Underground Men And The Jungle

[SEATTLE - 14 August 2009 - 11:40 Pm]

In a luxurious Penthouse Apartment with floor-to-length windows with a beautiful view of Seattle's skyline. Overwatch is sitting on a red couch legs propped on a red ottoman. "So how long have you been doing this?" Apollo asks from the bathroom. "For about a year now give or take," Overwatch replies distractedly as she narrows her eyes on the screen of the device in her hand. "Cool...So how did you come across the kid?"

Overwatch pockets her device, gets up from the couch and walks to the bathroom, and leans against the door, "I heard crying from a sewer and found him stuck down there. He said he was trying to save his mother when he fell in and sliced up his arm on the rusted grate," She smiles watching Apollo with his hood down and domino mask off, washing the boy in the bubble-filled bathtub. "He said 'They' took her,"

Apollo glances back at her as he rinses down the boy's hair and lifts him out of the bathtub and wraps him in a big fluffy red towel."They? They, who?" He asks the boy who is smiling blissfully from the bath. "We want to help you, buddy. Can you help us? Who took your mom?" He asks carefully trying not to upset the boy. The boy looks fearful and wary and leans up whispering in his ear, "The Underground Men,"

Apollo frowns in confusion at Overwatch who tensed with a hardened expression on her face. He just sighs and picks up the boy moving him to the living room and placing him on the black leather couch still wrapped in the towel. "Med kit's in the linen closet. And for clothes, check out my closet and take one of my old hoodies," He says to Overwatch who nods and goes in search of them. "Thank you, Mister!" The boy exclaims grinning widely kicking his feet on the couch.

"No problem kid... I'll be right back just got to clean up," He smiles at the boy and walks back into the bathroom. "So, you work for that psychotic murderer Red Hood?" Overwatch inquires casually as she puts the oversized hoodie on the boy smiling amusedly at how silly he looks in the hoodie and gets to work on cleaning and bandaging his arm "What? I can't hear you with the water running," Apollo yells from the bathroom.

"But I guess you're no better than him. Going around murdering people and thinking because you have a good reason it's the right thing to do," Overwatch says coldly walking to the kitchen and looking through the fridge. "What reason would you have for being a vigilante? Just look at this apartment. Look at this life," She sneers closing his fridge and turning to face him.

"I have my reasons," Apollo answers impassively crossing his arms. "...Let's get this kid home. He says we can his father in the jungle," She says walking past him to the kid. "The what?" He asks putting on his domino and hood.

[THE JUNGLE]

Apollo looks in amazement at the shacks built in the forested area with some shacks built in trees. He could see that some of the shacks were illuminated which meant that some of the residents were still awake.

"The Jungle is a homeless encampment that reaches across several hundred acres of Greenbelt. How checked out are you?" Overwatch sneers next to him as they make their way through the encampment with the boy walking a few paces in front of them. "I've only been here two weeks, so maybe let's quit with the insults," He glares at her.

"You play hero of the common man in the streets, then you go home to bathe in champagne and sleep on a mattress of money," She says glaring right back at him. "You don't know a thing about me," He growls getting in her face. "I've seen enough," She hisses right back. "There was a time when I was a naive and blissfully ignorant kid...Until some psycho fuck came along and killed my parents, just because of some imaginary debt they didn't owe..." He says lowly turning his head away from her.

"Okay, so maybe I don't know everything," She says softly ashamed. "Like how much the materials for the tech, custom-made suit, and trick arrows cost. Making a difference requires money," He scoffs and continues walking. "Why the fuck am I even explaining myself? What do you care?" He points a finger at her. "I care because I used to be this kid," She points at the kid her face sympathetic. "Bouncing between foster homes and the street... Utill I got lucky and was taken in by someone that actually gives a shit,"

"Daddy!" The kid exclaims happily running to his father. "Thank God you're okay, but where's your mother," The father asks after hugging the kid and looking behind as if hoping she was trailing behind the kid. "She's missing. And she's one of many. Maybe you can help us understand what's happening," Apollo says calmly looking at the father.

AAIIEEEE AAIIEEEE

"It's them..." The kid whispers terrified his face paling ash white in fear. "...The Underground Men," The father says wrapping his arms protectively around the kid and looking around terrified.

"NOOO! HELP!" "THEY'RE BACK!" "AAAAH!"

Apollo and Overwatch look at each other shocked to hear the horrified and pleading screams sounding around the encampment. They watch stunned as lanky, sickly humanoids with goggles and black overalls attack and drag people off into the darkness.

"Seems these fucks like to stick to the shadows," Apollo snaps out of his shock and pulls out a flare arrow, "So let's steal back the night," He shoots the arrow in the air that explodes and illuminates the entire encampment in a red flare. The Underground Men cover their eyes from the light and start scattering away in a panic. Apollo fires an arrow at one of them that was trying to drag away a woman in the back of the head killing it.

Overwatch pulls out two escrima sticks from her jacket pockets and jumps into the fight throwing one to the back of the head of one Underground Man trying to run away knocking him out cold. She catches the stick as it returns to her and leans out of the way of a knife slash from another Underground Man, "You bastards think you can just do what you want," She growls angrily and hits it on the wrist breaking it, then another hit to the ribs and a final hit to the head knocking it out.

Apollo watches in admiration as she mows through the Underground Men dismantling them effortlessly. He catches movement by a tree and sees one Underground Man crawling into the opening at the trunk of the tree. He shoots an arrow hitting it in the calf as it crawls away. "Fuck" He curses and takes a long around seeing most of the Underground Men that weren't able to get away were already dealt with by Overwatch.

