17884/Gangs of New York: First Blood

Gangs of New York: First Blood
Date of Scene:	19 May 2024
Location:	Hell's Kitchen
Synopsis:	They won the battle, but not the war. Despite the efforts of a few that thinned the herd of the Bangers in Hell's Kitchen, it's clear that the war will continue another day. Buckle up kids, it's getting hot in the Kitchen.
Cast of Characters:	Luca Bandoni, Tandy Bowen, Clint Barton, Shun Cruz, Tyrone Johnson, Sara Pezzini, Robbie Reyes

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Luca Bandoni has posed:
Anyone with their ears to the ground on the streets would have been hearing for a few weeks now that things are heating up with the local gangs. It seems there's a power vacuum opening up since the arrest of the Scorched Skull's leader on the charges of kidnapping, terroristic threatening and possession of a firearm by a known felon - with potentially more charges to follow. Dude's going away for a long time.

The Devil's Disciples and The Crossroad's Crew are looking to step into that void while the Skulls are weak and trying to get their shit together.

It's about 10PM when all Hell breaks loose in the Kitchen.

It starts as it always does in these situations, with gunfire and screams.

Luca Bandoni is at his favorite watering hole, only about three blocks from where the chaos begins. It's just in his nature to run /toward/ the fire and not away, even when it's gunfire.

"Josie!" he calls out over the crowd, "Call it in!" Then to his new drinking buddy, Clint, "You have your bow in your trunk, man?"

Then it's out the door.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Cloak and Dagger are out on an extended patrol. She's got the next day off, and what better way to break in her new suit from the angelic billionaire than by seeing what sort of trouble it can hold up against? They're in Hell's Kitchen checking into some gang rumors that have them concerned but not quite ready to reach out to the Defenders when everything goes to shit. Tandy's daggers are immediately in motion as bullets start flying, moving to block and divert the deadly little things into walls and ground instead of any civilians around.

Dagger curses as she gives Cloak's hand a squeeze before letting go and heading into the fray more obviously. "Okay. Let's see what surprises Angel wrapped into this thing."

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint knows about gang activity. He's got the Bratva in his own neighborhood, and it's a never ending battle to keep them away from the hard working people living on his street. At least once a week, he's getting 'into it' with one or another.. or multiple, and so far, he's come out on top. With a few new scratches, but on top all the same.

At Josie's, all Clint was looking forward to was a beer, a slice of bar pizza and some 'no shit, there we were' stories with Luca. Seems they have more in common than previously expected, and the good natured 'one upmanship' was starting in low gear, only to get a little faster and funnier.

"Oh man.." Clint gets up pretty much at the same time Luca does; he too runs towards rather than away. Even to gunfire. "I do. So, promise me. I'll tell you when it's secure enough for you, okay?" He's running towards his car, that classic early 70s Challenger.

Pop the trunk, pull his bags, and it's a quick strap for his quiver, and the bow is grabbed before it's closed once again.

"Let's go."

Shun Cruz has posed:
Tekkai was mostly just wandering by the Hell's Kitchen. In his civilian form of Shun at that. The kid was just walking along and sending texts to his parents that he was on the way and currently having to cut around Hell's Kitchen to get home.

But that there's suddenly gunfire? He ducks and gets out of the way as he heads for the nearest bit of cover. Which happens to be another alleyway.

He would run towards it, but there's a bit too much foot traffic at first.

Once out of sight, the air seems to shimmer and steam around him before he disappears from few. The insect-like carapace of Tekkai replacing him completely as he turns to use back alleyways to get closer to the gunfight.

Shots are already being fired, it's Hell's Kitchen, and he has no idea for sure what is going on so he sticks to the shadows and keeps his hands ready. The glowing yellow eyes are probably the only give away as he gets closer to the scene. Said eyes that stare out as he prepares to possibly be spotted or just flat out having to move to avoid gunfire.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak let Dagger do her thing, only keeping one concerned eye on her. His primary function was popping in and out of the darkforce, dragging nasty little gangers into the endless Dark before moving on to grab another. If his facial features past his eyes could be seen, he'd have a big ol' grin on his face. Who knows, maybe they'd make some cash turning in the guns to the NYPD and for whatever cash these bangers were carrying on them. Chemicals got dumped into the East River, cash got spent on Dagger and essentials. It was a hard living, but they made do.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
A man doesn't grow up in a family that's half NYP's Finest without having a proper firearm and a license for it, but Luca's stays where it is, in a holster underneath a light jacket. Luca barely waits for Clint to grab that bow before he's completely ignoring his friend's request - did Clint really think it would be any different? His first action is to start herding civilians toward doorways. He manages to get three people, a family with a small child, inside an open corner market and come back out before he's met with a fist to the jaw by someone that wasn't there a moment ago, then was, now isn't again.

