13622/The 80's Strike Back

The 80's Strike Back
Date of Scene:	23 December 2022
Location:	Lake Placid Community Center
Synopsis:	Brick starts the hunt for Garish while Power Girl does all she can to keep tabs on Earth's newest alien invader.
Cast of Characters:	Brick Bardo, Karen Starr

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Brick Bardo has posed:
     Brick had enough of hanging around the Earth spaceport after being hauled there by Wonder Woman a day or two ago. In that time the surly alien cop had spent most of his time drinking and smoking, finding himself too often overlooked in the hub of activity. A 4 inch tall alien that looked like a person warranted a 'cute' here and there but few seemed to take him seriously or his insistence that the guy he had been tracking, Garish, was a real threat. Finally convincing a tech to pull up records from the night he crashed he managed to get a few anomalous readings showing a second small object entering the atmosphere at the same time further north.

     It was enough to get Brick to take the ship's hovercycle out and take off wordlessly, the toy-sized bike zipping up the shoulder of the massive world's roads at a fair clip. "Gonna kill this sonuvabitch and then get out of this dump. Buncha walking talking mountains," he growls after an hour's worth of driving putting him near the location when a light on his bike blinked. It had picked up a signal, an Arturan signal from his home planet. "Gotcha," he says coldly, zipping towards the town, little more than a blur that most people mistook for a very quick squirrel.

     Meanwhile in town the streets were done up with the usual Christmas decor while the Community Center was in full 80's swing. Some went with the holiday theme with Gremlins, Lampoons, and even Die Hard costumes on display, while others went full 80's with leg warmers, oversized sweatshirts, and mullet wigs. 'Take on Me' currently leaked its way onto the chilly road whenever the doors opened. And up the road a bit in an abandoned shoestore something equally 80's was occuring as a local real estate developer handed over a wad of cash to a rather unpleasant looking man cast in shadows. "Scare em out, wreck the joint. I don't want anyone to EVER want to go back in there again. Then I can get it cheap and this town can finally have a real store and not this Mom & Pop crap," he declares.

     The man in the shadows takes a moment to flick through the cash and then grins, his teeth the only thing visible in the dim light. "Don't worry about it mack, time we're done there won't hardly be a building there for anyone to save," he vows, standing up as several other hulking forms also take to their feet, some holding bats, chains, and one checking a gun.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen has been lingering at the spaceport for some time. It's the place where she spends a lot of her spare time: When there isn't a problem to solve in Metropolis, or the League and Avengers don't need her assistance, or there's too much busywork at Starrware for her to care about- which, really, she sincerely should have automated by now- she is at the starport. Waiting.

    For what? Well, that's no secret, considering the way she's casually seated at a public table, overlooking the Shi'ar delegation's comings and goings. Often with a drink, sometimes with a book. Just waiting for her cue to punch the bird-aliens back to their home planet, because she is not particularly fond of them. You only get to threaten the destruction of Earth once before Power Girl will punch you at every opportunity. Kal is always more lenient.

    All of this is set somewhat by the wayside by the occasional comings and goings of a 4-inch tall alien. She is one of the few people that can always see him, and for some reason, his determined resolve has caught her attention. He moves with purpose, yet she cannot take it seriously. He's 4 inches tall. What could be so important? Such is her attention drawn when the man gets on a hoverbike- the sort that a child would play with- and putters his way out of the spaceport. She can't help it. Is he about to go solve a tiny crime? Is there a stalker outside of Barbie's Dream House? Will Clark eventually lecture her for having these thoughts despite that she never vocalized them? The answer to all of these may be yes.

    That's why when the bike leaves the spaceport, so does Power Girl- pushing herself to a stand and then shooting up into the sky, her Kryptonian senses allowing her to keep track of the diminutive biker as he resolutely makes his chase towards whatever definitely not regular sized problems he's about to go deal with.

Brick Bardo has posed:
     The signal gets stronger but it's not a tracking system, only a ship IFF that had been left on and soon Brick finds himself close but at a loss. And near a crowded venue full of giants dressed even more strangely than the ones he had left behind. "What is with this place?" he questions as he parks his bike inside the bottom opening of a rain gutter on the side of the building and peeks around the corner at the colorfully dressed people going in and out. Was Garish in there? He couldn't imagine his fellow Arcturan in such a place and Brick takes a moment to light and puff a cigarette that was less than a centimeter as he thinks over his next move, unaware of any eyes in the sky watching him.

     Other movement in the shadows soon catches his attention though, not least because however stealthy and shadowy they may be, they were still gigantic by comparison. A half dozen figures, all armed, all abnormally large even for what Brick had yet to grow accustomed to. Which was oddly familiar in its own right as he watches thre of the six figures leap from the ground up onto the roof in a single bound apiece. The other three wait a moment before one rears back and kicks the wall which explodes inward in a shower of dust and debris, the three on the roof doing the same as they punch through and drop onto the crowded dancefloor.

