| Domino and the Hulk Wreck Harlem |
| Summary: | Bruce Banner hulks out when Domino shoots him. A chase ensues with Domino attempting not to die while the Hulk tries to kill her. Having been dropped off in Harlem by mistake, Amanda does her part to get the pedestrians out of the way. She then uses her magic to calm the Hulk. Just as the Hulk turns back into Banner, Pete Wisdom shows up on the scene to scoop Banner up and hurry him away. Pete comes back to save Amanda when she almost gets detained by the police. Teleporting them off the scene proves to be the last straw for Amanda. She collapses and is cared for by Banner and Pete in her apartment. |
| Date: | 2016-07-22 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | NYPD |
| Scene Runner: | Bruce Banner/The HUlk |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
 .. .. .. .. |
Late afternoon in Harlem, the heat oppressive, a weight on the shoulders and the soul alike. People try to keep cool however they can; carrying portable fans and spray bottles, they sit on buckets and crates in whatever patches of shade they can find, they adhere to the city's stance on "equal toplessness", nearly everyone's carrying a drink of some sort, and they're doing whatever else they can think of just for some modicum of comfort.
Doctor Bruce Banner is emerging from a warehouse, eyes squinted against the sunlight, perspire breaking out almost immediately as he emerges into the day's heat. The people pushing their way along the streets makes him rub his right temple, lips pressing together. Something's wrong, but he can't quite put a finger on it. This isn't the Harlem he left behind when he crawled into the warehouse that morning.
The heat makes it so hard to think, though; the sun is oppressive, making the honking of the traffic, the blaring of music, all the more - imposing. He begins to make his way down the sidewalk, the crowd milling around him like a river flowing around a boulder. He's singled out, then, perhaps even eye-catching as he hesitantly weaves his way through the crowd, trying to not let anyone touch him and recoiling when they do.
Why any cabbie would think a lovely young non-minority blonde like Amanda gave him an address in Harlem intentionally is beyond comprehension. Since she reading instead of paying attention throughout the drive, she didn't notice until she'd handed over the cash and gotten out of said cab. She steps quickly onto the sidewalk to get out of the street, tugging her bag behind her. Definitely not where she meant to be dragging her flight bag down the street.
Only a complete fool would wear layers of clingy black clothing on a day like today. Fools, or those in somewhat temperature-regulated black armor. Domino is nearby, lurking in the limited shade beneath a parked semi-trailer as she surveys her territory. And finds her mark.
"Late night for you too, Banner?" she says to herself with a thin smirk as one of her eyes focuses on the confused looking scientist through the lens of a pistol scope. It's a single shot, but one bullet should be all that she needs. She's made tougher shots in her sleep.
One hand-loaded match grade .308 bullet. One stubby, suppressed Thompson Contender pistol. One wicked easy hit. Payday is but a squeeze of a trigger away…
*Tak!*
One wicked-easy hit, a man who's a veritable island amidst the rushing people flowing around him. Eyes are drawn to another island, of a sort - a blonde with blue eyes. In Harlem. That's not something you see every day, and he considers her for a moment. He has no danger sense, no intuition - nothing to warn him of the danger heading his way - until the impact itself.
Blood and skull-bits go flying as the man falls to the ground, a loud scream of pain quickly dropping octave after octave. The shirt bulges as muscles swell, pale skin flushing with deep green, joints shifting audibly. As his left hand swells, fingers curl into a fist which gets slammed a few inches into the concrete - just before the bullet falls to the ground next to it, the metallic tinkling quickly lost beneath a bestial growling.
The Hulk gets to his feet, arms spreading, a loud roar loosening from him as the pedestrians panic and scatter.
It is oh so very difficult to scatter when one is dragging a suitcase behind her. Like the other pedestrians, Amanda reflexively ducks at the sound of a gunshot. She was just getting a feel for the fact that she was in Harlem rather than where she was supposed to be. She glances around for the source of the danger as she tries to decide whether she should put up a mystic shield or perhaps teleport away from the danger.
Then she sees the Hulk. She's heard of the Hulk, of course, but she's never seen him before and it wasn't an experience she was planning to seek out on purpose. Still here he is and that cannot be a good thing for anybody.
"And the crowd goes - Jeezus!"
One thin, black-lined smirk promptly vanishes as pale blue eyes both go wide behind the pistol scope. "That's..that's not supposed to..oh, fuck me."
Domino quickly comes out from beneath the trailer then steps around to the back side, already snapping another bullet into the barrel and locking the action closed. Once for the transformation, twice for the kill..? She hasn't lost this yet, just keep cool, steady the follow-up, and -
*Tak!*
"..Oh, God."
She just lost it. There is no backup plan. She didn't expect to -need- a backup plan! This was supposed to be a simple op! Now the albino is rabbiting, turning and running like all hell just broke loose. Because it really sorta did.
Within seconds combat boots are sliding across gravel-strewn pavement as she slides beneath another trailer, vaults over the back of a trailer-less cab, ducks and weaves through a literal maze of shipping containers. A normal person would be real easy to lose around here. Though for a monster that can run a straight line right back to her…
Upper lip curls into a snarl, heavy brow furrowing as the Hulk looks around, breathing in loud, grunted growls - then his breath turns into a bestial rumble when he sees the black-clad albino running. With a gun. Eyes narrow, then, sparing barely a glance, he grabs a cab, paying absolutely no attention to the screaming of the cabbie, and takes off at a run.
Another loud roar comes from him as he hoists the cab over his head, running straight through other cars on the street, heading for the woman - but he hurls the cab before him as he does, adding his own momentum to the strength of the throw itself to send the thing spinning wildly in her direction.
Amanda Sefton winces as the Hulk picks up a cab. That's not good. Real people who didn't shoot him could get hurt that way. Against her better instincts she calls out loudly, "HEY! Big Guy!" She's really not built to chase after the Hulk but she can try to distract from chasing off through a crowded area. A quick auditory illusion puts the sound right behind the Hulk and then repeating from multiple directions around him.
That roar, though… If there's just one more thing that could add to the spike of adrenalin in Dom's system, hearing that roar and -feeling the ground shake- is nearly enough for her own legs to give out beneath her.
Then a freaking taxi cab slams down on top of the shipping containers, buckling the structures right over her head. Diving into another low slide is all that spares her from getting flattened by the cab's front bumper, then kicking upward between two mangled containers as the back of the cab crashes down right behind her.
