2012-07-11 Dissonance

It all started with a lunch a few days ago, when Kara mentioned that she likes the band Maroon 5. Luck would have it, they are doing a one night show, and Tim managed to score front row tickets. Then a text message, "Kara. Maroon 5, Weds night, front row. Wanna go? Tim." Dressed casually, t-shirt and jeans, motorcycle jacket, and his winning smile, he zips here on his bike, bringing the bright pink helmet along for Kara to wear on the way.

The opening band set the mood, and got the audience charged. You could cut the energy in here with a knife, as the sold out crowd of almost 20,000 people starts chanting. "MA...ROOON....FIVE...." over and over.

The lights go down, and those with better than average vision can make out rodies in black shirts and pants rushing the stage to place mic stands and move some equipment. The chanting continues, and the opening chords from the new 'Overexposed' album starts. The crowd goes wild.

When the message came to her cell phone, Kara almost screamed out loud. Which would have been rather unseemly considering she was in her SUpergirl outfit at the time. An enthusiastic response was sent back and Kara went about her daily routine as the Girl of Steel. Wednesday night, though, she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt herself, meeeting Tim in Centenial Park to be picked up. Throught the ride to the venue, she hugged Tim tightly, keeping her head on his shoulder. And now, inside the arena, she's smiling wide, thoughorughly enjoying her first ever concert, picking up on the buz of the crowd. Her blonde hair in a ponytial and her glasses in place, she leans over to kiss Tim on the cheek jsut before the concert starts. "Have I told you what a completely awesome boyfriend you are, recently?" she shouts to him.

Angela needed a change of pace and some socializing. She got tickets for her and her roommate, Miguel, and secured transportation to Metropolis from New York. The pair got into the concert, but something got Miguel's attention. It's what happens to Spiders. He excused himself from the front row, a mere three seats away from Kara and Tim.

Angela remains, wearing a pair of green jeans and a black halter top, and bouncing eagerly for the concert. Her first night out like this is forever, her mind soothed by the steady panic-fixes. Just as long as her date gets back before the Encore, this night should end perfectly.

 Angela Hawkins III got permission to use Miguel to get Angela here, then to write him out.

Tim smile at Kara and can't help but blush a little at the compliment. He wraps an arm around Kara, standing center stage in the front row, and gives her a squeeze as the music starts up.

The opening guitar rifts echo through the stadium, and a collective gasp of 20,000 people as fireworks erupt brightly, concealing the bands entrance on stage from the elevators in the floor, giving the illusion of them appearing in the sparkly explosion. They start into their first song, the crowd almost drowning them out for a moment with their cheering.

Then everything goes quiet. There is an auidble snap from the speakers, and the sudden silence is quite defeaning. The band continues to play a moment, the sound from their unamplified equipment barely carrying. Then the lights drop again.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Uneducated and unwashed masses! How /dare/ you besmich the good name of music with /this/ drivel!" a single voice sounds through the speaker system. The crowd seems confused. Some start to boo, and others start to cheer. Many just sort of look around. Is this part of the show?

One moment, Kara's smiling, having the time of ehr life. Then the music goes quiet, the speakers pop, and that announcement is made. Kara looks over at Tim and mouths 'You have *got* to be kidding me...', definately upset over the turn of events. She pulls her glasses lower down on her nose and starts looking around, using her x-ray vision to try and locate the source of the interruption. Can't Supergirl and Robin get jsut *one* night off? Is that too much to ask?

Biting her lower lip to keep her excitement contained, Angela is dumbfounded as the sound goes out. She's among those that are looking around, left and right, frowning slightly. Is this a part of the show? Her green eyes scan about, brows suddenly knotting up.

Jackson does have a few free nights now and then, times when he's not actively looking to find trouble or doing whatever fish do thousands of feet underwater. Tonight he's in attendance, the young man situated near the back with the rest of the people who didn't or couldn't spend the money for a decent seat. When the speakers go dead and the crowd grows quiet, though, he goes from entertained to perturbed, neck craning up and eyes searching the stage.

