----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- El Diablo Sudad
1:15 am
5th Ward
She sits on top of a 3 story apartment complex allowing the rain to wash over her. Her cold blue eyes are fixed on a young man trotting across the pothole filled pavement. He is carrying a trash bag and an umbrella and heading towards the dumpster. Waiting on him at the dumpster is two more men wearing brown suits covered by long black trench coats. One of them is carrying a briefcase that is handcuffed to his wrist while the other one paces nervously between the entrance to the dumpster. She scans the cars in the parking lot and sees one that stands out like a sore thumb. A grey hummer. She also sees something else that stands out. Her ex-husband's tan mini van. Why is he here? He will ruin everything she thought to herself. A loud thunderclap caused her to regain her focus. She would just have to deal with Sgt. Cunningham later.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sgt. Cunninghams Mini van
1:15 am
5th Ward
He sips on his coffee cup blocking out the sounds of his police radio and the rain pounding his tan mini van. He watches a young man's trot turn into a run when the rain begins to pick up. The young man looks to be no older than 20. He is wearing an Old Navy sweater and baggy jeans. The kind of jeans that you could possibly fit two people into. His umbrella is doing very little to keep this young man dry. His trash bag is full but doesn't appear to be heavy by the way that the young man is able to hold it, the umbrella, and be able to run. He takes another sip of his coffee. He knows that Percy Johnson's men are at the dumpster waiting for this kid. He also knows that the grey hummer has got to be the getaway car. He knows this because 5th Ward is the city's melting pot for low income families and none of them would be able to afford a hummer. He knows its Percy Johnson's men because one of his men are working undercover and gave him this piece of information last night. What he doesn't know is how many men are waiting for this young man at the dumpster.
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The Brandy Woods Apartment Parking Lot
1:15 am
5th Ward
He knew tonight was going to be a bad night. He just knew it. First his girlfriend of 3 years just found out that he had lost his job three months ago and was being a mule for Percy Johnson ever since. Then she leaves him. Shortly after that The Informant calls him and tells him that Percy wants his merchandise in 2 hours. Then his mother calls him questioning if what his ex-girlfriend just told her on the phone is true? To top everything of what he deems as the worst day of his life its raining. It's not sprinkling it's pouring out there. It has been for the last hour. The merchandise that Percy's men are going to pick up is called snow and it can not get wet. Snow activates when it comes in to contact with any form of liquid. To even handle it requires gloves because the moisture on your hands will activate it. It's a powerful hollucagenic drug that is being introduced into the city by Percy Johnson. It has been a problem in Rapid City and Haven City. The only thing that he has to protect the drug from the rain is trash bags. So he double bags the drug and heads into the rain. As he shuts the door a loud thunder clap is followed by a bright lightning bolt. He scans the parking lot to see if Percy's men are here. He spots the grey hummer and at the same time he confirms they're here and reminds himself that cars like that are why he does this. The chance to make more money than any other job can pay him and the adrenaline that comes from getting away with it is why he does this. To him this is the best job there is.
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The Brandy Woods Dumpster
1:15 am
5th Ward
"Stop pacing like that Mike you are making me nervous."
"I am nervous Danny."
"You got nothing to be nervous about."
"Look Mike you got nothing to be nervous about because this is only going to be your 2nd strike if we get caught. Its going to be my 3rd strike if we get caught and I'm not going back to prison. Not this time. Not next time never again..."
Danny interrupts the much larger Mike with a slap across the face. The slap doesn't hurt Mike but it catches him off guard and it infuriates Mike that Danny would slap him across the face like that.
"You got 5 seconds to tell me why you just slapped me before I fill you full of lead, Danny."
"Your whining like a little girl so you get treated like a little girl. Now shut up before I slap you again Mike and one more thing Mister 3-strikes-and-I'm-out if you as you said fill me full of lead then guess who is going to be called? That's right the cops are going to be called. Where is the police station at Mike? That's right it's right around the corner. So I suggest you shut up and I also suggest you never threaten to fill me full of lead again."
