2013.07.30 - The Untouchables

A fine afternoon in Metropolis. Usually, it's such a clean-cut city, being patrolled by Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, that most criminals aren't quite so -daring- as to act in public view.

So when a 1934 Ford Fordor 730 Deluxe Sedan pulls up in front of the First National Metropolis Bank, it's probably something not -that- unusual for citizens to see, especially when two people dressed in 30s' pinstyle suits and a woman dressed in a flapper dress with fishnet stockings running up her legs attached to a garterbelt come dashing into the bank.

"Excuse the inconvenience, folks, just thought you'd like to know," one of the men say. "Just thought you'd like to know, youre being held up by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker."

"And John Dillinger!" the other man exclaims.

"My my," the woman exclaims, as she regards the jewelry on one of the bank's patrons. "I'll take that necklace, thank you!"

"You're being robbed by... The Untouchables," Clyde exclaims, as he holds up his tommy gun. "Please, proceed to give us your money."

From high among the clouds, Superman is taking some refuge as he is wont to do at some points. Listening for trouble is easy, but floating in the air with eyes closed as he focuses tends to cause a crowd of gawkers. From here he can do it in peace. "Please," he hears. "Proceed to give us your money." He bursts into action, heading towards the bank at break neck speed in an effort to get there before any blood has been shed.

Afternoon was the perfect time for a walk, especially for one girl... who just happened to be getting out of her lessons at this hour. Striding at a measured pace down a stretch of pavement just around the corner from that Sedan, a young brunette girl moves with a brown satchel slung over her shoulder. Wearing a long sleeve, white, v-neck cardigan and a pair of black khakis with brown shoes, the brunette with black beanie seems to be staring at her own feet. The beanie in question is an odd sight, not totally appropriate for a girl her age; it has the appearance of a black cat with a cheshire grin and biiiig emerald green eyes.

"...Walking home from the Academy sure is tiring..." Not so much tiring, really, as long and utterly boring. ... But, fortunately, her boredom is soon broken by the faint cry of someone from within the nearby bank. It is because of this that Molly does the most responsible thing ever: she stops, turns roughly ninety degrees to her left, and proceeds to walk straight through the bank wall to investigate.

...Fun!

"I'll just relieve you of this gun, copper," Dillinger replies as he removes the guns from the security guards' holster. "Don't think about playing hero, because it won't go over well."

"Ooo, this is pretty!" Bonnie exclaims, holding up a sparkling ring to the ceiling light and admiring it.

"Please, don't... it's my wedding..."

"Wedding! What a wonderful idea. Clyde, what do you think?" Bonnie exclaims, already disregarding the woman from who she'd taken it from.

"If you would please, hurry up and give us the money in -this bag-. And don't think of including any one of those dye thingamabobs you have there," Clyde tells the bank teller, firing the tommygun into the air.

Yep, it's real.

As plaster crumbles down, Clyde nods at Bonnie. "A fine idea. Though isn't it a little late to make a honest woman of you?"

"Hey! What's the kid doing in here?" Dillinger points his tommygun at Molly. "Scram, kid. Get yourself a cream soda or something."

"You've got a much bigger problem than this young girl," Superman says as he appears, a giant 'S' put between Molly and Dillinger. "You've got a supersized problem and the only way you're going to solve it is to put your guns down and stand trial.

Wearing the traditional formal wear of his home planet, Superman's suit is blue and made from a flexible armor-like material. The large, familiar S, is emblazoned on his chest and a long, thick red cape hangs almost to the floor. His pale blue eyes seem to mean business. The good news for the trio is that his eyes aren't red at the moment. For added effect, he folds his arms over his large chest.

Brick, mortar, and glass crumble and cave to a casual show of force by... a little girl. It all just falls to the ground at her feet, and she doesn't seem to look any worse for wear. In fact, not a speck of dust even managed to get on her peculiarly enough...

