2013.03.25 - The Return of the Sub-Mariner

For more than 200 years, Battery Park has been an invaluable part of New York Citys history. In 1855, Castle Garden, situated inside the Park, became the worlds first immigrant depot. Decades before Ellis Island was built or the Statue of Liberty gazed down at incoming boats, millions of newcomers arrived at Battery Park from Europe and elsewhere.
Although its role has changed, people from around the world still visit Battery Park for a view of the city's past. Ferries dock at its shore to pick up visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and all summer long concerts play on its grounds.
Its beautiful waterfront and flower gardens make Battery Park a lovely place to wander. For those who'd like a longer stroll, the parks location at the southern tip of Manhattan makes it a classic starting point for walking tours through the city. As a result people can be seen smiling and laughing and more or less enjoying their afternoons in the park.
As if a small reminder that Metropolis is not all happy families and tourists a group of four homeless men hang near the paved road overlooking the harbor. They are just an example of the disenfranchised class that New York hides in its shelters and derelict doorways. Those who just didn't make it, who slipped through the cracks and had their dreams crushed. Most people avoid even looking at these people for fear of ruining their own day.
"One with everything, and a coke." says Carol to the hot dog vendor at the cart where she's grabbing a quick bite. She lets her eyes drift about the area as she ponders the origin of the place's name. Well, two hundred years ago, batteries for power weren't exactly a big thing. Maybe it had to do with assault and battery. Hrmmm... her face screws up in concentration before the chili dog is held out her way and she suddenly is grabbed back from her woolgathering.
"Oh, thanks Ravi!" she calls out enthusiastically before paying and turning to stroll off with her food and drink. She rode her new bike here, and is adorned in her riding leathers, helmet secured to the bike which has all the bells and whistles for a security system that a SHIELD agent can get.
She-Hulk was all Hulked up that day (as per usual, lately she really was only Jennifer when she really felt like it) and jogging down the shoreline. Her hair was pushed back into a ponytail, and was wearing a white tank with purple jogging shorts, and some simple sneaks.
She was in a good mood that day, so while she was listening to her ipod she sang loudly to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls.
Kitty Pryde can't spend all of her time at a computer or teaching x-brats. Most of it, yes, and she does, but every now and then one has to get away from the teeming, hormonal chaos of the Xavier Institute and reclaim just a taste of normal life. Kitty is in no way an obvious superhero -- she just looks like the less fashion-crazed end of hipsterdom, in her cuffed jeans, expensive sneakers, and a t-shirt with a faux-vintage faux-distressed 70s Bowie logo on it.
Kitty is mostly just lounging around, not being much use of anything to anyone, but she has to stop and stare as She-Hulk jogs by. She doesn't get hero envy much -- she grew up X -- but sometimes it still amazes her that a huge green woman can flaunt her greenness /without/ a Sentinel being called in.
When she's not working or going to auditions, Fern likes to explore the city that she now calls home. Time by the water? Well, that's just an added bonus. One of her favorite things to do is take the Staten Island Ferry, just because it's free. But today she's taking in a bit of history with her breath of fresh (kind of fresh) air.
She would be in the wandering class, her large bomber jacket held snugly around her with crossed arms, boots scuffing lightly as she makes her way past a hot dog vendor. She spares a look for the cart, secretly longing for a 'dirty water dog' but not flush enough this week for such a 'luxury'. Fern pauses, letting a few people cross her path, before turning to change her path. A familiar song sung by an unfamiliar voice turns her head, gaze passing over several people in search of the source. She spies the singer, her step faltering, then stopping. She doesn't exactly stare, but she's still fairly new to this superhero atmosphere, and is prone to the odd bout of astonishment.
One among the homeless seems to have become rather agitated and pushes himself away from others and walks towards the waterfront. He is muttering to himself about coral cities and tentacled pets; of stolen kisses enjoyed under the starlike schools of luminescent fish.
As he marches to the waterfront, determination is written across his face. He mutters to know one, "I was a prince one... fought with a man wrapped in his flag."
