Moonlighting Hero Work

[Flux]

The costume is done. Felix is now standing in his bedroom before his mirror in a head-to-toe almost-onesie of deep gray and red color, beholding for the first time the imposing figure of Magnet Man. His recent bouts with the gym were showing (sort of) as he flexed, posturing before his reflection to psyche himself up.

"Magnet Man, Magnet Man, does whatever magnetism can..."

See, the costume came with a price: He had to promise to use it to go out and save the day. Or...something. To be honest he hadn't expected it to be done so quickly, OR to have received it via express mail. He had hoped for another month or so to get into shape. But, if Banner didn't tune into tomorrow night's news and see

"Mysterious masked man delivers daring deeds!"

she'd probably fly out and stomp him. He opened his window and checked around for people who might see him. It's night, the neighbors are all asleep, and nobody's on the streets. He leaps out the window, aided by his magnetic bands, and lands on the roof across from his place. Magnetism draws his window shut, and Magnet Man goes patrolling.

[Captain Untouchable]

The twinkie was no more.

In the deep, dark shadows of the city's rooftops, a ninja perched on a convenient corner and tugged his mask back over his mouth. Beside him, the decimated remains of golden sponge cake lay scattered across the shredded wrapper, every trace of the creamy center cleared away. An American delicacy, it was something he hadn't encountered in his native Scotland, but that had won a place in his heart that had previously been reserved only for sweetcorn, marzipan, deep fried Mars bars, and haggis.

Fist coming to his mouth to disguise a small belch, Untouchable ran his other hand across his stomach. A great deal of his daytime that wasn't spent in a science lab or catching up on the sleep he missed out on while playing vigilante was dedicated to staying in shape. Unfortunately, he and his metabolism seemed to have different ideas on what shape they were aiming for exactly, and the result was a little rounder than the Captain would have liked. Still, classical mechanics stated that kinetic energy was directly proportional to mass; surely then, this would only make his powers stronger?

Satisfied that his warped logic was sound, he pushed himself forward, and leapt down into the street below, not even looking as an arm extended upwards and his powers blasted the hefty metal head from the end of his kama back towards the rooftops, a thick retractable cable following in its wake. The hook bit home and the Captain's fall came to a sudden halt, body swinging back towards the wall. Knees bent, he landed in a half-diagonal crouch, hanging a story or so above the ground. A quick scan of his surroundings showed that his landing zone was clear; leaping upwards, he flicked his wrist and sent a wave up the cable that shook the grappling hook loose, the mechanisms concealed in the grip whirring away as they pulled his custom weapon back into one piece.

Landing on the ground in a low crouch, Untouchable allowed himself a small smile. I am so cool.

[Flux]

Felix had been approaching the Captain from behind, feeling certain that a black-clad man on the roof at night was clearly up to no good. Naturally, the idea that his outfit could give others the same impression was lost to him. The fledgling hero stopped at the edge of the roof and watched Captain Untouchable swing across the street and land in a crouch in the shadows.

"Sweet gear. Gotta get me one of those," he mumbled to himself as he leapt out across the street and landed in a crouch atop a busted street lamp. "Cool suit, Rocky. Are Colt and Tum-Tum around?"

[Captain Untouchable]

Instincts kicking in before his brain did, Untouchable spun, hand snapping out and launching a perfectly-weighted dagger from within the folds of his robes. Rather than tumbling through the air however, the dagger shot forward like a rocket, hurled away by the Captain's powers.

Just in time, the new arrival dodged sideways, the dagger streaking through where his shoulder had just been. The weapon continued on its flight, and impailed itself deep in the brick wall behind.

Untouchable's shoulders slumped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he grunted, a little exasperation creeping into his voice. He waved a hand vaguely towards the few inches of hilt still visible, sticking out of the brickwork. "See what you made me do?" A frustrated sigh escaped him. "I'll never get that out."

Suspicion tugged at his mind, reminding him of why his instincts had compelled him to hurl the knife in the first place. "You colour-blind? Rocky wore green," he called, mind finally getting around to a retort. Muscles instantly tensing, he readied himself for anything the strange figure in his skin-tight suit - complete with fetching red tights - might try to throw at him. Or shoot at him. Probably shoot. People had been shooting at him a lot lately.

