Out of Towners (Open)

Participants: Open
Open/Closed: Open
Location(s): In amongst the city of Fawcett
Time of Day: Just past noon
Weather: Beautiful. Sunny with a light snowfall, warmer than expected.
Summary: Roy keeps an eye on Fawcett City

~~~

Fawcett City wasn't his city. In fact, it may have been one of the farthest cities from his own. While Ollie was the de facto main hero of Star City, the whole Arrow clan were key figures in the city. That included Roy Harper himself. But that city was populated with their own set of villains and criminals. While there were the occasional super-powered baddies, a lot of what the Arrows dealt with were non-powered people like themselves. A lot more street-level threats. Fawcett City on the other hand was the city of the Marvel family, and the Marvels were on par with, if not stronger than, even Superman. That meant that even their city dealt with the same level of threats. That's why it was weird that Captain Marvel had reached out to him to watch over the city.

Well, that was one of the reasons.

Captain Marvel and himself weren't the best of friends. That wasn't to say they weren't on good terms, but the two were hardly best friends. Acquaintances may have been the better description of their relationship. And even then, it was much the same with the rest of the Marvel family. Roy barely knew any of them, and while he had maybe worked with them once or twice, it was never an extended period of time. But Roy wasn't about to leave another hero hanging when they needed help. Apparently the Marvel family needed to see to some Marvel family related troubles outside of Fawcett and the good Captain didn't want to see his city go unprotected. He had reached out to Roy, apparently before anyone else, to see if he could take the time to keep an eye on things. Why Captain Marvel didn't ask someone with superpowers to watch over his city, Roy didn't know, but he wouldn't leave the hero in the lurch.

He had come over as soon as he could and Captain Marvel thanked him before leaving. He didn't know how long he would be, but Roy had assured him he would keep an eye on things until he got back.

Covered in a bit more of an insulated hero-suit, Roy kept himself warm under the light snowfall from hopping from roof to roof and keeping an eye on the city below. So far, it was looking like a very calm and peaceful city. That was good, he hoped it would stay that way.

Villainy existed everywhere. It came in all shapes and sizes and took many different forms. Gangs, crooked politicians, mercenaries, dirty cops, mobs, and of course the tried and true super villains. Evil didn't only live in one clear cut sample size version, it was wide ranging; hence why one villain was tasked with taking down another. In Fawcett City, a town that seemed to be stuck several decades behind the rest of the world fyi, there was a woman by the name of Angelica Blaze. Ms. Blaze was an entrepreneur new to town who happened to run a number of less than ethically sound businesses. It wasn't her casino that drew attention though, nor was it the brothel. What had attracted the ire of other criminal empires and landed Angelica on a wealthy mobster's hit list was her bustling illegal cage fighting business.

These types of sporting events popped up in a number of towns, it was a pretty standard form of cash generating in this day and age, not to mention money laundering to boot. Angelica Blaze's business boomed however, her fights were supposedly the most brutal, the bloodies, and all around most exhilarating in the US. The people looking to end the storied career and life of Ms. Blaze cared not about the bloody violence she was pushing and profiting off of, they only cared that she was seeing profits; profits of which they held no shares. She was wealthy and successful, so clearly she had to go.

None of any of that really mattered to Ja Zaki, he was given a task and he would complete it. Though not invested in the matters at hand Matthew could see that the out of town mobster who'd ordered the hit was jealous. Jealousy ran rampant in the world of villains. Everyone sought to be the most feared or highly respected, or the most powerful, and they coveted that power of whoever so possessed it. Angelica Blaze just so happened to get too powerful too quickly, and now they wanted her completely removed from the game. The Red Lion would oblige them.

He was in Fawcett early, he was keeping an eye on the venue where the target's fights were known to be held. With luck Matthew would be able to take out Ms. Blaze before she even made it to her own fight night. Red Lion was high about the city, his back pressed against concrete as his feet balanced him on a small ledge. Red Lion held position adjacent to the smaller warehouse where the underground fights were held, he pulled his red mask down over his face as the snow fall began. He was without any firearms, this job was going to be done quietly. He just needed to wait for the right moment to pounce.

 
Roy Harper

Roy didn't truly know the city of Fawcett. He was sure there was probably some seedy underbelly of it, but it all looked so pristine and almost fictional in how clean cut it all was. That didn't mean it was completely safe and secure however, as was clear from the fact that the Marvel's routinely had to save the city from one threat or another.

Having only been in the city for a few hours, and having had nothing to do, Roy had gone off to get something to eat. While still decked out in his garbs, the red clad hero found himself approached by a young officer of the law. Apparently the officer had spotted him going to grab food and snuck away from his fellow cops to talk to him. There had been some murmurings of some mob activity in the city, but no one on the force was acting on it. Apparently a lot of people had been paid off to conveniently not know about a new illegal fighting ring. This young officer though didn't feel like it was right to ignore, but had received nothing but threats and deaf-ears when bringing it up to his superiors. The young man had done some of his own scouting and let Roy know when he knew, where to go and the like. To hide exactly what they were talking about, Roy let the cop take a picture with him and quickly signed some things for him, hopefully to give the officers coworkers the thought that the younger one was just a fan and not feeding someone information they didn't want getting out.

