17371/A Cruz through Steel City

A Cruz through Steel City
Date of Scene:	13 March 2024
Location:	Downtown Pittsburgh, PA
Synopsis:	Content Warning: Violence, injury, drive-by piercing and latex-bound delivery Osprey (Austin Reese), Red Arrow (Emiko Queen) and Red Hood (Jason Todd) visit Pittsburgh in hunting for Cruz.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Austin Reese, Emiko Queen, Jason Todd
Tinyplot:	Caliginosity

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA -- in an odd turn of events, the annual running of the suits was happening a little early this year for a practice run, after two holes were filled in the streets, a bicycle lane was removed, reversed, and then re-enstated, and one of the major theaters in the area was hosting a reunion of a very British boyband with a lot of fanatic followers.

    In short, it's a little chaotic, and the Penguins are playing.

    So there are tons of people downtown, everyone wearing cat ears or Penguins gear or Whatever-Bros shirts as brightly colored huskies, wolves, corgis, unicorns, kangaroos, a dragon made of scale mail, a small cadre of brightly colored poison yeens, a partially cybernetic dog with automail, unlimited foxes, and at least one insect are making their way around a section of Pittsburgh's downtown to the sound of drums and marching music, techno music, and at least one dubstep remix of Let It Go coming from a refurbished ghetto blaster hooked up to a portable mega-speaker.

    In short, Cruz was pretty dang sure he wasn't going to be found here. They didn't find him in New York City, and who'd think to check a bus ticket queue under his name to Pittsburgh, to hang out with...

    ... furries.

Austin Reese has posed:
Cruz thought that no one would look for him in Pittsburgh. They hadn't found him in New York, the head start he'd gotten from the warning thanks to Xavier had given him time to get away. But he probably wasn't counting on Oracle being as good as she is at tracking down little things like a one-way bus ticket.

It's the middle of the day in the city though, Osprey has opted for his non-marked black gear, the Outsiders outfit. He was up on the roof of one of the nearby buildings, downtown core always had a ton of them, watching the goings on in the street below, <"You know, I thought Gotham was weird."> He muses over the comms as he watches a moose and squirrel running around down below.

<"Then again none of these weirdly dressed individuals is attempting to blow up a train or something, so I should consider myself lucky.">

He's scanning with his domino to try to spot Cruz, but it's a big city and the chances of him being in this particular huge crowd of people would be a statistical anomaly at best. But every now and then Osprey gets lucky.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Cruz's first mistake was severely underestimating his opposition. I mean, come on. HOW many of them have been proteges of or trained by the World's Greatest Detective? Then the best friends of those? Allies? In short, after he slipped away once, it's turned into a legit manhunt... and they started reaching out for the comrades were literally trained to hunt man...

His second mistake is thinking 'Furries' would be enough to scare away pursuers and cover his tracks. These people have dealt with much, much weirder things in life than some people that happen to love pretending to be cartoon animals. But no. If anything it was an oppritunity the hunters could take advantage of.

A proper assassin blends in with the people and environment available to remain unseen and uknown. Thus Red Arrow was one of the Outsiders down on the streets instead of the rooftops for a change. She was wearing a slightly larger than usual version of her red hooded cloak, so she could pull it farther over her head and wrap around herself life it was part of a costume and conceal her weapons. Her usual hi-tech domino mask was worn under a larger half-face mask resembling that of a wolf. Enough for the snout to poke from under the hood's shadows, eyes occasionally glowing from the electronics in the domino underneath it.

It was Red Arrow, as Little Red Riding Hood, who WAS also the Bad Wolf. A hunter, disguised as a hunter, disguised as something much more helpless seeming. It was perfect for hiding in plain sight amongst the crowded streets looking for their man.

<"That's a refreshing change truth be told,"> she replies to Osprey. <"People just wanting to have fun... Let's find this jerkass and make sure it stays that way.">

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Cruz was among them, sitting in an outdoor seating area of an overpriced burger restaurant that had a 'Heads Off' sign in front of it (no one was allowed in wearing a full suit), smoking a big ol' cigar, with big ol' sunglasses, enjoying the Global Warming and slowly destroying people's investments with smoke. He in fact blows smoke specifically at a hugely fake muscled wolf.

    The wolf doesn't notice.

    He's easy to find, when you know what you're looking for. He didn't check into any hotels e nearby -- probably owns one of the apartments here. He thinks he's... safe.

    He won't be for long.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Mistake number three: A blantantly out of place action or habit. No one who put the effort, money, and love into crafting such pieces would do something so grossly contaminating as smoke around them. No one that at least respected those qualities would be so rude to do so. Specifically and intentionally blowing the smoke at one of the costumers is just icing on the trail of icky cake crumbs.

