ic Busy Little Fingers

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Why, would you have them in the light?" answered Finnigan. 

 

"I do not keep them in the shadows, I teach them how to use the shadows. The art of illusion, concealment. When you are societies junk, 'tis the shadows that are useful, and the light is but a pleasant threat. You are always insisting that I do this to the fingers. That I do that...."

 

He sighed. A croaked, dark sigh. 

 

"It is you that inflicts your will on them. Not I. Do you see me point a gun at them? Hold a knife to their throat?" he asked, softly, almost whispering. 

 

He started circling aroung Justice, keeping to the shadows. As the sun set, it was hard to see him. 

 

"Tell me now, plainly, what do you intend to do with me?"

[RocketLord]

"So, are we using light and darkness as a metaphor, or as actual light and darkness now?" Finnigan had started circling her now, staying in the shadows. It was getting harder to see him. She considered just reaching into the backpack and pulling out the goggles, but no reason to let him know about those just yet. "Because either way, you might not be holding an actual gun in your hand, but you sure got a metaphorical gun to them. See, I've been thinking these last few days. You're in a bad situation, I got that.  You said it yourself: You taught them their skills, and you taught them your philosophy. You taught them that they're just society's junk, when they could be so much more."

 

What she intended to do with him? She still wasn't sure. Finnigan had shown that he couldn't really be trusted already. If they'd just been stealing food or something to survive, it would be much easier to decide. Fine, let them go then. Robin Hood and all that, but stealing valuables to get luxury for themselves? She couldn't allow that, could she? This was all way harder to figure out than on television.

 

Robin shook her head. "That all depends on you. From what I've heard and learned around here, you've pretty much indoctrinated these kids to follow your philosophy. I'm not gonna claim I'm some kind of perfect saint, but what you've been doing there is wrong. You try and make it sound like you and the kids are playing at being Robin Hood, but you're really just out for yourselves. I don't want to fight you." He was still circling, and she was trying to follow him. To prove her point, she reached into her shirt and pulled out the Justice Buster. It had felt heavy under her hoodie. It still felt heavy now. "But I will stop you if I have to!" She entered most of the code necessary for starting up the Justice Driver on her phone. Another digit, and the suit would appear. She was ready.

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Its not wrong when I when I don't have a choice, is it?" asked Finnigan who had at least been listening to what Justice had to say. 

 

"I have to make a living somehow. Pay back the witch who cursed me. See if I can...somehow....rejoin the human race" he continued, earnestly. To emphasise his point, the illusion he had cloaked himself in dropped. In its place was the same rotting skeleton with wasted limbs and hanging skin. 

 

"But reverse this? No. If I simply reverse the curse, then I will be dead in a month. Maybe two. Unless someone miraculously has a cure for cancer...."

 

He groaned. 

 

"uuuggh....I can feel it still, riddling my bones! A grinding pain...verily, tis most vexatious!" he grunted. "But despite it all, I will not relinquish my life! I do not wish to die, and in some way, I have immortality, as despicable as it is!"

 

"I need the money to survive! To buy pain killers, to pay the underworld of occult warlocks and sorcerers! And yes, to understand the murk that clothes my skin. And to use it! I am determined, if nothing else! Maybe I need the horn of a unicorn. Maybe I need liquid moonlight! But whatever I need to master my condition, I will get it!"

[RocketLord]

The zombie-like appearance still chilled Robin. He was like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie, just much more eloquent, and less about eating brains. 

 

Robin was aware that Finnigan had a point. If he had to do something to actually survive his curse and reverse it, then yeah, he needed money. Warlocks and sorcerers needed money too, she supposed, but again. You do something, you always have a choice. You hurt others to get what you want, or you find another, better path. It might not be possible, it might not be comfortable, but Robin believed that, at least.

 

"But you're still going about it the wrong way. Stealing like this, using the kids like this? There's bound to be someone coming down hard on you. You might be immortal, but the kids are just kids. Unless you want to create some kind of zombie epidemic and spread your curse to the kids, then what? You're gonna use them as shields, if it comes to that? Is that really what you want to do? Or just run, leave them to take the fall?"

 

He was still circling. He seemed more aggresive. Robin was still following, trying to see him in the dark. One digit, all that she needed. A single secret character. Then she would be armored up and ready. 

