ic the Devil his Due

[Tiffany Korta]

Rooftop of Floyds Bar and Grill
1st December 2011

GM

He shouldn’t be doing this he thought for the hundredth time as he paced the flat roof top of the bar. From below the sound of the bar drifted up, it was shaping up to be a good night down there. He had good, well cheap, whiskey waiting for him downstairs and it would be so easy to leave and go back downstairs.

But they shouldn’t have done that to Mike, yeah so he squealed, but it was just too much. A simple bullet to the head yeah, only to be expected, but not this strange mystical Mumbo-Jumbo.

Hands shaking he lit himself a cigarette.

So he’d just tell these heroes nothing, well maybe a hint or two about Mike…

[Cube]

It had been a long few weeks. Nights spent searching, asking questions, and terrifying thugs. It was all worth it in the end, though. Pyre finally had a lead as to this whole thug business that had been bothering him since he rescued Whiplash from that fire in November.

He landed on the roof top with a dull thud, his massive frame looming over the man he was supposed to contact.

"You the one who wanted to talk to me?"

[Tiffany Korta]

GM

He was playing it cool acting like he wasn’t even aware that the hero wasn’t there. The snitch stood with his back to Pyre the smoke from his cigarette drifting in the cold night air.

“Look I gotta tell you I can’t really…â€

As he spoke he slowly turned round, only to stare in wide eyed horror. Slowly backing away he began babbling.

“Jesus Christ! Look I’m sorry I wasn’t going to tell on the Don, I was gonna tell nothing. Please…â€

Not watching where he was walking the snitch stumbled against the lip off the roof and began to fall towards the sidewalk below.

[Derin]

Whiplash watched the exchange from a safe distance. It was important that the thug didn't notice her or she might endanger Pyre's interrogation. She didn't bother trying to find a vantage point for lipreading; she'd just find Pyre later and ask him. He wasn't exactly difficult to find.

She was there for safety. She'd been chasing ghosts and dead ends and she'd watched Pyre do the same and now he had a lead. She wanted to make sure that nothing happened to that lead. Nothing was more frustrating than a snitch being killed or kidnapped right before giving up important information.

She clearly watched Pyre's contact back up and stumble. Amateur. She knew immediately from his posture what was going to happen, and was firing her grapple before the man had completely fallen. She tugged to make sure it was securely caught on the building and leapt.

This is going to look really stupid if I miss,

[Cube]

Pyre's eyes widened as the contact stumbled back, "Wait!"

Damn it... of course the guy would freak out, but he didn't think he'd fall off the building. Rushing forward with as much speed as he could muster, Pyre leapt forward to try and grab the man's ankle before he fell to his death.

Of course, he wasn't that fast, and there wasn't exactly a lot he could do aside from catching the guy. That's the trouble with power over fire: It's not the most versatile thing in the world.

[Tiffany Korta]

GM

In an almost perfect maneuver Whiplash caught the falling snitch just as his feet had left the edge of the building. The poor man clung tight to the superhero the spark of madness in his eye.

“Look I’m sorry, so sorry. You gotta protect me from… from that…†he waved vaguely towards Pyre “it’s the Don he gone power crazy. First it was supervillians, but they just weren’t enough to him so he went for this all that mystical mumbo jumbo.â€

Whilst madness sparked into in his eye his face was a mask of seriousness.

“You gotta protect my right? That’s what you people do. If you don’t believe me just go see what his power did to poor Mike. He was hiding out at 2012 Morrison Avenue.â€

[Derin]

Whiplash briefly considered the situation as they swung towards her destination rooftop. She couldn't exactly drop the man off and go have a chat with Pyre, but if they were lucky he'd see that his informant was safe and stay out of the way for a couple of minutes. Or follow them. Which would probably just scare the guy all over again.

"If you cooperate and tell me everything I want to know, I'll protect you," she promised. As if she had any other option, no matter how unhelpful he was. "And the first thing you're going to tell me about is this... mystical mumbo-jumbo. We can talk on the way to Morrison Avenue." They'd take the rooftops but move fairly slowly and stay in sight, she decided, in case Pyre wanted to follow. She had just stolen his contact, after all. She just hoped he had enough sense to keep his distance.

[Cube]

Pyre breathed a sigh of relief when Whiplash managed to catch his contact. That could have been a disaster.

