2012-12-02 YAL: Becoming Allies Interlude 1

After the... Chaos? Situation? Stuff?

Yeah, finding the right word for what went down is a bit tough considering it happened in multiple places in the park, and yet two variations of the same thing happened. Namely there were two attempts by some costumed thugs to kidnap who ever they could, and they were beaten back by random groups of super powered or costumed teenagers.

But anyways, afterward there wasn't much of a chance for those teenagers to stop, meet, and compare notes. And finding them all to talk about what happened probably has been a bit difficult. But eventually...

Eventually the word does get out, and those who were there and can make it to a bit of an impromptu note sharing session have been informed of the when, and there where. The when being 'this afternoon', and there where being a specific spot in central park. Of course who actually shows up is anyones guess at this point... (re For billy)

Tommy shows up, certainly. Probably Eddie and Gar dragged him here, although maybe he is just bored (or maybe he is worried about the kidnappers and behaving like a concerned citizen... nah, that would never happen). Although this meeting in Central Park needs to stop, it is cold and will be colder still in winter. "So we found out it was super-villains kidnapping and brainwashing kids? Has anyone told the police?"

It was Eddie that dragged Tommy along, really. He felt it was safer if they stuck together. He doesn't mind meeting in the park. The cold never bothered him much. The question about the police gets a frown. "I didn't but we d-don't really have proof and we didn't catch the bad guys..."

"You mean besides the school bus they left behind full of their thugs and a few kids?" is asked as Hawkeye steps out of the tree line just a few feet from the meeting spot, before she heads directly towards Eddie and Speed.

"They picked up the bus. And the kids who were on it. But I haven't seen or heard anything about it since then. But trust me, they know."

"Okay, that's good," Tommy looks at the Kate with interest. He had seen her a while ago, but when there was a good deal of people around, and he was paying more attention to Billy, his mysterious double. Tommy himself has no special outfit, but at least he has a codename now. "I have also heard a few rumors that might be related. Well, I thought it was crazy stuff out of the Fight Club movie. But now I believe it is related."

"That and they got a note explainign the whole thing with names of villians involved." A voice says behind Hawkeye. "Although, I um...did not list any of our alter egos or call our selves anything but Young Heroes." Billy Kaplan gives a shy shrug as he steps out of the trees and mvoes so that he is not behind anyone anymore. At least now he has proven that he can actually teleport in a stealthy manner instead of creating great flashes of light and claps of thunder. At the moment he is wearing fairly nondescript clothes.

"A bus?" Eddie's surprised by that. "Didn't know that," he murmurs. "We just got suddenly appearing villains," he adds. Billy gets a smile in greeting before the power booster steps closer to him. "Can we track where the bus came from at all?"

There's a glance at Billy as Hawkeye hears Eddie's question, that is before she in turn shifts her attention to Speed for a moment, who does get a slight nod in greeting.

"I'm not an expert on that. I did grab what info I could off of the bus itself, and I did what little poking around I could, but I'm not a detective or a techie."

Then there's a quirked eyebrow at Eddie.

"And what do you mean the suddenly appeared? Did they teleport in or something?"

Please 뺋 for some others before you repeat your vote for him.

The same familir blue hoodie worn by the first one to get shot at is seen. With the hood up Ben strolls on into the park with his backpack slung over his shoulder. Covering the lower part of his face is a motor cycle face mask that resembles a skull. Brown eyes look around for familiar figures as he strides in wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and black vans shoes along with the rest of his attire. This time he isn't about to wave to people for help or draw much attention to himself.

Tommy leans on a tree and looks at his partners-in-crimefighting. Seems Eddie has a lot of friends. And here comes his no-twin, the magician. He nods to Billy, giving the other boy a smirk. "Yeah, if we are going after these guys, we better go as a group. So what's the plan?"

Eddie shrugs slightly. "I think they might have. That Harm g-g-guy teleported out...he might have teleported in too. I just know they weren't there and then they were...c-c-could have been teleporting or hiding really well but we didn't see a bus."

Billy Kaplan nods listening to the others. At Eddie's question he shrugs a little. "Not sure, I would have to get into the Police Impound lot to try it with magic, and you know they are trying any mundane means to track them. You know, if they had not been stolen from the buss barn that night just for the whole thing. I..was kind of hoping to see Xavin here. I left the radio behind when I rushed off to teleport the injured and was wondering if I might be able to use that to do a tracking spell that might lead to where it came from, or the guy that was using it."

At Hawkeye's reaction to the mention of the group that Eddie fought not showing up in a school buss like thiers he hmms a little. "Would make sense, who ever it was that pulled them out when it was clear they lost could have been with the the group they fought."

