| Marvel: In the Beginning... | ||||||||||
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A bright spring afternoon in New York. The chill of winter is finally starting to go away and the warm air of spring is all around. With the weather getting nicer, crowds of Tourists and New Yorkers alike are out enjoying it, so the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue are rather crowded with shoppers clutching their bags of found treasurers or gawking in the windows of the famous storefronts.
Outside of one of the habidashers is a figure who obvious expects the weather to be getting worse rather soon judging from the well worn full length trenchcoat and the boonie-style hat he wears pulled down low on his head to obscure his features. Kurt gazes wistfully at the beautiful tailored suits, pondering just how they might react if he were even to have the money to go in there and order one for his unusual physiology.
It's warm, and the young woman who comes out of one of the stores carrying a bag is dressed for it...loose slacks and a short sleeved blouse, the latter open slightly in front. It would reveal cleavage, but she is somewhat lacking in that regard, her build best described as 'petite'. She pulls on a set of shades as she glances around the crowded sidewalk. Murf. She really needs to shop at a time that is less busy. Or... For right now, Jen Walters silences that small voice in her head. The one there is nothing soft or gentle about.
Nightcrawler turns from the window and starts to fall into step with the current of the crowd walking along the sidewalk. He doesn't pay much attention to what's going on around him, as absorbed as he is with his own thoughts. An island of one in a sea of many. But he looks up in surprise and confusion as the first screams start and he hears the sounds of yelling and crashes of metal on metal.
Coming up the street is what seems to be a modified Bradley fighting vehicle, forcing cars out of its path and in some cases up onto the sidewalks when it can't manage to just get up over their hoods. It's painted all in black with no other distinguishing markings. People see it and know it's got to be some sort of trouble though as they starts to panic and flee in every direction. Kurt sees himself about to become trampled and decides that he needs to get out of there fast. A BAMF and a cloud of brimstone appears on the sidewalk as the man in the trechcoat vanishes, only to reappear up on the secnd story ledge of a nearby building.
And then, suddenly, the crowd turns ugly. Ugly. It takes all she has within her to get out of their path, out of the way...as small as she is, she is quite likely to be trampled. She pulls free, darting into an alleyway, but she is already breathing hard even as she gets out of view, dropping the bag...and yup. There goes the outfit. Unfortunately, it's not an instant transformation. Fortunately...for our ratings, if not for any young males in the area...she *was* wearing something that could stretch with her. Almost...almost she controlled it. She's definitely getting better.
The Armored Car moves up the street, pushing thigns out of its way and seemingly uncaring of the danger it's putting people in. A young woman gets bumped by a taxi that's thrust up on the sidewalk and she falls into the street, right in the path of the monster machine. Kurt has already pulled off his hat and coat and leaves them in a heap on the ledge as he teleports again, onto the trunk of the taxi. Reaching down he snatches the woman up and leaps away from disaster. The woman's shaken by the whole incident so it takes a moment befroe she realizes what's got ahold of her. As soon as he feet touch pavement she starts screaming and whapping at Kurt's poor head with her purse. "Ow! Ow! Frauow! Stop! Ow!" He teleports away with a Bamf to get free of the pummelling.
In the street, the machine seems to have reached its destination as it turns towards the bulletproof glass windows of a high end jewlery store where a million dollars of platinum, gold, and diamonds sparkle to tempt passersby. A hatch in the front of the vehicle opens up and a mechanical arm extends out that ends in a diamondedged circular blade that starts cutting into the window with a loud whine.
"Ram Raiding went out in the 90s!" The voice that declares that is deep, but absolutely feminine. Quite a lot *more* of the civilians scatter as the She-Hulk steps out of the alleyway, literally cracking her knuckles. "You and you, get behind me. I'm pretty sure that these people have guns." Well. Whether or not they trust the Big Green Monster...she makes a good bulletproof shield. And thus, they get out of her way as she strides towards the 'ram raiders'.
