainous pincers near about to take off his head like a praying mantis, Hercu-Li had a strategy. Her body was solid and she had an exoskeleton. So he couldn't do much in the way of harm by blindly attacking her, but he COULD repel her! "Fear my name, bug-girl-person-thing-Sektor! For you shall know justice this day!" He shouted, knowing he got her name wrong somehow. Keeping one hand against the bottom of her neck to hold the girl's face away, he pressed a palm against her abdomen. "Known only to the martial artists of the far away land of Om Sham Lang Pa, you will feel the strength of my spirit! Hadou-meha-ken!" He shouted, a small wisp of light appearing in the only open spot between his palm and Sekta's abdomen. It was always pretty random how powerful it was, but always appeared to look weak.

[Arcanum]

As Dr. Xenopolis's escape van swerved past Hercu-Li and Sekta a handsome figure dashed out from an ally directly into the van's path. A dozen man-sized puffs of smoke exploded all around him, and suddenly there were a dozen (plus one original) copies of the man.

"Halt Xenopolis!" shouted Mirror. "In the name of justice!"

Of course Dr. Xenopolis had no intention of stopping, and if anything the van accelerated. Of course the heroic shout was only phase one of the plan, with phase two already in effect. Two of Mirror's doppelgangers lifted a third, and with a mighty heave tossed him into the air. As the van reached the group, all of the Mirrors save the one in the air vanished in another puff of smoke as they phased into the Aether. The van drove through the smoke as the one remaining Mirror doppelganger landed on top of it, and the original Mirror phased back into existence.

"It's Doctor Xenopolis you fraud of a magician!" yelled back the good bad doctor.

Mirror simply waved and Dr. Xenopolis instantly new something was up, especially since he had yet to see Smoke. Speaking of the devil, Smoke had already replaced Mirror's doppelganger on the roof of the van.

"I believe my partner told you to stop!" yelled Smoke, even though he doubted the driver could hear him over the wind. Plus the windows were closed, but that would soon change. Smoke swung an iron knuckled fist at the window (don't look at him like that, glass is hard to break when you have average strength and you're swinging at it from on top of the vehicle while also trying not to fall off), causing the glass to spiderweb. Another swing and the glass shattered.

"Stop the van you crook!" Smoke yelled again, now that the driver could properly hear him.

[Arhra]

"I am Ken- Hercu-Li! Defender of justice!" Hercu-Li shouted at the psuedo-insect foe on top of him! "Fear my name, bug-girl-person-thing-Sektor! For you shall know justice this day! Known only to the martial artists of the far away land of Om Sham Lang Pa, you will feel the strength of my spirit! Hadou-meha-ken!"

A wisp of light appeared between his palm and Sekta's abdomen.

She grunted a little.

"You are terrible!" Sekta said, virulently yellow eyes wide with glee. "Maybe I should just call you shit!" Behind that almost human face, she had teeth like a shark.

"How 'bout I call YOU Roadkill!"

A silver and blue blur rammed Sekta and sent her flying. She tumbled like a ragdoll, and smashed into a parked car. The blur resolved into a masked women on roller skates. The Silver Bullet was here!

"Hold it right there, Dr. Xenopolis!" she yelled, pointing at the villain's getaway van. "You can't outrun JUSTICE!"

"YES I CAN!" Dr Xenopolis yelled back, voice attenuated by distance.

Sekta slide off the car and sprang onto her feet with an obvious cockroach attitude to life, grinning like her face might split in two.

And then ran after the Silver Bullet instead of Hercu-li.

That couldn't be good for Hercu-li's self esteem.

Perched up front, Smoke was showing the getaway van's driver his tricks. "Stop the van you crook!" Smoke yelled into the cabin after smashing a hole in the van's windscreen.

"Bite my cordite, lanky." the crooked driver replied, slipping one hand inside his labcoat. He underlined his response with bullets, fired from a gun.

Gadget Girl unleashed her pnk micro-missile launcher while she fought to bring the malfunctioning portion of her armour back online.

A dun trenchcoat swathed man leapt out of the back of the van, Dr xenoplis pulling the doors closed after him. The newcomer tumbled on his side to shed speed before climbing to his feet. His eyes were the only part of him visible between his striped muffler and disreputable looking fedora.

The mobster-like figure reached out with a purple gloved hand and dozens of glowing purple hands appeared around him in imitation of the gesture. They sought out a missile each to grab and crash them,

Some slipped through.

"Tut, tut." the Handyman told Gadget Girl. She probably was too far away to hear. "Little girls shouldn't be allowed to play with explosives."

He jumped a little as explosions sounded behind him.

...That was a surprisingly durable little van.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

"Tut, tut." the Handyman told Gadget Girl. She probably was too far away to hear. "Little girls shouldn't be allowed to play with explosives."

"Yeah? Well, my mum told me not to listen to strangers with too many hands!" Gadget Girl declared defiantly, "Besides, weren't you supposed to be serving some... sort of... crime... jail thing?" She finished lamely.

Some of the rockets had connected to their target. Good! The bad thing was, it didn't really do much. Drat! She'll have to put a bit more firepower into them when she takes Rocky out for an upgrade then...

But Handyman being here will be a problem. This will be taking far more time out than her calculations on time restriction dedicated to superheroing and homeworking originally intended for! How will she finish all those readings?! Alright, alright... time for some quick maths, and a quick stocktake of her surroundings.

Time needed to stop a careening van with a baddy...
Time needed to defeat/distract Handyman...
Time needed to prevent/delay crazy insect alien thingy chasing the Silver Bullet...
Time needed to finish exercises thirteen to twenty-four set out by daddy...
What would MacGuyver do?

~Four-wire utility poles on upcoming intersection. Loose enough to tear off and create makeshift trappings.~

*DING!*
>>|Ma'am, arm repairs 90% complete. Estimated time to full function restoration: 10 seconds.|<< Rocky announced in its genteel fashion.

"Load smoke pellets."

>>|Yes, ma'am|<<

In quick succession, Gadget Girl peeled away briefly from Handyman.

"Try handle this!" she announced, firing a small cluster of pellets at the man. They would break on impact, whether Handyman tried to catch them or not, and obscure her from him. 2 seconds.

With a quick motion, Gadget girl locked her armour into ramming settings and charged headfirst into a utility pole, rocket boots at full thrust. The treated wooden beam splintered and snapped from the force. At the same time, the electrical wires running along the top of it crackled dangerously with electricity. 4 seconds.

Unlocking her suit, she grabbed the broken, electrical tip of the utility pole. “HNNNGGHGHHHHH!” Augh! Heavy!, even for her suit to compensate. She needed that arm to be fixed! 8 seconds

Well, if she couldn’t throw it at Sekta like she’d first intended to – with brute, augmented strength alone – then she was going to get some centrifugal force going! Gadget Girl swung herself around the pole easily, twisting, tangling and rippling the wires while she was at it. This was going better than she’d expected.

>>|*DING* Arm is now functional. Operating at 89% efficiency until next maintenance|<<

Her other arm shot out, gripping the pole and swinging it with more force. She threw the makeshift, livewire netting past the Silver Bullet and at Sekta, hoping it would, if not annoy, at least hinder the alien for a bit, while her rocket boots boosted in anticipation to give chase to the van again!