you kind of had to be there [OPEN]

[scarabsuited]

WHO: Jaime and any who wish to be there
WHERE: Dem City streets, our alt-universe Brooklyn
WHEN: Friday morning 10/7
WARNINGS: you tell me
SUMMARY: If only all superheroing went this well...
FORMAT: no



In Jaime's experience as the Blue Beetle, rescues and fights didn't really go as well as they do in the movies. He could accept the Hollywoodization of it all, but even so, it was still a little disappointing to never have the right quip, never save the nicest person, never have the right expression on his face when someone was snapping away with their camera phone. There was a good month-and-a-half where he should've just been called the Squinting Beetle in that regard...Lame, sure, but he wasn't really hung up on it anymore. A lot of that stuff just didn't matter much lately. Perhaps a few months, a year ago he'd be pondering why he was never saving any gorgeous businesswomen from armed muggers, but at the moment, all he had on his mind was Scarab's input: the middle-aged man's limp as he tried to flee to the open street, the bulky man pulling the piece out of his jacket...

Jaime tilted himself into the dive, a blue bullet racing down and down. What he lacked in witty entrance lines seemed made up for by the noise he made by simply arriving -- the whoosh of his construct wings ballooning out to slow him, his armor crunching and warping to a pincer-claw on one arm discarded bags and garbage rustling with the rush of wind as he came between civilian and assaulter. The latter, too, seemed to be short-changed in the banter department:

"Oh sh--!"

He shuffled and scrambled into a run the other way, with Jaime floating after him and dropping his arm, tilting it with intent to snag the man by his jacket. On the other side of the alley, it bent to another turn before coming out into the open streets, still busy with the remainder of morning rush on their way downtown and elsewhere. Jaime sped up when the man banked the corner and really started booking it, aware of the possibility other innocent people could be quickly wrangled into a very bad situation.

The man was less aware of the opportunity, however. He had his gun out again, but instead of readying to take his pick of the pedestrians drawing near, he started to stagger and run sideways, arm shaking as he tried to aim and fire at Jaime. Bullets echoed loud and caused a lot of stir from the street and adjacent housing, but only brick and metal suffered damage. As the man continued to unload rounds, Jaime gritted his teeth and dipped lower, ready to power himself forward, but--

"Look out-!"

BANG. BANG BANG BANG BANG.

THWOCK.

And the second after the gunman smashed into the streetlight and crumpled to the ground, the radio of an old Cadillac blared: "STEEEEEERRRRIKE THREE! AND HE'S OUT!"

Once Jaime had landed in a half-crouch just at the threshold of the alley, he exchanged glances with the old driver. All traffic, pedestrian and motor, had stopped at the sound. All that remained was the sound of the sports commentators, still chattering on at full volume about something entirely unrelated. It gradually was faded to a faint murmur.

And with the snort of one cyclist, everyone started laughing.

Comments

[tattleina]

"Oh, how funny!" Shirley tittered, perching at the side of the road in just the right position to view the whole ordeal. It was the first time since she got here that she had seen actual superhero style crimefighting, and she certainly felt it was just as impressive as it was on television.

"That was very impressive!" she cooed, gliding up to Jaime with her massive handbag in tow. "Especially the flying."

[scarabsuited]

As much as he wanted to run over and shake the old man's hand (who was currently getting bro-fisted by the cyclist, repeating "It was the Rob and Tom Show! It was perfect! Rob and Tom!"), Jaime had to make sure the gunman was reduced to just a man; he knelt down and took the gun, tossing it into a little bubble construct and held aloft not unlike a balloon.

He grinned around at the reactions as he got to his feet, the lady approaching flashing in his peripheral. He wasn't sure how to move - stuck between a cheesy bow and an awkward hand-behind-the-neck. His arm just dropped to his side, the other still occupied with keeping the construct up.

"Oh, thanks!" he said, his grin tilting in a sheepish way on that big black mask of his. "I'm pretty sure that was all I did for this one, really."

[tattleina]

"Oh, no. Things like that don't just happen by chance! It must be one of your powers," Shirley assured him. Suddenly, she began to dig through her handbag until she pulls out a small box of muffins.

"I think you deserve these!" she said, shoving the box in his direction. "After all of the hard work you did today."

[scarabsuited]

"I, yuh--" Jaime looked...well, how anyone would probably look when someone just suddenly handed them a box of muffins. He blinked, having instinctively reached out for what was offered before the oddness struck him, and stared at the box. Muffins?

"Oh, no, I--" he looked back up. "I couldn't, really. This is very nice, but--"

[tattleina]

"Oh, it's fine! Consider it a reward for all your hard work." Shirley ensures that he keeps hold of the muffin box, pushing the box further into his hands as if it would prevent him from refusing. "After all, flying around all day must use up a lot of energy."

[hackeralastair]

Alastair had to admit, even in a city full of superheroes, you didn't see that every day. Of course, he was a few cars back with his helmet on, so he didn't hear what was so funny - and really, he had to get moving if he wanted his coffee before work - but he sat astride his Ducati for a minute just shaking his head. No, you really didn't see that every day. Especially not just blocks from home in Brooklyn.

He flipped up his visor to have a clearer look. Was that...isn't that Jaime's superhero armor thing?

[scarabsuited]

For all the neat things the armor could do, conjure handcuffs was not one of them.

Well, it could, but...Jaime didn't want to be handcuffed to the unconscious gunman while he waited for the cops. He was considering that amid the chatter, nodding and assuring another pedestrian that yes, he called the police, yes, they're on their way...and the brief stand-still that came with the chase's conclusion began to grate on traffic a block away. He winced at the blare of horns, scoping out the problem before shouting to the cars still nearby:

"Hey, guys! Everyone's waiting on you, so...!" He grimaced, noting all the smart phones still in action. "Oh, jeez..."

