Sifting Through the Ashes (IC)

[Thevshi]

Surprised by the sight before him, Firebug is completely fooled by Bloody Mess' feint and then sudden attack. The uppercut connected, but Firebug had pulled back slightly at the last minute, and took the blow with seemingly little effect.

"I don' know what the hell you are, but let's see how you handle the heat!" The Jamaican responded as he took some steps back from Bloody Mess. As he did so, he gestured towards the flames that were still burning nearby. Suddenly, part of the flame seemed to leap out into the air, splitting in two as it did so. Touching down between Bloody Mess and Firebug, the two jets of flame then formed into two vaguely humanoid shapes, about the same size as Bloody Mess.

Back in the front room, Hound glanced around quickly, spotting a fire extinguisher back behind the counter.

[Supercape]

NPC

"Fire! Help! Fire!" screamed the Hound, loosening his tie and starting to panic, before his eye caught sight of a tucked away fire extinguisher.

Goddamn it...lets see if I can remember those fire safety lessons I took in the force...

He snatched up the extinguisher, and started to read the instructions, until the heat and licking flames reminded him...

I really don't have time for that...pull...point...aim...

He aimed the nozzle in a carefree manner. If he could snuff out those two little beasties Firebug had started, all the better, but really, the more fire he could put out the better, and right now, he was just going to try and kill as much flame as possible.

"Head's up!" he yelled, before the slushing foam spewed forth, weaving left and right as the Hound did his best to act the firefighter.

[Supercape]

"Cool it!" responded the Mess, as some foam hit his bubbling form.

He returned his attention to Firebug.

"I can't let you burn down this building, not for nobody! I'm going to stop you no matter what it takes!" he said - as much to himself as anybody else. His eyes peeled over to the hand cannon that Firebug had strapped to him.

With a leap and a bound, he was onto his opponent once again, this time trying to wrestle the gun from the incendiary insect.

"No more tricks, no more bombs, and no more guns!" he explained, his slippery bloody form leaving his characteristic mess all over Firebugs (admittedly less than clean) clothes.

[Thevshi]

Hound sprayed the nearest of the fire creatures with the fire extinguisher, trying to douse it. It seemed to sputter for a brief moment, before its flames intensified, fighting off the foam and remaining in place.

Firebug managed to hold onto his weapon as Bloody Mess leapt at him and tried to knock it away. "Get away from me!" He yelled, as he moved back away from the liquid humanoid.

He then swung his attention at Hound. "Don' you touch my flames!" He screamed, as he gestured again at the flames that was still engulfing some of the boxes in the room. A jet of fire shot out from the flames, but the private eye was able to dodge aside as it streaked by, hitting the front of the shop, catching one of the blinds on fire.

The two flame creatures turned and moved towards Bloody Mess. The first swung a flaming arm at him, just missing as Bloody Mess could feel the heat it was generating. The other tired to attack as well, but fared even worse than the first.

[Supercape]

NPC

"Yoikes! It's getting hot in here!" spluttered the hound, noticing the bottom of his coat had started smoking.

He briefly squirted some foam onto his coat before redirecting the stream back onto the animated flames that Firebug had brought forth.

"Hey, bozo!" he yelled at Firebug, whilst unleashing the foam in a concentrated stream.

"You ain't gonna be such hot stuff when Captain Freeze arrives!" he bluffed, giving a short chortle.

"What, you never heard of him?" he asked. "Russian guy, very big in Siberia. I'm sure he can take you on a short trip there if you never seen it. I here it gets above minus twenty in the summer, so don't worry!"

[Thevshi]

This time Hound's concentrated spray of foam completely covered one of the flame creatures. For a brief moment it seemed like it might flare back up and defeat the fire retardant foam once again, but that was short lived, as the foam caused it to sputter, and then die out completely. A fierce snarl escaped from Firebug as he saw the flames extinguished, and he focused back on Hound with a murderous look in his eyes.

"You don' fool me! No one is coming to help you and whatever the hell that other thing is." The arsonist shouted. "Your just some two bit private dick. Soon you're just going to be another charred corpse!"

[Supercape]

"He's my partner!" replied the Mess, slopping away beneath Firebug.

Damned if I can't get that gun off him. If I only had some proper fingers... he cursed, curling his bloody digits into fists once again. Things got sloppy when he was like this. Sloppy, and messy. He could feel the trail of blood he had left behind begin to boil and smell. It wasn't a particularly nice smell, even to him.

Poor Harry's nostrils must be curling.. he thought, remembering his partners acute sense of smell.

"And there ain't nuthin' two-bit about us!" he explained, as he slopped to one side, then sprang up like a wind up spring, full of power and force, spinning a double fist into his adversary.

"We are Bloody Mess and the Hound! and yer wont forget it!"

[Thevshi]

The powerful blow knocked Firebug's head backward, causing him to stagger backward a few steps as he refocused on the pair of private eyes that were confounding his latest arson attempt. Blood was flowing from one corner of his lip, but he ignored it as he once again caused the flames in the backroom to shoot a jet of fire at Hound, who once again was able to dodge out of the way.

