20273/A Thief Picks A Really Awful Victim

A Thief Picks A Really Awful Victim
Date of Scene:	18 March 2025
Location:	A sunny Metropolis outdoor market
Synopsis:	A silly bugger tries to steal Wonder Woman's purse. Luckily for the silly bugger, he's apprehended by the Metropolis PD instead.
Cast of Characters:	Hank Hall, Diana Prince

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Hank Hall has posed:
It's a gorgeous day and an excellent one to take in some sun, maybe patronize some local vendors. The market was popular in Metropolis, moreso on days where the weather was fair and mild. Farmers hawking their harvests and their goods, crafters selling cleverly-constructed bits of yarn and fabric, guys selling old records out of milk crates. A pleasant hubbub of vendors, purchasers, and shrieking children darting to-and-fro.

A pity Hank was at work, astride his Metropolis-issued bike, keeping an eye on things. After the time he'd had to request off to let his leg heal up, Hank needed to get back in his supervisor's good graces. Hence this shift nobody really wanted.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana was out on the town today, picking up a number of gifts for friends, and family, while also just handling errands for her own means and purposes. She wanted to be out in the good weather, she wanted to feel like a normal citizens. But she always stood out in a crowd, partly because she was a tall woman, at 6 feet, and largely due to her physical appearance. Dressed in white denim jeans, a crimson blouse, and with large sunglasses on her eyes, Diana looked like one of Metropolis' well-to-do citizens, and as she stopped at a craft merchant, she set her black leather bag aside, and began to browse the wares.

She stepped a few paces away from her bag, leaving it on the edge of a table, as she was talking to the woman who ran the booth. Light laughter, casual banter, and Diana examining different creations from the woman's imagination.

Hank Hall has posed:
Enter Tommy. Tommy was a recent immigrant from Gotham and, unfortunately for him, living on the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in one of the poorest neighborhoods in a city like Gotham gave one some really, really bad ideas.

Like purse-snatching.

He saw the nice shiny leather get set aside with the stacked-and-packed raven-haired beauty had a conversation. Didn't matter, really. Important part was that she wasn't paying attention. So he was off like a shot, grabbing the purse as he booked it at his top speed. He just needed to get some crowd and some space between him and the woman then he could see what kind of rewards he'd taken for himself.

Diana Prince has posed:
For Wonder Woman, she heard the man running, before he even snatched her purse. But she hadn't really thought about being his target, until it happened. The merchant she was talking to actually reacted to it, before Diana. The merchant called out, shouting at the man, to obviously no avail. Diana? She just turned to watch him booking it through the pedestrian traffic, with a lot of people looking after him, but none doing anything about it.

Diana frowned, and set the nick-nack aside, before she took her sunglasses off, and offered them to the woman. "I will be back for these, okay?" She said, the woman she handed them to suddenly realizing who it was that had been shopping at her booth. Wide eyes, and a absent minded nod followed, as she took the glasses.

Diana turned, and began to walk, her hands going up behind her shoulders as she just walked after the man running away, while tying her dark hair back behind her head...

Hank Hall has posed:
... to see poor Tommy get restrained by one Metropolis ... bike cop? Yep. Hank Hall, on the case! The idiot had charged right at him, making it pretty easy to dismount off his bike and catch poor Tommy in an immobilization chokehold that arrested his forward progress and caused him to drop the purse. But once Tommy had been halted Hank changed his grip to something less-dangerous but still effective at keeping the poor kid in one place. "Boy, you sure do know how to pick 'em." Hank said with a roll of his eyes. His leg still felt stiff but this didn't even warrant going into his Hawk form. Nope.

He had this under control. His partner went to pick up the purse off the ground, but Hank handed Tommy off to him and grabbed it himself.

Nice bag. He'd have to remember it, as Dawn might want one. But as Dawn wasn' the girliest of girly-girls to ever girl, maybe she'd prefer something practical in canvas. Hard to tell sometimes with her.

"Ma'am." Hank said to the approaching Diana, holding her purse out towards her. "Pretty sure this is yours."

Diana Prince has posed:
The plan had been get herself ready, and go after the fleeing man. But her plan wasn't needed, as she slowed her walk to a stroll, when she saw the bike officers take the mugger down. Diana's hands came back down from beside her head, allowing her ponytail to drape down the left side of her chest, as she closed the distance, and watched the mugger get summarily hoisted up and handed off.

She walked toward Hank, as he grabbed her bag, and she smiled to him warmly when he offered it toward her. "Why thank you..." She said in her smoky voice, accented in that non-American flavor.

