*** The Rise of the SuperVillains ***
Winter came fast and furious to the Windy City after the summer of Ultron. Besides the explanation of El Nino, there were unsubstantiated rumors of a supervillain manipulating the weather or bringing the cold. There was a flurry of news stories about “super” heroes and villains that turned out to be nothing supernatural. Chicagoans seemed to want their share of the Supers. However, by December the news organizations had returned to being overly conservative on reporting “super” stories having their credibility burned too many times. Only local blogs which most people didn’t read anyway continued to “cry wolf” telling “super” stories.
In this cold news climate, a bank robbery made no mention of devil masks or connection to occult practices. Further, the recent spike of violent crimes statistics failed to get much mention, since the increase in victims came from either gang members or recognized criminals. Editorials on the subject summarized the situation as “good riddance.”
The current weather is bad: unnaturally cold and snow-filled.
SCENE 1
The next day, Trevor followed the only lead he had. He returned to and staked out that small townhouse that seemed abandoned from the outside. In the afternoon, two guys with a 10’ moving truck from U-Haul arrive in front. Despite their casual attire, the two guys look like ex-military: short cropped hair, physically fit, heads on swivels, etc. They start to unload and bring medium U-Haul boxes into the townhouse. You don’t get a good look at the person who answers and manages the door.
Within an hour, the two guys load the truck with 23 medium U-Haul boxes. Deciding to inspect the shoe store later, you follow the guys on an hour long drive to a small townhouse that seemed abandoned from the outside. There, the two guys start to unload the truck into the townhouse. You don’t get a good look at the person answering and managing the door.
SCENE 2
Over the next few days, you discover that Beard doesn’t leave the bar much and suspect that he sleeps on one of the three floors above the stores. He either eats supper in the restaurant or orders food delivered to the bar. You become friendly with the café staff and realize that the seedy bar is a prime location for the criminal gang, Reapers.
Daniel had been half-heartedly playing blackjack on and off for a week at another underground casino. Today, he finally found her and followed her when she left. He stopped his cab a corner after her and watched her enter a known Reapers bar. He wonders, Interesting. What’s her connection to Enzo? After paying the cab, he catches a greenlight and crosses the cross street putting him across the street from the bar. He starts walking toward the middle of the block on the opposite side of the street to be directly in front of the bar. There appears to be a café that would make a good stakeout location.
Gothic decides to postpone her personal errands and hails another cab to follow the guy who is following Ciandra. From the guy’s thoughts, she figures out which cab Ciandra is in. She can’t see Ciandra to start reading her thoughts, but she stops her cab when Gothic sees her stop in front of café. Gothic slowly pays the cab, so she doesn’t get out before Ciandra enters the seedy bar. When Gothic sees her, she gets a clear but ugly picture of the guy Ciandra plans to meet. His name is Bobby “Beard” Bonnet, but then you lose sight of her.
Gothic exits the cab and looks around. She sees the guy following Ciandra approaching her. As she glances inside the café, she sees a teenage girl with dark hair. Weirdly, her surface thoughts send her the same clear but ugly picture of a guy by the name of Bobby “Beard” Bonnet. Gothic knows that he is in the seedy bar and is very dangerous. In the back of the teenager's mind repeats an internal pledge, I’ll get him Tina, I promise. For you, and for Cherry, and for what he did to me.
Katie pats the package on her belt. A nice little square of gunpowder wrapped up in duct tape and paper with a latex liner. It had taken her a couple of weeks to make it by slowly pulling the lead out of one bullet after another and combining the powders. Fortunately she had had a large stockpile she'd taken from the gangers. It would fit nicely under Beard's seat on his motorcycle.
If I wait long enough, I'll get wind of him going somewhere I can be sure no innocent bystanders are. Then a battery punching through the package ought to set it off under his ass. We'll see if he's immune to gunpowder enemas...
Trevor will wait to see if they do anything interesting after unloading.
SCENE 2
You expect Jenny, the waitress, to be around in a couple of minutes to take his order.
