1091/Flash Party off the River

Flash Party off the River
Date of Scene:	21 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	1061, Iron Fist

---

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    It started as a few words on social media, Youbooktubetwitface featured it for a time on the right channels, and it filtered around through the proper channels to the party crowd in Manhattan. Riverside Park, 10:15 at night, just where the first docks end at that corner with all the boardwalk joining together with the park.
    At first the people who show up are the organizers. They're people with backpacks and some luggage. In transition they seem like tourists heading to their hotel. It's only when they get to the appointed tree-lined part of the park that's so close to the water and the railing that they start to unload their equipment. First there's the DJ's console that converts from a suitcase with legs extended from the side. Another case breaks down into a series of speakers even as people pull out glow sticks and a few trippy black light decorations out of another satchel.
    All told it takes twenty minutes to set up, to get the music going as more and more people start to stream from the nearby subway. A few organizers are giving out some masks and stickers from a sheet of them, each person gets something to wear and wave around while dancing and it doesn't take long for the boats on the river to start sounding a horn or two as they drift past the raucous party.
    11:15 and it's kicking off, drinks are sloshed around, given from a tender who has several coolers set up and is charging fifteen bucks a solo cup. It's all crazy, all seemingly spontaneous, and for now... no cops.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny Rand is far too busy to keep track of his social media accounts, and besides he spent most of the years other people devote to them shacked up with monks and no WiFi. So, that's now how he hears about this party. He hears about it from Megan, his secretary, who is very "plugged in" to these kinds of things. She's been trying to get him out to do something social for a while now, but he's made a practice of avoiding it.

Until tonight.

Months of Megan's pestering has payed off, and Danny can't say that he's disappointed. With everything going on in his life - his business, a ninja turf war - he almost forgot what it was like to have fun. Fun! He's actually starting to feel like he's having some tonight!

The result is some white boy moves over by the turntable. Megan is off getting drinks and he's all alone, eyeing the crowd and moving his body far too awkwardly for a master martial artist to admit.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    The steady oontz-oontz-oontz of the music overpowers any attempt at conversation in the local area. People are too busy enjoying themselves, dancing around with solo cups in their hands and cavorting around. A handful of people are passing through the crowd, peeling of stickers and pasting them onto whatever exposed flesh they can on people. It tends to result with people getting wide-eyed and a dreamy smile as they continue to dance the night away.
    But then one of them comes over towards the Deejay who doesn't get one, perhaps because he has to keep the music pumping... but Danny probably doesn't know that that's rarely a hindrance to somebody partaking. The beautiful blonde girl with the brilliant smile steps up to Danny and peels off a stick, then tries to place it on him even as she grins at him happily.
    Yet a master of the martial arts most likely has a different way of looking at the world. A way of telling when something untoward is happening, that is not in the interest of those around them. Some call it 'chi' others simply call it heightened awareness. Yet whatever it is... he'll get a bad vibe about those stickers.

Iron Fist has posed:
Back when Danny first arrived in New York City from K'un-Lun, he would have let anyone at a party put any kind of sticker on him. What's so harmful about a sticker? It's such a nice gesture. Time, however, has taught him that people in this city (and possibly the world) are not to be trusted to easily. So, as the sticker comes his way, he lifts a hand to politely decline.

After, he frowns to himself and wonders if this is how people act when they become jaded. Dancing alone in a party full of people, declining pretty girls and their offers of stickers. Was it really his chi giving him an uneasy feeling about the offer, or is an accumulation of toxic experiences to blame?

This, he eventually concludes, is something to meditate on.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    That girl, she looks all sad as he declines. She tries to lean in and nibble at his neck, getting so terribly close and intruding on his personal space, but he can tell... it's all an effort to get that sticker on the curve of his shoulder. Something is definitely up. But then when he more firmly tells her to back off, she again looks so terribly sad and walks off.
    While Danny is dancing, however, his refusal hasn't gone unnoticed. The girl tells two of her bigger friends who are wearing glow-stick necklaces and too tight t-shirts, they'd look burly if it weren't for the big images of disney characters on their t-shirts. But they start to press through the crowd and move towards him.
    It's only when one is close enough that he'll /yell/ into the side of Danny's ear to try and get him to hear them, "Hey buddy!"
    There's a pause as they try to make sure they have his attention. "You gotta leave!"
    One jerks a thumb over to the side, then leans in to add his two cents. "Yeah!"
    They seem to mean business.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny leans way back when the girl tries to nuzzle into him. First, he doesn't appreciate the invasion of space. Second, he's just not that into her. His follow-up refusal, therefore, is offered with less of a smile and just enough force, he believes, to get his point firmly across.