 

"You could have gone about it in many other ways. You talk about underworld magicians. I know that there's heroic magic people out there. You could have tried reaching out to any of them, I'm sure they would have been happy to try and find a way to help you!" Robin realized something else. He had been desperate to survive. The way she had understood earlier, the curse was a side effect, something he could not possibly have known, but the way he spoke of a magical underworld, he had chosen to use what would be considered dark magic. Robin was aware that she knew absolutely nothing about how all of this worked in the real world, but honestly, if something was called dark magic, then it had to be bad. And he had to have made a decision to look for aid in the dark, instead of the light. Despite what he preached, Finnigan really was a bad guy. There was no doubt about it anymore.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Bah! Magical heroes? Dealing in black magic? Who do you suggest, I wonder? Eldritch? Nick Cimitiere? Phantom? Hah! None would touch what sustains me. Maybe you would rather I go to some foolish pretender like Rene DeSaens?" he mocked, full of bitterness. 

 

He continued shuffling, slow. Whatever other dark sorcery propelled him, his body remained weak. 

 

"I...." he paused. "Would not use children as a shield. I am would not inflict my curse on anybody, nay, even to save their life" he muttered. "My drive to survive is strong, and no doubt you dissaprove of much of what I have done to survive. But there are something I would not do" he said, more strongly. 

 

"I was a stage magician. Sleight of hand, deception, illusion. One of my greatest joys, despite my flawed character, was entertaining children. No, whatever black heart you think I have, and mayhap it is black, it would not turn so vile as to sacrifice a young life!"

[RocketLord]

"Aren't you a bit too keen on giving up before you even try it out?" Oh yeah, he was starting to get pissed off. "Like, they might not use black magic, but they might have something that can help with it? Take the bad magic out of you, leave the good stuff in?" 

 

She was reaching a bit, perhaps, but honestly, Robin didn't know anything real about magic. Nothing that could help here, or try to get Finnigan to reconsider, at the least. She was fine with letting him go, provided he didn't hurt anyone. But these kids would get hurt. The way he talked about the kids gave her a bit of hope, at least. He was not all villain, if nothing else. It made things both easier and harder. She might actually be able to reach him, but if she didn't, if she couldn't... well, Finnigan might not be out for world conquest or anything like that, but he still had good intentions, he had something that he needed that money for, even if that didn't make stealing right. Every bank robber probably had a good reason. Still didn't make it the right thing to do.

 

"But that's just what you're doing!" Robin countered to Finnigan's statement that he wouldn't sacrifice a young life. "When someone comes down hard on you, do you then think that they'll leave the kids alone? They'll go through them to get at you." 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Giving up? That is precisely what I will never do" replied Finnigan, for the first time with anger in his voice. He raised a clenched fist. "Never!"

 

"If you stop me, you may very well kill me" he said, calming down and giving Justice sad eyes. "Or worse. A corpse rotting away, condemned to perpetual torment, unloved and forgotten under dust and stone! Do you call that Justice?"

 

"Bah, now is the time for you to decide! Do you wish to stop me, or are you willing for the odd ring to be stolen? The odd wallet to be emptied? What, at the end of the day, do you, as judge, jury, and executioner, think is JUSTICE?"

[RocketLord]

"But you are giving up! You're not even thinking about using ideas that you don't like! What's the worst that could happen if you sought out one of those good guy magicians you mentioned? They'd say they couldn't do it, and that would be it!" She was getting worked up now. Robin was really trying to find a peaceful way out of this. She didn't want to fight against Finnigan if she could help it. What had happened to him was horrible, but he was desperate to survive, and even if he had morals, what he was doing was wrong. "What's next, then? What happens when the people you're dealing with decides that money isn't enough? You might not want to hurt kids, but what about other people? You gonna go out and get ritual sacrifices and whatever else they want?" She might be reaching here, as she had pointed out to herself quite a few times, Robin knew next to nothing about magic. She'd have to make up for that at some point.

 

She shifted around, her hand on the phone in her pocket, finger hovering over the last character needed to activate the Justice suit. Stopping him would kill him, or worse? No, she wasn't about to let that happen. Finnigan needed help. He was good at talking his case, sure, but while she heard him, Robin was stopping to listen. For whatever else he might be, good or bad, Finnigan had charisma. He had conviction. He was a manipulator. He had turned an entire group of kids into thieves, all following his philosophy. Still, she would get him help, somehow. This wasn't the way. "My grandmother said this: Even if someone has good intentions, they can still be a bad guy. There is no telling how far they will go, there is no telling what they won't do." She paused for a moment. "I'm not here to do any of those things. You've broken the law, and people have ended up being hurt in the process. Its just a matter of time before it gets even worse. There's no justice in letting you run around and hurting whoever you want, stepping over whoever is in your way to get your cure. I don't claim to know what's justice, not yet at least, but I know one thing: What you're talking about is not justice!"

