582/My Hero

My Hero
Date of Scene:	24 May 2017
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Ares, Hawkeye (Bishop)

Ares has posed:
    Late at night in the construction biz is often called the magic hour. When there's a job at a tough locale that's busy during the day, when the permits don't allow heavy work from the hours of sun up to sun down and then some, sometimes a crew has to work overnight and through the night. In big cities like Manhattan, Gotham, Metropolis a good chunk of the work is done during this magic hour. Why's it called that? Since often times people will leave work, then come back and the next day the entire building's changed. It's why people like John Aaron get paid the big bucks.
    It's also why the man's leaving the site at three in the morning, the sun is still down and there's barely a hint of light off from the horizon. Above him in the scaffolding men are still working, still hammering away. His job, for now, is done. Can't do much more until the other guys get their asses in gear. Maybe he'll be able to get home early enough, make Alexander some breakfast before the kid goes off to school.
    The tall man continues his walk down the street, the shadowy forms of the skyscrapers standing tall around him cause the city streets to seem all the more ominous without even the shine of the stars to help against the darkness of the night. Only the halos of light from the street lamps light his way from the worksite to the subway station he plans to use.
    As he walks he pauses briefly at a newsstand that's barely open at this hour, the morning's newspapers having only been recently dropped off and are still being cut free from their plastic bindings.
    "Give me one of the Times."
    "Sure thing, pal. Help yerself. Leave the money on the shelf there."
    There's a clink of change, some coins left, and then the man starts walking down the street again. And, after a few moments, a shadow pushes itself away from the side of a building and begins to follow after him.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Why am I still out here? Nothing is going to happen." Hawkeye complains from her perch on a lower rooftop. She's been watching the building start to go up this evening, this less than exciting evening. "I was sure someone would come and try to steal stuff from the site. Ah, well." The sun will be up soon, Kate notes to herself as she checks the time on her goggle display. "Time to go home." she says wearily, moving to another rooftop with her grapple-launcher, parallel with John Aaron's course on the street below.

Ares has posed:
    If she's watching, she might notice a rather textbook example of a two team ambush. It starts with that shadow starting to pick up pace, closing on the silhouette of that large man who seems to be strolling down the street. John Aaron, for his part, is unfolding part of the newspaper as he walks. There's a backpack slung over his shoulder and his expression is one of eternal mild annoyance. If it was lighter, she might be able to see enough detail of his features to recognize the way he turns his head, just enough to get an eyeball of the shadowy fellow coming up behind him.
    Then the second part of the ambush turns up ahead of him, as three men slide off the low stoop of an old brownstone building. The first man lifts his voice, however, to try and distract the mark and turn him away from the three and towards him.
    "Hey man, give me a dollar."
    The tall man's footsteps stop and he turns. He is... very tall. Tall enough that the speaker takes a moment to swallow before he says a little more nervously but plaintively insistent. "I said gimme a dollar."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Hawkeye is always watching, that's what she does. She had her optics switched to low-light, and the groups of people moving caught her eye. She switches to thermal to be sure that there's an ambush about to happen. "Damn." she swears, finding a good spot to let herself down from the rooftop to the ground for an intercept. "Hurry up, Katiemonster, or you're not gonna get there in time." she mutters with urgency.

Ares has posed:
    The silhouettes of the men below goes to the colours of the rainbow as the heat signatures mark them. She can see the one man standing in front of the other, the taller signature seeming to be warmer than the others. Yet then she'll espy the approach of that trio from behind. It's clear in their movements and their body language that some of them are carrying weapons or... something in their hands, even as voices rise.
    First there's a deep baritone as the tall man says simply. "I have nothing for you."
    But then there's a raspier higher voice with anger seeping into it as the initial speaker growls, "I said give me your money, man!"
    And that's the point when the three behind him move in fully. At least from this distance she can see that none of them are taking up a firing stance, more brandishing the things in their hands menacingly. Closer... it looks like two of them have knives and one has a length of chain. Nothing extravagant. But enough.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Hey! Hey!" Hawkeye calls as she hits the ground, her gapple cable automatically detaching and recoiling into the launcher. She pounds feet towards the situation about to happen. She tends to blend in well with the dark, her armored suit being dark colored - only the shemagh around her neck is a touch of color there. "Leave that guy alone!" she shouts again. "Yeah, you!" The bow is put away and her escrima batons drawn instead.

