2013.06.19 - Any point on the Atlas

In Times Square, things are quiet until a fire starts via an explosion in a Plumberry Phone store. The good news is that the store was not set to open for another three weeks. All of the contractors who have been tasked with getting the store ready had already gone to lunch and there was no one inside.

The flames spill out onto the street and an unfortunate gentleman is engulfed. He rolls around in pain until two massive hands carrying a flame-retardant blanket cover him up and put out the flames.

The hero known as ATLAS looks down at the man who has luckily received only superficial burns. "Alas, human! You shall be well! Thanks to the quick work of Atlas!" He leans back, looking at the destruction. He wears no shirt, appearing to enjoy showing off the rippling muscles in his chest. In fact, the only clothing he wears at all is a makeshift loincloth and the upper part of a hood that is draped over his shoulders and head. Around his neck is a crystal pendant.

Meanwhile, the explosion has sent the people into a tizzy, understandably, One gawker lost control of his vehicle, slamming two cars ahead of him. One of those cars heads into a light post, which looks to topple over on top of a crowd of people. The other goes crashing through a news stand, surely injuring folks who were standing in line.

A visit to the heart of the city and an attempt to remain inconspicuous. That was all Jono had planned when he left his apartment this morning. And, of course, that's when everything hits the fan. He was just emerging from the subway station near 47th Street when the explosion rips through the air, sending shockwaves down the street. Cue immediate panic and Jono is buffeted by people rushing to flee the scene as he tries to make his way up the street towards Times Square. He tells himself that he's not here to play hero, just to see what's going on, but as he emerges into Broadway to the scene of carnage he sighs inwardly. Oh boy.

Times Square is BURNING! Okay, maybe not exactly burning, but the Human Torch is soaring through the sky at this exact moment, on fire, but still managing to talk to whomever he's talking to at the moment... via the Fantastic Four costume that he's wearing with all the fixings. Well, there's not really a lot of fixings. There's just a few fixings that are unstable and moleculely.

Anyway, Johnny is on fire and he's flying above what is another fire, with fire trailing from his body as he does so. "Karen! Karen, listen to me! That other girl means nothing to me! We just went out a couple of times! Look, I don't even remember Lisa's name!" It's about this time that Johnny spots stuff going on down below. "Uhhh. Gotta' call you back, Katie, hero stuff, bye!" Johnny reaches up to touch his fireproof bluetooth and starts his descent.

Pause. "... Crap. Karen." With a sigh at the mixing up of names, Storm spins and hurls himself down towards the ground with more heat intensive speed! FWOOOOOSH!

"Okay, I don't know what's going on, but let the official record show that I, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, of the Fantastic Four, did NOT set anything on fire!" He's saying this while he's on fire. "... Except myself!" First order of business is to make sure he doesn't get blamed for this business. And also use this time to figure out what in the heck is going on around here.

There's a swirling vortex of electric blue light and then Zack comes flying out of it head over heel for a moment before he rights himself. Bright blue eyes take in the sight and then he's trying to figure out what he's doing. The dark haired youth calls forth some water to try and put out at least some of the fire. The water taking on the form of a small dragon, twisting and flexing as it works on trying to put out the flames. Thankfully it doesn't register Johnny as a flame needing to extinguished. "So anyone know what caused this?" He calls out.

As the heroes arrive, they see Atlas, a giant of a man, trying his "best" to help the bystanders get to safety. "Hark! Other heroes have arrived to assist Atlas in helping these citizens! Quick!," he exclaims to Johnny and Zack. "Clear the area! I have this lamp!"

Atlas' mighty strength is able to hold the lamp aloft just as it topples to the ground. "Wee one! You continue to douse these hellish flames! Flameburn, clear the area!"

As Zack appears and begins to put out the fire, he's joined by Superman who arrives in a whoosh of air. As the younger man speaks, Superman looks to him. "That's what I'd like to find out." First things first, however, Superman joins forces with Zack to force the flames into dissipation with his ice breath.

Once the fire is handled, Superman turns to regard Atlas and then stops abruptly. Using his vision powers, he notices that there is a foreign residue upon the giant's hands.

