01 [It's chilly and near midnight on Sunday, November 14. Shockwave is on patrol in the bad part of a bad part of the Bronx. Which is to say, pretty fuckin' bad. He's feeling pretty good, having mopped up an arms exchange AND a dealer's den, not to mention stopped two schmucks from robbing a convenience store.] 01 [He's just starting to head to another part of town when he hears a group of guys chatting it up in a nearby alley. More gang activity? This must be his lucky night.] 01 [Crack!Session Start.] [There's a gang of thugs down there picking on something, you can tell they're thugs because minions have dress codes and all these jerks have in common are some green bandannas and BO. "Look kid, it's really fuckin' simple, you give us the backpack, and we don't hurt you? That so hard ta understand?"] 06* Meri blinks, and she holds her backpack more tightly to her chest, backing away on bare feet despite the alley being filthy as hell; her feet are already cut up. "Nuh uh," she says, her voice high and child-like but remarkably steady. "I'm pretty sure you're gonna try to hurt me anyway." Her eyes dart from man to man. 06* Shockwave lets the intimidating go on for a few seconds longer, with the thugs brandishing and being menacing and all and then comes down from...somewhere? It's hard to know exactly where, maybe up above, but one minute he's not there, the next he is and leaning his arm on the shoulder of one of the guys who's doing the threats. You know, the brains of the outfit. In a casual tone, he lets out, "Yo fellas. Who ya talkin' to? Anyone invited to this little party?" 06* Meri yelps, and she scoots backwards even more, her eyes wide. For the record, she's about 5'8" and in that middle school range: flat as a board, and all knees and elbows, with tanned skin, hazel eyes, and black hair (with dyed blue tips) in a ponytail. She has no shoes and is just wearing jeans and a hoodie, but they look new (and well made). [The thug in question starts to push Shockwave off his shoulder "Goddamnit you fuck, stop trying to fucking touch me in the... You're not Joe."] 06* Meri also seems more afraid of Shockwave than the thugs, and her eyes are darting quite rapidly now. [The gang turns to face the new guy while the leader tries to brain. "Who the fuck are you?"] 06* Shockwave smiles at the thug. He's about 5'10", with a pretty lean build, but pretty muscular. With his jean jacket on, he's exposing a Game-Over mushroom t-shirt and sporting some nice shades which hide his eyes and a bandanna which hides his hair. Nice spiky belt, fingerless gloves, shoes. "See? I *knew* you were the brains of the outfit. Musta been why they picked ya." 06* Shockwave starts cracking his knuckles. "Ya ain't gonna have time ta think 'bout who I am, so why bother with introductions, ya? I've had a long day, pal." [Leaderthug pulls out a knife,"Why don't ya shove off and get yourself a nice drink then? We're kinda fuckin' buisy, ya?"] 06* Shockwave sighs and shakes his head. "Wrong response, asshole." His knee flashes and there's a screech of wind in the air that kind of sounds like a turbo jet, before it lands in his gut. The guy goes flying, but before he gets too far, Shockwave's after him, catching him in midair and ramming him into a couple other gangbangers to bowl them over. [Two of the thugs break for it and run right there, but the other three pull out their own knives and one of the grabs the kid too. "Holy FUCK! I dunno when the fuck you got back, but you try that again and the girl gets it!"] 06* Meri open-mouth-gapes briefly before snapping out of it and- getting grabbed. "HEY!" she yells, somehow more angry than scared. "Let go!" 06* Meri squirms, dropping her backpack in the process. [The grabby thug looks down at her, "You kidding? You're my ticket outta this! Stay still ya squirt!"] 01 (Is he knifing?) (In his other hand, he'll threaten her with it in a sec, but right now he's trying to hold onto her hoodie) 06* Shockwave looks at the thug and might be narrowing his eyes. "You think you can do it before I get over there, you're mistaken, asshole." [Grabbythug holds his knife up to Meri. "Kinda crack you on? I already got her!"] 06* Shockwave smiles at that and notes the distance between them. "Yeah...well one way involves you dragging her down with you." He runs up and grabs his arm, pulling it away from her, while holding his upper arm back so he can't put the blade back against her. "So how's this?" He smacks the guy in the face with his own fist, the one holding the knife. 