She looks about, slowly, taking in the sight of the bank floor in its present state. She says nothing in particular to anyone until one of the crooks smart mouths her about cream sodas. This makes her frown deeply. And she opens her mouth to refute him, ...

... but doesn't quite get it out before -the- Superman appears from seemingly nowhere nearby. Molly just sort of stands there then, gawking at him, with her mouth open. And after a few moments, Molly outright states what Kal-El left unsaid, "...WOW!!! Superman is here! COOL!"

Being -late- on the upkeep, Garth Ranzz sees Superman fly right by in a blue-yellow-red blur.

It's taking him a bit of time to catch up...

"Oh look, it's the big blue fuzz himself," Clyde exclaims. "Hey hey, hold your fire, it wouldn't do to have the ricochets harm anyone else!"

"Speak for yourself, Clyde," Dillinger growls, holding up his tommygun again. Silver metal gauntlets reflect, the one anomaly in an otherwise costume-perfect Dillinger appearance.

"Oh posh, Dilly, don't be such a downer. We wouldn't want to shoot such an adorable little tyke now, would we?" coos Bonnie as she waggles her likewise metal gloved hands at Molly. "And such a big bold stallion, too."

"Now now, don't go giving the fuzz a big head." Clyde growls. "Anyway, we've got the money. Let's clear out..."

Superman looks back over his shoulder and gives a smile towards Molly as his spit curl dances slightly upon his forehead. "Hello, young lady." But as Superman looks to her, he looks slightly alarmed when he realizes she came /through/ the wall.

"Hmm," he says before the thought is broken by Clyde, Dillinger, and Bonnie's conversation. "No, I think that's a poor idea." He reaches out, attempting to bend the gun's barrel back over itself."

"I'm not a little tyke! I'm Princess Powerful!" Molly retorts, stomping a foot casually... hard enough to crack the marble beneath. And she stares at the woman irately, "And you're a bad lady!" She then drops her little brown satchel right where she's standing.

She looks at Superman, briefly, again... returning the smile... and then looks away just in time to conveinantly miss the alarm on his face caused by her self-made entrance. "...You probably shouldn't try to shoot me either...", she says before lifting one of the smaller chunks of wall from nearby. A fist-sized chunk of debris. Then she draws back and attempts to hurl it at the other male crook, with just enough faorce behind it to possibly knock a normal person out, "...It won't work!"

It's not immediately -obvious-, and yet some sort of reflexive twitch from Dillinger...

... and Superman's fingers closes -through- the tommygun.

Clyde looks perfectly hurt. "Why, my dear girl, what kind of uncouth gangster do you take me for?" he says, brushing his metal-gloved hands as the debris -phases- through him.

Bonnie giggles. "He wouldn't dream of hurting a fly on a girl's head." Waggling a silvery metal finger at Superman, the other gloved hand on her hip, Bonnie tsks. "Oh, come on, darlin'," she coos at Superman. "There's a reason we -are- called the Untouchables, you know."

"Will you just -stop- admiring the scenery and move already?" Dillinger growls irritably, as he dashes through Superman... literally phasing right through him.

Superman looks aghast as the man phases right through him. His mind races, but things begin adding up. The gloves these villains wear; who would go to such great lengths to dress in character and then throw everything off with a fashion faux pas? Someone who needed the gloves to maintain their untouch-ability. Without warning, Superman's eyes glow red as a short blast form his heat vision is aimed at Dillinger's gloves!

There's a stunned blink from Molly as the chunk of debris she threw just sails right through the male gangster and bounces off the wall behind him. "...Wha??" Molly's used to people who could can take her hits but -ghosting- through them? That's a new one apparently. It's for this reason that she doesn't really respond immediately to their taunts and teases. Instead she just watches as one of them runs right past Superman, turns slowly in that direction. "...But... but... how??" ...And for the moment, she doesn't give chase. She just stands there in a mix of visible puzzlement and reflection...

