Rias punched in Georges order as another pair of hands materialized to get his Orange Juice, with both sets of hands arriving to deliver their drinks at about the same time.
"It was nice seeing you, we should hang out some time! Just don't expect me to do my own stunts or anything for a couple of weeks,"
Rias snickered "You and I both know my 'stunts' would be way better" she said, giving a grin "Was good to meet you George, and try to keep Tim out of trouble eh?" she added as the pair walked off to find a seat, and the next customer came up to place an order.
The Crick watched the hero descend, her wings gliding across the air as she landed and walked over to him. He bounded over slightly taking the outstretched hand and shaking it gently. He couldn't believe whose hand he was shaking. He listened intently as she spoke of demons, but was still in slight awe, memories of him and his brother on the couch watching news reports filling his head. He had never been happier to have a helmet than at this moment.
"Anyway, I'm here now, what did you want to talk about that we couldn't over the communicator?"
"Well, wow, uh...first off, it's an honor. Really it is! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you earlier, your powers seem a lot different now. But you're Leviathan! The way you used to freeze things and fight with ice and-"
The Crick stopped himself and collected himself before he had a chance to spill his fanboy-ish nature.
"I'm just really glad to finally meet you. And I suppose I wanted to talk to you about joining the team but right now I'm working on something else. Psyclone."
The Crick took a moment to figure give her the short version.
"Something is...different about him. A source of mine claims that the footage of Psyclone's attacks are being bought up by low level companies and sold for essentially no price, which just isn't good business. It's almost as if someone wants to give Psyclone maximum media exposure. Which coincides with my next issue, a source of mine on the police has taken note of an unknown individuals questioning superhumans, particularly searching for those with clearly destructive powers. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm starting to see a connection here and I need help covering some ground. Between investigating and assembling this team, I'm starting to get kinda swamped. My father figured I should get some help and advice from someone still in the hero business so...here we are."
Karen couldn't help but smile a little as the young hero gushed over her past accomplishments. She was never really one to seek out such praise, or even go out of her way to make fans, but it was still nice to hear and met fans now and again. The fact this fan was now a hero them selves, even if they where a second generation hero, pleased her even more.
soon enough though he composed him self and started talking about his investigation of Psyclone, and some of the more shady behind the scenes goings on involving the footage of the attacks. "I don't have those Ice Powers any more is why." she said, though the expression on her face said she was thinking about something. "The same battle that almost killed me, and resulted in my decade long disappearance, also ended up destroying the source of my Ice powers. I was a 'Magical Girl' after all back then, our powers aren't really 'ours' to begin with. These new powers, thankfully, won't have that problem." She said to fill the silence that would have just hung there as she thought.
"This contact, of yours. If they are already investigating then have him keep you up to date, but let them handle it for now. Firstly, the more people involved the easier it is to get found out, and if all the dummy company's are involved it would probably be best to give these people as little reason to think some one is on to them as possible. But more important then finding out why they're doing it." Karen said, finally starting on the subject at hand. "If I had to guess, I'd say they could be looking for some one to elevate, in the public eye anyway, to the status of the old villains, like Cracker jack, Dr Mechano, or The Circle of Thorns or even Ruination. Though as to why some one would want to I couldn't say, maybe we'll be able to find out if your guy finds anything out."
Karen put her hand on his shoulder "As for what you should do between patrols and checking in on your man to make sure he's not in trouble. Focus on building the team. It's not the kind of thing you just 'do', a central command would be nice but ultimately optional and up to you. More important, in my mind anyway, is the people on your team and reliable communication between them, and strange as it might sound, differing views and approaches on how to do a job. Just because you don't approve of, say, the vigilant that can and does, kill thugs and mafia to get the job done, doesn't inherently void what his skills or knowledge as useful for a case your working. But above all else, make sure you trust the people on your team, because the lives of the whole team, and likely civilians, will depend on it."
Karen took her hand off his shoulder "Anyway, if you need my help with ether, gimme a ring, I'm ok with being the 'old one' on the team." she said with a smirk
The Crick listened to her own theories on Psyclone's news coverage. The idea that someone was interested in trying to get him to the same recognition of older maniacal and destructive villains was an interesting one, that perhaps he'd need to look into. Her advice on the team also lead to some thinking. He was gonna have to finally start putting this thing together in terms of letting thew ones he trusted in on certain things...but who did he really trust? He had basic faith in all of them as heroes but as people, he couldn't help but feel a slight waver. Nevertheless, he appreciated the advice from her.
