19218/Getting Back To Old Habits

Getting Back To Old Habits
Date of Scene:	04 October 2024
Location:	Buffalo - New York
Synopsis:	Juggernaut attempts to get back into the mercenary and super villain game once again to start working on rebuilding his rep in the aftermath of the cults efforts with him, and the heroic Shazam arrives to attempt to put a stop to him with---a strongly worded lecture!
Cast of Characters:	Cain Marko, Billy Batson

---

Cain Marko has posed:
The movement of military equipment by rail is nothing out of the ordinary and usually doesn't garner too much attention from the average citizen. There is the occasional disruption of traffic and annoyance that comes along with it but by and large it's just one of those things that happens. The hyper aware may take note, however. One can never be too careful or cautious after all. But as far as the convoys themselves are concerned, it's business as usual as a particular railyard in Buffalo, New York, that is the current site of one such convoy making its way through on the way to deliver ammunition, tanks, jeeps, and other assorted goods and services to a garrison further into the state and from there deployment to additional locations that are requiring the contents of this train.

Business as usual until there is a sudden explosion. A plume of dust and smoke that billows through the air from the depths of the railyard, a whining of steel and a groaning of twisting metal from the sound of a sudden and massive train derailment that seems to shake the entirity of this part of the city.

From the street levels and some distance away...it's likely hard to tell -exactly- what's happened. Only the cloud of dust mushrooming upwards over buildings and the constant shaking of the ground reveals anything but...alarms are already sounding and emergency dispatches are already being called in. Something ...has stopped that convoy and derailed that train.

Or perhaps...someone....

Billy Batson has posed:
You never forget your first heavyweight fight. In Billy's case, that was the Breyer brothers who were messing with his foster brother -Freddy. There were fights before that, that mostly involved Billy being held down and outnumbered. Not really fights. That was his first stirring of heroism. He realized good guys couldn't choose their fights. They had to fight when needed.

Juggernaut was his first heavyweight supervillain. He learned once and for all, there were people who could hurt him. He realized this halfway through the fight but he held his ground. The jury is still out on who won. People like to discuss this when they are safe.

Far off in Queens Shazam is getting a cat off a tree when he feels the twinge of magic. He drops the cat off, his eyes narrow and he streaks off to Buffalo.

He knows that feeling. He knows the magic. Magic kills magic. He didn't choose the fight but again, magic kills magic. Buffalo is about three minutes away as the Shazam flies.

Cain Marko has posed:
PREVIOUSLY:

It's been a minute since the world was reminded of Juggernaut's baser motivations and criminal activities. During the summer months he was involved in a number of troubling events, true enough. A mystic cult had got its hooks into him, to summarize, and through them and the manipulations of his patrons he was quite literally; off his rockers. This had a ripple effect. It brought friends to him that he didn't truly realize that he had and led to a partial mending of his relationship with his brother....but it also greatly damaged his reputation and reliablity within the world of contract thugs, killers, mercenaries and the like.

He'd been running all over the globe in the aftermath of that, paritally to repay a sense of debt and paritally because...he kinda liked it. Helping the Justice League Dark and other things...but that doens't pay the bills. Rent in Tribeca's high...and a guys' gotta eat - even if he doesn't really need to eat. It's just one of those things.

And that's leaving aside that events in Madripoor have left one of his safehouses in ruins and tech and goods he'd stolen for another project all together trashed and scrapped. It's time to get back into business and right now - business is booming.

NOW:

They never saw what hit them until it was too late. The Vanisher has been a great fallback comrade to use for cases like this given his connections with The Brotherhood. A quick teleport in and suddenly a fast moving train convoy found itself barreling down onto an absolutely monstrous man just sort of casually standing on the tracks. When the dust cleared and the train derailment finally ceased, Juggernaut can be seen with one arm outstretched, the train engine car wrapped and folded about his upper body and arm as a very stoppable force slammed into a very immovable object. Military personenl went flying. Cars went tipping. Tanks fell, jeeps tumbled, and Juggernaut just watched with a big grin on his face.

When the shaking finally stopped, he shoved..pushing the buckled train car back and away and walking past it with earth sundering steps as he begin to walk the length of the broken convoy: "ALRIGHT BOYS!" he booms, "I've been on my 'good behavior' kick lately so I'll give ya a chance to run for the hills while I make a quick withdrawal. It's yer only warning folks! Take it or leave it!"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam arrives to hear the warning bellowed. "I'll leave it. I don't run," Shazam says. He's floating about twenty feet off the ground, cape billowing.

"I want to tell you something, this Cyttorak empowering you is a demon. Demons don't grant boons or blessings. They grant curses. This thing is in your mind I feel. I fought you twice before but... I have a spell I can do to purge alien influences from others' minds. Will you let me do it?" His expression is neutral. This could backfire. The purging needs his full attention. Juggernaut could truly mess him up. Also rejecting his patron should be his choice.

Cain Marko has posed:
By the time Shazam has arrived and given his own answer to Juggernaut's booming voice - the soldiers have already started openintg fire. There's common sense but there's also duty and duty demands sacrifice.

