4897/Speed of Justice

Speed of Justice
Date of Scene:	18 December 2016
Location:	The Tapestry
Synopsis:	The Paladins investigate a biker gang speeding dangerously through a highway, and find themselves facing a difficult problem apprehending the leader.
Cast of Characters:	Sir Gawain, 941, 992, 1064, Reina Kinney, Kotone Yamakawa, 20, 151, 1084, 1083

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Sir Gawain has posed:
Greymont has, for the many centuries of its independent rule as a city-state, been a remarkably peaceful place. Democracy has flourished smoothly, and crime is at a minimum. Greymont also, due to strong diplomatic techniques, has no local threats and therefore no need for a strong military. Technological progress has matched that of a late 20th-century/early 21st-century Earth, with tall buildings, bustling highways, and automobiles to drive across them. While Greymont did not join the Commonwealth itself due to an interest in independence, it has already started diplomatic talks and an interest in working with the Commonwealth.

However, over the past few days, the peace has been broken. A group of space drifters/criminals, known as the 'Nitro Generation' or 'NitroGen', has been displaced in the Reality Quakes far from their own world. Having been in the middle of a race, the gang found themselves torn away and in a new territory: that of Greymont. Instead of taking the long trek to find their way home (where nobody really liked them), however, they've decided to continue their crime spree here, racing through the streets, messing with civilians and cops, and pretty much just terrorizing the city. Greymont's local authorities are incapable of dealing with the NitroGen due to their much-more advanced hover-vehicles, their reckless driving, and their disregard for anyone but themselves making things impossible. The law is worried that if left unchecked, the NitroGen might progress into straight-out looting and destruction of property. And so, they've called for outsider help.

Today, the NitroGen has started their menacing once again. While Greymont is pretty much a city-state, its territory does not solely apply to the city of Greymont itself (located on an island very similar to that of New York City), but also to the immediately surrounding villages and highways. It's out here, on Route 14, facing southwest from Greymont itself, that the NitroGen makes their mad chase. A very busy route, this afternoon it has a large smattering of cars, but not enough that people aren't drifting in between each other to get a better spot in the lanes. The gang roars through the highway, weaving through and forcing traffic out of their way aboard their vehicles. There's ten of them: nine on hover-bikes, and a tenth in the middle of the pack, driving a vehicle that resembles a 1970s hotrod, but is most definitely a hover-car. The hood of the hover-rod has a very elaborate, punk-y logo that makes their affiliation as the NitroGen clear, and it would seem that this is their leader. The authorities have identified him only by name and appearance: 'AJ Speed', a man with a dark green pompadour, a worn-leather jacket, a pair of hot pants, and a bunch of weird accessories.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Route 14 is an overhead highway, one of the suspended kinds. It leads to two places: a village at the end of Greymont territory, and a side road leading down to the under routes. The authorities have already set up a barricade at the village, and are working carefully to get as many civilians as possible off the highway through the side road. Tire strips are utterly ineffective, so they're hoping that manpower will work here. To the north and the east, on the under-route, is the path leading to Greymont itself, across the massive drawbridge. The drawbridge is currently still open to give people a chance to escape in the city, especially since that does not seem to be the destination of the NitroGen.

The Paladins have been called in to deal with the NitroGen, Warden Gawain leading the case. They've been asked to pursue the NitroGen and capture them ALIVE, secure every single one of them, and deport them off-world. The Paladins have also been requested to minimize property damage to a near-zero and to make sure as few civilians as possible are harmed. Warden Gawain has agreed to all of these rules, and so, leads the band of Paladins pursuing the criminals from his giant boar! There is one quick problem: he rapidly is lost by all the Paladins because his giant boar doesn't move that fast, and therefore is going to be pretty useless in the chase. But he's going to keep going, because at the least, he can control traffic and civilians from behind. MISSION, START!

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    It doesn't take long after the alert goes out for a police vehicle to come tearing through a nearby warpgate.

    This particular police vehicle happens to be a bright crimson color, sleek, and about the size of a minivan; it's vaguely car-shaped, but more along the lines of 'a very large car from the future, with most of the passenger space moved fore to make room for all the systems in the aft. Four doors, two front and two back, with the front spacious enough that the pilot and passenger have plenty of room for themselves and whatever they might want to stow.

    It also has red and blue twirling lights in more than one spot, and a chirpy, futuristic-sounding siren.

    At the helm of the Firestarter-C, Mel sits, bringing the vehicle out of the warpgate and immediately accelerating. She goes up at a slight angle, high enough to put her about thirty feet above the road, and then guns it, accelerating up well past the usual freeway speeds. There'll be only a moment or two before they catch up to the pursuit, but it's long enough to turn to the one riding in the passenger-side seat. "You gonna be alright? This is still pretty risky."

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun is still unfamiliar with technology, but she knows the rules of the road well enough despite her unusual vehicle. So when the call comes, she does too, her chariot's magic speeding it up to high speeds while a quick little spell generates a two-tone siren and a rotating red light above her head. The chase is most definitely on. First though, she must get close enough to find the targets.