The last remaining flame creature again lunged after Bloody Mess as the liquid hero dropped back to the floor. But once again it was unable to hit the agile fighter with its flaming arms.

[Supercape]

NPC

"Attaboy!" shouted the Hound in encouragement as the Mess socked Firebug one more time.

He stopped squirting the foam for a second, less concerned now some of the flames had died down and one of those pesky imps had been snuffed out. He was more concerned about the arsonist in front of him.

"Firebug, you ain't got a chance! Bloody Mess has taken on tougher than you, I can tell ya!" he said in a broad and loud voice, hoping to instil some fear into the man.

"He's taken on...err...." he floundered "...some mobsters...and...errr...some bikers!" he added.

"Oh to hell with it!" he cursed to himself. He never was much good at hard talk. Instead, he grasped the fire extinguisher with both hands and stepped forward, ducked, and threw the steel cylinder in a steep arc, hoping to sweep the man's legs from under him.

[Supercape]

"Nice work!" acknowledged the Mess, as Firebug went crashing down onto his rear.

This is my chance...

"Two-bit, are we?" he scoffed at Firebug. "What does that make you, then? some kind of gutter life scum who can't even handle a pair of no-good private eyes? how's sitting on your backside feel?"

He propelled himself into the air.

"Well, I guess you have plenty of time ahead in prison to think about that, chum!" he laughed.

"Cos' that's where your heading once I knock your block off! What goes up..."

He plummeted down to inflict a two handed pummel on Firebug.

"Must come down!"

[Thevshi]

Coming down at the downed arsonist, Bloody Mess' two handed smash connected solidly onto Firebug’s upper back as he stared to push himself back up. The man let out a loud grunt of pain as he was slammed back down onto the floor, hard.

The last remaining flame creature flickered and then disappeared completely. The flames in the room seemed to dim slightly, but they did not completely extinguish.

Firebug was not moving, though he was still breathing. Then from up the stairs, Hound and Blood Mess heard the old man yell down towards them. "I don't know what you hooligans are up to, but the police are on their way!"

[Supercape]

NPC

"Oh man..." sighed the Hound, as he spluttered the remaining contents of the fire extinguisher over the remaining fire.

"Sir, no need to panic. We are legally deputised members of..."

"The hell with it..." he finished, dropping the fire extinguisher with a resounding clang.

"Mess, pick up that pyromaniac and lets get out of here before that man sets the whole police force on us..."

"Pick up the what?" said Mess, who was already dragging the man out of the back door.

"Yeah, and, get into your body will ya? you look creepy like that..." he added, patting down the last remainders of smouldering items.

Outside...

Bloody Mess left Firebug on the sidewalk, under the watchful gaze of the Hound, and slinked back into his body, which swelled like a balloon until Freddy was back to 'normal' - if a five foot two slab of meat could be deemed normal.

[Thevshi]

With Firebug unconscious, Hound had little trouble in dousing the remainder of the flames, though he exhausted the remaining contents of the fire extinguisher in doing so. Soon he made his way back out after his partner, who was dragging the unconscious arsonist out the still open back door to the shop. On the way, the Hound picked up the odd flamethrower handgun Firebug had been carrying.

Back outside, Bloody Mess returned to his body as Hound watched the unconscious arsonist. While he did so, the rumpled private investigator sniffed out a pair of incendiary grenades in the pockets of Firebug's leather jacket, which he relived him of as well.

By the time Freddy was back in his body and climbing up off the sidewalk, the pair could hear the sound of approaching police sirens.

[Supercape]

NPC

"Here come the boys in blue..." muttered Harry. He had a mixed relationship with them. On the one hand, he had trod the streets with them as a police officer himself. On the other hand, they were not as smart as he was, too official, and had, ultimately kicked him out of the force.

Unruly dress code indeed... he thought to himself bitterly as he tightened up his crumpled tie to make him marginally less scruffy.

"Hello officers! no need to keep those weapons raised! we are unarmed!" he said as clearly as he could. Fortunately the Mess was looking a little more 'normal' now his veins had popped back into a relatively correct appearance.

"Private Eyes, and appointed deputees, H. Hound and F. Furlong" he explained as the police started the procedures.

"We were investigating the series of arsons in the Fens. Caught this here man red handed, officer! Here, some grenades...and, errr...a gun of some sort...I wouldn't fire it if I was you, officer. Take care!"

He handed over the items dutifully, and proceeded to explain the situation, carefully hinting the forensics teams might look for a certain accelerant on Firebug and at the arson site...

[Thevshi]

The first officers on the scene did not seem too happy with the presence of Mess and Hound, but they do lower their weapons and start taking statements from the two private investigators as well as take over custody of the unconscious Firebug. Several of the officers follow Hound inside as he explained what all had happened. A couple of others deal with the optometrist, managing to calm him down some.

