Night of the Garrote (IC)

[Thevshi]

Don's Auto-Garage, Southside, Freedom City, New Jersey
Tuesday September 16, 2014; 11:00 AM

Charlie Stevens did his best to wipe his greasy hands clean with a rag as he made his way back into the break room of Don's Auto-Garage after spending over two hours on the engine of a customer’s SUV. Right now he needed a cool glass of water before getting started on the next car before lunch.

As Charlie entered the small break room, he was surprised to find Jane Palmer, his girlfriend and co-worker, already there, seated at the small round table in one corner and drinking a cup of coffee as she looked over a newspaper. "Hey, finally get Mrs. Norton’s SUV running again?" Jane asked with a small smile.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie nodded, "It's running, not the healthiest sounding thing in the world, but it will get her and the kids to soccer practice." He headed over to the water cooler, downed a quick drink and refilled his cup before turning back to Jane.

 

"Now, I've got that beauty of a Mustang that needs its brakes replaced. Think the boss will get on my case if I take it around the block a few times afterward? You know, to test them out." he said with a smile, taking a seat at the table and squeezing her hand. "You can ride along, if you like."

[Thevshi]

Jane gave a small smile and squeezed his hand in return.  "Well, even if the boss would go for you going out to test the new breaks, I don't think he would like you pulling me from the front desk to ride along."  She then gave a small sign.  "And speaking of, I need to get back out there."

 

She stood up and the stopped a moment, pointing down at the day's copy Daily Herald.  "Oh, did you see that article about the demolition of the old Mayfair Insurance Building in Midtown?  Pretty crazy stuff if it turns out to be true."  She then turned and made her way out of the break room.

 

Glancing down at the paper, Charlie saw it was open to a page toward the back, the largest article on the page grabbing his attention first.

 

Cold Case About To Be Solved?

by Scott Lewis

 

As the demolition of the old Mayfair Insurance Building along the western edge of Midtown nears completion, interest has begun to grow around the time capsule that was set in the foundation of the building nearly eighty one years ago.  Back in 1933, when the foundation of the Mayfair Building was being set, residents in the Parkside and West End neighborhoods of Freedom City were living in fear of a killer known only as the Garrote. 

 

The Garrote's last confirmed victim was Patricia O'Neil, murdered in a southeastern neighborhood of Parkside on July 19, 1933.  A police officer arrived just after the murder, catching site of the fleeing suspect and started off in pursuit.  While the officer was not able to keep up with the fleeing suspect in the black cloak, he was able to fire off a shot that appeared to hit the figure.  The dark cloaked figure then disappeared into the shadows of the night and there was never another Garrote murder. 

 

But recently there have been rumors that a long forgotten witness, dismissed by the authorities at the time as a drunkard, had seen a black cloaked figure enter the construction site of the Mayfair Building on the night of July 19, 1933.  This unknown witness claimed to have seen the figure remove his cloak and throw it into a corner of the building before continuing on into the night. 

 

The recent rumors regarding this forgotten witness and the possibility that clues to the identity of the Garrote might lie buried in the time capsule beneath the Mayfair Building has lead to an increased interest in the opening of the time capsule.  I know for one that I will be present tomorrow evening when the time capsule is supposed to be opened, hoping that at last there might be some solid answers about the mysterious murder who terrorized parts of the city all those decades ago.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie read the article, then picked up the paper and flipped through it, looking for any other stories about the demolition or the time capsule.

With a shrug he folded up the paper again, and followed Jane back out to the front desk.

 

"What do you think? Do you think they got this guy?" he asked, "Or he just decide the heat was too much and he gave up?"

"Do we want to go watch them open the time capsule? Don't know what this guy expects them to find about the Garrote in there, but if there is something it'll be like witnessing real history. Might be fun"

[Thevshi]

Jane glanced over to Charlie when he came back out and asked his questions about what might have happened to the Garrote.  She just gave a shrug as she answered.  "No idea, it was over Eighty years ago after all.  But everyone seems to agree that whoever was behind it committed no more murders after that night, so, he either died or did not want to get shot again.  Either way, no one has been able to identify who was behind the murders."

 

When he asked about going to see the time capsule opened, she though a brief moment and then replied.  "Yeah, who knows if there really will be anything in there to identify the Garrote, but could be interesting."  She then paused and gave a small smile.  "But right now, I think you have a Mustang waiting for you."

