14416/Rainbows, Claws and Batteries!

Rainbows, Claws and Batteries!
Date of Scene:	14 March 2023
Location:	Financial District
Synopsis:	Klaw tries to steal a vibranium battery! Red Sonja, Tawky Tawny and Julie power manage to delay him long enough to force him to abandon his mission, but can't detain him in the end.
Cast of Characters:	Julie Power, Mary Jane Watson, Tawky Tawny

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Julie Power has posed:
It's a decently nice day down in New York, the skyscrapers shimmering moistly from the recent downpour, but if you stand at the edge of the rivers, you can see rainbows. The sun about halfway up in the sky, the morning has mostly passed and students of the recently opened CUNY Energy Research Labs in the tenth floor of a downtown skyscraper are yearning for a break. Down below, people mingle. As the lab technicians work on trying to study the design of the vibranium battery they had been loaned, one of them moves to open a cupboard clow to the windows to get some tools, freezing the moment as he stares into it....

A countdown can be clearly seen, ticking down from twenty to nineteen, wires connected to bundles of red sticks that fill the tool storage. Scrambling to run, the scientist yells the words "BOMB! OUT HERE!" as he dashes towards the door, followed by others in a mad scramble...

With a loud explosion the windows and some of the wall is ripped out of the building, and moments later ziplines emerge from the building on the opposing street, a group of four people taking them down into the ripped open building. Masked, their leader's right hand... hand replacement gleams in the early sunlight: Ulyssis Klaw!


When the sound of the detonation runs through the streets, Julie Power raises from the ground about two streets to the south, a rainbow trail zooming in on the incident.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Having been there over on guard duty, Mary Jane had been in uniform as an agent posted to the laboratory. Right over as the warning comes in as she's inside the lab, she can see the technicians scramble evne as she's going to call out an alert along the comms to give a warning.. And getting into position to help evacuate and lockdown the area, but all she has is a few seconds..

But the explosion comes first, before she can do more than yell out some alerts and advance towards the technicians. She goes to speak ever so calmly even as glass rains down and some bits hit her. "Assault team inbound." Wtih that, a hand goes over to the massive broadsword carried on her back, and Mary Jane goes to let her other self come over. As she goes to unsheathe it, she moves towards the attacking group - at least the first one that she can see. Blade over in front of her as she goest o a defensive stance. And there is no longer Mary Jane present.

Instead there is Red Sonja. Her grin goes feral over as she sees Ulysses Klaw. A moment is taken as Mary Jane goes to rapidly give Sonja at least enough instruction to report who the attacker is. But she's some distance away - it will take her a minute or two to get all the way out!

Tawky Tawny has posed:
A few blocks away, a perfectly innocent tiger is just walking on the sidewalk, his nose in the latest Lee Grisham or John Child or some such novel that he travelled all the way into the city to get his paws on, as his local library branch in Happy Harbor didn't have it yet. He's garnering some odd looks, but the way he politely murmers little 'excuse me's as he winds his way through the foot traffic seems to assure the people around him that he is in fact paying attention, and is not trying to eat anyone.

And then, explosion. He stops in the middle of the sidewalk along with everyone else, and his ears swivel in the direction of the noise. His thoughts go first not to crime in progress, but that there must have been some horrible accident, and people may be hurt! He shoves the book into his satchel and starts to run toward the commotion to offer assistance. There's no situation that can't be improved by the involvement of a magical tiger, after all.

Julie Power has posed:
Faced with a combattant, three of the guys in purple suits scatter left and right, training their rifles onto Red Sonja. Bulky and connected with cables to backpacks those three wear, that stuff is clearly not run of the mill, and one of them had a much larger, heavier gun. But their leader? Klaw doesn't even grace the swordswoman with the dignity to look at her, instead slowly walking through the rubble and almost lazily blasting a lab cart out of his way as he moves towards the holder of the battery. One wrong move and the situation might... literally turn hell.


Meanwhile, Lighspeed is dashing around the corner to the street, where the incident happened...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Blade out in front of her, Red Sonja looks at the men with their weapons. Klaw is clearly the leader and the most dangerous one, but she can't just charge directly at him - not with his men behind her and risk herself being shot in the back. She would call out, "Come, coward! Or do you fear losing your other hand! I'll make sure to lop it off as more than just the wrist!" Taunt given. Time to see if Klaw was the type to rise to the bait or prioritize his job. She is at least in a defensive posture.

