93/Coming In To Save The Day

Coming In To Save The Day
Date of Scene:	24 February 2020
Location:	Bronx
Synopsis:	Huntress, who is way out of her normal territory of Gotham, comes to the rescue of some unsuspecting young man while following a lead.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Helena Bertinelli

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It's always nice to get out and about. Nice to take a walk in the evening despite the faint snowfall from on high, those white overcast clouds hanging like a pall with grim threat of a storm only a day away, perhaps less. The sidewalks are covered in a faint dusting, small gyres of flakes picked up and sent swirling into the air with each passing car. Some of the banks are dark with dirt and grime but it doesn't ruin the overall wintertime effect the weather has upon the Bronx.
    Usually this late at night there aren't many people out and about. The bar Alexander had been in had recently just closed, the stamp on his hand still bright and fresh. No alcohol for him at his age, but it was always wonderful just to get out and be amongst people. To see the new and hear their stories. He'd begun to place a value on that ever since everything that had happened.
    From afar nobody would pick him out of a crowd. Just a teen in clothes maybe a size or two too large for him. An ESU backpack is slung over his shoulder and his stride is easy and even. Yet if that same person from afar was watching they'd see not just the teen. But the group of four men following him.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Normally Helena wouldn't come out to NYC, and she definitely wouldn't come out here in costume, the only reason she is here, in costume, is because she's following a lead. Ricky rumor around Gotham is that one of the Mafia families here in the Big Apple is seeking to align with one of the families in Gotham, something that bears investigation.

Currently sitting on her motorcycle, the former mob princess is watching intently, looking for signs of activity that might be of importance to the task that has brought her out of Gotham. Nothing Mafia-related seems to be going on, but the young man and his gaggle of admirers do get her attention, causing her to frown. That can't be good.

Leaving her bike where it has been parked, Helena - Huntress, now - goes to follow the group herself, pulling the collapsible staff from a belt pouch. Time to make sure nothing bad happens to the poor, unsuspecting guy.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    When the youth had passed by her, he did give her a glance. There was an open smile there, without malice as he strolled on by, though she probably didn't look his way during that brief moment. Instead what drew her attention were those four men walking along. Their footsteps were heavy enough that she might hear the scrape of their soles on the snow and the slush at points while they trailed after.
    As she settled into step behind those four she had all the time she needed to watch them, get an angle on them. Bronx had no shortage of gangs, and these four were younger than the mafia goons she usually plays with. These were twenty-somethings, older, in what they call 'kill-teams' where one makes the grab and then the other three hang back to deal with if the mark turns difficult or hostile. Their stride is even as they match Alexander's pace, she'll see the flicker of a knife in one hand, just a silvery glint that catches the street light. A length of chain from another. But what might draw her attention all the more is the one that has a revolver.
    And then the grabber makes the run, rushing forward. There's the tak-tak-tak of his feet on the sidewalk as he runs up and starts to make to grab Alex's backpack, hoping for a nice juicy laptop in there. And then, from his point of view, he's suddenly up in the air, the world twisting around and he /slams/ hard down upon the ground with his breath knocked entirely out of him as his arm blazes with pain.
    From Helena's point of view, however, she saw the whole thing. The run up. The grab, the way the youth turned perfectly and covered the runner's hand on his shoulder. Twisted his hips perfectly and held onto his arm, spun to the side and with a clean move that she likely hasn't seen executed so exquisitely since she was last in the dojo. There is the short _thud_ and /crack/ as the man is taken down hard upon the snow slick ground and his arm is broken with a single sharp twist.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena's well-prepared for what happens, her keen mind and attentive gaze picking up on all the signs hinting as to what it is they have planned. She's ready to move, the spring-loaded mechanism in her staff extending the weapon with a push of a button, but even with being ready the thug moves just a bit faster than she anticipated, leaving her standing there for several seconds as she curses in Italian.

When Alexander defends himself (thank God as that makes her job that much easier) she too goes on the defensi... oh, let's be honest here. There's nothing defensive about how she reacts. She's out for blood.

Targeting one of those milling about, she takes her staff and, with a spin that is almost like something out of a dance, she clocks the guy in his temple, more than hard enough to knock him out and give him a concussion, and then she looks at the two remaining on their feet. "You have five seconds to get the hell out of here before I introduce you to my little friend." The threat is punctuated by moving her cape, exposing one of the two pistols in its holster. "Hey," she then calls out to Alexander, "are you alright, kid?" Kid? Is he young enough for her to call him that? Oh well.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    With such precise form, Alexander holds that one down and only then does he look up, just in time to see Huntress' staff swirl through its clean arc of motion and collide with a rough /smash/ to the side of the man's head. It's like the snapping of a rubber band, the abrupt impact, then the unconscious body falling to the sidewalk, out even before it hits the ground. The pistol in his hand goes skittering across the pavement with a click and clatter. When she retakes stance and readies the other two are looking at her...
    There's fear in the eyes of one, gaze wide and intense as he takes a backward step. But the other. Something in his irises doesn't tell her he's going to back down. With no further warning he rushes forward and tries to grab Helena with one hand while seeking to stab her in the abdomen with the knife in the other.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
The one stepping away from her is allowed to leave if he wishes. She has no problems with him at the moment. The one with the knife, however? He is the focus of her attention. Realizing he isn't going to back off, Helena shakes her head, genuinely displeased at the lack of running away.