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie nodded. "Back to work." he said, picking up a set of keys from behind the desk. On the way out, he held the door for a

customer entering the shop and went looking for the mustang to drive it into the garage.

 

As he started the car he smiled. "I could have stopped the killed, I bet." he thought to himself. "Could have wrapped him up easy

with the whip and unmasked him. Probably would have gotten in the paper myself. 'Dashing stranger catches serial killer.'" 

 

Thoughts of the hypothetical encounter played out in his mind all day. Several times he caught himself daydreaming and had to kick himself

to get back to work. "Not the safest thing to do around all around all this heavy equipment", he thought.

[Thevshi]

Focusing back on work, the day passed quickly by for Charlie, with the occasional daydreaming of the other life he had begun to lead (unknown to Jane).  The next day went rather quickly as well, with both Charlie and Jane working through lunch so they could leave a bit early in order to make it to the opening of the time capsule.

 

The Mayfair Building stood, or had stood, on the southeast corner of Allen and 52 nd, just across Allen from the Super Museum and Champion's restaurant.  By the time Charlie and Jane had managed to find parking and make their way to the site, there was already a crowed of well over a hundred people gathered around the southwestern corner of the building's foundation.  The rest of the building was mostly cleared away by now, although there were still large piles of concrete rubble around the site. 

 

Construction fences and about half a dozen police officers were all that were keeping the crowd from moving all the way up to the corner of the foundation, where the time capsule was located.  The edge of the crowd was still able to get within twenty feet of the foundation, so those in the front had a pretty good view of things.  It appeared that some construction workers were still clearing away the last bit of rubble that would prevent the opening of the time capsule, but at this point that should only take a few more minutes...

[Thevshi]

As Charlie and Jane made their way into the crowd near the building, Charlie could see that it was made up of people from all walks of life. There were some businessmen, in well-tailored suits; office workers in business casual; some older teenagers and even a few homeless within the crowd.

While getting a feel for the crowd and waiting for the construction workers to finish clearing away the last bit of wall that was preventing the opening of the capsule, Charlie noted a man in his late fifties moving forward in the crowd. He had grey hair and thick round glasses. The man was dressed in a white collared shirt, but the dullness of the white and a few old stains indicated it was well-worn. The man had something of a jitteriness to him, as he was focused intently on the workers working around the time capsule.

Looking forward in the crowd, Charlie also spotted a man in a slightly disheveled white shirt, his red tie loose around his neck. The man was in his early forties, with short brown hair and beard. He had a handheld digital recorder in one hand, and was speaking with one of the police officers keeping people from crossing the construction gate. Charlie could not hear what was being said, but the officer seemed intent in blowing the man off, neglecting to focus his attention on the man while keeping an eye on the crowd.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie was dressed causally, with loose jeans and a t-shirt and his battered old Comets cap. Jane had teased him about the backpack he slung over his shoulder. He said he wanted something to carry their jackets in in case the the early fall weather turned too chilly. In fact, his whip was stashed in a hidden compartment in the backpack and rolled up at the bottom was the Coiled Lightning costume. Just in case.

 

He enjoyed watching the crowd, looking for anyone they knew or maybe some celebrities. Charlie wondered if any of the city's super heroes would show up, maybe a member of the Freedom League. But quickly he noticed the two suspicious men and wondered if they could be trouble.

 

"Let's see if we can get closer for a better view" he nudged Jane and tried to move closer toward the man with the recorder to see if he can overhear what he's saying.

[Thevshi]

Jane gave a nod in agreement to Charlie's suggestion that they try to move in closer and the pair started moving forward in the crowd.  Luckily it was not too difficult, and soon they were closer toward the front.  Focusing in on the man with the recorder, Charlie could now overhear what he was saying.

 

"I've got to get this story on the Garrote!"  He stated to the police officer with an insistent tone.  "If I don't, Lobe is going to fire me!"

 

The officer seemed unmoved.  "You know as well as I do Lewis that I cannot just let you waltz in and potentially contaminate any evidence.  That is if there even is any."

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie stuck around Lewis the reporter and pretended to watch the proceedings at the time capsule, but he was careful to keep the corner of his eye on the other disheveled stranger in glasses. He was up to something, must be. Unless he was just another reporter hoping for a big story.

