11606/Games in the Dark: The Long Man

Games in the Dark: The Long Man
Date of Scene:	15 June 2022
Location:	Bayside Village, New Jersey
Synopsis:	When the Long Man comes to claim A Child's life for his own The Ghost Rider will claw and maim The Orphan will knife much the same And Lydia reaps what wraith was sown
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Cassandra Cain, Robbie Reyes, Lydia Dietrich

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
BAYSIDE, NEW JERSEY

    North and up the coast from Gotham's dour towers and gray skies, Bayside was a resort town for Metropolis, Gotham and New York alike in its heyday, sporting hotels, ball rooms and a boardwalk. Now-a-days it's a small coastal town with a beach and plenty of apartments that come up on Air B&B for ridiculous prices during the summer heat and drop down pretty low when there's no one and nothing to do if you're not a local.

    And here in the summer heat, the heavy humidity and inland from the crashing of the Atlantic, there is danger afoot.

    The useful occult researcher Forgotten_Iridaceae had done the background research on the urban legend of The Long Man, and its history stretching back to when Bayside was a tiny coastal town, following the execution of Hezekiah Cooper in 1791 for the disappearance of seven children off the ship Zealous.

    The researcher also mentioned the Musik household, where Nathan Musik has been sobbing for a week that because he was the first caught in a children's game with its accompanying rhyme 'The Long Man' that the Long Man was going to take him to the tree and keep him there forever.

    Dusk has fallen over the town. Children are playing in back yards as fireflies light up in the bushes. Sprinklers are being turned on to water gardens and grass. The small lighthouse is flashing its light, a beacon in the falling darkness.

    A weight hangs in the heavy air, though, as the woods around in their green and purple haze begin to feel... malevolent.

    The Musik household is an old saltbox house set back a ways from the road, nearest on a dead-end to the woods itself, which has encroached from the farmland days from its old confines, like a grasping hand.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Hebliah Cooper and the search for 1971, or something like that. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Cass honestly wasn't listening when she was given her briefing for this mission, but with half her team out of town she was the one most likely to not get their fool butt killed in a weird situation.

Cass doesn't like to define how she gets around, so her arrival is two things. Quiet and unnoticed. She scouts, dunking water over her head from a bottle she bought at a local store, and wonders when it got so hot.

For all that, all she has to offer is a really skookum sense of paying attention to what's going on around her. So she does that, and idly considers sushi.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The car that pulls up on that dusty side street isn't the sort usually found around these parts. Glossy black '69 Charger, pristine condition, moves in like a bird of prey, and the engine's cut a moment later with a disconsolate growl.

The young man in the driver's seat looks askance to his erstwhile passenger, then pops his door and climbs out. The humidity's like a visceral presence, and a light sweat breaks out on his skin under the layers of clothing unsuited to this sort of heat. He strips out of his leather jacket, tosses it back inside, and slams his door. "Figure that's the place?" he enquires of Lydia, hitching his chin toward the old saltbox.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    These kinds of things have a way of making it to the JLD. Usually they're just rumors, urban legends. Stories and nothing more. Still, it's good to check up on them in case they end up being... more. Lydia grabbed Robbie to come with her on this one. "It's probably nothing, but at least we'll get to see scenic New Jersey," she joked.

    She began to doubt her choice of partners when Robbie offered to drive and she agreed. She was white knuckling it the entire time they were in that classic Charger, and was glad to get out once they've arrived at their destination.

    "Looks like it," she tells her companion, the twinkling constellations of her mutant power starting to settle down. "Do you sense anything?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The woods get a little more dark as Lydia and Robbie make their way to the Musik house, and the neighborhood appears to hold its breath as it waits on something to break the tension.

    That's when the wailing begins. A young child yelling 'No, no, no!' and the sudden sound of something glass breaking inside the house. Lights are going on in rapid order around the house.

    "Nathan Lee Musik! Stop turning on all the lights!" an exasperated woman yells out through the thin walls and open windows of the house.

    "Liss! Shut the kid up! The Redsox are on!" complains another voice.

    A few neighbors start peering out the windows, and at least one old lady makes it out to her porch, smoking a cigarette while totting her oxygen tank. Not every day weird cars show up on the dead-end street.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
While he does like to go fast, it's also clear that Robbie knows this machine inside and out. Drives it like it's an extension of his own body. Lydia's fears appear to be unfounded, either way, as they arrive in one piece despite his hair-raising bolt down the freeway.