One of his homeless friends shouts after him, "Heeey. Makin? You okay dere old buddy? Yer not gunna jump in are ya?"
The man turns for a second to look at his friends, "REAL! It's REAL!" he shouts, making the others take a step back from him. He is full of rage and says, "I fought with the man wrapped in his flag! He lives again! And so do I!"
"Makin, relax man, you been hitting the booze early?" the oldest among them said try to calm him down before he made a bigger scene than he already was.
Mouth full of Chili dog (with corners of her mouth smeared with chili even), Carol chews a bit as her eyes flicker towards the source of a potential disturbance. She chews and chews and swallows before turning and ambling in that direction. It's not like she thinks the world is about to explode. She just... has a helpful soul, and wants to make sure nobody's about to go berserk and like... summon a demon, turn into an alien invader, or any of those things. Hey, in her life, that sort of thing happens with startling regularity!
She-Hulk noticed one of the hobos shouting and lifted a brow. Oh New York. This city was full of all kinds. Her impromptu karaoke session was cut short as she stopped at a water fountain to stick around for a second in case this situation needed a bit of help from She-Hulk. But she highly doubted it. Hobo Joe here was probably just having a bad day. Perhaps he needed to jam out to Spice Girls, 90s style.
Like She-Hulk, Kitty's first reaction is to watch and wait. If she has to intervene, she will, but something tells her that this situation won't be solved by phasing through anything (yet). She is, however, satisfied that the burly, darkly hairy man isn't Logan, though, which she had to make sure of.
Fern's attention is drawn away from She-Hulk reluctantly by raised voices of a less melodious sort, and she has to make another half turn to spy the homeless men, one detaching himself from the group. Yep, that's the one that's shouting loudest, and drawing nearer. She's one of those people that first feels sympathy and sometime later stops to wonder if that's always in her own best interest. Despite the clear anger, she drifts a step toward him without thinking. Others are far smarter, pulling away children and their companions, giving a wider berth than Fern does.
Some of the best hot dogs in NYC can be found in the Harbor area. So today Gabriel has decided to take a trip to get just that, hot dogs. He's happily walking around munching on one hot dog with another one in his free hand when he hears a lot of commotion going on nearby. Calmly making his way to the safety rail he leans on it a few feet away from the angry homeless man and asks, "OK, you're name's not Makin. So what is it?" Then he looks down at his second hot dog as if just realizing he has a second and adds another question, "Ooo, and I have an extra hot dog? Do you want it before going for your swim?"
The homeless man starred daggers into this, intruder, interloper... enemy."I am royality, you stupid talking monkey," he held onto the steel safety rail that blocked the edge of the park from the water of the bay. He then hissed out in anger, "My name is..."
He ripped the bar apart in his hands if they were nothing and shouted, "NAMOR!"
His friends back away, obviously afraid of him, and with good reason. He threw the steel bars to the side and ripped off his clothing. This revealed a physique that seemed almost carved from marble; instead of what one might expect an old hobo. He shook his shoes off reveal small white feathered wings on his ankles, and then he started to hover off the ground. He faced Gabriel and shouted "I -am- the Prince of Atlantis! The Sub-Mariner! And you are the detritus of a culture that should bow down and -THANK ME- for what I have done for you!"
Just as some bums start calling out, "And I'm the queen of england!" or, "I'm Elvis Presley!" or even worse, "I'm Jimmy Hoffa!".. Carol just kinda stares. Is it wrong that her first kneejerk reaction is kind of a tightness in the gut as she eyes that physique? Well, she shakes her head and then it hits her. This guy is stripping down in public... in chilly weather, "Hey, you know.. there's laws... indecent exposure.." she says, speaking up as she approaches closer, Chili dog in her hand forgotten. "Not that.. there's anything really indecent about -your- exposure but still..."
"ABS."
