14358/The Road from NOWHERE

The Road from NOWHERE
Date of Scene:	09 March 2023
Location:	Queens
Synopsis:	A ghost from Divine's past catches up with her. Luckily The Girlfriend Squad was there to help.
Cast of Characters:	Divine, Cindy Moon, Molly Hayes

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Divine has posed:
It is an absolutely lovely early March day in the city of New York. Specifically, the burough of Queens. Why Queens? Because Divine is on a little group date with Cindy and Molly. Where are they going?

Steve's Comic Books.

Why are they going there? Because it is absolutely a place that her lovely companions will enjoy, and Divine has never set foot in such a place. The subway ride was uneventful, because, well, she's scary as hell, even dressed in Soccer Mom Chic. Fluffy maroon sweater, black leggings and her combat boots. ... Goth Soccer Mom, okay, fine.

They come up the stairs from the subway, and Divine squints against the late winter sun, smiling up at it. "This... This should be fun, right? I've never been in one of these places."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy has hair hair pinned back with short princess bangs, wearing a red coat with the sleeves rolled up, a black tanktop, and a pair of jeggings. A nice pair of brown leather boots and very little makeup because she's young, asian, and doesn't have to. "I've actually been to this shop!" She grew up in Queens, actually. At least for a few years anyways.

The idea of a date was, actually, nice.

She needed it. Getting out of the house for something other than going to work or going to Divine's is good for the soul. Sun on her face, comically large sunglasses on her eyes. She strolls along with Divine and Molly with a Squirtle backpack because she's young, asian, and can.

Molly Hayes has posed:
    And Molly makes three. The girl with a bright purple Splatoon squid hat complete with two loooong tentacles that hang to either side of her head (AND DOUBLE AS MITTENS) is there. She loves a good train ride, but her backpack isn't quite so super colorful. Just a basic black backpack for carrying Loot and Swag and sometimes books and board games in. There are, of course, a half-dozen pins of cute animals and gay stuff along with hanging charms.

    "Eeeeee!" she squeals, "I love comic book shops!" She's wearing a baggy hoodie with cat ears on it in a pale pink, with jeans and her sneakers. It's a pullover, tho, so nobody can see the unicorn-adorned tank top she's wearing. "You've been here, too?" she asks, hopping on one foot, then the other, smiling bigly at Cindy. "Ohmanohman I can't wait to see what's new! I haven't been to a comic shop since I moved, actually..." she ponders, frowning.

Divine has posed:
The half-Kryptonian clone is relaxed and smiling as she walks down the street with two of her favorite people. She listens to Molly's joyful ramble and resists the urge to reach down and muss her hair. Instead, she reaches out both hands to take one of Molly's and one of Cindy's as they walk down the street. "I'm happy you're both here with me. This isn't how I thought my life would turn out when I was left on the street. It's so much better than I ever thought it could be."

Coming up to the end of the block is when Cindy might feel a buzz of the old Silk Sense. It's not strong, and it doesn't feel like a danger directed at her, but as seconds go by, it begins to ratchet up. The trio pass by a man in a suit on a cell phone. He doesn't seem any more sinister than any other corporate drone.

Cars drive by, and a white van with a gear rack turns the corner. Clearly nothing sketchy going on here. In broad daylight. In Queens.

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy, who is certainly not notorious for her smiling, can't help grinning at the jubilation radiating off Molly like a sunflare. She too resists the urge to lean over and kiss the top of the tiny squirts head, but instead she shakes hers and squeezes Divine when it slips fingers into her own. "You are absolutely adorable, you know that?" To one or both of them, there's no reason it can't be both.

All the mushie talk about having them in her life and Cindy beams a smile up at her, leaning against her. Favoring wrapping her arm around the big Kryptonian for a split second before she gets that itch at the base of her skull...

Her posture tenses a little.. gaze turning to look around her as if she's expecting something to come out of a side alley and attack them. That doesn't happen, but when it gets worse, like a buzzing phone laid against her spine, her disposition changes.

She pulls away from Divine and cants her head, watching the man with the cellphone with her brow furrowed.. she moves so quickly that people who don't move quickly likely don't even realize HOW quickly she's moving. Reactions on high alert, her whole focus goes to that white panel van as it rounds the corner.

