It's a few days later, and Marcy and I have decided to start scoping out things around the location of this secret auction dealie. We left it alone for a couple of days in case they might be on higher alert, and we did at least get in a bit of other work. Marcy's started doing tours of the local kids' hospital, and I managed to catch a couple of carjackers.
The car didn't quite survive the arrest, but it's the thought that counts, right?
Unfortunately, doing a patrol with Marcy has its downsides. There's no way she can keep up with me on the rooftops, and I'm not strong enough to carry her around for an entire patrol. Unless maybe she can juice me up when I get tired? ...Nah, that'd probably have downsides too, doing that for a couple of hours. So instead we're doing a foot patrol around the area, and I'm feeling kind of dumb.
"Who actually owns a trenchcoat? Like...okay, I know I get most of my culture from movies, but trenchcoats are totally just a movie thing, right?"
Marcy grins as I shift around in my oversized jacket. "Hey, Liberty Stars had a whole closet of them for undercover work! They wouldn't do that if they didn't work, right?"
"Easy for you to say, you're just walking around in your civvies. You get to look cute." Okay, not entirely true - I mean, she does look cute, obviously. Tight jeans, a worn t-shirt with some local band on it, a half-sized jacket that keeps off the evening chill...and hides her arms, more importantly. Because she's not just in her civvies, but wearing them over her costume. I've got some stuff over mine too, but mostly I'm just a big brown lump in this thing!
"Thanks, but how else are you going to hide your tail? You can't exactly stuff it in a backpack."
I think about that for a minute. There's gotta be something better than walking around in a suspiciously bulgy coat, right? "Well...maybe a duffle bag, if it was slung in the right way, had a little cutout..."
"...Huh, maybe that could work. Maybe we can try undercover costume design later. For now, maybe we should focus on the scouting?"
I nod, and glance around again at the street we're on. It's...perfectly average, honestly. Not completely run-down, but not one of the newer, fancier neighborhoods the tourists would visit. Corner groceries, phone repair shop, a t-shirt place...and there, our target. Pal's Pawnshop.
We haven't risked going inside yet, but we've walked past once or twice and as far as I can tell through the windows it's your basic city pawnshop. Old music instruments, jewelry, electronics. The kind of place where you wouldn't think twice about filming a porno about a down-on-her-luck girl who needs to get just a few extra dollars out of her grandma's necklace...
...What was I talking about, again? Oh right, boring pawn shop. Now, obviously that's not fooling me any. That'd be a great cover story for a secret auction house - the kind of place where someone could walk in or out with odd-shaped packages without raising any questions, the kind of place that does a lot of cash business. The only thing is, you can't hold an actual auction in a place like that. Especially not the kind that hands out the sort of fancy-ass invitations like the one I found. So there's gotta be a secret basement, or a portal, or even a pocket dimension hidden around there somewhere, right?
Unfortunately, we've circled the block twice now and haven't spotted anything weird. Marcy and I have covered our tracks a bit, poking around in the other shops, even making this something of a little work-date. Still, if we pass by the place one more time we risk getting noticed.
Eventually, I sigh. "I don't think we're gonna see anything out front that we haven't already. I wanna take a look in the back alley behind the place."
Marcy frowns. "There's almost definitely going to be cameras back there, Tammy. That'd be even more suspicious than standing around out here."
"No, cause cameras are never pointed up." I grin, but Marcy doesn't return it. "...Look, I can't carry you all across town, but I could definitely get you up on a rooftop without too much trouble. It's either that or we go in there, and I don't think this trenchcoat's gonna hold up that close."
"But...if we go up to a rooftop and something happens, how would I get down?" Marcy grimaces as a thought occurs to her. "I mean, I could survive jumping, but it wouldn't be fun."
"Please, I can carry you down no sweat." I lean in closer and nudge her with an elbow. "And hey, if we do a stakeout up top for a bit and nothing happens, we could kill some time with a little hanky-panky..."
"...You know, maybe we should try and get a higher viewpoint on this place. For the intel-gathering."
