5023/Hugo Building Opening

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Hugo Building Opening
Date of Scene: 01 August 2018
Location: Hugo Building, Gotham City
Synopsis: The Hugo Building opens at last! Naturally that's when the rockstars, gangs and ninja show up!
Cast of Characters: Elektra, Smart Alek, Batman, Kid, Mason Steele, Cindy Larsen, Daredevil, Rage, Mon-El, Batgirl (Cain)




Elektra has posed:
The days leading up to the opening, workmen had been about on the premises of the Hugo Building, getting things ready. Mysterious crates and boxes and tarp covered this and thats had been here and there on the property, then mysteriously overnight, everything went from mystery to a full blown carnival, complete with rides, vendors, clowns (sorry if you hate them), meandering folks doing tricks, or handing out treats and stuffies, face painters - you name it. The streets just outside the Hugo building had been shut down to accomodate the anticipated crowds.

And then it was time. The barricades were opened and people were invited in.

The fair has come to Gotham, and oh what a fair!

And if rumours are true, Mason Steele was rumoured to be putting in an appearance later to share bits from his new album! That must be what that stage area towards the back of the park is...

As well as the building's residents, local notables are mingling, including Elektra Natchios - the building's parton - are on site. But you never know who else might show up!

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek peers about, eyes shifting all about. He comes in from the street, he keeps his distance from the crush of the mob, always allowing others more space just so he can have himself. He meanders along the edge of the park slowly doing a lap around the Carnival.

Batman has posed:
Bruce walks in from the subway. He signs an autograph. Then? Then Bruce gets an ice cream cone. It is a very good ice cream cone. As he goes alone to the various booths, raffles, performers and the like he tips $20 in each but does so serupticiously. A few people point but he is dressed relatively down and licks icecream.

Kid has posed:
Kid had an....unfriendly grin on his face as he entered the carnival! He had heard rumors from various locals, but nothing concrete...but now with the fair up and running, he couldn't resist the urge to monkey around it some!
    Unlike most times, Kid decided to accompany the fair in a younger version of his typical illusion. Kept animal control off his back, and allowed him to enjoy mingling amongst humans and enjoy the games! And one game...he took too immediatly
    A test of strength! He shoves his way into a line where all kinds of people were swinging a massive hammer down to try and ring the bell. The Strongman in charge calling out "Come one and all! Come and test your strength! Ring the bell, earn a prize! Ring it twice and you free icecream is on the house!" he calls promoting one of the local vendors.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason Steele, teen idol, hearthrob, and sometimes TV star has been enlisted to help with the entertainment, it's true. The stage is empty at the moment, a few stage hands walking around and preparing for the show. Invariably, Mason's presence has drawn a few of the younger crowd to the area.

    Mason himself is off to the side, getting ready to go on. Becca, the stage director checks the mic pack on the back of his pants.

"Testing," Mason says, the sound only going to the headset for the sound guys. They give a thumbs up, and he grabs his guitar..

Batman has posed:
Bruce licks his ice cream cone and does not steal an ice cream cone for other people. Understanding the value of capitalism, he realizes that if he has three ice cream cones, he can leverage a larger ice cream monopoly and thus gravitates to the feats of strength. He feels particularly festive though realizes that he cannot appear that strong and sadly decides that he should try and fail, for the kids. And his secret identity which does not involve him being strong enogh to bend (small) metal bars. Really, that's more a superman thing. As it is, he watches and enjoys his icecream. Briefly, he realizes why he spends most of his time fighting crime.

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    As much as Cindy isn't a fan of crowds, or appearing in public by herself, she's hardly one to resist a carnival. She walks through the grounds alone, the leopardine teen looking up at the rides and lights, letting herself be swept along by the crowd, though she keeps towards the edge of it. Crowds have had a nasty way of turning ugly on her, so she's made a habit of staying close to an escape route. It's loud, of course, and that has her ears folded back against her head to protect them from the sheer volume of things. She has yet to stop at any of the booths, for now just exploring the grounds and taking in the sight of it all.

Elektra has posed:
Bruce, as it happens, is being followed by a mime. A mime dressed all prim and proper in a butler's uniform, but copying the man in very exagerated gestures. When Bruce licks his ice cream, the butler licks his.. only as such things happen, the butler-clown makes a pretend mess and had to stop and scrub the front of his suit, pulling an endless line of handkerchiefs from his front pocket, spewing them all about in a dazzling array that's at odds with the prim, proper, and dull black of his outfit.

A gaggle of children who had been following along burst out in screams of laughter.

Batman has posed:
Bruce looks at the mime, and laughs. He then does a remarkably adroit performance of walking into the wind and plays off of the mime. After all, he is trained as a performer. He gives the icecream to one of the children thus ensuring the flow of capital goods from the masses to the proleteriate. As it is, giving a free ice cream to someone else for free is remarkably cheap, however the child does not care.

Daredevil has posed:
Adding to the mix of the carnival is the costume component the fliers said come as your favourite superhero so among the crowd there's the odd Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel and a guy in a pretty impressive light up Iron Man suit.

Matt Murdock though? He's just in a suit and tie, though he's got a gym bag over his shoulder so it's possible he's brought a costume for later.

He moves fairly nimbly through the crowds feeling his way with his cane. He comes up short stopping next to Bruce, as the children giggle at the mime. "Not sure what's going on, but it sounds like fun," he remarks to the billionaire, smiling.

Kid has posed:
A man who looks fairly confident, swings the mallet down. The gong only goes up halfway. Rating him at 'Above Average'. Kid snorts.

The booth leader notices and grins "Well well! Here is a large young man! Think you can do better? Come and give your strength a try!" he implore kid.

Kid himself grins and walks forward, taking the mallet. His eyes wanders the grounds, moment taking in a few folks. Noticing the stage getting set, the leapard girl on the fringes and Bruce and co near a funny butler magicion. He chuckles.

He hefts the hammer...and slams it down with all his might. The metal shoots up and a crips clear ring echos out. The crowd cheers at the display of strength. The clerk grins and says "Alright, let take it up a notch"

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek pauses a moment as the sound system is tested. He puts his hands up to his ears a moment reflexively, but he talks to himself, "It's not loud.. it's rather colorful.. he does have good patterns." He notices the small gathering by the clown, the billionaire, and the lawyer. The billionaire catches his attention far more, "Mr. Wayne." His eyes go slightly wide and he starts making his way over. He practices quietly to himself, "Hello Mr. Wayne.. Umm.. Bruce.. Umm, Mr. President."

Rage has posed:
There is another teenage heart throb in the crowd today as Andrea Jackson, current chart topper, celebrity and mutant activist is making her way towards the stage as her eyes search. She is wearing a loose t-shirt with a picture of Mason on it that says: I'm Steeling your girls. She may have snagged one from Spencers that day they went shopping. It's ironic. She is also wearing torn skinny jeans and a pair of new sneakers, along with a backwards Yankees cap on her head and shades.

"Hey!" Her voice calls out as she reaches over to snag Cindy by the hand. "Found you! You ready to watch Mason rock out?" She gushes as she peeks over her shades at her feline companion.

Batman has posed:
Bruce tries the Feats of Strength. True to form, he does...average. In fact, the little thing literally goes up to the average line. Within a fraction of a fraction of inch. But it looks natural, strained and he shrugs. He gives free ice cream to the two other kids who were orbiting around the mime while he moves towards the donation box. He deposits a check marked, "Bruce Wayne, 20000" but also with careful slight of hand donates an untracable international barabond with 500K. God help the guy that tries to steal that before it goes to Elektra's foundation.....

Batman has posed:
Bruce blinks and smiles, "President? Of what? Oh, Wayne Tech? Nice to meet you." He extends his hand warmly.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek blinks as he stares at the hand a moment, as if he didn't know what to do.. eventually he shakes the hand with two hands instead of one, "Honor to meet you, sir." he looks up at Bruce a moment, but as he continues to talk his eyes seem to wander from a conversational eye contact, "Your Company makes alot of cool stuff, and your webpage is pretty decently designed."

Elektra has posed:
Elektra mills about, happy to see the gathered crowds. The Foundation is doing exactly what she wanted it to do. Of course there's Bruce, and of course she's aware of just who he is - just as he knows who she is - but there's an agreement in place that protects both of them.

