#potw1

Step One: Go out and do things. Live your life like normal.

Note - this chronologically happened before the POTW finale, but we didn’t get around to finish it in time.

Irene was suddenly in a hurry. And she ​hated​ being in a hurry. That was when people made mistakes. But the gong had been sounded, and she supposed she could probably spend forever preparing the assault on this horrible termite plague, but there had to come a moment of action, at some point or another. All of the planning would be for naught if these things gnawed everything apart while they talked strategy. She was told they were meeting, that it was now or never, and maybe there was some breaking point, or maybe those in charge had simply decided that they could afford to sit on their hands no longer, but either way, she followed her orders. A million thoughts raced through her head as she trotted toward the access point where she and her team was meant to assemble--was Harper right about her not being stable enough for this? She had been able to sleep a bit more with the help of the potion from the scribes, but those things had still managed to get into her head. There was a lot about the plan of action that seemed untested, as well, making it difficult to tell how it would play out in battle. All-in-all, the number of unpredictable elements involved here were enough to keep her thoughts too preoccupied to properly watch where she was going. As a result, of ​course​ she ran head-on into what felt like a solid wall of flesh. Odd, since there were fewer and fewer people braving the outdoors lately, for good reason. She blinked up at the man, startled for a moment, then her face closed off, her eyes as sharp and cold as the steel secreted away in her jacket, and she stepped back in order to try maneuvering around him. "Sorry," she mumbled half-heartedly, already walking past without another thought.

Brian was still fighting termites, it was getting out of hand now, he had escaped the plague of them with Harper, and then returned home, dispatching several more as he made his way back home, but this was something else. He had no idea what drove these things, but whatever it was needed to be located and stopped. He had come back to Ashkent Creek being ruined by the insects that few could kill and even fewer could see. He had spent hours today hunting them, but it seemed and certainly felt as if no matter what he did, he barely dented their ranks. He wondered if each kill that he made actually made a difference, originally he had tried counting them, but had soon given up when he realized how futile an attempt that was. Instead he had focused on simply staying alive to fight another day. If there was one good thing to say about Ashkent Creek it was that this was the one place you could walk about heavily armed without people questioning why you were so heavily armed. Today he was dressed in a dark pair of black skinny jeans, a plain grey t-shirt and a denim jacket, concealed on him were enough weapons to make a police officer blush. He had stakes, knives, small hatchets and larger axes, an extendable mace hung from his belt and his sword was already in his hand, though it was sheathed. "Don't worry about it." he said with a shake of his head. Then he heard a scuttle and knowing from experience what it was he lunged forward and brought the blade from the sheath, slicing the termite in half. "Ignore that," he said with an awkward smile.

Irene was content to just keep going as the man seemed to pardon her--not that it mattered whether he excused he or not, because she had places to be. And possibly die. But whatever. But then, she heard that telltale noise, that skittering of insectile legs, and by the time she turned around, the stranger she'd bumped into had sliced the creature in two, with a goddamn ​sword​ in his hand. No big deal, she thought to herself. Anyone could chop these things up if they got good enough at feeling out where to strike. But wait, could he possibly see them? They needed more people who could truly see them. She was getting only the faintest outlines of movement from the dandelion root tea she and Harper had made together. She took another look at the man, and he was clearly decked out like he was prepared for the apocalypse. "You know that will do you no good, right?" she tilted her head a little, curiosity in her gaze as she studied him. "I mean, it will keep you alive, I suppose. But they will only keep coming. Until I get where I am going, and we solve this thing." He certainly had the tools, and an interest in taking these things out. Maybe he would take the bait, and prove himself useful to them. She and many of those working with her had mentioned that they could use all the help they could get--evidently some of the slayers in town had been afflicted by the energy drain the bugs' bites caused.

Brian shrugged at the girl gently. She had seemed to pick up on his movement faster than most would and the way she picked out the strange lumps in his clothing and recognized them as weapons seemed to indicate that there was something more to her than pretty girl with a bit of an accent. He wiped his sword down with a rag that he had taken carrying with him, he didn't want to ruin the blade with gunk from a spirit insect, so he wasn't taking any risks when it came to his baby. After all his sword was the only thing that he would call his baby. Looking at her he shrugged once more. "I know. I have noticed that no matter what I do, it seems to have no impact." he shrugged. "If you are going to be taking whatever it is that drives this thing down, then I want in." he said with a smirk. "Tell me where to go and I'll be there, as long as I'm in."

Irene stood silently, staring up at this man like she was evaluating him for a prize show. Except this had quite higher of stakes than a simple blue ribbon. This was going to be life or death, for more than just the people fighting. She didn't know this man, but there was little doubt of his potential use. Besides, Nigel and Penelope had no difficulty including that priest in the plans, and though he was but a human, he seemed to have a surprising variety of skills to bring to the table. Still, Irene wasn't the type to introduce a new element into a precarious situation that already had too many wild cards for her taste, at least not without knowing what it was she was bringing along. "A lot of people want in," she finally said, her tone cool and almost haughty. "What can you do for us? What are you, exactly?" She usually avoided asking this question of strangers--it had a high potential for ending in awkwardness, and she could manage that well enough on her own--but desperate times called for desperate measures. And with the right answers, and the right proof, she was willing to take a risk.

Looking at her told you one thing and one thing only. This was no time for messing about. Dropping any charm that was left ​Brian​ showed her the true Brian, the cold, brave, reckless and utterly ruthless man who hunted Vampires in their own territory, the night, and he was the man who hunted down beasts of pure magic who could incinerate him with a flick of his wrist. "I'm a Slayer, one of the best that you'll ever meet." The best part about his statement was that he wasn't even lying. He was a prodigy, the truth was that he was ridiculously good at what he did, he liked to think of himself as one of the best, and though he had carved a bloody trail of dead vampires and dead witches across America's east coast he was far from done. "None of the people who want in are going to be as good as me, believe me." he said shrugging, maybe a little cockily. "I'm one of the best."

Irene literally ​saw​ the man drop his facade of well-meaning charm--now it was clear she was staring down (or ​up​, he was pretty tall) a killing machine. He was a slayer, like she was, and if she'd even seen one more confident in his skill than she was, it was him. He was actually probably a little ​too​ confident, and that could go badly for him, but that was really his own business. On the other hand, they could probably use some thoughtless brutality amid the swarm. Still, she couldn't contain her laughter at the ridiculousness of his arrogance, and she burst into a brief fit of giggles, shaking her head to get it quickly back on straight. "Oh, you think you're tough shit, then?" She raised an eyebrow at him. He could have been lying about being a slayer, but if this overconfident young man wanted to fling himself face-first into a nest of spirit bugs that could drain him dry and gnaw his bones clean, she was beyond caring. Besides, most normal people didn't walk around with poorly-concealed arsenals on them in situations like this, so that said something. "Okay, big guy," she reached up and patted him almost condescendingly on the shoulder. "I suppose we can make arrangements to accommodate you. It might be nice to be formally introduced, first." She held out her hand, her eyes never breaking contact with his. "I am Irene, and you are?" She resisted the urge to check her watch. Time was of the essence, here. To her, it always was. She was ahead of schedule, but didn't have much time to be screwing around with silly little boys who liked to play with samurai swords.

Brian raised an eyebrow at her and her giggle. It was strange that she thought there was something funny about this situation, but the quizzical look that he gave her expressed his true feelings on the matter well enough. He didn't have to explain to her that he knew the weak spots of almost every variation of Vampire, he didn't explain to her that he knew if you soaked ropes in holy water and used them as a Lasso, catching a vampire around the neck with the rope and you could cut the head of the hell walker clean off. This wasn't the time for macho bravado, as much as he enjoyed it. "I don't think that I am tough shit." he said with a smirk and a shake of his head, his dreadlocks clicking together a couple of times. "I know that I am tough shit, the toughest shit that you'll have the pleasure of meeting." he said sighing gently. He watched her carefully, and when she held out her hand he flipped the pommel of his sword from one hand to the other, holding the sword in his left hand. "You're very kind." he said almost sarcastically. "I'm Brian, Brian Marshall." he said with a shrug, in certain circles the name Marshall meant something, now wasn't a bad time to start dropping it into conversation.

Irene knew it was probably inappropriate to be laughing at a time like this, but she was running empty on appropriate emotional responses these days, and he talked about himself like he was the messiah to all things slayer or something. It was a little absurd. "Well, now I suppose you are going to be proving that to me, hm? Words have little value, in these cases." She watched him toss the sword around like he was born holding it, and couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope that the man at least knew how to handle a weapon. She flashed a mock-sweet smile at his false compliment, letting it fade off quickly as she shook his hand. "Do not start lying to me now, Brian Marshall," she warned, letting her hand slip from his as she continued on her way, glancing over her shoulder at him. "I can still leave your ass behind."

Brian shrugged gently with a wide smile. He had had a wild day, and frankly this week was starting to exhaust him, he wanted to end it now so that he didn't have to deal with it later on, basically he did not want it biting him in the ass. "Well if you give me the chance to prove it to you then I promise that you won't regret it." he shrugged once more. "You're just going to have to trust me ​Irene​." he said with a smile, after she shook his hand he flipped his sword back to his right hand and slid it back into its sheath. "I promise you that I'm not lying to you. But you have to trust me." he said following her with a smile.

