Log Info
Title: Shockingly Dangerous
Emitter: Tyche
Characters: Coy, Etienne, Jonathan
NPCs: Barry Ranzz
Place: McDonalds - Cove City
Time: 7:30 PM, Tuesday July 13th 2010
Summary: Six local teens get in a fist-fight that ends with one of them discovering incredible lightning powers. The power rushes to his head, and he tries to kill his own friends, but quick thinking by three Steranko students save the day.
McDonald's. It isn't the best food in the world, but it just might be the cheapest. In Cove City, the place to hang out after school has always been the pharmacy and ice cream bar down town, but with the pharmacy wall still in ruins, the kids in town have had to find better places. At least one group of teens seems to think that's McDonald's.
As the hour winds past seven-thirty, the sun is mostly set over Maryland's western horizon; only a dim sliver of daylight remains and it's fading fast. It's still muggy hot, but the Air Conditioner keeps the store nice and cool. A great place to just sit back and do homework. That seems to be the general concensus, anyways, as several students from Cove City High are here, trading jokes and french fries over their history books.
Not the best food, but it's cheap and it's fast, and it's usually pretty dependable. And the french fries certainly are amongst the best. At least Jon thinks so, as she sits at a booth by herself, a book on the table in front of her. She's here in human form at the moment, no sense drawing attention from the locals. She takes a sip from her Cola and hums softly to herself as she reads.
Etienne has arrived on his Harley admits a grumbling of Twin Cam engines whichas promised some time ago to one Jonathanare not tweaked at all. Maybe if he'd had a car he would have just gone through the drive-through, but even the Canadian has figured out that attempting to eat McDonald's while riding a motorcycle takes more skill than he actually has. So the Night Rod Special has been parked outside and Etienne himself is slipping through the doors, headed towards the counter to procure himself some incredibly unhealthy food.
"Yeah, fuck you, too, Marty," one of the kids' voices cuts through the others. What was all jokes and french fries has, rather suddenly, tensed up. The curser is a tall, athletic boy with slicked-back black hair and blue eyes. "It's not my fault your mom's so easy." He laughs, and a few of the other students chuckle right along with him.
"Don't talk about my mom!" a shorter boyblonde hair and grey eyesstands up and gives the taller one a shove, nearly sending his chair backwards.
The table full of teens goes suddenly deathly quiet as the curser reels and catches himself, then steps right back up to his feet. Most of the /store/ goes quiet, and the workers behind the counter pause nervously. "Did you just push me?" He stares at the boy nearly six inches his junior. "Outside, /now/," says the curser to Marty.
The other boys stand up, too, and one says "Ohhh snap, Mikey's gonna kick your /ass/, boy." Poor Marty clearly already regrets his decision, but how do you back out from a situation like this? So instead, he toughens up and shoulders right past his 'friends' to make his way outside. They stay with him to make sure there's no running, and soon enough the entire sextet has taken their affairs outdoors. There is a moment's pause before the manager shakes his head, and peace resumes in the little restaurant.
Jonathan glances up at the sound of the Harley, and then recognizes Etienne as he enters. Looks like it wasn't as loud as he said it was. She's pleasantly surprised. She glances back down at her book, before frowning at the rising voice. For a moment, she considers getting involved, trying to break it up before it progresses, but it moves too quickly, and they step outside. She takes out her phone and tries to move to a seat where she can look outside and watch, ready to call the cops if it turns into a brawl. The thought of going heroic to break up a fistfight among teens doesn't seem appropriate.
Etienne is forced to do a little dodging as the other teenagers start to move out into the parking lot, presumably for some sort of ass-whupping session. He's not terribly unfamiliar with the idea, having been on either side at any given moment. He gives Marty a little wince, mostly sympathetic, but he doesn't seem to be inclined on getting involved either, despite the fact that he's probably bigger and more fit than most of the teens in question. Nope, he's just going to stand in line and consider the menu like he might be about to order the whole thing.
