4644/Shine: Umbrellas are curious things

Shine: Umbrellas are curious things
Date of Scene:	08 January 2021
Location:	Chelsea - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Phoebe is accosted while walking Scout. Mando intercedes on her behalf and bellyflops, and Bart Allen is not allowed to sing the Doom Song.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Bart Allen, Mando

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    A cool and rainy night in Gotham. Scout had been getting restless inside, and the rooftop's temporary reprieve held no interest for Phoebe, so she was out in the dark, late in the night. She had been avoiding her neighborhood during the day, and as she walked with an umbrella over her head, her jacket's hood up, she hummed to herself, passing between pools of light along the avenue.

    Scout was wearing a blue 'dog jacket', the aged dalmatian padding along the cold sidewalks alongside Phoebe obediently.

    The girl in the gray jacket, however, wasn't walking alone. There's a group of men in front of her. One taps the other on the shoulder as she goes to approach, and wolf whistles.

    "Hey there pretty mama -- lemmie whisper in your ear, yeah?" he cracks a grin. Older, college-aged toughs hanging near the university. Not unusual.

    Five of them, one of her. She keeps a wary eye and pauses, hitting the button to cross the street as they approach.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen has been working today, and walked someone home who had injured their arm recently. So now after helping them to their place, he has come walking along the street, in yellow rain slicker, looking like the kid from It but older as he walks along the street.

Mando has posed:
Mando has no business in Gotham.  Well, he /thought/ he had no business in Gotham till Bella, his unofficial (vampire) 'Master' told him she wanted him to purchase her some kind of weird vintage tchotchke he's dragged himself nearly everywhere to find.

Mando's umbrella has a big tear in it and has been made permanently askew by today's weather woes.  This pretty much means there's no way he can't get wet whether he's funneling it onto his head or just going freestyle, which is what he's doing now.  Grandpa sweater soaked.  He hears the menacing words and looks.

He's only armed with an umbrella.  "Uh, hey guys.  Can you tell me where the trolley car is?"  Is there even one?  Mando is bad at this.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The give fellas look over to the guy with the grampa jacket, and one of them helpfully points him to the Ross Street Urbarail station.

    "That way, my main, now get outta here before something bad happens to you."

    Phoebe is standing a little stiffer. Scout, the dalmatian at her side, seems to pick up on her anxiousness, and his hackles rise up.

    "Hey, HEY -- I know you! Your mom's that teacher, right? The one who got torched?" their leader gives a laugh, and flicks a cigarette into the street to put it out. He blows smoke into Phoebe's face.

    "Word is on the street that there's a sig-nif-i-cant amount of money if we bring you to ya parents, kid. How 'bout we have a little fun before that?"

    They haven't seem to noticed the guy int he rain slicker.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over as he hears some folks, and realizes who is being given grief. He will start to walk over towards the group, checking for weapons the guys may have on them as he makes his way that way. He starts to softly whistle a tune.

Mando has posed:
"Oh wait...are you-"  Mando snaps his fingers a few times as if trying to place Phoebe's name.  "I'm supposed to meet you there?  We met at that Panera Bread?"  He ignores the guys' warnings, even if he's absolutely terrified and maybe his voice is shaking a little bit.  His knuckles are white as he grips the handle of the arcane looking umbrella.  He hasn't seen Bart yet either.

Mando takes a deep breath and steps forward to put himself between Phoebe and the jerks, moving as if to pet the hackled Dalmatian...which is never a good idea.  "Did you guys say something?  My hearing isn't very good."  A total lie.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe visibly bristles at the smoke. She can feel it burn her nose as she turns away, and pushes the 'Walk' button harder.

    "You have the wrong girl. I'm a student at Gotham U." she states, not looking at anyone, and her breath hitches just a moment as someone reaches to pet Scout, the old canine on edge a moment, and she turns around, and her umbrella closes wiwth a wet SNAP! as she turns to strike one of the five.

    Scout's tail draws under him as he ducks the pat, and his owner goes to take a whack outta crime!

    The leader gives a loud "UGH!" sound as he's struck by a wet umbrella. One guy moves to draw a knife, another two have small guns, the fourth a chain and the fifth pulls on a pair of brass knuckles -- and HE goes for Mando!

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen continues the whistling, and the yellow raincoat seems to disappear, as Bart his supersonic speeds. He will move grabbing the weapons from the men. He takes them dropping them down the sewer. He lets himself "appear" in the view of the men. his hand held out making the no no no motion.