"What are you doing to these people? Where are you taking them?" Overwatch yells interrogating one Underground Man she left awake. "Damn you're really amazing with those things," Apollo praises as he comes to stand next to her looking down at the Underground Man. "I don't think this worm is going to talk," She says frustrated glaring at it.

He gently pushes her aside crouches down and gets in the face of it and says in a low menacing voice, "Listen, worm. There's a special black chamber in my heart. It's full of sharp objects, but it's pretty much absent of mercy. And it's reserved especially for scum fucks who prey on the weak,". He takes out an arrow from his quiver and stabs it in the thigh ignoring its pained grunt. "You have five seconds, And then I'm going to take you there for a special V.I.P. tour,"

"Tonight... The Auction," The Underground Man gargles out. "Where? Where's this Auction?" Apollo questions twisting the arrow. "There..." It groans in pain and weakly points to what looks like a cave entrance. "...Below," It says before passing out from the pain.

"Was that really necessary?" Overwatch asks frowning at Apollo as they make their way through the cave. "What? Sometimes you have to ask all sweet-like," He says shrugging as they climb down a destroyed lift. "So why did you become a vigilante?" Apollo asks. "I didn't become one. I was trained to be one... The person that took me in trained and made me their successor to take over their mantle as protector of Seattle,"

They reach the bottom of the lift and take a moment to look around at the underground system. "They made me into a weapon of justice and after they were done they just vanished," She says softly, her expression forlorn. "Think of it this way. They didn't leave because they didn't want you anymore...They left because they were no longer needed," He says softly patting her head in comfort.

"From what I've seen in my two weeks here. This City needs you," He says smiling at her. "Yeah, thanks," She smiles giving his forearm a gentle squeeze and walking ahead. "I've got a feeling this trail of blood... Is going to lead to the heart of the problem," Apollo says shining a light on a trail of blood leading deeper into the system.

An Underground Man dressed in a black tuxedo stands by a microphone with a bunch of large monitors projecting individuals with an array of masks on. "Before we begin, let me remind you that this feed is camouflaged by twenty V.P.N relays..." The Underground Man announces to the masked individuals. "...That we only accept cryptocurrency transactions, and that next month's underground Auction will be sourced from San Francisco,"

"Without further ado, our first property is a twenty-five-year-old female," The Underground Man presents with a flourish to the blonde-haired woman dressed in rags that is being held by two other Underground Men. "Let's begin the bidding at ten thousand, whether you fancy her for work, pleasure, food, or laboratory experimentation," The Underground Man says smirking viciously. "...Rest assured that she is a clean exchange. No one will ever pursue her or any of our properties. because they are no one. She is no one."

"They're coming!" An Underground Man with an arrow in its calf exclaims panicked. "They're already here!" It says to the tuxedo-wearing Underground Man. "The bidding is closed," Apollo's voice sounds throughout the area as he fires three arrows. Two arrows hit the two Underground Men holding the woman through the back of their heads killing them. The last hits the tuxedo-wearing Underground Man in the shoulder.

Overwatch jumps down and begins swiftly knocking out Underground Men that are running away in a panic, while Apollo shoots those that manage to escape her wrath. Apollo hears a scream of pain and sees the blonde-haired woman being held by her hair by the tuxedo-wearing Underground Man. "You think their lives are yours to sell?" Apollo says aiming his bow at it.

"Everyone's life is for sale. Even yours," It snarls and drops the woman into a pit. "These people are so irrelevant they might as well not exist," It says as it crawls away. "You're wrong," Apollo fires an arrow right on the wall of the pit and the woman grabs on for dear life. "Someone cares," Overwatch says as she reaches down to help the woman out of the pit.

"I might not have any special powers. I might be young. I might be a loudmouth. I might have a lot to learn. But don't underestimate me." Apollo glares defiantly at the only monitor that is still on with a red elongated skull-masked individual looking on. "Whatever this is. I'm going to stop it. Whoever you are, I'm going to hunt you down," He takes out a small piece of fabric from his utility belt and gives it a shake, causing the fabric to expand to the size of a blanket and cover the woman.

"And when I do, I'll make you feel debased, devalued, bankrupt in every possible way. There will be nothing left," He readies an arrow and growls at the masked individual, "You'll know what it feels like to be no one,". He fires the arrow destroying the monitor. "That, I promise," He says with Overwatch standing beside him both with fiery determined expressions.

[SEATTLE - 15 August 2009 - 07:13 Am]

Apollo and Overwatch are standing on top of a building facing each other as the sun rises on a new day in Seattle. "You took me and that boy to your apartment earlier. Without a second thought," She smiles tilting her head at him. "Protecting my identity didn't seem as important as protecting that boy," He shrugs pulling back his hood and taking off his domino mask. "I guess I wasn't afraid to reveal myself. Not to you,"

"And yet, I don't even know your name," He smirks teasingly at her. She raises a brow and then grins stepping closer and looking up at him, "Felicity. Felicity Al Ghul,"

"Interesting last name," He says. "I know...So come on don't keep a girl waiting," She teases. "I'm about to blow your mind..." He says as he reaches behind his ear and deactivates his holographic disguise chip. Felicity watches in amazement as his appearance changes except for his blonde hair. His green eyes changed to blue with other minor changes like his nose size, jawline, etc. "Holy frack..." She breathes astounded.

"Maxwell Troy Goodman, but my friends call me Max," He chuckles amused by her reaction. "It's nice to meet you, Felicity," Max says stepping closer until they're only a breath away from each other. "...Finally," Felicity grins.