[IC] The Worth of a Man

[Skallagrim]

The Worth of a Man

Staring at the carnage that surrounded him, the dead, and dying, the ruined city street and the hundreds injured. Lowering his head General Freedom inhaled deeply, clenching his fists tight, the whorls of energy swirling angrily around him. The gloom of the destroyed Industrial Diamond Exchange hid the broken bodies from his sight. The crunch of glass and diamonds under foot filled his ears. The wail of sirens outside, the voices, the cursing that accompanied the pain of such destruction, it seemed as if it never ended.

Still shaky from earlier, the blue clad hero sat down heavily on a high-backed office chair, lowering his head he stared into the eyes of a guard, a man who had a life, maybe kids and a wife, but someone would be waiting, hoping praying that this man would walk through the door. Reaching down gently General Freedom closed the man’s eyes and said a prayer for his soul. Leaning back into the chair it seemed as if the weight of the world sat squarely on his shoulders, closing his eyes, he exhaled softly. There was too much blood spilt today, too much.

For a moment, he allowed his thoughts to race back to a time when he was merely Steve, just a man, not a hero, not a symbol. A man with dreams and hopes, a man who looked forward to living a normal life with a wife and kids of his own. For a moment, he wished he could be that man again. How long had it been? A few years now since Jessie climbed aboard the airplane, she left on a December day, and her bags packed, a tear in her eyes as she smiled at him. Her lips lingered on his as she said good-bye. She was on her way to the west coast for a job meeting. Swallowing hard, General Freedom inhaled deeply as he remembered their conversation, their plans for dinner when she came back. A slight smile crossed his lips at that. She was here with him, looking at him, “I’m sorry Jess, I just couldn’t save you. But you’re right here with me, I dream of you all the time.” He said his voice low and tinged with sadness.

Leaning forward in the chair, he shook his head as he remember the events, a cocky villain thinking to make a name for himself, the terrible fight that occurred. It was a mistake, somehow the kid had gotten away from him, managed to get airborne, and get to Jessie’s plane. Rocking back James slammed a fist into the arm of the chair, then another. Slowly expelling the air from his lungs, he looked up to see Jess smile at him, her dark eyes enveloping him, filling him with pain, “Its ok baby. You did everything you could do; you did what you needed to do.”

The tightening in his chest and the difficulty in breathing caused him to grunt as he struggled to regain composure, “I couldn’t save you… I couldn’t save you.” He whispered to the image as it faded from view. Wiping his mouth he stood and glanced around the debris strewn room again then flared his energies brilliantly and launched himself through a hole in the roof and out into the atmosphere, a brilliant streak of light arcing into the sky, burning brightly as he sought solace among the clouds.

[LeeRoy]

Just outside of a small blue rock orbiting a beautiful main sequence star, a transport vessel was stopped. Hovering just outside of the Atmosphere of the planet below, within orbit two men discussed their location over a cup of smuggled other-worldly alcohol. The shorter of the two raised his mug and pointed out the window, down at the planet. "I'd be willing to bet you fifty credits that you don't know what Star-System we're in." With a slightly buzzed grin crossing his face, Kanitah knew exactly where they were. He'd seen the planet before. It was a heavily populated planet known in the surrounding systems as Earth. So the humans on the planet called it, at least. To Kanitah's people it was Main Sequence - Habitable Planet # 1520. But Earth sounded prettier, at least.

With an obviously drunken slur to his tone, the taller man with much darker skin growled. "A'course I know what plannut this is!" He had to recover from that one, somehow he had forgotten to breathe before he shouted. "That's that little rock fer thuh Hyoomans. They call it Earth. Gotta lotta folks down there who don't like our kind, y'know?"

Perking his right brow, Kanitah leaned in and rested his mug on the crate between them. "Whaddya mean? Do they not like Pundambayans or something? Have they met with us and I just missed it? Where's the memo?" Obviously a bit intrigued by this statement, his face screwed up a bit. Honestly he was a bit insulted.

"Nah nah. See, those folks down'ar think they're s'm'real important species. Got a grudge against extrat'restrels, cause they think they get abducted by normal folk." The taller one threw his head back, slamming the rest of his drink. Spluttering for a moment as he choked down the beverage. "But uh, most- If not all- Races know that they get kidnapped by slavers and organ harvesters." This sentence was punctuated by a resounding burp that felt as thought it shook the very framework of the small vessel.

