6349/Gone Up the River

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Gone Up the River
Date of Scene: 27 May 2021
Location: Industry Roads: Salem Center
Synopsis: Cassie & Rogue meet on a train, foil a prison break, beat up D-list off-brand badguys!
Cast of Characters: Cassie Sandsmark, Rogue




Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Ossining New York, A Little While Ago:

Despite the name having a certain old-timey ring to it, the famous Sing Sing Correctional Facility is still an active and functional maximum security prison in 2021 and a frequent destination for the criminal population of the infamously worm-ridden Big Apple. The complex sits on the Hudson at a more or less halfway point between the city and 'upper Westchester,' where the little town of Salem Center happens to fit. The prison has extensive grounds, facilities and outbuildings spanning both sides of the rail tracks which run parallel to the river. And they are very secure. But in the era of super beings, even the most 'maximum' of 'secure' is a somewhat loose and relative concept.

As a matter of fact, the prison itself doesn't host super criminals. But it does host its share of mobsters and masterminds, some of whom may have super criminals as minions on their payrolls. All of this leads to a sequence of events involving an off-brand band of minor super villains staging the breakout of their egghead leader and, as an escape strategy, hijacking a passing train.

Because they're only a sort of knock-off brand of villains, there's no mass mobilization of Titans or X-Men. But they do get alerts via local law enforcement scanners, and Cassie just happens to be nearby (is it weird that she's been going back to the site of 'her' betrayal of her mentor, which happens to be about a town over?).

Now!

Some minutes later, the train has made its way up further north, parallel with Salem (which sits a bit further east). In the meantime, Cassie has flown to catch up with the train. Various punching ensues, as she fights her way from one car to the next, with a new semi-comedic villain challenging her at each. She fears less for their anctics as for the passengers, who remain essentially hostages. Indeed, it's only for this reason that she hasn't flown ahead directly to the engine to stop the train, bypassing the rest: each one of the minibosses had their own car full of hostages, so she's had to secure each, one by one.

Rogue has posed:
With school out at Xavier's, Rogue's workload was a lot less again. Normally she might get let go until the new school year, but Jean would never do that to her! Right?

So to fill up her free time, Rogue has been flirting with the idea of delving more deeply in to public service as a woman with very capable powers. Her green and gold bodysuits had finally been delivered to her, the suit manufacturer took months to get the upgraded materials in supply, and when they arrived she was eager to get in to one.... The yellow was a lovely textured mesh that helped with agility, covered in flame and melee weapon protective layers that accentuated her body's toned form. The green along the sides of her body were equally padded, with the dark green reflective like a supple leather.

She was veeery happy aobut the new suit, even if she thought it was maybe a tad tight on her form.

That's what the jacket is for though, right? helps reduce some of that overly sexualized flare, at least until she wanted to use that aspect of the suit on her well formed form!

So with her yellow boots pulled on, her leather bomber jacket over the green and gold, the Belle was out and on patrol. Her phone was tapped in to the X-Men system which had police scanner freqs loaded in, and she was able to hear the situation unfolding....

So what Cassie finds, when she finally makes her way through the train like Snowpiercer, is the green and gold bodysuit of Rogue's backside, looking forward to the two powered men in the engine of the train. The three of them are fighting, Rogue doing her best not to break the machinery and iinstead just throwing a punch at one of the men and then a high side kick sent up to the other to shove him back against the side of the train to give her another chance to throw /another/ punch at the first guy!

Uh oh, Wonder Girl, another girl has come out of no where to tread on your hero cred, she's even making quips too!

"Boy, if I'd known the two'a you would be this eager for a Lady's company, I woulda rushed right on over here much faster than I did!" She puncuates that last word just as she throws a punch!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
When Cassie arrives at the engine, it would be easy to mistake her for one of the passengers, perhaps having fled another car in a panic! After all, unlike the green & gold, bomber jacketed X-woman, she doesn't really do the costume thing. It's a nearly summer day (chronologically, anyhow, and way past nearly weather-wise), and in her black spaghetti-strapped tanktop and bike shorts she could be mistaken for any random teenager. Or, mostly. The shirt, true to her eternal brand devotion, does have that distinctive double-W logo across the chest, and her bracelets are a little on the chunky side for fashion accessories.

Anyway, she throws open the door between the cars, steps in, and responds with an immediate "Woah!" to the sight of there already being someone there, fighting!

The two remaining villains are their mastermind leader and recent prison escapee himself, and a large, burly sort who did most of the actual breaking. The latter goes by "The Slab" or something equally meatheaded, and lives up to it, trading blows well even with Rogue, though quips less-so, as he stumbles back from the punch. "Yeah I bet you just want some of this... MEAT"!

