Summary:Shayera finds an ally and some enemies Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
   |
Closing time. Time for you to go out. Go out into the world.
Closing time. Turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time. One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.
It is not in fact closing time down at Sal's, which is a bar often frequented by New York's finest. It is however the part of the night where the KITCHEN closes and the live music - which is two guys and two guitars - is playing the song. The closing of the kitchen doesn't bother Nick any. He has his dinner which is what would elsewhere be called a pub burger. Tonight was meant to be just a simple, relaxing night out. Pressing cases aside, one needs these kinds of things to keep sanity. And Nick's been a bit stressed doing some of the things he's been working on.
"This song is depressing," Shayera comments over her own dinner of pub food. She opted for the nachos instead, perhaps because they seem potentially less messy to eat. Sitting across from Nick out of the way of most foot traffic with her chair turned around backwards and the tips of her wings dragging the floor, she tugs gingerly at a chip to try and dislodge it from the rest of the mass of food without causing the aforementioned mess.
"Please tell me you don't come here only 'cause of the food."
"I like the song." Isis mutters. In front of her is the remains of two burgers and she's starting on a third. Seriously, these things might be nearly as big as her and she's tucking them away without trouble.
It might have been strange though when she offered her plate to Nick first, letting him take his food from it and getting his assent to eat.
"They have ice cream for dessert, don't they?" It's the middle of winter and she wants icecream.
"It's gelato which is sort of like ice cream and I already ordered you two." Nick laughs. He glances to Shayera and watches as she pokes at her nachos. Then offers her a fork. That might make matters a bit simpler. Especially if the chips are getting at all soggy.
The door dings and a lot of eyes turn toward it. There's a winged figure there. Walking in. Arm held tight to the side and wings pulled tightly in. The gait isn't natural. Well, it is but it isn't normal. It looks like the figure has been injured. Eyes can around and land on Shayera before the Avian walks - er, limps - in her direction.
Accepting the fork, Shay prods at the nachos some more, and manages to get a chip loose just in time for the injured Avian to start toward them. She stares in clear shock for about half a second before she's out of her chair and rushing toward the other winged person, her nachos now completely forgotten. "Glawfys?" She goes on to speak rapidly in her native language.
« What happened? Why are you here? »
"Two's a good start." Isis says wrinkling her nose. It won't be chocolate, Gelato doesn't really come in that flavour and chocolate's her favourite. "Can I have more?" Nick must have a seperate line on his budget just for feeding Isis.
When the door opens, the bright blue eyes focus on the Avian. "Do you know …." she doesn't get any further as Shayera starts to jibber in that language. "I guess that's a yes…" Still, she's scanning for emotional intent from the newcomer. Can't be too careful.
"We can go to a creamery later if you really want more ice cream." Nick laughs. The laugh dies away when the other winged person comes in. He's got some kind of armor on. A flexible weave that's almost like chain mail but seems lighter. It's been punctured twice on the left side and he's bleeding from it. His right wing also looks like two of the larger bones in it have been broken.
"Shayera." He says in English. "Ambushed above the city. Came to warn you. Do not return to Akah Ma'at right now. Something is wrong in the council. They're talking about recalling you. Stripping you of your relics and… cooperating with Mez about the Grounders."
He looks to Isis and his eyes go wide. "You've found Beastmen here? They're still…?"
Shay knows what he's talking about but no. Nick and Isis are not beastmen. They vanished thousands of years ago and Shay knows what a mutant is.
Shay leads the other Avian back to their table, though she's pretty sure they can't stay for long. "I wasn't planning on returning, but now I won't for sure." Hearing that Akah Ma'at's council is actually considering working with Mez is honestly horrifying.
"No, not Beastmen. Grounders who just resemble them. Nick, Isis. This is Glawfys Lan, another Enforcer from my home city." She then speaks more quietly, trusting at least Nick to have good enough hearing to catch it. "We need to find medical assistance, quickly."
"Gelato is ok, Nick." Isis says "But I won't say no to more ice cream." Of course she won't. "Lots of pain there…" she murmurs, lifting her chin "And we're not Beastmen. Whatever they are. We're mutants."
Petulant little thing she can be.
"There's the clinic in MTown. We could take him there. There's also the clinic in Staten Island but I wouldn't go there right at the moment." She heard of course. "I'm Isis, Glawfys, that's Nick. Who ambushed you, can I ask?"
Nick straightens up and tosses Isis his keys. "Bring the truck around. We'll be out front." They can hang in the back. This'll get them moving faster. He'll drive carefully. He'll drive. Isis won't Because… you know. Isis.
And driving.
"What's this about your home city, Shayera?"
"The council is split and right now the faction in power wants to…" He coughs. "Wants to help Mez engineer our people to perfection… using yours."
Nick's eyes narrow and he growls. "Who ambushed you."
"Winged people. Not ours. I fought them off but…"
Shayera mutters something very impolite about Mez, the council, and the other winged people who ambushed Glawfys. She takes only a moment to get a temporary bandage on the other Avian's bleeding injuries, then steers him right back out toward where the truck will be.
"MTown. It's closer." And maybe the woman who seemed to know a fair bit about wing care will be available. "We've run into these other winged people before. They're… worrisome."
"They want to *what*?" Isis says as a cold dread floods through her, the sharp feel of that hitting the others before she reigns it in. "No, no. They can't. They can't be allowed to do that…" Given her background that response is likely expected.
Nick tossing the keys has her catching them with cat like reflexes, it being enough to snap her out of the panic.
The truck arrives out the front of the pub in a squeal of brakes and a bunny hop. If Nick wants to drive, he might need to shove Isis over - it seems she thinks she's doing it.
