8919/Lots of Space in This Mall

Lots of Space in This Mall
Date of Scene:	03 December 2021
Location:	Tribeca
Synopsis:	Someone tries to start a riot over PS5s, but some heroes aren't gonna take it anymore...
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Jamie Madrox, Tyler Locke, Joan Wright, Elvis Odell, Bruce Banner, Megan Gwynn

---

Peter Parker has posed:
"Oh, the weather outside is frightful..."

The Internet is a capricious thing. A haven for the lowest common denominator, a hidden treasure trove of truth to dig up, and as Jason Fox of the FOXTROT comic opined, "the ultimate bathroom wall." A way to spread rumors faster than the Flash.

And this rumor was gonna be EPIC.
A disgruntled employee, angry that the manager of the local GameHalt took a dim view of him smoking weed behind the counter while on-duty, found one of the wilder parts of the Internet, and with a little Photoshopping, provided "proof" that the store got in a shipment of PS5s for the holiday season.
Ten...? Nah...make it THIRTY-FIVE.

He sent the post out into the howling morass of the Internet, then decided to toke up a little.
By the end of the joint, he had forgotten he had even sent it...

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Look, some people really like PlayStation 5s, okay? Many of those people are Jamie Madrox. Some of the dupes are dressed normally, others are in costume, but there's at least one Jamie Madrox that's sitting across the way in a foldable lawnchair, crushing a sando like a boss.

But there's at least twelve dupes that are heading in to find the PlayStations. He doesn't need all thirty-five.

Half a dozen is enough.

Tyler Locke has posed:
Tyler Locke is merely out Christmas shopping. He had no clue about PS5 rumors, and no desired for one either. He's just strolling along in a slow, meandering manner, sipping a hot chocolate, and window shopping.

Joan Wright has posed:
The weather IS indeed frightful. With the need to go outside to reach other stores, it helps to warm up with a nice hot drink. Which is what Joan has opted to do as she exits the Rise N Grind with a travel cup full of hot cocoa. The cup is hot, providing sufficient heat to the hands holding them while a layer of whipped cream on top of the contents inside act as a heat barrier to protect her lips. Stepping to the side of the doorway as it swings shut, the Damage Control employee lifts the cup to take a satisfying sip. Now THIS is how you take a day off from work!

Elvis Odell has posed:
    Turns out criminals are often idiots, like trying to buy a PS5 whilst wanted by two state agencies and the feds on top of it all. That makes this the sort've opportunity everyone's favorite undead-fed simply can't pass up. So she slips into place across from the GameHalt, peering at a cellphone image of her perp before scanning the crowd yet again. There are of course, many worse ways to spend an afternoon right?

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner may sometimes be green, but he's no Grinch. Instead, he has somehow found himself in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers, despite best intentions to keep him doing it.

EARLIER

"Doctor Banner," Agent Taylor, Banner's latest handler, spoke with her usual even tone. "Consider for a moment how stressful holiday shopping is. Do you really want to put yourself in that situation? People get crazy this time of year..."

"Bruce. And please," the scientist said, going through a pile of only slightly dirty purple hoodies from his closet. "It's a quick trip. I need the fresh air. What c--" Bruce stopped, furrowing his brow. "I'm not going to say it."

***

A man in a purple hoodie with a Arizona Diamondbacks baseball cap pulls the brim down lower of his eyes before picking up the pace. He advances down the street, ducking backwards as a taller man almost barrels into him with a string of expletives. Bruce ducks and keeps walking and trying to slide into the back of the line.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Wait what? Did someone say PS5s? For half price? Okaaaay so sometimes internet rumours get totally twisted HD changed from the truth. Either way she made a beeline for the mall, zipping around - like literally, on fairy wings - from store to store to find the legendary console to end all consoles. "Where is it? WHEEERE!?" yeaaah, some people are a little fanatical about their video games.

Peter Parker has posed:
People are starting to gather like locusts. Locusts are just grasshoppers who turn ravenous when a certain crowd density is reached, and then...boom. Time to try and eat the world.

This crowd of forty-and rising hasn't gotten there yet, but whispers and discussions run like an undercurrent. "No signage..." "Yeah, they just want to keep it on the DL so the cashiers get their pick before us..."
Fifty people now, and more on the way. Some are beginning to notice demand is outnumbering supply, and people start to nudge each other in the line that has formed. If you're not in line now, good luck, sucker.

Even those beyond the line can sense something - as Dr. Hunter S. Thompson would put it, the vibrations were getting nasty. More than a few ticking time bombs in this crowd, waiting for the chance to grab a PS5 and get the heck out of Dodge to defuse.

