8408/Undercurrents: Integrity's Cost

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Undercurrents: Integrity's Cost
Date of Scene: 19 July 2019
Location: Evolution
Synopsis: Cypher refuses to bend to the demands of Hook dealers. He pays the ultimate price for his integrity.
Cast of Characters: Cypher, Cyclops
Tinyplot: Undercurrents


Cypher has posed:
Evolution has been a little hushed, lately. The rule is, everybody who's been caught with Hook on their person is banned. Everybody who shows up high gets sent home. There have been a couple of fights, and the club's business has suffered because of it.

Right now, Doug is helping to restock the bar, he carries in a box of whiskey bottles, and sets it down, before he looks up at the flashing lights and dancers on the floor and wipes his forehead. "I'm gonna go make the rounds. Page me if you need anything."

Cyclops has posed:
"Yo," comes a loud voice from the stairs to the front. Three big, juiced black men are coming down the stairs. They are all in jeans and various sneakers, but each one is in a bright orange t-shirt. Tattoos cover their arms. The man in front has a pistol very obviously tucked into the front of his jeans. They stalk down the stairs and towards Doug.

"You Doug?" the first man, with a shaved head, asks.

"That's the motherfucker," growls the second, with long dreads. Doug recognizes him instantly, of course. He has been persistently harassing Doug about letting his people deal out of Evolution recently. Their last talk left off with the man threatening Doug.

The third man, with an absurdly out of date flattop, crosses his arms and glowers. It is as much a scene out of a 90's gang movie as it looks, but regardless the men are hostile, tense and aggressive.

Cypher has posed:
Doug sighs, and pushes himself up. He can see that this is going to turn ugly. But, as the people closest to him would point out, Doug Ramsey has *never* backed down from a fight in his life, and isn't about to start now. Even when he probably should. He turns, to face them, and then steps up to the group.

"I said get out. You aren't dealing that poison here!" He points, toward the exit. "There's the door, right over there!"

He looks up, and tightens his jaw. "This isn't a negotiation or a shakedown. Hook isn't welcome here."

Cyclops has posed:
The men walk up to Doug. Baldie stands right across the bar from him. Dreds and Flattop walk around to each end.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Baldie demands furiously. "You don't make the fucking rules here. We /own/ this block. I'm telling you we're movin' in here. You come over here and take what's coming to you, an I /might/ stop at beating your fucking face in."

Dreds leers triumphantly at Doug. Flattop sneers and touches something behind him without thinking. Doug knows. It's a safety check, a common tell for armed people. From the way the man's pants sag, it is probably another gun.

Cypher has posed:
Looking at things from Doug's point of view, he pieces the data together, translates it, and extrapolates from it. They came to try and intimidate their way into being allowed to deal. They found Doug first. Okay. He refused. What are they going to do? And what is the correct response?

All this calculates through his mind in an instant, while the guy is reaching behind him.

...Then Doug swings for the fences, right between Flattop's legs, grabs a bottle from that crate, and brings it down at an arc at his head. "I said *GET OUT*."

Cyclops has posed:
Flattop takes one for the team, not expecting what he assumed was a scrawny white punk to do anything other than piss his pants. He doubles over with a loud groan of pain and takes the bottle over the head. He staggers backwards and folds down against the wall.

"Fuck!" Dreds yells. He backs up from the entry to behind the bar and moves so he can intercept Doug if the man makes a run.

"You're gonna die bitch!" Baldie sneers. He pulls out his gun and starts shooting one-handed at Doug. His aim is not great, criminals never have great aim, but he hammers out rounds fast. Bottles shatter against the wall, glass and liquor fly. The sound of each gunshot is a roar this close.

Cypher has posed:
Unfortunately as people would tell you, Doug is not immune to bullets. And he could tell that this was going to happen. That's Doug for you. He takes one in the shoulder, one in the arm, one in the lung, and one in the gut. As he staggers backward and collapses, the first thing he thinks as he tries to take a breath and taste blood in his mouth is 'Not *again*!'

But then he *laughs*, because this is familiar territory. Well, if you gotta go...

Cyclops has posed:
Baldie and Dreds come into view. Dreds looks serious, impassive now. Baldie sneers in contempt. They seem absurdly tall, looking up at them from the ground. Liquor drips off the shelves onto the floor and the hum of the dishwasher is a loud drone down there. The tile is cool. A fly lands unnoticed on Baldie's sleeve.

"Reap what you sow, motherfucker," Baldie says. His arm comes up and the barrel of the gun looms large, pointing down at Doug's chest.

There are three loud bangs, the sound of footsteps and the screech of tires.

Cypher has posed:
He drifts in and out. During one of the moments he drifts 'in', there are club employees standing over him. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit, what do we do?"

"We can't call the cops! Where's Sam?"

"I don't know, he's not answering his phone, I left him a message--"

"Well who's in his phone? Foley? Jesus, call him, you know what he can do-- who else?"

"Uh, lessee who he has marked as emergency contacts. Sam again. Wait, he knows Bobby da Costa? I dunno, just keep calling people until somebody answers?"

"How the hell is he still alive? He can't be getting any air--"

Cyclops has posed:
There is a bright scarlet flash in the middle of the club. The Josh and Wanda appear and look around urgently.

"Thank god! He's over here! They /shot/ him!"

"What the fuck?" Josh yells. He runs over and hops the bar. The auburn-haired lady Avenger is a half step behind.

The staff back off. Doug is lying there in a spreading pool of blood, with half a dozen bullet wounds.

"What happened?" Wanda breathes in her accented English. Her face is creased in concern. "Can you help him?" she asks Josh. Josh lays a hand on Doug and there is a faint golden glow.

"Not here, he's a mess... There's something really wrong," Josh says with a look up at Wanda. He looks worried. Very worried.

Without another word, Wanda gestures with her hands. Scarlet energy flickers around them. There is another flash of scarlet energy. Doug, Josh and Wanda are gone.