[Other OPEN] City of Heroes (M) [IC]

Note: This post is for exposition, read it or not :D

Date: ??/??/2016
Time: 11:42 PM

Rain pattered lightly on the window, distorting the light from the streetlights below that passed through the window, casting odd and shifting shadows on the walls. A man in a crisp black suit stood by the window looking out, watching what little traffic there was pass by three stories below. Behind him the door to the office clicked open, and a large man wearing a black trenchcoat entered, quickly shaking out his sodden wide brimmed hat and hanging it and the coat on a stand by the door. He coughed briefly, took a drink from something from a flask, then walked over to join the other.

"It's been two weeks, how is the distribution going?" The man at the window said calmly.

The trenchcoat man coughed again, the replied, "We have another pallet of Vertigo coming in on the Gallahad tomorrow, and another pallet five days from now. As for the Mirakuru mix...we're out resources to continue making the drug. We have another few dozen of those to mix in with the rest of the Vertigo, but-"

"No," the man at the window cut him off, "save the rest of the Mirakuru for now, it's more valuable in our own hands now than that of the people of the city. It's unfortunate our benefactor in Starling was unable to give us more of the compound to work with, but this will do for now."

The trenchcoat man stood awkwardly there for a minute, then said, "We...we could talk to Mr. Wilson again, perhaps he could help us somehow."

"Idiot," the man at the window spat, "Wilson, beyond being no use to us, is unstable, and only cares for one thing. And that one thing does not include helping us. Besides, that would take too long, and I feel that things here are going to get very...interesting…" He smiled as a police car passed below them, lights flashing and alarm blaring. "Go call Darvis and get the trucks prepped. We'll begin tomorrow night." He pulled his cell phone and checked the time, ten before midnight. "Things are going to get very interesting indeed…" Behind him the trenchcoat man had already taken his coat and hat and left, leaving him alone in the dark office.


---


Meanwhile at the Steelport Precinct

Commissioner Rand was having a bad day. Most days these days were bad days, but today was even worse than normal. Not only was crime generally on the rise in Steelport for the past five years, but starting a week ago the city had seemed to go to all hell. "Just get me Commissioner Lance, I don't care if it's his goddamn day off, this is an emergency, and I need to talk to him!" he shouted into his phone, his face going red from having to deal with this imbecile on the phone. "Hold on a second," he grumbled into the phone, turning to yell at one of his officers who had just walked in with a young man in cuffs, "Basement cells Michaels, I don't want to have to tell you a damn third time!"

The young officer nodded and made himself scarce, his grumpy looking prisoner in tow. Three officers dead last night, two the night before that. So far tonight was incident free, but it only took one mistake before one of the men and women around him wouldn't come back. His attention snapped back to the phone in his hand as the person on the other end of the line mumbled something. "Yes, yes thank you. Yes, right away."


----


Outskirts of Steelport

A young man was standing in the light of a pay phone, probably one of the last ones still around, his red hoodie up to block the rain from landing on his head. He cursed and fumbled around in one of his pockets for a moment, then deposited two quarters into the slot, then continued his call. "Hey, sorry I'm back Oliver...No, I'm at a pay phone, I kinda got careless and broke my cell. Probably get another one soon...No, I'm fine, I can pay for it. Anyway, like I was saying, it seems like things are worse here than we thought. I've scouted things out for a couple days, and it's bad. It isn't the same stuff that I was under, that much is for sure. More like what happened to Barry. I think I've tracked down the source though. It's Vertigo again, I'll see if I can get my hands on a few pills and send them back to you to analyze….Sure...Sure...Alright, I'm out of quarters, I gotta go. Yeah, talk to you soon, say hi to the others for me."

The phone clicked as he set it back on the hook, then he trudged back across the street to the parking lot. A red mustang sat waiting, the engine idling softly, mostly drowned out by the sound of the falling rain. After getting into the car, he pulled off his now soaking wet hoodie, tossing it carelessly in the back seat. He reached into his glove box and pulled out a cell phone and checked for messages. So maybe he had lied, sort of. An envelope icon appeared when he unlocked it, and he pressed on it to open his texting app. There was only one message: "My friend dropped your stuff off at 27th and Oxford Rd, 1st alley, inside the blue dumpster. Love u, T"

He smiled and put the car in gear, time to get the tools of the trade.

