Quinton
It was a calm night. For once, no major crimes, nothing for the police scanners in any case. Of course not all catastrophes are perpetrated by crooks. Some disasters are just plain bad luck or circumstance. Such was the case for tonight, A smoking building in a place where the police response time to capes was abysmal was a death sentence.

Luckily, There did Just so happen to be a few capes near by. It would first be Creepy-Crawly that happened upon the scene as the fire burst from an open window, the start of something terrible as A mother and her child hurriedly run out of the smoking apartment complex.

As her child cried, the mother desperately dialed emergency services. Others inside the building were beginning to wake or rouse to the smell and sight of the smoke in the halls, but not all would be so keen. Something needed to happen now if many were going to be saved.
Chi
*The bug-man of the slums catapulted off his perch on a nearby building, flying through the air as the droning of his wings temporarily overwhelms the sounds of the conflagration.*

*While his Breaker form was useful for its increased durability, it did not give him any particular ability to locate people in burning buildings. Still, the bug-man flits from room to room, busting down doors when he can, but trying to avoid the worst of the blaze. His Breaker form could take much damage, but even he wasn't willing to test an extended period of burning apartment on his chitinous exoskeleton.*
Quinton
The second cape...

Though some were frightened, most did not protest the help, and were escorted out under his protection as the flames grew ravenous.

Creepy-Crawley's incursions into the building began to rouse many other tenets, and worked in his favor as this saved many more civilians from being burnt to a crisp. He also began to see.. Something else moving through the halls. He'd likely heard of it as well, escorting the injured and endangered outside. A woman's figure flying in and out of the building.

He would witness her flying straight through doors and up collapsed stair ways. In one occasion, she kept one from collapsing, such that he could run down safely with the civie in his hands. She didn't speak, but their was a strange.. Purple glow to her as she exerted herself to keep the stair case up.

No time could be spent gawking though, even as the stairway finally collapsed on her, and her clothes finally became consumed in the blaze. People needed to be saved. The top levels were clear now, but the fire was quickly getting out of hand.
Chi
*Creepy-Crawly takes note of his fellow Cape, making only brusque comments or statements in moments when the two meet.*

"Be careful around the staircase on this side."

"There is a family heirloom in Unit 46. It would mean much to family if it survived."

*As the staircase collapses on her, the bug-man throws pieces of flaming rubble off her body and lifting her up to her feet.* "Are you injured?" 

*After the top levels are cleared, Creepy-Crawly flies into the air, buzzing his wings as furiously as he can, giving everyone in the building (and surrounding area) a splitting headache.*

"***RESIDENTS OF [ADDRESS]: EVACUATE NOW, IN AN ORDERLY MANNER.***"
Quinton
She manages to stand, Despite the weight of the burning wood slamming into her. Something he may have missed in the ensuing chaos was that.. She did not have skin. Nor a face. Her clothes still burned away as she heeded his warnings and requests, working tirelessly to retrieve anything he asked for. Not everything could be secured, but what she did manage to get, she got while double clearing the entire building.

By the time the last civilian managed out of the building, the fire department had arrived, and started to douse the building and it's surroundings, with dazed and pained denizens in the surrounding area watching a safe distance away. The woman, now clearly some kind of mannequin. She dropped off what she had and before he could stop her, she went in for another round.

Though they'd shown up, the firemen and women's efforts were in vain, the building was collapsing. 

It happened in... Fifteen minutes. It was so fast...

Children were crying, Parents consoled them while they tried to not think of all that they'd lost, and despite best efforts... There were still some calling out for loved ones. 

It came down with a deafening fall, and the wreckage roared, swallowing up what ever was left inside.
Chi
*The Bug-man took shelter in the dust cloud, using the shadows of the cloud of debris to take stock of the people. He hurt to hear the children cry; it reminded all too much of Moscow, back all those years ago.*

*He knew what it was like to lose homes.*

*Once the dust clears, Creepy-Crawly goes to work, slinking through the smoldering remains of the rubble for signs of the mannequin. Was it a Tinker invention? Some kind of Case? Maybe a fellow Breaker?*

*His curiosity was peaked, and, if the mannequin didn't turn up, he could at least pry some pieces from the rubble that meant something to those families.*
Quinton
His hurry was intense, on-lookers watched as he torn burning rubble up and out of the way in his path to turn up something of use, something or someone to save. It wasn't long before what firemen and women were there began to help him, working through and eventually dispelling the effects of his stranger power. He was acting like a hero after all.

