(2015-02-11) The Flag The Star And The Floating Granny
The Flag, The Star, And The Floating Granny
Summary: A quiet afternoon for Jack Flag and Stargirl in Chinatown (New York) is disrupted by Skrull bounty hunters, and the very convenient arrival of Geist, the Twilight Man, who comes to their aid…
Date: 2015-02-11
Related: None
NPCs: None
Scene Runner: Mutual
Social/Plot: Social
Players:
jack-flag..stargirl..geist..

The Flag, The Star and the Floating Granny

-==[ Chinatown and Little Italy — Lower East Side ]==----

Rumor has it that Chinatown has turned into a pure tourist trap, and in places, that's true; some of the bustling streets offer nothing but high-priced stores or kitsch, and Canal Street, the area's northern border, houses perhaps the biggest of the area's outdoor markets. Even those streets, however, are still recovering from a two-year depression that stripped most of the tourists away. The rest of the area - where the tourists *don't* flock - is largely residential, and its businesses reflect its makeup. Traditional herbal-medicine suppliers, acupuncturists, and low-priced noodle shops and teahouses cater primarily to the locals. Signs and conversation are frequently not English; overheard music is rarely Western; and one of the major local shrines is the Wall of Democracy, covered with newspapers and posters describing the situation in China.

Just the other side of Canal Street is an area marked off with a sign - tattered glittery letters strung on wire across Mulberry Street, saying 'Welcome to Little Italy.' Though there are few Italians still actually living there, the bakeries and restaurants reflect that original makeup, and the area still celebrates the ten-day Feast of San Gennaro every September.


Most of the northeast has been inundated with snow storms the past couple of weeks. Lower New York and Manhattan though has been mysteriously spared of the worst of it. Sure they have had snow, but nowhere near as much as was predicted, the residents are pleased, but it is winter which means cold.

Despite the snow and winter chill Chinatown is its usually busy with vendors selling all manner of goods, both legal and blackmarket, from fruit to purses, fish to electronics. It's a mix of all ethnicities and tourists abound on this wintery afternoon. Leaving one of the many restaurants, take out box in one hand and chopsticks in the other is Courtney (aka Stargirl when she is in costume) dressed for the winter in appropriate fashionable clothing and a little grey knit cap pulled over her blond hair. She gestures with her chopsticks to the man that accompanies her, "Which planet was that had the fishy people…Gravlax?" probably not since that's actually a salted fish from northern Europe, but the confusion is understandable.

"…somewhere sunny," remarks a man in mid-conversation on his cellphone as he walks down the street past a restaurant. He appears to be relatively well-dressed: pants, turtle-neck, long-sleeved shirt, suede jacket and an overcoat pulled around him, sunglasses on his face - and none too happy. (At the very least, Geist - the man in question - is visible for a change. In daylight. Tech must me working for a change. "…yeah, yeah, yeah - fergitabowdit. Y'know my agent - my old agent - never gave me half as much sass as you do. Alright! 'Nough already! Just… tell me where this gig is — "

And he very nearly walks straight into Whitmore. "Hey, look out — !" he half manages to exclaim.

Unlike most, Jack may be the one enjoying snow, just in the city aside from the piles it's all scooped into, there isn't lots to play in, unless he found a park or something. His hands in his pockets, not eating, upset at not having a snowball to make maybe. "Sure," says Jack, completely unsure of the actual planet name and if one gave it a nickname, it would stick. "Or something we can pronounce, or just Blub … like the song, what does the fish say?" Chuckling a little, "Wait, why are we curious, we planning on going there, like surf the surface, confuse the bejesus out of the people in their cities below?" Turning to look at her he grins, thinking it's funny on some level at least to go do that, hopefully it's not some religious thing on the planet, don't float on the surface cause the gods used to live there or something weird.

Courtney jabs her chopsticks into the take out box and stirs around the contents a bit before taking a bite of the Chinese goodness. Laughing she rolls her eyes at Jack's joking about the name "Well I've surfed most of the places on this planet, why not try someplace new?" knowing her she is probably serious. And then she is nearly run into by some guy on the phone. It's a good thing it was her though and not Jack, she's not a brick wall when she is run into. What she is though is quick and she deftly moves out of the way "Yeah, I'll watch where I am going next time." is her snarky response…if it can heard of the sudden roar of engines that strafe through the sky at rooftop level. The source a flying cycle that looks like it came straight from a sci-fi flick. The riders helmeted so it's hard to tell what they look like or what race they could be. As they fly above a couple unholster weapons and begin to fire in the general direction of Courtney and Jack.

