Description: Ayame is 'training' minions like some sort of Schoolgirl Taskmaster. Miranda is just so happy to be carrying a gun on the streets again. And Wang? Well... we'll let you discover that for yourself.
"Hey? Anyone coming yet? Are they? Are you watching? Keep a look out. This is some crazy shiznit here, Teddy boy. I can't be paying attention to it and the sidewalk at the same time! The clock's ticking, you know? Tick tock tick tock. Just like a clock. Look at this thing. Have you ever seen so many buttons? What does it do I don't even know I'm just going to put it into the lock like so and- are you looking at this? Are you looking at what I have to do to make this thing work? My job is the hard one here!"
The weaselly voice can only be interpreted as a belonging to a rather weaselly looking thug crouched outside the sidedoor of a street-level shop. Dressed like he wants to look like a real tough guy, he's got his leather jacket, the hole-covered jeans, and some black, scuffed up steel-toed boots on, and seems to be trying to make a fashion statement with chains. And right now, he's focused on an intricate piece of electronics covered with a number of buttons and small LEDs that he is holding over the lock of the door.
"Hey Despo..."
"Newt! My codename is Newt! How many times do I have to remind you!"
"Ah, right, righ. Newt. I thought you said to keep a look out... but now you wants me to look at what you doin'... I can only look one direction at a time..." The slower paced voice belongs to the much larger, large built thug standing behind him, hypothetically keeping a look out along the length of the allyway but typically paying more attention to the doodad being used to electronically pick the lock of the store.
"Who cares what I said, just keep a lookout. I'm the brains here. I'll just open this door, then we'll get in there, then, then..."
"We rob the place?" Teddy offers helpfully.
"Yeah..." Newt sneers, sounding pretty serious about that final course of action, like he came up with the entire plan himself. "If anyone comes by this way, just take 'em out real quick like. You know, like with those bear-sized mitts of yours."
"Yeah... don't worry, boss, I will, I will."
"Don't call me boss. You know what happened last time she heard you say that!!" Newt snaps back, dropping the electronic lock pick on the ground. "Awh, man, now look," he scrambles to pick it back up, "I gotta start all over. See that? Do you think that's going to win any points? We're not going to get points for not /opening the damn door/ in the first place, now are we!!"
If their goal was to perform a clandestine entry, the two chatty crooks are a far cry from that.
"Why does I gotta call you Newt, but you don't call me Ludz?" Teddy asks.
"Because Ludz is a stupid codename name, Teddy. It just really sucks."
Here is a lesson for you up and coming vigilante heroes out there: you think you can get away with disregarding international police jurisdiction, disrupt commerce, and fire an anti-tank weapon on foreign soil and everything will be just hunky-dory? No, my dear proto-Punishers and budding Batmen, that is a mistake. Miranda Jimenez knows this mistake well, because SOMEBODY didn't brief Thomas Miracle on Haggar's brokering of Interpol hand-waving for Division 8, and SOMEBODY(*) didn't have the good graces to be blown to little bits by a rocket salvo that did in an entire shipping container's worth of propery damage, and as a result a certain Metro cop spent a number of weeks in the most irritating place in the universe, writing letters and filing extensive amounts of paperwork, many of which amounted to her saying, in various tones of voice, "I am sorry for detonating ordinance without permission."
Today, today, today is the final day of her banishment to deskwork, and it's not just the now-cleared-for-duty-again Cpl. Jimenez who is glad of it. There is the small matter of anyone needing anything bigger than a service revolver having to go through her to get it, for example.
SOME TIME AGO
SWAT Officer Jenkins tries his best mollifying smile as he gently hands the request for a riot shotgun to Miranda, who is now on her tenth cup of coffee at approximately 10:04 AM.
She takes it, reads it, glances at Jenkins, and says, "Let me just take CARE of that for YOU." At which point she reaches under the desk, pulls out a Remington Street Sweeper, and proceeds to POINT IT AT JENKINS as she calmly chambers slugs for him.
"Wonderful day..." *KTHNK* "For riot control..." *KTHNK* "Isn't it..." *KTHNK* "..._Officer Jenkins_."
*SLAM*
He is now in therapy.
NOW
So it goes that as soon as she got the all clear, she decided to walk a beat and get herself back in the mood, and get back in the field doing things before she goes mad. And so it goes that while she walks, she finds herself wandering the streets of what is widely considered the Mean Part of Town. And so it goes that she is walking by this alley when she hears voices echoing down it at this hour, and doing so with great agitation. She turns, slowly, to her left, and glances at the sign of the place that these geniuses have chosen to break into.
Unable to stop herself, she reads aloud: "...The $.99 Store. Everything 99 Cents."
She glances back at the alleyway.
That's a terrible grin, Miss Miranda. Stop that.
(* Angelo)
In the meantime, as one crime perpetrated by incompetent thugs is underway, another crime perpetrated by an (even more) incomptent thug(?) is in the planning stages. Why?
Because Wang has a problem. Having taken a loooooong detour to Metro City on his way to Egypt for his amazing professional fighting debut as a /genuine/ King of Fighters, he has found himself in the most dire circumstances possible.
Somehow, he forgot his laptop, which means he is completely cut off from the internet.
Eyes ringed with deep shadows, the nerdling has a haunted look about him, glancing about nervously. The clerk at the small convenience store's checkout is eyeing him, although Wang carefully avoids looking at him, instead looking everywhere else, /especially/ the magazine rack in front of him with its oh so tantalizingly hidden lllladies.
The young chinese boys swallows, determinedly, and slowly forces his eyes upward to look at his foe, the clerk. Gazes lock, wills clash, and Wang reaches out with all the determination he can muster to pick one of these blessed survival rags up.
