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Summary: Maxwell stops a purse snatcher but doesn't make himself known.
Date: December 5, 2010
Log Title: Suspicious Activity
Rating: PG
NYC - Mutant Town
Mutant Town, also known as District X, has become a haven for mutants. This section of town doesn't care what you look like, accepting all mutants no matter what their appearance. Most of the businesses in this section of town are mutant run ranging from small convenience stores to clothing shops to restaurants to night clubs. The buildings here aren't the high rise buildings you might find in mid-town but most are about 5-6 stories high. Mutant Town might not be the most luxurious section of town, in fact it's fairly run down, but this section of where mutants are safe and welcomed regardless of race, religion and culture.
The sun has long since set and the streets are Mutant town are illuminated only by the street lamps and the light shining from the storefronts and the neon glow of the clubs and bar signs. Tension is high as those walking the streets are wary of the alleys or anyplace the light fails to shine, the recent attack by armed anti-mutant attackers having the citizens on edge for fear of copycats or a return or those responsible for the first assault.
It is this tension that has brought the Hooligan to mutant town. Perched on a rooftop and hunkered down behind an AC unit he scans the street with a pair of binoculars, switching to nightvision to comb the alleys. The Vigilante drawn to the recent violence and looking to dispense a little Justice should they return.
As usual when in Mutant Town, Kalindi uses her powers almost to the point of overcompensation. She is aware that her powers do not have mutant origins, and if she does have a mutation, it's probably something lame like teeth regeneration that she simply does not know about. But people don't usually question flashy displays of power as anything but expressions of mutantcy. The girl rides on her gold disc through the sky, pausing when she sees the person on the rooftop. A spy? She doesn't much care one way or another about vigilante's, so long as they do not interfere in her business (and convincing people to sell their souls is not illegal anyways! Geez!). She lowers on her disc by where Hooligan seems to be hanging out and notes in her Hindi/Demonic accent, "Whatever are you doing?"
Even though he didn't grow up in Mutant Town, nor has he ever lived there, Queztal is still finding he's taking an interest in recent happenings. Maybe it's because he's a mutant too, maybe it's because he's bored or maybe it's cause SHIELD asked him to look around. Though..it could be a mixture of one of the three. Queztal is dressed in a black leather jacket with a few patches on one arm over a pair of jeans and wearing his sunglasses, even though it's night. He walks with his cane and there is a small brightly coloured bird sitting perched on his shoulder as he limps down the sidewalk.
Maxwell is on his feet in almost the same instant as he hears the voice call to him. The armored form spinning to face kalindi and brandishing a baseball bat studded in metal bolts. His fighting stance second nature as he looks over the neew arrival and releases a breath. "Cripes.. didn't think the fliers would be out at night. I'm just keeping watch to see if those jagoffs with the guns come back to try again."
Kalindi looks at the baseball bat and shakes her head, "I would prefer if you do not engage me. It will expend both of our valuable resources." She glances about and says, "Ah, yes, it has one of my clients worried, all this violence lately." She lands on the rooftop and peers down the side of the building to just look. And what she spots is interesting! Not Quetzal, who she finds terribly dull and boring, but that brightly coloured bird. As much as she wants to be taken seriously by people on the street, she can't resist meeting new and strange animals. She raises a finger at Maxwell and then jumps off the roof, swinging her disc into a staff with her powers to slow her fall.
Quetzal dosen't really look up as he walks down the street but he stops to rest against a building. He reaches into his coat jacket to pull out a pack of cigarettes, and the fact that he's carrying a concealed handgun might be noticed by someone looking. He lights one of the cancer sticks and looks at the bird on his shoulder. He mutters something to him in Japanese and seems frustrated about something as he inhales deeply on the cancer stick.
Maxwell is about to speak when Kalindi leaps off the roof. Taking a quick look around to ensure no one else is on the rooftop with him he takes up the binoculars and returns to his lookout spot to resume his watch. He focuses on Quetzal a moment and takes a mental note of the military insignia and the glimpse of the gun. For now he remains where he is.
