13492/Wrong Side of the Tracks

Wrong Side of the Tracks
Date of Scene:	03 December 2022
Location:	Boyer Avenue, Staten Island
Synopsis:	Sally beats up thugs and makes a friend, with the son of The Big Man
Cast of Characters:	Frederick Foswell, Sally Pride

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Frederick Foswell has posed:
After your enconter with the man only known as Montana you and the rest of the Mutianimals were put on high alert. True, this probably had nothing to do with NULL, but the idea of alien weaponry falling into the hands of organized crime was bad enough, especially in the hands of someone who has already proven himself willing to kill, aka whoever this "Big Man" really was. After days of digging you managed to dig up dirt on a rumored storehouse for these alien guns, located in Boyer Street, one of Staten Island's worse neighborhoods, and a former industrial park.

As it turns out, this rumor was nothing but a big, fat, flop. Hours of searching what was a former chemical plant turned up nothing but empty beer cans, graffitti, and the smell of bleach and peroxide. On the way out however, you did see something else that caught your attention. There was a group of young men clad in matching blue t-shirts with a snarling jaguar on the back, jeans, and black shoes. These were the Boyer Avenue Boys, a gang of punks that seemed more into gang life for petty thrills and quick cash, and have been to known to harass passerby for money. The group of 5 men were chatting with each other and ocassional letting out a loud laugh. They didn't appear to be a danger and you would be content to ignore them, until you saw the kid.

Going up the street was a boy of about 9 or 10, wearing a complete boy scout's uniform, a pair of thick glasses, and what appeared to be a new pair of sneakers. One of the Boyer Boys sees the kid walking by and nudges his friends and lets out a laugh. The rest of the Boys turn to the kid and grin evilly. They then began to march towards the kd.

Sally Pride has posed:
Of course Old Hobb was more worried about alien tech giving humans enough strength to accoust mutants with than being used against other humans. But that was a minor detail Sally Pride wasn't going to nitpick over if it got the group to agree on doing something about it. Plus they do have access to one of the best information networks in New York -- Pidgeons... Okay so best may be stretching it. But pidgeons do get overlooked as just being there in the city and see a lot of things. And Pidgeon Pete is able to communicate with them. Pidgeons that have seen strange people in the industrial park.

Unfortunately either the location was off, or the purveyer of this alien tech were smart enough to not stay in one place for too long, because by the time the Mutanimals investigated there wasn't much left. Plenty of signs people had been there and up to things, but no one now, and no contraband. Not a positive result, but it was one less place to having to look.

It was while backtracking to make sure they didn't miss anything on the way in that Sally came across the punks. Pretty low on the rank ladder of gangs, too, mostly there for the thrills and being anti-whatever is socially acceptable. Nothing to really worry about... if it wasn't for the kid. Who lets a kid like that out on their own in middle of the city? Questionable parental choices aside, a kid in trouble was a kid in trouble, and maybe it was just being the female of the species or something else, Sally did kind of have a soft spot when it came to youths. So now she was in stalking mode herself, trailing after the punks just far enough to be noticed while still getting close to... intervene if they don't just walk by the out of place but minding their own business kid....

Frederick Foswell has posed:
As you get closer to the punks they remain surprsingly silent, the only sound being their footsteps as they get closer and closer to the kid, who appeared to be looking deeply at his phone. Suddenly, he looks up and sees the punks coming and tries to go across the street to avoid them. The men let out laughs as two of them dash up to the boy and grab him by the arms, holding him back. The rest of the Boyer Boys catch up rather quickly and the leader, a tall, lanky man with brown hair and the beginnings of a goatee grins and says,

"Where's the rush kid, we just want to talk. Say... those are some nice kicks, Nike right?"

The boy looks down at his shoes and looks back up, a pleding, desperate look on his face as he said," Please don't! My dad used his raise to buy these shoes for my birthday!"

The punks just laughed louder as the leader said," Well, looks like you ain't going to be wearin them for long!"

Sally Pride has posed:
... Over shoes. Really? They want to start trouble over a pair of admittably nice brand name sneakers? That's pretty low. Even for the scum end of the human spectrum.

