[Private, Freeform] Smoke in Spring

[Just_Ice]

The City of Vollmar was normally considered by and large to be a safe place to live. It was a bit of a boring place, if one was to compare it to other metropolitan areas, and rarely the focus of much crime. That was soon about to change; as the haze of night covered the sleepy riverside city, evidence of the sinister development that had come about was quite visible in a particular alleyway...

An errant moonbeam that struck a broken bottle served as much of the light source of the secluded spot. In its illumination, two dark figures were cast against the wall, the shadows of two ne'er-do-wells in the process of an interrogation.

"I'm sorry, Miss... uh, Pattel," the first voice spoke, "but I'm afraid 'dat despite what you is sayin', we never saw the money come back to us. You told us ya knew the risks when you came to us guise for money. Apparently we had a bit of a mis-communication, right?"

The other shadow's voice replied in a very low voice. There was a cold air to this one, and not a speck of respect to be heard.

"We don't have time for any more of this. She signed the contract and we never got paid. If she's not going to tell us where the money's gone, I think it's really gone. We gotta do things the ugly way; Go get the icebox, the scalpel and the saw from the truck, Red. I won't kill you, Ms. Pattel, but that's only because there's another way to get paid."

What followed was a wretched wail and pleading to the opposite- pleading that the men had been paid back, that she hadn't cheated the loan sharks and she could pay them again. Subsequently a sound that was like a rubber band snapping was heard, with more sobbing. The low-voiced man didn't need a gun or weapon to keep her in check- a well-placed slap had the middle-aged woman on the ground.

As Red moved brazenly to the beat up old truck, an overhang of moss seemed to substantiate right at the top of the nearby rooftop... the two men were about to meet a new citizen of the town.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Pumping herself up, the mysterious would-be heroine speaks to herself:Alright Maya. You know what you're doing. You have the training to handle this, and that woman needs your help. Now just go down there and save her!

Taking a quick stock of what they have on them and noting nothing obviously dangerous, she leaps off the rooftop rolling silently off a soft patch of grass that used to be dirt. She stealthily approaches the first assailant, who is watching the woman he so recently floored. Wrapping her arms around his mouth, she attempts to wrap him up and Immobilize him in vines that rapidly grow out of the cracks in the poorly maintained concrete beneath him.

[Just_Ice]

The element of surprise affords the mysterious woman a quick takedown of what would normally be a formidable opponent. As the snake-like weeds coil about him and trap him, he does attempt a futile struggle and to bite his restraints, but as Maya herself silences him, he is rendered harmless- he has no recourse but to wriggle and regret his slow reactions. Now that a large man is in her custody, our newly-transferred botanist vigilante is given a moment to breathe in the alleyway before hearing the slam of a nearby car door- it seems the other fellow is coming back.

With only a board, a dumpster and the two others on the ground to keep her company, Maya must think fast to be ready for Red's return!

[TheOneTrueGod]

Noting the forms on the ground and regretting the relatively little safety it looks like it provides, Maya gets an idea.

Giving a glance over to the woman she gives a 'shush'ing motion with her hand, and hopes she has seen enough movies to know who is on her side and who to listen to. Looking around at the ground beneath and around her, grass begins to grow through every crack and crevice it can find in the concrete, rapidly reaching several feet in length. Hoping it can grow thick enough through the ground specifically designed to keep it at bay, she falls prone to the ground and into the embrace of that which she understands best, and then waits in ambush.

[Just_Ice]

About a dozen seconds later, an audible muttering of disbelief, namely "what the hell?" met the grassy little nook.

Confused, Red put down the miniature icebox before tentatively stepping into the grass. The loud shuffling made it child's play to locate him, but the grass was not yet tall enough to cover his larger, struggling friend.

"Eustece, what happened?" he asked the bound man, who replied with little besides a muffled yell.

It's possible that if it was daytime, Red would have noticed his partner in crime pointing to maya with his eyes, but he had no such luck

[TheOneTrueGod]

Red's stomping gait broke through the grass fairly easily even as it steadily grew around him. But once he stood still and gave it a fair chance to grow, it weaved around his boots.