Still, she pauses to watch while he tests his mettle at the feats of strength, having paused initially to watch Kid have at. She smirks at Bruce's 'average', and when the hawker tries to get her to take a turn, Elektra easily begs off.

"Oh, we all know I'd barely budge the marker, even if I could toss the mallet over my shoulders. No, leave it to others."

Like the young boys trying to impress the young girls milling about here.

The mime, meanwhile, has coralled the group of squealling children into taking hs string of colourful handkerchiefs and making something of a Maypole game about a nearby bush. The children dance about, leaving the bush strung colourfully, and thanks to prestrung - and hidden - lights within the bush, later this evening, the bush will be lit up and glow softly with colours.

The mime will perform this act all about the park until darkness sets, so that many bushes will light up this way just in time for Mason's musical set.

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy jumps a little when Andrea comes out of nowhere to grab her hand, and she almost instinctively tries to pull away before she realizes who it is. "Oh! Andrea, you scared me," she says, exhaling a sign with a hand over her heart, "I'm not used to people I know grabbing my hand like that!" She gives the other girl a small, shy grin. Cindy's dressed in her usual attire, her fuscia-and-white tie-dyed hoodie, yoga pants and a skirt, bright white sneakers on her feet. She gives Andrea a quick once-over, her tail flicking behind her. "I'm jealous, those are really cute jeans. I can't wear anything like that, I get fur sticking out everywhere." The leopardess giggles. "Yeah, let's go. He's, uh, on the stage over there, right?" She nods her head in the direction of the stage, before starting that way. She's still holding onto Andrea's hand. It may be a little silly, but having a new friend with her is a little more comforting than just being alone in a big crowd of unfamiliar faces.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason checks the tuning on the guitar, and once satisfied, he sticks it back on the rack. This particular guitar is black with a marble faceplate, making it look like part of a ritzy sculpture. He pulls off the headset, then hands it back to his stage manager. "Thanks Becca," he says. "Okay, we're all set, just wait for Ms. Nacho now, Natchio? How does she say her name? I'm totally gonna screw that up."

Batman has posed:
Bruce nods and faintly smiles at Elektra's refusal. But he is under cover...rather, being himself. His playboy billionare slightly laize faire self. He looks a little sheepish, a little awkward, but also good natured as he lets Alek shake his hand, "Well....um. Thank you. What was your name again?" He pauses a moment, "And...I'll let the web team know you liked it.

Daredevil has posed:
With Alek engaging Bruce Wayne, Matt's attention drifts elsewhere and stops when it comes to Kid. There is a blink behind the red shades. Was something wrong with his senses? He was sensing something big and hairy, but nobody else seemed to be reacting to it.

Sensing Elektra he makes his way over, "Elektra," he greets warmly, smiling, like everything's totally fine. "Sounds like a great turn out," he says before dropping his voice to ask, "What does the guy over there look like?" he asks, gesturing in Kid's direction.

Rage has posed:
Andrea squeezes Cindy's hand/paw as they head over to the stage. She gives their arms a bit of a swing as they go. "You can still rock these jeans. You should get a pair anyways. Just cut a hole in the back for your tail. Trust me, you can make it work. That or you can get the repair kind with patches underneath so they still got the torn look, ooooorrr... wear leggings beneath them." Obviously the popstar would know a few things about fashion. Once they reach the front of the stage, she gives a big grin as she bumps into Cindy's shoulder. "I can't wait to see him play. He puts on a great show. Are you a fan?"

Kid has posed:
Kid snorts at the average level of strength. He clearly didn't think much of Bruce at the moment. But he did notice a familiar face - Alek. He gives a light chuckle and might poke him latter - sides he avoids big names general speaking. He wanders deep to the next attraction nearby. A dunk tank - the person on it was taunting people to get him wet!

Kid get in line. Mnay people giving this a try! The sound of ball bounding off a backboard ring out as each one misses. Kid rubs his jaw as he knows he doesn't have the best aim. but was worth a shot.

Batman has posed:
Bruce briefly looks up and smiles at Matt before he walks off but is unable to get in a reply since he doesnt want to be rude to Alek. Instead he awkwardly waves and then more awkwardly realizes MAtt isn't going to see him.....

Elektra has posed:
Elektra isn't startled by Matt's arrive at her elbow, even though another might be. Of course, situational awareness is part of her.. well, it's not really a day job, now, is it?

"Bit of a hulking teen boy," she murmurs to Matt. "Doesn't look like he should be able to have run the bell. Stranger things have happened. I'm guessing you're going to disagree with my visuals?"

She smiles at Matt and makes it very much like she's doing nothing more or less than welcoming him to her opening.

"I'd truly like to say see what you helped make happen..but.." Of course she knows Matt can 'see' and sense more than he lets on, but those around the pair don't know that, so appearances must be kept up. "Thank-you for being part of making this happen."

By believing in her.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "Alek Simon." he pulls himself off shaking Bruce's hand, "Sorry. I'll just go now, probably alot of good work for you to do and stuff." He backs off a few steps,"

Batman has posed:
Bruce says, "Lovely to meet you Alek. No you're fine son. And I'm just relaxing and enjoying myself. Very nice to meet you. Do you work for me?" He acts a bit awkward but isn't actually really nonplussed at all. There is nothing in his immediate vocal tones indicating discomfort, just the regular Bruce Wayne slight pithed to the world nature."

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    There's another blush from the leopard-girl as she walks alongside Andrea. "I suppose I could, I never... really thought about wearing layers. I mean, I'm covered in fur, and I can't sweat, so I gotta be careful with heat or I'll pass out," Cindy tells her, "It's kind of embarassing when it happens... But hey, uh... maybe we could go shopping sometime, and I could try some things on." She glances around them briefly, not so much to look around for anyone in particular, but more out of the latent paranoia of being a mutant out in public. She leans in a little closer to Andrea and kind of stage-whispers, "Don't tell anyone, but I've never really listened to his music before. I know, I'm awful."

Rage has posed:
"Leggins are thin enough and breathable. I think you may be fine with those." Andrea assures Cindy with a grin on he face. Once they stop in front of the stage, a few people in the crowd recognize her and she takes a few moments to lean in for some selfies and to even sign a shirt or two. "You haven't listened to his music?" She grins. "Some of his songs are about me. I won't spoil the ones that are for you. What about my music?" She asks curiously. "You listen to it or am I too poppy for you?"

Daredevil has posed:
Matt nods quietly, still smiling like nothing is wrong. "Just a bit," he says. "More like a 6'4" five-six hundred pound gorilla." His senses keep on top of Kid. "Doesn't seem to be doing anything, but, given the situation," he says meaning the Hand. "Want me to go have a chat with him?" Matt asks.

Kid has posed:
Kid turn comes up and he takes the tiny ball in his large hand. He pulls back and let loose. The ball dents the backboard but misses the target! He tries an additional two times, missing both times. The force of the thrown balls made the would be dunkee jump a bit. "Too bad Kid, better luck next time!"
    And with that Kid surrenders the spot to the next person in line to try and dunk the man. His stomech rumbles and he knew he needed food soon. Another rumble...make that very soon.
    Without much thought his foot steps begin to carry him towards Matt and Electra as he smelled some good fried dough. A treat if there ever was one!

Elektra has posed:
Out on the street, the main attraction is a gigantic ferris wheel that magically appeared overnight. In truth, several crews worked all night long constructing it and making certain it was safe and secure.

The bucket seats of the thing are of an old fashioned nature, swinging forwards and back while you sit in them, and once the skies grow dark, each seat, as well as alternating spokes of the wheel will light up with hundreds of clear white lights, making the ferris wheel sparkle like stars over there.

Right now, though, the main attraction seems to be the duck pond, where the littles are gleefully pulling rubber ducks out of the ever circulating water and collecting prizes.

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy isn't quite so clingy that she can't let go of Andrea's hand, and she does so when there's people wanting selfies or autographs. One of the girls mentions how lucky she thinks Cindy is to get to hang out with Andrea, and it makes the leopardgirl's ears redden on the insides again. Once Andrea comes back to her, though, there's a nervous cough and a sideways glance. "I, uh, I used to watch your show when I was younger," she admits, "Aaaand I might have all your music on my phone..." She chews her lower lip a bit, a small grin pulling along one side of her muzzle. "That's... not weird, is it?"

