Night of the Garrote (IC)

[Thevshi]

"We have had the guys in the lab look it over." Erickson replied. "It is indeed eighty years old. It was likely dropped by whomever stole the other contents of the time capsule while they were fleeing through the alley where you found it." The detective paused for a moment, then continued. "As for why it was in the time capsule, well, like the cloak and gloves, it does not fit with the other contents of the capsule. Given the timing of Simmons disappearance in relation to the old Garrote murders, it seems rather possible that Zeke Simmons was the Garrote. Though what happened to him after he was wounded by the patrol officer who came across him is still something of a mystery."

Lance shook his head at Coiled Lightning’s question about whether there was any relation between Bittman and Simmons. "No, I have not been able to uncover any connection between Bittman and Simmons. I have been able to learn that Simmons had a son, Tony Simmons, who was about ten in 1933. But I have not been able to uncover anything on him."

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"Tony would be 90 by now, then. Not likely to be directly involved, but maybe trying to cover up something about his father?" Charlie sighed, all the lines of clues seemed so disconnected. Unless there was something really special about that cape and this wasn't just a matter of hiding evidence.

"It doesn't seem like we're going to piece any of this together unless we recover that evidence." The hero suggested, "I might go have a talk with Bittman, I'm sure he knows something. I just have to try not to scare him off, probably show some interest in his museum first."

[Thevshi]

"Well, this is Freedom City.  There are some amazingly spry ninety year olds running around."  Lance replied with a small smile.  "But most likely he was not climbing up a fire escape to break into a upper floor window.  Problem is we don't know if he is still in Freedom City, or even alive.  It's possible he could have died decades ago, and his obituary has just never been placed in any online database."

 

"Yeah, there is a lot that does not quite line up, at least not yet."  Detective Erickson replied.  "As for how you should proceed, well, I need to walk a very delicate line here.  As a costumed hero, there are things you can do within the law that I cannot.  But there also cannot be any suggestion that I am directing your efforts, or you fall under the same restrictions that I have.  I just wanted to share with you what we have learned, but what you do with that is your choice."

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"Yes, of course" Coiled Lightning said, "probably best for you if I don't share my plans. Thanks for showing me all this. I'd like to say it's been an honor working with you guys. If you do turn up more on Simmons, let me know. Is there anything I can help you with right now?"

 

Charlie was itching to get back out on the streets and try to make some sense of the scattering of clues. Once he left the office, he found a place to change back to his civilian clothes and headed to the wax musuem, wouldn't hurt to see what Mr. Bittman had on display before he started investigations of questionable legality.

[Thevshi]

"Just try your best to keep us updated with anything you find out."  Detective Erickson stated as he saw Coiled Lightning back out to the entrance to the precinct.  From there, the costumed hero quickly made his way back to where he had changed and was then once again making his way down the streets as Charlie Stevens.

 

It was a short subway ride from near the precinct down to the Theater District.  The neighborhood of the Theater District was numerous small apartment buildings clustered around numerous local theaters and clubs, which offered a wide range of performance options, from Broadway-style plays, to stand up comedy, to any number of live bands.  Despite the recent murder, there was still a good sized crowd on the streets this evening, although people seemed perhaps a bit more wary and tended to be in groups.

 

Bittman's museum was off in the southwest corner of the neighborhood, south of Broadway and just a few blocks from the border with the Fens.  The buildings around it were a bit more rundown and dingy than in most of the Theater District, and the streets much less crowded.  The museum was something of an oddity for the Theater District, which primarily focused on live performances, as opposed to static displays of art.  It probably would have been more at home in Riverside these days than this part of Freedom City, and perhaps had been started when the area was a bit more mixed in terms of its venues. 

 

The museum was a three story building, a bit dingy, with a bright Marque with large light bulbs around the outer edges, an occasional bulb burned out or broken.  Bars covered the lower windows of the building, which were painted over.  The entrance to the museum was a small space set back from the main sidewalk, creating something of a vestibule before the two double glass doors into the building.  A ticket booth sat in the middle of the space, with a somewhat bored looking young man sitting behind the thick glass.  Retractable metal gates were visible on either side of the space, to be pulled close to seal it off from the sidewalk after closing. 

