Junior Armada

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Silver City; a towering symbol of human determination and a testament to the human imagination. The city is protected day and night by the most powerful knights the world has ever seen. They are the Hero Armada. Dozens of heroes united under one roof with a common goal. They protect the innocent, not matter the cost. They are led by the beauty of the battlefield, Warrior Woman, the man who can't be stopped, Mr. Amazo, and the strongest man alive, Omniman. Together from the top floor of Hero Tower they watch over the city and the world, monitoring to make certain all is well. And when something isn't such, they mobilize. But today all would fail to be well from under their own roof as a Latin American young woman in a red and blue tight outfit and brown coat walks into the building through the front door.

Ricochet. Tis true what they say. Hath no fury like a woman scorned. When this woman took up the mantle of the last to bear her title she did so half out of spite. She'd been instrumental in the cretin's defeat. Now she inherited his power and many of the burdens that came with his membership. The Hero Armada was watching her. She had been a valuable member so far but she was being difficult as of late. Soon this would be a problem.

Madam Control looks up from her desk as Ricochet marches through the room to the elevator. When the doors close, she picks up the phone. "She's on her way up and she doesn't look like she's here to sit around the campfire and sing kumbaya."

"All right," Warrior Woman says in response. "Thank you for the heads up."


Some time later the conversation between Ricochet and her superiors enters a heated argumentative stage as the rising heroine slams her hands down, forcefully, on chair's round table and sneers. "You've got to be kidding me! Can't spare the people? Zephyr and Ladybug haven't had a mission in weeks! Lion Heart is pounding on local street thugs and you have me on patrol duty! You're honestly going to sit there and tell me that we can't spare a couple of people for a small strike team?"

"Adrienne, listen," Warrior Woman says.

"In this building it's Ricochet. Mask or no mask,"Adrienne says before a brief pause then doubling back. "Ma'am," she says respectfully.

"Ricochet, Ladybug and Zephyr are both Level 7 Metahumans and have access to a number of missions that we can't give you details on," Owl says.

Ricochet turns to her respected darker superior and stands upright with a sigh. "So because I'm barely a level 4 meta..."

"It's not that. The Deadwave invasion last year...and then what happened with Richard," Omniman begins, "It's an overwhelming burden and we have to make sure we're dividing our resources well. This team is an excellent idea. If we had the people to spare, I'd be more than willing to sign off on it. Be we have the remainder of our heroes on the moon base right now."

"If we had a couple more heads in this building, we'd hand 'em over to ya for your team in a heartbeat, kid, but we don't," Mr. Amazo adds.

Ricochet thinks to herself for a moment then looks away through the window. She could see a few heroes flying about outside. It wasn't an uncommon sight around here. Each of them was on a mission though. She wasn't new to that. She'd had this conversation with the Armada's leaders before. Back then they worried about her mental condition. They were entirely honest and she knew in her heart that they were right then. But now?


Following that conversation, she leaves Hero Tower and decides to go for a freerun along the skyline. She enjoyed it really. Richard was an idiot to turn on the Armada the way he did. He had it made. Everyone loved him and he was in a position to actually receive compensation for his heroic deeds. Whether he liked working with them or not, he chose the losing battle. Of course that wasn't why she became the new Ricochet. She didn't get anything out of the relationship with the Armada like he did. No, she did it for the single purpose of spiting him...and she was entirely okay with that at first. But now? Now she stayed not to make him look bad, but because...it just felt right. She lands on a low rooftop in the city and looks around for a bit. Nothing happening here. She could rest for a bit.

[Attn: Group]

"Ah, I see," Kal exclaimed, like a child finally grasping how to play a game. "And you build the scrapers of the sky to send messages out to assert dominance over the lesser Earthlings, yes? We have something similar on my home world, but they are called Bothrak du Motera."

[Attn: Kal]

"What? No," Ricochet says. "Skyscrapers just let us build upward so we have more space in crowded areas for large amounts of people. If every building was only one level, every town and city would be overcrowded."

"You know," Adam says, "You're wasting your time explaining this stuff."

"Yeah...I know," Ricochet relents.

"Oh," Kal said, looking disheartened. "Earth is such an odd planet. I am not sure that I will ever get used to it," he said looking even more like a lost puppy. A lost, very powerful, very orange puppy.

[Attn: All]

Madam Control watches the events transpiring from her surveillance network encompassing the city. The rest of the chair members were in the midst of a meeting concerning a pressing matter. She knew well that this creature would leech the Avatar dry and there weren't enough heroes to deploy. That was when the though occurred to her. She quickly brings up the communication line to the Junior Armada underground base at the edge of the city. "Ricochet, this is Madam Control. Do you read me?"