06* Meri was suddenly holding quite still, and then that happens, and she blinks in confusion. [Grabbythug drops the knife and Meri. "Ow! The hell? That's fucking cheating!" And his friends are starting to edge away.] 06* Shockwave sighs. "And drawing a knife against an unarmed girl isn't?" [Grabbythug decides that now's a great time to grow a braincell. "She coulda had some mace or something!"] 06* Meri turns and also punches Grabbythug twice - once in the chest and once in the face, with moves that look like they were taken straight from a boxing ring. She holds both of her fists up. "You're mean," she declares, as though this is news. "And knives aren't that scary anyway." 06* Shockwave looks about ready to respond to that. Then Meri does *that*. So, uh, he's just kind of dumbstruck. [Gabby crumples, thugs don't have very many HP.] 06* Meri looks over the fallen thug to glare at the others. [They run away too, while shouting unpleasant things about Meri's parents.] 01 Hey! 06* Meri chases them, because she's clearly the insane twelve year old from HELL, and she screams, "GET BACK HERE!" But it's not really a scream so much as an inhuman shriek, breaking nearby windows and ripping into the thugs. [The thugs take this as an incentive to RUN FASTER HELL BEAST BEHIND THEM!] 06* Shockwave blinks for a moment, then sighs and runs up behind Meri, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Hey. Cool it, kiddo." 06* Meri is grabbed by the shoulder and she spins, clocking Shockwave neatly in the jaw with her left fist. 06* Shockwave takes the punch and gets clocked. His head turns aside but it doesn't look all that bruised, just a little red mark. Still her rubs his cheek. "Ow. Mean left hook on ya, kid." He looks down on her, well, only slightly down. Not quite checking her out because, um, 12. "You done yet?" 06* Meri blinks and realizes what she did. "Oh!" She scoots back. "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" 06* Shockwave lets out a chortle, then shakes his head. "Hey. Relax, kid." He blows out a breath. "But what are ya doin' here? Ain't exactly the part of town to take your backpack into." 06* Meri bristles slightly, despite just apologizing to the guy who took her punch without a flinch. "Don't call me 'kid'." 06* Shockwave shrugs slightly, not taken aback by her bristling. "Ain't like I gotta name, do I?" 01 Meri. 06* Shockwave tilts his head, folding his arms. "That short for anything?" 06* Meri chews her lower lip, then says, "Meredith." 06* Shockwave nods. "So again, what are ya doin' down here, Meri? Helluva detour to be takin'. Ain't exactly scenic." 01 I... um... 06* Meri looks down and scuffs at the pavement with her bare foot a bit. Oh look, she has some cuts there, too, but she doesn't react to seeing them. "... kinda ran away from home." 06* Shockwave looks her over for a moment. "....huh." 06* Meri , for the record, doesn't sound quite like a New Yorker; her accent's pretty hard to place, but it's not New York. 01 Yeah. 06* Shockwave rubs his head a little bit and grumbles, mostly to himself. "Great...Looks like I'm gonna be a babysitter tonight.." Louder, he replies, "Wanna talk about it?" 06* Meri moves back into the alley to get her backpack. "I don't need a babysitter," she says, annoyed. Oh, looks like she heard that. 06* Shockwave watches her, without moving. He calls out to her, "Yeah? Where ya plannin' on stayin'?" 01 I dunno. 06* Meri picks up her backpack and shrugs it over her shoulders again, not looking at Shockwave. "Look, um... thanks for coming in to save me. It was- it was really cool." 06* Shockwave snorts. "Thanks." He then looks up at her. "Shockwave." 