Fourth Sin: Returning to The Way (Pt. 3)
--- Mercer ---
(Yeah, I definitely did a bust out of here before.) He frowned looking down at the small business building just off of a small pier.
Back when the Way was still Saint’s Way, and the people building the district thought it would be some jewel of the city, the building had probably intended as a small port side loading and distribution center for smaller businesses to get their start before moving on to bigger buildings further down river. What with the building being large enough for two or three large trucks to load up in, but still small enough to take up minimal land space.
Now that the Way was called Sinner’s Way, and the people building the district knew it was the crime center of the city, the building had been turned into a small drug loading and distribution center that the gangs were constantly trading hands on as the place built up heat until he kicked the shit out of everyone. What with this being one of the best known drug intake points in the whole city, but still profitable enough to be worth it until then.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” He sighed remembering when he’d delivered a few ‘packages’ from this building as a kid on the streets trying not to starve.
Which is why he knew the standard crew for such an operation was about four men passive, enough to fend off any small attempts at a takeover while still small enough that when he showed up they wouldn’t lose the dozen or so he’d take out when he first came back to town.
(You know, I wonder if these guys get hazard pay since they know I’ll eventually come around?) He’d have to ask one of them the next time he passed through.
Given how he was still running beneath what he considered his minimum gear line, and the fact that whoever was here was expected to take a token few shots at him -For the street cred if literally nothing else. (Which I can respect.)- he didn’t feel like risking a direct confrontation the way he had with the stoners and Romulus’s men. (Or rather I don’t feel like getting shot at.)
So instead of simply kicking in the door and shooting at everyone, or walking in and mindfucking everyone with utter insanity, he decided it would be best to simply sneak in and deal with things… quietly.
Climbing onto the building’s roof was an easy feat, one that he’d pulled off several times when he was less than half his current size, though he’d had to take a different way up since he very much doubted the drain pipes could still take his weight what with nearly twenty years and two-hundred pounds passing since then. But still, a boot on a brick wall, a quick pull up from the roof’s edge found him on the roof of the building’s pier entrance and in front of a second floor manager’s window watching the dock.
A window he had to quickly duck out of the way of when he spotted the local guards playing poker in said office.
(Right… so going to have to make a bit of noise…)
Standing on an edge of the roof that couldn’t be seen from the window, he pulled out his gun -(The one that shoots lead, not the eldritch fuckery one.)- and held it a foot below the roof’s edge before pulling the trigger three times and shooting the ground.
Normally hearing gunshots in the Way were simply a fact of life and would’ve been ignored by most. The fact that this lot was guarding the building and the gunshots were right outside meant that they couldn’t do that if someone was making a play for the building.
From inside he heard an amount of yelling ‘what the fuck was that?’, some orders of ‘go out and check that.’, and so on and so forth until after a few moments he risked another glance inside and found the manager’s office was now empty.
Opening the window was less than a problem as when he moved his knife to cut the lock, he found that said lock was still cut front the last time he’d done this. (Well that makes this quicker.)
Silently sliding the window open and climbing through the frame he looked around the office for any stragglers or anything else of note before his eyes landed on a pile of boxed drugs that he was fairly sure were intended for Betty’s clinic given the logo on the side. Boxed drugs that were a little more than he’d been expecting size wise, (meaning I’ll have to get someone else to come and take these to Betty’s for me. And that I’ll have to actually deal with the guards before I leave, so her people can bring these back to her.)
That was more an annoyance than a problem, honestly.
He checked the manager’s window to the inside of the building and spotted all four of the guards with their guns out and making their way down the stairs into the loading bay before opening one of the side doors and having two of them go out while two stayed inside to cover them.
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With his targets marked, he swiped a half full beer can off of the table the guards had been playing cards at before stepping out of the office and silently firing his grappling line at the roof above the indoor guards. With the line secured he began pulling it taut allowing him to swing through the air, until he was just a couple of meters above the guards, more concerned with external threats than internal.
Now in place he threw the half-empty beer can at the otherside of the building, causing a loud clanging as it impacted the metal wall with a clang.
One of the guards turned towards the sound with his gun raised. “What was that?”
“Shit… think it’s Mercer?” The other asked, glancing over his shoulder.
(Yes, I do.)
“Mercer would’ve started breaking bones by now.” The first guard pointed out. “Think it’s one of the other Vigils?”
