Mom and Pop Corner Shop

February 16, 2016:

A Purifier stakeout has Brin and Ryans position pinpointed … and a Feral Werewolf

Just Outside New York

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Empathetic backlash between empaths … is an interesting thing. When Ryan agreed to help Brin try and get a handle on her power, on her control … a control that had been stretched over the last months, it had gone horribly wrong.

The pair ran, Ryan using his contacts and safehouse network to keep them as hidden as he can. Fearful that The Purifiers were really and truly after her - a fear fed by her experiences.

An alert goes out, a small cell of Purifiers have amassed in a remote location just outside of New York. A small shop is taking fire from the group, laser fire, and civilians are trapped inside. Local police aren't able to engage… this group is too well armed.

News and social media feeds are giving glimpses of a glowing green and gold arrows being fired from within the shop, at the Purifiers.


Nick had been searching. Everywhere. Now he's got a good lock on Brin's location (nevermind he hadn't found it, the purifiers had) he's going to be, er, using business assets for something a bit personal. Not that his people mind. He asked for volunteers. He got them.

It's two ambulances, loaded for bear with sonic weaponry. Nick will be the only one on the ground but having a couple of armored hover vehicles laying down the beat (as it were) is going to make things easier. That's all the risk he's willing to put his people to.

And they're coming in hot. At least he can skip the FAA flight plan with an actual police emergency on the board.


Agent May had been searching high and low for Brinley as well, though not with her eyes — with SHIELD technical equipment. Her reason for using the resources: asset has become a flight risk and must be located. Luckily, under the purview of WAND, she can do that.

A ping finally comes in, and May promptly takes action. She gears up for battle then uses her pendulum to get as close to the shop under siege as possible. Considering the reports of trapped civilians, she mobilized SHIELD's response teams to help contain the situation. They'll be several minutes behind her.

Running full tilt toward the epicenter of this most recent Purifier attack with something resembling a shotgun in hand, she glances up at the … ambulances? Seriously? Are they crazy?


"Shit, how did they find us?" Ryan yells at Brin, "When I suggested we meet up with your friends on our terms, this is exactly what I DIDN'T have in mind. I suppose this will get their attention too though" This statement causes him to laugh a little. Midst the chaos there can still be humor or perhaps it is the fact he is a little more than a little unhinged at the moment.

He breaks for a beat while seeking cover behind some over-turned shelves. "We need a plan here." Obviously.


"Maybe they aren't here for us." Brin winces as laser fire hits the wall above her head. It's a vain hope - but who's to say they were targetting the pair - the Purifiers could have just been targetting who they thought they were mutants.

There's two men and three women, very very scared, sheltering in the shop, behind Brin who keeps popping up every now and then to take pot shots.

"Plan? Staying alive would be good." Ryan can sense it, the fear that emanates from her … it's no wonder the civilians are terrified.

The Purifiers are distracted the ambulances coming in hot, missing Mays appearance. She's got a good bead on one of them….

Nicks teams come under fire from two of the Purifiers, the remaining three keeping up their barrage on the store.


Melinda May doesn't hesitate. The moment she has a bead on one Purifier, she shoots at him with the shotgun-like weapon. It's ICER tech, but designed for a generally more heavily armored opponent. Even so, she's again aiming for headshots to make sure they go down and stay down.

To anyone who isn't familiar with SHIELD non-lethal weaponry, this probably looks particularly brutal.


Like a helicopter in some kind of Vietman War movie, the ambulances pull into a hover and door gunners start sending sound downrange. They're armored. The ambulance is armored and while the sonic guns are nonlethal, they will very much make you wish they weren't if they hit you. Nick clips onto a rope and slides down it, shield and sonic pistol in hand. He's going to get a bit personal with this, as the first Purifier to rush him finds out, backhanded hard enough to probably break something important. Certainly, he doesn't get back up.


Yup, Ryan figured her compatriots would show up. Who exactly and when was a bit of a question but yeah they are there, which is to be expected. He spots the werewolf go all primal on the Purifier closest to him. Primal….an idea? A smart idea? No, not in a long shot. But he and Brin are still on the lamb though slightly delayed by this most recent encounter. These guys need to be handled with quickly and if the combat could also lead to a bit of distraction then what could be better.

Recalling how Nick re-acted to his empathy wave at the diner Ryan cringes a little. "Sorry buddy, but this is for Brin after all." He sends a targeted wave towards the wolf, very similar to that of the diner. Hopefully it will yield in the same kind of ass-kickage result. Only, towards the Purifiers this time, that would be preferable anyways.

Ryan spots May going all Rambo with a shotty. He doesn't want to be on the receiving end of that.

He pulls Brin down to avoid another shot. "I think we might have an exit. Also it should keep the people here safe (ish) as well."


One Purifier down thanks to May. Dropped, unconscious, not dead. Two once Nick deals with the rush - going down in a sickening crunch of bone. Although Nick finds himself rushed by the other …

That leaves three Purifiers aiming for the store, ripping up shelves as they aim for anyone in side, one turning to face May and preparing to open fire on the woman.

Seeing Nick and May, Brin's bow dissipates and a glowing green and gold shield covers the civilians, as Ryan pulls her down. "An exit?"


Nick howls as the wave of empathy hits him and Ryan breaks him again. He's going to have nightmares for months at this rate. And he's going to be really upset if he ever figures out where it's coming from.

