4960/Clocking Out

Clocking Out
Date of Scene:	01 January 2017
Location:	Brimsteel Frontier
Synopsis:	New Year's Bar Brawl
Cast of Characters:	Corona Arclite, 571, Kotone Yamakawa, 750

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Corona Arclite has posed:
It wasn't unusual for the saloon to be fairly busy. It WAS unusual for it to be busy at this time of the evening, but then again, being it was New Years Eve, maybe not. The place was in a constant state of activity, and probably one of the few times you'll see the businessmen and the laborers carousing together without concerns over their social statures. Other than the one lot that kept to themselves in the back of a corner booth at least. But it didn't matter which side of the economic fence someone was on for tonight, as it was suppose to be a big one.

The clockwork tower was a big centerpoint for Loadstar Depot. Every, and I mean, EVERY clock and timetable ran by it to keep on accurate, efficient schedules. So it had been a pretty big deal that the distortions of 'The Multiverse Barfing Space Back Into Space' had knocked some of its delicate timing mechanisms off-kilter. Repairs of course where made over the following weeks, but in the light of everything that happened, it was decided to put off restarting it until the stroke of midnight of the last and first days of the years.

Considering how big of a deal this was, it's probably no surprise that Corona herself hasn't arrived yet. Knowing her she's making some last minute checks on the tower to make sure everything goes smoothly. But she'd made sure that there would be places and plenty of drinks for her friends. They needed to celebrate surviving what had happened and looking towards the new year's potential as much as anyone else did.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka's back from healing stuff! She's opted to celebrate, not to mention deliver COrona her gift in person as well. THe cyborg feels bad about skipping her this holiday, but intends on making up for that in full.

    It won't be hard to pick out Maaka in this crowd tonight. She's the human looking lady in a black coat, downing shots of vodka given by a certain TOWERING RUSSIAN MUSCLE WIZARD.

    Maaka's not exactly a communist, but like hell is she gonna turn down vodka for a Christmas present. Besides, it's good stuff judging by how she mixes together some Moscow Mule, complete with copper cup. The present she has for Corona will be by Maaka's feet, wrapped up in Christmas wrappings. Looks heavy.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Maaka wouldn't be too alone for long as someone lese has come to take in the new years, dressed in smart cloths as she's often on off time now she would come up on Alexis as she was looking about for COrona and would get a suprise hug from behind. "Happy new years! Alexis!"

Rebound (750) has posed:
Hey it's not surprising Reound would show up here. Not like she can go to the New Years celebration in her OWN hometown due to the whole 'Being a giant mutant kangaroo' thing. At least here she can party and drink without any worries. Plus nobody knows she's affilated with the Watch, so something else she doesn't need to worry about, thankfully.

"Hey, anybody seen Corona yet?!" She calls out to the tavern as a whole. She's sure somebody's seen the fox somewhere.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Not to mention Rebound has gotten to be fairly known around these parts, after all the times she's helped Corona and Target out. At the roo's shout one of the beavers looks up from the bar. "Said she'll be along once she's checked everything in the tower for the last time, eh." Then returns to his mug.

To say it's busy is an understatement, so it takes a bit for staff to get to where Corona's friends have gathered around. On the upside, they get the master barkeep himself, the model train hissing to a stop and the bowler capped hamster waddling out. He looks over the group, then smirks a bit as he gives one end of his handlebar moustache a tug. "Some'ow I ain't surprised it's just a buncha ladies at Arclite's table. Can I get ya anything while yar waitin? It's on the fox's tab so feel free to ring it up much as ya all want," he adds with an amused eye-twinkle. It's all the more reason for him to pester Corona about paying her outstanding fees, -before- one of the model trains break down again and she can use repairs as leverage.

With how rowdy the crowd already is in here, it's little surprise almost no one hears what sounds like a thud from outside. Maybe it was just the building settling, the Saloon is almost as old as Loadstar itself is. A few upward glances are given, but then folks go back to their drinking and card playing.

"Knowing her, she's trying to avoid having to sit through the ceremonies on purpose," a collie woman spoke with a much more formal tone as she leaned against the bar, but there was a bemused hint to her expression all the same. She may be dressed a little more nicely, but Callie Cassavhan would rather be here with the people that worked hard to make her depot a success than the high class snobs that would be only celebrating their financial gains up in the capital. That and they would all be drinking fruity mixed cocktails, and she'd rather have a nice hard scotch on the rocks. Like the one in her hand. With the other hand she clears her throat, but it has little effect in the noisy crowd. She sighs a little, but isn't really surprised. "Bucksaw, I know it's your one night off but.."