     Brick throws down his cig and stubs it out underfoot as the oversized hooligans barge inside, a mix of screams and Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' filtering into the night air. "Garish you stupid mother...already pulling this crap," he snarls as he pulls his sidearm and steps away from the wall, then turns around and fires. The gun was tiny. Stupidly tiny. The bullets it fired couldn't be more than sandgrains, and yet in a far more focused approximation of what had just happened several feet to his left, the wall explodes into an 8 inch wide hole that lets Brick also stride into the fray, flicking his shades onto his face, not just to look cool but the sunglasses having built in electronic tracking and vision modes to help him see through the debris dust and smoke machine haze from the dancefloor.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Zooming overhead, Karen is an entirely dismissable sort of anomaly in the sky. Sure, she's brightly colored- but at this time of night, with cloud cover as well, there's just no seeing her. Not unless you're watching for it- and not unless you're incredibly acute in your sight.

    It's only when the man stops in front of an ongoing costume party at this nearby community center that Karen pauses in the sky. She's still unsure of what's going on- other than the dance- and from her position in the sky, she looks down upon the tiny man. Waiting to see what he will do.

    Her focus on Brick makes it more difficult to see the armed things until it's just a bit too late. The three jump onto the roof and get her attention off of Brick- She's off like a bullet then, arriving just after the man kicks in the wall. Doing the same to the roof is too great a threat to the people inside. That's where she has to /be/ first, but not what she has to deal with first.

    There's a short intake a breath, and she exhales violently at the side of the building, covering it, and the hole that had just been made, in a sheet of thick ice.

    Then, there is a thud onto the roof, as Power Girl lands in front of the three figures. "You picked a bad night for this." she declares- absolutely willing to handle all of them herself. After all, her only ally is four inches tall. She has, as so many others, already discounted him.

Brick Bardo has posed:
     Even in passing that close Brick feels that chill in the air from the blast of ice breath that makes the Winter weather feel like a brisk Spring day. "What in the Hell? Did he get something new?!" hollers Brick only to curse and jump back as a vintage Nike high-top almost crushes him. Maybe rushing into a dimly lit and crowded dancehall wasn't his smartest move but intelligence wasn't his forte. Thanks to PG's quick thinking only one of the goons on the side of the building had gotten inside. Another meanwhile had his leg stuck in the ice and the third was still outside. "Holy crap get me out of this! It's freezing!" shouts the goon stuck in the middle who tugs ineffectively at their leg, though the ice does crackle a bit in response. Thick as it may be it was clear none of the men were normal, nor were those on the roof who had paused in front of the hole they had made when Power Girl confronts them. Each man was mutated in some fashion but not in any sort of stable fashion. Limbs were of different thicknesses and length, their skin seemed mottled and peeling in places, skulls were lumpy. One had an arm that looked more like a fleshy tentacle while the one who had busted through the wall possesses what looks like a third eye on his shoulder which flicks about wildly. It was, an ugly bunch.

     Three-Eye turns about preparing to break the ice when the smoke along the ground clears nearby revealing Brick, pointing his gun up at the mutate. "Hello fellas. You're all under arrest," he calls out, his voice sounding almost normal thanks to an amplifier attached to his throat, one he'd usually use as a bullhorn rather than normal speaking. Three-Eye looks at him a moment and then bursts out laughing, turning away again as if to ignore Brick. "That's fine, ain't got cuffs for you anyhow," growls Brick who fires without further warning. The sound of the gun is odd, a high-pitched squeal that brings to mind an energy weapon rather than the revolver it looks like, and much like the wall the effect is oversized, blasting the man's arm off at the shoulder with a bloody spray and a holler.

     Up above meanwhile the three on the roof look at one another, then look at Power Girl, one licking their lips with an oversized tongue in a manner that would get them put on several lists for that alone. "Looks like plenty of fun to us this night," says Tentacle-Arm who looses a laugh like a donkey...and then snaps his arm out at her, the limb extending towards her intent on wrapping about her while the other two monstrosities charge her from the sides.

Karen Starr has posed:
    As their unstable mutations make themselves known, Power Girl frowns. There is a calm there, in that moment- as Brick confronts the man downstairs and the other two worry about making sure they're both free from the ice, Karen speaks to the three on the roof.

    "Listen up- what's going on with you is unstable, and it's killing you. You have /one/ chance. You stand down now, I can get you help before it's too late, but one wrong move, and you're all going down. I don't know if I can help you then."

    Of course, she's not the persuasive one. She's the one people underestimate a lot. Like right now. The swung tentacle is met with a hand outstretched to her side. Her gloved fingers clutch at its flesh. Halt it. Her frown deepens. "Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought."