Big Bad Buff Wolf doesn't notice, or has been a furry long enough to know best not to engage. But Little Red Riding Wolf noticed. Even in the Steel City haze the smoke was stupidly obvious, especially when directed.

<"Is he really that ignorant?"> Red mutters under her breath so low that only those on the other end of the comm-link would hear it. Even as she says such though, she is moving. The crowds were the perfect cover to move unseen, someone trained and used to moving amongst them unhindered by the ebb and flow of people in many different directions at once.

As much as she would of loved to put an arrow in the back of Cruz's head and be over with this, that would cause a catrastrophic scene they didn't need. Too many civilians unknowing a horrible man was amongst them.

Instead Red slips up behind where Cruz is sitting. A hand rests on the back of his chair. She leans, on her tiptops slightly to do so, over his shoulder, lowering her voice for a ominous, growl-like tone.

"You should be careful, or someone is going to huff, and puff, and blow YOU out...."

Austin Reese has posed:
Not to mention that they need him alive. The more intel they can drag out of him, and the rest of the people who were out in Montana, the better. And you know, anyone who was at Montana will probably get their hand broken at the least.

When he hears Red Arrow talk about him being that ignorant, he quickly checks the location on the domino and dashes that way. He leaps from one roof to another, hustling down the rooftops until he reaches the road proper.

When he reaches the end of the roof, he can look down at where Emiko has come up behind Cruz, <"That's our guy. Bet he's about to bolt."> He responds to her over comms. He glances to his side, spotting an old, somewhat rusted fire escape, hopping down through a few of the levels until he reaches the street level.

He's able to blend into the crowd well enough, a black faux-leather hooded jacket is hardly the weirdest outfit anyone is wearing out here. He keeps eyes on Cruz, and starts moving through the crowd, figuring the direction that Cruz is facing is the one he'll run in.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Did Cruz Rowland, high powered professional sports dynamo, 'The Missile' from the New York Yankees, and Jets, the Knicks, and golf really just blow cigar smoke spitefully at a $15k fursuit? Yes. Yes he did. He's a jerk. He hurt multiple people. He likes to make people fall down stairs. He's not a good person no matter how often he gives to his own charity functions.

    Red Arrow slips up behind him -- and leaning over his shoulder growls. He. SCREAMS. People stop and turn, and Cruz decides to run into the crowd of furries, upsetting a woman in a dinosaur dress wearing mac-and-cheeze orange dinosaurs on a blue dress is knocked over someone in a wheelchair in the process, with someone yelling "/DUDE/! NOT COOL!" in Cruz's wake as others try to pull her out of a planter.

    Cruz is making a run for it towards the hotel the mini-con is being based out of -- a big hotel near the Point Park. He knocks a bright blue fox into a skull-faced cat in the process, muffled yelling from the suiters occurring.

    Traffic is relatively clear in the area.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Spooking Cruz into bolting had been Emiko's intention. To get him to run away from the business and the big crowds, and they could corner him into someplace less likely to create a bigger issue while bringing them down.

She had anticipated a chase, and studied as many maps of the city as Oracle could get her in the limited time they had. It wasn't to the levels of the Bat himself, but she liked to be as prepared as possible and know the tactical options she had.

A small deep part of her gets a sort of joy when he SCREAMS loud enough to get noticed. Seeing someone in fear of her presence... She lets him bolt, though she's not far behind. Keeping him view but not immeadiately on his heels. They wanted him to run. Run somewhere away from the open streets, people and multiple possible exit paths. The hotel wasn't the prime option. But if he was indoors he could be coralled something away from as many eyes.

<"Keep him away from elevators,>" she co-ordinates to the others. <"Stairs or similar will be easy to pursue, and tire him, pro athelete or not.">

As professional as she was, there was a part of Emiko that enjoyed the chase. A wolf wasn't a bad match for her in some regards...

Austin Reese has posed:
<"And he's off!"> Osprey calls out over comms as if he was announcing a race beginning. When Cruz starts running through the crowd, Osprey pushes his way out into the street proper so he won't have to plow through the crowd of suiters and fans.

Cruz may be fast, but Osprey is especially motivated, and right now that's going to probably win this particular race. He digs in deep and pursues "The Missile" down the street, keeping close enough to the sidewalk to not get hit by any of the traffic driving past. Thankfully the roads are pretty un-occupied because of the sheer number of people on the streets and sidewalks.

