2013-01-19 - Halal Food and the KKK

Cassandra Cain* It's approaching dusk, and Cassandra is out on her own, walking about Coventry in Gotham. It's before her 'practice nerve pinching muggers' time of night, and she's heading back to the Clocktower before changing.

Pete Wisdom* Pete Wisdom finds himself out in Gotham, having done some consultation on recent cult-related crimes. For the time being, though, he's not needed right this second, so he's wandering city streets. He has no idea where the hell he is, but hey, look! A food cart. Halal sounds tasty right about now.

Karen Starr/Power Girl* A tall redhead is already standing at the food cart, pondering the menu through her black-rimmed glasses. She is wearing a white business skirt, a blue blouse, a few buttons undone to show off a copious amount of clevage, a white suit jacket and a trenchcoat over that. The woman is easily recongized as Karen Starr, her picture having been over all of the news as her company has recently released a new phone that puts the current Ipods to shame in every way possible.

Right now she is trying to figure out Halal is, "So.. No bacon, and no food blessed by God... So you're saying you don't serve chili dogs then?"

CC* Cassandra Cain cocks her head over then as she sees the two newcomers. Huh, one doesn't normally see people in well tailored suits here that often. They don't seem the type to be affiliated with any of the gangs in Gotham that she's seen files over of. So, stalkign over silently. Cassandra watches, and observes now. Actually quite covertly.

PW* "Eat here if you like lamb and chicken, miss. Either on a pita, kebab, or on a batch of rice." And Pete's suit is stylishly rumpled, thank you. "Speaking of," he sais to the person in the cart, "I'll have a lamb and chicken combo, over rice. Bit of hot sauce, extra white sauce. Yessss," he declared jovially.

PG* Karen Starr glances at Pete, then looks again, pulling her glasses down her nose to study the man. She says nothing to him, though her blue eyes are twinkling as she turns to the food vendor, "I'll take the chicken on a pita with a lot of hot sauce. Make me tear up and have a religious experience with it." The redhead pulls the sleeve of her coat up and checks the time on a rather fancy wristwatch, several of the more hoodlumish taking notice at the sparkle of gold and diamonds, "I never thought that meeting was going to be over."

CC* Cassandra Cain glances over at the hoodlums, and sighs, making a face. Her's, go awya. She shifts over to the side and looks over at the nearby hoodlums. There's something.. Frightening about her gaze then over as the men would probably take a few steps back or perhaps flee then at the pint sized terror as she grins sadistically.

PW* "A religious experience, eh? Well, I know there's a church up the street, and a synagogue the other way about. But sometimes there's too much hot sauce." Wisdom took his eyes away from Karen's cleavange long enough to spot the watch, and whistled. "Cor, miss, you don't want to go advertising that out here. Crime rate's at like, ninety-four percent, even with that silly caped wanker about."

PG* Karen Starr pulls her sleeve down, glancing as the hoodlums she had noticed watching her go running away, she can hear their muttering about the crazy looking girl. Swinging her attention, she spots the woman and studies her a moment while speaking to Pete, "I can handle myself. Though I wouldn't mind meeting Batman. I bet he is rather handsome under that mask, and those suits he wears are so... tight."

CC* There's a non-existant roll of the eyes from Cassandra. Her's. She flashes her eyes over at the hoodlums, making a sign that this is her 'mark'then, over with Karne. And to cross with her will be to thier peril. She smiles sweetly then, her body language aggressve, but still almost invisible to the chatting duo.

PW* "Padded, no doubt. Most of these costumed loonies are off their rockers. I don't see the point in such a confining outfit beyond eye candy. I'd find it much more appropriate if Superman showed more of an example to the common man by dressing as one." And food arrives. Marvelous, tasty rice, chicken and lamb.

