Rough and Tumble (IC)

[Supercape]

Back at the Bloodhound Detective Agency. 

 

the Hound slammed the phone down, put his feet on his desk, and his hands behind his back, leaning back in his chair in a practised but still precarious pose. 

 

"So this fellow Carl, I got to asking around. Army mane, served in 'Nam, hard case. Whilst you guys are all superheroes and all, I'm not going to mess with him. Guy's practically a war hero..." he said. 

 

"He's been running the gym for nearly twenty years. Run it well too. At least, whilst boxing was top of the menu. Nowadays, its taken a hit. All the young cool kids want to learn kung-fu and ju-jitsu"

 

The Mess snorted, and flexed his watermelon muscles in contempt. 

 

"I got a few whispers he is tied up with the mob. Nothing concrete. Never is with those bozo's. Still, it all ties together, how a guy like that could need some bigger game, some snort of prestige. Going in for some souped up underground fighting" he explained. 

 

"I don't need to say this, of course, but the potential threats are mounting up. Ex-Army, the Mob...they could have a small army of goons manning this joint, probably need them too. And then we have whatever jumped up powerhouses are going to be in the ring..."

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger nodded as she sat the various lunches on the table. Sandwiches for everyone else, Thai for her. She figured that guys like the Mess and Hound probably wouldn't care too much for Thai food. Luckily she knew a great sandwich place. She nodded."Disappointing, too. Boxing is a good foundation for martial arts. Teaches good form. Anyways, with all you said I think it's important that I keep to the shadows tonight. Observe from the rafters, that sort of thing."

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy had read somewhere about the nostalgia of the past how things were somehow better then than they were now. With the advantage of part of the past only being a year  ago she had the advantage of prospective.

“Back in my time boxing was a brutal sport it could last for hours with the two fighter’s brutally pounding each other. I might have dabbled in street fighting when I was younger but I never saw Boxing as a noble sport.â€

She looked over to what Crimsom Tiger was eating with her normal curiosity.

“Is Thai food particularly spicy? My taste isn’t what it use to be.â€

She thought for a second and added more seriously

 

“I can try to enter as a guest again but we don’t know if they already know what happened at the last place. Then again if they are expecting something then me making an attempt might put them off their guard a little.â€

[Thunder King]

"Oh it can be. It's strongly flavored, usually. Thai love their seasonings and spices. If you'd like to try it I brought enough. This stuff is pretty hot, but I've had much hotter." She said with a nod. She wondered how old Lucy was, considering what she knew of her. Ah, well, she supposed that immortals were as likely as shapeshifting metal people or ghost girls.

[Supercape]

The Hound slammed his chopsticks into the noodle box he was sampling. 

 

"Well, we ain't going to solve this mystery by discussing cuisine" he said, stuffing his hands into his Mac. 

 

"Or discussing the noble art of puglism and its relative moral virtues through the ages" he explained to the Mess, who frowned at the unknown vocabulary. 

 

"Crimson Tiger does the shadows thing. I take my boy here to the fight. And you..." he said to Revenant, feeling his normal mixed sense of amorous love and cold fear when he looked at her. 

 

"I suggest you doll up real nice to be a boxing floozy" he said with his voice croaking from fear at addressing her thus. 

 

"A disguise, in other words..." he said forcing the words out of his dry throat. 

[Tiffany Korta]

With a smile Lucy helped herself to some of Crimson Tiger’s Thai food. Unfortunately for her the spicy food hardly registered on her antorpied taste buds. As she did she consider Harry’s suggestion of going in disguise.

“Well I’ve got some contact lenses at home and I we could see if my hair will take dye, if not I can get a wig. Then I’ll need some padding to give me some curves.â€

She drew out in the air a curvaceous female figure with her hands.

 

“But all things consider a disguise isn’t that bad an idea. Well I better get going, it’ll take me awhile to get beautiful.â€

[Thevshi]

With a plan of action decided on, Lucy made her way back to her place and began the long task of doing what she could to disguise her appearance.  The process ended up taking several hours, but that was necessary to ensure she did the best she possibly could.  Luckily, she had more than enough time to be as methodical as she needed to be.