Mando has posed:
Mando blinks.  He's not that dumb as to go and pet a dog in this state, but all of his attention was on how he could help out, and he knows he can't take on a bunch of guys.  Speaking of which, when he hears Phoebe's umbrella snap, he doesn't associate it with her right away as the sound bounces off the walls and hits his ears just so.  "Nonononono."  He does see the motion though and backs up in alarm toward the guy with brass knuckles, turning as he does so and slipping on the wet concrete, reaching out and his umbrella following suit.

And it jabs into the guy before Mando belly flops like an unfortunate cartoon character.  "I'm so sorry!  I didn't mean!"  It's superficial really, might even just be a blow to the gut.  Mando gets up as the guy holds onto the umbrella.  "I really need that back," he says nervously, his glasses smashed and a little blood coming from where it somehow cut his head.  He's going to look like a bruised pancake tomorrow.  "So sorry."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The lead guy goes to lunge -- only to find his weapon plucked neatly out of his hand! The second knife weilder -- both firearm users -- even Brass Knuckles, before he even attempted to strike Mando, has his brass taken away from him.

    And there's just the speedster, in the wet raincoat, making a 'ah-ah-ah!' motion.

    "What the --" the leader states, and angrily attempts to lash out at Bart, throwing a haymaker for the guy's chin!

    Phoebe circles back around -- she knows better than to try and interrupt a fight without dressing for the occasion -- and she dips down to try and pull Mando up.

    "Hey, hey, are you all right?" she gently asks, putting herself between the attackers and the poor, soggy guy!

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will shakes his head, and with a burst of speed, he ends up going around the men. He makes sure to leave speed images ever so often so the rain coats young man is now surrounding them. The punch goes right through the image that Bart has left behind him. The whistling never stopping. Bart has learned to try to make himself appear different while in Gotham, not wanting the bat to get upset speedsters running around his city, plus if some of Flashes Rogues came here to cause trouble, they might get hurt or something. So tonight Bart is the Ghost Slicker.

Mando has posed:
Mando seems to look shorter than he is, something that might be more apparent when Phoebe tries to help him up.  He does end up taking her arm after getting into a kneeling position.  "Thanks," Mando offers to Phoebe, forcing a small smile.  Then takes off his glasses, tucking them into a pocket over his chest under his jacket.

"I guess I should wait till he's done so I can get the umbrella?"  It's just something to say.  His hair is askew but he has bigger things to worry about...Why is he so worried about this crappy umbrella when his life could be in danger on some level?  Who knows.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Ghost Slicker is a terrible name for a superhero.

    "I wouldn't worry too much about your umbrella." Phoebe says quietly, helping him to his feet.

    Mando might feel a bit of a tingly sensation; being this close to the lay-on-hands healer has benefits, and that wound on his head will be closing up slowly.

    "Not from around Gotham, are you? Rule one is 'if someone quicker than you's in a fight, it's done'. " she makes up a rule on the spot.

    Everyone knows the real first rule of Gotham is if someone's smiling, it's too late.

    Meanwhile, the guys attempting to punch Bart's shoulders, stomach, arms, face -- they're having a time of it, trying to all gang up on him and throw punches and kicks!

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will move at last moments, letting them think they are punching through him, and now, he starts punching back. He will bring his palms over one's ears boxing them. The young man, punches this one karate chops one, and soon, tries to keep the guy who was talking being the last guy up. " The whistling stops as he tries to sound spooky and points towards the last guy "Dooooooooommmmm.""

Mando has posed:
"I'll be in mor-" But Mando doesn't continue and just grins at the advice.  "Well...I couldn't just walk by," he admits, even if he's obviously wholly incompetent.  He must have some kind of 'better me than you' policy.

Mando blinks a little as he feels the sensation and he looks to Phoebe.  He's not paying attention, but one of these hasslers has cracked the wooden umbrella against a wall before getting punched again.  Mando winces.

"I am so screwed..." the man sighs.  "Are you okay?" he turns to Phoebe, squinting to try and make out the details in front of him.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Her face is mostly cast in shadow, but her hands aren't. Dark skin on the back, lighter palms as she holds him steady a moment.

    "-- borrowed brolly? That... that one had seen better days--" she trails off, and she purses her lips a moment.

