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Summary: Using the fake head to track her movements, Stormwaltzer tracks down Envy in an attempt to teach her a lesson for all the trouble she has caused.
Log Title: Stormwaltzer's Trap
Rating: R
NYC - Mutant Town - Back Alley
Heavily littered with newspapers, knocked over garbage cans and other unidentifiable pieces of refuse, this alleyway cuts a narrow pathway between two of the older buildings in the neighborhood. The mouth is lined with dumpsters and garbage cans, making it a bit of a deterrent for people seeking this alley as a pass-through. This doesn't stop homeless and fringe elements from using it, however. Rusty fire escapes dot the sides of the close buildings; they are close enough that one could easily jump from one side to the other but a slip from one of the higher landings could be fatal. Light even during the daytime hours is sparse, though it's easier to see down from one end to the other in the day. At night, it's nearly impossible.//
The night is less dark than usual, the overcast sky reflecting the lights of the city and causing the clouds to grow. Rain falls lightly, but that doesn't keep the sailors on shore leave from wandering around the city. There are actually quite a number of them in Mutant Town tonight, taking pictures and hanging out in bars with local mutants. It is an unexpected and welcome change for the denizens of this part of town.
One woman in particular seems rather annoyed with the increased activity in this part of town. "Seriously? Why do they have to be out here now?"
"Why didn't you check to see if any large, city-wide celebrations were going on this week before deciding to piss off the entire city?" The voice seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Envy stops and sighs. "Are you STILL following me? I don't understand why the Brotherhood is so suddenly concerned for my safety. They never cared when Iron Man was after me. Or that green lady from the Avengers." Envy starts walking again. She is still wearing that black body suit from earlier, the trench coat billowing slightly in a gust of wind. She is carrying a small bag with her now as well. "And don't even say it…Again. I don't care. I'll be rid of it in a few minutes."
"Say what? That you should drop the head? Dingo has reason to suspect that you're being set up somehow. It would be wise to drop it…But if you insist. My orders were to follow you until I felt that you were safe." A woman in a black dress with long dark hair hazes into view behind Envy. "And the Brotherhood is concerned with the protection of our own species. As Envy you are a powerful mutant…Troublesome, but powerful. We would rather protect a powerful asset to our species than let you be taken out by a human with unnatural abilities."
A head in a bag. What could possibly be less threatening than the severed head of your enemy? After all, if the head is detached, it would logically follow that the enemy is too dead to threaten you anymore. Yet, in defiance of all logic and good sense, a voice floats up from within, eerily unmuffled by the cloth surrounding it.
I KNOW WHY YOU'RE AFRAID OF ME…
Envy stops suddenly and looks down at the bag for about two seconds before hurling it at a wall. Another second later and she's pulled a gun out of her coat and is aiming it at the bag. The machine gun goes off with a burst of sound as she unloads a clip into the bag, causing some civilians within hearing distance to yell out. The woman stops and reloads her gun, still aiming it at the bag.
"I tooooold you. But Noooo. Don't listen to the lady with ties all around the city." The smoke woman shakes her head. "I won't be much help…But I can mobilize some people to this location at least." The woman vanishes in wisps of smoke.
YOU'RE AFRAID OF ME, the voice continues, equally unimpeded by the thirty-odd bullet holes in its apparent source and general vicinity, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO. AND YOU THOUGHT THAT BY PISSING ME OFF AND CALLING FOR MY HEAD, YOU WOULD BEAT ME. BUT YOU WEREN'T SURE, WERE YOU, ENVY?
The woman glances around the area, she places a hand to her torso as though feeling for something. "Oh I know what you are. You're a filthy old CUNT who doesn't know when to DIE!" A quick burst of gunfire down each end of the alley. Envy stops and pulls out some sort of communicator, saying some things in Japanese before putting it away. "I'm pretty sure taking off your head will kill you. But I'm suddenly thinking that isn't your head, is it? I don't know how you did it…But it worked. You tricked me." A smirk, "And why were you hunting me down in the first place the other day? Are you afraid of me, you old hag? You see, I've been speaking to a few people. Turns out you're not BORN magic. You learn it. And if I learn it? Well, we both know I'm made of a magical amplifier, don't we? Imagine what I could do."
IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD DO?! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO. FOR ALL YOU KNOW, YOU COULD BE TALKING TO MY HEAD. OR, YOU COULD JUST BE CRAZY. THAT WOULDN'T BE FAR FROM THE TRUTH, WOULD IT, ENVY? CRAZY LITTLE MUTANT, THINKS SHE CAN DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS, IGNORE THE CONSEQUENCES, AND HAVE EVERYTHING. OH, LITTLE ENVY, YOU ARE WRONG, YOU ARE… YOU HAVE NO CONCEPT OF WHAT YOU'D UNLEASH ON YOURSELF, IF YOU EVEN TRIED.
Envy keeps looking around herself, there is a manic grin on her face now. "Talking to your head? I'm pretty sure that thing can't talk any more…Also because it was probably someone else's head…Just in case though…" Envy holds up a hand toward the bag and it is ripped apart by an eruption of sapphire spines coming up from the ground. "And obviously I'm not crazy because…I forgot her name. Someone else heard you." Envy suddenly realizes that woman is not around. "Wherever…She went."
In the space it takes to turn back around, there's a deeping of the shadows, far away from the mess of rotten ground beef, plaster, suede, and the cheapest dime-store wig that ever someone paid money for. "…Uncertain, are we? Seeing things, maybe?" The shadows part, like a satin curtain dragged over a sleeping lover, revealing a glowing red eye, pale lips, and a wide, killer's grin. "*Boo.*"
Envy does not even hesitate. A hand slips into her jacket and something is hurled at the phantom at the end of the alley. It lands with a clinking noise as Envy raises a wall of diamond in front of Donna. A quick glance down will show that Envy has thrown a grenade. Apparently the woman thinks that it is the fastest and most destructive move she can make.
