The Serpent and the Devil (IC)

[Scuffles]

"The people testifying against you will be under my protection." Kristin shot back at the smug villain, then glanced at Heraldo. "Our protection," she amended. "So take your best shot, it'll just add more evidence to the pile."

She walked over to stand in front of El Sierpe and folded her arms across her chest. "You're not going to Mexico either," she noted. "You're being arrested here. For crimes committed here. That means you'll stand trial here. The human rights violations are international and your trafficking operations bring drugs into America so you're fair game here on those too. Your bought-off judges in Mexico won't be much help."

"So yeah, you're under arrest," she announced, holding out her hand. "Hand over that cane please."

[Ari]

El Heraldo quivered with barely-constrained rage, glaring at El Sierpe, and his brain so filled with vicious things to say in that moment he was perfectly silent. He went up behind the fat crime lord, placing a hand like a vise of iron on his left shoulder, and watched him like a hawk. His jaw was set, and his eyes burned in his head, and if he had been alone would have done something truly rash and foolish, but the cooler of the two heads prevailed within him. 'I should...seriously, he has the GALL to..okay, I'll just throw hi- No. We shall leave him to police and your courts. But he-! I saw that as well, Herald. He will be more harshly served by them than by you smashing him through walls and flailing at him. ...Fine.'

"Do you wish me to call the police, Glow? He has a landline in the next room." was all he said aloud, glaring intently at the massive bulk under his red-gloved grip. He didn't dare say anything else. No use giving the loathsome man the chance to get under his skin even more.

[Supercape]

GM

A little later....

"El Sierpe?" said Captain Meddows, a blond, sunburnt cop with sunglasses, stuble, and a more than generous share of good looks. He flashed an easy smile and a wink at Glow as he handcuffed the crime boss, whistling at the man's height.

"Yeah, we heard of him. Holed up here in a fortress. Never had a thing on him, although his file is inches thick. CIA, FBI, you name it, they want him..."

"Its nice to be popular" hissed El Sierpe, as he craned his neck to get into the car. His seven foot frame would not normally have fitted, but the man was unusually limber.

Meddows scratched his reddened neck and looked at the snake cane in Glows hands.

"I guess I should take that for evidence. Or something. Heck, to be honest, I'm not sure what we have on him. Those merc's we picked up aren't talking. All I got is a bunch of beat up goons who clam up in fear...." he whistled through his teeth. "And we got the immigrants, dunno what will happen to them. Still illegals. Thing is, they cant testify to squat in the U.S. Although from what they tell me, he's got a rap sheet as long as both your arms over the border..."

[Ari]

Heraldo listened with a quietly furious look obvious on his masked face to the Captain's breakdown of the situation, floating at roughly eye level in his golden mist, the fact that they were really no closer to getting to the bottom of El Sierpe's schemes and putting a stop to them a bitter blow to the hopeful young paragon. Giving the serpentine crime lord a vicious glare he dropped to the ground and walked up to Capt. Meddows, shaking the older man's hand firmly, briefly wondering why he felt reluctant to let go. "Thank you captain, anything you can do will help, no matter how little it seems." he said with a smile that was a lot stronger than he felt things warranted. "El Sierpe, we'll see you tried yet." he added furiously to the fat man. Turning on his heel, he walked down the sidewalk past Glow, muttering to her "C'mon, we need lunch anyway. I know a place a few streets down." he set off slowly into the air, directing his flight towards a small diner a few blocks away.

[Scuffles]

While food certainly was enticing, Glow wasn't quite so willing to let the matter drop. After El Sierpe was taken away she planted herself squarely in front of Captain Meddows with her hands on her hips. "Captain are you for real that you don't have anything that you can get a conviction with?" she asked in disbelief. "There's just no way that El Sierpe can possibly have broken no laws here. Are we at least sending people to search that mansion of his? The man's a drug dealer, surely there's going to be something illegal there?"

She chewed on her bottom lip for a few moments, and when she spoke again there was a quiet intensity in her voice. "What do you need from us?" she asked. "What can we get for you to make sure El Sierpe goes to prison?"

