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Decker: Learning Curve
masamundane
Posts: 47 Arc User
**1**
Decker flopped down heavily on her futon. She kicked off her boots, and wiggled her toes in the air. Decker looked over to where she'd dropped her scarf at the door, and rubbed her neck absently. She considered taking off the rest of her costume, but decided it'd take too much energy. Decker spread herself across the sheets, and waved her arms lazily like she was making a snow angel. It had been a rough day, and the young hero was absorbing what comfort she could from being home.
Decker let her head droop sideways on her pillow, and looked to the kitchen where she'd left her glass of water. Her apartment was just one large room, with the kitchen less than three steps away from her bed. Right now, that felt like a mile. Decker was thirsty, but she didn't want to get back up.
"I can do this," she muttered to herself. "It's just a matter of control." Decker reached her hand out, and pictured lifting the glass gently. "Control," she said again as the glass rocked on the kitchen counter. She smiled proudly as the glass floated slightly from the countertop.
Decker's smile faded as the first crack formed on the side of the glass. "Oh no. Nononono," she moaned as she tried to reel her power back in.
Decker's eyes flashed bright blue. Her hair stood on end, and the futon rattled beneath her. The glass she'd tried to lift shattered violently, as did the rest of the dishes on the counter. The tiles behind the sink cracked, and the counter snapped in the center. The doors under the sink popped off their hinges: pots, pans and house cleaners shot across the room. There was a squelching sound of metal bending as the sink faucet tore free, and sprayed the ceiling with a geyser of water.
Decker bit her knuckles as Ms. Laurentian, her landlord, banged on the floor upstairs. "Sorry!" Decker yelled as she rushed to turn of the water main. "I'm sorry! I just dropped..." She looked at the ruins of her kitchen. "...Everything."
She looked around the room. Water dripped like a small rain shower from the ceiling in the kitchen, and pooled on the floor. The dish soap had broken open mid flight. It had sprayed across her computer and the family photos she kept on her desk. A large frying pan had torn through her signed Sapphire poster, and was now imbedded in the wall. Broken ceramic was spread across the entirety of the apartment.
Decker felt her lower lip begin to tremble. She rubbed her eyes viciously. "No," she insisted to no one in particular. "I'm a superhero, and superheroes don't." She sat back down on the edge of her bed, and bit her lip to keep it under control.
A white cat hopped onto the bed. It stretched and yawned; completely unmoved by the destruction around it. Cats weren't famous for caring, though they could be great listeners. "Meow," the cat suggested nonchalantly.
Decker made a small hiccupping noise as she picked up her cat. "Oh Ms. Fibblesworth," she told the struggling feline. "I've had a really bad day."
**2**
The day had started out great. Decker had broken up a robbery before her morning coffee, and had stopped a mugging less than an hour later. Decker was already feeling particularly super hero-ish, and it only got better. Chief Surhoff had called her, looking for assistance. She'd helped the police on several occasions of course, but this was the first time the Chief had called her personally.
Decker liked Chief Surhoff very much. He was a curmudgeon; who was "too damn old for this stuff" most of the time, no matter what the stuff was at the moment. Decker secretly wanted Chief Surhoff to accuse her of being a loose cannon that got results. She knew that in a city of superheroes, being recognized as a loose cannon was pretty unlikely. Chief Surhoff saw that she got results at least, and Decker was willing to accept that. She smiled and waved as she flew to his temporary workspace near the prison.
The Chief did not smile back. He never did. "Decker," he said. "Glad you could make it."
"Whenever you need me," Decker said. She nodded to herself; that had sounded pretty super hero-y. "You have something new for me?"
"Something old," the Chief corrected. "We're still cleaning up after last week's attempted jailbreak, and we need could use some assistance."
Decker nodded again. She'd helped deal with the jailbreak attempt last week. It wasn't the first time she'd helped with problems here either. The prison was overcrowded, and understaffed. Trouble was a regular event, and the chief tended to shoulder the blame. It wasn't like there was much he could do about it. Everything about the old prison had been shot ever since Double-D-Day, and like most things in Westside, fixing it wasn't in the budget.
