Summary:Starfire and the Human Torch pursue the berserker Tamaranean Whitestar into the Disaster Zone and attempt to reason with or capture her. Results are inconclusive. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It came close. Whitestar /nearly/ had Starfire just where she wanted her…unaware, where she could strike to disable her before she could fight back. Dishonorable, some would say. Undeserving of honor, Whitestar would answer.
What the Tamaranean berserker did not expect was just how many powered humans were present who would throw themselves into the fight to defend her nemesis. Surely the traitorous princess could not have convinced /all/ of them of her innocence! Even the Man of Spiders was there, though he did not join the battle - somethign that was a relief, on some deep buried level.
But those who were in the fight certainly turned it quickly, driving her off, avoiding her initial nova explosion to try and strike back against so many at once. Then another who started to try and damage the harness that keeps her solar explosions in check.
With that in mind, Whitestar chose to find a new battlefield where most could not follow - the sky! The Flaming Man and her enemy are the only ones fast enough to pursue her…but then, she's not entirely unprepared for this, as she rockets over the bay, then descends swifty, before dunking herself in the waters to cool the harness, leaving a frothing trail on the surface for a moment.
Starfire burns a glimmering emerald trail in her wake as she shoots off after Whitestar. The Tamaranean princess bears many complicated emotions on her way; regret, shame, uncertainty, resolution. Even she doesn't seem sure of how she feels about Whitestar.
But the rebel is given full chase almost out of reflex. Kori's features settle into an expression of grim resolution. She might not know what will follow meeting Whitestar… but fom the set of her jaw, Kori's mentally settled a course of action before words are even exchanged.
The Torch continues to chase Whitestar into the skies. While Spiderman and the others might not be able to keep up with that, he sure can! He was focused on destroying the inner workings of that harness, by raising its internal temperature to the melting point of most metals as he chased her. That is…until she dove into the water. Crap. He tries to keep his focus on the device as long as he can, even as the water surrounds it, making it harder to maintain the heat.
But, as much as he'll try to hang on to his focus, he sure as hell won't follow her into the depths. Instead, he stops several feet above the water, and glances at Kori, trying to get a read on her attitude toward this whole situation. "Friend of yours?" he remarks wryly, although not scathingly.
Whitestar hisses faintly at the hot sensation…luckily her physiology means she's mostly immune to the actual heat, though she's unsure hwo well the interior electronics will work. She didn't design them, after all…then again, it's essentially a really efficient solar energy absorber and battery, so heat is something it's somewhat made to take. That said, while it would arguably make her more dangerous without the harness, she's fonder of not exploding random with greater force. For the moment, at least.
Having at least cooled it off for the moment, it seems the only way she can ensure the Human Torch doesn't continue to heat it again is to keep him too busy to do so.
Which is why she explodes back from the water like a missile being launched, arrowing straight at his midsection as a hemispherical shield forms in front of her, attempting to ram him out of the sky with the forcefield! Not to mention hopefully absorbing any fire Starfire sends her way while she's enroute.
"Once, a long time ago," Kori informs Johnny. Her expression is… sad. Regretful. But determined, all the same.
The spray of water catches Kori's attention as much as anything else. She wheels in place and accelerates towards Whitestar with her best speed. Green light surges from her eyes in a twin column of viridian energy but the force field deflects the attack more than ably.
Johnny nods. "I see. Well, we've all made mistakes, that much is for sure. Don't beat yourself up too much about it." Then Whitestar explodes out of the water again. Oh boy, here we go.
As she comes straight at him, he launches a stream of full-intensity burning plasma at the shield, hoping that the combination with Kori's assault will be enough to deplete it before she hits him. In the meantime he also still tries to talk sense into her. "Listen, what is the point of this?? You want to kill Kori or what? Do you -really- think that will make you feel better? Will it change the past, or bring back anyone who's gone?"
"Plus, do you -really- think you can beat both of us?" he adds with a slight smirk.