On the upside, now she can sprint across the tops of those containers. On the downside, now she's completely visible to Mean Green.
"It wasn't personal, I didn't mean anything by that!"
Another leap and she grabs the hook from a crane, swinging across a gap then landing in a forward roll atop a row of railroad cars in the process of getting unloaded. (Must go faster, must go faster…)
Whirling with a snarl, the Hulk looks down at the blonde, eyes twitching to match his lips as he regards her. Getting his attention is usually a Very Not Good thing - and in this case, it makes him miss the perfect opportunity to squash the albino like a bug, a fact he only notices as he turns back around, just in time to see her land on the railroad cars and beat feet out of there.
A huffed growl is given to Amanda, a thudding step toward her, all an aggressive display, and one he doesn't spend any more time on. A crouch as he turns, then the leaps into the air, roaring as he goes, his arc to take him more or less on top of the rail cars in Domino's general area.
There are no tactics, no plans; just straightforward rage. Just the desire to meet blood with blood, and to let nothing get in his way.
Oh shit. Not good. Amanda instinctively puts up a mystic barrier in front of her when Hulk takes a step toward her. One that she drops again when the Hulk leaps away since she's now lost line of sight and that means no magic against the Hulk even if she wanted to protect Domino. Which she has no real reason to do.
This time Domino's legs do give out, the creature's impact upon the rail cars sending enough of a jolt that she stumbles into an awkward roll, scrambling to get back to her feet. It's all she can do to get her pistol reloaded again. At the end of the rail car she she leaps off to the side and twists herself around with just enough time to snap a shot off toward a crane that already has a container up in the air.
It misses the cables completely. The shot smacks through the glass of the crane operator's cabin, bounces around inside of the tiny enclosure, then smacks against the cable release control. Several tons' worth of metal and crated goods suddenly begins to fall, right about where the Hulk happens to be…
The merc lands across the front of a parked pickup truck, breaking the windshield and rolling off of the hood and back to her feet with a grunt. Maybe that'll buy her some time…
The metal crashes down on the Hulk as he shields his face, driven to his knees as the bits and scraps and crates cover him. He stays covered for all of two seconds; just long enough to recover from the noise and impact, send the message to his brain, then the brain to send a message to his arms.
He goes from a low rumble to a window-shaking howl of mad fury in less time than it takes for him to stand up - which he does so with enough force to send the bits scattering everywhere, not caring one iota that bits of metal fly through the air hard enough to cut an oak tree in half. Those bits go in every direction; plenty over the water, yes, also in the /other/ direction - toward the buildings and pedestrians.
Hands become a blur as they're brought up, smacked together, then brought down /into/ the ground with such force as to cause an earthquake - and cause a fissure that cracks loudly as it speeds toward the fleeing merc.
Another reload, another quick shot taken to remove the lock from a chain link gate barring Domino's path. She bashes her way through with a much more human sounding growl, a large piece of thrown debris removing a scary amount of the road as it passes by just a few feet to her side. "How about we just call this one even and walk away?!"
Then the ground itself starts splitting open..?
A car fleeing the scene comes to an abrupt stop, both to avoid the rapidly growing fissure and the woman trying to out-run it. The car itself becomes another vaulting point, Dom lunging off of the trunk right as the car pitches into the newly formed ravine.
Duck, roll, run, reload… Pale white hands are shaking as she drops another round into her gun, the empty case chiming across the pavement behind her as she sprints into a nearby construction yard. Lots of open space but lots of places to hide, the naked metal scaffolding for a new building giving the whole area a massive jungle gym appearance.
Puny woman can run, puny woman can hide, but the Hulk will find her! His hands tremble as he pulls them out of the tarmac, watching as she escapes him AGAIN. Lips quiver and bare teeth - then he charges forward, screaming bloody rage all the while.
Cars of both the automotive and railroad varieties are thrown and kicked aside as the jade giant rampages after the woman who hurt him, feet sinking lower and lower with each step from the growing force. He doesn't aim himself at where she's going to be, however - but at the skeletal structure of the building she's hiding in.
That's what he launches himself at, to begin tearing down, to bring it down and her with it…
Amanda Sefton frowns as the shrapnel goes flying. There's a good chance that stuff contains steel and thus she would get creamed if she were to try and stop it. So instead she casts a spell to affect the crowd of fear-frozen pedestrians. She attempts to give them all an overwhelming desire to be inside. And then finds somewhere safe to duck for herself so she can keep chanting it.
There's a mental chant of 'Oh God, Oh God…' running through Domino's mind as that creature which used to be a scrawny guy named Banner starts tearing the entire freaking city block down around them both. It's a miracle she's made it this far! Miracles don't last forever.
From behind here there's a very unnerving sound of air being displaced. A -lot- of air, being pushed aside very quickly. She can't help but yell out in surprise as a flatbed car slams into the dirt a short ways ahead of her, plucked right off of the rails and deposited at an angle leading up into the scaffolding. Her arms dart up to shield herself from the cloud of debris, and yet…
The albino runs right up that mangled flatbed.
"Maybe we'll just say you won this one instead, how's that sound??" she yells back, probably lost over the enraged howling as the beast makes up all of her hard-fought distance in one jump.
For one very unnerving moment in time she's standing across an I-beam, now staring right at the Hulk, frozen in place. Once again mimicking a rabbit quite well. A very winded rabbit with a pistol still in hand. "Is it too late for a 'sorry,' big guy..?"
A girder is yanked out with a loud grunt of exertion, tossed over the Hulk's shoulder carelessly, the metal beam plunging into the street like a lawn dart. It's followed by another, then another - ten the Hulk gets tired of yanking them out one by one. He looks up at the albino and roars his fury at her.
Sirens are heard in the distance, though they don't sound particularly "special". Probably "just" police or the like. The boys and girls in blue are good people - but not really capable of standing up to the Hulk. Police cars and ambulances scream around corners - then screech to a stop when they see the Hulk start punching and kicking girders with a fury that was just this side of being blind.
The entire building - what there is of it - already begins to shake and tremble, starting to lean over the street in a slow movement, but one accompanied by a loud, ear-splitting, metallic squeal of protest from the girders.