"Ain't sure this is my kind of scenery," he confides to her, still watching the house. Tense, like a predator with its hackles up. And then some kid starts yelling, and he can spot the lights flickering through the curtained windows. "Yeah. Definitely something going on in there. Rider wants a piece of it, whatever it is. Let's go." He glances briefly over his shoulder, then starts prowling for the house.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Too easy, too convenient. Cass is out there, leaning against a tree, watching, when things happen all at the same time. The car drives up, and only then does the sudden occurrence happen? She's seen less convenient setups in Metropolis, where they do everything with primary colours.

Her eyes shift left and right, not dashing toward the house with all the noise. Instead she starts to look at the area around it. And up, and down. There's no dearth of heroes suddenly.

Something's suspicious, and she intends to find out what, or whom.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia knows enough to trust the Rider's instincts, and hurries after Robbie. "What do you think? Go charging in, or knock first?" She stops in front of the door, her nostrils flaring. "Something in there, I think." And when she hears that the kiddo's parents aren't really interested in seeing what's got him so frightened she nods. "Right. Charge in."

    She checks the door to see if it's unlocked, and, finding it that it isn't opens it up. It takes her a moment to scent where Nathan is, so she moves to that room. "Nathan? Are you okay?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Luckily no one has to go far.

    Nathan is a brown-haired, brown-eyed kid with heavy freckles, wearing a Superman summer pajama set, with shorts and the cape printed on the back of the T-shirt. He's currently hiding under the coffee table, shaking like a leaf. There's a shattered lamp on the floor, and a woman who looks very tired is holding a broom and dustpan, and has matching hair and freckles to Nathan. She blinks owlishly at Lydia as Lydia barges into the front room, with its worn couch and comfortable love seat and pictures of family members hanging on the wall, and the woman tilts her head a moment, looking at Lydia, and she takes a deep breath followed by:

    "Who the *heck* are you?" she asks.

    And she looks to Nathan, and then back to Lydia in particular, followed by looking out the door at Robbie and then she tilts her head back.

    "... let me guess. Investigators, right?"

    The air gets a little thicker. The humidity is rising in spite of the gently falling temperature. There's a hint of salt to it.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Well, Robbie might've knocked first. Y'know, manners. But he can certainly respect the direct approach Lydia takes, too. The kid's hot on her tail; and if anyone screams FBI, well it sure ain't him. He's dressed in tight, ripped jeans and a tee shirt with some metal band in faded lettering across the front. Tattoos up one arm, multiple piercings, more likely to be in trouble with the law than working for it.

"Let's check out back," he tells Lydia as he shoulders his way inside after her. The mother gets an apologetic look, and he crouches down when he spots the boy hiding under the coffee table. "It's gonna be fine," he reassures him with a small smile.

To his mother, "You should get him outta here. My car's parked out front." He straightens slowly, mismatched eyes steady on hers as his voice softens. "It's safe."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass looks over Lydia's shoulder as she peeks inside. She didn't come up behind her, she just kind of 'was there' suddenly. Just looking at the body langauge of the people inside, since she's not actually up to speed on the fact that this might be a ghost or some such.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    The pale woman nods in agreement, straightening her back and trying to look somewhat menacing... which isn't hard for Lydia to do. (She /is/ a vampire after all.) "Something like that," she says to Nathan's mother. "I don't believe your son is safe here, and if you were a /good/ mother..." her tone implies that she really doesn't think she is, "you'd take your son to the car, or take him out for ice cream while we investigate."

    It isn't until Cass is right up next to her that Lydia notices her. "Good God!" she says, turning around to face the silent woman. "You must be related to Batman. He's the only person who's been able to sneak up on me like that."

    She looks over as Robbie goes to investigate outside. "Well. If you /are/ related to Batman, then that means you're here to help. C'mon." She, then, hurries out to catch up with her fellow JLD member.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Melissa Musik blinks a moment, and then gathers her son up -- leaving the broken lamp for later. "... it's real, isn't it? What took Betty?" she asks quietly, bringing the six-year-old into her arms, turning, and going to walk out the door when the Evil gets thick.