Ricochet looks down and presses the main button on her communicator, pointing it at the monitor across the room so that the Madam appears on screen. "Where's the damage?"

"The 'damage' is in Middle Town, heading well on its way toward Heightsville. Some sort of massive energy creature. We don't have any heroes that we can deploy quickly enough so you and your team are elected. Think of it as a pop quiz."

Ricochet looks around at the others. "I haven't even started training them yet!"

"Then make it a learning experience. Now GO!"

Ricochet turns back around and marches off. "You heard her, let's get going."

"Going? That's almost on the other end of town," Spartan says.

"Most of us can't fly. How are we supposed to get there?" Liberty Bell adds.

Moments later in the top floor the team finds itself in a hangar with a large aircraft. "That'd be an Armada Jet. Get in." In due time the team arrives over the scene of the destruction. Ricochet lands the jet on a low rooftop and everyone gets out, overlooking the destruction. "Well, there goes the neighborhood."

(ATTN: Tyre, Open)
With her bag slung over her shoulder, and her dog by her side, Astrid walked down the dusty, desolate road with a somewhat self satisfied smirk on her face.
"I got a beat up hat, and a ticket for the train- Mexico, to New Orleans and back again-" She sang, her beanie on her head and her sunglasses providing only slight protection from the sun. Her attire, entirely black, would be thought of as highly impractical for a desert; and her boots would have been more suited for a city. Her dog stopped walking and barked, prompting her to turn around. A lone semi-truck trundled down the road.
'Well it could be unsafe- but I'm too tired of fricking walking to care.' She waved the truck down, and it slowly lurched to a halt. A large, bearded man leaned over, looking down at her.
"You need a lift, little lady?"
"That'd be lovely." She smirked, climbing into the passenger side, her dog happily climbing into her lap.
A few miles later they were happily making small-talk, her dog sleepily resting its head on the dash of the car.
"You seem a little young to be drinking, to me." The man said, his eyes intent on the road.
"Huh? Oh-" She looked down and surveyed her Jack Daniels shirt. "Nah, I don't. I just wear the shirt."
"Well then, what's a little lady like you doing all the way out here?"
"Uh.."
"Running away from home, eh?" The man chuckled, Astrid sighed.
"Yeah, sorta.."
"Bet no one knows where you are-" Now, Astrid knew where this was going. She felt her power ooze through her, and not a second too late. The man lurched for her, and just as he did, she sent the entire semi spinning through the air. While he was tossed around, smashing against the dash, the frantic wheel and loose items strewn about the car. Astrid and her dog carried on calmly, unaffected by the cars spinning. The cargo behind the truck lay strewn on its side, while the actual car miraculously landed upright. The man tumbled out of the car, unconscious and Astrid grabbed her bag, following her dog as it scampered out the door. She looked down at the man, the words 'I am a filthy wannabe rapist pig' burning through his clothes and onto his skin. A bit much, but she felt it necessary. Her and her dog once again took off walking merrily along the road. "I got a dog named Lucky and a hundred dollars in my sho-oe~" She started singing again. "And if I never see your face again-a, I don't care- cuz I know a hundred games o sol-i-tare."
-
Miles, miles later, they were high in the sky, her bag wrapped around her staff and her dog resting lazily on it as she laid along the long, wooden pole. "Cause I'm just a girl I'd rather not be -'Cause they won't let me drive -Late at night I'm just a girl, -Guess I'm some kind of freak." She sang merrily, high above civilization. Her leather duster handing limply off the side. She peeked down.
'Silver City'; a bit convoluted and over-dramatic but whatever floated their boat.
But there was something somewhat troubling down below in the city. Something was having a field day on main street, it seemed. Ripping out power cables, screwing up cars- and unfortunately for it, people.
"Sorry pup, but duty calls." She sighed, lurching her staff downward and dropping both her dog and her belongings on a roof a safe distance away.
Now riding her staff like one might ride a bike, she zoomed towards the main source of destruction, admiring the beasts handiwork. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be made of pure energy.
"Ah- science, thou art a cruel mistress." She sighed to herself, now pulling herself up to stand on the wooden staff.
"Ey- big guy, yoo-hoo!" She flew to be at eye-level with it, purple-black energy swarming about her hands. It expanded at a dramatic rate, slamming itself into the beasts gut with the force of battering ram. She zipped away to the side, almost sure that retaliation was on its way.

