2014.01.03 - The New Animal Control

Times square was always a busy, bustling place. Even though it was vaguely out of season - what with Christmas and New Years is already said and done - there was still a gigantic tree sitting forlornly in Times Square. Come the sixth, said tree would vanish from the square forevermore, so Karolina Dean wished to see it off a bit.

It was a bit cold and frosty out here, so she was bundled up a fair bit - hobo jacket worn on top of a long-sleeve blouse (with ruffles), jeans, and something that looked like ski boots. Not to mention a lavender scarf worn around her neck. Lifting up her eyes to glance over the tree, the (mostly) homeless teen gives it a sigh. "I wish I was about to see you lit up," she says, giving the guardrail a squeeze with her fingers before pushing off of it. Tucking hands into the pockets of her jacket, she starts wandering away - on top of the tree out here in times square, she heard ~rumor~ of an equally excellent tree in the lobby of the Daily Planet. So she was going to head there next, to see that one off as well.

Doreen Green had been minding her own business. Okay, that's a blatant lie, because she never does. This self-appointed street-level (although she strangely abhorred that term; she thought it sounded too 'messy') hero made it a point to make sure there were no crisis in the area. Bounding from building to building, in one measured leap at a time, she had made it to downtown. And had continued on for several minutes. In actuality, she was merely taking a shortcut across town to get to class. Doreen always left to go to school way early, because sometimes she needed to be.... Squirrel Girl! Saver of a rodents. And people, too. She also started getting lazy and wore her superhero duds to class, which got considerable attention. She totally sucked at keeping her identity secret.

Speaking of awkward attention, Doreen was juuuust about to leap off the main drag, when the frustrated, panicked yelp of a man was heard about a block behind her. Grasping onto the edge of a building with her claws, she pivoted her neck back to see the trouble. There, in the front doorway to the lobby of The Daily Planet, a rather large, pudgy security guard stood. His presence kept the electric doors from shutting, and he was yelling something incomprehensible (at least from this distance) inside. Doreen decided to get closer to check it out. *Leeeeap!*

School was for loooosers. Karolina Dean didn't /quite/ think that, but she hadn't attended High School since running away from home that fateful night, what felt forever ago by now. So when most people her age were getting ready to go to class, like certain rodent heroes, Karolina Dean was wasting her time looking at trees. And likewise having her attention caught by the yelp of the security guard, as she nears the Daily Planet building. Now, 'lina never quite considered herself a superhero for various reasons - things and situations just kept happening around her, and this seemed to be no different. Tossing her scarf over her shoulder, the young Majesdanian doesn't quite go to the door of the building, but kinda goes to a glass window, leaning forward and peering inside after kinda dashing up to the building. In most circumstances, the reason for the yelpery would probably be innocent. In this city, however, one could never take any chances.

After a few more brisk hops, Doreen had landed onto the wall of the Daily Planet's exterior, about 40 feet overhead of the security guard. Two minutes had past, and numerous people from inside the building had left in some kind of hurry. Yup, definitely something was going on inside. In one almost-graceful-but-not-quite jump downward, Doreen was suddenly face-to-chest with the security guard of The Daily Planet, who towered two feet over her. He looked down at her, and saw Doreen, taking note of both her outfit, and also the perky squirrel that had perched itself on her shoulder. It was wearing a pink, shiny bow and gazed up at the man with its beady little eyes. Was it smiling?

The guard quirked his eyebrow in that signature New York way of saying 'What-The-@#$@', and said, "Sorry, lady. We don't let homeless people into the building. And we got us a problem here right now."

"But!" Doreen started, genuinely surprised that he was standing in her way, "I'm not a hobo. I'm Squirrel Girl!" The guard just eyeballed her suspiciously, with a hint of both confusion and perhaps pity. Now, Karolina Dean had never heard of any Squirrel Girls, but that sort of name sounded as much of a superhero name as anything. Picking up her eyes, the young woman kinda glances over towards Squirrel Girl and the guard proper, taking a moment to sorta glance over the hero, lips pursed. Hmm. It was easy enough to subtly slip into the alleyway beside the Daily Planet - or just behind any sort of cover, and bring her hands up to the bracelet around her wrist. Pausing a moment, she yanks the bracelet off. While the shape of her appearance did not change - she was wearing the same clothes, after all - once the suppression bracelet was off, her alien physiology kicks into overdrive, converting sunlight to rainbow energy that dances and sparkles all along her form, the wayward Majesdanian then lifting up from her hiding place, moving to land lightly beside Squirrel Girl. "Is there anything that we can do to help?" she asks the guard, trying to put as much concern on her rainbow features as possible, taking a moment to briefly favor Squirrel Girl with a smile. "Hi, um. I hope I'm not stealing your thunder or anything," she says.

