517/Building Bridges

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Building Bridges
Date of Scene: 14 March 2020
Location: Brooklyn Bridge Saturday Morning
Synopsis: The day is saved, Billy wraps his cloak around him.
Cast of Characters: Billy Batson, Beatriz da Costa




Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam has had an interestig day and a half. His meeting with Spider-Man was an epiphany of sorts. Power, responsibility, selfless: what being a hero truly meant. Despite all the talk of being pure of heart and being chosen, he did not earn these powers. Maybe though he could by using them the right way. Flying out to Brooklyn as Billy, he's decided to to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. He offered to fly over it with Freddy but his brother was stuck editing the Spider-Man podcast.

Walking over the bridge was like flying. The wind whipped at him. In the crowds he felt oddly apart and alone with his thoughts when a scream splits the air, "Fuck! Marjorie hang on! Look out."

Billy sees where a cable has snapped and torn a platform free. A bridge painter dangling out of reach. Other cables are thrumming and look to soon separate. Okay. Painter first, Billy thinks, before he whispers his magic word and lightning splits the air

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    The Brazilian Bombshell is one of those rare people who doesn't turn on air conditioning, preferring to ride in the vehicle she's hired with the windows rolled down. The Brooklyn Bridge is crowded with stop-and-go traffic as usual, so, looking up at the sky and wondering why she didn't just fly crosses her mind.
    Which is when she hears the shouts.
    She looks down at her killer business outfit and sighs. "Damn, and I LIKED this one!"
    She kicks open the door, throwing a business card with a private number on it to the cabbie, saying, "Sorry, I've got to bail here. Call that number and I'll reimburse double what's on the meter now, K?" She then steps out of the gridlocked taxi and is instantly replaced by a fuzzy, vaguely-human-shaped ball of green plasma that quickly coalesces into her fiery form. The incombustible parts of her outfit drop to the ground as she looks up.
    "Huh. Lightning strike must have caused that somehow," she mutters as a bolt of lightning comes from the sky.
    Then she's off, flying, and glowing green, to the suspended painter to grab her waist. "Easy there, girl, I gotcha!" she says to the screaming painter, swinging her back toward the bridge before looking into the cause.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam can't miss the Brazilian bollide. Good, that makes it easy. He leaps up and grabs the lashing cable, remaining in mid-air and tugging it back to place as three more snap. "Speed of Mercury..." he mutters gathering the cables quickly and then dropping back to the ground to tug them into place. That seems to halt the chain reaction of snapping cables. What now?

He's about to ry some arc welding with his lightning strikes... then notes the maintenance workers high up the cable. A police man ventures close to ask, "You got this, man?"

He resists the impulse to yell, "Call Superman!" Breathe, Billy. He settles in and says, "Yeah it's no strain, see if you can get a repair crew on this?" the cop flashes a thumbs up and runs back to his cruiser.

Well, he does get stamina from Atlas, and Atlas held up the freaking heavens. A dinky bridge ain't no thing. But then, suddenly, his face begins contorting.

"Oh... no..."

