June 22, 2017:
Wonder Woman assists young Aesh in thwarting an unconventional kidnapping of children from Centennial Park in Metropolis.
Centennial Park – Metropolis
Established in 1860, the spanse known as Centennial Park is positioned in the center of the New Troy island, the city's largest recreation area which spans from Midtown all the way to Downtown and skirts the Suicide Slums.
Around the ouskirts paths wind their way into the light mottling of trees and flower beds, where the serenity and tranquility from the hustle and bustle of the city can be left behind and slowly blocked from eyes and ears. Open spaces allow for different activities with families as well as golfing, small vendors set up booths to sell wares, snacks and every so often a stage will go up to cater to a larger event that cuts through some of the tranquility.
In another area there is a hedge maze, once extremely difficult, over the years it has been sized down because of complaints of people getting lost in its paths for days, if not more.
Cutting through the middle of the park is a twenty-eight million gallon reservoir populated by forty-six thousand species of fish and open to boating, while on the west side of the canal a few wooded acres are set aside to cater to more privacy from the rest, also having trails for things such as hiking and horseback riding.
Though, what tends to bring the visitors and sight seers to the brink of this large park is the large monolithic statue of Superman, who oversees the city of Metropolis as a whole and now calls it home.
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: Toy Man
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
A busy evening in Metropolis. The sun isn't quite close to setting, it being one of those long days heralding the advent of summer, but it's on its way there. It's after work hours and restaurant patios have filled up, even as lights begin to come on amidst the russets and oranges of the slanting sun.
In a park in New Troy, a small carnival of sorts appears to have been set up. There are games kiosks, most of which are manned by friendly-looking robots and life-sized toy automatons. There are hot dog stands and candy floss stations, and carts that sell caramel popcorn and candied peanuts.
The central attraction is a family of oversized teddy bears in a dancing ring. They stand between 7' and 9' tall and are as fluffy and friendly looking as any toy bear should be, with light-up eyes and smiling plush mouths.
***
A red-haired man makes his way through the festivities. The youth walks slowly, eyes taking in all the joy around him. Slowly, a smile appears on his lips. Despite his hard day, a bit of fun is just what he needs. Perhaps he'll be able to enjoy himself just for once. Who knows, maybe he'll even be able to have a normal evening for once. An evening without meetings, an evening without late-night patrols. The man stops for a moment, only to purchase an ice cream, the chocolate delicacy making his mouth water. At the corner of his vision, his HUD feeds information to his brain, things like wi-fi connection, radio waves and nearby technology. The young man doesn't even pays attention to it. He is, put simply, just looking for a good time, his gaze moving to the dancing bears for a moment. He sends an electronic signal to the family of bears, their dancing becoming just a bit more coordinated. The youth chuckles, his attention moving to his ice cream. It's time to consume.
***
The bears continue their dancing, though their routine shifts subtly — likely because of the young man's interference. Regardless, there are plenty of young families about, enjoying the impromptu mechanized circus. A mechanized carousel opens unfolds from a sizeable toy drum, with animals for at least five children to ride. Likewise, a little rocket ship circle ride unfolds from an oversized heretofore closed jack-in-the-box. Several children scramble to take seats on the backs of the animals and in the cockpits of the little toy rockets.
***
Aesh continues to enjoy his ice cream, distractedly manipulating the happy bear family. As inspiration strikes him, the bears start to perform more complex dancing maneuvers. The youth just smiles. An ice cream and some imagination is apparently all anybody needs to be happy. His smile only broadens as he notices that people are enjoying his small show. He looks up at the setting sun for a moment, feeling happiness. Happiness for all these children around him, happiness for being alive.
***
Music plays as the carousel begins to circle and the rocket ship ride begins to swoop. The bears glitch occasionally, but generally follow the routine Aesh sends to them. It's a distraction, to be sure. And one that keeps all but the watchful parents of the riding children from noticing the long poles retracting from the roof of the carousel, freeing the animals from their circling cage. One by one, the animals leap off the carousel and begin prancing away from the carnival.
Likewise, the pipes that hold the rockets to their starry course retract and little propellers on the wings begin to spin and whirl. The rockets lift off from the ride like oversized drones, flying like drunken bees after the parade of carousel animals.
That's when the shouting from frantic parents starts.
