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| Skewering a Peeper | |
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| Participants | Hotwire, Marrow |
| Synopsis | Marrow takes down a Peeper for the Brotherhood with the help of a new… ally? |
| Location | Clinton, Ryker's later |
| Time | January 10, 2016 |
| Posted By | Marrow |
It's cold and has been snowing at one point, but now it's merely overcast and dull. Where cars and foot traffic have come through Clinton, the snow has been churned up and mixed with soot from exhausts, dirt and other filth, adding to the greyness of drab, run-down environment. The area is far from deserted, but in a crime-ridden neighbourhood such as this one, most strangers avoid each other well enough.
But in one such situation, people are parting for a particular stranger like the Red Sea. Having just met with one of her associates on the streets, a tall woman passes down the sidewalk, seeming not to care about how others are reacting to the sight of her. If it were just the purple locks and almost too-blue eyes, most people would just look at 'yet another punk' and look the other way, maybe not even really noticing her. It might be the persistent scowl, but likely not either. But perhaps it's the fact that she's practically a walking nightmare that is the issue. Oh, she's not hideously ugly by any stretch of the imagination. It's the fact that she has several, large bony-protrusions jutting out at strange angles from her back, poking through tears in the back of her heavy coat that likely has people unnerved. The one known as Marrow allows her combat-boot-covered feet to carry her swiftly down the sidewalk, her gaze darting about periodically — never know when a Peeper might be around the corner, after all.
Hotwire is cursing severly in Arabic. It had snowed enough that she HAD to leave her precious bike parked somewhere safe and take the transit. Problem with that, the driver appearently read the paper she had wrong and dropped off in the middle of no where. Now she was really confused and lost and trying to hail down a taxi, which isn't working well either.
Hotwire starts to get a bit frustrated, which lack of decent sleep doesn't help any. To add to the matter, people are backing INTO her to get out of the boney mutant's way. Some are raising their cellphones, to perhaps call out. Hotwire, miffed frustrated and not wanting to see a fellow mutant get in trouble, lets out her frustration. The cellphones all start ringing, then POOF! They don't work anymore, and Hotwire feels much better now.
Honestly, at first, Marrow doesn't notice Hotwire, nor anyone else. The fact that people are picking up cellphones doesn't seem to bother her. She doesn't plan on being around long enough for it to matter, and her swift pace likely states that much about her inner thoughts. But as the phones suddenly ring at once and then just as suddenly cease all their racket, this does give the bony one some cause for pause. Glancing up and around, she stops in her tracks briefly and sniffs briefly at the air — this looks more like a habit or a tick more than her testing the air or anything of the sort. She has no idea what caused the cellphones to behave that way and no way of knowing the source of the issue. Her eyes twitch a bit as her gaze flickers about the immediate area, looking to see if she can spot anything unusual — other than people staring at her in varying states of curiosity and revulsion. "What're ya all starin' at? Ain' seen purple hair before? Fuckin' freaks," she grumbles in a hoarse, yet low tone.
Hotwire watches the boney mutant for a bit, trying to hide a grin. She's been feeling like grumbling the same thing at people. But then, most of the curses she knows are Arabic and some people don't get the hint if it's not in plain english. They don't seem to get even that around her. She's almost takes a step towards the boney mutant. Perhaps this person knows how to get where she want to go? She takes a step forward, then suddenly stops and peers about, seeming to scan around her. As an ambalance goes by, she relaxes. Nope! Not what she fears.
The motion toward her, as minute as it might be, catches Marrow's attention. Soon, those blue eyes seem rather focused on the apparent suspect of the cellphone issues, even if Marrow's not even sure she's the culprit for that. No, it's more a question of, 'why is this girl trying to move closer?' and likely, 'is she carrying a weapon of any sort?' The bony one has been a terrorist for a long time, so it's hard to lower the guard a bit. Gruffly, she demands, "What's yer damage?" That's it. She glares at the girl who is likely not that much younger than herself — she carries an air about her that suggests that although others may be chronically uncomfortable around her, she is more than comfortable in her own skin and doesn't give a rat's ass as to who has a problem with that. "Camera's broken or somethin'?" she asks, her tone turning more into a challenging growl by now.
Hotwire blinks at the challenge, but then, she HAS been around people like that before. Though, some of what is asked puzzles her. She DOES have hidden weapons on her, or not so hidden weapons, for someone who knows where and what to look for. "Camera's broken?" She asked, puzzled and in a heavy Arabic accent. She peers about, looking towards the street lights, "Yes, those ones are broken." She states this as a fact. She looks like she's about to say more when she pauses again and looks in a direction. A few seconds later, it's a Peeper. It starts to move close, but stops, sits for a second and then continues on it's way.
