Shoot Out (Saturn)

A man wearing a dress shirt drenched in sweat ran through the campus, carrying a briefcase. It had been such an easy plan, he thought. How could it have possibly gone so wrong? There wasn't even a real police force that he could call anymore. And if he called in those HIVE ninjas that ran this town, they would punish him just as badly as the mob would.

Maybe even worse.

The man stopped to rest against the side of a dormitory, breathing hard. In the light of a nearby lamp post, he caught a reflection of his face on his watch. He looked terrible. "Jazz, old boy," he said, talking to himself, "if you get out of this, you are never running again. It's an all-around terrible idea."

But the sound of webbed feet approaching made Jazz wish he had spent more time running in years past. He was coming. The boss! Sure enough, a short humanoid duck walked into the light of the lamp post. The mob boss was wearing his typical suit and trench coat and fedora. A Tommy Gun was cradled in one of his wings. The large duck stared at the frightened and exhausted Jazz for a few seconds before offering some parting words.

"Quack quack quack. Quack quack, quack quack."

Jazz shook his head. "No, please, Mr. Quackers. I'll give it back. I'll pay you extra."

But Mr. Quackers was not interested in making a deal. He leveled his Tommy Gun at Jazz. Jazz stood up and rolled up his sleeves, dropping the briefcase. "Fine, but I won't go down without a fight."

Quackers began shooting an unlimited supply of bullets, waking up everyone in the area. The human gangster clapped his hands together, and disappeared. Quackers narrowed his eyes. Jazz had an ability that was quite troublesome. But it didn't matter. Quackers would win in the end.

Jazz had used the school's wireless internet connection to email himself to a student's computer, one in a different dorm building. Emerging from the computer, he pulled out a pistol, opened the window, and started shooting at Quackers. The humanoid duck responded by unleashing another spray of bullets at the open window, and Jazz emailed himself again.

The ensuing battle between the two gangsters was certain to result in innocent harm or even death. Someone needed to put an end to this, and soon.

Kristen flew past the campus that night on a particularly slow patrol. There wasn't a shade within a 10 kilometre radius, it seemed. She was debating returning to the tree when she flew over the university campus in time to hear the sound of spraying bullets echoing off the walls of the buildings. She landed on the roof of the main hall to get a closer look.

"What the hell..." she muttered as she saw an anthropomorphic duck locked in a firefight with someone up in the dorm buildings. She didn't sense any supernatural presence from either party, so she assumed they were normal meta-humans - well, as normal as meta-humans could get. The firefight was likely to get some mundanes in trouble, so Kristen thought it best that she intervene.

Summoning her forcefield, bright light washed over her body, enveloping her completely. She took off towards the conflict, positioning herself directly in between the two parties. Any gunfire from either side would have no effect on Kristen due to the power of her forcefield. Hands outstretched at each fighter, she spoke, "Enough. It's obvious that neither of you have enough decency to take this where many innocents will not be involved. Seems I'll have to take care of both of you." Shades were predictable and easy to handle, but humans and metas? Different ball game.

Both gangsters stopped shooting. Who was this? Another superhero? Were there still any of those around?

Quackers laughed. "Quack quack quack quack quack?" He assumed that his crystal clear message would be translated without fail to this flying vigilante. Didn't she know who he was? He was the mob boss. How dare she dare suggest that she was going to stop him?

Still, that force field could be a problem. What he needed was a hostage.

"Who's making all that noise?" A little voice carried across the campus. Quackers turned to see a child, a girl of about 10 years old, rubbing her eyes and walking towards him. The girl was Shivering Jemmy, Lord of Chaos. She had been on the nearby roof, vigilantly waiting for some crime to happen, so she could stop it. She had waiting for 10 minutes before falling asleep.

Perfect! He turned his Tommy Gun on her and issued a bold challenge to Kristen. "Quack quack quack quack, quack quack!" If she made a move against him, he would kill the girl.

Jazz had a similar idea. He grabbed the recently wakened student from his bed and put a gun to his head. He was already busy trying to ditch Quackers, and he certainly didn't want to fight a superhero. "Just take care of the duck, and leave me alone, or this guy gets it." The student cried out for help. "Do as he says, I don't want to get it."

The little girl, meanwhile, was taking in the situation. She looked at Kristen. "This could get ugly. I'll handle the duck. You take care of the other guy. You'll need to be fast, but not too fast. He's out of bullets."

Jazz felt his blood freeze with terror. The girl had noticed? From all the way over there? He scrambled to reload, releasing the college student, who bolted out of the room.

Jemmy faced off against Mr. Quackers, taking a mock-combat stance. It was time to kick some duck tails. "Come at me, bro."

Kristen's face went from courageous to deadpan in 3 seconds flat. Okay, she knew that it was likely the duck couldn't speak English well, but she didn't think he wouldn't have bothered to pick up any English at all. It becomes a necessity when the whole city you live in speaks it.

