Moonlighting Hero Work

[Flux]

The costume is done. Felix is now standing in his bedroom before his mirror in a head-to-toe almost-onesie of deep gray and red color, beholding for the first time the imposing figure of Magnet Man. His recent bouts with the gym were showing (sort of) as he flexed, posturing before his reflection to psyche himself up.

"Magnet Man, Magnet Man, does whatever magnetism can..."

See, the costume came with a price: He had to promise to use it to go out and save the day. Or...something. To be honest he hadn't expected it to be done so quickly, OR to have received it via express mail. He had hoped for another month or so to get into shape. But, if Banner didn't tune into tomorrow night's news and see

"Mysterious masked man delivers daring deeds!"

she'd probably fly out and stomp him. He opened his window and checked around for people who might see him. It's night, the neighbors are all asleep, and nobody's on the streets. He leaps out the window, aided by his magnetic bands, and lands on the roof across from his place. Magnetism draws his window shut, and Magnet Man goes patrolling.

[Captain Untouchable]

The twinkie was no more.

In the deep, dark shadows of the city's rooftops, a ninja perched on a convenient corner and tugged his mask back over his mouth. Beside him, the decimated remains of golden sponge cake lay scattered across the shredded wrapper, every trace of the creamy center cleared away. An American delicacy, it was something he hadn't encountered in his native Scotland, but that had won a place in his heart that had previously been reserved only for sweetcorn, marzipan, deep fried Mars bars, and haggis.

Fist coming to his mouth to disguise a small belch, Untouchable ran his other hand across his stomach. A great deal of his daytime that wasn't spent in a science lab or catching up on the sleep he missed out on while playing vigilante was dedicated to staying in shape. Unfortunately, he and his metabolism seemed to have different ideas on what shape they were aiming for exactly, and the result was a little rounder than the Captain would have liked. Still, classical mechanics stated that kinetic energy was directly proportional to mass; surely then, this would only make his powers stronger?

Satisfied that his warped logic was sound, he pushed himself forward, and leapt down into the street below, not even looking as an arm extended upwards and his powers blasted the hefty metal head from the end of his kama back towards the rooftops, a thick retractable cable following in its wake. The hook bit home and the Captain's fall came to a sudden halt, body swinging back towards the wall. Knees bent, he landed in a half-diagonal crouch, hanging a story or so above the ground. A quick scan of his surroundings showed that his landing zone was clear; leaping upwards, he flicked his wrist and sent a wave up the cable that shook the grappling hook loose, the mechanisms concealed in the grip whirring away as they pulled his custom weapon back into one piece.

Landing on the ground in a low crouch, Untouchable allowed himself a small smile. I am so cool.

[Flux]

Felix had been approaching the Captain from behind, feeling certain that a black-clad man on the roof at night was clearly up to no good. Naturally, the idea that his outfit could give others the same impression was lost to him. The fledgling hero stopped at the edge of the roof and watched Captain Untouchable swing across the street and land in a crouch in the shadows.

"Sweet gear. Gotta get me one of those," he mumbled to himself as he leapt out across the street and landed in a crouch atop a busted street lamp. "Cool suit, Rocky. Are Colt and Tum-Tum around?"

[Captain Untouchable]

Instincts kicking in before his brain did, Untouchable spun, hand snapping out and launching a perfectly-weighted dagger from within the folds of his robes. Rather than tumbling through the air however, the dagger shot forward like a rocket, hurled away by the Captain's powers.

Just in time, the new arrival dodged sideways, the dagger streaking through where his shoulder had just been. The weapon continued on its flight, and impailed itself deep in the brick wall behind.

Untouchable's shoulders slumped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he grunted, a little exasperation creeping into his voice. He waved a hand vaguely towards the few inches of hilt still visible, sticking out of the brickwork. "See what you made me do?" A frustrated sigh escaped him. "I'll never get that out."

Suspicion tugged at his mind, reminding him of why his instincts had compelled him to hurl the knife in the first place. "You colour-blind? Rocky wore green," he called, mind finally getting around to a retort. Muscles instantly tensing, he readied himself for anything the strange figure in his skin-tight suit - complete with fetching red tights - might try to throw at him. Or shoot at him. Probably shoot. People had been shooting at him a lot lately.

"Who are ye, lad? And does ye sister not want her ballet clothes back?"