Thirty seconds later he bursts out of the front door dragging the entire magazine rack behind him, soft weeping drowned out by the racket of a man firing a shotgun in rage somewhere behind him. Fearing for his life, he shoulders past anyone and everyone else and blindly rounds a corner into the first alleyway he can find.
If you can't figure out which one, just stop reading right now.
"What's take'n so long? I thought this thing could open a lock in five seconds. Maybe six at most. Or was it four? It doesn't matter. It was a lot fewer seconds than however long we have been here. I bet it's defective, you know? I bet she set us up with one that doesn't work just to make us fail. I bet this store isn't even possible to break into. I bet we've just been sent on some big wild, good times goose chase for nothing and now I'm stuck sitting here with you earning no points at all. NO. POINTS. AT. ALL."
Scruffy looking Newt seems to be getting aggitated. The towering Ludz behind him stretches his massive arms out at his sides, yawning a little, looking awfully bored for being in the midst of an illegal caper. "Daw, don't be like that boss-"
"Newt."
"Newt." Ludz rubs his eyes a little. "Just think about all that money waiting inside... so much money..."
Wang comes tearing around the corner into the alleyway, bringing him on a collision course directly into the tank-top wearing brute who just slowly looks down as if not affected in the slightest. "Say, boss..."
"Newt." Newt snaps without looking up from fiddling with the lock.
"Newt. Want that I smush this kid?"
"Yeah, why don't you just- wait, huh? What!?" Newt fumbles the lockpick again and it clatters to the ground as he pushes up to his feet to stare at Wang. "What. The. Hell. Man. Get that guy!!"
"Argh!" A third voice enters the exchange. "Cut! Cut! It's over. You guys... you guys are the worst crooks I've ever seen tripping their way through a heist!" A figure drops down into the shadows of the far end of the alleyway - original location unclear. "If you tried to steal candy from a baby, you'd probably end up leaving it with your wallets, that's how backwards you two are!"
Newt and Ludz cringe as they begin to get chewed out. From out of the shadows steps Ayame, clipboard in hand. "I can't even believe it, I never calculated that it would be possible to get a score /this/ low!" She waves a clipboard in her right hand. "I would go into every single thing you two did wrong, but I actually have plans for New Years, Twenty-Thirteen, so I'm afraid I don't have the /time/! But let's check out the highlights, hm?"
Her left hand slips to her waist before a subtle flick of her wrist sends a small knife flying up into the power cable of a wall-mounted camera seconds before it would have pivoted to include her. Sparks fall to the ground as the camera comes to a stop. "Getting caught on film: minus fifteen Dependable Klepto Points right there." She has a pen in her hand suddenly and it's being used to scribble something on that clipboard.
"Dropping a lockpicking device worth more than either of you knucklheads' bail: another ten points off right there." Another checkmark is made somewhere. "Calling him boss when obviously I'm the boss: Minus, oh, let's say twenty, okay?"
Newt chimes in, "W-wait, are you just making up the-"
"Failing to unlock the door after five minutes. That's minus twenty-five." Another scribble. "Failure to use only codenames, minus another twenty..."
"...Ludz is a stupid codename..." Newt whimpers.
"Oh yeah, here's a minor detail. You're trying. To open. The WRONG DOOR!" Ayame points at the door on the opposite side of the alley, the sign reads: Jaspers Gems. "That's minus forty!"
She then points at Wang. "And finally, YOU GOT SPOTTED BY A TEENAGE PORN ADDICT. That's a 50 DKP MINUS RIGHT THERE!" She scribbles something on the clipboard with emphasis.
Ludz scratches his head. "Should I smush him?"
"Oh. Yes. Yes of course you should," Ayame replies without looking up from her clipboard as if tallying up their score. That seems like the first good thing Ludz has heard all night as he turns back on Wang, looming over the kid. "That might even get you a few points back." Ayame muses to herself.
On the inside, this comedy of errors looks really hilarious. If you're inside the alley, it's like a damned vaudeville act in there, with poor(?) Ayame as the straight man trying to convince Abbot to move the piano up the staircase using logic rather than hooking a pulley up to a moving cow. She delivers biting jests with wit and speed! Wang and the thieves look hilarious! There's porn AND they were robbing the wrong store!
And then there's outside the alley.
Before she took the Metro gig, Miranda Jimenez stalked drug runners for the DEA and FBI. She worked SWAT. This was a Very Serious Crimefighting Gig. Which might explain why, at the sound of arguing, some sort of hilarious PTSD kicks in and she's pasted against the wall, head cocked, listening, her vintage Colt M1911 semiauto pistol sliding out of her shoulder holster and into her hand, held with both hands on the grip up near her head. She hears... a lot of voices. Shouldn't she call for backup? She should probably call for backup. There's no reason to get in trouble. She should step in, draw a bead, and clearly identify herself. There is a *procedure*.
This is why Miranda steps around the corner, having holstered her Colt and now holding her Ithaca Featherlight, a shotgun that is not so imposing as, say, Miracle's duo of Remingtons but which is still, in many satisfying and buckshot-firing ways, still a shotgun.
It still makes that satisfying *K-CHK* sound when you pump the action, for example.
Miranda smiles, at the end of the alley, now pointing a shotgun at pretty much everybody. Her Metro PD jacket says she's either a cop, or a vigilante with connections.
All she says is: "Hello."
The :D is implied.
First things first: Wang pees himself a little.
Well, maybe let's back up a little. First, Wang careens around the corner, smacking straight into the Wall That Walks Like a Man. Porn goes flying in every direction, a sexy paper cloud.
Wang reaches out forlornly, breath catching as it all scatters on the ground and gets all filthy and ruined. Well, maybe he can salvage it, there's probably a lot that's still--wait, smushing?
Slowly, Wang realizes that maybe he has bigger things to worry about. THEN he temporarily loses control of his bladder. It's only a couple drops. Really.