Once the majority of the fragile pedestrians have fled the street, (Hey aren't you a fragile pedestrian lady?) Amanda mutters something in German probably something a lady shouldn't say. She leaves her flight bag in the hiding place where she was crouching and teleports to get a better angle on Domino's fight with the Hulk. When she lands, she no longer looks like a mild-mannered flight attendant. Instead she's full on sorceress in a purple and silver outfit flashy enough to say 'not normal stay away.' A mystic shield is summoned to curve around in front of her just in case any bullets come her direction. She takes a deep breath and does something immensely stupid.
The air around the Hulk becomes filled with a fog that only the Hulk can see, the pea soup thick fog that it takes hours for the sun to burn away in the morning. In the fog is the scent of something calming, she hopes, lavender? She's focusing on the Hulk though so Domino and the other normals don't see a thing.
"So that's a n - !" Domino stupidly starts to answer her own question before nearly getting impaled by a steel beam that's as wide as she is. She slips, falls, catches the bottom of the beam she had just been standing on top of, then feels the whole structure begin to tilt. When she lets go she lands hard upon the next beam down, already sliding down the dangerously angled support as both merc, and building project, begin to fall at an ever quickening pace…
The mutant merc is roughly deposited within an unfinished cement depression, part of the future building's foundation, while so many tons of ruined structure collapse mere inches above her. The ground just keeps on shaking, dust and smaller debris peppering the woman's balled-up form until she's more matte grey than black and white. Someone's going to have a field day cleaning this mess up!
It's still not safe to come out of hiding but Dom doesn't let this get in her way, breathing heavily while shaking the dust off of herself. Where'd the big guy go, he can't be difficult to locate…
The Sorceress is noticed first, quickly followed by the sight of the green monster. One very weary expression slowly morphs into one that's filled with dread. He's -actually still alive.- It takes a determined growl to kick herself back into motion, this time ducking and weaving through the ruined construction even as it keeps falling around her.
Pausing for a moment to roar up at the puny albino, the Hulk shakes his fists in fury - then the roar is cut of as the thick fog swirls around him. Bestial grunts of confusion can be heard as he whips his head this way and that, hands swiping at the air before him as if trying to grasp something but failing. Whatever it is, it makes him smack his arm through another girder without seeing it's there, shown in the surprise that comes over his face and the blind swatting with his hands.
His ability to tolerate this lasts approximately one-point-four-seven seconds - and he does what he normally does when enshrouded by a thick gas. Arms are spread wide - then with a roar he steps forward, bringing his palms together in supersonic speed, intending to Thunderclap the "fog" away.
Coincidentally, it shakes enough of the nearby foundation to make what's left of the structure still standing begin to topple over, slowly at first.
The fog is not budged by the Thunderclap as it is in his mind rather than any sort of physical thing. However, the Thunderclap tells her quite plainly that the Hulk is not calmed very much by the phantom scent of lavender. With a long-suffering sigh, the sorceress lets the fog vanish from the Angry Green Giant's mind so she can try to touch said mind directly with calm. More difficult than it sounds when she's not particularly calm herself.
(Haul ass, Thurman!)
This is not at all where Domino wants to be. The only nearby piece of cover comes in the form of a large section of concrete pipe, for what good it might do. She dives inside and narrowly avoids losing both of her legs in the process, so much twisted metal collapsing around the meager structure until the pipe itself cracks in two.
Had the section which landed atop of her been any smaller, or curved at any other radius, she would not have survived. The ruined pipe turns into a makeshift cocoon which shields her from the rest of the demolished building.
For the moment..she's content to lie exactly where she is. 'Playing dead' doesn't seem like much of a strategy but she's running out of options!
A brief glint of satisfaction washes over the Hulk as the "fog" disappears, then he looks around for the woman - she can't have gotten far. A snarl through a curled lip is given as he begins working through the wreckage.
His mind is a morass of hazy glimpses of memories and undiluted emotion. So much emotion is filtered through logic, but not here. Pain in the head - now entirely psychosomatic - reverberating through his skull, like so many times before when he had to protect puny Banner. It can't be easy to weave through a lifetime's worth of rage and hate and pain, to find anyplace to implant another sensation. The rage roils like an endless sea, covering everything that he is.
He plants his right hand heavily on the pipe - then the growling stops. Confusion comes over his features, and he blinks a few times. The rage is fighting that calmness; he won't go back! He won't!
And yet - he takes a step back, hand pulling away from the pipe to go to his head, as the calmness serpentines its way outward. It's fought every step of the way - but it's slowly winning.
Amanda Sefton has done this to soothe pain before. Calm is a little like soothing away pain right? Especially for the Hulk. And yet, this is hard with someone like the Hulk and it takes a lot out of Amanda. The sorceress goes down on one knee as she holds onto the spell for dear life since it might well mean her life at this point. Heaven help her if a pissed off Hulk came after her when she's getting tired.
Nowhere left to run to. Very limited mobility. Seriously out-gunned. When a massive hand comes to rest upon the wrecked section of pipe Domino's heart skips a beat. Eyes close. Jaw sets. A thumb slooowly starts to draw the hammer back on her pistol. With just the one shot, and only enough time to use the one, she's honestly starting to question whether it should go toward the big guy's head..or her own.
She has longer to contemplate the matter than she figured on having. One eye pops open, now a little confused. How is it that she's still lying here thinking about this..?
Just..don't breathe too loudly, now…
The shipping yard is in ruins; buildings have metal bits and crates impaled in them; the street is littered with I-beams like so many lawn darts. The skeletal framework of a multi-story building is here, and there. And there. And over there. And up there. The Hulk is walking backward through it, away from the pipe Domino hides in, his right hand at his head.
Breathing lowly and heavily, he blinks quickly, trying to shake the spreading calmness, hold on to the dissipating rage…
He's driven to his right knee at the same time as the sorceress, and that fact alone causes him to look up and focus on her. Emerald eyes narrow as he looks at her, and his upper lip quivers - then he slumps to the ground.
Police and fire personnel, with E.M.T.s, swarm the area, trying to figure out what's where and who's what and just in the green hell is going on /this/ time.
Near the Hulk, but a safe distance away, as safe as one can be at such a moment, is Amanda. She's collapsed to one knee and has a gloved hand out toward the Hulk. She looks like she might collapse at any moment and that would be Bad(tm) since it would let the Hulk go back to his normal rage.
