5980/We Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease

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We Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease
Date of Scene: 19 April 2021
Location: New York City (multiple locations)
Synopsis: I have an idea....what if he WANTS to be a vigilante but never quite actually....DOES it and just...stalks people?
Cast of Characters: Jovian Anderson, Steve Rogers, Kian




Jovian Anderson has posed:
Two weeks ago…
    Jovian wandered into the ancient basement, looking around and spotted several devices in finished or half-finished fashion.  Some of this looked pretty dangerous but who would he call?  The police couldn't handle this, maybe the FBI but they would likely hand it to the DoD and after the framing of SHIELD, Jovian wasn't having it.  The most interesting item stood out well among the others with several newspaper clippings from the 1930s that said, "Rocketeer saves Zepplin!" and "Rocketeer stops Nazis!"  He smiled widely and picked up the rather thick instruction manual….

Present Day…
    A series of recent robberies have involved hit and runs from car drivers who crashed into several cars, robbed them at gun point and then then drove away on motorcycles.  Jovian had been studying them a while and noticed a particular pattern, so he was waiting for several hours at a site when the robbery unfolded so fast, he nearly didn't see them.  Running from the building and throwing a few bolos, he took down two but three drove away.  Smiling ferally, he ran back to the truck he had rented and strapped on the jet pack.  A short while later, two of them were lying with bolos wrapped around them and police sirens on the way while he chased the last one… only for him to black out and fly, turning to shadow as the truck in front of him while his hand 'accidentally' entered the number 441144 in the small notepad on the jetpack, which instantly took up into the air.

Meanwhile… at 50,000 feet…
    The pilots were bored, working their approach to land a 737 flight when all of a sudden a screaming figure shadowed through the wall in front of them, while the pilot tried tried to dodge, banking the plane to a harsh 45 degree angle as the same shadow flew at incredible speed through the aisle of the plane and two panicked flight stewards trying to keep the chips and sodas from flying everywhere.  The pilots radiod NYPD, "Niner Niner, there is someone with a jet pack that nearly impacted the flight, origin unknown… over."

Steve Rogers has posed:
    It's been a quiet day around Avenger's Mansion.  Steve Rogers is reclining in a chair, having drawn monitor duty today.  Though JARVIS does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to going through information looking for events that need the team, there is always an Avenger on duty to be able to respond, and to supply that human element of decision-making.
    Steve lets out a contented sigh.  "I might have to take the bike out for a ride outside the city if the weekend is as nice as expected," he comments to himself as he looks at the weather forecast.  "So strange, actually trusting the weather report," he comments to himself as he picks up his coffee mug, brimming over with a fresh cup of the liquid.
    He's just in the act of taking a sip when a soft tone sounds and a number of screens change to start showing information.  The disembodied voice of JARVIS announces, "Captain Rogers.  There is a car robbery incident that the police are responding to, with reports of someone flying a jetpack tangling with the thieves.  And a plane landing at JFK just reported someone with a jetpack flying through their plane."
    Steve lets out a sigh and sets down the cup.  "Looks like I spoke too soon," he says, pulling off his shirt and changing into his costume top quickly.  "Send a notice to any other Avengers available and let them know I'm responding."

Kian has posed:
    Kían generally doesn't fly at airliner level—at least not now that he knows such things are up there and won't automatically sense his presence and both take automatic evasive action and alert him to their presence.  Silly Earth people, not making their flying machines failsafe.
    What he hadn't expected was something rocketing up from below—really, he's been on this world for more than a year now, you'd think he'd've learned—as he took a leisurely aerial turn over the concrete and glass spires of New York City.  "c'Rhys'yw!"
    Tracking the unknown entity visually is easy, but keeping up with it, maybe not so much.  It's a jetpack versus muscle-powered wings.  Really, what he's doing is more trying to calculate where and how the unknown might come down, and trying to intercept it where and when it does.
    Silly Earthpeople, thinking they know how to fly….