And then someone sneaks into the line, and wouldn't you know it? It's Jose "The Jalapeno" Ramirez, pickpocket and snatch-and-grab expert, putting himself in the lower 30's to make sure he can grab a box.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"That Ramirez?"
"Who?"
"That one."
"The one in the hat?"
"No, the one in th--"
"Oh, I see him."
"Yup, that's him."
"Not it." "Not it." "Not it." "Not it."
"Not i-- dammit. Fine."

Dupes will argue, but Jamie Prime spots Megan Gwynn incoming and he puts his fingers to his lips, whistling at her. "Meggers!" He waves. "I got you girl. Come sit." If there's a PS5 with her name on it in there, one of the dupes will get it.

Tyler Locke has posed:
Suddenly Tyler realizes that Something Is Happening. The transition from Before to Now is subtle and difficult to pinpoint. He peers around and makes the realization that the crowd density is reaching a sharp, sudden rise. "What.. what's going on?" he asks another bystander.

"I don't know," the woman says. "I thought I heard something about Playstations."

"Oh boy." Tyler thinks for a moment. He peers around until he finds a staff-only door with a lock on it. He changes direction and moves to stand next to it. Then he turns with his back to the wall and just observes the crowd to see what's going to happen next.

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan looks over to the forming line at the nearby gamestore. Hmm. There must be a sale going on. Being her interests don't go towards the game console area, she does not take part in the line. Quite the opposite. She starts to take a few steps away from the scene to sit on a bench a safe distance away. A brow lifts as the girl who fought her over Hogwarts flies on by. That can't be a good sign.

Elvis Odell has posed:
    Finely trained "Fed-sense" is anything but supernatural, but Elvis can pick up on the bad vibes clearly enough. She's about to bail because no guy with active warrants is stupid enough, until she spots Jose just force himself in line. "Oh fuck me." Quickly she dials dispatch, lowering her voice as she watches the crowd. "Yeah yeah, roll me two black and whites. We're about to have a disturbance at the GameHalt, tell them to keep it low key."And with that done, away goes the phone.

    Elvis starts towards her target slowly, producing a pair of neat black leather gloves which she pulls on as she goes. "No sir, the excitement never stops.."She mutters, circling around through the thin crowd not in line to approach Jose from behind.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce is deeply entrenched in the line when he looks up, tries to adjust, to see around the man in front of him, who is both taller and wider than Banner's (relatively) small frame. The wheel seem to be turning as he notices several ... familiar faces in the crowd. His heart starts pumping, prompting a subtle set of beeps from his watch. He inhales sharply.

"Calm down, Bruce," he mumbles under his breath. "Nothing happening yet. It's just a line." Then he sees it.

Someone moving with determination. That's not pick-pocket determination. That's the all too familiar "something's going down" movement from when a tail comes after him, or...

Bruce pulls out his phone, rapidly texting to his (current) handler.

<Taylor. It's Green. Something going down at a GameHalt?>

<Why are you at a game store????>

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn peeks around as she finally finds the store, and meeps at the huuuge line up. "Oh noooo!" she pouts as she drags herself to the end...And then spies a familiar face and grins and waves to Jamie. "Hii! Heey, you're here too! And you got clones in the line up too? This is awesome, you're the best!" she beams as she flies over to join him on the bench...Except that now there's a little rumbling and shaking and she blinks, "Woah, not a good sign..But..But I *really* want that PS5.....!" just a little longer..

Peter Parker has posed:
Sixty now...and the manager appears at the door of the GameHalt, and BOY does she look worried. But she points to the rear, and pretty soon two mall security guys show up, flanking the door to the shop.

People shift forward, conversations stopping as the manager opens the doors by only an inch.

"I am sorry, but if you are here regarding the rumor posted by LeonStinks2020, I regret to inform you that we only have FIVE PS5s. Repeat, we only have five!"

For a moment, eerie silence. Except some might hear this: tick...tick...tick...
Then someone drops the stick. "YOU'RE LYIN'! I *SAW* THE PICTURE!"

tick...tick...BOOM.
The crowd suddenly SURGES forward towards the door. The mall security guys move in front, but they are a breakwater in front of a tsunami and they know it...

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"Hey, it's the prettiest fairy I know," Jamie says when Megan swings over. He makes room for her to sit and then looks up at the crowd. "I've got about a dozen, we'll see what comes of it. I'm still not sure that there's any actual PS5s in there, but I figured I'd just, you know, take the chance. I wasn't doing anything." He holds out half his pastrami sandwich for Megan. "You hungry?"

And then the chaos explodes, and all the dupes go from 'customer' to 'crowd control' because Jamie might want a PS5 but he still has some level of social conscience, so there they go, trying to calm people down.