[Flux]

What this!? Snark, coming to him instead of from him!? Felix is beside himself, grinning under his mask at the idea of his first Witty Banter Battle.

"Hey, characters get revamped all the time in the drive to be Darker and Edgier. And no, she got a new suit, which is the only reason I got this one in the first place."

Felix reached over his shoulder and put a strong magnetic force on Untouchable's knife. After a few moments of quivering, it flew hilt-first to his hand, and Felix looked it over.

"Ooooh, it's sharp!" he said in mock-awe, testing the tip and blade gently with his thumb. But, back to business. It's time for an introduction. "When I have Metallica, I'm Death Magnetic. Otherwise, call me Flux, or Magnet Man. What about you?"

Honestly, Felix is happy that there haven't been any attacks yet. According to the Rule of the Conservation of Ninjutsu, he'd be in trouble if Untouchable actually were to attack him.

[Captain Untouchable]

"Magnet Man, huh?" Untouchable muttered, rolling his eyes. Honestly - did these people ever actually listen to how dumb their names sounded? A few seconds on wikipedia could have thrown up dozens of better alternatives.

The voice in the back of his head chimed in with a retort. Says the man who sounds like MC Hammer lyrics.

Untouchable squared his shoulders, and folded his arms loosely across his chest, eyes fixed sternly on Magnet Boy. "Honestly, kid, I don't give a Flux what your name is," he shot back. His eyes narrowed, suspicion far from satiated. "What's a 14-year-old kid in a halloween costume doing stalking me in the middle of the night?"

[Flux]

"I am sixteen, thank you so very much, and I am not stalking you," he snapped back, tapping the blade on the streetlamp. "I am preventing you from performing great injustice." Felix jumped down and mirrored Untouchable's pose. "C'mon, you're dressed in a ninja uniform, for the love of everything. And we all know that the purpose of the ninja is to rob places and flip out and kill people. Unless you're Snake-Eyes, or a Power Ranger."

[Captain Untouchable]

Slightly intimidated by his obvious lack of understanding for the hip and trendy contents of whatever daytime TV young people were watching nowadays, Untouchable fought the urge to inflict physical harm against the scrawny runt that had decided to pester him. His initial thought had been that beating up on a sixteen-year-old was a special kind of illegal, but he quickly realised that vigilanteism fell into the same little box.

Unfortunately, while legal issues could be brushed aside with ease, moral ones were a little harder to budge. Besides, the skinny youth's half-hearted attempt at muscles - which, given his choice of attire, he was apparently quite proud of - were hardly a match for a British Army Parachute Regiment boxer with mighty kinetic energy powers. Lungs squeezing out a frutrated sigh - again - he let his arms slump to his side.

"Listen, Magnet Boy: I've got crime fighting to be getting on with, and there isn't a whole lot of night to do it in." He extended an arm, index finger outstretched while his others tried to shoo the annoyance away. "Why don't you run along home now?"

[Flux]

"Because I'm out here keeping the peace, too," Flux answered, offering the blade handle-first to Untouchable. "Someone's gotta stop the muggers and murderers and stuff now that American Girl's disappeared. I figure, why not me? I've got these powers, and I oughtta be using them for something...useful."

[Captain Untouchable]

American Girl? Untouchable frowned. These names were getting more and more outlandish by the second. A few bells of recognition did start tinkling away in the back of his mind, but he couldn't immediately pull up anything specific. Probably nothing, but worth a google search later anyhow.

His eyes settled on the hilt, aimed towards him. Logic told him to crack the kid on the head, and hide him in an alley until morning, where he couldn't hurt himself. But there was something in his gut that prevented those thoughts from taking hold. This kid might be young, naive, and guilty of several crimes against fashion, but he wanted to do the right thing. That was something he could certainly empathise with.

A smile formed, hidden by his ninja face mask as he reached out and accepted the offered knife. "I guess I could use a sidekick," he mused, secreting the dagger back within his clothing. "What do ya say, Spandex?"

[Flux]

"Tch," he scoffed, unable to keep some amusement from his voice. "You're the sidekick." He climbed the pole magnetically and jumped to the roof of the building next to the one Untouchable had grappled on by repelling himself from one surface to the other. "C'mon, we can see more from up here."