The blow staggers him, but he doesn't fall. "Shit." With no radio to call things in, he has to rely on his voice to call out, "Clint! At least one meta - " And dammit, he takes one more clock to the jaw before the warning is all the way out, still on his feet though that is until the mutant he's dealing with decides shooting is the better option. He still keeps his hidden, knowing that gunfire from him will only draw more back at him.

So far, with the help of Dagger, there haven't been any innocents hit. But as it is and always has been, they're running this way and that like spooked cattle, some of them simply taking cover behind vehicles - not really a help when there's crossfire happening.

Dagger might get a surprise when a ball of light, about the size of a basketball, comes soaring right toward him on one of his pop-ins.

So far, poor Tekkai hasn't been noticed, but it's only a matter of time.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Several calls went in from around the area as people panic... Shots fired, gangers fighting, people in trouble, help...

In the distance the first signs of sirens can be heard, those who know can tell that it will take the police a good ten to fifteen minutes to reach the scene.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Evil always rears it's ugly head. The local gangs are stirring

This time? It's a gang war. Pure and simple. Robbie hears the gunfire and the screams, his eyes turning towards Gabriel as the boy wakes up in a hot sweat. "Gabe, get down! I'll be right back." Robbie reaches underneath the couch, pulling out a shotgun and immediately rushing out of the apartment as he reached for his jacket.

While there's sirens?

There's the loud roar of a *nasty* looking car. That beast that is the Hellcharger roars down the road, pulling up in front of some civilians trying to hide so any stray bullets hit the car instead as Robbie gets out of the vehicle, shotgun pumped with a telltale-

*CHK-CHK!*

"Every night there's another gunshot in this town!" Robbie says angrily.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger's light is fairly dim where is radiates from her skin, but at the increased fire towards civilians it radiates out in a flash, a concussive blast that has the bullets being returned to sender as she takes a flying leap in front of the people closest to her. "Go! Down the alley and along the back of the building, you'll come out a block away," she shouts at them, taking a bullet in the leg for her troubles.

It stings enough that it'll probably bruise, but there's no blood and her suit is still immaculate.

Cloak's gonna grumble about it, but she's going to kiss Angel for his timely delivery.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint's on the run, and as he slides into place, he's covering Luca's grab for the family, bow in hand, arrow nocked. It's strange; his buddy's been knocked back and there's nothing there to show for it. And again.

"Great."

Switching out arrows, Clint has a paintball arrow, and as Luca is staggered for that second time, the archer checks the wind, works for the trajectory and the basic physics of how Luca is stricken, and shoots. If there's something there that paintball is going to color it a really pretty purple.

"I got you!"

The shimmer of dark catches Clint's attention, and he flattens against a building, encouraging any civilians nearby to run.. he'll cover them...

Shun Cruz has posed:
The calling out has Tekkai looking over towards Luca. Seeing the few blows the man takes has the young mutant/mystic wince.

And he decides that he has to do something. The amount of gunfire and two gangs makes harder for him to do much, and he just knows his parents are going to have an earful for him after this.

His hands weave in the darkness, and a pair of glowing mystical symbols expand out to a circular mandala over each first as big as a classic Captain America shield.

Then he takes off at the nearest gunman that's shooting at someone as he tries to barrel into them shields first to both get their attention and throw their aim way the hell off.

Right after the hopeful impact, he yells at the poor victim of it. What looks like some sort of half-human, half-insect demon with glowing yellow eyes yelling at someone? That's sure to give nightmare fuel even with it being Hell's Kitchen.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
And if the insect-thing didn't frighten people, the disturbing habit of gang-bangers that were spraying and praying to just disappear into a cloud of absolute darkness certainly wouldn't help. Cloak was teleporting from victim to victim, enveloping them into the Darkforce, stranding them there to contemplate their life choices - and surrender their life-energies - before he moved on to the next. But with each port he spared a quick fraction of a second to check on Dagger, her location, her status.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Don't ever think that things can't become more chaotic. Bullets flying from nearly every direction, people running, people screaming, gangers calling out threats to one another - some of them screaming as well when they're hit. It's complete chaos - that's about to get even worse.

Those balls of light Cloak had that run-in with, they're flying freely now, one after the other from one side of the street. The purple beams that go off in retaliation are no where near 'Summers' level of intense, but it's enough that car doors are cut through, glass is melted, sidewalks grow small craters.

One of the Skulls flips a car like a penny to get to a Devil.

Why wouldn't gangs have metas, in one form or another, among their ranks?

