2013.09.01 - A Wannabe Side-Kick For The Wannabe Side-Kick

It was the dead of night, a time when all good little girls were in bed and the grim and gritty amongst the hero scene and criminal element came out. Normally this meant a certain star-spangled teenager would be in Nebraska, asleep and in bed because it was a school night. But a certain star-spangled teen, who is nowhere in sight, has moved AWAY from Blue Valley and to Metropolis in order to attend college! Hey, at least her giant, mechanical, Iron Man-wannabe sidekick hadn't followed her.

But now loud noises are coming from a local office building, smashed windows leading off the street and into the dark interior of the ground floor of a skyscraper. Who could be breaking into the law offices of Smith, Smithe, and Smithers? One of the miscreants comes out, holding several large computer towers stacked five high in its arms, it's gait ungainly and stiff, revealing it's gleaming metal skin.

Robots!? Robots.

The metallic humanoids are carting out, moving in their typical mechanicaly-jerky fashion, computers and filing cabinets and loading them into a large cargo truck via a ramp. One of the robots seems to be surpervising the stacking of said stolen equipment. "Move the computers that are the computers that you are carrying to the part of the van that is on the left side of the van and also to the forward of the van so that the computers that are the computers that you are carrying may be put down on that side of the van." Yeah, even their voices are stereotypically robotic.

It's hard to tell as they file in and out, smashing or simply walking through any furniture or walls that gets in their way in order to grab more of the things that are the things that they are stealing. It's almost like they can't even see the walls and cubicles that they're walking through! Or maybe they can just see through them.

To be honest, there's no good reason why 16-years old Konomi Mihara would be awake at this hour, let alone out of the house. It is fortunate, thus, that she is not awake. Less fortunate is the fact that she fell asleep while working on one of her medical robot vehicles, and accidentally turned it on in the process. So for the past while she has basically been careening through the city in her sleep inside of and at the wheel of a robotic ambulance. It's a miracle she hasn't injured anyone yet. It seems like every time she's about to wreck something or crash, she shifts in her sleep and adjusts her course by just barely enough to save herself by sheer coincidence.

When Konomi accidentally turns on the ambulance siren of 'Ransu' the robo-ambulance, she startles herself awake and immediately swerves and crashes into a building. "Aaaah! Nani!? Nan desu ka!? <>" Once Konomi has rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she is still less than comprehending of how she got here. She does see there are some robots coming in and out of the building she crashed into, and suddenly comprehends. "Oh. Em. Gee." She claps her hands to her cheeks. "I must have, like, accidentally on purpose discovered TIME TRAVEL! This is totally the grim dark future where robots have to, like, make a living -- or a machinating? No, wait, I think that means something else -- off the remains of human civilization after the apocarokgeddon! That's definitely why this building is wrecked, probably! Because of the end of the world. Geez! I wish I'd figured this out when I was awake! That would make it way easytastic to get back to my own time!"

Then Konomi gets up out of the seat, and moments later, as the robo ambulance idles in the wrecked office, the rear doors burst open and a white-haired Japanese girl in pink bunny pajamas dramatically throws her arms wide and announces, "MISTER ROBOTTOS! I AM A HUMAN AND I COME IN PEACE!"

There are probably a number of people who, if they observed this, might be incredulous of this claim of being human.

"There is a witness that is witnessing the things that we are doing in this place that is this place." The robots, as one at this proclamation from the leader, turn their heads and focus their glowing pink eyes on the teenaged girl that has apparently 'come in peace'. For a moment, none of them move, and then one of the robots gets the brilliant idea to speak up again. Though it's a different one, it has an identical voice to the first one.

"Those are seeing what we are doing in this place must be eliminated from this place."

Computers crash to the ground, as do filing cabinets, spilling circuitry and papers all over the paved street as they reach into their midsections. Compartments open and they pull out things that, while looking funky with glowing pink chambers, are clearly some kind of firearms. Which they then begin discharging in Konomi's direction! The pink lasers are badly aim, but with every shot, its user corrects, getting steadily better as the semi-automatic futuristic weapons begin 'pew-pewing' right at the 'time traveling heroine!

Meanwhile, above in the sky, a shooting star passes overhead that- Wait, that's entirely too low and too bright to be a shooting star! Some form or humanoid figure engulfed in a large ball of yellow fire streaks by overhead, its course bending as it does so, circling back around towards the newfound disturbance.