[Captain Untouchable]

"Insolent welp," Untouchable muttered, leaping forward into a sprint. He hurled himself upwards, firing out with his powers towards the ground to vault him into the air. His hands snatched at the Kama on his belt, and after a split second of concentration his sent both hurtling towards the edge of the rooftop. As the chords went tense in his arms, he swung himself against the brickwork and, tugging his arms sharply apart, set off running up the side of the wall.

With an almighty snap of his wrists, he threw himself forwards into a summersault, landing in a fighting stance with Kama held ready, the retractable hooks clunking back into place.

His eyes settled on his audience - Spandex was watching him intently. Again invisible beneath his mask, Untouchable grinned. "Try to keep up now," he urged, setting off at a sprint and hurling himself across onto the next rooftop. His feet skidded a little as he landed, body twisting to face back towards his teenage companion. "I'd hate to see you outperformed by your sidekick."

[Flux]

"At least you know your place," Flux answered, running alongside without too much trouble (at least so far). Yeah, Flux was working better. Didn't feel corny, no Mega Man references to be had, and it was a little more subtle in describing his power. Also, it increased his alliterative potential for those who knew his identity. "C'mon, let's go find somebody who's dumb enough to try crime."

[Boulder]

Slappitta slap. Slappitta slap. Sticking to the shadows of the buildings, The Boulder made his way across town with the sole of his right shoe slappitta-ing and his left foot slapping the ground through his busted shoe, trying to make sense of what was going on in his head. The light images of ripples in his head were nowhere near as overwhelming for a few reasons. Nobody was around, so it was almost a serene view of the ground, the pipes running around under him, the sewage system, and whatever building was next to him. But the vision kept winking in and out in a rhythm. Then The Boulder got it.

Oh! I see like that when my left foot is on the ground, but not my right, since it's in the shoe. And the vision isn't as far as it was before...no people running around, no cars exploding...no vibrations other than my footsteps.

To test his theory, The Boulder slammed his left foot down. "ouch..." A little too hard. But he was rewarded with a wider view in his head. He could make out the top of the building next to him, and even see the building across the street from him about a third of the way up. The Boulder grinned a child's grin and, while sticking to the shadows, periodically stomped as he went just for fun.

As neat as this is, I think the first thing I'm going to do with this money, after taking care of grams, is going to be to get myself some new shoes. And my jeans could be replaced too....he thought as he poked at a hole in the side of his jeans.

Absentmindedly ruffling a few 20's in his hand, The Boulder pulled up short after one of his stomps. There were two people on the roof. They could be lovers on a rooftop or something...after all, it is a nice night out, The Boulder thought. Quickly, he put the three twenty dollar bills he was playing with into his back pocket and kept on walking.

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable frowned. Normally, he wouldn't have been suspicious of someone wandering around the backstreets with a fistful of money - probably some lonely guy off to find himself a hooker or something. But there was something about the way the guy moved, and the way that his clothes were all battered and torn, that didn't sit quite right with the Captain. The way he nervously hid his money away too - it was as if he'd heard something to make him think he was being watched.

There's no way he could have noticed us, though, Untouchable thought to himself, peering into the shadows around the alley, but try as he might his eyes couldn't find any sign of someone else around.

Leaning across to Flux, he waved his arms in a few quick military hand signals, and indicated the man standing below them. Without a word, he sprung from his perch, and descended rapidly through the several stories to the ground, his powers blasting the ground away from him to slow his descent, landing him gracefully in a low crouch.

Straightening up, he cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he called, Scotish accent tugging at his words. "Is everything alright?"

[Flux]

"No, everything is not alright," Felix chimed in, having taken the somewhat slower route of dropping story by story down the fire escape. He let go of the lowest part that he was hanging from and made a gesture in Boulder's general direction. "His purse doesn't match his outfit!" he snarked. "It's a fashion crime against all humanity."

[Boulder]

"BWAH!" The Boulder jumped. I know my new vision thing is...well...new...but why didn't I sense either of them land? he thought. Instead of voicing that tho, The Boulder, after his heart beat came back down, muttered to himself, "why couldn't they be lovers on the roof...?"

The Boulder's mind was racing frantically. who are these two? Neighborhood watch? Early halloween enthusiasts? Super heroes? What do I do? So far, neither of them have made an aggressive move....try and play it cool...

"I...uh...um....yea....aside from you two scaring me half to death, yea...everything's....fine. And while it may not be FASHIONABLE mister...halloween man number two...it's a...uh....MAN BAG...yea... Works well since my...uh...pants are so worn...and I have...uh...holes in my pockets...yea..."

