The Adventure

Wiping drool and blood from this mouth, Ragnar tries to make sense of his surroundings.

"Ohhh...I need a drink. I never thought I'd be the first to fall. A poor showing for a self-proclaimed demi-god, eh?"

He then notices Meghana, who's still sitting in a lotus position. With a laugh, he tries to rise...but can't. Instead, he begins crawling towards her on all fours, like a puppy that's been reunited with its master.

"Meg! Are you OK?! Did that power-mad jackass...touch you? Are your powers still----"

Meghana opens her eyes, then raises her hand palm-out, in a motion that unmistakably means "stop." Her expression isn't cruel, nor is it the joyous expression of someone seeing their lover...it's just neutral.

"I'll be fine, Ragnar...eventually. The blow to my ego hurts worse than the siphoning of my powers. And no, he didn't rape me, or anything like that. I think Raines cares more about power than petty things like sex...."

"It's...good to see you, my friend. [significant pause] The small one said you fought valiantly to free me. I thank you deeply, and I will repay you. But not in...in that way."

She sighs, and stares at her staff for a long moment.

"Let us figure out how to handle this mess, and then we can discuss our...relationship in private. What you've done today truly is extraordinary, Ragnar, but I want to make sure you----"

"You want to make sure I know my place, right?! To make sure I know that we're only friends...maybe not even friends, just distant acquaintances!"

In his rage, he's able to stand. Lightning weakly crackles around him, but he does smack one of the control panels with his sword, making a small dent.

"To hell with you! I blasted through this entire facility to save you, and I can't even get a hug?! Just some weak promise that you'll repay me. Maybe you'll buy me a few beers, huh, then fly back to India, laughing at poor, stupid Ragnar!"

"I'm out of here!"

Grumbling and cursing, he tries to fly up the stairwell so he can leave the facility...and again, he's too weak. Still determined, he clomps up the steps one at a time, grimacing all the while.

"Normally, I'd appreciate your perpetually-buoyant attitude, Little Female...but not now! Now it's time to...get wasted, and forget about that cold-hearted bitch!"

He's reached the first basement level, and finally recovered enough energy to fly. Raising Lightningfang high, he begins floating down the hallway, towards the other stairwell that leads to the first floor.

"Oh, I did promise a boon, didn't I? Well, I'm too weak to grant you one right now anyway! Come find me when I've recovered...which may take a while, since I plan to stay drunk for a week! I'll probably be at the Last Round tavern, on the outskirts of Small Town. I've been there once before, and had quite a time...I hope they haven't changed anything!"

"Or you can just call me! Yes, I have a cell phone! Even demi-gods have to stay up-to-date with the current tech!"

He gives Small Fry his number, exits the facility, and flies away! Albeit slowly...and wobbly...and he'll have to stop a few times to catch his breath...but still! Beer-guzzling is imminent!

Small Town, an imaginatively named little burg way out in the middle of nowhere. Most people couldn't be bothered to find it on the map, and the non-existent tourism board hadn't even bothered to make pithy post cards to sell in a rotating kiosk out of the gas station closest to the highway. It was a place that people escaped from, or retired to, without a whole lot in between.

It stretched out under Rebound as he uncoiled from his latest bound, a sleepy little town of single-story brick and cinderblock buildings reflecting in the wide golden lenses of his mask as his momentum slowed to a creeping crawl. It was kind of nostalgic in a way. It reminded him of his own home town, back before he went to college. Before the mask, and the powers, and the wild series of crazy circumstances that kept him hopping from town to town. Without so much as a Mystery Machine to his name, he felt more like the world's most brightly dressed hobo than anything sometimes.

As gravity started dragging him back down into its loving embrace, he leaned into a lazy roll, watching the sky overhead. Just because Small Town didn't have much of a night scene didn't mean that nothing of interest happened here. Little towns like this tended to host all manor of secrets, and cozy secondary lairs for villains in between their heists. All the better to avoid the predominantly city-dwelling hero community, after all.

>k-PWOK< hitting the edge of a roof, Rebound kicked off and magnified his own kinetic energy, suddenly slicing at a narrow angle where he'd bounded high before. Sticking out an arm, is glove hand touched a stately old-fashioned light post as he swung himself about sixty degrees to the left to correct his angle. Curled into a ball, he hit the top of a car, and while the driver slammed on the brakes in response to the large *BANG* of it, there was no sign of an impact against his vehicle. When the angry shouting followed him up, Rebound uncurled just long enough to snap off a cocky salute before hitting the tree line.

-thruuuuush- *POK* the tree's canopy tore at him, but the kevlex body suit and his heavier jacket were tough enough that, even where they snagged, they didn't tear at his costume. Instead, he hit the sturdy trunk, reangling once again. >tak-tak-tak-KAK-tak-POK< and from there he was off. Each impact accelerated him further, from trunk, to bough, to forest floor, always faster, until they world was barely more than a blur of dark shadows.

