4384/Toy Soldiers and Tv Stars

Toy Soldiers and Tv Stars
Date of Scene:	12 December 2020
Location:	Financial District
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Jethro Glass, Alyx Vance

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Jethro Glass has posed:
     It's the lunch rush in the midst of the big city, and folks are rushing about the city of New York on their own business. There's a sense of controlled chaos in the air that adds to a sense of mania in all directions that only builds with each and every passing moment.

     It's not hard to feel it in the air building ebbing and flowing breathing in the very air. This was the lifeblood of the city. Cars jammed in the carotid arteries of the city from one bumper to the next their speed measured not in miles per hour but hours per meter.

     Horns blared blurring one into the next a musical miasma mixing into one sound a cacophony of indistinct blares and shouting, while everyone hurries up to get no where fast.

     The radio plays some forgotten song. A washed up temptress gunned down before her time talking about love for a man who's done nothing by her but wrong. This was the life of the city something millions of people fought and strive for every day of their lives.

     Kirby payday loans was a low end place in the financial district. A low end credit union for people that wanted a face they could trust renting out the lobby of a much bigger skyscraper in the midst of the financial district. Security wasn't the best but then again they didn't tend to the wealthiest clientele. Still they had their niche, and it kept the lights on.

     The walls were done up with odd hero memorabilia. Sort of thing that was collected over the years and slap dashed together from low end auctions. Names no one would probably recognize come ten years like 'Bombast'. Still the place had a style, and the place had customers, and right now the place had a young man with a gun holding up the teller with an m1911.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    Three banks had already rejected her. One even laughed in her face as Alyx stood there, at the teller's window, and asked to open a checking account -- and no, she didn't have an ID or birth certificate or really anything that could verify who she was. Not that who she was would've helped things at all. In a final bid to get her to leave, the teller suggested that Alyx Vance try Kirby's place -- they might have something for her. And so, this is how the famous-on-Mojo-World Alyx Vance would find herself walking in and in the middle of a hold up!

    Because it was a one-man job and there was no one working the door, Alyx walks in like it's just another Saturday. She was ready for a fight -- one with a teller who needed to be convinced to set her up with an account without any documentation. A shootout was not expected, though it might be easier!

    "Woah..." Alyx whispers as she notices the young man and his M1911. She immediately ducks down and finds cover behind a trash can. From the look of it, she's using it as strategic cover and isn't cowering. A gloved hand lowers and lingers at the custom P14-45 tucked into a holster. It was amazing she could walk down the street like that...

Jethro Glass has posed:
     "Everything." The young man repeats thrusting the gun forward again held sideways in his hand. Eyes down on the tellar as he puffed himself up tall barely managing to notice Alyx entering the building save for that little chime of the bell on the way in.

     He ducks behind the nearby trash bin for cover holding the gun around the side. His pointer finger is held down in front of the shell ejection port in such a way that the second he pulls that trigger he's in for a nasty surprise as finger meets slide assembly.

     "Don't think for a second you can stop filling that bag from the register," He shouts over as he peaks from behind his cover peaking back out half expecting a hail of gunfire to great him. The man standing in at just over 5"4' tall and built like a house of twigs dressed in a thick winter coat.

     He holds his gun up in the air and fires off a set of three rounds into the ceiling. Bits of debris collapse down into the ground around him a splattering of red onto the simple tiled floor as the slide manages to clip the webbing of his hand. Facial muscles tense on the young mans expression as he seems shocked in pain that simply firing his own weapon could injure himself. But he shouts louder. "No body moves no body gets hurt!"

Alyx Vance has posed:
    She knows a thing or two about firearms and pistols are her specialty, so Alyx couldn't help but see the robber's index finger pressed against the slide assembly. A smile creeps across her face. "Ah, that takes me back..." she whispers to herself -- she was, what, five or six when her dad taught her to shoot? She knew what was coming and it was only a matter of time.

    The three shots into the ceiling are counted by Alyx -- a nice habit to have. Three shots closer to an empty magazine. Her own pistol remains in her holster, however. This guy seemed new, stupid, but she wasn't. Nope. Instead of reaching for her gun, Alyx extends a hand towards one of the nameplates used by the tellers. She gives her hand a quick flick in the air. The Gravity Gloves cause the nameplate to soar through the air and land with a surprising amount of noise. Maybe it would startle the guy to take a few more shots?

Jethro Glass has posed:
     Alyx manages to grab the guys attention with her little stun around in the direction of the flying nameplate. He twists on the spot leveling his pistol that direction have adjusted his grip on the pistol so he won't get bit again. Just as he levels the pistol once more the sound of metal on concrete echoes out softly near the main door.