Waiting until she suspected the grass was plentiful enough to hold his feet to the ground, Maya looked to the other end of the alley where a root was quickly breaking through the concrete, making a rumbling sound until it knocked over a small metal garbage can that was sitting beside the dumpster.

Hoping that the man would try and investigate and trip, she readied herself to jump on him and hold him down should her assumptions prove correct.

[Just_Ice]

It didn't take a heck of a lot to trip up Red. Startled by the trash can, he stumbled forward only to trip himself. His unlaced work boots came right off his naked feet and he tumbled chin-first into his partner. Although he'd dropped his weapon, he was technically free for now. He used this opportunity to panic, standing up and flailing his arms at the darkness, far from anything important.

"Aaagh! Take this, ya devil! You won't take Reddington Stump without a fight!"

Despite his claims, his spinning failed to accomplish much. He began to make a run for it, and the positioning couldn't be better if Maya had drawn an X on the ground for the crook to step into. It was kind of sad, really, and if he wasn't willing to remove someone's organs he'd probably even evoke pity.

[TheOneTrueGod]

With Red in the perfect spot, Maya jumps into action. Springing up, she gives him a swift kick to the back of each of his knees to bring him down to his knees, and then one final kick to the back of the head flooring him.

Jumping onto his back and wrenching his arms into position before he has a chance to react, she quickly releases a vine to hold his hands behind his back while thousands of grass shoots quickly wrap around his body like a thousand tiny spiders, weaving together to lend each other strength. Within moments he is completely cocooned on the ground.

She stands back to admire her handywork and make sure that they won't be breaking free anytime soon.

[Just_Ice]

They're pretty well caught. Wriggle as they might, the plants adapt to their attempts to loose their bonds. Maya truly is the queen of non-lethal take-downs, her all-natural methods beating out all contenders except perhaps Pepper Ann, a heroine who uses nothing but mace, and Non-Lethal-Takedown-Man, at least until that incident at the fireworks factory.

The woman in the corner is still quite frightened, but now for completely different reasons. Superheroes and heroines are a rarity and still actually almost constitute a culture shock. Heck, Vollmar's probably never had a super-powered person, also colloquially known as a "Regent" in the entire history of the city.

The triumphant tree titaness is free to talk to the lady, simply pose and look proud, leave or look into something else she might have forgotten.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Maya does a quick victory dance before remembering that there is a woman who is probably nearly in shock in front of her. She coughs and mumbles something, then crouches down, reaches out her hand and picks a purple rose that just finished blooming in front of her.

As Maya slowly walks towards the woman, small exotic flowers about a centimeter in diameter bloom and let off a soft glow around her. By the time she reaches the woman, the glow is enough to softly light what was once a dank alleyway. Now looking more like a peaceful meadow amid this dark city, Maya feels much more at peace and hopes the woman does as well.

Giving a reassuring smile, Maya holds out her hand to help the woman up and says in a lilting voice Don't worry - you're safe now. I'm here to help.

[Just_Ice]

Seeing Maya's unnatural but benign display, the woman breathes a sigh of relief and cleans her glasses before using the old brick walls of the alley to assist herself to her feet.

Dusting off a very long skirt, she looks at her heroine with awe rather than suspicion and gives a word of thanks to Maya. The woman has rather plain features, a bit of a buck-tooth smile and awkward proportions. For all this, however, she seems to have a brightness, a spark of intelligence and curiosity in her widening eyes. Despite how trying the past fifteen or so minutes must have been for her, it's somehow no surprise when the next thing out of her mouth is a question.

There was no hesitation in Ms. Pattel's voice as she instead approached Maya."Who are you?"

[TheOneTrueGod]

I am Maya - protector of those who are unable to protect themselves. Men like these are like locusts, invading and destroying everything beautiful in one area before moving on to the next. Tell me, how did they come to be after you, and do you know where might I find the hole they crawled out of?

