8697/GIRL Expo: Day 3

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GIRL Expo: Day 3
Date of Scene: 16 November 2021
Location: Pym Technologies
Synopsis: The GIRL Expo ends with a bang! Many of them! Really big ones! Even an erupting mini-volcano?! But Monica Rappaccini and A.I.M. sent packing! That Zeta Beam Emitter they made off with probably isn't a big deal right? RIGHT?! Either way, our intrepid heroines have likely not seen the last of them...
Cast of Characters: Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Janet van Dyne, Madigan Belle, Natasha Romanoff, Keli Quintela, Bobbi Morse, Terry O'Neil




Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Day 3 of the GIRL SCIENCE! Expo in the Great Hall reception space of the Pym Technologies campus opens with the main exposition space reorganized yet again.

The promotional materials for the third day promised some big surprises and the GIRLs are not ones to disappoint in that regard. While many of the exhibits from the previous day are still set up around the periphery, the center of the space is now dominated by none other than the large sleep glittering form of the GS Tereshkova, GIRL's fully FTL capable spacecraft, as well as another exhibit with two circular metallic pads set up with strange beam emitters pointed at them. While the Tereshkova's technology seems eye-poppingly advanced, those beam emitters looks almost /alien/ in their origins, unlike anything previously developed on Earth. These are the real ground breaking innovations that they've all been working on together, as a team!

Nadia is speaking from the stage again in her trademarked casual attire, pink and purple GIRL bomber jacket and all with that la bcoat draped over it more for style than actual lab protection. "Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and especially GIRLs! At GIRL we are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of SCIENCE! breaking barriers and improving lives. Today we would like to unveil some of our greatest achievements to date! This ship, the Tereshkova named for the first woman to go into space and the first woman to fly a solo mission into space, is an achievement all of GIRL made working together. Combining all of our ideas and abilities, we have been able to literally reach for the stars and develop technology capable of taking us there. After the alien invasions of the past year, this technology couldn't be more important for the future of Earth. The Universe is knocking and GIRL intends to answer!" How world governments will feel about this remains to be seem.

"We made this ship and flew it to the planet Rann in Alpha Centauri! A whole other alien world with intelligent life! Amazing people like you and me, working with the great Rannian scientist Sardath," She gestures towards a holographic image behind her as she walks back and forth across the stage with flourishes of her labcoat. "We have brought back what the Rannians call Zeta Beam Technology! It allows instant transportation between two points! Literal teleportation! Just imagine being able to visit family on another coast or another continent and be home in time for dinner, it could revolutionize so many aspects of life and improve the quality of life for the world! This is who we are as GIRL, these are the ideas we want to bring forth as we seek to make all voices heard in the halls of SCIENCE!"

She is really getting into her speech when a strange rumbling sound like very big propellers can be heard overhead and the lights flicker for a moment.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's down in the audience, beaming fit to beat the band and watching Nadia delivering another speech. She's stepped up in a big way for this event and is delivering her speeches like the leader she is. Being in charge isn't ALL public events... but confidence and projection do matter for a lot no matter how competent someone is.

When the rumbling hits Janet pauses and looks around with a wary uncertainty. This wasn't on the schedule, was it? Janet exchanges A Look with Nadia to try and gauge what's going on.

Whatever it is isn't good, and the socialite touches the pendant on her neck in a certain way. Courtesy of self-assembling fabrics and Pym Particles, her sleek black leotard wraps around her body under her stylish business suit. Janet kicks off her shoes and quickly peels out of her jacket and pants. Segmented armor plates slide into place to protect her chest and abdomen. She shrinks out of her clothes and flies to the stage, emerging full size and landing next to Nadia.

"Everyone please try to remain calm and start moving to the exits," she says, raising her voice easily over the hubbub. Her tone is assertive but calm, and she raises her hands to drive home the instruction. "No one rush or panic, please look after each other and give priority to anyone who needs mobility assistance."

Madigan Belle has posed:
The spaceship. Right, Madi wasn't there for the trip but she still has seen the ship from time to time while she's about. The speech today doesn't get her so much cheering as it does gets her looking at Misses Nose Wiggles McRed, saying to herself, "Does she look fat? She kind of looks fat." Then there's the words, try to remain calm, she looks up and over. "What... is... going on?" She looks up and squints a bit, hearing more of what's going on than probably almost everyone in the room.

