Re: Teen Guardians
Wednesday the Third
Hardball 6:25 pm
Hardball noticed the new arrivals edging closer, and the machine pistols. It looked like they were going to try and catch him in a cross fire. The submachine guns roared their anger.
Hardball noticed the new arrivals edging closer, and the machine pistols. It looked like they were going to try and catch him in a cross fire. The submachine guns roared their anger.
Instinctively Hardball lashed out with the nails in his hand responding to their hail of metal with one of his own. Unlike the gangstas he was deadly accurate shattering the windshields of the vehicles, tearing open tires and piercing the wrists of the shooters.
The drivers of both cars lost control as their vision was filled with glass and their wheels became rims. The front car skidded to a halt the following cars were not so lucky. Attempting to avoid each other and the parked cars on the street they both lost control, flipped intro the air and shot over Hardball's head as he threw himself and his bike top the ground. Before the Gangstas could get themselves oriented (assuming they were all high enough on PCP to shake off that kind of a crash) Hardball picked up himself and his bike and roared off. While there was once a time he would have happily taken on a gang armed with machine guns his run in with Casket had taught him his skills were not what they used to be. Plus the cops would likely be drawn to the scene of the crash on their way to the scene of the orignal crime. Finally he now had more than himself to think of, if he died his mother would join him fairly quickly.
Tachyon and Emp 6:45 pm
The cabin looked dark and abandoned to the heroes as they approached. Emp noticed fresh tracks on the litter covered porch. The prints looked small to him.
The cabin looked dark and abandoned to the heroes as they approached. Emp noticed fresh tracks on the litter covered porch. The prints looked small to him.
Patty, still in the bushes, whispered, "Think its a trap--and did Hardball ever bother texting you back?"
Patty knew there was no way that Hardball could arrive in time on his motorcycle. He would be miles out of the way, but if the cabin was deserted, he could check out the boat in the harbor area.
Lights came up from down the road.
"Doubt it's a trap, but it might be booby trapped so that she knows someone is out here. No text back yet."
Patty grumbled at herself quietly--aloud, it came out, "You'd think he didn't give a darn."
Eric looked around a bit looking for any traps that he might notice around the area as well as a few good ones for him to set up with Patty's help.
"We might want to step up a few traps around the area just in case she tries to make a break for it."
"You got any ideas for traps..." Patty shut up--
They heard a car in the distance that seemed to be approaching them.
--and whispered, "Crud, she's here!"
She dropped to her hands and knees in the bushes, minimizing her chances of being seen...
Eric joined her on the ground peering out carefully from the bushes at the upcoming car.
A jeep appeared in the long driveway, pulled around to the rear of the cabin. It didn't pause as if the driver had seen the two hiding heroes.
The blonde watched the jeep pull around to the back; she went to a crouch and brushed off her bare knees. "Darn, we didn't have time--what do you want to do, rush her and take her down--or just sit and observe?"
Her frame was vibrating slightly--she was ready to go.
The car door slammed.
"This is going to sound a bit strange but.. grab her and throw her into a tree. That should hopefully take enough out of her lungs to leave her unconscious. Then we can make sure she herself isn't armed with any weapons. Hopefully she has rope inside we can use to tie her up."
Tachyon nodded. "She'll be coming your way pretty quick, I hope..."
She blushed--then pressed her lips against his. "For luck..."
...and there was a blur of motion as she erupted into the open, legs pumping, heart racing, a blur of motion--intent on taking this villainess down...hard.
Blanche Devoureaux started to turn at the motion coming toward her. She couldn't stop the grab as Tachyon latched on to her shoulders. She tried to bring her elbow up to bash in Tach's face as a countermove.
Even with her quick reaction speeds, some things could not be avoided--Patty ignored the swinging elbow....
The elbow smashed against the side of Tachyon's head.
...and accelerated, beginning a spin, leaving herself as the central point and Blanche...someone would lose their lunch, and it wouldn't be Tachyon...
She picked up on the spin...
Emp stood ready, considering how much of a royal pain Blanche had been he was practically hoping Tachyon would miscalculate and throw her with deadly speed into a near by tree but he still wanted to see her pay for what she had done.
