Baltimore, Wednesday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

The night was both hot and muggy; Banzai wasn't sure whether that would mean it was too hot for people to get into much trouble, or if it was going to be one of those nights when it was so uncomfortable that it just spurred people to act like assholes. The middle of the week usually skewed towards it being too much effort, but Banzai was always a little wary. Especially tonight, when she had someone with her. Anders could take care of himself, she knew that, but she couldn't help but worry a bit anyway. It wasn't like he wandered around fighting bad guys often. Yet.

She was hoping that they could get some parkouring in, maybe take down a mugger or two or stop a drug deal or something, and he could have a fun night that took his mind off his relationship woes. She was certain that he and Nathan would be okay in a few days, it just took some time and patience.

Not that Anders was all that great at patience.

"So, I mostly patrol from the rooftops because you get the best view of what's going on," Banzai explained, gesturing out towards the city below them. "And I can usually get wherever I'm going in a hurry, unlike if I were at street level. But we can head down to the ground if you think it would be easier that way?"

[For one please! Who was modded with permission]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"No, I'd like to do it the way you do," Tempest decided. Partially because he wanted to follow Kathy's lead, but also because he knew he was a better distance fighter than anything else. "Lead the way. Anything I should watch for?"

He was wearing a deep grey fitted t-shirt and black jogging pants: Nothing very costumey, but he could move in it. It fit in perfectly other than the staff on his back. A plain black mask was stuck in his hip pocket, ready for action whenever Kathy gave the signal.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I feel like I should give you a crash course in how people move," Banzai said with a grin, "because it actually tells you a lot if you know what to look for."

As Kathy, she'd spent a lot of time observing others rather than being a part of the crowd. She'd learned a lot about body language before she could even properly categorize what she was learning.

"The easiest thing for now, though, is to watch the crowd. Have you ever watched ants? Seen how they all move together, at least until a new element is introduced. People are like that. On their own, they'll all follow unconscious paths. It's when there's a small knot of chaos that usually means something is amiss."

[not_every_mage]

Anders nodded, appreciating how serious Kathy sounded. It made this seem more like something real,less like some crazy whim or distraction.

"So I want to look for anything where people are clumping up," he repeated. "It could be something good or something bad, yes?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Exactly," Banzai said. "Anything that disrupts the order needs a second look. It means we miss stuff sometimes--good pickpockets can hit a bunch of victims without disrupting anything--but we'll get the big things. Muggings, fistfights, even drugs sometimes. Most people aren't good enough at doing something shady to go with the flow afterwards."

[not_every_mage]

Anders nodded, pausing on the stairway to squint at the crowds. "How much is there to do on a normal night?" he wondered. "And do you ever get interrupted by the police?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Normal weeknight?" Kathy looked around and shrugged. "Depends on where I patrol. There's usually stuff going on after one, when all the bars let out and the drunks go home. It's like a drunken buffet for pickpockets and muggers. And there's always something going on if I really wanted to find it. B and E's, hold-ups, domestic disputes, that kind of thing. Baltimore's not huge on really violent crime and it doesn't have much in the way of gangs or organized crime the way other cities do."

So, a pretty good city for a fledgling superhero to cut her teeth on. She didn't have to worry about running afoul of an entire syndicate because she was cutting in on their profits or whatever,

"As for the cops, not really? Most of the stuff I stop doesn't usually involve the cops, or if it does, they're called after I have people ziptied. I've run into cops a few times, but usually I can jackrabbit off before they get out of the car or whatever."

[not_every_mage]

"I'll throw a fireball into an alley and run fast in the other direction," Anders decided. "That should distract them for long enough for me to get away."

He glanced along the block. "This looks like a perfect setting for a drunken buffet. Lots of little dark nooks for the pickpockets."

[spin_kick_snap]

"They won't all be pickpockets," Banzai warned. "Oh, umm...how do you feel about, uhh, working girls?" She blushed a little. "I mean, you know, ladies--and a few guys--whose, uhh, affections are...rentable?"

Sex workers, Kathy. You could just say sex workers.

