2013.03.21 - Robbin' Hood and the Less Than Merry Men

7:30pm is right in the middle of prime time on Fifth Ave. And prime time along Fifth Avenue means not only packed streets but throngs of people walking up and down the sidewalks, both on the side that's full of skyscrapers with their high end restaurants, bars, shops, and apartments as well as along the Central Park sidewalks. On the building side a mild disruption in the flow of pedestrians is making it way northward along the sidewalk. Gabriel, dressed in a fine looking tree-piece suit in charcoal gray and with a messenger style bag slung crosswise over his chest, is at the center of this disruption stumbling along drunkenly, bouncing from person to person with many a profuse apology. In his trail he leaves a lot of annoyed people commenting about the disgraceful state of today's youth and the fact that its way too early to be that drunk yet.

It is 7:30 and Tommy is hungry. This is normal since he needs to eat three times more often than a normal boy of his age. So it is time for a pizza run. Or pizza walk, since with Eddie on tow, Tommy moves at normal walking place. But that is okay, since Tommy's cunning plan involves having Eddie pay for half the food and bring back enough snacks to the underground hideout of the Young Allies to last for a few days. They are not quite there when Gabriel appears, making a spectacle of himself and stealing wallets left and right. "Sheesh, they fall for the drunken guy every time. Getting angry instead of getting suspicious. Dumb people." Yes, Tommy is a cynical, and also quite the expert at making wallets vanish. Eddie's happy to walk along with Tommy, enjoying spending time with his teammates. The cunning plan goes very well, Eddie fine with paying for a chunk of the food. He'd even offer to carry it all if he thought he could. Backpack on, he frowns slightly when Tommy brings up Gabriel. Looking over, the power booster frowns deeper. "Yeah," he agrees with a sigh. "Want to d-d-do something about it?"

"So...you work at Mickey D's, huh?" Gabriel might hear a familiar voice, if he still remembers his last meeting with Kiden, when she utterly ruined his charitable game Three Card Monte. "I know this kind of work, and it sure ain't Mickey D stuff..." Turns out that Kiden saw him in the crowd and followed him, if only to let him know she's on to him.

Gabriel recovers from his drunkenness rather quickly when he hears a semi-familiar voice right behind him. With a quick spin Gabriel realizes that indeed his memory is working fine and grabbing Kiden by the wrist yanks her into the alley he was walking by when she startled him. As soon as they're out of the general flow of traffic, and more importantly, out of general earshot he lets go of her wrist and hisses at her, "Could you be /any/ more meddlesome? If you must know, this is all part of the Robin Hood act, like you called it. Now the question is, what're you going to do about it?" Gabriel isn't threatening but he's clearly not happy that Kiden startled him the way she did.

"I don't know, he is not really hurting anyone," at least not much. Since Tommy is just as guilty, he is not going to judge others too harshly. On the other hand, he is wearing a suit. That probably makes Gabriel evil. People in suits shouldn't be allowed to pick pockets. "Maybe a little lesson or something along the lines?" He suggests. "Hey, where did he go with that girl? Alright, now we have to do something!" He hurries to the alley.

"He's in a suit, Tommy," Eddie replies with a little frown. He can understand a homeless person needing the cash but if someone that doesn't need to steal does it, he's not as forgiving. "A lesson c-could work. What do you have in mind?" he asks, perking up. When Tommy brings up the girl getting pulled into an alley, Eddie nods. "Right, let's g-g-go," he agrees, following after Tommy.

"Hey!!! Let go!" Kiden cries out, not expecting Gabriel to grab her so suddenly and pull her into an alley, it's only her prior meeting with Gabriel that keeps her from doing something about it. For now going with the flow of things. "Robin Hood act? Do you even know these people? It's not like you're robbing people in the middle of a freakin' broadway show, you could very well be robbing someone who spends all their stuff on nice looking clothes, but isn't all that rich at all. How Robin Hood is that?" Kiden snaps back at Gabriel, pointing at him with one finger while her other hand rests on her hip.

"Yes," Xavin chimes in as he steps up behind Eddie and Tommy. Clapping his hands firmly on both boys' shoulders, he continues, "There's... /justice/ to be had." The brown-skinned alien is clad in his purple and black uniform, but--where--did he come from?

And wasn't there a dancing coffee cup nearby, just a few moments ago?

