2012-07-21 Brooklyn

Night falls on Brooklyn and even though it isn’t a weeknight things are surprisingly quiet in this corner of town. In the distance some dance music thumps rhythmically and a pair of cats yowl at each other in a nearby alleyway.

On a nearby rooftop stands the Green Arrow, bow held in one hand and the other pressed to a Bluetooth headset affixed to his ear. His hood is drawn back, revealing his domino-masked face, and he is currently in conversation.

“Look, Frank, I appreciate that but I hired you to handle these things so you won’t call me while I’m out.”

He pauses, turning his head to one side to talk to the empty night: “I’ll be right there, babe.”

“Frank,” he continues, turning his head back to the microphone, “As you can hear, I’m busy. Just forward the contracts to me and I’ll look them over when I’m not indisposed. Yep. Yep. Alright. Bye Frank. Goodbye, Frank.”

New York and it's surrounding 'metro area' is a hell of a lot bigger than Westchester, and there's a lot more interesting things happening than in Limbo. So whereas Illyana spent most of her evenings at Xavier's in watching movies, now she spends most of them out. Some nights it's to listen to music and some nights, like tonight, it's just to take in the sights. Mostly the people. Illyana's dressed in worn jeans and combat-style boots, her Xavier's hoodie with the hood down over a worn shirt. Her nails still have the black polish from the club earlier but she's ditched the rest of the spikes and chains. Instead, she has a tall cup of coffee as she ambles down the street. Pretty blonde girl walking the streets of New York in the middle of the night, it's all perfectly normal. Maybe it's the night breeze that blows just so, bringing her Green Arrow's voice. Or maybe she can just sense... something. The blonde pauses on the sidewalk, and looks up, gaze searching the roofline.

Green Arrow steps deftly back from the edge of the roof, crouching down and deactivating the headset with a tap of his finger. He shakes his head, silently cursing himself for getting overheard by the woman in the street. He’s about to turn and depart when a sound causes him to pause.

The sound is the heavy footfalls of a trio of men, tall and broad-shouldered, stepping out of the mouth of an alleyway to block Illyana’s path. The one in the middle looks to be their leader, perpetuating his ‘cool’ by wearing sunglasses and a Yankees cap at night.

“Whatcha lookin’ at, sweetie?”

Illyana turns towards the trio as they step out, one hand holding her coffee and the other in the front pocket of her hoodie. Her blue eyes slide to each of them in turn, finally resting on the leader in the shades.

"Looks like it was nothing. Sometimes you just get that feeling. Like something's watching you, you know?" Her tone is calm, unruffled. She lifts her coffee to take a sip before letting it drop again. "I don't suppose that you're here to tell me about the reach history and culture of the Brooklyn area, are you?"

“’fraid not,” says Shades, chuckling to himself while the other two laugh and spread out a little to cover possible escapes, “Now, how ‘bout you give us whatever cash you’ve got then we’ll see about letting you go, huh?”

Up on the rooftop, Green Arrow narrows his eyes behind his mask as he looks down at the three goons. He lifts the bow, nocks an arrow and takes aim. But he waits, waits for the right moment.

"Hmm." Illyana says, and digs around in her pocket and pulls out... a ten and a five. She holds it out towards Shades, not taking a step towards him while she takes another sip of her coffee. "I assume you don't want the loose change? I've only got the one hand free at the moment." She says conversationally. There's the slightest quirk to one corner of her lips. A small smirk whose humor doesn't reach her eyes. No, those have gone very, very cold and hard. Like deepwater ice.

“Hah,” Shades laughs, glancing over his shoulder for a moment at this accomplices before looking back at Illyana, “I was hoping you’d at least put up a little bit of a fight.”

He reaches out a meaty hand to grab the money when a whistling sound fills the air and then, all of a sudden, Shades is on the ground screaming. He rolls back and forth, nursing his hand through which a green-fletched arrow appears to have lodged itself.

Up above, Green Arrow is already slinging himself down the fire escape deftly, bow clasped in one hand, “No sweat, I got this.”

The other two thugs look dumbstruck down at Shades, up at Green Arrow and then turn to run.

Illyana's brows wing upwards as that arrow skewers Shades' hand, and as he drops to the ground she's standing there, still holding out the money, leaning over to the side and going up on her toes a bit to look over at him. She looks at the other two as they start to run. "So... I'll just keep my money then?" She calls after them before finally pushing her hand with the two bills back into her pocket. "So maybe I saw something after all." She says, looking back down to Shades and sipping her coffee again. As Green Arrow passes her by she lifts her cup at him. "Sure thing. Let me know if you want any help."

“Will do, honey,” Green Arrow looks to one side to wink at Illyana before turning his full attention back to the thugs, “Where’re you guys going?”

He lifts the bow and nocks it, firing off two arrows in the space of a second even as he’s leaping from the fire escape to the street. The arrows find their targets, each one piercing the ankle of one of the goons and sending them toppling.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he calls back to Illyana, jogging over to fetch some cable ties from his belt to truss up the bad guys.

Illyana wrinkles her nose a bit. It makes her look younger than she is. Almost cute. Except for those cold eyes. "'Honey'?" She grimaces and stands there, watching and sipping at her drink. She does look down at Shades though and offers helpfully. "That looks pretty painful."