[Ari]

Hearing Glow's insistent attempt to find any path to getting concrete proof of El Sierpe's misdeeds, El Heraldo calmly weathered the inevitable storm of self-loathing that ensued for several endless seconds, alighting on a nearby roof and sitting on its edge and leaning perilously far forward, watching and listening to what the captain would say as his costume made him stand out like a multicolored flag on the house, glowing with a golden light around himself that made hiding impossible anyway. He had assumed Kristin would be as eager as he was to get away from the vile man, and he inwardly cursed his lack of fortitude, and especially the fact that he had already begun to despair. Tossing the Banner carelessly behind him, he settled in to hear what hope there still was.

[Supercape]

GM

"What do you need from us? What can we get for you to make sure El Sierpe goes to prison?"

"Well, I gotta watch what I say, ma'am" said Meddows, with an easy grin and a wink. "But yeah, anything we - or you - find, well we can use in evidence. No question about this. Hell, I'd like to get this guy for something, even if it is illegal snake ownership. At the least, gives us time to investigate him before some lawyer springs him out of jail..."

He gestured to the ruined mansion "we got some men searching in there right now. Feel free to take a look, I'll deputise you fer that!" he smiled. "Meanwhile, I'm taking our friend here to spend the night in jail, then we take him to court as soon as possible" he added, tapping the car. "Feel free to come along for the ride...or take a look in that mansion of his...maybe you have x ray vision or something. Forensics will take a look when we get them, but this far down south, no city nearby, well, it will take a day or two, at least..."

[Scuffles]

"No X-ray vision," Kristin reported with a faint smile. "But we can definitely help out with any heavy lifting that's needed. We'll do what we can."

She turned to Heraldo, ready to head out. "Maybe we can grab lunch like you wanted, then head on back down to the mansion to help out?" she asked, then paused as a thought occurred to her. "Actually we should swing by and check on that lawyer, Smith, too. He'll be interested to know that El Sierpe is in custody. Maybe he'll help out some more if he wants to keep him that way."

[Ari]

He had floated down during the captain's assessment of what help they could be, standing once again nearby at the end of it. Nodding at Glow's suggestion that they go talk to the lawyer he said "Not a bad idea. Naturally he'll both be scared by what El Sierpe might do to him for his betrayal and want to keep that from happening, and aware what will happen if he tries to obstruct justice. You want me to throw that other filing cabinet at him if he gets any ideas?" he asked with a strained by still cocky grin.

Turning to examine the house his face fell a little, which his mask was wholly unable to hide "Hopefully whatever evidence is in there won't need x-ray eyes to find. Wish I was one of the gadget guys like Net Fly, they'd know just what to make." rubbing his face brusquely he looked back to Glow. "So lawyer, lunch, then a look-see?" he laughed, hovering up into the air again "Let's go!" and soared off for the office once again.

[Supercape]

GM

Cloak Solicitors [Est 1988]...

Ms. Grady raised one eyebrow as El Heraldo entered the offices of Cloak Solicitors.

She raised the other as Glow entered.

"Ah..." she mumbled, biting her lip in her characteristic manner.

"Mr. Cloak can't possibly be disturbed. He isn't in anyway. Er...yes, he can't be disturbed because he isn't here...umm...yes, that's what he said. Errr...when he was here. Which he isn't now, obviously...." she said in a voice that haemorrhaged confidence with every syllable.

Her eyes once again flashed nervously to the door of Mr. Cloaks office.

[Ari]

Not ceasing his rapid walk as the two marched in, El Heraldo set his jaw and paced briskly around the desk, gently grasped Ms. Grady's shoulders with his hands, got on one knee and said very gently "Miss Grady, I beseech you: the lives that hung in the balance on our last visit? They are endangered once again-!" he stopped and thought what he had just said over. No, that wasn't what needed to be said. He could do better than that. 'Do not forget.'

"The lawyer Mr. Cloak was once enslaved to a man with devilish intent." he began, looking intently into the older woman's eyes "He has concealed evil, and tried to hasten the passage of innocents into the hands of a little tyrant. Now, he has the chance to make amends Miss Grady!" he stood up, bringing her with him, his hazel eyes imploring her for help as he cried "Ah, lady in our hour of need, please let us see Mr. Cloak! Only you can make sure that the evil one is brought to justice, and the ones in peril are delivered! If we bypass you, our words will be for nothing!" he knelt before her, taking her hands in his gloved ones and pressing them to his forehead in silent plea.

