she broke your bones, now you're lying in the dirt

[fingerbang]

WHO: heals from being kneecapped (fingerbang) and doesn't (out_of_time)
WHERE: MADE IN MANHATTAN
WHEN: SUNDAY NIGHT??
WARNINGS: shooting, stabbing, Lust wearing jeans
SUMMARY: Jack make an opportune villainous discovery on one of his nightly patrols and follows up on it because he's a badass! Then it all gets fucked.
FORMAT: WORDS

[Lust looks for all the world like any other woman when she walks out of the bookstore, her expansive handbag a little heavier than before, and proceeds down the street. A long winter coat makes her figure inconspicuous and obscures her ouroboros, and all that poofy hair is piled up up on the top of her head in a messy bun. She is even wearing pants. But the high heels clacking beneath her might be familiar, and her face even more so, to anyone who's perused a most wanted list in the City.

She relies on very few of the City's residents having done exactly that, as she has for almost two years; tonight, however, her luck is going to run out. Unfortunately, so is Jack Bauer's blood!]

Comments

[out_of_time]

[Jack's objective tonight is to hunt down False Face Society gangsters so the police can pressure Black Mask over Andy Bernard's murder. Just happening to run into one of the City's longest-running supervillains was not on the agenda. He can hardly believe it when he spots her, but even in the dark (and with jeans) it's unmistakable: Lust, known murderer, out and about. And here's Jack, alone and on foot, with no special weaponry. He ducks behind a corner and peers out as he reaches for his radio.]

This is Bauer, I have an Import suspect in sight, positive ID as 'Lust,' extremely dangerous. I'm calling a Code X. [Code X: a dangerous Import situation that ordinary officers have to stay far away from if they don't want to get killed. Jack gives his location and calls for any available Import officers to back him up.]

[Until then he will do the smart thing and follow her. This is a chance to get someone dangerous off the street, one that he can't pass up. He keeps her in sight and makes himself as inconspicuous as possible as he trails a safe distance behind, calling on his CIA training and keeping his hand near his gun.]

[fingerbang]

[It's something instinctual in the back of her mind that tells Lust she's being followed more than any logical deduction, in much the same way she "thinks" when she's quite literally lost her head--a dim sense of unease, like the faint voices of the souls inside her, scratching at the edges of logical thought. It's bred of centuries of experience, and she knows better than to ignore it.

She also knows better than to make herself obvious or change her pace. Several minutes after Jack starts tailing her, and a few less minutes after her realization, she crosses at a light and makes a perpendicular turn down the block. As she does so, her eyes, largely hidden by one of those perpetual clumps of dark bangs, swivel in her head, looking for a face she can zero in on.]

[out_of_time]

[The sudden change in direction raises Jack's hackles. Turns like that are one of the most basic tricks of fieldcraft for losing someone you think is following you. Has he been made? If he has, he's in trouble- backup won't be here for a while.

He's not going to back off now though. Keeping his head down and his eyes on the sidewalk, he keeps after Lust, matching her turn down the block but not crossing to the other side of the street. For a moment, beneath a streetlight, his face is visible.]

[fingerbang]

[That moment, more than any personal competence on Lust's part, is what seals it. Jack Bauer. She knows who he is, name and face, and even though the connection between the two is near-instantaneous, all she does is blink calmly and slowly look ahead once again, maintaining her stride down the sidewalk. This isn't at all like the incident with that girl, the bookish one, last summer; Mr. Bauer is a credible and serious threat, and surely intelligent enough not to go after her alone.

But she'll never know what he's done unless she gets the chance to ask him, and she'll never be certain he's not on her tail without a direct confrontation, something to break his hold on her position. She turns her head just slightly the other way, equally obscured, as though side-glancing over her shoulder to catch anyone who might be behind her; while it's a show for his benefit, it's also quite genuine on her part. She's still not entirely sure he's by himself.

She's headed in a nostalgic direction--the neighborhood where she rented her very first, very shitty, apartment, where she and Mr. Nygma briefly cohabited, and, more importantly, quite near the warehouse where another world's Envy impersonated her in the wake of Selinagate. It seems opportune.]

[out_of_time]

[This is not good. She's looking around, acting suspicious, and Jack still hasn't heard any word on when he can expect backup. Everything he's heard about Lust indicates he has no chance against this Import in a fight. He'd give a lot to have Seras and her guns with him right now- but she's got her own case to worry about, vampires. There's always something.

He sticks to the shadows and maintains his pace, looking pointedly at the buildings he passes as though window-browsing, but never taking his eyes off her for too long. Despite the risk, he can't afford to lose her.]

