War On Crime

Azuma teleports away from the gunner, appearing near Mimiru and Luna. The gunner aims to take fire at them until their Kazam fires same eye lasers, melting the gun into slag and shoulder checking them without much in the way of restraint.

Mimiru: "Sounds like a plan."

"Our first stop should be to ask if she saw where Grapevine went."

*Luna points up to Artemis.*
================================
*Grapevine is still doubled over in the alley, clutching her stomach. She's probably got some sick in her hair.*

A"Are you okay? It sounds like you're throwing up."

Th"I'm not & I am, in that order."

A"What's the problem?! Are you under attack!? How can I help?!"

Th"It's not--you can't--just forget it."

Without warning, Azuma grabs the two by the arm and teleports to the roof Artemis is on while Kazam takes off elsewhere, a job not well done while the police and various other emergency personnel arrive on the scene.

======================================

On a rooftop somewhere in the city, Inquiry stands across from an a scruffy dirty blonde male with five o'clock shadow who looks like he just got off work from a job he doesn't care for with his wrinkled collard shirt with loose red tie and wrinkled trousers underneath a beige trench coat, both puffing away on a cigarette as if they don't give a crap about cancer. Aeka eyes the other male wearily, apt to bisect him on a moments notice. The one in the beige coat speaks with a fairly heavy Welsh accent.

???: "Always the rooftops with you costumed lot. Why not meet a pub like other folk? You don't need to drink to at least meet there."

Inquiry: "How many were sent by Malkovich?"

???: "First there's the Furious Five, although they're gonna need a new name at this point. Wouldn't worry about them unless Kyle wants to post bail if they don't end up sent to some other country for trial. Then there's Momba, Pyrox, Straight Shot, and Kali."

Inquiry: "Kali is in Manderlay?"

???: "Sure is, mate. I hear you two have a history of bumpin' uglies and not in the way most people would enjoy."

*Artemis jumps at some assholes appearing right in front of her.*

L"Where is Grapevine?"

A"Uh--I saw her go into that building, then she flew out & landed somewhere in that alley."

*She points.*

Azuma looks over the ledge into the alley as maybe he'll see the Abominable Plant Woman, but mostly so he has an image of where to go otherwise they may end up teleporting and being stuck in a wall.

Azuma: "Then we should collect her and get out of here."

*Everyone stares at him blankly.*

L"...And?"

A"Yeah, you're the teleporter, what do you want me to do, use a hang glider arrow?"

Azuma: "Business as usual. Hold hands or get left behind. I ain't making a dozen trips."

Presumably everyone holds hands so as not to get left behind and he teleports to the Botanical White Supremacist.

Azuma: "We need to get go--ew."

*Artemis looks around & tries to wipe her shoe off on a wall.*

A"Did some homeless guy throw up all over the place?"

Th"No...."

L"Is this your vomit? What happened?"

*Thiera whips her head around to glare at Luna.*

Th"The former contents of my stomach are not what's important right now! So shut the fuck up about it already!"

*Luna steps back, raising her hands.*

L"Whoa! Okay. We're cool. Everyone's cool. Let's just all relax & get out of here."

*Displaying her most metrosexual power yet, Thiera produces water & lather from the plants at her wrists & begins cleaning the vomit out of her hair.*

While this is the fruitiest thing ever, there are more pressing manners to attend to. Like not getting arrested.

Azuma: "All right then. On another note, we need to go before the cops starting searching the area."

He waits for someone else to grab her because be doesn't want to touch The Amazing Throws Up on Herself Girl.

*Glaring at Azuma, Luna takes Thiera's hand.*

L"Oh, quit being such a baby!"

Azuma: "I only got one hand that isn't palm deep in plaster, not like some monster broke my damn arm not that long ago."

With everyone presumably holding hands or at least linking arms, Azuma teleports them to a rooftop above them and keeps going for a couple blocks until it becomes too straining and he has to stop being he makes like Thiera and throws up everywhere. And with his mask, that'd be the worst thing ever.

Azuma: "All right, I think we're clear. Anyone care to recap or are we set to go our separate ways and pretend we don't know each other?"

*Artemis snickers.*

Ar"I think this is what we call irony."

L"Weren't we supposed to be questioning this woman?"

*She points to Artemis.*

Ar"Yeah, I'd like an interview. I want to join the Grapettes, or whatever it is you all call yourselves."

L"Do you think we're Grapevine's side-kicks or something?"

Ar"Wait, you aren't?"

*Thiera shakes her head, as if she were daydreaming.*

Th"...What? Oh--yes--we should leave. I don't want to talk about it."

Azuma: "All right, we'll drop Arrow on the streets and scatter."

Ar"It's still Queer Arrow. And how will I get in touch with you again?"

L"I have to admit, she WAS helpful. Maybe we should form some kind of alliance of super friends."

Azuma: "Not if that's what we're going to be called. So before we start brain storming team names, we should figure out if we can even tolerate each other on a consistent basis."

L"We've joined forces multiple times, in fact it's the only way we can seem to capture anyone bigger than a basic street thug. Grapevine has healed you multiple times. Hell, even the new girl managed to distract that big guy who was pounding my & Strong Arm's heads in. At this point, what's your problem with the rest of us?"

*Thiera looks around as if searching for an escape route. Artemis moves a bit closer to her, wringing her hands anxiously.*

Azuma: "Twice. By chance encounter."

Rather than go on about old articles about The Patriots and where being a team got them, he waits for someone to say "Let's go home."

L"So? That doesn't address anything I said."

Ar"Couldn't we just communicate through your blog?"

*Thiera jumps slightly, as if surprised anyone noticed she was there, before looking at Artemis.*

Th"Wha--oh, yes, I suppose so, yes. Let's do that, then, yes. And then leave."

L"Are you sure you're okay?"

Th"Fine."

Azuma: "Right."

Mimiru: "You have a blog?"

*Thiera does not appear to have heard her.*

Ar"How do you not know that?"

Mimiru: "Don't go surfing for blogs."

Ar"All of the news stories that mention her talk about it. Don't you people follow the news?"

L"Well, no matter, you know about it now. It's called The Grapevine. That is one way that Grapevine & I communicate. We've also been known to just call each other."

Mimiru: "Right."

Azuma: "About that leaving? Before sunrise."

L"Yeah, yeah."

Ar"Actually, I wanted to--"

*Queer Arrow reaches out to Grapevine, but she turns away & launches off of the roof, spreading her wings without another word. So she looks to Specter instead.*

Ar"Did I do something wrong?"

L"I doubt it. Something's clearly bothering her, but if she doesn't want to talk about it, what can we do?"
-------------------------------------------
*Before heading home, Grapevine swings over the area where she was fighting the armored freaks. If the police have already started investigating there, she leaves the scene alone. If they haven't, she decomposes her plants & disperses the remnants into the atmosphere. Either way, she heads back to her dorm next.*

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Presumably they dump Artemis into the streets, metaphorically speaking of course and all head to their own homes and nowhere else despite it being in some of their best interest to maybe see a doctor.

The next day, anyone watching the tube or listening to the radio gets to hear about multiple casualties in what can only be gang related violence with four suspects being members of the Furious Five assassin group being detained.