7249/Marvels and Titans

Marvels and Titans
Date of Scene:	16 April 2019
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Captain Marvel takes his sister to see the sights and learn superheroing. They run into Stardust, who has her own ideas for novice capes, and invites Mary to the Titans Tower.
Cast of Characters:	Shazam, Mary Marvel, Stardust

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Shazam has posed:
     Late evening in Brooklyn and the Marvel Twins had arranges to meet. Long after the burdens of school were over, Captain Marvel had waited above Angelo's, any excuse to get greasy pizza.

  "Okay, so you know the basics. What else?" He asks, arms crossed and leaning against a wall. The two had set up on a rooftop near the pizzeria, high enough to be seen but not bothered by many.

  Of course, Billy had been used to his powers for a while now, but Mary was still new, and he felt he needed to help in any way he could.

Mary Marvel has posed:
    "You don't think we're out too late?," the woman asks. Mary brushes her fingers through her long brown hair as she surveys the area with keen ability. "I mean...it -is- a schoolnight." She hesitates for a moment and then shrugs to herself, brushing it off. "Eh, it's fine."

She leans over the side of the rooftop, her half-cape flapping a hint in the evening wind. "Well, I know our purpose. Like, where our powers come from. I can fly pretty decently. Um. I know how to use my strength, I guess? Don't know how to fight -too- well, but with enough strength and speed you don't need to be a black belt..."

    The 'woman' had appeared on the scene only a few weeks earlier, when she publically stopped a large robot that was rampaging on the edge of Brooklyn. Some mad scientist with a grudge or something. She wasn't all over the news anymore (What, with a 24 hour news cycle and all), but her face and famous costume might have been seen!

"So you, like, -know- the Justice League?," she asks, turning back towards him.

Stardust has posed:
Not far from Angelo's is a small, ridiculously trendy jazz club-slash-microbrewery called The Brew Notes (this needs to exist - ed.) which frequently has live music. And sometimes has open-mic poetry nights, which are best avoided. One of the bands on tonight's bill included a guest singer, one Nicky Caron, who has been making some waves in the local music circuit lately. Having performed her set, and this being as previously observed a school night, said singer has decided to make her way home without listening to the other bands, before it gets too late.

    This is not a nice neigborhood, and a young woman on her own would tend to move quickly and stick to well-lit areas, but this one is sometimes known as the Titan Stardust, and fears nothing. Partly this fearlesness stems an indomitable overconfidence, but being bullet-proof really does help. Already one would-be mugger is sitting nursing a broken nose, but she didn't stop to exchange pleasantries beyond the punch. He wasn't really worth the effort.

    On the other hand, the next alley way she passes attracts more attention. A car is blocking the alley half way up it, with lights on, and a group of men stand by it with the exaggerated nonchalance of people pretending they aren't on edge. Suspicions raised, Colette ducks back out of sight and then peers around the corner, watching.

    She is rewarded just moments later by the arrival of several motorbikes driving up to the car and stopping. The riders get off, and tense words are exchanged which she struggles to hear. Some kind of argument seems to be brewing, but it's hard to guess the subject.

    And then with the revving of engines, four more bikes appear, this time from the other direction, surrounding the car and the group of men who had been with it. The tableau is frozen for a moment, then the lead biker gets off his bike and takes two steps forwards, followed by his men. The silence is broken by the cocking of shotguns.

Shazam has posed:
     Billy gives a nod. "No, not too late yet. But you should have a cover story. Study groups or eating dinner at a friends." He comments, gesturing to his backpack. "I'm studying for an algebra quiz." He says with a wink and a smile.

  "Yeah, I know them. But they don't know -me-. Y'know? They know The Big Guy." He adds, then he claps his hands gently. "So, some on, you've got the best thing since the Wizard to help you."

Mary Marvel has posed:
"I'll figure one out, no worries." She shrugs and glances about the rooftop. "I totally want to get them to sign some stuff for me, sometime. I have this news article from when..."

She trails off when her ear twitches, and she catches the sound of the cocking shotgun. She grew up only a few blocks from here, and she knows that sound. "Well, looks like we've got some trouble. Or...sounds like it?" She grins. Mary lifts into the air an instant later, and she waves. "Come on! Family bonding time, right?"