Ugh.

His boss is NOT superhumanly gifted in such a fashion, but apparently his minions brought him some of his gear, and he's changed into it before either Cassie or Rogue could reach the cabin. It includes a white lab coat worn over a black bodysuit (he does not wear this look nearly as well as Rogue!) with a hexagonal mesh pattern to the material and a logo on the chest that looks like... well: O-O

What does this mean? Simple. They're glasses, and he's "Professor Spectacle"! Its a pun, see? Because he wears glasses, but also performs great feats of science! Get it? GET IT?

Most notably, the suit manages to absorb some of the impact or Rogue's kick that his puny flesh would not. He steps back and reaches to touch the side of his glasses. She might want to inform Scott later, so he can toss a lawsuit on top of the inevitable criminal charges. Regardless, he unleashes a sort of... bizarre, multicolored blast from them. It doesn't turn out to be that powerful (Cyke's's job is secure), but it is somewhat visually disorienting, and in the aftermath, the meathead follows with a meaty punch that sends Rogue crashing back next to the bulkhead beside where Cassie has just come in. "YEAH, TAKE IT!"

"Gross," grunts Cassie, as she pauses beside the other woman. "Hey Mighty chick, trade? I got the big and sexually inappropriate Mammoth ripoff, you take budget Dr. Light." Who? Does Rogue even know who those people are? CROSSOVER QUIPS.

Regardless, Cassie charges! And while the big and burly dude throws another suitably meaty attack, this is where Cassie shows that she has some Amazon moves to go with superBUFF-ness, catching his incoming arm, and twisting it around into a lock as she spins past and ends up behind him. Suddenly, the pressure is all on his joints, and he's howling in pain.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is knocked back the bulkhead of the train, not having used her flight power to correct her because the guy hit fast and hard in these closed confines. It doesn't hurt her so much though, and she turns her head from the punch to look at Cassie. The man's taunt makes her look back, her white bangs haphazardly strewn over her face now.

"Well hey there, Princess Peach." Rogue says to Cassie with a grin. "Welcome t'the fight." She notes the Wonder Woman logo and knows enough about WW (she's a mega fan) to know that that is Diana's sidekick! It makes her grin to the other girl, but only for a second before she motions ahead. "Have at him, he's all yours. Lets hope he knows less creepy come-backs."

Rogue's attention goes to the doctor guy and she reaches one hand up to toss her bi-toned locks back over her shoulder. "Gotta say, I love your costume. You look like what's his face, Doctor Horrible? The light eyes thing seems familiar though..."

Rogue taunts the guy while she draws in a breath and then LUNGES at him. Her own fighting skills are rooted in what Carol Danvers would've known, different kinds of hand to hand training likely learned in the military. So the Belle grabs the doctor and turns her hips to launch him back toward where Cassie originally came from!

She parts her boots and takes a wide stance, her gloved hands up in balled-up fists. "Time ya'll realized when you're done. Your little 'old west train hesit' is over, Pardners." She can't help herself, but at least her southern accent lets her pull lines like that off good!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
The big guy, while howling, continues to produce some rather inappropriate language, even as Cassie is trying to secure him, keeping one arm locked at his back while her other goes for her lasso. Along the way, the impolite commentary encourages her first to press that grip harder harder. And when THAT doesn't stop his suggestive mouth diarrhea, she goes for the more spectacular solution.

ZZZAAAAAAAAAP!

He twitches, groans, starts to say somethi- ZAAAAP. ZAP-ZAP, ZAPZAPZAP, ZAAAAAAAAAAP... it goes on like that, until he stops.

Meanwhile, the master of spectacles proves to have the degree of combat training one might expect for someone who would choose a name like that for himself. Which is to say, he fights like someone who got bullied a lot in middle school. And while he can take a punch or two against the dispersive mesh of the suit, her lunge catches him off guard and sweeps him from his feet. There's another burst of whatever strange technicolor display, but it ends up aimed upward at the ceiling rather than anywhere useful as he's swept off his feet and flown backward.

They land in the space between the cars, which is louder by virtue of... well, it being a moving train and all, and which allows one to see some of the scenery sweeping by, as well as the tracks beneath them, although the little bendy-bridge between the cars is relatively safe. However, Spectacles seems a bit frightened by it! "Ah, don't hurt me!"

