Players:
Detective Baxter, Officer Blackstone, Officer Santmire
Summary: Detective Baxter meets an unfortunate end when he gets caught up in a fight between the crooked cops, Hooligan and Connor.
Log Title: Early Retirement
Rating: R
NYC - Hell's Kitchen
The rough neighborhood in Midtown West New York known as Hell's Kitchen almost has a darker tone to it. Once you step into this neighborhood the city takes on a different feel, the buildings are shorter but everything feels darker. There is real grit to this part of town where many of the New York City criminals see to make their home.
Scene
Late night in the region between Hell's kitchen and Mutant town. The Hooligan is on the hunt. The armored Vigilante vaulting from rooftop to rooftop as he watches the police cruisers, looking for either of the two officers he's been given as target. Blackstone and Santmire, the names repeated like a Mantra as he continues his search, watching with night-vision binoculars from a distance.
The officers in question have been given a new car, the last one having been totalled when it encountered an enraged Dingo. The Captain of Precinct M has actually started wising up since things started hitting the news. He has begun to have his officers rotate cruisers, claiming that it has to do with a shortage of cars resulting from multiple mutant attacks. The officers in question are indeed working this part of town tonight, but how to know which car is the correct one?"
A tricky question, but one the Hooligan has thought about. Putting in an earpiece from a police frequency scanner he fiddles with the dial until he tunes in the right channels until he can hear the dispatcher from the proper precinct. Moving now to the most run-down section of the city he lays the base for his setup. Using a payphone to call in a report of "Mutant vandals causing trouble in the neighborhood.". He smashes a few windows of an abandoned storefront and sets a trash can on fire before moving to a vantage point and waiting to see who is called in.
It takes a few minutes, but a car finally arrives on the scene. It is not a standard marked police car, but is instead an average looking black car. And older man steps out of the car and looks around a few times. He reaches for his pocket and pulls out a gun before proceeding. The man is dressed in a long black duster and has a matching brimmed hat. He approaches the store cautiously, looking around for signs of the vandals.
Hooligan watches the man through the binoculars. Using the night vision filter to try and spot a badge. He gets the feeling this isn't his man, the two he's looking for are uniformed. Taking up an empty soda can he tosses it into an alleyway near the building so it clatters off a few walls. Listening to police band to see if he makes any calls, knowing he has to identify himself to dispatch.
The man in the duster hears the noise and approaches the can slowly, clinging to the walls of the building as he moves. He oddly does not identify himself or call for help. Even more strangely the man takes cover when a marked cruiser arrives on the scene. It would appear that he does not want to be seen by the officers. The doors to the cruiser open and two men step out after calling out that "Blackstone and Santmire" have arrived on the scene.
Grinning under his mask he moves into position, taking a small canister from his belt he pulls the pin and tosses it at the feet of the two officers. Then tosses another at where the other man is taking cover before leaping off the roof and sliding down a metal lamppost near the marked cruiser. The canisters pop and quickly fill the air with burning choking vapors. Tear gas.
As the masked form is beginning his assault, another figure steps out onto the otherwise empty street. Out of the door of a smallish three-story brownstone comes a form dressed into a used-looking russian military longcoat, and a black knit cap covering down over his ears. The figure looks almost like he belongs, but not quite… something is off, perhaps in how clean his boots seem, or the general repair of the clothes he has on. Regardless, one Connor Blake steps out into the chill night air, and his hands immediately go into his pockets as he looks left and right, before making his way down the street, walking towards the cruiser.
The two officers that arrived on scene back up suddenly as the gas encircles them. They sputter and cough, covering their mouths and getting out of the radius of the smoke. "What the fuck kind of mutant uses a smoke grenade?" Both men draw their weapons and flashlights, shining them toward the alley where the other man entered.
That man is making quite a bit of noise. He is coughing quite heavily and gasping for breath. He stumbles into a garbage can and falls down, clutching at his throat. If Hooligan manages to get a good look at the man he will notice that he is quite old. Perhaps too old to have thrown an Asphyxiant at.
Maxwell emerges from the smoke as the men retreat, his mask having lenses and filters to protect him. In each hand is a standard Tazer.. and he fires at both men center mass trying to drop them both before they can react. For the moment he's not paying attention to the other man.
Connor stops as the word 'mutant' is heard over the rest of the din, and the whiff of the CS gas comes his way, making his nostrils sting and his eyes water slightly. Turning his head to inhale a clearer breath of air, he moves closer across the way to see what is happening, ducking down behind a mailbox. Keeping himself there for a moment, he reaches down for his phone, briefly floating his thumb over the logo floating there… but then he stuffs it back away into his pocket, and takes out a pair of leather gloves from earlier, sliding them in place and strapping them in around the back of his hand.
The man in the duster who went into the alley earlier gasps a few more times and falls very silent. The gun in his hand drops to the ground with a clatter.
"What the hell is AAA!" One of the men calls out as he is struck with the tazer. He falls to the ground and grabs at where the pins stuck into him. The second officer manages to dodge the tazer and begins firing into the gas. "What the shit is this? Mutants don't use stun guns and gas." He fires a total of five shots into the gas before running to the aid of his partner.
