Straight Jackets and Aviator Goggles

[Guest]

The sun was rising over Fountain Head. All the heroes, crooks, thieves and scum were busy scurrying back home in order to start a new day living their normal lives. It seemed like the crime rate had dropped recently, at least all the big baddies were stopping their work. This had the heroes, both WARP and Maverick on high alert. For now though, everyone would be going about their lives and for once, they wouldn’t need to worry about who was going to attack next…

Morning light filled the glass windows of the small office building. Despite its small size, it was Fountain Head’s police force headquarters. A woman, who looked to be in her early twenties, walked out and down the stairs to the sidewalk below and since she was leaving this early in the day, that meant she could only be one person; a member of WARP. WARP was a team of super powered humans who protected Fountain Head from the people the police couldn’t handle. For a while, they were the only team and it wasn’t until Maverick showed up that they started having trouble taking care of business.

The woman who exited the building was walking at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. Her thick long locks of blond hair bounced as her feet hit the pavement. Atop her head was a pair of blue tinted Aviator goggles that never left her head. Going on down, her face was a cute one, still like that of a teenage girl more than a woman, but then again, so was most of her body. She wore a long sleeved white pirate shirt and black pants. From the middle knuckles on her fingers and on up to her elbows were brown gloves with straps on them. She had deep blue eyes and a small scar under her right eye. It was from a fight with the leader of Maverick, Sandstorm. Yes, this pretty thing was none other than Time Volt. She was one of Fountain Head’s most well known heroines and her team, WARP, kept people in line. Well, everyone except for Maverick. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of those…vigilantes…

Her footsteps carried her to a large warehouse looking building. Once there, she entered a passcode on a device outside the door. With a beep, the doors slowly came open and she entered the mechanic shop where she worked. They were in the middle of building a horseless carriage and she needed to work on the water reservoir. It had a leak in it that apparently only she could fix. The men all greeted her as she went back to her station to grab some tools. This thing had been giving her trouble all week and her partner, Nicolae, hadn’t been helping her out one bit with it. He just laughed every time she screwed up. She would have to beg him to help her if she couldn’t get it right this time.

Fifteen minutes into the job and cursing can already be heard. She throws her wrench at someone and then proceeds to break a pipe. “God dammit!” Anaris yelled out, hitting the inside of the machine. “This thing just freaking-“ A loud groaning noise is heard, followed by the sound of rushing water. More profanity is heard as Anaris stands up. She is completely drench from head to toe and everyone is trying not to laugh. “This is NOT funny!” Her voice goes up an octave and most have to look away to keep from snickering. The woman pouts and she begins to look around for Nic. Where the hell was he anyway?

[Gunneh]

"Way to go, graceful," came a voice from out of nowhere. In all actuality, he had been sitting in the passenger's seat of the carriage this whole time, watching with that same playful smile smeared across his face that was present now. He chuckled looked her up and down a couple of times, shaking his head as his eyes met hers once again. "Now, as much as I don't think anyone in here would give a swamp rat's ass about your standing there all dripping and whatnot, I'm thinking that might not be the most appropriate attire for you to be working in."

"Aw, come on boss," a man called from across the room, "at least let us have a few more minutes."

"Shaddap, Leroy," Nic said through the laughter. "Now, y'all quit gawking at Miss Ana while she goes into my office to change." He placed a hand on the small of her back and herded her across the room to a faded wooden door with two rectangular panes of glass stretched across the top. He shut the door behind them and pulled the two pieces of dark fabric together to form a boundary between the two of them and the men's wandering eyes.

He moved behind a dark wooden desk and into a chair that matched the desk quite nicely. He kicked up his legs and pulled a pair of reading glasses out of his pocket and slipped them on, pulling a parts catalog from the desk and raising it to his eyes quickly. "You go ahead and get situated while I figure out what kind of parts we're gonna need to replace on that carriage out there." Another chuckle escaped him and he shook his head once more.

"We're gonna have to figure out how to get that temper out of you, missy," he said softly, barely audible over the sound of him rustling the pages back and forth. "How man water reservoirs does that make this month? Seven, maybe eight at least. I can't be damaging people's thing up more than they were before they came in here, Ana, at least not without paying out the ass for it later."