New York City in Harlem on a hot summer afternoon. Wisdom has his coat off, slung over his shoulder, but that's done little to quell the amount of sweat the poor man's built up. Tie loose, wet hair a mess, he looks almost as bad as he did in younger days. Sunglasses were on, and he had a popsicle stick in his mouth. All the ruckus and such he thought was from a construction crew - they're everywhere in Manhattan.
Only with people screaming and cell phones held up, it quickly dawned on Pete that this wasn't normal. . o O ( At least I've had tome to finish my sodding popsicle,) he thought to himself as he started to jog towards the wreckage. Torn metal beams. A fissure in the ground itself. So much dust in the air. So much. Wisdom lifted a hand to his mouth, and that hand glowed the color of molten metal. He was intentionally destroying the dust particles to try to filter out the air for himself.
Of course, the air still tasted awful. But at least he could breathe. The mutant made his way in, just in time to see the Hulk, of all people, slump to a knee. Wisdom, true to his namesake, immediately realized that whatever this situation was, it was way out of his league. He reached for his phone to call up somebody important, like Captain America or someone, but his phone wouldn't even slide open. Too much dust already caked in it.
But then - who was that? Dust on the glasses, Pete tried to wipe them off. Through the smeared lenses he saw who looked like… Amanda? Oh, no. Oh, no no no.
Now the question is whether to stay in what amounts to a makeshift hidey hole or try to crawl out of there and find cover somewhere else? Dom's tired of running but soon this place is going to be -crawling- with cops, and gods know what else.
She takes her chance, carefully crawling out of one pile of wreckage and into another, bigger pile of wreckage. Stay in cover, now! Get some distance and run for th -
Neena coughs.
By that point, the Hulk is fully on the ground, half-curled into a fetal position. As the police start running up, his body starts twisting, joints popping audibly - and, to be sure, quite painfully - as the jade color leeches away from his skin. He writhes and twists as his body reverts, the Hulk receding and allowing Bruce "out" once more.
In a few moments, Bruce flops onto his back, semi-conscious, still not really coherent, as he looks up. And - sees what he would swear is a /mime/ with a /gun/ moving away. That doesn't make the slightest bit of sense - but neither does anything else in his life.
Now that the threat is over and done with, that means it's time for action!
Wisdom moved quickly. Surprisingly spry for an ex-smoker who can barely see. Hopping from rubble to rubble, his priority was getting the walking nuke away. Details will be found out later. For now, Wisdom knelt down and, pulling his undershirt up over his nose (better his own stink than breathing in dust) he tried to scoop Dr. Banner up into a fireman's carry, to heft him up and get him… well, get him away.
Wait a minute. This was Domino's kill. And Amanda's save. And the limey bastard was swooping in to take the loot? What a jerk!
Only once the Hulk has turned back into Banner does Amanda let her hand fall and sag down onto both knees. She's breathing heavily which keeps her from calling out to Pete he surprises her by running over to Banner.
If Pete actually asked Domino if she wanted to truck Banner's unconscious body out of here, she would have asked if he lost his mind. Nope! She wants -nothing at all- to do with that bizarre little freak of a man and the sooner she can get the hell away from all of this, the better! Keep that crazy guy away from her, thank you!
In fact, if she sees Pete carrying Banner out of here she's going to muster up her remaining strength to start running away -all over again.-
Banner puts up not the slightest bit of resistance as he's picked up, at least no more so than so much dead weight is just by /being/ dead weight. He was far more occupied with - other things. Like for once, for the first time in longer than he can recall - the Hulk is silent. No urges he has to fight. No rage at memories. He has no idea what to call the sensation - but whatever it is, it makes the corners of his mouth twitch upward, slightly yet noticeably.
Then he passes out, the smile staying on his lips.
Amanda Sefton doesn't particularly want to be here when the police start asking people questions. She starts to push up from the ground and finds she doesn't have the energy. Apparently it took everything she had to do something as monumental as calm the Hulk.
Eugh, Banner's smiling. Wisdom hopes the crazy doctor isn't having one of those dreams you have when you're growing up.
Still, priority is to get him away. Away from the EMTs. Away from firemen. Away from everything. Once safe in a far-away alley, the dust-covered brit would set Dr. Banner down, and immediately cough up and unpleasant lump of spit and dust. Then he'd try to wipe some dust from his face, hair, and his glasses. Then he'd bang his phone on the ground - lightly - shaking out dust so he could utilize it. And call Amanda.
Gotta figure out what happened, right? And maybe ask Amanda to teleport Banner to a monastery in the Himalayas, or something. Out of sight, out of mind. Let Hulk make a Zen garden.
With so much of the area destroyed and all, there aren't many places left for a person to hide and..oh, say catch their breath after having run for their life and all. So, when Pete drags Bruce into the same alley that Neena happens to be recovering in…
There's now one very startled albino woman, almost -completely- covered in thick grey dust, stumbling backward so quickly that she trips and falls back against a metal dumpster. "The fuck are you doing?! Get that thing away from me!!"
Oh, and 'hi, Pete!'
Fortunately for Pete, Amanda's phone is actually in her outfit instead of back on the other side of the road in her flight bag. When it rings she frowns then fishes it out and puts it to her ear. "Hello?"
Pete Wisdom responded to Neena by lifting his fore-and-middle fingers at her, in the gesture that the Brits know as flipping the bird. "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" he retorted. "Fucking inconsiderate…" He saw how covered in dust she was. She was tough. But this would rattle her. Pete had the strategic advantage right now and he knew it. "Hello lovely!" he sing-songed in his Essex accent. "Was curious if you could do me a favor, 'ere." He looked up, and tried to peer down the alley through all the dust (if it flows, it gets everywhere). "I'm at a hundred forty-seventh and eighth avenue. Looks like the red line's gonna be in trouble for a bit. Would you mind coming over right quick and giving someone a quick 'port for me?"
Yes. Out of sight, out of mind. The best way to keep Banner, and everyone else, safe, is to put him somewhere far away where he doesn't have the chance to get angry.
When it comes to big, bad, threats, Pete is not a nice man.
It's a rare moment where Dom's too freaked out to be snarky. As she's scrambling to put some distance between herself and the damn Brit (and the damn crazy scientist guy) she winds up leaving a cloud of dust behind with every sudden movement she makes.
There's gotta be an 'out' from this alley. There's always gotta be an 'out,' right? Just follow it to the end, and - there's a crumpled shipping container blocking her path. Frustrated and more than a little bit panicky, she jams the pistol into a holster and tries to find a way to climb up and over the twisted mess barring her path.
