Characters in Scene (in Order of Appearance):
- Joe (Joseph O'Meara)
- Phobia
- Huntress
- Paco (Vibe)
-----==[ Little Odessa - Gotham City ]==--------------------------------------
Although there is no end to the gargoyle-ridden, gothic skyscrapers and dark towers in this area of Gotham, Little Odessa is one of the more insular and quiet communities in the city. For decades comprised largely of immigrant populations from Eastern Europe, the Russian Mafiya has its hooks in almost everything here. Located within Little Odessa is Grant Park, much smaller than Robinson Park to the north, but far more serene. It is generally considered to be under mob protection.
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It's a cool spring evening, not wet or rainy, precisely, but foggy. Jo's hurrying him from a meeting in a squalid little apartment, collar turned against the cold and damp. He's in a plain black overcoat, dark head bent, expression tired and set. He took the subway, and thus he'll go home that way, but it's a stretch to the next stop.
Amid the cool and damp of the Gotham fog, Phobia stands. In her black attire, cloak pulled close overherself like a shawl against the chill, her green eyes flick from scanning the apartment buildings to Jo, rushing from one. A brow quirks as his steps bring him in her direction. Her only movement is to flick a tongue across her thin lips.
A cop should have better instincts for danger. But even the best slip up, sometimes, and Joseph is very tired. He's striding along the cracked sidewalk, heading for the nearest subway stop, which is some little distance, hands stuffed into the pockets of his overcoat. No hat, though, and pearls of condensation gleam in the dark hair
A fatigued mind is often the most susceptible, or so Phobia has learned from experience. She moves, taking one step from her shadowy perch, toward the cop. As she does, her psychic mind reaches for his, subtly listening for whatever undercurrents of fear or anxiety might creep into play. A grin begins to form, like a prediator long overdue for a meal. Her eyes are fixated on her prey, sizing up if he'll sustain her addiction better than the last child's nightmare.
Mostly low grade anxiety. Will the mob catch on to his informant - a single mother in her early twenties, a mobster's girlfriend? Will the modifications Milo made to him years ago flare up again; Joe's been uneasy about his nervous system since being a supervillain's lab rat, once upon a time. Nothing in the forefront of his brain, not these days. He's not running for the subway, just using that ground-covering pace.
Phobia licks her lips one last time as anxiety drifts towards her, and she stops her slow forward advance on the edge of the shadow that lies between Joseph and the refuge of the subway entrance some fifty feet behind her. Her mind is already finding images to craft for the unwitting detective, images designed to crack his forcce of will and leave him a panicked mess. As the darkness of night creeps forward, deepening the shadows, Phobia's mind latched on to one of the tiny memories: a supervillian. Her mind seeks to stroke the thought, hoping to coax it into the fore, where Joseph's mind might give her more details about that moment of fear. Details she could pull over herself in a mental illusion that would alter her appearance enough to further aggrivate the situation.
Achilles Milo's a relatively minor villain in the Bat's rogues gallery. But he's had a profound influence on one unfortunate Gotham cop. O'Meara, while still a young cop walking the beat, was grabbed by his henchmen, and experimented on. His nervous system was altered, in an attempt to see if he could manufacture superheroes. Or more accurately, supervillains of his own. It only partially took, but it didn't kill Joe, either. But he still has nightmares about being helpless on an operating table, the blurry periods of pain. He shakes his head to himself, and picks up the pace, as if the bright glare of the subway station's lights will be enough to drive away unwelcome memories.
Nightmares. The thought sends shivers down Phobia's spine. She steps from the shadows fully, blocking the light from the subway. The click of her heeled boots on the cement purposefully audible. She lets her cape flutter open, the edges in front taking on a lab coat sort of feel to Joseph's mind. She brings up a hand, holding up a slender silver needle, some eight inches long, and highly reflective.
Huntress is actually not on duty at the moment -- she's passenging in a sleek black muscle car, 60's vintage. Paco is driving, though he isn't getting to control the music. Hey, it was HIS idea to try that new restaurant over on South Loop, and now she's late getting home for her 'night job'. She leans over to turn the volume up on the Metallica coming out of the car's speakers. "Chachi, remind me to never listen to your food recommendations again."