Nick does shove Isis over but with a reason. "In the back. Get the first aid kit from the strong box and do what you can." He tells Isis in a very business like manner. And then he starts to drive once everyone is loaded up. It's brisk but he's good enough to not be in danger of throwing anyone. Of course they're getting pulled over if they get caught but it's late and… odds are poor.
The bleeding is pretty bad. There's two puncture wounds in Glawfys' side and they're oozing rather badly. From the way the man is wheezing he might have collapsed a lung. So yes he does need attention and first aid would be useful.
Which is why it's kind of bad news when a winged shadow obscures the moon and falls over the truck as it's moving. They're being followed.
Spotting the shadow, Shay takes up her mace. "Isis, do what you can for Glaw's side, but don't touch his wing." Then she leaps up and with a few strong wingbeats is gaining altitude and banking to take out her ire on the winged person following them. No one assaults her colleagues and gets away with it.
Have either of the mutants seen her true fighting capabilities while on the wing? THey're about to.
Isis grabs the first aid kit and leaps nimbly into the tray of the pickup. "It's going to hurt and I'm sorry for that…" she says to the Avian. Tugging his shirt and mail away, the feline-like mutant gets to work - there's little she can do except to clean the wounds and try and staunch the blood flow.
Turning as the shadow falls, Isis is about to say something to Shay when the woman leaps into the air.
"Well, I'm not sure that's the smartest she could have done, really." the woman murmurs, turning back to Glaw. "You get to watch my back - they'll attack now that she's left the tray."
She sounds so sure on that.
It's like Isis is psychic.%rShay ascends to meet the winged man and he pulls out of his glide and into a hover, brandishing two batons which extend into two blades. He's wearing some kind of mesh armor that looks very different from what Shayera has seen before and definitely isn't from her city.
"Aerian!" The man calls out his challenge. "Come! Meet your doom!"
Then he tucks his wings in and dives at Shay, both blades pointing at her wings. He means to pass over her, rake her wings and then circle to finish her off. Though… that could be a ruse.
About that time another winged figure SWOOPS down on Isis and throws a weighted net to tangle the cat woman up before she lands on the truck bed with a pair of curved knives in her hands. They look a bit like Gurkha knives.
But have buzz saw edges.
See, raking the wings is a VERY common tactic, and one that Shayera is the most practiced at countering. She does a variant on a barrel roll, using her mace to knock one of the blades aside so it can't hit her wings, and kicks out at the other flyer as she passes by him. Then, she starts her own dive. She tries to tag the one attacking her with her mace as she goes by, but her actual target is the winged woman that's thrown a net over Isis and Glaw. She's not being gentle, either.
Isis is psychic, just in a very particular way.
Finishing tending to Glaw, the cat woman turns as the woman swoops in on her, claws extended from the ends of her fingers. They rake at the net - Isis doesn't think can avoid that, not without hurting Glaw or falling from the truck.
Whilst a cat might always land their feet, she knows that can be painful and Nick is still moving.
Hopefully her claws can rend the netting and cut a hole for her to slip through. It doesn't matter if they don't, Isis employs her other gifts.
A wave of calm and joy flows out the the avian - how on earth Isis can do that given the situation is a very good question - along with the suggestion to sleep.
The winged man with the blades goes tumbling and loses a fair bit of altitude before he recovers and dives after Shayera, but he's a good 30 feet behind her. He lets out a yell which does alert the woman that she's got incoming. She turns and just as Shayera comes into attack Isis wave of exhaustion and euphoria hits her. Her knees buckle and her defense is… half hearted.
Shayera bowls her over though she doesn't knock her off the truck. That does give Isis time to get the net off. Shay on the other hand now has a problem again. Because as she pulls out of her dive, the other one is still above her and now he is coming in for a similar strike as the one that Shay just performed.
The winged woman is still here? Good. Setting her feet back on the bed of the truck, Shayera tucks her wings in close, grabs the woman and turns them both so she's using the disoriented attacker as a meat shield against her divebombing comrade. Go ahead, dumbass, do your worst.
"Nick, is there an underpass or tunnel nearby you can take?"
It's going to take Isis a few moments to get out that net. Her claws are sharp but the thing still tangles.
The dive bombing man swerves at the last moment and tumbles into the truck near Isis just as she finishes extricating herself. He tries to grab at her and take her hostage. This is SURELY not a good idea but he does it anyway. The thing is… well. Tumbled as he is he's not anywhere close to as agile as Isis is. He prooobably can't even stop Isis from getting on his back. Which may not be the world's best move on a moving truck but… it does expose those delicate wings to the cat woman.
It is right about this time that the disoriented attacker recovers her wits, reverses the grip on the one blade she has left and tries to knife Shayera in the thigh.
Shayera can feel when the woman loses the disorientation, and SHOVES her off the back of the truck bed, hopefully in time to avoid getting knifed. But if she does, no matter. She'll deal with it if it happens. Speaking of dealing, she swings her mace after the woman she's just shoved to make SURE she's either off the moving truck or down for the count.
She trusts that Isis can take care of herself, though fighting on the back of this ground vehicle is an interesting experience to say the least.
Isis can take care of herself and she definitely has the upper hand in that struggle when Nick slams on the breaks. It sends the man's head into the back of the cab, which sends him to the floor. Nice and convenient that there is a net here, isn't it? The fact that the truck has stopped means that Shayera can go see to the woman as well. The one who juuuust stopped rolling from being shoved off a truck doing 50. Can't be good for the wings, can it?
"Everyone okay?" Nick calls back. He'd seen that all but there was precious little he could do about it. Once everyone is once again settled, they're off to M-Town to get some medical assistance for the deserving wounded. Aaaand maybe the undeserving wounded. Possibly. Before they're arrested.