Summary:The Huntress chases her prey into the Disaster Zone and runs into some others out on a scavenging trip. The earth moves. Log Info:Storyteller: Clockwork |
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The Disaster Zone is still cordoned off, and periodically security does sweeps to make sure that people don't go wander in there and die messy deaths, which means there's the occasional helicopter that flies over head, and keeps an eye on the ground, but really — it's not that hard to get in, and it's not that hard to stay hidden if one doesn't want to be found. It's a pretty large swath of area.
This particular street is quiet and still, or at least, it was quiet and still until a man moving at impressive speeds comes ricocheting down the narrow street, dodging this way and that, attempting to avoid someone who is hot on his heels. He nearly careens into Dead Girl, or would, if the sight of her doesn't bring him up short and he stumbles backward, falling on his ass, whatever he was carrying falling into the street. It makes a whole lot of commotion for those who were simply out minding their own scavenging among the wreckage.
Dead Girl is carrying a bag of gummy bears. A large bag of gummy bears- sprinkling them on the ground when someone moving rather fast runs up and stops dead in their tracks at the sight of her.
It's not hard to see why. Dead Girl is a walking corpse- albeit one spared decay. Her eyes glow red. Angry red- the fires of the underworld there as if she stared out from beyond the grave. Her head cocks to the side as she looks at this guy- and looks up to see just who's on their tail. "So. You guys up to no good, or are you here for some gummy bears?" She asks as she scatters some on the ground. "I'm pretty sure that Jelly-Dude will be into these. They're organic!" she says with a wide grin, as she looks over to see just what was being carried.
In contrast the slap of the running man's feet, his pursuer is near silent. In her black-and-purple outfit, the Huntress is almost invisible — the purple looking pretty much the same as black without reflectant sunlight to draw out the distinction. Her preferred method of movement is via rooftops, but having chased someone in from city, she's not particularly fussed about her methods — and there's not need to be particularly discrete, since the Disaster Zone is empty.
…or supposed to be, anyway. The Huntress pulls up behind a turned-over trash bin, eyes narrowing as she sees her prey literally run into someone else. Her mouth thins, and she glances up, her grappling hook shooting upwards and carrying her up to the rooftop, from where she can creep close enough to hear the conversation.
Elmo is in full mad-engineer mode, goggles and long overcoat on, gloves on, bulging satchel slung across his skinny chest. It's a real urban-explorer Look. He's got a stick for poking things with. When the guy comes racing up and falls over at the sight of Dead Girl, Elmo whips around, eyes narrow behind his goggles. "Someone's over there," he says to Halgrim, and instead of sensibly avoiding them, promptly goes to investigate. He skids neatly down a slope of rubble and prowls on over.
Ian is in his full amount of tactical gear and when he hears the commotion, he presses himself behind a dumpster and sights down the scope of a gun barrel, though his finger isn't on the trigger. He's just using it to have a closer look at Dead Girl and the weird guy…and whatever he dropped in the road. To the Huntress above though, he might look like an assassin, or rival hunter.
Halgrim's been poking around, the archaeologist in him curious about this event he missed in his absense. (Also he's keep an eye on Elmo, who needs it badly.) He half turns when he hears the running man's approach, starts down the rubble slop after Elmo with a grimace. "Don't get too close," he warns, because who knows what they'll run into here among this destruction. He's had enough bad experiences with coming across the unexpected on a dig.
The bag that lays in the road is lumpy but whats in it isn't identifiable. He stares at Dead Girl and stammers, "G..gummi.. what?" He glances back over his shoulder, expecting to see Huntress. Not seeing her probably unsettles him more than if he could see her still running down the street. He begins looking around, but isn't able to locate her, and so scrambles to his feet and grabs his bag. When Dead Girl starts sprinkling gummi bears on the ground like she's trying to give pigeons diabetes, he backs off from her, and begins to look for cover. Without further word, he runs in Elmo and Halgrim's direction, not seeing them at first, but that pile of rubble seems as good a place as any to hide in.
