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Since Christmas, Foggy Nelson had made a point of spending some time with Elektra Natchios, every day. By now, he was quite well known around her hotel, and the best part of it was that he had genuinely enjoyed her company. He was getting more exercise from walking, eating healthier, and while he was trying to set an example for her, she had a great influence on him too. He had even taken up karate, not that he was any good at it, but in his own mind, he was a master. Just, he had to avoid looking at the colour of his belt.
Today, he had invited her to the Central Park Zoo, where they had just seen the Red Pandas and the Snow Monkeys, and were now headed towards the Tropic Zone, which was going to be considerably warmer, despite the outside temperature. The Zoo wasn't busy, but it wasn't empty either, just a regular quiet day. "You gotta admit, those snow monkeys sitting in that hot tub looked cute, right?" He shares with his companion, as he stops by a hot pretzel stand, "now, have you tried a piping hot, fresh pretzel?" She probably had, but he was trying to make her smile, and sometimes his enthusiasm could be infectious.
While Elektra has tried so, so hard to be good, two weeks in to these attempts and she's going half stir crazy. A woman used to a dangerous, exotic life style simply hasn't quite made the transition to the mundane, safe and practical all that well. But she is trying. Wrapped up in one of her long, warm coats against the bitter New York air, she happily undoes the buttons for them to step into the tropic zone. She's never overly warm, having been built for far more tropical climates herself, so she unbuttons the coat but doesn't remove it as they step through the warmer areas.
"… I have had a pretzel before, Foggy. I did go to school in Manhattan, you know? This strange reality you call New York isn't completely foreign to me." Elektra deadpans quietly, burgundy lips pulled into a bit of a smirk, but she does reach over to steal a section of pretzel from him so she can pop a piece or two past her lips.
Foggy did like how comfortable she was around him. He still had no idea how he'd break the news to Matt, but he did have his partner's blessing to aide her… still, this was such an awkward situation to be in. He had been developing a crush on his best friend's college girlfriend. He enjoyed some of the pretzel, the parts that Elektra didn't snatch out of his hands, and he laughed with her. "Yeah, but have you had one of Ernie's World Famous Pretzels?" He puts emphasis on the name, as that was the name on the cart. Everyone in New York was trying to differentiate themselves.
Foggy stopped to look at the Poison Dart Frog exhibit, watching the frog sit on a leaf. It wasn't the most interesting or active of creatures, since it was just sitting there, "it's so beautiful…" It was bright yellow, with a bit of black camouflage. "But also deadly. One of these little guys has enough poison to kill ten people." It made him inhale deeply, knowing that the woman next to him could do far better, were she to have the desire to do so.
And then he heard screams. They were coming from outside. And people were running through the zoo, from north and east. He couldn't tell what was going on, but there was a panic. He looked to Elektra, worry on his face. Would she leave like a normal person, or try and see what was going on. Could she be a hero, like the Devil of Hell's Kitchen?
"… I do not think you can qualify yourself as world famous if only people passing through a very specific exhibit at the Central Park Zoo know who you are." Elektra states flatly, the smirk lingering on her mouth, but she's not complaining about the pretzel. She's simply pointing out the error in Ernie's logic. She then continues casually stepping along side of him as they make their way through the exhibits.
The poison dart frogs make her stop, some odd memories floating across her eyes. A ghost of something, almost a smile, almost sad, crosses her features, "Yes, and if you harvest from one over weeks, well… they are more effective than even draining venom from snakes." She murmurs softly, no fear or shame in her voice, just pointing out a fact. Before she can say anything else, her head turns, catching sounds of that chaos. Her eyes widen a bit more.
"… I… should help. You should not run towards danger." She states it as a simple fact, though has a feeling he's not going to listen. Either way, in her high heeled boots and dress, she begins taking off in the direction of whatever is happening.
"You're right about that," Foggy concedes, and then asks, "I wonder how many people visit the Central Park Zoo every year? It's probably in the millions." He read somewhere that as of 1902, there were more than four million visitors annually, but he hadn't seen the current number.
