Owner	Pose
Rorschach	Her name was Regina, but a lot of them called her Old Reg. She wasn't that old, but she had some grey in her hair and she'd been there so damn long, she seemed like a part of the alley itself. Reg had been one of the maternal figures of Rat Alley, making sure the runaways got fed, keeping the worst of the pimps at bay. She did Tarot readings. They said she was a bit psychic. Some people even said she was a witch. She sure looked like one, sometimes, when she presides over a flaming barrel with the smoke spilling up around and the firelight flashing on her eyes. Now she was dead, gutted and hung. And they gathered here, in an old abandoned subway alley, and remembered her. They couldn't have her body, the city took that, so they'd bury her things. A long procession of homeless, lost, vagrant and mad, shuffling and stinking down an unused tunnel. And amongst them, a man in a mask, squirming ink spilling over white latex, hands in his pockets as he listens and he watches and he learns the rhythms of the woman's world. Rorschach. The better he knows her, the better he can find her killer.
Spawn	From the ceiling of that old alley, a figure dropped. A pool of leathery red as the figure made a soft 'thud' upon impact that the other frail, broken people didn't seem to react to, at least not very strongly. Oh, some of them got wide eyes, some of the squirrelier ones backed up a few, but it seemed most of them knew not to be afraid of the tall figure in black and white. He looked over them with green glowing eyes and spoke in a powerful deep voice.     "Regina. Where is she?"     A moment of silence, before the bolder one of them spoke, a heavyset man with a mustache and mostly balding hair.     "Ah geez...Al, she's gone. Someone...S-someone..."     The sentence couldn't be completed, and the tall masked figure seemed to narrow its eyes at this news. In confusion he scanned out over the surroundings...and saw something out of place. Something in a trenchcoat, and Wanda saying "I do" at the altar. Wait. No, that wasn't it. But it was enough for the figure to approach, almost rapidly.     "You're a new face around these parts, creepy. I don't like seeing new faces in my territory."
Johnny Blaze	At that moment, another individual joined to witness the result of this catastrophe. His hands placed into his leather jacket pockets. "What happened here?" Then Johnny sees Regina, his eyes closed...out of sorrow and to hide the hellish flame that now colored his eyes from his rage. Though Johnny also notices Spawn as he descends from the shadow...but his eyes also notice Rorschach as the indivuals speak. "He ain't the only new face." Johnny approached Spawn, who may be able to tell It's the Ghost Rider. But Clearly Johnny is attempting to provide strong reason to NOT start something at the moment. But he does look to Regina. "Someone's gonna pay." He mutters lightly to himself.
Rorschach	Rorschach doesn't flinch from the presence of the Spawn or the Spirit of Vengeance, although he can feel them. They're hot, hell-touched, just as he is cold and dead and empty. His eyes cannot be seen. Perhaps he has no eyes. His hat is pulled down but as he lifts it up, his 'face' becomes more visible, the scrawl of unyielding chaos etching itself over the surface of his face. "Territorial. Comes from pissing," he says in his rasping, hitching voice. "Don't know you either. Looking for answers. Why? Who? How is easy. Sharp knife, slicing up. Belly to throat, open wide, like a cut fish prepped for market. One stroke. Cruel and ragged. Not clean." To Johnny's words, he nods, "Someone always does. One way or another."
Spawn	It appeared egos were clashing, and as Spawn stared down the smaller masked man, it appeared Rorschach wasn't budging. Standing this close his cape was warping and flapping, even as the chains around his body were writhing and rattling loudly, clearly this wasn't just a typical fashion statement. Spawn clearly wasn't the nicest of customers, but he was listening to the vigilante's words, and recognition was dawning. But before that sun could fully rise, the fires of Hell just ignited.     He'd seen Johnny around a few times, but the eruption of flame and the appearance of the skull made Spawn react violently. His cape opened up, the edges of it turning sharp and weaponized. From beneath the cape four chains reared up like cobras, ready to strike. In the dead man's right hand, an uzi was aimed right for the Ghost Rider's skull. His chains practically hissed at another Demonic presence...clearly these two had history, even if Al had never seen this before in his life.     A few moments of silence...then the ape relaxed, and the chains started wrapping themselves around Spawn's torso. The uzi was the last to go...but eventually it too, was lowered. (And through this all the rest of the bums decided to get their funeral procession moving a lot faster. They didn't wanna be caught in the crossfire for any of this.)     "That's new...I know where Regina slept. If we're looking for answers, we can start there."