Something barks out a, "Fuck!" nearby Luca and suddenly there's a purple humanoid figure standing in front of the firefighter. Well, at least the top of one, the bottom is still invisible. One good right hook, followed by a quick uppercut and the guy's on the ground. Luca flips him onto his stomach, knee in his back and pulls a pair of zip 'cuffs' from his jacket pocket. He's either kinky or smart enough to have those on hand considering the whispers of potential violence on the streets? "Thanks, man!" he calls out to Clint, he might have had more to say but it's cut short when one of those balls of light comes flying his way. He scrambles out of the way just in tome to see the cuffed ganger go up in flames. Luca's a firefighter, so of course he strips his jacked off and tries to put out those flames. Criminal or not, he won't let a man burn to death in front of him.

Again, Cloak is the target of those same balls of light. Someone's put a bead on that boy, tossing blinding basketballs of brightness in his direction every other time he pops back out again.

Tekkai becomes a target, if only because - the Hell is that? Kill it with fire - only it's not fire, it's those searing, heated beams of light aimed at the poor kid.

Robbie, so far, is just taking gunfire. Things are slowly, very slowly, beginning to shift in the air. The gangers seem to be targeting the heroes more than each other - that's not to say they aren't targeting each other.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Most civilians are unable to tell the difference between the sirens of a police car, versus fire trucks and ambulances, but all three can now be heard in the distance approaching the area.

The distance from 1 Police Plaza to Hell's Kitchen mattered little to Sara Pezzini, as she zipped through traffic on her motorcycle like a bat out of hell. Technically she was 'off duty' but when a call comes in about an all out gang war, it was all hands on deck.

It was true that she could have just armored up and flown there, but this wasn't a call for Witchblade, this one was for Detective Pezzini. It was difficult sometimes for Witchblade to accept that he has to take a back seat, but after nearly four years together, he was starting to understand the importance of human laws and what they meant to Sara.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Robbie is *not* some kind of bullet spong.e His abilities help in keeping bullets *away* from vital organs thanks to some magically dense skin, but other than that? High caliber will hurt like a motherfucker. It's with that in mind that Robbie waits for the bulletfire to take a pause, he waits for that little bit of heat to die down that would imply reloading...

Then he's peeking out of cover with his shotgun, advancing on the goons who had laid hell on him, his shotgun spraying bullets with loud, echoing *KABOOM*s.

Robbie was killed by gangsters. That's how his journey as the Ghost Rider began.

It won't happen a second time.

Though as he's returning fire, he turns his head to the metas who are raising hell. "Be there in a second!"

Tandy Bowen has posed:
'Absolutely. Not.' Dagger thinks to herself as she sees the bright lights that are being tossed around and frequently targeting Cloak. Eight daggers of light appear in her hands, and she throws them in two wide arcs while mentally aiming at the other person with the fiery lightshow. She couldn't see who they were, and that was a problem because one wrong deflection or angle could set a blaze through the whole neighborhood.

Nobody said these two gangs were particularly smart.

Her ability to move was completely unhindered by her clothing and she had her safety toe boots on, meaning that the gangster she got the drop on took a hard, brutal kick to the side of his knee before a longer dagger slid into his side. "Purge," she murmured, wondering if they were on anything. The acrid scent of sick and sweat seemed to confirm her diagnosis, and she pushed a hint of warmth into the man to stabilize his system against the shock of being newly without any drugs in the stream, looking for her next target.

Clint Barton has posed:
In the next heartbeat, Clint's got another paintball arrow on the string, and he does a quick search for another potential invisible baddie. It's the gunshots that bother him a great deal, and as civilians run past, the archer comes out of his spot and switches his arrow in a quick change to a taser to aim at one of the Skulls now flipping a car.

It's made specifically to take out the Hulk (in tests), so it should actually do something, even tickle some nerve endings. "Gotcha buddy.." and he's moving forward with yet another arrow set to string.

One, two three.. easily five arrows in the span of fewer than 5 seconds gives the archer a little bit of an even playing field with the shooters, each an arrow going into a shoulder. It's gonna hurt, it's gonna take them out.. and they'll live another day.

Shun Cruz has posed:
Seeing something coming has Tekkai raising one of the shields towards that direction. Only for the beam to shatter his shield and he ends up stumbling to bring the other hand around to take another blast.

Stumbling, Tekkai drops down to make himself a harder target and rolls to come up and bring both hands up as he overlaps the new mandala shields.

Which doesn't hold for long as well as the kid ends up moving again and trying to find some cover.

One shot even ends up exploding a piece of wall near his head as he feels brick or whatever it was made of bounce off of his toughened outer layer.