Yuko Minami (1064) has posed:
Joining the chase today is an APC marked with both Fenrir's vaguely wolf-head-like logo and the BLood unit's signature black and blue color scheme. Inside, Yuko's handling the vehicle while she fiddles with her giant God Arc in its gun mode, checking the bullets with one hand while steering the vehicle with another. It's probably no huge surprise that someone with such a large weapon would be driving something similarly heavy!

     Despite having her attention divided, though, the God Eater is actually quite the safe driver. She's following the rules of the road, signaling her turns, and leaving a wide berth for the civilian vehicles to clear out of the way before speeding past them. Even if the APC isn't the largest one compared to ones from the other worlds, it'll certainly be convenient for anyone riding along with her or needing to do some cool jumps between cars!

     <<"I'm thinking... Paralysis shots. Slower acting ones, so there's time to scoop them up before they seize up completely. How does that sound?">> Her voice comes through the radio, and she's already setting the weapon aside while focusing on getting closer to where the Paladins' targets are.

Reina Kinney has posed:
Trouble on the roadways means you need the right kind of vehicles to deal with this kind of nonsense. And one of these vehicles is none other than a custom made one-person motorcycle with a red paint job that has flaming decals on either side. It's being driven by one Reina Kinney, although it's hard to tell considering she's wearing a crash helmet over her head (also colored red, like her hair and her general outfit.) Zooming down the highway as fast as she can, albeit maintaining a proper speed limit for the time being, since she doesn't want to risk crashing into a civilian vehicle, Reina looks around for any signs of the targets. "No sign of them yet, but once I find them, they're gonna pay!" Reina comments as she narrows her eyes.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Greymount in a way reminded her of home just with a heck of a lot less cyborgs she would suspect. However it seems there's been some trouble gong on there with some sort of off worl biker gang? The orders were to get them off world alive and keep proptery damage down. If she has if she has to chose she'll chose life over property though when it comes down ot it. Things can be replaced and they have to deal with. She's listening to the com, she'd suited up in biking leathers and grabbed a helmet. It wasn't long before Seras wa grabbed by her handed a helmet and told to hang on.

Though Seras would have seen Kotone pull some cables out of her neck and plug them into the custom made and very high tech looking bike before telling her to get on. Once she was on? Kotone took off making for the warp gate and was soon on the highway.

<<Have blasters with a stun setting if it comes to it, and freezer foam the later would be the most useful as it could likely also gum up the hover systems of the craft.>>

She's zipping along right now at a fairly high speed as she moves to deek in and out of traffic. She'll save the sirens for when she gets closer.

"Hang on Seras this is going to get wild!"

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    Vehicles are seldom Toph's favourite things, as she is able to move on her own. But why not catch a ride on the way and save her strength for the mission? So the blind metalbender decided to hitch a ride with Yuko, strapped into the seatbelt. And clinging to the door. No, she doesn't like it, but she isn't terrified either. However, she does look mighty determined with one hand resting over the Paladin badge fastened on the left side of her chest.

    "Paralysing them would be good... just as long as their bikes don't crash, but I could stop the bikes if it comes to that... What does it look like out there?" she inquires. "Let me know if you see anything!" Please.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is seated in the passenger seat of the Firestarter-C, her face a picture of determined stoicism. The reptile woman lets out a puff of a sigh through her nose when she's asked if she's going to be alright, her feathers puffing up slightly. She glances aside to Mel and decides to answer. "If I hit the road, I will have a very bad day," she replies with some grim honesty. She checks her uniform while she waits for the vehicle to near the speeding criminals. "If they have any sort of transmission or receiving technology, I might be able to hijack it to slow down a vehicle at a time. Most vehicles of this nature have music players built to recognize portable devices. If that isn't an option, my only option for stopping them is either shouting at them to stop--" She interrupts herself, and adds, "Which won't work, obviously," and continues, "Or I physically touch the vehicle and initiate its landing sequence. Hover vehicles, if they aren't magically propelled, tend to have systems for parking so they don't just slam into the asphalt when they deactivate and all I would need to do is activate those systems."

    "If you have any objections, voice them now," she tells Mel.

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
"A real cyborg." Seras bluntly remarks (with admittedly wide eyes) upon rendezvous with her partner for this. The Draculina's wearing her uniform for this operation of course, and the helmet she's wearing... is probably more out of habit than need.

    She's hanging on for DEAR LIFE when Kotone takes off on this crazy cycle of hers, and this time doesn't seem to have brought any heavy weapons. Just some typical police gear and a concealed pistol... because if her own vampire abilities aren't enough for some speed freak hoodlums, they're going to have some SERIOUS problems here.

    "Did you really plug your HEAD into this thing...?!" She asks, while doing said hanging on!

Fiora Laurent (1083) has posed:
    Fiora is no stranger to the balance and finesse needed to ride a horse. The woman's sense of such is quite sharp, thanks to her skills with fighting. When you walk such a fine line, it's second nature, to adjust your posture to help with the leverage you need. So, she borrows a motorcycle, appropriated from the local authorities. She does, of course, hope to return it intact. If not, she has no qualms paying for it, herself.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but Fiora is able to handle herself well enough to catch up and keep up with the rest of the responding group. The whole aspect of balance, while driving, seems natural to her.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    "No ma'am," Mel replies promptly to Ainsley. "Long as you know what you're in for, I'd be the world's biggest hypocrite. I'll get us in close."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "Bear in mind that I will only be doing this if there is no other choice. I must clarify that," Ainsley explains. "The others are seeking to corral them. Once it's clear I have an opening, I will act, or I will when my hand is forced."