Trust the force Cindy.

Molly Hayes has posed:
    "Life's waaaaay better when you can share it with people you love!" Molly just about chirps, making a happy sound when she feels a hand in hers. "I'm just. Beyond lucky! Old friends an' new friends! It's like wearing my favorite hat but all the time!" she says with joy.

    Unfortunately, Molly has no survival instinct. Not beyond the average stranger danger reflexes. Then again, if someone dropped a piano on her, she'd be jsut fine. So whatever evolutionary pot of gold gave her invulnerability meant she didn't have a need to go too far beyond common sense.

    And especially nowhere near Cindy's super senses. "Aw hey!" she notices the shift and tugs on Divine's hand. "What's up?" she asks, looking around. "You see a shop you wanted to stop in at?" she seems to be focused on storefronts and not vans or people. Maybe she'll figure it out after spending more time with the spidery sort. For now, though she just hugs Divine's arm and tries to figure out exactly what Cindy was looking at. Clouds? Ice cream truck? Dude with a mullet?

Divine has posed:
Divine almost beams, radiating like the sun. This is incredibly nice. A lovely day, two of her favorite people. What could go wrong? When Cindy pulls away, that gets her attention. Her eyes flicker to where Cindy is watching, and her eyes narrow. She's about to ask what's up, when -another van- bursts from the alley across the street. The work van screeches to a halt, and a middle-aged plumber with a mustache yells out the window at being cut off.

The black van screams down the street another half block, then pulls onto the sidewalk. Six armed and armored men burst out of the side door of it, all of them armed with things that look almost like science fiction ray guns.

They lift the weapons and fire indiscriminately. Beams of red light spray out and hit everyone nearby who doesn't manage to dodge.

Everyone who gets hit should be confused, because the light is warm, like a summer's day and seems to have no effect. Except on one person.

Divine cries out and stumbles, falling to one knee. "W-what the f-fuck!?"

One of the armed men points. He's wearing expensive sunglasses. He must be in charge. "Retreive the asset, ignore the two with her, they're of no consequence!"

The rest of the men start jogging, intermittantly firing those red beams into the clone, keeping her down.

Cindy Moon has posed:
It was a van, so she wasn't THAT far off.

Cindy's attention shifts suddenly just as the black van comes roaring out of the alleyway, a perplexed look on her face when they screach up onto the sidewalk and start aiming weapons at everyone. Those guns mighty expensive, be a shame of something were to happen to one of them.

In her experience, however, Divine is impossible to hurt. Not that she's ever tried or experimented, but for all she knows there's next to nothing that can do her girlfriend any harm. So she doesn't try to pull her out of the way, that would be a waste of effort.

What with rays firing in every direction.

Which is weird, honestly. While her reflexes are on point, keeping her out of harms way with a sumersault side flip that has the beam blazing between her legs rather than hitting her in the chest. This happens because she's quick, not because her senses told her she was in danger.

Webbing fires from her wrist, hand extended out on one hand to gummy up the firing hole of one of those weapons. While the other fires at the guy who had been talking on his cellphone. It hits him in the between the shoulders and yanks him back out of the way of the beam.

It isn't until she HEARS Divine's cry that she realizes, perhaps, WHY her senses didn't tingle.

Asset they say?

No consequence they say?

She steps up in front of Divine, after laying a hand on her shoulder to make sure she's okay. There's enough room up there for Molly to stand beside her, sliding out of her coat with an effortless turn of her arms, and her neck cranking side to side with an audible pop.

"I'm about to fuck you up."

Molly Hayes has posed:
    Oh. OH. Now Molly sees it. It's. A van. And. Dudes with blasters? "What in spumoni?!" she exclaims as people just start getting zorched everywhere. But it's not a bad zorching? Nobody's getting hurt? It leaves Molly bewildered enough for /her/ to get hit by a beam--and it just makes her blinks. "Oh. Whoa. This. Is nice and warm. Hey! Cindy! Divy! It's... uh... sun? Warmth?" she's trying to figure this out when Divine hits the ground.

    Then she gets it. "...kryptonian... red sun... oh fancy britches no you don't!" she moves to stand in front of Divine on the side opposite Cindy, trying to block any further shots headed her way. She's not even susceptible to sunburn, what's a sunlight raygun going to do to her? Nothing, right?

