Log:Foiled Electronics Theft
From C2Wiki
| Foiled Electronics Theft | |
|---|---|
| Emitter | Mirage |
| Players | Mirage, The Crimson Web, Creature Guy |
| NPCs | Twelve thieves |
| Place | Alley between two warehouses in Adamston, Port Liberty |
| Time (IC) | ~ 7 pm |
| Time (OOC) | ~ 7 - 11 pm |
Evening is falling upon Port Liberty now. The sun is just now beginning to set in this early day of the summer. There's still over an hour of daylight hanging in the sky... but in the city with the tall buildings, the long shadows can almost give it a later feel. That would explain the scene unfolding below the costumed individual known as Mirage. Mirage is on the rooftop of a building peering down into a wide alleyway between the building he is on and another. What's unfolding beneath him appears to be some kind of transaction or meeting. There is a pickup truck parked at one end of the alleyway. Deep into the alleyway there is a moving van. There are at least a dozen people, mostly teens or young men. They are carrying crates from the pickup truck to the moving van. Mirage leans down on the rooftop and observes for a little while longer.
It seems Mirage is not the only one who is out and about this early in the evening. There's a red-costumed heroine on those rooftops...the same one Mirage had seen a few nights ago. Trouble attracts her like a magnet for some reason, and it's not long before her leaping, web-swinging, and wall-crawling leads her to that alley. She comes to rest atop the building on the other side of the alley, across from Mirage. Sitting in a crouch on the roof of the building, she peers down into the alley as well. She doesn't seem to notice Mirage at this point.
Mirage doesn't appear to see or notice the arriving red-costumed heroine. Oh no. Mirage has his eyes trained on the activities below. The camo-clad man stands up and puts a boot down on the edge of the rooftop. He appears to be steadying himself for a jump or at least for something.
Below, the dozen or so men continue to move about performing their tasks. These crates are large wooden crates. Secured by nails and by padlocks. Painted on the sides of these crates are various letters, numbers and symbols. An interesting symbol to note would be a stylized icon of a computer's monitor. The logos of various PC companies are also seen emblazoned on the crates.
The Crimson Web crouches down a little lower on the building, practically sitting on her haunches, paying close attention to the activities of the men. Are they loading or unloading these crates? To what end? These are questions the Web wants to know. So she begins to make her way down the side of the building, crawling slowly down the wall. Headfirst. She's trying to keep herself out of the view of the men, but she wants a closer look.
Mirage leaps off the side of the building not long after the Crimson Web starts down the side of the opposite building. Mirage's approach is a little more impulsive than the Web's... or is it? Mirage will pass by the Crimson Web on the way down and just after he passes her in her descent he starts to fade from view. The camo-clad man disappears as he descends. When the man is supposed to hit the ground... there's no sound or sight of someone colliding with the Earth below.
As for the young men loading and unloading? They close up the back of the pickup truck. Elastic Cords are pulled out of the pickup truck just as the door of the moving van is slammed shut.
The doors slamming shut is a sure sign that the men are about to drive off. Which would be a bad thing if these guys were stealing something. So it looks as though the Web's approach will have to be slightly faster. Raising her upper body off of the building, she extends her hands forward, firing webbing at the top of the van. And then the leaps, using the webbing to pull herself atop the van. She might not be overly large, but a human landing atop a van would probably cause an audible thud....
Mirage is not seen, but Mirage lands on the ground. He almost flutters to the ground as his nearly intangible body allows gravity to control his descent. Mirage touches down on the ground just before he hears the thud against the top of the van. Mirage glances up with a curious look upon his less than visible face. Mirage rushes forward, trying to stealthily reach the pickup truck at the opening of the alleyway.
As for the young people? Oh they also hear the thud. The van shakes as its nearly shot shocks try to absorb the sudden and forceful impact. The men start off towards the van to see what the problem was. One man even reopens the back door of the van to make sure nothing fell inside the back of the van.
The Crimson Web peeks over the edge of the van when the back opens. "Well, well...what have we here? Are you boys playing with things that don't belong to you?" she inquires in a near-purr. She has a slightly patronizing tone in her voice as she speaks. At the same time, she's being alert in case any of the young men attempt to shoot her, throw something at her, or the like.
The voice of the Crimson Web reaches the incoporeal Mirage and it causes him to hesitate and turn around. That sound on the Van, he concludes, was her. A smirk forms on his unseen face. The former soldier reappears and regains his density at about the same time he reaches the truck. Luckily for him, everyone's focused on the Web. He reaches inside of his padded bomber jacket and produces his pair of sidearms. The pistols are held low and pointed at the rear wheels of the truck. Mirage stands there for a moment, gaze having shifted to the scene unfolding around the van...
