Classic Misunderstanding

December 01, 2017:

Owen is patrolling the rooftops (i.e. drinking heavily on exactly one rooftop) looking for the demon bear when Impulse happens along and mistakes him for starting trouble. Rather than explain himself, Owen is a jerk about it. No one is surprised by this.

Hell's Kitchen

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Flash

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

How is this patrol thing supposed to work? Late at night in a part of western midtown Manhattan often called Hell's Kitchen one of the many rooftops has a lone occupant.

Standing in a 'costume' of sorts is the figure of one Captain Boomerang, well more accurately the man formerly known as Captain Boomerang. But the outfit remains pretty much the same as from his villain days. A leather jacket with boomerangs up the front in slots, a blue scarf with white boomerangs and large shin guards also lined with boomerangs. In addition he is sporting some rather fancy eyewear in the form of some specialized tactical goggles.

Arrayed around him the roof is actually quite cluttered with stuff. There are large black duffle bags, filled with what looks like more gear, weapons and books? There are also a disturbing number of empty beer cans, more than a few of which are full of smoked cigarettes. There is a pizza box as well and assorted candy bar wrappers. Who knew that patrol work made people so thirsty or hungry or want a smoke so badly? It's been like 2 hours and yet it looks like a frat party occurred.

Owen Mercer stands on the edge of the roof, sweeping the street below with his specs. He is currently hunting wabbit.. er, demon bears. He has not yet noticed though that across the street from his perch is one of the larger banks in the area. A bank that just so happens to be having a special delivery from a series of armored cars in the middle of the night.

As he scans the streets visually for 'cold' spots, he continues to chain smoke grumbling to himself about stupid bears and evil pigeons. How did he convince himself this was a good idea? Why do heroes even do this? How is even going to find this bear? So many questions. So many beers. That reminds him, he hops down, flips off the goggles and grabs another can of beer. It sprays as it opens with a *pfft* *click* and Owen takes a hearty gulp.

*

It's amazing how interesting big cities can continue to be. You go racing around Manchester, Alabama any given day or night and it all pretty much stays the same. Out here in New York? It's hardly ever boring.

If Bart Allen knew about a demon bear roaming around somewhere, he'd hands-down be trying to find it. Really, that seems like the obvious thing to do, for him. Sadly, it wouldn't even mainly be for the sake of heroism so much as 'I really want to see a demon bear.' As it is, half the time he's in town, he's not so much on patrol as he is sightseeing. A few months back he would have been playing that monster collection game on his phone that had been a fad then, but he'd long since run out of space. He hadn't even figured that would be possible, but obviously the game programmers hadn't taken into account the possibility of a speedster playing that could run to any corner of the globe to collect.

Tonight, he's on duty. The Titans never really seemed to set any schedules for such things, but for Impulse, he figures it's something to pass the time with. If he's going to be out and about, he may as well keep his eyes peeled for anything suspect, right? With his natural speed he's hardly noticed for his passing as everyone else may as well be standing still. There might be the briefest breeze, the slightest flash of a red and white blur, but the young Speedster moves too fast for most to track, which is fine by him. Won't do to broadcast your presence to any would-be perps!

There's an odd looking gargoyle up on the roof ledge a distance off, which quickly becomes but a few blocks in split seconds, and by then it becomes more clear that the figure is definitely no gargoyle. A thoughtful frown touching his face, Impulse goes around the back of the block. One would think he would have learned from the last time he went tackling strange but suspicious looking people, not to pull such off again. Maybe he has.

And then again, this is Impulse.

*

Did he just see something? Was the a breeze? The red also isn't his super favorite right about now considering the eye color of his hated nemesis demon crows. Owen scans the roof around him and steps back up on the ledge to get a good look at the streets below. It's not that he notices the armored cars and activity outside the bank. Flipping his goggles back on, he starts looking at guards a little closer, curiosity peaked now.

Lighting up a cigarette, to go with his latest light beer Owen is a little distracted by the scene below him. It's a very suspicious time of night for this type of activity, and he hasn't seen hide nor hair of any demon animals.

"What are you up to gentlemen?" is said outloud, quietly.

*

Know what else is suspicious at this time of night? Someone camped out on a rooftop adjacent to a bank with a cache of weapons among other things. See, Impulse is trying to get a good picture of the situation. You know, before he accidentally tackles someone into a portal leading to Avalon. …true story.