Seeing her sort of sad smile, he listens intently. His eyes are locked on her as she shares. "It's neat that you know that." He was trying to reassure her. She had a different past, but she had knowledge, and it was valuable too, just… different. Even had trouble rationalising that in his head, but he still tried.
He was glad that she said that "Go, I'll be okay. Help out. Do good. I know you can!" He reassured her. He wasn't going to listen. He'd be careful, but he wanted to see her in action, if he could. She would have her own cheerleader; just, he was a guy in a bowtie, rather than the traditional type.
Further in the park, it becomes clear why the people were running. Someone had let out some of the attractions. There were a few Snow Leopards walking down one path, and at the end of another, there was a Grizzly Bear. Fortunately, these animals were largely docile, having spent so much time in captivity and already being well fed, but they were no less dangerous.
As Elektra realizes what is wrong, she slightly skids to a stop. She doesn't really HAVE her tranquilisers on her now, not having intended to work and, in general, her self defence is deadly. Even if she did, she wouldn't want to kill innocent animals. So, she looks about, trying to be certain that patrons are all safe, no one is being cornered by an animal or trapped up a tree or something. That is the first priority, protect innocents.
Second priority? Go deeper into the territory where this chaos has started and try to find exactly who has done this. The zoo animal handlers, professionals in their own right, can manage to tranq and re-wrangle the escaped animals. But the person behind it? They may be far more dangerous. So, moving delicate and fast, she weaves her way between animals, up onto the sides of exhibits, swinging across a tree or two if she must, to get deeper into where the chaos has started.
A pair of Snow Leopards try and claw at Elektra as she slips between them, on her way towards their enclosure. The female roars, turning to regard the swift woman, but not giving chase… yet. Further back, Foggy turns bright white when he sees what has happened. He has trouble swallowing and immediately goes up against a fence, his palms pressing into it as he attempts to make himself seem as small as possible. "Oh god, oh god, oh god…" he repeats. He wants to help out, but he's ill equipped for this.
The zoo personal are quickly on the scene, trying to deal with the animals. But it's not easy handling a pack of snow leopards, a Grizzly, and there are a few other animals that have been released, elsewhere in the zoo. They do manage to deal with the Grizzly though, seeing it as the biggest threat to the public safety, and… the only one they could knock out without having to worry about its friends.
As Elektra makes her way, she'll see a man in a white and teal costume. His torso is white, but his legs and arms are teal, and he wears a mask, which is oddly shaped like a Viper. Turning to see the woman running towards him, "go away, woman," ah, so he's a chauvinist, "before I make an example of you." The man was tall, well built, and seemed to have a gun on his left hip in a holster, a sword behind his back, and a dagger on his right hip.
The attempt to claw her is side stepped so smoothly it's like Elektra was never there in the first place. She moves like water in a stream, rapid, seamlessly, without thinking or hesitation. Even under her long winter coat and the heels of her boots it's no issue to dodge the things which are a far greater threat to other people in the zoo. If she realised Foggy was still there, she'd probably go back for him and give him quite a lecture, but her mission is focused now and she hasn't yet caught sound of his yelping.
Then she sees the man in that white and teal costume. Teal? Really? Elektra cannot entirely hide her smirk which deepens as she hears his words. "I would invite you to try. Now, you can hand me your weapon and explain exactly why you thought this was a good idea before I turn you over to the police, or I can MAKE you do those things… It's up to you. I promise the former will be far less painful." She states flatly, her accented voice all calm and lowly threatening at the same time. There is no fear in her tone.
Foggy breaths out a sigh of relief when the Grizzly is tranquilised, and seems to go to sleep. The zoo personal are trying to get everyone out, but they're overwhelmed right now, so he goes unnoticed. The Snow Leopards, well, one of them has gotten into another exhibit, and has what looks like a duck between its teeth.
