Moscow - Commercial District

This is home to dozens and dozens of corporate headquarters and offices, as well as the Moscow Stock Exchange. Skyscrapers and Stratoscrapers, adorned with the logos of the companies, dominate over the city, connected via transport walkways. Limos, taxis, and various other forms of transportation zip through the spaces between the massive buildings, trying to get their occupants to their destination as fast as possible. Traffic tie-ups are common around rush hour, but usually everything gets back to normal soon enough.

Violen [Violen] [M]

South <S> leads to Moscow - Production District.

East <E> leads to Teleportation Area--Moscow.

West <W> leads to Moscow - Northern Downtown.

The commercial district is for the most part quiet on Sundays, the towering skyscrapers empty of workers. However, many of the small sandwich shops are open, inviting in the afternoon strollers and after-church crowd. This Sunday is no exception. Bowie walks briskly down one of the many elevated walkways over the main street, passing through the district on his way to somewhere else. He's pulled his scarf over his face to ward off some of the December chill.

Violen has, ever since Vile gave him his 'beat Bowie to an inch of his life repeatedly for daring to get it on with the Cossack spawn' duties, been making sure that Maverick agents keep an eye out for Bowie and so, if Violen has nothing better to do and needs to smite someone, it can, with a bit of luck, be everyone's favorite Texan Maverick Hunter. Regardless, one such agent has reported in seeing someone who just might be Bowie. Apparently the Hunter's gotten better with his disguises. Violen, on the other hand, has not. He's wearing the glasses that he was wearing before in San Angeles in order to hide his super secret identity.

Either Bowie's gotten better with disguises, or he realized just how useless a simple duster is during a Russian cold snap. You be the judge. Regardless, he continues on his way for a bit. Then, he stops at a kiosk at the corner of the walkway's intersection. Hot coffee sounds very good right now, and luckily there's a working instant coffee dispenser among the selection of drinks and snacks. He fishes in his pocket for change and plinks them into the machine.

Violen has the benefit of Maverick agents out to keep watch for where Bowie is. Gumbies may be useless for most things, but having another set of eyes around is never bad. Especially when they're the only ones that actually pass for /normal/ around here. The X-Hunter, meanwhile, continues down the sidewalk, and those passing by gawk at him and stay the heck out of the way. But for the most part, Violen figures his disguise his working perfectly. Rounding a corner, he spies the kiosk where Bowie's getting his coffee from and stops in his tracks. He glances left and right and quickly ducks into an alleyway to remain unseen. Violen being sneaky. Yeah, right.

Bowie is not as oblivious as he seems. Violen has spies. All that Bowie has to rely upon is himself. He casts a glance around the area as he waits on the dispenser, and spots someone rather large ducking into the space between two skyscrapers. Behind his scarf, he frowns. Otherwise, he makes no outward sign of noticing anything amiss. After a moment - the machine is ancient and therfore taking forever to heat - he takes another casual look around.

Once in the alleyway, mild mannered Violen looks both ways to make sure nobody is watching him. About a dozen people are, but hey. Dramatically, he reaches for his own chest and /tears/ open his shirt. Gasp, his outer armour was just fake clothing! And what's below this level of fake armour? Well, his Musical Mace, on his back, begins emitting the theme-song from Superman as the big red and yellow 'S' on his chest can now be seen in all of its glory. Within moments, Violen has his blue and red spandex on and his big flowing red cape. To complete the transformation, he whips off his glasses and marches out of the alleyway, striking a heroic pose and looking around for Bowie at the coffee kiosk.

Bowie doesn't recognize the musical selection per se, as he's not into 20th century pop culture. However, the heroic theme does get his attention. He glances back in the direction of the alley, and...dear lord, how does anyone prepare for that? Quickly shaking his head, he moves to put the kiosk between him and Super-Violen while the Maverick is striking a pose.

Violen holds the pose for a few more seconds before he realizes that there's a certain person trying to put the kiosk between himself and the Super Maverick. Superham smiles and waves to his adoring fans. Adoring, horrified... same thing, right? Fans, random people on the street... what's the difference? The X-Hunter stomps towards the kiosk and points a heroic finger at Bowie, speaking in a loud, noble tone. "So, you thought that you could make time with Vile's sister and get away with it, eh?" He narrows his optics. "You, sir, are a /fiend/."