"Everybody chill out, hey, hey, everybody chill out."

"Uh oh," Jamie says to Megan. "Spaghetti-O."

Tyler Locke has posed:
Tyler Locke pulls a ring of keys from somewhere under his shirt -- old timey, fancy keys. He flips through them until he finds the one he wants. "I want to go outside the McDonalds up the block," he says as he puts the key in a locked, staff entrance to one of the mall buildings. Instead of opening up to one of the inner spaces of the mall, incredibly it opens up outside the front of a McDonalds over a block away, as though one were leaving the McDonalds through the front door. "Holy shit!" he yells out. "They're sneaking the Playstations out through here!" He points through the doorway. The hope, of course, is that at least some of the hostile crowd will be duped and run through. He quickly returns the ring of keys to an anti-theft travelers belt he wears.

Joan Wright has posed:
Eyes widening for a moment, Joan leans back a bit in reaction. It is for a moment before she straightens up. The cup lifts up as she sips the cocoa. Why does she get the feeling she might end up seeing some coworkers on her day off?

Bruce Banner has posed:
Banner's steady, meditative breathing intensifies as the crowd gets rowdy. He frantically types out another message.

<Just picking up a thing. It's no big deal. I think I'll j>

The message gets cut off as someone slams into Banner from behind, sending his phone flying through the air, clattering along the ground, and coming to a stop on the street. Banner blinks and, for a moment, his eyes are an unnatural shape of green. He blinks again, and they return to their normal brown...for now.

"Keep it together, Bruce," he mutters under his breath, moving out of the line and toward his phone, trying to wiggle through the crowd before someone pockets it---or steps on it.

Elvis Odell has posed:
    Gently sweeps a gloved hand back to park her jacket, revealing the brilliant gold badge on her alligator belt alongside those bespoke speed loader pouches and finally that pearl handled, nickel plated revolver. One hand grasping the Colt Kodiak, as she lifts her free hand to point. "Federal agent, Jose Ramirez keep your hands where I can see them!"Thumbstrap -snapping- open with a plainly audible -click-. "You make one move to skin that smoke wagon and I'll break your mother's heart!"

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn giggles at Jamie, "You're too flattering!" but then the crowd is getting totally out of hand and she frowns, "Hey what?! Only five?" Err oh right. The crowd. She'd better do something about that. "Ugh what a pain.." she climbs to her feet and waves a hand at a chunk of the crowd , "Alright time to clear the air..Sihal Novarum Chinoth!" with any luck she can at least port a good chunk of the crowd out the mall and onto the street.

Peter Parker has posed:
My, my, my, LOTS of random elements in this crowd, but a few telling ones.

Some of the louder ones are being herded by a few guys who look a LOT alike, shifted from the places they could cause the most trouble.

A sudden yell about PS5s on the move bleed off about fifteen people who head in that direction, willingly following direction from Tyler until they find themselves...elsewhere. The result is disorienting, enough to dissipate the growing anger to replace it with confusion.

The phone skids to a stop near a trash can, but there is enough distraction for Bruce to reach the phone before it gets stomped on.

And then the direct descendant of Doc Holliday steps forward, facing off against Jose, who freezes in place and slowly looks at the woman with the shiny revolver. "Fucking PUTA..." he hisses, but does not move. The even dozen of people near him, though, scatter like fall leaves, getting away from the place.

And then five of them just...blink out of existence.

The resulting random confusion deflates the mob into a loose collection of people, scattering as they realize things got a LOT more dangerous and not even a PS5 was worth this noise.

They are still spreading away from the scene when someone lands on a lamp post, looking down at the scene. Spider-Man looks both surprised...and pleased. He was expecting a possible riot, but this wasn't even a mild disturbance by now. Only about twenty-two people were left, and the number was dropping...

Jamie Madrox has posed:
As Megan ports a good number and the rest of his dupes start to handle the crowd, he stands up and then nods for Megan to follow. "Come on, Meg. Let's go get a drink. Ain't no PS5s here and the crowd's getting wild."

He stretches and then leans over to smack himself against the wall, popping out a dupe who knows what to do for the rest of the situation. "Come on, Meg." He ambles off with the fairy, amused.

Tyler Locke has posed:
Tyler Locke lets the door close shut once as many people as will fall for his somewhat lame ruse go through, otherwise they can just turn around and pass back in through the portal. He looks through the crowd, which thanks the portal and to some timely teleportation, is beginning to thin. He tugs a medallion out of his inner jacket pocket and slips it around his neck. The medallion has a small key protruding from it -- the Hercules key, which gives the wearer superhuman strength.