Unfortunately, there aren't that many seats available. Worse, the boys quickly go out of view behind the kitchen, somewhere towards the drive through area. And peace, it seems to resume entirely. None of the other patrons even seem to /care/ that a fight almost broke out. The general sentiment seems to evoke an entire feel of 'Boys will be Boys'. "You gonna order something?" asks a bored looking teen girl behind the counter. "If not, could you let the folks behind you step up?"
Jon fidgets a bit as the group go out of view. Sure, being a hero is still new to her, but being a decent person, that's not. She glances at Etienne a moment, then out the windows in the general direction they departed in. She then sighs, shakes her head at herself, and steps outside to follow. She just wanted to read a book. Which she's left on her table.
The young Canadian glances over his shoulder again as Jon leaves, his expression maybe a little puzzled. He's shaken out of it by the bored-sounding cashier, however, and instead Etienne slides up to the counter, giving her a disarming grin. "Uh. Yeah, can I get a Big Mac meal with dem big fries and a chocolate shake?" Not too unreasonable!
It's dark enough, by now, that the lamps have all come on in the parking lot. The sound of the boy's fight can be heard near the back of the room, chants of, "Fight, fight, fight!"
"Sure, no problem," the girl replies, doing up his order. "That'll be five si—" she cuts off in surprise as the lights all turn out. The entire store goes dark, causing a general confusion amongst the patrons.
But it's not just the store. One by one, the lights nearby all go out, too. The boys don't seem to notice; their fight continues on. But the entire strip mall is quickly diminished—as are all the lights going the other direction. Cars start to honk in frustration, and the emergency backup power on the traffic lights turns them to blinking red. "Fight, fight fight," comes the chanting of the boys. They're oblivious to the darkness as the pushing and the shouting continues on. Namecalling, but no punching. Not yet.
Oh great, Jon thinks. She's in human form, having just stepped out of the McDonald's, following the group of teenage boys, not sure what she's intending to do, exactly. At first she doesn't notice the lights going out, but at a distant honking, she glances over, and then around, seeing the power outage. "Hey, power's out," she says, perhaps more loudly than necessary, especially since she's only talking to herself. Hey, might distract them and break things up.
"Yah, nevermind on dat, I come back." Etienne tells the girl, patting the counter briefly with the palm of one hand. Then he's moving for the door, slipping out of the dark building towards the Harley. He doesn't get on it, however, instead digging through the saddlebags until he's removed a small messanger bag and slung it over his shoulders. Then he turns, hands in the pockets of his jeans, stance all too-casual, to approach Jon. "Dey still goin' on with deir fool notion?" He asks, when he's within conversational distance.
The boyseight in allare just beyond the drive through, over near a small patch of trees. One of them is leaning on the transformer, but the others have made a circle around the two that seem intent on fighting. Michael and Martin are still in the middle, pushing one another back and forth and calling each other names.
And that's when things get weird. The boy on the transformer's eyes spark with blue energy that seems to spread from there and course over his body. His friends don't notice, but he arches his back like he's in shock and pain. He falls to his knees, and then begins to laugh. Maniacal, high-pitched, explosive laughter. /That's/ when his friends notice. But it's too late for them. As sparks begin to fly outward, engulfing the kid in some kind of electrical cage, he reaches up and grabs one of his friends in the circle. That boy twitches and stumbles backwards into the middle of the fight, breaking Michael and Martin's focus on one another as he twitches into the smaller child's arms, then slumps to the ground. "What the /hell/, Barry?" the taller fighter asks, staring at his laughing, electrifying friend in confusion and a bit of horror.
"Think they're trying to psyche themselves up for it," Jon says to Etienne as he steps over their way. "Back here," she calls out at the sound of Kiyoshi's voice. She knows she can count on him if this gets crazy. Etienne, she doesn't know to well. She flinches away from the sparks, and then mutters, "Oh hell," as a new neohuman seems to be born. "Y'all get out of here!" she calls out to the kids, starting to transform, fur rippling out across her body. "G'on, git!" she repeats, mixing a snarl with a thicker drawl.