He muses to himself What are you playing at Enzo? He thinks that discretion would be best, so he finds a table that allows him to keep an eye out on the bar and the rest of the cafe.
The teenage girl dark hair who is watching for the same guy (Bobby “Beard” Bonnet) as Ciandra, notices the guy entering the cafe and sitting next to her, but she doesn't think much of him.
The teenage girl at the table next to Daniel is memorable, purple iris's, unnaturally black hair with purple streaks in it, done up as a pony tail currently, with dark violet eyeliner, black lipstick, and geometric designs of black, purple, and dark blue on her cheeks and forehead. The makeup seems to break up the lines of her face, making it hard to follow them.
She's wearing a thick black men's shirt buttoned at the sleeves and neck, thin pleather gloves that fit her hands tightly, black jeans and tennis shoes. A cheap looking black jacket hangs from her chair.
Levi saves the GPS point into her phone, taking a moment to see if there was a pattern to their operation. She sighed a nervous breath, hopeful that she hadnt been seen tailing them, she didn't need suspicious police pulling her over again in the middle of an active investigation.
She takes a final earthly-sweet inhale of her cigar before snuffing the embers.
Act now and risk losing this place to a cleanup or wait and risk losing another clue.
"Or its another fragging decoy, you think of that?"
She exhaled again deeply trying to calm her anxiety.
"Let's do this already."
Grabbing her carry all bag and slipping it under her heavy knit coverscarf she focuses on her power and slowly drifts through the seat and the bottom of the car until her eyes are just above the snow covered ground all to avoid having to risk the sound from a closing car door. Then she slowly moves out of line of sight to the delivery men, and makes her way stealthily toward the building.
Gothic looks down at her phone and keeps her earphones in as she moves inside the cafe. She kept her attention on the man following Ciandra, but kept listening for her thoughts. Her hope was to get Ciandra's attention discretely, since it seemed like a lot was going to happen in short order.
She sent a brief text to the last number that she had of Ciandra's. U wake up yet? How u feeling?
SCENE 2
Gothic moves inside the cafe.
He knows the victim had his neck snapped. He accepts the possibility that Ciandra could have done it but doesn't know how. This is a big difference from people who can't accept something unexplainable. My other point is that he doesn't expect her to be the harmless girl who she appears to be.
I did read your text action, but Ciandra has not replied.
SCENE 1
The athletic looking man sitting with his back to the wall looks to be in his early to mid 20s. His black hair is neatly trimmed and styled
, as his blue-eyed gaze seems to take everything in. He's wearing a simple dark grey cotton t-shirt, relaxed fit, stone-washed Arizona jeans, and a pair of well-worn military boots. Though he looks relaxed, a tenseness about him seems to indicate otherwise.
This game is less about giving you options than about rolling with what you want to do. I would prefer you to ask questions of information that will help you decide on a course of action. Cheers
The goth girl moves straight to the back of the cafe, not looking up from her phone as she moves past the tables and the counter. When she reaches the back, she looks up briefly to glance into the side rooms and the back hallway to the restrooms. She's wearing a heavy, well-worn black leather jacket that's just slightly oversized for her but she's clearly made it her own. Her hair is jet-black except for a white streak that runs from her temple down her right side of her face.
As Levi approaches the townhouse and sees that there is a basement she drops down and heads straight to enter through the sub level.
SCENE 1
The guys continue to unload boxes from the U-Haul truck. Trevor doesn't spot anything new.
SCENE 2
The three of you are among four other patrons of the cafe and Jenny the waitress. Jenny doesn't introduce herself to Daniel ad Gothic but does collect and deliver orders to their tables.
Katie seems to be thinking about some creative fiction she's working on, because she keeps going over various ways to kill someone who isn't killable, and her methods aren't methods a normal person would use.
Levi takes a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness before she retrieves her Mini Maglite hoping to reveal something compelling or out of place here before she makes her way cautiously up the stairs to the back of the house's main floor.
SCENE 1
The guys continue to unload boxes from the U-Haul truck. Trevor doesn't spot anything new.