PG* Karen Starr glances at Pete, "I don't think I can see Superman fighting crime in a shirt and jeans. The costumed loonies, as you put it, probably wear what they wear to set them apart from the pack. Maybe even to draw the eye and distract the bad guys from the normal folks." She takes her paper plate with her order on it, smiling at the vendor when he offers a plastic fork, "Thank you."

CC* The mooks take the cue and leave, surprisingly. Apparently there still is a smidgen of self-presrevation in Gotham. And Cassnadra is feeling so totally smug wtih herself now. Then goes to put her hands in her pockets, intent on walking the crosswalk. Which has a broken light. Rolling her eyes at the duo somewhat noticably, and one might -swear- her thoughts were a vague equivalent of 'Yuppies'.

PW* Wisdom merely hmph'd. "While I can appreciate what they do, I feel in some ways they're going about it the wrong way. Do they want to coddle us, or inspire us? I understand providing an example to not live in fear, but some of these folks just seem to... breed bad guys. I ought to know," he said with a sigh, before paying up and nabbing fork and napkins. "In some ways, if you're tough enough, as some of these caped folks like to convey, masks are necessary. Protecting loved ones and all that. But secret identities are far too common. At least get better taste in costumes. Unless you're, say, Captain America. At least his symbol represents something and isn't just a menagerie of wild colors. Have you seen the Scarlet Witch? Ridiculous outfit. And Robin... ugh."

PG* Blue eyes follow Cassandra for a moment, taking note of her walk, her posture. That girl is either a trained ballerina, a fighter, or both. Her attention drifts back to Pete, though she amazingly heard everything he was ranting about, "If Scarlet Witch bothers you... What about the more risque suits? Supergirl? Power Girl? Starfire?"

CC* The way the two talk has Cass immediately pegging them as capes, or associating with them. Given the figure of the first girl, the first is more than likely. Given they're talking about ones she's not familiar with, Cass, in her guise of 'urchin' clearly vanishes to get a better listenins position, moving like she's ambling off.

PW* "They at least have the good sense to distract their opponents. Like Hercules does. I know if I were Fin Fang Foom, I'd hate to have my face hugged in the midst of overly hairy man cleavage while being told about yon demise that cometh my way." Wisdom grimaced. "Meanwhile, I expect Two Face to give right up if he comes across a pair belonging to Power Girl, Starfire, or She Hulk. Ah, She Hulk." Either he's a cape, or he's a fanboy of the weirdest caliber, looking in his mid-30s. But who the hell is Fin Fang Foom?

CC* In the darkness, Cassandra watches the two from a few dozen meters away then, reading thier lips easily from her positioning. Wonderful. So it seems the capes gossip. She leans back over in her position on the convenient gargoyle, and listens.

PG* Karen Starr peers at Pete, seeming to finally recongize him, "You're Pete Wisdom! You're the guy shagging Power Girl... You've got balls hanging out around here after dark. What if someone figures out who you are? Dogpiles up on you and decides to let PG know about it?" She spreads her arms wide, the plate in one hand, the fork in another, "I know you have powers and stuff, but..."

CC* There's a lazy, silent sigh from Cassandra. She knows what to do. She pulls out a silent, miniaturized digital camera, to upload the phtoos of the duo then. Along with the identity. Pete Wisdom.. Oracle will enjoy this bit for her database. The second girl has a physique she's seen matche donly in Wonder Woman, so she's likely a meta of some type.

PW* "But what, Ms. Starr?" Yes, he recognized her, but didn't care to make it known till now. "Batman wanders around with hi-tech gadgets and skill. I have hi-tech gadgets and skill, only I have the bollocks to go about unmasked. The powers are secondary. I don't need them to be an effective hero. They just help me be a less lethal one." He forked up a batch of white-sauced lamb. Mmmmm. "And boffing Power Girl is such a poor way to put it. What she and I have is more than that." Like dates at Mexican restaurants.

