Now, did you read the news today? They say the danger has gone away...

[purgation]

WHO: Lunatic, Anita King, Kay Faraday, Annie Leonhart, John Mandrake, Kotetsu Kaburagi, and Barnaby Brooks Jr.
WHERE: Around Heropa, De Chima, and Nonah.
WHEN: Between the 12th and the 18th.
WHAT: Lunatic has been spotted and it's up to whoever is in the area to stop him from executing criminals! Will these heroes be able to silence the voice of Thanatos, or will the criminals' sins catch up with them in the end?
WARNINGS: An idiot in a clown costume with a twisted idea of justice, a destructive tag-team of professional superheroes, and a motley crew of teenagers...so probably language as well as violence and OTHER SHENANIGANS. This can't end well. (Mentions of child abuse are also present in the starting write-up.)
NOTES: The log start is written in action-style prose (minus the brackets) but feel free to respond however you guys prefer! I will match your style!


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, HEROPA

---

In the case of Agatha Harwood—a 51 year old woman who died shortly after being rushed to the nearest hospital in late August after she had been struck by a drunk driver—a witness has finally come forward.

Last week, a local business owner (who has chosen to remain anonymous) identified 17 year old Fabian Lowe, the son of wealthy lawyer Raymond Lowe of Lowe & Downs, as the driver responsible for Harwood's death. Purportedly, Fabian's father's money is the one thing keeping the teen in school and not behind bars where many of his peers feel he belongs. (And you thought money couldn't buy happiness.)

But Fabian doesn't look happy today. In fact, he looks anything but as he follows the students pouring out of Heropa High after the bell has sounded. Where his peers are making haste to meet friends, catch buses, or head home to study—as not every teenager is a delinquent—Fabian wanders in the direction of the school parking lot where he has been ordered by his father to wait for him. Despite that, it is the end of a day just like any other, or it would be, but to the trained eye, or more importantly, the eye trained upon the educational facility's rooftop, something is clearly amiss.

There, against the fiery backdrop of the sun, a man stands in costume, the lidless eyes of the mask he wears ablaze with a brilliant blue-green fire. In his hand he holds a crossbow, a loaded bolt within it aimed toward the school parking lot.

No...at a student. At Fabian Lowe himself.

In a ghostly hollow voice, the antic phantom announces his intentions:

"Thanatos has seen into your callous heart, Fabian Lowe. Your sentence has been decided. The time has come...to atone for your sins."



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, DE CHIMA

---

Since Tuesday, reports of Lunatic sightings have become rampant. The vast majority appear to be centered around stormy De Chima, the hometown of 42 year old Art Sheridan, a retired boxer whose career came to an abrupt halt sometime last year when he was involved in a drunk driving accident that claimed the life of his 6 year old daughter, DeAndra, and caused $6000 worth of property damage in the downtown area.

Released recently from prison and on probation, Sheridan has been making attempts to put back together the remaining pieces of his life, though he has reportedly made no attempts to contact his ex-wife, Dominique, whom he blames for DeAndra's death. (Rumor has it, Dominique was an abusive mother and DeAndra had called her father using her mother's cell phone after her mother had threatened to burn her with her cigarette for misbehaving. Sheridan had gone straight from the local bar where he'd been drinking at the time and had taken his daughter from Dominique—but what is a rumor worth really...? Our resident vigilante in a clown mask doesn't think much of them, that's for sure.)

Speaking of...it isn't until just before sunset that Lunatic reveals himself. Opposite a rundown tavern, the same one Art had left a year ago, he watches from up high atop a billboard as the middle-aged man wrestles with the idea of going inside for a drink. When Art's fingers touch the tavern's door knob, Lunatic raises his crossbow and his eyes blaze.

"An impenitent man is he who chooses to repeat his mistakes. Repent now, and hear the voice of Thanatos!"



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, NONAH

---

The moon has risen.

Blair Hollins, a 23 year old data entry clerk, is speeding away from the scene of her hit-and-run at an alarming rate when her car rear-ends another in the middle of a busy intersection. Miraculously, the young woman scrambles from her vehicle mostly unscathed and even manages to stagger through traffic and to the city sidewalk without coming to harm.

Even more incredible is the vodka bottle she is clutching in a murderously tight grip, its contents never spilling as she shoves her way through crowds of people all-to-eager to get out of the way of the woman stinking of alcohol and screaming profanities at the top of her lungs.

Work hard, play hard—that's what they say in Nonah, but it appears Blair has taken the city motto a little too far. As she races into an expansive park, citizens rush to call authorities and Heroes alike to put a stop to her drunken raving, but it is Lunatic who arrives first to the scene.

He has witnessed everything for himself tonight. There is no question in his mind that she deserves the punishment he is about to dole out...

