Match of the Millennium

Description: An exchange ensues between Echo and Potemkin when the latter comes to investigate the recent LA office building fire.

[ECHO]
The area had seen a fair bit of attention since the explosion at the office building. While it didn't seem like too many people were hurt (Except for perhaps a certain La Huesuda, huehuehue) the building and it's contents were a total loss. Unbenknownst to most, it was primarily packed full of dirty laundry relating to Shadaloo, shipping invoices of various substances--legal and not--that could have been a problem if they got into the wrong hands. Yellow police tape festooned the outside of the building, it had been given a cursory boarding up, and a streetsweeper had cleared fragments of glass and debris that fell when the place went up. So far it didn't look especially strange, and it might not have even been--but given the site's proximity to south of the border, well... It was enough to be suspicious.

Echo, to her good sense and credit, had laid low for a bit after that little stunt, and had focused on recovering from the bumps that Suda had given her. Good thing the company was footing the bill for her spa treatment!

[POTEMKIN]
What's the next best thing to Santa Claus? Why..a two thousand, six hundred and seventy two lb mutant bruiser of hyper dense muscle and chi-tek, dressed in a sleeveless Santa Suit that is stretched towards bursting open violently around the chest and with the a christmas hat perched precariously atop a spiked helmet with a foreign military powers emblem on it. That's what! Add into that that he needs no reindeer as he plummets towads an open pavilion not to far from the site of the explosion, having literally leaped out of a low flying military transport to descend from well above the heights of the skyscrapers towards the ground below like some incoming meteor..

I mean..could realy anything be better then that??

Fortunantely all of this had been pre-arranged and Potemkin's arrival is neither a prelude to an attack nor an attack by some sort of kaiju itself. Instead the Prateorian champion thunders into a drop zone with such force that an earth rolls out that bounces onlookers up by several feet and actually creates visible cresting waves in the concrete before it settles down...and there are wary cheers and questioning applause, for families from less fortunante parts of the city have been bussed in for this.

Potemkin straightens up to his full eight and a half foot immensity and shoulders the semi truck sized cargo on his massive shoulders and then booms out, "Code 4595605381, Potemkin, has arrived on target and is beginning the mission to deliver holiday cheer."

He then clears his throat, bringing a massive gauntlted hand up to cover where his mouth normaly would be seen if it were not for the helmet. Then.

"HO. HO. HO. I, Santa-Kim, have come to cheer you up with my muscles and friendly military might. MERRY local holiday of your choice!"

The monsterously huge package is dropped to the ground, again shaking the ara and triggering seismometers across the city.

[ECHO]
The sudden military transport dropship would have been enough to get people's attention--especially as it whizzed by the highrise penthouse apartment not too far off that Echo had been using to recpuerate. Of course, it being still daylight out, Echo, being part vampire bat, was still asleep. Why would a bat be doing awake during the day, anyway?

The whoosh of the ship and how it rattled the windows and walls was enough to blow Echo right out of bed, leaving her sprawled on the bed near the window, force of her butt hitting the floor enough to snap the window shade rolling all the way back up, bathing her in liiiiiight. This, understandably, is a fair bit disconcerting and also a rude wakeup call for the dark sorceress. She groggily peers outside into the light that is almost blinding, blearily down at what is going on, before she goes about getting her gear and clothes on--as well as donning a human guise while she's outdoors. As tenuous as that might be.

Time to see what this huge man out here was up to. And so she headed out into the street, in one of her regular black dresses and boots. She's noticably still sporting a bandage here and there, one on her temple, as well as a scarf around her neck, and not just because it was getting frigid out there. She looked like she'd recently been in a scuffle of some type.

[POTEMKIN]
A loud wrenching noise occurs as Potemkin plunges his massive hand into the side of the crate and then pulls, ripping it apart and busting it open to reveal the collection of toys of all shapes sizes and colors that had been collected by the military of Zepp. U.S. soldiers are also present with trucks nearby and soon an effort to being loading up and donating toys begins while some who have already been brought here begin to receive early Christmas gifts.

