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It would be in the early afternoon, people still bustling about the city getting done what they need to. Birds were chirping, angry drivers were honking at each other…just trying to get from point A to point B.
Unlike them however, Robbie Reyes had different plans. Driving down the street with a revv of his black charger, he pulls up to a really nice parking spot, puts on the breaks and hops out, wearing jeans, his signature leather jacket with a black T shirt underneath, and combat boots. Though a dynamic change is the chain around his wrist, juuuust visible under his sleeve.
Opening the door, Robbie calls out "Hey Luke." He makes a straight B-line to the bar.
Luke Cage glances up from his duties behind the bar, lifting his hand in a wave. "Robbie. What can I get you today?" While Robbie makes his way over, Luke grabs a pint glass from the rack and places it down onto the counter, expecting a beer order some sort.
Speedball was wading down the street in his usual fare: flare bottom jeans, a shirt with no sleeves, flip flops and a messenger bag. He might dress like a hippie but at least he was hygenic. That happened when you have to take 4+ showers a day from dealing with causti and sometimes explosive substances. Safety first, kids!
He stopped outside and eyed the Charger walking over to it having the good sense to not lay hands on another man's vehicle. Hey, the guy was a goofball, but he had a sense of propriety. The bag was getting unshouldered as he made his way inside, "Luke the Duke!" He was fighting for it to catch on, but really, it was a token of respect rather than anything else. Seeing Reyes he grinned faintly, "Your car ain't it?"
Robbie smiled to Luke, offering a wave in return "Buenos Dias…though it's more afternoon now." He shrugs a little "whiskey por favor." He drops six dollars on the counter for Luke. "How you doin' big man?"
then Other Robbie comes in, and Reyes greets him with a small smile "yeah. Used to belong to my uncle. Took it and gave it a little love. How goes Baldwin?"
Luke Cage grins, "I may be rusty on my Spanish, but I am pretty sure Dias is day, so that should encompass the afternoon as well, wouldn't it?" He chuckles, swapping out the pint glass for a tumbler, reaching behind him to grab the whiskey from the shelf. "Rocks or no?" he asks Robbie, pausing right before the pour.
He turns his head to the other Robbie and chuckles, "Baldwin. I haven't seen Gidge today. Did you drive her off yesterday with your antics?"
Speedball blinked and looked back at the car. His shoulders slumped a bit. "Man… I hope not" His brow furrowed and that would be like, a legit total bummer. "I think Janet was tryin to rent me out though. That was kidna funny." How he kept company with Her Highness of Headlines was not really far fetched given his mother's celebrity. He seemed to take it in stride though. "She's probably at the shop. SHe's been working really super hard on that show tomorrow so I'm guessing she's prooooobably not slept yet and is still eating the same bagel from this morning."
Reyes chuckled a little bit, "Buenos Tardes for good afternoon, but Dias works too for ease of speech." He chuckles faintly "no rocks." He nods to Luke before turning his attention to Speedball Robbie "eh? I thought she was talking to Janet Van…Dyne or something like that. At least last I saw that was the case." A look to Luke "had to take off. No idea." He shrugs.
But even as they talked, their day was about to became twice as interesting, and apparently that much more dangerous. Bursting through the door would be nine men, wearing black masks that would be common amongst bank robbers and other stereotypical gems formed by culture. They were armed with mostly handguns, likely black market or other methods, though some had rifles. Without much of a warning, a few of them fire at the ceiling. "Everybody get your heads down! This is a robbery!" A bigger (muscular) man says, and pedestrians start to immediately get on the ground while others try to hide.
Reyes turns in his seat, looking at all the guns "easy, ese (homie). If I were you, I'd turn around and go home before this gets really ugly." He didn't seem in the -least- bit intimidated.
Luke is starting to pour the whiskey into the glass when the goons come piling through the front door. He lifts the bottle to prevent spillage and sighs, glancing from the gunmen the the ceiling then back. "Oh you motherfucker.." says Luke, obviously a bit on the angry side. He sets the bottle of whiskey down, wipes his hands on the towel and then starts to causally walk around the bar, then towards the 9 men without any concern for his safety. "The only thing that is going to get robbed 'round here is your bowels from its contents. Right into your pants after I beat the shit out of you for ruining my ceiling. I swear, if that went through my floor and shot my tv.."
Speedball was still standing in the doorway with his backs to the gun men. He looked at Reyes and Luke with a distressed expression, "Awww I just wanted a burger…" he was so hungry. He mouthed to them, can we get people out? Robbie B? He was concerned. There were civilians here, and that meant good people that could get hurt… and the ass at the end of the bar, but he didn't deserve to have a spontaneous bullet allergy. Not moving his hands he turned around to face the gunmen, "I don't suppose we can talk this out?" Oh Baldwin and that mouth of his. does he ever shut up? no, but what he was doing was trying to buy some folks some time. standing three feet from a shotgun was not HIS idea of a good time.
the gunmen all point their weapons at Luke at first, though seeing Robbie there two a third of them aim their weapons at him, causing him to sigh a little. If anyone was looking at Robbie's eyes…it was like a fire started to form. Though he didn't turn into anything, it would be a good sign to his fellows that Reyes wasn't your average Joe.