    "I'm fine. Scout's fine. Scout: Friend." she states to the worrying canine by her side, who at the word Friend seems to calm down and -- sits on Mando's shoe, however wet, and looks up expectantly at the man.

    Bart, meanwhile, is wrecking some havok.

    One by one the threats go down, folding in half against the quick blows from Impulse -- err... Ghost Slicker -- until their ring leader was the last man standing.

    The whistling stops, the rain picks up a little bit around them, and then the man in the yellow slicker stops whistling -- and points.

    "AIIIEEEE!" the last name standing yelps, turns and runs--

    Face first into a brick wall, knocking himself out.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen smirks, a bit, and walks over and gets the umbrella mentioned earlier, and offers it to Mando "Yourss..." He says in the same Doom voice, and waits for the man to touch the umbrella, soon as he does, Bart zooms off, so looks like he is disappearing with the whistle starting and fading away. He does find an alley to watch from hidden in shadows.

Mando has posed:
"I was supposed to look after it.  I can't go home without it."  Mando seems determined to collect the corpse of an umbrella no matter what.  "Yeah...I'll-" but then he looks down at Scout when he lays on his shoe.

Mando offers a warm smile down at the dog and stoops gingerly to start rubbing Scout's ears.  "Your dog is sweet." He looks over when he hears the yelp and SMACK! of the last man.

"I think he got it worse," he mumbles.  Mando swallows when the broken, dangling umbrella is offered back.  "Thank you so much.  I am eternally grateful."  His lips push to the side and he forces a smile.  "I'm just glad no one got hurt."  And the grin becomes broader and more genuine with time.

"Wait.  Where did he go?"  Mando looks around for the speedster, turning this way and that.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Scout, aged dalmatian and very good boy, collects his due in headpats and earrubes, and pushes his head harder against the fighters with a happy 'boof' sound. Happy pooch.

    "Gotham's funny like that. Our heroes tend to arrive in the nick of time and then disappear." Phoebe states with a slight shrug.

    Scout sniffs the air, and gives a quiet, questionig sound, his head canting to the side.

    Phoebe does open her umbrella (which was a sad, black, plain affair rather than her favored one with sunflowers), and she offers it to the man.

    "Here, I'm only a couple blocks from home. Do you need help finding the Urbarail station?"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen grins as he will check to see if Phoebe has her communicator on, and asks quietly making sure she is the only one to hear it, well her and anyone else on com. "You need a lift home or another umbrella?"

Mando has posed:
"Yeah.  I'd appreciate it.  I'm sure I'd get lost.  It's so dark here!"  Mando holds the umbrella for the both of them, stiffening in the cold and from his fall, and so looking very much like an elderly gentleman to passerbys.

"Plus I have lost my weapon!  Is it in the direction of your home?  I wouldn't want to put you out," he backpedals suddenly.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Your weapon? What... weapon did you lose?" Phoebe asks, sounding mildly confused as she looks around, as if to try and figure out just where it might have fallen.

    "The ah... hero did give you back your umbrella?" she questions, pulling her hood a little bit further up to help combat the rain.

    "And it's not always dark in Gotham -- we have sunny days sometimes!" she states cheerily.

    "And it's all right -- I can contact a friend. He's nearby, to give me a lift from the station."

Mando has posed:
Mando holds up the broken umbrella.  "This weapon."  Dangle, dangle.

"Yes.  Oh I do not need your umbrella.  You should have it.  Something will happen to it anyways," Mando says without explanation.  "And Scout deserves to be dry.  Thank you for your help."

"I will have to come out when the forecast is good then."  Mando checks his old fashioned watch.  "Oh I'm late!"  He holds out the umbrella, hoping she'll take it before he hurries along.  "Good night!" he turns to call out as if he forgot and then disappears behind a corner.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Oh, well if you insist--" Phoebe states as she accepts her umbrella back -- and then the man dashes off, turning a corner --

    "You'll want to take the next right! That should bring you right to the station!" she calls out after him, waiting a moment before she raises the collar of her coat a bit and whispers "Can you take both me /and/ Scout? I'd hate to burden you."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and zooms back over to Phoebe, and yup he has the Impulseshaw. a rickshaw done up in his colors and with red lightning bolds on the side.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "How is it all of you speedy types are so clever?" Phoebe inquires as she lifts Scout into the rickshaw, and then gets in herself. Scout immedicately thinks 'CAR RIDE!' and is immediately happy