(What? No, don’t them give them credit!) He scowled. (I’m the one torturing you fucks today!)
“No, there were gunshots, and Mercer’s the only Vigil with a gun.” The (obviously more intelligent) guard argued.
“Might be something else…” The first guard tried, looking like he wasn’t relieved by the idea. “You going to take a look?”
“In this city? Fuck no.” The smarter guard scoffed. “Last thing I need is Mercer putting a cap in my ass.”
(Fair enough.) He accepted.
He let his line go, not fast enough to break his legs but still fast enough that neither guard had time to process as he dropped behind the first, wrapping one arm around the man’s throat as he used the other to aim his gun at the second guard's head.
“Oh, shi-”
“Shhh.” He cut the man off by jabbing the barrel of his gun into the man’s mouth. “Now then, we three are going to quietly move out of the doorframe and no one is going to die. Okay?”
The guard in his arms began to raise his own gun.
“Don’t forget I can snap your neck like a twig.” It would actually take a lot more effort, both hands and/or better leverage to do that, but he doubted either guard realized that in the face of his glowing double tapped skull.
The guard lowered his gun.
“Good…” He nodded, as they started to move. “Don’t forget to close the door… Quietly.”
They did as he said, and he went ahead and had them lock the door for good measure.
With a wall between him and the other guards for the time being, he proceeded to finish disarming the two guards before leading them back towards the stairs up to the manager’s office.
“Now we’re going to duct tape you boys to this guardrail and then you’re going to stay here until we come and clear out the drugs you stole from the local clinic.” (And once you’re secure I’ll take out the two outside.)
He kept his gun in the one guard's mouth while he had the one with his arm on their throat thoroughly duct tape the man’s hand’s to the railing, using about a third of one of the most important tools in a vigilante’s tool kit.
Once he didn’t have to worry about that guard escaping, he removed his gun from the man’s mouth and put it to the side of his other hostage’s head, before spinning the man around and shoving his hands through the railing so that Mercer could bind him himself.
“Good, we’re almost done here.” He told them, as he started taking the final two strips of tape he’d need for these two. “You two have been fantastic hostages, really wish the other criminals of the Way were even half as cooperative as you, but no they alway try to shoot me and I’ve got to shoot them back and I’ve got more training so when I shoot them they die while when they shoot me they miss… or more comically shoot each other.”
“It’s a whole mess.” He sighed, as he finished taping their mouths shut. “Now here’s hoping your friends outside are as cooperative as you two so I don’t have to kill them. Did you know I have napalm rounds that can burn a man alive in twenty seconds flat?”
Admittedly he didn’t have those round on him, and Clockwork did some eldritch-y-dark-magic-thing to them to keep them from killing if they weren’t fired with the intent of violently murdering someone. A feature they only had because the arms dealer knew the pain of ‘having to cover up an accidental brush stroke on an otherwise masterpiece.’ (Whatever the fuck that means.)
Given their whimpering he doubted the criminals knew either.
Though the banging at the door told him exactly where the last two guards had wound up.
Which is why he quickly rushed back up to the office before climbing out of the window and back onto the rooftop outside of it, where he spotted one of the guards fumbling with a key as the other watched in annoyance.
“Fuck, I don’t like this.” The standing guard growled, looking everywhere but up as he searched for the threat he could just sense. “The only reason to lock the door is if someone is in there with them, and they locked it.”
(That is what happened.) He agreed.
“That or that coward Malone, closed the door and locked us out in case someone was out here with us.” The fumbling guard argued. “Now shut up and let me figure out which key is to this door.”
(Also, technically, what happened.) He admitted, as he silently climbed back down to the ground.
Once in position behind the more anxious of the pair, Mercer slid an arm around the man’s throat and ripped the loosely held gun from his hands before slowly backing away from the busier of the duo as he dragged the man to the ground and pinned his legs down with one of his own.
It took him roughly a minute of holding the man down while covering his mouth and nose before the guard finally quit struggling and lost consciousness, giving him just enough time to shove the man off of him as the other guard opened the door.
“There we go.” The guard nodded, before turning back to where Mercer had taken the other guard’s place. “Now we can- oh, shi-”
“You guys tend to say that a lot around me.” He told the guard, as he wrapped both hands around the man’s throat and picked him off the ground while letting his skull insignia flare. “Keep it up, and I’ll start thinking you aren’t happy to see me.”