Introductions Galore!

Summary:
January 18, 2015: Reese is meeting more of the Outsiders aboard the Starship and then Taskmaster attacks!

Queensland Park, HMSS Starfire

From above and then to below


Characters

NPCs

  • K'tten
  • RAVAGE

Mood Music:
[*<http://insert.video.or.music.link.here>]


With the starship back to orbit, Skaar is probably the Outsider that less time spends up here. He feels uncomfortable this far from the planet, because he loses his connection with the Old Power.

But he comes sometimes. Because Hydra is looking for Lunair, for instance, he wants to keep an eye on what is going on. And there are some things he can only learn here. Currently, he is heading towards Starfire's cabin, since the crew told him she is onboard.

Where ever Reese was on the ship? She was.. there. Feeling along the walls, taking care to pace herself and inch forward as to not stub her toe (shoes were removed while napping) or knock her head into something foul. The learning that this was a ship through conversation? It had her surprised. Though what type of ship it was, was something that she was aiming to find out.

For she's been on them before, heard the tugboats horn or the grand yachts sway against the water. This one held no sound that she was familiar with; only ticks, bleeps, and blooops that had her questioning her own sanity.

Starfire is leaving her quarters, her arms are full of Disney movies, small toys and books that she reads to Lian. Another room is being settled for the small child, as sharing her bed with a 6 year old that likes to /sprawl/ leaves knots in her back. Only so much flexibility even a Tamaranean has.

Th room across the way is done K'tten has set the walls to projecting imagery from favorite films, setting that small space for sleep to theme. Right now Frozen is still it. Kori sets the things on the bed and steps out singing along to the song that is plugged into her earbuds.

She's addicted…

"/Got a little bit of att-i-tude/…." Head bob, snap sway.

There she is. Skaar has no idea Lian is spending time onboard, but he barely knows Roy's daughter anyway. All those things she carries are also rather meaningless to him. "Hmm… hello," he greets, "are you moving?" He spies Reese coming, and looks with curiosity for a second, then giving Kori and inquiring look. Blind woman? There must be some story there.

Ah. Voices. At least the sound of a child that she's heard earlier singing, a man.. and a woman singing. That must be the burning lady. You know, like burning man, but in the form of a lady who was tall enough that Reese only reached an elbow. Or a hip.

Still, she doesn't enter, remaining in the doorway with one hand pressed to the side, fingers at a slight grip as her head turns to try to discern the sounds. The sounds were..

Items were; in which she could tell where to move. People were; in which places she could not. But eventually she gives up, settling for sitting at the floor of the door, and possibly out of sight. Life would have been better if she was given her gnarled branch back.

Starfire almost collides with Skaar, it is one of those moments where feet keep moving until you come toe to toe and your face is nearly nose to nose with the other, but hers is more nose to neck with Skaar.

Reaching up she pops out the earbuds and smiles, looking from him to Reese and then shakes her head. "No, shifting spaces. Why would I move?" Blinking at Skaar and then at Reese she moves closer to the blind woman to let her know they were near.

It would be typical of people to help the blind woman out, right? Starfire of a warrior race does not find blindness debilitating, not when Reese has made it this long and under obvious circumstances. To coddle her would be to insult.

"I brought her aboard two days ago, found her when I was checking on the people left in the dark of Metropolis…"

Lunair has had a busy, weird day. She's got some cement pebbles, dust and maybe some blood on her armor. Yes, she's wearing armor now. It's a long story. She's coming up though, and arrives where people are wont to do when they get teleported. She looks a bit distant, then blinks. "Um." What did she miss here? She kind of stares, quietly.
Blind people didn't do well in Sakaar, but Skaar knows they are usually well cared for in America. It is one of those things he learns wandering through Wikipedia pages using the laptop Lunair gave him. "Left in the dark? Why so?" He looks at the other woman, studying her. "I am Skaar," he says, introducing himself. Deep, bass voice. He is probably grumpy all the time.

She could hear them, of course, her lips pressed tight together as she leans against the wall for comfort. The nearness of Starfire was felt upon her skin, and a tilt of her head given in the direction of Lunair. The Chinese food lady. Wonder if she had any.. no. Smells like debris and outdoors. No food on her today.