Bullets thud against his meaty flesh or ping against his armor but the goliath continues his tread forward without even counter attacking. Perhaps he -has- opted for a 'good guy' era, so to speak.

That and, he probably just isn't interested yet until something actively attempts to impede his forward momentum. Thus, he ultimately reaches one of the cars that hadn't been detailed, looking over what appears to be some sort of reinforced car of some sort and he nods his head and begins rumbling into his commlink: "Vanisher---I--"

And then suddenly..Shazam.

"..Hold up, you gotta be kidding me..."

Juggernaut fully eyes the floating hero, frowning abit but then pausing as Shazam begins speaking and not attacking first and then he just rolls his eyes and sighs while reaching up to pinch the brow of his nose through the opening on his helmet. "Are you serious..." he grumbles and then finally he calls out, "Look, Shazam right? Yer in with the same crew I've helped out so I'll give you some benefit o'the doubt but you don't know everything and I sure as hell aint about to let you try and mess with anything that's got to do with me. Fer starters, Cyttorak -isn't- simply a demon...and secondly I aint possessed. So before you start trying to mess with something that you don't know anything about you better back off and let me do what I'm here to do. "

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam pinches the bridge of his nose. "What's that? Mayhem? Carnage? How many people are hurt on that train? Because of you? Listen I am here. I will put myself in harm's way but... I want to help you. Can you tell me, why all this? Hey will you stop shooting for a fucking minute! We're having a talk here!" The last is yelled at the soldiers. Wow. Billy almost never curses. But a couple ricochets were bounced right at him. Annoying!

Cain Marko has posed:
"What is this a therapy session? I'm on the clock here! You think because you can fly that I can't get to you? I've been doing this before yer grand parents were born! Beat it!"

Juggernaut waves a massive hand, in a wide sweeping gestures.

The soldiers do indeed slow their shooting but it's not simply because of Shazam's command. There's also clear confusion here as well .. and probably lots of radio chatter....and potential incoming backup.

That thought is on Cain's mind as well. "..ANd if you're trying to stall me it won't work. As to your questions? What the hell kind of question is that? How many people have gotten hurt when you've gotten involved in some action somewhere? This sort of thing hapens. Yeah it sucks but life sucks. Whaddya want? There is no 'why' that I'm going to sit here and try and unravel and decipher for you like we're in sitting on a couch somewhere. When I want to do that I already have people I go to... What's this to you?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam drops down to the ground. He falls into a defensive stance. Juggernaut seems pressed for time, concerned with being stalled. Maybe delaying him will be enough. Maybe he'll win. It's been four years. He has a lot more experience. But Cain Marko is brutal. Still he looks a little regretful. "I wanted to try to help you. And I don't hurt people... by smashing trains. I keep people as safe as I can and as for unraveling this? You don't care squat about anyone but yourself. Nothing to decipher. Nettie was wrong."

"Let's go... I landed. Satisfied?"

Cain Marko has posed:
There's alot of what if's that Shazam seems to be banking on. What if his experience trumps Juggernauts brutality. Does magic kill magic? Not all the time. Magic has a hierarchy, chaos can become involved. Some laws of sorcery trump othres. Sometimes it's about who carries the bigger stick? And Cyttorak - sometimes classified an -elder god- is a very big stick.

It's risky business, the business of being a hero....and as Juggernaut looks down onto the landed and defensive Shazam fro his nearly ten foot tall immense height...he simply grins. His fist clenches, producing a sound like sequioas cracking as his knuckles pop. The sinew of his monstrous arm bulges up titanically, swelling like a series of wrecking balls under his flesh with veins as thick as cargoship ropes standing out on his immense frame. "Nice...now....hold still.." he rumbles

And then he swings - for the reinforced train car and -not- Shazam! His fist plunges into the armor, plunging a hole into it like a knife through hot better and the his other arm comes in and he fully turns his back to Shazam to begin to press, pull and then yank. With a horrendous sound, the metal rips and shreds open like a plate of aluminium foil being shredded into ...revealing something within. Some sort of piece of equipment wrapped up in a heavy tarp with soldiers looking on in terror at Juggernauts actions.

"Of course I smashed the train. You think it'd have stopped if I asked nicely? Now - just stay right where you are..." he says over his shoulder to Shazam. "And as to Nettie.. I dont' give a damn what you or her thinks. Fortunantely for -you- ... you dont' know what you're talking about because if you were -right- I'd have just took a shot at you and crushed you into paste. Instead - you sit there nice and behaved ...and I'll be on my way with what I came here for and nobody else needs to get hurt. Capiche?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam begins to charge... then focuses on the MacGuffin. Instead he asks simply, "What are you taking from there?" there's a crackle as lightning plays around his emblem and bleeds from his fingers. That device is not leaving with him. The megawatts build. the soldiers feel the static in the air.

Cain Marko has posed:
"Don't be stupid and start getting brave now." Juggernaut's deep voice seems to lower a touch as his warning drops like a distant earthquake. He shakes his head and then lifts a hand to wag a finger back and forth.

