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Lock, Fist and Purr (IC)


Thevshi

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Once the paint was prepared, Rene moved over to a blank canvas which he considered for a moment before his eyes seemed to glaze over and his hand holding the paintbrush began to move almost on its own accord.  Rene was made sweeping broad strokes across the canvas, as his eyes seemed focused on something far, far away.

 

After a few minutes of painting, Rene stopped, his eyes refocusing as he came out of the trance. 

 

The painting in front of him turned out not to be a portrait of the thief, but a painting of an old warehouse.  The building looked like it could be any one of similar buildings throughout Freedom City.  The question was where it might actually be located.  And how it was connected to the thief.

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Lucy watching with some fascination as he carried out his work, she knew he some talent’s as both an artist and a magician but it was still a wonder to see it in action. It was a shame that in this case the result, whilst amazing, weren't exactly the most enlightening of results.


“Well it something I suppose.†she tried not to sound too disappointed “And with other evidence I’m sure we'll be able to find them.â€


A very reluctant thought stuck her maybe she was still thinking like a 20th Century girl, maybe she wasn’t that different to Rene in that manner.

 

“Do you have one of those portable telephones? I’m sure I heard somewhere that you send images over those thing. My partners might have a better idea than me of where we can find this place.â€

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Rene

 

"Portable Telephones? Mpf!" replied Rene in a condescending tone. "A scourge on society! What happened to ze art of conversation? To ze elegance of ze written letter! ze next thing, you will be asking me if I have a computer! pfah!"

 

He poured himself another glass of wine to rid himself of the taste of the 21st Century and its inhumanities. 

 

He pointed to his regular land line, with its circular dail up. "This, madam, serves me perfectly well, and has ze added quality of style, which trumps ze modern fetish for function any day!"

 

In a flourish, he stood up and picked up the canvas, handing it, with a smile, at Lucy. 

 

"On ze other hand, the best thing is ze original, non? take it! it belongs to you, who inspired it! I am sure the original is ze best, capturing the intangible more than any copy. All I ask is that you tell me the story behind it one day!"

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Lucy smiled a gracefully took the painting, she knew better than to argue with Rene he could be incredibly stubborn. She struggled with new technology almost as much as Rene, she had over 80 years of catching up to do after all. But she did appreciate how use the technology could be, even if she couldn’t operate the things.


“Thank you Rene. We’ll get together for lunch and I’ll tell you all about it, I believe it your turn to pay.â€

 

Whilst the painting was nice and all she really needed to get the image sent to Fred so that he could check with his contacts if they knew where this warehouse was located.

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With her painting in hand (thankfully the magical paint dried very quickly), Lucy set out from Rene's home.  Retracing her route back towards the subway station, the undead lawyer was soon back among the many shops and restaurants that filled many parts of Riverside.  A few blocks from the entrance to the subway, she came to a halt as she saw a sign for an internet cafe.

 

Making her way inside, Lucy was rather quickly assisted by one of the employees.  The young man, Alan, allowed Lucy to use the phone to contact Harry about how she could send him the picture.  This led to Harry handing to phone over to Lance.  Before too long, Alan was on the phone with Harry's contact, and the two were talking rather quickly in computer jargon neither Lucy nor Harry could quite follow.  But was only a few minutes later that Alan had taken a picture of the painting with a camera hooked up to a computer and sent the image off to Lance.

 

Once Lance had the image, he put it into a program he had that would search for visual matches of the building in a number of databases. 

 

"It could take a bit of time to get a match."  He stated to Harry, who was now back on the phone with Lucy.  "I can give you a call once I get something."

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Whilst Lucy was a lot more open minded about technology than Rene she still struggled with anything more complex than a Radiogram, so she was more than happy to let Alan to handle all the technical detail. It was all really fascinating and she drank it up with a sparkle in her eyes, though she wasn’t quite ready to do it all for herself. She gave Alan a little peck on the cheek by way of a thankyou before returning her attention to Harry.

 

“Is there anything else that I should check out? Or should I just meet you back at the office? This is going on your wall by the way.†she gestured to Rene’s painting “It can replace that pinup you both seem to like...â€

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"What pinup?" blustered Harry, fiddling with his tie. 

 

"You mean the illustrated calender? *cough* well, we gotta keep that, y'know, on account of being professional, y'know. Important to keep track of time and everything. You know, so we can keep track of important dates and everything"

 

Truth was, it was stuck on May 2011. But Wendy Peaks was a real knockout. He hoped, against all experience of Lucy's eye, that she hadn't noticed the date. 

