World Tree MUSH

    It's a bright and sunny day in... THE TOWN OF CITYSVILLE.
    Town is something of a misnomer here, as Citysville is a massive and sprawling megalopolis spanning for miles and miles of skyscrapers and tall towering buildings. Truly a city of cities. It's a constantly active urban sprawl, with traffic jams and screaming subway systems. ... And screaming people, because no one likes traffic jams.
    The point is, it's a huge city. And it has a harbor and a dock.
    And that's where something seems to be up, as several navy ships pull into the Citysville harbor with precious cargo.
    Secret cargo.
    Possibly... Military cargo.
    The water seems to ripple unnaturally, but... It's just a trick of the light, right?
    Right?
    Nothing can possibly go wrong here. Nothing at all.

  In addition to several Navy ships bearing secret and probably military cargo, there is an offworld agent helping with the transport. A quinjet hovers over the water keeping pace with the ships, high enough that the turbines don't flash seawater into steam but low enough for a constant backwash of mist. It follows along in the ship's wake, but something about it suggests it's weighed down, fighting against the sea breeze.

  Might be familiar to some. Might not. It's a quinjet, only it's packing a lot more weaponry, heavy armour, and enough of a brain to keep the sensors tuned to look for trouble.

  In the cockpit, Agent Anneka Stojespal keeps a weather hand on the yoke, growling a variety of curses in a variety of languages under her breath. Most of it has to do with cursing out the wind, with a great deal of savagery and imagination.

  Certainly nothing can possibly go wrong here. Nothing at all.

    Claire knows nothing. She's just a humble farmer who has hired a small boat to allow her to fish. She's right above the unnatural ripples, blissfully unaware anything unusual is about to happen.

     The nice thing about cities, you see, is that there are lots of high places to perch from, lots of shadows from which to cast a steely gaze upon the streets below. Places that a hero can keep a watchful vigil for acts of villainy to thwart, such as- aha! An old lady being accosted by a thug in the park! Swooping down in a streak of black and crimson, MAO MAO prepares to strike.

A minute later, he is back on the roofs, rubbing at a bruise on his head inflicted by the woman's purse. How was he meant to know that she was simply meeting her grandson? But perhaps the harbor will bring better luck. It's a prime breeding ground for criminal activity, after all.

Now hiding within the shadows of cargo unloaded on the docks, those green eyes of his search every last detail of the scene, glittering brightly as they reflect the sunlight. Yes, something is about to happen here, he can feel it in the way his fur stands on end. Perhaps illicit contraband, smuggled from overseas? Such fiendish sneakery!

    Citysville. 

    Really, Tree? 

    Karoze rolls his eyes as he makes his way into the sprawling metropolis, his hands full of books and his eyes full of disdain for all the noise. Why did it always have to be the noise? 'Never mind the noise, young Sinda,' a voice says in the back of his head, a deep bass voice filled with vigor and determination. Number 3, he called him. 'You are here for a grand purpose! These people, they rely on you!' Karoze shakes his head, pushing his hair off his forehead with a book only for the bangs to fall right back into place. "What could I possibly need to do here? A place this big surely has its own protectors. Hero Man and Sidekick Boy, if I had to guess..." 

    'Sexist,' a voice, female this time, and harsh, rings out. Number 5. Karoze rolls his eyes. "Fine. Hero Person and Sidekick Child." 

    He hears a chuckle, but he can't place which of the voices it is this time, instead opting to heft his books and... No. No no no. God damnit n-- 

    Karoze immediately seems seized by some force, leaping into an alley and dropping his books. He can feel the Hero taking over, and he growls with frustration. He hated it when the voices were right. A flash of light bursts from him, and now he feels himself as a passenger in his own body, the Hero Valiant awakening. When he steps out of the alley, he's no longer the boy he was before. His costume is black, a skintight suit under a long black gunslinger's jacket with silver trim and a silver symbol emblazoned on his chest. Appearing to be two guns, they are shaped in a way to make them appear like wings in flight, the 'barrels' sweeping to his shoulders. On his hips are twin belts crossing in an X, one black and one silver, each with a holster holding a massive hand cannon. His guns are almost comically huge, with exagerrated cylinders and thick, heavy grips and barrels. His face is covered by a black helmet, round and plain with a silver visor for him to see and speak through. 