     It's a low sound at first a soft rustling clatter clatter clatter that builds as it gets closer. The outline of a figure rests on the doorway for a long moment before the door slams open with a bootprint on the glass sending the door slamming open to one side breaking the glass in the door itself.

     In through the door steps a man with a thick spiral mustache and goatee built down to a point. He's got the eyes of a killer, and is dressed in all brown cotton garb. Everything the man owns is carried on his person in a large backpack and he smells like the wilds dressed as an old western hunter.

     The kid fires a volley of shots going wild expecting the man to dive for cover but he stands stock still on the spot unmoving causing the shots expecting a moving target instead to go wide into the wall.

     Jethro's pipe smoulders giving off a low cloud of smoke that rolls up into the air of the lobby a pause filling the air as the young man with his modified pistol gets a bit more nervous stepping forward with that gun drawn.

     "What the fu-" Is all he manages to get out before the stranger twitches that slightest motion the gun exploding out of his hand clattering to the ground and causing him to scream in pain as a bullet manages to hit just right to knock it clean out of his grasp.

     The young man falls to the ground in pain as a second shot lands right through his boot just barely missing his foot sending him off balance and down onto his face breaking his nose in the process.

     In an instant the situation seems to have been diffused, thick white smoke rolling off the strangers hip from a walker service pistol still left inside of his holster as he stands in the doorway not having made his move.

     He stands stoically and resolute. As a blue painted toy robot falls from a ceiling tile and conks him on the head with a bit of ceiling tile before bounding off with a thud and smacking into the floor about knocking him over.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    Alyx counts the nervous shots in her head, predicting when the amateur thief would be empty. But then... two more shots from a different direction. A slightly different sound. The young woman slowly peers her head out from behind the trash can, pulls it back after she gets a look, and then pokes out again. Huh.

    "Nice shooting..." Alyx calls out, slowly rising to her feet and moving out from behind cover. She never bothered unholstering her own iron, but there it is in its proud spot at her thigh.

    "Look out!" Alyx exclaims, two arms extended towards the stoic stranger as the robot comes clattering down. "Jeez, are you okay?" She takes a couple steps in his direction and then stops. Wait. Cowboy vibes are high. Alyx turns her head, almost on a swivel, as she looks around at her surroundings. Was this... Was this a Mojo show?

Jethro Glass has posed:
     Jethro rubs the back of his head reaching down to grab that little blue robot. It kicks its arms and legs holding on its back a pack filled with copper wire. It's got little claws in its hands one for cutting wire the other for grabbing and placing into its pack.

     He turns the thing round in his hand for a moment before speaking in a gruff voice. "Not enough to cock my hat, but close." His voice is smooth as a gravel road paved with broken glass as the little robot kicks its arms and legs trying to get out of his hands. He looks back up to the hole in the ceiling where the thing had come from before just tossing it towards the trash can pulling out a length of rope from his pack.

     Behind him the glass door slowly swings back shut now with a boot print and spider webs in the glass as the teller slowly rises up from behind his desk at the sound of the thud. This place isn't exactly bustling with customers even at the best of times, and now is far from any different during the midst of a foiled robbery.

     Unseen by Jethro at the least another of the small toy robots leans its way out from the tile in the ceiling looking down into the lobby with a claw full of copper wires its beedy little camera lenses looking down bellow as its friend flails its arms in the trash bin.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Alright..." Alyx replies with a shrug. If he says he's good, he's good. She won't argue it. She brings a hand up to tuck an errant lock of hair behind her ear. "So...uh, what's your deal, then? You... some kind of..." She's about to say actor but doesn't. There's a pause. "...Interesting outfit you have," she says instead.

    "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" she asks, taking a few more steps towards the desperado. "I mean, I don't meet many people who shoot just as good as I do." The business with the robot, high above, checking on its friend goes unnoticed.

Jethro Glass has posed:
     "Musician." Jethro replies after a fashion in that gravely voice, as he proceeds to hog tie the poor robber right on the spot. Hands are bound to ankles and vice versa the young man moaning about the pain of how tight he's bound only serving for the gunman to bring the rope a bit tighter on the poor crook.

     Up above a few of the lights flicker before going out but it's nothing too noticeable. Just a little bit of the crazyness of someone putting a large supply of bullet holes in their perfectly good ceiling and walls.

     Jethro takes the time to do something suprising. He collects all of his spent lead from the ground and starts collecting bullets from the downed goon. "Hey those are mine." The downed figure protests.

     "Nope" The only reply as Jethro busts open the bullets dumping the powder onto the ground and exclusively collecting the lead projectiles, AND firing caps for himself.

