2013-01-13 Robbers, Retro Men, and Redheads

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The 134th Natitonal Bank of Bazjakistan is being robbed. A squad of oversized gorillas in green tunics with yellow trim and ref fezzes are ripping apart vault doors. A huge man in a red Bull mask above the mouth, purple jumpsuit and red boots is pouring jewels in a stream from one hand to another, laughing. He has a pencil-thin mustache. A woman with straight black hair is dressed in a drab green military jumpsuit and cap with red stars for buttons and decorating the cap. Her features are sharp to the point of severe, and she radiates a Slavic accent. She has a machine gun and is waving it at the cowering customers and staff. "Do not move, and you will all remain unharmed."

Here he is. To save the day. Six-foot-two-inches and two hundred and forty pounds of grade AAA American beefcake, Captain America steps up to the edge of the building's roof and takes a moment to enjoy the view. He pulls his gloves tight, and allows one edge of his compressed lips to rise as he studies the chaos below. "Not in my town. Not in /my/ city." He dives off the building, bouncing and somersaulting his way to street level before the bank.

Pepper Potts has ALL the luck, apparently. She's in the bank speaking with one of the executives when crap hits the fan. Now, having swallowed her quite justified indignation at the situation, she and the exec she'd been speaking with are amongst the rest of the people gathered in the bank lobby being 'guarded' by the Slavic woman with the machine gun. Even if she could reach her phone and place a call without being noticed, Tony is no closer than Malibu. There's no way he'd be able to get here fast enough. So, she settles for trying to remain incognito. Because being noticed would likely be far worse.

Trouble!? Aroo?!

Somehow, the news gets to Harlem. Maybe it's the radio in the car shop. Maybe it's a tv. But in any event, Wally West is asking to take his lunch break. "Gotta go....Be back."

There's a woosh of air and a crackle of electricity, combined with the sound and smell of skidding. Kid Flash suddenly appears at the scene. "Gorillas? Check. I'm qualified to be here. It's in the bylaws of cross-curricular superheroing."

It's not a horrible day out, so James Barnes has been exploring Manhattan again. So much has changed from the New York in his swiss-cheese memory that he really has to learn the city all over again. Since there isn't much for him to do as he tries to just figure everything out, it's a good sort of meditative practice.

That and he can occasionally smack down any unsavories that think he's some sort of easy target.

Today, he's made his way to Lower Manhattan and isn't too far from the bank when he hears the alarm. He makes his way there, more out of curiosity than anything, checking the gun stolen from a would-be mugger hidden his pocket when he just sort of freezes. Captain America? Here?

Slooooow moooootion. Cap takes two long strides, pulling his right arm back, shield in hand. On the third step he launches the disc, which shatters the two-story tall front window and continues forward until it smashes one gorilla right in the back. There is an audible cracking sound, and the animal screams in pain and then goes down. The disc smacks off a second who is stunned and then misses a third by an inch as the ape leaps skyward to cling from an overhanging chandelier. Madame X, the hungarian leader, bellows orders. "El Toro! Beasts of Berlin! The hostages!" The huge man in the bull mask grabs a random citizen who happens to have very red hair and some freckles. He puts a gun to her head. The five remaining gorillas each do the same with other customers and staff.

And then Cap steps in, picking his shield up off the floor. "Surrender, miscreants, or face the consquences! You have been warned."

Pepper Potts startles at the front window of the bank smashing, but manages to not scream in surprise the way a few others do. However, when Captain America audibly breaks the spine of one of the bank robbers, she gasps aloud as her eyes go wide and one hand goes to her mouth. She may know almost zero about the man, but she would have thought blindsiding an enemy wasn't really his style. Of course, that thought gets truncated when someone bodily grabs her and causes her to finally yelp in shock.

"Not cool, dude," Kid Flash says but isn't sure that anyone heard him. When he takes Pepper, Kid Flash is overcome with the need to act. He digs his foot against the ground and flies towards her wreckless abandon, trying to snatch her away from the gunman and pull her to the side of safety. At somewhere near 700 miles per second.

It's the taking of hostages that really gets his attention. With the front window already shot out, well, it just makes things easier. Sliding up to the building, his back against the wall and the gun pulled from his pocket, Barnes listens for a moment until the younger-sounding voice speaks and seems to do something. It's enough of a distraction for him to turn and hold the gun out steadily. Sure, he's in the middle of the sidewalk, but so be it. Two shots are fired from the gun, both bullets going to two different robbers holding hostages. He's aimed for each hand holding the gun.

