7242/Happy Harbor Blast!

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Happy Harbor Blast!
Date of Scene: 06 August 2021
Location: Palm Tree Boulevard and Post Road
Synopsis: Bea and Billy, together again!
Cast of Characters: Billy Batson, Beatriz da Costa




Billy Batson has posed:
Another peaceful day in Happy Harbor, as they all are -until they aren't. No one notices the man in the trench coat walking, trudging really. He looks at the schools and seethes fairly. Then nearly gets hit by a cab crossing over to stand on the school side of the street. Nothing weird with that, right.?

Trench coat. In August.

This is lost on Billy Batson, bearing some groceries back to his dorm room and wrapped up in his own thoughts.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
What's the most fun you can have on a motorcycle? Driving on the back wheel only! The light's change a mile back gave Bea the chance to kick that into play.

She's not *completely* irresponsible, mind. She checked first. The road was arrow-straight, after all, and it's a lovely day, so she had perfect visibility down the road's length: nobody on it. Aside from that cabbie, but he was way ahead and heading off. So quick burst of acceleration. Quick throwing back of her body weight. The back wheel pushed forward and the front wheel raised and off she went, on a single wheel, for several hundred yards.

What's the second most fun you can have on a motorcycle? Slamming to a halt on the front wheel only! Bea sees Billy and does just this, bringing the nose down hard and hitting only the front brakes until the back end lifts off the road, coming to a halt at just the moment the back wheel slams back down into the ground.

Her mechanic practically lives off of just her custom.

"Hey, Billy!" she calls out, slipping up the reflective visor of her lime green helmet, perched astride her lime green racing bike. "How are you?"

He's grown since she last saw him. Visibly. But it's still Captain Thunder's alter-ego!

Billy Batson has posed:
"Sha... oot! What's the big idea... Bea?!" His dark eyes open wide almost like buttons.

He sets the groceries down for a moment and runs over to the woman on the motorcycle. Runs and impulsively throws his arms around the woman. Some people stare a bit. the man in the trench coat is talking to himself, having cleared his throat several times and failed to get any attention. He facepalms at the show of affection between the scrawny male juvenile and Bea who is not scrawny, or juvenile and certainly not male to anyone with eyes.

"Where the heck have you been?! It's like you and a bunch of people just dropped... of fthe face of the Earth. It's so good to see you!" And then he hugs her again.

Because if you can get away with hugging Bea twice you do, especially if you are a scrawny male juvenile.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
"Been off on a road trip," Bea says with a laugh. "Well, OK, one of those massive photoshoot deals where you truck around the world, get wined and dined, work grueling hours in skimpy clothes usually unsuited to the weather, and ... You don't read fashion magazines and web sites at all, do you? I was in all of them."

The two hugs are returned with the same gusto they're given while she talks.

"So what's life like here in the Happy place?" she asks. "You goin' to the school here? I was thinking of taking a job here to, you know, fill out the days between motorcycling, wind surfing, barbequeing and beating up baddies. Figure they need a hand to hand combat instructor? An art teacher? A welder?"

Billy Batson has posed:
"Listen you damned sheeple... I am trying to tell you... I am wired with twenty-four sticks of dynamite and I intend to blow myself and this playground to bits... children are not innocent!"

Billy turns to the yelling man. Children not innocent? Derp. He turns back to Bea. "I think something is happening over there and... I can introduce you to Dr. M. She's the one to ask. And... no I don't really read magazines. Hey that guys is drawing a crowd."

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
Yeah, that bit certainly catches Bea's attention. It has everything she needs to pay attention: dynamite, blowing up children, ranting lunatic. She swings into action.

The kickstand comes down and the bike settles back against it.

"Uh, Billy? I think we might need Captain Thunder if you remember how to call him...?"

She swings the opposing leg over the bike and dismounts, facing the man and walking slowly, non-threateningly toward him.

"I didn't catch all that," she says. "What was that about vegemite?"

