2012-07-14 Poor Skunge

It's a Saturday night, and that means that the little clubs in the East Village are full to bursting. Music from one spills out into the street to mingle with another entirely different style just a few doors down. The people move as though driven by the tide, flowing from one to the next with shouts and laughter mixing with the music as lights paint a world that is very different from the daylight hours. Illyana emerges from the roof access of one of the clubs, the hard, angry clash of heavy metal blaring over the other music for only a moment as the door closes behind her. She's all in black wearing a short leather skirt and sleeveless, high-collared top with high-heeled boots that lace all the way up to her knees. There's dark make-up around her eyes, and streaks of vivid blue in her long blonde hair. Silver jewelry, studs and spikes and chains accent the outfit but no one would bat an eye on the streets of New York. She opens a bottle of water, taking a few long swallows as she walks towards the edge of the roof, fanning herself with her free hand. It's hot inside, with the weather and the equipment and, oh yeah, the press of bodies.

The blonde is about to take another drink when sharp cries catch her attention from the alleyway below and she adjusts course to peer down into the shadows.

A Trio of thugs are harassing another guy, slapping and shoving him around, the tone taunting. The guy shoves back, sparking one of the thugs to swing a punch which sends the guy down to the ground hard. The tone's moved from taunting to angry now, with the three starting towards the downed guy.

A flash of light, and Illyana's behind the three. "Let him go." She says, voice raised to get their attention, though they started to turn at the flash of light. The guy on the ground manages to get his feet under him and makes a break for it. It's not hard, since the punch sent him towards the mouth of the alleyway. Unfortunately, as Illyana teleported in behind the thugs, that has her trapped in the alleyway.

One of the thugs curses as the guy runs off. "You're gonna pay for that, girly. Now we just gotta play with you instead." He says, giving her a nasty smile.

Illyana just smiles back at him, a shimmer of light off to the side, along one wall of the alleyway behind her that's mostly hidden by a dumpster and a large demon lumbers through the Stepping Disk and into the shadows behind Illyana.

The light from the disk is enough to throw the demon into relief, and the three thugs pale a bit, starting to back away. Illyana advances towards them, never looking back at the demon that looks like it's stalking her. "I thought we were going to play!" She calls after them.

Another sleepless night for Firestorm. He just sleeps too little since his transformation, so maybe sleeplessness is another of his superpowers. Hah. Well, more time to do good deeds, even though today all he is doing is enjoying the New York summer night. There is no serious disaster anywhere in the world that he knows that needs his abilities. And he has seen no car chase or gang fight, so maybe he can just relax and... flash of light in an alley? Most likely nothing, but maybe worth checking. He swoops down and spots the thing, the girl and three scared guys. "Watch out!" He shouts, since the girl is dangerously close to the monster and looking the wrong way. Just in the case, he fires a stream of fire-like energy between girl and monster, and a steel fence nearly 10 feet tall divides the alleyway, trapping the demon behind sturdy vertical metal poles.

The thugs are starting to scramble faster now, as the demon starts to raise its clawed arms upwards and then there's the light-trail of Firestorm's arrival as he swoops in and the three make a break for it. Illyana stops, looking up as he calls out. Which is probably the last thing that Firestorm wants to see when that nine-foot tall and six-foot wide demon is bearing down on her. Then her eyes widen a bit as he shoots energy in her general direction and she dives out of the way. She lands in a smooth roll, getting her feet under her but... ugh! It's rolling on an alley floor!

The demon makes a confused sound as a steel fence suddenly appears and then roars in annoyance, swiping clawed hands at the fence to try to tear it down.

Firestorm spares a glance to the pretty blonde girl, but unfortunately the demon demands his attention. The claws make the steel spark, and bits of metal are torn from the fence. Then he grabs two of the poles and starts pulling at them, the metal groans and slowly bends, and then just breaks. "Get out of here, lady," says the flame-headed man to Illyana, hovering down to the ground. Then to the demon, "not bad, you are a strong boy, uh? Well, sorry, not going anywhere," he smirks and raises his hands, which glow with power. Concrete and metal appears around the demon, trapping him in a solid block of matter despite his trashing and growling.

Illyana stands up, her expression twisted in disgust as she shakes her hands to try to get some of the guck off. Which.. doesn't help much. She wipes her palms on her skirt which... still doesn't help much as she walks over towards Firestorm who likely has his back to her given that he's focused on her demon.

The demon gives a shriek that bounces off of the alleyway walls as it's body is encased in a solid block, head swinging back and forth.

Tap. That would be on Firestorm's shoulder since he's come down to just above the ground. Taptap.

Well, that traps the monster, but getting it out of that cocoon of concrete and metal is going to be hard for the authorities, which means he needs to stick around probably for the rest of the night. No good deed goes unpunish... taptap? He turns, landing on the ground. "Ah, hello," not looking like a scared girl much, he notices. "Are you alright?"

