September 15, 2015:
Superboy shoulda taken a left at Albuquerque. Instead, he meets Daredevil and gets Pepper-sprayed.
//Hell's Kitchen //
Hell's Kitchen used to be a working class neighborhood composed primarily of Irish Americans. These days that is no longer so. The ongoing gentrification of the island has been causing this area to become slowly more upscale as well. Today, luxury apartment buildings near the river are not uncommon sights and the shopping is getting steadily more trendy, though the traditional ethnic restaurants are still in place for the most part. The district also is the home of the 2001 Fire Fighters Memorial.
Characters
NPCs: Thugs and college girls
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Superboy has spent most of his time in Metropolis for a variety of reasons. Mostly because the Super-family seems to center itself there. But he's not exactly a member of the Super-family, and it's become painfully obvious. So it's come to him that maybe he should see where he might fit in better. Sure! Good plan!
New York certainly has a plethora of heroes, but he actually knows one or two of them. The X-Men hang out around here, right? And Magik did tell him he should stop by. However, his memory of where the X-Men's home might be is not the best, and he's wound up in what seems to be a rather seedy neighborhood. He hovers close to the top of one of the tallest buildings in the area and looks this way and that before pulling out his phone and trying to get the GPS app to work.
Hell's Kitchen is fighting gentrification. Even with all of the hipsters and their locally-ground coffee-shops and vegan bakeries dotting the area, there is still a rawness about the area that speaks of the New York now only seen in the movies of the previous century. While crime is still all over the city, there seems to be a concentration in this smaller grid of streets and alleys. 'Family Businesses' do their business here, meeting in some of the older and seedier bars and restaurants.
It's not the best place to get lost in, as many have found out. By day, it's not so bad, but once the sun sets…
The rooftops seem to be fairly free of unsavory sorts…except for the few vigilantes who tend to haunt said rooftops as they observe their city.
"You get better reception from the building over…" is offered from a figure that was crouched at the top of the fire escape.
Vigilantes are not unsavory as far as Superboy is concerned, but he whirls in surprise when somebody speaks. "Batman?" he says, eyes wide, and then realizes, no, this is not Batman. This guy has no cape, he's wearing red, and those are horns at the top of his cowl, not bat ears. "No. Not Batman," he decides, pausing a moment to consider the 'DD' on the man's chest. "Devil. Something Devil. Sorry. I'm not from this town."
Daredevil lets out a laugh, "I think I'm flattered, but no, not Batman. 'Daredevil'. And you are? I mean, I don't often get folks landing on my rooftops." Now there's a statement he never figured he'd be saying. "Did you take a wrong turn at Alberquerque?" He can't help but smirk at that before turning down at a sound from the street below. "I'd love to stay and chat but…" he points north, "That's Uptown." He points south, "That's Downtown. East is the water, West is New Jersey."
He starts down the fire escape before he pauses, "Unless you're really bored and want to scare the Hell out of some punk kids who think they're badass criminals."
"And a right at LaJolla," he replies with a sigh. "Superboy. Related, but rarely acknowledged." He pauses, gliding over the fire escape and the alley below. "I feel like my… uh… whatever he is would scare them more, but in the dark maybe they won't notice I'm not wearing blue." He removes his sunglasses and tucks them away in a pocket. "Lead the way… Daredevil."
"I've met Supergirl. She was…eager," is offered before he basically slides down the fire escape. Daredevil stops before he gets to the street and remains one level above the street. "Maybe if you threaten them with a car on their head, they'll think twice…but probably not," is offered. He nods to a small gang of late-teen/twenty-somethings who are hanging out near a seedy bar. Some are smoking, some are scrutinizing passersby as if trying to decide who to pester.
"Yeah," says Superboy grimacing. "She… doesn't seem real fond of me." He nods in understanding. "Should I wait 'til they actually do something?" he asks. "Or, you know, scare 'em preemptively?"
"We should probably wait for them to do something, but they were harassing a couple of college girls earlier. They didn't do anything, but the girls did go into the bar…and they've been there for a while. I'm afraid they're waiting for them to come out, less than sober, before doing something insidious." Daredevil quiets a moment before he offers, "Family issues, huh? It might not be of much comfort now, but…don't take them for granted. That's all I'll say on that."
However, "What brought you to New York? I thought you sort were housed in Metropolis?"
It's hard to take people for granted who don't really feel like family. Superboy is pretty sure that Supergirl would rather he not exist. He makes a non-committal grunt at Daredevil's statement, focusing on the rest of what he's said.
