3365/Back streets of Bushwick: Night 1

Back streets of Bushwick: Night 1
Date of Scene:	14 September 2020
Location:	Bushwick <Mutant Town>
Synopsis:	Three men rob a mutant, but they're caught on film by Alanis and stopped by Cecily's rubber bullets.
Cast of Characters:	Alanis Bezanero, Cecily Winters

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Alanis Bezanero has posed:
Street parties had become a staple of Bushwick, at least on the main streets. Ever since the people were freed from the bottle, the Titans and Avengers restored them, and finally Magneto reconnected them to the city. They had a lot to celebrate and the largely mutant population were transforming their small section of New York City in to the new New Orleans.

But with celebration and lights and fireworks and music also came the mask of crime, hidden in the allies and darker streets of Bushwick. There had always been people out to get mutants and they hated this renewed solidarity that had burgeoned since their return.

Alanis was done filming the celebrations for the night. She had put up four videos straight on youtube of the street food and musical atmosphere of the place, interviewing survivors of which she was one. But now she wanted to show people more of her adopted home.

She still had her camera out as she was walking through the alleys and into the back streets. The sound of a struggle not too far away, she picked up her pace, each foot fall echoing against the brickworks on either side of her. Rounding the corner, there they were, a group of four men.

"No please, it's not worth anything, it's my university assignment!," pleaded one of them. The other three had snatched away his backpack, a laptop, phone, and a couriers tube at least a metre long. "Evolutionary mistakes don't need degrees," the tallest of the three assailants says and kicks him in the gut.

"Hey!.. HEY!," Alanis says as her anger starts to grow, "Shit heads. You're on camera." They all look up and see Alanis. The biggest of the group turns to walk toward her, but the other two grab his arms and urge him to leave. The three start to run down the street away from their crime.

Cecily Winters has posed:
    Cecily is.. usually far away from a good party. But tonight, and in the recent days, she's been a bit of a fixture. She's a meta herself, and with the restoration of the city, and has a happy time trying out the street party food as well as just overall keeping an eye on things. Of course, she doesn't linger too long, and usually finds her way up to the nearby rooftops. She's better off seen and not heard, and then beyond that, neither seen nor heard at all.

    There's a duffel bag slung across her shoulder, and in her hands, some street food. She's got some skewered, sauced meat, and is watching the lights and sounds. Then she hears it. The shout. She was going to go back on patrol after eating, but thugs don't like to wait. She sighs, laments a half-meal, and puts the skewer down on an AC unit in its tray and vows to return to it.

    She arrives at the alley, with a bird's eye view, and purses her lips, frowning at the scene. It's clear who the victim is, the man reaching for the three fleeing, and the camera-carrying Alanis. Well this is getting interesting. The fox's tails wave slowly, and she kneels down, dropping her bag and opening it up, assembling what looks to be a marksman rifle in a few pieces. "Rubber bullets... check... suppressor... check..." She's quick, and has the rifle's bipod settled on the upper edge of the roof, taking aim.

Alanis Bezanero has posed:
Alanis lets out a huff and runs up to the guy on the ground. She offers him a hand up and leans back to get more leverage. He hugs his sides and wipes at the tears streaming down his cheeks, "Thanks. They took my assignment. I've been working on it for months.."

But instead of saying /I'm sure your professor will understand/, Alanis films him and then pats his arm, "Stay here. I'll be right back." She's seen him around the neighbourhood. She's fairly sure he's a mutant too, but that's besides the point. These muggings have become more common of late and.. she wants a good story.

Shaky cam footage of the ground as she starts to sprint after them down the road, "Hey shit bags, you forgot your close up." They're far enough away now that the bigger guy in the trio grrs softly and turns around, "Mutant scum. You want some? I'll give you some." He pulls his sleeves up on his shirt and lifts his fists.

Alanis has been in plenty of scraps before, but this guy seems bit and looking for it. She holds up her camera as if it were a shield. "That's right people of Earth, take a look at the bigotry on this one."

Cecily Winters has posed:
    Perfect. She's gotten them to stop. This makes it easier for the fox. She's an excellent marksman but hitting a moving target is marginally more difficult for her. She glances at Alanis, out of her scope, and smiles. She's brave, and probably has something going on. So Cecily leaves the big guy for her, and focuses on one of the lackeys.

    The distance is accounted for, the bullet drop for a non-metal projectile, and of course, exactly where she wants to aim for. "Better a broken leg than a bodybag..." she muses to herself, and pulls the trigger.

