2014-09-11 - Catch A Falling Starbright

Long-term confinement isn't good for a person. The isolation, even amongst a large population, tends to grind down the spirit and even wear on the body. Which is why Richenda Gray tries to get out as often as she can, even when it's not allowed.

Brooklyn's almost the total opposite of North Salem, which makes it the perfect refuge for a chronically-bored teenager who could almost be from anywhere. Having taken some time to visit an old friend from her street days, she's just pausing at a favorite convenience store to take care of personal needs and grab a soda. It's a long train ride back to her neck of the woods, almost literally.

As Richenda explores Brooklyn, she finds herself on the boardwalk area near Coney Island, close to the beach and the world famous amusement park. As Chenda passes by one of the shops, a man in a van radios other agents who have been tracking the young mutant. "Target's been spotted. Group two, watch for when she's in a more secluded spot where we can take her unless she starts problems before then..."

Even though under President Pete Ross, the mutant registration act has been suspended, as well as the hunting down of mutants, there are a lot of secret, clandestine organizations within the government who do not share his lofty beliefs. And those organizations are backed by lots of people who have rather credible experience in hunting down and capturing mutants. For what reason - no one knows.

Chenda has no intention of causing trouble, at least not by normal standards. Government standards... well, who knows what clandestine organizations see as 'trouble' these days? She just wants to have a little fun and de-stress before she has to go back to the compound, and where better than Coney Island? Besides, they have great Polish sausages.

Lacking much money, she's just following her feet along the Boardwalk and enjoying the pulse of this part of the city, alert for the usual New York trouble but not so much for mutant hunters. She hasn't had to dodge one of those in months.

There's a line for the park, and she really can't afford to go in, anyway. She pauses instead to pick up a sausage from one of the vendors, exchanging some small talk.

The sausage vendor engages in some smalltalk, then says, "You know what? Have it on the house. It's a new flavor that we're trying to promote - hope you like it." When Richenda leaves, he radios in, "Target is ingesting the tranq and tracker."

"Oh? Hey, thanks! It's not bad, the spices give it an interesting bite," Chenda replies. Bowing her head as she takes her leave, she goes on her way, munching and thinking about how nice that was of the vendor, especially considering she's never seen him before. Maybe Joe's sick today or something. Happens all the time.

She pauses along the way to pick up a cola, then finds a spot and takes a seat on the edge of the 'walk, looking out at the sea. Sometimes she really misses this city, especially when the class grind gets severe.

It only takes a moment of sitting and sipping for the constant chatter behind Chenda to get a bit annoying. It's hard to enjoy a little solitude when you're not alone. Sighing, she casually climbs over the boardwalk rail and drops onto the beach.

Or tries, anyway. The motion might've been casual, but that stumble at the end definitely wasn't! Chenda blinks and rubs her head. She definitely wasn't this tired before... maybe she should sit down and rest a bit before she heads for the station.

She edges under the boardwalk's overhead rim, settling onto the concrete base of a support pillar. The beach is nearly deserted, and the sound of feet overhead definitely beats voice-babble for quality. The perfect resting spot. It'd be even better if her eyes would quit drifting shut...

There's a lot of radio chatter when Richenda decides to go under the boardwalk. Some thinking she's planning on doing something sinister, like all mutants are. Others just recognizing it's a good points where they can tag her without attracting much attention. "target is a go. Go, go, go! Teams 1 and 3, move in."

Two groups of 5 men each, armed, rush under the boardwalk from unmarked vans, converging where Richenda had went to just get some peace and quiet on the noisy boardwalk.

Under the boardwalk, out of the long-set sun, Chenda winces as her eyes try to shut again. What's wrong with her? Her stomach feels empty-funny. Maybe she should've ordered another sausage... Wait. That sounded dimly like footsteps. More than one set, audible even on sand, on a nearly-deserted beach.

But it's a nearly-deserted beach, after all. Maybe she's hearing things...

And that's when the first hard hands clamp onto her, sending an ice-cold streak of terror down her spine that dissolves the worst of the lethargy. She's /not/ hearing things!

She gasps, preparing to scream. Unfortunately, the hand that clamps over her mouth reduces what would've been scream queen-worthy to an urgent, high-pitched grunt.

But she's captured yet, and she struggles and twists with all the surprising strength in her acrobat's body. And she has other resources at her disposal. Shutting her eyes as she summons up a power-seed in each hand. A second later, she shuts her eyes and opens her hands, letting her unknown attackers have a double dose of a sun-bright flash of light!


