Rough and Tumble (IC)

[Thunder King]

Normally, fighting didn't bother her. Heck, she rather enjoyed it herself. But, an underground fight league could definitely mean trouble. Gangs, the mafia, drug dealers, all sorts of bad people with bad intentions putting money down on fights. Could lead to even worse problems. She knew to stay well out of the way of the view of anyone else entering the building. Bad form to show her face when there were so many people who wouldn't want her there. She also had no doubts about the idea that some of them would be armed, and that some of those who were armed would have guns.

Last thing she wanted to be was a target for people who didn't want a super hero around. Still, she couldn't do any investigating if she stared at the building from the outside all night, so she approached, carefully, and from the shadows.

[Supercape]

NPC

"Here we are then" muttered Harry as he walked into the joint with his two partners. "A den of guttersnipes, wasters, and scum. Perfect. I think we are going to fit right in" he joked, stuffing his hand in his mac-pockets and fingering the dirty rolls of money he had secreted there.

"Keep it cool for now, Freddy" he told his partner, whose fists were itching. "I'm sure there will be some Rough and Tumble to come..." he sighed. "Hopefully without me having to eat a double helping of knuckles. I'm not a huge fan of being punched in the face or kicked in the nether regions, just so you know. I'm more a fan of running away very fast..."

He walked up the nearest likely looking candidate in the building.

"Hey there bozo. Where do we go to lay down some bets and enter the competition?"

[Tiffany Korta]

When getting her portion of the entrance money, after carefully explaining that she did keep all her money under the floorboards and they did have banks in her time.

Whilst there she changed from her normal clothes into something a bit more suitable for the event. After careful consideration she’d decided to go with the basic Little Black Dress, that way she could play the floozy and hopefully gain the element of surprise if any trouble did start. Being practically minded she still took her jacket along, if a fight did break out it was unlikely her dress would survive the encounter.

She didn’t hang on either of their arms but instead stood around behind Fred and Harry giving a general impression of being uninterested in the proceedings around her.

[Thevshi]

Climbing down from her perch, Crimson Tiger made her way a little over a block down the street from the building, to where one of the street lights was out, creating a band of shadows across the street she could use to cross with much less chance she would be noticed. Once on the right side of the street, there were plenty of shadows to help conceal her as she made her way over towards the building in which people appeared to be gathering. She approached the building from the side opposite where the people she had observed were entering.

Once up next to the building, she found a way up onto the roof. Making her way along, she came to a skylight that had long ago been busted out. Down below she could barely make out the floor of the building below in shadowy darkness. She could hear voices, but they appeared to be further in towards the center of the building, and not anywhere she could see from the empty skylight.

---

Making their way into the old building through the entrance they had seen a few other use, Lucy, Harry and Freddy found themselves in what appeared to have once been a loading area for trucks. The space was a large open area, mostly dark save for a few lights that were on. The floors were dirty and dusty, with scattered debris here and there. In the middle of the interior wall was a open doorway, beyond which appeared to be a open area with a good bit more light. The sounds of dozens of voices all blurred together from that doorway, a likely indication of a good sized crowd beyond.

Next to the door was a small table behind which set a couple of men, taking money from the small line of individuals who had formed in front of the table. After the admission fee was paid, the individual made their way through the doorway, past a large man that looked very much like a bouncer.

Making his way to one side of the small line, Harry had approached another large man who appeared to have been keeping an eye on the crowd in the line as they made their way up to pay their admission fee. At first the man did not acknowledge Harry, as he was staring over at Lucy, apparently somewhat surprised by her presence. Finally he glanced down at the rumpled private detective, his look less than friendly. "And who the hell are you pal?" He asked roughly.

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger climbed up the side of the building with relative ease. Compared to some of the things she had climbed before, this was easy. She merely had to be careful. Of course, the way things were going lately, she'd probably stumble into a robbery or drug dealers or something. That's how things usually went. Then she'd have to knock some poor idiots out, and they'd end up in jail.