Bowie decides that the wisest course of action is...to play dumb. Between the scarf and the fuzzy hat, it's unlikely that Violen's gotten a good look at his face. "< Excuse me?>" he stammers in confused Russian.

Violen's optics widen dramatically, "By the sacred spires of Alpha Centauri!" he gasps in horror at the different language. "Not only are you a cruel evil doer out to destroy my Commander's sister's reputation..." Violen pauses, "My Comanding sister-in-law, as it were, but you're also a /Russian/...!" Superham raises his hand to his face, trying to figure out how he could possibly overcome such evil? "But I must..." he says, answering his own thoughts, "For the Mavericks depend on me to beat up on all damn dirty Communists, and I shall answer the call of duty!"

Kalinka arrives from the Moscow - Northern Downtown.

Kalinka has arrived.

Bowie is standing next to a drink-and-snacks kiosk, which is finally dispensing the cup of coffee he ordered before Super-Violen arrived. At present, he's bundled up against the cold, which advantageously disguises his face and features. Still trying to pretend he's not who Violen thinks he is, he looks up at the Maverick in confusion. "< You mean that you're /married/ to Vile?>" he says in surprise.

Well, he /did/ say Kalinka was his sister-in-law....

Kalinka is currently in a public ice-skating rink, not far from where Bowie and Violen have met up. Currently, she's trying to show a few members of the Atlanta Dragons hockey team how to properly check and block shots. She isn't as large as they are, but she's already knocked a few of them off their feet, so they're wary of her.

Violen does not understand many things, and Russian is just one of those things. As a result, Bowie's question falls on deaf ears. A shame, really, as it'd be interesting to see what his answer would be. Instead, he peers at Bowie. "You... you /are/ the Bowie fella, aren't you?" Superham asks, slightly concerned that he risked his secret identity all on a mistake. That would be embarassing, now wouldn't it? He leans in, trying to get a look at the person underneath the scarf and other winter clothing.

Quick Man has left.

Bowie really hopes that his scarf is still covering his nose - that brown synthskin of his would be a dead giveaway. It also dawns on him that Violen probably doesn't understand Russian. "< Bowie who? >" he asks, trying to seem calm yet frightened. He holds his gloved hands up in a placating, please-don't-smash-me gesture.

Kalinka is still out on the ice, sailing full-speed toward some right wing defender. "<< Now, you get VICIOUS! You mean BUSINESS! DO NOT BACK DOWN!! >>" she yells at him, brandishing her hockey stick.

Violen squints at Bowie. "Ah HA! You said 'Bowie'." Naturally it was the only word he understood. "So you ARE Bowie!" he smiles, triumphantly. But still, the Super Maverick doesn't look all that confident in his conclusion. This guy really does look like a Russian. "Anyone who makes time with a Cossack Spawn wouldn't look so stupid, would they?" he muses to himself. "Thankfully, I thought to bring along my special Russian Reploid Truth Serum in my trusty Pig-Utility Belt..." He reaches into his belt and whips out a needle. Who knows what it's full of, but before he can do anything with it, he hears more shouting behind him. He turns around to spy another angry Russian shouting at someone else. Hmm.

Bowie is sorely tempted to rub his forehead at Violen's verbal posturing. "< There is no such thing as reploid truth serum, >" he counters, even though he realizes that Violen doesn't understand a word he's saying. "< Also, you look horrible in spandex, >" he adds, because he realizes Violen doesn't understand Russian.

Sergey Romanov is about to get knocked off his feet...quite literally.

The young Russian defender stands steadfast in the face of Kalinka's full-on assault, but somehow she manages to bowl him right over, sending him skidding across the ice helplessly. "<< Come on, Romanov! I'm the offense!! I'm getting within range to make a shot! STOP ME!!! >>"

Violen, as Bowie already knows, does not understand Russian. "Why thank you," he smiles at the Russian's 'compliment', "I do think the Mavericks are aces. See, if only more of your idiot race was able to see things like that, we wouldn't be in this mess." Regardless, he has a job to do. Turning away from the hockey game (which obviously does not concern him, right?), Violen brandishes the needle and steps towards Bowie. "Now hold still... this thing is mighty cold..." He slooowly starts to aim the needle at Bowie's arm, about to inject him.

