2009-03-24 - The Shocking Truth About Pork Rinds
From JLU MUX
| The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC) . This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved. Questions should be directed to staff. |
| The Shocking Truth About Pork Rinds | |||
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| Summary: Sinestro and Steppenwolf hunt for a misplaced Father Box in NYC. Team Blue and Gold fly in to foil them! | |||
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Ten Minutes Ago:
"Pork rinds are made of PIG OUTSIDES?!?"
Currently:
After discovering the shocking truth about pork rinds, Booster Gold is instead having a snack of potato chips. Sitting shotgun up in the Bug, he has his feet propped up on the dashboard, ankles crossed, even though he knows the Blue Beetle hates that. There is also a can of beer close at hand. "So, I asked Supergirl out on a date and she didn't throw me into the sun, she was just like, sorry you are too much of a goofball. Well," he waves his hand. "She didn't say goofball, I'm kind of paraphrasing, right? I mean she was nice about it. I guess."
Blue Beetle smacks his lips in thought and keeps an eye on the gauges and screens on the panel inside the Bug. He sits forward with his shoulders slumped - always such terrible posture. He turns and eyes the discarded bag of pork rinds on the floor of his precious skycraft, but he saves yelling for later. It is time for girl discussion.
"You kinda had to see that coming. She's nice and all but you can tell the kind of guy that's her type - quiet, shy farmboy." He makes a grabby motion towards the bag of chips. "Some people just aren't comfortable unless everything is all super serious, you know? You are too loud and apathetic about everything."
"Wh... what do you mean I'm loud and apathetic!" exclaims Booster, looking over at his partner. He frowns a little, then says, "Well, whatever. I don't even care." He holds the bag of chips out towards Blue Beetle and rattles it quietly. "I'm a perfectly valid hero. I don't see why I have to be so serious all the time. That's boring." Looking out through the bulbous windshield of the Bug on his side, he says, "We don't even have farms like that in the future. We don't even have New York in the future. Man, look at it rain. I guess we have rain, though."
Blue Beetle grabs a handful of chips and chomps on them loudly. "Well yeah, I mean you generally stay out of the 'serious' business, like me, and you're uh, pretty loud. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, Booster." The chip crumbs are spilling all over the front of his costume and he half-heartedly brushes them away. "Some girls like the uh... flashy... blonde hero in the spotlight. It's not like working on a farm would make you instantly more attractive to her."
While there may not be any sort of lightning on this New York evening, there is definitely thunder. Of course... it's rather localized for a peal of thunder, and it seems to be coming from inside rather than from the environment. Inside the Javits Center, at that.
"One of your... Father Boxes is here," the yellow and black-clad Sinestro blandly 'questions' as he steps from the white, concentric rings that have appeared on the con floor. There are people scattering from the unexpected teleportation effect (and okay, a couple who are just staring at it because it's a sci-fi convention, but Sinestro doesn't really care).
Neither does the pale, black goateed and green clad man stepping out from the rings beside him. His cape is fluttering in an artificial wind until a button on the boxy device he wears on his belt is tapped to shut the rent in space that brought them here.
"You sound uncertain," that man - Steppenwolf - smoothly replies. "Was His will unclear? I realize your inexperience may--"
"No," growls Sinestro, cutting the rest of his partner for the evening off. "But this place; you've chosen a fine place to lose your technology."
With a sword on his belt and a yellow bolt of lightning clutched in his right fist, Steppenwolf's cape is flowing dramatically around him as he sets off into the crowd. Bolts of brilliant, crackling yellow energy are searing unfortunate convention goers who happen to be in his path as he follows the subtle *Ting!*s of his own Father Box towards its mate. "Nonetheless, do your best to seek it out. You've seen them; find it."
"Ugh. It's so not fair. I'm totally the right age for Supergirl, too. And she wouldn't be jealous of my awesome blond hair, either, so it just seemed like a logical thing." Booster takes a swig of his beer, pausing when he hears that rumble of what is not actually thunder, but it sounds like it, to him. "Hey, what happens if the Bug gets struck by lightning?" He wonders, finally taking his feet down from the ship's console. "I feel all weird, like something's amiss. You know, like maybe it's a portent--" He suddenly belches enormously, which is not as loud as the booming of the Boom Tube, but it's pretty close. "Nine point five," he decides cheerfully, giving a thumbs up.
"Man, haha, that is gross. I could beat you, but, you know. Just ate chips." Beetle clears his throat and leans back in his own chair. "Anyway, we won't get struck by lightning. The hull is ionically charged." He thinks about it for a few moments and looks down at his instruments, however. "Something about that thunder sounded strange though, I dunno. It just didn't have the same sort of echo to it, you know?" He twists a dial and another blue-tinted screen comes to life. "I'm gonna take us a bit lower."
