17373/AKA A Bit Of Gut Shot

AKA A Bit Of Gut Shot
Date of Scene:	07 March 2024
Location:	Alias Investigations
Synopsis:	When Luke pops over to Alias Investigations for a surprise visit, so does a goon from the Glistening Sun Whatever. A few shotgun shots later and Jess needs to order another new window.
Cast of Characters:	Jessica Jones, Luke Cage

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Jessica Jones has posed:
It's 10am and Jessica has already hit the whisky. Actually she hit it the moment she woke up. A solid breakfast. But the doors to her agency were open now. Scattered over her desk at photos of people she's been tracking. The first Dominic Goodman. Another Harold Bonifia. A third is a guy called Rich Gazman - the third one is a suspect in the murder of his own wife.

But Jessica has very little for the effort she's put in so far. These people, despite the strange club they're all a part of, seem to have kept their noses clean. Too clean. With feet up on the desk she is letting the information soak which is code for staring up at the patterned ceiling.

Luke Cage has posed:
"Not the first time I seen you with your legs up in the air, though this one looks a lot less entertaining." Luke leans on the frame of her open door, one brow raises. He has a take-away coffee in one hand. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica snrks as she hears the bassy tones of Luke's voice. She looks down from the ceiling to stare at the big man. "Ever heard of the Sun Glistened Goddess?" Straight to the weird question. This case is weird after all. Especially the bit where this guy is seemingly getting away with murder.

She tugs her feet up off the desk and stands up and heads over to Luke to give him a .. not really a hug more like a forehead pressed to his shoulder. "Started any gang wars lately?" She doesn't linger, instead, going back to look at the photos of the people she took.

"I seem to have stumbled on a conspiracy. I'm worried it'll turn out to be some big thing." She places a finger on the picture of Harold Bonifia, "This guy gives me full creep cult leader vibes."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke furrows his brow and then shakes his head. "Nah. Never heard of her." When Jessica puts her forehead to his shoulder, he uses his free hand to slide it up around her waist and catch her by the ribs. His is a hug, but it's a subtle hug; hinting at some past, before he lets her slide free and away.

"There any other kind of conspiracy to stumble onto other than the ones that end up being some big thing?" He sips his coffee, stepping all the way into the office and heading fo her desk to take a look at the pictures.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"I miss the days when conspiracy meant pasty white guys wearing ties stealing the money from an orphanage through city municipal construction contracts." Oddly specific example from Jess.

Her finger points to Rich, "His wife hired me to see if he was cheating on her. Turns out, sort of but not with another woman. A weird gentlemen's club named Eternia. I was about to wrap up the case when he went home and killed her."

She scowls in annoyance. "I called the cops and he fled back to his club. The cops turned up - walked in - walked out. No arrest. The detective in charge is ignoring my calls." Nothing new there. She doesn't have the best reputation with law enforcement.

"Danny and I scoped out the club. They kicked him out when it was obvious he wasn't serious about joining. But whatever they're up to they have their fingers in the police."

Luke Cage has posed:
"Or they got some mind-control powers," Luke says, despite definitely not being something that one might want to bring up around Jessica Jones. "If Danny got tossed out, ain't no way they're going to take me seriously," he says with a snort.

He leans against the desk, but only slightly, because it's already complaining under the weight. "So what's the next step?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess tenses a little at the very idea of a cult with mind-control powers. She knocks back the rest of the whisky and scoops up the bottle off the desk as she goes to stare out the window. More whisky is not poured. Instead she takes a drink straight from the bottle.

"Yeah, well, they were going on about the Sun Glistened Go... we don't know what the rest was. Danny thinks Gods but I was thinking Goddesses. Or may be singular. Who knows. It's weird and weird gets my hackles raised."

It's true Jess really prefers the mundane cases. Fewer complicates, less chance she has to use any of her special abilities. Less chance anyone -else- will take notice of her. "I was thinking of bugging this Bonifia guy's car. House may be. May be lean on the detective a bit and see what his deal is. Is he being blackmailed or is he part of the cult."

There's a knock on the door and a somewhat skinny looking man with a briefcase is standing there. He clears his throat, "Excuse me. Are you Jessica Jones?"

Her shoulders slump and she sighs. As she turns she asks, "Who is suing me now?"

But despite this seemingly like she's being served the briefcase opens up and he pulls out a sawn off shot gun and fires. The blast is loud and fills the room. The bunch of the pellets his Jess straight in the torso.

She stumbles back a bit, the glass behind her cracking. The second shot knocks her back again and the window shatters. She tumbles out of the office and down on to the pavement below.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke is bulletproof. He seems to remember that Jessica is pretty tough, too, and it's unlikely that a shotgun from anything but pointblank is going to do any damage she can't recover from. The fall is going to give her a headache.

It's unfortunate that he doesn't have Danny or Elektra or Colleen's reflexes so he can't catch her. But he does throw his coffee at the gunman's face with one hand and then grabs the whiskey bottle with the other, and launches it //hard// at the gunman's legs. Can't run if you've got a splintered kneecap.