[not_every_mage]

Anders squinted at her. "You mean," he ventured, trying to think of something more polite than what he would have said in front of somebody who wasn't Kathy, "brothel-workers? Only, er, without he brothel? I don't have a problem with them if that's what you're asking."

The ones in the Pearl were supposed to be very friendly!

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay good," Kathy said, relieved. "Because there are a few hanging out around here and they're actually really nice and I work with them sometimes. Err, not like that." Obviously. "I mostly keep an eye out to make sure no one bothers them or anything. Sometimes people can get--pushy."

And Kathy was not about that.

"Yeah, I know prostitution is illegal, but so is vigilantism, so I figure it all comes out in the wash, you know?"

[not_every_mage]

"Right, but why is it illegal?" Anders wondered. "It's obviously not the nicest way to make a living, but as long as everyone involved agrees I can't see how it hurts anyone. It's legal at home."

And yet again, Thedas managed to be marginally more sane than Earth!

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because we were founded by Puritans hopped up on sex-shaming religion and outlawing sex work predominantly harms poor and minority women and other people who aren't part of the moral majority," Kathy stated. "Or, more succinctly, because bullshit."

[not_every_mage]

"... all right then," Anders decided brightly. "Then I'll be happy to protect them."

[spin_kick_snap]

There was a reason that Banzai had originally tried calling herself Social Justice Warrior. Okay, rather, there were so many reasons why she'd tried that. So many.

God, Anders, didn't you read her Tumblr anymore?

"Yeah, so now we just mostly keep an eye--" The sound of angry voices rose up from an alleyway. Several young men, by the sound of it. "--Or an ear out. Shall we go check that out? See what it is?"

She should probably sound less chipper than that, honestly.

[not_every_mage]

Anders read her Tumblr sometimes! When there weren't any more cat pictures!

... so, not very often. Sorry.

"Sounds like an excellent idea," he said, reaching to draw his staff. "I'll follow your lead, all right?"

[spin_kick_snap]

He was never going to get the right tone for his manifesto that way, sweetie. uwu

"Have you been practicing your free-running?" she asked him, tracing out a path over a few rooftops that would lead to the alley in question without them having to get to the streets. "None of the jumps should be that bad? If you get up enough speed?"

Was it possible to make yourself go any faster, Anders?

[not_every_mage]

"I've been working on it at home," Anders nodded. (He had, too. Not a lot, but enough that he figured he wouldn't make a complete fool of himself.) "I think I can go faster. Not like there's much up here to trip over, anyhow."

[spin_kick_snap]

"No, up here it's poor maintenance that'll get you," Kathy said, turning to start running. "Watch out for loose shingles or weirdly-colored patches of roof. That could be something rotten or slippery. Trust me."

She'd had to learn the hard way for that one.

There weren't any alleys or side streets on this side of their target, so the distances between buildings was measured in feet, not yards. Kathy somersaulted over the edge of one and landed on the other, pointing out a hanging eave to Anders that would make his jump easier if he needed it.

[not_every_mage]

Anders ran alongside her at full speed -- not quite matching her pace, but not slowing her down too badly, either. When he got to the gap, he closed his eyes, made the jump from the eave -- and bounced in triumph when he realized he'd made it.

"So far so good," he said breathlessly, as he loped toward the next building.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You're doing great!" Kathy said, flashing him a victory sign. "Okay, next one--you probably want to go that way," she pointed back a few yards. "The other building is kind of a V-shape, it's further away in the front than the back because it's so much narrower."

There was a pole fixed to the side of the building, dangling the flag below it. Kathy ran across the pole like it was a balance beam and dove towards the other building as it bowed beneath her weight.

"This way!" she called, running parallel to him so she'd be near when he found a place close enough to make the leap.

[not_every_mage]

Yeah, there was no way Anders was going to try the balance beam trick. He ran along the edge of the roof until he was within jumping distance, raised his hands in the air, and made the leap.

This time,he did a clumsy little cartwheel when he landed, just out of sheer excitement.

