14223/Earthquake Blues

Earthquake Blues
Date of Scene:	24 March 2022
Location:	Panay Island, Phillipines
Synopsis:	Superman, She-Hulk, and Pepper Potts help evacuate an island in the Phillipines when disaster strikes!
Cast of Characters:	Superman, She-Hulk, Pepper Potts

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Superman has posed:
Along the Pacific Ring of Fire, near the Phillipines, reports of seismic activity have been on the rise. The ground has begun to tremble and shake in fear, while locals well recognize the signs of impending disaster; those who can flee do, but in these impoverished coastal regions, that is a small number, indeed. A call to help has gone out on normal channels, and while not all heroes can credibly assist in a natural disaster -- especially one covering such wide areas -- there is one man the world knows will appear...

A storm lashes a fishing village on the island of Panay. Torrential rain chokes out the sun behind dark and pregnant storm clouds, while rising waves lash the coasts and threaten to drown the fishing boats; men have rushed to the docks to batten down the hatches and evacuate their small boats if possible, pulling them to safety on the shore, while women and children rush to pack belongings. If the storm gets worse, they will flee inland, toward the higher ground of the inland mountains.

There's a rumble deep in the earth, and a faint aftershock follows -- which just so happens to set one of the fishermen toppling overboard!

She-Hulk has posed:
     "I fell into a burnin' ring of fire, and it burns burns burns...." Jennifer sings to herself as she stands at the open door of the cargo plane bringing emergency supplies and digging equipment. The Phillipins somewhat famous for it's landslides during monsoon season. Stark Industries wanted to be proactive about sending out some relief and Jennifer decided to tag along this trip. She is, perhaps surprisingly not in She-Hulk form, her somewhat dimunitive and mousy appearing normal appearance letting brunette hair plaster to her pale cheeks, much softer in many ways than Big Green. As the plan lands on the small airstrip she yells out over the noise, "I'M GOING TO CHECK OUT THE DOCKS WHILE YOU UNLOAD!" And then with hand and arm gestures, hops down and begins heading that way in a rush. Not a panic, but you know, moving with purpose!

Superman has posed:
MLandslides, monsoons, earthquakes, volcanic activity -- the aptly named Ring of Fire is hardly the safest place in the world to live upon, yet mankind does what it must. Whatever ravages nature inflicts upon these simple men and women, the fact remains this is their home; they are loathe to abandon it and see it be destroyed, and while most surrender to good sense and evacuate, there's always a stubborn core.

The fishermen are one such group, not keen to see the source of their livelihoods destroyed by rough surf -- and try as she might, Jennifer Walters is not there yet, nor even necessarily aware of one man's overboard plight. The storm is loud and the rain is thick, troubling visibility and hearing alike -- she sees old trucks laden with children and the elderly pulling out onto older roads leading inland, exhausts chugging, while down toward the beach she can see rumbling ships beneath the myriad homes built over the water.

Closest to her, though, she sees a middle-aged man desperately pleading with an elderly woman sitting in a rocking chair, blanketed and unmoving. Their words are unknown, yet the expressions are clear: he is anxious, she is stubborn and angry. Two young children pull at the man's pant leg, as if to pull him away, crying loudly.

And the fisherman who went overboard? He never did learn how to swim, struggling to breathe, scrabbling for the hands of his companions who lost track of him in the dark and turbulent churn --

But then the sky breaks! A thunderclap booms across the water as the clouds above part and twist, opening a window in the storm that a single golden shaft of light spills through -- and illuminated by that light is a red-blue blur all recognize, a streak that stabs into the water and, moments later, rips back through its surface. A coughing, dark-haired man is clutched in Superman's right hand, deposited on the pier away from the water and the boats.

For a moment, the panic quells -- voices rise in a chorus of Superman! -- as every person there thinks, for a moment, that he's come to save them.

But that only lasts so long. This is still an ongoing, widespread disaster area.

She-Hulk has posed:
     Jennifer stops to give encouragement to each person she passes as much as possible, even once or twice occasionally helping someone pick up some things or load a box onto a truck. She tells each of them of the planes which have come to help evacuate, pointing them to the airfield.
     She moves over towards the man and woman, and calls out, "What's going on? Can I help somehow?" She's about to engage in the disagreement, perhaps entreat the woman to leave, when the thunderclap booms across the sky and Superman appears on the scene, ripping people out of the water and generally being heroic. Jennifer grins, raising a hand to wave, and then go back towards the couple. And after them another person, and then another. It's at moments like this, in the face of nature, that super durability and strength don't seem all that important. There's just so MANY to help, and the lashing rain is rapidly making her clothes and hair a mess, stickign to her.