06* Meri blinks, and she looks at Shockwave with wide eyes. "Shockwave? Like... a superhero name? You're a superhero?" Well ya ain't seemed to have been 'round here but...yeah, could say that. 06* Shockwave snorts. "Superheroes' a dumb title anyway. I just do shit that needs to get done." He then looks at her. "Say, when's the last time you ate?" 01 No way, you're an actual superhero, that's SO COOL! Have you been a superhero for a long time? Do you do stuff by yourself? How'd you come up with your costume? I wanted to be a superhero too but Mr. Farber said- 06* Meri abruptly shuts up, and then when she speaks again, she says, "Noon." 06* Shockwave sighs. "Really? Man.." He shakes his head. "Look. Let's get you outta the alleyways first. Then I'll go get us some pizza, a'ight?" 06* Meri hesitates, then her stomach growls. Loudly. "Okay," she says, smiling tentatively. [Fast Forward! Shockwave leads Meri up a fire escape and tells her to wait on the roof. It takes about a half hour (he may be fast, but pizza still needs to cook, yo, plus it takes time to find a place open this late!) Eventually he shows up with two pizzas, one pepperoni, one sausage. Unless Meri's really watching, it's not really obvious how he got up on the roof, but he didn't use the fire escape if she was watching that.] 06* Meri isn't really watching. Instead, she has cards spread out on the roof. Looks like she's playing solitaire Pokemon, or something. At least they're in protectors. 06* Shockwave looks over her shoulder, pizza carried in one hand. He may be raising an eyebrow. Pokemon? 06* Meri is totally putting a grass energy card on a charizard! 06* Shockwave totally doesn't know how to play this game. So instead he clears his throat. "Pizza's here." 06* Meri looks up, and she brightens. "Yay!" She quickly starts clearing cards off the roof. 06* Shockwave looks her over. "Well *you* seem to have gotten a long way from pissed off, haven't ya?" 01 Huh? Oh, I wasn't really angry... I mean, um. Not really? Sorry. I kinda had a bad day. Kinda assumed that from the whole "run away from home" bit. 06* Shockwave opens up one of the pizza boxes after sitting next to her. Pepperoni. 06* Meri scratches at her cheek. "Yeah, well... I kinda scared them, I think." She sees the pizza and wrinkles her nose a little. "What's in the other box?" 06* Shockwave looks at her reaction. "Sausage." He keeps looking at her face. "Not a pepperoni fan?" 01 Um, no... I... 06* Meri fidgets for a moment, then takes a slide of pepperoni. "Thanks, Mr. Shockwave," she says, before picking her pepperoni off her slice and setting them in the corner of the pizza box. 06* Shockwave snorts. "Vegetarian then." Shoulda said. 01 I usually don't have to. Also if I ain't gonna call ya kid, ya shouldn't be callin' me Mister. 06* Meri smiles. "Okay." Pepperoni off, she folds her slice and takes a bite. She barely takes time to chew before having another bite. Yup, Meri is hungry! 06* Shockwave leans up against one of the building structures on the top of the building and opens the sausage box, taking out a slice of his own. "So what happened?" 06* Meri chews and swallows. "I have superpowers," she says matter of factly before tearing into the rest of the slice. 06* Shockwave pauses as he looks at Meri. Tall gangly girl with punk-rocker hair. Right. Well not like he can comment on the hair really. "Really." 01 Uh huh. I turn into a bat thing with huge wings. 06* Meri spreads her arms, slice in one hand. HUGE! "And fangs and claws and stuff. And I can see with sound, and I can scream really good." 06* Shockwave nods slightly. Hanging on her every word. "Right...uh...hate to say it but..." 06* Meri blinks at Shockwave, pizza hanging out of her mouth. Oh wait, she's chewing it... now it's gone. 06* Shockwave rubs his face, not fully looking at her. "Right. Uh, can you do it now?" 01 Um... yes, but... 06* Meri hesitates, then says, nervously, "You hafta promise you won't get scared." 06* Shockwave looks at her, oddly. She for real? "Yeah. Sure." 01 'kay. 06* Meri shoves the rest of the slice in her mouth and chews as she backs away from Christian and the pizza, pulling her hoodie over her head. The t-shirt underneath is in tatters - ripped straight through the sides - as is the waistband of her jeans, and it doesn't look like she wore a bra. 06* Shockwave gets a good look at that. He's still sitting but he's *real* curious now. 06* Meri drops the hoodie on the ground, backs up a bit more, and takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. And... she quickly begins to morph into something... else. Gray fur sprouts all over her body, her nose pulls back and her ears enlongate to well past her head, and her incisors lengthen, turning into fangs. 