forum @metaphoricallyella

Started August 21, 2020 by @Calanthe

tune

((Okay!))

Asher sighed, gently fiddling with the strings on his blue electric guitar. He lounged on his couch, the cord to plug into the amp trailing across the floor, unplugged. He glanced up at the tv, which was still blaring the news from when he had switched it on a few minutes earlier to amuse himself.

"…reports of a robbery on main street…"

"Finally!" Ash laughed, jumping to his feet. He gently set the guitar in its case - it was expensive, after all - and bolted into his room, ripping off his clothes and throwing on his super suit. The golden trident gleamed on his chest as he pulled on his mask, fully becoming the hero Poseidon.

Now, Ash couldn't fly, but that wouldn't stop anything. He hopped on his motorcycle and took off for main street, racing along the road near the water's edge. Ahh, metropolis. The perfect city, full of crime. Asher could only hope that today would be busy.

Graham calmly walked out of the bank, the bombs of sulfur going off at the perfect time. The police were yet to arrive, and oddly they never tried to fight back against him, perhaps after being frozen in large blocks of ice had something to do with that. After all, he practically owned this city, well, when he wasn't Saiko he did.

Then he heard it, the roar of a familiar motorcycle coming from a few blocks away, Good grief. . . Perhaps this time, I just destroy the bank, instead of leaving it standing. That ought to cause a commotion. He threw the bags of money had taken onto the front steps of the bank and quickly made his way to the side, quickly setting up the bomb. Most criminals would've taken the money and run, but he didn't exactly need it. It was more for the thrill of the steal.

Once the bomb was completely set up, he picked up his portal gun and was about to activate it when he felt a tap on his shoulder, "What do you want?" He said turning around."

"Hiya, Saiko!" Poseidon smiled. "If you could just not blow this place up today, that'd be great. There are honestly some people who depend on this building for money and work, so it might be inconvenient for them," he shrugged, still smiling. "Or, if you don't want to listen to me, I could just use my powers on you, and we all know how that goes," he continued to smile. Poseidon stuck out his arm and a nearby fire hydrant broke open, spewing water into the air in a controlled arc. Poseidon brought his arm in, bringing the water in as well but keeping the wild pressure of it. He stepped back a step or two and let the water circle around Saiko, leaving a space towards the top for his face. The water itself was still wild and full of power, a roaring riptide around Saiko.

"You know," Poseidon mulled. "I could just freeze you in this right now, and then I wouldn't have to deal with you anymore. Unless you apologize and deactivate the bomb," he smiled sweetly.

Saiko groaned and pointed his portal gun down at the ground, "I don't think I'd like to do that." He said with a slight smirk. He opened up a portal, fell down into it, and stepped out of one behind Poseidon, "After all, I do think this building could use a facelift, don't you? After all, it's been the same for so many years, so in fact, I'm doing the city a favor. A favor they didn't know they needed just yet." His wicked smirk grew a little bit more, "In all honesty, I do think that you should be thanking me, not trying to make me into an ice sculpture." Taking a few steps back, he aimed his portal gun down at the ground, then quickly set a location on it, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back home, I really don't want to be around when this building detonates. I'm not that much of a fool." Then he saw Drew and Clark run into the building, "Goddammit, I must be a fool then." He quickly closed the portal and turned to face Poseidon, "Alright, I'll strike up a deal with you, the bomb detonates in about a minute or so, I'll shut it off, and then get those two dorks out of there. If I do that, will you leave us alone for the time being?"

Asher lunged for the portal gun, grabbing it and smashing it on the ground. "Haha!" he laughed triumphantely. "I just smashed your stupid gun thingy!" he cried, obviously super full of himself. Asher reached out and grabbed his collar tightly, to prevent him from trying to run away again. He put on his "serious face" that he only brought out for special occasions. "Now I suggest you tell me how to deactivate the bomb before I really need to get serious," he snarled, sounding more like a house cat than the tiger he wished to be. No matter. He could still beat the crap out of Saiko, if it came down to it.

Graham looked down at the gun, "YOU IDIOT, that gun harnesses the power of black holes and other dangerous. . ." He trailed off, realizing that if he continued, he was in the position of going to ER again, it would be the second time this week thanks to Poseidon. "I told you, I'll shut off the bomb, I just need to get my minions out of there before they go down with the building." He tried to avoid looking at the frazzled debris of the gun, sparks still flying off of that, And that took me so long to build too. . . "Now, hands-off." He said trying to twist or somehow get out of the hero's grasp, "I already said that I'd help you." I'll just blow it up another day, and I won't bring those two fools with me.