"Ho. Ho. Ho." rumbles Potemkin with his vast rumbling voice and monstrous size doing more to frighten then sooth some of the more on edge children. "You are authorized to have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday of your choice." His massive fingers pinch a gigantic teddy bear and then release it, nearly bowling over a little girl into a pile of other soft dolls and toys as she receives it.

Eventually eh disengages. His part was purely for show and the rest are quite capable of loading and delivering toys. He turns, swiveling like a tank turret, and begins scanning th crowd and then takes note of the warded off building as well. In the process the groggy sorceress and her bandages are noted. Perculiar.

[ECHO]
Right now, having had as little sleep as she has had, and given that it's broad daylight out, she has the look of a demolition derby car, hood folded backwards, dents everywhich place, that someone is trying to still gas up. Which is more or less what it looks like as she buys a coffee nearby and walks out to see what the commotion is about. She sips at it--makes a face, attempts to tip back more of it despite her natural inclinations to retch. Her kind could still drink water as well as eat a little food, but only about as much solids as was in a kid's happy meal. Besides that all desirable red sauce, that is.

It would be quite a sight to walk out and see a 5-foot white-furred lady with bat ears and wings, no doubt, standing there in the street in that black dress like she was Morticia Addams, overlooking now what looks like a... giant man in power armor handing out toys to kids? Well, this isn't the /worst/ thing that's blown her up and out of bed, to be fair.

"But where's the Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion?" Echo speaks up, at first, of course, he'd see the pale smooth human skin of her face, lest he have the ability to see through the glamour of her magic, as she stood there, sipping the coffee.

[POTEMKIN]
"I am not a machine." counters Potemkin, despite the look given by the two glowing eyes and the shadows of his face and the fact that his proportions are more gorilla like then human and hs body suit sports obvious technological enhancements.

"This is all and blood." he insists while bringing one of his car sized arms up and flexing - a bicep the size of a buick bulging up to catastrophic size, nearly busting the arms of his uniform at the seams before he relaxes the mutant muscle.

"Although I do have some technology on me as a demonstation of the superior Chi-Tek of the Zepp Republic."

All of that goobly gook aside, he considers the battered woman and rumbles, "You ...are in need of assistance?"

[ECHO]
"Neither was the Tin Man, I don't think," Tin Man was more of an entirely prosthetic man, if one goes according to the book, but that's besides the point.

"That's all armor then? Impressive," Echo can feel the wave of sleep trying to bowl her over as she stands there, blinking it away a little and sipping more of the coffee.

"I'm in need of some sleep, your ship coming down woke me up," Echo answers truthfully, looking up at the sky, then down at the stuff it dropped off--having to grin a little as she realized it was mainly toys for children, who seemed to be having quite a good time with them.

"So what brings you here then? to such a run down, nasty place like this?" she clearly meant the taped off building behind her, sipping the hot coffee again. It was at least hot, so that was a plus. She wasn't dressed super heavily, and though her fur coat so to speak was invisible, the cold was still fairly oppressive. She reached up and brushed the bandage at her temple. She was certain the skin there had been split when La Huesuda had grabbed her, but ironically could not recall quite how.

[POTEMKIN]
"It is not armor." corrects Potemkin. Why does everyone think that? Then again his physique is so unbelievable perhaps 'armor' is the more logical assumption his body being so swole it's pressing out against his uniform like bas-relief. "It is structurally durable, however, by Zepp craft, but it serves no form of protection for me.." It's the other way around, protecting the world from him..but that he leaves unsaid.

"As to why we ar here? Isn't it obvious?" He indicates the toy giving event, "This was planned some time ago though.."

Potemkin pauses and turns and points at the destroyed building, "This was not here at the time of that planning. What has happened?"

