Spoiling the Rave

[Deleted]

"Prior to Marcus' arrival, Valeria had spent ten minutes listening to the girl a little ways to her right argue a case to her prick boyfriend. Among the key bullet points of the conversation was the assertion that metahumans were humans too (they weren't), that they benefited society (note how the implied meaning was that metahumans benefited human society), and that they had as much right to happiness as anyone else (the pretentiousness of that statement made Valeria grind her teeth). In not crushing the girl to a mass of liquids and powdered bone, Valeria felt she was showing remarkable self-restraint."

Almost as notorious as Rave's actions are her beliefs, the reason why even if she were to be captured, she would remain a very dangerous individual.

Valeria Decimus wants humanity dead.

Innocence or guilt is a non-factor. She doesn't care if they are anti-metahuman. She doesn't care if they are pro-metahuman. Indeed, she's made known that she finds the notion of a human advocating 'metahuman rights', as if such a thing is theirs to dictate, extremely insulting. She's shown nothing but disdain for their so-called ethics, which they expect metahumans to abide by. She doesn't care if they somehow acquired metahuman-like abilities through drugs or otherwise. She doesn't care if they have a metahuman in their family. She doesn't want them enslaved; she's aware of how strong the human spirit can be and knows that if enslaved they will eventually rise up against her. She doesn't want them rounded up and stranded in Antarctica. She doesn't want a segregated society between metahuman and humans. She doesn't want to negotiate with them, make concessions with them, or accommodate them in any way. She doesn't want them cowed, humiliated, broken, beaten, subjugated, demoralized, or bankrupted. For the sins they've committed against her people, she doesn't want them to suffer.

She wants them dead. It is, honest to God, as simple as that.

Metahumans, on the other hand, she wishes nothing but the best for. Indeed, everything she has done, has been in effort to free the minds and bodies of her people from the shackles humanity has placed upon them. This not only includes the overt capture and mistreatment of metahumans overseas, but also the docile, "we can coexist peacefully" attitude of the metahumans of the world...her world, anyway. To Rave, this is just another form of servitude, instilled upon metahumans from birth. She sees it as the world's insidious way of controlling a population of people who are, in the end, far more advanced genetically than their human counterparts, and benefiting from their gifts by coercing them into willful servitude. Given the number of metahumans in Jump who've selflessly served to defend humanity from dangers, she may be on to something.

Though she acts as a leader and catalyst to her movement, Rave has stated that she has no desire to rule over metahumans, as she believes that all metahumans, including herself, are equals. She only wants to free them from the scourge that is humanity, a fundamentally flawed, fearful, petulant, savage, hateful, murderous species that will only ever serve to impede and oppress her people's growth. The only way to truly achieve that freedom, she reasons, is to wholly remove humanity from the equation. In doing so, her kind will inherit the Earth, in keeping with nature's law of survival of the fittest. She wants all metahuman to see that day together, but anyone who stands in her way takes their life in their own hands.

The (predominantly human/human-controlled) media at large has covered Rave's philosophies and poo-pooed them as the ravings of an insane, racist, fanatical terrorist. That's one school of thought. The other is that unlike many of the metahumans of New York City (or the rest of the world for that matter), Rave has seen and endured the atrocities committed to her people up close and personal, on a daily basis. She understands, far better than most, what the cleansing of her people from Italy was meant to be, and seeks to prevent such a thing from ever occurring again, through the most coldly logical method available. And since humanity not only spared metahumans no quarter, but were also the ones to initiate mass genocide, they're deserving of precisely the same.


One hour ago.

The Sergeant uttered a heavy sigh, turning instead to the Colonel. 'It was chaos. I saw the female in the air, and a bunch of the vehicles spinning around her. There were some men spinning in the air too. Guess they tried to jump out. There was a lot of shooting all around, none of it was hittin' her. But it sure was hitting us, though. She was directing the vehicles down into the ground, on top of the companies. Some of them she was smashing together in midair with men still trapped inside. There were a lot of explosions, a lot of screams. A lot of bodies.' He slowly scrubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. 'The bitch didn't seem to care. She was up there laughing. She was slaughtering the goddamn lot of us like we were ants and having fun.'

Now.

She was far enough away so she could rest, to take in the mark she'd left on Jump City. The rooftop gave her a good view and Rave smirked, her crooked smile bringing out the mostly feral beauty she knew she had.