Patty felt her stomach and its almost completely gone contents begin to rise...
Eric held a few of his low-yield explosives, she liked blowing people up. He was more than willing to see how she liked being on the receiving end of some explosives that while very painful weren't as deadly as some of things she had.
Blanche spit at Tachyon, missed, scared a squirrel into diving for trouble as his tree took a near fatal hit.
Patty felt dizzy--she felt sick--she felt her shoulders ache from the kinetic energy of the spin trying to pull them from their sockets she closed her eyes for a moment and tried to stabilize-- and then gave it up.
She let go of the explosion-wielding Blanche and let her fly--she spun down, her knees dragging into the ground and she lay, trying to regain her equilibrium--and threw up.
"...ihatespinningdizzydizzydizzy..."
Eric watched as a blur of motion went by him. Followed by Patty throwing up back where the spinning was going on. That was going to need to be suppressed if he wanted to kiss her before the night was over.
Eric realized that Blanche had collapsed in the wilderness away from the long driveway. He couldn't see her body from where he was standing, but had a general direction of travel. He could chase into the forest after her, or wait until Tachyon had recovered.
Eric moved quickly after Blanche. He wasn't going to give her too much time to recover. He moved with the practiced stealth that he had when he was this age along with some measure of speed. He still wasn't as good as he once was, but to quote a song, he was as good now as he ever was. This was why he preferred dark colored costumes. "You can give up now Heart-breaker, or I can blow you and everything within your place up with the press of a button. Your choice." He was after all known for being a villain and considering everything that just happened Blanche might believe anyone that was a villain, ex or not, just might carry out their threats.
Patty pushed herself to her bared knees--she still was dizzy as all hell, her inner ear arguing...
...and managed to make it to her feet, hands on knees and bent at the waist, her head still spinning, but the world was slowing, and that was always good--and her mouth tasted like crud.
Slowly, her stomach growling--too much energy expended, not enough reserves--she was hungry--she stumbled towards the direction Blanche, Heartbreaker, had been thrown.
An orb flipped through the air, landing at Eric's feet. It was the size of a softball and glowing.
Eric leapt back calculating where the orb had been thrown from and threw his own Low Yield Grenade, which mostly went off when it hit something instead of a timed explosion.
The orb exploded behind him, ripping up the foliage. His grenade blew a crater in the area where the orb had come from. He didn't hear cries of pain.
At the explosion, Patty ignored her own dizziness and picked up the pace--she knew roughly where she'd thrown Heartbreaker--and the explosion was a pretty good marker--she hit her top normal speed and roared into the woods...
Eric kept quiet in the tree's at this point looking around carefully for Heartbreaker. He didn't want to be out here longer than needed. Turning on his Empathy he tried to locate the general area where she was. Considering there was just her and Patty he figured this wouldn't be as overwhelming as it was at the school when he was trying to find her.
Eric spotted the two girls as Patty roared through the foliage, ripping brush up at high speed. He could tell Blanche was headed away from where he was standing by her calm demeanor.
Eric took out his grapple gun, this was going to be a rather big risk considering he was hoping to knock her out. But all things considered he didn't want Tachyon getting hit with an explosion. Taking aim at Blanche's backside, he fired. Using its retracting system, he was hoping to snag Blanche and not just her shirt.
Course it might help disarm her as well.
Still if things went well she'd be too hurt or unconscious to throw one of her own explosives.
The piton slammed into a tree as Blanche ran into the night.
Patty picked up her own pace--Blanche was a turtle compared to her own half-speed...she came up behind the girl and swung a clothes-lining arm at the back to the killer's head...
Blanche went down in the bushes, flipped over by the velocity of the impact. She landed on her back, trying to get to her feet. Still some fight left in her.
Patty doubled back and pounced, a continued blur of action--she accellerated again, burning precious energy, her fists pounding back and forth, chest and body blows against the other girl:
"Blowin'uppeople'n'makin'uslookbad'n'blowin'uptheCaptain'n'youtriedtoblowmeuptoyoudumb..."
