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At The Underground on Campus:

Cassie digs for her PDA, and pulls up a list of songs, with lyrics and music.
She giggles madly, and points to one, 'Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.' "How
about this one?" she asks.

Adam walks back from the bar two instrument cases in his hands and Cassie on
his arm toward Jelani. "I think I can to that

Joey comes into the Underground, looks around for Adam, and then smiles a
crooked, yet broad, smile upon seeing him. She seems to know some other
students, briefly stopping to drop her bag at their table, then makes her way
over to where the dark-haired blue-eyed man is standing, "Heya, Adam. Got
y'message."

Cassie looks at Joey, then Adam, then back to Joey. "Message?" she says,
icily.

Adam says, "Joey is a great guitarist."
Adam says, "I called her when I picked up my gear. I hope you don't mind."

Joey raises an eyebrow, almost amusedly. o O (Well, there you go. You've been
offering him beer when he wants Zinfandel), and nods, "Well, great may not be
the term. Popular's kind of the thing, y'know?"

There's the sound of an explosion from the University Campus area. 
*BOOOOOM*!!!"

Cassie shows a PDA listing songs to Joey, and asks, saccharine-sweet, "Think
you can handle these?"

Jelani stands near the bar, sipping water.

Joey nods, then looks back with alarm, as the explosion is heard, "Ummm...I
could, but it seems there may be a problem for me t'attend to..and all that.
If y'all excuse me."

Jelani thinks . o O (I do hope they tell me.. *what the hell!?*)

Cassie flinches, but doesn't seem to rock when the explosion hits. "What the
hell?" she says aloud.

Joey looks at Adam, "Superhero Business..as y'say.." she hovers off the
ground, yells "GANGWAY!!!" and then flies back out through the entrance.

Eaglet happens to be flying overhead when there's a loud explosion. He
immediately turns invisible and dives down to see what the cause of the mayhem
is.

------------------------
Blade
        The black man before you stands a broadshouldered 6' tall with the
muscular, lean build of a martial artist or a top athlete. He is bald, or
shaves his head, and his face as well is clean shaven. He seems to be
somewhere in his thirties from what can be seen of his facial features.

        A pair of black wraparound shades hide his eyes, and incidentally his
identity, from any observers. He is wearing what looks like military field
clothes, consisting of a dark green T-shirt, jungle camouflage pants and solid
looking dark gray army boots. Around his waist is a belt with military style
equipment pouches and around his forearms he wears bracers made from strips of
hard leather the same color as his shirt. Finally there is the most sinister
part of his costume: The pair of brightly polished and very sharp-looking
oriental swords he carries!

Platform
        This is a large circular hovervehicle of some sort with a railing
around the top edge and room for several human sized beings to stand on top of
it. Its armored chrome surface cleams in even the smallest amount of light,
and as it floats around it creates a droning hum.

Longbow
        You see an athletic, well-muscled caucasian man in the prime of his
life, probably somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. Standing
5'11" tall he has the build of a top athlete, every muscle toned to perfection
as he moves a smooth, confident grace. Blue eyes look out at the world from a
moderately handsome face and his blonde hair is cut in a short style.

        The costume this man is wearing does not qualify as everyday
streetclothes. His torso is covered by a tightfitting tanktop style garment,
the upper chest and abdomen a military green color, while the side of the
ribs, waist and the lower back are a dark green color. The tights are equally
tightfitting, showing off his impressive leg musculature, and are colored in a
similar way to the top, darg green along the outside of the legs and hips and
a light military green down the middle and along the inside of the legs. A
pair of dark green boots with flipover "cuffs" cover his feet, and a pair of
forearm length gloves of the same color are worn on his hands while a
scarf-type military-green cloth belt circles his waist, and attached to the
front of the belt is a knee-length dark green loincloth with light
military-green edging. Finally a military green mask covers the lower half of
his face, hiding his identity from the world. He also carries a large,
powerful looking bow and on his back is a wide, dark green quiver filled with
arrows.

Einherjar
        You are looking at a caucasian man, probably 30 years old or so, with
long, blonde hair and a full beard and moustache which has been twisted into
two long braids. He is big, at least 6'7" tall with the build and muscle
definition of a professional wrestler or bodybuilder. Pale blue eyes glare out
at the world, and his mouth seems to be constantly twisted into a grimace of
just barely suppressed fury.

