Adventure 25

[italktofish]

Who: Arthur, Calvin, Helene, and some Blood Keys
What: Aquaman and Superman versus gang members Arthur wants to get Granny Curry's things back. Calvin doesn't think he should go alone.
Where: The docks.
When: Evening of January 27.
Warnings: SUPERHEROIC CRIMEFIGHTING and lots and lots of guns because this is how gang members deal with loudmouths who call them out.



It had seemed simple enough to Arthur. Call out the ruffians who had accosted poor Granny Curry and demand that they return her stolen items at once, thus ensuring that justice of some sort was done. But no one seemed to think he should go alone, and so Calvin had agreed to come along with him. Because, really, what could go wrong when going to confront a hostile gang over things they stole?

But Arthur wasn't completely stupid over the whole thing. He'd talked them into allowing him to select the meeting place. It wasn't at all hard for him to decide on something. He knew they'd want somewhere quiet and isolated, and so he gave them just that: the docks. Of course, it was quiet and isolated over a large body of water where he'd have a number of unexpected advantages, but the Blood Keys didn't need to know that.

Comments

[spellfire]

It's really only the fact that Arthur wouldn't let up that led Helene to agree to the meeting. And quite frankly, only because she intended for only one of them to leave. She's called in a few favors, made a few promises, and otherwise has hedged her bets on this; a number of other Blood Keys are coming, including a few other females she can use as bait.

Especially since once has taken the bait of being the one responsible for the death of one of the 'freaks'. Helene - Hellbird - is only on such good terms with her, and if she wants to take the risk...

By all means, she can. That just leaves Hellbird with the others waiting in the shadows as the other Blood Key waits on a crate, chewing some gum as she waits for her new 'friend'.

[idealofhope]

After that whole....thing at Elian's place a couple days prior, Calvin isn't sure if he's up to more potentially life-endangering adventures, but he'd told Arthur that he'd back him up and he's nothing if not a man of his word. He was dressed low-key with a nondescript jacket and a cap over his head to conceal his face. He was hiding a taser in his jacket pocket - he didn't know how useful it'd be, but hell if he wasn't coming prepared.

So with one hand in his pocket, he was standing beside Arthur. His eyes fell to the single other person illuminated by the docks' lights. He looked around, a grimace on his face. He sure did hope she was alone. But he wasn't exactly counting on it.

"So how do you wanna do this, anyway?" He asked Arthur, keeping his voice low as he continued to look around, for all the good it would do. He was starting to wish he'd brought a flashlight.

[italktofish]

The Blood Keys may have noticed a bit of activity around and underneath the docks. There sure were a lot of nocturnal crabs out, weren't there? And each and every one of these crabs was reporting back to Arthur, leaving him unusually quiet. He knew there were other humans there. It was difficult to know how many, but the crabs confirmed that the one he saw was not the only one he'd be dealing with. "Worst-case scenario, chum, get into the water. It'll be the safest place." The Blood Keys weren't the only ones who knew how to hide reinforcements around these parts, even if Arthur's were a bit more unorthodox than guys with guns. "And let me do the talking."

Arthur raised his voice as he approached Helene, trying to seem as unconcerned and casual as possible. He was mentally gauging his distance from where she sat to the water, and he decided it was doable. "Hello, there! I guess you must be the one who took my granny's things!" Yes, that seemed like as good an icebreaker as any.

[spellfire]

Crabs were crabs. Why bother worrying much about them, unless things turned in to a crab battle? (Though on of the Keys was quietly bemoaning how long it'd been since he'd had crab...only to be thwapped up the head by Hellbird. Quiet.)

The visible girl is a brunette, most of her hair covered by a backwards-facing hat. Bit of 90s style, there, maybe, but she doesn't seem to care much as she glances towards Arthur. Big guy?

Fuck that, she has a gun. And cavalry.

"Thought you were comin' alone," she drawls, a hint of a southern accent in her voice. Apparently she noticed Calvin as well.

[idealofhope]

Get into the water.

In January.

In the middle of the night.

In Jersey.

That gets Calvin to turn his head and look at Arthur skeptically for a few seconds. He didn't wanna say he doubted him - he had said he could talk to fish or something, he definitely remembered that. He opens his mouth, but a combination of the fact that they had more important things to worry about and the fact that in some way, Arthur probably did know what he was talking about kills his skepticism at least enough to hold his tongue. When they reach the girl, he lets Arthur do the talking, at least until she notices he's there. He lets out a little snort.

