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The Sun seems to have been hanging in the sky for days. It beats down on the glass and concrete jungle beneath like a hammer. Heat shimmers from the tarmac of Bowery so that almost feels soft underfoot to the morning commuters who rush hither and thither in power suits that might look cool in the boardroom but do nothing for them on this sweltering New York afternoon.
When temperatures rise, so do tempers.
The Bugle reported yesterday on a shop keeper who got beaten in an argument that got out of hand, an argument that apparently started because his ice-box was out of order. But that’s the way sometimes in New York. People talk about the NY spirit, after 9/11, the Fantastic 4’s battle with Galactus and, most recently and shockingly, the Chit’auri invasion. But there’s only so long that you can step on folk before they get tough and start stepping on others who haven’t toughened up enough.
That’s why crime is on the rise.
The big ‘A’ on the Avengers Tower still glows but everyone knows that team doesn’t exist anymore. The Fantastic 4 and Doc Strange are still around, but those guys spend most of their time in Europe – or in the Doc’s case – who the Hell knows where? Besides, truth be told they’ve never been too interested in purse snatchers and drug dealers - they play for bigger stakes.
But try telling the people in the Harlem projects that Reed Richards just disarmed a bomb in Latveria when the pimp next door has been beating his girls night after night. See how much they care about foreign affairs.
The cops are stretched paper-thin and often outgunned by the metahumans who now seem to be more and more prevalent in the city. It’s heroes’ like Spider-man, Luke Cage and Moon Knight, even the Punisher, that people look to for hope that it’ll be safe to walk home at night.
Yet for all these flaws and hardships, there are still people in New York who are tired of getting stepped on. And for better or worse, have decided to start pushing back.
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Holy hell, it's hot. Even in the shade.
Lucas wipes his forehead with the sleeve of the sweatshirt. It certainly didn't help that he was wearing a hoodie in the middle of the summer. Even worse that he had it pulled up. At least the sunglasses are normal. Lucas looks up from his smartphone and slides the shades down a bit to peer over them. He sees Maggie hustling back with two double scooped ice cream cones.
"Beautiful!" He wasn't just talking about the ice cream. No hoodie for his wife. Maggie was dressed more typically for the hot summer day in a tanktop and short shorts, showing off her tanned legs. A California girl through and through, Maggie hated New York. The concrete jungle didn't suit her at all. She needed surf and sand and laid-back atmosphere of the Bay Area. It helped now that summer was here, so when Maggie wanted to go out for ice cream, Lucas couldn't say no.
"Here you go, baby. How you doing under that hood?" Maggie sits down on the bench and hands the already-melting ice cream cone to Lucas. It was going to be soup in a matter of minutes.
"I'm dying. But for a few minutes, we can just sit here and eat ice cream." He smiles and reaches into his pocket for a small plastic bottle. He flips the lid open with one hand and guzzles the liquid inside. "Ugh! That always tastes so horrible." Lucas grimaces and then glances at Maggie as he slowly pulls the hood off.
She nods to him, then catches some melting ice cream. When she looks back up, Lucas, her old Lucas, is looking back at her with his impish smile and a shock of dark hair. "You know I love you no matter what you look like. I married you after the accident, remember?"
"I know. But sometimes it's comforting that I can look how I did." He smiles and tries to catch up to the melting ice cream. He gazes at the steady stream of people passing. "Besides, you think I could stroll down 7th avenue looking like some sort of troll? I don't care what New York has been through lately. They'd be calling the cops before I even got a block. I bet Cap wouldn't be quite so popular if he had 3 heads. Or Thor looked like a little green man. Even Loki looks human." He glances at Maggie only to see a dreamy little smile on her face. He elbows her.
"Stop it. Thor ain't even on the planet anymore. And I thought you said you didn't care how I looked?" He swipes at her with the ice cream, catching her chin in cookies and cream.
"Hey!" she squeals. "Like you didn't take a little extra time working with Natasha on that knockout gas last time!" She sticks her tongue out at him playfully, then wipes her chin. "But maybe you're right. What if Black Widow really looked like a life-sized spider. Probably lots less posters of her."
