11362/Running in the Park

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Running in the Park
Date of Scene: 27 May 2022
Location: Bethesda Terrace
Synopsis: Two birds in the bush might ruffle a lot of feathers. Heather, aka Knockout of the Titans stops a kidnapping attempt by Shi'ar on Jessica Drew - with deadly force.
Cast of Characters: Jessica Drew, Heather Danielson




Jessica Drew has posed:
All the cliches apply. Spring burgeons in Central Park with a promise of renewal and hope in the air. The clouds of the last few weeks have cleared along with the incessant rains, leaving bright green grass and trees verdant with new leaves.

Mild temperatures have brought out concessionaires selling hot dogs, balloons and coffee to people loitering on the steps under the Angel of the Waters. And runners.

Among them a SHIELD agent stretching her legs on an exceptional day off. In muted turquoise running shorts that snug the length of her thigh and a black top sleeveless top, Jessica takes long easy steps past the steps leading up to the fountain, her long dark hair swinging from under a baseball cap.

Several sets of eyes follow her. Two of them are trained especially on her as she disappears along the running trail into a copse of trees. A message is relayed and a runner appears out of nowhere, unseen by innocent bystanders. The runner sets a pace that matches Jessica's.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    New York Hot Dogs are a food group in their own right. Especially for someone who needs something like ten times the caloric intake of an average person. Heather Danielson was out for an early evening run. I mean come on... you don't just stay in shape by eating and watching TV. If that were possible, America would be in far better shape overall. But she actually enjoys running, and she pushes herself... since her healing factor helps her with fatigue issues.

    This means that when she ponders an upcoming meal of hot dogs, she's totally sweaty. Now, I know... girls don't sweat... they glisten. Well... Heather is sweaty, but in good spirits. Her outfit is simply a sports bra with a loose-fitting tank top over it. The tank top is bright red with a white STL intertwined on the front. She is even wearing a matching baseball cap in hopes of -maybe- going somewhat incognito. Her tight black running shorts contrast with the red top. But she's coming around a bend up ahead of Jessica, her pace much faster than the average jogger. This explains why she wasn't expected to get here now. She's going faster than most expect joggers to go.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The sun has just begun to lower, the shadows under the trees growing denser after the brighter plaza Jess left behind. Her genetically altered eyes need a moment to adjust, she automatically compensates, relying on her hearing during the moment of blindness. She hears an approaching runner before seeing her.

The thud of other feet on the path behind her join, one runner, then two. Jessica notes the sounds and readies herself to make room for anyone caring to pass her.

Two runners come out of the trees. They look human enough, their long hair flowing past their shoulders; the cadence of their jog slightly faster than Jessica's, allowing them to close the distance with her. Both runners fix their oddly bright blue eyes on the runner ahead of them.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    It is so weird. Heather is also a blue eyed blonde. She could be a totally Aryan Ubermench sort if anyone did not know her. But she's running with her eyes lost in thought. She wasn't really paying attention to the other people on the path. But when she rounds the bend and bears down on Jessica's position... it -could- look like she was being aggressive. It may even give the pursuers pause as they try to figure out who this other Aryan might be. Is it a fellow Hydra operative?

    She notices Jessica at the last moment, and attempts to slow down. Again, it might look like she is planning an attack. At least it could look much that way to Jessica in the heat of the moment...

Jessica Drew has posed:
It's not uncommon for bikers to tangle with runners, horses, too. Still, runners sometimes do. Spider reflexes kick in and Jess sidesteps, springing to the side without losing her pace, grinning at the oncoming runner and their near miss.

Behind her, the two long-haired runners, wait for the oncomer to pass and align themselves with Jessica. One of them removes a triangular object from their waistband and aims it at Jessica's back. The other pursuer, eyes glowing, looks back to ensure they are now alone. The sound of a high-tension electrical wire meeting an object sizzles. Jessica stiffens, arms splayed to her sides and goes down.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Well, the weird thing is.. Heather has those Midwestern friendly genes. She only saw Jessica for the barest of moments before the near collision. When the other woman evaded her, she planted her feet and shuddered to a stop. Pretty much right behind the other two.... at least as they passed her.