06* Meri stretches her hands, fingernails growing and sharpening into a set of wicked looking black claws, and her feet turn into talons, with matching claws (that explains the lack of shoes, certainly). Overall, Meri seems to gain a considerable amount of wiry muscle, filling out while still being fairly thin, and enormous wings burst out, attaching her arms to her sides very much like a bat's. 06* Meri stretches, and her wingspan is, yes, huge. She opens her eyes - they're the same, and the hair could be a giveaway - but everything else about her is different now. Meri really *does* look like some sort of freaky bat creature, and she watches Shockwave nervously. 06* Shockwave 's suddenly up and jumps back a few feet, though it looks like an easy hop for him. He knocks one of the pizza boxes as he does, but fortunately not enough to spill it or step on it. "Christ!" 06* Meri says, in a voice somehow Meri's but also kind of inhuman, "You promised!" 01 (The transformation, for the record, only took a few seconds. But it's a morphing, not a replacing, if that makes sense.) 06* Shockwave looks at her, a bit shocked, then keeps his eyes on her. "Fuck...no, it ain't that. Just startled me is all." 06* Meri shuffles some, talons scratching against the roof. "Okay," she says, bringing her arms around and enfolding herself in her own wings. 06* Shockwave rubs his head slightly. "Protip: Don't just tell a stranger your story like that. They're apt not to believe ya right off." 06* Shockwave then pauses for a moment and tries to regain his composure. "So...uh...how long you been able to do that?" 01 A- a few weeks. 01 And you're a superhero! You've got powers, too! 06* Shockwave has that brow-creased eyebrow-raised look again. "Yeah? That's like the third time you've said that. That so surprising?" 01 Yes? I mean, no? I mean, you're a superhero! You shouldn't think that- that someone else having superpowers is *weird* or something. 06* Shockwave looks at her for a moment. "No. I *should* think some random girl I just rescued from an alleyway from a couple of punk-ass thugs just happening to be able to turn into a giant bat is kind of a weird coincidence though, don't ya think?" 06* Shockwave rubs his head a little and sits back down. "Least I kept ya out of the newspapers." 01 I- I don't wanna be in newspapers. I think everyone would be scared of me. 06* Meri pauses a moment, then asks, "Can I change back now?" 06* Shockwave nods. "Probably should, yeah." 06* Meri nods and takes a breath, shifting back into regular old Meri form. This only takes a few seconds as well, and it's basically her initial transformation but in reverse. That done, she shivers a little, picks up her sweatshirt, and pulls it back on. 06* Shockwave takes out a cigarette and lighter and flips it a couple of times, before he gets it off. He takes a puff and turns his head to blow out the smoke. "Looks like you got it rough." 06* Meri wrinkles her nose a little at the smoke, but she doesn't say anything. Instead, she sits back down and snags herself another slice of pizza, picking toppings off of it. "Yeah... well, I dunno." 01 I thought they'd understand. I was keeping it a secret because... I mean, because the grown ups said I should, but then Mr. and Mrs. Barker died and I just- I thought they should know. 06* Shockwave nods a little. "And they didn't take it well." He holds out the cigarette. "Smoke?" 06* Meri freezes and stares at the cigarette. She looks like she's about to say something, then switches it to, "Uh... no thanks." 06* Shockwave snorts at her balking and then takes back the cigarette himself. "You *did* say you didn't wanna be treated like a kid, right?" 06* Meri goes back to removing toppings. "Yeah, but plenty of grown ups don't smoke either." She takes the last pepperoni off her slice and folds it, having herself a bite. 01 Besides, it's gross. 06* Shockwave snickers. "It's true." He then looks up at her gross comment and smirks. "Gee. Thanks." 06* Meri grins at Shockwave. 06* Meri eats more pizza! 06* Shockwave goes back to take another puff. "How old are you anyway?" 01 Twelve. 01 I was fifteen for a day, though. 06* Shockwave seems to be forcing back the "kid." He's doing a good job of it. 06* Shockwave looks at her oddly. "Yeah?" 06* Meri shrugs. "Yeah. This one lady, she had one arm, and she could age people and basically get super powerful. She's a really bad guy." 06* Shockwave snorts. "Seems like there's worse super powers out there than getting older by 3 years." 