Danny tries to slap Mike across the face again to end the conversation but Mike catches Danny's hand. Mike then grabs Danny by the collar of his suit and picks him up off the ground with that one hand and slams him into the dumpster. He begins to twist Danny's hand causing him great pain.
"I suggest you never try and slap me again Danny, and while we are throwing suggestions around I also suggest you get that looked at."
Mike keeps turning Danny's wrist until it breaks. Danny's shouts of pain and his obscenity laced threats are drowned out by a very loud thunderclap that causes several car alarms to go off. Mike drops Danny and sees Corey running up from the parking lot. He sees that Corey has an umbrella in one hand and a trash bag in the other.
"Where's the product Corey?"
"It's in the trash bag Mike." Corey nervously replies. Corey was scared to death of Mike. Mike stood at 6'8" and had to weigh close to 350 pounds of muscle. Mike also had a temper and would just as soon look as you as he would shoot you. As Corey looked around the dumpster he noticed Danny clinching his wrist in pain. He also noticed that the wrist Danny was holding was hand cuffed to a brief case. Nodding towards Danny, Corey asked Mike if that was his money. Mike responded yes and reached for the trash bag. Corey gave Mike the trash bag and headed towards Danny when he heard something.
"What was that Mike?"
"What was what kid?"
Corey stood still and tried to listen to his surroundings. He heard the wind chimes off of Mrs. Parkers patio. He still heard the car alarms going off. He heard the rain pelting at his umbrella. He heard Danny cussing and he heard Mike checking the trash bag.
"Don't open that up out here! You will ruin it."
"Relax kid. I know what I'm doing. Now what did you hear?"
"I guess it was nothing."
Corey walked towards Danny to get his money when coming from behind the dumpster was Mage. She was wearing a black leather outfit that looked an awful lot like a swimsuit he saw in a Sports Illustrated last week. She also had a cape that was pitch black, but he could not tell if it was only that black because of it being soaked from the rain. She had gold snake bracelets that wrapped around her forearm and she wore boots that came up to her knees, black in color with at least an eight inch heel. She had an amulet that hung from her neck. The chain was gold and the amulet itself was a silver dragon with a red stone in the middle. The amulet had to be the size of his fist. She had long blonde hair and light green eyes. She did not wear a mask and she appeared to be between 5'6" and 5'8". She was slim and she was looking right at him. He only knew of her because she has been hitting the streets pretty hard lately busting everyone from purse snatchers to pimps. He just knew this was going to be a bad night.
She moved swiftly towards Corey fully aware that Sgt. Cunningham was here and would act if two things where to happen. One if this deal was to take longer than 5 minutes from when Corey got here or two if shots where fired. She figures she has 5 minutes. From having watched the events unfold from the rooftop she knows Danny's wrist is broken. She also knows that it is his good hand that is broken because it is the one he tried to slap Mike with. She is almost certain that Corey is not a threat but she is still aware that there is always the chance that he could become a threat. She knows that Mike is the main threat because he was so adamant about not returning to prison. She has them rated in her head as the most threatening to the least threatening. This process takes about 5 seconds. She begins to chant a simple bind spell when Mike turns around after hearing her chant. He begins to pull out his gun. Danny again spats out obscenities and tries to reach for his gun with his off hand. Corey just looks at her with the realization that he is going to have to go through her or Mike to get out of here and neither looks very appealing.
She is much faster than Mike. Before he is able to get his gun out of his coat pocket he is surrounded by a purple energy that squeezes tightly against his body constricting him like an anaconda does its victims. Having dealt with him she round house kicks Danny just as he turns toward her with his gun raised. The kick hits with enough force that it slams his head into the dumpster knocking him out. Corey bolts out of the dumpster area as fast as he can paying no mind to Mike who is trying to escape Mage's spell. Mage see's this aware of two things that are about to happen. One, her ex-husband is about to stop Corey dead in his tracks and two, he will then call for back up and head this way. She needs to act fast. She walks towards Mike with a smug look on her face. His face is filled with pain as the spell is barely allowing him to breathe.