Sir Gawain has posed:
Closing in on the targets isn't hard; most civilian cars will slow down or move to the side to allow the Paladin forces to get past them, and Mel has no issues with that at all, so can get there the fastest. Catching up isn't going to be the problem, after all...

It's going to be retrieving the NitroGen without causing any harm. Nine hoverbikers, all of who look generic, plus a hover-hotrod flood through the streets, forcing cars to either stop or crash into the barriers if they don't want to just get trampled over. Two of the bikers are driving on the wrong side of the road, playing chicken with the incoming vehicles. One car narrowly swerves to not hit them, and finds themself skidding into a stop, narrowly missing a crash. That leaves seven bikers and AJ Speed in his hotrod on the main road, which is pretty large for a freeway. Each of the bikes is indeed equipped with an MP3 player (these bikers have shit taste in music, Ainsley could find), though with that many bikes, slowing them all down at once will be frustrating. And then there's the problem with the hot-rod: it has no MP3 player. No device that Ainsley can interface with at all. Also, there's another problem coming up: the bikers and AJ Speed are realizing they're being pursued. That means this is a chase. That means this is a /game/.

And so, the bikers speed up, diverting away from AJ as he turns out to have the fastest vehicle, roaring down the highway. The bikers ride wild, making getting a lock on them a bit difficult. One of them pulls out a chain and begins swinging it in the air with one hand, forcing more vehicles to divert from his path and either crash or almost crash. Also, there is a truck up ahead. It has a ramp that someone could ride off of as a trailer. These are hoverbikers, so it isn't hard to think that one of them might actually try doing it.

Meanwhile, because he can't keep up with the chase, Sir Gawain is dealing with helping those who have crashed or are in danger. Recovery, go!

(OOC: Chase music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNrjtYd_BsM)

Yuko Minami (1064) has posed:
Noticing Toph's nervousness, Yuko giggles lightly and taps a finger against the dashboard rather than reaching over to make direct contact with Toph. "Traffic is clearing up, but I'm still keeping my distance. Just because this thing is sturdy doesn't mean I'll be careless~" She sounds as pleasant as ever, she does let out an intrigued hum as the hoverbikes come into view. "Ah, there they are. Probably about... Three, four hundred feet ahead?"

     The APC is fairly fast for its size, especially without civilian cars in the way to make Yuko worry too much about bumping into anyone. She's still giving her other driving allies a wide berth, though, just in case any of them are planning on any more elaborate vehicular maneuvers. She's not exactly an expert driver herself, and APCs aren't meant for stunts!

     <<"Some of them are driving on the wrong side of the road. We might want to prioritize those ones first!">> She calls out to her allies, maintaining her vehicle's speed while inching ever closer towards those hoverbikes. As they split off, though, the APC stays with the bikers playing chicken, and keeping her vehicle's movements both for Toph and any of the fliers that might need a landing point. "They're all yours, Miss Bei Fong!

Reina Kinney has posed:
"Wrong way drivers, among other things," Reina mutters to herself. "Falz, why?" She attempts to pursue one of the nearest bikers going the correct way, not wanting to risk playing chicken with any of them. Her motorcycle's speed increases slightly, but not too fast. She doesn't want to risk any collisions right now, especially since that would look bad for both her and the Paladins. Instead, she plays it slowly but steadily, watching and waiting.

When the opportunity arrives, Reina speeds up a little more, attempting to get closer to the biker she's pursuing while calling out, "This is your only warning! Pull over and surrender immediately or we will use force!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
"I totally am one it's ... more uncommon for someone not to have cyberentics where i'm from. Yes I did, it lets me control it a hell of a lot better. I could even go no hands like this if you want! I'll show you later. Also too bad this guy's causing trouble he's kinda cute. Oh well." She also doesn't seem bothered by Seras hanging on to her. Kotone's reflexes are clear asshe weaves in and out of traffic avoiding with ease for the most paort as she goes on and she's got to trust that Seras will be able to hang on. She sees AJ and company are going to be one hell of an issue. Kotone also ends up speeding up nad is hitting a rate an unaugmented human couldn't handle on her world.

"I have an idea but its got ot wait till we get them off the main road."

Seras might her her muttering give me fuel, give me fire, give that which I desire.

"The cargo compartment has the freezer foam launcher, and some grenades with the same stuff as well, Seras." She's then force to have her bike leap over onr car and land on the other side, it might be a bit jarring but the Knight takes it and Kotone keeps going.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    The big boss is separating from the pack. The pack itself presents a large danger, but they've got plenty of allies present - and Mel is sitting in a vehicle capable of independently making orbit. Ainsley wants them to take down AJ Speed? Then she will damn well make it possible.

    Smoothly, the Marshal accelerates the vehicle, taking the advantage of speed as far as it can safely go to get out ahead. Unfortunately, that's not very far - she doesn't want to overshoot, she doesn't want the wind blowback to send Ainsley ass over teakettle, and once the Chaser is down close to the road, she wants to be able to /avoid/ road signs.

