Re: New York City (Location 2)
<c>(OOC: Canon Post)</c>
Black Magic did not seem in the least bit disturbed by this reaction as though he knew it to be coming; but truly, what other outcome is there when a super villain and hero meet? With a calm demeanor, twilight eyes matched those radiating murder in the direction of the magician.
”So you hurt people who hurt people? You believe your Gift entitles you to be judge, jury, and even executioner which appears to be the task I interrupted? Do you think what you do is fair, whatever his crime might be? Perhaps he is a thief, and you wish to steal his life; maybe his hands are soaked in the blood of another directly or not, and you believe the red in his veins enough to wash the deed clean? Or did he hurt someone, and now you come to give it back in spades until he can take no more and expires?
“So you avenge this other person or yourself, but what about your victim? Would you not steal something from his family, or murder their kin, or punish them when they hear the story of what fate befell the dead? Does there not exist the chance a relative or friend will not seek the same justice as you do now, by mortal or Gifted means? Is it not true that by killing him, you are not removing evil from our world but merely rebranding it with your face in their eyes?
“You know I am right, do you not? You do not wish to fight me, denounce your anger.”
The hypnosis worked; Spurt for the first time in so long he couldn’t remember the last let go of his rage. Thoughts of surrendering and living a peaceful life roll through his mind and he shuts them down, but they just keep coming and coming and coming. However, that fire had burned inside him for so long that without it, there was only a hollowness that flooded with fear that what this stranger said was right; the young villain hated that sensation, which sparked the blaze within his breast once more and with a snarling scream he broke free of the trance.
He resumed his earlier action of triggering the flame throwers on the palms of his hands, but the delay between the noise and activity had been enough for Black Magic to snatch the hat from upon top of slickened hair. He had seen scorch marks on his way to the office, so when the consuming heat flew toward him he was not caught off guard. Instead, he turned the empty opening toward David and waved one had before it; a geyser of water rushed forth, meeting it's elemental rival head on. Steam belched forth into the room blinding both combatants, but the hero knew the path to his next destination by having spotted it beforehand. The young man wiped at his eyes with one hand while the other that had knocked out the businessman grabbed what might have been a chair and threw it in the direction he knew the other Gifted to have last been; the improvised projectile flew into the other room and became embedded in the far wall without hitting any other obstacle. Then, Black Magic’s voice was heard again.
”Are you done so soon? I truly thought this would be more of a challenge, but it appears your smallest muscle is kept between your ears. I have no need to lock you up my friend, which only happens to dangerous people; they are defined as dangerous because they are smart enough to pose a threat. You, I daresay, suffer trouble in the advanced art of tying your own shoes.”
As David listened to the taunts, his anger swelled past the limit it had been even when he had attacked his target. This man was verbally abusing him, making fun of him, picking on him, just like the bullies used to do before the boy had learned to stand up for himself. That did not’t’t happen anymore, and he refused to let it restart now. He turned in the direction the voice was coming from, tensed his large legs, held up a massive forearm before his body, bent over, and with a bellowing yell charged at full speed. The foe rushed through the steam, in seconds it cleared and he saw the well-dressed figure that was about to be a stain standing before him. Then, right before impact, Black Magic went straight up out of the thug’s path. Spurt wondered both how that was possible, and why he seemed to be going in the opposite direction with increasing speed.
The call from an outside bullhorn sounded awfully loudly:
"Attention, Unidentified Gifted! Attention! You are in violation of Federal Powers Statute 12. Get on the ground and surrender immediately." At the same moment, Cimmeria opens up a portal near her vantage point across the street. She then runs through it.
When he bothered to look, he saw open space below him. It then dawned on him what had happened; using the steam as cover, Black Magic had made his way out of the floor-to-ceiling window Spurt had smashed out with the table. How the hero didn’t’t become road pizza the brute didn’t know, but the heckling had been meant to make David charge without thought and it had worked. Thanks to his legs, the criminal had enough momentum to not arc down and crash among the ever growing number of police, but instead smashed through the brick wall of the building on the alternate side of the street from the one he had entered; on the downside, the surprise of the situation he had found himself in caused him to partially drop his blocking arm so his head felt a bit of the impact. The hero lowered himself to the level of the new opening and ran across to it on a walkway of nothing, entering the building after his foe. He found the massive man dazed and on the floor of a hallway; wasting no time, the magician reached into a sleeve and pulled out a bright yellow scarf that was tied to a blue one, then red, green, and so forth. He fastened the end he first retrieved to the other Gifted’s huge wrist, then to his other followed by his ankles. The cloth was wrapped many times around and around to keep the limbs secured; no matter how much there always seemed to be more until the prestidigitator no longer needed it and the end slid out of his cuff.
