Participants:
| Scene Title | Would You Kindly Get In The Van |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kidnapping done politely? Just add Eurotrash. |
| Date | February 5, 2009 |
It's a clear night, if, as ever, cold, and rain from the day still makes the streets shine. Headlights from a van are set to dim and send nightclub-like streaks of light across the asphalt, parked down the street with its motor purring contentedly. After a moment, the headlights shut down, but the engine does not. It doesn't make a move, the lone driver inside sitting back and blowing cigarette smoke out the window as he rustles his newspaper around, a pen scratching letters into a crossword.
There are other out there tonight than just him, and he can see them on occasion, pacing, hiding, talking amongst themselves, walking nearby their home. The last item on that list is what has his attention, and he watches from a distance, and simply waits his turn.
Out the door comes Abigail. The blonde nun from the bar. Pink jacket that looks five times more expensive than she can afford is wrapped tight around her. Dressed ready for a flight. Behind her comes Magnes, that must be who she's talking to, as her lips are moving as the door to the apartment buidling is pushed open to let him skip in front of her. keys in hand.
"Thanks Magnes. Taking care of Scarlett. I let Teo and Brian know you'd be there, and I got another friend, Ewan, who's gonna crash there when i'm gone, so don't freak out if you see him in there. Just gotta wait for the taxi. Already checked in, just need to get there ahead of time to deal with my bag" She swings the keys a little. Less vibrancy to her emotions than the last time Logan saw her. A smile, but behind the smile, empty. "I'll bring you back something"
Jack has come dressed for business this evening. He's wearing battered, loose-fitting dock clothes in muted colors and a lightweight coat that bulges heavily under both arms. Seemingly out for a sidewalk stroll, a scruffly, bedraggled little dog skips and sniffs along ahead of him on a leash, having done its own business some time ago.
Right now he's on a course perpendicular to the blonde woman's. Like most New Yorkers, he doesn't smile or even glance in the direction of a stranger, no matter how flamboyant her outerwear. What he does do is thumb the cellular phone in his pocket and send a pre-entered text message.
Magnes is without glasses again, contacts in, red Robin hoody on. He smiles at Abby as she speaks, nodding and looking around, watching a few people pass by. He appears rather exhausted, but genuinely happy, considering she's not in jail. "You don't have to bring me anything, just come back safe and I'll be happy. We can go get ice cream or something when you return."
Out of the woodwork, people emerge at Jack's text summon. Not many, and not many are that impressive. A cigarette is pitched to the sidewalk and Logan moves around a corner at a casual, if fast paced stroll, wearing a garment out of place of his usual expensive wardrobe - a rugged, long woolen coat with deep pockets, both of them currently weighted. There's nothing sneaky about his approach - he's in full view of both Abby and her companion, pale green eyes taking in the sight. This isn't so much rehearsed as it is practice. We live to learn, not the other way around, but the addition of someone new in the equation makes Logan wonder if maybe things could stand to be better coordinated.
Fuck it! It's funner this way.
He glances across the street at where a burly man steps out from between buildings, watching him in return. At the glance from Logan, he's readily crossing the street, his hands empty. Logan peers over the way at where Jack is approaching on the other side with his dog, and simply smiles. Then, Logan calls out: "Abigail!" A hand lifts in a wave as he walks on over. It's as good a distraction as any from the circling predators, for however long it's needed. "I didn't know you lived down here."
"Teo will be picking me up, with Brian, but i'm sure we could do that ma…gnes" Abigail turns at the calling out of her name. Logans approach is puzzling, trying to pick out where she'd seen him before "Tabaqui" murmured, more where only Magnes can hear. "Your a customer from the Bar… John?" She's distracted, and likely giving the wrong name, she's not sure. She only knows the monkey's name for sure. "I just moved here. Do you live here as well?" Oblivious, she's not sensing at all that somethings up.
When his support makes an appearance, Jack releases the dog's leash and lets it skitter away. It's not his, so he certainly doesn't care what happens to it. The majority of the new arrivals hang back, forming a loose net to quash any thoughts of easy escape. Meanwhile, Jack steps up behind the pair of targets with a contact stun gun in each hand. He doesn't touch them, just holds both weapons at the ready and greets them pleasantly. "Hullo. A van's gonna pull up in a few seconds. Would you kindly climb in when the door opens? I'd hate to have to electrocute the shit out of you both."
Magnes isn't sure what to think of the sudden new arrivals, one from the front, then a threatening one from the back. He looks over at Abby, nodding to her as if warning that he's going to do something. "What's going on, who are you guys? Are you the government?" he asks, a seemingly random question.
A quick glance around, and Logan extracts something from his pocket - no normal gun, but he's chosen a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun. This, he rests against his shoulder so the barrel points unthreateningly towards the sky, but his fingers twine around the trigger all the same, coming to stop a few feet away from the pair. The man from across the street approaches too, a pistol in his hand. The van down the street turns its lights on, revs its engine. "Logan," the brothel owner corrects Abby. "Call me Logan. And no, government we are not." And now he swings the gun to point at them, from Abby, to Magnes. "You can come too, boy."
