1963-09-06 - BeJeweled Destruction
Summary: Kilgrave uses Jewel for his own amusement.
Related: Le Fluage Pourpre
Theme Song: None
jessica maverick laura christine miles carnelian trish 


YESTERDAY

Jessica Jones has not been home in over a month. Instead, she'd been keeping Kilgrave company with her commanded smiles, jilted actions, and nearly-rebellious under-the-surface attitude. Yet all of her rebellions were met with the same: a deep-seated desire to control, brainwash, and otherwise erase Jessica from existence.

Yesterday, however, with her new-master along for the ride, she'd returned to her apartment for one thing: Jewel's superhero costume.

To anyone keeping tabs, the door had been left open, and the only thing missing was the costume, and a bottle of whiskey — the latter of which was immediately confiscated the moment she'd left the space.

TODAY

It's a quiet evening just shy of Central Park. Despite it being the end of summer, rain has driven many indoors. The pitter patter of rain against windows, cement, and soil leaves a beating rhythm for anyone paying it attention. While the rain cools everything it touches, it's an oddly warm rain thanks to the last vestiges of summer.

Many have already tucked in for the night to escape the forbodeing sense that a storm is coming.

*

Those people have not been locked in an underground cell for the last three weeks.

David North had returned to New York proper to retrieve the last of his belongings from the hotel he had been staying in prior to his… technically-a-kidnapping. And, because he had hoped to speak with her about plans, he'd invited Laura to accompany him.

As soon as the weather had turned, though, David elected on a detour. He's walking alongside Laura through Central Park with his face turned up towards the sky, a positively radiant smile on his still-too-thin, bearded face as the rain comes pouring down on him and his navy blue suit. He probably looks a bit like a lunatic. He certain feels a bit like one.

*

Aside from the possible storm, it's just another night for Chrsitine Preston, aka the Luminous Lightwave. The young heroine flies over the city, glowing, hoping that people seeing the light might get some comfort from knowing one of the city's heroes, even a minor one, was out on duty tonight. Flying out in the rain gives her a bit of a chill, but no sniffles so far, thank goodness. And even though she's thouroughly soaked, Lightwave continues the patrol, keeping an eye on the city below for signs of trouble.

*

Trish arrives from Midtown.

*

Trish has arrived.

*

Laura— until recently and sometimes still X-23— paces along next to David in a jacket, borrowed jeans, and boots. She's indifferent to the rain— and still somewhat androgynous, as her hair has barely grown out since she left the lab just days ago. The short, slender girl has her hands in the jacket pockets, eyes tracking habitually through the rain. She periodically eyes David sidelong as he soaks in the precipitation, but she doesn't comment on just one more incomprehensible behaviour on his part.

*

Just what she needed. To be caught in Central Park while it was raining without an umbrella. Trish shakes her head. At least it's a warm rain. That's something. At least she had the foresight to wear a jacket today. Hugging the pink jacket with black edges tight around her, her heels clack as she proceeds through the Park on her shortcut to meeting with a friend. It's a lot easier, after all, that walking all the way around the Park just to get to the other side. Plus, it's a rather nice walk, if you take the time to view the sites.

*

Overhead, in the night sky, another familiar figure flies amongst the New York skyline. Jewel, with her pink hair, dress in her white spandex with blue accents and matching baby blue gloves, quickly soars between buildings. Across her lips is a large, nearly Barbie, smile that remains affixed to her lips without ever meeting Jewel's eyes. Her eyes? Are cold, disconnected, and empty. Amongst the rooftops her patron in a very plum suit pulls the puppet strings. The order had been clear, and his proximity ever-close.

CRASH

Shards of glass spill amongst the water falling from the sky. A series of loud screams emit from inside.

CRASH

Jewel flies out the side of the building only to curve back in, shattering even more glass. Even more screams are creating pandemonium inside.

CRASH

She repeats the pattern, only this time she soars upwards only to fly back down through the rooftop, and through all ten stories of the glass framed apartment building.

It happens so quickly and unexpectedly that reactions are slow, but one thing is certain. The building is teetering.