It would probably be best if he just stayed out of sight for a few minutes. At least he managed to get the address... Morrison Avenue, huh? Probably best if he took the scenic route.

...Or, perhaps the bus. Didn't want to risk this guy freaking out again. Sheesh... Try to have a meeting with someone and they nearly jump of a building. What is this world coming to?

[Tiffany Korta]

GM

The man looked a little defiant for a moment but a quick glance at the Pyre quickly deflated his defiance.

“Okay but you’ve gotta keep me safe. Not like poor Mike.â€

Seeming satisfied that a deal had been struck.

“It began a couple of years ago when the new Don decided to bring in outside help. We use to be one of the big families but we’ve been on the decline for quite some time. He bought in some of those super villains, this one broa… woman she could make you do stuff. She was great for protection racks people would willingly pay up, but she a Mike got caught rolling some club…â€

“But then the Don goes all ape when he sees this pale bitc… hero, seems she helped the family fall all those years ago, and I mean all those years. So he gets himself an honest to god Voodoo Doctor and goes after her. I’m not sure what happened but he comes back and become obsessed with some dark magic. He bring in this weird sorcerer who has all these little weird demon to serve the, hand a foot.â€

“Then things got really weird when he found out that Mike had turned on the family, got us all together and his pet sorcerer showed use all as they did something to Mike, like one of those holograms things in the movies. Look I want you to see exactly what he’s done to Mike; you gotta really see it to understand.â€

[Derin]

"Alright. Let's go." She started walking along the roof, holding his elbow in a grip that was gentle but ready to turn vicelike at any moment. "We'll stay off the streets. Do you know this voodoo doctor's name? Or the woman he was chasing down?" The Don's name was what she really wanted, but that could wait. One little bit of information at a time. She hoped to solve at least part of a mystery tonight, a mystery that might help weed out a decent chunk of the drug production in Southside. Beating up individual drug dealers just wasn't working, not long-term. They just came back, or were replaced. But a lot of them seemed to be connected. If that were the case, then cutting things off at the source... well, every solution was temporary. But it might give them a lot more breathing room. It might keep Anna and her friends safe from pushers, and crazed druggies, and thieves looking for enough cash to get a fix for a bit longer.

As they neared the edge of the roof, she slipped her hand around the man's waist. "Hold on tight." She picked him up and began her running jump.

[Tiffany Korta]

“The Voodoo guy I don’t know, he split after a deal went south. Don’t know the sorcerer either; they seem to only speak to the Don. The chic… woman name I do know the Don was screaming down the house with her name it’s…â€

“… Revenant.â€

The papers were ready to serve, hopefully she soon be able to legally be Lucy Harker again. But it wouldn’t hurt to get a little experience in the courtroom again. So the trail of the woman she and Bluesman captured, Lady Fatale, seemed a good chance to get back up to speed on the whole process. She didn’t expect to get involved so directly.

Seems despite her disguise the prosecuting Lawyer had recognized her and today of all day she was asked if they could have a quiet word.

“Sorry you were saying?â€

“One of the main witnesses, one of the hoodlums you took down, isn’t responding to our calls. We’ve dispatched the police but I wondered if you could take a wander down and try and convince him to show up tomorrow.â€

Court was over for the day, and she had some time to spare, so she decided to wander down to Southside to run this guy in. After all what was the worst that could happen?

[Cube]

While swinging from rooftop to rooftop was undeniably cool, (A fact that Pyre could not deny) one simply couldn't match the rush of leaping over several city blocks in a single bound.

...He could do without the impact crater he left in that vacant lot, though. He'd have to work on that.

Still, he was here. Probably had a bit of a head start on Whiplash. Wouldn't hurt to check the place out before she got there.

With all the stealth of a 10 foot tall devil monster, Pyre carefully approached the apartment, bracing himself for what he might find inside.

[Tiffany Korta]

Damn he was getting to old for this!

Sergeant Dixon had seen many strange things in all his years as a member of FCPD but he’d never seen anything quite like that. The young rookie he’d been saddled with, who looked to him about 12, wasn’t at all fazed and actually seemed to have a morbid fascination about the poor corpse.

He told her he was just going to guard the door tot eh apartment building, but really he just wanted to get some fresh air. He also lit up a cigar he knew he’d promised his wife he’d quit, but this was an unusual situation.

