15414/Hot Harlem Nights

Hot Harlem Nights
Date of Scene:	20 July 2023
Location:	East Harlem
Synopsis:	Invincible and Golden Eagle team up to take down a Magnamite and discuss ice cream and rice?
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Yaretzi Acama

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Mark Grayson has posed:
It's hot in Harlem. Hotter than normal, even. The oppressive summer heat have people retreating to air conditioning and those that don't have AC in the search for businesses that do. As evening starts to set, the welcome relief from the sun that is supposed to come doesn't seem to. On one of the side streets, steam rises from a manhole cover, hissing and spitting water up into the air.

Suddenly, the manhole cover explodes, throwing the heavy piece of metal high into the air. As it clatters back to the ground, a large, flaming hand rises from the sewer and grabs the edge of the opening, pulling itself up. The creature is completely molten, comprised of lava and liquid heat as it opens it's gaping maw and flaws fly out.

The ground trembles, perhaps threatening to warn of more dangers to come!

Up above, a lone figure in blue and yellow is above. Mark's hand touches against the small earpiece on his right side. "Where did you say those weird seismic readings were coming... nevermind." As he sees the flaming figure, Mark turns to start to make his way back towards Harlem as he kicks up his speed a notch.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Yaretzi's up on the rooftop patio her family's Taino Towers apartment boasts when she hears the exploding of the manhole on the streets below. Rushing to the rail, she looks down... in time to see the molten figure rises. "Holy moley...!", she quips, before stepping away from the edge and looking about to make sure no one'll see. "Cuatli!", she calls out once she's sure she'll be unseen.

White 'lightning', or so it seems, fills the space around her, starting from outside arm's reach and striking towards her body, although it's completely silent. The mist-like pseudo-lightning hits her and spreads, quickly obscuring her completely from view. Not quite a second later, it absorbs into her body... but it's no longer Yaretzi standing there, it's Golden Eagle!

Lifting into the air, the heroine darts out over the street to see what she can do to keep her neighborhood, and her family and neighbors, safe from the... whatever it is...?

Mark Grayson has posed:
The white lighting catches Mark off-guard. He didn't see anything that is threatening a change in the weather to cause storms. Turning his attention away from the street for a moment, his eyes fall on the figure rising up into the air. Friend or foe? He only has a couple of moments to decide. Raising his hand in a greeting of a wave towards the woman. And before he can say anything, a car flies up from the ground and slams into the hero.

"Oooof!" he yelps as he pulls the half-molten car off of him and holds it to his side. "If you wanted me to pay attention to you..." he grits his teeth and starts towards the street, carrying the car behind him. Not that this is the best idea, considering that the car is half-melted.

Sliding along the ground, he sets the car down, even as the creature turns it's attention towards the newly arrived Golden Eagle. Ripping a ball of lava off of itself, it flings it towards the heroine, attempting to set her on fire if it hits!

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
She's bulletproof... but she has no clue if she's lavaproof -- and it's clear in how she so very clearly starts to dodge the attack.

But, then, so fast that it's hard to follow if the viewer doesn't have some kind of ability to see such fast motions, she glances back and realizes the ball of lava's going to hit a nearby building -- and she *catches* it against her chest, instead of letting it fly on to cause collateral damage. The lava ball leaves black mark on her chest and abdomen, and her heroine *very* clearly felt it... enough that all of this completely stopped her charge in against the thing.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Having caught the movement and then her change to take the lava instead of dodging it - cements in Mark's head that she's a good guy (tm). "You alright?!" he calls out to her, even as he turns his attention back to the creature and rushes it. Using the car that was damaged earlier, he smashes it down on the Magnamite, but he knows he's not going to be able to hold it down for long. While the creature is burning his way through the car, Invincible grits his teeth.

"We need to find something to cool this thing off!" he manages, just as the Magnamite gets through the car and punches him, sending him flying backwards and sliding along the street as he kicks up asphault. He felt that, as he hisses in pain and tries to use his hands to put out the small fires on his chest. "I'm open to ideas."

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle looks like she's still feeling that burn, although it seems to have done no harm whatsoever to her leotard-like costume. "I'll be okay...", she calls back. When Invincible calls out about a way to cool it off, she pauses a moment, then darts down to the ground to the nearest fire hydrant. Grabbing the big plug on the front of it, she exerts herself and twists it off with her hands, setting the water spraying... about twenty feet or so off-target! "Keep it busy! I'll find something to aim with!", she says, already turning to fly off into a sort of walking entrance to what looks like the courtyard for buildings that surround it, vanishing from sight.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Keep it busy, she says." Invincible rumbles as he watches the young woman enact her plan. It's a good idea. "Solid." he comments to himself as he watches the water come close to the creature, but not quite hitting it. He closes his eyes in thought and realizes what he's going to need to do, especially when Golden Eagle vanishes from sight. Where did she go?

He doesn't have time to think yet as he flies towards a pickup truck. Ripping the bed off of it - which sets off the alarm, the honking reverberating around the neighborhood as he uses the metal bed as a shield, rushing the creature again and slamming into it as his feet dig into the asphault that is melting beneath his feet as he takes the first step forward, trying to force the Magnamite towards that waterspout that Golden Eagle created.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle returns to view, carrying what looks like one of those pipe-like slides from a childrens' playground as she flies back over to the hydrant. Landing in front of the water-spewing thing, she shifts her grip on the slide, as if making sure she won't lose her grip, and then steps foward so that the hydrant's spray of water goes into the slide... and then comes back out of it, its course corrected, somewhat, by the curvature of the slide itself. The water's not a *dense* spout, but it's spraying in the right direction, at least!

