You are (Not) the Heroes IC

It was actually kind of impressive to see how quickly things could start to get kind of weird...

Still, Crimson had been in the superhero'ing business for a while now and knew how to keep a level head. The magical locust swarm was breaking up and clearly trying to make a run for it. This could not be allowed to happen! Still, the swarm was still rather close together and he could feel his lungs and stomach start to swell as the gumball he had eaten started to kick in and do its thing. Lifting his head backwards for a moment as he took a big, deep breath before turning his head towards the swarm and unleashing a torrent of flame that would have made a dragon proud, trying to consume as much of the swarm as he could without catching his own team mates up in the onslaught. Only in the aftermath would he be able to tell if it was enough to get the job done...

Actions and Dice Rolls:

Status:

“Sunglow. What’s the situation, Madame Mask?” Argent’s voice comes from the now glowing card.

Meanwhile, on the car, the pegasus simply nods mutely - evidently, too terrified to speak. The car rolls to a stop a few blocks away, and the pegasus takes a deep breath, still sweating profusely but appearing to have calmed down a little. “What… what was that?”

Seeing how her claws don't realy do much against the Swarm of insects, Inu growls out Zellbriq, Pigoen child a little help?, while looking at the swarm helplessly.
Zellbriq meanwhile begins to slightly alter his form to a more feline one, durign this change, pieces of bark almost explode of his body and fly into the swarm like shrapnel from a grenade. When the changes finish, Zellbriq takes a moment to stalkotu an angle to attack the swarm effectivly, before he charges in flailing wildly with his claws and snapping at locusts with his maw.

used Stuff:

Staus:

~You got it!~ Dove Colt grins at Inu before summoning another large dove that proceeds to divebomb the swarm, pecking at the locusts with its beak. Moments later, a torrent of doves follow, smashing through the locust's ranks in a feathery fervor.

Actions:

"Don't worry about it," Trapshot says. "Ya did alright back there. And you're kinda cute, too. Call me..."

She starts to say "Trapshot", but stops herself. The ponies of Maretropolis only know Trapshot as the mysterious figure that destroyed Boss Amble's reign of exploitation over a backwater county and exposure as the Calamity Bandit, but the denizens of said backwater county consider Trapshot a modern legend for it.

In that split-second pause, Robyn decides to let them keep the Trapshot legend.

"...Sunset Raider," she finishes. "You got a name?"

As the pegasus gives his reply, the car's radio scans through the news stations for somepony giving the play-by-play of the fracas at the bank, so Tra-er, Sunset Raider knows when it's safe to take this fellow back and wait for the police.

Daff gallops beside the chimera, hoof beats mixing with the pounding of paws as both of them chase after the fleeing swarm. Insects split off from the cloud, swarming around the chimera. As the large creature slows, swiping and flapping its wings, Daff gallops right past, eyes locked on the fleeing dark cloud.

A massive fireball flies over his head, smashing into the swarm in front of him. For a second, the scalding air makes his lungs burn. Then, a massive dove dives down from somewhere above, attacking. Daff gives out a whoop of excitement. This is awesome!

He jumps, kicking off the ground with his hind legs with all his strength, then hits the swarm, clinging onto it awkward as it starts splitting up. "Rousseau!" he yells, closing his eyes tight as the locusts batter against his face while he holds on. The squirrel finds himself shoved right up against the cloud of insects. Rousseau gives a startled squeak, then, with a string of angry chittering, begins running and hopping in circles, flailing and biting.

Daff's grip on the swarm doesn't last. They're splitting up too fast. The stallion loses his hold and skids across the pavement on his stomach in a spray of pebbles, accompanied by pained grunts. As they come to a halt, Rousseau throws an acorn after the fleeing swarm, chittering furiously after it.

Actions:

Current Status:

"An elemental locust swarm that feeds on pegasus magic," answers Madame Mask, "I think it's breaking up now. One second darling." Madame Mask casually launches an extravagant and flashy blast at the swarm. She treats it as no big deal despite her pale eyes glowing with magic. "The others were talking to it, but that's not my act."

