13454/Something Nefaria Going On

Something Nefaria Going On
Date of Scene:	27 November 2022
Location:	Beach and Boardwalk - Coney Island
Synopsis:	Quasar and Karolina Dean fight and defeat the goatee-flashing Count Nefaria!
Cast of Characters:	Monet St. Croix, Karolina Dean, Wendell Vaughn

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Monet St. Croix has posed:
It's bright out. A rare sunny day in the fall. It's bright and peppy out. People are walking along the beach. In the distance, there's a large cruise liner up in the air. Several hundred meters. At the bottom of it, someone is lifting it high and occasionally shaking it just a little bit to get the point home.

Karolina Dean has posed:
    After an eventful night, Karolina is taking a rather enjoyable walk on the beach to unwind. She's enjoying that rare sunny day, going 'guns out' as it were despite the ocean wind's chill as she's clad in a pin-adorned jean vest and loose tie-dye tee underneath. Capris and sandals make up the rest of the ensemble as more bundled up people give her looks as she twirls and... pauses. Blues under blonde blink at the ship in the sky and she stares at it for a few moments.

    Then she purses her lips and frowns, "...can't this city go twenty-four hours without something weird happening...?"

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    Well, someone -must- be using energy... maybe gravitics to lift that thing. I mean just lifting it at the center of the point of mass would simply bend or rupture the structure. Either way, the energy in use gets the attention of the Quantum Bands, and Eon mentally warns Wendell that what is going on is... unusual to say the least.

    And so coming down from orbit, the red and blue costumed man known as Quasar makes his descent. A mild golden aura surrounds him as he comes down, and he is already scanning everything up ahead as best he can. Mentally commanding the Quantum Bands to get as much information for him as they can.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The being doing this is radiating with massive amounts of energy. Quasar can tell it's Ionic energy with minimal effort given his powerset. The man has a spitcurl of a mustache, a large brightly colored outfit and cape. He grins over at Karolina
    "Allo, ayme am Count Luigiii Nefaria!" Said in a Mario level italian accent.
    "If zeez people do not geeve me all zhat zee 'av, aye weel send them to fly with zee space dolphins!"

Karolina Dean has posed:
    Karolina squints at the man literally holding an entire cruise ship hostage. She alights her own power, freeing her energy and being engulfed in what amounts to a fiery prismatic aura and takes to the sky to better converse with ... /The Count/. She catches the Quasar's golden aura as well, and his approach as she hovers there, shining (and basking) in the glow of the sun above.

    "But why?" she asks, tilting her head. "All that power, and you can bet half the people on that ship aren't even carrying any valuables. Crew. Contest winners. Students..." she rattles off the amount of people who probably barely make a living wage and counts on her fingers. "You could hold up a bank... literally.. without potentially committing mass murder in a city that's home to the Avengers, among other things..."

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    Well there is a flare of power that momentarily distracts Quasar. Stellar energy... well energy of a wavelength that is similar to -some- star's ionized plasma. He sets a memory slot. One of the somewhere upwards of three trillion memory settings to save that signature as he approaches closer.

    "Seriously. Is this cheeseball monologuing villain day? I mean... we had Thanksgiving, then Black Friday. I suppose it was inevitable that the following day would have -something- like this assigned to it."

    That is mostly said to himself, not shouted to the masses. But so long as Karolina holds the man's attention, Quasar drifts closer... scanning for thermal sources such as lifeforms. Even while he does that, he is starting to form what looks like a giant drill bit with an airlock door on the pointy end. He is planning to start evacuating people while the drama goes on.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
There's a lot of people on the cruise liner. A few thousand. They're all bouncing about over on it. They're doing about as well as a cruise liner full of people of very questionable sanity can maintain over for this sort of experience.
    The man, Count Nefaria holds up his other hand to.. Twirl his mustache. "Where eez zee fun een zhat? Zee don't e-VEN keep anything good in zhem! Eet's all online now! Vhere eez zee point? Zhey 'av taken away a proud tradition!" Wait.. Oh.. God..
    Quasar is not noticed while Nefaria is busy monologuing. In a horrid accent.

Karolina Dean has posed:
    Thankfully, as an NYU student that frequents hanging out with the theater kids, Karolina is relatively immune to cringe. ...relatively. The rainbow'd blonde winces despite herself and rubs her forehead with the heel of one palm. "What.. proud tradition?" she asks, slowly tilting her head to the side as she hovers there. If she'd spotted the Quasar, she makes no indication that she's aware of his presence. Usually it's others doing the distracting while she's helping the civilians! It's an interesting departure for her.