Elektra has posed:
Elektra's smile never wavers as Matt imparts Kid's description. "Mmmm, perhaps keep an eye on him. He's behaving and clearly making an effort to fit in."

But Matt has reminded her that she's had a warning recently that there is more unrest in her organization than she suspected, and she's no doubt that tonight might make a prime time for that displeasure with her to bbe known.

"Keep an eye out for folks who don't fit in. It's been too quiet lately."

Batman has posed:
Bruce decides to tour the building. He hands Alek a card, "If you would like a tour of the building some time, please let me know. Very nice to meet you."

Rage has posed:
"I think it would be more weird if you didn't." Andrea grins at her as she tips a wink to Cindy. "Mason was on the show with me you know. Now he doesn't have that weird haircut or braces." She rocks on her feet back and forth casually. "Maybe later when we get back we can listen to some music together. I wanna hear you sing one of my songs." She teases. "Prove you're a real fan."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt nods, to Elektra. "I will," he says before addressing what she said earlier, thanking him. "Glad you did all this," he says. "I know what it means to you, and well, glad I am here for this," he says. He begins to reach out a hand for her hand but stops short, they were in public and well there was the Hand to contend with.

"I'll make keep an eye, out, or well, you know what I mean," Matt says as his senses let him know Kid's coming their way.

Kid has posed:
Relatively behaving anyways. Kid isn't a talker it seems, and instead of asking or politely asking people to step aside, he kind of barrels by them regardless if they are disable like Matt or perfectly fine like Elektra.
    A hungry rilla can be an impatient one. When reaches the fry dough stand and he is practicely drooling. Cinammon with powdered sugar and butter glazing plust frosting? YES PLEASE! Kid get himself a plate with 3 to 5 on it, waiting semi-patiently for them to be made. He looks to the kids playing at the duck pond and...sighs to himself a moment.
    

Elektra has posed:
Elektra gives Matt a smile, and pats his arm. "I'm so glad you could make it." Her words pitched to carry, in case of listening ears. "Do mingle. Check the place out. And if you'll excuse me, I should go say hello to the evening's entertainment."

Which, of course, is Mason. She'd been more than pleased when he'd contacted the Foundation offering his services. That was exactly the sort of response she'd hoped for.


Kid might smell fried foods - and of course there are hotdogs, and pretzels, and hamburgers, and these fried doughy things sprinkled with sugar (beavertails if you must know - they're a Canadian thing), but there are a couple of carts wandering around the grounds handing out candy apples and candy floss, as well as bags of warm peanuts - plain and candy coated.

It's everything you remember from your childhood!

Daredevil has posed:
Following Kid to the hot dough stand, Matt orders one for himself, then 'accidentally' bumps Kid with his cane.

"Sorry," he says with embarassment that sounds genuine. "I really should learn to be more careful with this thing. Are you hurt?" he asks.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason glances up as he sees Elektra coming his way.

"Natchios," Becca whispers as he walks away. Mason apparently heard her, since he says with a warm smile, "Hi Ms. Natchios! Great to be hear for such a good cause, glad we could meet up." He extends a firm handshake, wearing a black shredded vest open so that it shows his chest. In his defense, he has a chest worth looking at if you are a teenage girl.

T"Just let me know when you're ready, our sound check is all set."

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    That brings a bigger grin to Cindy's face, and she nods her head. "I think that'd be awesome," she says, "Well... except the singing part, I'm... I don't think I'm all that good at it. So, maybe when there's no one else around." There's a brief giggle from the blonde leopard. "I... think I knew that, but, uh, I never really watched the show for him," she admits, albeit a bit shyly. She shrugs her shoulders a bit, glancing around once more. "I like your music a lot though. I know a lot of people are super into Heart to Break, I know, but Beautifully Broken has always been my favorite. It's... I dunno." She shrugs again. "Just connects with me more, I guess."

Kid has posed:
Kid ends up dropping his dough! He let out a beastial growl, animalistic, dangerous, and a clear warning he was a pissed monkey. None the less he bends down to pick up the dropped food, not wanting to wast it. He takes a moment to balance it on his head before riaising his arms.
    The arms move gesturing in American Sign Language. Though Kid didn't vocalize, a watch on his wrist tanslated for him, speaking in a somewhat sythetic manner - it tone matche kid's natural aggressive and perhaps angry nature "Watch it Runt." not bothering to answer the question.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek sits down at a bench, he sort of zones out, watching hypnotically the blinking lights that cover the area. He talks to himself quietly, "Alot of people and lights, so much activity to see."

Elektra has posed:
Elektra smiles warmly for Mason, and extends her hands to grip his in a not quite intimate, but fairly personal greeting. "Mr. Steele. We were so happy when you contacted us and requested being able to be part of this venture."

She looks about the carnival grounds where everyone seems to be having a great time. And where the hidden lights all over the park and cordonned of street are beginning to come on - not all at once, just a couple here and there, and this continues as the night sky gets darker until without warning, the sky is all stars, and the carnival grounds are all fairy lights dancing about on their strings.

"I was hoping to introduce you and say a few words about the Foundation, and then let you have at. I've been hearing any number of the young girls talking about you. And... a few of the boys as well."

She smiles. "I'll be back shortly to do the introduction, unless there is anything else I can get or do for you?"

Daredevil has posed:
Matt frowns at the dropped food and despite the growl, he offers: "Let me get you some more."

Insult delivered in the voice of a Speak-and-Spell is met with a tight, defiant grin. "We can't all be 500lb gorillas," he replies back, voice kept low. He reaches out to grab Kid's arm. "Listen, not looking for any trouble so long as you aren't." Matt focuses, pulling on the thread of his senses that give him the sound of Kid's heart beating. Though he frowns, right, he knew what to listen for when a human was lying not a gorilla. So he has to take this one on faith.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "So glad to be a part, I'm here to support you, if you want me to make any announcements, I read about this, it's pretty great what you're doing here," Mason says with a grin, "You can send the girls my way, I'll direct the boys back to you, sound fair?" he offers with a conspiratorial smile. Clearly a joke. Clearly? "I'm good on my end. I'll be right here when you're ready."

Rage has posed:
"Oh come on, I sing in public all the time." Andrea says with a big grin to Cindy. "In fact, I'm gonna embarrass Mason by singing along with him to his songs like a real fan girl." There is a giggle in her throat. "Oh, you like Beautifully Broken? I wrote that for us you know." Us, meaning 'them'. Mutants. "It's a real personal song for me."

Elektra has posed:
Elektra laughs softly. "I think the boys are out of any age range I should be looking at that way. However, I'm sure there are plenty of both gathered here tonight. Enough I'm certain everyone can find someone should they wish it."


She's busy. That's really how she misses it. That and it's subtle. Just a body here or there, drifting in and about the crowd. No identifying marks that scream gang affiliation. It's like a purposeful scrub of things has been done to keep from being noticed or identfied.

Sure, there are a few here and there with the same neon green shoe laces. A couple there with the same fitbit knock-off. But overall, at casual glance, nothiing untoward anywhere in the crowd.. other than the slight ellectric buzz of excitement that was building... Of course that could be explained by Mason's upcoming performance..

Kid has posed:
Kid eyes linger on Matt a long moment the growl becomming more aggressive. His heart beat was slow and powerful for a beast of his size but it quickened at Matt revelation, as if threatened. His muscles tighten as if he would attack...but he doesn't.
    Instead a telepathic voice reaches out, one matching the wild nature of the gorilla...but also that of a lost trouble teen trying to make their way in the world o O ("Than I suggest you let go of my arm before I break yours. If you were not looking for trouble, you would have just let me be")

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek seems to finally decide to wander more, as he goes between the various stands and rides and other structures here, he pauses a monet at each one, trying to touch something at each station. He wanders past Kid and Matt, he barely even seems to make eye contact, "Hey.. Umm.. Hi." he says to Kid, "You making friends?"

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy nods her head, glancing sidelong to Andrea. "Yeah," she says, "You put that out one only a few months after I, uh..." She just kind of gestures to herself. Explanation enough, really. "It's probably why I felt it so hard. I really did feel broken, and it helped a lot to listen to it, so... uh... thanks, I guess, for putting that out there." Cindy gives Andrea a faint little smile. Then she giggles again and the smile gets bigger. "And of course -you- sing in public all the time, your voice is freaking -amazing-. I probably sound like I got my tail stuck in a garbage disposal." She sighs and shakes her head, tossing her hair a little bit, but she's still smiling.

