Baltimore, Late Monday Night

[gunslingerpose]

So it was the ass end of a long weekend, which Nikolai figured was going to be as good a time as any to hit up Baltimore to do his part to keep whatever peace there was to keep. And he'd done pretty well along his usual beat as Gorgon, catching a couple of break-and-enters. Hell, apparently he was starting to get a bit of a rep around the areas he frequented most, because one dumbass purse-snatcher outside of a bar actually pulled up short, gasped as he realized who had just stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of him, and then babbled an apology before shoving the purse at Nick and running off in the other direction.

Yeah, he was feeling pretty damn okay near the end of his beat, up a few tiers and burning off some excess energy by doing crazy parkour across the rooftops while he kept an eye on what was going on in alleyways below. He was no Banzai, no, at least not riding tier three the way he was, but what he lacked in crazy gymnastics, he made up for in strength and speed and, apparently, the ability to clear an entire rooftop in a single leap.

Sometimes he hated his powers, having to hide his eyes all the time, not being able to look at people without worrying about hurting them with his uncontrollable energy-vampire bullshit. And some days, like today, he wouldn't trade being Gorgon for anything.

[OOC: Open to anyone out in Baltimore that late at night!]

Comments

[gunslingerpose]

Aw, Kathy. You were so cute when you were flustered. Nick even chuckled a little, cartwheeling his arms so that he wouldn't topple over the edge of the roof when he skidded to his own halt.

Not that it would have hurt him, granted, but...

"Nah, it's fine. There's not much you'd be able to do that you couldn't figure out on your own without me talking about it," he replied, shrugging as he stepped back from the roof's edge. "If I were to tell you that I'm apparently some kind of fucked-up Greek life-energy vampire, how much sense would that make?"

Or how much flailing would she do?

[spin_kick_snap]

"I guessed the Greek part on my own," she immediately volunteered, tugging backwards on his duster to keep him from falling over. "So, when you look at someone, you're not just knocking them out, you're actually...draining them?"

She'd been guessing some kind of concussive blast or something.

"You can store that extra energy? Like some kind of battery?"

[gunslingerpose]

See, now the questions were leaning into 'gathering info for meta for Lex Luthor' territory. That earned a slightly raised eyebrow, and then a shrug and a little smile.

"Not store it, no," Gorgon replied. "It's an immediate kick, a 'use it or lose it' deal. It burns through much faster if I do, but it's not there indefinitely if I don't."

He didn't know how much more slowly he lost it if he wasn't using it, but there were very few occasions where he didn't bother to.

"That's what the bike's for. Better for conserving it longer, gets me places faster if I'm just getting started for the night. The couple of times I've been actually hurt on the job, it's been when the more violent ones came out to play in the early evening."

[spin_kick_snap]

Did Gorgon just not understand scientific curiosity? Just imagine what Barry would be asking right now?

"That's super-cool," Banzai enthused. "I mean, it would be cooler if you could store it, but still, that's pretty awesome. So, you suck the life force out of one person and then use it to increase your physical attributes. Man, everyone gets cooler powers than I do."

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeah, well, the trade-off is that I have to spend every minute I'm around another living thing with my eyes covered, so at least yours is less of a pain in the ass," Gorgon replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'd trade if it was an option, Banzai. The fact that it's cool gets old fast enough."

Unless he was actually out on the streets, being Gorgon. Then the powers could stay.

[spin_kick_snap]

"And yet, you seem to enjoy it whenever I see you on the streets," Banzai pointed out with a grin. "Well, maybe not the other night. You didn't seem to appreciate the rousing chorus celebrating your birthday."

They took a left and then another right, leaping from building to building, going almost two miles before they go near to the alleyway that Banzai had set up. The murmur of voices was barely audible; she'd left the DVD playing the opening menu, with its infinite loop of five lines of dialogue.

Banzai paused. "Did you hear that?"

[gunslingerpose]

Gorgon followed along just behind her, coming to a stop when she did and frowning when she spoke again.

"... Yeah, I hear it," he replied, furrowing his eyebrows a little. "Something about it, though..."

The cadence of those voice was startlingly familiar, as though he already knew the rhythm it was going to take, even before the words were spoken. It took him a few moments to realize that it was repeating itself, too.

"What the hell...?"

Yeah, now he was following the sound on his own. Because he could swear he knew the voices, and the rhythm of them, and... He broke into a grin as he realized why. And then he started reciting along with the voices down below. Yeah, if this was some kind of drug bust, he certainly couldn't judge the dealers on their movie taste.

"I'm alive, and I want to remain with the living, understand? And when I'm dead, I want to remain with the dead. And I would be unhappy if somebody living forces me to remain with the living."

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai tried not to let her chagrin show. She'd been hoping that he might hear the voices and assume that the dealers were there, just for an extra kick when she finally revealed her surprise. But at least it meant she'd picked a good one.

