"Strange..." The Brit says, as she describes what happens. "He was just reading a will, wasn't he? You'll be able to get a new executor to read out the contents in a matter of days - killing the lawyer and stealing the documents seems...pointless. I only see two reasons why you'd do it: Either he was carrying a document that wasn't officially part of what Oscar had in his will, or there's something happening in the next few days that these men don't want you to know about." He chuckles as she asks about tomorrow. "Forgotten already? You're due to speak at that charity ball, to keep up the company's humanitarian image. I can cancel, if you'd prefer - no one would blame you after something like tonight."
"I dunno..." The blonde scratches her head. "Fighting crime was more Esmerelda's thing, I'm not an expert." She furrows her brow for a moment, before smiling. "Wait! I have a friend in the police force. Or a lover. One of those - it's complicated. She might be able to help - she doesn't know about the whole 'magical girl' thing, though."
"Tell me about it. And the soldiers were highly trained as well. Anyway, just keep an eye out, they might get bolder and target the house." Vanessa sighed, letting Lawrence know that she tried to fight them. After all, if she couldn't trust her family's loyal butler, who can she trust? "Right, a charity ball. No need to cancel. I suppose we can use this to our advantage, that despite such dangers, the Fitzgerald's are still willing to help out those in need." She smiled, as they get to the door to her room. "Now then... I'd like to "unwind" after tonight's events. So I'll be back later." Vanessa grins, entering her room, and closing the door behind her as she bids Lawrence good night. After that, she hurriedly changes into her costume, which was a simple set of tear-resistant leotard, black pantyhose, and combat boots. Followed by her extremely powerful artifact, which looked like a simple collar around her pale, slender neck. "Aaah." Vanessa hums, feeling her immense power. Now then, which neighborhood should I terrori- I mean relax on tonight. She giggled, as she moves to the balcony, before using her superhuman strength to leap into the air. For now, Vanessa has no destination in mind, merely trying to follow the sounds of trouble
Spoiler: Sorceress' Strength Roll D100: Sorceress: 60-20 Tentacles: 70 "Agh...Ugh..." The blonde tries as best she can to break free, but the tentacles are too strong. There's a loud rip as her the top of her dress is destroyed, giving Squidlock an eyeful of her pert, round breasts. Spoiler: Pheromone Roll D100: Squidlock: 60+20 (Pheromone Skill)=80 Sorceress: 61-20 (Fatigue)=41 Sorceress' Willpower: 80-39=41 The blonde moans out as the slime continues to work its way into her consciousness. Her skin notably reddens, and the villain can see her nipples growing hard with need. Lifting her dress, the villain sees an obvious slickness between her legs. "P-Please..." She moans. "D-Don't do this... Whoever your master is - he's evil!" She gasps, unable to keep an erotic moan from her voice.
Azura did not ask about Sapphira's "friend" – she did not want to pry into the other woman's private life. “A friend in the police force, eh? I think it's worth a shot to call her and ask for her help. Maybe promise to... show her your gratitude later.” She finished with a smirk.
"I see." The butler inclines his head. "Enjoy your night, madame." Spoiler: What does she find? D10: 3 Out on the streets of the city, it doesn't take long before she finds some action. Perched atop a rooftop, the heroine hears a cry of pain from one of the nearby alleys. Peeking her head over the ledge, she sees a thirtysomething man in a business suit goes crashing into a trash can, denting it, his face a bloody mess. "Boy, oh boy..." Not far away, she sees three figures - two common looking thugs, and then a slightly more dangerous looking brawler type. "You know - they say the boss can get anything. But when someone tries to take an item from him without paying, well..." The thugs chuckle, and the leader continues. "Well, we make sure you give something to the boss in tribute. So, which part of your body should we cut off and bring to the boss as a trophy? Your nose? Your ears? The tiny little thing between your legs? Boy, you were one hell of an idiot to steal from the boss..." The victim looks up in outrage. "You thugs stole my heirloom from m-me! I was just trying to get it b-" He's interrupted by a kick to the face, and his hands go to his mouth. "Like I said, an idiot... The cops told you to let it go - told you the boss was paid up, that your 'heirloom' was a lost cause... But no, you had to try to be a hero." The big thug says contemptuously. "Well, guys? Let's show him what happens to heroes." The three of them close in, clearly intending to do some damage.
"Heh, you can join me if you want - it's your debt, after all." Sapphira flashes a cheeky grin, before pulling a phone from a small bag at her waist and heading out onto the fire escape. She comes back in after a few moments. "Apparently one of the gang's leaders is out seeing his mistress - without his men. If anyone in the gang knows where Esmerelda is, it'll be him, right? That only leaves the question of how we get the information from his head and into ours."