 

According to the sign on the ticket booth, Charlie had just under half an hour before the museum would be closing for the night.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie bought a ticket and smiled at the young man behind the glass. "Almost quitting time!" he said as he went inside, hoping to cheer the kid up. But he's probably annoyed with me showing up so late, Charlie thought, afraid I'll be lingering after hours and making him wait.

 

But, he had work to do. He tried to make a brisk circuit of the museum, without looking suspicious. He couldn't shake the creepiness of the unmoving, nearly lifelike faces. It seemed every one was staring at him. Charlie tried to make himself focus, he didn't have much time before closing. He suspected there would be a display involving the garrote murders somewhere, but probably more important would be finding the office and any accessible windows.

[Thevshi]

Making his way through one of the two double doors, Charlie entered the foyer of the museum. It was a long hallway that went back into about the middle of the building, where a wide staircase went up to the floor above, with an elevator nearby for those unable to take the stairs. There were several open doorways to smaller rooms along the length of the hallway, leading into various exhibit spaces beyond. Beside each was a wax figure representing the theme of the individual rooms.

Charlie made a quick pass through the first level rooms, which contained wax figures of various celebrities, another which had various famous superheroes, others on the floor held historical wax figures from various periods of history. None of the windows along this floor looked to be easily accessible, particularly given the bars he had seen outside, which he presumed were in place all the way around the building. There were two emergency exits, one toward the back of the building, another that exited to one side. There were firestairs near each emergency exit, allowing people from the floor above a way down. As he passed behind the main staircase, Charlie saw a door marked "Employees Only," but he was not sure where it might lead.

The pass used up about half of his time, as he had heard an announcement over speakers that the museum would be closing in ten minutes as he went. The voice was not the young man manning the ticket booth, but sounded like an older man, who's voice was somewhat tired, and downcast.

The second floor contained the more macabre exhibits, with a section for various movie monsters, another about medieval torture devices and similar creepy subjects. The windows did not look much more useful on this floor, but Charlie noted one of the firestairs had a sign on it that indicated it provided roof access. There was also one back corner of the floor that was closed off with "Employees Only" signs, likely leading back to the backroom and office areas.

Then, in one of the last rooms he was passing through back toward the main stairway, he found display for the Garrote, near other infamous murders, such as Jack the Ripper. The statue was dressed in a suit, with a dark cloak and hood, which covered most of its face. It was not far off from what the real cloak had looked like, but still there were some noticeable differences.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

 Charlie looked with care at the fire-stairs. Contrary to the "Emergency Only" warning signs, he saw no evidence locks or alarms on the doors to keep out an inquisitive hero. With nothing too interesting to see while the museum was open, Charlie slipped through the door and up to the roof level. Checking for an alarm there as well, he quietly propped the door open to enable a late-night visit. Then he returned back to the serial killer exhibit, hoping no one had noticed. He idly read all the available information on the Garrote, then wandered over toward the offices as closing time approached, hoping to run in to Bittman as he closed up shop.

[Thevshi]

Sure enough there was no alarm as Charlie made his way into the stairwell and up to the rooftop door. Once again there was no alarm, the door locked from the inside, so Charlie soon had it almost fully closed with some cloth blocking the latch from securing.

Making his way back into the museum, the meandered along his way as he saw Avery Bittman emerging from the back rooms. The older man had his thick glasses on, his clothes rumpled just as they had been when Charlie had seen him a few nights earlier. He had a somewhat downcast look as he looked about the museum, before focusing his gaze on Charlie.

"I'm sorry sir, but we are closing so you will need to make your way to the exit. But do please come again." He stated, trying to put on a smile.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"I'm sorry to have come so late," Charlie said as he smiled at Avery. "I actually just learned about this place and had to come have a look. I remember visiting one of these museums on a trip to New York as a kid and was really fascinated by them. Kind of a nostalgic thrill but this beats my expectations. These are all really amazing likenesses. Where do you get them all?"

 

He hoped to perk the man up a bit and get him talking by showing interest in his work. It was true, though, the statues weren't as creepy as he was expecting.

[Thevshi]

Bittman did seem to brighten up slightly as Charlie expressed interest in the museum and the wax replicas. "Ah, glad you have such positive memories of your prior visits to a wax museum." He stated as he looked over at one of the nearby displays, a small smile on his face. "I myself grew up around this, my father used to own and operate this museum."

