2013-11-30 - SDR: Invites and Punishments

Central Park, late afternoon.

It's a lovely day, beginning to turn to evening. Natasha Romanov, Deputy Director of SHIELD, Avenger, former Soviet spy, and still beautiful enough to attract many admiring gazes as she makes her way through the park, is taking a walk.

To clear her head? Perhaps. She wears a black and red leather jacket over a fashionable tight black top, tight black jeans and boots, and dark red-rimmed sunglasses. She seems to fit in fairly well, flipping through her cell phone as if she is reading text messages.

Julian Keller actually -is- reading text messages. He's seated on a bench, leaning back on it in a relaxed manner as he manipulates his own phone. There's a hot cup of some sort of caffeinated beverage in his other hand, and every so often he looks up just to take in the passers-by. He's dressed casually, in a pair of blue jeans and a grey knit shirt, with a moderately heavy winter coat and a red scarf wound around his neck. As she draws near, Julian notices (of course) the flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye, and looks in Natasha's direction, dark brows lifting a bit before an appreciative smile slips into place on his features.

Natasha stops at one of the carts, acquiring a bottle of juice, cracking it open and looking around, making small talk with the vendor.

A young man with a messanger bag plops down on the bench next to Julian, looking tired. "Hey, sorry man, mind if I sit here a sec?"

Julian glances over towards the new arrival and shrugs, "Knock yourself out." He takes a sip of his coffee, and after hitting "send" on his text message, tucks his phone away, returning to more dedicated people watching for the tim being. His eyes do occasionally wander back towards Natasha, but not too much more so than a few other attractive ladies currently in his field of view.

Pete Wisdom was dressed surprisingly heavy for the cold. Fitting black gloves, a long wool coat, collar up, a black knit scarf and an office-friendly sweater above his business shirt and tie. He was exiting the Central Park Zoo, walking down the paved pathway, his nice, polished black shoes clicking lightly with every step. He even had his black sunglasses on, and his scarf was up over his nose. The cold bit, and the thermokinetic mutant knew it.

Spotting a familiar batch of red hair and a figure he would never forget, Wisdom paused. Then he saw one of his students. Best to approach Julian, talking to Natasha meant work. So approach he did, and lifted a hand in greeting. "Oy, Keller. Freezing this afternoon, ennit?"

The guy on the bench beside Julian looks over at him. "Keller? Like, Julian Keller? Didn't you date that pair of twins a couple years back?" He gives his benchmate an appreciative look and a grin.

Natasha takes another drink of her Snapple, continueing her small talk with the vendor, her eyes narrowing and focusing on the clinic across the street. An observant type might be able to see that she is noting who is coming and going.

"Hey Pete." Julian lifts a hand to return the greeting, then lifts his cup of cappuccino with a bit of a wry grin, "Pretty cold, but the coffee helps. Seriously though...you should be more used to this than I am." He's a southern-Cali guy, after all.

While Julian is, in fact, more observant than most would credit him with, he is suddenly distracted by the guy next to him speaking up. He blinks and looks to the man at the question, "Huh?" He searches his memory for a moment, then grins more than a bit wickedly at the memory, "Yeah, that was me. Good times."

Pete Wisdom was an observant type, even if he was producing a lot of mist as he exhaled. It wasn't unusual - it really was very cold, the chill factor making the temperature about 25 Fahrenheit. He flipped his phone from a pocket, and began to text. "I'm used to a more wet cold and fog, thank you," he retorted. "Who's your friend?" he asked, regarding the one with the messenger bag, giving him a critical eye behind his dark sunglasses.

Natasha looks at her phone, typing out a text really quick. She then looks back over the vendor's stall, shrugging in response to something he asked, and then nodding. They go back and forth for a moment-- she's ordering something to eat, probably.

Messenger bag laughs. "Yeah, man. You're a legend, you know that?" Then Wisdom shows up-- older guy, looks like some sort of authority figure, and he at least tries to look like a good kid. "I'm Christian," he says, offering his hand to shake first to Pete (since he's the adult, you know) and then to Julian. He's a bit gothy-looking, despite the dorky messenger bag-- which has an Iron Man pin on it.

