2013-02-20 Drawn Together: Part 2

Sundollar Coffee. Not the biggest chain in the city but it has loyal followers and better prices than certain other chains. It's been a quiet day at one store in Queens. A few people are inside, typing away at laptops and sipping overly complicated drinks. Others are chatting amongst themselves but thankfully there's no line at the counter. One of the barristas, a teenager, is talking on his blue-tooth while leaning against the counter. "Yeah, man. Penny is still on my case about it. How the hell what I supposed to know that would happen when she went to the mall? And Evans is hassling me too since he saw me shoving that little freak Carter into a locker. Brick was supposed to be lookout but I have no idea where he went to," the young man goes on with his conversation.
Bobby Drake is one of the patrons of this particular coffee place today. Sitting at a table, he's sipping an iced coffee while checking a message on his phone. "Huh. Some of these kids really need to come up with better excuses for late assignments..." he mutters, reading an email from a student asking for an extension on a homework assignment.
"Ah, excuse me." Kwabena smiles to the barista, but after his second attempt to get the kid's attention, he's forced to lightly slam his fist against the countertop. "Excuse me!"
"Whoa!" The barista jumps. "Hey, bro, take it easy!"
"I will now dat I have your attention," breathes the Ghanaian. "One coffee, medium, black." He adds in a side node as the barista scowls and moves away, "Tell Penny I said hello."
The smirk remains upon Kwabena's face when he turns around and spies Bobby Drake's table. Snaking through the room, he comes up to Bobby's table and quietly seats himself. "Surprised to see you here," emotes Kwabena, before giving Drake's iced coffee a dubious look. "Iced coffee? In dis weathah?" A grin curls around his lips. Leaning forward, Kwabena adds a silent, "Not surprised."
Among the patrons of the coffee shop is one 'Clara Kent' who's currently just off to the side at a table by herself. Sure, odds are she doesn't have to be alone, especially with some of the glances she's offered every now and then by other people, but the teenage girl in blue jeans, a winter coat, and what looks like a hand made knit cap is just sitting there, holding her extra large cup with both hands, silently enjoying her caffeine fix.
Variety is the only reason Ben Reilly is in this coffee shop he stumbled across on a stroll. Not having to commute home, since his job and apartment are in the same building, causes the teen to take nightly strolls that aren't ruses for patrol. Although they did provide an excellent alibi when he runs into the member of the Fantastic Four, Sue Storm in particular since she didn't spend too much time in a lab like Reed does.
Ben is already sitting at a table sipping some chocolate concaution with whatever caffeine substance went into it. For once he's not worrying about the price. Having a job is good, but having a well paying job is better than he could have expected. Slipping off his blue hoodie Ben reveals his loose white long sleeve shirt with the black fantastic four symbol blazing on the front, which pops when pressed against his white blue jeans. There's a reason why his shirt looks a size bigger than it should be, but hey some people wear baggy stuff when they aren't sporting skinny jeans. As usual the black converse are still carrying his steps.
Nearby him sits a backpack that holds the red and black Scarlet Spider outfit. Ben never leaves home without it.
Bobby glances up as he recognizes that voice. He offers a smile to Kwabena as the Ghanaian sits. "Ya know he's gonna spit in your drink or something," the icy mutant teases. Glancing at the counter, he watches the young man bully a coworker that comes out from the back of the store into taking the order instead. He just grins as Kwabena asks about his drink. "What can I say? I like to keep things cool," he remarks.
While it may seem like it'll be a pretty nice evening, things change abruptly. The main window bearing the coffee shop's logo shatters inwards as a few dark black shapes come crashing in. The doors follow suit soon after. Bobby goes down as a large black lion ends up pouncing on him. He gets his arm up in time to keep the beast's jaws off his neck, letting out a yell as teeth pierce flesh. Meanwhile, a matching jet black tiger lands on the table. It roars before taking a swipe at Shift just for being in the way. The remaining cats, a trio of Lionesses and a cheetah...all that same shiny gray-black color send patrons screaming as they advance towards the counter and the now terrified barristas.
"I've got my good eye trained on him," answers Kwabena. Indeed, his silvery eye seems to be watching the barista and the bullied coworker while the curl of his lips settles out a bit. "I'm surprised dat-"
The sound of carnage causes Kwabena to whip his neck about. The creatures that leap through momentarily take his breath away, and he's just a bit too slow to do anything to help his friend. "Bobby!" he cries, before the swipe of that black tiger silences him.
It's... just... not the kind of silence one might expect.
It was the kind of blow that should rip a man's face clean of his skull. However, instead, the African's face poofs into a cloud of smoke, causing the clawed hand to pass right through. Almost as quickly as it had changed, the head and face reforms in its rightful place.