*

David's eyes open to stare up at the sky just in time to see the heroine fly by. Still smiling, he lowers his head and traces her path… and pauses, his brow creasing in concern. "Laura -"

CRASH

"What on Earth — come on," David says crisply, lightly patting Laura on the arm before he breaks into a dead sprint towards the building. This is… this is not right. He recognizes that costume. This shouldn't be happening.

*

There's a figure that streaks in front of her, causing Lightwave to pull up short in her flight. Being a new hero herself, she doesn't recognize the costume of Jewel. Christine's about to try and talk with the other woman, but then Jewel slams into the building like a wrecking ball. "Hey!" Lightwave shouts out. Obviously, this woman has no respect for property! She flies after the destructive force, again pulling up short as she sees the precarious situation of the building. Hovering, Lightwave emits a glowing beam of hard light, which she shapes to form a large butress to help try and help keep the apartment building from falling.

*

Laura tilts her head as she picks up the out-of-place noise before David points it out to her. Unsurprisingly, though, she doesn't react to the costume streaking by as more than a curiosity at first, simply tilting her head as if questioning him when he touches her arm. She does not see the sense in running *towards* a damaged building full of complete strangers, but she accelerates into a run after David anyway.

*

What in the who now? Those sounds aren't good. Not good at all. Smashing and screaming and….no. Not good. Trish starts running toward the sounds, the clacking of her heels getting louder as she hurries. And then she sees it. That costume. That very familiar costume. That she bought for her. Her adopted sister that's been missing. The one she pushed to be a superhero, to wear the costume. The one who is now causing destruction. But why? Worry flashes across her face. What's happening?

The light created by Lightwave causes Trish some relief, if only to know there's another hero around to help keep track of Jessica…or Jewel as she's known in the costume. She keeps her eyes open, trying to see if she can catch sight of Jessica once again.

*

Even with the buttress, floors within the building start to collapse. The sheer force of the impact warps the structure, causing it to buckle. Whatever Christine is holding up, is less likely to be a building by the second. Inside, beams begin to bend underneath the pressure of having something with so much force push through the building.

Jewel's nosedive downwards does not yet see her emerge, and she remains there, somewhere embedded in the building. Ironically, smoke (or perhaps it's steam?) begins to billow from one of the floors — whatever Jewel had hit on her joyride through the building, has given way to a fire across the floor.

People scramble to get out of the building with some on the first floors spilling onto the street. Screams, however, remain, resounding and suggesting that things continue to be very not-right inside.

*

This is bad. And if he's honest, even David isn't entirely sure why he's running towards a disaster instead of away from one. …yeah, no, that's not true. "If you're willing, we need to get these people out," he says crisply to Laura, approaching the building at a dead run. "But it's your choice. I'll be right back," he promises.

David rushes into the crowd escaping the building, gritting his teeth as he catches a number of shoulders and elbows in the process. He pushes through and, without looking back, plunges his way inside.

*

"No…." Christine mutters as she watches the building keep falling despite her effort. "No, no, no…." There has to be something she can do, something to stop the collapse. From the inside….It's a despiration move, but it might be the only chance these people still have. Lightwave banishes the butress and then flies in through one of the holes that Jewel made. Getting to the center of the building, where Jewel was flying up and down and created a kind of central shaft. Concentrating, she hovers in place, raising one hand to the sky and pointing the other one towards the ground. Twin beams of light lance out; one upwards and the other down. She's guessing, but at approximately every floor, a set of hard light spurs go out to try and support the floors. The stress is enormous, she's never tried this much weight or complexity before. Her teeth are gritted and sweat falls down her face. She just tries to block out everything but the light, not even noticing the little trickle of blood starting to emerge from her nose. All that matters is giving those people the time to get out before the collapse….

*

ROLL: Christine +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 38

*

Laura is honestly indifferent to helping or not— it's not like she hasn't been crushed by a building before, or even recently. But David seems to think it's important, so she dashes in after him. Mostly. The young woman also feels David's threat assessment needs some work. She's not well-suited to saving multiple people from a building collapse. She's much more likely to stop the source, however.

