Sleepless in Steel City (open to all)

Joe had taken a fireball with his shoulder to protect Spider Girl. That was so cool! Jemmy forgot all about taking Joe's fireproof power away. If the fight was going to be this exciting, then she would let him keep it.

"Who knows?" Jemmy said to the balloon. "He might come in handy."

Although Joe was fireproof, there was still the matter of the pyro's now fluid body. He was essentially insubstantial, and would be very hard to take down. However, the pyro now had one huge weakness: one that Jemmy had not foreseen. If it used against him, this fight would be very short.

The pyro himself looked a bit confused. How was the kid able to withstand a fireball?

He ran towards the two heroes, flames spewing off of him all the while. His arms would turn into whips of flame and lash out at their ankles.

Joe smiled as he readied himself for his rematch against the pyro. But not a smug grin or a toothy smile filled with bloodlust, but a genuine smile. Most would see the events that had transpired this night as enough to turn a sane man to the bottle. But a rush of excitement flowed over him like a splash of cool water. His good friend adrenaline brgan pumping through his veins making his wounds almost insignificant for the time being. Although with every movement a tinge of pain could be felt.
Fixing his arms into the Philly shell defensive position his mind was already trying to concieve away for him to walk away the victor."To be honey ma'am, she just up and told me. Something's up with that girl. And I should be thankin you, so I guess we'll just call things even."

Two flaming whips lashed at Joe's ankle, striking his glowing self but passing through him and not leaving even leaving a singe. "I'm gonna go ahead and keep our friend busy. And if you would be so kind as to figure out away to put him out. I'd appreciate it." and before she could reply to him, he had transformed and reformed in front of Vic, with a three punch combination of punches to his midsection. Every blow passed through him however, which confused the glowing orange teen.

"Could he always do this? Must've been Jemmy." he queried to himself while he began to circle his new opponent. This new revalation didnt affect Joe too much though. For his plan from the beginning was to serve as a distraction, and a new plan was already forming in his mind. He just hoped it coincided with Spider-Girls.

Meanwhile the beast was panting hard but still had fight left in him. He gave one more lunge at Spider-Girl, with his mouth open wide hoping to have the Spider between his jaws.

A night off... Exactly what Raith needed one night off. No criminals, no tragedys, no preventing, and planing. Raith's name got around in the underworld some called by his real codename others had dubed him as the angle of the streets some even thought he was a former pyro himself trying to repent for what he'd done in the past. Speaking of guilty did'nt even begin to describe how he felt but one night of rest could'nt hurt right? I mean you have spidergirl and other heros in steel... Not to mention all the villans but he made a promis to himself and he was going to keep it but he needed somthing to preocupy him. So a nice flight would'nt hurt right? He slunked out the window of the small building he aquried after his mother died and took flight. After takeing off a small tear rolled down his pain filled cheek. He turned around went back inside and grabed the only thing he realy cared about. the only picture of his mother and him before he had wings. He flew back out looking at the building and taking a mental picture. Then lifting his arm and shooting fire balls straight at it.

Aint no rest for the wiked, so the heros of steel can be sleepless.

He went flying and coasted at the speeds of 200MPH. He was going to patroll the docks tonight there had been reports of a muder there last night. The victim was beat to death with a tire iron. Several other deaths like that had happened in steel over the last month in the same area relitivly close to the location. The location being the bus stop...

He sat ontop of a building across the street and watched as a shadowy figure was sitting on the ground at the bus stop. He watched all the events that had happened hear and finally decided to entervine. He flew at the speed of 73MPH at this "pyro" sending his foot out first. He was just about to make contact with the meta-human but was caut by the "dog" that Spider Girl had thrown. Whatever she had thrown was hurling to the ground Raith however bounced off the thing. starldeled and spooked he lost controll and was now about 10Ft. Over the bay he could'nt stop and he knew if he got drenched he couldnt fly. He needed help and fast...

Jemmy almost couldn't believe her eyes. First, Spider Girl had thrown the wolf-man at the pyro, showing an impressive amount of strength. Next, a stranger with wings had come flying in out of nowhere to help. And less than a second later, the stranger had been intercepted by the thrown wolf-man. Together, the odd pair had flown right through the pyro, catching on fire in the process, and went hurtling towards the water.