Sinestro and Steppenwolf are both rather easy to find. The former is glowing as he hovers near the roof of the center and mixes pushing terrified civilians out of the way with skimming the exhibits for some sign of the Father Box with the aid of yellow lenses set over his eyes.
The latter, on the other hand, is taking the direct route of continuing to wade through people, sending bodies flying in all directions. There are more, far smaller peals of thunder as lightning leaps his hands, channeled by the thing in his right hand that is more of a barely coherent mass of yellow energy than the solid object it was seconds ago.
"Yeah, okay." Booster rolls up the top of the chip bag and puts it aside, activating his suit's sensors, since the Blue Beetle seems to be taking things seriously now. "Huh." After a moment, he says, "You're right. There was some weird energy discharge. Kind of like Mr. Miracle, sorta." He floats up out of his seat, saying, "You think it's some kind of like, nefarious things afoot? Or hey, maybe Mr. Miracle's performing at the whatsit center, there. He's in showbiz, you know."
Blue Beetle nods, taking hold of the ship's controls and lowering the ship down past the rooftops. It slides almost silently between two rain-slicked buildings and then comes to a stop, only a few floors from the ground. "Oh, is he? Makes sense. He's pretty...showy." He turns another knob and the blue screen starts showing a wobbling sine wave. "Yeah, I don't like the look of this. I'm not sure if it's nefarious, but, like, we can hope right?"
"I dunno who you are, freakshow," says Hybrid, an unknown NYC hero who happened to be in the Center, "But whatever you're after, you're putting my people in harm's way." The look on his face says, before he vocalizes it, "You mess with my people or my city, I'll rip your fucking throat out."
"Hnnh," grunts Steppenwolf, even as an exhibit is annihilated in a flash of something like lightning. "You reek of Old Gods. Obsolete deities." With a coruscating field of burning yellow enrobing his left hand, he whirls suddenly to meet the leaping Hybrid with that, aiming to drive his palm into the leaping hero's body. There's an incredible amount of force behind it, not to mention that burning energy; though there's a reasonable amount of disdain in his tone for what he feels he's perceived, he is rather workmanlike about it.
Sinestro is simply scanning the area. Also, sort of watching as Steppenwolf tries to deal with his problems, because while he could help, he's so very busy doing anything else.
"Okay. I'm totally picking up weird energy crap," Booster Gold remarks, as his forcefield activates, covering him with a form-fitting golden glow. "Man, I should've brought Skeets along to analyze it. Can I just like, dump this data into the Bug?" Without waiting for actual permission, he initiates a wireless connection to the ship's computer, feeding his scanner readings into it. "And now there's a bunch of celphone activity but that could be a total coincidence."
Blue Beetle taps away at a small glowing keyboard. "I'd of course need more time to analyze it fully, but from what I can tell there's been a transportation of some sort. Through like a tear. Try to pick up what it might be that came through, or even localize it. Bad or good, we should probably go and visit this thing, hm?"
The blow is powerful, no question. But it's the addition of the bizarre electrical energy that does the most damage, sending Hybrid flying into another exhibit. But the Godbeast is nothing if not resilient, throwing off pieces of the set he's been sent into. Though one piece of metal 'wall' he picks up, and launches at Steppenwolf, and follows behind it, trying to distract the New God long enough for him to get in close and deliver a punishing blow of his own at the older immortal's face. "How's my fist smell, jackass?" he growls, attempting, whether or not he manages to make contact with the punch, to follow it up with a thrust kick to the gut.
With a terribly put upon sigh, Sinestro finally deigns to interject himself into his compatriot's battle... though he waits until the god of the hunt has been struck by Hybrid's fist - the metal is turned aside with a bolt of lightning - before doing much of anything.
That 'anything' comes in the form of a very, very thin yellow field interposing itself between Hybrid and Steppenwolf as that kick is thrown, providing something of a barrier between them. And then it shifts, trying to flow back towards the feral hero to form a frictionless bubble around him for encapsulation purposes.
"You can be certain that I will remember to mention this," he calls down to Steppenwolf.
"Hell yeah." Booster Gold flies to the Bug's belly hatch, and out into the rainy weather. "I'll keep up the data feed, Beeb." With his HUD targeting and analyzing everything, from running people to a variety of emissions across the electromagnetic spectrum, the Man from Tomorrow flies into the Center, just smashing through one of the large windows. Eh. Those are easy to fix. "Oh crap, Sinestro's here," Booster remarks, upon picking up the Korugan with his sensors.
