2013.05.25 - Hit Me With Your Best Shot

So there's this strawberry blonde who is also totally a(n) (in)famous mutant, and she's TOTALLY strolling down the street with some no-name vaguely rumpled dark-haired Brit in a suit, and GOD ONLY KNOWS what they could even POSSIBLY be discussing. But Alison is animated!

"And then he was all 'WOAH!' and I was all 'EAT HOT LASER DEATH!' and then he was all, 'I SURRENDER DON'T HURT ME' and I totally saved the day and oh my GOD the press had a field day mocking him for getting beaten up by me."

That last part? She's not so excited about. "What the HELL is up with that? I was a hero! I foiled some loser's oh-so-nefarious scheme, what did I do to deserve the dis? What am I doing wrong?"

"You're not doing anything wrong, Blaire," the guy with her says, lighting a cigarette almost offensively stereotypically as he walks. "You've just got to admit the initial image you were presenting was sort of-- well you're also a pop star, see. I mean look at it this way: what happens if Taylor Swift starts running around yelling shit like 'eat hot laser death'?" He looks disgruntled, but he also looks like it's an expression that fits his face well.

"If you're going to be fucking camp, then be fucking camp. Own it and don't bitch. Besides, being taken seriously by the media as a-- a hero. Is utterly useless. Makes you a target, dunnit? I-- fuck, why are you even asking me about this? The last time I was in the news my fucking sister showed up."

There is some honking, but this is nothing special, because there is always honking wherever you go on the island of Manhattan. In this case, it is because a lady's purse dog has gotten away and romped into the street. It does not get squashed by a taxi, however, because the taxi is suddenly, abruptly hoisted into the air. Holding it up over his head, is Booster Gold, who could have grabbed the dog to safety but this is just how he rolls.

"Don't worry! Everyone is safe!" he proclaims, with a thousand-watt smile. He gives a wink to the woman who rushes over to collect her dog.

"Put my goddamn cab down, what's the matter with you!" exclaims the cab driver, who is leaning out of his window.

"Sir, please. Don't drive angry," Booster advises, turning to carefully set the car down onto the street once again. He lifts into the air, shining like a golden star, smiling again and giving dual finger-guns at a few of the people on the sidewalk who are taking cellphone photographs of the incident. Then, he comes in to land across the street, which is where he was going in the first place, because all he really wanted was to get some coffee.

"Your sister is a PEACH and you love her or you wouldn't complain so much about her," Ali teases. "I ask you because for cryin' out loud you're a man who knows how to write a pop song that lands on top 5 in iTunes for 6 weeks! Obviously you are well versed in the Deep Magic!"

Of course, then the whole thing with Booster happens right there pretty much in front of them. Dazzler watches in total awe as the guy goes for the 'get on the front page' image of hoisting the cab, gets yelled at by the cabby, and bam! Cellphone stalkerazzi!

Alison gestures to the now coffee-shop-bound Booster Gold (not too far away, actually, he'll probably HEAR her) with a wave of her hand as she tells Pete, "I feel like HE understands me, and I don't even know who the hell he is!"

Pete just... sort of watches the cab event. Seriously, he just stands there on the sidewalk next to Alison, not so much staring in awe, or awed disbelief, just sort of... 'I do not want to have to admit, ever, that I just saw that happen' sort of thing. He taps ash to the pavement. "Say it a bit louder next time, Ali. I don't think Seattle heard you," he mutters. "That's Booster Gold. You should probably use Google News for more than vanity searches. Just saying."

It may be that Booster Gold's Give-Me-Attention Sense is tingling, but far more likely that he just has keen hearing, because he leans back a little after giving his order to the barista and looks around. His eyebrows arch up a little behind his goggles, and he tells the fellow behind the counter, "Pardon me for a moment!" Then, he comes back outside and strolls up to Pete and Alison. The former gets a smile, a jaunty, casual salute and a, "Good evening, sir!" But to the latter he says, "You're Alison Blaire, aren't you? I'm a big fan!" He offers her one of his gloved hands, for a handshake.

Ali totally scoffs at the 'vanity search' comment, but OH HEY IT'S BOOSTER GOLD! She even almost starts to laugh at the sheer cheese greeting given to Pete, but then she is playing along! "Booster Gold, nice to meet you in person!" Insert quick side-long LOOK at Pete of the 'don't you rat me out' variety as she shakes Booster's offered hand. "Good job with the rescue there."

Giving Ali a 'who, me?' look that actually consists of him rolling his eyes, Pete switches his cigarette to his other hand so he can give Booster a Hawkeye Pierce style salute in return. "Evening," he says, then takes a step back from the two. "Don't mind me, I just don't want to be seen in public with both of you at once. I'm not in my secret identity as ... whatever my secret identity is."