PG* Karen Starr rolls eyes, "Right. Right. You two have sooo much more. Give it two more months before she has you hanging off the empire state building by your underwear." She shakes slightly, not at all supressing a giggle at the image her words have conjured up, "I pledge allgience, to the Pete, of the united Pete of oh crap get me down from here!" *Oracle returns a text message to Cassandra* "Karen Starr=Power Girl".

CC* There's a silent look from her eyes as Oracle's database returns a match. She keys in a response then, having to do it with her thumbs then due to her bare abilities to read, much less write,it taking her (by her own standards) humiliatingly for-ever to find wher ethe 'Y' is on the keyepad, touch it, and send it back.

PW* "A pity she only knows so many of my powers," Wisdom said mysteriously, between chews. "Orbit? I'd have a long time to think on the way down. From the State building? I'll be fine. Though you have to admit, I'm stuck in a rather one-sided relationship. Not only is she holding all the cards, I don't even rightly know the game. But I hope it takes more than two months before she gets tired of me," he said. "Like most mysteries that are women - no offense - I wish I knew what I could do to really make her happy, eh? She's more than one in a million. More than any old diamond in the rough." Wait, is he... fawning?

PG* Karen Starr eyes Pete dubiously, "You've got it bad. You poor thing. Aren't you afraid she'll break you or something? One wrong move, you are a in a wheelchair forever." She chews thoughtfully for a moment, "Can you imagine what it's like for her? Everything in the world is made of wet paper..."

Karen shakes her head, shrugging off the thought, "I think I'm glad I'm just a normal woman. Awesomingly well off, but normal."

CC* The unseen urchin up on the gargoyle post continues her passive observations. The identities fo the two have been confirmed, and so she sees nothing more immediate now that there are no further pressing alerts within Oracle's system and that Oracle has been updated on thier presence.

PW* "I *can* imagine it, is the thing." Wisdom sighed. "You wouldn't happen to work in biotech, would you? I'd more than happily commission a physical upgrade so I could withstand being hugged with a modicum of normality on her part. I hate feeling like some kind of bird-boned hamster in her hands than, well, a boyfriend." He's wolfing down that food, by the way.

When Pete's cut out smoking, and drinking, he can kind of become a ball of issues.

PG* Karen Starr shakes her head, "We have a brother and sister duo working on cybernetics. But it is really slow going. No, I'm not sharing company secrets. It's pretty well-known if you read the business papers. Biotech is tricky. Right now we're focusing on producing products that the average citizen can use that also doesn't harm the enviroment. Like our new Evergreen phones, month long battery, can be charged electrically or solarly and is biodegradable. Not many people know how much waste old batteries are." She has gone into the company jargon with a gusto, she obviously believes this stuff fully.

CC* Cassandra Cain lands on the ground with a silent *thump*, scanning the area. Then waving her hands up at the gargoyle in a silent thanks before moving along. This would take her past the two. Wasn't she the same girl that had gone past them like a half hour ago when they had started eating?

PW* Pete Wisdom nods. "But nothing to help the common man reach Captain America-like levels of endurance? Bugger," Wisdom said, his dreams of being crushed in his girlfriend's bosom smashed. He noted the girl passing by again. This time, he's observing. Her movements are far too disciplined.

CC* Cassandra Cain shifts over as she watches past Pete. If she were anyone other than her, she might comment over on him with a word like 'pervert'. Instead, she merely goes on and mouths 'fake'. Said items that Pete wishes to be smothered into, no doubt.

PG* Karen Starr 's left eyebrow twitches as she looks at the woman, a solid wall of cold detachment washing over her expression. Of course, that's all well and good, but when the fork in one hand snaps loudly it rather spoils the aloof demeanor. Despite all of that, she flashes Pete a thin lipped smile, "Giving the common people the power of someone like Captain America sounds good. Reality states however that it would be bad, so very, very bad."

PW* "Because the elite few should hold the power, right? Like the government, and Superman. And the Juggernaut, and the Mandarin." Wisdom said, matter-of-factly, as though he believed it. Thanks to Karen's enhanced senses though, she'd be reading his dryest of humor like a book.

