2014-10-20 - New York Visitors

Nico probably shouldn't have come back to New York. It always goes bad somehow, but darnit, she wanted to see Richenda and get her the corset she promised to sew for her. Walking down the street with 'Chenda, enjoying the rays of the evening sun, she didn't see the group coming up behind them. Neither of them did.

Suddenly, the pair of friends find themselves yanked into an alley, surrounded by laughing hoodlums. Nico has two holding her; one with a hand on her throat and the other just kind of pressing her to the wall. She can't breathe very well, and can't see well in the sudden darkness.

Richenda has a more interesting time of it. Thrown into the far end of the alley, she's not as immediately pressed upon because, judging by the comments of the crew, she's not wearing a skirt so she's less immediate a target. However, being thrown to the wall at the end of the alley, she is still surrounded.

Normally, Chenda loves New York. It's her favorite city on Earth. But right now, she's not very fond of some of the people.

It really started out to be a good day, too: She'd gotten a call from Nico and met her in Queens to go shopping for sewing materials. Even in Queens, that's the start of a great day. There was even a promise of ice cream! And then, while she was so distracted as to miss them, several members of the local scum got a handhold on each of them as they were passing an alleyway. Before Chenda can even yelp, she's hauled inside by powerful arms and shoved into their temporary hangout!

Not that she doesn't struggle: One of the gangbangers has a very sore foot to show for his troubles, and another is still leaned up against one wall, retching, from an elbow to the solar plexus and gut. But that's all she had time for before she was mashed into the dirty brickwork of the end of the alley facefirst, barely able to breath and nearly unable to see. But what she does see is turning her heart to ice: Nico's in the same predicament, closer to the front of the alley!

And they're both being held there. She's strong for her size, but not strong enough to work against two leering goons. Still, judging by the glances her captors keep stealing at where Nico and her new 'friends' are, she might get the chance if she's patient.

She can hear them talking, too. Hot, angry tears flood her eyes. It's /not/ easy to be patient...

Clark was nearby following up with a witness on the nazi floating disks that were attacking New York last week. Apparently he's been assigned to cover the story, so he's conducting interviews with people who might have seen what happened. That's when he hears the sound of someone in trouble. He immediately cuts the interview short, thanking the man, and then walking out of the office. He walks outside and then ducks down an alley and seconds later, he is flying in the air clad in his costume.

Superman is in the alley with Nico and Richenda in seconds, hitting the ground with a thud. He eyes the gang as they prepare to do the unspeakable to the two women. "You only get one chance. Release the girls and surrender." He narrows his gaze slightly. He always gives them a chance to surrender first before he takes action.

The gothically dressed girl with WITCH across her t-shirt is getting it stretched out by an unwelcome hand when the thud of a new arrival draws some attention. The girl seems to be having issues with getting enough breath to talk, and is being held slightly off the ground. Superman's pronouncement does at least fix that problem though, the thug holding her letting her slide down til her heels touch.

She tries to kick at the guy holding her, having little luck, but her eyes are blazing with anger. Less panic than one might expect, but it's there too. Still...it's New York, and these thugs were raised on Superman. The guy mauling Nico raises his hands almost instantly, when one of his cohort slaps a gun into his stomach, berating him.

"I don't care who it is," he says, snarling. "You a man, ain't you?"

Must be from out of town.

Chenda's blinking back tears when there's a sudden gust of wind in the alley!

Her two new friends notice it, too. And then they notice the source: Superman! A second later, being low on the gangbanger totem pole, they notice the argument closer to the other end of the alley. But all this distraction, whatever they do about it, does mean that they're suddenly not holding their captive so tightly...

And she's quick to take advantage! Her eyes not being entirely cleared, she only sees vague shapes for the two goons. But she can tell where they are, and that's enough to piston her foot back into one's kneecap. He stumbles with a howl and turns loose of his captive. The other doesn't even have time to tighten his grip before he's suddenly holding air and being backhanded across the face.

"Nico!" Chenda shouts in a near-panic, summoning a power-seed and preparing to throw it. Whatever happens to her, she'll at least give her friend a chance to run!

Superman looks impressed when Richenda begins to take out her own attackers. He focuses in on the gun as a thin red beam of light emits from his eyes to strike it, making it so hot that the goon can't hold on to it anymore. He slags it pretty good before he is suddenly standing in front of the gang leader and his buddy and has them both suspended above the ground. "I said you only got one chance." He looks over towards both Nico and Chenda. "You two alright?"

Nico Minoru drops back down to her knees as Superman nabs the guy who was throttling her. She gulps air thankfully, saying, "I'll...live," eventually, holding her throat. She takes a moment to adjust her top so she's back in her bra, then eyes the remaining thugs.