Wally may be many things. He may be annoying. He may be juvenile. He may be intellectually lazy and, worst of all, he may be ginger. But he apparently knows his Speed Force. El Toro blinks as Pepper vanishes from his arms. "What the hell? Somebody else is here! How dare you interfere with... El Toro!" He fumes. He puffs his chest. The gorillas begin to hoot, "I say!" and "Rum luck, old chum!" as well as, "Dirty pool!" They are a civilized lot. Until two separate hands are shredded by high-velocity rounds. Then it's all, "EEEEEK!" and "OOOOOK!" One hostage drops to hi knees, too frightened to move, while the other begins running towards the broken window.

Madame X steps close to the man in green and a top hat. "Do it, Voice. Now." Voice nods, and speaks, "Stop." And everyone outside of the villain's team or someone with a reason not to hear his voice... stops.

Pepper Potts doesn't even have time to calm herself enough to try and get this...person to let her go before she's abruptly somewhere else. "What?" Yeah, she's all kinds of eloquent right now.

Kid Flash comes to a stop with his arms still wrapped around Pepper. This would be totally awesome if not for the imminent terror. This is not, good. This is not, good at all.

Quickly darting back around the corner of the window, Barnes waits. There are no return shots. That's...odd. Frowning, he peers back around and...everyone has stopped. Frowning, he takes a moment to decide who to shoot...and Madame X and the man in the green and top hat both get shots to their kneecaps. Standing together like that, they look like potential ringleaders.

Foolish American superheroes!" Madame X spits something onto the floor with the word "superheros". "You are not facing some run of the mill robbers. No! Today you have the pleasure of dying at the hands of the People's Defense Force!" She waits for her audience to show their terror. "Well? Have you no response?!" She seems angry. After a moment, Voice coughs and whispers to her, "They're stopped." "Oh. Yes. Of course. I knew that." She machine guns a vase on a table so that it explodes, sending water and petals flying. "That could just as easily been you! But unlike you capitalist swine, I am merciful and just. And so I will leave it to you to police yourselves. Voice? You may proceed."

Voice nods and walks over to Cap, who is staring daggers at him but unable to move. "Captain America, self-righteous crusader of freedom... kill these heroes. Kill all of these civilians. And let us go. Now... everybody... GO!" And now everyone can move again.

Before "GO!" even finishes, Cap is diving and rolling, coming up and slinging the shield at terminal velocity directly for Wally's neck. He continues to move, tearing a leg off of a table and whipping it around in an arc that would crush an elderly guard's skull.

Meanwhile, James' shots hit two heavily armored kneecaps. Both Mmd X and El Toro double over in pain, clutching their knees, but neither one seems injured. "Aye caramba, you were right to invest in these armored kneepads, Madame X! She simply nods and then begins shooting a barrage of machine gun fire towards the Winter Soldier's position.

Pepper Potts can't move. And this kid (she's close enough, she can tell that much past his mask) is also similarly stuck. She's the one turned to where she can see the goings on, and the only indication she can give of a round shield headed their way is her eyes tracking it just before they're able to move again, and then she only has time for her eyes to go wide and her entire frame to tense up. We are going to die right now.

Not right now. And not today, missie. Regaining the ability to move, Kid Flash grabs Pepper by the waist and does a spin move. THe move pulls her out of the way first and he follows suit by ducking down. He can feel the wind from the shield wiz past the wing tip on his ear. Whew. That was close.

Machine gun. James needs one of those. Stat. Of course, with Captain America apparently under the thrall of these robbers, he might need to be the next target. Darting in and diving to avoid the machine-gun fire, he slides towards the discarded shield to grab it up. Still on the ground, shield up to protect his head and chest, he then fires a single shot at Cap's hand to try and deter the blow to the elderly guard.

Thanks to a fortuitous stumble by Cap, the bullet misses his hand by mere centimeters and instead shatters the makeshift club. It explodes, shredding Cap's glove and embedding splinters in his hand. He spins and his eyes first travel to the shield, then the man behind the shield, and then narrow with something almost like hate. As if Captain America could hate. And then joy upon recognizing his new target. Cap leaps up and forward, coming down atop the James with a great, bleeding fist aimed at the Winter Soldier's skull.

Madame X pulls a small black out of her jacket and pushes the single large red button on it. An incredibly annoying high-pitched sound comes out if it: SKREE-SKREE-SKREE-SKREEEEEE! And that's when the 10 foot long beetles erupt from underground, dripping acidic saliva and speaking English just like the gorillas. The gorillas who are sitting around watching the action, fascinated by it. Lazily pointing guns at their hostages. "What will you do now, heroes!" Mme X cries. "Will you stop your beloved Captain? Will you face the mighty Scarlet Beetles? Will you try to free the hostages from the clutches of the Beasts of Berlin? Or will you try your hand at El Toro and myself! Choose fast, because your lives depend on it!"