CC* The sudden twitch in Karen's eye, no matter how subtle, is immediately cuaght by Cassandra. The only response of her body language is just as nearly impossible to pick up, but a lazy, and pleased saunter, like a cat's then at her barb beign picked up. She also ticks off a mental confirmation of the Kryptonian's presence and identity.

KKK Hoodlums/Power Girl* Two rather beat up looking ford vans, one white, one black pull out of traffic behind one another. The sliding doors are jammed open, the passenger side windows drop. Apparently the KKK have a branch somewhere in the greater Gotham area because a bunch of people in white robes and masks open fire with uzis, military grade rifles and several handguns. Even while they fire a few of the more vocal clans members scream, "Get out of our country, sand n*****!"

The affect is appaling, the bullets begin to chew up the building, the cart, and would have peppered the four people on the street. However, the bullets do not touch Pete, Cassandra or the arabic food vendor as someone moving far too fast for the eye to see has caught the four and tossed them all behind a parked Humvee. Thank God for gas guzzlers.

PW* Pete Wisdom finds himself behind a Humvee. Jostled, confused, and potentially out of breath, he wobbled and got to his feet.

The rest of his food didn't have a chance.

CC* Bigots are nothing new to Cassandra. She understands and perpetuates hate. However, she is equal opportunity. Everyone makes the same sounds and has the same language in their bodies when they are beaten to a pulp. She makes a quick decision - a kryptonian and her paramour on hand seem to have the situation handled, and she lacks theability to covertly switch to her 'grab bag' costume, and the rule one of the Bats is not to draw attention to one's personal guise when out of costume unless there is no other circumstance available or alternativel. So, she waits. Falling back several feet, she waits for the other two to handle the affairs and step in if necessary.

PG/KKK* Karen Starr grabs the back of Pete's collar and yanks him back down as he starts to stand up, bullets whiz by. She looks around the corner of the Humvee and curses, "Damn. They didn't just drive off. They're getting out."

The clansmen are indeed getting out, reloading, and laughing the laugh of a hunter that knows its prey is trapped. One of the drivers gets out, this ones robes is red, "That was sure some fancy dodging you did there, raghead! Won't help you, but it was nice. Why don't you just come out and we'll make it quick, yeah?"

Karen looks at Pete, then at the arab man whom is currently praying feverently in arabic, "Uh. What do we do, Mr. Wisdom?"

PW* Pete Wisdom gaaak'd! as he was dragged down. He then forcibly removes himself from Karen's grip, and stands up again, still under the cover of the Humvee. He then moves to draw his pistol. "Defend ourselves," he said. "Disable the assailants and put them under citizen's arrest. Or you can save us the effort. Your speed is more than a little uncanny, I know those eyes, and I can't forget that voice. You handle this your way, or I'll handle it mine." He was serious. In business-mode.

CC* There is a cock of the head of Cassandra then as she vanishes up and over into the shadows. She's not liking this - there's too much risk involved. But lives are at stake. And that always takes precedence. She slips over towards the Humvee, no weapons over but her fists. She sweeps over towards the nearest duo of men, intent on giving them each a light tap on the shoulders to hopefully distract, then a quick nerve pinch to hopefully drop them silently. Then tug them over towards underneath the barrel of the heavy wheeled car if she dropped them fast enough to hide the bodies, hopefully befor eanyone could blink or notice her.

PG/KKK* Karen Starr mutters, "I knew I should have used contacts... I've been working on a higher pitched voice, but it sucks." She looks at the food vendor and speaks softly to him in arabic, "" The man nods after a moment of hesitation and gets up into a crouch as Karen tosses her heels aside. "One... Two... Three!" Karen and the vendor haul ass, though the man doesn't seem to notice that she has put an arm around his waist and his feet are not even touching the ground.