    Like being smothered with a blanket made of stinging nettle and mosquito bites, bedbug itches and brackish saltwater. Time stops -- except for Robbie, Lydia and Cass.

    They can peer through the kitchen of the saltbox, to where someone's installed a patio door, and there is a Shade.... darkness and half see-through, a figure with a crooked neck, and grotesquely enlongated arms, barnacle-covered fingers scratching at the glass, the arms are currently the only part of it that is solid. The head on the broken neck twitches, and then flops to the other side as it begins to hiss, and slide open the glass door!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass backs off enough to give Lydia some space, and then calmly takes note of the affect. Not on Robbie nor Lyds, but on the humans. She glances at her own arms, the goosebumps forming there as she feels the effect, then her head jerks upward at the hiss.

Having no idea what she's looking at, Cass starts by grabbing a knife and whipping it at the creature. She doesn't otherwise engage, nor get in the way of the other two who can still move. But the knife hits the tiny opening that IT's created opening the window like a bullet.

And probably does a whole lot of jack, but this is how you learn. By trying things!

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Robbie turns to glance at the new arrival, brows furrowed slightly. He doesn't need to ask her who the hell she is; if she's here, it's obvious she was drawn by the same Darkness that called to he and Lydia.

As he moves toward the patio door, he's dimly aware that the air's grown thicker, warmer, sickeningly sweet. It's like trying to wade through a field of molasses. Whatever thoughts he has next, however, are obliterated entirely by the forceful transformation that overtakes him in the presence of this thing. The sound of him going up in flames is a terrible bellow of pain, followed by the scent of burning flesh and the sight of the Ghost Rider streaking past and out the patio door -- breaking it off its hinges if need be.

His aim is clearly to tackle the Shade to the ground, and incinerate it on contact.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Yes," Lydia says, turning to Melissa, again to tell her to take her child and leave, but stops short when she sees that she's frozen in time and feels the oppressive atmosphere. "Well, that's bad."

    "Robbie!" She shouts, "Keep it... yes! Like that!" She turns to their new friend and tells her, "Help Ghost Rider keep it occupied. Make sure you don't get burned!"

    She pulls out a magic marker and sinks to her knees and draws a large circle on the floor. She looks up at the melee, trying to get an idea of what exactly /it/ is so she can create a banishing circle.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    While Melissa and Nathan are frozen, the Long Man's barnacle-covered fingers curl to try and pull the door open -- when Cassandra slings the throwing knife at the creature it snarls, withdrawing its hand as its eyes light up a sea-sick yellow, its mouth opening to show shattered, nail-like teeth. The angry spirit of Hezekiah Cooper begins to materialize in full to wreck punishment on those who it can't freeze -- and then Robbie decides that it's better for the homeowners to enact their insurance rather than risk anything else, and destroys the patio door, the sliding glass door shattering into a thousand shards of thick glass with the heat and the force of the Ghost Rider going up in flames.

    The Long Man gives a howl, and then goes incorpreal again, wriggling like a slug and leaving salty slime behind as it tries to defend itself against the Flames of Vengence and the Ghost Rider.

    There's scorch marks and goo left on the patio, but it tries to run!
    "I SHALL TAKE WHAT BE MINE, by bones and blood and breath!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Great. It's a talker. Cass glances at Lydia when she speaks more out of habit than need, since she tends to get more from context than from vocabulary. Like, see Robbie? He's easy to read. He's going to tackle the beastie and hurt it. Whatever Lydia's doing is more 'writing' and 'using words'.

Cass has never been really hung up on literacy.

She doesn't do such things, not when it looks like the knife isn't super-effective. Instead she steps between the scuffle of Robbie vs Casper and lifts her fist, taking a defensive position. She gives her arms a little shake and metal knuckles fall into place over her hands. The things she's got hidden in that coat!

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The wraith-thing struggles, but the demon's grip on it intensifies; it roars back, voice like shredding metal overlaid with a harpy's scream. The thing *should* be able to slither free once it goes incorporeal, but it doesn't appear to make any difference to the bony fingers gripping it under those gloves. He ain't called the Ghost Rider for nothing.