Daredevil has posed:
They came in quietly. Young, and like a lot of folks in this neighbourhood, Asian.

So far, they just seem normal. There's the young couple watching the kids by the ducks. Another guy by the strong man booth. A group of three lounging by the ice cream stands with cones in their hand. All of them have backpacks though and their eyes dart about a little too much to be really enjoying themselves.

One by the ice cream stand, breathes a sigh of relief, murmuring, "Bruce Wayne's leaving, We don't need that kind of heat."

"Fuck that," another says. "Wanted to smoke him too."

They look to the man by the strongman booth and he shakes his head. Not yet.

The wait continues....

-----

At the hot dough stand, Matt flinches back when Kid starts talking in his head instinctively pushing back against the intrusion. Taking all the bits of him that are Daredevil and burying them deep.

("Just making sure you're just here to have a fun time, nothing else.) He pointedly lets go of Kid's arm. (That is why you're here, right?')

Mason Steele has posed:
    Becca the stage manager takes her cue, a nod from Mason, and one of the PAs grabs the mic, getting him set back up. He grabs the guitar off its stand. People start moving, show time will be in just a few minutes. The makeup girl comes and checks Mason's hair, which is a shaggy blond mess. Perfect. Speakers on, ready to rock. Mason moves to the edge of the stage, waiting for Elektra to do her thing.

Rage has posed:
"Oh, I'm sure you will sound fine after some practice. Sides, singing public is fun and it's allowed to be embarrassing.' Andrea says with a grin to her feline companion. "And you're welcome, about the song. Hearing that from you means everything to me. Really. I don't write music just to get rich and have people follow me on the Internet. I write music to change lives."

Kid has posed:
("Relax, whatever secrets your trying to hide, I can't find them") O o comes the mental voice. Kid can gleam surface thoughts, but delving INTO someone mind was beyound him without a pick me up. o O ("and...I guess?") was that why he was here? He wasn't sure.
    But as Alek approaches, Kid doesn't ignore him, but returns to signing once again "Friends. Enemies. Lunch runs. Who can say" comes the synthetic watch voice "Alek this is strange man. Strange man this is Alek" he signs an introduction between them - not much heart in it, it seemed more put there to move away from whatever conversation he was having previously.
    He glances to the stage and signs "I think the main show is going to begin soon. Hope it is good"

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy grins a little and gives Andrea a little nudge with her elbow. "Well, I don't know if it changed my life," she teases, "But it helped me through a rough patch." The leopardess grins again, her tail swaying lazily behind her. She's got her hands tucked into the pockets of her hoodie, though she's not really trying to hide her appearance. No one in the crowd has been giving her a hard time, perhaps they're all just distracted by Andrea. "I bet being rich is nice, though," she admits, grinning again, "You know I'm gonna take advantage of that, right? Like, limo rides to the convenince store and stuff."

Elektra has posed:
Elektra moves to the mic on stage, footlights coming up to illuminate her, as well as some perfectly placed spotlights. Of course that leaves her blind to the crowd and those watching the crowd for the perfect moment to strike.

"Good evening, and welcome all. I would like to thank everyone for coming to the Grand Opening of the Hugo Foundation Building."

"As you may or may not know, my father, Hugo Natchios, was a philanthropist, as well as an Ambassador, and in memory of him, the Hugo Fouundation was born. I hope everyone had a chance to look about and see what faith in your fellow man can do."

"I won't keep everyone from the main attraction any longer. I have no doubt most of you would prefer to listen to him than to me drone on about a building."

There are titters of laughter spreading about the crowd as people take up seats, or mill about, or otherwise make themselves comfortable.

"I would invite you all to remember this evening, our motto: A Hand Up, and Help Out. And with that, I give to you Mason Steele, everyone. Please make him feel welcome. And enjoy the rest of your evening."

Elektra excuses herself from the stage and makes her way back to the building proper.

Rage has posed:
"Ha. I drive a current BMW. I'm not like Mason up there in his flashy red Ferrari. Limos are cheesy and they always get stuck making tight turns here in New York. I'd rather just have a nice, normal car and put most of my money into charity or savings. But you can take advantage for a few things if you need to. I don't mind." Andrea says, then quiets as she listens to the announcements from Elektra. She gives a round of applause, then lets out a sharp whistle as Mason is introduced.

"Woooo! We love you, Mason!" Andrea calls out with a big grin on her face, acting as if she is one of his groupies She even has the goofy shirt and all.

Elektra has posed:
As Mason steps out on stage, the last of the lights on the grounds go on, completing the ambience.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt's focus eases off of Kid as his confusion about why he's hear seems to ring true, in Matt's head. (Fair enough,) he replies mind to mind before noticing Alek.

"Sorry," he says, "My mind was elsewhere, um, Matthew Murdock," he says, extending a hand in Alek's rough direction.

Once the greeting is done he turns towards the stage, listening as Elektra gives her speech and welcomes Mason to the stage.

---

Another look is thrown to the man by the strongman booth, this time by all the people who'd slipped in Carnival as Elektra takes the stage. He beckons them over to give them final instructions.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "Alek Simon.." he shakes the hand... quickly retreating, "Beautiful lights are they not." (failing to notice the fact the man is blind)."

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Whatever Cindy might have said after that goes unsaid as Elektra takes the stage, and she turns her attention towards it to listen to Elektra speak. She joins in the applause, but winces when Andrea lets out that sharp whistle right next to her. It doesn't last, though, and she recovers quickly enough. It seems Andrea's enthusiasm is infectious, because Cindy joins in, calling out a raucus "Whoo!" of her own as Mason takes the stage. She grins, tail twitching idly behind her.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason doesn't appear right away. Instead, the lights blaze, then darken. A single guitar lets loose, distorted and hard with an opening solo. It stops.

"I am my own affliction."

The guitar continues on, then stops.

"I am my own disease..."

"There ain't no drug that they can sell... There ain't no drug to make me well."

    The fireworks on the front of the stage explode, and the lights come up, Mason standing in the center and front, the rest of the band around him.

"I made a mess of me, I wanna get back the rest of me, I made a mess of me, I wanna spend the rest of my life alive!"

He jams hard, interpreting wildly upon the melody as he is known to do in any liv performance. The song never sounds the same way twice, and this is the first time this particular song has been played in public. He spots Andrea in the front, and gives a wink as he plays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uD4nbKWgEQ

Rage has posed:
As he begins to sing, Andrea grabs Cindy by the hand and gives it a squeeze, excitement in her eyes. She points at her shirt when he looks her way, giving him a wider grin as their eyes meet. She sings along with the lyrics, letting her voice soar with the crowd's as she continues to bounce on her heels.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek is suddenly put into a trance as he stares at the fireworks now.. he goes silent, his face shows amazement at the display.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt smiles at Alek's mistake. "I am sure they are, Elektra, doesn't skimp on the details. "Can you describe them for me?" he asks before the music kicks in. "Actually maybe after," he says. "Fan of Mason Steele?" he asks, by the way Matt's focus has moved to the stage, he might well be.

---

The gang comes together by the now empty strongman booth, heads down talking quickly and hushed. Bags slung off their shoulders now.

Kid has posed:
Kid crosses his arms as he listens to the song. His head bobbing to the beat of the music. The music was a resonating one, being one own affliction...one own disease....and knowing you will never get well. It was comforting to know other might understand what that may feel like.
    For a moment in time, gone was Kid's aggression as he merely listens to the song and even grooves with the folks around him who jam to the melodies put forth by mason.

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy grins when Andrea grabs her by the hand again, that faint blush returning to the insides of her ears, but she lets her focus stay on the stage performance. She doesn't know the words to the song, not like Andrea does of course. It's good music though, and she's getting into it, dancing around a little - as much as she can in that kind of space without anyone stepping on her tail! Even though it's only a little bit of bouncing around, it's clear that Cindy's enjoying the concert.

Elektra has posed:
Meanwhile, another small group begins clustering about. Those innocuous bits and bobs about their persons not so innocuous when you start to see them on a larger number of folks all gathered together.

They murmur to themselves, and a girl who seems to bet their leader makes several short gestures about the park grounds, and then to a piece of paper she's holding.

There are nods, and she crumples the paper, lighting it with a match and lets it burn almost to her fingertips before dropping it and stubbing it out wwith her toe.