"Hey, have you seen a goopy dude? Looks a little like an escaped Jello cup?" Dead Girl wonders as the guy gets up and runs on his way again. "I should probably follow him." she says, "It's not safe here." she looks over her shoulder, "What do you think?"
Is she talking to herself? Potentially. She nods, "Yeah, I guess it did look a little sketchy. I mean, who needs to run through this place?"
Dead Girl tucks her bag of gummy bears under an arm and then begins to walk after the running man- "Hey! Wait up, what are you running from?"
Settling at the edge of the rooftop, the Huntress looks downward, lips pursed — and stops — when she sees exactly what her prey ran into. Her mouth parts, sucking in air as she takes in Dead Girl with a expression of, what the….? She shifts her weight, silently, and watches, frowning, as if unsure what to make of this as she spots other people gathering around, visible frustration undoubtedly causing her hesitation.
It's the movement that decides her. Running prey makes such urges instinctive, the Huntress leaping off the rooftop, aiming to land on this side of the rubble the man is seeking to hide behind. Aiming to trap him. "He's mine," she hisses as she lands, her crossbow in hand. Hard to tell whether she means it to threaten the man she's after, or to defend her prey from them. Maybe both.
"Hey!" Elmo blurts, startled, as the guy comes barreling towards him and Halgrim. "The hell's goin' on!" As Huntress lands very nearby, he lets out a strangled yelp and—*Pow!* Electricity fires to life around him, crawling over him, sparking in his hair and clothes. "Back off!" he snaps at her, only aware that she appeared very suddenly and that she's armed and that they're in the DZ and everything is dangerous. Including him.
The fleeing man and Dead Girl are one thing; the suddenly appearing Huntress is entirely another. When she lands and raises that crossbow Halgrim acts immediately and on decades of pure instinct: he puts himself between her and Elmo and clenches his fists against the overwhelming desire to strike first and ask questions later. "Stop pointing that at him, now," he says. His voice is too low, too gravely to be just human, and his eyes gleam brilliant yellow.
Ian recognizes Elmo and stands up, squinting his already tiny eyes. He puts that gun back on his back and pulls out a smaller handgun as he runs forwards, along the edge of the buildings, a tactical move. Nothing yet, but before people get shot at, he wants to make sure they kinda deserve it.
Ohshitohshitohshit the guy's expression says as he nearly collides with electric boy and gravelman. Oh, and Huntress is back, with that crossbow. He lets out a strangled, panicked noise, and then turns around to try and run back the way that he'd come from, the less populated route. Maybe staying on the city streets would have been safer. He's in a blind panic now, and stumbles over some rubble, one arm cartwheeling a bit as he tries to make his way away from the gathering people.
Oh, and now there is a weapon out. Dead Girl's eyebrow raises slowly. "I'm sorry- is that a friggin' crossbow?" she wonders as she approaches all the same- "Look, hun. That little thing isn't really going to do much to me. My organs don't work already, and I'm pretty much out of blood." she says off hand as she takes a slow and quiet breath- looking at the man. "Why are you after him?"
"I mean, if I'm going to stand here and watch something, I've got a right to know who's doing what. Particularly when a crossbow is involved." She grows insubstantial- her body translucent as she just floats up into the air a bit to watch from a different angle now, "Hey, what's in the bag? Is that why you're chasing him? Are you like a jewel thief, like that one lady who dresses up like a ferret? Or is it a squirrel…" Dead Girl says, "You know, I can't keep track of all the costumed people running around this city stealing crap… I'm like eighty-five percent sure she dresses up like a ferret. But I'm getting off topic."
And the man has run off. "Dangit." Dead Girl says, "People are so rude these days." she says, hands on her hips before she just flies through the air- she can keep up with a running human pretty easy. "Woah, slow down there, buckaroo!" she calls out, "I'm sure we're all friends here. Don't worry, I won't let anyone shoot you with a crossbow.. er.. bullet? Arrow?" Dead Girl looks back to Huntress with an apologetic shrug.