Pepper Potts has posed:
While Pepper isn't technically an Avenger, she does help out a lot with behind the scenes Avenger things. Heck, she cooks Sunday Brunch for them at the mansion almost every weekend. She's a part of the team, if not a super hero part. Which means she's there, helping organize all the various Stark Industries assistance that is going into the disaster area. She's not a pilot, but she is close to the front of the cargo plane, giving Jennifer a thumbs up as the woman heads out to help. "<<Stay on comms, Walters, and if you see anything else that needs help, just yell. We have a few other more agile planes we can send but it'll be risky in this weather.>>" Pepper calls over the comm unit. Then she leans down and back studying the monitors.

"JARVIS, keep an eye on the civilian response and anyone who seems stranded. If we need to get a few speed boats out, we can. As soon as the winds calm down enough for the helos and lifts to go, let me know..."

Superman has posed:
Superman rises above the village and stares down across it -- surrounding it is rainforest and ocean, with further fishing towns miles up and down the coast. Further inland, area has been cleared to serve as farmland, connected to these fishing villages in a tightly-wound economy of supply and demand. A long-dormant volcano rests many miles toward the center of the island, while rivers and streams bisect the tropical rainforests in a dozen little ways.

From his vantage point, Superman sees it all, hears it all -- his eyes cut through the murk of the storm with clarity beyond mortal comprehension, and his ears hear the very shifting of the plates beneath him, hear the tell-tale warnings of landslides. He speaks into a communicator built into his suit, broadcasting on an open channel to the region.

"This is Superman. I'm helping to evacuate the fishing villages in Iloilo province -- whoever's listening, direct evacuation efforts away from the Illoilo River, flooding is washing away the roads. I repeat, avoid the river."

Beneath, Jennifer's actions are keeping this village quite safe and secure, all considered -- though the woman still refuses to leave. She doesn't seem to speak any English at all, but the middle-aged man does, and he looks to Jennifer.

"Mother not leave," he stammers. "Says stay home, die here."

She-Hulk has posed:
     After listening to the man's explanation Jennifer purses her lips, nodding and then reaching up to touch her ear and muter over the comms, <<Pepper, so far it seems the people are evacuating in an orderly fashion, but I've got a family here that doesn't want to leave. I'm working on it.>> Briefly distracted by Superman's voice broadcasting over wide frequency, she glances up into the sky and squints against the storm to spot the blue floating guy up in the sky. Then she looks back to the family and moves in closer, brushing her hair back behind her ear and shouting over the wind to the man, "Can you explain to her that we'll bring her back? They'll be rebuilding the houses but the land will still be here for her!"

Pepper Potts has posed:
<<Got it. Keep me updated. Anything you need.>> Well, anything that is in Pepper's perview to give, considering she's either got the options of an incredibly heavy, not manuverable cargo plane or the currently not viable helicopters. She sighs, sinking back in the seat near the upper deck where the pilot and crew lives, starting to go over her tablet as she considers the possibilities. Then something hits her.

"JARVIS, do a deep architectural scan of the entire area. As much information as you can get. Everything we'd need to recreate this village as close to as-is. Do you think we can get that level information?" She had hope, if nothing else.

Superman has posed:
The man blinks through the rain at Jennifer and then turns back to his mother. The two converse in their native tongue, the man gesticulating passionately and then clutching his mother's hand. She looks away, tears in her crinkled eyes, and then finally makes some anguished sound of assent. At which point the man turns around and squats. "Help her on my back," he tells Jennifer. "Mother no legs."

She has legs, mind you. She just can't walk, and is trying to wrap her thin arms around her son's shoulders so he can carry her toward one of the trucks still left in the village. It's a wonderful, lovely gesture, until --

The ground shakes and roars louder than the storm, every living thing on the island tossed side to side; the earth splits and cracks and erupts in fissures here and there. One of the support beams holding up the pier and the various fishermen's huts on it cracks and begins to crumble, setting off a reaction of collapsed huts and dock that feeds into the now-frenzied waters. The man lifting his mother trips and sprains his ankle with a cry of pain.

This earthquake lasts for about ten seconds. In the air, Superman is *gone*, hurtling along the coast toward a village that doesn't have She-Hulk in it.

And elsewhere, in the distant waters, the waves begin to rise, aroused to terrible and destructive size by the quaking of the earth's plates.

