Disclaimer: Still don't own.
This is about the Velvet Phantom.
:}
The Velvet Phantom shadowed the man she'd been following through the city, expecting him to lead her to his boss. Normally, she'd have trouble, as even the coat she'd wear over her costume stood out in the warm Los Angeles sun. However, she had one major advantage, she was reading the target. Each time he shifted, she knew where he was trying to go, and often just slipped ahead and waited at the last place he though of going before he chose his direction. She understood he was seeking to find and lose any tails. 'Too bad for him, I already know where he's going. Just need him to open the door for me, and I can bring down this ring.'
Meredith wasn't interested in some of the criminals the police liked to target, and felt that sex workers should be allowed to find a way to be legal, as long as it was their choice. However, she had a strong dislike for those who did protection rackets, or pirated music, or similar crimes that hurt small businesses and artist. This ring was made up of thugs working for someone with a brain, someone who was organizing them to do both protection, forcing people to pay so they don't destroy their property, and piracy. This group, from what she could tell, had themselves a contact in the local delivery services who could identify valuable packages that might sit on a porch for a bit. They just watched the right delivery person, and when they're close to the address, the criminals rob several address on either side of that delivery to cover their tracks, hiding that they knew which house had the valuables. Varying the number per side kept of their target address helped keep the exact target more hidden. 'Media piracy, porch piracy, and extortion. These guys are growing, and will be a threat in the future if not stopped now. Only, need the boss to find out who's feeding them the intel on the packages, as well as how they got that advanced release of "Life's a Drag." It hasn't been released to the public yet.' Her mind was darkened by the though of someone taking from the actors in one of her favorite shows, as well as the other crimes committed. 'I mean, the show still had legs. They should have given it another season.'
The man she'd been following arrived, package in his coat, at the place where he'd be meeting with his boss and exchanging the package for a payout. 'Mostly independent contractors, though they tend to use the same people over and over again. Turn in the one package, keep the rest, and we'll pay you. Let them take all the risks. Funny, this guy has nothing, cause the boss of this organization, works through middle men, and drop boxes, and avoids direct interaction. So, why the desire to do this face to face?'
The man she'd be following stopped outside the address he'd been given, looking for his way in. A quick knock let them know he was there, and after several tense moments, a car screeched around the corner and past, opening fire on the street, killing the courier and scaring the locals. 'Crap, they're onto him...No, they know someones looking, and trying to end the trail right here. Too bad for them I just needed a look at the driver, and I got something. Not much, cause lets be honest, he was busy thinking about driving. However, the timing, too precise. Either there's someone inside, or, someone is watching. Time to figure out if anyone here is making sure they got their target.'
The petite girl knew that whomever might be watching would keep their distance, so as to not expose themselves. 'If they're inside, then they took cover, cause bullets. Maybe they sneak out the back way, maybe not… Who's not freaked out about… BINGO!' Her eyes locked on a man across the street from the shooting, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. 'Apartments and shops, so the guy chose to hang out at one of the shops, and he's worried the target might live. Lets follow, and see what this guy has to tell me…'
A short time later, as she shadowed him through a few more shops, she started to get something. 'Okay, I do agree, some of these neighborhood shops charge outrageous markups for the same thing you get at the super market. I know, economic factors and convenience, but really? They charge more then Seven Eleven, and that chain is almost criminal sometimes. Still… Love me a slushy, in the warm weather.' Her eyes narrowed as the man made a phone call. 'And we're talking to his boss, about… OH! Cleanup on aisle three, I guess. Sounds to him like they're closing down this operation. Are the police too close, or…'
Realization hit her that they were burning bridges, and probably had their reasons. 'Is this man in danger? No, this man knows too much, but he's not seen as a part of the crime. He's just to make sure the one's in charge know everything's done. Thinking the shooter is next, and I don't have time to save that guy. Gotta find me the boss, quick, cause this just escalated.'
No longer patient, Meredith pushed the narrative, moving to do what she had to in order to get the bosses name, address, anything to end this before more people got hurt. She found a safe place to store her coat, and moved to apprehend the man. 'Calling my bike, cause that's gonna be needed if this guy tries to drive off, but I'm thinking I should be safe enough to leave my coat here….'