 

The others meanwhile had to find other ways to kill the time, with Crimson going back to Claremont for a couple of hours and getting some homework done.  Harry was able to take care of some paperwork he had been putting off, while Freddy just sat on the sofa and watched someTV.

 

By early evening, they all gathered back at the Bloodhound Detective Agency, Lucy now a stunning, curvaceous redhead in a tight dress.  At a quarter till seven, Harry got a call telling him to be at the gym’s parking lot by eight that evening.  At about half an hour till eight, Harry, Freddy and Lucy piled into the caddy and started off towards the gym, with Crimson following a good distance behind on her motorcycle.

 

When the caddy arrived at the gym, Harry and the others were met by Carl and some of his fighters in the parking lot.  There were a number of other fighters and their trainers/managers that where there as well, though they were being quickly led into the back of windowless vans.  Carl regarded Lucy for a brief moment, his scowl perhaps a bit larger than normal, before he ushered the three into the back of one of the vans.

 

From where she was parked a fair distance away, Crimson Tiger saw the other three put into the back of one of the vans in the parking lot as several of the other vans were already pulling out onto the street.

[Supercape]

"Well ain't this cosy!" smiled the Hound to disguise his rising adrenaline. 

 

Run...run...run...run...his adrenal glands screamed at him. 

 

He patted down his sweaty palms on his trousers. Nervously, he pulled out a cigar, only for it to drop as he climbed into the Van. 

 

"Screw it..." he said to Carl, himself, and the world, and climbed into the Van full of tension. 

 

"Hey, I'm the one doin' da fighting!" rumbled the Mess as the lump of muscle pulled himself in after his partner. 

 

"You just let me do the worryin'...cos believe you me, with lefty and righty, we ain't got a thing to worry about, eh?" he said, cracking the knuckles of his left and right fist respectively. 

[Thevshi]

Piling into the back of the van, Harry, Freddy and Lucy find themselves completely enclosed with no way of seeing outside.  Already inside was a guy that was rather clearly a mob thug who was wearing a pair of jeans and a turtleneck sweater.  He gave Harry and Freddy rather neutral looks, but let his eyes linger on Lucy a few moments before turning to regard another fighter and his manager who also climbed inside, giving them the same neutral look.

 

Once the back door was closed, the van started off, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street.  Crimson Tiger started following along on her motorcycle, making sure she kept a good distance back.  The van started deeper into Greenbank, and though there were a couple of times where Crimson thought she might have been spotted, the van continued at a normal speed without making any sudden turns or any other evasive measures. 

 

After about fifteen minutes, the van pulled up to the gate to an industrial building.  Unlike the one from the other night, this one appeared to be active, appearing generally in good repair, with ten foot high fences all around the grounds and visible security guards patrolling the grounds.

 

The guard at the gate let the van enter into the grounds, and it then pulled away from where Crimson could see it.

 

Inside the van, after one brief stop that did not seem to be a traffic light, the van started forward once more, though it was going slower than street speed.  It only moved for a couple of minutes before Harry, Freddy and Lucy felt like they were going down some sort of ramp.  A minute or two later, the van came to a halt and the back opened up once more, a pair of mafia mooks standing at the back.

"Alright, time to get out."  One of the two ordered as both stepped back to let those in the back out.

Climbing out after the other fighter and his trainer, Harry, Freddy and Lucy found themselves in what looked like an underground parking lot.

[Supercape]

Harry studied the goon in the van intently. He looked your classic mobster but the competent variety rather than street stiff. That gaze made him nervous. He could feel the slick cold sweat on his body, and he reached up to tie up, and loosen his tie several times. 

 

"Well, it looks good to me" he smiled, all bluff, as they climbed out of the Van. 

 

"I'm sure my boy is itching for some action" he explained, patting the lump of muscle that was his partner on the shoulder. 

 

Despite his short stature, the Mess looked mean indeed, and flexed his fists, pumping them up and down. He could already feel the fighters glaze, or focus, coming over his mind. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Still feeling a little uncomfortable in her disguise Lucy sat in silence, apart from her incessant chewing of gum, trying to take in everything. She wasn’t particularly nervous about the ride she had been in much worse in her time as a hero.

