2706/Hunting a Hitman

Hunting a Hitman
Date of Scene:	05 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Darkness, Black Cat

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Darkness has posed:
Let's just say that today has been one of the worst god damn days in Jackie's short and eventful life. He woke up this morning with some two-bit punk at his door 'delivering pizza' sweating like a pig, and looking as if he was about to shit himself. Jackie knew this was not good, and saw the dumbass holding a sawed off-shotgun in his other hand. A minute later, and he's feeding body parts ot the Darklings.

Next, he's going to his favorite coffee shop for his afternoon green tea, and as he's standing there the barista is shot in the arm. He turns to find three goons with 9mm pistols trying to shoot him, but only putting holes in everyone else. A few minutes, and three dead thugs later he's leaving without his favorite drink.

It was shortly before dinner that he had an extremely attractive woman ask him what he was doing for dinner. A few minutes, and he decides why not take her to dinner. She was flirting too bard, and Jackie knew that he was being setup again. It was after she decided to poison his soup that he thought this wasn't going to be nearly as fun as he wanted. So instead, he used the Darkness to swap their soups, and went to use the restroom. It was outside the restaurant that he saw her fall face down in the rest of her soup.

Now, he's headed to meet with the Family contact in Gotham in the ritzier part of the City. Once he's parked his car, he shakes his head, saying ot himself "What the fuck is going on today..." and in the shadows stands at least one individual that does not have Jackie's best interests in mind. The eyes gleam a little in the dark, like a cat one might think, and his tall figure begins moving towards Jackie to cross his path before he makes it to the house.

Black Cat has posed:
Silence and shadows are the Black Cat's friend. There -is- at least one figure in those shadows that doesn't have Jackie's best interests at heart. And there's another that only has her own at heart. Silently, a catarang zips out in the darkness and catches on the jacket of the unknown. With the carbon fiber attached, the figure is jerked well away from his intended path and silenced before he can make a sound. "You didn't -really- want to die tonight, now did you?" she coos to the man she's now binding with the self-same cord she used to jerk him back to her. A gag has rendered him silent, and the bindings have rendered him still. Cat slips back...back into the shadows. From somewhere a slant of faint light crosses her face on the diagonal, illuminating a delicately masked blue eye, the bridge of the nose, and the gentle blush of a cheek, before she is concealed completely.

Darkness has posed:
Before the man even moves five feet, Jackie stops, and raises his hand to his head. He pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Please... /Please/... tell me you are not looking for Jackie Estacado?" The man stops in his tracks, obviously a little surprised that Jackie noticed him, and he's even MORE surprised when he is pullaed back into the shadows.

Jackie looks up, obviously confused, and makes out the flash of another in the shadows. "Jesus Christ..." Jackie says before he covers himself in the armor that is the Darkness, and his voice taking on that cold tone ~If you're looking to kill me this is a really really bad day to try...~ His fingers elongating into claws, ~...So let's get this done with, because I've got a meeting to go to.~

Black Cat has posed:
Jackie is met by only silence. If Cat had wanted to kill him, she'd have made a move before she ever tipped her hand. And so she waits in the shadows, scarcely breathing, as the guy on the ground, recognizing his own peril, has chosen to wait silently as well. Then, Jackie armours himself. "Sssshit..." breathes Cat.

Stepping out of her shadow and again into the slant of light, Cat rakes her fingers through her platinum hair. "If I wanted to wrestle you, I'd have taken off the catsuit first..."

Darkness has posed:
Jackie doesn't make any initial moves as Cat makes her way out of the shadows. His eyes, glowing an odd green color, narrows as he takes in the sight of her. His claws return to fingers, but his stance is still like a coiled snake ready to strike. ~I'm guessing getting out of that suit is half the fun...~ Jackie replies, but keeps the distance between them, ~...at least you'd be more forward then last incredibly attractive woman that tried to kill me tonight.~

From the shadows can be heard the raspy voice of Humperdink *Ooohhhh... I think this one is mine, Boss.* To which Jackie immediately responds, ~Shut Up, Humperdink. Not. In. The. Mood.~ with the muttered repli *But I am, Boss*

His eyes continuing to search the area, Jackie asks Cat, ~Wait, you're familiar... some kind of Jewel Thief, right?~ His brow furrowed in confusion, and his stance even more cautious. He's pretty sure Cat is the most professional person he's had to deal with today, but he didn't recall anything about assassination as part of her normal jobs.

Black Cat has posed:
"Depends on the jewel, I and how much I want it," Cat replies, finally emerging from the shadows to circle Jackie slowly, looking him up and down. "I take what I want. When I want it. And I think I just found a gem." She winks.

"So you wanna explain to me why you've had the shittiest day on the face of the planet today? And who the hell it is hiring Bob's Discount Assassins to do you in?" She looks down to find--something--clobbering her ankle. "...and why you brought your anklebiter to a meeting like this?" She lifts her foot and gives it a shake, but the darkling clings tightly, refusing to let go.