Bonnie tsks. "Aw, poor moppet, aren't you precious? Well... ta-ta, darlings!" And the woman joins Clyde as they dash... through the wall, the same way the heat vision goes -through- Dillinger as he keeps running, phasing through the building, not stopping for anything until he gets to the car.

And then just as Dillinger reaches for the door handle...

ZZKKKT! ZKKKT! WHOOOMP!

... the car tires are blown out by lightning bolts, as Lightning Lad arrives at the scene.

"Damn it, Dillinger!" Clyde exclaims as he arrives. "Now we're going to have to hoof it on foot?"

"I am -not- running in these heels!" Bonnie exclaims. "Clyde, get us a car!"

Superman lifts into the air, "Their gloves are what's making them untouchable." Superman looks back towards Molly, "If you're Princess Powerful, I can't say I've ever met you. But I recognize you from the news and the BSA files. If you're going to help, I think we could use it."

By the time Superman gets outside, he sees his old friend, Lightning Lad, incinerate the car tires. "Guess the wheels could be touched just fine." He waves up towards Garth.

"...Oh?" Molly glances at Superman as he lifts off into the air, darting after him as he exits the building. "...I guess that makes sense." Her face reads, however, 'I don't friggin' get it.' Her features are distorted by a mix of confusion and irritation, momentarily, before reverting back to a fairly neutral expression. "...But, how do you catch something you can't touch?" She asks, stopping before the blown out vehicle and raising her eyes toward Garth. "...Have I seen you before?" She isn't too sure. "...Oh, Lightning Lad. Hello!" She waves cheerily, losing her focus momentarily. So many heroes today!

..But well, sitting here wasn't accomplishing much. "...Wait, how come they can use a car but we can't touch them?" She asks, glancing at the fleeing criminals... before running over and attempting to knock a power line pole loose with a shoulder charge onto one of the fleeing goons. Maybe shocking them works...?

Superman chuckles as he sees Princess Powerful put her shoulder into it. As the pole begins to fall towards the ground, the Man of Steel reaches up to block it from landing on the ground and electrocuting anyone. "Careful now, young one. We don't want to kill them." He rips the pole out and breaks the links to the power before throwing the post out over the Atlantic for pick up later. "They have to go tangible when they want to touch something. We just wait them out and strike their glvoes when they do."

The Untouchables scream, as the pole begin to descend, trying to run. Clearly -they- didn't think they were going to be able to handle being electrocuted, as Bonnie stumbles on those -awful- heels, falling to the ground, while the two men manage to keep going.

"Screw this, I'm -gone-" Dillinger exclaims, as he tries to dash right through the closest wall.

"I'm not -leaving- Bonnie," Clyde retorts, even as the woman finds herself safe, thanks to Superman. And Bonnie tries to get up to her feet, only to stumble and fall again. "I think I twisted my ankle," laments the woman, as Clyde tries to reach for her and help her up... only to fail.

"Crap." And they didn't -dare- to unphase, given what Superman said.

Garth looks back at Clark and Molly. "... so... if they try to touch something, hit them?" he asks, slower on the uptake.

Superman nods to Garth, "That's correct. Or, my hypothesis anyways." He's making his way towards the trio after his throw, but Molly is closer.

"Aww..." Molly finally had a bright idea and it was no-can-do. "...Okay." She concedes, kicking a tiny pebble just a little and lowering her voice to 'I didn't get my ice cream' levels. Darn. Molly sighs, watching the grounded pair with a sullen expression.

...Then it registers to her that in the chaos one of them ran. And Molly turns swiftly in the direction of the wall he ran through... before charging like a bat out of hell herself. The diminuitive brunette explodes through the brick and mortar of the wall he went into, sending debris flying about the building interior, and continues to give chase relentlessly - smashing through anything that gets in her way like a charging rhino. "YOU GET BACK HERE, MISTER!"

"... Uh... Supes..." Garth blinks, watching the charging rhino crashing through walls. "... You got a daughter you haven't told anyone about? Go on, keep an eye on her. I'll just watch these two here." And that said, Garth moves to stand guard over Bonnie and Clyde, palming one fist in his hand. "Okay, go ahead, make my day..." Garth drawls, his lightning scar sparkling with electricity.