Barry just laughs and laughs, and then falls silent. "Power," he says to Michael, as if that should explain everything. When it doesn't seem to, he extends his hand towards the man. The smell of ozone fills the air for a split second, and then the darkened sky is illuminated as an arc of lightning shocks into Michael. The boy twitches and dances and backs away into another friend, then falls to the ground, still smoking. "SERVE ME," he says to his friends, spreading out his hands towars them, "Or join Michael in pain!"
Trying to catch Jon's eye from the darkness, Kiyoshi steps back into the shadows, ducking out of the line of sight of people before stealthing with formidable skill towards the newly awakened and apparently power maddened young man attacking his friends with scourges of electric fury. Quietly, he moves from cover to cover, a shadow within the darkness, and as it happens…he's dressed in black. Helpful that. It takes patience and cunning, but he makes his way to just out of arm's reach of the lad, crouching and getting ready to attack.
Martin, at least, is not falling for that line. "One bully becomes two," he mumbles, as he gently lays the boy that literally fell into him to the ground. "Alright, fine." He straightens and puts up his fists. "I'm not afraid of you, Barry Ranzz, and neither is anyone else here."
"Speak for yourself, half-pint!" one of the other boys says, before he turns to run away,. The last two are left with a hard choice. They're mumbling amongst themselves, until one of them says, "No /you/ first," and pushes the other towards Martin. The pushed boy rolls with the push and takes a swing at Martin, who ducks right under it and steps aside. Fight's on!
"Sacristi!" Etienne barks a little louder as he watches the chaos unfold. "What're you all, touched in de head? Get outta dere!" He darts forward, quicker than he should be, trying to grab at Martin's collar and pull him back…but the little kid is apparently sort of squirrely, and the Canadian misses, cursing under his breath.
Jon gives a flick of her tail at Kiyoshi. A subtle gesture, subtle enough that the kid hopefully won't notice, but Kiyoshi hopefully will. As etienne tries to get the one kid out of the way, Jon tries to get attention focused on her. "Hey, sparky! Take a chill pill," she says, moving in and giving him a quick slug to the side.
"Leave me alone!" Barry replies. He turns and grasps Jonathan on either side of the head, and energy arcs through the tigress. It leaves her vision swimming and her stomach churning for half an instant, but only an instant.
It is when the lad tries to fry Jonathan that Coy moves. Emerging from the Shadows, he jabs two fingers into Barry's side — jab, jab, jab…three spots in rapid succession. "You will not be allowed to continue doing harm." He hisses in a dangerous voice. Yes, he actually sounds angry, and as he does this there's a flash at his brow, a third eye visible a moment as he strikes. The blows are hardly enough to do harm, but they disrupt the kid's Ki, and leave him woozy and violently ill.
It is when the lad tries to fry Jonathan that Coy moves. Emerging from the Shadows, he jabs two fingers into Barry's side — jab, jab, jab…three spots in rapid succession. "You will not be allowed to continue doing harm." He hisses in a dangerous voice. Yes, he actually sounds angry, and as he does this there's a flash at his brow, a third eye visible a moment as he strikes. The blows are hardly enough to do harm, but they disrupt the kid's Ki, and leave him woozy and violently ill.
Martin steps out of Etienne's reach, then turns and punches towards the boy that got thrown at him. "Back off, Erik! Something's wrong with Barry; we gotta get him to calm down."
"Shut up, half-pint," Erik replies as he bats Martin's hand aside and takes another swing at the kid. Neither of them seem able to hit one another. The third teen rushes up and tries to punch Jon in the kidney, but the tigress manages to turn and get an arm in the way.
"You're next," Jon snarls at the kid who just tried to get a punch in against her. Unfortunately she doesn't come across as fearsome as she wants to, instead coming across as harried as she turns back towards the more serious threat, jabbing at him once more. "Stop zapping people and we can talk," she growls. Growls, not purrs, growls.
