1963-08-16 - Rocket Man and The Attempted Homicide
Summary: Nova arrives to Akihiro being shot, things get messy.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
nova akihiro 


It's well past sunset, and Central Park has gone from being considered 'a nice place for a picnic'
to 'a nice place to avoid unless you want to get mugged'. Gangs, drug dealers, and all manner of
criminal element call the Park home after dark, and it tends to be the unsavoury denizens of the
world, those looking to benefit from them, and the uninformed or foolish who dare to travel anything
but the main, well-lit paths through the area; and even then, no guarantees.

There may be hero-types already doing their part to combat this criminal element, particularly in
Central Park, but there's always room for another, right? In truth, Nova doesn't really set out to
fight crime, but if the shoe fits.. however that saying ends. He's got his helmet on, and so with it
comes the full Nova armour, complete with gold gauntlets, dim glow, and (in his mind anyway),
ultimate power. Right now, he's actually outside the park, perched atop a building and out of sight.
His helmet provides a great deal of information about the world around him, from the proximity and
movements of those around, to potential spikes in energy signatures, as well as the ability to zoom
in within his line of sight. He watches below, rather idly, as he rests from flight. And he's
starting to feel hungry. There's a hot-dog vendor around somewhere, isn't there?

*

While there may not be any hot-dogs, there are gunshots! Three of them ring out, followed promtply
by a howl of pain as two of the bullets bury themselves in Akihiro's stomach, the third slamming
right into the teen's head, a spray of blood and some brain bits as he falls over into the grass.
The muggers turned (would be) murderers begin to promptly check the teen's pockets for anything
valuable.

*

As soon as the shots ring out, Nova tracks the source, and rockets up into the sky, barrelling down
toward the earth in a streak of blue right on top of the muggers/shooters. He has the good sense to
slow down before landing, because otherwise when he tackles the first one, he'd probably have
crushed the poor guy like a bug. And really, killing anyone, even murderous criminals, is the last
thing he wants to do. It's literally seconds from launch to landing, and the first assailant is
slammed into the ground, and then thrown bodily several feet as Nova channels a burst of strength.
One down, or so he hopes, before he readies to go after the second. No words, no witty quips, just
the quiet hum of energy surrounding the figure.

*

And a faint growling, though it's coming from Akihiro. There's the wet sound of flesh tearing as his
claws extend as he pushes up, and he looks rough. Where his left eye was is a bloody hole that's
quickly healing over. The rest of the hooligans arrive in time to see this, and a few of them have
the common sense to run, the other three pull guns of there own.

Akihiro clearly isn't himself right now though, he takes a few lurching steps forward, and then
breaks out into a full sprint, the guns go off, bullets slamming into his midsection and arms, but
it doesn't slow him down in the slightest. A bestial howl escapes him right before he buries his
claws into a twenty-something year olds chest, lifting him off the ground, only to tug his left fist
free and bury those claws into the man's face. Clearly he isn't above killing murderous criminals
right now.

*

Unless they're packing rocket launchers, the gang's weapons aren't going to do much to hurt Nova.
Any that might find him in their trajectory will ricochet off his armour, (hopefully) harmlessly
into the night. Akihiro's rising from the dead doesn't go unnoticed, and nor does his quick and
painful murder of one of the thugs. Maybe the others will see it, and have the good sense to run?
Seems unlikely though, given that a guy dropping out of the sky on top of them didn't seem to phase
them all that much. Nova holds his ground against the bullets, lifting his right hand toward the
group; his gauntlet glows brightly, and fires a wave of force at those in its path, strong enough to
knock everyone off their feet, provided they're not anchored to the ground. Not too worried about
Akihiro being hit, since now that he's killed one of those kids, he's not exactly an innocent in
Nova's eyes. At this point, he's just trying to stop them all from doing any more killing.

*

And off their feet everyone goes, and right back onto his feet Akihiro springs. He swiftly stomps
one of the other thugs, breaking his neck before his gaze settles on Nova. Then he's breaking into a
sprint once more, snarling. And the closer he gets, the easier it is to realize that he may not even
realize what he's doing, instinct ruling him.

