Log:Joyride Interrupted

2021/02/03 Night Marshal Dolly Dark 1

It's been a day since Grimm left. The expectation was she was going to be back last night, but instead....no Grimm. And no news of the return of the heroes, either. Or any updates. A big question mark hangs over that situation. So tonight is free for vigilante work.

Night Marshal feels anxious. He knows that something may have delayed things. Perhaps it'll just be another day? Hopefully? He tries to focus on his 'night job'. He's only managed to stop one mugging so far this evening, so it's been otherwise quiet.

As it draws closer to midnight, Night Marshal notices some activity down below. There's an old school 2040 convertible classic driving along. Some masked guy in a creepy porcelein mask is driving, and a woman in revealing black and lavender lolita wear with a metal baseball bat, queuing up to hit a street sign.

Night Marshal grimaces. Taking out a sign is pretty small potatoes. But perhaps there's more to it than that. He follows along, gliding silently behing them, trying to remain up and in their blind spot.

He recognizes the outfit of the young woman. She's got blonde pigtails with purple and black striped ribbons, Dark eyeliner, pale pale white skin, rosey cheeks, and pink lipstick. He was looking for her after Clarissa escaped the insane asylum sometime back. Dolly Dark lines up a sign and swings away, knocking it clear off the pole. Some cash flutters behind the car from bags stuffed in the back seats.

The car itself is heading towards Harrisburg.

Night Marshal continues following, considering the option of taking them down while they're moving. But that wouldn't be the safest option. Even in Harrisburg. He decides to just continue tailing them for the time being.

The car takes a turn to circumvent the central part of Harrisburg. Dolly Dark, aka Clarissa Davis, escaped asylum patient, even sticks out her tongue as they avoid it, then laughs and hits a car's sideview mirror. "Hahahah, this is so much more fun than Blank! Ooooo, we should paint the clinic red on the inside!" she laughs. The driving thug speeds up and takes a turn. Dolly Dark is giggling madly as she almost gets thrown from the car while standing on her seat, but the driver grabs the bottom hem of her short frilly dress and pulls her back in before she tumbles out. "Wheeee! Do it again!" she giggles as they speed up toward Northern Harrisburg.

Night Marshal doesn't want Clarissa to actually fall out of the car, but he might be able to stop them if he drops her with a shot. But he'd have to wait until the right moment.

Dolly Dark remains standing on her passenger seat. "Whoda thought those mobster types left so much cash around? Ooooo, I bet I could buy a whole store of stuffed animals," she says in a cutesy voice. "We could have tea parties, and sleepovers, and play autopsy..." she begins to list more and more unhinged and macabre options. They slow down as they reach an old warehouse in the disused old industrial neighborhood of Northern Harrisburg, towards a rollup door of the since shuttered Blamco Toys Inc.

Night Marshal goes ahead and glides to a halt on a neighboring building with a view of the door.

The car rolls into the loading bay, which opens up to the old shipping floor. It's mostly open, with stacks of old shipping crates and boxes, conveyer belts, and some packing tables. It's been ransacked ages ago it seems. Many of the windows are shattered, probably by kids throwing rocks over the years, and graffiti mars the exterior. Night Marshal can hear some other voices inside.

"'ey, Little Missy is back," comments one derisively.

"Probably empty handed," says another.

The car parks and Dolly Dark plants her foot on the car door. "Alright, cuties, prepare to bow down to your new queen! I got the goods, so you're my playthings now!"

That gets some amused laughs from the others. A leader steps forward. "Nah. More like we got the goods, and you're gonna be our plaything."

Night Marshal grimaces. No matter what, this will get violent. He jumps off the building and glides down to one side of the rolling door which is still open. He peeks in to see just how many people are in the place.

There's the driver who seems to be with Dolly Dark, and five street toughs inside. One of them, the meanest looking of the bunch, steps up toward Dolly Dark and pulls his jacket back enough to reveal a gun tucked in his pants.

Dolly Dark pouts. "You can't take my stuff. It's mine!" she whines like a child.

The leader doesn't see her as a threat. "Oh, that's where you're wrong, Sweetheart. We're going to take all your stuff, and you. Your mute friend going to do anything to stop us?" He laughs, and his crew laughs with him as he reaches up to caress Dolly Dark's bare outer thigh.

Dolly Dark's pout intensifies, and then she closes her eyes tight and grips her bat even tigther. "It's just a game, it's just a game..." she repeats to herself in a scared voice, trying to console herself. Then there's a shift and her eyes open, and lunacy prevails. "So let's play!" She swings her bat and strikes the guy across the face. A few teeth go flying and he falls down. Never underestimate the strength of a lunatic. It happens so fast the crew is left stunned, expecting the leader to stand back up.

