15571/Deli Delivery

Deli Delivery
Date of Scene:	07 September 2023
Location:	Delmar's Deli-Grocery, Jackson Heights
Synopsis:	Public Service Announcement: Never Cross Colleen Wing
Cast of Characters:	Iron Fist, Colleen Wing

---

Iron Fist has posed:
It was a Wednesday night, like any other, and Delmar's Deli-Grocery was in the process of receiving a delivery. They were late on the schedule, but in a place like New York, deliveries were at all hours of the day. They had that many people in such a small area. They don't call it the city that never sleeps without good reason.

Danny Rand had come to do a bit of grocery shopping with Colleen Wing. They had a bit of an unusual floor plan, with the deli portion in the front, and a grocery store curling around the back, in a L shape, with several aisles worth of shelved goods, fridges, and everything else you might expect in a grocer, just, theirs used every possible inch of space, right up to the ceiling.

Danny was pushing a shopping cart, following after Colleen, as she picked out the items, placing them in the trolley. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, there was a commotion going on in the loading area. A few people arguing in Spanish could be heard from certain parts of the store.

Colleen Wing has posed:
Flour. Eggs. Fresh vegetables. Seafood. Say 'I'm making tempura tonight' without using those actual words. Light soy sauce. The list goes on and on. Something about the domesticity of this is making Colleen smile privately and hum a little tuneless tune.

Then the noise starts.

"Just ... one day?" she asks, looking up. "Am I asking for too much?"

For a moment it seems she's ready to just ignore it. But no, she can't do that. Guilt does that to you. It makes you sensitive to perceptions of continued guilt.

"Think we should...?" She trails off in the question and just gestures the direction of the noise.

And her hand reaches out for a mop handle from the shelf of home cleaning supplies the pair were passing. Someone needs a beating and she doesn't feel like dirtying her hands.

Iron Fist has posed:
There was something delightfully domestic about this shopping trip. Danny caught himself smiling at the simple things, like accepting a bottle of joy sauce, their fingers briefly touching, before he placed it in the cart, so that it wouldn't jostle too much. He was entranced by the private little song that she was humming as she moved along the aisles ahead of him.

"It's fresher, but we can use the pantry and fridge if you want to get more, Colleen," he replied back, turning his head at the sounds of some kind of commotion and argument going on.

Giving a silent nod, Danny began pushing the cart in the direction of the sound. They were half an aisle away, so it was a short trip. He set the cart down near the employees only sign on the swinging dark grey doors, not so close as to impede the door, but within a few feet of it. He did not grab any implements. He was the immortal Iron Fist. He was a weapon.

But just as they were about to head into the employees only area, someone wearing a name tag asked Colleen, "may I help you?" as she held the mop shaft.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Yes," Colleen says, "I was wondering if you happened to know what these mop handles are made of? Is it pine or something more durable? I've had mop handles before made of pine and they just ... break easily. Too knotty, pine is."

She pauses to wait for the response before blinking in surprise and looking at the employee door. "What's going on back there? That sounds ... scary."

Acting like she's afraid of the noise. See what comes out.

Iron Fist has posed:
The employee hadn't been back recently, having come from behind Colleen and Danny. "Oh, I'm not sure. I know that the aluminum can bend when mishandled. We have some fiberglass ones, if that's sturdier than the wood."

But then there was more sound of arguing, and the employee clearly lied. Reading his eye movement, his breathing, he was lying, "oh, sorry about that. They're on break, and they sometimes get a bit rowdy during their breaks."

Danny on the other hand was tempted to just bust in. There was a brief period of no more arguing. Had they heard, or had something else happened?

The employee wore a name tag, but no apron. Could be the manager, but he looked a bit too young for that.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Why don't I test this?" Colleen asks, whirling the stick around quickly to get its balance and movement characteristics. "By going in there and seeing what's causing such a fuss?"

And she's not taking 'no' for an answer. Indeed she's not waiting for an answer. She's just brazenly opening the door, trusting her back to Danny should the employee try to interfere.

Inside the source of the noise is clearer. A safe is being manhandled into a position in front of a middle-aged man who looks like some kind of supervisor while a few gang members wearing the colours of an outfit calling themselves Los Lobos have forced him down to his knees. A larger, older gang member is standing before the man.

"Last chance, old man!" he says. "Before I break all the bones in your other hand. Open the damn safe!"

Iron Fist has posed:
When it came to going into areas that they were not welcome, it may not be right, but women benefited from the doubt more than men, and attractive women more than unattractive. Colleen Wing was both. So she got the kid gloves, which could easily be a fatal mistake with her. Give her an opening, any opening, and she would take advantage of it.

Still, Danny was there to guard her back. He gave a shrug of his shoulders, as if to suggest, what was he to do, "I'll go after her," and he followed suit, hoping that the dumbfounded employee wouldn't know how to proceed, except to call security, assuming they had it.