Jonathan's jab lands squarely in the electric kid's chest, knocking him back against the transformer. He stays there, completely stunned and dazed by the powerful punch.
And then Coy looks decidedly malefic as he concentrates, an aura of darkness briefly enveloping him, a ghostly image of an Oni forming. Dropping back into a defensive crouch, he shifts out of the way as Jon sends the kid staggering back, and then he launches an open palmed strike to his solar plexus — though to little apparent effect.
The boy who attacked Jon just laughs and reaches up to punch her in the jaw, stending her staggering back with stars in her eyes. "Go home, little pussy," he jeers, and chases after to press the advantage of his attack.
Erik tries to rush Etienne and take a swing, but the Canadian twists and dodges easily out of the way. Martin tries to grasp Erik's hand while it's extended, but it slips out of his grasp.
"Christ." Etienne grumbles, slipping out of the way of Erik's attack as if he were made of boneless, oiled eels. His right hand slips into the messenger bag that he's wearing across his body, and pulls free—a hockey puck! It does not have any markings on it. He cusses in low Acadian French briefly, before he gives the puck a whipping throw, releasing it on top of the arc of what would otherwise have been an underhand toss. The thick rubber flips out of his hand and smacks Erik right in the forehead. The poor kid goes crosseyed and slumps to the ground. "I said, knock it off!"
Jon gets rocked by the kid, staggering with the blow, vision going black, but she shakes it off, lashing back out at him. "You're gonna pay for that." But not with that punch. Still weak from his attack, her own blow just doesn't have much behind it, and while it hits it hardly leaves a mark.
And just as the city lights start to stagger back on, they go right back out. Lightning seems to spark from the transformer into Barry Ranzz. His bruises all slowly vanish, and his eyes take on a new focus and clarity. And maybe a little bit of anger at the same time. He rolls backwards off the transformer, putting it between himself and Coy, then reaches out towards Jonathan. Lightning arcs from his fingertips and sets the cat-girl's fur on end, but she manages to avoid the scoring blast just barely. "You'll die for that, Kitty-cat!"
You know, it seems like a bad idea to threaten or harm Jonathan when Coy is around. The Oni's eyes go flat and cold, and then he clenches his fists at his sides. Ghastly black energy corruscates about the lad's hands, a shadowy image of claws superimposed over them as he kiai shouts and leaps into furious activity. Almost too fast for the eye to follow strike afer raking strike lash out at the electrical kid — driving hime back, and back…but though he's clearly reeling, Barry doesn't fall. Sure looked painful though. Coy isn't even breathing hard, though he is palpably radiant of fury.
Martin rushes to try and help Coy, but he only manages to trip over his own shoelace and stumble to the ground. "Ow," he mumbles.
The unnamed kid laughs at Jonathan and twists aside. "Pussy's got /claws/," he taunts as he brushes her attack aside, then punches her in the cheek.
"Yeah, but you gotta watch out for dem flyin' objects." Etienne snarks from behind the kid who's punched Jon in the cheek. Another puck appears out of nowhere, this one flung in a vicious sidearm towards the kid. The puck hits the poor sap right at the base of his skull, causing him to pitch towards Jonathan as he passes out. The Canadian turns his eyes to Martin, barking his words out sharply. "We got dis, kid! G'wan, go tie your shoes or somethin', get outta here before you get hurt."
"Pussy. Kitty-cat. It's -Felis-" dammit, Jon snarls at the both of them after getting slugged in the face. She braces to punch back, when a hockey game breaks out in the middle of the fight. "Much obliged," she says, then turns back to Battery in time to see Coy going pretty medieval on him. Unfortunately her own attack fails to connect.
The lightning lad staggers away from Coy, then crosses his arms inward. There's a moment of where the stench of ozone fills the air. And then lightning flies /everywhere/. Martin goes down, but the others all manage tosomehowcompletely avoid it. "What?!" Barry sounds completely stunned.