Skaar's voice startles her a little, with him being so close, it booms within her ear. She didn't really.. introduce herself did she? She was amongst strangers on a steamboat (cause, thats what she thinks it is) and didn't say a word to anyone yet. "Reese. My names Reese."

"There was an attack the other day. As I was told, Gotham and New York suffered badly as well. Central Park burned to ashes…. Gotham's bridge collapsed. Many died. We've been trying to…. Help." Gesturing to Reese as she introduces herself. "We were putting on a light show together and she fell asleep."

And as K'tten said, she has to Poke them all.

Lunair's arrival has a brow rising and a questioning once-over given. They all had a right to be concerned and on high alert..

To be fair, her arrival in the state she in probably is let alone her recent circumstances. She smiles weakly, waving. "Eh heh… um." It's not really silly at all. She smiles, seeing Skaar. She tries not to turn red, too. Ahem. And there's Reese. "Hello. Sorry… it's - been a day." She looks sheepish. "Sometime happened again in New York, but there wasn't as much damage. It's still pretty okay in that neighborhood," She offers. "Um… how are you guys?" Fidget, pebble falls off her shoulder.

Skaar turns to Lunair and nods to the young woman, "you come from a battle," he states looking for injuries. "What happened?" He might sound worried, Skaar knows Hydra is looking for Lunair. "I am well," he notes. Starfire is carrying an alarming amount of children toys and books. No, he doesn't know either. And the blind woman is momentarily forgotten.

Reese was content to just sit there and listen. Everyone seems to be fine, though one came from a battle and she wondered.. well. Why not.

Her hand lifts to press against her eyes, closing them just before, the lines of life firing up as she takes stock of everyone in the room. Finally.

She wasn't aware if anyone seemed hurt. The flow of the life within their veins weren't disrupted in any kind of way.

Now that she sees them? There was searching to do, she slowly stands up near the doorway, that used as a brace, as she takes careful steps with her hands outstretched, only able to see where /they/ are, but not the objects that surround them.

She was the ships new Dora the Explorer. What colors do you like? Insertdreadfulstarehere.

Kori looks from Skaar to Lunair and then back. Her own inquiry had already been risen, though now she looks back towards Reese and wants to test something.

"Is she hurt, Reese?" The inquiry made after the night in Queensland with the people and her lights, her lights made her hair grow back fully, the comets tail of silken tress back to the floor length with the hint of yellow tip sweeping and glowly lightly at the edges.

Though while the exchange is going on she steps back and into that small room for Lian, dropping the things upon her small bed.

"Oh, um. S-sorry to make you guys worried. I did want to ask what kind of stuff you wanted when I help restock," Lunair holds her hands up. "I'm not hurt, myself. There were just a lot of soldiers and stuff. And a really neat Hawklady. And I saw Captain American and - uh. Also a strange guy with an antennae. He was hitting things really hard. People were trying to kill him after the sky turned green and hazy. There was a lot of dust in the air. So we helped him and some of the mutants out," Lunair explains. "I figured the chaos was a perfect time to hightail it home after I dropped my friend's groceries off. He can't go out into normal stores much."

Lunair looks between them, trying not to turn red at Skaar. "I'm glad to hear it. And no, they weren't HYDRA. It was weird. I almost saw - dozens?"

Skaar nods. Sounds like another battle of those the powered humans have on a weekly basis in the larger cities. Nothing to be alarmed about. It is not as if it is a real war. That clarified, they probably shouldn't be standing on the hallway between cabins. Particularly not him. "Come. We should see what the news reports are saying about the incident. Maybe get you something to drink."

Reese stops in her movements, then turns to scan the three of them present. Now two.

"No. Though her head is weird."

And that was that. Reese wasn't one to diagnose, but something obviously wasn't flowing right with Lunair and while that /is/ something that Reese could correct? She wasn't going to force and push. And since she was away from the three and they were about to disperse, the turns the lines off, focusing on counting her steps to memorize the room.. since she was going to make herself a permanent fixture here, it seems.

When Starfire comes back out se blinks at the red flush upon Lunair and just watches, clearing her throat when Reese speaks up and smirks her way, shaking her head lightly. "If you find anyone on this ship whose head is not messed up, do let me know."