Lucas chuckles. "Yeah. Less marriage proposals too!"
A few hot-shot business types talking hurriedly on bluetooth headsets stop in mid-conversation as they pass by Connie and linger too long with admiring glances, dressed head to toe as she is in tight-fitting leather.
One pauses long enough that she thinks he is going to approach her with some lame pick up line but then a frown creases his face and he starts yelling something in chinese, japanese or korean to the poor sap on the other end.
Connie hardly ever got a second glance up around Time's Square where the sights of naked cowboys and showgirls were pretty common among the street performers but down here with the stiffs, she was still something of a novelty.
Beneath his sweatshirt Lucas is almost unbearably hot. He can feel rivulets of sweat running down the small of his back an even beneath the shades he has to squint when he looks up at the monolithic mirrors that the skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan become in weather like this.
Not for the first time he gazes at his beautiful wife and wonders how he got so lucky.
So much has happened to them in their short lives already and even in this burgeoning age of super powered people and extradimensional anomalies, that is the everyday miracle that still makes his breath catch in his chest.
But then he catches sight of one of the serving girls behind the counter. She is trying to angle her phone in such a way that she can take a subtle picture of the man under the hood.
Even after working with Natasha Romanov for a few weeks before the Civil War crisis that tore apart the Avengers, he knows she would have leapt the counter and twisted the poor girl like a pretzel in a heartbeat if she had any notion she was an agent of Hydra or any other organisation gunning for the Avengers or SHIELD. But Lucas has lived with his condition for long enough to realise she is probably just curious. There isn't much opportunity to post a pic of a mutant who came wandering in for ice cream one afternoon.
Lucas saw the woman and sighed. "Maggie, I think the solution wore off." He tries to hunch his shoulders, pushing his head deeper into the hood. She looked up at him from where she was laying across the edge of the fountain where they were sitting. He was sitting there sweating his ass off and Maggie was sunbathing. "Time to go, Mags." Lucas growls.
Maggie sits up and looks around. She knew someone was probably staring at her husband. She probably shouldn't have dragged him out just for ice cream, but they had both been cooped up in the lab for days. Maggie spots the girl with the phone, probably just out of high school. Maggie got pissed. Seriously?! This little witch is going to ruin our whole day, just so she can instagram Lucas' picture and share it with her silly friends? While Lucas shuffles to his feet, Maggie jumps up and heads for the girl, clearly unhappy.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? You filming me and my husband?" Maggie swipes at the girl's phone, but she's way too slow.
"Maggie! Let's go!" Lucas comes up behind her and grabs her arm, trying to pull her away. His wife was normally fairly chill, but she had a habit of letting little things annoy her and occasionally she would pop off. Today, she didn't seem to remember the need for discretion as a member of SHIELD. Lucas tugs at her arm again, managing to pull her away a short distance. Now surrounded by people at the ice cream stand, several can see into his hood. Lucas' gray, bald head stares back at them, his eyes darting around as he tries to get Maggie out of this situation.
Hey lady, what the Hell's your problem? the girl shrieks as Maggie grabs for her phone. I was texting a friend, not that it's any of your business!
There are gasps from some of the other customers at the altercation and it isn't long before the manager strides over.
Ma'am I think you and your... I think you should both leave now. she says, a short pudgy woman with a round face.
"Like hell, you were texting." Maggie turns and suddenly realizes the crowd gathering. She looks back at Lucas, who is trying to hide in his hoodie and avoid stares. She quickly retreats and throws an arm around Lucas to protect him.
"What were you thinking, Maggie?" Lucas growls as they hustle out of the area. "Even I were normal, we're not supposed to be drawing attention to ourselves. And people love a spectacle. You know that." He takes a deep drink of water, trying to replenish the gallons of sweat that seem to be pouring out of him.
He leads them around the corner, just trying to get away from anyone, which was a difficult thing in New York City. A few passing people took notice, but most walked on without giving them any thought.