[Just_Ice]

The woman finishes straightening her outfit before answering.

"These brutes are from the lonely bull loan sharks. I don't really know where they come from, but I signed a contract in what looked to be a room with a lot of white machines and strange smells. I paid them the money I owed but they still came after me... I don't know if they'll stop anytime soon and I have to... I have to...

The woman pulls a handkerchief out of her nose and blows into it as she tears up a little. Her crying is soft but heartfelt.

"I'm sorry, it's been a long night. I don't think they'll come after me for a few days but I think I'll have to leave town. I am sorry I cannot stay to chat, but there is work to be done!"

She passes by Maya, the whole exchange maybe coming off as rather ungrateful. Maybe she's got a one-track mind. It's around midnight, but for Maya the night is still young. There is the matter of what to do with the two baboons at her feet, but perhaps Ms. Pattel might want the driver's licence she just dropped on the ground. And, is there any way to find the place she mentioned?

[TheOneTrueGod]

While musing to herself, Maya decides to take care of the easy problem first. She walks over to the two bound aggressors and crouches over them looking fairly serene in the glow from the plants in the alley.
Alright, listen up you two. I don't ever want to see you assaulting anyone ever again, for any reason, or next time I won't be so charitable. as she speaks, the glowing pods begin to close up, one by one, leaving the alley darker and darker. As she nears the end of her sentance, brambles and thorny bushes begin to grow out of the ground around the two aggressors feet, slowly winding their way up their legs, almost to punctuate her point.

After a moment or two of silence, the pods slowly open up and the brambles stop growing and retract leaving only a few bloody scratches and some tears in their pants.
Now, tell me, where would I find whoever is in charge of your little operation?

The bindings over both of their mouths relax and then retract.

[Just_Ice]

Despite the threats, Eustece stays rather stoic. "You seem the hero sort t'me, miss. I'm sure you wouldn't remove my kids' loving father from the equation, especially since I'm just trying to put 'em through college. Besides, my employer has a temper, and if I got him mad he might just take it out o-"

The big man's explanation is interrupted rudely by Red (or is it Reb?) who has just about totally lost it. "I've always believed in the Goddess and chi, fellow Wiccan! I'll tell you our boss is Frederich Dirge, an' he's operating out of the north end, near the river! He owns a bunch of shops down that way and there's a fence named Walter in Walter's convenience, pools, guns and tires! He can lead you to the boss!"

Eustece groans. He'd been trying to cut Reb off for a bit but neither he nor Maya would have any of it. Finally he can get a word in edgewise. "Red, you stupid hillbilly suck. If yer' paw hadn't been so good to us I'd toss you into the crik. What do you think the boss'll do to yer' ma if he finds out you blabbed, moron? All you have to do is keep quiet and ya can't ev-"

Assumedly by this point the two have been quieted again.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Smiling, Maya thanks the apparently superstitious man.
One final question gentlemen, why is he after Erica Pattel even though she's paid him back?

[Just_Ice]

This time Eustece answers. He's a little belligerent, but he's certainly more coherent and well-spoken than his friend.

"I dunno what fairyland you come from, lady, but our boss wouldn't send us out if he got paid. Heh, seems to me you've been played. Our boss doesn't have a merciful bone in his body, but he isn't a cheat, neither."

The more frantic of the two perks up right after.

"Please let us go. We done seen the light from you, an' I'm ready to change my ways! You're like one of 'dem angels for real, miss!"

Eustece rolls his eyes again at the shameless pleading. Given his partner, it's a little surprising he hasn't rolled them right out of their sockets by now.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Speaking only half-at the two, Maya says There's something to this that's not yet in the light yet, that's for sure... But I get the feeling you two aren't privy to that sort of information...
Either way, I need to have a word with your boss. Find a new job - get some honest work. Underworld dealings have no place in civilized society.