Kori remains walking with Reese behind Skaar and Lunair to go to the more open observation and visiting deck, there all areas are accessible through the tele-hub and corridors. "Are you finding yourself around okay? I've seen your people with four legged people. Do you need one of those?"

D'oh. Her head is weird? Lunair looks like she got brained over the head by a frying pan. Owch. But it is a truth she likely should accept. Lunair will never be normal. Close, possibly (but not really likely, in all honesty). But never normal. "Well. Some buildings were - pretty well destroyed. But… yeah, second verse, same as the first. Just unusual they had SO many assassins out after whomever. And they were kind of trying to pick off people night fighting or not paying attention. Hard to say. But I'm fine. If I can help Miss Reese, please let me know. I don't mind bringing stuff up between classes." Then she tries not to look sheepish.

Skaar shakes his head and moves along, looking for some crew member. Mainly K'tten, as she knows how the ship communications work best. "I will find out, no problem," he leaves the women to talk about Lunair's head problems. They are interesting, he is sure, but they are not his business.

Reese had to smile at that. Everyone she's met so far had their own issues, and while they weren't so obvious? It was all there.

She shrugs her shoulders faintly, keeping in line with the heat that she feels and their words, shrugging her shoulders idly. She didn't want to impart on the badness of having a dog, having outlived a dog, more or less a hundred dogs. No. That would just bring the general mood down and curiosities up. But, dogs would be fun.

"Okay. I do need one."

Lunair was listened to, her brows raising as the mentions of assassins gets her attention, and the offer of help and..

"Okay!" No need to write about that. Reese doesn't like being charity but a free dog and a great meal is the bees knees.

Instead of following them however, Reese takes the route less traveled, one to her designated bedroom since she obviously knows how to get there and back. She was going to take a nap.

"What the fuck is that thing anyways?" Taskmaster asks one of the men riding with him in the deuce in a half.
A shrug escapes the Cobra agent. "I was told we would need it."
A grunt escapes Taskmaster, "Well whatever. I get to shoot it first. Ya'll hear me?" He barks in to the back of the military truck as it growls along the road coming to a stop at Queensland Park.
Taskmaster crawls from beside the driver in to the back, clambering over limbs and legs until he can get up behind the large unwieldy looking canon. The object once he touches it hums to life and uplifts on it's extending arm rising upwards, peeling itself free of the wagon to lurch above it. The deuce in a half now a mobile tripod for what appears to be a massive canon.
"Sir, you only get on shot. You best make it count…"
"Shit, only one? The fuck you load in to this thing a Double A battery? Whatever. Someone spot for me."
A quiet murmur amongst the Cobra troopers before a female one of them moves over closer to Taskmaster holding up what looks like a tablet. It's operating a link up from elsewhere, scanning this area from afar and controlled by the tablets operator. Onboard the Stafire HMSS K'tten will be the first to know they're being scanned from an outside source, someone or something is trying to find the cloaked HMSS Starfire.
"It's there somewhere… right… I have it. Right there, Mister Taskmaster Sir."
"Awesome, stop yammering and patch the feed in to this thing. I'm already half-mast here… "
"Ew." The Cobra operative whispers.
The other men on board the vehicle are already climbing from the vehicle, taking up positions around the clearing as two more vehicles roll up. Civilian looking large nondescript armored vans. They have Cobra Vipers in them.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon." Taskmaster says excitedly from behind his mask, the electronic distortion of it sounding eerie with the repeated phrases. There is a distinct sound of a charging hum, that would be the big ass canon priming itself. Preparing to fire. Time to interrupt the party.
"Aliens, my ass. If this hits nothing and knocks over a skyskraper I quit."
3…
2… …
"Target acquired, sir! You're clear to fire."
"YESSS!!" Taskmaster announces as a crackle snaps through the air and a large beam of ionic charged energy rips through the air burning ozone on it's way in to a pummeling barrage against the HMSS Starfire. No doubt the denizens of the Nest will get an awesome light show and anyone else in the vicinity of Metropolis.
All this for one individual. The Baroness had some brass ones and this person must have royally pissed her off or just simply have something she needs. Maybe she scuffed one of her fancy shoes in a Bergdorf's. Probably that one. The dark lady loves her shoes and hates other women with a fiery passion.