01 She aged lotsa people, and she could do it more than once, and the older you were... you'd get a LOT older. I'm only twelve so I didn't get hit too bad. But this one guy aged like ten or fifteen years. 06* Shockwave rubs his neck and cricks it a bit. "Try dodging someone throwing vans at you for a living." 01 Anyway, me and this other girl - Ana - we beat her up, but then the grown ups we were working with showed up and got mad at us even though WE WON because we didn't do it their way. They wanted to build a taser! And all attack her at once! And WAIT while she could do lots more stuff! It woulda been so stupid. 06* Meri chews on her pizza and finishes, "She changed us back after that." You stopped it, right? 06* Meri blinks at Shockwave. "Huh?" The person who was aging people. You stopped it, right? 01 Yeah. So what's the problem? 01 The problem was we didn't do it *their* way. They wanted to talk about what to do and keep us from doing anything. You know? 06* Meri shifts a little and mumbles, "Grown ups are so stupid." And she has another bite of pizza. You're tellin' me. 06* Shockwave grabs his own slice. 01 And then- and then they get there and they yelled at us because she was unconscious and bleeding - well DUH, we just FOUGHT HER and Ana uses knives and I have claws, what'd they expect! And bad guys are usually knocked out when you WIN! Besides, she's tried to kill us before! 06* Meri sighs. "I dunno." 06* Shockwave sighs. "Yeah." 06* Shockwave flexes and unflexes his knuckles, looking at them. "I was pulling my punches back there. I could still put most of those guys in the hospital without even tryin'." 06* Meri 's eyes widen. "Really? Wow." 06* Shockwave smirks. "Took me a couple years even to get to *that* point." He shakes his head. "Shit's rough when you think about it. Asshole's piss ya off by takin' advantage of someone bein' in the wrong place at the wrong time or not havin' enough money to protect themselves, but ya gotta be the good guy in the end." 06* Meri nods. "Yeah! That's what I was trying to tell them! We've gotta help people!" 06* Shockwave looks at her. "How ya thinkin' of doin' that? 06* Meri blushes. "I dunno, um... I could transform, right? Nobody'd recognize me." 01 And maybe get some clothes that work so I don't rip up my shirts all the time? Probably not as easy as ya think. 06* Shockwave sighs slightly. "And hate to say it, but you probably already thought it. Not many people'd take help from a giant bat. No offense. I think your heart's in the right place an' all..." 01 But I want to help! 01 Even if everyone hates and fears me and doesn't understand. It's what I should do. You said so! 06* Shockwave winces slightly. "When'd I say that?" 01 You said! You said that people end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they don't have enough money or friends or whatever, and you said you gotta be a good guy in the end! 06* Meri is flailing at this point, pizza forgotten. Uh...I think you're only hearin' half of what I'm sayin' here. 06* Meri stops, suddenly on guard again. "What, are you gonna say that it's not really true 'cause I'm too young?" 06* Shockwave shakes his head and stands up. "No. I'm sayin' ya gotta be smart about it. Ain't much chance of savin' people if ya draw so much attention to yourself they try to lock ya up as a laboratory experiment." 06* Meri stiffens as Shockwave stands, and she stares up at him. "Okay," she says. "How am I supposed to be smart about it?" 06* Shockwave snickers. "Well, I guess you'll just have to try harder. Make sure you subdue guys instead of outright killing them or hurting them. Try to be friends with the people you help. Stuff like that." But you'll probably have to start small and stay out of sight until word gets around though. 06* Meri nods. "Okay." Pause, and she reaches for her third slice of pizza, starting to remove toppings. "Could you help me?" she asks, kind of hopeful now. 06* Shockwave laughs. "Me?" He then pauses and looks at her. He thinks she's kind of serious. 06* Shockwave rubs his head. "Uh...I ain't exactly the mentor type...I mean...geez." He thinks about it for a moment. "Maybe could at least ask around about a costume or something. Less you want to keep carrying around a change of clothes..." 