***
Aesh curses. Things were too good until that point. He noticed things going wrong even before the shouting started. His ice cream was all but forgotten, the youth's mind taking all but a second to go from happy to serious. He looked around at all the attractions. Whatever made them do what they did wasn't external. That could only mean the carnival isn't what it seems. He thinks quickly. Activating his flight system, the cyborg flies high up in the air. He's looking for the rocket. He sends out an electronic signal, hoping to change the rocket's course. He seeks to save the children who, he saw clearly, were still inside it when it launched. As he flies, he decides to do something about the rampaging carousel animals. With a single neural command, his hands morph into EMP generators. Since the animals are clearly electronic, his goal is to use the EMP generators to deactivate them while he deals with the rocket ship, viewing it as the bigger threat.
***
The rockets, there are three or four of them, are about 4' long and 2' wide. The children can be seen sitting in them just like the little rocking riding rockets at the mall. There is no canopy to speak of, though the propellers are far enough away so as not to pose a threat to little hands. That said, they are weaving rather unsteadily through the air, probably about 30' off the deck.
From among the crowds, a black-haired woman in a long white blouse and fashionable blue jeans, silver bracers on her wrists, can be seen running after the mechanical animals that dash this way and that through the crowds. She has remarkable speed and is quickly able to catch up to the hindmost of them, grabbing it by the haunches to slow it down.
While EMP generators will disable all the animals — and the rockets, for that matter — there is the danger, then, of plummeting little ones in metal rocks.
***
Aesh pauses in the air, for a moment, grateful for this unknown woman's help. He gives her a wave, before focusing in the situation at hand. An idea occurs to him. The EMP generators start to activate, a low-frequency tone being heard for a few seconds. As the rockets deactivate, the generators start to change once again and where they had been before are now two grappling guns. The youth opens his arms wide as two metallic, tentacle-like limbs sprout from his chest. These new 'arms' start to morph too, soon becoming two extra grappling guns. The young man continues to pursue the falling rockets. This'll either end well or well, he'd rater not think about the other alternative. He tracks all the rockets for a few moments and once he believes they are in a good enough position, he fires all the four grappling guns. Once he hears the hooks *klank!* against the rockets and feels they are firm enough, he'll start to as gently as possible, pull them down
***
The woman spares Aesh a glance, especially as the pulse pauses the electrical beasts and buzzing rockets. At first, she looks alarmed, but as Aesh's cables snag the rockets and keep them from falling uncontrollably, she tightens her lips and returns her attention to freeing the children on the carousel animals.
One by one, each of the rockets land with an unsteady thud, their propellers whirling slowly. And one by one each of the animals are caught, their riders freed, and the animal itself grounded. As she returns the last of the little ones to grateful parents, the black-haired woman pauses to look around, acknowledging Aesh, but clearing seeking something more.
***
"So, wasn't this the ride of your life?" Aesh asks a child as he finishes pulling all the rockets down. With a sigh, the cables are retracted, retracting back into their original places with a loud zipping sound. His limbs start to morph and when its all done he is as he was before, a two-armed, normal-looking man. He doesn't stop for long, quickly moving towards the woman who helped him before. "Thanks for your help. I don't know what I would have done if not for you." Its the first thing he says to her, his voice being soft, calm and warm. While he certainly knows who she is, he knows this isn't the time for his curiosity.
***
Wonder Woman's private identity is not a secret identity. So, the princess smiles to the cyborg. "I am glad I was here to help," she says. The smile is fleeting, however. "But, I am not convinced this is over. We must determine where the children were being taken and who may be behind it, yet." Because she takes serious umbrage at anyone who thinks they can get away with abducting children.
***
"Oh, this certainly isn't over." Aesh comments, nodding. "Someone went to great length to set all this up. Its not something someone would just let go of." He looks at the rockets that are still nearby. "I had been manipulating the circus bear when all this started. I just sent them a signal and made them dance a bit better. By doing this, I was able to confirm that they weren't being controlled by external forces. The animals, the rockets. It appears they were all programmed to do what they did. Its a clever trap, if you ask me." He looks over his Hud's logs for a moment, his head tilting to the side. "I was able to record the beginning of their flight path. It doesn't help much but its better then nothing."
***
"In my experience," Diana says, "the villain is rarely far from the crime. They are always watching… somewhere." She looks around. "I do not know that the beginning of a flight path as erratic as those were will lead to any sort of conclusive end, but I am willing to wager, if we look hard enough, we will find some sort of surveillance system that may give us a clue where to look to find our child thief." And, if the young man is at all akin to Cyborg, he should be able to help in that regard. She hopes so, at least.
***
Aesh hmms for a moment, thinking. "Yes, that can certainly be arranged." He pulls out from his pocket a piece of paper and a pen and starts to draw a representation of the rocket's path. He checks his HUD and, before a few moments he gives the paper to Diana, circling a few points of the path before he does so. "We can start at these places. All of them have surveillance that should have picked up something. I should probably start to hack into the more protected ones. Normally I would not do this but this is far from normal."