        His right arm and shoulder is covered by banded metal armor held in
place by broad leather straps going around his torso, and around his left
forearm he wears a solid steel bracer. His legs are similarly covered in
banded armor like his right arm with a wide leather belt around his waist and
a pair of furry "barbarian-style" boots on his feet.

-----------------------

The source of the explosion is pretty much obvious to anyone with a pair of
eyes. Hovering outside the second floor of one of the science buildings is a
large, high-tech hoverplatform of sorts, Standing on the platform are two men,
one wearing a green costume and wielding a longbow, and the other a _big_ guy
dressed like some sorta oldfashioned warrior. The platform itself has a
weaponbarrel sticking out of a small opening in the front of the vehicle.
Presumably the fact that this weapon seems to have made a rather large hole in
the second story wall of the building it hovers in front of was the source of
the explosion, and standing just inside the hole is a black man dressed in a
green T-shirt, camouflage pants and a pair of shades hiding his eyes. More
importantly, he wears a pair of swords strapped to his back.

Joey is flying full-out from the Underground, slipping her goggles over her
eyes. o O (Well, so much for a jam session, but at least I don't have to worry
about Waters giving me the evil eye while I jam, now.). Her eyes search out
the source of the explosion. She grimaces . o O (Okay, Joey, you can do
this..Hoo boy, better call for help..)

Bullwhip is heading home when he hears the explosion. Having just finished
getting his grand-father out of town, and worrying about Joey getting the
meeting together, and contacting Aurora, things are becoming pretty stressful.
.oO(I don't really have time for a fight...but I can't risk idiot villians
running amuck, especially with everything else going on.) He swings onwards
towards the source of the explosion, landing on a nearby roof from the
floating platform. The armored figure yells out in his metallic, mechanisized
voice. " Cease and disist. NOW. "

Guardian steps outside from the Underground, running towards the explosion. As
she passes through a spot of darkness, the short party dress expands,
completely covering the running young woman in an instant.

Queen streaks in, speeding down from the skies, a black coma of dust following
her as she arrows towards the University Complex. Though she resembles a
little of a black meteor, the shape of this black streak is apparent. And
perhaps, to some, not reassureing. A demon streaking to the scene of violence,
why would that be? She pulls up sharply when she sees the hover platform, but
her speed is to great, and she makes a hard, rough, if non-damaging landing
with a resounding *THUD* onto the grass of the quad.

Aurora was about to go off-duty when the explosion occurred. Swearing at the
timing, she heads down to her car. A few moments later, she pulls up outside
the university gates and parks, leaving the flashing light running while she
trots onto the campus.

Jelani heads out of the Underground, rushing in the direction of the nearest
campus phone, ducking into cover briefly to make a quick change and
investigate the ruckus.

Adam runs after Joey and Cassie. He runs to find cover while looking around
for the two ladies. o O (There's Joey. Where's Cassandra? Oh man. Don't get
hurt Joey.)

The thump on the grass signaling Queen's landing and the shout by Bullwhip
pretty much alerts the criminals to the presence of the heroes. The one with
the bow glances around, taking in the situation and then calls to the man
inside the hole in the wall, "Blade! Capes! We have less time than we counted
on." The man called Blade responds with a sour, "Deal with them", to which the
bowman simply nods.

Guardian thinks . o O (Blade? Capes? At least they're keeping their names
simple.)

The man who was addressed as Blade turns from his companions and disappears
further into the building and out of view without another word.

Guardian runs towards the gaping hole in the building, planning to follow this
'Blade'.
Guardian runs faster, leaping off the ground and flying towards the hole in
the building occupied by Blade not a moment ago.
Guardian flies upwards and into the hole, stepping inside the building through
the makeshift door.

Joey frowns, looking at the damage, then makes her way closer to the platform.
She raises her hand, and a white beam shoots out, heading towards the man with
the bow. o O (Okay, small attacks first, bind, and then go with it..and this
time remember what Uncle Shard always says.."Duck!")

As the attack shoots towards the bowman he instantly drops down into the
splits and goes lies down flat on the floor of the platform, letting the cage
pass above him before kipping back to his feet with a chuckle, "Close, but no
cigar, darlin'."

