426/A Long Walk

A Long Walk
Date of Scene:	14 May 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Glacier, 271

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Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell is mostly hidden as she steps across the ocean, shrouded against the dark sky by a pair of thick blankets covering her thin form. Her feet freeze the surface of the water, allowing her to step on the ice before it melts in the water behind her. Having come from Metropolis, it's quite a trip, and she's panting and huffing as she reaches the shore. She plops down in the sand on her knees, then flops forward and rolls onto her back. She takes deep breaths, then tears off her blankets and shoves them aside, revealing her loose tanktop and fragile frame. Her long, black hair piles in the sand behind her, and the air around her within a ten foot radius is rather cold...

Keane (271) has posed:
    The Narrows isn't the best place for a slender woman to be laying down, exhausted and alone, at night. The place looks deserted but that's never the case. Not far from where she plops down, even in spite of the fact that she just -walked across the sea on a sheet of ice she obviously created-, a group of half a dozen punks had been sitting in the sand passing around a cigarette. The muted glow of it keeps floating between them, glows brighter as one sucks on it and passes it on, then again, and then finally they decide Maya might be worth their effort to get up and hassle. Even though she's only one average-sized girl alone the group makes sure they're all on their feet and heading her way together, even fanned out and half-circling her, before one of them says, "Hey sweet thang, you lost? Need a little, uh," he looks around the circle and they all laugh, "help?"

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell is, in fact, more than just "slender", she's obviously starved. She's a respectable five foot ten, but likely not even a hundred pounts. She doesn't notice the group of thugs until they speak up. She lifts her head up, then back down as they circle her, but stays silent.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Even as they hassle Maya, the punks keep their now-half-burned cigarette going around. It's puff-puff-pass. A new one, not the leader, takes a step in and leans over to put his hands on his knees, grinning at Maya as she lays on her back. "What's wrong, sweetie?" he asks. "You too tired to play?"

    "That's okay, Bobby," another one chimes in. "She don't need to do much anywa-"

    The statement cuts off in a wet gurgle and something basketball-sized soars overtop of Maya at high speed, drops of something warm and sticky freezing as they hit the sand near her. The gang's leader catches it reflexively, screams and leaps back startled. The rest of the gang turns and runs, scattering, while what's left of the body of the last one to speak falls to its knees and slumps over on the beach.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell half pushes herself up and looks around quickly. She lets out a huff, then pushes herself to a sitting position. A quick few shards of ice fly off after one of the fleeing thugs, meant more to scare them off than anything, then she turns her attention over toward the dead body.

Keane (271) has posed:
    A very tall man in a 3-piece suit and a wide-brimmed hat is standing there in the dark, next to where the headless body of that thug who got cut off mid-sentence fell down. He just stands there, dead still like a statue, as if he didn't even need to breathe, watching as the punks scatter and run. The ringleader is still on the other side of Maya, staring at the head of his buddy in his hands.

    "What's the matter, sweetie?" emits snidely from the man in the suit in a perfect mimicry of the ringleader's voice, but directed at the man he's mimicking. "Need a little, uh, help?" That, finally, makes the gang's leader look up, drop the head from his hands, and flee.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell looks back up at the scene before her, with the men fleeing from the scene...and she finally notices the tall man in the hat. She looks back up at the ringleader in time to see him flee, then huffs and flops back down onto her back. She doesn't seem too bothered by the body, nor the man that seemed to have killed him.

Keane (271) has posed:
    "No place for a nap," observes the suited man after the punks have deserted the area and Maya's collapsed back to the sand.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell continues to breathe in large, ragged gasps. "I'm...huff...t-tired," she mumbles, voice hoarse and raspy. "What...huff...What d-did you do to him? I couldn't see it." She pauses for a few more gasps, then, "But...uh, th-thank you."

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane's own voice, or at least the voice he uses when he's not mimicking the gang leader, is a mild baritone but not a very deep one. Definitely masculine, but not quite right for someone as tall and broad as he is. Strangely familiar, too, maybe. Maybe. "I passed his buddy's head to him like it was a basketball," he answers the question matter-of-factly. "I'll get the rest of them later tonight."