Whitestar grits her teeth as the flames slam into the shield, the solar blasts from Starfire peppering the glowing white field as fire arcs around it, licking at the charging Tamaranean's side, before she abruptly jerks to the side, the shield shifting from a half-sphere to a flat plane it interposes between her and the incoming fire as she darts /past/ her apparent target, Johnny, then shoots up before she tries to axe kick her nemesis straight intot he flaiming man.
"YES." she grits out, her eyes blazing.
Kori sweeps around in a tight flying arc, faster than can be believed, and sweeps up into Whitestar's thigh from below to rob her kick of impact. The motion abruptly translates laterally and she whips them both in a blurring circle and flings Whitestar away from Johnny and at the ground at shocking speeds.
"I will not surrender to a madwoman!" Kori yells. "You are trying to hurt my friends! You are insane and emotional— Rava, you must *calm* yourself before you are hurt!" she pleads, and her wrists strain with tension as she urges pacifism instead of following up her interdiction with violence.
"Yes to -what-?" Johnny asks, even as Whitestar flies past him. "Everything? Because I'm genuinely curious on how you think killing her will change the past or bring anyone back."
Wow, did she really just -miss- the flaming torch in the sky? Oh, right—different plan. But then Kori blocks the kick and uses the motion to her advantage instead. Dang, she's a good fighter. He doesn't follow up with another attack quite yet. Maybe she could still be talked down? Kori seems to think so. "Yeah! A madwoman! If this isn't mad, then I don't know what your definition of 'mad' is. Seriously though, we don't want to hurt you."
The berserker lets herself drop, cutting her thrust so she plummets rapidly away before her aura kicks in again with a roar as she shoots back towards the ravished shore nearby, arrowing for the cracked and crumbling buildings, their windows shattered like empty eyesockets scarred with fire here and there as she hovers, having put a bit of space between her and the other pair where she can dodge for cover if more fire comes her way. She's wary now, having seen both Starfire's starbolts and the Torch's plasma blasts in action, her skin reddened here and there from where the high temperatures have even scorched through her protections
"It won't. It can't. But at least she will not evade justice for her actions. Vengeance for what she did. You think me mad?!?" Her eyes glow briefly, shimmering as she spreads her hands, her voice rising sharply in an almost snarl, before she curls her hands into fist. "Better mad than a fool who believes her to be innocent! The blood of millions is on her hands, while she hides here in safety, tricking you into throwing yourself in the way of righteous revengeance, Flaming Man!"
Kori doesn't wait for Whitestar to finish getting her ire built up. She makes a covert gesture at Johnny, urging him to go high and keep Whitestar's attention.
Before the other woman finishes her rant Kori burns fast and low to the ground, making the same use of cover that Whitestar did in order to conceal her movements.
She blasts through the middle of a building wall and flings a pair of dizzyingly bright starbolts at Whitestar. They miss by inches over her head— but they're a distraction, meant to divert notice from the building sidewall falling apart as Kori slags exposed support beams to bring the whole building down on the crazed berserker.
"Hey, I didn't -say- she was innocent did I?" Johnny says, taking Kori's advice and climbing to a bit of a higher altitude while still trying to keep Whitestar's attention. "Yeah, maybe you're right, maybe she does have some blood on her hands, but honestly don't we all? You know what they say, 'with great power comes great responsibility'. And sometimes we don't handle that responsibility right. But killing someone in response to killing doesn't make anything better, in fact, it makes -you- just as bad as she is! What if we -all- just up and decided we have the right to be judge, jury and executioner for every wrongdoing in the entire galaxy, huh?" he keeps arguing, aiming to keep her focused on him.
"She had great power. She took no responsibility. Her crime is to /me/, and /my people/ not all the others she has harmed. Your human justice is weak and threadbare if you do not-" She jerks as Kori drops, a portion of her attention /always/ focused on the Tamaranean princess. She can't very well help avoid a laser-like focus on her, so long as she's hunted her.
But even then, she's not fast enough to do more than dodge reflexively to the side, shooting upwards…but was R
Even then, the blasts slam into the crumbling behind behind Whitestar as concrete and steel explode and melt from the rapid-fire bolts smashing into it. It doesn't take much at all, suprisingly…almost like someone already deliberately weakened it so it would fall if someone got too close in advance.
