A Certain Supe Marble Launcher

Without his recently destroyed toy to amuse him, Lucas, unsurprisingly, grows bored in short order.

"Sooo… Hey Mash, what were ya talking about with Jon before, anywho?" Craving some form of stimulation, Lucas decides to finally break the silence of their traveling trio plus pooch.

"Eh? Oh, I was just tellin' him some stories from around when the war ended. Even though lotsa us supes end up on the streets, we don't really talk to others about it much, since we often don't wanna bring it up. It was nice. Could really tell he went through some serious shit too, what with how he reacted to some of it." While Miss Masher fondly recalls bench-time story-time, Miss Calculated visibly flinches and stops walking.

Noticing her older sister's reaction, Miss Masher immediately tries to soothe her.

"Ah, relax, it was just the fun stuff. I didn't bring up anything you or Chi wouldn't be comfortable talkin' about." After explaining further, Miss Masher gives her sister a thumbs up.

Miss Calculated sighs and resumes walking.

"It's been long enough that you'd think we should be over it, but I suppose my reaction just then proved otherwise… Maybe it is about time we try talking it over with someone, but certainly not out in public. Ah, sorry, that's probably just making you more curious…" Even though Miss Calculated is clearly addressing Lucas at the end, she still pointedly keeps facing forward while continuing to lead the way to her chosen meal locale.

"I mean, yeah, but I can guess that whatever it was was pretty traumatic. I can get not wantin' to talk about it. Doubly so when we're just out and about like this. Besides, we all got something we can't or won't talk about." As Lucas answers, Miss Calculated visibly relaxes. The difference is so clear that it makes it all the more apparent just how tense she just was.

"...Thank you for understanding." Miss Calculated uses a very soft and quiet voice when expressing her gratitude, to the point that Lucas barely hears her.

[I doubt you need me to point this out, but you earned some GDV for that exchange. Given the relations you and Jonathan seem to be developing with the sisterhood, I find it extremely likely that you'll be hosting their little therapy session at some point in the future.]

'...At this point, I'm curious enough that I'd be down for it, ha.'

Outwardly, Lucas merely hums agreeably in response.

[Ah, it's certainly been a while. Turns out, Jonathan won't be the only one that's busy. Alert; a new moderate GDV task has been assigned. Please prevent the continuation of the ongoing murder spree ahead.]

'Woah, wait, what?'

From a short distance ahead, there's the reverberating sound of shrill laughter from a side alley.

A small but incredibly fast projectile flies out from said alley shortly after, going through the front of a taxi's windshield, immediately shattering it.

As if that wasn't sufficiently destructive, the mysterious missile had also gone right between the eyes of the driver, killing them instantly.

Thanks to having been already significantly damaged by its impact with the windshield, the offensive object finally shatters inside their skull, having endured one too many high-speed collisions.

The driver's corpse slumps forward, but, as they had their seatbelt on, they stay mostly in place. The late cabbie's foot falls heavily on the accelerator while continuing to drive straight ahead, the increased forward momentum of the vehicle pushing the body back upright into its seat.

Not that it stays this way for long.

After going a few feet forward the taxi hits a large pothole, shaking the body of the driver into making the taxi veer off to the right and up onto the sidewalk, right into a brick wall.

Lucas and company had been far enough back that they weren't directly effected in any way, but the same can't be said for the poor pedestrian that was just aggressively introduced to the wall, courtesy of the hood of the taxi.

'The fuck was that!?'

[...A standard glass marble reinforced by someone's power.]

'What the actual fuck!?'

Miss Calculated and Willy both immediately freeze in place, Miss Calculated gasping and visibly paling.

Miss Masher makes an impressed whistle, but she does seem a bit hesitant to charge up to investigate. She's well aware of the fact that she's at a disadvantage against ranged attacks.

There's another round of echoing laughter and another marble comes flying out.

[Additional casualties due to inaction on your part will count against you, by the way.]

'And what the hell am I supposed to do!? Punch the fucking marble out of the air!?'

[...The attacker can only focus on one object at a time, and requires direct physical contact to initially launch it.]

The second marble misses whichever vehicle it was aiming for, shattering against a far building instead, leaving a small crater on impact.

"Goddamnit…" Grumbling out loud, Lucas starts stomping his way towards the entrance to the alley, getting a concerned pair of barks from Willy.

"Wait, you can't be serious. We'll just go somewhere else, Lucas, don't!" Miss Calculated is no more agreeable than Willy is regarding his course of actions.

Miss Masher hesitates for a moment, but she isn't one to back down from a potential fight. Besides, if Lucas is going in too, working together will be more successful, right? ...Right?!

-----

Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 10

Lucas current GDV: 10.5 (+.01 net change)

Lucas's fame level: 4* (Beyond just local, viral meme tier. Local levels are fairly high.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.5* (More than just passing suspicion for a few paranoid individuals)

Jonathan kills this chapter: 1

Jonathan total kills: 6

Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 2.47 (+.01 +.05 = +.06 net change)

Jonathan's fame level: 2.5* (Mostly just local)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1.5* (Only highly paranoid people)

Willy's fame level: 1* (Anonymous meme fame, local fame as 'Xenoclast's dog')

Supervillain social circle size: 11

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan, wiping the blood off of his switchblade on the shirt of the man he just killed: You shoulda just listened to me...

Willy isn't being shy about expressing his disagreement with Lucas's intentions: BARK BARK! BARK BARK!

Lucas, clenching his hands into fists: Trust me, buddy. I really don't wanna go in there.

427, running calculations: [Given the speed at which the marbles are being fired, there's a good chance your endurance will not be sufficient. Though it will certainly help, by a significant amount.]

Author, grinning evilly right at Lucas: Betcha wish you still had your brick, eh?

Mr. Quacks, trying to offer Lucas a bag of marbles to counter-attack with: Quack!