2014-04-28 - Shadow Games: A Bludhaven Blast

Finally some action. After what seems like forever on desk duty, Dick and his partner Anthony Sabato are off desk duty and get a call. The call? Detective from robbery's found a stolen tanker truck full of diesel and need some back up while he confronts the new owners. Easy stuff right?

The detective in question, Edward Marks, one of the semi-shady sorts who survived the purge when Addad came to power, is waiting for them on the hood of an unmarked car when they roll up, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He's wearing a vest under his leather jacket though, so it looks like he's expecting some action.

Sabato grins over from the passenger seat "Finally, out of the office." Dick has finally made a lot of progress in recovering from his shoulder wounds, 'officially' from a mugger that he didn't get a look at. He rides shotgun as the cop car approaches the tanker. He wears a vest as part of his usual uniform and chuckles at Sabato, "You're telling me, way too stuffy in there."

Marks sees the patrol car and hops off the hood of his vehicle and tosses the cigarette in a puddle. He waits for the car to stop and then walks over when Sabato opens his door. "Hey Tony, Dick," he says. "Glad to see they sent two guys on this one," he says, manpower has been short lately, most cops roll alone, he looks back at the truck. The truck is quiet, parked at the side of an access road at the edge of town just about in the county jurisdiction. "Anyhow this is the vehicle, stands to reason the guys who took it are down the road there, didn't want to just roll up with my 9mm and a smile on my face, so if you guys don't mind I'll hitch down the road with you and we can knock on that door with a bit of muscle." "Ed," Dick says with a nod getting out of the car. The mention of using the 9mm does not sit well with him, but he does not show it, his disfavor of guns being fairly well known, favoring his nightstick, pepperspray, his hands, or tazer if he has to. "Yeah, hopefully we can deal with them fairly quickly, haul them in and let the DA handle this. Who did they steal it from?"

Ed hops in the back of the car and closes the door, Sabato takes the wheel. "Carl Deevers trucking company," Ed says as he gives the nod for Sabato to drive slow down the access road past the truck. "So, really given he's connected, sending these mopes to the DA would be a favour."

The car rolls slowly down the road and Sabato brings it to a stop when some light shines through the trees. He cranes his neck and looks down the rest of the road. "Looks like a house," he says glancing back at Marks.

Marks nods. "Okay, let's go out, approach slow, one of you and me can go knock on the door, one of you should be around back in case they run for it." He hops out of the car and pulls his jacket off of his holster.

Sabato looks to Dick and rummages in his pocket for a quarter. "Flip you for it?" he asks about who goes where. Dick flexes his fists a little bit, listening to Ed talk, "I see. Well, let's get this over with." He looks at the house. Great, a potential fight at a place held by people who just stole a diesel tanker. This can only end poorly. Dick sighs and looks to Sabato, "Yeah, loser goes with Ed."

"Deal," Sabato says and flips the coin. "Heads or tails?"

Ed snorts and calls in a whisper "Would you ladies hurry up." Dick calls it in the air, "Heads."

Sabato catches the coin and claps it on the back of his hands. "Damn, heads," he says as he nods towards the back of the house. "Looks like you got the good job."

Ed shakes his head. "Aww and I wanted to see Dick's kung-fu shit," he smirks. "Alright, head around back, we'll come up and knock on the door." He pulls his badge out from under his vest to make sure it's in plain view. Dick grins and exits the car, rolling his eyes at Ed's remarks. Moving quietly, using what appears to the two as an uncanny skill, he sneaks by the house, trying to gain a glimpse into a window if there is a chance, to see what information he can get, attempting this again as he gets near the back door.

The others make their way towards the house by the front, the porch lights come up. Though Dick is already at a window. There's a couple of guys in jeans and t-shirts watching TV in a living room. The place sort of looks like Dick's place, lots of take out boxes, but there are also some liquor bottles, spools of wire, and other little bits of electronics laid out on the coffee tables, one of the guys is working with some of the electronics when the light comes on around front and their heads turn around that way. One of them reaches down by the couch and picks up a shotgun. "Yo, Grady we got company?" one of them shouts kicking over some pizza boxes to reach for a pistol.

