2014.02.20 - Playtime in Metropolis

“One venti caramel mocha,” Clark Kent recites into his phone, head bowed as he makes a bee-line for Starbucks, “Uh huh. One tall green tea latte. One grande mocha Frappuccino. Hang on, I think I need to write this down.”

It is the lunching hour and downtown Metropolis is a bustling hive of activity. In the middle of it all is Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet and stand-in coffee gopher since the intern called in sick. He cradles his phone between his shoulder and his neck, speaking into it as he scrawls on a pocket-sized notepad with a pen.

“I don’t think they have double ventis, Lois ... “ he winces at the dull roar from the phone, “Okay, I’ll ask,” he winces again, “Okay. One double venti cappuccino.”

Clark almost trips over his feet as he ducks out of the way of a particularly determined businessman, calling out an unacknowledged apology as the fella passes by.

Generally Stephanie Brown sticks to Gotham, but Metropolis isn't far, and the library is so much better here. Her research project for world history requires some primary resources that she suspects she'll have better luck finding here in the Big Apricot.

With her backpack tucked over her shoulder, the teenager is dodging her way between busy pedestrians, making her way toward midtown -- because, of course, she got off the subway at the wrong stop, and doesn't have the change to get back to Gotham AND get back on the train to the library. It's only a few miles, though, and she's in shape. She'll manage!

Nico Minoru, on the other hand, prefers the Big Tomato. Oh man, she could really go for a tomato. Maybe a BLT. Sadly, being homeless leaves her in the position where that just isn't possible. She's walking down the street, a bag in her hands that smells pretty repulsive. That's because it's cut up fish meat, the last of what she saved from a drug deal gone wrong.

Nico spots the chick rushing, but isn't in much of a mood to care. She just needs to find a fire to cook this fish.

To be fair, Clark sees Stephanie running in his vague direction what feels like hours before she actually arrives. But one of the first things he learned was not to let on just exactly what he is capable of. Uncoordinated, bespectacled, normal-old-human Clark Kent wouldn’t get out of the way in time and so he sets himself up for another little bit of acting.

As Steph brushes by him he rolls his shoulder with her to keep himself from simulating a brick wall. His phone clatters to the pavement, mid-rant Lois audible from the speaker. Clark himself almost loses his footing, only just managing to right himself before he starts apologizing profusely and crouches down to recover his phone from tromping lunch hour feet.

Near Nico, a truck bearing the logo for ‘Schott Toys’ rolls up to the curb in defiance of the traffic. The most notable thing about it is that there doesn’t seem to be anybody in the driver’s seat.

As Stephanie brushes past Clark she gives him an apologetic look, at least, but her eyes fall on the truck, and her brows furrow thoughtfully. Schott Toys. Schott. Toys. She stops in the street, a teenaged girl staring at a toy truck in the middle of the sidewalk. Whether or not there's anybody in the driver's seat is not the problem here. Or not the only problem, anyway. She knows the name. And this could be bad. "Ah man," she mutters to herself under her breath. "The paper's due next week!" And still she starts sidling toward the nearest alley.

Nico stops as the truck parks, and is staring at it, walking up to the driver intending to...where the hell is the driver? "Okay..this is weird.". She's looking around, before asking someone nearby. "Hey, do you know what is up with this truck?". They shake her off and walk off, as she approaches the back. "Wonder what's in here?".

Clark’s eyes narrow slightly behind the thick lenses of his glasses as he watches Stephanie eye the truck and then vanish into a nearby alley. He knows that behavior very well. He’s done it himself on more than one occasion, after all. Clark turns his attention from the fleeing Ms. Brown to the truck, the logo on the side catching his eye and giving his brow cause to furrow.

And Stephanie just took the only convenient alleyway.

Clark glances around quickly, making the painfully slow move across the street towards a narrow laneway on the other side. Its times like this he wishes there were still phone booths around. Faster than a speeding bullet though he may be, he still can’t run off at super speed in broad daylight.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a loudspeaker atop the driverless truck suddenly cries, backed by jaunty circus music, “Boys and girls! Step right up and experience the latest innovations in mirth and merriment from the great Winslow Schott – the Toyman!”

As Nico reaches the back of the truck, the shutter door suddenly rolls open. A series of shelves hiss out, stopping just short of running into her. The shelves themselves are stocked to the brink with alternating rows of teddy bears and toy soldiers in old English regimental dress. They seem placid, even cute as they sit there smiling on their shelves.

That is, until their eyes suddenly start to glow and the bears suddenly bare sharp, metallic fangs.

Stephanie Brown does not flee. She makes a strategic retreat. But she's not even doing that right now. She stows her backpack underneath a handy Dumpster. It's followed quickly by her day clothes. If she doesn't get a good grade on this paper, she knows which supervillain is going to get his butt kicked again.

Now clad in deep aubergine from head to toe, her face covered by a black mask, she slips from the alley and launches herself toward the truck, a pair of makeshift escrima sticks clutched in her hands.

Dear Diary: This is not the time to suck at my job.