He recited some facts about the Mayfair building that he had looked up the day before to Jane and pointed out where the time capsule was being pulled up. "Looks like they'll be ready soon. Want to make a bet on what's inside?"

[Thevshi]

"Oh, I bet it just contains a vintage bottle of wine, some dusty phonograph records and maybe a couple of old news reels from the cinema."  Jane said with a small grin.

 

Lewis eventually gave up on trying to plead his case to the police officer, continuing to observe the workers, occasionally grumbling to himself.  The man in the thick glasses was also watching things closely, with an almost hungry anticipation on his face.

 

But then a certain amount of anticipation seemed to be building over the crowd as a whole as the constructions workers came closer and closer to clearing off the opening for the time capsule.  When the last bit of concrete was jackhammered lose and cleared off, a hush fell over the crowd as police officer and the foreman moved over toward the sealed time capsule. 

 

The silence was suddenly interrupted by a loud *ZAP* sound, as a beam of energy struck one of the police officers on the scene, knocking him to the ground unconscious.  Heads turned in the direction the blast had originated from, and over near one of the piles of rubble in the center of where the building had once stood was a man wearing a dark green costume with a red mask that covered the entire upper half of his head (with black around his eyes in the shape of a domino mask).  In a red gloved hand he was holding some futuristic looking pistol, aimed at the police officers.  Behind him were five other men, dressed in black cloths and ski masks, one of them towering above the others and looking like he would be perfectly at home on the offensive line of a pro football team.

 

"Alright there, that is far enough.  I am taking the contents of that time capsule, and things would go a lot easier if you just step aside."  The costumed man stated.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

The crowd gasped at the masked men's appearance and immediately start backing away from the scene, with various amounts of chaos. Around Charlie and Jane the crowd moved quickly but relatively peacefully. An old woman stumbles but is helped to steadied and hurried along by the bussiness man behind her.

 

Thinking fast, Charlie let Jane get ahead of him, and dove toward a denser pack of humanity. "Get to the car," he called out as he was "dragged" the other way. "I'll catch up with you." Working his away across the paniced crowd, he was jostled and shoved more violently, barely keeping his feet.

 

He shook his head, feeling bad about ditching Jane, but needing the chance to slip away.  "I hope she listens and gets to safety," he thought, "this could get ugly, even if I can find somewhere to get into costume.?

[Thevshi]

Allowing himself to be pulled away, Charlie moves with a thick part of the crowd, which moves across Allen and over near the Champions restaurant, where he is able to duck into an alleyway and out of sight.

 

Back at remains of the Mayfield building, the large black clothed thug moves up to the nearest police officer and swipes a large fist at the man.  The fist connects, slamming the officer into part of the remaining foundation and then collapsing unconscious onto the ground.

 

Two of the other thugs move towards a pair of other officers, aiming taser guns at them.  Both pull the triggers, sending the pair of wires flying at the officers, but both were able to dodge aside.

The other two thugs moved over to the time capsule, crowbars in hand.

 

The costumed criminal with the strange looking pistol aimed it at another police officer, fining off another blast of energy from the weapon.  The blast stuck the officer squarely in the chest, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling unconscious.

 

The two police officers which had dodge the taser darts closed on the nearby thugs, drawing their tonfa as they went.  Both slammed the weapons into the thugs, although one thug managed to twist with the hit, limiting its effectiveness.  The other thug was knocked to the ground, clearly hurt and dazed.

 

The last remaining police officer continued to try to hustle people away from the scene, drawing his firearm as he did so, although he kept it aimed at the ground as he glanced back.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie ducked in to the ally, quickly pulled off the backpack and started looking for his costume. As he pulled on his mask and swapped shirts, he got a glimpse of the officer going down hard from a meaty fist.

 

"Crap," he swore, hurring as fast as he could. "Gotta get out there before anyone else gets hurt." He struggled to adjust his leggings and took a deep breath, realizing it was quite possible he'd be on the receiving end of one of those fists before this was through. The whip sparked to life in his hands and he kicked his backpack behind a dumpster. "Let's get this thing started."

[Thevshi]

The hulking thug glanced over to see two of his companions struggling with two of the police officers who had drawn their tonfa, so he moved over towards one of the officers, swinging a large fist at the man. The officer luckily saw the attack coming, and managed to duck down underneath it.