Bowie backpedals, snatching his arms away. Just because he's (reasonably) sure that it's not truth serum doesn't mean he wants to be injected with anything. "Nyet," he says in objection. "< Help yourself to my coffee. Just go away and leave me alone. >" Granted, he could run away, but if he did, Violen might take a greater interest in that hockey game...

Over on the ice, Sergey finds his pride, gets back up and comes after Kalinka. *BOFF*, he checks her reasonably hard, and she falls down on the ice, getting right back up again afterward as if she didn't even feel it. "<< Okay, that's MUCH better. Now listen, I want you hitting at LEAST that hard EVERY TIME. Because when you're not checking hard enough, those offensive players don't go down, and they WILL find a way to skirt the puck around you and score. Now continue practicing, I'm going to go get a drink. >> With that, Kalinka heads to the benches.

Violen doesn't have truth serum, but whatever he /does/ have just can't be good news. "But how am I supposed to use my Pig-Utility Belt if you won't let me use the Reploid Truth Serum I had?" He complains, taking another step towards this crazy, uncooperative Russian fella. "Look, buddy boy, I don't know if you can understand me, or if all you understand is that Russian /loser/-talk, but I... I AM SUPERHAM!" He strikes a defiant pose of Maverick JUSTICE and holds it for a good ten seconds. "And I have sworn and oath to defend my kind for all of eternity!" He pauses, "And to beat the snot out of people that Vile want beaten. So gimme your arm or I /take/ your arm!" Naturally, he isn't paying attention to the hockey game.

Bowie continues bckpedaling, having plenty of space in which to do so. Which would be why he moved to the other side of the kiosk in the first place, presumably. "Nyet," he repeats. "< This is not covered by my health plan. Now will you please go away, you crazy Maverick? Aren't you freezing by now in that outfit? >" Yes, it is a very good thing that Violen doesn't understand a word that the displaced Texan is saying.

Kalinka drinks down the contents of her water bottle, when she overhears something nearby. (What was that?) she thinks. (Super...Ham?) She smirks a little bit, putting down the water bottle and unlacing her skates. She knows something is happening over by the kiosk, something weird, but...it's hard to see from where she's sitting, so she's decided to go over and investigate.

Violen usually wears nothing at all, so spandex is better than being in the buff... in theory, at any rate. The Maverick holds onto his pose for a few more seconds while his cape flutters in the wind. Finally he snorts in a heroic manner, steps towards Bowie in a heroic manner, frowning in a heroic manner, and shaking his head in a heroic manner. Needless to say, Violen's doing his best to be the best gosh darn Maverick hero that he can be! "Neee-yet?" He echos, "C'mon, I warned you not to be stupid, but you're being stupid." Violen tries to jog awkwardly in order to reach out and try and snatch Bowie. "Truth serum time!" he shouts, trying to hold Bowie still. Naturally, Kalinka is still unseen.

Bowie cntinues to remain elusively out of reach, treading a fine line between being interesting without being -too- interesting. "Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!" he repeats adamantly. "< I refuse medical treatment! Go cultivate a rutabega farm. Or grow some turnips. I hear there's a market for them in St. Petersberg. >"

Kalinka frowns when she sees what appears to be a citizen being taunted by...oh, this just CAN'T be right. Smirking, she picks up her pace, brandishing a hockey stick. "Hey!"

The Maverick Hunter's witty banter is lost on Superham due to his aforementioned inability to understand Russian. He jogs after Bowie, running around in circles after him, but simply isn't having any luck. Peering over at the approach of a hockey stick wielding maniac, Superham gasps. "Time is clearly of the essence... I must summon my Super Reploid Grabbing Powers!" With a renewed burst of speed, he tries to grab Bowie with his free hand.

