Jump to content


Gotham Central: Evidence Chain (Part 2) (Final)


  • Please log in to reply
23 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 31 August 2005 - 09:25 PM

Root Beer Note (Float):

1. I have -got- to get away from all this Batman universe stuff before I lose my sanity. (Again) So, this'll probably be it for a while... um. Maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, I've already got notes for something vaguely related. (Sigh) I'm trying to get other stuff done, honest.

2. Fight. Fight! FIGHT! :twisted:

3. Innuendo. You know the kind. Quite a bit of it, too. Wooo! :twisted:

4. There's a brief mention of a Victor Zsasz in here. He's not one of the better known characters in the Batman franchise, but he was, actually, in the most recent film, Batman Begins. Here's some info if you guys are interested.

http://www.answers.com/topic/zsasz

5. Enara proves to be a horrible house guest. I don't know what it was, but I just started bumping along when I was writing that sequence, and I was kinda chuckling through the entire thing... chuckling at how damned ANNOYING this girl is. :twisted:

6. The whole "Grinds my gears" bit is taken from the Family Guy movie. That's right, the movie. It's not even out yet, and I've seen it. HA! NYAH NYAH! :twisted: ;)

7. There do seem to be a fair number of... um... orientation jokes in this series... go figure. ;)

-----

“You’re wearing your piece,” Korgan said, stripping off his shirt and tossing it to one of the circle of spectators around them. “You need to ditch it. I don’t want you shooting me when you lose.”

Enara sneered at him. “Can I shoot you when I win?” She unbuckled her pistol holster and handed it to one of the other watchers. “Hold these.” She unbuttoned the cuffs of her dress shirt, and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on her – she had to admit. She was about to pick a fight in a dimly lit alleyway behind a dive bar. As back alleys went, though, this wasn’t such a bad one to have a brawl in. At least it was kinda clean… and the street lamp made for some lovely ambiance.

They circled for a few moments, out of arms’ reach, sizing each other up. Korgan had plenty of homegrown, self-taught experience in hand-to-hand combat, but he was the heavy-hitter type. Not much for grace and style – slow, ponderous, but with power. Enara, on the other hand, had a fair amount more formal training than Korgan did. She had better technique, and a lot more finesse. She was faster and more agile, but that was only good if it helped you avoid getting hit. Sometimes, though, it just didn’t work out that way. If he did manage to tag her, it would hurt, and she knew it. Her best bet was to try and get in close, fire off a crippling shot before he even had time to react. She didn’t much like her chances of that idea working out, however. His other faults aside, her opponent was no fool. He’d be expecting a trick like that.

So, as she always did when faced with certain expectations, she did what could only be described as “the exact opposite” of them.

Korgan had clearly anticipated her to dart in, maybe try to grab an arm and twist it, aim a kick at his knee… something. He wasn’t at all prepared for her fist crashing against his nose. The impact of her hand snapped his head back, and left the middle of his face covered in a small amount of blood. The jab hadn’t broken it, though it was hard to tell considering it’d been broken multiple times in the past and had never healed right.

He backed away, wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand and glared at her, a low growl rumbling up from the back of his throat. She stared back and shrugged, and he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to jam his thumbs into her eye sockets – anything to wipe that smug expression off her face. He charged in, staying low to the ground until he got within striking distance. His right fist and arm went up into a powerful right cross that would have knocked her on her back if it had connected.

Enara ducked underneath the attack, and launched a counter, throwing two quick body blows, one right after the other. Her left fist tagged one of his ribs, her right connected with the soft and fleshy part of his abdomen. The shots hurt, but Korgan was high on adrenaline and barely acknowledged the pain.

That was when Enara realized her mistake: she’d pressed too much, and overextended herself. She was out of position: far too close to him to make much use of her natural agility, and he knew it. A vicious, backhanded swipe that she had no chance of avoiding caught the side of her face and sent her reeling. She grunted, feeling a burst of pain where her tongue had run over her split lip. She staggered backwards, tasting blood in her mouth, and trying hard to regain her footing.

Korgan yelled, rushing her and wrapping both arms around her torso. He squeezed, hard, and used his momentum to force her back up against a nearby dumpster. Her back thumped against the metal container full of garbage, the collision knocking the wind out of her. Her breath escaped her in a loud grunt, and she leaned against the dumpster, wheezing for air and trying to fight the pains stabbing through her torso.

“How’re those ribs, you stuck up, self-righteous-“ He cocked his fist back, ready to deliver a knockout punch that would send her down for the count.

She threw her left arm up, blocking the attack against the good, solid bone of her forearm, and following through with a right-handed shot to the jaw that stunned him – but only for a moment.

A moment, however, was all she needed. She dashed in, throwing a left hook that caught him in the temple. He groaned, sagging somewhat, the upper half of his body falling forward. She shifted her weight backwards to her left foot, then threw it forward, sending the toe of her shoe careening into his stomach. He crumpled, but she wasn’t finished yet.

The rotten son of a bitch had screwed over far too many people in his career. He was a crook in a department unfortunately full of them, and there wasn’t very much she could do about it. Not much, but a little. She was winning this fight, and while it wouldn’t much change the course of the world as a whole, it would certainly make -her- feel a whole lot better – extracting vengeance on Anomen’s behalf… and perhaps a little for herself, too.

Korgan was on the ground, on his back, trying to get back to his feet, when she snapped another kick at his ribs. He groaned, curling up to try and protect himself from the attack. She half-crouched in front of his face, alternating punches that he, ineffectively, attempted to block. It was like tenderizing a hunk of steak by this point, but she didn’t care. “Hey, Jimmy…” she said, not letting up for even a moment, even though his struggling was becoming more and more feeble. “All your buddies are watching…”

And indeed they were, at least two dozen of “Gotham’s Finest,” standing around in total silence, completely enthralled by the events unfolding in front of them.

“… and every… single… one…” She cut her knuckles open on one of his teeth as she punched him once more in the mouth.

Enara rose to her knees and pushed herself away from her fallen opponent. “… just saw me hand you your ass.”

She stood up and backed away from him. One of her teeth felt a little loose, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on him, watching him roll around in pain for a moment. The circle of spectators continued to stare, every last one of them mute. Eventually, Korgan rolled onto his side; his vision cleared enough that he could look at her.

“You gonna come clean?” she asked, using the back of her hand to wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. “Or am I gonna have to wail on you some more? Think about it… ‘cause I can do this all night…”

-----

Korgan was being helped out of the alley by a couple of friends who’d thrown his arms around their shoulders. Enara, still capable of moving under her own power (though barely), was busy tucking her shirttails back into her slacks when Inspector Firecam came strolling down the alley, into the dim light of the streetlamp overhead. “Did he talk?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest and coolly leaning back against the lamppost.

She turned; she hadn’t expected him, but she couldn’t say she was terribly surprised to be seeing him, either. Down at the end of the alley, parked in a space across the street was a dark brown sedan that practically screamed “Unmarked police vehicle.” She assumed it was his. “You follow me?”

He didn’t answer her question. “Did he talk, Detective?”

She responded to his question with another of her own. “How much of that did you see?”

Keldorn shrugged. “Enough.”

She clearly wanted him to expound on that statement; he didn’t. They stared at each other until finally, Enara had had enough. She broke the silence with a sigh. “Korgan said he sold the bullet to some collector down in the ‘burbs. Made about ten K on the whole deal, apparently. Woman’s name is Diane Hewitt. I got an address.”

“What is it?”

Enara shook her head at him and snorted. “I’m not telling you.”

One of his eyebrows rose higher than the other. “Oh?” If he was annoyed, it wasn’t showing in either his tone or his body language. She hoped he was annoyed, though. It might have been petty, but she felt she owed him a bit of hardship after the way he’d played her like a cheap violin.

“I give you Hewitt’s address, and I know what you’ll do with it.” She crooked a finger, accusingly, at him. “You used me to break down Korgan, Inspector. You used me to get information for your case against him. Now I’m not a big fan of people yanking my strings, so here’s how this is going to work, ‘kay? You use me to get your info, you don’t get to cut me out at the end.” She turned and started walking away from him. Her last words to him were spoken over her shoulder. “I’ll meet you at Central in the morning. We can talk to Ms. Hewitt together…”

-----

Anomen was surprised to find Enara standing in the doorway to his apartment. He was even more surprised to find her holding an ice pack up to the side of her face and a bloody paper napkin to her lip. She smiled weakly at him. “Hi… you got any Bactine?”

Almost completely flabbergasted, he still managed to scrape together the presence of mind to usher her inside, get her seated on the couch and rush off to grab the first aid kit from the medicine cabinet above the sink. “What happened? Are you all right?” he asked, handing her a wad of gauze, and wincing as it turned red almost immediately after journeying to her hand.

She shrugged. “Fine. You should see the other guy,” she quipped. “I uh… I was helping the Sarge look into one of his files. You know, that whole Watkins thing. He asked me to hit up one of his contacts for information. So here I am, out back, behind Knights Stadium, we’re having a nice little chat, and suddenly the guy makes a move on me.”

“He hit you?” Anomen looked incredulous. “And you didn’t arrest him for assaulting a police officer?”

“I guess I should have, but he’d already talked and told me what I needed… and I was feeling kinda lazy. Heh. I woulda just gone home, but your apartment was closer, and… well… this is really starting to sting.” She shifted her hand to better apply pressure to her bleeding lip, but in doing so, she noticed that she’d left a little blood behind on the armrest of his off-white couch. She looked at it, horrified. “Oh, crap. I’m so sorry. I’m bleeding over everything. Uh… they say hydrogen peroxide and baking soda gets that right out…”

He smiled reassuringly. “It’s not a problem. Are you sure you’re all right? Maybe we should get you over to G.U. Medical. It’s only a few blocks-“

“No, don’t worry about it. I’ve had worse,” she said, trying to wave him away. “Some two-bit burglar taking a swing at me isn’t exactly the same as tangling with Victor Fries. I just didn’t want to be bleeding all over my car on the way home… so instead I decided to just bleed all over your apartment.” She laughed, sheepishly. “Heh.”

He dipped the end of a cotton swab in iodine and began working on a narrow gash on her forehead above her right eyebrow. She winced and took a breath in through clenched teeth. “My apologies,” he said, “but that needs to be disinfected before you bandage it.”

“I know. I’ve been beaten up before. I am a police officer, you know.”

“You really should be more careful.”

“Oh come on… you meet so many more interesting characters when you’re reckless and impulsive. Try it out sometime! You may come home with a couple of bruises, you might even lose a tooth or two, but it’ll be precious life experience you just can’t earn anywhere else.” She winked at him, and he rolled his eyes in response.

“Enara, that is completely ridiculous.”

She laughed out loud and grinned. “Totally.”

“Yes, well… you are aware that you should be wearing all of this red stuff on the inside.”

She sobered and looked at him. “Please stop making jokes. It’s scaring me.”

-----

Hewitt Residence
Bristol – Suburb of Gotham City
The Next Morning


“You should probably let me do the talking.”

Enara bumped the car door with her hip, easily nudging it closed. “Oh, so, what? You trust me to beat the crap out of Korgan, but not to open my mouth?”

Firecam didn’t bother to turn and look at her, instead walking up the pathway of nicely polished stone that led to the house. “Each to their abilities,” he said, removing his sunglasses, folding them closed, and tucking them into his shirt pocket.

“And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a detective, you figure it out.”

“At this point, I’d like to reiterate my statement from last night: I don’t like being used.”

“I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to, Enara.” He rang the doorbell and stood patiently for someone on the other side to answer it. A few seconds passed, after which the two police officers could hear the sound of several deadbolts being thrown, and a chain lock being removed.

The door swung open, slowly, into the house, and an older woman poked her head out at them. She was approaching her 70s if she wasn’t there already, and had brittle, graying hair done up in a very conservative fashion. She was hunched over only slightly, and she had a dark green, woolen shawl wrapped around her shoulders. “Can I help you?”

“Good morning, ma’am. I’m Inspector Keldorn Firecam of the Gotham City Police Department. This is Detective Enara Kell.” Both cops showed the old woman their shields. “We’re looking for someone named Diane Hewitt.”

