The Streets of Baltimore, Monday Night

[gunslingerpose]

Against his better judgment (and when was anything Nikolai ever did really in line with his better judgment anyway?), Gorgon was back on patrol in the streets of Baltimore tonight. Granted, Monday nights weren't exactly the busiest nights for crime, so, as far as Nick was concerned, he was easing himself back into the swing of it.

And, hell, after flashing his goggles at a couple of muggers and leaving them zip-tied to a lamppost with a lit road flare marking where they were for any cops to find, he was even feeling pretty damn okay. A little stiffness in his shoulder, a bit of soreness, but a few more hits and even that would be gone until he dropped right back out of the power high again. For the time being he was back on his bike, making that slow, deliberate patrol around one of the neighborhoods he tended to frequent, making certain that any would-be criminals were well aware that he was back on the job.

Ah, the crime-fighting life. It was good to be back.

[OOC: Open to anyone who might happen to be in Baltimore tonight! Because... costumed heroing is something I keep meaning to post this guy doing more of.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Some time later, Kathy was taking the Roof Road, flinging herself with merry abandon from one building to the next, much like Arachnid-Boy but without the web-swinging. Crime was fairly light tonight, so she was enjoying a bit of free running before doing another loop over to another section.

Halfway through her run, however, she saw a man standing on a rooftop, so close to the edge that there was nothing under his toes but air. He was wearing a long leather duster that billowed behind him, his hands on his hips. His body language practically shouted determination.

"Oh no you don't, mister," Kathy said to herself, switching directions by bouncing feet-first off a chimney. "Not on my watch."

She was a blur of white and rainbows when she dove into the guy, catapulting him away from the edge and backwards onto the roof. "Don't do it!" she cried. "There's another way!"

[Gorgon modded with permission, natch]

[gunslingerpose]

Well. There were many ways Nikolai had pictured tonight going.

"What the ever-loving fuck!?"

Being flung halfway across a rooftop by a rainbow superball was really not one of those ways. Even less expected was the fact that she was screaming in his face about not jumping. He stared up at the offender incredulously.

And then squinted a little at her from right there, on the flat of his back.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

[spin_kick_snap]

Recognition was going to take a little longer on Kathy's part; she was still in full-on rescuer mode.

"I'm so sorry to have knocked you over like this, but please believe me, mister, whatever you're going through, there's another way to deal!" The worst part? How incredibly earnest she was about the whole thing. "If you want to talk, I'll listen without judgement! Or I can escort you somewhere that had professionals who are trained in helping you deal with whatever issues you're going through. But you have to understand, you're not alone! Even if there's no one who will miss you right now, there can be! In the future! That you deserve to have!"

[gunslingerpose]

Nikolai was sorely tempted to pick the crazy girl up and drop her off the edge of the roof.

"That's very warm and fuzzy of you," he muttered, shoving her off of him with one arm and pulling himself to his feet. "Do you frequently knock over and give pep talks to random people out minding their own business on dark rooftops in the dead of night?"

Because she might want to get that looked at.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy rolled over and shot back up to her feet. "Considering I don't often see people on dark rooftops in the dead of night and those I do are usually engaged in something nefarious and not looking like they're about to take a swan-dive, no. At least, not usually the pep talk. That bit is new."

[gunslingerpose]

Nick took a moment to straighten out his duster, and then reached up to straighten the goggles on his face, checking for possible damage as he did so. Fuck, he would not be happy if she'd ruined them on him somehow.

It wasn't until he was satisfied that they were still in working order that he looked straight at her, scowling.

"Well, while I appreciate the save and all, I'm not actually up here to do anything nefarious or desperate. So you don't have to worry about me." He paused for a moment, and then added, "Unless you've got a posse with you tonight. Then you and I are going to have to have a long chat about your tendency to jump people."

As it stood, he mostly felt the need to chat with her about jumping on them.

[spin_kick_snap]

"A posse?!" Kathy looked deeply insulted. Spreading her arms so he could take in the full glory of her gi, she asked, "Do I look like someone who runs around with a posse and jumps people to you?!"

[gunslingerpose]

Kathy, you were just going to get a silent deadpan from Nikolai, now.

"I dunno. Have you ever been?"

Because he could come up with one notable example, himself. If she thought that cute little mask over her eyes was masking anything he absolutely needed in order to place her face, she really needed to stop reading so many damn comic books.

[spin_kick_snap]

BUT LOOK AT HER CUNNINGLY HID CHEEKBONES!

"Of course I haven't--" she started, before really looking at the guy in front of her. "Ohmigosh!" she said, clapping her hands over her mouth. "It's you! The guy from the weekend! The guy who I--"

You know, whether she went with 'blinded' or 'seduced' that sentence wasn't going anywhere good.

"-I noticed at the hotel?" she finished, a bit feebly.

[gunslingerpose]

"Mmmhm." Very astutely noticed, Kathy! "By night known as Gorgon."

He stretched, and then cracked his knuckles before putting his hands back to his hips. Gunslinger pose. Fuck, he hadn't been able to do that in weeks. It felt damn good.

"And you? You have some sort of clever love-and-rainbows moniker I should be calling you by out here? Or is Dokkaebi actually your thing?"

Of course she was a super. Of course. He'd seen her barrel out of the Arms like somebody had lit her ass on fire, and that should have been his first clue, crazy fucking island or no.

