3260/The Rabble is Rousing

The Rabble is Rousing
Date of Scene:	28 November 2017
Location:	Manhattan, New York City
Synopsis:	Rock-throwing mutant haters? Meet Power Girl. Oh, and a police commissioner's redheaded daughter. But mostly Power Girl.
Cast of Characters:	Cindy Larsen, Oracle, Power Girl

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Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Exterior, Mid-Morning, Manhattan. We open on a pleasant day in late autumn. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and a mob of angry anti-mutant protestors are marching outside the library in Midtown. Wait, what? A large group of people block the path to and from the library on Fifth Avenue, carrying signs that say things like "Muties Get Out" and "Humans First", along with other, less pleasant things. It's unfortunate, this morning, that Cindy found herself -in- the library when the protesting started. She was trapped, but there wasn't much she could do to escape. She's -very- obviously a mutant, what with the fur and muzzle and all that. Seeing little other options for escape, she tries a side exit, into the lot beside the library. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't exactly manage to go unnoticed!
    The crowd notices her, and things turn ugly fast. They start shouting at her, and then pursuing her! Cindy, afraid for her life as anyone would be, breaks into a run, around the side of the building and towards the park. The angry rabble pursues her, perhaps twenty or so protestors persue the leopard-girl across the lawn. Somebody throws a rock, and nails Cindy in the back of the leg, sending her tumbling to the ground with a cry of both alarm and pain! The mob quickly surrounds her!

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon doesn't often come into Manhattan proper. Everything she needs is usually either online or available right in Gotham. But today she needed an esoteric reference book that had to be picked up in person, so she finds herself in the park outside the main branch of the New York Public Library, a laptop case and her purse held tightly to her body. After the situation in the subways, she is REALLY not thrilled to be here.
    As the noise levels of the crowd pick up, the redhead makes her way through, heading for the stairs of the huge building. When she reaches the corner, someone comes barrelling around the the side of the building with ... what the hell??
    And they're throwing rocks. Nice.
    That kind of stuff is NOT something she's likely to put up with.... and dammit, this is not something she needs today. But the mutant -- and the girl is obviously that -- doesn't deserve this crap, no matter who she is. So Barbara starts shoving her way through the crowd with the signs to try to get to the girl who is being chased. "HEY!" she shouts. "Knock that crap off!" Not like it'll do her much good, probably -- she's one voice in the crowd. And it's not like she can do in public the things she might have done in Gotham under cover of darkness. "I'm calling the cops!"

Power Girl has posed:
    There is, as it were, the noise of thunder. The sky is clear, without the hindrance of blackened clouds that threaten rain, yet this noise is not entirely mysterious. Its source is known. This is because, three seconds before the loud CRACK that echoes through the sky was heard by the crowd, the blonde form of Power Girl was there before them. She had interposed herself between one half of the crowd and the woman they had surrounded.

    "Like Wolves." She began, pausing for a moment. "Except wolves don't throw things. So you're all worse than that. Like rude wolves."

    She turns her attention to the woman she'd arrived to protect, and offers a warm, friendly smile. "It's alright. Nobody's going to hurt you anymore, today. Sorry about the rock, I saw it coming but, any faster and I'd have taken out the library in the landing. Are you okay?" she asks, kneeling for a moment and offering the girl a hand.

    She's just one person, and it doesn't look it, but she's paying a whole lot of attention to the crowd. Not a single projectile, fired or thrown, is going to make it within ten feet of the woman on the ground.

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Oh, Cindy isn't as defenseless as she may have appeared at first - at least, not anymore. When the mob descends on her, they're met with a snarl, a flash of teeth, and a slashing of claws. More than one of them gets a good, deep gash along the arm or leg when they try to grab her. Cindy isn't afraid of who she is anymore, and boy is she gonna show it. And then Barbara is pushing her way through the crowd, shortly before Power Girl had arrived - the landing knocking her off her feet again. She's flexible and strong, though, and a quick kip-up puts her back on her feet and ready to fight again. She huffs a breath, claws still out, teeth still bared as she puts her back to Power Girl, eyes darting around wildly at the group that still surrounds them. They've gone quiet for a moment, unsure what to do now that Power Girl is there.
    "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine," she says. Her eyes shift to Barbara, then over her shoulder to Power Girl. "...Thanks for the backup. Both of you." Her tail gives a small flick, and she turns back to glare at the group around them. She wasn't going to go down without a fight, she made that much clear with the handful of them clutching bleeding wounds. "...How do we get outta here?" she asks, "I'm... not exactly a professional, like you are." She's referring to Power Girl, of course. Barbera still appears to be a perfectly normal civilian, as intended.