 

Robin didn't want to fight, but it seemed like Finnigan wanted to do just that. She wasn't about to be caught off guard. "I don't want to fight you. Please, just come along peacefully." 

 

Click, last digit entered. "HENSHIN." The mechanical voice from the belt sounded almost somber in the circumstances, as the armor formed over Robin's body and clothes. Her backpack was still on, as was her hoodie, but the gold and red suit gleamed under it. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"We have one thing in common then..." muttered Finnigan, rubbing his hands together, the long thin fingers playing against each other. 

 

"I do not want to fight either!"

 

He took a shuffling step back into the darkness. 

 

"If need be" he continued from the darkness. "I will move street. I will move city. I even hear Rio is a nice place to live" he said, softly. "But I will be free to persue my agenda. Survival. Life. Sweet Immortality. Yes, even power...."

 

His voice started trailing off. 

 

"I see you will not leave me alone here. Thus, I bid you farewell....!"

 

And there was the sound of his shuffling feet, dissapearing into the darkness!

[RocketLord]

Finnigan was starting to disappear, straight back into the darkness that he came from. Could she just let him go? To Rio, or wherever else he decided? It might be easier to get the kids to stop all this nonsense if she did. What better way to break a philosophy than to have whoever created it abandon it the first chance he got? It would mean less trouble for Emerald City. No more Finnigan's Fingers. Just maybe Fingers, going out and stealing indiscriminately, until the Gas Man came.

 

It didn't really matter, did it? That last line. Survival. Life. Sweet immortality. Yes, even power. Finnigan really wasn't as altruistic as he had claimed to be after all, was he now? It seemed pretty clear that he wanted something much more than what he had claimed.

 

Whether he had turned around or not, Robin reached into her backpack and pulled out the night googles. With a quick motion, she secured them around her head and turned them on. All tests had worked, she should be able to do this. "Yeah, I don't think so, Finnigan!"

 

Honestly, she might just have let him go, if it it hadn't been for his final parting shot and mentioning power. She was not about to let that happen, no matter what he thought. Justice Buster held ready, she rushed after him into the darkness.

[Supercape]

GM

 

This was Finnigan's turf. He knew every nook and cranny of the derilict buildings that littered Trumble street. But, he had counted on being able to see in the dark, and was confident that Justice would not follow. Or, if she did, she would follow blindly (literally in this case). 

 

But Justice, today, was not blind. 

 

With the night vision goggles she could see him descend into the sewers that were equally abandoned. She could smell the aroma, reminding of her of her previous trip. It seemed these were the veins and arteries that Finnigan used to travel between the abandoned buildings. Who knew, for sure, how far his cobweb spread? Beyond even Trumble street?

 

In any case, as Justice followed him down the ladder she could see Finnigan spin round. 

 

"What? Are you still here?" he said, in the pitch black, rather surprised. 

[RocketLord]

Finnigan didn't even look back at her. He was that confident that he could just disappear into the darkness, like he had probably done so many times before. Robin couldn't keep herself from grinning as she hurried after him. Everything in here smelled, so badly. She was tempted to pull out the gas mask, but she needed it in case the Gas Man showed up, and no reason to tip her hand just yet. 

 

So, Finnigan led, and she followed. Down they went, and then he finally noticed her. Robin grinned, raising the Justice Buster with both hands, her feet stanced slightly apart, one in front of the other. "I'm just full of surprises, right?" She tried to at least keep some distance. She still didn't know what exactly he could do, after all. "I can't let you go. You might've started out with good intentions, but that little rant before convinced me that's not all that's driving you now. So, please, come along peacefully." Robin didn't want to take the first shot here. Maybe, if he figured out he couldn't just run, he would come along.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Bah! Peace!" muttered Finnigan, playing with his skeletal long fingers once again. 

 

"Tell me then! What will you do with me? Hand me over to the police? Throw me into a dungeon? Maybe let the wizards and warlocks of the Parkhurst Hotel dissect me? Perhaps a priest could practice an exorcism with incence and flagellation! Or do you have some torture chamber in your Justice Headquarters...perhaps a cage suspended by iron chains over a bubbling pool of acid populated by mutant two headed sharks?" he demanded. 

