Everyone Who Believes In Telekinesis Raise My Hand (astrokinesis) wrote in marvel_united, @ 2010-04-09 22:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | armor, dj, justice, wind dancer |
Who: Mark "DJ" Sheppard, Vance "Justice" Astrovik, Sofia "Wind Dancer" Mantega, Hisako "Armor" Ichiki
NPCs: gang o' bad guys, wussy civilian
When: Friday, April 9th
Where: New York City
What: Mark and Vance go out "heroing" in the big city. They run into Sofia and Hisako who are out doing the same thing.
Rating: PG
Vance didn't have a black turtleneck, he had a navy coloured one yes, but not a black one. This hadn't been an issue until today, but honestly Vance didn't think that his turtleneck clashed too badly with his black pants, and the black fedora style hat on his head. Honestly at the moment Vance wasn't so much worried about getting singled out as an example of What Not To Wear, as he was concerned about maybe getting singled out as a potential robber. Because he was dressed all in dark colours ...
But he wasn't a robber! He was a vigilante! Out here in New York to stop crime! Oh yes, a conversation about how cool comic books could be, had led to this. Led to Mark and himself out in the city, trying to stop crime.
"So maybe we need a logo ... or something?" Vance looked down at his navy shirt. "Just something with some colour on it or something. Or maybe something reflective, I mean lurking in the shadows is good. But it would suck to get hit by a car ..."
At the moment they where in the shadows -- hanging out in an alley, waiting for a crime to almost happen so they could rush out and stop it.
Mark knew that dressing up in makeshift costumes and lingering in dark alleys was bound to get them in trouble, but he was feeling reckless. Sure, things at school were getting better, but he partially contributed that to the new peace and quiet that was brought with Spring Break. Out here, where crime was rampant, he felt like he had a purpose. He could help someone out and they would appreciate it.
Unlike his (unknowingly titled) sidekick, Mark actually had a black sweater. The hood of his sweatshirt was up, shadowing his face and keeping the camo-colored headphones from behind exposed. He had also managed to find a dark pair of slacks and swore he resembled an urban ninja.
"Logo? I think we need real costumes first," Mark said with a grin. "Then we can work on the logos for the crime-fighting duo that is Justice and DJ!" Said outloud, Mark's alias was nothing compared to Vance's and he realized that maybe he was the sidekick now. Bummer.
"Isn't this the point where some lady comes rushing into an alley with a horde of guys follow behind?" Mark paused, expecting to hear a frightened scream, but nothing came. "Or not. Maybe we're just in the wrong alley."
Considering their code names, Vance thought that if this hero thing fell through that they could go on the road as maybe some sort of musical act. DJ Mark and Jazzy Justice or something ... honestly Vance was really hoping this hero thing didn't fall through.
Glancing down at his shirt, he nodded. "Costumes. Right. But no capes." Although Vance really wanted a cape, he had seen The Incredibles, he got why capes could be a really bad idea. He was however going to go back to the mansion and get some reflective tape for his shirt. Maybe make an X on it. Or not, maybe the X was trademarked by Xavier.
"Did you want to check the next alley? Maybe there will be a damsel in distress there. Or damsels." That would be sweet actually. He edged closer to the entrance to the alley, intending to take a look out onto the street. "Also I was thinking -- Xavier has the X-men, and than there's the Avengers, and umm, all the other teams. I think we need a name, like a team name." You could be team of two right? Right!
"No capes," Mark agreed. In his opinion, capes looked best on the superheroines. Capes and nothing else. He grinned perversely for a brief moment then cleared his throat and inched along the edge of the building towards the alley on the other side.
He stopped midway across the roof as Vance proposed they become a team. He wondered if anyone else at the school would be interested in joining them but quickly shook that idea off. If they couldn't get along as the Infrareds, how were they going to get along on a team that had him and Vance in charge? "We could be the Paragons!" he suggested excitedly. "You're the Paragon of Justice and I'm the Paragon of ROCK!" He threw his fist into the air and held the pose until someone yelled down the street. DJ rushed to the edge just in time to see an averaged sized man in a suit running towards them. He looked frantic, and with good reason. A car had screeched around the corner and every body inside was brandishing a gun.
Vance decided that maybe someday he'd try a cape -- but he kept that to himself for now. He also decided that he should probably focus on getting a black turtleneck before he started thinking about capes. Crawl before you walked, and all that.
