1963-11-21 - The Kind Monstrosity
Summary: Beatrice (Played by Gamora) feeds her revolution with precious gems. Hilde saves a man's life, and Lynette has a confusing experience.
Related: THEM!
Theme Song: None
brunnhilde gamora lynette 


It's 6pm on a Sunday, and the financial district is practically a ghost town. Old school, old /money/ businesses tend to close up early, so hardly anyone is left around. It's a gloomy, rainy, surprisingly dark early evening, and it's already starting to spit fat drops of rain onto the cold pavement.

Weirdly, anyone with an emergency band radio would know a spat of giant bug attacks have rolled across the city meaning the police and other emergency crews are spread thin. Yet, this street is quiet.

This part of the district is a T-intersection with a long downhill leading to a left or right turn. Going straight would lead one to the plate glass window of Your Facet, the diamond shop right in the heart of New York's diamond row.

High above the top of the hill, a low buzz is audible, but it's a background noise, and hardly noticeably against the hum of the city.

*

It's her first night back at work after the wrist mess and hell of the last few weeks. Hilde's still got that wrist taped up because it doesn't feel perfect, but she's able to work. And she needs the money. She's driving the bus because she's a control freak like that and she always prefers to be driving the bus. Right now, they're just working lower Manhattan. Sunday night and, somehow, things seem peaceful. Hilde drives them idly through the streets, listening to her partner snore in the next seat. She takes a right for the hell of it, turning down near that diamond shop.

*

The world was going crazy, but it couldn't just be New York, could it? Done with her day of dealing with odd girls in Central Park, and then her classes in upper New York, it was time to get to her own job. She hesitates, though, her steps taking her closer to Harlem, but some inner fear makes her stay away, for now. When the rain grows heavier, she reaches a hand out and allows it to pool in her palm briefly. With this weather, even her hair would starts to go flat. She's thankful, silently, for the peace of this district, and for whatever reason, the baby mambo finds herself staring at her reflection in the polished window of Your Facet. "What de hell y'doin' 'nymore, girl? Y'suppose t'stay low…" She reminds herself, conversing with her reflection.

*

In the rearview mirror of Hilde's ambulance, a woman touches down in the middle of the street, at the top of the hill. Tires screech and horns honk, but none of the cars hit her and she doesn't pay any attention to their noise. With one foot she shoves a car sideways which had been blocking her view of the downhill. It is none other than /the/ Beatrice, the terror of Grover's Mill.

Revealed, Bea is taller than average, and her legs and arms and fingers seem just a /little/ bit too long. She's wearing a white tank top and black cargo pants, which have been converted to capris style given how thin she is, and how long her legs are. She's also wearing combat boots.

Beatrice would just be a long, tall brunette, easy on the eyes with legs that go all the way up - if not for the whole host of insectoid features immediately marking her as a mutant.

Everywhere, her skin is covered in a patchwork of iridescent, silvery chitinous armor covering most long patches of skin. In places where it meets flesh, it looks to be growing out of her, much like fingernails. From far away it sort of looks like body armor, but up close, it's obviously a part of her.

Her long black hair flows around two slightly fuzzy, black antennae growing out of the top of her head. They're about half a foot long, and twitch from time to time.

Her eyes are still orbs in sockets, but their surface is matte black, and multi-faceted. It's hard to tell exactly where she's looking as they swivel about.

She also has a long, double pair of translucent insect wings. An entomology buff might note their similarity to termite wings, being twice the length of her body. They drape on the ground behind her like a cloak.

Keeping her eye on the shop at the bottom of the hill, Beatrice draws a balled up pill big from her cargo pants pocket, about the size of a baseball. But in moments it is growing noticeably larger. When it's as big around as a car tire she sets it down on the ground, holding it in place to keep it from rolling away.

One brave man gets out of his car and rushes her with a baseball bat, but she blocks the bat with a chitinous forearm, and then backhands him. He flies the ten feet to his car and lays still, draped across the hood. The pill bug continues to grow.

*

Something in Hilde's head says that no, she's just over tired (as always), there was no way a woman just FLEW OUT OF THE DAMN SKY behind their bus. But then she does a double take into the mirror and the woman is definitely there. And cars are screeching to a stop. A bit of chaos is suddenly beginning to spill into the quite streets, "…What the ever loving f*ck…" Hilde breathes out. She abruptly takes a HARD turn in the ambulance, driving in in the direction of the beginning chaos.

"…Fred. FRED. Wake your sleepy ass up. We got work." She calls ot her drowsy partner next to her, trying to get in as close as possible to the scene in their bus. But they aren't going to be able to creep forward much longer. Hilde kills the engine and flings herself out of the vehicle, grabbing for her emergency bag.

*

Her dark eyes move then, rolling up the window as the vision behind her becomes something else; something a bit more dire. "Merde…" she mutters and turns, facing up the street. When a man takes flight (not having wings to do so with), she winces and her walk toward the event turns into a jog, and then a sprint. "M'sorry, Spot. Guess I ain't learnin' m'lesson jus' yet." She confesses under her breath while pulling at her sweater-jacket and pulling it off her arms. It was heavy now, due to the rain, and would slow her down.

*

Beatrice watches the ambulance with detached interest, but doesn't interfere with the EMTs in their work yet. In fact she points at the man on the hood of his car and says, "That man has a bad concussion. Probable neck and back contusions." She eyes the people around her briefly, and then the pill bug is apparently big enough.