And what is unfolding becomes chaotic quickly. When the Crimson Web shows herself, the young men get aggressive! Those not carrying bungee cords reach into their belt buckle or pockets on their baggy pants or underneath their baggy shirts to produce pistols of their own. Those furthest away from the van? Oh they pick up whatever is handy... such as empty bottles or trash can lids, and hurl them towards the crimson-clad heroine.
The Web has to jump over a few various things that are thrown at her, and one clips her leg. With a narrowing of her eyes, she webs a trach can lid and pulls it to her hand. "Oh, you wanna play catch?" she replies with a smirk. "Okay, I think I can oblige." That said, she tosses the lid, frisbee style, back at the one who tossed it at her, with all her might. Now that her hands are free, she jumps back up into the air and extends her hands, firing webbing at the hands of the gun-toting men. She's trying to pull the guns out of their hands. If nothing else, she's causing a great distraction for Mirage....
...Isn't she? When the Web showed up, it allowed Mirage to rethink his plan. No longer in need of a distraction, the now clearly visible hero is waiting there for the guns to start lighting up. And light up they do. After one of the men gets clipped by the hard-thrown trash can lid, the others start squeezing off shots. A couple of them get shots off before their guns are forced from their hands by the webbing. As the bullets ring out, Mirage takes this opportunity to fire his own pistols. Bullets cleanly cut through the vulcanized rubber of the tires. Quickly the truck gains four flat tires where it once had four inflated tires. After the shots are made, Mirage swiftly reholsters his guns and pulls out his taser. He suddenly disappears as he turns to face the crowd of young men.
As state the shots begin firing after the one man gets a discus trashcan lid hurled into his midsection. He doubles over while others continue to throw things. A couple of the men on the outskirts of the melee realize they are tangling with a metahuman... so they make their way for the truck and what they hope to be an escape. The others? They fight the good fight, firing at the Crimson Web.
"Yow!" the woman squeaks as a bullet comes inches from giving her an impromptu nose job. Thankfully, that strange ability of hers to know when to move out of the way comes in handy for not getting her butt shot off in this situation. "Hey, watch it boys..." she purrs. "Or you're gonna hurt somebody." She makes a leap off of the van and lands on the ground. About to speak again, her shoulder is grazed by a bullet. "OW!" she complains, a hand going to the injury. "You bastard!" she complains. Her free hand raises, and she fires a 'glob' of webbing at the eyes of the man who shot her. Then she works on yanking the guns out of the hands of those she hasn't disarmed, while trying to knock out the 'bad guys'.
People begin to fall one by one as the Crimson Web gets a little more serious. Guns are ripped from the hands of these young thugs. Some complain and grip out of their own hand, since taking them away forcefully probably hurt them at least a little bit. The man with the glob of webbing in his eyes goes down. His hands reach out to try and rip the offending sticky substance away from his vision. The others quickly become disarmed and taken down by the swift motions of the Crimson Web. There are only two remaining. Those two that ran off for the truck realizes they would not be getting away in that. So they made for the van while the woman fought with the rest of their group.
As they get close to the van, Mirage rematerializes. He's standing still near the van and when the young man suddenly runs into him, the young man staggers back as if he ran into a wall. He hits the ground hard and dazed. The other youth? Oh Mirage quickly disables him with a shock from the taser that the Mirage pulled out of his jacket. All of the young men are disarmed and taken down. Mirage looks to the ground examining the Web's work.
As soon as the Web can, she turns her attention to Mirage. She blinks. "Oh...when did you get here?" she inquires. Then she gives him a smile. "Good to see you, though. I probably wouldn't have been able to stop those two without you." She looks to the downed criminals, and then to the one who's frantically trying to pull the stuff off his face. "Oh, pipe down," she replies. "It'll only stay on there about four hours." She gives a sigh. "Now...to make sure these guys don't escape before the cops get here...."
Mirage smirks at the Web and shakes his head, "You woulda been fine, Red." A dismissive wave is made with what Mirage says to her. Mirage turns away from her and the criminals and heads for the back of the van, "Yea, if you can shoot more of that gunk at them. Tie em up or incapacitate them somehow, that would be swell." The camo-clad vigilante places his taser into its pocket under his bomber jacket. Mirage hops into the back of the van and moves to the closest crate. He increases his density to higher degree and takes a swing with his hand at the padlock. It is smashed and the crate is opened with the whine and creaks of nails being forced out of their homes. Mirage grunts, "Looks like they almost got a great haul here."