Chief Surhoff plugged some numbers into the Mini-Soc on the table. A holo image of a lizard lady popped up from the projector. Decker wondered idly if the woman was a Lemurian, and immediately wondered if calling Lemurians lizard-ish would be considered racism.
"This is Ivy 'Golden Spoon' Hughes," Chief Surhoff explained.
"Golden Spoon?" Decker interrupted. "What type of villain name is that? Does she throw cutlery? Is this, like, a prison thing?" Decker thought on it a moment. Her eyes went wide, and she blushed slightly. "Is she, like, you know, really good at hugging?"
Chief Surhoff choked a bit on his coffee. "No," he stated curtly. "She's born into money. She's the heir to the Hughes fortune."
"Huh. Not Lemurian then." Decker nodded sagely. "Wait, wouldn't that make her Silver Spoon? Like, born with a silver spoon in her mouth? That is where her name comes from, right?"
"Ms. Hughes," the Chief continued over Decker, "was one of the ringleaders of last week's jailbreak. The one you helped contain."
Decker looked closer at the hologram. "Oh! Hey, I remember her now," she stated. "She was hanging with the short guy." Decker put her hands to her forehead, and stuck out her pointer fingers. "Guy with the horns?"
"Lance 'Ginger Kid' Carpenter," the Chief noted.
"Because he had red hair," Decker agreed sourly. "No one really tries anymore. I mean, really? Villain names should mean something." Decker chewed on her lower lip as she thought about it. "He could be, like, Minotaur? Or maybe like, Firbolg? If he's Irish." She smiled up at Chief Surhoff. "Is he Irish?" Decker didn't wait for an answer. "ANYways, I knocked them about pretty good," she admitted with pride. She thought on it, and bit her lower lip again. "I think I might have, uh, I might have punted Golden Spoon over the wall by accident?"
"You did," Chief Surhoff agreed.
Decker stared down at her boots. "Oh. I thought maybe someone would have...?"
"They didn't."
"Maybe I should," Decker pointed to the city. "I should go and?"
Chief Surhoff had already turned back to his paperwork. "It'd be appreciated," he commented over his shoulder.
Decker gave a quick salute, because it felt like the thing to do. "You can count on me Chief," she asserted. She stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, and then flew off into Westside.
**3**
Decker spent most of the day flying low over Westside. She wasn't the detective type, and wasn't sure how to go about finding someone who didn't want to be found. She considered asking around, but she wasn't sure who to ask. Criminals were the obvious answer of course, but they didn't tend to be chatty, and Decker was anything but intimidating.
It was dusk before Decker had any luck in her search. She was doing a final sweep when she saw Ivy. The villain had gecko crawled up the side of an old apartment building, and was looking around as she slunk along the roof.
Decker hovered over the building. "You should have looked up, Ivy Golden Spoon," she boomed in her most heroic voice. "It's too late now; 'cause you're going down!" Decker smiled to herself. It was a good line, and she mentally promised to write it down later.
The villain looked up at Decker. There was little concern, and no fear in her features. At best, she looked mildly annoyed. "It's just Ivy," she declared.
"Oh, that's good." Decker floated down until she was just inches above the rooftop, and a few feet away from Ivy. "The whole Golden Spoon thing was awkward. I mean, how do you fit that into a monologue even? Ivy's nicer. You can totally fit that into your profile too; 'cause it's your name? Plus it's, like, y'know, Ivy League as well?" Decker brought a hand up, and focused her powers until the air vibrated visibly in front of her. "You're under arrest, by the way."
Ivy crossed her arms, and clicked her long thick claws along her bicep. She sighed as she took in Decker. "Look, Kid," she started. "It's late, and I'm kind of busy. You should probably get home before your folks notice you're missing."
"I'm not some kid," Decker retorted indignantly. "I'm Decker. I'm a super hero." She thrust her hand forward again with purpose. "And like I said? You're under arrest."
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Kid, I'm giving you an out here. I'm planning vengeance on The Champions." Ivy put heavy emphasis on The Champions. "I don't have time to school you. Go home Kid, I'm out of your league."
Decker brought up her other hand, and focused harder. The air rippled. "School. League. Ivy. See? It totally works for you." Ivy barely got out a groan of exasperation out before Decker unleashed a bolt of kinetic energy towards her.