Thus, once inside, Laura peels off from Maverick and goes looking for Jewel, following her nose.

*

As bad as she feels about it, the next thought that crosses through Trish's mind is, 'I did not wear the right shoes for this!' She sighs and starts rushing toward the building as well. "Je…!" She starts to call out 'Jessica', but realizes using her real name might not be wise. "Jewel!" She calls out as she pushes her way to the collapsing building. "Jewel! It's Trish!" She doubts she can be heard over the commotion, but if she can, she hopes that Jessica recognizes her voice.

*

David, Laura, and Trish gets inside to see a very collapsed staircase leading down to the first floor. People are most definitely trapped upstairs. A layer of cement sees another body emerge from the rubble, and Laura is immediately drawn towards it through her tracking.

It takes a few seconds for the nearly indestructible Jewel to stand. Jewel's costume has seen better days — it's thick layer of cement dust has dulled it to a near grey. Her gloves are nearly toast, complete with large holes from the impact of her time as a human wrecking ball. She stares at her hands, all the while smiling that same Barbie smile. The distant look in her eyes, complete with accumulating moisture within them does not match the brightness of the smile.

A glance is cast towards the trio, and the smile remains. Dimpled. Effervescent. Forced.

Her arms lift into the air and she flies up through the hole in the rooftop she'd created.

Screams continue to echo through the building in a terrified chorus of blood, pain, and even death. The reverberate through multiple floors.

When Christine moves from the outside of the building, it tilts, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, moving along its access like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, and actually physically taps the nearly-empty office building on its opposite side. The soft shaft keeps the centre intact, but the sides of the building are indeed, caving.

*

There really isn't time to dawdle and David knows it — but that does not stop him from stopping dead in his tracks and staring towards Jewel when she rises from the rubble. He blinks twice as he finds his eyes on her face, and very slowly, his expression goes from shock to grim understanding. He sets his jaw and starts to take a step forward before she launches herself upwards. Dammit.

Later. "I know it's not your usual forte," David says to Laura, lightly tapping the side of his nose, "But if you can find people who are buried, I can dig them out. Acceptable?"

*

It's not working. It's not holding. And Christine doesn't know what to do. She's just about panicing, but her light construct is about the only thing holding what remains of the building up. She can't drop it and switch tactics. She can feel the panic that the residents are eminating…and a few blips of concern and determination from those trying to help. "Anyone!" she shouts out. "You need to get these people out of here! I don't know how much longer I can hold this…"

*

X-23 gives David a thin frown. "Not efficient or effective," she notes in a tone of slight irritation. But it is acceptable enough, and she tilts her head to scent the air. Ugh, the place is just swirling with stuff. But… she points. "There."

*

It's hard to believe, all the destruction. Trish squints slightly, not caring that dust is covering her from head to toe. She glances at David and Laura just as her eyes catch sight of Jessica. She lets out a sigh of relief, though it's only temporary. "Jewel! Are you okay?" She calls after her.

When Jessica jump-flies her way out of there, Trish watches her with worry for a moment, before turning her attention to residents. "All right, time to get people out!" She's in Mother Hen mode now. Time to save people!

*

Miles arrives from Midtown.

*

Miles has arrived.

*

ROLL: Christine +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 36

*

The building continues to teeter along its axis, but Christine's efforts keep it entered enough. There's no question that time is of the essence. Even with the light display, the building tilts one way and then the next. The rain that comes down only makes this a greater challenging.

The wind bounces the building.

A clap of thunder can be heard rolling in over the horizon.

The first floor is nearly empty when the heroes enter the building. Dust and rubble line the ground, but the staircase down to the first floor remains toast. Finding away up (and a way down) is imperative.

*

Miles promised himself he wouldn't hero anymore. Life is dangerous enough without rushing into burning buildings or challenging armed men to duels. It absolutely isn't happening, and he'll get on the bus and go home.

*Thwip*

Except now Arachnid is diving headfirst through a window, completely ignoring the buzzing in the base of his skull. "Anybody in here?" he calls out, peering through his goggles as he takes the state of the building in.

