2013-01-16 Smash Hit Bank Up Job

The Upper East Side, the creme de la creme of New York City. This isn't the neuvo riche of the Upper West Side, this is the high class side of Central Park, where they have the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre (No, seriously, it is like a block and a half from the Museum, crazy...). The area is generally pretty nice all around, well policed, well cared for, and some of the finest condos and penthouses money can buy. Not to mention it has some great places to shop.

Today is just another day, living in the moment, for Caitlin Fairchild. She did okay with helping with the Charity Event at the Themysciran Embassy, and so, while it isn't good for her to be out of the Embassy for too long, she has been sent on an errand. Several wealthy philanthropists decided that checks weren't enough, and so are donating more clothes, appliances, toys, and items that can be auctioned off to help the Amazonian Women's Support Causes. Since Caitlin is stronger then even the average Amazon, skilled in operating modern conveyances, and needed a break from being cooped up there, she volunteered and was approved to take one of the Embassy Cargo Trucks to pick up the stuff. She smiles as she carries two large boxes out of a apartment building with the doorman holding the door for her, giving him a polite "Thank you before balancing one on her head so she can unlock the truck.

Earlier that day...

"NO, MOM, NOOOOOOOOO!"

But she was too late. Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl, had failed. As stood there, all alone, covering her face with her hands, she reflected on the previous moments leading up to this fateful time. And with this reflection came the realization that her life would never be the same. Indeed, it was practically over!

For as the blonde-haired teenager grinds her teeth and hides her face, trying to pretend what was right in front of her wasn't happening, her mother and two of her cheerleading friends from school were busy laughing at the television upon which a five-year-old Courtney was going through a dance routine. ...And falling every five minutes or so.

"Urrrrrgh! //MOM//! Turn it off already!"

"But look how cute you are, Court!" the older blonde gushes. Courtney turns on her heel and stomps out of the room, smacking her guffawing little brother in the back of his head as she makes an exit. It was probably HIM who'd dug the tape out of the attic where she'd hid it in the first place! Little creep.

Now...

@CourWhit: so boring here in the city 2day lol

@CourWhit: when we getting syndicated??

@CourWhit: hope i get my own drssing room!!

@CourWhit: lol u there?

Well, when tweeting Changeling failed to get a response, Courtney just switched right to texting Ms. Marvel!

when we gonna team up again??

i thought of cool name 4 our super-team

if u don't like 'blonde bombshells' how about 'blonde ambition'?? lol

And that is how Stargirl has been spending her afternoon, squatting on a Manhattan rooftop seventy-seven stories above the ground, straddling a stone gargoyle with her cosmic staff across her lap and typing away on her phone. What else was a superhero supposed to do during her downtime than bug other superheroes!? Despite the fact that the wind kept toussling her hair all out of whack and tried to regularly blow her from her precarious perch, at least she had a good view. If she squinted and leaned down a bit.

How the heck did other superheroes find crimes from this high up, anyway? Stargirl really needed to get her some super-senses. Maybe just the eyesight, though. Superhearing would probably give her TMI since her bedroom shared a wall with her parentals.

How?

The one word that constantly went through James' mind in situations like this. Armed only with his knives, lacking any kind of identity protection, and backed into a tight spot, he saw only one course of action...

"Alright! Shut up, and raise your hand if you wanted a hot dog! ... Alright, hands down... Now who wanted pretzels?"

That's right, James Proudstar, last apache of his tribe, mutant powerhouse, and professor at the Xavier Institute was forced to co-chaperone a field trip to the Met, and he was most certainly not enjoying himself. Luckily, after his little outburst, the kids quieted down and calmly accepted their chosen snack before being ushered back into the museum by the other teachers.

"I'm goin' to take a break... I'll meet up with you back inside in a few minutes," he grunted to the professor in charge just before collapsing into a bench and letting out a pent-up breath. "Kids... What the hell was I thinking?"

Landing on a building not far from the area where the trucks are, Jacob observes the events taking place with curiosity. Pondering what's going on, he decides to descend down a dark alleyway and investigate. Considering it for a moment, he decides to change his outfit. When he finally reveals himself, he's sporting dark grey pants, with a brown hoodie covering his head. He approaches the cargo truck, examining it and the boxes Fairchild is placing inside.

