Flat Packed Business (IC)

[Aoiroo]

Carrie smirked at Lockwoods observation as she ate another sandwich, then glanced at Oshima,

"Close enough, dude got in some bad business, and his family has been kidnapped by loan sharks. He has undergone a complete mental breakdown which has mad him both hysterical and suicidal, so he did indeed pull a gun on himself which I quickly removed from his possession."

She reached into her purse and pulled out the gun, it wasn't loaded. She picked it up and tossed it towards Lockwood,

"Can you dispose of that for me, this man is a first rate user, seeking out contracts which he can exploit to get the best possible benefit, as well as a slimeball with no sense of boundaries or privacy. Which is why, with these tendancies he is likely to actually gotten into said mess he claims, or he's lying to try and gain leverage over me. We both know this is incredibly unwise, but still, I can't leave the family to die because of this idiots actions on the chance that they are in fact in trouble. So really what I'm asking, is that can you get confirmation of this information."

She crossed her legs, and let out a sigh,

"And of course, keep Oshima under lock and key. When this entire thing is over, he'll be walking over with all evidence I have garnered from these kidnappers and loan sharks to the police."

[Supercape]

"Scoundrels" replied Lord Steam with distaste written all over his face.

"Well, I am sure I can look into this for you. A few possible avenues of enquiry form in ones mind, and a few possible contacts are available" he pressed his fingers together.

"Under lock and key, however, rubs against the grain. Habeus Corpus and all that. Now, if this man was to agree to be my guest, for an afternoon, say, for his own protection, of course, whilst I sort out this matter. That would be an entirely different matter."

He gave Oshima a delicate but firm look. "What say you Sir? an afternoon of Tea and billiards? and, of course, freedom from having your lungs filled with lead by your less than unscrupulous associates? I can assure you that Steam Manor is quite secure in that regard..."

Oshima's head was in a spin, but his instinct for self preservation was not, and he did not require a lot of persuasion to agree.

A few hours later...

"Here you go, my lady..." said Lord Steam to Carrie, presenting her with some scribbled notes in what was rather elegant handwriting from what she could only guess was a quill. "A few enquiries and a little silver, and I have the address and names of your villains. A Mr. Garrod, known in the trade as 'Blowfish', operates out of 42 Littlepond Street in Grenville, no less. Quite respectable, by all accounts, nice little mansionette there. And several hired thugs. "

[Aoiroo]

Carrie spent the hours around, she had gone back to her place. Dropped off her groceries, locked up Oshima's porsche in a parking garage, had microwave pizza. When she returned, she was dressed for more work. Which was dark well fitting yoga pants, and a navy blue turtleneck. She looked over the notes before smiling,

"Thanks for the info, and for dealing with Oshima."

She thought for a second,

"Especially for dealing with Oshima, that dude is a first rate nutcase and a pain in the ass like nothing I've ever seen, and that's saying something."

Stretching a bit, she looked at the paper again,

"Compared to that prick this should be a walk on the park."

She drove through Grenville in her mini cooper, it was way less conspicious, and way less likely to be pulled into a chop shop. She parked it up on the by a fence and got out. With her switch, she looked around for cameras and passerbyers and when she was confirmed of their none existance she pushed a button on the keys and watched it slip into near invisibility adapting the light around it to match the surroundings. She herself, wasn't in costume. Honestly, she didn't actually need it, it was useful, but for what she was doing tonight, better be caught as Carrie then Silhouette. Carrying a couple of papers she walked over in the twilight to the front door of the mansionette and rang the doorbell. When it open she smiled and said,

"Hello, would you be interested in any of these lovely magazine subscriptions?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Hello, would you be interested in any of these lovely magazine subscriptions?"

The man opening the door was well over six foot tall and looked like he was over half as wide. He wore a suit over a t-shirt and had a face that had "boxer" smashed all over it. His head was shaved and he had a tattoo of some small insect on his neck.

"Get lost, missy" he grunted. He had a slight slur.

"Mr. Garrod is...in conference" he said by way of explanation, and raised an arm, extending out his finger and pointing back to the road.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie shrugged,

"Alright, sorry to waste your time."

As the door closed she walked away and tossed the magazines in the trash. She walked past one of the trees and didn't appear on the otherside. Instead she crept face first on the ground until she was able to pull herself up against a wall and creep into the cracks of the door into the home. It was a nice place, not that it mattered, bad people had nice places afterall because crime paid, and paid very well. Not that it mattered, the risk that invoked such high revenue was soon gonna bite these guys in the butt that was for certain.

She followed the movements of the guards, at least four different ones armed to kill any nosy trespassers until she found the security room. It seemed cliche, but camera security systems were still a standard and it was that room that would give her the best look and layout of the house, and maybe an idea where any possible hostages would be staying.