She giggles a bit, "Oh, I think there's going to be problems." Then she's looking back at her rat, "She definitely looks fatter, at least. I mean, could she be? There was only that one time... maybe it was sixteen times..." Quirking her mouth to the side she squints again, more interested in her rat than the ongoings of the room. At least for now.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Not for the first time, Natasha Romanoff feels very conflicted as to wether she should have gone on that space trip or not. On the one hand, not her area of expertise, and everything seemed to turn out okay. On the other hand, someone as open as Nadia interacting with an utterly unknown alien intelligence kind of makes Natasha want to throw up from dizzyness at the sheer security risk.

Still, pretty neat tech.

Then that noise starts, and Natasha - dressed much more casually, with a GIRL logo emblazoned on her back above the word 'security' - speaks into her wrist. "Somebody tell me what that noise is."

Natasha's expression doesn't change, but her throat visibly tightens.

"*Zeppelins.*" There's a pause. *Zep-* no, nevermind. Start an evacuation, now. Keep eyes on it, shoot to stun at the first sign of hostility. I'll secure Busy bee."

With that Natasha rolls up her sleeves enough to expose the widow gauntlets attached to her forearms, and moves up to the stage towards Nadia. "We're leaving." She says frankly.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli's just come to look at the spaceship today, wearing her backpack and standing in the crowd, listening to Nadia's speech with rapt, wide-eyed attention. Aliens! Space travel! Teleportation! It all sounds amazing, and it makes her really happy she decided to take a chance and show up and join this organization.

    Then there's a strange rumbling and she glances up toward the ceiling, frowning. Is that just part of the presentation...? She starts shifting her backpack, just in case. It'll take her a minute to put the gauntlet on. She's hardly /used/ the gauntlet, just once when she met Tim and Lonnie and Phoebe, but... if that's something dangerous...

    Janet van Dyne's words make her pull the backpack off entirely, stepping around behind an exhibit to pull out a green headband that she pulls over her eyes and a green jersey that she pulls on over her t-shirt. Then the backpack gets dropped as she pulls out the gauntlet and its battery and pulls it all on. What's the gauntlet /for/ if not helping evacuate her new friends?

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi Morse stood in the back as the event started. She watched and listened with interest. This whole thing took off from an innocent conversation and had blossomed into an impressive organization with an ever growing list of successes. The Expo was a great way to show GIRL was in full stride. Having unknown enemies arrive via zeppelin? That doesn't help but it certainly indicates GIRL has reached another level. Of sorts.

Reacting at the same time as Janet and Natasha, Bobbi reached up to touch her glasses, changing their form and function to their combat mode. The lenses immediately bring up her Mockingbird HUD, already streaming with data. She begins moving along the side of the hall, waving fleeing guests past her, "Keep heading toward the exits" she assures as she nears the stage. Straightening her arms, her staves slide out and automatically extend and lock. "Do we have all the girls?" She looks around to take a head count quickly."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The doors leading outside open up to the building being surrounded. Individuals in what look like yellow Hazmat suits with black face panels across where the eyes would be, toting some pretty high tech looking weaponry are ziplining down from the yellow zeppelins floating in the sky above.

If that was all they brought it would already be plenty, but it isn't. Descending in a controlled fashion with rockets on their undercarriage firing in bursts to slow them down are high tech tanks, loaded to bear with sophisticated armaments and particle beam cannons for their main gun.

As if that wasn't enough there is a loud crunching noise as something else impacts the earth outside of the main entrance and there in front of the building is a legit giant robot at least two stories high.

<<Everyone stay calm. Once we have what we came for you can keep your lives.>> A female sounding voice broadcasts from the giant robot.

Nadia's does pause for just a moment glancing upward when the rumbling begins and then Janet and Natasha are already springing into action. Nadia's response is probably predictable. "Everyone stay calm, everything will be fine." While in a much lower voice off the mic she says to Natasha. "Everything is not fine, is it?"

Never one to be a damsel in distress, Nadia flicks the back of one of her necklaces, jostling the miniaturized suit she keeps contained within free of its moorings, before shrinking and in a feat of near super human acrobatics donning the whole thing in mid-air free fall in a matter of moments before reappearing at her full size in the Waspette armor.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha grabs Nadia by one arm and begins to lead her away at a hurried but not overly rushed pace, keeping her other hand to her ear to focus on her comlink over the din of the crowd. "Everything is not fine." Natasha replies curtly. "Three zeppelins decloaked above the building, and they're deploying-"

Natasha stops and straightens up as the female voice calls out.