    So Mel pulls the Chaser out a decent distance in front of AJ, but not too far - then slows down to match his speed, and drops down low, not much more than a couple meters over the center divider. She reaches over to the vessel's console, taps a couple buttons, and the display there lights up with 'Door Safeties Disengaged' in angry red text.

    "Once you're out, I'll drop back behind and be ready to catch you."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    The blind girl nods as Yuko gives her an update on the road situation. "So they aren't too far ahead..." Well, that's good. Once they get closer she should be able to sense the metal in the bikes and then use that to tell them apart from the other vehicles on the road. It's still a bit too far away for her to tell them apart, especially when neither she nor the bikes are touching the ground.

    "I... I need to get out of the car, just get up as close to them as you can!" Her range is far, but not limitless after all. And rushing after them for ages will tire her out, even if she's tough.

    There's a plan for now though, and Toph takes a deep breath before she moves to get on top of Yuko's vehicle, pulling herself up. "I'll catch up with you later!" For now Toph leaps off of the car, crashing down into the concrete on the other side of the highway before she rises again, extending her arms as she does some quick motion with her hands. Further down the road where the incomic traffic is coming from several figures shoot up from the concrete, all in motions with their arms crossed. Hopefully that will give the drivers there a tip to not go any further.

    After that Toph kicks into the concrete, and some distance in front of the two bikers, the concrete starts peeling up into a slope, meant to slow them down as it turns into lose gravel and dust.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
No tires to shoot is fine for Sigrun, who starts to catch up to one of the gang members. She makes sure her path is stable and her aim is clear, and then she takes an arrow out of her quiver, an arrow which is attached to what looks to be a small stone by a small rope. The stone is covered in little runic inscriptions.

She takes aim and lets loose, the hooked arrow aimed for a suitably thick piece of the vehicle she's chasing. Upon impact, the hooks extend first, making the thing ideally gets quite properly stuck inside, and then the magic on the stone activates, slowly dispelling the magic that kept it and the rope shrunk. Over the course of a a couple seconds it becomes increasingly heavy and the rope extends, quick enough to hopefully enforce force rapid deceleration, but not quite quick enough to make it a big shock comparable in impact to a crash.

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
"Euh?" Seras pops open the cargo compartment and quickly arms himself with what she can only assume is the Freezer Foam launcher. Which isn't a weapon she's familiar with. Not that its use isn't fairly obvious!

    But it won't be of ANY use until they're closer...

    There's not a whole lot that she can do from this position though! It's all up to whether or not Kotone can catch up. So with one hand holding the freezer foam lauincher and the other wrapped around Kotone, Seras sets both eyes on the road ahead...

    And focuses. Just as Alucard taught her!

    A few moments of blurred focus pass... and both her eyes widen, irises shifting to a nasty-looking crimson. Are they glowing? yes. yes they are. Might creep a few drivers out. But it's hardly the weirdest thing happening out here!

    Her awareness takes off like a rocket, zigzagging past cars on the road and scanning across every rogue rider they're after. Out, out, and out farther... until she's focused on the crazy hovercar AJ Speed's cruising in! She's scoping him out. Every detail. Looking for weapons. Or anything weird at all, really...

Fiora Laurent (1083) has posed:
    On a bike, it's easy for Fiora to catch up. It's a matter of getting in close, now. She weaves her way through the traffic, with the siren and lights on, to try and deter any other motorists from being spooked by her sudden swerving and lane changes. She's making every effort to get closer to that car, to see just what AJ Speed's deal is.

As she begins closing in, she draws her sword, but keeps it close to herself, for now.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley has done a lot of crazy things in her life, and this is gonna go in the top ten list... no, top twenty...

    Ainsley frowns to herself as the vehicle she's in picks up speed and she thinks to herself, 'I must be a complete lunatic,' because the very ordinary side of her that very much exists is making her heart pound in her chest. The door's safeties disengage, the sound making her heart leap into her throat. Her eyes widen and she tightens her hands into fists. "Wish me luck," she tells Mel, and then she raises from her seat and pops open the door quickly as they get into position. She glances back at her target just for a second and steels her nerves.

    "I wish I still had lightning magic." Because then she'd just magnetize to the car.

    She leaps out of the Firestarter-C. This has an effect much different than the typical person, as she can utilize her ability to fly to come in for what could be a relatively smooth landing on top of the vehicle. A dagger is pulled out from the scabbard behind her back in an attempt to stab into the roof of the hot rod, the enchantment helping her react slightly more quickly than normal.

    'Alright, AJ,' she thinks over the rush of wind, 'What did you do...?'

    Her Sight activates, her eyes shining a bright blue. She tries to scan the vehicle from close up, using the proximity and physical contact to sift through it to find the communication-related fragments that she might be able to use to slow it down. Magic shines from her hand and leaves a trail of blue light as she probes for whatever she can connect to. Wires mean computerized systems, more often than not!