Further up, the man in white and teal laughs at Elektra, drawing his gun, "Oh, this, did you want this, little girl? You will know fear. This city will know fear. They will know me as… the Night Viper!" He seemed to be pretty new. He'd been reading too many comic books or listening to the radio serials. And he fired his gun at her.
Well, an idiot with a gun. Elektra's certain faced more dangerous before. She'd actually laugh if he hadn't broadcasted screamingly obviously the fact he was going for his gun and planning to shoot her. Before he even has it unholstered, she's moving, her leg jerking up to kick hard enough at his wrist that not only does she plan on disarming him, but she plans on breaking several of the delicate bones in his wrist so he can't use that hand again for a very long time. Unless there is any actual armour in that suit, the poor man probably has no chance.
She doesn't stop there, though, moving fast with another kick to the side of his head. Her intentions are to knock him out as quickly as possible and give him to the police. She just has to remember how to scale back her normal fight to keep it non-lethal.
When the Snow Leopards and Grizzly were released, people screamed. It could be heard throughout the zoo. But when Elektra broke the hand of the Night Viper, his scream could be heard well beyond the zoo. His shriek was deafening, and not very nice. It began with a cry, a noise, no words being formed, just, the pain and anguish of having bones broken, several of them, followed by a tearful, simpering, and angry, "you b…" he said a bad word, and it wasn't witch.
But adrenaline had kicked in, and he tried to go for his sword with his other hand. That was probably a very silly move on his part. The best thing he could do was give up then. Unfortunately, before he could even unsheathe the sword… removing a sword from one's back was far more difficult in combat than it looked in the movies. His head gets struck, knocking him down on the pavement.
He lies there on the pavement, not really moving. She may have knocked him out, but it's hard to tell with the mask. Meanwhile, as a zoo keeper was trying to tranquilise the Snow Leopards, the young man missed his shot, and the Leopard attacked. He panicked and tried to evade, which meant he fell over the railing. But before he could fall into the pit that separated that particular enclosure, Foggy came to his rescue, grabbing his hand. "Somebody help!" He called out, knowing how risky it was. There were other zoo personal, but there were still two Snow Leopards that were awake. And Foggy couldn't exactly run while holding a guy up with both hands.
"Stay down." Elektra hisses, not entirely certain of the man is out cold, so she quickly leans over and drags his helmet off of his face so he will be revealed even if he tries to escape. She then, herself, disarms his blade from his back and is about to do more to tie him up when she hears a familiar voice behind her. A familiar voice screaming for help.
She curses, hands still full with helmet and sword, but has no time to waste. So she turns on the ball of her foot and begins to run, leaving the attacker there for someone else to hopefully catch or lean up. At least she's disarmed him. As she runs, she tosses the things into a random enclosure so, hopefully, he can't get to them but they could be found as evidence later. Or worn by some monkey, who knows which enclosure she used, she wasn't paying attention. She just keeps running towards Foggy, "I told you to stay back!" She hisses as she leans over, trying to help him pull the guy up even as she keeps a side eye out for those other leopards.
The Night Viper, once unmasked, was probably once a handsome man. He had long brown hair, green eyes, and a strong jaw. But his face was marred by what looked like a snake bite on the left side, and there was probably a nasty reaction to it, as there were bumps and an odd discolouration. The other side of his face though, he was a good looking man… once. And he was quite unconscious.
The zoo personnel manage to take down another Snow Leopard with a traquisilier dart, and the last one is lured away by a handler. Soon, it too would be rendered unconscious. And with Elektra's help, the fallen man was saved. Afterwards, the man was on the ground, heaving. He was rubbing at his arm. They had pulled him up by one arm, and it probably dislocated his shoulder in the process.
Foggy was out of breath too. "I… had… to help…" he says, and looks towards the man who would have lost his life if Foggy hadn't came to his rescue. "But… you… were… won… der… ful…" Sensing the trouble they could be in. He looked to her, and tried to gesture that they should leave. With the animals and the man in pain, they might just be able to disappear further into the zoo, and then blend in with the crowd. He didn't want to have to file a police report about this and he imagined she didn't either.
