Players:
Summary: Dingo tries to rob a bank, but Quicksilver and Caleb interfere. Kage assists Dingo.
Log Title: Bank Heist Gone Wrong
Rating: PG (L)
NYC - Alphabet City
Alphabet City used to be the slums of New York City, but now it's a trendy part of the East Village. Its name comes from the Avenues having single letter names. Apartments have been renovated into nightclubs, restaurants, and retail-establishments. Even though this part of the city isn't home to as many of the low income and artists residents, it still holds a Bohemian feel.
Scene
Alphabet City has slightly fewer people on the street than it usually does. Given the time of day most people are at work, eating lunch, or visiting the more touristy parts of the city. The weather is nice, a little cooler than it has been the past few days, but most people are still wearing shorts and t-shirts. This makes one man in particular stand out. He is wearing jeans, a long black coat, and a ski mask. As people see him approach, they scatter. This is because aside from the unusual outfit, the man is also towing something rather alarming with him.
Dingo appears in the midst of a cloud of sand, something perhaps not so normal for people in the city to see. He’s been collecting dust his entire walk over this way, having decided that he’ll need a proper costume eventually to achieve his goals. Such things are regrettably expensive, so he’ll have to borrow a bit of capital. He wouldn’t dream of stealing from Mutant Town, so the banks from the more mundane regions of the city will have to do for now.
Pietro has been out looking for trouble today. In as much as taking a run around New York is looking for such. While the man doesn't patrol, he's been restless and needed to move. That means he's moving by at speeds where he can't easily be seen, and has to double take at Bruce. Passes by, only to skid to a stop, startle some people as he seemingly appears out of no where, and then disappears again to race back.
The swirling dust cloud finds a costume wearing, silver haired man standing a short distance before him. "Is it really necessary to frighten the locals?" Asks the speedster who did that himself not seconds ago. Pietro isn't disguised at all, and with his natural appearance he's easily recognizable.
Dressed in his usual womanly fashion, Kage looks every bit as elegant and feminine as he can. A long black skirt, heels, a ruffled dark red shirt combined with make up and style hair make him look not much like a man at all. He's in the area and sees the man in a ski mask and stops himself. No style whatsoever but might as well see what's going on, Kage figures. He stops to try to feel if Bruce is a mutant or not, then the spawn of Magneto shows up. Yes, Kage knows how Pietro is from being an Avenger and where he looks like his father, the life signature is similar, but not the same. He just watches for now, trying to figure out whose the 'good guy' and whose the /good/ guy.
Caleb is currently barred from leaving school grounds but got permission to leave for academic reasons, but that can wait a little, he's gonna go for a wander for a while, he’s dressed in blue cargos, a red t-shirt, a black jacket, is wearing black Airwalk trainers, his white hair is gelled in a casual bed-head look and his violet eyes are glowing faintly as is the yellow stone on the silver wristband on his right wrist. When he spots the speedster and sand guy, he's drawn over just out of curiosity.
Dingo stops moving as Pietro appears suddenly. He squints his eyes and holds up his hands, parting the sand a bit so he can see better. Aw damn! It’s that guy from the bar. He thinks for a minute, trying to decide how well the man would remember their encounter. He decides not to risk speaking in a normal fashion, since that might give him away. He instead speaks with a terrible interpretation of a Southern accent, one which will be obviously recognized as fake. “This don’t concern you none. I’m not gonna hurt nobody, so go find someone who’s a real threat, alright ma…Er…Fella.” There are a bunch of people staring at the two of them. No one in the crowd is standing out to Dingo right now, since most of his attention is focused on Pietro. “Your cooperation would be appreciated.”
Fella? The expressions that flicker across Pietro's features are very nearly too fast to see, but confusion and consternation appear there briefly. "Even the Sandman has better sense than to blind his own vision." The obviously false accent, the hiding of face, and the being told to leave has the speedster reacting.
Shifting to movement again, the man pointedly doesn't stop the effects his speed has on the environment. It means there is an extremely powerful gust of wind directed at Bruce all out of no where. It won't do anyone harm in and of itself, but bystanders in the immediate area are staggering, and one woman even falls over. Pietro idly puts her back on her feet before appearing again. Just a way to amuse himself and see if he can't remove some of the haze around Bruce.