Irene lifted her brow slightly as she continued walking, jerking her head a bit toward their destination to hurry him on. "Yeah, well, you lied when you called me kind." Actually, she was a fairly sweet person, but she didn't like strangers knowing that, because it encouraged them to get close, which would likely end badly for both parties involved. Clearly, he was just being sarcastic, but part of her was looking for reasons not to trust him as she always did. "And you do not know what you ask of me. So bring your sword, and the mace and countless other weapons you are hiding very poorly, and come quickly. My team has no time for your ​words.​"

Kiran smiled as he walked down the street with his sister, she looked just the same as she always did, it was that sort of regularity in his life that he enjoyed, looking up at the sky he frowned gently. Ashkent Creek had always been a strange place, but things were definitely getting weirder more recently. The sky today was a literal blood red, almost like something out of biblical times. Turning to Asya he frowned, "This place just gets weirder and weirder every day that I am here." he sighed and shook his head. "You know they say New York is an awful place, but it is a thousand times more normal than this place." he pointed out with a gentle laugh.

Asya looked down at her feet as she walked, trying to walk on the line in the street. Walks with her brother were usually peaceful and relaxing. Whenever the pair were able to go off just by themselves, it was refreshing. With difference schools and barely anytime to themselves due to homework, they rarely got to spend time together anymore. Asya laughed at her brother's statement and finally looked up at Kiran, giving up on following the line on the street. "I know. This place is so weird, weirder than some of the people that live here." She joked. Growing up in Ashkent Creek was an experience and it always was weird. It seemed that with every year that passed however, the town got even weirder than it was before. Just when Asya thought it couldn't get any weirder, a curveball was always thrown her way. "You know, the sky is really creepy." She said, looking up at it. "I feel like the devil is watching us or something. I miss clear blue skies. Blue is soothing, red just makes you feel like you did something horrible." She said, shaking her head.

Kiran nodded and shook his head disparagingly. "I really don't like it either." he said with a sigh and a sad smile. "This sky can't be something good." he said as he heard a loud rustling in the bushes. "Asya tell me that was you." he said as he felt his heart leap up into his mouth. "Because if that isn't you I think we might be in a little bit of trouble." Kiran was a talented magician, and a brilliant actor (if he did say so himself), but there was only so much that he could fake, and right now his brain was doing the math, there was something in the bushes, potentially fatal, and the truck that they had driven from the farm on was five blocks away, that would take them a little too long to get to and Kiran wasn't about to risk his sister. Which of course meant using magic in the open, which wasn't exactly the best move ever.

Asya sighed, nodding in agreement. Kiran was right, no way was this red sky a good sign. "I know. Not knowing what it means freaks me out." She said, still staring up at the sky. At the sound of leaves rustling close by, she quickly drew her attention away from the sky and towards the trees around them. "No...that wasn't me." She slowly said, nerves clear in her speech. Her eyes scanned the area, but unfortunately she couldn't see anything. She took a step towards the bushes, her curiosity taking over rather than her common sense. "What could it be? Maybe it's another person." She said, trying to think on the bright side. But then suddenly her eyes went wide and she looked to her brother. "You don't think it could be a supernatural creature, could it?" she asked, quickly looking back to the bsuhes.

Kiran smiled at his sister sheepishly. It was probably nothing. Sure that they were going to be fine Kiran grabbed Asya's hand and pulled her along. "I"m not sure what that was," he said quietly. "But I don't want to risk whatever it is." he said with a sigh. "So lets just keep really quiet and get back to the truck." he said, he could already fell his heart thumping away in his chest. They were doing ok, they were moving at a good pace down the street without looking all that suspicious. But then he heard a little bark-roar thing and turned to see a hell hound running out of the bushes and looking directly at them with eyes that looked like they were on fire. ​Shit​

Asya stared at the bushes a bit longer, but let herself get dragged away by her brother. He was right, it could be dangerous. Human, supernatural being, all of them could easily kill the two of them. They fell into silence as they walked, but that didn't stop Asya from looking behind them and all around as they walked. She wanted to know what was there, even if whatever it was could kill her. While her head was turned to look behind them, the loud roar/bark started and she immediately grabbed her brother's arm. Soon red eyes bore into theirs and Asya's eyes widened. "Kiran..." She whispered, thinking that their whispering might not be heard by the hellhound. "We can't kill it and using magic might not be a wise choice considering our location." She added.

Kiran began whispering under his breath, trying to think of an appropriate spell that would work in this case. "Asya, now might be a good time to start running, and get one of your illusions ready to use huh." he said without taking his eyes off of the hell hound that was in front of them. Suddenly it came to him. "Thicken" he said quietly, barely loud enough for anyone except Asya and he to hear it. Flicking his hand forward he focused on the air around the Hell Hound and was greeted by a sharp but short drain of energy from his body, he was a talented Warlock, especially for his age, but the one thing that he would never get used to about magic was the energy drain from spells. "Run." he said to Asya, and he turned and sprinted away, looking back, pleased to see that as the Hell Hound leapt after them the air around it made it move in slow motion. Maybe they would survive this one after all. But he had thought too soon, as no sooner were they ten meters away than he saw eight more crimson eyes, meaning four more hell hounds to deal with. Where the hell was a slayer when you needed one?

Asya nodded and slowly started to back away, waiting for her brother. Leaving her brother behind was something she never did, and this wasn't going to be the first time. "Kiran, come on. I'm not leaving until you do too." She said softly. She went to go grab his arm, but stopped as his hand flicked his hand forward. He was using magic, out in the open. Usually she would scold him for this, but there really was no other option if they wanted to get out of there alive. Together they ran away at Kiran's command and watched as the hell hound moved in slow motion. With a smile, Asya looked over at him as they ran "Good job. That was gr-" She quickly stopped talking as she saw four more pairs of red eyes looking at them. Asya knew her brother couldn't do everything and she couldn't look for protection from him all the time, so she had to use her magic abilities even if she didn't want to. She quickly sped up, getting ahead of Kiran and turned towards the hell hounds as she stopped running. Muttering spells under her breath, she stuck both her hands out as she felt the magic drain from her body and twirled her hand. Butterflies of different colors appeared out of thin air and went in front of the dogs. Just like a normal dog would, the hell hounds got momentarily distracted by the butterflies and spun in circles as they circled above them. "Keep going. It won't last long." Asya quickly said and followed her brother as they started to run again, getting closer to the car they had abandoned.

Kiran smiled and sprinted away from the hell hounds as they were distracted by the clouds of butterflies swirling around in colors both bright and vibrant. "Wow Asya." he said smiling gently and stifling a laugh, which was weird considering that they were being chased by flesh eating hell hounds who wanted to chew them out and send them to whatever hell hole they came from, or at least that is what Kiran presumed, and he somehow doubted that these were the kind of hell hounds that licked your face and wagged their tails waiting for you to throw their frisbee. As they sprinted to the car a hell hound jumped in their way, where it had come from Kiran wasn't sure but it came out of nowhere. Kiran reacted instinctively, throwing a barrier spell in front of him and Asya to keep them safe, he reached into his pockets and threw Asya the keys. "Get in and start the engine." he said holding the barrier spell in place. "I'm going to stop them from getting in, but there is only so long that I can hold this barrier up, so as soon as you can get the engine going and drive." he said in a serious voice as he stepped backwards into the open flat bed of the truck, feeling his energy drain away.

Asya shrugged "Hey, it worked a little bit. Don't laugh!" She said, shoving him lightly as they ran. Just when Asya thought they were safe, they weren't. A hell hound appeared out of nowhere in front of them, and they both froze for a second. Catching the keys, she nodded and stared at her brother. "Don't drain yourself too much, okay?" She said as she got into the car and looked back to make sure that he was in the back before taking off. She kept checking her rearview mirrors, making sure her brother was okay and no hell hounds were getting dangerously close to the car.

Kiran smiled and laughed as he focused on keeping the barrier up. "It was more the irony of attacking hell hounds with butterflies." he said wincing gently as the rest of the hell hounds arrived and began slamming themselves against the barrier that he had erected, he sat down and crossed his legs, taking deep steady breaths to keep the barrier in place for as long as he possibly could, he didn't particularly feel like having his throat torn out by a pack of ravenous hell hounds. "I'll do my best." he said with a groan as more energy leaked out of his body to hold the barrier up, but he ignored the feeling as they drove off, the hell hounds giving chase.