Maxwell still hasn't noticed the other man, he emerges from the gas and converges on the second officer bat in hand. A small hole in his armor showing where one of the shots hit but the handgun is far too small a caliber to penetrate. He tries to bring the club down onto the back of the other man's head to knock him cold. "Bingo jackass.. it's not a mutant.. it's something worse."
Connor does however note the man in black, from the clatter of the gun. With the three still keeping themselves occupied, he vanishes from his spot, and then is suddenly by the side of the so-far-unseen old man. Leaning down, the first thing he does is grab the dropped pistol, and tucks it into his pocket, out of sight out of mind. From there the young man touches the black-dressed form, and reappears across the street once more. Looking up where the others are for a moment, he then easily affects his russian accent, murmuring out, "Come now comrade, is it not being sporting to be simply laying in allies where fights are being happening." Opening the jacket, he tries to help the man get some air, while checking him over… trying to keep him unaware of the change of surroundings.
Detective Baxter comes to once he is in the cleaner air. He coughs a few times and weezes when he breathes. "Oh thank you. I'm getting to old for this sort of thing." He seems to realize that he is no longer in the alley, but he was unconscious and assumes he was carried out of danger. "What happened? There was a call that mutants were causing trouble over here. Did you see?" He now sees the two officers across the street. "Oh no. You can't let him attack them like that! He's only going to give them a legitimate reason to kill him." The man starts coughing again as he manages to stand up, stumbling toward the brawl across the street.
The standing officer, Santmire, sees the bat coming and manages to block the blow with his arm. "Aaa! You bastard!" He pulls out a night-stick and flails it at Hooligan. The tazered man appears to be recovering. He picks up his gun and fires at Hooligan's foot.
Maxwell blocks the stick with his bat and hops as the gun goes off, bringing one heavy boot down on the fallen officer's hand to pin the gun down as he swings at the second officer again. "Yes let's keep up that energy.. makes me feel that much better about having to wail on you twits.."
Connor pats Baxter's shoulders as he stands up, "I am thinking it is not being mutants, tovarisch… since I am thinking right now I am being only mutant here, da?" Giving the man a slight smile and a wink before he takes the pistol from his pocket, and passes it back to it's owner, "Please… stay a moment." And with that he stands up, his hands go back into his pockets, and he starts walking amiably across the street towards the fight, as if nothing was wrong.
Baxter seems a bit confused that the mutant is handing him his own gun, but he takes it and places it in his pocket after checking to make sure it is still loaded. "Be careful, they're the ones that kidnapped that girl. They're dangerous, but if you hurt them too bad they're sure to kill her."
The officer on the ground yells out as his hand is stomped on. He twists his body and slams the bottom of his foot against Hooligan's knee, pulling his hand free and running back to his cruiser. Santmire gives his assailant a venomous look, blocking the bat with his nightstick and using his other hand to fire at the man again. Last bullet. He'll have to reload.
Maxwell jerks backward as the bullet catches him square in the chest. But this suit could withstand a point blank blast from an assault rifle.. the cop's pistol just doesn't have the penetration. He rights himself and grins under the mask as he lets the cop see the flattened round fall out. Grinding his boot onto the hand of the downed cop he draws his shotgun with his other hand and returns the favor on Santmire, blasting him square in the chest. The shotgun loaded with non-lethal pancake rounds, it'll knock him on his butt.. maybe crack a rib, but it won't kill him.
"You know…", The young man's voice carries a bit loudly over the sounds of the fight, "I am thinking that is being a bit impolite, da?" And stops about ten feet from the group, standing there as if having a casual conversation. Looking down at the stunned cop, and then back up at the armored form with the shotgun, both his eyes begin to glow a bit more brilliantly in the dark, "Perhaps you should be putting this away and walking away. This is America… but I am instead seeing more of home than I am wanting." Connor then takes a deep breath and focuses on himself, putting a shield in front of him in case either side decides to open fire, planting both shields so the bullets will be caught and stopped.
The cop that was stunned manages to get away from Hooligan and runs to his cruiser. "Bastard mutant wannabe. Bullets won't do anything to you? Fine." He starts up the car and backs it up several yards before speeding toward Hooligan. "Let's see how you like this!" Santmire is knocked back by the gun blast, but lucky for him this sends the man clear of the path of the car. Baxter is still trying to get closer to the fight, though he is not fully recovered and is moving rather slow.
Maxwell shakes his head as he watchs the cruiser back up. "Oh lord you're really going to try that?" As the crusier picks up speed he flips backwards, vaults the burning garbage can in Parkour style and lands in front of the storefront. "Ole'!"
Connor turns his eyes towards the car, and then he points his fingers in his coat towards the car. From there, his power shifts to interpose and surround the car so that he can lift it off the ground by an inch, and then cancel as much of it's inertia as possible, giving off a long-suffering sigh as he then pushes the pressure of the field down so that the doors cannot be opened. This does put a bit of sweat on his brow, but the young man then turns to look towards Hooligan and the other policeman, "This is being very amusing… a mutant saving mutant haters, yes?"