Sir Gawain has posed:
Yuko joins the chicken race, and the bikers playing chicken notice. They notice the APC, and just start swerving even more crazylike, because it adds to the challenge. They'd probably crash into somebody at this rate...except Toph is there to assist! Her manuever is incredibly risky (and also breaking the rules, damn it Toph), but works: as the figures rise, the incoming traffic begins to pause, mainly because statues just appeared out of nowhere and they don't want to crash into them. A pileup begins, but atleast nobody past those statues is going to get injured. Meanwhile, the slope rises, and the bikers ride right into it. One of them doesn't have the skill, the control for it, and slows down, forcing himself to a stop when he almost skids and goes off the side of the highway. That's one down. The other, however...goes up the slope, uses it as a halfpipe, and spins his bike around, before charging straight at Yuko's APC! Think fast!

Reina's call is ignored but almost all of the bikers...except for one of them, who looks younger than the others. He just watched the statues rise from the ground on the other side, and so he takes a gulp and moves to slow down and pull over. That's two down. Sigrun, meanwhile, fires a hooked arrow at one of the bikes, hitting straight into the chassis. The biker loses control of his machine as it slows down. There's a mere second where it looks like the strange technology might go wild and crash into the side, but nope, it's shut down. Three dow- nope, another biker is pulling over after that, four down.

Kotone's bike is going incredibly fast. Good thing they weren't told to follow any speed limits! As the Knight moves towards some random guy's car, it makes its leap pretty clearly, scaring the guy into pulling over and getting the hell out of dodge. One of the bikers notices this, the one with the chain, and he whips his chain back and forth at Kotone. It seems to be an invitation, as he suddenly begins swerving back and forth, before moving towards the ramped truck...and leaping straight off that ramp, flying forward. 'Catch me if you can!' Seras, meanwhile, gets a good look inside AJ's car. His fashion sense is as gaudy as the photo suggests, but it's his car that is more worrying: a mess of wires, a massive console with a red button on it, and everything's connected to everything else. There's nothing connected to AJ Speed, though. He smells human? He's unarmed, though. No weapons at all.

Mel closes in, causing AJ to just honk. It is a very...excited honk, acknowledging her presence. Ainsley is able to drop down onto the NitroGen leader's car, and the dagger is able, after a good stab, to grab hold. Ainsley can see inside. And what she sees makes no sense: this car should not be running. None of the wires are connected to anything properly, everything diverts into that red button, and that red button doesn't seem to do anything. It shouldn't even be hovering, because the hover-system is only attached to a lever and not to anything important. Yet that car is the fastest vehicle in the gang, and moves better than most /Earth cars/.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Fiora is able to get past other motorists pretty easily, and is able to close in on AJ. She's actually able to get a view through his front-door window: he's human, and he's not connected to anything. No cybernetics. Nothing. As she passes him, he turns to her, grinning. "Hey there, ladycop! You here for a race? Because I'm AJ Speed, and I gotta tell ya, I'm the fastest there is! Let's SPEED UP!" He shouts excitedly, the car speeds up, and then he pushes his foot on the pedal.

Yes, the car speeds up /before/ he puts his foot down on the pedal.

There seems to be something very odd about AJ Speed, but whatever it is isn't very obvious from mundane senses. His car boosts forward, and then he begins swerving, at one point doing a full 360-spin in the middle of the road, which causes another few cars to crash. Ainsley is definitely going to feel this, and going to need to hang on tightly if she doesn't want to get knocked off. One has an injured, which as he approaches, Sir Gawain goes to assist. The other bikers maintain their normal routines; AJ's the leader, he gets to be the cool one.

Also, Mel gets her unlucky break. As AJ Speed speeds up, a hefty amount of exhaust leaves his car, and the wind carries it straight at the Chaser. The Chaser's sensors are going to momentarily hindered, and the windshield, if she has one, is covered in smog. Good luck, Sheriff Brock!

Reina Kinney has posed:
With one biker pulling over, surprisingly enough, Reina decides to seize the moment to take the biker into custody. She parks her bike perpendicular in front of the surrendered biker, snapping her fingers in her right hand as she removes her helmet. Her energy pistol materializes in her right hand and she levels it at the biker. "Keep your hands where I can see them!" She commands the biker as she approaches. "Do not make any sudden moves!" At the same time, she radios for backup to bring the biker into custody.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Well, the /plan/ was to drop Ainsley off in front of the car so she could float back onto it, then slow the Chaser down and drop in behind AJ to wait for Ainsley.

    That goes out the window when some kind of strange exhaust blasts out the back of the car. Later, Mel is going to wonder just what in the /hell/ was in that exhaust, because it's enough to jam the sensors enough that a vessel hardened against cosmic radiation can't see. "What in the goddamn hell-?!"

    At the very least, Mel's first instinct is to pull /up/ rather than swerve or slam on her brakes. It should take her above the cloud of exhaust, giving her a chance to force a hot reboot of the sensors - but dealing with that is going to take her a moment, during which she won't be able to stick very close for backup. But she can at least report one thing.

    "Brock to all units, can confirm, this is not a technopath. Repeat, not psionic abilities at play. Ainsley, watch yourself, I'm gonna need a minute before I can move in to support again!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is already having trouble scanning the vehicle without discovering that it should not function at all the way it is set up right now. Her face twists into a sneer of frustration because of the stress of what she's doing boiling up when she discovers she may have just lept onto the vehicle for nothing.

