3548/Children of the Atom : Black Canary DLC

Children of the Atom : Black Canary DLC
Date of Scene:	24 September 2020
Location:	Atop a truck
Synopsis:	Spiral and Dinah fight it out atop a truck.
Cast of Characters:	Spiral, Dinah Lance

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Spiral has posed:
Spiral is woken with a jerk, or by a jerk, both are actually true. A tug on the soul, and soon as she opens her eyes, she realises the Mojoverse, previously blocked off, is now open to her. She knows that that means, and there's no escape, so she just accepts her fate, and dances. To find herself in the presence of the Bloat himself.

"My dear twisted twisting Spiral! I have had the most fantastic idea, and you are perfect!".

"What now, oh bloated one.".

< whispered scheming >

"What? Has one of your brainwires fallen out? That's the most ridiculous, humiliating thing you've wanted me to do yet. Well, almost.".

"Oh Spiral, it'll be wonderful! Nostalgia sells, you know! I can see it now, in my minds eye. You're perfect for the role! Show business is in your soul!".

"...you have my soul, Screwloose.".

"Exactly! So off you go, or I might actually bring you into the team again for a while. I'll organise the set!".

And so it was, that a particularly miserable Spiral puts on the movie face, and teleports completely without warning into Black Canary's home one evening, clutching a piece of paper detailing the new star.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah is prepared for anything. Usually. It's just her luck that she's not prepared for interdimensional weird shenanigans tonight. No, tonight the 'anything' she was prepared for was a pizza and some cheesy action movies. Almost as cheesy as the pizza.

Her eyes widen, her brow furrows, and suddenly she's staring at... wow, that's a lot of arms. She's dumbstruck, just holding the first slice up from the box. "Uh... what? Are... you lost?"

She lifts the slice for her first bite. Sure, this should probably cause panic, or at least a leap into some sort of defensive stance. But this is Gotham, and Spiral's not a ten foot tall luchador, or a plant controlling redhead, or a clown of one variety or another. She hasn't even got a weirdly specific theme gimmick like condiments or kites. So maybe she's just a lost teleporter.

Hey, Dinah figures, it's gotta happen sometimes. They're always messing it up on Star Trek, so it mus tbe tricky. And then it dawns on her. Of course! The arms. Classic Star Trek transporter accident.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral is clad in her usual powder blue spandex with added pockets, and has her swords on her belt, but doesn't seem all that threatening - yet. A piece of paper is one hand, and she reads it while seemingly looking back and forth between paper and Dinah, though it's hard to tell with her solid white eyes. "The audition has begun." she declares, and goes up on one foot to bounce on it like a ballerina, looking very odd with all her arms twirling around as she occasionally switches from one foot to the other. "You are Dinah Lance, the Black Canary?" she asks.

She tilts her head a bit, looking Dinah over, and then nods. "Don't need to report to wardrobe at least, that'll make this all thankfully much quicker. I see why Mojo picked you. Put the pizza down, it'll just end up on the floor otherwise.". By Spiral's standards she is being unusually nice, but only because she really hates being dragooned into 'one last job'.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah takes another bite, eyes cooly sweeping over Spiral's outfit... they do narrow a touch at those swords, her hips shifting, cocking daringly as one eyebrow lifts high. "I... no, really, what?" She sighs and puts the half-eaten slice in the box and sets it aside, cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders.

"So yeah, that's me... uhhh... I mean, don't go spreading it around? It's technically a secret." She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose for a moment, "So... what's a Mojo? I don't actually do singing gigs anymore, I'm a florist now. I take it you're... not just here to offer me a job, let me politely decline, and share the pizza huh?"

Spiral has posed:
Spiral shakes her head. "Sorry, there's nothing in here about you declining. I'm supposed to tell you here how it's a great honor to be chosen, etcetera, but it really isn't. Hopefully nobody on Earth besides we two will ever know it happened.". She's not sure if the baby thing happened in this dimension, or another, but she'll never live it down to those who know, and she doesn't want another millstone like that around her neck. She is the Time Dancer of Death, not Mojo's ridiculous chew toy.

"It's not singing, it's fighting." she clarifies. "You can possibly do a pose with a flower if you like, but that's optional. And probably not good for the ratings.". A pause as Spiral takes a breath, evidently a bit rushed. "...ready?".

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah just looks... more and more confused. She's used to crazed clowns. ecoterrorists, guys with pressurized condiment guns. This is new.. "I just... you... I... what? Chosen? This is just..." She growls and shakes her head, turning around on her heel, hips swinging as she sashays angrily to her door. It's pretty remarkable, she must practice. She swings the door open and jerks her thumb, "Fine, okay, -fight- I can do. But we're not wrecking my place because a... Mojo wants us to tussle, c'mon. Oh, and no involving any civilians or I'm gonna start taking this a lot less..." She frowns and scowls, "A lot less whatever -this- is, and more personal like." And then she's leaping down the somewhat rickety wrought-iron stairs outside that back door, landing in the alley and looking up with a bright grin despite herself, "Okay, c'mon and show me some moves, tall, uhh... well, bright and mysterious."