The only things that have been recently disturbed is a narrow path to an old oil tank feeding an oil-fired furnace. Its pilot light is own, but the furnace is currently off.
Levi extinguishes her light at the base of the steps and enters her ghost form to avoid any creaky surprises as she ascends.
Well, I was probably going to have to go in sooner or later.
Trevor gets off his bike, leaving it parked down a side street, and sneaks over to the U-Haul. If nobody is in the cab he'll sneak over to a side window and try to peek in without being seen.
Daniel's thoughts a flying by a mile a minute. Flashes of memories from various high risk activities: base jumping from the Sears tower, skydiving, free climbing in the Rockies. Foremost being the image of a young woman. What ia her connection to Enzo? Did she try to twist Vincent's head off? Is it circumstancial? She was the last one to see him...What gives with goth? She trying to scare people away?...Is Enzo there?... and many more.
SCENE 1
The guys continue to unload boxes from the U-Haul truck.
The weather is cold (40's) and drizzly. Your extreme sports addiction is the only thing keeping your motorcycle on the streets at this time of year. Sane people have put their bikes in storage for the winter. But you're Trevor Horton, superhero.
You sneak over to the U-Haul. The cab is empty. Both guys are unloading boxes. You pause near the wheel of the truck, in order to time the guys unloading.
The townhouse sits in the middle of the block, so there are no side windows. The basement windows at ground level are barred and newspapered. The first floor windows are above head height. You were here last night. You went through the front door; the lock has been repaired but the wooden casement is still damaged from where you kicked it in. The first floor living and dining rooms were relatively empty of furniture with a mostly unstocked kitchen in the back. The stairs starting in the middle of the house led upstairs to the bedrooms. The master bedroom had no furniture and was where you discovered the ritual and confronted Hiram.
Gothic looks up from her phone to look briefly at the faces in the cafe. Then she starts making her way toward the exit, obviously not seeing who she was looking for.
You also have gleaned from Daniel's and Katie's surface thoughts that they expect two very dangerous people in that bar, not counting Ciandra.
Gothic exits the cafe and crosses the street. She tries to get a glimpse of the patrons from the outside, and starts listening to the thoughts coming from within.
SCENE 2
Early afternoon. Cold (40's) and drizzly.
After looking around the cafe for someone she didn't find, the goth girl exits the cafe and jay-walks across the messy street. The seedy bar looks even worse up close. The windows are opaque with paint and posters. She pulls on the front door of the biker bar and finds it locked.
Katie watches the Goth girl, and decides this might be what she needs, Beard might come out to deal with her, and give her an opening, or he might decide to leave. Either way...
She leaves $10 on the table to pay for her soda and a generous tip, and heads out. She slips into the alley, and jams the package into Beard's bike, near the gas tank.
Then she steps back to the end of the alley, where she can watch the front door and the bike at the same time... She has some brand new AA batteries in her hand, freshly wiped clean of finger prints.
SCENE 2
Early afternoon. Cold (40's) and drizzly.
She decides you might be what she needs, Beard might come out to deal with you, and give her an opening, or he might decide to leave. Either way...
After jay-walking across the street behind you, she disappears from your vision into the alley next to the bar when you unsuccessfully tug on the front door. Then, she reappears a few seconds later in your peripheral vision at the entrance to the alley watching you. She is thinking about watching the front door and his motorcycle at the same time... She has some brand new AA batteries in her hand, freshly wiped clean of finger prints.
Levi, waits for a moment when the sound of the two men leaving to pick up more boxes is obvious to discretely shine her flashlight along the floor to gain her bearings and use the dim light on the fringes of the flashlights light-cone to see if anything worthwhile is kept in here.
Nothing withstanding she'll move toward the door hopefully leading to the front of the house, turn off her flashlight again and take a peek into the next room hoping to find the stairs leading to where the boxes are heading.
Finding the door to the bar locked, she starts toward the alley to check the back entrance. Seeing the purple streak-haired girl head to the alley, she stops and waits. When the girl returns from the alley, there's a moment of eye contact.