'Lord, I hope this works.'

[Supercape]

GM

Ms. Gradys mouth popped open in a neat "o" at El Heraldo's oratory. Her eyebrows rose, and if her hair was not smoothed down into an immaculate style with the latest follicular product, her hair might well have too.

"My stars and garters!" she said, in an almost sing song voice. "I'm sure Mr. Cloak would never...er...I mean, I think that Mr. Cloak wouldn't...I mean, he has some standards...I mean, he is..kind of...professional...ish...." she replied, as her confidence evaporated.

"Very well, then! I can't stand by!" she said, bringing forth some previously hidden self-determination. She stood up, smoothed down her dress, and marched over to Mr. Cloak's door, which she opened wide.

"Mr. Cloak! some visitors!"

Mr. Cloak jumped out of his skin. He was halfway through stuffing his suitcase full of documents in no order, his coat halfway round his arms, his glasses half off his nose, and his comb over hair a mess. He was in a hurry...

"No! No! Not you!" he yelped as he saw Glow and El Heraldo.

"Don't you know what you have done! I'm not safe! I'm getting out of here!"

[Scuffles]

"What we did," Glow told Cloak as she strode into his office. "Is save a bunch of innocent people from being used in the sick, twisted experiments of a bunch of dirtbag drug dealers. Then we followed that trail and tracked down El Sierpe. He's in custody right now. But I guess you knew that already seeing as you look like you're running away. Those contacts of yours go a bit deeper than 'I got given money by an organisation I have no contact with' maybe?"

"Here's the thing Mister Cloak, she continued. "We can put him away for a really long time if we get the right kind of evidence. And if we can't then he'll be out by next week and you can bet he's going to be an unhappy chappy looking for the people that ratted him out. It's in everybody's best interests that he stay in prison Mister Cloak. And that includes you. Help us make sure it happens and you will be safe from him."

She gave the lawyer an appraising look. "Besides, where are you going to go? You'll be safer with us, we already took him down once. If you run then we can't protect you."

[Ari]

"You'll be a hero if you stay, Mr. Cloak." Heraldo said gently, standing behind Glow as a quieter counterweight to her stern ferocity. "Do you want to be the man who ran off and destroyed the last chance to stop El Sierpe? Those people we rescued from his vile doctor cannot stay there forever, and if you flee now or refuse to bring proof of his misdeeds you will be responsible for their misery as well as your own." he narrowed his eyes as a golden glow began to play at the edges of the room "Or would you rather become the man who stepped forward and produced the evidence that brought El Sierpe's house of crime tumbling down? The man who when nobody else could prove it, revealed the truth of his evil and illegal deeds!" El Heraldo glanced at Glow sideways as he went on "And Glow is right: if you do not stay and take a stand against the Serpent we cannot promise we'll be able to help you when his assassins come. Do you think that you can escape a crime lord so easily?" he shook his head and looked down at the floor to think through what he was going to say next, the feather in his cap swaying to and fro.

His eyes darted back up to the lawyer's "The choice is yours. If you stay we can do what Glow says, if you run we can't." he said with quiet finality.

[Supercape]

GM

"Very well, very well!" replied Mr. Cloak, collapsing into his worn leather chair, deflated. "I...I have some documents that can put Mr. Sierpe away. Insurance, you could call it..."

He turned, went to the wall behind him, and tapped a wooden panel - which promptly slid back to reveal a safe.

Mr. Cloak spared a backwards glance to the two heroes, and wiggled his eyebrows in smug satisfaction.

"Pretty smart, huh?" he didn't ask.

With a few moments of unlocking, he stuffed a sheath of papers into El Heraldo's hand.

"There! tax evasion!" he said with some relish. "Oh...and illegal ownership of snakes...if you get really desperate" he added.

At that moment, his phone rang. He answered with some trepidation, his face going cold and white as he listened. He put the receiver down with limp fingers.

"Keep me safe will you?" he gulped. "I'm a dead man! El Sierpe has escaped from custody!!!"

[Ari]

"Thank you, Mr. Cloak" Heraldo said crisply as the lawyer gave him the papers, examining them briefly before putting them into a handy manilla folder, tucking it into his jacket as he turned to Glow, saying quietly "Okay, how about we go and bring this to the cops, and then-"

"Keep me safe will you?" he gulped. "I'm a dead man! El Sierpe has escaped from custody!!!"

