(2014-06-27) Seeing in the Dark
Seeing in the Dark
Summary: Dr Mid-Nite and Blackout meet in a dark alleyway in the darkness with really long shadows, inky black bombs and darkforce blackness.
Date: IC Date (2014-06-27)
Related: None
NPCs: Count Nefaria
Scene Runner: NA
Social/Plot: Social
Players:
blackout..doctor-mid-nite..

6/27/2014

3AM

-==[ Back Alley — Upper West End ]==-------

A typical alleyway. Moderately high walls on either side, trash, refuse, the occasional dumpster, long shadows, sewer access, random vehicles, entrances into neighboring buildings, many times an exit into another alleyway or onto another street. Often times alleys are used for deliveries, sleeping areas for the homeless, nefarious encounters or unlawful exchanges. Also found in alleys are fire escape ladders to rooftops or upper floors of the surrounding structures.

Dark shadows run long throughout the alleyway as the rising moon peeks into its depths. Blended into the shadows is a figure dressed in all black, face and eyes included. The figure is masculine and seems poised ready to strike.

A few yards from the figure is an iron door with a viewing slit. During the early evening various persons have come to the door, pushed the buzzer, gave the password, and were allowed within. But now that it's pushing 3am, those that entered are sure to leave. One such patron is likely the target of the shadowed figure. Though to what purpose and what design?

An owl hoots.

Somewhere in the sky above the alley, the bird glides on soundless wings — something tiny glinting at its neck. Moments later, there is a second hoot — this time from a building further back from the alley — and the owl abruptly dips one wing in, and circles around.

Outside the alley, oblivious to any goings-on within, pedestrians hurry home from a 'night out' that proved too much of a night out. One pedestrian — a man in a fleece jacket and baseball cap, hangs around the street corner at the mouth of the alley, checking his watch repeatedly.

A second shadowy figure appears atop the opposite building, above.

Oblivious to the newcomer, Blackout remains within the shadows and waits for his prey to emerge.

The iron door opens, out steps a rather large Caucasian man wearing a dark grey business suit with two lovely Asian women on his arms. He seems happy, albeit nefarious in demeanor and proceeds down the two steps from the iron door onto the alley floor. The door shuts behind him as he states to the women, "Ladies, you're about to experience the crescendo of the evening."

In the street a black limo is drawing near to the mouth of the alleyway.

Blackout stirs and raises his right hand which seems to aim at the back of the male and his companions.

The figure in the baseball cap at the mouth of the alley looks up at the limo and blinks. Muttering a curse, he hastily pulls a cellphone out of his pocket and starts calling someone as he edges away from the alley.

From the other building-top, a figure hisses in annoyance — and the owl once again takes silently to the skies… tailing 'Baseball Cap'. The figure, Mid-Nite, pauses momentarily and starts making his way sneakily across the rooftop. Moonlight reflects off his goggles, not visible to anyone in the alley at least, and he zooms in on the other figure…

…then, in on the people below.

He reaches to his belt, removes something, and lets a tiny device roll down the rooftop and into the open air above the man and his two companions. There is a faint 'hiss', and suddenly the air turns an inky black…

Mid-Nite is already moving — preparing to leap down to the ground in the middle of it all.

A black oil like substance is launched from Blackout's right hand. It is projected down the alleyway and onto the back of the larger man's back. The substance wraps up and over the man's shoulders while reaching around his waist. The man exclaims, "What the hell?!"

The substance maintains a tether back to Blackout's right hand. Once anchored, Blackout gives a harsh pull and yanks the man backward a foot or two but mostly causing the man to fall onto his backside.

The inky black darkness created in and around the man and his companions disturb Blackout's next movement and he starts looking up and around for a new target, though remains crouched in the shadows.

Mid-Nite lands into an immediate 'tuck and roll' on the alley floor, rising to one foot with a gauntleted hand extended toward…

…thin air.

"That… was an unexpected development," he mutters under his breath — his accent a mixture of American and European — cultured, too. While the initial target lands on his rump, Mid-Nite instantly shifts his attention to the two girls, and reaches for each one with an outstretched hand as they struggle to cope with the attack upon their 'benefactor', AND the sudden onset of… mutual blindness. Tiny needles poke out of his fingertips, poised to inject 'something' into each person, as he turns about to fix his goggled-eyes upon the man.