Before the security guard could continue telling Doreen to hit the road, he caught a glimpse of the luminous girl arriving in front of him. 'Now *that* was a superhero!' his expression read. But just then, a tremendous, horrible growling sound resonated from behind him, echoing throughout the lobby. Some of the glass doors tremored slightly. "Sorry, but this ain't no Doctor Doom. Just got us some kinda dog or something inside. Could have rabies. Don't worry, we already called Animal Control."

Now, 'Animal Control' was a phrase that was sacrilegious to a person like Doreen, and she actually had the urge to give him a stiff... glare. But, she reminded herself, she must act with grace and honor as a superhero. "Um, sir. I don't think that was a dog," she meekly asserted. From behind, you could hear a sharp crackling sound, followed by something being flung--it was a branch of the enormous Christmas Tree from inside--and it landed against the security guard's desk, smashing it in two. His computer equipment, telephone, and sign-in sheet crashing to the floor below. The guard tried to keep his composure, but he trembled slightly in a moment of fright.

At the sound of the growling, Karolina Dean kinda glances towards Doreen, her expression kinda... confuddled. "You know, I agree with you," she says, "That sounds like something much worse than a dog - and even if it is a..." Rumble. "...dog, we can help keep it safe and calm until Animal Control gets here?" she asks, tilting her head a bit to the side. "It sounds like it's tearing things up in there, don't you want it to be all under..." Karolina ducks her head reflexively when the branch barrels out towards them both, releasing a bit of a squeak as she shuffles out of the way. "Ummm..." Karolina glances towards Doreen again, "Let's go!" she enthuses to Squirrel Girl, kicking up off of the ground to hover - sparkles trailing her path a bit, as she tries to kinda... fly around the guard desk and try to track down this monster or 'dog'.

Doreen followed Karolina's lead, and was excited to finally have full access to the lobby inside. She sniffed around with her Squirrel Smelling to attempt to locate the threat. There was definitely something nasty around here, she thought, but couldn't locate the source. A few seconds later, though, after dashing around, it was quite obvious. It was the Christmas Tree itself--or so it appeared--and it had began shaking violently, almost as if it were alive! Growling sounds began to build from a whisper to a threatening pitch. Whatever this was, it had identified our two heroines as a problem of some sort, and it was getting angrier.

Doreen was not intimidated by the noises, however, and began to suspect that perhaps something was shuffling about from within the very dense, large branches and greenry. It would be easy for something smallish to hide in there, she thought. Approaching with a quiet shuffle, she made her way to the very base of the tree, thinking that she might be able to get a better view of whatever might be up this tree from the bottom. Peering up, she looked up. It was a tough view, but she thought she *might* be seeing the tip of some kind of animal claw. Sharp claws.

"Hey little guy," Doreen started, "We don't wanna hurt you." After a two second pause, a ball of what could best be described as slime--some sort of thick pus-like substance, landed right on Doreen's face. She just stood there.

Karolina kinda... flies into the lobby, her silent partner of the moment given the occasional oddish glance every so often. Maybe she was just... focused on the mission. Regardless of such things, Karolina glances towards the tree as it shivers and shakes, a little frown turning down the corners of her lips. "What is it?" she asks Doreen, kinda frowning a bit as the other woman was slimed.

Doreen used the fur on the forearms of her costume to wipe away the disgusting slime dripping off her head. She tried to not look annoyed, but it showed a little. She considered making another attempt--maybe even climbing into the tree to get an even closer view, despite it being clearly not the wisest option. "I dunno," she simply says.

A giant, ungodly crackle began erupting from the tree, and it looked as it were about to give. Doreen's reflexes kicked in, thankfully, and she dove backwards, avoiding the falling branches and trunk. The Christmas Tree of The Daily Planet was torn in two, quite literally, with it's two major halves dropping below, it's potted base shattering like glass below, the trunks dropping against the marble floor with a thunderous thud. What emerged looked like a cross between a boulder, a grizzly bear, and a squid. It was about five feet long, not including the tentacles. And it looked *pissed*.