"Anyway, if you need my help with ether, gimme a ring, I'm ok with being the 'old one' on the team."
Terry grinned from under his helmet. Actually getting a chance to talk to Leviathan, or as she now called herself, Unicorn was like meeting a cool aunt who isn't actually you aunt but is so cool they might as well be...oh and can freaking fly. That's just awesome.
"I'll keep that in mind. Oh, and one other thing. You've met Coil before, right? Yeah, I think you and her were fighting Psyclone during his first attack...I'm kinda wondering if I should let her in on this. I mean, Psyclone seems slightly interested in her for some reason or another and he seems to be the first villain she ever thought. Think she might have some valuable insight into all of this?"
"Don't sweat it, somethin' tells me we've got a pretty long case ahead of us. Who knows, we might even find have to deal with a few surprise charges." Psyclone said, earning a small smile from Aldric. "Speaking of surprises, to cover the costs of your case, we had to use some of your legal assets." he said, hinting at the man how the escape plan was going to work. Given how little they knew about each other, there was really only one asset he could be talking about. "It should be used in oh..." Aldric added, looking down at his watch. "6 minutes et 37 seconds.". By this point, the cameras and recording devices were off so there wasn't much need to be coy.
"So for your legal defense, you may prefer to use a sword, but they say the pen is mightier." he offered, holding out the box of pens. He offered Psyclone a few for his "amusement", but held the rest in his hand. He looked down at his watch, waited for the time to tick down to 6 minutes and 8 seconds, then clicked all the pens a once. Each pen began to beep softly and blink. From there, he began tossing the pens in different directions - some into each corner, some toward the one way window, but most into the soft ceiling tiles where they stuck - with an extraordinary amount of precision. Each "pen" had a purpose.
From there, he stood up, wiped off his suit, and spoke again. "As long as you cooperate with the legal system, I'm sure you'll be free as a bird in no time, though you may want to... take care for the duration of the proceedings." he said. "until the trial, I wish you well." he finished before making his way out of the door. As he closed the door, he turned around and added "Au revoir Monsieur Psyclone. Au revoir"
From there, he checked his watch - 5 minute and 16 seconds - and made his way out, tipping his hat to all the fine officers as he went. While walking out, he couldn't help but begin to whistle "La Marseillaise" as he went. He knew it wasn't original by any means, but it was certainly fitting. He also had just about enough time to finish it as well.
He made it out of the building and across the street with 18 seconds to spare. He turned around, brought his hands into the air, kept whistling, and put an eye on his watch. As the song came to it's final notes he dropped his hands, stopped his whistling, and watched as the police station went up in a conflagration of fire, smoke, and explosive force. Not a minute later, Psyclone's "asset" dropped down from above the clouds to finish his escape. As for Aldric, he quietly made his way off into the chaos of the post-explosion afternoon."
Theodore
Theodore entered the bar with a bit of a limp. It was to be expected and it wasn't really painful, but it was annoying. The limp drew attention, being a "tv personality" kept that attention, and with his recent injury that attention was more significant than usual. He had to shake a few hands and promise he was "taking it easy" to multiple people before he could make his way over to Fredrick. Fortunately, the bartender knew him well enough that if he was here with Fredrick it was likely either personal, business, or both and that he'd like a little peace. As such, one he'd finally made it over to his old friend, things quieted down quickly. The barista DID interrupt once with a some well-needed coffee.
Then, said old friend started to speak. "...Anyways, that's the short version. If you're personally interested in details about it, I'll give them to you, but only because you're involved in this chaos." Theodore listened closely as he spoke, taking in and filing away all the information. He even "recorded it" (with a mosaic and voice change over Fredrick) for his own personal records, in case he needed to think it over again later.
However, then came the difficult part. On the one hand, he needed to know what the psychopath had said for his investigation, but on the other Fredrick was telling him this in confidence. It wouldn't be right to take advantage without some disclosure. "Fredrick; I want to know everything he said - particularly about the recent attacks - but I must be honest. I'm quietly working with a superhero investigating Psyclone's recent activities. There's been some... irregularities for a few weeks. There's nothing solid yet, but the basic idea is that someone may have hired Psyclone to make the attacks for reasons yet unknown. As such, anything you tell me will - if relevant - be shared with said superhero, though I'll leave your name off the record regardless. I'd like to hear anything you know, but I understand if you don't want to say anymore."