Mark Grayson has posed:
That seems to do the trick! Water lands on the creature and it hisses and cries out as it flails it's arms, caught between the spray of water and the shield that Invincible is holding. "Little bit longer..." he rumbles, teeth pressed together tightly as he feels the heat through the metal as it burns his hands and arms. "...come on... come on!"

"More water, I don't think he's quite quenched!" Is that how that word is supposed to be used? Probably not, but it's the only word he could think of at the time.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle shifts the angle of the slide she's using to direct the spray of water onto the .... magma beast, doing her best to get as much of the spray onto the target as she's able. She's holding her ground against the force of the water coming out of the hydrant well enough, it seems... but the plastic slide itself isn't going to last *too* much longer, it seems, from how sounds of it being stressed in ways it's not designed to be stressed start to be heard.

Mark Grayson has posed:
The creature continues to claw at the truck bed, fingers breaking through to try to grab at Invincible's face -- but just before it can get his hands on him, its movements slow. It lets out a last cry of pain and defeat as the water finally cools down the creature that he forms a thick rocky crust that can continue to be cooled on the inside. "Help me dump this thing in the river?" he calls out to Golden Eagle. Does she have super strength? Maybe he shouldn't have assumed that she would have super strength.

He uses the truck bed to scoop up the creature, trying to hold it in the middle of the metal as he starts to rise slowly into the air. "So going to want a huge bowl of ice cream after this..."

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
When the thing goes still, Golden Eagle tosses the slide aside... and it finally just falls apart at the seams. She reaches down and picks up the hydrant's plug, from where it hangs on its chain, and, again using just her hands, screws it back into place quickly and easily -- stopping the flow of water, and showing that she's definitely got *some* measure of strength beyond what her physical form implies.

This done, she looks up at Invincible, and nods. "Sure...", she says, sounding like she's catching her breath a little. Her feet come up off the ground and she floats over to lightly tap at the thing once, then twice -- testing the temperature of it. "It's not too hot to handle", she comments, grabbing hold of the thing itself to do her part in helping to carry it.

"I recommend the fideo at Rosita's on the corner...", she says in reply to the hero's vocalized desire for rice, giving away that she's a local -- and completely unaware that he *saw* her transformation as he flew in.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When she shows that the creature is easier to handle, Invincible releases the truck bed to take the creature's other side to lift it up with her. He could probably handle it himself, "I don't want it reigniting and getting any ideas." he explains. He shows that he has burn marks on him, but they are already starting to cool and heal as they approach the river.

"Rosita's? Never heard of it, you may have to show me how to get there." That was sort of smooth, right? Or maybe it suggests that he saw her and knows that she's a local. He doesn't prod though. "I'm Invincible. Except you know, costume isn't." After the introduction, he notices that they are getting close to being over the river. "On three, then?" comes the suggestion.

And when ready, he starts to swing the creature back and forth. "One... two..."

"....three!"

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
"Yeah... I get it", the heroine says about the thing re-igniting. She nods when he suggests the count of three, and on 'three!', she heaves along with him to toss the critter into the water. Once that's done, she claps her hands as if dusting them off. "I'm Golden Eagle", she then adds, completing the introduction. Then, she simply points back they way they came. "Go back that way. A block past where this thing came up, on the right -- Rosita's", she says, giving directions to the restaurant she recommended.

Mark Grayson has posed:
*SPLOOSH*

The creature lands in the water, throwing up one last plume of steam before it sinks beneath the surface, disappearing from view and living only ripples in the water. One Magnamite defeated!

"Nice to meet you, Golden Eagle." Invincible responds as he turns his attention back to where she pointed and nods his head. Apparently, that is the way. "I'll have to make a note of it. Don't think showing up looking like this would be the best idea, huh?" A grin is offered at that. And he finds himself at that awkward impasse that seems to happen all too often.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle shrugs. "They probably saw what you did. You might get a freebie for it, even", she says. She looks down at herself, and there's black marks on her arms, too, from where she 'caught' the magmaball. "I need some downtime...", she comments. "Catch ya later, Invincible!", she says, already starting to float away and back generally towards Spanish Harlem.

Mark Grayson has posed:
As he watches her fly off, Invincible considers. "I hope so." he manages, before he turns his attention skywards and sighs. He has to get home and work on his term paper. Wait. Wait.

Waaaait.

"You got a social media contact?!" he calls out to her, always looking to make more contacts in the superhero community.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle pauses, hovering in place when Invincible calls after her. "Nope!", she calls back. "Just look for me around here!", she adds, before turning to finally fly off. She flies past Taino Tower, dropping to land in an alleyway nearby, where she transforms back with the same momentary 'light show'... the simply walks back home as Yaretzi.

Mark Grayson has posed:
He watches her a few more moments and then turns his attention to returning to the dorms. Invincible may have that time -- but Mark Grayson has school work and a job to get to!