"Hopefully," he adds a little more ruefully as his eyes slide towards a nearby cafe, "there is also a reward to be had."

Gabriel's frown deepens but he keeps his voice low so that he can't be overheard outside of the alley. "In the middle of friggin' Fifth Ave.?? /I/ had to dress like a fop just so cops wouldn't harass me for walking around, let alone for being drunk! If anyone out there is posing and I liberate their funds then they deserve it!" He might be keeping his voice low but his Hispanic side is coming through nice and loud in the way he's gesticulating, making it clear to anyone that's watching that the conversation isn't exactly a friendly one.

Tommy yelps when Xavin appears from nowhere. "Whathehell... oh! Is that you, Xav?" He would berate the shapeshifter for dropping on them like that, but he has a girl to save, so it can wait. "Hey, you!" He calls at Gabriel, stepping into the alley. "What is going on? Leave the girl alone."

Eddie yelps too, letting out a startled squeak. He relaxes when he sees it's Xavin though. "H-hey," he greets. "We d-don't need rewards," he adds in as he follows Tommy to the alley. "Let her g-go," he adds onto Tommy's demand.

 Kiden calls out in Spanish when she feels Gabriel might be getting a bit too upset, before switching back to English, "I don't give a flipping fuck about any of them, okay? They sure don't give a fuck about me, but what you're doing is judging everybody at a glance! That's just wrong! It's one thing to take for yourself because you need, but you're playing Robin Hood and taking a lot more...and you don't know that those people are all rich assholes!" She would have gone on if it wasn't for the interruption of Tommy, Eddie and Xavin, she looks blankly at them and turns to look at Gabriel, apparently not quick to realize they were coming to her aid, "you hurt one of their sisters?" It doesn't occur to her she's the girl he's supposed to be letting go.

"No," Xavin murmurs, turning his eyes away from the cafe. "Of course we don't."

While Kiden stares at them, he studies her and Gabriel both, right up until she actually acknowledges them to Gabriel. At that point, he clears his throat, raises his right hand, and offers, "No; you just seemed..." That raised hand gestures towards the scene a little before he finishes, "... a little helpless; we thought that we would help." With that, he drops his hand and folds his arms over his chest. "I don't even /have/ a sister," he helpfully adds.

Gabriel looks over at the trio that's now standing at the entrance to the alley, looking about as bewildered as Kiden and then shakes his head while showing two very empty hands. "Ain't grabbing her man, unless I have an invisible third hand I didn't know about?" then turning to answer Kiden's question, "Definitely not, first woman I've touched in about a month was you just now, and that didn't last all that long. I take it they're not your peeps?"

"Single child myself," chirps Tommy with a smirk. "And we are just the... good citizens watch," he looks at Eddie and nods. Well, at least one of them fits the bill. "Anyway," he steps close, seeing Kiden is not longer being grabbed, and shrugs. "Looked worse than it is, I guess. After all you dragged the blonde here forcefully, after picking like ten wallets in record time."

Eddie just gives Tommy a look when he says he's an only child. No comments but he subscribed to the 'there has to be some relation to Billy' theory...pretty much because Billy came up with it. Shaking it off, he turns his attention to the events at hand. "My s-s-sister would hurt him. Badly," he admits. Yes, he started considering Sif an older sister. She calls him Little Brother now after all. Since things are looking better, Eddie relaxes a little. "Y-yeah. We c-came because we thought you needed help," he chimes in. When Tommy mentions the wallets, Eddie tenses again and keeps his eyes on Gabriel just in case he turns hostile.

"Single child!? God, you don't know how much I'm jealous," Kiden sounds very sincere when she makes that assertion, "I don't know what's worse, retarded kid brothers, or a thug big brother," she rolls her eyes as if she's exasperated with the world itself. She then motions with her head in the direction of Gabriel, "nice of you to worry about me and all, but Robin Hood over there couldn't hurt me if he tried." She then smiles faintly, "but hey, you guys showed up to help me, and last I checked this is still New York City, so kudos to you!"

Xavin shoots Tommy a look of his own, and only /just/ holds himself back from casually inquiring about 'that boy who looks exactly like him'. Instead, he shakes his head slightly and turns his attention back to Gabriel to rather half-heartedly supply, "Those wallets should, I imagine, go back to--whomever owns them." When Kiden gives her thanks, the alien's brow knits, and he studies the blonde for a moment before cautiously wondering, "I--take it that they're more polite in Old York, then?"