 

"You may judge my intentions, yes, you may. They are not noble, but who amongst this city is truly noble! It is by action we judge, not intent. What are your actions now, I wonder...noble or not?"

[RocketLord]

"Alright, I'm not full of that many surprises." Torture chambers? Mutant two headed sharks and acid? The only thing that he didn't mention was lasers of some kind. She did need to get some headquarters, but that would mean actually getting funding from somewhere. This really wasn't the time to think about something like that, but she would have to get back to it at another time.

 

So, she stood her ground, Justice Buster still aimed at Finnigan. "Police was the plan. They can figure out where to get you, so you can get some help. Can't say about myself, others are gonna have to decide that about me. The name's as much a promise as a question. I will find justice. And whatever kind it is, you are in serious need of some." 

 

So, what should she do? He just kept talking, didn't come along at all. Take the first shot, starting a whole mess? Could she really do that?

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Oh yes, I am sure I will be totally safe in the hands of the police" said Finnigan, slowly and pointedly, dripping sarcasm. "Zombie man lures children to be thieves...yes, yes. Prison will be a splendid experience too, I am sure. My condition has left me weak and slow, and more than that, full of disease. How did you like shaking my hand last time we met?" he asked, cunningly. 

 

"Fevers? Sweats? Maybe you are made of sufficiently stern stuff. But put me in prison, and there will be a plague! Any deaths, on your hands. But then again, maybe you think such punishment is warranted. Maybe you think it is JUSTICE!"

[RocketLord]

Wait. 

 

Robin paused entirely. Letting go of the Justice Buster with one hand, she looked at the palm of her hand for a moment, before turning to look back at Finnigan again. The way he had been feeling like crap all weekend, while he was talking about peace, and trying to win her over... and he had held her hand, leading her trough the darkness, and shaken her hand when she left. Robin had dealt with it. She had gotten better. But if it was an epidemic, if it had spread? What if it hit someone that wasn't able to get through it as easily as she had? The whole weekend had been bad enough because of it.

 

Ms. Doors hadn't sounded like she had been feeling well either.

 

She had given him the benefit of doubt, and what had Finnigan done? He had infected her with whatever he was carrying. If she hadn't already been convinced, she was completely sure now. Finnigan was a villain, and he had taken the first shot, as far as she was concerned. Grabbing the Justice Buster with both hands again, she raised it, her voice sounded more confident than Finnigan had ever heard. "Drunk tank for you, until A.E.G.I.S. or someone shows up to deal with you." The cops would deal with him. This might not be Freedom City, but hopefully, they would trust what she said. "You're threatening to spread a plague. If I catch you, its all on me? Same thing if I let you go! This is your last chance. Come along quietly, or I will take you down." No more. She was not going to be manipulated by this madman anymore. She should have taken him down first chance she had. He had claimed to love kids, maybe that could work. "Think about it for one second. If you spread a plague, then the kids here and in the rest of Emerald City will be the first to suffer! Is that what you want? To hurt children?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Finnigan paused, weighing up his options, his fingers curling around themselves. 

 

"...it seems my....options are limited. Such is the way of the gun" he concluded. "Opression!"

 

"I will not spread a plague. My power to infect is simply....a side effect of my condition. Something I can at least control. It is not, as far as I can determine, contagious" he explained, solidly. "So I give you my word, such as it is, and surely you value it not a jot. I will spead no plague....!"

 

"But what good are words when you are the one holding the gun, and I am the one staring at its barrel. You have me, and do with me what you will!"

[RocketLord]

"Better than yours!" Finally, it sounded like he might be willing to just come along. Not that she trusted him. "I keep my word. So far, you haven't really done that." She started trying to circle around him, so that he would between her and the stairs. "You got your curse and the powers it seems to give you, I got this." She motioned to her gun with her head. "There's nothing unfair about me leveling the playing field."

 

She wasn't about to trust him now. Probably not ever again. The moment he didn't get his way, he started showing his true colors, after all. And Emerald City wasn't supposed to have super villains. Robin kind of wondered if there were more like him hiding around, but that was for later. She had to stay focused.

 

Robin motioned with the Justice Buster towards the steps. "Go up. We're walking out of here."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Finnigan seemed compliant. He dramatically took off his tall top hat and dropped it, defeated. It hit the sludge of the sewer with  gentle splosh, and he hung his head in despair. 