The apparent lead in this operation walks right up to Luke, clearly unknowing or uncaring if who he is. "Oh really asshat? MY bowels is gonna get removed? If you don't want your head blown off, I'd kiss my shoes if I were you, bitch." he points the gun right at Luke's head…likely Gunman was in for a rude awakening.
Then…Robbie tries diplomacy and even though he approaches, one of them just attempts to shoot Speedball for trying to be diplomatic! And then they shoot at Robbie! People these days. Thinking that Both Robbie's dropped from the shots, which would likely be VERY wrong, the leader stares look in the face expectantly.
However, the bullets literally bounce of him and Robbie just looks irritated. Hands at his sides and he cracks his neck a little then his knuckles "Bailan Asesinos.(let's dance assholes)" and suddenly, a long chain falls from his wrist, striking one of the Gunnar right in the face! The others look stunned! On his side of the room anyway. Though he positioned himself so that he could cover the people behind him as a meat shield. Party time.
"Wrong answer, motherfuker." says Luke as he lifts up a hand to grab the gunman's hand and squeezes. There is a crunching sound as the guy's hand starts to break from the force of Luke's grip, the metal of the gun bending and contorting along with it. The gun goes off right against Luke's head, and Luke pays it no mind as he lets the leader's hand go, and lifts a foot to shove it against the guys chest, sending the guy launching into the wall.
Speedball really didn't have to approach much as he never took more than five steps into the bar. The hammer went back on the weapon and the look was one that braced for impact as he leaned at the guy shooting at him at close range. He closed the gap and two things happened, both which might be described as physics' finest. The gun went off and there wasn't a spray of blood from the close range impact but an explosion of anber gelled lights, like a spray of jello in round bouncy chunks. THere was blood though as every fragment was ricochet back at the gunman and the guy 's arm next to him. That was still a lot of blood. The other thing that happened was Baldwin went flying back into the wall of the bar into the pictures that hung on the wall. He and shooter #3 will had a lot in common in this regard. The momentum was something and there were spirals of lights like a lava lamp all around him. Hey at least that shotgun didn't go off hitting civilians. That was pretty much his focus right now.
The gunmen leader goes -flying- and smacks against the back wall, falling immediately unconscious upon impact! Though…was was even more stunning was the jello like substance that came from speedball after taking a shotgun blast…and the gunmen beside the victims of the recoil were stunned…though with Robbie Speedball's lightshow, it just becomes open season. Bullets spring at Luke and Reyes en masse, attempting to kill them with likely the rest of their clip, and two gunners move to Speedball. One to probably to check if he was dead and another to try to grab a hostage….since this went from zero to 100 really quickly.
Reyes though does his own showcase. His chain catches on fire, and he reels it back to pull a gunman to him, stealing his shotgun and head butting him into unconsciousness! He then uses that shotgun to shoot what looked like burning embers that flail into his gut…not killing him, but leaving him in a world of pain. He tries to navegate to at least get near the other Robbie! But knows he may endanger those behind him. "Behind the bar! Now!" He commands, and people sprawl behind the bar as best they can.
Luke is a big man, and being bulletproof he does the best thing he can for the patrons of the bar, become a meat shield. He spreads his arms out, making himself as large a target as he can while the gunfire all but shreds his clothing to ribbons.
Once the clips run dry, he stalks forward through the pile of hot and misshapen lead at his feet towards the gunman who just tried to fill him with hot lead and bops each one on the top of the head with a little angry sound. "Goddamn it, I just had this place fixed up! My insurance is going to have a conniption!"
Speedball let Reyes and Luke close the gap withthe remaining gunmen. Where did the bloke in the blue tights come from? Who knows. He was escorting the pedestrian population to the back of the bar and making cover to get them out of the room catching one or two bullets that rebounded off of him and into teh wall. The problem with that was his power was a reactive one tso it was enough trajectory to send the kinetic dimension into overdrive setting off the chain reaction in him throwing him into one wall and building up almost a terminal speed as he bounced between the plaster and shot forward, ricocheting again off the floor, into the ceiling and back down to put himslef between hostage and shooter
with an Angry Luke Cage clobbering two more of the poor robbers, only two remain! The rest of the last two are mainly staring down Luke and Robbie….though perhaps more afraid of the former than the latter…until one wastes his last shot trying to shoot Robbie in the face. Robbie's head only lightly turns from the recoil, before looking at both robbers "Time to pay for your sins."