"What were they stealing?" Web inquires as she starts to pull the criminals together in a smaller area. She starts to web them to the fire escapes of the buildings on either side of the alley. They're far enough off the ground that they can't escape, but not so high that if they fall they'll hurt themselves. "All I saw was the crates. I couldn't tell if they were loading or unloading them."
The crate that Mirage opened is slammed shut, the nails being driven back into their spots. Mirage turns and hops out of the back of the moving van. He says to Crimson Web, "Notebook Computers, Personal computers and various accessories. Top dollar stuff too. Stuff you'd see in Best Buy or somethin'." He pauses and looks towards the pickup truck at the front of the alleyway, "Probably a transfer point. Ditchin' the stolen vehicle they used in the initial heist and moving on to the van, which is less conspicuous. Pretty basic thug stuff. Glad we ran across 'em, eh?"
Nearby, a lone figure leaps from warehouse roof to warehouse roof. He is clad in a leather jacket, jeans and drab shirt, with a face obscured by what looks like a luchador mask. He stops on the roof nearest the two other metas. "Hey! You there! What're you doing tying people up, eh?"
The woman in red looks up at the roof of the building where the voice came from. "Huh?" she inquires oh-so intelligently. When she sees the fellow, she informs him. "Well, it looks like these guys...." She points to the unconscious fellows webbed to the fire escapes and hanging there like Christmas ornaments. "...Were stealing electronics." She points to a wound in her shoulder, just a graze, but it's still bleeding. "And besides, they were packing heat. See?"
Mirage stuffs his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket as he approaches the Crimson Web while she works. Though his attention shifts at around the same time the woman's does to face the figure up above them. The camo-clad man response to the figure, "Keeping the streets safe." he says rather dryly, "And since we're just about done here, brother, you can come on down. This alleyway is safe now. You can walk freely on the ground like other men." A smile has formed on Mirage's face.
The masked man tilts his head at Mirage. "Funny." He walks to the roof's edge and begins crawling down, spider-like. When he reaches the fire escape on which the thugs are webbed, he begins to frown. "How do I know these guys are no-good thieves? They could be warehouse workers and you two could be stealing from them!" He looks downward. "And all those guns... could be yours?" He jumps to the ground. "So I would probably have to stop you or something."
The Crimson Web rolls her eyes. "Oh please...I would NOT have shot myself," she replies, propping a fist on one hip and shifting her weight to one leg. "If I had, it would have been more serious...and probably less painful. It may not be serious, but it HURTS!" She looks to the injury again, and frowns. Then she looks back to the masked man. "Besides...." She extends her hands out to her sides. "Look at this costume. Where would I have had room to put a gun? I wouldn't carry something that dangerous that close to sensitive areas."
The man that has been webbed in the eyes, but is other-wise conscious and coherent coughs a bit and points up into the air, "Yea!" He says with a high-pitched squeal, "You're right! We're just workers. We work for, uh, the company next door. These guys jumped us! They're tryin' to steal our wares!"
Mirage stands there with his hands in his pockets. His head shakes at the masked man, "Ain't gonna lie to you, brother. I am packing heat myself. But I can't hide all those guns on my person. Ain't got enough pockets for that." He smirks a bit, "Perhaps if I slapped some velcro or somethin' on my shirt..." He trails off before getting serious again, "Nah. Me and Red here just happened upon them. They were bein' suspicious. They're cartin' around other stores' mechandise for goodness sakes." He then points to one of the hanging men, "Half these guys are barely able to drive, let alone holdin' a job like this."
"Ok, fine. So they're the bad guys and you guys are legit. I always miss the fights," Oliver sighs. "Always running across other metas who've already taken out the muggers and stuff." He scratches at the back of his masked head. "So uh. Should probably make with the introductions. I'm Creature Guy." Oliver pauses. "It's a temporary name. I haven't thought of anything really cool yet."
The red-clad woman chuckles. "Makes two of us. I'm The Crimson Web," she offers. Notably, she doesn't introduce her fellow crime-fighter. "Somebody needs to call the cops, though...that webbing doesn't last forever...." She hesitates, as if it's something she doesn't really want to give too much information about.
"Creature Guy?" Mirage states with a slightly amused tone to his voice, "Oh good grief, I hope you thinka somethin' better than that, brother. Doesn't really strike fear in the hearts of criminals you know?" The camo-clad man steps away from the webbed criminals, "My name is Mirage." He casually introduces himself by his codename, "And I don't got a phone, Red. Though I'm sure these gentlemen do. What young punk don't run around with a cell these days?" Mirage's steps are taking him closer and closer to the pickup truck with the flat tires. He pulls open the door and starts rummaging.