She-Hulk quickly shook her head. It was hero time. And the surprisingly fit hobo was actually the villain Sub-Mariner. Some flashes of old newspaper articles and grainy videos of Namor fighting beside various heroes. But she remembered that this guy wasn't always on the straight and narrow. But he was really hot.
She yanked out her ponytail and clenched her fists, hero time.
Okay, Kitty is enough of a nerd to know what the phrase 'Namor, the Sub-Mariner' means, and what it means -- to the best of her recollection -- is 'old-timey New York getting a chunk of it tipped over.' /Now/ she's moving.
Kitty's first move is to go for her communicator, but... she didn't bring it. Normal life day out. Won't make that mistake again. Her second move is to stare, because... really, this is indecent exposure, but she's only mutant. Her /third/ move, cheeks newly flush, is to dash forward and say: "We /are/ thankful, Prince Namor! We are! I owe you and your efforts against the Nazis my life!" Not /that/ much of a lie, really. "So... please... don't... punch any buildings over." Smooth, Kitty. Smooth like Namor's chest.
The rending of a steel railing is startling, but apparently just the beginning of the festivities. Even Fern's brows lift as the man starts to disrobe, but, while his physique is admirable, it's the little wings that capture her attention for a moment. Is anyone normal in this city? Then it dawns on her, and her eyes move, taking in 'hot dog dude'. Her upstairs neighbor. Again, moving without thinking, Fern doesn't move toward the self proclaimed Namor, but toward Gabriel before he gets himself hurt. She gets near enough to pluck his sleeve, hissing, "Gabe."
OK, so Gabriel does take a few steps back. But is it in abject fear of the flying guy that can rip steel with his bare hands? No... Well, kinda of... "Dude. I was offering you the /real/ hot dog! The one you eat! Nothing more. No need to et all naked and such..." Then he looks a little confused as he adds a question to his comments, "And shouldn't you have a staff, with like, two snakes twined around it... Talk about your phallic references right there." And then there's people pulling on his sleeve, which leaves him with and upraised arm offering a hot dog to super-Hermes while looking down at Fern, "Ummm... Hi Fern. Did /you/ want the hot dog?"
Namor stopped disrobing at his pants though he did rip them into shorts for some reason, his homeless friends had run, worried that exploiting his strength for decades now would come back to haunt them. He was staring holes into Gabriel until Kitty spoke up. He tilted his head in consideration, "I have no reason to do so. Unless there is something I do not know of,"
He then looked at Carol, "And I do not care for the laws of your surface. I am... how did President Carter put it? Diplomatically immune."
"From what I've seen, Diplomatically immune folks can still be deported but it's also a matter of ... respect and all." She eyes the reactions the others are having and then... oh hey look, Green Amazonian woman. How did she miss that?! Then her eyes track back to Namor and his shirtless self, oh.. that's how. Her eyes narrow as she mentally reviews things such as SHIELD briefings and the like. She takes a step back and lets the others have the focus of the Atlantean as she gives a softly spoken voice command to her SHIELD earbud she's always wearing. "Danvers, authorization marvel two one echo." She waits and then says, "Control, I have a man here calling himself Namor... yes, Atlantis." She pauses and listens. "Right, he claims diplomatic immunity as well...." She pauses and then adds, "Recommendations?"
She-Hulk tentatively steps in between Carol and Namor. Law stuff? Oh this was her turf. She had heard excellent things about the Marvel lady here, but she looked a bit nervous. She placed her hands on her hips, "Actually, Diplomatic Immunity is only valid when normalized relations are a thing, which Atlantis hasn't had in nearly forty years. You're not familiar with the SHIELD creation act of the UN? Or the SRA? It's unlikely that your immunity holds."
She looked between Namor and all of the people gathered, "How about we just settle down, and talk this out. I'm a lawyer, I can help."
Kitty gives Gabriel the sort of look normally reserved for 'eyes about to explode in a crimson beam of energy and destroy someone.' She learned it well from Scott. She wants to respond to Namor that no, things are cool, no need to smash anyone, no sir, but then Carol and Jennifer start talking about the exact nature of diplomatic immunity. Kitty looks tense, but waits to see Namor's reaction, which she expects to be 'bad.'