Not wanting to waste much time, Roy got his food and scarfed it down on his way to the location he was given. He made sure to stay hidden amongst the rooftops nearby, which to be honest, wasn't the most easiest thing when you were a hero dressed up in red garments. It was actually why something a bit of a ways away caught his eyes. Even while the red dot of a figure was a ways away, Roy was well trained and had a good pair of eyes on him. There was something off in the distance that didn't belong. Pulling out a small pair of binoculars, Roy peered across the way to see a man(?) in a red suit with kitty ears on his mask? Roy wasn't sure who that was, but potentially this could lead to some complications.

He dipped back down a bit but stayed put for the next little while. His focused now went from the warehouse to the red figure. He needed to know who they were and what they were planning.

There was still a handful of hours before the sun would begin sinking past the Fawcett horizon, which for Red Lion was a good thing as the cage matches usually were scheduled for that exact point in time when the sun disappeared. He wanted to get in to the building and complete his task well before anything was scheduled to start. Matthew theorized it would be the best way to get to Angelica Blaze at a time of vulnerability. The woman likely had a security team but he knew she would be much more well protected once the place was swarming with fighters and spectators. But at the given time of a preparation period? She could be gotten too much easier. Ja Zaki hadn't been in the mercenary game all that long but he didn't need his newfound position to have a reason to plot the downfall of a target. It was quite fortunate for the Red Lion how often the skillsets of a dictator often overlapped with those of a hired gun.

Matthew slinked from his stooped position, utilizing the claws of his suit to dig into the gravel of stone ornaments as he scaled the building. He moved in a vaguely serpentine pattern on his way closer to the ground. The Promethium claws of his suit were primarily used to slash and gouge things, but they also made for excellent grips for navigating a wall that otherwise would have been more difficult to scale barehanded. His path lower to the street of the city was ended before he actually met back with the world below, Red Lion used his climb to bring him closer to a neighboring building that he would then be able to drop onto - with a little bit of finessed and stylized falling. Ja Zaki landed and rolled so that the impact was greatly lessoned. At a prior date the man had learned the hard way that the traditional "hero landing" was actually extremely hazardous to the knees and lower back. The momentum of Red Lion's roll was able to be carried over and place him right back on his feet, the motion was without hiccup and Matthew immediately began to sprint once right side up.

His eyes were trained on the home of Ms. Blaze's arena as he raced across the short building's rooftop. Red Lion's rapid footfalls brought him to the precipice of the rooftop and he heaved himself over the ledge, body extended and tight like a seasoned trapeze artist. His outreached fingers quickly snatched the wire of an electrical line, Ja Zaki kicked his legs and followed through by tucking into a flip that sent him sailing through the thin air between one building and the next. The former Dictator's eyes narrowed as he mentally tracked the appropriate timing for when he would have to unfurl from his flip and stick his landing. Stone cracked and brand new crevices darted through the face of brick as Red Lion's claws bit into the new structure. Matthew was now on the side of the warehouse, his body horizontal with everything besides his claws staying in place strictly by the strength of his muscles. He probably looked more like a cat now than he ever did. Red Lion crawled along the building on all fours until he came to a window that he could peer into. It was dark inside but not so dark that anyone could be lurking inside without him being aware of them. Matthew's core tightened as he committed to keeping his body in place with one clawed hand while the other worked the window open. Red Lion pulled himself into the window and melded into the darkness, the window then lowered after him.

 
Roy Harper

As Roy held himself on the building, he made quick equipment inspections in between keeping an eye on the scene ahead of him. Both the new figure and the suspected criminals in the area were in need of being monitored.

Roy pulled his bow off of his back and gave the string a few pulls. He looked over the carbon-fiber bow carefully before tossing it back over his shoulder. He proceeded to glance out to track the red suited man who had seemed to have not moved yet. Going back to his equipment, Roy checked his arrows. Many were the standard pointed arrows, but he had a few trick ones with him. Most of the trick arrows were tech based, either tipped with small EMP blasts, flashbangs, or even a Canary Cry. Of course he did have a boxing glove arrow, those were always needed. After the arrow check, his eyes went to the streets and noticed they were still fairly quiet. Roy's eyes soon moved to go find the red figure once more and noticed they were on the move.

"Sonova"

Cursing under his breath, Roy patted himself down and made sure he wasn't missing anything. He watched carefully as to where the other was going and his eyes quickly darted around the buildings nearby to see the best and stealthiest path to follow. With a path in mind, Roy swiftly and quietly sprung into action. Leaping from building to building, Roy effortless tumbled and sprung to his feet. He was surprisingly quiet, though his training had made him one of the best at these sorts of things.