He might wake up at any moment! -Not Taking That Chance!-
Amanda Sefton frowns at her phone, "Teleport? Are you insane Wisdom? I don't even think I can get up. The police are about to be crawling all over me."
"You survived, Domino. Try not to make your luck run out," Wisdom chided Neena as she tried, like a flour-covered cat, to try to find a way to escape the kitchen. Then, listening to Amanda, he frowned. "I may well be mad, but better to have 'im far away than 'ere and risking more damage." His accent was in full force right now. Must be all the dust. "Get your pretty little arse to," he gave her the street corners again. "And EMTs aren't allowed to force you if you're still able to walk. Just refuse their help and get over here."
A moment's pause. "Please. I'll set you up in the Shangri-La for a week, if you do this." A 'please' was repeated, but Wisdom was too proud to have it visible to you readers.
Speaking of the police as they swarm into the scene, they finally clue in to Amanda being more than just an innocent bystander caught up in all of this. Hearing her half of the conversation provided that clue, admittedly.
A female officer steps into the blonde's field of view, crouching, as she says, "Excuse me, miss, we'd like to ask you a few questions as we get you medical attention…" It's the tone of voice an authority figure always uses with a Person of Interest.
And the Pete keeps pushing. Dom still has another bullet, ready to go. Now she's starting to wonder if Pete's more deserving of it. It's a suppressed gun, it probably won't wake Banner up..!
She knows her odds. She's not willing to push it quite that far.
Instead, for the moment, she paces around more akin to a caged jaguar than a startled housecat, though the 'covered in flour' analogy still holds true as she almost frantically starts dusting herself off. Within seconds she's pacing within a cloud so thick Pete may not be able to see her from where he's standing.
"Fuck this," she mutters to herself. "Fuck this, fuck -him,- fuck -Pete,- fuck it all straight to Hell…"
Amanda Sefton gives the police officer a long suffering look as she reaches way down deep inside and finally pushes to her feet. She sways for a second then insists quite firmly, "I really don't have the time. As you can see, I don't need medical help." She slowly begins to walk in the general direction of the intersection Pete said he was at.
Wisdom won't even ask why Domino's even here. Or how she was involved. He didn't want to risk a fight, which may cause a stray bullet or hot-knife to wake Banner up in a particularly mean way.
"Yes, yes, we're all terrible. Dust your arse off and sit down. Or, if you want, I'm sure you can parkour your way over the two of us." After all, Pete was sitting in an alley with an unconscious Banner beside him, using Pete's coat as a pillow. Awww.
"Just move that crate over - quietly - and use it to vault over us."
Gosh, it's almost like he needs to teach the alternate reality Domino, too. All he can hope for, for now, is that Amanda comes through. Or Banner wakes up. Either way.
At the suggestion Domino jabs a finger directly at Bruce Banner. From about as far away as she can be. "I am -not.- Going near -that.- Again."
Also it kinda feels like her legs are about to fall off. She just -was- 'parkouring about.' In the shipping yard! Over train cars! Across the street! In the construction yard! And look at where that got her!
She'll take a seat. Fine. But she is NOT. POUTING.
She's just a bit livid.
And terrified.
That's it.
As the female officer hurries to step in front of Amanda, she says into her shoulder-mounted mic, "Got a suspect, here; possible translocator-slash-displacer." A muffled reply comes in after a soft hiss, something she apparently recognizes as she pays no more mind to it.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist, Miss," she says as she holds out her left hand - not to actually touch Amanda, but to add to the verbal insistence with some of the non-verbal sort.
Amanda Sefton frowns at the police officer, "Am I under arrest?"
If only Wisdom knew what was going on out there. Ah well. It's the US. She'll probably end up shot.
As Domino sat down, Wisdom sort of felt at this standoff like he had a baby that was also a nuclear bomb.
"Did you know the dust highlights your curves?" Small-talk? Oh, god, no.
*Thap!*
Now, for the moment, Dom's content to leave her forehead resting against the palm of her hand after the two have audibly joined together. Complete with another shower of dust.
"That's it. I'm taking my chances," she declares while getting upright and moving to walk right on past Wisdom and Banner to the awaiting street, leaving a hazy trail of powdered concrete in her wake.
"Not yet," says the female officer to Amanda, though with a tone that may well have suggested it wasn't off the table. "Right now, I just want to get you medical attention and ask you a few questions." Only taking her eyes off Amanda for a scant second, she looks to a pair of E.M.Ts and waves them over with her right hand, her left still held before her toward Amanda.
As for Banner, he's dead to the world - until he's not. That's the other side to his particular - affliction. He goes from completely zonked out to waking up in the blink of an eye - or in the step of a deadly mime.
Granted, he doesn't go to full wakefulness, but there's a sudden intake of breath as his eyes snap open - the gaze glassy from still coming to - as his arms are reflexively thrown outward, right hand smacking right into Domino's shin.
Amanda Sefton winces just a bit at that answer. "Look. I'm a flight attendant. My bag's over on the sidewalk somewhere. I'll be back for it. I just have something to do first. I swear I'll be back within half an hour." With that she attempts to walk around the police officer at a somewhat quicker pace.
In a flash, Wisdom's hands were hovering over Banner's exposed chest, hot-knives sprouting from them. In an instant he was absolutely ready to try to shred Banner if he absolutely had to. But the man was just sort of coming to.
The hot-knives faded, and Wisdom watched as, in all likelihood, Neena would trip up. And Pete would get an exhilarating sense of Schadenfreude at the sight, if she did.
Ever watch a startled cat? They sort of silently jump straight up into the air and do a little turn.
This is exactly what Neena does upon getting smacked in the shin by what should have been an unconscious man. There's emphasis on being silent, too. She doesn't want to be the cause for him waking up! Instead she shoots a pale blue glare Pete's way.
'Not ONE word…'
The police officer arches her eyebrows as the young woman skirts around her; she isn't going to /grab/ Amanda, but she can't let her leave, either. "Got a runner, heading toward the street," she says into her mic, turning to walk right along with the blonde. The E.M.T.s come up and the officer looks at them helplessly.
A few other officers break away to head in their direction, too.
As for Banner, he's still looking at the sky without seeing it, so perhaps thankfully doesn't have the first clue to how close he came to being shoved aside by the Hulk for a second time. He doesn't even see Domino at first, instead his eyes focus on Pete Wisdom's face.
