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"Here they come!" Shouts one Severin Bonaventure as he comes tearing around the corner toward JP. The goal was to get the group of thugs to chase Sev while JP hemmed them into the narrow alley by using a piece of nearby construction equipment to push a dumpster in front of the alley entrance. It'd slow them down just long enough so that Colette could waltz on in and distract the one or two guys left in the office and make off with what they'd gone in there to pick up — some ill gotten cash and jewelry that these fellas weren't really needing, after all.
Well, the chasin' part was working out real well as about four armed thugs were after Sev, and he with a bag full of nothing in particular they weren't smart enough to realize contained nothing of particular value. But Sev was waiting on JP to actually get them hemmed in before making his escape. Backing up toward the back wall he puts up his hands and says, "C'mon fellas, it's just a few things. You wont' mis'm. Promise." His accent is definitely Louisiana, but softened around the edges, not too pronounced.
Dressed all in black, with a black hood and a black mask, Chance is a shadow in the sky. He caught a look at the thugs, and watched as they chased the stranger. But, then he comes crashing down behind them, the batons in each of his hands clicking together to make a long metal staff. "I'm guessing, boys, that you're the bad guys and this fellow you're chasing is innocent. Right? WRong? Who wants to get their ass kicked?"
and here Sunspot was just chilling in his X-men attire, looking for any kind of crime that could use stopping…though he recalls the option to help out some friends in JP and Severin, managing to see the thugs and the stranger as he flew through the night sky like a flaming missile. Looking like a walking solar flare in his solar form, Roberto 'bobby' da Costa doesn't waste time in landing on the car. "Mind if I crash the party?"
JP was having a cig while waiting. Waiting for the - THERE we are! Aaaaah friends have arrived. He hopped up leaning on the wall to help hoist Sev out even though it wasn't strictly necessary as a gravel hauler backed in behind the people chasing them. "Well well wlel," he drawled with amusement, "look' like we just made it a pig pen. Look at da' litte piggies." He looked to Chance and then back to Sunspot and pointed at the people looking to get their goods back. "Those piggies there took our things. Jes' gettin em back. Have at." He looked to Jackrabbit and said simply, "Had to drop the car. Have to go back for it."
Well, things just got interesting. When Freefall and Sunspot suddenly drop in out of nowhere, Severin squints a little and looks from one to the other and then does his very best innocent rabbit face. And he's had a lot of time to perfect that face. "Now, we done jus' paid these fellas a visit and they didn't appreciate that we can't just let them go about takin' what don't belong to them. I'm thinkin' they'd greatly enjoy a proper ass whuppin' to think about their poor life choices." He grabs the hand that JP extends and allows himself to be hauled up onto the wall. With the four guys and two newcomers "trapped" in the alley, Severin shrugs his shoulders at JP and says, "Now this.. was unexpected."
Meanwhile, the four thugs, who were outnumbering Sev, find themselves facing an equal number of opponents, which is frustrating when one was hoping for a quick thumping before going back to the clubhouse. Two of them square off against Sunspot, a third goes for Chance, and one tries to grab at Severin to try to drag him back down off the wall and into the alley.
When a thug comes at him, Chance lets the man get in close before he's reaching out to touch him; all it takes is that moment of touch and he's slamming sideways… into the wall. He scrambles to stand up, and lets out a shout, as the wall is now down for him and he's in no way prepared to deal with a reality in which gravity has a flexible definition of down. Chance leaps into the air, doing a standing back flip and twisting in the air in a display of impressive acrobatics, only he comes down against the wall where the bad guy finds himself.. and Chance is used to fighting this way, so the staff swings out in a rapid arc to smack him upside the head.
Bobby sighs a moment when not one, but two thugs come at him. "Come on…..alright, I'll lend a hand gents." and to the thugs he smiles "Nothing personal boys!" and he enters into the fray, going with a more hand to hand approach, shoving one of the thugs away with a super-strength powered palm strike and the other he backs up to get distance, bobbing and weaving out of any strikes, before attempting to just throw him on the ground. Bobby's a wild fighter, but it's effective.
