12708/Power vs Finesse

Power vs Finesse
Date of Scene:	07 September 2022
Location:	Westside - Queensland Park
Synopsis:	Roland and Graviton stop a runaway car with perhaps a bit more force than called for.
Cast of Characters:	Franklin Hall, Roland Livingston

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Franklin Hall has posed:
    Compared to other parts of New York, Queensland Park is pretty peaceful normally. Mostly residential houses for people who live and work at the industrial arks of Pelham or various strip malls or chain stores that serve the area.

    It doesn't mean crime DOESN'T ever happen, but when it does, it tends to be less violent and more crimes of opportunity, especially at night like now. In this case, an older woman left her car running while she went inside a store to pick up a package, and a less that scrupulous young man decided this was a perfect opportunity to go for a joyride in the older Cadillac. It may be he's a bit buzzed that makes this seem like a great idea.

    It really isn't. Especially driving while under the influence, meaning the Cadillac takes off to the woman shrieking after it to stop, weaving between traffic dangerously as it rockets down the residential streets at an especially high speed, whooping along with several of his friends he's picked up along the way.

    Sitting on a building nearby, Franklin has been typing away on his laptop. He's trying to figure out this hero thing. Seems like far too many rules, but oh, the glory and recognition they seem to reap from a grateful populace. The sort of recognition and admiration he feels he should be able to earn too. Also, it's a way to practice his newfound powers away from his usual stomping grounds, so he's less likely to be caught. Then again, his costume isn't much. Jeans, a hoodie pulled up, and a hockey mask thus far. Very low effort.

    He looks over at the sound of the out of control car, raising a brow, then making a sound of annoyance as he sets the laptop down and conceals it under a tarp. Well. He's never stopped a car before. This should be educational.

Roland Livingston has posed:
It's a decent time for a ride. Roland's out enjoying his motorcycle, exploring Queensland Park from the back of a Ducati. When some son of a gun cuts him off in a Cadillac the rich, young Englishman has to swerve to avoid being struck, nearly driving himself into oncoming traffic to avoid the large automobile.

The horn on the bike honks and Livingston finds himself staring daggers at the car. As the Cadillac's driver is clearly going to kill someone, Roland frowns inside of his helmet and starts off after the stolen car, continuously using his horn while waving his hand at the car's occupants to pull over. Who knows if it will do any good?

"Pull over, you pricks!" Livingston shouts as loudly as he can as he gets nearer to the joyriders. "You're going to kill someone, you assholes!" Despite the foul language his upper crust English accent manages to come through.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    On the rooftop, Franklin takes to the air, his gravitic powers twisting the pull of the Earth to keep him airborne. It's a bit shakey in terms of flight still, but once he's more or less up, it's much easier for him to accelerate after the car in question. He can see the bike from his position, of course, and its rider apparently cussing out the wild drivers, but he can't yet tell if that's road rage or someone trying to help quite yet.

    One of the men...boys really...in the car, promptly holds out a finger through his window, laughg. "Fuck off!" he shouts dismissively, before the driver grins, then tries to jerk towards the bike, perhaps to startle...but it could be an attempt to bump him off the road, considering how sloppy it is.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Shit!" Roland exclaims as he has to maneuver out of the way again, accelerating quickly to get away from the stolen car. It might be road rage. Might be a sense of civic duty, but Livingston quickly returns to his pursuit and harrassment of the folks in the Cadillac. He yells at the vehicle, "Stop already! If you don't stop the vehicle I'm going to have to stop it for you!" How he plans to do this is anyone's guess.

Trusting his superhuman reaction time, the adventurer tries to stay relatively close to the stolen car, looking for an opening he can use. He keeps up the noise with his horn, more to alert drivers ahead of the chase that something is happening. Hopefully alerting the others on the road will be enough to give them another moment or two to avoid getting run off the road or struck.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    The honking at least is getting other drivers to notice what's going on and pull aside to let the odd chase pass, though for some they provide obstacles for the Caddy to weave around as they honk loudly in response, traffic getting a bit tangled up. It's a residential area, but it's still New York traffic! Still, Roland is able to keep pace easily enough. As for the opening depends what he wants to do. He can probably pull up close enough to grab for a door handle or jump on the car, though it means his bike will wipe out probably.