Still hanging in the background, Kage just watches, as one of the people in the crowd. He looks at Bruce, and just seems to study his life signature, well it's not apparent to anyone but himself. Along with studying what he's wearing. He uses his X-Ray vision to even see the face behind the mask, to see if he can recognize the man behind it, but no luck. Kage knows how to wait patiently, and he wants to know what this sand-man is upto, in hopes that he knows if it'll be worth his time to assist the mutant, after all if Pietro is here, he knows who the 'bad guy' is, and that's the one he usually sides with.
Since joining Barnes Caleb has learned more about the Avengers, so he recognises the fast guy as one of the Avengers, Quicksilver he thinks, he just keeps watching, but doesn't draw attention to himself.
Dingo holds up his arms and braces against the sudden gust. His coat flutters back behind him and a bit of his sand is shoved back before he has a chance to react. The man hunches down some and places a hand to the ground, causing the sand in the air to drop down and move forward, beginning to form a wall in front of him. “I don’t want trouble, mate. But if you’re gonna give me a problem, then I’ll give you one back. He senses a source of sand to his left and holds out a hand toward it, causing a sizeable amount of sand to burst through the window of a Japanese restaurant. Their ‘Zen Garden’ is no longer so peaceful, and the customers come running out in a panic before noticing Dingo and going back inside. “How about you just go back home, eh?” The sand he has summoned flows onto the ground in front of him and begins creeping toward the speedster.
"Tsk." Is the immediate response. Pietro folds his arms over his chest as he's told to go home by Dingo. "Why is it idiots such as your self can't seem to get a clue? The costume means trouble. Namely for you." The wind told Pietro a few things, and the use of the Zen garden told the man the rest. This in mind he begins to race circles around Dingo in order to create a wind funnel - And a funnel to get that sand up and too spread out to be immediately dangerous. Might even suck Dingo right up and toss him a ways too, depending.
And with this many of the normal citizens of the city start to run. In any direction that means away from the beginning of this fight. Only those who don't know better remain. Hey, it's New York. This happens a lot.
Damnit, if Kage knew there would be some sort of superhero fight in the city today he would have brought more of his tools with him, right now he doesn't have much. He reaches inside his jacket to see what he did bring with him. Nothing of use of course, so Kage doesn't run, he just opts to turn himself invisible. This is gonna hurt, and he knows it, as he tries to dive in the way so that Pietro will trip, or slam into the invisible man, throwing off his speed. Hey, ya gotta help the mutant that helps himself…to money that is.
When the wind starts and everyone begins running, Caleb phases to avoid being knocked about by the crowd, "Wow, an actual superfight", he doesn't move any closer or further away, he's just watching, fights arn't like that back home.
Dingo hunches down again and pulls his sand down as best he can as Pietro begins running circles around him. “Damnit Speedo, I don’t wanna hurt you. Our kind needs to stick together, yanno?” He feels the winds kicking up and pulls some sand around himself. He is now standing in sand about two feet deep which he has condensed to be slightly softer than cement. The sand he was using as a veil is scattered. He is unable to pull it back through the vortex created by Pietro. It is difficult for him to see where Pietro is right now, but he can tell the general distance he is running around him. He shoots out four spires of sand into the speedster’s path, intending to trip him up. The spires grow quickly at first and then slow down a bit as they reach where they need to be. The wind is causing some erosion, but the spires are still able to form. The sands around his feet have thinned out to accommodate the new structures, but he keeps enough to remain anchored down.
Dingo does not see Kage due to his invisibility, but some of his sand is displaced when the man moves. He assumes it is a civilian and maneuvers his spires in such a way to avoid hitting him.
Since Pietro can not in fact see the invisible, he does indeed run right into Kage. The speeds that he's moving at though, that's going to hurt. Hurdling into Kage, Pietro can't even begin to dodge the spire that trusts out and sends the two tumbling through the air. And yet the speedster does try to help Kage. Confused, having not idea where Kage came from, only that he's somehow got a woman in his arms, Pietro manages to twist the two around so that he takes the brunt of it all as they go crashing through a store window. It really is as painful as it looks. A clothing store, down go the store front fashion dummies, as well as a few racks of clothing. Crashing in a huge mass of metal and clothing against a wall, Pietro is too dazed to do anything immediately. One can almost see the stars over his head.
