Summary:Three deadly sins rob a jeweller; two angels and a scientist take the case. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It's just a little before 7pm, the sun has recently finished setting, and an alarm goes off in the Bowery. A little-known jeweller has the windows smash open, and three figures run from it, dressed in black and carrying sacks which may as well have 'swag' written on them. They head out into the alleyways, trying to evade pursuit through obscurity rather than speed.
"Dammit, E!" one shouts — a tall, broad man with a booming voice. "I thought you said you could get in!"
"P, I did get in," says E, a svelte and androgynous figure keeping their head down. "But using the boss's face isn't any good when it needs a damn password, we had to break it!"
The third member of the crew just looks eagerly through his spoils, even while still running.
Angela Carpenter wasn't planning on doing much, after her volunteering in the soup kitchen here in the Bowery for the day. She glances back and forth, then notices the trio of thieves ducking into the alley. Her eyes narrow, and she decides that… well, no one else is around it seems, so she follows the thieves. More out of curiosity than a heroic desire to purge sinners…
Though, well, old habits do die hard.
Somewhere up above the rooftops in the area, a dull matte grey figure flies by. Inside that figure, a conversation is unfolding. "OK, Toni. So far, the improvements to the vectored thrust subsystems are on-target. I'm cycling power through the changes in vectors and adjustments, preparing for a life hover test. Cutting power to five percent in three … two … one … hovering now. Routing power to sensor systems and engaging RTV."
LIDAR maps everything within nearly a mile; sonic mapping includes noise cancellation adaptive routines for exceptional acoustic microphones. "Toni, can you check the PDB feeds? Any radio calls to this sector?" Inside that matte grey figure, Veronica Kelsey has picked up the conversation below, and is looking for confirmation that what she's hearing is the criminality she suspects it to be. She too has little interest in actually involving RESCUE and Augmenta in something like this; but she won't refuse an opportunity to train the analysis algorithms.
Jimmy, too, is just finishing up a soup kitchen shift. Now that he's back in action, he's trying to get back in the habit of volunteering at least one night a week. Then comes the noise of that alarm, and his head snaps around like a dog seeing a squirrel. It seems no one else is around, sure; that's because Jimmy quietly slips out a side door.
And brief moments later, a figure rises into the air — not invisible, but 'unnoticeable' to most, while Augmenta's thermographics would see a humanoid figure running hotter than normal body temperature.
Radio calls send for police to come catch some robbers, though the police will be a bit slow to get out here in the Bowery. If they actually come at all. The trio have found a spot several turns into the alleyway network, where they stop to catch their breath. The third member is still counting his spoils, putting rings on all his fingers. But then notices a vagrant looking at him. His lip curls back, showing teeth. "What are you looking at? You can't have it."
The androgyne winces. "G, no, take a—"
"It's mine!" G rushes forwards, muscles swelling within his black clothes as he rushes the vagrant, a single punch hard enough to send him flying across the alleyway.
Angela rounds the corner, just as the vagrant gets punched. She was going to be subtle about this, but right now seeing an innocent getting hurt?
Well, that tosses all her niceness out the window. So she just rounds the corner, looking woefully unassuming, though the observant might notice her eyes glowing faintly as she says, "Actually, it's not. Despite what you might believe, possession is not nine-tenths the law. Now, we can do this easy…" She pauses, rolling her head and letting her neck pop a bit.
"Or we can do this real easy."
"OK. Confirmed. Route and record, Toni; we can use the feeds as evidence. They're in a public space, no expectation of privacy according to Posse's documents." Veronica affirms.
And then the bastards assault someone. "Damnit. Do no harm, you bastards." The young woman inside grimaces as Toni lectures her. "Yes, I know they're not doctors. But I am! They're going to kill that man." Roni redistributes power, increasing to the vectored thrust systems as she exits hover and flies down to intercept. "Targeting up. Spinning up launchers for the darts. Any idea what that hot flying person is?" she queries.
Then a soft 'puthufft puthufft' as darts are launched from the outstretched arm of the matte grey suit now streaking down out of the sky, aimed at increasingly shorter range at the attacking male, and his closest ally. Should they hit, the darts will crush the sticky, gummy outer surface of the head until the leads buried within make contact with the body, and then discharge the electrostatic charge which should, according to all their tests, paralyze the targets.
