Hit the Lights

Summary:
December 28, 2014: You can find the most interesting people when going off the beaten path… (Language, violence)

Gotham City Subway

And you thought the streets were bad!


Characters

NPCs

  • Some random Tracksuit Mafia goon.

Mood Music:
None


Important rules for being on the run: Stay out of the public eye. Audrey's not entirely certain she managed that during the chaos of the other night in New York, so a few train hops and hitchhikes got her into Gotham, where she knows of a relatively quiet bit of subway tunnel. On the one hand, Gotham's rough. On the other, there's a lot less in the way of authorities who can be bothered to look for a girl running from the army. From the mob might be another matter, but it's all about choosing your enemies.

Aubrey's bolt hole is a less than ideal location. It's close to the main line, so there's constant noise from the train. And there's sometimes actual maintenance going on, so there's more danger of being seen by workers. At least, there is for people who can't be invisible. At the moment, she's curled up in a corner that should be dark, a dim globe of light floating over her shoulder as she reads through a purloined newspaper.

*

Tonight there are other individuals who share such lines of thought. Domino's having to give all of New York state a wide berth as well, which has made her most recent plans that much more interesting to carry out. A few hours here and there seems to work out alright, but sooner or later she has to fall back to hiding.

Not that there aren't other jobs she could be picking up on the side.

For anyone living within these tunnels the sound of a passing subway probably happens enough times to be forgotten, written out of the mind much like anyone does when living too close to an airport. However, with one of these trains there's some different and new sounds accompanying its passing.

Glass breaking. Two voices abruptly calling out as they fall from the back of the train. A pair of sharp pops slamming throughout the darkness of the tunnel, joined with momentary flashes of light.

"Was mistake coming after us, bro!"

"I ain't your damn bro, now shut it and put up a fight already!"

*

Audrey has the worst luck when it comes to these things. She's extremely not bulletproof, so she folds up the paper, lets the light over her shoulder fade, and draws a shroud of shadow around herself instead as she moves a little closer to the grate to get a look at what's going on out there and decide whether or not she needs to clear the area.

*

The good news is that the two people out on the tracks couldn't seem any less interested in their surroundings. No manhunts, no militaristic tracker teams. Just one guy with a bit of hair missing up top and someone else who happens to be a good deal smaller, only blending into their surroundings because she's wearing a whole lot of black.

It's the big guy that happens to have a pistol out, for what good it isn't doing him with his arm locked in an uncomfortable hold.

"Yuri will hear of your treachery, Prizrak Suka!" he bellows in a thick Russian accent.

There's a blur of motion and a yelp from the man before a dazzlingly bright light pierces the darkness of the tunnel, locking onto the man like a spotlight training upon a lone actor. No part of the guy appears to be connected to the Army, if the heavy gold chain necklace and steel grey tracksuit are any hint.

"Augh-! I will rip out your eyes for that!"

The Ruskie still manages to get a lucky hit in, causing the other form to spin about and fall in one direction while the handgun and flashlight combo go spinning off in another, momentarily turning the confrontation into a strobe-lit rave.

*

Those guys. Ugh.

Audrey wrinkles her nose, moving back from the grate a short distance to stay out of sight. She doesn't know who's fighting them, but she knows these guys. They're a good reason for young women to stick to the shadows. And that is something she can do without. With a thought, there's a band of darkness across the Russian's eyes, blinding him to whatever retaliation may come.

*

"I will find you crazy suka, and when I do-"

BLAM!

"You should really try talking less," Domino tells the Ruskie as he collapses to the side of the tunnel. The back of a hand comes up to rub at a spot of blood trailing from the corner of her mouth, grimacing slightly as she does. "Gives your position away something awful."

The lost light casts a hazy blue-white glow across the one left standing, left alone for the moment as she crouches down over the fallen man and starts picking through his pockets for anything of interest. While the rest of her isn't quite so easy to make out, a few shadowy reflections in motion, the moment that light falls upon her face it gives her the appearance of a ghostly face levitating in the darkness. Gothamites might call it a cocaine complexion.