The Velvet Phantom closed the distance, deciding to just use the minor shielding of her coat a moment longer, but opened it to make who she was more obvious. Plus, she hid her wig. Her hand ghosted across the mans shoulder, and he turned, looking right at her. "Who the fuck?"
"Buddy, I have some questions for you, and you'd better be ready to answer truthfully, cause I'm not in the mood…" She said.
She didn't much care about this man, even if he was an accomplice to murder. They'd never get evidence he was involved, so her questioning him was just fishing, except she knew who he was, and what he might know. 'Let this guy go, and we catch the mastermind.'
"Look, I didn't do anything." The man blabbed before she could start. "I was just there. I've never really been in trouble before, so why are you picking on me?" Meanwhile, she was reading volumes about who he worked for, and what was happening.
'Fuck me, this guys a tool, but not violent.' She realized. 'He's willing to be the spotter, but that was enough to make him feel sick. No, his boss… Is his ex girlfriends new guy? No way, this is dumb. Collage kid came up with this plan, and has been using contacts with criminal connections to make it happen. So why the escalation…? FUCK. They're working with one of the big players now. Did they... No, they pirated something off of the parch of some organized crime under boss, and he had his people track them down. Killing that guy, he has no idea why, but I'm betting they're trying to erase the people involved in the snatch they're interested in. Big players are like that. A few deaths, and then you have the others warned not to try anything. Yea, I know who to talk to now. Just need me some evidence… And of course, this idiot had no idea how much he has, right where he can get his hands on it. Okay, time to phone in a tip, cause this organization, it's going down.'
She'd call it in, and waited, letting this man go. (He was older then she was, an adult, so she felt wrong calling him a kid.) To the outside, it looked like she asked him a few questions, far fewer then she'd intended, and then just backed off. However, she'd done that because he'd surprised her by immediately thinking about his boss and everything he'd done that was illegal. He'd provided her with everything, mostly without being asked. 'Normally, I have to ask leading questions, make him think, and read his thoughts to pick up on the right answers. He'd think, almost involuntarily, about the things I'd want, and I'd get everything. Only this guy, he's freaked out about the murder, and so it was so much easier to get him to think about everything he's involved in, and thus, get my intelligence. Now, lets just hope that playing with the big boys hasn't gotten them some extra firepower, cause the Velvet Phantom is coming for them.'
Moving quickly, she got on her bike and raced towards the address she'd read in the mans mind, seeking to get whatever evidence she could before it was destroyed. Her quick call to home baste got her a warrant, not just to search the mans home and office, but also for his arrest, assuming they could find some evidence he ordered the death of that one courier. Seconds passed as she closed the distance, her flying bike devouring the miles. Her enhanced physiology then absorbed the twenty plus foot fall onto the roof of his home. 'Okay, quickly, we need to find us that evidence. Mind reading isn't admissible in court.'
The one time friendly girl soon found her entrance, but hesitated just long enough to let the man know she was coming. "Police Meta, and I have a warrant!" The bikes speaker amplified her voice, alerting the homes occupants she was coming. She found a way to slip in through a skylight without breaking the glass, and entered the home.
She found herself face to face with a dozen men, as well as an enforcer who looked more then ready to deal with any threat. 'Not sure who he is, but the stance says he's used to power, so best treat him as the bodyguard, and the rest as an inconvenience. Still, this isn't my forte, cause too many to read. At least, their minds. Body language, intentions, those are easy, and I do have an edge here.'
Not wishing to prolong things, she announced "Come quietly, and we can avoid any messiness. I assume most of you are just guards, and if you cooperate, can maybe walk out of this with some level of freedom. So, am I wrong, cause there's no need to hurt you if we're just talking accessory to robbery."
The half dozen men looked around, each feeling confident. The enforcer, however, spoke. "Thinking, after that striker deal, someone would pay a decent price to see her put in the ground. I'll add five hundred to the one who drops her. And for the record, yes, she's cute, but when it comes to masks, only those into necrophilia get any jollies out of the only real way to handle them."
