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Summary: Dingo decides to annex Chinatown into Mutant Town and goes on a small rampage.
Log Title: Assault on China Town
Rating: R
NYC - Chinatown
The hustle and bustle of Chinatown. Here the streets are always crowded, the traffic is always jammed and street vendors are everywhere. Chinese restaurants and Chinese bakeries litter the streets along with various small shops selling everything from swords to bowls to plastic toys. If your looking for bootlegged purses, movies, toys, anything, you can find it in Chinatown at low costs.
Scene
The snow that was predicted for tonight never actually came. Instead there is a fine mist falling from the sky, keeping everything damp and cold. The people of China Town go about their business as usual. This time of night many of the shops are closing up, though the restaraunts and "massage" parlours will be open until well past midnight.
"No! Please stop! PLEASE! Goddamn Bruce you need HELP! This is a TERRIBLE idea!" The semi-frantic voice is coming from a woman with ice blue hair and a long white coat. Lil looks a little pannicked as she follows behind a rather determined looking Bruce. "PLEASE don't take that crap again. You're going to hurt someone and get yourself killed."
Bruce continues forward unhindered. He is dressed in civilian clothing right now, not in his Dingo costume. "No Lil, that man from the Order was right. China Town took over Little Itally and now it's knocking on Mutant Town's door. But it's a nice part of town. Why shouldn't we take it?" The man walks up to a vendor selling fruit on the sidewalk and shoves the man into the street. He climbs up on the table and calls out in a loud voice, "Attention people of China Town. Attention please. I have wonderful news for all of you. To allow for the expansion of the superior race, I have decided to annex China Town as a part of Mutant Town. You have five minutes to vacate."
A young rat girl is standing right by the fruit stand while all this is going on. Tabitha is wearing a damaged black skirt, ankle-length, and a similar corset-like top, bicep-height gloves, and a few steel chains thrown in for effect. She does a double-take as the fruit seller is knocked over, and carefully puts her two dollars down near the cash register. "Does that include me?" she asks in a dry tone, as she picks up what is now her apricot and takes a bite. "Or do I have to piss off as well?"
Standing next to one of the little hole in the wall food vendors that China Town has, Kael just quirks a brow as he hears someone yelling. He turns his head to look at it, and he lets out a soft grunt of frustration. The mutant turns to the vendor's clerk and pays for his food. "It was very good. But, I'd suggest you get inside." He turns away from the stall and then starts to walk towards the yelling man. "Oi! Sand man!" If there was a gust in the area, it's stopped now as Kael's hair bleaches itself white. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." False Bravado. But, it's something.
Fiona is on her way southeast-ish from Mutant Town - having just come from a scene there where SHIELD showed up. She definitely should have been going home - but definitely DIDN'T go home! Oddly, she has her wands stuck in her sash - as if she just used them. Normally she doesn't keep them out like that - she must feel a little bit nervous and… Oh. Gee. Reason for nervousness acquired! "It's /him/ again!" she says, almost as if she's complaining about the quality of her school's cafeteria food. "Haay! Tabitha!" she calls, jogging up next to the other girl.
Surprisingly many of the people in the area do not react at all to Bruce's decree. A few of them stop and point at him while whispering to each other. Three or four police officers near the entrance to this street seem to have taken notice and are moving toward Bruce now.
Lil crosses her arms and glares up at Bruce. "You know? Sometimes I wonder why I bother with you. You are such an ass. If you even think of doing anything stupid…What is that? Don't you dare…Goddamn it Bruce."
Lil is referring to a small inhaler that Bruce pulled out of one of his pockets. Kick. It would appear that the man has gotten a hold of more of the drug. He smiles down at Tabitha and crouches down, reaching out in an attempt to ruffle the girl's headfur. "Of course not little lady. And by the end of the night you can live in any of the vacant apartments you want." He looks up and frowns at Kael, standing once more. "Sandman? No I'm not Sandman. I'm Dingo. Not the same person, mate."