And the… strange substance surrounding him.

"If your intension is to kill these people," he says — directing his voice up toward the roof. "Then I am afraid I'll have to offer a second opinion."

The girls are normal(s) and instantly succumb to the injected chemical, they collapse like ragdolls onto the wet concrete below. The entangled man is starting to panic and struggle as he tries to free himself of the viscous substance.

Blackout remains crouched behind a dumpster at the far end of the alleyway. Both hands fixed on the tether and gives another pull that seems to start a pulley like action thus dragging the entangled man toward him at 3 meters a second (will reach Blackout in 5 seconds). Blackout does not answer, but he maintains vigil on the inky blackness from where the challenging voice came.

The man struggles more and calls out, "Someone help me!"

The heavy locking mechanism on the iron door is engaged with a solid metallic thunk thus securing the door from entry.

Mid-Nite lifts his chin.

"Very well."

Then he hesitates, losing a couple of seconds. Upon hearing the door locking, Mid-Nite rises to his feet and pulls something off his belt. Out of the inky mist of his 'Black-Light' bomb, a small crescent-shaped disc comes flying — toward the strand of 'solid blackness'. The moonlight glints off the disc's razor-keen edge (for whatever good that will do against the strange substance), and the cowled man who threw it leaps after 'his competition's' quarry…

…which carries him briefly out of the darkness of his own making, as it starts to dissipate.

The blade strikes the tether and slices completely through. The retracted motion of the entangled man ceases, but he remains entangled. Blackout falls back as the tension is suddenly released.

However, before he hits the ground, he falls through a hole that opens up behind him.

Emerging from another hole, Blackout appears on the rooftop ledge above the entangled man. He will act again in the seconds to follow. For now he eyes the dissipating inky blackness trying to discern a target.

Mid-Nite stops.

As the effects of his darkness-inducing grenade wear off, he lands on the ground on the opposite side of entangled man, and takes the next moment to focus upon the severed strand of darkforce as it retracts. He tucks his chin inward with curiosity, keeping his arms out to either side, then tilts his head to the left a fraction. Mid-Nite, now visible, is a tall man, in a costume of deep red and black — covered with a midnight-blue cloak and cowl with the symbol of a crescent moon on his forehead. His eyes are covered by a pair of goggles that glint with faint green light.

"Fascinating," he murmurs, practically ignoring the man behind him.

He does not spot the figure on the rooftop teleporting to a different location…

The area is suddenly engulfed in darkness. The opaque blackness prevents all sight (except that of Mid-Nite) and light. It occupies the entirety of the alleyway and much of the structures on either side.

The screeching of tires resonates in the darkness as limo speeds off. A woman's muffled screams can be heard through the iron door.

Blackout /thinks/ he is in his own element now and has the advantage. He leaps from the rooftop and freefalls down toward the entangled man. He will land on the opposite side of the entangled man from Mid-Nite's location. He will also immediately crouch with the intention of making contact with the entangled man.

Mid-Nite curses.

In more than one language.

As the Doctor's environment springs to life and colour around him (thanks to the influx of Darkforce), he barely manages to resist the urge to turn around and face Blackout, and give away the little secret of his nite-sight. The muffled cries from the closed door, however, steal his concern for the shadowy stranger behind him, and direct it toward the door.

Rather, to the source of the screams beyond it.

He curses again, and chooses a course of action: to leap sideways just as Blackout moves for the entangled man, and remove a small device from his belt. Before his feet hit the ground, Mid-Nite activates the device — a small detonation charge of some kind — and slaps it against the door's locking mechanism.

Of course, aiming an object at a door that shouldn't be visible… is probably a giveaway, just the same. Mid-Nite has no time to focus on Blackout's prisoner — or Blackout hismself — and find out what is going on inside the building. His actions almost put his back to the darkforce-user… who has oddly not tried to kill him. Yet.