But with these coming at him, he knows others are safe, so he keeps moving and making more of his shields as quick as he can while looking for where they are coming from.

All before he ducks behind a parked car to let it tank some of those things.

Looking around, he tries to figure some way out of this but isn't seeing much choices for himself.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak paused in his teleport spam to spit out a ganger on the brink of death. Out of all the people he'd ingested, this guy was least-bad. Most potentially recoverable. So Ty decided to give him a second chance. Or, at least, that was the plan.

One of those glowing balls that had been chasing him around happened to be in the right (wrong?) place at the right (wrong?) time. Ty had gone corporeal to shove the ganger out of the Darkforce just as one of those glowing balls intersected with the two of them. Both men howled in pain, the ganger's life being snuffed out as the energy ball tore into him, and Ty as he fell backwards into the Dark, pretty obviously injured in the detonation. Splashes of his blood lay on the pavement, wet and glistening.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
With the burning ganger 'put out', Luca drags the man to the cover of a vehicle and positions him more 'under it' than behind. The good guy in him, that damned invisible White Hat of morality that he wears, won't allow him to just leave the man in the open to just be slaughtered. He even pauses long enough to use his own powers to pump the guy with enough healthy bio-energy to keep him alive before rushing across the street, through the middle of a warzone, to drag two young women, obviously members of a bachelorette party, down an alleyway. One of them was literally dragged - gunshot to the left leg and it's a gusher. The other one followed, sobbing and calling out her friends name.

Dagger takes her mark, but problem? That now makes /her/ a mark. She has a big old flashing neon sign that reads 'shoot me, I'm dangerous'. At least the flying basketballs of light aren't being tossed about anymore?

All of Clint's arrows hit home, but the biggest hit is the Car Flipper Skull - he goes down /hard/ and by hard? There's a crater in the ground beneath him and a split weaving its way through the street.

Robbie's assault takes out a few more, then another one before one of those laser beams passes close enough to his right ear that he feels the heat from it intensely. Could have been worse, at least he still has a head.

Tekkai's efforts save lives, but they also make them an even bigger target. Wherever - whoever those lasers are coming from, the focus of them shifts off Robbie and back to Tekkai - another blast heads their way.

The gangers numbers are dwindling, many of them downed by either their rivals or the heroes.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Ever closer the sirens sound their approach, but in the heat of battle seconds seem like minutes, minutes like hours. It is obvious that the NYPD and FDNY are coming, but will they get there in time to do any good?

Sara turns the bike down the road that Luca's apartment building is on. She knows the man, knows him better than he knows himself. If he was at home when the shots starting flying, he would be down the block and in the thick of it. The threat of losing him to some ganger for a second time fuels her controlled panic, though deep inside of her she really wants to just let that panic out. To feel it all and react with it over her boyfriend, but she was a cop first, girlfriend second.

Throttling the Ducati to higher speeds, she knows she is in the home stretch and the speed would make the final minutes fewer. The other first responders were calling in their time to scene on the radio, and she listened intently to the reports but she already knew she'd be there first.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
The scream that rips from Tandy's mouth as she sees Ty get hit with a ball of that fiery light is two parts horrified and entirely full of an almost feral rage. Her powers don't allow her to kill with intent, but the glow around her becomes a halo of pulsing light that brightens with every step until she comes to a skidding stop next to the charred, bloody body of the gangster that had been hit alongside Ty. She could still feel her partner, but it was weak. She aims her light carefully, righteous anger and her fear for Ty's life entwining and making each bolt stronger than she'd planned for.

The first pulse takes aim at the lasers, daggers of light ricocheting off walls and cars and other weapons to hone in on the person causing so much damage.

The second is a blast of concussive light aimed at the ground, ripping into pavement and concrete and pushing them upward into a small wall near Clint and Luca.

Ty's blood sizzles into nothingness as the third bolt passes through it and into the slivers of the cracked portal left behind. She's panting as it disappears, hands resting just above her knees as she stares almost blankly at the empty place in front of her.

Clint Barton has posed:
Score! Clint's searching for those calling the shots, as it were. He's got the little guys, the muscle. The invisible guy, the big guy flipping cars.. and a couple of boots. But who is the one coordinating efforts?

There, however, comes the blood curdling screams of a banger, just as a light ball extinguishes a life.. and injures the darkly cloaked one. The Avenger runs towards the sound of the stricken Ty, and stops short at the edge of an inky dark portal.

Portals bad.

Clint leeeeeans back as the light flies past him before he twists around, doing a quick threat assessment with the remaining. Apparently there's a reaction to that howl of pain, and putting that 1 and 1 together, he's good.

Now for more civilian and making it less worth everyone's while to continuing this particular dust up.

