Summary:Whitestar at last has located Starfire…and the fact she's at a university sponsored welcome event, nor that she's with her friends (Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Jimmy Baker, Priscilla Kitaen, Sue Richard and Johnny Storm) won't stop her from attempting to wreak her revengeance! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's a new school year at Empire State University, and with it comes the annual mini-festival known as Welcome Days, where various organizations and departments on campus set up boots in the quad along with a variety of local restaurants and shops hoping to entice customers in the upcoming semester. Today, there's a large tent that's giving out free ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry) and another giving out watermelon slices that are doing a brisk business. There are rough paths set up by the lines of booths to keep things moving, along with a few larger ones that have a variety of contests such as spinning a wheel or throwing a ring at a bottle to win various prizes (like free soft drinks for a year using a certain cup at the local sandwich shop or similar ideas).
There's a wide variety of students and department staff running the boots, answering questions for those interested, as well as a wide variety of fraternities and sororities in one particular row talking to incoming students about what they do and what they'll need to worry about for pledge week if they choose to join up.
There's live music from a variety of students from the music department and local bands and an open area for people to hang out listening by sittin gin the grass amid the shelters designed to keep some of the heat off those walking around, as well as several tables giving out free water in cups for those who get a little dehydrated.
Overall, perfectly peaceful…hardly anyone would notice the quiet figure crouching on a nearby building as she searches the students walking around. Looking for one in particular.
Peter looked up from the map app. Although some paper maps are still being handed out, one enterprising team had coded a map app that laid out the booths on the commons area, and he could clearly see some of the booths he wanted to check out.
He had high hopes for ESU. Classes were starting, and he was going to have to cut his hours at Kane Industries to make room for study time, class time…and his regular forays into free-fire zones. He was glad the shirt hid the bruising that was still reconciling itself. At least his bones were no longer broken. H3 Hummers were nothing to sneeze at.
He looked behind him to see Mary Jane. Jeez, his heart always tugged at him, even though he knew it could never be. Like a lot of things he wanted. Sometimes, you just have to let go of what you can do nothing about. He paused, smiling to Mary Jane. "Come on, MJ…we're moving at a snail's pace."
Showing up at random schools is what MJ does. By now, the star-power has waned for her, and she was just like any other student. A student from another school who shows up and eats all the food. This time, she has a golden retriever with her; Maxmillion. Tucked in a nice safety vest that has the words scribbled on it: SERVICE DOG - I AM CURRENTLY WORKING. Even though Max is the reason why they were moving slow, she allows him to explore as he need be, sniffing out things, making sure it's something he can eat. Stopping at a water bowl, taking a few sips. Often laying down when they finally stop, and taking his time in getting up and moving again.
"Sorry.. sorry.." She says to Peter! "I'm not used to taking the big guy out in crowds!"
The slow pace might have something to do with Kori's presence. Rapt fascination is writ on her face with every new sight. The ring toss in particular seems to keep drawing back her attention.
When Peter prompts them along, she looks up from her attempt to combine the watermelon in her left hand with the ice cream in her right. A hopskip catches back up, a flickering of red hair and creamsicle skin that's almost (slightly literally) glowing in the overhead sun. Her one-piece romper adds to the intense combination of orange and red, loose-fitting and comfortably exposing her shoulders and decolletage to the sun. Plain flats are the best she can do for her height but she's a half a head taller than almost anyone nearby.
"Explain to me again why MJ got to bring Maximillion, and I could not bring Fluffers," Kori says with a plaintive tone. "Even if he's a very good boy. Yes you are the goodest boy!" She stoops and ruffles his ears, crooning at him with doggo talk. Then she offers him some of her ice cream. '
Jimmy, in fact, had completely forgotten that today was one of the Welcome Days; he's here because he's a student, getting ready for the upcoming full semester of medical study. But hey, no reason not to join in. He drifts from one booth to another, no plan to his movements. But something in the corner of his eye catches his attention.
"Oh hey!" He waves an arm, scurrying over. "Peter, Kori. Haven't seen you for a bit. And who's this cutie?" He turns his smile to Maxmillion, crouching slightly. Oh thank goodness; with a line like that, he could have been creeping on Mary Jane. Speaking of whom, he looks up at her with a smile, too. "And who's your friend?"
Susan Storm-Richards is here, mostly to provide moral support for - and maybe undermine any disasterous cultural clashes involving the alien princess living in her building.
Also because they have strawberry ice cream here!
And also because he brother his here. She's carefully balancing a cone as she finishes relating to him for the umpteenth time, "-and, I really can't stress this enough, Kori's cultural response to whistling *can not be predicted*, so please avoid it."
To be honest, things collegiate are not at all Priscilla's bailliwick. Not in the slightest. But she is actually present right now, settled atop a teetering seat positioned inside of a dunk tank featured prominently near the Fraternity and Sorority row. It seems that the Greek Society decided on a fundraiser, and one of the Greek guys decided hiring a stripper as a ringer for the dunking booth was a sure thing.
Catching sight of Koriand'r's distinctive coloration and height at this range, Priscilla does not call out or wave; she's here to do a job, so most of her attention remains fixed on teasing at the guys - and gals - taking shots with the softball. But she smiles as much inside as outside when she feels Kori's excitement and pleasure; she knows that heart, those feelings anywhere.
And then the softball strikes, the plunger ka-thunks, and the micro-miniskirt clad improbably curvaceous mocha-skinned stripper is dropped off her seat and into the vat of cold water.
Whee!
Johnny is here with his older sister Sue, to hang out with their neighbor, Kory, who lives just downstairs from them in the Baxter Building. Also, free ice cream and watermelon, and other food is always nice. I mean who can say 'no' to free food? Not Johnny. Plus, Kory and MJ are hot. What? They are! It's a fact.
Which is why Sue is being a mom again. He rolls his eyes at his elder sister, then smirks a little. "But what else can I do if one of the bands starts playing one of my favorite tunes?" he asks, mock-pouting at her.