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Akio slices through the streets of New York on his delivery bike, having just finished ten minutes early on his latest delivery earning him a big tip. Who knew all my training would come in handy for making money. He thinks to himself as he continues to pump his legs onwards, the slight but strong man weaves the bike with some skill and agility.
Arriving at the Financial District early he would have to wait for a pick up so he decides to jump off his bike and take it easy. The hot day hardly seem to affect him, in his loose fitting cotton clothes, but he takes a moment to look around as he pushes his bike through the crowds of people. Everyone here is someone of importance they all have their goals, they all life's far beyond what they do now... The people of this giant city are so fascinating. He ponders as he watches a large group of men in suits barge past a large group of tourists.
Continuing on he spots a group of people gathering up and then he starts to hear raised voices. Akio pushes his bike in the direction of the Ice Cream stand. What could be going on over here. Getting to the front of the group he see's a woman shouting at another woman about her phone and a man very oddly dressed for this type of weather.
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Not much can be seen underneath the thin white cotton of the hooded robe worn by the woman as she walks down the sidewalk. Oversize black sunglasses and stylish blue headphones almost distract from her odd skin tone, and the voluminous folds of the robe conceal the figure-hugging black club-wear bodysuit that clings to her like spray paint.
Seeming to stare only at the pavement in front of her, she still deftly avoids the throng of people on the pavement as the mass of humanity surges around her. Pausing for a moment in the shadow of a phonebooth, the chaos of the city streets is juxtaposed with the soaring, melodic ambient beats resonating through her headphones. A far cry from the... what did they call it?... 'Progressive House' she was still spinning a few hours ago for the clubgoers still standing after so many hours. Sometimes she wondered whether they knew her name because of her mixing skills, or the legend that she didn't sleep. She grinned, legacy of an alien physiology, she only needed a couple of hours rest but now was not the time. She needed sustenance and entertainment.
She was eager to catch up on the local and global news and discover whether there has been any more sightings of new gifted, and what those in NYC were up to. SHIELD had yet to really do more than put a roof over her head, and she wanted to be ready, clued up and full of information, for when they finally did come calling and asking her to do something.
Stepping around a large group of businessmen engrossed in their conversations about whatever 'stock options' were, she heads for her regular news stand to grab a paper, when raised voices from the nearby ice cream parlor drew her attention. Hot heads on a hot day, I expect they ran out of that frozen milk they seem to enjoy.... Glancing over she sees a woman she thinks she recognises from the SHIELD lab. Margaret? Madrigal? Sensing the potential for trouble, she glides over and takes a closer look, twisting to avoid a bike messenger that seems to have appeared from nowhere as he moves past her at speed.
There is something otherworldly about this monolithic city of steel, concrete and glass that still causes wonder, and no small trepidation, for Akio.
It is as far a cry from the quiet solitude of the mountains of Nepal and the serenity of the temple than he could imagine.
At first he felt a dizzying sense of vertigo as he walked the wide streets, unconsciously dodging between the thronging crowds that steamed hither and thither like an enormous colony of ants. At first he thought it were the towers all around and certainly craning his neck to look at their spires was impressive, but truly nothing when compared with the titanic mountains of home.
Then he wondered if it were the smell. The assault of smog and pollution that hit him almost the moment he stepped off the plane. But, he had spent time in the slums of Kathmandu and once again this city could not compare to those conditions.
And finally he realised what it was.
The noise.
The city was abuzz with noise. From the pounding of feet, the thunder of the subway and the constant blare of traffic horns. It is as if he had spent his life in sensory deprivation before this trip and more than anything, it was the noise that he could not get used to. Of course he was not denied access to technology in his training and of the world beyond the temple he knew much - none of that was a surprise - but to be immersed in something you have only seen on television or the internet was an entirely new experience.
But as he slices through the traffic at breakneck speeds on his bike, relying on his supreme reflexes to navigate without incident, he thinks again about the fact that the monks in this inner-city Shaolin Temple had little to teach him in way of technique, but he still had a lot to learn about this very foreign culture.