"Cruz!" He yells out as he chases, "Stop running or I swear to whatever god you believe in I will make you regret it!" They're heading towards the point. That's a dead end, one way or another. Emiko's mention of keeping him out of elevators gets is good advice, but Osprey has no intention of letting him get anywhere that he can even attempt an escape.

Jason Todd has posed:
"You're shitting me."

It was the first response Jason had to learning Cruz had turned tail and fled to -Pittsburgh-.

"Wait. You're serious. He had to be extremely desperate then."

The distance wasn't so great that he felt the need to hijack a (family) jet. This time.

No, there was a no-so-long way to go, but still a short time to get there. So he took the Mach 1. While not quite true to its name, it was rare that the rolling traffic violation ever went below 100mph on the road trip from Gotham to the 'Burgh. Was he the first to get there? Nah. But he got there in time.

Sitting in the matte black Mustang with its blacked out windows, staking out the hotel, Red Hood studies the surveillance feeds on the high tech HUD system in The Car. Because only Batman and Batgirl have X-Mobiles. Red Hood hasn't got time for vehicular titles.

Hearing the kerfuffle, he swipes and taps to bring up the side street feed from one of the micro drones sending the imagery back to The Car.

<I have visual.>

Well the drones do. They lock onto his ugly mug and begin tracking him. The little upgrades from Oracle were more handy than he wanted to admit.

Cruz runs. Pursued by Red Arrow and Osprey.

The low rumble of an incredibly angry motor grows louder before it is joined by the squeal of skidding tires..

**THUD**

Cruz bounces off the right rear quarter panel of The Car. It sends the man rag dolling fifteen feet. It's worthy of being a GTA52 highlight vid.

<Got him. He's going in the trunk. Room up front for you two. No fighting over who gets Shotgun.>

The Car's engine quiets to an impatient idle as Red Hood steps out and casually walks around the back to close in on Cruz while the half-furry fugitive rolls around on the cracked pavement. Mid West winters are hell on concrete and asphalt. Grabbing Cruz by the lapels, he jerks the man up. "What's the matter, Cruz? Too good to dress up with the rest of the freaks? Don't worry. We'll get you in a Gimp suit soon enough."

Largely dragging the man, Hood heads toward the back of Car. "Trunk." The rear deck clicks and pops open to reveal enough space for exactly one scum bag.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There's fanfare for a brief moment. Cruz is FAST. Is he escape an Outsiders tag-team fast? Maybe, --

    "FORGET YOU BAT! I AIN'T STOPPING FOR SHI--" WHACK!

    -if it wasn't for some sudden traffic on the road.

    Coming up out of the hotel's lot, the matte black Mustang revs, squeals, and with a sick THUCK the car comes about and strikes The Missile, resulting in the crunch of ribs, and Cruz goes to the dirt. Some curious onlookers are peering about from where they were taking selfies with some park features as The Red Hood grabs Cruz. Cruz is somewhat out of it, yelling 'No -- No no!' before he tries to flail but is deposited in the trunk.

    "... isn't that one of those superhero guys from back east?"

    There's some camera flashes from phones as Red Arrow and Osprey come close.

    "Hey! DOn't take pictures, Cosplay isn't Consent!"

    "I somehow *don't* think they're cosplaying--"

Emiko Queen has posed:
That is one hell of a tackle even a pro footballer wouldn't of expected.

Emiko catchs up, pushing up the wolf partial mask so her smirk at the interception can be seen. "He is fortunate that was only a moving violation." No one doubts how easily Jason could of made that vehicular manslaughter.

Let's be honest. The wanting intel is the one of the few things keeping Cruz alive right now. And once he's in the trunk, she makes to get into the car so they can get away from the prying eyes and rubbernecking... which might be close to literal with some of those costumes.

Austin Reese has posed:
So Osprey can see the car coming before Cruz can. Mostly because Cruz never sees it. The black clad vigilante slows his pace down as he watches Red Hood drag Cruz into The Car. There is a grin on his face, as he walks on up to the vehicle.

He realizes there's a lot of people taking pictures, giving the crowd a quick glance. He gives one of the people taking a photo a quick salute with his middle and index fingers, and then gets into the car. He picks the back so he can talk to Cruz during the ride to the safehouse. He has so many fun ideas for him.