Oracle has posed:
    Power Girl's arrival makes things a lot simpler. The crowd... doesn't seem to quite know what to make of the heroine. The 20 or so people chasing Cindy have stepped back a couple of steps, wary. The sign-holding crowd has gone quiet. And into that quiet, the redhead steps forward with a scowl
    "You should all be ASHAMED of yourselves. Mutant or not, if this were YOUR child, would you want them attacked on the street in broad daylight????" Her cell phone is out. "Yes, 9-1-1. You need to dispatch crowd control to the Bryant Park entrance of the PUblic Library. There's a group gathering that is starting to get out of control, throwing rocks at passers-by." She's furious. "It doesn't fuckin' MATTER if it's at mutants! You better get cars here, or *I'm* gonna get the newspapers here and give an interview about how the NYPD has no control over their own city streets! And I can make a LOT of noise!" She hangs up on the dispatcher, growling under her breath.
    Looking at Power Girl and the young feline girl, she shakes her head. Her expression is both furious and somehow sad at the same time. "You should probably get her out of here," she murmurs to Power Girl.

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl shakes her head. "I'm not going to escort, or evacuate." There is a momentary pause. She's warm, and friendly, and yet that statement seems strange, in context. "Because she doesn't deserve it." Her attention then turns to the crowd, and she looks all of them over for half a moment. "What she -deserves- is to walk out of here unmolested. Just like any other person. Isn't that right?" she calls at the crowd, already expecting some backlash. But when you can hear the noise of muscles tensing, and move fast enough to intercept not just rocks, but speeding bullets should the crowd get even -more- rowdy? You have a lot of power to back up that statement. So much power they might just append Girl to it and call you that.

    "The police should be here in relative short order, though. She can wait and give a statement, if she wants. At least one person here is leaving in a squad car, I guarantee that."

    It's a powerful statement. Power Girl is flat out saying- Cindy is normal. There's nothing wrong with her that deserves this sort of treatment, so she gets to go like any other person would. She doesn't have to be evacuated or protected like a freak- and doesn't deserve to be a victim of the hate. Cindy's the normal person here. The crowd, they're the monsters.

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy still looks like she's ready for a fight. Adrenaline is pumping, her claws are still out, and she's partially crouched, ready to defend herself if need be. But with Power Girl here, she doesn't seem to need to be. The way both of them speak about her makes her blush, and after a few moments she relaxes a bit, claws retracting, and she straightens up. Her ears fold back on her head, though, to hide the way the insides have gone a bit pink. "No, I don't think I wanna stay," she says. The crowd was still eying her pretty angrily, though some of them seem to have thought better of their actions and have peeled off, perhaps to go pretend they had nothing to do with this to begin with.
    Cindy turns to look at Barbara, then at Power Girl. "Thanks, both of you," she says, "I'm gonna, um... Try goin' that way." She points in the direction away from the library. The crowd just... gets out of the way. None of them were anywhere near the strength level of Power Girl, and it seems they didn't want to risk it. Cindy still looks a little shook up about the whole situation - this isn't the first time she's been chased by a mob, after all. It never feels any better. She grabs the few books she had from where they'd fallen on the ground, and grabs her backpack. She glances warily at the crowd, and then starts heading towards the gap they made.

Oracle has posed:
Nodding to Power Girl, Barbara is all on board with this if the heroine is. She points out three -- "That one, that one, and that one were the rock throwers. Even if our friend doesn't want to sign the complaint, I will. I was a witness to the whole thing." She pulls her brows together and mean-mugs the ones she pointed out. Her smile is just a hair on the feral side. "And I'm pretty sure that my signature on the complaint will at least get the DA's attention."
    She pivots on her heel and falls into step with Cindy. "Hi. I'm Barbara. Can I walk with you a while?"

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl is a little ahead of Barbara, in thought at least. She nods a couple of times, still smiling, and watches the pair move away. She stays right where she is for a few moments, just long enough that the crowd would have to have a really, really fantastic arm to hit either of them with a rock in order to actually clear the distance.

    Three miles away, there is a squad car sitting outside of a small cafe. An officer returns to his partner in the Driver's seat, and as he prepares to enter the car with a pair of cups, something is announced over the radio about a mob outside of the library.

    "We gonna respond to that?"

    "Nah,"

    Immediately outside of the squad car are three harrowed individuals- finding yourself three miles away from the last place you thought you were fractions of a second ago will do that to you- and a tall, statuesque blonde, red half-cape flowing in the wind.

    "Hi there, officers. These three individuals were apprehended assaulting an individual. Thrown rocks, really rude stuff. We've got two witnesses, one gorgeous blonde from the skies over Metropolis, and the daughter of the commissioner of the GCPD."

    There is a pause, as the two officers seem agog at Power Girl. "Well, I'll let you handle it, but be advised... I'm going to be following up, and I really don't think you need me to be disappointed in the NYPD. Have a -great- day, you guys." Then it's up, maybe half a mile in a few seconds- then, there is a loud -CRACK- and that red-white blur is off towards Metropolis.