People on fire, water dragons? An ordinary mutant might feel outclassed in this company, if he wasn't a walking nuclear furnace, that is. Jono isn't in any hurry to reveal that fact - there's already enough panic and mayhem on Times Square already - but he arrives in time to see one light post come crashing through a news stand not far from where he's standing. Then there's the second, starting to topple after the impact of the car and he starts to tear away his scarf to reveal his bio-kinetic field, intending to blast it clear, when it's grabbed by Atlas. "< Timing could be better, > " he telepathically says, mostly to himself. Luckily most people are too distracted by the arrival of the three more colorful heroes that they don't panic at the sight of him and so he moves over to help people get clear of the wreckage of the crushed news stand, if they'll let him.

"Flameburn? I know you didn't just call me Flameburn. Dude. I'm Johnny Storm. Yes, THE Johnny Storm. Do I have to spell it out for you or somethin'? Seriously. Am I not the supreme superhero at this exact mome--" Somewhere in the midst of his ranting, Johnny realizes that there is heroing to be done and deflames back into his normal self, making sure that any heat around gets absorbed quickly, as he starts ushering people away from the chaos and mayhem. "This way, this way! Come on people, listen to Uncle Johnny! You sir, run faster. You ma'am, hold onto your son tight. And you, foxy mama, call me..." Oh god.

"Wee one? Does he mean me?" Zack asks blinking a little bit and looks at the flames. "Thanks. It's rather consuming." Once the flames are dispersed, Zack causes the water dragon to dissolve. "I think that we need to figure out what caused it now." He says matter of factly as he hovers in the air placing a hand on his rapier at his hip. Ok. Superman does make him feel like he should be good and listen to what he's told though.

People gladly take Jono's help at first, but half a brief moment of apprehension as they see the swirling energy in his chest and throat area. Most of them don't take long to snap out of it, however, as they are lifted up and out of the wreckage of the large news stand and led to safety. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if that means being led away by a strange hero, then they seem fine with that.

Johnny does a similar move in getting people to go the other direction, and he leads them to safety down the opposite side of the road from Jono.

"OMG!" tweets one of the hotties on her cell as she runs. "ITS TOTALLY THE HUMAN TORCH! < 3 < 3 < 3"

"Your moniker is of no interest to me, young one," Atlas exclaims towards Johnny. "Suffice to be placed next to the mighty Atlas in the annals of history. Perhaps the scribes shall get your name right!"

Superman descends slowly from the sky, his large arms folded over his chest. "Pardon me for interrupting, but I couldn't help but notice that residue on your hands. Also, from my viewpoint, albeit from a very long distance, it also seemed that you conveniently had a blanket in your hands to cover that man with."

Superman tilts his head toward Atlas, "I don't want to accuse you of anything, but it would seem that evidence suggests you have some explaining to do."

"Fool!" Atlas exclaims, approaching Kal-El as the latter lands on the pavement. "You dare question the great Atlas?! You? Superman?!" He twists at the waist in order for everyone to hear his proclamation. "Surely the city of Metropolis needs a better brand of hero!" But the waist twists back at superspeed as Atlas sucker punches Superman right in the face. The Man of Steel's trajectory takes a big chunk out of the road and sends him bouncing before bursting through the windows of a diner.

"What a world we live in where the heroes are questioned by the lesser!" Atlas says. The remaining scores of people in the streets are dumbfounded.

The sight of Jono approaching, with his lower jaw blasted off and psionic flames swirling in the cavity of his chest, certainly seems to have encouraged people to get the hell out of Dodge and by the time he arrives at the downed news stand, there's not that many left to lead to safety. But beneath the lamp post lies one unlucky citizen - the weight of the pole lying across his legs. Jono looks around to see if there's any other help forthcoming, but with some of the heroes busy extinguishing fires, herding citizens or standing around shouting in Olde Worlde English and starting punch ups, he decides to take matters into his own hands. "< Stand back! > " he warns those who are trying to assist in shifting the fallen post. "< This could get messy, > " he warns. Most people don't need telling twice and there's a few seconds of scrabbling out of the immediate area before Jono braces himself and a stream of psionic energy blasts out of his chest and smashes into the post, which practically leaps clear before crashing back down onto the sidewalk. As others drag the freed man clear, Jono turns his attention towards the other source of the chaos. Superman's meant to fly, but not backwards into diners, right? Unless he has a real attack of the munchies.

"DUDE!"