The rat girl squints as her hair is ruffled, and reaches up to adjust her hair once the larger man's hand is gone, patting her locks back into place. "Yeah, I figured," she mumbles. "Look… don't go huffing that stuff, will ya, dude? …Dingo, I guess?" She ahems softly, and scratches at the back of her head. "You're just gonna turn this into a big fight… and I already have an apartment. Can we just sit down and talk for a minute?" She tilts her head to glance sideways at Fiona, giving her a brief but significant look before looking back up at Bruce. "I'll buy you a… uhm… apricot? They're good too."
The winds around the teen swirl, Kael's hair whipping around slightly as he quirks a brow at the man atop the stall. "Same person, same schtick." He sticks his hands in his pockets before he notices the inhaler and then he looks over at Lil. He turns his attention back at Bruce before he says, "Now then. Why don't you be a nice little boy and step down before you hurt yourself." The winds around the aerokinetic only extend out about a foot. And it's a very slow swirl of the element.
Fiona is there, but lets Tabitha at least /try/ and talk Bruce down from taking the kick. She figures if she opens her mouth in his direction he might just fly off the handle like last time and well - as much as she loves exercising her powers that doesn't seem all that likely to help. "This guy's really powerful, you know?" she leans over and whispers, "I'm not sure we could take him."
Bruce laughs at the Rat Girl. "BUY me an Apricot? BUY? Sweet heart, you're a MUTANT. Take the apricot. They're just humans. You only have to pay your own kind." He glances at Kael and simply shakes his head. "What, you gonna get in my way? I have this." He holds up the Kick. "Not that I'd need it for you." He smirks and holds the drug up to his mouth, taking a quick puff and slipping the cannister back into his pocket.
Nothing seems to happen at first, then Bruce's eyes begin to glow faintly. His breathing increases and he hunches over slightly. "Perfect. And there should be some sand right…There." He points to a random spot on the ground and there is a rumbling before a fountain of sand erupts from the ground in that area.
Lil backs up when she sees Bruce take the Kick. "God damn. This is not good. Everybody just get back."
The people in China Town finally begin to look worried. Several of them turn away and begin quickly heading out of the area. The police coming toward Dingo stop and pull out radios, speaking into them.
You aren't carrying anything.
Tabitha's ears color, giving away her blush. "I… but… but that just feels dishonest," she replies in a very quiet voice. She looks sideways at Fiona again, at the comment about how powerful Bruce is, and then looks back up at the mutant. "Don't humans deserve to live, too?" And then there's sand. The rat girl tilts her gaze to face the sand; and then moments later, there's a bubble of… crystal forming over and around the eruption. While it's forming, Tabitha looks back up at Bruce, and clasps ehr hands in front of her. "Please, just let them go? I don't want anyone getting hurt just so I can have an apricot."
Kael's eyes narrow as he watches Bruce use the inhaler, and he takes a step back as he watches the changes take over him. "Ah… hell." He looks over at Tabitha and Fiona, "I'd /really/ suggest getting away from him! That's not a good place to be!" There's a tone of urgency, and frustration within his voice before he looks back at Bruce. "If you think taking that drug is going to change things, then you need some sense knocked into you." The winds around the aerokinetic speed up, trash getting caught in the swirl as it whips around the teen.
Fiona brushes a lock of hair out of her eyes, shaking her head. "This is so not good. It's just like the other time, over in the park… only, he looks more rested this time," she looks towards Kael, biting her lip and frowning a little bit. She glances over at Tabitha, "Of course we do! He's a freaking nutjob," she says, sounding pretty irritated, as she looks back over to Bruce. "You're so full of it!" she's finding her voice a little bit better now. Seeing as he's already stirring stuff up; even though she said she didn't think they could take him… that doesn't mean she didn't intend to at least try.
Bruce smiles at the Rat Girl again. "What? I won't hurt them if they run away. This city is ours. I'm just purifying the population." He turns his head quickly as the crystal forms over his sand geyser. "Envy?" He glances around, looking for the woman. "Envy! Do not get in my way. Nor you, windy." He points a finger at Kael. The sands that came out of the ground move toward Bruce. The flow that is blocked by the bubble begins to come up through the storm drains and joining the rest of the sand. Bruce glances over at Fiona, "Oh demon girl. He's right you know. You're in a bad place."