The thug with the taser that was still on his feet tried to use the weapon as a club and hit the other police officer, but the officer easily blocked the clumsy attack with his tonfa.

The other two thugs jammed their crowbars into the lid of the time capsule and began trying to pry it off.

The costumed criminal with the strange energy weapon moved forward till he was near the time capsule, as he casually aimed his weapon at the police officer with the draw pistol. There was another blast of energy, which struck the officer squarely, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

The two officer still on their feet regarded the large thug that had moved over to engage them. Without a word, the pair both attacked with their tonfa, landing strikes on the large man. But the man took them with seeming easy, barely registering that he had been hit.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled Lightning swung the whip up and a an arc of blue energy led up to the roof of the building. With a tug, he ran up the wall, then flipped the whip on to a nearby lamppost and flung himself through the air, landing next to the tonfa wielding police. "Hello, officers. Need a hand?" he asked.

 

Without waiting for an answer the whip flew out again with a loud crack striking the nearest tazer armed thug in the chest. The thug stumbled backward, convulsing and collapsed. Charlie snapped the whip again at the hulking thug next to him, slashing it across the thug's forearm, but earning nothing but a brief grunt of pain.

 

He called out to the apparent leader with the gun, "I'm pretty sure that time capsule doesn't belong to you. Maybe you should leave it before anyone else gets hurt."

[Thevshi]

The two officers started slightly as Coiled Lightning landed near them and the criminal, but that surprise quickly turned to looks of relief as he took down one of the two thugs they had initially been fighting. But the large thug shook off the electrical attack with a simple grunt. Then he pulled back one of his massive fists and slammed it into the hero.

It felt like a sledgehammer slamming into Coiled Lightning's chest, sending him flying backward ten feet to land in the middle of the sidewalk where not moments before there had been a large crowd which he had been part of. Spots flashed before his eyes, but he managed to maintain consciousness. As he pushed himself up some, he caught sight of Scott Lewis, crouched down behind a parked car, watching the scene at the demolition sight with a combination of fear and excitement.

The thug who had been dazed by one of the officer's tonfa stood back up, shooting his tazer at one of the officers once more, but missing again.

The two thugs were still struggling with the door to the capsule, not seeming to make much headway. "Damn it! We can't budge it!" One of them shouted.

The man with the blaster let out a small laugh. "Someone? You mean someone like you? Maybe you should just stay down." He aimed his weapon at one of the two officers still on their feet and fired. Once again he hit the officer, but this time the man was already rolling aside, the blast just grazing him and causing him to stagger slightly, but otherwise remain on his feet. "Go help with that lid." He then shouted out to the large thug, seeming a bit annoyed that the police officer remained on his feet.

Then the two police officers started into action, emboldened by Colied Lightning's appearance. One of them stepped up and slammed his tonfa into the stomach of the thug with the tazer, landing a solid hit that doubled the man over and sent him sprawling onto the ground unconscious.

Then the other swung his tonfa at the large thug, catching the bruiser in the back of the head. The blow was solid, causing the big man to stagger forward in pain and drop down to one knee, clearly dazed.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled lightning shook his head cleared and rolled to his feet. He needed a moment to catch his balance, but surveyed the scene and swung his whip back into action again. This wasn't going as well as he'd hoped, but he couldn't give up the first time things go wrong.

Sparking bright energy, the whip cracked out in front of him, striking the big thug across the chest. A smile crossed Charlie's face and he winked at the reporter in hiding. "I'll admit that fist hurt a bit, but don't be shocked, I'm not finished here yet."

[Thevshi]

The large thug jerked slightly from the shock of the electric whip, seeming to freeze up a moment, before he shook it off and snarled at Coiled Lightning. But then, with a bit of effort, he turned away and moved over to the time capsule and began pulling on its lid, concrete broke off, as the lid started to open slightly.

One of the other thugs with the crowbars dropped a duffle bag on the ground near the capsule and the turned and moved with the other thug towards the two police officers. The two thugs swung their crowbars like clubs, but the police officers were able to block them with their tonfa.

The man with the energy pistol aimed the weapon at Coiled Lightning, firing a blast of energy at the hero. The blast hit squarely, causing Coiled Lightning to stagger backward a couple of steps, but otherwise remain on his feet and in the fight.  At the same time, he spoke into a microphone he was wearing.  "Bring the van around!"

