Closed RP Snakebite

[Ban Bean]

A good smuggler was hard to come by. Onyx had a reliable guy in St. Paul who imported from Australia, but after getting in touch with him, and Sapphire- and Red Agate- her smuggler was refusing to accommodate her move to Pittsburg. So she had found another guy, one she hadn't vetted as thoroughly, but now they were meeting on the edges of the city, to pay $10,000 for an inland Taipan- Onyx's preferred snake, although she had worked with cobras and vipers.

Gerry, the man called himself, opened the trunk of his car, and turned to Onyx with a closed bucket, "One snake...as promised." Onyx noticed how his hands shook. He was unreliable.

Hemie would be hearing her complain how a good criminal was hard to find.

Onyx took the bucket from Gerry, and handed him a computer bag containing the cash. She never did electronic transfers for her purchases.

"Pleasure doing business." Gerry said, clearly unsettled by Onyx's silence.

 

[Katpride]

“Here you go, ma’am!” Griffonage chirps, slightly out of breath as she hands the old woman her purse. Gosh, that sure was some exercise! She didn’t know muggers were so fast! But she foamed him in the end, so it’s all in a day’s work! “It shouldn’t stain, but if it does, just find me again and I’ll paint it over for you!”

“Oh dear. Well, thank you, young lady.” The old woman accepts her purse, looking it over and brushing off some hardened purple foam. It really shouldn’t stain, if Griffonage has done her mixtures right. But there’s always room for error in any scientific experiment, so you never know! That’s part of the fun.

She says her goodbyes shortly after that, and wanders back in the direction of the mugger. The police should get to him soon, but she might need to pop another balloon over him if they take too long. She ended up pretty far from her usual route, after all, and she doesn’t know the response times out here.

She isn’t sure what catches her attention, when she passes the alleyway. The hushed voices, maybe. A good hero always has an ear for whispers, especially whispers of crime. Regardless of the reason, the night is still young and Griffonage has plenty of heroic gumption left in her tank, so she sidles into the alleyway with as quiet of steps as she can manage.

The alley seems to open onto a street, and Griffonage peers at the scene from her position in the shadows. It seems like a shady deal is taking place out there. Or maybe a normal deal? She can’t really tell, and she doesn’t want to make a fool of herself by butting in on some totally normal exchange. She decides to wait for a minute more, just in case. Maybe she’ll crouch so she’s more hidden. Yeah. Yeah! Crouching time.

Her shoe catches on something sticky that she does not want to know the origins of, and Griffonage very professionally does not make a sound as she shuffles a little to the left. Crouching… time. Ew.

 

[Ban Bean]

Onyx nodded to Gerry and took a moment to surveil.

A fly- there were lets of dead lies lying about. It's wings trembled slightly, but with a few subtle motions of Onyx's finger, and without Gerry noticing, the flies corpse took to the air, circling the alley. Onyx disliked looking through a flies eyes- they had many lenses and distortions, but she took what she could get. And she was glad she did.

There was a girl nearby- with dark hair and bright paint splatters on her clothes- and some sort of respirator mask. A fucking vigilante. Onyx withdrew her concisouness from the dead insect and let it fall to the ground without care.

Onyx decided she missed Minnesota.

She snapped her fingers to get Gerrys attention and signed, "Who did you tell you were meeting me?"

Gerry swallowed hard, and shook his head. "No one." He puffed his chest importantly, doing his best to loom over Onyx. "We already made the deal. Lets go our seperate ways- understand?"

"There's someone watching us."

 

[Katpride]

It’s kind of hard to see the people on the other side of the car from her current position. Griffonage shuffles her feet for a few moments more, trying to creep to a better vantage point, but it just isn’t happening. Not unless she gets all the way up to the car, and that would leave her totally exposed from three sides.

Is it worth it? She can’t tell. All this sneaking could be for nothing, anyways, if it turns out that this isn’t a shady deal. Uggghgh, she’s just gonna go for it.

Discreetly palming a purple balloon, Griffonage takes a few low steps out of the alleyway and then pops to her feet, trying to act casual as she pretends to just notice the people standing by the car. “Oh golly, do you two need any help?”

Maybe the ‘golly’ was a bit much. Too late now. She keeps the car between them as she takes a few steps closer, trying not to crane her neck too obviously as she surveys the situation. Is that a bucket, in the lady’s hands? Weird.

 

[Ban Bean]

Onyx turned at the sound of the child- at least it sounded like a child. Someone young. And stupid. People who try to play the hero just end up hurt. Susanna knew that better than most.

There was a reason Onyx hadn't visited Pittsburg as often as she might. This was the hotbed of meta and vigilante activity. She had no patience for such theatrics.

She quickly assesses the situation. One vigilante who had taken notice of them. Secluded. Nothing on her but her usual armament and her new taipan- and there wasn't enough time to kill the taipan. She could try for her insects, but she had come to the meeting not expecting a fight.

Onyx however did come prepared. And given Gerry's lack of professionalism she had no qualms when she unholstered her pistol from her waistband and shot him in the head, killing him on the spot.

 

[Katpride]

“Oh my Newton!” Venus swears, stumbling back with the sound of the gunshot ringing in her ears. She ducks behind the car and covers her head with her arms instinctively, though she doesn’t know how much good that’ll do her. “What the heck?!”

She peeks out at the scene with dread settling in her gut. Oh, oh dear, that man is definitely dead. She guesses she should be kind of relieved it wasn’t her the gun was pointed at, but that’s cold comfort when she just watched someone get shot right in front of her. This was definitely a shady deal, and she’s just landed herself right in the middle of it.

Well, at least her balloon won’t go to waste. Griffonage rises slightly from her crouch to throw it at the shady lady, then scurries to get the car more solidly between the two of them.

“Five,” she starts counting under her breath, not daring a glance back to see where the foam balloon landed. “Four.”

 

[Ban Bean]

She set the bucket down. With a practiced motion, Onyx moved her fingers and wrist with her newly free hand, keeping her pistol raised with the other.

As she did, Gerry's body began to stir, slowly rising like a marionette, until he was on his feet, blood still pouring from the wound in his head. His eyes were blank, but the body took a single step toward the vigilante as she took cover behind one of the cars. It was a grotesque sight, but Onyx seemed unbothered by her actions or the zombielike Gerry.

Onyx stayed behind Gerry's body, using the corpse as a shield, warily keeping an eye on the purple balloon as it sailed through the air. Good thing too- the vigilante was a good aim and it was only with a smooth jerk of her wrist that Onyx managed to put Gerry between her and the balloon.

The second it hit Gerry it exploded in a mass of foam.

That was new.