[When last we left our heroes... our heroes left.] [Well, three of them. Jacky's still there! And so's Redcoat, but she's invisible, so most likely neither Jacky nor The Man knows that. For the moment.] [The Man, despite having a blank face, looks momentarily nonplussed at this development. "Well damn. Didn't know she could do that. I almost feel insulted." He turns to Jacky. "Ms. Hyde. It appears your teammates have abandoned you to my tender mercies."] ( EDIT Jacky knows Redcoat's there ) ["It's foolish to depend on others. Have you considered going Galt?" And around him, debris churns as gravity begins to warp anew...] [Parallel Session Start] * TheRedcoat keeps a tight invisible hold on the windowsill of the empty room she's taking cover in, in preparation for whatever The Man has planned. * Jacqueline 's lips curl just a little as she rests her gun aganist her shoulder almost as if it were a rifle. "No," she coolly says as she takes a step towards him, "No, you're quite wrong--it would, in fact, appear that you've been left here, alone, with me, who is going to make certain you're glowing when you're brought into custody." Those weren't... /photons/ I shot you with, after all--not that children were ever really in the future of an ugly, awkward thing like you. [He barks out a laugh. "I like you. I think we could've worked well together in another life. You know you're better than all of them, and you aren't ashamed of it." He tilts his head. "I won't insult your intelligence with a phony offer to join me. Consider it... professional courtasy."] ["Of course, I'm going to have to grind you into a fine paste and use you to shine my wingtips now. Just business, you understand."] You function on a principal my toaster violates on a daily basis; there is nothing about you I don't understand. [Jacky feels herself rising off of the ground as the air above her warps violently.] [The pull is stronger than before, too great for Jacky to hold on against, sending her accelerating up into the air until she slams into what she realizes is an area of incredibly dense gravity, decellerating her so quickly that it jars her violently, and leaving her to crash back down to the ground.] [The Man shakes his head. "Glass ceiling. Such a shame." His voice takes on a harder edge. "And, by the by, what you apparently didn't understand is just how much more powerful I am when I can focus my attention on a single target. I do so hate class actions."] * Abby 's air kami makes a high pitched whistle and, despite the lack of her presence, everyone can hear it whip over and around the man, cutting at him with high speeds of its own wind. [Side effects of monologuing include forgetting about the attacking air kami. Gravitational protection can mitigate, though not negate, these side effects.] * Jacqueline takes the reversed fall in stride; her force field flares briefly when it has to absorb two straight shocks of kinetic energy, and when she lands she does so in a crouch, which she remains in. Far more pressing for The Man is the volleyball of energy vibrating wildly on the tip of her gun; it was a few stray strands when she went up, a restrained radiance when she hit the ceiling. Yes. Well. * Jacqueline pulls the trigger; her arm shoots upwards with the recoil and the sizable sphere sizzles towards The Man, wobbling ever so slightly along the way. [The Man catches that straight in the chest. His protective field takes some of the impact, but it still leaves his torso smouldering.] Me, too. * TheRedcoat takes advantage of the light-brightness to toss off more grapples and bullets at The Man. [Two grapples and a bullet clip The Man. He's starting to look a bit ragged now.] [Space warps around The Man, extending outward as he tries to pinpoint where Redcoat is firing from, but he can't find her. Turning his attention back to Jacky, he again attempts to drag her up into the air with the power of gravity.] [Jacky is dragged up and smashed down into the pavement twice before she's able to break free and anchor herself down.] * Abby 's kami continues its whistling shrieking attack on The Man, making him suffer the indignities of getting blown around by some wind. Some very sharp and painful wind. * TheRedcoat tosses another round of grapples and bullets at The Man. [After getting buffeted by the winds of the Air Kami and blasted again by Jacky, The Man falls to one knee... just in time so that two grapples and a bullet from Redcoat fly through the part of his hair and over his head.] * Jacqueline , despite a trickle of blood running freely from her nose and skidding along the inner surfaces of her force field, is smiling as she steadies herself... then adopts an easy, almost insoucient posture. "You are one fragile, clumsily manipulator of one fundamental force, one law of nature," she says as she almost casually fires a stream of musical, discordantly colorful energies towards The Man. "Everything that you know, everything that you /do/, I could better before you were even born." [He struggles back to his feet, looking rather shaky. "Okay, that's quite enough of that. This round to you. There'll be a next time." And he teleports away, in much the same manner as the others villains have.] * TheRedcoat rolls her eyes, hangs out the window, and sashes to the other fight. * Jacqueline , with that taken care of, will find an unoccupied car to take to the real fight, because being a scientific genius means being able to hotwire a car. [To be continued as well!]