The man on the phone mutters something like an apology — more of a distracted: "Fergitabowdit," and continues on his way by. "…Naw, seriously?! I did a gig like that two weeks ago! The thing! The-the-the… thing! That place — no, the other place!" By now he is several feet away and seemingly lost in his conversation. "No, I did it — I swear ta God!… On my mother's aching breast, I swear. It was with… with, uh…" The arrival of the flying cycle (and its weapon-toting riders) instantly draws Geist's attention and he exclaims:

"Jesus Christ!"

Pedestrians nearby point toward the sky whilst others break for cover, and in the confusion Geist steps to the side of a teahouse, waits for an opportune moment… and vanishes from sight. Invisible to anything but infrared, he peers up at the cycle and unholsters his sidearm, waiting. "This looks like a job," he murmurs — his voice artificially augmented, deeper, "for the Twilight M — you know, that's an awful line."

"I bet some other planet has something …" similar to surfboards, is where Jack was going until the near collision. "Whoa, yeah, we'll forget it buddy," he says, the other guy quickly moving along as if nothing happened or he didn't care that Courtney had to get out of his way. Then of course fire erupts, Jack does move to get in front of Courtney, at least until she's got her grove on and can shield herself. "Never a day off, we just don't get that." Giving a few moments for Courtney to do her thing, Jack has to figure out how to make up ground between him and flying guys. So after a few seconds pause, he moves to rip out a street sign, the ones reminding citizens to pick up after their dogs, and aims to throw one, trying to get a lead on a flying cycle, he hucks it.

It's a good thing that hearing isn't one of the things that isn't enhanced for Courtney or she would probably be agreeing with Geist…and she hangs out with the guy that probably invented cheesy lines like that on a weekly basis. But anyway "Days off are overrated Jack." she says as she takes a step back into the foyer of the restaurant. With Jack blocking her momentarily she taps the belt around her waist and goes from normal young woman to superheroine in a matter of seconds. "I'll get 'em to the ground, you take care of 'em when they get there." her Staff materializes in hand and she takes to the air, zipping after one of the Flyers.

The sign thrown by Jack clips one of the Flying cycles, causing it to spinoff a bit as the impact of it makes the rider lose control for a few moments. The sudden retaliation from the ground just makes the riders that much more serious and they continue to fire, some at Jack and others at Stargirl.

Blaster-fire splashes across the sidewalk and its accompanying street, leaving char-marks and 'newly-ventilated' debris in its wake. A nearby trashcan explodes, showering fleeing citizens with sizzled fragments of sundry takeaway scraps.

One older woman is too slow to clear the danger-zone, and stumbles into a streetlight.

Geist — sparing a second to appreciate Jack Flag's opening assault — heads straight for the old woman. "Calm down, I'm here — " he starts to say in placating tone (as best he can manage given the blaster-fire, and the fact that his voice-modulator is on), but the sound of an invisible person's voice only frightens her more. "Whatever, here we go!" Geist exclaims, and lifts the woman easily in his arms.

What follows next (to anyone else nearby) is… an elderly Asian woman floating through the air whilst kicking and screaming, her body in the "fire-fighter's carry" position (across both shoulders and behind the firefighter's head, legs tucked in one side — an arm hooked around them — and arms tucked in at the other side, the same way).

Just without the 'fire-fighter'.

The woman screams until she 'floats' to the other side of the street, and gently sinks to the ground in the veranda of a cafe.

"Sounds like a plan," returns Jack to Courtney, looking for something else to use, grabbing for a bench this time, ready to swing. In part to keep looking menacing enough to help distract while Courtney moves to the skies to start dropping them for clean up duty. "Over here, dirtballs," he says, not knowing who or what the riders are just yet, that is of course when he sees the woman lifted and moving like a sack of potatoes. Giving that a stare though, means he gets a few laser blasts from the sky cycles and topples back into a street light himself, if falls and pins a car on the street, or a rider inside it. Jack turns to look at the rider, tearing the bench to throw a chunk at him, keep the focus, hopefully be read for another hit, moving to any area where people are scattered from at least.