The energy from Joey's hand zooms through the air, missing Longbow, and hits
the ground behind him, firmly holding the Ketnucky bluegrass in place. She
grits her teeth, muttering under her breath, "Well, /that's/ familiar."

Equinox flies a little closer to the action, then points his hand towards the
bowman, "If at first you don't succeed..." 

Again the villainous archer avoids the attempt to ensnare him, leaping aside
with a backflip to the far side of the platform as the tendrils snake upwards
towards them.

Equinox frowns, "Now *that* is annoying, hold still Fluffy..."

Longbow says, "My, my, my. Aren't I the popular one tonight. Can't make it too
easy for you fellas though. What fun would _that_ be?"

Equinox says, "Lay off the jumping jacks and I'll show you, Cupid..."

Aurora moves towards the hovering platform, deciding that the first order of
business should be to prevent an escape with whatever they're after. She
points, and a bright beam leaps from her finger toward the craft.

The beam glances harmlessly off the shiny surface of the craft, doing no
visible damage.

Queen rights herself from her rocky landing, and glances at the hoverplatform,
trying to get a good look at the man without the bow. She's gonna concentrate
hard, and give the command for the idiot to take a dirt dive onto the pavement
"Take a Dirt-dive down to the ground for your Fans!"

The big guy grabs his head... steps towards the edge of the platform, and then
snarls, the expression on his face becoming a grimace of concentration and
anger as he shakes his head furiously, stopping just before he is about to
take a swandive off the edge.

Queen snarls angrily, having felt her control establish, then slip off. She
looks up, and screams "That's what you do for your Fans?"

Bullwhip lashes out with a coil, makeing a swing to bring himself closer tothe
platform. " Two birds. One stone..." he utters coldly, before firing off his
energy canon....

The platform shudders and wavers a bit in the air as the blast slams into it,
but the size of the thing keeps it from being knocked aside, and it's
apparently fairly well armored, seeing as there aren't any holes in the thing
following that attack.

The big man locks his eyes on Queen as the mental hold she tried to get on him
slips away, then crouches down... and _LEAPS_ from the platform, soaring
through the air to land in front of the "demoness" as he snarls, "NOONE
VIOLATES THE MIND OF TYR'S CHOSEN CHAMPION! NOONE!". As he finishes his
"speech" a huge fist lashes out at the woman!

Queen sees nothing but the fist swelling into her face as the *thwack* of
flesh meeting flesh resounds through the quead. The force of the blow throws
her backwards, into the small pit she'd already made on the quad, and she
looks up, shaking her head slightly
Queen says, "Is that all you've got, Big Boy? A weak mind, and a body to
match..."

Einherjar roars, "NOONE!!!!"

Queen laughs in response, seeming overly amused

While Einherjar demonstrates his vocabulary Longbow shouts out a command,
apparently neither to Blade or Einherjar, "Descend and target the second one
to fire at me". As he speaks the vehicle he stands on descends towards the
ground, responding to his voice command. It turns around in the air, the
weapon which was pointing towards the hole in the wall now pointing towards
the heroes... And Equinox in particular. Longbow chuckles, "Now, like I said,
my friend, it wouldn't be any fun if we didn't resist. Enjoy."

The weapon powers up with a hum... followed by a *FWASH* as a glowing shell of
energy shoots out of the barrel... and misses Equinox by inches, only to
disappear up into the night sky.

Longbow frowns, "Now, what was that you said about standing still earlier,
friend?"

Guardian walks quietly and carefully towards wherever Blade may have gone,
looking for the villain.

There's only one way he could have gone. The open door leading to some other
room.

Guardian thinks . o O (Beware of ambush.) and carefully walks to the edge of
the door, looking through it.

As expected the ambush is very much real as a foot swings into view, aimed at
Guardian's head, leading with the heel.

Guardian , her senses almost paranoid, manages to duck the incoming foot.

Blade follows through with the missed kick, stepping into view in the doorway
in front of Cassie, "First and only warnin' girlie" he says in an English
(though certainly not upper class) accent, "Leave now, 'fore I 'ave to
seriously hurt you, awroight?"

Guardian says, "You're stealing my lines. I'm supposed to give the warning,
you're supposed to surrender, or I have to hurt you."

