Starring:
Summary: Walking in the Badlands at night is dangerous. Good thing there are hero-types around to help.
Date It Happened: February 3rd, 2002
Nobody Expects the Hero Inquisition
The Badlands
As Vivian does on the days that she's not working, she volunteers at the East Hills Teen Center. And sometimes that goes late. It's solidly night when she steps out of the house-like building that she has just given about a dozen physicals at and she is quick to stay alert as she walks down the street, just to make sure that there aren't any unsavory characters about. In this neighborhood, it wouldn't be all that unlikely. One hand stays in her pocket where her trusty little bottle of mace remains.
The Badlands are not Angel's usual choice of prowling grounds. He's not here to cause trouble, of course, more to keep an eye open. The reasoning behind this is not entirely certain even in his own mind. Gunn's team handle this whole area of the cityscape pretty well, but then it is also the last place anyone will look for him when he wants to be alone. He's not far from the Center, keeping to the shadows.
Charles Gunn. Badlands. One Man. One Territory. And… that's pretty much it. Charles has already done his duty at the East Hills Teen Center for the day. He was there this morning, helping with laundry or some such. Whatever the case may be, there's not anything else that can happen right now… except for the fact that Gunn is doing that thing where he's waltzing through the darkness, without a care in the world. Maybe he's hunting. Maybe he's just out for a walk. Maybe… he forgot where he parked the truck.
Moxie is out wandering these streets, stupidly, yes, but sometimes a gal just needs to get away and think, and she's become so caught up in her thinking she hasn't realized how far she's ventured from the place she used to call home. And has no idea why she went back to peek in on it anyway. Which only adds to those thoughts that propel her absently along and bring her here into the Badlands. Her hands tucked into her pockets, bangs swept properly down over her one eye, she watches the pavement as her platform heels tread along over it, though she's not quite so oblivious as she might appear.
It's no full moon, but there are plenty of beasties still lurking about at night, and Junayd just needs something to kill. The Badlands is not his usual turf, but it's been slim pickings tonight and desperate times call for desperate measures. The place is more than adequately guarded by those who keep watch over the area, but it can't hurt to have an extra set of eyes, right? Sure. The Israeli is perched atop a building and armed to the teeth with all sorts of fun weaponry, peering down into the street while smoking a cigarillo that smells faintly of … peach. Nobody said it was manly.
Maybe a little too stupidly. While Moxie is wandering, she may or may not notice a shadowy figure fall into step behind her. Not so close that it's obvious, but not all that far away, either. A few more moments and another man steps up behind that one. And another. A small gang is starting to stake out it's territory. And it's decided that Moxie is a part of it. All those other wandering boys and vampires are taken little notice of. Why should the in an atmosphere like this?
Vivian keeps walking briskly down the street, keeping a firm grip on her bag and her mace. When she spots Gunn walking nearby, however, she doesn't stop nor pause, but she does hail him in the manner of someone who you don't really know, but recognize. "You were at the Center earlier, weren't you?" She looks around and glimpses the gathering of men walking down the street. This seems like as good a time as any to latch onto a strong male figure.
Oh look, there's Gunn. And another someone whom he isn't so familiar with. Angel may have had reason to step out of the dark and make conversation with the Badlands hunter but he thinks better of it, staying hidden for the time being. There are other people walking and stalking, it seems, and they all warrant some watching by him. Although he cannot help but think to himself.
Who goes walking in the Badlands?
Bald Sense Tingling. Head & Shoulders… Activate. That's pretty much what happens while Gunn is looking up to send a responding hail in the direction of Vivian. "Yeah…" But his tone and his voice are with the trailing of the off as he kind of starts to feel a disturbance in the Force. Which, of course, is something that should be considered a good thing, since there are things afoot… like chicks that shouldn't be walking through this area alone. Luckily, he's come armed and is already taking a couple of steps to get closer to where Vivian is, while his eyes drift off towards Gang: The Gathering.
Moxie doesn't immediately notice the crowd gathering behind her, like her 'network' from one of those stupid cell phone adds. Of course, that might be cool, and being followed by shadowy figures in the Badlands will probably only turn out to be very lame indeed. She jams her hands into her pockets, instead choosing to warily eye those people in her line of sight before her. But after a few more steps, she starts to slow just slightly, some subconscious part beginning to pick up on that strange feeling of being watched or followed.
Oh look at that. Trouble. Right here in River City. Junayd drops the cigarillo with no particular hurry and grinds it out with the toe of his boot, then moves to the side of his current building that's furthest from the gathering and ahead of Moxie, but along her path. Soundlessly, he slips down into the alley there and puts himself up against the wall, waiting for the girl to pass.
Trouble indeed. The small group of men speed up their pace as Moxie slows down hers in order to come up right behind her. "Such a dark night, miss," one says with a smirk on his face. "You shouldn't be walking all by yourself." The others speed up in an attempt to flank either side.