It's perhaps no surprise that Huntress' crossbow alights on Elmo, given his aggressive — and electric! — response to her arrival. "You can have him — when I'm done with him — if you're of a mind to," she replies, with a lift of her chin. Halgrim's bodily intervention means she's pointing the crossbow at him instead, so technically obeying his orders, if unintentionally. She angles herself so that she can see the others and — with a sidelong glance — the man scrambling into the rubble.
In a decision between facing off between her prey and some strangers, well — there's no contest. The Huntress is moving, leaping up onto the rumble the man so inelegantly tries to climb, chasing after him. It also puts her back to some demonstrably dangerous folks, which probably says a great deal more about her than she realises. "Oh, there, friend. Don't you go running away again," she threatens with such delight. "Just hand over the bag and you can go on your way." It's a promise that might've had more weight if she hadn't, literally in the previous sentence, offered him up to the people behind them. Dead Girl's floating — insubstantial — movement is enough to make her miss a grab for the man, eyes wide behind her mask.
"Whoa, Grim," Elmo says quite surprised that Halgrim is bodily defending him. The electricity settles some, although a buzz of static hisses close. "Hey, lady, I don't want him!" …But the bag the guy has, maybe he wants that. Who knows what treasures the Huntress is after? He sidles around from behind Halgrim, and glances up at Dead Girl, and blinks. "I know you. You're a ghost?"
Huntress' exit calms Halgrim considerably, even though he has to dial back the overwhelming desire to give chase. He glances sidelong at Elmo, willing Fjorskar to settle. "It's fine, a crossbow's not that dangerous to me," he says. Watching the man depart with Dead Girl floating along beside him, he remarks, "No sure she's just a ghost." He exhales sharply, makes to follow the pair, if only to keep eyes on what's happening.
"She's not a ghost…she's a street vendor." Ian chimes, making 'street vendor' actually sound /worse/ than ghost, as he comes up into view finally. He aims for the back of Huntress. "Hey there, I'm armed and willing to shoot legs if need be. Time to get some explanations…starting with why you are after him, and also what's in the f***ing bag." he's short, trying to be intimidating, but he's short.
Oh god it's chasing him. The Dead Girl floating through the air and able to move as fast as he is almost making the man lose control over his bodily functions. And Huntress is after him again. This only redoubles his efforts as he runs headfirst into the pile of rubble, slips, falls, and suddenly there's a hissing sort of noise. Then, beneath him, and all along the pile of rubble there's a sliding, as the entire pile, including the place where everyone is standing, begins to slide down into the ground below, as just enough shifts to cause a veritable landslide into an opening that had only been precariously covered.
|ROLL| Clockwork +rolls 1d20 for: 8
|ROLL| Halgrim +rolls 1d20 for: 18
|ROLL| Helena +rolls 1d20 for: 20
|ROLL| Dead Girl +rolls 1d20 for: 3
|ROLL| Ian +rolls 1d20 for: 20
|ROLL| Elmo +rolls 1d20 for: 12
Ian lowers himself instantly…and then tucks his body into a small ball, which isn't very surfing-like, but…its good for not getting impaled on things in his fleshy soft parts. Nice and smol, he ends up tucked against a broken fridge, and riding it on down.
"I'm Dead Girl." Dead Girl states to the questions, "And I only go mobile sometimes. The Store isn't actually a retail establishment- it's more of an art project." she says, "Maybe a little bit museum, a touch of community center. I mean, nothing is actually for sale."
Dead Girl just rolls her eyes again, "Look, everyone put the guns and crossbows away. Let's.. "
And then the ground starts to shift, "Oh. That could be bad." Dead Girl notes as she dips down and slides right through the rubble as if it didn't exist at all- very Ghostly indeed. "I sure hope no one was down there." she says off hand as she continues to just fly on as if nothing was happening- following the man with his bag, and hoping the others make it alright.