"Y-y-y-you couldn't smush me! Don't you recognize...uh..." Finally, the boy's survival instincts kick in and he begins to utilize his single greatest talent: obviously false self-aggrandizing. "World famous...gentleman...thief...uh...EEEEEEE!"
Then he screams like a girl and crabwalks back against one of the alley's walls, because someone is pointing a GUN, like, AT HIM.
Also because he just /really/ let loose the proverbial floodgates. But mostly the gun thing.
A few unfortunate things happen at once:
Ludz turns around and tries to grab hold of Wang by the neck. His hand is so large that he might just have to settle for picking the kid up by his entire head.
Newt starts to protest his atrociously bad score, daring Ayame to come open the door herself and prove that it's even possible.
Ayame finishes tallying up the astronomically negative score managed by the two, whistling to herself as if to marvel at the utter failure of it all.
Wang tries to crabwalk away from Ludz and Miranda.
Miranda shows up with a very compelling argument, causing Ayame to look up from her clipboard and whistle a second time. "Now you losers have done it. Getting arrested is a minus one hundred, you know. Better do something about that or you'll never catch up on points." If she's alarmed yet, it doesn't show.
Oh yeah, let's get back to Ludz trying to grab poor Wang by the neck.
COMBATSYS: Ludz has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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Ludz 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Wang has joined the fight here.
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Wang 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ludz
Hm. A wall of meat is about to grab a squealing perp by the face. A snarky girl with a clipboard is watching and Miranda could swear, SWEAR she's seen Newt before...
SOME TIME AGO
Nelson Walter 'Newt' Torrington looks up, adjusts his hat, and clears his throat, preparing to ask a question of great import.
Miranda, unthinkingly, cuts him off. "To go, thank you."
NOW
Well. She showed up, she made sure the shoulder with the Metro PD patch on it was showing (motto: "TO PROTECT AND SERVE -- AND KICK ASS") so they knew she was a police officer. She also brandished and cocked a shotgun to make sure they knew she meant business, and then one went ahead and hauled off trying to hit someone anyway. "Perhaps you did not hear me," she says, calmly.
Then she pulls the trigger and attempts to hit Ludz with a face full of buckshot. At this range, not terribly effective.
She wouldn't want to HURT anybody, after all.
*K-THNK* *K-THNK*
COMBATSYS: Miranda has joined the fight here in the center.
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Wang 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ludz
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Miranda 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Newt has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Wang 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ludz
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Newt 0/-------/-------|
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Miranda 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Ludz's Quick Throw.
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Wang 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ludz
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Newt 0/-------/-------|
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|-------
It's important that our priorities are straight, bringing attention to that which matters most: there are few people on this good green earth who are better than Wang at swiftly crabwalking out of danger in a near-panic.
Scrambling back with what is really just an /alarming/ amount of speed for that awkward position, Wang barely clears Ludz's amazingly huge hand as it descends, possibly in part because the man has to reach down /so far/ to even get to the small, currently horizantal child.
The gunfire helps, too. Because that woman is /shooting at Wang/, although thankfully her aim is terrible, probably because she's a woman--cop!? Finally Wang notices the Metro PD jacket and is flooded with relief, she's here to /save/ him, to deliver him from this low down thugs who want nothing more than to kill and canniblize his tender young flesh.
Then he realizes that he's a wanted man now, a criminal, a law-breaker, forever outcast for his heinous actions against society. For men like him, there is only one way out, one way or another. Such is the path he's chosen to walk.
"PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Pushing off the wall, Wang does the only sensible thing and hurls his tiny body at Miranda in what is now a /full/ panic, eyes shedding tears like twin waterfalls.
COMBATSYS: Miranda successfully hits Ludz with Large Thrown Object.
Glancing Blow
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Wang 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Ludz
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Newt 0/-------/-------|
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Miranda 0|-------|-------
Ayame continues to jot down notes as chaos plays out all around her. "Hm, hm. A bit slow there, Ludz. Minus three points."
Newt's hands are at the sides of his head, "Oh crap, it's the cops!! It's over! We're done for!"
Ayame glances up from her clipboard, "Ah, no, it's a cop. As in singular. Deal with her already. She's worth thirty points if we get to make a getaway!"
Ludz staggers as Wang proves to be too slippery for his initial gasping mitts to land hold of. "Huh?" The shotgun fires but the combination of range and forward lunging on the part of the heavy brute result in him only getting mildly clipped and most certainly not slowed down in the slightest. Ayame jots down another note, "Either slightly lucky or slightly immune to buckshot... Hm, hm... Oh! Ludz, get the kid, he's still a witness. We'll have to 'deal' with him." Whatever fate she has in mind for Wang doesn't sound pleasant. "Hmn... He's worth.. hrn... fifteen points."
The big lug stumbles a step before catching himself with a hand against the wall. "Nrgh..." The promise of fifteen points seems to be too much to pass up on and he immediately chases after poor Wang with the ever ol' reliable 1-2 Punch. Only, in this case, it's more like a 1-2 wrecking ball.
Newt shakes his head, finally paying attention to Ayame again. "Right. Right. Uh..." He runs for Miranda, practically tripping into something that has the potential to look comical if it doesn't work, but won't be so funny if it actually connects in a moment where she might be distracted by Wang's desperate flailing. He might've seen this on TV. He might not have ever tried it before. "HAAAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Wang successfully hits Miranda with Strong Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Wang 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Ludz
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Newt 0/-------/-------|
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Miranda 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Miranda fails to interrupt Roundhouse Kick from Newt with Large Random Weapon.
- Power fail! -
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Wang 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Ludz
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Newt 0/-------/------=|
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Miranda 0|-------|--=====
This is going to end badly. Here is why.
