We've seen this one before: a Protectorate hero and Ward on patrol, Cavalier floating next to Doc Pulsar while chatting, and occasionally flying up high to keep an eye out for threats. Let's hope this patrol is less eventful than the last one...
Another day, another patrol. Thus far, things seemed to be going smoothly: they’d come across a few fans and signed some autographs, there’d been a cat stuck in a tree that Cavalier had helped with, and Doc himself had even bought some food from a hot dog cart!
In any case, things looked to be going well today. Much better than the last patrol the two had been going on. And their conversation was evidence that the two were warming up to each other.
“-but seriously, I think that someone should do a reboot or sequel! It was already pretty good back in the day without the involvement of capes, just think of how it’d be if they ported powers into it! They’d get two to four seasons, easy.”
"Adding a gimmick doesn't automatically mean it'll be good, just look at the live-action crap Disney is shoveling out. What you need for a good reboot, or any good adaptation really, is creators who are also fans of the original. Just look at-"
A scream suddenly fills the air, interrupting this fascinating discussion.
"Oh, hell. That sounds like trouble. Follow me, kid."
He flies up several meters, heading towards the source of the screaming with Pulsar following close by.
The screaming turns out to be a group of gang mooks surrounding a heavily armored figure. Black metal armor with twisted spikes and barbs, a helmet that has a large trio of spikes at the front to resemble a crown, and a big-ass sword all speak "villain". Iron Maiden is standing with one foot planted on the chest of a gangbanger, and she's pointing the sword at another. A couple of guns are drawn and pointed at her, but everyone present knows that they will likely not do much to the cape.
She's in the middle of a sentence as the heroes arrive. "... one good reason I shouldn't kill all of you right now. If you make a good argument, I will merely put you in the hospital as repayment for the disrespect you have shown to me this day."
Doc is taken aback by the intimidating figure facing off against gangsters, and immediately draws out his Freyr pistol as a precaution while his other hand primes the Mag Glove. He was vaguely aware of who this was - Iron Maiden, something to do with metal as her power. Thankfully, he’s pretty well equipped for someone like that. Maybe he can try and yank the sword away from her if it comes down to it?
Nevertheless, he keeps himself ready for conflict and defers to Cavalier, waiting to see how this will go. He’d rather that a fight didn’t break out if it can be helped, but if there’s no other option…
Iron Maiden. One of the toughest Brutes around, and highly dangerous.
This might be a problem.
Cavalier sighs, then calls out to the gathered group.
"Hey! Any chance you'll resolve this peacefully? Treat others as you wish to be treated and all that?"
The armored villainess turns her head to regard the two heroes, and she makes a noise like a growl. "Don't mind me. I was just teaching these miscreants to respect their betters." She raises her foot off the chest of the man beneath her, and turns it into a fierce kick that sends him rolling across the ground towards his friends. He screams and clutches at his ribs, and the other gangbangers scurry toward shim to try and help.
Maiden spins the sword around to point at the heroes. "Would you care to dance? I'm a terrible evil villain, you know, it's your duty to take me into custody. I could use the exercise."
The Tinker winces at the sound of the man screaming, but manages to resist the urge to run to him and help. Trained in first aid he might be, but he’s pretty sure that the villain wouldn’t appreciate him trying to help someone she’s just beaten down. He keeps his voice quiet and pitches it so that Cavalier can hear him, but Iron Maiden can’t.
“If it turns into a fight, I might be able to do something to her, but I’m more concerned about the guy she beat up. I know they’re probably gangsters, but I can’t just sit by and do nothing.”
"Yeah, I agree. I couldn't call myself a hero if I just left here, and she's not interested in de-escalation. If you've got something that can immobilize her, use it. If you've got something that might hurt her, use it. Otherwise, stay back and try to get those gangers safe."
He sends a quick report to the console, before floating up and firing two ice balls at Iron Maiden's feet.