"I'm just here to make sure this whole thing doesn't go sideways," he says. "So why don't you give him back his grandmother's stuff, then we can all go home and stop freezing our nips off?"

It was a little cold for him.

[italktofish]

"No one here has anything to worry about, right?" Arthur said amiably. He showed no signs of being a hostile big guy. If anything, he seemed more like the sort of guy who would buy all the Blood Keys hiding there a round of drinks if it would lighten the mood. "I just want Granny's stuff back, but my car was in the shop. You can't blame my buddy for getting a little anxious when I asked him for a ride, right?" The lie came smoothly enough; Arthur's theatrical training as a cruise line entertainer was good for something. His hands were open and visible at his sides, and it didn't look like he'd thought to bring any sort of weapons with him.

There was a bit of splashing under the dock, but that was just a thing that happened around large bodies of water, wasn't it? Just splashing. Couldn't possibly be dolphins lying in wait or anything like that.

[spellfire]

While the Blood Keys would no doubt accept the offer of drinks, they'd likely take Arthur for all he was worth as well. Which is, in fact, the plan.

The girl studies Calvin for a moment, then sighs, shaking her head dramatically. "Look, we don't want any trouble either, aight? Had enough with you freaks. So, since you're just not gonna leave us alone..."

click
click

"...'sreal shame we have to do this."

She doesn't seem disappointed at all, really. And even smirks a bit as a pair of gunshots ring out, one over either shoulder.

Bang, bang. Here's to the big guy going down quick, because for all the guns they brought, wasting ammunition's a no-no.

[idealofhope]

Calvin's eyes widen. He feels a stinging feeling run up his spine as he turns his head. He doesn't immediately recognize the sensation for what it is. When he hears the click, it's not of a handgun. He sees a military jet bearing down on him, with a very big gatling gun mounted underneath it. The gun starts spinning up and every muscle in his body tenses. When it starts firing, instinct takes over and he darts out of the way. He turns into a blur as he jumps away at supersonic speed, the shot from the Blood Key never even getting close to brushing his jacket. When he lands a short distance away, skidding on his feet and then tumbling backwards until he drops to a knee, he's once again aware he's on the docks and that he must've just gone through an echo. One that apparently just propelled him out of the way of a gunshot.

Faster than a speeding bullet.

[italktofish]

Unlike Calvin, Arthur was nowhere near fast enough to dodge those shots. But he had a few powers of his own, ones that would serve him well. They hit, but they didn't do anything. Arthur had once had a job as a stuntman, and he knew how to fake taking a shot. He'd apologize to Calvin for the scare later, but for now? Now, he went staggering and "fell" off of the docks into the water. There was no sign of his coming to the surface.

All according to plan.

The crabs, meanwhile, were starting to mobilize. They were starting to swarm the docks, and they had one target in mind: the Blood Keys' ankles. Pinch, pinch.

[spellfire]

"What the-"

Of all of them, Hellbird recovers first. "There! It's another one of the freaks, shoot his ass!" And there would likely be far more gunfire going in Calvin's direction were it not for the fact that a number of the Keys are starting to shout in surprise.

Because seriously, since when did crabs attack??

Shouts and gunshots fill the air as order spirals downwards; some Keys shooting at the crabs haphazardly, while a few others try to get Calvin-

So much for this going nice and smoothly.

[idealofhope]

"ARTHUR!"

Given a couple more seconds to think, Calvin would've done more than just stare at his friend falling in the water, but the Blood Keys didn't exactly give him enough time. He tenses his legs and does another running, jumping, stumbling leap out of the way of the gunfire, skidding to a stop and winding up on one knee again. He knows he can't keep this up for long, so he decides to go on the offensive. He didn't bring enough tasers for everybody, though, so he has to resort to something he was hoping to keep in his pocket.

His head buckles briefly as the veins around his eyes start to sear bright red. He snaps his head back up before the Blood Keys can fire at him again and roars loudly as a pair of white-hot beams erupt from his eyes. He sweeps the beam across the ground, trying to target the Keys' feet and legs. The beams last for a couple seconds before Calvin has to snap his eyes shut, visibly in pain for the effort.