With one hand he rubbed his chin, thinking to himself about how he'd personally witnessed a few of these kidnappings himself. That's how he had wound up slugging it out on a backwoods planet not a year ago. "Damn slavers, hate those bastards. They're obviously trying to build something, but I'll be damned if I know what."

"Hey! Hey hey hey! I won that bet, you gotta pay up, Kanitah!" For a moment his eyes lit up with excitement, realizing that he had just earned free money.

With a wave of his hand he dismissed the comment, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a couple plastic cards with engravings on them. "Take'm you greedy drunk." He hungrily snatched them from Kanitah's hand, pocketing them and standing from his seat. The drunk stretched a bit, popping his back.

Kanitah rolled his eyes, turning his attention to the window beside him and looking down at the planet below. A bright streak crossing the sky caught his eye. "Well I'll be damned, are there beings of power just gallivanting about down there?"

"Eh' what? Oh, thar. Yeah, sometimes they get up in a rut, other times they're just assholes. Why? You wan'go check it out?" His drunken friend pointed over his shoulder to the control room, it was vacant of course.

Kanitah thought for a moment, watching the streak accelerate across the edge of the atmosphere. Just a few thousand miles below them, but brilliant enough to catch his eye. "Yeah, I think I will." The pilot groaned, realizing that he'd have to pilot the ship while drunk. With a couple uneasy steps he planted himself into the Pilot's seat and grasped a pair of twin handles, pressing a few buttons with his right hand. The ship began to descend into the atmosphere, adjusting its trajectory to intersect with the path of the streak of energy.

Honestly, Kanitah was hoping that streak of light was gonna be something interesting. Since his resounding draw previously, the long recovery, and the trip out this-a-ways. He hasn't seen much action, so this might prove to be something just up his alley.

Breaking through the atmosphere, the ship began to glow with the flames of entry. Kanitah touched the window, feeling a bit of heat through the high density glass. They plummeted through the sky, reaching terminal velocity as they dove. The path of the glowing streak was perpendicular to the path of the ship.

Whatever it was, Kanitah just sort of hoped that it wouldn't just ram them once they reached its position.

[Skallagrim]

General Freedom, lost in thought raced ahead of a rapidly cooling tunnel he carved through the atmosphere creating a streaking contrail behind the hero. The dazzling blue energy surrounding his body blazed with such intensity that many on Earth believed they were witnessing a meteorite in the atmosphere.

Here in the skies, he felt free as if the weight of the world no longer pressed on him. Here, high above the planet he called home he sought solace. Alone, a glimpse of stars peeking through the upper atmosphere, Steve felt the tension race away from his body. Flipping around in a barrel roll, a huge grin spread across his face. His eyes spotting the streaking object that raced down from the deeps of space. It took a moment for it to register as he completed his roll.

A grunt escaped his lips as he craned his neck, his eyes narrowed as the streaking object came again into view.

“What the hell?” he murmured as he accelerated, a sonic boom erupted behind him, followed by another and another. In a matter of seconds, he was flying at nearly three times the speed of sound. Then General Freedom pulled into a climb, continuing to pull back as he climbed into the half-loop. As the streaking blue figure passed over the point where his climb commenced, he was inverted for a second or two as he quickly executes a half-roll to regain a normal, upright orientation. As a result, General Freedom was now at a higher altitude and has changed course 180 degrees, heading away from the descending object and still building up speed.

The blue clad hero wasn’t sure what the hell it was that was coming but it wasn’t anything that was Earth based. He had been on the ISS a few weeks back helping repair the solar panels that generated power to the station. While there, several of the astronauts had mentioned seeing objects and lights where no earth satellites were. It had spooked them and upon returning to Earth, the hero had visited the US Naval Network and Space Operations Command (NNSOC) [formerly Naval Space Command] headquarters in Dahlgren, Virginia.

To his surprise NNSOC had evidence that aliens were lurking around Earth, and without any indications as to their purpose, all sightings were to be classified and black filed until enough information could be gathered.

