Gangs of New York [open]

[Emma Frost]

Emma Frost was usually working her small ass off. She liked to be in charge and she liked to know what was going on. Her company had never been small, one single person alone would never be able to do all the work herself. She knew, she had to delegate and put other people in charge. And she had done so.

Still, she spend most of her time in her office or in business meetings outside of it. Emma had a well-equipped bathroom at her office, as well as a small closet, just in case she was spending the night or did not have time to change, before she was headed to a meeting.

A business trip to Boston was due tomorrow. Emma could not wait to go. Apart from a couple of meetings and a visit to the Academy, she'd be meeting with her brother Christian, who she loved dearly. He was one of the few people who got to experience the fierce businesswoman as a human being, even vulnerable. Christian needed Emma just like she needed him. She had tried to convince him to move to New York many times, but so far, he had refused. She'd make another attempt at persuading him this time. She'd never tire of this.

Today, Emma had called it a night at 9 pm, changed in her office and went to get a drink at the Hellfire Club. Sometimes, work required being a social butterfly. Sometimes, it felt as if she were still at work, even if she technically was not. After a couple of drinks and some conversations, she had left at midnight. She had long sent her driver home. Despite the neat row of cabs in front of the club, Emma had preferred to walk. She was not planning on walking the whole way home to her penthouse, she just needed to get some air into her lungs and clear her head. After walking a few blocks, she'd take a cab, get a shower and some sleep. She'd be in the office at 7 am either way.

Emma took a shortcut. It probably was not the wisest idea, with the dark alleys holding all kinds of folks at night, that were up to no good. The lady knew how to defend herself, so she was not scared at all. Besides, she had taken this path so often, nothing severe had happened yet.

Soon however, she felt the presence of two people following her. She rolled her eyes. They surely did not know who they would be messing with, should they indeed attempt to corner her.
When someone else appeared in front of her, she was pretty sure those guys were not doing this for the first time. Emma stopped, turned around to check on the other two. All three men were clad in black, their faces looked worn out. Druggies, so she thought. One of them was quite tall, even taller than Emma, despite her regular tall size and the heels on her feet.
"Look who we found here, walking home all alone at night. It's not safe for a lady now, is it?", the tall one said, having a thick, Eastern-European accent. He was revealing a knife in his hand. Cute, Emma thought.
She did not log into his mind just yet. She would, if need be.
"It's not safe for anyone," she said, "You should reconsider your plans."
The men snickered, "Sassy one, aren't we?", another man commented.

outfit

[Frank Castle]

Frank liked times like these. When an established criminal syndicate of some kind didn’t earn his ire, when he had time to wander the streets of New York at random. He had a major safe house, as well as several smaller outposts, in each borough of the city. So his freedom to simply pick somewhere and have a walk was something he enjoyed.

He opted to leave the combat gear at home for the night, right now simply in a long coat that hid the pair of 1911’s he had in IWB holsters. He had some spare magazines, a knife, and a few other odds and ends in his pockets, but other than that he didn’t actually carry anything else. He didn’t need to, for a little night like this. Odds were he wouldn’t even find anyone.

Apparently the odds were in his favor. He watched a woman walk into an alley from across the street, and watched a pair of men follow her in. They hadn’t spoken to each other, so it wasn’t some hooker turning a trick. Looked like they were trying to ambush her.

He followed the group in and stayed hidden, listening for words as he pressed himself against the wall. He heard the veiled thread given to her and slid his coat to either side, pulling each gun out of it’s holster. He thumbed the safety’s off and waited for a moment, risking a quick look at the situation.

Three of them, one having come from the other side. They knew what they were doing. Frank doubted that made them dangerous, but he wouldn’t give them long to try anything else. Taking a breath, he prepared to spin out and open fire. He would only be using his right handgun at the moment, with his sights. Didn’t want to point shoot when a hostage was in the middle of the firing lane.

[Daniel Rand]

"I don't want to hear anything out of that man's mouth other than
'Oh no, I'm dying, there's a bright light, but wait a minute, this is wrong,
I'm in hell! Hitler, Musollini... Captain Kangaroo? That's not right." - Dr. Cox, Scrubs

[/i][/size]

It was funny. Lately Danny felt as though he were all alone in the world. And he hadn't felt like that in a long while. Not since he'd watched his father fall to his dead in the mountains. Not since he'd watched his mother sacrifice herself to protect him twenty years ago. Even when he was with people, Danny felt alone. Life was funny like that. Danny could have been in a room full of people and he wouldn't feel like he did back in K'un L'un. The young man was home sick. Even though he was home in New York City... Danny was forlorn for his home away from home. The place where he'd been raised. The only place he'd known for ten years. The people and the mystical city that had taken him and cared for him when no one else could. A part of Danny longed for the open arms of the mystical city and wished desperately to be able to return there at will... If only, the young man thought as he smiled slightly.