It was about that point his phone began to buzz and he heard sirens blare to life in the distance. "... why is there never a quiet afternoon in this city?"
Mina
"... expecting a 4 to 8% decrease in stock value following the announcement, followed by a swift increase in value by 10 to 15% by the close of business day." Mina said to the room full of investors. It was all very basic stuff. Important, but basic. They wanted to know how their money was being used and she was required to tell them so long as it didn't interfere with the business as a whole. There were a few questions - as always - but, again, nothing too concerning. That said, Mina's heart wasn't in it today. She was waiting for Aldric to make his move so she could begin her moves. After all, she couldn't prepare for something like this ahead of time on the books without drawing attention.
It was about three quarters of the way through the meeting when it finally happened. There was a rumbling that shook the city and from the highrise, the bright fiery light of the explosion was obvious, even from a mile and a half away. The investors quickly made their way to the windows to see what was going on and several people began making panicked calls to loved ones to make sure they were alright.
"Everyone!" Mina said, drawing their attention. "For your own safety, please calmly make your way down and out of the building; the meeting is adjourned until we can ensure everyone is safe. Meeting notes will be sent upon request." The others in the room seemed to understand the concern and listened to her. Mina however remained in the tower, surveying the goings on. She received a text from Aldric letting her know everything was moving ahead. With this confirmation it was his work, she began putting her pieces in play to take control of the situation. After all, as a respectable corporate citizen, she had a civic duty to help the police.
Sorry for the delay in posting; I've had limited time and internet access for the last week or two.
@Naut: I'll let you introduce Psyclone's "escape asset" since it's creation was your idea.
Karen shrugged "Can't hurt to ask her about it I guess." Karen replied, though she couldn't help but smile at the excitement Crick was trying to hide, she could tell he was trying to keep it under wraps. It's was cute, but beyond that, he impressed her a bit, fan-boying aside, Crick seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders.
She was about to say a bit more when a building exploded, "Never a dull moment eh? See ya there." she said with another shrug then took off toward the building.
Rias
With her line cleared out and the other line back down to manageable levels for one person Rias started helping take orders out to people, like she usually did, her job title seem like it was 'floater' more then anything else. She'd feel over worked if she didn't have the super powers to help her out.
It's was all pretty typical for the day, till an explosion was clearly hear in the distance, and a bit of rumbling was felt in the floor. Rias sighed internally and started making sure everyone remained calm.
Frederick Rolls "Fredrick; I want to know everything he said - particularly about the recent attacks - but I must be honest. I'm quietly working with a superhero investigating Psyclone's recent activities. There's been some... irregularities for a few weeks. There's nothing solid yet, but the basic idea is that someone may have hired Psyclone to make the attacks for reasons yet unknown. As such, anything you tell me will - if relevant - be shared with said superhero, though I'll leave your name off the record regardless. I'd like to hear anything you know, but I understand if you don't want to say anymore."
"I know you do, I just..." Frederick tilted his head. It was clear that he wasn't sure just what to do. If Theodore wanted everything Psyclone had said, Frederick could tell him. However, there would likely be questions about just why Frederick had asked about it, and why he hadn't thrown in the towel.
"It's sort of a long story."
I should tell him. About the Specter too.
He was already breaking his supposed silence, if he could trust Theodore with information no one should have access too, he could just as well mention that. Especially if they were to work together, with Crick's set up. He was about to open his mouth when he heard the sirens.
"... why is there never a quiet afternoon in this city?"
"It's full of life," Frederick replied, sarcastically. "Utterly charming, don't you agree?" He then looked to the phone, hoping that Theodore would ignore it for a couple of minutes.
"Hopefully it can wait, though. I've made a decision, I'll tell you. And honestly, I don't mind you telling the Crick. He's a good kid," Frederick continued, before reaching into his bag, grabbing the masks. "Besides, you're not the only one who's working together with him," he muttered, pulling the masks up for the slightest second, so that Theodore could barely see them.
"You see, I'm the Specter. I hope you understand why I've been hesitant to mention it before. Anyways..." he started telling Theodore about what Psyclone had talked about, the threats, and the school. Anything he shouldn't be mentioning, and especially not to a member of the press.
