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Central Park. Things are starting to set up for Christmas - but more importantly, it's quickly starting to cool down. In Central Park, there are more layers to clothing, the carriages have garland draped on them and at one of the gazebos, there's a Santa Claus under siege.
Record scratch. Wait what?
"Santa always shunned me!" claims the dimunitive Mole Man, all four foot nothing of him. "He would take one look at me and fear! This year, he will have reason to fear!" he calls out. "I will destroy Christmas! By collapsing all of Manhattan into the vast labyrinth of tunnels, and this, this shall be my Palace!" As he speaks, his Moloids start to climb out of the hole to make their attack, causing citizens to go into a panic.
Nearby, Kamala Khan is walking with Carol Danvers. Carol had seen Kamala's stretching abilities - today she's making the brunette practice the subtilties of it. "Copy a nose. Copy a face. Try to copy a gait.. oh. Are you training me to be a spy?!" Kamala's face lights up with hope, until she hears the explosion from the greens. "…oh dear."
Carol grins, "Maaaaaaaybe, Kamala, but I think your powers have some good…" She then winces as the Mole Man makes his announcement, "Well, I guess it's time to save Christmas?" Her eyes flash with a bit of amusement as she ducks behind a convenient tree, the telltale burst of light signaling her change from Carol Danvers into Captain Marvel.
Instant costume changes are pretty handy, after all, as the Captain looks over at Kamala, "Keep the bystanders safe, I'll tackle the leader." She grins and flies up towards the Mole Man, shouting, "Destroying Christmas? Buster, you're going to get a lot worse than coal in your stocking!" With that, she fires a blinding flash of light… nothing to permanently hurt, but it's gonna be hard for people with eyes used to the dark to see when the light shines THAT bright.
One of the least discussed boons of Amazonian upbringing, let alone Diana's distinctly divine nature, is the capacity to handle extreme ends of weather much better than most. So when Diana happens to be about Central Park, wrapped in her cloak to cover her most unusual garb, it takes little more than a flick and a twist to cast the cloak off and reveal the glamorous Amazonian battle armor underneath.
It's not so much that she has an understanding of Christmas, as she is wont to help when others are foolish enough to threaten people in her presence. "You will do no such thing!" Her voice thunders as she points a…is that a sword? Golly gee, sure looks it! She points a sword at the Mole Man, "cease your plans of destruction or face the wrath of an Amazon." She warns, before the army of Moloids emerging to the surface steals her attention as she surveys the field.
So several minions, one crazy Mole Man, and two potential allies in Carol and Kamala as they look distinctly non-Moloids, and Carol's costume change on a the sparkly fly immediately marks her as a Hero. Diana had witnessed those in her past visit to Man's World, no matter how long ago it was.
"….protect the civilians? Aww man." Kamala was looking forward to the super team up with her idol, but instead, the girl shapeshifts with her clothes, taking on the burkini outfit with the flowing skirt. "Nothing to see here, just a sinkhole caused by natural gas!" she calls out, getting bigger and expanding to nine feet tall to start directing people out of the park.
That's when she sees.. or rather.. hears.. the new voice. And she looks up. And there she is. The Amazonian Princess. The Theymescarian Temptress. The defender of all things good and right.
…and it's totally not the theme song she hears in her head, nope.
"…oh. So uncool. I'm here, and she gets to team up with _Wonder Woman_. So jealous."
Mole Man looks up towards the two women. "Ah! Two beauties battling to be my bride!" he crows out cheerfully. That is until the light show begins from Carol and the dimunitive man hisses his disrespectful anger. "Woman be damned with your light!" he cries out. "I have a cure for that!" Raising his stave, he fires it in Carol's direction - and she'll feel herself getting heavier, more compact. "Zero-Point energy! I'll crush you like a black hole crushes light!"
"Wait your turn, Princess!" he calls out at Diana, as he gestures for several of his Moloids to start firing their staves at her. Conventional laser energy lances the air as they try to bring down the Amazonian, their fire wild and erratic thanks to Carol's light.
Captain Marvel winces, "Wow… I was… gonna ask what Santa didn't bring you when you were… six…" She channels her energy reserves, then fires an explosive bolt of energy right back at the staff, her teeth gritting as she says, "But instead I'm just gonna beat you up. And not in the way you probably want me to either. Perv."