Her little group breaks up into two, each section circling to one side of the stage, but back enogh that they aren't part of the crowd gathered to listen to Mason.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "Explosions of Carbon, Sulfur, and other things made by heating them up. They make sound that fills the rainbow too, a few streaks of yellow, with some red, and some purple. The hum of the amplifiers also add a bit to the sound, a sort of honey coloring to the voice that is pinkish. I could sit here forever and couldn't describe it all.""

Mason Steele has posed:
    Ignorant of what is happening in the crowd below, Mason finishes the song.

    "Good evening Gotham City!" he announces. "Great to see you guys here tonight to celebrate this great, great city, and this great work of the Hugo Foundation. Giving hope to people who have none." He lets the guitar hang loose as he grabs the mic, dramatically leaning in.

    "You know, a lot of us, we go through our lives not knowing what it is like to be like the families who really need this place. I hope we have some out here tonight. I hope that you all get to meet them because they are heroes. They know that this life only comes around once. They believe in this place, they believe in it because they need it. If you are here tonight, and you haven't given to this foundation, I want to let you know. I'm doing a special thing for the Hugo foundation tonight. Every buck that you give, I'm gonna double. That's right. You and me, working together," he says, pointing at the audience and then himself.

    "Because, we're not waiting for the afterlife!"

    He grabs his guitar and strums angrilly.

"I've tasted fire, I'm ready to come alive. I can't just shut it up, and fake that I'm all right.

"I'm ready now I'm not waiting for the after life!"

    The lights above snap down, multicolored display mixing with a fog that spreads out of the stage and sinks down along the crowd. It's thick, maybe thicker than it should be as it turns the entire crowd area into a sea of haze.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkyhJSU3AUY

Elektra has posed:
It won't be noted until the donation stations are tallied the next day and over the next week or so, but Mason's speech made a difference. Not only in the individual pots, but in the number of 'anonymous' donors who also pledge to match the amount donoted...

Daredevil has posed:
Matt blinks then smiles, "You have a real way with words," he remarks. "What else do you see?" he asks him. Enjoying the description almost as much as the music.

---

The little gang starts to move, spreading out, looking for their target, the smoke from the stage... makes things tricky...

Rage has posed:
Continuing to dance along with the music, Andrea is is enthralled by the beat, lyrics and intensity. She swings Cindy's hand along with hers as she moves her body, even going so much as to pull her close so that they can dance together. She may as well give the crowd a show as well. She sways her body back and forth in time with the beat. Once the song ends, she grins at her friend and says, "I'm gonna grab some drinks and come back before it ends. Gotta make a few calls too." She says as she starts off with a smile, sliding her phone out of her pocket as she taps along the grass, dodging dancing concert goers.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "Carbon Dioxide Fog.. It's adding a bit of a blue haze over everything, making colors of the music a little more muted." he sighs a bit, "So many cell phones ruins the songs though. Lots of selfies, Someone watching a cat swatting at a laser... Seriously, the music is great why would you watch that now?" He sighs as his eyes wander the area more."

Elektra has posed:
A couple of kids to the right of the stage catch a glimpse of one of the small cadres the girl is in charge of. They know trouble when they see it - they've dealt with her gang before, and up until recently, the area around the Hugo Building has been free of them. It seems like the carnival is being used as a cover for their actions.

A few of the building's residents leave, keeping their heads down, not wanting to make eye contact with the street gang.

One boy, who had been in the life, and gotten out thanks to the building, is tripped, and helped up, the boy helping him up roughly gripping his fist into the other boy's shirt.

"Hey Carl, look what I have here. Looks like a traitor." He calls to a nearby friend. "Know what we do with traitors, huh?"

Carl comes over, along with a younger girl, and they circle about the boy who is still being gripped tightly and unable to leave like he'd intended.

The girl's nose crinkles. "Smells like a traitor, too."

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy, like Andrea, is enjoying the music, though she gives a surprised laugh when she's pulled in to dance with Andrea instead of next to her. She grins broadly and blushes a lot more, but she goes along with it, dancing with Andrea to the music, swaying along with her. Once the music has ended, she gives a nod. "Yeah," she says, panting softly, "I gotta catch my breath anyway." She watches Andrea disappear through the crowd, taking a brief moment to smooth her skirt out a little before turning her attention back to the stage. She's not aware of what's going on towards the back of the crowd, not yet anyways...

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar is standing in the crowd in front of the stage where Mason is performing with all that fanfare going up around him. He listens to the music, frowning thoughtfully as he thinks about the lyrics. He observes the crowd as well, taking note of the odd behavior of the people hanging around near the back. Especially that burning paper. Certainly, there are people on their phones, and dancing, singing, talking, etc. But burning stuff? Hm.

    As he tries to listen in on their conversation, see what they're up to, he notices them picking on a boy who was trying to leave. Approaching quickly, he confronts them. "Leave him alone, what has he done to you?"

Kid has posed:
Kid chimes in, his watch, a small but argubly nessary distraction speaking for him "Because people are idiots. Recording or taking a picture or too is fine, but why watch a cat if your watching the show. It makes no sense"

"And great. Now there the other kinds of idiotes. Enjoy the show Alek, Matt, strange beings flying in the air" he signs noticing the trouble. He doesn't excuse himself, and merely walks over. Okay, Kid wasn't exactly the NICEST person, but ganging up on a single person is bullying at it's finest. He stands by Lar and signs "drop the kid, or I drop you." it wasn't a request and he had no reservations about what he will do

Daredevil has posed:
"I've heard about that," Matt says. "The thing with the phones, makes no sense to me either. So, what you're seeing the sounds, the light and the fog, synesthesia?" he asks Alek before he picks the voices out of the crowd.

That didn't sound good. "Alek, you have to excuse me for a moment." Matt says and slips away into the fog, he grabs a length of canopy off one of the stands in case he needs to jump in.

---

The other gang notices the comotion, they look to their leader. He nods and they got into their packs for their guns. They'd found their targets. A person comes out of the mist singing along with music only to see the gang and it's guns.

"Oh my god!" they shout then there's a gun shot. The guy who wanted to off Bruce Wayne has his gun in hand. "Cover's blown, let's do this."

He starts firing towards the little group around the other gang.

Elektra has posed:
Carl's bigger buddy - Giovanni as it happens - thrusts his chin at Lar, and scowls. "Back the fuck off old man. None of your business. Our friend here just hasn't had a chance to say hello in awhile. We're just saying hello. Aren't we man?"

His fist relaxes in the boy's shirt (John as it happens), and Gio pats John's front, smoothing his shirt down. "We're all friends here."

JOhn's eyes are wide. He is not 'we're all friends here', but he nods, agreeing with Gio. "Yeah. Old friends. Buddies. Ain't seen them in a long while."

Carl and the girl (Jinny) step in front of Kid.

"Oh my god," she says, "Look at the dweeb. Thinks he can scare us." She casually pulls a switchblade from her pocket. Carl, not to be outdone, follows suit, just in time for the gunshot. Carl and Ginny try to take advantage of the moment and stab at Kid and Lar. Gio grabs John again, and drags him off towards an exit.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason finishes the song, and catches sight of the scuffle. He can't make it out explicitly, but he starts to respond, as if to no one in particular. "A lot of you out here, you might be feelin' that you don't belong, that you gotta fight, but you know what I say? That fight is on you. It's in you bruh, it-" The gunshot goes off, and Mason's gaze snaps toward the haze, seeing the muzzle flash.
    "Hey folks, we gotta pause a sec," he says, hiding his nervousness with stage presence. "Security, we got somethin' over here, thanks." He points it out in specific.

    They say the show must go on, but not at the cost of lives. "We gotta let some stuff get sorted out, friends," he announces. "If I could get everybody to close on up to the stage here, clear that back left," he uses house directions, knowing that most of the crowd will think in those terms, and he crouches down, hopefully to draw those who are confused to come on up. "We gotta take juuust a second."

Cindy Larsen has posed:
    Cindy flinches at the sound of the gunshots, ducking down slightly. She looks around in a panic as people start reacting like people do, panicking and running for safetly. There's concern on her features, as Andrea had left to get them some drinks, and while she's fairly certain Andrea can handle herself, she'd rather go looking for her all the same. Cindy doesn't want to lose a friend so soon after making one! She pulls her hood up to conceal her features better - no sense having someone in a panic getting the wrong idea about her - and starts to weave her way through crowd, pushing and shoving to get through as people run in different directions. Eventually she disappears into the crowd while looking for Andrea.