Lil darts back and stands behind Kael. "He's right! He's about to get huge, get out of there!" She speaks quietly to Kael, "He's not himself right now. I haven't seen him on the Kick, but it can't be good. He can't see when he's sand. Water will slow him down and extremely high temperatures will turn the sand to glass. If we can blow him up he'll get knocked out for a few days.
The sand behind Bruce is increasing in size and beginning to take form. The people in the city are now beginning to scatter, though a few of them come back with guns. One or two look like they may be mutants. The form behind Bruce looks kind of like a dingo, but it has way too many legs and an extra tail. The thing is about four stories tall and takes up almost the entire width of the road. Bruce smirks at Kael and backs into the beast, combining with it. Once he joins with the construct it appears to form real eyes and teeth.
The rat girl's ears flatten against her head, and her tail quite literally tucks between her legs as she backs off a step. "Oh shit," she mumbles, looking up at the enormous beast. She takes another step back, and glances sideways at Fiona. "Just get out of here." She points back down the road. "Go… maybe he… I dunno, maybe he won't hurt us." Her tone of voice does not carry any confidence. "Hey!" she shouts up, nevertheless, and waves her arms around. "Stop! Just… just stop! I won't fight you… but if you're going to hurt anyone, you're going to have to go through me first! You don't want to hurt me, do you? I'm just a cute, defenseless mutant!"
Kael looks over at Lil, nodding before he starts to look around. Spotting a fire hydrant nearby before he looks over at Fiona and Tabitha. "Can either of you blow things up." Straightforward question and to the point. "Cause if you can, I need you to blow off the side of that," he points towards the hydrant, "That's facing the giant sand dog." Speaking of the sand mutt, Kael looks back at it before curses. "I fail at fighting giant constructs," mutters the mutant under his breath.
"Psh, what/ever,/" Fiona responds, shaking her head. Her braid bobbles back and forth. "He went and insulted me. I don't like being insulted! Using my powers on stupid jerks at school may be out of the question, but this guy, he deserves it," she pulls out her wands, gripping one of them in each hand, solidly. She glances over at Kael, "You mean… those?" she jerks her head towards them. "FINE!" she brings the wands together over her head, flinging them down to a horizontal angle. There's a brief humming sound before the beam slams into the hydrant, literally blowing it off its mountings. Water gunshes upwards in a tall geyser. "Erm… I might have… overdone it a bit there…"
The massive Dingo lets out a booming laugh before speaking in a strange duality of Bruce's voice and a massive one. "Hurt a mutant? Why would I do that? You're so tiny I could brush you aside without harming you." A few of the civilians begin firing guns at Dingo, which causes him to laugh even louder. "Bullets? Really AAAA!" The construct backs up suddenly and two forelegs come up to paw at his face. One of his eyes is bleeding. It would appear that they are not bullet-proof. The construct claws at his face for a few moments before the damage appears to repai itself.
Lil looks more pale than usual. "He has eyes. He's talking. That's not normal." She looks at the water. "Yes! Use that. I'll distract him. Just don't look right at me." The girl begins to glow brightly before firing a beam of brilliant light at the Dingo's face. The construct shakes its head and backpedals quickly, ramming into one of the buildings and causing several windows to break.
Tabitha just watches, mouth hanging agape as Bruce's construct informs her of how easily swatted aside she would be. "Yeah but, but," she mumbles. She stares a moment longer; even as guns are firing, and Lil is opening up with beams of light. She turns to look at Kael, and shakes her head. "No, can't blow anything up." she replies, before looking back towards the construct. She brushes her fingertips through her hair, and sucks in a deep breath. As she lets the air from her lungs out slowly, a ring of crystal clusters erupt out of the ground around Dingo; the ones in front of him lance upwards abruptly, at the best speed Tabitha can manage; they branch off as they get really high, with long, narrow spines that seek out Dingo's eyes.
