2014.07.10 - Heroine Withdrawal

It's early afternoon, and there's a mid-sized queue for the tellers at Gotham First National Bank. This sort of establishment is where the financial sector's rubber meets the road; the intersection of Wall Street and Main Street. Bankers mill around, seeing to the commerce necessary to keep their piles of money ever-growing.
Into this quiet scene storms a figure in a shining tiara, leotard, bracers and boots: it is unmistakably Diana of Themyscira. But as she bursts through the front entrance, it's hard not to notice that she's gotten a little experimental with accessorizing. First of all, there's the pair of dark aviator sunglasses. Then there's the black leather jacket, decorated with metal studs and radical political buttons. But the most daring fashion statement of all must surely be the guns: an Uzi in one hand, an assault rifle strapped to her back, and a 9mm pistol in a spangly thigh holster opposite the lasso of truth. A pair of guards flanking the entrance stare agape, frozen in shock at the sight of this paragon of heroic virtue dragging an arsenal into the lobby.
"Listen up, pigs!" Wonder Woman bellows, spraying the ceiling with gunfire to emphasize her point. "I've had enough of the bullshit in Man's World, so I'm here to take enough of Man's Money to buy myself a jet that isn't such a goddamn wallflower and fly away in style." She draws her sidearm to supplement the Uzi and spreads her arms akimbo, covering the guards to both right and left. "If any of you got a problem with that, I'll be happy to punch you a one-way ticket to Man's Morgue."
Normally Moon Knight wouldn't be out and about in costume in the afternoon, but a concern with a killer targeting magical beings has extended his normal hours. He's lurking about when he hears gunfire from the Gotham First National. ..Well, that's not a good sign. "Looks like we multi-task today." he says, and heads for the bank via rooftops, trying to get a view of the goings on before actually entering.
Marrow is in the door on ... Dianna's.... heels. She says nothing at first, gripping a fistfulls of blades grown from her own body, a few still warm. Yes.. it's leaving DNA on the scene but.. she's not in any system, good luck tracking it. Her hands flex and flash, blurring and launching those blades into the air.The sound of crackling plastic and arcing electricity can be heard as her blades smash into the cameras positioned around the lobby, and above the tellers. "On your belly's maggots.. nose in the dirt. You raise your eyes and I'll cut them out."
She shouts this, pulling one of the lesser protrusions from her back, a bone spear two and a half feet long. With that in hand, she marches on the tellers, pointing the razor edged tip at them. "On your faces. Cept you. Dump the trash at your feet, start fillin it with bills. nothing less than a 50. Do it now or i'll kill you and find someone else." Her voice and lavendar gaze are ice cold. She's no stranger to taking lives.
Adrenaline shoots through Joseph's body at the sound of gunfire, but he has enough trust in his abilities that it holds no fear for him. At least, it doesn't now that he knows where the gunfire is coming from. He turns to face the intruders, refusing to move when told to lay down. Raising a hand placatingly, he says, "I understand you are a hero; please, let's talk this over!" It doesn't sound like they are in a mood for compromise, but he must try. He does have to keep his eye on Marrow, though- his abilities won't stop her so easily, it seems.
The crowd scatters, diving for whatever cover is available. This is Gotham City, after all: most citizens have a bit of practice with this sort of situation. No one but Joseph has any inclination to disobey Marrow's orders, especially once they get a look at her weaponry. The guards, caught flat-footed thanks to their hesitation, raise their hands tremulously into the air. Diana smiles coldly, swaps pistol for lasso, then snatches both guards' holstered weapons with a lightning-fast motion of her golden lasso. It's not entirely clear how she manages this, but in a moment, both gun belts are draped over the shoulder that isn't already burdened with an AR-15.
As she turns to follow Marrow into the bank, she stops short at the sight of Joseph. It's lucky she's wearing those aviators, lest he see her eyes widen in surprise. She points the Uzi at him, baring her teeth. "You should do like the lady says," she warns him. "I don't value my virtuous reputation quite as much as you might think."
At that moment, behind the building, a cloaked figure rushes up to the employees' entrance, picks the lock, and darts inside. No muss, no fuss, no interest from anyone, right?