As soon as he's slammed into, Kage goes back to being visible, his concentration broken. He doesn't know much of what happens except for that he's in pain and finds himself in a clothing store. "Oh god polyester." He says full of disdain. He's quite dazed himself and pushes himself to his feet, trying to get his balance back, along with some sense of feeling that isn't bone and muscle screaming in pain.
Dingo hesitates for a moment, only having intended to slow Pietro down, not knock him through the window. He darts forward quickly to look into the window, making sure that Pietro isn’t terribly injured. “Ah, sorry ‘bout that mate. Just ah, leave me be next time, alright?” He notices Kage and frowns, “And try not to run toward these kinds of tussles, miss.” He jumps back out the window and collects his sand around him again. He constructs a fifteen foot tall sand golem and heads directly to the bank half way down the block from where Pietro and Kage are. Hopefully he’ll be able to grab a bit of cash before the Speedster can recover.
As Pietro climbs painfully to his feet, those electric blue eyes are dangerously narrowed. "Not about to happen." While Kage will be remembered, for the moment the speedster focuses on Bruce. Namely because Kage isn't trying to rob a bank. Not yet anyway. AS the golem heads for the bank, Pietro increases his speed a good deal and races right at Bruce. He seems to disappear entirely from where he was, only to stop as he tries to slam right into Dingo. Knowing that the sand will protect Bruce, Pietro also stops controlling the force of his speed. This will hurt him too, but even if he doesn't make full contact with Bruce, and send the two tumbling, a strong sonic boom will be going off. Windows all over the area shatter, and the walls tremble.
Even though Kage doesn't have much in regards to his tools with him, as one of the villainous persuasion, he does carry a firearm with him at all times. He staggers up and braces himself so he won't fall down as the sonic boom goes off. He's just /barely/ able to stay on his feet inside the clothing store. He takes out his sidearm from where it's hidden by his jacket and focuses now that Pietro has reappeared again. It's a long shot but he takes his chances and fires two shots at Pietro, hoping to slow him down, just a bit, to give Bruce the edge he needs. Why not?
Dingo doesn’t seem to notice Pietro approaching him, this may have something to do with the other man moving faster than he can see. Bruce makes a startled noise as he is struck from behind and hurled forward. His golem reaches down to catch its maker, but Bruce is flying forward at too great a speed. He goes forward about 15 feet and slams into a table at an outdoor café. The golem collapses and remains immobile for a few moments before Dingo manages to stand up again. He is really unhappy and has a slight limp now. “Bastard! I just need a little cash! Trust me when I say it’ll benefit our people, alright?” He lurches back toward Pietro and regains control of his sand. He forms a large hand out of the sand and prepares to attack Pietro with it. His head snaps up as he hears the gunshots and he dives down, causing the construct to collapse once more.
Hitting with enough force to daze himself again, if only because he'd kind of started out that way, Pietro is hunched over amid a spray of sad as Bruce goes flying off to that cafe. And so he's straightening in time to be hit by a bullet. It takes him in the lower back, but the second misses as he reacts. The man's form blurs to one side, his expression showing the sheer pain he's in. The constructs weren't even bothered with since he'd already figured out that they require concentration. It's why he's constantly been trying to break it.
Fluid of motion, ignoring the agony he's in, Pietro seeks to do two things. One, steal the gun from Kage, and then use it to hit Bruce on the back of the head. Considering his augmented strength, that's going to hurt if it contacts. He is actually able to be seen now. The wound is slowing him down considerably. Dark blue turns black on his costume.
The gun is taken from his hand, no matter, he hit his target but damned if it didn't slow him down. So Kage opts for the going invisible again, that way he can't be seen as he does his next move, try to get the hell outta there. Sorry Bruce, you're on your own. He tried to help him take money that is rightfully his, after all, everything that the greater species wants from sheep they take, right? He's injured so it's a slow process of sneaking about quietly, while invisible, to make his way out of the store.