When the girl appeared, Kristen thought it strange that a person of such a young age be out at this hour. Another meta-human perhaps? Yet Kristen sensed something different from this girl - a strong, permeating chaotic presence. Even though the duck-man aimed his gun at the girl, Kristen was confident that the girl could probably handle him. Her calmness and ability to tell the state of the other gangster's weapon from such a difference confirmed this. Kristen nodded in understanding before she dashed through the air and up to Jazz in one quick movement. She would then shoot out her hand, using telekinesis to move the bed in the dorm up to him, pinning him to the wall. If he would escape, Kristen would fly out of the room to look for where he would appear next.

Meanwhile, Quackers... quacked angrily at the taunt, raising his Tommy Gun and opening fire on the girl. He hardly cared about the Nephilim and Jazz anymore - as long as they both took each other out, he was fine with it. Now he just wanted to kill this girl for her insolence.

Jazz cried out in fear as the bed moved on its own, pinning him against the bed. His hands fumbled, but he was able to hold on to this gun. Flight, force-fields, and telekinesis? Just how powerful was this girl? Jazz knew he had no place trying to challenge her, but with the speed she was flying at him, he wasn't about to sit here and wait for her to catch up to him. After all, you just couldn't tell with heroes these days. Some of them would kill you on the spot in the name of justice. Now, perhaps that was uncommon, but Jazz had never been very lucky.

"Email Sent!" Jazz disappeared. A few seconds later, he pulled himself out of a laptop screen two stories below and several rooms over. The student in this room somehow wasn't awake. She must have had some heavy-duty earplugs in. The lights were out, and the shades would block Kristen's view. Jazz tried to catch his breath. Hopefully Kristen wouldn't have ESP, and he would be able to evade her detection, at least until he could catch her off guard and take her out. He finished reloading his gun and forced a grin. A few seconds later, it disappeared. Maybe Kristen didn't know where he was, but he didn't know where she was, either. Should he look out the shades? It would be a dead-giveaway of where he was. He sneaked his way into the hallway. A few students saw him coming and started running back to their dorms, slamming the doors. Jazz slapped himself. Well, she knew where he was now.

He pulled out a small flash grenade. In a small room or a hallway, it should be enough to blind Kristen for at least a few seconds. With her concentration broken, and her force-fields hopefully therefore disabled, Jazz would try to put a few bullets in her. As soon as he saw her, he would set it off.

Back outside, Shivering Jemmy faced off against a very angry duck man. She didn't know who he was. She didn't know that he had the power to shoot his gun forever without ever needing to reload. All she knew was that he was a duck, and she could beat up a duck.

The bullets started flying. They were too small and fast to see, so her telekinesis would be useless on them directly. Instead, Jemmy conjured a huge metal shield, 10 feet tall and 4 inches thick. With the shield directly in front of her, Jemmy was relatively safe, but she couldn't see her opponent. With a telekinetic shove, Jemmy sent the shield flying towards where Quackers was at about 50 miles per hour, intercepting bullets as it went. "Eat this, Quack Attack!"

It wasn't until about then that Jemmy noticed she was bleeding. One of those bullets had actually hit her before her shield had gone up. Bullets were fast, and they hurt. Jemmy felt the burning sensation disappear as her wound healed itself. It would be best if she could avoid as many bullets as possible.

Kristen blinked as Jazz spoke before he disappeared from the wall. 'Weird ability, this one has.' she mentally muttered, taking off back into the courtyard to get a view of where Jazz might've disappeared off to. Unfortunately, the shades and drawn curtains concealed Jazz from her view until she heard a disturbance coming from further within the walls of the dormitory. 'There he is.' she thought, nodding to herself briefly before flying through a window and sliding into the hallway where Jazz was as the flash grenade went off.

'A flashbang?' Kristen grinned to herself - the enemy had just unwittingly given her leverage. She summoned two Smite Gauntlets around her hands and forearms, grasping at the light created by the flash grenade and using it to enhance her ability. With the light now absorbed and sight restored, the still-cloaked figure of Kristen's form gazed levelly at Jazz, hostile light energy licking at her forearms.

"Unfortunate for you. Running will do you no good, your weapons don't work on me and I can absorb your flash grenades. Surrender now and I'll spare you the beating before I lock you up. Harm any civilian and a beating will be the least of your worries." the last line, however a threat only, was spoken with a malevolent tone. In truth, Kristen had no intention of killing Jazz, and would rather intimidate him into submission than legitimately injure him. Although she was more than willing to do the later.