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell inhales sharply through her nose, then blows the breath out of her mouth in a cold, hazy cloud, before sitting up, bare arms splayed out lazily across her lap. "Well...uh, th-thanks. Though, I'm...k-kind of here to...do stuff like that. I mean...crime...fighting..." She falters toward the last few words, and she lowers her head sheepishly.

Keane (271) has posed:
    "You're not going to do it lying around on the beach," Keane answers flatly, and turns his head down to regard Maya directly. "Why are you lying around, anyway? You're showing signs of extreme exhaustion, malnutrition bordering on starvation, and I'm not even going to bother discussing your body temperature given your lack of hypthermia or frostbite - that's a mystery for your own species' medical professionals to unravel. Did you seriously attempt a marathon in your condition?"

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell lets out a low, grumbly whine. "I...w-walked from Metropolis." A pause, then, "A-Across the bay. I'm...a-a mutant." She brushes her bangs out of her eyes and behind an ear. "It's...j-just a long walk..."

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane turns away from Maya and looks back out over the ocean, in the dark, as if he could actually see. "Really," he says quietly, and with a note of appreciation. "That's," he pauses and then says, "well that's utterly insane, young lady," as he turns back and steps in, offering a black-covered hand up.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell takes the hand, her own grip very cold, even beneath Keane's glove, and hefts herself up with a grunt. "Well, th-the, uh, roads aren't...exactly safe..." She shakes her head, hair flying about, and simply asks, "Who are you? Why did you...s-save me? You didn't have to, exactly..."

Keane (271) has posed:
    Well, it's not exactly a 'glove' either. That cold hand of Maya's passes right through whatever that inky black field is as if it weren't there, gripping a hand that's solid, not fleshy, hard as stone and tipped with sharp claws, and Keane tugs gently to help haul the woman to her feet. "I am Keane," he answers, as if that answers all the questions that were asked. "The gang that would have attacked you has several haunts." He gestures up the beach toward the road, which Maya noted is particularly unsafe. "Reports indicate they victimize an average of four times each week, crimes ranging from petty theft to violent assault to what they had in mind when I liberated that gentleman's head from his neck and passed it to his friend. I intend to put a stop to it tonight."

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell 's hand lingers on Keane's for a moment. She tilts her head, then pulls her hand away and looks back up at Keane. "So you're...a-a vigilante?" She takes a deep breath. "I've...been w-wanting to help people, too, a-actually. Is there...anything you could, uh, help me with? Like...tips...?" She winces, obviously unsure of herself.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane looks from the road to the woman, the inky black field over his face revealing nothing of expression, then he turns back to the direction he indicated and he starts walking. "If you were to assist me, I suppose I would be indebted to a reasonable extent. What do mean by tips?"

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell 's shoulders slouch. She sighs. "Well, I...don't e-exactly want people to know who I am. Frost powers are common, s-...so, that's a start." She chews on her lower lip for a moment before asking, "What, er...do y-you need assistance with?" She slowly takes a step back as she speaks.

Keane (271) has posed:
    "I'm going to kill six or eight men," Keane answers flatly. "I don't want any of them to escape."

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell takes a deep breath. "You...w-want me to go with you, and...help." She stares down at her bare feet, then over at the ocean, before looking back at Keane. "When? A-And...where?"

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane stops walking and turns to face Maya directly, and even without being able to see his face there's a universal, even an interdimensional, body language of irritation. "Now, tonight," he answers. "Those men who ran from here, minutes ago, dead."

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell hesitates, then nods. "...Alright. Tell me, uh...wh-what do they do? I mean, to...o-other people?" She starts stepping toward the ocean, icy blue eyes staring down into the water.

Keane (271) has posed:
    "A Linda Genovese was beaten and raped in front of her six year old son, who was kicked in the ribs. He suffered minimal physical trauma but studies have shown that psychological traumas suffered at that age raise his likelihood to become a violent juvenile offender," Keane answers professorially. "A Gerald Berton was robbed of sixteen dollars and beaten so badly he had to have his jaw wired shut. A Tina Olsen fought back when they assaulted her, pulled a gun she'd been given by her father, and shot one of them. They found her body next to his. She was beaten, raped, and stabbed thirty seven times. Do you need to hear the other sixteen reported cases?"