Kael looks back at the water with a barking laugh. "Yes! THank you!" He looks over at Fiona with a smile. "Now, to try and get this over there." He looks over at the water as winds begin to swirl around it. "Really wish I figured out that vacuum bit," grumbles the aerokinetic once more before he just causes a pure gust of wind to blast at the top of the geyser to blast it over towards Bruce in the form of a torrential downpour.
Fiona shields her eyes from the lasers; with her arm, peeking out when it's over for a moment. "Wow, I didn't know you could do that!" she comments at Tabitha, grinning. There's more humming noises, and she charges up a couple of spheres; one after the other she throws them at the general head-area of the construct, trying for, like the others, Dingo's 'eyes.' Regardless of what they hit, they'll make pretty large explosions - not a rocket propelled grenade or mortar shell. Only, purple… and… energy based.
The Giant Dingo is shaking it's head, trying to regai it's sight after that light attack. "Damn it Lil stay out of this." The Dingo seems not to respond at first when the crystal erupts beneath him. There are several loud cracking noises that cause the construct to fall a bit, when the spines reach the face the construct lets out a deaffening noise that is somewhere between a roar and a scream. It tries to backpedal further and manages to pull itself free of the crystal after some struggling.
The construct paws at its face again, growling in a mennacing manner. Its face is covered in blood, his eyes taking a few moments to reform. Once he can see again he starts off toward Tabitha. "That wasn't Envy, that was YOU!" The downpour strikes the Dingo and causes it to stop moving. The creature lowers itself and looks up at the sky, the outer layers of sand beginning to melt off of the construct. The excess sand is pulled down into the sewers, but as it runs off of him it reveals a solid structure within the form. It appears that this construct has a skeleton comprised of much denser sand than the outer layer.
Fiona's blast hits the construct in the face while he's distracted, causing a second roaring scream. This time the construct decides to lunge forward in the general direction of Fiona and Tabitha. He ends up ramming into a building and rearing up, slamming two sets of claws into the side of the building and shaking it to its foundation.
The rat girl jumps, and her eyes widen; she quails, stepping back another step as she's bellowed at. "N-no, no, not me," she blubbers. "Honest! I'm j-just a rat! I—" She's cut off, as the skeletal construct charges and rams a building. She turns, and dives out of the way; an otherwise perfectly executed roll is ruined by the fact that her legs get bunched up in her skirt, and she ends up sprawled out on the ground; still, she doesn't seem hurt. Indeed, as she stands up again a sheen of crystal quickly forms up around her body. The rat girl holds up one hand to look at it, and then as her fingers come to rest on her hips, she eyes the construct once again. "Okay… fine. I did do it." She sticks her tongue out impudently, while willing more crystals to well up; starting around Dingo's feet, a veritable field of short spikes, radiating further out for as long as she has time.
Kael sends the winds back to normal as the beast stops moving and the sand drains into the sewers. But as the smaller construct is brought back, Kael sends the winds at the water; aiming lower on the spout to cause an arch in the liquid to try and send a stronger torrent onto the sandy beast. "This would be much easier if I had a damn Spirit here to help," mutters the mutant.
"Crap crap CRAP!" Fiona shouts, "I think we just made him EVEN MORE ANGRY!" she shouts over all the commotion, scrambling to get out of the way. Sand! Everywhere. She /hates/ getting sand in her clothes! Jesus! "Hold him down! I'm gonna charge up a big one!" The girl takes one of the wands, sticking it into her braid for safe keeping, and clasps the remaining one in a two handed grasp, bracing herself. The air around her weapon seems to distort for a moment, as if it's being sucked in while a swell of violet lightning arcs around her hands. "We should try and hit him all at once!"
