Participants:
| Scene Title | I, Chimera: Recon Mission |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | After long days of searching in Spanish Harlem for Louie's main base of operations, the group gets lucky and finds Louie's right-hand rat lady. Shou was the storyteller for this scene. |
A tenement, a dirty street, walked and walked by shoeless feet…
For Scrivner:
You find something promising, after a few days of spending more money than you're comfortable spending and using more supernatural power than you're comfortable using. These aren't the days of your father, were some simple intimidation went a long way. Now a days, you have to be scary /and/ wealthy. No wonder Tyr stays in Valhalla. Anyway, what you find is that there is a certain apartment building near the center of Spanish Harlem that is rumoured to have a very large, very /busy/ sub-basement. After doing some digging, you find out that the place is owned by a shell company named 'Armstrong Inc.'"
For Dee:
You find out it's owned by Louis Armstrong. He also owns some buildings in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Orlando. All big cities. There's not much else on him, though. You get most of the general information:
Louis Armstrong
2283 Woodland Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70113
Birthday: March 8, 1961
SSN: 435-98-5267
Occupation: Aircraft Pilot.
It's pretty easy to tell, after a read-over, that it's an entirely fake identity. Problem is? It's been in the system for a /while/, so most of the trail that lead back to the original identity is lost. It is, for all intents and purposes, legal. Just due to its lengthy existence.
It's a nice, crisp night in Spanish Harlem. After yesterday's downpour, it seems like there's not a cloud in sight above New York City. The building owned by Louis Armstrong sits quietly near the center of the neighborhood. People go in, people come out; most seem like normal folk doing groceries and just plain /living/. On occassion, a thug will bluster out of the building or shoulder his way inside. It's five stories tall and has no real security system as far as an external security system is involved. Dee Floros has broken into buildings with more sophisticated gardening equipment. It should be a cake walk.
And hopefully it will be. Rufus Scrivner is surely hoping so, because right around now, he could do with some good news to give back to his father. Reluctant to get into Dee's way, he's taken up lurking in the shadows of an alleyway about two blocks down. It's close enough for him to rush in to help Dee if things go sour, but hopefully it's still far enough away that he won't be easily noticed. He's taken some pains to disguise himself - black leather bomber jacket, jeans and a tee shirt. In the past he's come through Spanish Harlem with his money and his power, getting information, frightening people. Now? Yeah, nothing to see here, move along, move along. Keeping one hand in his pocket, he fingers his cell phone, waiting for Dee.
A stout gray tom-cat strolls up next to Scrivner and Vette and plops down right next to them, not begging for attention, simply casting a glance at the two of them. A moment later a rather fat cat comes from another direction and moves to sit next to the other….and finally a third and tiny white cat with a bad paw wobbles out to join the others. They all glance at Vette and Scrivner and then turn their attention to the warehouse. A few moments later they all turn at the same time to look at the shadows, where one 'Alley-Cat', the crime fighter not the actual animal. He stands there in black leather pants, jacket with silver plumes around the collar. His helmet is molded to look feline, and on his back is a rather heavy sword as well as a rather ornate 'claw-like' gauntlet that runs over his fingers and up to his right elbow. He stands there in silence, exchanging looks with the cats, then Vette and Rufus before he too simply stairs ahead to look at the warehouse.
Vette is Vette. She does Vette things, and right now that involves hanging out with Rufus. She's got on a black wig and a jean jacket and big earrings and sunglasses. It's the best she can do towards looking like she blends. How do you cook your grit? She looks down at the cats and then kneels down to scritch their little kitty heads.
It should be a cakewalk. IF the building weren't also potentially housing a demigod doing naughty things. Dee isn't taking anything for granted. She's been surprised before, and when it comes to breaking and entering, surprises are BAD. She does a lot before she even goes into the building, using her enhanced senses. It's nice to know where the toys that might trip you up are, so you can plan better. When she does finally go in, it's after studying the 'local' population well enough to dress and act to fit in. Social Chameleon is a lovely thing. Don't mind her - just another unremarkable person in unremarkable clothing, carrying an unremarkable bag with wholly remarkable things hidden inside. She may not look it to any watching her, but Dee is paying intense attention to every little thing, looking for what needs either physical or electronic disarming when they go in as a group.