Kiden laughs at Xavin's quip, not realizing he wasn't actually joking but was rather serious instead. She is, however, not keen on the conversation with Gabriel and the others about the wallets he stole, she just kinds of shuffles out of the way, letting the focus shift to Gabriel, and then...she's gone. As if she wasn't ever there. Even if someone happened to look directly at her, it's impossible to register any movement from her. She's just there, and the next moment, she isn't.

If the way everyone here is treating him like a complete non-threat is bothering him Gabriel doesn't let it show. Instead he just tilts his head a bit to the side and considers the trio in front of him for a moment before smiling brightly at them and saying, "Well, at least one of you seems to have rather bright eyes and a bit of experience in liberating item. Let's consider the situation..." as he speaks he dips his hand into his messenger bag and pulls out a wallet at random. Taking any cash out of it he then drops the cash into the main pocket of the bag and the wallet with any other contents into the smaller outside pocket, "If you look around you you'll notice we're in the middle of Fifth Ave. The people that live and spend time here /usually/ have more money than they know what to do with. Loosing a little bit of it won't hurt them and will help others quite a bit once its redistributed. She can vouch for the fact that I do redistribute it." When he reaches the part about vouching he mirrors Kiden's move, pointing at her with a small motion of his head. Only to turn and look all the way in her direction then spin around in a full circle, "Well, ain't that dandy..."

Tommy's eyes widen as Kiden vanishes. "Wow, she is fast." And if Tommy says someone is fast, Eddie and Xavin should know he /really/ means it. "Yeah, people in New York rarely get involved in things like this," he explains Xavin. Gabriel explanations with the wallets do not seem to interest him much. He vaguely agrees, but he can hardly say that in front of Eddie.

Eddie's a bit surprised by Kiden vanishing but more by Tommy's reaction. He lets the white haired speedster explain things to Xavin, returning to keeping watch on Gabriel. Listening, he frowns deeply. "Redistributing it to yourself d-d-doesn't count," he says firmly. "And it still doesn't make it r-right to steal it in the first place. So how about g-giving it all back? We won't have t-t-to get the police involved if you do."

Between Kiden's laughter and all the stolen currency that Gabriel is pulling out, Xavin's brow definitely doesn't get any /less/ furrowed. "I was--" he begins to say to the former before--

--well, he /can't/. Blinking, he quickly moves forward to wave his hand through the space where she was, pulls it back to stare at it, then groans and turns around to point himself towards Gabriel.

"Well," he evenly begins after Eddie says his piece, "he /does/ have a point; it's a quandary." His eyes briefly shift towards Eddie... and then he extends his hand towards the young pickpocket.

"Maybe... the best thing would be if we saw the redistribution in action, no?"

Gabriel is going through the same motions of separating the cash from the rest of the wallet with another one. Something he hasn't stopped as the conversation has gone on. He keeps his eyes mostly on Xavin as he steps closer to inspect the area Kiden was in but doesn't move away from him. His brow does quirk a bit at his suggestion thought, "Well, I was giving all the ID and credit cards back anyway since they're more trouble than their worth. And if you guys feel like coming with me to a couple of shelters while I make some donations you're more than welcome to. Maybe then you'll understand why I'm doing what I'm doing." His attention move from Xavin to Eddie once he realizes Xavin isn't going to do anything aggressive... Yet.

Tommy shrugs, "have you been doing it for long? Because I happen to... well, know people in the shelters." And probably so does Eddie. Gabriel story is weird, but in modern New York it is not entirely impossible. "Who was that girl, anyway?" Eddie tenses visibly at the mention of the shelters. He's very interested in the answers to Tommy's question because he does know a lot of people in the shelters. "I d-don't know," he speaks up when Kiden is asked about.

At the mention of shelters, Xavin's eyes dart between Gabriel and his upturned palm a few times, and then he haltingly pulls his hand back to slide it into a pocket. Which, that uniform didn't actually have pockets a minute ago, but who really keeps track of little things like that? "Yes, right," he agrees with a small, stiff nod. "Let's do that. Let's--go to shelters." Bribery, apparently, doesn't translate so well from Skrull to English.