The saw continues to work its way through the armored glass, trying to hurry to get their prize. But that doesn't keep the turrent from swivelling around and the one of the guns on it starting to chatter with automatic gunfire as .30 slugs start spraying towards She-Hulk. People start diving for whatever cover they can find to keep from getting in the way of that deadly spray.
Kurt looks about as the machinegun starts to chatter. He's certainly not bulletproof, but he has to do something about that. He teleports back up to the ledge long enough to grab his coat, then onto the Bradley. Using the coat to insulate him from the heat of the barrel, he braces himself and strains with everything he's got to force the gun's aim up and away from She-Hulk.
Well, that's nice. "You're a gallant gentleman, but really?" Several of the slugs hit her, thud, and then bounce off. "That tickles. Just a little bit." She's still advancing, perhaps hoping she'll intimidate them into a mistake. Well. She's changed course very slightly. She's heading towards the saw and the window...but she isn't doing it directly. She's trying to make sure that whatever bullets miss her...at least until Kurt forces the fire into the air...won't hit anyone *else*.
The gun wriggles in Kurt's grip, trying to get She-hulk back in its sights. But the mutant stands firm. Well, firm enough to keep it from going up and down. But Kurt is caught by surprise as the turrent suddenly swivels to the side, the gun hitting him and knocking the breath from him before he goes crashing into a pile of littered trash sitting next to a nearly empty trash bin marked "Keep NY Beautiful". Free of his interfearance, the turrent quickly seeks otu She-hulk again and decides a change of tactics are needed. One of the other gun barrels fires with a dull THUMP sound as a 40mm concussion grenade goes flying for the Emerald Amazon.
If she dodges that...somebody's going to get hurt. She deliberately takes it...and while it's not enough to *seriously* damage her, it's certainly painful. Painful enough for her to abandon caution to the winds. She leaps towards the turrent concerned, apparently bent on getting her hands on it before the gunner can reload. "That's a bit more like it! But not good enough!"
The gun tries to track She-hulk as she leaps up onto the vehicle, causing it to shudder with the impact as she lands. The arm gets jarred enough to be knocked out of the goove it's been cutting and someone inside decides there's something worse to worry about. The arm starts coming back, aiming for the back of She-hulk as she busies herself with the turrent. Kurt calls out, "Fraulein! Behind you!" as he leaps back up onto the machine again, moving to one of the hatches and attempting to get it open to get to the men inside.
She-Hulk is...not about to risk getting hit by the saw. Grenades, she can give a good guess of. Bullets? Pheh. Who cares about bullets! With surprising grace for something that is well over six feet tall and weighs several hundred pounds, she leaps upwards as Nightcrawler gives warning. "Thanks!" she yells to the fuzzy elf. She's about to come down...if she gets this right, on the base of the arm. Ow. Hopefully somebody's not under there.
The spring day has been spoiled for the shoppers and tourists as a black armored vehicle that rather looks like a convered Bradley has forced its way down the street, crashing cars and endangering people all so that it can try to steal some jewels. An arm came out of the front of it with a spinning circular blade to start cutting through the bulletproof glass covering a million dollar jewelry display, but after machinegun bullets and a 40mm grenade haven't done anything to She-hulk, the blade is now coming for her back as she tries to deal with the turrent. Kurt yells out a warning to her though and she leaps up straight into the air, causing the blade to slice through nothing but air. As her arc comes down again, she sets her feet and plants them directly onto the base of the arm, breaking it off of the machine. The turrent moves again, aiming at hte window this time as it launches another grenade, trying to finish the job of breaking the window, and a couple more ports open up with pincer-ended arms coming out to presumably use to try to gather up the loot.
Kurt has been trying to force open the hatch, but not having any luck. He looks about and ponders and then smirks as an idea comes to him. He spies a small armored viewport that presumably the driver uses to see out and covers it with the remains of his poor trenchcoat to try to blind the thieves.
As the arm falls away from the car, She-Hulk tumbles after it, although its definitely controlled...her goal is to grab it before it goes too far, and then spin back towards the armored car, wielding it like a sword. "These people do not give up, do they. Am I going to have to *seriously* start smashing things?" Of course, being She-Hulk, she looks like she'd rather prefer they fought on: This is fun!
