Gotham City, New Jersey - Late Saturday Night
Standing outside of 520 Kane St., Renee sighed.
Mystery solved, it was an abandoned building. Okay, her curiosity was appeased now, she could go back tot he island and finish that bottle of whiskey. Important things, drinking yourself into oblivion--
An almost-silent hiss of smoke is the only warning she has before a faceless figure appears behind her and speaks, "Kind of a dump, isn't it?"
Not this time. Renee spun, drawing her gun in one fluid motion. "Son of a bitch!"
The tench-coated man's hand snapped forward to lock around the wrist of her gun hand as his other hand slammed into her shoulder. With a single twisting motion he threw Renee across his hip into a pile of trashcans and yanked the pistol from her hand.
He walked casually over to her as he ejected the clip from the gun and cleared the chamber. "Do you shoot everyone you meet, or is this a personal thing?"
Getting to her feet a bit stiffly, Renee glared up at him. Even after that, of course she was still ready for a fight. "Who the hell are you?"
The featureless face doesn't smile, but the voice behind it seems to. "I asked you first," he pointed out chidingly.
"I know I shot you," Renee continued on. An accusation.
"Are you sure?" the voice conveyed raised eyebrows that the face didn't have.
Was he nuts?
"Pretty sure."
He tossed her the now-empty gun and reached into his jacket. "So you are a detective after all," he said in approval.
"No, I'm not. I have a new job now. And it sure as hell isn't detective anymore," She snapped, grabbing the gun out of the air.
"Do I judge you by what you say, or by what you do?" the figure asked pointedly as his hand came out of his jacket with a roll of cash held together by a rubber band.
A roll of cash. Lovely.
"I'm not that kind of girl," She said, sneering at him and holstering the empty gun.
The cash was tossed to her just like the gun had been. "I'm hiring you. Two hundred a day plus expenses. Don't judge the building by how it looks, judge it by how it's used and who uses it."
He reached out to push the door open, "Come on, detective."
She caught the cash, eyes never leaving his... face.
"Wait a minute, you didn't answer a damn thing!" She hissed, following after him anyway. "Who the hell are you?"
The truth was that he hadn't, and if his silence was anything to go by he didn't plan to either. Instead he pulled a flashlight out of his coat and played it around the inside of the building.
"A rather suspicious looking man came in here just before you arrived."
"Suspicious," Renee repeated, trying not to roll her eyes in frustration. "Where'd he go..."
There was nothing in the place. Just boxes and dust and the lovely smell of rats. But nowhere to hide.
"Let's take a look," the faceless man suggested as he aimed his light into the darker corners of the room. The light illuminated an area that was oddly free of clutter, "Curious," he observed as he moved toward it.
"If he actually exists-" Which Renee was beginning to doubt. "-he didn't just vanish. That's got to be a secret door or something like that," She said, looking over the clear area.
"A secret door?" The question was asked with surprising derision considering that the man asking it didn't have a face.
"What is this? D&D?"
He was an asshole without a face.
"Got a better idea? Here-" She reached for the light switch. "Let's see if there's still any power here."
There was no power running to the lights, but flipping the switch apparently did open a trapdoor that the two of them happened to be standing on. They dropped something close to twenty feet and the faceless man proved he wasn't a complete asshole by breaking Renee's fall. Never mind whether or not he intended for her to land with her knee in his gut and her hand planted on his not-face.
"Elf needs food badly," he managed to wheeze. Then, voice still weak, "Seriously, Renee. You need to get off me."
"Shit." Renee grabbed a spare cartridge and popped it in the gun as she watched the... thing in front of them. Nothing that could be called human anymore, carrying a large crate and freezing upon seeing the pair on the ground.
"What the hell is that thing?" She asked, not pausing for an answer as she fired on it.
"How should I know?" the faceless man asked as he managed to recover his breath and roll to the side as the... thing lifted the crate it was carrying with the clear intention of hurling at the intruding pair.
It hurled the crate at the pair, Renee fell to the side. It missed her by inches.
God, she felt alive.
"You asked me to follow you! I thought you'd know!"
There was no answer as the man with her scrambled to his feet, still having difficulty breathing properly. At the same time the creature in front of them rushed Renee utterly unphased by the four bullets that slammed into it.
A massive scaled hand whipped forward to grab the entirety of Renee's forearm and squeeze until she dropped the gun.
Double tap to the chest and it does nothing to the thing.
She could feel the fragile bones in her arm grind and strain under the thing's grasp, wincing in pain as it suddenly lifted and tossed her to the side.
Renee landed hard, feeling the warmth of blood filling her mouth. Alive and in pain. What a way to be.
It was possible that the thing intended to pursue her and finish the job, but the man in the trench coat launched himself forward in the sort of kick you saw in kungfu movies to slam squarely into the beast's chest.
Considering that Renee's bullets did nothing, this was perhaps not the greatest idea ever. This was proven when the creature didn't even slow down but simply grabbed the faceless man by the throat and slammed him into the floor. Then it lifted him, still holding onto his throat, and drew back its fist with a roar of rage.
The faceless man coughed once before managing to quip, "Don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel."
Vision clearing after a moment, Renee looked over at the monster--whatever it was holding the guy by the throat.
Glancing around her quickly, she took note of the weird guns from the smashed crate. Not that her own gun did any good, but...
She took aim with one hand, the other arm tucked up protectively against her chest, and fired.
The entire creature disappeared in a flash of light.
"Damn."
"Nice shot," the faceless man said weakly.
Then he offered a tired but friendly wave as smoke billowed up around him, "See you around, detective."
Oh you had got to be kidding her.
"What?! I still have questions!"
[[OOC: NFI or Broadcast due to the distance! OOC is, as always, love]]