    "Have fear, evil-doers, for the Hero Valiant is here to end your terror!" he cries. Without so much as a look around, he takes off toward the harbor with superhuman speed, his body seeming to leave a trail of black in his wake.

     A tall, stoic looking statue has appeared on the dock... it looks really shiny and brand new.

    Then the 'statue' starts to move and emit a droning monotone voice. <"Primus Nodes, Online. Sensor System, Online. Adaptive Fabrication Units, Online. All systems nominal."> the robotic frame then shifts and nearly topples over as Karoze bursts forth from wherever he appeared from. "KYAAAH! What the---." The bulky robot now has a feminine voice... and the forearms are a pair of curved blades for some reason. Also the shoulders sport a pair of repeating crossbows that are twitching in search of a target.

    THE DOCKS OF CITYSVILLE...
    Where trouble is afoot. Though everything seems to be going smoothly for the navy ships pulling into the harbor, the water ripples again- enough to send the boat Claire is on wobbling kind of dangerously as something passes under it.
    Something... Big.
    Something VERY big that heads right for one of the navy ships at ramming speed!
    There's an explosion as it hits and the ship starts to sink! Men and women shout, the sailors and crew doing their best to save their ship from scuttling while the other two ships swerve away from the contact and start trying to make their way to the port as hastily as they can as something roars.
    A huge, dragon-like, creature breaks the surface of the water, already starting to coil around the ship it damaged trying to bring it down under.
    As something streaks through the sky.
    "What's that?!"
    "It's so fast!"
    "It's... It's a Powerpuff Girl! We're saved!"
    People cheer and rejoice and whoop and holler brightly.
    Until the white-dressed girl zooming overhead streaks down and lands at the edge of the docks, cracking her knuckles.
    Bell pops her neck.
    "Heh~. Time to bring daddy home a nice gift."

    After the Heroic Blur streaked by, but just before all hell broke loose the Robot finally managed to get itself righted again. The blades vanish and the crossbows begin to fold back down.

    And then everything starts exploding and roaring and hey, it's that little white-haired child from the prison. "Switching to active combat mode. All systems online. Divert auxillary power to hull plating." intones the 'driver' of the robotic frame. The thing shifts and starts running toward Bell as a round-headed mace appears on one arm, and a hexagonal rod the other. During the maneuver, additional armour plate appears on the robots already bulky frame. "Rescue the crew! Cargo can be replaced, lives cannot!" she shouts over the din... while aiming to smash Bell right in the face with that mace-arm.

    Well Claire already has a boat and a fishing rod, time to use the both of them. The farmer rows towards the problem, and quickly shoots with her slingshot twice. First one of her explosives, then to trigger it. Should be harmless but draw attention her way, and she casts her sturdy line towards anyone adrift, trying to quickly fill up the boat so she can get it ashore.

  That's probably not good. Anneka immediately glances down as the water ripples, turning the quinjet's nose and slewing a bit sideways for a better vantage point, only to watch it head straight for the--

  Anneka slaps a hand over the comm equipment. "U. S. S. Concord, get your ass out of the--" Way. Before anybody can react to it, an explosion rips through reinforced steel bulkheads, and out through the armoured hull. In the quinjet, Anneka winces in her chair, leaning forward to stare. "Son of a bitch--"

  Her hand rises to slap at the comm equipment in her helmet. "Agent Philip Coulson we have a problem." That blue eye glances out the viewport, where a huge draconic creature breaches the surface and starts winding its coils around what's left of the Concord's hull. "Problems. I will be late. Uhhh," she adds, frowning. "Scramble the Valkyrie's ground crew and have them wait at Feathergrass."