Tyler isn't one to try to hurt others unnecessarily, and he understands the psychology of mob mentality. He moves through the crowd, using just enough force to get where he needs to go, pulling apart any little violent clusters he sees. Then his shoe hits a phone, and there is a /very/ familiar-looking man moving toward it. He leans down and picks up the phone, then stands straight and holds it out in Bruce Banner's direction. "Sir, I believe you dropped this?"

Elvis Odell has posed:
    "Slowly lift your hands and place them behind your head, then walk backwards slowly towards the sound of my voice."Free hand dipping back to produce a pair of heavy nickle plated hinged cuffs. "You've been in the cooler long enough already to know how little fun a prison dentist is, yeah? So act like a gentleman and I'll treat you like one,"Luckily for all involved, but most definitely for Jose? Well Elvis cuffs him clean and gently eases him down to his knees before rolling him forward onto the ground.

    Jose of course was packing, no less than five prescription bottles, four knives and a Glock with "Cop killer" scribbled in paint sharpie down the side. "Oh wow, jury is going love this little number. You wanna tell me what had you up in M-town last night....yeah ok thought not smart guy." One foot threaded behind Jose's arm to keep him right where he's layed out, another gently pinning that glock to the ground as she stands to survey the scene. "Oh hey, You're Spider Man right? Good looking threads dude."

Joan Wright has posed:
As a sizable chunk of those surging upon the store are diverted through various other means, Joan smiles. Lowering her cup, the architect watches as a phone skids near the trash can near her. Oh dear. That won't do. She gets up to pick the phone up off the ground only for someone to beat her to it.

As the man addresses the likely phone owner, she turns her head. Upon seeing the purple hoodied man's face, she gives a curious look. "...Dr. Banner?" She glances to the chaos going on behind the man and smiles to him. "I'm impressed."

Bruce Banner has posed:
A crisis is averted as Banner slips past a few bystanders, moving toward his phone when someone beats him to the punch.

"Ah, yeah," Bruce says, running a hand along the side of his neck. "Thanks. I appreciate it. Dropped it in the uh," Bruce pauses, looking for the word. "Y'know, the rowdiness back there." As Banner takes it, he taps in the code to show it is, in fact, his, holding up the unlocked screen. It's a nice, tranquil, ocean wallpaper.

"Were you the guy at the back?" Banner asks, nothing if not observant. "That was ... clever, I think." But just then, he hears his name.

"Ah," Bruce tugs at his collar a little. "Not so loud, please. I don't hear that much these days. Have we met, miss...?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man blinks. "Wow. A Fed with a tailor...and a tailor's eye." He looked down at himself, then back to Elvis. "Uh, yeah...it helps to know skilled people..."

He looks around. There are only a few people left, and they are giving Elvis and Jose a wide berth. The mall security guys are currently unclenching as a free action, and the doors to the GameHalt slide open. The manager, still looking guarded, says, "Uhm...we DO have five..."

And then the last five people look at each other and charge through the doors a moment later.
The manager chuckles. "Well, we HAD five..."

Spidey shrugs. "Ah, well. I'm kinda glad I'm only slightly late to the party, especially if some Good Samaritans helped it peak early..."

Tyler Locke has posed:
Tyler Locke gives a brief smile to Bruce from the compliment. "Thanks. Just a party trick I picked up once," he says with a little half grin. His gaze passes to to Spider-Man. "And that's Spider-Man himself. The people you run into it New York." Now that the incident is nearly over, Tyler removes the medallion and slips into the inner pocket of his winter vest. He doesn't like to overuse the magic.

"Video games only used to rot your mind. Now they can get people killed, apparently."

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan gives a sheepish look at the request not to be so loud. She didn't think her volume was that high but, she could be wrong. As he asks for her name. "Oh right. It has been awhile since we talked." She offers a hand over, "Joan Wright. Damage Control. We met when I was installing cabinets for a mutual acquaintance's vacation home." She pauses. "I do side projects during my vacation time." She offers up, giving the semblance that it wasn't through the initial job mentioned that she'd know Bruce for anyone listening in.

Bruce Banner has posed:
"Sometimes it's the little things like that make the biggest differences," Banner says cryptically. "Not everything has to be big and--" He starts to say "green" but thinks better of it. "You probably saved some people some injuries back there." He adjusts his hat slightly. "...yeah. That almost turned nasty. Shame people have to get so crazy over something like that..."

His attention shifts to Joan, in turn. "Ah, that's right," Bruce says, extending a hand. His handshake isn't quite a limp fish, but it's only moderately past that. "Cabinetry, huh? I can ask around..."