32/Danger at 200 Miles above the Earth!

Danger at 200 Miles above the Earth!
Date of Scene:	12 April 2017
Location:	200 Miles Above Earth
Synopsis:	X-O Manowar and Dragonfly eliminate a threat to the planet!
Cast of Characters:	74, Dragonfly (Arazello)

---

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
*BLEEDEET*
*BLEEDEET*
*BLEEDEET*

In a box of old Burton Engineering paperwork and other stuff, sitting in Nancy's townhouse, a shrill alarm buzzes intermittently.

High above the townhouse, a solar-powered satellite branded with the Burton Engineering logo is slowly hidden by the shadow of some other, larger, object.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    It was a hard day. It's now a hard day's night. The vagaries of the budding superheroine dealing with the stresses of day to day life as well as with finding a place for her new self led to a long, sleepless bout of staring at the ceiling. The sacred River Lethe finally cast its spell temporarily over Nancy as she slips into fitful unconsciousness.
    *BEEP*
    "Wha...?"
    *BEEEEP*
    "What's ... what?"
    *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
    "OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"
    Nancy staggers out of bed in her nightgown, stumbling around trying to find the source of the irritating sound.
    "When I find you I'm going to throw you through that wall!" she mutters. Finding it in the form of a device in the Burton Engineering papers, however, gives her pause; waking her up as she tries to decode what it's telling her."

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
The signal device provides, in addition to its ear-splitting tone, a brief message in a text display:

ERR CODE 2193

The code matches up to one of four or five printed out and taped to the back of the device. It pertains to a blocked transmission path, which--for a satellite--suggests something may risk colliding with it ... something large enough to disrupt its normal signals.

This particular satellite was supposed to remain in geosynchronous orbit over the Burton Engineering headquarters, but who knows where it may be now?

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Ken, you're still causing trouble after..." Nancy swallows what she was about to say, keeping the bitterness from spilling out. "I'd better take a look."
    Stepping over to a suspiciously barren part of her upper-storey bedroom, she concentrates and reaches out just so. A flash of light and electricity heralds the arrival of Dragonfly, bringing with it a few more scorch marks on the wooden floor where the carpet once covered.
    "Hmm... Not as damaging this time."
    With that she opens the window and zaps straight into the sky at barely sub-Mach speeds until she's far enough away to accelerate to top.
    "Can I even breathe up there?" she ponders as she flies straight up. "We'll see."

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
The trip to orbit is relatively uneventful, and before long it's clear that there's something near the satellite's location--the satellite is where it should be, yes, but there are many /other/ satellites as well.

In fact, it seems like there's something akin to a chain of satellites, or satellite-like objects, being constructed across what horizon remains here on the edge of space.

Along various lengths of this chain-like structure are workers in spacewalk suits, welding together satellite ends and maneuvering others into position.

In the distance, another shape appears to be launching skyward from far below, headed roughly toward another spot on the satellite chain.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Dragonfly's breath gets short as she reaches the edge of space; breathing grows laboured and reactions sluggish.
    "Well, that answers that," she mutters to herself. "Barely."
    Spotting the launch below, and eager to get back down into thicker air, she chooses to intercept the newcomer. If ally, good, if not, at least she'll be in top form. Brief burst of power and she zips toward her target at Mach 4+, leaving a deafening boom in her wake. Far back in her wake.
    Of course, inexperience has her forgetting to lead; her final approach now comes from below as she constantly adjusts her course to make up for the launch's motion.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
The other figure soaring toward the satellite chain is a man in an armored suit of orange and blue, his face visible behind a clear mask.

As Dragonfly nears his position, X-O Manowar slows his ascent and makes the slightest of moves toward a defense stance.

"Is this your doing?" he asks, his voice amplified by the suit and broadcast on several radio waves.

