1965-05-14 - Street Fight
Summary: Some thugs set upon Lambert. Billy and Vic join the fray.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
billy vic lambert 


Towards the north eastern part of East Village, the buildings are somewhat more run down. While not quite ghettoised until one is in close, mutant buildings are not repaired well, and sometimes have accidents of various kinds. They catch fire, they lose power. As one follows the roads towards the river in that part of East Village, the odd street sign has been vandalised. There are alleys and subway entrances here and there - everyone needs to have deliveries to stores or buildings, and everyone needs to catch the train to go to work.

Lambert has just headed out of China town, and he has his yoke across his broad shoulders, each heavy basket laden with various vegetables. Those with the right contacts know where to go to get the best onions and asian garlic is often hotter and fiercer than russian. And speaking of hotter and fiercer, there is something becoming audible. Lambert swearing heavily in Greek at a youngish gang of men, some of who are wearing stylish caps with 'MM' written on them. Three years ago, that would have stood for Mau Maus. But by this point New York's gangs have been shifted by the existence of mutants - the Puerto Rican gang has not yet become the Vampires, and right now 'MM' is 'Mutant Menacers'.


Vic spies Lambert, and he jogs up to him. "Do you want me to carry that, boss?" he asks. The group of men are eyed, and his jog slows to a rolling walk. "Everything okay here?" He's got such a guileless way of presenting himself. T-shirt stretched over muscles, well-worn jeans, big innocent eyes. He's just here to help, honest.


Billy is out with Vic, and so when Vic takes to jogging, Billy goes with him. Whereas Vic is guileless, Billy is an accepted member of the Ancient and Honorable Guild of Guys Who Get Beat Up By Thugs. He looks at the gang, and his mind rings: Thugs who are going to want to beat me up.

People don't really do that to Billy anymore, so the expression that settles onto his features is cool, calm, and slightly challenging. His right hand closes into a fist to hide the building charge of electricity that wanted to arc between his fingers, though.

Also, Billy is presently dressed in a pair of jeans and a simple blue t-shirt, both of which are very fitting.


Of course, Vic _is_ insanely strong. Probably more so than Lambert, who these days has pushed slightly beyond the bounds of human possibility. Only just. Not enough to be entirely surrounded by eight to ten people, certainly. Lambert glances up, and does actually look a little relieved! Clearly his vision has deteriorated somewhat more, as it takes him a moment to recognise Vic. Lambert? Is just glad to see _anyone_ apparently. Or, for that matter, Billy. "Yes Vic, that could be good -" says Lambert, as one of the young men aggressively demands "What's with the griego being all out of Hell's Kitchen?"

Lambert looks young enough to be one of the Hells Kitchen Greek boys, and unfortunately for him is wearing his red letter jacket, which further cements an allegiance he does not actually have. "He's a mutant too, eh!" comments one of the others "You guys stay out of this!" The leader, who has a dark red cap isntead of a bright red one, balls up a fist "We'll make sure he doesn't come back here!"


Vic glances back, and Billy is coming with him. Good. He flashes his big brother a grin. "That's my boss," he says with a nod to Lambert. "Lambert Petropolous." The gang is given a look. He's sizing them up, checking out the surrounding area. Yeah, this is going to go south. "Hey, guys." He waves a little. "Why doesn't everyone just calm down and we'll go our way?"


"Hi, Lambert. I'm Billy, Vic's big bro." Billy flashes a dimpled grin for Lambert.

But, the stance that Billy falls into is clearly a combat stance, though to street thugs probably doesn't look especially strong. Its to loose, too relaxed, but Billy's SHIELD training has finally kicked in so he bends knees and elbows and holds hands relatively loose. "Guys, you have bought twenty bucks of trouble with only five bucks in your wallet; go away now and you all wake up tomorrow without any broken bones or scars. Persist, and at least one of you won't be walking for awhile, and the rest will wish they had the hangover of all hangovers. You have exactly one warning. This is it." Billy is a pretty white boy who leans towards the slender side of the equation, but he speaks with such complete confidence. He has a zero tolerance Bully policy since you know, the last time he got swirly'd in high school. Also SHIELD training.