[Attn: All]

Ricochet looks up and listens to Twista then analyzes the beast through her goggles. "He's right, we can't just hit it head-" Suddenly a darkly dressed girl flying on a staff races in. Before Ricochet can say anything the girl blasts the monster and it stumbles. Geez, what's with the influx of tot supers lately? Is this just a regular thing no one notices? "All right, we're not getting shown up by a kid flying a stick. Time to Bounce." As Ricochet gets ready to bolt off, she is stopped when she realizes the rest aren't preparing themselves behind her.

"Um...Ricochet...what is the meaning of 'Bounce'? Are we perhaps bouncing off of something particularly flexible or-"

"Oh, for the love of- here. Maybe this is better. I'll head down there and help out any civilians I can. The rest of you try and stop that thing. Okay?" As the rest of the team nods, Ricochet shakes her head to herself, looking away. "Okay. Now, let's try this. Armada, ATTACK!"

That came across loud and clear. As Ricochet blasts off to pick up civilians below, the rest of the team mobilizes. Liberty Bell stands her ground on that rooftop and unleashes her sonic cry, loud enough to shatter the eardrums of anyone in front of her. Her reservations kept her getting any louder. After all, any more intense and she ran the risk of shattering someone's skull. The girl in the bandanna runs interference below with her partner who pulls up street lights and chucks them at the beast while she pummels the ground, opening fissures for it to fall into.

Spartan grabs a street light as well but takes to using his not unlike a baseball bat as seen in America's Funniest Home Videos. "Hey, Battah, SWING!" He shouts as he swings for this creatures legs. Adam should be so lucky. He couldn't grow much if at all in this suit. He'd have to settle for a slight bump in strength but even that was enough to get a car over his head for use as a projectile.

Atta-Girl took to the sky, flying about and using her chain as a whip of sorts, using it to strike her foe then draw back and strike again with succession. Each lash grew fiercer than the last.

"Holy crap, it's working," Ricochet says as she snatches up a middle-aged man in a suit with a briefcase and sets him down out of harm's way. "Do yourself a favor. Go catch yourself a vacation." Then she bolts off.

[Attn: All]

“That makes absolutely NO sense to me!” The girl in the bandanna proclaims as she rips her hands up from the churned street and them claps them together, emitting a powerful sonic wave from her hands.

“It means punch it toward North Labs!” He partner shouts, taking cover behind a truck.

“THAT I understand!”

Atta-Girl looks around. “Where among the many ruined buildings is this northern lab?” She says, restraining the cretin’s arm with her chain. It was strong but she wasn’t exactly a weakling.

Ricochet bolts up and outraces the shockwave, snatching up Liberty Bell in the process and taking cover. “I’d rather not be signing condolence letters this soon in the gig, let alone at all, thank you,” she says to the star spangled kid. “You have anything else to bring?”

“Plenty,” Liberty Bell says with a nod before climbing her way back to the higher rooftop. “I’m gonna blow you away.” Then she takes an incredible breath and exhales with the force of a tornado.

Adam takes cover behind the same truck as the bandanna kids. “This thing is really startin’ to piss me the-“

“Cool it, Tantrum-Boy,” barks the girl in the bandanna. “We don’t really need two big bad monster things stomping through town.”

“I’m gonna forget you said that,” Adam says coldly. “So what’s the plan?”

“Actually, I was just thinking we keep punching it while Space Cadet over there opens his sciency portal thing,” the girl responds.

Spartan peers over the truck and ducks when and energy blast flies over them. “Not to be rude, but that’s a terrible plan!”

“And you have a better one?”

(ATTN:All)
Astrid zooms away on her staff, throwing up an oval shaped barrier that shatters soon after the attack.
"Well that didn't work as expected-" She sighed. She listened in their banter, trying to come up with some sort of plan to either beat the beastie or stop it from destroying another city block. She heard two of them mention a rift, and the realization hit her.
She placed her hands together, chanting seemingly nonsensical words. A crack appeared in the space before her and she tried to pull it open. Her staff wavered in the air, almost dropping to the ground. She hissed, swooping to the ground and dismounting her staff, pulling it into one hand and once again trying to open a rift. But with her current power, she it was almost impossible for her to open one of that size. She managed to pry it open only a foot, the large crack in the air hardly able to fit anything through it. She cursed, trying, with great difficulty to pull it open any farther, yet she was stuck.

(ATTN: Tyre)
"Okay- for starters stop calling me f*cking 'kiki' and second yes, but I doubt I can get together the energy to make a rift big enough to fit that things huge a** through." She was forced to stop trying to open the rift, leaving only a thin black crack in the space in front of her, and turned to look at him. "And I can't explain how I knew where it came from- but give me enough energy and I might be able to send it back there."