BGM Change: https://youtu.be/KF0eFQ18v4c?t=42
There.
Blue eyes narrow as she sees the tall figure of Koriand'r walking through the crowd, some local confection and a piece a fruit in the other. Carefree. Smiling. /SMILING/.
THer hand on the edge of the building grips convulsively for a moment, the weak stone under it cracking under her fingers as her eyes blaze. How /dare/ she smile! How /dare/ she be there, happy, when she spelled the doom of her family, her people…her /world/! How dare Starfire, when she cost Ravag'r everything…her friends, her family…years of torture and experimentation…
A burning rage banked surges through the lost Tamaranean warrior, surging through her, her eyes glowing with power. The harness she wears throbs, the LED stylized sun at the front pulsing as it monitors and adapts to the straining solar energies in her body, as she pushes herself to her feet.
A more restrained, disciplined warrior…the one that she was…would wait. Would plan. Minimize involvement of civilians. Cut her off from any allies. Strike with honor, detailing her crimes. Why she deserves…why she /MUST/ pay the price of her actions!
But there's nothing in her at that moment but white-hot rage that feeds her unstable abilities, a corona of white fire bursting into existence around her, before she throws herself directly at Koriand'r from behind, a fist cocking as her lips pull back in a rictus snarl of pure rage.
Only the fact the flare is visible, and that several more quick on the uptake students and staff yell seeing the incoming white comet gives some students that moment to try and dive out of the way…the ones who don't freeze as the meteor descends towards its target, leaving a white tail behind it. Maximillian likely is the other to sense it on some level
"<TRAITOR!!!>" the crazed warrior screams in her native language, right before the fist would hit…
Peter chuckles slightly. "I mentioned that Max is a service dog. MJ is training him to handle various tasks. Fluffers is…well…Fluffers."
Then Max dominates the conversation, and Peter sighs. Second fiddle to a dog. Nice day for it, though.
And then his Spider-Sense SQUALLS in his skull and immediately makes him a liar.
Bruises and mild discomfort are forgotten as he moves with unnatural speed, as if he saw Whitestar coming a mile away. Koriandr is suddenly PULLED down, Peter yanking her down and rolling with her ten feet to the right, ending up with Peter on his back and Kori over him.
"Kori.. you see.." MJ was going to explain the differences between Max and Fluffer's, but Peter pretty much had it already! It was pretty much an on spot answer after all, with MJ shrugging her shoulders and enjoying all of the love that Max is getting. It was refreshing to be around people who loved animals, so MJ is all ito it. But noticing the sigh from Peter, she gives him a little nudge to perk up. "This is Max." MJ says to Jimmy. "I'm Mary Jane, it's really nice to meet you!" She'd shake his hand, but she was holding a leash and a pamphlet, and didn't want to ruin it.
It was quick, the way Max is set to growling, and how Peter tugged Kori out of the way with a roll. In fact, it was all slow motion, with Mary Jane's mouth dropping open to say 'What..', not realizing a blaze.. with Kori out of the way, could be heading right towards her!
In truth, were it not for Peter's interdiction, the fight might have been over before it began. A sucker punch to the back of the head from someone with Whitestar's power would probably have knocked the princess into next week.
Kori doesn't fight as Peter slams into her. She doesn't have his preternatural awareness but there's nothing wrong her with her reflexes and she processes the flash of light and motion as Whitestar rockets past her. The two tumble through the air, bounce once, and Kori lands on Peter. The motion converts almost instantly into flight and she grabs his shirtfront to haul him off the ground, whipping in a short arc and tossing Peter a good distance away from the field of fire.
Jimmy's smiling, nice and relaxed, happy to be here with friends. A certain mocha-skinned improbability catches his eyes, but he yanks them away to the side before he sees what the water does with her clothing.
Then comes that fury. 'Hearing' it, on the edge of his range, makes his head snap up and turn to face it. Like Peter, he sees Whitestar before she's even lit up. He knows that rage, and knows its target.
No time to hide, to make a secret of his intervention. As he steps forward, his human guise tears away, leaving him glowing with angelic light. His flaming wings spread, his sword and shield appear in his hands, and he jumps from the ground, to interpose himself between the comet and the woman — a different woman from her real target. "Whitestar." More eloquent words fail him in this tight, tense moment. All he manages is, "Stop This." As she comes in closer, he swing his arm to batter her with the white, glowing shield, to at least try to knock her off-course.
Susan gives a wry look to Johnny and shakes her head. "I've been to college, Johnny, the band is never-"
However that sentence was going to end is forgotten immediatelly as soon as Susan spots a roaring white comet descending on the ground - specifically on Kori. Suddenly the nice sun dress she was wearing is being worn over the full Fantastic Four costume as she lets it return to visibility - minus her gloves - calling out "EVERYONE GET DOWN!"
The angle of her approach is all wrong to try to put any useful kind of barrier up, and Susan's already sprinting towards the point of impact, ice cream forgotten, just barely putting herself between Mary Jane, Jimmy, and the attacking alien in time to put out her hands, quickly erecting an invisible barrier between them; though the force of impact is likely to bowl Susan over from the feedback, she can hopefully keep anyone from getting killed. Though ideally maybe Jimmy's forcefield can take some of the load off.
White hot rage. It seethes. It flares. And … and it doesn't belong. Not here. Certainly not that strong!
Submerged beneath the water, Priscilla feels it and her head snaps around, her body following instantly as she reacts not with normal strength and agility, but with that which surpasses … everything. Everything normal. Everything natural.
Pris emerges from the dunk tank not by climbing up the frame, but by leaping straight up and over. Even as she does so, the clothes she was wearing fall away as she shifts, her form rippling and melting like hot wax. What emerges, what lands nearly twenty feet away in the midst of a crowd of gawping and ready-to-panic college students, is an equally improbable-curved female figure clad in skintight purple with gold accents; of course, it is skintight because it is her skin, such as it is right now. The full-coverage mask leaves no skin to see, and such is intentional.