He then glanced back at Charlie. "Well, there are some suppliers of was replicas, but I only have a few of those, and mainly for likenesses where you do not see the features of the subject, such as the executor over there." He pointed over towards a display of a hooded executor wielding a large ax, ready to behead one of King Henry the VIII’s wives. "But the majority of the ones I have here are ones I have made myself. I have a workshop in the basement where I prepare the molds and pour the wax."

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie smiled, "My complements, then. As I said, it's really impressive work, must have taken a long time to learn how to do such good work." He gave one of the nearby statues another examination as he spoke.

 

"But I've taken enough of your time, haven't I." he said, "I don't want to keep you from closing up shop, I know what it's like at the end of the day when you just want to go home. I'll come by for a longer visit another day."

 

He made his way out to the front door and out to the street. Well, he had his plan, sneak back in, and he knew that there must be something juicy down in the workshop. Was Mr. Bittman the new Garrote? Or did he have something else to hide? Charlie found a place to costume up, then found a rooftop perch to wait for the lights to go out and Bittman to go home.

[Thevshi]

"It certainly took a fair amount of trial and error." Bittman replied with a bit of a smile. He certainly was starting to become a bit more animated, talking about his work and the museum. When Charlie indicated leaving so the museum could close, Bittman gave a small nod. "Yes, it is time to close down." He hesitated a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coupons. "But here, take a few free passes, so you can come back, maybe give a few to some friends." The curator then headed off to start taking care of the getting the place closed down.

Charlie was soon back outside and after moving a short distance away and changing back to Coiled Lightning, was soon on a nearby rooftop, watching the building. About thirty minutes after the museum closed up, most of its lights were off, and Coiled Lightning saw the young man that had been manning the ticket boot exit. He closed up the gate across the entrance, locking it, before heading off down the street towards a subway entrance.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie waited a while to make sure Bittman was out of view for good, and then swung over to the top of the museum. He made his way to the rooftop access and carefully, slowly opened the door to slip in. Despite what he had seen before, he half expected alarms to go off, announcing his precense. But with deep breaths he continued down to the lower floor and then creeped over to the employee-only area. He assumed the entrance to Bittman's workshop must be in there somewhere. 

 

He hoped this excursion proved fruitful, he had a nagging apprehension that he was breaking in to an innocent man's workplace. But his gut still told him Bittman was up to something.

[Thevshi]

Moving over to the roof of the museum proved easy, and in no time, Coiled Lightning was making his way down the emergency stairwell and down to the upper floor of the museum, from which he could get down to the main level and look for the way down to the basement. As he made his way down the main stairwell, Coiled Lightning just heard a faint whistling and moved into the shadows of an exhibit, as Bittman came into view, moving down the dark hall with a flashlight in his hand.

The older man moved passed where the hero was hiding, continuing on down the hallway back toward the employee section of the main floor.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie froze in the shadows, holding his breath as Bittman moved past. That was close, he thought as the whistling faded off again in the distance, marking Bittman's progress.

 

More careful this time, Charlie crept out far enough to watch where the older man was going, giving him plenty of distance. Then he followed slowly, quietly, stopping behind statues whenever Bittman seemed to pause or turn up to the employees area where he stopped holding his breath, ear against the door to listen for any activity behind the door.

[Thevshi]

Bittman continued on his way, apparently unaware of Coiled Lightning's presence in the shadows. After waiting a few moments, the hero started forward, following after the older man and keeping to the darkness.

They had moved through most of one section of the museum when Coiled Lightning suddenly became aware of a presence behind him, just as a thin cable came up and over his head to try to wrap around his throat! But even caught off guard, the hero’s reflexes were quick enough that he ducked down and to one side, avoiding the attempt to grapple him with the garrote.

Stepping to one side and turning, he saw a figure in the darkness dressed in an suit and wearing a dark hooded cloak.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Did he hear a breath in his hear at the last moment? Catch a bit of moving shadow out of the corner of his eye? Charlie wasn't sure how he knew, but just as the cable was coming down over his head, he ducked stumbled forward and spun to face his attacker.

There wasn't much light to see, but he could see enough. This had to be the Garrote. Or whoever was pretending to be the Garrote. The whip turned on (Charlie wasn't sure if he did it or not) but he turned up all the sparks and lashed out at the masked man.

As the tip of the whip cracked against the killer's chest, it delivered a high-voltage shock, coursing through the garotte's body and leaving him momentarily disoriented.