"Let's see what you've got for me, comrade. 'The Ironworks?' Seriously?" she asks the lifeless form in disbelief, holding a wrinkled businesscard up in her fingers. "No one goes to that craphole anymore. Did your stupid ass a favor," she concludes while flicking the card back at his face.

Not a fan of the Tracksuit Mob, this lady.

*

Audrey's brows furrow slightly as she catches sight of the strange woman, more out of curiosity than concern for the dead mobster left behind. That guy's no great loss to society. "It's a waypoint," she calls over, voice pitched soft. "They don't go there, they pass through there. Security checkpoint." She's still deep in the unnatural shadow behind the grate, wary. But on the other hand? This lady can shoot up as many of those jerks as she wants.

*

It's funny how sometimes a person can feel like they're completely alone in the world only to be reminded that they aren't. When an unexpected voice calls out Domino visibily jumps and scrambles partway to the downed man's side, as if his exaggeratedly proportioned gut might offer her some sort of cover.

"Real bad luck startling a bitch with a gu-waypoint?" she cuts herself off, eyes a bit wider than before.

(Unlikely encounter. Loss of initiative. Helpful information rather than another obstacle. 1 in 93,226.)

"You know these idiots then," she calls back while thumbing a lever on her sidearm, momentarily filling the cavernous space with an acute metallic *click!* "Hide if you want, I'm not hunting you. ..Whoever the hell you are," she adds in a lower tone. "Though maybe you could do me a solid and explain what exactly that security checkpoint is for?"

*

"They're trafficking girls," Audrey clarifies, sighing softly at the click from the gun. "You really don't need to shoot anyone. I'm going to come out, all right? Your four o'clock, it's going to get a little bit brighter." The unnatural shadows part, a little more light gathering around the area before Audrey pulls back the grate and starts to climb out.

She's a decidedly unimpressive thing, but she moves like someone who has a clue about what she's doing. And, perhaps more importantly, she doesn't look malnourished. "They've got a few steps to get through before they take anyone to the goods."

*

This new piece of information causes Dom's motions to slowly come to a standstill. Something about the news isn't..sitting so well with her. "Hopefully not, ammo just keeps getting more expensive," she replies in a flat tone. When the direction is called out she's quick to turn and look, remaining crouched on one knee by the motionless form.

It's quickly followed by a thin frown. (Did it just get brighter down here..?) Bright enough that she doesn't need a gunlight to look around with, something which now has her mighty perplexed. Rather than ask the other woman about the matter outright she goes for a different approach while holstering the weapon. "You don't look like most of the tunnel rats I know. Most of them don't get mixed up with the Track-runners, either. You some sort of investigator? Probably with some connections to merc types, given the directional call-out."

*

"Nope," Audrey shakes her head, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm no one. But, you know." She shrugs, moving toward where the gangster lost his gun. "I could really use that," she says, pointing toward it without trying to pick it up. "Once you're gone. If you don't mind, I mean." Shoving her hands in her pockets, she clears her throat. "I speak Russian, they talk a lot, I hear things."

*

Here's a situation which keeps getting more curious by the second. There are plenty of pieces Dom can try to put together, already. The problem is that these same pieces could make up more than a dozen different scenarios. Despite all of this? She doesn't feel threatened.

A quick incline of her head is given in the direction of the fallen Bratva's weapon. "Knock yourself out," she easily replies in Russian.

(Okay, now I -have- to ask.)

"The light. That your doing? Because I know that one didn't decide to get brighter just because it took a drop," she states while thumbing toward her other weapon several feet away.

There's something else going on, here… Thing is, she has her suspicions. She's also willing to bet that something useful could come out of this chance encounter.

*

"Spasibo," Audrey nods, keeping her hands in her pockets and looking…well, briefly sheepish at the question. The lights fade back to their usual levels. "It's…just a thing," she shakes her head, lifting one shoulder in a teenage, awkward shrug. No need to tell the strange woman everything she can do, after all. "What were you trying to get out of him?" she asks with a nod toward the dead man.