Eyes behind smoked glass sweep the space, catching sight of the flaming form, and then Voodoo starts sprinting across the quad, twisting around obstacles - as many are moving humans as are tents and booths - with preternatural agility. « Kori! You're the target! » comes the psychic shout, with the kind of force that would make another telepath bleed. Yet even as Voodoo strives to get to the threat and her friend, she passes by another figure … and something niggles at her. That presence is not the threat, here. But she senses it, and knows it is a problem. Not today, but soon. And he's heading right for Kori …
Voodoo plants her foot and twists, diving into the pretty redhead right nearby. She's even cognizant enough to stretch out an arm to grab the harness of the service dog, translating as much of her momentum as she can into girl and dog to get them clear of the field of fire. "Stay down!" comes a rasping, inhuman voice. It sounds like one of those vocoder-altered masks, but it's just more shapeshifting fun.
The world has narrowed to nothing but her target…the other woman barely registers to Whitestar. She wasn't aiming for her…but she wasn't trying to avoid her either. As Starfire is abruptly yanked out of the way by Peter, the fist continues forward, aimed now at the ground, and the inevitable crater that would otherwise result…until gleaming shield meets glowing fist, the unstable solar energies in Whitestar adding to the force of the impact, but further deflected by the other invisible forcefield that springs into existence as the Invisible Woman adds her power to his. It's enough that what might otherwise have knocked Jimmy across the quad is becomes enough to knock him and Sue off their fee, but by then Pris has carried MJ and her dog clear of the impact point. (And the dog will be okay!)
The concrete path still shatters under the impact, leaving a blast crater as screams surround the area, students and staff alike turning to flee in a human wave away from the battle as Whitestar lands in a three point impact, her blazing eyes tracking towards Whitestar like a turret as she kicks off, spinning as she aims a hard hooking kick at Kori where she crouches over Peter aimed at sending her flying towards a nearby stately oak, a wordless snarl escaping her. "This does not concern you, Winged Man!" she shoots over her shoulder at Jimmy, as he's the only other person she immediately recognizes (out of costume, anyway) as she stalks after Starfire. "<Come and face retribution, troq!>" she spits after the other Tamaraenan.
Okay! She's okay. Now to get to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUL5w91dzbo !
That is the sound, more or less, that Peter makes as he is thrown away. Away from the action, that is. Which is good. But there is a lot going on, and oh crud Whitestar is here and she has a mad-on for Kori.
Everyone is running and yelling and the chaos can work for him. He ducks behind one of the booths, then activates the Suit, pulling the mask on, sliding on the gloves and attached webshooters, then begins working his way out of his civvies. It would be great if he could just switch like the woman who grabbed MJ and Max…
…but Uncle Ben would admonish him to fight the battle he had, not the one he wanted.
Any normal human would have soiled themselves; but thank god MJ is not normal! She always listens to her mothers, Aunt Anna, and Aunt May's words to use the bathroom before we leave! And Mary Jane did just that! But that damned commotion was too quick for her to keep up with, for as far as she had gotten into moving was attempting to crouch down and grab Max! But with Jimmy flaring to life, she was blinded. Sue jumping into the fray, she saw blonde. Pris snatching her -AND- Max and dragging them to safety, she saw blurs!
Holy. Pepperoni!
In the clear and totally listening to Pris' orders, she stays down, tugging the poor whimping pup against her to hold him tight. "It's okay Maximills.. it's okay.." She tries to soothe, all choked up and ready to burst into tears. And then she hears the warcry of Whitestar, which makes her choke up even more. "Oh god, we're being invaded.." As if Max could even respond. "..We gotta call 9-1-1.." And then she breaks up into sobs. "..they..theyre..they're gonna be so sick of me..eee-heeeee!!"
Kori's juggling too many eggs. Civilians fleeing, friends diving for cover or even counterattacking. Even in the heat of the swirling melee a burst of pride warms her hearts at the sight of her allies pushing back against the violent attack.
But it all distracts her. That kick takes her right across the ribs. Eyes bulge and she folds around the force that sends her flying backwards, smashing right into the lower branches of the oak tree. Some snap, but others bend and bear her weight.
"<You are going to hurt the civilians! Have you no honor?> Kori demands, aghast. Her eyes flare with emerald light that matches an aurora flickering near her skin as she channels her own internal reserves of power. Twin beams of energy lance from her eyes with enough heat to set the air around them ablaze, almost too fast to follow.
"Hey, don't diss college bands!" Johnny retorts at Sue's sarcastic remark. "Everyone has to start some—"
And then his slice of watermelon drops to the ground as he hears Whitestar yelling in an alien language and charnging right for them. Yep, this sounds about right for the superhero life. You just never know when crazies are going to attack! Thankfully though, Sue and others are quick to get Kory, MJ, and defenseless students out of the way of danger.
But Whitestar won't be the only one on fire out here today. Before long, the Torch bursts into fiery plasma, shouting his own battlecry of "FLAME ON!" His street clothing are quickly consumed in the fire, leaving only his uniform underneath as he rockets into the air and directs a hot, concentrated stream of burning plasma right at Whitestar, hopefully without setting anything or anyone else on fire too.
Jimmy, Heavensent, was already off his feet; he's faster on his wings than on the ground. But the shock still ripples through him, sending him backwards. Does he even know yet how much Susan helped? Invisible force fields are, well, invisible. It rattles him enough that he's too slow to intercede again; his speed was all in reacting before normal people would know there was something to react to.
He's out of his league and knows it. But that's never been a reason to stop, to slow, to back down. "It Concerns Me," he retorts. "It Concerns That Innocent Woman, And Her Dog." Seriously, Whitestar, endangering a dog? That's how you lose all your sympathy points. "It Concerns Everyone Here."
