2014-12-01 - The Bet: Final Rounds

Kara Zor-El looks around at the annoyance of the crowd at how quickly the fight ended and murmurs, "I think I have an idea on how to make Mxy and the Mite end this sooner, maybe... Hopefully there are no more mega-mad Hulk/magic hammer combos." She walks back into the arena.

Cassandra Cain nods, listening to Kara talk. She adds in agreement, "Good...we might be here...for ever, if not." Then she taps Kara in for the next fight, hopping up on the edge of the stands. She's not going into the pit again. It's dangerous in there.

"Well then, we'll have to call on our lady in red and blue sooner than expected," the announcer says, sounding a little flustered still. The crowd seems to still think that there must be more to the last match, and some of them are having a bit of trouble catching up. "Hope she's rested after her partner's...two minute match? Wait, what. Less than two seconds? Whatever."

The alternate pit opens up and a giant in red with a bowl helmet steps out into the light, onto the newly paved arena floor, and the announcer calls out, "So for our Supergirl, our evening's champion, we have yet another powerhouse! This one I'm told has matched against actual gods! Please welcome, DARK HELMET!"

Standing in the arena, Juggernaut pauses. Turns and looks at the announcer. Then raises a hand for attention.

Juggernaut raises his hand, gathering the attention of the crowd. "You invited me, now shut up and let me get this straight," he says, generally ignoring the ladies in the arena. "I have no idea how you got me here, but nobody makes me do anything without good reason. Not even you. Why should I fight for you?"

The crowd's attention is drawn by this. Nobody's ever required that kind of impetus before. Normally being threatened with death was enough. The announcer pauses, then says, "Well, considering you ignored everything thrown at you in the pit, what do you want? The audience will have their fight."

Juggernaut grins, then says loudly, "I don't care what your audience wants. Send me gold and I'll crush whoever you want."

Another pause, as the announcer discusses this with someone, and then "You'll find four hundred standard units of gold waiting outside. Please crush our current champion, the one in red and blue over there."

Juggernaut turns, then says, "Gladly. Don't you know who I am?

"I'm the Juggernaut." And he lowers his head and runs toward Kara, head-first!

Kara Zor-El frowns when Juggernaut charges at her. She's actually fought Juggernaut before. Or at least a simulcrum duplicate of him in the Labyrinth, so unlike that first time, she knows to steel heself against his charge, planting her feet firmly to the ground. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

One of those statement gets proven a liar.

After the shockwave of the collision, and the dust brought up from the impact clears, Kara hasnt budged, and her hands are up, grabbing Juggernaut to make sure his forward momentum ceases.

Nothing can stop the Juggernaut? Apparently Kara's name should be changed to Nothing, then. She says with a stern face with grit teeth, "You know... 400 standard units is only about 10 pounds. Maybe 100 thousand dollars? There are easier ways..."

Kara throws him to the side to the ground. "To earn a buck." she finishes her sentence, standing there and figuring how to end this match REALLY quickly.

Cassandra, up sitting near the audience, has a seat of her own. The guards don't seem to be needed, the audience is mostly keeping back. One kid manages to break away from the crowd. Looks like a street kid. He manages to get next to her, and she looks down at him. Grins, then goes back to watching the match.

Juggernaut looks vaguely stunned when he's stopped, absolutely cold. "Wait...what?" he says, then adds, "Wait what? Ten pounds?" He doesn't swing on Kara quite yet, then grumbles and points at the announcer. "YOU'RE NEXT!"

Though he's not really sure he's a match for this slip of a girl, actually, and says in an undertone, "No. I was not aware," as he slams a fist into Kara. Not really expecting it to work though. His headbutt is really his best attack.

Kara Zor-El just stands there, hands on her hips as the Juggernaut slams his fist into her chest and torso. The results are awesomely... unimpressive. Kara doesnt go flying backwards. She doesn't stumble or buckle over. She doesnt even flicker in the look on her face, which is pretty much a mixture of annoyance and iritation. Juggernaut's fist slams against her and just STOPS there.

When he pulls his hand back, Kara simply says, "Bored now." and grabs his wrist, before flying upwards and pulling Juggernaut up with her.

Then she flings the scarlet behemoth by the arm in an arch, sending him flying off into the distance through the air.

Farther and farther away, until he can't be seen by most eyes anymore.

Did she just throw him a continent away? Possibly. Meh, he can survive it.

Kara then floats back down to the arena, saying to herself, "That took too long..." before walking off the arena floor.

Yes, the 45 seconds it took was far too long - she was hoping to see what happens with the audience when there's another 2 second fight instead.

The audience had, in fact, gathered close in hopes of another long, drag-out battle such as happened earlier. The Green Man battle was truly epic, but they are fickle. Some boo-ing begins to happen, which is pretty ballsy given that Kara could easily just look at them to death.

Cassandra pats the kid on the shoulder, then pushes herself off of the edge and lands in a roll on the stadium floor. "Will end this next...quick," she says as she comes up to where Kara is walking. "I get...your plan."

