14748/Finesse vs Brutality

Finesse vs Brutality
Date of Scene:	03 March 2023
Location:	Midtown, Manhattan
Synopsis:	A Cat and a Mountain meet for some jewelry shopping!
Cast of Characters:	Black Cat, Juggernaut

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Black Cat has posed:
     Midtown Manhattan. It hits that sweet spot where the Wealth is medium, good enough to have some stuff worth taking, but Crime is high - there's a lot of competition to be the ones doing the taking and cops maybe aren't as quick or aggressive as they should be. WIth some of the city's most iconic buildings nearby, all times of day and night there's traffic, glitz, glam.....
     And in the basement of a particularly lucrative diamond wholeseller, a Black Cat. In her Domino mask, cleavage-bulging fur-lined catsuit and her utility belt, Black Cat has managed to slip in quietly and undetected. Looping the surveillance video, intercepting the line to the alarm company, freezing and cutting a few locks. It hasn't been the hardest job she's ever had, but it's just hard enough and lucrative enough to be entertaining when the Cat is bored, and she's sauntering down the hallway after having momentarily dispatched a guard - looking ahead at the vault on the other end of the concrete basement corridors, "Come to Mama!"

Juggernaut has posed:
It is indeed a form of business as usual for the bored cat burglar. Except for the earthquake that is...

We've seen Jurassic Park, right? The distant rumbling *tooom* - the shaking of the ground - the soft vibrations that rattle dust and cause chandeliersto sway. It could be, perhaps, misconstrued as a semi-truck passing by.. or perhaps several of them... The problem is..it doesn't stop and rumbles in gradually increasing intensity with a sort of rythmic cadence usually associated with something or someone walking. Either that or a nearby construction site just repeatedly jackhammering a pylon into the ground.

But before long..it simply cannot be ignored. Just as Black Cat has reached her intended prize the *THOOOOM* *THOOOM* *THOOOOOM* rumbles increases in sudden violent intensity and the ceiling at the far end of the hall collapses violently with a final violent shaking of the building and an explosion of debris and dust that billows and roars out to fill the hallway as well as boil back upwards through the massive hole that is now present in the ceiling. The immediate source of this destruction cannot be seen due to the dust cloud and tumbling debris but...well it's a good thing the alarms were already disabled, eh?

Black Cat has posed:
     Felicia's got pretty good alertness, and so that soft vibration makes her steps slow, the click of her boots on the concrete slowing and then eventually stopping. She cocks her ear like a cheetah in the bush, trying to identify the direction and whether or not the sound has any danger. "What in the absolute blazes is..." Just as she's wondering to herself what it can be, and reaching for her utility belt to take out her safe cracking tools - an enormous red-clad man falls down through the ceiling in a shaking explosion. She coughs, sputtering, peerng through the smoke and debris until she can just start making out the large shape and quips (those Spider-Verse people, always sarcasm), "Is that you Santa Claus?"

Juggernaut has posed:
The emergence of the nearly ten foot tall behemoth from the cloud of dust and debris is..possibly something of a kaiju film. He's so immense that the dust cling to him and pull back as he presses forward monstrously giving the impression of clouds rolling off of a moving mountain range. The halway shakes and rumbles, the lights flickering as he takes one step after another, leaving footprints crushed into the floor behind him as he presses forward.

It's all pretty brutish looking which..is then contrasted by the armored and helmed behemoth reaching up to casually begin flicking off bits of rubble from his frame as he walks forward. Dusting himself off with the casual attitude of someone dealing with bread crumbs and not breaking an entire building.

"'Fraid not toots. Good for you cause looks like you been naughty this year.." The Juggernaut grins, teeth full toothed and visible though the rest of his features are cast into the shadows of his helm. "You cut the alarms already? Not bad...Still, wouldn't have minded a scrap with someone..."

Black Cat has posed:
     Let's face it, Juggernaut is at LEAST as famous as the Black Cat. Sort of. She'd probably say she was more famous. Well, probably more loved anyway. She's a villain with a heart of gold! But at least he's recognizable, and so as the smoke starts clearing she takes a few steps back, squinting and then nodding her head and widening her eyes back to normal, "/Juggernaut/?!" This is a surprise, and it's clear she's a bit startled by the appearance of the ceiling scraping behemoth. "What are you doing here, this is my score!" She crosses her arms, cocks a hip and looks skeptically at the hole in the city for a moment before bemoaning, "Cutting the alarm? Half of NYC had to have heard that belly flop!"