Heraldo gritted his teeth and nearly shouted "-that slippery....grchk!" he cut himself short and strode to the window with heavy steps of his boots, jerking open the pane and swinging one leg out before stopping to think. His feathered cap blowing in the stiff breeze coming from the sea he told Glow "I got a better idea: how about I take this guy with us to the cops with the evidence, and you go find out what happened with El Sierpe? That way it'll be harder for the Serpent's goons to find him, and we can get this out of the way!"

[Scuffles]

Glow spat a rather uncharacteristic curse under her breath. That's my fault, we should have ridden shotgun on the guy until he was locked away securely. I hope he didn't hurt anyone...

She recovered her composure relatively quickly though. "That's okay, now we get him for resisting arrest as well Mister Cloak. And we dealt with him once, we can surely deal with him again."

The young heroine turned to her companion. "We can both take Cloak to the station, they should be able to point us in the right direction from there." she said. "We need to find out where he got loose and how - whether he had help or he did it by himself. No sense jumping in blind. And besides, he's a coward really, likely he's just going to run for it back to the border. Not that it'll help him much."

[Ari]

For obvious reasons, Subito had never thought for an instant that going along with the crime boss on his way to a holding cell would be a good idea. Mostly because thinking was something he only occasionally did.

Heraldo nodded "Makes sense to my mind. Let's go!" he barked, slinging Mr. Cloak over one shoulder and securing him with a super-powerful arm around the waist before flying out the window, heading unerringly straight for the closest police station that he knew of just a few blocks down the road.

On the way there he called conversationally over to Glow "What do you suppose he has for an escort? Another helicopter? Maybe a few guys with enough guns to run off a police squad? A giant mind-controlling snake? Ooh!" his eyes lit up "Maybe those Serpent People are involved somehow!" he suggested eagerly as they touched down in front of their destination, looking rather more excited at the prospect than was sensible. He let the lawyer get his legs under him before clapping a powerful hand on his shoulder, and directing him through the doors.

Approaching the front desk with a brilliant smile he said to the officer behind it "Excuse me! We're both superheroes dealing with a Mexican crime boss, El Sierpe, who was recently captured and then escaped. Could you tell us where it happened and how, please?" he asked with an eager grin, patting the shoulder of the man beside him and adding "Also, this man here is a witness for the crime boss's misdeeds, and these" he produced the papers with a flourish "are the proof of his most pertinent crimes! Would you keep them both safe until they are needed?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Excuse me! We're both superheroes dealing with a Mexican crime boss, El Sierpe, who was recently captured and then escaped. Could you tell us where it happened and how, please?Also, this man here is a witness for the crime boss's misdeeds, and these" he produced the papers with a flourish "are the proof of his most pertinent crimes! Would you keep them both safe until they are needed?"

"Well I'll be damned!" said the fat station chief, with his fat ginger moustache and twinkling eyes. The man looked very out of shape, with a pudgy face. No doubt he had been in better form when he trod the streets. He looked a good few inches over six foot.

"Mr. Cloak! Well, if he hasn't seen a few crooks out of our cells, I don't know who has. Don't you worry about him, we got a nice clean cell to...err...protect him..." he smiled broadly as Mr. Cloak hissed.

"As for El Sierpe! Damned fiend, slipped out of his cuffs and beat our boys black and blue. The cap'n there, Meddows, he's in bad shape. Real beat up, in hospital...guess he knows what happened, but he ain't looking so rosy right now. "

He shook his head in sympathy.

"Still, we got enough to cook El Sierpe now! We just gotta catch him! As far as I know, he was working alone. Slippery customer. We wont make that mistake again. He is on foot, and we got the dogs after him..."

[Scuffles]

Glow winced as the station chief described the injuries of the police who had escorted El Sierpe. Or attempted to escort him. My fault she thought once again. I should have known he was far too dangerous for the Police!

"I'm not keen on leaving Mister Cloak here without some support for you guys," she told the station chief. "He's probably not on El Sierpe's Christmas card list now that he's helping us and we've already seen proof that El Sierpe is a pretty dangerous man. I'm going to make a couple of calls and get you some backup in case he decides to take a shot at the station while we're trying to track him down."