Lambert himself has ducked his head slightly - to put his skull first. For Lambert, despite the big bruise he has still got around one cheek? His thick skull is his best defence. It is designed to take heavy blows. A hand lifts as Vic introduces him, but the hand is cautious - because Lambert does not want to spill these onions nad containers of garlic he has spent time dickering for.

The old Mau Maus would never have stood down for a white kid, any more than the average member of the Lords would have given a Puerto Rican kid a fair fight. And it is unlikely to change with these new versions as they listen to what Billy says "What, five bucks? Is he saying he would steal money?" demands one, and there is a hushed amount of speech, but…inevitably? The leader says "Get the mutant!" Poor Vic. Will _no one_ be the voice of reason? The whole little group of them jump Lambert, who just yells "This is unhygenic - food shouldn't be -"


Vic tried. He did try! But now thes people are jumping on Lambert, and he doesn't say anything. Instead, he dives in, grabbing one of the gangsters by the shoulders and whipping him back about ten feet til he hits a parked car. Yeah, Vic is a strong boy. "Billy!" he calls back. Billy will figure it out. Billy's smart. There's a fight afoot! Vic hasn't taken to punching yet. He's just peeling and throwing.


Let's be clear here. Billy is not a front line fighter. He's fit, but he's not especially strong. He's fast, but he's a little small. But what he is? Is professionally trained by an international spy agency to end fights. He's no expert, but he's been deemed minimally acceptable. Against other spies, he loses. Against street thugs who tend to rely on brute force and not actual martial arts? He has the edge. As they move for Lambert, he moves for one on the edge, spinning quickly and kicking out with a kick aimed right for his throat, meaning the guy not to, well, die, but have a lot of trouble breathing for awhile, and have trouble getting up again. He never stops being in motion, turning to the side to lift an arm and parry a hit from another with a lifted arm— and what no one can see, a brief wall of telekinetic force augmenting his parry so he doesn't get harmed at all (he cheated)— as his other hand comes out to do quick punch to the kidney of the second guy before his hand comes down to deliver a friendly kidney hug to the guy's other kidney, too. At this point he loose formation of his stance has fully given way to the obvious training he's gone through. "We got this, Vic."


There is, very suddenly, chaos. Because one of the people has been whipped away at high speed, and another has been thrown up and down and tossed to one side. And then another is falling down. These young men can fight, however - and are well used to doing it. They have had to learn, hard and fast, and so the next thing that happens is one of them turns around and opens up an aerosol can of hair spray - and a lighter.

FWOOMP. FLAME.

The arch of flame heads out towards Vic and Billy, and the man Billy is currently attacking, which is probably not the intention. Flame whips up as Lambert himsef picks up one armed with a knife and uses him as an unwilling human shield. Now Billy and Vic find themselves amongst those still standing - apparently four, as they have already dealt with several, and Lambert has one. But there is the sharp smell of the fixative in hairspray and it's flammability.


Vic angles to put himself between the flame and Billy, and he cries out as his shirt singes and his arm and shoulder blisters. He turns his face away from the onslaught, then kicks the arsonist in the stomach to send him back. He pats out his shirt and smouldering jeans with a raw and blistered hand. As the remaining four stand against them, Vic settles into a formation back-to-back with Billy. "You okay?" he asks. He's got an angry red burn on his cheek. "You okay, boss?"


Billy instinctively reaches a hand out, and a barrier of telekinesis rises up between him and the flame, and… that changes things. Wanna punch and get punched? Okay, that's fair. Try to burn him and his brother, and things are different. Especially since as instinctual as that was, it wasn't fast enough not to leave an angry blistered burn on the hand that lifted the barrier. It seems both brothers try immediately to protect eachother, but neither are quite fast enough.

With the hand held out to hold up a barrier to where the flame was as he stands back to back with Vic, electricity begins arching out from pupils that suddenly burn with plasma's light, and that electricity crawls down his body, over his shoulder and down his free hand to gather in a glowing ball of crackling energy that is forming in his hand.

"That hurt."