"…the fuck?" he murmurs, voice thick from the forced sleep as well as thirst.
Amanda Sefton stops and turns to look at the officer, "The Hulk tried to smash down a building. I stopped him and you want to give me a hassle over it? You should give me a medal. Please stop following me. I am tired and I do not want to cause any problems, but I have to go. It's important. I give you my word I will come back." She shoves her phone back into her pocket. . o O (Great. Just great. This is what I get for playing hero. THIS was why I was retiring.)
To Neena, Wisdom was trying not to smile. It was always so delightful seeing her at unease. But then Bruce was talking.
"Was it as good for you as it was for me?" Now wasn't the time to joke, Wisdom. "Apparently you had a spill, Doctor. But now that you're up, best that we get you out of here. We know how much you and other guys like to be contained." It seemed Amanda wasn't going to be much help. Wisdom stood up, and offered a hand to help Banner to his feet. "Dr. Banner. I hope you've got time to write a lot of 'I'm sorry,' and 'Get Well Soon' cards. And perhaps a place to do it. Like in northern Bolshevik Island, perhaps."
As they get to the street, the police officer finally puts her left hand on Amanda's right bicep. I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave," she says with sincere discomfort - but confidence in her duty, too. "There are too many questions." Which is one reason so many of the costumed sorts leave before the police even show up, likely.
Bolshevik Island gets Bruce's attention, almost as much as the fact that he isn't going anywhere until Pete apparently decides he is. The Hulk could smash the building to dust; Banner has problems with jars of pickles. Something pricks at his mind as he looks down his body toward the street, where a police officer is hassling a blonde woman. Something whispering in the back of his mind about her - hopefully he knows her. And maybe, if /he/ knows her, this guy does, too.
"Who's that?" he asks, motioning with his right hand toward the pair of women and the other police heading their way from across the street. All he needs is a distraction long enough to squirm out and start shuffle-running.
"A friend of mine who wants to help you, too. We want to get you out of here, Banner. That I can assure you. Here, put on my coat, you look a mess," Wisdom said as he reached into his coat pockets to pull out anything important. Before he freely gave the good doctor his coat. "Now come along. Gotta save my other friend, and get you both somewhere safe, to get *you* somewhere even safer."
Amanda Sefton sighs and pulls her phone back out. She redials the number that just called her and puts the phone to her ear as she stops attempting to move. She doesn't really want to move anyway right now. Damn Domino anyway. No. Damn the cabbie who dropped her off in Harlem instead of where she was going.
…shit. Shit, shit, shitty-shit-shit. Bruce's lips purse in quite a display of disagreeable dismay as he realizes his oh-so-cunning plan was seen through basically instantly. "Who are you?" he grumbles, barely moving his lips, as he pushes himself to his feet and grabs the jacket as he goes. Keeping his right hand holding onto his jeans to keep some level of modesty, he drapes the jacket around his shoulders like a cloak.
The police officer looks visibly relieved as the blonde stops arguing with her. "Thank you for your co-operation," she says, and sincerely, too. "Now, can we start at the beginning while the E.M.T.s check out over?"
After he dug through his coat, Wisdom had everything. His European branch of SHIELD card. His MI-13 badge. His passport. His wallet. Pack of gum. Some business cards.
Approaching the officer with authority in his stride, he cleared his throat as he approached. "There you are. We've got to get back to the director at once and report this. Gotta get it all handled nice and propah," he said, voice clipped and distinctly English.
He wielded it with more power and authority than Excalibur itself, as he showed it to the officer's face. "Peter Wisdom. Agent of SHIELD. She's ours. We can handle her."
A momentary pause, and he smiled. "Thank you very much for your courtesy and professionalism."
Amanda Sefton shakes her head at the E.M.T. "I don't need them." She starts to say something further then Pete walks in with his IDs. She gives the officer a polite smile as if to say, I told you I had to go.
The police officer arches her left eyebrow as the man approaches, and she takes the card, giving it a curious look. If there's one thing they know, it's to not mess with S.H..I.E.L.D. Interdepartmental cock-ups were bad enough between police departments, or between a police department and a federal agency - one between a mere police department and /S.H.I.E.L.D./ - yeah, not something she wants to mess with.
Waving the others off, she says, "All yours, Mister - Wisdom." Then she looks over his shoulder for a beat before looking back to his eyes. "But it looks like you have enough problems without adding more."
Bruce was edging away; he wasn't flat-out running, but only because this man knew his name and he couldn't help but wonder why. Still - that desire was being edged out by simple self-preservation.
When it came to bureaucracy, standing in line, and being British, Wisdom was excellent at these traits. Another polite smile and he gestured to have Amanda accompany… and zoom in on Banner. "Not so fast, doctor. We need to get you shoes. Warm clothes. And a chess set." Especially if he intended to ship the man to the northern tip of Russia.
Amanda Sefton flashes the officer one last smile as she turns and walks toward the fleeing Banner. "Please, Doctor. We only want to help." When it comes to men, Amanda's more charming than Pete.
When it came to charm, Bruce had enough people applying it to him then screwing him over to last a lifetime. As such, a scowl first comes to his face, body tensing - but then there's something in the back of his mind. It's not the Hulk's angry murmuring, though /that's/ long since returned. It's - something else.
"Who are you?" he asks plainly, though he does stop backing away. "Where am I?"
"Pete Wisdom," Wisdom said as he leaned in. "MI-13. You're in Harlem. Again. From what I'm guessing, you sort of wrecked it. Again." A moment passed. "I only have so much authority and jurisdiction here. And you had your own planet. I don't want to ask you to leave. But I want you to go very, very, very far away if you have the means. If you don't have the means, well. I can offer you a teleport," he said all this quietly. While walking. With both of them.
It became clear that not only did Pete not think much of Banner… he pitied him.
Amanda Sefton frowns at Pete but then says, "Please don't get angry again, Doctor. I could not possibly calm you again. Right now. It was far too difficult the first time."
Almost none of that made any sense to Bruce, as evidenced by the way his brow furrowed, eyes flicking between the others. Still - getting out of Harlem was clearly a good idea. So he says nothing further, and simply goes to accompany them. He sort of shuffles along as he clutches his jeans to keep them from falling.