It's a small lobby. There aren't many people there. There are stairs that go up, and there's a laundry room, and then there's the super's apartment, and next to that, an elevator with only one button to summon it.
It's hard to miss all those cats coming up to him. Rufus blinks down at them, mildly surprised to see them. He doesn't bend to them, though, nor does he do much to acknowledge their presence. It's the man who lurks in the shadows who has his attention more, and while Vette scritches the cat's head, he idly pushes away from the wall to meander further into the alley and closer to his cousin. He pulls out his cellphone to glance at it, reading the time, and he closes it back up to slip back into his pocket. "Any time now," he mutters. Anxious? Yes. Yes, he is. He hides it as much as he can, though, but the subtle signs are there - darting glances, restless hands.
The Alley-Cat stands quietly, arms at his sides, nodding to his cousin as he is noticed and then turns his attention back to the building. "Want me to send one of them in to back her up? Watch out for her?" He asks softly. The cat's enjoy the attention, but when the crime-fighter speaks they turn to listen and then look back to Rufus for an answer.
"I think that's a great idea," Vette murmurs softly. "That guy is dangerous. Ru? What do you think?" She looks anxiously after her cousin, though by now she can't see her at all. But she keeps scritching the kitty's head, because who can resist a kittyhead?
In those moments when no one is in the lobby with her, she tests a few things inconspicuously. Of course, if there's surveillance on her she's just hanging as though waiting tere for someone. She checks her checks a time or two… Makes as though she's texting someone… Nothing unusual… Move along… When she 'gets bored', she checks out the stairs for an inobvious extra door. When the elevator opens, she looks for extra panels or keyholes. As for the super's apartment… Anything interesting about the lock?
The super's apartment has a normal looking lock. It's just a door, it seems. Inside the elevator is just one button, with no arrow or number on it; but from its construction Dee can tell that it only goes one way: down. There don't seem to be any security cameras.
A few seconds tick by in silence as he contemplates this, wherein Rufus stares down for a long, long while at the cats. He nods his head in acquiescence, saying quietly, "Do it, please. Just… don't be conspicuous about it, chaps. It's absolutely imperative that we give her room to work without interference. Tell them to come running back at the first sign of danger out there." Pause. "To warn us, of course."
Tybalt gives a single nod of his head before pulling out a small piece of paper that he scribbles on and gives to the tom, who bites down on it and listens as Tybalt speaks quietly, almost unable to be heard. "Now go on and be careful." he instructs. The cats scatter in different directions. The big orange one going along the side of the building, the little white one setting off towards the nearest climable object to make for the roof and the Tom runs full tilt towards the warehouse, sneaks in and after a little sniffing finds Dee, managing to stay out of camera view…funny how it knew what to look for. It stares up at Dee and spits out the little rolled up piece of paper at her feet and then stares blankly at her.
Vette stands up now that the cats are going to work and slides her hands into her pockets, waiting.
The lack of security actually makes Dee more uneasy, though she can't quite pin down why. She hopes, of course, this is all as easy as it looks. The door to the elevator is studied as well, for anything set up to trip something at the bottom level. She seems to ignore the cat, and anything in its mouth, though as soon as it's convenient she acquires the rolled up paper to have a furtive glance at what's on it.
It's just impossible to tell if there's any tripping mechanisms at the bottom. At least, if you're human. Dee isn't. She can see, through the crack between the elevator and the floor, with her ichor-enhanced sight, that no. There's nothing down there. Huh.
Back to the waiting! Rufus exhales a deep breath and watches the cats go, then he leans up against the wall and tilts his eyes up to the sky. For a moment he looks at Vette, then he looks back at his cousin. "Do you know how to use that sword you're carrying?" he asks quietly, nodding to the weapon. "If things turn ugly…"
There is the slightest movement from the helmet as the black-reflective visor stares at Rufus in silence. "This sword is the Brisingamen and is responsible for the majority of the wars during the viking eras. And yes…." He notes with no form of arrogance in his voice. It's like calling Melinjar just a hammer.
Huh. Dee's forehead furrows some, under her unremarkable cap. She's a longish moment considering all this, along with anything at all she might have found ouside the building in terms of any access to whatever's below. Then, she turns to head out of the place to fill in the others. She looks a bit puzzled, really.