  A hand drops to flex over flight controls. "All right. Val, open a channel to the remaining ships."

  **Opening secure channel to the Wasp and the Sirocco. Channel open, Captain Stojespal.**

  "Captains! This is Agent Anneka Stojespal, your eye-in-the-sky. Listen up, and I might be able to help us not die." Glancing out the viewport, she frowns again as something streaks past. That. That looks like trouble. "I'm bringing the Valkyrie around to pick up the Concord's sailors, but I can only take about six of them, and it will be like--uh--what is the word, like sardines in a can."

  True to form, the quinjet is lowering near the wreck of the Concord.

  "Try to move your asses. We're probably not going to have a lot of time, here."

     There are a lot of strange things and people here! Mao Mao actually has no idea if any of them are normal... but there's one thing he does understand, and that's DRAGONS. Especially dragons attacking boats. "Aha! There's something in this city worthy of my blade after all!" he loudly declares, forgetting that he's trying to be stealthy.

But, well, that goes out the window anyway as he charges out into the fray, drawing his golden katana from its sheathe and leaping at the dragon with the maddened grin of Ahab finding the white whale as he slashes at its hide. "Haha! Taste steel, beast! I'll carve you tip to tail! And then nobody will beat me with their purse again!"

    The Hero blows past a robot, then skids to a perfect halt, hands raised in a heroic pose. "You will not get away with this today, villain!" he cries, before he begins to look around to find out where to focus. Tiny flying girl, probably the mastermind, and already engaged. Rescue efforts seem underway, and he's not really built for salvage. So that leaves... 

    "Halt, monster! You shall not have your way!" He immediately draws his guns, before running and LEAPING toward the boat in its grasp, skidding across its deck and rolling in a very dramatic fashion, coat billowing behind him in the seabreeze and flapping with his momentum. He spins his hand cannons with a flourish before he begins to pull the triggers. If these were normal revolvers, he would be limited by the turning of the cylinders in how fast he can fire. While the cylinders do indeed turn, nothing is slowing the hail of silver-blue beams of pure HERO ENERGY that propel from the barrels, the Hero seeming to fall into a dance of sorts as he constantly moves and fires on the gigantic sea-beast. 

    "These fine men and women will not suffer your tyranny any longer!"

    Everything happens so fast. The sea monster enwraps the Concord while the Wasp and Sirocco mobilize their lifeboats to try and help evacuate the crew of the sinking ship. While the cargo is important, it is as Justina says... That can be replaced, lives cannot.
    Speaking of Justina, Bell turns.
    "Huh... I know that voice--"
    Only to be SLAMMED dead in the face with a mace.
    To her credit, the tiny girl takes the blow standing, head jerking from the impact as she skids several feet away from the blow.
    "Ow."
    Popping her neck again as she rights herself, the Shadowpuff Girl narrows her eyes.
    "You're about to regret that..." She says darkly before launching herself right at the Doll, fist reeling for a heavy blow, swinging with everything she has.
    MEANWHILE ON THE CONCORD:
    Mao Mao and The Hero engage the sea monster, their blows and intense hail of super heroic power slamming the monster and earning a keening cry before it rears up, opening its maw-- unleashing a torrent of bioelectricity at them in a stream of lightning breath, while Anneka and Valkyrie take as many of the ship's crew as they can and several sailors board Claire's boat as calmly as they can, some soaking wet after being reeled out of the water by fishing line, while the heroic ... Hero and cat pair distracting the monster well enough for her to start getting them to saftey if she can row fast enough.

    <Minerva, I need tactical support. Load melee combat protocol 24.> transmits Justina as that hammerblow comes swinging back at her. She shifts position on her legs, crosses her arms to intercept the blow.

    And gets sent skidding back from the force of the impact. The hexagon bar cracks and shatters from the impact, the mace-head goes flying away to clank noisily on the ground as the haft is broken as well.

    That's when the repeating crossbows unfold again, tracking onto the Shadowpuff Girl and unloading a steady stream of basic, Steel-tipped bolts. TWOK, TWOK, TWOK, TWOK.

