16734/New Years Daze

New Years Daze
Date of Scene:	01 January 2024
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	In the most improbably of ways, Charta is aided by Grenademan in retrieving a priceless, stolen book from some thieves.
Cast of Characters:	Clara Jennings, Frank Noble

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Clara Jennings has posed:
    New Years is supposed to be relaxed. A day to just hang out, maybe enjoy sports on television, binge watch something terrible on some streaming app, or just nurse a super sized hangover, perhaps with a side of regret. It is also the first day of resolutions, most of which will not make it past six PM.

    Clara is here because Gotham is a bit heavy now. Something to do with a fight with five guys who just all had this weird thing where they shot each other. If she gets any more heat Batman is sure to notice her. And that is NOT a good thing.

    New York has been insane, though. Zombies were prowling the last time she was here. Who knows what today will bring? She's here in disguise, which means she has the whole black bodysuit thing with a simple mask. She sticks out during the day, but it is starting to get dark out.

    "Well, ma'am, I am ready for my instructions. I see. Understood. I will be ready to intercept then."

    This is all said over an earbud. Or she is just crazy. Her eyes are looking down the road, along a mostly empty street as she waits for the armored truck that approaches. Scratch that.

    "Ma'am, there are five armored vehicles. Was there a change of plans?"

    That is when the gunfire can be heard.

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble does not want to change right now...cant he just enojoy walking home from a pleasant night with his brother and family? Besides, he is slightly inebriated? What part of ceisum and explosions could possibly be a good idea impaired? But he spots he spots the armoered cars...maybe its just armored cars....fine...fine ...FINE...he will investigate and if he can solve the probelmwithout insanity maybe that is an acceptible compromise? ........alright then.

Frank briskly walks towards the gunfire like a....well, differnet kind of crazy person and looks around, keeping an eye out. He has the gear of course, but prefers not to use it in civilian guise.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "Understood. Yes ma'am. I will not."

    Charta starts walking towards the oncoming traffic, then breaks into a run. Behind her, a rolling suitcase trundles along, quite disturbed by her pace, until it simply erupts in a cloud of paper.

    With a flick of her wrist she directs it forward in a violent swirl at the first truck, smashing into the window and leaving it cracked. This action draws a lot of attention, and the truck is soon bearing down on her as she watches it passively.

    "Ma'am, I need a larger suitcase. I rather struggle with these constraints."

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble keeps tamping it down. No of course e cant. No, this doesnt look like a job for crazy, when there is an innocent we need justment not doctor razzmatazz, I should just tell the press thats what I am, not the other thing. Purveor of fine chemical non edible donuts. Yeah, I dont like that? ell screw you...me.....sigh.

He moves over carefully to the truck and tries to determine, for SURE, if this is in fact a situation that requires him to dress like an idiot and is so busy staring intently at details on the trucks (and sober Frank is exceptionally good at spotting details, he has to be given the toxic and dangerous materials he works with) his feet are calmly moving him into an ally. Its not even a question.

It is only at the last minute that he realizes hat Grenadman is up to and says,"HEy wait a minute...."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    While Frank figures out what he means to do, Charta is suddenly on her back. Not hit, but yanked under the truck by the paper around her. From that position, she slams hammers of paper up at the under carriage of the armored truck. She can't lift it. Honestly not even close, but whatever she did has had one heck of an effect on it, causing it to swing out of control and skid to a stop.

    This leaves four more.

    The gunfire they put out either misses Charta or hits a thick wall of paper. Even while she focuses on this, though, she can do other things. In this case, pierce tires with spikes of paper. All of them at the same time, once they get in her range.

    "Ma'am, taking heavy fire! I will file a full report upon completion of the mission!"

    Seriously, she cannot talk right now!

Frank Noble has posed:
A grapple line later, and having changed at ludicrous speed, he immediately assess the situation. A member of the Forces of Good is being attacked but outnumber,ed though she celarly has powers. A single hurl later, he tosses a moderately impossible shot bouncing it off two of the moving trucks while in motion until the flash bang grenade goes right into the window of one of the trucsk. "Surrender now miscreants!" (technically in all caps but kept normal for the duration of the scene to ease the readers eyes)

Clara Jennings has posed:
    So a flashbang in the eyes of a driver moving at high speeds with four flat tires is an interesting combination. The evil lackey truck driver's school just does not properly prepare its graduates for that kind of situation. And so that truck veers suddenly to the left, crashing into another truck, then over-corrects in the other direction so hard is smashes into another truck hard enough to drive it into a third and force them all into a building. What are the odds of that, anyway?

    Charta is rather shocked as her situation quickly improves. Well, mostly! Just because the trucks stop does not mean-

    !!

    And the bad guys are jumping out, guns ablaze. There are two in each truck, so there are six men out and two other pairs will soon join them.

    "One truck to go and six targets present," Charta murmurs to herself. But she is struggling. She has to move fast as hell just to keep from getting shot. Reluctantly, she responds with force, and one of the shooters collapses, a blade of paper stabbing through his leg.