"Bride? You've some high opinion of yourself, and your insolence does you no honor," Diana retorts, considering Mole Man with a frown, she was considering charging the Moloids, when the Mole Man strikes at Carol. This makes Diana reasses her plan, but thankfully, the Moloids offer their own assistance. As they bombard her with lasers, she expertly deflects the lasers in a whirl of motion, almost dance-like movement of her arms, as her bracers defelect the shoots. But not just anywhere, she's actually aiming those deflections at the Mole Man, to assist Carol.
"Hey! There's three of us here, you know!" Kamala protests. Two brides, indeed! Mole Man looks over at Kamala, distracted for a moment as he assesses the Pak-American girl. Finally, he makes his assessment.
"Meh."
That's when the twin blasts of Carol and Diana's expert deflections knock away his stave and cause him to cry out in pain. "Moloids, retreat!" he calls out, starting to withdraw back into the underground from where they came.
Christmas will have to pay another time, there's no way that Mole Man would fight two battling beauties. And one plain one.
Carol's eyes flare wide, "Hey, you did NOT just 'meh' at her!" Well, that's one way to get Carol even madder than she already is, though now that she's not being crushed under zero-point energy, she flies towards the Mole Man, looking to snatch him up and give him an arms-length bird's eye view of Central Park.
With the Moloids retreating, Diana no longer has to focus on deflecting laser shoots at blinding speeds, and instead set her focus on the Mole Man, rushing at him with her drawn sword, but by all things logical, Carol is most likely to snag him first. Looks like one beauty won, though the reward isn't necessary the wedding Mole Man envisioned.
"AWK!" Mole Man is snagged and lifted high into the air. "Lemme down! Lemme down!" All four foot nothing of him squirms and smells of the earth and stank as he flails in Carol's grasp.
Kamala finishes with her herding of the civilians away from the situation, but she's more than one camera aimed up to here Carol is carrying the Mole Man. 'Mysterious Man Flies Away With Captain Marvel' 'Queen Marvel, Mole Heiress'. No, get those thoughts out of your head, Ms. Marvel. "Captain Marvel!?" she calls out in concern as the young woman cannot fly. Instead she's going over to where the hole is to make sure it's good and sealed up by making her hands super large. "Embiggen!" she calls out and starts to use the large hands to fill in the hole.
Carol grits her teeth, "Just because Santa never gave you a bicycle when you turned twelve is no reason to ruin Christmas for everyone else. And women are more than just prizes. Something for you to ponder while you spend Christmas in prison, buster." With that, she flies back down and drops him, not too gently, to the ground, and looks over at the now-Embiggened Kamala, "Good work." She then flashes a smile to Diana, "And thanks for the assist."
With Carol flying with the Mole Man to deliver justice, Diana sheathes her sword and walks up to Kamala, "good job on covering their tunnels. I have never seen these small warriors before, they are not very good, though their weaponry is interesting." When Carol lands back down, Diana inclines her head at her to acknowledge her effort, "thank you all the same, I am Diana. What do the people call you?" She asks both Kamala and Captain Marvel.
|ROLL| Kamala +rolls 1d100 for: 73
Patting the top of the pile of dirtm Kamala shrinks her hands back down to normal size to clap them together. "That was so cool. When the Moloids were shooting and she was all 'pew pew' deflecting with her bracers and then you were all 'zap!' with the laser. Zero-point energy? Did he make that? He's pretty smart, I bet he could help make things awe…." Whoops. Diana just addressed her.
Kamala goes quiet for a moment, hands to her mouth like frightened butterflies as she bounces up and down on the balls of her feet and looks from Carol and Diana. "…you don't know each other?" she squeaks in surprise. "This is Captain Marvel, who has alien blood in her and is super strong, super smart, and pulls off a unitard and killer boots that totally pinch your feet.. and you.. you're Wonder Woman.." she says quietly, squeeing. "I.. I wrote a story about you once! I mean, not as many as I've written about Captain Marvel, but I think you'd totally be completely awesome as far as making sure that Iron Man behaved while everyone was on the beach for a cook out!"
Carol blinks, and grins over at Diana, and then Kamala starts talking. Which causes Carol to actually blush a bit, "Er, yes, right. Captain Marvel." She chuckles a bit, "And this is Ms. Marvel." She gestures towards Kamala at that, and then smiles to Wonder Woman, "And Diana, then. It's nice to meet you."