As Hercules is introduced to the crisp New York air, smashed out of the Emigrant Savings Bank, simultaniously five other banks in the surrounding area have figures burst forth. Monsters of Humanity, the five men, one woman, and a large teenage boy who is slamming a shovel into a Soverign ATM Machine tower menacingly. Those who know their villains might recognize them as the Wrecking Crew(including the less known member, Piledriver's son, the Excavator), Absorbing Man, and Titania. Each of them... well besides Excavator, who is mainly just mangling the machine... is carrying bags of money and piles of safety deposit boxes... they're not too picky and can sort it all out later after all, or at least that's how they plan on it. Bulldozer is the least burdened, due to having to deal with the Lion of Olympus, and therefore only has the one large bag at the moment.

As the man approaches her, Caitlin smiles as she hops down from the truck, all neatly organized with appliances large and small, palettes of books, boxes of clothes and toys, a few antiques that have tags with suggested auction values and clipboards with information like titles and certificates of authenticity. She, despite being alone, seems to not be perspiring in the least, nor shivering for that matter despite how her clothes aren't the most cold weather appropriate. As she closes the door and latches it, she looks over at Jacob, "Uh... hi. Did you need something? Maybe wanted to offer a donation or to volunteer?" she pauses, "If you were hoping to meet Wonder Woman, then I'm sorry, cause she's off on some trip at the moment, and really only does this grunt stuff on rare occasions."

With a heaving sigh of teenaged boredom, Courtney Whitmore finally allows the wind to topple her off of the side of her precarious stone perch. THIS time, however, she wasn't actively WISHING for crime to happen. Not after what happened last time when a big steaming pile of supervillain fell into her lap and people got killed. No, it was time for the Teenaged Dream to get serious about protecting people and saving the day! She couldn't keep doing this for fame and glory!

'But if I just HAPPENED to score a spot on a kickin' reality TV Show, well, that wouldn't be so bad.' Stargirl reflects with a grin as she quickly plummets towards the ground. In true superhero adrenaline-junkie style, Courtney uses her cosmic rod to swoop out of the path of the ground a mere sixteen feet from plumetting to her death, skating along the air like Tony Hawk's blonde apprentice as she weaves between lightpoles and waves at the people just below her with a bright, flashy smile.

A few wave back, some make some rather rude gestures, and a couple snap pictures. Most just go 'Huh?'

That is, until the sound of alarms blaring and concrete and glass shattering reaches her ears so quick she pulls up short enough that she nearly tumbles right off her golden rod! Stargirl, blonde hair flying behind her like a wavy, mini-cape, wheels a quick one-eighty in the air and allows her metallic witch-broom to carry her at breakneck speeds down the street, cutting through an alleyway, and out onto the other side where some Freakazoid was busy carting off money that most assuredly did not belong to them.

"Seriously, what's with the mask and crowbar!?" Courtney quips as the staff halts in mid-air, parallel to the street, allowing her to do a back handspring to grip it, spinning full-body around it once... twice, and then letting go to launch herself, feet-first, like a missle at Wrecker's big, masked head. "All the REAL supervillains these days are using power tools!"

James looks up from his bench with mild annoyance written all over his face at the sudden noise. Then, when he sees what's causing it, he grins a grin that looks far more bloodthirsty than a teacher should really be grinning. "Finally, something to /do/." He leaps from his bench, scans the group, then, choosing one that looks appropriately tough, starts to charge. Quickly building up speed, he soon turns into a one hundred mile per hour, seven foot two, tower of angry Apache. "I don't think that's your's," he calls out towards Bulldozer, just before he slams into the man with all his ninety ton strength.

"Who is... Wonder Woman?", Jacob asks Caitlin. "Donation?" Another question asked as if he doesn't know the meaning of the word. He looks at the truck, and is about to say something, but that's when Hercules comes out flying onto the street. So, his attention is now focused on the Olympian projectile, the other people in costumes coming out with bags of money - cliche, isn't it? -, and the regular people scattering from them in a state of panic. Curiosity is flooding the hybrid, now. "What exactly is happening?"

Most of the villains go unhampered, only Bulldozer getting a taste of his own medicine and Excavator turning the ATM into a giant lump of metal seem to not be progressing as planned. Dirk Garthwaite, aka the Wrecker, gets to take one half step back as he is surprised by the flying dropkick, but as the most powerful of his Crew, he is generally the toughest. The Wrecking Crew aren't the strongest guys on the block, but the main four regularly take on Thor and walk away with only bruises from the Thunderer's blows, so a five and a half foot teenage girl who isn't even in Spiderman's weight class is nuisance.