Maiden smirks and suddenly darts towards the pair. The ice balls impact, causing frost and ice to spiderweb across her metallic exterior. As she gets close, she swings the sword in a heavy overhand chop aimed at Cavalier. "Have at you, then! Tonight we dance the dance of death!"
As Iron Maiden rushes towards them, Doc goes out of his way to avoid the Brute as he makes a beeline for the gangster on the ground as he pulls out his medikit. He gets down on his knees and immediately begins assessing the state of the man while fishing around for what he needs.
“I’m trained in first aid, I might need help from you guys though to make sure he’s alright. Once I’ve got him cleared, you all need to get out of here as soon as possible. Got it?”
He also keeps half an eye on Iron Maiden and Cavalier, waiting for an opportunity to lend some support from the sidelines.
Cavalier darts to the side to dodge Maiden's sword, and fires another ice ball straight in her face. While she's hopefully blinded he launches a literal flying roundhouse kick at her head, then backs off while changing his power's Output to a beam.
"Dance the dance of death? Really? I know you're a villain, but do you have to be so melodramatic about it?"
The man definitely has a few cracked or broken ribs from that kick, and his face looks like a brute punched him with a metal gauntlet.
Maiden laughs as she steps back into a defensive stance with her sword pointed in Cavalier's direction, not seeming to mind either the frost or the kick. "Why wear the costume if you're not going to enjoy yourself? Be grandiose! Be scary, vicious, threatening! Be silly, but for fuck's sake don't put on a mask and be boring! You could stand to learn something from that cat- themed cape on your team!"
He does what he can for the injured person and then sends them on their way, along with their buddies. It’s perfectly clear that they get a pass this time, if only because they currently aren’t committing a crime and have been attacked by a villain. In any case, the gangsters make themselves scarce.
With that done, Doc then draws his Freyr stun pistol and readies his Mag Glove, and turns to get ready to join the fray. He takes a look at Iron Maiden’s sword, judging it to be within the Glove’s 25 lbs limit, and is about to yank it away before he hears her words.
Honestly, that’s something he can somewhat relate to - committing fully to the identity as a parahuman, as a comic book character all but come to life. It’s part of why he joined the Protectorate: to be a hero like that, who could inspire hope just by being there. He grins and, deciding to take her advice, uses his Mag Glove to send the villain’s sword to the side with a jerk of his hand, intending to embed the sword in the wall. Thankfully, the NERV visor shows that there’s nobody else but them nearby.
Should Iron Maiden face him, Doc Pulsar is standing in a pose that wouldn’t be out of place on an old comic book cover, his smile all but a cherry on top. “You have a point, but to be fair.. it was a little corny. Sure your sense of humor hasn’t gotten ‘rusty’?”
Cav flies circles around Maiden, firing his ice beam all the while, frost creeping up everywhere it hits.
"Hey, you really think I'm not having fun here? If I was a stick in the mud only focused on efficiency I'd go out in riot gear, not-" he gestures to himself "-whatever this is supposed to be."
He smiles at Pulsar's antics, letting his attacks up for a moment to see how Iron Maiden reacts.
The sword bites easily into the brick wall of the alley, and then is just as easily ripped out. Maiden is a fairly strong brute, and the force of the magnetism is noticeable but easily overcome. She grins behind her mask. "You do look fucking ridiculous. And since I can't hit you..." She points her sword tip at Pulsar and lunges forward.
Doc jolts in alarm as Iron Maiden starts to go for him, causing him to panic a bit as he moves his arm to send the blade moving towards the ground this time, rapidly backpedaling as he starts firing his Freyr pistol, electrical projectiles racing towards the villain.
Cavalier races after Maiden, firing his laser to try and slow her down, but his flight speed can't quite catch up to a charging Brute. The best he can do is try to punish her for taking her attention off him.
