Gwen Cross
The strongman clearly does not expect this from Gwen; his back is to her, and despite hearing her yelling, doesn't do so much as look over his shoulder - more occupied by pushing the naked girl up against one of the warehouse's support pillars. As such, he is entirely unprepared for her attack, and the towel slips into place at his feet perfectly. Capitalizing on that timing, however, is the hard part; the strongman is over a foot taller than Gwen and probably three times her weight. She's as likely to yank his feet out from under him as she is to uproot a tree.
And yet, somehow, everything falls into place. Gwen catches him at just the right moment in his stride, as his weight shifts from one foot to the other, and he wavers, off-balance. He stumbles forward another couple of steps, but fails to regain his equilibrium, pitching forward and slamming facefirst onto the ground. The girl, released, slides back into a sitting position, back against the support pillar, and simply watches the fallen Adonis with mild interest. Dr. Carter releases a held breath of shaky, noncommittal relief.
For a moment, all anyone does is stare in shock. The clown reacts first, laughing out loud and applauding in appreciation. The other thugs join in, though it's not sure how many are amused and how many are just going along with the boss. The lion tamer gives what sounds like a genuine chuckle, but he seems more amused by the strongman's comeuppance than the actual show. The strongman, however, is not amused. He pushes himself up on his arms, then looks over his shoulder at Gwen, his lips curled back in a snarl of pain, rage, and wounded pride. Standing, he storms towards her, his earlier prey forgotten.
"You
bitch," he growls, the sound like a cougar in his deep voice. "You and your
rude mouth. Proud little
billionaire, afraid of nothing, because who's bigger than you? Out there in the world, you are untouchable. But not here. Here you are just a little girl. And no one will fall harder than you."
His muscular arm shoots out and grabs a fistful of Gwen's hair. He yanks her closer, painfully. "I will show your rude mouth some respect," he growls again, more quietly.
Tom Drake
It takes a while for the paramedics to give Drake the all clear, but eventually the hubbub starts to die down. Some of them recommend he come into the hospital for observation, but don't push the issue. The police, too, are interested in talking to him, but only ask him simple questions at the scene. They say they'll call him if they have more questions, but Tom can tell they're focusing more on other witnesses - ones who weren't unconscious for half of the event.
Before he leaves, however, the jersey girl comes up to him again. As before, she's wrapped in a blanket, sneakered feet sticking out from below the knee-length hem. Her eyes look simultaneously wounded but hopeful, and she's lost the nervous, sexual exuberance of before, but there's still a look of desire in her eyes.
"Tom Drake?" she asks. Her friend is beside her, though she looks less encouraging, more watchful - not of Drake in particular, but more like a bodyguard, though what she hoped to defend against is unclear. "Did you...bring anything to sell today? Like a jersey? I...lost mine."
Radiance
Irma squeezes Lucy tight when she hugs her again. Her arms linger a second longer than usual, as if Irma wants to reassure herself Lucy is alright. "Don't worry," she says, and her voice makes it obvious she's smiling even though Lucy can't see her face. "I'll clock you out. I don't think anyone's expecting you to come back today anyway."
Doctor West
Doctor West checks his phone to find texts from Greg, Jagruti, and Kenji wondering if he's okay, and one from Tandy asking why the police have blocked off the library. A few minutes after sending his own text, replies trickle in from each expressing their relief; Jagruti's is the longest, with Kenji, Greg, and Tandy's being shorter in turn, with Tandy's consisting of a single "
". It doesn't take long on the computer to get an idea how difficult tracking the escape vehicle will be. Though there is plenty of CCTV in the city, he'll have to hack through several, perhaps dozens, of systems in turn, especially if he runs into blind spots where the cameras are not hooked up to the internet. Such an effort will be more difficult than hacking an individual system (DC 25) and will definitely take more time.
