Huh, what? Vanessa was surprised at what she saw and heard. Evidence against me? Wait, more importantly where's Lawrence? She pondered, taking a deep breath. No, focus, I have to deal with these men first. The heiress prepares herself, realizing that all the men here was everyone that stormed her home. Vanessa figured that since they were using guns, none of them were supers. So she wastes no time in attacking, using her full speed, and godlike strength to knock them out all at once, before moving out of sight hoping that the officer doesn't see her.
"Your mom sounded like she tried to raise a gentleman - she raised a moron instead. Why are the handsome guys so Goddamned dumb?" She sighs. As she raises her fist, Valentin tosses the unconscious guy, who collides with the super, head bouncing off her chest harmlessly. Pivoting, she sends a fist into his face, though notably slowly, that collides harmlessly with Valentin's jaw. "Weird..." The woman says in surprise, pulling her arm back. "I was pulling that one a lot, but it still would have hurt a normal guy. You...don't have superpowers, do you?"
Duke's penthouse is empty, with no more waiting gangsters, and sadly no evidence beyond the money she 'earned' earlier. She arrives home to the apartment she shares with her husband, the man luckily still out, presumably at headquarters. At the front door, the blonde sees a box has been left, a bow wrapped around it. Going inside and opening it, she sees a lacy set of lingerie, with a card reading: Work wear - DD. As Jenny looks at the garment, she notes that she never gave the man her address - just her name.
Spoiler: Speed Roll D100: 18+20 (Collar) Vanessa bursts through the doors, hearing a bang as she does, before she smashes into the bad guys. Bullets go flying into the expensive woodwork as they try to fight back, but without a true supervillain to back them up, they can do nothing. Sadly, as the men all lie unconscious, Vanessa sees the third cop lying dead - her captor shooting her instinctively as Vanessa entered the room.
"N-no..." Vanessa felt grief as she failed to save the female cop, Keep yourself together... grieving can wait, for now, I should check if there're anything else amiss. She clenches her fist, and starts using her speed to look around the house for any signs of Lawrence, or anything that might be out of place.
24 hours ago Jenny would have been aghast at the garment in the box. She never would have even considered purchasing such an item, even to wear it for her husband, let alone consider it 'work wear'. Part of her mind screamed at her to just throw it out and forget about the whole thing. But she knew that was foolish; she was in it far too deep now. Besides, if Duke knew where she lived then she wondered what else he might know about her. She shivered at the thought. Rather than throw out the item she took it up to her bedroom and tucked it away for safekeeping. Jenny then pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to her husband. ::Job's done. Back home now. Miss U. Luv U. Talk when U get back.:: With the text sent, now surrounded by her life and separated by the intoxicating arousal she was thankful that he wasn't home because she promptly broke down and cried. She crawled up onto her husband's side of the bed and held his pillow close to her. "What am I going to say?" she wondered as she closed her eyes.
Luckily, there's nothing left in the house to suggest that Vanessa's a superhero, or that the assailants are aware of what their intended victim does at night. Spoiler: Awareness Roll D100: 78 Looking near the door, she finds a small pool of blood - too little to have come from a corpse, and next to it, a hammer - the blood on the metal suggesting that it's the weapon that caused the blood stain. On the ground next to the pool, she sees an old fob watch - Lawrence's, a gift he received for saving Vanessa's father once, and one of his most prized possessions. He'd never have left it casually lying on the floor, and due to it being situated comfortably in his breast pocket with a chain, it's unlikely that it would have come off in a struggle without also destroying his jacket, no traces of which are anywhere around.
The response comes back lightning fast. ::I see you on the map. I've got work coordinating the rest of the team, but I'll be back as soon as I can. Love you too.:: Her husband's response is characteristically devoid of shorthand, unlike hers. As she smells the scent left on the pillow, so much less...musky...than the other scents she's inhaled recently, Jenny hears a tapping on the window. Looking up, she jumps a little, as she sees Infinity floating outside.