Natasha tilts her head just slightly into her comlink.

"... That came from a giant robot." Natasha grimaces. "Find out what they want, nobody fire unless fired upon without my explicit order." Natasha says into her wrist, and begins moving again. "Tanks. Armed Infantry. Don't have a count yet because they're *still coming out*. You-"

Natasha stops moving when Nadia suddenly vanishes from her grasp. She looks back in time to see Nadia reappear in armor. Natasha looks at her VERY sternly. "You're not fighting them."

Madigan Belle has posed:
Zeppelin, people in Hazmat suits, this is all great. Madigan's eyes kind of light up as she looks back to all the people coming in. She's currently fiddling with her backpack, and she's pulling out a few syringes that she sticks partially down her pants like they were a gun and she's some gangster. You know, hidden loosely under her shirt, ready to be drawn at a moments notice. Then she's slinging her backpack onto her back, "Okay Misses Nose Wiggles McRed. I think it's show time for you. Not me. I'm going to stay in this corner..."

And that's exactly what she does. The girl with a crutch and leg braces is used to, in part, being ignored. She's a girl, glasses, plaid shirt, and she's working the joints on the side of the ball she has, she figured out how to turn it since yesterday. Then, she's unscrewing the top. And with a quick motion, faster than most people can see, she has her rat, the lid put back on, and she's injecting it with something. "Now, go... just like we practiced."

And then, without much more adieu she's grinning, big, her fingers are wiggling, and up by her face. She is biting the tip of her tongue, as it sticks out just a little bit. She giggles a bit more, shaking with some genuine laughter, when one of the men in the hazmat suits suddenly starts screaming. A form seemingly running around inside of its suit, and then he falls over.

A second hazmat suit person is tripped, by something, moving quickly, and then dragged under the spaceship by a perpetrator unknown. There's screams only for a few more moments before... it stops. Madi has downgraded to a light snicker, but she's clearly finding something funny.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Nadia," Janet says with a firm Mom Voice. She grips the Waspette's arm a little tightly and makes eye contact. "-We- will deal with these assholes," she promises Nadia. "-You- have got a responsibility to your team. They are waiting on your leadership. Get the researchers to the disaster shelters in the basement. Then circle back and coordinate with the security team to lock down anything on display. Once we've got the civilians evacuated you can come blow up anything you want, I promise," she tells Nadia.

Without waiting for a response she breaks into a run and leaps off the stage, shrinking fast and making best speed directly for the robot outside the Expo.

"<<Testing testing, is this thing on?>> Her voice crackles over the comm 'net. <<Nats, I'm gonna go try to slow down the bigass robot thing, but I got nothing on the zeppelins. I can't fly up that high in this weather.>>

An alert goes out on all channels monitored by the Avenger's various allies: unknown attackers at Pym Campus, allies under siege, SEND HELP!

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi Morse cast a double glance as Nadia seemingly disappeared only to reappear. Looking back to the scene as the AIM agents enter. "Well at least we know who we're dealing with. Zeppelins were a nice touch, hmm?" she observes.

Reacting to Janet's comments she is already moving, her pantsuit shredding to reveal her Mockingbird armor underneath as she kicks off her heels. She sprints toward the nearest side exit, striking out at the AIM agents with her staves, the glowing tips erupting with stun energy as she spins between the four of them. Three crumble to the floor before the last can attempt to strike. As he tries to bring his weapon to bear, Bobbi blocks it with her staves. After a moment, she spins around, striking him in the back with her stave. His eyes seem to glow for just a moment before he, too, is down.

Now at the exit, she emerges outside as she replies, "Go on the robot, Janet. Nat, you good on the ground?" as if there was a question. "I'll see what I can do up top" she says as she leaps off the ground and her wingsuit extends, launching her skyward.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli--or rather, Teen Lantern--pops back out from behind the exhibit she'd been changing behind, wearing her gauntlet on her right hand and a backpack with the Green Lantern symbol on it on her back. "Oh, /seriously/?" she says when she sees the people in the yellow suits. She thinks for a moment. Well, /they/ have a giant robot...