Dingo gets up after a moment and tries to figure out what exactly is going on. He narrows his eyes at Kage, not having realized that he was trying to help. “Look at that, Speedo. The humans do not appreciate your actions. They hate our kind. You were trying to help these people and they just want you dead.” He shakes his head and moves forward slightly, stepping onto the mound that was once his golem. “It’ll be the same way every time. No matter what you do for these people they just see you as a menace.” He sees Pietro coming at him with the gun and pulls up a small sand shield to defend. The sand is broken through and he still gets hit, but the blow is severely diminished.
“Damnit! What the hell!?” The sand beneath him pushes upward so that he is standing on a spire and looking down at Pietro. “Look, while you were over here trying to stop me from NOT HURTING ANYONE, that lady who SHOT YOU ran away. Now there’s someone out there who’s willing to shoot someone who protected her just because they’re a mutant. Get your priorities straight, will ya?” He is no longer trying to hide his accent, and sounds like his usual Australian self. “Look mate, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go off and try to find that lady with the gun, you go see a doctor about that hole in your back.” He sighs and shakes his head. “It didn’t mean to get one of our own hurt. I just need that money to help make life better for BOTH of us. S’truth mate.”
"No, they don't appreciate.. your actions." Pietro disagrees, even as the sand shield blocks most of his attempt. With fading vision, he staggers the last couple feet to stop within easy reach of Bruce. "You aren't proving your superiority.. you're only proving yourself a common criminal." Angry, eyes unfocused, he looks back. "Shooting me doesn't hurt thousands of people who are already struggling. The very people you claim to protect. You think the banks suffer for your.." This is where he finds that the words fall away. Mainly because the world is dropping into blackness. Pietro tries to get another word out and then simply crumples to the sand covered pavement. By now the stain has spread far enough to where white shows red in that lightning bolt.
Kage has started to wander off but being invisible and sneaking away doesn't mean you're entirely gone. Seeing that Pietro passes out Kage just sighs and walks over to the Avenger. "You, get what you need from the bank, me, I'll take him to the hospital, I don't want to kill one of our own." Kage says in his disembodied voice since he's still invisible. And he starts to try to pick up Pietro, so that he can just drop him off at the nearest doctors. "You're a mutant, you're just claiming what is yours, not just some petty criminal."
Caleb has been frozen in awe at the fight, but when the bullet wound brings Pietro down, he finally moves, he doesn't have superspeed but he's still a pretty fast teen, he runs over to the fallen Avenger, he doesn't spot Kage so he doesn't know where he is, but he does hear him, "He is a petty criminal", he mutters under his breath, he tries to pick the guy up as well.
Dingo frowns and lowers his column back down into a mound. He reaches down and pockets the gun before tearing off a fragment of his coat and pressing it against Pietro’s wound. He narrows his eyes at Kage, not being able to see him but being able to sense his movements through his sands. “You’re the woman who shot him? We do not kill our own, there are enough people out there who try to do it already.” He glances at Caleb, not recognizing him. “You want to help? Hold this onto the wound. Apply direct pressure. And help Little Miss Disappear keep this guy comfortable until the paramedics get here.” He can already hear distant sirens, it seems one of the bystanders has called the police. Dingo turns back to Kage and nods. “Right, better hurry then.” He stands and limps quickly toward the bank again, his sand golem reforming. Both the man and the golem disappear through the front door, causing a crowd to come running out.
"You are mistaken on several accounts." Kage says curtly to Bruce. "First, I was not aiming to kill, just to give you the edge. You want funding, well I helped. Second, I am not little miss anything." He says as for someone who cross dresses he's quit adamant that he's a man. "I will stay here, gather what you need." He says as he starts checking Pietro's vitals, all while invisible, to make sure he'll be okay. Looking at Caleb, the disembodied voice says. "You, are not a mutant, so do not presume to insult him by calling him a petty criminal."
Caleb looks in the general direction, "No I am not a mutant, but you have no idea what I am", he spits the words at Kage, he applies pressure to the wound, then Bruce runs into the bank, the invisible person seems to want to help Quicksilver because he is a mutant, "You'll watch him right?" he then gets up and follows Bruce into the bank.