*

ROLL: Maverick +rolls 5d100 for a result of: 290 [69 42 46 71 62]

*

David immediately whips in the direction Laura points. Aha. A stairway. "Be careful," is absently called as an aside to Trish, not recognizing her in the chaos and the rain as he starts quickly, carefully picking his way down the rubble-strewn hallway. This looks like a blocked stairway.

David sizes up the area around the blockage, his jaw tense beneath his beard. With a brief glance over his shoulder, he extends both hands towards the barrier — and a bright purple-pink energy ripples from his shoulders, down his arms, and erupts from his palms in what turns out to be a very precise blast. He manages not to look too relieved.

He rushes forward even before the dust has settled to peer in through the now-cleared rubble, expression brightening. A group of people inside, eager to escape. "This way," David shouts, beckoning at them with a still-smoking hand. "Quickly, now!"

*

A small group of 10 people that remain on the top floor Arachnid entered stand helplessly to one side of the ridiculously beat up building. With the centre fallen out from the middle of the floor, dividing the 10th floor into two. One of the residents across the light tree from Arachnid calls out to him, "Help! We're stuck!"

*

There's help here, but maybe not enough. Even all these heroes can't be everywhere at once. It's a strain, but Lightwave is still managing to hold the building together. She decides to strech things out a bit more to try and give more people a chance to escape. "Hang on!" she shouts to the group up above. She tries stretching a platform out towards them, expanding it to one of the few staircases that is reasonably intact. The nosebleed she's suffering from is obvious, and her head is pounding from the strain.

*

Laura tags along behind David, sniffing the air and listening from time to time. As they move around, she speaks up, in an unnerving degree of disinterest for the peril all around. "I can hear twelve," she reports. "There's a lot of blood, but heartbeats." There's a pause, and a squint, and she points to a pile of rubble. "That one may not make it."

*

"I'll…I'll try!" Trish calls back to David, more focused on what's happening around her. "Dangit Jessica, what've you done?" She murmurs to herself, running back to the entrance and outside. She's of no use on the first floor, and she probably can't move blockages as well as those with powers. So she's going to make sure those on the street get moved as far away from the building as possible, in case it falls. When it falls. Plus, she's hoping she can catch sight of Jessica again, talk some sense into her.

*

ROLL: Christine +rolls 1d20 for a result of: 19

*

ROLL: Christine +rolls 1d120 for a result of: 30

*

ROLL: Miles +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 5

*

ROLL: Carnelian +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 10

*

ROLL: Miles +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 44

*

ROLL: Carnelian +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 57

*

Outside said building, a hero wanders, only Chance doesn't really look anything like a hero. He's a brown kid dressed all in black with a red and orange bandana around his neck. Most people probably might be thinking he's up to no good. But then there's havoc and a building starts collapsing just like right over there, and what's a superhero to do? Without thinking about it very much he lifts his bandana up over his face, and the moment he does he becomes encased in what looks like armor: its all geometric planes and angles, and its translucent, a red-orange color glowy color. Carnelian, as it happens, is the colors name and the superheros super secret identity (so secret, in fact, that no one knows it at all).

It is decidedly NOT orange and he is decidedly NOT the Orange Defender. No matter what those people in Los Angeles say, not that anyone here pays attention to that other coast.

Carnelian, the brown kid previously referred to as Chance, shoots up through the air and hovers there a moment, taking quick stock of the situation. The roof is collapsing. That's kind of bad: he flings a hand out even as the carnelian light extends out to form a force field to hold the roof up— only he isn't fast enough to get the field under the entire roof. Oh no!

*

A MOMENT AGO

"It'll be fine, just hold on!" Miles assures the people trapped thanks to the roof. He rushes over and begins lifting, slow and steady. Only, it's not too steady and the roof begins to give. There's a familiar buzz in the base of his skull and time slows to a crawl around him.

Faster than you'd expect from, well, anyone, Arachnid literally tosses the chunk of building. Connecting a web to the chest of each of the ten people he gives a mighty yank, pulling them away from immediate danger and towards himself, only managing that thanks to the force field that appeared suddenly.