She-Hulk has posed:
What a great superhero debate. Free will vs protectionism! Better to let the old woman make her own choice, or better to force it? Jennifer's brow furrows as if she's considering just straight yanking the woman way but then.... "Here, I'll carry her!" Jennifer knows that she'll be more able to handle it if things go wrong or the storm worsens and debris flies their way, "Take the children and get to the airstrip!"
     And just as she's bending over, the huts begin to crack and crumble, the wind whipping up detritus and Jennifer is smacked in the face with a wooden beam /hard/. Oh no! Now she'll be unconscious and have to be rescued herself. If she doesn't have a major concussion.....
     EXCEPT! Jennifer Walters is also the Mighty She-Hulk, and as soon as the beam makes contact with her face, she turns big and green just as easily as normal people flinch - an automatic protection response ripping through her jumpsuit (thankfully leaving her superhero spandex on underneath!) as she seems to triple in size and muscle, roaring outloud with irritation as she shrugs the beam off with a bench press that sends it flying and tumbling back into the storm, "Let's go!" She reaches to scoop the man up with one hand, the old woman with the other, tucking them under her arms like grocery sacks - undignified but effective!

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Well... I hope we got some. Hell." Pepper breathes out as she sees the readings of the destruction happening down in the village. The earthquakes are worse than the rain, her expression grimacing as she sees at least a few others cut off in the chaos. She considers the weather conditions outside and then broadcasts to her pilots, <<If *any* of you have flown high wind conditions before, we've got two rescues that were cut off by that last quake. I can direct you there. This is an optional mission...>> But one that Pepper is calling.

Of course, these are people who have volunteered to work Stark Industries disaster relief. They are people loyal to Iron Man and who have seen disasters in the world. She gets the volunteers. As soon as they are able to get the helicopters going, Pepper is directing them to where the distant evacuations are needed. She knows Jennifer has everything else handled on getting people into the air strip who can actually make it to dry land. <<Walters, I'm sending two helicopters deeper into the island to get some stranded. Just keep bringing them in. Tell me if you need more back up but I know you have this.>> Pepper shouts over the comms to the now very large, very green woman.

Superman has posed:
Elsewhere along the coastline, Superman makes his presence known: he plucks a fishing boat with three men out of the tumultuous seas and delivers them to their village's beach; he finds a recluse in a shack overlooking the rainforest atop a high hill, and guides the man to shelter and evacuation; at one point, he's even found himself at a rope bridge leading over the suddenly-flooding river, where a group of mothers and children had attempted to cross when one of the ropes snapped and the bridge plunged into the water -- only for the Man of Steel to catch it at the last second and, with a flex of those heroic biceps, pull the rope taut and hold the bridge above the chaotic froth as the group runs across it.

He's lashed by storm and rock, wind and branch, yet not once does he release the rope coiled around his forearm until every one of them has crossed. Only then does he let go, and watch the bridge disappear beneath the rising river.

Back where it all began, the incredible She-Hulk outruns the approaching tidal waves like a wide receiver, man and woman alike tucked under her arms. This village is in the way of a destructive force that will utterly flatten it -- getting these people out ASAP is the number one priority.

And for Pepper? Oh, god bless the normal people -- whatever impressive feats Superman and She-Hulk might perform, they are still individuals. Without the volunteers, there'd still be innocents slipping through the cracks.

She-Hulk has posed:
     <<Pepper I'm coming in hot with a family, and you're gonna need to get the plane off the ground before it's too late to fly out!>> She-Hulk clears, with four leaping broad jumps, the distance that Jennifer took 20 minutes to cover on her way out, hopping over huts and fallen trees along towards the cleared air strip, where she starts jogging as best she can, cradling the man and woman tight so they don't jostle too much, until she can skid up through the mud and deposit them into the arms of waiting Stark Employees and shout, "Get them on the plane, don't worry about me!!"

Pepper Potts has posed:
<<Got it. Engines starting up now!>> Pepper calls over the comms, giving their pilot a frantic look, "Get ready to move. Soon as Walters gives the all clear, we're in the air, got it?" Pepper commands. She's not usually the boss of these missions, but she can be when needed and, right now, she's in charge. The pilot doesn't even second guess her, he's just starting all the engines and speeding through his pre-flight checks with his co-pilot so they can leave as quickly as humanly possible.

<<Helos 1 and 2, we've got to take off. You have enough fuel to get to the air craft carrier we've got parked off the coast. GO THERE with your rescues. We will get the families back together when we can, but we've got to get everyone out NOW!>> Pepper hates leaving her rescue copters behind. She knows they are trained, though, and there is back up to catch them. They won't get the cargo plane in the air if they don't go now, so they are going. Well, as soon as Jennifer gives the word.

She-Hulk has posed:
     Once Pepper has the families back on the plane, Jennifer slaps the metal posterior of the heavy cargo jet and screams over the wind, "Go! The helicopters can out manuever the storm! I'm gonna sweep the wreckage!" She grins brightly at the indomitable Ms. Potts and winks, giving a thumbs up, "See you at brunch!"