Behind him, something not from Earth was coming down in a hurry, and all fatigue and thoughts of what had happened earlier were gone. He had an opportunity to gather a ship, data and perhaps an alien for NNSOC to examine.

The ZPE signature intensified as swirls of scintillating energy raced around his fists, along his arms and across his back in rapid pulses. Eyes narrowing as he exhaled slowly, then he pulled up into a Frolov chakra maneuver, performing an extremely tight loop, drastically decreasing the hero’s speed as he used the loop to get a visual on the alien craft, before completing the move and back towards his original heading. Whoever they were, General Freedom would be their welcoming committee.

[LeeRoy]

Fast approaching, the energy streak came into shape and slowed itself before the ship. It was a humanoid figure, quite obviously so. A bright luminescence wrapped itself around this flying man as he flipped through the sky, depleting his momentum to come to eye level with the craft. Onboard the ship the short alien fiddled around in a drawer, pulling out an earpiece and a mouthpiece. Placing them in the respective orifices required for them to function. These are translators, Kanitah does not naturally speak human tongues.

The ship settled into place, both Freedom and the hovering space-craft were suspended in mid-air. With his right hand, Kanitah gripped his jaw and moved it from side to side. Settling the small device underneath his tongue and behind his molars. "Hey, close the Cabin door. You can't survive the pressures."

The pilot gave him a thumbs up, and pressed the door button. Slamming the sliding door closed. With the cabin shut he reached forward and grasped the handle, twisting it to the right and sliding the shuttle doors open. In full view of Kanitah was a man of impressive stature, with an even more impressive energy about him.

Time stood still for Kanitah, his eyes shifted from right to left. They trailed down the energy that was leaking from Freedom's body. A volatile energy, no doubt. But evil? Not particularly, but he's learned that not everything's so cut and dry as it is back home.

Gesturing with his right hand, Kanitah pointed to the ground so far below them. "You're sure moving fast, friend. And you're glowing with a volatile energy, I've seen only a few like it in the past. I didn't particularly like it back then either." His mouth moved significantly out of sync with the words coming out of it, of course due to the translator preventing him from actually speaking and replacing it with one of the native tongues of Humans. "So why don't we take this down to the ground and we'll discuss just why you're glowing so brightly with fists clenched."

Bringing his hand back to his side, he tilts his head to the right just slightly.

[Skallagrim]

The alien craft slowed until it came to a stop, drifting in the air, tense moments passed as the blue-clad hero eyed the craft with apprehension. If they were the vanguard of an invasion, well they had picked the wrong human as their point of contact. If they were friendly, General Freedom would hear them out and make his decision on a course of action entirely based on what he perceived their intentions were.

The ZPE surrounding his body flickered as it raced across his chest, rippling slightly, causing minute tears in the atmosphere, followed by faint thunder rumbles echoing around the man. With an unexpected suddenness, a hatch opened and, well what General Freedom saw left him speechless for a moment.

Before him stood a small block of a man, a bushy beard and mustache covered the face and for a fleeting moment, the figure reminded him of a dwarf from Lord of the Rings. Steve allowed his eyes to wash their gaze around the man and with an unconscious glance looked over the broad shoulders of the creature half-expecting to see the long handle of a dwarven axe.

Then it spoke in a grotesque imitation of a badly translated Chinese Gung-fu chop-socky film. "You're sure moving fast, friend. And you're glowing with a volatile energy, I've seen only a few like it in the past. I didn't particularly like it back then either." There was a disturbing pause then "So why don't we take this down to the ground and we'll discuss just why you're glowing so brightly with fists clenched."

It boggled Steve, an alien, an off-worlder coming here to Earth, a planet he was native of and dictating to him to land as if he were the non-native element to the planet.

“Perhaps if I were on your world you could tell me what do, but not here bunky. This is Earth, my world and you’re the one who needs to answer some questions.”

So far, they had set a bad precedence, but if they wanted a fight, they found one of the few people on Earth able to meet them on their own terms, and if they assumed humans were weak, helpless and ripe for invasion, well they would certainly pay for their arrogance.

“As a representative of the people of Earth, I must discern your intentions and right now they don’t seem friendly. Why don’t we start over without your arrogance, tell me who you are and what you want and I may help you.”