Meanwhile, the flames coming off his hands, and streaming through the crest in his metal skullplate intensify with a FWOOMP like accelerant being added to the mix. He.. does not appear to be aware of Cass positioning herself closer, or the summoning circle Lydia's creating.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    It talks. That means it's some kind of ghost or specter. Good, that gives her something to work with. She starts scribbling down sigils and other geometric shapes. "Don't let it get away!" she shouts, her attention still focused on the circle.

    It only takes her a moment to complete the circle. She wouldn't say something like this is child's play, but compared to some of the circles that she's developed before it's far simpler.

    "Okay," she says, standing up and taking a few steps back. "Gost Rider!" she calls out. "If you can get it into the circle I can banish it!" Please, oh please let Ghost Rider listen to her.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The creature's trying to slip out of Robbie's grasp, hissing, spitting curses and getting ectoplasmic goo all over the Rider as it tries first to reach out to Cass to grab her -- and pull her into the fray, giving a low snarl and attempting to bite down on the flaming Robbie.

    With the addition of more flames, the creature gives an inhuman cry, screeching like rusted metal amplified, like the Deep itself was coming with Hell on its heels, and it reaches to try and squeeze back at the Ghost Rider with its barnacle covered hands, gripping the knife that Cass so kindly left in its clutches and slings it back at the silent one, trying to distract, escape, return from whence it came!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass stands there. She was catching knives when she was six years old, but she just stands and lets the thing throw its blade. When it reached for her, she just stepped away as if it was slow, weak, unable to do anything. The great power that she feels has her anxious, but she'd never show it during a fight! That kind of crap makes you a target. Showing fear.

So the knife flies at her, and she doesn't avert her eyes to track it. She keeps them on the spectre, and when it sinks into her she doesn't blink. Breathing calm, she waits for the moment when she'll be needed. Even if it will never come.

I mean, seriously, this is Ghost Rider and Lydia Deitrich here. Someone who knows Jiujitsu isn't really in their league.

She actually seems to be taunting it by her inaction though. Suggesting that she could be the easier target. And what's right behind her is the circle. If it were to lunge, things might get interesting.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The goo pretty much burns up and turns to ash almost instantly. And the bite? He doesn't even bother trying to evade. The thing's teeth sink into his arm, and it isn't Robbie, but the demon that howls his displeasure as black blood-smoke leaks from the wound.

His hand closes over the creature's face, and slams it back into the ground. "No," rasps the Ghost Rider, before turning slowly when he realises Lydia's addressing him. Then a glance at Cassandra, whom he doesn't recognise. But she *does* look like good bait.

He releases the Shade, knowing full well it's going to try to attack her. Calculated risk? Or deliberate cruelty?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Seeing that Ghost Rider is too busy trying to crush the skull of the Long Man, Lydia huffs in frustration. If this is a ghost then maybe...

    She closes her eyes and holds out a hand to the specter. She tries to /feel/ the Long Man like she feels her own ectoplasm, it's faint but it's there. Closing her fist she tries to /grip/ it's ectoplasm like it was her own. She's never done this before and she has no idea how successful she'll be.

    At first she's able to tug it her way, but the spite and malice that fuels the thing is stronger than her own limited control over somebody else's ectoplasm. "Fuck."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The bite, like goggles, does nothing! The Ghost Rider grabs the head of the wraith and slams it into the patio, breaking through the composite decking boards and causing the shade to scream in fury as it wriggles and writhes -- but if it could just get a body -- any body --

    The Ghost Rider releases it. There's a split-second of confusion and pain, the goo around it turning to ashes in the Hellfire flames from the Rider, but it feels the pull, and its sick, yellow eyes lay on Cassandra, standing between it and Lydia.

    Distraction, pain and hunger rule it now, and Hezekiah Cooper's demand for life drives it, barnacled hands scratching the back patio, his neck twisting, flopping brokenly, long limbs and broken hands reaching out for Cassandra as it howls, gurcling, leaking blackened sea water from its broken open chest, its knife wound from Cassandra's earlier throw trailing ebon ichor in its wake, staining the ground with smoking, soul-suckingly stinking ectoplasmic slime as it howls towards the silent fighter!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Batman once said that Cassandra's fighting wasn't good. It wasn't excellent, and beyond that he only could call it perfect. The action she performs then is something so small and simple, it is nearly impossible.

Lydia's circle and drawings are behind her, and she has only had one tiny glance back at them. Her eyes have otherwise been locked on the creature, drawing its hate toward her. Linking them, so it knows that she, not Lydia, is the one to take.