Jemmy couldn't help but break out into hysterical laughter. Suddenly, she loved this plane. If fun things like this were going to happen, then she planned on staying for a long time.

The pyro was not so enthused. It took him a second to reform his body after being broken through with two bodies. He realized as Lupe and Raith headed towards the sea that he was a bit too close to the water. The pyro started moving away from the water and closer to the city itself.

It seemed that neither he nor Joe could hurt each other. What a strange problem. He decided it was better to go for Spider Girl. With her head on a plate, he was going to make the boss happy. Besides, nobody knew who "Joe" was.

The pyro ran towards Spider Girl and stretched out his arm like a snake. His arm would continue to chase her wherever she went, then it would grab her by the throat and burn her alive.

Through the corner o his eye, Joe would notice an odd shape making its way towards he and the Pyro from the evenin sky. The shape soon took human form and realized that it was a young man aroubd his age with wings that was making its way to the altercation. For a brief moment he thought it to be an angel sent from the almighty one to strike down with righteous fury anyone foolish enough to attack one of God's children.

But the lack of angelic clothing, halo and blinding white light dashed his thoughts. He groaned. "I shoulda stayed in Tennessee . he stated to him self in low grumble. He assumes that this newcomer was another foe and began to rack his brain to figure out a means of defeating him as well. Until said newcomer collided with the latter half of the shape shifting duo and rocketed through Vic, turning themselves into a flaming ball of fur and feathers. the last Lupe brother let out howl after howl which decreased in intensity as he slowly reverted back to his human form. When he finally reached the ocean he was unconscious and floating face up.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Those were two less opponents to worry about at least for the time being. All that was left was the power granting ten year old a fire-man he was in a stalemate in. Another small groan left his mouth While he watched Vic reform himself and then sprint towards Spider-Girl. "Sorry sir, but I can't let you go that way!" he was already right behind his foe who only had a small head start, while devising a plot to end this mess. Remembering what happened when the werewolf passed through him, he assumed he could simply do the same and distract him long enough for Spider-Girl to escape or douse him out if he couldn't lead him to the ocean. He hanged his form, almost perfectly resembling his smokescreen, passing through the pyro before reforming in front of him and jabbing at the pyro's now whip like arm, and then he began to jump through Vic's body, striking at his head before each pass.

Now this was interesting, Jemmy thought. Joe was snuffing out the pyro. A combination of his smoke powers and his fireproof nature was weakening the gangster. It seemed that every power had a price to pay. As far as Jemmy was concerned, the fight was done. It was only a matter of time before they dumped water on the pyro, who seemed stuck trying in vain to reform his constantly dissipated body.

Jemmy ran up to where Joe was running through the pryo and stood in his way. "Well done, everyone. The fight's over now." She snapped her fingers and both Joe and the pyro lost their gifted powers. The pyro reformed into a physical body (a very badly beaten one) and lay unconcious on the ground.

Jemmy looked up into Joe's eyes. "You two have impressed me. You and Spider Girl. So I'm willing to make you an offer. I will give you extra powers, and in exchange, you'll be my little toys and do what I want." She held out her hand for Joe to shake. "Do we have a deal?" Jemmy knew that many mortals wanted power. She hoped that this would be enough to tempt the two heroes into joining her.

Her red balloon was floating in the air about 30 feet above her head. It was still in the fog, so it should remain unnoticed.

"Well done, everyone. The fight's over now."

The little girls' words floated in Joe's ears and danced in them. They sounded so sweet to him for some odd reason. His body started to relax at the snap of Shivering Jemmy's shaky fingers, watching as his fiery foe resumed his former appearance and collapsed in front of him. With what seemed to be every muscle in his body no longer tense, and the adrenaline exiting from him, he followed suite. His legs began to wobble and gave way to gravity and his own exhaustion. His wounds from his fight with the Lupe Bros. had begun to clot up, but were throbbing with pain with every beat of his heart. Landing on his backside hard, he quickly braced himself with his hands to prevent himself from hitting his head.