[LeeRoy]

In that fashion that was described to him not five minutes earlier, the human that Kanitah was facing seemed to have the idea wrapped into his head that this was something of great importance. It really wasn't, but Kanitah was just frustrated enough by his intentionally threatening vent of energy that he didn't bother to think about the repercussions of what he's about to say.

"Bunky, eh? That some sort of insult? Pardon me if I sound rude, but the last 'representative' of any planet or organization that glowed like a light-bulb wound up giving me scars across my entire body. " Dragging his finger along the scar on his forehead, running its length before dropping his hand to his side. "My name is Kanitah Noraha Ayna, holder of a word of power, hero of Pundambaya."

The wind whipped across his face, throwing the hair violently to the side. Kanitah didn't blink, didn't tear his eyes away from Freedom for a moment. This was no whimpy little alien on a dinky rock, this was someone who would fit right in on Pundambaya. Strong build, strong face, strong everything pretty much. Kanitah would honestly be a little impressed by his stature if he wasn't frustrated by his attitude.

He pointed back down at the ground, his brow furrowed deeply. "Now, I'm moving to the ground. If you join me on the ground, that's just fine." He spoke incredibly bluntly on that point, knocking on the door of the cabin. The man inside turned and looked through the window between them, Kanitah's face was twisted up with an obvious frustration. "Head down, we're going to the ground."

The pilot nodded and pushed forward on the wheel, the ship began descending to the ground. "Now, I won't 'order' you to follow. But if you want to continue our civil discussion in a more reasonable environment I'll meet you down there." Kanitah shouted out the door before slamming it shut. Kanitah smirked, whoever this guy was, he had called the wrong fellow 'Bunky.'

He doesn't know what that means, actually, but he assumes it's some sort of insult. And he has personally taken offense to it.

[Skallagrim]

Shaking his head, General Freedom didn’t follow the descending ship. He didn’t need to, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to play lapdog to some short alien with a Napoleon complex. Charging ZPE within his form, the energy rippled across his body in increasing spikes of power that would show up on any system able to detect such energy signatures, and he figured the alien ship would be able to do that.

What had the alien said, he received his scars from another energy user? If he had the same piss poor attitude Steve could understand why he had gotten them.

It was a shame that he had to deal with egotistical villains on Earth, now he had to deal with an alien who like to boss people around as if he was in charge. Well Steve pondered his next move as he calculated the ships distance from him, he followed protocol and had asked the alien to identify himself, which he did.

What had he said exactly? His name was Kanitah Noraha Ayna. He was the holder of something, what had he said? A word of power, whatever that meant, and he was a hero of some place called Pundambaya.

There would be little civility, the alien had come to Earth throwing his little runty ass around like he owned he place, something that Steve figured that this Kanitah would take offense to if General Freedom were to do it to him on Pundambaya.

He tipped over and slowly snaking his way after the ship, his eyes narrowed a bit as he studied the craft, seeking any obvious weaponry, rather anything that he could assume to be weaponry.

The next few minutes and the next few words the alien uttered would determine if this would become a hostile situation.

[LeeRoy]

With the door closed, Kanitah retook his seat. Reaching into a nearby box and pulling out two bottles of unmarked ale, smuggler ships always have the strongest drink. He popped the tops off of both of them and downed one, sipping on the second one.

The pilot groaned, Kanitah was gonna drink all of his product. He'd better get him to the ground before he finishes off that box. With both hands he pushed down on the wheel, forcing the ship's nose towards the ground. Its engine roared and the ship began a rapid descent towards the ground. In the back, Kanitah accidentally hit himself in the lip with his bottle. The acceleration caused his hand to move on its own.

"Hey! Careful! You nearly made me spill my drink." The war vet growled out through his teeth. Kanitah had been drinking a lot lately, he's been stressing over where his daughter has gone. "Keep this thing steady, I'm already a bit lightheaded and I can feel my stomach in my throat."

Sure, blame the ride. Thought the pilot. It's totally not your profuse drinking, not at all. "Fine, but don ask me to hurry up if you want a smooth ride. Anyway, werr here." The ship ground to a halt, a wave of air blasting out from the bottom and throwing up a cloud of dust into the air around the ship. "This's yer stop."