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane adds, "I do not murder lightly, young lady," and turns his back on her to keep walking toward his target.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell takes another deep breath, then exhales. "No, I...I-I think that's enough. But, um...Please l-look away. I don't like freezing m-my clothes. It...tends to ruin them." She waits a few seconds, but doesn't bother waiting for any sort of confirmation, and simply strips naked, dropping her clothes in a small pile, before wading into the ocean. And she's down there for a good, long while. Five seconds pass. Ten. Fifteen. Thirty. Nearly a full minute later, the water's surface parts, and a large golem of pure ice rises from the ocean. It's vaguely humanoid in shape, with large, pointed spikes for arms, and a rough, crystalline shape for it's head. It steps closer to Keane, towering at three or four feet over him...then sheepishly taps it's spike hands together. It glances about, then shrugs, before dropping it's hands to it's side.

Keane (271) has posed:
    He'd been walking away, having more or less made up his mind that he was going on with or without Maya, when she went into the water. When he hears something very large emerging from the ocean behind him he stops and turns back, watching as the Glacier makes its way up the beach and heads up to join him. His head moves up and down as he inspects the new behemoth, then he turns and starts walking again. "So what do you mean by, 'tips?'" he repeats his question, assuming that this means he has an accomplice for multiple vigilante murders.

Glacier has posed:
The Glacier tilts it's head--or, more accurately, cants it's entire body from it's hips upward--then shrugs again. It points off in the direction the thugs fled, then looks down at Keane patiently.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Okay, no talking. Keane breaks into a loping run, his long legs carrying him faster and surprisingly quietly up the road. He'll keep an eye on the Glacier, adjusting his speed to make sure she - or it if that's more appropriate when Maya takes this form - can keep up, if necessary. Ultimately he leads the way around several turns, down some blind alleys, and finally comes to a halt at the back wall of a crumbling tenement building.

    Through a window, what's left the gang can be seen inside. Some of them are playing with knives, others loading guns. They've graduated from passing a cigarette to sharing glass pipes, drugging themselves up. If you have any heightened senses, you might hear them talking about heading back out on the streets to, "Find 'those two and gut 'em."

    Keane doesn't make any indication that he hears this, he just makes a few hand gestures indicating that he intends to go in through the wall, right here, and then break to the right. He points through the window showing that he thinks he can handle three or four of the punks, and which ones.

Glacier has posed:
The Glacier lumbers after Keane, it's relatively stubby legs not the best for speed. Still, she's able to reach the building with little trouble. The giant hunk of ice stares inside through the window, then cants it's head-body again as Keane starts making gestures. It slowly starts to nod as he finishes up, then points a pointy hand up at itself, then shrugs, as if inquiring what it should do.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane holds both his hands out in an elaborate shrug as if to ask, 'You kidding me?' and then leans toward the window to stab one clawed, black-covered finger at the other three or four guys scattered around the left side of the room. There are plenty of them in there, lots of armed thugs, probably a lot of shooting going to start happening as soon as anybody breaches that room.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell looks between the the group of thugs, then back to Keane before sort-of-nodding again. It lumbers off behind a wall near the door and looks over to Keane for a signal on when to bust through.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane steps back from the wall, eyes the Glacier, and stands there stock still for a long 20 seconds. He's just standing there, dead still the way he does, while billions of alien cillia vibrate inside a mouthlike-organ behind his concealing black field and even begin to reverberate into the dense particle-makeup of the creature himself. When he's vibrating so hard that even the fluidy black field around him shimmers with the force of it he takes a step forward and releases it - a sonic shockwave at such high volume that it physically blasts a hole in the side of the building big enough for him to walk through, at a thunderclap frequency that stuns the humans in the room as effectively as if a dozen flashbang grenades had gone off all at the same time.