[Dio the Awesome]

Two figures stood outside a collapsing building, their rugged clothes easily matching their dirty surroundings. They talked in a casual manner, discussing pay, or work conditions. Which was all the working class would ever talk about, and it was nothing but complaints. A small hissing sound was heard, as the Marksman adjusted his goggles to zoom out. He surveyed the street, no one was coming, as far as he could tell. Satisfied, he pulled his goggles off his head.

He squinted, as the world zoomed in quickly. He looked about the rooftop he was crouched on, and caught the eye of a young boy, probably no more than 16. He had a dirty face, like the men standing on the street, but it was an honest face. He smiled briefly, before fiddling with the Box.

"What's it look like down there Mark?" The kid asked, calling the vigilante by his nickname.

"Just a couple of gun runners kid. Probably a few more inside, nothing big." The Marksman replied. There hadn't been a big collar to make in some time.

"Then, can I come with you?" He asked, he face set in anticipation.

Marksman scratched his head, "Look, kid. You got the same ability as me right? You got a real good memory."

The kid nodded.

"Then do what I tell you. Watch, and learn. When you're older, when you got enough experience, I'll take you on a collar."

Silence fell between them. Marksman turned to the Box again. The adjustments were done. He decided it was best if the arms of his machine stuck out just an inch ahead of his real arms when fully extended. That was if he had to punch something hard, the mechanical fist would hit first. He replaced the last tool in his kit, and scratched his slight paunch. Age was beginning to catch up to the man a little faster than he would have liked. He hoisted the Box up on his back, and turned to the kid.

"Wait here. Watch my moves." He turned to go.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"Doing what?" He turned to look at the kid, "Catching bad guys."

"Right... But you break the law to do it. Don't you?"

Marksman sighed, and ruffled his thinning hair, "The law can't be kept inside of the law kid. Any one who thinks that is just fooling themselves. It's against the law to kill right?"

The kid nodded.

"Then why are the police allowed to kill, or WARP for that matter. Laws need to be broken to uphold the law. You can't have justice when the laws protect the criminals. Justice will lose in the long run. Got it?"

He nodded again.

"Good." And with the press of a button, two mechanical arms appeared alongside the hero's. "Wish me luck."

[Guest]

When Nic’s voice reached her ears, she felt her face get hot from embarrassment. He walked over and looked her over a few times before telling her she couldn’t just stand there dripping wet. The girl just rolled her eyes and when Leroy shouted, the two of them told him to shut up at the same time. It seemed Nic was always saving her from the men she worked with. God, she felt like such a child sometimes when he was around. Once in his office, she promptly began to take her clothes off.

The men outside probably got one peek at the skin under her shirt before Nic could draw the fabric together to keep them from seeing anything else. She had her top off before Nic had even sat down. Underneath her white shirt was a black bikini style top and under those pants were short black shorts. “…If you would help we wouldn’t need more parts.” She snapped, still frustrated from what had just happened.

Get the temper out of her? That was one thing that made Ana who she was. “I’d like to see you try old man.” He was hardly an old man. They were about the same age, but he was still older. Her blue eyes narrowed at him and she bit her lip when he spoke about how many reservoirs she had gone through this month. “Hey now. This ‘sall comin’ out of my pay anyway. I don’t think I’ve gotten a paycheck in almost a year…It’s hurtin’ me just as bad as it’s hurtin’ you.” She spat at Nic. He could drive her insane sometimes and he brought out the country in her, which really bothered her more than anything. She leaned back against the door and shook her head, causing her wet hair to fling water everywhere. “So now what? I go back to work dressed like this?” She asked, wondering if he would tell her yes this time.

[Gunneh]

"Coveralls are in the closet, doll," he said plainly, not even bothering to look over the paper to see her. The smile faded from his face and he sighed finally, letting the catalog fall to the desk. His eyes fell on her and he nodded softly. "I owe you something for your work 'round here, Ana. Don't let me forget about it."