"Ohmigosh! Look out!" Doreen called out to Karolina.

Karolina Dean kinda purses her lips - perhaps Squirrel Girl was just the focused sort. She didn't know. Kinda clenching her jaw a bit, 'lina turns her eyes from Doreen to the tree, a little bit of a gasp leaving her as the creature emerges from the tree proper, the young woman lifting up her hands to emit force fields - to prevent bits of tree from smashing up more equipment (or people!) like the guard's desk up front. "Um..." says 'lina, after all the ruckus ends, "...hello there. Can you understand us?" she asks, kinda glancing down to the odd creature.

Doreen thought to herself for a moment: "I've never seen anything like this before." But then she remembered that maybe she had. Taking a moment, she lurched behind one of the stone pillars of the building, watching Karolina interact with the creature--who had now began to stare at Karolina with that special sort of "I-will-eat-you" rage only a hideous monster can properly pull off.

Doreen, in a sort of hurried panic, began digging through her bag to fetch her Super Hero Battle Cards, one of her prized possessions. "I--I think I might know what this is," she said in a rushed voice, pulling out the deck of trading cards, "Try to keep it busy." The monster was certainly paying attention to Karolina, and it opened it's jaws to let out a growl, it's ginormous fangs on full display. Two of it's six tentacles began to flail themselves wildly at Karolina, in an attempt to smack her around. Doreen had flipped to her Fantastic Four sub-section, and had identified one particular card. "Subterranea!" She called out. "It's a monster from Subterranea!" she said excitedly.

"I guess that's a 'no'," says Karolina as the creature kinda glares at her. One tentacle whips out at her, and Karolina gracefully lifts up and over the lash of it, kinda doing a roll in the air as she does so. "Try to keep it busy? Ummm..." The second lash she didn't quite think she could dodge in time, the young woman erecting a hasty shield with a swipe of her arm, the tentacle perhaps colliding against that, and off - a wince touching Karolina's features at the impact on her mind. Okay, try to keep it busy? There was a way that she could burn energy (she didn't quite know the specifics - she just knew that she could), that released extra heat with the side effect of extra light as well, brightening herself up. "What in the world is Subterranea?!" she asks, swooping kinda low under the next flailing tentacle. Grimacing, she brings up her hand. Instead of shields, she uses something she rarely ever used anymore - energy blasts, sending a shot of kinetic energy rocketing towards the thing.

Shuffling closer, Doreen had that special sort of science-nature-nerd joy that only a freshman of NYU's School of Wildlife and Forestry could have, as she took a quick moment to observe this bizarre, freakish creature in all its glorious fury. She was also pretty lucky that all of its attention was on Karolina, even though Doreen was standing right next to it. That was pretty odd, Doreen thought, and it reminded of how the security guard at the front had looked at Karolina like she were the real hero, and Doreen wasn't. She dropped any feelings of jealousy, however, realizing that it was just a distraction. Which exactly what she'd told Karolina to be. But the monster was really, really taking the bait.

"It's a hidden realm deep in the Earth's Crust. It was discovered by the Mole Man, an enemy of Professor Reed Richards!" Doreen called out, rather verbosely. The creature, completely fixated on Karolina, began a more impressive assault, now all six of its tentacles launching at her in a more synched formation, it growling madly, her energy blasts having virtually no effect other than increasing its anger.

Taking the moment to use her energy for offense left her a bit open for the counterattack. Especially one that came from all directions like that. Normally, she might erect a spherical sort of defense; but in this case, Karolina just twists in midair, swishing up her arm to make a wall that protects - all of one direction. A lash against her side actually batters her against her own force field, one of the vertical lashes knocking her into the ground, dazing her a moment. That Karolina was actually being considered more superheroic seeming at the moment would be a fact that would be amusing, if not outright hilarious to her later. Right now, however, Karolina was busy being stunned quite a bit, limbs kinda flailing around as she tries to push herself off of the ground as quickly as she good, trying to shake the woozies before the thing decided to follow up on its successful assault.