Date: 03/05/2016
Time: 10:42

Two men stepped out of a large dark van with police logos all over it. It may be a bit suspicious why two ordinary police officers would be in a SWAT van, but with everything going on in the city right now, they didn't think it would be seen as too strange. The police were stretched thin enough, especially with a few of their precious vehicles swiped from under their noses. The bald man looked up into the sky, the dark clouds above hiding the moon. They rumbled every once in awhile, the threat of rain hanging over the city. But it was dry enough for now, although a thick humidity hung in the air. None of these things were strange for Steelport, where it rained five days of the week, was cloudy for two, and days of sunshine were about as common as unicorns.

The man with glasses pulled out his phone, checked a map and zoomed in on it, checking an address, then looking up to the building before them and confirming it. The bald man grouchily said past a cigarette, "You sure this is the right place?"

"Positive," the sunglassed man replied, "quite a strong signal here. One, perhaps two is we are lucky." He tapped a few more buttons and the phone gave a spinning circle, the tiny computer in the device working overtime to keep up with the monstrous equation the owner of the phone was running through it. After a moment, two faces popped up, a boy and a girl. He smiled, "We might just get done early tonight Davis.

Moments later the pair were standing at the doorway of the house, electronic music blasting loud enough that they could hear the sound quite clearly, accompanied by flashing lights shining through the windows. Glasses knocked on the door, waited a moment, then knocked again twice as hard. The door creaked open to reveal a man with far too many piercings for one man to have holding a beer in his hand. He seemed a bit unsteady until he realized who exactly was at the door. "Uh...uh….hi, I mean, evening officers! Sorry 'bout the noise, we'll turn it down, alright?"

Baldie shook his head and smiled, "Not here for a noise complaint son."

The pierced man got a nervous look on his face as he said, "Um, I think you're gonna need a warrant then, right?" He looked behind him and almost shouted something before Baldie cut him off.

"That's not quite how it works sonnie." He almost laughed at how pale the pierced man became. "We're not here for whatever you think we're here for. Just looking for a couple of folks, okay? You let us in and take a look around, we'll keep...whatever else we find here between us. Sound good?" The pierced man gave a hesitant nod, and the two took the invitation to enter the house.

Only minutes later they found their targets, sitting at a table across from each other with a cheering crowd around them. So far a dozen shot glasses were littered on the table between the two of them, and a woman wearing very revealing clothing was pouring another round for the both of them. Glasses pushed through the crowd, the people before him eager to move out of the way upon seeing a cop pushing them. ""Scuse me," he interrupted the two drinkers, "David and Rachel McNair. Am I right?"

The boy put down his drink and got a dangerous look in his eye. "...Maybe. What do you want?"

Glasses decided he had better be careful with this one. Before he could speak the girl interrupted him. "Sshtop shtalling Davie! Or what, think ya can't beat me?" She leaned back precariously in her chair, spilling half of what little liquid there was in her shot glass. "Feugghyou copper! We're bushy, ya see?" Glasses wrinkled his nose, the girl was stoned drunk.

"Look," he said to the boy, "we don't want to make a scene. We just want to ask you a few questions." He pulled his coat back and placed one hand on the handgun strapped to his side. "Or I could arrest you here and now for those drugs you slipped into your pocket when you first noticed me, and I'm sure I could slap you with more than just possession." He nodded to the girl as well, "Her too."

"Fine, I'll come." After the cop insisted on his sister coming as well, he helped Rachel out of her seat, half dragging her out the door. His own steps were slightly more confident. Slightly.

Glasses almost felt bad for the two of them as they stepped out back onto the street. The knock out drug they had prepared wouldn't really be necessary, they were incoherent enough as it was. They still did need the power suppression though. Oh well, hopefully the drug mixing with so much alcohol wouldn't be too much of a problem, although he didn't envy the headache they would probably have when they awoke.

He nodded to the bald man, a barely perceptible movement unless you were looking for it. The bald man was, and all of a sudden there was a blur. Less than a second later the bald man had the girl in his arms, two syringes clinked to the ground, and the boy tumbled unconscious into a rosebush. Glasses winced and asked jokingly, "What are you, a white knight now?" Baldie only shrugged and grinned. "Fair enough. Let's cuff em and throw em in the truck. We got at least four or five more to do tonight. Maybe more depending on what the boss says."

Ho looked back up at the sky. Perhaps the rain would hold out a little longer. That would be nice.