Ares has posed:
    This hour of the night, this neighborhood, people know better than to turn their lights on and look out the window. That isn't to say that some eyes won't be roused from their slumber, what with Kate's voice echoing off the walls of the buildings nearby. But her targets have their attention drawn to her, the four of them squaring up, although the first one keeps looking back and forth between her and John Aaron...
    And it's perhaps only now that in the faint halo of the streetlight she might see the man she's 'rescuing'. He's tall, over six and a half feet and muscled like a linebacker with powerfully defined arms and shoulders. Sure he's dressed casually, work boots, flannel jacket and all that. But when she arrives perhaps the most noticable thing about him is the half-smirk that's suddenly on his features as he watches the young vigilante.
    "The hell do you want, girl!" The speaker snaps, and now him... it seems like he was packing as he pulls a revolver and doesn't quite take aim at her, instead he holds it out to the side as if threatening her.
    "This ain't yoga class girl, take your pilates sticks and get the hell outta here!" As they say that the main three start to bracket her.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate grins, fey. She flicks her wrists and the batons extend. "It's late and I'm tired and I feel like cracking some punk-ass heads for fun." she spits with bravado. "I'll let you all walk away if you go now." she offers, looking the men over as they surround her. "It's been _hours_ since I had a coffee." she sighs, they look ready for a fight. "Alright. Let's get this dance over with."

Ares has posed:
    Street fights are messy, dirty, chaotic, and rarely do things make any sense. So much of it is instinct and happenstance. These men have no training beyond what they've picked up on the streets. They aren't of a hive-mind, and don't all leap to the attack immediately. Instead they spend the first few moments looking back and forth at each other as she extends the tips of those batons. She can read the body language. They don't say anything, but one gestures to the other, 'you get her,' then the other shakes his head and gestures her way again, 'No way, you get her.'
    But then one gains enough moxie to just break forward and brings the length of chain around in a swing trying to smack her harshly and abruptly against the side of the head, as if looking to take her down with that perfunctory motion.
    It's when that first guy makes his move however, that the mastermind of the scheme starts to take aim with the pistol. With Kate's attention turned away he looks like he's getting ready to take a shot...
    When a large hand grasps his wrists and pulls him forwards, breaking his balance, then twists and presses against the back of his hand, locking it in place and using it as a lever to spin the man around, down, and slam him onto his belly onto the ground, immobilizing him with his arm pointing straight up, and John Aaron's weight almost casually pressing down onto the hand.
    "Bide your time, thief. Let us see what passes for the woman."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate sidesteps the chain's end and charges forward, aiming a blow with a weapon at the chain-wielder's near elbow and his shoulder as she passes out of their dangerous circle. She had expected to have to deal with the gunman first, but by the time she was ready to react to him the man is disabled already by the supposed easy victim. "Ha!" she says as she spins around to face the thugs again. "We set you up. Get out of here before you all get really hurt."

Ares has posed:
    It's a steady staccato of impacts. Whap-thwap-THWOK as she connects cleanly with each movement, darting past and to the side the one who took the first swing at her. The chain goes skittering across the ground as he moans and grabs onto his arm, already turning to run as his injured arm swings lifelessly with each step.
    The eyes of the other two attackers follow the flight of their one friend, then notice the way their other friend is eating the pavement face first. She rounds on them and her words cut across the way. She can see them take hold of one of them, the one in the back now who is slowly edging away, then who turns and breaks into a run.
    But it's the other with the eight inch rusty blade that meets her eyes, his own wild and angry. He darts forwards and tries to grab at her with his free hand so he can stab upwards into her belly over and over.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Hawkeye steps into the attack, striking at the blademan's ahnd reaching for her, a stop hit with her right baton, the left on guard to parry the blade as needed. She fires off a short straight kick at his ribs, trying to push him away and down if possible. She apres a look for the man she's already struck and the other, just in case.

Ares has posed:
His hand gives way under the impact of one of those batons, the knife skittering across the ground and into a pile of refuse in an alley nearby. The man gasps with a ragged sob as he clutches at his hand, retreating as she kicks him firmly in the side. For a moment he's on one knee, trying to drag himself away. But after the space of two moments he pulls himself to his feet and tries to break into a run away, leaving only the one remaining under John Aaron's control.
The tall man looks at her, one eyebrow quirked curiously as he twists the man's arm slightly, causing him to wince and cry out with pain. "You are victorious." He pronounces levelly, then gestures with a nod to the fallen man before him, "And what shall you do with this one?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate turns back to the large man and his prisoner. "Well. I'd like to leave him to the police, but they're likely to ask questions I don't want to answer." she says, putting the batons away after closing them with a click. "I mean, they were going after you, so I guess you get to decide." She doesn't think to collect the weapons on the ground, not while the adrenaline is still flowing.