Valeria Decimus, Rave, knew that perhaps she'd gone a bit too far. Not in what the news would no doubt call a 'senseless slaughter of human lives', but of the use of her powers in such a short time after coming to this...reality? World? She didn't exactly know. She reasoned that she was due for some much needed exercise, but this test of her abilities was...taxing, far more than it should have been had she been in fighting shape.

The response she got as her slaughter began was typical, almost routine. Almost a month she'd spent in this place, researching all she could. This...reality was almost serene compared to her own, with most of the war happening going on among the humans themselves. Which, really, was no skin off her nose. Who cares if humans killed humans? No, what really concerned her was the fact that she could no longer tell who was a true metahuman from someone who had gained their powers through other means. She'd seen displays of magic for craps sake!! And, even as she was trying to wrap her head around the fact that magic was real, she'd read on more that one occasion that aliens were a thing as well. A thing that existed.

But she could not tarry, could not hesitate. She knew she could no longer trust her senses or her eyes. And as much as it pained her, every since meta she would run into would have to be tested, questioned to see if they were truly her kind or merely a freak of nature, some accident that had to be put down. Rave shivered. Already she could feel the itch beneath her skin, the pull she could never really seem to quench when it came to using her powers. Here, in Jump City, she could find all sorts of tools to help her gain more control over her powers and that is exactly what she intended to do. She knew she had the charm to pull those around her to her cause and the ability to teach them what they needed to know to be useful to her.

She felt a tingling at the back of her neck and Rave shivered.

Yes, today was a good test. Maybe whoever was behind her could provide even more entertainment.

[Audrey]

It seemed it would be another slow night for the Spoiler of Gotham City. As the crickets began chirping, the purple-clad crusader sighed and hopped from the fence post she'd been watching the street from and up onto a rooftop, moving towards the center where no one would see her from below. She gave a quick look about to make sure she was unseen and ducked into a crevice of the roof and sat down and let the night breeze cool her off. Most nights at least gave her a bank robbery perpetrated by some idiots with toy guns who surrendered the instant they saw someone with a cape. You'd really think you'd learn to get a real gun in a city where there has got to be a 20 to 1 civilian to hero ratio. Just what are they hoping? No one will show up? Even as mundane and ridiculous as that was, she hadn't even gotten a lick of that yet. Just boring people walking down boring streets. There was that vampire she tackled the other day. That was kind of cool, but he just seemed angry with her... He was kind of justified really, all he did was buy a pack of cigarettes. There was also the fire chick too, but she was lame and unmotivated... Didn't even seem sure if she was a hero or not. What kind of person doesn't know if they're a hero or not? That's ridiculous, you either are or you aren't. It's not complicated. "Oy vey," she thought. She wasn't Jewish, but she liked saying that. It sounded all silly, and you could say it all loud and whiny.

She stood up once more, prepared to continue her patrol, but stopped as she lent an ear. From a nearby window, she managed to pick up the sound of a familiar song. "Oh, I love this song!" she exclaimed making her walk to the edge of the building into a little dance of sorts as she bobbed her head and started humming. "It's twenty seconds to the last call. Goin' hey hey hey hey hey hey! Lie down you know it's easy. Like we something something somethiiing," she sang to herself, fudging a couple lyrics she didn't know. With a little flourish of her cape, she hopped to the ground level of the street and continued her impromptu concert. "And I'll be anything you ask and more, goin' hey hey hey hey hey hey. It's not a miracle we needed... NooOOLY POPTART IN A PENCIL FACTORY!" she exclaims after narrowly dodging away from a car soaring through that air at her direction. Thoroughly safe, she gets up and turns to the wreckage of the assailant. "HEY WATCH IT BUCKO, THERE'S PEOPLE WALKING HERE!" Her frustration though is interrupted by the screams of several civilians.

Turning, she notices the civilians are fleeing from many more cars much like the one that just flew at her. Said cars also seem to be flying along with various other common street objects like fire hydrants and lamp posts. She gives a long stare at the floating objects. "Call me crazy... But I don't think they're supposed to do that. Just a hunch," she says to no one in particular as she looks through the insanity for a source. After watching for a bit, she catches sight of a young adult woman with some rather... oh what's the word... it is on the tip of your tongue... suh... sluh... ROGUEISH! That's the one. Rather rogueish clothing. She looks rather ordinary, but the dead giveaway she might have to do with this is the wild laughter and happiness... That or she just won a bet with someone that cars would never fly. Probably the former though.