It's when the two big men eventually come his way that he wonders if he wasn't a little /too/ forceful toward the girl. "Hey," he shouts to them, shaking his head and wearing an 'it's all good here' smile. "I just didn't want a sticker." For a moment more, he just dances, then stops alltogether after sensing that these two won't leave it alone. "I'm waiting on a friend."

Where is Megan anyway?

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    At that point, when Danny makes his protest of just waiting for a friend... that's when the first dancer hits the ground. Just one moment that kid was bopping around waving his glow stick, and then he goes down like a sack of potatoes. His dancing partner doesn't notice nor care apparently as she just keeps on jiving to the steady oontz of the music.
    But then another kid goes down with a /whumpf/ over near the bar, only gaining a cursory glance from some of the people.
    It's about that time that the Iron Fist most likely realizes what is happening, and he may very well notice the approach of a moderately sized transport boat pulling up on the riverside next to that party in the park.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny looks between the two men, his smile never faltering. Nope, he thinks, they're not budging. When it looks as if he's about to open his mouth again to say something, the young people start to drop. He notices the first right away and would let it go expect for the fact that nobody moves to help her up. What kind of friends did she come with? Then, another hits the ground.

OK, this party was weird start with, thinks Danny. Now, something definitely is up. "Excuse me," he shouts over the music. Attempting to push past the two men, Danny makes a move to head toward the nearest of the fallen partygoers. The approaching boat is noted, but his attention is on the people who seem to need some help.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    One of the two bouncer twins goes to put a hand on Danny's shoulder, growling. "We told you to get lost, buddy. C'mon. Thissaway." The other one lifts a hand to point in a direction away from the people as more and more start to hit the ground. "We're gonna need your phone too."
    Only now, the music's dying down as more and more people begin to fall and it becomes easier and easier to hear the growl behind the words of the two men. Yet if he looks past them he'll be able to see some of the party organizers moving amongst the fallen. Some of them are holding up phones and taking pictures of the party-goers faces, shaking their heads at each other as if trying to look for something or someone in particular.
    Then that boat hits the side of the boardwalk, lines being thrown over and several armed men start to hop off the side.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny's reflexes often work faster than his mind, and before he can formulate a thoery as to what is happening or a plan for how to confront it, he's already reaching for that hand on his shoulder. The move is lightning-quick, faster than a man ought to move, and the force implemented is right on a sensitive pressure point known to make even grown men in Mickey Mouse t-shirts cry.

"I said," Danny starts, attempting to match the menace in their voices with some of his own, "excuse me." His next attack is equally quick, a low side kick aimed at the other man's shin. An attempt to bring him to his knees.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    There's that precise short sharp twist, the turn of the man's wrist outwards with a thumb upon the point right there, stabbing inwards and able to feel the steady pulse of the man pounding away even as he reels and contorts in a wave of agony, "Mother... Fucker!" His features twist and writhe as the pain rocks through him, leaving him with weakened knees and trying to reach his free hand towards Danny's but not wanting to cause anymore agony.
    The other guy is busy looking at his friend with a confused look when suddenly his legs are cut out from under him, knocking him onto his face with a heavy /whumpf!/ And suddenly a lot more attention is coming Danny's way.
    "We got a hero over here!" One of the armed men calls as he chambers a round in his SMG, bringing the weapon up to take aim at the master of the martial arts. "Wanna see if you can chop socky a bullet, hero?"
    But that's the moment when suddenly there's a click-tink-tink of something falling from on high, then rolling across the ground. It's little more than a silver sphere that hits the dirt at the gunman's feet even as his compadres are coming ashore. They only have a moment long enough to look at it before it suddenly /explodes/ into black mist that abruptly fills the area with an impenetrably dark shroud.

