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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 19:43:10 GMT -5
So apparently, the whole cause for the evening's disturbance had been some girl whose brother was in one gang falling in love with some kid in another gang, and the whole thing was going Shakespeare until Ozymandias showed up and managed to calmly talk both sides out of doing anything stupid before the cops showed up. It may have been simply that his presence was just so mind-bogglingly surreal that laying down their guns felt like the only way to keep their sanity, but he didn't mind.
Returning to patrol afterward, Adrian felt good. He was flat-out beaming, in a way he'd been doing far less often since he'd returned to New York. Eighteen years old, and he'd managed to talk two entire gangs out of war.
The cops had been especially proud of him. He was around the same age as many of the gang kids themselves. Why couldn't they be more like him?, a few of the cops had wondered out loud. There was just something almost endearing in the ludicrousness of a lanky teenager in a mask and some kind of godawful purple-and-gold costume out of a fifth-grade Bible pageant. That, and his utter earnestness, made him practically a separate species from the other masks as far as the cops were concerned.
He was alone now, patrolling another neighborhood, grinning and flushed. He was doing good. He was helping people. He was uniting gangs and ending wars and bubbling over with youthful zeal, even as he turned the corner and unwittingly entered preclaimed territory.
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 20:41:13 GMT -5
The city never changed, did it? No matter what you did, no matter how hard you fought to bring down the scum of the earth that congregated here, the punks who thought they owned it, it never ended. There was always somebody new out there trying to carve a name for themselves.
Edward Blake would not have it any other way.
Youngish, handsome and with a roguish grin, he was a picture out of one of those comic books that they used to have before the real guys showed up, his armor tonight stained somewhat from the few heads he had to crack. Oh, there'd been another gang war tonight; that one wouldn't be continuing, either. This was his town, his territory, and to hell with anyone who stood in his way.
As they did now. Across the street, the man in the domino mask spied something, and at first he thought his eyes might be playing tricks on him. What was that, a kid in a Halloween costume? No. No...he knew what it was, and God help that little prick who didn't know what he was doing. Eddie moved across the street. Traffic was light tonight.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 20:52:45 GMT -5
Adrian paused long enough to stretch against a lamppost and then glanced across the street.
He tensed.
And then he gave a supercilious little bow.
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 21:11:31 GMT -5
Eddie's lip curled up into a one-sided sneer as he surveyed the would-be vigilante. Pathetic. He couldn't even get that right. The bow just...sickened him. It was mincing, and he could tell that wasn't even all; something about this boy simply grated on his nerves more than he could tell.
"What--the hell--do we have here?" he asked, with deceptive softness, pausing to blow a puff of cigar smoke in Adrian's general direction.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 21:24:03 GMT -5
Adrian's back stiffened, and he fought back the urge to wince from the smoke.
"I'm patrolling, sir," he said, almost primly, and with his not-quite-repressed accent adding a little edge to his voice.
He looked the older man over, and behind his mask his eyelids lowered in a show of arrogant appraisal.
"Oh, it's you," he said softly. "I know you."
The slightest insouciant smile.
"You're the Comedian."
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 21:28:46 GMT -5
Eddie was not fond of kids. Especially not ones like this one, 'yes, sir, no sir,' and their prim pansy posturing.
The arrogance of it! To think that he could improve on what he, the Comedian (and the others, he supposed) was doing in his own city! Eddie leaned over the young man, one hand on the wall, like an aggressive physical education teacher. "Are you now," he said still in that same tone of voice, dangerously calm. "That's right. I am. And...do you know what I don't think is funny?" He raised one eyebrow above his mask, daring the boy to answer.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 21:36:15 GMT -5
Adrian took a step away, by instinct more than anything.
"No, sir."
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 21:41:12 GMT -5
The Comedian turned to make sure his back was up against the wall.
"Little--PUNKS--who think they can take over my job!" he bellowed, suddenly bellicose, and slammed a massive fist straight into the younger vigilante's chest, with his full force.
He wasn't known to be a very stable crimefighter, after all.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 21:47:34 GMT -5
He hadn't had time to see it coming. Not yet.
Adrian's jaw dropped and he tried raggedly to inhale, while reaching for the Comedian's fist and bending the older man's arm away. He followed it with a sharp punch to the jaw, throwing most of his body weight behind it.
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 21:53:28 GMT -5
In moments like these, Eddie didn't see things normally. He was gazing through a tinted haze, aware of everything that was happening around him and yet somehow of none of it. It had always been like this, and if you were smart, you learned to adjust. Unlike this bastard.
He'd moved to pull his own arm back, planning for a counterattack, but still managed to take that punch on his rugged jaw. Sneer widening to an almost satanic leer, a think bit of blood showing from between his teeth, he moved to knee the brat in the crotch, fair fighting never being his priority.
"You think you can do any good?!"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 21:56:59 GMT -5
Adrian wasn't listening. He threw himself at the Comedian, more rage than planning, pounding heavily at the man's chest like he'd pounded at his father's.
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 22:01:14 GMT -5
"Pathetic," Eddie snarled, disgusted by the childishness of the attack, and he thrust out a beefy arm, shoving his weaker opponent away, moving in to attempt a vicious left hook to the temple.
"You couldn't deal with the things I've seen," he growled, and indeed he had seen some dark things in his lifetime. They would not be the worst, however.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 22:11:38 GMT -5
This time, Adrian saw it coming, and threw his forearm in the way.
His head was safe. Something snapped in his arm with a bolt of pain.
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Edward Blake
- In the Duggins -
It's all a joke.%\0\%
Posts: 87
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Post by Edward Blake on Mar 12, 2010 22:14:29 GMT -5
That sent a shockwave back up Eddie's arm, but he barely noticed, except seeing the pain flash across his opponent's face. He gave another rictus grin and took advantage of the distraction, kicking across the boy's heels to bring him down.
"Look at that. You can't even defend yourself."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Mar 12, 2010 22:23:43 GMT -5
Adrian tried to grab at the wall to stay steady, and instead he only managed to scratch his fingertips along the rough edged brick as he fell down, landing on his hands and knees.
Pain surged through his broken arm. He toppled forward.
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