Not having yet having a car, and the boy’s refusing to let her drive theres, she hadn’t spent much time in Parking Garage’s. And the last time she been in one with Gangsters thing hadn’t gone to well. Still she could she with some clarity everything that was going on in the darkened structure.

 

“Will you stop you yammering so we can get on with something more interesting.†again she had resorted to her old broad Freedom City accent.

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger parked her motorcycle where it would be well concealed and quietly made her way to a location where she could observe the goings on from a distance. She kept herself well outside of their view and watched carefully. She was ready to interfere at the first sign of real trouble. She waited and watched patiently.

[Thevshi]

A few other fighters and their manager or trainers were already gathered in the garage with a number of the other mob thugs.  One of the thugs looked over towards the new arrivals and gestured them over. 

"Alright then, seems someone thinks you all have some fighting skill.  We will know if that is the case or not before the night is out."  He began saying the small group.  "But in the meantime, let's get down to the pits so you all can get your fight assignments for tonight and start getting ready."

 

With that the group of mobsters led the fighters over towards some elevators in the garage.  The car was already there waiting, and the man who had spoken unlocked the controls and pressed the button for a floor that appeared to be four floors below where they currently were located.

 

Meanwhile outside…

 

Crimson had moved up onto a rooftop just across from the site where the van had passed through the security gate.  The teenage could see a few security guards slowly making the rounds around the fenced perimeter and a pair of guards located at the gate.  But try as she might, she was unable to see any sign of the van the others had been transported in.

[Supercape]

"The Pits?" repeated The Mess and the Hound simultaneously. 

 

They said it in different manners. Harry almost squeaked it in fear, and immediately loosened his tie, before realising it was loose already. He decided to tighten it and loosen it anyway. 

 

Freddy raised his eyebrows and clenched his fists. A mixture of excitement and adrenaline and a lacing of disgust. 

 

Sounds like the battering shops I used to fight in, illegal and vicious. And sometimes deadly. This really can't be good...he thought to himself, remembering the trauma he inflicted himself. 

 

He shuddered briefly. 

 

"Bring it on" he said with tombstone cool. 

 

"The faster I get to punching, the faster I get to punching someone out" he explained, with uncanny dual meaning. 

 

"Sooner the fights starts, the sooner I get to stop it..."

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger skulked in the shadows, keeping out of sight, and out of mind. She was a fine martial artist, having dropped several downright superhuman opponents in physical combat. She was not, however, bulletproof. She was human, and knew it. While her fists, knees and elbows were her main weapons, they weren't always the best option.

 

She waited for one of the guards to move, and dashed past him. She knew she could handle these guards, but she knew that, more important than that, her allies were inside. She could either stop two or three people now, or help bring down the whole organization.

 

The latter was preferable, so she stayed in the shadows.

[Thevshi]

The mobster seemed to pay little heed to Harry or Freddy’s reactions to the mention of the "pits."  Instead, they lead the group of fighters and their small entourages through the garage and over to a stairwell.

 

The group made its way down several flights of concrete stairs and then through a heavy reinforced door.  Harry, Freddy and Lucy found themselves in a wide corridor of cinderblock walls painted white and high ceilings.  It was quite Spartan, but rather clean and brightly lit, in stark contrast with the location they had been the night before in the Fens.

 

There were a number of red, metal framed doors along the hallway, which wet more than a hundred feet down from the door to the stairwell before it branched off to either side.

 

The mobsters only led the group about halfway down the hallway to one of the red doors on the left hand side.  Inside, Harry, Freddy and Lucy found a large room already filled with a number of other fighters and other individuals. 

 

A number of heavy punching bags and speed bags were arrayed along one corner of the room, several already being used by other fighters who were warming up.  Nearby were a number of mats, on which some other fighters were stretching.  There were also a number of cushioned tables, on which a couple of fighters were having their ankles or wrists tapped, or getting warm up messages for their shoulders.

