2013.03.11 - Take the Money and Run

It's late in the day in one of the...less savory parts of town, and a small disturbance has started up. The source? A scuffle between a young boy and seedy-looking man over...well, a purse that really probably couldn't belong to either of them. Both have their hands on it and are tugging to try to get it out of the other's grip. Unfortunately for the boy, the man has the advantage of strength...which lets him let go with one hand, and smack the youth across the face with the other. The boy falls back and lets go--though one who was paying close attention might have noticed a faint blue light flicker around him for the moments surrounding the strike. It wasn't very strong, but...something happened. 
Well, well! Some might pay heed to that crackle of blue light, but for others--one costumed youth named Impulse among them--seeing a grown man slap a child across the face and steal a bag from him was all it takes. Rather faster than the human eye can blink, Impulse is suddenly standing beside the man. "Hey!" demands the speedster with impeccably Hollywood panache, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Then Imp is suddenly standing beside the fallen kid, offering him a hand up. "Well, okay, so you're way bigger than me, but I'll still kick your tail." And then, flash, he's moved behind the purse-snatcher and aiming to very literally kick him in the backside, crowing mischievously, "Like THIS!"
At the same time the little scene is taking place the main door of one of a nearby apartment building opens up to let Gabriel out onto the street. As soon as he sees what's happening he starts to run but before he's taken more than a step or two Impulse is there. That makes Gabriel decide to slow down and just walk the half block or so to the little group, taking in what happens next with interest.
Jeremy...clearly has no idea what to think of any of this. He shakes his head a bit, trying to shake off the part of the blow that got through his hastily-erected shield, and just stares up at Impulse for a moment or two before he accepts the help back to his feet. "Um, th--" he starts, and then yelps as the speedster disappears and the man he'd been fighting gets punted in the butt and stumbles forward to fall flat on his face. 
"What the..." the man says, slowly starting to get up. "Where the hell did you come from?" He pulls back a fist, clearly intending to try to punch Impulse even from his poor position.
Well, either the man is hiding some secret of his own or he's much, much slower than Gabriel, who's laughing at the idea of trying to punch someone that's already made it very obvious they are part of the superhuman community and a speedster to boost. Raising his voice he calls out, "You'll regret that!"
Impulse dodges the fist in what amounts to amplified bullet time, pulling a rather disappointed "Is he kidding?" sort of face as he does so. Meanwhile, back at normally perceived speed, he blinks away only to reappear behind the crook, hopping up to slap him in the back of the head. "Quit that! And don't pick on little kids! You should be ashamed! I'll bet your mother is!"
The crook finally recognizes he's outmatched, and when he's smacked in the back of the head, he stumbles again...only to get to his feet and take off running. Without, one must note, the purse, which he drops as soon as he starts to run in the hopes that the hero will go for it instead of him. Not, rationally, that that would give him much time anyway if Impulse decided to go for both. 
Jeremy stares wide-eyed at the scene, slowly brushing himself off a bit. "Um...wow...you're fast," he says, as the crook starts to flee. "Ah!" As the purse is thrown down, he yells after the crook as well. "Hey! Don't do that to someone else's stuff!" 
And someone might notice a frazzled-looking woman--in a dress that would be nicely accompanied by the purse in question--finally arriving on the scene, keeping her distance from the trouble.
Gabriel finally arrives at Jeremy's side. Watching the older man run away he chuckles, "Hey short stuff. Playing the hero today? Who's your friend?" That he asks pointing at Impulse with his chin. The possibility that Jeremy might have been the thief and the older man the would-be rescuer never seems to even cross his mind.
Impulse snatches up the purse, offering it back to Jeremy, and basically pushes it off on him before he zwips over to the frazzled lady. "Excuse me, ma'am! You might want t wait there for a minute. We're dealing with a CROOK, here!" And then he's back, suddenly holding a long length of plastic packing wrap, and flashes a big grin at the erstwhile snatcher. "Okay, so, your pick: lamp post or fire escape?"
Yeah, no chance to escape, there. The crook finally raises his hands and gives up, hanging his head. "...lamp post..." he says, quietly. 
Jeremy breathes a sigh of relief as the purse is handed over, and dusts it off a bit. "Hi, mister Gabriel. Um...I don't know, but I'm glad he came! I-I don't seem to have remembered how I used to do this yet...he would've got away for sure." He takes a deep breath, and walks over towards the woman, offering her the purse. "Um, here you go, ma'am. Um, he got it for..." 
He's cut off by the woman taking the purse, thanking him several times over, and giving him a big grateful hug, which elicits an "Ack!" from Jeremy.