Ares has posed:
    For a moment the tall man considers the sprawled wretch before him, then with an almost ambivalent movement he steps back and lets go of his wrist. With a scurrying wild motion, the formerly prone thief scrambles back to his feet. He spins around, thumping his back against the brick wall of the building, then sliding along it to slowly build distance between him and the others. Eventually he gets far enough to turn and... RUN!
    But that leaves the two of them there, even as the newspaper from down the block comes running and brandishing a crow bar. He's out of breath and grimaces as he looks between the two of them. "You two alright? I heard all the shoutin!"
    John looks towards Kate first, as if giving her the option of speaking first, but then he turns back and tells the clerk from the news stand. "It's alright, was just a misunderstanding." He glances sidelong at Kate as if asking her silently to back him up, but whether or not she does, it looks like the guy is willing to accept their word, clearly on edge about whatever must have happened.
    "Yeah... alright buddy. Alright."
    It's only when the storekeeper is making his way back that John turns his head to look at Kate, "I take it you're one of those heroes dashing around the city saving lives. Most of them seem to have some edge be it from accident or mutation, you... do not, however?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate is dressed for the vigilante biz, for sure. She nods to the guy with the crowbar. "We're fine. Your friend here didn't even need be. Still, if you see a cop, there might be some thugs lurking about. Thanks, though." Once the man is gone she smiles at the tall man. "I don't know about that, being dashing." Though that's not what he said. "Don't I have an edge? Wasn't that edgy enough?"

Ares has posed:
The tall man's lip twitches slightly and he holds up a hand palm flat, then slightly shifts it a bit of a waggle. "Mild edge." He pronounces that judgement with that steady baritone of his, then starts to walk forward if only to claim his backpack that had fallen to the side during the scuffle. Swinging it up and over his shoulder, he starts to walk forwards, but turns to observe her with a look in his eyes of a smile that barely flirts with the corners of his mouth.
"You realize, saving a man's life you are then in turn responsible for it. For all the good and ill he does for the rest of his time." He looks down at her, and... he's just tall. A good foot taller than her, but then he turns and starts to walk down the sidewalk slowly, body language open as if offering silently for her to walk with him.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate follows along, though she's not really sure why. "Until the end of time?" she asks, though he didn't say that either. "That seems like a lot of pressure." she suggests. "I hardly saved your life, mister." she says with a grin. "You did fine on your own. Do _you_ have an edge?" Kate asks.

Ares has posed:
It's strange. Someone who gets mugged, who faces guns and knives, well they tend to be a bit off their stride. But the man beside her, he seems to be utterly at ease. If she could sense it she might even have been able to tell that his heart rate was rather steady through the whole thing. A person who gets mugged usually has to take a few moments recovering. Yet John seems at ease, with the violence, with the threat, and with her presence.
"I've seen conflict in my time. Was wounded in the war." Which is true, vague, but true. "My name is John Aaron," He offers with a shift in tone, as if realizing he hadn't offered her an introduction. He looks askance at her as he walks, "I'm curious if you'll give me a real name or a code name of some sort." He slides his hands into his pockets as he goes and then adds, "Either way I'm going to google you."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate laughs at the 'Google' comment. "I like to call myself 'Hawkeye'." she says. "You seem cool as a cucumber." she points out. "I'm usually keyed up after something like this. You don't seem to be." but she shrugs. "You're alright, then? The war? Which one?"

Ares has posed:
    Given that line so direct and straight, John looks away from her and answers with a smile teasing at the corner of his mouth, his words coming forth in that rumbling baritone. "All of them."
    Yet he turns to face her, walking backwards for a few steps. "We faced battle together, Young Hawkeye, we were victorious." He relates to her with a faint gleam in his eye, clearly amused by the situation and perhaps by her as well. "With victory comes the rush of glory, of the reckless abandon of having tempted death and survived. With such often there is the desire to reaffirm life with great passion."
    He tilts his head, one eye closing partially as if trying to see her from another angle, "Would such intrigue survive into the light of day, I know not. But I would be tempted to see." He turns then and starts to walk, "Find me again then if you do as well." That said he begins to depart.

582/My Hero

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