Okay, as far as dance partners go, Pepper's dealt with way worse, though this kid's gonna give her whiplash. But she's not complaining, honest! Because that round shield was sure looking like a guillotine for a second there. Of course, there's still panicked screaming and gunfire still way too close by and she can't readily think of a way to help. So she pushes at the kid still holding on to her. "Go help," she tells him hopefully calmly enough to be convincing.

"Choose fast?" Kid Flash asks with a grin growing on his face. "I choose d. All of the above." After a *CRACKATHOOOOOOM* the Kid from Keystone is bolting across the area trying to get to as many baddies as possible, delivering punches, kicks, trips, and the like.

James Barnes grabs the shield and holds it over him to hopefully intercept the blow coming from Cap's fist. "Steve! Fight the compulsion!" is called -- mind control is all too familiar to him. He doesn't get any shots off this time since his hand is busy holding up the shield. This is when it would have been helpful to have his arm back.

A red and gold blurred lightning bolt ping-pongs in a jagged path. SMAK. WHAK. THWAK. PPAKK! Gorillas go down in an instant, dreaming of owning the Oxford dictionary, the means of production and bananas. Mme whirls and screams, "Voice!" Jason Lorne Cragg, aka "Voice", peeks his head out from behind a desk and squeaks, "Miss!" just before Wally reaches him. Wally veers left and smashes into the immovable wall that is... EL TORO! The speedstr rebounds painfully, landing on his ass at the foot of the pompous villain. "Cono, you are in for a world of hurt now!" Meanwhile Cragg is crawling away as fast as he can, looking behind him. Until /he/ bumps into someone: Pepper. The Scarlet Beetles are ripping up furniture and walls, while arguing over the flaws of dialectical materialism.

Cap's fist smacks into the shield and he cries out in pain. "Bucky! I'm... trying... to fight it. But... can't!" There is a strange gleam to the Avenger's eye as straight-kicks forward under the held-up shield and into James' chest. "Must... murder... my... best... friend!" CHOKE!

Pepper Potts has been trying to move toward one of the office where she can call for help while keeping from getting noticed again. Of course, that's when a man in a VERY unflattering suit bumps into her. He's one of the bank robbers, her brain supplies instantly, so does does what little she can. She aims a knee at the man's groin, hoping to at least temporarily take him out of the equation.

Kid Flash winces as he tries to regroup after smashing into El Toro. "Cono? Who's Cono? You must have me confused." He struggles to get to his feet and skitter away from this big dude.

James Barnes rolls with the kick...that hurt, but it's not debilitating. Yet. He goes into full defensive with the shield...since he can't hold both it and the gun. "Take out the guy in the hat!" he calls, hoping someone on his side may listen. Guns they can deal with. Magical mind-control powers...not so much.

Jason rises onto his knees from all fours and puts his hands together in a begging position. "Fair lady, please have mercy upon my poor soul. And please *run out into the street and die!* Yep, that's what happens. Well, all the way up until he says, "And please..." That's when Pepper connects and he bends forward again, vomiting. He keeps trying to cling to Pepper's legs and keeps trying to say something, but whatever it is it keeps being interrupted by vomiting.

When it comes down to it, El Toro is mostly just a really big guy with an attitude. He's not even super strong, though he seems to have developed-enough legs and a low enough center of gravity to have thrown Wally for a moment. "Now, yello streak, you will taste the poison of my horns!" He bends low and dashes towards Wally, trying to gore him.

Cap staggers as Voice vomits, his next punch missing the Soldier by a hair's breadth. "That's it... miss. One... more... should... do it!" A flurry of staggered kicks and punches follows, but they are unlikely to pierce James' defenses.

Pepper Potts wasn't expecting the Voice to start vomiting. EW. She shoves at him to get him to let her go, because she does NOT want vomit on her shoes. They're Manolo Blahniks, and they're the ones Tony insisted she buy after the last time HE was the reason for vomit on her shoes. "Stop. Let go." AUGH.