The Boulder hugged the wall, not sure what to expect from these two, and spread his left hand out on the wall, ready to launch bricks from it at a moments notice of aggression from either costumed person.

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable raised a skeptical eyebrow. Aside from Mr Muscle's astoundingly convincing poker face, things just didn't feel right. There was no way you dressed up to look like this guy did on purpose, no matter how warped your fashion taste was. He seemed far too jumpy too, and given the amount of meat packed onto his bones, that didn't really fit with the "all shaken up after getting the crap beaten out of him" knee-jerk assumption.

"That's a pretty big bag for holding what would normally be in your pockets," he threw back, poised to respond to anything this guy might try to do. And why is he stroking that wall like that? Untouchable's eyes narrowed. "Mind if we take a quick look inside?"

Subtly, Untouchable shot a sidelong glance towards Flux. Time to show off those powers of yours, Magnet Boy.

[Flux]

"Don't mind if we do," Felix answered for Boulder. The purse had metal clasps, more than enough for him to attract it to his metal bands and snatch it from the Boulder. He caught it handily as it flew from the big man's fingertips and through the air. "Well, they say you can learn a lot about a lady from the contents of her purse..."

He opened it, glad his mask's lenses didn't do as his eyes did, because they grew huge at the sight of all the money inside. He whistled. "Well...clearly you're a rich old lady with a metric rut-ton of cats." He looked up from bag to Boulder, suspicion rising. "Why carry so much loose cash like this? Haven't you got a wallet or a bank?"

[Boulder]

"I...uh...it's...." The Boulder stuttered and tripped over himself trying to come up with an answer. Crap! What's going on here? Things were going so well from being so bad, and now there are these two halloween night patrol people in front of me grilling me. At least ONE of them is a mutant. Probably a telekinetic judging by how the bag flew from my hand. Which one tho? The ninja appeared without notice behind me, and the other dropped down from the fire escape....who's what, and what's the other?!?
The Boulder's thoughts were running rampant inside his head while his mouth worked feebly to spit out something.

That's MY money...I NEED it...I can't let these jokers take it from me! The Boulder started fuming as his temper finally started to flare. One or both are mutants. No need to hold back it seems.

"The answer to your question...," The Boulder growled, "is none of your business. Now....give....it....BAAAAAAAACK!!!" Accentuating his roar of "back" was a loud sound similar to someone cracking the ice on a very large ice tray. 'Craaaack-a-lack-a-lack' The mortar holding the bricks in the building behind The Boulder cracked violently as he tore bricks loose.

In an instant, two bricks were flying threw the air from the wall as if thrown by The Boulder himself, who while working at a batting cage one summer, found out he can throw a fastball around 92 miles per hour. The two bricks shot out, one towards the head of each vigilante. There was not a lot of distance to cover, and The Boulder was rewarded with the 'THUD' of one hitting, but to his dismay, the hit was the sound of the guy with his money bag QUICKLY pulling said money bag up and in the way of the brick. Money flew from the bag everywhere as the vigilante shook his head having still felt some of the blow.

The other brick shot towards the ninja looking guy, and much to The Boulder's surprise and dismay, MISSED. The man didn't move an inch, and the brick, which was accurate as any other rock The Boulder had ever thrown, suddenly veered just enough to skim just millimeters over his head.

Slapping the wall again, The Boulder loosened another dozen bricks and made ready to loose a second volley.

[Captain Untouchable]

Magic brick-throwing powers? Fantastic.

Untouchable hardly flinched as the first cuboid projectile hurtled towards him. His alias wasn't just purely for cool value - it worked as a description of his abilities as well. Focussing his mind, he used his powers to brush the brick aside, pushing it off course and sending it careering into the wall behind him.

Magnet Boy on the other hand wasn't blessed with such telepathic abilities; reaching out with his mind he pushed Mr Muscles' handbag upwards, just managing to shield his accidental sidekick from the hit. He heaved a sigh of relief, and felt a small pang of satisfaction at their opponent's reaction to being thwarted, and to watching his precious money spill across the somewhat damp and dank ground.

