Placeholder: Confrontation

[basic_powers]

April 14th
Original Rainmaker Site, exact location unknown, Iowa.
3:30 pm

Minutes later, after the children went in with Doctor Irons, the high-end family car pulled up to park by remote. Seconds later, Tyler got out, hiding behind the car door to peer up at the abandoned and heavily damaged former institution warily...

"I'm here."
.
.
.

"So... now what?"

Comments

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Well. Maybe not all the tentacles. One still has enough free reach to sneak its 'fingertip' around to the back of the Revenant's neck.

FRAZZZZ!

No wonder electricity didn't bother it; those cables are built to carry a charge. And a fair bit of weight, as it snakes around the Revenant's neck and hoists him off the ground as it tightens...

[basic_powers]

...and without Revenant protecting him from the robot's assaults, and the robot entirely fixated on killing the larger threat...

Well. Moon Shadow just hopes this is going to work when the grapple claw is fired right into the rusty midsection of the robot. The gauntlet however is getting electromagnetically stuck to that hefty steel pipe and the winch is going on.

It's strong enough, it's gotta do something, right?

[npc238.livejournal.com]

SKRRRRANNNNNK!

The robot, as previously observed, was hastily cobbled together by a group of elementary school children; a group of children, moreover, who were considerably more focused on their other project. The middle torso is torn clean away from the shoulder section, disengaging a great deal of vital circuitry. Both sections collapse, inert.

[justiceoverlaw]

The Revenant pulls the suddenly-slack finger-cable off of himself and rubs at his sore neck. Bending to pick up his fallen shock-rod, he says to Moon Shadow, "You've been practicing with the electromagnet, I see."

[basic_powers]

"My grappler was stuck to a drinking fountain for an hour the first time I used it."

[justiceoverlaw]

The Revenant's mask shifts in what may be a grin as he sets off down the corridor the robot came from.

"Let's go see what... ah." A small figure, slightly taller than Moon Shadow, is blocking the passage. "That's Steve Newdeck, isn't it?"

[basic_powers]

"Do you hear something?" Tyler is staring at Steve worriedly, how far could Harold have amplified those powers...and what could Dr. Irons have done to him and the other students too?

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Pretty far, evidently. The sound isn't coming to them through the air of the passage, but through the solid structure of the building. The walls begin to vibrate visibly, the pipes hum, and little bits of plaster start falling from the ceiling.

[justiceoverlaw]

It's still just barely recognizable, though (at least if you're a classic rock fan).

"'We Will Rock You,' the version by Queen, I think."

[basic_powers]

"I didn't know he was this powerful!"

[justiceoverlaw]

"Harold's probably helped him. But this seems more like a distraction than—"

[npc238.livejournal.com]

The floor suddenly cracks and bulges upward, starting at the far end of the hall, dodging around Steve and plowing straight at the vigilante duo, for all the world like Bugs Bunny passing through.

[justiceoverlaw]

"—an attack!"

The tunnel moved fast; the Revenant barely has time to dodge aside.

[basic_powers]

The same thing goes for Tyler, except his attempt to dodge aside results in him landing back on his butt away from the floor upheaval.

"Zach's trying to dig under us!"

[justiceoverlaw]

"I don't think burying us was his plan!" the Revenant declares, as thick vines erupt from the loosened earth below the broken floor to wrap around them.

[basic_powers]

"Are these Orchid's plants?"

Oh so now the bad feeling starts, just as the young hero is wrapped up to the neck in living vines and unable to get free.

[justiceoverlaw]

"Very likely," says the Revenant as he struggles lightly against the plants, not to wear himself out, looking for weak points.

[npc238.livejournal.com]

The plants haul the pair along the hallway, toward the door at the far end. There's a figure silhouetted there, leaning against the doorframe. An adult.

"Well, well. The Revenant. I've heard tales of you. And you have a sidekick now. A pity for him, yes? He gets to have his career end while you watch, yes?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"And you are...?"

[npc238.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes. I am, as one might say, a new man. Let me show you what these ingenious children have done, with my guidance, of course. Orchid? Be a dear and have the flora bring them into the light..."

[basic_powers]

...You tend to notice a lot of things when you're hanging upside down. Like the floor and the stuff that's on it.

...Like that note with his name on it. Now THAT'S peculiar. It's even right next to where Zach's path was, and it's hardly disturbed at all.

Moon
Shadow:
CHALLENGE.
WATCH.

[npc238.livejournal.com]

The Revenant is being held upright, so he has a better view of the other things in the room. People, mostly. There's Harold Nelson, standing to attention off to one side. Some of the Rainmaker kids are lying in unconscious disarray on the floor; the others are staring at the captives, looking smug. And then there's their host.

"I can't believe the job they did on this new body in only minutes," says Doctor Irons in that falsely jovial tone villains like to adopt while gloating. "Of course, with Harold enhancing their powers and my genius to help them, it wasn't difficult. Thanks to the young lady's plant-powers, I have organic parts that can get energy from photosynthesis or mineral sources. The boy who can make inorganic matter into food has given me parts as strong as steel that can heal if damaged. I made use of their other enhanced talents, especially the healer's powers to jump-start the whole thing. Granted, a few of them are nearly comatose from the effort, but the result is impressive, is it not?"

[justiceoverlaw]

In his usual, deceptively mild tone: "The old Doctor Irons didn't seem terribly happy about it."

[npc238.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that. I needed my previous form rebuilt so my old brain could re-map my motor functions before the mind transfer. I didn't want this new body having to re-learn how to walk. After the transfer was complete, I decided to wind up my old metal corpse and let it have a go at you. Its mechanical innards were collapsing, anyway. Oh, yes, I knew you were coming. Your helicopter's stealthiness leaves much to be desired, yes?"

He turns aside, monologe evidently concluded. "Harold, be sure the children who weren't over-exerted into unconsciousness are as powerful as can be, so they can deal with these two nuisances." He heads for the door.

[basic_powers]

"Harold! Don't!"

Nonono, this is bad, so very bad.

...Not quite up to as bad as that recurring nightmare about Harold, but darn close.