06* Meri smiles at her pizza, still removing toppings. "Thanks, Shockwave." And...uh...can't say I know exactly how to pull your punches...I mean that's really up to you. But I could probably let you know if you're hitting someone too hard. 06* Meri nods, now eating her pizza and all attention. Plus how are you at dodging? 01 Normally, or when I'm a bat? 06* Shockwave looks at her for a moment. "You plan on saving people more when you aren't a bat or when you are a bat?" 06* Meri looks down at her pizza again and picks at it. "No, but- anyway, I'm pretty good. Not super fast or anything, but pretty good." 06* Shockwave snorts and smirks. "Not everybody can be super fast." 06* Meri says, distantly, "No, but it is pretty cool." 06* Shockwave barks out a laugh. "It *is* pretty cool." He takes a step back and gestures with his fingers. "Come at me, then." 06* Meri stares. "What, really?" 06* Shockwave takes off his shades and grins at her, tossing them to the side and giving her a look. "You don't get to be a super hero by hesitating, sweetie pie. Come at me." 06* Meri blushes a little. "Okay." She sets her pizza down in the box, carefully, and stands, pulling her sweatshirt over her head. A few seconds later and she's a bat creature again, sweatshirt dangling from one hand. She drops it to her side, gives Christian a fangy (terrifying?) grin before charging him with surprising (but not super-)speed, clawing with hand and then the other. 06* Shockwave smiles a bit and ducks low under the first swing of the claws, then oofs as the other claw slashes across his abdomen. *That* looks like it actually hurt. He starts to bleed. 06* Meri backs away, shocked and pulling her bloodied hand to cover her mouth. "Sorry!" 06* Shockwave chuckles as he jumps back. "Yeah...ow. There goes my speech about expecting the guy to stand still when you attack." He grins at her. "I can take it. Ain't gonna wanna use that on a normal person though." He comes at her himself, suddenly appearing underneath and gives her a punch to the chin. Just a normal punch, not kinecticallly charged or anything, but at least she's a bat so 06* Shockwave he's not hesitating as much for her being a girl. 06* Meri blinks, still surprised that she hurt him and now surprised that he's moving so fast and ow, she takes it, tumbling backwards and rolling to her feet, one hand on the roof. She shakes her head rapidly before watching him carefully. 06* Shockwave frowns a bit with her tumbling backwards and walks forward, extending an arm to help her up. "Sorry about that. Thought you were paying better attention." 06* Meri accepts the help and stands, rubbing at her chin. "I'm okay. I boxed in the gym, but never really like that." She looks embarrassed. 01 I mean, this. If you still wanna do this? 06* Shockwave snorts. "Do it pretty much every day." Question is, kid. Do you think *you're* up to it? 06* Meri looks at Shockwave like he's crazy. "Duh." 01 I'm just saying, with people I'm... I don't know, people who *don't* want to actually kill me. 06* Meri scratches at the back of her head with the claws that aren't bloody. Yeah. People out there are *actually* gonna want to kill you. 06* Meri sighs. "That's not what I was saying." 01 And I'm not stupid. They already tried to kill me. They *did* kill Mr. and Mrs. Barker. I'm just saying... I'm not used to it. That kinda fighting against people who don't. 06* Meri scuffs at the ground. "That's why I wasn't ready to dodge. That's all." 06* Meri scuffing at the ground is a little strange, since she has talons. She scuffs forwards and backwards at the same time. 06* Shockwave sighs. "Right. Round two?" 06* Meri nods and sets herself in a boxing stance, though her hands are looser, bouncing a bit. Boxing bat, heh. She watches Shockwave, warily. 06* Shockwave grins and comes at Meri, but this time, slides under her just as she thinks he's going to swing a punch at her. Mini-dive bomber aimed at her feet! 06* Meri jumps a few feet at Shockwave's slide, certainly making it easier for him to get under her feet, and spreads her arms/wings as that hits. She drops as the shock goes off, clawing at Shockwave on the way down. 01 [Comic splash page pause! TO BE CONTINUED.]