The sword dips, but not as dramatically now that she's ready for it. Even as the electricity and the laser hit her, the sword rams into Doc's leg. It does not, however, cut him. The sword seems to be blunted. She's not going for blood, but there will probably be a nasty bruise where it hit him. She grunts and swings the sword up and around to try and block the laser.
"Is this all you've got, children? I am Iron Maiden! If you can't bring more force to bear, you should retreat and let your superiors deal with me!"
He lets out a yell of pain as he’s sent tumbling to the ground by the sword blow, cradling his leg. He could have sworn he heard something crack, but he’s pretty sure nothing’s outright broken. He elects to keep backing up, though, getting behind a dumpster before bringing out his pistol and once more firing electric projectiles. If nothing else, the taser-adjacent voltage should do something against metal. Especially since he begins talking loud enough for Cavalier to hear him.
“Someone didn’t pay attention in science class! A majority of metals can conduct electricity!”
Well he can't exactly leave that opening hanging, can he? Especially since freezing her in place doesn't seem to be working.
With a snap of his fingers his Element changes to electricity, and he hits Maiden in the back with a sustained lightning bolt.
"I can hardly even feel that, fools!" She spreads her arms, letting the electricity hit her. "It's a full metal suit of armor, your paltry electricity just flows right through to the ground!" From the palm of the hand that isn't holding her sword, a sharp spike of metal forms, and she sends it flying at Cavalier.
Hearing that, Doc gets an idea. It is incredibly risky, and unlikely to work.. but dangit, he needs to try. He cranks his glove to the max weight cap, and reaches out to Iron Maiden - not her, and not her sword. Specifically, the armor around her. Once he has as firm a grip as he can manage with his electromagnetic field, he yanks upwards with all his proverbial and literal might, praying that he can get her at least far enough off he ground that Cavalier’s blasts will actually do something.
A quick glance shows that all the goons have gotten to safety, so that's one objective completed at least. Now if only the other one could go as easily, but the problem with Brutes is that they just won't go down.
He's about to switch his Element to something else, maybe try to burn her if that can get through her armour, when he sees Doc's newest gambit.
Ambitious, kid. I like it.
Even with the maximum setting on the gloves, Maiden is far too heavy to be lifted into the air. With a scoff, she lunges in to swing her big-ass sword at him again. "You're pathetic!" she crows. "You can't hurt me, and you're not smart enough to flee!"
This time, Doc is too preoccupied to notice the incoming attack before the sword collides with his torso, sending the Ward flying into the alleyway wall as he cries out in pain. He slumps down to the ground with a pained groan, clearly not able to keep fighting.
While definitely removed from the fight, however, Doc is still conscious and able to start assessing his own condition. He manages to identify a dislocated arm and a few cracked ribs, but thankfully that’s all. He’s lucky he got off so lightly - the chances of getting a concussion were not so unlikely. At the very least, he manages to get his comms on and radio for help.
“Console, this is Doc Pulsar. Me and Cavalier encountered Iron Maiden, we need backup as soon as you can get it to us!”
Switching his Element to fire, Cavalier flies in front of Maiden and fires a sustained blast of flame at her, hoping the flames manage to get through the gaps in her armour.
With her hopefully preoccupied, or at least blinded for a bit, he rushes over to Doc and starts picking him up.
"We should probably get out of here. The gangsters we wanted to save are gone, and maybe someone who can actually deal with her shows up fast enough."
Assuming he doesn't get interrupted, he then starts to fly up while carrying Doc Pulsar.
Maiden recoils from the flames with a slight yelp, and brings her sword up defensively. She doesn't interfere with Cavalier, instead just watching the pair start to fly off.
"That's right, children! Run, and remember that I am not to be fucked with!"
Striker was going about his regular patrols around Denver; taking selfies with awestruck bystanders, helping old ladies cross the roads, buying ice cream for a lucky school bus full of kids, and doing other sorts of altruistic acts to lighten up the mood once in a while. As he was flying back to HQ, he heard the comms for backup and chuckled.