Despite the figure-hugging clothing and the blue-black tinge of her skin, almost like oil on the surface of water, the lithe girl who calls herself Melania - and whom some analyst at SHIELD had dubbed Midnight - carries a quiet authority. An authority that, though unspoken, people around her feel and so she gets few wolf-whistles from roof-top work crews, even less comments from crack-heads and gangbangers about being an alien.
And the rumours of her being able to play all night without sleep only fuelled that aura, among her fans at least.
Giving the vendor a neatly folded $5 bill, she picks up a copy of the Daily Bugle and stands for a moment idly flipping through it's pages seeing nothing more than the usual collection of political and economic news sprinkled with a few articles about gangland deaths in Hell's Kitchen and Harlem.
As she looks up the commotion at the ice-cream shop seems to be dying down already and the woman she thought she recognised is led away by a an dressed in heavy clothing for the weather, around the corner and out of sight.
"Like hell, you were texting." Maggie turns and suddenly realizes the crowd gathering. She looks back at Lucas, who is trying to hide in his hoodie and avoid stares. She quickly retreats and throws an arm around Lucas to protect him.
"What were you thinking, Maggie?" Lucas growls as they hustle out of the area. "Even I were normal, we're not supposed to be drawing attention to ourselves. And people love a spectacle. You know that."
Sweetheart you are normal! Maggie says exasperated. Would it be ok if she was snapping at someone in a wheelchair? So what's the difference?
She rests her hands on her hips.
I just wish people would realise you're more than how you look.
The normal mid-morning thrum of traffic drones like a bees’ nest but suddenly, the sound of a high-pitched siren splits the air, reverberating upwards between the high-rise buildings seemingly rattling their monolithic panes of glass in their frames.
The sound of police sirens blaring across neighbourhoods is recogniseable and almost so much part of the tableau that you don't even think about it. But this siren is different.
The sound is obviously some kind of alarm, and is coming from somewhere about a block away
What the Hell is that...? the newsvendor muses as Midnight looks up from her paper, the noise loud even over her headphones.
Head tilted at an angle to attempt to triangulate the noise, Melania drags the headphones off and leaves them dangling around her neck. She shrugs at the newsvendor
Sounds strange...
...no idea what it is though.
She looks back down at her newspaper, but then immediately glances to the side towards where the persistent alarm is coming from.
Well it's not like I was doing much anyway...
She tucks her paper under one arm and begins walking quickly towards the noise.
Akio tenses up gripping the handles of his bike tightly as the loud siren. Its intensity and urgency instantly put him on edge as he looks around for it's origin. This is it..
His honed ears pick up where the loud alarm sound is coming from and quickly turns his bike around and jumps on it all in one motion he then begins to push on cutting through the crowded towards the alarm, he spots a woman standing out in the crown seeming to head towards the alarms also but makes nothing of it as the close he gets the louder the alarm and the faster his heart beats.
Lucas sidesteps a bicycle delivery man as Maggie tries to placate him. He glances up. 30 minutes or less, man those Chinese places have to hustle.
"Maggie, it's only normal. Despite the proliferation of superheros and mutants, most people haven't ever seen one up close. And like we said, it's not like the poster child, the Avengers look like aliens. I mean, there's Banner, but even the Hulk looks reasonably human. Maybe we'll get there eventually, but I doubt there's kids going to run up and hug me like this." He sighs, when suddenly the alarm sounds.
"What the devil?" Lucas and Maggie both look in the direction of the alarm. "Maggie, something is weird about that....Stay here, ok? I'm going to see if people are ok." Maggie protests, but Lucas holds up his hand. "Just let me take a look. I'll be right back."
The mutant biochemist slowly makes his way towards the alarm. He notices the delivery guy cut past him towards it too. Not in such a rush now. I bet your customers will be getting their meal for free..."
As you round the corner of Cooper Square and E 8th st, the source of the alarm is revealed. You stand outside the First National Bank. Above the din you hear the sound of screaming from within the grey stone building and three rapid pops that sound like balloons bursting.
Across the street a few people are talking on cell phones and pointing. There are quite a few shrugs but mostly anxious faces.