Miranda sees an incoming Wang Long and her perception is not 'scared child' but instead 'screaming incoming perp' and so she reacts accordingly, by attempting to sidestep him and let him crash into a wall and think over the regrets of his life, for example. However, it would appear that this isn't going to be in the cards for her today, because she slips on -- against all logic, because they're actually fibrous and thus not particularly slippery -- a banana peel, which means Wang cannons into her with the strength of panic. Over the top of his head, she can see Newt coming at her in some sort of improvised leaping kick thing, and Miranda reacts accordingly, having relegated Wang to the status of 'improvised weapon': she grips him and intends to quite literally swing him at Newt, since he put himself there. However, what she ends up doing is instead shearing Wang just UNDER Newt's leg, because Wang is too goddamned SHORT. This has the annoying effect of propelling Newt's otherwise unremarkable, totally pointless kick into a boot to the very tender Latina facemeats.
Upside: she drops Wang, just in time for Ludz to try and 'erase' him. Isn't that nice?
Standing there for a moment, the sharpshooter takes careful stock of the situation. But what can she do? Call in for backup shouting 'WE HAVE A 616, SLAPSTICK IN PROGRESS, SEND KEYSTONE KOPS'? No. She will handle this in her *own way*.
This is why she stores that shotgun... somewhere, and produces a vintage Thompson machinegun from a similar... somewhere, resting the stock against her side and pointing the barrel at the sky, just in case anyone wanted to *confess and run away*.
"Goodness," she deadpans, slamming a magazine home into the tommygun with a really dramatic *KCHK* sound. "Now I'm upset."
COMBATSYS: Wang blocks Ludz's 1-2 Punch.
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Wang 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/------=|
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|----===
For a little while, Wang has literally no idea of what's happening, except that things are spinning and somehow he is not yet dead. He recalls impact, and is pretty sure he saw brief glimpses of a man, but mostly it's just a blur that miraculously ends with him unhurt.
Until Ludz, anyway. Even disoriented as he is, there is basically no way in hell Wang can miss that huge-ass dude. He is /blocking the sun/. He is punching with /fists the size of Wang/. On the plus side, it's actually pretty easy for the boy to block them on account of how no matter where he puts his arms, they form a makeshift barrier to protect him from the worst of the harm.
Downside: he still goes tumbling backward end over end, winding up a few paces back. Shakily (mostly with fear) Wang climbs up to his feet, and decides that even though this man can probably kill him in a heartbeat, he looks kind of stupid. His only choice is to utilize a /cunning plan/.
"Y-you really have no idea who you're messing with, huh?" He rushes forward, delivering a man-shattering punch to...to Ludz' thigh, because that's about all he can reliably reach.
It's in a much quiet voice that the schoolboy finishes. "You're...dead?" Yes, somehow it's a question.
COMBATSYS: Ludz blocks Wang's Quick Punch.
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Wang 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Ludz
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Newt 0/-------/------=|
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|----===
Ayame glances up from her clipboard as the catastrophic dual-charge against Miranda transpires. This time she says nothing but her sharp brown eyes suggest that no detail is lost upon her. From the clumsy dumb-luck of Newt to the quick recovery on the part of the outnumbered cop, to the crushing force of Ludz, and the... the hell is that kid doing?
Newt lands out of his reckless kick without looking /completely/ ridiculous - that role is occupied mostly by Wang... Wang who punches into Ludz's leg with pretty much no particular impact. "Impressive lack of self-preservation," Ayame muses, jotting down some more notes after a moment.
"Huh? You never gave name, little man." the tall brute points out as he reaches down for Wang for a second attempt at getting an unfortunate hold of him. "No... not dead. Ludz!" And should he manage to get a hold, Wang is in for a very miserable trip back into the concrete face first!
"YEAAAAAAAH!" Newt exclaims as he unravels the chain around himself. "I got you now!" He feels invincible now. He can't be stopped. He can't be contained. He. Is. Newt! He is in SO MUCH TROUBLE and doesn't even KNOW IT!! And right now he's trying to get close enough to the woman with the tommy gun to wrap his chain around her neck from behind.
Ayame exhales, "Excessive dramatics..." Another scribble.
COMBATSYS: Miranda interrupts Chain Strangle from Newt with M1 Thompson Arc Kick to Full Auto.
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Wang 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
Newt may get the sense that something is wrong, when he rather easily gets the chain around Miranda's neck! Gosh, that was simple! And then you just pull it taut and start the strangulation hey wait a minute.
She put the barrel of the gun between her neck and the chain at the last second. Like some sort of terrible guardian statue, neck chafed but not seriously harmed by the little garrote attempt, Miranda turns her head around and looks at Newt carefully, even... impassively. "I feel as if there was something I was supposed to tell you," she begins, voice perfectly even and deadpan. For a moment, the world holds its breath and all is silent, pregnant with the possibility that she isn't going to do an--
Then her elbow slams into his face, and she twirls and directs a high-angle kick to the bottom of his jaw, letting the motion drop her onto her back on the ground even as Newt flies up in the air, and with the ground to brace the gun against, Miranda simply waits until Newt is high enough and then *she opens fire, full auto*.
When she stands back up, it is against the sound of spent brass hitting the alley floor and Miranda saying, almost offhandedly, "Ah, right. You are under arrest. If you come peacefully there's no need for anyone to get hurt."
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Ludz's Faceplanter.
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Wang 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
"Uh, name?" Suddenly, Wang realizes the FATAL FLAW in his cunning master plan to prevent his own imminent murder; if you're trying to impress someone with your reputation, they have to know who you are, first.
"Hangonjustasecondohgod" Suddenly talking and moving extremely fast, Wang scrambles away from Ludz' still huge manhands, desperately staying out of reach. The plan, he has to reformulate the plan, just calm down and--
"MOUSE!" Cooincidentally, Wang squeaks. "Mouse O'Chunks!" He pauses lamely, desperately trying to think straight but basically failing. "...Jafar!"