*

Christine manages to contain her surprise that the platform she was constructing worked in conjunction with the central support shaft. The resdents scramble across, heading towards the staircase and making their way to safety. "Hurry!" she shouts to the others. "Grab as many people as you can and get them out!" She's going to need a whole bottle of asprin tonight.

*

Thanks to the reinforced roof, central building support, and cleared rubble, the building remains intact, and actually finds wholeness for the time being. As long as people continue to move, there's a good chance those that haven't been crushed, are going to get out.

*

As David starts digging into one of the piles of rubble Laura indicated, he gives her a very sharp look. "If you can track that woman through the rain, I need you to find her," he says quickly. "At least what direction she's gone in. But do not engage. Can you do that?" he asks, casting a quick, worried look up at the roof. Oh, this is coming down soon, isn't it.

*

"No." comes the reply to Maverick, and Laura moves to the far corner shift some lighter-weight rubble away, ignoring the way her fingers get torn up inthe process. They heal almost as fast as they're damaged, anyway. "Jumped. Or flew. And rain. No trail. Waste of effort. Here, move this. I'll carry her." She indicates a hunk of wall too large for her to handle.

*

"GET BACK!!" Trish can be heard shouting at people as she starts herding them away. "Get away from the building! It could collapse at any moment!" As she's pushing people back, quite literally in some cases, she spots a pay phone across the street. Calling for help. That's what needs to be done. Organizing a couple people, who don't seem completely shocked quite yet, to ensure they get people away from the building, she runs across the street.

She immediately dials for emergency services. "Yes! Hello! Please help! There's been a…a building has been ruined! It's been attacked by…by someone." She can't bring herself to say by who. "We need help! People are hurt!" She gives the address, hangs up, and immediately runs back across the street to ensure the safety of people there, even picking up a couple of children to run them away from the building.

*

Hovering there a moment, Carnelian keeps his hand held up to maintain the forcefield, but he moves forward and idly crashes through the nearest window to bring himself into the building. The guy with the glowing orange-red armor isn't worried if the roof collapses on him, not with his armor up. But once inside and taking a closer stock of the top floor situation, he calls out to the guy helping keep the roof up, "Is there a safe way down? Or do I need to fly them out of here?" He's vaguely aware that the building is held up by light, and of the light platform that leads to the stairs, but he isn't sure if the stairs go anywhere.

*

"I got them, check the next floor!" Miles replies, taking everyone with him out the window and down towards where Trish is ushering the crowd. He takes just a moment to make sure everyone is alright, before he leaps back onto the building, crawling in another window to check for more survivors.

*

Christine can barely believed that worked! It's encouraging enough that she dares try to stretch herself further. The young heroine closes her eyes and concentrates. Slowly, a spiral ramp forms around the center shaft of light, forming into an emergency slide to help get people down to the ground faster. "Quick! Everybody get on!" Forget the bottle of asprin after this, Christine's not going to use her powers for a month….

*

"That's alright," David says to Laura, immediately picking his way over to haul the chunk of rubble she indicates out of the way. Too big for her, but apparently pretty easy for him to move, albeit with visible effort. "Worth asking..!"

*

Laura slips past David to hoist the barely-living and extremely-bloodied girl onto her back, and hauls her on out. "Ten left," she notes and nods him in the correct direction. "Building is more stable but do not waste time."

Then she's off, carrying the injured girl out the door on her back. Hup.

*

Hurredly, the remaining residents are evacuated, whether by light slide, web line, orange energy fields, or bodily carried out by mutants. And none too soon, either. Becasue as soon as Christine feels no empathic sources left in the building, the fatigue overcomes her, and the central construct holding up the building falters and collapses on the floating, glowing heroine. There's a cloud of dust that obscures things for a moment, but then, a bright light pierces through the dust. Lightwave is floating near the rubble, surrounded by a forcefield that she threw up on instinct as the construct collapsed. She looks almost completely drained, sweat running down her face from the effort, but seeing all the rescued residents collected by the assembled heroes brings a smile to her face. Once she catches her breath, she flies up into the air, heading towards home to collapse into bed and let the pounding in her head subside. Looks like she'll be skipping classes tomorrow.

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