If you make this check, you can access the map located here. This represents the fact you either bank here, have been in the building previously or through some other means (to be determined by you) are just familiar with the layout
Taking the opportunity to move in the cyclist's wake, Melania covers the distance swiftly as the pavement opens up with people moving out of the bike's path. Rounding the corner she sees one of the coinmerchant shops is the source of the noise, evidently it was in trouble of some sort.
Why they need a brick and mortar building to deposit mostly electronic funds is still beyond me she muses briefly as she recalls the SHIELD operative handing her a little plastic card and explaining currency to her.
Her thoughts are interrupted by several loud bangs
Projectile weapon discharge!
She turns and points to several of those on cell phones.
Cease your personal communications and contact the local authority immediately!
After a moment's thought she adds
...and you, contact the medics!
A quiet authority emanates from her pose, her tone. She turns in place and moves towards the doors of the bank, calling over her shoulder.
Move away from the building so you will not be threatened...
She approaches the door and peers in, attempting to see what's going on.
Akio pushes on ignoring those around him shouting and cursing, Rounding a corner he see's the bank and the alarms now blaring even louder.
Setting down his bike, he turns to hear the woman he spotted only moment earlier shouting out orders and beginning to head into the bank. Is she a cop.. I shouldnt get involved, but she's all alone. He considers his position for a seond and heads for the doors with the woman.
As the loud bangs go off he instantly recognises then. Gun fire.. maybe a small pistol. She needs my help. He then continues to move forward coming up behind the woman. "I don't know who you are but you can't go in there alone. I heard gunshots, let's go in together."
Even as the alarm rings out, mid-morning shoppers stop to stare and gossip among themselves as to what is happening. They instinctively take cover at the sounds of gunfire but they nonetheless remain, a wall of smartphones in hand, hoping to snap a glimpse of what is going on.
Lucas makes his way towards the front of the bank, when he spots a woman in a white robe, yelling at a group of gawkers. Hang on, I've seen her before... Lucas hustles up towards her to get a better look. Yeah, I know I've seen her before. At SHIELD! She must be a SHIELD agent taking charge of the situation. Looks like I better help her out.
Lucas comes up behind Melania and Akio. "Hey! You need help? I've seen you at..." He glances Akio, suddenly unsure of why the Chinese delivery man was with her. "...uh, at work, right? You going inside? I'm Lucas. What's the plan?"
Lucas, be careful! Maggie shouts after the husband as he takes the steps up to the entrance two at a time. She pulls her cellphone from her bag and starts dialling numbers frantically.
Meanwhile Lucas dashes across the concourse to come to a stop on the opposite side of the door to the violet-skinned woman.
The asian man is back a few steps, trying to catch a glimpse of what is happening inside the bank.
He can see at least a dozen people, panicked and forced to the ground. From his vantage point he can see only one man with a pistol however, shouting something a woman before shoving her roughly against the glass of the teller booths.
Akio moves up just behind large man he saw earlier. "She's a cop or something are you one too? She took control quickly and move towards the bank all alone, i heard gunshots. So I didn't want her to move in on her own so I followed, hoping to lend a hand." He says dressed in his loose fitting, dirty delivery cloths but with a determined face.
Midnight turns to face Akio
I don't know you either, neither of us have legal jurisdiction here it would seem however there are no enforcement officers present and there is a clear and present danger to innocent bystanders.
She fixes him with an assessing gaze
You seem like a good sort, volunteering to help when most cower away. I have read that all that is needed for evil to win is for good people to stand by and do nothing. We can't let evil win now can we?
As Lucas appears he hears the last sentence. Midnight tilts her head in consideration
Yes... 'work' that's right... glad to have you here Lucas.
She nods
The plan is somewhat... 'agile' in nature, it is as you might say 'under constant revision'. However the first stage would be gaining access inside, assessing the situation and then move to nullifying the threat. Can either of you scout the bank? The area just inside here? We must be quick...
Lucas whirls around the sound of another voice. "Who are you? Lady, get back! We can handle this." He looks to Melania. "Yeah, I can scout around. I'm faster than I look. But look, I know what it's like inside. I used to bank here all the time."