The beaver jestures at her to not complain, then turns around to stand up on his stool. "HUSH UP A MOMENT YA BLOKES!" Being head foreman does wonders for one's volume and one shout is all it takes to quiet the patrons down, even without his bullhorn. "Miss C's got somethin' ya say, before y'all get too drunk off yer stumps to pay attention!"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka grins wide as she feels Kotone hugging her, "Hey Ko-chan!" She says, turning around and returning the embrace warmly. "God, feels so good to see you again. I've been out of business for a week or so, got nicked pretty bad by this tiger-shark guy. Long story." She wobbles a hand, shrugging before she offers up her copper cup. "Want some? It's good stuff, might kick your arse though."

    SHe turns to others at the bar, grinning cheerily. "Goes for you guys too, if anybody wants a shot of this stuff help yourselves!" She nods to the gigantic hamster, raising her copper cup. "Need about...seven things of Moscow mule, use the bottle I brought if you don't have any vodka on tap."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Fair 'nough." Rebound replies, as she saunters up to the bar and orders herself something with a bit of kick to it.

At the announcement that Miss C has an announcement, she turns around with her newly aquired drink, leaning back on her tail so she doesn't have to take up a bar stool

Corona Arclite has posed:
At the mention of vodka Bitters guffaws sharply, which sounds like a rodent squeaked a bit too hard and fast. "Please, please, drink hers! This is 'pose to be a night to celebrate, I don't wanna hafta call the parameds cuz some offworlder got drunk 'nuff to try a shot of Vodkano. Miss Yamakawa will vouch fer that bein a bad idea." He winks at Kotone.

"Thank you, Bucksaw." Miss C takes a sip of her scotch to wet her lips, then holds the glass up as the saloon quiets down. "I don't need to remind you all that the end of this year has been rough for a lot of us. Things, entire worlds, have changed around us. But rather than linger on the past, we need to look towards the oppritunities it has made possible instead. A new year lies ahea--"

She's interrupted by another loud thud. Then another. And then the sound of wood busting as chucks of the roof and bannisters splinter down into the saloon as a large bear in a black duster and hat crashes through. He snarls in pain as he hits the hood floor, but it's not enough to stop him from trying to wrassle a familiar grey fox into submission in his arms. Even if she's got a foot to his chin to keep him from chomping on her, while holding something away from him in her hands.

"Not my fault, Ah'll fix it later!" Corona yips before Bitters can complain about the roof, which makes one wonder how often this happens... Wrassling with a bear doesn't stop her from being polite either, using one hand to lift her stetson from her head and tip it towards Miss C. "Good evenin', C. Sorry for the interruption."

Then the saloon doors fly open as several more similarly dressed men barge in, coats hats and bandanas as black as the night is dark. "Look out boss! More trouble comin'--"

And that's when Hopalong dives down the hole their entrance made, jackalope feet slamming into the bear's forehead, in turn slamming it into the floor with a dull whud. He thrashes over from the concussive blow, but doing so thumps Corona to the floor with enough force to send the bag she was clutching skidding across the floor. "Dammit!"

"There!" One of the bandits bolts for it, but Corona manages to catch his ankle and trip him with her tail. He overshoots the bag, instead crashing into one of the game tables.

Unsurprisingly the cards fluttering through the air reveal a few more aces than their should be, which starts a brawl amongs the gamblers over cheating. A punch sends one sailing into a different group, and it's doesn't take more for the party to spill over into a big ol' barfight from there.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
"Tiger Shark guy? I bene busy following up cases honestly. I have been pretty busy though been fighting more than Id' liked but tht would have happened iwthout it." For all Kotone's ability to fight? the woman doesn't really have a lust for violence or blood. She'd rather sneak in, sneak out and never have been noticed if she's got to do something.

"Come on let's go find Corona shall we? " Where was miss Foxy mechanic? Or would that be a pair of Mechanic Vixen given Kotone and Corona? Who knows but what she does know is she's going to find where Corona and then someone /drops/ on in litterly

"Wait what?!"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Yeah, I heard about that one." Maaka laughs, before she takes a sip of her Moscow Mule again. "Figured I'd be generous, it's good vodka too." She nods to Kotone, swishing her drink. "I'll have to get back to you on that one, but-" CRAAAAASH

    The entire bar goes to shit, and Maaka leaps to her feet. She grabs that bottle, it's solid glass and sturdy as steel, and goes to charge one of the bandits. "Dunno what you guys want with Corona, but you can't have her!" She calls out, flinging the bottle like a missile at one of the thugs.

    Given Maaka's keen marksmanship and strength, that bottle is gonna hit like a brick.

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Hell yeah, now it's a party!" Rebound pounds the rest of her drink in one go, and then hops up onto her feet. She pushes through two of the card players, slamming their heads together like something out of the Three Stooges, before she saunters up to one of the bandits, reaching out to grab him by the collar and whip him around to face her.