Coiled Lightning breathed heavily and looked his attacker over. "You know I have to put a stop to this." he said. "Let's just make it easy."

[Thevshi]

The shock of the electrical whip caused the Garrote to stagger backward a couple of steps, clearly shocked by the attack. But however much the shock had effected the man, the cloaked figure backed away from Coiled Lightning, somehow slipping into the shadows of the dark museum and vanishing from sight.

"So you are one of these 'superheroes.' I had heard of those masked 'mystery men' of old, but never encountered any before. We will see if you can indeed stop me!" A disembodied voice stated from the darkness, seeming to echo all around.

Further up the hallway, Bittman spun around at the sound, shining his flashlight back in the direction and centering the beam on Coiled Lightning. "What? Who are you?" He asked, clearly shocked by the appearance of the costumed man with the electrical whip.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"You have a killer in your museum, Mr. Bittman." Charlie called back over his shoulder as he illuminated the hallway in a shower of sparks. "I suggest you get yourself to safety. I'll handle him before someone else gets hurt, or killed."

 

He looked around himself nervously. Too many places to hide here, too easy for the garrote to get the jump on him. But he scanned the room as best he could, hoping for a chance to at least strike back when the killer attacked. If he doesn't get that loop over my neck first.

[Thevshi]

Bittman back away a moment, clearly shocked and surprised by Coiled Lightning's appearance, and the announcement there was a killer nearby. Then the older man turned and started running back toward the offices.

Meanwhile, the shower of sparks caused by the whip illuminated a wide area around Coiled Lightning, banishing shadows and darkness that had previously been there. The sudden flood of light reveled the dark cloaked figure of the Garrote crouched down near an exhibit about twenty feet from the whip wielding hero.

The Garrote appeared surprised to have been exposed, but recovered quickly, holding out one hand that glowed faintly as one of the wax figures near Coiled Lightning suddenly seemed to leap at the hero. It happened too quickly for Coiled to avoid the wax figure, which slammed into him hard. The hero managed to remain on his feet, as the wax figure toppled onto the ground, but the impact certainly stung.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"Careful," Coiled Lightning warned as he stumbled back from the wax figure. Nothing broken, he thought, that's good. "These statues took a lot of work to put together and are pretty fragile. Don't want to add vandalism to your murder charges."

 

In the light his whip was throwing out, it wasn't hard to pick out the cloaked figure hiding in what used to be shadows. Charlie wasn't sure, but he thought he just saw him throw the statue with just his mind. That would make restraining him harder. Just have to do it the hard way.

 

Still throwing sparks, Coiled Lightning's whip sprang to action lashing out at the Garrote as Charlie stepped toward him. The energy band slashed across the villain's chest and face painfully 

[Thevshi]

The Garrote had just stood back up in order to try and move back into the shadows around him as Coiled Lightning quickly lashed out with his electrical whip. The energy ribbon zapped the dark cloaked man, knocking him backward to the ground from the force of the jolt. The Garrote landed on his back, half sitting back up to look over at Coiled Lightning for a brief moment. "It would appear you are more than capable..." The Garrote managed to weakly state, before he slumped over into unconsciousness.

As the dark cloaked figure lay still, a hush fell over the museum once more, interrupted only by the crackling of Coiled Lightning's electrical whip.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"As capable as any in Freedom City." Charlie replied to the Garrote. Then, with another flourish of the whip, he wrapped the unconscious figure in the energy lash.

 

He stood for a moment, looking at his defeated foe. He could hardly believe he'd done it. This time he'd not only foiled the villain's plan he'd actually captured him. "Today, victory is Coiled Lightning's!" he said with pride.

 

Then, remembering he was not alone, he turned to look for Mr. Bittman. "I don't know what the Garrote was doing in the museum, but I'm glad I was able to stop him before he killed again. Are you ok? Was anyone else here who could have been hurt?"

[Thevshi]

Bittman had not gotten far down the hall when Coiled Lightning had managed to overcome the dark clad criminal. Stopping at the sound of the hero's victory, the curator turned around to regarded the scene, moving a bit close as Coiled Lightning secured the unconscious Garrote in his electrical whip.

As he drew closer once more, Bittman starred at the dark cloaked figure with a strangely fascinated gaze for a few moments before he looked back up at Coiled Lighting. "No, no one else here now. The young man that runs my ticket booth left a short while ago, so it is just me here closing up now."