He deserves to know it. Laws be damned.
"So, that's it. Feel free to tell Crick, though don't tell him about the whole Specter thing, I've already got him calling me on my private phone, and that's more than enough. Any questions?" He smirked, not sure how Theodore would react to that whole thing. Hopefully he would regard the Psyclone information as more important.
Well, that's it.
Frederick supposed.
Now I've told 2 people about who I am.
If Theodore would even believe it, of course. Then again, with the masks shown and what Frederick had told him, it sounded almost believable.
Psyclone listened to the slick French man drop hints at the escape plan, alluding to the one gift he'd been looking forward to using on a rainy day. He sat silently, grinning as Aldric placed the pens in various corners of the room and in the ceiling. Explosives. He could handle explosives. There were bound to a couple causalities. Tons of debris. Tons of fun to be had. Finished, Aldric stood up, readied himself and made his way for the door.
"Au revoir Monsieur Psyclone. Au revoir"
"Arriva fuckin' dirchi," Psyclone said, with a mad grin on his face.
As he sat there, waiting, he began to wonder how this escape would exactly end for him. If Al and his boss had truly put work into his "asset" then he probably had a chance of getting it out of here with in tact. He could play it safe, create some cloud clover, and be gone before any hero capable of catching him had a chance to arrive.
Or...
He could do what he should've done awhile ago.
And hit the city with all he had.
He quickly spun his gas mask onto his face and unhooked the handcuffs, standing up. The explosion rocked the room, but Pysclone only jostled slightly as he took the flying debris and formed a rotating sphere around himself. As things died down, he dispersed the sphere and looking up watching as his "ride" descended from the clouds.
The blimp rocked had a slightly mostly yellow coloring to it, with thick black lines stretching across it, leading to parts of tornado warnings similar to those on his costume. The texture of the balloon itself seemed rough, designed to seemingly handle basic projectiles and plating to handle a few explosive blasts. The cabin stretched along the bottom of the blimp, the middle of it being a circular with a series of strange, rounded ports.
Psyclone formed a vortext around himself and shot up to the cabin, quickly letting himself in and manning the controls. The blimp was mostly automated, so flying wasn't that much of a big deal. What Psyclone was really interested in were the counter measures.
A ring of flame throwers around, not necessarily for crowd control, but more of keeping any flying heroes at bay and simply looking awesome. Strange tesla coil like spires for sending out glorious looking streaks of electricity and possibly for frying more metallic based heroes, as well as anyone unlucky enough to be near anything metal. A series of tornado sirens.
Cause they were cool.
But the most powerful weapon of all was in the center of the room, the circular section of the cabin made of explosive proof glass. stood up from the controls, and looked around, noting the rounded ports outside the cabin. He began rotating the air inside port, his fist tightening, before opening his palm and the port shoot out pressurized air and tear a massive hole through the cloud cover, the shockwave shaking across the town.
The most powerful weapon on the blimp was Psyclone himself, with the help of the these nozzle-like air cannons.
The Crick was bounding across rooftops, following Unicorn towards the explosion. He started checking police scanners and realized the explosion had come from the police station.
The one currently holding Psyclone. The Crick barely had time really consider what this meant before being shaken by the sudden shockwave and staring up at the now cloud free sky. Psyclone had acquired some serious firepower and was showing off.
The Crick looked up and Unicorn, and yelled, "Have I told you you how much I really don't like this guy?"
"Anyways, thanks for showing me this place, it's pretty conveniently placed, don'tcha think?"
"Y-yeah, definitely," George agreed, "I come here fairly often, usually by myself though."
"Was good to meet you George, and try to keep Tim out of trouble eh?"
"Not sure I can," George said, a weak joke but a joke all the same. He wondered how Tim and Tom had met Rias, probably though one of Tom's superhero fan sites or something, she had powers after all but she wasn't a hero. Part of him wondered if that was ok, shouldn't empowered people try to use their powers for the betterment of others? At the same time though it was her life and he could hardly judge her, not like he had any experience with having powers, in fact he was sure he'd be a terrible hero-
Sirens could be heard in the distance and the rumbling of an explosion, George felt a sudden urge to get up and go see what was going on. He turned to Tim before he realized he'd stood up.
And here I was enjoying my breakfast. She thought to herself, standing up as she heard the sirens and the rumbling and walking outside to investigate. If this is Mina setting something up for me then she could have called first. No that's not likely, though it could be involved in a scheme of hers regardless. Fuck.