"Dunno." Julian notes to Pete, then gestures with a grin, "Christian, Pete, Pete, Christian." He shakes his head, "I used to be a legend in my own mind. Still trying to get over it." Julian replies to Christian, "But yeah, I built up a bit of a rep. You from back out in Cali?" Julian notes to Christian, "Not too many people recognize me out here." Then again, he also runs around playing superhero without a mask, so that might be changing too.

Pete took Christian's hand and gave a firm, authoritative shake, and then lifted a hand to tilt an invisible hat. "You reminisce, Julian. I was just heading home from visiting the zoo. Wax on the past, the present is so dull." The tone in that was odd... it sounded a little like Pete was ordering Julian. Things, after all, were hot all over, and who knew who to trust?

"But, sorry to trouble you, and good day." He then started to a separate vendor - the Wafels & Dinges cart by the entrance to the Central Park Zoo, ordering up some authentic Belgian hot chocolate, and a steamy waffle with butter and hazelnut spread. He got to texting once again, while he waited for his stuff to be made.

"Heh," Christian winces. "Yeah, once upon a time." He looks to be a couple years younger than Julian. "I think we've met once-- some boring party or another. Small world." He shrugs. "My parents used to drag me to the things."

Natasha takes the gyro with a smile, handing the man a bill. She casually makes her way to a nearby bench to work on her snack, but when she settles down, an observant person can note she, despite seemingly paying attention to her phone and her sandwich, is still monitoring the clinic.

"Yeah?" Julian considers, studying Christian intently a few moments, "Huh...even when I was at my craziest, I usually had a pretty good memory for names and faces." He briefly glances to his phone as it vibrates, then tucks it away without answering the text message. "Christian...Christian...hmmm." He searches his memory, though it's entirely possible it was such a brief meeting that he wouldn't remember the kid. Or that the meeting never happened. Julian's considerably more paranoid than he used to be. Being kidnapped and/or trapped a couple times will do that to you.

Pete Wisdom was distracted, but only slightly. This waffle was sooo good. But more than anything, he was observing not Natasha herself, but the people around her. Her face has been seen more than once. So has his, but right now he's in a decent facsimile of a disguise. Scarf over his mouth and nose, sunglasses on, collar up, he looks like a celebrity who doesn't want to be bothered.

A goth kid with purple spiked hair comes out of the clinic, looking down the street. He spots Julian and Christian, making his way over to them, waving. He's young as well, somewhere between 16 and 20, but hard to peg an exact age on. He has a black and purple backpack slung over one shoulder. "Hey, man! Where were you this morning?"

Christian shrugs. "Sorry, I slept in. Last night we were out pretty late, you know."

Spikes looks over at Julian. "'Sup?" he asks.

Natasha rolls her eyes at the goth kid, and goes back to watching the door.

"Oooooh yeah. Christian Markson-Schlatter, right?" Julian snaps his fingers and grins, "Knew I'd get it sooner or later." He looks to the new arrival and inclines his head, "Not much. Just remembering the not-so-good old days with Chris, here." He glances between the pair briefly, then shrugs, "Anyway, I should probably get going. Nice talking to you Christian. Glad to see you escaped your parents."

The danger here was, any idiot can hold a syringe. It didn't take any big, beefy people, or people with guns. Just a quick hand, a quick stab and a quick plunge. Wisdom kept craning his vision over to his student... genuinely concerned. Luckily it was concealed behind his scarf. He moved to a bench with a decent view, next to a very old woman and her three fluffy dogs that she had in her lap, and finished off his waffle.

"Yeah," Christian says with a wince. "I try to avoid the last name now."

Spikes laughs. "Yeah. Chris here likes to avoid his rich kid past," he says. Then he looks at Julian. "Wait, you knew him then? Man, that's cool. You party at all, man?" He sticks out his hand. "Name's Adam. But my friends call me Raptor." He makes a whooshing sound with his lips. "Because I'm fast and accurate." He grins.

Chris rolls his eyes. "C'mon, Adam. Julian isn't going to care, man." He gives Julian a weak smile. "Look, it was great seeing you again, man. Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime."

Natasha gets up, moving towards the clinic door. A man is coming out, carrying a tote bag and looking furtive.