TWO YEARS AGO: Wisdom, hanging off a helicopter rail and shooting at Phyla-Vell over midtown Manhattan, yelling British obscenities at her and Alison (filming it on her iPhone), manages to jam in a "AND DON'T YOU FUCKING FACEBOOK THAT, SPIES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUCKING SECRET!"

ONE YEAR AGO: Wisdom, once more in a helicopter, taking selfies with the Arsenal and Domino and the volcano AIM base the three of them had just exploded in the background. "IS THERE A MERCENARY FACEBOOK??"

NOW: "Also can you turn it down? I think I'm going to go blind," he adds grumpily.

"Oh, you know who I am," Booster says, and he seems sincerely pleased by this, as his smile manages to get even brighter and broader. He must have an innate sense, or something built into his goggles that notify him when someone is about to take a picture, because he manages to turn his head and wink at a surreptitious phone-photographer, before ending the handshake. "Thank you, Ms. Blaire. I was just in the right place at the right time, I'm just glad that no one was hurt."

At Pete's comment, Booster actually looks faintly surprised, then his golden glow abruptly snuffs out. Well, not entirely, because he always seems to be emitting sunshine when he's cheerful. But he is no longer scintillating with that bright visible aura. "Sorry about that, sir! I forget about it sometimes, and it... you know, just happens."

Ali claps a hand over her mouth as Booster literally dials down the glowing - oh, she wants to laugh SO MUCH RIGHT NOW. But no! Must not! She manages to bite it back, though, lowering her hand and moving right along with, "Happens to me all the time. Amazing the things you can almost get away with when you're not hiding in the Mutant Closet, right?"

Again, there is staring. And this time Pete's for-real staring. "You... actually..." he doesn't manage to finish. Vague gesture. And then he stares at Alison. "Are you trying to tell me something? Because if you're trying to tell me something you should use your words." Suddenly he's very aware of the nicotine so close to his lungs, and he basically sucks down the rest of the cigarette in one fell swoop. Then flicks it to the curb. "Look why don't I just let you lot trip the light fantastic. I'll be in there. With the sane people. Drinking coffee." He jams his hands in his raincoat pockets and stumps toward the door of the cafe, muttering, "'Just happens'."

"Er, okay," Booster looks a little concerned at Pete's reaction, adding, "I apologize if I offended you." He leans in towards Alison a bit, now, his brows pulled together with some worry as he quietly tells her, "I hope I didn't upset your friend. I'm not exactly from around here, and I mean... I'm pretty good at the language but sometimes things get a little eeeehn," the right corner of his mouth pulls towards his cheek and he moves his hands in a vague see-saw motion. Straightening up again, he explains to Alison, "I actually don't have any innate powers."

"Oh, don't mind Pete -- EVERYTHING offends his delicate sensibilities somehow. It's actually been fun trying to do it deliberately," Ali confides quietly. "Neither does Iron Man, and he does ok for himself, right? You'll do just fine." Bright smile! "I thought I detected a little bit of an accent there - are you Canadian? You sound a little Canadian. But then unless you learned your English in Canada it'd still be your first language if you were..." Drifting RIGHT off there, lordy.

"I'd say that Iron Man does better than okay," opines Booster Gold, although he is grinning again. "But no, I'm not from Canada. I'm actually from Gotham, originally." There is a pause, and then he admits, "In the Twenty-Fifth century. But I didn't like it there, so I came here." He lifts a hand to gesture at the city in general, or perhaps at the era, although the latter is a lot more difficult to get across with a mere gesture. The gesture turns into a wave at some tourists who are rolling by in the back of a cab, who happen to be pointing his way. Even without the glow, a six and a half foot tall guy in a brightly colored skin-tight metallic suit draws attention from the out-of-towners.

Another almost laugh - though Ali doesn't quite manage to bite it all the way back. Mind, it's actual amusement! "Booster Gold: Too Cool For the Future? Lucky for you that you didn't land in Metropolis. Who wants to come looking for the past in the City of Tomorrow?" The tourists Booster's waving to totally get finger guns from Ali, but she doesn't longer on attention-soaking. "I spent God knows how much subjective time psychically body-hopping different universe-versions of myself, so I know from weird. New York is totally the best place for that."

"Something like that," Booster agrees, although he does not really comment further on his time in the future--or as it were, his own native era. He looks more interested in Alison's quantum leaping story. "Were those other timelines? I'm ... not actually clear on the distinction between multiversal variations and timeline variations and it's uh." His eyes roll upwards and he waves his hand vaguely. "I don't have the words in this language to say much about it, heck... I barely have the words in my native language. I'm curious, because..." He holds up his index finger. "Several of my friends are from different timelines, and..." He holds up a second finger, "I think I actually saw glimpses on my trip to this era."