Asya rolled her eyes "Oh shut up." She said with an eye roll. She personally thought the butterfly thing was a good idea, it at least distracted them for a little bit. Right now though, they weren't so distracted. Asya stepped on the gas pedal hard, speeding off and hoping the hell hounds would just give up. Her main concern weren't the hell hounds though, her main concern was her brother. If he completely drained himself because of using too much magic, he was out in the open on the back of the truck. If he passed out, she would completely freak out and not know what to do. This was all the more reason to make the car go as fast as it could without loosing control. Her eyes kept flicking to the back, keeping an eye on her brother, while she strategized where to go. Leading the hell hounds towards other people wasn't exactly a smart idea, she had to stay as far away from other people as she possibly could,

Peter woke up to a weird email. Something about the end of the with them asking you not to reply back. His eyes rolled so hard he actually hurt his head. The return to Ashkent Creek had at first brought back a lot of smiles and laughs. But so soon he was annoyed with the area. Whatever was happening needed to be stopped soon. If it was a weird ritual by some witches, then it needed to just . . . to just stop. Whoever was causing the weird shit around town was putting a pain in his neck and making his mood very-he jumped back and looked over his hands. Peter's nails had . . . well they were claws. That didn't happen . . . ever. Why were his-Peter bit on his bottom lip and turned his hands into fist, forcing his claws to shorten and revert to nails. Whatever was going on in Ashkent wouldn't be effecting him. 'Not today' he told himself. Flying down to the first floor Peter was greeted with a breakfast buffet. Pancakes, waffles, eggs and bacon and muffins all lay out in front of him. It was like Christmas had come. "Bless you mom," he said while checking a note on the fridge. The Turners had gone out to a friends house to watch Game of Thrones. Apparently his parents did have a life other than music and they used it binge-watching an HBO show. Everything was reduced to crumbs within fifteen minutes. He lay down in his chair, feeling a bit embarrassed about having gone through so much in so little time. His mom would be pleased to hear about it though. The lycan rose to go get cleaned up, and only after having gotten a quick shower and polished his pearly whites did he realize . . . "I'm starving." Maybe he should have thought about it, but the grumble in his stomach was enough to make him decide on a trip to Al's Diner. The trip there seemed to take longer than expected, probably because he was so hungry. Stepping into the diner, Peter found the restaurant totally filled. A sense of dread overcame him that he wouldn't be able to find a place anywhere. Al quickly -like always somehow- rounded the corner and brought a hand over his shoulder. As he was moved forward they shared a quick hello. Peter hadn't seen it but an unoccupied rolling stool facing the kitchen was now in his sight. Being placed down, Peter made a comment to the guy sitting next to him. "I don't think I've ever seen it this busy. I don't understand how they always make enough room."

Kiran was finding the recent week a little tough, apart from the fact that Asya and he had been attacked by a pack of hell hounds earlier that week, the sky was still red and this town was on an express train to the weirdest town in the world award, which Kiran was sure it had already won three times in a row, but there was something about the air that made him think that it was only going to get worse. Sighing he had dragged himself to classes that day, trying not to think about the meeting he was having with Roger Hawthorne later. He was half way to the library to borrow a book for his latest assignment when he realised that he had yet to eat anything that day. He had woken up late, exhausted from the Buffy marathon that he had subjected his mother to the night before and had slept through his alarm. He had barely had time to jump in his beat up car and speed to class, and he had still been a couple of minutes late, even though luckily his teacher had been too. But now classes were over and he needed to eat, Al's Diner was his port of call and he was alone so he was seated at the bar facing into the kitchen, waiting for his food he noticed a slender boy sit down next to him. Pleasantly surprised that he struck up conversation he laughed and smiled. "I know what you mean, they must be breaking some health and safety code." he said laughing as he tied his hair up into a bun to keep it out of his face whilst he ate. Looking at the boy he stopped for a second and smiled, realizing who this guy was. "Hey you're Peter Turner aren't you! I had piano lessons with your mom until I was in my Senior year!" he exclaimed, laughing gently. "Last I heard you were doing a world tour, I thought you'd be in Tokyo or Taipei!" he said with a laugh.

Peter chuckled and nodded. "Well this place will probably never shut down. The day it does . . . well that's just too hard too think about." Peter grinned at the other man and took on a confused and almost worried look when the man got this look of surprise. "Yeah, I am." Did he know this guy?" His mouth parted more and he was nodding quickly. 'Of course it's through mom.' "Well I hope they didn't go to waste. Do you practice the piano still? I just got off it actually, ended it in Toronto. Tokyo was months ago. Nice place!" Peter turned away when the waitress came up. He waved at her when she too remembered who this boy was. She pointed her pen at him and gave him the look. Mostly everyone remembered his usual. Al probably had it written down somewhere. "Thank you Gen. I uh, didn't catch your name?"

Kiran smiled and laughed, finishing tying his hair up with a smile. "If this place ever shuts down I don't know where I'm going to go to get my food, it is going to be a hard choice." he affirmed. "This place makes ​the very best​ burgers I have ever had in Ashkent Creek." he said with a sigh. "I mean I do sometimes, I used to practice it more when I was in drama school, but recently I haven't had as much time, I only play it a couple of times a week." he smiled and shrugged gently. Listening to Peter's fantastic tales about the places that he had been. "I've always wanted to go to East Asia, it sounds so awesome." he said with a shrug. "I am kinda jealous, but then again I'm not the great Peter Turner." he said jokingly. "I'm Kiran." he said with a smile. "Kiran Malik, Maple Robinson's son." he said with a gentle shrug. "You were a few years older than me in high school."

Peter took a quick glance at Kiran putting up his hair and nodded. "Well maybe it's like your hair. As long as you let it grow, Al's Diner will continue to stay open. What's your favorite here? I assume most of the folks that come in here have been coming here their whole life." Peter nodded with wide eyes. "No where in the world can compare, and I can vouch for that! I swear it's gotta be magic. Maybe Al sacrificed his soul to the dark lord, but I think it's worth it." The werewolf smiled as Gen returned with his coke. He thanked her again then turned back to the man. "Drama School? What did you major in? I assume if my mom taught you that you'll be at least amazing." A bright smile returned to his face. "Honestly some of the places in the same Continent blurred together. But Japan was probably one of the best places." He threw his hand at Kiran. "You're great in your own way I'm sure. Now, Kiran Malik, it's nice to officially meet you. We probably saw each other once or twice in high school."

Kiran chuckled and smiled. "Well, now that I know that it is my hair that is keeping this place going, I'm never going to ever cut it again, I'll be eating in here as an old man and my hair will be down to the floor, all silvery and majestic, but this place will still be open." he said with a smirk, laughing gently along with Peter. "My favorite has got to be the world famous, or infamous Fatburger, that is all I will ever have when I come in here." he said with a smile. "Whatever Al did was definitely worth it, I'd love for him to do it again if it would keep this place going." he said with a wide smile. Al's diner was part of his childhood, and now his everyday life, he hoped it never closed down. "I was at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, I did a bit of work in New York, but my roles were never very big and my mom needed me to move back so here I am, I transferred back last semester." he said with a shrug. "Ah well then you know how good a teacher she was." he said with a smile. "I am sure they did, going to that many places in under a year must have been exhausting!" he said gently smiling. "A real pleasure." he affirmed shaking his hand firmly and smiling gently.

Peter turned his hands over and raised them up, palms showing. "Well if that's what it takes, I think we'd all have to ask you to do that. Who knows you could become the protector of Al's Diner, always keeping your mane flowing and gorgeous. The whole down will see to it that you stay safe from harms way, like fires, or scissors." Mention of the Fatburger had Peter rolling his head back and moaning. "Yes! Yas! The Fatburger is . . . oh my God." Peter could recall each memory of him attempting and succeeding at eating one of Al's special sandwiches. The Fatburger was his kryptonite. It destroyed him, had him immobile for hours afterward.  He turned his attention back to Kiran and wiped his head clean of any burgers. This guy went to New York for school too? Well damn! "I went to Julliard! We were in the same state again for a bit then." Peter leaned forward and took a sip of his coke. "So you did theater work then? Would I have seen you in any TV shows or Off-Broadway productions?" The wolf smirked. "My mom can teach just about anyone I think. It was a bit tiring, but I got the rest I needed. I had great assistants while on the road."

Kiran chuckled and shook his head at Peter, this guy was funny. Not at all like what he expected from a world famous classical concert pianist, he thought that he would be a quiet, brooding and somber individual, not this boisterous, loud and hysterical guy that he had just met. Either way Kiran was starting to like him, they'd been talking for all of five minutes and it already seemed natural. "It would be my absolute honor to do that for you, and for the village. ​No​ sacrifice is too great for this fine restaurant!" he exclaimed dramatically. "You could almost say that it was ​orgasmic​" he said with a laugh. The Fatburger was really a work of art. "No way." he said with a chuckle. "That is pretty cool, do you ever miss the city?" he asked with a smile. "Oh yeah, I mean, I wasn't in anything big, in fact I wasn't really in that much, but I did do some work as a magician over at Illusions of Grandeur." he said with a shrug. "Though I have now given that up." he said with a shrug. "If it is even possible, do you think you could choose a favorite place in the world tour?" he asked with a smile.

