as written by Saarai and Script
"Is that it?" Brendan asked, he and the rest of his green-clad gang watching as the APC made it's way up the street. "Yeah, right on time." Another gangster answered.
They were a Westeria City branch of a Van Leugen gang called the RDVs. They weren't above taking part in an assassination if it meant they got paid.
Brendan slipped a liquor bottle out of a pocket, twisting off the top and stuffing a green bandanna inside. One of his men lit the exposed end on fire with a lighter.
"Go!"
The RDVs rushed the line of WCPD officers, pushing some of them out into the street. Brendan took the opportunity presented to charge towards the APC. He threw the Molotov cocktail at the vehicle, watching as the flames exploded across it.
"The government abandoned us! We're alone!" Brendan screamed, earning a few cheers from the crowd. The Invictus escorting the vehicle approached him quickly, Brendan throwing punches to fend them off.
Walbridge brought the vehicle to a stop, his door swung open and he stepped out, "Get them out of here! What the fuck?" He shouted. It wasn't exactly flattering to see an Invictus operative giving orders to the law. As the RDVs fought against 'injustice', more of the crowd grew unruly.
They shouted curses, some even approaching Walbridge.
"Back up!" He yelled.
____
The plain-looking police officer was amongst those shoved forwards into the street, and he made a show of staggering as though injured in order to move past the Invictus line. What appeared to be a bloody wound in his side had appeared, as though he'd been stabbed. In response, they stepped forward to defend him, one of them taking a moment to check his injuries weren't lethal before doing so. He waved the man away, gritting his teeth.
"Only a flesh wound. Just give me a moment."
That seemed enough to satisfy the concerned man, who went to aid his allies in dealing with the gang members, not to mention an increasingly angry crowd.
The police officer leaned onto the SUV's window - coincidentally the one beside Lucian - for support, subtly murmuring something under his breath.
"Unlock and roll down," he whispered, sending a trickle of life into the glass. Unless magically warded, the window would respond, winding down as though the driver had done it himself.
____
"Get them out of the street. We're wasting time." Lucian said as his window began to roll down, "I'm working on it." Walbridge responded, "This is Invicta Three. Could use crowd control at Main and Hart." Walbridge said aloud, speaking into some sort of communication device.
Lucian looked over at the police officer near him, "You need help?" He asked, getting ready to get out and provide just that. "Are you hurt?"
____
"I could use a hand," the man said, his face turned away from Lucian.
A subtle weave of illusion masked the motion that followed. A static image of the officer leaning on the window, created within the window itself. For a brief moment, it would be as though Lucian were looking into a photograph of the street as it had been a split second before.
It would only take a few moments of total lack of motion before the Invictus founder noticed that something wasn't right, but the man didn't need moments.
He straightened without trouble, the wound in his side having been falsified with another illusion, and in a single precise motion, brought his rifle up and fired a high calibre shot almost point blank into Lucian's left eye.
____
Lucian was no idiot, but regardless of his cunning he was still too slow. He began to reach for his weapon, an old French dagger, resting beside him.
Before he could get to it there was a bullet ripping through his eye patch and into his head. Lucian was a strong man, but his missing eye was the soft spot.
Walbridge drew his gun quickly, turning toward the source of the shot. He had yet to lay his eyes on the now dead Lucian that had slumped against the door.
____
The face that greeted Walbridge when he turned was not that of the plain police officer. Wearing a cocky smirk, Jacob Haley met the man's eyes for an instant before dropping down, using the SUV as cover. In the same movement, he slipped something from his pocket, dropping it in through the window. A grenade.
Clutching his rifle to his chest, he whispered to it softly, "Shoot people that aren't me," before throwing it into the air. Once thrown, it hung there, turning towards Walbridge and opening fire. After a few shots it turned, targeting some of the other Invictus, then the WCPD, even random members of the crowd. The weapon would continue to fire until its clip was emptied.
Now with covering fire provided, Jacob broke from cover and sprinted for the crowd. He was banking on the Invictus not wanting to risk shooting innocent bystanders.
Not moments after he was set to reach the line of panicking civilians, the grenade exploded.
____
Walbridge knew that face, he glared daggers at Jacob. There was a fire in his eyes at not only seeing the young man, but knowing that he lived to kill another of his friends.
Walbridge was about to fire his pistol until Jacob's rifle fired on him first. He ducked down to avoid the shots, using the armored vehicle as protection."Scott, Kim, grab him. I got Lucian." Walbridge ordered, climbing into the vehicle immediately to check on Lucian.
His palm found itself resting on the grenade left behind, it was instinct to pick it up and get ready to toss it.
"Grenade!" He yelled, opting to drop the grenade and scrambling back out of the APC. As he tried to put distance between himself and the grenade it went off. The force knocked Walbridge to the ground, a piece of metal from the vehicle sticking out of his back.
Chances are he wasn't the only one injured, but it didn't matter now. A blow was struck against the Invictus that they would have a hard time recovering from.
"This is Kim. There's too much going on. We'll keep chasing, but I think we lost him in the crowd." Kim said, his words blaring into Walbridge's ruptured eardrums.
____
Indeed, the pursuing Invictus would have a hard time following Jacob, for within moments of breaking line of sight, mirrored images of him split in different directions to distract them. The true Jacob continued to run, but as he did so, his entire body began to change. He kept moving so that no one member of the crowd would easily be able to tell that he was changing, but within a few short seconds he was no longer Jacob Haley.
Instead, a female WCPD officer stepped away from the scene - her strides purposeful, but not panicked. She raised a phone to her ear and began speaking authoritatively into it, mentioning backup and describing the situation, until she had an opportunity to slip unseen into a side-alley, and thence to slip away into the city.