Dropping into a crouch, Untouchable prepared himself for the next salvo, retrieving his retractable grapple-Kama from his belt. Flicking the heads loose, he sent the hefty metal weights rocketing towards the incoming bricks with his mind, taking a few moments to push the shattered fragments safely clear of everyone. A small smile quirked under his mask. Untouchable 2, super-powered bank robber 0.

[Flux]

Felix's defense, as aided by Untouchable, was perfect. He hadn't quite realized that he'd been helped though; it hadn't occurred to him that Untouchable's powers weren't physical in nature. He dropped the bag as cash flew everywhere, and drew a sturdy trash can lid to his arm to serve as a shield. He held it before him and charged at the Boulder, protected from nose to sternum by the metal.

[Boulder]

The Boulder wasn't sure what was going on. He had never missed before, but it was becoming painfully obvious that he wouldn't hit either of the men before him. One of the, probably the goofy looking red and black one, was a mutant with telepathic abilities seeing has he just picked up that garbage can lid and brought it to him. Time to push the envelope and try something different.

As Flux charged at him, The Boulder all but destroyed the wall behind him pulling bricks from it all at once. As they fell, The Boulder used his power to rejoin them together into a solid wall. The wall was about 6 feet high by 6 feet wide. It slammed onto the ground in front of The Boulder, and with a front mule kick, The Boulder launched it at the charging mutant. Maybe they could stop the individual bricks, but let's see how they do against a wall.

While the wall advanced, The Boulder wiped mouth with his right hand. It came away with some blood on it. The Boulder's nose was bleeding a little. One of them HIT ME?!? But how? I didn't see it happen, or feel it either! If one of them can attack my insides....I had better think about getting out of here before something bad happens to me....and I can always get more money...

[Flux]

Felix crashed against the wall and stumbled back, regaining his footing and magnetizing himself to the fire escape. From his high vantage point, he could see Boulder had been bloodied, but when did that happen? Moreover, how did he launch bricks? That'd explain the sudden attack from behind; he hadn't seen the projectile he'd defended himself from.

"Wait, you're a mutant!" The statement was more an exclamation that accusation, and Felix found himself suddenly not wanting to fight so much anymore. A mundane bank robber is one thing, but a mutant one? It was still wrong, but Felix didn't feel so strongly about the wrongness of it.

[Captain Untouchable]

Unfortunately, Magnet Boy's sudden realisation that Brick Man was a mutant didn't help their situation any, and Untouchable was too busy dodging and kicking bricks clear of his general area to actually hear it. More intreguing was the sudden formation of a wall in the middle of their battlefield.

Grabbing at one of the knives concealed within his costume, he launched it like a rocket towards Brick Man, hoping to lodge it in one of his annoyingly beefy arms. Annoyingly, it managed to glance against one of the stray bricks that were busy flying through the air, and given that Untouchable's powers were only short-range and mono-directional, he could do nothing to divert the course of the knife as it tumbled towards Brick Man's face. Luckily, it only managed to nick the side of his nose before hitting the remnants of the original wall and tumbling to the ground.

Untouchable looked up, eyes settling on Magnet Boy standing dumbly in front of a wall, doing precisely squat. "What are you doing?" he yelled. "Quit standing there - the man is throwing bricks at us!"

[Boulder]

Realizing he had them stalled for a moment, The Boulder noticed the purse with the money tossed off to the side. Stomping the ground, The Boulder heaved the ground underneath Untouchable and Flux to knock them off their feet for a minute. With another stomp, he shot up a little spike that hooked the handles of the purse, quickly drug it over to him, and while the heroes were occupied by his wall, turned tail and ran down the ally.

Looking into the purse, The Boulder was dismayed at how little money there was in there still. But, feeling the pain in his nose where a near fatal head wound could have been from the knife thrown at him, not to mention that one of them may be messing with his head and making him bleed from his inside out of his nose, The Boulder figured it was time to cut his losses and make a run for it.

Glancing over his shoulder, The Boulder checked to see if the Halloween Heroes were following him.

[Flux]

Felix, or rather, Flux, would not be outdone by either his sidekick or this criminal. He yanked his garbage lid and the fallen throwing knife to him, leaping off the fire escape by repelling himself from it.

As he arced through the air, he led his shot with the dagger and threw it to anticipate the Boulder's path. With luck, he'd hit the man in the leg and slow him just enough to follow up with the lid.

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable scanned the ground around him, searching for something non-lethal to use as a weapon. Unfortunately, the only thing there seemed to be an abundance of was...