Joey eyes Longbow, telling him, "Nice toy bow y'got there. Reminds me of the
one I used in "Bolt At Camp." Now, stop this, before y'get really hurt, and
just give up." She folds her lightly glowing arms across her chest, looking
quite serious.

Longbow chuckles, then wiggles his eyebrows, "What? Just give up? Oh, come
now. Admit it, darlin'. You'd be disappointed if I didn't put up a fight.
'sides, why should I give up when I have the advantage? Oh, and as for you and
bows? You ain't even _close_ to my mastery of the weapon... And neither were
the previous two yahoos who used to go by your moniker." He chuckles again,
then pulls an arrow with some sort of a bulb for its head from his quiver...
and fires it _between_ Equinox and Joey!
Longbow says, "And speaking of taking two birds with one stone...."
The arrow explodes in a cloud of gas halfway between Joey and Equinox, the
cloud quickly covering both heroes.

Joey starts gagging inside the cloud. o O (Okay...Shard didn't tell me about
THIS) "*Kaff* *Hakkkkk*  *ChhhhKK!!"

Longbow laughs, "My own special blend of tear- and knockout gas. How do ya
like it, kids?"

Equinox gasps out, "What the--- *cough cough*" and starts clutching at his
throat.

Adam thinks . o O (This ain't good. Bowboy is giving them the business.)

Aurora frowns at the seriously nasty weapon the hoverboard carries, and shifts
position to try for a better shot on the platform. Once again, the laser beam
lashes out.

This blast, as opposed to the previous one, actually seems to shake the
platform somewhat, though the surface still seems unbroken, if a little bit
scorched just where the laser beam struck.

Queen flies up to avoid the stone-like fists of the Chosen Idiot, and
concentrates again, slipping herself into the mind of the bowman. She cries
out "You're doomed! Doomed I tell you!!" as she tries to slam heavy waves of
fear and loathing through him...

Einherjar just _looks_ at Queen as a vague feeling of something or other
washes over him, leaving him completely unaffected, "I will break your bones
and tear you asunder, mindwitch!"

Queen says, "Ooooh, I'm scared! Terrified, even! Shaking in my boots! I tell
you, your orations will earn you academy awards! Really, you are all in the
wrong line of work..."

The huge brute _ROARS_ and rears back with both fists as Queen hurls another
insult at him....

The platform, now down at groundlevel, starts shifting and changing shape,
depositing Longbow on the ground as legs grow out from underneath it, the
weapon pulls back into the machine... Arms appear... Eventually a huge chrome
giant with no head stands next to the bowman who chuckles again, "Ladies and
gents. Allow me to introduce Platform. I believe he is not pleased about being
shot at."
 Before you stands an obviously mechanical being, its chromed metal carapace
gleaming in even the tiniest amount of light. It is basically humanoid in
shape, with two arms and two legs attached to the body, but there the
similarity ends. For one thing this thing has no head at all. It also stands
12 feet tall and probably weighs a good ton or two.

Meanwhile..indoors...
Blade strikes out with his hand at Guardian's abdomen, his hand held like a
claw, "You 'ad your chance, girl", he says. "Time to pay th' piper"

Guardian says,"Sorry, but I don't owe you anything. You owe me for wrecking a
good party."

Again the criminal misses the nimble heroine, "So sue me", he says in a flat,
humorless tone of voice.

The huge fists of the big brute miss their target, slamming into the ground in
front of her instead!
*BOOOOOOOM* The sound of the fists hitting the ground rumbles across the
campus, dirt and grass flying in all directions, leaving a crater in the lawn
where the fists hit.

Queen stands up, and the massive fist swells in her face again *KAPOW*
thunders across the quad, nearly shaking stones loose from their anchient
mortar. The sound of cracking bones is heard as the dark, winged figure flies
backwards nearly 30 feet to slam to the ground with a sickening *KRUNCH*

Longbow pulls out another arrow, This one too with a sort of bulblike head,
but different from the last... It seems to be made from narrow bands packed
tightly together rather than a solid bulb. Without hesitating he aims at Joey
and lets the arrow fly!