Inside of the bank, Dingo is standing calmly in front of the counter, tapping his fingers on the counter as the cashiers empty their registers into a bag. The guards are unconscious against one of the walls, but they don’t appear to be too injured at the moment. They had apparently decided to stay in the bank when all of the commotion was going on outside. “Look lady, I only need a hundred and fifty thousand. Stuff it in the bag and let’s go, alright?” That’s strange, a criminal who only wants a certain amount of money. The woman hands the bag back across the counter and he turns to leave, seeing Caleb in his path. “Scram kid, got work to do.”
There's a moan as Pietro attempts to return to consciousness. Eye lids flutter and he shifts. He's lost a good deal of blood, but that doesn't mean he's out for good. Certainly not going to do anything for the moment though.
Kage puts out a hand and grips Caleb on the shoulder. "No, you're not going in there cause you're going to try to play hero and get hurt. Look what happened to an Avenger." He says as he notices Pietro starting to wake up. "Good, what you should do kid, is help me get him to a Hospital. If you really want to play hero, how about helping one?"
Before Kage finishes his sentance, Caleb has phaseed though the hand and ran into the bank, when he gets inside to confront Bruce, he suddenly realises he has no idea what to do, he just says rather childishly, "I'm not a kid".
Dingo shakes his head and just walks straight toward Caleb. He intends to just walk past him and out into the street. “Right, well maybe you should go help the Avenger like I asked, eh?” The golem lurches after the man, also heading straight toward Caleb. Now go help him or go home. I won’t hesitate to knock you aside.” He is now quite close to the boy. The golem reaches a hand forward to brush Caleb out of the way.
What a lovely sky. Wait, no, he shouldn't be waking up to see the sk… damn it. Memories flood in, but that doesn't mean Pietro can do more than struggle to sit up. Weight on an elbow he feels around to his back with a free hand and comes up with blood. Kage's voice haunts him somewhat, him grasping that it's close, yet unseen, but unable to get a visual fix he tries instead to stand. Bruce is still robbing the bank after all. Using a broken table, he attempts his feet. "You should have kept me down." He warns the invisible Kage.
"Quicksliver." Says the disembodied voice of Kage. "There is a child in there with the gentlemen who needs money, he is not a mutant, I will make no qualms about killing him, you, I just wanted to slow down." He admits and yes it's a threat and he knows that by speaking his voice will give away where he is, so as much as he could have just tried to punch Pietro in the face to try to keep him down, Kage opts to silently move his location so that it's hard to guess where he is by voice alone.
Caleb hasn't quite got the hang of the offensive aspect of his powers yet, so Bruce walks towards him, he runs at Bruce in an attempt to tackle him, cursing himself for not being able to make his clothing invisable, his hands are glowing violet.
Dingo’s golem was reaching for Caleb when the boy began his assault. The hand comes down between Dingo and the boy. “I really don’t have time for this. Go help Speedo, will ya?” The sand blocked his view of the boy’s hands, so he still believes he is a human. “And next time stay out of the way, ya little vermin.” The hand of the golem detaches and remains in place as the rest of the construct disassembles into a sand storm. Bruce hobbles out into the street concealed by a cyclone of sand. He calms the sand for a moment to glance toward Pietro, noticing that he is standing again. “Yo, invisible Sheila! Keep him calm, eh?” He turns the storm back up and it moves toward one of the alleyways, he apparently intends to get out of here before the police arrive.
As the sand falls, it does land on his clothing and is stuck there, not enough to show all of him but just enough to have some particles in the air. He does notice and charges at Pietro, sorry he knows he can't match Pietro for speed but he's trained in Kung Fu, and he rushes in to fight him hand to hand. His goal isn't to win but to keep Pietro busy for Bruce to get away. He knows Pietro can probably see him despite being invisible, but do bad guys always know when to quit?
Caleb phases and runs though the golems hand and continues running though the cyclone, he returns to normal at the last second and attempts to tackle Bruce again.