Ivy side stepped out of the path of Decker's attack, and watched it pass. The blast tore a long crevice along the roof, and hit the edging of the building hard. A section of the side wall crumbled and fell to the streets below.
Decker tried to hide a gasp behind her hands. She flew past Ivy, and followed the swathe of devastation. Decker looked over the side to make sure she hadn't hurt anyone. "Sorry," she yelled over the edge.
Decker turned back to Ivy just as the villain closed on her. Ivy slashed upward, running her claws from belly to chin across Decker. She hissed as she followed up with her other hand, slashing across Decker's face.
Decker was pushed back by the attack, but the claws never reached her. She tried to fly up to get some range, but Ivy was faster. She grabbed Decker by the leg, and slammed her hard back to the center of the roof. Decker groaned as she hit. She turned over, and made to fly again. Ivy leapt onto Decker, and tried to drive her claws into the girl's chest.
Ivy spat her frustration. "You have some sort of force field?" She slashed again at Decker; less vicious this time, more an attempt to test the field.
"Inertial barrier," Decker corrected proudly. "I slow down things coming at me? It's, like, a safe zone more than a..." she shook her head when she remembered who she was talking to. "Yeah, force field," Decker amended. "It's, like, really helpful? You should totally get one." She put her hand on Ivy's chest, and fired.
Ivy was thrown high into the air. She twisted as she fell, and landed in a crouch. Ivy swayed like a snake, looking for the best route to attack. Decker smiled, and shot another bolt at the villain. It caught Ivy in the shoulder, and pin-wheeled the villain off her feet.
"Ok, we can, like, stop now? I mean, if you want." Decker put a hand forward, and focused her power. "Like, you can't hurt me? But I can totally hurt you. Why don't we just call it?"
Ivy kipped back up to her feet. "Oh, I think I'd rather keep trying to hurt you," Ivy commented. She sidestepped, and dashed at Decker.
Decker kept her hand pointed at the weaving villain, but she didn't fire. Ivy was staying low, and another missed shot could do some serious damage to the building, or worse, to someone inside. She kept her aim trained on Ivy till the villain was nearly on top of her. Ivy popped up at the last second, claws ready.
"Ha!" Decker yelled, opening her fist, and firing a bolt of kinetic energy at Ivy.
"Ha!" Ivy agreed. She grabbed Decker's arm, and twisted hard.
Decker yelled protest as her aim was thrown way off. Instead of firing at Ivy, she unleashed her full power into the side of a nearby apartment complex. The wall exploded at contact point, and windows shattered in a radius around the blast.
"No!" Decker yanked her hand free, and floated towards the destruction. "Oh no. Nonononono!"
"Oh, yes." Ivy stepped behind Decker, and grabbed the trailing ends of her long scarf. Ivy kicked the back of Decker's knees, and yanked hard on the scarf as Decker toppled forward. She dropped too, landing a knee hard on Decker's back.
"No, please." Decker struggled against Ivy as she tried to get up. "Please, someone might have been..."
"Might have been hurt? Might have been killed?" Ivy yanked on Decker's scarf. "You'd think so, right? I mean, you hit that building pretty hard. Looks like it could have been someone's bedroom." Ivy let the fact sink in for a second before laughing at Decker. "Heck of a soft spot you got there, Kid," she commented. "You'd be amazed how rare it is in heroes these days."
"Don't worry. It's an abandoned building," Ivy continued. "The whole block is due for tear down." Ivy tightened her grip on Decker's scarf. "Not that it's going to help you." Ivy pushed Decker's head back down, and pulled her scarf all the harder.
Decker struggled to get air into her lungs. She clawed desperately to get away as spots swam at the edges of her vision. "You're choking me," she managed.
"Yeah," Ivy agreed casually. "That's the plan." She gave a half shrug. "If it makes you feel better, I don't plan on killing you." Ivy gave the scarf an extra tug. "I could, just so you know, but I won't. I'm going to choke you till you stop moving, then I'm going to go on with my evening. I have actual heroes to fight tonight." Ivy laughed. "Besides, I'm not in the business of killing children. Lucky you I suppose."
"Stop it," Decker gasped.
"What? Stop strangling you?" Ivy asked. "No, I don't think I will. It's going very well for me."