 

"Anyway, we better stay on track with this investigation. No time for idle chit chat, eh? good work with that painting. Lets see what Lance can run on it. Meantime, I think we should catch up at the agency. Perhaps Lance may have something for us by then. If not, we can plan what to do next" he explained. 

 

"Come on, big guy" he said to his short but powerful friend. "Lets go back and catch up with the lady, and see if we can't beat her to it, and change the Calender to this month before she notices..."

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Alan blushed a bit at Lucy's kiss before making his way over to help a new customer at the internet cafe, leaving Lucy to finish speaking with Harry on the phone.

 

With the decision made to meet back up at the agency, Lucy gathered up the paining and continued back on her way to the subway to make her way back to the Fens.  Over in Greenville, Harry and Freddy piled back into the Caddy and began their drive back to the agency as well.

 

Harry and Freddy did end up reaching the offices first, as they did not have to wait for subway cars or the various stops between the Riverside and Lexington Station in the Theater District, where Lucy had to change lines to continue on into the Fens.

 

It was not too long after Lucy had gotten back that the phone rang.  Lance was on the other line after Harry picked up.  "Hey Harry, I have one possible match so far for the building in that picture, an old warehouse over in Greenbank, just west of the Mona-Glenn Bridge."

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The Mess may have been a bit slow on the uptake, but fear of Lucy's withering gaze had focussed his mind. As soon as they were in to the Agency, after his partners fumbling fingers had dropped the keys twice in sweaty fingers desperate to beat Lucy there, he bounded to the Calender and flipped it to December 2013, where Jane Hoopers sizzlin' photo promised to "spread some winter heat". 

 

"That's great Lance" said Harry, mopping his brow. "Mona-Glenn Bridge. I got it. I think I even know the place from back in the day" he said, rubbing his forehead. Being a beat cop, you tended to get a handle on the lines and furrows of the city. 

 

He was almost tempted to make off without Lucy, to avoid a discussion on hanging the painting. But despite the temptation, his cowardly essence would triumph over transitory shame any day of the week. 

 

"Keep the chevvy warm, partner. We just got to wait for the old 'gal and then we can check it out!"

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  • 2 weeks later...

When Lucy came in through the door she didn’t say anything at first only raising an eyebrow at the change of moths on the calendar. After a few moments consideration she placed Rene’s painting just below where the calendar was hung, suggesting that this conversation wasn’t over just yet...


“Not so much with the Gal if you please, though I’ll have to give you the old.†her normal smile returned to her face

 

“So I guess you’ve managed to find another clue to this robbery? Well you can tell me all about it on the way.â€

Edited by TiffanyKorta
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The three make their way back outside and climb into the Caddy. The rather worn Cadillac required a bit of coaxing this time, but was soon making its way back through the dirty streets of the Fens towards the location Lance had told them was a possibility for the warehouse in the painting. Harry filled Lucy in on the possible hit while Freddy steered them through the busy traffic.

A short while later, the trio were passing under the Mona-Glenn Bridge where the interstate passed over this section of the Fens, continuing further north through the western end of downtown. While the Fens was filled with rundown buildings, those gathered in this section of the Fens' waterfront were particularly decrepit. Most were dark and boarded up.

Freddy slowed the Caddy down as the came to the warehouse that Lance had indicated. Several windows were boarded up, and there was a rusting semi trailer parked out in front of one of the garage doors. But it certainly did look like the building in Rene's painting.

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"Damn it, that voodoo bull actually worked" whistled the Hound through his teeth as he got out of the Caddy and stuffed his hands into his mac, drinking in the sight of the warehouse. 

 

"I don't like it, man" said the Mess, lumbering up beside him, cracking his knuckles. "This is a no-good shack in a no-good street in a no-good side of town" he explained, shifting his eyes left and right. 

 

"We best watch our backs. I got yers, buddy" he said, grinning and giving the Hound a pat on the back which was just a little bit too hard, propelling the Hound a few inches forward. 

 

"Yeah, yeah, ya lug, I knows that. Whose got yours?" said the Hound, under his breath but audible all the same. 

 

"Well, I guess this needs looking into. That you two's jobs" he continued, pointing at Revenant and the Mess. "I'll just stay here and make sure our wheels don't get jacked, hmm?" he said, leaning against the temperamental car.