She covers the distance in seconds, and she drops down to land on the fire escape overlooking the situation. She cocks her head to the side and takes it all in before she...drops down entirely. Just like that the brunette in the red and white costume, with the lightning bolt on her chest, lands between the two groups.

"Evening, gentleman! My name's Mary and I'm with the neighborhood watch. That looks like some illegal parking there, mister, so...I'd consider hopping back in your vehicles and taking off. Wouldn't want me to get all 'meter maid' on you, right?" She is unsure if her brother followed behind her, caught up instead on the thrill of being a hero.

Stardust has posed:
"Do we have a jurisdiction issue here?" The voice comes from the other end of the alleyway, almost as soon as Mary Marvel makes her landing. It's a good voice, carries well. Not surprising from a trained singer, perhaps - though thanks to her quick-change abilities, Colette is very clearly not in singer mode, and Stardust is here to join the party. A head-to-toe armored bodysuit glimmers slightly in the evening dark, shades of white and light gray like moonlight. "Wrong word, maybe. I suspect neither of us are exactly official, but I saw them first. That makes them mine."

    Stardust is grinning. She's also floating a couple of feet above the ground and drifting towards the group. Her words are clearly aimed at Mary, as if the armed men are beneath their attention. "You can watch if you like," she offers magnanimously. "And I don't mind you hanging around waiting with the bodies while the police and ambulances turn up. That bit is sooo boring." It's hard to be certain behind the domino mask, but there might have been a wink in Mary's direction at that.

    Perhaps the appearance of two obviously powered crime fighters on the scene would be enough, but Stardust's words seem to be adding a lot to the nervousness of the two gangs. Probably that mention of 'bodies'. People don't like to hear themselves referred to as 'bodies.' Already one of the three shotgun wielders is very slowly placing his gun on the ground and backing away, eyes peeled for somewhere to run. The leader is made of slightly sterner stuff "This isn't any of your business, ladies," he says - not too aggressively. "Just a little uh... disagreement between friends that we are making sure doesn't escalate, you understand?"

Shazam has posed:
     Brown eyes roll in the back of his head as Mary makes her move. Captain Marvel took to the sky, then floating back to the ground behind Mary as Stardust makes her comments.

  "Then I suggest you make like a tree and leaf, before this whole situation becomes much less schway, for you." Like an oversized cherry on top of the intimidation sundae, The Big Red Cheese crosses his arms as his hooded cape billows behind him. "So, whats it gonna be, fellas? Are those shotguns registered?" His lightning bolt starts to arc around him for good measure. Internally, he was laughing at the tactic, it always made for a good show.

Mary Marvel has posed:
Mary furrows her brow a bit at Stardust. "Uh. Being a hero has jursidiction? I missed that part, I guess." She floats a bit into the air, however, getting out of the woman's way. She turns around and faces the man, flashing a smile. "Well, handle a disagreement with words, silly, not shotguns. Hard to learn from your mistakes if you're dead, right?"

She glances sidelong at the other Marvel and grins to herself.

Stardust has posed:
"Listen bozo, you ain't the cops, it's none of your business whether they are registered or not. It's just for our protection!" the lead goon responds to Captain Marvel. He certainly has guts. His gang less so. Already several of them are disappearing into the shadows and getting the hell out of dodge.

    "He's /Mister/ Bozo to you," Stardust says. During the distraction of the Captain's appearance and the general panic amongst the enlisted ranks, she'd take the opportunity to put on a burst of pace, and is now hovering directly behind the three men with shotguns, leaning forwards to hiss directly in the leader's ear. "And personally I don't care if they're registered or not. Like you just said, we're not the cops. In three minutes time, those three guns are all going to get wrecked. So the question is whether you want to put them down and start running, or whether you want to stay here with then and get wrecked too. Your call.

    In a situation like this, there's no telling whether the show of power from the Marvels or the slightly creepy threats from Stardust are worse, from the gangsters viewpoint. Frankly neither of them are exactly making their day, and between the two tactics the sheer cognitive dissonance is more than these minor hoods can take. The three guns are quickly deposited on the ground and the men start backing away.

