Summary:Carol meets Voodoo, who has… issues, with the Kree Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Point to point. Now that she has a target destination for that escape, Voodoo is executing a simple spiral search pattern beginning at those coordinates and working her way around the city as she scans with eyes, ears and mind for any sign of the Dire Wraiths that are her enemies. Suited up in her gold-accented purple, astride the softly glowing hoverbike, she is not moving anywhere near her top speed, but even so she is still spiraling outwards in the night sky above the level of the buildings' roofs at about a hundred miles an hour or so. So few people ever look up, she's likely to go completely unnoticed. But she is desperate to notice her enemies.
Alien-hunting stripper ninja on the prowl.
Captain Marvel was just on a routine patrol, really… glowing faintly as she flies along. Which is when she noticed the hoverbike, which is unusual enough… but alien-hunting stripper ninjas? Well, even for New York that's a bit unusual. And who knows, maybe she could use a hand?
So, Carol flies over towards Voodoo's bike, easily matching the pace with her own natural flying power, and waves slightly, "Hey there. Looking for anything in particular?"
So focused is Voodoo on the people and circumstances down below that she does not immediately notice the glowing woman flying closer, until they are nearly on top of one another. Then, as soon as she does spot Captain Marvel she yanks the bike away from her; at this range, with the air whipping by, the snarl in her throat likely goes unheard - it was soft - but her angry posture is hard to miss, as she reaches almost immediately for the blaster on her hip even ifs he doesn't draw it or fire.
"Goddamned minion of Hala, get away from me!" Voodoo snarls angrily as she pulls away further, stopping the bike as she draws the pistol, not taking aim but clearly not joking about her angry intent here. Not at all the usual reception for the major heroine.
Carol blinks and actually stops in the air for a second, a rather confused look on her face, then she flies back over, hands raised in the air in a non-threatening pose, "Minion of… hey, not even. It's… well, kinda complicated."
She hovers nearby, shrugging a bit, "Though, well, hearing the Kree screwed you over… well, they definitely make a habit of that, I can tell ya." She shakes her head, trying to figure out what's up with this person… and she looks decidedly not concerned about the blaster, which might be even more infuriating.
Voodoo aims the blaster directly at Captain Marvel's star-embossed center chest with intent. "Get away from me! You think me blind? You wear their crest and serve their purposes! I am sword to protect my people from the torturers, even with my life!" The masked, mostly faceless woman is furious in her intent, in a way that seems to beat against Carol, as if her emotions had a physical aspect. "Your vile masters tortured and then tried to murder my people! We only survived because we managed to drive them from Earth! And you turn around and serve them!"
Captain Marvel winces, "Hey, wait, no, it's not like that at all. I mean, yeah, at one point I did because Earth basically told me to get lost eleven years ago but that's not the same thing. The star is to honor a good person, a decent one, who taught me what it meant to be a hero in the first place." She shakes her head, "I'm not one of them!" The cacophony of emotions are riled up in her, as she knows something is happening, but not what or why, as the accusations cut deep into her.
Even a very self-aware, other-aware, honest and caring person can be blinded by their own intense, largely unreasoning emotions. Voodoo hates the Kree, and fears what they would do to her people, and thusly to her and everyone she ever thought she cared about. Granted, she has come to know and care very deeply about new people recently; but a lifetime's experience comes first.
It's not fair. But it is what it is.
"A 'good' Kree?! There is no such thing!" Voodoo shouts at Carol, those emotions battering at the other woman. "Just another evil f**king trick!" Voodoo isn't even sure if it's a trick the Kree played on Captain Marvel, or if she is part of the trick now played on all of humanity. Emotion, hatred and fear don't require logic or reason or an answer to that question right now.
The unfairest thing is that if Voodoo weren't so blinded by her emotions, she would be able to read the truth of Carol's thoughts and feelings and know that she is at least telling the truth as she knows it.
Carol winces, then shouts, "MAR-VELL… WAS A… GOOD PERSON!!!" And then, well, she detonates! Not too hard, but the emotions that Voodoo has unintentionally stirred up and cranked to eleven in Carol's head come to a peak, causing her to release her energy outward in a sudden, violent manner. She wasn't close enough to do any damage to the bike…
But she is falling to the ground now, as her emotions seem to have gotten overloaded by Voodoo, intentionally or not. But hey, she's invulnerable, she'd probably be okay?
Voodoo is unsettled, but not actually unseated, by Captain Marvel's explosion. She is stung, burned even, but already healing. Then she realizes Marvel is not just flying away, but falling out of control.
She should just let her fall. If she falls and kills herself, that's one less minion of the Kree!
But as cold-blooded and murdery as Voodoo can be and is with the Dire Wraith, and would be with a legit Kree, she cannot bring herself to let this woman die when she cannot be sure she is actually a Kree, or a Kree sympathizer. Entirely too much damned heroing going on in her life of late!
The alien-hunting stripper ninja assassin puts her bike into a steep spiraling dive and pours on all of the speed she can, trying to catch up to the stupid blond woman falling out of the sky like some damned imitation angel. Where's Jimmy when she needs him? Damnit!