He stood and made his way out of the office, closing the door quickly behind him as he swatted away the would-be peeping Tom's and made his way back over to the horseless carriage. He took a look at the reservoir and shook his head slowly. "Leroy," he called over to the man, "bring me that twenty gallon reservoir from that bike we salvaged last week."

"That's hardly gon' be 'nuff for that carriage, boss," the man called back.

"I know, but jus' bring it anyway," he replied, scooting underneath the carriage now. "This thing's in here from that man runnin' it too hard in the first place so I might as well go on ahead and slow it down for him." Leroy grunted a reply and hefted the large tank over to Nic, holding the thing in place while ratcheted it in place. A few more tweaks here and there, replacing the larger pipes with smaller ones to restrict the flow of the steam into the engine and he was done for now.

"You turned that thing into a goddamn pressure cooker, Nic," Leroy said quietly.

"I'll fix it back, Roy," he replied, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I've jus' gotta plug up all of these holes so I can get the rest of it fixed in time enough for that man to get back from Century." He stood slowly and wiped his hands off on his coveralls, letting the grease stain the fabric one more time for good measure.

Nic glanced up at the clock quickly, noting the time: Mark and Hack should be there at any moment for them to discuss their night jobs, but he figured he had enough time to take a quick look around before he got too busy with anything else. A quick sweep of the garage to do some tidying up was all he needed before he entered his office once again and laid his eyes on Ana.

"Sweetheart, I need you to go get me all the parts I need to fix that carriage back up to new again, ya hear," he asked. "Just tell 'em to put it on my tab."

[Squall Reyes]

The room was filled with the contrasting smells and colors of the disgusting smell of black smoke and the almost purifying feeling of white steam. And in the small room stood a giant Goliath, but it stood still and silent his eyes as black as night and it’s body in a slight hunch. Suddenly from seemingly inside the monster came a loud roar of sound. Boom! Boom! It seemed to echo from the belly of the beast as it’s mouth stayed slack jawed open and the body rocked slightly. Again came the thunderous sounds and then suddenly a head of curly long hair popped up from behind the beasts back. His eyes were covered with eye glasses which got smaller and smaller magnifying his vision, the face scowled. Jake Hawkins was feeling as though nothing was getting done with this hunk of metal.

“Oh the hell with this.” He huffed as he threw the massive mallet to the side. As he was looking across his belt more of the room came into light. Small pieces of mechanical parts laid everywhere, on shelves, on table tops, some inexplicably could be found in the roof, stuck inside the ceiling as the results of miscalculated experiments. Suddenly the face came up with an almost evil smirk, the lenses of the goggles slowly clicked up and away from his eyes restoring his vision to normal. In his hand was a device with an nozzle at the end and with a touch of a button a white hot flame came from the tip. “This is always much more fun.” He said as he threw off his goggles and flipped on a welding mask that had sat on the back of his head. He leaned over to start the process.

The building suddenly shook with a loud sounding explosion from the smoky little room near the back of the station. A few seconds the door swung open with the sounds of coughing as Jake’s form emerged from the smoke, walking down the hall throwing the welding mask to the side with a grunt. He looked back at the black impenetrable cloud as it slowly began to spread across the building. From where he stood he could see the damage, and wouldn't you know it they were nothing he already had in hand. He caught the form of one of his “teammates” as he walked toward the door. “Hey mutie! I’m going out to get some parts! Try not to infect the genepool while I'm gone.” His words came out with the vilest of tones, almost as though each word was a wad of spit at her feet. He quickly grabbed his scarf and coat, and threw them on as he went out the door.

As he left the building he hunched his shoulders up, trying to push the scarf up to cover his face. His eyes taking in his surroundings as he walked down the street. You could never tell who was a freak. At least you could tell when a son of a bitch was rich. You got it flaunt it and all that, but the muties, you never knew. Not till you fighting fair and square, and bang they hit you some damn abominable power. That’s why he took this job you know, why he’s always rubbing elbows with their filth. Someone on that team has to be normal, you see, to make sure they never…Oh for christ sakes! He whirls around looking at the young looking woman behind him. “What the hell are you fallowing me for mutie?!”