As Danny wandered through the streets of New York City, he found himself plagued by his own thoughts. The unanswered questions haunted his mind. All these thoughts concerned him deeply. The young man found himself walking along mindlessly in a sense. Danny felt at ease that way. It was therapeutic in a way. Danny was able to walk along minding his own business and allowing himself to get lost in his own thoughts. The young man enjoyed this above all else. In a weird way, this was almost akin to meditation to Danny. The young man was able to ease himself out of the main facets of consciousness and allow his mind to rest stay at ease.

While the young man walked through the quiet New York City streets, he happened upon an alleyway. Sure these dark, dreary and downright cold alleys were commonplace in Manhattan... But what Danny saw wasn't exactly considered kosher. The young man eyed a young blonde woman surrounded by three large men who seemed to be threatening her. In the distance, Danny caught the glimmer of a light. Danny eyed the situation for a moment. Any other person might've continued on their way... But any other person didn't come from a mystical city of the heavens... Danny turned on his heel effortlessly and walked towards the group. "Hey fellas... Do me a favor and leave 'er alone?" The young man's New York accent was evident as he spoke. He'd since shed any traces of K'un L'un in his voice. The young man eyed everything as it was about to unfold. He kept his eyes focused on everyone standing before him. Most importantly though... Danny was unaware that he was the only one watching what was going on.[/blockquote]

[Emma Frost]

"You have no idea," Emma said cooly, no humor whatsoever in her voice. Guys like these would not constitute a major problem. Emma'd log into their minds and make them go away. But just as she was about to do exactly that, she felt two other minds closing in on them. The owners were not to be seen, until a voice called out to them, asking the guys to depart.
"You gotta be kidding me," Emma mumbled to herself. It was nice and courageous of the man to interfere, but there was no need for anyone to be a hero. She could take care of herself. The events were happening too fast to try and read the mind of the guy that still had not appeared. She'd wait for whatever would happen.

As the man who had spoken up came closer, she recognized who it was. Daniel Rand, a businessman like her, loaded, quite smart, she figured. Emma knew her competition, especially when it came to New York based companies. Yet both of them had not met yet. She did not know whether he knew who she was as well.
"Whatcha want, dingo?", one of the men spoke up and turned to Daniel. Apparently, they were planning to divide the work.
"There's no need to involve him," Emma said, making a step towards the tall guy, "We can discuss this by ourselves."
Her gaze was on Daniel then, urging him to leave. Emma started to concentrate on the tall guy's mind, in order to make him leave. She'd take care of the other two in a second. However, the one approaching Daniel suddenly snapped. He pulled a knife out of his coat and suddenly ran forward, attacking Daniel.
"Absolutely great,", Emma said, turning towards the scene in order to clean up the mess, while the tall man was already curled up into a ball all of a sudden, whimpering silent cries to himself.

[Frank Castle]

Frank stopped his attack short when he heard another voice enter the situation. Seemed like a good Samaritan, probably saw what was going on from the street or had been taking a short cut. Damn. This complicated things. Frank could hear from the faintness of his voice that he was on the other side of the alley. That put him out of danger from Frank.

Hearing a bit more talk from the group, and a yell that sounded much like a war cry, Frank spun out and aimed down the sights of his right 1911. The grip safety was disengaged, and Frank squeeze the trigger before he had a sight. As soon as he did, he fired.

The thug who was not charging or in a puddle of whimpering on the ground was soon perforated with four .45 rounds. 230 grain hollow points. Flying ashtrays, some called them. And they had the reputation for doing damage not shown by many other fighting pistol calibers. Flesh and muscle gave way to the force of the rounds, bone snapped when struck, and the thug went to the ground. Quickly bleeding to death from a heart shot.

Frank lined his left gun up with the thug on the ground, planting a quick shot into his head before he aimed again with the same weapon at the thug going for the good doer.

[Daniel Rand]

"I don't want to hear anything out of that man's mouth other than
'Oh no, I'm dying, there's a bright light, but wait a minute, this is wrong,
I'm in hell! Hitler, Musollini... Captain Kangaroo? That's not right." - Dr. Cox, Scrubs

[/i][/size]

Danny felt homesick. That's the way he felt when it all came down to it. In a bare bones sense of everything, Danny Rand felt as though he was longing to be back in the mystical and wondrous city he'd come to love. Danny couldn't believe he'd been gone this long... Nearly ten years since he'd stepped foot within the mythical gates of K'un L'un. Danny could hardly stand it. There were days like today... Days where he felt so alone. So ostracized that he couldn't even begin to wonder what his purpose was. He couldn't begin to wonder why. Why had he ended up this way? No family to speak of and only his father's empire to maintain. Danny had made a nice name for himself in the ten years since he'd been back in the United States... But what did it matter? Did it actually mean anything?