"Just take those things off him," Cassie suggests, casually. ZAP. ZZZZZAP. Yeah she's just doing it for fun, now, as the Slab has ceased putting up any kind of fight and just lays there on the floor, twitching and smoking lightly. "These guys are kind of a joke, but like, thanks for the assist anyhow?"

Rogue has posed:
After throwing the Doctor Dorkus through the open door on to the bendy bridge between the train cars, Rogue's attention goes to the zapzapzapzapzapzaaaaaaaaaapping and it makes her grin for a second.
But she knows she needs to finish the 'Doctor' off so she stalks toward him while he's trying to get up and plead for himself, freaked out a bit by being between the train cars. "Where did you even get this stuff from?" She asks. "You're too much of a whimp t'be this well equipped."

The Belle hears Wonder Girl's recommendation of taking his glasses, which she's inherently nervous of doing because of Cyclops... but she agrees, this time.

What the doctor finds next is the young southern girl in her green and gold bodysuit now stepping over him and lowering down to sit on his stomach. She straddles him and just sits on his stomach like he's a living chair, her wedge heeled boots still planted on the ground. She smiles down at him like this, then just reaches forward to pluck off his shades.

"Rainbow Glasses, huh?" She asks, turning them around in her gloved hands before she just snaps them like they're made of styrofoam. "Gone now." She states, tossing them behind her as she reaches in to her jacket and pulls out some zipties. She's gotten used to carrying these since doing her own indie hero work....

Rogue grabs the scared doctor by his shoulders and then flips him over on to his stomach, she goes down to one knee and starts to hog tie him. Her eyes look up to Cassie and she grins at the girl. "They can't all be world dominatin' types, some'a them are just Beta Males with super powers."

Zip zip zip ziiiiiip!

Rogue stands up then, the doctor literally hog tied on the ground now. She steps back, out of the wind between the cars and looks to the train controls. "How do we stop this thing?" She asks.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"I-I'll have you know that they are my very own inventions!" the Professor boasts. Well, 'boasts.' He doesn't sound particularly courageous or confident, at this point. "I am a very accomplished inventor, I'll have you know."

"Not totally a lie," Cassie admits, from further back in the engine room, where she is now going through the process of more carefully securing her very unconscious captive. "Well, about the glasses anyway. I'm sure he made those. Who else would come up with a glasses-based gimmick like that, right? And they're not exactly, you know, supreme firepower." She puts a hand on her hip and looks thoughtful. T"he suit though... yeah, THAT might be tech he bought from a bigger fish. The mesh actually looks similar to Deahtstroke's armor, with the impact-mesh and kinnetic redistriwhatever. Like, I've seen THAT dude take punches from Superboy, no sweat, and then turn around and throw them back." She shrugs, now walking over, while still holding one end of the lasso like a leash, in case any more corrective zaps are required.

"Might just be a coincidence, though." Now she's standing at the door, looking over both of them, as Rogue removes the glasses. There are no uncontrolled eyeblasts to follow, only a beady-eyed man squinting like he can't quite see too well. Yet he sees enough to observe Rogue holding them, and implores: "No, not my precious-" A whine of despair follows. Cassie rolls her eyes more.

"Yeah these guys aren't exactly top-billing material. I heard some have interviewed for the Fearsome Five the Brotherhood of Evil, but didn't make the cut. And THOSE guys hire out of villain magazines." There are villain magazines?! The world is a strange place.

And while it's satisfying to rag on their captives, the question of the train does provoke a bit of a crinkle of her nose. "Hmm. Hold on." Turning around, she walks to the controls, while indeed pulling out her phone. Fortunately, she doesn't actually start googling. There's a pause, and then- "Yeah, hey, so like, if I send you a picture of some controls can you tell me which of these is the breaks? Yeah hold on." Tap, tap. "Yeah, OK, no, I don't- oh that one? What do you mean my other left? OK, OK, I think I..." She reaches out and pulls one!

Soon, there is a terribly loud SCREEEEEEEEECH-ing sound, followed by a sudden jerking force. But then, miraculously, they have stopped. "Yeah, that got it. Thanks." She puts the phone away, and looks back with a grin. "Bat tech support."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's green eyes are looking over the controls with a bewildered expression. . "I don't know what kinda force these things have movin' at this speed, but i'm guessin' its higher than my pushback can go..."

Her stare goes to Cassie then as she speaks about their captives and it makes her look back to stare at the Professor on the ground for a moment. He gets a smirk. "well, makin' them himself is at least somethin'. That suit is pretty nice, I'll give him that much. Not a bad ass either."

