A Girl And Her Blob

[Nailah Weaver]

With her newfound animal sidekick perched on her shoulder Nailah steps into the Danger Room.

"Alright, what should we do Owill... Armed crooks? Supervillain bank robber? Run-away train? Kaiju attack?"

[Will Stanton]

"Ha-wooo," Will crowed back at her, awkwardly scratching behind one ear with a taloned claw.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Train it is! Computer, gimme one of the train scenarios. Terrorists maybe? Surprise me!"

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

Loading random train training scenario...

Stop the train, neutralize the threat, minimize loss of life.

The scene: Nailah stood on a cliff overlooking a deep river, the wind blowing across the fields behind her. A large rail bridge emerged from a tunnel on the opposite side, where below her, the tracks continued off into the distance. The drop down to the river below was a few hundred feet -- quite dramatic.

Then there was the sound of a locomotive, going far too fast, coming out of the tunnel towards them.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Let's go punch a train! Metaphorically!" she says and takes a running leap off the cliff, wings snapping open to curve her descent into a trajectory that'll take her parallel to the train track, so she can let the train catch up to her.

[Narrator]

Will took to the air behind her -- a bit awkwardly at first, considering his chubby frame, but he was keeping up alright.

The train was running quickly, and would catch up to Nailah in no time.

[Nailah Weaver]

As she hears the sound of the train behind her she gives one last powerful flap with her wings and tries to lop herself at the roof to avoid the train's headwinds messing up her flight. Of course that means basically falling towards a speeding surface with little purchase and her stomach lurches a little as she tries to brace herself for impact, claws at the ready to give her some traction.

[Narrator]

Nailah's first attempt to land on the train was less than successful, bouncing her back a couple of cars. Her second grab, however, latched on quite nicely, and she was able to hook her feet onto some of the bric-a-brac atop thet rain to steady herself.

Will landed about a car behind her, holding on as the train sped through countryside.

[Nailah Weaver]

The bounce knocks some of the air out of her and she takes a moment just digging her claws in and sitting on all fours to avoid slipping. Once she's got her bearing a little again she begins to let herself slide backwards until she gets to the end of the train car and slides into the space between wagons to wait for Will to make his way over to her.

[Will Stanton]

Flapping against the wind, Will made his way over to where Nailah was resting.

"Ha-wooo," he complained.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Sorry! Sorry! Now come on down here. Crowbar!" she intones as if it was a magic word and holds out her hand for Will to drop into.

[Will Stanton]

Will looked up at her strangely for a second, his beak twitching. Then, his eyes bugged out comically, and he let out a squawk as he twisted around in mid air, elongating and thinning out until a hefty crowbar landed in Nailah's hands.

[Nailah Weaver]

Her hand sags a little as she catches the heavy implement and she grabs onto a handhold with her other hand to catch herself. "Dope." she grins and goes to work trying to pry open the door to the train compartment.

[Narrator]

It doesn't take too long for Nailah to crack open the door, jimmying Will into the crack and forcing him against the door until it squeaks open.

This wasn't exactly silent, mind you, and Nailah was greeted by a shout and a blind couple of rounds from an automatic weapon sailing over her head.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Found the bad guys." she says as she ducks. "Uhm... Giant net!" she shouts and hurls Will through the partially opened door, sending the crowbar spinning towards the source of the gunfire.

[Narrator]

Nailah chucks the crowbar forward, spinning as it went.

Of course, that meant that as it flattened and spread out, it was still spinning, albeit as a fairly hefty cargo net.

The spin meant that it's ability as, you know, an effective deterrent was somewhat lessened. It was still bulky enough to knock one of the two men inside the carriage to the floor -- the one on the left, where the net was spinning -- but the other guy stayed up right and took a defensive position behind a row of seats.

[Nailah Weaver]

Spinning or not, it got in the way and served as a distraction, so Nailah forces the door open and sprints down the aisle to get to the guy on the right and come around the corner of the seat with her knee up to try and kick him before he can bring his weapon to bear.

[Narrator]

Rat-a-tat-tat! The thug swept his gun upwards, trying to hit Nailah -- but he was a hair too slow and just a second out of time, as Nailah's knee connects with a satisfyingly wet thunk into the dude's face, breaking his nose and sending him down for the count.

The other guy, struggling with the net, managed to toss it at Nailah.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Owill, nightstick!" she shouts, holding out her hand and hoping Will is going to shift in time for her to grab him and follow through with the swing right into the thug's head.