    "Y'all just back off!" she shouts, reaching up to fist-bump Cindy if she can do a little 'dap' action before things get REAL. "You don't wanna deal with this!" She's still trying to use her words. Good girl. The way she moves her hand, the 'this' she's gesturing to is herself and Silk.

Divine has posed:
The five men that start to charge towards Divine and company all seem to be expressly confident. Until obe of them gets their gun webbed. He pulls the trigger, but the webbing just glows red. He growls and slings the gun back, instead, reaching for a ball shaped object on his tac-vest. He yanks it free and yanks a pin, letting the spoon clatter to the ground. "This should finish the job," he growls, priming the grenade before he throws it. It's not a normal grenade throw, though. He throws it -up- in a very high arc. When it bursts, the entire street is bathed in red, and there's no shielding her from all of that. Divine falls to the ground fully, curling up in a little ball.

The goons keep coming, slinging their rifles and making ready to fistfight a pair of young ladies. In broad daylight. The first one to arrive, lunges at Cindy, throwing an, honestly pretty textbook, series of jabs for the young lady. The second goes for Molly, looking to just grab her and get her out of the way so the other three can bundle up their prize!

Cindy Moon has posed:
Knuckles wrap against Molly's beside her, letting the more colorful of the two voice the one and only chance for them to back away without getting really uncomfortably large medical bills.

Cindy hisses when the grenade comes out and was ready to dive on it, until it goes flying high into the air where she wouldn't be able to get to it in the half second before it explodes in a shower of red light bathing down on the sidewalk. She can hear Divine hit the pavement behind her, but there's nothing she can do about that just yet. Not with the five goons coming towards her and Molly. The text book nature of those thrown punches wouldn't have matter because there's no way those punches are faster than she can react to them. The ones that might hit still connect, she swats away, but she's ducking and weaving in a way that looks like she sees what he's going to do even before he does it.

Three, four punches. She dances backwards, intentionally putting herself closer to Divine.

Five, six. Her hands are held tight agains ther chest, left down at herside, right curled across her breasts. The seventh punch, she tilts forward and to the right to let a jab glance off her left shoulder, then snaps her palm forward into his chest. he flies back away from her as another goon comes up, trying to capitalize on her being busy dodging punches to grab Divine. Which is why she was moving closer... she turns and pushes the Kryptonian clone with the ball of her foot, sliding her out of reach, steps over the goons extended hand and uses his momentum to throw him at the storefront with a twirl. Hair flaring out around her as she takes a low crouch stance (classic spidey pose) at the one she'd been fighting starting to stand up. "Last chance, hoss."

Molly Hayes has posed:
    Cindy is the more dangerous one, absolutely. She's lithe, she's fast, her spidey-senses can keep her moving and the fight going in her favor as she dodges punches. Molly is, in fact, almost completely distracted. Almost. As fun as it is watching Miss Moon dancing with some goons, she's got one coming at her, too. The flashbang of stellar crimson makes her growl, baring her teeth and... well she kind of looks more like an angry kitten like that. Not that she's trying to distract the guy coming at her!

    She's got smol on her side, though, and slips away from being grabbed, ending up on the side of the street. "Hands off our girl!" she grunts, grabbing a parking meter and just ripping it out of the ground. The post snaps and she wields it as if it's no heavier than a paper towel tube. The swing she goes for, though, is anything but gentle. She warned them. She warned them all. It's a hard, upward swing between one guy's legs. The impact to his bits (and now pieces) comes with a comical *JANGLE* of the coins in the meter as he's lifted a meter off the ground from the force of the hit.

    Before the poor bastard can even land, she's swinging for the shins of the second one closest to her. Can't run away when you've got two broken legs. They might as well be matchsticks compared to the force of the swing of that meter. *JANGLE!*

    Don't threaten Molly or her cute girlfriends. Or call her inconsequential. She really hates that.

Divine has posed:
The inconsequential one right now is Divine. The Red Solar energy has wiped her out, made her easy pickings. Luckily for her, the Girlfriend Squad is picking up her slack.