“Oh, dear…” she said, opening the door even wider. “This is about the scalpels, isn’t it? I bought those in good faith. I was assured that he’d never actually gotten around to using them. Imagine my surprise when I realized there was dried blood on the handles.” She shook her head and put a hand to her sternum. “I mean, I never! Oh, dear… oh, dear me…”

Keldorn and Enara traded shrugs. “Scalpels?” she asked, clearly confused.

Firecam smiled graciously. “Perhaps we’d better come in.”

“Scalpels?”

“Quiet, Detective.”

The old lady motioned them through the doorway and then began leading them farther into the house. “Scalpels, yes,” she told them. “For my Zsasz section, you see. I have several pieces detailing his career in my collection, actually.”

“Your collection of…?”

“Crime memorabilia. It’s my passion.” She led them down the hallway and stopped in front of a large, wooden door. Several keys hung from a ring she carried around in her pocket. One of the keys fit easily into the keyhole on the door and she turned it with a click. “Especially the items and objects of Gotham’s more nefarious criminals. That’s why you’re here, I’m sure. To view the collection?”

Keldorn shrugged but decided to play along. “Of course.”

She smiled at the two of them. “I thought so. A lot of the items are in storage, but the majority are in here.” She pushed the door open and ushered them inside. The room looked to have been a den of some sort, but it had been heavily renovated. Most of the actual furniture was gone, replaced by tables piled with items, and glass-windowed display cases all along the walls. Picture frames hung from any available surface, some propped up on top of file cabinets.

Enara let out a low, impressed whistle. She wasn’t sure she knew what all of the stuff was, but she had some pretty good ideas. Over in one corner of the room was a picture frame holding a black eye-mask – just the right size for covering the face of a twelve-year old boy, she assumed. Next to that was a well-preserved playing card, a joker, in particular. It was kept safe in its own separate frame. Atop a table in the center of the room was what looked to be a whip of some sort, and next to that, was a green bowler hat with a question mark on the front. Over on the far wall sat a file cabinet that had two glass display cases resting atop it. The one on the left held a small but wicked looking crossbow, and a small case of bolts to go with it. The one on the right held a top hat. Tucked into the band just above the hat’s brim was some kind of white card, about 3 x 5 inches. It was covered in numbers and other odd symbols.

On the wall to Enara’s left stood another display case, nearly overflowing with all the items placed inside. There was a small mannequin dressed in a fedora hat and pinstriped suit, complete with an authentic looking Thompson submachine gun. There was a statue of a cat, made out of the finest Chinese jade. Next to that sat a rather innocuous-looking umbrella. Enara whistled again. “That’s… a pretty impressive set of knickknacks you’ve got here, Ms. Hewitt.”

“Mrs., actually. It was my late husband who started the collection.” She smiled with the recollection. “He saw the Batman once, fighting that Crocodile fellow? As he told it - God rest his soul - Batman gave that perpetrator a mighty wallop, and just like that, one of those crocodile teeth flew out of his mouth. Landed right in Bartholomew’s lap, it did…”

In spite of herself, Enara found herself smiling at the tale.

“That’s what started it all, of course. He brought the tooth home, cleaned it up. It’s still around here, somewhere, I think. I could probably dig it out for you, if you’d like-“

Enara cut her off as gently as she could. If matters hadn’t been so pressing, she might actually have enjoyed seeing the little souvenir for herself. “Actually, Mrs. Hewitt, we were looking for a bullet you purchased recently.”

“Well, dear, I’ve purchased a lot of bullets recently. This gang war has been…” her smile faded. “Well, it’s been good for the collectors… not very good for anyone else.”

“This is from the Black Spider killing,” said Keldorn.

“Ah, yes. Spent quite a pretty penny on that.” On the desk near the far wall was a padded mailer envelope, apparently a recent arrival. Diane went over to it and pulled a tiny plastic pouch from inside. She handed the small plastic bag and its contents to Keldorn who gingerly took it and began to examine it – through the plastic, of course.

“We’ll be taking this with us,” he said.

“I’m sorry, Inspector, but I can’t allow that… not without a warrant of some sort. I purchased it through a legal and legitimate transaction.”

“It’s evidence of a crime, ma’am.”

“Of course it is. That’s why I bought it.”

“But it’s not from the crime you think,” Enara said, cutting in. “The bullet you bought didn’t kill Johnny LaMonica.”

“But the seller claimed-“

Keldorn was still giving the bullet a once-over. “He lied.”

“Tell you what, how about we trade you for it?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Enara reached into the inside pocket of her blazer and fished something out. “You wanted a piece of Black Spider memorabilia? Well, I’ve got one, and it’s unique.” She held a small, misshapen lump of lead out in her open palm. “It was taken right from my vest… it’s the last bullet Johnny LaMonica ever fired.”

-----

“You’ll run the slug down to the lab when we get back?”

“I will. If it’s from Anomen’s weapon like we think, that, as they say, will be that.”

“Just keep it away from Korgan, that’s all I ask.”

“I suspect that he’ll be on his best behavior for a while, even if he is rotten to the core.”

“He’s gonna be untouchable, now, you know that. Anything you get on him from now on, it’s all fruit from the poison tree.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then why did you turn me loose on him, Inspector?”

“Anomen was in the Jackpot, Detective. I could not let that sit.”

”So you let me kill your case against Korgan to get him out? I don’t believe you. Why did you really do it?”

“Believe what you like, Enara. But I owed him one. Let’s go give him the good news.”

-----

“You go back to work on Monday.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. Ballistics ran the bullet through, and the markings on it match your service pistol. It’s all taken care of. I talked to Sawyer myself. You’re back on starting next week. Until then, you get to goof off, knowing you still have a job. Pass the popcorn.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were helping Inspector Firecam with his investigation?” he asked, grabbing a handful for himself and popping the kernels into his mouth.

“For one, I figured you wouldn’t want me to get involved. I know you. You’d be sitting here, in your nice, super-clean apartment, all worried that I’d get myself into trouble. Hit the play button.”

He picked up the DVD’s remote control and punched one of the buttons on it. “As I recall, you were here last night bleeding profusely onto my couch. I believe that could be construed as trouble. My concerns would have been well founded.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I didn’t need to be hearing that kinda stuff outta you, is all. Anyway, you know I’m not a big fan of the I.A.D. I didn’t want it becoming public knowledge that I was having my strings yanked the way I was. Volume.”

He raised the volume on the television set. “I understand. But you have to admit that, despite their somewhat… distasteful methods, the Internal Affairs Division is a necessary part of the police force. Someone needs to guard the guardians, watch the watchers, as it were. It is very much a thankless duty.”

“I guess…” she said with a sigh. “They just rub me the wrong way, though. I guess I can’t really explain it… like your friend, for example.” She munched down on a handful of popcorn. “Can we skip the credits?”

“He is… more than just a friend,” Anomen said, leaning his thumb down on the fast forward button. “He was a mentor to me.”

She nodded in response to that. “I figured there was something between the two of you. I asked him why he was willing to trash his case against Korgan to bail you out. Said he owed you one. I don’t know… he… well, he was a bit of an ass to me. I mean, he could have just told me what needed to be done, and I would have done it. Instead, he led me around by the nose, kept me in the dark the whole way… I told him, and I’ll tell you, too: I don’t like being used, Anomen. You want me to go strong-arm some information out of somebody, fine, I guess I can do that. But let me know beforehand that that’s what you need. Don’t send me out there like one of your lackeys. Do you have any soda?”

“In the refrigerator. Top shelf. Not that I am condoning such behavior, but he -has- been having a very difficult time as of late.”

“I heard something about that, but look, we’ve -all- got our problems, don’t we? I mean, I know divorce does strange things to people, but from what I heard, he’s still got joint custody of his children, and the separation was pretty amicable. I mean, I just don’t get it. Why would someone who used to be as nice a guy as you claimed he was, start acting like that? Ginger ale doesn’t really count as soda, Anomen.”

“I believe I have some Coca Cola in the back, behind the orange juice and milk. You have to understand, Enara, they fell in love with each other in high school. They were married for over twenty years, and then… this happened… it has been quite the ordeal. It’s changed him.”

“Yeah, but this kinda thing happens. To lots of people. Folks get hitched and unhitched all the time. You act like you’ve never seen that sort of thing before. Wow… you are -so- a bachelor. I mean, c’mon… spray cheese?”

“It keeps longer than real cheese. You know what my father was like… but my mother stayed with him… for my sister’s sake and my own. She didn’t want us to come from a ‘broken home.’ The idea of divorce was not very popular when I was growing up.”

“So, what, you expect two people to just lock eyes across a crowded room, fall madly in love with each other, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after? C’mon, you can’t be -that- naïve, can you? I mean, what next? You gonna tell me you’re a closet fan of Dawson’s Creek or something? I think your butter’s gone rancid. You might want to take care of that.”

He smirked at her. “I’ve never seen the show, actually… and it’s margarine… and I was planning on throwing it out during the next garbage collection.”

“Too bad. Good looking people on that show. That one girl? The brunette? You know, the tall, willowy one? I have to say, I’d go gay for her. No, really, I would. You think I’m kidding? Hey, you still have chocolate bunnies from last Easter!”

“Well, seeing that for as long as I’ve known you, you have, more often than not, been kidding, I believe it is a fair assumption to make, Enara.”

“This is true,” she said, closing the refrigerator door and retaking her seat.

“By the way, the candy rabbits were a gift from my neighbor.”

“How sweet,” she said, biting off an ear and chewing on it. “Hey, back that up for a second? I missed what he just said.”

Anomen tapped the rewind button briefly, then released it.

“You know what really grinds my gears? This Lindsay Lohan. Eh? Lindsay Lohan with all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half-naked with- with your little outfits. Ya know? You’re – you’re up there, jumping around, and I’m just sitting here with my beer. So… you know, what am I supposed to do? What d’you, what d’you want? Y’know? A-are we going to go out? Is that what you’re trying to – why, why are you leaping around there, throwing those things all up in – over there, in my face? Huh? What do you want, Lindsay? Tell me what you want! Well, I’ll tell you what you want: you want nothing. You want nothing. All right? Because we all know that no woman anywhere wants to have sex with anyone… a-and to titillate us with any thoughts otherwise is, i-i-is just bogus.”

Enara scoffed. “Oh, he is so right on… women are such teases. That’s why I went back to men.”

Anomen coughed. Loudly.

“You all right there, Chief? Relax, I’m joking.”

“About the ‘going back to men’ part, or about having been in a situation where you would even have to decide about whether or not to ‘go back to men?’” He didn’t wait for her to provide him with an answer, instead shaking his head, as if trying to make his short-term memory go away. “Actually, just forget I said anything.”

She snickered and grinned at him. “I don’t play for Renee’s team.”

He cleared his throat, and tried not to blush. “Well, then. If that is truly the case, perhaps you had better make sure that Nathaniel’s… friend… is aware of that...”

Her smile widened, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “Ah… I forgot you were at Tino’s that night. Saw Nate’s ex hitting on me, huh?” She chuckled, wryly. “Yeah, Ronnie’s bi. I can’t say I’m interested in her, though. I mean, really, even if I were… you gotta wonder… any tread left on those tires, or at this point, would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?”

He coughed. Again. When he finally recovered from the brief fit, he took hold of the remote control and raised the television set’s volume by several notches. “Maybe we should just… watch the film.”

She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her smile. “Sure…”

#2 Guest_Userunfriendly_*

Posted 01 September 2005 - 03:59 AM

Root Beer Note (Float):


1. I have -got- to get away from all this Batman universe stuff before I lose my sanity. (Again) So, this'll probably be it for a while... um. Maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, I've already got notes for something vaguely related. (Sigh) I'm trying to get other stuff done, honest.


that presupposes you were ever sane in the first place, buddy... :P :twisted:

2. Fight. Fight! FIGHT! :twisted:


:D

4. There's a brief mention of a Victor Zsasz in here. He's not one of the better known characters in the Batman franchise, but he was, actually, in the most recent film, Batman Begins. Here's some info if you guys are interested.


http://www.answers.com/topic/zsasz


I think what's really interesting about batman isn't really the over-the-top masked supervillans, but the more prosaic pyschopaths and scumbags...he's not a hero who's existance is justified by masked freaks, but a man who's sense of justice is too strong for him to contain..