The cloaked figure is narrowly missed as Moon Knight passes just a street away, heading for the front of the building. He looks through the glass door and spots someone who looks like Wonder Woman apparently aiming weapons at everyone, the man who looks like Magneto holding up his hands placatingly, and a woman he doesn't know threatening tellers with a bone spear.
Since the three seem mostly intent on one another, he slips through the doorway and fires his grapple at Marrow's spear, to draw her attention away from the tellers and prevent her from causing any immediate harm.
Marrow turns her gaze at Joseph. "Someones always gotta be the hero." She mutters, and turns on Joseph. "I. Told. You. To. Lay. The. Fuck. Down." She enunciates, maybe he's just stupid. Doesn't comprehend english.. something. Her attentions snap back to the teller. "Keep filling!!" She screams and looks to Joseph. "Looks like I get to make an example out of you. Nothing personal. Business." She tells the man, going to hurl the spear.
But the grappel takes it right out of her hands. "Everybody's got to be a fucking hero today!?" She shouts! Fists clench and five bone spurs erupt from her knuckles, growing out a good four inches each. Going into a spin, she hurls two at Moon Knight, and two and Joseph, leaving her with the innermost pair on each hand. "Come on boys.. Let's dance." She invites, head on a swivel watching them both. Dianna is going to have to stay on the cashier.
Whatever Joseph was expecting as a response, it wasn't this. The man briefly cries out in startlement as Marrow's bone spears fly at him and he holds out a hand in front of himself- and as if by sheer force of wishful thinking, the spears are deflected harmlessly away mere inches from his body. So, he still has his old forcefield... but it's difficult to keep his focus on both that and Diana's weaponry. If the amazon attempts to fire her guns, she'll find the bullets unwilling to move at all.. but between the forcefield and the bullets, Joseph can do little more than stand still.
Wonder Woman turns from Joseph for a moment, following the grappling cable with her gaze as is yanks the spear back to Moon Knight. She gives the white-clad vigilante a withering look. "I'm a little out of your league, Labor Day." She draws a bead on him, pulls the trigger, and -- nothing. "Wow." She turns her glare on Joseph and says, "I don't know where you got that face and those powers, but I know for damn sure they're not yours. But fine -- we'll do this the old fashioned way." She drops the gun, whips the lasso off her belt, and whips it at Moon Knight. It uncurls like a living thing, trying to lash around his neck like a truth-compelling noose.
The silver cowled servant of Khonshu catches the spear himself, pocketing the grapple as he snarks back to Marrow, "Sorry, my boss is kind of strict about me meeting my quotas." he ducks into the lobby proper, dodging one bone needle and knocking the other aside with the spear. He glances at Diana as she taunts him. "..Though Wonder Woman being the one holding up a bank at gunpoint is a new one.. what the hell are doing??" this last shouted as the lasso whips his direction. He angles the spear towards her, trying to intercept the lasso so it will fall on the weapon or at least his arm rather than around his neck.
While she has yet to make her presence known, her objective in this outing is to draw attention to herself. This is something she's very good at which she proves by breaking into the building through the roof, her fist shattering the a large enough hole to allow herself through. Debris falling all around her, Ursa shifts into a slow float the rest of the way to the ground until her boots touch the floor. "I hear there's a party, I didn't get invited, I hope nobody mind if I crash it."
With the arrival of a Kryptonian, Joseph's priorities change, even though he doesn't know who this person is. Moon Knight is an ally, but he can defend himself. ..Or at least he has a better chance of defending himself than the rest of the people in the bank. All questions of Diana's accusations and moves to protect Khonshu's avatar are put aside as instead he takes hold of the bank's vault door and pulls it into play, hovering nearby. He may need it against daunting figures like Ursa or Diana. "Let's at least let the civilians go..!" Besides the mutant's concern for their safety, there's also his inexperience and unskilled talent. He doesn't want to risk accidentally hurting anyone himself.
The lasso constricts around the spear, and Diana yanks on it, using a sinuous combination of moves to rapidly consume the slack and -- if Moon Knight doesn't let go and retreat -- drag the vigilante in close for the beating of his life. "Plenty of room, sister," the Themysciran princess greets Ursa with a smirk. "These men apparently don't like us doing our part to close the wage gap."