The massive construct just gets more terrifying as the battle continues. The monstrosity has eight sets of legs, about a third of them shattered or skewered with crystal spines. The dense skeleton is becoming easier to see as the water continues to blast across the form. The emerging skull is still reddened from the blood of multiple eye injuries, but those eyes keep coming back. The construct continues to slam into the building in front of it, letting out an angry roar and causing the walls to crack and chip. One final slam causes the building to implode, sending up a small cloud of dust. "Why do you attack me? I do this for all of us!" With that building down Bruce decides he'll take out the rat girl. He charges toward her, aiming a paw swipe at her once he's close enough.
"Because I have to live with myself!" Tabitha shouts back up at Dingo. …And then he's charging at her. She takes a hurried step back, and sets her feet, ready to dive out of the way; but a four story tall dog skeleton can move very quickly, it seems. A wall of crystal is forming up around the rat girl, but it comes too late and proves to be too weak; the massive paw smashes through it, and connects with the hapless rat girl. She shrieks as she's flung through the air, and crashes through the window of a shop front, tumbling through several displays of musical instruments before sprawling to a stop. To those outside, it issn't clear if her crystal armor was enough to protect her… or not.
Kael keeps the winds up, watching the two girls attack the construct. Though as one girl slams through the window near him, Kael blinks a bit. "Ah hell." The winds falter for a moment before they redouble their efforts and push the water towards the beast some more. "Why are we doing this? We're doing this because you're a total nut job who's bent on doing the wrong thing while thinking that it's right! You're a mental lunatic that needs to be helped!" Though the chances of him hearing that over the wind and water, not likely.
In the immortal words of George McFly, "GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF HER!" screams Fiona, as she lets loose her charged attack. 'FWOOOM!' is the noise it makes as a massive rush or demonic energy surges forward towards the construct, tearing a swath through the asphalt in front of her as it arcs upwards. Should it hit, the force is rather immense - should it miss, it will likely tear a gaping hole in the building beside Bruce. Fiona slides backwards, struggling with the recoil from the attack. That done, she takes the time to collapse to her knees, and then onto her haunches, breathing heavily. "That's… all I got… I think…" she pants.
The skeletal structure makes an odd noise as it is struck. Parts of the skull are knocked away and turned into sand. The rest of the body collapses into the ground on top of Tabitha's pile of crystal spines. The bones disjoint and stay put, no longer moving.
Lil finally stops firing light and moves forward quickly, approaching the construct and stoping nearby. "Well it wasn't an explosion but it worked. He should be out until the drug wears off…I hope."
From the smashed in music shop, a lone cymbal rolls out through the recently added opening. It makes it to the edge of the sidewalk, and clatters noisily to the ground; and when it stops, there appears to be not a sound from within the shop. Only silence.
Kael lets the winds drop back to normal as his hair goes back to normal. "Well… that was easier than last time." He watches the water recede back into the ground as the city finally gets it shut off and he moves over to the music shop. "Hey… are you alright in there?"
After the skeleton finally falls over, Fiona gets up, rubbing her temples. "Head… hurts…" she moans, covering her ears when the cymbal rolls out of the shop. "Tabitha? Tabitha?! TABITHA!" she shouts after she gets her footing and bearings; the streets are basically deserted at this point… after all, what person in their right minds would have stuck through that? The place looks like a freaking warzone, with leftover crystals EVERYWHERE and big footprints and gouges in the pavement; not to mention the ENTIRE FUCKING BUILDING that got knocked down. Fiona picks her way through the debris at the store to try and find her friend.
Inside the music shop, there is at last a sign of movement. Tabitha groans and sits up, very slowly; the crystal sheen over her body shows spiderweb cracks all over, and in several places has shattered entirely; the rat girl is bleeding in several places, and her clothes are quite well and truly ruined. "Oh, Christ," she mumbles, as she puts a hand to her forehead, while her other one rubs her temple. "Did I get hit by a train just then?"
Kael moves out of the way of the girl as the goes into the shop to find her friends. That's when the sounds of the sirens get to his ears as they sound like they're just around the corner. "Girls, if you want to stay around and have a chat with the cops. Then they're almost here. If not, then ya might wanna go." He stands outside of the music store and then stays within ear shot of Lil as they get ready to talk to the police about what happened.