    Meanwhile, Franklin is pondering how best to deal with this. He's a bit annoyed as he was in the middle of some tricky data manipulation, so this is a distraction he'd rather not have to deal with. Therefore, he goes with the simplest method...that being to twist gravity to triple the weight of the front end of the car. It certainly stops the car. But perhaps not the best method...

    In that the car suddenly jerks, the front nosing down sharply as the front tires both explode from the added pressure, the back of the car flipping up a bit as the front fender hits asphalt. With the speed involved, that quickly turns into the car starting to flip forwards.

Roland Livingston has posed:
When the car next to him starts doing a front flip, Roland pulls away to make sure he's not crushed, "What the hell?"

Watching the Cadillac from a few meters away, the Englishman waits to see what will happen to it so he can respond accordingly. Feeling fairly certain that the car will be stopping soon, Roland watches to make sure nobody outside of the Cadillac is in the path of the vehicle. It certainly is a messy situation to be in.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    The car is most definitely stopped as it flips onto its roof with a crunch, skidding along the asphalt in a brief shower of sparks. On the other hand, it stops almost immediately, the increased weight of the engine block acting like an anchor. It's not very good for those inside, anyway. There's a few honking horns and screeches of tires as cars behind abruptly stop to avoid slamming into it of course.

    Franklin floats down at that point, looking somehow ominous in the hockey mask. Or maybe that it's getting close to Halloween time.

Roland Livingston has posed:
When the car comes to a complete stop Roland parks his bike next to it and removes his helmet to try to get a better look inside, attempting to ascertain the status of the occupants. That is, until there's a flying guy levitating towards the ground. Livingston eyes the stranger for a moment, then tilts his head towards the Cadillac, "I'm guessing that was you?" There's almost a hint of approval in his tone.

He hops off the bike and starts moving towards the upside down car, calling to the guys inside, "Any of you hurt in there? Best you don't move until emergency services get here to extract you safely."

Franklin Hall has posed:
"Yes." Franklin confirms in a clipped voice, settling to the ground. He doesn't really make an effort to check on the kids as of yet, leaving that up to Roland as he studies the damage done to the front end of the car. Hmm. Too much torque with the change in gravity. Good to note for the future.

    Inside the car, the airbags and thankfully deployed, as several of the boys weren't wearing seatbelts. They're a bit bloodied and injured, but they seem to be alive. At least, from the groans inside.

    "Stupid kids." Franklin comments, waving at the driver's side door as it rips free of the car, giving Roland more access to the interior.

Roland Livingston has posed:
When the door gets ripped away Roland's eyes go wide for a moment, then he looks again towards the masked man, "I appreciate you stopping them. Don't want anyone to get hurt or killed, after all." As he approaches the car he gets low to better see into the vehicle.

"You fellows okay in there? I'll have EMS here for you in no time flat. In the meantime if any of you are seriously hurt I'll take a look myself, see what I can do."

Taking a look around, Livingston makes sure that traffic has either stopped or can safely go around the mess, then he looks at Franklin again, "I'm quite glad you were here. I was about to dump my bike and jump on the car. Really didn't want to do that."

Franklin Hall has posed:
    The worst injury seems to be the driver, who apparently bashed his head on the steering wheel before the airbag inflated, meaning he got a strong smack to the face from both. Another, the one who gave Roland the finger earlier, has had karma catch up with him in that that wrist appears to have been broken. One apparently hit the side window when the car flipped and has cuts along his forehead from the cracked glass. The other seems shaken and a bit dazed but not seriously injured by comparison.

    Traffic is starting to carefully flow around you, and you can hear an approaching siren in the distance. SEveral people on the sidewalk are recording with their cellphones of course, so presumably one of them called the cops.

    "Be a shame damaging it for someone likes these." Franklin agrees, his eyes flicking to Roland behind his mask. "Lucky you didn't get run off the road or something."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"It would have been unfortunate to lay down the bike, but it's important that these fellows were stopped before they killed someone," Roland says with a nod as he continues inspecting the injuries in the car. "Doesn't look like any of you boys have life threatening injuries. If I were you I'd stay still until you can be safely extracted. Wouldn't want to see any injuries get aggravated by excess movement, or cut on broken glass or anything."