Shun Cruz has posed:
The sound of so many 'pulses' going off has Tekkai staying behind the car, and bringing up some extra mandala shields just in case. That those blasts ping off the car he is hiding behind has him blinking a few times at the different sound.

The young, obviously teen if any of the other heroes get a look at him, decides to draw some fire as he pops up from behind the car with a pair of those fiery mandala shields up before him. It's an effort to draw out the shooter's location by making them want to fire at him while he is looking and has a chance to duck back down into cover, really.

He's hoping he can get a clear look at where the blasts of light that are not the blonde that appears to be so harmful. Hopefully the double layered shields and his being ready for the assault will let him duck back again.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Luca strips off his shirt next, dude's going to be taking a play out of Sara's book and be nude by the time this is all over, not really, he's one of those guys that actually wears a 'wife-beater' under his t-shirt. "Here, I need you to press this..." He pauses when he realizes the girl's friend is still sobbing and screaming. "Hey!" he barks. It works, it gets her attention. "Press this down right here, as hard as you can." Once the woman complies, Luca rests both his hands on the gunshot Bridesmaid.

He maybe should have stayed put, maybe he would have been safe behind Tandy's protection. How does someone get the drop on Clint Barton? Well, that someone isn't invisible, but they are silent. Clint might just notice how the sounds of the battle seem softer before he hears, "Drop the bow, Robin Hood," and feels the cold steel of a gun barrel pressed into his temple. One of the shot callers, the second in command in the Skull's ranks, just found /him/.

Sara's quick approach gets her in weapon's range, she's met head on with at least one ganger that's aiming to put a new hole in her jacket - and her.

Lasers stop after a scream and silence from behind a dumpster near an alleyway entrance.

A shot aimed at Tekkai's head misses just barely, enough to send the kid back into hiding or no?

There's always that one guy, that one incredibly stupid guy - this time it happens to be one that's stepping between Dagger and that blackness. He has a gun raised, but his hands are trembling enough that the barrel bobs up and down a little. "Ya need to back the fuck down, bitch." The tremor carries to his voice as well.

Gunshots become fewer still - but all of them seem focused on the heroes now. The enemy of my enemy doesn't apply here. In some twisted brand of street 'code', the gangers are trying to oust the do-gooders from their disputed turf.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty was lost in a haze of pain - since most of the time he was intangible he wasn't really used to experiencing pain anymore. He was so out of it _he didn't close the door fully_. Which was, for many reasons, a really bad idea. But Tandy's Light leaks through and takes the worst of the edge off, allowing him to come to his senses and fall back into our world, his arms and hands bloody from the explosion.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Years of riding motorcycles, taking NYPD motorcycle driving courses, and a few 'off the books' courses in how to handle yourself at high speeds permitted Sara to register Witchblade's warning in her head before the ganger was even aiming at her... and react.

Turning the bike into a sideways slide, she aims the machine at the guy with the gun and slams into him as she leaps off the bike. He'll live, he just might not walk again. His screams are added to those already filling the air. As for the bike, she knew what she was doing, though it was laying on it's side.

About to pull her side arm, another shot rings out and whizes past her head, causing her to dive behind a parked car. This situation was far worse than other turf wars that had taken place in NYC, in fact the shear number of gangers on both sides was enough to warrant an immediate call in by the Detective.

<"On scene. Thirty or more members of the gangs present in the shoot out. Caution is seriously advized, keep FDNY and EMT at a distance until scene commander says other wise.">

Sara was human, which meant she could be hurt should a stray bullet find it's way to her. So as she sat there behind the car, and two more bullets went through it near her, Witchblade had enough. She agreed with him, this was more than one cop could handle. Instantly tendrils of metal expand from the silver bracelet on her right wrist to form the Gauntlet that is Witchblade's true form. From there the tendrils move up her arm and around her body, shredding the clothing she is wearing to form the protective armor she is known for.

As the last of the armor is forming, she leaps up into the air and heads toward the center of the battle. Bullets aimed at her bounce of the armor, and if there wasn't armor in that location to begin with... it just appears.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger's eyes are hard as she stares at the trembling barrel. "I? Need to back the fuck down?" The idiot is close enough that he should've just shot her in the face instead of announcing himself. Her weight shifts forward and onto her left leg, right leg and arm coming up in tandem to shove the guy's wrist up as her foot nails him in the crotch. Her anger is almost palpable, a shimmering in the air around her as he falls backward and she advances forward. "Your brethren are a plague on this city," she spits. "A blight that I was made to cure."