He sits there for a moment, and then contorts his face into what he imagines to be an intimidating snarl but falls sadly short. Not letting that stop him, he flings himself forward again, trying to slip under Ludz's legs, leap onto his back, and start biting like a feral little asshole.
"I HAVE KILLED OVER FIVE-HUNDRED MEN WITH MY BARE TEETH!"
COMBATSYS: Ludz interrupts Combo Attack from Wang with Ramming Speed.
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Wang 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
Newt feels like a champion when he gets that chain into place. "Ha ha! I got you now, copper! I always wanted to say that!"
Ayame tsks, tsks, "Over confident... oblivious to imminent disaster..."
Miranda turns to look at Newt and the scruffy ruffian blinks, grip on his chain loosening it seems like all he's managed to do is wrangle someone who is not impressed with his wrangling techniques. "Uh... I just-" The elbow to the face makes further deliberations difficult and the chain is released all together. The kick knocks the scrawny guy into the air where he's an easy target for the hail of bullets fired in his direction.
Ayame narrows her eyes a little at the lone officer, well aware that she has not called for backup since making her presence known. Is she that crazy to take on this mess by herself? The strawberry-blonde shakes her head, glancing back down toward her clipboard, "Pathetic groveling surrender in four...three... two...-"
"Argh, she shot me! She shot me!!" Newt exclaims, writhing around on the ground where he landed after his brief visit with the sky. "I give up! I give up! Please," he's practically sobbing. It's pitiful.
"One." Ayame tears a sheet of paper off her clipboard, crumples it up with one hand, and tosses it over her shoulder indifferently. "What a sad showing. Worst score to date. Are there no more good street thieves these days? Is this whole city just soft? Jokes like you would get kicked to the curb by Southtown's Junior High kids. Feh!"
"Mouse O'Chunks?!" Ludz exclaims, looking alarmed. "Jafar!! That's a bad guy!" He pauses in his attempts to chase down Wang only to get leap up onto. The bites against his back seem to spur the brute into motion. "NO LIKE MOUSE O'CHUNKS AND HIS BARE TEETH!"
Ayame's eyes widen as she stares at Wang clinging to Ludz's back. "Good grief, this place is insane."
Ludz does about the only thing he can think to do to get Wang off his back. He... runs backwards into a wall. Hard. A bit of rubble and crumpled bricks clatter to the alley at his feet. Wang might very well be imbedded into the wall for all anyone can tell at first.
COMBATSYS: Newt takes no action.
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Wang 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
Now that is more like it. See? There's nothing that can't be fixed by the proper application of cordite. Perhaps the most unnerving thing for poor Newt is that when he gets five seconds to look Miranda's way again, *she isn't carrying the machine gun anymore*. It's as if she was never carrying the machinegun in the first place. She is, however, staring at him with the same even, deadpan expression she gives everyone, almost all of the time. It goes perfectly with the flat tone in which she decides to give him the most uplifting of speeches about why he should give up a life of crime:
"There are many things in life that are embarassing. Being arrested for failing to rob a dollar store is among them. Perhaps, however, I will let you off with a lesser embarassment because we in the Metro police department believe that making a difference in the life of one individual is important. So I will offer you a choice."
NOW she draws the Colt M1911 again and levels it at Newt who should, by now, have a decent appreciation of her ability to aim under duress, which she currently is not. She cocks the hammer, so that he knows she is serious.
She then says: "You may stay and attempt to resist arrest, or you may leave now without your clothing."
Look at her eyes, Newt.
*She is serious*.
COMBATSYS: Miranda takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Wang 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
A faint part of Wang hears Ayame as he busily tries to gnaw his way deep into the core of Ludz. He lifts his head, trying to follow that tenuous lifeline.
"Huh? I'm in High--" He will never finish that sentence because then Ludz slams him into a wall. It is a toss-up, for a little while, which the young boy will end up embedded in. Which is less hard, Ludz or the wall?
In the end, yes, it is most definitely the wall. Wang sticks there for a moment, completely crushed, before slowly starting to peel out from the himself-shaped crater inside of the Ludz-shaped crater that has formed. All at once he collapses, flopping down onto his face.
"The plan," he weakly announces to nobody in particular, "Has backfired."
On the plus side, severe blunt trauma has succeeded where all of his own efforts have failed, and Wang has finally calmed down somewhat. No longer panicking, he instead rolls over onto his back, staring up (and up, and up) at Ludz. Just...just taking him in, the rational parts of the brain finally doing their job.
"Dang, you're huge." Well, mostly.
COMBATSYS: Wang focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Wang 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
Ayame seems content to watch everything from the back of the alleyway. There are walls on three sides of her and the only way out seems to be through the skirmish between tiny kid and giant... giant and the cop with more guns than seems remotely reasonable, but the strawberry-blonde doesn't seem to care. She stays quiet for a moment, head canted to the side slightly as she waits to see what Miranda does with the surrenered Newt. His gibbering now. It's not a pleasant sight.
Her head leans to the other side when there is mention of a choice, eyebrow arched just a little, the girl curious now. The pistol is drawn and leveled and the ultimatum delivered. "I like this one." Ayame contemplates to herself, mouth curling into the faintest hint of a smirk.
Newt is a trembling mess. It's easy to tell that he'd pretty much do anything asked of him at this point. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he clamors, hands raised, on his knees, "Don't shoot!!" he exclaims when the gun is leveled, as if he thought that he might be up for execution after his failed 99 cent store robbery. If it was up to Ayame, maybe he /would/ be. "I was just trying to prove myself. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Just-" The choice placed before him sinks in and it seems that's enough to give him pause.