Bowie's luck only holds for so long. This time, he doesn't elude quickly enough - perhaps momentarily distracted by the hockey stick-wielding woman behind Violen? - and finds himself caught up in the Maverick's ham-sized fists. "Hey!" he cries out. "< This is criminal confinement! I'll press charges! >" Meanwhile, he tries to struggle free, though that in turn causes his scarf to shift precariously low.

"You leave that man alone," Kalinka admonishes SuperHam menacingly. In English, even! "Or I will seriously put the hurt on you. Get lost, go! Go bother someone else or I will smash you!" Does she know who the man is? No, she hasn't seen him, yet.

"Ah ha! Superham, victorious again!" Violen cries as he snatches up Bowie with a fist. With his other hand, he prepares the Pig-Utility Russian Reploid Truth Serum <tm> he had the foresight to bring along. But before he can administer the probably non-existant drug, the hockey stick wielding maniac continues to advance on him. Superham gasps in shock. "It's... it's the Cossack spawn herself!" He says, cowering back from her. Vile said not to hurt her. "Never, evil doer! You'll never be able to stop me before I use the truth serum on him and learn allll I need to know!" Nevermind that he could just pull back Bowie's scarf by now. Regardless, he's going to jab Bowie with the needle... unless someone stops him. HINT HINT.

Bowie could say he wiggles like a stuck pig, but that would be too low a pun. He does, struggle, however, for all the good it does him.

"You will do no such thing, you crazy! Get away! AAAHHHH!!!" Kalinka screams at Violen -- probably in an attempt to be intimidating. Then, she begins swinging the hockey stick at his head. "Go away or you will be sorry!"

Kalinka strikes Violen with her Right Uppercut attack.

Violen cringes as Kalinka comes right at him. "Eieeee! She's got a stick!" he cries out, instinctly dropping Bowie in order to better protect himself. Unfortunately, the stick wacks him in the arm, and the Pig Utility Reploid Russian Truth Serum <tm> goes flying up high into the air, twirling and twirling before landing back on Violen's hand, pricking him slightly. "Ow!" he cries out, falling to his knees, more out of shock than anything else.

Bowie is freed! This is a good thing. His scarf gets caught between Violen's fingers, thus causing him to lose it when he falls to the sidewalk. This is a bad thing. The gunslinger quickly jumps to his feet, quickly snatching back the scarf and trying to hold it up over his face before violen can get a good look at him. He could in theory tell Kalinka to get out of the way, but he knows the futility of that.

"Run, sir," Kalinka says without turning to look at the man she's protecting. "<< Go. Run. I will hold off this crazy for you. >>" She jabs menacingly at SuperHam. "Your days of bothering Russian citizens are over. Go home, fatness!"

Kalinka strikes Violen with her Slap attack.

Violen, now on his knees, rips the Russian Reploid Truth Serum <tm> away and tosses it aside, peering at his slightly pricked hand. As far as Violen knows, he's not Russian in any way, but better safe than sorry, right? "Must... activate Super Resistance Ability..." he mutters, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut so as to concentrate on using this non-existant power. Unfortunately, he's interupted as Kalinka slaps him one. His eyes snap open just in time to see Bowie. Yes, Bowie! Not some uncooperate Russian, but the target himsef. Still channeling his Super Resistance Powers to fight off the truth serum, Superham looks to Kalinka and retorts, "This one time I woke up in the middle of the night screaming Agile's name." He pauses and closes his eyes. "Ah crap."

Bowie doesn't realize he's been spotted, and so fumbles to wrap the scarf around his neck and face again. "< Go home, Yankee, >" he tells Violen, still yammering in Russian. "<Kalinka has a very mean left hook! >"

Kalinka blinkblinks. "Oh boy, I did not need to know that. Definitely TMI," she says, clearly grossed out. She's also thrown for a bit of a loop by the man behind her, the one she's protecting...he sounds awfully familiar. The stick lowers, and she turns around, eyes wide in surprise as she faces the man.

Violen stands back up, a tad unsure of what to do at this point. "Alright, you little maggots," he says, trying to regain his heroic stance again. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to chase Bowie around and eventually be completely ineffective in stopping the little fling you two have going on." Violen cringes. Stupid serum! Well, least they both know who everyone is now.