He doesn't.

"Now...all you cutie patooties work for me now, got it!? DO YA!?" Dolly Dark laughs maniacally.

Night Marshal draws his pistol, and steps out from behind the car, aiming in the general direction of...well, everyone. "Everyone. Down. Now. 'Less you want to eat lead."

Terror fills the eyes of the gang members as Night Marshal steps out. There's another wild west costumed vigilante out there known to kill without mercy, and word has spread through the less savory parts of the citizenry. "Oh shick, it's the Judge!"

"H-hey, we don't want no trouble. Just don't shoot us," another says. The others murmur other placating words as the thugs begin to slowly get down on the ground.

The masked driver turns to look toward Night Marshal. And Dolly Dark, having spent most of her time in Blank Asylum lately, doesn't know who the Judge or Night Marshal are. She rests her now bloodied bat on her shoulder and smiles, a few red splatters on her face. "A judge? You look like a new shiny toy to me! I hope you're more fun than the last one! That ninja guy didn't know how to play nice!"

Night Marshal tilts his head, "Ninja guy?" He's tempted to just shoot her. After all, it won't kill her, and it'll keep the illusion.

"Yeah, that guy in all black. Enforcer? I hear he's dead. More fun to play with now, I bet," Dolly Dark grins. Of all the luck...the driver isn't impressed enough to hesitate. He revs the engine and throws the car in reverse, swerving such that Dolly falls back into her seat and on her butt with her legs sticking out, while angling the rear bumper for Night Marshal.

Night Marshal manages to barely jump up and get his hand on the trunk without getting the car slamming into him. The palm of his glove sticks to the car, thankfully.

It's fortunate that Night Marshal ends up on the top of the trunk rather than under it. The car tires screech as the car turns sharply in reverse as it pulls out. The driver's trying to shift gears. Dolly Dark's feet are sticking up over the passenger door and kicking as she flails to get up, but she's mostly got cover due to her seat.

Dolly Dark gets up from her seat. She's rather agile even with the poofy frilly dress. She steps a foot on the back of her seat and raises her bat. "Judge, shmudge! I'm gonna make you a smudge on our bumper!" she giggles as she swings down at the hand clamped on the bumper.

Night Marshal brings up his other hand, trying to use the back of his hand to try to block as best he can, focusing on her wrists.

Dolly Dark's wrists impact the back of Night Marshal's hand as she swings down, stopping her from making any contact. "Heeeeey. No fair!"

The driver hits the gas. The tires screech again before the car suddenly lurches forward, weaving a little as the Driver starts to make a getaway, or attempts to with a vigilante on its trunk and make its way from the alley to the street.

Night Marshal goes ahead and shoots at Dolly. If she drops, she should hopefully drop back into the back seat of the car.

Night Marshal chuckles. "I'm not the Judge, but the way. I'm a better shot than he is."

Dolly Dark squeals like a hurt child when she's shot. "He shot me! He shot me! I'm a goner!" she whines in a gross over reaction as she collapses back into her seat, her back hitting the dashboard and her rear sinking down in the space between seat and dash. It hurts, but she doesn't realize it wasn't lethal. She drops her bat beside her as she tries to get her wits about her.

The Driver hears the shot and sees Dolly Dark go down. There's not enough time yet to register there's no blood. As the car continues to accelerate forward and straight, the driver curses and draws his gun, twisting to take a shot at Night Marshal. "You sonuva b****!" he says, his voice muffled by the creepy doll mask.

The shot hits the trunk off to Night Marshal's right, but about a foot.

"He's a big ol' meany! Shooting a girl like me!" Dolly Dark cries. "I thought heroes weren't supposed to kill....wait...huh?" She looks at the hand clutching her "wound" and sees its bloodless. "That was a pretty good trick! Maybe you ARE fun." She's lithe and extracts herself quickly to get her feet under her again. She remains ducked behind her seat for cover.

Night Marshal climbs up further onto the car, twisting his hand on the trunk to maintain contact with it for the time being until he can get solidly into the back. But he takes another shot at Dolly, tyring to put her out.

Dolly Dark evades Night Marshal's shot with a twisting move worthy of a contortionist. She giggles as she straigthens up again.

The driver is still angry and fires at Night Marshal, one hand on the wheel, the other aiming with a waver at the midnight cowboy.

The shot goes wide and over Night Marshal's head.

The car kept going straight, but it'll be running out of road soon enough and right into a steel rollup door at an old abandoned business ahead.

Dolly Dark giggles. "I like you, Judge-i-poo! You're crazy like me! I think you should get to play with Dolly's Dark's dolly: Dark Dolly!" She reaches down to the glove compartment and pulls out a doll with black hair and a white dress. The hair is knotted and clumped in places, and the dress is fairly dirty such that it's no longer truly white. Dolly Dark pulls on a string in the back and tosses it at Night Marshal. "She wants to play with you!" Greenish-yellow gas starts pouring out of Dark Dolly's mouth.