    A couple of gunshots go off but they're just reflex shots into the floor. One guy actually shot the punk sitting next to him. Keane doesn't even rush into the room, he just steps through the hole in the wall and inexorably moves up to the nearest punk on his right to slash his throat with the claws of one hand.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell shoulder-checks the door like the goddamned Kool-Aid Man and stomps toward her group of thugs. It swings a limb at an unoccupied chair, tossing it toward them as more of a distraction than anything, then thrusts it's hand forward to impale one of the goons. Two of the others start shooting at it, but the clip doesn't do much. Many of the shots miss entirely, embedding lead into the wall behind the golem, others simply scrape and slide off the beveled edges, but a few strike true, though only seem to crack the ice before stopping an inch or so in.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane takes his time killing each of his elected marks, not sadistically drawing out the act but just not in any particular hurry to end them. He -lets- one swing his knives at him, cutting and stabbing at his coat and body to no effect, before he very swiftly snatches the knife out of the thug's hand, reverses it, and stabs it back into his skull. He lets another shoot him three times while he spends seconds amping up another sonic attack, each bullet impacting his diamond-dense body and ricocheting off with an angry whine, before he releases an ear-splitting high pitched spear of sound, so well contained in its directed column and at such high volume that only its target's eyes go instantly deep red as the vessels burst, only his ears begin to drip blood as the eardrums shatter, only he dies from the physical trauma induced by the shockwave impact.

    The last one Keane had marked out for himself is the gang leader, who actually tries to flee the room, but Keane proves that he's indeed capable of physical athleticism too as he leaps after that one and pins him to the ground, holding him down and just waiting for the Glacier to finish off her marks.

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell stomps toward it's second mark, a younger man barely looking sixteen. He stares up at the behemoth, drops his gun, and turns to flee, but is interrupted by a lamp being tossed his way. He stumbles just long enough for the Glacier to catch up and smash his head in with a heavy arm, before stomping on his limp body for good measure. Two down, two left. One of them is just standing in the corner, an obvious wet spot on his pants, but the second one was much more eager to fight, and picked up an axe while the Glacier was busy. It simply charges toward him and swings, but the thug ducks and embeds the axe sharply into the thing's side...and it gets stuck. He makes the mistake of trying to pull it out, giving the Glacier the opportunity to simply drop atop him, slamming onto it's side. The thug lets out a gurgled cry, before being silenced. Just the leader and Pissy Pants left.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane stands up, dragging the gang leader back to the wrecked sitting area by the back of his neck and forcing him to his knees. He turns to the Glacier, then to wet-pants, and he leans down to pick up a knife dropped by one of the first to fall. That blade is tossed negligently toward pissy-boy. "Pick that up and get over here," he commands, his voice a low, angry growl.

    While Keane stands there with one clawed hand planted firmly on top of the leader's head, the leader claws at Keane's hand and wrist. He cries and begs. He's gibbering something about his mother. "Come show him," Keane says to the Glacier, then looks back to the boy with the wet leg who's still shaking over in the corner. "I swear by everything you hold dear, if you don't get that knife and come over here, I will kill you slow," he tells that one, and that gets him to bend over, pick up the knife between the tips of his thumb and forefinger, and literally tiptoe through the wrecked room toward where the gang leader is forcibly kneeling in the living room.

Glacier has posed:
The Glacier's aggressive posture changes suddenly. It stands up straight and glances between Pissy and Keane, as if debating something. It's hard to read the Glacier's expression (because it literally has no face), but it's body language is pretty opaque. As the terrified thug with the knife steps past her, the Glacier steps into action again, quickly and unceremoniously smashing a thick arm down atop his head. He collapses, and then, for good measure, she stomps on him for a quick death. It looks back up at Keane, and even without a face, it's easy to tell it'd be scowling if it could. It just points a spike at the leader, then lowers it's arm.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane looks from the Glacier to the leader and back again, then lifts his hand away and steps back. "You want to do it?" he asks. "That one was going to end this one, and I was going to let him go to tell this story. This one can't be let go, so now no one will tell the story." The gang leader surges to his feet and tries to run, but Keane's on him quickly, knocking him to the floor and holding him down. He looks back up at the Glacier. "You want this?" he asks again, offering the kill.

Glacier has posed:
The Glacier just shakes it's head, and points to the leader, hand circling in a "come on, hurry it up" gesture. It still looks angry, though.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane delivers a swift punch to the base of the gang leader's skull, then another. Two little crunches, two violent spasms of the body, and the gang leader is limp. The alien stands up and faces the Glacier, holding both hands out with the palms up, shoulders shrugging helplessly. "What?" he asks.