"Nice to meet you, Adam." Julian smiles relatively pleasantly towards the newer arrival, and reaches to shake his hand firmly, "I still have my fun, yeah, but I'm a little less wild and crazy about it these days." He glances to Christian, then back to Spike, "Why, what's up?"

Pete Wisdom did the only thing he could that would seem to make sense right now. Once the waffle was finished, he started to down his cocoa. It's not like the heat was going to hurt him, and one of the dogs next to him needed a bath, badly. But Natasha was on the move, so he had to be ready. He didn't want to involve Julian in this, either, but extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary people. As he kept drinking, he stood up to walk towards a garbage can to toss the casing for his now-eaten waffle, and the cup that formerly held delicious Belgian hot chocolate.

Natasha-- no, it's Black Widow, and she's very much on an op, her glide purposeful, her expression cold and businesslike. She moves across the street gracefully, tailing the guy that just came out, tossing her hand up in a sign Pete would recognize as 'tailing suspect' from their old days.

"Yeah, Chris. What's up? Afraid your old friend's gonna tell us you drank your tea with your pinky up all proper or some shit?" Adam grins. Chris looks embarassed. Adam tilts his head. "Hey, look, we're heading to a party down in Brooklyn. Any friend of Chris's, right? It's a bit goth--" he pointed looks at Julian's attire, "but whatever, man. Besides, Clara likes those clean-cut types anyway."

Chris snorts. "Yeah. She was upset the little hipster kid you were hanging with last night disappeared on her."

Adam smacks himself in the forehead lightly. "Yeah! /That/ guy, Jono. He was pretty cool. Too bad none of you idiots have bothered learning ASL."

Chris shrugs. "Not all of us have deaf brothers, Adam."

"Naw man, Chris was all right. Just had a pair of helicopter parents he needed to get out from under the downdraft from, right Chris?" Julian notes towards Christian, reaching over and clapping his upper arm, lightly, smiling encouragingly, then looking back to Adam, "Yeah? Well, give me the location and I might see about heading home real quick to get some threads that won't have me sticking out like -quite- as much of a sore thumb." Because Julian Keller is nothing but adaptable when it comes to partying. "Or maybe I'll stick with clean-cut..." Julian grins oh-so-wickedly, "Tell me about Clara."

Pete Wisdom texted Julian once more as he started walking at an easy pace after Natasha. Casual, staring into his phone. A simple message; 'NO DRUGS OF ANY KIND.' He then shut his phone, lifted his head and had to dodge a bicyclist.

"Watch it, asshole! Don't text and walk!" snapped the cyclist in a thick Long Island accent as she whizzed on past.

Pete shook his head, and then had to look around to try to get a bead on Natasha again. Ah, there she was. Who couldn't forget that hair? Surely not her enemies, either.

Chris looks relieved. "Yeah. It's great to be on the other side of the country from them." He sighs. "Uh. Clara. Um." He laughs nervously. "Clara's interesting. Really... eager? And--"

Adam interrupts Chris. "And likes wearing fishnets and very little else," he says with a smirk. "And Chris has struck out with her at least a dozen times because he can't be bothered to seal the deal, you know?"

Chris winces. "I'm just not... comfortable... doing--"

Adam waves him off. "You want to be like Tony Stark when you grow up, and you can't even be bothered to get laid. One day, brother, one day, I will find you someone that even you'll be willing to drop your pants for." He looks back at Julian. "Anyways, here's my number," and he yanks a scrap of paper out of the front pocket of his backpack, scribbling a number and an address. "aaaand the address of the party. Hope you can come by."

Natasha slides up behind the guy, tapping him on the shoulder. She flips her ID at him. "SHIELD. You're coming with me."

Pete Wisdom was a capable combatant - and Natasha was more than him. He didn't like to admit it, but he wasn't in the league of fighters like the Black Widow and Captain America. If things got ugly, he was sure Natasha could hand it. But to be safe, he pulled off his gloves with his teeth and pocketed them. He had to have his hands loose in case he needed to launch a hot-knife. He was a surgeon with the damn things. He knew full well his capabilities in supporting Natasha, whether she wanted his support or not.

At this point, though, were they too far away from Keller & The Goths (the new retro 90s darkwave band)?