[Attn: Twist, Seance]

Adam overhears Twista speaking to the witch at his side. As he looks over the truck the kids in the street had taken cover behind, he ducks as a stray bolt of energy zips by. Then he thinks for a moment. They were going to need to make the rift bigger? Perhaps he could do something there. "Well, at least they gave me size changin' shorts just in case," he says.

"Wait, what?' The bandanna sporting girl asks.

"Stay here," Adam responds as he runs out from their cover and approaches Twista and this new kid. They were having trouble keeping that rift open, let alone making it big enough.

He doesn't say a word but he gives a confirming look as he passes the both of them, getting closer to the rift on his own. When he's close enough he looks to the others. "Let me take a shot at it," he says, looking the rift over and poking one finger through. That surprisingly stung a little. This...probably wouldn't be comfortable.

(ATTN: Tyre, Adam)
Astrid gives a crooked grin. "Now, not sure if I should call you a smartass or a smooth talker- But you can call me Seance, now who would you be?" She looked as Adam began to try to pry the rift open with his bare hands; various objects started getting sucked in- and she knew that eventually Adam would be dragged in as well. "Oi, muscle man! Back up- if you open that wide enough to fit you through you'll get dragged in- and trust me I don't think you wanna go where that rift will take you. She looked back.
"Now, I wouldn't need too much time- and I'm not even sure it would work. The large crack vanished entirely and she once again jumped onto her staff. "Just lead the way and make sure the beastie follows and I might be able to fix your problem."

[Attn: All]

Atta-Girl hovers over the beast with her chain in hand then hears as she is called out to. as Twista pointed out where he wanted the beast to be taken, she thinks for a moment on how to do it without running the risk of being as easily repelled as she was before. Then she wraps her chain around her fist and forearm then hovers back before winding her arm and finally unleashing a punch of godly proportions on the monster that sends it barreling in Twista's direction.

(ATTN:Twista, Open)
She laughed, raising an eyebrow. "Let's leave making dates for later and focus on our more immediate concern- being a hero is such a c***block sometimes, I know." That last statement dripped humor as she took off after him. She landed on the roof of the building he pointed to. She outstretched her arms, feeling the energy of the plant. She began trying to filter it into her magic, finding it an awkward process. Her staff now in her hand, she once again began to open the rift- chanting the same seemingly nonsensical words. Her fingers appeared to rip into the very fabric of space, the large black crack appearing once again, ripping through the sky like broken glass. Now with less resistance, she pulled it open, her arms now outstretched, her chest to the large, warped space in the air. It began sucking everything into it like a twister.
"Clear out- now!" Seance shouted out as papers, debris, and even cars were sucked into the rift.

[Attn: All]

Everyone below continues lobbing things to get the beast closer to the rift but as it gets closer, the inevitable becomes more apparent. It was bigger but still not big enough to get the beast through. Adam takes note of this and looks over his shoulder at the others before taking a breath. Me may not have liked it but this was something it was highly probably only he could take on. "This...is gonna hurt like a mother," he says to himself before suddenly beginning to increase in size. The strain placed on him to grow to this size was already painful but his next move would.

Adam forces his hands into the rift and manually forces it open. The rift was still hugely unstable. The pain wracking him was unimaginable but he bore it and used himself to prop it open, leaving an opening large enough for the cretin. "All right," he says. "Make it quick, this hurts like you wouldn't believe!"

"Roger Roger!" bandanna girl says in a mock Star Wars droid voice, clapping her hands together as Liberty Bell stands at her side with a sonic screech. Spartan and the Bandanna sporting boy both hoist a large truck over their heads and lob it at the beast. Atta-Girl just...watches in awe.

(ATTN: GROUP)
Seance, once the creature was gone, closed the rift- exhausted yet still buzzing with leftover energy. She took note of 'Twista' leaving, and was having none of it.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa- and where do you think you're going?" The same black energy wrapped around his torso and upper arms, dragging him back. "'Good work everyone, pat on the back, now please allow me to leave with no apparent explanation or proper thank you', yeah, not really floating my boat. I may be a drifter but even I have some f*cking manners." She crossed her arms and leaned onto her staff, which as standing firmly upright. She looked over the rest of the group. "And I assume you lot are some sorta team?"

(ATTN: Group)
Astrid shrugged. "Hey man, I'm kinky- but not that kinky." She released him, the black energy evaporating. "Now, first off- what was that, and who're you lot? Because in my years of drifting, I've never met anyone else with my.... career choices- and job qualifications."