 * FLASH-BANG!!!*

As the men overpower her and try to get the containment band around her neck, Richenda struggles with surprising effectiveness. Still, it's 10 men against one girl. That's when the mutant-powered flash bang of intense light goes off in both hands, causing the men to let go of her, covering their eyes. One of them radios in as he tries to regain his sight, "10-24, target is attacking back - didn't get the band on! Send in backup!"

In the distance, the sound of 'backup' come out from the water then through the air towards the beach. A 50 foot robotic hunting machine... better known as Sentinels. Two of them. Overkill much?

Chenda struggles free of the blinded mass of g-men, sweep-kicking the last one hard in the shin to knock him down. She's bruised and scratched, and her clothes are torn and pulled askew, but she's free! She hurries for the beach...

And then sees what's coming out of the water, glowing eyes and all. "Oh, fudge..."

She ducks back under the boardwalk, hoping the darkness will hinder the flash-blinded and bang-deafened men and the national landmark status will hinder the Sentinels! Working her stealthy way from pillar to pillar while her eyes try to readjust to the darkness, she still makes pretty good time. Trouble is, she's got to come out at some point.

So much for subtle capture. Two huge sentinels land on the beach. One of them scans the area, using motion sensors and body heat to spot where Richenda has hidden. It says in a deep, monotone voice, "Surrender mutant." before pointing it's hand at the boardwalk, causing a cable to fly out from the palm of it's hand, breaking through the boardwalk like it was... well... wood. Which it is. To ensnare Richenda!

"Not a chance, tin man," Chenda mutters defiantly. "Maybe when Hell... AAHH!!!" A weighted cable is suddenly splintering the wood above! She dives forward in a hopeless attempt to get clear, which only gets her legs entangled instead. There's just no room to maneuver down here! She grabs hold of a pillar in a hopeless attempt to stay put as she feels the cable contract and pull.

As Chenda gets yanked by the Sentinel's cable, a second cable clamps around her body pinning her arms together with the high-tension titanium/steel polymer cable. The cable begins to retract to pull Richenda towards the Sentinel's open hand, when suddenly a red hot beam slices across the cable, slicing it like a hot knife through butter.

Which means Richenda's now falling instead of being yanked upwards.

And then suddenly she's not falling either - but instead has been caught by a certain blonde-haired teenage girl in a familiar-looking blue costume with a red cape.

AKA - Supergirl.

The pull only gets worse, and at last Chenda can't hold on any longer... the impossibly strong machine drags her clear of the underside of the boardwalk. Even as she's trying to stomach-scrunch to bring her less-known power to bear, another cable wraps around her, pinning her arms to her sides! And she's being hauled up to a hand as big as a bus.

This, on a scale of one to ten of best nights of her life, is rating somewhere around -16... Bad, bad, bad! Then suddenly the pulling feeling stops. But it's replaced immediately by a falling feeling! If there were any doubts about Chenda's ability to scream, the result of a worse feeling of terror than before renders them completely moot!

And then she's stopped... again! The shock of landing on something silences her scream.

She's not dead. Dead people don't feel like cable-mummies, or so her body tells her. She blinks and glances upwards at what's holding her. Or rather, /who's/ holding her.

Blonde hair, flawless skin, blue outfit... "S-S-Supergirl..?"

Kara Zor-El quickly turns when one of the Sentinels blasts an energy beam at her, which harmlessly hits her back when she shields Richenda from it. Kara quickly flies back down to the boardwalk and pulls apart the cable wrapping like it was made of tinfoil. "That's my name. Hey Chenda. So.... guessing this isnt your fan club?" She says, noticing the armed men still stumbling around blinded... as well as the two 50 foot robots.

One of them scans the Kryptonian girl. "Mutant readings - negative. Exterminate and capture mutant."

Kara says, looking back at the Sentinel, "You're okay, right Chenda?"

"Thank you..." Chenda whispers, stumbling as she's deposited on the boardwalk again. While the blinded men won't be much of a threat, the Sentinels might still be a problem. "Not friends of mine, no. Oh..." She leans heavily on the rail. She's still on her feet from adrenaline, but the drug's still working on her. "I'll be all right. But those things... they won't give up! The school taught us about them!" She's not kidding. The Sentinel that almost hauled in a catch of fresh mutant straightens and turns to face Supergirl. "Desist, unknown. This mutant is not your concern." Its dull brain works out that firing on the boardwalk and its fleeing people would be a bad idea, but it still takes a ground-shaking step forward, intent on /grabbing/ her if it can't do anything else. The other stands back, ready to open fire if it gets a clear, pedestrian-free shot.