Walking in, he found the situation to be exactly what Colleen and Danny needed to wind down. "Oh, this is so very much not your day." And then, he lit up his fist... except, he was standing behind Colleen. She began to glow, outlined in a soft yellow halo. Another distraction for her to take advantage of.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Oh my." Colleen actually smiles as she sees the layout. "Danny, this is ..." She counts quickly. "...seven against two." Seven? There's only si... She points to behind the fridge door. Seven. "Totally unfair fight. You'll have to sit this one out."

Yeah, that's how you calm down a situation. Attack the manhood of a bunch of machismo-oriented gangsters. Someone's spoiling for a fight.

"So boys, are you going to try and get me to shut up? Or are you going to disappoint me and surrender now?"

Yeah. Spoiling. And one of them takes the bait, stepping up to her, ready to backhand her into submission.

Amateur mistake. Submissive women don't carry mop handles like she does. Nor do they swing them over their head the way she does. But by the time he realizes this it's too late.

Submissive women don't send someone into a dangerous concussion with the tip of a wickedly fast-spinning mop handle either.

"How do you guys put it? Ole!"

Yeah. Spoiling.

Iron Fist has posed:
Some guys were sensitive about real or perceived slights to their masculinity. They generally didn't fully understand what it was to be a man, and how it had nothing to do with being in control, dominant, or what was once thought of, as 'manly'. Sometimes, to be a man, you had to have the courage to step back, and allow things to play out.

Colleen was more than a match for them, even without her katana. Had she not had the well, bo staff right now, it might be a different story, depending on their abilities. "Okay, but I get the next group," he said, partly to further intimidate them, and partly because he was genuinely a little saddened that he was going to have to sit this one out.

He took a step to the side and backwards, ready to intervene, watching, observing, making sure that none of them had a gun or anything really stupid like that. He was here to support her. And enjoy the show.

But mostly to enjoy the show.

Colleen Wing has posed:
The count is down to six and before the rest can process what just happened, it's at five. Colleen is not holding back with the second victim of her pent-up aggression. This one doesn't get it in the head at least, so there's no hazardous concussion. Instead there's a shattered scapula. (WHO SHATTERS A SHOULDER BLADE!?) The man's right arm simply stops working and hangs at an angle that is grossly unnatural. Reconstructive surgery is in this man's future as his screaming is silenced by a spinning kick to his gut that knocks the breath out of him.

"I was joking about staying back, Iron Fist," she says. "I'm not THAT selfish!"

And in that pause the remaining five take stock and start trying to counter the whirlwind of wanton womanly wildness unleashed upon them. One moves to punch her in a fairly competent punch for a street fighter, but winds up getting his knuckles rapped by the butt of the improvised bo. Another, who actually shows some signs of genuine martial training, manages to land a kick on her hip that she twists to let slide over her instead of landing solidly.

"Come on in! The water's fine!"

The leader and the remaining guy holding down the supervisor take up defensive stances, ready to try and find a way into the fight, while the one who thinks he's hidden behind the fridge door...

...pulls out a gun.

Iron Fist has posed:
Colleen could be pretty vicious when she was in a mood. It made her a better fighter, but was so excessive. Danny looked on aghast at the damage she had inflicted on the yes, criminal, but still. It was a human being! He did step in this time.

Catching sight of the one behind the fridge door quickly finds the gun on the floor, unfired, and himself laying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. He got there was in rapid succession, so quick that it was all a blur, but Danny disarmed him, hit him in three different pressure points, and for emphasis, flipped him over and onto his back. "Who's next?"

Now, Colleen had shown herself to be more than capable of dealing with them. If they saw that, how many still had a fight in them?

Colleen Wing has posed:
The knuckle-rapped guy should count himself lucky. The one who actually landed a shot has higher priority and Colleen is just not having any of that.

She kicks.

Every man in a 500m radius winces and clutches at himself without knowing why, in just pure sympathetic pain.

The third one Colleen takes down doesn't even make a sound. He can't. The pain has shut off his higher functions. He just slips to the floor once Colleen withdraws the foot.

And knuckle-rap, last-holdout, and head honcho all freeze, realizing that over half their little gang was eliminated in under thirty seconds by a stick-wielding woman and a man with a glowing fist.

And before anything else can happen, the employee from before manages to enter.

"Uh ... you're not supposed to be i..." Beat. "HOLY SHIT!"

Iron Fist has posed:
That was one hell of a kick. It sent vibrations coursing through wood, drywall, concrete, and even steel, sending shockwaves that countless men could feel, but it was most prominent in the epicentre. Danny winced, hearing it as much as seeing it.

"Call the police. There are several suspects who will be surrendering, shortly, or ready to be collected, unconscious," he calmly said to the employee, as if this were nothing. And as if to just make even more light of the situation, "is our cart still back there, I'd hate to have to go find all the items we're purchasing again."

Colleen Wing has posed:
"You know, I like this mop handle. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to try it. I think I'll buy it too, as well as the stuff in our cart."

Colleen smiles at the employee before making the phone gesture. "Might wanna get on that phone the cops thing, pronto," she says.

Her eyes slide to the leader with a deadly glint. "You never know when people try to escape and need to be taken down."

The head honcho of the group makes it clear that he is not moving. Ever again.

"They'll need some ambulances too."

She winks at Danny. "Was fun had?"