JP gave a look of mock surprise to his brother pulling him up the wall. "Well that is mighty generous of you, mon frere. Hear that boys? Yous just won yo'self a prize." The extra grab at the foot of Sev won that asshole a flick of a cig to the forehead. The downside was he was down a cigarette now. He looked to Sev. Yup. Free asswhoopin. There was a grin that was so happy these guys just would not listen to reason. "You do not wan' me to come down there." He did, they did not.
Now that, that is downright fascinating. Severin's head does a full 90 degree tilt as he watches Chance fighting one of the thugs ON the wall. "Will ya look at that. Ol' Remy didn' mention jus' how much fun this city was gonna be," he opines to JP as he turns to look over at Sunspot jumping in to lend a hand. The guy trying to grab onto him gets a cigarette flicked at him, but as he takes a firm hold of Severin's leg to jerk him back down toward the ground, he's suddenly left holding… a pair of pants, and a very angry snake slithering down his arm. The guy screams and starts waving his arm frantically to get the large black snake off. It's not coming off.
Chance's opponent is ill equipped to deal with this and so stumbles around on the wall trying to figure out how to stand up. The crack in the noggin sends him sprawling, sideways, against the wall, at least from the perspective of those for whom down still points toward the center of the earth.
Sunspot and his second opponent do a little dance back through the alley but it doesn't seem like the thug is making much headway, even as he swings wildly with a chain and manages to wrap it around Bobby's arm. The one who got hurled against the wall rubs at his head and gets back to his feet for another round.
Chance lets the bindings fall; as he does so he leaps into the air to spin and land gracefully on the ground, even as the goon crumbles to the ground in a pile. He glances between those others, "I'm called Freefall. I control gravity." That last he expects will not be a surprise to anyone at this point, but he blinks a little bit as turns into a snake. That was unexpected.
The chain the thug throws Bobby's way does wrap around his arm, but the chain almost just stays burning until it falls apart from the intense heat. "Just call me Sunspot." he says in reply to Chance, before using his firepowers to blast a catacomb of flames at the two thugs attempting to fight him.
JP hopped off teh wall and was not surprised by the snake. Honestly he was hoping for grizzly bear but what can ya do? The asshole who tried to hurt his lil brother though? He was getting a repeated hullo from both boys; the snake, and the Louisiana State Penn. bare knuckle boxing champ of 1961 (and holding barring that whole breach of parole thing). Between hits exchanged with the freaking out flailing thug he said offhandedly to the other two, "Jes' don' call me, I'm busy." He caught the fist that was aimed at his face with his hairlinedoing more damage to the otehr guy's hand than himself. Right! the thug was backing away and dealing withthe snake and trying not to wet himself. JP was in zero hurry. That gravel hauler though made like it was rolling forward to create a gap and stopped before closing again to butt up to the building like a pison slamming back. Judos for stopping an inch form the building. As Severin was being given opportunity to make the thug miserable for now the older Bonaventure picked his cig back up off the ground. Hey, it was still good. He looked to Chance and Bobby though, arching an eyebrow at the dissolving chain and whathave you curiously. Damn, day jsut got intereting.
The thug drops the pants in an effort to try to get the snake off his arm, but Severin just keeps coiling around and around down the man's entire arm and then begins to squeeze which causes the thug's eyes to go wide in terror and he starts to scream. Sev might be having a little bit too much fun with this particular guy, but hey, this distraction is taking up a lot more time than he'd imagined, so why not keep it going? The sound of his voice is clear in the heads of those gathered, even though the snake's mouth never moves. "Jackrabbit," comes the Louisiana drawl. That didn't come from JP.
The thug with the snake on its arm seems more inclined to run than anything else, seeing his buddies in no shape to de-snake him, he tries to head for that gravel hauler, to try to climb over, under or through it in an attempt to get away. For the time being, Severin rides it out.