"Hurts pretty bad doesn't it?" she ask knowing full well that it does.
"When I get out of this your dead meat honey. Expect the beating of your life." His reply is barely audible over the rain and his grunts of pain.
"You know that the police are here don't you Mike? As we speak Corey is being arrested. Once that cop is done with him he is going to come here and arrest us. I of course can stop that if you tell me where these drugs where going." as she finishes her proposal almost as if on cue she see's Corey being tackled to the ground by Sgt. Cunningham.
"I am not telling you anything lady."
"Three strikes Mike remember?"
"You are getting nothing from me."
She is almost out of time. She see's her ex picking Corey up and putting him next to the van. She has maybe a minute left. Lightning lights up the sky and the rain becomes so intense that it is becoming hard to see.
"Alright Mike. I can take the information from you. It will hurt very badly. I am going to rip it from your mind. The last time I did this the poor guy wasn't the same. He became a vegetable. You sure you do not want to just save yourself the horror of becoming a vegetable and tell me yourself?"
"Alright Alright I will talk I will talk just get me out of here so I don't go back to jail!"
"Where was the drugs going Mike?"
"The warehouse on Cullin Blvd. Now get me out of here!"
She was off on her time table by 20 seconds.
"Put your hands up now!"
Sgt. Cunningham stood 6'3 and weighed 225 pounds. He was in great shape and she could not help but admire how well he looked in his uniform.
Her admiration was cut short when she again heard him scream his command with his gun pointed at her. She needed him to cuff Mike. She had not finished her training and was only capable of casting one spell at a time. If she released the bind spell the situation would get out of hand very quickly putting all of them at risk. She just had to hope that he would cuff Mike first due to the fact that he was closer to him than she was.
"Ok now lady you need to turn and face the dumpster. Do not move!"
Bingo. He was going to cuff Mike first. Her plan was working. She turns to face the dumpster and decides that she is going to count to 20 in her head and then cast another spell. By then Mike should be cuffed. She gets to 15 when she hears the gun fire. Spinning around she see's Danny pointing his gun at Sgt. Cunningham. who is falling backwards. She begins to feal her emotions take control. She turns towards Danny and changes his gun into rocks. Fear creeps into Danny's eyes as he tries to scramble backwards. He doesn't get far before he gets blasted in the chest by a green energy beam that washes over his body causing him extreme pain. The pain is to much for Danny and he again passes out. Mage rushes to Sgt. Cunningham who is holding his inner waist area. His hands are covered in blood even in this rain storm. He is still coherent and verbalizes something that she does not understand. Casting another spell she magneticly rips the bullet from his skin. This does cause more bleeding but she is able to cast her next spell in 4 seconds and his body begins to glow a gold color. The gunshot wound begins to close. She is able to heal him but the area remains very sore and he is barely able to sit up. Before they exchange words she hears the police sirens in the back ground.
"Your under..."
"Maybe next time." she replies cutting him off. Mage cast a spell of flight and is gone before the police arrive.
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Above the city
1:30 am
On the way to the warehouse she reflects on her night so far. She wonders if her ex-husband realized it was her with a different hair color. She wonders what she could have done differently to avoid his involment, much less his getting shot. With the rain really pounding the city she knows no one is going to be able to see her this high up. Her thoughts are taken back to June 16th. That day a judge ruled that she could not have custody of their 2 children. The judge ruled this way because her job required her to work very late into the night. She thinks to herself that at least her job doesn't get her shot at. She hated seeing him. Every time she saw him she was flooded with emotions. She knew she still loved him but at the same time he had taken everything they had away from her. She often thought about leaving and starting somewhere new. Somewhere where every street wasn't another memory that was now painful. Somewhere she could go without their once mutual friends stopping her and telling her they where sorry for what had happened. She stays however for her kids. She stays to protect their home and their city so they never have to be afraid to play outside. She see's the warehouse in the distance. The rain is not as heavy in this part of the city. She lands on the roof to the warehouse and walks towards the skylight...
To be continued.
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