"N-no, no, no, Lawrence!" Seeing the blood stains, and her butler's prized watch. Vanessa couldn't help but yell as she desperately starts looking around, Those cops still saw him, so he must still be... Doing everything she could to avoid thinking of the worst case scenario, The heiress decides to check inside the vehicles outside on the off chance they tied him up.
The shock of seeing the city's premier superhero outside her window fades quickly, replaced by a sense of violation. Even if the man knew of Psychana, she hadn't realized he knew Psychana was Jennifer Foxx! But she pushed that feeling aside, this mission was clearly important to him and despite the fact that Jenny really wasn't in the mood for visitors, as she just wanted to wallow in her despair, she rose from the bed and moved to open the window. "Infinity." she greeted "I wasn't expecting you. Please come in." she said and stepped aside to allow the much bigger man to enter. She didn't want her neighbors to spot such a famous individual floating outside her window and start asking questions.
She doesn't find him by the vehicles, but as she calms down, Vanessa starts to clear up what happened. From the look of it, the hammer on the ground was one of Lawrence's - part of his toolset for maintainance of the grounds. With that in mind, it seems like Lawrence struck one of the intruders, before dropping his weapon, and intentionally setting down his watch.
"Forgive me for coming unannounced." Infinity says, eyes scanning her body. "I have to get back out there soon - we're trying to keep an alien invader from getting out of the Null Dimension, but while I had a moment's break, I wanted to check in and see if there's been any progress with Duke."
"Huh?" Calming down a bit to realize what happened, Vanessa was dumbfounded. Why would he leave his watch? She thinks to herself, deciding to check if he left any notes inside the pocket watch. The heiress opens it, hoping to find a clue on her loyal butler's whereabouts.
“Sorry, I guess we overdid it a bit. Let's stop here for today. It's getting late, anyway. And thank you.” Azura gave Sapphira an apologetic smile, then looked at Esmerelda. “We should start making dinner. After that I think it would be best to spend the rest of the day relaxing. Maybe decide who bathes when, too, since there's only one bath.”
"Oh! Uh- yes of course." Jenny said and swallowed. "Well uh- I've made contact with Duke and have been welcomed into his operation. I believe a number of people that he works with were involved in an armed robbery or something of the like. I have dollar bills in my possession that I suspect were from the crime but I'll have to check their serial numbers against the bank's records and then gain documentation that the men are actually employed by Duke. But I believe I've made good progress for only one days work." She noticed Infinity's eyes roaming her body but she ignored it, partly because she considered it harmless and slightly flattering. While she considered 'telling-him-off' because she'd done so much worse, and it would be a way to vent her anger, guilt and shame, Infinity himself hadn't done anything to deserve such an outburst and so she kept her feelings to herself.
Sadly, as she looks over the watch, there doesn't seem to be anything hidden within. Maybe he left it there to call attention to something, she thinks.
"You're welcome." Sapphira nods, rubbing her temples. "I'm gonna go lie down." Esmerelda starts moving to the kitchen. "I'm starting to feel a little guilty - what happens if Ice, or worse, one of my more dangerous enemies, figures out where I am, and hurts you?" She says as she starts heating up the pan.
Damn it Lawrence, what happened to you. Vanessa thinks to herself, as she investigates the scene. Looking back at the hammer, coupled with the black man who seemed to be the leader of the thugs that attacked her. No, I must be overthinking this, there's no way Lawrence would mean THE Hammer would he? She pondered as she gives the scene another look, hoping to find what she missed.
"Ah, I see. Good work - undercover operations are always among the hardest. I knew I could count on you. Why don't you let me hang onto that cash, and I'll get it analysed for you?" The hero holds out a hand.
Thinking to herself about the possibility, she thinks it makes sense. Hammer would certainly be capable of smashing through one of her home's solid walls. Before she can ponder further, though, she'll have to figure out how to deal with the men in the other room, who seem to be groggily waking up, and also how to handle the fact that she has three dead police in her home.