Last sip. Kanitah threw the bottle back and tossed it into the box where they'd been tossing the empty bottles. "Thanks. I'll make sure to pay you back for the lost product. Alright?" The pilot shook his head.

"On the house, I'm only s'posed to d'liver three crates. I got plenny." On that note, Kanitah threw the door open and looked over his shoulder.

"Head off to a safe distance, this might get ugly. I still need a ride off this rock once I teach this jerk why it makes you suspicious to fly through the stratosphere at mach 3 or so."

"Sure, I'll be over thar when yer done." The pilot pointed off to a hill in the distance, just beyond which one could see a small suburb.

The Pundambayan hopped out and onto the field, the door closed behind him and the ship drifted off to rest on the hill.

This is Earth, a small blue marble suspended in a beam of light. It's pretty nice lookin', but the air's a bit gross. Humans have too much pollution in the air.

Kanitah surveyed the area around him, it was just a large grassy plain with a number of hills and thick oak trees surrounding it. A few small ponds and sandy bits dotted the landscape. Just outside of earshot there was people running off. To Kanitah, this was a nice place. A good location for any manner of event, be it a party or a fight.

To humans, however, it's known as a golf course.

He looked upwards, waiting for Freedom to land. Kanitah meant it when he said take it to the ground. He honestly hoped that Freedom didn't expect Kanitah to fight him in the air.

[Skallagrim]

Slowly descending, General Freedom watched the alien ship deposit the runty loud mouth in one of the more expensive country club courses in the area. A smile crossed his lips as he saw several of the blue-blood members gawking. Slowing further, the blue-clad hero, beloved by millions contemplated what he saw before him. A compacted form muscled and strong, and even as he looked up at the hero,

General Freedom wondered what powers he had. Strength alone would not be an advantage. Was he an energy projector? Perhaps, he had the ability to teleport, if he did that would pose problems. The Shade was a teleporter, he often avoided the powerful crushing blows of the hero when they had fought. No, no if mini-me were a teleporter he would have done so when they were jawing up high.

Stopping a hundred meters above the bearded figure, General Freedom stared at him. Then he roared away, landing with a thump on the ninth green. Knees bent as he landed, the sand in the traps jostled then settled, the ball teetering on the edge of the hole, toppled in. Rising slowly, Earth’s mightiest hero stared at the little man, no more than 100 feet away, a wide sand trap between them.

“Alright bunky, you have my attention. Why are you on my planet?

[LeeRoy]

That cocky fucking word, 'bunky' whatever it meant it was really starting to make Kanitah's skin crawl. "Well I'm gonna answer two questions, even though you've only asked one." Sarcasm was almost liquid when it passed his out of sync lips. "First of all, I came to your dinky little backwoods rock to buy some of that stuff that you call 'ham' and 'beef' using standard interstellar currency #5. Also known as gold. At least, that was my original plan." The Pundambayan began unbuttoning his shirt, taking care to not break his buttons. That happens all the time, Kanitah has racked up a bill with his tailor just because of how often he breaks buttons.

After he finished he stripped his shirt from his body, revealing grizzly scar patterns across his entire body. Surgical and energy scars, from previous battles and previous medical escapades. "But now, since I saw your little light show in the stratosphere. And since you had the gall to insult me for asking what a man flying at mach two or three was doing, I've got another reason to be on this planet."

His stout frame began to tense up, muscles flexing and convulsing as he began to stretch himself out. Kanitah bent himself backwards, pressing the backs of his hands against eachother in a rather awkward pose. The kind of pose that a bodybuilder would take if he was showing off his muscles to a crowd. "I'm gonna feed you that stupid word that you keep calling me, lightbulb." Kanitah's last sentence was spat with a bitter resentment, this guy's personality had rubbed him the worst possible way when they first met.

To explain, Kanitah is a bit tipsy. And his logic goes somewhere along these lines:
General Freedom was flying at supersonic speeds through the stratosphere of a planet not well known for beings that fly around with bright lights tied to their ass. Despite him not knowing much about Earth, he does know about Humans. And they're not a race of supermen. So when Kanitah asked Freedom why he looked pissed off and was flying around in the Atmosphere, the reaction he was expecting was nowhere near being called the aggressor in this situation. So, being a little drunk and a little angry about his Daughter being missing, Kanitah saw this as a personal affront.