Ludz looks down at Wang, "Yeah... I am. My feet are big too..." he helpfully points out as he lifts up one foot and aims to bring it crashing down on the kid's body, seemingly completely oblivious to the surrender of his partner, the very... very unorthodox nature of this cop, and the fact that Ayame seems content to just watch the whole scenario play out without lifting a finger to interfer.
Behind Ludz, there is a pile of clothing left behind where Newt had been a moment before. "You cops are nothing like on TV!!" the panicked punk exclaims. "I'm never taking a chance like this again!" The now clothes-less Despo runs for the mouth of the alley out onto the night street.
Ayame is scribbling something else down on her clipboard. "No wonder the criminals are so soft here... with cops like these around..." She glances back toward Wang and Ludz. "Hm. Hm. Not sure which one is less cognizant of his situation." Ludz's foot finishes crashing down. Is Wang to be smushed at last?!
COMBATSYS: Newt takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Wang 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Wang interrupts Heavy Kick from Ludz with Spoiler Alert.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Wang 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
The rational part of Wang's brain tells him that it would be a remarkably poor idea to just stay there on the ground, which is good advice. It's not really clear on how, and so Wang instinctively reacts by trying to punch Ludz in the jimmlies.
Obstacle one: he's pretty sure he would need to be standing up just to reach. Solution: get an upright Wang.
Sure enough, right on cue, a glowing yellow doppelganger of the boy pops straight up, aiming for a magical nutshot. Problem: This doesn't actually keep Ludz from stepping on Wang. Solution: .........
Wang tries to roll out of the way and stand in the same motion, but ends up getting clipped and spinning wildly out of control, fist upraised to scrape along a massive, burly thigh before he stumbles away, mildly stunned. "What's even...happening?"
Of course Miranda gave the boy privacy, right? He chose freedom and humiliation over capture by the enemy. Surely, her survivalist policy must afford him a kind of samurai honor, right? Ahahaha no, of course not. She keeps the gun trained on him the whole time, too, which is why she's dead impressed with how fast those clothes come off. It's like the man's had practice or something. And then he runs off, doing his best Raiden (the pretty boy, not the wrestler... oh god not the wrestler) impression down a Metro city street though, it should be noted, with far less creepy music and strange psychological subtext.
As she watches him go, a laconic Miranda says to the universe at large, "This is your chance to turn your life around." There's a good chance she actually believes that in a totally unironic way. It's not sure which is scarier a scenario, between that and the idea that she is kidding.
She turns around just in time to see Wang and Ludz still going at it, and for Wang to suddenly sprout a... second Wang? One dark brown eyebrow goes up. This will not do at all. The entire situation is confusing and what she really needs to do is calm everyone down, find out the details, and resolve this peacefully.
There is a sharp whistle.
Should Wang and Ludz turn toward the source of said whistle, they will find Miranda looking right at them, stone-faced, aiming both of her semiautos, one in each hand. And then she just... opens fire on both of them. She may have, on instinct, imbued a bit of fiery chi into each shot so that they explode in a burst of flame on impact. This is, in Miranda's eyes, a 'warning shot' because there is only one bullet.
Yep.
COMBATSYS: Ludz Toughs Out Miranda's Colt M1911 Scarlet Round!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Wang 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Ludz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Newt 0/-------/---====|
[ ||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
Ayame's attention shifts to the exchange between Wang and Ludz, watching the carnage play out with clinical impassiveness. "Hm, hm... both demonstrate remarkable survivability in spite a significant lack of forsight and planning... Maybe that's how they're still alive at all."
Ludz takes one right between the legs but the impact takes so long to work its way up his spine to register with his brain, he's still happily trying to stomp Wang into mush for the next second or two. It's clear when it does hit though, because the thug pauses. "Ow." He breaths in then exhales. "Ow!" There wasn't a second hit, but you'd sure thing there was. Maybe it's a delayed reaction? "Not happy now!" he declares, clasping both of his hands together. "NOT HAPPY NOW."
He's raging man!! Gunfire comes in, bullets exploding into burning chi that sparks against the rugged hide of that tall monster. "Stop hurting Ludz. Ludz hurt you back. LUDZ SMASH!!" Uh oh. Both of his hands clamp together as he lifts them over his head. "LUDZ!" He takes a step toward Wang. "SMASH!" Both hands come crashing down like a megaton missile targeting Wang's head.
Ayame narrows one eye though her focus is on Miranda not on the gorilla about to pulverize Wang. "I wonder what her medical training is like."
COMBATSYS: Miranda successfully hits Wang with Colt M1911 Scarlet Round.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Wang 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ ||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Ludz successfully hits Wang with Double Fisted Fury.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Wang 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ ||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|-======
First, Miranda gets Wang's attention, piercing through his daze so that he gets a good view down the barrel of one of her many firearms. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out. At least, not at first. Gradually, rising in intensity from 'inaudible' to 'glass will soon shatter', he begins to scream. Scream like a girl with /manlungs/ who has just been /shot/.
The MCPD's craziest officer's bullet explodes against Wang, who in the process of attempting to duck and cover takes it full in the chest. He's rocked backward, life flashing before his eyes as he slowly falls to hit the pavement.
Wait, no, that's not his life, that's just Ludz.
"OH NOOOOO" Wang lets out another cry of terror as twin meteors come crashing down with unfair force. Not even curling up tightly into the defensive (fetal) position saves him.
Pavement cracks slightly as the Gedo boy is actually physically driven into it, creating yet another crater in his shape. He stays there, in part because he is not sure he can get out, and in part because he is /far/ too busy to escape.
"Ahaaaaa it huuuuuurts, why is this happening to meeeeeeeee!? I'm too young to diiiiiiiiie!" Busy weeping and being in excruciating pain.