He kind of thought that maybe Gene Simmons might have claimed to be the Paragon of Rock -- oh no, wait maybe that was God Of Rock. But he did think that Paragons was a cool name, but he had to add in his own two cents. "Or you know, like that movie about the gang in New York, the 'The Warriors.'" Vance wasn't a huge fan of the film, but he liked the way that phrase sounded.
Mark was spared hearing about Vance's idea about calling themselves the 'New Warriros' (because they were new, and not a gang) because action had started to happen. Vance having joined DJ at the edge of the roof, watched the car careen around a corner. It seemed the people inside all had guns. Yup there where guns. Plural. Vance had been kind of hoping they could work their way up to guns, maybe start out with someone with a knife ...
"Ahh, so the plan would be to stop the bad guys, right?" He concentrated on forming a TK shield. "Save the civilian. Vanish into the night, a job well done?" He was as nervous as heck, and could feel his palms getting sweaty. Still they were here, and they couldn't back down now, and let the guy get shot "So ... ready to go?"
Guns were definitely bad, but so far the bullets had yet to hit anything more than the side of a building. He swallowed back the fear that bubbled in his throat and looked over to Vance with fierce determination. "Let's do this."
Mark shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his MP3 player. He switched quickly between genres, highlighting 'Reggae' and clicking it on. Rhythmic drums and bass tuned out the sounds around him and soon Mark was off the ground, levitating to the street below where their victim was currently running. When his feet hit the top of a dumpster, he switched to 'Rock' and jumped down in front of the scuttling man. "Stay back, sir. We've got this." While DJ attempted to lower his voice to that of a Batman standard, it resulted in a slight, uncomfortable cracking. He cleared his throat, gave the man a thumb's up, and turned to face the opening of the alley.
The car had come to a sudden halt just shy of the alley. Doors slammed closed and three men stalked to get their target. When they caught sight of not only their target, but a couple of kids, they scowled. "Move on, brats. This doesn't concern you."
Vance's landing was a little rocky -- he had floated down via this TK, but he wobbled a little bit as he made his landing. Managing to keep to his feet, he made sure to toss up a TK shield between himself, and the guys with the guns.
"It does concern us." Vance tried to sound forceful, even though his voice shook a little bit. "You won't harm this civilian!" He pushed his TK shield out a little bit, getting ready to try and encompass the guy that the other guys had been chasing.
"I'm telling ya' -- go play someplace else." One of the gun wielding ones waved his gun around. "We ain't playing kids, go on home." The guys finger as was on the trigger, and it curled, ready to pull the trigger.
Mark and Vance may not have been on the same squad, but various practices with makeshift lightsabers had given them the edge they needed in teamwork. Vance had always been better at guarding than himself, and so he left his able friend with the responsibility of protecting both the victim's ass as well as his own.
DJ let the rock in his headphones take over. The switch from power to power was fast and subtle, but he could feel the change in ever inch of his being. With reggae, he had been light and free, allowing his float down from the roofs to go smoothly. Rock was more rigid and heavy, a powerful force that was meant to melt faces and break foundations. He grinned as he felt the power course through him and flung his hand down the alley. A heavy blast rushed down the alley to the gun-toting villains. Pieces of garbage, trashcan lids, and loose stone all flew at them before colliding with a strong enough force to send each man onto their backs.
A few tried to shoot, their bullets hitting the sidewalk or the sky. They rolled on their backs, trying to sit up while fighting the ringing in their heads from the knock back. The sight had not gone unnoticed, and the leftover thugs in the car had gotten out, and they were toting more than just pistols.
Sofia was flying above, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. She heard a familiar popping sound-- gunfire, she thought worriedly-- and glanced around until she spotted the source. A few stray bullets, she noted with some mild concern, seemed aimed haphazardly toward the sky. (She was, sadly, not invulnerable as Hisako was.)
Swooping down to Hisako, Sofia picked her friend up. "I found something," she informed her seriously. "Gunfire. I am thinking I will glide over and can drop you down in your armored form. What do you think?" Then she would land and blow them and their weapons away-- literally, instead of their more figurative but equally violent attempts.
Hisako was sticking to the rooftops. No one could really see her up there. The all black outfit had her blending in. It was very Batman. Besides she couldn't defy gravity like Sofia, so she had to park herself in a place with a good vantage point. It would seem that Sofia had found the action that night. Hisako gave a quick nod, and they took off. "Just drop me in the middle of the action." She said as they took off into the air. Above the fight, Sofia let go, and Hisako powered up on the way down to allow herself a safe landing. Her entrance wasn't exactly stealthy and subtle and she saw that a bullet narrowly missed her.