    The leader is not happy though, and he is fairly ballsy, so he continues complaining even as he complies. "This is not fair. We're law abi... we weren't breaking any laws. Just 'cos you guys have all the powers, you think you can push us around."

     Stardust watches him retreat, arms crossed. "This is us not pushing you around," she responds. "You can tell, because your faces are still attached." As the bad guys melt into the night she turns her attention to the Marvel siblings, one eyebrow raising slightly. "No. We don't have jurisdiction. That was to confuse them. Well. Apart from Batman. He gets all antsy if you try fighting crime in Gotham. Probably best not to. Gotham is wierd. I'm Stardust. With the Titans."

Shazam has posed:
     The thugs make their leave, and a laugh is given from Captain Marvel, as much as he liked being a super, he also had a bit of a guilty pleasure from intimidating by his mere presence. The mere mention of Gotham and Batman going hand in hand has Billy inhale sharply through his teeth. "Ooh, yeah, just...let him be. That's his little project." He's met Batman a couple times, and neither were very fun or heartwarming.

  Cap lands on the ground, looking to Stardust and giving a wave, and letting the ladies introduce themselves.

Mary Marvel has posed:
"Stardust, huh? Cool name. Do you have space powers or something?," she asks curiously. She glances over at the fleeing men before she settles back to the ground, resting her fists on her waist in a rather classic pose. "Oh!" She looks over at her brother. "You know Batman -too-? That's AWESOME!"

She laughs and turns back towards Colette. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Stardust! You can call me Mary Marvel."

Stardust has posed:
Stardust gives Cap a sympathetic nod. When you've been in the business for a while, you've probably met Batman. It's rarely fun or heartwarming. There's a look people have. "He told me I have an excess of personality. How can you have an excess of personality? I have one personality, just like everyone el..." She stops herself mid stream and looks thoughtful. "Anyway, the point is probably that he doesn't have a personality or something. I prefer the Robins myself. Two of them, anyway. And one of /them/ is a huge ass really to be honest, even if he's my friend. Where was I?" she blinks a couple of times, apparently lost in her own train of thought.

    "Mary, huh? That's a relief. I thought you were calling yourself The Meter Maid back there. That would be a terrible code name for a cape. I was going to take you aside and have quiet words about that. Space powers? Uh... I dunno. I guess? I can breathe in space, anyway. Space is pretty interesting. You should go some time. Nice to meet you, Mary." She glances at the Captain and then back at Mary. "New to the biz? Sidekick or something?"

Shazam has posed:
     A light furrowing of eyebrows towards Mary and Cap responds. "Justice League, he's my teammate." Finishing with a toothy grin.

  He looks over Colette for a bit, then back to Mary. "No, not sidekick." He says, holding his hands up, and giving an innocent face. "More like a...third member of the Marvel team."

Mary Marvel has posed:
"Oh, nah. I was just making a joke about their parking." She brushes some of her hair behind her ear as she glances between the two of them. "I've been to space. Well, I flew to the moon right after I...you know. Became me. Just to see if I could. It was pretty cool. Too quiet, though. I get why, though. The whole...vacuum thing. Still weird."

She clears her throat, realising she is coming off a hint awkward. She isn't used to meeting other heroes yet. "Sidekick? No way. Just...matching gimmick. But yeah, I've been at it for about a month." She looks back over to Marvel and nods. "Oh, right! That's still so cool. I can't get over that."

Stardust has posed:
Stardust's eyebrow raises slightly, her expression perhaps a little unbelieving. Mary looks a bit younger than the Captain, and Stardust of course doesn't know his real age. She has her own opinions about superheroing as a family business. She spends a certain amount of her time dealing with the fallout of Damian's relationship with his father, after all. "Uh huh. A month isn't long. Lots to learn. Matching gimmicks is useful. Saves you having to come up with your own graphics and so on. You'd be amazed how many heroes get stuck on that side of things. Costumes, logos, code-names. The struggle is real. Still, if you feel like ditching the side of beef over here and striking out alone, you could do worse than calling on us. Titans pretty much specializes in giving a helping hand to capes just starting out."