COMBATSYS: Wang gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ ||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|-======
That entire exchange gets a raised eyebrow from Miranda. The one from before, the one with the silly name... that makes sense to her. In her experience criminals are basically cowards that are so full of themselves they just imagine themselves to be above things like 'consequences of their actions.' Wang, meanwhile, is clearly a coward, but is not reacting in a typically criminal way, which makes him an anomaly, and Ludz... well. At this point Miranda's not even sure Ludz is entirely a human being. She actually suspects he is at least 10-20% large simian, perhaps something like an ape or orangutan. It's very distressing.
But she keeps her gun trained on the pair carefully. There's still a chance she can salvage this situation. This is why she employs the craftiest of police tactics by saying, in a clear and authoritative voice, "Stop and I'll shoot!"
With the dumber ones, that moment of mental instability while they do the calculus of the problem is typically enough for Miranda to step in and gain the upper hand. It's not entirely clear what will happen in this scenario. She'll deal with prying Wang out of the street once the more immediate problem is resolved.
COMBATSYS: Miranda gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
Burying Wang into the concrete seems to be the end-goal for Ludz, for once that's accomplished, the thick armed brute stands up straight and exhales, seemingly satisfied with the destruction and content to leave the kid in that condition unless instructed otherwise. "What should I do next? Did I get some points for that?" He's looking to Ayame now right around the time Miranda issues her declaration.
One large paw comes up to scratch the side of his head as the dumber gangster turns around to stare at the cop as if just now noticing her for the first time. "Er... Where Newt is at?"
"Well don't slow down /now/," Ayame advises, leaning back against the wall behind her, fiddling with something in her hand that can't be seen particularly well in the shadows. "Things were just getting interesting. Be a good criminal and go attack that officer a little, hm? She scared your pal off. Don't let her get away with that!"
Ludz's moment of indecisiveness passes quickly as he's given new purpose by the voice of unreason in the background, his expression hardening, his fists tightening. "What did you do to Newt!!" he exclaims as he commences a mighty charge in Miranda's direction. Lowering his shoulder, it seems he's intending to shoulder-check her right out of the alleyway in order to commence the search for his friend!
Ayame pushes off from the wall and takes a couple of steps forward, coming to a stop about five feet from where Wang is becoming one with the street. "So what's your deal, anyway, Mousie? You were running something fierce when you made this wrong turn. It might be all the tears or the pathetic flailing, but you don't really strike me as having that criminal element to you."
Eventually, Wang's sobs quiet down. While it's true that he's feeling the hurt in a big way and making sure everybody knows it, he's made of some surprisingly stern stuff. Maybe some kind of chitin, like a roach?
It doesn't help, however, when Miranda CLEARLY addresses him with an OBVIOUS threat despite how he's the one in the crater and Ludz is still going strong. Of /course/ she's talking to Wang, she just shot him, didn't she?
"Oh, oh god," Wang tries to fight back the panic again, aided only slightly by Ludz forgetting about him and wandering off. The only certainty is that no matter what, he /can't/ stop now. Not even to have a pleasant conversation with the woman who ordered him smushed.
"I didn't mean it, oh god, but now it's too late and there's no turning back, why is everyone in America a cowboy with a gun THEY ARE GOING TO HANG ME FROM A TREE." Wang more or less pops out of the crater as he responds to Ayame's questioning, having already deduced the most likely scenario from his recent virtual old west escapades. There's only one option left to him.
"PLEEEEEASE OH MY GOD, don't let her kill me she is insane, I'll do anything you want but I want to liiiiive!" The boy goes down on hands and knees, /begging/ Ayame but also slowly shuffling in a large circle on a course that will eventually but the criminal mastermind between him and the insane vigilante who thirsts for human blood.
COMBATSYS: Wang takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Ludz
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|---====
COMBATSYS: Miranda interrupts Strong Punch from Ludz with Reaping Takedown.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Ludz
[ |||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|=======
Well. She's actually from Costa Rica, not Mexico or Spain. But still, she's got a certain cultural background, and when a large object that isn't terribly smart is rushing at you without really thinking, there's only one *logical* way to actually go about handling it, right? Of course there is.
In one smooth motion, Miranda steps forward toward Ludz and leans forward *into* his shoulder charge. In that fractional moment where momentum is being transferred she oh-so-gently slips out a foot and applies a bit of pressure. That is to say, she sweeps Ludz's feet out from under him so that his legs, free of earthly friction, now go *out* and *up* and his massive torso instead goes *back* and *down* for ballast, aided by Miranda reaching out and shoving, hard. The result is that he slips up and slams down on the ground on his back, while Miranda -- grimacing from the contact, but standing -- is suddenly holding a shotgun in her left hand, twin barrels pointed *downward* at Ludz while the officer looks forward.
Glancing down at him for a moment, the MCPD officer says, in a dry tone, "Please do not say your name followed by 'Smash!'. You are merely embarassing yourself."
Then she looks forward toward Wang and Ayame, one hand training the shotgun on the grounded Ludz, and her other hand giving a jaunty little wave. "Hello. You are not technically under arrest since your only crimes that I have observed are against fashion," she says, glancing at Ayame, "and good taste," she finishes, glancing at Wang. "However, in the spirit of civic-mindedness, I would like to hear any information you may have pertaining to certain legally punishable crimes committed here."
At this, she tilts her head toward the pinned thug and the shotgun, in a physical gesture implying that friendly questions are the *easy* way.
When Wang starts spouting off again, Ayame cants her head to the side a little, alternating her focus between Wang's verbal piteous verbal spew and Ludz's utter failure at imitating a battering ram. "Uh huh. Pretty sure they don't hang people anymore." she notes dryly without looking at him, "Though with how you're carrying on, I hope they make an exception..."
Off to the side, Ludz gets taken down rather professionally, the larger brawler dropped to the ground with a pretty hefty crash, his momentum working pretty well against him at that point. "Ugh..." As he blinks up at the night sky overhead, that view is suddenly blocked by the rather distracting presence of a shotgun being pointed at him at fairly close range. "Uh..."