If Wisdom could get Bruce to a clothing outlet, he'd buy him new shoes and jeans. "Can't go around New York looking like a homeless bloke and expect to be taken seriously," Wisdom would tell him. "Then. Uhm. Where you headed?"
Amanda Sefton falls silent until they have gone about half a block, "Okay. So where are we going, Wisdom? I don't have a lot of distance in me at the moment."
"Don't think I do, either, " says Bruce, looking to each of the others. "But you two act like you know me - and the other guy. I want to know how, and where I am. Where I /really/ am…" Another glance to his companions, there; he'd spoken calmly, for him, though he was used to people thinking he was anything but. Granted, the anger was burning in the back of his mind, tinting each thought, making itself known with each breath - but that was normal, for him.
There was a pause in his step. "No. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no." He lifted a hand to his forehead. "Not you, too." He sighed. "In short, you're in another reality. You're one of the smartest men in the world. Or the you here was, at least. I assume you're aware of the concept of a multiverse. It's true. There was a huge cataclysmic event. In the aftermath, lots of us are all over realities."
Wisdom had to take a moment to wipe his glasses, and sighed. "This… oh, no." He could just imagine Hulk trying to punch his way back home.
Amanda Sefton stops and turns to look at Pete. "Are you going to give me a destination or should I just get us some place safe, in which case you will be responsible for the consequences."
"I'm aware of the theory, but I'm not sure I trust the underlying math…" Bruce says with a curious look at Pete, then he looks to Amanda.
"And who are you? Another scientist? A - friend of this other - me?" He wasn't quite sure he accepted the premise, but it /does/ sound plausible, and fits with a few trains of thought.
"The math is a mess because, often enough there's magic involved. And if there's one thing that flies in the face of math, it's magic. Even sufficiently advanced technology is shite compared to magic," Wisdom intoned. "Look, mate. My first guess is you're not from around…" he gestured, "here." He sighed. "I'm just from the UK. I'm from this reality. I hate it." Like he hates most realities, and the people in them.
"No, Amanda. But you can only go to places you've seen, right? Where have you seen, besides a hotel in my workplace?" He wasn't trying to tease, but it came out that way.
He just wanted to know if she could take Banner somewhere safe. And far away.
To be someone else's problem. It may be Pete's job to help handle the dimensionally displaced. But… the Hulk sucks. Not really, but… you know!
Amanda Sefton frowns, "Actually. Just give me your hands. There's only one place I can think of to go right now." She holds one hand out to Banner and the other out to Pete. She's using that very polite but firm tone she uses with problematic passengers in first class.
"There's no such thing as magic…" Bruce said with a tone somewhere between indignant and amused. Still, he offered Amanda his left hand, though as he did so he said, "The supernatural is only that for which we don't yet have a scientific understanding. Magnetism and planetary orbits were thought the province of gods until we understood them."
Rather shows what sort of reality he comes from, really.
"Tell that to the law of conservation and energy when you decide you look better as a citizen of the Emerald City," Wisdom quipped, as he reached out to take Amanda's hand. "Well, you're about to get your first taste. Amanda, here, lovely as she is, is a sorceress."
Amanda Sefton raises up her hands once she has both theirs in her grasp. She focuses on where she wants to go. There is a burst of light and the sound of harps and then they are arriving in Amanda's living room. After which Amanda promptly collapses.
"Conservation of energy only applies in a closed system," replies Bruce as if talking to a grad student. /Mostly/ patient, but - a little not. He's about to continue - then the burst of light envelops him, the harps fill his ears - and he barely has time to even /think/ about that when Amanda collapses.
Whatever else he is, whatever else he's done - he's a healer, first. As such, the coat is left to slide off, then he crouches and places his finger at her neck. "Help me get her to the bed," he says to Pete, and no, he isn't asking. He's already sliding his hands beneath her shoulders to begin hoisting her up.
"And if the universe is no longer expanding, but succumbing to the inevitable heat death, then it's a closed system, yeah?" Wisdom suggested. He reached a hand out to catch Amanda as she collapsed, as charming and debonair as a movie star. "Oh, dear. Seems we tuckered the poor darling out." He smiled a hard little smile. "Magic requires effort. Often sacrifice." Don't you know it, Pete. You'll never see the ones you loved who died, again.
The two men would easily gather up the woman and settle her in bed. "Are you sure we shouldn't get her into a tub? All three of us need showers and dry cleaning at this point."
Even though there are three women living in the apartment, there are only two bedrooms. One of them has a tiny bamf doll on a shelf since Amanda decided to conjure it after she arrived in this universe to replace the one she'd had before that she could not find. Adjacent is a very nice bath with a hot tub style roman tub and an glass enclosed shower. Amanda makes a distressed sound as she's lifted up, but doesn't seem to hear either of them.
"The universe /is/ expanding, powered by dark energy," replies Bruce, though it's half-distracted as he helps settle Amanda into place. "See what she has for tea, and take a glance in her medicine cabinet; see what prescriptions there are in there, and if she has a first-aid kit worth a damn, too." Brow furrowed, he rests her head on her pillows, then places the back of his hand against her forehead. "Do you know how she does - this? Is this normal for her?"
"I have no idea how she does it, mate. She's a sorceress. And if we're going less macrocosmic, aren't you a closed system?" he teased as he did as instructed. Though he bristled to do so. A good relaxing tea, something with chamomile. First aid kit? Here? He'd check the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, under the sinks. Yes, a strange man digging through the apartment of three women.
Amanda actually has a vast number of teas available in the kitchen, many of them mixed personally from her collections of herbs rather than bought. Her medicine cabinet does not contain any prescriptions but does have the standard array of over-the-counter medicines like ibuprofen and itch cream. The counter also has three different make-up cases in different colors. There is what looks like a first aid kit on a shelf. IN addition to the standard bandaids and such there are a series of vials labeled restorative.
"Not until I stop eating food, stop creating waste, and so on, I'm not," replies Bruce as he works on covering Amanda with the blanket. As he does so, his voice lowers a bit as he says, "You need to get better so you can tell me how you did this, okay? And - so I can thank you." Sometimes there wasn't much to do but talk, and hope the patient was listening. He wasn't sure what he thought of near-death experiences and all, but he'd heard of too many coma patients recover and remember things they were told. She might not be in a coma, but that didn't mean the power of talk mattered any less.