The guy who had tried to give up puts his hands up again, making a second attempt at the whole deal. The two that Superman has in his hands, however, mostly seem kind of stuck.

"Richenda?" Nico looks down the alley for her friend, worry on her face.

The guy with the almost-broken knee is content to lie on the ground making noises like a falling roof. The backhanded one, turning around to go after Richenda, notices the huge man holding his friends aloft and immediately looks like the roof fell on /him/.

Chenda, seeing him stumbling to a stop, mistakes his motion and hits him right in the middle with a thrown power-seed. The crack and flash of the mutant power sends him right into the side wall of the alley with impressive force, and he slides down the wall into a limp heap.

And then the gypsy girl sees Superman. And Nico looking at her with that worried look. "Oh... oops," she murmurs, blushing. "My bad."

Superman smiles at Richenda. "Nice job. Maybe you ladies didn't need my help afterall." He slams the two guys in his hands together, knocking them both out." He turns to Nico. "I called the police." He taps his ear where his com link is. "They'll be here shortly. Is there anything that you need? Medical attention perhaps?" He stares at each woman for a moment. "I don't see anything broken or amiss. And your vitals sound fine to me."

Nico gets to her feet, letting her skirt fall into place. "Does lack of pride count?" she says in response to Superman's helpful query. Eye looking askance at Richenda, she gives her a quizzical look and a raised eyebrow, then back to Superman. "I'm fine, this actually isn't the first time. I apparently have a victim stamp on my forehead or something." She doesn't mention the hadouken she saw her friend toss, though there will likely be discussion later if Superman doesn't bring it up.

Overall though, she seems fairly stable. "Thanks for the save. Both of you. But I guess you get that a lot." She actually seems to be aiming that last comment at both Richenda and Superman, oddly.

"I'll never say no to good help," Chenda replies with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Thank you, Superman. From the bottom of my heart, totally. I think I'm good, maybe a little brick rash."

She turns to Nico, giving her a quick hug and a look-over. "Sure you're all right, Nico-chan?" she asks, barely able to meet the other girl's eyes.

Superman nods. "Don't mention it. It's what I do. And I'm pretty sure lack of pride doesn't count." He flashes Nico a smile before he does look at Richenda for a long moment. He had experienced a lot of things, even stuff not of his planet. But he hadn't seen anything like that before. "Richenda, is it? Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? What was that you used against that thug?"

Nico Minoru bends over and picks up her little purse and re-attaches it to her hip where it belongs while Superman chats with Richenda, asking her the questions that she herself was going to ask. Not having anything more to add, she shuts up and lets it go. For now. Though she doesn't seem upset. Just curious.

"Oh.. that?" Chenda's expression is embarrassed, even if she smiles a little. "Mutant power. Kind of a concussion blast with some extra sound and light. Comes in handy sometimes." She glances back at the goon she flash-banged. "He'll be okay in a couple days. Might not feel too good during that time, though." Small damage compared to what he almost did, to her mind.

Superman nods. "Ah, a mutant. Well, he deserves worse than that considering what he was about to do." As an avid mutant supporter and a mentor at the Avenger's Academy, Superman has talked with Charles Xavier at length about the problems people have with mutants. "Miss Nico. You seem to be alright as well. If there's nothing else, then I'll let you ladies be on your way. I'll stay and deal with the police."

Nico Minoru blinks when Richenda mentions that she's a mutant. She blinks again when Superman uses her name, looking confused. "Uh..okay. How did you..." she honestly looks like she's more thrown by the name thing than the reveal that her friend is a mutant. "Yeah, we should probably go. Remind me to get you to talk with Molly, 'Chenda. She and you got a lot to talk about."

"I'm with you there... Thank you again, Superman," Chenda replies, her smile a little less embarrassed this time. "'Scuse us!" She catches Nico's hand, squeezing just a bit hard in her concern, and moves to draw the Goth-Loli girl after her out of the alley. "Maybe you should, at that. I wouldn't mind getting to know Molly better."

Superman actually pales a little bit at the name Molly. If it was the Molly that he was thinking about, she was a total fangirl...and she made him really, really nervous. "I..uh..heard you call out to each other earlier. When you spoke again, I was able to match the voice with the face. I'll see you two later."

 Superman was Molly'd awhile back. Never forgot the experience.

Nico Minoru smiles a bit as they leave. She gives Superman a little gift as they do: she doesn't press him about is experience with her protege. Little Miss Powerful's mention of the meeting with Superman....she knows better than most how it feels. And she glances back at him and winks, then slips out of the alley with Richenda in tow.