Johnny Storm is tucking away some girl's number in his pocket when the shenanigans between Atlas and Superman go down. He shakes his head and starts walking towards Atlas as if he were going to be capable of doing something to him. There's even an angry look on his face. Well, as angry as a look as Johnny Storm can muster up. "Uncool. Very uncool." Johnny shakes his head. "Number One? You don't knock Superman through one of my favorite diners." Johnny shakes his hands out at his side, as if he were about to draw a weapon of some kind. "And Number Two? That was /Superman/! Dude! Come on!" Johnny sounds like that was the biggest insult to one of the biggest superheroes int he world right there. "FLAME ON!"

Johnny breaks into a run and ignites in flame at the same time, before lifting and launching himself into a fiery rage of Fantastic Fourness and soars towards Atlas! Fantastic Fwoosh!

Did he just insult Superman? "The only thing lesser is you, Mr I need to compensate!" Yes. Zack just said that in his very British clipped tones. The dark haired young man says,"Now stand down. The more you act like a guilty party the more that I think you did this." He pulls his rapier out and points it towards Atlas, the point gleaming slightly. He doesn't move to actually attack the man yet. It's just the warning stage right? Plus he's in the air so he's safe from physical attacks, right?

"Thank you!" exclaims an older gentleman, wearing those old-man pants you can buy at Wal-Mart and a plaid shirt. Looks like despite Jono's terrifying appearance, not everyone is fear stricken; well not completely anyways.

Atlas seems very willing to ignore Zack, perhaps to his peril. Instead, he turns his attention towards Johnny and leaves the young man there, pointing his rapier at him.

As Johnny leaps towards Atlas, the behemoth seems ready for him. "Flameburn, your stunning turn to evil will be duly noted by your jury, judge and executioner." He pauses, to get his fist ready as the Human Torch tears towards him. "Me."

Just Johnny's about to arrive, Atlas unleashes a mighty wallop. The loud crunch as the two superbeings collide can be heard for blocks.

Speaking of the munchies, Superman sits up with lettuce and tomato from a sandwich plastered upon his head. He wipes the leftovers from his head and slides a plate that ended up in his way off of his lap. His mouth clenches as he digs his toe into the tile and shoots towards Atlas, intent on putting this guy down.

What the hell is going on here? Jono doesn't have the first clue, but he's prepared to assume that anyone that decks Superman and picks a fight with the Human Torch and what appears to be a skinny kid with a public school accent and a duelling sword is probably not Good News. Another slump of his shoulders, (he'd sigh if he were capable), and he ambles across to the source of the chaos. "< I suppose it's too much to ask that everybody stop hittin' each other for five minutes and try an' work this out like gentlemen, isn't it? > " he asks in an accent as British as Zack's, although probably from a rougher end of the street. And at that moment Superman streaks past in a blue and red blur. Guess not.

Johnny Storm. THE Johnny Storm. Is knocked clear out of his flames by the power of the Atlas. No, seriously, Johnny's body collides with the fist of Atlas and the next thing he knows he's sailing backwards and towards a random vehicle that's parked nearby, whilst his flames disappear and some of them are even left to linger in the air near the Atlas.

Johnny smacks into the windshield of the car and slumps out of it, rolling off the hood and down to the street. He doesn't really have the durability that some of the other members of his team have, so it's going to take him a moment or two to get back to fighting business. Cuz: Ow.

Johnny does manage to groan out, from the ground, "... dude. even more uncool." Ugh.

While it is true Zack primarily uses golems and if he though they would be of use here, he would be calling them forth but the only ones that might work are the two he's least inclined to conjure. Instead the dark haired youth closes his eyes and focuses inwards to use a type of magic he rarely uses because he has to focus when performing it. His blade is kept pointed at where Atlas was. The tip begins growing black as night. Once it reaches the point he wants it, the young teen says,"I ask you to stand down." He sees the blue and red blurr but hey. It doesn't hurt to make a civil attempt.

Despite Jono's plea for sanity, it looks like things are going from bad to worse. After Johnny is knocked away by Atlas, the barefooted 'hero' lets out a maniacal laugh. Again, Atlas disregards Zack's words, seeming to pay the younger no mind as he soaks in his feeling of victory.

KRACKATHOOOM!

Atlas isn't gloating so much that he doesn't see Superman coming. As the two come together, Superman's fists are caught in Atlas' might hands. The two stagger and both sets of muscles flex as they each try to overpower each other in what ends up a forced stalemate. One moment it looks like Superman will overpower Atlas, the next moment it is vice versa. All the while, the crystal pendant upon Atlas' neck glows a bright purple.