Frowning, Marrow rumbles, "Yeah… is yer freakin' camera broken? Yer starin' enough, ya migh' as well take a fuckin' picture of me." She usually doesn't have to explain that one. Most New Yorkers catch the drift. Cultural differences are not something she's too used to. Regardless, as the girl points toward the Peeper, the bony one's jaw actually drops open. "No fuckin' way…" With that, she's in motion again, regardless of how the crowd might react to her own reaction. She springs into an outright run, coat flapping out wildly behind her as she hoofs it — not away from the Peeper, but /toward/ it. Is she /nuts/? As she runs, she reaches up over a shoulder and does the unthinkable: she yanks on one of the long, bony protrusions as one might yank a sword out of a back-sheath.
Hotwire blinks, as the boney mutant races off. She shrugs and races after the boney mutant. "Why are you after it?" Well, if this mutant wants the dang thing. Hotwire stops and focuses. The Peeper comes to a stop and hovers.
The crowd on the sidewalk suddenly parts again. Some people were still madly thumbing their cellphones, but now they all dive to the sides to prevent the bony one from bowling them all over. Several turn to take their leave while some still gawk and stare. Several shouts and muttered protests follow the purple-haired Marrow, but she doesn't care. Calling back to the girl, she gruffs, "Cuz I want one to add to my freakin' stamp collection!" Nothing like a little sarcasm to side-step a question one doesn't want to answer. As the Peeper stops and hovers, Marrow leaps toward it, looking like she plans on tackling the thing right to the ground to skewer it with that long bone-sword, regardless of who might be watching…and unless the Peeper regains its senses or someone stops her, it looks like she might be successful in a moment with that bone-sword lifted high.
The Peeper stays right where it is, as Hotwire lets out a sigh. "Go a head a break it. Seems like the popular thing to do. But it isn't emitting to them." She knows this, since she's now controlling it. But she's controlled other before and other mutants got scared of her, of the peepers. The thing is, where there's a peeper, sooner or later, there are mutant hunters. She scans about.
And then Marrow lands on the thing, jabbing the bone-sword down into the body of the machine, sending both it and herself crashing to the sidewalk. But just as instantly as she seems to get the upper hand on the thing, the unsuspecting Peeper gets the upper hand momentarily. While it doesn't fire any weapons at the mutant as it's being controlled by Hotwire, the outer hull still has a live defense mechanism — Marrow cries out and convulses a few times as electricity courses from the hull, to her and through her body. But then the bone-sword does its job and shuts it, and its power-source down. For a long moment, Marrow simply slumps, inert over the body of the machine. Is she even conscious?
Hotwire peers at the Peeper. "A bit different from the ones I know of. Next one, I keep." She moves over to Morrow. "You ok? If I known not like ones at home, would have shut down fully. You ok??" Damn! She finally find someone who could posibly help her and she accidently let the mutant get hurt!
Smoke rises from the ends of the purple hair covering Marrow's face and off of metal buttons on her jacket, the grommets on her boots… But, at least the bony-one seems to be breathing. People dive into buildings, stare and point down the street and still try to mash at their phones. The mutants are going to have to clear out fast if they don't want to get nailed by someone or something worse. There's a low groan from Marrow and then slowly, signs of life creep into her form. She pushes herself up slowly, revealing the impaled machine beneath her which seems rather dead, for now. The next thing she does is smack her left wrist through her coat without an explanation why. Then, she staggers to her feet, looking more than a bit stunned. "Huh?" she rasps at first, focusing on the girl at her side. "Okay? Yeah… think so. C'mon… we gotta get lost…" She then reaches down and with considerable strain, hefts the machine up into her arms. "Heeaaavy fucker… let's get off the street," she suggests hoarsely before immediately moving toward a nearby alley with their prize. She doesn't wait to see if Hotwire's following or not — she's leaving. If anyone else wants to come along, then they need to keep up. Marrow's not moving overly fast like before and is staggering slightly but she keeps a steady pace away from the crime scene before the crowd recovers from shock and becomes an angry mob, complete with pitchforks.
With a grunt, Marrow says initially, "I'm fine. I'll be fine." At a closer look, Hotwire may or may not see the burns that Marrow actually suffered. But although she winces and is obviously a bit stunned, she keeps on going, like a trooper. She struggles with the machine's weight, but does better than an average human her size, likely. "My people want one of these things… as in-tact as we can get it. Gonna take it to a warehouse to analyze it," is all she says. She doesn't identify who her people are, nor where they might be. At the other end of the alleyway, two black vans pull up. Marrow glances to them and redoubles her efforts to get the machine down the alleyway, heading /toward/ the vans. Must be her people.
Hotwire is a bit more hesitant. Black van usually means MRD. But since this mutant is RUNNING towards them, she heads a bit more cautiously. But she is prepared. "Friends of your's? And if you want one intact, next time, don't attack the one I'm controlling!"