(Quickdraw (Rallying Cry))
(Quickdraw)
(Arcane Blast (14 Energy) (1/2 Uses Remaining): 23 (9 + 8 + 6) + 59 (1 + 4 + 2 + 5 + 6 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 6) = 82 Damage to Swarm)
(Quickshot: 7 Damage to Swarm)

HP: 93
Energy: 0
Status: In Conversation

“Oh, wow. Elementals? Maybe I should refer this to Magical Containment… And it’s intelligent?” Argent hums. “If you’ve got it handled. Hmm. Ferrum is en-route to file an after-action report, if there’s anything particular that you need to inform us, talk to him, the card is running out of—”

Scorched by flames, bombarded by doves, and torn apart by magic, the card stops glowing just as the last of the swarm falls to the ground. ~I see your pack is stronger than I gave credit~

A lone remaining locusts flutters weakly on the ground. ~But the swarm is endless. We are weather. You can resist us, but in the end…~

The remains of the locusts begin to glow.

And glow.

And GLOW.

In a crack of thunder, black clouds converge with frightening speed, and purple energy flashes within, the rumbling growing deafening. There’s a flash, and the clouds bulge, as though the lightning is straining to escape it. The smell of ozone fills the air - but the Chimera moves first, roaring to the skies, and out of nowhere a howling wind picks up, the gale force winds twisting into a tornado. There’s a blinding flash of purple and green - and then all is silent save a gradually strengthening light rain.

That, and a slightly smoking pegasus mare on the ground, where the Chimera was.

~

The pegasus nods slightly. “Uh… it’s Quick Note. I, uh, work at the bank. We called off work after the Hooligang hit, but… we didn’t think another villain would be attacking, so soon…”

"Haha! We did it!" Daff cheers, bouncing several times in place like a colt that just earned his cutie mark. This makes it extra difficult for Rousseau to drag himself back to his usual perch.

"Guys! That did you see that? Wait, you did that. We were awesome!" he yells, turning back to the others. Up until he notices the light isn't quite right. He turns back just in time to see the roiling clouds and flashes of energy. He blocks his eyes with a foreleg as the rumbling cresendos, building up light into a bright flash.

He stops bouncing.

"Uh... hello? Are you alright?" he says cautiously, trotting up to the mare. Rousseau pokes his head out from Daff's mane.

The radio had just found the news station when a loud thunderclap reverberates through the very air inside the car. The radio signal breaks up into static and a lightning show intensified above the car and the very air inside the cab starts to rumble.

The shift lever shimmers and puts the car in park, and Sunset pulls Quick Note across the center console, then ducks down into the floorboard, pulling him down with her. No, she doesn't know what's going on back there. All she knows is that loud rumbles like that come before a very big boom.

She stays hunkered like that for several minutes, until all she hears anymore is the patter of rain on the roof of the car. She sits up and looks out the back, to see the sky overcast, but otherwise quiet.

"Well," she chuckled, partially out of relief, "there ya go. Nothin' to worry about." She exhales again. "Hoo, I need coffee after that. You drink coffee? Real nice coffee shop's just up the road. My treat, then we oughta head back and talk to the cops 'bout what happened. You got a cell? Great! Call your family, let 'em know you're okay. I'll drive."

She climbs over the center console to the driver's seat, and passes the cell phone in the cupholder back to Quick Note. This time, she wills herself to stay under the speed limit...despite her inner leadhoof's screams of protest. Thankfully, it's only a few minutes' drive to the Marebucks.

Car stopped, car parked. Mask off, hat off, boots off, shotgun stashed in the back floorboard. Temporary normalcy mode activated.

"So I'm not as eye-catching," she says, using her urban Robyn voice. Then, in response to Quick Note's look of surprise, "Speech therapy. The accent's real. Let's go get coffee."