"Hey! Pinky!" Booster shouts out, as he fires a volley of golden hardlight blasts at Sinestro's head. Because just shooting him in the back without a warning would be unsporting.
Feeling his punch connect with the New God is a pretty satisfying accomplishment for the champion of a god whose name has since been lost to the mists of time and myth. But the arrival of the bizarre barrier-turned-bubble is an unexpected surprise, and not a very welcome one, considering he does NOT like to be caged. The untamed wild hybrid cat in him can't stand it. Turning his eyes towards Sinestro, the Godbeast growls low in his throat. "What the hell are you two jabronis after? This is a convention for tech designed based on science fiction shows!" he snaps. Above him and out of sight, the Silver Eagle has made it's way into the building, following his charge's path, and sees the situation at hand, and sighs in annoyance.
"Great. Now I gotta save his hairy ass." and darts forwards, claws out and intent on doing damage to Sinestro, or at least to distract him long enough for Hybrid to break free of the bubble. Hilariously, Booster arrives just at the selfsame moment and adds in his own attack, while the Hybrid tries to claw his way out of the bubble. He's already sorely tempted to transform to full wereliger mode, but since it seems help has arrived, he might not have to.
There are a great many things occurring now, and most of them involve golden light in some way or another. First are the energy bolts from Booster Gold, which Sinestro weaves around as he pulls into a dive towards the Leaguer. A few catch hastily made prism constructs meant to split the small number of hardlight blasts into numerous weaker ones flying in all directions, in fact.
He also tries to lead the Silver Eagle towards the Man from Tomorrow (intending on peeling away at an opportune moment to see how maneuverable the creature is). Meanwhile, the bubble around Hybrid is flowing away, the yellow light making a wispy trail through the air as it reforms elsewhere in the fair. A simple drone meant to continue the search for the lost Father Box is humming through the area soon afterwards.
"Really," Steppenwolf begins as lightning crackles over the arm of his empty hand, "Did your ancient gods teach you that?" A pause, and then as he tries to flip away to put some distance between the two of them, lightning rips through the ground as it travels from his fist and in a rising arc towards Hybrid. "Then again, I don't especially care. Watch your tone, though."
"Dude, Beetle, there's totally a guy here who looks like one of the people from the radioactive mutant killing fields in my native era," Booster comments, having caught a glimpse of Hybrid. However, he cannot dwell on this, since he is in the middle of battle. Perhaps fortunately, Booster is quite good at flying, although with an incoming bird--well, he likes birds. He doesn't want the poor thing possibly destroying itself against him, he would feel pretty bad about it. "Hey, hey!" he tries to barrel roll out of the way.
In the meantime, the stray hardlight bolts that went in all directions have zapped a few innocent bystanders. But they'll be okay when they wake up, later.
"Try and make me, jobber." Hybrid replies. Meanwhile, the Silver Eagle, despite being a damn good flyer, is still somewhat laden down by the water in his feathers and is incapable of making the turn he needs to in order to follow Sinestro, so Booster is much faster and manages to get out of it's way.
The lightning arching towards Hybrid however is blocked by a simple application of what little scientific knowledge Hybrid posseses, darting behind an exhibit which deals with using thunderstorm based electricity to power specialized energy cells which can then be used as backup batteries in the case of town or city blackouts. The device catches the electricity arcing towards the Godbeast, keeping him from having to smell like burnt fur. Darting between exhibits, the feral warrior begins to transform, not to full wereliger form, but to a sleeker form, that of his demi-werewolf state. still powerful, but with a bit more speed in comparison to his more muscular feline demi-wereform, he tries to fake out Steppenwolf, feinting an attack from the right, then leaping into the air and spinning around like Torwa barton in Endless Waltz, transforming mid-move back to his demi-wereliger form, intend on bisecting the evil god with the claws on his hands and feet. "And for the record, no, he didn't. This's all me."
The funny thing about directing Steppenwolf's lightning towards an electrical exhibit is that it isn't really lightning. So the cells just kind of explode when they're hit, rather than absorb the energy. It is scientific in that something happened that can be learned from later.
There is a ghost of a wince as it again begins to arc up his arm in preparation, and for the sake of managing a decent charge, he declines to throw it at the approaching Hybrid. His hand - he is keeping the lightning bolt clutched tightly for as long as he can, so he only has one hand - isn't even presenting any particular threat of exposure to the energy as he tries to force Hybrid from himself. The claws... do not do much in the way of bisecting, though; his skin is incredibly tough, and some light bloodying is as good as it gets. So it is a matter of grappling now.