…and that's when it happened. His skin started to burn and disintegrate away from his face, turning into like ash that dissipated in the air. What remained? In unholy presence with a flaming skull and met with the cold…hellish eyes of the Ghost Rider.
one of the criminals screams "El Diablo! (The devil!) and runs away, the other standing there in absolute frozen terror, sweating buckets and pissing his pants. Robbie doesn't speak, but he approaches with a soft growl and a cruel, methodical step.
and thanks to this distraction, Speedball is able to get the civilians he was with out of there without anymore interference! What a hero! (Robbie Reyes add)
Luke Cage is about to go after the remaining gunman, but stops dead in his tracks. He stares at Robbie, or more to the point Ghost Rider, and utters a curse under his breath. "Holy shit.." the big man says, glancing between the Rider and the gunman, stepping forward, and between the two if nessecary. "No, don't kill him!" he says to the Rider. I mean, it might be judgmental, but what else is Luke supposed to think when someone with a flaming skull is going after someone.
Pedestrians were out. Bullets were out. Olives were also out. Robbie B. made a mental note to remind Luke more stuffed olives for later. As he peeled the alst of the hostages away askign them to call the cops and an ambulance he looked back "Didn't your momma ever tell you lookie no touch…ey…" Woah. There was a guy was zero skin on his head and was a human…skeleton? He was a mother blessed barbecue torch. Speedball was rarely caught at a loss for words and for a moment he gaped a bit like a fish. "Buddy, like I said, you super lreally mega picked the wrong bar. How are you so BAD at this?! Did you seriously not pay attention in burglar school cause it's okay, the playground moniters are on their way and will be happy to take you back." Now Speedball, nominally the Masked MArvel to teh papers and several ladies with very good taste, let him tell you how, was still a fan of the law. It was in his upbringing even if it worked against him. It was, oddly, on behalf of the burglars that he said, "Uhhhh Duder? Let's jsut drop the guns yeah? That guys needs medical attention really badly. Your friend is tore up. You're not walkin out of here without becoming a human marshmallow. Can we pleeeeeeease dispense of the weaponry?"
The Rider kept moving to the terrified soul, looking into his eyes as if he was peering into his very soul. He spun his chain in an effortless way that it wrapped around Ghost Rider's chest diagonally and perfectly. Even as Luke speaks, it pauses, and it turns it's head -slowly- to look at Look, answering with only an unnatural breath, the kind that would make the average person just sink in fear. Before glancing to the man that lay before him, who takes off his mask and just backs away slowly, breath caught in his own throat as he tries to beg for mercy, dropping his handgun in the process.
..It was just an 17 year old kid, and Rider knew this. More than likely one of the many who try to make a quick living. But this one was different. He was trying to help his mother with financial trouble, even though he went to a good school and had good grades…just wrong neighborhood. The Rider turned his head sloowly then to Speedball as he pleaded with the young man…finally, Ghost Rider turned his head to the young boy, who was still slowly inching backwards. And perhaps influenced by an inside presence (likely the Reyes Luke and Baldwin got to know), the Rider points at the young boy and finally speaks in a deep, otherworldly, ghastly voice. "Innocent." and the person just falls to his knees in terror as Ghost Rider looks away from him and to Luke Cage, maybe even reading him. it breathes, keeping an eye on the person for a moment. COps were in route, should get here pretty soon.
Meanwhile, Ghost Rider growls faintly, and his head stops the flames, and skin starts to regrow on his head…muscle by muscle, skin by skin, layer by layer, even hair starts to grow…and then it's Robbie Reyes again, who takes a breath after, looking at Luke and Speedball. Just gonna stay silent. "Cops will take care of you." he says to the boy, who just nods many times and looking like he's about to start going to church again.
Seeing that Reyes isn't going to do anything he is going to have to stop, Luke sighs and looks down at his clothes, or it would be more correct to say what is left of his clothes. Having been shot at point blank with auto fire rifles doesn't leave much left in the way of threads. Luke just tears the remains of his shirt from his body, letting it fall to the floor and start to pick up the firearms that have been dropped around the room. Each gun finds it's barrel bent into a knot in pretty short order, and piled near the door. Luke then starts to move around to gather the unconscious and pile them by the door as well.
"I don't know about you two, but I'm not exactly sure how I am going to explain all this…" he says with a sigh, looking around the mess of the bar. "I may have to cancel that order on the bike, man…looks like I am going to have repair bills to pay." he says to Reyes, turning his head to look at the man.
Luke heads over to the bar, grabs the bar towel, then moves over to the injured gunman, using the towel to put pressure on the wounds the guy has from the ricocheted bullets. "Man, you're lucky I am a magnanimous kinda guy."