***
Normally, Wonder Woman would ask the Watchtower to do the hacking. But, she's intrigued by the young man, now, and is willing to let him display his abilities. "Let's go together," she suggests to him. "You are, I think, better equipped than I to do what needs to be done in this instance." Though, she's pretty good at laying the smackdown on at the end. She gestures to him to lead the way to the closest of the likely spots and follows him there.
***
Aesh sighs. "And here I was hopping for a quiet evening." The youth comments as they walk to a nearby restaurant. "I could try it without leaving the park but it would take too long." The two stand far from the entrance, Aesh's eyes closing for a moment. His knowledge about computers isn't bad and within moments he has managed to hack into their surveillance. He opens his eyes, nodding. "This place was close to their destination. They of course weren't aiming to go to the restaurant itself but it seemed to be some sort of reference. I say this because the rockets were pointed to this direction." He bites his lips, intrigued.
***
"Are there any indications of anyone else piggybacking on that surveillance system?" Diana asks. She's been around the block a time or two and has some idea what other signs they might look for, beyond a simple flight path. "And is there any chance you can find some sort of structure in the area that might have some sort of link to children or toys or automatons or drones or anything else that might represent a pattern — a likely spot that ties into the nature of the crime?" Because the Joker like fun houses, Cheetah likes zoos, and Mole Man is inevitably found underground. Villains, she knows, like their shtick, and this crime smacks of shtick.
***
Aesh nods. "That's easy." Aesh remarks, closing his eyes once more. His HUD flashes over maps, locations being marked with x’s. "Man, we've been blind beetles. It appears there's a nearby warehouse that's been abandoned for a few years. Well now there are two weird things about it: First is that the place has a lot of internal security. As in more sophisticated then some government databases. Second is that from what little information I've been able to gather about them, it seems this 'abandoned warehouse' has been receiving deliveries of electronic components, toy parts and, in a very surprising twist, lots of equipment that would be used in a carnival like." He tilts his head a bit more. "Ice cream machines and a family of big-sized teddy bears." The youth's eyes gleam with understanding.
***
Diana's expression tightens to a satisfied, if humourless, smile. "That," she says with conviction, "is where we'll find our would-be kidnapper." She rises into the air, and gestures to him to lead on to the warehouse. Time, now, is of the essence.
When they arrive at the warehouse, it does indeed look abandoned. But, there's no doubt, to he with the sensors to detect it, the electrical lines are alive with power. A faded, peeling sign hangs at the entrance: Carnivale Toys & Games. "Stay alert," Diana tells the young hero beside her. Then, she lands in front of the warehouse and walks straight up toward the front door.
***
Aesh shakes his head at Diana. "Wait." He whispers. "There are other ways to do this." He glances at the nearby power lines. What a perfect opportunity! Power is pulled from them, electricity going straight to Aesh, the electric current recharging his energy and cutting out the power to the warehouse. "Now we can see them but they can't see us." Only them the youth approaches, standing besides Diana, scanning the area ahead.
***
Never underestimate the craftiness of mechanically inclined villains… and their backup generators.
Nevertheless, in the darkness of the moment, Diana continues towards the door and handily breaks the chain that holds the doors shut, throwing them open. "I am Diana of Themyscira," she says in a loud voice as she enters. "I advise you to show yourself and surrender peaceably. I will not give another warning." But she always gives at least one.
In the quiet of the warehouse, the sound of sobbing can faintly be heard a goodly distance away.
***
Aesh sighs softly, his head tilting to the side. Despite the darkness, it isn't difficult for him to see. Bless you, infrared vision. "They almost never surrender." The youth comments, starting to move with slow steps towards the crying noises, all his sensors scanning the surrounding area.
***
"Almost never," Diana agrees sadly. She does not have her lasso, does not have her sword or shield, and is not wearing either her tiara or armour. But, she is hardly diminished by this. Like Aesh, she hears the sobbing noises. Her eyes narrow in the dim twilight of the warehouse. She pads silently forward on sandalled feet.
Inside the warehouse proper, the space is ringed with metal shelves and wooden crates packed with straw, concealing who knows what. The center of the warehouse is crisscrossed with conveyor belts and roller belts that connect to various machines like a strange Rube Goldberg machine. The sobbing is coming from a pile of crates near a machine capable of gripping and lifting the boxes from overhead and transporting them halfway across the floor to where a classic recycler sits.