 

Near the front of the room was a large seating area, mostly empty at the moment, save for a few men who appeared to be managers or the like, and about half a dozen young women dressed similarly to Lucy.  To the right hand side of the doorway were a couple of tables with a number of guys in suits in front of laptops.  Scattered throughout the room were a number of flat screen TVs, which currently showed an empty ring surrounded raised seating.

 

On the far wall of the room were a pair of green doors.

 

One of the mobsters who had lead the group in pointed over towards the table.  "That is where you will get yourself registered for a fight.  Then, you can get warmed up, relax or whatever until it is time for your fight."

 

Outside…

 

Crimson Tiger easily cleared the fence surrounding the perimeter of the factory.  The nearest guard was too far away to see or hear her.  She slipped behind stacks of crates and moved over towards the factory building in the center of the lot.

 

Unlike the building from last night, this one was in good repair.  There were no missing windows or the like to allow easier entry into the building. 

 

The heroine had soon climbed to the rooftop of the building, providing her with a better vantage of the area around the building.  But as she moved around to the other sides, she still saw no sign of any of the vans she had seen leaving the parking lot of the gym.  She had almost completely circled the rooftop when she spotted a driveway that led down into a tunnel under the building.

 

Elsewhere…

 

A young man in a security guard uniform sat in front of a wall of monitors, watching the video feeds from the surveillance cameras scattered about the property.  The cameras certainly helped add an extra layer of security for the site, but there were so many to watch.

The guard had just turned away from a screen on right hand side on the wall when Crimson Tiger had come into view as she leapt over the fence.  By the time he had glanced back at the screen, she was out of the frame altogether.  He similarly missed when she had appeared on another screen when moving from behind the crates to the wall of the factory to begin her climb.

[Supercape]

The Mess took in the familiar and not so familiar sights of the boxing gym studiously. He may have had a few to many knocks to the head to have the smarts of his partner, but he sure knew his boxing. 

 

The Hound took his "man" up to the Registration desk, mentally puffing up his bravado like a blowfish. 

 

"Fernando the Furious!" he said with all the confidence he could muster, and giving a theatric two handed show of hands to his partner. 

 

Freddy just frowned. 

 

"Damn Stupid Name" He muttered barely audibly, under his breath. 

 

"Never mind the name! See the skill of a trained fighter in the peak of physical condition!" said Harry, squeezing Freddys arm, which was thicker than most mens legs. 

 

He wiggled his eyebrows in enthusiasm. 

 

"What competition will we be having today? I don't want my man spoiling the show by knocking them down too fast!" he said, pushing his luck for a hint. 

[Thevshi]

"Fernando the Furious?"  Replied the man sitting behind the desk that Harry had led Freddy over toward.  He appeared somewhat skeptical about the name, but looked up at Freddy and added, "well, he certainly looks like he can fight."  The man then began typing on the laptop in front of him.

 

"Tonight your man will be fighting one of the other new arrivals."  He then replied as he continued typing.  "The first match starting in half an hour, your man's will be the third."

 

"During the match, you and the babe," his head nodded slightly toward where Lucy was standing, "can watch in here."

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger spotted a security camera above, and knew she was going to be seen if she wasn't extremely careful. She made her way to the tunnel, sneaking down to the driveway and keeping to the wall. She knew they would spot her if she wasn't extremely careful. She kept her eyes and ears peeled for more cameras, as well as other people. She wondered how the others were doing.

[Thevshi]

Having spotted the security camera on the rooftop, Crimson Tiger was more careful to keep an eye out for other cameras as she moved from her perch to make her way down the ramp to the underground area below the building. 

 

She had to move slower, and at times wait for the cameras to pan, but she was rather confident she was managing to stay out of the view of the cameras as she moved.  The nearest security guard walking the grounds was completely oblivious to her passage as she moved down the ramp to the parking garage under the building.

 

Down in the garage, she found the vans that had taken the various fighters as well as the others from the gym.  But there was no sign of anyone now.  Studying the area from the shadows, she saw a few doors out of the garage, including two towards the center of the space, next to an elevator.  There was a security camera focused on the area in front of the elevator and at least one of the two doors, and unlike many of the others, it was stationary.