Gabriel walks next to Jeremy as he goes to return the purse. After the woman hugs the boy Gabriel frowns a bit, looking dissatisfied, and opens his mouth just to close it a few seconds later as he looks down at Jeremy. Obviously something about the boy made him bite back whatever he was going to say, changing it to,"You should try not to walk around this neighborhood at night if you can avoid it, lady. Especially if you're alone." Then he turns to Jeremy, keeping half an eye on Impulse and what he's doing, "Did you get hurt when you fell, Jeremy?"
With a sudden *WHOOSH* and the stretchy, clingy sound of industrial grade packing wrap, Impulse whirls into a frenzy and very (rather over-) thoroughly wraps the crook to a nearby lamp post. "Okay!" the speedster announces as he finishes. "Now, I'll just go tell the police where to get him!" He pauses, though, to wave to the others. "Hi, by the way! I'm Impulse. Glad I got here in time to help!"
"No, mister Gabriel, I'm okay. I, um, I used..." A pause. "Er, I learned how to fall in, um...Karate?" It started out as a lie, but now from his expression it looks like it might have ended up sounding right after all. He shakes off a little disorientation at that. 
The lady looks Jeremy over in concern, and doesn't seem to entirely buy his reassurances. "You poor dear," she says, sympathetically. "I'm sorry--I hope I didn't hurt you." She reaches in her newly retrieved purse, pulling out a twenty and offering it to Jeremy. "Here you are." 
"Nonono, that's okay!" Jeremy says, holding up his hands. "I-I just wanted to help, really!" He points back at Impulse. "Besides, he did all the work." He looks back at the speedster, waving at him. "Um, thanks, mister Impulse!" Well, the hero is older than him, if not by a whole heck of a lot...and hey, when someone can wrap a thug to a lamppost in half a second, you act polite to him!
"Well, glad you're all okay!" Impulse announces, laughing brightly. "Guess I'll catch you guys later! I gotta go tell the police to pick up Mr. Grabby-hands, here. I'll seeya!" And with that he's abruptly gone, zoomed off as abruptly as he appeared.
Gabriel seems to be working really, really hard at controlling his expression and when the woman offers a reward and the kid turns it down a perceptive observer can probably even notice a little vein pop up on the side of his forehead but he heroically avoids saying anything. Except for, "Cut the mister Gabriel thing out, please." As he waves at the quickly departing Impulse.
"Well, then I should thank him t..." the woman says, only to be cut off by Impulse zipping off in his trademark manner. She pauses, and smiles at Jeremy, choosing to ignore that. "I'm not going to take 'no' for an answer, young man. You saved me." She holds out the bill again, clearly not about to take it back. 
Jeremy reluctantly accepts it, with a sigh. "Um...thanks, then, ma'am. But I really didn't do it for the money." He blinks a little at Gabriel, and looks up at him. "Um...wh-what's wrong, mister, um...I mean...um...are you mad? You look mad...what'd I do?"
Gabriel lets out a sigh when Jeremy accepts the $20, which he covers up with a cough that turns into a short laugh as he nods at the lady. "My friend here is a regular little hero. And its mighty nice of you not to take no for an answer. He deserves some kind of reward even if I think he would have happily settled for a hug." Then he turns to Jeremy with another short laugh, "Nope. Not mad." but seems unwilling to say anything else with the rescued damsel standing right there in front of them.
"I woulda settled for a 'thank you'," Jeremy mutters, going a bit red. "Didn't need the hug..." 
The woman laughs, and ruffles Jeremy's hair (eliciting another "ack!"). She seems to pick up on Gabriel's desire to speak to the kid, though, and smiles at them. "Well, I'd better stay around to speak to the police...so you two take care. Young man...thank you, but don't get hurt. All right?" 
Jeremy smiles at her as well, a little nervously. "Um, okay..." He looks around rapidly as sirens are heard approaching, and the smile gets even more nervous. "Um, um, I gotta be going 'cause there's someplace, um...stay safe andpleasedon'ttellthecopsaboutme!" With that, he starts walking away rather rapidly.
Gabriel follows along behind Jeremy, chuckling a bit at the boy's discomfiture. Once they're out of the woman's range of hearing he says, "I'm not mad. And once you're a big name hero you can do the whole: "awww, shucks, twarnt nothin' ma'am." bit. And I can even respect not asking for a reward. But don't forget you're a street kid now. And there's a lot of things you can get without money, you can definitely survive without it, but you're going to need it from time to time so don't refuse it so easily when its offered..."
Jeremy slows down a little when Gabriel starts talking, and looks up at him. "I didn't forget anything. I-I know what kinda situation I'm in...I just...she just got robbed, mister Gabriel." He's already forgotten that particular request, it seems. "It didn't feel right...takin' her money. I mean, I know Mister Impulse got it back for her, but...she got robbed. You shouldn't have to pay somebody after that happened to you. 'specially when he wasn't much help."