Julian plucks up his phone again, glancing at it and quickly firing off a reply before looking to Adam and nodding with a grin as he accepts the number and address. "Thanks. You just might see me." He glances to Chris, then back to Adam, and asks, "Hey, lemme talk to Chris for a second, huh? I'll make sure he catches up."

"No prob," Adam says and waves off. "Gotta catch up with Wan--Eileen, anyway. Before she throttles me. Girlfriends...can't live with them, can't... well. Yeah." He reshoulders his backpack and heads off, grinning.

Chris lifts a brow. "What's up, Julian?"

The man looks from Widow to the ID, and panics, bolting. She is right there behind him, though, grabbing him by the collar and tossing him into the wall of the building. "Don't try it."

"You striking out with Clara for real, or striking out because you know better?" Julian grins towards Christian, "Because if you just know better, then you're probably right. If you're just shy...then I -guarantee- I can get you hooked up tonight if you want." He pauses a moment, then tilts his head, "Or is it something else?"

Pete Wisdom lifted a hand to adjust his sunglasses after the near miss with the cyclist. But his eyes were on the scuffle. At first sign of a syringe or anyone else advancing on Natasha... He ignored the replying buzz in his pants. Julian should know better than to talk back to Wisdom.

Chris looks embarrassed. "I've... kinda never. With anyone. It's sort of a joke. The last time I came close with a girl-- not Clara, actually, but this really... really... /hot/ chick at one of the parties..." he trails off, turning red, then mumbles, "...I kinda threw up."

Natasha slams her fist into the guy's stomach. "When I say 'Stop' and 'SHIELD', you do not run. You stand still." The guy lets out an 'oof!' and drops his bag, the contents scattering.

With the contents of the bag scattering, and Natasha having things well in hand, Pete seemed to relax. He'll only approach if things got hairy or if there was a call for backup. But now he went to glance back over at his student, and finally checked his phone again. He then replied, quickly, frowning behind his scarf, steam coming up from the air over his face as he exhaled hotly. But he seemed to have a lot to text.

As the fighting goes on beside the clinic, a shadow finally moves with a handgun outstretched, calling out in a rather rough voice that echoes down a nearby alley, "Stop and SHIELD usually gets a snicker at best, bullets stop people..." The shadow reveals himself to be clad in black kevlar, a small skull on his shoulder.

"Hey man, nothing wrong with that. Maybe you just need the right girl." Julian replies to Christian, then winces as the story continues, "Oh...OK. Ouch. Major anxiety...and of course that happening just makes it worse right?" Julian frowns a touch, "OK then...so you need to learn how to relax. Not as easy as some folks would lead you to believe." Julian is about to say something else, when his phone buzzes again, "Hold on...." He looks at the phone, rolls his eyes, and actually starts texting back while barely looking at the phone, "All right Chris. I'll stop by this party and catch up with you there. I think your best approach is to just...not care about that specific thing. Just focus on having a good time, right?" He smiles to Christian, "I'll see you in a bit." He hits "send" on the message while his attention is turned away from the phone, not that the recipient is likely to be seeing it for a while.

The Widow sees the handgun, and her ice-blue eyes narrow. One hand still holding the perp by the collar, the other raising, a fist pointing towards the man in the shadows, and her Russian-accented voice replies coldly, "I would put the weapon down if I were you."

Chris nods. "Yeah... kinda what Rapt--uh, Adam says too. I guess I'll try. Anyways, glad you'll be coming tonight, Julian. It's a pretty awesome scene." He glances down the street. "Whoa. Who's the babe beating up that guy?"

Frank peers at the woman holding the man's collar and then gently squeezes the trigger, unloading a well-placed round into the guys forehead, creating a bloody mess on the wall and likely upon anyone nearby. With that done the shadowed man places the handgun in its holster and offers in a smug manner, "Stop and SHIELD works about as well as getting a hole in your head feels good..." The man breathes out, letting out a bit of warm air and he adds, "This punk was dealing drugs to kids, SHIELD isn't fixing this shit by holding him by the collar."

A gun was drawn. Some words were said. Wisdom's hand swung, and a thin, orange sliver of light launched, neatly severing Castle's pistol from barrel to chamber... right after it went off. He was grimacing behind his scarf, and he wanted to yell. Holy hell, was he steaming everywhere?

