6820/Sentinels: Cluttered Sky

Sentinels: Cluttered Sky
Date of Scene:	09 March 2019
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Spider Woman and Human Torch examine some sentinels flying over the city.
Cast of Characters:	Human Torch, Spider-Woman (Drew)
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Human Torch has posed:
Four Freedoms plaza is not the tallest building in Manhattan, and it doesn't strive to be. Others can have their names on their tall towers. Four Freedoms is, though, one of the more famous ones that has a great deal of public access as well. The upper floors just 'happen' to be occupied by the Fantastic Four. The rooftops around are often subjected to fantastic sights of inventions and things from Mr. Fantastic, or the fiery presence of the Torch.

This afternoon includes the bright and fiery form of the Human Torch on display, as he lingers near the Freedoms' roof, hanging in the air: a brilliant form even in the daylight. He glides downwards in a lazy arc towards the rooftops nearby, but his gaze is lifted upwards, towards spots high above, his attention distracted. He hovers over the neighboring rooftop, a smooth cruising speed.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica Drew is on the prowl, in her crimson gradient costume, edged delicately in brilliant gold webbing. She has been for a little while now, with her mask tucked into her utility belt at the small of her back. Mostly, at the moment, she's watching the Human Torch drifting over her head from the nearby rooftop that he's swooping over. She has two things on her mind:

First, how many puns could she play off the Torch while insinuating he's a hot guy?

And second...What is he looking at, anyway? Maybe she could combine the two...so she calls out:

"Hey, Hot Stuff, what are we lookin' at?"

Human Torch has posed:
Torch immediately looks down, head tilted, and laughs. The wind up this high makes things hard to hear, but he's very good at hearing compliments, even quiet ones. Selective hearing, his sister would say. She'd be right. Torch comes right down with a pulse of heat, an excellent buffer against the cold air: waves of heat roll off of him: he's steamy in winter, thick with an aura of fog even outside of his flames.

"The new superheroine on the scene; welcome," Johnny replies, tone playful, a laugh in it. "But also," he adds, tossing his head upwards, "Robots." There's a petulant huff in his voice. "Don't like 'em. Too big brother. /BIG/ brother, literally."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica lifts a hand to block out the brilliance of the Torch and squints a little. "Jesus...how many /are/ there?" But instantly, there's a sinking in the pit of her stomach.

Jessica drops her shielding hand and looks back up to Johnny. "I've got a bad feeling those are Sentinels. I need to get a closer look..." She examines his form for a moment...no way he's carrying her, and her webs would disintegrate in that heat. "You up for a little field trip? I could use your help..."

Human Torch has posed:
Can't have her hurting her eyes. Human Torch lands fully and the fire turns off, with a lazy easy quality that's intended to impress: it majestically unveils the handsome young blonde Fantastic Four member like some sort of magician that was on fire. It's showy, of course.

He's not in his Fantastic four suit: instead, sleek stylish black jeans with a ribbon of silver stitch up each leg, a warm high-necked black shirt, and an expensive looking dark blue athletic windbreaker with a blazing white '4' on the lapel, and fire-themed white and silver flames inside the panel stripe accents on the arms. He puts his hands into the pockets of the windbreaker, brows up, confident smile clear.

"I dunno, maybe six," Johnny answers, flippant. He can't be bothered to do exact counts unless it's important. "You need a ride?" he asks. "To see the robots?" he asks. A bit skeptical, but she's not bad looking.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica grins. She hasn't ever seen Johnny in person, and the photos she /has/ seen are mostly action shots, when he's all blazed up. "So you're just as hot with the flames doused. Cool..." Jess replies nonchalantly. "But I need you hot..." She shakes her head. "I mean REALLY hot." She means really hot. "I mean..."

There's a sigh, and Jess rubs her temples. "I just need you...." She trails off and distracts herself with another look at the robots. "With you blazed up, and moving with me, I can glide in your updrafts..." she explains. I think you can push me up there if you're game to go with me..." Arching a brow and looking back down at Johnny again, she inclines her head, ever-so-slightly. "Wanna play?"