Just a few more minutes and he’d call in for a Detective then he could wipe his hands of all this and get back to nice safe gang warfare. He just hoped nothing else strange was going to happen tonight.

[Cube]

Wonderful, a cop.

'Alright... stealth probably isn't a good idea here...' thought Pyre. Not that a normal cop could really do anything to him. It's just... accidental fire fights are really awkward.

'Alright... I just go up, tell him I'm a superhero, and hope be buys it...' Pyre swallowed a lump in his throat, before stepping into the light.

"Evening, officer."

...Yeah, this wasn't going to end well.

[Derin]

Revenant.

For the briefest moment, Whiplash considered walking away. She'd fought with revenant; the woman punched like she had concrete fists and shook off bullet wounds as if they were nothing. And she was clearly in this a lot deeper and knew what she was doing. Whiplash would only blunder in and mess up whatever intricate plan was already in place.

But she couldn't walk away. This was what she did now. If she was going to put on the mask, sneak around people's property without permission and beat up idiots who got in her way, she was either a hero or a crook. And she wasn't a crook any more.

She stopped a rooftop away from their destination and let go of the man. Darn it. The cops had beaten them. Cops still made her nervous, even though they were her allies now. Old survival habits died hard. Whiplash looked from her witness to the scene below. Even if she could convince him to go down there with her, she didn't want to turn him over to the cops just yet. He mightn't be safe, not if his boss was some kind of dark-magic-employing maniac. Besides, she still wanted answers. But she couldn't leave him on the roof alone; there wasn't much chance he'd still be there when she got back.

Instead, she pulled out her binoculars and started looking for a good vantage point. "Which room is the body in?" she asked.

[Tiffany Korta]

“It’s the Cop’s, the F**king cops. Why are there here.†The snitch paced around the rooftop smoking and taking a small nip from a flask before settling down.

“Look I don’t know where it happened, it wasn’t like a video feed or something. But I do know he lived there.†He pointed to the right-hand side, top floor corner “He always picked the one with the fire escape to the roof in case he had to split quickly.â€

---

The poor Sergeant almost swallowed his cigar at the sight of Pyre.

“Jesus!†a professional he quickly regained his composure “Sorry man you startled me, wait I know you… don’t tell me… Pyre†he gave a beaming smile “Our new detective is keen on your kind, keeps the briefing of all the new supers.â€

He gave a little sigh

“I guess you’re here to see the corpse. If you’re ready follow me, and excuse the rookie she’s just a little keen…â€

[Cube]

Pyre relaxed visibly at the Sergeant's reaction. "That's right, officer. Sorry if I startled you just now."

'At least someone doesn't freak out every time I try to start a conversation...'

"Mind giving me a quick rundown on what happened here? I think it's connected to this case I've been looking into over the past few weeks. Something about... some sort of black magic, if I'm not mistaken?"

[Derin]

Whiplash nodded. She might be able to see with binoculars... but at night? Without knowing where the body was? "Stay right here. Right. Here. On this roof. It's probably best that the police don't see you." She picked a moment that nobody was looking up (which, generally, was most of the time) and leapt over to the building that supposedly had the body in it. If worst came to worst, she could break in through the window or fire escape, but she didn't want to contaminate a crime scene if she didn't have to. Instead she found a window into the room and, after finding a secure enough spot to secure her grapple just in case she fell (not that she ever fell, but it wasn't long ago that she never got shot at either), leaned over the edge of the roof to look inside.

[Tiffany Korta]

“Not much more than you. We were called to check on a no show at court. When we broke in we found the poor man like, what did Sato call it, like someone had done a Willow on them.†He looked a little embarrassed “So yeah black magic is as a good a solution as any. I was just about to call it in a get the detective and CSU down here; do you want a quick look before I do?â€

Through the window Whiplash could already see the corpse. The poor man was lying on the floor his limbs and face contorted in agony. All of his skin had been somehow removed from his body revealing the muscular underneath.

[Cube]

"A quick look wouldn't hurt. I'll try not to mess anything up."

Pyre braced himself for the grisly scene as he moved toward the crime scene. Black magic was never pretty, and he was certain this would be no different.

He could feel the dread emanating from the room as he approached, the faint scent of blood growing stronger as he approached. Whatever had happened in there, it was bad... really bad.