[Supercape]

The Mess flexed his muscles with irritation. He was still fighting a battle in himself - his love for fighting and his shame that welled up about his past. Waiting around was not going to do him any good. 

 

"Man, I need to hit something..." he grunted, slamming his fists together. 

 

"Well save it for the ring, big fella" said Harry, giving him a playful jab to the shoulder which the Mess hardly felt. 

 

"Besides, its gives us a shot at sizing up the opposition - if you are third up. And we got time to kill, so get lefty and righty warmed up, and get your pugilistic eye on the fights before you, huh?" he said, encouraging his partner the best he could. 

 

"Because if this is the next level, I think you will have more than a street stiff to fight..."

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy did her sexiest walk as she sauntered over to Fred and Harry and perched herself on Fred lap and threw her arm around his shoulder. She leaned in to whisper into his ear.

“Do we have any kind of plan? Other than to just win the fight? And don’t forget we’re here to find that kid. Any sighting of him yet?â€

 

As subtly as she could she scanned the room for anyone she recognized. Not only for the kid but for anyone who might be a potential risk to their plan, as thin as it was so far, she suspected that it wouldn’t end well.

[Thevshi]

As Freddy and Harry took seats over in the seating area in the room, Lucy came over and sat down on Freddy's lap as she whispered about what their plan was now.  She also took the time to covertly scan the room for any sign of the young man they were looking for, or anyone that might be a noticeable problem to their cover.

 

At first glance, Lucy though she saw a couple of young men that might be the one they were looking for, but taking a few moments to study them more, she became fairly certain they were not Benito Diaz.  She also did not see anyone that looked like they were eyeing the group suspiciously.  There were a few eyeing her, but not in a suspicious manner.

 

As Harry regarded the set up a bit more, he noted that the ring that appeared on the closed circuit camera appeared to be set up in a larger area, but while the ring was brightly lit, the area around it was in shadow.  There appeared to be no area for spectators in the immediate vicinity of the ring.

 

Up in the underground parking garage, Crimson Tiger realized her predicament in trying to advance any further into the building given the static camera covering the central elevator and stairwell.  The teenage heroine spent a few minutes looking around in the shadowy areas of the parking garage for some sign of power cables or a circuit breaker for the lighting.

 

Eventually she managed to find a small maintenance room off to one side.  Entering the room, she found a main circuit breaker, which thankfully was clearly labeled for the various light sections of the garage.  She noted that there was nothing on the breaker about power for the cameras in the garage.

[Supercape]

"Sheeeeshhh...." whistled Harry as Lucy did the sexy thing. He had always found her attractive and sexy, and that clanged in his head like an pair of cannonballs. She was dead. Or rather, he reminded himself, differently living. 

 

Still, when Lucy say on his lap he could feel steam coming from his ears. It was all he could do to stop barking. 

 

"Yeah babe, its gonna be a real show tonight..." he croaked, trying to sound cool but betrayed by a tight and dry mouth. 

 

He looked around trying to distract himself from Lucy. And distact himself from himself. 

 

He whispered at Lucy without looking at her. 

 

"How are we going to find Benito here?" he asked, anxiety and...other passions...running in his sweat. 

 

"How abouts you ask to steal a kiss of the fighters? Like Battlin' Benito...you could make a great ring girl" he suggested, partly as an idea to find the youth, partly to stop the uncomfortable feelings Lucy was generating.  

[Tiffany Korta]

She raised her voice slightly so that Fred could also hear what she had in mind, but hopefully no one else could hear.

“Fred go have a chat to some of the other fighters, see if you can find some rumours about the boy or if we’re lucky find the kid himself. Harry you do the same with the trainer’s and sponsors.â€

She reached inside his jacket, looking like she was after some completely different, and pulled out a couple of Harry’s foul cigars.

“I’m going to see if we can get the inside track.â€

She sashayed over to one of the subtly placed guard’s who were probably there for their protection. She offered a cigar to the guard and then lit one for herself.

 

 

“So you must get to see a lot of these event’s? I’ve got this tip about this young fighter with some promise.â€