"She's probably, in all seriousness, just in desperate need of a bacon sandwich and a thirteen-hour nap." A pause. "Unless she's kosher." Wisdom had put the kettle on for a tea marked, 'Relax,' and gathered up the first aid kit. "If it's a severe case then she may need an IV, or… if she really used up stuff, perhaps a blood transfusion. NOT from you. Your cousin already thanked you for that, thank you."
Amanda Sefton's eyelids twitch a bit when Bruce speaks to her. She makes a very soft sound, perhaps a wordless complaint about something her unconscious mind is experiencing.
That makes Bruce finally tear his gaze away from Amanda, just long enough to glare in the direction of Pete - and with a brief hint of emerald shimmering in his eyes. "My cousin died when I was ten, and I'll thank you to not joke about her again," he says lowly, then turns his attention back to Amanda. "What medication bottles did you see, if any?"
"A number of holistic medicines," Wisdom said as he gathered up the first-aid kit to Bruce, and dusted off his phone again. To do what? Why, to look up Jennifer Walters' law practice website. "She and I aren't friends. Friendly, but not friends. When you're done, here's some more evidence that you're not from around here." A pause. "Sorry for your loss in your own home, mind."
In every Marvel universe, someone loses family. That doesn't make it any less hard.
"There's also probably restorative potion mixes in there. I'd probably use too much dusted weasel tongue, though. Might kill her." Wisdom added this without missing a beat.
Holistic medicines - for a "sorceress". Hmm. Left eyebrow arching, Bruce looks at Amanda, then says to Pete, "Get them and bring them here. All of it - even the - weasel tongue. They may help. Hopefully they have labels…" Then, more quietly, "Did he - the other me - did he appreciate Jennifer? She was - a good kid… I - think she'd have grown into a good woman." Later he'll doubtless be more curious as to this law practice - probably very curious.
Amanda Sefton whimpers again. It's almost like she's attempting to say something but her mouth never opens.
"She's probably the most independent woman in the whole universe," Wisdom said. "You gave her a blood transfusion. Transferred some of your abilities. And it liberated her." A pause. "But you'll meet her, some day. You could even go to her practice." Wisdom opened up the case and started to disorganize. And look for instructions, to gather up the materials necessary to brew some sort of restorative elixir.
"If she says, 'oil can,' I'm digging up Baum and punching him in his mummified face."
"Was 'bring them here' too - no, I'm sorry," Bruce says, cutting off his biting remark. "Please, just - bring the case here and let's both go through it. Together, we can hopefully better make sense of it." The other man was making an effort - more or less - to be kind to him about Jennifer, so the least he can do is /try/ to not bite the man's head off. And since Amanda is about as settled as he can get her right then, he turns to the first aid kit, to begin rifling through it and see what there is besides the usual bandages and pain-killers.
"Different vials of different things all labeled the same…" he murmurs to no one in particular as he looks over the more esoteric-looking bottles. "For all I know, one might be the very thing she needs, and another will kill her…"
Taking one of the little vials that's marked quite plainly, Wisdom popped the cork and… first, waved it under her nose. "God, I don't want to rub her throat like a dog. But," he reached over to grab her by the chin, open her mouth, and upend. "If she dies. Well." He didn't finish.
But a dark look crossed his features. If this were a comic his face would be in silhouette, and there would be a panel of him thinking about Maureen.
At first nothing happens when Pete upends the potion in Amanda's mouth then she grimaces. Her eyelids flutter and then open but she does not otherwise move other than to whisper, "Okay… that must be getting old. It tastes hideous."
"Don't do - !" is all Bruce can get out, reaching for the bottle - then Amanda's eyes open. He settles back a bit - though stays hunched so he can keep the jeans up without having to hold onto them - and just sort of grunts. Not the most scientific method, but he realizes the futility of arguing the point. So screw that, he focuses on the patient.
"How are you?" he asks softly, placing his fingers at her neck again and looking into her eyes. He lacks a pen-light, but then he can't have everything.
"She's surrounded by two dirty, but handsome men, doctor. Doting on her. If she's straight, I think she'd feel she won a jackpot." He frowned. "Sorry. I was thinking about John Lennon." A pause. "The Skrull John Lennon." Now what the hell was Pete talking about?
"Better old than ineffective. Stay relaxed. Want one of us to run you a bath?" Wisdom offered.
Amanda Sefton smiles wanly at Banner, "I pulled the energy to still your anger out of the universe through my soul. How do you think I feel?" Her eyes are lovely even when tired. She chuckles at Pete. "Oh you'd just love to get me in a bath, wouldn't you, Pete. Regretting getting me my own room the other night?" Even tired she can apparently still tease.
Though staring into her eyes, Bruce is checking for pupil reaction, using the shadow of his own head as some small measure, or guide. Hardly a patch on a shade and a pen light, but he does what he can with what he has. He's also checking for her ability to track him visually. Everything seems in order - more or less, considering - so he leans back again, though his brow stays furrowed.
"You really should rest," he says, letting the issue of her soul-harvest lie for the moment. "A bath might not be a bad idea, when you're well enough to walk and get it on your own." An oh-so subtle hint that he'd be taking Pete with him at that point, since he does have some sense of tact and modesty. Well. Modesty for /others/. Kind of lost it for himself after enough times of waking up naked with no memory of how that situation occurred.
Wisdom went quiet, now. Let the doctor do his thing. "No. Look at us. All three of us. Who knows how long it's gonna be while we cough the remaining dust from our lungs? My attraction to you notwithstanding, it's best off that you just get cleaned up and get better, Sefton. I'm a pig, but I'm a smart one."
Amanda Sefton rolls her eyes, "Oh lighten up, Wisdom. I'll be fine. There's a shower in the bathroom if you two would like to take turns cleaning up before you go. I assume you're planning on going rather than camping out on my sofa, but you're welcome to do either I guess. I'm just tired. I'll be 100 percent come morning."
"I gather we're still in New York. So if you don't mind, I will *gladly* use your shower, before I head back to my hotel." Pete paused. "I could never get a car looking like this."
"Well, then if you don't mind, I'll take the first turn," says Bruce as he grabs his jeans with his right hand and eases fully back from the bed. His patient is feeling better and there's someone who knows her nearby, so he's going to let himself be selfish and actually get cleaned up.
Amanda Sefton nods, "I won't even peek on you Pete." She smiles to Bruce, "Just as long as you don't get angry."