Orn is already bringing Lunair a drink, holding the iced water to her in a glass, a wedge of lemon on the rim with a little umbrella of blue to boot! The large yeti like alien is going all out for his friends!

K'tten on the other hand is at her usual post, manning the controls, watching over Metropolis while news reels roll as well as screens of scrolling data… Watching for spikes…

Snowy screens, digitizing, pixellating… K'tten sarls and slaps the side of a monitor just before an alarm sounds, both her hands shooting up in an 'I didn't do it!' motion - eyes narrowing. "Captain!"

The only time K'tten refers to Kori as that is when it is business and when Starfire snaps her gaze upward the ship rocks and shudders. The cloaking device being up limits their shields and that left them open to the energy blast hammering their hull.

"K'tten! Put the shield up! Who is that?" Now her pace is swift, moving to the monitors as K'tten races to bring in the image of Taskmaster and the Cobra sentries below as well as disable the cloaking to enable the shields once again.

Lunair was hanging out. In space. Which, by all means, should be pretty safe, right? She limits her time outside, on earth. She brings back stuff for Reese and the others. She even offered to help replace the safehouse she was staying in. After the whole run in with the metahuman hunters, she's been a lot more careful. Being stripped of the ability to move with coordination and speed is terrifying. At least Jericho and a certain cop were around. Her luck might not hold out again.

For now, she's reading a book on rocketry next to her botany textbook. She smiles at Orn. "Oh wow! Thank you! That is so sweet of you. What kind of stuff do you like?" She seems fond of Orn in turn. He's so nice! Odd appearances really don't both her. She simply accepts them. She doesn't know any different. And then? And then the energy blast hits and she eeps, hanging onto the drink out of being startled. Her eyes are wide. "What in the world…?"

The railcannon round that pounds home on the HMSS Starfire… well, it certainly caused havoc on the ship. "What the…?" Roy exclaims, as he jabs at the computer terminal he'd been using to get a better look at the 'ley lines' and trying to compare it against HYDRA and Cobra's last known movements.

Radioing up, Roy exclaims, "What happened up there? Orn been trying out more chili dishes again, or did something hit the ship?"

K'tten is running things, scanning people, faces, armor, trying to get her own bead on them, cross referencing in their database..

"we're going to find out, Luna." Starfire says as Roy's voice calls in. "We're under attack, a man in a skull mask and a mass of others firing at the ship, we need you here now at Queensland Park."

Without much more fanfare Kori is walking towards the teleporing pad, that armor digitizing over her tawny skin, purple racing up like solidifying liquid metal from toe to mid thigh, down along the length of her arms from her shoulders just before her whole form disappears and she is dropped just within the atmosphere, rocketing towards the cluster of armored cars and bodies, firing a Starbolt at their feet in warning while that tail of light traces behind her in her high speed path towards them.

At least they are not in any of the villages…

Lunair sneaks a sip of the drink, whispering a thank you to Orn. But this is - strange, worrying and all that jazz. Lunair is going to take it with her, to see what she can see and listen in maybe. "Hey wait, do you need help?" Her eyes widen. Should she go down, too? "I guess I should." She's conflicted, but her stunted emotions leave her face oddly blank. "Okay!" She's going to help Starfire, and follow her. If nothing else, getting back up should be fine? "I can't just ditch someone who's been looking after me." No one's gonna notice one armored figure, right? Right. Unless someone tells her not to go, she's going to quietly follow. Armor up and off she goes. Though, sadly, she can't fly. She has to teleport a little more gently. Or at least lower down. Even if she seems to be slowly working rocket boots into things (ask her about destroying a couple of portapotties on accident during testing sometime).

"A… a man in a skull mask?" Trying to think things through, Roy's eyes widen. "Oh hell…!"

Already pounding the corridor floor on the way to the teleporting pad, Roy exclaims, "It's Taskmaster! I'm not sure who he's working for these days, but he's a hell of a pain in the ass. Don't let him see what you're doing if you don't want it used against you!"

Arriving at the pad, Roy is already readying his bow, going straight for the concussive arrow. "Beam me down right behind him if you can…"

Because his best chance was to catch him unaware, hopefully a good shot where Task wasn't expecting it would slow him down tremendously.

CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK

"Aw, you weren't joking with one shot." The large cannon sinks back in to the bed of the truck and he leaps out the side staring up at the sky in the darkness you can't make out much but you can see the flap of flame as it streamers downwards, spiraling towards the earth. "No one ever complained about my aim." The skull-faced mercenary boasts. He was told to expect heavy resistance, that is why they have three vehicles worth of Cobra soldiers among that number several super-enhanced Vipers, men and women who are brainwashed and pushed to peak ability or beyond sporting cybernetic body armor that augments them further. Zombies. At least that is what Taskmaster likes to call them.
"What is that?" The female operative asks staring up at Starfire in her fiery plummet. "We have bogeys, sir."
"Less talking and more shooting you moron." The leader of this combat squad grunts at her, reaching over to take her weapon from her, aim that high-tech juiced up assault rifle towards Starfire and fire in a spray that carries from her on towards Lunair. "How hard is that? The rest of you take down everything except our target. Lady Snake wants her alive." He slings the assault rifle back at the woman then proceeds to draw out his bow, snapping it out so the arms extend; an arrow being notched. Explosive tipped! The fun kind.

K'tten locks in the coordinates that Roy seeks and ports him down, just behind the truck Taskmaster is within and with the cover of some of the trees within this open spanse of park.

Lunair is ported to the ground, also with some form of cover, but just below where Starfire sweeps down after firing another Starbolt, but this one leaves a craterin the ground just before a truck, enough so to make it teeter like it is on a cliffs edge.

The open fire though is met with hesitance, or is it the sight of Luna here? The woman is being hunted! Oh hell. Not even Starfire would stay in hiding if roles were reversed, but the erratic and trained spray of bullets has her righting in her fight, arms coming up before her face to stop the spray from that horrid bite on her skin, stopping just in front of Lunair and landing to block her from the assault as best she could.

Instead of chiding her though. "Can you disable that weapon they fired on our ship with?" Wink. And then Kori is sailing forward, head first for these Vipers, one of those bullets ricocheting and catching her in the eye, bringing that head first flight to a skipping stone stop on the ground in the midst of the fleet of Vipers.

"Umm, hi…" And then she is covered in their assault.

Lunair is worried about Starfire. "Be careful!" A weak smile. "And it looks like it doesn't have any ammo? Otherwise I would think they would've used it again." She explains. "But I'll give it a go," She promises. Maybe she can render it unusable. And then, and then they cover Starfire in a Greek chorus of bullets. Can she stand that sort of thing? "Don't worry about me, please." She's got to make sure Starfire is okay. Nevertheless, she'll stay near her cover for now. They're serious though. But Lunair has her sleek, almost video game-esque armor on. And then, out of freaking nowhere, she pulls a rocket launcher that seems like she ripped it off a giant robot and props herself against the cover. Ready. Steady. Aim for the vehicles or the source of that fire. Maybe it will take some of the fire off of Starfire. She ducks back to dismiss her weapon and pull another. Where the HELL did she get that? The round is alarming, enhanced and certainly more than military grade.

As soon as he's teleported, Roy ducks, falling to one knee and taking aim, and firing at that caped figure. Sure, the cape was going to prevent a large amount of impact, but an explosive arrow didn't care about getting -through- the cape as much as going -off-.

And then he's moving quickly, for the nearest cover (convenient things, trees in parks.)

"Oh shit! They got some big guns." Taskmaster barks out as the deuce in a half gets blown to carpet dust by Lunair. Vipers cover Starfire like she just caught a football, the orange Alien superheroine vanishing in a pile of exo-skeleton suited bodies. The explosion from the railgun cannon being taken out has the man already leaping only to get daisy chained in to another hop as Roy's explosive arrow catches the man by surprise. He's not a superhuman himself but he does have some pretty fancy armor and the luck of having been in motion. Motion that now sends him flip-flopping across the ground in a slap of limbs and weaponry, a shield sprouted in to existance during all of that mess. Maybe that is why the Taskmaster is still in one piece. It'll be a moment before he collects himself.
That Cobra Operative who was beside him not so fortunate, that unlucky woman and her firearm vanish in a hail of fire, shrapnel and explosive residue.
Gunfire is pelting Roy's cover location. Lunair as well. These cover HYDRA / Cobra Agents are quick on their response times.