    The muted *THOOMPF* of a .308 round shot from the roof might be heard, the rubberized round slamming right into the calf of one of those lackeys. A leg cramp is a hell of a son of a bitch and this is amplified exponentially. What's louder is the cycling of the bolt, Cecily deliberately ensuring that the ratcheting-clunk is extra pronounced. The light even catches the brass as it sails off, only to be snatched by a hand.

    "Best listen to the lady and put the goods down gently!" she calls out.

Alanis Bezanero has posed:
Alanis is not sure she wants to face off against this guy. THOOMPF!.. one of the guys crumples on the leg and cries out in pain. "Holy shit, shooter!" The big guy and the third guy duck behind a car leaving their friend in the middle of the street. Alanis dives over a short brick wall in to someones front yard garden.

The words barely hit her ears as she feel her heart racing. The plants, touching her, itching. She can feel her skin crawling, they aren't just there. She rolls away from the bush and breaths harder. The grass, it wants her. She also doesn't want to get shot. She dives on to a cement driveway behind a car too and is positively sweating rivers.

"It's fine.. it's fine.. it's fine," she murmurs to herself over and over again. Even as she hides, she is positive the grass is trying to grow toward her, her eyes darting back and forth trying to catch it in the act. "Leave me alone," she whispers at it.

The guy in the street continues to cry out in pain and drops the backpack with laptop on the pavement. "I've been shot AahhH!," he yells. The big guy behind the car yells out, "You psychopaths. Screw you!"

Cecily Winters has posed:
    Cecily moves towards the edge, standing up slowly, resting the rifle up against her shoulder. The woman tsks softly, looking quite professional. White blouse with the sleeves rolled up, black vest over it, and the pencil skirt. Like a bodyguard, or an assassin. She adjusts her glasses and sighs. The trio of white fox tails and pair of vulpine ears atop her head mark her pretty clearly as some sort of metahuman, though.

    "Psychopaths? Says the guys mugging an innocent man? Surely you jest. I'm a licensed security consultant, and I'm here doing my job," she states loudly, bringing the butt of the rifle back to her shoulder, steadying it.

    "Now do keep your heads down, if you want to be awake when they come to take you away..." she says, though there's a bit of a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth, as if she'd be more than happy to fire off a few more rounds. "Your friend isn't bleeding but that's easy to fix..." Alanis' plight, however, goes unnoticed for now, as there's three hostile targets to keep a bead on.

Alanis Bezanero has posed:
The third man waves to the downed guy, "Come on dude, get to cover." He half gets up and starts to limp toward his group. The big guy says, "He's a mutant, he deserves everything coming his way." He stays under cover though and calls their driver to come get them. A few streets away their fourth starts the engine of the car.

Alanis wipes her brow and takes a deep breath, then lifts up her camera and realises she's not the one being shot at. She puts the camera back on the scene, "There's a sniper on the roof, she says she's a security consultant. This is intense people," she whispers to the camera, then calls out, "Drop the tube, it's a university assignment asshole." She peeks her head up and then slowly walks out on to the street and gathers up the dropped backpack.

Cecily Winters has posed:
    *THOOMPF!* another shot, the recoil not even making the fox flinch. Another rubber round slamming into that dense muscle mass, the other calf this time. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay down, sir," she calls out in her most authoritative voice. She sounds like she might've been a cop in another life. Cecily sighs, cycling the bolt again, catching the brass and pocketing it.

    There's a glance as Alanis runs out to snag the bag but it's even more obvious now that she's not aiming for the girl. "Well then, if you're going to be engaging in assault with intent to rob, then you deserve everything coming your way as well," she shouts, keeping attention on herself.

Alanis Bezanero has posed:
A car approaches down the street. It does a burn out and turns perpendicular to the road to provide cover from the shooter. The two standing make a rushed movement across to the car as Alanis quickly retreats back to the car she had been hiding behind. The driver is on the far side, making line of sight impossible from the roof top.

The voices of the guys can be heard as they open passenger doors, "Get the shot gun." They are arming themselves. Alanis hears this too and rests her camera on top of the car near her and dials 911. At least the local police are starting to get on board with the residents of Mutant Town.

There is a moment of silence, then the big guy pops up and shoots the shotgun blindly up toward where Cecily was standing.

