Title: Petrify
Who: Myth and Spook
When: October 18th, 2010
Where: Market Row
What: While looking out for infected types, Spook encounters a pair of muggers… and a woman with snakes for hair.
===< Market Row >----------< #89 >===
Market Row is the main shopping area for San Angeles with a dizzying array of shops from groceries to department stores, to the largest mall in the world 'The Quake'. There are a great many parks in Market Row and the San Angeles Zoo as well.
There are very few structures higher than a double handful of stories tall, the area designed to be more 'eye level' and to keep folks focused on the business at hand, namely spending their hard earned cash! Movie Theatres, Bowling Alleys, Water Parks and lots of restaurants can be found here, both fast food and family style restaurants abound and there's quite a few Bar & Grills to be found as well.
EXITS
Saint Jim………………….<SJ> San Angeles Zoo…………….<SAZ>
The Quake………………….<TQ> Residential District………..<RD>
Melting Pot………………..<MP> Financial District………….<FD>
Kennedy Station…………….<KS>
===---------------===
It's a typical night in Market Row. The streets aren't crowded but there's plenty of life around, with various groups of young people making their way to see a movie or in search of a bar or three to while away the rest of the night. Those shops which open late have customers coming and going, while cars and cabs trundle back and forth.
Market Row is one of Spook's regular haunts, not that the residents of this area would know it since he spends most of his patrolling time there invisible. Tonight is different. He's seen the reports about the strange outbreak of violent hallucinations at the jail and heard word of some cases of ordinary folk succumbing to something similar since, so he wants to be sure he's visible if one of them happens to be in the area and decides it's a good idea to start throwing punches. His hope is that any infected might choose to attack him rather than pouncing on somebody more defenseless. You never know. So, with that in mind, he's fully visible as he floats intangibly over a street, landing on the edge of a one storey building's rooftop to catch his breath back. He rubs at the back of his aching neck as he peers down at the passersby below.
Market Row. Carrie's been looking at the area as a potential play to set up business, and with that in mind she wants to keep an eye on the neighborhood. Problem is, just wandering around tends not to get the information she'd hope for. Carrie's instead shifted herself over into a tiny, diminutive form, hovering above the street much as Spook does. In fact, she keeps an eye on him as he flits about, landing on an air conditioning until behind Spook. She watches him closely, not wanting to freak him out just yet.
Though he can see a few pairs of curious eyes looking his way from the street below, Spook is unaware of anybody else who might be watching him. With one foot up on the edge of the rooftop, he looks up and down the street below, listening out for any strange goings on. Explosions, screams of terror, that sort of thing. For a few seconds, he hears nothing, before a yelp in the distance catches his attention. His head snaps to the side as he squints into the night to figure out what might be happening, until he spots a gaggle of drunken girls chasing each other around and giggling at the other end of the street. Relaxing, he smiles to himself as he watches them for a moment. All seems to be well. Deciding he'll remain on the rooftop for a while to take a short break, he starts to sing quietly to himself. A Britney number, Oops I Did It Again. As he forgets himself, he starts singing a little more loudly, the words heavily misshapen by his Portuguese accent. It would be safe to say that nobody will be hiring him for his singing abilities any time soon.
People so soften notice things. So many don't look up. Myth listens for a few minutes, watching Spook as he talks to himself and, indeed, starts singing. Hah. Strange, that.
The girls down the street wobble a bit, walking as if they're a bit drunk. No shocker, given the time of day. What's wrong with having a little fun. Perhaps somethings, as a couple of toughs in leather jackets come up on them, starting to grab at purses and clothes.
"Oops, I did it again! I played with your heart, got lost in the game!" Sadly, Spook is enjoying his little singsong session a little more than might be dignified. If he'd known he was being watched, he'd probably have chosen something classier. Well, that's not true. He knows no shame and would've sung Britney anyway. Happily, he's not so lost in music that he isn't paying attention to the street below, even if his booted foot is tapping in time to the rhythm in his head. His gaze drifts in the direction of the drunken girls again, just in time to spot them being harrassed by some leather jacketed guys.