Stories of a rocket-powered woman were what had originally pulled him towards Small Town, but while he was still getting his bearings the weather had gotten ... peculiar. Rainbows in a clear summer sky were one thing, but massive electrical discharges that crackled across the horizon? That may as well have been a beacon. A quick google search told him that there was a weather research facility out that way ... which sounded like exactly his kind of trouble!

So, like a blue and gold comet, he burst out of the surrounding wilderness, the cotton field rustling in the wake of his shallow bounce. Finally, he hit the antenna bedecked structure of the facility, bleeding his excess kinetic energy away from his body in a shockwave that rattled windows and kicked up an impressive amount of dust from the sandy grounds before he backflipped and dropped two stories down into a light crouch, taking a moment to regain his bearings.

"DUDE!" he exclaimed, hopping over to the collapsed, headless, form of the massive security bot. "Yes! Robots! I never get to thrash robots!"

Taking a moment to better examine the battlefield, he noticed more destroyed hover drones half-buried in the grit and sand, as well as a colorful cast of obviously powered people staggering their way out of the building.

"Aw man! I missed it! I never get to thrash robots!" he complained, pressing his palms into his eyes for a moment, anguish rolling over him as another item from his superheroing bucket list eluded him. This was worse than that time he'd jumped into a dog park to throw down with an unattended utahraptor just to discover it was some kind of were-palentologist in need of help.

"No need for that, tiny. A lot isn't working, but it's nothing I can't fix with an all-nighter or two. Appreciated, though." Rocketeer's a bit quick to turn down Small Fry's offer. She's not quite ready to let some little invader root around in her precious armor, not unless it was absolutely necessary. Besides, it's not the armor that's the problem... And if she didn't want Small Fry in her armor, then she certainly didn't want her in her body.

Her droids are adamant about getting in her way, so she stops and pats them, smiling tiredly. "Fine, little ones, you win. I'm not going to fly until I get my bearings." The droids hover by her side, beeping in a seemingly pleased manner. She can't help but wonder when, or if, they'd revert back to their original programming. She felt her rewrite of their systems was pretty thorough, but you never know.

She watches the entire interaction between Ragnar, Meghana and Small Fry, her skull pounding whenever Ragnar raises his voice. She's glad when he leaves. She flashes Meghana a sympathetic look. "I can see why things weren't working out. Nothing worse than a guy who feels entitled to you."

She makes some distance from Small Fry when she feels the heat radiating off her. "I agree that you don't owe him shit, but I, for one, am claiming that boon. Otherwise, this would've been for nothing," she says. A pause, then she corrects herself. "...Not that saving a demigoddess and preventing Raines from completing his machinations is nothing, but you know what I mean. It'd be a shame not to collect on that sweet reward."

As she exits the facility, she notices the navy-and-gold hero complaining about being late to the fun. "You know him?" She asks Small Fry and Victor, shielding her eyes from the sun. Even through her visor, it's bright enough to cause pain.

"That dude's an asshole. The less we have to do with him, the better," the Shield Maiden says, slipping back into Victor's speech patterns. She is eager to help Meghana out of the lab. When the newcomer leaps onto the scene, she looks at him askance.

"Never met the guy," she says in response to Rocketeer's question. She squares her shoulders and strikes a heroic pose. "I am the Shield Maiden. And what do you call yourself?" she asks the newcomer.

Rebound cupped his chin and nodded along as Small Fry laid out current events to him. Glancing over his shoulder in the direction that Ragnar was still unsteadily floating away. He crossed his arms for a moment, letting the tale rattle around in his head for a moment.

"So, to sum up, the sulky swordsman's a stormlord who's off to soak his sorrows because the staff wielding soulwarden shot down his sybaritic aspirations. The scientific sociopath was surely siphoning her supernatural spark to spin up a storm swaying system that'd support his schemes of sovereignty, but with the assistance of some Small Town supers, he was socked, stabbed, and stopped." he nodded a bit, apparently pleased with himself, "Sounds like you did good work today, shame about him skipping out on the check, but it looks like no one is dead." he gave Raines a sympathetic look at the red that had soaked the shoulder of his shirt. Clearly, he wasn't confident that would be the case if Ragnar had been acting on his own initiative.

After scratching his head for a second, he offered a hand to Small Fry, extending one finger to make his best attempt at a handshake to the diminutive damsel.

"It's a pleasure, Ms. LaViolette, lovely name that. When I've got the tights on, I go by Rebound." if she was kind enough to shake, he'd then offer the hand to Shield Maiden, and then Rocketeer. "You girls do this kind of thing regularly, or is this a crossover event?"

Before exiting the facility, Meghana walks over to WeatherCore, her neutral expression morphing into one of rage and contempt. She utters something under her breath, likely some curse words. Then she composes herself, holds out Maelstrom, and begins re-absorbing her stolen energy.