    She regains the calm face, though her wide-eyed gaze remains. She feels the vehicle shift, and the other dagger comes out and is violently stabbed into the roof of the vehicle, the pair of weapons barely holding her onto the top of it. The car does a fill 360 spin and nearly whips her off the top of it, her daggers kicking up sparks as they nearly snap under the kinetic force of what just happened. She has to push against the air with her flight ability so that she doesn't end up hanging off the side, and her eyes shut tight as she tries not to panic during this.

    To panic would mean slamming into the road at breakneck speeds, or careening into traffic.

    She hears something over the radio. AJ Speed's vehicle is responding to him before he does. It knows what he wants it to do...? Then...

    Ainsley scans the car again, but this time she seeks out something else: Awareness. If the car can perceive its driver, if it knows what AJ wants it to do, maybe she can disrupt that. Maybe she can 'lie' to it. Maybe she can tell it to pull over, by spoofing the intentions of the driver.

    Ainsley jury-rigs a spell she uses for empathic communication, and uses what she has seen briefly of AJ. Her whole body glows blue and she murmurs soft, incomprehensible words down at the vehicle. She whispers to it to try to convince it to stop. Magic light ripples in the air around her as she weaves on the fly. All of her best magic has been an act of spontaneous desperation and quick thinking. She holds out hope that this will work.

    "Respond, damn it...!" she hisses as she completes the spell, her eyes squeezed shut and her body humming from the pain of overexerting her magic, and her arms SCREAMING at her from the torn muscles of holding on so tightly.

Yuko Minami (1064) has posed:
Is that hoverbike coming right at her? It is! In any other situation, Yuko would probably be fine with just letting her vehicle's sturdiness compete with the rider's and call it the cost of doing her job. Between this being a /borrowed/ vehicle and the need to keep these riders alive, though, she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Also, Toph handling that other hoverbike on the other side after jumping right off her vehicle. What's a lone God Eater to do?

     Minimize damage, at least. It didn't look like there were any cars still coming too close her way from the other lane earlier, so she's just going to have to improvise! Whipping the APC around so it's blocking one chunk of the road at a right angle, Yuko scrambles on top of the vehicle and switches her stupidly big weapon into its more imposing Variant Scythe form, looking more than willing to cleave it through the oncoming biker if he doesn't stop with her perpetually pleasant smile on her face!

     Not that she would, of course, but it's the best bluff she's got on such short notice!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone had pulled a stunt sure, but she was trying to not hit the car or lose their targets in the chase. She keep tas on AJ's car she admits to herself she'd love to see how he /made/ this do it? Then comes the talk over the comm, she has no idea now about it but they need to get him out of here alive and off the road. However it looks like she's got some trouble now as she's got to dodge the chaina nd can't focus on doing much else.

She backs off from AJ No na dis going to try and skirt about the road as she dances from the chain tyring to keep things steady when she can to let Seras use the freezer foam. They can't just let AJ and his friends miss out on the after party? As much as Kotone has the connections to the culture of racing that they seem to be a part of? She damn well knows there's a proper place for full on joy rides like this, and a busy high way ain't such a place. So hopefuly Seras can do something about the guy with the Chain as well.

"Seras! HIT EM!"

Sir Gawain has posed:
Reina and Sigrun both get to arresting the bikers. They all come peacefully once they're stopped, whether of their own will or not. They'll accept their fate.

Whatever that mixture of exhaust was is probably illegal somewhere, it is entirely possible that AJ Speed just dumped space chemicals in there randomly. Either way, the sensors are easily able to clear themselves of it, and Mel is able to regain full control of her vehicle.

Ainsley manages to hold on, and begins scanning the car. She has a pretty good plan; confuse it into stopping. The spell fires over the car, and the car almost agrees...but then it suddenly realizes something, and says no. It realizes that Ainsley is not AJ Speed. And at the same time, Ainsley realizes something: though he likely isn't aware of it, it is AJ Speed's own willpower that is making this machine move. It is the only thing keeping the vehicle going. But the empathy spell might work if she can fully convince the car she's AJ Speed, somehow...

Yuko realizes how dangerous it will be to crash into the biker, so she gets an incredibly crazy plan. Blocking the road with her massive APC, climbing on top, whipping out her scythe, and looking like a psycho. The biker is still coming at her, but once he gets a really good look at that, he forces his machine to a halt and puts his hands in the air. He looks like he's scared of dying, good going, Yuko!

Kotone manages to keep steady from the chain. The guy with the chain, after he pulls off his cool stunt, looks mad that she didn't repeat, and pulls back in an attempt to strike both Seras and Kotone with it! Now's your chance!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley's face is just a grimace of horror when she realizes that a moving vehicle just told her No, I Will Not Stop. Her arms are starting to give out, her face hurts from the wind whipping against it, she's got several nicks from bits of debris hitting her scales here and there. She clenches her teeth and gives it one last college try. She has one last trick up her sleeve. She's going to try to connect with both AJ Speed and the car the only way he seems to be able to perceive the world around him. She has to speak the language of the speed demon. She has to let loose with only raw emotion for them to listen to her.

    Ainsley lets out a powerful hotblooded roar.