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    Jovian Anderson is, of course, screaming inside of the helmet but the sound is muffled by the scream of the three jet engines.  It's powered by a thorium booster with a tiny (very tiny) theoretical anti matter booster which Jovian didn't really BELIEVE was there, but carrying an unlicensed nuclear particle accelerator on his back is in hindsight… bad.  But he read the manual!
    The AI in the jetpack resumes tracking the final thief now that the aerial 'threat' has been dealt with.
    "Tracking: Final suspect.  Chemical trail indicates a change of vehicles.  Analyzing."
    The jetpack soars only a few feet above rush hour traffic as people stop and stare, goggling as Dime Store Batman flies over the crowd trying to improvise a darkness construct to grab a streetlamp and failing utterly.
    The final thief, now in a pickup truck, drives to get away as the jet soars down and attempts to impact as Jovian's power shadows them out again and again, the AI growing more and more frustrated.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Steve heads towards the top floor hangar, preferring ground vehicles to quinjets.  But knowing this is an aerial situation so he might need the plane.  He stows his shield in a spot on the plane next to the pilot's chair and takes a seat.  JARVIS already has the engines warmed up and ready to go.
    "Register quinjet activity with air traffic controllers," Steve says as he takes the controls.
    "Already done, Captain," JARVIS tells him.
    A flip is switched and the hangar door retracts quickly.  Steve pushes the throttle forward and the plane moves forward, pace quickening as it passes through the doors and then banks to head up and away from the mansion.
    He checks the instrumentation, seeing on the map where Jarvis is indicating the sightings of the person in the jet pack as they come in.  "Already passed the airport.  Well, that part is good at least," he says as he turns the plane to head between skyscrapers, taking him in the direction of Jovian.

Kian has posed:
    "c'Rhys'yw!" Kían repeats, diving to follow—really, at this point he doesn't know whether the jetpack wearer is a 'hero' or 'dik-hed'.
    Cyborg has a lot to answer for with regard to the birdman's grasp of English.
    Kían reaches out with his power for… well, for whatever weird energy emissions are out there, if any.  What's keeping the uncontrolled flying object in the air.  What the vehicle they're chasing is running on.
    As for what he himself is supposed to do about it… Gods only know.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    Jovian is desperately trying to recall admin override codes and enters them into the keypad.  "424242" and that one seems to almost work as the AI is upset.  "Final suspect not apprehended. Other aereal threats detected…."  A thin needle extended from the Jet pack into Jovian's neck as it said, "Powers are tied to Adrenal reaction… neutralizing pilot."
    "Oh no you don't!"  He tried to cut the safety cord.  He was at 500 feet, and he had no idea if his power would work or not but he did know the AI required a pilot to work, if he could just….
    The plasma jets in the back flared to life, going straight up at enough G's that the blood to Jovian's brain literally fell out causing him to black out.
    The AI grunted with satisfaction and headed to a nearby plane, trying to calm Jovian enough that his power wouldn't kick in and failing as the two of them turned to shadow terrifying several passengers inside.  "WHAT WAS THAT?"
    The steward says, "…I… I don't know."
    Kian's analysis shows that the jetpack is fairly advanced tech, bleeding edge with an AI and three small thorium reactors and an anti matter reactor (VERY small) the anti matter powers the AI, which scans show is… mentally unstable to say the least.  The pilot is clearly unconscious.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    The Avengers quinjet emerges from the buildings of the city proper.  JARVIS gives Captain America an update.  "The jetpack has been sighted by one of the planes in the landing pattern for JFK Airport."
    Steve adjust his course and frowns.  "JARVIS, take over the autopilot," he says to the AI, and then climbs out of the passenger seat.  His shield goes on his back and then he straps on a parachute.  "If I have to jump out after him and miss, see if you can get beneath me and catch me.  Otherwise I'll have to land to get back after him," he tells the AI.
    "Captain Rogers," JARVIS says, "That is a very risky situation.  You would be in freefall and the quinjet's engines—"
    "Will tear me to shreds if I end up in one.  Got it, JARVIS," Steve says as he moves to the back of the plane.  JARVIS guides the airplane up above the passenger plane that Jovian is currently inside, waiting for signs of him.

Kian has posed:
    As for the AI, there's not a whole lot that Kían can do about it; that much he can't really sense.
    The antimatter and thorium reactors, that's another matter entirely.  Stopping them is a bad idea, of course.  He doesn't know if he can carry the… uh… pilot?  Passenger?  Victim?  Hard to tell at this point.
    What he figures will probably help will be to reach out with his power to slow the reactors, to give him a chance to figure out what's going on—and/or give the pilot/passenger/victim a chance to assert control.
    This planet is weird.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    JARVIS is able to track the social media on the plane with people filming it from multiple angles and tracks the AI (since JARVIS is a LOT smarter than the jetpack AI, smart as it is) and swings the quinjet around to be there when Jovian rockets out, and is FAST, at 200 miles per hour.  At that speed there would be little chance of him succeeding except Kian is exerting his power on the reactors.  The good news is that he is affecting it, the bad news is that the jetpack is so INSANELY overpowered that reducing its power slows it down barely enough but instead he only flies out at 75 miles per hour as it is descending to give the thief a hard time yet again.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    The plane tips over and banks to follow the jetpack as it emerges from the airliner.  The engines accelerate the plane forward, then it slows to try to match itself to the jetpack.
    "Captain," JARVIS says, "It appears the jetpack is heading for the ground.  Do you wish to try to jump onto it now?"
    Steve shakes his head.  "Let's see if he lands, much better than getting possibly both of us killed jumping on him.  Though flying through airplanes is not something we can let continue," he says.
    "There is another person in the airspace.  I believe it is one of the Titans," JARVIS informs Steve.  He moves back over to the cockpit to look at the readings.  "All right, just follow the jetpack for now, let's see if he can handle it," Steve says.  He takes a seat in the pilot's chair again, resuming control and following at a distance.