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    "Oh, hey, there!" Fire says, after delivering the painter to safety. "You got those? Good." She flies over to hover in front of Shazam. "Listen, if you can hold the strand there to this one, I can give it a temporary weld so the repair crews have time to cover it.
    She picks up the snapped bottom segment of the middle one of the three. "Here, connect this. I'll weld it. Then we've got leisure for the next two, right?"
    She smiles her green lit smile. "And nice to meet you. I'm Fire. Both name and nature."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam's face is still contorting and he says, "My... nose is itching. I may sneeze. Can you ... God this is embarrassing. Anybody got a hanky?!" He's getting a little red in the face.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    "A handkerchief?" Fire slips to one side. "Just sneeze. You don't need a hanky. It's not like you're going to be sneezing on a date or something, right?"
    She looks around, nonetheless, for something to use. Spotting a woman with a scarf, she zips down. "Sorry, ma'am," she says. "Emergency." Grabbing the scarf before the startled woman even has time to scream, she zips back up to Shazam. "Will this do?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam sticks his head out and rubs his nose vigorously on the scarf, then returns to his pose. He nods in affirmation. "Thank you. I may have... lightning breath, I don't know the whole power set yet. Hold it like this?" He puts a cable in place. "Invulnerable is one thing, an itchy nose is another. I'm not sure if I'm ticklish. Bullets tingle a little." He sighs, remaining stock still now because--Atlas.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    Fire carefully places the lower strand against the one Shazam is pulling down, trying to get the strands of the cable intertwined a little before wrapping her hand around the joint and flaring up with incredible heat, fusing the pieces together in ways that won't be permanent, but will keep the bridge relatively safe until proper rpairs can be accomplished.
    "That's one!" she says perkily. "Only two more to go and we'll have saved the day! Hooray!"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam feels the heat flare as a warm summer day. Though it does make him blink and look away. Weird. He tries blowing on the red hot cables to no avail. No hyper/lightning breath. Well, Superman can't throw lightning. Is she wearing anything under that fire? ThinkpurethoughtsBilly! Flames do not leave a lot to the imagination. He tries to look in another direction. This adult body... can be a pain. It notices girls too much.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    "OK, so grab that one now, please?" she asks. Then, in a kindly voice, "You're new to this, aren't you? Don't worry. You're doing fine. Just focus on each job little by little and we'll be done in no time!"
    She pauses, "I didn't get your name either."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam frowns, "I haven't decided. Right now I'm the Red Cyclone. But that's too much like the Red Tornado. I'm not even an android. Maybe I'll go back to Mr. Lightning. Ah skip it--Red Cyclone is good. Nice to uhm meet you... Fire right?" He smiles and tries really hard to focus on the job, following her requests.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    "Well, Red Cyclone, you're doing marvelously. Now hold that second one as tight as you can and..."
    Fire concentrates on linking the ends again, fusing them together into a solid mass that's going to require a full strand replacement, but as a positive will stop the bridge from collapsing. Trying to stop the rookie from panicking, she decides a bit of light conversation is just the thing while she's welding the ends with her superheated plasma body.
    "My aren't you the muscular one, though. Where do you work out? I might need a bit of toning." Beat. "Of the flesh body, not this one obviously."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam fixes his eyes on the cable he's holding and says with a little gasp, "I think you look hot. I mean toned. I mean you look great apart from being on fire. I don't have a gym I just... hold stuff up. You know? Does Superman have a gym? I met him once. He did me a little favor. Seems to be a nice guy." Shazamble on and on.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    Completely misinterpreting the man's nervousness, Bea continues talking. "OK, last one to fix up and we'll be done and you'll be the hero. I'll let you take the limelight, K? Tell them I couldn't have done it without your brave help." Waiting for Shazam to take up the position, she does her fusion trick and starts fusing the ends. "And it's OK to say I look hot. It's a delicious double-entendre. So, is there a Mrs. Red Cyclone?" Naughty grin while the metal fuses under her hand. "If so, do you have a twin brother? Asking for a friend."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam, still looking in a mostly neutral direction, says, "Uhm no Mrs. Cyclone. Aaaaand I have a whole family actually. three brothers, two sisters. And he would love to see what Freddy,Eugene or Pedro would make of her. "I'll share credit with you though. I don't care about that kind of thing. Maybe we could errr take a picture for this little podcaster's site though?"

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    Finishing off the last weld with a flourish, Fire grins and floats back. "OK, you can let go now, and sure, a picture's fine, though it will have to be flame body because I didn't have time to strip before turning, so my outfit is *poof* very, very, very fine ash now." She makes a rueful face. "Which is a pity because I really liked that one. So flame body OK for your little friend?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam produces a phone and steps over to Fire. He is fire proof. Freddy proved that which was an awful surprise for him. Nope. No problem standing next to her. Standing. Next. To. Her. Wearing only her fire. Strangely he feels hotter now... he fiddles with the phone and asks, "Do you want to borrow my cape till you get back to your place or something? I mean you're not cold are y... shutting up now." He tries to look heroic. He also realizes just by the number of flashes now going off, this is not going to be an exclusive photo for Freddy. "Ready?"

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    The fiery bombshell, slips an arm around Shazams' waist, pressing alongside--strangely there's no burning at contact--Shazam and waving to the crowd with her well-practiced smile before pointing a finger up toward his chest in the 'he da man' gesture while cameras go off. She plays the crowd like a violin, well-practiced as a model, a showgirl, and a superhero.
    "How's it feel?" she asks him as the crowd goes off. She signals both the cop from earlier and the painter forward to have them get into the picture. "Being a hero? Feels really good, doesn't it?"
    She takes a coquettish pose, facing Shazam, resting one hand on his chest and making a leg for the cameras. "That should be worth a few front pages by itself," he says, chuckling quietly.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam says, "Uhm... pretty good. I'm glad to help. Someone could have been hurt or worse. Thanks for taking charge. The welding stuff is beyond me." He manages not to giggle at the arm around his waist. Not too sure if... no when to break contact.

Stupid adult feelings.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    "OK, so now we've done the job, we don't want to be a distraction for the people doing the real work," she says. "If you can fly, now's the time for us to fly off. We should probably talk somewhere. And great job, Red Cyclone! You were a marvel!"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam nods and sticks the camera in his belt. "Right, that sounds good. I kind of have someplace to be now..." Right, those breakfast dishes aren't doing themselves. "Uhm how do I contact you? Do we like meet here sometime or shine a light in the clouds. I don't have a hotline."

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
    Uh ... that's a good question. Fire looks a little befuddled. "I can't carry a card in this form," she says ruefully. "And I kind of burned away the outfit that had them. I'm Beatriz da Costa, though. I'm in the phone book." Give me a call sometime. We can have lunch or something. I mean if I'm in my flesh body, obviously, not in this one."
    She hovers up a bit to give Shazam a pair of air kisses to his cheeks. "Catch you later, handsome!" she says, winking. "Look forward to us talking."
    And with that she blasts off into the sky, a bright green trail being left behind her until it fades away into the air.