5. Enara proves to be a horrible house guest. I don't know what it was, but I just started bumping along when I was writing that sequence, and I was kinda chuckling through the entire thing... chuckling at how damned ANNOYING this girl is. :D


that was the part i actually enjoyed the most... :P

7. There do seem to be a fair number of... um... orientation jokes in this series... go figure. :D


i wonder why? :roll:

So, as she always did when faced with certain expectations, she did what could only be described as “the exact opposite” of them.


that pretty much seems to be the guiding philosophy of her life... :twisted:

He backed away, wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand and glared at her, a low growl rumbling up from the back of his throat. She stared back and shrugged, and he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to jam his thumbs into her eye sockets – anything to wipe that smug expression off her face. He charged in, staying low to the ground until he got within striking distance. His right fist and arm went up into a powerful right cross that would have knocked her on her back if it had connected.


that smug smile should qualify as an extra weapon...

jessie: i wish i could use that...

imoen: it's ok, sis, i'll use it for you...

(jessie wears her facemask or battle helmet whenever she uses the "Taint"...it scares people when her eyes are glowing with demonic red light, and her incisors grow to twice their normal length, which is ok in some situations, but not always socially acceptable...) ;)

A moment, however, was all she needed. She dashed in, throwing a left hook that caught him in the temple. He groaned, sagging somewhat, the upper half of his body falling forward. She shifted her weight backwards to her left foot, then threw it forward, sending the toe of her shoe careening into his stomach. He crumpled, but she wasn’t finished yet.


jessie: here you go...*hands enara a pair of shoes*

jessie: composite ceramic alloy toes...you can kick through a brick wall with these... :twisted:

Enara rose to her knees and pushed herself away from her fallen opponent. “… just saw me hand you your ass.”


chump: so jack, did i hear right? you just got smacked around by a girl?

korgan: shaddup!

chump: My teeth!!!!

She clearly wanted him to expound on that statement; he didn’t. They stared at each other until finally, Enara had had enough. She broke the silence with a sigh. “Korgan said he sold the bullet to some collector down in the ‘burbs. Made about ten K on the whole deal, apparently. Woman’s name is Diane Hewitt. I got an address.”


that's why she had to do it bare knuckle, and without using martial arts moves...his own code of honor would make him tell her the truth...

“I guess I should have, but he’d already talked and told me what I needed… and I was feeling kinda lazy. Heh. I woulda just gone home, but your apartment was closer, and… well… this is really starting to sting.” She shifted her hand to better apply pressure to her bleeding lip, but in doing so, she noticed that she’d left a little blood behind on the armrest of his off-white couch. She looked at it, horrified. “Oh, crap. I’m so sorry. I’m bleeding over everything. Uh… they say hydrogen peroxide and baking soda gets that right out…”


you could have added a line in the part where enara comes over a second time, where the stain is completely gone, implying that anomen knows a lot more about "home economics" stuff than enara... ;)

“No, don’t worry about it. I’ve had worse,” she said, trying to wave him away. “Some two-bit burglar taking a swing at me isn’t exactly the same as tangling with Victor Fries. I just didn’t want to be bleeding all over my car on the way home… so instead I decided to just bleed all over your apartment.” She laughed, sheepishly. “Heh.”


almost sounds like she's been drinking for the pain... :roll:

“Oh come on… you meet so many more interesting characters when you’re reckless and impulsive. Try it out sometime! You may come home with a couple of bruises, you might even lose a tooth or two, but it’ll be precious life experience you just can’t earn anywhere else.” She winked at him, and he rolled his eyes in response.


anomen: what? and get this armani suit messed up? perish the thought... ;)

She sobered and looked at him. “Please stop making jokes. It’s scaring me.”


good point... :D

Firecam didn’t bother to turn and look at her, instead walking up the pathway of nicely polished stone that led to the house. “Each to their abilities,” he said, removing his sunglasses, folding them closed, and tucking them into his shirt pocket.


he almost sounds like a sophisticated and polished version of edwin...(instead of his usual insufferable and funny smugness)

“Oh, dear…” she said, opening the door even wider. “This is about the scalpels, isn’t it? I bought those in good faith. I was assured that he’d never actually gotten around to using them. Imagine my surprise when I realized there was dried blood on the handles.” She shook her head and put a hand to her sternum. “I mean, I never! Oh, dear… oh, dear me…”


:D 8) :D

The old lady motioned them through the doorway and then began leading them farther into the house. “Scalpels, yes,” she told them. “For my Zsasz section, you see. I have several pieces detailing his career in my collection, actually.”


I REALLY don't want to know the details..

“Crime memorabilia. It’s my passion.” She led them down the hallway and stopped in front of a large, wooden door. Several keys hung from a ring she carried around in her pocket. One of the keys fit easily into the keyhole on the door and she turned it with a click. “Especially the items and objects of Gotham’s more nefarious criminals. That’s why you’re here, I’m sure. To view the collection?”


does she eventually donate the collection to a museum?

“But it’s not from the crime you think,” Enara said, cutting in. “The bullet you bought didn’t kill Johnny LaMonica.”


nope...the medical examiner has those..

Enara reached into the inside pocket of her blazer and fished something out. “You wanted a piece of Black Spider memorabilia? Well, I’ve got one, and it’s unique.” She held a small, misshapen lump of lead out in her open palm. “It was taken right from my vest… it’s the last bullet Johnny LaMonica ever fired.”


yeah...like tommy lee jones in "US Marshalls" she kept the ones her vest stopped... :P

“He’s gonna be untouchable, now, you know that. Anything you get on him from now on, it’s all fruit from the poison tree.”


not quite sure what you mean...that korgan will be on guard from now on?

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I didn’t need to be hearing that kinda stuff outta you, is all. Anyway, you know I’m not a big fan of the I.A.D. I didn’t want it becoming public knowledge that I was having my strings yanked the way I was. Volume.”


bad for your rep...

“He is… more than just a friend,” Anomen said, leaning his thumb down on the fast forward button. “He was a mentor to me.”


yeah...that really explains keldorn's motivations...and it's consistant with the canon...

“Too bad. Good looking people on that show. That one girl? The brunette? You know, the tall, willowy one? I have to say, I’d go gay for her. No, really, I would. You think I’m kidding? Hey, you still have chocolate bunnies from last Easter!”


;) ;) ;)

“How sweet,” she said, biting off an ear and chewing on it. “Hey, back that up for a second? I missed what he just said.”


i prefer to eat the eyes first...so it can't look at me while i'm twisting its head off... :P

Enara scoffed. “Oh, he is so right on… women are such teases. That’s why I went back to men.”


jessie: the fun part is that you just tease right back at them...

nalia: ;) ;) ;)

She snickered and grinned at him. “I don’t play for Renee’s team.”


renee: NUTZ!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

Her smile widened, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “Ah… I forgot you were at Tino’s that night. Saw Nate’s ex hitting on me, huh?” She chuckled, wryly. “Yeah, Ronnie’s bi. I can’t say I’m interested in her, though. I mean, really, even if I were… you gotta wonder… any tread left on those tires, or at this point, would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?”


??? huh? oh...yukkkkk...

She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her smile. “Sure…”


I like enara...you've written her to be more cynical, and a lot funnier... :P :P :D

#3 Guest_Theodur_*

Posted 01 September 2005 - 07:27 AM

1. I have -got- to get away from all this Batman universe stuff before I lose my sanity. (Again) So, this'll probably be it for a while... um. Maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, I've already got notes for something vaguely related. (Sigh) I'm trying to get other stuff done, honest.


You must find that healthy balance between these things. ;)

4. There's a brief mention of a Victor Zsasz in here. He's not one of the better known characters in the Batman franchise, but he was, actually, in the most recent film, Batman Begins. Here's some info if you guys are interested.


Remember him from the movie… minor scumbag, really.

5. Enara proves to be a horrible house guest. I don't know what it was, but I just started bumping along when I was writing that sequence, and I was kinda chuckling through the entire thing... chuckling at how damned ANNOYING this girl is. 8)


Yeah, but she’s also hot and sassy and that sort of makes it easy to endure the annoyance. ;)

Enara sneered at him. “Can I shoot you when I win?” She unbuckled her pistol holster and handed it to one of the other watchers. “Hold these.” She unbuttoned the cuffs of her dress shirt, and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on her – she had to admit. She was about to pick a fight in a dimly lit alleyway behind a dive bar. As back alleys went, though, this wasn’t such a bad one to have a brawl in. At least it was kinda clean… and the street lamp made for some lovely ambiance.


Let’s just hope that some of the spectators don’t decide to help out Korgan a little… :D

Korgan had clearly anticipated her to dart in, maybe try to grab an arm and twist it, aim a kick at his knee… something. He wasn’t at all prepared for her fist crashing against his nose. The impact of her hand snapped his head back, and left the middle of his face covered in a small amount of blood. The jab hadn’t broken it, though it was hard to tell considering it’d been broken multiple times in the past and had never healed right.


Good start! :twisted:

Korgan yelled, rushing her and wrapping both arms around her torso. He squeezed, hard, and used his momentum to force her back up against a nearby dumpster. Her back thumped against the metal container full of garbage, the collision knocking the wind out of her. Her breath escaped her in a loud grunt, and she leaned against the dumpster, wheezing for air and trying to fight the pains stabbing through her torso.


Ouch… and now her ribs are taking quite some beating… :D

Korgan was on the ground, on his back, trying to get back to his feet, when she snapped another kick at his ribs. He groaned, curling up to try and protect himself from the attack. She half-crouched in front of his face, alternating punches that he, ineffectively, attempted to block. It was like tenderizing a hunk of steak by this point, but she didn’t care. “Hey, Jimmy…” she said, not letting up for even a moment, even though his struggling was becoming more and more feeble. “All your buddies are watching…”


The ultimate disgrace for Korgan… :twisted:

She turned; she hadn’t expected him, but she couldn’t say she was terribly surprised to be seeing him, either. Down at the end of the alley, parked in a space across the street was a dark brown sedan that practically screamed “Unmarked police vehicle.”


How… tacky. :P

She clearly wanted him to expound on that statement; he didn’t. They stared at each other until finally, Enara had had enough. She broke the silence with a sigh. “Korgan said he sold the bullet to some collector down in the ‘burbs. Made about ten K on the whole deal, apparently. Woman’s name is Diane Hewitt. I got an address.”


10K is a huge load… but those collector types are unreasonable freaks, they’ll pay loads for all sorts of weird crap. :D

“I give you Hewitt’s address, and I know what you’ll do with it.” She crooked a finger, accusingly, at him. “You used me to break down Korgan, Inspector. You used me to get information for your case against him. Now I’m not a big fan of people yanking my strings, so here’s how this is going to work, ‘kay? You use me to get your info, you don’t get to cut me out at the end.” She turned and started walking away from him. Her last words to him were spoken over her shoulder. “I’ll meet you at Central in the morning. We can talk to Ms. Hewitt together…”


If he knows her so well, he should have expected this kind of reaction as well. ;)

She shrugged. “Fine. You should see the other guy,” she quipped. “I uh… I was helping the Sarge look into one of his files. You know, that whole Watkins thing. He asked me to hit up one of his contacts for information. So here I am, out back, behind Knights Stadium, we’re having a nice little chat, and suddenly the guy makes a move on me.”


Erm, is this actually true or is that Korgan’s handiwork and she doesn’t want to tell Anomen just yet?

He smiled reassuringly. “It’s not a problem. Are you sure you’re all right? Maybe we should get you over to G.U. Medical. It’s only a few blocks-“


I’m sure Nar knows that too, but she wanted to come to you, Ano, so don’t try and get rid of her now. :twisted:

He dipped the end of a cotton swab in iodine and began working on a narrow gash on her forehead above her right eyebrow. She winced and took a breath in through clenched teeth. “My apologies,” he said, “but that needs to be disinfected before you bandage it.”


Ah, so that is indeed a different case, I don’t remember Korgan catching her on the forehead.

Firecam didn’t bother to turn and look at her, instead walking up the pathway of nicely polished stone that led to the house. “Each to their abilities,” he said, removing his sunglasses, folding them closed, and tucking them into his shirt pocket.


He’s a bit of a bastard, isn’t he… not sure if he’s of the likeable type, though.

“Oh, dear…” she said, opening the door even wider. “This is about the scalpels, isn’t it? I bought those in good faith. I was assured that he’d never actually gotten around to using them. Imagine my surprise when I realized there was dried blood on the handles.” She shook her head and put a hand to her sternum. “I mean, I never! Oh, dear… oh, dear me…”


LOL! Oh dear, indeed… a regular customer of dear Jimmy Korgan, is she?