As She-hulk the Barbarian stands there with what almost looks like a very oversized pizza cutter in her hand, the arms that just came out start to change. The fingers on the claws flip backwards and out of the centers come a pair of diamond-tipped drills. One of them moves to the window, trying to find a spot to finish the work of the cutter and the grenade on the rather scarred up window. The other moves to try to give She-hulk a few scars of her own, jabbing the drill at her nearly invulnerable form. Nightcrawler looks about, 'Fraulien! If you cna put a hole in this to where the people inside are, I think I can get inside to help stop them!" Someone inside doesn't like the sound of that though as the turrent moves to track Kurt now, the machinegun starting to chatter once again as he quickly starts to flip and dodge out of the way.
Simone was walking down the street when the comotion started. New York is officially crazy. She ducks around the edge of a building and instead of running away like a sensible person she's staying there, watching in awe as the two unusual looking people battle it out with the tank. Green amazon women and blue ..and red creatures?! If only she had a camera!
Oh yes. Sensible people have run. Then there are the crazies. Like, you know, fuzzy elves and Huge Green Women. The latter of the two uses the saw arm to try and parry the drill...which isn't very good for the saw arm. Oops. She leaps upwards again, spins in the air, and attempts to land on the same place she hit earlier...the base of the arm. No matter how well armored this thing is, its not likely to be able to take too many of these impacts. "Working on it!"
Tucked away /inside/ the jewelry store in question, a cowering young woman clings to the older gentleman in the three-piece suit at her side. "/Jerry/" she hisses, pulling long raven black hair out of her face. "I have to help them."
The older gentleman looks towards the young woman at his side and shakes his head. "There's nothing we can do against something like that, Andrea. We need to stay down and out of the way."
But the girl frowns. "I /can/ help. And I don't have to move to do it."
A few moments later, there is a rush in the air, somewhat like low-end static electricity. Then, inside the car - visible barely to those outside - there is an intense explosion of light, of sound, of radio static. Blinding. Deafening. Staggering. It is largely contained, having little effect outside the vehicle. But inside? It's like a military-grade flashbang grenade was set off. Without the warning.
There's a groan and squeal of armor plating bending as She-Hulk's feet come dancing down on the armored car again, giving it one heck of a bodyjob needing to be done as the mechanicals that weren't damaged the first time she landed give way. The mechanical arm with the drill comes stabbing at her again, intent on putting the gamma-irradiated skin to the test, but then both arms start flailing wildly as the cacophany starts going off inside, stunning the four men inside. The machinegun that was trying to perferate Kurt goes silent again and Kurt takes the momentary respite to leap down for some wreckage in the street, using one chunk to hammer the second into place into the barrel to help jam it up.
Simone has some desire to offer aid, and is highly considering it. It might be good to get on these people's good side. Except she knows what it's like to have to steal to survive. It leaves her a bit torn. However none of her crew ever got this insane and they certainly wouldn't build a tank of distruction to hit a bank of all things. Too much potential for problems, like this. She continues to stare and gape at the excitment. She glances around and rushes towards the next building along the street, and ducks into the narrow alley there. She wants to be able to hear and see better.
A respite. Good. She jumps off the car and, in one swift movement, she reaches for the weakened armor plating, gets a grip on it and....yank. "She-Hulk SMASH!" she calls, with distinct satisfaction as she...hopefully...tears right through into the machine. She's not sure what just happened inside. Unaware of the mutant, she's assuming something malfunctioned in there. She'll take it! Especially as they're about to take all the shinies! Nobody gets to steal the *shinies* on her watch!
Drained of most of the energy she'd absorbed, the young woman with black hair goes limp, slacking against the older gentleman - Jerry - as she is suddenly so very tired and weak. "Unh. OK. Now ... let's hope ... they can ... do something with that." She rests against Jerry, observing the whole debacle unfold, still trapped inside the jewelry store.