[Supercape]

GM

The house was hardly full. A couple of stooges loitered in a couple of rooms, drinking, chatting. They were heavies, for sure...packing heat, but something about them seemed a little more professoinal than street hoodlums. Ex-military, quite possibly.

One man was half asleep at the small control room - barely the size of the desk that was propped up against the wall. He had a cold cup of coffee on the table and his eyes looked, trance like at the twenty off screens in front of him. He actually dropped off at one point altogether, jerking back to wakefulness before once again resuming a posture of hand on desk, head on hand, and eyelids drooping.

The camara's showed a variety of rooms. In one, a man in an expensive dressing gown was having a debate with what looked like a Ginger-haired punk over some drinks. Another screen showed a basement, where a woman and a child (with telltale resemblance) were sitting dejectedly.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie looked around at the screens and man sitting there near dozing. She didn't have to do much more then appear from behind him and slam is face down into the console to turn his sleep into full on unconciousness. She needed only to glance around to spy the cup of coffee set on the side table away from the controls. Picking it up she smiled at it being full say a couple of sips and splashed it onto all the most sensitive areas and electronics of the switch boards and watching them fizzle out as she set the coffee down with gloved hands tipped over by the unconcious man she had faceplanted into it. She also turned on the lights, took out the disks and put several lines of fine deep scratches that would make them useless while making the cause look like careless handling and wear and tear. When she left the room she didn't bother with an alternate form and instead put on a simple bacalava, not her normal mask, but one with the eyes and mouth cut out making her look like a common thief and in a way that was the correct interpretation.

[Supercape]

GM

With the cameras down, and Silhouettes uncanny silence and stealth, sneaking down to the kitchen unseen was hardly a challenge.

The kitchen was dimly lit, and a pair of tough guys in leather jackets and jeans, with large handguns tucked carelessly into their belts, were lounging around, smoking.

The fire alarm had been ripped of the ceiling and lay on the kitchen table.

"Which that damn broad would shut the hell up!" one was moaning "One more earful from her and I'll shut off the damn lights, see if she is any quieter in darkness!"

"Haw haw haw!" laughed the other, a larger bald man with a battered nose, seemingly incapable of conversation. He gave a giveaway glance to the robust wooden door at the other end of the kitchen.

The Kitchen wasn't well lit, and it looked fairly easy to sneak past the two numbskulls to the door. Opening it might be another matter. It was barred from the outside and looked like it had a lock too.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie didn't use her powers, she didn't appear out of nowhere, she didn't even bother to sneak when she walked over to the door and looked at the two of them. She made herself look bored as she looked at them, her stance was slack as she said,

"This is the only warning you get, you try to call for help, I drop you where you stand, you pull a gun I'm going to take it from you and leave a solid impression of it's barrel on the side of your face. So, who here has the keys to this room? I'm giving you the option of just telling or giving them to me before I beat the living hell out of you."

[Supercape]

GM

The two men swivelled round to see Carrie. They were shocked, but far from impressed. The smaller man (although he was still large) who had been smoking opened his mouth wide in shock, and his cigarette fell from his numb lips to the floor.

"What the hell is this? You got some nerve, man. Some nerve. It's two against one here, and I'm going to beat the life out of you my little friend, not the other way round..."

The man was packing - a heavy duty machine pistol. But he didn't fancy pulling it yet. Instead, he reached over to draw a kitchen knife. Meanwhile, his enormous friend picked up a heavy iron pot and started swinging it like it was a feather...

[Aoiroo]

Carrie let out a sigh as she moved forward. The first to swing was the one with the knife, she caught his hand with her own and twisted it from his hand while similtainiously punching him in the throat. He gapped and collapse with the impact to his wind pipe in time for him to fall under the wild swing the other man did. Ducking it was almost second nature as she went low plowed forward moving her knee up and hitting him straight into the groin. He didn't fall completely until Carrie picked up his then disgarded pot and slammed it into is back pushing him froward and into the ground. As he laid she kneeled on top of him and took the knife from the floor held it up and slammed it into the ground right next to his face so he could see,

"Now then, let's try this again shall we. As your friend seems to be indisposed could you be so kind as to tell me where the key to that room is?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Now then, let's try this again shall we. As your friend seems to be indisposed could you be so kind as to tell me where the key to that room is?"

The shocked Man looked squarely at the knife, his eyes squinting. Perspiration dripped from his forehead.

"Sh...Sh...Sure..." he gabbled, extending a trembling finger to a hook just tucked by a fridge, upon which dangled a single dull key on a ring.

"...Th...Th...There it is...just don't kill me. Please don't kill me...I...I gotta wife and children..." he lied, although the passion for survival was surely real.

the key was indeed for the lock to the basement. And the bar that bolted the door was easy to slide away too.