*

So that's two dead, one unconscious (or at least playing the part). And a very pissed-off would-be
victim charging Nova for trying to help. "Damnit," Nova mutters from behind the helmet. "Just trying
to help, man! Don't want to hurt you!" His words may well be lost on Akihiro, but he feels obligated
to let him know anyway. He's confident that his energy shield will protect him, should the man make
contact, but in an ideal world, Nova would rather it not come to that. He jumps up in the air,
flying well over Akihiro's head and landing on the other side a fair distance away, placing himself
between the enraged feral mutant and the gang-members who tried to kill him, of which only one
remains. "Bet you feel pretty stupid now," he mutters to the man behind him, watching Akihiro's
reaction and preparing for his next move.

*

Stupidity, terror, whatever it may be, it leads to them turning tail and running off. Akihiro lets
out a frustrated growl and starts in on the closest thing to him, this time it's a tree. He stabs
into the wood for several long moments, the bullets inside of him pushing out and hitting the grass.
It takes a few moments, but he straightens up and lets his claws retract. He looks rather confused,
brows furrowed as he finds Nova. "What the fuck happened here?"

*

"They shot you," Nova says, keeping his posture defensive, ready to take to the sky at a moment's
notice if the man becomes threatening again. It's good that the remaining gang members ran off, at
least in the sense that no-one else is being eviscerated. Nova motions to the bodies on the ground
around him. "And you kind of.. murdered them," he says. It makes him a little queasy, but one of the
nice side-effects of the Nova helmet is that it fortifies his body against things like nausea. "Glad
to see you're not dead. Sorry to say that these ones definitely are."

*

Akihiro pales slightly, "I did?" He shakes his head and turns around to punch the tree, which falls
over thanks largely to the stabbing earlier. "Didn't think he'd actually shoot me when I didn't give
him my money. I've been shot before and didn't freak out, so he must have shot me a few times to
piss me off like that." He doesn't go over to look at the corpses, but the teen does bury his face
into his hands.

*

"Three times. Once in the head, from what I saw before you got up," Nova says, easing his posture a
little bit now that Akihiro isn't all shabby any more. He's a little bit relieved to hear that the
murderous rage wasn't entirely on purpose, but there's definitely some concern about his mental
state. Of course, the man was just shot in the head, so he has a right to be upset on some level. "I
have no love for gangers who shoot people in the park, but.. man, you killed some people." Nova is
at a bit of a loss for where to go from here. On the one one, dead criminals aren't the /worst/
thing to happen, but they're still people. On the other hand, he doesn't really want to try to
forcefully take a man who just suffered a gunshot wound to the head (even though he got better), to
the police for murder. Maybe we just call it a wash, and hope the papers don't pick up the story
about the flying guy and Jesus With Claws.

*

"So that makes three then." Akihiro doesn't look too happy about that. "What they trained me to do.
Least it wasn't anybody that was innocent." His shoulders come up in a shrug, "Imagine it could have
been a lot worse than me stabbing a few criminals. Regardless, suppose we should clear out before
the cops show up, hard to explain that they would have killed me."

*

Yes, probably best to flee the scene. Nova certainly doesn't want to answer any questions, and
there's already sirens in the distance. Gunshots tend to attract that sort of thing. "You're awfully
accepting of the fact that you just.." Nova starts, but thinks better of finishing that sentence.
"Never mind. They tried to kill you, it didn't exactly take, they're gone now. Cosmic balance has
been restored, I suppose?" He's not interested in making the situation worse at this point, by
pressing the issue. "You okay to get out of here on your own, or..?" Nova could fly him out, but
Akihiro doesn't really seem the type that wants much help. And then there's the fear of attempted
stabbing mid-flight.

*

"Well, I've seen a lot of death and torture. It's ugly, but it's how the world is." Akihiro replies,
throwing a hand up in an easy wave before heading out. "Yeah, I'm fine. Not my first time clearing
out before the cops show, though usually it isn't for anything like this." He doesn't seem even a
little worried.

*

"Right," Nova says, taking quick stock of what his helmet's sensors are telling him. Police will be
here soon. "Hopefully no-one else tries to shoot you today.. you know, for their sake. Best of luck
to you," he finishes, before jumping into the air and flying straight up into the sky, a blue streak
of light the vanishes into the clouds. This was just supposed to flying practice, not crimefighting.
New York is complicated.

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