Back to the post at hand.

The stout little man flexed his entire body, throwing his head backwards and peeling his lips apart. "Darligrov!"

With the utterance of that sanctified word, a bright but gentle auburn light erupted from his body and coalesced around him. Wrapping around him like orbiting planets around a solar body, eventually converting into several slightly transluscent rings around his body on every possible surface. "The second answer I'm going to give you is this!"

"If you're wondering about that word of power I mentioned before! Dar Li Grov. It's the word of power, not just a word of power, it is the word of power! It gives me greater strength, speed, and striking force than I would have before! I'm not even going to hide my power from you, I'll tell you now! I, Kanitah Noraha Ayna, am the perfect warrior!" After his over the top speech and posing, Kanitah returned to a normal posture and stretched his neck. Placing one hand on his shoulder to loosen it a bit.

"Now that I've made my introductions, who the hell do you think you are?"

[Skallagrim]

Time stopped, as General Freedom’s eyes wandered when the dwarf began talking. He could see the security guards for the golf course rushing forward in their bright green and white cart, a yellow light flashing atop it. Both were portly men used to drinking beers and eating high calorie foods, sitting on their ponderous posteriors watching monitors. Occasionally they would make their rounds, glad-handing and jovial men whose active law enforcing days were far behind them.

A low snarl escaped as he cast a glance at the dwarf, now shirtless. "I'm gonna feed you that stupid word that you keep calling me, lightbulb." The bearded mini-me exclaimed.

Jimmy Christmas! Was it a thing taught everywhere in the universe? Ego-maniacal droning monologues. His eyes lingered on the scars, this was going to be a tough fight if it came to it, those scars didn’t come easy and anyone capable of surviving such damage was a tough customer.

“Hold that thought bub!” General Freedom said as he leaped into the air, landing with a resounding thump behind the cart, and with a casual hand grabbed the back of the it. Still holding the rear end, he looked at both men, whose wide-eyed gaze told him all he needed to know.

“Gentlemen, thank you for your concern, but let me handle this.”

With a nod, the driver tilted his head, “Put us down General and go give that runt a pounding.”

As the cart roared away, General Freedom turned back to the alien; he smiled sheepishly, “Sorry you can continue your threatening monologue now. I just had to ensure those two wouldn't get hurt in our melee.”

[LeeRoy]

Though Freedom had gone off to do his thing with the golf cart, Kanitah had not actually ceased his posturing and boasting. It was only when Freedom returned to ask him to continue his rant that Kanitah noticed his absence. The Pundambayan would have honestly been a little offended about him ignoring him, however, what bugged him the most was what he had managed to neglect. "Monologue? Do you think I was just monologuing? No! You invalid, that was a dialogue! You were supposed to reply to that, why do you think I was answering your questions and asking you a question myself? A monologue does not expect a response, a dialogue is between two people. I'm not one of those idiots who monologues, I was expecting an answer!"

"Some people don't understand posturing, it's what you're supposed to do during an interaction. Come on, keep up. I figured a guy with incredible abilities would understand this, are you like that previous lightbulb? The one who gave me these?" Kanitah pointed to his chest with both hands, spinning his wrists to indicate all the scars across his body. "Cause if you are this isn't gonna be fun."

He paused for a moment, placing his hand on his beard. Digging one finger in and scratching at his chin. "Now, could you tell me your name? Because I really don't like punching the teeth of a nameless man down his throat. Oh, and you can detail your powers now or later, I already know you can fly. What else can you do? Or is that all you've got?" Lowering his hand from his chin, he grabbed the four rings that normally adorn his right and left shoulder, with a slow movement he dragged them down to his fists. Hoping, honestly, that Freedom didn't care about him moving them.

[Skallagrim]

General Freedom frowned at the little man with the horribly scarred body; he was confused for a moment. Dialogue?

“I am sorry; I have heard so many of these speeches. When I respond I get admonished because the villain rants about how the questions are rhetorical, I figured you were rambling in the same manner so I was being polite.”

