Day 264 - Thursday, September 11th

[papalobo]

[Max sleeps; has as he'd thought, he achieves nothing, and he's not even a small-talk source of comfort or somebody to soothe Ash's nerves before his two AM meeting with yet another Chinese teenager. Something about Chinese teenagers seems to always spell trouble for Ash, and now he's in a mess involving no less than four of them.

But Max doesn't move. If Ash comes to see him, setting that pill counter and the note about the smoothie, he may notice he hasn't so much as shifted a finger. Ash has had to turn to painting, but there's no need to lock that room before, or even for a long while after. The only one in this house besides him is a breathing corpse.

But Shawn's ready and waiting for him at one, prepared to be decked out a wires that Ling's likely to hang him with if he finds out about them.]

Comments

[jadedlynx]

[ If he dies by out of date fire escapes...

But Shawn should be here. It's going to be slow. Maybe he'll luck out and Shawn will be sitting all tied up in front of the window.

Time to get started. Instead of looking into the window, he'll use his phone to take a photo of what's inside if a window shouldn't have curtains. He'll have to make use of the rooms that do and come back. ]

[papalobo]

[Not only are most windows not curtained, most are even open; it's summer, and many can't afford AC, so whatever breeze they can get is welcomed. For that reason, relegating the fire escape room instead to a kitchen or laundry room rather than a bedroom is popular.]

[jadedlynx]

[ And he's on a fire escape that threatens to yell out if he moves too quickly.

With open windows, he can listen before risking the photo. At the very least, he did hear the men talking. ]

[papalobo]

[The lynx must move with grace; the rusted, rickety structure threatens to yell at a soft breeze. It's noisy by the windows, with Chinese chatter of women and children, TVs, radios. But as he gets closer to where the bug had lingered before, there are adult male voices. That's not necessarily unique, but they are what he's looking for.

The window is open by what looks like a washroom. There's no formal bathtub there, just a large tin washbasin, which has brownish water and bloodstains on it. There's a rusted sink and a toilet without a seat, and quite a lot of packaged trash, from pill bottles to plastic containers to needle caps and probably needles.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Found you, assholes.

They've been up all night. They'll need to sleep soon. It's still darkish so Ash does have some cover.

Sitting on his hunches, he starts his translator app. It won't be perfect for the distance, but maybe he'll get some idea of what's being said. He'll also try to discern how many men are inside. ]

[papalobo]

[At first, for a stretch of three minutes, it sounds like one. He's likely on the phone. The translator app can't pick up much of it; it spits out guesses, but none are very reliable, aside from mentioning cats, dragons, and dogs without much context it can pick out. It suggests talk of morning and disasters. But the man doesn't sound angry or panicked.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Three minutes isn't enough to make a decision. He'll wait 15 to make the call. ]

[papalobo]

[The translator can pick up something: "He lied about not speaking Chinese."

For the first ten or so it sounds entirely like only one person is there. Then eventually, there's another: familiar, slurred, as if drunk, but still saucy.]

I'm gonna brag at home I'm worth more than a Ling. Which would mean something if anyone knew what a Ling was.

[jadedlynx]

[ Shawn.

One person down.

Ash is still silent as he comes into the window. He needs to figure out where the man is in in the apartment. ]

[papalobo]

[The apartment should be quite small, just based on how tightly packed everything appears in this web of buildings. It sounds like he's to Ash's left, probably in a room directly over from the bathroom, or maybe across the hall. The bathroom door is open to show a dark, very narrow hallway that the likes of Marvin wouldn't be able to fit through.

It'd be hard to drag bodies through, but as the boy before noted, if you're just bundling them up and not caring too much if they get hurt, one could force it.]

[jadedlynx]

[ If he's talking to Shawn, his back should be to Ash if he's not behind another door. The inner parts of the room would all face away from the washroom.

He moves slowly down the hall. ]

[papalobo]

[He comes to a closed door, where he can hear the voice more clearly and confirm that is where the sound is coming from.