Cindy is a dancer. Her fluid grace and impeccible movements make fighting her like fighting water. Even the grazing blows aren't enough to put her off her game. The guy she throws crashes into the barred window of a bodega, rattling the glass but thankfully not breaking it. He rolls off the bars with a groan and hits the sidewalk face first and unmoving. The other one flies back, nearly all the way to his boss. He hits the ground and bounces and rolls to a stop, wheezing with his freshly broken ribs.

When Molly uses her size to her advantage, the man just shrugs, heading for the recently relocated Divine. Until he hears the parking meter jingle. He looks over in horror as this tiny young woman wrenches the thing from the ground like it were cheap plastic. "What the fu--," is all he gets out before he's hit in his (no longer) favorite place and sent sailing. The second target's shins are shattered in one blow, dropping him like a rock as he scrabbles away on his hands and knees. A small black folder, almost like a passport or badge holder, drops from his pocket as he flees.

The last goon looks between Cindy and Molly, then looks to his ruined compatriots. "Abort mission!" He grabs the guy with the shattered legs and the one with no favorite bodily area anymore and drags them back to the van, looking over his shoulder the whole time. The one who hit the storefront is already crawled most of the way back to the van. Unless pursued, the vehicle is loaded up, the guy in the expensive sunglasses the last aboard. "We'll be back. We'll be ready, she belongs to us."

The van peels out, blasting into Queens traffic, leaving the three women, only two standing, in the street.

Cindy Moon has posed:
Oh heeeeell no.

This is their Kryptonian. There are many like it, but this one is theirs.

They went and messed with the wrong 'girlfriend squad' and there aint no walking away from it without at least a bruised ego. Molly just castrated a dude with a parking meter and there's a few laying around wishing they had a better role-model, but that dude with the 'boss vibes' hasn't even seen who he's fu- uh... Sorry Molly. FLUBBIN' with.

Cindy jumps with impeccable dexterity and strength towards the pint sized powerhouse wielding her parking meter. She lands in a weird bent leg crouch atop the heavy business end and uses Molly swinging it around to propel herself towards the retreating van with the kind of 'oh no you don't' speed of a Silk sized bullet.

They may get into the van, they may even get away, but she hits the side of the panel hard enough to knock it up on toe wheels. If she'd been a little quicker, she may have gotten them, but her immediate desire to wreck damage on a fool messing with their kryptonian girlie is overshadowed by her CONCERN for said Kryptonian.

"Molly, is she okay?!" She's running back after the Super powered Team-up maneuver! Sliding on her knees beside Divine and, probably, Molly. "Tell me she's okay!"

Molly Hayes has posed:
    By the time the damage is done, Molly is dropping the parking meter and long after Cindy uses it as a convenient springboard. "S-sorry!" she stammers, sometimes forgetting her own strength. "Um. Um. I.. I broke stuff..." she watches the guys getting dragged back to the van and attempting to escape. She turns, though, now that the threat is abated. She trusts Cindy to do, well, something to the van and the guys. Even if it's shake up their tin can. Molly doesn't have her jetpack today anyway.

    Besides, there's something way more important. "Divvy!" she drops down next to Divine and tries, comically, to pull the bigger girl into her arms. "C'mon, c'mon, you'll be okay, right? The bad light's gone! The bad guys are gone! Um.. um.. um.. bask! Bask in the sunny day glow of New York City!" ...said nobody ever until now. She frets, unshouldering her backpack and pulling out a box of Keebler fudge-striped cookies. "Here, have a snack! No, wait, you don't need to eat.."

    She's fretting when Cindy returns, and there's plenty of room on Divine's other side for the member of the Girlfriend Squad to provide her presence to the tall clone. "I think she's okay! It's. It's just bad sunlight, you know? The uh... the red stuff.. it. Like. Is sunlight from a different class of star? Oh animal crackers I kept falling asleep during astronomy class... I dunno what class of star it is, I just know that big red starlight is bad for our girl! It saps her strength! Squishies her muscles! No strong, no fly! It's almost as bad as the green stuff!"

    She bumps her nose against Divine's temple, "B-but we're outside, a-and it's daylight. So... so our golden sun should... should fix her in a few minutes... right?" She looks to them both as if they know the answer to the question.

Divine has posed:
Cindy sets that van up on two wheels, putting a person-sized dent in the back panel. It does rock up on two wheels, but the driver is good and manages to not let the thing roll violently. Thwarted, they finally escape into the sea of vehicles that is the City That Never Sleeps.