Peter rose his cup in a toast. "Heres to the eternal power and essence of Al's Diner." The boy didn't have any idea he'd get to meet such an easygoing guy. First his reunion with Marian, then meeting Ricky, now this fellow. It was turning out to be a good week so far, except for the whole claw thing. But soon enough he'd have food in front that would fill him up, and with any luck him and Kiran could continue talking. It was going nicely. "Keep the place alive, at any cost," he agreed in a mysterious tone. "Orgasmic would be a terrific word to define it, thank you Kiran. "Yeah, I miss New York a lot. Though it was too busy for me. I stayed cooped up in my room a lot. I only went to Central Park a few times, didn't even see a lot of the big sites. But yeah, I miss the feel of it, the way you got excited being around everything." Peter looked up as the waitress came out with two plates. "Illusions? THat's the magic shop right? I don't think I ever went there. Why don't you go back?" Peter shook his head. "I don't think I could choose a place. Though if you forced me too . . . I'd say England. It was wonderful. The people were so nice to me."

Kiran clinked his glass gently against Peter's and smiled with a happy chuckle. "He must be some sort of wizard." Kiran was pleasantly surprised by what had happened to him that day, it was actually one of the best things for him. He enjoyed it greatly, the truth was he liked Peter a lot. This was someone that he could definitely relate to and he was interested in getting to know him further. "That sounds like a fantastic motto to me." he said with a laugh and a smile. "I try, I've been told that I am a thesaurus when it comes to thinking of words." he said with a shrug. "I loved it, all of it was great, I'd love to go back, but at the same time this is my home, I grew up here." he said with a smile. "So it is sort of bittersweet to be back here. I do miss New York though." he said with a nod. He shrugged and smiled. "Thanks." he said to the waitress with a nod as he took his Fatburger off of her and placed it on the counter in front of him. "This stuff looks amazing." He shook his head. "No it is a theater." he said with a smile. "But I uh, I guess I made a decision which meant that I couldn't keep practicing magic there. Like being a magician." Wow. That was a close shave. He almost admitted to being a Warlock to a stranger. That would be unfortunate. "I'd love to go there. See Buckingham Palace, see the rest of the world. It would be fantastic." he said with a shrug.

Peter took his meal off the tray from Genevieve and thanked her once more. "Un, Gen, put his meal on my bill, okay?" Peter looked to the darker skinned lad and grinned. "A gift, and a treat to my new friend. Two former New Yorker's gotta look out for each other don't we?" The wolf bit his lip and looked down at his plate. "So you're like a stage magician? Like with the rabbit out of the hat and 'is this your card,' that kind of stuff?"

Kiran smiled at Peter and raised his eyebrow gently at Peter. "I think that you're being a little bit too kind." he said with a shake of his head. "You get this one and I will have to get us the next one." he said with a gentle smile. "Well I guess that Al's Diner makes food just like New York, huge and makes you feel like you're going to collapse after you've finished eating." he said with a chuckle and a smile. He took a bite of chip and sat back smiling. "Yeah, well I was something like that. Except it wasn't just rabbits and hats and this is your card, there was lots of other stuff too. It is a real shame that you missed out on my shows."

Peter shrugged and took another sip of his drink. "I don't. You're a nice guy, and it's not like I'm paying a fortune." He nodded. "That sounds fair. The next one will hopefully be back here at Al's good o'l place." He raised his cup again. "Cheers, to us getting each other . . . but not in that way." A soft laugh escaped his lips. Peter watched Kiran and shook his head. "That's weak, Kiran! You gotta devour that thing! Make it your hoe," he whispered. Peter squinted a bit at the ex-magician. "Really? Like what?"

Kiran raised an eyebrow in reply and laughed. "I barely know you and you're buying me lunch." he said with a smile. "Is this how you pick people up." he asked with a gentle wink and a smile. "But don't you worry, I'm definitely getting you back for this." he smiled clinking his cup against his new friends. "Oh come on Peter, I'm not ​that​ bad looking." he said with a smile. "Right. Well here we go." he said picking up his burger and taking a huge bite, filling his mouth completely with food. "Weafl mri specialristy..." he paused swallowing his food. "My specialty was levitating things."

Peter spoke "Well you knew my mom, and she knew you. I think that's more than enough reason. And you seem like a nice guy." Peter rolled his eyes and sighed. "Oh if I have piece of wood for every time someone asked me that I . . . well I'd have a few pieces of wood." The werewolf smirked. "No you aren't. You're really handsome. Got a great complexion." When Kiran took the Fatburger in his mouth, the musician laughed highly. "What!?" Waiting for him to clear his throat he nodded. "Can you levitate me?"

Kiran shrugged. "You have to say hi to your mum for me." he pointed out with a gentle smile. "And that is because I am a nice guy." he said with a light laugh. He shrugged and bit into his burger, feeling the savoury taste fill his mouth he closed his eyes and bathed in the blissful taste of the burger and smiled. "I thought that the term was a quarter, why did you use a piece of wood as an analogy?" he asked with a smile. "Well Peter." he said with a smile. "You flatter me." he said laughing. "You're not too bad looking yourself." he said with a link. He kept chewing and smiled. "I could levitate you, but then I'd have to tell you all my magician secrets and that just wouldn't be worth it." The secret was that he used ​real​ magic.

Peter took a few of his fries and twirled them in his hand. "Oh I will. Think she'll remember you?" Peter stole a fry from Kiran's plate, then put a french fry from his plate onto Kiran's. "I couldn't be that mean. To steal a mans food is to ask for jail time." He picked his bacon burger up with both hands after munching on the stolen fry. "Well I just didn't want to be cliche. Besides wasn't it more interesting for you hear about a piece of wood. Weren't you intrigued when I said wood instead of quarter?" He bit into the sandwich and gave a thumbs up to Kiran. "Rank roo my-" he swallowed and sighed. "Thank you my friend." Taking another look over Kiran, Peter wondered if he had actually stumbled upon a witch. His parents told him to always be cautious of other supernatural creatures, especially witches.

Kiran smiled and shrugged. Laughing gently as he spoke. "I hope so, but then again I guess she must teach so many people that she doesn't remember us all, but I like to think that I stand out." he shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "Keep your hands to yourself bozo." he teased. "I'm not above slapping you, even if we've just met. We're not good enough friends to be sharing." he said jokingly, not that he actually cared about Peter's fry thievery. "Oh I was very intrigued, what are you a vampire slayer with your obsession with wood?" he asked chuckling, this guy was not the type to be a slayer, at least he hoped not. "You're most welcome my friend." he said in return titling his head at Peter. It almost made him wonder what Peter was, he was too good to be true, there was no way that this guy was just human, no one could be that normal.

Peter said "Well I'll talk to her. Have you always had long hair? I can use that as a marker for you. What's your last name you said? Kiran, Malik?" Peter pretended to look offended. "Bozo? Why that's so rude. And even ruder to threaten to slap me! Besides, it wasn't sharing. It was an unplanned trade off. Your fry for mine. Personally I like my fries more. I think you got taken for a ride." Peter raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan? I don't hear many people bringing that show up." Peter looked down at his burger and took another bite. "So, you said your mothers here? What does she do?"

Virtue being the entirely wonderful person she was – happily offered to help (wo)man the civilian evacuation area. Of course, there was already an abundance of heroes all but throwing themselves to step up to the mark. One small step for a hero, one giant leap for their ego. But she wasn't playing that game. If anything she was planning to be extremely careful, the very epitome of "law abiding vigilante" no matter how contradictory the statement was. She had eyes on her. Powerful eyes. Big game heroes of Gotham that were just waiting to flex their self declared importance. That being said, Virtue knew. She knew that in order for The Movement to progress without even bigger guns breathing down their necks she had to play nice and smile pretty. So far it'd gone well. All that could've been considered bad was Virtue carrying a beloved pet out of a burning building, courtesy of a very rude villain. She assumed it was a dog, it was hard to tell. It was hairless and gross looking. "It's no sweat. Gettit, fire. A-hem. You can thank me by getting yourself away to safety!" The somewhat witty response - in her opinion - fell on deaf ears, the small family were already following the crowds of people scattering in the safest direction.

Green Arrow had been contacted by Oracle however many hours ago, he had quite honestly lost track of time, he had been so busy since that moment. It had all started when he had rescued that kid Cullen from the thug that was practically triple his height. Then he had covered the financial district for Oracle, with the help of the occasional cop, he hadn’t really had much to do and when Nightwing had asked for volunteers to help with civilian evacuations and Green Arrow signed up immediately, this was what he was sure would make the most difference for the people of Gotham, and the surrounding districts close to Blackgate Prison. He had begun with the East End before moving onto the Diamond District, he had moved everyone that Nightwing had requested him to move to safe houses around the city. Now he was moving back along the area of destruction, when he saw a costumed vigilante, one he was not familiar with make her way out of a burning building. This one was brave, and he watched her with extreme interest.