"Ooh baby ba—" The words pause on his lips. He'll have to finish his rendition later. Fists clenching for a moment, he lets a single second tick by, just to be sure that he isn't misreading the situation, before diving off the edge of the rooftop. Becoming intangible as he does so, he flies at top speed over the street, closing in on the boys engaging in such ungentlemanly behaviour. "Step away from the ladies," he instructs as soon as he's close enough to be heard. Sometimes regular folk just do as they're told when faced with a super. He's hoping this will be one of those times.
Spook has no shame, apparently. With her keen eyesight, Myth catches sight of the men at about the same time Spook does. The tiny pixie flies off rapidly. She lights behind one of them, growing up and into a full woman. In this case, a woman in a dark cloak with a hood that contains spooky, piercing yellow eyes. She grabs the man in front of her and twists his arm back hard. "Do as he says," she says. to the other man, opposite her and closer to Spook.
Coming to a hover in front of the men, Spook's muscles tense under his costume as he sees a cloaked woman appear from nowhere behind one of the men. His worries that he's inadvertantly disturbed a baddie are put to rest when she sets about preventing the guys from doing anything wrong. Offering her a quick nod of acknowledgement and greeting, he allows himself to become invisible long enough to get closer to the second guy. Making only his hand solid, he reappears and tugs hard at the collar of the leather jacket to yank the young man away from the girls. "It would be best for you to behave," Spook says firmly, eyeing the two hoodlums to see how they respond.
The second guy, the one Spook's moving up on, startles and reaches for something in his pocket. Spook yanks on his collar just in time, startling him and sending the gun clattering to the pavement. Myth, though, isn't quite as saguine or calm as others might be. She tenses up immediately, a hiss coming from under her hood, and her eyes lock on to the eyes of the hoodlum. In an instant he turns to stone. "Oh god oh god oh god!" the other hood starts. Myth twists hi arm further. The yellow eyes turn to look at the girls, who starts. "Would one of you call the police?" she says with some annoyance.
The clatter of the gun catches Spook's attention and he briefly considers knocking the guy out to prevent him from making a dive for the gun. He decides against it though, figuring he can just incapacitate him some other way, but the decision is taken out of his hands. To his shock, the young ruffian transforms in front of his eyes, becoming solid stone. It takes Spook a moment to realise that the guy doesn't have some kind of shapeshifting power. Instead, his current state is down to the hooded lady. Well. Yikes. "Yes, that would be helpful. Thank you," he says gently to the group of girls after his mysterious ally addresses them. They look more than a little shocked and frightened but one of them complies, scampering away to fish her cellphone out of her clutch bag. For his part, Spook carefully picks up the gun and begins removing the ammunition. "You, uh… you can change him back, yes?" he checks, glancing between the statue and the hooded woman.
Yikes indeed. The cloaked womans hifts her weight and gives the thug she has a bit of a shove. "Yes, of course," she says to Spook with a little indignation. She tilts her head down, enough to look at the goon and she says, "Do I have to do that to you?" He shakes his head emphatically, clearly more spooked than the professional hero was. As the head moves under the hood, something else seems to be moving under her hood. "Ladies," she says with a tug on her hood. The cloaked woman approaches Spook, offering a hand. It has hard black nails and looks…well, scaly.
Having made the gun safe, Spook takes a moment to offer some reassurances to the girls, who don't seem terribly reassured. Probably because they were just attacked and saw a floating man and a lady turn another man to stone. It's been quite a night for them. That'll teach them to drink too much. As the mystery lady approaches him, Spook spots the rather unusual hand but he's too polite to do anything other than smile and shake it. Admittedly, he's a little unnerved but he maintains his composure. One of his best friends has sap for blood, and another lives in a tree, so he should be able to handle this. Still, it's a little outside his comfort zone and this woman has certainly made tonight more notable than he thought it would be. "Hello, it is nice to meet you," he says, smiling tentatively. Does… she have something under her hood? Something wriggling? Huh. Odd. "I am Spook."
Stories for later on, at least. The girls all look around and go to linger later on. The woman shakes her cloak lightly and Spook can now make out features on her face. A fairly flat nose, those wide, yellow eyes, a csharp chin and plush lips. There's a classical look to her, if you can ignore the writhing of her hair and the scaliness of her skin. "Spook," she says, shaking her head. "Haven't heard of you, but nice to meet you. I'm Myth."