Juggernaut has posed:
Maybe he's heard of her..maybe he hasn't. He maintains a decent poker face gaout it and the helmet helps with that as well! Even if he had, it's clear that ..he doesn't really care as he continues his advance, slow and inexorable. He's 's at least not charging but the way his helmet continues to push the ceiling up and his shoulders forcibly widen the hallway with his casual approach is..something. The area continues to rumble occasionally. Bits of the cracking ceiling sometimes tumbling down to impact the giants frame.

"That's me, babe." Juggernaut rumbles, still grinning. "Tth..so what if they did? What's th'matter? Afraid of a few Avengers? Aint ready for the big leagues?

He purses his lips now, grin fading as he lifts an arm up, muscles creaking and bulging horrifingly huge as he gestures and points at the vault just behind Black Cat, "Yer score huh? What if I said it was mine? You wanna arm wrestle for it?"

Black Cat has posed:
     She looks back over her shoulder, platinum locks flipping slightly in her pony-tail as she turns and pursues the steel, and then back to yoru hallway blocking frame. She steps to the side a bit, deftly with an uncanny awareness dodging a few pebbles and bits of debris that fall down from the ceiling. "You wanna play Chess for it?" Maybe it's not a smart idea to mock the Juggernaut, but again, her type famously have sassy mouths.
     She rubs her head and pinches her nose as if she suddenly has a headache, and then looks back up and suggests, "Look, we can fight over it, and probably neither of us will get it when the heroes show up. Or we can agree to split it reasonably." She grins, taking a device out of her utility belt and tossing it up and down in her hand for a second like someone thinking by tossing a baseball, "I"ll cut you in for 20."

Juggernaut has posed:
"You trying to imply somethin' kitty cat?"

Yeah the chess remark didn't go over too well.

"Hn..from where I see it...it wouldn't be much of a fight. I'm just being all cordial and gentlemanly right now cause maybe I've heard of you and like your work.."

The idea of splitting the take then causes him to grin once more and he then finally stops nad places a hand against his hip as he stops and turns away from the vault to look to her now.

"...So you wanna negotiate. You know I can just walk out of here with it if I wanted.." there's a pause and he finally concedes, "..I aint after the cash. There's a certain little box in here I Got a tip on that I'm interested in. It wouldn't do you any good. You keep your hands off it..I'll crack this thing open for you. How's that?"

There's a lingering pause before he adds, "..Maybe I'm just in a good mood."

Black Cat has posed:
     "Who, me? No sir, I'm the soul of innocence. I'm pure as the driven snow." She puts a hand to her fur-lined chest, making a mock look of being mildly insulted. Then she narrows her eyes, listening to your concession and pursing her plump lips for a moment's thought before offering, "Okay... it's a deal." She sounds hesitant or reluctant, maybe curious about what's in the box. It could be anything! Maybe it's super cool! But for now, she steps out of your way and grins, gesturing with her arm like a maitre-d', "After you big guy." She winks and slowly puts that small baseball sized spheroid back in her belt.

Juggernaut has posed:
"Whatcha got there, kitty cat?"

He'd seen the sphere but hadn't made any comment to it until now. "Don't get all brave or greedy on me now. I might have to stop being all jovial and stuff."

The hesitation in her voice is noted as well but Juggernaut simply looks on impassively even after she agrees to his terms and he holds her in his gaze abit longer. His grin remains but ..there is a certain bit of cruelty and chaos in his eyes as well. His grin vascilates between affable..and potentially chilling.

But it ends on affable as the giant turns and looks the vault over. He takes a few steps closer but doesnt' touch it yet.

"You finish dealing with all the alarms? Traps? All that? Hate for a bomb to go off and ruin yer day..."

Black Cat has posed:
     "Doesn't matter, it's put away. I'll keep my toys away." As if to illustrate the point, because she's sassy and while not quite fearless has been threatened plenty of times before - she extends claws from underneath her gloves which seem like some fancy super-sharply honed metal. She puts the claws back in then and says, "The alarms should be taken care of. Couldn't tell you if there's traps. How about you open it and I'll stand..." She circles around behind you until she's facing your broad back and planting you as a meatshield between her and any possible explosions, "Right here. You got this big guy, I believe in you!"

Juggernaut has posed:
"Riight.. With a vote of confidence like that..how can I lose?" rumbles the giant, tone dry as he looks away and turns towards the vault.

He leans in, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as he examines it and then finally straightens back up. After another pause and moment of consideration he lifts a single arm up, clenches a fist with a sound like boulders vracking as his knuckles squeeze and pop.. and then he plunges it forward right into the vault doors.

The impact is a thunderous *TWHOOOM* as the reinforced metal gives way to the behemoth like wet tissue and his arm plunges in and finds purchase on the twisted and mangled metal within. His other arm comes up now, fingers digging into the exterior of the vault doors like so much putty..and he pulls. His muscles bulk and bulge up, piling mountains of sinew ontop of sinew, visible through his armor, as he yanks backwads and sunders the vault door free from its moorings.