That sound represents Ludz realizing that a lifetime's worth of poor mistakes have brought him to this point where he's flat on his back with an officer of the law waving her boomstick in his face and that maybe he really should have thought more carefully about what he was doing rather than being easily persuaded to pursue such stupid decisions. Slowly he moves his arms along the ground such that his hands are raised 'above' his head, palms up, "Uh... Teddy sorry."
Ayame tucks her clipboard under her right arm and clasps her hands behind her back, "Hello, officer." She sounds cheerful, the remark about her choice in fashion seeming to not even merit a bat of her eyes. "As someone who has been stuck watching this travesty unfold, I can assure you that aside from rather ineffective attempts at trying to assault an officer-" Ludz lets out a low groan of pain on the gound. "- there really hasn't been any actionable criminal activity conducted here. The idea that any of the three individuals you've more than handily dealt with could even pull off a caper as simple as shoplifting from the candy rack is pretty preposterous when contemplated seriously." She gestures toward the moaning Ludz and wimpering Wang and abandoned pile of clothing while she's at it.
"As far as I can tell, and this is just my opinion, all that's happened here is the very thought of trying something criminal up until your timely intervention caused them to rethink their ineffective ways and course correct before it was too late..."
COMBATSYS: Ludz takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Ludz
[ |||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|--=====
Wang is certain that Ayame doesn't know what she's talking about, if cops in America can shoot villains on sight then they can definitely hang them without a trial, too. It's the only thing that makes sense in this wild frontier town.
But more importantly than that, the boy's sole hope of survival has just flat-out stated that she hopes he dies. This is devestating. A gasp of terror escapes from Wang.
"O-oh no..." The reaper looms large in his vision, a grim spectre of certain death. Yet just when Wang is certain that his fate is sealed, a bright, shining ray of light breaks through like a holy cross boomerang, offering him a new, possibly even better sole hope of survival. Which is to say, the girls are busy talking and stuff. Doing his best to creep slowly along while Ayame carefully explains why Miranda's basically wasting her time and how Wang is too stupid to be a real criminal.
Obviously she's /wrong/ because Wang is the most hardened criminal there is, but now is not the time for petty arguments. Now is the time for /action./ As soon as the conversation lulls, Wang makes his move.
"CHEESE IT!" he screams for no good reason, scrambling on all fours a few paces as he starts to run and try to pick up a scrap of porn simultaneously, eventually failing to do either and tripping onto his face.
It takes him a second, but Wang recovers and begins to more competently make his escape by dashing past the lump of people clogging the alleyway.
This is probably a terrible plan.
COMBATSYS: Wang takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Ludz
[ |||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|--=====
Now, there just isn't time for Miranda to react to all of this simultaneous sensory input in one go. She has to prioritize, and so she's evaluating the routes to go, here.
1.) A smarmy-sounding, smiling-too-easily girl with a clipboard.
2.) A repentant thug who doesn't use prepositions.
3.) A little Chinese kid who doesn't know "Cheese it!" was discontinued in 1944.
We can safely discount #3, and really, once he mentions his name is Teddy, #2 actually gets a brief expression of sympathy from Miranda. That first option, though... on the one hand, she's right about there not being a lot in terms of observable crime on the part of Ayame herself, or Wang. And really, she processes that Teddy has suffered enough, such as it is. Thus the shotgun comes up and rests, angularly, against Miranda's shoulder. "It is such a hassle, paperwork, isn't it? Forms in triplicate, one each for charges of assault on an officer, attempted robbery, resisting arrest, not to mention the copyright infringement civil suit from Marvel Comics(tm). It really is a hassle. *Do* enjoy your stay in Metro City," the Latina gunslinger says at last, stepping back from Teddy/Ludz so he can get up and watching, impassively, as Wang shoots past her at the speed of fear.
That said, she's still standing there with the shotgun afterwards, watching. She expects to see this young woman again, yes indeed. First the psycho assassin who was out to get her, and now some fresh-faced thieving brat and her two-bit, straight-from-central-booking thugs.
She smiles. "I would so hate to see you come to harm." Miranda, you shot that one guy with a fully automatic machine gun.
Maybe that's the *point*.
COMBATSYS: Miranda takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Wang 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Ludz
[ |||||||||||||||| ]
Miranda 0|-------|--=====
Ayame remains perfectly composed as Wang makes his desperate break for freedom. Having her minions stomp on him was pretty fun, but beyond that, she can't really identify a profit in spending any more time on him. When he actually manages to screw up the safe break he's been given and stumble to the ground, Ayame does blink once. The depths of sadness he can reach did manage to surprise her. She's silently impressed. What doesn't surprise her is that Miranda doesn't want to bother with the kid.
She never takes her eyes off the officer for even an instant, however. "I wouldn't know," Ayame replies with regards to the inconvenience of paperwork. "It's really just easier to keep things off the record, I find."
Ludz is slow to react even when the opportunity to move is restored to him. He does manage to slowly push himself to standing eventually, however, and begins to sort've hobble off away from the scary police lady as fast as his aching body can take him.
Now that she's close enough, Ayame glances up and down Miranda briefly, looking for a means of future identification - a badge number perhaps - before turning her focus to the cop's eyes. "Thank you, officer!" she replies with regards to the obvious concern about seeing her come to harm. "I can tell why Metro is such a safe place!" The police definitely seem more... assertive with their authority here, she muses. Are more of them like this?
Unless otherwise prevented, she circles around Miranda, gives her a grin and quick casual salute, before stepping out onto the sidewalk and resting her hands on the back of her neck. She's got her work cut out for herself is she's going to get any kind of momentum here!
Log created on 00:33:11 02/12/2011 by Miranda, and last modified on 22:11:47 02/13/2011.