May 11, 2016:
Jubilee foils an assassination attempt in Gotham
East Park Side
This area is a combination of both what was once the Cathedral Square or Gallows (named such due to the fact criminals were once hung here from stout oaks that spot the area), the City Hall District and the GCPD headquarters. In time it's bled together from what it once was, those gnarled skeleton trees of once proud oaks are a pockmarked growth that curl around the bases of the CIty Hall district, it's once proud Gotham Style architecture still stands to this day and only adds to the forever Halloween feel of Downtown Gotham.
This entire area is primarily inhabited by the middle class though poor and wealthy both host residential areas here. Hovels and projects can be found separated by walls or fences and roads from that divide middle class and upperclass communities while the central section of East Park Side is dominated by GCPD HQ, the Clocktower, Gotham Cathedral, City Hall and various other opulent buildings.
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
It was a dark and stormy night. Gotham gets a lot of the former, but not so much of the latter. The always seems to set so early in Gotham, it's as if a blackness enveloped the city, and never let it go. But the rain was pouring, hitting every gargoyle, every gothic structure, and the occasional strike of lighting would cast them in an eerie glow. They almost seemed alive. And one of them was.
Moving along the rooftop, the Hobgoblin watched as a limosine pulled up in front of City Hall. It was Brett Sabourin-Hertzog of the SH Group, here to meet with the Deputy Mayor over some business that could not be conducted during regular business hours. Carefully, he saw the man's driver hand him the umbrella, and the Sabourin-Hertzog headed up the steps. There were only a few lights on in the building, and the Hobgoblin had a perfect vantage. Reaching into his bag of tricks, Hobgoblin mused to himself, "should I play it safe, or try for a two-for-one special," and he cackled at his own joke. He had an image to maintain, and he was playing his part.
Jubilee tended to be kinda a wandering sort of person, since leaving the X-Men.
It was… complicated, as one might suspect. But she spent her nights with other things now - whether that be thinking about how to continue with the life that was thrust upon her, or tracking crimes that her now very unique skillset could help with.
She was actually trying to chill tonight. That was super easy in this rain. When she chilled nowadays, that meant: lurking on top of a building, usually, and looking all broody, to the sound of upbeat hip hop banging through an earbud connected to a phone, somewhere within her rain slicker.
Of course, it was raining and gloomy tonight. So tonight, well… she had a 'Hello Kitty' umbrella kinda leaned against her shoulder, the open arms of the thing protecting her - sorta - against the rainfall as she looked down at the streets of Gotham.
She might have stood out, it was a mystery. But it was at that point that she noticed movement - movement of a gargoyle. Not… quite one to take people at face value - the Hobgoblin may notice Jubilee's yellow raincoat as she hops from rooftop to rooftop now, not minding the rain against her short hair, her pink sunglasses catching droplets of the same.
She kinda skids to a stop nearish Hobgoblin's location, lifting a gloved hand in greeting. "Hey," calls J-Lee. "What's up? I'm Jubilee." She had a smile. A fanged smile.
Sabourin-Hertzog made his way into the building and disappeared. But the Hobgoblin knew where he was headed. Unfortunately, he had company. There was a streak of yellow that caught his eye, reflecting in the light. He turned his head, it was quick too, the yellow streak, it came at him so fast that he didn't even have time to move his body, but he was able to deftly secret the pumpkin bomb back into his satchel.
A fanged smile? What was she, a warewolf, vampire, just some strange goth, no, not a goth with the yellow rain jacket. Speaking through the mask, he asked clearly, "what do you want?" She hadn't attacked him yet, so he was cautious. He wasn't doing anything wrong either, well, besides lurking on a rooftop near city hall.
He moved, standing, and made sure that he could view the second window from the right, top floor. The light was on. There was one occupant that he could make out.
Jubilee wasn't quite tracking the movements of the two down there. But when she kinda arrives nearish Hobgoblin's location - leaving a good four or five meters between herself and him, she kinda scootches down to the edge of the roof, and peers over it, to see a vantage similar to his. She sees a limosine, of course, but the man had disappeared inside.
"It's a nice car, huh?" she says, that hand coming back up to point down towards the car itself. What does she want? "Well, you know. It's a nice night out, if you're… you know. Into rain and being soaked and cold," she says. "And normally, I people watch - linger up here and kinda…" she makes a grand gesture. "You know, keep an eye on things," she states.
"And it looks like you're kinda doin' the same thing! So… I thought I would swing on over, say hi, introduce myself. You know - us rooftop types gotta stick together."
This was an unnecessary complication, but one that did not have an ideal solution. The Hobgoblin could withdraw, losing tonight's opportunity. He could kill the woman, but rooftop travellers had an annoying habit of having special skills, abilities, or powers, and the fangs definitely hinted at it. He could make a simple attack on Sabourin-Hertzog's limosine, even a failed assassination attempt would have a negative effect the stock price of the SH Group. As he ran through these and other permutations, he stood there, regarding the woman, sizing her up. He did not have the look of a hero or a protector. Why was she being so… casual about this?
In the end, he decided on honesty. When in doubt, tell the truth. It confuses the hell out of one's enemies. "My name is the Hobgoblin, I was hired to assassinate Brett G. Sabourin-Hertzog. He's in there, right now, meeting with Deputy Mayor Ted Silver, where he plans to exchange the contents of his briefcase, a great deal of money I would imagine, for Deputy Mayor Silver's support in a rezoning issue." Through the life-like mask, and the fangs, his voice is surprisingly coherent.
"Oh," says Jubilee, her features kinda falling away from the smile she had before. Into something more thoughtful.