As Jemmy's large blue orbs she called eyes now had to focus downward to meet Joe's gaze, he listened to her words. Her promise. Her pact with him. It took him time to completely understand her words. They made perfect sense to him, but he kept imagining that his sister was the one standing before him, promising him "powers" in exchange for him being her "toy". With that mindset he would have easily shook her hand and agreed, but he came to his senses. Giving himself a quick look-over he saw his was no longer glowing orange. His previous contract with her had expired apparently. Well I know she can deliver what she says at least... but I don't know about that toy business...And she just turned a junkie to attack me...

The decision to accept or decline her offer weighed down him. At least he could hear his sister...Jemmy out. She was just too small to be completely evil, could she? "My Pa always told me too look at the fine print before I sign. And I got some questions for you. Like just who are you?

If he was going to get into another one of her contracts he at least wanted answers. And this would also give him a change to rest for a moment in case she had one more plot up her sleeve.

Oh dear, Joe seemed to have fallen down. His frail human body couldn't deal with the injuries he had taken during the fight. Poor Joe. Jemmy almost felt compassion for half a second. Then she realized she could use this to her advantage.

"I told you, I'm Jemmy. I'm not supposed to say anything else, but I suppose you need a better answer. I'm Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade. I'm a princess of Chaos, and I'm here on vacation."

Her shaking hand stayed in front of Joe the whole time.

"I want you to be my servant, Joe, my toy. If you say yes, I can heal you from these wounds and give you any powers that you want. Think of everything you could do with my power! Isn't that what you want? To make an impact on the world? To have people respect you and like you? Just shake my hand, and I can give you paradise. Don't be so untrusting. I don't know you either, remember? But I'm trusting you."

OT: Go or wait for James? His post will only consist of him landing back on land anyway.

Jemmy had finally revealed her true intentions to the young boxer. She wanted a servant. Some poor sap to do her bidding and probably kneel to her every beck and call. Joe did not particularly enjoy the prospect of being some ten year olds butler. No matter where she was from. Which according to her was a place called the Shallow Brigade. The location rang no bells in his mind but it had to be some form of monarchical government if she was a princess. Although he decided to believe that fact. After all that had happened he decided that anything was possible.

After Jemmy finished her offer, Joe thoughtfully rubbed his abdomen where he ha been slashed earlier. It would take weeks or months to heal. Which equaled weeks to months of inactivity and vulnerability. Both of which were not desirable for the new reside nod Steel City. But the healing was the only desirable bullet point in her proposition. Of course he desired power. All humans desired power. But the difference between Joe and most others was that he wanted to obtain his power the old fashioned way via hard work. Obtaining power through a little girl would make any victory shallow and meaningless to him. But he was sure that following Jemmy Wouk provide more than enough experience for him. And she was just a little girl. No matter how much power she had, he just couldn't let her loose on the world by herself. He gave a deep sigh. He had almost made up his mind on his decision bit wanted to ask one last question before giving his verdict. The last thing he wanted was to to look back on this day and regret not asking something.

"Why do you need me as a bodyguard of all people? I ain't all that special. Even compared to other meta humans. I'm sure you could find some big gorilla man without walking two feet round here. But you are right I guess of you're gonna trust me I gotta trust you. But I just need to know what exactly I'm gettin into here. Cause last time we spoke I was a neon sign and had a flaming gang member fighting me.

Raith was falling and was expecting that cold stinging sensation of water. It would weaken his flame's and destroy his wing's. So as he was just about to hit the water he closed his eye's and prepared for the coldness of the water until he found himself back on land. He looked up and it was The Spidergirl. He got up and was going to offer his hand to her and thank her properly. Until he looked over and saw the villan colapes and that made him ballistic with rage. The hand he had extended welled up with fire and he shot a fireball right out of it. It hit the wall and shattered like glass.

Are you serious... I just almost got put on the shelf for a lost cause fight!

His look went back to the cold caculating look he alway's had. He studied the group. A Bald guy, The webstar herself, and some kid. This made Raith double take he was shoked at the young girl. He just stood there looking disaproved at Spidergirl as the other two conversated. Finally he broke his silence.

Hey Spider I know you like endangering kid's but is'nt a nine year old a little young.

This was a direct refrence to the spider socitey. He had investigated many muder case's where some teen had dressed like her and went out to play superhero but ended up dead. He was thankfull she had saved him but was far from fond of her work.