Lucas crouches down, grabbing a rock and sketching the layout of the bank. "Look, there's an emergency exit here. I don't know if we can get it open or not. There's also a break room on this side of the building with windows. We can get in there, maybe get upstairs before they realize. You can't see the stairs from where the tellers are."
Melania turns to the woman who has just walked up and listens as her fierce barrage of words.
Yes we exist and are not figments of your imagination or illusory projections. Yes we are going in there, there are innocents in danger. Our means of entry has yet to be determined... she tilts her head, frowning slightly
...I can't speak for the other two present but the answer to your last question for me is 'what' she concludes
Now, you appear to be more willing to act than the rest of these civilians... she indicates the milling crowd and we are short on resources so another pair of eyes or hands, if you can be trusted to do the right thing, would be welcome.
As Lucas volunteers his information on the bank's layout Melania nods approvingly.
This is good intel, and good tactical suggestions. Might I add that we don't need to gain entry through the ground level, I can likely achieve a second level entry either by myself or with one other person, which would be made easier if said person was able to breach windows either quickly or quietly.
She gestures at the windows around the bottom of the bank's ground floor
An issue we are sure to run in to regardless. As for the emergency exit, unless someone was to open it from the inside or we have someone strong enough to remove it from its hinges, I think the windows are our best bet...
She adds finally
I must assure you, and in turn gain your acquiescence, that we are doing this in order to minimise any danger posed to the innocents inside as a primary responsibility, and only secondly should be attempt to apprehend the criminals. Though they are both rather well aligned as tactical objectives in this case
Akio stares as another person makes their way up to them and pushes in asking about their mental state. Holding his words he listens to the plan. "I heard the alarms, I then heard the gunshots. I'm here to help those people in there the police are stretched thin i'm sure you've all seen this."
He looks around at the other three now taking in their features and just how different each of them look. "We're all outside this bank so we're all here for the same reason. I don't plan on dying today, and no one else in there needs to die either." Standing He begins to stretch his back and click bones in his wrists, he then points at Lucas. "That's good information, I'm Akio. Might be easier knowing what to call each other in there." He then looks to Melania, she striking looks catch him off guard for a moment. "You can fly? That's amazing.. But we have no idea of how many men are in there we should all move together and i think you're right about the emergency exit. So I say we move to the breakroom." He turns and points in the direction Lucas showed them.
Lucas looks at Akio and Connie, and then back to Melania. "You're going to let them help? They might get hurt." He sighs. "Fine, but be careful. We know they have guns."
"Alright, I'm going to go check out the break room. I'll see if anyone's in here hiding. If they can open the window, that'll help." Lucas wipes the dubks off his brow and glances at Akio and Connie. Hey, they wanted to help, right?
The mutant unzips his hooded sweatshirt and peels it off, revealing his appearance. "Still want to help?" He ducks down and hurries toward the tree, amazingly quietly.
The four individuals try their best to keep their heads down as they move from tree to pillar and skirt the outside of the building.
The alarm still blares which acts in the novice heroes' favour as they steal a glance through the solid plate glass of the frontage and see another two armed men in the bank, shouting to eachother and at the hostages.
So far you have seen two men armed with pistols and another armed with what looks like a black billy-club.
Reaching the windows of the break room, Lucas peers in and sees a large, cafeteria style room through the blinds with a few tables and chairs, some turned over. A counter area with a coffee machine and water cooler stands to one side where currently a man sits heavily with one hand on his forehead, the other wrapped around his ankle. A woman paces deliberately back and forth talking frantically on her cell phone.
It appears that a refrigerator has been toppled over in front of the door as a make-shift barricade.
Akio face changes now as he focuses on the task ahead. "Don't worry about me I can look after myself, worry about the people inside the bank. We're here and we can't just stand around and wait." He stands to move with the large man and watches as he takes off his large sweatshirt. "Your here and you want to help that's all that matters." He says noticing the large mans reluctance to show himself. "I'm with you."
He then looks at strange girl in leather. "Good to have you with us Concussion. Lets move and keep up with him" He moves out following Lucas.