Generally when she stabs someone with one of her light daggers she is careful about where it goes, even though they don't cause much harm. Her mingled worry and anger make her less cautious and six inches of light slip through flesh and sink into his chest without regard for the bone, searing a burn that will never fade into the skin. Even in her darkest anger she's incapable of killing the man with the move, but the pain and shock of the kick and the feel of the blade pressing in make him pass out.

Dagger drags him bodily towards where Cloak has reappeared, kneeling between the two as a bridge and wrapping her fingers carefully around Ty's wrist. "C'mon baby, I need you to wake up enough to make this work," she whispers, hands glowing steadily as she focuses on him.

Clint Barton has posed:
Of course, search and ye shall find, right?

Clint's let his guard down, ignored the first rule 'keep your head on a swivel'. He couldn't help whatever was in that inky portal, did a dance to keep from getting cleaved by a light dagger.. thing. (That's what it looked like anyway!) And with the helping of civilians?

"Luca, give her sips of water!" That always slows down the breathing because concentration is needed to sip. Not swallow. Sip. Trick of the trade to handle hyperventilation in anxiety attacks.

Not. Paying. Attention. And here comes Sara.

Show off.. and that's said with a great deal of affection. As much as he's allowed, that is.

It's that cold, gun metal against his head, however, that has him stopped in his tracks. The malevolent voice commanding him to drop the bow is whispered harshly. He found one of the coordinators, or rather, he found Clint.

Clint opens his fingers, splays them deliberately and broadly, hitting the button to close it up. Just as he does so, the archer is spinning around, using the reduced bow as a baton to slam it against the man's wrist in an attempt to break all the bones there.

*crack* There is a howl of pain, but it's hidden by yet another report of a gun, the sound of a bullet exiting the barrel, and it is poorly aimed, but aimed all the same at Clint. It's lowered, and his hit in the upper right arm; in and out through the meat of his arm, tearing flesh, adding the burn wound for the closeness of the shot.

Clint yelps in pain, and throws a little extra in his improvised baton, pummeling the man into the ground before clutching his arm, the blood now moving through fingers in a seep.

Damn..

Shun Cruz has posed:
He's been shot at enough times that he does look where the shot came from. Tekkai raises the mandala shield that way and dismisses one of them.

Turning his head a bit, he pauses in what he's about to do. Just keeping the shield up. Then he ducks down again as he grabs his head. "The hell? Someone brought something that powerful here?" He says, shaking his head a few times.

Then he pops up again as he raises the mandala shield and advances around, making sure he has both as he moves to tank the shots incoming. These are normal bullets. Bullets that he knows he can take with his constructs. So he proceeds to do so, advancing as if a demon or something with glowing red eyes and blocking bullets with mystic fire.

If that's not enough to get the gangster's attention, nothing is, right?

The kid's also hoping they don't have anything else crazy. Because anything past those regular bullets might bring him back to square one. Seriously, they took down all the more dangerous ones than just a bunch with guns, right?

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty's flesh knit itself, the burned bits flaking off and falling to the ground. "Thanks, babe." he told her as he remembered to close the door behind him this time. "Looks like we've got some visitors." he said with a growl. "What's our play?"

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Luca is so focused on keeping the bridesmaid with the femoral artery leakage from bleeding out by using his own powers, that he doesn't notice the approach of someone from behind. Not. Paying. Attention. Something else he has in common with Clint. The girl's friend is though... she looks up and screams, but it's too little, too late. Just like his drinking buddy, Luca winds up with a gun to his head - the back of it. "Don't move, fireman." The voice behind the words is all menace and venom. He means business. He also knows that Luca's a firefighter - but how? Luca's a little crazy, some may say downright nuts, in the way he rushes headlong into the fire. But he's not stupid and he doesn't have a death wish. He raises both hands in the air and says, "Just let me help the girl, yeah? She's not part of this." He's not Clint, he's not Avenger trained in taking down an armed gunman, not without an obvious opening. His request is met with the butt of that piece cracking down on the back of his head. Firefighter /down/ - but not dead, why?

Cue horror movie level screaming from the friend of the bridesmaid.

Tekkai's efforts aren't in vain, they do draw fire, perhaps offering a few vital seconds for the rest of the heroes to try and wrap this up.

Less gunfire now and just a few of those left standing have decided to run, live, fight another day. Witchblade is here, things are getting too real. Others are still stubbornly exchanging gunfire - even with most of their focus now on the heroes. But what was the loud roar of battle, now seems more a grumpy 'hiss'.

For the moment, Cloak and his dagger, get a chance to breathe.