    "Where the bad guy takes a bunch of hostages and the hero shows up to stop him and then a huge fight ensues after you're done talking about your nefarious... um..." she pauses for a beat. "..wait your name is really Nefaria?"

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    Realziing how many people are on board the ship, Quasar does the mental math. He realizes that it'd take -hours- to evacuate the civilians this way. So instead, he just sighs and shakes his head. Both of his arms raise, and he begins forming a golden layer of energy over the hull of the ship. On the ventral side.

    The energy flows down towards Nefaria from all sides, and just before it reaches him, the golden construct literally digs into the ship itself. Slicing away the portion that Nefaria was holding onto. I mean why try to rip it out of his hands when you can slice that apart away entirely. But this takes a massive amount of power... the bands are glowing on his wrists like miniature suns themselves as the power pours into his constructs. The trade-off here is that he is weakening his personal defense field, channeling all of the power into the constructs. For the moment, he is more vulnerable than usual. He hopes the star kid there can help in that regard.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Count Nefaria is distracted while going on, "Vhat eez zee point 'of holding up banks? Zhere eez nothing een zhem! Holding up banks eez a tradition! 'Ow dare zhey take zhat away from us!" The.. Banks have made it so people can't rob them anymore effectively!? That's apparently a considerable slight in the world!? Supervillains are weird.
    "Count Luigi Nefaria! Eet Eez." Wait what. Then the cruise ship is being lifted away!? "Ow dare you!" His eyes glow over with ionic energy as he spins around to spot Quasar. "For zhat, yew weel die! So 'swears Count Nefaria!" Then he's going along with a supersonic boom towards Quasar intending to hit him with a punch that could throw a cruise liner into low orbit!

Karolina Dean has posed:
    "Oh. So the advent of credit cards and... so you're doing all of this just to steal some gaudy jewels and jackets? You'd probably get more money out of all the copper wiring on the ship and bottles of champagne..." Karolina really doesn't understand supervillains. The 'principle' of it seems to be the issue. And then the jig is up. The ship is rescued--temporarily--by Quasar. And the Not-so-good Count is rushing towards him.

    "Ah! Hey! No! No touchie!" she shouts and braces one arm while thrusting the other towards Nefaria. A beam of concentrated solar energy blasts from her palm towards the villain's back, enough solid concussive force to dent a bus but not infused with too much heat. Yet.

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    And of course, if Quasar lessens his concentration, the ship will plummet from the sky. He's got to suck it up. His shields will likely dampen the impact a bit, but not enough to stop it entirely. But then... he grins.

    Since Nefaria released the ship, he simply holds it in place with one band. The other? Well, I am glad you asked that.

    Even as the supersonic dumb-missile named Count Nefaria flies at him, he points an open palm at Nefaria... and then closes his fist. What effect does that have? Well that solar power ray being fired? He felt it charge up. So that when it does fire, energy streams from his left band, and pours into the incoming blast... augmenting it to cosmic levels.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
At the levels that Karolina was doing it, it would register about as high on the threat tier as a generic ninja would to Wolverine, and Quasar would still be punched full force with the sort of THWACK that if that hypothetical scenario were illustrated, he would smash through a panel, bounce off the edge of the page, and hit the ground hard.
    But, it is not illustrated nor does the hit land. Even as that charged up solar blast goes up, then it's blasted into Nefaria with super enhanced strength.
    "AYIIIEEE!" The mustache. IT'S GONE

Karolina Dean has posed:
    Karolina had been pulling her punch, so to speak. Mainly to try to distract Nefaria and get him to focus on her instead of the man in the actual super-suit doing the literal heavy lifting here. When her bolt does *so much more* though, she stares at her hand for a moment, temporarily deaf to the de-moustached man's scream. "Huh??" she seems momentarily bewildered, then she looks up and sees the now-smooth face of the supervillain.

    "Oh... sorry!" she calls out. "Except I'm kind of not! You could've just hit the Tiffany's on Wall Street and gotten a whole trunk full of precious metals without threatening a few thousand people with death! Seriously, guy. You kind of deserved losing the 'stache for that..." she balls both of her hands into fists and glares at him.

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    Okay, time to let Karolina keep his attention for a few more moments. Quasar grunts with effort as he pours that power back into his constructs on the ship. He moves to try to place the ship back in the water. Leaving a permanent construct to replace the part he sliced away. It'll take him a little time to do this, and he hopes Karolina.. who's name he actually doesn't even know, can handle the guy while he does this part.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Karolina's put downs may need a bit of work. There's a howl from Nefaria, "My mustache! Mai-a proud and-a joy! You weel pay for zhat!" He goes to charge up his hands over with a massive blast of ionic energy that goes to blaze away at her! That has enough power to disintegrate the ship if it had been aimed over at that.
    Even as Qusaar goes to slowly ease the ship back over into the water like a carefully laid rubber ducky.