Speedball was happy to get the guns disarmed and kicked over into a pile. Okay Torch head and Luke has the guy wetting his drawers, and the situation seemed to de-escalate. The Masked Marvel in blue tights was behind the bar (Ooh, cherry tomato) getting a bar towel and some ice wrapped in it with a fist full of napkins . He flipped back up over the bar landing in a hop hop and making his way to the guy that blast him with the shotgun, but instead caught all the bullets. It was still a nasty wound and he piled napkins on the wound to start a compress and put ice on it to slow it down. "Here ya go, ya dope. What'd ya think was gonna happen. You play with guns, people get hurt, and cosmic irony has a really really good laugh about it." He looked up, "Luke, you're out of olives, man." Still though he was making good withthe first aid. Besides, someone bleeding to death in Luke's bar would be double-bad. Awww man. So hungry right now.
Looking around and watching Luke and Baldwin take care of the guys with wounds, Robbie himself goes behind the bower to grab ice and a towel to help nurse the guy he kinda shot with hellfire bullets. He was burned really bad, and the bullets went almost straight through, but it was a non-lethal location, and he helped die down the burning with his control over the fire. "Keep the pressure on it and you'll be fine." He rises to his feet, not a kind of guy who would have first aid, though he glances to Luke when he says he may have to cancel his order "Don't worry about it. I'll still make it for you if you make me one deal." he says, leaving Luke to question him about it.
He does look to Speedball though, tilting his head, and probably not getting any hidden joke in that if there was one. "…this situation and all your thinking about is olives?" he asks curiously, though he does shake his head a little. "okay…" he returns to his seat at the bar, overlooking everything. After all, people tend not to trust a guy who just turned into a literal hothead.
Not even asking what the deal is, Luke just waves Reyes off and says "Yeah, yeah…I won't tell anyone you turn into a flaming skeleton, dude. We all got our secrets."
He glances to SB and smirks, "Well damn. I guess I won't be able to make you a fuckin' martini tonight, will I. Christ." He pauses then says, "Ever had a Gibson? How about a Vesper? Don't need olives for those." He shakes his head and looks to Reyes, "You best git if you want to be kept out of this. I've got Bounce Boy over here that can take credit for being the hero. Who knows, might get him laid."
Speedball blinked behind the amber lenses that seemed fit into the mask. Seriously, when did he have time to change!? The look was pure apology to them, "I haven' eaten all day. And no… it wasn't." he paused and added, "But you still have tomatoes and celery so I didn't think it needed to be brought up." Oh he was so proud of himself. Seriously his whole world might be food, pretty women, and ooh, what's that shiny red candy-like button do? He did keep pressure on the wound though and sat up a little straighter. Oh yes, he could do the hero thing. He had the tights for it. In a very, very sincere tone he said "You…are the best wingman ever. I want you to know I truly appreciate that from the bottom of my rubbery, bouncy heart duder. And You…" He blinked nad said frankly, "Well I got no room to talk. Thanks for being… ya know… cool about this. People do dumb stuff. No one got …really hurt."
Looking to Luke, Robbie nods appreciatively "I was going to say a free bottle of beer and we'd be square, but that works too ese." he nods a few times "Yeah…I should split. Maybe you can get Danny to help fix up the place fast." he starts walking through towards the exit, before he turns "..should I ask why your bulletproof." he states curiously, a similar question going to Speedball "..and why he's a walking lava lamp when he gets shot." he says, not turning his body to them, but his head. His car does start on it's own though.
"Later." says Luke as he looks to Reyes' at his question. "Long story, no time for it now. As for him…" Luke says, thumbing over in SB's direction, "I got no fuckin' clue. You'll have to get his story out of his sometime."
Luke looks to SB and smirks. "You want to take the credit, you go ahead. I'll happily pass the publicity your way." He looks down and sighs, "Not that I can explain how I am sitting here in jeans with a fuck-ton of bullet holes in them. Cat may just be out of the bag."
Speedball pointed withthe free hand out the door as Robbie-2 left and looked back to Luke. "One, I've been outed on teh east coast byt he GOvernment. I'll get tagged anyways so I guess it's okay. Two, you have a shirt in your office. I moved it when I went up there yesterday so that might help. And three I think El Rey' just won the cool powers game. He got a car while you got some mean guns and I got a cat? Man… some days it jsut ain't fair…though I will accept the accolades of adoring fans. But um, Luke…thanks." he looked at the guys they had piled in the booth. "Ya know… for being fair. HOPEFULLY you goof-offs learned."
Robbie Reyes nods a few times, cracking his neck a little "Fair enough. Who knows? Likely you've escaped popular attention before." he says simply, walking to his charger and getting in the car. and with a Rev, he backs up and off he goes! Just in time to dodge the cops as they start turning into the street.
"….this day just keeps getting better and better.." he shakes his head a bit as he drives off into the not-sunset.
Sadly enough, he's too far gone to hear Speedball's comments! Though he probably has a feeling what he said.