Meanwhile, not far away, the workers continue to connect the satellites together. An individual in an identical spacewalk suit--but in a different color (red compared to the workers' white)--floats along the chain length as if overseeing the operation there.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Is what my doing?" Dragonfly asks, also taking a defensive stance. Well trying to. It's hard to take a stance while flying, after all, especially when the whole flying gig is new to you. Sure would be nice to have a surface to stand on.
    "I'm investigating a report from a satellite that it's being interfered with. I'm still not sure what's going on."
    She looks up. "What is that crap? And why are they doing it here where there's already satellites?"

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
The armored man purses his lips for a moment. "Not your doing, then. Or so it seems, at least." He looks up toward the satellites.

"I am ... told ... that a great weapon is being constructed here. I seek to prevent that. However," he adds, shaking his head with a sigh, "I have been ... hasty in the past. I do not wish to endanger those who may be impacted by the destruction of this weapon. Shanhara, what was it?"

He floats silently before continuing. "It is a ... had-ron co-lie-dur. Supposedly, it could destroy the planet. Obviously, that cannot come to pass."

The spacewalking workers, meanwhile, continue their welding activities, while the supervisor maneuvers them toward areas that seemingly need closer inspection.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Let's tear it apart, then!" Dragonfly cries. "Who's trying to destroy my planet!? They can't do that! It's where I keep my stuff!"
    Impetuously she tears off toward the chain again, this time taking as deep a breath as she can before reaching the point where whatever it is that keeps her alive in thin air stops being as effective. The buffet of her sonic boom hits X-O, but in the rarefied air doesn't have much impact.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
Even as he tumbles backwards in the air from the force of Dragonfly's sudden departure, X-O Manowar finds himself laughing.

"Yes!" he cries. "A worthy ally indeed!" And then he, too, launches at high speed toward the nearest link in the satellite chain before bursting through its other side, leaving a hole torn through the satellite's metal shell.

The nearest workers broadcast on as many frequencies as they can: "What are you doing? This is a delicate machine! It's not safe!"

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Delicate machine? Music to her ears. Dragonfly smiles as she weaves in and out and among the satellites in the chain, smashing through them wherever the technicians aren't, then looping back around for another, then another.
    "Who knew this was so much fun!?" she gasps, faltering a little as her oxygen runs lower than is comfortable.
    Of course sometimes warnings are legit, even when issued by bad guys. The magnetic forces holding the satellites in alignment are disrupted by the smashings. The beam being barely controlled, even in warm-up phase, now hits debris and starts to scatter. One technician, caught in the reflection, screams in pain as he's radiated, spinning off toward atmospheric reentry as he convulses and kicks himself off his stable mooring.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
While X-O Manowar appears to be enjoying the opportunity to smash through the strange weapon system, he nonetheless pauses to seek out the screaming worker who's hurtling away from the collider.

The armored Visigoth reaches out during his pursuit until he can clutch one of the man's flailing appendages; X-O Manowar manages to grasp an ankle. "Stop kicking!" he shouts. "Your work is ruined. But you will help me understand how to finish ruining it safely. Or else I can let you plummet back to the world far below..."

The satellites begin exploding from within out in a line from where Dragonfly demolishes individual components. It's the beginning of a chain reaction! But will the satellite-chain destroy only itself? Or will its power source threaten all life on Earth as we know it?!

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Dammit!" Dragonfly calls across to X-O, forgetting that air is needed for sound. "I need to find the source! And I need air! You try to stop things from going too bad up here, OK?"
    She zips down to thicker air, heaving desperately for air before casting her gaze upward, trying to find where the power source might be. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. THERE!
    "It's over there!" she shouts uselessly, stabbing her finger in the direction of a satellite larger than the rest, shaped like an oversized Vegas dice with protruding pipes instead of pips. She zooms in that direction, but will take a longish time to reach it from her place.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
Seemingly oblivious to Dragonfly, or perhaps merely unable to hear her, X-O Manowar continues his interrogation of the worker he grasps by the ankle.