A quick look around saw three victims (she really didn't recognize the boys), and Hisako jumped into action, disarming one of the gunmen as she gave a healthy roundhouse kick to another sending him flat on his back with a groan. While she was moving a bit fast and might not be recognized (even though those little domino masks were ridiculous.), her armored form was unmistakable. She knew Sofia had her back, but it was probably somewhere less close to the bullets. "Bad guys occupied, kids. This is where you run." She said, blocking a punch from a guy.
When Mark brought the noise (if Gene Simmons did think he was the Paragon of Rock? Well he was going to have to move on over, because Mark? Very much the Paragon of Rock) Vance brought the shields. Throwing up TK shields around himself and the guy who was the target of all the other guys.
"It's okay sir, we are professionals!" That was a fib, but Vance felt that it was a white lie. Because the guy that they were saving, was making whimpering noises, and didn't seem all that reassured by Vance's words.
And than from out of the sky came -- someone. Vance just stood and started for a moment, and than snapped back to reality, when he realized he had dropped his shields a little bit. Because yes, he recognized that armored form. No way! Mark and his daring rescue was being stolen right out from under them!
"We have this under control." Vance tried to make his voice sound serious, as he used his TK to push back one of the guys with the guns, and send the gun down the alley, out of reach of the person who had been trying to fire it. "And we aren't kids!"
This was definitely going well. His blast had knocked people down, and he was ready to send out another one to blow away the others with more force if he had to. His hand raised up, he readied his attack and then a glistening armored goddess fell from the sky. She was sleek, sexy, and just shiny enough to temporarily distract him from the kid part of her statement.
But then Vance picked right up on it and DJ knew he had a right to be outraged. "Yeah, we got this!" he said as he sent another strong blast down the alley to knock down a man attempting to pry himself to his feet to attack the glimmering beauty.
Sofia hovered in the air for a moment, allowing Hisako to distract the gunmen with her arrival. She then swooped down low enough that she had a direct line to a pair of men attempting to join the brawl. No, that would not do. Using the winds, she ripped the weapons from their grasp and sent them flying onto a nearby rooftop. (She would collect them later, so they may not be used in further criminal activities.)
Then she brought what could only be described as a mini-tornado down upon the men. Their shouts were drowned by the winds whipping around them as they were lifted and spun upside down. "The back-up is taken care of," she informed Hisako, finally chancing a look at her friend. (One hand remained stretched toward the men to keep them pinned in the air.) It was a bit awkward to look through her make-shift mask but she saw her distinct armored form taking care of the others.
It was then that she saw the indignant boys and cowering civilian standing not far away. Sofia landed gracefully (a skill that had taken her quite some time to learn), amused by their indignant reactions to the impromptu rescue. "Ah, so the bullets being fired toward you was part of the plan then?" she questioned with a raised brow and slight smirk. "Our mistake." She gestured with her free hand toward the men hanging in the air. "Would you prefer I release them then?"
Hisako's mouth almost fell open when she heard Vance loudly announce that they weren't kids. She'd been too busy to look super closely at who she'd been saving, but she recognized that voice. In fact she almost missed that the guy she'd kicked was getting back up, luckily it was in the corner of her eye. So she was able to react accordingly with a swift hit to get him back down. The civilian finally gave a rushed, "thanks" and took off away from the drama.
Secret identities be damned, but Hisako couldn't help herself. "Vance! I finally got you to take a hit without flinching and throwing up a TK shield and the first thing you do is come out here?" Alright so part of her was a little impressed, but another would totally have facepalmed if she thought it would look awesome in her costume, but she refused to do anything not awesome in her superhero get-up. She pulled a prepaid phone from her pocket. She need to call the cops to pick these guys up. "Just keep these guys down."
There was a whole lot going on -- a whole lot. But what mostly registered with Vance was that the jig was very much up. That and Mark and he really needed to get some better costumes. Ones with masks. And maybe ones that disguised their voices ...
When Hisako pulled out the phone, Vance experinced a moment of panic; "No!" He yelped that at the girl who had offered to release the bad guys. And also the no was for Hisako on the phone. He was certain that Hisako was going to call Xavier and rat them out.
"I mean .. we'll keep these guys down." He glanced at Mark, for conformation that they would do that. "But you know ... you don't have to call anyone!"
Out of all dark alleys that heroes could have stumbled in, him and Vance got the ones that recognized them. Well, him. Luckily, Mark's disguise had served him well and he had yet to be called out, which, as he would only realize later, was not a good thing. Vance was being recognized by beautiful women! He would have to hang out with him more often.