'Joy, they wanna fight.' The heroin thought, even as she chose her first target and moved. 'Let them throw the first punch, and then rip them a new one. Teach them the hard way that I'm a touch more then they expected…'
The Velvet Phantom was shocked when her first target chose not to swing, and instead backed off, not wanting to play her game. Instead, he tried to draw her past the others, offering anyone who wanted a back shot. Two others tried moving into position, but it was a fools errand, she was just trying to start on one end. Meri used their attempt to flank as an opening, and swept the legs. 'Not bad tactics, except those guys, not used to real violence. Most of these guys aren't the type to do strong arm. Protection, easy enough. Big and tough and willing to damage property, that's all it takes. But when bodies are on the line, many people need training to be able to just casually hurt and kill. No, maybe four of them are in way over their heads. That leaves…' Her eyes caught movement. "YOU!"
The man who'd tried to stab her, having produced a large knife, was moving to flank her, letting a friend with a retractable baton take the other side. He'd been unprepared for her skills in combat, and had assumed, like everyone else, she'd focus all her energy on that knife. Only, she watched more then the weapons as they appeared, taking in other movements, and knew who'd be off balance, and when. Her kick wasn't gonna stop him, except it was, because she could generate more force then her body weight.
The masked girl was forced to strike upward, from the earth through the target, to take advantage of the power of her body, her legs, mostly because she was so strong. With out flight, or another method of artificially bracing herself, she needed to strike from a solid, use the earth, the floor, the wall to counter the push-back she'd get from striking a person, thus focusing the force through the target. Bouncing from a wall to the knife wielder gave her far more then her hundred pounds of weight, and allowed her to send him tumbling as well as caving in a couple of his ribs. The unexpected force did more the take that one man out of the fight. It made the four men too nervous to try anything more, while alerting the enforcer he was up against a dangerous opponent who knew how to use her powers.
"Girls enhanced." He warned. "Gonna be bouncing all over the place, to get the full use of her strength. You guys, fall back, cause right now, you're just in the way."
'Big mistake.' The petite girl thought, using her acting skills to avoid the smirk that wanted to take over her face. "You think you can handle all of this?" It was a fake flirting, designed to enrage the man. Only, he was a professional, and wasn't taking the bate.
Circling cautiously, he plotted to swat her out of the air, then to use his physical strength to pick her up and hold her, assuming wrongly that most of her power was in her legs. Thinking a second, she rushed him, engaging the grapple, and letting him have the mass advantage. She suspected she had the strength.
The man was a highly trained fighter, a borderline meta who knew what he was doing. When they grappled, he switched targets, striking her in a couple of nerve clusters counting on the sudden pain and short term parallelization to prevent her from stopping him from snapping her neck. To a lesser degree, it even worked, granting her limited ability to stop the killing move. Instead of a quick death, she was hurt, fairly badly. The unnamed enforcer was also professional enough to make sure before declaring victory. He reached down, and was caught in a triangle chock.
Meri only recovered so quickly because of her healing factor, something they'd have never guessed she had. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid. He adjusted, almost by instinct, like a heavily trained fighter. Should have anticipated, but I was so sure I'd have the power advantage, I never considered for one moment he'd try and finesse me, once he felt my power. If I didn't heal so damn fast…'
The fight was over. The other professionals weren't able to engage, or do much of anything to help, and the other men, they 'd backed off, not realizing that she was vulnerable, and would have to give up the chock to avoid any weapon attack. So they watched as she used a sleeper style move to take down the enforced, her leg strength far greater then his highly trained body, crushing his air and preventing the blood from flowing to his brain. Seconds lingered until almost half a minute later, when he was out. A kick across the head made sure he wouldn't recover in time, and she kipped up to face whatever resistance she'd see. Instead, she found the door, waiting, and behind it, the boss.
It wasn't quite what she'd expected. The man on the other side looked like a scared collage kid, not the menacing mastermind behind a criminal enterprise. He saw her, and quickly tossed out "I can explain!"
"Someone died today." The velvet phantom growled. "You had one of your people killed, and you can explain?"