Kid has posed:
Did that girl just call him a dweeb? Oh hells no. Granted Kid wasn't exactly a trained fighter. And the gunshot takes him by surprise distracting him as Jinny stabs him. The searing pain was enough for him to tempoarily drop his illusion, revealing the gorilla he was...but it goes back up quickly as well as being found out by the larger public could be dangerous - but now he was 'flickering'
    But the stab wasn't going to stop him. Kid doesn't go easy on folks, not when they are bullies and not when they damn stab him! Kid attempts to reach out and grab Jinny by the throat in order to lift her and quite litterly choke slam her without any sense or reservation about how much force he put behind the slam if successful.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek is quick to react as the gunshot is amplified in many ways to the mutant's sense, the explosion is like looking at the sun for a moment, he goes into a daze a moment, "Gunfire.. Call for Help." He vocalizes a moment the sounds of a modem connection noise from the 80s... but you'd need to be close to hear it.

     Elsewhere, the alarm company for the building suddenly gets a 'call the police' alert as if someone had pressed one of the panic buttons in the building.
Alek buries his head in lap with his hands around his ears.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Don't make me hurt you." Lar says, a bit of a threat to his tone. Then Kid walks up, and another group starts shooting as two of the gang members attack himself and what appears to be a gorilla for a second. But there's more than that to worry about right now. On the one hand, there's the guns. On the other, there's Gio taking off with John. And also Kid not being very careful with these humans. While they're not exactly being innocent, he wouldn't want them dead or serious injured, either. Speaking of the attacks, anything anyone tries to stab him with does nothing but crumple the weapon into a mangled mess. So he doesn't exactly pay too much attention to it. Ugh...he's fast, but still. Priorities.

    He goes for the guns first, because they have the most destructive potential, and he's already got an idea of what Gio looks like so he can easily make chase in a few minutes. The Daxamite does his best to track the bullets and fly in front of them, aiming to prevent them from hitting anyone or any expensive equipment. He then aims his laser vision at the gun in the hands of the one firing as soon as he can get it in his line of sight, attempting to destroy it before anyone can get hurt.

Elektra has posed:
Ginny gets a good jab-jab in on Kid before he grabs her. She tries to duck out of the way of his reach but he's a lot faster than he looks, and she's underestimated him. His hand about her throat has her gurgling and she stabs at his arm with her switchblade, trying to make him let her go, gurgling all the while and turning an unhappy shade of purple.

Carl is a nimble little thing who made his living on the street pickpocketig and climbing up walls and fire escapes. It's a good thing Kid went for Ginny, or he'd have gotten a fist full of air!

Gio continues to drag John off, arm tucked about the other boy's neck now, hissing in John's ear. "Thing is, you don't get to walk away. None of you get to walk away. You're gonna tell them. Each and every one of the fucking rat bastards who think this building made a difference, and you're gonna tell them they show up to the usual stations by Friday, or I'm gonna make Lafayette street look like a kiddie's party."

John would remember a particularly nasty gang fight that went down there.

Carl takes a jab at Kid, making at least an attempt to save his 'friend', but all is fair in love and gangs, and he's not about to hang around. He's got his orders: spread the word. This was Sahmra's territory again. (Sahmra, the girl with the map, the match, and the plan when this all started).

Thanks to Mason's quick thinking, bystanders start shifting away from Kid, the switchblades, and the guns they can't figure out where they're coming from, and head to the stage.

Daredevil has posed:
"Damn it," Matt curses as the guns come out. He ducks low to avoid the shots and tie the bit of canopy around his head and eyes.

When he's come up he's got his baton out of his bag as well and takes in the situation. The smoke was a big help, it barely registered in his senses and let him get a better sense of what was going on.

Gio was a concern, but right now, like Mon-El his focus was the guns. He throws the baton letting it ricochet off a pole and smack against the shooter, dropping him.

His other buddies open fire too. Mostly at Kid after the flicker of his illusion making it easier to block for the Daxmite and giving the other gang a chance to escape or attack.

---

Elsewhere...

The security company routes the alert to the GCPD and sirens start up as nearby squad cars are on the way.

Alek, if he's listening can likely hear the radio chatter of the approaching police, asking dispatch for info on what they're responding to.

Elektra has posed:
Elektra, inside the offices of the building, knows something is going on. However, she's unable to act at the moment. Unbeknownst to those outside, she has a visitor of her own - a visitor making quite certain that Elektra doesn't get involved in the fray outside... if she knows what's good for her. Instead she's having a friendly little chat, woman to woman, about the sad state of affairs, and how, perhaps, they might help one another.

Kid has posed:
Kid tries to hold his illusion togeather as his massive arm is stabbed several times. It reminds him of the dozens of needles injected into him - the countless down and dirty fight he has gotten into on the streets. His blood spills onto the ground as Gio is ignored. Rage can be a real motivator.
    The purple Jinny is lifted and slammed onto the ground to knock her out, and finally release his grip to let her breath again. But than comes more guns. A bullet strikes his arm, another his upper and lower back. He stands upright his illusion dropping completly as he let out a beastial roar of pain that rings out.
    He may not have been human...but that didn't make him a trained hero. Panic would rise he knew, and with the pain he was in he couldn't simply put up an illusion anymore. He had to get away. Kid as quickly as he could tried to dissappear into some cover, by slipping beneath the stage - leaving only a trail of blood as a clue. There he goes still trying to regain his composer.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek is too busy currently being overloaded at his bench, he just sort of bobs a bit and finicking. He might hear some of the radio traffic but he'll let them work it out. He suddenly calms a bit as he touches the ground, it's pattern adding a bit of order to the chaos he's experiencing.

Mon-El has posed:
    The gun kind of melts as soon as the lasers hit it, rendering it useless in the hands of the gangster. Once that one is gone, he flies up above the crowd, getting a bead on the rest of them, and one by one picks them off until they're all destroyed...

    Grife, but not before the gorilla kid got injured. Well he'll just have to check on him later, he was still walking around so presumably he's at least stable.

    Now, on to item number 2. The one taken hostage. He ascends higher, searching the area until he finds John and Gio, then lands in front of them, barring their exit. "So you want to do this the easy way or the hard way? Because in either case, you're letting him go."

Elektra has posed:
Sahmra is amused. No matter how this plays out, she can call it a win. The kids at the centre who used to be hers are going to be terrified. And the assholes with the guns? Oh, she'd dealt with them before, she'd deal with them again. They were cocky. That was their downfall. She could use that.

The rest of her gang is spreading out, causing chaos. The whole point of this was to send a message. You didn't infiltrate a fair and expect to *win*. But you did expect to make people frightened enough that when you came to talk to them the next time, they listened.

Sahmra finds herself sitting at the bench Alek is on, and lights a cigarette. Old school. With a match. "You gotta wonder," she says, nodding, "Just who the hell brings guns to a kiddie party. I mean, no class, huh?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason can't make out the specifics, and avoids looking too close. He adjusts, sitting on the edge of the stage. Of course, this means several hands are reaching out to touch him as he holds the mic. "So, here's the thing," he says. "You maybe came here to support, maybe the food, or the games, maybe to see me. I dunno." His eyes dare not shift to the gunshots in the distant back, though surely the word is crawling up the ranks of the crowd. He can't hold them forever.
    "There's people back there right now who want to destroy all that. They wanna wreck everything that Ms. Nachos has put together." Dangit, that was wrong. He just keeps going as if it was right. "We aren't gonna let that happen. We aren't gonna let them tell us who to be. But sometimes, we feel a little too weak." He strums something a lot softer on the guitar. "So I need everybody right now, to just sit down where you are for safety. Just sit down, okay?" He knows that this will make them less of a target for flying bullets. "That's the safest thing you can do right now, we are gonna be fine. I'm gonna do something special. Something that I never do, so check it out. Some songs I don't write for anyone else to hear, just me. I'm gonna play one for you. Don't ask me to put it on an album, I'm not gonna." His eyes shift briefly to the hysteria, and he reaches over, hitting the distortion pedal a couple times to adjust the sound to a more normal guitar. His hands shake a second, and he starts to play. His notes are true, though his expression is strained. He's frightend as well.