Comments

[lyingheart]

[ Annie didn't think - she acted. She shot one cable forward, pulling herself bodily out of the way through a half airborn half run forward, slamming into Blair and pulling her back behind a series of trees. The bolts passed closed enough to get a sense of their passing. ]

[purgation]

[Blair let out a shriek as Annie slammed into her, lacquered nails—long as cat's claws—raking at the young Titan's hands and hair in resistance until she'd caught sight of the flaming bolts whizzing past them. Instead of becoming less hysterical, however, the woman flew into more of a rage, sloshing her vodka everywhere, kicking and screaming...and the absurdities coming from her mouth!

She seemed to think Lunatic and Annie were in cahoots, put up to this charade by her cheating husband—but the only thing Lunatic was up that moment was keeping a close eye on Annie and anticipating to the best of his ability where her gear would be forced to land her. And once she touched down...he was upon them again, or above if one preferred.]

"There is nowhere to run. Repent for your sins!"

[lyingheart]

[ Annie ignored the words, not even wincing at nails drew blood (and lines in her flesh healed themselves with small wisps of steam). She shoves Blair behind her, concentrating on turning to face Lunatic as he comes up on them. She'll try to deflect whatever's incoming, once she has a sense of what it is. ]

[purgation]

[What was delivered was another scorching rain of blue-green fire before the vigilante dropped out of the sky and blasted himself towards Annie and Blair, a hand outstretched as if to seize the crazed woman.]

[lyingheart]

[ Alcohol sloshes on their clothes as Annie shoves Blair out of the way, the woman stumbling and stunning herself on a tree for the moment. It's long enough for Annie to toss up a shield in front of Blair, a mentally taxing effort she's not even sure will hold. She shoots one cable across the pathway Lunatic is traveling, to force him to redirect or hit the cable. ]

[purgation]

[He has little choice but to redirect which ultimately costs him his crossbow, the weapon knocked out of his hands by her cable. For that, Lunatic is determined to make Annie pay for her quick thinking with some of his own. He hasn't any idea of how durable her cables are, but they provide a direct line to her...one he sets ablaze with a well aimed shot from the palm of a gloved hand.]

[lyingheart]

[ The fire shoots straight down the cable, hitting Annie's hip even as Blair regained her senses and stumbled forward, out from behind Annie's shield. She can't see it, anyway, lifting up her bottle and slamming it against the nearby trunk, still shouting and crying. Annie half turns back her way, but she has to deal with the fire first, one that's possibly superheating equipment even as it makes the leap to her arm and side.

There's no real time to think around the searing pain. Annie doesn't need additional trauma to trigger the shift, an explosion of heat and air and light engulfing her side. Blair stumbles back two steps, pointing her broken bottle Annie's way. Annie's pulling herself away from the pass of flesh, looking awfully like a giant hand, that's appeared. But it's not fast enough without her blades, and with her concentration unable to shift her shield to accommodate the mobile Blair. ]

[purgation]

[Annie's titan power—never before witnessed by Lunatic—is truly something to behold, but it does not give the vigilante pause. As soon as he realizes she is having difficulty dividing her attention between his fires, her shields, and Blair, he sees opportunity and seizes it. She is capable of healing her burns, so he does not douse his fires, but neither does he allow them to engulf her, either. He does, however, turn his aim upon Blair singularly as the woman bolts for another tree farther away from the both of them.]

Is this your idea of justice, Annie Leonhart? How futile...how weak.

[The inebriated woman goes down as the heel of her shoe catches in the dirt and snaps off. With a simple gesture of his hand (too simple for such cruelty) Lunatic hurtles one last ball of fire her way. The woman's scream rips through the park as she catches ablaze, glowing bright blue-green like some kind of hideous holiday tree, but Lunatic turns away as if he cannot hear her at all.

While her body crumples to the ground still burning, the vigilante casts a glance in Annie's direction.]

It's over. You've lost.

[And by the sounds of things, he's getting ready now to make his exit...]

[lyingheart]

[ Annie knows she's too late for Blair the moment she starts to scream. His fire burns too fast for her to waste time wondering what if when there's nothing she can do - she's not a healer, she could only end it faster, and she doesn't even have her blades.

But she's separated from that titan sized hand now, the flames on herself suffocated in the process... and if there's nothing she can do for Blair, so be it.

Annie uses her good hand and cable to shoot at Lunatic, hitting his upper left arm and tearing through. It isn't over until it's over. Sort of. ]

[purgation]

[Lunatic lurches forward first with the impact to his shoulder, and then back with the retraction of Annie's cable, his feet leaving the ground. There is a distinct hiss of pain and a grunt when his back hits the grass, but thereafter he is focused only on reaching with his good arm to try and remove the thing lodged deep within flesh and muscle tissue.]