A beat later, Kwabena is leaping forward from the table, snarling in much the same way as those beasts. It would seem at least -one- patron isn't going to back down today! One ferocious growl is followed by a leaping motion as Kwabena tries to grapple his arms around the tiger's upper body.
Spider-Sense is a wondrous thing sometimes. On one hand it allows you to get out of the way when trouble happens. On the other, it means trouble -IS- coming. He snags a patron near him before yelling, "EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" Ben yanks the patron down with him just to be safe. Yeah it's not the smartest thing. Hell, it makes someone look incredibly guilty, but Spider-Senses near an open window usually meant lots of cuts from shattered glass. "Hide," Ben whispers to the person he snagged before rising up to see the threat.
Seeing the animals makes Ben curse because someone just saw his face which means no sudden changes. Yet if he runs away to change then someone could get hurt. Grabbing a chair with one hand and one of the smaller tables in the other the teen with intense brown eyes makes a defiant cry. Surely some alpha would have put Ben on their radar. When everything is done Ben could just say he's a mutant or a top secret FF experiment gone wrong.
And just as 'Clara' is taking another sip of her drink there's that crash. Thus you have one of those things happening. Where someone is just sitting there, their eyes going wide, steam just drifting up in front of their face... That is before they slowly turn their head to look at the chaos.
And yeah, odds are other patrons may be in a panic. They may be trying to get out. But the girl in the knit cap just gets up and runs, not towards the exit, or the giant cats, but towards the bathroom!
That way, just a few moments later a certain familiar figure can come flying out to help, in the form of Supergirl! (That is if anyone can actually see her considering how fast she's moving)
"I'm fine. Dammit..." Bobby curses, icy armor building up around his arm and forcing the lion back. The blood on his shirt and under the ice shows he's probably going to need a doctor when things are done.
The tiger growls when Kwabena's face doesn't get clawed off. It rears back a claw to swipe again one to end up grappled. Kwabena might notice that this tiger doesn't feel anything like a normal cat. No fur or heart beat...it's solid and would feel almost gritty. His clothes are also getting pretty stained just from rubbing against the thing. The tiger isn't sitting still either. It immediately starts thrashing to throw the mutant off.
Ben's early warning and quick save just get him a babbled thanks as the person he saves runs for it with others trying to get out the now wrecked door. His cry gains the attention of the cheetah. The lightest of the oddly off color cats eyes Ben carefully before making a dash at him.
Those lionesses meanwhile aren't aware of Supergirl. No, they're busy hopping onto and over the counter and advancing on the teenage barista who's phone conversation was more important than his job. He kicks at one only to get swiped for his troubles, yelling out as blood starts pouring from his now injured leg.
The truth is, Kwabena -has- wrestled tigers before. Back home, in Ghana, after being exiled from his village when his mutant powers first manifested, he'd been forced to survive off the wild for some time. While he leaps upon the cat's back and tries desperately to grapple her by her neck into a choke hold, he utterly fails.
The African is able to hold on for a few thrashes, before one particularly violent move throws him clear across the coffee shop. He curls up and smashes into a wall, though instead of poofing into a cloud of smoke upon impact, he instead leaves a hearty, man-shaped dent in the brickwork, before collapsing onto his hands and knees.
Breathing heavily, Kwabena is momentarily stunned. His skin has taken on a different form now, the telltale sound of crackling muted by the carnage that has broken loose. However, when he moves, the light seems to glisten off his skin as if it had somehow hardened into something stronger than normal flesh.
The cry of that barista grabs his attention. While the odd nature of the tiger he'd tried to grapple is still settling in on him, he has to move! Rising to his feet, Kwabena grabs a chair from nearby, and flings it right across the room toward the lioness attacking the barista. Even while the chair is in mid-flight, he lets out another bellowing roar, doing his best to simulate that of the creature in an effort to draw its attention.
And maybe the blood might be something that guy has earned. Not that Clara... Kara... Supergirl has any right to judge and say that. But the fact that she isn't moving fast enough to stop him from being slashed will probably weigh on her once she has a moment to stop and think about it.
For the moment though, even as Shift tries to toss a chair at the big cat, the blue blur that is Supergirl tries to fly on by and grab two of the Lionesses, one with each hand, so that she in turn can toss them out the window, and into the side of a parked car. In theory, at least in her mind, that should slow them down, and /maybe/ injure them at worse, but /hopefully/ won't kill the animals.
Seeing someone get cut open made Ben wince a little. "Change of plan," Ben thinks. Feinting several times Ben tries to get the cheetah to strike so it can eat some table swung at it faster and hard thanks to Super Strength and Agility. Whether or not it keeps the Cheetah down is irrelevant; Ben leaps toward the bleeding barista.
Webbing makes a great bonding agent. The reason why someone is wearing a baggy FF shirt is to hide the webshooters on his wrist. Assessing the injured barista is now the top priority in Ben's mind.