Virtue took a moment to compose herself, to think methodically and safely. She had to remember that she didn't have Kulap and Rosh covering her blind spots. This was a solo op, something she hadn't done in sometime. It wasn't as if she was dependant on them, it was just super handy having them there. The Movement were a co-dependant group of independents (she really was full of contradictions today), any of them could leave should they wish to. A rush of anger and fear battered Virtue's extra sense to her right and snapped her out of her internalised thoughts. "Well, balls." She counted three, no, four armed perps – two of which had civilians as shields – making their way down the street. They'd exited some kind of a merchandise store and judging by the duffel bags on their backs they were packing from a quick heist. Acting on instinct she summoned a wave of fear below her feet, sweeping her towards the raiders. Usually Virtue was the distraction whilst Termor took out their feet and Katharsis picked off the wings. Despite her own reminders, Virtue forgot that her usual team play was entirely useless. One of the gunmen spotted her obvious presence easily and fired in her direction, grazing her right thigh. The wave dropped away, the flaring pain in her leg knocking her concentration, and Virtue hit the ground with a staggered roll and a grimace. One hand gripping her thigh and the other touching the ground she found the aura of the trigger happy perp and clenched around the shimmering black on the edges of each person – the fear. His horrified screams, his darkest nightmares shuddering through him giving them cause, gave her enough time to duck behind cover. "God damn, that stings!"

Green Arrow had seen enough to know that he had to act and help her out straight away. Whoever she was she seemed to have some form of meta power, from the way she moved and acted around the perps, well she must have some kind of secret weapon otherwise he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t sprinting the other ways. Unless she was lacking common sense, but then again that was pretty much all of the vigilantes in Gotham and the rest of the world, they weren’t exactly a breed of people who were trying to preserve their lives. But he didn’t exactly have time to focus on that, for as soon as she took cover behind some form of debris from the destruction that was going on around her, the thugs started to advance, the two with the human shields in front of them, taking the lead. Perfect. Drawing two arrows from his quiver he aimed at the two in front and patiently waited, his bowstring drawn taught. Firing the arrows, he quickly pulled a grappling arrow from his quiver once more and ziplined down next to the girl. He watched eagerly as the two arrows arched before him and knocked the thugs back, giving the civilians time to run. Turning to the other vigilante he spoke quietly. “You look like you could use some back up.” he said with a smile. “Lets kick their asses.” he said with a chuckle.

Virtue was extremely grateful when Green Arrow dropped into her personal space like her own personal 'get out of jail free' card. Had she not been – you know – shot, she probably would have said that she was perfectly capable of finishing the task herself but because she'd been undeniably stupid, she had and was more than happy to accept his offer. The searing in her leg was dulled to a slow ache once she'd boosted herself with a beautiful concoction of rage and will; it was like an energy drink for an empath – a subtler version than pure rage, which of course is akin to a line or two of coke. Great feeling, awful side effects. "I thought you'd never ask." Virtue skirted around their cover and skated across the street on a wave to the nearest thug, cracking him on the chin with a quick upper cut and spun low to the floor to take out his legs.

Green Arrow watched her impressed as she moved forward. “Well I hate to leave a girl out alone in the cold.” he quipped right back at her with a grin. But she was already gone, it was pretty fantastic how quickly she was on the first thug that she could be, especially with the fact that she was wounded. These younger vigilantes were insane with their energy. Ollie pushed away a thought about how old he was getting before pulling an arrow from his bow, leaping up and rolling over the debris, and firing at the first thug he saw. The arrow spiraled right off of the string and collided with the shoulder of the goon. Non lethal shots were the aim of the game, although he didn’t mind maiming. As long as they were put out of action he was happy to do it, protecting the public being his main interests, following his own personal moral code closely following that desire. “To be honest I’m surprised you’re letting an old man like me help you out.”

Virtue allowed herself to smile quickly as she saw the second goon go down easily after Green Arrow's shot and also pleased that he was also in the business of not killing the villains of Gotham, no matter how much they deserved it. They were the city's protectors, there was no good in them being just as bad as those who try to destroy it. Holly tried her best to drill that into the minds of her team, no matter how some of them protested otherwise. A roundhouse to the stomach knocked out the final reemerging thug out for the count, but reminded Holly just how painful a bullet graze actually was. "Uh, ouch." She hopped towards a vertical surface to brace herself, now that danger was out of the way. "I'm all for helping the elderly, it's part of my community outreach program." Virtue ground the words out through gritted teeth and a pained smile that always reached her eyes.

Green Arrow smiled and chuckled slightly at Virtue’s joke. He was all for making jokes whilst working, he found that if he could keep himself light and optimistic then he found that his work was easier. But he would never break that one rule he had once broken, he had killed someone once and he refused to do it again. Because if they killed, how were they any better than the criminals that they claimed to fight. He wasn’t going to be in that position again. “Don’t worry.” he said with a shrug. “I have my wheelchair and slippers ready for after this.” he said with a headshake. “I could use your community outreach program later on maybe, I could do with a warm bowl of soup after this.” he said as he brought his bow crashing into the cheek of the next thug, breaking the flesh of his cheek and cracking the bones that made up his jaw.

Virtue nodded, a small chuckle exhaled in a huff. "Soup sounds real good right about now." After a nasty fight when The Movement was just in it's early stages, Holly had found out that should she get hurt, her hunger is almost insatiable until she's healed again. Ven tried to rationalise it, and it made sense, but the novelty of the effect was far more interesting than the science behind it. Reaching down Holly ripped off a sleeve from the unconscious gunmen and wrapped around her thigh, hoping that'd be enough to bide her at least a few hours – she didn't want to leave yet, not when there was still work to be done. Plus Kulap would never let her live it down if she hobbled off just because of a graze. "You're in luck, I know of a lovely soup kitchen on the edge of Coral." Oh, she knew it. It gave her a meal or three in her belly back in the rough days.

Green Arrow chuckled and nodded as he ducked a punch and brushed it aside, kicking the guy in the stomach, he finished him off with a elbow to the neck, a pretty brutal finishing move. “Tomato or chicken noodle soup?” he asked chuckling with a grin. “You doing ok over there?” he asked with a chuckle though he was completely aware that she had a bullet graze and those had to be incredibly painful. “You should really get that looked at as soon as possible.” he said with a smile as he took on the guy who had somehow managed to pull himself up, and with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder try and fight Green Arrow, a pretty foolish move in his opinion, but then again these guys probably didn’t have two brain cells to rub between the four of them. “Really?” he said feigning interest. “Do they serve technical criminals who happen to be vigilantes?” he asked smirking.

Virtue waved off the note of concern, she knew her limits and she wasn't anywhere near them. "I'm dandy, it's just a scrape." As if to prove her point she kicked the rising now-sleeveless brute; seriously why did these guys never stay down? "They've served people far more dangerous than us, I promise you that." Grabbing the finally unconscious thug by the scruff of his neck, Virtue chucked him towards the centre so that they could tie them up and leave them for the police to apprehend. They'd get all the glory, of course. 'Gotham P.D - bring heist gunmen to justice in midst of Blackgate breakout.' It made her sick. Not because she wanted the credit, just because she thought mass manipulation wasn't really the way forward. "But, of course, you wouldn't be seen dead in a soup kitchen would you?" Holly's eyebrow arched out the top of her mask as she sneered in the direction of the other vigilante. That was one of the perks of being an empath. You could always tell when someone really did mind, though they stated adamantly that that restaurant was 'totally fine, really!'

Green Arrow shrugged gently looking to the final criminal who he deftly took out, sliding forward he spun to one side before batting his bow right across the villains chin and then knocking him out by bodily slamming him against a lamp post, hauling him and the other criminal he had knocked out to the centre of the road he quickly set about tying them together with a mixture of thin nylon rope and cable ties. “Tough one eh.” he commented before shrugging gently. “I don’t know about that.” he retorted with a shrug and a gentle chuckle. It took him all of a minute to secure the thugs, before he placed a little note explaining their crime on the forehead of the first thug he had taken down, then he called the police and set off. “We’d better get going.” he commented. “Don’t want to be here when the cops show up.” he said as he slowly jogged away down the road. “You’d be surprised about where I would or wouldn’t be comfortable eating.” he said genuinely. Remembering the years he had spent trapped on a desert island, what he would have done then to have a soup kitchen around the corner.

Virtue patiently watched Green Arrow apprehend the unruly group with an ease that was the cause of practice. It was impressive to watch for her, whilst she was confident in her movements and knew that she could lead well as long as she believed in herself there was nothing to say that she wasn't also completely terrified of making mistakes just like the ones she made today. What reaffirmed the fact that she could be a competent leader was that she knew she would take these mistakes and learn from them. Thoroughly. Or at least she hoped she would. "Well strike me down and call me Newton, Even the Green Arrow doesn't want to have to play nice with the police." She was just teasing him, she completely understood why he wanted to scarper. After all there wasn't anything that separated the two vigilantes from the tied up goons in the eyes of the police force. Whilst she knew that it'd put a drain on her to be flying so long she didn't want to deplete her physical strength any more than she had to, especially seeing as she didn't know the extent of her injury. "Well, Grandpa. You continue to impress me." The retort was coupled with a cheeky smile as the rippling green aura lifting her from her stationary position to follow the lightly jogging man.