Joey is still coughing a bit, as the projectile hurtles at her. However, when
the the arrow gets close, her eyes narrow and the air in front of her sparks
and glows. The arrow is halted and its direction changed, heading AWAY from
Joey and back towards Longbow, "Y'think *kaff* y'gonna get me at my own thing?
Let's see what kinda /net profit/ y'get from that!"
The arrow turns in midair and is sent flying back at a startled Longbow,
hitting the archers square in the chest where the head of the thing bursts
into thick tangle of thin, metallic bands around the man, then contract to
bind him, preventing him from doing much of anything, "Okay. I admit it. That
was unexpected", he says, raising an eyebrow.

Eaglet is a long way up, and diving fast, but even he feels that shockwave.
Luckily, he doesn't see the hit make contact on the Queen of Spades. That
might be upsetting. The psychic boy slows when the combatants come into sight,
and picks a target. o O (Who're the vill... Oh. I read that. Blade, Longbow.
Big Guy with no name. Raidin' the museam. That Longbow looks tied up by poor
little Joey. Oooh, look, sparkly lights. Wonder where Blade is? Didn't the
story say Blade were the leader? That giant robot is him, maybe?) Platform's
consciousness is mistakenly the intended recipient of a radical Astral Opening
from the high-flyer.

The mental attack finds _something_ in the mechanical being, but it bounces
off like water off the back of a duck... There's nothing human about that
mind.

Aurora watches the big fellow take out the Queen and decides to do something
to keep him from doing it again. She mutters, 'Say Cheese.' under her breath.

The big brute turns his head from the downed Queen/Willowisp to look for the
rest of the heroes... and gets a facefull of blinding light for his trouble.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!" The roar seems more like that of an animal as the
light blinds the brute, "My eyes!"

Einherjar walks around blindly.... and walks right into a tree in the middle
of the grassy area. Snarling he swings at the obstacle...

The small tree is snapped in half by the angry, and blind, thug.

Nitro blasts out of the shadows, a glowing missle of rage straight at
Einherjar. As he arrives his hands glow brighter with a bright intensity.
"Chosen one? So a woman beater and lumberjack is what Tyr is choosing now?
Heck of a fall from god of justice. Speaking of justice." He swings his
glowing fist at the blind viking.

Equinox turns and glares at Einherjar. "Oh, that wasn't nice..."

The punch hits the big man straight in the jaw, sending him flying through the
air... and right into a signpost with directions to the various buildings on
campus.

The brute grunts as he sits on his rear in the remains of the sign, "Ow..."

As Einherjar struggles with the concept of someone actually managing to hurt
him the giant of the team, the huge, lumbering robot known as Platform steps
forwards, the ground practically shaking as the heavy foot slams down on the
pavement, step by step...

Nitro thinks . o O (Uh oh.)

Joey gulps inaudibly, as the large metallic behemoth moves.

Eaglet thinks . o O (Next time, don't try to hurt the conscious mind of a
machine. Maybe it isn't Blade? Maybe the poor blind guy Mr. Nitro's bashin' is
Blade? They all look so tiny from way up here.)
Equinox thinks . o O (Where's Guardian?)

The giant lumbers towards Equinox, reaching out with one huge hand towards the
superenvironmentalist....

Equinox thinks . o O (Ok.. got your own probs at the moment...)

The giant machine may be big and strong, but it certainly isn't among the most
accurate devices ever created, as evidenced by the fist closing on empty air
instead of a hero.

Blade looks at Guardian, his face cold and expressionless as he pulls his twin
swords from their scabbards... and then slashes out with one at the heroine.

Again the heroine's agility saves her from the swordsman's attack, though he
says nothing, merely settling into a defensive pose as he recovers from the
strike.

Guardian looks at the suddenly armed swordsmen, dodging away from his thrust,
riposting with, "So, you're not going to play nice anymore?"

Longbow, not surprisingly, struggles against his own tangler bands.

Nitro says, "Ladies? Do you know how to topple dominoes?"

Longbow tears aat the bands... and some of them actually start snapping... but
not enough. Not all of them.

Joey nods to Nitro, "You betcha. There's not much Bolt can't do, y'know." she
tells the tall man.

Eaglet thinks. o O (Well, he's blinded, outnumbered and knocked down, so it
ain't sportin', but I better help keep him from killin' any more trees.) He
Opens Einherjar's Astral awareness forcibly.

Nitro says, "Good, Let's start with Conan here. Alright?"