"Hey, no first names!" Mark shouted as she pulled out the phone. He was not as panicked as his friend, but it still left him feeling a little mouthing (and desperately searching for a distraction). "You're speaking to Justice and DJ, the Paragons of this city." Or block, as it were, but they didn't need to know that. He looked up to the wind flier and repeated himself, "Paragons!" Take that pretty heroines.
Sofia was trying very hard not to laugh. The boys were just so very serious and it was-- well, she didn't think they'd appreciate being called adorable but no other adjective was coming to mind just then. "Yes, Armor, we wouldn't want anyone recognizing these vigilantes in their civilian attire," she admonished with a completely straight face, although she was unable to keep the laughter out of her voice. "You really must be more careful."
It was starting to get tiring, holding the thugs in the air, so Sofia tossed them over to their friends on the ground. (She was careful not to throw them too hard; they were only human behind the bullets, after all.) "Keep them down as well, would you?" she requested. "I am certain you paragons can handle a couple more, yes?"
And then, because she could control the winds and therefore have her voice reach only those she intended, Sofia had to add in a whisper: "I know it is you, Mark," to the one who called himself DJ. She hadn't recognized him, true, but she knew the student body well enough to know who belonged to which codenames. They were, in a word, busted and she wanted to be certain he knew it.
Sofia looked at Hisako, head tilted curiously. "Do paragons have curfews?" English being her second language, she really wasn't certain what the word paragon was supposed to mean; however, she doubted it was meant to describe high school boys in poorly made costumes. Honestly, she didn't meant to make fun but the situation was just so very surreal... not to mention hilarious. "If they do, then I do not believe these two qualify..."
Hisako shot Vance a look over her shoulder when he seemed to freak out. "I'm calling the cops, dorkbait." She said to him with a roll of her eyes, stepping a couple steps away to make the call. It didn't take long.
Also, thankfully she was off the phone when Mark announced that they were paragons, because she burst into laughs. She couldn't help it. It was stomach holding laughter. "Maybe they are paragons for Xavier's Spring Break week only then." She finally got out shaking her head. "A model or pattern for excellence." She said in a teasing tone. Yes, Miss Valedictorian still remembered all her SAT vocabulary words. "You keep saying this word. I do not think it means what you think it means." She couldn't help it. She was dressed in black!
"New Warriors." Vance said quietly, after DJ said they were Paragons. Really, they were going to have to have a talk about costumes and group names. If they didn't end up grounded for the rest of their lives. Or at least the Xavier equivalent of grounded for the rest of their lives. "And we -- hey, do you have permission to be out here?" Vance's brain came up with that question after the flying girl asked if they had curfews.
Vance was still a little nervous -- sure the cops being called was a good thing. But the last time the cops had been called, and he had been involved, well he had started down the road that ended with him at Xavier's. It kind of hurt to ask the girls for help, but he was getting the feeling that they might have a little more experience at this kind of thing.
"Umm, do we wait? For the cops?"
New Warriors, Paragons, whatever. They'd have a sweet name either way and if him and Vance had to have a lightsaber battle to decide the final name for the team, so be it! Speaking of teams, maybe they were going to need to start recruiting. That is, if they were ever allowed out of detention after tonight.
Mark had just started thinking about what torture he would have to endure for their act of vigilantism when he heard the siren's call of the Venezuelan in his ear. The fact she knew him made his ears turn red and he quickly pulled the brim of his hoodie down to further shadow his face. It was meant to hide the embarrassment, but in the back of his mind, he justified his move as a good step towards the mysterious.
"Vance, does Batman ever wait for the cops? No. He doesn't. So let's hurry up and get out of here." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked to the two women. "We can talk about you two," he waved his hand between Armor and Wind Dancer, "not telling on us later."
Sofia pointedly ignored the questions about whether or not they were allowed out there. They, at least, were adults. Vance and Mark, on the other hand, were not yet eighteen and still the responsibility of the school. She knew that the boys would be in far more trouble than she or Hisako, anyway, so she doubted they would turn them in-- if only in the interest of self-preservation.
"Careful, DJ," Sofia chided, "you are breaking your own rules about using codenames." Looking at Hisako, she decided to let the other girl have the lead in how they would handle the situation. (She was the one who had phoned the authorities, after all.)
Hisako could hear the sirens and she powered down. Rolling her eyes at the situation, one she'd find so epically hilarious later, she waved the boys away. "We split. You two should go back to Xavier's." She said, nodding at Sofia. These guys would stay down long enough for the cops to collect them. "Get us out of here, Sofia." She requested.