Kalindi hits the gold staff against the ground in hopes of catching Quetzal's attention, but her added exclamation of, "Hey, bird man!" might be the one that catches it most easily. She glances up to the top of the roof where she jumped from and starts walking up towards the SHIELD agent.
Hearing the staff hit the ground and then the phrase bird man being called out, Quetzal raises his eyebrows above his sunglasses and looks at Kalindi for a bit. There's a slight smirk that forms to his lips before he responds to the girl, in the same accent she uses. "Is there something I can help you with?"
Maxwell glances at the pair again but seeing that no gun is drawn and things seem to be civil he turns his attention back to scanning the area. As he sweeps the binoculars over the area he's starting to think it's going to be a quiet night, at least as quiet as things get in New York.
"I want to look at your bird. May I see it? May I pet it?" asks Kalindi, looking at the animal with wide eyes. The staff is broken into two, and each of the two halves snake around her arms as she raises her hands, now free of anything. "I have not seen a bird like this before, not quite like this."
Quetzal looks to the bird and then looks at Kalindi. "It's up to him he's not exactly mine but he is my friend." He says as Verde, the bird, flies up and lands on Kalindi's shoulder. "This is Verde, don't be shy Verde." He says as the bird starts to talk. "Hello, I don't mind if you pet me but I can be more than just a bird. And as for the type of bird I am right now, it's a Quetzal." Just like his companion's namesake. Both the bird and Quetzal speak in Kalinid's thick accent, since his linguistics just cause him to copy the language patterns of who he's talking to.
Maxwell hmmms as he spots a bit of rukus down the street, a woman shouts as some punk pulls a basic purse grab and tears off down the road towards where he's perched with two bystanders in hot pursuit. Grinning under his mask he reachs into a hip pouch and produces a spherical object. He waits patiently for the runner to get closer.
Her thick accent being reflected back at her makes Kalindi freeze, like a deer caught in the headlights. Her more casual attitude is dropped as she slips into her demonic language, sounding unnatural coming from her mouth, <How are you speaking like me? Who are you? What do you know?> She stares at the bird on her shoulder, not really freaked out by it speaking, but the speech it produces. Still, though, she's set out to do something and she's going to do it. She reaches her hand up to pet the bird.
Quetzal tilts his head at Kalindi and is equally confused at what she's saying. It's the first time he's run into that thing called a language barrier. He has no clue what she's saying and that is just odd for the linguist. "I'm sorry….can you repeat that?" He asks as he's unsure and it weirds him out. As for Verde, he lets himself get pet and he feels like any other bird, the weird thing is, Quetzal also feels it. As for the snatch and grab, he looks over as he hears the woman shout to see what's going on.
Maxwell stands from his perch as the runner gets close enough and winds up, firing off a pitch that would make a major league team proud as what turns out to be a baseball studded with steel bolts whips through the air and drills the purse-snatcher in the knee. The snatcher gives a startled and pained yelp as the knee buckles and he stumbles at full run into an alleyway to slam into the wall and topple over a pair of metal garbage cans before dropping onto his back holding his knee and crying out in pain. As the two men catch up to the runner one looks towards the rooftop but The Hooligan is already on the move. Leaping off the roof on the far side his rebounds off the walls of the alley several times in a back and forth motion before landing on the ground. Figuring the cops won't be too far behind he sees this as a good time to leave and heads for a back street.
As always when Kalindi is asked to repeat something, she just repeats it, though a little more impatiently, <How are you speaking like me? Who are you? What do you know?> She switches into Hindi, <Maybe this is better for you? Did you understand what I said?> She tilts her head slightly at Verde and continues to pet the bird lightly before hearing the ruckus. She spins her staff out into a disc again and floats over to check it out.