In a few seconds, WeatherCore's energy fluctuations are no more. It's just a badly-damaged hunk of metal, circuits, and wires. The re-absorption visibly perks her up; she walks more confidently, and looks around with clear eyes. Still, she only floats slowly to the surface, and doesn't attempt any weather manipulation.Hearing you all bash Ragnar, Meghana actually frowns. Once all the complaints have died down, she addresses everyone:

"I understand all your frustrations, but I want to make something clear: Ragnar isn't evil. A drunken oaf? Certainly. Is he strangely infatuated with me? Yes. He seems to think I'm some guiding light who can change him...anyway...that's getting into private matters...."

"Perhaps I was a bit too stern with him back there...but I was in critical condition, and in no mood for a passionate reunion, which is what Ragnar clearly wanted. He is...well, he's like a mischievous, willful dog. Something that causes you constant trouble, but that still has plenty of good qualities."

"Maybe you think I'm being too lenient, that I should jettison him from my life forever. That I won't do, as I know him better than you. I've seen him face down terrible odds...I've seen him get beaten to a pulp, and still refuse to quit...I've seen him help the downtrodden...."

She shakes her head, as if all these emotions and events are finally overwhelming her.

"If he promised you some sort of boon, I'll make sure he delivers. He actually is too weak to grant it now; I saw how depleted he is. I am also too weak, even after re-absorbing some of my power. But after a long, healing rest, I can also give you some sort of reward. So don't despair."

"In the meantime, what are we going to do with Raines, and this facility? His underlings have scattered, but I'm not concerned about them; without their leader, I doubt they'll cause much trouble. But Raines has proven himself a deadly foe. I wonder if there's a prison that can actually hold him...."

At that moment, a van squeals into the parking lot and slides to a stop about 40 feet from you. The doors open and....

The van has a BOOM Channel 10 logo on the side. It's so bright and dynamic that even Small Fry would have trouble matching its gaudiness. You all recognize this as one of the local TV stations.

One of the doors opens, and a stunning, well-dressed blonde hops out and rushes towards you, microphone in hand. Despite her head-turning looks, what's really striking about her is her intense, business-like, can't-waste-a-second attitude. You all may find yourselves out of breath just watching her.A pudgy middle-aged man follows behind her, a bulky TV camera on his shoulder. From his muttering and deliberately slower pace, you can guess working with this woman isn't his favorite assignment.

The woman stares at you all for about 2.5 seconds, then raises her hands triumphantly.

"That tip paid off! A superhuman battle, right near Small Town...and we're the first on the scene! Hurry up, Graham...Grant?...Gary?...before anyone else gets here!"

The cameraman eventually gets his gear rolling, and the woman is off to the races....

"This is Erin Blount, reporting for BOOM Channel 10! We're first on the scene at the Scanlon Weather Research facility, where apparently an epic battle of outrageous proportions has just occurred!"

"But who are the villains, and who are the heroes? What were the stakes? Is Small Town safe, or is this battle a harbinger of doom? Inquiring minds want to know! Tell us what happened, superhumans! And if you are villains, remember we're not to be harmed, as we're member of the press!"

Her stats:

Overzealous Reporter (3)
Unaware of How Hot She Is (3)

Cameraman:

Just a Cameraman (3)

Rocketeer lets off an impressed whistle and accepts Rebound's handshake. "Nice work on the alliteration. It's good to meet you, Rebound. I'm Rocketeer, a rocket-powered heroine rocking this little region with her remarkable skills. I hope we can raise a rousing rapport going forward. To answer your question, it's a bit of a crossover. I don't normally run with a team, but after this whole thing, I'm thinking of changing that."

"All that will be up to the authorities from this point," Rocketeer responds to Meghana. "Our work here is done-"

She's interrupted by the screeching arrival of the news van. Of course the media gets here first. Cops are always lax in lazy little places like this.

She presents a smile anyway as Erin Blount rushes up to them. "The villain is most definitely this man right here." She presents the unconscious Raines. "Dr. Elias Raines. This particular Scanlon weather research facility was a front to hide his activities. He'd developed a device called the WeatherCore that would, you guessed it, control the weather on a massive scale once fully powered. Planned to use it to seize power, but we stopped him before he could fully charge it. The kicker is, he captured this woman and siphoned her powers for his device. But now, the only thing he's going to rule over is a prison cell."

Erin is oblivious to Small Fry's sexuality. She does nod along eagerly as the "fairy" talks, but it's with the intensity of a reporter, not the lovestruck silliness of someone who's smitten.

To Small Fry: "So Small Town has a...small protector! But though physically small, she surely has courage and compassion in abundance!"

Wait, was that flirting?

"Or does she?!"

Guess not....

To Rocketeer: "A kidnapping...advanced tech...a sinister plot...a villain defeated...quite the adventure you've all had! Tell me, do you have a team name? What are your next plans? Will you be sticking around Small Town long-term, or do you plan to move on to bigger and better things...and leave this rural area undefended? What's your opinion on OmniCorp's influence in this region? They had a superhero team that occasionally turned up here, as I'm sure full-time heroes such as yourselves are aware!"

She pokes the microphone at Shield Maiden and Rebound: "Chime in any time! I want real answers...real news...real drama!"