E whines, rubbing their face. "Damn it, G, we're not even supposed to keep it. The client—" And then comes Angela, walking around the corner. E, at least, can see where this is going, with that kind of confidence exuding from her. "Oh, jeez…"
G is less self-aware. He leaves the man crumpled down in the corner and turns to the alley opening. He just sees an unassuming redhead, and his jowled face breaks into a grin. "Oh, I like doing it the 'easy' way." He has his own interpretation. As he looks at Angela, his eyes flash green. She feels something sapping her strength — fatigue like she's just run a sprint, or weakness like she's missed a meal. At the same time, G swells, muscles growing thicker. By the time he reaches Angela, the swing of his fist has two tons of force behind it.
That's when Augmenta arrives; by this point, G has stepped away from the group, leaving him the focused target. By all rights, those neuro-disruptor darts should paralyse him. Instead, G lets out a growl, his eyes blazing brighter, sucking stamina from both Angela and Veronica herself to toughen himself. Even then, he moves slowly, fighting for every inch of motion.
In the background, Heavensent touches down beside the punched vagrant. Standard wisdom is that you only move an injured person to get them out of a dangerous situation. 'Impending super-powered altercation' is absolutely that, so the demi-angel wraps the man in his veil and floats away. He'll be back shortly, don't worry.
Angela's eyes go a bit wide at the strength-sapping attack, and she cautiously backs up, needing more than her mortal seeming can provide, and she pauses, eyes closing for a moment.
When they open, there's nothing there but brilliant light, as she seems to almost be on fire, golden flames flickering over her as she reveals a pair of flaming blades, one held in each hand. Her body is now encased in black and silver armor, and black and red feathered wings extend from her back.
Twirling her blades, the revealed angel grins slightly, wings flaring back as she studies the slowed down G, "Life draining, from my font? You didn't say the magic word." With that, she moves to do a rapid fly-by pass on G, her flaming blades swinging out to wound him… or perhaps more, given that he doesn't seem to be a particular nice person, and her flames burn sinners more than anyone else. Or anything, for that matter.
"Wha … " Veronica murmurs inside the suit, no outward sign of her confusion or distress. The suit is unaffected by this attack, but the pilot inside is not exactly exceptionally hale nor hearty. "Toni … biometric readouts. Scan for anomalies. Initiate remote retrieval protocols. Pilot … pilot is blacking out …"
The matte grey figure alters flight profile, pulling up short from its sweeping flight and then shooting up into the air, away from G, E, the fiery angels and everyone else before then arcing overhead, heading north, back to RESCUE compound.
G may not be completely paralysed, he may fight the taser effect… but he's paralysed enough that he can't defend against Angela's sweep, the blade scoring across him. She may have intended just a wound, but there's a scream. Not from G himself, but from something with him. As that entity shrieks and burns, his power flees. The paralysis reasserts itself, and he freezes up completely. And the leeching effect fades away, leaving those gathered just as strong as they should be.
Though for Veronica, it could seem that she's just got herself out of the drain's range. The biometric readouts find no pathogen, no biochemical agent, just the Almighty Shrug that comes when there's magic doing its painfully unexplained nonsense.
"Hey!" E shouts, their face fuming. "You leave him alone!" They may be the only sane person among the crew, but they're still loyal. They burst from the shadows, racing towards Angela. And as they do, they transform… into a replica of Angela herself. Still in the same clothes, and lacking in flaming swords, but they still rush the angel with her own strength.
P, meanwhile, is not so loyal. He heads for another alleyway… and bumps right into Heavensent. The criminal smirks. "Alright, then." He throws a call over his shoulder. "Let me show you two how it's done." And he morphs just like E, mimicking the blonde demi-angel before him, while leeching Jimmy just as G had drained the others. Yet, he doesn't get gear either, and his doubly-empowered punch lands on a spirit shield.
Angela blinks in surprise, "Hrm. Parasites? Symbiotes?" And then E is after her, and she takes the charge from the faux-angel. However, she takes advantage of the proximity to slap her flaming blades into E, "Feel the cleansing fire of God, first hand!"
Already locked into a remote piloting system, Veronica's recovery is nice, but Augmenta is returning to base; she has no way of knowing what just happened, and will not risk herself, or her tech, to recklessness. She tried to help, and nearly crashed. Now she's out.
As the flaming blades cut into her, E screams twice over: their own voice, and the voice of that… whatever it is that gave them powers to begin with. Holding it more than the brief cut on G knocks E out entirely, their body fading back to the same androgynous figure as before, while she topples to the ground.
By this point, Jimmy is down on one knee, fending off the enhanced P… but as E passes out, P reverts to normal, now left only with the strength he's taking from the conscious-but-paralysed G. That gives Jimmy some more breathing room, which he uses to look past, at how Angela is handling things, with that flaming sword. Can he do that?
He grips his spirit sword cautiously, and with a moment's thought, the blade turns semi-transparent. He drives it down, spearing P's foot. Only one voice screams: a rumbling, ethereal one. When it cuts out, P collapses.