Rubbing his chin, Steve stared at the man, “Yeah about those scars, I am sorry. Looks like you went through a lot of trouble there. If you want, I can help you get justice. As for who I am, well I am General Freedom, champion of Earth.”

There was something oddly suspicious of the man, something that put Steve’s sense on alert, what was this tiny-tot body builder up to? The question asking him to detail his powers threw him for a loop, what kind of nut job was he dealing with.

Narrowing his eyes he shook his head and then in a sudden and swift move raised his, then stomped his foot down on the ground with such force that the sand shifted and cascaded out of the sand trap. The ground rolled and folded under the seismic wave that General Freedom generated with the action.

“What are you doing with those rings bunky? And why the hell do you want to know about my powers?” Steve asked as the ZPE flowing around his body flared slightly.

[LeeRoy]

General Freedom, huh? A rank and a concept. Making this impersonal through his name to distance himself from his actions. Some men just aren't cut out for the task of kicking ass, taking names, and burying the dead of those they hurt. Kanitah has had his fair share of terrible experiences, but he would never distance himself from his work.

After he slipped the rings down to his hands, Freedom shook the ground with his foot. Disrupting it with just one stomp, turning what was previously a small sandtrap into a huge mess across a large area. Seems his body caries a lot more potential energy than he had previously thought.

The shockwave was great and all that, but Kanitah was not as prepared as he thought he would be. The ground shifted just enough to ruin his balance and send him to the ground, his dense ass flattening the soil beneath it. From this position he looked up at Freedom across the way and chuckled. "Now I feel silly, might have had one bottle too many." The seated position was a bit fortunate, gave him a better reach to his feet.

He pulled his knees closer to his body, reaching towards them and grabbing the rings around both of them. Pushing them downwards to his feet. ". "That word, Villain. It has a very rough translation in my language. Comes out somewhere between Evil One and Foul One. Don't get it twisted, Freedom. I'm not evil, I'm just a bit drunk and ornery as all get out. I'm the one who's got suspicion on you for being a Villain. What with the whole supersonic flight thing."

After sliding the rings down to his feet, Kanitah rose up to his full height. Dusting himself off a bit. "I'm gonna say a couple things. First of all, I've already told you what my rings do. They make me stronger, faster, and make me hit harder. I'm just moving them so I can use them more properly." The Pundambayan took a few steps towards General Freedom. "Second. I want to know what powers you have because I'm gonna kick your ass. I'm the one with suspicion on you."

"Third. What I'm doing with these rings is preparing myself. I've already told you what the rings do, so I'm moving them to better prepare myself. That's what I'm doing." The Pundambayan pointed down at the rings that were now on his feet. "I've got to move them around to make sure that I move as fast, and hit as hard as possible. Magic is funny like that."

The rings around his body shimmered with a soft brilliance, nothing like the volatile energies that threw themself off of Freedom's body. They were gentle, like the radiance of a firefly. "Finally. If you let me finish my preparations, of which I only have a few more. I'll teach you why they call me the Hero of Pundambaya. After I teach you that, we'll go out for a drink at the nearest pub."

The stout little warrior folded his arms, cocking his right eyebrow just slightly. "Does that sound good? Or should I expect you to attack before I'm ready, turning this into an overdrawn fight where I've got to use actual strategy to beat you?"

[Skallagrim]

The runt took a tumble because of the foot stomp. A frown crossed his lips as he stared at the dwarf who busily dusted himself off as he stood with the weird rings looped around his feet. He was speaking again, good lord this dwarf loved to hear his own voice.

"I'm gonna say a couple things. First of all, I've already told you what my rings do. They make me stronger, faster, and make me hit harder. I'm just moving them so I can use them more properly." The Pundambayan took a few steps towards General Freedom. "Second. I want to know what powers you have because I'm gonna kick your ass. I'm the one with suspicion on you."

"Third. What I'm doing with these rings is preparing myself. I've already told you what the rings do, so I'm moving them to better prepare myself. That's what I'm doing." The Pundambayan pointed down at the rings that were now on his feet. "I've got to move them around to make sure that I move as fast, and hit as hard as possible. Magic is funny like that."

“Look runt. I don’t really have time for this. I am not going to fight you; you are clearly and admittedly drunk.”