Meanwhile, Quackers was met with a huge shield headed in his direction at a blinding speed. "Quaaaaack?!" he shouted in rage and confusion as he tried dodging the shield, only to half dodge it and be thrown backwards a bit. How dare that girl try to maim the great Mr. Quackers, mob boss of Jump City? He got up and quacked again in increased anger, this time shooting and running around her at the same time like... well, a mad duck.

Jazz felt his jaw drop. That flash bang had been his trump card, and it had made this girl even stronger. He thought about his options. He could continue to run. Maybe he'd be able to lose Kristen and retrieve the briefcase.

Something Kristen said troubled him, though. She certainly didn't seem like she was from the League of Assassins, but she mentioned locking him up. If she really did work for that monster, the man who currently owned all of California, then he had no doubt that she certainly could and would lock him up without so much as a trial. But if she wasn't...then it was a bluff.

"Alright. I'll give up if you can answer me a few questions. Are you in the League of Shadows? And if not, just how do you plan on arresting me? Where will you take me? Who will you report to? Basically, are you a dog, or are you just a kid playing hero?"

He was hoping that her answer would a kid playing hero. He lowered his gun, but didn't drop it yet. Kristen's answer would determine what he was going to do next.

Meanwhile, Mr. Quackers' aim seemed to be suffering the more angry he got. That was good for Jemmy, but bad for anyone else. Jemmy bit her lip. She wanted to prevent a wild spray of bullets, not cause one. She decided that she knew what needed to be done. She allowed herself to get hit, but not in the head. An oversized helmet protected her face. She didn't think she'd be able to handle that. A dozen bullets tore through her body, and Jemmy dropped to the ground, seemingly dead. Blood covered most of her dress. In reality, she had healed from the wounds a second after she had been hit, and was no longer even feeling any pain. Ouch, though. That had hurt. This duck was a very bad person if he was willing to hurt people so much, and Jemmy was going to teach him a lesson because of it.

All she needed was for Mr. Quackers to walk over to her to inspect her 'corpse.'

Kristen dispelled her Smite Gauntlets, but not her forcefield, when Jazz said he would surrender if questions were answered. The longer she had them activated like that, the more powerful they would charge, and at some point it would've gotten to the point where they were powerful enough to kill Jazz at point blank range. Vanquishing demons was one thing, but killing humans wasn't something she could bring herself to do in earnest. 'Unlike a certain someone I used to know...' Kristen quickly discarded that thought.

"League of Shadows, you say?" Kristen had heard a few fragments about them, but wasn't really sure as to what their goal was. "No, I do not work for them. Had this event occurred a month ago, it's true that I would have nowhere to lock you up, since the city jail is likely in shambles. However, this is happening now, and as of recently, I have been accepted as part of the team known to many as the Titans United. Therefore - I suppose if I had anywhere to lock you up, it would be there."

Kristen's eyes widened a bit at Jazz's last question. "I assure you, human, that I am no dog nor a child in over their head. I am Nephilim, a member of a proud warrior race of the angel's descendants. Normally I wouldn't have time to intervene with mundane quarrels because I'm otherwise occupied vanquishing the shades that your quarrels create. However, such shades are scarce this evening. I merely intervened because you were recklessly putting innocent lives at risk through the process of your quarrel. Not to mention, I needed something to do."

"Now if you've had your answers, it's time for me to bring you back to the base." she stated, now looking for something in the hallway to fashion handcuffs with.

Meanwhile, Quackers had seemingly defeated Jemmy. That girl had some powers though, so it was only safe to move closer to check to see if she was really dead. "Quaaack?" he muttered. Was she dead? He still saw her chest rising and falling with breath. "Quaaack??" he quacked in confusion. She was still alive? Impossible! Quackers raised his Tommy Gun at the girl again, but whether or not he would start firing in time all depended on what Jemmy planned to do next.

She wasn't from the League? Jazz let out a sigh of relief. She was apparently a member of the Titans United, which surprised him. He thought the Titans United had gathered to help defend each other from the darkness in this city. But now that he had essentially been defeated by one of their members, he was starting to think differently. The name 'United' suddenly seemed to carry a sense of strength. Could it be...that they actually meant to stand against the HIVE?

Jazz was deep in thought for a moment, and it made him miss most of what Kristen was saying, but he got all the important parts. Half-angel thing, not a dog. Yep. Window Shades. Yep. Back to base.

Jazz nodded, holstering his pistol. "I'll come willingly. There's no need to tie me up or anything. I want to go to your base, but I need my briefcase. It's very important that Quackers doesn't get that back." He looked her in the eyes. "I know I've given you no reason to trust me, but the world is in danger. We have to get there quick, though. Quackers isn't the only one after me."

Outside, Jemmy waited as the duck man approached. Before he could shoot again, she disappeared, teleporting 50 feet into the air directly above him. Hopefully that would leave him confused for just a moment. She would only need one. Conjuring 20 baseballs around her, Jemmy rained them down upon Mr. Quackers as hard as she could. At 100 miles per hour, just a few hits should be enough to knock the duck man out cold. It shouldn't kill him. Why would Jemmy want to kill a giant duck?