The clansmen are too intent on their game to notice the two men going down, any sound they may have made covered by the occasional gunfire and laughter. Then when Karen and the man take off, the gunfire roars to life, further concealing Cassandra's actions.

PW* Pete Wisdom holstered his gun. His hands splayed out, hot-knives suddenly covering them like two hand-shaped cacti covered in glowing orange needles. And then... he ran! He always wore an armored vest under his suit, so hopefully that helped. But as he ran, he strafed, hot-knives peppering where the men (and by unfortunate location, Cassandra) are. Luckily though, these hot-knives are low-powered. Enough to cause dizziness, heat exhaustion, and first-degree burns.

CC* Cassandra Cain ducks over and -growls- silently as she twists away from the burning knives. She makes a mental note to pay back the man later. She's switching around, using ambush rather than terror tactics to tkae out as many of the men as she can. She might not be as adept with gadgets, or even using them, so her methodology is to quickly make a circle, trying to tkae out and disable the men as fast as she can, without alerting the rest if lucky to the disruption of their comrade,s or being noticed.

KKK/PG* The men are throughly confused now, someone is throwing some sort of energy-heat-knife things at them. The prey is fighting back! That wasn't part of the plan. But they still outnumber(at the moment) the man, whom is obviously a metahuman, so they continue to fire at Pete as he runs.

Cassandra is having a great deal of success with taking down the men in her vicinity. But the aspect of suprise is taken away when the leader in the red robes glances back, screams and points at the woman in their midst, "Get her my brothers! Get the arab lover!" Guns turn upon the woman...

Karen and the arabic man turn around a building and vanish behind the relative safety of the concrete... A hearbeat or two later there is the crack of a sonic boom, a flash of color. The black van is suddenly pancaked violently. The guns that were turning upon Cassandra swing around in suprise and they open fire on the figure stepping from the wreckage, but even through the gunsmoke it is clear the target isn't going down under the hail of bullets.

PW* Pete Wisdom keeps on running! And he dove behind a convenient mailbox, which provided a magnificent level of cover. And he only took four bullets this time - his ribs are going to bruise like mad, later. But right now, there's work to do! Although he needed about eight seconds, to breathe. Damn, that stings.

CC* Unfortunately for the men, Karen can more than likely take their bullets so long as they aren't packing the Lex LUthor special. And as they twist through the air and open fire, Cassandra has had enough. She goes to full speed now, going to charge towards the men in a blur, moving at speeds faster than a camera can record (but still slow motion to a Kryptonian, like an old and broken VW Beetle compared to an F1 Racer). Charging past each of the men in turn, her hood pulled up and over her face, gloved hands going to try and hit each one that's firing with a pressur epoint technique to try and drop them as fast as she can.

PG/KKK* Power Girl grins at the stunned silence as the guns empty and the clansmen simply stand there, "Hope your club has medical insurance..." Even as she speaks she watches Cassandra move, an eyebrow twitching, impressed. PG only has to watch a second to calculate where the woman is heading.

The men are shouting now, confused, this isn't going as planned. Their guns are empty and nobody but their own are on the ground, plus one of their vehicles is totalled. The hooded woman is dropping them with singular strikes. Then Power Girl wades in, she is not so subtle as her ally and proceeds to take the guns from the clansmen, crushing them into balls of useless metal as she slams a booted foot into the inner side of knees, each strike accompied by a loud crack and screams of pain. She is clearly holding back, but she isn't being as gentle as she usually is with normal humans.

Soon there is only three clansmen, the leader and two more burly fellows that are supremely loyal as they are each facing off against one woman... Pete is forgotten about, poor Pete.

CC* Showoff. At this point, the situation seems in hand. Cassandra goes to Bat-Vanish then, this somewhat more difficult with a Kryptonian present and no gadgets. But she'll od damned /close/ to managing as she'll be bolting for the nearest alleyway while everyone's attention is focused over on Power Girl. Comming a silent 'Situation Handled' to Oracle's monitoring network.