A single man, dressed in a formal tuxedo, complete with tails, walks out into the stage, carrying a tiny conductor's baton and a microphone. A spotlight lights upon him as he walks centerstage. "That is not music. THIS is music!" he screams into the mic, then raises the baton. The opening notes of Beethovan's 5th symphony start to come through the speakers. The crowd starts to boo loudly.

Security guards start to converge on well dressed music critic, but he points his baton at one, and flicks. The poor guard goes sailing into the crowd from the telekentic abilities of the Conductor.

A second sharply dressed man, this time with a large white ruffle on his shirt, drops on a second security guard from above, screaming with a deafening cascade that drops the guard to his knees, grasping the ears. The sonic stylings of Amadaus.

Several more guards starts to panic and flee, as the large form of Baby Grand drops between them and easily lifts one of the large amplifies and hurls it at the guards.

The last of the guards drop, from a blur of motion, a well dressed speedster named Two-Four.

The spotlight follows the action as the gaurds start to drop. The band members start to flee themselves, only to find themselves cut off from the sidestage exits. The audience is starting to scream and panic. The energy that felt so heavy before quickly shifts to fear and the mob mentality. They start to converge on the exits, pushing, shoving, and trampling.

Tim Drake sighs softly, and reaches into a hidden pocket on his jacket. He pulls out his mask, and shows it to Kara. "Show time?" he asks, already bringing the mask to his face.

Soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4IRMYuE1hI

"Yup," Kara says with a sigh. With all the attention being placed on the stage or escaping, Kara grabs Tim and moves him at super-speed under the stage so that he can change in private. It's like the two teens simply vanished. Still moving at a hyper-accellerated rate, Kara changes her clothes and manages to get up on stage in time to catch the amplifier before it hits the guards. "I suppose it's too much for me to ask that you all realizes that you're hopelessly outmatched here and are going to give up without a fight?" Supergirl says to the assembled villains.

Panic? Angela's green eyes widen suddenly with a sharp intake of air that is a strangled gasp in her throat. It doesn't take Phobia long to manifest, Angela's street clothes getting coated over with a nightmarish green coating, black vinelike tendrils worming their way over her body. Her cape seems to grow from her shoulders, spilling down her back to almost ooze along the ground. Her eyes gleam brightly in the darkness cast by only a few spotlights. Her mouth is but a jagged line on her face. As the crowd panics all around her, Phobia begins to laugh. It's a cold, sinister, hellish sound; the rasping of the monsters in your closet, the gasp of them under your bed. The panicking crowd holds no interest in her. She needs not use her gifts to cause their fear. It is the stage which keeps her focus. Her tongue runs over her top lip from one corner of her mouth to the other. Oh, Amadeus? Salieri was the better composer. Phobia rips into his mind, seeking to pull forth his deepest fears while to his mind.

Jackson, being near the exit, does not have a good time of this. He's on his feet before a few of those immediately around him are, but he still ends up pushing and fighting against the wave of the crowd headed in the opposite direction. A minute and he clears the crowd, sprinting toward the stage. He doesn't look that impressive, really, no gills, no webs, food and drink rules have put a kibosh on the weapons he's usually got to mark him, and the tattoos are barely visible thanks to a long sleeved shirt. He is, however, no less determined to do something about this. "Hey! Beethoven was a drunk!" And that something is to get their attention, apparently.

Beethovan's 5th still blares loudly through the speakers as the action all starts to happen on stage. The conductor simply laughs at Supergirl's surrendor comment. "You are no match for..THE QUINTET GANG!"

Baby Grand, nearly an 8 foot tall stack of muscle just grunts at the Girl of Steel. He's dressed in a black and white leotard, that is colored to look like piano keys as he quips. "Sit still and I'll tickle your ivories!" The man leaps, swinging his arms together in a double fisted punch.

Amadeus blinks a few times, and then starts to scream again as he mentally sees fire start to engulf everything. He starts to panic, screaming this way and that, leaving a path of destruction in a wave pattern from his super-sonic throat, trying to use his ability to 'put out' the flames that only he can see. The speedster that is Two-Four, spots the charging Jackson, and double-times it, blurring forward to clothsline the teen. "No fear Conductor! I'll take the measure of this one!"