     Slicing and dicing seems to be going fairly well for the most part, but Mao Mao isn't the only one joining in either. The blasts of HERO ENERGY catch his attention, and he peers down at Karoze before shouting, "Hey! This is my dragon! Go find your own lizard to slay!"

As soon as he looks back at the beast, it's breathing lightning, and he barely has time to bring his sword up to intercept. The electricity is, oddly enough, absorbed by the blade as its golden sheen grows even brighter... but Mao Mao loses his footing as well, causing him to fall down onto the deck of the Concord with a harsh THUD that knocks the breath out of him. Unfortunately, it seems he also lost his grip on his sword, as it's flung through the air toward the docks.

After a few coughs as he tries to catch his breath, the cat hero staggers to his feet and watches that gleaming arc with dismay as it disappears amid the cargo crates, before rounding on the dragon with eyes full of fury. "That was a FAMILY HEIRLOOM! How DARE you!" he growls, teeth bared, as he looks about for a new weapon. Aha! The anchor! Hoisting it up with immense strength born of anger, he swings it by its chain over his head to build momentum before casting it at the dragon's maw like an Olympic hammer.

    Claire delivers the first round to shore, then goes back out for another round. This time, she's relying even more on her fishing skills, aiming that reinforced line for sailors adrift who look like they can't quite make it to her boat themselves. "Didn't expect to be fishing for sailors today."

  Sailors are jam-packed into the quinjet's cargo hold like sardines in a can, but at least they're dry aboard the Valkyrie. It's probably better than treading water while there's a sea monster tearing it up down there.

  They might hear the smooth, feminine voice of the Valkyrie.

  **Captain Stojespal, I have a Priority One message from Agent Philip Coulson.**

  "Put him through."

  "Anneka!" Phil Coulson sounds incongruously harmless for a guy who has enough security clearance to... wait, that's classified. "I know you're busy on that contract with Citysville--"

  "Uh. About that." The pilot thumbs at the viewport as though he can see, before keying in a command and swiveling the camera over to show him the general chaos of Claire, Justina, Mao Mao, and Hero Guy Definitely Not Karoze either doing battle with a sea monster, doing battle with Bell, or trying to fish soaked sailors out of the sea.

  She leaves the camera pointed that way for three seconds before whipping it back around to her and staring at him with a bland expression.

  "As much as I'd like to tell you to stay there and lend those sailors a hand, not to mention have Val do some recording, we've got problems of our own here."

  "Problems?"

  "Can't talk about it over an open line," he says, shaking his head. "Finish up and let me know as soon as you're on your way. Thanks, Anneka."

  The pilot manages a lazy salute as the project image of Coulson winks out. Anneka twists to yell at her Navy passengers.

  "All right, sailors. I'm dropping you off in the harbour, and then I'm out of here. Classified business. Been a pleasure. Good luck with your, uh, sea monster problem."

    The Hero turns to face the beast head-on, watching as Mao Mao attacks at even closer range. "Well done, fellow hero! Bring forth your brand of justice against this ornery foe!" He seems to be enjoying himself, right up until he is bathed in bioelectric breath. When it clears, the Hero is flat on his back, smoking a bit as the ship continues to sink. Is he... dead? No, but he does seem momentarily stunned. And then he bounces back to his feet, raising his Cannons to the heavens as he does so. "Well done, but not well enough foul beast! You cannot stop my RAINING JUSTICE!" His guns begin to glow, before intoning in a metallic voice, <RAINING JUSTICE.> 

    He pulls the triggers, and two massive beams fly into the sky, splitting the clouds and soaring into a twinkling speck in the sky. He turns to Mao Mao, holding up a finger and waggling it. "Fear not, we shall take this beast together fellow hero, or we shall fall in the pursuit! Do not stymie my BURNING HEART!" 