    Stardust flashes an apologetic grin towards Captain Marvel for the 'side of beef' comment, but come on. Look at the guy.

    "As for space being quiet, kinda depends on where. Place I went, you were never out of earshot of at least a dozen different alien languages. Bit further than the moon, though. You probably wouldn't want to fly there under your own steam."

Shazam has posed:
     Billy puffs up his chest a bit, being called a side of beef is a bit complimentary. He knew he was superbly muscled when transformed.

  "Matching powers, not really her choice. But come on! There are worse super siblings to have for a brother." He says, followed by another grin. "I'd say I could be more popular than even Superman! The Marvels, Pantheon, Mary, and Captain!"

Mary Marvel has posed:
"Oh, yeah. No, my logo and everything kind of came with the...Marvel thing." Mary shrugs a bit at that, not really knowing how to explain it. She smiles, though. "Sounds really cool. I'd love to see those kinds of things, and...I guess I can now, huh?"

"The Titans? Like the team? You mentioned them earlier but it totally went over my head, I guess. That'd be incredible. Belonging to a real super hero team?" She puffs her chest out a bit, considering the possibility. She glances over at Captain Maevel. "Well, we're cool, Cap, but...we're no Superman. Let's be real." She might have written a school paper on Superman just last week.

She turns her attention back towards Stardust. "I should get going, but...can I get contact info or something? So I can look into this whole Titans thing?"

Stardust has posed:
"Don't kid yourself, Mister Muscles. Not saying you're a bad brother or anything, but have you ever considered what it's like having a shinier and more famous hero in the family?" Stardust is grinning again. "You ever talked to Supergirl about it? The bigger the side of beef, the bigger the shadow it casts. Give sis here her own chance to shine, huh?" There's another wink to go with the grin. Stardust certainly seems to enjoy her banter.

    "Can't miss us, Mary." She jerks her thumb in a direction she hopes is vaguely north-east. "On the East River, Hempstead. Little island with a big old tower block in the shape of a 'T', kind of gives the game away. You can fly, fly up river until you see it. Think of it as a test." Her smile grows wider. "Or, look it up. We're on Google Maps. Drop by some time. If I'm not there, just tell 'em Stardust sent you and you'll get the tour."

Shazam has posed:
     "Hey, don't look at me! A month ago, I was the only game in town. Now we've got three of us." Cap states, shrugging his shoulders. "I just want Mary to have a better go at it than I did."

  Billy keeps smiling. "If you think the Titans can be your thing, by all means. They are no slouches, totally schway in the best ways. Plus, no..." He places fingers atop his head and gives a stern look. "Stay out of Gotham." He offers, in the gruffest voice he can give. "Like Anyone would -want- to go into New Jersey anyway." He says, kicking a stray rock gently against the wall.

Mary Marvel has posed:
Mary doesn't comment on the whole 'shadow' thing Stardust is talking about. Insteade she starts to float up into the sky. "Oh, right. Titans Tower. I'll swing by soon, then! Tell the others to expect me so I don't get shot out of the sky or something." She grins.

The woman laughs and nods to Billy. "Well, I've had you to help me out, which you know I appreciate. Anyways, I'll catch you two later. Bye!"

With that she is off. She vaults into the air with such speed that there is simply a whoosh of air and she is...gone. Of course she is only landing about four blocks away, but she can't make that too obvious!

Stardust has posed:
Stardust gives Mary a thumbs-up as she takes off skywards, and calls out "Seeya there! You better like pizza though, just saying!" With Mary gone, she flashes a grin to Captain Marvel when he does the vocal gravel imitation. "Don't take it personally, he says that to everyone. I think he'd like it if he could get all the civilian to pack up and leave too. Just him, a Robin or two, and a city full of the most deranged criminals you'll find anywhere. Kind of his dream."

    She gives a little smile, shrugs her shoulders, and starts to drift up and back into the night sky. Stopping herself short, she finger-guns at the 'side of beef' and adds "You can come too, by the way. We always order too much pizza, you look like you could help us out." There's one more very wide grin and a wink, and she too is gone.