He looks around again, checking in the direction the siren is coming from, then looks at Franklin, "I was nearly run off the road, as a matter of fact, but I've got good reflexes, thankfully." A little chuckle escapes him, "I've certainly had an exciting couple of days, that's for certain." Then he lifts his chin and asks, "May I inquire as to who you are? You abilities, at least that I've seen, are pretty impressive."

Franklin Hall has posed:
    There's a general groan of agreement from inside the car at the request. Franklin folds his arms across his chest at the question. "You can call me Graviton." he says after a moment, a bit gruffly. "Are you some sort of civilian hero?" He's not familiar with such around here, given how many superheroes or villains choose to wear masks. "New in the States?" he wonders.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Graviton," Roland tells the guy with a nod and a flash of a smile. "I'm Roland Livingston. Been here in the states off and on for some time, hang my hat in New York, so to speak." Then there's a chuckle, "I don't generally go out of my way to do any sort of vigilantism, but situations like this seem like the sort of thing that it's best to put a quick stop to."

Standing up straighter, the young man looks in the direction of the siren again, "I'm a sort of monster fighting treasure hunter slash subject matter expert on magic and the supernatural. Occasionally I consult with law enforcement on their stranger cases."

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Graviton nods his head curtly, raising a brow behind his mask. "That's quite a resume. A supernatural detective as well?" he asks, tilting his head. "At least this seems mundane enough. If stupid." He glancse at the still groaning young men. "I'm just...practicing here." he admits after a moment. "This isn't my thing...or it hasn't been. But now that I can do what I do...seems like it's what you do when you have powers like mine."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I have conducted a few investigations," Roland says with a smile. Then he nods, "I don't blame you for wanting to test out your abilities. Perhaps you'll find yourself using them more often to do this sort of thing, mundane as many of these dangers might be."

"At least you're not ripping the doors off of bank vaults," Livingston says with a chuckle. "That would be more lucrative, but then Spider-Man or some other costumed hero would appear and there'd have to be a big brawl and all sorts of things could go wrong." Then he asks, "Are you concerned about your safety at all, doing this sort of thing?"

Franklin Hall has posed:
"Hmmph. Always seemed to suggested limited creativity to me, that the first place a supervillain goes is to rob a bank. Plenty of better places to get rich quick, if one is so inclined." His voice is definitely educated from the way he speaks. He shrugs his shoulders slightly. "I've not met anyone who can threaten me yet." he replies, a bit arrogantly. "I doubt anyone could get close enough to bother me, but I haven't tried going after powered individuals yet."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"There are certainly ways to make more money, but many robbers aren't what one would consider the most thoughtful types," Roland says with a grin. Then he lifts his chin again, "Gravity is a powerful force. I imagine there aren't a lot of folks who could hurt you if you saw them coming."

"I've tangled with numerous beings and people with all sorts of powers. A lot of the time it comes down to knowing if they've got any weaknesses. Attack them where they least expect it with as much force as one can bring to bear and it's possible to successfully engage more powerful opposition," Roland says. "Sometimes there's no choice but to get into a straight fight, however, and thats when things can most easily go sideways."

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Graviton considers that. "Mmmm...seems good advice, I haven't failed in my strength when dealing with situations." he says with a nod, frowning slightly behind the mask from the tone of voice. "Hitting someone when they're not expecting it and overwhelming them, that is." He shrugs his shoulders, then glances over as a police car starts winding its way through the stopped traffic to get to the accident. "Looks like the police are here. Are you staying?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I'll stick around, I think," Roland says to Graviton with a shrug. "They'll want a statement from me in all likelihood. Second time in two days I'll be speaking with the police." Oh well.

"You going to introduce yourself to the constabulary?"

Then there's a big nod, "It's usually best to approach these things tactically, whenever you can. Don't let them notice your approach if you can avoid it. I imagine being able to descend from the sky will make it easier to get the drop on criminals and such."

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Graviton watches the police coming, nodding distractedly in agreement. "Flying does help, especially since it's almost completely silent." After a moment, he shakes his head. "No. I'll let you handle this. I'm not ready to talk to the police." He drifts upwards into the air slowly. "Good luck with it. Hopefully the car was insured." he adds as an afterthought. And with that, he soars upwards, flying off to the east, as the police pull up, getting out of the car and starting to walk over to where Roland is standing by the wreck, one watching the other man fly away....