She started moving towards the explosion, first at a brisk walk and then at a run, her suit moving with her to speed her along. Being a hero sucks, why can't I just run away from the explosion? Man if I wasn't out patrolling in uniform I'd definitely do that.
"Was that an explosion?" Tom asked no one in particular, racing out into the street. He knew that it was, he had heard it and he could now hear the sirens. It's go time then, at least Tim isn't likely to intervene this time. Hopefully he's safe from all this.
He raced into the nearest alleyway he could find, ducking behind a dumpster to hide from view and transforming into the mighty SIR AWESOME! Part of him worried that if there was an explosion there could be fire, but he knew he had to rescue whoever he could regardless, and that if a villain was responsible he had to find them and stop them.
"Y-yeah, definitely. I come here fairly often, usually by myself though."
"Oh?" Tim asked. "You mean you don't often hang with people?" he asked, then realized it might be a bit insensitive, especially since George seemed like a very nice person, so people not wanting to be friends with him shouldn't be a problem.
I wonder what it's like being like that.
Tim thought, and examined George again, when the other looked away.
Stuttering and being quiet and such. It's kinda... yeah.
his mind trailed off, and sat back up, more alert on the conversation around him.
"Was good to meet you George, and try to keep Tim out of trouble eh?"
"Not sure I can."
"Hey, I'm not that bad, am I?" Tim asked, laughing. "I didn't mean to end up like this, you know. It was an accident." He brought his free hand up to the old wound that would definitely become a scar. He had called that an accident too.
Hopefully none of the other stuff will decide to stick around, I would actually like to be able to move around freely.
Bones couldn't like, grow the wrong way, right? Nah, that couldn't be very likely. "I'm just a bit unlucky. Besides, I'm sure there's ways you could---"
Rumbling, likely after an explosion rather than an earthquake, and then sirens. George stood up, alerted, before turning to Tim.
"W-what's going on? was that a bomb?"
Beats me.
"Whatever it was, it's better for us to stay inside. I'm sure plenty of people will be going there to check it out, and the last they'll need is us being two more people in the endless crowd that will gather around," he remarked, clearly not caring too much about what was going on there.
"Come on, sit down," he then continued, impatiently. He wasn't sure why he was feeling this impatient, perhaps it was the hunger. "Please? Our food'll probably get here soon."
Sirius hadn't been walking for long when he saw the explosion. Because he saw it, even was close enough to read the text on the police station. Then, the earth was shaking, and the clouds opened up to reveal a blimp.
Not now.
Now really didn't work. He had to get to his apartment, and shower, and prepare for the thing with Daniel Luxe. Showing up with even more bandages would be a bad idea, he would look irresponsible. Besides, all the way up there...
I'm sorry.
He thought, as he left, heading straight for his apartment complex. Sirius didn't feel anything, yet he knew what he was doing was wrong. He should be helping people, yet he had something else going on, he had to prepare.
I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do anything about that.
Sirius knew that he was being selfish. But for once, for just today, he would not only be a normal person, but act like one. When he got inside, he sighed.
The Shadow Rider arose from his bed some time after waking, not much happier than he would have been at any earlier point however. He'd just finally resolved it was about time to get off his ass. He got dressed, cleaned up, and glided out the window and to the neighboring apartment as was routine. By this point it was reflex to pull out a cigarette and light up. And, unfortunately for Jack's peace of mind, something else that seemed to be routine was getting scolded second-hand by the mother of the kid he had encountered not so long ago.
"My mom says that stuff is bad for you," said the boy, pointing at the cigarette.
"Yeah?" Jack took a long, tired drag and narrowed his eyes at the kid. "Know what else is bad for ya? Not mindin' your own business."
"Why are you always so mean?"
"Because I never ate my vegetables."
"I don't think that's right."
"Eatin' vegetables? No, it ain't right. Child abuse is what it is."
"No, that's not what I meant! You're so dumb."
"Hey, you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer."
"Why don't you go be mean somewhere else?"
"Smartest thing you said all morn-" Jack began before being interrupted by the low rumble of a distance shock wave. "The hell?"
"What is that?" Asked the kid.
"No idea, pal."
"Not the thunder, I mean that," the kid said, pointing towards the opening clouds. There was a large black and yellow airship breaching the underside of the clouds, hanging right over the city.