The weakened armor plate starts tearing apart under the superstrong abuses of She-hulk, tearing apart into the crew area where the four men are still groggily trying to get their senses back again. Kurt sees the opening, literally, and disappears in a cloud of brimstone and a loud BAMF, reappearing inside the cramped quarters of the machine. He shuts down the engine on it and then moves to unseal the hatches, "Well, I guess their equipment was not as good as they thought." He climbs out of the wreckage of the armored car and dusts himself off. "It seems to have finished this battle for us."
Simone wrinkles her nose at the scent of sulfur as it eventually drifts in her direction on the air currents. Phew! She checks the area again, knowing that the police will probably show up soon. If not some pesky TV crews. She's so going to find a library later and see if there is any information on the green woman and the blue man on the net. She then glances down the alley way to see if there are any fire escapes.
She-Hulk looks down at the men. "Gentlemen. Would you care to surrender now? I have to admit I'd prefer it if you didn't, but it would be far more fun for me than it would be for you!" She cracks her knuckes again, grinning broadly into the machine.
Andrea hugs Jerry firmly. "It's OK. They're disabled. The police will be here in ... a minute or so. They're six blocks over, squeezing past the jam of traffic and trying to avoid the runners." How could the girl in the jewelry store know that? Good thing she didn't say it very loud, hunh? "They're fascinating, Jerry. So ... so much larger than life." OK. She-Hulk has the unfair advantage in that department. But still.
Sirens can start to be heard, echoing off the manmade canyons of the city as they try to work their way through the mess of traffic. Up above the scene however, there's already a helicopter hovering and checking out the scene. They four guys inside the machine seem dazed and don't really give any signs of being able to have heard She-Hulk, so Nightcrawler starts releasing their harnesses and helping hand them out to the Heroine. After the fourth one is handed out, Nightcrawler looks up at the police helicopter aprehensively. "I think perhap it would be a good time to say auf Wiedersehen. I am afraid my appearance is not always the most telegenic and I'd rather not it be believed that somehow I was responsible for all of this..." He flips his way up ontot he top of the Turrent and takes a bow before he disappears in another sulfuric cloud.
Simone frowns as the blue man vanishes, and curses under her breath. With a helecopter above going to the roof is out of the question now. Where might he have reappeared? It could be any where. Searching for him is probably going to be a waste of time. For now she watches She-Hulk, the green lady might be easier to track if she decides to follow.
"I was..." In, out. "Great. Now the cops will blame *me*." Because, of course, Hulks go on rampages. Its what they do. Hopefully there are enough witnesses...because, albeit with sirens approaching, she's not leaving the guys with the unfashionable crime method alone. She doesn't really notice either Simone or Andrea as individuals, but her eyes are scanning the crowd for anyone who has...hrm. Wait. Almost everyone has cellphone.
Now that the incident has been handled, Andrea struggles with Jerry to stand up. Naturally, the older and wiser gentleman would much rather they continue to cower until after the police have come and the fearsome Hulk woman is gone. But Andrea can be insistent and willful: she is teenager, hear her roar. "Come on, Jerry. That woman risked her life to help us and stop them. We owe her a thank you." And just like that, the still-weary Andrea makes her way to the half-ruined doors of the jewelry store, and steps over the wreckage and out onto the sidewalk.
"Thank you, Ma'am. For stopping them. And risking yourself to do so." comes a clear, strong voice, used to carrying and being heard. Calm tone, perfect diction. And from an unfairly lovely young woman. Andrea offers a tiny smile to She-Hulk, as she appears to 'watch' beyond her as the cops approach.
Drat the cops are edging in. Time to sneak off! Simone slowly retreats down the alleyway. She steps over a bunch of trash and then looks both ways before stepping out. So far, so good. She glances up, scanning what little she can see of the roof tops, and the position of the helecopter.