The woman didn't know what those guns could do so best to play defensive and when they fired at her go to dodge.

Tawky Tawny has posed:
You'd think that when faced with a 300 pound tiger-man charging down the sidewalk, most people would give way and let him through. But there's a wave of people trying to run AWAY from the incident and it's like trying to force his way upstream. Tawny weighs his options, and decides that the need for speed is greater than his desire not to frighten people. He steps off the sidewalk and into the bike lane.

Unlike some of his friends, there's no great boom and flash of magical lightning when Tawky Tawny calls on his powers. Just a sort of brief shimmer around his form, and a slight pressure change in the air, the sort that makes one think a storm is approaching.

And then, abruptly, there's an actual Bengal tiger in the bike lane, and he opens his mouth wide and ROARS to clear a path!

NOW they're getting out of his way, as he sprints around the corner just opposite to where Lightspeed is coming onto the scene.

Oh my, there are guns.

"Crap," the tiger whispers to himself.

Julie Power has posed:
Taunted, Klaw stops for a moment, the head turning to face her while the cybernetic hand stays down, but the right one rises to about his shoulder's height, outstretched like to halt his own hirelings. "Ohhh? they stationed a SHIELD goon with a toothpick here?" He seems amused by the woman. "You'll not stop me, I take that thing there and you can live. Or..." The threat is left unspoken as he slowly raises his gun arm.


Down on street level, the people start to dart away for multiple reasons, but the street at least is clear. But the smoke and dust is billowing out from the tenth floor. Lightspeed pulls up as the tiger is about at the entry of the building, daring a peek... and promptly darts back down again, pulling a phone out "Crap crap crap... Where's the number... where's the number..."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And as Klaw goes to reply to her taunts, Red Sonja goes for the quick and easy route. Rather thanc harging him, she simply moves faster than most normal humans can, and grabs one of the enforcers he has with him to use as a shield. If Klaw shoots his own hireling, it's definitely not going to go well with the others. If he doesn't shoot, then it stalls him longer for reinforcements to arrive.

So time to see whether he would hold back for a moment or just go to blast.

Tawky Tawny has posed:
The tiger, meanwhile, is assessing the situation as best he can with the enhanced senses this form affords him. He can't see through walls, so he focuses on the sounds and the smells, forming a mental map of where everyone is located. Lightspeed landing nearby is an unexpected boon, though.

"Hey," he calls out, crossing the remaining distance between them at a bound. "You definitely look like a hero. Can I help? I mean, I don't want to get in your way, but-" he catches himself, shakes his big head. "Sorry, hi, I'm a talking tiger and a good guy. I think I hear about... four? Maybe five bad guys up there. I could sneak up the stairs from the inside, if you want? Or - or maybe you could pick me up and toss me at them? I can make myself a lot smaller!"

A seasoned vigilante, this one isn't. But at least he's enthusiastic?

Julie Power has posed:
Oh, Klaw turns as Jane jumps to drag one of his hirelings into a chokehold, taking two steps back... towards the battery in its podest. The hireling himself? He struggles with the arm around his neck, the cabled gun blasting a stream of blood red light just past Klaw into the wall, turning the concrete into molten slag. Klaw seems to think a moment... and then raise his prothetic to train over Red Soja. "You seen Terminator 2? What did Arnold say again?" he taunts back, giving the answer himself. "Hasta La Vista, Baby." Then, a sound wave practically hammers the two off the edge. The hireling still attached to his cable from the rappelling over, and would end hanging from the edge...


Taking a landing, Julie blinks twice as she looks up from the phone, then shrugs a little. "Eh, I could give you a lift, sure. Do you know the X-men? I mean, that thing Colossus and Wolverine do occasionally? A Fastball Special? We could try that, but it might hurt if you don't know how to catch yourself. Or I could give you a normal lift up, but that is Klaw. Like, Fantastic Four enemy Klaw. Sure you want to be in on this?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Red Sonja is flung over the side, blasted along. Whether or not the Hireling is still alive or saved by the wire is somewhat beyond her attention span at the moment as she's blasted bcak all the way to nearly t oppling along! She goes to yank out a large blade from somewhere on her that's not her broadsword, stabbing it into the ground to slow her momentum even as friction peels off layers of the ceramic plating beneath her uniform. She rapidly gets up and sneers.

"Pathetic. I expected somewhat more from someone of your reputation. It appears to be rahter exaggerated." Armor peeled down almost to skin from the blast, but her fully back up on her feet and recovered.