"I...I...it's...the power source is...I...seventy-one sections that way," the worker chokes out in desperation, waving an arm in the same direction as Dragonfly's departure.

"Can you contact your people?" X-O Manowar asks. "They will need to evacuate, and quickly. I offer you this warning as a mercy, but this machine's destruction will occur." He punctuates his threat by materializing a longsword, apparently made of crackling white energy, in his free hand.

The satellites, meanwhile, continue to explode in a chain reaction that speeds up with each burst.

Ahead of Dragonfly is a house-sized object covered in warning signs. Numerous wires and cables run out from it along the length of welded satellites, and it glows from in-between the riveted plates of its surface.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Ooh! I'm not going to like this one bit!" Dragonfly opines to herself as she speeds toward the object. She steels herself for impact as she sets to catch and drag the object away.
    The look of intense horror on the faces of the technicians nearest the satellite signal the urgency. The gun of the red-clad overseer, on the other hand, spits projectiles into Dragonfly's path, causing her to veer from surprise as she's peppered with shrapnel on one side.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
X-O Manowar slings the worker in his hand toward another that putts past, its spacewalk suit outfitted with mechanical limbs--one of which managing to hook around the wrist of the flung worker.

Then, Aric speeds toward the area where Dragonfly had last been seen, and his armor picks her up in its sensors. "No!" the man shouts, seeing her shot by the overseer. In response, X-O Manowar's gauntlet hums with energy, and an emerald force-bolt blasts directly at his opponent's chest.

"We need to remove this power source before the explosions reach it! Can you do that? Are you alright?" Aric continues to shout, attempting to get in between Dragonfly and the red-suited supervisor.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Dragonfly still can't hear up here in space, but seems to have the same idea. She rights herself and pauses, getting her bearings. Seeing the explosions closing in on the power supply she gestures with her hand. The moorings tying the big unit to the peripheral satellites strain, then tear free. The overseer, taking the opportunity to aim at a non-moving target, gets a bead on her and ... is struck by X-O's beam flat-out, sending him tumbling, bullets flying blindly around as he convulses and pulls the trigger.
    Unaware of all this, Dragonfly zips toward the satellite, hitting it fairly hard, then straining to move it out of alignment with the encroaching explosions.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
The power source groans--or probably would, if there were enough air for sound to bounce around--and chunks of metal and wire snap with sparks of electricity as Dragonfly separates it from the connecting satellites.

X-O Manowar turns to deal with the onrushing chain reaction, pushing against the not-yet-detonated satellites to move them even further from the separated power supply. These objects, too, resist the movement at first, but the massive satellite-snake slowly begins to curve away from Dragonfly, and less than a minute later, its components finish exploding.

All around, pieces of the satellites drop into the atmosphere, catching fire as they gain terminal velocity.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Dragonfly, working the other way, pushes with her fading might against the big power supply, first physically, glowing from the radiations within spilling out randomly, then mentally as it moves out of her ability to continue breathing. Falling to Earth in a graceful arc, she nonetheless concentrates hard, pushing away at the satellite from a distance somehow, smiling in satisfaction as it reaches sufficient velocity to cease being a threat soon. She fades briefly out of consciousness, only beginning to revive as the air thickens around her, joining the fragments of satellite as part of the manufactured meteor shower.

X-O Manowar (74) has posed:
As Dragonfly re-enters the atmosphere, thousands look up to the night sky and see the twinkling lights of the incinerated machinery, a peaceful scene that contrasts drastically with the threat it posed only minutes before.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Fully regaining consciousness on her way down, Dragonfly brings herself back up, standing in the air with more confidence than she'd shown earlier when facing X-O. She casts about the skies, looking for both he and for the technicians and such now stranded in orbit and possibly falling. Sighing she begins the process of cleaning up, flying around and gathering as many scraps and people as she can, grouping them together in different clumps: one for the authorities to deal with, the other to keep out of the way of other satellites and possible spacecraft.
    "Janitor Dragonfly," she mutters to herself.