Skrrsh. As the shutter opens, Nico is stepping back, before staring at the toys. "Woah. The hell?". And then the toys are evil demon monster constructions. "Okay..this is not good.". She's reaching into her bag quickly, where she has a knife that she used to cut the fish. "Whoever this Schott is..he chose the wrong street at the wrong time.". And then she's slitting through her wrist, blood spilling, as she shouts.

"When blood is shed, LET THE STAFF OF ONE EMERGE!"

And then a giant staff is jutting from her chest into her hand, her batting a nearby bear back with it, as she steps back. "Okay..now what the hell is going on?".

The teddy bears and soldiers all stand up in unison, their feet suddenly aglow as miniature rockets propel them forward. They take off in every direction, two of them lunging to try to claw and bite Nico while two of the soldiers turn miniature muskets towards the approaching Spoiler and open fire.

All around, people begin to panic and run from the small army of devil toys. Clark Kent 'accidentally' places himself between a fleeing man and one of the bears, letting out a shout of alarm as it claws at his back. In the chaos, he takes a chance and reaches back to grab it by the head ...

Kzzsh. Fzzt.

Dropping the demolished bear to the pavement behind him, Clark Kent ducks into the alleyway on the opposite side of the street even as he pulls open his shirt to reveal a familiar red and yellow S-shield.

Okay. Girl who cuts herself to get a staff. Call the emo police. The Spoiler will deal with that later -- maybe give her a pamphlet entitled 'Are YOU Suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder?' -- but there are bears and soldiers to be dealt with first. Escrima-sticks at the ready, she starts swatting toys left and right, crushing any more delicate parts she can detect.

"It's the Toyman," she informs the Asian goth as she comes close. "He's into hurting kids. Crush these things! The staff looks like it'll hurt them, at least!"

Okay, weird vigilante chick. Nico nods, as she points the staff towards the toys. "This will be over quick. Shortcircuit.". She's expecting them to all just explode now..but, alas, not that easy. About two of them just in front of her die..as the rest approach. "Crap. This thing does work how I expect it to, sorry!". She's hitting another as it comes close, just to bat it away, as she's trying to lure a few away to get Spoiler some room.

The bears immediately in front of Nico spark, strike bizarre, disjointed poses and then clatter uselessly to the ground. The soldiers marching through the air to shoot at Spoiler do not go so gently into that good night, taking a heavy wallop that causes them to buzz and spark before exploding in little bursts of flame.

As the street begins to clear, more bears and soldiers stop chasing down hapless citizens and instead turn their attention to the two fighting teenagers. They seem to be approaching from all sides, the truck having housed dozens of the little monsters. Schott seems to be a big proponent of strength in numbers.

Spoiler growls behind her mask. "This is getting us nowhere," she grunts. Too many toys. There are similar villains in Gotham, of course, but not as many robots. These are very much annoying. "Cover me," she tells the other girl, and then she leaps over the bears, smashes a pair of soldiers to the ground, and grabs hold of the truck's roof, hauling herself up.

"Right!". Nico calls up, as she's figuring out how to cover her. Can't shortcircuit them again. Don't know what some spells would work..this should actually be rather easy. "Cover her!". Well, one can hope. Sadly, it doesn't work out that way, as a magical barrier grows up around to Spoiler's neck, all around. "Sorry! Staff doesn't like me very much!". She's then just, smacking the things with the staff, hoping to murder them.

Two of the soldiers take off after Spoiler as she jumps onto the roof of the truck, firing their adorable but horribly dangerous little muskets at her as they go – though their shots bounce harmlessly off the sudden magical barrier. The bears continue to try and swarm Nico, letting out playful-yet-terrifying giggles as they’re batted aside with the staff. Some even laugh as they’re smashed to pieces. That’s the Toyman for you.

It is at that moment that two of the remaining bears drop out of the sky over the barrier to hover menacingly in front of us Spoiler. They raise their claws, bare their fangs and say in unison: “Play with us!”

Then they both burst into flames and seem to melt right before her eyes.

Up above, a hovering Superman’s eyes fade from a glowing red to their customary blue. He looks at the two heat-vision afflicted bears, now metallic skeletons writhing at Spoiler’s feet, and calls out to the two girls.

“Are you alright?”

Spoiler gags as she impacts the shield throat-first. Twisting as best she can, she glares at Nico. "What the heck, dude?!" she demands, struggling to escape from this barrier. When the bears drop from the sky her eyes go wide with alarm, and she tries to swing out at them -- only to find the barrier in the way.

Dear Diary: Tell mom I love her. Tell dad to go jump off a skyscraper.

Then, out of nowhere, twin beams of red light sear the bears to nothing. The masked blonde cuts her eyes upward, releasing a sigh of relief. "Alive, thanks to you!" she replies. "A hand out of this... this would be good, though!" She taps her escrima stick (formly known as half a broom handle) against the barrier encasing her.

Nico snarks back up to Spoiler. "Hey, I don't control the magic! The staff does! We're in a very strange relationship, alright?". Nico's thinking of a way to stop this, but doesn't want more shields or to waste the last of this portion of magic. "Okay, what do we do and who the hell is a Toyman and is that Superman?".