Robin blinks a moment as he's suddenly under the stage. Woah...thats a trip. He slides his mask into place and pulls his small emergency kit of weapons out. One batarang, two smokebombs, his grapple gun and his collapseable staff. Wait a second....did that guy say Quintet? There's only four of them...wait...who is running the spotlight? The Teen Wonder steps behind the stage and grapples himself up the catwalks at the top of the stadium.

She doesn't have much combat training, but it's clear that Supergirl has a tremendous edge in speed and strength. As Baby Grand goes for the double fist-smash, Kara meets him halfway and blocks the strike with her arm. "Just remember, I gave you guys a chance...." Her block holds back the strike from the strong man, and Kara counters with an uppercut to Baby Grand's jaw with her right fist.

Phobia is forces to leaves off her mental assault as Amadeus screams, his sonic attacks blasting in her direction. She's driving away from him, to the side, and seeking to use a random person still standing here as cover. What? Phobia's not a hero! Civilians are expendable! Ducking behind another civilian, holding him by the shoulders, Phobia once more lances out at Amadeus. Panic. Scream in terror. Who cares about the destruction you'll cause, so long as your heart stops when you're done. Her eyes narrow dangerously, ferally, sadistically as she moves to continue to force feed Amadeus those hot flicker flames of fright and terror. ~Burn,~ she hisses out at him, voice carrying over the screams in a hellish and panic inducing manner.

Well, at least Jackson distracted one. The problem is dealing with the speedster now, which might prove to be a trick. When Two-Four comes barreling toward him Jackson's hands snap up in an instinctively defensive motion, one that at least helps absorb some of the impact. He's not quite fast enough to avoid the majority of the blow though, feet lifting from the ground and back thudding against the floor with a grunt of pain. Still, he pushes himself to his feet, a sharp shove as he turns to face the speeder. "Try that again."

Baby Grand grunts in surprise as this tiny thing of a girl blocks his smash. His head rocks back from the uppercut, and he goes sailing, landing across the stage and into the drum set with a ba-dum ching! He's not just strong though, as he starts to push himself back up, a little dazed. His skin is as hard as bone.

The Conductor snarls as he watches his strong man go down and flicks the baton at the lights above Supergirl's head, sending two of the heavy lamps careening at the girl.

Amadues continues to scream as the 'flames' get closer and closer. The destructive power in his voice starts to increase as he feels the first of the flames lick his body, and the mental pain lances through him. The ground around him is starting to crack, and chairs, cups, food containers, and even a metal barrier all start to get flung away from his at rapid speeds as his voice starts to send pulses of energy all around him.

What is it about speedsters and getting cocky? "You wish to repeat? Of course my foolish friend. We shall repeat till the conductor finishes his formatta!" Two-Four charges once more, moving to close-line again in the exact same manuever.

The Spot Light above contines to sweep back and forth, catching the various bits of action. A woman, covered in long, slender metal coils, that snake out from her body to move the large lamp back and forth, calls herself "Strings". She looks over as Robin lands on the cat-walk across from her, and sends a garrote thin coil lancing out at the boy.

Robin, dressed only in a black muscle shirt and tailored black blue jeans and his mask, backflips as the metal coil strikes out. The razor thin wire neatly sheers a chunk from his boots, as well as one of the supports of the catwalk, as he barely clears the deadly wire. He lands in a crouch and sends his batarang flying at the wire-covered woman.

Supergirl hears the snap of the heavy lights as COnductor somehow disloges them. Kara looks up to see the ehavy weights, then flies up to catch them, one in each hand. "Sorry, but your concert's been canceled..." yeah. That's a good quip. Right? Kara takes the lights then throws them: one at Baby Grand and one at The Conductor.