"Is that it?" Brendan asked, he and the rest of his green-clad gang watching as the APC made it's way up the street. "Yeah, right on time." Another gangster answered.
They were a Westeria City branch of a Van Leugen gang called the RDVs. They weren't above taking part in an assassination if it meant they got paid.
Brendan slipped a liquor bottle out of a pocket, twisting off the top and stuffing a green bandanna inside. One of his men lit the exposed end on fire with a lighter.
"Go!"
The RDVs rushed the line of WCPD officers, pushing some of them out into the street. Brendan took the opportunity presented to charge towards the APC. He threw the Molotov cocktail at the vehicle, watching as the flames exploded across it.
"The government abandoned us! We're alone!" Brendan screamed, earning a few cheers from the crowd. The Invictus escorting the vehicle approached him quickly, Brendan throwing punches to fend them off.
Walbridge brought the vehicle to a stop, his door swung open and he stepped out, "Get them out of here! What the fuck?" He shouted. It wasn't exactly flattering to see an Invictus operative giving orders to the law. As the RDVs fought against 'injustice', more of the crowd grew unruly.
They shouted curses, some even approaching Walbridge.
"Back up!" He yelled.
____
The plain-looking police officer was amongst those shoved forwards into the street, and he made a show of staggering as though injured in order to move past the Invictus line. What appeared to be a bloody wound in his side had appeared, as though he'd been stabbed. In response, they stepped forward to defend him, one of them taking a moment to check his injuries weren't lethal before doing so. He waved the man away, gritting his teeth.
"Only a flesh wound. Just give me a moment."
That seemed enough to satisfy the concerned man, who went to aid his allies in dealing with the gang members, not to mention an increasingly angry crowd.
The police officer leaned onto the SUV's window - coincidentally the one beside Lucian - for support, subtly murmuring something under his breath.
"Unlock and roll down," he whispered, sending a trickle of life into the glass. Unless magically warded, the window would respond, winding down as though the driver had done it himself.
____
"Get them out of the street. We're wasting time." Lucian said as his window began to roll down, "I'm working on it." Walbridge responded, "This is Invicta Three. Could use crowd control at Main and Hart." Walbridge said aloud, speaking into some sort of communication device.
Lucian looked over at the police officer near him, "You need help?" He asked, getting ready to get out and provide just that. "Are you hurt?"
____
"I could use a hand," the man said, his face turned away from Lucian.
A subtle weave of illusion masked the motion that followed. A static image of the officer leaning on the window, created within the window itself. For a brief moment, it would be as though Lucian were looking into a photograph of the street as it had been a split second before.
It would only take a few moments of total lack of motion before the Invictus founder noticed that something wasn't right, but the man didn't need moments.
He straightened without trouble, the wound in his side having been falsified with another illusion, and in a single precise motion, brought his rifle up and fired a high calibre shot almost point blank into Lucian's left eye.
____
Lucian was no idiot, but regardless of his cunning he was still too slow. He began to reach for his weapon, an old French dagger, resting beside him.
Before he could get to it there was a bullet ripping through his eye patch and into his head. Lucian was a strong man, but his missing eye was the soft spot.
Walbridge drew his gun quickly, turning toward the source of the shot. He had yet to lay his eyes on the now dead Lucian that had slumped against the door.
____
The face that greeted Walbridge when he turned was not that of the plain police officer. Wearing a cocky smirk, Jacob Haley met the man's eyes for an instant before dropping down, using the SUV as cover. In the same movement, he slipped something from his pocket, dropping it in through the window. A grenade.
Clutching his rifle to his chest, he whispered to it softly, "Shoot people that aren't me," before throwing it into the air. Once thrown, it hung there, turning towards Walbridge and opening fire. After a few shots it turned, targeting some of the other Invictus, then the WCPD, even random members of the crowd. The weapon would continue to fire until its clip was emptied.
Now with covering fire provided, Jacob broke from cover and sprinted for the crowd. He was banking on the Invictus not wanting to risk shooting innocent bystanders.
Not moments after he was set to reach the line of panicking civilians, the grenade exploded.
____
Walbridge knew that face, he glared daggers at Jacob. There was a fire in his eyes at not only seeing the young man, but knowing that he lived to kill another of his friends.
Walbridge was about to fire his pistol until Jacob's rifle fired on him first. He ducked down to avoid the shots, using the armored vehicle as protection."Scott, Kim, grab him. I got Lucian." Walbridge ordered, climbing into the vehicle immediately to check on Lucian.
His palm found itself resting on the grenade left behind, it was instinct to pick it up and get ready to toss it.
"Grenade!" He yelled, opting to drop the grenade and scrambling back out of the APC. As he tried to put distance between himself and the grenade it went off. The force knocked Walbridge to the ground, a piece of metal from the vehicle sticking out of his back.
Chances are he wasn't the only one injured, but it didn't matter now. A blow was struck against the Invictus that they would have a hard time recovering from.
"This is Kim. There's too much going on. We'll keep chasing, but I think we lost him in the crowd." Kim said, his words blaring into Walbridge's ruptured eardrums.
____
Indeed, the pursuing Invictus would have a hard time following Jacob, for within moments of breaking line of sight, mirrored images of him split in different directions to distract them. The true Jacob continued to run, but as he did so, his entire body began to change. He kept moving so that no one member of the crowd would easily be able to tell that he was changing, but within a few short seconds he was no longer Jacob Haley.
Instead, a female WCPD officer stepped away from the scene - her strides purposeful, but not panicked. She raised a phone to her ear and began speaking authoritatively into it, mentioning backup and describing the situation, until she had an opportunity to slip unseen into a side-alley, and thence to slip away into the city.