     He looks back over towards Alyx placing a single boot back onto the hog tied goon. "Self taught, suppose growin on the farm didn't have mucha do cept shoot and care for the farm."

Alyx Vance has posed:
    Uh huh. Musician. Sure. Alyx folds her arms across her chest and watches the man start to collect the lead and bullets and dump the powder on the ground. "...Times are tough, I guess," Alyx comments, her eyebrows rising in amusement. "Must be tough being a musician."

    "...And a farmer..." she adds after Jethro comments about the farm. She squints at the man, now unsure of what to believe. A musician farmer with a crack shot. And a piece of cloth hiding his eyes.

    "Well, thanks for putting a stop to this," she adds, bringing a palm to her chest. "I'm Alyx -- I /was/ here to see about getting a checking account, but it's seeming like they can't handle their own security."

Jethro Glass has posed:
     "Farm bullets these days." Jethro Finishes collecting the brass and lead putting it away in a pouch. "I plant lead and out pop fresh rounds ready for harvest." He gives a smile of slightly yellowed teeth her direction and a wink of the eye as he stands back steady.

     The teller is struggling with his phone which doesn't seem to be doing much of anything as that little toy robot lifts itself out of the trash bin finally and starts slowly waddling its way back towards the door. Its backpack is filled with copper wire and pipes.

     "One Hit Wonder at your service." Jethro offers.

     "Uh normally we have a fairly state of the art system here." The teller chimes in. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he peaks over the side of the counter. "For some reason we're just not getting any sort of signal on a lot of our electronics. Actually almost anything really." He wrinkles his nose a slight bit. "It's the strangest thing."

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Alyx Vance at yours," she replies, giving a mock salute with one of her hands. Her arms return to a folded position out in front of her chest. "What are you carrying?" she asks, shrugging her shoulders as her eyes fall to One Hit Wonder's gunbelt. "I use a modified P14-45, myself, but..." She looks down at the gun clinging to her waist. "...I've modified it so much that it might as well just be named after me."

    Alyx slowly starts walking around in a circle, considering the security posture of this so-called bank while her new acquaintance continus his harvest. And there goes the robot...

    "Well, there's your problem," Alyx wryly replies to the teller, pointing an index finger at the little robot and its open backpack of copper wire. She takes a few steps towards the toy robot and reaches down to try and take the backpack.

Jethro Glass has posed:
     "Standard Colt Walker." OHW comments with a bit of a nod of his head pulling out the simplistic service pistol. He flicks it to one side flicking through the process of loading in fresh wadding, led and black powder then flicks her back shut and right back into her holster. "Main bell is a little lady by the name of Lucille, lovely Whiteworth Hexagonal rifle."

     He adjusts the strap on his backpack which seems to carry everything the man owns in one easy to reach place. Making sure he can complete his lovely little harvest. "Still gotta pick her back up from a local Spiderweb round these parts."

     The bank has Cameras, and motion sensors as well as panic buttons at key locations abound and it's clear that there should have been plenty of ways for the tellers to get in contact with the outside world even considering the simple fact that this bank only has one teller and the rest of the bank is automated.

     The tiny tinker toy seems simple enough but the moment Alyx attempts to remove the backpack from the toy robot it sends out a small burst of anti-gravity repulsing everything around it with a small burst of energy using the equivalent of 189 Pounds Per Square Inch of pressure for just a split second.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Lucille, huh? Well, mine started as a P14-45, but I've engineered a number of modifications that, in my opinion, make her one of a kind. A ten-round reservoir allows a clip to be dumped and then another one put in there -- gives her an extra ten rounds. Plus, a smart sight to highlight weak points. And a laser-pointer, naturally." She sounds proud. But then, something distracts...

    "A spiderweb?" Alyx questions, her eyes darting up to watch Jethro as she moves to wriggle the backpack free from the robot. She sounds interested in that detail, specifically. "What kind of spiderweb?"

    She wouldn't have much time to elaborate before Alyx suddenly flies backwards, away from the robot, and crashes into the opposite wall. "Ooof!" she exclaims, purely as a reaction. "What the hell..." Alyx just sits there, for the moment, staring at the robot. She blinks.

Jethro Glass has posed:
     The tiny tinker toy tumbles to the tile teetering. It uses its lesser control of gravity to force itself back upright with its little backpack and resumes its waddle back towards the doorway.

     Jethro, not exactly one to stand on providence. So anyway he started blasting. Smoke fires up from his hip into the air as a round blasts off the bots little camera lense causing it to spin round and round before tumbling to the ground.