    The air ripples and distorts around her. Less a crafted spell than her just emitting emotion that she is actually feeling right now, funneled in a specific way, she lets out all of her adrenaline-scorched emotion in the howl. She shouts so hard that her throat is going to be sore tomorrow morning. She shouts so hard that her voice sounds like an engine blasting at full power among the whipping winds. She flexes her magical muscles to amplify it until people might feel her emotional blast in their very bones if they're driving close enough.

    Ainsley desperately casts Hot-Blooded Shout.

    STOOOOOOOOP!!!

Yuko Minami (1064) has posed:
Yuko's smile grows just a bit wider when the biker comes to a stop and emerges with his hands up. "That's better~ Wasn't that much easier? Now, why don't you just take a seat over there?" She gestures at the divider between each side of the road closer to her APC, the hand on her scythe still wiggling it lightly as if she's still ready to use it.

     <<"Yuko to allies. These two have been subdued~!">> She calls out over the radio, keeping her gaze focused on the surrendering biker and barely even blinking at all. She's doing this on purpose now, isn't she? "Hands on the ground, no sudden movements. You know the drill, but if you behave, maybe they'll go a little easier on you."

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
Seras doesn't actually HAVE to hold on to Kotone, it seems. Squeezing the bike a bit with her legs is enough to hold on, with her strength. She answers the biker's challenge - that swinging chain - by leveling what looks like a snub-nosed, wide-barreled, fat gun of some kind at him. It has a number of medium canisters loaded into it - canisters for holding some kind of liquid?R
    Indeed, pressured liquid is what comes out when Seras opens fire. A giant ropey mass of silly-string like GOOOOOOOOO's launched fire.

    Whitish-yellow. Kind of a nausea-inducing color, really.

    And Seras tries to just COVER the guy with the stuff. And his bike. Thing is, contact with oxygen begins some kind of heinous chemical reaction! The goo expands dramatically to fill all available space and grow around limbs and objects, binding them in place. It hardens into super shock-absorbent foam with a consistency similar to styrofoam, but completely breathable. In short, she's trying to turn the guy into a foamsicle!

    The good thing about this stuff is that it'll dissolve in under an hour, or with a chemical solvent.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Ainsley is screaming. So loud and so emotionally that Mel can /feel/ it right up there in the Chaser. "Cripes," she murmurs to herself. "My boss has some lungs."

    But while she's quietly marveling at the Judge of the Geas Busters, the Marshal is also accelerating. This time, she wants to put herself a fair ways up the road. To get ahead of the car and its madcap driver, so that she has enough time to swing her vehicle around, drop it low-

    And hop out.

    The way she walks is almost casual, hands in her pockets, right up until she's in the middle of the road. Then she turns, to face the oncoming chase, and spreads her arms wide.

    The body language is clear - arms spread, feet planted just slightly, eyes resolute and staring straight ahead. If the car gets close enough, she'll stare AJ right in the eyes as he approaches. She intends to /make/ him think about something other than speed. To plant herself and force him to look someone in the eyes as he runs them down.

    If neither Ainsley's scream nor her psychological ploy work, of course, she has a backup plan to stop him at the last second. It will cause some collateral damage, but it'll end the chase definitively, without any loss of life.

Fiora Laurent (1083) has posed:
Fiora doesn't see much in the way of an alternative, at this point. The car isn't going to 'listen' to Ainsley, or so it seems. AJ is the only one giving it orders, and it doesn't want to listen to anyone else. So, she speeds up again, and tries to catch up with the vehicle. Once she is, she jumps off the bike, landing herself on the hood of the hovercar. A shame about the motorcycle she borrowed, but she can pay to have it replaced or repaired, if need be. Sword drawn, she looks down at AJ.

"This recklessness ends now." She states, as she drives her blade into the hood of the car, hopefully striking something critical to keeping the car going. If she doesn't the first time, she tries again. And again, if need be.

Her weapon is as sturdy as it is tough, the blue-steel its made of stabbing into the vehicle easily.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Seras fires the goo, completely encasing the bike and the driver. It skids to a halt, stopping in its tracks. There's no sign of the guy in there. As soon as this happens, the other bikes look back and stop, because they do not want to be encased. All bikers down.

Ainsley channels in the ancient spirit of hot-blood. The feeling that this man puts off, the feeling that powers this man. And she shouts, at both man and machine, to stop. The car sputters, attempting to obey the order, but struggling. It wants to stop. But the driver inside, AJ Speed, tries to resist. He can't stop. Even as the blade gets driven into his hood, and he cringes at the damage to his beloved car. He attempts to maintain speed, but now someone's in the way, a woman. He can't hit them, but..."It's just the same with y'all type! Y'all want to take away my freedom, my speed, my drive! I ain't gonna let ya, I can't let ya...we didn't do anything wrong! We didn't hurt anybody!" This is wrong, but he honestly believes it. AJ Speed sounds desperate. Desperate to keep going. And so, with an uneasy determination, he moves his hand to that console. "I ain't gonna let ya get in my way! I ain't gonna let ya take m-my car away from me! O-OVERDRIVE!"

And he presses the red button.