Jono manages to stay standing while Superman's hitting Atlas at speed and Johnny Storm, yes, THE Johnny Storm, is being swatted into cars and he feels pretty good about standing his ground. His only real reaction is to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket and alter his stance to brace himself more firmly as the two titans crash into one another and struggle. Jono has the good sense to stay the hell out of this one and instead he shoots a look across at Johnny and then ambles across to extend a hand to help him up. "< So, reckon they're going to be long? > " he asks, glancing across at the struggling superbeings and with no attempt to introduce himself or anything. "< I think the rest of us are just going to wind up standing around like spare pricks at a wedding until one of them buggers wears the other down. > "

Storm is all about taking the helping hand and when he's back to his feet, he looks over at Jono. "Dude. Did you know your chest is on fire?" Johnny Storm, the master of stating the obvious everyone. He looks on with Jono, apparently not even really worried about how he's hearing a dude with no mouth or anything, before looking on with him at the fight that's about to go down between Superman and Atlas. "Yeah. You're totally right, dude." Pause. "... what's a bugger?" Oh Johnny.

Letting out a deep sigh, Zack doesn't like to do this sort of thing. He lifts his rapier up and then makes like he was stabbing motion towards Atlas sending a small sphere of utter darkness towards the man. The spell designed to create a minor level of entropy in the man, designed to weaken but not kill. "Do not make me summon the light and the shadow. It will not go well. So stand down!" He projects his voice in the process.

The magic that is sent Atlas' way is true, but never reaches the target. Just before it hits the man, a purple sphere comes up to block the attack. Meanwhile, still struggling, Superman turns his head over to where Johnny is, and towards Zack. "Little....help....here." The Man of Steel's eyes point towards the large crystal pendant glowing purple.

"< I'm not on fire. It's bio-nuclear psionic biokinetic force, > " Jono states matter-of-factly. That told him. He regards Johnny steadily through a haze of the aforementioned energy, then gives a shrug. "< It's a... > " But he doesn't finish his thought, because at this point Zack starts to get actively involved, earning Jono's attention. "< That rugrat's going to get himself killed, > " he remarks, gloomily and his mood doesn't seem to improve when Superman calls out for assistance. "< Ho hum, no rest for the wicked, > " he remarks and starts to move, with surprising speed as he sprints closer to the combat, taking position beside Zack. "< Mornin'! > " he remarks to the younger boy. "< Guess magic doesn't work, eh? Let's try something a little different. > " At which point he steps forwards and suddenly a stream of concussive psionic force blasts from his chest, focused on the crystal pendant around Atlas's neck. Although precise control isn't Jono's finest skill, so the chances are Atlas himself is going to get hit too. And Superman if he gets in the way. And quite possibly an unlucky building or two.

There's no other choice here. Pulling two cutout humanoid shapes from his sleeves, Zack says,"I call upon the Light and the Shadow, come forth at my command." He says as the paper begins to glow and then they're thrown into the air after he has time to fill them with his magic. Once this is down they begin growing until one of them becomes a humanoid figure comprised of pure light, while the other becomes a figure with a black cloak that swirls by it's feet like smoke, bony hands protruding from its sleeves. As for Zack, he drops a little in the sky looking a bit weaker. "Everyone stay away from Shadow." He calls out as the figure moves towards Atlas. It radiates an air of decay. Howevr, the figure of Light moves towards Superman, bathing him in a warm gentle light designed to make him stronger. Light and Shadow, Life and Death. These are the apex of Zack's magic but it isn't also the biggest drain on it. "There are always more than one way to do magic." He says after a long moment.

When the light and the shadow of Zack's magic erupts from his rapier, Atlas takes notice and does a half turn towards Jono and the young mage. When he does so, he opens himself up to attack from Jonothon's energy attack which hits Atlas pretty much square on.

Both Atlas and Superman blast into the air and into the side of a parking garage, about three floors up.

For a while, the sounds come to a stop and all is quiet. There doesn't seem to be any movement from up in the parking garage.

After a pause, however, eventually Superman emerges from the building. In his hand is the crystal pendant necklace. The Man of Steel floats in the air and then downwards toward Zack and Jonothon as the sirens can be heard in the background.

"Gentlemen," he begins. "Thank you for your help."