"Mang it was fine!" Paco calls back to Huntress, sighing at the choice of music. But oh well. He did agree to let her choose the tunes. He'll be listening to more dance-oriented fare on the way home. "I don't know what chu were talkin' about."
He's got inhuman reflexes, courtesy of Milo. But they don't do you any damn good at all if you're frozen in place, and that is precisely what O'Meara is. Like this is the world's most horrible game of Simon Says. His lips have parted, and he's gone an awful shade of gray, entirely bloodless. Somehow the gleam of the needle is more frightening than the muzzle of a pistol.
Phobia smiles. "It's so good to see you again," she whispers, mind brushing it in waves out toward Joseph. Phobia revels in the feel of his terror, syphoning it away, drinking it into her own mind.
[OOC] Phobia is actually holding up a laceweight knitting needle.
[OOC] Huntress grins evilly. A 000 steel dpn may as well be a hypodermic. ;)
[OOC] Phobia says, "LOL!!! Totally!"
Huntress catches a glint of light off of something out of the corner of her eye and turns to look at the pedestrians on the sidewalk as they pass by. Normal, generic, everyday ... wait. That police officer is staying WAY too still for her taste. Beat cops typically don't stop walking without good reason, and seeing this guy standing so still is raising all kinds of alarms in her head. "Chachi, pull over and let me out."
"Huh? What chu..." Paco's eyes trace where Huntress is looking, and he quickly gets an idea. "Okay chica, but I'm comin' back for chu! Just as soon as I find a good parking space for my bebi." He carefully pulls over and waits for Huntress to unload herself, then he begins the challenge of finding a good and secure-looking parking spot in Gotham City at this time of evening.
And terror is the operative word. All his training has deserted him, leaving Joseph fixated entirely on that needle, the images his mind is offering up of Milo ignoring his pleas. Despite the chill of the evening, his brow is gleaming with sweat. He takes a stumbling, almost drunken step backwards, and lifts up a hand oh so slowly, as if to ward off this vision.
Huntress nods shortly at Paco and gets out the moment he stops, stepping up onto the sidewalk and starting to walk away from the car as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Her unhurried pace is taking her toward the subway entrance and Joseph, but her eyes are scanning EVERYTHING along the way in an attempt to locate the source of the beat cop's increasingly obvious distress.
Phobia ignores Joseph's pleas, and counters his movement. As the detective steps back, Phobia steps forward that one step to maintain the distance between them. Her mind is fully locked into his, a tick bured neck deep, that the approaching car is not registered. To Joseph's mind, Phobia's appear continues to solidfy as his terror. And that one step brings Phobia fully into view of just about everyone. "Don't run," she whispers to Joseph softly, still holding that oh so terrifyingly innocent knitting needle in her hand.
Vibe keeps puttering along in his awesome muscle car. Dammit, why is Gotham so hard to navigate?! Alla these one-way streets and do-not-turns and -- there! There it is! A lot that isn't too far away, and so he pulls up and immediately bursts into Spanish profanity. "Closed?! Closed?! What the..." There are many expressions about goats in here, and he continues on his way. There's got to be *something* nearby. Maybe he'll use his Justice League status to throw his weight around. He's sure it had some kind of function to knock off parking meters.
And Jo doesn't dare. He's no longer a beat cop, not in uniform - hasn't been for years. But the memories are there, and they have him in thrall, completely. He looks sick, and he's begun to shiver, as memory takes over the present.
Phobia holds onto Joseph's mind, almost gingerly, just letting him play out those nightmares. She helps guide them, hoping to keep them from overwhelming too quickly, yet keeping him firmly rooted in them.
Huntress spots Phobia the instant she steps fully into the open with a ... hat pin? in one hand but is careful to not react beyond the glance. I mean, this IS Gotham. Costumed sorts are almost commonplace around here. As she move to walk past the man still standing stock still in the middle of the sidewalk, she glances at her wrist as if to check the time, pauses, mutters faintly to herself as if just realizing that she's not wearing a wristwatch. She looks around briefly, then steps over toward Joseph but making sure to keep tall dark and spandex in her peripheral vision. "Um, excuse me. Do you know what time it is?"