Divine is still curled in on herself when Molly, who is at current infinitely stronger than Divine, manages to roll her over and sort of pull her into her lap. It is difficult due to size differences, but managable.

It is an intensely long moment of stillness. The clone is breathing steadily, but her strength has been sapped. Drained. Dissolved. It seems to take years, but in all honestly it's probably only another minute before the tall woman stirs, blue eyes fluttering open.

"I didn't like that. What ... What happened?"

She smiles wanly, shakily reaching a hand up to first cup Molly's cheek, and then Cindy's.

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy is right there, clutching at Divine's hand in one hand and throwing the other around Molly. Comforting her because she's babbling, but in a way that the spider can absolutely understand. She's just not a vocal person.. she holds onto her terror at seeing Divine all laid up and weakened. Forehead laid against the back of Molly's shoulders to hide her face because anyone who looks at her will know exactly how scared she actually was.

Then she'd have to punch them.

Because she's also very mad.

When she hears Divine, however, she breaths a sigh of relief from deep in her gut and lifts her forehead off Molly's shoulder to accept a palm laid against her cheek, turning to kiss it and hold it against her. "A bad tanning bed experience."

"We talked to the manager."

"I totally Karen'd for you..." She isn't crying.

You're crying.

Molly Hayes has posed:
    "Just a few minutes, right?" Molly babbles as she's leaning into Cindy's half-embrace. She's hyperventilating just a little. The problem with being invincible is seeing people you are about who aren't so invincible being hurt. Or in this case, it's ten times worse because /usually/ Divine /is/ invincible. But right now she's not. And that shakes Molly. She squirms and wriggles against both girls. Then gasps at the sounds and the stirring.

    She nuzzles into the palm on her cheek. Her head leans back some and nuzzles at Cindy, too, and she exhales a long, shaky sigh of relief. "...there uh... was five dudes... an' a van... and they were shooting bad sunlight at you..." she mumbles. "...we bashed 'em good but those jerks got away. Someone really wants you an' it's not us..." she tries to make a little joke, but her quavering voice doesn't exactly make it to the point of funny she thought it would be in her head.

    "Um... weaponized... red... starlight...? I know it's a Bad Thing(TM) for kryptonianianians... but... I.. I guess you get all the fun stuff and all the bad stuff, too..." she tries to get an arm around Cindy as she just wants to hug the hell out of both girls. "...I broke his jimmies..."

Divine has posed:
The longer she's there in the sun, the faster she seems to recover. It's another couple moments of fierce hugs all around. Her smile seems to strengthen as she does, and she nods once at Cindy. "I knew I could count on you to speak to the manager for me," she says, gathering them both up, heedless of any lookie loos. She honestly probably only needs another ten minutes or so to get back to normal.

"Red sunlight, huh," she says to Molly's statement, that smile turning into a frown. "I think..." She points to the thing the guy dropped. "What's that?" She tries to hide it, but her stomach is churning. She has a really good idea who this was, but she doesn't know why.

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy had seen that damn badge fall out, but between flying at a van and then worrying to hell and back about Divine, she forgot. She peers over when Divine mentions it, all bundled up in hugs and doing hugs and generally feeling a lot better now that Divine is joking about her jokes.

"Looks like a way for me to find those dick birds so I can finish beating up their van." She holds out a hand and webs it, yanking it up into her hand so she doesn't have to dislodge from the pair. Peeling it open to peer down at what may be contained within the mysterious wallet!

If there's money, she's taking it.

"She hit a dude in the twigs an berries with a whole, ass parking meter." Because that bares repeating.

Molly Hayes has posed:
    Molly nods quickly,"Mmhmm. Red sunlight. Bad juju. It's why it didn't do anyhting to the rest of us... oh man if we were, like, Supergirl....s... or something, we'd all be in bad shape..." she grumps and snuggles Cindy and Divine more. "But we're not! We're all super in our own super way! Cuz. We are." She nods, totally forgetting about her cookies--and the envelope.

    "...oh.... that's... the guy that... ah applesauce I .. I think I broke his legs into a million pieces... I um. Um... it was okay... right?" she asks. "...cuz they hurt you... an' I wanted to hurt 'em real bad back..." she mumbles, struggling with the moral quandary of shattering shins and busting balls with a goddess-damned parking meter.