Billy reaches the uninjured hand out suddenly, and from the ball of lightning in his grip a bolt arcs out to strike at a thug nearby.

"Kinda a lot. You know what? I'm pissed." Billy does _not_ cuss.


Lambert yelps at the flame himself, and for that matter at the knife in the hands of the one he has met. He really is handicapped by his heavy weights, so the fact is that the brothers have to defend him. One of the MMs just drops and runs at this - the one that Vic threw earlier. And as he does so, another calls out, in desperation "You can' run - I saved your life that other week from those Irish bastards with the _gun_ -!" Life can be difficult here, and is likely to really get so for the one who fled.

The one that lightning hit is rendered unconscious immediately, and there is another young man unconscious on the ground.

The MM with the pressurised can sprays the hairspray wildly into the air, creating a sort of unpredictable arc of covering fire that goes up like a shot when the lightning goes through it. Little fragments of flame hiss and arc, and one of the _uninjured_ ones just grabs the jacket of a man on the ground to drag him to safety. The fact is, they fight like people who care about one another. Annoyingly. But now? Billy and Vic have routed them, and those who can move are trying to help off those who can't. "Don't come back to Brooklyn," one says to Lambert "Without your friends, eh? Greeks stay in Hells Kitchen!" Lambert just looks annoyed, a hand clapped to his arm where he is bleeding "The kitchen supplies there are terrible, I don't know why they call it Hells Kitchen," he complains to Billy and Vic both "Er. You both smell of burning -"


"Yeah, we're burning," Vic says to Lambert. He winces, but he's no worse for wear, not really. The red mark on his cheek is already starting to fade. He stands down, watching the remnants of the gang drag off the ones who got downed. "You okay?" he asks Lambert, going over to him. He claps him on the shoulder. "How did this happen?" He turns toward Billy, and he smiles a little. "You okay, too?" He looks Billy over. Billy looks fine. "Are we going after them?"


Billy lifts his left hand with a wince; its got an angry red burn, and blisters will fester, so he cradles it. "I'll be fine." he says though, "My hand caught just the edge of it, you took most of it before I got the shield up. Sorry." He sounds sheepish, "I shouldn't have tried to provde I was cool and kick their butts…" Though he did totally kick a couple, "…and just _ended_ the thing to begin with, gone full on mage of fury. I figured I shouldn't use the magic against randomt hugs if not needed. But, ow." He shakes his head then, "Let's not go after them."


Vic glances down at his burnt side. The blisters are fading into redness. "I don't mind," he says. Though it does hurt, and as it heals, it itches. He scratches at a singed patch of denim. He nods then to Billy's suggestion not to go after them. "Yeah, I think they've learned their lesson." He grins as he says, "You did totally kick butt, though. Have you been training? I've been training a bit with Dad. I pinned him once, but then he wiped the floor with me."


"Oh dear, maybe we should take you both to get some antiseptic cream for that," says Lambert "Burns can go bad, very easi…ah, did you just _heal_?" He winces as Vic claps him a little, but then he grins - why not "Er, yes, but I have a hole in me. If we go home, I have cream, and someone can stitch me up." He just seems to assume hospitals are not for people like them "They heard me swearing in Greek and thought I was part of one of the Greek gangs in Hell's Kitchen - they all wear red jackets. _Apparently_." Lambert scowls, and then he says "Oh! No, do not ever go all in unless you really know! Even then, ehhhh, I was going to fake being unconscious if they hit me in the head. I can't really feel even a big punch in the head. My skull is way too thick." He beams at Billy, but the smile fades "Er, your hand, it looks terrible. There is a compounding chemist on the way home. Let us get you something? Even if you are a…are you a super soldier?"


How to explain this? Billy isn't going to lie to his family. He might not be able to tell the truth entirely, but, "Vic, ask me about training later. When we're alone." He says this pointedly, looking to Lambert, shaking his head, "Don't worry about it. Once we get you somewhere safe, I'll go to Dad." He hesitates, and lifts his good hand over his bad, and waves it back and forth slowly, "Heal, heal, heal, heal." And as he murmurs, the blisters recede, the redness lessens. The burn doesn't completely go away, but the worst of it does. He looks back to Lambert, and blinks, "I'm not a super soldier, I'm Vic's brother." How to explain this. He decides on: "I am a Wizard of the First Order."