[Sighlent]

Via Winslow had been sitting quietly on one of the many couches that filled WARP's headquarters, minding her own business and all, whenever the explosion occurred. She'd already been tense enough from Jake's ever growing irritation with the Suit, and the second the thing had actually gone on enough to explode in his face was the second her brain flickered alive with another fire that she knew she herself couldn't put out. One would think that after all the times that Jake's temper had gotten out of control like this that she would be used to it by now, but that was about as simple as telling a dog that the sky is really blue.

As the sound of Jake's coughing erupted in the hallway, Via stood abruptly and fiercely folded her arms across her chest knowing full well what was coming before the words had even left his lips. The guy was predictably an asshole whose hatred for their teams abilities was more overpowering than the cloud of smoke that had now made it's way into the main room where she was. It was like the very fabric of his soul had been created just for the soul purpose to taunt them and hate them. And what made it worse, was that at that very second she couldn't have agreed more with him.

That was what sucked about being a 'mutie' especially when in the case that your emotions weren't even your own.

“What the hell are you fallowing me for mutie?!”

Lifting her gaze, her brow furrowed and her shoulders hunched as if she were mimicking someone who was actually wearing a coat, Via hissed lightly as she realized that it was Jake that she was mimicking and she retracted from his side. When it came to the others she really had no problem with it, but with Jake...well it wasn't always fun to want to beat yourself to a bloody pulp or perhaps drown yourself in gasoline. Yeah...wouldn't that be fu...
"Well it's your fault!" She exclaimed then her lips puckered together as the creases in her forehead grew even tighter.

"If you weren't such...such an asshole and all. Or better yet, learn to control yourself. It's easy just try not to think, or feel. Or better yet how about we just...gasoline..." Her dulled eyes momentarily fell away as she brought her fingers to her lips as in thought, however the very second she realized what she was doing her attention snapped back up mirroring the very gaze that stared her down, "How do you sleep at night?" she asked numbly.

Turning on her heels Via shook her head and continued on down the way, in the direction that Jake had been heading. She needed a distraction however with such feelings as animosity it was very hard indeed to find an emotion that matched or overpowered it. There was love, or lust. But she was too pissed off to even want to care much less fuck right now. "So what went wrong this time?" she asked running a hand through her tousled blonde locks. It wasn't her natural hair color but had been something brought on by their team leader Anaris, the way she would watch in fascination at the way her hair would shine in the light even if she claimed she didn't care about her looks.

[Squall Reyes]

Jake stood there glaring as Via, as the little dirty Mutie had the audacity to blame him for her tailing him! Suddenly Via’s eyes got distant with the word “gasoline”, he began to wonder how the fuck did she know…Then it hit him, this little muties power; she could see right through him, hell she FELT like him. The thought of some damn mutie in his head made his blood boil, his teeth clinched in anger. He was about to let her have it when she said something. It was low, hell it was just above a whisper. It was cold, numb it was almost like it wasn’t her, like it was simply himself asking the question that caused his jaw to drop. “How do you sleep at night.”

You understand that Jake’s tempter was born not from some genetic defect or abusive childhood. In fact his father was wonderful man from what Jake could remember. No the anger he carried in him was one out of necessity. It was simple math in Jake’s mind, the supers and rich hated him, treated him as second class dirt. So he would beat them, through will, grit, and the simple fact that he will hate them more. But hate is a poison and it can lead to many a vile thought. And Via knew, Jake realized every moment she was with him, she would know more of those thoughts.

I’m not the villain here, Jake thought to himself as she shook his head free from the blast of the question. Her next question thankfully was about something to take his mind off his own anger, and disgust. He put his hands in his pockets as he took up a brisk step to catch up with her and explained. “A gear that supports the device to regulate the water into my engine seems to have fallen into disrepair. I noticed it last night while we were out. Suit was hotter than Hades, hotter than usual. Thought I could fix the damn thing with adding several extra gears of small gauges. Instead the water all came in at once and well….you saw what happened.”

As they came up to the shop Jake said, “So I need the gear, several hydraulic pumps to fix what broke in the engine and whatever else catches my fancy.” As he began to walk up the steps Jake quickly took a few steps a head and stretched his arm out in front of the door blocking Via’s path. He looked at her, his eyes cold and serious but not threatening. “I know you can’t help to get in my head. So before you tell me to get control you should learn some yourself.” He began to move out of the way and stopped looking at her once more. “Oh….and stay out of my head.” With that he opened the door, and waved her in.