Okay, that's it! Paco pulls the car into an empty place in front of some storefronts. They look like reputable enough shops. He doesn't have any change, though. But it's after hours, and there aren't many other cars around, so maybe...well, if anything happens, he can always say he was on official business, which may be true, depending on what Huntress has seen or is presently doing. He hopes to himself that she didn't just see a special on doughnuts or something. Carefully he hops out of the car and locks it behind him, then starts to run down the street back in the direction of his former passenger.
It's a big fit of cognitive dissonance. Joe's pulled out of his flashback a little, though - he jerks back, as if he'd literally gotten his foot unmired from quicksand, and stares at Huntress as if she had two heads and a tail.
Phobia hisses as Joe takes that awkward step back. Her gentle hold of his mind unbalances. Eyes filled with terror and a fear-lust not quite sated, the psychis screams. "Get away from him," are the words. The terror syphoned from Joe's mind rips the sound from Phobia's throat with all the raw blood curdling of a woman screaming at a murderer whose a heartbeat away from slicing open a loved one's throat. Her hands ball into fists and drop to her sides, almost like a child throwing a temper tantrum. The innocent knitting needle lowered to her side with the motion. With the sound shattering the fast approaching night, so too does Phobia's carefully crafted illusions within Joe's mind begin to shatter, to be easily shaken off as one would shake off a waking nightmare. And Phobias mind latches onto Huntress, clawing for a fear, a terror, a nightmare, anything that she can use to cripple this distraction, leave it helpless, so that she can return to her mental feeding.
Huntress puts up one hand to placate Joseph when he snaps out of...HOLY HANNAH what was that?? She startles at Phobia's scream of indignance and turns to look at her like SHE'S grown that third eyebrow. Of course, she's probably just set herself up to get mentally attacked by Crazy McJealouspants over there, and she's got LOTS of fodder for the psychic to work with. She IS one of those dark Gotham hero-types after all. They ALL have tortured pasts.
Na-na-nanana-na-na-na-nananah! Well no, not Wonder Woman, but Vibe is running up the sidewalk. It's a good thing he keeps fit! If he weren't such a great dancer, he probably wouldn't be able to run this distance at such a high speed without really tiring out. But he did just eat a big meal, and that kind of factors in. He winces inwardly.
What the- Jo shakes himself, like a retriever coming out of the water. And then there's a supervillainess RIGHT IN HIS FACE. "Holy hell," he says, breathlessly. "Who are you, and what in God's name do you think you're doing?"
Only able to focus on one mind at a time in high stress situations, Phobia grabs one of the many tortures in Huntress's past. Any one will do. Oh, look. That one looks nice. And with a vicious yank, the psychic tries to force it to the fore. Unlike the delicate coaxing and alluring whispering she had done with Joe's mind, her assault upon Huntress is filled with malice and fear. All while Phobia snarls, features contorted, voice inhumanly frightened. "Leave him alone."
Huntress gasps and stumbles back a step at the sudden onslaught of terror-filled images flitting in front of her eyes. Unlike Joseph, however, she's long since trained herself to be able to function despite feeling like Mandragora is THIS close to opening the door of the closet she's hiding in and find her. "NO. This can't be real..." She fumbles clumsily for something in one of the pockets of her jacket.
"HEY MANG WHAT'S UP!!" Vibe calls from just across the street. He's finally within a short enough distance! Now, when the whole thing has advanced to a stage far beyond what it was only a few minutes ago. Well, if his voice isn't enough to jar Huntress out of Phobia's assault, his bright ensemble might just be the thing she needs.
He should handle this better. Keep control of himself, call for backup, try to force Phobia to behave. But all that rational behavior is out the window, and now Joe is just shoving at her, literally trying to bring her off balance.
Phobia's attention snaps to Vibe as he calls out. Out numbered. Cornered. Fear spikes in Phobia, and not because anyone around her is afraid. Joe's hand connect, and Phobia cries out, mind losing hold of Huntress. The illusions shred away from her mind, much as fingernails shred skin when two people holding hands are torn away from each other. Unbalanced, Phobia topples bacward, hands instinctively dropping what they were holding in favor of grabbing at the closest big thing at hand. Phobia reaches for Joe, body hoping to use him to keep from falling backwards onto the sidewalk. Her pale skin grows more pallid.