With enough wood, ash, and stone shoveled out of the way, he would finally find her body, limp and lifeless, just a Doll. It was shielding a toddler from it all, her fiberglass frame preventing the heat or debris from harming the child.
Chi
*While it made him feel a little better when his digging inspired people to look for the tattered and scorched remains of their past lives, he couldn't help but feel that he wasn't meant to be here during these sweet moments of humanity coming together.*

*He was Creepy-Crawly, the bug-man of the Slums. He was a scary monster who moonlighted as a curmudgeonly plumber; hardly the type for folks to rally around or look to for inspiration. The sooner he could find the doll, the sooner he could find refuge in the shadows—*

*His compound eyes seem to widen ever so slightly as he spies the lifeless doll, her frame shielding the toddler. Creepy-Crawly immediately covers his face with his hand, to spare the child from becoming scared by his gruesome visage. He takes the lifeless doll and throws it over his shoulder before hopping away to the nearest civilian helping with the cleanup.*

"There is a child over where I was digging; the doll shielded them from the flames, so I think they're ok. Comfort them, be the one to save them." *He seems unsteady as he tries to deepen his voice, trying to shake off the lingering Russian accent that had stuck with him since his childhood.* "Children don't deserve to have their saviors be giant bugs."

*With that, Creepy-Crawly's wings begin to rapidly flutter into action, and, with a deep squat, he shoots like a rocket up into the New London sky. The doll's frame flaps against the exoskeleton as he does so, and he flies away, touching down in an alleyway a few blocks over. Once he's back in the shadows, he sets the doll down and begins to feel out the automaton's frame, searching for any hidden mechanics or Tinker-tech.*
Quinton
Murmurs of the crowd fade, cheers and heartfelt thanks drowned out by the sound of the still crackling wood and hazy smoke.

Settled down in the alley, his inspection brights to light a few things. Firstly, if it was tinker tech, it would have been impossible for him to tell, the most technological thing about this doll was it's articulation, a nearly full range of motion for a doll like this, it would have been an artists dream, who knows how much it cost.

Next was it's shape, damaged, heavily. The entire frame cracked in several places, and some of the fingers were missing. The back was hit the hardest, being about caved in and shattered to pieces, held together only by wire frame structure on the inside.

Other than these facts, there was nothing on the body it's self that even identified it as belonging to any certain cape or group. No tech to hide.. It had to have been a master's work. It was a few moments after the investigation that it started to rouse again, The entire doll becoming enveloped in a nearly neon purple light before it slowly faded out to a barely noticeable layer over the body.

"_O... Ow..._" The hollow, familiar voice grunted in pain
Chi
*Creepy-Crawly tries to wedge a chitinous finger in the joints, but realizes quickly that the doll is on the verge of breaking. Money doesn't even cross his mind, although his first thought is bringing it home to fix up or repair; if it was Tinker-tech, it was better to keep it off the streets.*

*Creepy-Crawly sets to work on mending the back, smashing aluminum cans into flattened pieces of metal and slowly patching the back together again. It looked as if the doll's back was sponsored by at least a hundred different soft drink and beer companies, but it wasn't on the verge of collapse anymore.*

*As soon as the purple light envelops the doll, the bug-man leaps backwards like a frightened animal before slinking into a deeper part of the shadow, watching and waiting for something to happen. As soon as he can hear the voice, his expression sours immediately... Before softening.*

"I don't know how many lives you saved tonight." *He says from the shadows, the gruff, slightly accented voice likely being familiar as well to the doll's Master.* "Didn't know it was you piloting that doll, but you stopped a kid from being crushed." *He steps out of the shadows, towards the soft purple glow of the doll.* "The kid's alright now. Thanks to you."
Quinton
"_Good, Thats all that-_" She attempts to stand but, she stops as she hears the impossibly loud stretch and crush of the new alluminium back she'd been grafted with. Her head twisted on a swivel so un-natural, it wouldn't be out of place in a horror film, and then back again.