"It's been some time, jester," Sinestro says with a nonchalance that would be inappropriate for most on the battle-field after coming to a stop above the convention floor. He gestures vaguely towards the people hit by hardlight blasts and adds, "Perhaps you'd like to help me with bringing this building down?"
"Alright, Sinestro. You're way too dangerous to run around outside of a prison cell." Booster Gold is pointing at the Korugan. It's a rather dynamic pose, being in mid-air, especially since Booster is really good at doing dynamic poses. He practices. "And I am totally not falling for your mind games, my battle collateral damage has gone way down in the last two months! A decrease of eight percent! This is your one chance to surrender!" Booster raises his fists, which are swirling with golden kirby-crackle now, ready to punch or fire. Also, it looks pretty cool, a fact he is keenly aware of.
Grappling with a guy who wrestles for a living isn't a great idea, especially for a hero with a territorial desire to protect the city he calls his. Also, being that close means that while grappling, Hybrid is free to first attempt to headbutt Steppenwolf, and then attempt repeated knees to the gut of the evil deity, growling and hissing all the while. Circling above, the Silver Eagle nods approvingly. Even if Hybrid hasn't answered the riddle that is the Great Challenge, he's well on his way to proving the eagle's creator right in choosing the young man to become the Godbeast. Now if only he could answer the riddle, and gain his final and greatest forms.
Steppenwolf is no slouch at all when it comes to wrestling, but he is doing it one handed, and thus, he soon resigns himself to covering his head - he may be tough, but being rattled will do him no good all the same - and just plain absorbing the blows to the stomach, grunting with discomfort after each.
It's all biding time, anyway; if he can't get away to use his distance weapon, he's perfectly content to use it at point blank, and to that end, he thrusts the palm of the arm that is crackling with power out to try pressing it to Hybrid's chest so that the gathered energy can be unleashed. Whether he makes contact or not, he is discharging that energy; his painfully clenched teeth might paint a picture of just why he might be so ready to do so.
Sinestro responds pretty much the way that anyone observing might expect: he attacks, sending beams of yellow light flying in multiple directions. Most are making their way eccentrically towards Booster, but several are aimed at the building's supports in the hopes of bringing down chunks of the building all around.
That little yellow drone, through all of this, is zipping through the aisles, feeding information to Sinestro as it goes; so far, it doesn't seem to have found what is desired, but surely it is only a matter of time.
The crackling energy attack quickly makes itself known, even as Hybrid registers the pain it seems to be causing Steppenwolf, a fact filed away to deal with afterwards. He's too close to truly dodge, and his thoughts can be summed up in two words. "Oh, shit." Twisting as much as he can, he manages to avoid being fatally blasted, but the roar of pain that rips from his throat is defintive in proving that even though he's managed to avoid getting fried to a crisp, it doesn't avoid the pain. Still, he's nothing if not resiliant. Trying to fight past the pain, he reaches out, trying to grasp Steppenwolf's chest and turn the attack back on it's master, even though the pain is nearly unbearable.
"Ah, crap." With little choice, Booster Gold just takes the blasts aimed directly at him, his forcefield crackling with energy as it gets hammered. He does his best to keep his flight as steady as possible, buffeted around by the impacts, arms spread as he rapid fires his wrist-blasters to intercept and deflect as many of Sinestro's beams as he can. There is a rapid beeping that comes from his goggles or thereabouts, and a calm voice that intones, "Power levels now at sixty eight percent."
"Now," Sinestro bites off as his drone approaches an abandoned, cluttered table full of superhero paraphernalia. A few Batarangs, a disassembled Starro probe, an aerosol can with 'What Every Girl Needs' printed on its label, and a dusty, inert Father Box. It is black, the size of a bulky cell phone, and laced with a pattern of silver kirbycircuits all over its surface, and the drone is opening up with every intention of taking it in as it nears the table.
While Steppenwolf isn't so well off himself, hearing that it's time to go gives him something of a second wind. The lightning can't exactly be misfired - it's rather a thought controlled thing - but the grip and the claws behind it are painful enough that he's struggling to wrench free, even as he awkwardly uses his other, lightning-bolt gripping hand to brush across the surface of his own Father Box. There is another sound like thunder as a new Boom Tube opens behind the divine grapplers.
Sinestro is unconcerned with both Steppenwolf's struggling and the fact that the one or two beams that managed to escape being deflected are sending chunks of roofing falling to the ground. The former can be sorted if he absolutely must, and the latter, well, he really doesn't care.