When it moves, she simply steps backward. She walks into the circle without looking, her feet avoiding every single marking. She nearly touches one line, moving swiftly but with absolute precision, and halts her foot's arch to avoid that tiny scribble.

One step, then two, then three and she's nearly across to the other side. The simple precise clarity needed to walk backward across the lines without looking, without distroying them with her feet, and still nearly be fast enough? Yes, she's from the Bats. Damn.

And the thing reaches for her, as she moves JUST SLOW ENOUGH to make it think it can do this.

Come here, big boy.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The Ghost Rider shifts out of its crouch, streaming flame into the dense, mosquito-flecked dusk. Hollowed pits for eyes still riveted on the creature after it all but shoves the thing at Cassandra.

There's a similar hunger reflected in him; a desire to slaughter and kill and gorge himself on what remains of the Shade's essence. But all he does is wait, and watch the proceedings in silence.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    When Lydia opens her eyes, she sees that Robbie has let go, and that the Long Man is coming after Cassandra, she quickly crouches down beside the circle and presses the tips of her fingers to the edge of it.

    Once the specter is inside, she pushes some of her magical energy into the circle, causing it to snap closed with power, trapping it inside. There. Now it's time to banish it for good.

    "I adjure you, the Long Man Hezekiah Cooper, by the utterance of the watchers and the holy ones by God of the Heavens. I adjure you to return to the hells from which you came. I adjure you in the name of Elohim, Shaddai, Tzevaot and Ehyeh... BEGONE!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There is screeching, the feeling of ice-cold salt water, the wretched smell of seawrack on a hot summer's day, pungent and sickingly sweet to the stomach -- and then Hezekiah Cooper is standing there, neck broken but limbs normal, his head rolling to the side, hatred and pain in his eyes -- and then, he is gone.

    Time starts again. Melissa and Nathan are on their way out towards the car, and a man wearing a wifebeater, sweatstained at the pits, and a pair of Red Sox boxers wanders his way up from the den, scratching at his stomach and reeking of cigarettes looks around.

    The lamp is shattered. The back door is shattered. There's a circle drawn in sharpie on the front room floor and there's... a guy on fire? Some ninja girl? And -- he settles his gaze on Lydia, and belches.

    "... Liss, these... uh... friends of yours?"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Yeah. Cass' eyes look around at the 'explaining to the normies' moment, and she spots Lydia. She makes a little face, as if looking guilty about something, and bolts for the door. She leaves Lydia and Robbie to handle the humans and runs for it, under the assumption that one of the to with 'powers' will have to de-escalate and it'll take them some time, and she won't have to handle that part of things.

it's the ninja equivalent of saying 'One two three NOT IT!' and fleeing for all other areas of the playground. Except she's really freaking good at it.

Cass chooses not to engage with the enemy, and the enemy is unwashed.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia rocks on her feet once Hezekiah is gone, the awful smell and oppressive atmosphere are gone, and time returns to normal. She nods in satisfaction of a job well done and turns to thank Cass for her help but... she's gone. Ninja vanish.

    Nathan's father catches her attention. First his stench, then his heartbeat, and finally his belch. She looks at him and raises an eyebrow when she sees his shirt. "Red Sox? Really? Have you no dignity?" Apparently not.

    She shakes her head at him. "We were investigating a disturbance in the area. A good thing, too or else it would have taken your son." She gestures to the circle and says, "We've taken care of it and you shouldn't have any more disturbances." She nods her head at the man. "Have a good day, Mr. Musik." The tone in her voice has a kind of finality to it. She will brook no questions.

    She turns to her fiery friend. "Let's get out of here."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Uh... not my kid. My girlfriend-- and you know what I'm just gonna... go back to watching my game..." the man with the pitstains states, and then he gives a confused snort, and as most people do when faced with the strange issues, he rubs his head "... gonna need a tarp for that..." he mutters.

    Melissa and Nathan are peering in the front door.

    Well. Melissa is. Nathan, poor exhausted tyke, is asleep against her shoulder, finally feeling at peace.

    And thus the Long Man of Bayside's reign of seventy-seven year peridic terror is finished.

    In the Historical Society, across the way on the dead end street, a hooded figure peers out the ancient lace windows, and then disappears into the dark.