" _You repaired my back with soda cans?_" Her voice did dully echo.
Chi
"If you stood without the aluminum reinforcing your doll's frame, you'd be looking up from the concrete by now." *Creepy-Crawly says, bluntly.* "I'm good with my hands, but I only had what was available to me. Besides, I was planning on fixing your doll with actual materials once I made it home; you and I both agree that its a temporary solution."

*The bug-man comes a little closer, the usual hunch that the Breaker exhibited while in his chitinous exoskeleton gone, revealing that the Cape stood at a staggering nine feet tall. Creepy-Crawly crosses his arms, looking down at the doll with a non-plussed look on his face.*

"Only thing that doesn't make sense to me about all this is why you decided to do what you did tonight. Last I saw you, you were tearing up a city block and causing a shootout with the cops. Explain to me why you can do both of these things and not see a contradiction in intent."
Quinton
She shrugged off the oddity of the repair for the reasonability of his words. Which only become more reasonable the more he spoke, leaving her in a bit of a puzzling situation. She'd never had to defend her position before in any serious matter, and yet here was this hulking mass of bug standing between her and retrieving her... Broken doll.

At least it wasn't the _real_ one.

Still she indulged him. "_It is a harsh contradiction I won't argue that it isn't. The thing is I have a certain set of abilities no one else has, granted to me by way of the worst possible set of circumstance, I have ever experienced. So I make my fun. That's the Poppet part. That's high speed chases, armed robberies, or just general havoc. I try not to hurt anyone, just the heros, and even then I don't try to seriously injure or kill them. It's just a game, a show maybe for those on the sidelines, fun._"

The doll's face was as featureless as it was fractured, but the tone in her voice was not quite as deadpan, she spoke with this strange yearning that rang so sickly in her explanation, a horrendous mix of melancholy and joy. Now, it got serious, it dropped like a rock in tone, and while there was a hint of somber satisfaction, for the most part it was horror.

"_This part. This part is no fun. It's just what needs to be done. Minimize death, save who ever and what ever I can because by my very nature, I am the best for the job. I'm expendable, I serve no greater risk, and others stand to reclaim so much with my help. I don't know what you would call it. Maybe at some point, it was the fantasy I always wanted, but. Now it's just gruesome, but it still has to be done._"

She rested her hands now on her hips, lifting her head up to face his own a little shaky given she was still a little scared of what he would do, knowing any of this. "_ Hero I fought recently told me I could do so much good with my power, and it got to me. I do good. I don't need to be recognized for it. I don't want to be. Doing good should just be what's expected. What I think he really wanted to sway me with was attention. But when I want attention, I put on a mask, I call myself a princess, and I become a villain. Heros, don't wear capes._"

Though her voice wavered, faltered in places because she'd just never put her ideas out into the world like this before, Not all of it was succinct or refined, and she was so scared of her little way of life being blown away like a house of card... There was still a strong sense of soul in her words. She believed in part of if not most of what she was saying. Were it due to previous experience, or personal bias, was still a mystery.
Chi
*Creepy-Crawly, at first, seems on the verge of exploding at Poppet. The entitlement to a good time at the expense of others infuriated the bug-man, and as he was about to open his maw and spit forth various invectives or demean the villainous Cape...*

*...He decides to keep listening, just long enough to hear about her heroics. 'This part is no fun' nearly causes him to snap again, but something about 'heroes, don't wear capes' causes him to take pause. In a way, she's halfway to what he considers the ideal for Capes, Heroes or Villains.*

*He exhales before walking towards the entrance of the alleyway, gesturing for her to follow. Once at the entrance, he gestures out to the street outside, empty save for an occasional car passing by.* "Any one of these buildings could go up in flames right now, just like the one we both went through to save lives. All it takes is a stray surge of electricity, a leaky pipe dripping onto the wrong electronic device, even a candle left on too long. I say this because it shows that people live precarious lives here. Because we can't afford much better, we're stuck living on a tinderbox, which can explode at any moment."