Hindi, that Quetzal understands. <No, I did not understand what you were saying earlier.> He says before he sees the ball pitch into the guy. He looks at the bird and something unspoken seems to converse through the two as the bird flies up to head after to the man running on the roof. He knows Verde will get there a lot quicker than himself so he just starts running in the streets below, as best he can, to keep up even though emotionally having Verde be that far from him is a bit taxing.
Maxwell vaults a pair of trash cans as he emerges out onto the side street and finds what he's looking for, the heavy street bike he left behind a dumpster. he grumbles to himself as he fires up the engine, "Great.. out here all night and all I find is a blasted purse snatcher. Ah well there's always tomorrow." He guns the engine and likely shoots past the bird without noticing it as he pops a brief wheelie and begins to speed off.
Kalindi follows for a little ways but swings back around when she decides satisfying her curiosity is not worth chasing a vigilante. They're always so suspicious! The bird, though, she follows, <Do you think there is a point to finding him? There is probably no point for me,> she says in Hindi, sitting down on her disc.
It takes a while but Quetzal finally catches up and once he does the bird flies right to him. It shifts into rabbit lands in his arms and he holds onto Verde tight. <I do not think it it necessary but I am not sure if vigilante work is always the best.> He looks at where the bike peeled off and sighs. <It's one of those doubled edged swords.> When he speaks Hindi, again, it's in the same accent as Kalindi.
Maxwell speeds off into the night, likely headed out of the city to call it a night. The two men that were chasing the purse-snatcher take the purse back and return it to the woman. Somewhere in the distance is the sound of a police siren likely responding to a phone call from some bystander who witnessed the incident, the snatcher is likely going to need an ambulance. If he knees isn't shattered outright it's definately in no shape for him to move on his own.
<Eh, with vigilantes, I don't really care so long as they do not talk to me. Are you police of some kind? And… how do you have the same accents as me? You've spoken two of three languages that I speak. That's more than most.> Her eyes widen slightly as she realizes that there's a rabbit in Quetzal's arms. With enough time, she could pet /every single animal/. The thought kind of delights her. To the animal, she says, <You are a rabbit now?>
The rabbit pressed against Quetzal's chest nots to Kalindi. "Yes I am. I can change my shape." Verde doesn't say why he did but over all it's just easier to be held as a rabbit then as a bird. <I am a linguist. Your languages rub off on me and if I'm a police officer..no…I am not.> But he didn't say he wasn't one of some kind. <I just am able to understand and speak many languages, as is Verde.>
Kalindi now switches to Punjabi, curious, <And now? Is this another language you can understand me speak?> She knows they are uncommon languages here, but that pretty much runs her out of the languages she can speak. To Verde she says, <May I pet you now? I have pet a rabbit before, but not a talking rabbit.>
Quetzal nods. <Yes, I can understand you speak it and speak it in return.> He replies as he looks down at Verde to see if the rabbit responds. <You may.> Says Verde. <But I am going to stay where I am for now.> Following Hooligan as a bird brought Quetzal and Verde a bit further than twenty feet apart so the closeness is something needed for both of them as the strain was something they both felt. <So how many languages do you speak.>
Kalindi respects the rabbit's request, since it seems natural to do so especially in the novel situation where a rabbit /has/ a request. She approaches Quetzal and pets the rabbit lightly. <Soft,> she says in Hindi, the most natural language for her, <I only speak four languages fluently. You have heard me speak them all tonight. I know how to call someone a slut in spanish, though.>
Quetzal smiles at the last thing Kalindi says. <I can speak many, but I could only understand three languages you spoke tonight.> Though technically, he can only speak one fluently. <It was a pleasure meeting you, Verde enjoyed it as well, but I have to be on my way.> He gives Kalindi a slight bow as he goes to leave, making sure to pick up the ball that Hooligan left behind.
Kalindi touches the disc lightly with her foot when Quetzal says that he needs to go and she nods, <It was nice meeting you. I am Kalindi. Some people call me Kali. I hope to meet you and Verde again.> Mostly Verde, but Quetzal does arouse some curiosity. She raises her hand slightly and then flies straight up.