Konomi observes the robots observing her observing them and their observant verbal observations of that fact are also observed by Konomi in turn. But once they start shooting lasers at her, she decides these must not be the friendly kind of robots, and that she should observe a cessation of observation. "Oh my Santa Claus!" she lets out in surprise as she is fired upon and quickly closes the doors of the ambulance again. She starts making her way back to the front of the ambulance to get to the wheel again, while Ransu is pelted with lasers that scorch the the exterior. It's about as tough as titanium, but that's not going to stand up to laser fire forever or even slightly forever!

*Pew-Pew-Pew-PewPewPew-Pew-Pew*

The laster keep on coming, beating against the back to the robulance like pink-colored, super-heated rain. The robots are starting to walk in Konomi's direction as they pelt her vehicle, moving in like a cult of shooting robo... cultists. Or something.

The shooting is slightly disrupted when a bolt from the blue (so to speak) cuts in from above. A seeming new laser beam, this one vibrant yellow, streaks down and slams into one of the machines in the midst of the line. The mechanical creature is destoryed in moments, disintegrating into tiny, smoking bits.

"BOO-YAH!" Stargirl lands where the destroyed foe, now little more than a black smear on the pavement and a few twitching robotic parts, was, the lasers ceasing abruptly as metallic, humanoid heads turn in her direction. "Sucks to be you guys." Courtney Whitemore says through a grin, whirling her giant, hooked, golden staff behind her back and bringing it up into a ready position, held level towards what she's determined to be the bad guys. (Or so she hopes, or she just vaporized a real mechanical hero!)

"'Cause my staff was MADE to take on robots!"

Around that time, Ransu's wheels retract into its sides and robotic legs like a cat-dog or whatever the opposite of a snake-slug is emerge in their place. The robo-ambulance stands up, backs up quickly -- possibly endangering Stargirl in the process -- but managing to swing around such that it is 'parallel parked' next to the teenage roboticist's rescuer. The driver's side window rolls down slowly with a mechanical whirring sound. Kind of like, 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen.' Then there's a Japanese girl that looks like she is probably a bit too young to be driving without an adult in the vehicle with her there. "Like, I guess this probably isn't the future after all. I'm still totally going to 'upvote' that rescue though." She holds up a robotic cellphone in her other hand that looks like a hamster with a screen in its belly, makes some tapping motions without looking, and then lowers it again. "But, like, just incase this actually is the future: good luck with the rest of them, future-girl! I'll be nearby incase you get hurt or anything! I'm a doctor, so I can totally help!" Konomi gives a thumbsup.

Then she turns back to the wheel -- and the window rolls back up again at the same leisurely pace. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen. And Ransu starts removing itself from the area enough to not get caught in the cross-fire!

"Wh-Wha? Hey, you could at least-!" But Konomi is already gone, driving (walking?) away on crazy robot-car legs as fast as they will carry her. This, unfortunately, leaves Stargirl standing in the middle of a bunch of bad guys who are now focused solely on HER! Cripes! And she just used up the little bit of surprise-time she'd gained via her ambush to blinku-blinku and be mildly confused at the teenaged girl in the ambulatory spider-cat-thing.

"I know girls are supposed to like pink, but I'm not really a fan." The former star-spangled kid uses her staff to raise an energy shield on one side, blocking at least half the laser fire, and having to do a bit of creative acrobatics to get around the other five or so! She twists around the cosmic staff, which inexplicably remains in place, hovering four feet or so off the ground, for her to do just that.

"Yellow's always been more my color!" Stargirl crows in triumph as she raises a hand, fingers-splayed, palm out to release a mass ofs hooting stars from her red-gloved hands. The star-rainbow-energy beams seem to cut through the robots with ease, leaving nary a mark, though they quickly twitch, lose their pink glow, and collapse in short order.

Turning to face the remaining mooks, before they can walk-shamble around to her side of the shield and begin taking more potshots at her, the brace-faced blonde grips her weapon in both hands again, and begins to tilt it up, as if trying to tip over her wall of pure energy! Which is exactly what she does, sending it crashing down on the metallic androids as they emit a series of gender-neutral "Oh no's". Which just leaves one, after his four brothers are crushed under the now-vanished cosmic construct. It twitches a look at its fallen breathern, flattened little circuit pancakes that they are, then back up at Stargirl. "Ready to surrender? I'll take you to my leader."