Diana looks at Kamala with her full attention, partly because she doesn't quite follow the 'pew pew' and 'zap's that are going on, though she does nod along. She smiles as Kamala turns to address her and shakes her head in the negative, "Captain Marvel? A military woman," Diana remarks for the rank, and she extends her hand towards Carol, "a pleasure to meet a military woman, that wasn't much of a thing before. Progress is good, heart warming."
Diana does look surprised when Kamala seems to actually do know about her, "so you've read of my past exploits?" Diana assumes, as Kamala doesn't look old enough to have actually been around during World War I. "Was the story you wrote an inspiring one?" Diana asks Kamala, quite curious about her story. Iron Man and beach cook out sound less familiar, but Diana doesn't question the premise.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both, Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel, you do woman kind proud," Diana is refering to the fact she's actually seeing woman heading first to deal with an impending threat, rather than man, something that didn't at all occur last time she was around.
Don't ask too much, Diana, you'll fall into that rabbit hole that Kamala Khan drags people into and the next thing you know, you're riding rainbows and save Flaghrabats from the evil Flograbats. You can tell the difference because the Flograbats wear pointy hats. Ahem. "A little! Like legens and stuff. But a real half-goddess!" Kamala just sighs wistfully at the idea, but there's a grin at Captain Marvel. "All my stories are inspiring!" The good guys always win.
But back to trying to be a serious hero, as she draws in a breath. "I thought you had to return back home. I mean.. that is so cool and all, and I'm really glad that you're here!" she blinks a few times. "…is Theymiscaria really all women?"
Carol smiles back at Diana, "Yeah, I was in the military for a while. And Captain Marvel… well, it just felt right." She chuckles a bit at Kamala, then gives Diana a firm handshake, "Read about your work in World War One. That was some intense stuff there. And progress… well, it's not all there yet, but the light is breaking through bit by bit." She glances over at Kamala, as if to make sure that Kamala doesn't need a paper bag to breathe into with hyperventilating or anything.
Diana is quite impressed with Kamala's knowledge, but doesn't question it, she just accepts it. After all, there are sages and people of far vision and all knowing eyes where she comes from. She does give Kamala a thumbs up for writing stories to inspire people, "that is truly good work, inspiring the hearts of people is a lofty goal."
"Yes, Themyscira is inhabited by women, there are no men amongst the Amazons," Diana confirms to Kamala, "I had gone home in the past, and now I've a calling on Man's World once more," Diana says that much before turning to Carol. She shares the solid grip with Carol, not out of trying to overpower a fellow warrior, it's just the way she does the handshake bit. Always fun when it catches macho men off guard. "I can see that much, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Captain Marvel."
Yeah. Shaking hands? Kamala? Not so much. She's a hugger. And Diana totally gets a hug as Kamala squeezes against the woman for a moment before she pulls back quickly. Oh my word, she even smells like a wonder! The girl rubs the back of her head. "I'm still.. new to this stuff. I mean.. I just got my powers. So."
Carol smiles over at Kamala, "And you're getting a lot better with them, too." She looks curiously at Diana, and then grins a bit more as Kamala gets the hug in. "And likewise, Diana. Though you can call me Carol, if you prefer. And it'll be nice to have you back to stay… assuming you're going to be in New York, right?"
Diana, as it turns out, is no foreigner to hugs. When she receives one from Kamala, she returns it in kind, giving her a firm but all together not squashing hug. "You've performed admirably," Diana compliments Kamala with a bright smile, nodding along with Carol's praise, "it seems you are a fighter for the forces of good in this world, Kamala, I applaud you."
She does nod at Carol's guesstimate, "indeed, there's…a draw in here that is unique," nevermind getting into divine politics for now. "Is your home base in New York?" She asks Carol, taking interest in her military unit no doubt.
"Hers is.. I'm more of a Jersey girl." Okay, that sounded lame. Then she ohs. "Carol!" Kamala suddenly remembers. "…I was out with some others, and there was this underwater space base with these statues.. and there was something about an Accuser." Kamala comments as she rubs the back of her head. "And there was this statue of me. But it was an older me. But how could someone know what older me looks like."
Carol ahs at Diana, "Well, I'm not really active with the military anymore, but I am here in New York. It works out pretty well with the team that I'm with." She looks about to add something else, then Kamala makes the offhanded mention of…
"An Accuser?" She frowns, as having the instinctive knowledge of things Kree gives her a quick idea of what that is. "Are you sure? I mean, an Accuser here on Earth?"