As those first pulses of energy ripple out, Phobia hides behind her human meat shield. That is, until he slumps over as a piece of hte metal barrier collides with him. Phobia drops her attack, waiting for Amadues to stop screaming before she moves. Folding chair, meet noggin. ~As much as I enjoyed your screams,~ she hisses at him. ~Stop screaming.~

Aqualad knows he's not faster than this guy. He also knows this is probably going to hurt. He does, however, have a plan. When the arm comes for him again he reaches to catch, and he takes the impact just the same as before. The only difference is that this time once he feels contact he releases the charge he's keeping ready, bio-kinetic electricity rippling out from point of impact into the speedster's body. Jackson also hits the floor again, of course.

Baby Grand is just getting back to his feet, shaking his head to clear the last of the stars from Supergirls uppercut with the 300 lb lamp crunches him back down into the stage again. He groans softly, and starts to stand again, holding the light above his head.

The Conductor flicks that baton again, and the thrown light stops before it can hit him. He flicks again, and like a puppet on a string, the light spins around and flies right back at Supergirl, increasing in speed and he moves that wand up and down. "Presto!" he shouts.

Amadues drops to his knees as the mental fires die away, clutching his throat and gasping for breath. Clang! He drops like a stand bass in a jazz show and hits the stage floor, no longer moving.

Two-Four screams as the electricity rips through his body and hits the floor a few feet from Aqualad, twitching rapidly on the ground, almost like he's having a seizure. He stops when the last of the shock passes from his body and lies quietly, whimpering and barely able to move.

Strings flicks out another length of wire and neatly cleaves the approaching batarang in two, sending both shards tumbling harmlessly to the ground below. Her first coil lances out again at Robin, trying to seperate the boys head from his shoulders.

Robin lands from his backflip and ten flattens agisnt the floor as the second coil strikes out. Three little hairs float in air, a testament to how close a shave that was. The second support beam goes, and a length of catwalk goes spirling down to the stage below. Robin is left clinging to the edge, dangling 5 stories above the ground.

The wrenching metal above his head causes Baby Grand to look up, just in time to get crushed back to the stage by the collapsed length of catwalk.

Supergirl is hovering in mid air as the light comes flying back at her. She shoots out a bleast of heat vision, cutting the light in two with a shower of sparks. Kara flies in between the haves and unleashes a gust of super-breath at the Conductor, trying to knock him off his feet with gale-force winds. If she's aware of Robin's predicament, she's not showing it.

Dropping the chair onto Amadeus's head, Phobia looks about and then up. Robin. The nightmare goddess smiles, eyes narrowing as she licks her lips. His nightmares were SO tasty. What has him dangling like that. Surely there must be another up there then. Phobia closes her eyes to focus, to find the mind near Robin's, using his as a spring board. After all, what better way to secure a meal from him than to 'save' his life.

Ah! There she is. Phobia's mind snakes out again, wrapping around String's mind, coiling about it and exposing the raw nerve that are her fears and nightmares, and then coating the Conductor's form with them. ~Here is your target, child. Kill him,~ she whispers, egging Strings away from Bird Boy. ~He's not so far away. Come... jump. You can reach him. You can end him. You can destroy your fears...~ Oh yes, Phobia's speaking aloud in dark, sinister whispers.

Jackson does roll to his feet after a second more, pushing himself up and taking a few swift steps toward the speedster. "Sorry." He's polite at least, which probably doesn't help when he reaches down to pat his shoulder. Another discharge, smaller this time, enough to ensure he's down and out. It's only after that he can actually focus what else is going on. He has to pause on Phobia, as if unsure if she's something that needs dealing with as well. Then to the stage, Supergirl, and above it where the metal rained down from. "Robin!" Not that he's much immediately help, but he does point it out. Then he's off toward the stage, leaping up, making at least an effort to be closer should the other boy fall. Or should the Conductor prove to have any fight left in him.

The conductor crosses his arms across his face as the gale-force wind lifts him off his feet and sends him tumbling backwards. He rolls a few times, and lands heavily on his but with a loud cracking sound. The man growls, and then points the now broken wand at Supergirl. "No No No! I'm the Conductor! The show doesn't end until I say!" He flicks the wand and....nothing happens. "Uh oh..." he says, then gets up to try and run.

