Baltimore, Saturday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy--err, well, Banzai now, she was in costume--still wasn't quite sure how this had happened. She was on a date, with a guy that she'd talked to exactly once, and while their date had begun with the traditional nice dinner in town, their main activity was definitely not going to be found in any traditional dating guide.

Well, that might not be entirely true. If Fandom ever published a dating guide, superheroing in Baltimore would probably rate pretty highly on the 'things to do with your date' list.

"So, this is pretty much the start of my beat," she explained, tightening her mask. "I like to start up here. It's the tallest building in the area and--I don't have to explain why I like the high ground to you, right." The guy who could fly around likely understood why she liked starting off high up, yes. "I'd ask if you had any questions before we started, but I'm pretty sure you've been doing this for longer than I have. Ready?"

[NFB for Baltimore, but open to anyone likely to be wandering around Baltimore. Come crash the date! It's a new Fandom tradition (h/t notaweenie)]

Comments

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"Magic. Stupid magic," Johnny sighed.

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you're not a fan of magic, you might have a problem on the island," Banzai warned. "The last thing that came around was a magic carnival that killed us and resurrected us as evil carnies, so..."

Not that she was still bothered by that at all, really.

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"I'm neutral on magic in general. The only magic I care about either way is the stuff that uses me as a battery for some kind of end of the world thing," Johnny said. "The carnival thing I could deal with. I was warned about that already."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Your sibling?" Banzai asked. "I think of jealous of how prepared you are for the island. I didn't believe a single thing I was told when I showed up. My world has a few superheroes that have just recently showed up, but that's it. No magic, no crazy technology, no gender-swapping. At least, that I know about."

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"What was that last one?" Johnny asked because he wasn't sure he heard it right at first.

Guess which one was news to Johnny!

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, the gender-swap?" Banzai asked. She looked apologetic. "No one mentioned that? Oooh. Err, you might want to run into town and get some appropriate undergarments. You never know when it's going to hit. You just wake up and you're a different gender. Sorry."

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"Oh god I hope I don't look like my sister," Johnny said. "I'd have to shower with my eyes closed."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Maybe you'll be lucky that way," Banzai said, grinning. "And you won't look like anyone you know. Then you can shower in peace."

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"More specifically, would I shower in the boys room or the girls room?" Johnny asked. "You know what? Bad date topic. I'll just see where things take me if it happens."

[spin_kick_snap]

"What else have you been warned about?" Banzai asked. "Also, either that guy is really creative after losing his keys, or we've got a carjacker."

Kathy, it was probably poor form to sound so excited about that.

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"I dunno, raining fish... other stuff I said wouldn't be that bad and kind of forgot about after," Johnny said. "Watch this."

Johnny moved over to the edge of the roof, pointed at the hands of the guy, and focused.

After just a couple seconds, he dropped whatever it was he was using to try to unlock the car and started waving his hands to cool them off.

"Crime interrupted. If you'd like to tell him how much of a mistake he's made, I'll be right behind you."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ha!" Banzai snorted. "Raining fish is the least of it. I'm talking about the stuff where you become a different person for a weekend!"

Which happened with frequent regularity.

"Oooh, nicely done. Let's go tell him he's in trouble!"

Taking a circuitous path to street level, Banzai's last flip had her landing lightly on the car the guy had been trying to steal. "I'm pretty sure this isn't yours," she said conversationally. "I think we might have literally caught you red-handed."

THE JOKE WAS RIGHT THERE.

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"Sorry, buddy," Johnny said lowering into a hovering position behind the guy. "But the heat is on."

[spin_kick_snap]

"No reason to get all fired up," Banzai added. "But we can't really let this go."

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"Are you talking about the crime or the puns?" Johnny checked.

"Please be the puns," the car thief said.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I can multitask and make it both," Banzai said cheerfully. "Don't get all hot-headed about things, though, and we might be able to let you off with a warning."

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"And the warning is don't do this any more or you might get fired," Johnny said, letting the flame pulse a little to really make him sweat from the heat.

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you can't handle the heat, don't do the deed," Banzai added. "You should probably clear out now, because we're just getting warmed up."

"With more puns...?" the perp asked again.

She jerked her thumb towards Johnny. "You really wanna find out what he's capable of if it's not?"

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

Was Johnny now juggling fireballs? Yes, he was juggling fireballs.

"Run along. You're distracting me and who knows what might happen if I get distracted," Johnny encouraged.

[spin_kick_snap]

The guy booked it down the road. He had an out and he was gonna take it. Anything to get away from those two weirdos.

"This is unfair," Banzai huffed, looking back at Johnny. "I usually have to do way more work for them to take me seriously. But as soon as someone shows up on fire, then it's all business."

Banzai, your dimples are showing again.

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"It's because fire is scary. From what I've seen, the best ways to do this quickly is to either be scary somehow or just punch first," Johnny said, flaming off as he dropped to the ground. "Those adorable dimples probably don't help the scary part, for the record. Maybe get a battle cry?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai's hands immediately flew up to her cheeks to try to hide them--that and the inevitable blush that would follow. "I'm not--" okay, she wasn't going to argue with him about being adorable. That was just a bad plan. "I mean, most of them don't ever get to see my dimples!"

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"You're still pretty adorable even without them," Johnny said. "You're cursed with a nice face, even when it's partially concealed."

[spin_kick_snap]

She managed to stutter her way around a 'thank you', pretty sure she was practically glowing by the time she was done.

Seriously, if her cheeks got any hotter, she'd probably burst into flame and start stealing his schtick.

"I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to be an idiot, I'm just not really used to compliments." Wait, no, that sounded horrible. "I mean from cute boys. I mean, not in, like, a deeply pathetic kind of way, more in a..." There was no end to this hole she was digging for herself, was there? "I was just kind of invisible in my last school and so I never really got good at gracefully accepting them and please tell me you hear some kind of crime going on? Because then I'd have a good reason to stop talking and that would just be AWESOME right now."

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"To be honest, here's where I would usually suggest we could find a nice rooftop to go make out on to give you the best reason to stop talking, but you seemed iffy on first date kissing earlier," Johnny said. "If my amazing charms have won you over, let me know. But otherwise, we can get back on patrol."

"But just so you know, you'd better get used to compliments, because you're definitely not invisible now. And I'm kind of surprised anyone ever thought you were."