For a moment, the tempting offer of one of her beloved 'dirty water dogs' has Fern distracted, a moment before Namor is distracted by others around. She tears her eyes away long enough to watch Carol, noting the woman seeming to talk to herself after she addresses the hovering buff guy. But Fern is familiar with those earbud things, and, knowing nothing of SHIELD, her first assumption is Secret Service. Well, a President was mentioned and she was talking about diplomatic immunity.
She does barely catch the word Atlantis, and immediately a Donovan song her parents are fond of pops into her head and she murmurs, "Hail Atlantis." Indeed. And then there's a .... lawyer on the scene. Fern blinks, then reaches for the offered hot dog. Hovering guy, Secret Service, green lawyer... a moment of normalcy is required. "Thanks, Gabe."
Gabriel hands over the hot dog without taking his eyes off the most /excellent/ piece of street theater he's managed to run into. This is getting more interesting by the minute. Talking out of the side of his mouth he asks Fern, "So. Is this what everyday is like for you? Because I swear, you have a hidden superperson magnet you're not telling anyone about, don't you?" Taking a few more steps back to make sure the oh-so-efficient women on the scene have enough space to get to Namor he keeps watching to see what happens next while he chews on another bite of hot dog.
"Atlantis?" Namor says aloud, "No normalized relations?" His memories were vauge but he remembered being there the day he made Atlantis part of the UN, or did he, the memories... they were all jumbled up. This didn't make sense. He growled and focused back on Gabriel, "So my country, 70 of this world is gone to be replace by what!? You, stupid talking monkeys! You dry creatures!"
Namor wanted to hit something... hard. And Gabriel was right there he smirked and said, "Imperious Rex!"
Sometimes, the seventh sense gets annoying, but at times, Carol is thankful to have it. "Nevermind!" she calls into her comm just a split second before Namor's battle cry begins. She surges forward and somehow, her hand ends up right where Namor's fist is headed... the fist smacking her palm and just -stopping- there. There's a bit of a shockwave emenating out from that impact, and she remarks, "Hey now, let's not go declaring war on anyone now Prince." And then a voice buzzes in her ear and she nods just a touch. "There's no reason to get violent... please." she adds.
It didn't quite matter how hot the ex-hobo was. Namor had no right to punch the innocent civilian who was just trying to give a guy a free hot dog. New Yorkers generally weren't so friendly. She was glad Carol was on the scene, she made a quick mental note to hang out with her sometime. But it was hero time, lawyer time had passed it seemed.
"Imperious THIS." She-Hulk launched her fist towards his face, hoping to take this guy down before he does some real damage.
Welp.
Kitty figures that the blonde catching the fist -- looks familiar -- can stand up to Namor, and She-Hulk definitely can, but Hot Dog Guy and his friend? "Get everyone away from here!" she orders Fern and Gabriel, before turning back toward the onlookers and waving her hands as if to signal 'no, bad, go.' "It's not safe! Get clear of here! ...and She-Hulk, don't let him in the water!"
Fern just shakes her head at Gabriel's question, replying softly, "This is the weirdest city, honest ta gawd. Is that... the Hulk?" When did he become a woman? She doesn't have a chance to take a bite of the coveted hot dog before Namor's attention is back on Gabriel. And he doesn't look or sound like a hot dog would appease him nearly as well as it does herself. Then he's... talking about a dinosaur? She doesn't know from battle cries, but she does know a moving fist, and she squeaks an entirely ineffectual, "Hey!"
Thankfully, the Secret Service seems to employ very fast agents, and that woman is stopping the hit before it connects with Gabriel's face. Even as She-Hulk is stepping in for her own hit, Fern is dropping the hot dog, grabbing for Gabriel. She's gonna be really sad about that hot dog sometime later. Whoever that other girl is, the one who also seems to be far more clued in about what's going on? She's got the best idea so far today.