"Son you are lucky that this is a holiday. I'm just gonna put you in the hospital instead of the morgue." She's only joking, she'd never ACTUALLY kill them...Probably. She hauls back with her right hand and throws a haymaker at him, holding onto him the whole time so she certainly won't miss.

Corona Arclite has posed:
It just goes to show how unflappable the businesswoman is that Miss C simply steps back and takes a much longer sip of her drink, like this was hardly any surprise at all. "Black Hats. Trying to sabotage the clocktower?"

"Tried filchin' the main drive gear," Corona confirms as she gets to a knee. "No sparks in here. Al'cohol's flammable!" Which but the way it turns to just kick the bear again, was a warning to Hopalong to not use his static antlers.

"Maaka's bottle nails a bandit dead center in the temple, sending him crashing off to the side. Let us all have a moment of silence for the brave vodka that gave it's life for the sake of saving a friend. Another bandit pulls a trench knife out of his longcoat and rushes at her with stabbifying intent... No, he has no idea he's attempting to rush a cyborg with nothing more than a sharp point.

Two Black Hats dive for the bag, only to slam their heads together as Corona snatchs it away from them with her grappler. "Koto, catch!" She flings the satchel over, just before she's tackled again. Which takes its own turn for the worst when Bucksaw picks up the stool he had been standing on, and smashes it across one thug's back. "Bitter's needs t'get new stools anyways," he grumps.

"You just wanna make me pay you to carve more!" the space hamster retorts.

One bandit gets grabbed, and then punched so hard he sailes over the crowd to crash into the steampunk jukebox at the back of the bar.

Hilariously, and maybe a bit freakishly, when Rebound slobberknocks one bandit, one of the others that was trying to wrestle Corona down also keels off the vixen as if hit. One of those twin feeling the other's pain deals maybe... seeing as they are not only Siamese Twins, but Siamese Cats too. But unlike his brother he doesn't try to get close to the roo, instead pulling out a bullwhip and lashing it at her.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka notes Miss C's lack of surprise. Seems this is a pretty common occurrence around these parts. Makes sense, given how the world's basically a steampunk wild west.

    She sacrifices the vodka, but only because that bottle makes a hell of a throwing weapon. She grins in satisfaction at the dropped bandit, before another rushes her. "Fuck it, knife fight it is." She draws her own knife, a vibrobladed progressive knife from Tellus, before rushing forwards. The cyborg slashes at the bandit, and at the same time reaches to grab the arm the bandit holds his knife in. She'll twist, both dislocating that elbow and flinging the bandit towards the bar, to slide him across it in traditional bar fight style.

Rebound (750) has posed:
The bandit she punches sets off the jukebox, and Rebound smirks faintly, as she turns to the second bandit, who opts to use a whip instead. The first strike catches her off guard, the weapon slicing through the flesh on her unprotected side. She lets out a yell of pain, and turns back to the whip wielding crook, "Dare you to try that again."

And try it again, if they do, they will regret it, because this time Rebound brings her left arm up to block it, letting the whip wrap around her wrist, "GET OVER HERE!"

She yanks on her end of the whip, pulling the bandit towards her, so they can meet face to fist with a powerful uppercut as she reels them in.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone grins a bit at Alexis for a moment then pauses "Oh if they ask you to drink the local hard drink? /Don't/." Why is Kotone serious all of a suddeenl things re hitting the fan this is just having Kotone want to /cry/ she has to deal with this, where's Sparktail when you need this. Target owes her one as eveyrthing starts to go nuts for a moment. She sees the banits and well she does have eelware which she's about to use. Aleixs and Corona would know this.

Kotone then plays innocent helpless but well until Corona throws teh satchel over to her which she'll catch it.

She dangles it for half a secon then hauls it like the cyborg she is going at a very inhuman rate and aiming to dodge people.

"YOU WANT THE GEARS COME GET THEM!"

If she can lure them out of the bar, right? Away form all the bystanders it should help, right?

Corona Arclite has posed:
Alexis doesn't just deflect the knife attack; the vibroblade slices RIGHT THROUGH the standard metal knife. This gets a balk of surprise out of the bandit, leaving him an easy chump to grab, slam into the bar, and send hims careening down it. He topples off the other end.

And looks up from the floor, only to let out a scream several pitchs higher when Miss C slams the heel of her dress boot between his legs. "-That- is for interrupting my toast." Then resumes sipping her drink admist the overflowing chaos like this was just another day at the office for her. Which honestly might not be that far from the truth all things considered.

Corona manages to squirm free of her attackers again, only to scramble for one of the back rooms. A bandit followers her, only to realize it's the bathroom. And there's no fox in sight. At least not until Corona swings down from the rafters and kicks the back of his head, tossing him forward into the toilet. Corona lands on top, planting a boot on the back of his head to keep it in the bowel, and yanks the chain. That.. is not a pleasant swirly, especially if some drunk retched in that toliet.