'Here I thought I could go a day without fighting'
Neptune took the detour to the scene of battle where he received the call.
Upon making a quick glance over the scene of battle, Striker covered himself in light blue armour, before entering the fray.
"Tsk tsk, you shouldn't be cussing in front of kids" Neptune said, as he gently floated down with his arms crossed 14 feet away from Iron Maiden.
"I think the child soldiers will be alright with a few swear words." Maiden swung her sword around, pointing it up at the hero. "Just who the hell are you, anyways? Do you really think you're strong enough to fight me?"
Neptune shrugs, landing his feet on the ground and thickening his arms with heavy gauntlets made of blue energy. "I think I should've clocked out minutes ago with a chicken sandwich and a shake, but, here we are."
He shifts his foot and assumes southpaw. Striker weaves and ducks his body as he slowly approaches the Maiden
She scoffs. "If you don't want to fight, we don't have to, dumbass. I did what I set out to do, those kids did what they set out to do. We can all just go home and call it a day." She keeps the sword pointed at the hero, keeping it between herself and the hero in case he tries to get too close.
Striker doesn't say a word. He knows things are never that easy with these scuffles. He continues to bob and weave forwards, closing the distance with each brisk step. When he was in range, he'd throw the first punch aiming to get the villain straight at her chest.
Maiden doesn't give him the chance to get that close. As soon as he tries to get past her sword's point, she swings it at him with as much power as she can to try and knock him to the ground or at least off balance.
Striker's punch goes wide, and his eyes shoot up as he momentarily loses track of his opponent.
When the sword comes hurtling at him to his side, he gets knocked into the walls and leaves an imprint of his body into it. He grunts in pain.
When he got his bearings, he tries his best to shrug off the pang of hurt slowly reverberating across his body and flies straight at Maiden. He's keeping keen track of where she swings that thing next.
"You really don't fucking learn, do you?" Maiden steps back and stabs with the sword to try and discourage him from repeating this tactic. "You're not ranged? Then you don't stand a chance against me!"
He doesn't need range. He just needs to weaken that thick armour.
Striker closes his eyes and takes a gamble. He let the sword graze through his armour's shoulder piece and inflict a hollow gash into his skin, gritting his teeth. He was close now.
Neptune wraps his hands around Iron Maiden and attempts to perform a restrained brazilian jiu-jitsu tackle.
Maiden grunts as Neptune Striker slams into her. She doesn't know any fancy tricks for escaping a grapple. Instead, as she's brought to the ground, she starts pounding at his head and shoulders while shifting her armor to create as many spikes and hooks as she can.
Striker's grip was loosening as the spikes jutted and prodded into his armour. Not being able to take it any longer, he floats away 5 feet, clutching his chest.
His armour flickered grey for a moment, nearly adapting the form of Iron Maiden's get up, before returning back into Striker's iconic white and blue form.
"If you wanna play this sword and board game, so be it." Neptune spoke through ragged breath. He extended his right arm to the side, letting a 6 foot long longsword coalesce into his hand from blue energy. After performing a few practice swings, he charges.
Maiden grins as she sees the sword form. She rushes in to meet him, her blade leading the charge to try and jab him as they approach. "I haven't had a good sword fight since getting here! Let's see what you have, then!"
"Hmph."
Striker pressed forward to counter the jab with an anticlockwise swing. He dissipated his sword, before quickly raising his hands above, reforming the sword into something slightly blunt, and swinging it down upon Maiden.
The sword may have been deflected, but Maiden's momentum carried on. By the time the swing came down, all that hit Maiden was Striker's arms. She slams into him, turning her shoulder just before impact to really drive home all of her weight and strength.
Striker let out a grunt of pain as he was driven down, thankful that his blue armour took the brunt of it but still reeling as it struck his solar plexus. But, now he's gotten another chance to let his power play the hidden aspect to it.
He wraps his arms around his assailant and tries to shift for a brazilian jiu jitsu counter-grapple.