Dirk has hit She-Hulk and Spider-Woman, so hitting a female is not against any code of ethics for him, but even he isn't going to pound on a teenage girl. Snorting he smashes a streetsign with his crowbar and prepares to wrap it around Stargirl, putting down his ill gotten loot for the moment, "Look girlie, I don't feel like hurtin ya, so youse just be a good little girl scout and sit still, and I won't have to remove your braces with my crowbar. I'm sure it is all the rage for you kiddies to play dress-up, and stop purse snatchers and shop-lifters, but the Wrecking Crew ain't neither of those."

Bulldozer does a wonderful job of creating a trench in the pavement, bulldozing it for 30 or 40 yards upon impact, and looks a bit stunned as he feels around, his head buried in the pile of asphalt and rock he created. He flails around a bit, as if perhaps trying to get a hand hold or perhaps having trouble breathing and freaking out... either way, he isn't throwing punches at the downed Hercules, who must have taken a the heavy hit badly, laying sprawled out, and definitely not trying to get back at James Proudstar, unless his actions are a ploy to get James to drop his guard.

The confused man makes Caitlin a bit confused, what hole was the guy buried in that he'd never heard of Wonder Woman? There are isolated villages in South America, Australia, and Africa where no technology exists beyond the basic spear and ax, and even they know who Wonder Woman is. She is about to answer his first two queries when the super criminals make their entrances... or exits as the case may be. And her reply to question number three is pretty terse, "Trouble." as she sighs, and jogs into action, rushing toward the big blond guy with fists twice the size of his head. Caitlin training has her go for the legs, turning her dash into a sliding leg scissor sweeping takedown and rolling to try to snap Piledriver's knee and make running or even standing at the very least a painful chore, and possibly impossible.

Stargirl may not be one of the JLA's all-star squad, but her cosmic converter belt certainly makes her stronger, tougher, and much faster than any teenaged girl had a right to be! "Wow, that usually works the first time." The blonde remarks as lands on her butt, then rolls overbackwards a few times out of the reach of whatever deathgrip this guy might have. She'd probably have to take him down with a few tricks rather than her awesome kickboxing skills!

Even if punching is so damned more satisfying than blasting.

While the big goon is busy tearing up a street-sign, Courtney is mentally calling her cosmic staff to her with an outstretched hand. The rod obeys instantly, and as Stargirl grabs on for the ride, she zips straight up into the air! Performing a few needlessly-acrobatic feats and somersaults before landing near the dropped loot, and pointing her staff at it. "Oh ha ha, making fun of my age. Never heard THAT before, chump-o-la!"

A yellow-orange ball of energy encompasses the safety deposit boxes and moneybags, a solid construct of energy that, as she hefts the rod up and leans it across her shoulders, makes the thing look like a giantly-oversized, glowing, medieval mace.

"I reeeeeeally don't like it when boys make fun of my braces." With a suddenly all-business scowl, Courtney Whitmore, aka Stargirl, is swinging her custom-made mallet with the added weight of all that money in it right at Dirk Garthwaite's face!

"Even ugly ones!"

James grins as he watches Bulldozer make a satisfyingly large crater in the landscape, before he ever-so-casually draws a massive vibranium knife from a hidden sheath on his back. He covers the ground to the big guy in a couple small bounds, landing directly on his chest before he brings the knife point right under Dozer's chin. "Stay down," he growls, before he pulls the knife away in a flash and drives the knuckleguard straight into his face. Twice.

With a scoff, Warpath stands up, looking around the area for a new target, watching both Courtney and Caitlin's fights for a brief moment, confirming that they can hold their own. Finally, he catches sight of Excavator and smirks, bending down to wrap one massive hand around Dozer's throat in order to lift him, and hopefully toss him, full strength, at the super-powered teen.

Dirk looks at where Courtney had been looking confused and then turns just in time to get a face full of loot. The problem with being the strongest member of your crew is that you tend to carry the most, and sadly that means Wrecker gets a clobbered with a mighty mean money mallet that has plenty of momentum and mass to spare. He probably won't need any real medical treatment, but taking a blow like that to the face does do a number on you. He staggers at first, standing there looking dizzy for a moment, and then his eyes sort of cross and Dirk Garthwaite falls first to his knees, and then flops forward to lay face down on the ground.