     Down from the ceiling as its bag hits the ground more of the tinker toys begin to drop from the ceiling. One then two, then three, four, five, six, seven. All of them look incredibly simple on the surface level just dropping into place and attempt to collect the scrap copper from their downed comrade as some of their group begin tearing appart their comrade for component parts!

     "Alyx, looks like we'll have time for jawin later. We got automatons to worry bout!"

Alyx Vance has posed:
    "Yeah.... I see em!" Alyx calls out, springing to her feet as she does. Her right hand drops to her hip and comes up holding her custom pistol. Her left hand, however, reaches out in order to invisibly yank at the downed robot so that its comrades cannot loot the cabling.

    Without an immediate concern, Alyx brings her empty hand up to steady her pistol, pressing the bottom of the grip into her palm. Two rounds are put into one of the scavenging toy robots -- pop, pop, double-tap. She does it with ease and comfort, as though many shots had been fired from that pistol.

Jethro Glass has posed:
     The Yank is all that it takes to get that bag out of the way causing a grinding of claw on tiled floor as the claw misses the bag hitting empty floor instead from one of the tinker toys. The bag landing in her hand feels heavy, far too heavy for the simply robot to have carried on its own. It's easily 80 lbs of cobber wiring and tubing on the back of what had been the 2 lb toy robot.

     The Other robots are still focused on rapidly disassembling their tin friend for every part they can get tearing apart the shiny white orb at his center and stuffing it into their bags for transport there are a fair few of them but man do they make a nice BANG when shot.

     The two rounds pass through with ease the thin tin of the robots unable to hold up under the might of a pair of well placed bullets. The aim rings true managing to send the core critical into a small implosion that sucks parts back in on itself leaving nothing behind of the robot in question but the large backpack it had been wearing filled to the brim with copper.

     Jethro whips out his Colt walker into his hand and flicks it around his hand spinning it into place from left to right as he moves it in one fluid motion he fans the hammer each strike down of the hammer sending fourth one solitary bullet from the chamber ignighting the powder into a large cloud of smoke that billows up into the air blanketing the area in front of him and causing something of a smoke screen of cover.

     Each shot rings true causing 6 little tinker toys to implode on impact leaving behind their bags and at the end of his swing his revolvers cylinder hangs open ready for a packing of fresh wad and powder.

Alyx Vance has posed:
    The eighty-pound bag of cables flies at Alyx, who expects to just catch it with relative ease -- however, it's eighty pounds! When the bag reaches her hand, she places her palm out to catch it, but she struggles against its weight. She lets it go, immediately, to fall loudly to the bank's floor. "Jeez!" she exclaims, looking down at it and then her gloves. Normally they didn't work on things that heavy, but the gravity anomalies from the robots gave Alyx a nice assist.

    When Jethro fans the hammer to send the little toys off to robot hell, Alyx puts her empty hand on her hip and simply watches. "Fancy moves..." she admits, now noting that the bank is decidedly free of the small, metalic menaces. Lots of backpacks, though.

    With that settled, Alyx looks over at the cowering teller. "What are the chances you make bank accounts for people without ID, birth certificates, social security numbers... proof of address...Really, any of that?" she calls over. The teller shakes his head, no, which earns a sigh from Alyx Vance. She holsters her pistol and gives one of the havy backpacks a nudge with her foot.

    "Can't blame a girl for trying," she adds.

Jethro Glass has posed:
     "Whatcha needin a bank fer?" Jethro offers taking his time to reload that revolver of his before going looking for the lead that's nowhere to be found. Boy does he look for it. He looks high, and he looks low on the floor of that bank where the robots had been.

     Finally he grumbles to himself slaming his pistol back down into his holster. Under his breath mentioning. "Where in tarnation the things go?" Trying to lift the bag only to realize just how heavy they are and giving a bit of a grunt at the weight of them.

     "Don't they letcha spend money without one?"

Alyx Vance has posed:
    Hmm. "Well, they could be anywhere," Alyx agrees with a shrug. She doesn't seem concerned. "...I mean, they packed quite a punch -- seems to be gravity-based or maybe zero-point..." The girl considers that detail for a moment but lets it pass.

    "They let you spend money, yeah, but... people don't seem to be too trusting of people without bank accounts. Kind of makes things difficult, you know?" ... "Actually, it sounds like maybe you don't?"

Jethro Glass has posed:
     "Don't understand a word you just said." Jethro says plain and simple as he looks over her direction checking his holster on the spot looking back over towards the downed bags all over the place. "Never trusted the banks." He adds after a long pause. "Too easy to rob one." He chuckles to himself shaking his head looking over towards the teller. "No ofense, just opinein."