She glanced at the bag, as she held it in front of her waist with both hands, before she lowered her chin at him. "That was a daring duty served. I appreciate it, greatly. It kept me from... well...."

She trailed off, and assumed that a bike cop would probably recognize her.

Hank Hall has posed:
Oh, Hawk knew -exactly- who Wonder Woman was. But they weren't in their heroic guises today. Just civvies or their day jobs today! Which made him wonder, absurdly, if Themyscerans even had day jobs. Probably not. "We'll be taking this one in. Pretty open-and-shut. Do you think you'll be wanting to press charges?" he asked pleasantly, playing his role to a T. Sure, Diana had physical charms to a level most mere mortals couldn't hope to attain, but he had pledged himself in his own way to Dawn.

He looked, of course. He wasn't dead. But he was respectful about it, especially because he was on the clock here.

If her accent was pure pseudo-Greek foreign honey, his was the mid-Atlantic Baltimoran mush. "Just glad to be of service, ma'am." he said with just the barest hint of a wink.

Diana Prince has posed:
When the questio nof pressing charges came up, diana lowered her black leather bag to her left side, holding it in her single hand there. She walked past Hank, toward the mugger in the hands of his partner. When the mugger looked toward her, she just stared back at him, evenly. There was a silent tension there, as she took in the visage of the young man, and measured his eyes.

"No..." She quietly said to Hank's question, as she broke her stare on the young man, and regarded Hank again. "I would like to know his name, though, and where he can be reached. I would like to help him find a purpose in his life that prevents him from seeking this out as a last resort to achieve his end goals."

She said it loud enough for the mugger to hear her, as she looked back at him, and lowered her chin again, her dark brows raised up ever so slightly over her stern stare.

"There are better paths to take in this world..." She said, to Hank, to his partner, and specifically most to the mugger.

Hank Hall has posed:
Didn't have to tell Hank twice. "Lady's talking to you, buddy." he told the clearly disbelieving Tommy. "Play your cards right and you might come out of today better than you could have hoped to get for the admittedly very nice bag." he said.

Tommy, for his part, was clearly fighting a war between what remnants of a good upbringing he might have once had and his more current disrespectful existence. He tried to split the difference and did a really bad job of it. "Tommy." he told her chest.

Hank's partner kept a loose-ish grip on Tommy and appeared to be hanging off of Diana's every word.

Diana Prince has posed:
For Diana, it was just an opportunity to try and help a misguided youth find their way in a world that sometimes was unable to help everyone. He gave her part of his name, and Diana watched him simply look down when he gave it. She raised her chin, and glanced to Hank, before she tilted her head, and looked back to Tommy. "I would like you to come to the Hall of Justice, here in Metropolis, on Monday morning. Ten o'clok." she told him. "Dress as you feel most comfortable, and be ready to stay awhile."

Was she going to put him to work? Trimming the hedge bushes, mayhaps? Time would tell.

In the mean time, Diana nodded to Hank's partner, before she regarded Hank again. "Thank you, once more, Officer." She stated, smiling in a reserved way toward him.

Hank Hall has posed:
Hank's partner almost expired on the spot, he was so happy to get a warm look from Wonder Woman. Hank, made of sterner stuff, just smiled in return. "If Tommy here decides to not take you up on your generous offer, I suspect he'll be hearing from us sooner rather than later." he said as Tommy took the opportunity to get the Hell out of Dodge. At a very fast walk.

"Sure does know how to pick 'em." Hank said ruefully. "Let's just hope going easy on him pays off." he said, and meant every word.

Diana Prince has posed:
With Tommy free to wander off, Diana watched him go for a moment. But, with the officers still here, she looked back toward them, specifically to Hank. Her bag was raised up to her shoulder, a strap used to hang it over her left arm. She cast Hank another soft smile, before she nodded once more to him. "Thank you both again. It was a very timely intervention. But, yes, I won't take up anymore of your precious time. Hopefully the rest of the afternoon goes unhindered by any more such offenders..." She stated, grinning lightly as the sun shined on the right side of her face, and her pony tail swayed in the wind behind her left shoulder.

"I best go retrieve my sunglasses, and finish up my shopping, though. Be safe out there, both of you..."

Hank Hall has posed:
Hank tried, in his own mangled way, to say "You're welcome" in Greek. What came out of his mouth, however, bore very little resemblance to that language. Hank climbed back on his bike, joined reluctantly by his partner onto his own bike.

"Do you know who that WAS?" his partner said in a low, excited voice.

Hank just nodded. "Yep." he said simply. "One of the good ones." he said, and then he and his partner moved along to continue their patrol of the marketspace.