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Harlem is a neighborhood on the edge. Sure, it's a dangerous part of town. But then again, it's a popular dangerous part of town. Plenty of people like to come slumming out here, looking for a good time with a little bit of an edge. And with a better class of prey comes a better class of predator. Mobs are moving in, and if you aren't careful, you can end up on the wrong side of a gun.
Ava knows that. And while SHIELD gives her the opportunity to occasionally do something official about them, there are times when she prefers to handle things herself. June means the heat of summer is starting to sink into the New York City air, ripening the stench of the garbage in the dumpster below the fire escape where she's perched, her oversized coat mostly hiding the white and red of her gear.
At the mouth of the alley, just down the street, there's a jazz theater letting out for the night. Fresh meat for the hunters.
Lorna was one such person leaving the jazz theater. Dressed in a pink, long sleeved dress and matching flats, her green hair hanging loose down her back. Why was she there? Why not? The young mutant had been bored stiff in the mansion and as a result, had sought out just about any excuse to get out and about. She seemed relaxed and at ease as she moved down the sidewalk.
Perhaps it was a bit odd for a college aged girl to be out alone, but she didn't looked armed at all.
It was otherwise a pleasant summer night for her. And it was just a short walk to the nearest bus station and then onwards to her car and home. She hummed the remaining strains of a song she'd just heard under her breath, tapping the beat against her thigh idly.
Further up and across the way from the fire escape upon which Ava perches, another figure stands guard over the night. Batman stands atop a roof, far above the city street. He is outfitted in his typical gear, the bat cowl of his suit making him unmistakable from the rumors of the caped vigilante that had been circling the city as of late. As the wind blows through the upper reaches of the city, Batman's cape billows out dramatically. His eyes are cast downward, watching the city and its inhabitants far below, eyes carefully scanning the streets for any sign of trouble.
Trouble looks for targets. And tonight, that means Lorna. As she passes by one alley, a trio of young men falls in behind her with a swagger and a wolf-whistle. "You know boys," the whistler calls back to his compatriots, "I hear the freaks get into all sorts of freaky things."
On the fire escape, Ava straightens up just a bit, leaning over to get a look at the approaching trouble, only to pause when she sees just who the boys are following. For just a moment, there's the faintest hint of a smirk across her features. She could almost feel sorry for them.
How many times had her family members said 'Trouble' was Lorna's middle name? It wasn't that the green haired teenager actively sought it out. It was simply that it seemed to follow her like a puppy. Tonight, it seemed that rule was going to hold up. A blink, and Lorna twisted around to eye the gaggle of young men trailing after her and she scowled.
A quick glance and narrow of her eyes followed, as she ran her senses over them, noting what metal was on them.
"Look, you know what freaks like me do to jerks like you, right? Leave me alone." She shot back, shaking her head before moving to continue on her way. She was not going to engage them unless they forced her hand.
Batman also hones in on the situation developing below with little trouble. He crouches where he stands, left hand falling to grip the concrete of the roof edge beneath his feet as he watches the interaction between the three goons and the young woman. Considering for a moment longer, Batman pushes off of the rooftop, extending his arm to either side and forcing his cape to extend. The material bulges as it catches the wind, and in a slow spiral downward the Batman begins, ever watching the three ruffians.
"Baby, it's the freaky things you do that we're interested in," one of the boys calls with a nasty laugh, the trio moving closer to try to herd Lorna over toward the alley. The sound of the cape in the air catches Ava's eye, though. Lorna she knows is capable of handling herself. More or less. But this? This is a new and interesting player.
Halfway through shrugging out of her coat, she pauses, leaning along the edge of the balcony to observe without interrupting.
A look of annyoance deepened to open hostility on the green haired mutant's features. Her jaw clicked as her mouth shut and she stiffened as she glared at them. Her shoulders rolled back, and she shifted her grip on her purse. "Alright. Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you. Stupid baselines." She growled, the first time she'd actually used the expression that Josh and others constantly dropped.
"Back off and leave me alone." She snapped, and lifted her hand throwing a pulse of magnetism at the group to push at whatever metal was on them and knock them down. Possibly by the fly of their pants and belt buckles.
The Batman watches as he circles ever downward, watching as the goons continue to heckle and attempt to herd the young woman toward the dark alley. His eyes narrow as he comes ever lower, perhaps the large winged shadow snaking across the group as he passes beneath an overhead street lamp. He sees the woman push her hand out at the trio, and just barely has enough time to register movement from the group in response before he is rapidly approaching the whistler. He pivots where he flies, bringing his booted feet up and before him to stomp both feet at the goon's chest. His legs flex, shoving at the man as hard as he might while still getting his feet beneath him to land in a crouch, cape fanning around him.
The pressure of magnetism is enough to make all three of the boys stumble half a step, though one glances down at his belt buckle with an ugly grin. "Aw, c'mon, baby, you want to take them off, we can have a lot more fun with it-"
Before he can make any further commentary, though, the breath is knocked out of him (and he's knocked firmly onto his ass on the sidewalk) when the Batman slams into him. Something else clatters to the sidewalk next to him, dislodged by Lorna's magnetism: a switchblade.
From the alley, there's another whistle, though this one is different, at least to Lorna. A familiar cadence, with a flash of red as Ava pulls a cap off her distinctive hair and waves to the other girl.