    The robot construct Teen Lantern shortly finds herself floating in is not two stories tall, but it /is/ big, at least eight feet tall. It's bipedal, with giant clawed feet, big robot arms with the Green Lantern symbol on the end, a cockpit of sorts where Keli floats, the 'face' also a Green Lantern symbol.

    "Oy! Cojudo! You chose the /wrong/ Expo to attack with your ugly suits. Seriously, you need better fashion sense." A big green cage appears near the robot, and then a giant green hand picks up one of the hazmat suit people and deposits them inside the cage. "You all get to go to fashion jail until you learn your lesson."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The yellow clad soldiers actually do not interfere with the attempts to evacuate, apparently not interested in hostages or prisoners, at least not civilian ones.

<<We will be taking the ship and the Zeta Beams.>> Comes the female voice from the giant robot again. <<If you resist, you will be put down.>> The meaning of put down seems obvious as the high tech weaponry charges up.

Even as the AIM forces surround the building, Pym Technologies security forces with their own weapons have begun taking up positions on the upper floors of surrounding buildings with weapons aiming down and in some cases up at the yellow clad intruders, as well as a gather ground force. The GIRL HQ building, while seemingly not the attack's target, has gone into lockdown all the same as the 'this is not a drill' message spreads through the full Pym Technologies security apparatus.

On the stage, Nadia gives a slow nod to Janet. It's very clear what she /wants/ to do. She's actually keeping herself together remarkable well compared to the incident when the Brainiac Array got attacked by the Brotherhood. But in the end she nods to Janet and Natasha and doesn't fight them, at least not yet, instead zipping off to get the less combat capable members of GIRL to safety.

With most attention focused outward as the firefight breaks out with AIM soldiers returning fire on both the Pym Technologies security and the Great Hall's defenders, it could be easy to miss a small group of individuals, four young women who security logs will actually show have been at all three days of the expo, that are not evacuating but seem to have separated from the flow of the crowds towards the exits, instead their path has brought them rather close to the Tereshkova exhibit. One of them is fiddling with the outer doors of the airlock.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Sweet lord, someone under the age of thirty actually listened to Natasha. Granted it took the power of one and a half moms, but who cares, she'd do a cartwheel if she was in any way remotely that kind of person.

She's not.

She draws a gun.

<<Understood.>> Natasha replies to Janet. <<I don't have anything I can send up to them except bullets.>> There's a pause. <<I have a lot of those though. Security? How does the evacuation look?>>

<<... Really.>>

<<Light up the Zeppelins. We have the ground.>>

Natasha's been on the move as she spoke, and she kicks open a door that smashes into the closest in a line of AIM agents trying to move inward, giving them a split second to reflect on their folly before burst of electricity crackle through the narrow space, as if being carried forward on the back of a bullet, zapping many of them, and directly impacting two of them. <<Try and take prisoners. I want to know why they thought this was a good idea.>>

Madigan Belle has posed:
Unless someone had super sight, or some other sensory ability to track super fast moving items and motion, then Madigan looks like she's staying away from things. In fact, she's moving behind the big ball that had her rat in it, because, well, it's kind of safe and it has a bunch of things inside of it like screws and sharp metal. If she were to need it. Instead though, she's pulling out from her pocket a small treat. And tossing it, super quickly, at another AIM goon on their way in.

Ah, hah, that's how she's controlling the rat. She's not, she's giving it treats to do her bidding. Either way, a mutant rat that's been imbued with superhuman strength, speed and invulnerability is now running loose. That AIM goon is tripped, flipping over them self and landing on the ground as something bursts out that collided with their shins. And now there's a rat outside, at least where it can't do much harm to those innocents on the inside. Madi is now starting to shuffle in the direction of a window, or whatever can get her a good look outside. She definitely wants to see a giant robot, and from the sounds of things, tanks and whathaveyou.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    The adults all seem to have the outside covered, and other people are handling the evacuation, and Teen Lantern's run out of people to put in 'fashion jail' as she put it. Her green robot construct swings its head back and forth, looking to see... should she go outside and help fight the giant robot? Is there anyone else not combat-capable that needs to get to safety...?

    Then she notices someone fiddling with the Tesehkova's airlock.

    "Hey!" She lumbers her robot over toward the young woman trying to get into the ship. "No, no, that's not an evac route, c'mon, you need to follow Ms. Pym-van Dyne. /That/ way!" She helpfully points the way Nadia took people to escape.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet makes pretty good speed. Bobbi and Natasha are incredibly threatening and plow into the goons like freight trains to stall the initial assault. The Wasp zips over their shoulders and weaves through the panicked stampede of civilians trying to push past the AIM agents without getting shot.