No, he didn't have the look of a hero, and really, his response should have been anticipated, but hey - she was trying to be more open-minded about things. Maybe he could be one of those antihero types. Like… you know, a vampire hero or something… ;_;
Anyways.
"You know, you don't /have/ to kill him," she says, feeling a small pang of dishonesty there. "I mean - you could assassinate him using the media or the courts or something. Or heck - there's like this legend, of this caped guy that swoops all around here that totes McGoats loves beating up corrupt politicians and all that," she says.
"But do you really, /really/ have to kill him?" she asks, sounding a bit drawn out.
When she greeted him, she offered a smile. Now, the Hobgoblin offers one of his own. But while hers was filled with kindness, his is far more sinister. It is a toothy grin, one you might never imagine was part of false teeth, and he begins to laugh, slowly at first, growing in intensity. Another bolt of lightning strikes across the night sky, lending full illumination to the fearsome visage he presents.
He's been checking on the lights, the movement at City Hall. He reaches into his bag of tricks with one hand, still laughing, "My dear Jubilee, I haven't seen that kind of naivety in quite some time. Thank you for that, and… goodbye." He immediately tosses a bomb at her, one that fills the area with smoke. And he uses that as a distraction to jump onto his bat glider, which immediately roars to life.
Okay, even though Jubilee had been exposed to some pretty gnarly vampire smiles at this point, there was something about the Hobgoblin's that makes her… pause. It just looked… sinister. Wretched. Jubilee takes a step back. "…it's kinda like that, huh," she says, more in a murmur to herself then.
"But hey, you're welcome. Always happy to help with…!" Smoke bomb. While she didn't need to breathe, really, anymore, she still breathed to talk, and smoke was smoke. She coughs - bringing up a hand to cover her nose, the smoke covering her senses. At least her visual ones. Well, and the world smelled like smoke, but she could still hear the heartbeat of the man.
Lashing out, she throws a kick at where she /thinks/ the heartbeat was coming from.
It was actually pretty hard - she didn't know how Daredevil did it.
The Hobgoblin doesn't fall from the glider, but the kick is enough to send him into a slight spin, which takes him a moment to correct. He reaches into the bag of tricks once more, this time pulling out a bat shaped shuriken, which probably makes sense, since he's in Gotham, cackling and laughing as he hurls it into the smoke, hoping to return the favour, "hahaahaahahaHAHAHA!"
But this has been a distraction, and the meeting is heading towards an end. The light in the office has already gone out. He may well have missed his chance. Thankfully, the limosine is still there. He readies a pumpkin bomb. He purpousefully slows his breathing. With Jubilee here, he might only get one shot at this.
Yesssssssssss. She actually hit!
Jubilee can't help but feel a great swell of pride in her chest at that. Of course, well - the cackling laughter that comes from him afterwards kinda, well… hurt her ears. And did he return the favor?
"OW!"
Yes, it seems that he did. The bat shuriken lodged in her shoulder, and Jubilee kinda stumbles back - taking the time to remove the thing and toss it aside. He would only get one shot, really.
The coughing and stumbling would buy him some time - but if he doesn't use that time… out of the smoke would come lunging Jubilee, hissing (it's a vampire thing) as she tries to pounce the man.
The Hobgoblin was diverting his attention between Jubilee and his target. It was not working too well. The pumpkin bomb he planned to throw with precision to avoid killing the driver, was instead dropped in the vicinity of the limosine. 3.
Pounced upon, the Hobgoblin tried to block Jubilee's assault, and get in a punch or two of his own, one towards the rib cage, the other aiming for her head. 2.
The driver opened the door as Sabourin-Hertzog made his way towards the car, and opened it for him. 1. The pumpkin bomb exploded. It wasn't close enough to envelop the limosine, but the shockwave did hit the driver, smashing him into the limosine. Thankfully, Sabourin-Hertzog was already in, with the door closed, and was just out of the lethal zone.
He would survive. The day was lost. But there was no covering this up. Not on the steps of City Hall. Already, cops were spewing out of the nearby Gotham City Police Department, guns aimed at the sky as they saw the Hobgoblin fighting with Jubilee, high above the city streets.
Jubilee was still kinda getting used to the whole… Vampiric urges. The X-Men had trained her how to kick, punch, duck and roll, but the whole tooth and fang thing, well… it was different. So she tries to kinda rend at him, her claws going at his shoulder, his back.
She didn't try to bite though - that would be just a little too… on the nose, she felt.
But that first punch takes a lot of the wind out of her sails, and the second - the strike to her head causes her head to snap back, and the momentum of the same knocked her from him, laying her out flat on her back. "/Ow/," she says, her voice decidedly more hissy.
A beat.
"Did you get him?" she asks, her tone of voice - in spite of the casual nature of the question, decidedly tense as she draws herself up to a squat. The police were coming. That was bad too, at least for her new nature. She crinkles her nose, and turns - moving to kinda flee the scene before the police could track her down too much.
Raincoat - not super stealthy, after all.-
With a sigh, the Hobgoblin admits, "no, I did not." It will still benefit him. An assassination attempt will weaken his rival's position with his company, and the stock price of that company. No one wants to do business with a man who has a price on his head.
The woman flees, with that yellow coat, she sticks out like a sore thumb. That's why his colours are more muted. Despite the orange and blue combo, they are dull shades, easy for him to hide in the darkness. But the rain, and the thunder aren't helping. One overzealous police officer fires a warning shot, high into the air. Stupid man. That bullet could hurt someone when it comes down.
He didn't achieve everything that he wanted, but at least he did something tonight. The scene, the story, it will help, and so he departs, but not before doing a fly over of the cops, buzzing them, laughing and shrieking along the way, "muhahahahaahaaahaaaa!" and then he rises, ever higher into the night sky.