Iron Fist has posed:
This is why he's losing trust in the world. This shit right here. What should have been a fun, enjoyable evening with strangers has turned into something a whole lot different. Danny shoves the man he's been tormenting at the wrist aside and turns his attention on the armed thug. "Do you?" he asks confidently, stutting toward the man. It seems, however, that neither of them will get to find out just how that particular situation - the Iron Fist vs. a barrage of bullets - will turn out.

When the mystery canister hits the ground, Danny's gaze falls along with it. He grimaces, expecting an explosion, and is actually relieved when its non-lethal nature reveals itself. Smoke begins to the fill the scene, and so he shuts his eyes.

Drawing on his chi, Danny begins to sense his surroundings even more keenly than before. He hears each part of every sound, feels movement cut through air, and acknowledges the placement of every body part around him. Ready now, he takes a running leap into the smoke and the oncomming crowd, eager to kick some ass.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    The darkness wells up around them, swirling and seeming to absorb all light, even more so than a bank of fog rushing in to wash across the docks from the river. It steals the glimmer of the moon high above, the halo of street lights nearby, it even removes the ability to see one's hand in front of their face.
    But for a man trained to such a degree as Danny Rand, the darkness is another thing entire. It is merely an emptiness that has been embraced and trained for many times in the past. Only now, even as he steps into the dark, accepting it, and uncurling to lash out against the gun men who had been surging forth... he'll realize he is not alone.
    There is another there, moving smoothly, as fast as he may well be and with an ease and understanding of the dark that for a moment Iron Fist might recognize a kindred spirit. There's a moment where a thug loses his SMG and is struck by a sidekick in his hip that sends him slamming into a tree to embrace consciousness. Even as Danny steals the balance from another and knocks him out with a straight punch to the grounded man.
    In that whorl of movement he can 'feel' the Chi of the other fighter, not as deeply trained, not as fast nor quite as precise. But the dark is his ally even as he moves from one thug to another.

Iron Fist has posed:
When Danny enters that all-consuming darkness, the image of the world around him disappears. One important sense becomes blind to everything. For most, this would be a disorienting, if not disabling, occurance. For the Iron Fist, however, it's just another chance to put his training to use.

He flashes back a moment to his time in K'un-Lun. Blindfolded, he would square off against his peers until there was only one left standing. It meant feeling the world in a different way. It meant using his chi. Eventually, he learned to fight nearly as well without sight as with it.

These lessons come in handy now, as he nimbly tosses himself between two flailing goons, leaping side-kicking one while nailing the other in the chin with a balled fist. He lands, ducks under someone swinging, then rolls out of the way.

And through it all there's that other presence. Someone not like the rest, and not immediately threatening. One moment he feels close to this individual, then farther away as he fights. It's a tense, yet immensely curious, sort of dance.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    The swirl of motion, the short sharp reports of punches and kicks striking flesh and at times breaking bone. It's difficult to track them even through sound as by the time their opponents hit the ground... they're already gone.
    Yet between the two of them it is only a handful of moments taken before the last of the gunmen is rendered unconscious, being knocked back onto the boat with a strong sidekick towards the man's jaw. But then the armored fighter who had been fighting at Danny's side twists his wrist slightly and another sphere falls, a soft hissing is heard as then... slooowly, the darkness begins to recede.
    And that's when he'll hear Dr. Mid-Nite's voice.
    "Don't just stand there." Even as the shadows recede, the man in cape and cowl starts to move quickly to the fallen dancers, sliding a hand under their necks and touching fingers to the side of their necks. "The paralytic they used has a high percentage of allergic reaction. Check the fallen for a steady pulse."
    There's a flutter of wings as a large brown owl lands in a nearby tree and hoots softly, affixing its bright eyes upon Danny even as the Doctor kneels beside another. His tone is sharp, faintly annoyed as he snaps, "You do know how to check a pulse don't you? I swear, some of you people. Spend thirty years in a monastery contemplating your navel, can't spend forty five minutes taking a first aid course."

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny kicks the legs out from under one of the gunmen, then crouches to deliver two sift punches to his fist. They smack against the armor there in just the right places, sending the man into an unconscious slumber. Pulses around him slow. The combat appears to be over. As a finisher, the stranger's second device drops and the blackness begins to creep away.