Night Marshal jumps upward, spreading his arms...and letting the energy wings form on his sides...slowing him down as he starts to glide upward briefly.

Dark Dolly bounces off the trunk where Night Marshal was, leaving a small cloud of gas that he flies up and free from Dolly Dark pouts. "What? You don't like me sharing my toys!?"

The driver is still focusing on the guy on their trunk. He's relieved as they finally shake Night Marshal off the car. "Good one, Dolly," he says gruffly and looks ahead to where he's driving. Just a little too late. He tries to slam on the break, bleeding off a little speed, but they crash into the roll up security door. The rear of the car jumps up during the impact, and Dolly Dark is ejected and slams into the roll up door before flopping down on the hood. The driver's head hits the steering well and shatters the porcelein doll mask he was wearing and knocks him out.

Dolly Dark lies with her upper half draped off the side of the crumpled hood. She's barely conscious, stunned, and her bat has gone flying elsewhere during the crash. She alternates between weak giggles and pained sounds mixed with labored breathing.

Night Marshal glides down, and goes to check on their medical condition, preparing to call for an ambulance.

They're both hurt, and in need of medical condition, but not dying. Dolly Dark is still awake and squirms. "Owww...owwie...you don't play nice..."

Night Marshal leans down closely to Dolly, "I'm not the Judge. If I was, I'd be shooting you now. But I'm the Night Marshal." He straigthens up to make a call to 911 to make sure the police and medical services will show up.

Dolly Dark's eyes manage to focus on Night Marshal. She begins to grin and giggle until she starts coughing. "Night Marshal, huh? I think next time I'll bring an astronaut..."

Night Marshal blinks, clearly not getting whatever reference is going on in her brain. Maybe she's hallucinating.

"Or...b-better yet...maybe Andy," Dolly Dark says in a deluded, dreaming voice.

Night Marshal finishes placing the call to 911, giving the location in question. He intends to stand by until the authorities arrive. "Don't worry...help will be here shortly.

Dolly Dark hums weakly to herself. It sounds like nursery rhymes. "Back to Blank I guess...they don't let me have any fun..." she says as the sirens can be heard approaching.

Night Marshal sighs quietly. There are just some things he can't do anything about. No matter what he does on the street, he can't sure her insanity. And the asylum may not be able to either. He crouches and pets her head lightly, trying to be comforting. "It's okay. People will help you."

Night Marshal finds himself needing a drink. A stiff drink.

Dolly Dark blinks a few times as he pets her head. "You're...awfully nice, Woody. Maybe we can play again." The police arrive first, escorting the EMTs to the accident.

Night Marshal smiles, though it's barely visible under the mask. "Maybe. We'll see, Dolly." He waves the police over to give them a report on what happened, and who the two are. Well, at least on who Dolly is.

The police take down the details as the EMTs deal with her henchman and her. They put her arm in a sling and put on a neckbrace.

One officer reads Dolly her Miranda rights, but it's hard to tell of Dolly is lucid enough to understand. Or sane enough to understand.

Night Marshal gives them a complete rundown of what happened and where, not leaving out any details. He realizes that the Miranda Rights mistake could be a reason that she gets out, but doesn't call the cop out on it.

The crooked pair get set onto gurneys and wheeled away. "Bye-bye, Woody," Dolly Dark tries to wave her fingers, since her arms are restrained to her sides.

Night Marshal hesitates, but waves back, honestly hoping she gets the medical attention she needs.

Dolly Dark laughs, and keeps laughing even as she's rolled into the EMT and the door shuts. "Anything else to add to our reports?" asks one of the officers.

Night Marshal shakes his head, "No, I don't think so. Just that she escaped from the asylum. She's going to need mental help in addition to the medical attention."

"Another whackjob, huh? Great. Isn't this someone else's beat?" the policeman grumbles.

Night Marshal shrugs, "I dont' know...is it?"

"Yeah. There's a dayshift detective," the Police comments. His partner frowns a bit at the mention.

Night Marshal nods slowly. "Who's the lucky stiff who gets the case, then?"

"Detective Carpenter," says the displeased partner. "He deals with your type."

Night Marshal nods. "I've heard the name." He then pauses and says, "Need anything else from me?"

"I think you're free to go," says the first cop.

Night Marshal nods. "Thanks. Have a good night." He heads to the nearby building and goes ahead to climb up to the roof with his gauntlets...so she can scale the wall.

The cops continue to process the scene and fill out their reports. As they do, the ambulance heads off to the hospital.