Bulldozer really wasn't really in any position to argue, though the force of James' landing did pop him free of the rock that was covering his helmet and suffocating him, unfortunately for Henry Camp, the same landing knocked the last of the wind out of him, and popped his helmet off, leaving him passed out and unprotected from the blade. Fortunately, the Apache didn't use the knife for more then a threat, but did use him as a living projectile... and helmetless, unlike his leader, Henry may need some medical care after this.

Seems head blows are the stock and trade of the day, as the leg scissor takedown Piledrives Brian 'Piledriver' Calusky face first into the sidewalk, cracking the cement pretty badly, but also with his huge hands full, Piledrive had no chance to block his face or cushion the blow, and instead has the mass of his loot added to slamming atop him, leaving him as unconscious as his buddies, Henry and Dirk, though probably only going to need some ice and asperin to handle his injuries.

While his father is eating cement, Ricky 'Excavator' Calusky isn't as unlucky... well at least in getting hurt... he has failed miserably to do anything besides making the ATM Machine into a slag heap in a wall, but he sees the shadow of his teammate and ducks out of the way. Clinging to his shovel he starts running and shouting, "Uncle Dirk, Dad, some BFI Buffalo Jockey over here just planted Hank in the ground and then the wall." not even realizing the men he is talking about are as likely to hear his comments as the teammate he's mentioning. He has his shovel at the ready as he comes around the corner near the out cold Wrecker, "Uncle Dirk? You okay?" then looking up at Courtney, "Hey, queer little hippie boy, you see who hit my uncle here? You tell me, and I won't have to make those braces unneccessary."

As she stands up and checks Piledriver's neck for a pulse, moving some loot off so she can get access, Caitlin looks to the odd guy, "They're criminals, bad guys who take other people's stuff without compensation, usually by doing violent things to get what they want. Those people are running because they don't want to get hurt, but it takes a lot to really injure me." getting to her feet and looking around. She jogs toward the ruckus a bit, but sees the unconscious villains and then turns back to jog the other way. As she comes around the far corner, she gets a face full of loot... seems someone else liked Courtney's tactic, and just used it to send Caitlin flying over by Courtney. The figure of Titania holding an amount of loot tied together that makes Wrecker's hall look tiny in comparison, slings it on to her back and smiles, "You heroes should watch wear you're going. Maybe when you wake up, you'll remember that..." laughing and then looking over, "Hey shrimp, beat the little queer hippie boy already, don't waste time talking, then grab your dad and uncle, and let's go. Bulldozer is on his own." before turning and checking the other way, looking ready to leap up to the rooftops or something...

Courtney's waiting, watching, ready to abandon the money and run away at the first sign of a big, mean fist or crowbar coming at her. But then... nothing. The Bad Guy goes Ker-Plat, leaving Stargirl holding an energy ball full of money and staring in surprise with her mouth forming a small 'o'. She points the staff-mallet at the entrance of the bank and lets the energy-orb drop, allowing the money, valuables, and the containers they were in, drop back down. It was heavy anyway, and she really didn't want to have to cart it around. Let the rent-a-cops handle that!

Good thing Stargirl ducks down to poke a finger into Dirk/Wrecker's head with a "Hey, no way! That was WAY too easy. ...Y'okay?", because right then another woman goes flying overhead, causing the teenager to bolt upright looking startled about the same time that Excavator and Titania show up onto the scene.

Courtney's mouth quirks into a deadly, frowny-faced pout, her eyes narrowing to slits as her brows draw down into an almost perfect 'V' as she's called, of all things, a 'queer little hippie BOY'. Seriously, boys didn't look this good!

"Oh no... you just... did //NOT//!"

Titania was clearly the bigger threat, but Excavator was here first, and was the first one to call her THAT, so he gets the full attention. The blonde-haired, star-spangled superheroine unslings her staff from over her shoulder, points it at the youngest wannabe-member of this crew, and lets loose the full blast of the staff's cosmic energy.

"DORK!"

She's too mad to think of anything better to say. That was something she'd probably leave out of her blog later.

If James had wanted a shot at making Excavator pay for his comments, he should have demanded dibs, because Rick was not expecting an attack from Courtney's direction, and the blast hits him solid and square, shredding his costume, blasting the crud out of him, and causing him to drop his shovel and fall out of the wall crater he is in, ending up just as facedown and unconscious as Wrecker, only not going to need to shave for a while, as every bit of hair on his body from the waist up has been burnt off by the blast.