"I'm on it," Danny says, aware of the fact that, yeah, he was just standing around to let the darkness clear. But then he moves quickly to check the nearest downed dancer. He places two fingers against her carotid and scowls over at the costumed man. Even strangers talk to him like he's a kid.

"This one is fine," he says, before moving on. "I had a colleague with me. Gotta find her."

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    "Damn," The man in the dark suit says sharply, "I have one," There's a short sharp click as he detaches a small cylinder from his gauntlet and sends it flying across the way towards Iron Fist. "If you find one who is having a hard time breathing or low weak pulse, inject them. It's set for proper proportion, and flashes green when ready for the next dose. We have to be fast."
    Yet even as he's talking he's removing a second cylinder and presses the small circular end to the person's neck. A brief /hsssst/ is heard and that person gets the dose.
    Rolling to his feet he continues to move amongst the party-goers in a counter-clockwise circular search pattern, checking... moving... checking. And sometimes there'll be a faint /hssst/ heard.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny reflexively reaches out and catches the tossed cylinder. After turning it over in front of him, he watches the costumed stranger administer the contents from another and then move on. The young man looks impressed.

"Right," he says, jogging over to another nearby party-goer. This one seems fine, too. "So who were these guys?" he asks as he continues in his own haphazard pattrn.

Eventually, his canvassing leads him to his secretary, also lying unconscious with the rest of the crowd. He shuts his eyes, checks her radial, and double checks with his chi. Yep, of course she would be the first to need a dose from him. He mumbles a curse, which is followed by a /hsssst/ as he operates the small cylinder.

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    "Bastards," Is the first answer the man gives to Danny, but then he keeps moving from prone form to prone form. "But other than that," Check, move... another check... fine. "They've created a social media thing." He keeps talking as he's moving from young person to young person, frowning to himself as he tosses a few glow sticks out of the way.
    "Social media, amongst the children of Manhattan's elite. Prominent people. Knock them out, use facial recognition cameras to identify the targets and get a cross reference on their wealth, kidnap the ones worth a good bit of coin, leave the rest. Who cares about the ones that go into shock and die."
    The man grimaces and then finally pushes the cylinder against another young person's neck. He straightens up and grimaces and looks around, double-checking even as the owl nearby flutters its wings.
    "That should cover it. How many did you find?" The masked man looks askance towards Danny.

Iron Fist has posed:
The story sounds both dark and plausible, causing Danny to grimace further. Some would say he falls into the same category as the victims, if not today then a few years ago, at least. He wonders who he might know that could be targets. All this thinking happens while kneeling over his secretary. It actually paralyzed him for a moment.

"Just one," Danny announces softly. He stands and brushes off his jeans. The cylinder in his right hand sheds a soft green light. Megan lies there on the ground exposing a new and fragile side of herself, from which Danny turns.

"And who are you?" He takes a few steps closer to the man and hands over the cylinder. "You fight well."

Dr. Mid-Nite (1061) has posed:
    The man in the armored suit tilts his head to the side and frowns in the direction of the Owl, though it made no noise. But then he turns his attention back upon the young martial artist and gives a grunt of acknowledgement. "Midnight..." He says as if considering the moment, but then he seems to add with a wry smile, "Doctor Midnight, if you will." His lip curls wryly and then he flips over his wrist, sliding a small screen into view on that gauntlet. "The authorities should be here soon and I have no desire to speak with them."
    He turns back and looks at Danny, "Mr. Rand. I appreciate your help, if you need medical aid in your... extracurricular efforts," There's a short /fwip/ as he produces a card and extends it to him. "I am available all hours of the night. Until then."
    He begins to step away even as the owl /leaps/ from the tree, flying upwards into the night.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny takes the card from the Doctor Midnight and slips it into his back pocket without so much as a glance. He's more interested in the man inching away from him. He wants to ask more, it seems, but he understands the need to keep away from police questioning, so he responds only with a simple, "Thank you."

Allowing the hero to go his own way, Danny turns back to Megan and purses his lips. Should he stay or should he go? He feels terrible about leaving Megan, but also doesn't want the likely attention he'll get for being the only conscious person at the scene.

So, he decides to retreat, but remain close enough to watch the police and the paramedics do their jobs. Just in case...