Human Torch has posed:
Johnny grinned through all of the commentary about 'needing' him. She's flattered him, and he's eating it up, giving her a sparkling straight white grin in return. "It's okay, it can be awkward to meet a hero and celebrity," Johnny says, supportive, as he would of any fangirl that screamed that he's hot at him. "You're the first to ask to glide in my updrafts, though," Johnny flirts. "I can safely rescue people. Just so we're clear. But, yeah, I guess?" He looks upwards. "I could see that being a wild thing to hang-glide down from," amends the daredevil. "So you want a fire cyclone under you? /That/ might singe a bit."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Oh." Jess' reply is dumbfounded and a little abashed. "I need to study up on my Johnny literature..." She frets at her bottom lip thoughtfully, gauging the distance with her chances of staying in the updrafts - high enough not to get cycloned - for that distance without so much as a trial run. "Yeah maybe a ride would be a better idea.../this/ time. But I wanna try it out sometime...That'd be some serious fun, if I could keep the right height and stay in the currents..." She looks around and back to him. She has nothing else up here to worry about leaving behind. "I haven't had a superhero ride in a /long/ time..."

Human Torch has posed:
"Lots of that stuff is on my fan club site," Johnny replies. "Mobile-friendly." He's laughing somewhat: he's teasing. But it's also true statements: it IS there. And it's mobile friendly.

"Before I bring a chick up into possible danger with enormous robots though, let's start with why we want to see them up close, okay?" Johnny suggests. He approaches into a more comfortable distance, hands relaxed in his pockets still. The wind up there pulls at his jacket and hair, fluffing the sleek faux-hawk sideways, like licks of pale flame. "You're not planning on attacking them, or anything, yeah? I'm not supposed to nuke them."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"No /way/ I'm attacking them. Or getting close enough for them to attack us. My 'nukes' have a range of a handful of feet at best. But if those are sentinels, I need to verify it and get word back to the Avengers. And if not...well, I don't wanna look stupid calling Iron Man in to take a look at some escaped robot balloons or something.... Are you familiar with the Sentinel issue?" she asks, after a pause. Maybe she shouldn't assume...

Human Torch has posed:
"Yeah, I watch some news and stuff," Johnny agrees, but he doesn't sound insulted about it. He might be asked about if he's up to date on things pretty often, by that reply. "Avengers? Hey, sure. I can drop you on the Stark Tower afterwards," he says, swinging a hand to point over to the tower. After all, it's RIGHT there! "He often has robots all over the place over there. But these aren't those. Let's go see."

With a wink and showy flare of hands, he grins and erupts, with a playful "Flame /on/," just for her. It's not shouted (it doesn't have to be), but he figured she's a fan, she wants to see it. Flame erupts off his hands first, then legs and thighs, and then the rest of him combusts into fire.

"C'mon, ride the Johnny express," he says, extending a hand. The flame reduces over the arm and his side: still visually very intimidating, but there's no burning heat there. Not to harm, anyway: he's still upper Jacuzzi levels of warmth.

"What was your name, again?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Jessica." Then, "Drew." Because there seem to be a lot of Jessicas around, these days. She takes his hand and steps in closer, nearly against, the Johnny express. "That never gets old, does it? The Flame On..." Jess smirks, a little more impressed than she'd care to admit.

Human Torch has posed:
"Nope. Villains prefer I don't, though," Johnny brags, and adjusts automatically towards carrying her as if he were rescuing her, but then rethinks it, and instead just offers to pick her up, letting her set the aspect of how she'd prefer that to be. Once that's settled, he lifts to hover: a smooth ride, until he suddenly bursts like he's been shot from a cannon, straight upwards and then in an arc like a firework.

The group of robots are suddenly a LOT closer. It's a group of seven circling, massive sentinels, their palms down, thrusters on, doing who knows what. "Weird," is Johnny's assessment.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess settles in against Johnny, just holding on wherever she won't third degree burns. The warmth is welcomed; even though the day is waxing toward spring, she knows it's about to get a lot colder, the higher they go. "Holy sh--" she censors herself just in time to maintain the scene rating, without leaving him any doubt of her intended exclamation. Clinging tightly - maybe too tightly, due to her strength and the unexpected acceleration, and only remembers to breathe once they're closer to the robots.

"Sentinels. This is bad, Johnny...They look like they're in some sort of holding pattern. Probably waiting for instructions." She looks up at him, and swallows once at the unexpected proximity. Why it was unexpected is anyone's guess. The heat, now, is much more welcome. But the proximity should probably have been a given.

"Uh...hi."

Human Torch has posed:
"Why is it bad? They'll run out of fuel just chillin' up here," Johnny observes. He looks at them, and gets an idea. Which means he's immediately doing it. "I'm getting closer."