Taller than a car, at least six feet tall all balled up like it is, Bea gives the pill bug a shove, and it begins to roll down the hill toward the diamond shop. It wobbles slightly, rolling over some cars, and around others as needed. It doesn't aim /at/ Lynette exactly, but it is a wacky, odd roll, and it covers some weird ground before smashing into the plate glass window at the bottom of the hill.

*

The woman EMT really didn't understand WHAT was going on. Hilde's ice blue eyes flicker between that too-tall woman, the pill bug, "…what the hell…" She breathes out again, and the man she's trying to be directed to. Well, in times of crisis, she just had to do what she knew best — Help her patients. So, trying to ignore the friggin car size pill bug, Hilde jogs in the direction of the injured man. "…Sir…Do you know your name? How many fingers am I holding up?" She asks as she works on securing his back and neck with her other hand. The blonde seems to well maintain her calm in the situation of chaos.

*

Lynette 's eyes widen like the size of the bug that comes her way. Another exclaimed, foreign curse exits her lips, and dropping her jacket on the sidewalk, she moves to gets herself clear of a pending flattening. Her boot slips against a puddle, but then she pulls her leg back with a few seconds to spare. Down it goes; she had no way of stopping something like that. Peering back up the road, she presses on and her jog becomes a sprint. "Stop!" She urges up at the slender, oddly beautiful, bug lady. Her arms are up, palms out and in the open. "Stop! What're y'doin'? Com'on now, y'gotta stop dis. I know dese s'm hard times, but dis ain't de way."

*

-CRASH-

At the bottom of the hill the pill bug plows right through the reinforced plate glass and through the display cases as well. The alarms go off like crazy, but the police scanner knows the cops are ages away at this point.

Inside the diamond shop, the pill bug unrolls and starts… /EATING/?

-CRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCH-

Glass, diamonds and display case are munch munch munched down there, slowly, steadily.

At the top of the hill Bea has all but forgotten about the EMTs for now. Her attention is on the woman running at her. In several quick, long strides, bizarrely graceful, with her wings billowing out behind her, she steps up to Lynette and grabs her arm. Her fingers are much too long, because there's an extra knuckle joint in each one, making her fingers like spider legs. Her grip is like an iron vice. "Do not interfere…"

Bea stops herself, and looks at the woman again, more closely. "I'd expect you to understand. I have no quarrel with fellow mutants." She points at the broken open shop and says, "Why not help yourself to something down there? My pet won't bother you."

*

Pet? Hilde is sort of concentrating on the patient, but he's very much alive and not even all that hurt. He's generally not her type. So, she has enough time to vaguely listen to the things that are being said above her. She blinks…"Pet?" She mouths in shock, shaking her head slowly. Once the neck brace is secure, she nods to her partner, "Let's load him up but stick around, there will be other's hurt." And then the too tall, far too thin woman somehow manages to get the man lifted with just her partner's assistance. They are wheeling him into the ambulance with smooth, practiced motions.

*

Lynette gasps gently, and looks at the spindly fingers that now circle around her lanky limb. "Y-Y c'n' do dis. I undastand 'lot, trust me, but dis ain't de way t'go 'bout 'nyt'ing. Y'jus' givin'em reasons t'hate n'fear us more den we need. We got 'nough a'dat already. Please…y'gotta stop." She begs then, glancing behind herself as the massive destruction below, and the slid armor bug as it starts to go about feasting. "Please. Don' make me have t'stop y'."

*

A little distracted, Bea turns to face the EMTs. "I have no intention to hurt anyone else," she announces matter of factly. "He came at me with a baseball bat." Turning back to Lynette, Bea releases her arm, and smoothes the shorter woman's sleeve, almost kindly. In fact, from Bea's expression, she /thinks/ she's being kind.

"Hun, they hate and fear us already, when we did nothing to them. Do you really think that will change by continuing to do nothing?" Bea nods at the empty store at the bottom of the hill. "No one is in there. I'm not hurting anyone. But I /am/ funding a revolution. Humans and mutants will be equal one day, but not from mutants standing idly by, allowing themselves to be subjected to debasements like registration. Or Mutant Town."

While she speaks, Beatrice moves through the mess of cars and starts to shove vehicles out of the way, and in just a minute or so it becomes clear that she's clearing a path for the ambulance to be able to get out more easily.

*

The commentary about not hurting anyone else seems to surprise Brunnhilde. She blinks at the strange woman, pale eyes studying that slightly glimmering skin. What in the world was wrong with her? Mutations, it seems. Hilde clears her throat quietly, "Uh…well…ma'am, thank you… G-good to know, ma'am." The medic rasps out quietly, definitely shocked, but she's not complaining. She tries not to stare much longer, but it's hard. It's not until Fred is calling her name that she blinks back and double times it to the driver's side door.

"…Uh…thanks for that too…ma'am…" Hilde calls out the window, as she realizes what the woman is doing. The exit is slow, but she's managing to get the bus out with far more ease than she could have before.

*

Lynette parts her lips to stay something, but nothing comes out. As the rain continues to soak her through to the bone, she turns and watches the insectoid woman, her eyes wide and mouth gaping. Blinking, startled by the movement of the ambulance, she moves to the side to be out of its way as well. Holding up her hand, the girl opens it and studies a sliver of onyx hair that is resting in her palm, and after what seems like forever, she stares after Bea and turns her hand, allowing the biological link with the woman fall to the sidewalk.

*

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