"Oh lord in heaven. Really? kidnapping? Again? I'm seriously getting tired of kidnapping." This is getting ridiculous. Her hand though, closes around Magnes's, a brief hope that he can move faster than a bullet when it comes to gravity. "Parkman wouldn't do it this way Magnes. He'd come for me like a sane person. I really don't have money, and.. really, Logan, you don't want to take me. There's too much trouble involved in it. Just walk away and I promise that i'll not report you, either of you. I'll pretend this never happened"
"We don't have time for this," Jack mutters darkly. He casts a quick glance down each end of the street. A streetside abduction is hardly his idea of doing things Discreetly.
With Logan covering their quarry from the front and the rest of their cohorts closing into their improvised net, Jack is free to act. He takes a step forward, presses the triggers on both stun guns, and jabs exposed, sparking electrodes toward the small of each person's back.
"Pacman?" Magnes asks in confusion, taking her hand and backing up a bit, right into the stun gun. He's easily knocked unconscious before he has a chance to use his power, unfortunately, an unconscious Magnes is a floating Magnes, so he ends up leaning forward, just floating there as if he were in the void of space. Since he's holding Abby's hand, her gravity is similarly taken away completely, no up, down, left, or right.
Similarly to Jack, Abby's words are lost on Logan, raising his eyebrows at her, until the BZZT of a stun-gun cuts through. And Logan… tilts his head as Magnes is left floating in the air, along with Abigail, still pointing his gun at the pair. In the next moment, his eyes rather suddenly flare greener. The suggestion of preternatural light make them a deeper colour than normal, and his gaze focuses on Magnes. All at once, the touch of gravity manipulation is stolen away, allowing the young man to simply collapse in a heap on the ground. "We'll take 'im too," Logan says, then pointing his gun at Abigail. "Two-fer-one."
Abby can add stun gunning to list of things people have done to her like Shot, and decorporealized. Really, she's unhappy. People just don't plain ask anymore. Abigails not knocked unconcious but darn near close as her jaw clenches, eyes closing. Holy electrcity batman. Vaughly in her mind she's very thankful that the shotgun didn't actually get used. Magnes's lack of gravity effecting her throws her into even more disorientation. She's left panting on the ground, curled up besides magnes, starting to cry. "Just.. just ask"
"Mon capitan?" Jack queries, glancing at Logan confusedly. Technically, people aren't supposed to float. Everyone's seen strange things since the bomb went off, but for some reason this one is particularly unnerving for the former pirate. He relaxes visibly when his boss takes care of the issue and covers the remaining extractee.
As if on cue, the aforementioned van screeches to a halt with the side door open. Magnes is unceremoniously dumped inside by Jack, who climbs in after him.
Logan nods to Jack as he moves to load Magnes as asked, and his eyes still glow green, keeping the young man negated while he remains in his field. He steps closer to Abby, crouching down beside her, head tilted. "I gave up on asking a long time ago, Abigail," he says, in his lilting Cockney. He places a steady grip at the base of her throat, the attention of his power turning from Magnes to Abby. Not for negation, although his eyes remain bright, luminous green - but bliss begins to simmer through Abby's system, subtle at first before growing in chemical intensity. "Everyone comes 'round eventually, anyway." He glances up towards Jack. "Get 'er in the van."
Pain's replaced quickly enough from the stunning with the bliss, Logans eyes noted even as a smile forms on the downed healers face. She relaxes on the ground, idly noting that her beautiful coat now has slush and damn, drycleaning is expensive and oh well, she's far too happy to care that parkman's gonna have her ass in a BBQ for not actually going to Loui…siana. Contented smile turns to pleasured smile. Docile as a kitten she's become thanks to Logan's touch.
Having gotten Magnes settled like the heap of human carge that he is, Jack jumps out and loads Abigail in a similar fashion. Grubby, grasping hands inside will pin and tie her in whatever way is necessary. That's what he gets paid for, after all. When he's finished, he signals to one of the underlings to sit on Magnes to keep him from floating around in the back of the vehicle. "We're good to go," he rumbles, flashing Logan a thumbs up. "We'd better skin outta here before we get seen."
Cracking open his shotgun and unloading the two bullets he'd slid inside, the weapon is pocketed once more, and Logan moves to pick up Abby's suitcase. This is swung to throw inside the van, intent to leaving nothing behind. "Yeah," he agrees with Jack, glancing around once as his eyes fade to their usual pale green hue, before moving towards the vehicle. "Hate this end of town. People still care." A slightly manic, shadowed grin is abruptly cast to his right hand man, a slight hyena chuckle of a job well done, and Logan swings himself into the van.
The sliding door slams shut with a metallic click, the engine purrs to life, and with headlights that swing across the wet roads, they're on their way to the docks.
 February 5th: Plans At The Lighthouse |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 February 5th: The Full Story |