Which means they're all down. Jimmy rises to his feet, keeping half an eye on all three while he approaches Angela. "Are You Hurt?" His sword and shield vanish into nothing.
The angel shakes her head, "A bit winded, but feeling better… I suspect from what these… spirits were doing." She sheathes her blades, wings ruffling a bit as she then studies Jimmy closely, "Wait…" She takes a step closer to Jimmy, then offers her hand, "Athanasia." Not her true name, but smart angels never give that away. Or else they're Archangels who would punk someone who dared to use it in vain.
Jimmy's features are obscured by the glare of his glow, especially streaming from his eyes. But if she squints — literally squints, to counter the glare — Angela might recognise a co-volunteer. Still, he just takes that hand in a simple, firm shake. "Heavensent." His voice is strange in this form, like two voices speaking in near-harmony and near-unison.
Athanasia squints, and then hmms, "You're… not quite one of us, are you. But touched by the Name nonetheless." She sounds much more… resonant, in this form, then coughs a little, "Probably time to assume something a bit lower profile." With that, she concentrates, the Divine Seeming being masked once more…
And leaving Angela standing there, somewhat shorter and far less glowy, "There, that should draw less attention." Though, the observant would notice she is speaking in the Original Speech, before the Tower of Babel was shattered.
Heavensent bites his cheek. Well, if Angela is transforming down… sigh. He just cannot keep a secret, can he?
The glow fades, along with those ethereal wings. "I'm a… couple of generations removed, yes. My grandmother." That would explain it. He's not that observant, though, so he just squints at her. "<Why are you speaking in Russian?>" His own Russian is a touch out of practice.
Angela laughs softly, "I'm not… you're just hearing it as Russian. Jimmy, right, you volunteer at the kitchens too, yes?" She looks decidedly amused, though a bit surprised at the mention of, "Grandmother? Well, blessed be, that's something you don't hear of too often. Glad to see you didn't turn out bad as a result. That sometimes happens."
Jimmy pouts and blushes at the laughter. "A-Ah. So it's sort of like Pentecost — 'each man hears us in his own tongue'." Not quite the right reference. He nods. "Yes. And you're Angela, right?" The talk of part-angels turning out bad… that draws a dark, cold look over his face. "Right." His tone is flat. The source is his grandmother; his direct parent may not be quite so benevolent.
Angela senses the change, and gets a sad expression, "Sorry, Jimmy, I didn't mean to cause you pain. Just…" She reaches out, and if allowed, places a hand on his shoulder, "But yes, Angela Carpenter. I have a studio over in SoHo." Her lips quirk a bit at that, as she still finds it somewhat amusing.
Jimmy allows the touch, giving her a small smile. He shakes his head. "It's fine, you couldn't have known. It's just… ancient history." Pause. "Okay not ancient by your standards, I'm guessing. But old to me." Older than his name. He tilts his head, looking at her. "What's funny? The name you've chosen? It is kind of 'hidden in plain sight'."
Angela chuckles, "Well, I will admit I did have a certain amount of wry humor in the last name, but… yes, I'm probably a touch older than you. Twelve thousand years, give or take a century. In my defense, we didn't have the best calendars back then." She grins, definitely not looking her age as she nods, "Yes, well, I wasn't too worried about keeping it that secret, but it does seem that strangeness always seems to find me lately. All these different heroes and villains."
Jimmy's eyebrows shoot up. "Jeez. The standard here is to say something like 'you don't look a day over six thousand', but… honestly, you look no older than me or my girlfriend." He nods. "Yeah… I tried to keep it secret for a while, but when intervention is needed, I can't wait long enough to grab a mask. Speaking of which…" He looks over the three. "I need to bring these into custody. And the man they punched — if you want to check up on him, I left him at a clinic across the street." He approaches P first, and the light shines again, giving him the strength to pick him up. "That Was An Interesting Trick, With Your Sword On Their… Sponsors."
Angela nods, "Something I kept, even though I no longer do the Angel of Vengeance thing." She glances over at Jimmy and smiles faintly, "They burn the souls of the wicked, and whatever was in these people, well… it definitely had a lot of wickedness." She quirks a bit of a wider grin, "Indeed, I'll go check on him at the clinic, make sure he doesn't have to worry about the bills. When you've been around as long as I have… well, let's just say compound interest carries a whole new level of meaning." A quiet chuckle at that, "Feel free to swing by the studio sometime, Jimmy. It's good to see a friendly face." With that, she makes her way off towards the clinic, weaving her way expertly through the alleys as she waves goodbye.