"No." Decker put her hands against the roof. There was a loud crack, and the roof spider-webbed under her. "Stop calling me a kid."
Ivy almost managed a laugh. There was another loud crack, and the villain was suddenly and violently punted off of Decker, and thrown across the roof. Ivy dragged her claws along the roof to slow her slide, and rolled to her feet. "Fine Kid," she commented. "You want to make a thing of this? We?ll make a thing of..." Ivy stopped dead as she was struck by a bolt of pure kinetic power. It hit her in the chest like a battering ram, and nearly threw her from the roof.
"Stop calling me Kid!" Decker hovered inches above the rooftop. Her hair whipped wildly about, and her eyes flared a neon blue. The air shimmered around her. "No more treating me like a child," she demanded. "No more saying I'm not a real hero! I am!" Decker scrunched her face in frustration. ?No more being so...so...so mean!"
Decker brought her palms down on the rooftop. The air pulsed around her, and the building shook. There was a musical tinkling as the windows shattered and rained onto the road. Ivy pulled herself up from the edge of the building, just as the entire north face crumpled to the streets below. She watched as the roof fissured and cracked like thin ice.
"Ok Kid, you've proved you point!" Ivy yelled over the destruction. She ran across the shaking rooftop towards Decker.
"Stop calling me that!" Decker replied. "I'm not a kid!" The air around her pulsed again, and a crack split the roof in half.
Ivy swore as the building lurched under her. She ran along the tilt of the roof, and leapt as half of the building crumbled away from beneath her. She managed to grab a tenuous hold of an outcropping ledge near Decker's feet.
"Kid!" Ivy swore under her breath. "Decker," she corrected. "Decker stop! Stop, you win! I surrender!"
Decker blinked. The blue glow of her eyes faded, and the air around her stopped vibrating. "Really?" she asked excitedly. "You mean it?"
Ivy struggled to hold onto the crumbling ledge. She considered dropping down to the floor below, but it didn't exist any more: most of the building didn't. "Yes!" she yelled. "Yes! You win! Just stop before the building falls!"
Decker tilted her head. "What?" She covered her mouth in horror as the old building made a horrid noise. "Oh! But? Oh no! I stopped already!" The building groaned again, and shifted. Decker bit her lower lip in thought. "Do you think I damaged the foundation?" She floated over Ivy, and hugged herself self consciously. "Should I, like, pull you up or...?"
Ivy glowered at Decker. "God, I hate you so much," she managed. The remaining half of the building tilted severely, and then collapsed.
**4**
"She was fine, by the way," Decker assured Ms Fibblesworth. "I mean, not fine-fine? But she survived." Decker gave a small smile. "She even swore vengeance and everything? So I guess I have my own arch-nemesis now."
"Anyways? I should be happy I guess," Decker admitted. "I mean, I won. I saved the day and I arrested the villain, so I should be happy?"
Decker rubbed her face against Ms. Fibblesworth. "It's just, like, she got me so mad, y'know? I mean, Kid? Really?" Decker shook her head. "I'm not a kid." She held her cat up in the air. "Did you know I'm old enough to drink? Like if I wanted to? I totally am." Decker paused. "In Canada," she amended. "But that counts."
She pulled Ms Fibblesworth close, and looked the cat in the eye. "Between you and me though? I didn't mean to knock down that building. I was just so mad." Decker rolled her eyes. "Ok, and a little scared? She was totally choking me. But I didn't mean for my powers to get that out of control, y?know?"
Decker snuggled the cat once more, and let it go. Ms Fibblesworth stretched, and gave a cat yawn. She sidled over to her bowl, and looked up at Decker with mild insistence.
"Well, glad you've been paying attention," Decker snarked at the cat. Ms Fibblesworth mewed her response. "Alright," Decker said. "Food." She looked over at the ruins of the kitchen, and pointed her hand at a cabinet. "Food," she repeated, concentrating hard. The doors rattled. "I can do this," Decker insisted. "It just takes control..."
**END**
Decker flopped down heavily on her futon. She kicked off her boots, and wiggled her toes in the air. Decker looked over to where she'd dropped her scarf at the door, and rubbed her neck absently. She considered taking off the rest of her costume, but decided it'd take too much energy. Decker spread herself across the sheets, and waved her arms lazily like she was making a snow angel. It had been a rough day, and the young hero was absorbing what comfort she could from being home.