"How should we do this?" she asked. "Me through the roof, you from the alley's mouth? The other way around? Something else?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Good question," Gorgon replied, smirking a little more as he stopped himself from repeating lines that were filtering up to them from below. "You're the bouncy one. If you wanna come in from above, I won't stop you. I can get down to the alley's mouth easy enough."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Just be careful, okay?" Banzai said. "You don't know what's in there. It could be anything."

[gunslingerpose]

"Pretty sure I can handle it," Gorgon replied, making his way to the edge of the roof closest to the road and throwing off a salute. "I'm quick on the draw."

And then, yes, he was striking his gunslinger pose before jumping off the edge, down to the street.

[spin_kick_snap]

And this was why she'd gone with Fistful of Loonies, the great Canadian cowboy epic.

The moment Gorgon entered the dark shadows of the alley, Banzai leaped down into the little room she'd created, landing lightly on cat's feet, waiting for him to enter into the light.

His face would be epic.

[gunslingerpose]

Yeah, Gorgon was expecting that something was up, here. It was difficult not to assume otherwise, at this point. Generally, people didn't play the main menu to a Poutine Western's DVD release on loop in a dark alleyway at night if they happened to be planning some kind of big drug something or other.

So, yes, he was wearing a smirk as he sauntered into the alleyway, hands at his sides, looking every bit like a gunslinger, himself. The smug air kind of faltered after a moment, when he realized that Banzai was the only one there.

And there was a couch.

And a screen?

"The hell?"

Yeah, Gorgon had known something was up. It was just not entirely the kind of something he'd been expecting.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Happy Birthday!" Banzai said, holding a cupcake with a single candle burning in it. "A few days late, I know, but better late than never?"

[gunslingerpose]

Yeah, the cupcake was definitley unexpected.

"You are fucking shitting me." He was obviously trying not to laugh, so that was probably the good sort of 'fucking shitting me,' right there. "I'll accept a late birthday party just so long as there's no singing. How's that sound?"

She brought him a fucking cupcake. How the hell was Gorgon supposed to cope with this girl?

[spin_kick_snap]

"I have been told I have a very good singing voice I'll have you know," Banzai said, though she wasn't about to insist. "But it's a regular movie date! I even have popcorn and sodas. Though there's not enough butter and salt for proper movie popcorn, sorry. You'll have to make due with Smartfood."

[gunslingerpose]

"I should probably watch my butter and grease anyway," Gorgon decided, sauntering over to investigate the cupcake. "So, I'm supposed to make a wish? If there's just one candle, that means I can get through the night without any old people jokes, right?"

Old people jokes were birthday tradition, dammit.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Do you want to skip the birthday song or the old people jokes?" Banzai asked, giving Gorgon a smirk. "I don't think I can promise both."

[gunslingerpose]

"I can't plead 'birthday boy' and ask for both? I already got the singing, you know, on Saturday. There was a three-part frigging harmony, after you and Sparky left."

Sparky. Torch. Whichever.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Human Torch," Banzai corrected, making a face at Gorgon. She knew full well he could remember Johnny's name if he wanted. "And, what? All this isn't enough for you? What more could someone ask for? A night in front of the big screen, with snacks and everything!"

[gunslingerpose]

And see, that's why he didn't remember Torch's name! He didn't want to!

"The screen does have a certain sort of charm to it..." Being a whitewashed wall, and all. "You pulled all of this together, for me? Really?"

Just shut up and blow out your cupcake, Nick.

[spin_kick_snap]

"No, actually, I really like ancient Westerns," Banzai drawled. "Then I saw you were in the neighborhood and figured I'd extend the invitation. Just to be friendly."

She nudged him with her shoulder. "Of course it's for you. It doesn't seem right that the only people to acknowledge your birthday were a couple of guys you were taking down."

[gunslingerpose]

"Maybe they weren't," Gorgon sniffed. "Maybe I had a huge party back on the island. With... cake and... fuck. Streamers?"

A beat.

"Okay, I worked that day, and this is fucking fantastic." And yeah, now he was actually taking a second to finally blow out the birthday candle. Make a wish, because shut up, he could make one if he wanted to. And then smirk her way. "You know, most people would have settled for a card?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, they don't make birthday cards for fellow superheroes," Banzai said, shrugging. "And since you have your whole urban cowboy thing going on, I thought this was a fitting idea. And it wasn't all that hard to set up, so I figures, why not?"

This had nothing to do with a incredibly stupid crush she had on him. Nope. Not at all. Because that would be incredibly stupid.

[gunslingerpose]

Oh, Kathy. You could do so much better than Nikolai.

"I like it," he decided, plucking the cupcake from her hand and nodding toward the couch. "Like the theaters, but with fewer snot-nosed kids kicking the backs of the seats." He paused for a moment. "Maybe a couple more rats, though."

Alleyways. They were good for that.