Rubbing his chin, General Freedom stared at him a minute, pondering what he could do to extract himself from this predicament. Clearly the dwarf was a drunk and a loud mouth, but mostly he was harmless, or appeared to be.

“You may be a hero for your people. That’s great, I am happy for you, but really I don’t think it would be in your best interest or mine to have a dust up. As far as I can tell, other than being drunk in public, you haven’t done anything to warrant me to have to effect an arrest. Why don’t you climb back aboard your party boat there and go home.”

Then with a dazzling smile, the sun glinting off perfect white teeth in such a way that if would make a wonderful shot for the media, he said, “Tell you what bunky, err say what was your name again? Oh yes, Can-e-taw Nor-a-haaa Aye-naw…Why don’t you sleep off your drunk and then we can go a few rounds. As it is, it would be unfair to fight someone intoxicated.”

General Freedom spread he hands before him in an apologetic manner.

[LeeRoy]

General Freedom was beginning to express some second thoughts, and intentionally had softened his tone to try and defuse this predicament. But one small thing that he had said was about to make this conversation difficult. Freedom said one thing, one little morsel of dialogue that crushed any hope of this not turning into a fight. Kanitah reeled back, his mouth opening up in disbelief. The short alien couldn't believe what he had just heard, he could absolutely not believe the words that had just left General Freedom's mouth.

"I am not going to fight you; you are clearly and admittedly drunk."

The words echoed through his head, intensifying every time. Kanitah dropped down, finishing his task of preparation. Moving the two from his head and two from his chest down to both of his feet. Increasing the number of rings adorning each foot to six. Preparations finished, Kanitah took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Frustration became impossibly evident on Kanitah's visage, with every single vein in his skin becoming visible for a moment, his muscles tensed and forced them to the surface. Most noticable being those in his face and neck. "You just insulted me in the worst possible way, Freedom." The stout little extra-terrestrial took a few steps forward, digging his feet into the ground. "You just insinuated that I can't fight while I've got a few bottles of liquor in my veins."

"When a man challenges you to a duel, you either accept or call yourself a coward. But you just decided to near blatantly state that I can't fight you while drunk." Kanitah raised his hand upwards, lining it up directly with Freedom's eyes. "You just insulted me, Lightbulb. And now I'm actually mad." With that, Kanitah stood there. Arm extended, about three meters separating them. "Raise your fists or get to runnin', rank and file. Cause I'm gonna whip you."

[Skallagrim]

The dwarf made a move, finishing putting the rings in their requisite places. However the blue clad hero of Earth was not idle, he had seen and fought too many megalomaniacal villains in his day and this alien, though drunk, seemingly fell into that category.

Whilst the stout creature was pushing the rings from head and chest towards his feet, abet a short journey, the pulsating energy surrounding General Freedom intensified into a veritable shimmer.

As Steve watched, wary he clenched both fists and spread his feet apart slightly, clearly these rings were important to the alien. What had he said a scant few seconds ago?

"Third. What I'm doing with these rings is preparing myself. I've already told you what the rings do, so I'm moving them to better prepare myself. That's what I'm doing." The Pundambayan pointed down at the rings that were now on his feet. "I've got to move them around to make sure that I move as fast, and hit as hard as possible. Magic is funny like that."

Clearly the dwarf intended to carry this fight on to its conclusion. Well, it was best to end this before it started, before anyone was hurt. As the chatty-Cathy dwarf took a step forward, beginning another monologue, General Freedom clapped his hands together, generating a tremendous ripple in the air as the air itself was rend by the force of the clap. This ripple flowed away from the hero in a conical path, directed at the dwarf.

Whether or not the dwarf could withstand the pressure was something that remained to be seen, at the point of impact the clap generated a gust of wind that reached 110 miles per hour at point of impact of the palms, followed by a rumble of thunder as the air ripped because of the immense speed of the hands clapping together. Much like a bullwhip creates a sonic boom, so did the hands of Earth’s blue clad hero.

If the alien could weather the thunderclap so be it, hopefully though it would give the alien warning as to not continue this pursuit. There were a few definitive facts that General Freedom already had about this alien. He required the rings to give him power enough to face the hero, and he was incapable of flight. Elements that might come in handy if this fight were to escalate beyond this.