She glanced at Heraldo, then back at the overweight Policeman. "If you could give Heraldo the details we need to get in contact with Captain Meddows that would be great. I'll be back shortly."

With that she stepped outside and left her comrade to gather any useful information the chief might have. A quick burst of telekinesis lifted her to the roof of the station where nobody could overhear her conversation, and for the second time that day the young heroine 'phoned home' to find out whether some backup was available.

[Ari]

"I didn't think he was nearly that dangerous." Heraldo admitted, looking ashamed "Otherwise I'd have gone along. I'm sorry that happened to captain Meddows, we'll do all we can to catch El Sierpe and make this right!" he said with a determined look. He nodded in understanding when Glow asked him to get what they needed for finding the crime boss while she arranged to have the lawyer kept safe, relieved that one of them knew what they were doing.

He looked fully at the station chief, resting his arms on the bar "What is the situation sir?" he asked gravely, taking out a small piece of paper from one of his pockets and a pen from a nearby mug. His poised the pen over the paper, ready to copy down the basics of what the two young heroes were dealing with.

[Supercape]

GM

Later, at the Ronald Reagan Hospital, somewhere down south...

The sun was beginning to set, soon it would be nightfall.

"Yeah, its's not looking good" said a sombre Doctor to Glow and El Heraldo. Meddows had been beaten badly, as El Sierpe made his mistake, overpowering his guards and crashing two vehicles.

"Lets see..." said Doctor Cream, an elderly man with a rather to energetic grey moustache and bald head. He wore an ostentatious pair of spectacles at the end of a large, ostentatious nose, but he seemed kind enough. Tired, but kind.

"ten percent body burns, broken femur, ribs, and clavicle. Ruptured spleen...had to remove that...serious concussion, shock, pulmonary embolus..."

He nodded over to Meddows who was hooked up in Intensive care, full of tubes and listening to the sound of many machines beeping.

"...keeping him under heavy sedation. He is in a bad way. I'd give him 50/50 normally, but he is a strong guy..."

[Ari]

Subito looked into the hospital room with quiet horror for a moment, the doctor's crisp and unflinching list chilling him to the bone. Clearly they were dealing with a man who had no pity and cold as any snake.

"If you will allow it doctor, I can use my power to try and heal him. If you would rather I didn't then I'm sorry I brought it up." He looked with nervous eyes at the captain again, then hurriedly looked back at Dr. Cream "Thank you for taking such great care of him. Where was he found, and how was he hurt? How did El Sierpe break through to him? Also...could he answer any questions?" wincing he glanced at Glow "I know it's not too likely, but the man's not subtle. He might have said something that could clue us in to where he's heading."

He leaned against the cold white wall, the Banner rolling between his fingers as he quietly mulled over what had happened. 'This ain't our finest hour, but we can fix this. We have to...'

[Supercape]

GM

At El Heraldo's suggestion, Doctor Cream brightened up considerably. "Say, young man, if you are one of those heroes with healing sooper-powers" he said, prouncing the words with a pleasant southern twang "I could sure use you. Hell, we have a whole hospital here...err...well, that is...if you have time....but anyhow, this officer here, he could sure do with your help...I certainly ain't going to say no!" he said brightly.

"We got all kinds of modern medicine down here. But sometimes, well, we can only go so far. Then we gotta call the priest, and hope that are prayers find the almighty's ear. We don't have to many of you capes down south. But we mighty pleased to see you when we do!"

He lead El Heraldo to Meddows bed, where the officer was quietly sedated. The man did look in a bad way. His face was bruised, and had burns on one side.

[Scuffles]

Glow appeared outwardly fairly calm as the doctor detailed the injuries that Meddows had suffered, but anyone who knew her well would have recognised that she was both inwardly seething and still blaming herself for the incident. That Heraldo might be able to assist with the Officer's recovery buoyed her spirits, and she turned to the doctor as her friend moved to attend the injured man.

"There would have been other officers with El Sierpe while he was being transported," she noted. "Were any of them also brought here? If any are able to speak with me I'd like to ask them a few questions while El Heraldo helps with the Captain here. Any help they can give us might help lead to us being able to confront the Serpent and put a stop to all of this."