    Now, she looks back with the intention of apologizing and making sure the other woman is okay. So just as the glowing eye one looks back her way, Heather's right eyebrow raises in her best Mister Spock impression. "Hey.." she mutters before she looks to Jessica.. RIGHT when the weapon strikes, "Now hold on here!" She calls out as she begins stalking towards the guys. Mister Glowy-eye has part of her attention, but most of it is on Jessica's attacker. "That is totally not cool!" she explains, "I bet that's the only way you know how to -get- a date, huh?" she asks, fists balling up as she stalks his way... and yeah. She's registered glowy-eye's presence, but is in a headspace where she is dismissing him as he wasn't the one to attack someone.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess can hear what is going on behind her. The electrical charge didn't freeze her autonomous muscles, her heart beats, the bones in her eardrums flex but she can't move her arms or legs or call for help. She might have smiled at the nonsensical question about dates if she could. Instead, she eats bike path dirt and refuses to think of what it might contain. A pair of hands hoist her in the air while she rages at her paralysis.

The runner who fired the oddly shaped weapon at Jess leans over her to flip her over onto her back. The one who looked behind calls out in a language that resembles nothing from this blue planet circling Sol, alerting his comrade to danger. She disguised as a he, pulls out a triangular object to aim at Heather, ignoring her balled fists.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Oh, is that how it's going to be?" asks Heather as the weapon is drawn, and Jessica is grabbed and man-handled. "Nope. You guys just made a major mistake. Not ground war in Asia level. Hell, not even never go in against a Sicilian... but close!" she states as she takes a step, then accelerates to a jog before she does her level best to use a boxing jab to distract the guy drawing a weapon. It's really a feint to make the guy pay attention to her hands while she attempts to bring her leg up between -his- (her?) legs. Hey, even women getting blasted in the pelvis hurts.. bad.

    The weird thing is, she's not trying to defend herself. She is all offense. She has some basic martial arts training, but she has a habit of just not worrying about being hit. It's painful, but her healing factor has become her life these days.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The highly trained Shi'ar agent is blindingly fast and arrogant. On a subliminal level, he expects to be feared. He is a member of a crack force used to infiltrate planets and set them up for forceable inclusion in the Shi'ar empire. He, Ten'haten, falls for the feint and realizes it too late. His arrogance earns him a painful connection to Heather's foot, bending him over with an agonized shout and ruining his shot.

A blue arc flashes past Heather's shoulder, burning a few of the pretty blonde's hair.

Behind her, the other agent, Fal'hatar, occupied with Jessica drops his prey to the ground. It knocks the air out of her. Still paralyzed, Jess rages internally at not being able to defend an innocent bystander. Fal'hatar takes aim and fires at Heather.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    And yeah, most people underestimate Heather's strength. She can lift as much as Spider-Man. Well, on the average. That punk kid knows how to push himself beyond his limits way too far. But Heather bounces on her feet and says, "That's right. Pick on someone.... your own size?" she says, pausing at the end since she is so much smaller.

    But with one attacker bent over in pain, she gets a crazy idea. She grabs at his weapon wrist, steps in, twists and attempts a super strength fueled hip and shoulder throw of the guy... aimed RIGHT at his partner.

    Okay, admittedly, she's a total amateur, and her aim isn't flawless. But she turns and begins running to follow the now involuntarily flying alien towards the other attacker. She needs to get this done and over with before the innocent jogger they were trying to abduct can get hurt more.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Earthlings are weak in comparison to the average Shi'ar. A trained Shi'ar is nearly unstoppable. Still consumed with the pain of being hit between the legs, Ten'haten (Ten for short) doesn't have the strength to resist Heather's grasp and finds himself air born. The wig slips while he is upside down, revealing blue feathers to match the luminous blue of his eyes.