Kristen blinked in surprise at this change of mood. When he holstered his gun, he said he would come willingly. Briefcase. Right. Kristen had seen it laying on the ground in the courtyard outside, near the lamppost.

"The world has always been in danger. It's heroes that keep it off the brink of annihilation." she sighed, dispelling her forcefield so only a light barrier remained. It was true, she still didn't trust Jazz, he could have a knife up his sleeve or something so she kept her barrier up just enough to counteract that possibility. However, it was low enough now to see her physical form.

She shifted in her armour, cyan eyes coolly taking in the situation. "Let's not waste any time then." she said, backing away and turning to glance backwardly at Jazz to see if he was following.

Outside, Quackers exclaimed in confusion as Jemmy disappeared from the ground, now hovering above him. Seconds later, he was being pelted by the baseballs. "Quaaaaack!!!" He exclaimed before hitting the ground with a loud thud, fedora flitting down to rest beside him.

Jemmy threw her hands in the air. "Yes!" The duck man was down. Now she just needed to wait for the police to come pick him up.

Jazz and Kristen came out of a dorm, and Jemmy floated down to meet them. She stopped about a foot off the ground, her hands behind her back in an attempt to look humble. The giant grin on her face revealed her true feelings. "He's out, and I didn't have to kill him either." It was just like those superhero comics Jemmy had been reading. Those bullets had hurt a lot more than she had expected, but she was really proud to have 'saved the day.'

Jemmy's eyes narrowed when she looked at Jazz. "Wait, I thought he was a bad guy, too. Now he's..."

"I'm the savior of the human race," Jazz said, self-righteously. He bent over to pick the briefcase off the ground, dusting it off with his sleeve. "You just don't know it yet." He looked at Kristen. "We better get going now. Can you fly me there?"

Jemmy was intrigued. "Going? Where are you going? Can I come?"

In the distance, the sound of car doors slamming shut could be heard. Jazz looked uneasy. Someone was coming, and he didn't want to be here when they arrived.

"I can." Kristen nodded, "I'll need to carry you though..." Kristen added, thinking about how she would go about this. She didn't have any superhuman strength, nor did she have the ability to lift Jazz directly with telekinesis. She quickly ran back into the dorm to pick up a chair, and dropped it down in front of them. She turned back to Jazz. "I can carry you with the chair using my telekinesis while I'm flying."

She addressed Jemmy, "You no longer appear occupied, so that seems fine. That's if you can keep up, that is. We're headed to the base of Titans United. I am a member of that team."

When Jazz would sit down in the chair, Kristen would lift the chair with her telekinesis and take off into the air, glancing back at Jemmy. "You might want to take him with. There aren't any normal police around to come pick him up. He'll either be discovered by whoever runs this place, or he'll come to on his own and escape. We can hold him in at the base until we figure out what else to do with him, unless you have a better method of containing him?"

Jazz nodded as Kristen retrieved a chair. "That will be better for me, actually. Something to hold on to." He sat down and held on as tightly as he could, closing his eyes before they ever took flight. He hated heights.

Jemmy beamed. Kristen said that she could come along, and that they were going to the Titans Tree. Jemmy had actually been there before, once. It was a really cool place, and that nice lady Rainbow lived there. "Oh, I can keep up."

Kristen suggested that Jemmy bring Mr. Quackers along, saying that this city had no normal police force. Jemmy tilted her head. That was news to her, but it was hardly surprising. She could only remember about 1 week of her past. Jump City still held many secrets for her. "Really? Okay. We're kidnapping the duck!"

Mr. Quackers floated off the ground, his unconscious body easy for Jemmy's mind to control. She herself floated off the ground as well, and the four of them took off, flying towards the Titans Tree. Without any distracting gunfire, Kristen would feel an overwhelming aura of Chaos from Jemmy. In all likelihood, Jemmy was the most chaotic being she had ever encountered.

Jazz whimpered. He really hated heights, but he would just have to suffer through it. He made sure his grasp on the chair and on the briefcase never weakened. As they passed a light, he could make out the inscription on the briefcase.  

'MODEL ELEVEN'

At the college campus, two men approached the scene where the battle had taken place. The few college students who ventured outside out of curiosity returned to their rooms as soon as they saw the two figures. Both wore light, sleek black combat armor, with guns on their hips and katanas on their backs. Masks covered their face, hiding their identities. Who they were didn't matter. All that mattered was what they were. Enforcers.

One enforcer pulled out a small radio and held it to his lips. "Looks like some heroes intervened. They took Jazz, Quackers...and Hauges. We will pursue."

To Be Continued...