Clint got his win, he doesn't have a hole in his head! That's always a win. But from the top of a nearby building, in the shadows someone watches. The 'gun' is a figurative one, made of just a forefinger and a thumb, he's been tagged.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Witchblade is designed to kill. The weapons he can form are all sharp and deadly, save for a baton, which he personally was not fond of. Sara on the other hand did not want to kill the gang bangers, she merely wanted them to stop shooting.

The police were reaching the outer edges of the battle, positioning their cars to work as shields as the situation commander emerges from a car and starts barking orders. It was only a matter of time now before this war came to an end, but how many would be wounded or killed in the process?

Hovering above the throng of battle, she swoops in to knock the gun out of the hand of a man aiming at Tekkai, another loses his weapon before he can shoot a round at Dagger. "You know you've lost!" she calls out, darting from ganger to ganger while looking for Luca.

Almost flying past the alley Luca is in, she literally skids to a stop in midair just in time to watch the ganger pistol whip Luca. "You son of a bitch!" she screams with rage, and zips down the alley toward the ganger. Whatever he had planned for the firefighter was brought to a quick end as she slammed into him with the full force of her body and flight. He sores through the into the the brick wall, sliding down it like a rag doll, and is met there by a tendril of metal forming a whip to hold him in place. Once she sees he is out cold, she jumps over by Luca and kneels down beside him.

"Damn it Luca," she mutters softly, then lays the Gauntlet on his chest. For a single moment in time there is a pause, as Witchblade assess the damage, then the red stone on the back of the Gauntlet begins to glow. Not a serious wound, a hard knock on the head, which means the Demiurge's can heal the man himself. From the stone, a visible red aura of healing spreads out over Luca, mending the damage done from the butt of the gun and offering a little bit of a recharge to the mutant.

When that is complete, she looks to the downed bridesmaid and frowns, she can't heal her entirely, not without Witchblade seeking assistance from Digitabulum, but she can stop the bleeding. Reaching over with the Gauntlet, she lays it on the woman to do just that.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"We've got to find the person with the lasers and firelights." Dagger's voice has taken on a sharp edge of panic as she sees one of the guys that's been helping go down, and her fingers are digging into Cloak's forearm. "We find them, and we tuck them away until there's someone that can safely take them. If we don't, I think we're all gonna die."

If that person dies while wandering around in Ty's darkness... she's not going to cry about it at all. After all, they're responsible for a significant amount of the real damage she's seen so far. She presses in close, ready for Cloak to 'port them into the shadows for a little investigation.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint isn't out. He's not even truly down. It's his off hand, and while drawing a bow might be out of the question for the moment, a pistol isn't. And he always carries his sidearm, thanks to his God given right as a SHIELD agent.

He catches Luca going down, and once he disarms the gang banger and gets him ready to be zip-tied for PD, he's trotting towards his friend. The veiled darkness and the light, well.. Clint's seen strange, but..

He's close enough to hear, "We'll get 'em," he reassures. "Don't worry." With his bow. And arrows.

Sara is there, and Clint slows to a walk, his right arm hanging. He's not drawing attention to it, however. "Is he okay?"

And there, the healing.. so his job? Making sure the rest of the civilians are being taken care of. The bride, well.. Clint actually finds her and picks her up to walk her out to an awaiting stretcher, her friends now trailing behind.

Shun Cruz has posed:
Abandoning one of his shields, Tekkai reveals he's more than just a tank. At least until he's nearly buzzed by Witchblade.

The sight and the sheer magical presence has him dropping to a knee and crouching behind his remaining shield. "Wha--?" He says as he makes a grimace and looking briefly at the Witchblade as it goes about it's business.

Staying in his kneeling position, he brings his free hand out and proceeds to produce a fiery whip to begin knocking guns out and smacking those stupid enough to stay around upside the head. Fortunately it's not real fire! Just a really good blunt object that's gonna leave them on the ground.

By the time he's done, Tekkai is left looking around.

"Kami, it's like that big guy in Bushwick all over again." He says out loud, shaking his head as he keeps looking to be sure there is no hostiles left. The glowing yellow eyes searching, scanning all around the literal battlefield.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty is far from healed up but he opens up another Door to the Darkforce and then steps back so that she can enter, using her Light to keep her safe. Time to go hunting, and he had little regard for FDNY and none whatsoever to the NYPD.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Luca cracks just one blue eye open once Witchblade's done his thing. He's not entirely certain what happened. One second he was trying to reason with someone that had a gun to his head, next he's waking up in the alley where he knows that happened, but now there's a giant hole... what the fuck. Oh, yeah, there's ... Oh, shit, there's... Sara - kind of. Before it can turn into 'a what the fuck were you thinking, Luca' moment, he asks, "You seen Clint?" The question's answered by, well, Clint. He cracks a toothy smile up at the archer. "Never a dull, huh?" A beat before he calls out, "You're dripping there, bro!" From that arm.