"Who are ye, lad? And does ye sister not want her ballet clothes back?"

[Flux]

What this!? Snark, coming to him instead of from him!? Felix is beside himself, grinning under his mask at the idea of his first Witty Banter Battle.

"Hey, characters get revamped all the time in the drive to be Darker and Edgier. And no, she got a new suit, which is the only reason I got this one in the first place."

Felix reached over his shoulder and put a strong magnetic force on Untouchable's knife. After a few moments of quivering, it flew hilt-first to his hand, and Felix looked it over.

"Ooooh, it's sharp!" he said in mock-awe, testing the tip and blade gently with his thumb. But, back to business. It's time for an introduction. "When I have Metallica, I'm Death Magnetic. Otherwise, call me Flux, or Magnet Man. What about you?"

Honestly, Felix is happy that there haven't been any attacks yet. According to the Rule of the Conservation of Ninjutsu, he'd be in trouble if Untouchable actually were to attack him.

[Captain Untouchable]

"Magnet Man, huh?" Untouchable muttered, rolling his eyes. Honestly - did these people ever actually listen to how dumb their names sounded? A few seconds on wikipedia could have thrown up dozens of better alternatives.

The voice in the back of his head chimed in with a retort. Says the man who sounds like MC Hammer lyrics.

Untouchable squared his shoulders, and folded his arms loosely across his chest, eyes fixed sternly on Magnet Boy. "Honestly, kid, I don't give a Flux what your name is," he shot back. His eyes narrowed, suspicion far from satiated. "What's a 14-year-old kid in a halloween costume doing stalking me in the middle of the night?"

[Flux]

"I am sixteen, thank you so very much, and I am not stalking you," he snapped back, tapping the blade on the streetlamp. "I am preventing you from performing great injustice." Felix jumped down and mirrored Untouchable's pose. "C'mon, you're dressed in a ninja uniform, for the love of everything. And we all know that the purpose of the ninja is to rob places and flip out and kill people. Unless you're Snake-Eyes, or a Power Ranger."

[Captain Untouchable]

Slightly intimidated by his obvious lack of understanding for the hip and trendy contents of whatever daytime TV young people were watching nowadays, Untouchable fought the urge to inflict physical harm against the scrawny runt that had decided to pester him. His initial thought had been that beating up on a sixteen-year-old was a special kind of illegal, but he quickly realised that vigilanteism fell into the same little box.

Unfortunately, while legal issues could be brushed aside with ease, moral ones were a little harder to budge. Besides, the skinny youth's half-hearted attempt at muscles - which, given his choice of attire, he was apparently quite proud of - were hardly a match for a British Army Parachute Regiment boxer with mighty kinetic energy powers. Lungs squeezing out a frutrated sigh - again - he let his arms slump to his side.

"Listen, Magnet Boy: I've got crime fighting to be getting on with, and there isn't a whole lot of night to do it in." He extended an arm, index finger outstretched while his others tried to shoo the annoyance away. "Why don't you run along home now?"

[Flux]

"Because I'm out here keeping the peace, too," Flux answered, offering the blade handle-first to Untouchable. "Someone's gotta stop the muggers and murderers and stuff now that American Girl's disappeared. I figure, why not me? I've got these powers, and I oughtta be using them for something...useful."

[Captain Untouchable]

American Girl? Untouchable frowned. These names were getting more and more outlandish by the second. A few bells of recognition did start tinkling away in the back of his mind, but he couldn't immediately pull up anything specific. Probably nothing, but worth a google search later anyhow.

His eyes settled on the hilt, aimed towards him. Logic told him to crack the kid on the head, and hide him in an alley until morning, where he couldn't hurt himself. But there was something in his gut that prevented those thoughts from taking hold. This kid might be young, naive, and guilty of several crimes against fashion, but he wanted to do the right thing. That was something he could certainly empathise with.

A smile formed, hidden by his ninja face mask as he reached out and accepted the offered knife. "I guess I could use a sidekick," he mused, secreting the dagger back within his clothing. "What do ya say, Spandex?"