Finished with all the transfers Gabriel takes the 'empty' wallets and puts them in a big envelop that he labels, 125th Police Precinct. "Well, shall we head out then? We have at least 5 or 6 shelters to hit and its already 8pm. Its going to be a quick dash to hit them all before the 11pm curfew a lot of them use." Without really waiting to see if they follow or not he heads out, dropping the big envelop in the first mailbox they pass by.

Tommy looks at Xavin and Eddie with a smirk. "You guys go with him, I will take care to the food. See you back at the station at midnight? I did some improvements with the computer system. It almost works. Gotta check with Spider about it."

Eddie frowns at the way Gabriel's returning the wallets, a distrust for the police still in him. "Y-yeah, I'll see you there. And let m-m-me know how much the food costs?" he asks, intending to pay for it all. Might as well do something with the money he gets from Sif and Thor. He gives Xavin a curious look as the alien goes off and then sighs before scurrying after Gabriel. "Which shelters," he asks carefully.

Gabriel, dressed in a charcoal gray, three piece suit today and carrying a messenger bag strapped across his chest, is walking toward Jonah's shelter. As he goes he's speaking with a teenage boy that's walking next to him, "And I've been at this for about 2 years now. At first I couldn't do much but the better I got at liberating items the more I was able to do. The shelters we've visited, along with a few others know not to ask questions since I stop showing up if they do." Its about 10:15pm ss they come up to Jonah's shelter he adds, "This shelter is run by Jonah Calhoon. Cranky old codger but he's the one that housed me almost from the first day I got to New York."

Eddie's been mostly silent as he walks along with Gabriel. Dressed in jeans, a Superboy t-shirt, and with his backpack on, he's been paying very close attention to everything Gabriel says and does. He's got a frown on his face as they go though, not entirely sure how to feel about any of this yet. "I know who r-r-runs this one," he remarks quietly. He's been familiar with all the shelters they've visited really, he just hasn't voiced that.

With it so late out, it might be just a little surprising seeing a boy as young as Jeremy still outside, but...outside he is, coming back towards the shelter from being out somewhere. He's pushing it a little, with it so close to curfew, but...Jeremy tends to do that. He's never late, but he's increasingly out up until the last minute. As he approaches the shelter, he blinks, spotting someone else approaching (in a three-piece suit, no less). Briefly, he tenses up, starting to slide into a fighting stance...but as soon as he spots who it /is/, he relaxes. "Mister Gabriel?" he asks, approaching, and sparing a glance for the teen with his friend.

Gabriel chuckles at Jeremy's reaction and shakes his head, "Geez Kiddo. I don't come visit for a few days and you forget all about me? And about the deal we had that it was only Gabriel?" Turning to motion at Eddie with one hand he adds, "This is my new friend..." And suddenly he realizes that even though he's been traveling with the other teenager for hours now he hasn't asked for a name or anything, "Well, this is my new friend and I don't know his name yet. New friend, this is Jeremy."

When Jeremy walks up, Eddie pauses. Realizing the kid is probably headed to the shelter, a familiar sad look comes to his face. He arches both brows slightly when Gabriel calls him a friend. Letting out a breath, he lifts a hand to wave slightly to Jeremy. "I'm Eddie," he introduces himself quietly. "How d-do you two know eachother?"

"S-Sorry, mister...um, um, I mean...Gabriel..." Jeremy goes a little red, and toes the ground as he looks down at his feet. "Um, there was this bad guy that was hangin' around a while back an' he kinda dressed nicer...so I thought maybe..." He shrugs. "I was just out makin' sure he didn't come back after Miss Mend and...a-after Miss Mend told him to go away." He looks over at Eddie, studying the other nervous boy, and finally offers a hand. "Um, h-hi...I'm Jeremy. Um, oh...he already said that, right, um...Mister--oh, sorry--Gabriel helped me find this place when I, um..." He coughs. "Gabriel helped me find this place."

Unlike his two companions Gabriel has no shyness problems what-so-ever, "Nice to finally get your name Eddie. I found Jeremy a little lost and confused in Central Park. Maybe he bumped his head or something because he didn't remember much past his name. So I brought him here since I trust Jonah to take care of a kid in his situation. We've been friends ever since, even if its hard training him not to call me Mister as if I was 50 years old." He winks at Jeremy so its clear that he's joking before asking, "So Marissa came by again? Did she bring more clothes with her? Or was she looking for you? Hubbahubba!" Teasing a kid as shy as Jeremy might not be the brightest idea but Gabriel's determined to break him out of his shell.