She's keeping her face deadpan, letting him focus on her and on correcting her.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam sees how Auntie Bea is playing it. He begins urging people quietly to clear the area. It seems to work, like nudging a sleep walker gently back. to bed (that is a thing, right?) His food is forgotten. The Champion of Man's responsibilities come first whether he is Billy or Shazam. He makes a note to remind Bea about his name change.

The man watches Fire approach and when she gets about 3-4 meters from him pulls his hand out of his pocket to reveal a detonator switch. He tears open his coat with the other hand to reveal a series of sticks of dynamite strapped into a vest. "Come no closer! I will kill myself! If only to warn people! I... the aliens are responsible for all this! People have to know! In my death I will finally have respect! I will be a hero!"

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
Playing up her accent a bit, and squinting like she's badly myopic, Fire peers at the vest in confusion. "Why you wearin' so many sausages in vest?" she asks, blinking owlishly as she works her way closer like she's trying to get a better look at the vest.

She's carefully not looking at Billy's actions nor at the detonator. Keep the guy focused on her. On her misunderstanding. Nothing quite like having a Grand Cause<tm>, after all, that make correcting those who just don't Get It<tm> of paramount importance.

"You put 'em in fridge or somethin'? Keep you cool in this heat? Why no stop wearing jacket in sunny weather? I mean if I didn't have the bike out, I'd be in bikini in this weather. You'd like it. I mean you only need bottom part. If I went around only in bottom part cops arrest me. But point is you no need cold sausages. Just no jacket."

Billy Batson has posed:
The man looks at Fire as though she is an idiot. He spares her a good look. "Don't come closer! I have to do this, but there is no need for you to die. Aliens... ruined my whole life! They ruin everything! They made me a dud with women. Made me lose in the stock market! Made my family hate me! Made me a damned Substitute teacher! Aaaaaa..."

Billy winces.

Batson considers the angle and realizes the few people remaining will not be moved short of physical force. Also everyone is looking at the Latin bombshell amping up her accent.

"Shazam!"

Truthfully the flash and rumble are very quick usually. A few people look up. the look down and hey where'd Shazam come from?

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
"Oh, come now..." Bea says, a little purr in the back of her throat as her body stance changes. A stance that now involves a pronounced aggressive positioning of hip and shoulder. A head cocked jauntily to one side. A bit of a come-hither adjascent expression. Not quite there, but hinting at promises to come. "I can't believe that someone who'd wear a coat in this weather, someone so strong, is a dud with women. And educated you are! You're a teacher! What kind of woman wouldn't melt at that?"

She clicks her tongue, shaking her head. "Maybe it's all the sausages. We like to see chests, not sausages. Here, let me help."

Keeping his eyes on hers as much as she possibly can, she steps in and ...

Flame on.

Finger flame.

Intensely hot flame.

The kind of heat that melts plastic.

And melts copper.

The wires.

Press all the buttons he wants now, no signal is going to make it to the charges around his chest, not with the detonator's wires severed by sudden vaporization.

He may have other things to worry about, however, because a shapely shoulder is driving a shapely arm with a shapely fist straight into his throat.

"CHILDREN!? YOU WANNA MURDER CHILDREN!? PUXAO!"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam sees Bea move. He's learned unless he triggers his speed consciously he usually sees things in normal time. She moves even before he can trigger that speed but nonetheless he does between the 'pu' and the 'xao'!

Then he transitions from Billy time to Shazam time. Darla is the fast one in the family. Mary is the best flier. Freddy... is the Renaissance man. But he is still plenty fast! Even faster than when he raced Nitro. You need focus to work the powers fully.

Shazam runs across the street, making sure to hold his lightning in check. Fire and lightning two things you don't want around dynamite. Then he has the man just after Fire's punch hits. In passing he gives Aunt Bea a gentle hand so she doesn't fall over when...

To Fire the man vanishes in a blur of red and gold and sparkles. The former teacher is a thousand feet in the air by magic! He is held by the collar by a very angry Shazam who wordlessly strips the vest from him and the pants and goes through the pockets of his coat making sure he doesn't have anything else to go boom or bang or stabby. He leaves him the coat. The vest gets flung away and explodes with a bolt of lightning. He descends in a more leisurely fashion.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
OK, damn, that was fast! Like Supes fast. Like Barry Allen fast.