*

The thanks is met with a dip of her head. The vanishing of the light gets a bit more of a reaction. "Okay, that's a little creepy," Domino mutters under her breath. (Great, now I can't see. I just haaad to say something.)

The albino stands upright but holds her ground, everything can stay placed right where it is for the moment. "I get 'just a thing.' As for Crazy Ivan here, turns out he didn't appreciate someone rummaging around in his car for incriminating evidence. Or taking the faceplate off of his radio. Who knew? Pretty good stamina for a big guy, damn bloodhound," she grunts while glancing back to give the dead guy a slight kick.

(Now to raise the stakes a little…)

"Alright, kiddo. This may be your lucky night. No one comes down here unless they're homeless or hiding from something. No one takes an immediate interest in arming themselves unless they're hiding from something. I don't care whatever it is, but I do know that being on the run takes cash. So if I asked for a little help in digging deeper into their stronghold, what's the price you would put on it?"

*

Audrey considers for a long moment, looking from Domino to the man on the ground. Cash is good. Cash gets supplies, and maybe a warm place to sleep for a night. But even cash is something that can put you on the grid. Cash gets used in places that are on the grid. Also, the Brava are trouble. Getting on their bad side would be…well, bad. "That…would depend on what you needed done," she says slowly. "And who you're doing it for." That, though, sounds more like someone who's worried she'll accidentally run into the people who are hunting her, rather than someone who's concerned about the moral high ground.

*

This time Dom takes a turn to lightly roll a shoulder. "You've got intel on their operation. I'm not asking you to go under the gun here, I'm in it for the info." As for the matter of 'who' she hesitates for a moment, considering the request. It's difficult to be too suspicious when the person she's talking to is way more concerned about the details.

"Bad people," she flatly replies. "Rivals. Cash for dirty deeds, no questions asked. You're not going to find any authority figures down here, though you will find another train in about..two minutes," she points out while glancing beneath a wrist.

Finally stepping clear of the tracks, she tries again with "Tell you what. Give me twenty-four hours. Tell me everything you know about these jerks. Take me to all of the local attractions, point out all of the hip restaurants and taverns and I'll help you stay off the grid. I'll point out some useful resources and give you a week's worth of supplies. I'll even give you a ride if there's somewhere you need to be. What you do from there is your own business."

*

Audrey tilts her head at that offer, weighing the risks and the rewards. "Okay," she says after a moment, nodding once, then takes her hands out of her pockets to point to the gun. "I'm going to pick that up now, though. You seem okay, and you probably shoot better than I do, but guns don't fall out of the sky every day, so it'd be nice in case things go sideways." She waits for the go ahead, then moves slowly, checking the weapon and setting the safety with far more practice, expertise, and seriousness than anyone who looks as young as she is should have. "You can call me Lux," she offers, looking over.

*

"Yeah, and I'm wasting battery life," the albino replies before heading over to retrieve her other weapon. So long as she's still in the tunnel she may need that light. Or perhaps just this other girl with a peculiar trick up her sleeve. The comment about guns falling from the sky brings a thin smirk to blackened lips, "Hang around me long enough and they just might. I'll bet they've got all sorts of interesting toys cluttering up their inventory."

The proficiency in checking over the fallen sidearm is noted, as well. She's not about to question one's age in regards to their skill, though bringing the two elements together sure gives her something to think about. There may well be some uncomfortable questions being voiced before their one day together is through.

"Cute," she replies to the name. "I'm Domino. Let's get the hell out of here, it's gonna take some walking to get back to my car and this place smells something awful."

*

"It really does," Audrey sighs in agreement, tucking the gun safely away as she falls in with the other woman, opening one hand and creating a pale globe of light to float over her shoulder. Though, to be precise, the light seems to draw away from the station lights and coalesce into the globe. Creepy.


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