    She shoots forward in a blur, the tentacle released from her hand and a second met with a charge of her own. She accelerates and comes to a complete halt, shoulder forward- to put all of that momentum into the middle of the trio atop the roof.

Brick Bardo has posed:
     Arm or no the goon down below isn't falling over just yet and fixes Brick with a deathglare. What's worse the one stuck in the ice wall finally breaks free as well and the one that had been stuck outside follows him in.. People are still running and screaming out of the center but it's a lot more clear on the dancefloor at least, balloons and dropped solo cups littering the ground. The Trio tower over Brick like a grouping of bona fide kaiju but the miniature man calmly loads two more rounds into his gun and gives the chamber a spin. "Alright then, you bunch of yokels are going to tell me where Garish is by the count of three or I'm going to..." is as far as he gets before one of them stomps forward and moves to crush him underfoot. Instead their leg comes off at the knee as they drop screaming and Brick lowers his smoking gun. "Like I was saying I..."

     "GET HIM!" roars the one with one-arm, both him and his remaining standing compatriot charging Brick together. They slam down where he'd been standing but just before they hit something blurs through the hole Brick had shot earlier. His hoverbike he'd called on autopilot, Brick swinging a leg over onto the seat. He pulls back and the toy-like craft rises up and shoots through a hole in the ceiling, letting him finally get a look at what's happening above while the two goons below scramble to get off each other.

     As for the one Power Girl shoulder tackled, well he's two streets over and now inhabiting the back of a crushed box truck unconscious. The other two are staring open-mouthed at where their friend used to be and then at Power Girl. All this Brick gets to take in with a rigid jaw and sweep of his sunglass shaded eyes at night as he hovers a few feet away from the Kryptonian. "Nice cans," he deadpans as if THAT is what's most important right now before he lifts his gun and fires at one of the other goons on the roof, looking to tear off another misshapen limb.

Karen Starr has posed:
    You never really expect Kryptonian until you get one out of the grab bag of dogooders who show up to stop your evil plans. When you do, normally you expect either Big Blue, who holds back enough that he gets himself in trouble- or Supergirl, who doesn't quite have all the experience she needs just yet.

    Nobody really prepares for Power Girl, who has all of the experience, but just enough anger not to hold /that/ much back. For example, she's perfectly happy to have sent the middle thug into a far away truck. She rounds upon the other two, just as one falls from a shot from the 4-inch man. Her eyes narrow. The comment, unwarranted.

    Still, she redirects this anger- turning and drawing back a fist. If she hits him, the poor mutant might end up in the woods before he's finished falling, and sadly for Brick- and the other mutants present- she doesn't look like that punch has taken all that much anger out of her demeanor.

Brick Bardo has posed:
     "Goddamn, her arm might be even better," Brick actually momentarily stunned as he watches this mutant fly off over the rooftops and go crashing into the treeline that surrounds the lakeside town. It puts him in mind of the first woman he'd met when he crashed who had effortlessly picked up his spaceship sunk into deep mud like it was made of paper. Sure it was small but it had to have at least weighed as much as she did or more. How strong were people on this planet he wondered again as he stares at Power Girl and then finds himself gliding backwards slightly when her eyes momentarily focus on him.

     Down below the other two have finally disentangled themselves when the one who hasn't been shot groans and then lets out a ferocious belch. "I don't, I don't feel so good man. I don't..." his words slurring off as he starts slowly expanding like Violet Beauregarde on a Wonka Tour. The belch is moreso what gets Brick to look down through the hole in the roof and when he sees it he lets loose a curse while the one with the missing arm looks between his expanding buddy and then up at Brick...and looses a nasty grin.

     "Hey pipsqueak! Arrest this!" he hollers, grabbing his 'friend' by one bulging ankle and then whipping him upwards to crash through the ceiling next to him and Power Girl.

     He had only a split second to make a call. "GET DOWN!" hollers Brick as he leaps off his bike at the blonde and in the same moment grows himself as he looks to shield her from the blast. Which might work better if his height didn't top out at 5'1". Whatever should happen next though the expanding goon bursts, a pressure wave of impressive strength mixed with blood and bone shrapnel that tears apart most of the remainder of the roof.

Karen Starr has posed:
    A split second is an eternity.

    It starts when Karen hears from down below the voices of the unstable mutants. "Knew it." she states, before the chain reaction starts occurring- the man turning into a grotesque bomb. In those seconds, Power Girl begins stretching time. As if everyone and everything had to move through at first water, then molasses, and then everything stopped moving entirely.

    Her eyes look through them, investigate them- each mutant inspected at the genetic level for the source of their grotesque alterations. The cause of their detonation, too.