Black Magic thought it wouldn’t be long before the police arrived for their care package, but they were beaten to the punch by a woman who looked for all the world as though she belonged in an action movie. She came out of a door near them that led to a stairwell most likely, and immediately opened fire with what looked to the hero to be a small gun of some sort. He held up a hand, and the rounds popped out of the weapon as beautiful soap bubbles. Her deadpan expression didn’t change at this, and she walked sideways quickly then down the hall slightly until she came to another door and entered it. The Hocus Pocus Hero started to make his way toward it as well, but the newcomer reemerged holding a mop bucket into which she had poured both ammonia and bleach. She hurled the container at the disguised computer tech; caught off guard and he dodged the object only to have it spill near him and smell the fumes. Twilight eyes began to water as he pulled his cape up over his nose and backed away; the stranger took no time in running up to the thug who had mostly come back to his senses and was struggling against his bindings. Instead of attempting to free him however, the silent lady touched the floor under him and the pair sank away out of sight; right before she was gone from his vision though, the female fighter tossed something toward the showman. He feared it to be a weapon of some sort, plus they might have escaped to one floor below him, so the magician ducked around a corner with no one around and appeared suddenly in the lower hallway; there was no one there. He peered about, but found no trace of the deadly duo he had faced. It also occurred to him that there had been no explosion or anything from above, so he teleported back up and slowly approached the device; it was a burner phone. It started to ring five seconds after he walked up to it, and the masked hero answered.
”Hello?”
”Hello. May I ask whom I’m speaking with?”
The voice sounded normal enough, but there seemed to be something surreal about it as though it was manufactured or faked somehow.
”Black Magic my good sir, and you are?"
”I speak for another and represent their interests, so you may call me by their name; Namadis.”
”What is it you wish to speak to me about? I figure you did want to talk to me, and this phone was not left by accident.”
”You are most correct Sir. The matter at hand is a proposition I would like to put forth to you.”
”What sort of proposition?”
”That large fellow you so succinctly beat is counted among my number. As you have seen, he is able to manipulate his physical form as needed. To this I have added a flamethrower at his discretion. Yet, you beat him soundly using a few parlor tricks many years out of style with the modern world.”
”Do you wish an apology? If such is the case, I regret to tell you none shall be forthcoming.”
”Oh, no, not at all. This call isn’t about him, it’s about you. Let’s pretend for a moment that you found a magic lamp, and inside it there’s a genie who can grant your every wish. The phone you hold is that lamp, and I the granter of wishes. Imagine what you would be able to do with all the money you would ever need, technology to perform feats so great you will obliterate the name of ‘Houdini’ from the history books, assistants at your beck and call day or night. Anything at all is yours for the asking. New York City is a very heavily guarded place when it comes to the Gifted, and the building you’re in is surrounded by officers armed and armored against your kind. But a hack into the police database, some money in the right pockets, and what happens can be controlled. All you have to do is agree to join up with me, and I will ensure your escape just like I did with the man who eluded you. Could I have your answer please?”
”Side with you? From the example of the sort of person you are willing to accept, I am not sure if your offer is a compliment or insult. Regardless, I must decline; I do not settle for less than top billing, nor do I share it. As for my departure, do not fret over me. I shall handle such an issue on my own.”
The modified voice did not sound discouraged or despondent.
”Yes, more than one Gifted has reacted in such a way as you. But when they got tired of saving a world full of people who do not like those who were not normal like them, that’s when their minds changed. You might get away free, perhaps not. In either event, you will be contacted again to see if you still stand by your decision. You may do what you wish with the phone; it is a cheap one linked to no one and no place, the only call on it was made to you, it has no GPS so it can’t be traced to where it’s been, and this number I'm calling from has been redirected multiple times so it would take the authorities a long while to discover that this, too, is a burner phone. Good day, sir.”
There was a click, and Black Magic was once more by himself; that’s not to say he’d be lonely long from the sound of marching steps up the nearby stairwell. The magic man was gone as cleanly as the other two when officers arrived, the phone abandoned on the floor since with gloves the hero didn’t have to worry about leaving fingerprints; Peter Vargus would be found in the computer room where he was left, dressed normally and desperate to pee. There were no security cameras in the server area, for fear someone might access the system with information that could be seen by a camera and the feed hacked.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Wed 06 May 2015.