"Crimson Web sounds cool though. Got that 'oomph', you know? Creature Guy..." Oliver trails off and gestures to Mirage. "Exactly." He rummages through his jeans. "Er, I would call the cops, but I seem to have misplaced my phone."
The Web makes no comments about 'Creature Guy'. "Thanks," she offers at 'Creature Guy's comment about her codename. "Actually, I don't have my phone with me, either...but that's a good idea, Mirage," the red-clad woman replies, and climbs up the wall and fire escape to where the guy with the webbing on his eyes is hanging. She has to zip a line of webbing up to the fire escape and hang upside down from it. One of her legs she twists around the strand of webbing. The other she bends at the knee so that her heel touches her thigh. "Excuse me, kid...I need your phone," she replies, using her free hand to rummage through the young man's pockets to see if he has a phone.
The Crimson Web will rummage through that young man's pocket and only come up with a wallet, peices of paper and some coupons. Mirage is a bit more lucky. He comes out of the truck with a sleek cell phone in hand. He tosses it towards Creature Guy, "Almost strikin' out today, ain'tcha? Poor timing, don't get here in time to help out. You forget your phone. You got a funny codename. Can you at least call the police for us and let'em know we got a gift wrapped package here for them?" Mirage looks towards the Web and is quiet for a moment. He smirks up towards her, "Was mighty fine workin' with you."
"Drat," the Web mutters, stuffing everything back into the young fellow's pockets. "No phone." she ruffles the young criminal's hair. "Thanks anyway, kid!" She then untwists her leg from the line of webbing, and pulls her legs up/down so that she does a complete flip while hanging by the strand. But at least she's right-side up now. She releases the strand, and lands on the ground, dusting her hands a bit. "And hey..." she addresses Mirage. "We're all somewhat new at this, I thought? Everybody has to learn at their own pace...."
"I'm just ribbin' him, Red." Mirage states in his own defense. The camo-clad hero offers a thumbs up to Web after that, "Good work, by the way. You took down nearly a dozen thugs on your own. That's impressive." Mirage's gaze shifts from Crimson Web to that of the hanging criminals. The smile returns to his face, "Looks like you've learned quick."
"Thanks," Web replies with a smile. "I have...a bit of training," she notes, being deliberately vague about the comment. "I won't say it was easy, because it sure as heck wasn't...but I'm glad I've gotten this good." She looks to the truck for the first time. "Ah-ha. Looks like you thought to cut off their means of escape. Good idea; I totally forgot to check for a second vehicle...."
"Yeah..." Oliver catches the phone and starts dialing. "Police? Yeah, got some criminals hanging here for you to pick up. Some guys in costumes beat 'em up and they're hanging from a fire escape. Adamston, down by the warehouses. Yeah. Ok. Thanks."
Mirage nods at what The Crimson Web says, "It shows. It shows." Mirage then turns and regards the truck, "I had a method of attack all planned out before I realized you were here. When you showed up... it just made things easier." The man winks, but it's difficult to see with his eyes obscured by his mask. Mirage then turns to regard Creature Guy, "Awesome, brother. Thanks for the assist." He turns from him to Web again, "I should scamper off." The man starts to become more ethereal again and floats up into the air.
"Er, no problem." Oliver tosses the phone back to Crimson Web and looks around. "Guess I should go, myself." He starts running toward the warehouse across the street, then jumps (noticeably farther than any human should be able to jump) and lands on the roof. With another leap, he takes to the air and begins to fly off.
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IC: Regional News ------------------------------
Message: 8/33 Posted Author Stolen Electronics Recovered Mon Jun 25 News Source
<An Article found in the Crime Section of the Port Liberty Post>
Along the seven-hundred block of Industrial Drive in Adamston a dozen men were found bound and hanging by cords. These cords were found to disintegrate within a few hours of their utilization. The alleged criminals were located within an alleyway between two industrial storage buildings. A disabled pickup truck and an unmarked moving van were also at the scene. The truck had its tires shot out with some sort of gun. Inside the van were numerous crates filled with computers and computer related electronics and accessories worth thousands of dollars. The merchandise was checked and confirmed stolen from various electronics stores in the area of Adamston. The police issued a statement that one conscious person from the captured dozen identified the individuals responsible for their capture as masked individuals. They identified the two that neutralized them as 'Mirage' and 'The Crimson Web'. A third individual was identified as 'Creature Guy' by another of the criminals. All three of these people were not at the scene when Police arrived after an anonymous tip.