[spin_kick_snap]

"No! I'm nothing like her, not even the name!"

It was very important that Gorgon knew that up front.

"I'm Banzai. Used to be Social Justice Warrior, but that was stupid so I switched it to Banzai," she babbled. "But I thought it fit because I'm a justice-fighting, socially-conscious hero-type! Not the drug-pushing, gang-leading, seducing, blinding, murder-type! Really!" She inhaled deeply before adding, "I'm on an Ethics Committee!"

Please, Nikolai. Would Dokkaebi ever be caught dead in rainbows? Rainbows?

[gunslingerpose]

Well, no, but that was mostly because everybody had been in greyscale that weekend.

Gorgon eyed her for a moment, not that she'd be able to see from behind those mirrored goggles of his, before making a 'tch' sound between his teeth and shaking his head.

"Could be a clever cover," he pointed out, shrugging easily. "There's precedent."

Now Nikolai was just being an ass.

[spin_kick_snap]

Even if they'd been in full Technicolor glory, Dokkaebi was not the type to go for bright colors. Especially a lot of them. Together. At once.

Kathy winced and looked away, stricken. "Look, I know I owe you a major apology for everything that happened that weekend, from the lying to the--okay, I'm pretty sure I don't have to go into all the things that I have to apologize to you for. But, please, you have to understand, that's not the kind of person I am, really it's not. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why the island would make me into someone like that and I'm still not entirely sure, but, believe me, I don't want to be anyone like that. Never. Not for any reason."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

And somewhere else on the streets below monitoring the conversation and... battle (if you can call it that), was a kid who looked remarkably like the child actor Ricky Schroeder.

Why a child actor is hanging out in the mean streets of Baltimore? Monitoring hero activity?

Who the fuck knows. He does seem to wonder just how effective this Banzai is if she's just going to babble at an opponent.

[spin_kick_snap]

Eventually, Kathy glanced down off the rooftop to spot a small, blonde kid loitering in the street nearby. Hard to tell from this vantage, but he looked young--way too young to be out at this time of night. Doubly so by himself.

...She'd missed all the times he'd likely told people to 'fuck off, I'm busy' or whatever.

"Hey, I don't mean to cut and run, but I think someone needs my help," she said, pointing the little kid out to Gorgon.

[gunslingerpose]

Gorgon looked a little dubious as he peered down over the edge of the rooftop to the kid standing down below.

"... Shitty neighborhood for a little kid to be loitering around in," he observed. "Just do the kid a favor and try not to tackle him in the process."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm not gonna--!" Kathy looked at Nick and scowled. "I always land wherever I aim to," she sniffed, before flinging herself over the edge in a dive.

Rather than being splattered on the pavement, Kathy caught a flagpole and spun around it before letting go to somersault in the air. On her last revolution, she twisted in the air to grab onto a street lamp and then ride it down like a fire pole.

"Hi there," she said, landing gently next to the kid. "I'm Banzai. Are you waiting for someone?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

The kid gave "Banzai" a "Are you for real look"?

"Jesus fucking Christ, Banzai" said Ricky Schroeder with a very familiar voice. "You do realize that if I were a bad guy I could have shot you at some point during your little acrobatic stunt?"

He shook his head.

"And the mask does fucking nothing to hide your face. We'll have to improve that."

[gunslingerpose]

There was a surprisingly soft thud not far off from them as Gorgon landed on the pavement nearby. He didn't bother with the fancy acrobatics, he just sucked it up and took the impact like a champ.

Tier three after a night of playing energy vampire with the local thugs was a wonderful thing.

"See, I could've told her that, kid," he offered, smirking as he straightened himself up again. "I knew her face the moment she was up there screaming into mine."

A beat.

"... Do I know you?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Nope. Probably not," Barry said deactivating his image inducer and returning to his normal self as Kathy sputtered at Barry's previous comments. "Unless you recognize me from when I handwavily paid the bill for the presidential suite from the other night."

[gunslingerpose]

"Huh." Gorgon's brows raised a little, and he allowed himself a moment to look actually impressed. "Nice trick, there. For a minute there I was worried I'd stepped into an episode of Solitary Squab."

Or, worse yet, he'd run into the de-aged version of one of his clients back in L.A., which was more than a touch confusing.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Should have figured you'd be a cowboy fan with an outfit like that," Barry said noting the duster. "I take it you've already done the fucking obligatory fight with Banzai before the obligatory team-up as required by all comic books?"

[gunslingerpose]

"I'm going to think of it less as a fight, and more as a stern disagreement about tackling people on rooftops in the middle of the night," Nick offered, amused. "I don't remember us agreeing on anything remotely resembling a team-up, though."

Gorgon and Banzai? There wasn't even a theme to that, and this was hardly the Revengers.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Well that's fucking disappointing," Barry joked. "But then again this isn't a fucking comic book. Did you tell her about her mask? Because it does nothing about hiding her identity. I'm thinking she needs a cowl."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Umm, excuse me?" Kathy said, tapping her foot and looking annoyed. "I'm right here, you know. Just thought maybe I'd point that out."

"Now that we've established that I'm here, why don't we talk about why you are," she said, pointing at Barry. "How the hell did you even know--goddammit, Barry, are you tracking me? Is there a GPS on this thing? I am not a pet for you to chip!"