Huntress flinches at Paco's voice, but it isn't enough to snap her out of Phobia's grasp. Joseph's shoving at the villainess is, though, and she finally manages to pull the object out of her jacket that she'd been fumbling after -- a small but wickedly sharp knife. "What the hell is your deal, lady?" Now that the fear's been stripped away, anger is all that's left, and she's not nearly as good about keeping that under control.
Glancing around himself, Paco looks from Huntress -- he knows her -- to Joe, to Phobia, and then back to Huntress again. "Mang what chu got goin' on here?" He puts his hands on his hips, then somewhat awkwardly shifts them to fold his arms over his chest. After a slight pause, he clears his throat. "Um. I mean what's up? Chu all look like chu seen a ghost or somethin'!"
Joe's off-balance, literally and figuratively. So, down he goes as well, unsteady and foolish, utterly unlike himself. His reflex is to help a woman, even though he knows already she's his foe. So it's an ungainly tangle of limbs.
Phobia physically curls up, curling around Joe, as the two tumble to the sidewalk. She's shaking, eyes wide, hands clutching onto whatever part of Joe they happen to be near; shoulder, elbow, chest, wrist, what have you. Spotting the knife gleaming in Huntress's hand, Phobia tries to shrink behind her meat-shield... I mean her hero... Joe. "She's gonna kill me," tumbles out the frightened phrase.
Huntress watches Joseph and the Crazy woman both tumble to the sidewalk and mutters darkly to herself. The knife disappears again far more efficiently than it appeared, and she steps over to untangle the two. "Chachi, gimmie that bandana of yours."
"Wh-what? Chica, this is a *special* bandana!" Paco's hand goes to the garment in question, much like a sensationalized wealthy older woman might clutch her pearls in shock at some piece of surprising news.
And....she might very well be. Much as his instincts urge him to flee, Joe's interposing himself between Phobia and Huntress. "Ma'am," he says, as cop's training reassertsitself, "I'm going to have to ask you to put that away. There's no need to take it to that level." Ironic, considering he's got fear sweat drying on his body.
Phobia clings to Joe, a crack addict and her pipe. She moves with Joe, shifting to make sure as much of him is between her and Huntress as possible. Arms wrapped around him, nose by an ear, her entire frame shaking like a leaf or a chihuahua. She eyes Huntress and Vibe fearfully.
Huntress has already put the knife away. "Chachi, don't make me kick your ass. Now gimmie that damned bandana." Joe may note that she didn't answer him, and is still standing over the two of them as if expecting one or the other to bolt and run.
Paco frowns and presses his lips together into a very narrow line. "Chica I'm not even gonna get into this with chu! I don't hit chicas, you know that." He undoes the tie and pulls the bandana off, holding it out. "And I *better* get this back, chu know! Chu can't get those anymore! Designer limited edition!" He leans closer to Huntress. "*Boutique*!!" All about the image, mang.
"And who are you? Both of you?" Joe's stressed enough to forget the usual civilities. Nowhere near hhis usual self, anyway. "I won't let her kill you," he assures Phobia, even as he tries to get to his feet.
Phobia shifts with Joe, getting to her feet behind him. Her own fears subsiding, she reaches out to Joe's mind again, using his stress to calm her own fears. Still shaking, however, she eyes Huntress and Vibe from behind her knight in flak-jacket armor. "Please, please," she begs of Joe, while her mind tastes his emotions to see if he needs any encouragement to be her protector. This nightmare might just be salvaged!
Huntress snatches the bandana from Paco's hands with a brief glare, then steps over to try and use it to blindfold Phobia. She has no idea if it'll keep the woman from messing with people's heads, but it's better than nothing. "Concerned citizens," she finally says to Joe. "Who really prefer to NOT have our brains messed with by little miss Scarecrow here." The fact that she can name one of the Bat's major adversaries means she's not just ANY average schmoe citizen.
Now he is in his element. Paco puffs out his chest and stands at his full height, which is still comfortably below six feet and thus shorter than virtually every hero and most of the heroines in the Justice League. "Chu talkin' to Paco Ramone, also known as Vibe, world-famous champion of the Justice League, man! And this is my lady friend, uh, Tita!" Paco Ramone, eternal shield of secret identity.