This low to the ground, the biting New England winter isn't quite as much of a problem; she can fly fast and relatively straight as far as she dares, emerging at full size just inside what would be the safe radius of any weapons systems. Janet leaps and slides between the robot's legs and when she's behind it she abruptly grows to a solid 30' tall, and mule-kicks the big metal monster as hard as she can.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi Morse rises up into the sky, scanning for any airborne units before turning her focus on the zeppelins themselves. She wings over and stows her staves as she dives toward one of the AI Agents. Just as she streaks past him, she takes possession of his rifle and soars back upward toward the nearest of the zeppelins. "How are we doing on evac?" she wonders as she scans the airship for the closest hatch or hangar bay to gain entry. Otherwise the rilfe will help her make an entrance if not.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry is late. Very late. To a very important date!

He was supposed to cover the third day of the expo, since his colleagues got the other two days- but some dingus tried to rob a bank. Because of course they did.

The Rabbit Hole that opens up deposits the young reporter right outside, reporting paraphernalia and messenger bag in tow, ready for some ordinary Doing A Journalism... maybe even get a chance to change out of the fur to look more professional.

Of course it couldn't be that simple.

"Oh. A firefight," he says. "How absolutely thoughtful." As if stepping into a war zone is something you usually do in your spare time. A stray shot almost pins him, and the Cheshire immediately goes invisible, to get a better feel of the situation, as well as not be an immediate target.

There's also a friend in there he needs to contact. A tap of the T-Comm:

<<Nadia. So... >> he glances up, and then down. <<There are zeppelins out here. Did you piss off Jules Verne? What's the sitrep and who am I supposed to break?>>

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Being shot at seems to have been something anticipated by the designers of these super science 'war zeppelins' and while many shots from Pym Tech security agents armed with their own high tech armaments do find their mark, the vehicles seem fairly resistant to small arms fire, even that of energy weapons. Though all the same as they start to take more incoming fire they do begin to pull away a bit higher into the sky.

<<Have it your way.>> The female voice broadcasting from the two story high giant robot calls out again before the huge machine begins advancing on the building, a bright glowing light gathering in the center of its chest. That is until suddenly a very large and unhappy Janet appears behind the thing mule kicking it. As the machine staggers forward, a powerful energy beam bursts forth from its chest, going wide of its original target, the main entrance, and collides with the front of the building creating a brand new entrance in the form of a large gaping hole.

The embattled soldiers continue to press their attacks, but their losses are beginning to mount between the combined withering assaults of Mockingbird, Black Widow, and Madigan's cute little super rat ...that seems to have eaten a few.

With such a large target presenting itself, two of the high tech science tanks move into position, leveling their main particle beam cannons at Janet's 30' tall form and opening fire!

Meanwhile inside, as Keli approaches the group by the spaceship, the girl working on the airlock looks up. "Brilliance, you're up." She tells a redhead in a green turtleneck and red leather jacket wearing red tinted aviators.

"Well, guess it can't be helped." Brilliance steps away from her companions and into the path of the approaching Keli. From within her jacket she withdraws a small control switch and begins turning the dial. "I brought my own little project for your science fair," The ground begins to rumble and crack as an honest to god volcano begins rising out of it, with Brilliance left standing on her own little pillar of raised rock. "What kind of science fair doesn't have a /Mini-Volcano/?!" She seems very amused by her own joke. "Now cut the green theatrics and let my friends work, before this little beauty blows her top all over this place!" Magma can be seen bubbling in top of the cone that is easily twenty feet high, somehow this is all for real.

Making a volcano in the middle of her Expo?! Nadia has endured a lot today, but this is a bit much. There is a buzzing sound as the Waspette zips back from escorting a group of young scientist non-comms to safety. She's set herself on a collision course with the group messing with the spaceship.

The girl mohawk punk girl working on the airlock sighs again, "Finesse!" And another of her companions, a short haired young woman in a black and white bodysuit under her clothes inserts herself into Nadia's path drawing a pair of batons.

There are so beeps from the airlock. "Just a little more..." The Mohawk Girl tells her last remaining companion. "Phantasma, you probably need to run interference, too."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
There is a fair bit of chaos and violence between Natasha and the outdoors, but she makes pretty good time, all told!