 

Then she stopped. No, that was a cocky way of thinking. Cockiness could get her hurt, or killed. 'here lies Mali Benjawan; one cocky kid.' bad idea. Always take every threat seriously. Even if the person is pointing the gun in the wrong direction. Even if it looks like they couldn't throw a punch if you attached wings to it. Never, ever underestimate anyone. That's how people die.

 

She shook her head and psyched herself back up. She could be proud when she won. Not one moment before.

[Supercape]

NPC

 

"I'm the guy that's gonna take all your money tonight, pal! hehe" chuckled Harry, opening up his palms. 

 

"No no, seriously..." he added, slouching onto the wall in a serious, and seriously crumpled, posture. "We are here to enjoy the fight, you know? Nothing like the thrill of the gladiator is there? We may pretend we are civilised and all, but you know, at the end of the day, we are animals at heart, am I right? or am I right?"

 

He hoped the sweat on his brow was not to obvious, or if obvious, not to incongruous. 

 

"I have myself a champion!" he said with enthusiasm, bending a thumb over to Freddy, who frowned at the thought and the implication. 

 

"And we would like to earn our selves some top dollar in the ring!"

[Thevshi]

Climbing inside the busted out skylight, Crimson Tiger was able to swing herself over to one of the support beams for roof of the old industrial building.  It consisted of several massive steel beams, connected together by crossing supports, providing the heroine enough space to crouch down with something to hold on as she made her way along towards the part of the old building she was hearing the voices.

 

Now that her angle was better, Crimson Tiger could see that a bunch of portable lights had been set up in an area in the center of the old building.  Moving closer, she could see that the area had several balconies over a section of the main floor.  On those balconies were gathered somewhere around a hundred people, the source of the voices, the apparent audience of the fights that would be taking place down on the main floor below.

 

---

 

The large man did not look very amused by Harry's joke about taking all his money, but did not say anything.  When the rumpled detective mentioned having a fighter, he glanced over towards Freddy a moment, studying him a bit before looking down at Harry.  "Well, if you think he can handle it, that's your business."  He stated.  "Just pay your admission fees like everyone else.  Once you go through, stick to the right hand side and you'll find some stairs that will take you down to the main floor.  Just ask for Hector, he will handle getting your fighter signed up."

 

As she was looking around, Lucy came to the realization that not only was she the only woman she could see thus far, she was also considerably over dressed compared to most of the men making their way into the building to watch the fights.

[Supercape]

NPC

 

"You are the man!" said Harry, giving two thumbs up and resisting the urge to high five the man. Partly because it would look distinctly stupid, partly because he reckoned the man would probably break half the bones in his hand if he did so. 

 

"Hector is it?" he needlessly asked, his mind dashing through the various lowlifes he had come across to see if any would fit the bill. He knew a few Hector's of course from his many years in the force, but nobody slotted into place. 

 

"You got it! Come on Fre...err...Fernando..." he twisted. 

 

"That's right. Fernando the Furious! Short on hight, Tall on fist!" he blurted. 

 

"Who are you calling sho...?" began the Mess. 

 

"Nobody, Furious Fernando!" interrupted the Hound, giving his partner a friendly clip round the ear. 

 

"Your up! lets get going! Come on honey!" he added to Revenant as he grasped each of his partners - more as shields than anything - and marched into the frenzy. 

[Tiffany Korta]

If they were going to get to the bottom of all this they’d probably need to play the part, at least for a little while. She dropped into a thick Freedom accent that she hadn’t used since she a kid.

“My Fernando here is one of the best fighter I’ve ever seen. We were hoping he’d get a chance to show off what he could do, if you not afraid you lose some of that money of yours?â€

She leaned over and gave Freddy a kiss on the cheek before hanging off his arm like some kind of trophy. Whispering sweet nothings into his ears.