Vette watches Dee come out with a palpable sigh of relief—she'd been watching the building pretty intently, after all. Well. Intently for Vette, which menas whenever she's not petting cute kitties.
Having been waiting for Dee, the Englishman turns his head at the first sign of her return. Rufus visibly perks and steps forward, but he is silent. Still, there's questioning all over his face. Well??
Alleycat simply holds up a hand as a pair of eyes appears near the roof and from the side of the building. The Tomcat jumps up onto his shoulder via climbing up his back. For his part he is silent and simply waits for news.
Dee gets herself over to the others, and there is a smile towards Tybalt as well. "There is disturbingly little physical or electronic security in there. Either it's the wrong place, though there's something going on because there's no stairs down but the elevator goes that way, or the defenses are magical. That's not something I can sense.
"He could have laid warding lines then," Rufus murmurs, glancing quickly at Vette. "That is something you've done. So the question on my mind is… can those warding lines be circumvented, Vette? If you were to tunnel beneath the building and come up in the middle of the basement, would they fail to alert him?" He wets his lips slowly, then looks back at Dee. "He's not stupid. He has to have /something,/ and we'll have to assume it will be something nasty."
"He knows I'm an earthcrafter," Vette points out quietly. "You have to cross warning lines for them to pingthough I am really starting to regret setting some of the ones I did as they seem to ping every time I blink" Only her talent for not paying attention to things has saved her there. "We can certainly try it but I think it would be fallacious to assume that he hasn't accounted for it after watching me wrap his henchmenare we still allowed to call them henchmen?in concrete."
Tybalt idly reaches up to pull off his helmet, letting a cascade of long mane like hair tumble down. He stays silent but moves quietly away from the group a few steps and lifts his nose to the air. He parts his lips and lets them curl back a little to expose his teeth. He sucks in a deep breath of air to start getting scents.
Dee nods slowly. "We should assume so, yes." she agrees as she continues to watch around them for anyone giving the group more attention than they should. "So, one of you have a sense of anything wrong? Otherwise, we might have t just go in and take it as it comes."
Vette doesn't notice anything off. But then again, she'd miss a train crashing through a ceramics factory if she had something shiny to distract her. Rufus, on the other hand, does notice something. It's a fleeting something, but it's something:
It's rat-girl. She's sauntering down the street towards the building, hands in her pockets, looking pleased with herself.
"I think you may be right…" Rufus quietly says, before his words trail off into an abrupt silence. His head whips to one side, and he watches Rat Girl for a long moment, eyes narrowed. "She's one of them," he whispers. "That is one of the young women taking Chimera." He looks quickly at Dee, then at the others. "Let's follow."
Dee turns, curious, and studies the girl. Actually, she's looking for any energy signatures that might mean some sort of organizational device. She loves trying to hack thise.
"You know," Vette murmurs to Rufus. "While we're sneaking after her, you might could determine whether she's guilty as Hell like I think she is, and then you might consider whether it might be okay to 'secure' her help with testing my drug the way I originally suggested." Among Vette's possible future career choices, Goddess of Mad Scientists might just be on the list.
Tybalt doesn't need any further urging. He slips his helmet back on and locks it down before he nods to the Tomcat on his shoulder who hops off and sets to follow. Alleycat simply waits for Rufus to lead on, as it's his show. He doesn't want to upstage anyone who has obviously worked this long and hard on something.
Rat-girl is heading for the building.
"I cannot just look at her and judge," he whispers in answer to Vette. "I shall have to speak to her." Rufus slips out of the alleyway and very carefully follows at a distance, walking with a roll to his steps that dulls the sound. Well-worn trainers help. He's following the Rat Girl to the building and looking about, paranoid of something dropping on his head from the sky … or elsewhere.
Vette shuts up before offering the solution that she could just 'secure' her and then Rufus could talk to her and THEN she could stick the annoying bitch with the highly experiemental and possibly dangerous homebrew antidote. It's probably because she's sneaking right now, but maybe because she's remembering that Ru has ethics on a wholly higher scale than she does.
Alley-cat moves quietly along the pavement, even going as far as to dip down onto all fours and creep along at a pretty fair clip. Not a ninja, more like…something out of a spiderman movie. A moment or two of following and he pauses slightly to extend his ring finger of his gauntleted hand. The Amber jewel that makes up the 'claw' on the finger swipes through the air in the direction of the woman in silence and AC peers down at the jewel as if examining dirt under his fingernail.