Coy continues to attack. It is truly appalling how swiftly he strikes — hands, feet, elbows, knees…once, even his head. Alas, Battery seems only a litte more battered for all Coy's efforts. The slender martial artist looking a bit winded at the end of this flurry.
"Dis is just gettin' ridiculous." Etienne notes to no one in particular—although perhaps he's actually talking to his allies. He stoops to pick up the puck that just recently rebounded off of the unnamed kid's skull, and flips it once in his hand. There is a sound in the air not unlike a whip cracking, far away, and angry, almost sinister-looking red-white lightning starts to surround the puck, crawling slowly at first but quickly gathering speed. With a wordless shout, Etienne throws this puck, and it leaves a red streak in the air as it flies past Coy and Jon to slam into the kid's chest. The puck explodes, then, throwing Battery backwards a few feet.
"You're telling me," Jon says to Etienne. Her head whips around at the strange sound from the puck, and she whistles at the effect it has when thrown at Battery. "Damn, impressive," she murmurs. But now it's her turn. She steps up to him before he can recover gives him a quick kick to the side. Still not enough to put him down though.
Bruised, battered, and in a lot of pain, Barry Ranzz growls and rolls away from Jonathan. "This isn't over," he says, even as the air around him crackles with electricity. It builds up, crackles, and then simply consumes him. A moment later, the electrified teenager is simply gone.
Jonathan steps over to check on the kids laid out on the ground, moving a bit stiffly. "Well. That was strange. We gotta let the school know about this. That guy's gonna cause trouble for us later." She kneels down to make sure one of them's okay, then looks up at Etienne and Coy. "Thanks guys. No way I could've taken them on my own. Hell, you guys would've been fine without -me-."
Once the lightning kid vanishes, Coy sighs and looks to Etienne and Jonathan. "Are you okay?" It is plain he is mostly asking Jon, but he's not so rude as to ignore the other young man present. "I am Kinjo Kiyoshi, but you may call me Coy if that is easier for you." Coy then nods as Jon speaks up. "He will definitely be trouble in the future, but for now we have won." Eyes of black fade…becoming brown once more as he releases his fists, and the power he called upon for the fight as he extends his hand to Etienne. "It is an honor to meet you, and I think you for your considerable aid."
It's about then that the lights start coming back on. There's an audible click from the transformer, and then the big glowing M comes back on first. Then the parking lights, and the street lights, and eventually the McDonald's itself. With the lightning kid gone, everything seems to be back to normal.
Jonathan nods to Coy. Though, admittedly, it's a bit of an unsteady nod. "I'm okay. Just got beat up a bit, there. Nothing's broken, though. I'll head back to the school, let 'em know all about this, and get checked out, make sure I'm okay."
And thus, Etienne sighs, going about the business of picking up the last puck that /didn't/ explode before picking up the unconscious kids one by one to find somewhere less conscipuous to put them than in the middle of the parking lot. He's a lot more gentle with Martin than the others. Coy's approach gets a wide grin, and he meets the other's hand to give it a firm shake. "Etienne. My pleasure. Didn't see de point in lettin' dat guy rip everythin' up."
Returning the handshake, Coy inclines his head to Etienne. "No, you could not stand by while innocents suffered. I too was compelled to act." And then he looks to Jonathan, noting her condition and then nodding slowly. "I will walk you back to school." To Etienne. "We should meet sometime, perhaps spar in the Thunderdome. I suspect that would be most diverting."
Etienne blinks a little bit at Coy, his expression bemused, but very amused at the same time. "'Most divertin'?" He echoes, with a laugh in his voice. "You mean it'd be fun, yeah? I'm game for it if y'all are." He glances to Jonathan, and then to his bike, which has mercifully been out of the line of fire for this attack. "Hey, I'll catch up with you two at school, I gotta get my bike at least, and /I/ came for dinner. I can pick somethin' up for you if you want."