Inside one of the tanks, the pilot receives a communication. <<Six-one-seven, let me in! Let me IN!! I've got the package!>>

A few moments later the hatch on top of the tank opens, and the pilot looks up to see Natasha Romanoff wearing a stolen communicator on one arm, and an AIM helmet over her head. <<Thanks.>> She says into the comlink despite being about a foot away, and blasts the pilot with a Widow's Sting before hauling him out of the tank, dropping him onto the ground, and hopping into the vehicle herself.

Dropping into the pilot seat, Natasha cracks her knuckles and takes the controls. They make these things pretty intuitive right?

Friendly fire is a terrible thing.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    "Okay, gotta admit, that's impressive," Keli comments as the mini-volcano erupts through the ground. The robot takes flight, hovering well above the problem. "Surprised you don't recognize the 'green theatrics,' though. Hi, I'm Teen Lantern, at least /you/ guys have decent fashion sense."

    Nadia's on a collision course, so Keli focuses on the volcano, surrounding the entire thing with a cylinder of green that reaches to the roof. Maybe that'll make the volcano blow the roof off the building, but at least nobody'll get hurt, right?

    She's not aware that the strain on the battery will start drawing will from people around soon. Hopefully this fight will be done before that particular drawback of her gauntlet kicks in.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Rule one of fighting with Pym Particles: don't stay in one place. Janet's head whips left and right at the sight of the tanks dialing in their cannons on her, and her response is to push off the ground and vanish from sight in a motion, spinning in place ahead of the two beams lancing through the air. Their wake is molten hot; Janet's armor protects her so she collapses her wings and freefalls an incredible distance (all of about 60" off the ground). Once the air cools she deploys her wings once more and buzzes back at the robot.

<<Going after the Iron Giant here, no one do anything dumb in my direction,>> Janet advises her allies. This time she stays small and darts towards one of the access hatches. It's fairly hard to actually seal something against intruders who can get down to bug-size-- or smaller, if the situation calls for it!

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
<<Terry!>> Comes Nadia's voice over the T-Comm. <<There is a Volcano in here! IT'S SO COOL!!! But also bad! We're being attacked by Evil Science! Get the people out if you can!>>

Bobbi Morse has posed:
<<Staying out of your way Janet. I'll be upstairs if needed.>>

Mockingbird rises up swiftly toward the closest airship. As she matches altitude with the troop bay she flashes a smile, "Hi boys. Thanks for the party crashing. Now it's our turn. SHIELD says hi." Dodging a few startled shots aimed her way, she launched herself into the airship's bay, tackling several of the AIM troopers. Her suit's wings retract and she discards the AIM rifle in favor of her staves once more, starting to batter a swath through the troopers in her quest to find the cockpit of the airship.

<<Wait. Did we bring a volcano to a gun fight? Did they? Why is there a volcano?>>

All reasonable questions, those.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<A volcano? Okay. I like volcanos.>> the Cheshire cat glances around at the chaos, and sighs, <<I guess evacuating /is/ the sensible thing to do. I was looking forward to glitterbombing some evil scientists. But count on me. Evac Cat is on the job!>>

Right. Prioritize civilians and the innocent, keep pew pew away from them. Within a few seconds, the Cheshire Cat pops in and becomes visible in front of the nearest group of huddled masses, yearning to be free of lasers and zeppelins.

"Never Fear, Escape Cat is here!" he says. His uniform has even changed, the spandex now sporting EXIT sign patterns instead of the usual design. "Please form a neat and tidy line and make your way to lovely Centennial Park in Metropolis, where a team of Titans will offer you refreshments and selfies until the danger has passed!" Or they will, once he contacts them, that is. He opens a Rabbit Hole leading to Centennial Park, and gestures to the crowd. Then he taps his comm to alert the nearest Titans to be the Welcome Wagon and help some science expo goers calm their nerves with food. It'll probably be Caitlin.

"No rushing, no pushing, no shoving, no wearing white after labor day and decidedly do not fold, spindle or mutilate, please!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
There is some brief confusion as the giant robot rights itself, but its aggressor is suddenly nowhere in sight. <<Seeker, are you still not done yet?! Useless.>> The robot begins trudging towards the rather large hole opened in the building, seemingly oblivious that someone might have slipped within its structure.