Sally is still a half block or so behind when she also darts across the street. She can make an educated guess at how the Boyers are going to situate themselves in this situation, and it would be strategically stupid to come directly from behind where the two that hold down the kid could see her coming. So instead she maneuvers herself to flank them from a blindside, and that's when she goes from stalking to a charge not unlike a predator rushing down prey. Being a lioness and all.

Which brings a fist backed by the charge hurtling at one of the punks. Not using her claws (yet) but that's still momentum, mutant strength, and studded knuckles of her biker gloves to deal with.

Frederick Foswell has posed:
As the leader of the thugs leans down to snatch the shoes off the kid's feet, he remained completley oblivious to the charging lioness. As her fist drove into the face of the thug standing next to the leader the Boyer screamed out in pain and fell onto the floor, his nose broken and bleeding and his conciousness gone. The rest of the Boyers turn to look at the lioness in shock, the leader of the crew looking the most shocked as he stood up and looked up at Sally in surprise and shock. Meanwhile, one of the thugs holding the kid suddenly stands up and grips the boy tightly by the wrist as he pulls out a switchblade and says,

"Stay back or else!"

Sally Pride has posed:
It's classic Thugging 101. Pull out a weapon, threaten your victim. Would be rescue backs off for the victim's safety. At least that's the idea right?

Might not work so well on someone that was forcefully trained to be an elite soldier. The punk doesn't even finish his threat entirely, seeing the weapon flick out is enough to pump adrenaline as feline reflexes react, and lash out.

Not at the weapon though. The knife is a minor inconvenience compared to the boy's safety. Instead Sally goes for the hand holding onto the kid, to grab and squeeze down to dig her claws in and break his grip. Or his wrist. Whichever comes first, it gets the intention result.

"Or else what?" is snarled back between bared fangs. As she thrusts the other hand in the face of the punk on the other side of the boy. Weapons be damned, she needs to get him out from between them.

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The hand that Sally threw at the knife holding thug hits the man's wrist, not only breaking it, but digging claws into his wrist with her claws. The man falls to the ground gripping his hand and screaming in agony. The second thug only has a second to look on in shock before the fist slams into his face, causing a resounding crack to echo across the street. As the second goon falls, the boy finds himself free. He looks around for a moment, before running to you and wrapping his arms around your waist and refusing to let go, his form trembling in fear.

Meanwhile, another Boyer Boy pulls out a pair of brass knuckles and swings at Sally

Sally Pride has posed:
Not an unsurprising reaction from the kid. Though having him latch onto her is going to be a little awkward.

Case in point when one of the remaining Boyers comes in with knuckle dusters of his own and slugs her, because Sally kept herself between the punks and the scared kid. She reels from the punch for a moment. Spits a bit of blood on the pavement. "At least that, I felt."

With her movement choices limited, Sally straightens back up.. and just headbutts the guy so she can again keep herself between the remaining gangbangers and the frightened child.

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The Thug grins cockily as the knuckle dusters slam into Sally's face, only to gape in surprise when the lion is still standing. Suddenly, the lion headbutts him hard, and sends him flying to the ground, hard. This leaves only the leader of the group, who takes one last fearful look at the lioness, and books it down the strees, a look of horro etched on his face, The boy meanwhile, is still latched to you, but looks a bit more pale when he sees all the blood.

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride watches the last man standing run off. "Smartest one in the group, must of been the leader."

She kneels down to get closer to the boy's level, and the fierceness is gone. No need to scare him any more than he already is. "We need to get you somewhere safe."

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The boy watches the last thug run off, a look of surprise etched with a bit of fear on his face as he watches the last Boyer disappear around the corner and out of sight. He then turns to Sally, and his face softens a bit at Sally's more calm tone and nods as he says,

"Y...yes mam. My dad wanted me to meet him at Mel's Diner, it's five blocks from here." He then looks at you and says," T..thank you." He then gives Sally a hug.

Sally Pride has posed:
Well that explains a few things, though leaving the kid to walk on his own was maybe questionable. Sally hugs back with one arm, then nods and gets to her feet. "I'll walk with you until we're closer, just to make sure that jerk doesn't come back with more of his gang for a round 2."