Mental note. Don't ever piss off Billy.

"Uh ... right. That's what I'm talking about! You mess with my town, you mess with my friends! Including Captain Thunder here!"

Mental notes everybody else should be making. Don't make Bea angry. Because she raves like a lunatic and it's very scary.

"Lucky I didn't fry you in place, puxao! 'Cause I'm Justice League, but not the part that says 'no' to killing!"

She punctuates this with a stream of flame that actually manages to burn and melt a hole into the DIRT nearby.

"Remember that next time you wanna mess around my home!"

Ten... Nine... Eight... Her countdown is visible as she calms herself.

"Thank you, Captain Thunder for helping me out!" she calls.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam drops the man onto the dirt, having enough lunatic ravings. He hovers over Bea (not directly overhead, he isn't a sleaze) and nods. He smiles and says, "Nonsense. You ran the whole thing. You are as epic as ever! Oh and no more Captain Thunder., or Red Cyclone or Red Lighting, or Golden Bolt. Never did try that last one out. I'm Shazam! Oh sh..."

Boom! It is a very unmighty and too mortal Billy who falls!

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
OK, that's ... by the time Bea realizes what's just happened it's too late. Billy's hit the ground. It takes another second to register.

Then the snort.

Then the giggle.

Then the guffaw.

Then the laughter as the tension that built up releases.

"Uh ... I'm going to give a slight suggestion here. Don't tell people your name if this is what happens."

More laughter. It's good-natured. But let's be clear. She is laughing AT Billy.

"Are you OK? Or was this a conniving way to fall at my feet?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy says, "Shazam!" quickly and a little angrily. Shazam springs to his and looks up ... "Very f..." The height change registers. Shazam look down. "Very funny! Laugh it up! I'll remember this next time you have a wardrobe malfunction! Oh... uhm I kind of gave you a nudge on the abdomical region. Sorry. I was afraid you'd fall on your face." Lightning blush!

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
"Oh, that's OK. I hope you enjoyed it!" Bea has a sort of schizophrenic thing going on here. If this were "Billy" in front of her she'd be motherly or aunt-like. But this is Captain Thu... ah... Shazam!. And her eyes and brain don't register "child" here so she oozes her look and behaviour inherited from her homeland.

Like it was Carnivale.

And she teases and flirts.

"I mean I wouldn't show it if I didn't want it seen, right?" she adds with a wink. A wink that freezes as her brain catches up with her teasing and reminds her who she's teasing.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam is the Champion of Man but he isn't made of stone, though far more durable. Yet, this is Aunt Bea after all. A mentor to a great degree. But he still catches her in a big hug that picks her off the ground. He can be exuberant too.

"Gods and goddesses I missed you. It's good to see you again!" She smells nice too.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
"Oof!" Beatriz's breath gets squeezed out of her by the exuberant Shazam. "It's nice to be seen!" she gasps, trying to regain the ability to take air IN.

No, bad thought. Don't turn to flame to escape the grip. Outfits don't grow on trees!

"Good to see you too, Sha..." She stops. "Is it OK if I say it?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam loosens up but maintains the hug, it being easier to whisper, and she is very huggable. "Yes it's okay to say it. I can say it if I do it right. Shazam." A distant rumble turns out to be a jet. Nothing.

"My sibs can't do that yet. They took different names. The lightning was always my thing. It's good to stand out n some way." He looks downward a little too far and returns to a more neutral line of sight.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
The antics of Bea and Billy make the mad bomber think he can get away unseen. As he tries to slip away--overly dramatic idiot that he is he even does the "spy tiptoe" from old comedies--Bea, from within Billy's hug points a finger and a stream of green flame spews forth and coils around him.

Then tightens until he has to stand stock-still, ramrod straight, whimpering, to avoid being burned.

"You not getting away so well, puxao!" she fumes. "The police be coming and you make even the tiniest move you gonna fry!"

Then the cruel streak.

"Whatever you do, don't sneeze!"

And her attention turns back to Shazam. "Might wanna let me go while we clear this guy off and hand him over. Then let's go get drinks or something!"