Green Arrow looked at her and chuckled as he sped off down the alley, he look behind to see her bathed in a green aura, his suspicions about her metagene confirmed without a further doubt, there was no way she was anything but a meta human, that was just the truth of the matter. “I leave Shining Star to deal with the police, he has the panache for it not me.” he said remembering his many encounters with the police and how unpleasant many of them had been, though he had worked with them in the past he wasn’t about to do it again, especially not with the GCPD. It had been a long while since he had worked with anyone else. Though recently he had been forced to team up with Batman, Batgirl, Thunder even Red Hood, he had to admit that having someone backing him up was a nice change of pace. “I live to impress people, Green Arrow, though I expect you guessed that already.” he said with a headshake and a smile. “What do I call you?”  he asked as he rounded a corner to see a bunch of looters break through a large electronics store window. “You ready for round two?” he asked intrigued.

Virtue rolled her eyes, a quiet sigh leaving her parted lips. Shining Star; she’d heard of the man. Most had. He was obnoxious, and that was all she knew of him. A smile that was too sweet and didn’t reach the eyes, Holly didn’t trust people like that. But she tried to maintain a positive outlook, it was was possible he was a perfectly wonderful man. “You’re good friends then?” She asked with a measured amount of curiosity. Holly gazed around the debris filled area - still fully on her guard - as she considered how to answer the man’s question. Before she could answer she’d spotted the group of raiders and immediately went into offensive mode, "Always". Virtue took extra care to be sensible with her fighting style this time. Ducking behind a large commerce bin Virtue closed her eyes and used her sense to place each target in her mind. She could feel their emotions, the rush of an impending fight, the glee of bringing in a haul... But one, one was misplaced, they didn't want to be there. Didn't want to fight. They were scared. Opening her eyes with a snap she knew that she had to look after that individual, they meant no harm. Using that person’s fear to add to her own store, Virtue emerged from behind her cover, a mist of thick, sluggish fear swirling at her feet clinging to her skin. "On your knees." Two thugs immediately fell to the floor, cowering and whimpering; an example of flight. The other, chose fight, running at her with a length of pipe. Why? Why couldn't they just choose the safer option? She didn't want to hurt them. But they always made her. The fear she was manipulating was making her other emotions unstable, naming her rage. Holly grabbed the looters wrist as he brought the pipe down, twisted and faltered a little as she heard a muffled snap but brought him down with a jab to the neck.

Green Arrow had never had the fortune -or perhaps it was misfortune - to meet the great Shining Star of Metropolis, and well he had to say that that was something he was happy about, exactic even, he didn’t want to risk a team up with such a high profile guy, his secret ID was tenuous enough in maintaining without adding that bozo to the mix. Better not to risk it, for his sake, Mia’s sake, everyone’s sake. “Well if we ever met I’m sure we’d get on like a house on fire.” he replied sardonically, quipping at her. Rolling his eyes gently he allowed her to make the first move, just to see how impressive she really was. In total honesty he wasn’t disappointed, as he felt the wave of fear radiate away from her he could feel affect him slightly, but he ignored the sudden rush of terror and forced himself to swing into action he vaulted forward, prepared for a fight, he had to say that he was almost disappointed to find that she had taken them out in a flurry of motion, seeing her snap a wrist and aim a jab to the neck, some pretty professional moves, she knew what she was doing and he was pleased to see that this wasn’t someone that you were going to mess around with. Pulling out two net arrow he fired them at the two looters that were on their knees, the nets sprang out with a pneumatic hiss and pinned the criminals to the ground, spikes in the ends of the metallic net ropes driving themselves into the ground and preventing any further movement. “Well.” he said pouting gently. “I didn’t even get a chance to do anything then.” he said as he tied the one she had taken up easily and threw him on the pile of other thugs, leaving a similar note to the one he had left previously. “I still didn’t get a name.” he pointed out more curious than suspicious.

Virtue made a conscious effort to slow her breathing, her chest heaving heartily; not through physical exertion but the effort it took to control the emotions battering her system. It was always a thought in the back of Holly's mind whether or not her powers were a curse or a blessing. It took some time to have positive feelings for her abilities after the accident with her father. Sometimes, times like this when she was hurt and vulnerable, the fear of being unable to control her powers creeped back in again. Which was the worst thing for an empath, once the emotions were in control of her there was nothing she could do to control it. The anxiety gripped her like jellyfish stings across her back, she could feel it lick across her skin. She couldn't have a seizure now, not when there were civilians near, not when Green Arrow a perfectly respectable hero was standing right next to her. But she just couldn't get a grip on it. Smoke akin to volcanic ash plumed from the ground beneath her feet and snaked up her body, rolling off in waves. Her eyesight faded into a sickly yellow. Her name. Her name was… “Please, please don’t hurt me! I’ve got my hands up.” Holly turned, to face the oncoming figure, but could only sense his presence. Fear, regret, desperation. He stank. She wrinkled her nose. Fear, joy, riding his bicycle for the first time, regret, pain, falling off the bike, laughter, joy, happiness, fear. She saw herself through his eyes; she was...terrifying. Compassion, regret, fear. “We won’t hurt you.” Her voice echoed, whether it was to her own ears only she didn’t know. The smoke dissipated slowly. Holly looked to Green Arrow, eyes still only picking up auras, but tried not to look too close; shame of her lack of control filling her. “This is Green Arrow, and my name,” she took a breath, her vision clear, smoke a distant memory “...is Virtue."

Green Arrow looked at her carefully for a moment, she seemed to be going through some kind of … trauma? That was possibly not the best word for it but for a second something seemed to get the better of her, she was out of control for a little bit and frankly Oliver was stuck, he didn’t know what he was meant to do to stop the lack of control. He didn’t know how to help, in fact the reason for his vigilante tendencies were due to the insatiable need to help that he had developed after being marooned on a desert island for months, well it was more like years, those months of survival, where he had banded together with other people to stay alive, well those had honestly his happiest years and he had no idea how to do that other than replicating the actions in a modern setting, and that was why he threw himself into a life of crime fighting. He wasn’t going to let anyone get hurt that he could save. “Hey don’t worry kid.” he said not lowering his bow or removing the arrow for even a second. “We’re not going to hurt you if we can help it.” he said with a reassuring nod. “No sharp movements and we will all be fine. I promise.” he said with a nod as he stared down the end of his arrow and into the eyes of the boy. There was little he could do until the boy explained more. “Kid, you need to show me your hands and Virtue and I won’t do anything rash that either of are going to regret. Can you do that for me?” he asked sternly, his muscles taut and ready for action if he needed to. He was a well trained and even better oiled machine. “Come on kid, you’ve got to give me something.”

Virtue watched the young man struggle internally. Her previous display of whatever the hell just happened to her, plus her partner in not-crime’s still loaded bow was causing him to be a little on edge. Which she totally understood. And as much as she wished for him to do things by his own accord, they couldn’t waste time. Not when the possibility of running into someone far more dangerous than a shit scared 20-something year old. “It’s okay, you’re safe.” She flooded his senses with a wash of calm and obligation. He happily stood forward and took her outstretched hands, his face dazed and serene. With the contact Virtue rode his emotions to a point in which she could determine his character. Naturally she cringed at the man’s emotional memory of her outburst. It was so embarrassing. Eventually she reached her target, and stepped back with a measured grunt of exertion. “Those looters we just picked off are part of a gang, he was being initiated.” She was addressing mainly Green Arrow, updating him on the situation, but the boy looked like a child who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Gang life may have not been all that he was expecting but it was disappointing that he’d felt he needed to resort to it. “Alright, champ, here is how it’s going to go. You’re going to stand there and look pretty whilst Green Arrow and I have a chat over there about what we’re going to do with you. You make one wrong move and my buddy here is going to shoot a nice steel bolt in your kneecap. Now, no one wants that, am I right?” The young man nods vigorously in agreement. “He’s a quick learner this one.”

Green Arrow looked at Virtue and found himself smiling gently impressed by the combination of her quick thinking, authoritative instructions and the apparent youth that she displayed. He couldn’t quite guess her age but he would wager that she was at least eight to ten years younger than he was. As he made his way over to the side with Virtue he spoke softly enough that the kid how no chance of hearing him, but loudly enough that he was speaking clearly to her, his muscles allowed some slack on the bowstring and he held the arrow loosely against it, still ready for action if he needed to be. “Rarely do kids join a gang because they want to be evil or even bad.” he pointed out, Oliver didn’t believe that anyone was born evil. Something made you act in morally repugnant ways. Whether it was drugs, mental illness or social conditioning there was something to be said for deterministic approaches. “I doubt that this kid is a bad egg, he just got stuck in a bad situation. I say we let him go, suggests that he does a couple of hours of community service something like that.” he said shrugging. “Turning him into the cops will just put him into the system and he deserves a second chance.” he said with a shrug. “But you’ve taken point on this one. So in the end it is your call.” You’ll make the right decision. But you’ve heard what I think, the call is yours now.” he said seriously, this one was by rights her decision and nothing he did could change that.