Bricks?

Placing his toes on the edge of one of the brick fragments, he rolled his foot backwards, slipped it under, and kicked a reasonably sized lump into the air. As it sailed up towards shoulder height he swung out with his arms, miming a baseball shot, focussing his powers on accelerating his makeshift projectile as swiftly as possible to some part of Brick Man's body: preferably his head.

The brick tumbled through the air, provided with spin by the unusual manner in which it had become airborne. The path arched beautifully, sweeping through the air with the grace of a malformed cricket ball. Unfortunately, the shot was slightly low, and slightly wide, but no matter; kicking another brick into the air, he went for strike two.

[Boulder]

Boulder ducked and weaved a little, trying to avoid the bricks being tossed at him by Untouchable. I'm not used to being on the receiving end of tossed bricks...almost ironic...GAH!!

"GAH!" Boulder yelped and almost lost his grip on his loot bag as the knife thrown by Felix gashed the side of his leg. Boulder must have zigged when he should have zagged. His pace slowed a little, but Boulder kept on running. Tearing down random bricks as he ran, Boulder shot them backwards blindly, not really caring if they hit or not, and for good measure, with a thrust upward of his arms, Boulder shot a wall of rock up behind him hoping that it would keep further projectiles away from him, and as he thought about it, the wall just might slow them down a little too.

[Flux]

He missed his swing with the trash can lid, landing in time to face the first hail of bricks. He held it up as a shield, and took a few hits on his legs. He ran after the Boulder, tossing the lid to the ground and repelling himself off it to leap over the high wall. Flux landed and rolled on the opposite side, coming up a little wobbly, and ran flat-out after the burglar.

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable crouched on his hips as Brick Man began to run, the level of concentration required to constantly bat aside the barrage of bricks beginning to take its toll. As the thief began to set off at a run, he felt almost relieved: a break was exactly what he needed right now.

Then he noticed Magnet Boy tearing off after him. A sprint through the city was the last thing he wanted, and while their muscle-bound quarry hardly looked capable of a particularly high top speed, the rain of bricks in his wake made for an unwanted complication.

Eyes scanning his surroundings, his gaze settled upon the fire escape leading towards the rooftops. With effort, he lept upwards, pushing the ground away to gain a little height. His fingers wrapped around the rim of the steel escape route; his muscles strained as he haulled himself up and raced up the stairway. Below him, he could see Magnet Boy and Brick Man disappearing into the distance, but that didn't concern him as he made it onto the - relatively - hazard free rooftops.

A smile broke onto his lips. "Lets see one of your bricks hit me now," he muttered, before throwing himself forward and sprinting off in pursuit.

[Boulder]

Boulder's pace continued to slow as a fiery sensation spread from the wound on his leg. Panting, he tried to keep up the pace as Flux bore down on him, closing the gap. Suddenly, his leg cramped and Boulder went tumbling down into a pile of garbage bags and cardboard boxes that was left out in the ally way. Rolling over, Boulder ripped and launched a handful of bricks at Flux to try and buy himself some more time while he tried to get back up. Looking down the ally, Boulder was glad that for whatever reason, the other guy was not chasing him too.

[Flux]

Felix slid underneath the bricks and leapt forward, hooking a right-handed punch at the Boulder. "Come on, Stone Cold, stay a while! I'm stunned at your apparent cowardice."

[Captain Untouchable]

Untouchable grunted. He had managed to get ahead of the chase now, but had run out of viable rooftops to run across. A narrow street bisected the alley, and the building on the far side was several stories higher than the one he currently stood on. Several curse words drifted through his mind as he retrieved his Kama again, blasted them towards the building opposite, snagged them on the fire escape, and with a mighty pull hurled himself back into the fray.

Landing around the corner, waiting in ambush along the path he hoped Brick Man would follow, he stood ready with his Kama in hand, eyes already focussed on the patch of brickwork opposite that he planned to send his weapons careering towards, extending their retractable cords like a trip wire.

Unfortunately, his ears managed to pick up another apparent comedy reference to popular culture from Magnet Boy. More curses escaped his lips, as he leapt to his feet and threw himself around the corner. "You're surrounded!" he shouted, positioning himself behind the brick-bowling maniac, arms and weapons held wide ready to block the path if needed. "Might as well give it up."

[Boulder]

"Cowardice?!? You say that, but I don't have brain melting powers like one of you seem to!"