Meanwhile not one but two tanks explode, the two that had been targeting Janet as a particle blast from a clever flanking angle rips through both of them at once, much to the surprise of the crews inside. Black Widow is dangerous enough unarmed or with small arms, give her a tank and her keen strategic sense begins unleashing a whole other level of destruction.

It is not terribly difficult to find the Zeppelin's cockpit. Getting in might prove difficult, but the ship gondolas are really only divided into troop carrying space and command and control cockpit space. Mockingbird is able to cut a swath through the very surprised troops with her shock staves, it takes all of her serum enhanced strength to wrench the secure door open, bringing her face to face with a very startled bridge crew.

Brilliance seems surprised at the green light, but entirely willing to pit her science against it. Cranking up the dial the volcano /explodes/ shooting magma upwards, searing against the green energy field as a hole is indeed blasted in the roof, a geyser of magma visible even to Bobbi on the Zeppelin bridge rising high into the air, before splashing down on to the building roof.

Nadia at first seems to be scoring some hits against Finesse but the battle rapidly changes as Finesse seems able to quickly adapt to Nadia's otherwise frighteningly effective techniques, soon it seems she can't even lay a hand on her and is sent flying back with a sharp kick to the chest.

<<Oww that hurt,>> Nadia croaks through the Comm. <<I've never met a martial artist like this before, ugh. It's like she knows what I'm going to do before I do. I mean if you can sneak in some glitter bombs, that's cool too!>> She pushes herself back to her feet getting ready for another round.

<<Seeker, you've failed. Plan B!>> The voice from within the robot broadcasts, as things seem to be dragging out too long for her liking.

The mohawked girl grumbles as a power armor suit, jetpack, and helmet form around her from beneath her clothes. "Phantasma! Distraction!" She shouts firing her jetpack as she shoots over to grab one of the Zeta Beam emitters instead. Brilliance and Finesse each raising up a hand for their jetpack bearing companion to grab and lift them up as a bright blinding flash fills the room, momentarily blinding everyone within.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet isn't much of a scientist, but she's developed a real talent for breaking things. It's all the same really; once you know what a thermal coupler, capacitor, or relay switch do, spotting and disabling them becomes much easier to accomplish. In fact with a little prep and time, Janet can disable a lot of machinery in ways that are nearly impossible to fix but also nigh-undetectable.

Of course there's always a simple option, and for this Janet finds the cables for the robot pneumatics and follows them along to the actuator controls. Two blasts of that green bioplasma disable one leg and one arm by throwing the sensors into disarray. The arm almost rips itself in half as the power output goes exponential to compensator, and the leg simply collapses out from under the robot like a cut string.

Janet exits the creature and flies into the Expo again, riding in on the shoulders of a hapless AIM mook. When she's close enough she leaps off of him and flies past Finesse. Janet goes full size in midair and starts slinging bioplasma at Nadia's attacker like an old-west gunslinger.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli /yelps/ as the volcano's magma just... winds up on the roof. She really should have through that through. Made a dome or something instead. She's learning. "No no no no no, ayyyyy..." She starts talking to herself in Spanish as she adjusts the cylinder of green light to shore up the roof so if the magma melts through, it won't burn up everyone inside.

    "I don't know what I'm /doing/!!" she shouts to the others, in English. "Somebody better get this stuff fixed before--ah!" The flash of light makes her rock back and tumble end-over-end through the air, though she keeps hold of her constructs. Magma held out of the way, a few fashion prisoners to question. By the time she rights herself, the bad guys are already escaping.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi Morse introduces a goodly number of AIM troopers to her shock-staves. "C'mon guys. You're all napping on the job and I've only just begun to breath heavy. Not even a good cardio workout..." she shakes her head and approaches the cockpit.

"Simon says: Open up!"

"No? Okay. I'll just come to get you myself."

Grabbing the frame she proceeds to slowly peel the door back like the lid of a soup can. "Hi guys. So who wants a headache? All of you?"

Staves begin to swing. Even in the tight confines of the cockpit, she takes them down in short order.

<<Airship is in my control. Commencing with Operation Led Zeppelin. Increasing to ramming speed. Someone film the fireworks for me, k?>>

Grabbing the flight yoke, Mockingbird settles in and begins to steer the cumbersome airship into a turn while increasing speed so as to catch the next closest airship.