Natasha lets go of the corpse, gore covering her face and chest. "... ," she snarls in Russian. "I was going to find out who his supplier is."

Avengers don't kill. But right now, Natasha isn't exactly on the clock for them. She twitches her wrists, dialing up the stings to a slightly less than lethal dose-- only in deference to the civilians that are milling around, or, in most cases, running from the carnage that is occuring openly on the New York City streets.

As Pete's hot knife slices through the kevlar-suited man's gun, Natasha's Widow's Bites whirr, firing out of the sleeves of her leather jacket towards the man who just killed her collar.

Frank drops the gun and snarls as peers at the grounded pieces, "Another one bites the dust.." Turning about to see where the knife came from Frank pulls an additional handgun from behind his back and ducks behind a garbage dumpster, just being missed by the Widow's Bites, saying calmly through the shadows as he lowers the newly pulled gun, "I made your job easier, don't make mine harder."

"Wisdom! Civilians!" Natasha's voice rings with authority-- this is Deputy Director Romanov talking to one of her agents, not Natasha talking to Pete. Besides, Wisdom used to run Excalibur-- he knows what the priorities are in a situation like this.

Wearing the blood-splatters like gory warpaint, Natasha moves forward, kicking a prescription bottle that had fallen from the man's bag out of the way as she advances, firing again, ready to dodge any bullets heading for her.

"I got the civilians! Do what you've gotta do!" Julian Keller's voice called out, and he's lifted into the air a bit, surrounded with his telltale green glow, and using his TK to scoot any straggling civilians away, while maintainng a light TK field between the combatants and the wider area beyond, covering as wide an area as he can manage. "Lemme know if you need the field dropped!"

Pete Wisdom ran across the street, even rolling over a cab that was in the way. He hit the ground and picked up a bottle, taking a quick glance. "Thi- this is VALTREX! A fucking antibiotic! PUNISHER, YOU KILLED A MAN WHO JUST HAD CROTCH-ROT, NOT- ARGH!! YOU BLEEDIN TOE-RAG!!!" He didn't finish, as he got to his feet and gave an inarticulate growl. Long, curved blades of solid thermal energy sprouted and shimmered over his hands, the light bright enough to cast an orange hue over his face, like a warm, cozy fire. Pete was pissed.

Moving down the alley, trying to stay in the shadows and away from these so called agents of SHIELD, Frank removes a small canister off his belt and pulls the pin with a click, dropping it as it begins spraying a fine yellow smoke. Over his shoulder he says in an annoyed tone, "Not worth your effort, you should go home agents. Let the real work be done while you sit on the sidelines trying to figure out how to collar intel out of people."

Chris's eyes widen. "Whoa... Julian?" and he looks down at the blood-covered woman. "...that... That is /BLACK WIDOW/. Eileen's gonna flip!" He had already pulled out his cell phone, and is recording.

Natasha looks back over her shoulder, startled. "The drop. Dammit! Wisdom-- the clinic!" And then she whirls and parkours up the dumpster through the smoke and over it, flipping in midair and landing lightly on her feet behind the Punisher. "/That/ is why we take 'em into custody." She trains her weapons on him. "Like I will now be doing with you."

Pete Wisdom's hot-knives receded, or outright vanished. He looked over - Julian was floating now. This wasn't good. Julian was now very obvious, and a very obvious target, what with that green glow. "Widow's Bite his bollocks!" he called out to Natasha. . o O ( And don't get killed, ) he thought. He immediately looked at Julian again. Then at the kids, one of whom left the clinic. He saw him leave, along with Natasha. And the other kid. And he put things together. 'Where were you this morning?' one asked the other. He remembered. He started to walk back to where Julian, Christian and Adam were.

Adam had long since gone. Chris was still getting film, but when he sees Wisdom heading his way looking like that, he stops rolling and hits a button to upload it to YouTube... and bolts. Adults in authority don't seem to be his thing.

Natasha lets out a Russian curse as Frank's fist connects with Widow's Bite... but since the gun is attached to her wrist, it acts as both armor and doesn't allow it to be sent flying.