"We needed protection, so I got in bed with the Spanish cartels." He told her. "Wanted to work with the outlaw bikers, only I was so sure they'd just take over. So I signed on, and they, they wanted that guy dead, cause Calvin, that was his name, Calvin, he'd been against bringing anyone in, and…"
"And he'd developed a habit of checking out what he was taking." The hero finished, adding what the man hadn't been saying. "So you had him killed to send a message to the others. Cross us, and your dead. Wait… Your enforced didn't want him dead?! That jerk, out there, he just wanted to beat the guy down a bit? Yea, makes sense, except, the cartel's, those guys are big into dead, so why the hell… Oh, so as not to draw the attention of the police. Yea, that makes sense. And you could go on using the guy…. Scapegoat? Oh, yea, I guess he really didn't know anything, which was the real problem with the outlaws, they'd want to know who they were dealing with, and have the ability to do background checks, so you needed to partner up with someone who'd just let your people go about their business, and occasionally use you as runners."
"Who are you?" The man asked, even as he reached for a weapon.
"Someone who is in contact with a mind reader." Meri smirked. "As soon as I laid eyes on you, they started reading. Kinda hard, cause it's not something we can use in combat or the like. Have to be ready. Plus, I needed to keep you distracted, so he could get a good read. Not admissible in court, except I'm betting the cartel, they're gonna just let you hang, take the blame, cause you wanted Calvin, you told the truth about that, but YOU wanted him dead."
"I have something to trade." The boss shifted, aware now that he'd never get a shot off in time, not as long as she had her reader watching over her. "I do jobs for all kinds of people, know a bit about what went down, not to long ago. I hold no loyalty to someone who was willing to burn my city down to cover his tracks, and am more then willing to trade what I know for a pass."
"Not that easy." She told him, even as she called in the police. "I don't make the deals, the DA does. So, you just wait, and call your lawyer, cause it's time to pay for your sins."
'He knows who was behind the attacks; on Constable, on the police station, on everyone. He knew that the city was gonna get wrecked, and was scared, cause he only found out as it was happening. So, he's willing to give us...The Overwatch. Lame name, except I've heard of him. Guys supposed to be the ultimate fixer, get you what you need, across the various territories, and he's a neutral, as long as he makes his profit. No one knows squat about him, other then he delivers, and costs. So, this guy know something, we get him into custody ASAP, and hope he lives to give us something worth our time.' Meri was thinking, even as she prepared to do the most important debrief since she'd gained her new powers.
Back at headquarters, she found herself sitting in V's office, waiting as her boss was watching the closed circuit television, the one they'd hacked into using one of Lenard's few original tricks, a small drone that hooked up a connector line. 'I'm out of the loop now. No right to know whatever the police get to, so I don't get to find out if this guys shit is worth a deal or not. I do know, the DA, they gave him a very limited deal, taking the death penalty off the table, and offering more if his dirt turns out to be worth anything. Fuck, they were sending packages to random addresses, and having him just have his people pick them up. No one gets to find out what was stolen, cause how would they know. Cover, to a point, of what and when. Especially when you can send chiz from a fake address. Yea, cover.'
"Okay, they just finished, and it's not good." Holly informed her as she entered. "He was supposed to help deliver some chemicals for Overwatch, and that Calvin dude, that guy peeked, and as a result, he promised he'd kill Calvin, even though Overwatch never asked him to. But the chemicals, those were part of the lab we took down, and it was more for dissection then anything else. Guy just didn't have anything else."
"What do we know about this jerk?" Meri asked, focusing on finishing the mission she'd started.
"Guys just out of collage, and started this ring using a friend who was reduced to working for a delivery company but smart enough to use a bar code reader." V said. "The got the intelligence on the small, high price stuff, and sent that along to whomever they hired, and in return, they got to be the one's to fence the stuff. Guy at the delivery company, he's being arrested right now, and he's not alone. Turns out, when you treat your employees like shit, they get ideas, and this ring had people in all the major delivery services, except the Post Office."
"Lets hear it for benefits." Meri didn't feel too thrilled. It was a dead end, but at least one crime ring was stopped, and she would be able to rest knowing her next package would be delivered without the risk of this ring taking it. "So, how'd he get the CD of 'Life's a Drag'?"
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Okay, that was fun. What did you think of Meredith's little adventure, and how did they get the CD of "Life's a Drag"?