Tawky Tawny has posed:
Tawny draws in a big breath and lets it out in a determined huff. "If I can help, I should help," he states firmly, although it kind of sounds like he's assuring himself as much as Julie. "I don't know those guys other than what I've read online, but if you can toss me at him, I'll make sure I catch myself properly." He flexes his claws to demonstrate what he means.

The tiger glances around, almost furtively. And then, suddenly, with that same slight shimmer and sense of distant storm, the tiger is gone and in its place is... a plush tiger toy, about the right size for a ten year old to haul around everywhere. "Just make sure I'm going in head first," his voice emits from somewhere inside it, tinny sounding like someone just pulled a string to make it talk.

Julie Power has posed:
The free hand of Klaw comes down, and the two goons still standing blast their laser rifles at Mary Jane Watson. A lightshow in the background, Klaw turns to reach and pick up the item he had set up the whole thing for, not seeming to bother to check how Mary deals with being out-torchlighted.


Lightspeed nods as she starts to offer her arms to pick up the tiger, then grins a little more as he turns into a little plush and she takes care of it. "Ok, I do my best to give you all the speed I can and then release you, ok?" She asks, but then already is darting up and away from the place, only to turn and speed up in a high arch and then back down towards the building, nearly from above the incident to draw right into the destoyed lab, letting go of her stuffy payload before veering to the side to yank at a henchman's gun cable.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Red Sonja just goes to leap through the air in as tight a sommersault as she can. Energy weapons don't have recoil, and if she dives to the side they can pretty easily redirect their blasts at her. All she can really do once she's committed to her acrobatics is hope that they're not experienced enough to just re-aim up at her and are caught by surprise at the maneuver. Each one in turn gets a blade through at them. The blades are aimed for their torsos - throwing daggers. She's not bothering to go for headshots. She needs speed, and doesn't have the time to properly aim.

Her real hope is that at least the thrown blades stun them and make them scramble rather necesarily than incapacitate them!

Tawky Tawny has posed:
The plush tiger, jostled by acceleration and wind, emits a very soft, "nnnnnnnngh" as he endures the slingshot assist. He wants to squeeze his eyes shut tight, but his eyes are marbles in this form, and he can't.

The soft sound increases in volume on approach, as if the plushie is gearing itself up for some kind of adorable toy brawl. Or maybe it's just feeling nauseous from the speed. The sound increases to a proper (but still adorable) growl as Lightspeed chucks him toward the bad guy.

And then there's an actual jesus-ham-eating-christ tiger soaring majestically through the air, half roaring, half shouting, "I'M A TIGER!" as it plummets into their midst with extended claws and slavering fangs!

Probably no one was expecting THAT, when they woke up this morning.

Julie Power has posed:
The lighter guy was oversteering as he was pulling his bulky laser weapon over Red Sonja, blasting over the ceramic plating of the torso several times before his aim is way off, painting the building on the other side of the road with red laser light. When the knife impacts his shoulder, the momentum together with the imbalanced movement turns his movement into a pirouette, and having been tied to the rappelling rope like his comrad, he ends up entangled in a spiral, at least taken out for the moment. The other guy though, hauling the heavier type, has a much better aim, and doesn't seem to be bothered too much by the knife impacting his harness. The red spray from his constant firing laser burns away more and more armor, and like a strange artist, he draws it over the dancing fighter, carving off more and more...

Just past the red beam of the laser, an orange streak draws through, followd by a rainbow arc, the business end of the former turning into a roaring growling beast of war, desined to impact at Klaw himself. He just had taken a hold on the battery, holding the thing when the heavy tiger imacts him and rips him to the ground, the battery skittering over the ground. But thrown over, Klaw is by far not defeated, shoving his sound amplificator right against the tiger and sending it up against the ceiling with a sudden shockwave. "Sod off!"

The curved arc of Lightspeed though yanks at the last gunman's cables, the twin cables separating from the backpack with a sparking hiss as the gun goes silent, right before a punch sends him to join his unfortunate first compannion that was thrown out by Klaw... Seems like it is down to the Klaw and the sudden teamup...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The charging of Red Sonja leaping through the air has the burning laser going over her torso. Her chest.. She can only bring her legs up to try and defend herself as seh goes for a landing, arms and legs curled tight. The blast somehow ends up blasting along her arms and stomach, over he legs.. Leaving her in very much something akin to what a mutant in the Savage Land might wear. She goes to hiss, take a moment to slash off the remannts of her outfit to free herself from it's restrictions.. And then hse's going to charge over towards Klaw, letting out a battle cry.