The sand storm has passed into one of the alleys by now, he can no longer see Pietro and they will not be able to see him. Dingo makes an astonished noise as he is knocked down to the ground by Caleb. He drops his bag and turns over, glaring at the boy. “Seriously! Get! Off!” The sandstorm picks up speed, he attempts to buffet the boy with sand. “If you continue to get in my way I won’t hesitate to bust you up, kiddo!”
Yes, because combat is all about keeping one calm. Pietro doesn't have time for extended fights, so he pushes himself. That's one nice thing about superspeed - The fact you get to react before your opponent can. His back feels like it's on fire, every moment causes pain, yet he still attempts to get in one hard blow on Kage's abdomen. Beneath the rib cage, angled upwards. Trying to knock the air out of Kage's lungs. Because he's only time for one blow. Too much blood loss, from a would still bleeding. Whether the blow hits or not, Pietro moves past Kage and skids to the pavement. Not unconscious again, but he's so not going anywhere unless carried. "Damn it." Vision is going black again, and he fights it.
The punch to the abdomen connects and the wounds from colliding with Pietro before are aggravated and Kage snaps back into visibility. He staggers a bit and falls to a knee, trying to take several deep breaths. He can't do any chasing right now and he'll definitely need to see a doctor later.
Caleb is almost knocked off when buffered by the sand, he quickly grabs the dropped bag and phases again, he jumps up and runs out of the sandstorm, back towards the bank.
Dingo doesn't speak, he clenches his fist and shakes his head before pulling his sand around himself. The golem reforms and both it and Dingo burst back out of the alleyway after Caleb. Kid can't be hit by his sands? That's fine by him. The kid seems to be the heroic type. "Hey you little Ratbag, how about this?" The golem reaches into a broken window of the storefront and grabs a woman there, dragging her out into the street. "Give me that bag or this human dies!" He glances over at Pietro and frowns, "And you, sit down before ya bleed out." To Kage, "Miss, get out of here. The police are coming." They do sound very close right now, Dingo doesn’t have much time. "Give me the bag!" The woman screams and kicks at the sand structure, but she can't get free it seems.
Pietro is already on the ground, struggling to remain kneeling. The pavement is sure looking like a great place to sleep though. "..Don't." The word just doesn't carry far. It's meant for Bruce though. "Money isn't worth her life." Isn't stealing a bad enough of a crime? "I'll give you what I have. ..If it means…" Sorry, he's blacking out, sinking down to the sand covered pavement of what was once an outdoor cafe.
Kage looks at Pietro and Bruce. "I'll find you later." He says to him and he'll have no problem searching for him. After all he'll be able to find him easily. Kage gets up, looks at Pietro, shakes his head for reasons unknown, and turns invisible as he heads out of the area. And like that, Kage is gone before the police can get there.
Caleb sighs and throws the bag to Bruce, "Fine, there, now put her down and trust me people like you always end up at the bottom of a river somewhere, and i'm guessing no one will care", once Bruce has put the woman down, and he's sure she's alright, he runs over to Pietro to help get him up.
Dingo catches the bag and offers a quick salute to the boy. “Actually it’s kids like you who get in over your head that end up at the bottom of the lake, kiddo.” He gently sits down the woman and offers her a sincere apology. “Never really hurt a Sheila, m’dear. Here’s something’ for yer troubles.” He reaches into the bag and tosses her a couple hundred dollars. It is at this time that the police cars finally arrive on the scene. Dingo turns and runs back down the alley. His golem follows and transforms into a wall of sand, condensing to the density of cement. Once he’s too far away, the wall will weaken, but it should hold its shape enough to deter the cops from following him.
While he appreciates the gesture, Pietro doesn't stand up. Instead he passes right out. Caleb is left trying to hold up an unconscious speedster. The police are going to be disappointed to find only Quicksilver, possibly Caleb, a one time hostage, and a bank that's been robbed. At least Pietro gets to go to the hospital and get that gunshot looked at.
Caleb struggles under the weight of the unconscious Avenger, "Feck, i should have just stayed out of it", he half considers flying off and dropping Pietro at a hospital but he's not sure he can carry him, so he has no chose but to wait for the police and ambulance to arrive.
= ~ Fin ~