 

The Mess shrugged in agreement. The warehouse did look pretty shifty and dangerous to his eyes, and no doubt to Revenants and Harry's too. 

 

"Well I guess we are up, ma'am" he said, nodding to Lucy. 

 

"Lets try the sneaky, today?" he inquired of her. And with that, he leant back, and with a back breaking curl, bent forward to expel a gush of blood from his mouth. His body shrivelled and dried as his blood left his body, leaving a two foot high animated body standing in front of the now inanimate body of Bloody Mess. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

With Harry remaining outside with the car, Lucy and Freddy (now a two foot tall animated liquid body of blood) made their way into the decrepit warehouse, trying their best to be stealthy.  In his new form, Freddy was able to be relatively sneaky, moving into some of the many shadows that were present just inside the warehouse.  Lucy on the other hand was not doing quite as good a job at being quiet or unobserved.

 

The inside of the warehouse was no better than the outside.  The lobby had cheap wallpaper peeling from the walls, there were bits of broken furniture everywhere, covered in a layer of dust and dirt.  Past the lobby area was the large open space of the main warehouse, with a few stacks of old crates, but mostly appearing to be empty, at least as near as Lucy and Freddy could make out.  No lights were on in the cavernous room, but some sunlight streamed in from a few skylights, providing some lighting in scattered areas, but casting much of the room in dark shadows.

 

There was one source of non-natural light in the room, along the left side wall about halfway into the warehouse.  The pair could make out what appeared to be some sort of office with the light on inside.

 

But before either could start towards the lit office, or otherwise decide how they wanted to proceed, Lucy felt something hard strike her in the upper back with enough force to send a dull ache through her shoulders.  Immediately following the surprise blow, something long and snakelike was trying to wrap around her and trap her.  She managed to push herself free from the coiling embrace, realizing as she pushed free that she had almost been trapped by strands of long, brown hair...

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Lucy never was your traditional girly, girl, a rather rough time growing up around other urchins had meant that when she fought she fought proper. But she had also learned that when you had to fight dirty you used everything that you could.

 

So whilst her eyes cut through the darkness looking the owner of such prehensile hair, she was already reaching out to grab lumps of the stuff to try and bring it’s owner to them. When she got what she hoped was a solid grip she began to try and drag the owner towards here.

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The Mess blinked. A messy business, seeing as his eyeballs and eyes were just stodgy fizzing blood. 

 

"What da hell?" he muttered loudly. The hair was, he reckoned, a dames. And you don't hit dames. Well, dames hit dames, but Lucy shouldn't be pulling hair. 

 

He had grown up in the Fens. He was no stranger to cat-fights, nasty and brutal as any other. Nails, gouges, hair pulling, the lot. This was dirty fighting, even for him. But hair pulling with Lucy's strength could scalp a dame. 

 

He boldly, valiantly, jumped in between the two of them, a splodge of blood in between some living hair and an undead lawyer. 

 

"Hold up! Hold up! You can't pull the hair of a gal!" he shouted to Lucy, spreading his arms in between the two. He was not sure who he was protecting, and from whom. 

 

"This ain't right! no girl fights!"

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Lucy had managed to grab a big handful of the incredibly long locks of hair, but as she tried to tighten her grip and pull, the steel like hair pulled itself free from her grasp.

 

When the squat humanoid shaped mass of blood positioned itself between the hair and the undead lawyer, there was a chuckle from somewhere up in the darkness that hid the warehouse's rafters and ceiling.  "So, we have a true gentleman?  Of sorts."  A female voice called out, echoing around the mostly empty warehouse.

 

The long locks of brown hair retracted back up into the darkness as the voice spoke again.  "So, if we shouldn't be fighting, that mean you are just going to let me be on my way?"

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Lucy had know the two detectives long enough to not be totally surprised by their actions, though she found it amusing that they sometimes had more of a ‘20 mindset than she did (without thankfully some of the worst attitudes). And she’d lived in those time.  


Instead she focused on trying to find out who her enemy. or potential enemy, was with her coal black eyes pierced the darkness searching for the source of the voice, with a little smile as she spotted the source of the voice.

 

 

“Not right now, we just need you to answer a few questions.â€

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The bloody blob of the Mess scratched its not existent hair, bubbling up the turgid fluid that passed for his head. 

 

"Yeah..I mean no...I mean...." he bumbled, not knowing what to do. 