*He looks back to Poppet before pointing at the street.* "When you used your powers to tear up that road, buses couldn't use any routes that use that street for months. People that needed the certainty of that route could lose their jobs, or lose the ability to go to a good school. When you initiated a shootout, a stray bullet could shatter glass, or strike a civilian. We're both Capes: fucked up shit ***Had*** To happen to us to get where we are now, but that doesn't give us an excuse to ruin someone else's life because of misfortune in our own."

*He looks back to his fellow Cape before crossing his arms again.* "...Now that's been said, you showed that you also understand what it means to help people. You're g-ddamn right that if people want to be Heroes, you don't wear a Cape. Thing is, to be a Hero, you have to buy into that same theatrical crap that hurts people's lives around you. Be a Rogue, if you want to help people. Its not fun, but if you want to do good, its best to do it from the shadows. If you're interested in doing what's right, then you can stand to be a little more humble. Not just you, every powered up idiot flying around town thinking they're a Hero can do well by that."

*His expression softens, if it was possible given his horrifying visage in his Breaker form.* "If you're serious about being a hero, then stop being a Princess. I called you a child when we met last, but I won't hesitate to say it again if you *Still* Choose to cause trouble for innocent folks when you've proven to me that you know better." *He sounds a little patronizing, but its spoken with the world-weariness of an older parent, showing that, despite his own bitterness and cynicism, he was still trying his best to do what was right.*
Quinton
The battered doll stood there, soaking in his words like a well worn sponge- She got it, some of it, anyways. As her time as Poppet, Suzanne hadn't really seen or thought of the consequences of every little thing she did. She understood the big stuff was out of the question, she knew she wanted to hurt the people who could take it, over those who couldn't, but it didn't occur to her that so much could be caught in the cross fire that she couldn't see.

Even still, There was still the half of it _he_ wasn't seeing, or perhaps he wanted to believe was her MO. It was and it wasn't. The cape's feelings were complicated on this subject, feelings still left behind from losing her sister and being so disrespected and mistreated by her mother ruined her. Stole what time she had left with the only person who didn't just tolerate her, who loved her for so much more, who cared about her before she ever had powers. The coincidence of her powers manifesting in such a way, that she could take advantage of the gift her father gave her, as strange and as twisted as it was to see her again...

She would only wish it one other way, and that was never going to happen.

So slowly, she shook her head and And that barely noticeable glow to her grew a bit brighter and she lifted off the ground in preparation to fly away. "_I have to thank you for the talk, I really do. It's eye-opening, but I still have to **Have** My fun. Maybe I'll lie low as poppet until I can turn some data and find better ways of playing around with the heros that doesn't involve so much collateral. I know it's not the compromise you're probably hoping for, and you're right when you say I know better. Guess that makes me a dumb, dangerous kid._"

Suzanne's posture was stiff and stilted, trying to not bust the repair he made for one, and a little too shaken to move naturally for two. She let a gentle sigh go as she drifted up, using her arms to balance herself. "_As for what happened today? I appreciate the offer for repair, despite it probably not being on the table anymore, and.. If you ever need help and I'm in the area, I'll do what I can. I just. I just can't stop being poppet, at least right now. I'm not strong enough for it, I don't know if I ever will be._"

She didn't stick around after her final words, Zipping into the cloudy sky which was growing darker by the second, drops of rain starting to sprinkle down and pelt the hard carapace of his breaker form.
Chi
*The bug-man's face doesn't really soften (it can't, physically), but his tone does seem to be more gentle. Disappointed, but gentle.* 

"Just think about what I say, try and make a change where you can. I'll see if the next time you have your fun if you're a dumb, dangerous kid, or not. The choice is, ultimately, your's to make."

*As she lifts up further into the air, Kurt crosses his arms, nodding.* "The offer is still on the table. There is a heart deep down in that doll, even if you make less than ideal choices. If you ever get yourself into too much of a jam... I'll try and break things up, if I'm around. Can't guarentee you'll walk away without a stern lecture, but that's my promise to you. As a thanks for listening to a bitter old man." 

*As Poppet flies away, he steps back into the deep shadows, shifting out of his Breaker form and starting the walk home, grumbling about fires, and the rain, and bad electricians' work.*