The cop who was shot is still gasping on the ground. "Idiot. It doesn't matter if you're a mutant or a human. You just set a trap and attacked two officers. The police will be all over you. There are over 30,000 of us in this city, and not one is going to rest until we know who you are and pair you up with a new boyfriend in Rikers."
The officer in the car appears terribly confused by the loss of his ability to move. He shifts gears and slams on the gas pedal, causing the wheels to spin in mid air. He tries a variety of things, turning on sirens and lights, calling out curses over the loudspeaker. After a few minutes he pulls out a radio and calls over it. "Mutant attacking officers! Vandalism was a trap! Need backup now!"
Maxwell shakes his head "Mutant? Come on.. I've been working this beat for how long and you clowns still can't tell the difference? Now I'm just insulted." He looks to the fallen cop "You're not cops.. you're thugs with badges. I could be out pounding on some drug dealers or a street gang right now but I have to deal with you morons." He heads towards the patrol car, now he's on a time limit and has to finish this quickly.
Connor lifts the car up higher, directing from inside the coat to obfuscate the movement, and then very slowly he begins to turn if over so that once it is set back down, the car is upside down, balancing carefully on the front bumper and the top of the roof. Once the car is settled, there's a sudden sound of metal groaning as pressure pushes in and crimps the four doors into not moving. Secured for the moment, the russian-sounding young man walks towards Maxwell once more, "You know… I am thinking… no. Since obviously you are not being here with backup, or following your… ah… american police procedures… I am betting money you are not being using your car camera. I am also betting that if you are here by yourselves… others are being covering for you. So now… what is to be stopping me from simply… turning my back? And letting the scary masked man begin making you scream like little girl with pulled hair."
The officer on the ground still doesn't move or speak, but the one in the car manages to turn himself over, reloading his gun and firing blindly toward Connor, shattering his passenger window as he does so. He picks up the radio again and holds it up. "Listen up, you freaks. You think you've got the power? One word. That's all it'll take. One word into this radio and that blue haired bitch dies." He must be talking about the bartender from Nowhere. He knows where she is. And apparently someone on the other side of the radio is on his side.
There is a sudden noise behind Connor as Detective Baxter falls. Some of those bullets passed right by their target and hit the elderly Detective, causing him to fall to the ground.
Maxwell looks over, the op is blown.. so he turns his gaze to the fool making the threat. "Well this got screwed royally.. so I'll leave you with this thought. If she dies you better hope they transferr you to a precinct in Antarctica because I will find you and no one will ever see you again. Unlike the mutants I'm just another face in the crowd without this mask. You better get used to looking over your shoulders every time you leave your homes.. hell now that I know your names even your homes aren't safe. Now thank the nice mutant for saving your asses cause if he hadn't screwed this up I'd be breaking your legs right now halfway across town to get what I want." He looks to Connor "Should have just let me take them down.." He takes two objects from his belt, popping the pin on a smoke bomb he drops it at his own feet and the area is engulfed in a thick cloud. There's a faint hissing sound and when the smoke clears he's gone.. a spray-paint image of his mask left on the street where he was standing.. His calling card.
Releasing his hold on the car entirely, the man on the ground is suddenly lifted up and pulled towards the mutant, hands in place as he moves him to the point where he can clearly make out details, but the power blazing out of his eyes should be enough to obscure his features a bit… and make him familiar to those who were present. Reaching up… he plucks at the badge with one gloved hand, examining the badge number, "The words are Thank you… so that you are being saying your are welcome. However… This is friendly warning. I was being at rally where many bad men came. There, many of us were forced to do many bad things. Now… if you are being thinking on this clearly… if you are killing mutant here, now… I am being wondering Officer… how long will you be living and eating whole food? This is not war you are being wishing to start… but is war we can end." Reaching up, he pats the immobile man on the cheek, "Understanding? Da? Good."
Connor vanishes from there, and is besides Baxter once more, looking down over him, and asking with a whisper, "Are you allright? Talk to me…" Dropping the affectation, "I can get you to a hospital, but I need to know how bad it is…"
There are sirens approaching from multiple directions. The man that is lifted smiles at the mutant holding him. "Go ahead. Attack me in the view of the other officers. One of THEM is bound to have their squad car camera on. That'll make good news." He's quiet once he's dropped.
Baxter reaches up and touches his chest. There are multiple bullet holes in his chest, it doesn't look good. "Damn. All I wanted…Was to retire in peace. Stupid kids and their…Hatred." He gives Connor a sad smile. "Tell that girl…Good luck. It's people…Like you….Who…" He closes his eyes.
Connor reaches up and with shaky hands, he closes the lids of the dead officer, and mumbles out a soft prayer for the fallen man. For a moment he reaches for Baxter's pistol, a hard look on his face… while a mutant killing would be a crime, all it would take is a couple rounds into one of the others, and make it look like an unintentional crossfire. But then the words come back to him and still crouched… he's just gone, not even a whisper of his presence… leaving nothing but the cops, the car, and the chaos.
~ Fin ~