Decker let her head droop sideways on her pillow, and looked to the kitchen where she'd left her glass of water. Her apartment was just one large room, with the kitchen less than three steps away from her bed. Right now, that felt like a mile. Decker was thirsty, but she didn't want to get back up.
"I can do this," she muttered to herself. "It's just a matter of control." Decker reached her hand out, and pictured lifting the glass gently. "Control," she said again as the glass rocked on the kitchen counter. She smiled proudly as the glass floated slightly from the countertop.
Decker's smile faded as the first crack formed on the side of the glass. "Oh no. Nononono," she moaned as she tried to reel her power back in.
Decker's eyes flashed bright blue. Her hair stood on end, and the futon rattled beneath her. The glass she'd tried to lift shattered violently, as did the rest of the dishes on the counter. The tiles behind the sink cracked, and the counter snapped in the center. The doors under the sink popped off their hinges: pots, pans and house cleaners shot across the room. There was a squelching sound of metal bending as the sink faucet tore free, and sprayed the ceiling with a geyser of water.
Decker bit her knuckles as Ms. Laurentian, her landlord, banged on the floor upstairs. "Sorry!" Decker yelled as she rushed to turn of the water main. "I'm sorry! I just dropped..." She looked at the ruins of her kitchen. "...Everything."
She looked around the room. Water dripped like a small rain shower from the ceiling in the kitchen, and pooled on the floor. The dish soap had broken open mid flight. It had sprayed across her computer and the family photos she kept on her desk. A large frying pan had torn through her signed Sapphire poster, and was now imbedded in the wall. Broken ceramic was spread across the entirety of the apartment.
Decker felt her lower lip begin to tremble. She rubbed her eyes viciously. "No," she insisted to no one in particular. "I'm a superhero, and superheroes don't." She sat back down on the edge of her bed, and bit her lip to keep it under control.
A white cat hopped onto the bed. It stretched and yawned; completely unmoved by the destruction around it. Cats weren't famous for caring, though they could be great listeners. "Meow," the cat suggested nonchalantly.
Decker made a small hiccupping noise as she picked up her cat. "Oh Ms. Fibblesworth," she told the struggling feline. "I've had a really bad day."
**2**
The day had started out great. Decker had broken up a robbery before her morning coffee, and had stopped a mugging less than an hour later. Decker was already feeling particularly super hero-ish, and it only got better. Chief Surhoff had called her, looking for assistance. She'd helped the police on several occasions of course, but this was the first time the Chief had called her personally.
Decker liked Chief Surhoff very much. He was a curmudgeon; who was "too damn old for this stuff" most of the time, no matter what the stuff was at the moment. Decker secretly wanted Chief Surhoff to accuse her of being a loose cannon that got results. She knew that in a city of superheroes, being recognized as a loose cannon was pretty unlikely. Chief Surhoff saw that she got results at least, and Decker was willing to accept that. She smiled and waved as she flew to his temporary workspace near the prison.
The Chief did not smile back. He never did. "Decker," he said. "Glad you could make it."
"Whenever you need me," Decker said. She nodded to herself; that had sounded pretty super hero-y. "You have something new for me?"
"Something old," the Chief corrected. "We're still cleaning up after last week's attempted jailbreak, and we need could use some assistance."
Decker nodded again. She'd helped deal with the jailbreak attempt last week. It wasn't the first time she'd helped with problems here either. The prison was overcrowded, and understaffed. Trouble was a regular event, and the chief tended to shoulder the blame. It wasn't like there was much he could do about it. Everything about the old prison had been shot ever since Double-D-Day, and like most things in Westside, fixing it wasn't in the budget.
Chief Surhoff plugged some numbers into the Mini-Soc on the table. A holo image of a lizard lady popped up from the projector. Decker wondered idly if the woman was a Lemurian, and immediately wondered if calling Lemurians lizard-ish would be considered racism.
"This is Ivy 'Golden Spoon' Hughes," Chief Surhoff explained.