[Derin]

Whiplash stared at the body for several seconds, trying to come to terms with what she was seeing. Dead people were new territory for her, let alone skinless dead people frozen in apparent agony. He looked disconcertingly like something you'd buy at the butcher's, and the mere fact that that occurred to Whiplash just made her feel worse.

She felt like she should break in and take a closer look. But that, of course, was silly. Neither corpses nor black magic were within her realm of experience. She'd just contaminate the crime scene for no good reason, and probably tick off the police while she was there.

Instead, she hauled herself back up and returned to the informant. "I see what you mean," she said, trying to sound calm and professional and not at all like she wanted to run away and hide under something. "There is clearly something nasty at work here." Okay. She needed to warn Revenant, if the woman didn't already know. That should be fairly simple. Superheroes weren't generally that hard to find and she'd seen Revenant haunting her part of town. She'd never followed the woman, but it was clear she has some sort of regular business in Southside. Pyre was with the police and didn't seem to have caused any gunfire. Maybe he'd found out more about the magic thing than she had. She needed to identify the Don, but that wasn't something she could just pull out of a freaked out informant and somehow she didn't think intimidation was going to help. She needed to solve his problem and make him feel safe, which meant that she needed to get to the bottom of this... crazy black magic. She didn't know any experts on magic.

"The sorceror who did this. Do you know what he looks like? Or anything distinctive about him, any other details?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Apart from the faint smell of blood, and the prickly sensation of magic, the room seemed totally normal. Meretriciously tidy and rather sparse it was obviously a temporary bolt hole rather than a place the poor man lived.

The young Asian woman, the sergeants partner, face lit up in recognition of Pyre and she obviously wanted to say something, but professionalism took over and instead she showed him over to where the body was lying. The Sergeant still a little grren around the gills quickly may his excuses and left to contact control.

The body was still fresh, as if nature itself was afraid to touch such an abomination. Apart from a few scratches when he fell the body was unharmed as if all the skin had just evaporated from the flesh. The face was fixed in a rickus that showed he had died in agony. His brown eye stared out blankly, though they seemed so fresh so alive. They wouldn’t have? … They couldn’t have? …

“It’ okay he is dead it’s the first thing we checked. I’d have covered him, but it’ll might disturb any evidence we might find.â€

---

The man tried to take a swig from his flash and finding it empty threw it away.

“He, I think it’s a he, he never spoke except to the Don. We always seen him in a strange set of robes, his face covered. Strange choice of color as well. A sorta dark yellow…â€

The snitch was pacing erratically; here near the body he seemed even more nervous. He looked like he could bolt at any minute.

---

The Sergeant had just finished calling in the incident and had just relit his cigar when again he was interrupted.

“Hello Sergeant you better tell me what’s happened.â€

[Cube]

Pyre grimaced as he locked eyes with the victim, the prickling sensation of magic making his very essence itch.

"...Something bad did this. Something really bad..." He tore his eyes away from the corpse, eager to erase the image from his mind, but almost unable to look away.

"How long ago was this reported?" he asked. "Who found him? Have the neighbors reported anything?"

Whiplash had the other contact, but any lead would help now...

[Tiffany Korta]

“That would be where I come in.â€

Lucy had got the basic from the Sergeant downstairs but it hadn’t prepared her fully from the sight of the corpse. Plus there was a strange tingling in the air that made her anxious. She hid her unease with a broad smile at the towering demon figure.

“Hello I’m Revenant…â€

She knelt down at the side of the poor corpse.

“And this poor man was meant to testify at the trail of one Lady Fatale. When he failed to show today the police and myself were sent to find out what had happened to him.â€

She stood back up and looked Pyre straight in the eye.

“I suspect that she may know exactly what’s going on. And how to find the people involved. Do you fancy a trip to jail?â€

[Derin]

Revenant. Well this was getting complicated.

Whiplash glanced at the witness. He was just about ready to bolt and she couldn't push her luck. "Go home," she said, "but first tell me your address. I'll follow along in about an hour or two to make sure you're not being watched. You won't see me. As far as your bosses are concerned, you never spoke to us and we've never met." There was no need to imply that she may not be finished with the man. Let him have the illusion that it was all over.

She carried him down from the roof behind the building they were perched on, out of sight of the police, then walked around to the street alone. She gave the police outside a nod. "Whiplash," she introduced herself. "I understand there's been a death here?"