Eddie can't help but be reminded of himself as he watches Jeremy. It's similar to how he used to act before Billy, Sif, and Thor started to pull him out of his shell. Of course the mention of Mend and a bad guy get Eddie's attention snapping to Jeremy quickly and his expression turns a bit more serious. "A b-bad guy? Do you know which one?" he asks. He may not be on the streets anymore but Eddie is still protective of the other homeless kids. The story of how Gabriel and Jeremy met gets a nod as Eddie makes a note to ask a little more about it later.

Jeremy hangs his head a little as Gabriel tells the story, tucking his hands in his pockets. At the question about Marissa, he goes bright red. "No!" He looks up at Gabriel, scowling. "Um, no, she was, um...she was patrollin' and stuff, I guess, and she saw me talkin' to this guy and, um, um...I mean, she saw this guy and he was, um..." He slows to a stop, and sighs, looking at Eddie, then off to the side. "Um, I-I don't know his name...he was just one of those, um, those drug dealin' guys. I-I...I saw him dealin' kinda near the shelter and stuff, so...I thought he should leave, and, um...Itoldhimso. And then, um, Miss Mend showed up and it was okay."

Gabriel chucks Jeremy lightly on the shoulder, "Smile Kid, laugh, its good for you. And I think that was a really brave thing of you to do. You say you haven't seen him around since then?" As they talk an old man walks out of the shelter, partially supporting himself with a wooden cane that seems to have been made from a gnarled branch of oak. "And what are you all doing out here this late at night. You have about half hour before curfew but still." Gabriel turns to him with a big smile and digs in his bag, pulling out a little packet of bills tied together with a rubber band, "Hey there Jonah! Got a donation for you!"

"Don't t-tease him," Eddie frowns at Gabriel a moment. Attention returns to Jeremy as he tells his story and Eddie can't help but smile a little. "That w-was brave b-b-but you should probably leave that kind of stuff to people like Mend," he offers. And himself of course. Axiom will be paying the local drug dealers a visit soon if they're dealing by shelters again. Apparently they didn't learn from the last time he told them not to do it. When that old man comes out, Eddie tenses on reflex. His eyes flick to the bag as the packet comes out and Eddie frowns. If they don't visit another shelter, he's going to have to have words with Gabriel.

Jeremy shakes his head. "No...I-I've been checkin' and there's no sign. I, um, I think he's gone for good." He frowns a little, a bit of defiance coming to his face as he looks at Eddie. "But I can handle..." He meeps as Jonah comes out, and quickly shushes them, putting a finger to his lips for a moment and then rapidly tucking his hands back in his pockets. "Um, um, sorry, Mister Jonah...I-I was just takin' a walk. You know."

Jonah gives Jeremy the grimace that passes for his smile, "As long as you're inside by eleven what you do with your time is your own business." then he takes the money from Gabriel and limps his way back into the shelter mumbling, "I'll be right back with your receipt..." For his part Gabriel waits until the old man is firmly back in the shelter and goes down to one knee, rummaging in his bag again to pull out another little packet of bills and extending it to Jeremy, "Here Kiddo. Some spending money. Make sure you keep it as out of sight as possible and, if you can, on you at all times." While he waits for Jeremy to take the money he looks back up to Eddie and sticks his tongue out at him before saying, "Jeremy's a lot tougher than he looks. He can take a little teasing."

Eddie just sighs a little at the defiant look. Yeah, just like how he used to be. He stays quiet until Jonah heads back inside, quirking a brow slightly at the mention of the receipt. His frowns returns at full force when Gabriel hands the money out to Jeremy. As much as he agrees that a homeless kid could use the cash, he doesn't approve of how Gabriel got it. "J-just because he can take it doesn't mean he should have t-t-to."

Jeremy blinks a little, holding up his hands. "I-I can't do that, Mister Gabriel..." And that request went out the window again. "Um, um...there's...there's lots more people that need that, a-and I'm doing okay...I mean, mister Jonah's awfully nice, and there's the soup kitchen, and...and I...and I..." He watches Gabriel, chewing his lip a little, and then looks over at Eddie as he speaks. "Um, um...yeah...I..." He looks back at Gabriel. "Please...I-I know, I gotta remember I'm a street kid, but..." He sighs, and looks off to the side. "N-not that much, okay? Y-you can help more people with that."