Dee is quiet as well, watching all around them for an ambush. Cause, well. They're kind of just begging for one, all being clumped together like this.
Rat-girl pauses at the door to the building, and then wipes her hands. She puts out her cigarette, crushes it under her foot, and heads inside, straight towards the super's apartment, which she apparently has a key to.
Rather than risk going through the door after her, which might alert the woman to the fact that she's being trailed, Rufus goes slinking on around to one side of the building. He glances about, and then he takes a look into one of the windows, hoping to get a glimpse of what she's doing.
Vette is going to try to get agood look at that key. And memorize it. So that in a second she can make a duplicate one. She nudges Dee though, because Dee can see anything, and whispers that thought in her ear, too.
Dee does try to perceive anything she can, when that door opens. Or, whether something seucityish turns on when that door is opened. Or when she steps to the other side.
When last we saw our daring heroes — and heroes they are, despite recent, erm, "mistakes" — they were attempting to scout the building wherein they suspect Louie is basing his New York operation in Spanish Harlem. They had not been at it long when they noticed one of the chimera-using goons that Louie employed during his first encounter with Rufus and Yvette walking into the building, and with stealth belying their divine heritage, they followed her.
After spying around the building and trying to get a good look inside the super's apartment (where the rat-girl disappeared) and confirming that she is, indeed, alone in there, our merry band of scions meets once again just outside to decide their next move.
Go down to the basement? Ambush and interrogate the rat girl? Baila tu cuerpo alegria Macarena? Let's find out!
The primary objective of Rufus' mission this afternoon is to find out, once and for all, if that serum Vette developed is of any use. James' life is in the balance here. Of course, shutting down this operation is pretty damned vital too, but one step at a time. First, make sure they can help the mortals get over this… /then/ take on the big ass villain. Rufus glances back at the ladies and the gent with him, and quietly, he whispers, "Let's take her. Alley Cat… keep watch for us. She's alone. Let's simply burst in and secure her quickly. One fell swoop. Ready?"
Dee says, "Burst in? What don't I just pick the lock."
Rufus gives Dee a look like someone slapped him with a herring. He opens his mouth, then closes it, and finally he says, "Because I'm an Aesirian idiot. By all means, Miss Floros. Please."
"Oh, that saves me the trouble of trying to craft a key then, excellent," Vette whispers. She keeps a close eye on Rat Girl though, because what she does not want to do is lose an opportunity.
Dee grins, but doesn't say a word. Instead, she takes out her Very Special lockpicks and walks over to do her thang. She's really, really good at it.
Dee is a master at what she does. At least, by human terms. She could probably get better at it, but then where would be the fun in competing with other catburglers, right? In any case, the door clicks softly, and swings open at the slightest nudge. It's a small apartment, one bedroom, one bathroom, and one kitchenette. The door leads directly to the kitchenette, which seems devoid of inhabitants. Rat girl — we shall call her Rat for short — must be in one of the other rooms.
You know those movies where the sneaky sidekick picks a lock in no time flat, and looks like the coolest thing on Earth doing it? Yeah, that was Dee. She's taking everything in immediately upon the door opening, then slips in making no noise at all to try to find their quarry. Aren't you glad she's on your side?
Rufus is suitably impressed, and yes, he's glad she's on his side. Letting the lady in first, the man slowly creeps into the apartment with quiet steps. He's scarcely breathing, and though he's no graceful feline catburglar like Dee is, he's not /that/ bad at keeping quiet when he wants to be. Pale eyes flicker back and forth, and he makes his way further into the apartment. If he can't immediately see her, she's probably in one of the bedrooms, so he makes his way through there. Along the way, he keeps an eye open for any mirrors that might catch his reflection and give Rat forewarning.
Sneak sneak sneak sneak! Vette continues to prowl after her team mates, looking around for signs of trouble—which is a sad, sorry state of affairs, really, and perhaps not worth the effort. As they used to say in those old Sierra games, "This is a fruitless action."
Dee is silent like a prowling panther. Rufus is quiet as a hunting hound. Vette steps on a loose floorboard. SQUEEK.