 

"It seems then, that you are the master, and I am the slave" he muttered, shuffling slowly back through the sewer tunnel, his voice low. 

 

He took the first rung of the ladder that they had descended down, which lead pu to the abandoned building. 

 

"It is night, yes? I will at least be spared the horror of my exposing my condition to the world!" he said. The darkness swirled around him and turned him once again into the tall, thin, but ultimately human looking figure he had been. "Sunlight makes my illusion fade. I have some connection to a dimension of shadow and murk that sustains me. But sunlight...alas, I have no cloak of deception there..." he said, sadly. 

 

He started up the ladder. "What fate awaits me when the sun rises, I wonder?"

[RocketLord]

And he just kept going. Master and slave? Really? That was so not what was going on. Was he still trying to manipulate her, and actually make her feel guilty about bringing in a bad guy? Really?

 

"Yeah, its night. You don't have to worry about that." At least let him keep his dignity, maybe that could help with keeping him in line. She really hoped so, at least. The big question was just what he was going to do once they got up, and if the kids got in the way. "And we'll see what happens, but whatever the case, you brought it on yourself. You might just have wanted a cure at some point, but I'm pretty sure you're well beyond that, right?"

 

Robin stood her ground, waiting with the gun pointed at him. It would be a bit difficult to crawl up with the Justice Buster in one hand, but she would manage, once he got far enough up to give her space.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"I want something better" agreed Finnigan as he went up the stairs. "Who does not? You? Content with just a gun and a bold attitude?" he asked, and seemed interested, even if was bitter. 

 

He looked down and saw Justice climbing up behind him with one hand. 

 

"Although...It seems your gun is slowing you down..." he noted, something glinting in his eyes. 

 

Hope.

 

He had once chance, it seemed, and he took it. Once he reached the top of the ladder, he bolted. He was slow, slower than Justice, but he had a few secopnds lead, and Justice was climbing much more slowly with one hand...

Edited November 29, 2018 by Supercape

[RocketLord]

Aw, crap. Of course he did just that. Robin knew she should have seen it coming, but she had been too caught up in actually succeeding. 

 

It took less than a second to holster the Justice Buster at her side, but even then, as he moved up he got a headstart. Not good. Robin climbed as quickly as she could, finally reaching the top, and climbing up. Another second wasted trying to spot him, but at least he was slow.

[Supercape]

GM

 

At the top of the ladder, Justice climbed up once more to the abandoned building. Nothing had changed. The fire was half burnt out but still flickered with dim light and dimmer heat. The masonry was just as crumbling as before, ready to collapse at any moment. 

 

Finnigan was nowhere to be seen. Had he developed a sudden burst of speed? gone invisible? as hampered as Rocket Lord had been, she had only been a second or two behind him, far faster than he had appeared to be. 

 

But there was someone else there, standing right next to the hole. 

 

"Where did he go?" snarled the Gas Man....

[RocketLord]

Robin was fast, she knew that. Just not fast enough, it seemed. Finnigan was just gone. Nothing to see, not even his shadow. Had he jumped back into some of the shadows? Could he even do that, or had he just taken her through some weird tunnel with no light earlier? Should she have taken her shot, when she had the chance?

 

The man that had appeared right next to the hole she emerged from would probably have said so. The Gas Man.

 

"Great. You're here." Pulling herself up fully, she reached for the Justice Buster, and put some distance between herself and the Gas Man. At least they had split on non-hostile terms, even if she wouldn't call it friendly. And she still had the gas mask in the backpack, if necessary. "He was right in front of me. Didn't you see him come up? There's no way he could get past without you seeing him?" 

 

She had heard him shuffling in the dark before. Maybe she could again. She'd deal with the Gas Man and what she had told him about Finnigan after. They had to find Finnigan first.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Gas Man looked around warily, slowly. "Its just dust here. What do you mean, he was in front of you....?" he asked suspiciously. 

 

"Forgive me if I don't trust you. You shot me in the back last time we met..." he said, slowly, examining Justice carefully. "What exactly do you know? Are you keeping something from me?" he asked. 

 

"I had him....I am sure I had him...." he muttered, wringing his hands vexatiously. "He must have slipped past you, somehow...! Amateur!" he said, pointing his finger dramatically at Justice. 

 

"Have you ever done this before, hunted a man?"