"JESS. YOU OKAY?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
The man turns his shotgun on Luke. Blam, not at all effective and he gets coffee in the face for it. Followed by true sacrilege - destroying whiskey. The man lets out a cry of pain, "Fuuuuck!" And starts hobbling down the hallway.

Jess has the wind knocked out of her as she lays on the side walk. People walking their dogs have stopped and gathered. It's sunny out and that's more offensive to Jessica than being shot. Little spots of blood have appeared on her black t-shirt.

With a groan she lifts up an arm and gives Luke a thumbs up when he looks out the broken window. An older woman starts dusting the glass off of Jess while a cyclist in tight lycra has his phone out calling 911.

Luke Cage has posed:
After making sure she's okay, Luke turns around and starts to trot at a chill pace, because the guy is hobbling. Once he catches up to the guy, he reaches over and grabs him by the back of the neck, like one might a kitten, and picks him up.

"The worst part for you is someone is definitely calling the cops, so we have to try to get info out of you //quick//. That means we skip the 'easy' levels."

He turns around and drags the guy back towards the office.

Jessica Jones has posed:
The guy groans in pain as he's yanked around by Luke. That messed up knee has him shaking. The shotgun and briefcase were abandoned. "Lawyer!," he declares as if he were dealing with the cops. Jessica's neighbour opens the door and sees the trail of blood leading back to Alias Investigations. Annoyed, she shuts her door again and considers her next lengthy complaint to the landlord.

Luke Cage has posed:
"I ain't cop, bud." Luke tosses the guy on the floor and kicks the shotgun and the briefcase to the side. "And I ain't touching the shotgun, which has your fingerprints all over it. Plus you shot us both. You're fucked. Best thing you can do is tell us who sent you and hope we put them down before they can send someone to kill you."

Luke raises a brow. "Also I will crush both your toes to the point where you will remember this day with //every step// for the rest of your life."

Jessica Jones has posed:
The man tossed to the ground looks up at Luke and starts to laugh, "The Sun Glistened Goza will restore me to my magnificence for this service and free me from the shackles of prison." He spits at Luke's feet. "Nothing you can do to me will matter."

With an offered hand Jess is pulled back upright. Some of the locals kind of know her deal is heroy. She is a Defender after all and the people don't forget that kind of thing easily. Jess looks down at her now ruined shirt, "Dammit. I really liked this one."

The cyclist pauses on the phone and stares over at Jess, "It's a plain black t-shirt."

"Yes. A really good one," she replies and then storms back in to the apartment complex. She puts a little effort in to her movement and makes it back upstairs in time to hear Luke's threat, "Luke no!" She knows he doesn't bluff.

Luke Cage has posed:
"I mean, //okay//," Luke says, and then he puts his foot on the tip of the guy's foot and starts to apply pressure, just as Jessica is coming inside. "So it's the 'Sun Glistened 'Goza, whatever that is," he tells her, as he applies more and more pressure, making the guy's big toe feel like it's a balloon about to //pop//.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica hot foots it back to her offices and takes in this new information, "Luke stop that's enough." She glares down at the man who just shot her. He looks extremely surprised she's alive. From the look on his face it's clear that his mission was a failure.

"You assholes want me dead? is that it? because I took some photos."

He frowns at her. "We don't take kindly to outsiders digging in to our affairs."

Jess starts to get even more annoyed, "Murder? One guy kills his wife and you try to kill me and my friend."

In some ways it's a good thing so few people know just what the Defenders are capable of. Jessica prefers that people don't know just how powerful she is. The last time that happened she ended up with the purple man. In this case their would be assassin had no idea of their super powers.

"He's not worth it Luke. The police can have him. This is the leverage we need on that detect anyway." She puts a hand to his shoulder, "Luke. Please. We have to take the high ground."

Luke Cage has posed:
"//Fine//." Luke lifts his foot. "You know, this is why people keep tryin' this shit, Jess. You don't push far enough for the message to get across." He shrugs and mutters something about his shirt being ruined too, and heads for the kitchen.

GHe comes back with a mop, because coffee and whiskey all over the floor.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"You know," she says, "You're a real piece of shit." To the man who shot them both. Jessica learnt from prior mistakes. She points to the camera - "I've got you on camera. No sun glistened goza is going to get you out of jail for this." She gets cuffs out of her side draw and comes back to the bleeding wounded man. Roughly, she turns him over and cuffs his hands behind his back.

When Luke comes back out with the mop she gives him a thankful look. After all she hasn't yet seen the footage of him destroying her precious whiskey. "Never a dull moment." Her eyes roll as she considers just what kind of escalation is in order now that this cult has tried to assassinate her. Danny will be livid too.

Then there's the possibility that this sun glistened goza, whatever that is, really does have magical or super powers. Why couldn't it just have been an asshole sleeping around. She pinches her nose. The headache from the fall is real and it's days like this she wants to curl up in bed with the shades drawn and pretend the world doesn't exist.

Things have to get serious now, "Fuck."