"I wouldn't call myself an expert on the mechanics, and I sure as hell didn't keep COUNT..." Ali starts to say, then digresses a moment. "No, that's not true, I tried to but I lost count after 20 or so and still not being home yet at the time," shakes her head a bit. "ANYway. It seems like any choice made makes a divergent offshoot of time stretching onward into the future. If you start with the choices from the beginning, that's a whoooole lot of variation. A world of infinite possibility if you will. I'm a singer, not a quantum physicist."

"I still say you stole that plot from Star Trek," comes Wisdom's voice, less surly now; he's holding one of those cardboard drink carrying things, which he holds out between Booster and Ali like a delicious coffee flavored third wheel. "Here. Look do you want to talk not on the street? Because, missiles. And missiles and crosstime don't mix, do they."

After a few moments of Alison's explanation, Booster Gold just shuts his eyes, as if this were a good way to escape having to think complicated thoughts. "Uuh. Yeah, this is not the kind of thing I went to college for. Sometimes I feel as if I could just like... see it. But then I think, no, dude, that's probably just from getting hit in the head from a few too many hard tackles." His eyes pop open when Pete returns, and he says, "Oh, hey, thank you, sir!" He starts reaching for the coffee, but the mention of missiles causes the tall blond man to glance upwards, in case there are any incoming.

"What?" MISSILES WHAT? At first, Alison is hesitant to take her eyes off of Pete, "I swear to God, if this is 'Made You Look' I'm going to replace all of your mp3's with ABBA," -- But, of COURSE she looks. Because MISSILES. "Dammit, I wondered why everyone was getting all quiet and moving and shit. Why are New Yorkers SO WELL TRAINED FOR THIS?" It is a question that doesn't really expect, or want, an answer.

"So, what do you do besides heavy lifting? Force fields? Teleporting?" The whole area gets noticeably quieter as Dazzler focuses on pulling in available sound and aims one finger-gun steadied by her other hand to prepare a laser. "I think I can blow them before they get close, but there'd be no guarantee the debris wouldn't hit someone who didn't deserve it."

"I may have phoned the press," Wisdom says, drinking from his own coffee up, "preemptively. You'll both want to be in the air. I'll take out what you miss from down here and say filthy horrible things to anyone who tries taking my picture. Show's all you." He waves the still-untaken coffees vaguely in the direction of 'up'. And then he sets them down next to the mailbox they're sort of paused by.

Even the sound of the incoming missiles shrieking through the air is zooped into Ali's charge-up. It's eerily still, and what little breeze there is shifts gutter ephemera lazily along the curbs. There is no one in sight, and the cafe's ... put down ... blast doors ...

"Well, this is just rude," says Booster, with some honest consternation in his tone as he gestures upwards. "No, I can't teleport, but I do have a force field." He lifts into the air, his arms flexed and his hands in fists, which coincidentally shows off his biceps. Golden Kirby-crackle swirls around his wrists. "And energy bolts." Behind his hand, he quietly tells Alison, "I call 'em Booster Shots." He winks, and then he's just a golden comet flying upwards, those 'Booster Shots' firing from his hands towards two of the missiles.

"NOW he flirts!" Ali actually says out loud -- and then sort of... hmmphs as Booster takes off towards the oncoming barrage. "I'm beginning to miss my old suped-up tape player," she grouses, "gonna need more of a noise charge for the flying... Although..."

Crouching a bit like someone about to dive or take off in a sprint, Ali points un-cups her 'gun hand' and aims it behind her, takes a deep breath, and launches herself into the air with a quick blast of solid photons towards a nearby rooftop, where she can aim her laser-blast at another of the missiles.

"Well why don't I just fucking BLOW ONE UP for you so you can stop whinging?" Pete snaps up in the air after Ali; he's put his coffee down, now, and jogs to the center of the street, because you know, buildings are tall and if they do miss anything he doesn't want to go splat. "No hang on-- GOLD! BE REALLY, REALLY LOUD, ALL RIGHT?" he yells, cupping his hands around his mouth.

By now, of course, the missiles are getting close enough that it's probably not actually going to be an issue. Nevermind probably no one can actually hear him. So he just sighs, really, and then waits. (Is rewarded with distant sound of news choppers.) Waits some more. Checks his watch. (Which, obviously, is when the missiles come into range.)

They're not large, honestly, it's just that there are at least ten of them, and they've all had logos scraped off of them. Terribly unhelpful.