[italktofish]

Out in the water, three dolphins shot into the air in impressive jumps, providing an interesting distraction. The crabs were starting to be joined by lobsters, and if anyone thought to look down at the docks and into the water, they'd see that the crabs and lobsters just kept coming.

Also out in the water, Arthur suddenly surfaced, standing astride a pair of dolphins like nothing at all had happened. "I'm giving you one chance to stop before things get REALLY OUTRAGEOUS OUT HERE!" More splashing on the side of the docks and some dolphin noises suggest that yes, things are waiting down there for the Keys. Somewhere in the distance, a killer whale breaches the water, jumping into the air just to let them know it's there.

"Don't make me summon a HYDROMEDUSA on top of all this! There's one WAY DOWN DEEP HERE!" They didn't need to know that the local hydromedusae were small jellyfish that didn't sting.

I'm just imagining this in cartoon form and it is amazing.

[spellfire]

Killer crabs (many of which are being kicked and/or stepped on in addition to shot at - super strength is certainly good for something) are one thing. A super-speedy eye-lasery man is another, and provokes quite a few screams and shouts of pain, even with super strength.

And then Arthur surfaces on ocean animals and even the Keys who are being pinched are absolutely flabbergasted because of all things they expected-

"...holy fuck, he's an Orothean!"

It's almost comical, how the heads turn towards the speaker with varying degrees of 'what?' on their face. The offender blinks once, looks around, then scowls, readjusting her grip on her rifle. Almost as though on cue, the wind starts picking up - not quite enough to even knock crabs around, but certainly noticeable.

And then all hell really breaks loose.

Some of the dozen Keys are staying and fighting; some are scattering. By now, most if not all have at least heard of encounters with the 'freaks'; the fact that the two they have here shoot lasereyes that burn through their enhanced limbs and another's threatening to summon a hydromedusa only add fuel to their panic-filled fire. Some are still shooting, gaining the higher ground in an attempt to keep away from the swarms of crabs and lobster (the one, earlier, who'd whined about the last time he'd eaten one had actually grabbed a dead crab and was using it in his free hand to swat others away from him).

Hellbird, however - the one who'd named Arthur as 'Orothean' - has had enough. She's part of the group that's making their exit, swearing vilely with every step. If anything, the wind seems to be fueling her own flight, pushing at her back to offer greater speed and distance.

[idealofhope]

"...Arthur?!"

Calvin's mouth hangs open as Arthur resurfaces atop a pair of dolphins and then he starts threatening to like, summon frickin' cthulu or something. He almost completely forgets about the Blood Keys until he hears one of them shout something and notices their running. His attention quickly snaps between the ones that are fleeing, the ones that are still here and Arthur. He decides to focus on the former.

He pulls himself up and pursues them. In this melee, all he can think is that the one they were talking to was a girl and he just heard a girl shout about...something(?), so he decides to take the chance that she's the one who has Arthur's stuff. He tries to call on whatever instinct led him to move quickly enough to dodge that gunfire. It works and for a couple seconds, it works. He shoots after them in a blur and any of the Blood Keys unfortunate enough to look behind them might assume they're already caught.

Then, he trips.

His legs aren't particularly used to moving at speeds like this, so when one of them comes out from under them, he goes into a spiraling, crashing mess. If he's gonna catch one of the Blood Keys at this point, it's only by his supersonic flailing body smacking into them.

[italktofish]

Arthur has been called far worse things than an Orothean, whatever that is--he drives a school bus for middle schoolers, for crying out loud. A dolphin takes a flying leap over the dock, as though to remind everyone that Arthur arrived to this party with lots of reinforcements.

"Calvin! You all right over there?" Calvin might notice a horde of crabs rushing over to assist him. He's the only one there not in danger of getting outrageously pinched.

The two dolphins Arthur was riding are quickly bringing him back to the docks. He looks like he's in his element, and he doesn't seem too bothered by all the gunfire. "Are you hoodlums going to return Granny's things, or not?"

[spellfire]

Those are a lot of reinforcements, but more and more are taking it as their cue to get the hell out of here. (One or two think it might be smart to jump in to the water. Darwin would simply nod in confirmation of his theories.) All in all, though, the place is emptying out.

Fast.

There's something to be said about leaving with your tails tucked between your legs, isn't there? It's certainly a rout if nothing else. Even if Calvin has found a new friend- a sputtering, shrieking young lady (the one who'd yelled about Orotheans, in fact) trying to push both him and the crabs off her.