2014.09.17 - Cash Game

Fifteen grand.. the number kept going through Harry's head as he drove The Ambush Bug through the streets of New York City, almost enough to distract him from the tracking spell. This one done with a Hawaiian dancer bobble doll that leans in the direction of the target. He pulls up outside of an old abandoned boarding house and sighs "Simple job Harry, catch the thief, get the documents and you're ten kay richer. Simple plan right?" he says to himself as he starts to climb his tall lanky frame out of the small multi-colored Volkswagen..

Money, not Jack's primary motivation. Truth is, he has rent on his closet-sized apartment that he basically uses to store clothes...and that's it. He's been known to give most of the pay on cases like this away. The challenge, that's what he's after. Harry has a tracking spell. Jack has jumped from clue to clue, reading one location then another. HE doesn't use a vehicle, but moves quickly across the rooftops to the same destination. This could be awkward.

Harry Dresden puts his stetson back on top of his head reaching into the bug to get the large oak staff arcane sigils scrolled down it fully he pockets the keys of the car and takes a breath. "Alright scope the place out first, then we'll see about going inside... Maybe I should have brought mouse." he comments to himself unaware of the other detective on the case, he starts to walk up to the door a couple of thugs emerging from the shadows of the doorway.

"You've got a wrong address." one of them states as both brandish small uzi's. "Nah, I think I have the right place, I'm here ta talk to the boss." Harry says in an incredibly bad movie mobster voice..

Who's that? Jack gives Harry a new middle name. Harry Distraction Dresden. He would have knocked on the door himself, but as Harry's doing that right now? Jack leaps onto the roof of the house, then silently drops into the yard behind. Not without making sure there aren't attack dogs in there first, of course.

"Yea sure" the thugs say both bringing their Uzi's up they start to spit lead towards the wizard. "Defendarius!" Harry evokes bringing his arm up and exposing a bracelet of small shields made of different metals comes into view a shield projecting in front of harry that rob the bullets of all their energy letting them drop to the ground "Wrong answer boys." he says leaning his staff forward "Forzare!" he cries out jerking his staff sideways as a thick bar of force slams into the stomachs of the two goons and thumps against the building with the sound of a baseball bat hitting stone..

And...gunshots. Is the guy out front? Yes, the guy out front can deal with being shot at, and Jack turns to the house...and runs straight through the wall. He'll disturb another thug in the kitchen, taking him down before he can raise his gun. Yeah, this just got serious.

Harry Dresden slips into the main hallway of the boarding house, dark and unlit he quietly starts stepping down checking in each room as he makes his way towards the stairs that head to the second floor the sounds of chanting can be heard coming from a side door on the first floor the sound of a roar then fills the night the closed door flying off it's hinges as something dark and dripping ichor fills the door way. "ohh hell.." Harry exclaims switching hands on the staff and bringing up his shield bracelet again for defense as he scrambles for his blasting rod.

And then...there's something that doesn't belong in the city. Jack charges towards that feeling of wrongness, being that kind of brave or foolish guy. He's almost silent, but he'll come up on the other side of the demon. He doesn't use ranged weapons. He's just bent on HITTING it. Hopefully he won't get friendly fired by the wizard. Harry Dresden brings his blasting rod up not noticing the man hitting it from behind just yet he lets out a wrist wide blast of pure fire "Fuego!" that lights up the room and slams into the large demon who's set off balance by the barreling strike from behind. Thankfully Harry was aiming high taking the demons head with his blast it catches of fire the demon letting out a scream thrashing about swiping at Jack with dripping claws blinded by the fire more chanting seems to be starting in the room the demon came bounding out of. Looks like they're wanting to bring in tweedle dee to fight with dum..

Jack? Changes tactics. He slides sideways, although he does get slightly slashed by the claws, tearing his jacket and slightly his skin. A few drops of silver blood well...and then he sidesteps through the wall into the room the chanting is coming from.

"The hell?" Harry sees in the light someone swimming through the walls like they were made of air, the demon's head finally quits burning and starts to heal eyes reforming and narrowing focusing on Harry "Hey there, did you know burning demon smells like roast duck? It's the oddest thing." Harry mouths off "Fuego!" he calls out again letting another beam of fire lance into the chest of the demon, who now ready for it just grounds out the magic "ohhh, boy." he says gritting his teeth his sheild sparking as the demon lumbers through the fire and slams into Harry sending him flying backwards.

Inside the room in question a pair of men are casting magics, a painted in summoning circle glowing faintly as they try and summon another demon. "We got one Jake, how are we going to get another!" a third man says none of the men being prepared for Jacks dynamic entrance.

Jack doesn't know much about magic. He knows that when one demon shows up and people are chanting? You stop the chanting. He springs out of the wall, leaping across the circle with the full intent of grabbing the two chanting guys and simply, uncreatively, knocking their heads together. and with a flash and pyrotechnic spark of released magic, the spell is broken as the circle is crossed, the two men go down, while the third draws a gun and fires at Jack the semi-auto gun flaring to light and barking out in the night. The demon being held at bay by the shield Harry lets his rings release all their charge which slams into the demon not ready for force magic sending him flying back off him.

"Fuego!" he cries out, the smell of brimstone filling the air as sullen red flames empowered with hellfire slams into the summoned creature again burning a hole in his chest.

Bullets? Jack doesn't care about small arms fire...unless it's armor piercers. Those hurt. That might mean that guy number three is going to be very unhappy as the guy *just keeps coming*. True, he's still bleeding from where the demon slashed him. And it's silver. If anything, that probably adds to the intimidation value.