At Tommy's question Billy can only shrug again. "Well, if we can find any info ont he whole fight club thing we can try and get in as patrons, or maybe fighters if you can sign up for that wihtout being kidnapped and see if it the same people. Or we could just teleport intot he middle of it all yelling about cops and Federal agents try and grab one of the bad guys in the chaos and interogate them?"

Walking up to the group Ben relies to Billy's suggestion, "The bus theory will only take you so far," the person says looking toward the group having caught ideas about tracking the bus to where it came from. Brown eyes scan over the group, "I've got some information on the buses and how that works along with other tidbits." In case anyone gives him an odd look the teen says, "I'm the Spider."

The mention of Xavin also does bring up a question Kate wants to ask, but she will hold off on just for a moment. All though the idea of bursting in claiming to be Federal Agents does bring a smile to the female archers face. Of course that smile fades away at what Eddie says, which prompts a faint frown and a nod, but no comment. After all, if who ever is behind this can teleport large groups like that, then there might be other issues if they do anything.

"I agree we should go as a group. But... just the handful we have here might not be enough." is said as she considers what Speed says.

And no, Kate hasn't noticed the hero in the hoodie, but then again, she's been given a lot of food for thought for the moment.

Scratch that, as Ben makes himself known, Kate almost jumps, but then peers as she pushes her 'sunglasses' up over her babby blues.

"What other... Tidbits?"

"If they had a bus then they can't all teleport," points out Tommy helpfully. "Hey, I am Speed," he says to 'Spider'. "I know Axim here, and not many more, really. Roll call?"

Billy Kaplan nods closes his eyes for a second to lsiten to Ben's voice. Yup, different Spider than the one he met a few months back, probably a good thing. "I'm Wiccan. The busses re probably because the teleporter has a limit to how many they can move, or else they could have just as easily taken every kid in the park to someplace secure. That or there was something about the few that escaped that made it so they could be teleported easily, like a homing device or a focus any spell used could home in on." Billy trails off a little and gives a shy smile and a small blush as he scaratches the back of his head. Yeah, super hero geek boy speands way too much time thinking about how other people's powers might work or interesting ways of using them that other people might not think of.

Eddie jumps and lets out a squeak as Ben just shows up. Blushing a bit, he looks curiously at him. He's heard that voice before out of two different guys. Shaking it off, he offers a hand. "Axiom," he introduces himself. He then goes quiet to let the others explain.

"Hawkeye." the female archer supplies as introductions are made. All though as she hears Wiccans theory, she does nod slightly. After all, it does make a certain amount of sense.

Of course she continues to glance the The Spider, as if silently asking him to finally spill the beans about those 'tidbits'.

"Scarlet Spider," he affirms his identity while pulling off his backpack. Unzipping the top Ben pulls out a manilla folder. Printed out security stills, reports, and other goodies are inside the folder he hands to Kate. "Whoever is doing this is not staying isolated as we know. One of our guys in black hijacked a local bus that hasn't been recovred. Problem is," one of his hands dip into his bag pulling out the liscence plate he removed from that night.

"It'll be interesting to see it go without the plate. These are government made and harder to fake, but that's not too important. Before our event in the park the bus showed up just outside of the city. Metropolis has had reports of their own hero gatherings that turn into kidnappings, and they have an unconfirmed stolen bus report too. Gotham appears to be devoid of the activity, but appears is the keyword. I'm not ready to rule out the city just yet," his hands wave about like he's giving a lecture.

Looking toward everyone Ben keeps talking, "I like the fighting idea but let me play devil's advocate. Wouldn't these fights have some type of betting system? If it's powered person against powered person, couldn't someone make a killing on the black market showing an iPPV of the stuff? Think about it, if someone can get rich off of two hobos fighting then wouldn't that same market pay top dollar to see two people with powers trying to beat the holy hell out of each other?"

A sigh escapes his lips, "But I wouldn't have any form of revenue to think about posing as a high stack better, spectator maybe."

"I have heard about a fight ring," notes Tommy. "No the typical illegal boxing, or even free-for-all deal. Something that sounded more organized. I had not heard about metas involved, though. But given what we saw the other day I guess they are."

Billy Kaplan nods as he listens too Scarlet Spider. "well, it is gotham. It's possible they are avoiding the palce cause the heros there are not all sane." He says having a momentary flashback hearing what would otherwise be hardened thugs pleading to him to save them from a costumed teen younger than Billy that was beating the snot out of them. "That or anything has gotten lost in the general background crime that they have. Internet pay per view is too easy to track, th guy that made a killing off bum fights lost it all cause teh FBI found them."

Billy bites his lower lip and takes a long second before adding. "And thats only if money is the goal. Remember the guys in the buss, and the ones fighting for the idiots in costume? Does anyone have any info on what happened tot hema fter the cops showed cause we nocked them almost all out before much could be done but there was the whole stink of mind control or reprogramign about it all. An underground fight club would be a good way to train, and even recruit people, if your going to make your own army of teens....especailly if you go after teh powered ones. In that case you would want low profile to lower the risk of the Justice Leauge or SHIELD showing up."