“Don’t get any idea here, it’s all for show. I’m old enough to be you great-Grandmother.â€

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger decided to sit and watch the fighting. If something bad broke out, she could jump in and try to help. She doubted truly superhuman opponents were present, but she didn't consider it impossible. Anyone with enough power could probably earn money as muscle, instead of in this arena.

 

So she stood, kept out of sight, and watched carefully. Not just the fights, but the whole area.

[Thevshi]

After paying their admission fee, the trio made their way doorway towards the lights and sound of voices beyond.  After heading down a short hallway, with a couple of closed doors on either side, the three came into a large open area that had once housed the manufacturing operations that had taken place in the building. 

 

Well over a hundred people were gathered on raised sections of the manufacturing floor, which served as balconies overlooking a section of the factory floor which had been cleared, a small ring set up in the middle.  A large number of portable lights had been set up to light the area from a number of angles.  In addition to appearing to be all men, the gathered spectators were all dressed in more blue collar clothes, which served to make Lucy’s choice in her black dress stand out all the more.

 

Thankfully most of those nearby were currently focused down on the area below, so Lucy only drew a few stares before she made her way down the stairs the man outside had indicated along with Harry and Freddy.

 

The area down below was less brightly lit than the space above, with most of the lightly focused on the "arena," the area under the raise balconies was mainly in shadows or dimly lit.  There were a couple of dozen men gathered around, at least a dozen of whom were clearly fighters waiting for the start of the nights competition.   

 

Before the trio could move very far from the stairway that had brought them down to this lower level, a Latino man in his late twenties came walking over towards them, followed closely behind by a large, thick necked man.  "Hey, you all lookin' to enter a fighter?"  He asked with a slight accent.

[Supercape]

NPC

 

Harry's eyes darted from left to right furtively. He really didn't feel inclined to put his friend through another bout. The Mess loved to fight, but he had done his share of illegal bare knuckle boxing in his youth, and was not inclined to do so again. He could feel his partner's tension and nerves. 

 

His nose was assaulted by the smell of sweat and beer. 

 

"Thats right my friend! Fernando the Furious! he's your man, he'll take on anybody! give him your best!" he said, swooping an energetic fist and giving his best smile. 

 

He turned to whisper to the Mess. 

 

"Look buddy, I know this isn't your scene any more, but if you go undercover here, then we can see what game they are really playing..."

 

"I dunno, Harry, you know I never back down from a brawl...but still...." he answered uncertainly. 

 

"Just get in there and do your stuff...."

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy lent in and added her opinion to the discussion, Freddy would probably do the right thing. But the gentle encouragement wouldn’t help.

“It’s either you or me that does the fighting. And whilst I could more than handle myself, even before, I think it would rather give us away.â€

Freddy was the kind of guy who would let a dame go into trouble, even if said dame could kick both their asses. They needed the time to get a feel for the audience and find out exactly who was pulling the strings in this operation.

[Thevshi]

"Fernando the Furious?"  The Latino man, presumably Hector, replied with some amusement in his voice as he glanced over at Freddy, looking him over for a few moments before looking back to Harry.  "Sure, you can have your boy entered.  But like anyone else, he has to prove himself before he gets a shot at the main matches." 

Looking down at a clipboard he had for a moment, he took out a pen and began to cross something out and then started writing.  "You boy will be in the second bout.  So he might want to start getting warmed up."

With that Hector turned and walked away, followed by his large bodyguard.

[Supercape]

"I dunno about this, Harry, mumbled the Mess, shaking his shoulders in an attempt to limber up. 

 

"I ain't gonna be bustin' some schmuck's head open. It ain't fair, it ain't right. I got the advantage..." he said to himself. 

 

"Just take it easy on him then, my friend!" replied the Hound, stroking his chin at the possibilities. He was sure Harry could handle himself against any regular fighter in the ring. He could pretty much handle himself against most metahumans when it came to a straight game of pugilism. What he wanted to know was who the champ here was...partly, despite his confidence, because he didn't want his friend in trouble. 