Gabriel nods and continues walking with Jeremy,"But she wasn't paying for anything. You and Impulse didn't say, "Hey lady, I just saw what happened and if you promise to give me twenty bucks I'll get your purse back for you." now did you? No, you get her purse and gave it back to her, no questions asked. She wanted to express her gratitude by giving you a Jackson. Why would you deprive her of that pleasure?" He smiles a little bit as he says that because, well, its true. Most people do get pleasure out of expressing gratitude.
"It just...it didn't feel right," Jeremy says, shaking his head. "But...anyway, I took it, okay?" He stuffs the bill in his pocket, walking a little faster and looking a bit peeved, but slows down a few steps later, then stops, giving a sigh and looking back. "I-I'm sorry. You're right. You...you know this kinda stuff...I don't. I just...I thought...I don't know what I thought, really. Lots of stuff. Maybe she's just being nice. Maybe she really needed that money. Maybe she wasn't thinking straight. And...and it wasn't like I earned it. He was gettin' away from me."
Gabriel shrugs,"If they need it, they won't insist after you say 'no' the first time. She did. And its not about if he got away or not, its about the fact that you tried. If you really feel that bad about that part of it then just find Impulse again and share the $20 with him. Maybe get some ice cream. Just find your balance little buddy. All things in moderation, right?"
Jeremy nods a little, giving a sigh again. "Okay. I guess I might...though I think he might be a little hard to...well, probably not find, but get to talk to." He's still a little stunned by the sheer speed of that teen. "It did feel good, though...helping somebody like that. Even if I didn't quite do it right. I'm glad I tried."
Gabriel laughs, "I'm sure he can slow down when he wants to. And it does feel nice, doesn't it? You'll get better with practice. And at least you pulled up a bit of... skill there, if you know what I mean."
Jeremy nods. "Yeah...a little. It still feels weird...like I'm not quite doing it right. I think I remembered just the real basics...and I'm pretty slow at it." He rubs the side of his head a little. "So...that did hurt a little. I mean, I don't know if it wouldn't if I did it right, really, but...I kinda feel like it wouldn't."
Gabriel thinks about this for a moment then smiles as he gets an idea. "Well, we could go somewhere isolated in Central Park and practice a bit if you want? And I have a perfect way of doing it so that even if someone does catch us it won't be much of a problem..." What that way might be, he's not saying quite just yet.
Jeremy looks just a tad nervous. "I, um...I'm not sure I really like any way I can think of to practice letting things hit me and not gettin' hurt, but if you've got an idea, I guess...I mean, I trust you."
Gabriel lets out a pleased 'Hah!' and starts to jog towards the park, "We'll make a hero out of you yet!"
Gabriel walks around Central Park for a while with Jeremy in two, talking about this and that without really revealing the plan he has in mind. Once he's found an out of the way corner of park that has a good amount of trees and no people he wanders off the path and then turns to Jeremy,"This looks like a good place. Are you ready?"
Jeremy is by this point looking just a touch irritable, in addition to more than a touch nervous. "Um...am I ready...for the plan you haven't told me anything about?" A little pause, and he cocks his head to the side. "I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to answer that one, mister Gabriel."
Gabriel looks up at the trees, searching for something, "Oh come on. Didn't you say you trusted me?" After a few moments he finds what he's looking for and with a quick smile and a look around to make sure no one is watching he goes all wobbly like the other day. This time it takes longer for the change to finish but it still only takes about ten seconds before there's a wriggling pile of clothing on the ground.
It's a darn good thing that Jeremy's seen his before, or he'd be looking around for the sci-fi melty-ray that just hit his buddy. "Um...mister Gabriel? Um...are you okay?" He kneels down, reaching out for a moment, but then hesitating and pulling his hand back. "Um...you didn't just lose it, did you?"
Something bounces around under Gabriel's clothing, working its way to the neck of the shirt he'd been wearing. After a couple of bounces a small, brown and gray bird pops out and flutters up to fly around Jeremy's head.
"Ah!" Jeremy yelps, jumping back from the extremely scary...tiny...bird. He immediately goes red, looking around to see if anyone saw that. "Um, um...i-is that you? You can turn into a bird, too?" This clearly isn't helping his embarrassment, though, as he considers what it would look like if someone saw him talking to a little bird. He speaks a lot quieter. "Um...but...you're still you, right? You can still understand me, right? Otherwise I'm gonna feel really really stupid."
Gabriel lands on Jeremy's shoulder. And just in case that's not a good enough answer he very clearly nods his head in answer before taking back off again. Once he's airborn he flies up about 10 feet then dive bombs Jeremy, pulling up short right before he would have hit him if he doesn't move. Then he flies off to a branch and looks at Jeremy expectantly...