 

"Look, lady, whoever you are..." he started. "...we can't just let ya go, ya know? we gotsa job to do! we are investamigating, you know? we gotsta ask you some questions, and, you know, do some deducting stuff..." he said, crawling through his brain to recall some of Harry's jargon and stock phrases. 

 

"It's not right to hit a broad, I mean a dame...that ain't gentlemanlike. Buts we cant let you walks outa here. We just gotta grab you and restrain you, like in da cop shows..." he said, lamely. He was well out of his depth, and he had the sense to know it. 

 

"But no hair pulling!" he added reassuringly, giving Lucy a bloody eye. 

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"Well, then we have a bit of a problem."  Came the voice from above.  "I don't really see what I get out of the deal, other than maybe saving myself some bruises."

 

"Sorry, but I value my freedom a bit too much to just come along meekly."

 

Now that Lucy had spotted the woman up above, she was able to tracker her in the shadows as the figure suddenly crossed the space from the rafter she was on to another forty feet further away from Lucy and Mess.  The movement had been a bit strange, not a leap, but almost as if she had swung over there somehow.

 

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So much for gallantry!


She began to follow the woman's progress through the warehouse, gesturing for Fred to go the other way. Hopefully she could convince the woman that they didn't know exactly where she was.


As she followed she considered her options. She could definitely make it up to the beam but didn't know if she could stay up or keep up with such a dexterous opponent, she wished for once that she could actually fly like some of the other heroes. She. could try to force her down, but that would risk bringing down parts of the warehouse. At the moment the best idea was to follow her and try to catch her on the ground.

 

"Is that it? A few snide words and then you run? You at least owe the gentleman a confession from the shadows."

Edited by TiffanyKorta
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Despite Lucy's signal to go the other way, the short humanoid figure that was Bloody Mess followed after her.  Or maybe the pugilist turned private detective had misunderstood, or was just stubborn.  Whatever the case, the pair began shadowing after the woman up in the rafters.

 

"Confession?"  Called back the woman.  "Well, I have been a bit of a bad girl, but without being a bit more specific, we could be here a long time if I have to confess to it all."

 

The figure swung or leaped, or whatever she was doing once again, moving to another rafter over to a side of the rooftop.

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To keep up with the fleeing woman Lucy had to give a little burst of speed, leaving poor Fred on his own. Still she didn't think the woman would harm a hair on his ugly little head, and besides he could more than look after himself.


“Well we we’re looking to recover a Foo Dog stolen from the docks the other night. It was fairly amteaur works, which is why we thought it might be one of yours...â€

 

Someone who didn’t flee the moment they could, and instead taunted her foes, had a massive ego something she was hoping to use to her advantage.

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"Damn this! Get down here!" shouted the Mess to the figure in the rafters. He hated chasing Dames. 

 

He clenched up, willing his blood to supercharge, and so it did. A fizzing, popping sound, and suddenly his form exploded, rippling with energy and with thick, mighty arms and legs. It was impressive enough when he was in his fleshy body, but as the animated blood, it was like watching ketchup turn to pink champagne. 

 

Suitably energised, he leapt high and fast to the ceiling, his head gently brushing the ceiling with a soft "splodge", and there he stood, dangling by his head, casting his eyes around him. 

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Even peering in the general direction of where Lucy had been heading, Mess was still unable to spot the thief.  The shadows up in the rafters were still concealing her, at least for the moment.

 

"Oh, well, that was me."  Came the voice from the darkness.  "But I don't have the statute any longer.  And seeing as I have no plan on going to jail and you don't want to let me just leave, I will just have to make my exit."

 

Lucy saw that around the figure in the shadows, a large mass of hair seemed to suddenly form and then strike out towards the side of the roof like a giant fist.  A large chunk of the roof was knocked out, letting in the afternoon sunlight from outside, something that Mess was able to hone in on.  Both he and Lucy could now more clearly see the supervillainess, a woman in a black costume with some green trim and very long brown hair.  a thick strand of that hair stretched out of the hole she had just created, and a moment later she was pulled out along after it...

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Expect the villain to run at some point Lucy had been ready for her to bolt. Whilst she couldn’t make the distance with a jump, sometimes it was a shame that she hadn’t inherited the gift of flight, she could put on a burst of speed that should at least allow her to keep up. And she could keep at that speed almost indefinitely.


“Fred get to the car I’ll try to keep up with her.â€

 

Taking off after the woman she went for the safest but shortest route that she could take, with the minimal necessary property damage.

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