Dee winces. She doesn't even have to look, to know who did that. Her steps speed up then, because they have to get the girl before she vanishes out a window or something. She's got a ballbearing in her hand, because that is better for knocking someone out rather than killing them.
Hearing that squeak, Rufus visibly cringes. He looks quickly over his shoulder and at Vette, gritting his teeth. He goes very still and glances back at Dee. When she darts forward, he does as well. Yep, stealth time is out the window! Time to smash-destroy …er…. just rush in for a capture!
Vette looks around for the person who stepped on the board. Then? The dirty looks in her direction clue her in. Blushing, she rushes in for a capture too. Whoooooops.
It happens quickly, and all of a sudden: as they are heading into the bedroom, hairy legs swing down from above the inside of the doorway and, though Dee spots the attack coming, she just barely misses her chance to get out of the way as the rat-like feet slam into her chest, sending her flying back hard into her companions with considerable force.
Ow. Knowing it's coming, and getting out of the way, are two different creatures. It doesn't take long for her to recover, having been slammed into Rufus rather than the wall or something even harder, and the first thing she does is make herself harder to hit. Then, she can work on other thing.
Knockback! Scrivner doesn't quite stay on his feet, but he does catch Dee who falls into him, and he falls into Vette. He grunts quietly and looks past the black-haired woman as he straightens himself, momentarily sandwiched between the two ladies. On any other day…. "Bloody Hell!" he snarls, as he reaches up for a moment, but he stops himself in reaching for his sword. He opts not to draw the weapon and instead goes rushing forward as the ichor in his blood wells up to give his skin and clothing a pewter coating.
Vette catches Rufus easily and helps get him back on his feet, then looks up at Rat girl. No guns for her, but she slides into a combat stance from her dancing-brawl style, looking ready to pummel the kid if need be.
And the Ratgirl lands on her feet almost daintily. Her tail swishes behind her, large, ugly snout sniffing. She must have taken the Chimera when she heard Vette's squeeking steps. Her eyes widen slightly as Scrivner lunges…
As Scrivner lunges for her, the Ratgirl leaps backwards, barely managing to get out of the way, letting his arms wrap around thin air. She glances up at Yvette and Dee, and hisses at them fiercely. She leaps over Rufus and swipes her claw at the closest opponent: Dee, trying to rip the catburgler's eyes out.
Oho. Not this time. Dee's eyes on firmly on Minnie Rat, and when she attacks this time the burgler's ready. Once she's sure she's harder to hit, she slides out of the way of her attacker. She herself doesn't attack, but rather tries to hold Minnie's attention. "Is that all you've got? Can't hit someone that knows it's coming? Come on. You can do better than that…
Swoop and a miss! Rufus skids across the floor and digs his weight into the balls of his feet, whirling around to face the rat woman. While Dee calls out her taunts, he takes the opportunity presented to him with her distraction. Teeth gritted and bared, eyes narrowed, he snarls beneath his breath and comes darting back. The man's arms sweep out again as he lunges, swooping down low and then up, attempting to snatch her up and then slam her down like a WWF wrestler hopped up on testosterone and rage.
As Ratgirl slips free, Vette pulls a dance maneuver she had to practice for months in a particular choreography show. It looks a lot like a leap, a spin twist, and the flat of her foot going right for Ratgirl's eyes in what she hopes will be a knock out position. Amusingly enough, she'd been dressed like a flower at the time. Damned avant guarde productions.
Ratgirl eeks out of the hold Rufus has her in, and turns to launch at Dee when Vette's foot comes down right on her large, rodent-like nose. CRACK. It doesn't do that much damage, but she puts her hands over it and wails, stumbling back, dazed.
Since Minnie was distracted by the others, there was no need to try to evade her again. And, she has a ball bearing in her hand. Sure, it won't do much damage, but she's not here for her ability to hurt something. "Cat's got the mouse beat, looks like. You're not trying hard enough, sweetums." With that, she hauls that little metal ball at the girl.
Dammit. The pewter-coated man rolls across the floor when he's been thrown and smoothly hops back up to his feet. Irritated but undaunted, he crouches for a moment and waits for the second she's staggering around from Vette's kick. Good show, my dear! Well, it's what he mentally cheers anyway. Then he barrels forward and leaps up this time, back scraping the ceiling as he arches down and reaches out his arms to wrap them around her throat and snatch for her right wrist.