Rebound pulls an improvised Scorpion, then greets her new friend with knuckles to the chin. The uppercut launchs him upwards, and between the impact and his own whip he gets tangled up in one of the chandaliers.

Of course once the bag is tossed in Kotone's direction, the few remaining bandits try to rush her to get it. Which goes about as well as Corona had hoped, as the cyborg is a lot faster than expected even as they give chase outside. Except for one that stops to yell at the others stewn about the salloon. "She's escapin' with the gear--OOMPH!"

Then he's crashing out the window as Hopalong headbutts him. Leaving just the couple of bandits that manage to rush out after Kotone, though they're lagging well behind her speedy retreat. And now out in the wide open street, to boot.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    It doesn't take long for Maaka to follow the other thugs outside, mostly to back Kotone up. Knife still in hand, she rushes outside the saloon like a madwoman. Maaka dashes toward one of the bandits, tackling him after a brief sprint to close to distance between her and him. As she brings him to the ground, she growls, and plunges her knife into his neck. To say she doesn't waste time is an understatement.

Rebound (750) has posed:
With her second bandit a bit strung up at the moment, Rebound heads outside, stopping for a moment to grab another drink that has mirraculously gone unspilled on a table, pounding it down in one go.

Rebound vanishes out of the front door, only for a few moments later for one of the bandits to come flying back into through a window, with Rebound following behind a few moments later, "Thought you could get away, huh?! Not today! Woo! C'mon, party's still going!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Ktoone is plauying her part in trying to get this under control She has the item she's now trying to get clear and otehrwise deal witht he theives chaing her evne if she end suyp having to chased them about the bar, hell Kotone's going to loop back and she's going to end kiting the bandit sto the pint she can deal with them without the risks to bystanders.

Corona Arclite has posed:
With what that vibroknife did to a normal one, it's no surprise it makes quick work of the bandit Alexis pins to the ground. That's one outlaw that is not going to be a threat again. His gangmate doesn't get a chance to help him, as he's grabbed by Rebound before he realizes it and gets tossed through the other window back INTO the bar, crashing on top of the duo that slammed heads earlier.

Which leaves two bandits trying to chase Kotone. But looping her kite trick back towards the saloon works in her favor. Because they're outside, away from the flammable liquids. Which means Hopalong is free to open up, and blasts them with a plume of acrid hot smoke from his furnance. The two men stop in their tracks, hunched partway over hacking and coughing from the burning fumes.

Looming over the center of town, the clocktower rings out the first of it's twelve chimes, even though they were chasing the fox supposedly with the drive gears.

They seem to realize they've been duped though, as they quickly turn and run for the hills. So to speak. Most of the gang isn't so lucky, having been beat senseless.

As the clocktower is midway through it's echoing chimes Corona saunters out of the saloon, smirking. "Ah can't believe those varmits fell for that." Then glaces over her shoulder at the inside of the saloon. "... Pro'ly the biggest brawl this ol' shack has seen on New Years, though."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka pulls the knife out of the thug, wiping the blade clean. She's about to speak before she realizes something; "Oh shit, I forgot about the gift." She takes off, re-entering the saloon. The gift is in her hands as she comes out, and she tosses it to Corona as she approaches the fox. "Forgot about this, figured you could use a new piece. It's a new shotgun, pump-auto SPAS-12. Figured you could use some heavy hardware." She grins, clapping Corona on the arm. "Happy holidays, luv."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite oofs softly as she catchs the gift, if only because she wasn't expecting the weight. "Well Ah ain't gonna say no to s'more stoppin' power." The pauses a moment, and tucks the wrapped shotgun under one arm as she slaps her other palm to her face. "Aw geez! Ah got so wrapped up in gettin' the clocktower back on track Ah plum fergot about giftgiven. Ah'll have to return the favor later."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka laughs, "Don't sweat it. We're even long as that tab you got us on is open, hopefully the bar won't kick us out for fighting. Technically /they/ started it, after all." She says, before she heads for the saloon again. All that fighting's gotten her thirsty.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone sighs and opens up her smart phone to place a call to spark tailandmoves to start cuffing the bandits reading their rights and getting ready to haul them off to the local lock up. "I'll be back as soon as this is over."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite pffs, rolling her eyes as she follows Alexis back in. "Kick us out? Are you kiddin'? Bar Brawlin' is a -sport- 'round here... Well, Bitters might grump a bit 'bout the damage, but he knows me or Buck will fix it up." She jabs a thumb inside as Kotone does her duty. "We'll save a few pints fer ya!"

Rebound (750) has posed:
"That sucks." Rebound says as she watches Kotone haul them off, "You know you're off duty right? C'mon." She shakes her head. This is why she always just shoves them in a dumpster and bends the door so they can't get out.