"In this broken place where I was born
It seems there is no peace
And the very soil we walk upon
Is filled with tears that never cease
And you can trace the scars of hopelessness
Like sweat upon the backs

For those who lack the voice to speak all of those left stuttering
May this not prevail
Dear Lord your love will never fail

And these frail hands, they tremble as they pen perhaps their last.
And these weak words can never say what cannot be surpassedRI need your love, and most of all I want to feel some peace
I need, your love, let everything that you are not decrease."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yQT4OHLnGs

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek is perhaps focused a bit by Sahmra's words, "People who can't fight back. If it was a NRA convention.. I hope the police get here soon." He only barely takes a cursory look at Sahmra, in his usual sort of bobbing head and eyes sort of way.

Daredevil has posed:
The gangsters who had guns are suddenly unarmed.

Not that it stops all of them the girl and guy who'd been by the ducks rush at Carl.

The guy who shot the bystander rises to his feet and looking at the melted remains of his gun curses and joins in. The others make a run for it, pushing and shoving through the crowd to make their escape as the sirens draw closer.

Matt for his part makes for Gio and John, moving in and out of the crowd towards the hostage situation.

Kid has posed:
Kid closes his eyes and listens to the song. There were alot of people out there as he layed agist a support beam. Alek's for one, not a bad Kid. And still this place was ment to help others, and it seem like it was going down the dumps now. He touches his shoulder and growls as he feels the blood. Fighting like this would be foolish.

But something had to be done. He closes his eyes and feels the minds around. He wouldn't be able to hold any illusion for long, not in this state...but mabey he didn't need too.

A moment of concentration and some minds - not all, will see the familiar flash of red and blue. And the cry of police sirens comming. This would fade in and out and play in various minds. Perhaps if the gangs felt time was running out - they will run out. And mabey give others hope help was on the way.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    If there was someone on the rooftop of the Hugo Building, they might witness the arrival of a cloaked figure dressed in black. As the call went out to the police, it was relayed to the crew and Batgirl was the closest to the location. She spots the flying figure of Mon-El and his quick removal of guns from the equation. That leaves swtichblades and gang members. A trio of batarangs are flung down into the crowd. Each strikes a gang member perfectly in the wrist in just the right nerve cluster, forcing their fingers to open reflexively. The impact of forces the arm to move and the knives go skidding away on the ground, out of reach of those three.
    A moment later, she leaps off the building, firing a line as she does so to slow her descent as her cape flares out behind her, giving that bat silhouette that is so famous in Gotham city.
    To the locals, the Bat has arrived. Even if it isn't /the/ Bat, that's usually what is assumed. As she swings down, she kicks her legs out, trying to take out two out of three who were in the process of rushing another gangster.

Elektra has posed:
Sahmra nods slowly to Alek's words, and offers him a drag off her cigarette. "I know what you mean. Innocent people, always getting hurt. S'why we need people who have skills to help them out, right? People who care about other people. The kinda folks who won't let stuff like this happen in their back yard. Noticed you're not out there fighting and screaming like the rest of them. Calm person like you could be useful."

Kid has successfully taken Ginny out of the equation. No, she's not dead, but she is *hurt* and going to need some hospital time to get over her encounter with Kid.

Anyone who wants to notice Kid's trail is free to. Sahmra's gang hasn't gotten that far yet. They're still trying to cause as much chaos as they can with the folks who haven't yet decided if they're running, sitting, or heading to the stage.

Mason is having an effect. His words are keeping the damage to a minimum, as is the tellign folks to *sit* and stay still. To make themselves smaller targets. Given it's not a shooter on the rooftops, his strategy is keeping fewer folk from getting trampled, and leaving the shots harder to make should there be any guns left in commission.

Gio has nearly managed to drag John to the back exit of the park. The closer he gets to there, the rougher he's getting - mostly as a product of his trying to run. John is mostly a shield at this point as both Mon-El and Matt are bearig down on him.

Batgirl.. well, Batgirl has a lot of low level ninjas who just lost ther guns and a fair number of Sahmra's folks who are more than willing to go toe to to with her, and each other.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "I'm only calm because I'm currently keeping myself occupied.." he's sort of sitting on the ground, his hands touching the ground under him.. "It was a bit stunning when the guns went off too..""

Daredevil has posed:
The guy and the girl are knocked out by Batgirl's entrance.

Carl, who'd been looking for an exit before looks faster now, "Oh crap, the Bat," he says.

The last of the three guys rushing Carl though, he grins for a second and then a knife appears in his hand and he comes at Batgirl. He's not unskilled, with the knife and with his feet and hands. More than that he's eager for it, wanting to prove himself against one of the fabled Bats.

The other four they melt into the crowd and try to make their escape, the thoughts of sirens bounding in their head, bringing with it, the thought of handcuff, and cold lonely cells by association.

Elektra has posed:
Sahmra continues talking to Alek, at least until the cops arrive. But until then, she's all the time in the world to deal with this.. unless someone scopes her out and makes her a target.

Gio, however, can see the writing on the wall - almost literally. He's within running distance of the gate - but only if he wins in the timing of things. And with Lar in the air, and a darn sight more mobile than he is, Gio pulls out his trump card: a gun.

Yep. Gio has a gun (okay, so the song has Johnny with the gun..) which he points upwards, muzzle tucked into Johnny's chin.

"From where I stand it ain't easy or hard, it's how much of Johnny-boy's brains here you want to scrape off the basketball court.

Carl? Yep, Carl is now a victim of every man for himself.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek goes quiet as he sort of rocks nonvoluntarily, he counts the various atoms in the ground beneath him and their arrangements, one big guy and one little guy make up hydrogen.. it keeps him calm.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
As she lands, the cloak falls around Batgirl to cloak her figure, helping to continue the illusion of who she might be although she's a bit short to be the Batman. Two down, one to go. Others are scattering which has her annoyed. Her camera is recording, catching visuals for the others of the crew so they can decide to join in or not.
    As the man squares off against her, he will get a good view of her mask. No strong chin, no lower portion of the mask open to reveal the skin beneath. The lower portion of her mask has been sewn over with the same black material, haphazard stitches marking the edges. This is not the Bat. Instead, this is someone who doesn't talk, doesn't discuss, doesn't ask for surrender. Yet, she does smile which is completely creepy with that fright mask in place.
    As he swings, Batgirl sidesteps. Once. Twice. It's as though she knows what he is going to do before he does it. Which, in truth, she does from the tightening of a muslce here, the flexing of a tendon there. Everything is telescoped...if one knows how to read it. She might not be able to talk but violence is her language. This she understands.
    As he swings again, she steps in as the blade goes past and fires a punch at his ribs.

Kid has posed:
Kid listens and feels the people around. Calmed by Mason song - he felt the beating will of different herds...different gangs. The need to fight for one self, to get away. He understood it well enough. He looks around and and finds a few instrument cases. Without hesitation he rips the fabric from them and wraps them around his wounds. It wouldn't be enough, but it was a start - stemming the bleeding as it were. He was still looking over the minds and found Johnny mind - remember he was being taken. He doesn't know the exact situation but he puts forth a message to him

o O ("Eh Johnny? Ever seen the movie Miss Congeiniality? Well if in doubt.. S.I.N.G") he tells the boy telepathicly. This is followed by a memory/clip of what occured in the movie. Elbowing a man in the Solar Plexus, lifting one foot and stepping hard on the foot, turning and bashing their nose with a fist and finally a kneeing to the Groin. Would it work in a real life situation? Who could say, it was merely an idea.

Daredevil has posed:
/The/ Bat or /a/ Bat, either way this guy is happy. Or well, he was. The first miss was bound to happen, the second, okay maybe, but three in a row now he was getting frustrated. All those hours of training and he can't land a blow.

The bunch to the ribs lands and he staggers back.

"C'mon!" he shouts at Batgirl, weapon ready.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar folds his arms, trying to appear more calm than he actually is when Gio pulls out that gun and threatens his hostage with it. "What, you don't think light can move faster than your finger can press the trigger and ignite the gunpowder in that cartridge propelling a bullet forward?" he replies, smirking with a brow raised as he takes a couple of steps closer to the two of them.

