4430/Big Mouths All Around

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Big Mouths All Around
Date of Scene: 18 December 2020
Location: Subway Car
Synopsis: Toad robs a subway and gets his bravado stolen by Joker.
Cast of Characters: Mortimer Toynbee, The Joker




Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Sparks flew from the subway's wheels as the emergency brakes applied, people screaming at the hard sudden stop somewhere in the middle of the tunnels with only concrete walls on either side and no sign of anything more either in front of or behind the train. It was at the front though where the real fun was happening as a man emerges from the conductor's compartment, smashed glass and one unconscious conductor laying on the floor behind him.

"Hallo folks! No need to panic now there is, ole Toad here just doing some charity work for the holidays! C'mon now luv, you know how this works, valuables in the sack if you please, that's right help out the good lil boys and girls," taunts Toad as he makes his way through the car. For a bit nobody messes with him since aside from the sack in one hand, he also happens to hold a gun in the other, but as he nears one young fit man the fellow bolts at him trying to knock him down. Toad seemingly waiting for just such a moment, there's a renewed series of screams as his tongue lashes out around the man's throat before he touches him and slams him to the ceiling of the car before letting him fall to the ground. "And THAT is what the bad lil boys and girls get! C'mon now, hurry it up ye lot, I've got a lot of cars to get through!" Toad cackling as he makes ready to head into the next compartment.

The Joker has posed:
A lean man in an old fashioned suit sits on the subway, listening to a set of headphones. He taps a gloved hand on his knee every few seconds; the man may be listening to music, or something rhythmic, but his tapping is strangely arrhythmic, as though the beat is just subtly off. Maybe he's just square.

The car stops. The man falls over, eyes wide, as the small device in his lap shatters on the ground. People are making noise, and it's all a little confusing. The perfectly normal looking man looks up at the terrible Toad.

"Oh dear." He says, even as two more men lounging by the subway exit inconspicuously start putting jackets on. The very normal looking man...well the chin's a little big, but he screams 'everyday slob' looks up at Toad. "You're one of those Evil Mutants I've seen on the television, aren't you? I mean, not to be prejudiced, but that was the name of your organization, wasn't it?"

"How frightening." The thin man says, getting up in spite of Toad's orders. "Are you the Blob? I heard he used to be in the circus."

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
"I'm sorry, tweren't you listening? I said I'm in a hurry, not here to chit-chat with some skinny wanker about me running crew. Now put your wallet in the bag in the next 10 seconds or the next example I make for these folks isn't gonna wind up in the hospital like that fellow on the floor, they're gonna be sticking you on a fookin slab!" Toad's formerly genial tone gone now that someone ELSE is standing up to him.

Usually one display of mutant powers and a KOed would be hero was enough to make people back down, the fact the skinny man seemed nonplussed was disconcerting to say the least. His stomps are heavy, his boots huge for his relatively short stature as he approaches the talking fellow. Toad's wide mouth twitches in annoyance and he points the gun at the man's heart, poking at him with it as he looks up at him and starts a countdown prompting people to begin moaning and crying again, afraid of the violence that might be about to come. "10...9...8"

The Joker has posed:
"Not the Blob, then." The Thin Man says, calmly. "Circus people are a little more composed when being heckled."

The two men finish putting their uniforms on. A woman notices, and holds her mouth shut, suddenly terrified. A cape mugging is one thing, but she stumbles onto her rear end as if she'd seen something absolutely horrible.

"You'll have to forgive me, that player was a gift and I'm a little distraught." The Thin Man says, letting Toad's timer go down a little and reaching to mop his brow with his handkerchief. It removes the makeup giving him the disguise of a normal human pallor, revealing chalk white skin where the handkerchief blotted up sweat. The kind clowns wear.

Toad can probably hear the two men by the door aim their weapons at the evil mutant's back, their JOKER jackets clearly visible. He can absolutely see the most infamous smile on the planet leering back at him. "You'll have to forgive my associates. Lawrence, Bob, they're not show people. No sense of humor. Me?" The Joker grabs Toad's gun with awful speed, pressing it against his own heart. "I want to see how the countdown ends, Letterman!"

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Toad glances over his shoulder with a frown at the sound of the other two. Were more people getting up? This might turn into a proper brawl yet though he still didn't see reason to be afraid. Three normal humans against him? He'd...he'd...Toad's countdown sputters at around 4 going on 3. His face always held a sickly green pallor to it but now it's fading to an even paler tone, his big eyes gone wider still. "J-Joker? The goddamn Joker? What the hell kinda..." Toad almost, ALMOST about to ask what kind of sick joke was this and snapping his jaw shut before he does. No, don't give him an easy punchline as that. Toad has all the cards, he has the gun pointed at Joker's chest, there was no reason he should be afraid. And yet still that grin and his inner cowardice take over. Toad leaps backwards with inhuman speed and clings to the glass on the far side of the car, his gun waving between Joker and the two goons.

"Alright! Alright! You can keep your damn wallet! I'm just here to rob the rest of these folk! So, so you mind your business and I'll mind mine! You can, do whatever sick twisted things you do to people when I'm done. See? That's fair then right?" he bargains. His hand with the gun is shaking, why was it shaking? He was just a MAN he tells himself again, his massive tongue obvious as it licks at his lips which suddenly feel too dry.