Swiftly climbing up a patch of moss that has grown from a wall of the alley, Maya disappears like a rich guy wearing themed pajamas into the night. The moss on the walls retracts to cover her exit as the natural bindings on the men come undone. At each of their feet is a single red rose.

Maya makes her way across the rooftops towards Walter's convenience store.

[Just_Ice]

Eustece crushes the rose in frustration as Red picks it up in awe whilst their assailant steals off into the night. Taking the license with her, Maya jumps or grows vines between the gaps in her way. She's making excellent time when she is forced to stop quite rapidly to avoid a painful tumble.

There's no building to hop to, here. The possible directions our heroine can take are either across a street (there's even a slovenly-dressed pedestrian with a plastic bag in hand) at a stoplight, or a baseball sandlot with very sporadic trees.

After this obstacle it should be smooth sailing, but this sort of thing is why being a hero in a new city is tough. If Oberon was watching, he'd almost certainly be giving his irritatingly shrill laugh.

[TheOneTrueGod]

For Maya there is no choice -- both will get her closer to her objective and one takes her closer to her comfort zone. While most others would probably shy away from the sandlot because of poor lighting and its alone-ness, Maya feels more comfortable with the trees around.

[Just_Ice]

The sandlot, known as "Bill Hicks Memorial Park", is thankfully quite dark. The trees are sporadic and mostly contained to small piles of wood chips, and suburbia does resume after awhile. It seems the lot is accessible from a nearby school-if you had to guess, it's elementary.

As you pass by the small concrete building that houses the bathrooms and who-knows-what-else, you hear two boys conversing around the corner.

"Did you bring it?" asks the first. The voice is low but nasally, as if they're breathing the notes out of an impressively large nose. In monotone.

"Yeah, I goddit, dummy! You just better give me what I asked for!". This voice is cocksure, but quite high. Sounds like a rather small kid.

This is the second sketchy thing you're heard today. The last time crime was so rampant was when you were tracking down the anti environmentalist robot, re-sai-kill. You had no idea kids were dealing drugs this young.

"Sure, I... Wait, no. No, no no. Heheh... Now that I got it, I don't have to give you nothing. I... will acquisitionize the entirety!"

It sounds like a scuffle is happening, and one of them gets pushed to the ground.

"You better gimme that back," the scrawnier one bellows, "Or else it's home run time for you, dumb guy! I'll be the acquisitionize overlord!"

The sound of scraping wood can be heard, as well as the kids' incomprehensible shouting.

[TheOneTrueGod]

There sure is a lot happening tonight... Maya mutters to herself. These kids are not the cause of any crime in the area -- they are just a symptom.

Figuring the best thing here would be to scare them off quickly so no one gets injured and then resume with her original objective, Maya quickly makes a small tube out of bark and grows a small glow pod. Combining them together to make what will hopefully imitate a flashlight, she bulks up her clothes with some plant matter and has roots increase her height and then walks towards them shouting in her deepest voice Hey! What are you kids doing back here? while waving her makeshift flashlight towards them.

[Just_Ice]

Looking at the children, they are surprisingly more startled than scared. You remember seeing an aluminium bat in the smaller boy's hands, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any trace of it now. Instead, he angrily barks an order at you.

"Jack stole my card, he's a criminal! Arrest him, he's a bad guy!"

Jack, on the other hand, rose to his feet quite calmly. He has kind of a dangerous glint in his eye. "That's not a police officer, dummy, she has no gun or badge. Miss, Mayhew here is lying. I found this card on the ground and he wanted it so badly that he attacked me. Normally I would give it to the younger boy since it's just a game, but this card belongs to someone else and I'd like to give it back to him."

Both children have wild, untamed eyes. It's quite unnatural.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Sighing inwardly, and then wondering why these kids are standing their ground against any grown adult when they're clearly doing something wrong in a sandlot in the middle of the night, Maya replies What's so important about this card that it's worth meeting out here in the middle of the night for, and assaulting someone for?