Yes, people are scattering in panic, taking cover as best they can by running into business or ducking into alleyways or entryways. Smart thing to do considering the firefight going on.

The street lamp does knock a Rider from his flying cycle as he comes in to close. The Rider falls to the street his cycles careening into the street with the sound of rending metal and sparks of electronics shorting out. The piece of bench nails him as he starts to morph into another form, larger and more muscly. Her helmet pops off. Green skin turning gray. Jack may recognize him as a Skrull. He is knocked back a moment, but his new form is able to take it and he charges Jack intent on taking him down.

Above the street, Stargirl flies around, the forcefield around her shimmering as it deflects the laserfire being aimed at her by the Riders still flying around. From her Staff energy bolts fire at the Riders. They are fast and good at evading, most miss, but some hit the flying cycles another hits a Rider and sends him falling off the bike to land near Geist. The cycle crashes into a building.

Geist take half a second to glance around the 'battlefield'. There's only so much an invisible man (even a mostly-invisible man, such as he) can do, without causing more panic. He heads for the car pinned by a fallen streetlight — narrowly avoiding getting hit by a passing car as he crosses the street — but then is when he notices the Skrull.

Geist stops.

"Aliens. Why did it have to be aliens?" His lamentation lasts but a moment as he barks something into the comm-unit in his cowl. "…the parameters have changed! Screw the mission, I have… superhero things to do!" he declares, not that anyone is really going to hear him, and casts his gaze between the Skrull charging at Jack Flag - and the other Skulls attacking Stargirl in the air.

What to do?

Decision made, the mostly-invisible superhero adjusts the setting on his pulse pistol… and fires multiple shots at the Skrull's back. Moments later, he shimmers into view: a tall man in a black, armoured bodysuit, and a dark blue cowl covering his face, trailing off like a scarf. His mop of reddish-brown hair is visible atop the cowl, and he is pointing a high-tech sidearm at the Skrull.

The sky overhead rages on with Stargirl knocking one into a building, Jack has other problems, namely the one charging him. He can take it, but Skrull still pack a punch. Readying to try and grab and redirect the force of the Skrull into a building, Geist pulls a pulse pistol and shoots at the Skrull's back, which changes his balance enough that he starts to fall.

Jack improvises, jumping up to double fist down on the Skrull too, going for a quicker KO, coupled with the pulse blasts hitting its back suddenly. "Thanks …. Guy!" Says Jack mid air, before he pummels down, trying to crack some sidewalk with Skrull face even.

The two Skrulls on the ground are quickly taken out by the combined efforts of Geist and Jack. Up above laser fire and energy beams and star blasts are exchanged and two more Riders are dispatched. Realizing that they are outclassed the last remaining Skrull flees upward and away, probably to go back to whatever ship they have floating up there in space. Stargirl doesn't bother to give chase, instead she flies down to land next to Jack "I guess a few of the bounty hunters didn't get the memo." she says to him, looking around at the destruction the brief fight caused…and the strangely familiar man in the dark costume. She's always been a hero fangirl, so probably watched the show ages ago.

In an overt display of… show-offiness, Geist twirls his pistol and deposits it back in its holster. Giving the skies a careful once-over, he briefly checks on the people in the car next to him (the one with the streetlight on its hood), and walks toward Jack Flag.

He hesitates for just a moment as he nears the body of the Skrull.

"Now there's a fellow who's probably regretting his decision to get up this morning," he remarks wryly to the other man. Then he winces. "Ugh. Horrible line. Lemme try that again…'Welcome to Earth' — No. That's Independence Day. Whatever, I'll get it right eventually." He looks up at Flag — then toward Stargirl, giving a mock-salute that turns into a blown kiss — and extends a hand.

"Nice work! I'm Geist. Pleasure m — "

Suddenly he vanishes from view.

He swears. Invisible. "Not again. Uh, hate to run out on you, but I gotta see a guy about a thing. Just a thing — not even important. Well, it is, but… Hell of an exit. See you round!"

After that, there is no sight nor sound of Geist at all.

END TRANSMISSION.

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