“Crime memorabilia. It’s my passion.” She led them down the hallway and stopped in front of a large, wooden door. Several keys hung from a ring she carried around in her pocket. One of the keys fit easily into the keyhole on the door and she turned it with a click. “Especially the items and objects of Gotham’s more nefarious criminals. That’s why you’re here, I’m sure. To view the collection?”


Hey, don’t cops get charged with an entrance fee, then? :P

Enara let out a low, impressed whistle. She wasn’t sure she knew what all of the stuff was, but she had some pretty good ideas. Over in one corner of the room was a picture frame holding a black eye-mask – just the right size for covering the face of a twelve-year old boy, she assumed. Next to that was a well-preserved playing card, a joker, in particular. It was kept safe in its own separate frame. Atop a table in the center of the room was what looked to be a whip of some sort, and next to that, was a green bowler hat with a question mark on the front. Over on the far wall sat a file cabinet that had two glass display cases resting atop it. The one on the left held a small but wicked looking crossbow, and a small case of bolts to go with it. The one on the right held a top hat. Tucked into the band just above the hat’s brim was some kind of white card, about 3 x 5 inches. It was covered in numbers and other odd symbols.


That is pretty cool, actually… I might be willing to pay to take a closer look at that stuff. ;)

“Ah, yes. Spent quite a pretty penny on that.” On the desk near the far wall was a padded mailer envelope, apparently a recent arrival. Diane went over to it and pulled a tiny plastic pouch from inside. She handed the small plastic bag and its contents to Keldorn who gingerly took it and began to examine it – through the plastic, of course.


“We’ll be taking this with us,” he said.


Stealing from old ladies, are you, Keldorn? ;)

;)

Enara reached into the inside pocket of her blazer and fished something out. “You wanted a piece of Black Spider memorabilia? Well, I’ve got one, and it’s unique.” She held a small, misshapen lump of lead out in her open palm. “It was taken right from my vest… it’s the last bullet Johnny LaMonica ever fired.”


Ah, now if that doesn’t send the collector drooling, I don’t know what would…

“I suspect that he’ll be on his best behavior for a while, even if he is rotten to the core.”


Just give him more booze to wash the rot away. :P

He raised the volume on the television set. “I understand. But you have to admit that, despite their somewhat… distasteful methods, the Internal Affairs Division is a necessary part of the police force. Someone needs to guard the guardians, watch the watchers, as it were. It is very much a thankless duty.”


Yah, but who watches those who watch the watchers? :P

“I guess…” she said with a sigh. “They just rub me the wrong way, though. I guess I can’t really explain it… like your friend, for example.” She munched down on a handful of popcorn. “Can we skip the credits?”


“He is… more than just a friend,” Anomen said, leaning his thumb down on the fast forward button. “He was a mentor to me.”


Thought it would have to be something like that… it seemed as if Keldorn almost cared…

“I heard something about that, but look, we’ve -all- got our problems, don’t we? I mean, I know divorce does strange things to people, but from what I heard, he’s still got joint custody of his children, and the separation was pretty amicable.”


Seems like he was a bit of an ass towards Maria and the children as well… not that we know much of what went wrong in this AU.

“So, what, you expect two people to just lock eyes across a crowded room, fall madly in love with each other, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after? C’mon, you can’t be -that- naïve, can you? I mean, what next? You gonna tell me you’re a closet fan of Dawson’s Creek or something? I think your butter’s gone rancid. You might want to take care of that.”


He smirked at her. “I’ve never seen the show, actually… and it’s margarine… and I was planning on throwing it out during the next garbage collection.”


LOL! Yeah… she is being annoying… but probably on purpose and just towards him. :D

“Too bad. Good looking people on that show. That one girl? The brunette? You know, the tall, willowy one? I have to say, I’d go gay for her. No, really, I would. You think I’m kidding? Hey, you still have chocolate bunnies from last Easter!”


ROFL! Yeah… sorting through another peoples fridges could be a bit annoying… but personally, I find it fun. Not that I would do a lot of that. ;)

“You know what really grinds my gears? This Lindsay Lohan. Eh? Lindsay Lohan with all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half-naked with- with your little outfits. Ya know? You’re – you’re up there, jumping around, and I’m just sitting here with my beer. So… you know, what am I supposed to do? What d’you, what d’you want? Y’know? A-are we going to go out? Is that what you’re trying to – why, why are you leaping around there, throwing those things all up in – over there, in my face? Huh? What do you want, Lindsay? Tell me what you want! Well, I’ll tell you what you want: you want nothing. You want nothing. All right? Because we all know that no woman anywhere wants to have sex with anyone… a-and to titillate us with any thoughts otherwise is, i-i-is just bogus.”


Enara scoffed. “Oh, he is so right on… women are such teases. That’s why I went back to men.”


Oh gods… is she trying to wind the poor guy up? She’s talking about things that can send a guy drooling from thinking too much about them… :twisted:

“About the ‘going back to men’ part, or about having been in a situation where you would even have to decide about whether or not to ‘go back to men?’” He didn’t wait for her to provide him with an answer, instead shaking his head, as if trying to make his short-term memory go away. “Actually, just forget I said anything.”


She snickered and grinned at him. “I don’t play for Renee’s team.”


And someone out there is mightily relieved. ;)

He coughed. Again. When he finally recovered from the brief fit, he took hold of the remote control and raised the television set’s volume by several notches. “Maybe we should just… watch the film.”


She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her smile. “Sure…”


Heh heh… someone likes Ano… contemplates singing ‘Nar and Ano, sitting in a tree…’ ;)

#4 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 02 September 2005 - 03:50 AM

that presupposes you were ever sane in the first place, buddy...


I probably was at some point... I'm sure that sanity's long since gone, but I did possess some once. :D

that was the part i actually enjoyed the most...


I liked that section, too. Like I said, I was just having a lot of funny writing her as this -annoying- house guest. Annoying, and yet, kinda adorable, too. :shock:

that pretty much seems to be the guiding philosophy of her life...


It seems to have worked so far.

you could have added a line in the part where enara comes over a second time, where the stain is completely gone, implying that anomen knows a lot more about "home economics" stuff than enara...


I'm sure he knows how to get blood out of the upholstery. It's probably something he learned as a kid and could never forget. :roll:

he almost sounds like a sophisticated and polished version of edwin...(instead of his usual insufferable and funny smugness)


I can't say I'd ever be able to see any real similarities between the two, even if it's a "not so nice" Keldorn going. I just can't see him as ever being quite as much of a jerkwad as Edwin is. :D

I REALLY don't want to know the details..


Yeah... probably not something that really needs to be outlined in detail.

yeah...like tommy lee jones in "US Marshalls" she kept the ones her vest stopped...


I've seen the movie, but I don't remember that bit.

i prefer to eat the eyes first...so it can't look at me while i'm twisting its head off...


I think I'd just start from the top and work my way down, so I'd probably start with the ears, too. (Shrug) It's been a while since I've had a chocolate bunny, though. Real long time.

huh? oh...yukkkkk...


:lol:

#5 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 02 September 2005 - 04:12 AM

You must find that healthy balance between these things.


What, you taking basic druid courses now? :D

Trust me, I'm trying. It's not going very well. :lol:

Remember him from the movie… minor scumbag, really.


Minor scumbag in the movie... not so minor in the rest of the franchise, though. I'm not sure there's anything minor about a guy who kills anyone he can get his hands on, and carves notches into his own flesh to record his fatalities.

Yeah, but she’s also hot and sassy and that sort of makes it easy to endure the annoyance.


I thought so, but then again, I'm biased. Nice to know other people agree, though. :D

Let’s just hope that some of the spectators don’t decide to help out Korgan a little…


He'd never live it down if he called in his buddies to help beat on her. Everywhere he went, he'd have this reputation for not being able to fight his own battles. If he fights her one on one and loses, that's still not good, but it's way better than everyone thinking that he cheats at that sort of thing. (Shrug)

Ouch… and now her ribs are taking quite some beating…


Yep. He knows she was shot and that her ribs were cracked because of it... and he's not above exploiting that advantage, cheap as it may seem.

10K is a huge load… but those collector types are unreasonable freaks, they’ll pay loads for all sorts of weird crap.


True. Gotta wonder how much Combs paid for that Firebug suit, for example.

Erm, is this actually true or is that Korgan’s handiwork and she doesn’t want to tell Anomen just yet?


The latter. She's pretty sure that if he finds out what she's doing, he'll tell her to stop. But she's convinced herself that only she can bail him out of the jam he's in, so he's not going to let him try and talk her out of helping him.

Still, it'd just be easier if he was in the dark about how she was trying to help him.

I’m sure Nar knows that too, but she wanted to come to you, Ano, so don’t try and get rid of her now.


He's a little dense, isn't he? :D

Ah, so that is indeed a different case, I don’t remember Korgan catching her on the forehead.


From that backhand swipe he caught her with... hit hard enough to break the skin, even if his hand didn't hit that actual part of her face.

He’s a bit of a bastard, isn’t he… not sure if he’s of the likeable type, though.


Yep. That's kinda the point... it seems that every character that's got a role like Keldorn has here (as in the guy who watches everyone else) always draws mixed reactions. People seem to realize that he's technically a "good guy," but nobody likes his personality or how he treats the main characters. :D

That is pretty cool, actually… I might be willing to pay to take a closer look at that stuff.


I probably would, too... I mean, Joker stuff, Scarface stuff, Catwoman stuff, Riddler stuff... every fanboy's dream. :D

Thought it would have to be something like that… it seemed as if Keldorn almost cared…


It's probably among his last vestiges of compassion and humanity... at least this version's...

Seems like he was a bit of an ass towards Maria and the children as well… not that we know much of what went wrong in this AU.


I can easily see this version being so dedicated to his job that he wasn't able to fix things up with his wife. After all, you kinda get the impression that if Keldorn didn't have Charname's advice in the game, he'd be in much the same situation.

LOL! Yeah… she is being annoying… but probably on purpose and just towards him.


Or maybe she's just annoying in general. I wouldn't put it past her. :D

ROFL! Yeah… sorting through another peoples fridges could be a bit annoying…


I know, right? I mean, that's just rude! :shock:

Oh gods… is she trying to wind the poor guy up? She’s talking about things that can send a guy drooling from thinking too much about them…


Well, in this case, she's definitley having fun with the whole misdirection angle. I think, at this point, she's come to grips with the fact that she's interested in him... but of course she's not just going to throw herself at him. She's playing things a little coy, still, at this point.

And someone out there is mightily relieved.


:D

You mean Montoya's girlfriend? :roll:

#6 Guest_VigaHrolf_*

Posted 02 September 2005 - 02:57 PM

1. I have -got- to get away from all this Batman universe stuff before I lose my sanity. (Again) So, this'll probably be it for a while... um. Maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, I've already got notes for something vaguely related. (Sigh) I'm trying to get other stuff done, honest.


Alpha, while I do like the Batman themed stuff, a word from those who've spent much time wandering in the woods. If you let the other stuff sidetrack you too long, its no longer the side track.

3. Innuendo. You know the kind. Quite a bit of it, too. Wooo! :D


Yowza!

5. Enara proves to be a horrible house guest. I don't know what it was, but I just started bumping along when I was writing that sequence, and I was kinda chuckling through the entire thing... chuckling at how damned ANNOYING this girl is. :D


It does seem to fit her. :D :P

6. The whole "Grinds my gears" bit is taken from the Family Guy movie. That's right, the movie. It's not even out yet, and I've seen it. HA! NYAH NYAH! :D :P


Well aren't you special.

“You’re wearing your piece,” Korgan said, stripping off his shirt and tossing it to one of the circle of spectators around them. “You need to ditch it. I don’t want you shooting me when you lose.”


Bran: "If you didn't need the information, I'd shoot him now. But that's just me."

Enara sneered at him. “Can I shoot you when I win?” She unbuckled her pistol holster and handed it to one of the other watchers. “Hold these.” She unbuttoned the cuffs of her dress shirt, and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on her – she had to admit. She was about to pick a fight in a dimly lit alleyway behind a dive bar. As back alleys went, though, this wasn’t such a bad one to have a brawl in. At least it was kinda clean… and the street lamp made for some lovely ambiance.