    He taps his chest, just in time for BEAMS. The clouds he had pierced before completely shred to pieces as the sea-beast is assailed by beams from the heavens, Karoze striking a suitably EPIC POSE for the situation. It may or may not look like Captain Ginyu's signature pose. But never mind that. JUSTICE!

    Anneka zooms off with the sailors, setting them down before taking off to deal with important SHIELD business.
    This leaves Claire to row back out, and... Well. Needless to say, the sailors sure didn't expect to be getting fished out of the water. Literally.
    "Thank you, ma'am." They are polite at least as she saves their butts.
    This just leaves The Hero, Mao Mao, and Justina to fend off Bell and her monster minion.
    And as Justina unleashes a hailsorm of crossbow bolts at the Shadowpuff Girl, she raises her arms defensively, bolts spanging and bouncing off her skin and dress before...
    "GH... A-ah...!"
    It's a shrill, girlish cry as her armored hide can only take so much damage before the bolts start to PIERCE her, and several embed deeply, causing her white dress to stain red.
    "Rrrrgh..."
    This... This only seems to make her angry... Angrier as she locks eyes with Justina's Doll.
    "I'm going to break your toy. Then I'm going to find you. Then I'm going to kill you. Slowly." She explains, voice straining to remain cool and level as she lunges in-- And starts unleashing a hailstorm of blows intending to pummel, batter and beat Justina's frame down.
    Before she starts ripping the crossbow bolts out of her own body-- and flings them across the water with the force and speed of bullets at The Hero Valiant and Mao Mao while they battle the dragon, intending to skewer them.
    Because those two ARE hurting the sea monster- it's already losing its grip on the ship as it snarls and snaps its mighty jaws at them.

>> GAME >> Bell uses a Free Edge for: Two Actions At Once: I'll Take You All On!

    Claire just hands the cold and wet sailors some hot coffee before dropping them off at the shore and going back out for another round of sailor fishing. There's more people to safe from their doom, after all.

     Mao Mao pants from the exertion of his emotional outburst, then clears his throat as he straightens the collar of his cape. "Hah... How's that, huh? Bet you didn't like a mouthful of anchor!" he taunts the beast, only for Karoze's words to reach his ears. But, well, the feline warrior has spent his anger for the moment, so he just rolls his eyes and groans. "Wow, do I sound like that? I hope I don't sound like that. Way too much cheese."

However, the rain of energy beams does give him an idea, which also happens to be practical for getting /off/ the very unstable boat currently besieged by giant sea monster. With a sharp whistle between his fingertips, he summons... a flying green motor-unicycle with a rocket protruding from the back? Wait, where was it hiding this whole time? Regardless of the answer, he jumps onto its driver seat as it zips past, a helmet materializing over his head.

"You've got one idea right, though!" he calls down to Karoze, flying up toward the clouds before turning back to face the dragon. A hail of pink energy bolts rains down upon it from the guns on the Aerocycle's fuselage, seeking any weakpoint they can find. "A monster this big calls for /firepower/!"

Which would be a really cool moment if those crossbow bolts thrown by Bell didn't hit his vehicle's engine, causing it to spiral on a crash course for the dragon's body. "Oh, COME ON!" Mao Mao screeches as he bails out, tucking into a ball before splashing down in the water.

    In the fussilade of bolts, the broken weapons on the Doll's arms evaporate into blue-white motes. Then new ones reform in their place... one a wide shield, the other a hexagonal pole like before. As Bell comes rushing back in to pummel her, she hunkers down behind the shield. Each punch dents the material, each blow makes the Doll skid back with sparks flying from its broad footpads. "Statistical analysis indicates you will lose this encounter. You have a 2.143% chance of destroying this Doll before my allies finish off your pet. You also have a 0.00231% chance of locating my physical body... and an infintesimally small chance of penetrating the defenses and confronting me." she's taunting... trying to buy time for the others to finish off the sea monster.

    That doesn't mean she's not going to try and retaliate during one of those lulls when Bell throws one of her bolts at the others.

