Town Hall, Saturday, December 19, 2020 [Let's Say Lunchtime]

[fh_extras]

Right. Science and magic people were going to... science and magic this thing out of the air. In theory, it was a good plan, in that 'winging it by the seat of our pants' kind of way that Jesse was intimately familiar with. In practice, well, the streets of Fandom were currently a little on the deadly side.

So she dusted off the PA system sometime in the early afternoon.

"Hey, we think we've figured out how to stop this thing," she said, forcing her voice to stay steady (public speaking was the worst, okay, but she just needed a moment to remind herself she was the dir-- mayor here). "But we can use some cover while we do this. I need anybody who's willing to fight to come in to town hall and keep our people safe, okay? Thank you."

Click.

Duke	Yeah, Duke was just going to very firmly not mention the reindeer and their mesmerizing red noses. Shut up. He was, however, going to show up loaded to bear (ha!) with a shot gun, a pistol, a few small explosives, and an ax. He had some pent up frustration to take out on some things.
Rey	Rey arrived with her lightsaber at her belt, a blaster strapped to her leg, and she was still trying to pull a dead tangle of lights off the end of her staff from an encounter on the way here. Because you know what this day needed? Untangling Christmas lights on top of everything.
Duke	Duke hadn’t spoken to Rey in . . . awhile. But he also wasn’t the sort to just stand around when someone was dealing with something. “You, uh. Need a hand with that?”
Rey	"I've got it. It's hooked right here," she said, working the wire over that but of metal before glancing up. "You look prepared."
Duke	“I am very excited to not be in a volcano right now,” Duke said with a shrug. “Also I’ve been attacked by way too many things this week not to go around armed to the teeth.”
Rey	"You okay, though?" Rey checked, because of course she did.
Duke	"Yep." Duke hefted his ax. "Especially once I take out some frustrations on some holiday candy. Or snow angels. Or reindeer." 'Reindeer' got a bit of an extra growl. Look, just because he was really susceptible to mind control didn't mean he enjoyed it.
Rey	"You should have more than enough opportunity to do that," she told him, finally pulling the lights loose to toss out of the way. Because the island was a damn mess.
Duke	"Seems like it," Duke agreed. "And, uh. How've you been?"
Rey	"Good." Honestly, she was living her best life. "You?"
Duke	"Getting there," Duke said. "Until this week, nothing had tried to kill me in, like, a month."
Rey	"Good!" she said, actually kind of relieved by that. "Hopefully the streak can continue once we handle this."
Duke	"That's the plan," Duke said, nodding. "So, uh." He looked her over and tilted his head. "I haven't listened to the radio in a bit, but I'm pretty sure when I did I heard something about you and a certain pirate?" Look, he could be mad at her all he liked, but his inner hopeless romantic would not be squashed.
Rey	"That's part of a bigger conversation," Rey said, because she honestly felt kind of weird sharing that kind of thing when she didn't know where they stood after six weeks. "Maybe after this."
Duke	Duke bopped his head. "Fair enough. You know if there's any kind of plan around here, or are we just kinda . . . hacking away at things?"
Rey	"Not sure. I think we're supposed to follow whoever yells the loudest," Rey guessed. She had surprisingly little team experience.
Duke	"Yeah, sounds like Fandom," Duke said. He rested his ax on his shoulder. "Whelp. . . . Should be interesting at least."
Rey	"That's a word for it," Rey agreed, and added, "Be careful out there."
Duke	“Yeah.” Duke flicked her a small smile. “You too.”
Magnus	"The real thing I wanna know here, is will we get loot for this?" Magnus asked. Because he was a murder hobo sometimes.
Jessica	"I'm getting paid in booze," Jessica offered.
Magnus	"I mean. Is it good booze?"
Jessica	Jessica scoffed. "Fuck no. But it's a big bottle."
Magnus	"Ahhh," Magnus said, then looked a little concerned. But it mostly for the DM, really. You doin' okay there, Griffin? Quarantine's been hard for all of us.
Jessica	It’s okay, Travis. Your Dad probably got his spell cards mixed up again and Griffin just needed a moment. Jessica however just assumed the look meant Magnus was judging her. “Hey, you beat up shit for your reasons and I’ll do it for mine.”
Magnus	Look, he just assumed that almost everyone who wasn't Taaco and Merle were NPCs, voiced by his baby brother. Unless you were voiced by special guest, Lin Manuel Miranda. "Oh, it's because I'm technically lawful good." Wow, that didn't turn out accurate at all.
Jessica	Magnus got a long pause from Jessica as she tried to figure out what Magnus meant by that. Magnus could interpret that look as Jessica having no clue what he is talking about or Travis assuming that Griffin was thinking about all the crazy shit he let Travis get away with. Either way Jessica’s final response was a slow nod and her saying “Yeah... okay.”
Magnus	Magnus could and would. "Don't worry, it's not important."