"Golden Spoon?" Decker interrupted. "What type of villain name is that? Does she throw cutlery? Is this, like, a prison thing?" Decker thought on it a moment. Her eyes went wide, and she blushed slightly. "Is she, like, you know, really good at hugging?"
Chief Surhoff choked a bit on his coffee. "No," he stated curtly. "She's born into money. She's the heir to the Hughes fortune."
"Huh. Not Lemurian then." Decker nodded sagely. "Wait, wouldn't that make her Silver Spoon? Like, born with a silver spoon in her mouth? That is where her name comes from, right?"
"Ms. Hughes," the Chief continued over Decker, "was one of the ringleaders of last week's jailbreak. The one you helped contain."
Decker looked closer at the hologram. "Oh! Hey, I remember her now," she stated. "She was hanging with the short guy." Decker put her hands to her forehead, and stuck out her pointer fingers. "Guy with the horns?"
"Lance 'Ginger Kid' Carpenter," the Chief noted.
"Because he had red hair," Decker agreed sourly. "No one really tries anymore. I mean, really? Villain names should mean something." Decker chewed on her lower lip as she thought about it. "He could be, like, Minotaur? Or maybe like, Firbolg? If he's Irish." She smiled up at Chief Surhoff. "Is he Irish?" Decker didn't wait for an answer. "ANYways, I knocked them about pretty good," she admitted with pride. She thought on it, and bit her lower lip again. "I think I might have, uh, I might have punted Golden Spoon over the wall by accident?"
"You did," Chief Surhoff agreed.
Decker stared down at her boots. "Oh. I thought maybe someone would have...?"
"They didn't."
"Maybe I should," Decker pointed to the city. "I should go and?"
Chief Surhoff had already turned back to his paperwork. "It'd be appreciated," he commented over his shoulder.
Decker gave a quick salute, because it felt like the thing to do. "You can count on me Chief," she asserted. She stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, and then flew off into Westside.
**3**
Decker spent most of the day flying low over Westside. She wasn't the detective type, and wasn't sure how to go about finding someone who didn't want to be found. She considered asking around, but she wasn't sure who to ask. Criminals were the obvious answer of course, but they didn't tend to be chatty, and Decker was anything but intimidating.
It was dusk before Decker had any luck in her search. She was doing a final sweep when she saw Ivy. The villain had gecko crawled up the side of an old apartment building, and was looking around as she slunk along the roof.
Decker hovered over the building. "You should have looked up, Ivy Golden Spoon," she boomed in her most heroic voice. "It's too late now; 'cause you're going down!" Decker smiled to herself. It was a good line, and she mentally promised to write it down later.
The villain looked up at Decker. There was little concern, and no fear in her features. At best, she looked mildly annoyed. "It's just Ivy," she declared.
"Oh, that's good." Decker floated down until she was just inches above the rooftop, and a few feet away from Ivy. "The whole Golden Spoon thing was awkward. I mean, how do you fit that into a monologue even? Ivy's nicer. You can totally fit that into your profile too; 'cause it's your name? Plus it's, like, y'know, Ivy League as well?" Decker brought a hand up, and focused her powers until the air vibrated visibly in front of her. "You're under arrest, by the way."
Ivy crossed her arms, and clicked her long thick claws along her bicep. She sighed as she took in Decker. "Look, Kid," she started. "It's late, and I'm kind of busy. You should probably get home before your folks notice you're missing."
"I'm not some kid," Decker retorted indignantly. "I'm Decker. I'm a super hero." She thrust her hand forward again with purpose. "And like I said? You're under arrest."
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Kid, I'm giving you an out here. I'm planning vengeance on The Champions." Ivy put heavy emphasis on The Champions. "I don't have time to school you. Go home Kid, I'm out of your league."
Decker brought up her other hand, and focused harder. The air rippled. "School. League. Ivy. See? It totally works for you." Ivy barely got out a groan of exasperation out before Decker unleashed a bolt of kinetic energy towards her.
Ivy side stepped out of the path of Decker's attack, and watched it pass. The blast tore a long crevice along the roof, and hit the edging of the building hard. A section of the side wall crumbled and fell to the streets below.
Decker tried to hide a gasp behind her hands. She flew past Ivy, and followed the swathe of devastation. Decker looked over the side to make sure she hadn't hurt anyone. "Sorry," she yelled over the edge.