As Roy closed in on the other, his landed pulled his attention briefly. As he looked back to the building ahead of him, he saw the figure sliding into the building. Despite being closer, he was now even further behind; he had lost track of the variable.

Quickly scampering across the way, Roy pulled himself up the side of the building a gingerly peered into the opened window. Adjusting his ballcap, his eyes narrowed into the darkness. Rifling around in his pockets, Roy placed a very small flashlight attachment onto the side of his cap. If he needed to see in the dark, this would help him in his immediate area. Other than that, he'd need to rely on his training to hear his surroundings.

Roy noted that directly below him was a walkway, though it was just far enough away he would make noise his he just jumped down onto it. Quickly jamming in a rope-arrow, Roy crawled down and onto the platform. He tossed the back out of the hole that had been created. It was easy to miss a hole in the glass, but it wouldn't be hard to spot a rope just dangling around.

Roy crouched and began to survey what he could. It was dark though, so Roy closed his eyes and began to listen carefully. Very carefully.

Though his cowl was not outfitted with any fancy high tech gadgetry to allow him an assorted array of vision settings, it did not take long for the darkness to become penetrable by Ja Zaki's natural eyesight. He adapted to the dark quicker than most thanks to the common nightly excursions he would go on back in Buredunia. He had dropped down onto a walkway, his body crouching instinctively before quickly setting off. At his entry point there was only one direction to travel and Ja Zaki quickly traversed the length of the scaffold until he was led through a door. The Red Lion found himself in some sort of office, this room also dark and also empty. He wasted no time stopping and investigating the room. He crossed the space briskly and soundlessly pressed himself against a wall near yet another door. Voices could be heard within the hall that lay on the other side. Ja Zaki's eyes narrowed as he tried to audibly pick out and separate each voice to discern how many people he was dealing with. So far all he heard were men which meant Angelica Blaze was not present or she was keeping very quiet. 

There were four distinct voices and they were traveling together, heading east from Red Lion's relative position. As the voices began to fade with more distance placed between themselves and the mercenary, Red Lion cracked the door open just a tiny bit. Light pierced the dark in a thin line, most of it falling on the back wall behind Matthew, a small bit of it washed over the red of his costume. With one eye at the small opening Red Lion quickly glanced about the hall checking if it were safe for him to exit yet or not. 

Not craving a run in with any opposition, at least not so early into his mission, when Red Lion slipped out of the room he headed westward. With the evening be in the early hours Red Lion hoped that Miss Angelica would be tending to the business side of her endeavors, and hopefully that meant she was alone - and also in the direction he was headed. He didn't wish to raise any alarms just yet but if he encountered any other person(s) before his target then he would have no other option but to engage. Any non-target personnel would have to be dispatched with swiftness as well, lest he risk chance for the prime target to escape.

Roy Harper

People could be as quiet as they wanted to be, but Roy had trained with Oliver Queen. People would often harp on Ollie for being a Batman knock-off, but this was a bit of a blessing in disguise to the Arrow crew. They were often misjudged and thought of as lessers. This allowed them to be better than anyone gave them credit for, and one of the things Roy was sure Ollie was damn better at than Batman it was training. Sure the two had a very rocky relationship, but Roy wouldn't be who he is without Ollie. Part of who he was was a damn good tracker thanks to the man with horrible facial hair. Every sense could be used to gather information on your surroundings, even if one was cut off. In the darkness of this warehouse without any night-vision, the sense of hearing became far more important.

While the footsteps of the target he was following seemed muffled, there was just enough for Roy's ears to pick up on before they faded. He had a direction at least to go on. His eyes opened and took a second to adjust the best they could to the immediate area around him. Even with barely being able to see ahead of him, Roy followed the direction he had gathered and was eventually met with a room. Whoever he was following still seemed to be a room ahead of him as nothing was in the room except a partially opened door. With a quick glance around the room as he head to the other door, Roy noticed some things around the room ever so slightly ajar. He'd have to come back and investigate once everything was figured out, though he noted if the person he pursued had done this, it more than likely had given the red-head a chance to make up some ground.

Peaking just out the other door, Roy's eyes caught a shape move to the west. While he wasn't 100% sure what he saw, there had been just enough light now that he could have sworn he had seen some red; leading him to believe it was the person he was following. He silently moved as well, now pulling out an arrow and notching it along the string of his bow. The arrow pointed in the direction Roy headed. He silently tiptoed the direction the other had headed before once more noticing a shape. The slight sound of the bow being made taught broke the silence.

"You've got ten seconds to tell me what the Hell is going on here" A quiet whisper had came to the front after the bow being drawn back had broken the silence. The arrow in the bow pointed up and towards the other red-clad figure. Roy didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, but he was ready to hurt anyone who did.