The young man had been deep within his own thoughts as he walked through the streets of New York City. Danny was trying to think things out. Trying to make sense of it all... He did that sometimes. He felt that walking mindlessly would help cleanse his mind. It was therapeutic. Danny was able to clear his thoughts and disperse the clouded mashed up confusion rumbling around in his brain. As Danny relaxed he would be able to organize his thoughts and focus on what remained clear and evident in his mind. What was his purpose? Why was he here? What was Danny meant to do? The young man knew he was a protector... It was in his blood... It had been seared across his chest... But to be honest, the young man wasn't doing a very good job at protecting much of anything...

As Danny walked past an alley, the young man's eyes widened at the sight of a group of thugs surrounding a young blonde woman. Danny could tell immediately that things were about to turn south... As Danny approached the group and told them to leave her alone, the young man laughed as one of the men called him a dingo. With a smirk on his face, Danny put on his best faux Australian accent. "Let me guess... The dingo ate your baby?" Danny couldn't help himself... Where did some of the morons in this city come up with this stuff? As he approached the group, a strange feeling had begun to overcome Danny... He felt a strong desire to leave the alley entirely as the young woman claimed there was no reason to involve Danny.

Just as he was about to turn on his heel and leave, everything seemed to go to hell. One of the men curled into a ball on the ground... While the nearest thug began to move towards Danny with a knife... To make things even worse... Danny was certain that he'd heard gunshots ring out. Before he could even think, Danny's body was acting out the actions. Danny grabbed the man who was charging at him by the wrist. He was sloppy and too focused on trying to cut Danny anywhere he could. Quickly, Danny brought his free hand down on the man's arm, forcefully breaking it and causing him to drop the knife. Before the cold steel could even touch the concrete, Danny had closed the remaining distance between he and the man who's arm he'd just broken.

Without any hesitation, Danny struck the man in the throat twice like lightning, effectively crushing his windpipe. As the man staggered backwards and clutched at his throat, Danny struck him once more, this time in the dead center of his face with the palm of his hand. As the thug blacked out and dropped to the ground, Danny found himself coming back to reality in a sense. Momentarily, Danny eyed the blonde woman to make sure she was okay. She was... With that, Danny turned on his heel again and came face to face with a man and his gun. Danny eyed the man cautiously, unsure if he were going to turn on Danny next. The young man was unsure of what to say to be completely honest... Who was he? What the fuck was he doing going around shooting people left and right? With a raised eyebrow, Danny looked at the guy once more. "Thanks?" It was all he could seemingly manage to say right now... Damn, Danny was certainly at a slight loss for words...[/blockquote]

[Emma Frost]

The following minutes were not quite what Emma had expected to happen.
A man, whose mind she had perceived before, came out of his hiding spot, opening fire. The other guy was starting to fight her chasers in a manner that suggested he had been trained in all kinds of Martial ARts to the point of perfection.

Two strangers that she had never met were taking care of the situation. Well, was that not delightful? In rough times like these, at least some people cared for each other. Only that Emma would have been perfectly able to take care of the situation herself, without killing or significantly injuring anyone. Well, at least, without physcially injuring anyone.

It was too late for this now, however. The mess was made. Emma raised her brows, brushed her hair behind her shoulder and pursed her lips. She walked towards the two men, the fighter and the shooter, carefully stepping around the bodies on the floor.
"Gentlemen," Emma said, "I should start by thanking both of you for taking care of the...situation."
Yes, she did not seem particularly shaken. Old habits died hard, so Emma approached this as some kind of business-occasion. She'd have time to digest the rest later.

[Frank Castle]

Frank looked between the two bystanders, although neither seemed like it. One had used a form of hand to hand that Frank didn’t recognize, and he was sure one of the bad guys didn’t fall down and scream for no reason. He ignored the pair for the moment, looking at the third thug in the group. The one who had been beaten down like nothing. Looking him up and down for a moment, and assessing that he wasn’t injured in any permanent manner. Frank aimed his gun one more and time fired a round that buried into the downed thug’s skull.
Flipping the safety’s on and hitting the magazine releases on his guns, Frank holstered the left and reloaded the right. Mag in, rack the slide. The live round clattered to the ground with a heavy thunk. He then holstered the right, pulled out the left, slapped a fresh magazine into the well and racked that slide as well.

He looked up at the martial artist, who had spoken to him almost twenty seconds ago, as well as the woman. Both were thanking someone, both him at some point.

”Welcome.” He said lowly. He walked to the closest corpse, face down, and flipped it with a sharp kick.

”Lets see who you are…” He thought to himself. Probably a random mugger, but he could get lucky.