Gaia, her torso and limbs littered with small bite marks and scratches from the locust attacks, coughs up some smoke through parched lips. "Ugh..."

Despite the blackening of her fur, it can be seen that her coat is a dark chocolate brown, and her mane is a vibrant green. Opening an eye - slitted, like a cat's - she glares up at the stallion - not in overt hostility, just a considerable amount of frustration. "What... do you think?"

Zellbriq and Inu get slightly stunned by that loud blast, as he regains his senses, Zellbriq sees the scorched Pegasus lying on the ground. He begins to shift back into a Zebra and arrives by the mare just as he turns back fully. He get`s down to the mare and asks Hey are you alright? Who are you? He then offers to help her stand up. Inu mean while is still a little grogy from that explosion that happened more or leess directly inont of her face.

Daff actually looks thoughtful at her rhetorical question before looking embarrassed. "Oh, sorry." He offers his support as well, along with Zellbriq.

"My name's Daff. And this is Rousseau," he says, looking up at the squirrel who peeks up briefly only to bury himself back in Daff's mane as  the combination of spray from broken fire hydrants and rain fall on him. It's a lot of damage. He hopes they don't have to pay for it. That'd take a lot of ice cream cones.

"That was pretty neat how you turned into that thing and you were like... grrr, rawr!" he swings his forehooves around enthusiastically. "That was great! He can turn into a dog, too, you know! Uh... do you need a medical pony?" he asks, realizing he's getting his priorities a little confused.

Gaia looks over the zebra. "Figured you smelled off for a timberwolf... Should have guessed you're also a shifter." She winces, but accepts the help. Standing up to her full, frankly Amazonian height, she stands taller than most of the group, except perhaps Daff. "I'm... I'm fine."

Looking at the scorched ground and numerous burn marks on her own body, she sighs. "Well, that's more effective than what I've managed. My name is Gaia, by the way."

"And I am a medical pony." A soft green light suffuses Gaia's body, and she sighs, as the aching subsides somewhat.

(Healing: 1d20 (7, 18) + 18 = 36)

Abilities:

Well my naems Zellbriq, that over there he points to the remainign Timberwolf is Inu. And I´m not a shifter what ever that is, I am a novice shaman, and my ability to trun into a timberwolf comes from my connection to herhe points at Inu againand the spirits of the dead rest of her pack

Daff looks a little confused by Zellbriq's words, clearly not getting the distinction between a shifter and someone who turns into something else. He gives up trying to figure it out after a few seconds of standing there blinking.

"Uh, hi, Gaia. Well, that was, uh, really... really impressive," Daff says with admiration as he watches her infuse herself with renewed energy. He looks a little awkward - almost nervous - for a few moments, and scrapes his hoof against the ground. He picks a pebble out of one of his legs, then just sort of stands there until Rousseau pokes one of his ears.

"Oh, right. And this is everypony else," he says, introducing the others present in turn. "How come you were fighting a bunch of insects in a sewer?" he asks, curiously. "That was a really great entrance, by the way," he adds with a grin.

While queuing up for the coffee, Trapshot hears the radio playing in the background of the coffee shop shift from a relaxing jazz tune to the excited voice of Airwave once again.

<<Hey everypony! I know it’s not an hour yet, but we got news! Rumor has it that there’s been a scuffle around the central bank between an unknown group of heroes and some kind of lightning bug swarm! Life just gets weirder and weirder, huh? Anyway, whoever these heroes are, it’s real exciting to see some change in the city. The Power Ponies are great, but does anyone remember back in the day when you had a hero for every street? Well, I don’t - that’s my parent’s time - but hey, to this new hero team - good luck making it out there, and stay safe. Alright, back to Silky Smooth’s greatest hits - Airwave out!>>

Bouncing over to the tall mare, Dove Colt gapes at her healing magic, and starts flapping his small wings excitedly as he says, "Oh my gosh that was so cool! I mean, we were all really cool too, there was like fire, and magic, and wolves and- and there were feathers and doves, and fire and magic and- wait, I already said that. I meant - uh... Hi! I'm Dove Colt, but friends call me Dove. Or colt. Or 'Hey you'."