Apparently Booster really does have sharp hearing, because even though he is fairly high in the air, he turns and gives an acknowledging wave to Pete. He therefore stops trying to shoot at the missiles; while this would garner a loud result, there are ways to get even louder. Muttering to himself, he says, "I wish I hadn't given Skeets the day off... if these things are nuclear I'm never going to hear the end of it."

With one arm extended forward and the opposite leg stretched back, other leg bent at the knee, Booster flies in a graceful and classic pose, which is to say it's the kind of pose that gets rendered when an artist wants to present an idealized superhero. He hits the leading missile in a head-on collision, because brute force tends to be your best bet if you want sheer explosive noise.

Noise that no one will hear, ever. As the first missiles go blooie and she takes the edges of that sound, Alison actually sort of sees what Booster is planning - and when he meets that missile full-force, THAT is where ALL of Dazzler's focus goes. There's maybe half of a muffled *whang* before it too, and all of the sound in the nearby area is just gone in the space of seconds. As the explosion blooms over the city in eerie silence, anyone who saw Dazzler's Mutant Reveal on TV will now know first-hand how weird that can be.

But then the noise comes back, because Alison is FLYING - Glowing with white light and looking peeved while aiming lasers at the other missiles. "You okay there, Booster?" Hey, he DID say he had a force field!

The explosion was more than a little bone-rattling, force field or not, but Booster shakes it off. By the time Alison is flying up, he seems perfectly fine--in fact, his hair does not even seem more than slightly tousled. He gives her a double thumbs up, and tells her, "Boosterrific!" He starts to turn back to the matter at hand, and then looks back and says in a more serious tone, "Er, how durable are you? That's important to know, considering..." he gestures at the remaining missiles, and then fires pulses of golden hardlight at one.

"I get knocked down, I get up again," Dazzler quotes - though she seems to be bending her light into some kind of shield that vaporizes shrapnel on contact. Loud noises get swallowed up as they're made to power her effects and keep her in the air. "They're never gonna keep me down." '''*ZARK! ZARK!*'''

Aaaand: here comes the shrapnel. Most of it, Booster and Dazzler have already got (though there are still a few missiles incoming), but the stuff that gets hurled straight down, yeah, there are some equally bright bursts of light between the two flying heroes and the street level. Not so much fingerguns on the Briton's part as just superheated plasma knives flung through the air, hot enough to burn metal to ash. None of the shots go wild, but really, it's just cleanup.

The streets may be clear of most civilians-- residents, anyway-- but along with the gathering press, Damage Control has sent a few representatives, and since it's missiles, here comes the National Guard, too. All of which means Pete takes to a fire escape to keep doing his part of the job, and some intern finds the abandoned coffee and decides it's a shortcut.

And of COURSE the News 9 helicopter's altogether too close to the flight path of one of the last couple missiles. Of course.

"Man, I really wish I had Skeets here," Booster Gold remarks ruefully, "Cool theme music would be great during this. Whoah--hold that thought." Skeets would also be there to help Booster track targets more meticulously, but he can still do a good job with the heads up display his goggles give him. He is suddenly twisting in mid air and arrowing towards the chopper to put himself between it and the incoming missile. Turning to face the projectile, he actually lets the missile hit him right on the chest, although when it detonates there is the faintest flicker of fire splashing and streaking to either side, as if he'd thrown an invisible sphere around himself and the helicopter. Which is, in fact, exactly what he did.

Leaving Ali and Pete to 'clean up' the last of the debris, plasma knives and super-concentrated lasers burning away any remaining debris to harmless nothing before it can hit the ground. While Pete handles his agenty thing, Ali brings herself in for a landing -- job done! Populace protected! Not even a broken fingernail or ripped outfit!

Being the first on the ground, Dazzler's the 'first contact' with the suddenly adoring media -- "I couldn't have done it without Booster Gold! Did you see how COOL that was?"

Once Booster has discerned that the helicopter is safe, he turns and gives the pilot and passengers a grin and a thumbs up. He then flies downwards, turning to descend feet first once he is closer to the ground, giving the two fingered Cub Scout salute as he does so. "Hey, I hope everyone's okay. I just happened to be in the area and offered some assistance." As he lands beside Alison, he touches one of his wrist bracers and a small compartment opens. From this, he pulls a strip of paper about half the size of a typical business card. It is royal blue with an embossed gold star, and some golden lettering. He nudges this into Ali's hand, even as he turns a smile to the cameras, winking and pointing his finger in a sweeping gesture. "I barely did anything--Dazzler is amazing."

Booster starts to hover up into the air again, lifting his hand to the side of his head with his pinky and thumb extended in a 'call me' gesture as he nods, smiles, and points Ali's way. With that, he soars up into the sky.