Jack looked up, taking another drag as he watched its descent before guessing with a shrug, "The Badyear Blimp?"
"I... yeah you're right," George started to sit down, but something felt like it was keeping him from doing so.
Gorge
Come on! If you only knew you'd want to leave right now, people could be hurt, you could do something! Argh! I could seize control but then his friend might get suspicious, not sure I like him. He seems like trouble, ah it would be so easy, he wouldn't even remember it later... Not yet, but soon, first chance I get.
George
The hesitation vanished and George plopped down in his seat, that was weird... He shook it off though, after the festival he was just on edge, that explosion was way far off, they would be fine right?
"Yeah, I am," Tim replied, happy that George had decided not to run off. He was also happy about the fact that he could see someone carrying what they had ordered. "Oh look, that's our food right there."
At least that's one person who doesn't decide to run head-first into danger. Personally, I like being the danger more.
Making an effort to put the egg and bacon on the toast so that he would be able to eat all of it with one hand, Tim took a sip of his vanilla milkshake, then smiled, brightly as he took a bite of his food. And then another, because damn, he was hungry. Half-way into the first toast, he swallowed the food in his mouth, then spoke.
"So good, how's your food?" he asked George, and took another bite. He was quite pleased that George had come visiting -though the questions the guy had were a bit unsettling- because, if not, how would he be able to eat? He started drinking milkshake again.
Besides, he's sorta cute. I wonder...
As Tim realized something he should've realized a lot earlier, his eyes went wide and he managed to swallow his drink wrong, causing him to cough a whole lot. Face red from almost choking -and probably other stuff- Tim reached for a napkin, speaking as much as he could as he did.
"I'm fine, I'm-- cough, fine, d-don't worry," he muttered, not quite sure if he was looking like half a doofus, or a complete one. Not that he cared too much, but still.
The return trip through the sewer passages were just as filthy as they were when Vinzenz first walked through them--and perhaps a touch less fetid, but that might have been affected by the doctor's mood which had improved--though considerably more luminous. The hum of the power transformer went absent from the atmosphere and the industrial incandescence had been gradually replaced by natural light as the doctor neared the surface entrance. It seemed like no time at all to the man as he was too preoccupied with how best to improve his generator, now that he had the harbors renewed power supply at his disposal. It would certainly be better than pedaling on a bike for hours on end for a small amount of energy. And though the doctor had to admit it did wonders for his legs, having felt lighter on his feet since, it wasn't something he intended to make into a regular habit.
When his thoughts turned back to the present, Vinzenz was already in the warehouse once again. He looked at the shoddy collection of scrap and the dead husk of the generator, shaking his head and tutting and such poor working conditions. But determined to not let it get the better of him, he immediately set to work on drawing up schematics for his generator's new design. It would be much simpler with the most recent junkyard acquisitions. He managed to procure a welder whose condition was admittedly poor to the point of appearing dangerous. Most of his findings were in much better condition, fortunately. It actually surprised him what some people would just toss. He just wished he had a radio so that he could listen to some music while he worked.
"Have I told you you how much I really don't like this guy?"
Karen snickered "So long as you don't let it get personal" she said, then lifted up to make a run at the blimp only to be greeted by several flame throws trying to roast her, thus causing her to back off out of range. Her retreat to out side the flame throwers range, while annoying did little to stop her advance, if she could not attack directly, she would need to do so indirectly.
Her first thought was to just down the blimp, but that would case more collateral damage then she was interesting in being responsible for. Instead, she decided it was best to limit the blimps already limited mobility, to that end she formed both swords and threw two Golden Crescents at the fans the blimp used to steer and generally move in any direction.
"You see, I'm the Specter." Fredrick said, drawing a blank stare from Theodore. "The Specter... YOU'RE THE PH-" Theodore started to say before recognizing what a bad idea it would be to reveal a superhero identity in the middle of a crowded bar. Instead, he continued the statement, saying "-fffffantastic person who did... that... thing." Fortunately, between the sound of police and his quick change of wording, no real attention was drawn.
From there, Theodore shut up and just listened quietly; processing. For his part, Theodore never disbelieved Fredrick. He'd known the man too long to believe he'd make a joke like that. As Fredrick's monologue began to wind down, Theodore asked a handful of clarification questions - both about the Specter and his chat with Psyclone. Unlike before, Theodore kept his voice down. As questions were asked, if Fredrick decided not to answer Theodore didn't press him on it.