 

"You got it!" replied the Mess, giving a thumbs up. 

 

"I'll keep it low-key!" he said, giving a few jabs and crosses to his shadow to warm up. 

[Thevshi]

As Freddy began warming up slightly, Harry and Lucy settled in to observe the others around them and wait the event to start.  High up above, in shadowy section of the support beams for the roof, Crimson Tiger continued to observe the scene below. 

 

As she watched, the teenage heroine was able to identify several men which she took to be bookies or the like, making their way around the edges of the crowd, appearing to take bets from the spectators.  Each of them were accompanied by tough looking thug which Crimson Tiger had the distinct impression was armed.  In all, there appeared to be about five of these bookies and their bodyguards.  Scattered around the spectator areas, Crimson counted about six other thugs who were clearly on the lookout for any trouble makers or other problems. 

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger looked at the men, but had no reason to attack them. Sure, they were armed security in an illegal fighting area, but she hadn't witnessed them doing anything bad. She backed up, slowly, making sure that they didn't see her. She couldn't very well avoid a fight then if they did. She was certainly the kind of person they wouldn't want poking around in their illegal fighting area.

[Tiffany Korta]

As they took there seat’s she picked out the potential troublemakers in case thing ended, as they tended to, with trouble breaking out.

In her time in the 21st century Lucy was still surprised by how much some things had changed. But it was more surprising how many things had stayed the say. Or as someone put it Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

All the bookies, guards and general spectators reminded her of the same kind of sorts that existed back in the 20’s. It was just that everyone was so much better dressed in the 20’s, but then again not everything changed for the better.

[Thevshi]

Lucy and Harry settled into the small seating section underneath the main viewing section where the spectators were from which they would watch the fights.  High above the floor of the old factory, Crimson Tiger noted that the follow of spectators began to slow and then halt all together. 

 

Up in the raise sections where the spectators were, Crimson Tiger saw the bookies taking the last bets for the first round and then things began to quite down slightly as the first two fighters took to the makeshift ring set up down on the old factory floor.  Both men were mixed-martial arts fighters, and as Crimson watched them, she noted they were not bad, but she could easily take either one, not to mention both together.  There was a referee out in the ring, but it quickly became apparent that the ref was likely only there to declare when the fight was over, as the two fighters began circling one another, sizing each other up before one moved in to launch his first attack…

[Thevshi]

The two men traded a series of attacks at the start of the match, both scoring hits, but nothing decisive.  The crowd above was cheering with each attack, the excitement in the air building as the match continued.  After about a minute, both men had taken a few hits, one was bleeding from a small gash on his left cheek, the other from a cut on his upper left arm.  The sight of blood seemed to have the crowd cheering louder as they continued closely circling one another, trying to look for the perfect opening as they continued to trade attacks.

 

Then, one of the two managed to land a solid knee strike to the torso of the other, dazing the man.  The man who delivered the knee strike quickly followed up with a left jab, causing his target to stagger back a few steps.  Following after, the man then executed a spinning roundhouse kick, connecting squarely with the side of his targets head.  The struck man spun nearly all the way around from the force of the kick before dropping hard onto the concrete floor. 

 

At this point the ref stepped in, waving the aggressor back as he checked the man on the ground a brief moment before starting a countdown.  The man on the ground tried to push himself back upright, but slipped back down, still very much in a daze as the crowd was cheering and yelling overhead.  Reaching ten, the first match of the evening came to an end.

 

Then it was time for Freddy's match…

[Supercape]

Freddy stepped nervously into the ring. It was all so familiar, but he disliked this. He knew well enough how to fight, and was confident enough. It was more that he didn't want to fight - he felt his mutant abilities gave him a terrible advantage. 

 

So for now, he cooled his blood, letting its power wane and keeping it in check. He would face whoever he was matched against as a man. 