And here's where Kate actually provides a little info on top of what The Scarlet Spider provides, which hopefully answers some of Wiccans questions, "The kids who were on the bus pretty much ended up in the hospital en mass. Both the ones in and out of costume. I haven't been able to shake out much regarding what happened to them, but social services called in every social worker they could get to help with this, plus a few people with psytriatric experience. Most of the ones who weren't in costume have been let go, but the rest..."

There's a slight pause.

"All I'll say is it's unclear what's going on with the ones they haven't let go. No one's talking about it."

"Other than those two bad guys, the kids d-d-didn't have powers," Eddie points out. "I think they're going after any kids but the powered ones are extra. Not specifically targeted," he says, frowning. "It c-could be a private club thing...for people paying for information on the secret location of the fights," he guesses. Hawkeye's information makes him blink. "Nothing...oh man..."

Listening to the details of everything Ben has to ask, "What's the plan for round two?" He was the last one to show up so it makes sense for him to ask this question. Looking about the group he tries to match up names and faces.

Billy Kaplan nods blinks and then blinks again. Suddenly a whole lot of dtail about his Mother's recent behavior is making sense. Oh dear, whats worse knowing she might know something or knowing there is no way he could get any info out of her even if she did know he was a superhero. He has a worried look on his face and is not really paying much attention till after Scarlet Spider's question. "We need to find them, if the fighting ring is conencted. Thats step one, I...if I still had the radio from the other night I mgiht be able to use that, unless anyone has an idea on how to buy in or who to shake down for info?"

"If we can find out where that bus went before it got to the park, or where that other bus is, we can at least check out what ever is going on. If we need to set something up so that we have a 'high roller'... Just leave that to me."

Yes, Hawkeye has an almost wicked smile as she says that. Almost like she knows something.

"All we need is a where, and the rest can fall in place. If we find the place, and it looks like we can sneak around in costume, we can do that. If we can slip in 'under cover', a couple of us can do that too. For now though, we just need the place."

There's then a glance at Billy, and then at Ben.

"How long do you guys think it'd take to use one of your... Methods to find out where that bus went before getting here? Or where that other bus is? Because if it'll be a while, we should try to get the others who were with us when this went down. After all, if things go bad, the more backup we have, the better."

"He'll probably be faster," Ben points at Billy. Pausing a second, "Best I can do is maybe hack into live hack feeds of potential targets. That could take a little time or a lot of time." An idea strikes at Ben then he hands Billy the license plate from the bus, "Could this help you track it ala Harry Dresden? Been on the bus a while...could have a connection or something?" Yeah, Ben is certainly the most magically inclind people nor would he ever be. A progeny of Science would never mix well with magic. Probably.

Axiom frowns as he listens more. "I still have the r-radio but I left it back home," he tells Wiccan. He also turned it off and removed batteries but hey. He starts to say something else when his phone goes off. Taking it out of his belt, he glances at the caller ID and jumps. "Oh..um...excuse me a moment. Gotta take this. I'll b-be right back," he says, starting to jog away from the group.

Ducking behind some trees so his conversation doesn't interrupt the others, Axiom starts to answer his phone. He doesn't even get past "H-" before a strong arm is grabbing him around his throat and pulling him backwards. "He-!" is muffled by a rag shoved over his face. "Quiet down now," gets hissed into Eddie's ear and his eyes widen as he recognizes the voice. The guy that grabbed him happens to be none other than Harm, the same villain from the other night. For just a moment, Eddie's powers flare up as he panics. Wiccan might just notice a momentary burst of energy as his powers get boosted and then abruptly stop being boosted as the sweet smelling chemicals in the rag take effect and Eddie drifts off. If anyone comes looking, by the time they get there all that's on the ground is Eddie's phone with a confused person on the other end of the line wondering what happened.

Billy Kaplan grins at scarlet Spider and takes the license plate from him. "This might do. If nothign else i can find the bus now, and...I might be able to find where its been but it would be something I have only really practiced a little. Not sure how long it would take, but would be at least...half an hour to an hour just to get some of the stuff I need." Billy is starting tog et excited tahtt his might work, and a little afraid that atempting to scry with the plate might fail ina spectacular way and make him look like a serious putz, enough so that the momentary boost almost gets missed.

Billy suddenly jolts up looking around, "E-Axiom?" He looks back at where Eddie disapeared into the trees for his call. There is a look of confusion on his face, quickly followed by one of worry as he moves closer looking for his friend. "Axiom?!? Oh...crap guys somethign is wrong."