When it was all over, Theodore didn't even know what to think. It was true that he'd always "felt" something was different about Fredrick but the idea that he'd be a superhero never even crossed his mind. "So first off, your secret is safe with me; I'll take it with me to the grave. I know more then most how much good you've done over the years." he said, remembering the time The Specter had helped save the city bus or when he stopped those terrorists... those three times.
"On that note, let me be the first to thank you for all of it." he said, holding out his hand. Theodore always wanted to shake the Phantom of the Opera's hand; for ironic reasons mostly. Finally, when all that was over, Theodore had one last question. "So... do you prefer The Specter or The Spectre or The Phantom of the Opera or... you have a lot of names."
"Um ok, if you're sure," George said, now staring down at his plate. He poked at the food a bit before he started eating, he would probably have to skip lunch to stay on his diet, not that it seemed to be working anyways.
"My foods good, how's yours?" he asked, somewhat awkwardly, making small talk had never been his strong suit. It didn't help that he had the strangest feeling that he needed to be somewhere else at the moment.
It doesn't feel like I have to pee or anything, I'm probably just nervous from that noise earlier, yeah that's it.
How the hell am I supposed to do anything about that? She wondered looking up at the blimp. Best case scenario she could hook onto it with one of her whips and climb aboard, but the flamethrowers plus the fact that she'd have to do so from the top of a building put an end to that line of thought. She could see some other heroes trying to fly up against it, the horny lady and the Crick from the look of things. Stupid, just like a hero to charge right on in. Who gave this asshat a blimp anyways? Probably Mina, which makes her even more insane than I thought.
Well maybe I can get the other's attention, if they can get me onboard I could take over the engines, or the flamethrowers, probably not the whole blimp but some of the important bits of it.
She pulled out the communicator the Crick had given her "Hey Coil here," she said "think you could give me a lift onto the blimp? If I can touch it I might be able to shut down some parts of it."
I wonder if I can jump high enough to grab on... Tom thought, then shook his head probably not, and those flamethrowers would go right through my armor. Man this sucks, how did this guy get loose? No matter, probably some henchmen helped him free, but they will all be defeated by Sir Awesome!
His inner monologue helped him get pumped up, but not to actually get aboard the blimp. But it seemed like someone else was flying against the thing, though he couldn't really tell who with all the buildings in the way. At least someone was fighting the villain, which left his role as helping civilians get away. Man this is just like that villain's first appearance, I have to help these people, but someday I'll get the chance to fight him and then he won't know what hit him.
It took a while to explain everything to Theodore, and through all of it, the other looked rather surprised and thoughtful, but for what it was worth, Theodore did not seem to disagree with what he was doing, nor doubt what he was saying. It made everything so much easier, because he didn't need to provide evidence for what he claimed.
"So first off, your secret is safe with me; I'll take it with me to the grave. I know more than most how much good you've done over the years."
"Of course you do," Frederick smirked, and leaned backwards, as he waited for Theodore to continue.
"On that note, let me be the first to thank you for all of it."
Theodore held his hand out, and Frederick raised his eyebrow, sitting back up.
Really? We're going through this?
He supposed someone like Theodore would want to thank him for the good things he had done, especially since the Specter tended to keep away from people, and generally could not actually shake anyone's hand. He felt a bit humbled by it, actually, not embarrassed, but certainly humbled.
"Oh right," he rubbed his neck, and took Theodore's hand. If Theodore hadn't known better, one could say he was almost sounding a bit uncomfortable. "It's not a big deal though, it was either that or haunting people, and I don't really have anyone I dislike enough to make their life a nightmare."
"So... do you prefer The Specter or The Spectre or The Phantom of the Opera or... you have a lot of names."
"I would have less if you stopped giving me new ones," Frederick replied, again with a joking tone. "But definitely the Specter. While the Phantom of the Opera is disturbingly close, I always feel like people expect me to make a performance out of it. While it would definitely be amusing, I don't think it would be very appropriate to have me make an entrance with a song. Ruins the element of surprise, and all that." He got up.
"Now, I'm sure you'd rather not miss whatever is going on out there as it sounds rather serious, so allow me to leave some money, go to the toilet and never come out again," he winked, making it clear what he was intending to do.