Diana nods at Kamala, so New York and Jersey, two home bases with warrior women. "What is your team?" Diana asks of Carol, before turning to Kamala and noting, "there are those with powers over time, they could easily see your older self."
Kamala nods rather enthusiastically. "Pretty sure. Had a hammer and stuff. I could draw you a picture." She really needs to start bringing her Polaroid on these adventures. And then she ohs at Diana. "Like an oracle?" she asks with a grin. "Do you have one of those where you're from?"
"You know of Oracles?" Diana seems mighty impressed with Kamala, she wouldn't expect such knowledge of someone so young, particularly not of someone on Man's World. Their instinct is to refute and deny all things alien or foreign in nature. "Of course," Diana seems appaled to consider a people without an Oracle in their service.
Carol mmms, "I'm with the Avengers. Well, we both are." She smiles and puts an arm around Kamala, hugging her lightly, and she nods a bit, "That could be. There are definitely enough instances of things screwing around with time and space but… well, an Accuser with an actual hammer is bad news."
Leaning into the hug, Kamala smiles up at Carol affectionately for a moment before she blinks owlishly at Diana. "Sure! There was the Pythia that spoke for Apollo, Dodona, and Trophonius. I mean, there's people now that claim to be oracles, but I've never met one in person." she offers quickly enough as the young woman bounces back to her feet. "It could be. I dunno. My friends… they disappeared for a while. But they're back now. I should really ask them what happened."
"What is it you avenge?" Diana inquires, before looking a bit grimmer at the mention of the Accuser and hammer being bad news. Is it a divine opponent? An alien creature? Whatever it is, sounds like trouble. "What is this Accuser and what sort of danger does he bring?"
Diana shakes her head with a smile as Kamala shows exceptional knowledge, citing Apollo, Dodona and Trophonius, as she takes a momet to regather her cloak and wrap it about herself, meticulously hiding her battle armor and tiara.
Carol hrms, "Accusers are basically the judge, juries, and executioners of the Kree Empire. The latter. Kree are an alien race that's very advanced technologically… and not all that nice." She gets a bit of a wry look at that, "It's a long story, really. And not one I can put together all that well, but… what are they snooping around here for?"
"I.. I don't know. I think we found one of their bases near Vietnam on accident." Kamala admits quietly, before glancing to Diana. There's a shy smile there as she basks in the glory of two of the most awesome women to walk this Earth, but really, all of her knowledge is book knowledge. She's a nerd. Pure and simple.
Diana nods as she takes Carol's explanation very seriously, "if Man's World is facing a vicious alien threat, I would like to lend my hand to thwart them." She then turns to look at Kamala, who has apparently consulted with her Oracle to learn of this threat. "Then to Vietnam we shall have to go, which way is that?" One thing you can credit Diana for, she's ready to take whatever action or journey in a second.
Carol blinks, "Um, it's on the other side of the world. Literally. But I don't think it's that urgent, especially if this Accuser isn't really here for a specific reason." She hmms and grins at Diana, "Besides, we might need to formulate more of a plan before we just go in swinging. My memories of the Kree are a little… spotty, sometimes."
"Well.. before we do all that.. maybe I should introduce you to someone first. She's royalty.. somewhat." Kamala is still really confused on how the whole thing works. "But maybe she can explain things better than I can! And she has awesome hair." Introducing Diana to Medusa? Solid plan!
"I understand," Diana notes at Carol's input, seems like she was just spared from trying to reach Vietnam on foot if she had to. Listening to Kamala's idea, she nods, "I will happily meet with royalty, I am of royal birth myself, I handle very well in courts."
Carol hmms, and looks at Kamala, "Well, you keep me in the loop if you need my help, okay?" She looks like she wants to do more, but then again, Carol also doesn't want to be smothering Kamala or poking her nose in without an invitation.
"…you know you can help however you can, Carol. But.. I will talk to Medusa, see what she says. No, she doesn't have snakes for hair. But her hair is her power." Kamala offers in quick explanation. "I'll get a message to her. Uhm. I should get going. I still have school work to do and I don't think my professor will buy 'out meeting Wonder Woman' as an excuse." she offers with a small nervous laugh. "I'll let you know what I find out.." And she can't help it. Her arms stretch and she envelops both women in a hug. Group hug for the win! And with that, she's quickly heading off.