There is something to be said for fighting in clean dark alleyways.

Imoen: "Less stuff to trip over for one."

They circled for a few moments, out of arms’ reach, sizing each other up. Korgan had plenty of homegrown, self-taught experience in hand-to-hand combat, but he was the heavy-hitter type. Not much for grace and style – slow, ponderous, but with power. Enara, on the other hand, had a fair amount more formal training than Korgan did. She had better technique, and a lot more finesse. She was faster and more agile, but that was only good if it helped you avoid getting hit. Sometimes, though, it just didn’t work out that way. If he did manage to tag her, it would hurt, and she knew it. Her best bet was to try and get in close, fire off a crippling shot before he even had time to react. She didn’t much like her chances of that idea working out, however. His other faults aside, her opponent was no fool. He’d be expecting a trick like that.


Speed versus power... an always interesting confrontation. When I spared against my sensai (and I was nowhere near as good as him, but he was kind enough to take it down close to my level) we had the same confrontation. I've always been a power guy, bull in, take a hit and then try to crush while he would dart in and out and pound on you. I would imagine, with similar skill levels, that it would be a neutral point. With higher skills to the swift, the swift has a great deal of advantage but not nearly the same as if, for the same differential of skill, the power guy would have.

Imoen: "Pfah! Speed and quickness all the way. You can always take the big lumbering types."

Bran: "Need I remind you of the last time you and Minsc sparred. And you insisted on full contact, full speed?"

Imoen: "Hey, one lucky hit..."

Bran: "Is all it takes."

So, as she always did when faced with certain expectations, she did what could only be described as “the exact opposite” of them.


*snigger*

Korgan had clearly anticipated her to dart in, maybe try to grab an arm and twist it, aim a kick at his knee… something. He wasn’t at all prepared for her fist crashing against his nose. The impact of her hand snapped his head back, and left the middle of his face covered in a small amount of blood. The jab hadn’t broken it, though it was hard to tell considering it’d been broken multiple times in the past and had never healed right.


Well, that's a fine how do you do. :D And frankly, improved his face by approximately 5.8%.

He backed away, wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand and glared at her, a low growl rumbling up from the back of his throat. She stared back and shrugged, and he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to jam his thumbs into her eye sockets – anything to wipe that smug expression off her face. He charged in, staying low to the ground until he got within striking distance. His right fist and arm went up into a powerful right cross that would have knocked her on her back if it had connected.


Seems a might bit pissed.:D

Enara ducked underneath the attack, and launched a counter, throwing two quick body blows, one right after the other. Her left fist tagged one of his ribs, her right connected with the soft and fleshy part of his abdomen. The shots hurt, but Korgan was high on adrenaline and barely acknowledged the pain.


Good description, but I can't shake the feeling that Korgan is a dwarf and still about 4' tall, which would make Enara extremely bendy to be able to duck underneath such an attack. :D

That was when Enara realized her mistake: she’d pressed too much, and overextended herself. She was out of position: far too close to him to make much use of her natural agility, and he knew it. A vicious, backhanded swipe that she had no chance of avoiding caught the side of her face and sent her reeling. She grunted, feeling a burst of pain where her tongue had run over her split lip. She staggered backwards, tasting blood in her mouth, and trying hard to regain her footing.


She forgot to maintain her guard! Yowch that's gonna hurt.

Korgan yelled, rushing her and wrapping both arms around her torso. He squeezed, hard, and used his momentum to force her back up against a nearby dumpster. Her back thumped against the metal container full of garbage, the collision knocking the wind out of her. Her breath escaped her in a loud grunt, and she leaned against the dumpster, wheezing for air and trying to fight the pains stabbing through her torso.


And he's got Nar on the ropes....

“How’re those ribs, you stuck up, self-righteous-“ He cocked his fist back, ready to deliver a knockout punch that would send her down for the count.


And in taking time to taunt, he get's...

She threw her left arm up, blocking the attack against the good, solid bone of her forearm, and following through with a right-handed shot to the jaw that stunned him – but only for a moment.


clocked.

A moment, however, was all she needed. She dashed in, throwing a left hook that caught him in the temple. He groaned, sagging somewhat, the upper half of his body falling forward. She shifted her weight backwards to her left foot, then threw it forward, sending the toe of her shoe careening into his stomach. He crumpled, but she wasn’t finished yet.


Nice. :D

The rotten son of a bitch had screwed over far too many people in his career. He was a crook in a department unfortunately full of them, and there wasn’t very much she could do about it. Not much, but a little. She was winning this fight, and while it wouldn’t much change the course of the world as a whole, it would certainly make -her- feel a whole lot better – extracting vengeance on Anomen’s behalf… and perhaps a little for herself, too.

Korgan was on the ground, on his back, trying to get back to his feet, when she snapped another kick at his ribs. He groaned, curling up to try and protect himself from the attack. She half-crouched in front of his face, alternating punches that he, ineffectively, attempted to block. It was like tenderizing a hunk of steak by this point, but she didn’t care. “Hey, Jimmy…” she said, not letting up for even a moment, even though his struggling was becoming more and more feeble. “All your buddies are watching…”


Whoa. She's really kicking the stuffing out of him. Damn. Just a little pent up agression to let out, huh?

Bran: "Not bad. Not bad at all."

And indeed they were, at least two dozen of “Gotham’s Finest,” standing around in total silence, completely enthralled by the events unfolding in front of them.

“… and every… single… one…” She cut her knuckles open on one of his teeth as she punched him once more in the mouth.


Now that's getting a bit excessive...

Enara rose to her knees and pushed herself away from her fallen opponent. “… just saw me hand you your ass.”


And they won't soon forget it.

Dirty Cop: "So, Korgan, how's the ribs?"

Korgan: "Ye shut up before I plant yer ass in the ground."

Dirty Cop: "Hey look, is that Kell over there?"

Korgan: "What! I'll.."

Dirty Cop: "heheheheh"

“You gonna come clean?” she asked, using the back of her hand to wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. “Or am I gonna have to wail on you some more? Think about it… ‘cause I can do this all night…”


I suppose that is one method of interrogation.

Bran: "Surprisingly effective most times."

Korgan was being helped out of the alley by a couple of friends who’d thrown his arms around their shoulders. Enara, still capable of moving under her own power (though barely), was busy tucking her shirttails back into her slacks when Inspector Firecam came strolling down the alley, into the dim light of the streetlamp overhead. “Did he talk?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest and coolly leaning back against the lamppost.


Not a 'how are you' or do you need help? Yeah.. this is one bitter bitter man.

He didn’t answer her question. “Did he talk, Detective?”

She responded to his question with another of her own. “How much of that did you see?”

Keldorn shrugged. “Enough.”


Technically, he could run her in right now for assaulting a fellow officer. Or simple assault. But I don't think he well.

She clearly wanted him to expound on that statement; he didn’t. They stared at each other until finally, Enara had had enough. She broke the silence with a sigh. “Korgan said he sold the bullet to some collector down in the ‘burbs. Made about ten K on the whole deal, apparently. Woman’s name is Diane Hewitt. I got an address.”


Wow... 10 Gs?

“What is it?”

Enara shook her head at him and snorted. “I’m not telling you.”

One of his eyebrows rose higher than the other. “Oh?” If he was annoyed, it wasn’t showing in either his tone or his body language. She hoped he was annoyed, though. It might have been petty, but she felt she owed him a bit of hardship after the way he’d played her like a cheap violin.


Bran: "Definitely."

“I give you Hewitt’s address, and I know what you’ll do with it.” She crooked a finger, accusingly, at him. “You used me to break down Korgan, Inspector. You used me to get information for your case against him. Now I’m not a big fan of people yanking my strings, so here’s how this is going to work, ‘kay? You use me to get your info, you don’t get to cut me out at the end.” She turned and started walking away from him. Her last words to him were spoken over her shoulder. “I’ll meet you at Central in the morning. We can talk to Ms. Hewitt together…”


She's in it to save Ano. But I get the feeling he is too.

Anomen was surprised to find Enara standing in the doorway to his apartment. He was even more surprised to find her holding an ice pack up to the side of her face and a bloody paper napkin to her lip. She smiled weakly at him. “Hi… you got any Bactine?”


Well, that's certainly a way to start an evening off on the right foot. :D

Almost completely flabbergasted, he still managed to scrape together the presence of mind to usher her inside, get her seated on the couch and rush off to grab the first aid kit from the medicine cabinet above the sink. “What happened? Are you all right?” he asked, handing her a wad of gauze, and wincing as it turned red almost immediately after journeying to her hand.


Hmm... her face is kinda thumped... I doubt it. :D

She shrugged. “Fine. You should see the other guy,” she quipped. “I uh… I was helping the Sarge look into one of his files. You know, that whole Watkins thing. He asked me to hit up one of his contacts for information. So here I am, out back, behind Knights Stadium, we’re having a nice little chat, and suddenly the guy makes a move on me.”


*snort* Nice cover.

“He hit you?” Anomen looked incredulous. “And you didn’t arrest him for assaulting a police officer?”

“I guess I should have, but he’d already talked and told me what I needed… and I was feeling kinda lazy. Heh. I woulda just gone home, but your apartment was closer, and… well… this is really starting to sting.” She shifted her hand to better apply pressure to her bleeding lip, but in doing so, she noticed that she’d left a little blood behind on the armrest of his off-white couch. She looked at it, horrified. “Oh, crap. I’m so sorry. I’m bleeding over everything. Uh… they say hydrogen peroxide and baking soda gets that right out…”


Bleeding all over the furniture. Poor Ano's nice neat place. :D :roll:

He smiled reassuringly. “It’s not a problem. Are you sure you’re all right? Maybe we should get you over to G.U. Medical. It’s only a few blocks-“

“No, don’t worry about it. I’ve had worse,” she said, trying to wave him away. “Some two-bit burglar taking a swing at me isn’t exactly the same as tangling with Victor Fries. I just didn’t want to be bleeding all over my car on the way home… so instead I decided to just bleed all over your apartment.” She laughed, sheepishly. “Heh.”


*snigger* That is kinda funny.

He dipped the end of a cotton swab in iodine and began working on a narrow gash on her forehead above her right eyebrow. She winced and took a breath in through clenched teeth. “My apologies,” he said, “but that needs to be disinfected before you bandage it.”

“I know. I’ve been beaten up before. I am a police officer, you know.”


In Nar's case, it seems to be part of the drill.

“You really should be more careful.”

“Oh come on… you meet so many more interesting characters when you’re reckless and impulsive. Try it out sometime! You may come home with a couple of bruises, you might even lose a tooth or two, but it’ll be precious life experience you just can’t earn anywhere else.” She winked at him, and he rolled his eyes in response.


Bran: "Sounds like a joke from the Army lads. 'Travel to new, interesting worlds and meet exotic people. And kill them'"

“Enara, that is completely ridiculous.”

She laughed out loud and grinned. “Totally.”


Still won't stop her. :D

“Yes, well… you are aware that you should be wearing all of this red stuff on the inside.”

She sobered and looked at him. “Please stop making jokes. It’s scaring me.”


LOL Great last lines there. :D

“You should probably let me do the talking.”

Enara bumped the car door with her hip, easily nudging it closed. “Oh, so, what? You trust me to beat the crap out of Korgan, but not to open my mouth?”


Well, the puffy lips might have something to do with it.

Firecam didn’t bother to turn and look at her, instead walking up the pathway of nicely polished stone that led to the house. “Each to their abilities,” he said, removing his sunglasses, folding them closed, and tucking them into his shirt pocket.


*snigger* I can see Keldorn saying that. :D

“And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a detective, you figure it out.”


Bwahahahaha!

“At this point, I’d like to reiterate my statement from last night: I don’t like being used.”

“I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to, Enara.” He rang the doorbell and stood patiently for someone on the other side to answer it. A few seconds passed, after which the two police officers could hear the sound of several deadbolts being thrown, and a chain lock being removed.


This Keldorn is lacking in the warmth of the original, but it still fits...

“Good morning, ma’am. I’m Inspector Keldorn Firecam of the Gotham City Police Department. This is Detective Enara Kell.” Both cops showed the old woman their shields. “We’re looking for someone named Diane Hewitt.”