The chair is a complete surprise to the lioness with blood on it's claws. The cheap wooden furniture smashes into the beast and knocks it over, shattering in the process. Of course it doesn't keep her down, the big cat getting back up and turning towards Kwabena. It's got pieces of chair lodged in its body but no blood pours from the wounds. Instead a strange black powder drains from them. The lioness growls before bounding Shift's way.
The remaining two lionesses are taken by surprise. They end up thrown right out of the building, flailing as they go. Of course, Supergirl might notice something about them when she touches them. They're cold and have no heartbeats. They also leave her hands stained black. The first Lioness hits the car and shatters into a cloud of black dust. The other ends up very dented but starts getting back up quickly. It's joined outside by the lion that attacked Bobby as he knocks it through the window with an icy blast.
The cheetah swats at the table a few times, yeowling at Ben. Eventually it attacks...only for it's head to be knocked clear off into a cloud of black dust. This doesn't slow it down too much, the body still moving...just blind. The barista meanwhile yelps in surprise as he clutches his leg. "Dude! My leg! That thing wrecked my leg!" he sobs. Of course if Ben looks close enough he might notice the wounds are deep but nothing too threatening as long as it gets medical attention quickly.
For a moment, Kwabena is taken aback by the -blur- of color that sweeps past his target, taking not one, but -two- of them out the window. In the blink of an eye, the identity of the 'super' becomes irrelevant, the fact that he/she/it -is- super becomes relevant. He takes a moment near the door to assess the situation, watching as Ben takes off the head of that cheetah before leaping toward the injured barista, and Bobby as he blasts his foe right out of the window.
Well, the idea if 'try to strangle them' went right out the window like that lion, for Shift suddenly suspects that none of these animals are actually breathing.
Much as it destroys him to consider killing these animals, he also has to wrap his mind around the possibility that they are not animals at all. Perhaps not even living. The people hunkered down in the cafe, however, -are-. He braces himself as the lioness growls and bounds his way, lips peeling back into a snarl as he musters all of the strength he can to further harden his body. Just before the lioness reaches him, he turns a heavy shoulder her way, much like that of a professional linebacker.
"I -hate- American football," he mutters, before thrusting upward in an attempt to throw the lioness over his shoulder and into the shattered front door.
With the way that one lioness goes up in a cloud of... Whatever, it's enough to cause The Maid of Might to pause for a moment and to try and examine the lion that's still in one piece with her 'Super Vision'. But what she sees is enough to prompt her to call back towards the inside of the building with, "They're constructs! Not alive!"
Which in turn means that she doesn't have to hold back. Especially as she tries to fly full speed towards the lion, arms extended in front of her, in an effort to destroy the lion, before changing course back towards the inside of the coffee shop.
"Look up," Ben says to his patient and if the barista does they will miss the light tap to the jaw with enough force to knock them out. He didn't want to do that but the web shooters would raise questions. Pulling back his sleeve enough Ben starts to use the webbing as a bonding agent trying to not only put pressure on the wound, but bind it together.
Seeing that his patient is down, Ben hides the web shooters and grabs the barista's phone. Dialing the numbers nine-one-one Ben wait.
"Dispatch what's your emergency!?," the other end says.
"Mutant attack at Sundollar coffee off of," Ben rattles off the street name, "Oh jesus Jimmy is bleeding everywhere! Hurry!!!" he grabs the phone throwing it at the body of the headless cheetah once he sees it's somehow still up. Hopefully the sound of the phone line going dead would prompt a quick response.
Ambulances wouldn't come if the dispatcher thought that the call is a prank and no dispatcher would believe headless animals are terrorizing a coffee shop. Mutant attacks would prompt a reaction though.
Whatever it is, it smells bad and is making a mess. That powder is staining things blackish gray where it lands.
This means once Supergirl crashes through the lion, it goes up in a cloud of dust...and she'll probably need a shower. And dry cleaning. The dented up lioness makes a weak swipe at the Maid of Might before an ice-spike impales it. Iceman, now fully armored up, flashes a smile Supergirl's way. "Nice moves!" he offers, an icy sling holding his injured arm.
Inside, the headless cheetah claws up a helpless table. The lioness attacking Shift meanwhile meets a less than pleasant fate. Claws slash at his clothing before he manages to heft and slam the cat....and break her clear in half. Her rear legs fall apart into a pile of that black sand-like substance. The front half, slowly falling apart at the site of the break, flails about trying to get at Kwabena.
The barista misses the blow entirely, too busy going out like a light. He lays still as his wound is webbed up. The phone ends up imbedded in the cheetah as it breaks on impact, the creature turning towards Ben and rushing him blindly.
Meanwhile that tiger? It's jumping on the counter and getting ready to pounce on the unconscious barista.
Constructs!