There isn't a reply from Grady, except for the sound of breaking glass and the thump-thump-thump of heavy weapons fire from upstairs front of the house. The four guys in the living room spring into action the two with guns running to the front wile the othe two go for weapons. Dick sees the others spring into action and the sound of heavy fire forces him to crouch out of instinct. Taking out a ziptie that are kept for riot control, he applies it to the small cannister of pepper spray. He takes a deep breath and punches into the window, tossing in the makeshift pepper spray bomb into the room, and running to the back door, yelling into his radio, "Grayson here, shots fired at (insert address here) send medical and backup."

The sound of smashing glass gets one of the guys loading his weapon to turn and try and fire, he screams with surprise when he's hit in the face with pepper spray. He reels back dropping his weapon. The second guy left in the room gets his gun and fires randomly as he falls back arm thrown over his face. "Contact, rear!" he shouts over his coughing.

The radio crackles as Dick reaches the back door. Stray shots thud into the door as the guy fires wildy "Roger that back up and a bus is on the way. Is anyone injured?" Dick says hastily, "Cannot confirm, Marks and Sabato are up front. Also they seem to know what they are doing. They have a diesel tanker out front, electronic supplies inside." He pulls out his nightstick and extends it to full length. "May want to hurry," he returns the radio to his belt and kicks in the door, making his way to the main room.

"Roger, support is on the way," the dispatcher says crisply.

The main room bursts open and the two guys that got the most of the pepper spray are still there one clutching his face the other holding an empty gun. Though the guys who ran to the front are coming back, the guy with the shotgun opens with a blast aimed at Dick. Dick takes a portion of the blast as he jumps to the side, the vest taking the bulk of the large pellets on the vest, though at leat a couple skim his sleeve, taking some skin with them. Grumbling he turns and chucks the stick at the man with the shotgun, hoping to distract him if it doesn't hurt him, and follows it with a flying kick at the man's chest.

The man is well trained, but he's used to fighting opponents who don't live by the rules of the Bat. So when he raises his gun to block the stick he ducks down to expect a shot from a sidearm but instead gets a kick to the chest that knocks him on his ass and sends him skidding down the hall. The second guy who ran that way lifts his pistol taking aim at Dick. Dick does not grin, instead he turns to the other man with the pistol and pulls out his tazer, sending the electrodes flying downrange at the man with the pistol, hoping that he is within range.

Dick is a quick draw, but the guy has his finger on the trigger and fires as he tries to jerk out of the way of the needles. The bullet ricochets towards Dick as the guy goes down twitching behind the bullet. Dick is taken aback, the slug landing firmly onto his vest. An "Oof," comes from him, the pain being actually rather bad, the vest already weakened by the buckshot. Hopping up as quickly as possible, he runs forward and tries to knock the gunman out with his nightstick.

The guy with the pistol isn't ready for the follow up and goes down in a heap when the Nightstick strikes his head. As he goes down the front door burst open and Marks and Sabato rush inside Marks with his gun up and Sabato holding his bleeding shoulder. Marks checks his gun when he sees Dick raising it to the roof. "Damn, Grayson, the stories about you are right," he says looking at gunmen on the floor. "You alright?" "You two secure down here, if you didn't hear, bus and backup are on the way," Dick says. He nods to Ed, "I'll be fine, Marks, secure down here, Sabato follow me, we need to quiet that gun." He grips his nightstick and works his way up the stairs as quietly as he can, hopefully to sneak up on the gunman.

Sabato nods and follows while Marks takes control of the main floor cuffing the guys in the other room and then doing the same for the guys in the hall. The upstairs gun is silent as they creep up the stairs. When they reach the top they see the window the guy was shooting from, it's open and the room around it is empty as night air blows in side billowing the curtains.

In the distance there is the sound of approaching sirens.

"Dang, search the room." Dick readies his stick and continues walking around, it, searching for the offending gunman, stopping at the window to see if he jumped out of it.