"Yeah, friends of mine," Marrow gasps, struggling with the weight of the thing. A couple of guys pile out of the one van and run up to her as she stops and sets the thing down. She straightens and swivels her head about a bit. The distinct popping of bones cracking in her neck can be audibly heard. The rather nondescript men work on lifting the thing between them, bone still sticking out of it. "Get it to the warehouse. Radio back to headquarters to let them know what we've got," she orders them abruptly. With a bit of a grunt, she turns her attention to Hotwire and replies, "Can't take any chances an' it's got to be disabled completely. Can't take jus' anyone off the street who decides to help to our hidden locations, right? If ya've got to be with it while ya keep it under control, that's not gonna work, right?" After a moment's deliberation, she asks, "Where'ya goin'? If ya stay here, yer a sittin' duck. Folks'll get the other Tin Cans out here, then we're both toast." As she speaks, the burns on her face begin to do something strange — blackness turns to red, then slowly begins to clear up as she apparently heals right before the other girl's eyes.
Hotwire nods, "That makes sense. It does take time to alter programming. A nd these ones are not like the ones I know of." That or, she's more tired than she thought. In fact, it takes a bit for her to realize that the mutant is actually healing. She thought she might be seeing things. "Though, if I can get my hands on one, before it's distroyed, I can probably be able to copy it.." She shrugs. "Good you get them hidden. And you ARE ok yes?"
The more Marrow hears of what Hotwire can do, the more intrigued she sounds. The first van takes off with the machine loaded into the back. The other hasn't budged but the door has opened. "Hey… you coming or what?" a guy's voice hollers out. Marrow holds up a finger to indicate she's going to be a moment. "I figured as much," she replies about the program alterations. Not that she knows about Hotwire's power, but she's making some calculated assumptions based on the fact that she's never seen someone control any of the Sentinels thus far. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," the woman gruffs abruptly, sounding antsy now as she looks around. There's noise at the other end of the alley. Angry words and general threats of violence. "And are ya fuckin' deaf? I said where are ya headin'? We gotta go an' we gotta go /now/," she demands, looking back at the other girl.
Hotwire pauses a bit and then, "I have been trying to find Rykers. I heard its safe there. You heading there?" She moves towards Marrow, "I call myself Hotwire."
"What a coincidence," the bony one rasps. She then marches over to the van swiftly and hops into it, the bony spikes in her back barely clearing the opening. She turns a bit, carefully, and motions toward the other girl. "Hotwire it is. They call me Marrow. You comin'?" It's now or never, apparently. She's already strapping herself into a special seat with no backing on it to allow for clearance for those bony weapons she carries. The van's engine revs up and the angry voices from behind start to get closer.
Hotwire hops into the van, and straps in. She wants where she can be safe, and right at the moment, it isn't safe. She closes her eyes and and cocks her head. "Something more complicated than a peeper coming. Not as complicated as one of those..spider..?? It just in range..about 100 feet? May be just van. No can really tell."
With a look back at Hotwire, Marrow merely nods. Then she leans forward and growls at the driver, "Step on it. An' keep radio silence fer now. Don't know if we're bein' monitored in this area." He doesn't even need to be told where they're going. Out of here, to say the least, but he makes a beeline through the rougher parts of town, making a zigzag pattern through the city to get across the island and up to Queens. By the time they hit the bridge, Marrow seems completely healed and her bone-sword has regrown. She's silent even long after it's obvious that they weren't followed. Before long, they're across the bridge and arriving in Ryker's, Hotwire's apparently desired stop.
Hotwire looks about, her eyes wide open in interest. But for the first time in YEARS, she can stop scanning for electronics. "Wow!" Is all she can say. She's finally reached her goal and may even get some decent rest.
The van stops and Marrow rasps, "Welcome to Ryker's." She unbuckles and moves to open the door of the van, hopping out. Gravel crunches beneath the snow and her booted feet. Turning to look at the other girl, she adds, "Yeah. It's alright, eih?" Motioning down one of the roads, she says, "Kitchen an' rooms are that way." She motions in another direction and says, "The office is that way; they'll want to know wha' yer willin' to do to earn yer keep." With a look back at Hotwire, it's obvious she's about to part ways with her, but she asks in a gravelly voice, "Anythin' else?"
Hotwire nods, "No. I think I can manage from here. I can see office. And I am willing to do my part for my 'keep'. I am good with electronics. Can even build and improve on designs." She smiles at Marrow. "Thank you for bringing me here. You do not know how much."
Nodding once, Marrow grunts, "Good. We can use someone with your talents here, I think. Anyway, thanks fer the assist." With that, she turns on a booted heel to stalk off toward the north road, in search of some of her other cohorts, perhaps. She doesn't even seem phased by the damage she took earlier at this point, no longer seeming stunned, nor burnt. She moves with a purpose, leaving the Ryker's newcomer to her own defenses, it seems.