The Demon lands with a thud, enough damage done that it turns into a giant lump of evaporating ectoplasm. Harry makes his way into the room where the chanters were and sees the unconscious, possibly dead he brings his blasting rod up, the tip glowing a sullen red "I don't know what personal issues you may have between your crew, but lets not get too hasty in doing anything." he calls out completely mis-reading the entire situation as the guy backs away from Jack gun still in hand pure terror on his face.

"...you think I'm with *these* losers?" Jack sounds insulted. "I don't know magic and I can't stand demons." He keeps one eye on the terrified guy, of course.

Harry Dresden smirks "Don't know magic, but you can recognize a demon when you see one?" he says his voice a little bit sarcastic though the glow of the blasting rod fades away. "I'm Harry." he introduces himself staff in one hand, rod lowered the remaining thug loses it and takes a shot at Harry suprising him and hitting his shoulder causing a grunt of pain to come out of the detective

"I know a bit ABOUT magic. Enough to know that if there's a demon and you hear chanting, you stop the chan..." He tails off as Harry gets shot, and moves to first disarm, then KO, the thug before he can do any more damage.

Harry Dresden ows as the last guy goes down "heh, true." he says reaching up and grabbing the still warm slug his duster having stopped the slug "ohhh, that's gonna leave a bruise." he says with a grimace "What's got you here in this house then, Tall dark and and mysterious?" he asks stowing his blasting rod in his duster.

"Guy hired me to retrieve some stolen property. You?" So, they're in the same line of work, at least to some degree.

Harry Dresden sighs when he hears that "/I/ got hired to retrieve some stolen property, some files and paperwork." he explains simply reaching into his pocket he pulls out the hula bobble doll and moves over to the sealed envelopes sitting on a near by table. Setting the doll down it starts to dance on it's own accord without being thwapped. "And these would be what I'm here for, you here for the same?" he asks

Jack Hawksmoor grumbles. "Bastard. Not you." He hates when somebody covers their bases by hiring more than one person. It often ends with somebody getting shot. As he doesn't carry a gun, it's usually him. Then he winces, his hand going to his upper arm. "Crap. Another jacket gone."Harry Dresden sighs "He give you the same offer? 5k up front, another 10 on delivery?" he asks curiously as the little bobble head click click clicks back and forth. "You have a car parked near by?" he asks waiting for the answer to both his questions he then speaks up "How bout this, We take my car back to my office, I'm a Private Eye here in town, I contact the guy he comes, pays the other 10k we split it we both walk away paying the rent and don't have to fight about it. No muss, no fuss." he proposes..

"Works for me." Not even a moment of hesitation. "I don't have a car here, no. I have my own means of transportation." He examines his arm again. "Ugh. Might have to call the doc."

Harry Dresden nods "Well, I've got bandages in the trunk of my car, lets get out of here before New Yorks Finest comes hearing reports of gun fire." he comments motioning back to the door "We can take my car that way nobody has to worry about the other trying to get over on them. then we both walk away." he offers

"Works for me." Although he has a feeling they'll bump into each other again. "Jack Hawksmoor," he offers, by way of introduction, as he heads to the door.

Harry Dresden picks up the doll and files, handing them over to jack as he leads Jack out of the house "Harry Dresden." he says reaching into a pocket and pulling out his card. (which can be viewed in my finger) He leads the man down the block to an old beat up VW bug, one door white, the other green, the hood red while the rest of the body is a bright baby blue. "Welcome to The Ambush Bug!" he says moving over to the hood and undoing a piece of wire that's holding the hood down, a first aid kit inside he'll help patch up the arm before they get going, Harry driving to a small high rise brownstone. "I'm up on the fifth floor, we'll have to take the stairs by the way, the elevator... protests my useage of it." he explains..

"I hear some magic users mess with technology." As long as Harry doesn't mess with him...but Jack's of a different order of magnitude from an elevator.

Harry Dresden leads jack up to his office opening the door and shrugging "some do yeah." he explains, the office is a bit grungy and when Harry goes to turn the light on, the light bulb burns out. He doesn't even pause as he goes over to a box of old style light bulbs and without needing a ladder he changes it the light flaring on and brightening the office a box of old novels sitting by the desk, a coffee table between two chairs sports pamphlets such as "Thaumaturgy, and other sympathetic magics, Magic and You, and Why Witches Dont Sink Any Faster Than Anyone Else: "a Wizards Perspective". "If you're thirsty, I've got some warm cokes if you want one." he offers tearing one off a 6 pack ring for himself as he moves to the old fashioned wired telephone and dials up the client. "Found the papers, still unopened, and I ran into the other guy you got coming for the stuff too, so make sure the money is either cash, or split into two separate checks." he says before hanging up. "How's the arm?"

"You aren't messing with me," Jack notes, cheerfully. "And much better. I heal quickly...just didn't want to lose any more blood." He also warned Harry to wear gloves before doing first aid. That blood's actually rather nasty stuff.

Harry Dresden blinks "Why would I wanna mess with you man? We both got hired to do the same job, you got hurt, I thankfully didn't." he says as his face twinges his shoulder hurting where a good softball sized bruise is starting to form. "At least you're reasonable and are willing to split the bonus pay." he says setting an unopened coke on the edge of the desk that Jack's on as he sits in his chair. "You do work like this on a regular basis?" he asks curiously.

"Depends. On how much I need the money, how much else I have going on." He doesn't explain the messing with me comment further, although it might be noticed he doesn't sit *that* close to Harry. So far it's fine, but just in case.

Harry Dresden nods and makes chit chat with the 'competition' till the mark arrives, surprised by the full amount being paid to /both/ of them, along with a jacket for Jack and a box of sundry and hard to come by items for Harry, he is smart enough to keep himself quiet as to how they were obtained, being a polite host till the two leave.