He can smell Brinley. Not surprising, really. She's stressed and scared and may not have bathed in a couple of days. He knows exactly where he is. Trouble is, there's a wall in his way.

This is a bad idea on the wall's part. Nick sprints at the thing and the next Purifier that gets in his way is picked up by the throat and hurled bodily into a car. Then Nick hits the wall in a contest of wood and drywall versus berserker werewolf.

The wall loses.

The shop abruptly has a brown, armored werewolf with a riot shield and a very feral look in his eyes. Inside it. And there she is. He growls. He's displeased.

Very displeased.


Melinda May aims for the next closest of the Purifiers, as yet unaware of Nick's having just become a giant, furry, ticking time bomb. Of course, she fires just as Nick goes completely feral. Oh crap. She does the only thing she can think of to salvage this situation: she drops the ICER to pull her smaller sidearm version and rushes at the werewolf's back. She she can get a bead on the back of his neck, she can maybe stop him before he rampages into innocent civilians.


Like Ryan thought, not a good idea. Also, like he said however, there is an exit. I mean, there is also a wolf in the way and a May following in after him. Could things be worse? Yes they can always be worse. Can Ryan think of a way they could be worse right now? Not particularly.

Mental Note:This new introspective Ryan needs to emerge more often should he live through the next 5 min.

"There!" He shouts at Brin, "……An…..Exit…." Feeling the terror building in her, he does his best to keep his friend as calm as possible. He also is prepared to send equally dis-arming emotions towards Nick should things get hairy…Pun intended.


"Nick!!!" Brin shakes her head to Ryan. She's sorry, but this is Nick, she can't leave him like this. As the feral werewolf stares at her looking displeased, she drops her head and takes step towards him. "Nick, I didn't mean this to happen." She's struggling to control her own fear, trying to keep calm. Feral Nick … is scary and then some.

The last of the Purifiers fall to May, leaving a wall that didn't know better than to stand up to Nick and five frightened civilians, who are looking at the displeased werewolf.


Feral does not mean bloodlusted. Necessarily. It can mean that, but at the moment Nick's now very animal mind is focused only on one thing: Recovering Brinley. Why he wants to do that he couldn't tell you at the moment even if he could talk.

The werewolf moves forward at a stalk as Brin takes a step forward. He's ignoring everything and everyone that isn't in his way. A snack stand gets in his way, for example. It gets shoved clear across the shop and into the beer cooler with a casual snap of his arm. At the moment his state of mind is such that he may very well throw Brin over his shoulder and call it a day if she doesn't come willingly. Ryan and May haven't entered into the equation in his mind.

May can line up a shot but making it will be a trick even for her since Nick is wearing former SRD body armor. It's also a good question what an ICER would do to him in this state. A very good question.

The werewolf stops about two feet from Brin and growls. Bad Brin. Running away is not allowed.


Melinda May takes a moment to take careful aim at Nick, but has placed herself so she can see Brin. She's very much aware that other than that wall and two Purifiers, the werewolf has caused zero damage, so she's willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Of course, if Brin somehow indicates to her to take the shot, she will.


Against his better judgement, that being the judgement of self-preversation, Ryan moves to meet pace with Brin. They have reached the end of the line as it were and if Brin is unwilling to continue on then there is not point in forcing the issue. He has had a whole day of bad ideas so what does one more really hurt.

There isn't a whole lot of productive conversation that can happen with a crazed wolf though. He is the only other person Ryan has actually met other than Brin, so there might be a benefit to have his input in what is surely about to be an unpleasant conversation at best. Ryan emits waves of calming emotions from him, to all around (even the citizens). It is obvious though, that Ryan himself, is not all together there. At least it will be in the next few moments.


The toppled stand, thrown cooler and Nicks growl gets another wince from the brunette. With a shake of her head to May, she faces the feral werewolf down and puts a hand on his arm "Calm Nick. I'm sorry. I …. wasn't thinking…" There's the headache again and Brin rubs her forehead with her other hand. "May… we… " she can't form the words. Ryan can add something here …

The civilians scamper out behind them, probably to the safety of the SHIELD team.

"Can we go home, please?" she knows she has some explaining to do …

And probably donating another paycheck to help fix the damages here …


Nick gruffs again. She's not running that's a start. Ryan gets a curious look and another growl. Not a 'gonna bite you' growl but a 'don't get in the way' growl. The touch has him calming and he twists to give both a push toward May. Yes they can go home. They'd better go home. And if they don't start moving they may learn what it's like to be herded by a werewolf.

In armor.


Melinda May takes a step back and lowers the ICER pistol, watching to make sure the werewolf doesn't suddenly lash out. When he shoves the two toward her, she holsters the pistol and reaches a hand toward Brin. The SHIELD response teams are just arriving, and they can deal with all of this. She gives Ryan an arch look. He's the unknown quantity here, so he must at least have something to do with why Brin behaved so unlike herself. "I think we all need to sit down and have a talk." Preferrably somewhere with REALLY sturdy walls in case Nick gets snarly again.


Ryan doesn't have anything to say. At least not at the moment to either May or Nick. Not that anything he said would help right now anyways. Home, well it is not his home but it is the next place to go to. He takes the fact that Nick didn't bite his face off as a good sign and moves with Brinley towards May to make their way back to X-Red. There is a lot to go over. A lot that he still needs to process about the past couple of days. What went wrong? How did it get so out of control?

He glances over at Brin. "It's going to be okay." She gets the feeling he is saying it as much to himself as he is to her.

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