Virtue truly appreciated being treated the way she felt she deserved. She believe maturity was subjective, and not something that was beholden to how many times you'd gone around the sun. Despite the short amount of time they'd spent together, Holly's sense of respect for the older man was growing. Being given the responsibility of the fate of the timid boy was a daunting but welcome task. She nodded her thanks to the masked man and turned back to their ward. "You know our name, it's only fair that we know your name, no?" He promptly told her his name was Jackson, she nodded. "I like you, Jackson. You remind me of me. I can tell you know the difference between right and wrong. So I'm going to give the chance to do right by yourself." She sighed, so many kids were in situations like this, she didn't know how many more people she could take into the Sweatshop. One more couldn't hurt "I'd like you to come to the corner of 4th and Freemont in the Coral district tomorrow. I'll meet you there. I can give you food to put in your stomach and warm place to sleep, I can even help you find work. But you've got to make the choice, alright. This is where you decide who you are."

Green Arrow looked at Jackson and then back to Virtue and then back to the troubled youth watching the encounter between the two of them, approving of his actions he nodded before speaking up. “I will be keeping an eye on you too Jackson.” he said nodding at the boy. “We have given you a chance here, don’t make us regret it. Don’t go get yourself in with gangs. You know that they’re not going to do you any favours. Take Virtue up on her offer, because if you don’t you’ll regret it.” he said tucking his arrows back into his quiver. Not that their location really mattered, if they were within reaching distance he could have the loaded and fired in a matter of seconds, speed and accuracy were things that he valued above the rest when it came to combat, strength meant nothing if you weren’t fast enough to get your attack out and if you missed then you were more the fool. “We’re going to get you back on the right track kid. Just as long as you let us.”

Virtue smiled at the two men and shooed the less green one away in the kindest manner possible, she'd told him where the civilians were heading and she knew that the path was relatively clear and had a long procession of vigilantes and police combing the street should he run into any trouble. After a few moments, it was just them and the unconscious goons. "I worry about this city's younger generation." The words were muttered mostly to herself, but ended up being aloud. "Y'all screwed us over, grandpa." She leaned on her bad leg to jab him playfully in her rib with her elbow, and hissed in muted pain. She should probably get that checked over. ASAP.

Green Arrow looked at her concerned by her sudden hiss of pain, that wasn’t usually a good sign regardless of whether you were a meta human or not. “I might be a grandpa, but if you want to be a grandma you’d better get that looked at. You got a way out of here?” he asked concerned, knowing that she’d have to get back to her lair or wherever she had set up shop before that cut became infected or anything worse happened to her. “I think it is time you call it a night, lets get you out of here before something worse goes down and you get yourself hurt worse than this. Then who is going to check in Jackson when I’m stuck in the old persons home?” he asked playfully but with a steely and serious edge to his tone.

Virtue thought for a moment, normally she went to Sarah's went she was hurt. But that was a no-go seeing as she was off galavanting doing what Rainmaker does – she doesn't ask. It was a curteousy they gave each other. Sure she could go back to the sweatshop, but she wasn't feeling the worried fussing she'd get from Ven, or the half chewed garbage she'd receive from Mouse as some kind of a token of well wishes. She'd figure something out. "'Course I do." Holly had decided that she enjoyed Green Arrow's company, and that should they be in a sticky predicament in the future, she knew that he was a good person to have on their side. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to put you in a real nice place. You know, the kind with the working toilets."

Green Arrow chuckled and shook his head at her, he had enjoyed their time working together but even he knew that too much of a good thing could have disastrous results. “Come on Virtue lets get out of here.” he said gesturing as he quickly stalked from the scene and made his way out of the hot zone and into a district that was behind police lines, after about 15 minutes he was satisfied that they shouldn’t have any more problems than they usually would and he turned to Virtue and gave her a final smile. “I want a place with cable TV and massage chairs.” he said with a sigh before holding out a gloved hand. “It was a pleasure to work with you Virtue. If you ever want to team up again, well a clever girl like you will definitely know how to contact me. I’ always a phone call away.” he said smiling at her as they prepared to go their separate ways.

Nightwing had already been at his lookout post for about half an hour before Batgirl even arrived. This was an important mission-- the truck was carrying new supplies for the Blackgate prison to repair the outside and inside walls, and to give supplies to the security people who had stayed behind to watch the prisoners endlessly. These supplies would help tip the scales into being able to resend caught prisoners back to Blackgate. If they failed this, it meant they'd have to wait longer to repair the damages, and that meant longer for known criminals roaming the streets, free. He put his binoculars back into his utility belt and stood up to greet Batgirl. "Hey Eggplant," he said with a smile, looking her up and down. "Niiiiice suit! I'm guessing O made it special for you?" Turning back towards the bridge, he looked down it, double checking the truck wasn't early for some reason. These supplies would reach their destination even if Nightwing had to carry them there himself.

Batgirl arrived to the determined recon spot a little later than expected, a little out of breath from hurrying to arrive before the truck they were monitoring was actually scheduled to leave. "Hey!" She greeted him back as she clipped her grapple back onto her belt, smiling a little self-consciously as he appraised her costume. "Sorry, I'm late, I had a hard time slipping Mom. Luckily, it's New Years and I can pretend to be at a party." So lame. She had to pretend to go to parties. Steph did a little half twirl, letting the purple underside of her cape peek out. "Yes, it's the Stephanie Special." She grinned, already having more fun that she had anticipated on this simple bodyguard job. Hunkering down next to him, she pulled out her own binoculars to check on the bridge. "Quiet so far? We're not expecting trouble, right?"

Nightwing nodded, admiring her new outfit. "It definitely is you," he agreed with a smile. "And no sweat, I kinda figured. That's why I had us get here early." He held up his left arm and tapped into the gauntlet, calculating the time of arrival. "It should be here in about ten minutes. We'll know ahead of time, anyway. I told the blockade guards to ping me when they've cleared it to go over the bridge," he explained, looking back over at Steph. "Well, we're never really expecting trouble, though, are we. But we're here for a reason, so stay sharp. Once we make it into the actual evacuated area is when we'll need to be most vigilant." He heard a ping on his gauntlet. "Did you bring the sticks?" he asked.

Batgirl swung her sights from the beginning of the bridge to the end, looking at the expanse of road they would have to cover. With no trouble it would be no problem, but if there was trouble...well, it was not a small route. "Sharp as a tack, vigilant as a vigilante." She quirked her eyebrows and slipped her binoculars into her belt as Nightwing pinged, loud and clear through the quiet night. Standing, she slipped the two purple sticks off her belt, in the place where she usually kept her bo staff. "Heck yeah!" She twirled them once for good measure, feeling their perfectly balanced weight in her hands. "You owe me a lesson, after all."

Nightwing gave his signature smirk. "Good," he said, pulling out his own two. "I got a new pair myself, as well. Curtsy of O, of course. I'm excited to test 'em out," he said, twirling them in rhythm was Steph's own twirl. "You must really want that lesson-- I think that's the third time you've reminded me since you got them." He winked, and noticed the truck coming down the bridge. His whole body tensed, like it always did when he prepared for a fight. He glanced sideways at Steph. "We're heading through City Hall district, and around the East side of Grant Park. That part's mostly cleared, and there shouldn't be any trouble through there. The Financial district might prove more tricky-- there's been sightings of several gangs running rampant through the streets, but we'll also have a small team of swat in the truck as well. All we have to do is get it over the bridge and into Blackgate, and by this time tomorrow we'll be shipping prisoners back to where they belong," he explained to her, heading out to greet the truck.

"It doesn't hurt to have more than one weapon in my metaphorical and literal toolbelt, that's all." Batgirl got serious as he did, cutting the banter to listen to the truck's route. He was right, it wouldn't be hard once they got to City Hall district, but after that it was all tall grass wild pokemon encounter area. "Oh, is that all?" She smirked, following him down to meet the truck at the mouth of the bridge. He talked to the driver and the security actually with the truck while she watched his six. If they were gonna get ambushed, this would be the best spot to do it in, before they actually got out into any real traffic.

Nightwing got the debriefing from the truck driver and spoke with the three guys in the truck with guns. They were the last defense, and honestly, Nightwing was hoping none of them would ever have to fire tonight. That's what him and Batgirl were here for. He nodded to Batgirl. "Alright, we're going to go scout ahead. I'm going to go first, make sure the road is clear. Stay back with the truck for a moment, I'll be back in a sec," he said, turning his comm on. "Radio me if anything happens." Then he was off, heading down the street. He pulled his scope back out, examining the route. It was empty just as the driver had instructed him it would be, and when he was satisfied with the route being clear until the next checkpoint, he headed back, landing next to Batgirl only ten minutes later. "We're clear," he said to both Batgirl and the driver. The driver nodded. "Alright, here's our set-up BeeGee-- I'll stay ahead of the truck, you stay behind. Try and stay hidden, but keep within eyesight of me and the truck at all times. Like usual, if anything happens, comm me." He let out a breath. "Got all that?"