Gabriel freezes for just a second as Carol reacts faster than he would have and then drops what's left of his hot dog on the ground and gives Fern a little shove towards Kitty, "Hey,she'sgotagoodidea. Promisewe'llhavealongtalklater. Byenow!" Breaking out into a sprint he catches She-Hulk's non-punching arm and sorta latches on, "Hey there, tall, green, and beautiful. I'd love to hold you in my arms in different, much friendlier circumstances, but for right now I just need you. This won't take but a moment." First there's a normal looking young man attached to She-Hulk's arm, a few seconds later there's a flesh colored amoeba, and a few seconds after that She-He-Hulk is letting go of She-Hulk's arm, dressed in nothing but daisy dukes and what used to be a loose t-shirt that's now a barely there tube top. "Oh, man! I loved that t-shirt. OK, you Hermes-wanna-be, let's try that again!"
Namor's head whips to the side after She-Hulk hit him, "You are so interesting,"
Namor doesn't seem overly affected, "And SHIELD agent as well. You are both beautiful."
He then swooped over to Kitty, "And yet she is the itelligent one."
As she was saying, no need for violence.. She-Hulk kind of demonstrated such a need. The punch seems to barely phase Namor, and Carol is already rounding on She-Hulk, "Okay. I think we need to come to an agreement on just what.. no need for violence mea..." and she's cut off as she watches Gabriel do his transformation act, "...the hell?!" She asks as she jumps back a half step. Heck, she could stumble back into Namor for that matter... this is so very close to the edge and the water, it could really devolve even more quickly here. "Control, do you read?" she asks.... and the only response she gets is, "processing, please wait for further instructions." And she mutters, "At least they're not playing Barry Manilow..."
This got weird real fast. And sadly still is a typical day for She-Hulk. She double takes at the dude She-Hulk. Hulk maybe? He was wearing daisy dukes though. Right this is getting weird, she had never been called beautiful after she punched someone.
She grabs Carol's sleeve, "Okay this scene is getting all over the place, we need to settle this pronto. Not quite sure if your earbud is helping. I think our...feminine whiles could focus this dude. Maybe."
Kitty detects Namor swooping in by the rush of wind and the shadow looming over her. She freezes in her
Kitty detects Namor swooping in by the rush of wind and the shadow looming over her. She freezes in her 'hey! everyone run away!' gesturing for a moment to slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y turn around. And be complimented. "Oh. Um. Th-thanks."
Although Gabriel doesn't push very hard, Fern is still taken by surprise and she stumbles a few steps toward Kitty, her attention fully focusing on the self-preservation of not falling on her face. She manages to regain her footing, and by the time she turns to see where Gabriel has gone... he's not there any more. But there's another big, green woman.
Wait. What?
She stops moving, looking around for Gabriel, still more than arm's reach from Kitty. Which might be a good thing as Namor's attention turns to the girl. As the younger girl turns, Fern stays still, neither wanting to draw attention to herself or do something to jeopardize Kitty.
Duplo-She-Hulk looks down at her body for a moment and her hands start roaming alomst of their own volition before she gives herself a shake and mutters, "Focus, boy, focus. Crazy teeny-tiny winged superguy on the loose... I wonder if the size of the wings... Anyway!" Forcing herself to focus she looks over at Namor and says, "Hey big boy!? How're we doing this? Are we talking or duking it out? PLease say talking. I think one good punch'll make me pop right out of this shirt..."
Namor flew high into their air and then looked to Carol, She-Hulk and even Gabriel, "I am the Prince of Atlatis!!"
He suddenly flew into the air and flew down into the water, In a few seconds he was in the water and a wake of bubbles was the only proof he was there.
<Whatever you do. Don't let him go into the water.> Finally, instructions over her comm. Carol turns to look at Namor just as the guy does his power dive. "Control. Too late, Half gainer. With a twist. I give it an eight point seven." she mutters into the comm before looking back to She Hulk and gesturing off in one direction, "I think Prince Chippendales there is good to go. What say you let me buy you a coffee?"
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