"That's exactly what I was going to ask you," comes another voice. It's not a difficult thing to figure out who it comes from, considering the culprit is crouched there by one of the bags Owen has strewn about his corner of the rooftop, poking at the things inside of it. The Speedster's a lanky thing in a white body suit slashed with red through the middle, its jagged edges resembling a bolt of lightning. Red boots, fingerless gloves and a mask that covers everything but the lower part of his face and his wild, bushy auburn hair. Robin's had his hand in upgrading Impulse's suit just a touch, although the most visible difference would be the singular yellow-tinted lens than the two.

*

Wha? Owen spins with a speed far greater than most men, wiping the goggles off in the process. The beer can clatters down to the street below spilling it's contents in a foamy mess.

Once he sees that it's a costumed hero facing him, his demeanor actually seems to calm down some. He puts his cigarette in his mouth and gives the young hero an up and down look before gruffly informing him. "Get your grubby little hands out of my stuff and F*&( OFF!"

As if to punctuate how serious he is about this, Owen takes a step down off the ledge and moves towards Bart, slowly now. While his left hand is taking the cigarette from his lips to knock off some ash, his right hand is hovering over a boomerang on his chest. He knows which is which now by rote, but still feels the need to mentally remind himself which is which. It's good to know what you are throwing before it's in the air.

*

Brows lift behind those yellow goggles as he turns his amber eyes towards the man. He doesn't seem the least bit intimidated or even concerned as the other approaches.

"Yeah, that didn't really answer my question," he helpfully points out, as though thinking that perhaps the guy might have forgotten to do so. Even so, Impulse watches the guy carefully, where the one hand starts to reach hardly going unnoticed, although the potential of getting a boomerang thrown at him looks to be eliciting more curiosity and even amusement than anything else.

"Dropped your beer," he decides to note. "That's littering."

*

"Bite me mini Flash" Owen is not in the mood for questions from teenage heroes.

Having walked himself into place over the last few seconds, Owen makes his move. With a burst of speed, meant to surprise and throw off the hero, he kicks a full can of beer just slightly left of the teen hero. Then making his best estimate of speed based on having fought the Flash before he throws a boomerang about where he would expect the dodge and counterattack to come.

"Again. F&$^ off, before you get hurt dipshit."

He may not be in the mood for questions but he would genuinely like the chance to punch something. He of course would prefer that to be something evil that is hell bent on stalking him and eating his soul, but in a pinch, a mouthy teenage hero will do fine.

*

That response has Impulse gaping like a fish. "Mini Flash? Really?"

That sudden movement does actually surprise him a bit, his eyes tracking the can that's suddenly launched to the side. He moves in accordance- it's not really a difficult dodge, but he hasn't forgotten that the guy was about to arm himself with a boomerang either. There's an almost-grin on his face as he twists about to avoid the thing coming at him, and he spins about to try catching the end of it as it passes him by.

"Wow, you really do throw 'em! I mean, well obviously it would've been weird if you were just wearing them for no reason but eh, I guess everyone's got a hobby? Do they really come back? Are you from the Land Down Under? -oh right, my turn!"

Owen's offensive is as good an invitation as any to retaliate, right? Impulse had just wanted to make sure. One moment he's standing there and in the next, he blurs out of sight- or at least, that's how it usually works. The ground he covers in milliseconds practically equals nothing for how quickly he races around the nearest edge so he can come up around Owen to try tackling him from behind. See, he's thinking this through! Tackling a guy off of a building would be bad! And this guy's just been yelling and throwing stuff at him. Hardly warrants a several story plummet.

*

Catching boomerangs is all well and good, but Owen was careful enough to not just select a normal boomerang. It's not his first rodeo. There is a very strong electric charge on the boomerang. Bart might be able to drop it in time, but it's going to make his approach sloppier.

Owen is a speedster, just in very small increments. He regulates his breath as Bart covers the ground so quickly. He is certainly outclassed in straight speed, but not defenseless. Engaging his speed to be able to counter, he rolls forward, twists and redirects the tackle into a judo toss.

"Back off numb nuts. I've taken on much worse than a little flash puppy. And I don't want to actually hurt you."

*

That little trick certainly does manage to distract him. Impulse doesn't so much drop the thing as let it phase through with a quick vibration of his hand, but the charge from the boomerang still gives a brief buzz.

His speed hitches just a touch, although it's still too small an increment to really be noticed even by the Speedster himself as he launches- and then abruptly gets caught and hurled downwards.

"-?!" The surprise is quite evident on his face, and even after being flung onto the roof, it still hangs about the pained look that follows. Okay. That. Wasn't expected. He rolls onto his stomach to push back onto his feet with a wince, but he's collided with worse, and now he seems to be taking the man a bit more seriously. "The name's Impulse. And if you didn't want to 'actually hurt' me, you could've just answered the question," he says. Whether he believes that or not has yet to be decided.