Batgirl watched Nightwing take off to scout the bridge. He was being extra cautious, she thought - or maybe she was just never cautious enough so it seemed like a lot to her? She had no reason to radio him in the less than ten minutes he was gone, and had a nice chat with the truck driver about how his Christmas was while they waited. She waggled a wave goodbye at the driver as Nightwing landed, heading over to get the briefing. "You got point, I got rear, be stealthy but not too stealthy, keep the comms open." She repeated diligently, landing a doofy salute as she finished. "Let's go, I might want to actually go to a party later, believe it or not." Batgirl laughed, and the procession started to move just as Dick had said - him leading the way, the truck following and her coming in last. She grappled up to the top of the bridge, making her way along through the steel beams, making sure she could see the truck at all times.

Nightwing gave a grin and saluted back to her. "Dork," he said before they both took their respective posts around the truck. And just like he'd predicted, the trip was mostly uneventful. Nightwing always stopped the truck when he reached his designated checkpoints, and scouted ahead, making sure the path was clear. It always was. Even through the Financial District. And it just...was quiet. A little too quiet. Nightwing lifted his comm up. "Stopping the truck. I wanna check something out real quick. Stay with the van, BG. Keep your distance, though," he said into the radio. Skirting along the rooftops, Nightwing pulled out his scope again. The bridge was unattended, as it was supposed to be. Empty. Dark. Abandoned? Why hadn't they seen a single person yet? This wasn't right, something wasn't right. He turned back towards the truck, ready to radio over to them to turn around, but he didn't get a chance to-- in the next second, there was a loud BOOM! and Nightwing was thrown back. His ears started ringing. He rolled to his side, coughing, as debris fell around him. "Batgirl...." he muttered, unable to hear his own voice. He jabbed his comm with his free hand. "Batgirl! Report!" he shouted into it.

Batgirl clicked her comm to signal she read him, pulling herself up into a comfortable crouch in the beams of the bridge to keep an eye on the van, about ten yards ahead of her. It was all quiet, and she knew why Dick had made them stop. It was way too quiet. The kind of eerie off-ness in the air that made a seasoned vigilante's mind at unease. Just as she was getting ready to radio him to see what was up, there was a huge cacophony of noise - a rush of heat - the bridge trembled, she lost her footing. Ears ringing and disoriented she barely managed to shoot out a blind line to save her fall - luckily there were a million anchor holds straight above, or she would have been serious pancake material down there. The van was burning and she blinked a few times to focus her vision - the guys inside! "I'm fine! Get the driver and the team out, that fire is gonna get to the fuel tank any second!" She was already swinging down to the mess that was the supply van, her cape up to protect her face. This thing was gonna blow Part Two any second.

Nightwing was already on his feet by the time Batgirl responded, and the pounding in his chest dulled a bit. Steph was alright. Leaping down, he made a bee-line for the truck, putting on his gas mask to keep from inhaling smoke. Good thing his suit was mostly fire proof, even without the cape. He dove straight into the front seat, ripping the door open and yanking the unconscious driver out of the truck. He was bleeding and had severe burn wounds, but he would be okay. Or so Nightwing hoped. The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end. People were watching them. He froze, keeping his eyes peeled. There, on the rooftop-- they were aiming for Batgirl, who was pulling a second unconscious man from the back of the van. Wait...where they aiming for her or something else? Shit! There must be a second bomb! "Batgirl, get out of there!" he shouted, already drawing two wing dings, and sending them careening into the man on the roof. One to the face, one to the leg, and he toppled. He was halfway to the van when the back exploded out, throwing him backwards once again. His side hit the pavement hard, leaving a good scrape and bruise to be nursed later. He rolled quickly, pushing up onto his feet, only to have to narrowly dodge a man swinging what looked like a broken piece of rebar. This was a planned attack. The bombs had been on timers. But why blow here? Why not wait till the main bridge? Realization struck him as he dodge the swinging rebar, caught it in one hand, twisted, and disarmed the attacking man, giving a quick hit to the back of his head to knock him out-- he'd stopped the van preemptively, ruining their plan. An escaped convict, and there were more coming. This whole thing was rotten. Nightwing grit his teeth, furious. How could he have let this happen?

Batgirl heard Nightwing shouting from the front of the van, and watched the trajectory of his wingdings to see what had him so spooked again. The sight of the man taken down on the roof had her stomach dropping in worry and lurching to pull the unconscious guard as far away as possible before another explosion could do it for her. She'd lugged the guard a few yards before the second bomb went off, the force of it so close knocking her back another few feet. With a groan, she pushed herself back up, checking the pulse of the guard to make sure he was okay before rushing over to where Nightwing was fending off a jumpsuit jerk with a crowbar. Three more were headed their way, and she threw out two batarangs to stop them in their tracks. "Should we call backup?" She shouted over her shoulder to Dick, "The supplies are done for."

Nightwing was getting angry. As three more approached, and Batgirl took her spot behind him, he pulled out his new escrima and pressed the tazer, charging them up. "No," he said, his eyes focusing in on the three incoming. "But call an ambulance for the three survivors, and a firetruck." He swung one stick forward, connecting it with he chest of the closest attacker, dropping him in one hit like a sack of lead. The other was trumped by Batgirl's batarang, and Nightwing turned back to her during the lull. "There'll be more on the way. This was a planned hit," he said, a sort of urgency to his voice. "We need to get them out of here before that happens." He was angry now, and they probably should have called back-up, but he wanted these bastards for himself right now. He saw them coming from the horizon, on foot, with any weapon they could find. Someone had orchestrated this, and one of them knew who. "Watch the survivors," he said to Batgirl, taking off towards the oncoming crowd of about six men. The first two got electrically charged sticks to their chests, just as the last guy had gotten, and the next one got a foot to his face. Broken nose for sure. Two slipped by him, charging for Batgirl, but Nightwing was concentrated on the last, knowing she could take care of herself. This would be the one he'd interrogate.

Batgirl switched her comm to the emergency line, dropping a request for an ambulance and firetruck while they had a brief reprieve. "Planned by who?" She asked, incredulous, shaking her head as he rushed towards the oncoming muscle, leaving her to watch over the survivors. Two got past Nightwing, and she pulled out her own sticks, getting low to smack one in the knees and send him toppling to the ground and tripping up his friend. She followed up with an elbow to the small of his back, knocking his lights out for a good while. When they seemed to be in the clear, she whipped her head up, looking to see if Dick was in the clear. "You good?"

Nightwing swung again at the remaining attacker, who seemed to have more skill than his fellows. He ducked, but Nightwing was faster, and a well placed sweep of his feet had the other guy toppling. He rolled quickly as the butt of Nightwing's escrima came down where he'd been seconds before. The guy swung his own weapon, catching Nightwing's hand and sending one of the sticks flying away. Nightwing leapt up as the guy swung again, and his feet landed hard against the guy's chest as he tried to get up and move away. Then a punch to the face, and one last swipe to the knee cap, disabling the guy. He crashed to the ground and Nightwing picked him up by his shirt, glaring into his face. "Who organized this? Who was behind this?" But the guy just smiled at him with a lopsided grin, blood pouring down his face. "Talk," Nightwing growled, holding up his escrima, "Unless you wanna end up a blubbering mess like your friends here."

The guy's smile faded a bit. "I thought you Bats didn't kill people," he snarled.

It was Nightwing's turn to smile. "There are worse things than death."

The inmate swallowed. "W-we don't know. We just were told by someone on the street to be here at this time if we wanted a good show. They-- they hacked our phones, sent us text messages. I swear, that's all I know! " Nightwing dropped him, then, whapping him once on the head to knock him out. He went over and gathered up his dropped stick, turning to find Batgirl coming his way. His anger dissipated at the sight of the burning truck and the far off ambulance screeching towards them. He sighed.

"Aside from the mission failure, yeah. And as for who planned this, I probably have some idea. But for now, it's a theory." He looked at her with as much of a smile as he could muster. "And you?"

Batgirl raised her eyebrows, a little surprised at Dick's interrogation technique. Maybe he picked up more than a few things from Batman than she realized. And even though he talked, they were pretty much exactly where they started. Which was nowhere. Throwing some zipties around the downed guys' wrists, she did a scan around their immediate area to make sure they weren't about to have any more company. "I don't like to say failure, I like to say hiccup." She told him, trying to lighten up their situation a little. "I'm not hurt or dead, and that's a successful mission for me." With a shrug, she clipped her escrima's back to her belt. "What do you wanna do now? Scram, or greet the ambulance?"

Nightwing sighed. He had been specifically contacted by the people who put this together to have him escort the truck. He should have thought to check for bombs. Stupid. Still, Batgirl had a point-- he was alive, and they had saved not only the bridge, but several of the men inside an exploding truck. There was something to be said for that. He patted her on the shoulder. "Hiccup it is. I'll put that in the official report," he said. He looked at all the zip-tied criminals. "Well, first we should deliver these guys to the closest precinct for lock-up, unless we wanna be babysitters all night. But they're not going anywhere like this," he contended, looking towards the flashing red and blue lights. "Might as well stick around and give them the 4-1-1 while we wait. If you wanna scram, you can. But thanks for the back-up Beegee," he smiled at that. "You're not to bad with those things. You almost don't need a lesson," he quipped, adding, "Almost." after her eyes lit up a bit.