Jeremy looks relieved to realize his buddy still does understand him...and then worried again as the divebomb starts. "Aah!" And he flails, jumps back, loses his balance, and falls over on his butt. "Um, um, okay...so...you want me to do something. What? I mean...you're not gonna just divebomb me over and over, are you? 'cause...i-if I block, I might hurt you then..." He stands up, brushing himself off. "I don't know what I'm doing, remember?"
Gabriel lifts his wings a little bit in what comes across remarkably like a shrug then takes flight again. And does the same bit of dive bombing and pulling up short. But this time he pulls up short a bit late to hit the boy on the chest just hard enough to be felt but not hard enough to hurt.
"Ah...hey!" Jeremy says, jumping a little. He looks incredulously at Gabriel, and nervously nods. "O-Okay...if you're sure. But...but if you look hurt I'm stopping right away. I-I don't wanna hurt my friends..." He takes a few deep breaths, and focuses. "Okay...okay, I kinda...just thought about it...and it happened..."
Gabriel bounces off the boy, falls a few inches as he finds his wings again then its up, up, and away. Taking a few moments to circle and give Jeremy a chance to get ready he starts another divebomb as soon as it looks like the boy is paying attention, aiming for his side this time...
Jeremy seems to recall something, his eyes closing, and his breathing gets slower and more controlled. As the bird circles around, the odd blue light starts to flicker around Jeremy's form...and as Gabriel dives, the blue light surrounds Jeremy's body, shining much more obviously than before, and staying on. This time...if Gabriel hits, it's going to feel odd...the force of the bird's already-soft connection entirely consumed at the very moment of the hit. It's like it connects with something and stops, without any feeling of connection...none of the force.
Gabriel the way the impact feels catches Gabriel by surprise and he just stops flapping his wings. He almost falls all the way to the flor but at the last moment start to flap again, warbling excitedly in a birdy celebration.
Jeremy doesn't even seem to notice the blow. It was light to begin with...with the force absorbed, it's not even something you'd note. At all the chirping and such, though, he opens his eyes, looking over in concern. "Mister Gabriel, are you..." And that's when he notices that he's glowing. "I-I...I did it?" He holds his hands up before him, staring. "I did it...I-I'm still...it's still working. Mister Gabriel, I-I barely even have to think about it!"
Gabriel would grin if he could because this time he's not waiting. As soon as Jeremy's eyes are open he dive bombs again, and realizing how it feels when he hits this time he doesn't pull away at the last second.
Jeremy keeps the shield up. It really does seem easy for him now...he looks much more sure of himself, and stands there confidently as the bird divebombs him...though he does look concerned at the moment of the hit. It works just like before. Impact without impact...the force vanishes at the very moment of the strike. "I-I can barely even...I know you're doing something, but...there's nothing to it. It's...I can't even describe it." Gabriel, though, might notice something subtly strange--the temperature right near Jeremy felt a little colder this time. Nothing severe, but there it is. And...does it seem just a tad...dimmer? "B-But...are you okay? I'm not hurting you, am I? I-I'm still kinda scared something might go wrong...if we keep this up."
Gabriel drops all the way down this time then hops over to his clothing. Standing on top of them he stares pointedly at Jeremy and back wings without taking off. The move almost looks like he shooing Jeremy away...
Jeremy blinks a little, looking uncertainly at the bird...then goes bright red again. "Oh! Oh! Um, um...sorry!" With that, he very quickly turns his back and marches off a ways to hide behind a tree. He is, incidentally, still glowing.
Gabriel returns to his normal form and quickly gets dressed. "That was great kid! But I think its enough for today... You can turn it off, right?"
Jeremy returns when it sounds like Gabriel is ready...still glowing. "Um, I think...maybe...yeah. I just have to stop thinking about it, kind of." The glowing fades away. "It's...kind of hard to explain, but...there we go." He smiles, brightly. "Thanks, mister Gabriel."
Gabriel grins at the boy and digs into the pocket of his bomber jacket coming out with some snack size bags of Reese's Pieces, "Don't know about you but all that training left me with the munchies. Do you remember if you like Reese's Pieces?" As he asks he offers one of the baggies and rips the second one open with his teeth all at the same time.
Jeremy shrugs a little. "Um, no idea...but I'll try and figure it out." He reaches out, taking the bag, and Gabriel might note something odd. It's only for a brief moment, but there's a sort of flicker, and in that moment he can sort of faintly see the bag through Jeremy's hand. Then the moment passes, and it's all back to normal as Jeremy pulls the bag open, sampling a candy. "Um...I'm startin' to think I just like candy in general."
Gabriel frowns but the moment of... ghosting came and went so fast that he just assumes he imagined it so the frown turns into a grin almost immediately, "A kid after my own heart. If I didn't know better I'd think you were my long lost kid brother or something. Anyway, Lets head back. I have a few errands to take care of." With that he starts walking back towards Harlem, again starting to chat about nothing important.
Category:Log