The police copter continues to hover and a couple of TV ones can be seen yet further out beyond it in the sky. The first officers start making their way onto the scene, on foot. They found it was faster than trying to get through the traffic snarl with the car. They move to start searching and cuffing up the suspects. The would-be crooks are staring to get their senses back after their earlier traumatizing and are muttering and grumbling as they're lined up against the wall. A few of the bystanders who've just been hding nearby come out to give She-Hulk a pattering of applause as Andrea and Jerry appraoch her to give thanks. As for Kurt, he watches it all from an alleyway as he ponders how best to make it to the little apartment he's renting without his coat now and without freaking people out with his looks.
She-Hulk snorts. "I wasn't in as much danger as you think. But I appreciate some actual gratitude." She returns to that broad grin, striking a bit of a pose as she catches the applause. Because, after all, she doesn't always get that. Of course, the teleporter would have stayed around if he wanted the credit. She'll track him down and thank him later. A distinctive guy like that, she's sure she can find sooner or later. "And if people could tell the police that I didn't start it, I would *very* much appreciate it.
"Certainly, Ma'am." The young woman offers. And sure enough, as the police step up to check on everyone, Andrea makes a deliberate point of introducing herself by name, and giving a brief, to the point statement. "Excuse me, Officer. My name is Andrea Tellierra. I'll spell that later, if you require. I want to be sure you know this: Ms. Hulk - this wonderful green lady here - she saved us from those men and their awful tank. She saved us." Hey, it's the least the young woman could do to help. Or so she believes. Jerry, not quite as much. But he's proud of her. That much is obvious in his eyes.
Simone puts her hands in her pockets and strolls down the sidewalk, as she does so she makes a point to glance down the various alleys as she passes. One never knows, perhaps she'll spot the blue guy on her way towards the Library.
The police takes statements and gradually the actual police cars make it onto fifth avenue. The foursome are shoved intot he backs of police cars as tape starts getting put up to mark off the scene. One of the officers nods to Andrea, "Alright. and you're an employee here at the store? We'll need any surveillance camera footage if you have it for evidence." He glances over at She-hulk as she's given the credit, as if the finger holes in the metal weren't evidence enough. He idly ponders what the heck he would do if she HAD been a culprit... he doubts his handcuffs could even make it around those wrists much less hold her back.
In the alleyway, Kurt's not paying attention ot the scene on the street as he starts rummaging in a dumpster by a tailor's shop hoping for some discarded cloth enough to use as a makeshift cloak.
She-Hulk turns towards Andrea. "Thank you...but She-Hulk. NOT Ms. Hulk." A pause. "You know. I've seen you somewhere before." She flickers a grin. "Not sure where, but I *absolutely* know I've seen you before." The sight of the big green woman actually scratching her head trying to place the teenager would be amusing...if anyone wanted to laugh at somebody who leaves fingerprints in armor plating. Anyone other than the lady herself.
Andrea tries not to giggle at the cop. Her, an employee here? Clearly he didn't recognize her. Not that she's going to argue. "No, Sir. Not an employee. I'm a customer. But I'm sure the employees would be only too happy to help." Just to be clear.
To She-Hulk, Andrea beams and offers her hand. "Pleased to meet you, She-Hulk. My name is Andrea. Andrea Tellierra." It's an unusual name. Most folks who've ever heard of her, seen her, recognize the name. Along with that face. And, more recently, that body. She has matured well.
Simone has about given up when she spots some shadows and notes several rats scurrying away from some russling about. She steps carefully into the alley way. "uh.. hello... ?" She's prepared to bolt if the person ends up being a bum and not the one she's looking for.
The police go about processing the crime scene, allowing She-Hulk and Andrea to have at least a moment together before the news vultures are likely to swoop in. Cops are wandering about gather statements and carefully marking out each bit of debris from the ruined armored car with numbered cones for the investigation.
In the alleyway, Kurt turns towards the ront of the alley, a piece of stained pinstripe cloth in his two-fingered hands and his yellow eyes wide in surprise as he tries to quickly wrap the cloth around himself in some sort of attempt at disguise.
"Detective Girl!" She-Hulk snaps her fingers...the sound possibly heard a couple of blocks away. Of course, it's a little young for her to have likely watched it regularly, but she can place it. And then, she shakes hands. VERY carefully. Andrea might be aware of that...but then, somebody with that sort of strength has to take great care not to harm others.