The sound of metal screeching and screaming continues as he flexs, bringing his colossal arms around to press the vault door against his torso and embrace it..beginning to literally ball it up like a massive ball of tinfoil. The earth continues shaking through all of this until he finally sets the ruined scrap metal down and off to the side..giving Black Cat full free entry to see what lies within.

Black Cat has posed:
     She watches, and not without a slight red heat to her cheeks and some embarrassment in comparing it to her own physical abilities (though no doubt she is more graceful and dextrous than the brute), as you basically rip the vault doors off, slowly twisting, dragging, and yanking the doors out of their rebar-reinforced concrete pilings. "That's pretty impressive." She admits, as she starts to saunter past and into the vault, moving towards the precious gems (cash is so bulky and heavy for the value!). As she starts to absently pilfer, always with an eye out for the cops, she can't help but wonder outloud, "So what's in the box?"

Juggernaut has posed:
Well there is a time for brute strength and a time for finesse.

You don't call Juggernaut in for finesse. One must be aware of what they're good at, after all. "I work out." he quips as he rolls the balled up mass of metal away with a idle push of his hand. Truthfully..where Juggernaut's strength is concerned.. words like incalculable, immeasurable..even limitless have been tossed around in some circles..but no sense in dropping that particular terrifying thought onto Black Cat. Not when there's cold hard cash to grab.

Or gems at least. Juggernaut steps into the vault behind her and straightens up more fully to his full size now. The added room enablin him to seemingly unfold his immensity to even -larger- degrees then he was in the hallway. The earth rumbles as he steps forward and drifts past her, sweeping his gaze over the shelves and lock boxes in search of..something.

"Diamonds are a girls best friend, eh? That all you want?"

Black Cat has posed:
     "Bullcrap." She says and rolls her eyes as you say you work out, "You're a Mutant aren't you?" That's not exactly the truth of the situation, but what does she know Mutant from Avatar, it's all the same to most people. Mutant is a good catchall for 'strange'. "Don't tell me you're at Gold's fitness doing bro curls and bench presses." She seems choosy with the gems, not merely scooping them all up indiscriminately, but actually taking the time to inspect each one - though it's not obvious at first blush just what her criteria are for taking one vs leaving one behind, "It's not about the money. I mean, I'm already richer than 99% of the country can hope to be. It's just, you know, the love of the game I guess." She glances over her shoulder, "So what's in the box?"

Juggernaut has posed:
"This is pretty risky business for love of the game y'know. I guess I can't blame you but..you probably won't do well getting locked up, y'know?"

He sees what he's looking for and using just two fingers, digs out the metal box from its confined spacing and then flicks it open.. To reveal a red crystal. Softly glowing.

"There y'are.." he rumbles and then after a pause says absently, "I got a tip that a certain collector of occult objects got ahold of this beauty and was keeping it in a vault and lock box 'ere. Some Cult of Cyttorak stuff. You wouldn't get it.."

There's a pause again as he studies the object, letting its glow linger on him before he closes the box up.

"I aint a mutant." he finally adds. "You call everything you don't 'get' a mutant? Thought you more sophisticated then that..."

Black Cat has posed:
     "I thought you were always fighting the X-Men, or teaming up with the X-Men, or coming around the X-Men, or like, getting brain-wiped by Professor X. Sorry, I guess I just thought you were a mutant." She sounds a little embarrassed, but not too sorry, apologetic but not exactly falling over herself about it. "I've been locked up before. Even at the Raft once, I always get out. It's fun, it's like..." She pauses, thinking it over for a moment, pursing her lips and then zipping her bag of gems shut, "like a little puzzle. They haven't built the prison yet that can hold me."

Juggernaut has posed:
"You seem to know alot about me and th'X-Men. You stalkin' me kitty cat?"

Of course it's not..unknown. Juggernaut's tangles with them, his history with other heroes and villains..it's no secret after all. But it seems a reminder of the number of clashes he has had with them and specifically mention of Charles has struck a cord.

"Yeah we got reasons to butt heads and dust knuckles but that don't automatically mean I"m some mutant."

He stops short of saying more and instead covers the box completely with his massive fist and turns to step away from the shelving and the gems..apparently true to his word. He stops near the exit, however, and pauses as he turns to look at her in surprise..just now realizing what she's said.

"You said you've been at The Raft? No foolin'.."

Black Cat has posed:
     "Yeah sure I was!" In Black Cat Infinity Score Vol #1! "Who hasn't been?" She grins and then says, "Mind if I follow you out, I get the feeling they'll be more shoulder room..." And then she steps, out of the vault, and back towards infamy!