Frank Noble has posed:
Grenademan is not a wrathful person. He is meant to be a force of hope in the world, distraction from the terrible realities that they face...the impossible dream....but the scene of six grown men shooting a young girl who, powers or not, does not appear to be bullet proof makes him stop standing atop the Gold for Cash Store, Reflexium Cape flapping in the nght wind (which looks more like Mylar and to most looks ridculous) takes out a red banded grenade and tosses it among a groop of three. Up in a perfect paraboa it goes, bouncing between two of the trucks yet again ponk ponk plink.

Ever see Cesium thrown into water? The explosion lights up a block and a radiant (but pretty) biolet red and blue explosion might even be enough to knock some of the trucks an angle....

But it categorically wont kill them.

But to quote The Return of Jafar...you'd be surpised what you can live through.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Charta is not sure just what is happening. The explosion is impossible to ignore, though. She turns to see just who is helping her. Not familiar, though. She has not seen this man before. Still, help is great!

    Charta really has no interest in fighting, either. But she has to. The explosion does help remove a few of the men from combat. In ways that are statistically unlikely, to see the least. One man leaps back from the shock of it only to get clipped by the rear view mirror of the last truck. This in turn startles the driver, who loses control of the vehicle, eventually causing it to topple on its side with a screeh of metal on concrete!

    Charta is racing towards one of the three trucks. Which is to say going right at the three men still on their feet over there. Well, on is the one she hit earlier. He falls down helpfully, leaving just two.

    She has no time, no patience. Stopping bullets with another shield, she casts her paper at them. It spins out into a oval shape, then suddenly tightens, smashing their heads together with an unsettling crunh.

    "I am terribly sorry about that, sir! I have no time for you! I need to find that book" She is sure they will understand. Assuming they even remember any of this tomorrow. That was a double concussion right there!

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank, might wonder just who was robing who here, but the guns without warning was enough for Gremadenamn who leaps down in a summer saut on to the roof of one of the trucks and....ow. He lands with a thud but does not kill himself. Mental Note...make some kind of impact resistant armor. But he gets up with remarkable quickness for one who has just had the wind knocked out of them, "Only a flesh wound for the pure of heart. I am Grenademan, and these people were clearly THE FORCES OF EVIL" (yes, reader we noted earlier that was in caps, but those words were in speacial double capitalization....) "What might you seek oh purveoy f paper?"

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Charta is fascinated by this unusual man. She assumes he is an American. He seems very, very American to her. Not in a bad way or anything. There is just a style of communication. Very to the point and expressive.

    "They have stolen an ancient tome," she explains. "It belongs in a museum, not in some rich man's private trophy case!"

    And she is quite prepared to face bullets for it. There are still men to deal with. She is not gentle. But she also does not have much time. As soon as there is a break in direct fire, she starts breaking open the trucks and looking for what she is after.

Frank Noble has posed:
Grenademan considers, "Wel first of all, to whom might I be speaking, my paolgies for being rude, now on the matter of ancient tomes, I am no magicolist but I can determine that the nature of ancient valum might determine that the prbability of transfer between vehciles while in flight of an explosion. I think that if you look in that one there" he points to the truck "you are more likely to find the book due to the forces of good drawing it towards the two of us in a linear ley line fashion" which to nyone with scientifci or occult lore is a bit like he just said that toasters are made of cheese and if you eat cheese, mice will come and build you a house, but he says it with such ernestness that whats the harmm inchecking it out?"

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Wow, that is.. that is so many words. Charta has no idea what he is talking about, but considering the insane things he has pulled off so far, she will run with it! But first.

    "You can call me Charta." God she hates that name. Her own fault, too. That's a K sound, likd karta, for the record.

    She follows the directions, though. She starts to break open the door to get in, but it is just open. Huh. Not even locked? And the book is just laying there. The case it was in must have been broken. Yet it is perfectly unharmed.

    "This place is so odd," Charta notes. She forms her paper into box and in this stores the book itself. "Now that this is handled, it might be a grand time to depart. The curators will want this properly returned."

Frank Noble has posed:
Grenademan nods, "perfectly sensitible name, Latin but why not charta domini? It has more nobility to it and people will assume that it is latin whereas Charta by itself sounds like your power is being able to fold and unfold thos egas station maps? and "The epxplsion clearly losed the book, plu the magic int he tome likely animated it and made it want to go to better people of purer hears.

Frank Noble has posed:
Grenademan looks around conspiratorily, "I dont normally give these out, but you may use this to contact me if you find yourself in the need of heavier explosive might and justice again....book theives should be boiled in their own..." he pauses a moment looking for an apporirpiate dickensian word, "liquid lignocellulosic fibrous material"

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Charta really still does not know what to make of this unusual man. Some Americans she can understand quite easily. Others she simple cannot. That does not mean she cannot make them her friends, though!

    "I see, so, you are going to give me something?"

    Charta is curious just what this man is going to present to her. A business card? Or perhaps something else more magical in nature. That would be incredibly interesting to study! She has no magic of her own, though she was produced by magical forces.

    Sadly, though, she gets a blip on her ear buds. "Oh drat. I must go, sir. It was a pleasure to meet you! Until next time!"

    She has a paper airplane to catch! No, seriously. She gathers her paper and jumps on, then flies away on it. Back to Gotham, to hand the book over to those who can properly care for it!