PG/KKK* Power Girl looks at the three men with a level gaze, "I don't normally break bones, you understand. But there is some crap I will not put up with. Hatemongering is one of them." She scowls deeply, looking them over, "Nice robes by the way. You're wearing them wrong though."

Power Girl is suddenly just not there anymore, flashes of color swirl around the three. When PG can be seen once again the men are standing there, all three of them back to back, buck naked, the robes being used to tie their wrists, ankles, and a bit to gag them. They seem to be quite bewildered.

The heroine looks around the scene, making sure everyone is down for the count and nods. She zips around the scene, gathering all of the firearms, crushing the ones that were not before and dumping them all in a pile. The last thing she does before going after the hooded woma is to disable the second van... By ripping the engine and sitting it inside the vehicle.

CC* If she were present, as she clambers into a back alley, Cassandra might otherwise be curious. HOw is any kind of hate worse than any other? From kicking puppies to burning someone alive? After all, hate is hate. And it all looks the same. ALl reads off someone. She heads into the dakrness of the alley, confident from the screams she's hearing the situation is handled then as she considers where else to go for her patrol after she returns to the CLocktower to chagne. Her hood still up over her face then, otherwise just looking like another homeless asian urchin of no particular notice even if one saw her walking away.

PG* There is a woosh of displaced air in the alleyway and Power Girl is simply there right in front of Cassandra, powerful arms folded over the shelf of her bosoms. Slender eyebrows raise in question, but she doesn't say anything, instead simply staring at the girl expectingly.

CC* Cassandra Cain looks up at Power Girl, her own posture annoyed then as she comes to a stop right as Power Girl bolts in front of her, as if she was anticipating it as she crosses her arms. It's a staredown.

PG* Power Girl stares at Cassandra silently for nearly a solid minute before speaking first, "Give me your hands." She holds her own gloved ones out to the girl.

CC* Cassandra Cain shakes her head then, and makes no move to do so then. One might get the impresion from her posturing hse was sticking her tongue out.

PG* Power Girl sighs softly, "I'm not letting you out of this alleyway until you do." She uses her x-ray vision briefly to study the face under the hood, commiting the face to memory.

CC* The face is.. Generic, if anything. It could be looked up in a thousand, a million databases, and not get any match. She crosses her arms then, aware of you X-Raying her.

There was a flick up from her, "No.' Her hand going up in a quick warning chop aimed at her neck. Probably what was most surprising was that while there was no damage, you would -feel- it. A warning hit, penetrating your bio-kinetic energy field to no damage whatsoever, just the sensation.

PG* Power Girl tilts her head, she is obviously suprised but not angry, "How...? Magic?" She studies the woman again, a little more cautiously.

CC* Assuming Power Girl -knows- what magic looks and feels like, this isn't it. Or anything like it. The girl looks at Power Girl, annoyed now, and speaks. About her first words. "out of way." An order.

PG* Power Girl jabs a gloved finger in her face, "Look. You're obviously a good guy. So I'm not going to restrain you. Though if you know what is good for you, you'll get in touch with Batman seeing how this is his turf. He gets antsy when you're on his turf...." She withdraws her finger to point both thumbs at herself, or more specifically, her breasts, "And these? All me sweetheart. Got that? So don't go hating on the Power Rack." PG begins to hover about a foot off the ground now, growling, "I'm a real blonde too."

She goes to fly off, but turns about to regard the woman, "Nice work, by the way. You didn't have to help, but you did... I appreciate that a lot." Now she really does fly off, zipping off the moment she gains enough altitude.

CC* There's an annoyed hummph over from Cassandra then as she shakes her head over at you. At this point, while someone more culturally savant might be quoting Seinfeld, Cassandra vanishes off into the darkness. This will be another bit to go over with Oracle later, and she stalks off to begin her nightly patrol. She's already ten minutes behind schedule from this unannounced fracas..