Starfire's entirety disappears beneath the pile, the kicks hit echoing resounding thuds, the punches land blows that sound like harsh slaps and even a couple shots go off as a handgun is added for a 'final touch'…

"ENOUGH!"

The voice echoes out and suddenly Vipers are backpedalling, two being thrown back by her grip at their throats and others doing a stop drop and roll while rounds fire off without reason, their suits not on fire but circular rings start to burn away and /melt/ them.

Starfire is standing there now, that hair inflamed at the end, her fists balled so tightly that the sinewed flex of muscle beneath shows the tension, right there with the determined narrow of her gaze that seeks out Lunair and Roy.

They DO have big guns. Or at least, Lunair does. It's one part of her powers she finds very convenient in a fight and in life. But it's her turn to take fire and she ducks behind what was once something of stone but the bullets ding and meet rock. And weirdly, her armor? Really, really, really good. Did she seriously yank it from a video game? Probably. She hesitates as Starfire is dogpiled, eyes widening. There's relief as the big weapon that bothered the ship is obliterated. No time to savor it. Only fight now. She's not the apex predator here and it's an uneasy feeling. She's fine at range, but her melee talent is…

The gunfire is complicating, but it's not the end of the world. She has a helmet. And armor. Even if it hurts and skids one back a little. Then Starfire does her thing. It's impressive but there's still things to be dealt with. To that end, she pulls a freaking plasma cannon. "Go away, please!" She's really not big on this being hunted thing and some poor saps are going to get bolted. With plasma. Owwie. Wait, what did Roy say about a guy with a skull mask?

"Dammit…!" No, no time for that.

Shifting to radio mode, Roy calls out, "Kori, you ok? Lunair…? Oh hell… where'd Skullface go? Anyone seen him?"

Peeking out, and then ducking as cover fire returns, Roy does a quick check of where he'd seen the minions, takes a deep breath as he pulls out an ice arrow… and then nocks it, spins out and fires it into the most packed-together group. Must be relatively new people… else Taskmaster would spread them out better, the tactician that he was. If he could locate Skullface during the peek out, so much the better, because keeping him disoriented was the key to keeping the whole army from making utter havoc.

Well more havoc than they were wrecking anyway.

A very wobbly legged Taskmaster staggers to his feet, shield upright and covering him as he regains his bearings. Numbness, some pain and everything is muffled to the point he can't even hear his own voice. He's experienced this before, it's all part of the gig.
"Okay, whoever did that I am going to skin. Nice shot though. It's your freebie." A glance to his right and he sees Starfire slinging starbolts and Vipers around like a rabid Mastiff in a Yorkie pen. "Those Zombies ain't cheap, you Fraggle Rock muppet skinned bitch." A glance to the left amidst his mumbling he sees Lunair hoisting a plasma cannon in to the game. "Thats our target… "
Stumble. Legs not fully functional yet. Mouth still works.
"Squad A, assault and detain the target. Squad B, cover fire for Squad A. Zombies… you clowns just stay on the Muppet. Shes scary." /Inhale, exhale, nothing broken. Numbness starting to cease, just have to coax body in to activity again. Walk it off Taskmaster, walk it off. So shellshocked right now can't even monologue./

Starfire is only going to take this so much. Those Vipers keep on her and the more they pile on, the more they are unloading, it looked like a bitter fight of a carinou in the arctic surrounded by hungry wolves.

From afar those high grade above military weapons felt like incessant hornet stings, but now, up close and personal one of them aims up at her from his back and lays on the trigger emptying his clip into her.

Starfire falls to the ground, all fours then down.

The toe nudge to her side to double check though…

"That hurt!" She says, enough to cause a ripple of shock before she grabs the one by the ankle and uses his body like a Louisville slugger and sweeps out at the others with his flailing body.

To be fair, a lot of wolves vastly underestimate how hard deer or caribou kick. This is a mistake they usually only make /once/. And so it goes. But the fight is good for one thing. Lunair's distracted, trying to help Starfire out. She has to be careful, picking off people near Starfire. Maybe if one gets TOO close, but again, she's distracted. Lunair's good at what she does and fairly smart, but alas, youth. She doesn't seem aware of the Taskmaster doing what he's doing. What was it about a skeleton mask guy…? He was a pain…? Don't look at him…?