Everyone here. There are heroes here, yes, but there are so many more civilians. People who'd just been having a normal, even fun day, and now must run for their lives. Jimmy tastes the bile of their fear just as clearly as his own. With a deep breath, he sucks it into himself. Bravery isn't the lack of fear, but acting in spite of it; he can gather it into himself…
…and he can push it forwards, his eyes blazing as he pours that same fear into Whitestar, washing it over the flames of her fury. Sometimes, empathy isn't something you bestow, but something you inflict on others. "See What You're Doing!" It's not a raw, physical attack like Kori's gaze or Johnny's flames, but it may be Jimmy's best chance of overcoming her strength.
"GYAH!" Susan cries out as Whitefire impacts against her barrier, falling backwards onto the ground where she sits up immediately, casting her eyes about for the offending alien comet.
Tense and breathing heavily, Susan spots Whitefire and grimaces faintly, and quickly yanks her civilian clothing away so she's just in her costume now, before climbing to her feet.
She looks down at MJ and says, "Get out of here as fast as you can." Before lifting her head and directing her voice to any civilians that haven't already scattered, spreading out her arms and momentarily putting a barrier between them and her. "Everyone! It's not safe here! Please leave as fast as you can!"
Okay that's d- is the redhead crying? Ohhh no, she's crying. "Oh no, oh, oh no, sweety? I know it's scary-" she says, unaware of the extent to which Mary Jane has been exposed to this kind of madness. She crouches down and takes MJ by the shoulders, trying to half lift half guide MJ to her feet, while turning to put herself between MJ and Whitefire; erecting an invisible barrier behind herself, "-but you have to focus right now, okay hon? You have to *go*."
No weapons to hand but herself, Voodoo takes only a moment to check on the bewildered, but soon to be panicking redhead and her dog. Then she pushes off and launches herself back into the fray. She sees Kori kicked hard, knocked back, and now leaping back to the fight, and her alien-hunter instincts burn dangerously. Those instincts, honed over years with her old team, tell Voodoo there is one sure-fire solution to this threat: kill. Take the head from the other woman's shoulders, and the fight ends.
Koriand'r and her 'hero' friends would hate that.
Spotting the angellic form of another friend, and seeing the Storms involved, Voodoo grimaces. Dangit, now she has to fight good, instead of smart. So inconvenient. Ptui!
Purple-'gloved' hands shift and morph into razor-clawed appendages as Voodoo vaults ahead, springing improbably high and coming down at the white-blazing terror. . o O (C'mon, you b*tch! Focus on the nearer threat!) And please let the civilians run …
For all her obsession with Koriand'r, Whitestar has never actually fought her since she was changed after her capture by her own experiments. She expects flight, strength, toughness.
The eyebeams catch her off guard as she has only a split second to throw up her arms as the solar blasts catch her in the chest, sending her flying backwards to smash through the dunk booth Pris was only sitting in a short time ago, smashing clean through the back and slamming into the local AGORA crisis center boot, before she skids to a halt, rolling back up into a crouch, her gleaming white breastplate discolored where the bolts hit in black scorch marks.
"You chose to hide amongst them, glubnorb." she spits. "And you /deserve/ no honor, traitor!" she says, unconsciously switching to English. Still she snorts, then shouts. "BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE, HUMANS! THIS IS NO FIGHT OF YOURS!"
Of course, that's when the blast from plasma from Johnny arrives; she's a bit more quick to react to that as she raises her hands, flaring her fingers out as a shimmering field of white energy catches the blast, splitting it around her to set a pair of the abandoned booths to either side of her aflame as she grunts, then rolls to the side and forward. Gripping the dunk tank, she hefts it with a snarl, then throws the tank and the water straight at the Burning Man (as she's thinking of him). Invisible Woman and MJ don't draw any fire, at least while she's distracted.
Even more so when the empathic attack slams into her as she staggers, caught off guard as fear wars with the rage in her, her powers fluctuating madly around her as her control slips for a moment…long enough for Voodoo to slam into her, though she has the presence of mind to bring up the shield again as she's knocked on her back, keeping her claws at bay, long enough for her to bring a foot off and kick out hard in an attempt to send Voodoo flying away from her. "Get /off/ me!"
Then she surges up again, that white corona surrounding her as she takes to the air to try and stay out of range of Crazy Claw Woman. "You dare interfere! Very well, if you would defend the monster, I will STRIKE YOU DOWN AS WELL!" She shoots down and scoops up one of the freezesr that was keeping all the ice cream ready to serve, then hurls it straight at Voodoo.
FINALLY! Next upgrade—QUICK-CHANGING OPTION!
"ALICE, call SHIELD! Tell them the situation and give our location!"
The suit's V.I. says huskily, "Already doing so."
A familiar red-and-blue costumed hero leaps out to land near MJ. God, how it hurt to know she was in danger. "Mary Jane!" he says quickly. "The authorities are being called! Stay clear and under cover!" He paused, then said, "Be safe, okay?"
Yup, MJ was full on sobs while she reaches for her phone. She was all but ready to call 9-1-1 until Sue grabs her shoulders and consoles her. It was totally scary. Too scary. All MJ could do was nod and sob and then, bend and hoist up Max like he was a baby. A big, huge baby. "Ooh.." She finally says, focusing just as she's told. "..you're Mrs. Richards.. I.. I see you on TV a lot and you're a strong woman and I want to be like you but I don't have any.." She fhbubub's, trying to stop herself from crying. "..it's a total honor.."
There was a fight going on, one she finally catches, her eyes wide as she looks around at all of the commotion. She couldn't make heads or tails of -what-! But at least Peter and Sue were recognizable! Seeing Kori get hit just didn't register. It was just not possible!
Peter was telling her to find cover, Sue was telling her to leave. So what does MJ do?
Hitch up Max and books it! Heading right towards a building so she could safely call 9-1-1! Sure, SHIELD is being called, but what's more backup?!