"That's the spirit!" Leading her away from the pawnshop, we head towards an alley about half a block down. It's pretty dark out by now so no one notices when we slip inside. I glance around but there's no cameras here, and the brick wall of one of the buildings looks pretty climbable. I take off the damn trenchcoat and hand it to Marcy before turning around. "Hold that for me, would you? And then grab on - shouldn't take a minute."
"Hold on like this? I'm not that strong - oah!" She cries out a bit as I leap onto the wall, but my newly-freed tail wraps itself around her so there's no real risk of her slipping loose. It only takes about four leaps and bounds or so before we're on the rooftop, and after double-checking my curvy backpack I leap across to the next roof. Sure enough, it's less than a minute before we've got a vantage point on the alley behind Pal's.
Once Marcy's steady on her feet again I take a look at the back side of the pawn shop and, well...it's a back alley, I guess. There's a back door, obviously, but also what looks like a tiny loading dock. For...bigger instruments and electronics? It's not like I've ever pawned anything, so I don't know if that's normal for a place like this. Nothing seems out of place though, and the cameras aren't pointed in this direction, so Marcy and I settle in for a bit of a stakeout.
Well, okay, after like ten minutes I'm playing with one of Marcy's tits through her costume and she's trying not to make any noise, but we're keeping an eye on things!
It pays off too, since after half an hour or so the loading dock gate slides up and out steps a guy who needs a loading dock to get in and out of the building. I yank my hand out from under her shirt, and make sure she's paying attention. "Psst, big-ass motherfucker stepping out!"
She sits up straight and takes a look, and we both take a moment to analyze the guy. White, shaved head, and shoulders about as wide as Marcy is tall. Bit of an ugly mug, too, though probably just because it looks like he's got one of those always-sneering faces going on. In any case, while I've seen muscular dudes before, this goes way past hitting the gym or even roids. This dude's gotta be a superhuman!
The guy starts making his way down the back alleys of the block, and as we start to follow along Marcy snaps his pic. Even from this angle it doesn't take long for her to find a hit, and she shares it with me. "Uh, definite supervillain, here. His name's Breaker."
I take a quick look at the profile - Thomas Dyer, aka Breaker, age thirty-seven. "Any details? Powers?"
Marcy skims through it quickly, and keeps her voice down as she answers. "Low-mid-tier bruiser. Moderate toughness and superstrength. Occasionally works for hire but mostly commits random crimes on his own. Robbery, assault...oh, ah. Multiple cases of sexual assault, Tammy."
"That monster. We definitely need to get a guy like this off the streets."
"Right! ...Er, right? How about the auction investigation, though?"
I think on my feet as I carry Marcy along to another rooftop. "Let's not hit this guy right outside the shop, but he could have answers. Even if he doesn't, he's still worth bringing in. We'll keep following, find a good place to take him by surprise."
Even in the dark I can see Marcy's concerned expression. "You think you can take him? I mean, I might not be able to help much..."
"He may be tough, but that doesn't mean he's immune to my venom! If anything, a guy like this will be overconfident. Easy target. Worst case scenario, I skitter back up an alley wall and we get the fuck out."
"Ah, alright! I'll be ready to heal you if you get hurt, at least."
We follow Breaker through the rest of the block, and - with a very careful jump - across the street and above the alleys of the next. I am curious where he's going, foot traffic seems to be even lower in this direction, but if he walks into another secret base or something we could lose our chance to grab him. Eventually he gets to one somewhat open space between two buildings and I decide it's time to make a move.
"Alright, I'm going in. There's a fire escape there if you need it, Marcy. Wish me luck?"
She nods with widened eyes. "Good luck, Tammy!"
I pull off the rest of the clothes I was wearing for my civilian cover, and ready my jump. A couple of stories down, but nothing in my way, should be nice and easy. Little bit closer, and...now! I leap off the side of the building we stopped on, and my stinger flicks out as I flip over the dude.
Ting.
Ha! Direct hit on the guy's neck, shouldn't be...wait. Ting?
Breaker stops and stares at me, narrowing his eyes. Time for a second dose! My tail lashes out, hitting him in the shoulder and forehead.
Ching, tonk.
...The dude has unbreakable skin. Void-damned vague power descriptions! Moderate toughness my tail!
Okay, this might be a little harder than I thought!