It's not exactly like Vivian has much of a choice with the walking around the Badlands. She doesn't have a car. What really is her problem is that she shouldn't be walking around by herself. Luckily Gunn has showed up in order to be his own bald savior. Taking a tighter grip of her mace, she falls in line behind him. Seeing the men start to close in on Moxie, she bristles. That's not something she's going to just stand by and watch happen. "Hey! You leave her alone! She's with us!" Not that she even knows that girl, but she can't exactly just let her pass by and not say something.
Angel cannot help but notice the whole gang of individuals gathering around down in the alleyway and the people they appear to be surrounding. A sniff of the air and the vampire with soul lifts his eyebrows and relaxes a little. All the same, he's getting involved and here he comes.
The black clad figure descends from a fire escape up above, emerging from the shadows and falling a distance that would probably break ankles. But, luckily, Angel has particularly strong ankles. Landing in a slight crouch behind the gangster speaking to Moxie, he stands up slowly.
"She's not."
And he makes for the grab, aiming to bodily heave the punk away from his intended victim.
Okay, there's a couple of things that happen at this moment in Gunn's life:
1) Gunn blinks.
2) Gunn glares.
All in the span that it takes Angel and his Coat of Doom the time to drop from above and land with the grace that he always lands with. Stupid vampires. "Stay behind me." Gunn mutters over his shoulder to Vivian, since there happens to be some craziness about to happen. Which always happens whenever there's a crazy person (vampire) like Angel around. Gunn even holds his hand out to make sure Vivian isn't trying to get around him. "Look who finally made it home!" Sarcastic yell? Check.
Moxie whirls about as the man speaks, so close in behind her. There's a little noise of surprise to find him right there. She opens her mouth to reply, when some woman she doesn't know is calling out that she's with them. But wait, that bald black guy does look familiar… Moxie's brow furrows, but she doesn't have the chance to get much further than that when Angel is suddenly, like, dropping from the sky, and with her nerves already starting to be on edge, she gives another little yelp of surprise, jumping back away from the action, as Angel lunges for her stalker.
So many heroes. Junayd can hear the action, but he remains quietly pinned to the wall, waiting to see if he might be needed. No use jumping in if the situation is already handled.
The last thing these men/boys were expecting was for a Dark Avenger to come crashing down on them like in the movies and tossing one of them toward the inevitable trash cans lined up in the alleyway. There's a loud clattering and clanging as the speaker crashes into them and doesn't get back up. Who would after something like that. The other two produce switch-blades. With a definitive *shick* they flip open. One points the blade toward Angel. The other flicks his eyes between Junayd and Gunn. They're not taking any chances here. One of their own just got canned.
Vivian, despite her own outburst isn't really stupid. She's not about to go charging in and attempt to attack anyone else. Staying behind Gunn's warning arm, she eyes the heroics and Gunn's own greeting. "You, uh, know someone who can jump from a fire escape and not break anything? His ankles should be broken!" That's just not natural.
Angel glances sidelong at Gunn when he hears the sarcastic yell, smirking a little to himself before he keeps his eyes quite firmly locked on the thug pointing the knife at him. He doesn't hunch over or even attempt to look like he's ready to defend himself, confident in his speed as he just remains standing with his arms at his sides.
"Uh. He wears Nike?" Gunn is too busy watching the other guy to really come up with some good idea to try and cover up Angel's dropping down from fire escapes and what not. "Don't look over here, buddy. He's the one that's gonna' kick your ass." And there's a nod off in Angel's direction, if only because he doesn't want to get involved in this crazy fight. Not while Angel's around to do the dirty work. Besides, Vivian's kind of on the cute side.
Moxie takes another step away from the action, and now, the blades. She might be a stupid teen, but she knows those things are bad news. And if there are strange men who want to fling themselves off fire escapes and get themselves stabbed instead of her, hey, she's going to take advantage of that. Otherwise it'd be a waste of getting someone stabbed, right? She doesn't make a break for it yet though, not wanting to bring their attention back to her again.
Standing around is boring. Junayd needs to kill something. So while the second man is looking at Gunn, the Israeli produces a throwing knife from his belt and flings it with sharp precision. He's not aiming to kill, but he is aiming for the guy's knife arm. One less knife in the fight. "Oops," he grunts. "Slipped."
Thwick That's the sickening noise as Junayd's throwing knife sinks deep into the thug closest to him. The man gives a scream and collapses, clutching his wounded arm. The last man is not so much a courageous sort of guy as a follower. And if one person got a knife through his arm and the other tossed into garbage, it's about time to follow suit and get the hell out of here. Which he does. In all haste.
Vivian eyes Junayd and Angel as well as Gunn. Now's when she has to actually step forward and attempts to get around the bald black man to get to the knifer. As a doctor, she's obligated to assist him. At least to a certain extent. She'll call the cops on him, too, once she knows he's not going to bleed out from an artery wound. She approaches the knife guy slowly, wondering if he's going to try and attack her. "Don't stab me, I'm a doctor," she says with her hands up in the non-threatening sort of manner. "Someone know where a payphone is to call the cops?"