Vic nods to Billy, blindly agreeable. Whatever the big brother says, it's got to be the right thing. "Sure thing, Billy." Then he tells Lambert, "Let me carry that yoke for you." He goes to shoulder it. For him, it's no trouble whatsoever. "Billy, is there anything you can do for the hole in Lambert? I'm afraid I can't heal anyone but myself. I don't really try to, it just happens. Should we head back to the restaurant?"


"Ohh, a wizard!" Lambert brightens, visibly "Like Constantine, and Monty, and Steven, and Wanda!" He knows…wizards? And apparently is on familiar terms with them. He then says "Wow, I wish I could do that…oh, it's easy, Vic. All I need is something to hold it together, and it'll get better. I'm, ah, designed to be robust." He does lean over to peer at Billy again, and then he says to Vic "You can carry that. I have other friends I don't let do it, but for you, it's nothing…" And it truly is. Lambert says "I wouldn't mind. Maybe we should go there, and I can sit down." He grimaces "That was actually a bit of a shock. Being attacked!"


Billy quirks his head, listening to Lambert a moment, then shrugging, "Stephen and Wanda are our parents." He nods to Vic when his brother asks for healing of his boss. Well, since Lambert knows them, no harm no foul, right? "Hold still." he instructs to Lambert with a firm tone of voice. Where Billy is clearly of limited effect on his own healing… He steps up and lays a hand over Lambert's wound, and closes his eyes, and foucses, "Heal, heal, healhealhealHEAL." The last comes out as a shout, and there is a far greater effect to this application then what he could do for himself. Reality twists around Billy's will and settles into a shape he desires, and here, he doesn't want Lambert hurt.


Vic nods quickly. "Yeah, that's our dad and mom." He beams at Lambert, happy to play brute muscle for the satyrkin. As Billy works his mojo, Vic watches. His big brother is so cool. "Isn't that groovy?" he tells Lambert, regarding his lack of being wounded. "Billy can do anything," he says. He shifts under the scant weight he bears. "I didn't know you knew my mom and dad so well."


"What the -" says Lambert to 'Stephen and Wanda are our parents'. He honestly looks more shocked at _that_ than at anything else at all. Indeed, he does stay still, mostly because he is surprised beyond all reasoning "They have _children_?" he asks, and then his long ears go rather flat at that last 'Heal'. Oh, indeed, Lambert is _not_ hurt now. But Billy is pushing magic of one type into a vessel (if a tiny one) for magic for another type entirely. It feels…weird. Control going into something entirely disorganised. Lambert's eyes cross briefly, and then he says "I give W…Wanda honey, and Strange has. Tea at my restaurant." Now his tail is twitching "…I need to…that feels. Weird."


"Our family tree is complicated." Billy says with a light shrug. Yes, there is no possible way Wanda is the mother of someone who looks to be in his lat teens, which is Billy and VIc. But the guys have such confidence, about that. "I'm from the future. My brother can tell you his story, if he wants to." Billy nods slightly at that. He adds after a moment, "For me its honey, too. A lot of honey. Honey is how you win the heart of the Children of Wanda." He laughs softly, but nods to Lambert, "You'll be fine, it might just take a little to weird. What I do isn't actually magic."


"I'm almost a year old," Vic tells Lambert. "Did I ever tell you that? I feel like that's something I should've told you at some point. The body I occupy is nineteen years old, but I've only been around since, gosh, June of last year." He perks up. "Ooh yes, honey. Lots of honey." The man does enjoy is baklava. He spends more than a small amount of his paycheck on the stuff.


"Er, yes, he did tell me he was very young, once," says Lambert cautiously "Which is why I am very careful what I say. Near him." Normally, being what he is, Lambert flirts with all and sundry. But, carefully, not with Vic. The satyrling then says "I used to have my own honey, but I had to smash the hives to get rid of some trolls…well. Let's get back to the restaurant, shall we? I just feel so _tired_!"


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