In truth, Elektra isn't even winded. She might have come to a softer life, but it doesn't mean she still doesn't train. Two weeks isn't enough to make her go soft anyway. So, she helps pull the man up and stares hard at the person they helped, "We were never here." Elektra half growls, definitely not hiding the threat from her voice there. She then stands straight and nods in agreement to Foggy, "Yes, just… don't have a heart attack." She states flatly.
Then they are off, she walking as quick as she thinks Foggy can manage right now, deeper into the zoo and hopefully away from any prying eyes.
Foggy recovers quickly. He's not as fit as her, but he's better than he was two weeks ago. He's been working out at the gym, not just training in karate. In fact, he's not learning karate, but a different martial art. Still, to him, all martial arts are karate. Nobody has corrected him yet. Once they're through, and into the crowd, he smiles, laughing, "that was fun."
His heart rate is still higher than normal, but it's getting back down there. "We saved that man, and who knows who else?" He was pleased with himself. He did a good deed, and it felt great. It was even better that he got to do it with Elektra.
As they leave the zoo and enter the park, they walk towards a less populated area, and he asks, "where did you go after we got separated? What happened?"
"You should have stayed back. You're lucky you weren't hurt." Elektra insists, her voice a bit more stiff now, definitely worried. She walks now more casually, letting him fully calm down as she rebuttons her coat against the New York cold, adrenaline wearing off as well, so she'll feel the bitter chill more than she did. "I went to find who did it. The animals clearly didn't release themselves. Some poor idiot in a teal suit. I knocked him out and took his helmet. Hopefully the police will find him." Her voice is cold and flat, emotionless about what she did. She still hasn't figured out how she felt about it, but she did it and it's over now.
Nodding his head, Foggy agreed with her. "You're right, I should have, I could have, but if I did… that guy would have fallen into the pit between the path and the enclosure. He could have gotten seriously hurt, or worse. I… I just can't sit back while people are in danger." He was nervous about what he did, what he tried to do, but he was still glad he did it, even if it was probably a dumb thing to do.
"I'm proud of you. You stopped him and you did it without," his words drop to a whisper, "killing him." Then back to normal, "You did well today. I know you want to lead a more normal life, but… maybe there's a middle ground. You know, you could have a life, like mine," he wanted to add 'with me', but thought better of it. Still, he did say it with his body language and especially his eyes, "but also do good as a hero. Other people use what they know for the greater good, and today, so did you!" He even gave her a hug, hoping it wasn't unwelcome. He was just so happy for her.
The hug slightly makes her stiffen. Being a hero wasn't really on her agenda, but she's not going to push the man away either. She gives a slightly awkward pat to his back, letting the hug linger a moment or two before she steps back to let go. "… I might have killed him, I didn't check. I think his helmet protected him from the worst." Elektra admits quietly, but she really isn't certain. The news will probably tell her later. With that, she continues on with him, walking casually through the park, trying to relax after all the madness.
She was a tough nut to crack, Foggy knew that, but he had enjoyed his time with her, and he was pleased as punch that she had done good, probably didn't kill the guy, he'd find out soon enough on the news, and until he heard otherwise, he was choosing to believe the guy survived. "Okay," is all he says about the may or may not have killed him. "Have you ever been to Belvedere Castle?" He asked, trying to return to normalcy after the brief excitement. "Or… if I'm going to spend time with you. Maybe you could train me?" He was trying to appeal to her interests.
A slight arch of her brow, "Train you? Foggy… you aren't…getting into this life style. It's too dangerous. I've brought enough of a mess to your doorstep." Whether she realizes that Matt is training him already or not isn't clear, but she's not bringing more attention of the Hand to him. She gives a slight shake of her head. "… And no. If you wish to go to this castle, we can check it out." And, with that, they return to their quiet, rather relaxing afternoon…