"So when we get there," he said, once he had his balance again, "and we see the fight, what do we do?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"First we look, see what's up," Kathy said, leading him towards the next building. It had a row of carved stone outcroppings for them to run across. "The way we approach it if it's a fistfight is gonna be different than if someone has a gun or a knife or something. They might also be easier to intimidate if they're sober than if they're drunk or high."

She pointed to a patch of loose tiles for them to avoid and darted around it.

"If it's just a few guys, I'll usually just jump down. That's generally enough to startle them into stopping and I can go from there. If there are more, I use my ribbons and whatnot to cause a distraction and take a few out." She eyed him. "Pretty sure you'll be good for that."

Lightning or fire out of nowhere tended to be very distracting.

"If we see obvious illegal stuff or if someone is really hurt, we call 911 before we do anything else. Otherwise, we intimidate them into breaking up or we leave them tied up for the cops to find. I've got zipties for that."

[not_every_mage]

Anders followed along, veering to the left to avoid the loose tiles. "I won't do anything until it's needed," he said. "Well. Maybe a little bit of lightning or a frozen plant to make a point, but I won't touch them."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You know what you could do," Kathy suggested, giving him a grin. "Ice up the ground under their feet. Let's see them do anything but try to stay upright that way!"

[not_every_mage]

"Kathy," Anders said, grinning back at her, "I think this is why you're pretty much my best friend. That would be perfect."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy beamed at him, trying not to blush. "That and we're both just genuinely awesome," she said. "So let's see what we're dealing with, huh?"

They made their way over to the alley and looked over. It was a brawl, easily ten people punching and kicking one another. There was one guy on the ground, curled up, with three other guys kicking at him. Two other guys were grappling with one another, trying to force one another's face into a wall.

"Don't see any weapons," Kathy said. "But that guy on the ground could probably use a hand. Tempest? Do the honors?"

[not_every_mage]

"But of course," Tempest said, and flicked his staff to send a chain of lightning through the melee, sparing only the man on the ground.

[spin_kick_snap]

And Banzai followed it down, bouncing off the arms and shoulders of several guys unfortunate enough to still be mostly upright after the lightning went through them. "All right!" she yelled as soon as she was on the ground. "Playtime's over. Disperse!"

With a bellow, on guy threw himself at her. Kathy coolly sidestepped, waited for him to fling himself past her, and then ran up his back to kick him in the head, flipping off as he fell to the ground.

"That enough to convince you it's time to go?" she asked, "or are you all a bunch of slow learners?"

[not_every_mage]

One guy looked up, squinted, and mouthed "What the fuck?" at Anders.

Anders just smirked.

"You heard her," he said. "Go, unless you want to see what I can do now that I'm warmed up."

[spin_kick_snap]

Another guy tried to sneak up on Banzai, taking a swing towards her head. She dropped to a crouch, his fist swinging through empty air, then swept her foot out to knock him on his ass. Another moment of silence and then everyone surged towards her with a yell.

"Slow learners it is," she said.

[not_every_mage]

"Pity," Anders observed, aiming a deft fireball just above the head of the group. "You'd think we'd be intimidating enough, wouldn't you?"

One of the attackers climbed up on a trash can to try to grab at Anders' foot. He almost took pleasure in freezing the can so he'd slip off and land hard on the alley's pavement.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Are my rainbows not intimidating enough?" Banzai asked, sending one of her weighted sticks crashing into someone's elbow. "I picked my especially intimidating outfit for just this occasion!"

Running up a wall, she leapt for another, putting all of her weight on his shoulder to handspring off of him. He went down and she stayed aiborn, aiming for another. Spin-kick! Punch! Handspring! Hammer-kick! Elbow! Spin kick! Snap!

A guy clutched his broken hand and sank to his knees, yelling.

"Intimidated yet?"

[not_every_mage]

A guy in a baseball cap started to swear at her and reached for what Anders could only assume was some kind of weapon in response. He wasn't going to finish getting it because a blast of ice froze himin place.

Anders let out a roar of triumph. "This'll teach you not to take us seriously!"