Behind the desk, the tellers have been waffling, uncertain whether to continue filling bags of money for Marrow or count on the heroism of strangers. Ursa's dramatic entrance seems to tip the scales, and they rush to pack up enough cash to make up for their lollygagging.
The crack and rumble of the vault door dragging itself out of the wall leaves civilians scurrying away. Joseph may seem to be on their side, but a wall-sized slab of metal hovering weightlessly is too unnerving to tolerate.
Moon Knight flings a crescent dart at Diana with his free hand-- if she's concentrating on reeling him in, she may be an easy target. If he can take her in the hand, maybe she'll release that pesky lasso and he can take that as well. He's not sure who the woman who just came through the ceiling is, but it seems like more trouble.
"Intersting...do you intend to rob the vault?" Ursa asks as Joseph arms himself with the vault's door, leaving it wide open while the door is hovering in the air. "You know...revealing you've a weakness in you isn't the smartest way to go about a conflict." Ursa smirks as she whispers ominously to Joseph, her eyes starting to glow a somewhat infernal seeming red, as she offers, "I have a proposition. You walk away, and no civillian dies. You resist, and you've doomed them all. What does your conscience choose?"
Joseph grimaces and slowly begins to side-step between Ursa, Diana, and the vault he's now left open. (Internally he's cursing himself for making such a ridiculous move. Of course he yanked the biggest metal object in the area without even thinking- why is there so much to relearn?!) "The choice would be clear, but I have no way of knowing you would stay true to your word."
The crescent dart goes flying over Diana's head as she somersaults below it. She doesn't release the lasso but does stop reeling it in, instead trying to cover the last bit of distance herself and spring up from ground level, aiming an uppercut at the opening in Moon Knight's hood. "I wouldn't test her, Magnet Boy," she barks. "She'll start frying people just to prove a point, believe me."
Now that the vault is open, the bank staff are fleeing and the automated alarm is clanging. There are no defenses left for the bank's liquid holdings, but everyone can be sure that the police are on their way.
Moon Knight proves to be himself quite experienced at hand to hand combat, and when Diana darts close to strike at his face, he responds by sidestepping, and trying to loop the sudden slack of her own lasso around her torso and remaining arm, effectively tying her to the spear she caught if he succeeds. But something is niggling at him..something's wrong about this, even beyond the obvious.
"I just came in and did nothing, you tore apart the vault's door...looks to me like you're of questionable character, while my motives are as of yet unclear. Perhaps I'm here to stop you from robbing the vault..." Ursa muses, and then turns to look at a random civillian, her eyes glowing much brither red now, as she asserts, "leave now and this man leaves, stay and he dies, because you willed it. If you live, I will personally protect every single person in this building. Stay and their blood is on your hand."
The mutant's face colors as he realizes Ursa is thinking of ways to set up this debacle in her favor. At least witnesses and security camera footage would say otherwise.. hopefully. He swings his hand to the side and the vault door goes flying back in place, though it's a token effort. The hinges are broken, and it will only provide a brief nuisance for a Kryptonian. "Very well, miss," he says quietly, "Though the moment I suspect otherwise I shall return."
Experience or not, trying to catch this punked-out Diana is like trying to hug water. Working with her own momentum, she dives through Moon Knight's snare and out the other side with preternatural speed. A balletic whirl has her facing him again, loops of gleaming rope swinging in the air all around her. Then, she's advancing again, quick as an asp, and one red boot goes flying at Moon Knight's midsection. "I think you should take your friend's example. You're in over your head," she taunts.
Moon Knight barely manages to catch the red boot on the spear held between both hands, having had to let go of the rope to block. Even so the force of it is enough to push him back. He snarls in reply, "It happens more often than you'd think-- and who -are- you, anyways?!"