The red button shouldn't do anything. And it takes a second to do anything, but it gets just enough fuel to do what it's supposed to do. The engine /roars/, the exhaust blasts our, and the speed dial breaks. This is equivalent to a burst of nitro but to the extreme, as the car surges forward. But it doesn't come at Mel. AJ Speed turns the wheel, and slams through the side of the freeway, driving straight through, and flying down below. Fiora and Ainsley are likely taken with him. And as he begins to land, the Overdrive sputtering but still trying to go on with the very last of his willpower, it's obvious where he's going.

The city lies in front of them. The drawbridge slowly starts to raise as AJ Speed approaches, but it doesn't hinder him. Either he's going to try and jump it, or he's going to crash into it. He needs to be stopped, one way or another, now.

It's the final stretch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJHmQwwrHT0

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    That went neither of the ways Mel Brock envisioned.

    So Mel Brock is forced to improvise.

    She yanks off her coat. No, she /rips/ it off, buttons sent flying. "Dammit dammit dammit-!" She tosses it down on the ground and hastily steps onto it. "Crazy reckless son of a-!"

    The coat stiffens under her, and then /launches/ her into the air. With her own telekinetic power, she throws herself like a projectile, flinging herself off the highway after AJ Speed. She's aiming for the car itself, aiming to land on it- no, she's probably going to go through the back window at this rate. She covers herself with her jacket in mid-flight to stave off cuts from broken glass, but it's still gonna hurt.

    It's also gonna put her right in the car with AJ, where she can reach around and put him in a firm one-handed hold, with the other hand on the steering wheel. "But you /have/ hurt people, dumbass! You and your gang have been spending the past /week/ hurting people, bothering people, frightening them! Making their lives hell! You want to talk about freedom? YOU trampled all over THEIR freedom to have a nice, quiet life, while they were still recovering from reality shitting itself! You've done wrong by these people with your freedom, AJ, you abused it! You coulda done so much with what you've got, you coulda gone anywhere and done anything and not caused any problems for anyone, but look where you are now! Can you really look yourself in the mirror after all this and say you've got any right?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley would let go of the car... if it was going in a straight line and wasn't careening off the side of the highway in a mad dash to prove AJ's hotblooded zest is righteous and undeniable. Ainsley has no reason to care about this because the debris of the vehicle slams into her when some metal siding flips through the air and cracks her right upside the head. She gets half-stunned by this, and barely stays on the vehicle by a desperate clinging of one of her hands to the dagger that sticks into the top of the hotrod.

    Ainsley's eyes are wide, even through the blood dribbling off her brow. She tried her absolute best to stop this crazy man's wild ride, and now she shuts her eyes and prays that AJ Speed can be talked down by Mel, someone who has not just been hit in the head with a bit of highway railing and is much more able to actually form words.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has the means to get the biker out and she'll do it once they are dealing with. She sees that Seras has got the biker. "Good shooting Seras." She's going to slow down, she knows others have the means to catch AJ. Stills he gets where he's coming form and she resolves to speak to AJ later about hisneed for speed once they have stopped him. She's got an idea of a few places that might be good for him to get the need for speed tht he has for now She needs to help contain the other bikers and she's going help secure them after all they need to.

"Seras we'll leave AJ to the others we need to get these guys contained."

She skids to a halt, gets off her bike and pulls the cables free and will go about arresting the bikers who are not gooped up at the moment. She'll yes read them their rights too.

Fiora Laurent (1083) has posed:
Fiora doesn't have much of an option, as that overdrive kicks in, and the vehicle goes soaring off the overpass and onto the freeway below it. Not much she can do, besides hold on. Removing her sword, at this point, would mean she'd have nothing to grasp onto. Just how the hell is it supposed to be stopped now?

Mel does her dive into the car, which means there's another passenger to worry about. Herself, Ainsley, and now the marshal. "Is /any/ of this worth a life? Your life? The lives of us, and those people back there!?"

Sir Gawain has posed:
As a man starts to break, a woman takes an insane risk, something she's used to. Mel Brock launches herself to land on the back of that car, flying forward. She misses slightly, slamming into the back and crashing her into a seat. Luckily, the seats are super comfortable if you can ignore how the wiring is awful. AJ glances at her briefly in panic (for both her and the car, mainly the latter), but keeps his foot on the pedal as she talks to him. "No, that wasn't my...I ain't trying to...I just wanted to live my own life! I didn't know people were hurt, I didn't know it was that bad..." The car starts slowing, but it's not enough, not yet. "I just wanted to...to...to be free, any way I could, to show that I could do whatever I wanted and that I was in control of myself." AJ Speed is breaking. He had no intention of hurting anyone. He had no realization of how bad things had gotten. He had been thinking of himself, of the speed, the thrill, of riding in his car and not listening to anybody. And then, the final push comes, as Fiora asks a very crucial question. AJ Speed's response could be directed at either of them, but what it is, is clear.

"No...no."

All engines stop as the car crashes to the ground, skidding towards that now almost closed drawbridge. And eventually, it skids to a halt. AJ Speed leans forward in his seat, hands over his head as he rests it on the dashboard. He's not going to resist.

Sir Gawain has posed:
And so ends the story of AJ Speed and NitroGen, brought to justice. Hopefully, there is a chance of redemption for this group of misguided speed freaks. Only time can tell.