Kara Zor-El puts her hands up as the Sentinel attempts to grab her. Kara grabs at the fingers as it's huge hand wraps around her and she quickly flies up.

Pulling the Sentinel off the ground with her once is about 100 feet off the ground. "Well... considering she's my friend, that makes her my concern."

Then she starts spinning around in the air as she pushes the fingers apart so she's no longer 'caught' by the Sentinel. "And I should mention, I've dealt with worse robots." she says as she flings the Sentinel by the arm at the second Sentinel with a little nnf. Signifying that she wasnt exactly taking it easy on that throw.

Huge metal fingers brush against Kara, but the spin dislodges them easily. The Sentinel's slow brain doesn't have time to compute a better course of action before Supergirl sends the rest of it flying at its counterpart!

Sentinels are strongly armored, made to stand up to bombs, blasts, gunfire, energy beams, and virtually anything in a modern arsenal and a few things that aren't. But Krytonian Wrestling Throws are definitely not on that list anywhere. In a spectacular manner, two Sentinels try to occupy exactly the same space at exactly the same time. The one that isn't airborne already gets chopped off at the hips, the rest of it pulverized into metal fragments as the one that /is/ airborne falls on top of it with metal-crushing force! The still-standing legs take an awkward step to the side, a previously-commanded attempt to dodge, then come to rest, half a colossus statue on the beach.

Kara Zor-El checks out the Sentinels with her x-ray vision, just to make sure that they're not piloted by human beings or anything. When she sees they arent, she flies down to them, then gets under them and lifts the two sentinels (that have become a massive jumble of combined parts) up off the beach, then with another little grunt, she throws them upwards into the sky. And they keep going up.

And up.

Okay, they're now in orbit.....

In a blur, Kara's back by Richenda. "Sooooo who are these guys?" she asks the STILL blinded, armed men.

Chenda, groggy and growing more tired by the minute, still has the presence of mind to be amazed by the Kryptonian's strength and skill. She's still staring openmouthed at where the Sentinels were when Kara returns. "... Than' you again," she murmurs, trying to look where the blonde is pointing. "They're... I dunno. But prob'ly Feds or somethin' like, if they coul' call Sen'nels. No' nice people..." And the still-blinded, armed men don't look too confident, having seen their backup reduced to space junk. The team leader swallows, taking a step back. The others are quietly slipping back under the boardwalk for a discrete exit.

Kara Zor-El looks at the men. "I'm just going to quickly round them up, okay? You sit down... you don't look so good.

"Look better'n I feel," Chenda says muzzily, slowly sinking to the boardwalk. "S'funny, I sud'ly got so /tired/ after I ate that new sausage..." At the sound of 'round them up', the team leader shouts, "Fall back! Triple-time it!" And the quiet slipping-away suddenly becomes a rout!

Kara Zor-El settles Chenda down a bit. Then shakes her head. "You'd think they never heard of 'super speed' before."

There's one blur of motion, and 3 men are suddenly on the beach, their guns wrapped around their hands in makeshift handcuffs.

Another blur of motion, and another three are with them on the beach.

A third blur of motion, and there are nine men, leaving only the team leader.... who winds up running into a somewhat miffed teenage girl, arms crossed. "One of us is in a whole lot of trouble." she says calmly.

Possibly they hadn't... but the three triads of men on the beach will certainly never think of the phrase 'fast women' in the same way again.

The team leader, bouncing back from Kara, blinks in dismay as he recognizes that emblem on her top. But he, like his men, has been trained not to show fear. All the same, his voice is unsteady as he looks her in the eye and declares, pointing his gun at her, "Y-You're under arrest... for aiding and abetting a known criminal! Turn around and p-put your hands on your head!"

Kara Zor-El watches for a second as he points the gun at her. Points for bravery. Negative points for stupidity. Kara sighs a bit, puts her forefinger and thumb on the end of the gun pointed at her, and pushes her finger to her thumb.


 * Screeak!*

The girl of steel's fingers cause the metal of the gun to deform and get pinched closed. She takes a moment to let the 'fed' see what happened as she crosses her arms again.