No, she looks more like an annoyed, slightly grimy girl. Illyana nods towards the shrieking demon that's trying very hard to get loose. Which mostly means a lot of head waving, though the block is starting to rock a bit. Her arms are crossed and while even with the heels on she needs to look up at him, he still probably feels like he's being stared *down*. "That's mine."

Pause. Firestorm looks at Illyana, then to the demon. "Yours? Ah, you keep interesting pets, lady," he says, not looking very convinced. "What was going on here?" He glances to the other side of the alley, but the thugs ran away while he was trapping the demon. A few people are looking from the far side of the alleyway, cautiously. It is just a question of a minute some cop arrives, or maybe a reporter.

Illyana looks over at the shrieking, thrashing demon. "Oh *quit that*!" She says, tone annoyed. "You're going to give me a headache." The demon makes and odd chirruping sound and then goes quiet and still. Well, it might be trembling. Just a bit. Illyana blows out a short breath of exasperation before looking back at Firestorm. "*I* was saving some poor guy from getting the crap kicked out of him when you swooped in and saved the bad guys. Not to mention ruined my outfit." She says, gesturing down at her club gear. "Way to go, Fireball. Now let Skunge out so I can send him home." The demon makes a warbling series of sounds and the blonde rolls her eyes. "Yes. I will get you ice cream."

"I did what?" Firestorm glances to 'Skunge'. "Okay... so it is tame?" He sighs, making the metal and concrete vanish. Or rather, turning it back into air and dirt. "Name is Firestorm, by the way. And you got to admit that your buddy here seems more threatening that the typical New Yorker. Who were those three guys, gangsters?"

"I dunno, they got away before I could chat with them." Illyana says, her words edged in sarcasm. As the block encasing the demon disappears, Skunge makes a break for the portal still open behind the dumpster, which winks out as he runs through it. Illyana's attention has turned to the people peeking around the mouth of the alleyway. The wail of sirens can be heard getting closer too. "Oh, spit and hades." She grumbles under her breath. "Just what I need."

Firestorm seems a bit amused, and maybe a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. "Let me guess, you don't like the press." Seeing she didn't know the three thugs also means it was probably just some petty crime, so nothing too bad. "Well, not sure if I can catch those guys now, but maybe I can give the cops a good description, and I can also fix your outfit," he waves a hand, transmuting the gunk from her clothes and skin into more air. "Where did your pal Skunge go?"

"Press, cops, people in authority..." Illyana says with a vague wave of her hand. Well, the attire certainly seems to support her words. She does give a blink of surprise as he gets the alley yuk off of her clothes and even out of her hair and huhs softly. "Neat trick. In some ways highly disturbing but still neat. She looks down the alley, but people are still peering in. She looks down the other way and well, dead end. And no open doors, of course. "Look, love to chat, but there's an elsewhere I want to be."

And they have cellphones to take pictures. Although it is unlikely they can get much out of an alleyway at night. "Okay, I don't see why you have to get involved. I can get you out of here, or..." he eyes the disk of light on the ground. "What is that? It looks as if space is warped, but I can't feel any gravity well or... hmm, the atoms are shifting the vibration frequencies into rather... wrong ones."

"I don't want to get involved, but people will ask questions. They always ask questions." Illyana says, heading for the Stepping Disk. She frowns over her shoulder at him, "What are you on about? It's not science, it's magic. You should know that."

Firestorm looks at Illyana with some skepticism, "ah, so you are a magician? No, I don't know the difference. I have never met any real sorcerer. Before you vanish to your 'elsewhere', though, what is your name?"

Illyana squints at him a bit, but that could be because he's bright. He is on fire, after all. "A magical being that's never met a sorcerer? Really?" She seems surprised. Maybe skeptical. Her lips twist into a mocking smirk at he asks for her name. "Just call me Magik, Firecracker."

"I am not a 'magical being', I got my powers in a nuclear accident, nothing magical about those," replies Firestorm with a frown. "Magik, okay," no one he has heard about, but he will check the Internet when he gets time. "A pleasure to meet you, do drop by some time if you really would love to chat," the bystanders are coming closer, now there seems to be nothing threatening and they have probably identified Firestorm. He is a hero, so it is safe to get closer.

Illyana stands on the threshold of that disk of light, the contrast making her little more than a silhouette. She laughs at his answer. "Nuclear accident, huh? Trust me, if there's one thing I know, it's magic and I can taste it on you. He can't see her smile, but he can hear it in her slightly mocking tone. "Drop by where? This alley? Thanks but... the smell leaves something to be desired."

Fair enough, "nah, not here, I just meant... never mind. I better talk to these folks and the cops. You take care," Firestorm smiles and turns back, letting Illyana vanish in her disk of light. "Nothing to see here, folks," he says to the curious. He will have to give a brief statement to the police, but there is really not much to say.