Eric watched as a blur of action took Blanche down into the bushes. Activating his other grenade he threw it towards the bushes, yelling out a warning toward Tachyon "Grenade!"
her temper blew. "...BITCH!"
Eric's word made her eyes widen--and she blasted to full steam and tore from the woods, leaving Blanche behind...
The grenade blew Blanche into some trees. She looked beat.
"Tachyon, use the grapple guns rope to tie her to the tree.." Acrobatically leaping down safely to the ground he began walking towards Blanche.
Considering Tachyon's speed even if Blanche was faking unconsciousness she'd be too tied up to do anything more than argue with him. Hopefully.
Patty darted away, grabbing up the coils of cable and bound the other girl quickly--innocence or guilt didn't matter at this point...first things first though...
Her hands shaking--she was hungry, she'd burnt almost every bit of calorie that she'd taken in today in the run up here and in this combat sequence--she tore off Blanche's blouse and stuffed part of it into the girl's mouth, wrapping the sleeves about the girls head and tying them off in front, ensuring that she couldn't spit forth any more of that explosive saliva that' she'd used earlier...
Then wrapped Heartbreaker's hands and legs, binding them securely together in a hogtie, wrapping more cord around the girl's torso and binding her arms close...
...then sat down with a *flumpf*, her legs and arms trembling, weak from hunger. "Over here, Emp," she called, remembering for once to use 'code' names.
Once Emp was close enough to see Tachyon shaking he knew something was obviously wrong. She also looked fairly hungry.. He didn't carry much food on him but he hoped what he had might help even if only for a bit. Reaching into his belt he pulled out a few chunks of beef jerky.
"Always be prepared. Stake outs can get a bit annoying." there where three strips none very large or thick but they might help curb some hungry..course were talking about a snack attack, not practically dying of hunger.
He looked over at Blanche making sure she was still secured in the bindings. Last thing he needed was her escaping and causing more of a ruckus for the two of them.
Patty snagged the beef jerky greedily--she popped on in her mouth and chewed. "Thanks," she said, her voice a bit trembly, "that's the hazard of a metabolism as fast as mine--much more of this and I'm going to start burning body fat and muscle--and that's not a good thing."
She smiled at him thankfully--the jerky was helping a little, but was little more than a temporary stay of her hunger.
"What do we do with her now?" Tachyon asked, folding legs up under her and conserving energy. "Do we call the cops? She's got a vehicle--we can take that back to town, turn her over to the cops--hit a drive-through, but..."
Patty shook her head and then looked at Emp. "Do we know for sure if she's the guilty one? I mean, its all circumstantial..." her voice trailed off.
He nodded. "Yeah it is, but I'm sure either if they search this place they'll find her bomb making materials or be able to test her explosive powers. Not to mention Ms. Blanchie here is suppose to be dead. Not living by herself at the summer cabin." He looked back at Blanche and grinned. "Lets take her all wrapped up to the police station."
He sighed to himself, picking up Blanche he mustered his strength together to get her into the car. With her trussed up like a turkey he wasn't going to worry about her explosives unless she got loose. "Brace yourself Tachyon.." he let go of his Seductive presence. He was going to have a hell of time dampening it, but at least hopefully if Blanche woke up it wasn't going to get deadly...well hopefully not deadly.
It washed over Patty with the force of the ocean--she felt her eyes cross and her breath caught. She felt her whole body react--her skin prickled as though exposed to a sunlamp--and she shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. "Woah," she said, her breath husky, "and I was ready for this..."
She shifted again and adjusted her top, pushing against the far door of the vehicle. "Lets go, please?"
She rolled down the window and stuck her head out into the cool air, panting. "Please?"
"Right." Eric took a moment hotwiring the car. He didn't quite feel up to trusting Blanche's pockets or contaminating any evidence she might have on herself. Starting the car, he started his way towards Police HQ. Every once and while he'd look over at Patty as he drove. "Sorry to do this to you Tachyon, but it's the only thing I can think of that'll keep her to distracted to try an escape from the bonds you have her in." He smiled at her "I'll make it up to you as soon as possible I promise."
Her eyes were dilated and she was panting--her hair blew in the wind as she went for fresh air, her head out the window.