"You've managed to not kill anyone tonight; how nice for you," he comments before turning away to try flying towards the 'tube.
"Guh. Sinestro, you're a huge jerk!" Booster Gold starts to fly after the Korugan, pointing at him. "Jerk!" And then he notices that the ceiling is starting to get dangerously crumbly. "Argh. Beetle! We're gonna need a clean-up crew down here!" Booster flies upwards, hands making contact with the ceiling. His forcefield spreads out slightly from where he makes contact, and he holds the weakened ceiling in place.
Near the table that the drone is arrowing for, there is a bright ball of blue-white light. With a *KZZTHAKK*, it explodes with a flash, and a figure is standing right there. It is... Booster Gold. Which is weird, because he's still up at the ceiling. This Booster looks slightly different, his costume missing the collar, along with a few other cosmetic changes. "Good work." He points a finger-gun at the droid as he grabs the Father Box, and he winks. There is another flash of bright light, and he is gone.
Meanwhile, unaware of why the two villains are suddenly taking a powder- and also dealing with the ringing in his ears of the sudden appearance of a Boom Tube right behind Steppenwolf and being caught totally unprepared for the sound, which echos wildly in the building, Hybrid winds up letting the evil deity go, probably meaning that Steppenwolf might overbalance and fall backwards into the thing, while clamping his hands over his feline ears, roaring in pain, tail lashing and fur bristling. Why oh WHY didn't he listen to the bird's suggestion of looking into earplugs to mute the sound at least a bit?!
Steppenwolf's egress is, indeed, sort of awkward, but he doesn't really need to be on his feet to get free; he can roll head over hills back to Apokolips just fine. The drone is gone just as Future!Booster finger guns at it, and on the other side of the portal, Sinestro is no doubt annoyed; there was sensitive data there that he could have gone without losing.
Also his new boss is kind of a nihilistic monster, so this kind of thing doesn't really help.
"Wh...at the hell?" Booster Gold is still up at the ceiling, where he is trying to keep things from caving in. However, he got a look at himself, stealing that doohickey. That was disorienting. "Uh..." Looking around for an awkward moment, as if to assess whether anyone else saw him in two places at once, he quietly says over his communicator, "Uh, Beetle, I... uh, remember that... uh. Nevermind. I'll tell you later." He tries to be patient. Sometimes being the one to hold up the architecture is pretty boring, but it's a bit novel for Booster; normally he's the guy knocking everything down.
Shaking his head clear, Hybrid begisn taking in the situation, and scowls. "Great. Just great. The bad guys get away, and now the whole building's coming down around our heads." He looks towards Booster, finally spottying the blue and gold clad hero. "I don't suppose you have some kind of means of fixing this place without bringing down tons of glass and steel down on these people's heads, huh?"
"No, dude, I'm geared to fight stuff, not fix stuff," Booster explains, concentrating on keeping his flight steady so he can maintain his super-strength support of the ceiling. "So uh. I think it's a good idea if people start evacuating. Like, right away. My partner is outside; he can help get people out of here until we can set up supports or whatever."
The Blue Beetle, meanwhile, has the Bug hovering outside so people from the floor directly above the sagging ceiling can evacuate immediately. They are led out into the ship itself and then carefully lowered from the Bug's belly hatch in groups.
"...okay," says Booster, who has focused his concentration on his task. That is how he flies, after all; by focusing on his ring. "Ugh, why are the Green Lanterns on the other side of the country!" A few more chunks of ceiling fall, although as long as no one dawdles, there should be no problem in getting out and evacuating the people who fell during the earlier battle.
"I'm finishing your chips, Boost," says the Blue Beetle over their communicator. He even crunches a few, noisily, just so Booster will get the point, since there is really nothing the blond hero can do about this.
"There will be revenge," Booster mutters quietly to himself, too distracted by the collapsing building to snap a real retort to his partner. Booster's forcefield retracts so that it covers only himself, and he braces for what he knows will follow; there is a kind of narrative inevitability at work. The ceiling caves in, then, now that it has lost its support. Since Booster does not want to fly through falling debris, he just puts his arms up and ducks.
Dust roils out from the broken windows and the doorways, as things creak and crash inside. A long minute or two later, and Booster just comes walking out of there, still glowing golden. He is feeling a little too rattled to actually fly right now. Giving a tired thumbs up to the emergency response teams and Hybrid, he trudges to the Bug.
"I saved the pork rinds for you," says Blue Beetle, cheerfully.
"...yeah, thanks," Booster Gold replies, deadpan.