Cecily Winters has posed:
    Cecily sees the car and frowns. She's in the process of pulling out the magazine in her rifle and ejecting the current round when she notices them arming themselves. Her ears go flat against her head and she sighs, "...hard way it is..." she mumbles, quick hands slotting the round back into its mag, a subtle blue stripe on it. She replaces it in the gun with one containing a red stripe instead. The bolt is locked into place the moment the shotgun fires.

    Her arm comes up, and her face is shielded from the spray of pellets that do manage to get up to her, and there's angry red holes in her forearm now that drip crimson. "That's a felony, boys...! Assault with a deadly weapon?" she calls out, a little edge in her voice now. "And I doubt you've got a permit for that thing!"

    Ever the consummate profesional, she takes aim again. This time, a non-rubber live round blows out one of the front tires on the car. "If you make me have to throw out another blouse from bloodstains, I'm coming down there!" she threatens. Someday she'll learn to not wear white while on duty.

Alanis Bezanero has posed:
Alanis says in to her phone, "Three guys in Bushwick.. yes.. they have a shotgun. Holy shit they just shot at her!" She stares in wonder at the sight of Cecily, "She's like.. a lady punisher or something. They mugged a university student. Yes... yes sir that's right." She hangs up and grabs her camera and advances, pressing her back up against a tree. This makes her skin start to crawl again and she frowns, "Don't even think about it you stupid tree."

The guys scramble in to the car even as one of the tires blows out. "FLOOR IT!." Another wild shot toward Cecily as the car spins out and sparks fly from the flattened tire, rims against asphalt. They speed off down the road and the car careers off to the side and hides a fire hydrant. Water starts to jet in to the sky. The horn of the car starts to howl loudly in to the night, loud enough that party goers a few streets away can even hear it. In the distance the sound of sirens can be heard too.

Cecily Winters has posed:
    The fox winces when the car tears off, closing her eyes. She knows this is a foregone conclusion, and isn't even surprised when it smashes into a fire hydrant. "They JUST fixed all that stuff you idiots!" she calls out, losing some of her professional veneer. She lifts the rifle, not at all caring that she's leaving red droplets at her feet, and fires off another lethal round, taking out one of the back tires, too. Again, she pulls the bolt, and switches back to the rubber rounds.

    "Give the kid back his homework!" she calls out again, wincing as the loudness of the horn meets her sensitive ears. At least someone called the cops, she would've had to put the gun down to do it. Another glance at Alanis, and she gives the girl a sort of sideways smile, but it's a thankful one. Even if she has no idea what the girl is dealing with when it comes to those plants around her.

Alanis Bezanero has posed:
One of the thugs fumbles with the window button and it slides down slowly. He tosses out the tube and the gun. Alanis looks around the corner of the tree with her camera and sees this. She slowly creeps back out on to the street and kicks away the shotgun, then picks up the tube and starts running for it.

Alanis does not want to be here when the police turn up. Even if they are warming up to mutants they certainly aren't warming up to her. The red and blue lights and sirens round the corner to the street even as party goers start to emerge from alley ways attached to the street to see what's going on. The police pull up near the car and get out with guns pointed, "GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

Alanis leaves the scene behind, the police will deal with it now. She returns to the guy she has seen around the neighbourhood. He's propped himself up against the wall and has a black eye, a split lip, and is still hugging his side. She silently offers him the backpack with laptop, the phone probably in there too, and the tube.

"Thanks," he says with a small smile. Alanis says, "Don't thank me. Thank the lady punisher up on the roof tops. She shot at the jerks who did this to you. Like I say on my video channel, we must fight back. You should fight back too. Learn martial arts or buy a taser. Something, anything."

Cecily Winters has posed:
    The 'guardian angel' turns away from the scene when the squad car pulls up. She might get a phone call later. She might not. There's two bullets on the scene, buried in the tires. The rubber rounds wouldn't be too hard to find, if forensics came out and gave a shit. Cecily's concern right now? Packing up her gun. She returns to her bag and dismantles it, stowing it in her duffle bag. And then heads back to the AC unit she was originally at.

    "Ah thank the goddess..." she sighs, snatching up her half-eaten meat skewer. It hadn't been thefted by a bird or something, yet. As she bites into it, she makes her way to the other edge overlooking the alley, peeking down at Alanis and the victim. IF they notice her, that's fine. But she's not going to draw attention to herself. She licks the sauce from her lips, mouth curved into a small, gentle smile. The buckshot wounds on her arm have already stopped bleeding, though the proof of them remains and will for the rest of the night.