The two fleeing thugs didn’t make it far and before long they’re well and truly bound and sitting under a nearby streetlamp awaiting pick up. Shades simply lies there wimpering as he holds his hand against his chest and bleeds.

Soon, Green Arrow is strolling back over towards Shades whom he plants a knee on and begins to tie up much like the other thugs. As he’s doing so, however, he looks up at Illyana and speaks like he’s just met her at a bar, “Hi there.”

Illyana gives her cup an absent shake, but it seems that her coffee is all gone. A glance doesn't show a trash can in the immidiate vacinity so she just holds onto it and finally turns her attention back to the man in green. Her free hand comes up to gesture vaguely around her mouth. "You've got something on your face." She says helpfully.

“Ouch,” Green Arrow says with a laugh, finishing off with Shades and nudging him off to the side with a foot as he stands, “You’d think I didn’t just shoot three guys who were trying to rob you.”

"It was fifteen dollars." Illyana points out. "And I could probably do without the latte's that I'd have bought with it." She strolls over towards Green Arrow and looks down at Shades, shaking her head. "If something seems like too much of a good thing? It probably is." She tells the thug and then starts to walk. "Green Arrow, right?"

“Yeah,” Green Arrow answers, slinging the bow back where it usually rests, “Well, now that your fifteen bucks is saved and you’ve lavished your gratitude upon me, I’ve got places to be.”

He nods his head to her, drawing his hood back up over his head and striding across to the fire escape, “Have a good night.”

"Don't tell me you're honestly in it for the gratitude, Green Arrow. That's not enough to drive you as hard as it does. Only demons do that." The blonde says, turning to watch him as he starts to head away.

“I get free hotdogs sometimes if the vendor recognizes me,” comes Green Arrow’s answer, circumventing the talk about demons, “Not to mention I get to shoot arrows at people without anyone pressing charges.”

He raises a hand to grab onto the fire escape ladder, pulling himself up.

"You actually eat hotdogs?" Illyana gives a full-body shudder. Like that's a scarier prospect than the three thugs that wanted her money. "I don't get a token to remember my saviour by? Proof that tonight wasn't just a dream?" She's grinning now, as he pulls himself up onto the fire escape.

“Please,” Green Arrow says with a laugh, hanging by one arm off the fire escape’s ladder, “A second ago you were all ‘meh’ and now you want a token?”

Still, he can’t help but be a sucker for a pretty face and he stops climbing enough to consider the notion, “What exactly were you after?”

"You've got the whole Robin Hood vibe going, I figure tokens and favors are your thing." Illyana says. Her manner is more teasing than gushing gratitude, but at least she called him her saviour, right? She looks him up and down appraisingly. "Well you certainly travel light, don't you?" She starts to walk over towards where Green Arrow is on the fire escape, then pauses next to the trio and tucks her now-empty cup between Shades' trussed-up-arms. "Throw that away for me, will you?" She smiles and pats his cap. "You're a doll." Then she continues over towards the Emerald Archer until she's on the ground below him and crooks a finger. "Lean down."

Green Arrow pauses a moment to consider it before acquiescing, leaning down from the ladder as Illyana asked.

“You’re right about the Robin Hood vibe,” he says, “Childhood hero of mine.”

Illyana has to go up on her tiptoes, reaching out towards his cap for the feather that he's got tucked in there. She's not making any fast, sudden movements though. It brings her close enough that he can smell faint traces of rosehips and something earthier, like moss with hints of something live and growing and wild. She drops her voice to a soft murmur near his ear if he stays close enough. "I don't think he enjoyed shooting people so much. That's alright. I always thought it was one of his weaknesses." And then she's dropping back down onto her heels.

“Well there she goes with the source of all my power,” Green Arrow says with a chuckle, still leaning down even after she’s done taking the feather and whispering, “I’m going to have to retire now. As for Robin Hood? I said he was a childhood hero, not that I was /entirely/ like him.”

Illyana twirls the feather between two fingertips. "And now I can fly! Oh, wait. Wrong Disney movie." She taps the tip of his nose with the feather and then steps back with her prize. "That's good. He was always a bit too goody-two-shoes for me. Good luck with the rest of your night." She says as she continues to back away, smirking. "I'm sure you'll still manage a conquest or three."

“Here’s hoping,” Green Arrow answers with a grin, winking once more before he pulls himself up the ladder and slings himself onto the first platform. Leaning forward over the railing, half-smiling, “So, do I get your name?”

"I didn't get yours." Illyana counters. "Green Arrow really doesn't count. It's so awkward to say." She says with that scrunching up of her nose again. "But don't worry. I'll drop in on you sometime." She tucks the feather into her hair and then points towards him. "But I'm not bringing hotdogs. Ew."

“I’ll try to forgive you when you don’t,” Green Arrow answers with another chuckle, pushing back away from the railing and ascending the fire escape with practiced grace. A moment later and he’s glancing back down from the rooftop. A moment after that and he’s gone.

Illyana pushes her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and chuckles as she continues on down the street. "One day they'll learn not to give tokens to witches." She murmurs to herself.