Equilibrium (IC)

[Chumpsteady]

It was a quiet July night. Rouge made her rounds as usual. The vampiric superheroine made her ways through the alleyways, keeping a vigilant eye out for trouble She had gotten complacent in her position as Avenger's errand girl and night stalker. Nothing happened around these parts. She wondered if Lilith had just up and moved away from this area sometimes. Not that she was actively searching for her specifically. But she would stop her at any chance she got. Though the underground rave scene had all but died around here.

Something caught her ear. It was a struggle! She quickly raced to the sound, only to be met by a sickening sight. The woman hung there against the wall, ten feet of the ground, in a scene too gruesome for words. Rouge did not feel fear, but this was wrong. This made her angry. She saw a piece of paper in one of the woman's hands. It looked like a note was scribbled on it. Rouge took the note and read it.

"Dear Hero,

I would like to thank you for finding this woman. I know you will probably classify me as a villain, but I have done you a favor. This woman has infected many people with vile diseases. So she is no worse than me. At least I offered her a quick death, as opposed to a slow agonizing one. Don't worry, the cops have been called. They'll be there soon. So you can either stick around and take the blame or act like you never saw this and get along with your life. Oh, there will be others tonight. Not just harlots like this, but other vile killers who need Poetic Justice."

[Chumpsteady]

Rouge balked. Who would do such a thing? Who would justify themselves like this? She crumpled the note in her hand. The note was right. She couldn't do anything for this poor lady except wait for the cops to arrive. That and she didn't want to be around to take the blame for this horrible scene. Rouge disappeared into the shadows. She couldn't let this happen again. She was officially on full alert. If she could put herself everywhere in the Theatre District at once, she would. But she was only one woman. Only one hero.

For the next few hours it was quiet. Almost too quiet. And then the sound of struggle again. Quickly rushing to the scene, she was met with the same type of violence and gore. This time it was an elderly man. He too was clutching a note. Apparently this was the dumb type of criminal that liked to leave clues.

"Dear Hero,

If you're reading this one you've found the prostitute. Have you thought about it? Did it wring true in your head any? Let's continue with this man shall we? This man sold various types of illegal substances. He, like the whore, was killing people. Slowly watching them die so he could turn a profit. Is that the kind of villainy we stand for? This man received the Poetic Justice he deserved. No retribution for the people he has killed other than a slap on the wrist at worse or living off the taxpayers in some jail cell at best. Now, let's continue our game of cat and mouse, shall we?"

[Chumpsteady]

Rouge silenced her voice where only she could hear and let out a scream of aggravation. This person wanted her to believe everything he or she was saying. It's hard to agree with someone using death as their method of message. Rouge wanted to find this person before they killed again. All bets were off now. She would find that person tonight.

It was the dead of night before Rouge found her next and final clue. This... this was horrible. A child, no older than thirteen, hung in the same position that a prostitute and a drug dealer hung from. There was no way that this could be right. At all. Angrily snatching the note, she read.

"Dear Hero,

Now, you're probably wondering why I chose such a victim, right? You think everyone is innocent? No, love, everyone has their sins. Especially this boy. This boy was much like myself, only worse. While I gave this boy the Poetic Justice he deserved, he murdered innocent people for their shoes, their jackets, their wallets. Heck he even murdered someone for a grudge. No one knew. Well, almost no one. He had built cred up with his fellow murderers and thieves that he traveled with. I'm glad I could teach you this lesson. If you want to learn more (whether you have learned anything at all) meet me across the street. We will will hopefully talk shop."

[Chumpsteady]

Across the street was what looked like an abandoned lot with a few unused apartment buildings. She quickly sped over there and searched them all. She found nothing in any of them but the last one had a one room in use. The top floor was a suite area. Very large and posh. If Rouge weren't consumed with anger, she'd have noticed all the beautiful art and finery around. No, this was personal.

She found a melodious tune floating from a grand ballroom. She didn't know what it was, but it beautiful enough to stop her in her tracks. There was a man sitting at a large piano. Was this the man who killed all those people tonight? He had an air about him. She was speechless.

He stood up and bowed a greeting with a smile to his guest, "Welcome, Hero. I'm sure you're here for either a good reason or a bad reason. Tell me, Hero, are you here to join in my work or are you just another of the heroes who will let murderers run free?"

[Chumpsteady]

With those words her rage built back up. She scowled at the murderer and yelled angrily. "You... you have no right to pass judgement on those people! They didn't deserve your 'Poetic Justice'. Why do you think you should have the right? The right to take lives?"

The man sighed and spoke in deadpan monotone, "Another one? Seriously? Did you not read anything I wrote? They were murderers for nothing. I was murdering for a justice." He reached out to his side and a sword appeared out of nowhere! "Now I can't let you go." With a quick rush and a sly flourish the killer rushed Rouge!

[Chumpsteady]

Rouge was not as quick on her feet as she thought she was, sidestepping to the left when she should have stepped right. She caught the blade in the side. Though the slash was not as hard as the killer thought it would be! Rouge scowled and leaped out with a slash of her own, though it seemed too low. The sword-wielder didn't seem to notice and caught a caught a slash of claws in the chest.

The killer stood there, his eyes rolled back in his head for a moment as he let out a gasp for air. Clutching his bloody chest, he staggered towards Rouge and whispered in her ear, "If you don't finish it, I'll go free and all of this will have amounted to nothing. How does that make you feel, Hero? A world with a murderer. A killer for justice. Complete your utopian world. Take me out of it."

Rouge screamed and tackled man to the ground, burying fangs in his neck. This was right, she reasoned, one sick demented bastard no one would miss. Ever.

[Avenger Assembled]

Strong hands sunk into Rouge's shoulder, pulling her away before she could do more than tear at bruised flesh. Though Avenger was sorely tempted to do so much more, instead he pinned his would-be protege to the floor, growling at her to enforce submission. "No! Not him!" When the madness was past, he added, "You want the police to keep digging till they find a vampire killing? They'll blame you!"

[Chumpsteady]

Rouge struggled against Avenger's grip but failed. She screamed in anger, "He's a sick man! He doesn't deserve the same air we breathe! You didn't hear him! He's going to keep doing this! Killing people in horrible ways!" A primal scream of rage followed her rapid fire rant. The struggling had stopped but there was heavy breathing. Technically she didn't need to do this, but it was a coping mechanism. When Avenger mentioned the vampire killings it struck a chord in her. He was right. Though she felt that didn't make her any less right. "I... urgh... there's something we gotta do with this guy. We can't let him leave." A million sick twisted thoughts of how she could use the killer as her own personal play toy did not make her happy at all. It just reinforced that he was alive. Not serving his punishment.