Kori divebombs into the path of the refridgerator and grabs it with both hands. She pivots twice in the air with a blurring of motion, pyroclastic red hair afire in her wake with that same flickering emerald nimbus.
The motion translates all that energy into rotary forces and she lets it go in Whitestar's direction. It's not a terribly accurate toss as far as projectiles go, but at least it's not going to smash Voodoo into paste.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Kori screams. The sound's more frustrated anguish than rage; torn between a duty to Whitestar and a duty to her friends, she's clearly running on instincts.
Johnny groans as Whitestar brings up some kind of shield to block his beam, setting the booths on fire. Of -course-. Why did he ever even bother hoping to not set other things on fire. It always happened. He grunts more as he strains against it, increasing the intensity of his flames in an effort to simply break through her shields.
However, his concentration is broken when she throws the dunk tank at him. A large fireball is thrown at it, turning it into a charred husk that falls to the ground before it can hit him. "Uh, -rude-. The dunk tank is only for willing volunteers, get your Earth etiquette right!"
He starts to prepare another fireball, this one even bigger than the one he just lobbed at the dunk tank. "Oh, and bee-tee-dubs it -is too- our fight, because Kori's my friend. And neighbor. I mean don't tell me -you- wouldn't help -your- friends if they were getting attacked by a psychotic alien monster lady. Because then you would be a -really- bad friend."
And at that, he sends the flaming sphere of plasma right at her.
Jimmy takes to the air again, following the ever-moving commotion, keeping himself close enough to Whitestar to keep that firehose of fear turned on her. The focus on that makes his flight slower, a touch more wobbly. Even if it's just a distraction, it's enough to help he others fight her; they can coordinate while she fights a battle inside her own mind. "Then You Must Strike Us All. And The Humans Coming. And All Those Others, Guilty Only Of Defending The Peace. Can You Still Call That Justice, When Your Revenge Burns Like Indiscriminate Wildfire?" Or indiscriminate plasma, as she evades her own punishment by burning the booths behind her.
As he speaks, he comes in closer… and his sword and shield morph, turning into a massive, two-handed sword. While she's so distracted by that fear he forces into her, and by all the others attacking, he takes a swing of his own.
Susan blinks twice at the pure oddness of the honestly very sweet comments that come her way from this distraught young woman. The short laugh she gives is awkward, but the smile's totally sincere and kind as she says, simply. "The pleasure's all mine. Now please-"
Before she can repeat her command, Spider-Man appears and seems to give Mary Jane the last little push she needs. Susan sighs softly, and says, "Thanks-" before peering at Spider-Man, wracking her brains for why the young her looks so familiar before a light bulb goes off in her head! "Thank you, Spider-Boy!"
She's sure that's right!
Finally free of that situation, Susan turns her attention to the matter at hand, grimacing faintly at the chaos in front of her. Kids fighting, fire flying in all directions, and- IS THAT THAT ALIEN DOG THING AGAIN?
"I hope you're durable, son." She says softly, and then runs towards the melee, keeping low to the ground until she's a sufficient distance away that she goes down onto one knee, putting her hand on the ground, visualizing two flat lines on either side of Whitefire. "Guys!" She calls urgently, "Lecture her when she's *down*!!" She finishes with a bite to her voice thanks to the slight strain and effort required as she rises up onto her feet again, lifting two invisible barriers on either side of Whitefire to try to block her immediate avenues to dodge the two blasts heading for her.
Voodoo is happy - or as happy as she can be, in this situation - that her attempt to get Whitestar focused on her rather than Kori for the moment has worked. She has to trust the others to do what they can; for now, Voodoo's job is to be the big, bright purple bouncing troublemaker. The thrown fridge is something she can brace and prepare to deal with, hoping to slice it apart before it can impart enough force to knock her away.
But then Koriand'r, the very woman she's trying to keep out of the psycho's sights flies right into the midst of things to catch the freezer and toss it back.
It's sweet. Heroic. And really not what Voodoo wanted at all.
Such is life! The purple-clad figure crouches down low, building up force, and then launches herself in a spring upwards, right between those planes of force, swiping with her claws as she tries to slice into Whitestar. Or at least, that's what it looks like. At the last moment, however, the swipe of the hand is used only as momentum, as instead Voodoo's mind reaches out, slamming the raging woman's psyche with telepathic force. She has never tried this with an alien before, but she herself is not exactly human; she can only hope it will be enough to break concentration, possibly even KO the target.
She can hope, at least. Or she can burn. Voodoo's OK with that, if it gives Kori an opening. But Voodoo is probably going to get crispy with all of the fire in the now tightly confined space.
Kori's intervention sends the fridge flying back at Whitestar as the floating warrior reflexively cocks back a fist and swings, the fridge coming apart in a blast of white light and scattering small ice cream containers as Whitestar sails through it, her eyes flaring with white light. "Why? Because /you'd/ rather hurt them, like you did on Tamaran!?!" she snarls back at Starfire, starting forward again, then forced to dodge back, a circular shield appearing around her hand as she is forced to bat the ball of plasma to the side as heat rushes over her, the wayward fireball further deflecting off one of Sue's invisible fields and arcing neatly into the nearby campus pond and away from the fight, sending the ducks who were minding their own business shooting into the air with frantic squawks as it sends up a rush of steam as it douses.
That draws a quick doubletake from the Tamaranean berserker as she jerks to the side and slams into the other field, not realizing its there, before the rush of fear returns. Her pupils dilate more as she's forced off balance, before the massive sword comes winging at her as she twists narrowly to the side, the tip of the blade scoring the side of her chestplate, before she kicks straight up in a quick high kick aimed at Jimmy's chin…luckly with only a fraction of her strength behind it, then screams out as the telepathic blast hits her, staggering as it hammers at her formidable willpower, enough to spark fear and rage into panic.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" she roars, the gem in her forehead starting to pulse, then gleam brightly like the star that's her namesake as the white energy wreathing her suddenly swirls around her like a storm, a quickly increasingly hum audible as the sun on her breastplate start to pulse in time with the gem on her forehead.