“Sorry, magic isn’t really my thing, but I can give you a lift,” Superman apologizes, hovering down to take Spoiler by the hand before flying back up again to lift her out of the barrier. A barrage of musket fire is directed at them but the Man of Steel puts his back between the aubergine heroine and the evil robots and the rounds fall harmlessly to the ground. That done, he lets her go and do what masked vigilantes do best.

“Pleased to meet you, miss,” he calls down to Nico, offering a half smile before turning his attention back to the soldiers. He draws in his breath sharply and blows, two of the musket-wielding toy soldiers freezing solid in mid-march. Verb not month.

See? Superman gets it. She's not dressed in purple. Or eggplant. It's totally aubergine. "Thank you," she tells the man in blue. "The truck -- I figure it's got a transmitter. The toys don't seem to have obvious receivers, so I'm guessing they're not receiving commands long-range." She's guessing here, but it's the best idea she's got right now. "Maybe we can turn them all off at once." Her eyes flicker toward Nico warily. If the girl tries to destroy the transmitter with her staff, Spoiler doesn't particularly want to see the results.

Nico pauses, before getting an idea. "I think I know what to do."

LOOK AT IT'S GOING TO BL- wait, no. She's casting something different instead for the eggplant superheroine.

"Find the transmitter." She waves her staff, hoping /something/ good happens, as after the magic is casted, the staff flies back into her chest, and she's..wielding a knife against bears. Yes.

True to magical form, the Staff of One zips out of Nico’s hand and then into the back of the truck. A lot of clattering and clanking follows before it suddenly erupts through the top of the truck, the transmitter impaled handily on top of it. The bears and soldiers all stop moving at once, falling out of the sky and raining onto the street.

“Well, that’s one way to handle it,” Superman says, eyes wide and an expression that seems to say he can’t help but be impressed, “Spoiler, nice job on figuring out the transmitter. Miss ... “

He pauses, looking to Nico and looking sheepish that he doesn’t know her name.

“We’ll need to gather all these broken toys so I can get rid of them,” he looks to Nico once again, “Can I ask your name? Or what you’d prefer we called you?”

Steph could come up with a few good names for Self-Injury Girl over there, but she's a little too pleased with the fact that Superman knows who she is. Go Team Spoiler! And there's still time to get to the library.

"It just seemed right," she says, a little bashful despite her delight. "Something had to be giving them orders." She toes at a deactivated bear, then picks it up and inspects it more closely, searching for the gadgets within that make it do the Toyman's bidding.

Nico pauses when he asks her name. She could tell him her name..and then there's all the confusing stuff about being the child of supervillains, a Runaway..who knows what could happen. "Sister Grimm.". Back to the classics, it seems, as she drops her bag of 'lunch', to help the nice alien and the weird chick grab the toys. It's fish, it can be picked back up. "Spoiler? Do you ruin the plots of movies for people?"

“Do you mind if I take that?” Superman asks genially, reaching out to take the deactivated bear from Spoiler once she’s done looking at it. He glances back towards Nico with a smile, “Well done, then, Sister Grimm.”

Suddenly, Superman zips off and, moving as a red and blue blur about the place, he gathers up the fallen ‘toys’. Occasionally he pauses, using his strength to crush them down into a more manageable size. In a matter of moments Superman is holding a ball of scrap metal the size of a beach ball.

As Spoiler's fangirlism, Nico snorts a bit, as she goes to pick up her fish. "He's just a superhero. There's like, hundreds of them around here.". Though, admittedly, she's fangirling on the inside as well. "Supes. Eggplant. Maybe we'll work together some time, depending on the circumstances. Heh.". Nico cracks a grin, as she picks up her fish, tossing a wave. PLAY IT COOL, NICO.

As he finishes gathering up the last of the robots, Superman furrows his brow as he watches Nico go. He memorizes her bio-rhythms, making a mental note to follow up on her in the near future. Something tells him she might need help at some point. Most teenagers don’t walk the streets with bags full of fish.

“Oh, well, in that case,” he reaches out to gently take the remains of the toy anyway and his eyes close once more. Instead of melting it, however, he narrows his eyes and focuses twin pinpoints of heat upon it. A moment later he hands it back, the S-shield emblem now burnt into its metallic plating. An autograph of sorts.

“It was nice meeting you both, but,” the Man of Steel takes a look, “I think I need to pay a visit to the Toyman.”

Then, along with his metal ball of crushed up death toys, he takes to the sky and is gone.

Dear Diary: Yes, I want to brain her, but generally it's impolitic to commit random acts of assault in front of Superman.

Spoiler restrains herself without further comment toward Sister Grimm, but turns her attention back to the man of Steel. She grins broadly as he etches her toy with the S-symbol. Not that this is visible except for a little motion in her mask -- or her face, were one watching her via X-ray vision. "Thanks," she tells the Man of Steel, and then waves as he takes off.

After a moment the girl glances after Nico, purses her lips thoughtfully, then shakes her head. The disaster is over -- and she still has a history paper to write. She jogs across the street to the alley where she stashed her stuff, hoping nobody disturbed it while she was gone. Time to get to work.