Ursa nods at Joseph as he concedes and returns the vault door in place, her eyes lose their red glow and return to their natural black color. "Everyone can relax," Ursa announces loudly, "I have forced this wouldbe thief to put the vault's door back in place, and clear the area. Money will not be stolen today, and you are all safe. Any who would seek to harm, you people, will have to answer to me!" Ursa speaks with such conviction, as whereas Joseph lacks experience, she has years of military experience, leading the top special forces unit on Krypton. She speaks like a leader, sounds like a leader, and conducts herself like a leader. Once Joseph agreed to yield she offers no threats safe to those reserved to people who would hurt the civillians. And she turns to look directly at Moon Knight, "stop this violence right now," she demands, "I will not have these people harmed." Does it really matter who started? She came in the middle, looked to have gotten the situation closer to under control, and professes she's after the safety of the people, demanding Diana and Moon Knight stop their fighting.
Joseph stops on his way out, as Diana's fight with Moon Knight is more or less taking up that space. He waits briefly to see if it stops so he may pass- and more importantly, that Moon Knight is safe. The silver-clad man is the only person in here he knows and can trust.
With a rush of air, Quicksilver seems to just abruptly appear from out of nowhere. He's hard enough to follow with the naked eye when expected, much less when showing up from God Knows Where. He's apparently going freelance at the moment, not clad in his more recent Genoshan military gear. He frowns thoughtfully as he appraises the situation over the course of the next second. That done, he glances toward Ursa, who does seem to be conducting herself like a leader. "So. Low violence solution. How can I help?"
Diana grins and whips off her aviators, and for just a fraction of a second, her eyes flash bright yellow. She answers Moon Knight: "I guess you'll just have to... 'wonder,' won't you?"
If there were any justice in the universe at all, right that second Roger Daltrey would run past, letting loose with a throat-shredding 'YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' -- but clearly, there is to be no justice today.
"Yes, I'd heard there was going to be an attack today and decided to kick over some anthills," the faux Themysciran says, smirking and quickly joining in with Ursa's deception. "Looks like my intel was right. Glad you came to assist." She gives the Kryptonian a curt nod, then flicks her wrist and the lasso obligingly releases the bone spear. Again, it seems to move like a live thing, springing back to her side in a coil.
Moon Knight 's glowing eyes narrow at the flash of yellow...as she backs off he grabs at the end of the lasso as it whips by, and tries to wrap it around one of his own forearms if he succeeds.
"Indeed, a trap was set and duly triggered, I see no reason to continue this pointless violence. The bank is safe, and the people's safety should be a top priority now..." Ursa says, before turning to look at Pietro's way, the human eye may have a difficult time to track him, a Kryptonian does a bit better, so she may not be as surprised as everyone else. She's still impressed by his speed, though now would not be the time for praises. "This is to become a no violence situation, we are here for the people. We have cast the wouldbe robber away..."
Joseph looks over his shoulder and growls, "Lofty words from someone who opened fire to announce a hold up and another who burst in from the ceiling and demanded I leave or else she would kill everyone!" He gestures to Diana irritably, as though her presence there were adding insult to injury. "I still can't get out of here without becoming entangled in this fight, I might add!"
"Well, I'm all about helping The People." Pietro folds his arms across his chest, glancing toward Moon Knight and Diana. "There still seems to be a difference of opinions taking place." In a blur, he moves to just behind Moon Knight and... just taps the man on the shoulder, "Sir. Sir? We're going for a no-violence situation."
Diana's eyes widen as Moon Knight snags the lasso. But before he can wrap his arm, the rope slides out of his fingers almost like a liquid, having to physically shorten itself to do so. "Ah, ah, ah!" she chides him as she secures the coil at her waist. "That's a priceless Themysciran artifact you just tried to grab. I think we may have another thief on our hands. Maybe you should have the police question him, Quicksilver? I know they would appreciate your assistance." Her amusement wanes as she turns to stare coldly at Joseph. "There's no fight here," she tells him with an insincere smile, stepping back to allow him access to the door.
Whereas Joseph lacks experience, Ursa is a pro, she knows what people saw, and she know what people heard. While she spoke threats to Joseph, she loudly claimed her desire to protect everyone. When he tries to speak, her voice booms over his, "we've all seen you break the vault, enough of your prattles, leave us be. We just want peace!" Her gaze falls on Moon Knight next, "imagine...stealing from the Princess of Themyscira...good thing we have heroes to save the day. Please, don't force us to fight you, just go and leave these people in peace..."
