Summary:Two capes, a musician and a woman in a park on Staten Island … no, it's not the start of a joke. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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A tall, willowy, stern looking blonde looks up from where she's seated not far from the musician. She'd been enjoying the music as he sang.
"It is a nice guitar. It was a gift from the Tsarina of China, you're not likely to be able find one that in a music store." That's delivered with a perfectly straight face as she sits there before casting a look at the tall dark haired man.
"These aren't the ones you were looking for are they?" Her air suggests that they've done this dance before.
Batgirl was out on patrol not so far away. There had been an increase in crimes around the park lately and she had chosen it as an area to focus upon. Leaving her motorcycle in a nearby alleyway hidden easily enough, she fired her grappel gun to take her to a higher elevation and a better perspective on the park.
Coming to a perch at the corner of one of the residential highrises she took out her binoculars and began to slowly scan the pathways of the park.
There's, oh, a dozen or so toughs. That's not uncommon in this park. Hell Batgirl knows they're probably not the only gang IN the park. A lot of those crimes have been contraband related. Drugs. Firearms. This park is right near the cargo ferry terminal, so it's an easy place to shift illegal goods.
Of course people like that are often open to a bit of casual robbery. Especially for a guitar like that. It looks like it's a few thousand dollars worth easy.
Which is exactly the problem.
The man with the guitar shakes his head at the blonde. "No, not the-"
He's cut off when one of them actually throws a hatchet at him. It strikes him in the shoulder and sends him tumbling one way off the bench while his guitar tumbles in another. The hit and cry of shock and surprise has the gang laughing. Several of them produce weapons and one goes to pick up that really nice looking guitar.
Anyone with any sense would stay down after a hit like that and just let himself be robbed. Better that than shot.
But then, this is not the kind of thing Batgirl will stand for, is it? Even if the guy in the park at this hour with a guitar that nice is being kind of blindingly stupid.
The blonde in the shadows sighs as the hatchet comes flying. She doesn't seem distressed that the man was hit. "I let you off your lead and look at what happens." She quips instead.
Not moving yet, but reaching up to remove the hairclip that holds her golden locks back. "Really, I wouldn't do that if I were you." she says mildly to the group. Slowly rising to her full height and glancing where the man tumbled "Do you need a hand up?" The cage to the clip is held in her right hand, the pin in her left.
Batgirl didn't find herself watching the park for more than a few seconds. She sighed. It had gotten so bad that she briefly imagined walking across the street on the heads of criminals and low lifes to get to the man and woman.
Smirking at that imagery, she rose up even as the binoculars were smoothly tugged away and secured - all while she began a slow forward dive off the edge of the highrise. Arms tucked in to her sides, she plunged. One floor. Two. Three. The ground was beginning to come into focus. Four. Five.
Stretching her arms out, her cape secured to each now, the wind caught beneath it and she swiftly raced forward as much as downward now.
Barely thirty feet above the unforgiving ground, Batgirl arced upwards, gliding over the street and trees toward the scene of the on-going crime. Oh no. She wasn't going to sit back and watch. The grin on her lips indicated she was going to enjoy this very much.
Soaring over the scene, she sized up the gang and the two seeming innocent victims as she circled tightly around and flared her cape so that it easily stopped her forward motion. It left her just enough control to guide her heavily booted feet toward two of the gang members at the back of the group who were standing just a little too close to each other.
Crunch. Thump. Batgirl lands right among them, sending two to the ground in a heap. The result is instant pandemonium. The people nearest to where Batgirl landed lurch outwards in shock and alarm, going for whatever weapons they have. The ones further away react inward instead, moving toward the threat, weapons already ready. Someone fires a gun, though in that press God only knows what they'll hit. Pure chaos reigns for a moment and it's all in Batgirl's favor.
So much so that it's possible that Babs may miss the man getting up - taking the hand up - and pulling the hatchet out of his shoulder. No blood.
"That's just obnoxious." He growls though his eyes light up in dark amusement when he sees the gang get jumped and, hatchet in hand, he starts to stalk over toward the srcum.
