Scene #1920: Coming up Empty

Owner	Pose
Nightblind	"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Comes Quentin's voice over her ear, "You don't know what they're capable of, you don't know if they're going to--" "Relax, Q." Mackenzie's voice pipes up, "It's like she's trying to found 'The Revengers' and 'The League of Goodguys'." "This isn't a comic book, Mackenzie, this is /real life/." Meanwhile, Nightblind was perched, still as stone, atop a building, gray suit hidden among the shadows of the setting sun. The streetlights hum to life below her, a few flickering with dying bulbs in need of replacement, bow settled over her lap as she waits. A lone, black Towncar drives up the street, and pulls into an alleyway beside the abandoned facility. All four doors open up, and men wearing suits, dark glasses and firearms slither from it, looking around the alleyway. One kicks over a trashcan, sending a stray cat running into the night with a loud MOW! of protest.
Zephyr Windstar	Streaking high overhead, so she looks like a late night aircraft, Zephyr scans the ground below, holographic screens open. "Move Delta closer in... I wanna get a view on those guys that just got outta th'care." she adjusts her setup, shifts her grip on her Axe-like Device, and watches the screens. Down in the city, small purple motes of light float along the streets at about the level of those street lights, feeding visual data back to the high flying mage. One floats in, following the fickle wind so as not to rouse suspicion too soon. It's trying to get a good picture of the men's faces.
Nightblind	The men are non-descript, really. Mid-level thugs in bad fitting suits, as if they were trying to look respectable wearing their older brothers' clothes. One goes to stand at the entrance to the alleyway, another to open a door, putting in a number key before the door gives a chime and clicks open. The other two go to the back of the car, and pop the boot. Inside, there is a person. Their feet are bound together using duct tape, a pair of sneakers beneath a set of jeans, covered up by a burlap sack, wrapped tightly aroudn theri head, chest and arms. As soon as the person senses fresh air and the trunk being open, there's muffled cries and kicking, struggling, trying to escape. "... well." Nightblind states, "that's not good. Running a search on the local 'missing persons'... maybe we can see if it's a local."
Zephyr Windstar	"Not good... better get in there." unfortunately her Search Wisp didn't get a shot of the number code, but it /did/ slip inside the door before it closed. Zephyr wings over, shifting her flight path to descend on the group rapidly. The mage smirks, flipping right way up just before impacting the ground with a good amount of force, landing in a crouch before standing up. "Hey boys, mind if I... Drop In?" she asks, before doing a bit of a twirl, sweeping her large battleax around with glowing purple blades. These make the strikes more like being hit by a hammer than a sharp object, meant to be non-lethal, but they still bloody hurt!
Nightblind	"No, subtlety is not her strong suit." Quentin comments, and Nightblind just gives a smile behind her mask. She can't see the glowing purple, but she can see the effect that the weapon has on the men around Zephyr. They blink, one of them rips his sunglasses off, and the guy in the sack gives a confused sound, unable to see what's going on. As Zephyr hits the first man, there's a raport of gunfire, and then a short, slight whistling sound before two of the men -- one of whom was holding the sacked figure -- give cries of alarm. The shafts of a pair of arrows, each ending in three black feathers with the cock feather having two stripes, go down. The man inside tries to lock the door behind him, leaving one guy holding the hostage and trying to use him as a sheild against Zephyr!
Zephyr Windstar	Zephyr shifts her position after striking the first guy, bringing her axe around with a flourish. It leaves glowing motes in it's wake, which then flash out to the sides, before striking the hostage holder in the sides with what feel like golf balls slamming into him. Zephyr is also really fast, not as fast as a certain blonde Enforcer, but enough to get her axe haft in the doorjam before it closes, wrenching it open and grabbing the guy inside by the collar, yanking him out of the doorway and across the street into the wall. "Leaving so soon? It'd be a shame if I had to axe you some really cutting questions." she says offhandedly, sweeping her axe up to slam into the wall just between the guy's legs.
Nightblind	The guy screams in soprano, his eyes bugging out. "Hey. Watch the puns, there's a tax here." comes a voice from behind Zephyr as Nightblind comes on-scene. she retreives an arrow from one of the guys she hit, and flicks off the blood towards the wall. "... oh god. It's /you/." he squeaks, and he begins to slither down, until he realizes there's an axe behind him. "Oh god, oh god, oh god... look, I don't know what you want, but--" "MRRRMRMFFF!" says the figure in the sack.