His partner's shot whistles by nearly winging him, whizzing past Heather. The human hits him full in the chest in a tackle that would do a pro football player proud. They both fall on the supine Jessica who has barely gotten her breath back from being dropped.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Sorry!" comes Heather's voice as she rolls over Jessica, "Stay down and don't draw attention to yourself!" she adds as she surges to her feet. She understands that momentum is a large part of a fight. ESPECIALLY when you are outnumbered. She lost her ball cap in the roll, and her blonde hair flails out as she turns... okay, it's not something dramatically pretty. The ends of her hair slap her in the face and she puffs out a breath to try to clear her face of it.

    But she's already moving, trying to stay on the attack. It's only a matter of time before she gets hit. But she can take it. Pain is an equal partner in her life. Something she lives with. Her body isn't resistant to injury, it just heals stupid fast. Usually before the wound can truly have any effect on her. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. In fact, she has no idea about it, but there is a Shi'ar combat knife stuck into her flank, just beneath the ribs. It seems the tackled warrior did get -a- lick in.. but the tackle and the roll pulled the blade from his hand... and she is trying to keep him on the defensive with a flurry of hand strikes.. punches, chops... pokes. Yes, pokes...

    The big problem is that she's so focused on that guy, that she has forgotten to keep an eye on Ten. Huh, he's not a ten, a six at best. But either way, he's getting a chance to make a difference here.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Ten may not be a ten with the long fluff of feathers ruffling in the wind but he is ferocious about bringing down the earthling that hurt him. Fal'hatar's (call him Fal) blade goes flying out of reach when Heather pulls it out of her side. It disappears into the bushes. Some lucky man with a metal detector will discover it months from now half-buried by a strong summer rain.

Blows rain down on him, attempting to drive him into the ground while Heather concentrates her formidable fists on him. A poke in one eye closes it. He counters by pincering her in his very strong legs and twisting to the side.

His partner Ten kicks Heather in the ribs as she is held in Fal's legs. A foot rears back aimed at her head. They both ignore Jess who manages to grunt as feeling slowly returns to her mutant limbs.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    And now it's a two on one beat down. The leg-scissor takes Heather down as she was not expecting it really. The kick to her ribs breaks two of them.. the sound of the break clearly audible across the battlefield.

    She grunts in pain, and then the kick hits her in the head. Just as she turned her face to look at her kicking attacker.... the kick causes a massive tear of her skin as her head whips to the side from it. The crunching sound of vertebrae can be heard as well. It could easily be assumed that she is beaten. Dead. Broken... but then her head comes back around, the healing bones audibly cracking and clicking as they reposition themselves. "Alright then." she mutters as her hands grab at Fal's knee... one hand grabbing it and the other forming a fist to punch the side of that knee once... twice... even while ignoring attacks aimed her way. It really is gross to look at. She appears to take all of the damage that a normal unaugmented human being would. She just ignores it and it heals instantly for the most part. She heals like Deadpool. But she's retained most of her sanity at the very least. She she isn't covered with scars and boils and such.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Both Fal and Ten had prepped by studying human physiology. This female is off the charts, showing more strength than expected, on par with their kind. The blow she received would have spinally decapitated a normal vertebrate like a Shi'ar or a human. The crack of her return to the living stuns them both into a split second freeze that would earn them demerits from their trainers.

Fal grunts in surprise and agony as his knee is dislocated, releasing her from his grip momentarily.

Ten punches her in the nose, the blow intended to drive the bone straight into her brain.

Behind them, Jess's hands twitch as the nerves come back to life in a blur of fiery pain.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Nose. Bloody. Broken. The blood and pain makes Heather's eyes tear up. Her head rocks back and then by the time she's brought it back forward, the nose looks pert and perfect. Just covered in blood and mucus. She spits a globule of that gross stuff onto the ground before she surges to her feet... holding the Fal's dislocated lower leg in both hands. She takes one step forward, putting her entire body's force into a swing of her new bludgeon. (That's you Fal). to try to sweep Ten's legs out from under him.

    She is assuming it is going to work, and is going for a return-the-favor kick to try to knock Ten out with her converse. It's another step into it soccer style kick. "She shoots!" she calls out, waiting to see if she scores even as she releases Fal to flop to the ground.