Did anyone else just feel a chill go down their spine? Like there's something big and bad here?
As the costumed redhead lands in the midst of the thugs, the blondes pale eyebrows rise. "Oh well then …" In a moment, on her left arm is a small round shield and in her right hand an arming sword appears. The pieces of the hair clip? Can't be found.
"Save some for me." She says to Batgirl.
"You're getting old…" the blonde quips again when the tall dark haired man rises. "… a few centuries ago, you'd have been up much quicker. Your aura's still good though, I see…"
With that, she wades in bashing the nearest thug in the head with her shield. "Don't get up dear. I'll just put you down again…"
Batgirl knew the moment she announced her presence by knocking the two ganger's heads into the pavement, they'd turn on her. She was counting on it. She was prepared to take on numbers like this and accept the danger. Park goers, even at this absurd hour, should not have to.
Rolling forward with the momentum of her "landing" she sprang up, legs propelling her into her next opponent. She tackled him, right shoulder leading, right in the stomach as he tried to back pedal away from her unexpected appearance. His own momentum was used to topple him. She followed up with an armored fist to the jaw.
Barely casting a glance at the blonde, she offered a non-commital shrug. "First come first served. If we're on the same side at least.." it was as much a joke as an attempt to clarify whether she had a sword and shield weilding woman to face down, now, too.
Training in armored combat is not at all like training in unarmored combat. Armor weaponizes the body in ways that regular empty hand martial arts don't account for in their standard teaching. It lets you strike with a force and abandon not possible otherwise. Batgirl has this advantage over the gangsters and she sends down the next two in short order.
The man who had been playing strikes one of the gangsters with the blunt end of the hatchet hard in the chest hard enough for everyone to hear a 'crunch' before the thug is sent tumbling. Then there's an almighty racket as someone breaks that guitar over his head.
The man turns. Slowly. "That was a koa wood guitar." He says in an low growl. The look he gives the former guiter theif just sends him fleeing outright.
By this point it's apparent to all that the fight is lost. Never mind that one of the women has a sword now or that the guy who took the hatchet to the shoulder doesn't seem hurt, there's a BAT here!
The ones left standing are trying to escape. One of them doesn't get really far. A thrown hatchet strikes again on the blunt side of the head and KO's one fo the runners.
"Good boy…" Astryd, that's the blondes name, says to the guy she hit with her shield. He hasn't moved, she hit him hard, after all.
"Sides?" That's to Batgirl "I'm just here because they took …" crunch Astryd sighs "… broke his guitar and I'm likely to hear of it for eons now." To the culprit, the blonde gives a stern look "And another mistake …"
She takes off at a run, catching the guitar thief in a trice and hitting him with the shield as well.
"I guess we have to take a trip to Hawai'i to replace that?"
Batgirl gives the blonde a more serious glance, "Just be thankful you ran into me and not The Big One. He's territorial. And he doesn't like help very often."
The advantage - or downside - to dropping into the center of things was that, well, Batgirl was in the center of things. Four down. But the Run Away crowd seems to have all chosen the same direction to flee. It meant that the stragglers had to get past her and the blonde. And then there was the hatchet throwing unhurt guy who should really be hurt.
As one of the last three runs within reach, Batgirl borrows a move from classic wrestling lore. Thrusting her armored arm out, she clothes lines the ill-fated Run Away, using his momentum to knock him backwards and off his feet. Her cape takes on a life of its own as she drops with him, covering them both from view briefly. As the thud of the gang member hitting the ground is heard, he seems to utter a groan. Or it could have been. The impact winded him and so it was more of a swallowed sound that left him gaping like a fish out of water. Having no sympathy for him, Batgirl wraggled him like a calf. Flipped onto his stomach, hands wrenched behind his back to be zip tied securely for SIPD to pick up shortly. Popping back up as if to the beat of a song, it was rather fluid. She might glower if it were compared to poetry. But she'd appreciate the acknowledgement inwardly.