Zephyr Windstar	"Hey, I've got a quota to fill." she says good naturedly to Nightblind, but keeping her eyes on the guy she captured. "Y'can start by tellin' us what you were gonna do with that guy over there." she says, inclining her head towards the hostage. "Or should I make that soprano of yours permanent?" Zephyr unsticks her axe from the wall, readying it for another sweep that'll likely cut the guy in half, unless he starts talking that is.
Nightblind	"At least you're doing it this time. The last time I had to hold a guy's head to a trash compactor." Nightblind reminises, and leans against the wall. "I was bringing him to the boss! Look, I just work this job part time! I've got a family! I don't know what the guy's wanted for, I just deliver!" he proclaims in a whisper. "The Boss already knows we're out here! We're all gonna be /dead/!"
Zephyr Windstar	Hmmph. Zephyr stays her axe, lifts her right hand, and fires a pulse of magic that should knock the guy out. "You'll be surprised just how effective a big axe can be for intimidation." she says, resting said axe over her shoulder. She walks over to the hostage, using quick zaps of magic to cut loose the bounds, slicing the tap and helping them out of the sack. "Hey, y'okay in there? We're here t'help, you know why they took you?"
Nightblind	The guy crumbles. "Suggested disembowlment or castration doesn't help at all, really, it's just the axe." Nightblind comments, a little light coming out of her dark visor before she turns with Zephyr to the captive man. When he's unbound, it's a younger looking guy, buzzcut hair and a local college jersy, dark skin and it looks like two of his fingernails have been ripped out -- there's blood going down his arms. He looks up at Zephyr, and then at Nightblind, and back to Zephyr. "M-my name is Deejay Blake. I'm from the pharmacutical and drug chemistry department at Murray University --" the door opens, and then clicks shut behind them, "Look, I have no idea why I was grabbed, I have no idea where the hell I am, and --" That's when Nightblind turns, and fires off an arrow. The raport of a gun echoes in the night, a heavy blast of a shot gun. There is a figure. A hulking figure nearly six and a half feet tall with wide shoulders, and a heavy build, wearing armow. The arrow peirces through the shoulder, and there's a grunt of pain. "... this may be a bad time for exposition."
Zephyr Windstar	"Get home, We'll find you later." says Zephyr, standing and turning on the large guy that's come out. "You the 'Boss' then huh?" she tchs. "Lets go then, I'm gonna cut that armour right offa ya!" she lifts off the ground, and shifts her axe to a different form. The Device gives off a resonant chime <MISTRAL FORM!> comes a disembodied voice. "NOW!" <MISTRAL CUTTER!> The blade glows bright purple again, and the mage jukes in to slash across that armour, jinking quickly to the side. She skids along the ground, gathers herself up and launches back the other way, aiming to cross-slash again on the way back.
Nightblind	There's a grunt, and Nightblind begins to say: "I don't think that's the--" and Zephyr takes off! The armored hulk watches how Zephyr moves for a moment, and takes the first slash across the armor, and then the second slash! And t hen the armor falls apart, showing a beer gut and a pair of bacon-covered boxers beneath.
Zephyr Windstar	Zephyr skids to a stop, turning to make another pass, before she just bursts out laughing. "BAAAAHAHAHAHA! What? That's it?!" she shakes her head, snickering more, before leveling her much shorter axe at the guy, energy builting at the gemstone. "Right, spill it, what the hell're you guys doin' here?"
Nightblind	He turns, about to deliver some explaination -- before there's a horrible sound. He bends over, in pain, armored arms going to wrap around the stomach before the flesh explodes. Ichor and guts paint the wall, leaving a greasy trail in its wake as it seeks the ground once more. Nightblind takes a step back. A voice rings out, tinny and high-pitched, from a loudspeaker on the wall. "Is that the best you can do, vigilante?" it taunts. "Better luck next time~"
Zephyr Windstar	Zephyr frowns. Then opens her holographic window to check on the Wisp that snuck inside the building. It's been mapping this entire time. "Even if we need t'come back with support, we'll have an easy time navigating..."
Nightblind	The interrior of the building is... empty. No equipment, no people. Nothing. Just an empty shell, waiting on its demolition day. Looks like they cleaned out.
Zephyr Windstar	... "Damn it, bust." she turns to Nightblind. "Maybe they knew we were comin'."
Nightblind	"Damn." Nightblind replies, and shakes her head. "They might have moved the tables up. Damn." she turns, and begins to walk. "This one's empty now. They moved everything within three days. We're dealing with a bigger operation than we thought." she states, and disappears into the night.