 

Admittedly, he was still built like a brick. What he lacked in reach, he made up for in a powerful frame loaded with slabs of muscle. He looked like he had hit the steroids more than a few times, but it was just a result of his squat form and hours at the gym pumping away. 

 

"Ah'm ready. Send your stiff in..." he gestured at the compere - he wasn't entirely sure what the rules were. But for now, he would play it like a boxing match. 

[Thevshi]

A moment after Freddy had made his way out into the ring, his opponent entered as well, a young African American man in his early twenties.  The young man towered over Freddy, standing about six feet tall, and was well built, but not as thick as the shorter private investigator.  Watching how his opponent moved, Freddy was fairly certain that he was a boxer as well, and he certainly had a longer reached than the private investigator.

 

Up on the balconies where the spectators were gathered some were gathering their winnings from the previous bout, while those that had lost were looking forward to the next match and a chance to change their fortunes.  The bookies were busy taking bets for the next round, as spectators studied the two men that had made their way out into the ring, trying to look for any hint as to who might be the best prospect.

 

After a couple of minutes, the referee moved up to the center of the ring, calling the two fighters over to him to begin their match.

[Thunder King]

Crimson Tiger, still stalking in the shadows, made her way near the bookies to see their operation. She wondered whether or not anything bad was going on, and watched them handle the money. So far, things looked like they were on the up and up, but her instincts told her something was wrong. She just couldn't figure out what, at least not yet.

[Supercape]

The Mess knew he was a good boxer. Some would say a very good one. But he knew he wasn't the best. There were plenty of boxers who were as good, and many who were better. He knew that well enough - one rule of the streets was to never underestimate anybody. 

 

And least of all a man who had stepped into this ring. 

 

He shouldered his arms and took a few cautious steps in. 

 

Dude's taller than me, faster maybe, and know's how to box...

 

Still, he could feel his supercharged blood invogorating his muscles...he had the edge, stronger and tougher. Maybe on another day he would have fought him without his improved strength. But today, he felt the weight of importance on him. And besides, he didn't want to be in the ring longer than he should. This whole place made him uneasy, made him feel like a kid again, fighting for the Mafia. 

 

He ducked in, quickly, and instead of an uppercut, elected to throw off a quick, but effective, jab into the Man's face. 

[Thevshi]

Bloody Mess

Freddy managed to land his quick jab on his opponent, but the larger man either was just able to pull his head back slightly so that the impact was lessened.  The man snapped his focus back on Freddy in an instant, and launched his own jab at the private investigator almost as quickly.  But Freddy was easily able to duck under the attack, slipping off to one side.

 

Crimson Tiger

 

Moving down towards where some of the bookies were set up was not an easy thing, given that Crimson Tiger had been hiding up in the rafters of the old factory.  But, she took her time, sticking to the shadows and making her way over towards one of the support columns.  Thankfully her task was made somewhat easier by the fact that no one was looking up, the majority having their attentions focused on what was going on down in the makeshift ring, or in a few cases, on those in the crowd, looking for signs of trouble.

 

Soon the Asian teen was hidden nearby the pair of men who had been taking bets on one side of the "stands."  With a new fight having just begun, they were momentarily without anything to do other than watch and talk.  The superheroine had apparently arrived in the middle of their conversation as one of the men seemed to be explaining some things to the other, apparently a newcomer to the operation.

 

"Yeah, so if someone is able to prove themselves down in the ring here, we often kick them on up to the next level."  Said one of the two men.

 

"The next level?"  Asked the second man.

 

"See, the guys that fight here can do okay, sometimes winning a fair bit by placing bets on themselves and winning fights.  But they can often end up with broken bones and other injuries that can put them out for a long time.  When they move up to the next level, a fighting ring run by a mob family over in Greenbank, then they have the chance for even bigger paydays."  The first explained.  "Of course, the risks are a bit higher as well.  I heard last month one of the fighters there died during a fight."