"No problem with the girls. If worse comes to worst, I can get them out of there in no time." Besides, he's Superboy. The college girls love him. Or so he always tells himself.
"I'm from Metro," he agrees, "but I don't know if I belong there, so, you know, kind of checking my options, for the moment."
"That would be appreciated," Daredevil offers…he doesn't know Superboy's reputation yet and the other Supers seem to be fairly conservative. As far as 'checking out options', he offers, "New York has something for everyone, I must say. It's a pretty incredible place. Expensive, but if you want, you can probably find a place here." If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
The small gang continue to loiter, but one slips out of the door and gives an imperceptible nod to the few gathered before joining them. Seems the girls are on their way out.
Superboy has his eyes on the gang. "We'll see. I'm just… yeah, weighing my options," he says. But when the one comes out the door, he puts two and two together and rises into the air. "I'll be over there," he says, moving to hover over the gang members gathered outside the bar. A good position for a surprise.
"No cars there…" Daredevil murmurs, but there's a smirk. Flying is one thing he can't do and he knows the advantage of surprise from above. It usually works every time. Most punks don't think about looking 'up'.
It seems that the girls were meeting friends for some weeknight drinking because four of them sort of stagger out…not exactly sober. They aren't fall-down drunk, but they've decided to hail a cab rather than walk back. They're also not aware of the gang moving to circle them.
A hand rests on a streetlight. The bulb explodes over the heads of the gang, sending a shower of sparks down on him. Superboy has put on his sunglasses once more, and they gleam red — they provide his heat vision, and while he's not firing beams of the stuff he's got them turned on to provide a red glow that the kids can see above them. He's crouched on the lamppost above them.
"Leave the girls alone," the teen of steel growls, trying to mimic Batman. Somebody he's never really met. But he's got the idea, he thinks.
The guys give a start at the exploding bulb and the girls give a shriek. Only then do they notice the guys surrounding them and one of them starts digging in her purse for something. Daredevil actually sits back and watches a bit…rather amused at the theatricality. His style tends to leave more bruises.
One of the guys hisses, "Dude! It's Batman!" While another hisses back, "Batman doesn't come into Manhattan!" It's established that it's not Batman. However, it's someone looking threatening. One pulls out a knife, "Bug off, man…" but at this point one of the girls pulls out a little cannister.
"Leave us alone! I have Pepper Spray!"
Now Superboy triggers the heat vision lenses, sending a blast of heat to turn the tip of the knife to slag. "I'm. Not. Batman," utters the beast with the red eyes in the sky. "Now. Run." Another burst of red light blasts a small hole in the sidewalk at the feet of one of the thugs though Superboy is careful not to actually hurt anybody. Particularly the girls.
The thugs give a few shouts as their knives are reduced to slag and heat vision bolts are shot at them. A few glances are traded before they run off. The girls give another scream and one of them holds her arm out and sprays the Pepper spray in Superboy's direction before they run across the street and jump into a cab there.
Superboy shakes his head at the ineffective spray. It's somewhat distant from him to actually do anything. "Hey, I was trying to help," he says, not loudly enough for any of the fleeing youths to hear. But he drops to the ground after a moment, crosses the street to find Daredevil once more. "You should get a pair of these," he observes, tapping the rims of his glasses. "They'd go great with the costume."
Daredevil covers his mouth at the Pepper spray so he doesn't get a whiff of it…as it is, he's going to be sneezing for the rest of the night. Not useful for sneaking around. After a sneeze or two, he smirks as Superboy approaches and indicates his glasses, "I'm pretty good with what I have, thanks. Besides, I think it might contradict the look I have. Thanks though…and that wasn't too bad. I'm sure you're used to fighting alien invasions or rogue missiles…"
The teenager shrugs. "I fight what needs to be fought," he says. "But that'll put the fear of god in those guys." Pause. "Or fear of demon, anyway. That was the effect I was going for. But, you know, glad I could help."
"Well, we have plenty fights here…If you decide to stay, I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding them." Surely he's heard about a few of them. Daredevil has helped when he could, but he's only one man. "I appreciate it. Easier than me having to knock a few heads together though." Really, he didn't have to do much of anything. Makes for an easier night of it, at least.
Superboy provides half a grin — completely unaware that Daredevil might be unable to see it. "Well, I actually was looking for the X-Men's place when I wound up here," he says. "Don't suppose you know the way to Westchester?"