Breaking Down Beatdown (Neko & Goodbottom)

Victor chomped down on the steak in the small barbecue restaurant
Patrons viewed him chomp down on the big piece of meat, no fork or knife in either of his hands. He looked crazy with his face covered in the blood of the medium rare slab. A young man walked up to him in uniform for the shack
He looked concerned and began to speak to Victor.

"Sir, you're scaring the other customers."

"Urhuhruh."

He managed to get out a small bit of.. something. Meat chunks flew everywhere as he tried to get out some words to the employee. A few seconds later, he was out on the side walk, face first in the ground. He rubbed at his face as he rose up. The massive bartender in the shack had picked him up and thrown him out! Well, he'd show hi- No, Vic. You can't go down that road. You made a decision to help people, not start fights in shacks over chewing too hard. It was my fault for trying to go at it that way. Accept it. Breathe.

He closed his eyes and exhaled. Vic managed to keep himself from throwing the bartender the bird and clenched his fists, walking off. He put his hands on his pockets and started walking down the street. At least he hadn't had to pay for the steak... He walked into the downtown area.

As he entered the city, the night came. The city was engulfed in darkness, with the street lights stopping the onslaught. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Movement on a roof. He didn't have the greatest reflexes, but this guy wasn't being the most subtle. An amateur. Attempting to rob a jewelry store... Could gain Vic some rep...

Diane meanwhile, was slowly getting accustomed to the modern world. Carrying firearms openly in public had been one of the big problems, especially trying to enter private establishments. A novelty that helped her cope was the abundance of street food vendors, or as the cowboy referred to them, "chuck wagons."

She helped herself to an apple pie, on paper plate and a wooden spoon, because plastic is evil. "That's mighty fine grub ya made, this apple pie is de-lightful."

"Gee... Thanks Tex." The stall owner said, rather taken aback by the extremely convincing cowboy buying apple pie from her.

Then it all changed when loud noises and flashes of light down the street caught Diane's attention. She had taken but a single bite, when trouble had reared its ugly head. "Ah shoot. Could you hold this for me..." She turned to the vendor, but she had very quickly gotten into her food van and driven off. "...Hey where ya goin?"

Having no choice but to leave her pie and coffee on a bench, the gunslinger made her way over to the scene. Quietly.

Sitting in some bushes and sneaking over for a closer look, It was a ground floor jewelry store at a mall that had just closed for the night, but some lights were still on. Two goons outside in 'combat gear' and balaclavas served as ground floor lookout. They carried strange, glowy boxy weapons. Some type of firearms that the cowboy wasn't familiar with definitely. Three more associates were inside, quickly filling up their loot bags with jewelry. A man in a suit was cowering in the corner, the thieves repeatedly threatening him.

A sixth man was on the roof out of Diane's sight, to provide overwatch. The cowboy decided to wait until they were all out of the store, loading her repeater rifle with bigger bullets. This would get ugly very quickly if mishandled.

It was a simple enough plan. Sometimes the best way to send a big message was to do something small. He would have to find a good hero for the job. Someone small, someone who was strong, but small. Someone who wouldn't cry out and shake the heavens with their voice, just someone who could whisper out into the world and send the message to a few who would listen. Starting too big would kill the movement in its tracks.

Of course, this was a question of who? Who would it be? The answer was rather easy. If anything, there was a big hat to choose from. In the end, that's what he did. He got a big hat, filled it with names, and pulled one out. After the target was chosen he spent a few days keeping an eye on him, making sure he was, in fact, small. And he was, at least Eli considered him to be. He was small and pathetic. The perfect source to send the message. To spread the world. All that was required was the when. When would he make his move against this guy? What was the right moment?

After a night or two of trailing the man, the opportunity presented itself. Tonight, much to Eli's luck, was a night that a random band of fiends decided to rob a jewelry store. An old fashioned crime in a new-fashioned world. It was the perfect situation that could catch fire. There weren't many of them, but there was enough for a distraction, it would give Eli enough time to wait for him men to gather.

With him, he had Mimic Me and Doppler, but he still needed the others. It would take a few minutes for them to arrive, but he should have enough. "Should" was the keyword. Eli would have to keep his distance in the meantime. He was sitting on a bench in a park that was across the street from the situation. Mimi sat next to him while Doppler was lurking in an alleyway, though kept in line of sight with Eli. The two couldn't be too separated after all.

Now, in the meantime, all that Eli could do for now was to wait.

Beatdown approached the shopping mall and clenched his fists. He snuck around, one building over from the mall and proceeded to.... Test something out. Vic changed into the Beatdown getup and messed with his hair to get it looking unkempt. Or more so than it already appeared. A couple walked past the alley on the sidewalk to see this occur and sprinted away the direction they came.

Now to boost himself. In the crash, his powers were activated by damage. Same with the cafe. So all he needed was a little damage.

"Alright. Here we go."

Vic would slam his knuckles into the concrete wall with everything he had. The bracer on his arm kept this from shattering his arm, but his knuckles did start to throb beneath the glove. He'd gotten a good amount of power, enough to kill a man in one hit. Or knock out a few in one hit.

Vic had never fought more than one person with his powers. He had mixed martial arts skill, but this was on a whole new level of snazzy. Beatdown ran around the building toward the mall, his fist balled up and ready for action. The two guys at the front were skinny. Weird guns, but guns didn't really matter to him. He had powers! What could guns do!