Kian has posed:
    Exerting himself in a power dive, Kían can just keep up and maybe even gain a little on the jetpack.  He's no peregrine falcon.
    If he can get within shouting distance, he calls out, "Pull up!  Your flight iss er-ratic!  Ai, c'Rhys'yw…."
    Silly Earth people (is there an echo in here?), thinking they can fly.  He pushes himself harder to try to actually catch the other, and pull them into level flight.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    The AI begins translating the language for analysis, coopting a local link to the cloud since it doesn't have the bandwidth inside of itself.  The AI replies, "Cease and Desist interference of the apprehension of the criminal or be designated a threat."
    Jovian slowly begins to wake up and shouts, "It's gone rogue.  The only thing keeping us alive is my power, and it keeps trying to interfere with my adrenaline…."
    The AI identifies Kian and detects, "Power use… you are draining my power… cease or I will detonate the anti matter."
    "You ASSHOLE!"
    "I do not have an ass."
    "You are one!"
    The jet pack flies down on the thief who is now feeling on foot.  Jovian throws a bolo at the thief (why not?) but then it turns around and starts to fly right at Kian.  The good news is that he can touch it, the better news that it is only at 50 miles per hour as his power continues to drain its engines but it will still HURT at this speed.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    The air streams over the wings of the Avengers quinjet as it follows the jetpack and Kian down.  JARVIS amplifies the communication going back and forth between the two.  "Anti-matter?" Steve repeats.
    JARVIS replies, "That would be very bad, Captain Rogers.  The blast could devastate the entire city."
    Steve rises, telling JARVIS, "Take the plane," as he hurries to the back ramp.  He opens it up as the quinjet accelerates forward.
    Steve watches out the back of the plane, the slower moving jetpack a little easier to gauge now.  He leaps out of the back of the plane, in freefall, using his arms to guide himself towards the flying man.  The two collide, pretty hard. "Land that thing, it is a menace to the citizens," Steve calls out as he wraps his arms about Jovian's legs, dangling below him, thankfully out of the path of the jetpack's exhaust.

Kian has posed:
    As it happens, impacts in the vicinity of 50 mph are nothing new to Kían… but that doesn't mean he wants to experience one, because they do hurt.  Evasive action is clearly called for.
    "You can not be allow to detonate," he says, and concentrates on damping the reactors further, bringing out a faint blue glow around the birdman.  "An'… c'Rhys'yw!"
    Clearly, that's Kían's favored epithet, whatever it means.
    About the last thing he expected was another person to drop in, literally, although it's a useful distraction, and it should slow the jetpack-wearer even further, allowing him to get close.  "You mus' lan' now.  I will suppress your flyin' pack completely if I can an' if I mus'."
    In a weird way, he sounds slightly apologetic about that.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    The pack and Jovian are knocked off course due to Steven's impact and it slows down to a sultry 25 miles an hour as Kian mentions the potential impact.  Jovian's eyes widen and he tries cutting the strap with a knife but it isn't working… thinking he finally concentrates HARD and manages to become a shadow falling through the strap as the jetpack briefly flares to a rapid speed without the weight trying to hit Kian even as the AI automatically shuts down.
    Jovian remains a shadow until he lands on an apartment building, landing and turning solid with a THUD but with the breath knocked out of him.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Captain America keeps hold until they are down on the ground.  He helps Jovian out of the jetpack then.  "Bolo?" he asks, recognizing the man from the incident at the Raft.  "What on Earth were you doing flying through those planes?" he asks.
    He doesn't want to handle the jetpack too much himself.  A jetpack, sure.  One with computers in it?  The man from the distant past eyes it in a speculative way.  "Is this some new equipment of yours?  I don't recall you having it before."