Gothic breaks the eye contact with a roll of her eyes and she spins, putting her back against the bar. She pulls out her phone again. She leans her back against the window and makes like she's texting something, though she listens for sounds within the bar.
SCENE 1
Spectra peeks through the door at the top of the basement stairs. You see a messy, unstocked kitchen and a backdoor. The stairs leading to the second floor are the ceiling of the basement stairs and start nearer to the front door.
SCENE 2
Levi waits in the kitchen primarily to let the men finish unloading the truck to see if they leave, but also to see if she can pick up on where the third person in the house is. She'll eavesdrop in on them to check their progress and to make sure they are sorely taking things from the truck and putting them in the house and not moving anything out of the house at the same time.
SCENE 1
You dodge through the basement door when the third man approaches suddenly and enters the kitchen. He gets something from the refrigerator and leaves after a minute. You return to the kitchen after he departs. He heads toward the front door.
Levi takes this opportunity to move from the kitchen to the second floor, flying up through the ceiling.
SCENE 1
You come up through the stairs while one guy is going down and one guy is going up. You head upstairs trying to get your bearings among the bedrooms.
Before you can react, the guy upstairs comes out of a bedroom without his box and yells, "What the f@#k! Hey Jimmy! We got ghosts!" His stops and stares at you. His right hand drops behind his back under his coat.
The guy draws his 9mm gun from a waistband holster and points it at you like someone with military training. "We got company up here!"
Trevor has timed the guys unloading. He plans to follow this guy with his box. While he is in the truck, they both hear the other guy call from upstairs, "We got company up here!"
The third guy who has been managing the door finally reveals himself to you. He says to the loading guy who is standing in the back of the truck, "Leave. We'll call you."
Levi freezes and slowly raises her hands turning toward, but keeping her face concealed beneath her hood, the man with his gun. "Don't shoot. You got me. What blind luck huh?"
Trevor thinks quickly. An enemy of an enemy is likely a friend, and if the "company" they mentioned is somebody who couldn't defend themselves, well, they'll need to be priority number one. Maybe the cargo they're unloading will have some clues.
Damn amateur hour here.
Trevor runs at the man who's standing in the door at a full sprint, wraps his arms around his chest under the shoulders and lifts him, wrangling him to the ground.
SCENE 1
PAGE 1 of combat
The doorman catches and throws Trevor Horton to the steps in front of the front door. He appears almost as surprised as Trevor is, because Trevor suddenly realizes that the doorman is stronger than he is. If Trevor wasn't a champion wrestler, he would be outmatched.
With a gleeful smile, the doorman slams the door in Trevor's face and shoots the deadbolt.
The The second delivery man jumps out of the truck and pulls down back door.
"Who are you? What are you doing here? Start talking." The guy with the gun demands of Levi.
Ok. This is the second guy in the past two days who's been stronger than me. It's not like I'm fighting Thor here...
Trevor stands up and shakes it out.
Armaments again. Wood? Not hard enough. My bike? I'd rather not. What's this railing made of? Gah. No time. Potential amateur inside. Ignore the bruises.
Trevor then tries to pull out the bars on the basement windows to slip in that way.
Levi turns her head to what she thinks is a commotion going on. "Did you hear that?"
SCENE 2
SCENE 1
PAGE 2 of combat
The bars over the basement's ground floor window start to deform but do not break yet. You don't hear anything inside. You realize that you are starting to break and enter now. If Hiram has lawyer's that prevented him from being booked last night, you might run into legal problems here. On the other hand, you are Trevor Horton, superhero.
The doorman heads upstairs coming up behind Spectra. He tries to grab her but goes right through her! "What the f@#k?!"
"It must be her. You can't affect her. She can't affect us either. She can only watch." The guy with the gun concludes to the doorman while keeping his gun pointed at Spectra. "You should go sit on the packages. If she becomes normal, you can take her."
The second delivery man jumps into the cab and starts the truck.
Extenuating circumstances. There were sounds of a struggle.
Trevor continues pulling on the bars.