"You'd...better..." she said, fighting the urge to unbuckle the seatbelt and climb into his lap. "Darn it, I don't even want to think of what you're doing to her..."
Her head flicked towards him. "I have a question--you keep this up for..."
Head back out the window, more deep breaths...
"...so long, does this...imprint onto someone's...psyche?"
"Depends on how long I have it on for.. which is why I'm trying to hurry this car along. For some reason..I um..can't remember how long it takes before imprinting could be irreversible...Could be days, hours or hell even minutes... but I think it's closer to hours or days." At least he hoped so mentally. He felt pretty guilty already for Patty's current problem, but that didn't stop him from taking glances at her while her head was out the window.
He started speeding up as best he could on the dirt and gravel road. He didn't want them sliding everywhere but at the same time he wanted to get this person to the police as quickly as possible. "Try and keep an eye on Blanche, we don't want her to pull a fast one while where traveling."
There was definitely an air of arousal about her, though her head was currently out the window in the cool evening air. Her head came back in. "Hours. Days. Oh...boy..." Her eyes closed and she fought her own urges.
"Anyone...ever..." Her eyes crossed again and her hand strayed for the seatbelt buckle, then inched away. "...never stop...like you...wanting you...??"
"I'l...try..." She turned around--unfortunately towards the center, watching...the young woman in the back seat...and her breath came a little more ragged.
"There was a person once who never did stop liking me... Lusting for me.." he closed his own eyes a moment and opened them quickly focusing on the road "I can't remember who though. Every time I try and remember it just kinda... shadows through. Although .. I'm pretty sure even in the future I had felt sorry for her." he finally pulled the car onto the highway towards the city.
"Still maybe this time around she'll get something better. Something she was meant to have." He was slightly depressed again but that didn't stop his aura from twisting every word into an orgasmically
seductive word and phrase. Words that could echo into a persons mind and soul, but words whose meaning would do little more than excite the soul and bring the body a desire all it's own.
The bump and thump of the vehicle slightly brought Patty back to reality--she was trembling--she was too close to him--his power was eroding her will fast...she wanted...she wanted...she...
Her breath came hot and heavy and she reached to him as his words ran feathers of ice down her spine, blowing everything within her to full heat. "Stop..." she hissed, her eyes dilated, her lips touching his ear. "I...have to get out...please...I can't...I have to...let me run...please..."
Her breath was panting, hot, heavy, her skin flushed, his aura pushing her desire past her own emotional red-line.
Eric's phone buzzed again. Then the both of them heard a sound from the back. It sounded like the hiss of a spitting cobra. A gob of glowing spit hit the steering wheel.
"Aww frag.." Eric peeled off to the side of the road. Stopping he looked back into the backseat. Tachyon had gagged the girl, so that meant she'd either eaten through it or she has acid saliva. "Get out Tachyon..."
The steering wheel blew up. The jeep kept going with a piece of plastic sticking out of Eric's armored vest. He could see the side of the mountain dropping off into a valley, a deep dark valley full of trees.
His phone buzzed but since he was going over the side of a cliff, it looked like he wouldn't be able to answer it at the moment.
Patty bounced forward--she'd undone her seatbelt--and the back into the seat as Eric brought the car to a complete stop--she almost yowled from the released hormones that flowed uncontrollably through her body as Eric pushed her out...she tumbled to the ground and shuddered--every touch against her skin just attenuated rather than diminished the sensations that coursed through her...
Patty had a moment to see a spear sticking out Eric's chest as she bailed out. Then the car started over the side of the mountain road.
Patty rolled to a halt, her flesh on fire from arousal--she stumbled to her feet and staggered after the car in disbelief, her heart and stomach in her throat...
It should have been a scream, but came out as a disbelieving whisper as her eyes tracked the final flight of the car...
"...Eric?..."
Patty saw the car catch on the edge of the cliff side, hanging on the curve.