She glances back to Cassie then and flashes her a grin. With the other pulling out her phone, Rogue does the same thing, using her other hand to smooth down some of her wild two-toned hair. So there they are, both of them talking in their phones while the train keeps going and the unconcious men lay on the floor. A typical heroing day...

While Cassie talks to the Bat Tech Support, Rogue is talking to the Cops, and when she hangs up, she sees Cassie doing the same. She gives the girl a big smile. "Nicely done. You got the connections. I'm all alone in this." Not entirely true, but her team is secret!

She tips her chin up then. "I told the cops where we are, and a bit about what was... goin' on here..." She looks back at the men on the floor. "How many more were back there?"

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Yeah, I got a buncha teamates, and two, two and a half of them are Robins," Cassie explains, grinning at the inherent silliness of this. "So there's usually someone home who knows what button to press. Coulda probably asked Cyborg too. And actually he said at least that -stopping- these is supposed to be pretty easy, for like, safety reasons." However, even saying this, she sounds dubious! Well, until the next part: "I'm pretty sure I coulda stopped it, worst came to worst, or the two of us together for sure." Boastful boasting! Truth or fact? Who can say!

All the same, Cassie now seems pretty relaxed about the whole thing, turning around and sitting on the console... fortunately managing not to butt-dial the train back into gear in the process.

"Mm, there's three more, in different cars." Cassie looks over toward the doors leading back through. "Probably woulda been smarter if they all stuck together, y'know? Even with losers like these guys, five on one is bad odds! But yeah, not exactly the smartest bunch. And we'll probably have uh, like marshalls or something coming up after us too," she observes, regarding whatever cops may be on the way. "Since they hit the jail. That tends to put the authorities in kind of a buzz. You wanna stick around, or more the 'leave them tied up like a present' type? I'm pretty public, so it's not a huge deal if you need to jet."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue looks back to Cassie after staring in to the aft of the train. She is grinning at the other girl now leaning back against the train controls console. Her left hand pulls her white bangs back out of her face and she tosses them over a shoulder again, her hair is just like ... has a mind of its own.

"I can stick around a bit. I don't mind talkin' to the cops or nothin'." She replies in that thick southern accent of hers. "Been tryin' t'build relations with'em, in fact. So they trust me more."

She offers a yellow gloved hand to the girl with the casual WW logo. "I'm Rogue." She tells her. "Though the media, and most cops, call me Mighty Girl. Dumb name, I didn't pick it. First time I was seen in a big way, some Newsie made that one up and its stuck. Its kinda cute, I guess. I dunno."She then tips her chin at Cassie. "You're Wonder Girl, yeah?" She asks, before Cassie can give the name herself. "Seen some'a your work. You and your ... whatever she is. I'd be lyin' if I didn't say I was a huge fan. Got a Wonder Woman costume in my closet back home, in fact." Her grin sticks a bit longer.

"But yeah, nice t'work with ya a bit. Ya'll in the Justice League sphere are pretty damn impressive...." See? Cassie can be gushed over by a fan too!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Cool, cool. Yeah, usually we try and play nice with the authorities," Cassie asserts, although there's a touch of emphasis on the 'usually.' Certainly, her and Wondy Wonderful try and keep a good public image, although the Titans can be a little more rebellious, youngsters that they are. And then there's her more covert team! So 'usually' covers it pretty well.

But this is a pretty normal, even boring everyday kind of super-bust, and the young woman seems to treat it as precisely that, in an almost unremarkable way. No doubt at least some of this is a case of youth-related too cool for school syndrome, but at least to a degree, well... their names were "The Slab" and "Professor Spectacle." Epic battle against forces from space or other dimensions, it is not.

After a moment of being blase, she pushes off the console to take the offered hand. "Yeah that's me. Cassie's fine too, though, ain't really much secret keeping when I'm always palling around with Diana." And then, smirking, "'Wonder,' 'Mighty' - kind of a similar thing, yeah? I don't really mind. It's kinda retro." Which makes it vaguely hipster cool!

However, it's the admission of Rogue's secret Wonder Woman dress up hobby that draws more of a notable reaction, a kind of surprised laugh, followed by a sort of half-amused, half-dubious re-examining of the other woman standing before her. Is she imagining her in the outfit? Or trying to decide if she's some obsessed fan who uses the costume for weird sex stuff? It's surprisingly common, with that lasso! "Well, she has a lot of fans. Guess it's not surprising even some other supers are into it. I can hardly talk, yeah?"

This said, she starts back for the rear of the engine car and the transition to the next. "May as well go back and check on folks while we wait for the sirens, yeah? Do a little more super-PR, too, yeah, take some selfies?" Always be hustlin'!