Mary 'Skeeter' MacPherran, aka Titania, takes on Hulks for a living, and therefore tends to check for leaping foes doing flying stomps and kicks. She leaps back just in time to avoid James, and makes a small set of foot sized craters from where she landed, "Hey Tonto, so you want to wrassle with a real woman, huh?" She prepares to attack, but hears someone call to her, and turns, "Looks like we'll have to schedule our match for another time 'Hitting Bull'" stomping the ground to create a localized quake before lunging away in a leap that dwarfs James' by a few miles.

The voice in question it seems to have been one of the other two, but they've used the time wisely and fled. Three Banks isn't too bad, especially when the two of the 3 were the largest two hauls.

Slowly climbing from her own crater, Caitlin blushes as her jeans have gone from skinny jeans to nearly Daisy Dukes, the legs tearing away at the seams and leaving her with a pair of holey denim leg warmers and jean shorts that are showing off her entire legs. Her Jersey withstood the impact better, only losing the sleeves which dangle from the under arm seams, but then again, the top wasn't covering much before anyway. She dusts herself off, and tears away the sail cloth sock covers and shoulder guarding sleeves, wrapping them up and tossing them over to the hood of the truck she was using... hey, who knows, the cloth can maybe be used to patch some clothes, so why waste it. She looks around at the mayhem... glad she doesn't have cut rate insurance, and figures that with Damage Control, neither does the city, so it isn't as bad as it looks. She shakes some pebbles out of her ears and slowly walks over, to see if there is anything left to do... besides get the cops to hall off 80% of the Wrecking Crew, give statements, and check on Hercules and the others who fought.

Well that was... also way too easy! Man, all her crime-fights should go like this. With a smirk of triumph, Courtney Whitmore leans the staff back over her shoulder and turns towards Titani- Where Titania USED to be. Well, she could go chasing them down on her staff (maybe), but that might give the ones they ACTUALLY have caught the chance to run away! As the sirens begin blaring, Stargirl turns towards the oncoming policemen, amublances, and news vans.

...And begins running towards them! Well, first the cops get the quick 4-1-1 from her on who the badguys are and what they tried to do and where to find the prone bodies and where the others ran off to. And then it's the newsies turn.

Yes, before the end of the day, Stargirl has spent more time in front of the news crews than giving police statements. She's very much a camhog.

Jacob is by far no camhog. People like those have aimed their weapons at him, recently, even fired at him. He looks in the direction the remaining villains went, and he starts to walk in that same direction. He's deadset on finding them. He looks at James, saying nothing, then starts running after the villains.

James watches Stargirl for a moment, then turns to regard Jacob for a moment, scratching his chin. "What?" he finally asks, before he huffs, slips his knife back in his sheath, and turns to head back towards the Met. He's got a field trip to rejoin, and chasing down a bunch of second rate villains isn't high on the to-do list.

As the press comes around, Caitlin chooses to make her exit, allowing Courtney to take all the credit she wants... hey, Courtney took out Wrecker by herself, and nearly obliterated Excavator, she earned the publicity, and Caitlin wants to avoid having her appearance broadcast, as it would almost definitely draw unwanted attention to her presence in the area, and the longer she can stay off the radar, the better. She slips back to the truck, grabbing the scraps of clothing she'd tossed on to the hood and putting them in the passanger seat while she gets in and grabs a ball cap from inside the glove compartment. As she starts the engine and drives away, she pushes the cap down to hide her face from any nosy photographers, so the most that will be known is a red-headed woman who is working with the Themysciran Embassy happened to be picking up donations in the area... nothing extraordinary about that...

As Jacob leaps off in pursuit of the ones that got away, Courtney gets her 15+ minutes, Hercules sleeps off the effects of the battle, James returns to his students and co-faculty members, and Caitlin flees to protect her new life, a shadowy figure watches from a window above. The figure smiles to themself, content that their plan was successful. No one noticed the Wrecking crew's magical powers were weakened, and while there was plenty more mystical energy that could be sucked from them, that would come in time. Soon the plan would come to fruition, but for now matters were progressing just fine, no need to accelerate things just because most of the Wrecking Crew were captured, especially since their incarceration would make the discovery of their diminishing abilities all the more likely to go unnoticed. The figure laughs maniacally and steps away from the window, considering that one or more of the heroes might even be fun to toy with more...