Baby Grand moans from beneath the rubble pile and doesn't move. Amadues and Two-Four are equally out of it thanks to Phobia and Aqualads quick work.

Strings blinks a few times, then turns, seeing the fleeing Conductor. She growls and sends a coil of metal snaking out from her place on the catwalk to the ground below, and she slides down the razor sharp wire like a rope. She lands directly in front of the Conductor, and raises an arm in much the same motion that nearly took Robin's head off a moment ago.

Robin glances down, and then starts to pull himself back up, only to have another support give way as he adjusts his weight on a collapsed section of catwalk. With a grunt, he manages to not fall again, but boy does that look painful as he digs his fingers into the spaces in the metal grating.

Supergirl doesn't know why this person is attacking the villinaous Conductor, and she doesn't much care. As the razor wire shoots out, Kara puts herself inbetween Strings and the Conductor, knocking away the weapons even if she gets hurt in the process. "That's enough!" she shouts out.

Aw? No murder and mayhem? Oh well. Robin had still better be grateful she saved his rump. She steps toward Strings, making herself nice and visible, and forces a terror onto the girl to keep her a quivering mass on the ground. ~There is no escape,~ she whisper hisses at the girl as her inhuman form seems to all but glide upon the ground as she walks. Miguel's going to be so PROUD of her! Sort of?

Jackson's eyes follow Supergirl when plants herself in front of the two combatants, and Angela again when she reveals herself. A glance up, and he barks, "Supergirl!" A lot of finger jabbing ensues "Robin!" More pointing, in a general upward direction. In the meantime his other hand finds one of the mic stands, hefting it up and testing the weight of the metal. He doesn't put it to use yet, but he does keep an eye on the Conducter. "I'll get this one."

Strings drops to her knees, grabbing her head and quivering softly as the mental fear paralyzes her mind. The Conductor breaths a sigh a relief, and seeing himself surrounded, holds his hands up. "I just wanted to share good music with the world." he pouts. "No Jury in the world will convict me!"

The Speakers snap again, and Beethovan's 5th lapeses into silence. Creaking metal, from the length of Catwalk held up by only a single support cable, echoes from the dark catwalks above. Once more Robin starts to pull himself upwards, his shifting weight causing the metal to complain even more. He gets an elbow up, and sighs finally, the painful weight off his fingers when the last cable snaps, and sends the structure plummeting down towards the stage where Aqualad, Phobia, the quivering Strings and the surrended Conductor all stand.

And in a blur of motion, Supergirl catches the structure mid-air. As well as her boyfriend. Her right arm is wrapped around Robin's waist, huggin him close and keeping him from falling, and she's holding the detached platfor with her left. She smiles at the Teen Wonder as she slowly lands and sets him and the platform down. "I think we can safely keep this part of the date a secret," she whispers.

The Metropolis PD and the Paramedics arrive and quickly get a handle on things, taking the Quintet Gang into custody and treating the few minor injuries. All in all, despire the damage to the stage and the catwalks above, the damage and injuries could have been much worse. The people that remain start to file out, giving their statements to the Police and heading into the parking lot. Minutes later, a couple of amplifies kick on, and Maroon 5's lead singer's voice echoes over the parking lot.

The band is on the roof on their tour bus, and they seems to have drug some of their gear up there to make an impromtu stage right in the middle of the stage. "Supergirl and friends, if your still out there. Thank you. This one is for you." he says, before the band kicks in and starts to play "She Will be Loved".

The interior of the stadium is deserted rather quickly, as even the police can't help but wander out to watch the show, leaving the heroes alone.

When the paramedics seek to take Strings from her, Phobia's eyes narrow, her lips frown. But she steps back, saying nothing. Her eyes close as she keeps a lock on the girl's mind long after it's needed, her glowing green eyes sliding over the assembled heros, and the smile reappears on her face as she regards Supergirl with a cruel tilt of her head. AH! But then the EMTs drive out of her range and with a gasp the nightmarish figure of Phobia shatters, leaving Angela, green pants and black halter top, in her place. A somewhat pained expression on her face, she brings a hand to her temple with a groan.