Johnny Blaze	Blaze looks at Rorschach with //almost// a smile. "Heh, we're gonna be great friends." There's an astronomical hint of sarcasm in his voice, but there could be a genuine hint of honesty as well. "Vengeance always finds a way." His eyes shift then to Spawn as the fellow hellspawn seems to get rather...active and alert. He doesn't seem even partially alerted, even if the Spirit within appears to be a little bit more on the alerted side. A small smile appears on his face. It's a mix of reminiscience...and caution. "Seems after all this time...we meet again." the voice is different. Darker, Demonic. But Johnny seems relatively aware of what Spawn is. Before he looks between Spawn and Rorshach. "Then lets get hunting."
Rorschach	Spawn's manifestation only puts Rorschach a little on edge. He's not much afraid of anything not because he's so brave but because he doesn't have anything to lose. His misery could only be assuaged by death. And pain is an old, old friend. "Show me," he says to Spawn. An old hobo has gotten up on a cardboard box and started to read from the Bible. A few of the others jeer him for it, "Regina didn't believe in none o' that hooey!" a sixteen year old girl with a shaved head yowls. "You can stick your God up your ass!"
Spawn	The journey is a relatively quiet one, though as the teen on the sidelines makes her bold statement, Spawn started reflecting, somberly. He hadn't believed himself, once. Seeing his mother fall for scammer after scammer as long as they wore a cross around their neck, it soured his opinion of the entire concept of religion. Ironically he only started having second thoughts when he'd been overseas, putting bullets in the heads of America's enemies.     Then it had all gone dark, and he couldn't remember anything but the pain of Hellfire, and the screaming of his own soul.     He almost passed right by the main alley, but thankfully, stumbling across a rolling glass bottle helped bring him back to the hear and now. Angrily launching the bottle with his foot(it was going to fly across gotham, and probably ruin a store owner's window insurance rates), Spawn shook his head, and gestured across an empty cardboard shantytown with his long, pointed fingers.     "This was hers. She preferred sleeping under the stars, when it wasn't raining too much."
Johnny Blaze	Johnny Blaze looks to Rorschach and apparently...guess they are working together on this. Yay. Well, this should be fun. Then fo course, he looks to Spawn which almost automatically puts him at great unease. Though of course, as he walks by, hands still in his pockets, is wright when the woman starts to scream at a hobo. Johnny pauses. Before he looks to Spawn and Rorschach in a 'just a moment' kind of way. He turns right around until he is right in the face of the shaved woman who was jeering at a hobo for reading his Bible. "If I were you, I'd get to readin' the good word too." his eyes flare with hellfire. "Leave him alone. First and only warning. God ain't gonna be the one giving you a guided tour of hell." Johnny then turns around. He knew as well as anyone that Hell and Heaven were real. Believing it didn't matter. Eventually, he reunites with his 'partners' and he sighs. "Sorry about that." he looked to the place Spawn pointed out, and he sighs, but says nothing.
Rorschach	Rorschach grunts at Johnny's actions. It sounds vaguely approving but it's rather hard to tell. His face certainly doesn't give anything away. When he's shown Regina's things, Rorschach kneels to inspect them. She had a bag with the usual possessions - cans of food, mostly Vienna sausages. Jars of peach baby food. A half-empty bottle of rum. A spare dress or two, soiled as the rest, but at least she could switch out. He finds a wooden box, ornate and surprisingly clean for something of her belongings. He draws it out and lays it down, flipping the latch and drawing it open. Within, there is a set of Tarot cards, a chalice, a dagger and a pentacle on an amulet. "Witch,' Rorschach says simply, confirming the sign around her neck, if not the spelling.