No holds barred, now. A disturbed expression flashes through the Ghanaian's eyes as he rushes the... well, the front half of a construct, and begins kicking at it with his solidified legs. Some of that black dust is splattered up into his eye, causing him to backpedal while swiping at his face, cursing in his native language.
The words 'Mutant Attack' are overhead, and he spins about, instinctively looking for Bobby. Cops meant bad news, especially for him. His face was undoubtedly on at least a couple of FBI Watch Lists, and he can see it playing out before his eyes. Cops show up, cops shoot him, bullets pass through him and into unsuspecting innocents... It could get ugly, and fast.
Growling to maintain the rage that fuels his hardened state, Kwabena bum rushes the headless cheetah and leaps into the air, tucking his body into a ball that -smashes- through that construct, and seems to go right on bowling its way through the table and the brick wall behind it. This, of course, makes a nice hole that some of those still trapped inside might be able to get through!
Scrawling to his feet after doing a summersault onto the pavement outside, he tries to ignore the pain flaring up throughout his limbs while hollering for those trapped inside. "Everyone! Outside! Hurry!!"
"Thanks."
Considering what's going on though, Kara doesn't really have a chance to stop and chat. Then again none of the people here do. All though with how she feels after crashing through that Lion outside, Supergirl will more than admit how dirty she feels.
"Try and grab the other one!" is shouted towards Iceman, while The Maid of Might aims at the Tiger inside so she can try to do to it what she did to the lion outside.
"Hurry!"
And unlike Kwa, Bobby, and /maybe/ Ben, she doesn't have to worry about being caught in a 'mutant' attack, or the aftermath of one. The joys of being a Titan and all that.
Ben feels horrible about the call but there's not much time to grieve. Grabbing a cup he whipes it toward the construct looking to make a meal out of his patient. Pushing off the count Ben hopes to burry his foot into and maybe through the beast with a jump kick. "Not on the menu today!" Ben cries out not knowing he's quipping like Peter Parker but probably a little lamer.
Iceman would probably chat and quip more if he weren't busy tossing another spike at the lioness and then watching it fall apart into the same dust/sand substance the others have. He nods to Supergirl though, heading inside to help out there. And then the words 'Mutant Attack' reach him. He curses and looks towards Shift. Sending a nod his way, the icy mutant moves to follow Kwabena. First the half-lioness goes up in dust and then Kwabena bowling makes it a Turkey by taking out the cheetah and the wall. Iceman follows after his teammate quickly, helping to usher out those few last people. Sticking around for the cops is bad for them both.
The tiger doesn't seem too bothered by the cup-smashing against it's head. It's more bothered by the fact that the blow makes it rock enough that it misses getting a claw-full of barista and instead just gets his goofy hat. Growling, it draws back a claw to swipe again only to lose it's head and front paw to Ben's kick. And the the girl faster than a speeding bullet crashes through it reducing the tiger to another messy cloud.
With that, the last cat is defeated. There's just a dusty mess all over the coffee shot as well as on Kara and Ben. It smells bad too and stains skin and clothing alike.
And as Iceman and Shift take off, Supergirl stops, and just sort of hovers there, mid room, over the mess. She even offers Ben a brief, odd look, before she floats over towards him and the barista.
"You can take off if you need to. I'll stay with him until the EMTs arrive."
Sighing Ben says, "I only called the attack a mutant one because it would get them out sooner. You talk about constructs in a room...and well, they'd laugh. Make it sound like a mini-world war three started by the," his fingers went up in air quotes, "'Mutant Scum' then they come out in droves. If you see these people again can you tell them that? I mean...my girlfriend is a mutant with a bright yellow coat."
His guilt starts to weigh on him more before he retrieves the bag. "And let me say this...I've heard about the other person with the 'S' as someone that's living up to a name himself I can say this. You'd make him proud," the brown eyed teen starts to make it to the door, "Just blame the construct on some mutant whackado from the shadows and they'll buy it. And gently remove the bonding I put on sir talks-a-lot's leg when the EMTs get here," his fingers went up in a piece sign, "Be seeing you." On that note Ben starts to walk out of the coffee shop, with bag in hand, like nothing happened even if his pants had black sludge stains on one leg.
It's not long before police are arriving to the scene. Apparently 9-1-1 calls went out from the people that escaped too. EMTs soon follow, moving to take away the injured barista while police ask Supergirl for a statement.
And yes, Supergirl does give a statement. But she does /NOT/ mention mutants at all. She does mention constructs, kind of like what The Green Lantern does only a different color, and they turned to dust/ash/or something like that, that she has no clue who made them, or why, or even why they targeted here.
Oh, and to any officer that does try to claim this was a mutant thing she points out that it's not clear if it is or isn't, and claiming it is is not only racial profiling but if it got out that a cop was claiming what appeared to be a random metahuman incident with no explainable cause that could create a PR nightmare for the NYPD.
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