*

Facing the younger hero Owen just scowls. He is mid taunt of "I already answered your question, bite m-" with accompanying rude hand gestures when he hears a noise. It's nothing ostensibly horrifying but it still manages to send a shiver down Owen's spine. It's a crow. A single KAAW from a roof nearby.

The appearance of the bird changes Owen's demeanor from annoyed to down right furious. He looks at Impulse with a whole new fire in his eyes. "Run. Get the hell out of here you stupid little hall monitor." It's the best he can do for taunting with the bird distracting him.

He takes his eyes off Impulse long enough to scan for other birds. Yes, it's a risk, but if there is one crow maybe it's just a spy, if there are more it's likely it's going to mean much more trouble.

*

"-No you didn't! You just keep calling me lame names!" Owen might not have finished getting his taunt off but Impulse doesn't hesitate to object on that point. He does however look confused when the guy breaks off and turns his attention towards a crow instead. Buh?

The sudden intensity of the look thrown back towards him then is startling. "Wh…" This guy got some kind of bird-phobia? "You know that was just a movie, right? At least, I heard it was. Never actually saw it myself, but I hear it's a classic. -unless they're undead crows. Those things were pretty nasty." And from a video game completely unrelated to a Hitchcock film but that's Bart's mind for you.

He's looking around too, now. Crows, he's not really worried about. Giant pigeons…well no, not worried about those either but that for some reason seems a more likely threat. There had only been one of those at the East River incident though.

*

"They're demons. Emissaries of much worse.." That's about it for explanations folks.

Owen selects a different boomerang this time, throwing a razor boomerang with impressive supernatural speed that slices through the crow just as it starts to take off. The bird falls into two pieces but there is no blood. Instead if anyone cares to look, it looks to be made up of maggots.

Of course Owen doesn't give time for Impulse to actually process much of this or take a look. He advances on the younger man and has his hands up as if to push him away. "You need to leave. Now." He is getting progressively more agitated and angry with each passing second, still scanning for more birds in the area.

*

For a moment Impulse is actually stunned that he's gotten an explanation at all. "Whoa, seriously?" he blinks, turning- and then whipping around to watch as Owen sends another boomerange flying, this time at the crow. It's not that he's actually seen many birds get bisected but there's just something weird about what happens to it. Bart's not quite sure he's that curious to get a closer look.

Turning back towards Owen, he takes a step back from him. "Is the city under attack or something? Is that what you were looking for? I mean, you could've just said so," he insists, although his own eyes flick from one side of the building's edge to the other for more strange birds.

*

Rolling his eyes as Impulse of course has follow up questions, Owen continus his menacing approach. Why did he even bother trying to explain.

"No more questions. Leave. This is not a city thing.." He thinks. As far as he knows it's him and a few others being targeted. And people who are close to him. Thankfully that's a short list, but if the birds 'make' Impulse then it continues to grow.

Of course he could be patient and explain this like an adult, but it's Owen so he grabs for Impulse's uniform to hoist him up. It's not a super fast grab as he's distracted at the moment. "Leave. You make me say it one more time, and I take off the kid gloves and start blowin' shit up. You got it?"

*

Hey! He figures it's only fair to ask! It's more than obvious that Impulse really wants to ask more questions, but he only stops because Owen says as much. That it isn't a city thing… well, he's not sure how to take that.

The Speedster doesn't make so much of a move as he's pulled over, but he frowns, taking in the man's words in warning. He doesn't quite glare at Owen, and he still doesn't really understand, but he can tell that whatever's going on with these crows really bothers the guy.

"You have some issues," he mutters, which isn't really a response of compliance, but it's all Owen can expect to get. He might still be holding on to Impulse, but it's only for a second more before the teenager's form blurs and he may as well have never been dangling there.

*

Bwuh? Owen realized he didn't really have much of a plan after picking the kid up, but him disappearing still causes much confusion for a few moments. Remembering his superhero costume encounter etiquette he responds to the last quip.

"Issues? Oh mini flash, I got more issues that you can imagine." Of course he assumes he is talking to himself at this point. He has no intention of actually opening up to Impulse or anyone else.

But with Impulse gone, if even for a moment, Owen agilely leaps up onto the small brick outcropping that houses the stairwell. He is searching for more birds first, and signs of speedster too. Hopefully he finds neither. It's hard to tell which would be worse though.

*

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