Spawn	While Rorschach was pawing around her things, he might notice a singular chain snaking up and wrapping around one of the jars of babyfood, retracting and ending up in Spawn's barely-human hand. The glowing green of his eyes dimmed somewhat, even as he untwisted the cap, and dipped his thumb inside the contents. Wanda had wanted children, it had been the source of so many of their arguments near the end. He figured he'd have all the time in the world, and now? Now she had a beautiful daughter with Al's best friend. And he was here, surrounded by filth and garbage, part of a world of costumed madness.     Abruptly the babyfood was tossed aside, shattering on the ground with a loud crash. Instead Spawn looked down at the trenchcoat-wearing man.     "Out of all of us, you're the one who was able to examine the body. Was she pregnant?"
Johnny Blaze	Johnny was already looking around. This....had a few different kinds of weird in it that Johnny was more or less used to by now. Johnny's about to say something before Rorschach says it for him. Witch indeed. Johnny gives an approving nod when he also sees that sign around her neck. "Or a sorceress. But my money is on the former considering the 'double, double, toil and trouble' kinds of artifacts she seems to possess." "No wonder people knew she didn't believe in God." Johnny mostly mutters to himself before he just takes a sigh. He glances to Spawn at the strange question, but doesn't reply. Was this an act of a demon she may or may not have made a deal with? Or did she simply be at the wrong place at the wrong time?
Spawn	At Ghost Rider's words, Spawn looked over and gave him a look. It shouldn't have been possible with that thick leather mask, but somehow he was able to raise a brow even as he spoke with an incredulous voice. "That's a hell of a conclusion. I had tarot cards when I was a teenager. That didn't make my ass a warlock."
Rorschach	Rorschach didn't look back over his shoulder as he spoke, "Baby food is cheap calories. You can get it a quarter a jar some places. Easy eatin' if you got bad teeth and can't afford a dentist," he says. "No, she was not pregnant. Her womb had long since dried." As they're looking, they hear footsteps and can turn and see the approach of the hobo who'd been holding the Bible. He seemed to be sweating profusely. He's damp, at least, his shirt soaked to him, dripping footprints behind him "I heard what you said to the slut over there, sir. It...I was proud to have you stand up for something Godly. You should know that some of the company you keep is far, far from holy," he says, with a shiver. "I had to pray for Regina's soul. But I fear it was lost, long lost. She got what she deserved and now she burns. We deserve no less," he says. Rorschach twitches behind his mask, makes a sniffing noise and says, "Gasoline." Just as the homeless preacher suddenly goes up in flames.
Spawn	For his part, Spawn was unmoved by the priest's words, simply regarding the man coldly. In life he'd seen and heard a lot worse, usually from his bosses. Erupting in flames, well, that was something else entirely.     Al recognized the smell as soon as Rorschach said it, and the glow of the flames danced along the reflective white surface of his mask, his metal chains and metal belt buckle gleaming in the light. He was paralyzed for a moment, seeing the flames lap and dance upward, hearing the crackling, and the screaming. It brought up memories, that he'd rather not deal with.     He snapped out of it quickly, though, and instantly his cape leapt upward, wrapping around the man and taking him to the ground in almost a wrestling-type maneuver. There in fact was a steady 'oof' from the man inside the red leather burrito. The cape rolled the man back and forth as quickly as possible, trying to put him out quickly.     "Who dares attack my people? I'll send them to Hell for this!"
Johnny Blaze	Johnny seems to look to Spawn as he comments on Tarot Cards. "No, that's an interest in the occult." he tells Spawn pretty casually before the homeless man arrives to thank him for his words. Though..calling someone else a slut, even if it was true, was practically a sin in and of itself. 'love your neighbor as yourself'. Gospel of Mark, right? What? Johnny owns a Bible. After fighting a war in Heaven...kinda hard not to have one. But, he simply nods. "No soul is ever lost. Not until the final judgement." But then he smells the gasoline. "Shit." and he lights on fire! Johnny watches the man erupt in flames, before Spawn reacts and so does Johnny, who attempts to use his own pyrokinetic powers to try and force the flames to die out, working in cohesion with Spawn with alert on his face.