The backup generator finally kicks in. Red emergency lights come on and the machines power up. One box is lifted from the pile and slowly moved towards the recycler.
"Find who's controlling those machines," Diana tells Aesh. "I'll find the source of the crying." With that said, she darts quickly forward towards the pile of boxes, leaping up on them lightly, seeking what may lie within.
***
Aesh nods. He, once more through the use of his HUD, attempts to trace the electricity that powers all this machinery back to its source. Such things have a control center and he's looking for it. Starting to follow the main electric current (he ignores all the redundant ones), Aesh starts to make his way deeper into the warehouse, gathering some more of the electricity for his own use.
In a sheltered overseer's station, high against a wall at the far end of the warehouse, is a portly man with round, coke-bottle glasses and garb reminiscent of an old-fashioned tinkerer. He is muttering and cursing to himself. When he sees Aesh's approach, he becomes alarmed. "No! Nonono! You're not allowed here!" He turns and flips some more switches. Several tall crates open with the puff of released air and the clatter of falling wood sheets. Four sturdy toy soldiers, the type that might decorate a Christmas Nutcracker scene, step out of the boxes and close in on Aesh.
Meanwhile, Diana is following another crate that has been picked up by the machine and from which more frightened cries come. She lifts into the air and wrests the crate from the pincer's grip. But, when she opens it, settled back on the ground, all she finds is a faceless doll and a sophisticated miniature speaker system.
***
Aesh Isn't impressed. Not at all. He gives a quick look towards the toy soldiers, his eyes then going to who he believes to be their creator. "You are without luck, my friend." Since the soldiers are controlled by the same technology that powered the attractions at the park, it isn't very difficult for Aesh to emit a remote signal of his own, attempting to establish a technopathic link to the soldiers. Fortunately, it works, the soldiers stopping on their tracks. "If I were you, I would surrender." Aesh tells the man, establishing control over the soldiers, the toys now moving to flank the cyborg. "Its over." He says to the man in a matter-of-fact tone.
***
"You can't do that!" the portly man says, almost like a child. "Those are mine!" He, apparently, doesn't much like others playing with his toys. But, toys they are, albeit nasty, oversized ones, nonetheless. He makes a dash to try to escape out the single door, but he's not an athletic man and has relied on his creations, thus far, to keep the heroes at bay. He will not likely be difficult to subdue.
The doll in the crate begins a high-voiced countdown, however. It doesn't take Diana more than a heartbeat to understand it and the crate in which it rests is an elaborate, miniaturized bomb. She leaves the capture of the toy man to Aesh, while she gathers up the bomb and takes off in a high-speed, golden streak to remove the bomb from the premises and toss it well out of the range of harming anyone or anything.
***
"Oh, please." Aesh murmurs. One of the toy soldiers moves forward, the large toy picking up the man easily, placing him over its shoulders. "Your technology is old-fashioned. I don't know what you wanted to do with it but it won't come to pass." He detects a discharge of energy bellow as the bomb goes of. Diana! He gives the toys one last command: He commands the for soldiers to follow him. It isn't difficult for him to find Diana, already outside the warehouse. Thank god she is alive! "Hello there!" He waves as he sees her. "Do you like my new toys? We also brought you a gift." The toy soldier drops the man at her feet, Aesh giving him a grin.
***
Diana returns to Earth only moments before Aesh and the toy brigade emerge from the warehouse. She gives the young man a smile and looks at the portly man. "Toy Man," she identifies him, her tone unsurprised, though perhaps a little disappointed. "You are going away for a very long time, this time." She hopes. He'll likely get sent to Arkham… and that place seems to have a revolving door for supervillains. Perhaps one of these days she should look into just why that is.
For now, however, she extends a hand to Aesh. "Thank you for your help," she tells him. "You should stop by the Hall of Justice in a day or two. I should like to speak with you further."
***
"Certainly!" He exclaims cheerfully, smiling at the woman who he now views as an ally. He moves towards the portly man. "Toy man, huh? If its of any consolation, I'll take care of your soldiers." He says to the villain. Returning to Diana, he shakes the offered hand. "My name is Aesh." He introduces himself for the first time, aware his identity isn't secret, either.
***
"Aesh," Diana repeats, releasing his hand. "Well met, Aesh. I'll look forward to speaking with you further." She turns to look at Toy Man, however. "For now, though, I think we should deposit this fellow at the nearest MPD station and ensure the children in the park are safe." The sun is now setting in earnest and night is coming on. Likely as not, Toy Man is only the beginning of the night's excitement.