Meanwhile, however, the other three thugs don't seem to be faring all that well. Eventually though, Severin slithers off the thug and lets him try desparately to scramble all over the gravel hauler. Slithering back up the leg of the pants discarded on the ground, the snake once more takes the form of the younger Bonaventure brother. "Thanks for the assist," he says to Sunspot and Freefall.
Freefall glances around, and since there's no cops, and only allies, he reaches up to slip his mask up to rest it on his head, "Anytime." He flashes a mild grin, "I'm also Chance, sorry about the mask— and by the way if you see anyone else who isn't me with masks these days? Run the other way, and don't listen to them. But they won't take off their masks." He looks curiously at Sev, "Shapeshifting of some variety?" he ventures a guess.
Once those thugs are down, cracking his neck a little, Sunspot lowers his solar cloak to reveal his X-men attire. "Names Roberto. Friends call me Bobby. Nice to meet you Chance." he nods lightly, though he does tilt his head at Severin's shapeshifting ability. Though he looks to JP after.
JP actually let the thugs get the door open to the gravel hauler to try to climb through it. The joke was on them when the loks threw back shut and they found it was moving without keys. JP snerked and said, "They goin nowhere." He took a drag off the cig and shook his head looking for the unseen one. He murmured distractedly. "Gearhead. Also, we need to get moin, and soon." They were stayin too long in one area.
Over in the gravel hauler the guy inside was trying to get out with a ka-tunk-klack over and over as he was teasting the trapped man withthe door locks. JP was a dick. There was no apology for that from him. He looked back to either of the men not related to him and laughed, "Goddamn how many mutants we have out here? We gon' attract too much attention out in the open. They's gon' come back with more friends you know that."
The thing about shapeshifting is the whole lack of clothing thing. Fortunately he shapeshifts back into his pants. However, that means he still needs to plunk himself down and pull his socks and boots back on, as well as his shirt. "Damn, that's gonna get cold in th'winter time." He reaches for his jacket, and that too is tugged back on before he runs fingers through his hair to push it back, "Severin, Sev'll do."
Then he looks over toward JP and says, "Colette's got the others under control, no doubt." He gives him a grin and a light elbow in the ribs. "They're not goin' anywhere so long as you keep'm in there." But then he says, "Yeah.. shapeshifting's my thing. Any animal I've seen, I can be. This is my brother. He controls machines," he nods in the direction of the hauler.
Chance can't help but snickers softly at Severin's predicament, but he glances back to JP, "I am— was— patrolling looking for anyone that needed rescuing. I don't know that we'll attract a lot of attention, well I might, but if someone comes, it sounds like we can handle it. Maybe its what the neighborhood needs." He nods to Sunspot, "Bobby." he flashes a grin.
Bobby nods a bit to JP "Yeah….there's alot of us mutants you know. But like what Chance here said….we can handle it. Though getting moving would likely be quite wise." he looks around then, cracking his elbow. Though he does nod at Severin. "Severin."
JP looked at both the other fellas like they grew a second head. "Yeah I don't doubt that but I don't feel up to tangle with the damn cops neither. Might be what the neighbourhood might need but sure as hell ain't what ol' JP's needin." That said he snapped his fingers like he was turning over an ignition, which he was, and the gravel hauler started driving off with thug #3 in it. Where it was going he didn't say but it amused the hell out of the mechanic. He swung a look back aorund to Sevrin, "I'm gon' go pick up Colette n' bring the car back round."
"Maybe it is," Severin says in agreement to Chance, and then grins over at JP. "Alright. You go round up Colette. I'll meet you guys back at the motel." And when JP heads out he turns back toward Bobby and Chance and says, "My brother, sister, an' I, we came up from New Orleans lookin' for a buddy of mine. Nice to meet some of the locals."