"Yes sir!" Asher laughed, letting go. "I'll grab the minions, and you get the bomb!" he smiled heroically, then took off running after the two minions. "HEY! HEY YOU GET BACK HERE I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU!!!" he yelled after the two minions, his voice growing quiter as it was muffled by the walls of the building. Asher was somewhat unnerved that he had somehow completely missed the part where Saiko said he would help, but he didn't let it get to him. He simply chased the minions down, trying not to scare them. (Well, he wasn't trying very hard. He was sprinting at full speed and yelling at the top of his lungs.) Eventually, Ash caught them both and ran back out, holding one under each arm. He beamed at Saiko. "Done! Now diffuse the bomb, please and thank you!"

Graham quickly made his way over to the bomb, and began to work at it, it wasn't too bad, but he didn't notice the new attachment to the bomb. He quickly diffused the part that he had created and then waited for Poseidon to come back. Clark and Drew were glaring up at Poseidon and struggling against him, "CAN YOU PUT US DOWN? WE ARE CAPABLE OF WALKING YOU DWEEB!" Clark yelled, kicking at Asher, Drew just stayed silent, thoroughly embarrassed to have been saved by Graham's enemy. "Okay, it's been diffused, you can put them down now." Graham said, his tone mellow as if he and Poseidon hadn't just argued. But the second he finished the sentence, a loud beeping noise was heard, and Graham turned pale under his mask. He quickly grabbed for the other two men, "RUN!" He yelled as he pulled them away, as the bomb went off and the building exploded, Didn't I diffuse it?

Asher laughed and set the minions down, before the bomb went off. "Huh! I wasn't aware these things could talk," he mulled aloud. Ash heard the beeping and paled as well. "You said you would diffuse it!" he hissed, starting to run away. However, he wasn't fast enough. The building exploded and the force of it threw Ash across the street like he was a ragdoll. He hit his head against the corner of a building hard, the world around him silent as his own ears rang loudly. His vision tilted then went black as he passed out. He was only out for a couple minutes, his instincts telling him to get up and get out before someone pulled off his mask. He stumbled to his feet, crossing back over to the bank, nearly falling a few times on debris, and grabbing the handles of his motorcycle. Asher knew the engine was busted and it would be dangerous to drive, so he began to wheel it away sadly, his suit, motorcycle, and pride all sorely damaged.

"We can talk, we're humans too." Drew muttered, as Graham pulled them to safety. Once the explosion had mostly ended, well, when it was safe to come out, Graham pulled out a backup portal gun, one that he was still working on, and set to it to take him and the other's bac to his lair. Once they got back safely, Graham hurried to his room locking the door behind him so he could watch the news and figure out what he had done wrong. He knew that he had diffused it, but Poseidon didn't know that. And the next time they meet Graham knew that he would be in big trouble. He changed out of his suit and then turned on his TV, as usual, the news was what was on, and instead of ignoring it, since it normally sung the praises of Poseidon and other heroes, listened in. "Today, the First National Bank has been destroyed by the notorious villain Saiko." Hhmph, at least they got my name right for once. But after a while he got bored of them speaking about all the money the city had "lost". He turned off the TV and leaned back on his bed, "What have I done? Poseidon is going to murder me the next time he sees me."

"I'm going to murder Saiko the next time I see him," Asher muttered, pulling his bike into his house through his secret entrance. He threw it down, already knowing it was beyond repair, and quickly changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. He groaned and sat on his couch, his wounds still throbbing. Ash looked over at his expensive guitar he had been saving up for, then looked away. He knew he would have to sell it to pay for his bike, all thanks to Saiko. Asher shook his head and flipped on the tv, set to the news station. There were the obvious reports of how much money the city had lost, but then there was something different. Was it… criticism? Against POSEIDON??

"…didn't, in fact, save the city, but may have made the situation worse. How valuable are heroes…."

Asher groaned again and shut off the tv. All thanks to Saiko, he was about to lose his job as a hero. And it's not like his other job at the hospital paid well. One mistake, and the city throws him away. Figures.

@crenex28

Graham had gotten bored of hiding in his home for the past couple of weeks, and had decided to go and find Poseidon, and hopefully apologize. He knew that the hero's bike had been destroyed, so during that time, he had been working on a new one for him, personalizing it a bit for him, in hopes that if he did find the hero, he wouldn't be killed on the spot. It wasn't that he liked the hero or anything, but he figured that he should at least do something out of courtesy. He opened up a portal from his home, and onto the street where Poseidon was. He stepped out of it silently, and quietly approached the hero, "Poseidon, uhm could we talk?"