There might be others in the group annoyed she saved a human, but it's just a kid. Maybe if the youth can learn mutants aren't terrible just because they're different, it'll make things easier for future generations.

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The kid nods and surprsingly enough, grabs Sally's hand as the two begin to walk to walk to the Diner. The boy looks up at you and says,

"Sp, what's your name? My name is Freddie, Freddie Foswell. Though, my dad insists on calling me Frederick Jr." At that name Freddie makes a face, "I personally don't like that name, it makes me sound old." He then looks at you more curiously and says," Why are you a Lion?"

Sally Pride has posed:
"Sally." Sometimes having a 'normal' name compared to most mutants has it's perks. "And... that is something I can't really explain in a way you'd be able to understand, Freddie." Later that last name might become important, but right now, it's justa name. "It involves science. Like you see in the movies. That's all you really need to think about it."

Frederick Foswell has posed:
Freddie nodded at Sally's response, though no doubt the image of a mad scientist shouting it's alive with you tied to a gurney is echoing through his head. As you get closer to the Diner he turns to you and says," My dad works at the Daily Bugle, you hear of it? It's a big newspaper in town. Though, his boss seems to be a old grump, at least based on what my daddy says about him. My Daddy is always busy, he says he out doing 'adult things', whatever that means." He makes a slightly bitter face at that and then says," He's been busier then ever recently however. He used to lead my Boy Scout troop every week, but his adult things have been keeping him busy. I just came back from my meeting at St.Giles and was supposed to meet Daddy at the diner after he got out of work, then those mean..." He then cuts off.

He suddenly looks up at you, a grateful look in his eyes as he says," Thank you for helping me. I don't know if it's ok to ask but... do you wanna be friends?"

Sally Pride has posed:
.. Really, less lightning, but that wouldn't be entirely inaccurate to the way some of Null's scientific personel acted.

At the mention of the Daily Bugle and the 'old grump' in charge Sally snorts softly. You don't deal in NYC without having heard at least one of JJJ's rants about the menace of Masks and Capes, when not about Spider-Man specifically. Pretty certain she's heard April complain about him 'making journalism look bad' with his attitude, too. "That's too bad. I can see it makes you sad when your father can't spend time with you. But I bet he's doing stuff so he can take care of his family, like a good father."

If only you knew Sally, if only you knew.

She can see the sign of the diner down the street, but it's probably a bit far for Freddie. She's got superior night vision. "I can be your friend. Just promise me you'll be careful when you're out like this, okay? Gangs like those jerks have been more active lately."

Frederick Foswell has posed:
Freddie hears her snort and smiles, happy to have made his new friend happy. He then has a thoughful look on his face as he hears Salley out. "Yeah," he says, "I suppose he's doing boring journalist stuff." Yeah, boring journalist stuff and defintley not trying to take over the Underworld with a crew of brutal Enforcerw while hiding behind an iron mask. As he gets closer to the diner, he smiles broadly as he says,"There's my Daddy!"

He is pointing at a short, rail-thin man with short brown hair, watery blue eyes, a neatly pressed suit, and a pencil thin mustache. He looks like a typical NYC yuppie and you have no idea of knowing at the time that this man would grow to be a very, very deadly enemy. He then looks at you and gives you one more hug as he says,"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise to be more careful in the future." He begins to rush over to the diner, but pauses for a minute. He suddenly takes a piece of notebook paper out of his backpack, pulls out a pen, and writes something down. He then hands the paper wordlessly to Sally and rushes off to the diner. If you were to look you would see that it's his phone number.

Sally Pride has posed:
The man is in sight. Looks absolutely normal, urban working man. "Yeah, I see him." Good, he didn't forget about meeting with his kid. She lets go of Freddie when she feels him start to move away. "Better hurry to him before he worries. Take care." Freddie darts off... then comes back long enough to give her the note before heading to his father. They're probably far enough away he can't see her too clearly, so she just briefly waves before turning to walk away again. The rest of the crew are probably about ready for her to come back with the truck to pick them up. Doubt they really found anything else in that dump though.

Sally does glance at the note for a moment before tucking it in a pocket for safe keeping.