She'll worry about it later. Few problems aren't solved by the liberal application of explosives and weapons. She's help Starfire out, dangit. And trying not to boggle as one dude gets used as a flail. Literally.

That was 'don't let -him- see -you-'! Not that Roy has any idea how Lunair was thinking, as he whistles. "Kori, stay in the air and keep -moving-!" She had aerial superiority, she could pick them off… assuming they didn't have anti-air weaponry. Which was a dangerous assumption to make where Taskmaster was concerned - the man -must- have had preparations for this if he was ready to take on the HMSS Starfire.

They needed something unpredictable, something Taskmaster hadn't seen before. Which meant…

"Lun…! Pull out a weapon nobody's used before! And then use it! Don't ask me what, just make up something…! For all I care, get a gun that pew pews piranhas! And use it on the guy with the mask!"

Shield up and shield thrown just like Cap. It goes skyward then descends right for Lunair's head. Let her dodge that.
Back in the game now Taskmaster is moving with his normal fluidity. "BARD! You douchebag." The voice loud electronic inflected and carrying. Carrying along with it is a hail of bullets fired from the handgun in the Taskmaster's hand. "I'm guessing it was you that pot shot me." Annoyance in the skullman's voice now. His audio commands still going out to his platoon, "Initial assault is a fail, we cannot take these ones in our first strike. Give it all and let us assess their capabilities. Also someone let the Queen Snake know we'll be retreating soon." Soon doesn't mean yet though. Taskmaster still wants to see what these new faces are capable of.
The Vipers continue their press on Starfire even as Lunair picks several of them off. A handful of Squad B peel away from their continuous fire on Lunair to begin spreading out to flank attak Roy Harper. Staggering their movements so they can get in close to him.
Those Vipers numbers decreasing rapidly as they are belted around like bowling pins as Starfire likewise goes Babe Ruth with one of their own.

Starfire tries not to kill, but these Vipers seem to keep pressing, even when they are burning from the proximity to her, their kevlar that is not meant to take astronomical heat /melting/ to them and they still fire on her, and at that close they drew blood, small scrapes and holes upon her like she was a pin-cushion for bullets, even a little came from her lip at a harsh kick.

But they kept coming despite the evident odds and Starfire hears Roy, seeing the others go for Lunair she draws the line. Taking the one she is using as her shelaileh with her she blasts into the sky, leaving a crater in the ground where she once rested and the Viper she takes with comes firing back down with a Starbolt that levels her playing field as she sweeps down, rocketing for Lunair in an attempt to sweep her teammate off her feet and bowl over the competition on the way.

"They are quickly earning my ire, Roy! They are seemingly ones looking for Lunair."

… don't stare at him? Don't… ogle him? Don't … don't… hmm. What was it? Lunair tries to think a moment. Don't admire him? Don't… There's little time to ponder it. For you see, Lunair might well be a trained mercenary with alarming powers. But she is very much a normal teenaged girl. And few have the reflexes to dodge what just got chucked at her. She only has a moment to contemplate the fact that - he just chucked a shield at her. Really? Who does tha— She starts to move, but too little, too late. Score one for Team Taskmaster. There's a moment of confusion, then a distinctly satisfying KLONK-FWHUMP as she sort of stiffens, drops her weapon and fully faceplants into mother earth. Clompf. Neurons are flooded with signals that might read 'oh god ow why' and 'don't MOVE! can't MOVE!'. She is a normal person, beneath those powers. No super reflexes, nothin'. Well, besides the intelligence and all. So for now, she's just faceplanted with her immense weapon at her side and struggling to regain some sort of control as the world reels. Hey, did someone get the license plate on that…?

Yup. Faceplanted, limbs out. Glorious.

Aw hell.

"Guilty as charged," Roy calls back. He'd had far too many encounters with Taskmaster and Baroness as 'William Bard'. And while Baroness might be checking into things, it looked like Taskmaster was working another angle.

C'mon, what could he pull out that Taskmaster hadn't seen yet?

"Then get Lunair out of here, Kori…! I'll cover you!"