It's a good call to look out the window. The gunman, AR-15 in hand is down in the yard running towards the tree line.

Dick scowls and speaks into the radio, "Gunman running into the treeline, heavily armed, be cautious." Upon finishing seeing if the room has any other threats in it, the officer leaves to see if there are any other threats in the house.

"Roger," dispatch says. "Helo has been dispatched and should be enroute."

Sabato comes back from one of the other rooms and joins the search of the house, there doesn't seem to be any threats.

From downstairs there's a shout from Marks. "All clear up there?" Dick scowls and yells down the stairs, "All clear. How are things down there?" He frowns and makes his way down the stairs, cuffs out, "Let's secure these guys first, there's a gunman that went into the woods, last thing we need is him coming back here and helping them. The backup can help find him, but I'm not going in there after him by myself."

Marks standing in a doorway when he speaks, back to the stairs, he flicks on the light as he nods and says "Me neither, we did enough for one-" he stops. "Holy crap. What were these guys into?" he asks aloud.

Sabato blinks and shoots a curious look to Dick before saying "Toss me your cuffs, I'll hook these guys, you check it out." Dick tosses the cuffs and says, "What's going on?" He asks, "I noticed the electronics, thought it might have something to do with the diesel, but not really sure exactly what they had in mind." Dick picks up his nightstick and hefts it for a second.

Sabato catches the cuffs and despite the flesh wounds to his shoulder he gets right to work linking up the guys and making sure they don't get away. Inside the room though Marks steps aside to let Dick have a look, the room's windows are boarded up and a single bare bulb lights the stacks of nitrogen fertilizer bags stacked to one side, and pictures and plans stuck to one of the walls. The subject of those pictures and plans? The Whaler's Club. "Looks like our friends here were going to blow the whole damn place up." "Damn," Dick says, blinking as he walks into the room, "Well, this is a big deal. Who would want this? I don't know of anyone who would want to blow that place up." He crosses his arms, "This is getting close to a federal problem, too. Great." Mentally, he is scowling, this is a major complication.

"I dunno," Marks says scratching his head after putting his gun away. "Don't recognize the mopes out front and didn't get a look at the guy who was blasting away with the long gun, so dunno what they're deal is, but yeah, the feds are going to want to look in on this."

Sabato peeks his head in and adds his own "Damn," to the whole situation. "We're going to be writing on this crap for days," he says with a sigh. "Don't suppose we can set off one of the bombs and say we didn't see anything?" he jokes.

Marks snorts, and outside the sounds of sirens grow louder as back up rolls up and starts surrounding the house. "Think that window is closed, Tony," he says. "Guess we should go outside break the news to the brass," he says checking to make sure his badge is showing before walking out into a bunch of nervous cops. "One of you guys radio and let them know we're coming out." Dick does not find Sabato's joke overly humorous, but sighs, "Yeah, back to the desk." He nods to Marks and speaks into the radio, "Grayson here, we're coming out, everyone in here is cuffed and ready to go. Also, got fertilizer and electronics in here. So might need the bomb squad." He walks out into the main area where the arrested men are and reads them their rights quickly, to cover that base.

"Roger that," Dispatch says as doubtless more units are dispatched. Then once the rights are read Marks opens the door and comes out hands up until the other cops confirm his ID. "Got bomb stuff in there boys, so hang back," he warns the back-up then steps out onto the porch. "Got a couple guys for the wagon, you guys stay down there we'll lead em down," the he heads back inside to grab one of the guys and get him to his feet. "C'mon time to go," he says as he leads his man out of the house.

Sabato grabs another and gets him up leading him out leaving the last two for Dick. Dick picks up the other two, and mentions "Don't forget the other guy out there, we got eyes in the air looking for him? I'd rather he not be taking pot shots at us, or if he is smart he is running as fast as his legs will carry him."

"Yeah if he's smart he'll be running hard for anywhere but here," Sabato says as he heads for the door. Though just in case the guy with the rifle isn't that smart he lets the suspect lead. "C'mon Grayson, let's get out of this-" then there is a boom, a big one that rips through everything sending a storm of splinters flying as the whole place erupts into flame.