Eaglet's will infiltrates Tyr's Chosen's awareness with some insight into just
how huge the universe is, how insignificant a portion of it the strongman has
encountered yet, or imagined, or conceived possible.

The big man _howls_ in pain.... turns his head this way and that... then
remembers he can't see diddly, and howls in _frustration_! Grabbing the
remains of the sign he smashed, that being the closest thing at hand, he hurls
it into the air in a random direction, sending it _flying_ across the entire
campus area and into the parking lot by accident... *CRASH*!!! There's the
sound of glass breaking.

Joey responds to Nitro's idea, moving closer to the blinded and brain-hurting
Einherjar, "Okay..trees and glass is bad, but in this town, NO ONE gets away
with damaging a city sign!" her hand comes up and a searing white blast
emerges, heading towards the strong villain....

Nitro thinks . o O (Stay down. We've got to move on.)

The big brute is sent sliding backwards on his rear by the force of the blast,
slamming into a lamppost on the other side of the road.

Einherjar groans, "Oooowwww....."

Eaglet thinks . o O (What're the odds? Two hits, two posts. This gotta be the
unluckiest guy... no, that's Hydra.)

Aurora nods to herself, satisfied that the big fellow is out of action for a
while. She turns her attention back to the giant robot, shifting position as
she switches back to the laser mode. . o O (It's not really alive. I hope.)

The blast hits the robot in the shoulderjoint where it isn't quite as well
armored, and it seems to have an effect as a few sparks and a thin wisp of
smoke can be seen where the blast hit.

Einherjar staggers to his feet, shouting at noone in particular, seemingly
beyond reason at the moment, "COME ON, COWARDS! FIGHT LIKE MEN! I WILL BREAK
YOU! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL! THE GOD OF WAR HAS CHOSEN ME!"

Nitro looks at the smoldering hole in Platform then at the standing Einherjar
and blasts across the sky float above Einherjar and swings down with a glowing
fist. "Bad Dog. Stay."

The blow hits Einherjar on the thickest, most solid part of his body. The top
of the skull. He stands up straight, a puzzled look crossing his face... Then
his eyes cross and roll back... he sways... and then topples like a piece of
lumber.....

Joey lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, then turns her eyes to
Platform.

As Einherjar topples Longbow lets out a curse not very characteristic of his
so far calm and confident demeanor. Muttering something unpleasant he then
calls out to the robot, "Platform! Pickup and transport mode. Time to cut our
losses. Not that the moron over there was a big loss", Pausing a bit he calls
up to the hole in the wall, "Blade, the bus is leaving post haste, with or
without you. Getcher British butt out here!"

Platform obeys immediately, walking over to Longbow and picking the bound
bowman up in one hand.

Guardian says to Blade, "Sounds like it's going badly for you. And you're not
getting away."

"Who's gonna stop me? You?" Blade asks. "I think not. I ain't been caught yet,
miss, and you ain't good 'nuff to change that". With that he flips over and
past Guardian, landing in front of the hole in the wall, and then leaps out
without hesitation, seemingly not at all worried about the drop from the
second storey. The reason for that is a certain 12' tall robot on whose
shoulder the swordsman lands.

Guardian cries out, "Oh no you don't!" and gives chase, aiming to stop the
escapee with a flying tackle!//That's a move through right? Level in offense,
cause I want to hit him.

The villain is hit square in the back, letting out an "OOF!" as the air is
driven from his lungs, followed by he himself hitting the ground...

Guardian turns back to face Blade, and says triumphantly, "The name is
Guardian, and I will stop you."

Blade glares at the young heroine, "Your name will be corpse if you don't stop
botherin' me, girl."

Guardian holds out one hand towards Blade, flipping up her fingers in the
universal 'Bring it on' signal.

Nitro thinks . o O (That's it!)

Longbow _finally_ snaps the last of the bands keeping him tied up. Shrugging
off the remains he calls out to Blade, "Stop playing with the local yokels,
will you? We got places to be, and they ain't here!"

Eaglet can't let them escape. Blade's threat pushes his buttons. They're too
dangerous, with the amount of lethal power they have. Arrows. Swords.
Unstoppable machines. Strongmen. Repeated break-ins. They'll kill people.
They're just like the Totem Hunter. Longbow, he decides, is controlling the
robot. He has to be quieted. He must. Like the Totem Hunter. Striking a
shaman's pose, he shouts down to the unbound archer, "No. This ends now. No
more hunting. Open your mind to my will."