Gaia shrugs. "Timberwolf spirit, Chimera spirit, same difference. You connect yourself to the path of the wild, and that deserves my respect in my books."

Glancing over at the colt, Gaia crouches down slightly so she's a little more eye-level with him. "And you - your spirit is intwined with the thunderbird. This is... very interesting. This group has more wild spirits than I've met before in my whole life."

Turning back to Daff, Gaia sighs. "As for why Locust and I were here in the first place... I've been tailing the swarm for a while now. Every time they emerged to leech from the ponies, I had to force them back into the sewers, as I was not nearly strong enough to defeat it. This is the first time I've seen a thunderswarm be defeated with my own eyes."

"You all are... remarkably capable, for otherwise average seeming ponies. Although if nature teaches me anything, it's that things are often more than they seem."

As the rest of the group fusses over Gaia, Ol' Trigger's radio turns on at full volume, and Airwave's news bulletin echoes across the parking lot. The radio cuts off his sign-off as it goes silent.

Minutes later, the pegasus's car pulls back into the parking lot and parks in an intact space near them. When she and Quick Note exit the car, Trapshot is back in full costume and has her shotgun across her back and a big ol' grin across her face. The tall Marebucks cup she's levitating as she approaches the group rings as a possible factor.

"Y'all ain't dead!" she all but sings. "Monster bugs are gone. Collateral damage is mostly contained. No civilians got hurt. We're all okay. We made news. I got coffee. Heck of a day!"

She nods toward the pegasus. "This here's Quick Note. He works at the bank. Quick Note, this is the rest of the group." She points them out with a hoof as she introduces each of them. "Crimson Chef, Dove Colt, Daffodil (the squirrel on his head's Rousseau), Racin' Stripes and pet, Madame Mask, Stilts."

Crimson didn't really have much to say after the flash of lightning and thunder as the last of the insect swarm fled the fight; This was less because of the manner of how it had fled and more to do with the fa mvt that his mouth and throat were currently on fire!

Grabbing at a white water bottle on his belt, Crimson abandoned his professional air in order to skull as much milk as he could in order to numb the pain as quickly as possible. Clearly he was going to have to work on that recipe a little bit more before he tried to use it again.

Gaia steps towards the Crimson Chef. "Allow me. I've had experience with soothing the aftereffects of fire spitting."

Rummaging about a pouch strapped to her side, she pulls out a small vial of medicine and holds it out to the Chef. "A mixture of bitterroot and winter herbs. It should sooth irritated tissue."

Turning to Trapshot, she glowers at the unicorn slightly. "And my name is not Stilts; It's Gaia."

"Anyway - what are you all doing here? Not that I'm ungrateful for the assistance, but this was my hunt - I was not aware that anyone else was after Locust."

(Heal Check to help with the spicy fireballs: (16) + 18 = 34)

"Well," Trapshot says, "we'd heard someone or something had been showin' up and screwin' up the weather anywhere that the Power Ponies made a bust. The last one they made was bustin' up the Hooligang robbery earlier today, so we came here to head 'em off and take it down. And we did!"

She takes another sip of her coffee, then glances around.

"Big and public as that fight was, you'd think they'd have shown up by now. Whaddaya think's been keepin' 'em?"

She scans the rooftops, then shrugs.

"Prob'ly big-hero things elsewhere." Another sip, then she turns her attention to Quick Note. "Ya wanna join us for a group photo, give yourself somethin' cool to show the kids at home?"

Quick Note scratches the back of his head. "Ehh… I live alone, actually…"

"They are being very chatty to everypony, aren't they?" comments Madame Mask silently to her decoy, who nods in agreement. As the pair continue to hover in the sky, she slips the card away again. "I hope they don't rattle on too much, it's unprofessional." In the meantime, she keeps an eye out Ferrum, who should be approaching according to the card...