As the shadow falls over her, Whitestar snarls, as her field swirls around her…then charges /directly/ into the falling building as she smashes a hole through the crumbling structure, disappearing from sight inside, before the building topples with a crash, slamming into a neighboring building. Which creaks, groans, and start to more slowly being to topple partway.
Kori zips away and gets some altitude. Near enough to Johnny they can communicate, but not so close as to risk them both from a lucky or well-placed shot.
"I don't expect that will stop her," Kori admits. "I don't know how strong she is. Maybe as strong as I am," she informs him. "Stronger, possibly. There is so much /power/ in her," Kori frets. "She fights like a demon controls her. I have never sensed such rage."
Johnny is given a worried look. "Please, wound her only if you must to protect yourself. I cannot conscience her injuring someone in her quest to punish me."
Johnny watches as the building crumbles, and Whitestar flies -into- it willingly? Hmm…that makes him think she has something up her sleeve. "That was the plan." he says in response to her request. "Know of any drugs or whatever that might work on your species to knock her out? Or at least get her to calm down?" he asks, watching the damaged building closely.
The problem being that once the building comes down, there's a very large cloud of dust in the air. Makes it hard to see much. Or at least, there's no obvious glow as the other damaged building creaks to a halt prcariously, pieces tumbling off the upper floors to join the pile of rubble next to it. It was an area of multi-story apartment buildings and businesses…with the damage and collapsed areas, it's a maze of sorts lower down at street level.
The perfect place for denying primarily ranged attackers clear shots until they're close. Possibly too close.
Other than the aftershocks of the collapsed building, there's no immediate appearances of Whitestar again, though there are some squattesr in surrounding buildings that are rapidly fleeing the area.
Kori thinks about it, then shakes her head. "Nothing I am aware of being on Earth. Nothing I know how to make. I am not a skilled chemist," she explains, with an apologetic note of excusal in her voice. "I can barely make the breaking of the fast."
She looks at the settling dust cloud, face troubled. Multiple conflicting expressions work across her features. "But I must find some way to stop her before she hurts anyone else. My penance for my crimes is for me to pay alone. I will not let her subject anyone else to her wrath."
She floats over the debris field, eyes narrowing. "Ravag'r!" she bellows. Her voice makes the dust buzz. "<You must abandon this! You forfeit your claim of blood when you threaten the people of this planet! I will not submit myself to justice, to a woman who cannot even rule herself!>" she adds, speaking the language of Tamaran.
"Me either, but I know someone who is." Johnny says, smiling slightly as he thinks of Reed. "Tell you what, if you could get a DNA sample to the Baxter Building, Reed might be able to cook up something for next time she tries to kill you." Then she starts talking in an alien language, and he leaves her to resume the battle of words.
There's a moment of silence that lengthens a bit, before a voice rises out, anger in the tone. "<If they throw themselves in front of you, they chose their path. I sought no combat with them, only with you, troq.>" There's a faint shimmer in the cloud for a moment, reflected through the drifting detrius in the air, before it switches to English. "I told the Man of Spiders. I tell the Flaming Man now. I seek /HER/. Do not stand in my way, and you shall be unharmed by my hand. But stand between me and her…and you are my enemy."
Kori's face hardens and she floats forward more, deliberately putting herself between the dust cloud and Johnny. "Your right to vengeance does not allow you to demand anything of him! If the mountain is in your way, you do not bid it move!" Kori retorts. "I do not agree with their decision and I have protested it most mightily. But their decision is unmade, and it is dishonorable in the muchness for you to hurt them for it! Go, Rava!" She flings an imperious finger to the west. "You are mad for revenge and anger has made your brain stinky! If you have any honor left, quit the field now!"
Johnny just sort of hangs back and watches, his arms folded and with an amused expression on his face at Kori's awkward English. "Aaand since Kori's my friend, you're my enemy too if you insist on trying to murder her. Pretty arrogant of you to just appoint yourself judge, jury and executioner like I said. I mean doesn't your planet have some kind of justice system that doesn't involve one single person making all the decisions?"