The archer shrugs the mental attack off, his mind a little too slippery to get
a hold of that time, "Not if you're the best this town has to offer, brat.
Now, back to kindergarden with ya. Little kids like you should know better
than to interrupt the adults with your pointless prattle."

Blade kips to his feet, then runs over to Platform again, "Talk to me like
that again, Longbow, and you'll learn why that's a bad idea. Now, let's get
out of here!"

Nitro thinks . o O (If I can just get there before they launch.)

Joey frowns, "The Best? Y'want the best? You can't handle the best!! But here
it is, anyway." and she fires off a white beam, aiming towards Platform, beads
of sweat pouring down her forehead, trying to keep the villains from getting
away..

The robot shudders as the blast washes over it, but stands firm in place...

Joey grimaces, "Dammit...not enough.."

And then it falls to one knee... and the other... and the arms hang down, limp
and motionless...

Longbow blinks, "Okay... That was unexpected.... again...."

Joey simply...looks at the thing..then tells Longbow, "This is Bolt y'playing
with! Now..GIVE UP!!!"

Guardian closes the gap back to where Blade and Longbow are at, and calls out
to them, "You had your chance. Are you going to surrender peacefully, or do we
get tough with you?"

Nitro thinks . o O (Dang.)

Longbow looks at Platform... Then looks at Einherjar... then at Blade, and
finally at the heroes. With a shrug he drops his bow and pulls out a PDA, on
which he punches in a phone number. The voice ansering says, "Cheatum and
Scamm. How may I help you?". Longbow pauses for a second, then says, "Yes, I
wish to hire a lawyer..."

Guardian lets out a war whoop, in contrast to the serious tone she used just a
moment before.

Nitro lands to stand behind Einherjar with a glowing fist. "Someone want to
call the police?"

Eaglet waits for Starguard or whomever to arrive, gives whatever statement he
can, and flies off to tell everyone how totally cool Joey and Nitro are.
Eaglet thinks . o O (And that Guardian and Aurora, so awesom.)

Joey nods to Nitro, still breathing hard, "I'll radio in.." and she does so,
then wipes the sweat from her brow.

Nitro calmly stands over the fallen barbarian, not even breathing hard.

The police (and Starguard after having been called in to provide appropriate
transport to the holding facility, arrives shortly, of course. Einherjar does,
however start to stir and tries to sit up before they get there. Fortunately
even he is able to fathom the consequences of doing anything stupid while in
such a position.

Nitro says, "Good work ladies."

Joey smiles, landing by Nitro, "Y'did well, y'self. Thanks for the assist,
Mr...?"

Nitro says, "They call me Nitro. I'm glad I could help."

Joey grins, "Mmmm, y'certainly did. It looked hairy, at first, but y'pretty
smart. I'm Bolt. Nice t'meet y'for longer than a minute."

Nitro says, "Smart? It's the law of diminishing returns. That's all."

Joey takes another deep breath, "Well, lucky for us, we kinda diminished
/their/ returns, y'know?" she sighs, looking at the damage, "I hate when
things get messy. But, maybe it's best we got 'em."

Nitro says, "Yes, that's true. Do you know what they were doing?"

Joey shakes her head, "Nope. I doubt they'll talk." she sighs, "This isn't
even the first time people have come after the Science Building. There's so
much stuff going on in there."

Nitro says, "Yes. I noticed even one of the former 'collectors' showed up to
stop these."

Joey nods, smiling, "Who knows. Maybe he's trying to really be good. I'll give
him a chance, I think."

Nitro says, "Well, the courts saw fit to, I won't dispute their ruling. But
something about him bothers me."

Joey nods, "It's his methods and his smarmy attitude. I know what y'mean."

Nitro says, "That might be it."
Nitro thinks . o O (I hope Cassandra and Jelani are alright.)

Nitro double checks around him then the sparkling field around him dies away.

Joey places a hand to her forehead, "Well, one nice thing about being a
superhero. It keeps y'from having too much of a social life. I was supposed
t'jam with some friends, but I'm practically about t'fall over..Adam'll be
mad. Dangit."

Nitro says, "Adam?"
Nitro says, "Is that your boyfriend?"