He doesn't want to protect her. He's already off-balance enough. "Then I'll bring her in. What is it you think she can do?" Joe's remembering himself, little by little - he glances uncertainly at Phobia, shakes his head at the costume. He's already reaching for his cellphone - no radio on him.
Phobia gasps as Huntress comes at her with a blindfold and Joe's mind reads clearly a lack of wanting to protect her. "No. No, no, no," she stammers, backpetalling and falling away again. "I'm not what you think! I haven't helped them in ages. I promised Raven I'd stay out of these things. I wasn't doing anything wrong. No one was getting hurt. Stay away!" She's panicking, trying to focus, trying to find a mind to frighten into saving her.
Tita? Seriously? Huntress tosses another glare at Paco which could easily be taken as either "Why the HELL did you tell them my name?" or the more accurate "What the HELL kind of stupid name is Tita?" But then Phobia is starting to panic. "Damnit, hold still or I'll MAKE you."
"Mang, Tita!" Paco tries to keep up appearances. She'll thank him for this later. Or maybe not. "Tita, chu always gettin' chu pants in a bunch. Let's just super chill and we can tell this nice dude about the woman chu just blindfolded with my bandana."
[OOC] Joseph O'Meara sheeps, and must fade, I fear. It is laaaate for me.
[OOC] Joseph O'Meara says, "i'm not sure how I should best excuse myself Icly, as i were."
[OOC] Vibe says, "Thanks for playing...we could just agree on something and fade here?"
[OOC] Phobia says, "Sure. What's Huntress's plan for Phobia? I'm not sure that she'd be able to get away if the three of you work together to contain her."
[OOC] Huntress says, "How about Joe says he'll take Phobia under arrest, leads her away, and as soon as they're out of eyeshot Pho sucker punches him or something and gets away."
[OOC] Phobia nods. "Works for me."
[OOC] Phobia says, "If it works for everyone else?"
[OOC] Joseph O'Meara nodsnods.
[OOC] Vibe says, "Absolutely! As long as I get my bandana mang"
[OOC] Huntress says, "And Joe can nix the blindfold so Paco can get his *boutique* bandana back. ;) Oh, and Phobia? I'm keeping the 000 steel dpn. ;)"
[OOC] Phobia says, "Drats! There goes a good quality knitting needle! You owe me! ;)"
[OOC] Vibe laughs!!
[OOC] Huntress says, "You can come try to get it back. ;) Was it just the one dpn, or was it a circular with a project attached?"
[OOC] Phobia says, "Evidence?"
[OOC] Huntress says, "Too bad it's too small to hold a fingerprint."
[OOC] Phobia says, "Just the one. She was out feeding, not looking for a new pattern to craft. and Phobia wears gloves."
[OOC] Huntress says, "Darn. ;)"
[OOC] Phobia says, "Yeah. Though, it's possible she touched it without gloves at some point. And I haven't found anythign to say if she has a secret ID or not and I haven't decided for myself yet. I'm sorta thinking she does..."
[OOC] Phobia says, "but not, cuz of hte scene with lili. yeah, confused."
[OOC] Huntress says, "Hee, okay. :)"
[OOC] Vibe says, "Well, Lilith isn't vindictive or anything. She's groovin'~"
[OOC] Phobia noddles. "I know. Lili just got her talking about it in public, so I'm not sure that if Phobia HAS a secret ID she works hard to keep it.
[OOC] Vibe nods!
Joseph O'Meara has disconnected.
Huntress sighs as the guy (plain clothes cop based on his mannerisms) walks Phobia away. Sighing, she offers Paco his bandana back then looks down and notices something shiny on the sidewalk. Crouching down, she picks it up and looks at it. "Hunh. Weird."
You guess it, Huntress. It's one of Abuelita's steel knitting needles, perfect for making dollies for dollies.
Vibe takes back his bandana with great relish and care, letting out a sigh of relief as he ties it back around his neck. Ahh. That's better. Designer fashion bandana that was *hand-dyed* and unique in the world! When a man has an image to maintain, there can be no limitations on the lengths to which he would go.
A block or two away, Phobia clocks Joe and runs for it.