"You try that with me and you'll do more to them then me. You destroy it, youll catch them in the cross fire. You decided to lecture me and let it get this far...now you just sit there and we can all go home."

He holds Shazam in his gaze, eyes cold but stance ready as he turns to fully face him. "Power down." he orders.

There's a pause and then he adds, "As to what it is? None of your business. Is it important? It's just me recovering something similar to something else I put my hands on that got destroyed. Nothing to worry about..."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam flies at Juggernaut like a flash and grabs the device. He doesn't tug on it, but holds it snuggly. His eyes narrow. "What now? You take a hand off to hit me and I have both hands to yank it free. You play tug of war and we make spaghetti out of it. And worse comes to worse, I can still melt your gadget down, and no one gets caught in a crossfire. So go ahead, take your shot. Or leave. You might get it another day but not today. Just for the record... if Cyttorak wasn't influencing you... you'd have let me perform the rite. Nothing would have changed."

Cain Marko has posed:
The speed of Mercury. There wasn't anyway Juggernaut could have been readyd for that. It's not as if he has a primer handy on Shazam comapred to Shazam's own knowledge about him through simple databases or access to mystic knowledge. So needless to say, he's surprised.....

And furious.

But he's got a point. Somewhat. There are options that Shazam may not be accounting for here and Juggernaut grits his teeth as his anger boils up at bot the accusation and the action that just took place.

"Are you -that- niaeve." he sneers, "I told you, I'm not possessed. I refused your help because I don't need or want it. -I- make my own choices and my bond with Cyttorak is none of yer damn business. Especially the way you're going about trying to pass judgement on me or insert yourself into it. Try again."

He then flickers his gaze over the train car, still with the soldiers. "...And this is a stupid move on your part. Maybe I crush this thingt to prove a point. YOu dont' know what might happen and now you got the soldiers here trapped by us both. I'm not obligated to protect 'em. What if I do play tug of war with you. Who gets hurt first? Them. This was a stupid move. LIke some kid playing hero. If you were smart with that speed you'd have gotten -them- out of here first, now you're sitting here hoping I don't do something that jeopardizes 'em. Let. Go."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam smirks. "You gotta be kidding. This thing is covered in a tarp. Doesn't seem dangerous. It doesn't have power leads to it. I think you're bluffing and doing a lousy job of it. But thanks for spreading the word the soldiers should get the hell out. I'm calling your bluff. Whatever this is, you don't want it damaged. Make your move ya big blow fish!" Now he grins.

It was said at times, Billy could turn the Buddha into a chain smoker. That's his super power. he plays the flute pretty well too.

"Hurry up... I was streaming Only Murders in the Building."

Cain Marko has posed:
It's a very dangerous bluff. Simply because it wasn't hooked into anything doesn't mean that there couldn't be something within it maintaining it's own power and while it was covered in a tarp - it also was in a super reinforced car that Juggernaut had to rip open.

A very dangerous bluff.

But it was Shazam's open arrogance that seems to be the real issue here as Juggernaut begins fuming, anger and rage building within him. He glances to the side, eyeing the soldiers. They -could- attempt an escape true but these are supreme heavyweights. Juggernaut's very punches have been measured in the scale of high magnitude quakes before. Could they -really- just...get away?

"Yer a damn idiot..." he sneers finally. And lifts his hand up from the large device..>

Only to suddenly slam it back down onto it with a horrible wrenching sound...and then shoves. Hard!

His strength sends it driving back into Shazam as if Hulk himself had of thrown a full on shoulder check at him. The machine crumples like an accordion with sparks flying and a small explosion building as its internal workings begin a chain reaction...but Juggernaut continues the shove intending on slamming it fully into Shazam and sending the young hero and the crumpled up device flying through the back of the ruined car and clear across the wrecked train yard.

Upon impact, the thing -will- explode, sending a plume of blue-white fire sky high and an emp warbling out over the area. The soldiers, fortunantely, were just off to the side enough that while they take some shrapnel - they will manage to make it. The power is knocked out in the area though and Juggernaut bellows.

"Stop assuming you know everything, you idiot!"

There's a flash of light as Vanisher, the mutant teleporter, ports in, responding to a signal in Juggernaut's comm link. He reaches out for the giants massive wrist and then, with a sudden flash of white light, both are gone.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam is more affected by the shove than the device's pyrotechnics. He flies across the tranyard. His next move is to stop his backward momentum and throw himself on the sparking machinery. The blue white flames is snuffed by his body. The electro-magnetic pulse is like the lightning that changes him. He masters lightning. He tries warding it from him because to become Billy is to die now. It is agonizing. He also realizes the lives of those soldier may depend on him.

Shazam screams as plasma and techno hellfire blazes around him, melting parts of the nearby trains. He's getting up and pushing through wreckage as hazmat workers appear.

"You ran this time. And you didn't get what you wanted. And there will be another day..." He lifts off, moving slower than usual but picking up speed, sparks trailing from him.