He's a little more disheveled now than when he left home this morning, but yes, he's definitely recognizable as Bowie. "< Play along with me, dearest... >" he begins in the same irritated tone of voice as he was using on Violen a moment ago. "< Then... >" His words peter out as the Super Maverick addresses him by name. "So much fer that." He begins reaching for the pistol he has hidden under the coat. "Look. Why dontcha go home an sleep off that serum? We'll play another time."

Kalinka smirks a little bit, but feels that the situation has at least turned to their advantage. Protectively, she steps over to stand by Bowie's side, still brandishing the hockey stick menacingly at the truth-telling spandex-clad Maverick Ham. "Yeah, really. You are being pathetic, and you cannot deny it! So go home and rest it off. Or I will clock you some more with the hockey stick!"

Violen pffts at Bowie and grins, "I'm not scared of you and your idiot little pistols," He oinks, staring at the gun that's being drawn out. "Just so long as you don't grab my cape and tear it off, thus nullifying all of my Super-Maverick powers, anyway." He concludes truthfully. To Kalinka, he snorts, "Look, woman, just so long as you don't take advantage of the fact that Vile told me not to hurt you, I don't see how there's any way possible that your little boytoy here can survive this incident."

Okay, so maybe there is such a thing as truth serum. Or maybe Violen's belief in it is enough to make him speak truthfully for once. Regardless, Bowie isn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth. He grabs his knife out of its sheath instead of the pistol, then leaps at SuperHam. Not to attack him, but to grab and slice away the magnificent and yet so tacky red cape.

"Thank you so kindly, for being so truthful!" Kalinka suddenly says with a grin. "It is nice to know that my brother still cares." With that, she swings at Violen a few more times, hoping to distract him while Bowie moves in to relinquish him of the SUPER CAPE.

Kalinka strikes Violen with her Slap attack.

Violen's Super Invulnerability allows him to absorb Kalinka's wacks with the hockey stick with relative ease, but he can't really fight back without risking the possibility of seriously injuring her. He holds up his hands in defense, blocking the blows from the stick. Whack whack whack! Alas, before Superham knows it, he can feel a tug on his back, and then the sound of his cape ripping. Violen gasps and staggers away from them, now capeless. "How did you know my secret weakness?!" he shrieks.

Bowie is tempted to answer with a schlocky super-hero answer, but he doesn't. "Ah toldja t'go home an sleep off the truth serum. Ya wouldn't listen." He waves a corner of the fire-engine red cloth in the air as he admonishes. "Now. Go home. Don't make me repeat mahself again."

Kalinka just stands beside Bowie, waving the hockey stick menacingly and looking as mean as a hockey defender.

Over on the ice, the hockey team has stopped practicing, and now they're watching this showdown in absolute astonishment.

Violen squints at the red piece of cloth, "Curses... I'm powerless!" he calls out just in case he wasn't giving enough exposition on the matter. He backs away, definitely not liking the way this has gone. He gives Kalinka an annoyed oink, but doesn't make a move against her. "Next time, Bowie and Kalinka. Next time!" he shouts. "Superham, up up and away!" Since Superham can't actually fly (cape or no cape), Violen settles on just running as fast as his overweight gut will allow.

Kalinka squints her eyes, hoping to get one last clue, perhaps, from the departing X-Hunter. "Next time what, hm? Next time...what?" She lowers the stick, shaking her head and turning to Bowie. "Are you alright, dear?"

Bowie has absolutely no interest in persuing him. He's just as happy that Violen is finally leaving. He watches for a long moment as Superham flees, then turns to his sweetheart. "Yep. Thanks fer the rescue, sunshine," he answers with a thin but no less heartfelt smile. Unlike her, he knows what Violen means. There /will/ be a next time, for as long as he and Kalinka continue to love each other.

Violen is probably not going to report this to the others given how things turned out. Also given that he'd have to tell the /truth/ during it does not encourage him to do so. Ah well, he'll just tell Vile 'yep, I got that Bowie fella good' once the serum wears off. Nevermind that the serum probably never even existed. Either way, the now capeless wonder flies away into the sunset. Or runs to the teleporters. Whichever you prefer.