While the thin armor sheeting built into Huntress' costume is utter shite when it comes to stopping high caliber gunfire it works wonderfully at stopping small blades, as the would-be stabber will find out. The tip of the blade will puncture the outer layer of fabric but not go any further, saving her from an emergency trip to Leslie's alter.

"I am going to have to repair that," she laments with a sigh, that spoken just before this young man is given the same treatment she just gave his companion. And, to the last remaining? She basically growls, "Get the hell out of here," doing her best Batman impersonation.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    For a time that knife-wielder is animated /growling/ as he tries to stab again and again into Helena's armored form only to find after a moment that it is just not working. And that is the moment she takes him down with a backhand swipe of the staff that connects _hard_ and sends the man to the ground, his face and jaw slack as he lies there on his side unconscious.
    As for the last... Whether it was the growl or the sickening thunk his friend's head made as it bounced off the pavement, whichever it was that third guy is beating feet, breaking away and running across the street away from both Huntress and Alexander. He even hits a bad bank of snow and skids on his hands and knees before recovering to just keep trying to run away as fast as he can.
    It leaves them alone for now, just the sounds of the city around them and that one last guy with the broken arm. Now their eyes meet and she can see a gleam of suspicion in his gaze as he holds the mugger's arm across his leg, partially kneeling on the man's side. It's a traditional jiu-jitsu arm bar, and then the way he just leans forwards with his shin cutting off the flow of blood to the man's brain to knock him out... she can tell the young man has studied.
    It's only when they're left there in the center of that mayhem that he stands up and looks to the side, as if making sure the other guy isn't coming back with friends. Then looks back to her and stops a bit away from her. His lip twists a little and then he says succinctly, "Uh, hi."

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
How many holes will there be for Helena to patch up? God only knows. But there are other places on her costume that have been patched, if one were to look, so what is a few more added to the mix.

Reaching up, Huntress brushes a length of hair from her face, tucking it back behind one of the 'ears' of her mask. At least they serve that as a purpose. "Nice technique," she quips breathlessly, her slowly-ebbing ire leaving her having to gasp for air a bit. Kicking a toe towards the first of the two she removed from the fight, she asks quietly, "You want to call this one in?" Hopefully Alexander will be fine with doing that himself as she'd hate to try and explain why she, a costumed vigilante is here in the city, got into the scuffle she did.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A small 'heh' slips from him at her compliment and his features colour slightly as he looks away then back toward the one he took care of. He lifts a hand to the back of his neck and says, "What, that?" He then sort of rolls a shoulder a little and gestures. "Yeah my dad sorta, was this... you know. Taught me. Stuff." He says oh so usefully.
    Then she asks him to call this one in and he says, "Hm? Oh right, yeah sure. But uhh..." He produces his cellphone from his back pocket, swiping it to life with the brush of a thumb and then hits the four keys needed to call the police. Though it's clear his focus is more on her as he tries to say, "So you're uh, a vigilante?"
    So smooth.
    But then the dispatcher picks up and he says into the phone, "Hey, I'm at 14th and MLK in the Bronx and there was this attempted mugging thing. Some guys are lying around on the ground hurt up."
    There's a nod once at something the dispatcher says, then another. "I think they tried to rob someone but got beat up by..."
    He stops and looks over at Helena, then down at the guys, then at Helena again. Probably he wants to say something else, but doesn't. "This really scary person in a cape. So. Yeah. Ok. Ok I won't go near them."
    And with that, click.
    "So um, should we put like, handcuffs on them?"

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena doesn't use cuffs, but what she does produce are six zip-ties, the kind used when police can't use conventional means of rendering a suspect unable to use their hands and feet. "Yeah, I guess you can call me a vigilante, if you need to put a label on me." Insert a half-grin, cocky and amused. "You need to keep yourself more aware, kiddo. They got the jump on you way too easily. Maybe your dad could take some time out and teach you some situational awareness." Oh ouch. Hopefully Alexander isn't a guy with daddy-issues, otherwise that statement might just wind up being fighting words.

Looking around herself, she shrugs and starts to back off, realizing that now is a good time to get out of here before the police arrive. "If you're ever in Gotham look up Huntress. I'll show you around." And, with a swirl of that long cape about her, Huntress rushes off back towards the alley she had been observing from, only the sound of her booted footfall to be heard.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    As she gives him grief it sort of serves to humanize her in his eyes, and she can see the twinkle flicker to life in those hazel irises of his. He looks down, then back up, smirking sidelong at her as he says, "Oh is that so? Well heck maybe I could take a few lessons from you."
    Then his rejoinder comes after he gives her a looking over, eyes sweeping down then back up, until he finds her gaze and grins as he offers. "Just so long as I don't have to dress like you." But, to his credit, he doesn't react like so many other on-lookers. No attempt at a selfie, no attempt to snap a few shots. Just amusement and that slight blush to his cheeks and the tips of his ears. Sometimes being fairly pale is not a good thing.
    "I'l take care of things here. Seeya." And he lifts a hand... then she's gone.