    "I'll try to just hit the gun, and at this range I can't really miss...but the metal might get hot enough to burn your hand when it melts. Just saying--I'm faster than you, stronger than you, in every way you can possibly imagine. I'll give you one last chance to let him go. If you're smart, you'll do it before I have to hurt you."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt spreads his hands. "Trust me, this guy's telling the truth. He could take you apart in a second. And even if you some how got past him, there's me. You really want to spend the first six months of your life sentence in a body cast?" the words are delivered calmly, reasonably.

"So, how about you put down the gun, keep all your bones unbroken, and a man's life off your conscience. We don't have to go down that road."

Elektra has posed:
Gio... who never got the irony that he was a Johnny too.. sneers at Lar. He wasn't sure if he believed the man or not - Gio knew a *LOT* about bravado - but he also wasn't sent here to die. Just deliver a message. Thing was, he needed Johnny boy as cover to get out of here.

"How be we make a deal. You let me get to the gate, and I let Johnboy here go while you count to three? Fair deal, right? Nobody gets hurt."

Especially not Gio.

But what Gio doesn't know is that Johnny has seen that movie. And Gio's forgotten that Johnny was one of them. He's been in brawls before. Sure, he's trying to go straight. And sure, he's got a gun to his throat. But that guy up there in the air might be telling the truth. And he can't shake the thought that keeps running through his head...

In a movement that Johhny might regret later, he throws caution to the wind and follows the obscure advice he can't place, lifting his voice with growing confidence as he places each blow..

"Solar Plexis" A semi-well placed elbow lands, giving Johnny enough room to hit him with..

"Instep" And Gio isn't wearing his Docs, poor boy. Johnny is. That's one crushed foot.

As Gio hops and bends over somewhat, guard (and gun dropping), Johnny belts out "NOSE" and without losing a beat, follows it up with "Groin!"

Gio oofs, and collapses, courtesy of the tag team of Kid and Johnny.

(see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNJwxJXr2jc)

But Gio's not quite done yet.. he crawls for his dropped gun. Seems Matt and Lar might have to step in after all.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    He asked for it. Demanded it really. So Batgirl grants his request.
    He brandishes the knife as she steps in. The blade slices forward and she brings up her arm, the impact hard as she blocks the movement of his arm and forcing his own arm across his body as she does so. She grabs him by the wrist, other hand taking his shoulder. Then she brings the wrist back. Hard, sharp, fast. The sound of the arm breaking can be heard a moment before he screams.
    She follows with a punch to a spot at the lower back, hitting the sciatic nerve and sending his leg out from under him as she collapses. A spin kick and her boot meets his head, sending him sprawling to the pavement out cold.
    She doesn't waste time gloating, turning to see what other threats remain as she fires a grapple line to gain some air if needed to close distance.

Elektra has posed:
The Hand folks. They know when to make like fall and leaf.. er, leave.. and where they had once been suddenly there were empty spaces. Some will bbe picked up as they leave the area by the arriving police.

Samhra, likewise, knows when to make a timely goodbye. She's already gone before Gio gets cornered near the back of the park. The rest of her folksleave or get caught by measure of how savvy they are and how new they are to this gang business. She'll have to regroup them later and work with a couple, but she's a firm believer in life lessons and self-weeding.

At the end of the day she accomplshed what she wanted.

So did the Hand cadre. Elektra's been given a pointed message. Not to mention the neighbourhood now knows it's under the crosshairs. So much for a safe environment.

Elektra and her visitor are having a discussion to that very end. Questioning how.. how might this be settled in a less.. complicated manner.

Carl has Batgirl problems.

And Gio? He should have pretended to pass out. He's going for that gun when he shouldn't.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar's brows go up as John suddenly takes action while Gio was distracted talking to him and the other guy, whoever he was. He smiles faintly at this, impressed with the ambush tactic and how well it worked. It's not every day you see everyday humans fending for themselves even when there are Daxamites around.

    "Nice." he says, nodding at John. Then WHOOSH, he rushes for the gun, grabbing it and rolling it into a ball of metal as if it were made out of silly putty. He tsks, shaking his head. "See, you could've avoided that."

Daredevil has posed:
With the other fighter down. Carl is left facing Batgirl. Or well he has his back to her now. He's trying to climb the fence and get away, but he's only halfway up when he looks back.

"I'm just an innocent bystander?" he asks hopefully which puts his innocence in doubt to be sure. As does the knife he's got stashed in his pocket.

---

When Lar takes care of the gun, Matt takes this as cue to vanish into the mist, before long he's removed the bit of awning tied around his head, grabbed his cane and rejoined the crowd.

Outside the grounds the reds and blues of the Gotham PD can be seen as the squad cars pull up and the cops gather to come in and secure the grounds.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Between him asking instead of telling, and his body language screaming otherwise, then throwing in the knife in his pocket that is easily noticed by someone with League of Assassins training... Batgirl doesn't believe him.
    She doesn't waste more time though. She already is being drawn upward into the air toward the roof by the grapple line. A batarang appears in her hand and is thrown toward Carl's temple. That he might end up falling off teh fence doesn't matter to her. He'll hopefully be knocked out.
    Too many cops as she quickly is drawn to the rooftop above. She needs to get out of the area just like the bad guys have been doing. Or trying to do in some of their cases.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason looks over the crowd and sees that the chaos in the back has mainly subsided. He takes a deep breath. "Man, this is the best crowd, you know that guys?" He says. "Thanks for letting me do that with you. We just ran into somethin' scary. We got all kinds of stuff that has been happening here, and we just came out on top."

    His hand shakes. "This probably isn't the concert you all were looking for, but maybe it's the one we are supposed to have. "Anybody who wants to scoot, you scoot. I'm gonna be over at the Marriott tonight, if you want to come, we'll hang out. Make some new friends, make somebody's life a little better." He puts down the mic, then picks it up. "Oh, but, gimme like 2 hours after we leave here, because I gotta reserve one of them big rooms. Thanks everybody, good night."

    Mason gets up, and places the mic, and shuts off the signal to the guitar. He gets up, walking to the edge of the stage, and heads back down to the backstage. He collapses on the steps, his hands shaking. "Oh shit." he says. "What a night."

Mon-El has posed:
    Now that Gio is without his gun, Lar pulls off a piece of that same canopy that Matt used to mask his identity and uses it to tie the gangster up until the police arrive to arrest him. Yep, he's going to jail, but at least he won't be in a full-body cast, right?

    Then after he has made sure John is physically all right, he searches for Matt. Yeah, that piece of canopy might work for concealing himself from most people, but not from someone who can see through anything except lead. So he is suddenly walking beside Murdock as he is leaving along with the crowd. "Hey thanks for helping with that..." He winks. "I couldn't have said that better myself. You Terrans have a way with your own language, that's for sure."

Kid has posed:
Kid takes a deep breath. Sharp and ragged. He needed to take care of himself and no way in hell was he going to let the cops put him in a cell. He peeks out from behind the stage at back. Local cars far to easy to track....band bus...much better. Possibly has a medical kit and tools he can use. His choice was clear. He put the last of his energy into a psychic cloak and hobbles over to one of the band bus/cars and enters it and close it behind himself. It was the best he could do in the situation - and he still couldn't hide the trail, but hopefully folks will be too busy to notice it.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt's not terribly surprised when Lar finds him. Still the act needs to be kept up. "Huh? Not sure I know what you mean,."" There is a smile at that. He digs into his pocket and hands him a business card. "In case you ever need my help," he confides pressing the card in to Lar's hand. "I hear you did good work today, thanks."

Elektra has posed:
Trauma teams arrive on the heels of the police. Gang members are caught in nearby streets. Victims and witnesses are talked to and helped. Hot drinks and blankets abound. Everyone is talking about what went on. Mostly how fast it happened. How little warning there was. And, of course, quite a number are murmuring about Mason's part in the matter - not that others didn't have a hand, but as the big star on stage, a lot of eyes were on him.

Which was good, he kept the innocents out of the way so that the others could deal with the problems. Nobody got shot past the first gunfire. Gio had more damage done to him than he dealt out. Carl.. well, Carl fared better than Gio.

Really, the worst injuries were Ginny and Kid. Ginny taken off to intensive care, and Kid? Well, the trail of blood leads under the stage but... Kidis nowhere to be found.

And Elektra? She's a long night ahead of her talking to police.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar takes the card and looks at it, smiling right back. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Murdock. Lar Gand." He shakes the man's hand, and then flies off!