Spiral has posed:
Spiral follows along with an exasperated sigh. "Stupid human." she mutters, as she dances after her. Actually Dinah is pretty good, most people don't get very far if Spiral wants to teleport them somewhere, but she has to chase her all the way outside.

"There will be one civilian, the driver. He is off limits. In fact falling off the truck is off limits too, so try not to do that." she says when the Black Canary finally stops in the street. None of which probably makes any sense at all - for now at least.

The dancing Spiral is quite bright compared to the typical Gothamite, and suddenly she gets a lot brighter as a veritable bluish white tornado of magic forms around her. "The audition is closed. Time to go to the set.". With her magic enhanced by Mojo, she points at Dinah - and there's a zap.

Chuck is pretty bored. He's been behind the wheel of his truck for a few hours now, cruising across the barren Nevada landscape in the middle of nowhere, cruise control set to 50, carrying a cargo of freshly harvested corn in the covered trailer on the back. He's got the music on to keep him company, and barely has to pay attention to the very straight road heading off into the distance. He's jerked out of his reverie though when the music suddenly switches to playing an obviously computer generated, repetetive and annoying tune, with the volume almost on maximum. It stops Chuck from hearing the thud as Dinah lands on the roof, or the magically invisible but still loud rocket sled that's flying through the air off to the right about thirty yards away, a couple of Mojo's goons balanced on it with their camera gear, getting set up for the right perspective shot. It's nice and bright, and quite hot, though the air going by in a rush makes it a bit less so.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah braces herself, she bounces up onto the balls of her feet, hopping from one to the other in classic boxing stile, eyes narrow... and then those words register, that tornado of magic forms, "Wait, there's going to be what the f-" she's cut off by the roar of the wind.

Okay. This is a new one. Still, Dinah's just going to focus on it like it's a sparring session. She braces herself on top of the trailer, one hand pulled back to cock for a punch, the other turning over, crooking fingers daringly at the witch.

And that's about the time that Dinah remembers this mysterious woman's got two swords, and Dinah's rocking a brilliant arsenal of no swords. Hell, her pizza cutter's back with her dinner. This is going to be a -thing-.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral is awaiting the Canary at the back of the trailer, standing in a dramatic pose, long grey hair flapping in the wind. "Round One." she declares, And then she advances forward, scuttling quickly almost like a spider. But... there's something very odd. Her body is twisted to one side a little, and she is almost running sideways, like a crab. Her weird body, all arms and a couple of seemingly very limber legs, seems to let her do it, but she's noticeably a bit more ungainly than she was when chasing Dinah down the stairs, and she waves her arms around even more dramatically as she does so.

When she's about half way she plucks a sword from her belt and hurls it at her foe, pretty much at head height.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah's a little thrown off, eyes widening at that unusual motion, an involuntary shudder running down her spine. It's liek facing off against an alien or something. That strange angle, those sharp motions, it's enough to have her tensing, focusing less on offense than on defense.

Which is a blessing when suddenly one of the arms she's not focused on for a moment moves, and a sword's flashing through the air. She sprints forward, enough time for a few steps before her knees bend, sliding down and bending back in her own display of limber momentum to let the sword fly over her, before she's springing back up and bursting into a run, only to leap into the air into a forward flip, one outstretched leg swinging down like an axe. It's flashy, she probably shouldn't do it, but hey... sometimes you've just got to get a little Hollywood.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral's sword flies off into the space in front of the truck - and then vanishes, and reappears on her belt again. Weird. Chuck is starting to give the truck stereo a few punches now to try and shut it up, but for whatever reason, it won't.

Spiral tries to lift up her arms, but doesn't manage it quite in time, and gets a foot in the face. There's a groan of pain - and then she pirouettes away, doing a little cartwheel with her many hands and ending up on her feet again. She quickly steps in, though, and throws an array of punches - each hand, once, one after another.

The invisible camera crew dares fly a little closer to not miss any action.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah just glowers as that sword reappears, "Oh -come on- now! Really?!" She growls and quicksteps in after the evading warrior woman, that pirouette really is graceful, that cartwheel following it up enough to keep the wary Canary holding back.

That first punch is blocked easily, cockily really. It's the third where Dinah's brow furrows. By the seventh she's sweating. Sure, usually someone throwing a punch at her is a good way for them to wind up with some sort of fracture from a counter. But the mystery woman knows her stuff. And, you know, she's got a ton of arms, and so every time Dinah's about to meld into a counter, it's aborted to block the next punch, measured steps backing her along the trailer towards the cab again. God, how's Spider-Man fight that octopus guy all the time?