Ice arrow, ice arrow, c'mon, fire in a hurry, make it tough for them to get near Lunair… unless they could figureskate. Of course, that means he was open for Taskmaster, but if he was right, he might well put a priority on getting the girl instead of giving him the bum's rush.

And Roy liked his bum right where it was, thank you very much.

That shield bounces off Lunair's noodle and sails upwards high in to the air in an arc like it had homing capabilities back in to Taskmasters hand only to flip around and streak off again directly for Roy. In between the snag and hurl the combat specialist flipped and spun with the grace of a figure skater who'd just snorted four lines of the best highland Columbia grade cocaine money could buy.
"Squad A move in and secure. Squad B redirect fire on the Muppet." As he shouts out orders and retaliates he is dodging ice erupting arrows. "Bard, when I get close enough I am going to beat you purple in front of your freaky girlfriends then pull your underwear up over your ears. You'll be tasting your panties for a year." Yeah, he is angry. He is angry he can still smell burnt uniform, still feel numbness, still feel pain and a ringing in the ears and now he is having to work his ass off just to keep up. It's very uncool. He thought he and Red Robin Hood had an understanding.
The Vipers are significantly outclassed by the Tamaranean and down to only three, three that cling to her with limbs around limbs. Even as the Squad B dowses them in fire. Friendly fire takes out one of the Vipers. The other two are more fortunate.
"RAVAGE incoming, Taskmaster." A message extends through his headset coms.
"Good, he can play fetch and snag up the Barbie Doll with guns."

The two clinging to her and the retun of the stinging sensation is enough, Kori tucks with that burning comet tail behind her she hits the ground, cratering it and leaving a trench where she is now literally /peeling/ them free of her.

Closing in on Lunair in 3…2…

Lifting from the trench she is now level, picking Lunair up in th sliding pass to tuck and roll with her in her grasp just before she rockets off into the air again as long as she is not disrupted.

Lunair did in fact, just have a shield bounce off her noodle. Thankfully, she had a helmet on or she'd be Lunair minus a few IQ points. As it sits, the most coherent thoughts she's managing are 'wargharble' and 'ow'. She's sort of just - flopped. And unaware of the RAVAGE coming. At least she's scoop-uppable by Starfire, but these close calls keep getting closer. And now, for better or worse, they know how she fights a lot better.

Well, the understanding… basically consisted of 'Don't blow up a building (or a ship) around him and he won't blow you up!' Not that Roy knew it.

As Starfire scoops up Lunair, Roy keeps moving, trying to keep an eye out for possible ricocheting trick shots from Taskmaster. "Man… you keep talking like someone did that to you when you were a kid. Did they also give you swirlies? Because man, those -suck- when you don't even have -working plumbing-."

Those damned navajos…

The shield slung at Roy misses and bounds back in to Taskmasters hand. Mid-catch of it he does a back-flip and lands near a large metallic beast that had stopped in it's tracks after a missed snag for Lunair with it's mechanical jaws. Starfire to the rescue!
"Leave the insults to me, Red. I'm not even going to try to follow what you just said. You lost me at sucking and bag of dicks." A step backwards and he slings an arm over RAVAGE and climbs aboard like it's some horse. Okay, so, now he really does look like Skeletor.
"We'll be seeing eachother again soon." Resisting the urge to monologue further Taskmaster and RAVAGE turn about and gallop off. Not his best exit.

It's like a comic book western gone wrong. Just as Starfire is literally about to throw Lunair towards orbit to be teleported to safety and go back for Roy… Tasketor rides off into the sunset on his mechanical steed.

Pupilless emerald gaze of a Tamaranean princess from another galaxy that resides in a starship and has a crew of former alien slaves… Has just seen it all.

"I need sleep, I can't handle this right now." She says as she hugs the very bulky Lunair to her chest like a child with a overstuffed teddy bear.

"K'tten, we're done here."

Tzzt. Fade out!

Lunair is about to get chucked towards orbit. Oh, the places you'll go when you fail to duck~ And poor Starfire. Lunair can just wargharble her way to a nap or something. This is a lot more serious than she'd ever realized. Too bad she just sort of misses the man riding off into the sunset. It would be so cool. Alas. Flop.


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