And they are suddenly zooming a LOT closer, in a sweeping arc. "Hey, don't squeeze so hard; I'm not The Thing, huh?" Johnny says distractedly. "I gotta focus to not burn you." It's informational, not a threat: he doesn't need to be squished, though. Brittle matchstick, compared to super-strength.

Closer, they aren't any more interesting than before, they're circling. Johnny slows up, and looks at them.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"It's bad because these things were created with one purpose: to kill mutants. And they're deadly good at it. So they're not going to run out of fuel...they're well-equipped for this. And we need to back off a little. These things are constantly scanning for threats, and if we're spotted, they're going to turn us to dust. We've gotta get out of their bubble." But she takes the moment just to turn back and look up at them. They're awe-inducing and terror-inspiring, this close. "Just what are you trying to do, anyway?"

Human Torch has posed:
"To kill mutants? I thought they were supposed to protect people," Johnny answers, puzzled. "Did they have another post I missed with mutant hate?" he questions, still approaching them. They felt close, but now they're even closer. "They'd have to be really fast to catch /me/," Johnny says fiercely, mocking, still headed towards them to get a nice close look. "What are they doing? Searching?" he asks aloud. "I figure we could see what they were doing and if they see us." Best plan EVER.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"These things have been used overseas to vaporize mutants. Vaporize. They don't have to catch you, Johnny. They can do that from right where they sit. Er...hover. Float. Whatever they're doing, they can just zap us out of the sky if they spot us." The warmth is a little bit overwhelming, as Jess' adrenaline begins to kick in. Her heart's pounding, and she can hear it in her ears. "I'd just...feel a lot better about this if we weren't quite so close. I didn't come up here to get you hurt today...OR vaporized."

Human Torch has posed:
"Well, okay, that's obviously not good. You're not a mutant, right?" Johnny asks, showing a little bit of caution. It would make sense why she'd be nervous, if so. "Don't worry too much, I'll keep you safe," Promises the Fantastic Four member flippantly. He stops his lazy hover and instead shreds into a very fast arc around the Sentinel group, a loop of flame, before veering away.

The Sentinels turn their heads: it's very eerie, to look at the looping hero, but they then look back to their slow passes. Looks like scanning, and the red light from the palms of the sentinels can be seen when they get close.

"They're ignoring us anyway," Johnny says, bored. "If they attacked /then/ I could have vaporized them. But I promised I wouldn't if they didn't attack me first." He's annoyed, but not angry, and starts to fly back to the rooftop where he'd found her.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"They probably won't attack you. If they're scanning, and it looks to me like they are, they're looking down at the city for mutants, is my guess. They didn't find anything of interest in us, and we weren't aggressive." Her breathing starts to slow, incrementally, as they move farther away from the sentinels. "I don't know if you could vaporize them. Not doubting you, at all. But they are made to withstand pretty heavy attacks, and that was seven on one. Because I would have been pretty useless to fight them in the air like that."

Human Torch has posed:
"That's true, I would have had to drop you. I melt Doom-bots all the time, though, and those look the same, just bigger and easier to hit," Johnny says, without any worry in his voice. He spirals down in coil of flame, and then lands neatly, and extinguishes.

"Oh, was I going to take you to the Stark tower, Jess?" he asks, remembering that. He pauses, though, and pulls out his phone, having felt a vibration from it against his rear pocket.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"It's all right, I can reach Tony before I could get there anyway," Jess replies, pulling her mask from behind her back. "Earpiece is in my mask," she explains as she turns it over in her hands. "I could've handled being dropped. And it's good to know you're that good with big bots. Looks like we may need you in that regard, before this is over." She smiles faintly, steadying herself back on the rooftop. "Wouldn't want you getting hurt in the fray, either way."

As he is checking his phone, Jess presses her comm button and speaks into it. "Tony, if you've got an ear on this, we have a situation above midtown Manhattan. You may already be aware. Seven sentinels, up high. I went for a fly-in, and they appear to be scanning below. They're just off to the west and south of the Tower." Then she lowers her hand, mask still gripped, and looks up at Johnny. "Everything okay?"

Human Torch has posed:
"Sure, fine, it's just my sister," Johnny answers, texting back with a distracted manner. "Call me in to blast evil robots anytime," he says, as if it were actually easy to contact him. Then again, maybe it is!

"I know the Avengers have our number, so, no trouble there. I gotta jet, though. See you around, huh?" With a bright smile, Johnny resumes suddenly engulfing in flame: hot enough to be awful to be next to, but he's already blasting off in a showy spinning mandala of flame before veering to the Fantastic Four plaza.