[Just_Ice]

"It's mine! GIVE IT!" the smaller boy yells, jumping on the bigger boy despite the fact that you are right there. He's filled with rage, and is digging his fingers at the older boy's eyes. Jack will have none of this, and plucks him from his shoulders, holding scrawny little Mayhew in the air before headbutting him in the stomach.

Despite being in tears, Mayhew bites and actually takes a piece of of the other kid's ear. In the confusion and bleeding, he kicks Jack's face into the dirt, grabs the card and starts running for a chain-link alley back to the suburbs. He's full of energy and a rather fast runner-you'll have to make use of your powers, surprisingly.

"I am the Acquisitionize Overlord! Yeah!"

You can make out the blood-stained card for a second, one "duddle the dragon". Duddle is adorable in a weird way (he has four mouths) but you're not sure why what just happened did.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Maya ignores the boy running away and trusts that the system will do its job to catch him after the fact. She instead turns her attention to the wounded, left behind boy, and attempts to help him up.

Are you okay? Maya asks

[Just_Ice]

The boy's response is unintelligible. Mayhew is long-gone by this point, those tiny legs carrying him faster than you'd thought possible.


It's not difficult to help Jack to his feet, but it's pretty clear he's hurt by the bite. Upon examining it, it's not so bad, but certainly it's not an ignorable chunk of flesh. You feel a bit helpless; it's hard to justify using one's powers on children for any reason, and that even being disguised as an authority figure seemed ineffective. At the very least, the use of the aluminium bat was prevented.

As hard as it is to bear, Maya did have a plan before this detour. The wound is in no way fatal; she could easily leave Jack to his own devices. That said, perhaps she would prefer to stay.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Though it may be a tough decision, a fight between children isn't something unheard of, and is something probably best left to child psychologists. To make sure he can still think clearly, Maya asks him Where do you live?

[Just_Ice]

Some heroes are callous, but the same cannot be said of Maya. That said, she is not an expert on child psychology. The child mumbles something but points over to a nearby apartment building. It's actually not far off from where she was headed to begin with, thankfully.

At least the incident is over. It shouldn't be long before our intrepid hero can put this incident behind her and continue on to Walter's convenience.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Maya walks the boy home to his apartment, stopping to pick a single red rose that is growing in a small patch of dirt that probably used to be a garden in front of the apartment.

Walking him up to the room he guides her to, she rings the doorbell, and then walks away, leaving the rose with the child.

Hopefully he will not seek out vengeance on his own, and will instead go through the system. And hopefully the system will not turn him out. But that is beyond the help of Maya.

Leaving the apartment, she takes to the rooftops again, seeking out her original destination, all the more perturbed about the state of the individuals in this town.

[Just_Ice]

It doesn't take long for Maya to reach where she's headed. The area in question is a strange mix of clean and dirty; mom & pop stores beside pawn shops next to upper scale barber shops. The cornerstore in question is part of a complex containing a dentist, a marriage counsellor, and a variety of other small services. It's an old boxy building with oddly concave windows- maybe twenty or thirty years old. The whole street is a bit like that, still harbouring some relics like old-fashioned payphones.

From your vantage point, it's not hard to see there are guards. One is holding a machine pistol of some description out in the open, and the other has his hand inside his jacket. There is clearly another man on top of the building- they too are making no attempt to hide, instead looking out and talking into what is probably a cell phone in their hand.

The man atop the building notices you, and instead of firing, calls out.

"COME DOWN," he yells, unsure what you will be able to hear, "WANT TO TALK. DO NOT FIGHT."

The men below take a second but now have noticed you. The streetlight illuminates you to some extent- who said the cover of darkness was perfect? The man who was armed now puts away his weapon and he and his partner open the doors to the building, standing in front of them and resting their hands together at their waists. It lacks a red carpet, but the appearance is one of peace.

It could certainly be a trap, but if it was, it would be a pretty ballsy trap.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Figuring if she's going to walk into a trap she better do it in style, Maya slowly stands up from her crouch, brings her arms out slowly to show she means no harm and to set up, and then jumps off the building doing a front-flip midair and landing perfectly on a small bed of flowers.