Well, looks like she got what she wanted. Many people would say 'be careful what you wish for', but Stephanie was pretty happy what she got here. Not only was this a meta-villain, but they looked to be a powerful one too. If she took this chick down, the Titans would be knocking on her doorstep ready to let her in to the group. With a grin, unseeable behind her mask, the novice hero rubs her gloves and prepares to do a little bit of parkour. With a running start, she leaps onto a floating car and gets a grip onto the open passenger window. "Las Vegas or bust baby!" she yells enthusiastically as she rides the car through the air. It was a rather thrilling experience, never had done any flying before in her life. Well, there was the one time with the manatee at the aquarium, but it was agreed by everyone involved in that, that it did not happen for the sake of their permanent records.

With a well-timed bounding leap, Stephanie jumped to a floating newspaper stand as the car she was just on hurtled into a skyscraper and managed to center herself on top of the machine. Looking once again at her target, the Spoiler formulated a plan. There was a building angled perfectly behind the perpetrator. From there, she could jump tackle the woman catching her off guard and disorienting her powers, and in the confusion, Stephanie could piledrive her into the taxi below. Instant KO! It was just getting to the building. In front of her some distance away was a lamp post that she could shimmy up and from there onto the building several down from the target roof. From there, it was just a matter of roof jumping. ONE TWO THREE GO!

Forcing herself into action, she jumped to the lamp post and just nearly caught the end of it. She lets out a huge sigh as she affirms her grip and pulls herself up. With the skill of the best kid in gym class on the knotted rope, she worms herself up the post, feeling the cold metal even through her suit. She lets out a little shiver as she picks up the pace, reaching the top, and perching on the bulb of the lamp. Getting a good look at the rooftop ahead, she leaps forth and rolls as she hits the concrete. She didn't exactly know WHY rolling helped, but ever since physical therapy in Gotham, she wasn't going to land without a roll ever again.

Turning to her destination, she sweeped into the shadows, letting her purple suit blend into the darkness and began running towards the next building on the block. With a decent leap, she easily cleared the gap and continued, but that wasn't going to do for the next one. Remembering her many ah-ha moments in playing Mirror's Edge, she hopped onto a ventilation pipe and from there to a shed, before jumping the next alley. With a rolling finish, she continued ready to take on the next alley. With a gallant hop to the top of a ventilation engine, she made a jump for the alley only to suddenly be pulled backwards suddenly. The last thing she saw before things went black was her face hitting the concrete of the edge of the building.

With an ache in her head, Stephanie reawakened laying on the edge of the building before the one she had wanted with a strange chill coming from her right foot. Slowly, she stood up and looked about, soon finding the source of her slip. Her boot had gotten caught in the air vent. That explains the chill as well. Retrieving her boot and putting it back on her foot, she looked dejectedly at the site where there had been floating civic objects. Not anymore in sight. The criminal must've been long gone by now. Frustrated, Stephanie kicked the air vent, but immediately regretted it, grabbing for her foot in pain. Her clumsy mistake cost her the chance of a lifetime! Stupid! Stupid Stu-Wait a minute...

She looked to the next building roof and saw the criminal from before. Tired, and unsuspecting. She hadn't screwed up! Heck, she may be in an even better position now. Quietly getting herself back into game mode, she stepped back a little for a running go at the alley, making sure this time not to get her boot caught in the air duct. One hop, twice hop and... POOMPH. She landed on the next roof with a loud clatter of her costume and tools. So much for surprise. Seeing the criminal turn around to confront her, Stephanie huffs and takes a strong sense, ready to let loose what she's been practicing for yeeeeears now.

"Stop right there leather boots! Your little game of anarchy is over... Well, it's already over, but I mean for all time! I, The Spoiler am here to spoil your little plans and give you a one way ticket to Arkham Asylum! Er... Belle Reve. Whatever the Asylum here in Jump City is called. Get ready for a knuckle sandwich with 'spoiled' mayo on top!" she yells, perhaps a little too loudly as she points a justice-embodied finger at her opponent. With her little speech finished, she throws down a home-made smoke bomb, engulfing the rooftop in a purple smog. "I could be around any corner..." she says in a wavering voice, throwing it in different directions to hide her position.