gunslingerpose

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.

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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.

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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."

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"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?"

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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."

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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?"

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"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."

Edited Date: 2014-07-29 02:37 am (UTC)

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"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.

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"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?"

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"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.

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"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."

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"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!"

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"Yes. Because someone has to be your Q and make sure you're fucking doing this right," Barry retorted. "What if you get caught or hurt in Baltimore? Is Buckaroo Bubba here going to take you to a hospital?"

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"... Gorgon."

Yeah, it had nothing to do with the wild west, but if you knew anything about his powers or where they came from, it was pretty damn apt.

"And Buckaroo Banzai there and I aren't partners. I'd take her to one if she were to luck out and I'd find her, but that's a big damn if. Vigilantes don't exactly come with pagers."

Well...

"She might."

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"Its cell phones now," Kathy growled. "Because it's not 1994 anymore."

Someone was a little bit grumpy. With both of them.

"So, what? You're just gonna hang around every night, looking like some weird little kid on the off-chance I get hurt? Which, may I remind you, I've been doing for months now without a partner or backup and I'm fine?"

Yes, she was willfully ignoring how close that knife had come to parting skin as well as the fabric of her gi. "I'm faster than anything but a bullet and you said that I'm even safe from that, so long as I don't eat it blank range."

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"You're fighting people with guns and last I checked your head isn't fucking bulletproof," Barry retorted. "And normally I just keep tab on your vitals to make sure you don't die in some fucking alley. After last Friday where people kept fucking interrupting me and Elsa I thought I'd come into town and see how much risk you're taking on."

He shook his head. "Yeah, definitely a cowl," he said. "Definitely need more shielding."

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"Even I usually have a helmet," Gorgon offered, nodding. "I wasn't wearing it for 'standing on the roof not actually engaging any criminals' reasons, but I can vouch for the head protection thing."

As a guy who frequently wound up concussed, and all.

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"Well, I'm utterly thrilled to see the two of you getting along so swimmingly," Kathy muttered. "But don't you both have somewhere else to be? Like out posing for the pigeons and/or writing up blueprints for a fifty foot display that says 'I'm sorry for turning you into dinosaurs without your consent'?!"

And before she forgot, she added, "Barry! Tell N--Gorgon that I'm on the Ethics Committee and am really a good person!"

It was important.

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Barry sighed. "She is a really good person," he admitted. "Enough to make me hire her as part of my corporation so I don't fuck up ethically. However I worry about her enthusiasm overriding her sense of safety. She seems like the type of person who will risk herself needlessly for a kitten in trouble and get shot for it."

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"See?" Kathy said to Nick. "I told you I was--HEY!"

Edited Date: 2014-07-29 03:55 am (UTC)

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Nick wasn't going to make the obligatory, 'And a bit slow,' comment. You're welcome, Banzai.

"Well, that makes me feel better about any fears I might have had involving being jumped by murderous bitches in the dark," he offered, smirking. "I wasn't actually all that worried, Banzai. I can handle myself just fine."

Better than he could that weekend, at least.

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And Kathy wasn't going to point out that the last time he found girls in the alley, he'd been left blinded and would have been dead if one of said girls hadn't princess-carried him to safety.

"You seemed unwilling to take me at my word earlier," she said primly. "I was making sure a credible source assured you it was true."

This was the one and only time that she'd ever refer to you as a credible source, Barry. Savor it.

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"He just met me," Barry pointed out. "For all he knows I'm a fucking lunatic."

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"He was just standing around disguised as a young Ricky Schroeder, following you all over Baltimore with a GPS," Nikolai agreed. "You could both be fucking insane serial killers, here."

Now he was just enjoying this.

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