"The Big One?" That's from the man who walks over to the ruins of his guitar and shakes his head in disgust, not seemingly inclined to chase down the fleeing thugs. Batgirl got one of them but there are others still on the run that might actually make it out of here if they're lucky.
"We'll order it off the internet. You can do that. Shipping is extra but, you know." He shrugs to the blonde and then turns to watch Batgirl work.
"Smooth." He says in a complimentary fashion. "You've clearly praticed. Shall I take it that you are one of the Island's fabled bats?" If it helps, we're not especially here to horn in on anyone's territory. Just looking for someone."
That sense of something big and bad? That's not gotten any less.
"The Big One?" Astryd looks around at the carnage and smirks. It doesn't make her any less stern. "Well that's done …" With a flick of her wrists the shield shrinks down to the 'basket' of her clip and the sword to the 'pin' that holds it.
With practiced ease she pulls her hair back, fixing the pin in place.
"You mean the big black bat that patrols this area?" It doesn't seem she's overly worried. "You fight well though, I would have been proud to have you as a shield sister."
The mans aura is predatory, wild. Hers is similar just not as strong.
"Online? I thought I'd get a holiday to Hawai'i at least. I rather liked it there. Though Pele didn't appreciate my presence…"
One wouldn't expect that someone like Black Canary could be stealthy. Certainly, that black leather outfit was eye-catching and her sonic powers don't really lend to stealth. Unfortunately for the first thug? The hardened boot coming towards the man's face isn't announced by anything more than a shadow that crosses his face before the bone-crunching impact sends him skidding in the dirt. It seems the blonde heroine had stepped out from behind one of the trees after spotting the trouble. It had just taken her a minute or two to change.
The second thug? He attempts a wild haymaker at the Dinah that she actually laughs at before seizing the wrist, twisting her body around an then pivoting her hips to tumble him over her shoulder to leave him crashing down onto the ground. She actually takes a moment to look down at the gang member before a casual kick catches him across the chin. Lights out!
Batgirl rises as the stragglers go running off. They'd get their turn some other time after some other failed attempt to commit a crime. Turning to Fenris and Astryd, she nods. "The Big One. The Batman." She shrugs, "Shadows lack color and capes hide definition. A lot of the gangs and street criminals have taken to referencing us by the size of our shadows. "Big. Little. Medium." She smirks. "They're still getting us confused but that helps us, too." She walks toward both of them. "I'm sorry about your guitar." She kneels down to pick up the largest pieces, examining the obvious craftsmanship. "It was clearly beautiful." She begins to take a step toward Fenris to return his damaged goods when the kerfluffle down the path begins. Turning, brows knit as she ponders the mayhem befalling those who thought they'd gotten away. "Sounds like another kindred spirit has arrived to help clean up.." she turns to hand the ruined instrument off before looking again toward the new arrival's direction.
"Are you the Little One, then?" Astryds cold grey eyes watch the redhead, head turning in Dinahs direction as she arrives. "And which one is that? The Medium One?" It's all very dry, but there's a sense of amusement.
"The guitar was not your fault, child. These men will bear the brunt of their actions. When they die, they will not find their place in Valhalla."
"How are you called?" beat "I am Astryd and this is … Ulrick."
The thug before her gets a light nudge. Alright, he's not too badly hurt, but he's not going anywhere before the cops get here. Looking up, there's a raised eyebrow at the bat-dressed Babs, then the shield and sword woman making the introductions. Really was all types out here. Crossing her arms over her chest, the leather-jacket clad heroine shrugs her shoulders. "Canary," she offers in introduction. Not the most intimidating of animals to be named after, but clearly she could handle herself.
Batgirl watches as the other blonde finishes up and offers a nod of appreciation. She looks back to Astryd. "Astryd. Ulrich. I'm whatever size is relevant to whoever is deciding I guess? Either way, I'm Batgirl." She glances back. "Canary. Thank you for catching the stragglers. Kept their inevitable trip down town from being postponed."