"Pl...Pl...Please miss" whimpered the thug "just put the knife down. The lady and the kid are down there. Just let me go, nice and quiet...."

[Aoiroo]

"Don't worry,"

She pulled up the knife and turned it around,

"You'll stay quiet."

Using the back of the knife she hit him right on the back of the neck and let him fall limp as she got off his back and grabbed the keys. She unlocked the door and peered into the darkness of the basement, walking ever so causiously down the stairs looking for that idiot Oshima's family.

[Supercape]

GM

As Carrie proceeded down to the basement, just pass the door, she caught sight of a tiny dull red light. On closer inspection, she pried away the dust and camouflage...

Infra-red alarm !

Closer examination revealed a series of emitters and sensors, rigged up and down the walls and even on the ceiling and floor. Wired together. Even in two dimensional form, some part of her would cross the invisible criss-crossed beams. They appeared to be connected to some alarm, presumably that activated remotely.

"Who's there?" came a voice, a woman's voice, from the dimly lit basement. Carrie could make out the shadowy figure, a somewhat scruffy, dirty, and scared woman with matter black hair and frightened eyes. She was at the bottom of the stairs, calling out, cautiously creeping up them...

[Aoiroo]

"Stop,"

Carrie said it quickly down at the woman. The security system was a problem, but not the main problem. She disabled the cameras, she just needed a minute or two for the security. Moving her hand across the wall she found the connecting circuits and pried it open. Crouching down, she started to strip the wires and work on the security. Still she started talking,

"Hello, who I am, well I'm a mercanary you see. Don't worry to much though, I was actually hired to come get you out of here safe and sound. I've already disabled the cameras but there is some infared all through the stairwell so if you give me a few minutes to take those outs before you come up then I'll be with your shortly, that sound good then?"

Her speech was off, she was faking an accent, a slight one but she really didn't want these people to know who she was even if she was here to save them. No connection to Caroline Wendle, and no connection to Silhouette, it was best like that. She tried to give a smile through the mask but the baclava covered her mouth even though her eyes were visible. She worked quickly but carefully through the wiring to get it bypassed and circuited so the system shut down without triggering any other alarms in the process.

[Supercape]

GM

"Oh thank God!" said the woman, beckoning their child, who must have been a young girl of about seven or eight to come forward. She clasped her hands together as if all her prayers had been answered. Which, in a sense, they had.

"Why did they take us?" she asked Carrie as she scurried up the stairs to the kitchen with Carrie.

"We haven't done anything wrong! we aren't terrorists or anything, never been in any trouble? where they trying to blackmail my husband? he is very successful, a rich man! is that it? did he hire you! oh bless him, I knew he wouldn't let them doing anything to us!"

She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she clutched her daughter to her chest.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie was so glad the mask covered the bottom half of her face, cause he face twisted into a frown with the comments. She would let the woman heep a good spin on this, hopefulness was good for morale and good morale usually led to more sucessful rescues. Still she didn't comment as she led the way up the stairs,

"Stay quiet, and stay low. As nice as it would of been, I didn't clear the house before I got you, so there's likely still armed men in this house. If people start shooting, don't run, don't hide, stay where I can see you, stay with me and you will get out of here and see your husband again."

She nodded then opened the door, she walked tall, drawing attention to her presense instead of hiding it. She couldn't make the family behind her stealthy, she could only be the target they would focus on, the threat they would fear. Moving out of the kitchen she kept her eyes peeled for any movement or possible adversaries.

[Supercape]

GM

Getting out of the building would be a Synch for Carrie.

"Mummy mummy, when are we going home?" yelled the kid, tears streaming down her face, at precisely the wrong moment. they were just about to enter the entrance hall when the kid made her dramatic outburst.

The woman looked shocked, and froze in terror. At the entrance hall, two armed thugs spun round to face Carrie and the hostages, and in burst a tall, broad man, half muscle and half fat, dressed in a expensive black suit. His hair was slicked back (what remained of it) and he, for some reason, was wearing dark glasses even indoors.

"Someone come inta mah house and think dey get de better of me? Gavin Garrod? Da Blowfish?" he said, wringing his hands with vexation. As he spoke, his cheeks puffed out to an extraordinary volume and he emitted a hissing sound.

Blowfish by name...Blowfish by nature....

"And I'm entertaining guests too!" he squeaked, as another man appeared by his side, dressed in a leather jacket with no shirt, revealing a taught chest with not enough fat on it to fry an egg. The second man had a mop of ginger hair and a keen, sharp face.

"What's this, Blowfish? I intruding on something?" he asked "Look, if you got housekeeping problems, this if none of my business, t';be sure...." he said, with a strong Irish accent.

t

[Aoiroo]

Carrie let out a sigh. She wasn't angry, she didn't even look surprised, she was just sighing,

"Well this is lovely isn't it, I have to run into the owner with the speech impediment. Or is that only when your angry. Simmer down, I'm not here to get the better of you. I don't even want to be here, it's a job, just a job is all. I don't get paid unless I get out of here with this lot alive. I don't want to fight, don't want to run, I just want to leave."