It starts to raise its rifle, but the belt-empowered teen is quicker. "Wrong answer!" The metal construct vanishes in the beam of a harsh golden shot from Courtney's staff. With a flip of her hair, the blonde teenager smirks to herself, but fails to fall into her trademark wave and smile. After all, there were no cameras around to ham for!

"Now where'd that strange girl go!?"

Once the fighting has stopped, almost as though it were being watched the whole time, Ransu comes around the corner and back down the street towards Stargirl. Konomi jumps out of the ambulance and out onto the street, her fuzzy pink pajamas with bunny-feet and fluffy tummy making her look even more ridiculous than would otherwise be the case. "Hey, like, good job! That was incredible! You're not hurtified or anything, right?" As she walks towards the blonde with the staff, her slippered feet produce squeaking noises with each step. Eep. Eep. Eep. Eep. Eep. Eep. "I think I must have fallen asleep while working on Ransu or something, because I woke up here. It was probably those robots who broke the building though. I hope these Su-mitt-uu guys have robot insurance, otherwise their office is going to be hard to pay for! Hahaha!"

Konomi gets serious suddenly. "So, like, hi! I'm Konomi Mihara, also known as 'Doctor Awesome', but better known as 'Konomi Mihara'! Thanks for rescuing me! You look familiar for some reason. For serial!" The teenager strokes her chin thoughtfully. Then she snaps her fingers after a few seconds. "Oh, right! You're Stargirl!" Konomi starts hopping up and down, producing more 'Eep's each time. "I'm a huge fan of yours! Is it true that you invented your moon crystal wand yourself!? Your inventor skills are, like, one of my inspirations!" Konomi stops bouncing in order to point at her developing chest excitedly. Then she realizes she has a fluffy rabbit belly covering that.

"--Oh, right, you can't see. I totally got a stick-on star tattoo right there, just like the one on you! I'd take off my pajamas to show you, but we just met, and this is all out in public and everything, so maybe I should wait until we get to know each other better!" Konomi squeals as her pitch go through the roof, possibly making animals in a several block radius start barking or yowling in response. Aaaand she starts hopping again. Eep. Eep. "Oh my gosh! This is so, so, super exciting! As a roboticist myself, I'd so like to hear what kind of robots you're working on how and you make them! Like that mecha you also definitely built that hangs around you sometimes!" Konomi stops bouncing long enough to ask, "Hey, can I, like, be your sidekick?" She points her face with both hands to show who she's talking about.

"Me? Hurt? Nah, I do this for a living." Stargirl smiles with a bit of a thumbs-up as Konomi inquires as to her condition, the sounds of wailing sirens in the distance heralding the coming of the always-late police. Can't just have a superbattle in the middle of the street in peace anymore without the boys in blue coming to break it up! But at least that meant more publicity, which was never a bad thing. Sure, she'd gotten into the hero biz for all the wrong reasons, but at least people liked her! Not like that Spider-Guy and the paper that was always dissing him.

And then Konomi happens, which drags her out of her train of thought. '...So this is what it feels like.' The blonde muses silently to herself as the excitable Konomi flies through her explanations, questions, and offer of sidekicking support. Usually it was COURTNEY that was doing this to OTHER people! Being on the receiving side of it was a little jarring. But on the other hand, Stargirl had a lot of fans, and was used to handling even the crazy ones.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll manage. They're lawyers, after all. ...We should probably leave so we don't get sued." Because lawyers are bad news bears when it comes ot property damages. "Doctor Awesome, nice to meet'cha!" She doesn't even blink at the fact that this girl was apparently even worse with her secret identity than Courtney herself was. Hell, the entire Met U cheersquad knew who she was thanks to that incident at the stadium during practice!

"That's me!" The blonde quips brightly, though at the mention of her being a great inventor, she just kind of... looks off to the side and scratches at her cheek idly. "...Weeeeeeell..." But then she's putting up her hands before the younger teen can do something even crazier, like disrobe to show her the temporary tattoo! "No, no, I believe you! Look, ah, I'd rather not be seen tonight. I promised my mom I'd be studying. Let's just get out of here and talk somewhere else, okay? Can that thing outrun the cops?"

Taking Konomi by the shoulder with one hand, she points at Ransu with the other, and starts steering them both towards it. This could be the most ill-advised adventure, to say nothing of team-up, to date.

TO BE CONTINUED...?