As the police and paramedics move in, Supergirl has taken Robin to the roof of a building that looks out over the parking lot. Out of the sight of the people below, the dedication and the song float up, soft but able to be heard with the naked ear. Kara smiles at Robin. "You know...." she says hesitantly. "You did promise you'd teach me how to dance..."

Robin smiles and extends a hand to Supergirl as the song drifts almost lazily through the night. "May I have this dance?" he asks, that heart-stopping smile of his on his face.

Jackson didn't make himself particularly visible to police when they arrived, mostly just to save time. He's not that enthusiastic about pictures plastered in the headlines either, even if he spends only half his time on the surface. He doesn't, however, bother to hide who he is when he swings by to say hello to Tim and Kara. Just a few pleasantries before they go off. The other order of business is to make sure the woman that popped out of Phobia is mostly in one peice. And, once everything is back to normal, he wanders off to his own business.

As Jackson checks up on her, Angela seems to sag into him. "Wow. I'm hungry," she breathes out, as if completely unaware of what she was just doing. Her eyes are a bit unfocused. Her hair is a little damp with sweat.

"You okay? Here, come on," He's nice enough to help the woman to her feet, or drag her there if necessary. Away from the cops and the rest of the mess, eyes studying her cautiously. "You sure did-" He has to consider how to phrase it. "A thing. What did you do to those people?" Another moment. "Not that it wasn't helpful."

Angela rubs her temple again, not fighting the help away from the mess. She averts her gaze, turning her face. About to not answer, Angela blinks in surprise and looks up at Aqualad as he says it was helpful. A smile smile tries to form. "I... gave them nightmares?"

He has to digest that. The boy's lips thin into a small line, eyes slanting back toward Angela, away again. "Yeah. That seems about right." It's a placid agreement, no real emotional chords behind it. "So that thing was you. Guess it took a lot out of you." He stops somewhere out of range of the crowds, the thong of people in better sport, but harder to hear over. "Well. We stopped them from hurting anyone." That one comes out a bit awkward, but it seems an attempt to absolve Angela from being a weird-nightmare-thing.

Angela nods to all of it, trying to not let out just how... GREAT she feels now that she's feed from the fear of her victims. Is the smile too obvious? Aw, screw it! "Yes," she says finally, looking up at Jackson. Yeah, there's zero remorse. "Yes, we did. We should have dinner," she says simply, like she wasn't just freaking everyone the hell out ten minutes ago.

It is fairly hard to forget, even considering Jackson wasn't the one getting nightmares beamed into him. "Yeah." Another stilted silence. "I could eat. There's probably a drive-through nearby." He doesn't sound entirely sure about that, but he does offer a hand after. "I'm Jackson." He doesn't bother to hide his name, it'd be hard to associate him with his other identity anyway. And he probably doesn't care THAT much. "You don't want to see the rest of the concert?"

"Angela," she says as she shakes his hand. She looks to the concert, then shrugs. "My date left me. And I've caused enough trouble. As long as I'mnot alone, I really don't care..." She brings her hand back to herself, clasping her hands behind her back. See? Cool cucumber.

"Nice to meet you." A nod, a bit of consideration, and then he starts to move. Apparently the offer has been accepted. At least as long as she doesn't do that thing again, and he does keep perhaps a closer eye than necessary for that. "I've never really met that many meta-humans," He offers while they walk, "How'd you do," A hand wiggles nebulously. "That."

Angela just gives Jackson a little shrug of her shoulder. "Always been able to," she offers. "And I'm not sick," she fires back quickly, as if she's heard something that would prompt that response ALOT.

"You don't look sick," Jackson responds nonchalantly, "I understand." Maybe not completely, but close enough. "There are some things we just have to live with. You can't really choose what you were born with, right?"

Angela eyes Jackson with a dark frown as she walks to the eatry. "No, I suppose not...." She orders food and pays for it, before glancing about and frowning. "You know, I should probally go try to find my date now. Nice to meet you Jackson," she says, moving to walk out with her uneaten food in her bag. Must find that mind again.... That boy's going to get a dream-full for leaving her like that!