Re: Vanishings (Aiko)
The merchant pulled his cloak a little closer around his face, and glanced up at the woman who was laying down bill after bill on his crate, in this back alley of the town. She was... not his usual kind of customer. Blonde, heavily made-up with rouge and eyeshadow, and dressed in a loud, gaudy green dress, she towered over him menacingly, tapping her long, red nails on the box impatiently as she waited for him to check the legitimacy of her cash. Black market dealings were always shady, yes, he had known that when he had gotten into this business--but usually you were wary of your customers because they were big, burly men with short tempers and hidden pistols. Not these strange, flamboyant women who looked more suited to hanging around nail salons than alleyways...
Somehow, she made him even more afraid.
"The radio. Do you have it? I don't have all day," she said, in her sultry southern drawl.
Oh, how that voice would be stuck in his head for days.
The woman had asked for a special kind of device that would be able to listen in and disrupt police communications--a type of ham radio that couldn't be traced. That gave the merchant the impression she was on the run from the authorities for some reason, but... then again, so were most of his customers.
If worse came to worse and the cops traced her purchase back to him, though, all he had to do was describe her for them and he'd be off the hook for helping out. Doing that had saved him countless times in the past.
The lady sucked her teeth, making an annoyed little "tch!" sound, and treated him to another glare. "Done yet?"
"Just taking precautions, lady," he muttered to her. Finally satisfied that he wasn't being fed counterfeit bills, he handed over the radio, eying the woman closely just one last time. Brown eyes and a beauty mark... those'll be key features to remember for later.
"Thank you, my friend," she said, pocketing the radio and treating the merchant to a toothy grin.
She hurried off then down the alley, disappearing as quickly as she had came. The merchant watched her swinging hips until she faded into the dusty darkness.
Once she'd gotten to a fire escape and up onto a nearby rooftop, the loud, blonde woman started disappearing altogether. The blonde hair, a well-made wig, fell off, landing into a shadow and melting away. False teeth, too, and brown contacts. Make-up was wiped away with the hideous green frock, and sent away as well. Lifts were taken out of boots, and fake nails pried off.
In a matter of minutes, Cadenza Madrigal was standing on the rooftop, looking out over the town, blinking some moisture back into her eyes. I never thought I'd have to be running around in disguises again. At least, not because of some crimes I had nothing to do with. I've only been here... what? A week? Give me a month at least before I give the cops any real reason to be pissed with me. In a week I'm still just settling in--I haven't even had time to tear up a bar yet.
The gypsy pulled the ham radio from her pocket, and played around with the frequencies. There was a cop report about the barricade that had but put on the town since the vanishings began--they were allowing one train to move out of the city tonight, though, on which they'd be checking the IDs of every passenger. She'd given most of her false IDs to the police back in her home world months ago, when negotiating the pardon of her dad... but the train didn't leave for a few hours. She still had time to put together something legit enough.
Aside from that, most of the reports were of small crimes, or squads on the lookout for her. Her freedom to move around openly was going to be restricted a lot, unless she made up another new disguise. That blonde woman with all the memorable, fake features was already unsafe, no doubt, because of that seedy merchant.
Sinking down into the shadows, Cadenza began to search the streets for a good costume shop...
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Miranda Cubbins, rosy-cheeked young college student of law, boarded the front car of the train as the clock tower bell chimed its seventh time, and the sun was drooping low over the town before it laid down for its nightly slumber. She was hurried through the checking station with a smile and a nod, and took her seat quietly, resting her messenger bag on her lap.
From inside it, a black headphone trailed out and up to her left ear, and she drummed her hands lightly to what sounded like mellow music. No one would guess the innocent-looking young lady was keeping tabs on the police. Or that she was sneaking past their barricades.
A newspaper laying on the floor caught Miranda's eye as the train began to move along the tracks. On the front page, there was an article about the recent vanishings, and below, a rough police sketch of the top suspect. No one had seen the woman long enough to get a good likeness, but you couldn't mistaken those feathers and that scowl.
"Cadenza Madrigal, wanted--" she could read. She'd seen the word "wanted" enough now by the name to recognize it. The rest was in the native language here, and she wasn't familiar enough with it to figure it out.
...Did they really have to draw me scowling like that? Geez. I haven't even been around here long enough to get that kind of rep. But at least the picture's really vague, and looks... too young, really. They shouldn't be able to find me based off that.
The "student" jerked her head up when the train suddenly came to a stop.
We're still in the tunnel... what's going on? They couldn't have figured out I'm here already...
She glanced around the cabin. Her fellow passengers seemed to be just as confused as she was. There was a loud banging coming from the front, and a scream--
--two men in black burst in, and the car erupted into gunfire.
All of the bloody places for something like this! Cadenza thought, gritting her teeth. Before the men could even get to her part of the cabin, she dropped into the shadows.
She could hear the screams above her, back in the material realm... see the bodies falling, their shades melting away...
I can't give myself away yet--if I do anything... if anyone recognizes how I fight, even just that I'm stronger or faster than a normal woman, my cover'll be blown.
The men continued through, clearing their path with bullets and violence. Three more men followed, carrying smaller guns, to clean up behind them.
An organized group of criminals? And the cops couldn't detect them at all? They're wasting their time on me instead? ...This kind of thing is just the trouble with law enforcement. They're all a bunch of blind idiots who fail to see the bigger picture.
One of the men was approaching an elderly lady... Cadenza could barely stand to watch. He put his rifle up to her temple, counted down...
And found that once he'd reached one, his gun had been broken in half.
The old lady fainted, and back in the shadows... Cadenza exhaled softly. She'd already broken her resolve to just watch so quickly, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she hadn't. And at least from here, no one could see that she'd done something. Those men would just begin to wonder who was on the train... rumors of her abilities had already been spread around. A gun breaking mysteriously? It sure sounded like her handiwork...
Shrugging off the old woman to go catch up with his comrades, the man ran ahead, leaving the front car empty.