Oh no. Oh no oh no no no no…
"Holy Toledo, she's going critical!" He looked to the woman who called her "Spider-Boy." Yeah, THAT name isn't going to show up in his least favorite nightmares, the ones with Carl King and Flash Thompson. It takes him a second. Susan Richards. The Invisible Woman.
Force fields…
"Richards!" he barks. "Get something under her and lift her. HIGH! I think she's going to go supercritical!"
Mary wasn't prepared for this day. She probably would have had a ripped off costume to wear underneath of what she was wearing, all the while crying in the corner. And she does cry. And it was hot. So hot that her hair was already ruined, crinkling and dripping with sweat. And she thought she had gotten far.
"It's okay Max.." She manages to get out, her eyes studying her hidey-hole on the side of the building. "I'll find some water.." Hopefully everyone was okay! The last few of the civilians were running away that she could see, while some others hung and hid just like her. So instead of raising and running, she was totally on all fours, right along with Max, crawling around for a discarded bottle of water, thankfully -away- from the fight and towards much more cooler air.
Whitestar's brimming with rage. And Kori uses that against her. She ducks and weaves, taunting the woman with her presence. Rather than trying to match her hammerblow for blow the princess creates openings for her allies to pummel the berserk woman.
When Peter's stressed voice hits Kori's ears she tries to process the information. The context of Whitestar's body shimmering with radiance— plying against Kori's enhanced senses like a tuning fork against her teeth— sends alarm through Kori's body.
She accelerates forward with bewildering speed as if preparing to slam her shoulder into Whitestar. But, therein's the differnece between the two women. Whitestar's running on pure rage. Lashing out at anything and everything, throwing her powers around almost willy-nilly with no regard for strategy aside from hurting people as fast as possible.
On Kori's side are two things: calm strategy, and allies. She flings a massive burst of dazzling radiation at Whitestar's face, to very little debilitating effect, but intended instead to distract the assassin while her allies pepper Whitestar with telepathy, with telekinesis, with a swinging sword and flying plasma spheres and Sue's incredible willpower making the air as obdurate as a steel cage around Whitestar.
Go team!
Johnny makes a frustrated noise when the fire is simply batted away. The Torch floats there for a moment, frowning as the battle continues. He's starting to feel like maybe he should just leave this the others, who seem to be a lot more effective against this woman.
That's when she starts doing the thing. That 'I'm-about-to-explode' thing. He hears Spidey calling for Sue to use her force fields, but who knows how big and how powerful the blast might be?
"No, -you- get away from -us-!" he shouts, suddenlying flying straight at her and attempting to simply grab her and -climb-. Up, up, up, as far as he can go without running out of oxygen. Brazen and dangerous, sure—but this is -Johnny- we're talking about.
Jimmy pouts slightly at Susan's admonishing. "If We Can Reason With Her, We Don't Need To Beat Her." Especially since he's not all that confident he can beat Whitestar in a straight-up battle…
…not that it prevents him trying. He goes in for the swing, instead just scoring the all-important, stabilising breastplate. He gets a kick for his trouble. For a brief instant, his life flashes before his eyes. Even that fraction of impact is enough to snap his head back and distract him enough for his wings to flicker and drop him to the ground. That's his angle when he hears the hum rising, sees the light pulsing. He opens his mouth, but Spider-Man has already given the warning.
He gets back up onto his knees, and brings his wings back to light. He and Johnny have the same thought, and though he's a bit behind the Human Torch, he at least follows — hooking around to grab from a different angle, or even just following them into the sky. They might need someone to catch them, after all.
Susan distractedly replies, "Reasoning is for dear friends, and people who aren't *still trying to kill you after attacking civilians*! Pacify first!"
How long has she been doing this now?
Susan's brow furrows with worry at Whitestar's alarming reaction, before her eyes widen very quickly. "… Ohdear." She says very quickly, before spreading her arms wide, and then swinging them closed together, interlinking her fings to help visualize an invisible encasement around Whitefire. Okay. So far so good. Can she contain an explosion? That's an amazing question with many relative answers. But maybe she can make a third forcefield and pinball her into the a- "JOHNNY NO!" She calls out an instant before her kid brother takes off into the sky, her head turning upwards towards the trail of fire left behind. "Nonono, Johnny? *Johnny!* Let her go I can-" Susan flinches with the effort of trying to maintain the forcefield at this distance, "… I can handle this!"
Assuming he can even hear her by now.
YOWCH!
Voodoo falls back to the ground - she cannot fly, only leap really well - and curls up around her seared, slagged arm. Already she can feel her body striving to recover, to morph, shift and regrow the ruined limb. She cannot maintain her hold on the maddened woman's mind when her own is swamped with so much pain, so the follow-up blast she had planned fails, falling apart like psychic sand before the onrushing winds of change.
Voodoo turns her head, looking around. She sees friends and allies strewn all about, and she knows - instinctually, she knows - the danger others perceive with science and experience. She knows what is coming, because she can FEEL IT inside Whitestar. The Human Torch takes off with her, and she watches Jimmy - dear, sweet Jimmy - flying after them. Oh, fu**.
What she does next, Voodoo has no way to know if it can work. She doesn't have time to doubt. She surges to her feet and stumbles rapidly to Susan's side. There are no words. She just lays her unmelted hand on the blonde's shoulder, and gathers up all of her own power, her own will, and pushes it like a tidal wave into the blonde woman's mind and body, to suffuse and support her own effort of will. To, if possible, give her strength to stand when her body would otherwise possible fail.
Or maybe she just sends a burst of energy that rolls like water around a stone in the river, changing nothing at all.
It's too late to worry about it now.
There's something different this time, for those who've seen Whitestar's nova ability in action…the alien woman doesn't seem in pain, or out of control. Rather, the choice to detonate her stored solar energy seems deliberate…possibly to do with the odd technological harness she's wearing.