"You're okay!" Fiona runs over to the rat girl - she might squeeze her tightly, but, with all the injuries she decides touching is probably not the best idea at that point. "It was that… Dingo guy…" she trails off, "But we got him!" she gestures over to the skeleton, which Lil stands over protectively. "Um, I think… yeah, I think we better get going," she nods, glancing over again at Lil, who seems to have disappeared for the moment. "They DEFINITELY won't understand whatever went on here, and I dunno about you, but my allowance won't pay for all this damage!"
Tabitha stands up slowly, and shards of crystal tumble from her body as she moves. She puts her hand to her forehead once more, and groans loudly. "I'm not going… anywhere fast," she mumbles. "Unless you see… easy way out of here, I'm staying." She puts a hand on the shelf next to her, and shakes her head slowly. "Might just… just need a moment."
Kael looks down the street in front of him, and then behind him. Watching the sirens get closer. One of the cops that was on the scene before hand approaches Kael and starts to question him. The usual stuff. Name, which he gave his code name. What happened. Kael points over at Bruce, before he looks over at Lil. Then he looks back at the officer as he begins to go into detail of the situation. Not complete detail, but only from his angle.
Suddenly, as everyone is trying to get away, it would appear that the chaos is not completely over. Lighting up the evening like the sun, Lil unleashes a brilliant burst of light that blinds most people in the area for quite a while - rather like a massive flash bang grenade. When the smoke - er, light clears, both she, and Bruce, seem to have disappeared.
There's a final groan from Tabitha, before she shakes her head and stumbles off towards the rear of the shop. "Back door," she mumbles. As she walks, she keeps one hand clutched to the side of her head. "This really hurts," she adds. "I need to lie down."
At the flash of light, Kael covers his eyes before he regains vision and sees Lil and Bruce are gone. The police take the last statement from the aerokinetic before he takes off back to the school. He needs to unwind, and he knows just what to do.
Fiona follows Tabitha out back of the store, pretty much completely worn out herself, and collapses against a wall. The incoming police probably shouldn't find them here - at least hopefully not, what with people beginning to pour back into the streets outside now that the ordeal is over. "You gonna be okay? Or should I call for a ride?"
Tabitha collapses against the wall as well; she squeaks loudly as she comes to a stop, and puts both hands to her head. "Ride? What ride?" She blinks rapidly, and holds her hand up in front of her, slowly turning her palm to face out, then back towards her, and then out again. "I can't see straight," she complains. "Who are we running away from, again?"
"The cops!" Fiona nods, pulling out her cell phone hesitantly. "I can call my brother, he's got a car but…" she blinks at Tabitha, "Maybe we should go to a clinic instead…"
Tabitha shakes her head, just for the barest instant, and ends up squeaking loudly again. "Let… let cops find me," she gasps. "Trying… Barnes… Look bad if I run away." She slowly pitches over sideways, and positions both hands under her head as she rests on the ground. "Just… lie here a minute, okay?"
"I don't wanna leave you… but if I get caught, you have no idea how much trouble I'm gonna be in! I'm not even supposed to be out this late at night. Let alone fighting supervillains!" Fiona runs a hand through her hair, "This is awful, I'm gonna get grounded for life!"
Tabitha coughs softly, and her legs stretch out as her tail twitches, and comes down to lie across her knees. "Call nine one one," she mumbles. "Leave… anonymous tip." Her eyes flutter shut, and she mumbles something incoherent. "Be fine," she adds. "I'll be fine… just… need something… for my head."
"Okay," Fiona replies - pulling out her phone and doing just that. "Yeah. Uh-huh. I wanna report an injured person from the fight in Chinatown. Yeah, she's behind a building. Right. The music shop… yeah, I think she's going to be okay, but I'm worried. I know you've got people - right. Yeah. Okay," she nods, hanging up the phone. "They should be here soon… be safe. I will see you again!" Fiona assure her, before sprinting off into the night. She sure as /hell/ isn't going to be caught here!
~ Fin ~