The Human Torch? Where's the Human Torch? He's surrounded by a couple of hotties that are dabbing at the cuts on his face from his collision with fist and car and ground. "Oh, I think I'm going to need a full day to recoup from this." He's overselling the pain, of course, but he's just making sure this works out for him. It's what he does. "Anybody free for the rest of the day?"

So many hotties hands go up. Johnny Scores.

When his blast has struck home, the energy is sucked back into Jono's chest cavity, leaving him stood there regarding the damage impassively. "< Huh. Didn't mean to hit both of them, > " he remarks. "< Bad day to be Superman. And also in real estate. I hope someone has insurance. > " He has the decency to look pained by the large hole left in the parking garage, despite the calmness of his tone, but that's about as far as his reaction goes. He eyes Zack out of the corner of his eye and nods. "< Not a bad trick that, > " he adds, grudgingly. But any further socializing is cute off by the emergence of Superman and he looks up at the Man of Steel with only a raised eyebrow to express his emotion. "< So, I guess there's no point asking what that was all about. Tourist trouble? > "

Dispersing the golems, Zack still looks a bit drained but he's beginning to get stronger again. "Well... He was quite the rude individual." The dark haired young man before looking at Jono with a little smirk,"Oh. You should see some of the other things I can do." He's a pretty good mage, even if he just notified pretty much anyone looking at mystical things from all around the world. "Is he going to be down for awhile?" He asks a little nervously.

Superman nods to Zack, trying to put the young man at ease. "He'll be out for a while, and even when he comes back, he won't be any harm to us. This necklace was the source of his power. Your friend here," he motions to Jono," was able to knock the crystal away from his body enough that, in the commotion, I was able to pull it away. He won't be hurting anyone for a long time."

Just then, some of the firefighters and the police arrive, "Gentlemen, you'll want to do a chemical analysis on the man on the hands of the man in the parking ramp. According to my vision, there are trace amounts of the same explosive that caused so much damage. I believe Atlas started this all so he could appear as though he stopped it."

Jono's head tilts to one side as he absorbs the information. "< Huh. If he was going to play the hero, you'd think he'd try not to cause quite as much damage in the... > " He pauses, casting a glance at the gaping hole in the parking garage and he looks pained again. "< Nevermind, > " he concludes, with a shrug. He shoots another look at Zack and nods. "< Not friends, > " he remarks. "< We just met. Don't let the accents fool you, we're not related. > " He regards the Man of Steel thoughtfully for a moment then nods. "< Glad to be of help, anyway. > " And he actually sounds like he means it, for a change.

"This is the first time we've met." Zack says shrugging a little bit. "We should be focusing on making things right." Zack says as he puts the glass back together of the store front so at the very least people don't have to worry about getting cut on the glass. "That's the best that I can do right now." He says sighing deeply,"Summoning those two really takes quite a lot out of me." He says as way of explanation.

"Oh," Superman says a bit embarrassed. "Well, I apologize for the confusion. Either way, you can both count me as a friend after what you did here today." The Man of Steel nods to Zack in agreement about making things right. "Just a moment." In a flash (no pun intended) Superman begins to zip around, cleaning up some of the debris and transporting some of the injured to the closest hospital.

"< Not too good at 'making things right', > " Jono remarks, dryly. "< If it wasn't obvious from the bloody great hole in myself, I'm not much of a fixer. Blowing the crap out of things is the best you'll get from me and I think I've done enough of that for one day. > " He gives Superman a nod as he offers his friendship and the gloom momentarily slips off his features, but as more sirens start to draw closer, it slides back into place. As Superman starts to dart around cleaning up, he judges this a good time to make a tactical withdrawal. "< Time for me to shoot too, > " he comments to Zack. "< Things don't always go well when mutants get caught up in carnage like this. See you around, > " he says with a nod and then starts to retreat, carefully re-wrapping his scarf around himself to disguise his power.

Inwardly Zack is cheering that he gets to say he's a friend of Superman. Ok. So he is a big fan of the man in blue,"I think I should be going too." He says as he creates another vortex of blue energy and jumps through it his body seeming to warp inside of it for a moment before he and the vortex vanishes. There really has to be an easier way for him to teleport. No doubt he'll spill out wherever he's going like he did when he first arrived.

After he's finished, Superman nods and smiles as the two other heroes depart. He lifts his arms upwards and lifts off into the air before blasting away into the sky.