Then it dawned on Boulder that his headache was gone and his nose had stopped bleeding. Is it the ninja one with those kind of powers, or is it just me?

Boulder held his leg, which was un-cramped now, and waited as Flux slowly edged forward, apparently encouraged by the arrival of his ninja friend. When he got close enough, Boulder sprang forward and caught Flux square in the jaw with an uppercut, making the hero stagger backwards.

"Just because I'm surrounded does not mean I need to give up Mr. ninja."

With Flux staggered, and probably with his head swimming, Boulder focused on Untouchable. "Well, I couldn't hit both of you, but I hit this one, so you must be the one making me unable to hit you guys....well....stop this."

Boulder raised both arms as he faced Untouchable. The walls of the buildings on either side of him began to shake as a new tendril of blood trailed down his nose and dripped off his lip. HAH! No brain melting powers. Just me using my abilities more than I'm used to. Thrusting his hands downward, the walls toppled over, dropping a ton or two of bricks onto Untouchable.

The tendril of blood dripping from Boulder's nose burst out in a gush accompanied by a massive headache. Boulder grabbed his head, unable to see from pain, and dropped back into the bags of garbage he had just stood from and immediately passed out from the pain of using his abilities so much.

[Flux]

Felix was seeing stars. The Boulder's uppercut was far stronger than the boy had counted on, and he leaned against the wall as Boulder dropped the walls on the Captain. Felix shook his head to clear it, and found it only worsened his headache. He stumbled forward as Boulder fell backwards.

"Hey, Hayabusa! Are you alright under there?" He started to dig out the Captain, wishing the bricks contained more metal so he could do it faster. He kept an alert eye on Boulder, just in case he was playing possum.

[Captain Untouchable]

Honestly: who throws a shoe?

As Untouchable lay, face down on the pavement, the weight of the brick wall that had ironically just run into him, he had to wonder why that particular pearly of Austin Powers wisdom had chosen this moment to float through his mind. He didn't even like those movies. Besides, he had more important things to be worrying about.

Straining in concentration, he forced as much of his mental strength into maintaining the force field that was pushing back the mound of bricks, holding it away from crushing contact with his chest. He grit his teeth, and placed his palms flat on the ground, and clambered up to his knees, straining through the most difficult press-up he'd had to endure since Fatty McCain had decided to sit on him during gym class.

Summoning up the last of his strength, he thrust upwards with his mind, throwing the bricks above him - and, much to his later amusement, Magnet Boy - in all directions. Clambering free of his short-lived masonry tomb, he staggered with exhaution, only just catching himself before he dropped back to his knees again. Catching Flux's eye - or at least, where he assumed the annoying brat kept his eyes underneath that mask - he flashed a mournful hidden smile under his mask. "I think I need to lie down now," he muttered vaguely, and promptly did.

[Boulder]

Boulder twitched a little on the ground as his eyes rolled back into his head. The warm blood dripping from his nose went unnoticed and unimpeded, but now that Boulder was not using his powers and was sufficiently knocked out, the bleeding had slowed down to a slow dripping.

[Flux]

"Kay-OH!" Felix stated proudly, posturing grandly as the Captain joined Boulder in unconciousness. "Flux wins." He stopped grandstanding and rubbed his masked chin as he considered his next move. Two mutants out. One a bad mutant, the other a good mutant. Boulder's civvies would get him in less trouble at a hospital than the Captain's costume, and so Felix made his decision.

He raised a hand to Boulder, magnetizing all the man's metal to his palm. He separated out enough change to use a payphone, then tossed the rest of it onto the big mutant's chest. He called an ambulance and went back for the Captain.

Captain was heavier than Felix had expected, and with some work he managed to get his black-clad ally up on his shoulders in a fireman's carry. With the help of magnetism Felix leapt to a roof overhead, waiting to be certain nobody messed with Boulder as the ambulance came to take him away. He was a mutant, after all; no way Felix was gonna let some mundane thugs rob him. Once that was done, Felix set out to find a safe place to drop Untouchable.

The ESU campus was nearby, and the student center was open late. He snuck the Captain inside and found a deserted room to leave him in. Felix locked it from the inside, again to see that nobody bothered his Brother, then headed home. "Yeah, I pretty much rule," he said to nobody in particular, landing on his roof and crawling in through his window. "The hero life is sweet."