Surprise and shock register on the young woman's features as the dark cloaked figure shuts up another smart comment from the leader of the troubling bunch. Just as she flung out her hand to levitate the switch-blade to her. Her other hand held out at her side and at the ready to start knocking back the other men if they so much as flinched in her direction. Though she seemed to be content to leave Batman to handle the goon he'd selected to knock down.
The whistle caught her attention then, and as Ava arrived with a wave, a look of relief flashed over her features. "Hey! Long time no see!" She grinned, continuing to back up away from the goons and incidentally the black clad figure that had swooped in to her aid.
Batman had just begun to kick out toward the switchblade as it zoomed through the air toward the woman behind him. Changing course, the caped man steps forward and instead places his boot directly upon the throat of the leveled man, glaring down at him. His hand moves to the utility belt enclosed around his waist and pulls forth a sharpened metal projectile, a batarang, which he hurls at one of the other men with a sidelong glance.
Ava smirks slightly back at Lorna, though she holds a finger to her lips as well, tipping her chin in the direction of the caped crusader. Easy enough to read. The little spy is spying, no need to call attention to her.
Then again, the Batman looks to be busy with the trio of would-be thugs. While the man on the ground may be surprised, he's not so surprised that he's ready to give up. "Freak!" he croaks around the boot at his throat, reaching up to grab at the ankle and try to pull him off balance.
His friend isn't quite so lucky with the beatarang - it's gone through his hand before he can so much as reach for his own knife.
It's the third member of the little crew who seems to have at least some ambition, though his brains are debatable - he heads for Lorna, trying to get an arm around her neck for leverage.
Ava's shhing motion had Lorna rolling her eyes but Lorna didn't call out further.
As the third member tries for her neck, Lorna snaps what little control she had over the levitating knife breaks as she turned her entire focus onto the man trying to grab for her neck. While he might have superior strength and even skill in hand to hand, Lorna didn't so much as try her hand at that. Rather, a shout escaped her and she hurled whatever magnetism she could at the goon.
When he wasn't so clearly able to grab a hold of her, she twisted around to face him. Her hands snapped up between them and the fire escape above moved. It quickly snaked around the otherwise stumbling man, attempting to wrap around him and pin his arms to his sides where she put pressure on it.
"I told you to leave me alone."
Batman growls as the man calls out at him, offering an almost mean smile as he presses more weight on the man's throat. "Yeah…" he growls down at the man below, "I guess I am a freak… but that still isn't as bad as you…. trying to prey on the innocent." He keeps an eye on the second man, watching should the goon decide to attack. Reaching to his side, he pulls what appears to be a gun with a large grapple hook attached to the end, a spool of thin rope beneath the barrel.
The man who might have held Lorna captive against his friends' safety finds himself suddenly in the opposite position, and clearly it's stumped him. "What the- Where in- Who-" Nope, he's got nothing intelligent to say yet. The man on the ground gives a little choking sound at the extra pressure, wiggling a bit but unable to do more than that without risking his neck - literally.
The last man? He runs, hand around the batarang stuck into his opposite palm.
Meanwhile, on the fire escape, Ava squints at the grappling gun, already moving toward the ladder. The bullies and goons are a dime a dozen. The man in the cape? That's new.
Batman does not seem as if he is going to use the grapple to spring away just yet, but rather pulls a length of extra rope from the gun and stoops to tie the pinned goon's feet and hands. Pulling the rope over his shoulder, he drags the man across the pavement toward where his compatriot is wrapped in the ladder. He moves quickly, wrapping the rope around the ladder and insuring that the man is bound to his partner. Ava earns herself a glance before Batman growls, "If you are looking for trouble, I can promise you that you found it."
Ava quirks a brow, head tilting ever so slightly. "Do I look as though I am looking for trouble?" she counters, though she hasn't given up her perch just yet. For all she's swathed in an oversized coat that only a homeless person would be wearing this time of year in the city, there are a few tell-tale bulges beneath it for the observant. Blades. Pistols. Then again, she's kept her nose out of this fight so far.
"This city is full of people who intentionally appear as though they are not looking for trouble. It is a part of the trap. The lure," Batman says, his tone not growing any friendlier as he turns to face the woman more directly. "Who are you?" he says in a gruff voice.
"Who are you?" Ava counters, letting go of the ladder to cross her arms on the railing, leaning on them. Woman might be an overstatement. No doubt her manner and the coat contribute to the impression, but she hardly looks like she could be eighteen, if that. And yet, she acts as though she's seen far more than any teenager should. "Not a mutant. Not a sorcerer." A faint flicker of a smile, blink and you'll miss it. "Not Tony Stark."
Batman casually stoops, retrieving the batarang that had missed its target before. Standing back upright, he offers Ava a fake smile before his arm snaps forward, the blade zipping through the air to stab into the brick of the building behind her. In that moment of hoped for diversion, Batman raises the grapple gun and fires, triggering the hydraulic lift and zooming off into the night.
Ava slips to the side, and though it's only a moment of distraction, it's enough for the man in the cape to zip away to the next building where following is a bit more difficult. For a long moment, Ava watches after the retreating form, frowning curiously, before she slowly turns around to retrieve the weapon. Interesting.