That said, normally she'd dodge out of the way of Johnny's sudden charge…save she's suddenly caught in a globe of Sue's design that cause her to slam to a stop rather than evade, right before the Human Torch slams into the ball and begins shooting upwards with it. On the plus side, this means she's not burned by being grabbed.
On the other, it means that Whitestar is suddenly a good ways up and enclosed when she novas, solar energy exploding outwards from her body as it slams into the force field as the explosion suddenly has nowhere to go. Since it's Whitestar's own energy this creates a loop where her body tries to re-absorb the power and expel it at the same time, the strain on both Whitestar and the forcefield increasing, until the continuing storm of power finally cracks the field, exploding outwards unevenly.
Luckily for Johnny, this means that most of the blast doesn't hit him straight in the fact, though he does get slapped hard with the concussive force of it, as Whitestar is thrown in the opposite direction, spinning through the air. and trailing smoke and silvery white energy behind her. The blast is high enough that it's mostly noise and a slight shockwave that hits the people below, rattling the windows in the area but not enough to damage anything on the ground.
Whitestar's aura sputters to life at a moment as she halts in midair, a bit unsteadily, her long hair having come free from her topknot to swirl around her in a curtain of silver to go with the energy surrounding her as she tries to shake off the blast.
Oh, boy. Okay. Whitestar's discharged. Not sure how the harness is affecting her, but she looks like all of the heavy hitters can take care of her. He's just going to get in the way now.
He has to find MJ.
ALICE helps a little in this, having provided CCTV footage of ESU's campus, and soon Spidey appears near the area he thinks MJ and Max are. He is able to pinpoint by the sound of dog.
"Mary Jane…?" he peered around. "Mary Jane?"
It got quiet. Quiet enough for MJ to stop crawling around, and for her to notice everyone else around her. They all seem to be looking -up-.
MJ stands, following the gaze of the few others who lingered by, her eyes canting towards the sky as she watches the action with a dropped mouth. "Woah.." She manages to say, staring in awe of the light show in the sky. But then.. "Kori.." Shoot! She -has- to go back!
She was in a light jog, heading towards where the scene of the fight was, or could have been, all ready to see if Kori and everyone else was alright. They were after her, right? Poor Kori! That was.. at least until she hears Spider-Man and she looks around, her eyes wide.. "Spider-Man!" She almost called him Peter. "That light! What's happening?!"
"Full attack!" Kori's voice rings like the battle cry it is and she swoops forward at the head of their little vanguard. Whitestar's disoriented and momentarily taken aback; their combined efforts seem to be working. Now, with her energy momentarily exhausted, is the time to strike. Lances of energy blaze from Kori's eyes and trace a line of ruin into the area around Whitestar as Kori bombards her with energy, focusing more on suppressing and hindering her movement than trying to harm her. This strategy of pecking her to pieces with the rest of the team at hand seems to be working, and she doesn't pass up the opportunity to drive back her estranged cousin.
|ROLL| Jimmy Baxter +rolls 2d6 for: 6
Johnny was ready to take the brunt of whatever blast came his way when she detonated, knowing that Sue's force field might not hold out forever! And indeed, it doesn't—the energy explodes outward, sending both him and Whitestar careening through the air. The Torch tries to absorb as much of the heat energy as he can, though the concussive force of the blast is enough to cause his to flames flicker and fade as he is stunned for a moment. He falls fast toward the ground, but fortunately manages to recover himself before he goes splat, re-igniting and rocketing back up toward Whitestar. What the hell? She's -still- up after all that crap?
"Just stay down already won't you?!" he yells, frustrated as he simultaneously lets loose with another wave of of blazing plasma, the heat intensity pushed as high as he can get it at the moment—though that might not be his usual best given he just got smacked by a wave of solar energy. Still, he tries to redirect the energy he absorbed from the blast to give it a bit of an extra oomph.
Jimmy hasn't seen the nova before, but he understands that it could happen. That's what makes it so important to get her out of there. His weapons vanish, leaving him just with arms glowing with angelic strength — strength enough to push into the sphere of psychokinetic force, to help the Human Torch lift it higher. It turns from 'woman in a ball' to 'ball of trapped plasma' in short order. It can't take all of it, but he can get it a little higher, a little farther, a little safer…
It starts to groan, to strain, and Jimmy lets go. There's something more important now. He tucks around between Johnny and the sphere, and just as it cracks, he brings both arms across his chest, forming a double-layered spirit shield.
That softens the impact, but the shields still crack, and the shockwave sends him reeling back. While Johnny recovers soon, Jimmy took more of the brunt; he's left dropping for a little while. His wings return while he's still well above the ground, but he's dazed, and it'll take him another few crucial seconds to rejoin the fight.
The distance of the forcefield, the effort of containing Whitefire; that was enough to strain Susan, to get sweat beading on her brow. When the explosion goes off in her shield, it might as well have gone off in her brain. White spots flash rapidly in her eyes before overtaking her vision enitrely as she cries out, "Ggkkk-gyyaaaahhnnn!!" in a ragged, harrowing voice. Her hands tremble violently in a reflexive effort to maintain the shield before they simply drop to her sides, shortly before Susan herself sinks to her knees, and then falls onto her side, gasping raggedly for breath, weakly trying to push herself up and grunting softly with the effort.
Voodoo pushed what she could, everything she had to help and support Susan; when the other woman collapses, the best she can do is wrap an arm around her and fall with her, a well-curved pillow of flesh against the hard ground and concrete. Knowing the other woman is not just going to trust a faceless clawed killer - OK, so prior experience with Susan makes her a mite distrustful - Voodoo struggles back up to her feet and starts stumbling, lurching towards the fight to come. She has nothing left to give. But some of those up there, or around there, are her friends. She lost one set of friends while she wasn't looking. This time, at least, she'll see it coming. Maybe it'll hurt less that way? Or she can go with them.