[Flux]

"Tch," he scoffed, unable to keep some amusement from his voice. "You're the sidekick." He climbed the pole magnetically and jumped to the roof of the building next to the one Untouchable had grappled on by repelling himself from one surface to the other. "C'mon, we can see more from up here."

[Captain Untouchable]

"Insolent welp," Untouchable muttered, leaping forward into a sprint. He hurled himself upwards, firing out with his powers towards the ground to vault him into the air. His hands snatched at the Kama on his belt, and after a split second of concentration his sent both hurtling towards the edge of the rooftop. As the chords went tense in his arms, he swung himself against the brickwork and, tugging his arms sharply apart, set off running up the side of the wall.

With an almighty snap of his wrists, he threw himself forwards into a summersault, landing in a fighting stance with Kama held ready, the retractable hooks clunking back into place.

His eyes settled on his audience - Spandex was watching him intently. Again invisible beneath his mask, Untouchable grinned. "Try to keep up now," he urged, setting off at a sprint and hurling himself across onto the next rooftop. His feet skidded a little as he landed, body twisting to face back towards his teenage companion. "I'd hate to see you outperformed by your sidekick."

[Flux]

"At least you know your place," Flux answered, running alongside without too much trouble (at least so far). Yeah, Flux was working better. Didn't feel corny, no Mega Man references to be had, and it was a little more subtle in describing his power. Also, it increased his alliterative potential for those who knew his identity. "C'mon, let's go find somebody who's dumb enough to try crime."

[Boulder]

Slappitta slap. Slappitta slap. Sticking to the shadows of the buildings, The Boulder made his way across town with the sole of his right shoe slappitta-ing and his left foot slapping the ground through his busted shoe, trying to make sense of what was going on in his head. The light images of ripples in his head were nowhere near as overwhelming for a few reasons. Nobody was around, so it was almost a serene view of the ground, the pipes running around under him, the sewage system, and whatever building was next to him. But the vision kept winking in and out in a rhythm. Then The Boulder got it.

Oh! I see like that when my left foot is on the ground, but not my right, since it's in the shoe. And the vision isn't as far as it was before...no people running around, no cars exploding...no vibrations other than my footsteps.

To test his theory, The Boulder slammed his left foot down. "ouch..." A little too hard. But he was rewarded with a wider view in his head. He could make out the top of the building next to him, and even see the building across the street from him about a third of the way up. The Boulder grinned a child's grin and, while sticking to the shadows, periodically stomped as he went just for fun.

As neat as this is, I think the first thing I'm going to do with this money, after taking care of grams, is going to be to get myself some new shoes. And my jeans could be replaced too....he thought as he poked at a hole in the side of his jeans.

Absentmindedly ruffling a few 20's in his hand, The Boulder pulled up short after one of his stomps. There were two people on the roof. They could be lovers on a rooftop or something...after all, it is a nice night out, The Boulder thought. Quickly, he put the three twenty dollar bills he was playing with into his back pocket and kept on walking.

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable frowned. Normally, he wouldn't have been suspicious of someone wandering around the backstreets with a fistful of money - probably some lonely guy off to find himself a hooker or something. But there was something about the way the guy moved, and the way that his clothes were all battered and torn, that didn't sit quite right with the Captain. The way he nervously hid his money away too - it was as if he'd heard something to make him think he was being watched.

There's no way he could have noticed us, though, Untouchable thought to himself, peering into the shadows around the alley, but try as he might his eyes couldn't find any sign of someone else around.

Leaning across to Flux, he waved his arms in a few quick military hand signals, and indicated the man standing below them. Without a word, he sprung from his perch, and descended rapidly through the several stories to the ground, his powers blasting the ground away from him to slow his descent, landing him gracefully in a low crouch.

Straightening up, he cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he called, Scotish accent tugging at his words. "Is everything alright?"

[Flux]

"No, everything is not alright," Felix chimed in, having taken the somewhat slower route of dropping story by story down the fire escape. He let go of the lowest part that he was hanging from and made a gesture in Boulder's general direction. "His purse doesn't match his outfit!" he snarked. "It's a fashion crime against all humanity."