Getting to him he keeps his head and and whispers to the man. "What do you see? Can we get in here?"
Responding to Akio, the dark skinned woman replies
Let's keep that between us for now if you don't mind?
Melania considers Lucas's words
Ideally we'd have a full tactical squad with pacifier weaponry. What we've got is an impromptu group of volunteers. Whilst technically we should wait for the lawful authorities, I am choosing to exercise what I believe is called the 'good Samaritan' clause to act in order to prevent harm to others. I also intend to make a citizens arrest of the robbers and to defend myself with appropriate force if threatened.
Her gaze remains unwavering, though it is difficult to discern where she's looking exactly as her eyes appear to have no pupils.
and nothing in any of those laws prevents multiple persons acting together. So let's work with what we've got and save these people
To Concussion she nods
thank you for volunteering I'm sure your previous experience will prove valuable in our joint endeavor
She follows the others to the break room window and attempts to attract the attention of the woman inside, pointing at the window and miming an opening action.
After a few moments you see the man look up from his injured ankle and then gesture to the woman. She pauses in her conversation long enough to look across to the window with a clear look of relief that soon melts to confusion.
She strides to the window and grabs the handle, giving it a shove but disappointingly the whole pain, though nearly six feet in height, opens barely a crack.
Who the Hell are you? she demands as she stretches and strains to open the window further but it won't budge. She steps back and runs her hands over her blouse and pencil skirt to straighten them as if looking dishevelled were the real crisis here.
She takes a look at Akio's delivery uniform then and with a look of barely contained disgust says;
I don't think one of their demands was take out, Chang. Are the cops coming?
"I'm not sure you're in a position to determine who helps you. Let's try to get get this window open wider and you two can get out." Lucas tries to examine the window mechanism to see if it even can open wider. Unfortunately, it was Margaret that was the mechanical genius. Still, Lucas tries to see if he can determine how to get it open.
Akio nods at the strange woman now starting to notice small things about her now hes truly different she looks her eyes having no pupils.
At the window he sticks his head up as Chang's the restaurant he works at is mentioned mentioned but then ignores the woman's comments. "We're here to help you, Why haven't you tried to escape? could we break one of these windows? Smash it and get you out?"
The woman steps back from the window as she regards Lucas for the first time.
The goth chick and the Chinese kid were fine but suddenly now there was a purple-skinned alien girl and some guy who looked like a monster!
T..the windows don't open past this... she stutters. Who knows why, probably some dumb policy. Just another regulation the damned city put in place after the Incident, got to be to do with insurance or something...
Hey! the man hisses, staggering to his feet. He is dressed in a plain grey suit that doesn't really fit across the stomach any more. You know there's guys with guns in here right? Like four I think, maybe more.
"Right, which is why we're getting you out." Lucas wedges himself under the window, where he can push against it with his back to the wall. "Come on, people, help me here."
Lucas gives the window a hard shove and feels the metal of the hinges buckle enough to allow passage
Melania regards Lucas
It would appear that my pre-action assessment of your capabilities has borne out in your execution of the task.
She glances around
That is, you required no assistance.
She ghosts through the gap and heads immediately to the makeshift barricade to ensure it is secure, before questioning the man and woman.
You think four attackers, maybe more? What have you based this assessment on? Did you see four? Hear four? Names? Did you hear them demand anything specific?
Ummm I dunno, it was pretty chaotic. They came in and started yelling and shooting up the place, I don't even know if anyone is hurt! the man replies.
We were already in here on break when they came in, I tried to barricade us in here but I twisted my ankle. Guess my wife was right and I do need to sign up to cross-fit. he adds with a wan smile.
Meanwhile the woman is all but scrambling out of the now open window, her previous concern for her appearance seemingly passed as she kicks off her heels and starts pushing her way out.
"Good job, you had it." He says moving up to the window and climbing in.
Inside he scans the room again, then moves to help the other in and out. "This is where we start. We'll help you all out then well move in for the rest. Do you know how many hostages are left inside and where they are?"