Decker turned back to Ivy just as the villain closed on her. Ivy slashed upward, running her claws from belly to chin across Decker. She hissed as she followed up with her other hand, slashing across Decker's face.
Decker was pushed back by the attack, but the claws never reached her. She tried to fly up to get some range, but Ivy was faster. She grabbed Decker by the leg, and slammed her hard back to the center of the roof. Decker groaned as she hit. She turned over, and made to fly again. Ivy leapt onto Decker, and tried to drive her claws into the girl's chest.
Ivy spat her frustration. "You have some sort of force field?" She slashed again at Decker; less vicious this time, more an attempt to test the field.
"Inertial barrier," Decker corrected proudly. "I slow down things coming at me? It's, like, a safe zone more than a..." she shook her head when she remembered who she was talking to. "Yeah, force field," Decker amended. "It's, like, really helpful? You should totally get one." She put her hand on Ivy's chest, and fired.
Ivy was thrown high into the air. She twisted as she fell, and landed in a crouch. Ivy swayed like a snake, looking for the best route to attack. Decker smiled, and shot another bolt at the villain. It caught Ivy in the shoulder, and pin-wheeled the villain off her feet.
"Ok, we can, like, stop now? I mean, if you want." Decker put a hand forward, and focused her power. "Like, you can't hurt me? But I can totally hurt you. Why don't we just call it?"
Ivy kipped back up to her feet. "Oh, I think I'd rather keep trying to hurt you," Ivy commented. She sidestepped, and dashed at Decker.
Decker kept her hand pointed at the weaving villain, but she didn't fire. Ivy was staying low, and another missed shot could do some serious damage to the building, or worse, to someone inside. She kept her aim trained on Ivy till the villain was nearly on top of her. Ivy popped up at the last second, claws ready.
"Ha!" Decker yelled, opening her fist, and firing a bolt of kinetic energy at Ivy.
"Ha!" Ivy agreed. She grabbed Decker's arm, and twisted hard.
Decker yelled protest as her aim was thrown way off. Instead of firing at Ivy, she unleashed her full power into the side of a nearby apartment complex. The wall exploded at contact point, and windows shattered in a radius around the blast.
"No!" Decker yanked her hand free, and floated towards the destruction. "Oh no. Nonononono!"
"Oh, yes." Ivy stepped behind Decker, and grabbed the trailing ends of her long scarf. Ivy kicked the back of Decker's knees, and yanked hard on the scarf as Decker toppled forward. She dropped too, landing a knee hard on Decker's back.
"No, please." Decker struggled against Ivy as she tried to get up. "Please, someone might have been..."
"Might have been hurt? Might have been killed?" Ivy yanked on Decker's scarf. "You'd think so, right? I mean, you hit that building pretty hard. Looks like it could have been someone's bedroom." Ivy let the fact sink in for a second before laughing at Decker. "Heck of a soft spot you got there, Kid," she commented. "You'd be amazed how rare it is in heroes these days."
"Don't worry. It's an abandoned building," Ivy continued. "The whole block is due for tear down." Ivy tightened her grip on Decker's scarf. "Not that it's going to help you." Ivy pushed Decker's head back down, and pulled her scarf all the harder.
Decker struggled to get air into her lungs. She clawed desperately to get away as spots swam at the edges of her vision. "You're choking me," she managed.
"Yeah," Ivy agreed casually. "That's the plan." She gave a half shrug. "If it makes you feel better, I don't plan on killing you." Ivy gave the scarf an extra tug. "I could, just so you know, but I won't. I'm going to choke you till you stop moving, then I'm going to go on with my evening. I have actual heroes to fight tonight." Ivy laughed. "Besides, I'm not in the business of killing children. Lucky you I suppose."
"Stop it," Decker gasped.
"What? Stop strangling you?" Ivy asked. "No, I don't think I will. It's going very well for me."
"No." Decker put her hands against the roof. There was a loud crack, and the roof spider-webbed under her. "Stop calling me a kid."