There's a light *THUMP* on the pavement behind Envy, close enough to feel breathing on the side of her neck. "Good throw," Donna says, appreciative, just behind the woman's ear. "Aim could use a bit of work, though…" Behind the diamond wall, the grenade goes off… and unbeknownst to its thrower, shatters the focus of the illusion spell that took so much work to make move and speak. "We need to talk, Envy. You have a problem."
Envy makes a startled noise and wheels around quickly, her machine gun pinned to her hip. She levels it as she prepares to shoot the woman behind her, but then she stops and looks beyond the Stormwaltzer. Envy looks a little surprised at what is standing behind the other woman.
"No, it is YOU who has the problem. How dare you threaten one of purest blood. You are human. You are worthless." The voice is coming from what looks like a very pale and beautiful man with large black wings. If Donna has been following Envy for any amount of time, she will recognize the voice as that of the smoke woman that was following Envy earlier.
Envy lifts a hand from the gun, indicating for the demonic entity behind Donna to hold its move. "We need to TALK?" Her expression is hard to read. It is as though she is actually considering talking this out.
Donna glances over her shoulder, arching an eyebrow. "Oh, hello, you. ….. …..Hang about, you've got the wings wrong. *Bat,* child, the pretty demons have *bat* wings." Snorting her disdain, she turns back to Envy. "Yes. *Talk.* I'm willing to give you a free pass. Provided you listen *very* carefully to the conditions."
The "demon" behind Donna frowns and shrugs at Envy. The angelic wings transform to look like bat wings before the facade is dropped and she resumes her usual appearance.
Envy seems to consider for a few moments whether or not she should listen to this woman, or kill her. "On the one hand…I'm very interested in hearing what you could possibly have to say to me. On the OTHER hand…I'm very interested in seeing what an SMG would do to your torso…" She tightens her grip on the gun before lowering it. "But I suppose I could hear you out first. If what you have to say isn't interesting I can always go back to answering that first question." And it will stall any violence until backup can arrive.
"Then I'll be brief," Donna says, turning her back and strolling toward the other woman, frowning as she waves a hand through her general vicinity. "You were a relief from boredom. Nothing more. Just convenient enough and just tacky enough to richly deserve a thrashing. And that would have been all… but then you had to go and threaten children. And yet, I'll still let you walk away. Provided you remember that the moment you harm a single child again, I will make it my life's work to ruin yours. You will stop being a game. You won't even be business. You will be *personal.* And you go to Europe and ask what happened when the Jager took something personally." Turning back to face Envy, she arches an eyebrow further. "And imagine what I will do to you once it stops being *fun.*"
The smoke woman looks highly offended when Donna walks through her, turning into wisps of smoke and flowing behind Envy. "While it WOULD be preferred that you NOT harm children, you do not need to bow to a human's demands." And then to Donna, "And let it be known. Another attack by you on a member of the superior race will be viewed as an act of war upon the Brotherhood of Mutants. And-"
The smoke woman is cut off by a wave of Envy's hand. "I am not a member of your Brotherhood. I don't care what you do as long as you stay out of my way…For the most part." She relaxes the gun completely now, cocking her head at Donna. "As long as I…Don't attack children, eh?" She quirks a brow. "Well I don't generally do that. You just really really pissed me off. And I figured one of the goody goods would go take you out to save the kids. And…It seemed to have worked until a few minutes ago…" A pause. "Actually now that you're not shooting lighting at me, I find you interesting as well…" A pause. "Why are you even in this city. Do you have any intention of interfering with my syndicates?"
"Or the people of Mutant To-"
"For the last time, please shut up…Smokey or whatever your name is."
"My name is-"
"Shut up! Don't really care."
Donna shrugging negligently, Donna strolls a few paces closer to the mouth of the alley. "All you need to know is, stay out of my way. My business has little to do with yours, and ordinarily I'd not give a wet fart *what* you did. But you pissed me off. And now I've noticed you. And I repeat; harm a child, *any* child? I will come for you. Are. We Clear."
Envy seems to consider for a moment whether or not avoiding a fight here and now will be considered a loss. She decides that the sorceress wouldn't be leaving without a fight if she wasn't slightly concerned about the mutant's abilities. "Not yet. I need an age. There are a few…People that I need to deal with. They may be considered children by some." Like that Rat Girl for instance. "Agreeing to this now hinders my business."
The smoke woman suddenly appears in front of Donna. She does not look happy. "I cannot have you threatening the people of Mutant Town and simply walking away. I will not allow you to make demands of my people and be a continuing threat to the superior race or our allies." The unfriendly look from Envy is ignored.
"Then your business will have to suffer." Turning away from the smoke woman, Donna takes a few paces into a shadow, her outline blurring as the darkness folds around her pale figure. "Good evening, then… and remember, Envy… this was your free pass." And with that, the blackness swallows her up, the cover used to slip around a corner and melt into the crowded sidewalks.
Envy quirks a brow as the woman vanishes and places her gun back inside of her coat. "Well she never answered. I consider a child to be…Anyone under the age of sixteen. Right? When can you sign up for the military."
"I think it's eighteen." The smoke lady looks really pissed off. "Dingo won't be pleased…Or maybe he will. He's very strange. I don't like the idea of-"
"Why are you still here? We aren't friends. Tell the Brotherhood to stay out of my business." The woman turns and starts walking in the direction she was originally heading. She pulls out the communicator again and says a few things in Japanese, shattering her diamond wall when she reaches it. A hand is raised as she offers a wave to the other mutant, "Ciao."