Glacier has posed:
The Glacier holds up a spiked hand in a "one moment" pose before turning the spikes inward toward itself. It scratches and digs into the bullet holes, before eventually managing to pry apart and shatter itself. Maya drops out onto her knees, completely nude. She pants for a moment from the adrenaline, then stands up and steps closer to Keane, brow knit. "What was that about?!" She gestures toward the bloody remains of Pissy. "What would having -him- kill -him- accomplish? I-It's just...Is this -fun- for you?!"

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane unbuttons and slips off his trench coat and deftly sweeps it around Maya's shoulders while he answers, "I can't go to the local newspaper and take out an ad," he mimicks a well-known news commentator's voice as he expels, "Alien vigilante warns criminals: Stop what you're doing, or else!" The tall creature steps back from her, eyeing her feet and then eyeing the shoes on the feet of each of the punks. He steps over a few bodies before he elects a pair and crouches down to start wrestling a set off a thug's feet. "I have to rely on word of mouth. Eyewitness testimony. You think that boy, who lost bladder control in the face of death, could kill his friend and repeat the story without sobbing like a child?" He stands up and walks the scavenged shoes over to Maya, holding them out to her.

    "How many crimes do you think that would deter this month, this year? How many lives might that have saved?"

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell briefly eyes the offered shoes, then grabs for them. "You'd be surprised what people can do when they're backed into a corner. People will -still- see this. Families won't see their delinquent sons, gang friends won't see them again, a-and vagrants will find the bodies while looking for a place to sleep. Word will get around, with or without your...y-your...whatever that was." She takes a few heavy breaths, as if even speaking tired her out, then looks down at herself, suddenly remembering she's completely naked. She sighs. "I-I'll...find something to cover up here, and...go get my stuff..." She starts stepping around the place in search of a blanket, bones painfully poking at her skin as she bends.

Keane (271) has posed:
    "And no one will know who did this or why," Keane answers flatly, stepping over the bodies and moving up the stairs. He keeps talking as he goes, his voice rising in volume as he goes as if he's speaking through a bullhorn. It's not like he's shouting, that volume is unnatural, amplified as if in an acoustic chamber rather than pushed out by lungs. It's pitched and volumed perfectly to echo through the building's construction, back to where Maya sits. "It may as well be the handiwork of a rival gang, or with the Joker in control it may well be the work of Gotham City Police. Whatever -that- was, young lady, was a signature," he can be heard rummaging upstairs, throwing things about, and after some time he comes back down the stairs carrying one threadbare blanket and one rather unpleasant looking sleeping bag he found up there. "A signature," he repeats more quietly. "You understand?"

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell turns back to Keane and snatches the single blanket, leaving the sleeping bag alone. "The point...is notnto stop crime. Crime is always going to happen. Violence among people have existed for as long as people have. I just want to try and do what I can to make sure...-less- people suffer." She sighs and drapes the blanket around her shoulders. "There's no message you're sending, no signature, you just...want the satisfaction of knowing you bested somebody. It's...just a game to you. You didn't save me because I was in trouble, you saved me just because they were your mark."

Keane (271) has posed:
    "That's inaccurate," Keane answers with the cold, analytical tone of a scientific researcher correcting a peer's observation of a phenomenon. "I was watching them because I suspected they were my mark. If I were the irresponsible sadist you accuse me of, I would have killed them before you found yourself on the beach at all. It was coincidence that you appeared and they opted to confirm their ill intent, upon your person, while I was watching them. At that point I could have waited for a more opportune moment, allowing them to have their fun with you and move on, or I could even have intervened as I did and then pursued them as they fled and left you to the mercy of anyone else who happened along."

    He stands there a moment, looking down at Maya as she wraps up in the blanket, and then he turns away from her and steps over a body on his way toward the opening he made in the back wall. "So here's a tip: Pay more attention and pass less judgment."

Glacier has posed:
Maya Caldwell simply sighs and slouches, drained from the combat and the arguing. "I'm...I-I'm going home," she mumbles. She leans against a wall as she slips the shoes on, then simply steps off through the door, out into the night.