Another time, it's certain Dead Girl's status would get a lot more interest from Huntress. But, there's a weapon being pointed at her, and a specific threat made to distract her. Ian gets a fleeting look from the Huntress, mostly so she can place him and assess the threat at the same time. She twists to react when — the world starts to shift under her. Fortunately, the Huntress is nothing if not highly athletic. She second she feels the ground shift she's moving, dodging one particularly nasty rock — stretching for the handle of the bag…
…she manages to grasp it and pulls. Clearly her intent is not to save her prey, since her foot kicks out to try and dislodge him from the bag. She's successful, but the momentum of the movement is more than she expects. Suddenly, the contents of the bag spills into the air. Twenty-dollar bills, seemingly infinite amounts of them, are suddenly raining down around the group. Huntress hisses, whirls, and dives for a single, fluttering paper that falls more heavily than the others. A photograph.
The uncertain terrain rumbles into motion. Elmo splays instinctively, arms pinwheeling to the sides, half-crouching like a surfer. "*Gevalt—*" He's short and light enough that he maintains his balance neatly as the debris slides away. Rebar pokes up through the flow of rubble like sharp rocks in a river. It snags his long overcoat. Riiiip! Elmo swears vividly in both English and Yiddish, yanking his coat free before it strangles him. When the debris stops he hops to more solid ground. "Grim! You okay?" …the Huntress is making it rain. Elmo snatches a handful of bills before he quite knows what they are, and peers at them.
The debris and rubble become a decidedly non-Newtonian liquid, and Halgrim reacts by cursing and trying to grab for Elmo. "Javla fan! Elmo, careful." He's been subjected to ground upheavals before, and keeps his footing with relative ease even as they're carried along. He has a moment of panic when Elmo's coat becomes more hinderance than help, is relieved to see him disengage from it successfully. And then bills, fluterring around them. He takes one, though of course he lacks any expertise needed to identify a real twenty dollar bill versus a fake one. "It's just money," he says, sounding confused. He sees Huntress dive for the photograph, frowns. "Or is it," he adds, voice low.
Raining money? Ian looks up as the money spills everywhere. That answers that. He doesn't seem interested, weirdly enough. The people are moreso and his bills are paid by SHIELD. "Where've we ended up?" He pulls out his firearm into the ready position again, staring into the dark with no ability to see in it, unless he gets out his tactical flashlight…
The sliding carries them all down, all except Dead Girl who continues to float. The guy whose bag gets ripped from him heading down first. He manages to hold his footing as best he can, which leaves him sprawled at the bottom, but now bagless. The rest continue to slide down in after him, and the money as well flutters like an unintentional ticker tape parade, falling all over the rubble at the bottom.
Where they've ended up appears to be what was probably the basement of the ruined building above, and beyond, a hole that goes down deeper. From within the hole that they've uncovered, comes a quiet humming below that sounds almost electrical. Something still has power down there.
"Sewers." Dead Girl says, "A whole network of sewer tunnels goes under the city. Old subway tunnels- there's basically a city under New York City. You can get into them through the basements in some of the old buildings and through newer construction." Dead Girl states flatly, as she goes forward to ensure the man who was falling- the man with the bag- is okay. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" she wonders, looking back again over towards The Huntress.
Dead GIrl kneels towards the man who'd been running, and offers him a hand quietly. "I won't hurt you." Her body growing solid again- opaque.
Clasping the photograph to herself, Huntress glances at it for a moment before tucking it into a pocket. Only belatedly does the woman seem to realise she has an even bigger problem. The ground's still shifting underneath her, and though she's able to keep her footing, she's sliding towards… something. Something not good, to judge by what she can hear.
Huntress manages to roll when the debris carries her into the basement, standing straight and glancing around. She doesn't seem to notice Dead Girl's look. In fact, she doesn't look at her prey at all as if he no longer interests her. A quick check of her limbs suggests all is well, and carefully, she edges not towards the hole beneath them, but the one above, as if judging how easily she can escape.
Elmo, hand as fast as a magician's, stuffs a couple dozen bills into one of the many pockets of his coat. Nobody will miss them, right? Right. "Everybody okay? Grim? …Guy? Other guy? Dead lady? Scary lady?" Elmo checks on everyone.