Bent down, Blackout places his hand on the entanglements of entangled man. He hears the clink and notices the movement of Mid-Nite. He won't put two and two together just yet, but figures that Mid-Nite has other?

The door is suddenly blasted outward from the frame and impacts with the wall on opposite side of the alleyway. The explosive force was not due to the small device that Mid-Nite attached, but from deep red beams of energy from within the building. A split second later, the explosive device detonates and casts the door a few more meters down the alley.

The door frame smolders. Another woman's scream is heard from within.

Blackout is frozen (crouched and touching the restraints of the entangled man), waiting for what is about to emerge from the doorway. The darkness remains in tact.

"Merde!"

The Doctor is lucky. Had he not been moving already when he put the charge in place on the door, the detonation from within would have slammed him against the far wall… and probably would have reduced him to a dark smear. As it is, the man rolls away and comes to a halt lying on the rubble-strewn ground several feet away from Blackout and the prisoner.

He groans.

"Hippocrates' Beard…" the Doctor mutters and spits blood on the ground from a grazed lip. He whispers another word, barely audible, a moment later: "Charlie…" as he tries to push himself up onto his elbows, shaking his head to presumably clear his vision, dispel a headache, or adjust his hearing — or all of the above.

A hand goes to a small… raygun holstered at his hip.

Overhead, the owl does a flyby.

The door frame is filled by a large striking man wearing a dark blue encounter suit with cape. His eyes glow red as he peers through the darkness. He spies both men and the entangled man. His voice commands respect as he intones in an eastern European accent, "WHO DARES INTERRUPT MAGGIA BUSINESS?!?"

Blackout watches as his darkness is penetrated, he quickly looks back to Doctor Mid-Nite and says, "If you want to live, come with me."

Just as Blackout's sentence closes, a portal into the darkforce dimension opens beneath him and the entangled man. They fall into the darkness. The portal remains open for a few seconds more inviting Mid-Nite to follow.

[OOC] Blackout says, "http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/77/141396-50772-count-nefaria.jpg"

Mid-Nite acts.

With a grunt of pain — and not a little annoyance — he puts the raygun back and gives a shrill whistle. In the same moment, he shoves himself upward and takes a hasty, inelegant leap toward the portal. The owl, responding to the whistle, instantly drops out of the heavens like a swooping peregrine falcon, the shiny item around its neck flashing a few times, and then it passes through the portal a mere half a second behind its master.

The portal closes behind them.

Mid-Nite and <nite-owl, woodsie, hootie hoo?> find themselves in an expanse of darkness. In all directions there is nothing but black empty space. Save for an area 20 meters away where Blackout seems to float. At Blackout's feet, the entangled man lays in a state of panic (gagged and bound).

Blackout queries, "Who are you and who do you work for?" - His voice seems to resonate throughout the empty darkness.

"Fascinating…"

Doctor Mid-Nite almost misses Blackout's question as he finds himself on his hands and knees, chest heaving, staring at…

White.

Colourless white.

Everywhere.

He stands up, but only after testing the solidity of whatever it is under his feet. "Charlie," he says to the owl as it circles around him aimlessly, looking and sounding distressed. Mid-Nite says it again. In a few seconds the bird alights upon the Doctor's cloaked shoulder, while he gazes… in a direction about fifty-degrees to Blackout's left, on purpose.

"I am going to assume…" he calls out into the dark as he does a one-eighty turn. "…that this is your home. Of sorts. Therefore, as your guest…" he emphasises the word, putting his hands on his hips underneath his cloak.

"I am Doctor Mid-Nite, and I also assume you weren't trying to kill your… other guest, or his companions. You can then assume I'm grateful. Oh, and I'm self-employed."

He pauses.

"Would you care to tell me who you are?"

There's a moment of contemplation as Blackout tries to decide what to do or answer. His face/body is still completely covered in his darkforce armor and he finally replies, "I'm not going to kill him, yet. He's wanted for questioning regarding the Maggia. I'm called Blackout. Now, if you would excuse me…"

With that, a portal opens beneath Mid-Nite's feet and it will drop him onto a rooftop somewhere in the Tricorner Island area of Gotham City.

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