Jason Todd has posed:
Slamming the trunk lid down extra hard, just for extra emphasis, Red Hood stalks back around to the front. Dropping into the driver's seat, he revs the motor and accelerates away. There's no pause to check if seatbelts are in use. Leaving a trail of rubber as The Car accelerates way, he steers them away from the heart of the city and farther toward the heart of the once vibrant industrial and steel factories. There are a lot of perfect places to disappear and get all the time needed with Cruz. It also helps that, as they disappear into one of the tunnels leading away from the Point, Red Hood taps the HUD display. In a moment, The Car changes colors from matte black to a a gunmetal silver with crimson racing stripes across the hood and roof. The ground effects panels around the body change shape as does the license plate. Someday if bad things happen to this car, Jason is going to be heart broken to be sure.

Finally rolling into one of those abandoned steel factories.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There is a bridge, along the way to the Fort Pitt Tunnel, where you enter and everyone who comes in from the right has to get to the left lanes, everyone who's in the left lanes has to get to the right lanes, and there's somehow a stop sign in the middle of it where a bus sometimes rolls through.

    Red Hood likely blasts through the Fort Pitt tunnel on the straight away, hard rights onto the first exit, goes past the second set of stops and the BARBER SCHOOL (where all the BARBER SCHOOL? signs came from), down through another tunnel, and finally to an abandoned mill area. It's covered with graffiti. It's by a nice, calm, babbling brook.

    ONe side of the facility has collapsed, the corrogated metal roof skewed over the ground and showing the inside of the factory, with some hanging, rusting chain for good measure.

    "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! IF HE FINDS US WE'RE ALL DEAD!" comes the panicking sound of cruz in the back of the trunk as he struggles against having just enough room for one body.

Emiko Queen has posed:
The car changes colors, markings, conveniently so when they're out of view in one of the tunnels. "That's is an impressive effective," Emiko admits.

Eventually they pull into the remains of a mill (can't say the mill in Pitts, it's called the Steel City for a reason). Emiko hops out of the very nice car, discards the wolf mask that is no longer needed on the seat, and walks around to the back. At which she slams her hand palm down hard on top of the trunk. Not enough to damage anything, but definitely hard enough to make a loud *WHOCK* that's probably even louder reverbing inside the small space. "You screaming like a madman isn't helping your case any. Calm down and speak more coherently," she states, having gone back to her impassive all-business assassin tone of voice.

There's an unspoken 'before we decide you're no longer useful' hanging in the wake of her statement.

Austin Reese has posed:
"Everyone keeps saying that." Osprey says, loud enough that he's sure that Cruz can hear him, "Would you stop screaming for one goddamn second and just tell me who the hell 'He' is?" He definitely sounds frustrated, though when they do finally come to a stop, he jumps out of the car and moves around to the trunk.

Once it's open he reaches in and grabs Cruz by his shirt, hauling him out of the trunk and onto the concrete floor of the factory, giving him a quick kick in the midsection to knock the wind out of him and remind him where he is, "Cruz, please. Help me help you."

Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, Osprey drags him towards where the chains are dangling, grabbing one of them and wrapping it around Cruz's torso, giving him another kick in the gut, and then starting to haul him up into the air with the chain pulling up on his arms and wrapping tight around his torso. He then jump-kicks Cruz around the liver area, which sends him spinning.

"I am getting /really/ fucking sick of asking this question, Cruz. Who. Is. 'He'?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood nods to Red Arrow, "Helps to have access to all the neat toys. Makes getting groceries a lot simpler too." Of course the idea of Red Hood shopping for milk, eggs and bread is probably a bit comical.

Emerging from The Car, he moves around and looms. Large and.. looming. Arms crossed, chin lowered to give the expressionless mask an ominous scowl while Osprey goes to work on Cruz.

Red Hood is here as additional security. Probably not Cruz's however.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    BACK IN GOTHAM CITY --

    Phoebe is at the grocery store near Jason's. She has two half-gallons of milk in her hands. One is two percent. One is Skim. She's PRETTY sure Jason doesn't do Skim Milk. She, however, finished the last of it without checking what it was.

    BACK IN PITTSBURGH:

    Everyone does keep saying that. He is Coming.

    Cruz is shaken, he's kicked in the midsection as the wind's knocked out of him, the ominous look of Red HOod overseeing Red arrow and (currently colorless) Osprey as the chains are used to wrap around him, and suspend him.

    "Oh god, oh god --" he mumbles, and then cries out in pain, turning around and slowly swinging as he spins and cries.

    "The preacher! The preacher's behind this shit I know it! He even knew about Asenath!" he cries out. "I didn't have nothin' to do with the girl in the silo! I don't hurt kids!"

Emiko Queen has posed:
As he turns on the chains Red Arrow is simply standing there, staring at Cruz as she slowly passes his field of vision.

When he comes back around to see her again, there's a narrow and very vicious looking knife in one of her hands.

"The 'Preacher' will be the least of your worries if you do not start giving more useful details."