Kori blinks twice, and looks back at Johnny with an uncertain expression. "Do… did no one ever teach you about how monarchies work?" she queries him, as if gauging whether or not he's messing with her.
The slightly disembodied voice take sa bit to respond to that. But when it comes again, it's toneless…and filled with a barely restrained rage. "There was. And now, there is not. Because she gave our world over to /invaders/. And they care /nothing/ for bringing justice to the one who handed them our world!" There's a crack and a rumble from the pile, before a slightly bent I-beam comes spinning out of the cloud. There's no real aim to it…it comes vaguely towards the pair of you but is in no danger of connecting with you. This time.
"It is you that are of the stinky mind! And if you follow her, protect her, that stink is upon your brain as well, Flaming Man!"
Kori flies laterally through the air, not bothering to affect a flight time, and catches the I-beam deftly in both hands. She flies backwards thirty feet to spread the shock of the catch out. A glance downward confirms the area's clear, so she just drops the thousand-some pounds of steel to earth below.
"Then I will hurt you until you stop, Ravag'r," Kori says—and some steel of her own enters her voice. "Tamaran is not gone. And I am still her Princess, throne or not! You will submit to the rules, or submit your face to my fists for the poundings of justice!"
"Yeah, but I always figured other planets would be more advanced than Earth, not less?" Johnny relies, quirking a brow at Kori. Oops, maybe he just unintentionally dissed monarchies. "Okay, okay. I get that she might have made some mistakes. But like I said, haven't we all? And, if you kill her, or anyone else, that makes you just as much of a murder."
He watches Kori throw that I-beam onto the ground like it's a small tree branch. Nice. As Kori goes back to threats, he prepres another fireball ready to launch at Whitestar.
"YOU ARE A PRINCESS NO MORE, TRAITOR!!" Whitestar roars as she comes bursting out of the cloud, spinning as she does to send a large slab of concrete skimming towards Kori like an oversized and extremely heavy discus, bobbing and weaving as she locks onto Kori like a missile now, her focus consumed by her to the point where she stops paying attention to Johnny for a moment. "REVENGEANCE FOR YOUR SINS!"
Apparently Tamaraneans are okay with the whole 'yes, but then you're a murderer if you kill the person who is (to her) evil' thing.
"Oh, we're much more advanced than you primitives," Kori assures Johnny with a bright smile. "But it's only murder if it's unjustified, and absolute power must—"
Well, Johnny's question distracted her enough to miss tell-tale signs of approach. Kori's eyes go wide and she hesitates at the sheer mass of the broken debris flying at her. It proves to be her undoing and the mass of concrete and steel slams hard into her. The impact stuns the princess and she falls from the sky with a trail of sputtering green fire in her wake.
"Gee, -thanks-." Johnny mutters in response to Kori calling them primitive. That was probably going to be a discussion for another time. Then Whitestar comes back at her with a giant slab of concrete, which the Torch tries to melt before it can get to the Tamaranean princess by launching the fireball at it, but it only does a partial job.
It does, however, force Whitestar to change course to avoid plowing into the rubble the fire blast sends flying. This does, however, mean she can detour to where Kori was standing…and snag the I-beam, which she scoops up and brings up over her head like she's about to hit a line drive straight across the bay, with Kori playing the part of the baseball.
"Crap…" Johnny blasts the I-beam with superheated plasma, trying to melt it before Whitestar can use it like a baseball bat. Then he rockets after the dazed Kori, doing his best to catch her before she hits anything unforgiving and flying off back to the Baxter Building and safety!
The enraged Tamaranean lets out a shriek of mingled pain and anger as the I-beam disintegrates, throwing up a hand to protect her face as she's pelted with molten metal. Even with her natural heat resistance that STINGS. And by the time she's recovered…the Human Torch is a distant trail off fire, far away and headed to the safety of the city as Whitestar growls, then lets out a yell of pure frustration and anger, tossing aside the remains to the eyebeam as it smashes through the other damaged building, causing it to collapse behind her as well. The new debris cloud seems to reach out and flow around her as she vanishes from view.
But she'll be /back/.