Her eyes narrow. "No," she says. "I am /the/ SHIELD operative." And she leaps, launching a spinning kick at the Punisher's face.

Julian frowns, and reaches out to "pluck" Christian back towards where Wisdom is approaching, "Sorry bro, but just be straight with him and it'll be cool, all right? This is important..."

Pete Wisdom threw his hand out, even as Christian began to run. But there were too many people. He couldn't stop the lad as - oh, look, Julian's helping. "What did I tell you, Julian? Now you just painted a big green target over your head!" he almost spat, his voice gravelly, but still distinctly British. At least he was being helpful. "Thanks, though." He hit his communicator to call for a SHIELD dispatch to contain the boy for process and interrogation. Pete did, however, approach to rifle through the boy's pockets, snatch any technology, and pop the batteries from them, to ensure any more recording would cease. But not destroy them, so he (and others) can see what info may be on said phones. Kids were stupid, these days.

Frank takes the boot to the face and flies into the nearby wall with a thud. Using the dirty wall to rise to his feet, Frank says through gritted teeth, "THE SHIELD OPERATIVE? Sounds like somebody smart came up with that one." Frank shrugs at that as he resets his jaw with a low crack and then makes a move to continue down the alley. Knowing there's still a Russian road block Franks removes a grenade from an unseen pouch, quickly pulls the pin and says, "It may be time for both of us to take a break from our day jobs.." Frank grips the grenade tightly and then adds, "I can cook this for only a few more seconds..."

"I didn't do anything! Julian! What--" Chris's voice cracks, terrified. Other than his cell phone, his mostly empty wallet (save his ID and a card for the subway) and a sketchbook and set of pencils in his messenger bag, he has nothing. "C'mon, don't shoot me like that guy!" he yelps.

Natasha does the calculations-- and comes down on the side of the civilians in the buildings around her. "Damn." What she wouldn't give for Clint as her backup right now-- he always knew what arrow to pull for something like this. Still...

She dives forward, kicking the grenade out of Castle's hand, and, counting under her breath in Russian...

"...odin..." she catches the grenade, already in midair...

"...dva..." she swings up the fire escape, then bounces across the alley and up another level...

"...tri...." she flips up the last couple levels and boots the grenade up like a football goalkeeper punting a ball.

"...chetyrye." The grenade flies up and explodes in the air.

"We're not with madmen like that," Wisdom said calmly, cooling down for the moment. "We're out to protect silly people like you, and he'll be stopped, of that you can be sure. But you just need to sit tight, Christian, so that my colleagues can have a polite chat with you. Don't worry, we'll call your parents and everything will be fine."

"Just relax Christian. Think of it as practice for Clara. If you can make it through this, you'll be set." Julian replies to Christian as he moves down to the ground, the glow still in place as he's not sure whether it's all clear yet or not, "It'll be cool. Pete's all right." He looks back to Pete and smirks sardonically, "Pretty sure I was a target anyway, Pete." He shrugs, then looks to Christian and shakes his head, "If you just tell them what they need to know, they won't call your parents and you'll be out in time for the party."

Frank's eyes move down the alley as he takes off while the grenade is still in the air, taking a hard right into an exposed basement and out of sight. The man stops and kneels in the darkness and peers back towards the light coming from around the corner. After a moment of silence the man grumbles to himself, "Fucking SHIELD..." Moving further into the darkness of the basement the man removes a small mic from his belt and says into it, "War Journal XXV, Operation Happy Pills Concluded...Target Eliminated with minimal collateral damage. Additional Notes: SHIELD operatives, possibly a high ranking female member of Russian descent, were conducting their own op and more force was needed to escape. Tenants behind clinic who have damaged homes will need to be compensated. WAR JOURNAL XXV OUT."

Chris swallows nervously, and nods. Hell, Julian should know, he figures, guy got into enough trouble. And he wasn't doing anything wrong. "Okay, man. Just... just please don't damage my sketches, sir." He looks sheepishly at Pete.

Natasha lands heavily on the top level of the fire escape, looking down into the alley. Seeing her quarry is gone, she simply swings back down and out into the street, finally wiping a bit of the gore from her cheek and starting to make her way to Hellion and Wisdom.