Eric watched the ground in the distance getting closer, panic seemed to soak him through his seat belt was off in a blur it seemed as he fired his grapple gun out and through the window. It latched onto a part of the edge of the mountain side. The rush of adrenaline dulled the pain as he was yanked from the seat and through the window. His arm wanted to let go but it held on out of sheer force of will, he could barely feel it, the arm, his mind was in far to much shock to release he just saved his sorry butt. Heck he could barely think in a normal manner. Some part of his brain however still registered that his phone was ringing still. his hand moved picking it up and in a horsed whispered that sounded far better than his body was actually feeling he answered "Hello?"
"I found the third clue and uniform." Pusher sounded happy. "Where are you?"
Eric saw the jeep hit some trees on the hill side and stop.
Eric waited for what felt like an eternity as his adrenaline rush was soon ending. The grapple gun
pulling him upwards towards where ever it have caught. Which thankfully seemed strong enough to support him for now.
Eric was on a ledge now his right arm hurt like nobody's business. His vision was a bit blurred from the pain. He looked at his hand with the cell phone he really couldn't hear the person right now it seemed so he took a bit of a risk. "Sorry, I need to get myself out of trouble. Could you call back in ten minutes? Thanks."
Taking some aim he fired off the grapple gun with his left arm and started back up the rest of the way. He managed to get back up the ledge where Patty was. Torn, bruised and appearantly still a plastic stake in his chest. Granted it hadn't full penetrated his costumes protection but it was still painful. He forced a smile as he saw patty near by .. took two steps and collapsed sideways losing all consciousness.
She punched her own speed ticket to grab him up in her arms before he fell--she eased him to the ground...
...and the doctor within her took over, moving into Triage...airway, breathing good, bleeding...ohgod...first that stake in his heart...no, it wasn't, didn't penetrate; without worrying about it, she discarded it and tore his shirt and costume open...
...and breathed a sigh of relief, all he had were bruises and scrapes.
Patty stood up and gauged the time--she needed to get him home...but she realized she honestly didn't know where he lived...
...without hesitation, she picked him up carefully in her arms and ran for home...not at her top speed, but fast enough.
Tachyon slow ran the hundred fifty miles back to the city passed through highway exits with restaurants and hotels.
Eric's phone rang again as she ran. Her stomach growled to let her know it didn't like her.
Patty knelt at the top of the cliff, the events of the past hour...pounding in her heart, her whole frame going from empthically-induced arousal to natural-borne sorrow.
Tears unnoticed leaking from the corners of her eyes, she whispered again, "...eric..."
Patty spotted the tail lights gleaming up at her from a stand of trees.
Food could wait...she had to get him home...her vision was beginning to tunnel out a bit.
She changed the way she held him and slowed her own pace a little; she dug into his pocket awkwardly, then flipped his phone open. "Hello..." she said, the words dragged from her. "Eric isn't available right now..."
"Pusher." Pusher's voice sounded out of the telephone. "Found the clue and the uniform. Turned the clothes over to the cops. Just called to check in. Any sign of Heartbreaker?"
"Over the cliff, in a car, probably not dead but...we're sucking," Patty gasped, putting one foot in front of the other mechanically. "We're on the outskirts of town, coming in on 221, and I don't have anything left."
She paused, trying to get rid of the tunnel vision. "Eric's pretty battered...I haven't got anything left--I'm hungry--bring food, corner of 21st and Euclid."
Patty slowed and eased over to the bench by the bus-stop. "We're stopped, bring a car or something, and food, I...can't go any further."
"It's okay." Pusher sounded calm. "I got a pusher mobile I have been thinking about picking up."
Eric was slowly coming around. His arm was hurting pretty badly, not to mention most of the rest of him. He wasn't laying down on his chest, that was at least good. Looking around he saw the tired and drained Patty. "So...you holding up okay?"
Patty shook her head and handed his phone over, still on. "Its Pusher, and no, I feel like crud."
She took his hand and pushed it against her flank. "You can feel my ribs--I'm starting to burn on myself, rather than reserves."
"Damn.. I'm sorry hon." he forced a smile "Your still cute to me though." he looked at the phone "Hope Pusher gets out here quickly. Don't think I dislocated my arm but I think I pulled or strained some muscles with the get out car move." He looked down the road a bit "Maybe order us a dozen pizzas when we get back."