[Boulder]

"BWAH!" The Boulder jumped. I know my new vision thing is...well...new...but why didn't I sense either of them land? he thought. Instead of voicing that tho, The Boulder, after his heart beat came back down, muttered to himself, "why couldn't they be lovers on the roof...?"

The Boulder's mind was racing frantically. who are these two? Neighborhood watch? Early halloween enthusiasts? Super heroes? What do I do? So far, neither of them have made an aggressive move....try and play it cool...

"I...uh...um....yea....aside from you two scaring me half to death, yea...everything's....fine. And while it may not be FASHIONABLE mister...halloween man number two...it's a...uh....MAN BAG...yea... Works well since my...uh...pants are so worn...and I have...uh...holes in my pockets...yea..."

The Boulder hugged the wall, not sure what to expect from these two, and spread his left hand out on the wall, ready to launch bricks from it at a moments notice of aggression from either costumed person.

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable raised a skeptical eyebrow. Aside from Mr Muscle's astoundingly convincing poker face, things just didn't feel right. There was no way you dressed up to look like this guy did on purpose, no matter how warped your fashion taste was. He seemed far too jumpy too, and given the amount of meat packed onto his bones, that didn't really fit with the "all shaken up after getting the crap beaten out of him" knee-jerk assumption.

"That's a pretty big bag for holding what would normally be in your pockets," he threw back, poised to respond to anything this guy might try to do. And why is he stroking that wall like that? Untouchable's eyes narrowed. "Mind if we take a quick look inside?"

Subtly, Untouchable shot a sidelong glance towards Flux. Time to show off those powers of yours, Magnet Boy.

[Flux]

"Don't mind if we do," Felix answered for Boulder. The purse had metal clasps, more than enough for him to attract it to his metal bands and snatch it from the Boulder. He caught it handily as it flew from the big man's fingertips and through the air. "Well, they say you can learn a lot about a lady from the contents of her purse..."

He opened it, glad his mask's lenses didn't do as his eyes did, because they grew huge at the sight of all the money inside. He whistled. "Well...clearly you're a rich old lady with a metric rut-ton of cats." He looked up from bag to Boulder, suspicion rising. "Why carry so much loose cash like this? Haven't you got a wallet or a bank?"

[Boulder]

"I...uh...it's...." The Boulder stuttered and tripped over himself trying to come up with an answer. Crap! What's going on here? Things were going so well from being so bad, and now there are these two halloween night patrol people in front of me grilling me. At least ONE of them is a mutant. Probably a telekinetic judging by how the bag flew from my hand. Which one tho? The ninja appeared without notice behind me, and the other dropped down from the fire escape....who's what, and what's the other?!?
The Boulder's thoughts were running rampant inside his head while his mouth worked feebly to spit out something.

That's MY money...I NEED it...I can't let these jokers take it from me! The Boulder started fuming as his temper finally started to flare. One or both are mutants. No need to hold back it seems.

"The answer to your question...," The Boulder growled, "is none of your business. Now....give....it....BAAAAAAAACK!!!" Accentuating his roar of "back" was a loud sound similar to someone cracking the ice on a very large ice tray. 'Craaaack-a-lack-a-lack' The mortar holding the bricks in the building behind The Boulder cracked violently as he tore bricks loose.

In an instant, two bricks were flying threw the air from the wall as if thrown by The Boulder himself, who while working at a batting cage one summer, found out he can throw a fastball around 92 miles per hour. The two bricks shot out, one towards the head of each vigilante. There was not a lot of distance to cover, and The Boulder was rewarded with the 'THUD' of one hitting, but to his dismay, the hit was the sound of the guy with his money bag QUICKLY pulling said money bag up and in the way of the brick. Money flew from the bag everywhere as the vigilante shook his head having still felt some of the blow.

The other brick shot towards the ninja looking guy, and much to The Boulder's surprise and dismay, MISSED. The man didn't move an inch, and the brick, which was accurate as any other rock The Boulder had ever thrown, suddenly veered just enough to skim just millimeters over his head.

Slapping the wall again, The Boulder loosened another dozen bricks and made ready to loose a second volley.