[Sighlent]

I'm not the villain here...

Apart of Via wanted to believe that the remorse she felt was genuinely her own but as his words kept reverberating throughout her own it was hard to make heads or tails of what exactly belonged where and to whom it belonged to. She did understand, the way he thought. Hell she understood perhaps better than Jake himself actually did, it was just hard. He didn't know what it was like to hate yourself for no reason, a hatred that she wasn't even sure could be justified by the multitude of good things that WARP did for the city. He made them out to be monsters, but weren't they all?

"Believe me if I could Jake I would," she said softly as she stepped through the doorway, the scent of burnt metal and sweat assaulting her nostrils. "But that's easier said than done. After all how does one turn off something that they were born with and have lived with every day of their entire lives. If I had the choice of being you rather than me...despite your evident...issues....I'd choose you any given day."

x

[Kestrel]

No sign of a breaking dawn at all. Inside and outside, water poured everywhere. It had been raining forever. Nowhere was forever free of the reign of clouds, and where these fell apart was where anything would be drenched. Miniature rivers forged together and moved through the uneven texture of the streets; walkways, drainpipes, roofs. Anything. And in these little twirls and streams, circles were drawn by the raindrops that met them.

Nobody walked these streets. A few ran to shelter. But only one man sat outside, leaning against his new best friend; the leftovers of a building that through it all offered him protection. But the ruins could never stand against all of the water. His tall army boots were starting to turn darker and his parts of leather jacket suffered the same fate. In-between his lips a cigarette rested. The tip was sheltered by the man’s free hand and the smoke tried to escape his palm. This little fire was his second companion for the night and he would keep it alive no matter what. Or so the lighter in his other hand proved, after reviving the sparks for eleventh time.

His third companion remained silent. It had rested its head on the floor and waited. The ghost of a beast was not bothered by the hazardous weather; the rain fell straight through its almighty body. Although… In actuality its body was but a mere mist that trebled the man’s sight, a reflection of the moisture. Its manes solved in the air, its physique trebled further with every drop of water and was moved slightly along sides the wind. The lion never would appear visible without some material help. It was dependant of and therefore affected by.

And so the foursome consisting of a man, a slum, a light and a ghost, waited through the cold and the storm. Anticipating a fifth companion, that would soon make its way through the various alleyways into the meeting place.

This had been Leith´s yesterday.

But a morning sun rose high above the rooftops. Though his coat hadn’t dried yet, his helmed head had cleared and a new day had begun. Even so, Leith could not help but remember what his newest contractor had told him; “They break the law to uphold the law. Isn’t that funny, Raiju? Isn’t it hilarious that a crook like me must come to someone like you to protect the rights of a common man?” It was a phrase that had stuck with him during his whole ride.

The man had burst out in laughter, but Leith had not understood why. All he knew was that this was going to be a big fish to reel in. He had been sent to secure lives before, skirmished with super-villains and heroes alike and dealt with the former on business occasions. Leith was not unfamiliar with WARP or the Mavericks either. But never had he expected to meet with them on more personal grounds. Simba did not understand why his companion spent thought on this. The lion cared little for any battlefield for that matter. “A prey is a prey, a hunt is a hunt.” Were its thoughts, not marked with the single hint at doubt or confusion. Everything was all so very straight-forward for the beast. Any gazelle was a sufficient meal. Leith had learned to adopt this mentality. It was a pleasant one to live by, albeit a savage and animalistic one at times.

One boot left on the ground, the other on the doorstep, the man found himself at a small building amidst the industry terrain of Fountain Head. Fumes towered and blocked the sky, much like last night’s clouds, and spread an unpleasant smell. Tinkerers lived in these aromas and carried them everywhere they went, as would Leith soon enough... And a tinkerer it was what he was searching for today.