And as she feels the distance she's backtracking grow, she frowns, "C'mon, I don't want to hurt you! I... wait, is this a death battle?!" No, no, it can't be... why would there be a rule about not falling off the truck? That'd be like, -the- way to lose, surely.

Spiral has posed:
With Dinah backed up near the cab even she can hear the music coming out of the window, poor Churck is going deaf. The truck rumbles along, fortunately heavy enough to provide a pretty steady footing aside from the wind whipping by - it certainly makes them both look quite dramatic though, with hair streaming downwind.

Sensing the cameras near, Spiral doesn't reply, but takes a step forward and tries a more dramatic move. She does another handstand again right in front of Dinah, and those flexible legs of hers try and wrap around the Canary. Surely nothing good will happen if she succeeds.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah presses in, and arms crossing, tries to dive through Spiral's legs to get around her and back to the middle of the truck. Of course, it's only once she's committed to the move that she realizes that Spiral could very well just grab her ankles and stop her. Because of all the hands. This really -isn't- the kind of fight Dinah's used to.

And for a brief moment, there's a forlorn little thought that Spiral'd make a great sparring partner. Hey, if Harley Quinn can co-exist with her, maybe this new stranger can too. Or she's about to pummel her unconscious. Oh well, Dinah figures. Time to find out how lucky she is.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral probably could grab her hands - she has so many arms, that to get past her like that, you're going to be near an arm after all. But, she doesn't. She just returns to her original position when her legs swish through empty air, flipping back onto her feet - and then flipping around, so she's in the exact same stance, but facing the other way.

Wait, what. Was her metal arm that was on the right now on the left? It's kinda hard to tell with them all waving around.

She edges forward a bit, and as Dinah is just dodging, turns her head slightly to the right, away from the cameras, and says, "Fight back.". And edges forward a bit.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah snarls, she feels like she's being played with like a mouse, and Spiral's the cat. And so at that taunting remark she rushes in, spinning at the last moment into a roundhouse kick, leg lifted high, hey, a kick earlier worked pretty good.

And if she's not stopped from following up, hit or miss she throws in a short elbow towards Spiral's mid-section with a snarl.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral isn't really fighting like anybody would expect to fight. Even with her weird body, she's in a pretty odd stance, and her crab-walk clearly isn't that comfortable for her. In fact she wasn't doing that, until they were on the truck.

Maybe that's why the roundhouse kick connects with Spiral's head - fortunately she's got a helmet on - and while she's going down, in mid air, an elbow slams into her midsection. Her skin is oddly hard, but it's not diamond hard, and there's a definite grunt of pain, as she slams onto the trailer roof. Someone is being played with here, but is it actually her?

She lies there immobile for a few seconds. Is she dead? Apparently not, as she suddenly comes to life, waving a hand and abruptly teleporting to the far end of the trailer again. "Round Two!".

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah curses and snarls, preparing to follow up when Spiral collapses... although the blonde's leg is planted more gingerly now, maybe those boots aren't -actually- designed for kicking solid metal helmets so enthusiastically.

She spins around, running her hands through that lustrous hair, fanning it out with a little snarl of frustration. That announcement of round two is all she needs to hear. Tactics are gone, Dinah rushing forward, leaping into the air for a two-footed dropkick.

Because unthinking offense is surely the best offense.

Spiral has posed:
There's a faint roaring sound and not from the truck as the invisible rocket sled draws near as the two of them rush for a collision in the middle of the trailer. Spiral lifts up all six hands, and somewhat ignominiously catches Dinah in mid air with four of them. Then she jumps up a good six feet into the air - and hurls Dinah down onto the trailer.

It's almost hard enough to go right through it and up on all the corn inside it - if punches are being pulled, they are only being pulled so much. Spiral backflips away again and waits for Dinah to arise once more.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah slams into the trailer, the thin sheet metal buckles, crumples, but not enough for her to go through. It's enough to leave her gasping, wind knocked out of her as she struggles up, onto all fours for a moment, then up onto one foot and one knee. She growls out, eyes a touch glassy. She groans and sways up further. She'd ask if anyone got the number of the truck that hit her, but she hit it. Once she stands up fully, she's a lot more cautious, eyes narrowed with intense focus.

But it's not entirely on Spiral. She -heard- something, she's been hearing it on and off since this all started. But she can't focus on it too much, this mystical, powerful woman's a definite threat, even if it seems to be for some reason other than the usual super villainy. "Alright... let's finish this..."

Spiral has posed:
Spiral reaches out with one arm to point at Dinah, while one of her othes does a neck-slitting motion over her own throat. The taunt! The camera crew back off again as they are once more quite far apart, needing a wider angle to have both of them in view.

Chuck the driver is wondering what the hell, now. The stereo just won't turn off no matter what he does, it's played the same tune five times in a row now, and he's finally noticed that something is bashing in the roof of his truck. The road is dead straight essentialy forever, so he leans out of the cab and tries to look around and see what's going on, if anything.