You know, they may never get a chance like this. There's all this hissing and snarling. "What's that? You'd love to be cured of your dreadful condition?" Vette produces a needle like a gunslinger, whirls on the ball of her foot while pushing the air out, and just stabs it right on into rat-girl's arm, pushing the plunger. "Well I'll be happy to help you with that."
As the needle plunges into her arm, the ratgirl hisses with a vengeance, spittle flicking about, her tail swishing and whipping. Her eyes suddenly bulge, and she curls up in fetal position against Rufus' hold. There is a moment of deceptive quiet and gentle tranquility; and then she snaps open, sending the Asgardian flying back across the room and smacking him into the wall. She starts to convulse, her mouth foaming and limbs and back shaking and spasming uncontrollably.
When Vette nails the girl with the antidote, Dee jumps backwards to watch. Though, she also looks around them carefully. This would be an outstanding time for someone else to jump them, after all.
/Slam!/ Oh crap. Rufus hits the floor and then stares at the rat girl, then he looks up at Vette. "What did…. oh God." He comes creeping forward, eyes widening, and he sucks in a deep breath.
Vette takes off her jacket and folds it up, slipping it under the girl's head so she doesn't give herself a concussion. She looks grim as she says, "We might not have had another opportunity like this. And the longer we fought the more noise we'd end up making which could bring the whole house down on us."
Dee says, "Oh, no argument here. It was the best chance we were going to get."
He's not seeing anything immediately usable in the room. A pencil, maybe but he can personally bite through a pencil. He could do that even before his dad woke the ichor in his veins. When the Rat Girl starts foaming at the mouth, Rufus reaches to his waist and pulls open his belt, sweeping the leather strap free from his waist. He doubles it over quickly, and it loses its shiny pewter coating as he kneels beside her and slips it between her teeth. He holds down so she doesn't just spit it out, trying to keep her head steady.
She continues to convulse, but as she does, her features begin to recede; the animalistic ones, anyway. She shakes, she thrashes, and at one point she even weeps, her rattie eyes clenches tight as tears streeam down her face. She tries to scream, it is plain on her face as her snout crunches and folds and shrinks, but the pain is too great even for that loud reprieve that an agonizing howl would bring. You know something hurts when it won't even let you scream. Rufus' quick action probably saves the girl's tongue as she bites down on his belt. It takes a long time — at least when it comes to these things, for a moment can seem an eternity — before she calms; and when she does, she does so completely. She falls unconscious, her visage once more human. At least she's breathing.
Vette sags with relief, though she's a bit sorry about the amount of pain it caused. She never meant to create something that would torture anybody. Then again there might not be away /around/ it, considering just how much it jacks with the system.
Dee has some trouble watching the transformation, given all the pain. She's not heartless, no matter that she doesn't typically show much empathy. Once she finally goes unconscious, she says "We should see if she has any ID. Her family might be looking for her…"
Once it's over, Rufus pulls his belt free and inspects the teeth marks. His eyes are solemn as he looks up, searching out Vette's gaze. "We … will have to anaesthetise James heavily before we give him this drug, if we can," he quietly says. "But will she be all right?" Dee's idea is a good one, so he gently rolls her over, inspecting her clothing for the bulge of a wallet.
Vette looks at him, apologetic but nodding. "Very heavily, and perhaps secure him to something," she says. She lets the other two see about some I.D., but closes the door gently behind them so nobody happens along to see this little vignette.
Ratgirl has only a wallet and a set of keys on her. The latter has four keys, two of which undoubtedly belong to the front door of this building and the door to this apartment; a third belongs to a motorcycle. The fourth is unknown. Her wallet has $50 in small, worn-out bills, no credit cards, and a driver's license for one Matilda Cevallos. The picture looks like a tounger version of the girl lying on the floor. According to her birthdate, she's 26 to the date.
When Rufus turns her to look for any ID, Dee almost magically comes into possession of the girl's wallet. Hey, old habits… She has a look through it, then murmers quietly "Happy birthday, Matilda. Well, we have a driver's license, so we're good. I can check out her address a little later?"