Kian has posed:
    Kían spirals back down to land near the two, landing with a delicate flutter of wings.  "It iss not going to blow up, yis?" he asks, still suppressing the reactors just to be safe.  It would be bad to have it blow up, not only because matter/antimatter reactions are, uh, energetic, but also because they're all really close to the epicenter if it did.
    He regards the pilot/passenger/victim with a tilt of the head.  "You are not hurt, I hope?"  His accent is entirely unplaceable, and his wings flex and fold slowly.
    He does not reach to take the jetpack, but he does address Steve.  "Can you shut it down?  It iss un-familiar tech to me."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    The Jetpack is totally inert.  As insane as the creator was, there was enough of a failsafe that when a human isn't in the straps, the AI simply CANNOT function and so it is well and totally off.
    Jovian shakes his head, wearing his Bolo outfit.  "A few bruised ribs, but otherwise nothing.  It should be inert as is, but yeah, I can activate the lock so it wont turn on…."  He reaches down to the thing and flips a few switches.  "In theory, that should do it.  In theory."
    He looks at Steve, slightly chagrined.  "We busted a crazy inventor the other day, I tracked down his workshop and found that inside.  I read the manual and it… SEEMED fine… should have known.  If there is someone BESIDES the DoD you can send to dismantle or commandeer the tech, I can give you the address.  With SHIELD on the run, wasn't sure who to contact frankly.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Steve Rogers watches what Jovian does and then tells Kian, "It seems like maybe he's got it under control now.  Thank you for your assistance.  You're with the Titans, I understand?" Steve asks the avian hero.
    He looks back to Jovian and the jetpack.  "I know a few people who fall under that category who would be happy to… well, probably take it apart before they dispose of it," he says.  He touches his ear for a moment, fingers over his comms earbud as he says, "JARVIS, would you find somewhere to land the plane nearby.  The jetpack has been deactivated."
    He looks back towards where the fleeing man was taken down by the bolos.  "I assume that was someone involved in the theft?  New York police are in the area and should be able to pick him up."

Kian has posed:
    "Yis, that iss cor-rec'," Kían answers, bowing slightly to Steve by way of greeting and acknowledgement.  Carefully, he stops suppressing the reactors; if there's no unpleasant surge of energy, he'll be relieved enough to exhale and let go entirely.
    He also bows slightly to Bolo.  "An' you are not hurt?  I coul' not tell who was in control, you or the device.  Or neither."  It… doesn't sound like that was meant as a joke.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    Jovian Anderson says, "The AI took over the instant I tried to over ride it.  It was paranoid, just like its creator.  I was in charge for about 2 minutes…" and what a FUN two minutes it was too… sigh.  "But after that…."  He shudders.  "I have an ability which kept me and it alive, but elsewise we'd have slammed into a truck and… well…."  He thinks.  "I don't know, maybe the jetpack is sturdier than it looks but I certainly wouldn't have survived the impacts it kept trying to make."
    He nods to Steve.  "Yes, I've already tagged the police on the other four.  These guys have been on a carjacking spree.  Pretty ghoulish but not enough to justify their death."

Steve Rogers has posed:
    The quinjet comes drifting down, the VTOL capabilities bringing it in for a soft landing.  Steve hefts the jetpack, eyeing it like he isn't sure it won't come back to life at any moment.  "Well, maybe better to let someone take a look at something like that before trying it out," Steve suggests in a gentle tone.
    The back of the quinjet opens up, the ramp touching down on the ground.  "I'll get this to Tony.  Or Hank or Doctor Banner or… there's a number of these people in my life," Steve says with a wry smile.  He checks to make sure Jovian looks ok and then asks, "Do you need a ride back to town?"  as he starts to walk towards the jet, motioning towards it.

Kian has posed:
    The birdman shakes his head.  "That iss not a good job of prog-rammin'," Kían remarks absently.  "An' if you woul' let the Titans know what you fin'," he continues, addressing Steve, "they woul' appreciate it.  Uncontrol flyin' thin's are… I do not wan' to speak for the rest of the team, but I do not fin' them fun to deal wit'."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
    Jovian Anderson says, "If you give me your numbers, I'll let either of you know if I run into more weird tech…."  He puts his hand behind his head.  "I seem to have a knack for weird things finding me."  There is something oddly prescient of that statement, as if it were even more true than Jovian realizes.  He nods.  "The address of the lab is 955 Mockingbird Lane in the Bronx.  It's in the basement.  I locked the doors and chained it shut, but that won't stop someone like AIM or Hydra."
    He nods to Steve.  "Yeah.  I wouldn't mind a ride at all, thanks."