Joey shakes her head, sighing, "Not a boyfriend, really. Adam Sendant. It
figures. A great musician comes here, and wants t'jam with me, and all the
time, I gotta rush off t'save people or stop some kind of disaster or whatnot.
He'll probably think I'm a flake or something, for getting wiped out by this."

Nitro says, "This is not an easy thing to do. And you ladies put your
everything into it."

Joey nods, "And so did you and Equinox and little Eaglet. That's what I like.
All differences are aside, adn all of us come together to face down a foe, no
matter the sacrifice."

Nitro says, "Eaglet? He was here?"

Joey nods, "Yeah..He was that little kid. I didn't see him til the end."

Nitro says, "Well, I'm sure this Adam fellow will understand. Heard a rumor
that he helped stop some rocket skate gang last night."

Joey lifts an eyebrow, "Wow..I told him he was as much a hero as anyone in
spandex. It's true." she takes another deep breath, "He's a good man, so
y'probably right. A fellow like that will understand stuff."

Nitro says, "You should get some sleep. You looked pretty tired after the
fight. It's time for the day shift to take over anyways."

Joey nods to Nitro, then leans over and gives him a kiss where his mouth would
be, "Y'very sweet. And yeah, I think I'll go t'bed..alone.." she winks, "And
get some shuteye."

Nitro says, "Rest well, you've earned it."

Joey hovers a bit, then lands again, "Maglev.." she chuckles, "Good night,
Nitro.." and she makes her way back across the campus, heading home.

Nitro watches Joey leave while picking up pieces of a fallen tree.

Source: CBC                                       Date: 04/08/2001
Title:"Villains Attack College Campus!"
Byline/Reporter: AP
****************************************************************************
 News Report, Sunday, April 8th, 2051. Page 1.

        AP, Colonial Bay - Colonial Bay State University was attacked last
night by three men and what appeared to be a transforming robotic vehicle.
According to witnesses, at approximately 11:06 pm, a hole was blasted in the
side of the Science Building by the platform the three men stood on. First on
the scene was Bolt, who is a graduate student at CBSU. Responding to the
emergency were Starguard members Guardian and Aurora, local heroes Eaglet,
Nitro and Equinox, and also Bullwhip and Queen of Spades.
        While Guardian followed the alleged perpetrator, Blade, into the
building, the others fought alleged perpetrators Longbow, Einherjar and the
large, transforming Platform. At first, the supervillains seemed to be
untouchable, as the heros were evaded and gassed. Tables turned, however, when
Longbow shot at Bolt with an arrow which was then promptly returned,
restraining him with his own bonds. Strongman Einherjar was overcome by a
concerted effort of the other combined heros, while Guardian singlehandedly
stopped the swordsman, Blade, tackling him out of the building.
        Longbow managed to break free, and sounded a retreat, according to
witnesses, but was prevented from doing so when Bolt shot the giant robot,
disabling it. The villains quickly surrendered to authorities, and StarGuard
was called to take the alleged perpetrators into custody. Guardian spoke to
reporters at that point, "We showed them, the same way we'll show anyone else,
what StarGuard, and the other heroes of this city are here for. They cannot
violate the laws and get away with it. They will be stopped."
Nitro, as well, spoke, saying "I arrived on the scene once the conflict had
begun to see Bolt, Aurora and the others battling these men. And since Aurora
is with Starguard I figured I would try to help out. I think it's important to
remember that many of the people that helped deal with this treat were private
citizens that didn't have to help out but did out of civic pride and duty. My
only regret was all the damage done. I will be contacting the school in the
morning to see if they need any help in the cleanup."
Bolt gave an uncharacteristically brief statement, saying only, "Well, we
don't know what they wanted, but we stopped them. Pretty tough guys, too.
Hopefully, this learned them a lesson that's not normally taught in college."
        A CBSU spokesperson told reporters, "Well, at this point, it's unknown
what they were after. However, this should not worry anyone. The University
has excellent security in place, and of course, the local heros were also
present. We will attempt to have the damage repaired as soon as possible." The
trio of supervillains refused comment, saying only that they were waiting on
their lawyers. They were taken into custody under charges of destruction of
public property, posession of unregistered deadly weapons, reckless
endangerment, assault with deadly weapons, and breaking and entering.
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