Karolina Dean has posed:
    "You can just grow it back!" Karolina retorts. She's not really a snarky hero, so her mid-fight banter is really sub-par. She doesn't often break out and do this sort of thing anyway unless it's a right/wrong place, right/wrong time situation. I mean look at her. No super suit. Just casual hippie clothes in the end of autumn! Then that blast comes at her, hard and fast, and she brings her arms up to shield herself with a loud cry, "AAAAH!"

    FWOOOMP! BOOM! The blast engulfs her and sends her flying like a rainbow comet back down to the beach. The blast of energy turns the seawater into a massive plume of steam and the sand itself is carved into a deep trench, both from the blast itself going around and through Karolina, to the young woman's actual impact like a crashing aircraft.

    Before the dust clears, though, that rainbow pulse of energy is even brighter and stronger than before, and like a shooting star reversing its course, she's already back in the air. Fist forward, the alien woman breaks the sound barrier in time with a haymaker of a left hook aimed right for Nefaria's gut. The sonic boom that trails in her wake explodes in ripples of rainbow color in cocentric circles that bleed out into the sky in her wake.

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    And while all of that violence is going on, Wendell finishes settling the ship in the water, making sure it's buoyant and that there aren't severealy injured folks on board. He lands himself on the bridge and tells the people there, "You should be safe. Check on the passengers. First responders are on the way." he adds as he contacts emergency channels via the bands and launches himself to get back towards the conflict.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Apparently the first responders have a great deal of experience with this sort of thing and there are protocols voer in place for it. Which is.. Probably not the biggest surprise, given the city of New York and it's extended weirdness yet.
    Karolina really does need tow ork over on her snarks. It's a big point of being a hero! What's the point of being able to fight crime if yo ucan't quip over it! The energy blast goe sover to engulf her..
    And then the alien exile is going to charge over into the (now sans mustache) Nefaria as we -DO- get that brutal WHAM to the gut that sends him flying, up and through the air over as he would splash HARD in an arc into the water! So hard and brutally that he literally leaves a man shaped hole imprint down to the ocean floor for just a moment as water goes to smash down atop him!

Karolina Dean has posed:
    Karolina does find herself better off leaving the snarking to the rest of the hero community. She is one of the Titans, after all. They've got ~way~ better snarkers than she'll ever even want to be. And that's totally fine with her.

    As she sends Nefaria up and down, she has a lot of momentum to bleed off. The rainbow-hued streak of light zips off into the distance in a lazy, curved arc to slow down without having to do so abruptly, and comes to a halt above the ship and surveys it and her golden-aura'd compatriot. "Is everyone okay down there?" she asks, hovering about twenty meters over the deck. It would seem like that ionic blast did more good than harm to her, even if the smashing impact down into the beach has scuffed up her clothes and left the edges torn and scorched some.

    For the moment, the submerged supervillain is left to his own devices, though she does glance to where the miniature whirlpool was a moment ago.

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    "Seems like they could be a lot worse." says Wendell as he drifts upwards in the air. He comes alongside Karolina, and scans for the energy signature of Nefaria. He sensed it and saved that one when the guy fired that blast at Karo. Now he's just searching for the guy. Anyone with that strong of a signature is not likely to be put down -that- easily.

    As he scans, he drifts towards the water, and below his feet, spreading out in multiple ways... he is forming a miniature USS Missouri battleship. It's maybe 50ft long, not the monster of the real one. But the guns are growing outward, and the whole thing glows gold. "Let's hope we can keep him focused here, and not on civilians." he suggests as he begins traversing cannons towards where he senses the energy.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Blurble! Blurble! Borble! Down under the water, under the sea, there is a Nefaria (sans mustache) shaped impact crater going down several inches to the sea floor. There is a curious octopus poking at it. There's a BIGGER blorble as Nefaria goes to fly out over from the water, ionic energy going around his body to rapidly dry him off totally!
    "Now, a-you I weel beat down you seely sparkly girl!" He would go to flex over.. Right as the huge battleship would appear out of nowhere.
    "Aye caramba."

Karolina Dean has posed:
    The rainbow warrior nods as Wendell gives her an appraisal of the situation on the ground. Er. The boat. "Oh thank goodness..." she says, heaving a sigh of relief. "I'd never be able to forgive myself if I got in a fight and let someone get hurt because of it. Um. That guy notwithstanding..." she jerks her thumb at the water. "I'm Karolina by the way," she says with a nod by way of introduction. "And that... is ~amazing~...!" she gawks at the literal battleship that Wendell is crafting out of light and energy. "I can't make anything anywhere near that complex..." she laughs, eyes twinkling. Well. ALL of her is twinkling.