And the announcer clicks over to an image of a meteor landing somewhere named 'South Brington' which apparently was not expecting incoming flying projectiles.

As Cassandra re-enters the arena again, the loudspeaker says, "Okay, glorbs and glorbnettas, we have a VERY special fight for you now! Earth Batgirl Champion may be a fighting phenom, but can she stand up against her new challenger.... COPYCAT SKULLFACE!"

AT which pont Taskmaster rises out from the ground platform. Looks like a guy wearing a skull mask and a cloak, or something. He also seems to be armed rather well, with a shield, a bow, a quiver of arrows, twin guns, and a sword!

The loudspeaker continues, "This opponent has an uncanny ability to duplicate any fighting style of his opponent! Melee, hand-to-hand, projectile! You don't want to know what it took to get him here - he finally stopped and agreed once we said we had a real challenge for him! So this should be a real knock down-"

The loudspeaker stops talking when Taskmaster looks at Cassandra, gets prepared for a fight....

And promptly falls over, unconscious before Cassandra has to do anything at all.

Okay, what the heck just happened?

The loudspeaker says to someone else in the room, not realizing again that it's still on, "what just happened, Zerb?"

For the first time, the voice of Zerb appears over the loudspeaker. Probably accidentally. It sounds like someone swearing in Latin, but is in fact a pidgin language from the Quadra Nebula, just a few light years off of the Great Attractor. So not local. Which is why he's not allowed to talk, nobody but maybe Kara could understand him.

Cassandra, for her part, was set for a fight. Dropped into a combat stance and everything, even looking Skullface over watching for his moves. Analyzing him. When he hits the floor, she blinks. Then looks at the announcer and shrugs. "Uh...psychic....attack?"

She sounds like she's lying. The AUDIENCE knows that she's lying. The announcer goes with it though and says, "Would Supergirl please prepare for her next, come on already! I can't keep them coming this fast. Five minute break folks. Please take a moment to purchase resupplies from the snack vendors."

Kara Zor-El seemed just as confused as everyone else. When Cassandra walks by her, Kara whispers, "Not sure what you did to end it that fast but uh.... good job?" Then heads into the arena again. Yep. They're getting irritated with how fast and un-action-packed the fights are starting to go with THAT one. Maybe if they got bored enough, they'll just call the whole thing off. Cassandra Cain whispers, "Did nothing," but appears to be willing to pretend that she did, while Taskmaster is hauled off. No ten pounds of gold for him! Just falling over like that. It appears that giving the audience a bunch of snacks may have been a mistake too, as some of them start being thrown at the arena. And a few at the announcer box.

Still, apparently there was one more waiting, and a middle-aged human male in an extremely expensive dark suit walks out of the pit before the announcer is even prepared. "Um, our next...opponent?" the announcer says, realizing that there's someone there. "Oh for #@$#'s sake, introduce yourself already. I give up." Then there's the recognizable static of a microphone being dropped on a tabletop.

The man walking into the arena has excellent hair, excellent posture, and looks like a million dollars. "I will be glad to, thank you." He pauses, then gives a brilliant smile toward Kara and Cassandra. "I am Sebastian Shaw. The leader of the Hellfire Club, and very likely the ruler of this little arena from now on."

Somehow managing to speak over the loudspeaker, Mr. Shaw spreads his arms wide, taking in all the audience. "You may wonder why me, why here, after all the spectacles you've seen tonight. I am not as imposing as some. You might well wonder, what chance I may have against this," his hand waves idly at Supergirl.

Puffing up a little more, if that be possible, he says, "I have the rare, and some suggest Royal ability to absorb physical strength." He turns, looking directly at Kara, with absolutely no fear. "I gain power from violence. And have been in the back room already for some time, beating your remaining gladiators to death. The only one left with anything to give me, is her." He pauses, then stretches his neck a little to the left til it pops.

"Shall we dance, then? I have been patient but even I have my limits."

Kara Zor-El listens as Shaw talks and brags about himself and walks over right up to him. She might have felt bad about what she was going to do, if he didnt just say that he beat a bunch of people to death. When he makes his first punch at her, she rather easily moves her head out of the way and then quickly grab his arm. She quickly spins him around after flying up a bit, swinging him faster and faster, then lets go, letting him fly through the air.

Probably to wherever she threw Juggernaut last fight.

She then lands back on the ground and walks off the arena floor unceremoniously, over to Cassandra.

"Hopefully they'll start thinking we're not fun to watch soon."

Cassandra shrugs, not having even moved from her place at all for that one. She isn't even really pretending to be involved in the dramatic events anymore, and the audience are starting to get furious. Considering how amazing some of the earlier fights were, they do seem to change their opinion quickly.

After a minute with nothing more exciting than a particularly good butt-shot of the girls on the screen which shows up on the internet of this planet (and ten others) in MINUTES, the sound comes back on and the announcer says, "Oh right, this. Well folks, it looks like there's really nobody left in the back, but rest assured your fight producers are working hard to find more warriors for your grand arena! Wasn't that last fight amazing? Breathtaking?"