That there's only one other room, on the opposite side of the hall, beside the stairway, also narrows that down a lot.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Even captors like to look at their victims when they're speaking. As long as there's a conversation, the door shouldn't be the point of focus.

When Ash slowly opens the door, he's still prepared in case he's wrong.]

[papalobo]

[Upon touch he can determine the door handle is going to be creaky. Does that change anything?]

[jadedlynx]

[ Couldn't they keep him some place a little less annoying?

It's annoying, but Ash can't keep waiting around. There will be other men.

Open the door. The guy will turn around to see who is coming in. A knife throw should plant the blade into the man's head. Curiosity will be his first response and even if he gets a moment of realization before the blade kills him, his instinct will be to point the gun at Ash, not shoot Shawn.

Planning out the movements inside, he opens the door to follow through with just that. ]

[papalobo]

[It goes exactly as planned; at the creek, the man isn't even particularly worried or panicked. He slightly turns, as if expecting an ally's entrance; there's an instant of realization that Ash isn't someone who should be here, a hand reaching for a gun still holstered in his waistband, but he's dead and dropping before his fingers touch the handle.

Shawn is tied with a metallic wire meant to torture; looking like a gothic arc show, weeping thin red lines meaning every struggle draws blood and enough red to assure he's struggled a lot just the same, he is, as seems to be his destiny in life, kept facing a corner. He's also sat straddling a wedge meant to cause pain if he isn't constantly flexing his thighs to keep gravity from pulling him down. He tries to turn, but even when not tied to anything, his movement is quite limited by the method of bondage.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Which further assures Ash there will be allies.

Fucking assholes. Ash was wrong in the beginning. He thought Ling was going to offer Shawn the chance to work together. This isn't the move of somebody courting an alley. This is torture.

His stomach drops. Wu and Sing won't have fared better. ]

Don't move.

[ Ripping his blade from the guy's head as if retrieving his weapon from a slice of cheese, if with a lot more effort, Ash moves to cut the wires. ]

[papalobo]

Ash?!

[Despite the order, he jerks as if to face him; his pupils are too wide, though. Ash has been the victim of a similar drug enough to likely guess that for him, it's like hearing sounds in a dark room. He's too surprised to sound relieved or worried; it's pure shock for the moment.

He really hadn't expected rescue.]

[jadedlynx]

[ It's a popular drug, it seems. ]

Shh. I haven't secured the rest of the house.

[ Once the wires are cut, he tries to help Shawn to his feet. It's important he's able to move if Ash has to hold off more men. ]

Do you know if anybody else is inside?

[papalobo]

[His standing is unsteady, but he can probably walk, even if running is bound to be out of the question. He also has no shoes.]

I don't even know what I'm inside. I heard you got Ling. You got Wu or Sing?

[jadedlynx]

No. I'm hoping Wu is in the room I haven't checked.

[ Alive, preferably, but the acid and Shawn's condition keeps his stomach heavy. ]

I'm going to put you outside on the fire escape. If it sounds like things go south, use the railing to get down. I can hold them off long enough for that.

Don't trust anybody here. Even the old woman downstairs is in on it.

[papalobo]

If I didn't need you to save my sorry ass right now I'd be real insulted you don't want me with you as backup...

[jadedlynx]

[ An arm hooks around Shawn to help him walk and guide him to the window. ]

I've been on your end of that drug before. You wouldn't even know how many fingers I was holding up.

[papalobo]

They got a lotta drugs. Instant TKO got me in the house. Dunno if it was a blowdart or what. Woke up in a limo. Real nice to me 'till they said you got Ling. Some kinda truth talky thing, too. Right out the movies.

[Ash is going to get blood on him, which will make him conspicuous when leaving.]

[jadedlynx]

[ Shawn is going to make him conspicuous when leaving. ]

They made the call not to do the trade, and they've also got an acid that can dissolve a body so they wouldn't have been real nice if you didn't give them what they wanted.

There's a window here, a few feet off the ground. Step over it. The escape is on the other side.