Spook isn't surprised or troubled by the fact that the lady hasn't heard of him. He's made the papers a few times but… well, he's an invisible hero. The media just doesn't spot him a lot of the time. Plus, he's usually in the presence of the far better known Thorn, who the press are much more interested in. He has wings and a crossbow so he's just cooler than Spook who can offer nothing better than a badass hood. "Myth. I do not know you either, I must admit," he replies with a smile through his strong accent. Now that he's closer and able to get a better look at her, the cogs in his brain start to whir. Scaly skin, writhing hair, turning humans to stone with nothing but a glance. Thorn would've worked this out ages ago. "Do you mind me asking… are you Medusa?" It's entirely possible that Spook thinks she might be the actual Medusa of legend, despite the fact that she just introduced herself as Myth. This is how his pitiful brain works.
"I'm new," Myth explains. "Around here, at least." Her arms cross and disappear back under her cloak. "I've been out for a while, so I'm not some bright eyed kid. I'm still trying to figure out how San Angeles works," she says. Her head tilts and she glances at the young women and the two goons. "Same problems everywhere. I don't usually street sweep but you can't say no to trouble right in front of you." She tugs off her hood, revealing her full face and serpentine locks. "For now," she says. "I won't change you without trying, don't worry."
The widening of Spook's eyes can be seen through the eye-holes of his hood as he gets a proper look at Myth's current visage. She has snakes for hair and everything. "That is good to know," he mumbles, though his attention is firmly fixed on the writhing atop her head. Incredible. "That is so… cool," he declares. "I wish I had snakes on my head." Actually, he doesn't. That would make maintaining his secret identity even more hassle than it already it. But still. How awesome. He can't wait to tell Colin about this. "Are they heavy?"
"They always get excited after a fight," she says. "No you don't," she says with a snort and a roll of her eyes. "Sometimes I don't, but they're useful. Between the petrifying gaze and the poison bite I can disable a lot of opponents," she says. The gorgon swings her arms and cricks her neck this way and that. "Good when you're fighting up close."
"I can imagine," Spook nods, eyes still round with awe. "You are lucky. My powers are good for being sneaky but not so great for being offensive." He's under-selling himself a little but still, at first glance Myth appears to have way more going for her in a fight than he does. He's about to ask her another question, probably about the snakes since they seem to have captured his imagination, when he hesitates, turning his head away. He can hear the sound of sirens in the distance. "Oh, the police are on their way." He pauses, a thought occurring to him as he looks back to Myth. "Do you have a hero license? If not, I do, so I can deal with the authorities if that is better for you."
"You did pretty well," the heroine says. "Sometimes being stealthy's far more important." Myth snorts in faint annoyance. "Of course I do. Didn't I say I wasn't some kid? Helped out one of them a few days ago, trying to get a look at the bank robbery scene." She gestures over towards the young women. "I'm sure they can give the authorities the full story. I don't think this is anything beyond a regular mugging."
Spook smiles. "I did not mean to cause offense. I know experienced supers who do not have a license. It is not a straightforward process for everyone, sadly." Although it was for him so… he should probably shut up. He nods in agreement as he glances in the direction of the girls who got more than they bargained for on their night out. "You are right." He offers his new acquaintance a smile as the police car turns into the street. "Then I should make my exit. I need to meet with an ally of mine soon. It was a pleasure to meet you, Myth, I hope we meet again soon," he adds, with one of his trademark sunny smiles.
Myth smiles in a way that, with her teeth, isn't entirely reassuring. "Not for me either," she says. "Problems of identification," she says and leaves it at that. The girls are already on their phones, chattering about their story with friends. Probably not the worst outcome of the night. "I'd say I'll see you around but…." she laughs lightly. "Until next time, Spook."
Spook doesn't ask for further details. He knows better than to intrude. After all, he'd prefer not to share his own secrets with others. He grins cheerfully at Myth's joke, even as he starts to step away. "Until next time. Take care, Myth!" With one more smile, and a wave for the policemen, he turns, lifts into the air and promptly vanishes.