She gave the guards a half glance before looking at Blowfish,

"Unless perhaps you have a better offer."

She kept her back to the family but her stance was relaxed as she pointed her finger at the guards,

"Either way, could you have them put the bleeding guns away, I wouldn't of gotten this far if they did anybody any good anyway. If you want to discuss this like civilized people I'm all for it, but if you go around shooting people I'm might have to do something rash."

[Supercape]

(GM)

"The little lady has a sense of humour!" laughed blowfish, his cheeks puffing again as he did so "and some balls, too, to speak to me like that. Do you know who I am?"

He jabbed a finger at his chest.

"I'm blowfish, little lady. Well, If you got past my no good guards and into this house, I guess you would be smarts enough to know that. Well, put the guns down boys. Don't want lead in my walls. I'm sure old fashion fist will do if we need them. Yes sir, nothing like old fashion fists, eh Knuckles?"

He directed his last comment over his shoulder to the red headed man, who shrugged.

"Ain't none of my business, to be sure, what goes in your house" he replied.

"Well now, little lady..." said blowfish, crossing his arms and tapping his feet, almost in rhythm with his extraordinary puckering cheeks.

"I'm all for better officers. Just business you see. But thing is, I got some right pain the ass who won't pay me back money that's rightfully mine. And you see, he needs encouragement. Or, if he won't pay up, I need to make it very plain and do something to discourage other people that owe me money from...declining to pay back..."

[Aoiroo]

Carrie shrugged,

"I know, he's a pain in my ass too. But honestly, this whole thing made him stupider then usual. He walks up to me on the street, puts a gun to his bloody head and threatens suicide for me to take this job. His wife didn't even know why you guys took them in the first place, I mean seriously,"

She looked back at the wife and the children,

"This man Blowfish is a loan shark sweetheart, a very sucessful loan shark. Your husband however has not been sucessful and borrowed money from this man likely because no self respecting bank would touch him. I'm sure he had semi good intentions, but he has made some terrible business decisions that have resulted in you being here today."

Sighing she turned back to Blowfish,

"The thing is Blowfish, I may not be clean, but I'm not so dirty to let a family be held because the dad's a moron. Let them go, you shouldn't let the husband tie their ropes because he doesn't have the sense or foresight to properly pay his dues."

[Supercape]

GM

The poor woman beside her put her hand to her mouth in shock, silent tears rolling once again down her cheeks.

"What do you think this is, a charity?" said Blowfish "I got a business to run" he explained, opening his palms out and giving Carrie a 'poor me' look.

"If I start handing out money and not taking it back, that isn't going to be so good for business, you understand.." he explained.

"Truth is, I don't really care one way or another about those two.." he continued, indicating the woman and the child "...all I care about is getting my money back. With interest, of course. These two are just leverage. If you want to pay me back the tenthousand dollars that guttersnipe owes me, then be my guest!" he smiled.

"I could do with a woman of your talents!" he said "I can even send some work your way, if you want!"

[Aoiroo]

"Lots of people could Blowfish, and almost none of them can afford me."

She looked around the house for a little bit,

"Ten thousand dollars though, that's really all he owes. Jesus, all this hubub over that little money. You know, I think I can make some sort of deal if you let me use your phone of course."

She pulled the side of her pants with her hands,

"No pockets."

[Supercape]

GM

"I'm a reasonable man" replied Blowfish, his cheeks puckering as always. "A phone, I can supply...." he added, pointing at a rather elegant and ornate manual dial phone on a consul table besides Carrie.

"And smart" he added "don't underestimate me. If you try any tricks with the police, or any of those damn capes, I'll have to move into the lead supply business, if you get my meaning..."

He reached into his pocket and brought out a large cigar, which one of his lackeys duly lit. As predicted, as he puffed on the article, his massive cheeks once again flapped magnificently.

"You see, Knuckles? I am a reasonable man..." he said, all smiles at the Red Headed thug, who shrugged.

"It show's y'can be trusted, I'll grant ye! I guess we can be doing the business, now then, so we can..." he said, with a little disinterest.

[Aoiroo]

"I wouldn't dream of it."

She dialed the number and waited for an answer, the voice on the other end of the phone was familiar,

"Hey yeah, it's me, not using my first name but I left earlier that day. Put Oshima on the phone."

She waited and glanced around looking at the wife who seemed like she wanted to scream over and talk to him, but held up a hand,

"Right, ten grand, you owed ten thousand dollars and you weren't willing to pay that back. What the hell man? Seriously though, I only have one real question, is your car paid for?"