The two police officers took swings at the thugs in return, although only one managed to connect, but even that was a glancing blow which did not seem to hurt the thug much.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

As the big thug retreated to work on the time capsule, Charlie rushed to follow behind. He staggered back from the boss's energy blast, but put his head down to stay focused. They wanted the time capsule, he had to stop them from taking it.

The whip glowed brighter as Charlie waved the handle faster and faster, before snapping his wrist and sending the tip slashing across the big guy's back and showering the area with embers. "Sounds like the boss-man wants you to grab that thing and run like a coward" he called out, hoping he wasn't signing up for another punch like the last."

[Thevshi]

The large thug grunted in pain as the electricity whip struck him once more. "Can someone get rid of that guy!" He snarled, as he pulled off the lid of the time capsule, dumping the heavy piece of concrete off to one side. He then snatched up the dufflebag and began stuffing things inside it from within the capsule.

The two men with crowbars continued trying to strike the pair of police officers still in the fight, but the officers continued warding off the attacks with their tonfa.

A screech of tires sounded down the block, as a dark van pulled around the cornet sharply and sped over next to the demolition site, skidding to a halt. One of the side doors slide open, and in the back was another man in a black ski mask. He was armed with a sub-machinegun.

"Let's get out of here!" Shouted the man with the energy pistol, as he moved towards the door to the van, shooting at Coiled Lightning as he went. The blast of energy sizzled by the hero as he just managed to dodge to one side of the attack.

The two police officers both managed to strike the crowbar armed thugs with their tonfa, but neither thug seemed badly injured by the attacks.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Coiled Lightning could see he wasn't going to be able to keep this guy occupied for long. He probably had what he wanted and would take off any moment now. "Unless," he thought "he no longer had that bag."

 

A snap out the whip and a coil of electrical energy wrapped around the duffle bag tightly and when Charlie tugged as hard as he could, the bag was ripped out of the angry thug's hands, to land at Chralie's feet. He gave the thug a big grin as he hooked the bag under one arm. "I've got to be off, then. I'm running a bit late."

 

The whip's strand reached across the street, affixing to an antenna on top a building, and Charlie swung himself through the air landing on the rooftop in a kneeling pose as he looked back down at the criminals.

[Thevshi]

The large thug snarled with rage as Coiled Lightning managed to deprive him of the dufflebag into which he had just placed the contents of the capsule.  But before he could lunge at the hero when he came running over to snatch up the bag, the hero used his electric whip to swing up to a nearby rooftop.  Reaching down, the large thug picked up a piece of the capsule's concrete lid and tossed it at Coiled Lightning.  But the projectile stuck the side of the building just below the edge, shattering into smaller pieces and raining back down to the sidewalk below.

 

Meanwhile the two thugs with crowbars tried to hit the police officers one last time, again failing to land hits that were not deflected by the two officers.  The two men then turned and ran over to jump into the open van.

 

The thug in the van with the sub-machinegun leveled it at the two police officers and fired off a burst, but he failed to anticipate the weapon's kick, the burst flew well overhead of the officers.

 

The costumed villain with the energy weapon tracked Coiled Lightning's path, aiming his weapon at the hero.  He fired off a blast that struck home, but Coiled Lightning was able to take the hit without too much effect.  Cursing under his breath, the man shouted over his shoulder at the large thug.  "Let's get out of here before backup arrives."  With that, he ran over and jumped into the back of the van as well.

 

The two police officers dropped their tonfa and proceeded to draw their sidearms, each taking aim at the thug with the sub-machinegun.  One of the shots blew out a window in the back of the van, but otherwise missed.  The other clipped the thug's left shoulder, injuring him, but not severely.

 

Up on the rooftop, Coiled Lightning felt a wave of fatigue wash over him.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie slumped down on the roof, breathing heavily and wiped the sweat off his brow. This was a lot harder than he expected, but it looked like the bad guys were going to leave empty handed. It's a good thing, he didn't think he had it in him to run back into the fight.

The bag should go to the police so they can return the content to its owners, but first it wouldn't hurt to have a look himself to see if the bag had any obvious clues about this fight. What was it the guy with the gun wanted so badly from here? Who was he, anyway?

Carefully Charlie opened the bag and looked inside.