[fingerbang]

[Every few minutes for the next ten-odd minutes, she casts brief and speculative glances in her general wake, seemingly focusing more on the area behind her than to her left, until Lust finally seems to give up. She continues at the same pace, moving with a little more relaxation than before, until, finally, she's by that very warehouse!

It doesn't seem to have been used (BECAUSE NYC IS TOTALLY FULL OF ABANDONED WAREHOUSES YALL) since the damage of the fight with Envy, and she has no trouble slicing off a halfhearted lock like butter and making her way inside.]

[out_of_time]

Damn it!

[She's inside, and Jack's still alone. He's beginning to suspect something's wrong with his radio; his call may not have reached the police. If Lust stays in there, he can just keep an eye on the place and wait for the reinforcement he needs to take her down. But she clearly seemed suspicious with those glances. This probably isn't her final destination, just a play to lose him. She won't stick around. What if she slips out of the warehouse through an entrance he can't see?

Jack briefly considers using his communicator to ask any nearby superheroes for help, or maybe just on the informant filter. Ordinarily that might be the best idea- but ordinarily there wouldn't the chance of whoever showing up being a Skrull. Him, a supervillain, and a Skrull would be a bad situation. No, he has to proceed alone and hope the police force arrives in time.

Drawing his weapon, Jack stealthily approaches the door Lust 'unlocked.' Easing it open as quietly as possible, he slips inside the building.]

[fingerbang]

[When he arrives, she's standing in a shadowed area far from the door and any light source, just in front of an unused pallet rack. As she raises one arm in his direction, as if to point, and two fingernails shoot out, each to one side of Jack's body, in an effort to hem him in, her handbag stays firmly beside her hip and her expression stays firmly neutral.]

[out_of_time]

[Well, shit. The razor-sharp rubber fingers on either side of Jack are a pretty strong sign his cover has been blown. If he's intimidated by being sandwiched by dagger-fingers, his face and voice sure doesn't show it. He calls out in the general direction of the shadows with his pistol raised.]

City Police Department! Lust, you're wanted for murder. Come out where I can see you with your hands over your head, and get down on your knees. More police are already on the way. Do it now.

[fingerbang]

Move my hands, really?

[There's a smile on her face, but none in her voice, as she takes a few steps toward him.]

It's not the demand I'd be giving if I were you. But there aren't many you should be giving in either case, Mr. Bauer.

[A hard look settles in her eyes.]

How many officers do you want to die tonight?

[out_of_time]

[Jack glares at her. He's face-to-face with one of the longest-running and most experienced criminals in the City, and all he knows about her is what he's seen in her file. And she has him pinned between two very pointy things. But like hell is he backing down.]

Do you have any idea what kind of people I work with? The newest officer on the force can manipulate time. My Sergeant has a personal artillery cannon. These are the people you are going to have to deal with if you don't stand down right now.

[Conveniently leaving out the part where he doesn't know if those people are on their way or if they'll even get here in time. Now that Jack can see his target, he levels his pistol at her head. If this turns into a fight, he's going to start with her eyes.]

[fingerbang]

[She stares down the barrel of his gun a moment before leveling her gaze on his face. Though it never makes it way into Lust's expression or bearing, she feels something like approval; even though it makes things more difficult for her, he's exactly as efficient and as cold as she had imagined.]

Well. We'll see, won't we?

[And she ducks forward, retracting her claws to only to lash out again in an instant. She aims for his extremities.]

[out_of_time]

[Jack cries out. Blood flows from his bicep, his forearm. But he doesn't drop his gun. He lets himself fall to one knee and opens fire, aiming at her face, her kneecaps, those deadly hands- slow her down, incapacitate her. The shots echo in the spaces of the warehouse.]

[fingerbang]

[She doesn't fall down, doesn't kneel, but all of those shots are meeting their mark, and Lust staggers and leans forward heavily, her mouth, eyes, nose, arms, legs spraying blood from bulletholes. She even gasps, her voice ragged on impact, although she stops short of outright screaming; it's the sort of damage she hasn't taken in a long time, her November hallucinations discounted.

But the true tragedy of her powers is that she doesn't need to be coming towards him--or even fully conscious--to use them. Her nails arc in the direction of where, she assumes, his hands are, his forearms and perhaps even shoulders. She's not willing to try for his legs and risk hitting the femoral artery when she has blood in her eyes.

[out_of_time]

"Aarrgh-"

[This time Jack yells and falls to the floor, his gun clattering beside him. One of her nails sinks into the flesh of his shoulder, another cuts deep into the metal of his sidearm's barrel and knocks it useless from his hands.

Jack's blood is running onto the dusty warehouse floor now, he's lying there on his side. His first instinct is to re-arm himself. Pulling out a hand taser, he painfully pushes himself back to a crouching position. He's breathing hard as he pushes the taser to full power and jabs its crackling blue business end at one of those long fingers. Let's see if those things conduct electricity...]