    If anyone were ever to analyze her fighting style, it might be... not Karate, but Ca-razy. She goes all out, all the time, with no thought of defense.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Fall stutters the equivalent of 'what the fuck' in his native language as he is used as a meat hammer on his partner. The blow equals a drop from a three-story building. It breaks bones in both the Shi'ar. Ribs crack, femurs sheer apart, blood spurts from important arteries. The shoe connecting with Ten's head separates it from his spinal column.

They are both down for the count.

Jess's arms work enough to lever her upright.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    And down on her knees, Heather cringes, "I didn't think that'd kill him." she mutters as she surges over towards the one she kicked. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!" she exclaims as she tries to examine the guy and see if any sort of first aid might help.

    That is when she notices the feather and other alien features, "What in the actual flying crap -are- these guys?" she says as she recoils.

    That is when she notices Jessica's movement, and she turns her head to say, "Slow down. It's safe. Are you hurt?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica's green eyes widen in surprise at the two attackers sprawled bleeding on the ground. Surprise changes to fury for her would be kidnappers.

"Shi...shi...shi...ar," she grunts as nerves and neurons start to function again. "Who...you?"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Shi'ar... Heather inclines her head as she gets to her feet. She reaches down and feels the hole that was stabbed in her flank. "Damnit. This is my favorite running shirt." she mutters as she steps over and picks up her baseball cap.

    Then she steps over and offers a hand to Jessica. Her face is a mess of blood and such. But she is not remotely hurt. "Name's Heather. But you might know me as Knockout from the Titans." She rolls her eyes as she gives her moniker. "I know. I know.. total vain codename, but I didn't pick it, the press did."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica manages a crooked smile as she takes the bloody-faced woman's hand. Wobbly on her feet, she looks up and down the path. "Jesssss," replies, still not quite in control of her mouth.

It doesn't stop her frown as she gazes at the Shi'ar. "More will come. Kidnap-ping me. Intergalactic incident with dead Shi'ar. To-tally vain."

Massaging her head and wincing at nerve endings returning to their full use, "We need to hide them and get out of here. Fast. This could cause a big problem. It would have been better if I had died. I think." Jess shrugs wryly.

"Let's get out of here after we put them in the bushes. I will try to arrange for someone to pick them up."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Look. I don't get to keep on the Titans if I start covering up evidence of attacks, or behave like I did something wrong. I didn't want to kill either of those guys, but they were trying to kill me..." says Heather as she gesticulates to explain herself, "I mean, maybe we should wait for the police so we can file a report and such."

    She's not stupid. Not naive. But she -is- an idealist at the very least. "Or I should at least file an incident report with the Titans." Pause, "Intergalactic?" she asks as that word registers in her brain, "Okay, so maybe I call Homeland security, or Immigration and have their bodies -deported-?" she asks hopefully.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Shaking her head woefully at each of Heather's suggestions, she smiles grimly. "Nope, nope on all of the above. SHIELD maybe. I know some people there. Or...the Amazons. They built the spaceport."

After cracking her neck, she makes a decision. "SHIELD or the Titans. SHIELD is good at hiding people. You make any report you feel necessary and I will, too. We need to get them out of the path before someone stumbles on them and it blows up on social media. Come on."

She bends and grabs the dead Shi'ar's feet and drags him into the bushes full of poison oak to which she is thankfully immune.

"Can you get the other one. Watch out. I hope they are not allergic to poison ivy and oak. Are you?"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "I used to be." mutters Heather as she steps over and effortlessly hefts the body of the one she kicked, grimacing as she does so, "This feels so wrong. Just.. treating them like bags of trash." She shakes her head as she carries the body over and places it where suggested.

    "You know what I mean? It's not like I did anything wrong. It feels like I am behaving like I did." she adds, -almost- but not quite whining about it. "So Jessica, they were targeting you... why?" she asks, trying to change the subject. "Are you an alien too?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
After dropping her Shi'ar's feet, she grins briefly and shrugs. "Sort of. I know someone who is and I would place money on them trying to get to him through me."

She steps over the Shi'ar and pats Heather on the shoulder. "Sometimes we don't know our own strength. You were protecting me. And, I'm grateful. No guilt. Hear me?" she asks, peering intently at the young woman's face.