"I didn't realize you had a Sister in Staten Island." 'Ulric' says to Astryd while looking at the woman who has introduced herself as 'Canary'. The way he says it the capitalization is almost audible. 'Sister'. Not a relationship but a title or a position in some manner.
"Don't worry about the guitar, no. Not your fault though I'm glad someone appreciate's it even in it's last hours. It can be replaced, it's just annoying."
Annoying. Says a man who had a hatchet in his shoulder not five minutes ago.
"Well if you're Canary, I suppose you're Batgirl then?" He's heard the names, it's hard not to in this part of town though it's a pure guess. He's never seen either of them before, but the outfit fits.
"Thank you both for coming to my aid, it's much appreciated. My friend didn't show, I must have misread his appointment." That last is said with an air of resignation before he turns his attention to the trussed up thugs and regards them.
"This used to be a much nicer part of town. Pity, really."
"I believe I have Sisters in New York, Ulrich but this is not one of them." Astryd says. "Though I would gladly call both Sister after seeing them fight. Worthy of Valkyries, both of them."
"Well whatever size Bat you need to be, it is indeed a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And yours too, Canary." The blonde sighs as Ulrich continues "I've said it before, you're getting old …" beat "And this was much nicer the last time we came through. When was that?"
Clearly the man who'd been hatcheted wasn't in immediate danger. Either his clothing was protective or he was far more than he appeared. Lucky. Still, Dinah tilts her head to the side. "You uh…going to be alright there?" she questions. Sisters? Valkyries? At least it makes now having seen the other woman fight. A glance towards the Batgirl and she offers a nod of acknowledgement and greeting alike. "Guess these guys picked the wrong park to cause trouble."
Batgirl stiffles a laugh. "Staten Island has had better days, yes. But it's been kind of on the ropes for as long as I can remember. Just worse these days." She nods to Canary, "Entirely wrong park" she agrees. Looking to Astryd, she begins to ask a question about the valkyrie subject but she pauses, armored hand moving up to her left ear as she half turns away, likely listening to something on an internal system.
"I'd like to stay and get to know everyone better.. but I'm needed elsewhere. Thank you again and good luck!"
Her grappel appears once more, fired off at that highrise once more and, in just a moment, she is propelled into the night sky, cape fanning out as she begins to close in on her motorcycle and the next incident of the night.
"Who was that masked woman…" Ulric says to Astryd in a manner that suggests he's quoting. Which he is. A rather old television show. He watches the armored woman go and then turns his attention to the one calling herself Canary.
"They rather did, didn't they? But then criminals often make… unfortunate choices. I take it that you are one of those in this island who corrects them?"
"Batgirl." Astryd responds "Or the 'whatever size bat fits the need'." With Batgirl gone, Astryd moves through the thugs, turning them over easily to look at them. "Just your everyday bully. Perhaps they've learned their lessons."
"Oh, he'll be fine." The blonde, the taller one, looks over shoulder "He's far tougher than you might think."
"I was in the neighbourhood," Dinah shrugs, "but I'm not one of the uh…" she trails off, raising her fingers to form the points of the cowl either side of her head before letting her hands fall again. "I tend to go wherever I need to, or want to, to deal with what I can." A shrug, she looks between the pair. "Still might want to get that looked at when you can." With that, and a nod of farewell, she turns around intending to leave.
No fancy grapnel for her!
"One of the bats?" Fenris rubs his shoulder. His shirt has a hole in it now and that definitely needs to be fixed. The shoulder? Well there isn't even any blood. But it might not be a bad idea to have it looked at all the same.
"Well Canary your aid is much appreciated. Stay safe tonight. I know the people of the island depend on folks like you."
And they do. The police are there but there aren't enough of them and sometimes the police have… issues.
Leaving the smashed remains of his guitar Ulric turns to head out of the park as well. "Godspeed, Canary. Shall we, Astryd?"
"The blonde? I don't thinks so." Astryd remarks, watching the woman as she leaves.
"And yes, I think we should, Ulrich. Maybe we can find that apartment we lived in. How long ago was that now? 70 years? more?"