"Well met." Chance pauses, then adds seriously, "But, really, be cautious. There's these people with masks who are capable of stealing mutant powers and sharing them, and they're… hunting, in the city. They're who I was out looking for. The masks don't have any one look, so if you see *anyone* with a mask who says anything remotely sociopathic, arrogant, or suggestive, escape. Fast."
Bobby would give JP a nod as he takes off "Later." before he looks then to CHance as he warns them of people with masks who can steal mutant powers….trippy. "Noted…I'll keep an eye out." he looks then to Severin "Hope you find who you're looking for. If you need help, give a call." he nods, before he enters his solar form again and flies off into the sky like a flaming missile.
Both brows go up as he turns his attention back to Chance and the talk of masks. It wasn't that he hadn't heard him the first time, but he hadn't really thought much of it. But now he says, "Serious business these masked folk, eh?" He looks Chance over. If the guy who can shift gravity says they're serious business, he seems to be willing to give it some serious consideration. "Alrighty then. You gotta number or somethin'? If you're hunting these guys, then maybe we can tip you off if we see any of them kickin' around. Nobody gets to steal our abilities and trade'm around. I'm no baseball card to be collected." That just don't sit right. There's a ndo given to Bobby as well and he says, "Have a good night," as the man takes off into the sky.
Chance reaches into a hidden pocket, pulls out a wallet, and hands over a busines. Will Chance Investigations. Chance Alexander, private investigator. "If you call, ask my secretary for Mister Smith. It'll get you past her and to me, since that's no one and a codeword she knows to take." He nods more firmly, "Yeah, they don't get to steal powers. And some of what they do is stolen from kids. I'm so very much not okay with that."
Severin's got a very flexible moral fiber, but fuckin' with kids isn't his gig. "Yeah, no, fuck that. You wanna take someone's shit, you take it from someone your own size." He takes the card and flips it over, reading it, and then tucking it away into his inner jacket pocket. "Got it, Mr. Smith." He nods once and commits it to memory for later. "If we see any of those mask-wearing guys around, we'll give you a ring."
"Oh, and if you see some dude who seems to have chain-telekinesis? As in he— and I say he but recognize he might be in a lady's body— has chains flying around him. Run away real, real, real fast. Do not engage. That's their boss and he's moderately terrifying." Chance nods his head emphatically, at this, "But yeah, give me a ring. What are you into otherwise? I make a point to patrol mutant town every night, looking for people causing trouble. These Friends of Humanity for example, who killed like sixty people one night. Not all mutants, either, but all mutant-friendly."
Severin takes all of that in, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking a bit in his boots, "Chain guy or girl bad. Do not engage. Sure. I'm good with running." With a name like Jackrabbit, one might make some assumptions there. There's a flash of a grin when asked what he's into. "Music, long walks in the bayou, tauntin' alligators, takin' things from folks who take things that aren't theirs, runnin' jobs that make it hard for folks who target us, make their lives difficult." He shrugs his shoulders, "Little of this, little of that to get by."
There's a long stare. Taunting alligators. Chance just… blinks, "Right, so. Welcome to New York City, where we don't have alligaotrs, or a bayou, and while I can get completely behind the Robin Hood thing, maybe invest in a mask. The police are a little active around here. Also, really, no aligators." He can't help but laugh softly.
Severin wasn't entirely serious, and the long stare plus the blinking earns Chance a laugh from the shapeshifter. "I find most cops don't arrest rats, pigeons, stray dogs, cats, raccons. Hey, raccoons got masks. Will that do?" He flashes a grin then. "An' I hear the big white alligator in the seweres is a myth. Though, I could totally make that one real and scare the shit out of some people if I felt so inclined."
"Fair point: my only real defense against annoying cops is well, I can freaking fly." Chance laughs softly, "Well not so much fly as fall up." He shrugs, twists his staff and it separates into two batons, that he slides into sheathes on the back of his armor. "Its worth a try. But. Until we next meet. Call me if you need any backup— about masks, about anything."