Gabriel spins on the toes of his shoes so that he end up plopping down next to Jeremy, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk completely ignoring the fact that he's dressed in a suit. Lobbing the little packet of cash at Eddie he says, "Well, it looks like its your lucky day then Eddie. And I agree, he shouldn't have to take it if it was bullying or teasing him for a short coming. But friendly teasing, that's hinting at him being nice to spend some time with? What, exactly, is wrong with that?"

Eddie stays standing, just watching Gabriel. He jumps slightly when hit with the packet, fumbling it a few times before catching it. "I d-don't need this," he sighs. Looking to Jeremy, Eddie crouches down and takes about half the money out of the packet. "Do me a favor, Jeremy?" he asks softly. "You t-take this half, and make sure the shelter gets the other, okay?" he asks, holding the two small money bundles out to the younger boy. "I know how b-b-bad it can be out here on the streets," he adds quietly. Gabriel's question gets no reply, just a frown. He hit a touchy subject with Eddie.

Jeremy looks a little uncertain, looking between Gabriel and Eddie, and finally sighs a little. Two people offering, now...Jeremy isn't going to fight that, not with his own thoughts debating with him too...his resistance only goes so far. He sighs, and takes both bundles, nodding. "O-Okay...thanks, Mister Gabriel, Mister Eddie...I'll make sure it helps people." He looks between the two, as he tucks the bundles into separate pockets. "...and...that it helps me." He takes a deep breath, and looks up at Eddie, looking a little more comfortable now that the money question is past. "But, um...I'm okay with the teasin'. Mister Gabriel's a nice guy and...and he's helped me a lot, so if he wants to say stupid stuff sometimes, that's okay."

Gabriel watches the interaction between Jeremy and Eddie for a while, rolling his eyes at Jeremy's 'stupid stuff' comment although he smiles at it too. Once they're done he just watch Eddie himself for a bit then says, "You're a very serious person, aren't you? Obviously got some issues in the past. But then again, don't we all?"

"Thanks, Jeremy," Eddie replies. "And please...j-j-just Eddie," he adds with a little sigh. He relaxes a bit as Jeremy says he's okay with the teasing. If it's just good natured between friends, Eddie isn't bothered by it. He smiles at the 'stupid stuff' comment. "I'm serious?" he asks, blinking a few times. Serious is not something he's ever been called before. "I used t-t-t-to be a street kid too," he admits. "Until s-s-someone took me in."

"Oh, um...sorry..." Jeremy says. He shakes his head. "There's nothin' wrong with, um, with bein' serious...s-sometimes you have to be, 'cause...things got really bad..." A little pause, and he smiles sympathetically at Eddie. "Um, I-I'm glad you found someone." And then worry comes to his face. "But, um, no tellin' anybody about me, okay? 'cause...I-I'm not ready for that, I mean, for...for bein' taken in and stuff. There's...reasons. So don't go tellin', okay? Please?"

Gabriel gets up from where he's sitting on the sidewalk dusts himself off. "Well, its getting really late. I need to get going and Jeremy needs to get into the shelter before he gets locked out. Eddie, do you want me to go back with you or are you OK on your own?"

Eddie smiles. "She f-found me actually. Pulled me right out of a dumpster," he admits. He reaches over to give Jeremy's shoulder a pat. "Don't worry. I w-w-won't tell people. Just stay out of trouble," he replies, standing back up. Gabriel's question makes Eddie pause and then snicker a little. "I'll b-b-be fine. Thanks though."

Jeremy blinks a little. "What were you..." he starts, and then decides he's not sure he actually wants to ask that. He backs away from the shoulder pat...just a touch skittish, it seems...and looks embarrassed at having done so. "Um, um, thanks, Mister Eddie." Yep, he forgot already. "Um, I-I'd better go on in...I don't want to be late. But, um, it was really nice meeting you." He looks over at Gabriel. "Um, thanks for, um...thanks. I'll see you again, Mister Gabriel." He smiles a little, and then turns to head inside the shelter. Right up to the limit, once again.