Rorschach	The man wrapped in Spawn's cloak is snuffed out, but not before plenty of damage is done. When the cape peels away, as the Rider draws away the remainder of the flame, the man's face is crusted with burns. His head had been soaked the worst of all, taking the most intense of the heat. He opens his eyes and they seem to have almost melted running down his cheeks like gelatinous tears and leaving the sockets empty and raw in their wake. "A NEW PLAGUE IS COMING! A NEW PLAGUE IS COMING! GLORY IN THE HIGHEST! HALLELUJIAH! ELIJAH WALKS!" he blubbers, before losing consciousness again from the pain and probably sinking rapidly toward death. Rorschach watches it all and slowly adjusts his gloves. As he does, something flaps against his ankle. He reaches down and finds a pamphlet with block letters on the front. SUFFER NOT A WYTCH YE THOU I WALK THE VALLEY IS SHADOWS AND DEATH FEAR ALL EVIL
Johnny Blaze	Johnny simply watches as this man suffers his burns. Only so much you can do when it's a full-blown gasoline explosion on a person. But, he listens to the words of the homeless man as he shouts something like he's a fire & brimstone preacher. Until he passes out, anyway. Johnny simply sighs, before he approaches and perhaps picks up the man's bible (or what's left of it) to see if it's a Christian Bible or a modified, Satanic, or a cursed one. "Deeper than we realized." Johnny simply mutters to himself.
Spawn	Spawn watched this happen, his cape pulling away even as his eyes narrowed. He dropped to a knee beside the man's charred and ruined head, staring down for a few long moments.     "So he kills Reg, then sets himself on fire?"     He sounded dissatisfied by this result, by the ending to this story, and so his right thumb reached down, pressing against the front of the man's skull. Spawn's eyes glowed a brighter green, and soon the dead man's eyes, mouth and nose all glowed in a similar fashion. Being dead his memories were fading from his brain rather quick, but Spawn opened them wide and rummaged through anyway. Perhaps something would flash through, perhaps he'd see something that made some kind of sense.     It lasted only a few moments, before the hand was pulled away, and the man became a corpse again. By now, more bums were coming toward the action, unafraid of Spawn, and while somewhat wary of the man in the inkblot mask, they seemed to trust someone who Spawn was letting "in", so to speak. The same went for the man in the leather jacket, though if he'd been visiting Regina before, he'd probably built up a rep of his own.
Rorschach	Rorschach kneels down and takes a closer look at what's left of the man. He absorbs the death, considers it as a piece in the puzzle. A part of the pattern. "He didn't kill her. He knew who did," Rorschach says. "He's just a messenger. He's telling us she's not the first. He's telling us she won't be the last." He crumpled up the pamphlet and shoved it in his pocket, "I'll find more. Then I'll find you," he says to the other two. "Be ready." He walks off slowly down the alley and lets the pieces swim in his mind. His gifts work that way, almost on autopilot, the patterns emerging in the bleeding wake of his subconscious. He's already tuned out the world for the tapestry within. And he's begun tugging at the threads.
Spawn	He'd learned a little, but it was more mysteries, and more questions. In frustration, he stood even as his right hand grabbed the priest's collar, lifting him upright. He'd have to dispose of the body later, he didn't want any cops to have any reasons to come down this way. He turned, glared at Johnny, then turned toward the darkness himself.     "Feel free to let yourself out anytime."
Johnny Blaze	Johnny kneels down to inspect further evidence, only sighing as he cracked his neck. Zarathos was getting restless. So was Johnny. Vengeance was coming. But, Johnny simply stood up slowly. He could grab something to use black magic on later, or find someone who could, but...that probably wasn't necessary. the woman was already dead. "So now, basically?" Johnny quips as he turns heel. What a dark world they live in. A world of madness.