With the creature distracted, Doreen had made a lovely, arching leap onto it's back, and stood there, clinging onto it. She extended her knuckle spike and drove it into what might be a weak spot--a soft-looking fold in it's rocky armor, hoping to wound it. But this attempt was in vain, and had no effect. In fact, the creature still didn't take notice of Doreen, even with her prodding its back. Doreen looked up to its head, its eyes locked onto Karolina, who was starting to take a beating from the creature's attack. It reminded Doreen for a moment of a cat following a laser pointer... and what was initially a little joke turned a light bulb in Doreen's head on. A light bulb about... light. Doreen had suddenly put two and two together! Subterranea was probably pretty dark, she thought. "Hey! Can you get any...brighter?!" Doreen yelled out, later realizing her wording might've been unintentionally misconstrued as sarcasm.

No doubt the creature wasn't going to give Karolina a break. Especially while she was down like that. Another lash of the tentacle, and this time, a spherical dome covers her, repelling it with the kaleidoscopic energy. "Not... really?" she kinda calls out to Doreen, her voice just a bit strained. With the breath she earns for herself after that repulsion, Karolina takes to the air again, shaking her head as if to clear it. Closing her eyes, 'lina breathes out deeply, before bleeding off more heat energy. The young woman does begin to glow brighter, the whirling colors surrounding her starting to favor yellows and whites more than the deeper shades of color like blues and greens, and the heat coming from her - well, it was probably like standing nearish a fireplace of sorts. Even if Karolina was grimacing as she does so.

The beast from Subterranea responded almost instantly to Karolina's change in color and heat, letting out a furious screech--a sound so disconcerting that many of the gawking onlookers, gathered near the front door to the building, took many steps back in fear. But something was working, because as its tentacles and clawed limbs rescinded, folding inward and limply against its body. And within another ten seconds, had all but twisted itself into some sort of miserable, fetal-like state. Doreen had gotten off the thing, of course, and was standing about five feet away, watching it happen like a scientist might observe an experiment unfold. "Hey, nice work," she said with a regular speaking tone.

A little backflipping spin in the air, and Karolina lands - still a bit woozyish - near Doreen. "Thanks. Um. Wow - you knew everything about that thing - so maybe I should be the one saying nice work," she says, bringing up a hand to brush a wayward lock of psychedelic hair out of her eyes, giving Squirrel Girl a lopsided, wry sort of grin. "Or can we compromise and say 'Good teamwork?'" she asks, offering her hand to Doreen a bit for a handshake. The handshake would be kinda warm - maybe even hot - to the touch. "So what do we do now? Like... run away before the cops and capes get here?" she asks.

With the creature at least temporarily subdued, Doreen took a moment to greet her sudden partner in herodom, shaking her hand. "That's a pretty cool power. What do they call you? Energy Girl? Lite Brite?" But then a sharp, confident voice spat out a commanding tone behind them. It was a male, dressed in a black jumpsuit. A SHIELD agent.

"We'll take it from here, ladies," The man, wearing sunglasses in the middle of the day, held out a strange little device. In no time, he'd pressed a button and a crazy, pink-lit energy cage had formed around the monster, still responding to Karolina with a pathetic shudder.

"Animal Control has gotten really high tech," Doreen asserted. "Lite Brite is kinda cute, but no - I go by Lucy. Like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? The Beatles song?" she says, cheeks flushing. "I... guess it's kinda dumb," she says then, her eyes sparking wider as she glances back to the SHIELD agent. "Hey, look - it was nice to meet you - Squirrel Girl, right? Like you told the guard? But I've got to get going. I'm... late for class, I guess," she says, kinda glancing with some sympathy towards the animal. "Be nice to it, okay?" she calls back to the Agent, before kinda... trying to find a side door out of the building.

The SHIELD agent basically ignored the two, as he twisted his little scifi device side to side, like he were trying to lasso a horse. The cage, with creature inside, levitated in front of them. Doreen gave out a little surprised chirp, as the agent and cage began to head for the exit. Doreen turned and asked, "What're you going to do with it?" The man, who had considered not even responding to the question, finally answered back as he got near the door, "A bunch of these creatures have been apprehended today. This might be the last one." The crowd outside had been forced back a good twenty-five feet from another SHIELD agent outside, leaving a clear path for the exit.

Doreen, on the other hand, just looked on as they departed. Speaking to Karolina she said, "I'm glad you were around. Dunno if Squirrel Power could've stopped that guy." With Karolina leaving, she called out, "Goodbye, Lucy!"

Just then, Doreen remembered something important: SCHOOL. AHH! She was late! She made sure Tippy-Toe was okay, and took off as quickly as she could.