“Oh, dear…” she said, opening the door even wider. “This is about the scalpels, isn’t it? I bought those in good faith. I was assured that he’d never actually gotten around to using them. Imagine my surprise when I realized there was dried blood on the handles.” She shook her head and put a hand to her sternum. “I mean, I never! Oh, dear… oh, dear me…”


Interesting.... um. Very interesting...

Keldorn and Enara traded shrugs. “Scalpels?” she asked, clearly confused.

Firecam smiled graciously. “Perhaps we’d better come in.”

“Scalpels?”

“Quiet, Detective.”


Heheheh.. I don't know why, but that part amuses me.

The old lady motioned them through the doorway and then began leading them farther into the house. “Scalpels, yes,” she told them. “For my Zsasz section, you see. I have several pieces detailing his career in my collection, actually.”

“Your collection of…?”

“Crime memorabilia. It’s my passion.” She led them down the hallway and stopped in front of a large, wooden door. Several keys hung from a ring she carried around in her pocket. One of the keys fit easily into the keyhole on the door and she turned it with a click. “Especially the items and objects of Gotham’s more nefarious criminals. That’s why you’re here, I’m sure. To view the collection?”


Well, that's certainly an interesting hobby. Kinda of macabre, but interesting...

Keldorn shrugged but decided to play along. “Of course.”

She smiled at the two of them. “I thought so. A lot of the items are in storage, but the majority are in here.” She pushed the door open and ushered them inside. The room looked to have been a den of some sort, but it had been heavily renovated. Most of the actual furniture was gone, replaced by tables piled with items, and glass-windowed display cases all along the walls. Picture frames hung from any available surface, some propped up on top of file cabinets.


A little museum of the weird. Hopefully it will all go into a museum, but I have to wonder how good her conservation efforts are. Of course, that's the college training coming out.

Enara let out a low, impressed whistle. She wasn’t sure she knew what all of the stuff was, but she had some pretty good ideas. Over in one corner of the room was a picture frame holding a black eye-mask – just the right size for covering the face of a twelve-year old boy, she assumed. Next to that was a well-preserved playing card, a joker, in particular. It was kept safe in its own separate frame. Atop a table in the center of the room was what looked to be a whip of some sort, and next to that, was a green bowler hat with a question mark on the front. Over on the far wall sat a file cabinet that had two glass display cases resting atop it. The one on the left held a small but wicked looking crossbow, and a small case of bolts to go with it. The one on the right held a top hat. Tucked into the band just above the hat’s brim was some kind of white card, about 3 x 5 inches. It was covered in numbers and other odd symbols.


That very much is an interesting collection......

On the wall to Enara’s left stood another display case, nearly overflowing with all the items placed inside. There was a small mannequin dressed in a fedora hat and pinstriped suit, complete with an authentic looking Thompson submachine gun. There was a statue of a cat, made out of the finest Chinese jade. Next to that sat a rather innocuous-looking umbrella. Enara whistled again. “That’s… a pretty impressive set of knickknacks you’ve got here, Ms. Hewitt.”


Pretty much every major nutjob in Gotham...

“Mrs., actually. It was my late husband who started the collection.” She smiled with the recollection. “He saw the Batman once, fighting that Crocodile fellow? As he told it - God rest his soul - Batman gave that perpetrator a mighty wallop, and just like that, one of those crocodile teeth flew out of his mouth. Landed right in Bartholomew’s lap, it did…”

In spite of herself, Enara found herself smiling at the tale.

“That’s what started it all, of course. He brought the tooth home, cleaned it up. It’s still around here, somewhere, I think. I could probably dig it out for you, if you’d like-“


And an obsession is born. :shock:

“This is from the Black Spider killing,” said Keldorn.

“Ah, yes. Spent quite a pretty penny on that.” On the desk near the far wall was a padded mailer envelope, apparently a recent arrival. Diane went over to it and pulled a tiny plastic pouch from inside. She handed the small plastic bag and its contents to Keldorn who gingerly took it and began to examine it – through the plastic, of course.


And here is the bullet..... the bullet to save Anomen.

“We’ll be taking this with us,” he said.

“I’m sorry, Inspector, but I can’t allow that… not without a warrant of some sort. I purchased it through a legal and legitimate transaction.”


Actually, she didn't. Because it was stolen property, she has no legal right to it at all. It's like buying a stolen car. The cops can take it with no compensation because the seller never had legal ownership.

Keldorn was still giving the bullet a once-over. “He lied.”


You feel bad for her here... she's the one who got scammed.

“Tell you what, how about we trade you for it?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Enara reached into the inside pocket of her blazer and fished something out. “You wanted a piece of Black Spider memorabilia? Well, I’ve got one, and it’s unique.” She held a small, misshapen lump of lead out in her open palm. “It was taken right from my vest… it’s the last bullet Johnny LaMonica ever fired.”


I think that would make a fair trade....

“You’ll run the slug down to the lab when we get back?”

“I will. If it’s from Anomen’s weapon like we think, that, as they say, will be that.”


Hooray!

“Just keep it away from Korgan, that’s all I ask.”

“I suspect that he’ll be on his best behavior for a while, even if he is rotten to the core.”


A good thumping will do that.

“He’s gonna be untouchable, now, you know that. Anything you get on him from now on, it’s all fruit from the poison tree.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then why did you turn me loose on him, Inspector?”


A good question. The evidence of his crime is now inadmissable.

“Anomen was in the Jackpot, Detective. I could not let that sit.”

”So you let me kill your case against Korgan to get him out? I don’t believe you. Why did you really do it?”

“Believe what you like, Enara. But I owed him one. Let’s go give him the good news.”


That sounds like our Keldy.

“You go back to work on Monday.”

“Just like that?”


Well, you'll have to put on pants. :D

“Just like that. Ballistics ran the bullet through, and the markings on it match your service pistol. It’s all taken care of. I talked to Sawyer myself. You’re back on starting next week. Until then, you get to goof off, knowing you still have a job. Pass the popcorn.”


Free vacation! Woo! :D

“Why didn’t you tell me you were helping Inspector Firecam with his investigation?” he asked, grabbing a handful for himself and popping the kernels into his mouth.

“For one, I figured you wouldn’t want me to get involved. I know you. You’d be sitting here, in your nice, super-clean apartment, all worried that I’d get myself into trouble. Hit the play button.”


Good point and dang she's demanding. :D

He picked up the DVD’s remote control and punched one of the buttons on it. “As I recall, you were here last night bleeding profusely onto my couch. I believe that could be construed as trouble. My concerns would have been well founded.”


Sure would. :D

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I didn’t need to be hearing that kinda stuff outta you, is all. Anyway, you know I’m not a big fan of the I.A.D. I didn’t want it becoming public knowledge that I was having my strings yanked the way I was. Volume.”


That could be bad for a cop's rep. No one likes the guardians.

He raised the volume on the television set. “I understand. But you have to admit that, despite their somewhat… distasteful methods, the Internal Affairs Division is a necessary part of the police force. Someone needs to guard the guardians, watch the watchers, as it were. It is very much a thankless duty.”


Spoken like a true Helmite. :D

“I guess…” she said with a sigh. “They just rub me the wrong way, though. I guess I can’t really explain it… like your friend, for example.” She munched down on a handful of popcorn. “Can we skip the credits?”


*snigger* She really is a pest. :D

“He is… more than just a friend,” Anomen said, leaning his thumb down on the fast forward button. “He was a mentor to me.”


Makes sense to use them both.

She nodded in response to that. “I figured there was something between the two of you. I asked him why he was willing to trash his case against Korgan to bail you out. Said he owed you one. I don’t know… he… well, he was a bit of an ass to me. I mean, he could have just told me what needed to be done, and I would have done it. Instead, he led me around by the nose, kept me in the dark the whole way… I told him, and I’ll tell you, too: I don’t like being used, Anomen. You want me to go strong-arm some information out of somebody, fine, I guess I can do that. But let me know beforehand that that’s what you need. Don’t send me out there like one of your lackeys. Do you have any soda?”

“In the refrigerator. Top shelf. Not that I am condoning such behavior, but he -has- been having a very difficult time as of late.”


This Keldorn does seem rather cranky and bitter.

“I heard something about that, but look, we’ve -all- got our problems, don’t we? I mean, I know divorce does strange things to people, but from what I heard, he’s still got joint custody of his children, and the separation was pretty amicable. I mean, I just don’t get it. Why would someone who used to be as nice a guy as you claimed he was, start acting like that? Ginger ale doesn’t really count as soda, Anomen.”


1. I like ginger ale.

2. Just because it seems amicable doesn't mean its a happy thing. It could really screw up a life.

“I believe I have some Coca Cola in the back, behind the orange juice and milk. You have to understand, Enara, they fell in love with each other in high school. They were married for over twenty years, and then… this happened… it has been quite the ordeal. It’s changed him.”

“Yeah, but this kinda thing happens. To lots of people. Folks get hitched and unhitched all the time. You act like you’ve never seen that sort of thing before. Wow… you are -so- a bachelor. I mean, c’mon… spray cheese?”


That's a rather cynical look at relationships... and spray cheese? Ewww.

“It keeps longer than real cheese. You know what my father was like… but my mother stayed with him… for my sister’s sake and my own. She didn’t want us to come from a ‘broken home.’ The idea of divorce was not very popular when I was growing up.”

“So, what, you expect two people to just lock eyes across a crowded room, fall madly in love with each other, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after? C’mon, you can’t be -that- naïve, can you? I mean, what next? You gonna tell me you’re a closet fan of Dawson’s Creek or something? I think your butter’s gone rancid. You might want to take care of that.”


LOL... she's cataloguing the fridge. And dang this Nar has one bleak view of relationships. I mean generally they aren't mix and match like that.

And Dawson's Creek is evil.

He smirked at her. “I’ve never seen the show, actually… and it’s margarine… and I was planning on throwing it out during the next garbage collection.”


Ew. Margarine. As one friend of mine, who holds a PhD in chemisty once said on margarine. "I'll take the butter. I trust the cows far more than the chemists."

Makes sense once you get to know enough chemists.

“Too bad. Good looking people on that show. That one girl? The brunette? You know, the tall, willowy one? I have to say, I’d go gay for her. No, really, I would. You think I’m kidding? Hey, you still have chocolate bunnies from last Easter!”


Bwahahahahaha!! That should make Ano's eyes bulge a little. And mmmm... chocolate bunnies. :D

“Well, seeing that for as long as I’ve known you, you have, more often than not, been kidding, I believe it is a fair assumption to make, Enara.”

“This is true,” she said, closing the refrigerator door and retaking her seat.


Detecting the truth would be rather difficult...

“By the way, the candy rabbits were a gift from my neighbor.”


So stop eating them!

“How sweet,” she said, biting off an ear and chewing on it. “Hey, back that up for a second? I missed what he just said.”


Ugh. She's one of those. I hate rewinding on the first watch through. Very annoying.

Anomen tapped the rewind button briefly, then released it.

“You know what really grinds my gears? This Lindsay Lohan. Eh? Lindsay Lohan with all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half-naked with- with your little outfits. Ya know? You’re – you’re up there, jumping around, and I’m just sitting here with my beer. So… you know, what am I supposed to do? What d’you, what d’you want? Y’know? A-are we going to go out? Is that what you’re trying to – why, why are you leaping around there, throwing those things all up in – over there, in my face? Huh? What do you want, Lindsay? Tell me what you want! Well, I’ll tell you what you want: you want nothing. You want nothing. All right? Because we all know that no woman anywhere wants to have sex with anyone… a-and to titillate us with any thoughts otherwise is, i-i-is just bogus.”

Enara scoffed. “Oh, he is so right on… women are such teases. That’s why I went back to men.”


Imoen: *snigger*

Bran: "Bwahahahaa"

Aleria: "She is being a tease. That isn't very nice."

Imoen: "But it is funny."

Aleria: "I... I suppose."

Anomen coughed. Loudly.

“You all right there, Chief? Relax, I’m joking.”


About what? :lol:

“About the ‘going back to men’ part, or about having been in a situation where you would even have to decide about whether or not to ‘go back to men?’” He didn’t wait for her to provide him with an answer, instead shaking his head, as if trying to make his short-term memory go away. “Actually, just forget I said anything.”


Probably a wise decision.