Angel gives the wounded gangster a look suggesting that knifing the good doctor may be unwise in the grand scheme of things. The other thug-type running off into the night, he doesn't give chase and instead steps off to the side to allow Vivian room to work. Standing nearby to Moxie, he gives her a brief look before he asks:
"Are you okay?" No, he isn't disappearing into the night. He's staying around for some reason. The wonders never cease.
"And! He doesn't even break a sweat, ladies and gentlemen." comes the witty quip from Gunn, as the black man heads off in the direction of Vivian and Angel and Moxie and everyone else that sees to not be the type to deal with the trying to stab the black man at this moment. He's just going to stand idly by while keeping his eyes on Angel, in case Mr. Fangs tries to get away.
Moxie wrinkles her nose as the throwing knife makes that gross sound and even grosser visual of sinking into the arm of someone standing not all that far away from her person, even if she's taken those steps back. "Ugh," is her only comment on that. But then everything seems to be winding down, and she can only stare with a skeptical arched eyebrow as the other thug runs away. Thugs these days, honestly. "A payphone? Please," she says just a little disdainful for such old technology. Out of a tight pocket comes a cell phone, which is offered out with a flick of her wrist, in Vivian's general direction as if the teen hasn't noticed the good doctor kind of has her hands full right now. Trying to seem so full of piss and vinegar, it's not really too hard to tell that she's still a little shaken by all this. Instead of answering Angel's question directly, she responds with one of her own: "Why the hell does this shit always happen to me?" Something about tone and expression might suggest she wouldn't welcome someone pointing out the obvious fact about walking around the Badlands alone.
Too bad Junayd says it anyway: "Maybe if you weren't wandering in a bad neighborhood alone, they wouldn't." He's not real soft or gentle about it either. He approaches the thug and Vivian and, unless someone stops him, bends to yank his throwing knife out of the man's arm. He needs that. Damn things are expensive.
"H-Hey!" Vivian hasn't even inspected that yet. So she scowls at Junayd and doesn't manage to catch the cellphone that Moxie tosses at her. Juggling it, it drops to the ground with a crackling thud. She seems embarrassed about it and manages to scrabble it up to pass to someone else. Gunn seems closest. "Look, if you could just call and tell them that there's a suspect that I'm going to be taking to the closest hospital to get a knife wound checked out? He should really get stitches." Vivian looks around at the assembled personages and eyes them. "You're okay, right?" she asks Moxie, but she does seem to be talking and okay. Putting pressure on the knife guy's wound, she's not all that gentle in pulling him up. "You'll make sure she gets home alright, right?" She's already starting to walk him in the proper direction.
Mr. Fan— Angel does indeed try to get away, especially since there is some fresh blood right there and he's suddenly feeling all kinds of hungry. He gives the rest of the gathered people a quick look before he turns around, shoving his hands into the pocket of his coat and taking off at a walk-that-is-almost-a-run towards the mouth of the alley.
"Yeah, so, we'll catch up later, then?" Gunn's eyes are of the rolling at this moment, as he flips open the cell phone to make the call. Might as well get this crazy stuff overwith. And then he's going to make another call to the Angel Investigations crew to let them know that their Boyfang's Back… and demons gonna' be in trouble: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SUIP-BDxqEU
Moxie narrows her eyes at Junayd as he has the nerve to state the obvious. "Dude, it doesn't matter where I am. I could be at the library and still some stupid thing attacks me." She throws up her hands in frustration. But hey, at least this time she didn't almost die, so maybe she's getting better at this stuff. "I'm fine," she insists to Vivian, rolling her eyes just a little, getting more ornery by the second. "And I can get my own way home." But she doesn't leave immediately, since her cell phone is still in use. She'll stick around quite pointedly until she gets that back.
Junayd wipes off the blade unceremoniously and re-sheathes it on his belt. He shoots a smirk at Moxie. "Stop by Lin Sister Herbal; we've got charms for that." And then Vivian's moving off with the thug, which is totally not safe at all for any woman. So the Israeli follows right after her. "I think I'll accompany you, just to be on the safe side." And not to stare at her ass. No really, totally not going to stare at her ass. Really.
… right.
Angel actually goes so far as to wave a hand over his head in acknowledgement to Gunn as he goes. He doesn't pause to talk about catching up, though. That might have been why he was in the Badlands but right now it seems, to him at least, that he should probably leave that particular discussion for another time.
With phonecalls finished, Gunn turns and sends the phone back in Moxie's direction, "Beat it. Wrong neighborhood." is said, before he gets to looking around and trying to remember where the holy hell he parked.
Moxie rolls her eyes at Junayd and just keeps on rolling them for Gunn too as she snags the phone and jams it back in those tight pockets. "Yeah, yeah," she mutters, feigning utter indifference. Still, now that she's got her property back, she doesn't really waste time in heading off out of the area, platform soles thudding on the pavement.