He flips open his satchel to get out his own tactical light, this one casting a beam near bright as daylight when he clicks it on. "Somethin' got power down here, I can feel it." Of course, this is what he's immediately interested in, and he peers down the hole, shining the light into it.
Halgrim gives Dead Girl a sharp look. "Not the kind of place anyone should be poking around. All kinds of things down there in that city." He drops the twenty he's caught, because he really doesn't want to find out the hard way the bills are marked, counterfit, or have their serial numbers squirreled away in some Secret Service database. That's the kind of attention he doesn't need.
He glances among the others as Elmo asks after tham. "I'm fine," he says in an aside. He moves with Elmo, pulling out a considerably less powerful, normal flashlight and clicking it on. He shines it in different corners than Elmo does, peering to see if there's anything moving about.
Ian picks himself up and works carefully forwards through the rubble. He eyes Dead Girl over his shoulder. "Hey…how bright can your glowing eyes get?" He seems to know what Elmo can do from the other day, though obviously not the extent of it. "Or…cant you..do some…" he stumbles around for the word, then just stops talking. Well, there's a flashlight already being used, so…that takes care of that!
The guy who once had a bag but no longer does scrambles back away from Dead Girl as she approaches, his eyes wide. Her reassurances don't seem to be doing him a whole lot of good, but he doesn't have much of anyplace to go, and so he just backs up until he hits a rock and can't go any further, and just sits there staring at her.
Elmo can definitely feel it, the low hum of power coming from below them. He can sense that it is deeper down, and faint, but that it still pulses on at a steady pace.
The light shining down into the hole reveals yet another hole that seems to have been blasted into what looks like a shaft with a ladder going down into the darkness below. The light can illuminate part of the shaft, which seems to have some sort of a number painted onto the wall. Could be 14. Could be 1A. It's hard to tell with the damage.
"Not that bright, to be honest. I mean, I can see with them." Dead Girl offers over to Ian, "But, I don't think they'd be much use to someone who isn't me." Dead Girl notes simply, "And, really, even then the little light they give is really only good enough not to run into walls." she says, "Anyways, flashlights!" She offers to Ian with a bright smile.
She's pretty friendly for a corpse.
In truth, a great many people react to Dead Girl as this man does- and she just shrugs quietly. Her curiosity turns towards the holes inside holes and she oos quietly to start looking closer. "That's neat…" Dead Girl says as she volunteers herself to head into the hole first. She's got very little fear it seems. "Maybe this is someone's bomb shelter or something…. There used to be fallout shelters all over the city, you know."
For some reason, Huntress assumes that last nonmenclature is for her. She gives Elmo a brief look, corrects: "I am the Huntress," as if somehow he should know every masked, caped figure that prowls New York. With a lift of gaze upwards, she says, "I can run a line up there, if I can grapple something solid," she adds, in place of an answer. Her suit is dusty, but she looks visibly unharmed. It's only when the others show an interest in going down that she frowns. "No one's here." She couldn't say waste of time any more clearly, but she is watching the others to see what they'll do regardless.
There might just be one glance at her prey. Just to make sure he's still behaving. Since he is, Huntress steps closer to the edge to see what's gotten everyone's attention. She crouches, grabs a stone, and flips it down into the darkness, counting as she waits to see how long until it hits the bottom.
"What's your name, again?" Elmo asks Ian, as the other short young guy looks down into the hole, too. He glances up, eyes wide, at the Huntress. "…the Huntress, huh? Nice to meet ya. I'm Sparkplug, since we're not givin' our real names." Elmo shoots a bemused 'whaddaya gonna do' look over his shoulder at Halgrim. When Dead Girl goes floating down into the hole, he goes, "Hell yeah," and bellies down on the floor so he can hang his arm and flashlight down after her.
Halgrim offers nothing in the way of an introduction, choosing to focus on keeping an eye on Elmo. Who, thankfully, doesn't attempt to convince Huntress to set up a line for repelling down. He trains his flashlight on Dead Girl as well, comfortable with watching her from where they are.