    And then the man of the moment returns from the bottom of the sea, ready to go another round. Karolina moves wide around, to better distance herself from Quasar in case Nefaria wants to catch them both in a blast. And to ensure that her back is to open ocean, not the shore or the ship. "Just get out of here. You're out-matched and ..." she can't help but giggle, "...lost face."

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    Smirking, Wendell has a golden glowing corncob pipe in his mouth, and a glowing Navy Captain's peaked cap on his head as he points a hand and says, "I go by Quasar. But now it's time to open fire." and the 9 gun barrels... not 16 inch guns. Something like 6.. but they blast out pulses of pure force towards the formerly mustachioed villain.

    Wendell himself lifts up off the deck of the ship, preparing for when the guy comes closer. Let's see if we can lure him into firing energy blasts... so there is something to siphon. But he hears Karolina and laughs, "I -could- offer you some aftershave. It might help with the burning of shame."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
*BOOM* there is a series of proverbial energy-lanced 16" guns going to bombard Count Nefaria over at close range. BOOM again as they would detonate over him and blast him haphazardly about, exploding him over in glowing energy eruptions.
    More smoke goes out of him as his body is covered over in carbon scoring. Flickering over as his eyes would roll over into his head, "Mon dieu.." Tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet.
    Falling to hit the water once more with a SPLOSH.

Karolina Dean has posed:
    "Oooh Quasar! I would've thought the Golden Knight or something," Karolina coos, "That's a really cool moniker! I go by Glitterbomb when I'm doing, um, more formal stuff.." she confesses, then turns to watch the battery of miniature battleship guns just absolutely unload on the battered villain and sending him back into the water. She cautiously moves to fly over where he's in the water, peering down. "...hey... Quasar... what do we do with this guy? I don't... I don't think the average boys in blue can handle him..."

    She clasps her hands behind her back, lips pursed in a frown again.

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    "He's not finished. Be careful!" calls out Quasar. He dissolves the ship and flies over towards Karolina. In fact, he is preparing to defend her. A shield beginning to form before him. One that can maneuver about at need. "When we finish here, I'll see if I can help you with your constructs but for now, let's focus on the task at hand. I'm sure SHIELD can contain him once I drain him of energy."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Currently Count Nefaria is floating to the water. Just floating, smoking over in a way that if he could speak (and was conscious to) would have him no doubt going 'Mamma Mia'. For now, he's unconscious so the duo can figure out what to do with him.

Karolina Dean has posed:
    "Mmmmnoooo I'm pretty sure he's done..." Karolina says as she hovers in a more sideways manner to peer down into the water. "And, thanks! I appreciate the offer of help but..." she smiles brightly at him. "My stuff is more of a spheres-and-sunlight sort of thing. I can't really make complex objects like yours. But I can..." she zoops down close to the water and encases Nefaria in a sphere of her own solar power. It's a pretty solid shell of energy, and with the sun blazing down atop her, there's more than enough for her to keep it pumped full.

    Then she just... hauls it up with her next to Quasar, "This should help? He's all yours, Quasar," she offers, both palms outstretched, ribbons of rainbow light swirling off of her forearms as they support and reinforce the spherical prismatic prison.

Wendell Vaughn has posed:
    "I... well okay then." says Wendell. He -was- going to siphon off as much of that Ionic power as he could. But with the guy encased in that globe, the power is inaccessible.

    "Glitterbomb?" he asks. "If it was me, I'd go by sunbeam, or... Spectrum." he adds with a smile, "Because.. you know, the whole rainbow spectrum of colors and all."

    That said, he reaches and fastens clamps about the encased Nefaria. "I'll take him to SHIELD. It was good to meet you. If you ever need me.. fire off three pulses of your power into the sky in rapid succession. I'll sense it."

Karolina Dean has posed:
    "I feel like those names are already in some hero registry somewhere... and some of my friends helped come up with it..." Karolina says, looking sheepish. "You can take it from here? I mean. I can't hold that shell indefinitely, but you kind of.. made my beam super strong earlier, right?" she asks and stops pumping energy into the shell when the clamps go around it. It's Wendell's ball now! Quite literally.

    "SHIELD?" she asks, bewildered a little. "Ah, of course! I'd tell you to be safe but I think you've got that covered, Q," she flashes that extra-bright smile towards her new friend. "Stop by the university sometime, I help run a cooking club!"