Given the proximity they needed in order to deploy troops to the exhibition hall, it isn't so difficult to catch the adjacent airship. But it is a bit like two sloths drag racing, even with her airship's engines redlined and protesting.

Amidst the chaos, Mockingbird's newly acquired pirate ship does in fact catch the other airship, angling in from amidships. The result that both ships begin to crumple and entangle. There is just enough gas left to keep them both aloft long enough for a lumbering, drifting collapse toward the shoreline of the river.

<<Couldn't get them all but two airships down. Returning to the AO>> Bobbi radios calmly as she leaps from the still falling wreck. Her wingsuit deploys and propels her back toward the fight.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Nadia says the words that are guaranteed to give Donna nightmares for at least a week. He feels, indeed, very free to sling glitter bombs around! <<Oh, you have a fisty fighty kicky person giving you trouble?>>

He holds up a hand at the next person about to step into the Rabbit Hole. "Please excuse our temporary service interruption while we see to some technical issues!" the panorama past the Rabbit Hole changes then, focusing on the battle. "Nope. Nope. Hey, that's- coool, no, focus, O'Neil-- aha!"

It's like watching a drone video, except that you can step through it. The portal zooms towards Finesse at breakneck speed, as fast as thought, and it interposes itself between her and Nadia in the blink of an eye.

"Third floor. Ladies' Lingerie, Existential Crises, and..."

And his chaos magic erupts into a gathering of glittering, scintillating particulate- magical glitter, packed into the shape of a football- "GLITTER!"

It flies. He doesn't need to aim, it's magical, and it will go for her face and erupt into the magical craft herpes the entire Tower fears by now.

Then the portal closes, just in time for Janet to launch into her new hit single, From Plasma, With Love.

"Now, where were we?" he says to the bewildered civilian. "Oh. Right. Centennial Park."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Adding to Janet's brutal assault on AIM's giant robot, as if the machine already tearing itself apart wasn't enough, a particle beam blast from Natasha's tank rips through it from behind and at that point the cascade failure of systems is too much to be stopped. Whoever is controlling it does not seem to be going down with the ship though as the robot's head detaches and blasts off up towards one of the waiting yellow war zeppelins.

<<If you can't secure Plan B, then just die down there!>> Is the last broadcast from the robot head. Lovely boss they seem to have, a real peach.

Inside Keli is managing to hold the roof up for the time being as molten rock threatens to eat through it in a few places and everyone learns a science lesson about why volcanos erupting is bad.

Then there is that portal opening in front of Finesse. It is unusual enough that she is curious at first, that curiousity is of course her undoing as a rainbow glitter bomb collides with her face! "Aaaaaaah! No what the hell is this?!" Hands attempt to brush it from her eyes as best she can as Janet flies in just in time to take some bio-electric plasma shots. To her credit, Finesse really is that good to the point she is able to do her best impression of Trinity from the Matrix movies as she bends backwards dodging them, though thanks to glitter and her less than perfect balance at the moment, one of the blasts does manage to catch her solidly in the shoulder and other in the shin. Finesse curses as the tide has clearly turned and she is not liking her diminishing odds.

That is when blinding light fills the room and both Brilliance and Finesse grab on to Seeker as she rockets up through the convenient hole in the ceiling created by Brilliance's volcanic eruption, after using a hand blaster to widen it a bit. Under Phantasma's cover, they zip up towards the last waiting Zeppelin. Though when the light fades, Phantasma doesn't seem to be anywhere to be seen either.

Last Zeppelin? Yes, thanks to the one woman army that is Mockingbird, one Zeppelin has careened into the other and with a helpful blast from the particle beam cannon of Natasha's super tech tank both ships are sent careening into the Delaware river for a giant splashdown of flaming wreckage.

Inside Nadia is rubbing her own head where Finesse managed to ring her bells pretty hard. "I think we won?" She says to Janet. "Who were those evil science people?" She frowns, using science for evil is the utter antithesis of everything GIRL stands for.

The single surviving Zeppelin fades from view as it retreats, using the same cloaking technology that allowed them to get so close undetected in the first place.

It could have been worse though, substantial losses for AIM and only a single Zeta Emitter lost by GIRL. That assuredly will not come back to haunt them later. And they have a new high tech particle beam tank as a souvenir!

In the aftermath all that remains is rounding up the remaining, now fleeing, AIM soldiers and a whole lot of cleanup.