Danny	Danny had been attacked by an inflatable reindeer this week. And that was on top of an impromptu trip to Afghanistan. It was safe to say that he wasn't in the best mood for any of this. But he was armed there to keep people safe.
Steve	Steve had strapped his broken arm up on the outside of his ridiculous completely badass puffy coat and was carrying one gun and wearing another...few. The exact number was classified, okay. "Duck!" he yelled at Danny before a icicle fell on him.
Danny	"You are not supposed to be out here," Danny informed him once he was safe from the murder icicle. You know. Like Steve would listen to reason on this.
Steve	Steve snorted. "Sure, Danno."
Danny	Danny was gonna murder him. Straight up murder him. "You have a broken arm and cracked ribs!"
Steve	Steve gestured with the non broken arm to the everything around them. "This is more important! And after the reindeer, it's not like the apartment's any safer." The reindeer had been awesome, though.
Danny	"That is bad logic!" Danny shouted at him, shooting at a reindeer that was getting too close. "Your logic is bad!"
Steve	"So's your face!" Steve countered. Maturely.
Starlight	Starlight arrived a little more out of breath than she would have liked (damn angels), but she was here, with her hair curled and her makeup done because...well, you had your pre-combat rituals, she had hers. She'd also swapped her uniform for a fresh one, as the outfit she'd been running around in the past few days was pretty splattered with...chocolate and marzipan and God only knew what else by now. She had her arms crossed around herself, trying to seem confident even as she was running through a stream of mental prayers. (She had a few pre-combat rituals, okay?)
Jessica	Jessica did not want to be here. She would have been back in her apartment drinking bottom shelf whiskey but no someone had to come along and drag her to the townhall. "You're totally getting snow shoved down your costume," Jessica muttered to Annie.
Starlight	"And here I was going to buy you a great big bottle of bourbon for helping out," Starlight murmured, glancing over. "Come on, it'll be fun." She didn't actually believe that, and it showed, but she was trying. And it was a uniform, damn it.
Jessica	Jessica sighed and rolled here eyes. "You and I have way different definitions of fun," she complained. "And it better be a huge bottle."
Starlight	"With a bow on it," Starlight promised, worry etched into her features even as she tried to keep her tone light. "What, you scared of a few...reindeer or whatever?" The reindeer were nothing to fuck with, and she knew it, but she was trying.
Jessica	Jessica scoffed. "No," she said drawling out the word. She shifted a bit betraying a bit of nervousness on her part. "I just don't like the responsibility."
Starlight	"Just be responsible for you," Starlight advised, managing a little smile. "You don't have to be anyone's hero - you're just some pissed-off, ridiculously strong chick who lives here. You're an asset, Jessica."
Jessica	"Well. More of an ass, really," she joked. "But the pissed off part is accurate."
Starlight	"Channel all of that into this," Starlight told her, smile broadening slightly. "And don't get hurt." Because Starlight was just going to worry a little about everyone here, yes. Even the folks with healing factors!
Jessica	Jessica frowned a bit at that. “Same goes for you too,” she replied with an awkward expression. Then cleared her throat. “Because if you get hurt who’s going to buy me booze?” Yep. That’s the reason.
Diego	Diego was there, in his usual black tactical outfit however there might have been a little more knives than usual. The cut on his cheek from the angel was slowly healing but he had the feeling that it wasn't going to be the only mark on him after this was all said and done.
Starlight	Starlight was doing her best to seem confident and like she wasn't brimming with nervous energy as she wandered over to stand next to Diego, but she was doing a pretty bad job of it. This had all been fun and cute on Wednesday, but at this point they were days into this and it just kept escalating. "You ready for this?" she asked him quietly, bumping a shoulder against one of his and going for playful in spite of how worried she clearly was. The cut on his cheek was not what she'd consider a good omen, and it just reminded her that he could get hurt.
Diego	"As I'll ever be." Excitement was still his main feeling here, mostly due to a lifetime of brainwashing telling him this was his only purpose in life. Also it was still kind of cool to see all this weird shit. "We got this," he said confidently. "Look at all these superpowered weirdos with us." He said that with affection.
Starlight	"There are a lot of superpowered weirdos here." Starlight would feel a bit better about this if she knew that everyone was a superpowered weirdo in the extra-special, almost-impossible-to-hurt way she was a superpowered weirdo, but still. "I had to drag one of 'em here," almost literally, "but I think we're in pretty good shape. Pretty much everyone I know with powers and/or a gun is here."