She snickered and grinned at him. “I don’t play for Renee’s team.”

He cleared his throat, and tried not to blush. “Well, then. If that is truly the case, perhaps you had better make sure that Nathaniel’s… friend… is aware of that...”


LOL... Ms Viccy? Hehehehe. What is it with Viconia and your CHARNAMES Alpha?

Her smile widened, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “Ah… I forgot you were at Tino’s that night. Saw Nate’s ex hitting on me, huh?” She chuckled, wryly. “Yeah, Ronnie’s bi. I can’t say I’m interested in her, though. I mean, really, even if I were… you gotta wonder… any tread left on those tires, or at this point, would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?”


You know what, I never thought I'd hear a woman use 'hot dog down a hallway'. I've heard men do it. On more than one occaission. *shakes head*

He coughed. Again. When he finally recovered from the brief fit, he took hold of the remote control and raised the television set’s volume by several notches. “Maybe we should just… watch the film.”

She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her smile. “Sure…”


Poor Ano, out matched, out gunned and out witted.

Funny piece Alpha. Great fight scene and that last section was just magnifique.

VH

#7 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 03 September 2005 - 01:10 AM

Alpha, while I do like the Batman themed stuff, a word from those who've spent much time wandering in the woods. If you let the other stuff sidetrack you too long, its no longer the side track.


(Sigh) I know... the problem is, I've been kinda stalled on Omega stuff lately. I have some ideas on where I want to take the series, but I'm having a hard time actually getting there. And since I've been getting hit with the plot bunnies anyway, I've been using them as an excuse to not work on that storyline. Hell, you've seen one of those plot bunnies. That took a lot of work. :)

It does seem to fit her.


The being annoying part? Yeah, who'd'a thunk it, huh? :D

Well aren't you special.


:lol:

Heh heh. What can I say, I'm a huge Family Guy fan... and so when a friend of mine told me he'd managed to get a leaked copy of the movie before it was even released (Direct to DVD release, apparently?), I was pretty stoked.

Imoen: "Pfah! Speed and quickness all the way. You can always take the big lumbering types."

Bran: "Need I remind you of the last time you and Minsc sparred. And you insisted on full contact, full speed?"

Imoen: "Hey, one lucky hit..."

Bran: "Is all it takes."


That's the problem with going with speed and agility (which I tend to). Usually, you're more likely to be able to survive a hit if you're the bruiser type than you are to avoid the hit if you're the nimble type.

Good description, but I can't shake the feeling that Korgan is a dwarf and still about 4' tall, which would make Enara extremely bendy to be able to duck underneath such an attack.


Or just really short. :)

And he's got Nar on the ropes...


Yep. Not a good place to be.

Whoa. She's really kicking the stuffing out of him. Damn. Just a little pent up agression to let out, huh?


She's always had a pretty ugly temper. :D

Technically, he could run her in right now for assaulting a fellow officer. Or simple assault. But I don't think he well.


Well, also consider that they were both off-duty at the time.

Well, that's certainly a way to start an evening off on the right foot.


I just thought the image of her showing up bloody and battered on his doorstep and leading off with something really banal-sounding would be a good way to start that scene. :D

Bleeding all over the furniture. Poor Ano's nice neat place.


She ruins his breakfast, his couch... I mean, talk about a pain in the butt. :)

*snigger* That is kinda funny.


:D

Heheheh.. I don't know why, but that part amuses me.


Personally, I found her total confusion to be the funny part... and Keldorn scolding her he would a child is fun, too. :)

A good question. The evidence of his crime is now inadmissable.


Ding ding ding.

Well, you'll have to put on pants.


He was already wearing pants. :D

Good point and dang she's demanding.


And it's annoying... and yet kinda cute, if you ask me. :D

1. I like ginger ale.


I'm not a huge fan. Just don't really like the taste.

2. Just because it seems amicable doesn't mean its a happy thing. It could really screw up a life.


Exactly. But she's not really picking up on that angle.

LOL... she's cataloguing the fridge. And dang this Nar has one bleak view of relationships. I mean generally they aren't mix and match like that.


I've never seen the show, actually, but it seems to me like she kinda has the attitude of, say, one of the more cynical Sex and the City characters. Someone who's really jaded about the whole "romance" stuff... figure that he's kinda naive about it, and maybe he could actually teach her a thing or two. :)

And Dawson's Creek is evil.


Awww, I liked it. :D

I'll take the butter. I trust the cows far more than the chemists.


Yeah. Margarine is not good stuff.

Bwahahahahaha!! That should make Ano's eyes bulge a little. And mmmm... chocolate bunnies.


I've known a couple of girls who've said they'd very much go gay for Katie Holmes. :D

Ugh. She's one of those. I hate rewinding on the first watch through. Very annoying.


Really? Huh... I don't really much care one way or the other. (Shrug)

Imoen: *snigger*

Bran: "Bwahahahaa"

Aleria: "She is being a tease. That isn't very nice."

Imoen: "But it is funny."

Aleria: "I... I suppose."


I'm just picturing Anomen having a conversation at some point further on in time, and having him say something like "For pity's sake, I'm not even sure she's not a lesbian."

Someone else: "I think if she were a full-time lesbian, she'd at least have had the decency to tell you by now."

:D

LOL... Ms Viccy? Hehehehe. What is it with Viconia and your CHARNAMES Alpha?


Well, I did it for Falynn because I thought the idea was funny. Poor Falynn, trying to avoid getting seduced by Viconia. This time, I just needed somebody of "dubious" reputation so I could make that "hot dog / hallway" joke. :D

Poor Ano, out matched, out gunned and out witted.

Funny piece Alpha. Great fight scene and that last section was just magnifique.


Cool, cool. :)

#8 Guest_Maneyan_*

Posted 03 September 2005 - 08:47 AM

I don't believe my eyes. A happy ending? In Gotham City? How are you feeling Alpha? Are you ill?

Just kidding :) Great Chapter

#9 Laufey

Posted 03 September 2005 - 01:30 PM

Enara sneered at him. “Can I shoot you when I win?” She unbuckled her pistol holster and handed it to one of the other watchers. “Hold these.” She unbuttoned the cuffs of her dress shirt, and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on her – she had to admit. She was about to pick a fight in a dimly lit alleyway behind a dive bar. As back alleys went, though, this wasn’t such a bad one to have a brawl in. At least it was kinda clean… and the street lamp made for some lovely ambiance.


Now, if *she* had taken her shirt off, she would have distracted him enough that she could have beaten him *without* getting hurt. I mean, that has to be the reason for all the chainmail bikini outfits out there, after all. Right? ;)


Korgan had clearly anticipated her to dart in, maybe try to grab an arm and twist it, aim a kick at his knee… something. He wasn’t at all prepared for her fist crashing against his nose. The impact of her hand snapped his head back, and left the middle of his face covered in a small amount of blood. The jab hadn’t broken it, though it was hard to tell considering it’d been broken multiple times in the past and had never healed right.


Ouch. I gather broken noses are incredibly painful.

“You gonna come clean?” she asked, using the back of her hand to wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. “Or am I gonna have to wail on you some more? Think about it… ‘cause I can do this all night…”


And eventually some poor doctor is going to be dragged out of bed, probably at 4 am, to patch up the combatants. ;) Yes, I'm working tonight, can you tell? :D People who pick fights, get hurt, and then wake me up...are among my least favorite people.


One of his eyebrows rose higher than the other. “Oh?” If he was annoyed, it wasn’t showing in either his tone or his body language. She hoped he was annoyed, though. It might have been petty, but she felt she owed him a bit of hardship after the way he’d played her like a cheap violin.


I'm having a bit of a problem with that. I can easily see Keldorn becoming embittered and more of a bastard after a divorce. But I can't quite envision him being manipulative, it just doesn't seem like him.


Anomen was surprised to find Enara standing in the doorway to his apartment. He was even more surprised to find her holding an ice pack up to the side of her face and a bloody paper napkin to her lip. She smiled weakly at him. “Hi… you got any Bactine?”


Ah, she's taking care of business herself! Good girl. :D


“Oh come on… you meet so many more interesting characters when you’re reckless and impulsive. Try it out sometime! You may come home with a couple of bruises, you might even lose a tooth or two, but it’ll be precious life experience you just can’t earn anywhere else.” She winked at him, and he rolled his eyes in response.


“Enara, that is completely ridiculous.”


Yes, it is. :)


Enara let out a low, impressed whistle. She wasn’t sure she knew what all of the stuff was, but she had some pretty good ideas. Over in one corner of the room was a picture frame holding a black eye-mask – just the right size for covering the face of a twelve-year old boy, she assumed. Next to that was a well-preserved playing card, a joker, in particular. It was kept safe in its own separate frame. Atop a table in the center of the room was what looked to be a whip of some sort, and next to that, was a green bowler hat with a question mark on the front. Over on the far wall sat a file cabinet that had two glass display cases resting atop it. The one on the left held a small but wicked looking crossbow, and a small case of bolts to go with it. The one on the right held a top hat. Tucked into the band just above the hat’s brim was some kind of white card, about 3 x 5 inches. It was covered in numbers and other odd symbols.


Coooool! I'd love to check these things out. :P


“So, what, you expect two people to just lock eyes across a crowded room, fall madly in love with each other, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after? C’mon, you can’t be -that- naïve, can you? I mean, what next? You gonna tell me you’re a closet fan of Dawson’s Creek or something? I think your butter’s gone rancid. You might want to take care of that.”


I'd say that's exactly what he expected - it's very sweet. :D


Enara scoffed. “Oh, he is so right on… women are such teases. That’s why I went back to men.”


Anomen coughed. Loudly.


Heh. Poor Ano. :D
Rogues do it from behind.

#10 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 03 September 2005 - 07:11 PM

I don't believe my eyes. A happy ending? In Gotham City? How are you feeling Alpha? Are you ill?


Nope! Just got back from the doctor's, as a matter of fact. ;)

Anyway, c'mon... the good guys gotta win -sometimes-, even if they do live in Gotham. ;)

#11 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 03 September 2005 - 07:19 PM

Now, if *she* had taken her shirt off, she would have distracted him enough that she could have beaten him *without* getting hurt. I mean, that has to be the reason for all the chainmail bikini outfits out there, after all. Right?


That would have distracted him, yeah... it might also have drawn all other kinds of undue attention... and if you were worried that she was going into a back alley with like a dozen guys, how much worse if she were showing some skin? ;)

Think about that. :P

Ouch. I gather broken noses are incredibly painful.


Don't know from personal experience, but yeah... probably. Then again, my nose is kinda compact and quashed, anyway. (I'm Asian, what do you want? :P )

People who pick fights, get hurt, and then wake me up...are among my least favorite people.


I'm sure some people don't much like doctors, either... even ER docs... :P

I don't have that luxury, though. When everyone (literally) on your mother's side of the family is in the medical profession, you -really- don't have that luxury. :P

But I can't quite envision him being manipulative, it just doesn't seem like him.


I think -that- particular bit is somewhat of a stretch. But I can still see him in the role. I.A.D. seems like a good choice for him, as you kinda have to be a little jaded and cynical if you're doing that job for a long period of time.

Ah, she's taking care of business herself! Good girl.


Probably not doing so good a job of it, though. There's only so much basic first aid courses can teach you... and it's kinda hard to patch yourself up withour help.

Besides, going to a hospital would likely mean an incident report... which wouldn't be the best thing right now.

Yes, it is.


Yeah, that's like Falynn-brand logic. As in, coming from someone who's technically "smart", but damn, does it -sound- stupid. :D

Coooool! I'd love to check these things out.


I'd almost be worried that some of that stuff would like come to laugh somehow... and do bad things to you. I mean, who would put it past Ivy to leave some kind of trace poisons behind on one of her crossbows? Or maybe the Hatter would leave some kind of circuitry on his hat that would totally mess you up if you even touched it? Stuff like that. Kinda creepy.

The Robin mask probably wouldn't be booby-trapped, though... and I wouldn't mind having my own Batarang as a souvenir. :D

I'd say that's exactly what he expected - it's very sweet.


Sweet... naive... same thing, right? ;) (Mind you, that's Enara's rather cynical worldview... not necessarily mine. :D )

Heh. Poor Ano.