Flashes of memories. Things long forgotten. Voodoo might be able to read them now, with Carol joining the Starforce. Then leaving them in a rather… violent manner once she realized what they really did. Mar-Vell mentoring Carol. Then dying for peace, something they both believed in.
Carol stirs a bit, but doesn't seem to have awareness enough to start flying again… and the ground is coming up pretty quick!
The hoverbike is accelerating much faster than the mere pull of gravity, so even with a later start Voodoo is able to outpace Carol's falling form and catch her, throwing the woman over the back of her bike as she pulls out hard, then aims for a nearby rooftop. Once there, she hops off and drags the other woman off, laying her out on the roof.
Then Voodoo backs away, pensively, and sits down on the gravel of the roof, head in her hands. Damnit. Damnitdamnitdamnit!
Carol stirs a bit, feeling the gravel under her as it's not from impacting at high speed. "Wha… what was that?" She looks over at Voodoo, slowly sitting up as the heroine looks more than a little groggy, "Just felt like, my emotions were all swirling in my head." She takes a few deep breaths, still working on getting her bearings.
"Not just yours." the faceless woman in purple responds, not looking up from her spot as she addresses Carol's question. "Yours, responding and reacting to mine. Projective empath." Ooooh. Scary power. NOT!
Carol blinks and sits up at that, "Wow, that's… actually pretty impressive. Takes a fair amount to knock me for a loop, anyway." She smiles over at Voodoo, "But yeah, the Kree are a bunch of jerks, though there's a few that are worth something. Not many, but when you have a sociopathic AI running your whole civilization… ugh." She shakes her head, "Anyway, I'm Carol." With that, she offers Voodoo her hand.
The woman in purple glances towards the hand, then looks up the arm to the face of the blonde. "Captain Marvel. Yeah, I know." She's not projecting rage and fury anymore, but she is far from comfortable or feeling very receptive. "They call me Voodoo." Where the heck anyone gets that name for a curvaceous ninja in skintight gold-accented purple with sword and blaster is anyone's guess. But there it is. "My people hate the Kree for all that they did to us, and all they tried to do and only barely failed."
Carol nods, "Yeah, I gathered that. The Roman Empire of space, which is great if you're the Romans. Not so great if you're anything but." She puts her hand down and picks herself up, dusting herself off a bit, "Voodoo? That's an interesting choice of a name. I like it." She grins a little, apparently bouncing back fairly quickly… or else she's filing everything stirred up already for later.
Voodoo snorts a bit at that description of the Kree. She was never a huge student of history, but it sounds accurate enough nevertheless. "You know anything about the Inhumans? Most don't. If not, it's OK." She says nothing more. Gives nothing else away. She's sitting there remembering Kamala. Kamala looked up to this Marvel woman a lot. A huge amount. Pris hadn't had the heart to tell her that her heroine was a vile Kree sympathizer, sharing in the blame for the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of her people.
Pris is wondering how Kamala is doing. But that's a thught for another time. "Anyway. I won't apologize for my feelings. But I do apologize for forcing them upon you and doing you harm." Definitely the words of someone trying to take the high road.
Carol grins, "Nah, no harm done. You did catch me, after all, and well, the Kree are a bunch of jerks, to put it mildly." She pauses, "Inhumans… can't say I'm familiar with them, though I think Ms Marvel might have mentioned them at one point. Nice kid, looks after Jersey City mostly, from what I remember." She shrugs, "Never apologize for your feelings, especially regarding the Kree. Just keep in mind that some people are still trying to change the system."
"Step one in changing the system: burn the old one down to cinders." Voodoo offers darkly. Despite her passion there is something terribly simple, brutal and unrelenting about her implacable practicality of solution. It is entirely too simplified a world-view, but it is hers nonetheless, and she lives by it. It is not theory for her. "Ms. Marvel is good people." Voodoo offers, proof she knows the young woman. "She thinks very highly of you." Voodoo doesn't sound like she does, despite perhaps no longer considering Captain Marvel a vile Kree sympathizer.
Carol glances at Voodoo, "Problem with burning the old one down to cinders is the innocent people that get hurt in the process." She nods, "And yes, Ms Marvel is definitely a good person. Glad to see that she's helping out an area that needs it." She hrms, looking at Voodoo for a moment, as if wondering where to go from here.
Voodoo nods to Carol's answer. "Life sucks everywhere. Can't make an omlette without cracking a few eggs." And as empathetic as Priscilla can be, Voodoo is fine with those consequences. This is what the Guardians trained her to do.
"I should probably go." Voodoo comments, as she climbs to her feet, clearly intending to head for the hoverbike. Certainly she could be stopped, called back, given some reason not to go. But of herself, she's not planning to stay any longer.
Carol frowns a little, then just says, "Take it from a soldier, you don't want a war if there's an alternative." And with that, she leaps up into the air, glowing brightly as she channels her power, and flies off over the city. Resuming her patrol… but probably including some more reflection than she might otherwise have had.