Diego	"See, we'll be fine," Diego said, giving her a nudge with his elbow. "I feel bad for whatever tries to come for us."
Starlight	Starlight huffed out a little laugh, a tiny bit of the tension leaving her shoulders. "You're right. And it's not like we haven't all been training all week." There, she wasn't actually faking the confidence, anymore, considering at this point she could probably blast candy canes in her sleep. "They have it coming."
Spider-Man	And in a space no one was standing there was a blip and suddenly a Spider-Man standing there. "Hey everyone!" Miles said cheerfully. "Figured you could use the help of your friendly island resident Spider-Man."
Clint	By this point, Clint had kind of gotten used to some of the fighty types being young, but the blipping in out of nowhere still caught him off guard. "Geez kid. You should try that scare tactic on the inflatables, maybe it'll make them pop."
Seivarden	She should have known that letting Amaya take her second gun apart during a week like this was a bad idea. At least Seivarden had her best one, and she had armour, and an emergency medkit - one that was actually useful, unlike those here - with her. And a knife, for those lights. She felt she was as prepared as she could be.
Summer	Look. Summer knew that with what everyone else on this island could bring to the table in situations like this, she didn't have much. She had a ship and some blasters and a pretty hefty dose of sarcastic wit and banter, but she wasn't going to let her lack of superpowers or even formal training stop her from letting this be her moment to shine maybe a little bit while they were all here. Whistling a little to herself as she double-checked her several various space guns, portal gun for emergency exits, the mop handle she'd converted into a pointed staff, her make-up and hair real quick, before this really started to go down...
Steve	Steve trotted over in full Captain America uniform, shield already kind of smelling like marzipan. "Road that way is blocked by boulders," he said, pointing north.
Jessica	So. It's not that Jessica was so much star-struck at the sight of Captain America as she was bewildered. "So you're here too?" She asked... mostly to the air but Steve was nearby and was kind of targeted by the question. "So what? We're like one giant angry green guy, a surfer duded and the chick with the red hair?" Thor might take issues being called "Surfer dude."
Steve	"I can call 'em, but I don't think they can get here," Steve said, grinning. "They'll definitely be sorry to miss it."
Jessica	Okay. And now the living flag was actually talking to Jessica. "Yeah, I'll bet," Jessica said rolling her eyes and really feeling inferior to most of the people in the room. "Then again there may not be an island standing if they showed up." She looked around the room. "How is it so many supers show up in a place like this?"
Steve	"Can't speak for everyone else, but Nick Fury sent me here years ago," Steve said. Because Nick was a tricksy bastard like that.
Jessica	"I don't know who that is but even then he sounds like he could break my spine just by looking at me," Jessica said shaking her head.
Steve	"Probably," Steve admitted.
Liam	Look, there wasn’t a lot to do on the island with regards to his supposed actual job, so in a weird way Liam kind of looked forward to these inevitable semi-regular showdowns. It was just nice to feel useful.
Beau	Beau showed up, staff slung across her back, pouch of throwing stars at her belt, and... still showing off her abs despite the weather. Hey, at least her dope new fleece lined pirate coat looked cool! ... literally, because it was hanging open and she'd torn the sleeves off. Look, you couldn't tell her what to do. Even if she was still covered in snow because the sharkicanes had gotten her again. Scanning the room quickly confirmed what she'd also expected: Yasha wasn't here, because she never willingly gravitated toward crowds of people. "I'm gonna get my friend on the way, rope her in on this," she said, loudly but to no one in particular. "This shit is totally her jam."
Magnus	"Isn't this awesome?!" Yeah, the D&D people would be into this. "Nice abs!"
Beau	A fight this extra just meant they were totally in their element. "Thanks, man," Beau said with a smug little smirk. "Ready to fuck shit up?"
Magnus	"Heck yeah!" he replied, pulling out the Flaming, Raging, Poisoning Sword of Doom to keep up the level of extra-ness. Also, that extra damage from the fire, you know? Gotta keep up on the meta. "Let's fuck 'em up!"
Beau	And here Beau had another couple of levels to go before she got her sickness lightning gloves, let alone an enchanted staff. IT WAS FINE, she still had her cool monk shit. "I need my fight partner for this," she said, nodding her approval at the sword. "Don't let anybody get started without us, 'kay?"
Magnus	"I'll make sure," he promised. "Man, we need to get you a stone of farspeech."
Beau	"I mean, she has a phone, but she might break it if she's raging, right?" Beau yelled over her shoulder, already taking off into the streets to find Yasha.