Beatdown ran at the gents head on screaming a battle cry that would strike fear into the hearts of men.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

As he did so, he'd leap into the air, his fist raised high above his head, muscles rippling with power! As Vic came down upon the men, he'd shoot his fist out toward a robber.

With the 2x multiplier on the damage he has received, he simply did a 1/2 power punch which would make the damage output the original damage done to his fist, plus his own strength. This would essentially be twice his normal strength since it's just him punching the wall with his own strength plus his own strength. This would most definitely be a K.O. on the first goon.

A crack rings out throughout the area as he lays down the hate on the robber. However, there was another right next to him. One that just experienced his battle cry and their buddy getting knocked with enough force to move a car.

JEWELRY STORE

"AAAAAA-" The battlecry echoed over the communicators of the robbery group barely slowed the pace of the looters, until they had filled their bags with sufficient dosh.

"Sal, we got trouble on the roof. Our lookout just got cleaned." One of the looters said, not breaking pace till he filled his quota of precious jewels.

"That'sss our sssignal to bail. Go and keep the outssside clear." 'Sal' pointed to the door, and the looting was now at an end. Time for their get away. She headed over to the window, and with almost no effort crawled up a drain pipe up to the roof deck.

= = = = =

O U T S I D E

Diane walked out into the open and approached the lookouts. Yes, walked up to them and talked to them, her oe hand still on her holstered piece, the other holding her repeater on her shoulder.

"Alright you varmints. Put down the... whatever it is your holding, and turn yourselves in."

The lookouts were not particularly impressed. They actually laughed out loud.

"Hey look, Maurice! We got ourselves the Lone Ranger."

"Oh no. Whatever will we do." Maurice responded with scathing sarcasm. Then pointed his laser blaster at her. "Lady, you just gave up your one chance to shoot us. You must be the dumbest vigilante in town. And about to be dead."

"That ain't the honorable thing to do. As a Texas Ranger it is my obligation to give ye fair warnin' to come peacably. Or we will have trouble."

"Nice knowing ya, Tex." They had lowered their guns for just a split second, and raised them in another to aim at Diane's direction. In the time it took them to blink, Diane had drawn, fired from the hip, and blasted the guns out of their hands.

"OH FUCK! OH FUCK!" the first robber was lucky, as the bullet struck the gun itself, the laser weapon now on the floor. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Agh... my hand!" The second one, Maurice, lost his trigger finger, and was quickly running away, spilling blood onto the sidewalk.

"Thought so." Diane glanced up. The headlights of a van speeding towards her made her evacuate the sidewalk. "Dangnab-" Diane leapt into the nearby bush, diving out of the way of the van.

"GET IN! GET IN!" The two lookouts quickly sprint into the getaway car, the driver blowing the horn to signal the ones on the roof to haul ass. He shoots his laser weapon into the bushes where Diane took cover, keeping her head down, her bullets doing little damage to the van considering she was firing blind.


= = = = =

R O O F

In a world of metahumans, it paid to keep one's calm and keep focus on the threat infront of you. After all, one incapacitated teammate meant one less person to share the payoff with.

The man's trigger finger was pulling, and the laser rifle hummed and glowed to life, pointed in Beatdown's general direction. Point blank, the energy weapon would flash-broil whatever it would strike. Beatdown would have literally a fraction of a second to react...

Meanwhile, 'Sal' made her way onto the roof to survey the situation. She saw a metahuman and one of her lookouts knocked out cold. Fine, one less share to give. The other lookout was probably not going to last long, maybe at least enough to get a shot off.

Down below, the getaway van had already came in. Sal decided to cut her losses and join her crew to get away.

Eli’s foot tapped against the sidewalk, his entire body bounding with the motion. He was grinning, though there was a slight annoyed look to his face. He could hear the fight going on from his bench, he could see the flashes of light from gunfire, and with his improved eyesight he could make out a few of the folks in the encounter. No one quite notable…

But it still was action he was missing out on. It all looked so interesting. He wanted to see how the heroes and villains were going at it, how brutal each party was getting…and more importantly, who would be the bearer of the message. The hero seemed like the obvious choice, but…well, there was still a lot of factors which went into it. Though there was little he could actually do. He did have Mimic Me and
Doppler, and they were quite efficient together, but there was only so much they could do. He needed Clockwork or Blight to do the damage he needed. Polaroid would be useful too when they needed to get away.

Though, he wanted to get to the action now.

The gears in his head turned, faster than his foot tapping. It felt like steam was going to come out of his ears, though his expression would not falter. He kept working out scenarios in his head of the proper action to take, the proper method to go about this, or if he should at all. There had to be someth-

His eyes wandered to Mimi. She was showing off a face to Doppler, who was always easily impressed with her tricks. Her new form was perfect. It was exactly what he needed. It provide the perfect means to make their approach. At least, the perfect approach to the do-gooders. Doppler and his clones would take care of any further danger.

Moving quickly, the three of them moved to the side entrance of the building, wanting to avoid the main fight. They would have to cautious. Once there, Doppler began to multiply, from one, to two, to four, to eight, and then to a grand total of sixteen. One would take Mimi, borrow her knife, and use her as a hostage. Mimi, of course, was disguised as an elderly woman, frail and weak. Someone who could never fight back. Ten of the Doppler clones would make their way up the roof fire escape, wanting to get involved with whatever action was going on in there. And the rest would enter the mall and while they were still a good ways from the jewelry store, they most certainly could hear the action in full swing.

The group inside the mall began to move in, starting towards the sounds of the fight.