"I'm sure I'll see you there, though," he said, and left some money, before entering the bathroom, going into the ghost-form and making himself invisible before leaving through the wall.
Tim smiled, though he could feel that the red in his face wasn't going to disappear soon. He'd never actually seen himself blush, but if he looked anything like Tom had done when hanging with Rias and talking about skin-tight clothing, he had to look pretty silly.
I'm sure he'll think it's just the coughing.
He still felt oddly quiet, though. God, how had he not noticed? What would Tom say if Tim hit on his friend? What would George say if a guy hit on him? Tim could just go ahead, but George seemed like the kind of person you definitely could not just hit on willy nilly.
Clearly, I need a plan, a way to approach this. I'm supposed to be an evil mastermind, surely I can find out of the guy in front of me would... hm, this is going to take some time.
For now, he needed to retreat, if this was a movie, it would be simple to know what to do, but even Tim knew that real life could be more complicated than movies. Besides, he hardly watched romantic movies, so he didn't have much knowledge of what to do. Girls were more simple, less chance of everything becoming very awkward.
Hm, I wonder if Tom knows something.
He kept quiet, and was snapped out of his train of throughts when George spoke again.
"My foods good, how's yours?"
"It's good, do you want some?" he asked, though he didn't actually intend to give George any, seeing as he was nearly finished. "Speaking of which, I'm sure I'm keeping you from something, and I can get back home myself, so... how about I pay for this, and I'll see you later? My arm just started aching a bit, and there's a movie airing on one of the channels that I've wanted to watch, so, that's cool, right?"
I give that a 4/10 on the believability scale.
And everyone knew that it wasn't good before it was at least 7/10.
This wasn't working for him, it really was not. Sirius didn't like just sitting there, not at all. He had taken a shower, brushed his hair, and then turned on the TV as he waited for a frozen pizza he had bought a couple of days ago to get done.
"Huh, there's nothing about that incident yet." It would probably come up soon enough. Sirius closed his eyes, this was dull. The ghost had left the communication open, but if he didn't need it, borrowing some emotions would feel like intruding.
What if someone gets hurt?
What if he got hurt again, though? Sirius rubbed his forehead, thinking about it was giving him a headache. He got up, and went to the window. He could see the blimp from there, suddenly feeling the urge to paint the scene, and quickly getting his stuff, before setting it up as he noticed that someone was flying up to it.
I really should make sure to get that.
It didn't take long to get lost in the painting, all thoughts were pushed aside as the brush moved.
"As long as he doesn't kill my Uncle Ben or something, I think we're good."
He watched as Unicorn weaved to avoid the flames around the blimp and came back around again, aiming to glowing golden swords at the blimps propellers. Psyclone had seemingly noticed the glowing blades and forced a vortex against the side of the blimp, causing a sudden push. The Crick realized the villain had just barely dodged the arrows. A simple idea formed in his head.
"He may be powerful, but he's not omniscient," He said, just as he heard the chatter come over the communicator.
"Hey Coil here, think you could give me a lift onto the blimp? If I can touch it I might be able to shut down some parts of it."
"I'm gonna need Unicorn to distract him, but we can probably surprise him from the tail end of the blimp," The Crick looked up at the Unicorn. "I think his powers might add a bit or maneuverability into this thing, but if you can keep him occupied, Coil and I can get on board and take him down."
The Crick watched as the blimp began to steer itself towards the larger buildings, a series of smaller vortexes giving it a needed speed boost.
"Fuckin' shit, that was close..." Psyclone said as he accelerated the blimp. "I almost lost my...huh, fuck, didn't really think of a name for this thing."
Psyclone began to rev up the compression cannons around the blimp, air flowing through the nozzles, spinning, a compressing at a rapid rate. Between focusing on this, names bounced around in the villains head. The Super Cell? Nah. Doppler Doom? Nope. At last it him. He fired the cannons, the shock-wave along shattering the windows of various buildings. Buildings in the direct line of fire began to crumple, the air crushing and tearing at whatever was in it's path. It was like launching freight trains at buildings.
"I'll see what I can do to 'herd' him into a more favorable position for you then" Karen replied over the com as she flew in and out of flame thrower range. Her tactics form then on where simple, Lure Psyclone into a position that allowed Coil and Crick to board the ship unnoticed and shut it down, though she would still be actively trying to disable the blimp by cutting off the engines.
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