The response is a loud roar for the announcer's blood, and the booth actually has to fend off some actual attacks from some of the people in the stands. "Well," he says over the speakers. "In that case, we have to go with the final combat! You heard me folks! There are two proven champions in the arena right now, and we're going to have them show us, show YOU, who is the best!"

The girl from space, Supergirl, who took on the biggest and nastiest creatures this humble arena (open twenty four hours a day) has ever seen, demolished each and every one with barely a scratch! The strongest competitor ever seen in our twenty solid years of constant broadcasting! And her opponent, the female in black, hailing from Earth, the most purely skilled opponent we've ever had the opportunity to see, with psychic attacks that fell even the best, the BATGIRL!"

Finally, that gets the audience to turn to the arena once more in expectation. They hadn't considered THAT match-up!

Kara Zor-El pauses, then leans over to Cassandra. "Follow my lead, okay Cassandra?" She walks into the arena with Cass, looks at her, then says, "Uhhhh okay." She then idly slaps at the air by Cassandra. And not a 'casual slap that sends her opponent flying into a wall' slap. Rather a 'nerd who never has been in a fight in their life, in the back seat of the car with another sibling to annoy the mother driving' slapfight slap.

Cassandra Cain is an absolute master at reading the physical intentions of someone. So when Kara wants to have a slapfight, she seems to be fighting to stifle a giggling fit. Raising her hands, she starts batting at Kara while turning her head away, eyes mostly closed as if afraid of getting hit. Like, oh my god this is so seriously a fight, fighting. "Nuhhh, you can't wiinnnnn..." she whines.

Kara Zor-El continues her slapfight battle royale. You can almost hear the action music as the fingers sorta almost touch occasionally with the pathetic flailing. "Quiddit! quiddit!!!!" Kara sorta whines, eyes closed. She opens one eye to peek at how the audience, and more importantly Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk, are reacting.

Cassandra Cain flails like a ten year old on caffeine. She squinches her eyes completely and accidentally lands a hit on Kara, then she starts apologizing in a whiney voice, still whapping at Kara's hands, and starting to actually cry. Not a good cry either, more like she's trying to pretend to cry and isn't very good at it. And she puts a little more flail into her flailing.

The audience, having expected...a bit more, begin to grumble. Then they start to throw things. The announcer can be heard saying, "Just get the teleporter running," and the sound cuts out. There's a flash from inside the booth, and then it's empty.

The audience moves from throwing things, to throwing each other, and some serious violence starts up as they start to tear the place apart. It's a real mob now, and none of them are even looking at Kara or Cassandra anymore. The cameras are half offline, and the other half are either upside-down or ...well, camera two appears to have been stolen, and is broadcasting being run down an alley with by someone in fur.

As the stadium announcers try to figure how to get these two out of here, and the audience starts to riot over wanting more of the Hulk/BRB/Kara fights and Omega Red/Batgirl fights rather than... this.... Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite pop in by them, Mxy by Kara and Bat-Mite by Cassandra.

Mxyzptlk: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? You're a million times stronger than her when you're sleeping! Just do that... that finger flick thing! Or throw her like you did with those others at least! Heat vision her! Freeze her! Do something like that!"

Bat-Mite: "Don't you have some sort of kryptonite ring that you conveniently remembered to bring just in case?! Batman would have a Kryptonite ring! Or red solar radiation swords! Or use your psychic attack!"

Mxyzptlk: "She doesn't have a psychic attack, you dimwit, Taskmaster just had an aneurysm trying to read her!"

Bat-Mite: "Wasnt that cool though?"

Mxyzptlk: "This is not working at all!"

Bat-Mite: "Yeah! They're being total NERDS! Maybe we should try this again with Superman and Batman. Since they're COOL. Unlike these nerds!"

Mxyzptlk: "Yeah. NERDS!"

Mxyzptlk and Batmite Together: "NERDS!"

AT which point there's a flash of light, and Kara and Cassandra are at the Kent farm and Kara's pie is on the floor between them.

Cassandra Cain looks around. She's wearing her Black Bat gear still, looking a touch out of place in a rural farm. She turns her head, left, right, then says, "Where...are we...now?" as she sniffs. Oh hey, pie. Reaching up and pulling off her mask, she runs her fingers through her hair. "What is a...nerd?" she also asks, wondering a few things. Most of them a bit beyond her vocabulary to actually ask.

Kara Zor-El is no longer in her Supergirl outfit. Back in civilian clothes. "Um... we're in Kansas, at a family I was visiting before all this happened. They make great..." She picks up the pie. "Pie." She looks around, and sees a note on the refrigerator.

Kara. Went out to market to get more ingredients. Saw you left, if you come back, there's more pie for you on the window sill.

She looks at Cassandra. "Nerds? Smart people. Want some pie?"