[fingerbang]

[Since they're presumably an allotrope of the carbon in her body, a la diamond but not, the answer is not very well! Still, there's a bit of a tingle, maybe--which she cuts off matter-of-factly by extending one lance directly into the taser itself. Or tries to, at least! This ain't no godmode party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around.

Meanwhile her body is repairing itself, bullets ringing metallic on the warehouse floor as they're pushed out of her of their own accord. Once she can breathe uninterrupted enough to speak, she murmurs, blinking blood from her eyes.]

This is what they call overkill, I think. [She isn't about to get all up in his business when he could easily have like fifty other concealed weapons, but she sure will try to eliminate the cards he's already played!! Her other hand goes to the dropped gun, and it looks almost as though she's stroking it with her "fingertips" before the nails sink in and cut it to pieces.] Are you afraid I'm going to kill you, Mr. Bauer? Let me assure you--I'd really rather not.

[out_of_time]

[The taser is impaled, sparks, and overloads in Jack's hand, rewarding his resourcefulness with a nasty shock. He grunts and lets the ruined weapon fall to the floor. Jack holds his injured hand for a moment, then looks up at Lust, his face furious as he watches her pull back together. His voice is a hoarse, strained growl.]

Why not? You kill people, Lust. It's what you do, I've read your file. You killed a teenager, a kid. Stabbed him in the head. Why go easy on me?

[Yes Jack will bring up shit from like two years ago to fuel his soul-crushing hatred. Unfortunately he didn't go out tonight expecting a shitstorm, so instead of fifty weapons he really had three, and two of them are ruined now.

Still, he's not giving up. Slowly, he rises to his feet, pulling out a small switchblade with his uninjured hand. Even though it can't possibly harm her, he flicks it open and holds the knife ready.]

To answer your question... no, I'm not afraid of you killing me.

[fingerbang]

Of course not.

[Lust smiles, and there's a kind of smugness there--the expression of someone secure in the knowledge that the man she's talking to will never understand the insides of her mind (GEE I WONDER WHY)--as she holds her hands up in a mocking gesture of deference. Her posture and demeanor suggest nothing more than oh, those boys. When will they learn?]

But I do things a little differently these days, and there's no reason to want you dead. [Oh that switchblade... is kind of pathetic..... but it's good that he's still pissed and won't back down!!] I can't imagine what I'd gain from it, and in these trying times... well, the force needs all the men it can get. If you're not a Skrull, of course.

[out_of_time]

[Jack is already about as pissed off as he can be, but being condescended to like this ratchets him up even further. He bares his teeth.]

The force doesn't need any fucking support from you.

[Just to punctuate the point, Jack's hand moves in a sudden blur and throws the knife right at her, aiming for her head, just trying to keep her sticking around a while longer, fighting, mocking him, anything to keep her here. Even now, Jack's hoping that the cavalry will burst through the doors and take her down.

But he's throwing with his other hand, and he's already weakened. It's a bad toss. The knife tumbles end-over-end in an arc towards Lust's midsection]

[fingerbang]

[It catches her in the stomach, staying there for a moment before it falls--directly into her cupped hand. She holds it up, looking at it with the direct inverse of enthusiasm.]

Then I should leave before your comrades have to deal with me, right? And spare them my support.

[She ignores the knife and looks at Jack instead, at this point, as she clears the distance between the two of them. A coolness overtakes her voice.]

When you're talking to your sympathetic officers, remember this--you went after me. [For a moment, she's standing directly in front of him, looking down and meeting his eyes.] Can you really tell me you didn't know it would end this way?

[And then she's walked past him, still wearing her bullet-riddled coat and still carrying her handbag. She wipes her fingers off, wipes the switchblade off, and tucks it inside.]

Have a nice night, Mr. Bauer.

[out_of_time]

[Jack wants to say something back to her, something cutting and defiant. He wants to summon the strength to throw himself at her, put his good hand on her throat, use his last reserves to tackle her to the ground and make her stay, bring her down like the criminal she is. He tries to do it, too. Growling, he forces himself to stumble a few steps after her, reaching out- before falling, sinking back to his knees.

Cuts on his bicep, his forearm, a deep stab in his shoulder, pain throbbing through him, his hand numb and burned from the destroyed taser. Blood running down his side, wetting his clothes. All this piled on top of a body that has gone days, weeks without regular sleep, a stressed and overworked body whose twenty-four-hours of superhuman endurance are more than exhausted by now.

Instead of making a last attack or even a retort, Jack stays silent as his vision clouds in front of him. Only when his vision clears and a measure of his strength returns will he apply first aid to himself and make a comm post asking for help. Right now he stays down and beaten as the bad guy gets away.]