The Joker has posed:
Joker's grin broadens at Toad's obvious fear. It's like he can smell it. Toad may notice that while Lawrence (the bald one) keeps the gun loosely trained on Toad, Bob (the short one with the hat) has his trained on the crowd. Someone starts to cry.

"Toad, Toad, you misunderSTAND me." Joker says, his body language entirely different now as he glides through the cramped subway car, kicking an older person who wasn't shuffling away fast enough. "I'm a fan of your work! A real engine of criminality! Everyone's so...specialized these days. I just fight for the environment, I want revenge on these five people, I'm in legitimate business, I want to kill Aquaman, I'm working for the government now, you don't see craft anymore! No one paying their dues! But you, you'll do damn near anything, won't you Toad."

"You want privacy, Mister J?" Bob asks coldly, popping a stick of gum in his mouth.

"I mean, can you get privacy in New York anymore, Bob? I hear Stark records every third word said in this festering dump. Do we want privacy, Toad?"

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Toad's own gun wavers, though it seems more often than not now to be pointing at Lawrence rather than Joker, as if afraid still of yet setting off the villain despite his apparent good mood. There was a rep there. One of unspeakable, unpredictable violence. Toad hops off the wall as Joker moves nearer to his own two men, Toad taking the opposite side, grabbing one woman with his tongue and tearing her screaming up to stand in front of him. "You stay there ya old biddy. Move and I'll shoot you and grab another," Toad hisses at her as his tongue retracts and he stares around her at the trio.

"Yea well, let all those other bastards have their big plans! I just want a few nice things and people to know to stay outta my way! Don't need to take over the world for that! Only joined the Brotherhood cause it helped ME. Don't give a damn about mutant rights for everyone else," Toad admits with a scoff, crouching down behind the woman now in his more habitual stance, legs spread wide. Toad-like. The gun wavers more, feeling safer with his human hostage between him and the rest. Lawrence didn't look like some Deadshot or Hawkeye. Toad's eyes narrow up.

"What we need privacy for? I don't wanna be alone in no room with you. I told ya once already, just lemme by, rob another car or two, be on me way. I don't care what ya do with these blighters," Toad enuncating his point by reaching up and jabbing the barrel of the gun in his human shield's back who lets out a whimper.

The Joker has posed:
Joker blinks as Toad literally uses an old woman as a human shield.

There is a palpable tension in the air; both henchmen suddenly nervous. Toad can see, with a more careful look, that Lawrence is six foot four, about two hundred pounds of sheer muscle, and has a few grenades hidden in that jacket. These are not lightly armed or incapable men.

Joker himself seems to be teasing an idea, trying to decide the flavor of something. He actually chews. And then, his lips curl back into that smile, and, "Hah, a hoo hoo hoo, hee hee heeeeeeaaaaaHaaaaaaAHHAhhooHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

It's like the laugh is being ripped out of him; is that a flash of pain, as the Clown slaps his knee? "You'd have been a KING in Gotham, Toad. Your talents are truly wasted in the dime store terrorist market. I'm not going to HURT you, you sad little man. Lawrence, Bob, collect the man's winnings. Relax, relax! No need for anyone to get hurt."

"I'm trying to hire you, Toad." Joker explains, and with a too-fast flick of his wrist, a razor-tipped business card is embedded in the subway wall just beside Toad's head. "The lead I've got, you can buy your own swamp and all the creature comforts you desire."

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Toad jerks and jitters nervously, like a rodent in a cage when there's a cat outside. He's dangerous, but he's still a damn coward and Joker's clearly got him on edge as he fidgets and flits. "What are ya, what..." he all but whines as Joker starts to laugh like that, the sound echoing off the steel walls of the subway car. Nervously he gulps, his huge throat resulting in the sound of it being loud enough everyone can hear it.

"Told ya already, I don't wanna be a damn king I just," his mouth snapping shut as the business card schwings into the wall next to him. His reflexes are fast and yet he'd barely seen it coming. The gun in his hand trembles a second longer...and then the safety on it can be heard clicking, the firearm disappearing inside his jacket. He reaches suspisciously for the card and pulls it free, glancing at the number and address, only the metal edges making it seem odd from any other run of the mill card before pocketing it as well.

"Lead on wh...right, suppose this is where we want privacy," Toad suddenly seeming to remember all the people in the car also had ears. And tongues. He was a rotten bastard but he wasn't about to murder the whole car full of people for a private conversation. Scratching at his chin he straightens up, then casually knocks the woman he'd yanked in front of him before aside. Greed for now had won over his fear. "Alright, I give you a call then?"

The Joker has posed:
"All I wanted to hear." Joker says, adjusting his coat and turning away. Sure, it's a mistake to show your back to something like Toad, but the mutant'll be too curious to risk his stake. Greed runs that little man's mind...

Joker thinks, briefly, about a time when he cared about money. When a little extra money meant life or death.

He snatches one of the two bags full of valuables his goons had grabbed. Joker then kicks the emrgency exit open, and leaps out of the subway, flailing perilously close to the third rail.

"Great, you set him off." Lawrence moans, chasing after him. "Come on, Bob, we can herd him toward the car if we hurry."

Bob makes a finger gun at Toad's head, leaping out after his associates. "Pleasure working with you, greasy."