"He's still on the line, I didn't hang up," she said, easing back and slumping on the bench. "A dozen pizzas sound good, and I checked you out...not like that..." she gave him a very tired smile. "...you've got bruises and bumps and I think you hyperextended your right side--give it a day or two and you'll be fine."
"Tell him to hurry," she said--and then her stomach growled angrily. "And pizzas, and I have to get home...before my folks ground me."
Tachyon had covered a great distance from the mountains half the state away. Traffic passed by where they sat until a black Volkswagen beetle rolled up the street slowly. A giant silver atom was painted on the hood of the car.
Patty's jaw fell open. "Oh." She shook her head. "My." her eyes widened. "God."
She pushed herself to wobbly feet and helped up Eric. "I thought he was kidding with 'the pusher mobile'."
Pusher got out from behind the wheel, mask hiding his face. He went around to the other side and opened the door. He produced a big bag of Taco Bell takeout.
"Kinda glad I missed that line.." Eric stated as Pusher got out from behind the wheel, mask hiding
his face.
"Dig in." Pusher handed over the bags. "This was the fastest thing I could think of to handle your stomach."
There was a crinkle of wrapping paper as the speedster opened the bag...
"Taco Bell, best of both worlds. Something with some taste and fast." Eric took a seat in the back letting Patty have the front seat with all the food.
...three empty burritto wrapers hit the floor of the car in rapid succession and Patty looked up. "MM??" she said, a sour-cream mustache across her upper lip. "Yeah, hungry, god, this is good, thank you."
She leaned over and gave a quick peck on the cheek to Pusher, leaving behind a slight smear of sour cream.
Two more soft taco wrappers hit the floor.
"Do we check on Blanche, call the cops, or go home?" Pusher used a napkin on the smear across his face mask. "You guys said you left her tied up in a car?"
"Mmph," Patty said, her mouth full--she swallowed and turned beet-red. "Uh...yeah...she, uh, got kinda loose and I was distracted and uh...the car kinda went over a cliff."
"We'll need to check for the body." Pusher grabbed his pad and made a note. "I turned the stolen uniform in as evidence. You guys can eat while I drive."
Thursday the Fourth
Nariko 7:30 am
Nariko pointed at the dying vortex, puzzled. "Um...can you make out what that is? Some sort of dust tornado or something like that?"
"I don't know." Four looked around. "There are two more over there."
He pointed at two more of the outbursts in the middle of the desert sand. They rumbled up out of the ground, then dropped down in a shower.
Her feet shifted in the sand nervously and she immediately mentally chastised herself for being a scared little idiot. "Well um...for lack of anything *else* to look at on this planet, can we please go check them out?"
"I don't see why not." Mr. Four picked Nariko up in an arm and took to the sky. "We have 24 hours before we recalled. We might as well explore."
Nariko seemed pleased to be airborne, obviously enjoying the view. "So, you mean that we'll be able to get back even *without* being with the others?"
"Your dad has an automatic recall device." Four scanned the desert ahead. "As long as that is still functioning, we should be sent back to the membrane, back to the door. We can't leave it open for the obvious reasons."
Nariko nodded and smiled just a little. "Well okay...you're the one
that's doing the flying. Lead on..."
Nariko spotted the reemergence of the columns. Their sources seemed to be under the sand. She could see what looked like moving hills heading away from her and her bodyguard.
Nariko peered down, *terribly* curious. "Can we get a little closer please?", she asked her flying chaperone.
"Sure." Mr. Four descended, staying to the left of the moving hills. A cloud of sand burst in the air. Nariko spotted what looked like a fluke slapping the air.
She pointed it out to Four-sama excitedly. "Hey, look at *that*! There's some sort of living thing making that!"
"It's as big as a whale." Four looked around. "What do they call it when there's more than one? A herd? Flock?"
"How about a pod, like whales?", the teen suggested.
"That's what I was thinking of." Four pointed. "It looks like they have boats too."
A four master cut across the sand, sails unfurled on the cross masts. A crew of almost humans stood on the deck. Some pointed at the flying man and girl.