Kid Flash grins, "Oh, I've seen this movie!" He yells "Tetsuo!!!" as loud as he can and begins to rush El Toro. The two come togehter in epic crunch, or would anyways, if Kid Flash didn't drop into a slide below the beast. He then tries to give him a wrecking assortment of superspeedy kicks to the noggin, if able,

It's pretty much all Barnes can do to keep the shield up and in the path of Cap's attacks. There's a growl of frustration as he can't reach the gun as well to fire a warning...or non-lethal shot at the man attacking him.

Pepper keeps pulling away, but Jason keeps clinging and -- somehow -- keeps vomiting. How much did he have in his amittedly ample stomach? "My dea--BLUUURGH!-- I just want to as--HURRROUGGGHH!--OHMYGODPLEASEKILLM--GGGRRREEEEAAAARRGGHHHH. It is EVERYWHERE. Finally, blessedly, the poor man passes out from dehydration and general out-of-shapedness.

The result is horrific: in less than a second, El Toro takes over two hundred punches. That's what it takes to drop him. Non-powered he may be, but tough as nails, too. He doesn't see the punches. They are invisible. To all appearances his eyes glaze over and then he keels over. WHUMP! The Scarlet Beetles look up at Wally. "Oy! You there!" one says. "Propagandistic tool of our oppressors! You leave our mate alone!" And then the three beetles are charging Wally from all sides, spewing acid.

Cap is struggling to fight his control -- WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE -- and Bucky his holding back. It makes for an even if stilted fight. Cap finally slaps the shield away and follows immediately with a lethal throat chop when Voice passes out. But the throat chop doesn't stop!

Pepper Potts finally manages to step clear of the vomiting -- now unconscious -- man when the shield comes skittering toward her along the floor. She looks toward where it came from and in a panicked tone immediately calls out, "Captain!" There must be something really wrong with him, he's acting very not like she'd have expected.

"No time for love, Dr. Jones!" Kid Flash announces as the creatures encircle him. Picking the closest group his arms make little super-speedy circles, attempting to great a great draft to push the poison back and give him an out. He leaps in that direction trying to escape their entrapment!

With the shield out of his hand, Barnes can focus on the gun left in his one hand. It's aimed at Captain America, "Don't make me do it, Steve. I tried once...and if you keep on going, I'll do it again. There's no SHIELD to save you here." At this close range, he knows there is absolutely no way he can miss.

The vortex that Flash creates pulls in the acid and then flings it straight up and down in a circle over the beetles, while he threads the small opening and makes it outside. The result is that the floor collapses beneath the beetles, and the ceiling collapses above them. They're moving under all that rubble, but just barely. Some of the acid does manage to splash outwards, burning holes in furniture and walls, and even splattering the shield.

Cap shakes his head, finally "coming to his senses", and looks with horror upon James. "Bucky! I'm so sorry! I tried...!" Cap waits for any sign of Bucky softening to move... he plants a hand on an overturned bank exec desk and launches himself over it. Sprinting now he dips and grabs the shield along the way, exposing it's outer surface to Pepper briefly. The acid has etched a web of deep scars across it. "HUP!" Cap leaps, grabs a chandelier, swings, double-kicks the sneakily fleeing Madame X, smashing her hard through a drywall, and then runs out into the street and into the night.

Pepper Potts is briefly relieved to see Captain America refrain from hitting the man prone on the floor, but then is left blinking rapidly after he scoops up his shield and makes a quick getaway. But with a quick shake of her head she dismisses those thoughts and steps over to kneel down next to James. "Are you all right?" Captain America HAD just been trying to beat the man to a pulp.

Kid Flash sighs and looks around. "No job is finished until the paperwork is done," he says forlornly. He begins zipping around trying to pull bystanders and others out of the fray. Some other hero dude seems to be taking care of Pepper, so he leaves her be. But the rest of the folks are with him.

James Barnes looks to Pepper as she kneels beside him, "I'm all right, thanks." He pushes himself up to sitting first and then to his feet, his hand going to his chest where he got kicked. Ow. There might be a cracked rib or two there. "That...What happened to Captain America's shield?" He looks to the speedster as he helps round up the other bystanders and hostages.

Pepper Potts stands when James does, watching him in concern. She looks over at Kid Flash briefly, then back at the one-armed man again. "Wait, what? The shield?"

Kid Flash returns, eyeing up Pepper and James. "She doesn't look like the normal kind of bystander. Aren't you supposed to run around like crazy and shake your hands in the air screaming?"

James Barnes just narrows his eyes at Kid Flash when he makes the gross generalization about Pepper, but he then looks about to pick up one of the other guns that were shot out of some gorillas' hands...might be useful later. "The shield. It was messed up by acid. Captain America's shield doesn't do that. I've seen worse than acid hit it."