Simone grins a bit as she takes another step in. "Hey.. it's okay.. I saw you helping that green lady. You okay?" at the sound of a 'snap' echo she glances around, a confused expression on her features.
With a bit of a smirk to her smile, Andrea nods. "That's me. Nice to meet another fan. You're much taller than most of my fans." the lovely teen teases, well-meaningly. Aware as she is of all else that is going on around her, most of her focus is on She-Hulk, as the cops start documenting the scene, getting the rest of their statements, and checking on the few injured that might be about. "I must admit. I'd always heard that the Hulk was a brutish, unintelligent rampager. You don't live up to your press." Then again, some might say the same of Andrea. Might.
She-Hulk looks down at herself. Most especially at her quite considerable rack. "That's the other Hulk. The one who doesn't have a chest." The grin comes back again. "Trust me, I only go on rampages when its really warranted." Which isn't *that* often.
Nightcrawler wraps the cloth around himself and take a bow to Simone, "Danke Fraulein, but I assure you I am completely uninjured. It was only my coat which was being taking of injuries in the battle."
To which Andrea can only chuckle amusedly and nod. "Touche'. I will grant you that you look quite different from the Hulk I had seen. So I should have expected other differences." Inwardly, the teen has to admit it's nice to meet a woman that isn't at all put out by her looks. Such is not a common experience for Andrea recently.
She-Hulk grins a bit. Then, a little more seriously. "I have control. He doesn't. Maybe one of these days I'll work out why. Hopefully it doesn't have to do with the chest." Because, well, she can hardly turn Bruce into a woman.
Simone glances over her shoulder again, making sure that no one else has glimpsed the blue fellow in the alley. "..why did you stick your neck out for them... you could have gotten hurt.. or worse.." she asks, not accusingly just honest curiosity.
"And that is a good thing, I would say." Andrea offers to She-Hulk, again in appreciation of what she has done today. She didn't get to thank the blue furry man with the German accent and word choices, but she did notice him. She isn't looking, either. He is entitled to his privacy if he can find it. "Hopefully someday you will find that answer."
Nightcrawler adjusts his cloth a bit more so it can stay in place on its own. A good thing about growing up with a Gypsy family, you learn to make do with what you have on hand. He looks back out towards the street. "Becaus Fraulien... I could. I was born looking like a devil und being called a demon. This I could not help and was beyond my control. But it is my choice of how I use the abilities that God was giving me to dance with Angels or with the Devils. There were people in danger, people who needed more help than they could give to themselves. I could not just stand by and allow them to come to harm or else I would have felt the sin of their harm as surely upon my soul as if it had been done with my own hand."
She-Hulk flickers a grin. "Yes, it is a good thing. I'm not sure the other guy could have stopped them on his own." She *might* have been able to, but its always easier with friends. Which makes not being a rampaging beast a good thing too. Harder to make them that way.
Simone arches a brow to hear a demonic looking man talk about angels and God. The world never ceases to amaze. "..an interesting way to put it.." she says quietly. "There aren't many in your position who'd feel that way. " She glances over her shoulder again. It seems she's a bit paranoid, or overly cautious. "Do you need some more coverings? I can try to find something.."
"But the two of you worked well together. Thank you again." Andrea glances up at Jerry and then nods, turning back to She-Hulk. "My Dad would like to go, now. I can't blame him. Take care of yourself. It was a real pleasure to meet you."
With gentle forebearance, Jerry has waited. But now that Andrea has offered him a way to gracefully step in, he nods to She-Hulk. "Yes. Thank you. We should be going." Before the press starts to really go nuts, or word gets out that they are here. Time to go!
Nightcrawler shakes his head to Simone, "Thank you Frauline, but this should be sufficient for me to make it home in without distressing too many people." he gives a wide warm smile. "I might appear to be monster in their eyes. That I can deal with much better than if I were ever to take actions to make myself a monster in my own eyes." And with that, he starts taking advantage of his dark color and the shadows of the alleyway, making his way quickly away.