Whitestar is off balance, but not out, though she's quickly forced on the defensive as Starfire sends a blaze of green eyebolts streaking towards her. She quickly raises a hand, palm out, as a white shield of energy shimmers into existence, catching several of the impacts as she grunts and is knocked backwards. "Ungh…you'd hide behind your human allies, rutha'n?! Do they know what you are? What you've /done/?! Betrayer! You will not escape vengeance! I will not /REST/ until you lie in the grave you put so many of our people into!! Till you feel /EVERY AGONY/ you put me through!!" she shouts, white energy leaking from her eyes now as her emotions charge her powers."
A second hand comes up, another shield snapping into existence as she brings her hands together, letting the two merge as the plasma blasts slam into the force field as well. Inwardly, she curses the lack of a ranged weapon of her own, alongside the face that Koriand'r has so /many/ who stand with her. The harness is working at least…the complete weakness she'd normally feel after a nova is lessened, noticeably, her power reserves stabilizing again. But she is still outnumbered. The Winged Man, the Woman with the Force Fields Invisible, the Claw Woman…and the Man of Spiders is here.
She does not want to strike him, but a part of her falters at his presence here. Though he has not yet acted to defend Koriand'r, it's only a matter of time.
She growls out in frustration, then dances back, darting back and forth in the air to try and evade more of the incoming fire as she's forced to let the shield drop. "Come face me, Koriand'r! Or I will not be responsible for your friend sin the line of fire!" With a rush of white energy she suddenly shoots backwards, flipping and accelerating away, keeping herself high in the air. After all…there are only two fliers still in the air. Two is better than six. And one is Starfire. If she can lure her to fight her away from her alien bodyguards…
Spidey looks to her. Who is he to talk to her about getting in over her head? He's done it a dozen times this week.
"Mary Jane, right now the most you can do for Kori is to make sure she's not worried about your safety. Take Max and get to shelter. I'll come to you when it's over." He hands her a small disc with eight legs. "I can use this to find you."
He takes a deep breath. "I have to go. I have to make sure no one else gets hurt." He looks at her. "I'm sorry, MJ."
And with that, he heads back towards the fray, having no idea how he is going to help against her.
MJ looks worriedly at Peter.. "But.. but.." Once he hands her the small disk and he flies away, she looks at it in her hands, her jaw working into a bit of a rut. Damn, there she was crying again, stomping her foot, throwing a tiny tantrum in the corner that no one can see. Forget this!
If everyone can be a hero and save Kori, she can too! That was her best friend gosh-darnit!
"Stay here Max, Okay? Stay." She puts the hook of his leash onto a spout ejected from the wall, wrapping it tight. And then too, Mary Jane joins the fight!
It looked like madness! The little redhead running full bore, skipping over bits of burning wood, avoiding smouldering grass with an 'ow..ow'.. stopping near a ruined stand to pick up a discarded megaphone, which still works! Convieniantly!
And as soon as that little blasting ball of crying fury gets close enou—ooh! Watch the hair! She pulls it up to her mouth and screams..
"Stop fighting! Guys!"
"C'mon lady! I know you're angry!" Cause it's -really- flipping obvious!
"But you gotta stop! Listen! Whatever Korry-Anduh did, we can figure it out a good resolution to this! I mean.. did she eat all of your tuna sandwiches for lunch? Cause she did that to me and I was sure as right mad! But I didn't go around destroying anything! Well okay I ripped up my lunch bag but that's beside the point! Come down, lets talk, lady! I'm totally on your side and I don't want to see you get hurt!"
And now she's flailing her arm, full on sobbing. "Please! No dying today, please!" Yes. Pleading with the enemy, that's totally going to go over well.
Kori surges into the air in Whitestar's wake. She draws deeply on the sun overhead, drawing more power into her body. It fuels that radiance that suffuses her golden skin through the rents in her clothing.
"No! I will not let you escape and harm others!" She takes tot he air and burns a path in Whitestar's wake, jetting away from the ambush site with incredible speed.
"Stay here and aid the civilians!" Kori bids her friends with a shout, and blasts off with enough latent heat to warm the skin.
Johnny again strains against Whitestar's shields. Ugh, this wasn't working. He needed to figure something -else- out. He stops the onslaught, not wanting to waste any more energy and considers a moment, listening to her angry tirade against Kory. Then she starts flying away. Well if it's a race she wants…
He takes off after her, a trail of fire in his wake as he pushes himself to greater speeds than he usually dares undertake when closer to the ground due to the sonic booms that would occur in an effort to catch up to her and get in front of her. "HEY!" he shouts. "Hey lady! Look, I -get- that you're pissed at Kory because maybe she's at fault for getting people back home killed, so then what you go and do the same damn thingthat being getting innocent people killedthat you're furious at HER for? Doesn't that like, make you just as much of a 'monster' as her? Doesn't that make you just as bad as she is?! Worse, even? Not exactly rocket science, ya know."
While he's talking, trying to distract her, he's concentrating on that thing she's wearing. The thing that had the pulsing light in it earlier. Trying to heat it up from the inside out, maybe melt some critical components so that it stops working.
Whitestar narrows her eyes as Starfire arrows after her, her lips curving up slightly, before the Human Torch catches up as well, her eyes flicking to him. "You are not /my/ people." she snaps. "I swore no oaths to defend you…..augh!!" She lets out a hiss as the harness over her chest starts to heat up, slapping at it, then glaring at Johnny, before she abruptly turns towards the base, accelerating faster as the trio rapidly disappear from view.
Back at the campus, with the immediate threat gone students and staff are emergency from where they were hiding, as some hurry to get fire extinguishers to put out the still burning booths. Sirens can be heard approaching rapidly in the distance, as the first of the campus police arrive. It looks like at least that the only real casualties were the dunk tank and the ice cream, at least. For now, the Tamaranean berserker has been driven off…