"Aah, thugs. What will the city be without you." Vanessa grins, doing some stretches as the leader seemed to be doing a monologue. Mm, seems like I'll be doing a good deed tonight. She grins, waiting for the other two to approach. Before she jumps down, "That's enough of that." She hummed, as she gets their attention. "You know, you thug types like to talk big, and yet I always find you ganging up on someone." Vanessa taunts them, as she places her left hand on her cocked hips. Giving them a teasing smirk to piss them off further. But as the leader opens his mouth to speak. Vanessa turns into a blur as she sends his lackeys flying towards a nearby wall. She of course held back, just enough to leave them with a few broken bones. As she learned that if she used her full strength, throwing a man toward a solid surface was akin to throwing a water ballon at a wall. "Now then, think you're still so tough without your friends?" Vanessa teased, curling her finger to provoke the leader. Her sadistic side leading her to toy with him, dodging him, and tripping him as they "fought."
“Well...” Azura began as she thought over their options. “I doubt he will just tell us out of the goodness of his heart, and I doubt we can bribe him with money or precious items, so those are out. We could try capturing and interrogating him, but who knows how long that will take. We could try seduction, but... that too will take time, and is not guaranteed to work. So... the best that comes to my mind right now is to follow him from a distance and hope that he will lead us to where they are keeping her. What do you think?” She looked at Sapphira. “By the way, does the gang have any rivals we can use against them? Some gang-versus-gang might be just the distraction we need to rescue Esmerelda unnoticed once we have located her.” She added as the idea came to her.
Spoiler: Combat Roll D100: 83+20 (Demi-Goddess, collared) Easily, the lesser thugs go sprawling on either side of the alley in mess of shattered bones, as the leader looks her up and down. "Hey - I know you. You're that 'Rabbit Lady' chick, right? I don't get the costume - if you're a rabbit lady, shouldn't you have bunny ears and a fluffy tail, or something? Just sayin'..." He raises his fists. Spoiler: Combat Roll D100: Rabid Lady: 52+20 (Demi-Goddess, Collared) Thug: 41 The man is fast, for a regular human, and strong, but against a being imbued with the power of the gods, it makes no difference. Vanessa easily dodges out of his way, until he's bent over, panting with exhaustion. "Just you wait, bitch... When the boss hears about this, your days'll be numbered..."
"Well, I'm not really the 'beat information out of people' kind of girl, though I can try my best. I guess we can follow him, but if he's at his mistress' place, how do we know he won't spend all night? Seduction would be my forte, but like you said, no guarantees. We could try to trick him, too, I guess?" She pulls up the phone again. "Err, according to this article, they're at war with another biker gang, the Devil's Children."
"Then you understand my hesitation." She nodded. Yes, the hero team was a whim... but she knew that Arch valued his tech. So asking for it was a way to check his intent... and wasn't it curious, that he was ready to agree to it. That gave them a field to work in. She already had an idea - space flight, colonies and Earth's defence fleet. "Very well... I will also bring some pieces, that you might find interesting." Faye said as she raised a glass. "I guess we reached an accord, no?"
"'Rabbit lady,' now that's a new one." Vanessa chuckled not even correcting him, and loving how she's basically bullying him into exhaustion. She didn't really care about her "hero" name, as the Rabid Lady was just the one that stuck the most due to her violent nature, which chose no targets. Then, as the leader exhausted himself, to the point that all he could do was make threats. "Hmm, the "boss," huh. Mind telling me who that is, I might pay him a visit myself." She taunts him, and once he finished replying. Vanessa decides that play time was over as she knocks him out. If he's out cold, she checks on the victim, mostly to see if he's still alive.
She wasn’t sure if Finch had any kind of alarms in place for anyone his base who wasn’t himself, but likely seeing his base broken into on his return would make it all happen. Feeling like she did enough to have all the pieces fall in place, she relaxed and waited to see when the other would return and who was going to be the one who leaves.
"I think we have - of a sort." He raises his glass, but still waits for her to drink first - it seems to be a reflex, not an indication that he thinks she specifically would poison him.
“Hmm, maybe we can provoke the Devil's Children to attack the gang? That might force the boss to return early, allowing us to follow him. And if we are lucky they might try to move their captive, making it easier to rescue her while she's in transit.” Azura suggested.
"Horatio Melchett." The man grunts, before she knocks him out. Heading to the alley, she sees that she was way off on her estimate of the victim's age - the blood and bruises made him look older from a distance. "W-Wow..." The youth, maybe 18 or 19, says as he looks up at her. "Y-You were amazing!"
The blond smiled and raised her glass. Well, it was her office, and the bottle was from her stock, so there was no danger. "For a fruitful cooperation, and fulfilled expectations." She clinked his glass and drank some of the white wine. No entire glass - it would be too much. "Out of curiosity, why did you make it so urgent? Could you not wait until tomorrow?" She asked as she sat back and swirled her glass.
Spoiler: Stealth Roll D100: 85 Staying where she is, Malady isn't seen, as The Finch returns to his lair, frowning as he sees the open hatch. He hops down, and then there's silence for the next minute, five, ten... Whatever's happened down there, it's impossible to tell from here.
"I think that's doable." Sapphira nods. "Luckily, biker gangs are confident or dumb enough to publically state where their bases are." Opening the map, she quickly finds it - roughly between the two clubhouses she found before. "With our powers, conjuring up a rival gang patch is easy."