How he manages to put up with her, I -still- don't know... :D :)

#12 Laufey

Posted 03 September 2005 - 07:46 PM

Now, if *she* had taken her shirt off, she would have distracted him enough that she could have beaten him *without* getting hurt. I mean, that has to be the reason for all the chainmail bikini outfits out there, after all. Right?


That would have distracted him, yeah... it might also have drawn all other kinds of undue attention... and if you were worried that she was going into a back alley with like a dozen guys, how much worse if she were showing some skin? ;)


Think about that. :D


Yeah, yeah, I know, I was only kidding. ;)


People who pick fights, get hurt, and then wake me up...are among my least favorite people.


I'm sure some people don't much like doctors, either... even ER docs... :D


I don't have that luxury, though. When everyone (literally) on your mother's side of the family is in the medical profession, you -really- don't have that luxury. :P


There you go then. :) And I was exaggerating slightly - of course I don't mind being woken up if needed - but I'm not too fond of it when it's because a person decided to go beat up somebody else, and got punched themselves instead.

But I can't quite envision him being manipulative, it just doesn't seem like him.


I think -that- particular bit is somewhat of a stretch. But I can still see him in the role. I.A.D. seems like a good choice for him, as you kinda have to be a little jaded and cynical if you're doing that job for a long period of time.


Now that I can readily agree with.
Rogues do it from behind.

#13 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 04 September 2005 - 04:39 PM

but I'm not too fond of it when it's because a person decided to go beat up somebody else, and got punched themselves instead.


(Snicker) Or when some drunk moron decides to walk -through- a plate-glass window? :twisted:

#14 Guest_Joe_*

Posted 07 September 2005 - 12:04 PM

[quote]6. The whole "Grinds my gears" bit is taken from the Family Guy movie. That's right, the movie. It's not even out yet, and I've seen it. HA! NYAH NYAH! [/quote]

Any idea when and in what form this will be viewable to us mere mortals?

[quote]
“Yes, well… you are aware that you should be wearing all of this red stuff on the inside.”
[/quote]

Angel fan is he? Which, at least for some people who have a problem with great television, might raise "orientation jokes" all by itself. :cry:

[quote]
Enara let out a low, impressed whistle. She wasn’t sure she knew what all of the stuff was, but she had some pretty good ideas. Over in one corner of the room was a picture frame holding a black eye-mask – just the right size for covering the face of a twelve-year old boy, she assumed. Next to that was a well-preserved playing card, a joker, in particular. [/quote]

One would wonder if the proximity of these two objects suggests it's Jason Todd's mask in particular.

[quote]
Her smile widened, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “Ah… I forgot you were at Tino’s that night. Saw Nate’s ex hitting on me, huh?” She chuckled, wryly. “Yeah, Ronnie’s bi. I can’t say I’m interested in her, though. I mean, really, even if I were… you gotta wonder… any tread left on those tires, or at this point, would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?” [/quote]

Is that another Family Guy reference. I know I've heard it somewhere.[/quote]

#15 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 07 September 2005 - 01:07 PM

Any idea when and in what form this will be viewable to us mere mortals?


Apparently, the movie's a direct to DVD release, and it's supposed to be out some time this month. The full film got leaked back in July, though.

Angel fan is he? Which, at least for some people who have a problem with great television, might raise "orientation jokes" all by itself.


He's not, but I am. I loved that line... and it came at a really good time. While not the... happiest ending I've ever seen, the show's series finale did hit pretty damned hard, and Spike's little "joke" there at the end fit perfectly. Plus, it's Spike. He's just cool.

I caught a rerun just the other day of the episode where Spike and Angel go to Italy and go chasing after Buffy because they think she's been messed with by that "Immortal" guy... I was cracking up during that slow motion fight sequence when they beat up all the bad guys and Spike, thinking there are still enemies left, whirls and punches Angel in the mouth. :cry:

One would wonder if the proximity of these two objects suggests it's Jason Todd's mask in particular.


You know, I didn't think about that. For some reason, I just assumed it was one of Dick Grayson's... but yeah, it being one of Jason's could be a distinct possibility. I somehow doubt that it was actually -the- mask he was wearing when he got himself killed, though... I mean, didn't Bruce find him, and kept the original costume locked away in a display case in the cave?

Is that another Family Guy reference. I know I've heard it somewhere.


It is. It's a Stewie line from one of the episodes this season (I'm pretty sure.) I just can't remember which episode in particular.

#16 Guest_Joe_*

Posted 07 September 2005 - 04:25 PM

He's not, but I am. I loved that line... and it came at a really good time. While not the... happiest ending I've ever seen, the show's series finale did hit pretty damned hard, and Spike's little "joke" there at the end fit perfectly. Plus, it's Spike. He's just cool.

I caught a rerun just the other day of the episode where Spike and Angel go to Italy and go chasing after Buffy because they think she's been messed with by that "Immortal" guy... I was cracking up during that slow motion fight sequence when they beat up all the bad guys and Spike, thinking there are still enemies left, whirls and punches Angel in the mouth.


Spike is one of the most important voices of our time. After a fashion.

"Sex with robots is more common than most people think."

#17 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 07 September 2005 - 10:23 PM

"Sex with robots is more common than most people think."


"I'm drowning in footwear!"

:cry:

#18 Weyoun

Posted 08 September 2005 - 06:39 PM

1. I have -got- to get away from all this Batman universe stuff before I lose my sanity. (Again) So, this'll probably be it for a while... um. Maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, I've already got notes for something vaguely related. (Sigh) I'm trying to get other stuff done, honest.


Omegas! :(

2. Fight. Fight! FIGHT! :lol:


No. No. NOOOO!!! *rams head in wall repeatedly* I don't want to hear that again! :D

5. Enara proves to be a horrible house guest. I don't know what it was, but I just started bumping along when I was writing that sequence, and I was kinda chuckling through the entire thing... chuckling at how damned ANNOYING this girl is. :(


6. The whole "Grinds my gears" bit is taken from the Family Guy movie. That's right, the movie. It's not even out yet, and I've seen it. HA! NYAH NYAH! :( :(


:P Uh, pass that Torrent file around, please. :(

Enara sneered at him. “Can I shoot you when I win?” She unbuckled her pistol holster and handed it to one of the other watchers. “Hold these.” She unbuttoned the cuffs of her dress shirt, and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on her – she had to admit. She was about to pick a fight in a dimly lit alleyway behind a dive bar. As back alleys went, though, this wasn’t such a bad one to have a brawl in. At least it was kinda clean… and the street lamp made for some lovely ambiance.


I'm sure the view is lovely, if you can look past the peanutshells and beer-stains. :D

Korgan had clearly anticipated her to dart in, maybe try to grab an arm and twist it, aim a kick at his knee… something. He wasn’t at all prepared for her fist crashing against his nose. The impact of her hand snapped his head back, and left the middle of his face covered in a small amount of blood. The jab hadn’t broken it, though it was hard to tell considering it’d been broken multiple times in the past and had never healed right.


Kid Moe. :D

“How’re those ribs, you stuck up, self-righteous-“ He cocked his fist back, ready to deliver a knockout punch that would send her down for the count.


She threw her left arm up, blocking the attack against the good, solid bone of her forearm, and following through with a right-handed shot to the jaw that stunned him – but only for a moment.


Nice move!

“You gonna come clean?” she asked, using the back of her hand to wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. “Or am I gonna have to wail on you some more? Think about it… ‘cause I can do this all night…”


Laska : Go for it, girl! Woooo!

“Yes, well… you are aware that you should be wearing all of this red stuff on the inside.”


Shaun, you've got some red on you. :D

“Crime memorabilia. It’s my passion.” She led them down the hallway and stopped in front of a large, wooden door. Several keys hung from a ring she carried around in her pocket. One of the keys fit easily into the keyhole on the door and she turned it with a click. “Especially the items and objects of Gotham’s more nefarious criminals. That’s why you’re here, I’m sure. To view the collection?”


Don't tell David Caruso you took that stuff. :D

Enara reached into the inside pocket of her blazer and fished something out. “You wanted a piece of Black Spider memorabilia? Well, I’ve got one, and it’s unique.” She held a small, misshapen lump of lead out in her open palm. “It was taken right from my vest… it’s the last bullet Johnny LaMonica ever fired.”


Taht sounds like a good deal for a collector. Well, uh, unless removing it from the vest counts as removing it from its original packaging, that is. :P

“So, what, you expect two people to just lock eyes across a crowded room, fall madly in love with each other, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after? C’mon, you can’t be -that- naïve, can you? I mean, what next? You gonna tell me you’re a closet fan of Dawson’s Creek or something? I think your butter’s gone rancid. You might want to take care of that.”


Dawson's Creek, oh godawful crap. You know, the best part of the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back film is actually James van der Beek saying 'you actually watch that show?' when Jay asks him about Dawson's Creek.

Anomen tapped the rewind button briefly, then released it.


“You know what really grinds my gears? This Lindsay Lohan. Eh? Lindsay Lohan with all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half-naked with- with your little outfits.


Lindsay Lohan should be sealed in concrete and dumped into the Atlantic. :D

Enara scoffed. “Oh, he is so right on… women are such teases. That’s why I went back to men.”


Laska : Ah, you don't know what you're missin'. :)

Her smile widened, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “Ah… I forgot you were at Tino’s that night. Saw Nate’s ex hitting on me, huh?” She chuckled, wryly. “Yeah, Ronnie’s bi. I can’t say I’m interested in her, though. I mean, really, even if I were… you gotta wonder… any tread left on those tires, or at this point, would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?”


He coughed. Again. When he finally recovered from the brief fit, he took hold of the remote control and raised the television set’s volume by several notches. “Maybe we should just… watch the film.”


She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her smile. “Sure…”


Hehehehehe.

Nice. :)
TnT Enhanced Edition: http://www.fanfictio...rds-and-Tempers

---
Sith Warrior - Master, I can sense your anger.

Darth Baras - A blind, comotose lobotomy-patient could sense my anger!

---

"The New Age? It's just the old age stuck in a microwave oven for fifteen seconds" - James Randi

#19 Guest_AlphaMonkey_*

Posted 08 September 2005 - 09:53 PM

Omegas!


Hey, I was good... I put one up. :(

No. No. NOOOO!!! *rams head in wall repeatedly* I don't want to hear that again!


Um... okaaaaaaay... can I ask why?

Uh, pass that Torrent file around, please.


Oh, trust me, if I had gotten this through a Torrent, I would have been a good boy and seeded like nobody's business... but a friend of mine was out of town for about a month, and when he came back, he had a copy of it on CD which he gave to me. You could probably find the Torrent on mininova.org or something, which is where I tend to get this stuff, myself.

I'm sure the view is lovely, if you can look past the peanutshells and beer-stains.


And the vomit in the corner, and the dead rats... and all the other stuff you tend to find in city alleys. :P

Kid Moe.


Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. :D

Shaun, you've got some red on you.


Well, I was going more for the line from Angel where Spike goes "You know, Charlie-boy, you're supposed to wear that red stuff on the inside..."

But I suppose the Shaun of the Dead reference works, too. :D Have you seen the DVD extras? I'm surprised, but Diane actually lived! :lol:

Don't tell David Caruso you took that stuff.


N.Y.P.D. Blue, right? Never watched it. Original Law & Order and SVU are like the only crime shows I watch. (Gasp) Really, I don't actually watch C.S.I.

Taht sounds like a good deal for a collector. Well, uh, unless removing it from the vest counts as removing it from its original packaging, that is.


Yeah, well, since -Enara- would kinda be the original packaging... yeah, she's not really for sale. :D

Dawson's Creek, oh godawful crap.


Hush. I watched it. Shut up. :D

Lindsay Lohan should be sealed in concrete and dumped into the Atlantic.


I've heard her name, I know nothing about her, so while Peter's rant is funny in its own right, I guess I didn't really "get" it.

Hehehehehe.

Nice.


:P

#20 Guest_Theodur_*

Posted 09 September 2005 - 04:42 AM

But I suppose the Shaun of the Dead reference works, too. :D Have you seen the DVD extras? I'm surprised, but Diane actually lived! :lol:


What? Seriously? :( Oh, she was kind of dumb, but I kinda liked her and felt sorry for her being stuck with that utterly pathetic asshole David. At least his leg proved to be useful - she probably clubbed her way out of the mess, I take it. :P




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

Skin Designed By Evanescence at IBSkin.com