Luca pushes himself to his feet and tells Sara, "Later..." She can give him Hell later. There's still work to be done here.

Dagger will find one of the men she's looking for - he's cowering in an alley, already having felt the sting of her light blades once. He's the one responsible for the balls of light. The other? He's long gone, lost in the winds, living to fight another day - unless the duo decide to track further.

The rest of them? They do, they know they've lost - the battle at least, the war is far from over.

Silence falls over the streets. After so much chaos and so much noise, it's almost as if the area was sucked into a vacuum. It's brief, but the next burst of noise is a sweet sound, it's the sound of the NYPD and the FDNY paramedics finally rushing in after the scene being cleared as 'safe to proceed'.

Tonight in Hell's Kitchen, people will lock their doors and say a silent prayer that tomorrow doesn't bring more of the same. But, at least for one night, they can sleep soundly.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
With Luca up and moving, Sara gives him a look... she says nothing, but the looks speaks louder than words. "Later..." she finally offers then stands up, looking toward Clint.

"He'll be fine, I'll take care of that arm once this is over," she calls out as she is carrying the bridesmaid away. Just like Luca and Clint both to take the lumps and just keep going, good thing for them there is a healer available.

"You're right, more to do," she then states and lifts herself into the air.

Flying out of the alley her eyes search out the heroes who helped out, those people who had risked their lives to protect others. Tekkai is noted, but then Witchblade had felt him the minute they arrived. Flying over to him she settles on the ground long enough to offer him a card and say, "Give me a call some time, I think we should talk." then she is off again.

Spotting Cloak and Dagger, she cants her head slightly then heads toward them. If permitted, she will offer healing to them, if they refuse... she'll move on to find Clint and take care of his wound.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger is on the man cowering in the alley in an instant, a knee in his back to topple him over and firm hands keeping his face pressed into the ground. "Stay down," she spits out as she hears the sirens coming closer. Her face is partially covered, so it's hard to see exactly how resigned she is to the idea that she'll be interviewed by New York's finest tonight. She hopes Cloak stays inside the Darkforce. He's already had to deal with cops once recently, no need to make that worse.

The woman with metal running across her body touches down and offers healing, but Dagger shakes her head. "I don't need it - just scrapes and bruises, mostly - but Cloak... if he's willing to let you, it's probably a good idea." She tilts her head sideways, eyes drifting over the empty space beside her. "If he says no, I suggest you take this one with you." Her hands press into the guy's skull, grinding his cheek and nose against the concrete. "He's got lights that can burn a whole human in a few seconds, so the regular cops won't be able to handle him." And if the guy isn't her problem anymore, she and Ty can safely leave without NYPD the wiser.

She wonders what she can offer as a trade to Warren to get Cloak some sort of protection too. Whatever it is, it'll be worth it.

Shun Cruz has posed:
Seeing that things are well in hand, Tekkai turns to start heading away. He knows the other heroes have it in hand.

So Tekkai moves to wander off. Cops and all bring attention, and the teen's a bit tired from using all that magic among other things. Not to mention he needs to find a good spot so he can tell his parents that he is fine and just running late.

Sighing, he rubs the back of his head as he realizes that he needs to find a quicker way to get to his place now. Stupid no driver license bit.

Oh, and no car or anything either.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak, for his part, glares at the Witchblade and steps back into the Dark. He can hear the sirens, knows they're about to be swimming in cops. And Ty and cops are not a good combination. Especially not now, when he's hurt. The life he stripped from the gangbangers will go a long way towards rejuvenating him, plus Tandy's Light whenever she recharges enough. "No thank you." he says roughly before opening another portal into the boiling darkness, holding it open for Dagger to step into.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
It'll take a while to get everything sorted, all the injured tended to - bangers and innocents alike. To a trained medic, there's no distinction when it comes to saving a life.

But once it's all finished, Luca takes one longing look in the direction of Josie's. She's definitely closed the place down for the night with all this chaos happening, Josie likes her new windows, after all.

His last act of the evening is to open the trunk of his car and hurl a bag in Sara/Witchblade's direction. Well, not hurl, he really just tosses. It's his 'Sara go bag' with clothes inside. I'm... ready to go home." Since, ya know, he can't escape the lecture that's to come by going back for that drink he missed out on.

Why'd the Hell is his car here when he lives five blocks away? He just came off a 24 hour shift and stopped on the way home, that's why.

With a glance around at the damage done to people and property, he focuses his attention on Sara again. "This is only going to get worse until one of the three takes the flag at the top of the mountain."

Buckle up, it's going to be a fun ride.