[lyingheart]

[ She's moving as soon as he's teetering, using her connection to the cable to yank on it again, hoping the pain is distracting enough. He's down for the moment - no idea how long, and he outweighs her, she can see that, has greater reach and height and the whole shebang - but while he's down for that moment she can focus on bringing her heel into play, slamming it down on his mask because she can't get a convenient angle on his neck.

It'd be so convenient if it were enough to stun him past use of his fire, but regardless, he has too much protection to knock out. ]

[purgation]

[The pain is certainly distracting, the second yank coupled with Annie's foot driving down upon his mask causing spots to dance before his eyes. But what the girl doesn't know is that Lunatic's fire is strongest when his emotional and physical states of being are compromised...

Before she can bring her foot down again, Lunatic rolls to the side and seizes her ankle with his good hand. The eyes of his mask blaze brightly—but he hesitates. Remembers that this girl is a friend of Jayden's, and he can't kill her however much he wants to...not yet, at least.

Settles instead for hauling her down to his level using all the strength he can muster in one arm alone and hopes that of the two of them? He's the first one to his feet again.]

[lyingheart]

[ She goes down, going with the motion and rolling as she hits the ground, coming up again as smoothly as one can when it came to moving with vertical maneuvering gear. He's hesitating again. Annie doesn't know why, but it's apparent to her in the choices he makes in his actions.

She doesn't have the same hang-ups, but she's not gunning to kill, either. It's a problem they're both facing, and she can't believe it's because of that save you for last bullshit, even as she grabs on to the cable connected to his arm and pulls as she tries to force him into close combat. If he's going to hesitate to burn her, she can see how far she can push that hesitation. Blair can't be helped, but -

- maybe something could be. ]

[purgation]

[He's to his feet again quite quickly, but the effort required is one that taxes his stamina. While physically fit, Lunatic is definitely not used to enduring heavy-hitting close-quarters combat. His breathing has changed—probably a product of bleeding so much—which only grows worse when Annie jerks the cable again.

It's reflex that causes his heels to dig into the earth, legs bracing against the young woman's strength—reflex that brings his good hand to the cord, fingers tightening around its girth, arm twisting so that the length of rope wraps around his wrist granting him leverage. He ponders only for a split second the possibility of snapping the damn thing with his flames (how many times has he done the same to Wild Tiger and Barnaby?) but uses it instead to pull Annie towards him.

The girl's face is off limits (he has standards, even if they are totally screwy standards) but her sternum is most certainly not, and a well-placed knee there might slow her down some. Might. She's not human, after all.]

[lyingheart]

[ Except that she is so very, very human in the end, and no ability granted by this Porter in this world can make up for that fact. Annie twists as she's pulled in, redirecting the force of his knee to the side, taking some impact indirectly. She can't afford a direct hit, but the turn she executes ends with her driving upward into his mask again with her elbow. ]

[purgation]

[There is a resounding craaaack and, coupled with the cool rush of air against his cheek, Lunatic knows what it means. It's happened only once before, fragments of his mask falling away like so many shattered pieces of glass. Is it due to some flaw in the design? Or simply in his own handiwork? Or, more frightening, perhaps...is it because of some flaw in his idea of justice, one that is vulnerable when pitted against the unwavering wills of other people?

No...that's just silly.

But it makes one thing abundantly clear to him. In that moment, regardless of how careless or dangerous it is, Lunatic pulls from his arm Annie's cable—one second it is deeply embedded in his flesh, and the next it isn't. Blood spatters the ground and Lunatic staggers back. He needs to get out of here...and fast.]

[attainment]

[This isn't what Barnaby had expected to come across en route to the porter.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's perspective), the near-kidnappings over the weekend had put him and Kotetsu on high alert, and the two had remained in their suits for the duration of their train ride. His helmet's HUD swiftly gives him all the information he needs -- Lunatic, the all-too-familiar sight of green and blue flames devouring a corpse, and--]

Annie!

[Without stopping to hash out a plan with Kotetsu (he expects to fall into step with his partner as seamlessly as always), Barnaby activates his powers and uses his thrusters to blitz toward the scene.]

Having Lunatic exit here...

[purgation]

[There is but one way to force the girl to keep her distance without killing her, and Lunatic doesn't hesitate to implement it—following the neon green tracks across his costume, Lunatic's fire rises. With his ability to control it, the flames will not burn through to his skin, but will instead act as a barrier between him and his adversaries...at least until he vanishes. He's done it before, disappear seemingly into thin air, swallowed by the blue-green inferno he controls, and as Annie and the approaching Heroes look on, he does it again.

In his condition, it's the only exit he can make that will get him away fast enough and with all the appropriate cover.]