Ivy almost managed a laugh. There was another loud crack, and the villain was suddenly and violently punted off of Decker, and thrown across the roof. Ivy dragged her claws along the roof to slow her slide, and rolled to her feet. "Fine Kid," she commented. "You want to make a thing of this? We?ll make a thing of..." Ivy stopped dead as she was struck by a bolt of pure kinetic power. It hit her in the chest like a battering ram, and nearly threw her from the roof.
"Stop calling me Kid!" Decker hovered inches above the rooftop. Her hair whipped wildly about, and her eyes flared a neon blue. The air shimmered around her. "No more treating me like a child," she demanded. "No more saying I'm not a real hero! I am!" Decker scrunched her face in frustration. ?No more being so...so...so mean!"
Decker brought her palms down on the rooftop. The air pulsed around her, and the building shook. There was a musical tinkling as the windows shattered and rained onto the road. Ivy pulled herself up from the edge of the building, just as the entire north face crumpled to the streets below. She watched as the roof fissured and cracked like thin ice.
"Ok Kid, you've proved you point!" Ivy yelled over the destruction. She ran across the shaking rooftop towards Decker.
"Stop calling me that!" Decker replied. "I'm not a kid!" The air around her pulsed again, and a crack split the roof in half.
Ivy swore as the building lurched under her. She ran along the tilt of the roof, and leapt as half of the building crumbled away from beneath her. She managed to grab a tenuous hold of an outcropping ledge near Decker's feet.
"Kid!" Ivy swore under her breath. "Decker," she corrected. "Decker stop! Stop, you win! I surrender!"
Decker blinked. The blue glow of her eyes faded, and the air around her stopped vibrating. "Really?" she asked excitedly. "You mean it?"
Ivy struggled to hold onto the crumbling ledge. She considered dropping down to the floor below, but it didn't exist any more: most of the building didn't. "Yes!" she yelled. "Yes! You win! Just stop before the building falls!"
Decker tilted her head. "What?" She covered her mouth in horror as the old building made a horrid noise. "Oh! But? Oh no! I stopped already!" The building groaned again, and shifted. Decker bit her lower lip in thought. "Do you think I damaged the foundation?" She floated over Ivy, and hugged herself self consciously. "Should I, like, pull you up or...?"
Ivy glowered at Decker. "God, I hate you so much," she managed. The remaining half of the building tilted severely, and then collapsed.
**4**
"She was fine, by the way," Decker assured Ms Fibblesworth. "I mean, not fine-fine? But she survived." Decker gave a small smile. "She even swore vengeance and everything? So I guess I have my own arch-nemesis now."
"Anyways? I should be happy I guess," Decker admitted. "I mean, I won. I saved the day and I arrested the villain, so I should be happy?"
Decker rubbed her face against Ms. Fibblesworth. "It's just, like, she got me so mad, y'know? I mean, Kid? Really?" Decker shook her head. "I'm not a kid." She held her cat up in the air. "Did you know I'm old enough to drink? Like if I wanted to? I totally am." Decker paused. "In Canada," she amended. "But that counts."
She pulled Ms Fibblesworth close, and looked the cat in the eye. "Between you and me though? I didn't mean to knock down that building. I was just so mad." Decker rolled her eyes. "Ok, and a little scared? She was totally choking me. But I didn't mean for my powers to get that out of control, y?know?"
Decker snuggled the cat once more, and let it go. Ms Fibblesworth stretched, and gave a cat yawn. She sidled over to her bowl, and looked up at Decker with mild insistence.
"Well, glad you've been paying attention," Decker snarked at the cat. Ms Fibblesworth mewed her response. "Alright," Decker said. "Food." She looked over at the ruins of the kitchen, and pointed her hand at a cabinet. "Food," she repeated, concentrating hard. The doors rattled. "I can do this," Decker insisted. "It just takes control..."
**END**
Post edited by masamundane on
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Which in it's own would only be a minor annoyance, but trying to hunt down the incorrect question marks when your main character talks half Val? a bit tedious.
ANYways. I wrote this story for CORPS, but I thought I'd share it here too, because I liked how it came out. Decker is my current character, and the first Archtype I've played since I started on CO a few years back.
She's an Impulse, if you didn't get that. I like to RP her as an Akira level telekinetic with zero control, and a bit of a Havok Complex.
I draw as Masamundane.
I draw as Masamundane.