Hound had just come back outside when he saw an unmarked police car pull up to the scene, out of which stepped Detective Kimberly Stine. In her mid-thirties, Detective Stine was rather cute, probably too cute to work in a place like the Fens, but she had worked hard to show she was tough enough to handle one of Freedom City's roughest neighborhoods. Speaking briefly with current officer in charge, glancing over at Hound and Mess as she did, the detective then made her way over to the two private eyes.

"Well, you two certainly seem to have been busy." She said as she drew near. "Not bad. I will be sure to get the information on the evidence to the right people over in the West Side precinct that were investigating the arson there." She paused a moment and then asked, "so, any particular reason you two were looking into this?"

[Supercape]

"so, any particular reason you two were looking into this?"

Harry gulped, a bit unsure how to respond to an attractive police officer who had promptly detoxified his views on the officers of the law.

"Sure, officer" said Mess, looking up and giving a grin. Perhaps he flexed his biceps a bit more than strictly necessary when gesticulating.

"We was hired by this dame, Eliska. She and her husband got hit by the perp, he burned down their store in the Fens. We reckon it was the mob round here, ya see? they got an extortion racket goin' on. Used that dude to burn down any place that wern't payin' up..."

He rolled on the balls of his feet, giving himself an extra inch of height.

"Anyways, you guys reckoned it was her husband. Guess you guys reckoned wrong huh? haha" he said in a laugh that was close to a giggle. "She got to hiring us, to look into da matter! and we cracked it, heh, Harry!"

"That's right, officer, what he said..." mumbled Harry, not wanting to look too directly at an attractive woman detective. He loosened his tie and did it up again - simply for something to do with his fingers.

[Thevshi]

Detective Stines primarily focused on Mess as he began talking, smirking ever so slightly as he joked about the police department messing up with arresting their client's husband for the arson at his store. But then she nodded slightly, "well, if everything pans out with what you and your partner have uncovered tying the fires to this guy," she jerked a thumb back towards where Firebug was being put into a paddy wagon, his hands in some sort of high-tech looking restraint, "then it should not take very long for your client's husband to be released."

She paused a moment, then continued. "Well, I think we have everything we need from you two right, if we think of anything else, we know where to reach you. So you are free to go, I am sure you could probably use some rest after tonight." With a small nod to the two private investigators, she then turned and started into the shop to examine the rest of the crime scene.

The following morning…

Freddy and Harry were back at their offices when the buzzer for the front door rang. Looking out, they saw Sam Gannon standing at the door.

[Supercape]

NPC

"Hi Sam, c'mon in!" said the Mess, cheerfully, unlocking both reinforced doors to their office to let the prosecutor in.

Harry was busy shaving.

Goddam it...why do I always have stubble...no matter how hard I shave...grows like hell...must be that dog curse on me.... "Dammit" he swore as he cut himself. His hands still shook slightly from the adrenaline of the night before.

"Hi Sam!" he said, dabbing his cut throat. "Take a seat...no not there...some pizza from the day before...it's a bit fresh..." he said, wrinkling his nose.

The Bloodhound Detective Agency, like Harry, was always vaguely untidy and messy. Their cleaner, Gemma, had her work cut out for her.

"How are you doing? You gave us a good case yesterday, my friend. Sealed up in a day! How's about that for efficiency!"

[Thevshi]

"Morning Freddy." Sam replied with a small smile. The public defender was about forty, though he looked a bit younger, despite always seeming to be tired and overworked. He was dressed in a pair slacks, and, as was usual unless he was appearing in court, the top button of his shirt was undone and his tie loosened.

Making his way into the office, he nodded to Harry as the other made his way out. "Hey Harry." He replied, avoiding the seat indicated before sitting down in another.

"Well, you are welcome, I had a feeling you two would be able to sort that all out. In fact, that is why I am here. Mr. Klaus was released this morning, charges dropped. He and Mrs. Klaus should be stopping by later to thank you in person and work out the details of paying whatever they owe you as they can. Along those lines, now that his name has been cleared, there should be no reason for his insurance company to withhold payment on the policy. You guys don't happen to know an attorney that might be able to help out with that? I know a few, but they are probably a bit too expensive."

"Oh, and one other thing," he added, suddenly remembering something. He reached into his briefcase and took out an envelope which he tossed onto Harry's desk. "You caused the police a little bit of embarrassment by so quickly rooting out the actual arsonist after they had focused on Mr. Klaus. I think they want to try to quite that all down a bit, that's a crime stoppers reward for catching that Firebug guy."

[Supercape]

NPC

"A lawyer eh?" said Harry, satisfied that his cut had stopped bleeding.

Over in the corner, Fred gave a smile and stopped concentrating on Harries throat.

"Well, it just so happened that I do happen to know of a lawyer. She seems ok, does some charity work..." he said, his lips and tounge struggling over the words.

"She is ah...a bit on the unusual side. A bit living-challenged shall we say, but what the hell, this is Freedom City eh?" he said more cheerfully.

"As for that crime stoppers reward. Well, it does seemed we earned a little reward for out work..."

"Yeah, that means we don't have to charge Ms. Klaus!" yelled out a happy Fred from the corner, between stuffing his face with a salami sandwich and watching the sport on TV.

Harry grumbled under his breath.