He entered the mechanical workshop and was met by a heavily cursing female voice. A raised eyebrow went unnoticed under his goggles as he instinctively caught a flying object that had been slung at him. A small tyranny took place within the room and ended with a wet shower as the pitcher and owner of the voice knocked over an entire water reservoir all over herself. This foulmouthed klutz could not be a professional. She was fooling herself.

The men in the room laughed heartily, much to the frustration of the girl. One of them than made her saving grace and escorted her to another room. It was only then one of the workers noticed Leith in the workshop. He tore his eyes away from the soaked little being and hurried towards the potential customer. “Hey, what can I do for you sir!?”

Leith nodded in the direction of the girl. “Does she work here?”

“Who? Ana?” He twisted his neck in the direction he was pointed. Although it took him a couple of seconds to tear his eyes off the physique and return his attention to the man in front of him, to answer him with more than slight hesitation. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“I see.” With a last glance at her face, a smooth, round and embraced by wet light-blonde locks figure. Her make-up had taken a hit also, and that which previously intended to make her blue eyes look brighter and larger was now running down her cheeks like beige tears. ‘Ana’ recorded his mind. Leith wanted to turn back to the man, but one thing forcefully had grabbed his attention while he had studied her face; a small marking that had now been revealed, a scar just below her right eye.

“I am here with my motorcycle; it has been starting to make noise since yesterday night. Figure it’s got something to do with the rain. I was told that you guys do a good job for a reasonable price. It is tough to find a reliable mechanic these days, you see.”

“Well, we’ll take a look at it first, mate. You got it with you?” Leith replied to the man’s question with a nod. “Sweet. You got transport back home? We got some work to catch up on if it needs fixing.” Leith confirmed again. “Sweet. Leave your contact de-”

“Leroy!” The man who had escorted Ana to the other room yelled out loud. He had just come out of the door and was already back in business, without paying much attention to his customer that was.

The mechanic who was helping Leith raised his own voice to overcome the conversation across the room. “Oh you’ll have to excuse the boss. Nicolas’ very focused on the job. As I was bout to say-” But Leith had already been busy filling out the form and put his details in the man’s hands.

“Taken care of.” He nodded towards the slightly surprised mechanic. He shoved the wrench he had caught before across the table and made his announcement to leave. “I’ll take her to the back. When can I expect a call?” And seconds later, he had left the store.

As soon as he had created enough distance between himself and anyone’s eyesight, Leith took the fire-stairs up one of the taller buildings and climbed all the way up. From there, he leapt forwards. Paws hit the ground at where otherwise his hands would have landed and no second later an immense, blue feline darted off the roof, leaping from the one to the other out of the industry as soon as possible. There was more to be taken care of than just a repair today…

[Bird of Hermes]

"Gawddamnit. Where is that blasted no-good beau?"

No one answered. The girl, who had let herself in, lay on the floor of Nicolas D'Angelico's shop annoyed. Why in hell was he always so damn late?

"Well, Hack," she said to herself in a thick cajun accent that was strange for this city. "Guess I better get 'ta somethin' useful 'round here."

The young woman sat up and the dim old incandescent light hit her features while casting rusty shadows on the vacant room. Her thick chestnut brown hair dragged the ground in braids as she lifted her voluptuous and curved body from the floor. Her skin was the kind of peaches-and-cream you wouldn't expect on a girl whose face was more often than not covered in dust and engine grease. Her fingernails were like-wise, holding a deep red polish, but having dirt under the nail. As for her clothes, they couldn't have fit her better. She wore a leather corset that showed off her waist and baggy cargo pants that, well, didn't. One hazel eye said "deep-south stunner", and the other, hiding behind a lock of displaced hair and a steel shut lid said, well, we'll get to what it said later.

Natalie "Hack" Le Bourgeois was a southern belle wrapped in grease and wielding a wrench.

She sighed and picked up her brown coat from the floor and dug through the inside pocket before throwing it on a wooden chair in the corner, patting off the dust from its many belts and pockets and the fur collar. She looked dejectedly to the old copper watch. Fifteen minutes late now.

Hack scoffed and grabbed a wrench from a nearby cluttered table. She needed to make some adjustments before tonight anyways. Her arm wasn't working as well as it should.

Time for a tune-up.

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