"Come, let's remove the other arm and see how you do!" She's ready to leap and dodge if she has to. Her charge at him is full steam and she is -extremely- fast thanks to the gifts that her goddess had given her. But she's also seen what even a low level blast from Klaw can do sos he's ready to evade if she can't take him in a full on charge.

Her blade is up and over, ready to as soon as seh's in line with him to try and slash him from stem to stern! She has no restraints, and is not holding back, and hopefully even a glancing strike might be cirppling and pierce clean through his armor. OF course, he was an extremely experienced and highly skilled warrior so it was very unlikely..

Tawky Tawny has posed:
The ferocious beast is on top of Klaw one moment, lifting one heavy paw to deliver another blow - and then there's a 'whoomp' and the snarling turns to an almost comical noise of utter confusion as the marauding tiger is blasted straight upward, and then a deep 'THOOM' as a large jungle cat slams into the ceiling with surprising force, and a deep growling 'whooooof' as all of the air is driven forcefully from his lungs. He's blinking his eyes disorientedly as his momentum reverses, and he crashes awkwardly onto the floor, legs akimbo as he tries to regain his balance.

"You can't just... throw me aside," the comment starts out breathless, but ends with indignant force as he rises to his feet. "I'm... a...." he gets his legs under him, "freaking..." the shoulders drop, the haunches flex, "TIGER!"

He launches himself at Klaw's backside while Sonja is distracting him in the front. His first impact told him it would take some work to get through that armor he's wearing, but he's still subject to physics. And so he goes low, claws slashing where he sees opportunities, but mainly to be a giant stumbling block slamming into the back of the man's legs as soon as he tries to get his footing.

Julie Power has posed:
Struggling to his feet from the impact, Klaw can't fully defend against the blow from the blade, the shimmering arc striking true and slicing right through the purple fatigue he wears, cleanly lobbbing off the right hand, exposing a swirling mess of orangeish energy contained within as he shrieks up in a strange surprised pain. But then, his strange weapon arm reconfigures a moment as he picks it up just to reattach it with a big grin. "That HURT."

Apparently magic does more damage than low grade adamantium though, as the magical beast's claws rip the suit and actually leave some of that orange mess swirling out of the body in strange tentaclish ways as he is thrown forward onto the concrete, blasting a miss-aimed shot into the wall of the building.

Julie on the other hand sends the entangled guy to hang with his buddies, which work on getting their feet into the safety stirrups to keep their feet and legs when hanging in their harness.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Klaw is driven backwards, and REd Sonja goes on hte offensive again. She moves to slash and skewer. "Then let us see if we chop you into little bits that works better!" She's more htan happy to try and find out as she goes to try and slice and dice him as rapidly as she can! "I do enjoy it when a target is able to take a bit!" She's not minding in the slightest as she goes on the attack, moving to the side to let the others going after him have a free range on him!

Tawky Tawny has posed:
Upon finding that his claws are, in fact, MORE effective at piercing this armor than conventional means, the big cat face actually seems to smile as the heavy blows become more surgical, aiming not to kill or maim but simply to ruin as much armor as possible. You know, so other people can kill and maim.

Suit sabotage completed, he then bounds aside to let the crazy lady take him on without his interference.

Julie Power has posed:
As Mary Jane starts to try and lob Klaw to bits, he presses his sonic amplifier into the ground to shoot himself up. Even as pieces of the sound-body seem to be lobbed off, they meld back the moment they touch others on the ground and he steps into them, while the joined attacks of the tiger beast and the Shield agent leave nothing but a swirling orange to purple humanoid figure with the sound amplifier the only seemingly solid item. But permanently harming him? Nope. And even as the battle goes on, he is not pasive, using the metal piece just as much as a club as sending the two flying as he seems to try to orient and seek something. "Where is it?!"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
As Red Sonja goes to launch herself up into the air, Red Sonja lets ou ta few mutters over at him as she goes to duck to the side. Thens he goes for something alternative when her current game plan is not working. A hand goes over to a flashbang, which she wait sfor him to be close, then goes to launch over at his head! Presuming it hits, she goes to try and move to slam into him if he's blinded!