"Please, do," Rufus says. He looks around the room again, then he stands up and slips his belt back on. "I suggest we keep ahold of this little lady for awhile. The last thing we need is for her to go running back to Louie. I want to talk to her. Perhaps we can talk some sense into her head about what harm she's doing and gain her cooperation. While I gather her up, we should also look around and see if there's anything useful, information-wise, here."
Vette nods and starts a search, paying close attention to the subject of that search—the room. Granted, Dee would probably be a better choice but she finds she needs something to do, and they can probably both look.
While Rufus and Yvette find their investigation skills somewhat, erm, lacking in this endeavor, Dee does just a bit better. She finds a .44 Glock stashed in a drawer; $10,000 hidden under the mattress, and a small book.
She can get a gun anywhere, and the money really isn't very impressive. But the book, well. Upon a quick skim, she figures out quite readily what it is: it's a ledger… with all of Louie's clients across the country.
Yeah. Need a lock picked? Dee. Need to sneak up on someone? Dee. Need to toss a place for valuables? Dee. She does have her niche, doesn't she. "There's a bunch of money. She might need it for medical bills." Dee regularly passes up chances to steal things worth more than that. She isn't about the money. She's an artist. The gun? Feh. The book? Ooooh. "Hey, lookie here. This is pretty…" She offers it to the Rufus. Cause tracking down money and squeezing it out of people? Lawyer.
And making sure they go to jail for something? Yes. Rufus looks up from where he's about to gather the girl over his shoulder, and he stands, reaching out to take the book in his hands. He reads through it, and seconds later, he realises what it is. Then he smiles in very quietly delight. He tilts it just a little so Vette can get a look if she wishes, and softly, the man purrs, "It seems as though I'm going to be very busy for awhile."
"Oh. Oh /my/," Vette murmurs. "Butwhy is this here? Why would Louie leave such an important document with the Rat girwith Matilda? Right hand rat—woman or no, doesn't it seem like something he'd want to keep close?"
THUMP THUMP THUMP. "MATILDA! LET'S GO. WE'RE LATE!" It's a voice, loud, /booming/ even, from the apartment door.
Some sounds are just so beautiful. As Dee hears the that knocking, she just smiles. Remember that glock? Now there's a use for it. She hands it to Vette and says very quietly "Present for you." Then, she moves quickly and quietly to the side of the door to wait. Impatient man + No answer = Broken door and surprise: Good guys. She does her best to express that idea to the others with gestures.
It's not often that Rufus looks… more than a little worried. Right now is one of those moments. He freezes in place for a second or two, hearing that bellow, and then he looks up at the window, then around at the door. "No!" he hisses, barely breathing. "Out!" He jerks his head at the window, then he hoists the unconscious Matilda up over his shoulder. Some perverse part of him wants to see the look on the bastard hobbit's face to realise that Matilda and his book are gone. He glances quickly at Vette, resting his hand on her shoulder to give her a push towards the window.
Vette takes the gun but seems ready to go herself. But screw the window. One of her puzzleboxes gleams gold as she activates the "unbarred entry" ability. She's just going to phase right through the wall and outside.
Dee looks torn. Of course, she hasn't faced the guy yet to know how tough he is. But, she's not planning to find out alone, so if the others are sneaking out so is she. And, sneak she does. Again, sneaky stuff? Dee.
Just outside the window, Tybalt waits to help with the unconscious girl. He helps the ladies and Scrivner down as well. It is now suggested they all split up and get the hell out of Dodge.
Rufus looks fairly adamant about this. He's about ready to seize Dee and shove her through the wall, he's so keen on getting out of here with their precious Matilda and book. As he wriggles out of the window, carrying the woman with him, he leaps up into the air and then swoops down lightly to pass her off to Tybalt. He'll let Alley Cat carry her off, murmuring an address to the man for them to meet as soon as possible. Then he looks around, holding out his arms to Vette in silent offer of a ride through the air.
Dee is just fine with getting the hell out of Dodge, if they're not going to try to take this guy on. Once they're all ready to go, she says "I'm checking out Matilda. I'll head back to the hub when I'm done."
Vette steps into his arms as soon as she's done walking through walls, nodding her head quietly. No sense alerting Louie to their presence outside with speech. There's a certain whooping exhileration to just smuggling his stuff and his henchwoman out from under his nose though.
Shou was the storyteller for this scene.