[spin_kick_snap]

That frozen guy made an excellent prop, oh yes. Banzai wasn't sure how long he'd stay frozen, but until he thawed, she was going to use him to bounce off of, like another, smaller wall situated conveniently in the middle of a fight.

Thanks, Tempest!

A few of the fighters took the opportunity to bolt after their friend (or maybe rival, who knew?) got frozen; superheroes with eldritch powers were apparently Too Much for them. Banzai was willing to let them go. It wasn't like they were lacking in remaining opponents to beat on.

She heard another cry of pain--quick check, it looked like two of the biggest guys were back to kicking the guy that had fallen over earlier. "Tempest!" she cried, launching herself off of Popsicle to physically tackle one of the guys and drag him to the ground with her.

[not_every_mage]

"Banzai!" Anders returned, with a half-concerned glance at the frozen fellow to be certain he was thawing. (He was. Just ... slowly.)

He sketched a protective rune on the ground to keep the thugs away for a moment, then reached down to try to help the man on the ground up. "Can you stand?" he asked urgently.

[spin_kick_snap]

The guy on the ground--more a kid, really, probably just a few years older than Anders and Kathy--slowly uncurled, letting go of his head and letting his legs fall away from his chest. "...yeah?" he said, voice thin.

His face was a welter of blood and bruises, the fingers on his hand looked sprained, and when he stood he favored his left leg, but he could stand. "Who are you people?" he asked.

The other guy who had been hitting him lunged forward but was stopped by the rune. It was hard to tell what was going on with Banzai's fight, both of them on the ground and trying to grapple one another.

[not_every_mage]

"We're the people who came to help you," Anders said, between quick, shallow breaths. "Run and don't stop."

Healing was nice, but not exactly the best idea in the middle of a fight.

And with that he shot a bolt of lightning at the guy trapped by the rune.

[spin_kick_snap]

Didn't have to tell him twice. Clutching his chest and wheezing, he booked out of the alley and disappeared into the night.

Banzai wrapped her legs around the guy's head, a headlock with far more power behind it than if she used her upper body. He flailed helplessly while she just kept increasing the pressure.

He went limp at around the time the guy in the rune hit the ground, body still convulsing from the lightning. Unlike either of them, Banzai immediately bounced back up and started ziptyping their wrists behind their backs.

[not_every_mage]

Tempest couldn't move nearly as fast as Banzai, so he stood guard with his staff posed and ready.

"Need any help?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Seeing the biggest two down, a few more guys ran from the alley, including the guy who had finally finished thawing. Two others were more loyal than they were smart and charged over to help their friends on the ground.

"Take them out and I think we're good!" Banzai called.

[not_every_mage]

"No problem," Tempest called back, and unleashed a powerful burst of spirit energy designed to knock the ruffians off their feet. "Are you going to tie them up, too?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"That's the plan!" Banzai said cheerfully, her knee firmly planted in someone's kidney as she pulled his arms behind his back. "Then call the cops and let them sort all this nonsense out. Especially since I recognize one of these guys."

She pointed to the guy she'd tackled, coming back to consciousness now that she was no longer cutting off air through his windpipe. "Tempest, meet Sandro 'The Mako' Felipe. He's a pretty deal in club drug trafficking circles. Not terribly picky about the quality of the stuff he sells, either, since most of his clientele are dumb college kids who don't know any better. Usually it just means they pay stupid prices for crappy drugs, but sometimes it's worse."

[not_every_mage]

"Bad move," Anders said, not sounding particularly sympathetic. "I don't care if you sell drugs, but making people sick is another thing entirely. Hopefully this will make him think twice."

[spin_kick_snap]

"He'll have plenty of time to ponder his life and choices after the cops arrest him," Banzai said, finishing tying down the guy's wrists and moving on to his ankles. "You wanna give them a call?"

She fished a Trakphone out of one of her pockets and tossed it to him. "Use this one. Calls are monitored and tracked, you know?" The guy under her struggled and she cuffed the back of his head. "Next time, maybe have better choices in friends and recreation, eh?"