Tawky Tawny has posed:
Tawny has no idea what 'it' the awful swirly man is looking for, but he does know that whatever it is, this guy needs to not find it. Reflexively, his bright green eyes flick around, searching the rubble on the floor for anything that looks important. But no - he doesn't want to spot it now, where the Bad Man could follow his gaze to spot it himself. He forces himself to stare intently at the enemy instead. The big cat muscles wriggle again in anticipation, but this time he holds back until AFTER Sonja disengages. Keep him under constant distraction by tag-teaming.

He growls to cover a groan of pain. He has not been keeping himself in shape for this sort of situation. He takes the moments he has now to catch his breath.

Julie Power has posed:
Tawky picking up where Red Sonja in underwear and sword left off seems to work, as Klaw can't exactly get to searching full time with first a sword cutting his sound form and then a tiger ripping and tearing at him, but he doesn't give up fighting. The lab doesn't bode well as the two sides hammer into one another, beakers, glassware and cables getting ripped apart and shattered as the fight goes on.

Lightspeed joins the fray, delivering punches, but they are not really effective. The tide does seem to shift however when the flashbang detonates next to the purple red creature made from sound, sending strange ripples over his figure and stunning it for like two seconds or such, while also deafening whoever else is there. Julie tries to gesture to the swordsmaiden to try one more, but is hit by a sound blast the moment Klaw regains motion, the next one aiming for Red Sonja.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She's at least learned -something- about how Klaw aims. The weapon seems to go for straight shots, and so far he's seemed to have to point it over at his target rather than simply being able to blast in a wide area. Or at least he hasn't so far. Red Sonja goes to attack him from the side, circling around to try and give the other two free range to hit on him, and to talternate up their attacks.

She alternates now tih flashbangs and slashes with her sword. Even if Klaw is braced for them and can ignore the flashbangs, that's still more openings he has to give the others while he deals with them. Her strikes with the sword don't see mto accomplish much,b ut hoepfully they make him have to put more focus into regenerating.

Tawky Tawny has posed:
Tawky's breaths come in increasing rapidity until he stumbles out of the last round practically gasping for air. "Oh boy, am I out of my league," he quips ruefully as he turns himself to leap back in, anyway. But his eyes fall on something purely by accident: the thing, whatever it is, that the Bad Man dropped when the tiger was first dropped on him. It's nestled between two fallen bits of drywall. He dashes aside, instead of back into the fray, and snatches the thing up in his mouth, and then flees for the stairs. He wishes he could communicate to the nice crazy sword lady that he's not abandoning her, but rather taking the Thing away to safety; but he can't just shout it out for the bad guys to hear too.

Better to let them all think he's simply running for his life. They'll pay him less attention and hopefully not notice that he's escaping with their prize.

Julie Power has posed:
The flashbangs have more than a stunning effect on Klaw, seeming to actually do *some* ammount of fraying and damage, but with the enemy being who he is, the ex-human seems to not slow down considerably. As Tawny abandonnes the fight, the laughing sound monster sends a blast of energy after him, like a goodbye gift to topple him down the stairs and out, but then returns to fighting Red Sonja and Lightspeed. The Rainbow-streaking heoine tries her best to do a thing, her fists flying in a fury, but they do little on their own.

But then again, Klaw is on borrowed time for the real cavalry to arrive. "Sod it, out of time..." he finally growls, blasting a wall out before dashing for it, seemingly dissipating into nothing but an echo that moves through the town to evade capture...



Breathing heavily, Julie leans against a broken pillar, holding her ribs as she squeezes against her ear with a wince. "Those things are loud!" she practically yells, barely able to hear herself.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
They're not going to be able to do more than slow him.. But as tawny runs away, whatever Klaw's objective is is hopeuflly -gone-. And he can stay and fight until someone comes bythat -can- take him down or retreat. And hopeuflly he has no way to keep -up- with the fleeing vigilante and so has no way to pursue or track them. Red Sonjag oes in for another slash at him right over as he goes to disappear.. Even as it misses.

She pants. "He fled."

Julie Power has posed:
"What you said?" Julie yells back to Red Sonja, still trying to regain her hearing after the repeated assaults by sound blasts by prodding her ear, but at least she's not bleeding from the ears. Trying to communicate nevertheless, she points to her ears, then shakes the head, then attemtps it with gestures. Pointing to the barbarian-down MJ, then the way the villain took, then shielding her eyes from sunlight and a question mark.

Julie Power has posed:
With Klaw gone, and the situation starting to clear, a SHIELD Van with the requested backup and a cleanup crew just makes its glorious late appearance on the entry level. But at least the day is safe...