[hackeralastair]

If there was one thing Alastair hated, in this modern age, it was people and their goddamn phones taking video of everything. Not that he hadn't, but that was once and he hadn't been in the middle of traffic at the time. Gunning the engine, he darted the bike in between lanes of cars and screeched to an obnoxious halt in the tiny space between the guy currently filming Jaime and the curb. Yep, he completely cockblocked that youtube video. Forgetting that his visor was still up, he flipped off the smartphone and yelled "maybe think about moving your stupid car, jackass! The light's been green for ten minutes!"

[scarabsuited]

It wasn't really New York City, and in any case, Jaime was hardly an expert on real New York City (outside of movies), but regardless? Hostility during morning rush was not a good thing to have.

He hesitated, eying the unconscious criminal a second more, before straightening up and slowly leaning into the driver's view from behind the biker, putting on a wincing smile, a wave, and giving a small please go pretty please gesture.

About then, Scarab tittered a realization, and Jaime blurted, "Oh, yeah, it is that guy!"

Small world.

Too bad he was irate and on his way to...wherever.

[hackeralastair]

Fortunately, Alastair turned in time to notice. He was idling at the curbside, safely, which was pretty much an amazing feat considering how he usually drove. "...shit, man," he couldn't help but exclaim, yelling a bit through the helmet. "Up close and personal like this, that's a hell of an outfit."

[scarabsuited]

"Hah?" Jaime squinted; it took a replay and a sound adjustment to get that. "Oh, yeah? Thanks! Coming from the dude with the awesome bike, that's something, right?"

He felt a little silly, as if small talk and compliments were something he definitely shouldn't have been doing. Wouldn't Superman just smile, salute, and fly away?

...Batman would just leave...

He had half the squint left as the thought blipped by, giving him a weird look overall, but it was brief. "Oh, uh--" He started, waving it off. The other hand wavered a bit, too, though he kept it more vertical overall to keep that handgun floating in stasis. "But make sure you're off the sidewalk before the cops get here to get this guy...Y'know."

[hackeralastair]

"Yeah, yeah." Alastair glanced at the various details of the scene - the unconscious criminal, the floating gun, and that bright blue suit - and just shrugged it off. It was interesting getting to see it all up close, but he was over it now. He grinned slyly. "No worries, I gotta get to work anyway."

He flipped the visor back down and gave Jaime a casual sort of salute before checking traffic and zipping out between cars with another gun of the engine.

[scarabsuited]

Jaime's own wave wasn't as laid-back cool and a little after-the-fact, but there it was. He tilted his head and grimaced a little - speed laws, bro! - but let it go. He could hear sirens, anyhow.

"Well," he exhaled, looking up for a second. "That only took...maybe two years of kind-of knowing the guy exists to happen. Right?"

He tried not to wince as Scarab rattled out the exact details.

[pluckyreporter]

This is too damn good to pass up. You know, she's seen it before but there's no mistaking the action and instinct goes into over drive; she's got her camera out and up and is snapping shots with a pro's eye. There will be a lot more than 'squinting beetle' in these shots, that's for sure.

This is the first time the City has felt ANYTHING close to home since she got here.

"Fantastic."

This is actually sort of what she was hunting for.

[scarabsuited]

Well before the camera was spotted, a generous pedestrian had offered Jaime a plastic bag for that gun he was touting around weirdly - a good thing, too; he needed both hands to help get the ex-gunman out of the awkward position he'd fallen in. The bag dangled at the elbow as he sat the guy up, mindful of his head, and endured backseat diagnostics from older folks certain he was doing it wrong.

"It's - yeah, x-ray vision," he was half-mindedly explaining. "So don't worry. He's not got anything serious. He's just doing that thing that happens when you run right into a street light."

The older couple moved away, leaving Jaime waving slightly to a very eager camera lens. He froze, blinked, then offered a dweebish smile. He was never going to get used to it, was he?

[pluckyreporter]

X-Ray vision? Huh. Wouldn't be the first person she knew with it.

Then again, she got a lot less comfortable with it when someone was using it to spy on her for 'romantic' purposes. Still, they seemed harmless, and whent they headed off, she got a couple more clear shots, smiling as Jaime waved

"Nice work, blue," she called, before letting the camera drop. Not graceful work, per se, but -- hey, nobody got hurt, right? Except the one guy who'd been asking for it, really.

[scarabsuited]

The smile widened at the praise, nodding a little as he rose, maybe just a little disappointed it was just "blue." But hey, it was only a minor step backward, and miles better than "that blue guy" or (worse, he thought) "that blue power ranger guy."

With a light exhale, he tilted his head and peered down the street. Thankfully, traffic seemed to be getting on about its business for the most part; too bad wearing space armor makes people stop and stare...he'd probably have to book it pretty soon, or a fender bender was on the menu. The sound of incoming sirens was a relief in that sense, and doubly so since the guy was still out cold. No need to MacGuyver up cuffs now.

"Hey, guys!" he called openly, glancing around the small wave of pedestrians and onlookers still on the sidewalk. "Can you clear up a little? Cops are coming to take this guy."

[pluckyreporter]

While others may leave, Roxanne merely gets some distance away, switches to a better lens, and snaps a few more shots. That may irritate some cops -- but she's got her little copy of 'photographer's rights' and her shiny new WayneTech credentials in her pocket if anything happens.

Should be interesting to catch the aftermath either way.