Well, are you going to show me around boys?

Maya starts walking in, each footprint leaving behind a small patch of grass and one or two daisies, creating her own carpet to walk along. Bearing a smile, Maya feigns the part of a ditsy schoolgirl and acts impressed as she walks through the place. Her hair colour has changed to be a a bright green, and her outfit has sprouted a bunch of brightly coloured flowers.

[Just_Ice]

The guards outside do not return maya any smiles. One of them has a nasty scar practically blanketing his face, which is not helped by the pimples and divots besides. The other one hides most of their body in an over-sized trenchcoat- even at this range it is impossible to determine gender or height, only that they are built well enough that the sleeves are tight.

If Maya is cautious or impressed, it is for naught; there is nothing special about the convenience store besides the guns behind the counter in a display case on the wall. No one mans the till. Despite the aged look of the place it has been renovated at least once; a sort of "supermarket" aesthetic gives a modern touch to broken tiles and smells of sawdust and spilled dog food.

Two men stand at the back of the store. One is a dark-skinned big-nosed man in a brown leather jacket, and the other is a youth in a hoodie. The youth smiles and leers at Maya before getting slapped on the back of the head. He continues smiling and motions to her that she is welcome to continue into an "employees only" room at the back. Through the door is a small break room and an old man watching tv. He thumbs for the heroine to move through once again while sniffing to himself and drinking a beer she's never heard of before.

The next room over is finally her destination. The windows are shuttered, the ceiling fan is off, and the lights are askew. There's another door at the back of this room, but this seems to be the office. The desk is put aside, and a diminutive balding man with puffed cheeks and a pronounced lower lip is all that awaits her, sitting on a rather plain plastic chair. He's dressed in a cheap blue suit, and he takes out what appears to be gum before chewing it. It suddenly becomes clear that there is no patterned wallpaper on the walls, and if there is a colour it is white.

In his left hand, there is a leash. The leash leads to a tiny dog... It has a pronounced fluffiness, but its fur is dark and its snout is mean. You have no idea what breed of dog it is, but the food bowl it's messily eating out of reads " Rodeo". The dog gives you a bad feeling for some reason despite being cute as hell. Even the tail is voluminous.

There is no seat for you. This is a mixed blessing; you can run if there's any funny business. So far so good: if there is to be trouble, you'll probably have to start it yourself. The man leans forward and clasps his hands together before speaking. He's got a strange accent, nasally and deep. His inflection of "e" is particularly grating, like he's saying "he" or "ey" for every one.

"Good evening, miss. Thanks for dressing up, but I'm afraid that I haven't had much interest in women after I learned my pup didn't, either. My name is Friedrich Dirge, but Fred is fine."

His hands shake a fair amount. Probably not from fear, more likely from arthritis. It could even be an act. He rasps out the next words while his tired-looking eyes are trained on Maya's flowers.

"Speaking of women, I brought you here to thank you from stopping my boys from making a terrible mistake. Upon checking the ledger, we found the woman in question had paid in full. Upon investigation, it seems old Curly in the back had been causin' problems by counting on his fingers again. He has an awful time not doin' it. So we decided to make sure he'd never feel that temptation again."

As if on cue, a slam and a scream erupt from the back room. The wizened old crook in front of you simply frowns. "It hurts me to do these things, miss. Really, it does. Now, what would you like as a reward for saving that sweet lady and her research?"

[TheOneTrueGod]

Maya's bright voice sounds completely out of place in this fairly bland room, but it brings with it some colour, making it feel less alien. Keeping up her impressed facade, Maya says;

Hello Fred. How nice to finally meet your acquaintance. I've heard that you are the man with the most influence in the area, and that's something that I can respect. People have to be able to fight their way to the top in order to survive. I came by to talk to you. To find out who the man behind the power was.

Maya pauses for a minute for effect, and takes a small look around feigning interest in the bland surroundings.

I was wondering... what did that woman need so much money for that necessitated men being sent after her in the night?