Moon Knighthadn't seen Quicksilver arrive, fighting as he was with the imposter Diana. This time he startles when Quicksilver vanishes only to tap on his shoulder, though perhaps not so much as when the lasso flows away between his fingers. He nods to Quicksilver, "I just want justice." he assures him.
He then turns with a growl, and points a finger at 'Diana', his voice raised loud enough for whatever witnesses still remain, "This isn't the lasso of truth, and you're no Wonder Woman! And if you say otherwise, then there's a simple way to tell." he drops the spear with a clatter, and holds out his arm again, daring her to loop it.
Joseph stops and looks between Moon Knight and Diana. He knows Moon Knight has more experience on the field, so he trusts the man must have some way to tell... The mutant glances at Ursa, wondering if they will take up the challenge. After all, what will they do if he doesn't leave immediately? If she tries to goes through with her threat, she'll lose this shot at spinning the robbery in her favor. (Admittedly, it's a high risk to take with innocent lives at stake, but like many other decisions he's made this day, it's one borne of inexperience and not thinking things through enough.)
Quicksilver leans a bit, looking around Moon Knight to Diana. He quirks his eyebrows upward in silent inquiry. A lack of patience leads him to just blurt out instead of waiting to make sure she understood him. Subtlety takes too long, "So, just remove him, or... ?"
Hands on her hips, Diana guffaws. "Did you hear that? The little twerp thinks he can order me around! Next he'll expect me to make him a sandwich." She leans forward and stares at the vigilante's mask. "Do you want to find out what happened to the last man who was that presumptuous with me? If not, I suggest you and your would-be accomplice run along and try to come up with a better plan next time." She smiles over at Quicksilver. "And of course, we have our speedy little friend here to hurry you along if you're feeling reluctant."
Moon Knight has ways indeed...one of the few tangible benefits of his bond to Khonshu is that he can sense such divine favor in others. So it strikes him as strange indeed that the favored of Artemis shows no such signs..even before her eyes flashed yellow and her lasso writhed like some morphing appendage. He hmphs.. "I'll leave." and he does head to the doorway, pushing Joseph out to exit too if need be. But he calls back, "Though it's funny, isn't it? Chasing us off like this, it seems more like the desperate actions of a bluffer than what you would expect true heros to do.. if we were the actual criminals." and with that parting thought, he leaves.
"Appaling how men so easily look down on women, that they wouldn't even respect Wonder Woman, not that I'm surprised," Ursa comments with a voice filled with disdain.
Joseph lets himself be lead out by Moon Knight, though he is all but seeing red. What just happened..? And what do they do now..? Just as the mutant begins to get lost in the staggering possibilities, he remembers they will be hearing sirens soon. "I fall back on your experience, friend. Do we speak with the police or run?"
Giving a dry chuckle, Pietro looks back to Ursa, "Not always so simple. I look down on almost everyone, but my most esteemed in the world is a woman. Maybe he just looks down on everyone." He watches Moon Knight's departure with... a surprisingly sympathetic variant of his standard smirk coloring his expression. A beat later, he nods to Diana, "I did the thing, too."
A smug expression on her face, Wonder Woman watches the two men leave. "You're right, of course," she answers Ursa. "Hopefully this embarrassment will teach them better manners." She casts a sideways glance at Quicksilver, her smile broadening for a moment. "Excellent. Then I think our work here is finished." A teleportation portal begins to form next to her, showing a murky tunnel. "And how convenient -- our ride is here." She gestures to the portal. "You go on ahead. I dropped something." She walks over to where she dropped the Uzi Joseph used his magnetic powers to jam and retrieves it.
Moon Knightshakes his head. "It depends.. let's get out of the way for now, and see which way the wind's blowing."
If the portal is flashy enough, he might see it through the glass and curse under his breath. So much for seeing where the imposter goes.
Quicksilver points a finger at 'Diana', arching an eyebrow, "Now, fair's fair. And my father's keeping himself out of it, so..." He half-shrugs, distancing himself from that particular conflict. "Let's keep it mutually beneficial, hey?"
The mutant rubs his hands together with a deep breath. "I can do that." Joseph tries picking up Moon Knight and flying to safety!
"As we agreed. I keep my bargains," Diana answers, clicking the safety on and stepping through the portal. "Now, are you coming, or do you want to stick around here and file a police report?"
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