[Narrator]

For a normal person, this wasn't going to be possible -- Will would shift down back towards his center of mass, not where someone would instinctually catch a net thrown at them. But, thanks to crazy precognitive powers, Nailah was, in fact, able to grab the rapidly dwindling Will as he flew towards her face.

Will was not in at an ideal angle to be caught, resulting in Nailah grabbing the top of the nightstick, rather than the handle. That being said, the dude getting hit by the handle still hurt like a motherfucker.

Being made of wood and hitting from the wrong angle, Nailah's nightstick splintered slightly when she hit the guy, who staggered back and dropped his weapon.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Oh butts... Owill, back to normal!" she shouts as she gently lobs the nightstick onto one of the seat cushions before grabbing the back of the seat and using it to support herself as she tries to kick the thug in the chest with both feet.

[Narrator]

The nightstick bounced on the chair for a moment before shifting back to Will, shaking his head and preening his fur.

"Ha-woo," he deadpanned at Nailah's strategy.

Nailah's kick knocked the other dude down and out, clearing this car.

[Nailah Weaver]

"You okay, buddy?" she asks, scritching Owill's head. "I might need to practice some of these moves, huh."

[Will Stanton]

Will leaned up into the head scritches. He seemed no worse for wear -- no obvious signs of scratches or other damage from being smashed against someone's face.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Right, you're durable as heck." she smiles. "Come on, we still got a train to save." she says and heads for the other end of the train car to step out into the space between cars and look for a way to detach it from the rest of the train. Reduce the amount of cars barreling down the tracks. "Hmm, can you turn into... what's that even called? A decoupler? A thingie to pry open these connectors."

[Will Stanton]

Will looked up at Nailah blankly, and then shifted back into the crowbar.

That was probably not going to be effective.

[Nailah Weaver]

"No, it's gotta have, like, some interlocking thingies." she says, picking up the crowbar and poking at the couplings. "Like, get in there and open it up."

[Will Stanton]

The crowbar tapped against the couplings a couple times, and then seemed to melt in her hands, turning into raw clay as it seeped into the cracks around the couplings themselves.

For a moment, nothing much happened....and then, there was the sound of failing metal chains and connectors as the mass of clay ~expanded~.

[Nailah Weaver]

"That works, I guess." she chuckles, reaching for the mass to hold on to it as the trains separate.

[Narrator]

Her hands sink into the mass a bit, providing a great place to grip as the back half of the train disconnected with a heavy *CLUNK*


"What was that?" a voice from inside the car asked, with a heavy Russian accent. "Go check on it, Dimitri."

[Nailah Weaver]

Nailah sticks the blob onto her shoulder so she has both hands free and tries to climb up to the top of the train to perch above the door and wait for Dimitri to poke his head out.

[Narrator]

The blob sticks to her shoulder fairly easily, for now, at least.

Dimitri does indeed poke his head out -- and then his shoulders and the REST of him.

"Dimitri" was a nearly seven-foot tall, 400 plus pound robot suit, or guy in a robot suit (depending on how much Nailah had done of her reading). Perhaps a little harder to take down than "guy with a gun."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Oh butts. Owill, giant anvil!" she shouts, holding Will out above Dimitri's head.

[Narrator]

Will got very heavy, very quickly in Nailah's hands, slipping out of her fingers and landing on the helmet of the Dynamo.

Cursing in Russian, Dimiti turned and shot a laser from his shoulderpads in Nailah's general direction.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Yikes!" Nailah scrambles backwards along the top of the train to avoid the blast.

"Back to me, Owill!"

[Narrator]

The anvil rocketed back towards Nailah at alarming speeds.

[Nailah Weaver]

"As an Owlcat!" she yells, raising her arms to shield herself. Not that that would do much against a flying anvil.

[Narrator]

And that's when Nailah got a faceful of furry owlcat, staggering her backwards.

"Little girls should not play with fire," Dimitri said, landing on top of the train thanks to a healthy application of rocket boots.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Man, I really oughta check what this room thinks constitutes 'thugs'..." she says after regaining her footing and peeling Owill off her face.

"Can you do a quarterstaff that's hard enough to tussle with Rocket Man over there?"

[Will Stanton]

"Ha-woo," Will confirmed, elongating in her hands once more, as the Dynamo approached.