    It's Christmas after all, and these hooligans are the recipients of exactly one gift. Karen is a genius. Everybody forgets that- because it's really, really easy to forget that, and she's so very ready for people to overlook it.

    The 4-inch man leaps in front of her to block the blow, and Power Girl rolls her eyes. She floats up and around Brick, and from that central position, lets loose with red light. The first target is the projectile thug. As he twists in the air, she cuts through his side- excising a kidney but creating two holes from which the pressure can be relieved.

    She does the same for Day of the Tentacle. Then the man in the truck down the street. This means that everyone's been Vented. They're all probably in pain.

    For her part, Karen does not catch the flying thug despite that he is now likely to live. She also does not catch Brick. "I don't think any of you get what you're dealing with here. I'm going to tell you one last time to surrender, or else you're going to feel much worse than you feel now."

Brick Bardo has posed:
     Had he stayed his normal 4 inch tall size then maybe the impact of hitting the roof wouldn't have hurt so much. It was the first time he had tried using his power since arriving on Earth and instead of a heroic dive Brick instead finds himself slamming on the ground hard enough to taste blood in his mouth. Meanwhile the only thug still standing is the one down below with one arm who glowers up at Power Girl and seems about to say more until the buddy he'd just thrown comes rolling back down through the hole and lands with a 'thwomp' nearby with two burning holes in his side and the smell of burnt flesh. Seconds pass as he mulls over his options and then showing a surprising amount of intelligence for a hired thug he declares, "I give up!" and drops to his knees, his one remaining hand going behind his head.

     Brick meanwhile doesn't stand, still seeing stars as he crawls over to the edge of the roofhole and growls down, "Garish! Where is he! The guy who turned you all into these things!"

     "The other little guy? He left yesterday. Gave us our powers, said we were good testing and split. Didn't mention we'd wind up looking like this though. Oh and he gave us this too I guess," the goon mentions, pulling from a pocket a tiny bit of metal and wires. The IFF from Garish's ship that Brick thought he had left on.

     "Dammit!" Brick swears, rising to his feet, blood rushing to his head as he adjusts to his larger size. It wasn't easy to maintain but here on this planet at least it felt a bit more normal, the buildings and surroundings didn't seem quite so enormous. A moment to steady himself like someone that has been drinking too much and stood up too quickly and then he twists to face Power Girl, expecting to look her eye to eye...and instead finding even in his 'giant' state he's merely chest height to the off-world amazon. "And that's just great too. Where the hell you come from anyhow? This is my case, I ain't looking for help Doll," he informs her coldly despite all she just did...and despite only one of them being doll-sized a minute ago. Not that he'd seen most of it beyond the one punch, holstering his gun as he talks to her and pulling a flask from his jacket in its place.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen stares at the man inside for a moment, before allowing Brick to make his interrogation. By now, the police are on their way. While Brick converses with the still standing thug, Karen can be seen zipping away in a blur- depositing the unconscious thugs, one after another, in front of the community center.

    Almost like it's a chore, rather than the right thing to do.

    When they're all gathered up, there's an intake of breath, and she freezes the unconscious, mutated men to the spot. Then, she's floating inside. By then, the conversation has died down. She points outside, to where his friends are frozen, and expects him to follow.

    If he doesn't, he's going to get hit- so there's plenty on the line.

    Eventually, she's flying back up to Brick. She floats up until he's eye level, remaining a full foot below the lip of the building. "Call me Doll again and you're going to spend the rest of your time on Earth without any teeth. I go by Power Girl, and if I hadn't been here, you'd be well and dead, with a lot of collateral damage, so you can thank Krypton tomorrow morning that you're even waking up to meet it."

Brick Bardo has posed:
     There's no real right left in what were little more than small-town goons given a modicum of power and quickly finding out that they were still quite low on the pecking order in this world. And now missing limbs. As they patiently wait for the police to arrive Brick meanwhile square off with Power Girl on the shattered roof of the Community Center, pausing in his flask sip a moment only to tilt it back and finish his swig before he caps it away.

     "Yeah alright fine, Power Girl. First it's Wonder Woman, now it's Power Girl, tomorrow I got penciled in coffee with Amazing Miss. Thanks for your help but I had it under control. You ain't seen half of what I can do and I've handled punks like this my whole life, fact they're a bit taller don't make any difference to me," he claims, tapping the side of his sunglasses. His hoverbike zips over, still miniature in scale but soon that fails to matter as Brick returns to his 4 inch scale, sliding onto the seat as he shrinks. His voice slightly squeakier despite the amplifier he finishes, "Sooner I'm off this overgrown rock the better. See ya Power," his bike zipping off with a high-pitched whine while a drumbeat below from the still running speakers below carries up to PG 'Never Gonna Give You Up.'