"Yeah... that's not happening. Oh, and while we're at it, that girl is definitely NOT a criminal. Oh... and my cousin knows the President and I'm pretty sure he'll be curious about why someone in the government is using those robot things to try to capture a teenage girl. Speaking as another teenage girl, I'd love to hear that answer too. There are better and less creepy ways to get a date."

Blink. Blink. The Fed stares incredulously at his deformed piece, then drops it as his hand seems to quit working all of a sudden.

But the mention of a lack of criminality on Chenda's part has him huffing out a self-righteous sigh in frustration. "Hold on, you..." he mutters, digging into his pocket and producing a piece of paper.

It's a warrant for the arrest of one Richenda Carmen Gray.

"So sure of your moral rightness now, Blondie?" the agent sneers, in that smug tone so beloved by movie bad guys.

Of course the devil is in the details, as that warrant is not only FBI, but nearly two years old at this point. And since when did /Sentinels/ work alongside the FBI? Isn't it illegal to drag in mutants simply for being mutants these days?

For that matter, why hasn't Mr. Federal Agent shown his badge and ID? Could it be he doesn't want to be identified?

Kara Zor-El look at the warrant, then at the man, peering closely at him. Then she grabs the guy by the scruff of the shirt.. "Yeah... a lot of what you're saying doesnt smell right, plus you know how lie detectors work by gauging subtle changes in a person's physiology? Well... my super senses might not always work that well on metahumans and aliens, depending on their physiology. But normal people? There's only a few who are really good enough liars. And I don't think you're one of them. So.... let's find out what the real story is, shall we?"

She flies straight upwards with the man. And up, and up again. Until they're... well... thousands of feet off the ground. "Now I should mention, I'm not my cousin. He probably wouldn't approve of this, but I also was trained by some other people. I'd like the truth, please." she says, putting one hand on her hip as she dangles him by the shirt.

"H-Hey! Let go of... whaaaaAAAAAAH!" The Fed's training crumbles as he's suddenly hauled up by his shirtfront to an altitude he's never been anywhere near without an airplane around him! And he's well aware that it's a /long/ way down.

He looks at Kara, swallowing again. "I'm... we're... we're looking for this girl! She's wanted for a possible mass murder in Brighton County, Arkansas! She's a public enemy!" he stammers, trying to control an urge to babble.

Well, it /could/ be the truth. But something's subtly wrong about the whole thing. He's not perfectly honest. But close. Could be a point-of-view thing, maybe?

Kara Zor-El peers at him, frowning. "I still don't... totally believe you but... here's what's going to happen." She peers at him with x-ray vision, looking to see if he has any identification on him.

Actually, Mr. Fed does, hip pocket. But it's folded up inside a wallet that prevents reading it. He catches hold of her wrist with both hands, taking some of the weight off his neck. "We're the good guys here! Why are you helping that... that /mutant/?"

Kara Zor-El rubs the bridge of her nose. "Rao..." She then looks at him. "Because that mutant is still a person. Honestly - from my perspective, you're pretty much all the same. Some of you have a gene here or there that is different, but you're still all homo sapien. Trust me - I know enough about genetics to know that whole 'mutants or another species' thing is totally incorrect. So I'm going to bring you back down to the ground. You're going to give me some way to contact you...." She peers at the badge in his pocket via x-ray vision, "Agent Pierce..." She continues, "And we're going to send Richenda down there back to the Xavier Institute, where we'll figure this all out. I'll even give my word that if she did commit murder, I won't let her go into hiding. But something about you just doesnt sound right. Deal?"

Agent Pierce winces. "Like I have a choice? Deal, already!"

A minute later, they're on the ground by Richenda. Kara releases the agent. "I'm figuring you have a card or something. And don't worry, your men are fine. Just knocked out."

Agent Pierce huffily straightens his standard-issue Fed SWAT attire, glaring at Supergirl. But he still dutifully produces his card before he moves over to check on his men, two of whom are actually women. But everyone looks alike in SWAT gear. As for Chenda... well, she's sitting on the ground leaned against a post. And asleep. Whatever was working on her, it apparently finished the job once the adrenaline dump wore off.

Kara Zor-El rolls her eyes and picks up Richenda to fly her back home. Regardless of the sketchiness of Agent Pierce, Chenda would need to explain to Kara, if nothing else, why she had a 2 year old warrant for her arrest for murder.