"Can't count on smarts for them too much," Dick says snarkily, but he cannot respond as he is thrown from the blast forward, conking his head on the ground, and that is the last thing he remembers before blacking out.

RABE Memorial Hospital

There's white light and that antiseptic smell that comes with hospitals when Dick wakes up. It doesn't take long to piece together that he's in RABE Memorial in downtown Bludhaven. His head is ringing but despite being fairly sure that he was in a big explosion, he's still alive, and still whole. Amy Rorhbach is there, his former training officer, current Captain and the head of IAD as well as Dick's old partner Ganon Malloy. Both good cops. "Hey, Captain, he's waking up," Ganon says. Dick blinks and cringes from the smell. No one like hospital smells. He is surprised to see the two in front of him, "What? What's going on?" There is some surprise in his voice when he finally realizes where he is, as well as the sting from the IV's presence, "Dang, how bad is it?"

Amy frowns down at him, but it's one of almost motherly concern rather than disapproval, despite the lack of age difference. "Could have been worse Dick, but thanks to that weird stuff going on, you and Sabato both made it, same with the perps."

Ganon nods his agreement with that assessment. "House was gone though, and we're still looking for the guy with the rifle." "I'll take what I can get, cap. And I'd rather have them alive, all things said." Dick says with a nod and looks to Ganon, "Dang, can't remember much about him, other than the AR. I know that they were looking to blow up the Whaler's Club, if that means anything. Also, how long was I out?"

"A couple of hours," Ganon answers Dick. "You were waking up a bit earlier but the docs wanted you out a bit longer just to make sure everything was alright, they don't know what's up with this weird no dying thing," he says. "Oh, and I called home, let them know you're alright, this stuff is all over the news."

Amy nods to Ganon. "It's a mess, and agreed Dick, better those guys lived, shooting at cops or no, not that some people outside this room wouldn't want to put a bullet in them anyhow," she shakes her head. "Anyhow the Whaler's Club thing is probably going to mean a lot as things shake out but for now it just means the DA is throwing a fit and we're likely going to see some Feds poking around now that a bomb's gone off." She lets out a breath. "So see anything else? Anything we can use to sort through this stuff?" "Dang, but at least everyone is as 'all right' as we could hope for," Dick says, rubbing his hair, "Not really, didn't give us much of a chance to find out, but if they are so concerned to keep their ideas secret, they must be willing to go the distance." He sighs, "Yeah, gonna have a lot of problems going for us, let alone the mountain of paperwork waiting for me. All I remember really outside of the Whaler Club would be that there was a lot of fertilizer, electronics, and the stolen diesel truck out front."

"Standard bomb making stuff," Amy agrees about the things Dick describes. "And it sounds like these guys were serious if they're going to take shots at cops and blow up their own place. Major Crimes is running things down for now, probably will be around for a statement, but for now though Dick, rest up, and good job. Marks said you took care of most of the guys when you guys stormed the place."

Ganon smirks "Lives up to his rep, a regular super cop," he teases. "Outstanding," Dick says rolling his eyes, "Hopefully I can stay in the loop on this, kind of want to know who would want to blow me up." He frowns and sighs, "Speaking of rest, when am I back on duty? Or am I going to become very familiar with that desk again?"

Amy glances at the door and then back to Dick and Ganon. "I'll keep you both in the loop as much as I can, you two are some of the few cops I trust in the department," she explains. "But as for when you can stop riding that desk, that depends on the docs, but if they give you a clean bill of health then I figure you'll be back on duty right away."

Ganon nods about being kept in the loop. "Thanks Cap," he says. Dick nods, "Appreciate it, Cap. If you need anything, let me know." He grumbles at the mention of potential desk duty, "So let's hope the doc makes the right decision."

Amy grins then, the first time tonight. "Let's hope," she says. "Anyhow I'll get out of here, head of IAD hangs around long enough, people are likely to think you're both in trouble," she jokes. "Anyhow, rest up, we'll talk soon." Then with a nod to Ganon she's out the door.