[ECHO]
"If it helps, I think the kids deserve it, most of them are probably suffering from malnutrician, or worse," Echo peered about. As a vampire bat, she had a literal nose for the scents and heat registers that people came up as, it helped with work, so to speak--in locating prey in the dark. The simple examination that some of the kids looked a little bonier or more sallow than others was plain to the naked eye, ontop of that.

"Fire, it looked like, maybe someone knocked over a hotplate," Echo shrugged, answering without a beat, giving a shrug.

"Did someone you know work there?"

[POTEMKIN]
"No."

The giant soldier turns slightly, swiveling his enormous body around and squaring his shoulders. The Santa suit swells dangerously, splitting at the seams around the colossals back and shoulders jsut from the casual movement. Underneath this, his Zepp uniform struggles but it contains the giant as he steps forward with a few thundering steps. The weight of a car impacting with each footfall. "Also, I do not think it was a simple hot plate. It is an unfortunante blemish though. However, nothing for us to get involved in unless it is indeed a form of arson and there is a bounty on the arsonist."

[ECHO]
"Thank god for small miracles, hmm?" Echo sipped the coffee again, letting out a sigh and a little smile afterwards. The kids /were/ really enjoying this. And to be truthful, Echo could burn down a building and kill a bunch of people and likely still have her heartwarmed by something like this. There was just something too pure about it. She was also good at compartmentalizing herself and work, at that.

She steps back as the man begins to step forward, blinking a little, not expecting the man who looked so big and heavy to suddenly move so quickly and so far!

"Arson? that'd be terrible," she managed to say without skipping a beat, again. "Who'd do something terrible like that?" she looked shocked.

[POTEMKIN]
The question draws pause from Potemkin. Not that he's suspicious or anything as he's no reason to suspect her or really anyone at the moment and its not his business to get into ..but it's clear that her question has caught him off guard and seems a little strange.

"Well there are many reasons why a fire might be deliberately set. Is it so strange? From insurance fraud to attempting to hide evidence of something else going on. Perhaps simple revenge or a prank gone wrong?"

He shrugs lightly, considering the matter almost beneath of his interest though he adds, "If Zepp were asked to investigate we could put our technology and investigators to determining the source of the fire and possibly track down the culprit but such a request has not and likely will not go forth."

[ECHO]
"What's worth burning down in a place like this?" Echo asked, tilting her head with a raise of her eyebrow, as a kid galloped past holding a plush toy, she grinned and gave the kid a pat on the head. Her hand was not cold, at least--though that was due to the fur on it, to be fair.

"Maybe, either way, you're doing a really nice thing out here, I'm sure people appreciate the support of your people," she grinned again, now a little bit more awake now, call it adrenaline. It was in fact as if Potemkin could just... reach out and crush her, probably with one hand, if got the idea to.

"They could, maybe. You should do that!" Echo's eyes widened as she sipped her ocffee and thought about it a moment, the rising thought of the help Zepp could be seeming legitimate, even.

"I'm sure the authorities would appreciate the help, now if you'd excuse me, I've got to be into work soon," Echo fumbled with the small leather pouch she used as a purse and gave the large man and kids a little wave, before turning away.

[POTEMKIN]
"Hmm..very well." Potemkin responds. He eyes her as she turns away. His glowing gaze settling on her, perhaps uncomfortably so.

"Strange.." he muses to himself, thinking oddly on that encounter and conversation. Odder things have happened mind you. "..She has a point. Perhaps we should offer." he muses to himself. "I am supposed to be here on good will after all..." After a pause he turns and begins stepping away, approaching the authorities now.

[ECHO]
Of course, as Potemkin steps away, he might, for a ghost of a second, see what looked like long ribbed ears sprouting from the sides of the woman's head as he turns and she walks away--along with... white wings? If he looks again, they'll be gone. As well as her too, completely.

Weird.

Log created on 20:12:18 12/21/2018 by Echo, and last modified on 16:58:41 12/22/2018.