    Then she giggles at Cindy, "...hee.. yeah... I did..." and gets cozy in the cuddlepile in the middle of the sidewalk.

    She'll be fine.

Divine has posed:
Inside the little folder thing is, sadly, no money. It's an ID badge for a 'Trevor Morris'. It has basic information like security clearances and basic vitals. on the bottom is a logo of an N and W angled into each other with a stylized void between them.

Divine tries to peek over Cindy's shoulder and, let's be fair, she's a lot taller so it's not hard. She slumps a little with a sigh. "It's them. The ones that, uh, made me." She shakes her head. "It has to be. Who else would come after me, call me an asset and have exactly the things they need to put me down? It can't be anyone else."

She looks at Molly and smiles gently. "And since it has to be the people who made me, you gave them the least part of what they deserve. They didn't die, and what you did was in the defense of someone else. And clearly you didn't enjoy it. ... Much. You're fine."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy doesn't dislodge as she goes through the folder with a little frown. This stuff looks important and they had very obviously been targetting Divine, so she was starting to worry precisely what Divine herself has just voiced. Her dark eyes look up at the Kryptonian with that frown pulled into a very unpleasant expression.

This must be the kind of look someone raised in a bunker to fight an ancient spider deity looks like. The kind of person who was taught how to hurt people very badly, but makes the decision not to.

Her nose wrinkles, lips puckering in a scowl.

Then she blows out that anger because Divine is okay and they're all fine. She leans her head on Molly and slings her arm around Divine, squeezing them both really tight and kind of protectively. Despite the fact either one of them could throw her across the City.

She's probably going to go find Trevor Morris though.

He is not going to enjoy that visit. at. all.

Molly Hayes has posed:
    Molly does, eventually, free a hand so she can open the little box of cookies. "..here.. c'mon... cheer up. Chocolate's good for up-cheer. Totally new catchphrase. Up-cheer! Ok I hate it already." She sighs, her inner monologue taking an exterior walk. Or rather, naked streaking through a football game. She shakes her head and stuffs a cookie in her mouth. She's nervous.

    But not too nervous to talk with her mouth full. Cromnch cromnch cromnch. Gulp. "...that's dumb. They're dumb. Everyone's gotta have someone or something chasing after them... it sucks..." she pouts, looking even more adorable than usual for it. Then she sighs. "...we still wanna go to Steve's? Stuff like fun will take our minds off of it but... I 'unno, is it smart to take our minds offa it? They'll be back. Sometime. Somewhere."

Divine has posed:
Pride and joy for these two ladies flows through Divine's chest. They not only saved her from being taken, but she knows they'd do it again. Whatever it takes. Honestly, the cuddlepile has helped almost as much as the sun has. Worried still, but her strength returning, Divine smiles, snuggling with Molly and wearing a few crumbs. "Of course we can still go. I'm not afraid of these people. They made me, they don't own me. I--We'll tear them apart. Maybe with some help, too."

She knows a guy.

As if to prove her strength is back, at least enough, she gathers up Cindy and Molly and just stands up with them before settling them back on their feet. "I'm feeling better already. Let's go look at geek stuff, and you both can try and explain these things to me."

She holds her hands out, one towards either of them. Holding hands is important!

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy tries to smile, but she's the pessimistic one of the lot. She'll put one on for Molly though and even turn to kiss her temple when she starts looking all fretty with the cookies. Let the rays of darkness cast away by the adoration of loved ones. She pushes some hair behind her ear with the tips of her fingers. Then they're both being lifted by a rejuvenated Divine.

That does a lot to clear away more of her anger.

"Yeah, I'm not letting these dog farts ruin our day out, screw them. Let me grab my jacket." She'd tossed it over on ... that newspaper stand. Once she's got it, replaced it and flicked her hair out from underneath it, she reaches out and takes Divine's hand. Fingers curling together.

"Can we get a sandwich, too? I know a place just down the street.. Angelos. Fresh local sourced vegis and never frozen meats." Her lips smack a few times, playing off the last dark corners. Being near to the two is definitely helping, but once someone tickles Silk's mean side, it's hard to put that back in the box.