>> SUMMARY[Justina Thyme] >> Blah Blah Blah, empty threats... stop trying to hit me and HIT ME. etc.

    The Hero Valiant is probably smiling behind his helmet's visor, though it's impossible to tell. He nods and flashes a thumbs-up at Mao Mao as he responds, then winces as he is knocked out of the sky by a bolt. Where'd that come from? 

    Oh. There. 

    He looks down, seeing a bolt sticking to his arm, tip clearly embedded through the material though he doesn't seem too bothered by it at the moment. Instead, he pulls the bolt from his arm with his trademark drama, twirling a Cannon and holstering it as he takes the bolt in hand. He points toward Bell, crying out "I'll deal with you once I put down your little pet here!" before beginning to spin. And spin. And now he's a black and silver tornado before he suddenly stops, swinging his Cannon into the notch of the bolt and sending it FLYING toward the beast's eye, giving it one last heroic pose before leaping back toward the harbor, confident in a job well done and eager to put the fear of the Hero into the one who had wounded him. His arm, for its part, bleeds through the coat, showing that while he still has his bravado, he is not invincible.

    The dragon is not much longer for this world... Not with Mao Mao and Karoze tearing into it. Between the aerocycle's energy blasters and the crossbow bolt to the eye, the sea monster lets out a keening wail and uncoils the ship as it begins to sink, losing consciousness and descending to the bottom of the harbor where it will feed the fish for weeks.
    Bell on the other hand...
    She's rapidly able to perform the same calculations Justina spits at her in her head and...
    "Damn it! UGH. Next time. I'll smash your toy -next time-!"
    It looks like she's reached the same conclusion.
    But not without one last parting gift as her eyes come alight with a scarlet glow, a sudden hot blast of twin heat rays streaking from silver eyes, intending to cut off an entire segment of the pier beneath Justina and Karoze, intending to destroy their footing and drop them in the water a she turns, snarling, and takes to the air, zooming away.

    Justina pours a bit more energy into her shield, reinforcing the material with extra layers... expecting those eye lasers to be aimed at her.

    Instead she staggers, topples over and SPLAOOOOUSH, goes straight into the drink and sinks like three quarters of a ton of metal would.

    Then she resurfaces and lands back on a non-destroyed bit of the dockyard, floated on hydrodynamic jets that sputter out once she leaves the water. Like the motor on a jet-ski.

    By then, though, Bell is well out of range, and there's other concerns, like some remaining sailors that need help up onto the docks. "If only you could use your skills for good, I'm sure you'd be a much happier person." she muses to herself as she helps haul people onto dry land.

     A short time later, Mao Mao pulls himself up onto the pier, hacking up seawater. Heaving a miserable sigh, he wrings out his cape- only for his Aerocycle to fly past just inches by his head, its crash having activated the DUBIOUSLY LEGAL overdrive booster. As it smashes into the wall of one of the warehouses, crumpled up and catching fire, he runs to it in a panic and beats at the flames with his soaked cape.

Finally, the fire put out to just a few streams of smoke, he checks worriedly over its chassis... and breathes a sigh of relief as he finds a small sticker of a cartoon duck intact. "Oh thank goodness, you're okay. I guess that's why you're called Lucky Ducky, huh?" he says with a nervous chuckle, before letting out another sigh. "Now I just have to find Geraldine. Ugh, if her blade got smudged by sea grime..."

    "Some people are only happy when they feel like they're winning and others are losing." The farmer responds to Justina, having overheard the comment while bringing back one more boatload of sailors. "You can't really rely on them to see sense eventually, you're just gonna have to drive them out of town."

    As the Hero strikes his triumphant pose, the dock beneath him cracks, and into the water he goes. As he sputters and clambers back to land, he makes a valiant pointing gesture to Bell. "Until next time, evil-doer! Next time you will not be so lucky!" He then turns to the rest of the assemblage, offering a sweeping bow. "Well done, heroes, you have all performed well! Until we meet again!" 

    There's a blink, and then the Hero is gone, a streak of black lingering in his wake.