Meanwhile, Dillinger keeps running. For one, he wanted to be through and away. For two... that girl was legit crazy!

Superman nods and then BOOOM! He's gone following the other two. As he 'reappears' he's floating next to Dillinger. "You can surrender to her, or you can surrender to me," he remarks, flying backwards with his arms folded across his chest. "I know who I would take my chances with. Have you met many teenage girls?"

If Dillinger thinks Molly's crazy now, he's lucky he didn't catch her on one of -those- days. "I SAID GET BACK HERE!" The brunette darts through the interior of the building, smashing cleanly through a wooden counter and just tearing it in two like it were made of tissue paper. The sections just fall over, leaving the computer screen to clatter to the floor - and it too is smashed under foot by the teenage bulldozer.

...She begins to slow a bit, however, as Superman reappears a ways ahead of her and Dillinger. It was pretty clear now he wasn't getting far. Even he oughta know that by now, right? "...You better believe I won't be as nice to you if I catch you." She adds, just to put a bit more bite into his comment..

Dillinger slows down as Superman suddenly appears before him.

Slowing down, as he realizes that the Kryptonian -could- keep up with him, especially since there wasn't other refugees to keep Superman distracted, the would-be gangster glances back towards the young girl...

... and holds up his hands. "All right, fuzz, you got me. Just don't let the moll near me, okay? The boys at the pen won't let me live this one down..."

Superman waits for Dillinger to go tangible and reaches to tear off the gloves and crush them in his grip. "I'd say you made a smart decision for the first time all day." He flips a switch on his belt to let the BSA and MPD know where he is and that he needs assistance for apprehending. "Should we take a look at what Lightning Lad has going on?" he asks Princess Powerful.

Molly watches, having finally stopped in her rampage some few feet away, as Superman handles the rest of the situation. Standing there, with her hands on her hips, she casts an idle glance about - smiling warmly at the other people still inside the bank. Regardless of whether she gets smiles in return, or looks of terror, she doesn't seem to mind. She's as oblivious to it as she to the utter havoc she wreaked on the bank.

Toying quietly with a curl of her hair, her emerald green eyes finally make their way back toward Dillinger. And by that time, Superman's pretty much cleaned up. "Uh-huh!" She nods, energetically, and smiles like the unbridled bundle of energy she is. "Sure! Let's go!" Her bearing thereafter practically screams 'Yay Superman!', as she follows him outside.

Back where Lightning Lad is, Clyde is now tending to Bonnie, as Garth is holding onto two pairs of metallic silver gloves. Looking up as Superman and Princess Powerful return, with Dillinger in tow, Lightning Lad gives a jaunty wave. "Oh you got them. The police're on their way. Should we go? Want me to carry your daughter back to headquarters?"

"She's..." Superman smiles and shakes his head. "She's not my daughter. Her name is Princess Powerful, and I must admit I don't know a lot about her. Only what I've seen in news stories."

"...Yeah..." She nods softly, face slightly flush. It's mostly hidden in the curtain of her hair frankly. "...We're not related! But if that were the case, it'd have been really cool!" She beams brightly, for a moment, flailing her arms excitedly. She doesn't really pay any mind to the crooks now, she didn't really feel the need to. "I... oh."

She stops, looking around, finally turening around to stare at a clock inside the bank behind them. "...I gotta go! My foster gramma will kill me if I get home late!" She exclaims, and starts to dart away again down another stretch of sidewalk. ... But then she turns after a few steps, offering a quick wave good bye, "...You guys are AWESOME! Byeeee! ~" And then attempting to run off for reals!

"Cute kid, real cute," Garth replies, watching her flee.

And then he looks back at the holes in the wall, followed by a look at Superman. "... Are you -sure- you didn't leave any superkids around...?"

Superman face wrinkles as he turns to Garth, "Not any that I know of."