Darkness has posed:
Chuckling despite his previous predicament, Jackie snaps a finger, and the Darklings dissolve into the shadows with a whispered *Noooo.. I'm meeltinnnnggg.*

His armor remains on, the glow in his eyes intense as he takes Cat in, ~I've pretty much had the World's Worst Assassins in my ass all day..~ Holding up his hand, he begins to tick off a finger for each event ~Room I'm in has got crack head blood all over it...~ finger two ~Coffee shop I can't visit any time soon...~ finger three ~Assaulted in the bathroom when I was trying to go number 1~ finger four ~Hopes for a hot date and a hot night turned sour~... Eventually he points in the direction of the most recent assassin, ~Whatever the hell he is... Which I'm hoping is someone that will answer your second question.~

Black Cat has posed:
Cat glances back over her shoulder at the motionless lump in the shadows. "Eh, he's not goin' anywhere soon. I kinda hoped to get that information out of him myself. But I -guess- if you want to play with him too, you can have a turn. I just thought maybe you went and pissed off the Minimum Effort Mafia."

Cat holds up her delicately clawed hand, open toward him. Lowering one finger, "The blood's been cleaned from your room." Second finger, "Coffee shop has been restaffed with folk who don't know you from Adam." Third finger, "Soupette du jour got picked up by the garbage pig two hours ago, and she's halfway down river by now." Fourth finger, as she jerks a thumb back toward lumpy the lump, "This guy will sing like a canary before we're done." And number five, "I wouldn't assault you in the bathroom while you pee, but I wouldn't mind getting a look at the view that guy got just before he snuffed it."

Darkness has posed:
Jackie's armor slowly starts to fade from him, his blue eyes regarding Cat with open curiosity now. "There are plenty of people I've pissed off, but they have their own Hitmen to send after me..." He nods in the direction of Cat's captive, "...these idiots today, they are hired by someone, and not connected to any single Family."

Jackie slowly closes the distance between them, standing dangerously close to Cat and looking into her green eyes with his own ice blue orbs, "Why would you do those things? Or if not you, then who?" For the briefest of moments Jackie's eyes move from Cat's, her suit distracting, but it is only a flicker before he looks back to her trying to figure out if she's telling him the truth.

Black Cat has posed:
"Whoever hired these fuckups also hired a... cleaning service. I can only hope this guy has more information about who pays his salary than they did." She shrugs, continuing. The broad with a penchant for lobster bisque au cyanide, I got rid of her. I didn't need you attracting any more attention than you already have. I'm guessing 'subtle' isn't your middle name."

Darkness has posed:
"Great..." Jackie growls as he considers what Cat has told him, "...Sounds like we have a place to start to get information." He quirks an eyebrow as he looks to Cat, and adds "Of course, Ladies First." and he motions for her towards the tied up man. He's either a gentleman or wants another opportunity to see the suit, probably a bit of both, "Thanks for taking care of my Dinner Date." and his words are genuine, "Yeah, my life hasn't really been about Subtlety for a long time now."

Black Cat has posed:
Cat smiles, and turns back toward the shadows, her stride confident as she approaches Lumpy McLumperson. "All right, rise and shine, Valentine." She kicks the bound figure, rolling him over into the moonlight.

"Well I'll be damned," she says, placing her hands on her hips. "They hired at least one guy who knew what he was doin'." In the light of the moon, the pale man's face is ghostly, slitted pupils dilated and fixed unseeing on the sky. Froth covers his lips and runs across one cheek. "Guess this guy had somewhere else to be."

Darkness has posed:
Jackie does watch her walk towards the shadows, just for a moment, before he follows along behind her. She can hear his chuckle at the nickname she uses for their captured prey. The chuckle quickly disappears when they find out the assassin has killed himself, "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Jackie immediately begins rifling through what the man has on him. No ID, no wallet, no cellphone, and no cards of any kind. "Of course, the one that doesn't die like a punk ends up off'ing himself..." He grumbles more to himself than anything else, "...and he's the ONE guy that shows up with some semblance of professionalism." He wipes a hand over his face, a slow breath exhaled, and then he sniffs.

Pausing. Thinking. "Wait a minute.." taking another deep breath, "...hmmm. He's got some kind of perfume on him... like... watermelon." A few Darklings make their way out of the shadows, "Smell this, track it down, and let me know when you find it." The Darklings all sniff deeply, and then disappear back into the shadows.

Standing up, he looks to Cat, "Well, may not be great, but it's a start..." He pauses, thinking, "So... who might I thank for having my Dark Guardian Angel tonight?"

Black Cat has posed:
"I think it's safe to assume he didn't get tagged at Macy's by a perfume assassin," Cat surmises. She watches the darklings obey Jackie's command, giving Humperdink a wide berth as he approaches. "I've been approached by an individual in regard to getting some information on you. Child's play spy work from the sounds of it. I told them I'd consider it. And I decided to take a look myself, to see what I was getting myself into." Cat smiles, and shifts her weight onto the other foot. "Totally worth it. Best entertainment I've had all month, and the night's not even over yet..."

Darkness has posed:
"Ok, fair enough..." Jackie says, obviously way more curious about the Who and Why, but seems as if it's not so much of a big deal at ths point. "Well, this was a bad day. I'm way more fun on good days, and a party in my own right on great days." He takes her in, suit, posture, and his eyes land on her face for the longest time. "Pretty sure you know the name, but I hate to be rude..." He reaches out, taking her hand, brushing his lips lightly to her fingers, "Jackie Estacado." He holds her hand for a moment longer, before letting go, "And who might you be?"

Black Cat has posed:
Cat smiles, shaking her head slightly. "All that, and a gentleman, too?" As he releases her hand, she uses it to rake back her hair and lean in toward him, fingering the buttons on his shirt. "They call me the Black Cat. Looks like it's your lucky night."