Then just standing and staring the next time he circles her way, with no weapon visible.

Austin Reese has posed:
The Preacher. That just confirms it. The one Talia almost killed. He kind of wishes she had.

"I can't believe that Cupp held out longer than you." Osprey shakes his head, turning away from Cruz, "He's all your's Hood." Osprey says, walking back towards The Car.

He pulls a phone out of a pouch on his belt and starts looking through it for something. Campus Cops took the Preacher in that night, but he didn't track what happened after they did. It's time to remedy that.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood watches the spinless man sell out his cohorts. It isn't a surprise. The bigger the bully the weaker the willpower.

As Osprey steps away to do some investigating research, Hood steps up to Cruz. In silence, he backhands Cruz hard enough to draw blood from the lower lip.

Leaning in Red Hood's optics stare unblinkingly at the man.

"Tell us about the Preacher. Everything." His voice is quiet but hard. A cold edge that suggests there is more than backhanding to come if Cruz doesn't comply and quickly.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Fuck Cupp! I'm not going to ARKHAM for some psycho preacher! I'm a goddamn sports star! I make money hand over fist! I don't need no supernatural mumbo-jumbo to make my way, I'm set! I'm set for LIFE! But you got what you wanted outta me?! Good! Get me down. I'll walk back!" he pauses, and begins laughing, thinking this would be it. No broken hands. No bleeding other than the ringing in his ears -- and then Red Hood takes a swing.

    WHACK. The backhand makes him swing and spin again, giving a low cry out as Hood stares at him.

    "I don't know, I don't know! Cupp hired him after Micky Rogers disappeared. He knew Asenath, the lady who arranged for the kidnapping of that Beacon girl! He gives me the CREEPS, an' I've known a lotta men and women of cloth but this guy preaches chaos! No wonder he likes working in fuckin' Gotham City!" he wheezes. His shoulders hurt.

    Blood drips from his mouth to his shirt.

    "He said he's watchin' everyone, everyone who was involved. Hassan. cupp. Rollins. Everyone. Says he's like God." cruz replies.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Cruz is given a bitchslap by Red Hood strong enough to make it clear what Red Arrow implied when she said he'd have bigger concerns if he didn't start talking some sense. And now he.. well at least he is giving some actual details.

Red Hood has interrogation in hand. Ospery is doing some other research. She has her own doubts that, even if he was taken in the other night, The Preacher stayed in custody for long. Otherwise why would these goons be so scared of him.

"I will make sure we have no interruptions before you two are finished." Red Arrow turns on her heel and in a few quick steps has disappeared from Cruz's upside-down field of vision, having headed outside of the mill to stand watch.

Austin Reese has posed:
"That's gotta be the source of the assassin. That's probably how they found Xavier and Sewell." Osprey says, listening to the extra info that Hood gets out of the guy, turning around and looking back up at Cruz, "And how the assassin will probably find you. I suppose we could just let you walk home but chances are you'll wind up gutted in an alleyway."

He shrugs after saying it, looking back over at Jason, "Up to you. Wanna let them string him up like a trophy, or should we dump him at Pittsburgh PD's doorstep?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood watches and listens. It's clear Cruz is just a pawn. Or more accurately, a first class Tool.

"Thank you for your cooperation" he offers with sarcasm.

"Let's give the Boys in Blue a present."

Some time later, the matte black Mach-1 is speeding through the streets of Pittsburgh toward PPD headquarters. Driving straight at the main entrance, the tires lock up just before The Car reaches any anti-terrorism barracades or concrete "flower pots" strategically positioned to stop even massive trucks from crashing through.

As The Car skids to a sideways stop, the passenger door flies open and out tumbles a large figure bound in a full Gimp suit and mask, red ball gag between those pearly white teeth. A note is pinned through the latex suit and through Cruz's left nipple. It reads.

I AM A VERY BAD MAN. SPANK ME.

THe safety pin will have to be opened and pulled out to remove the note or even the suit. It will be memorable.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Cruz is a tool. And importantly, this means the list of Persons of Interest is getting much much shorter.

    Zachary Ford, tech mogul.

    Franklin Collier, educational politician and 'religious charter school salesman'.

wilbur Bender, Gotham University Professor.

    And Sewell Shaw -- PsyOps.

    The Doom PReacher.

And the mysterious assassin directed by unknown means.

    Either way, Cruz is sent out the door of the matte mustang before it speeds ironically down Liberty Street back towards the Fort Pitt tunnel to get the Hell out of Pittsburgh, and Cruz blindly stares upwards from where he lays on the pavement.