Jackson has never really liked the sort of people that hung around these sort of bars. Sure, he owned one himself back in the day, but that didn’t mean he particularly liked his clientele. “Tracy’s” was rather run down looking from the outside when Jackson first came upon it, but the sources he had gathered told him that looks would be deceiving, and boy were they right by the time he flickered into the damned place without nobody noticing.

The inside of the bar almost seemed like a shining model for a strip club. The place was gigantic as it was a renovated warehouse, dancers and strippers were in full swing as college students ran in and out of the various areas, playing beer pong or frustrating the old men trying to get a chick on the dance floor. Jackson felt a hint of jealousy in his bones, wishing his bar had been this busy, even if he didn’t exactly fancy how undeniably lewd the place was… but then that was expected for a college town.

Jackson waded into the crowd and looked toward the back corner were seedy business was normally done in these places. The conglomeration of men with oddly nice looking clothes next to baggy-clothed jackwads told him that this was the place the gang he was hunting down done some of their business. Terror, Jackson’s vigilante alter ego, was hunting them down for their crimes in the sex trade. He didn’t typically see college kids as his type of children to be mad about people abusing, but when he saw in the news how a girl names Kelly was killed by the supposed gang it got different. Her parents were sobbing profusely throughout the interview, the fire in his belly was lit by them with such fervency it was hard to say no to the nagging in the back of his head that made him decide on this as a job. So, here he was, hunting down criminals like usual, being all nonchalant and badass.

Jackson hit the bar up near the corner so he could watch the thugs through a small shard of reflective glass behind all the alcohol for the bartender. He got a Margarita as he was accustomed to and slowly sipped on the salty beverage while watching them. If he remembered correctly, they loved drugging drunk-ass college girls and taking them out the back. He just had to watch out for any girls that got over their heads here, which from his experience typically meant the ones that just turned 21.

“Now ain’t this special, Jack. You’re sitting here drinking away your sorrows again while therapeutically planning the mass murder, or at least debilitation, of an entire gang of sex traffickers. What has become of you ol’ chap? Oh right, you almost died and have lost quite a bit of logic and sanity! Not to mention the common sense needed to know better than endlessly putting your life on the line for strangers! Oh bother, at least it’s fucking fun…. Speaking of fucking, this Margarita tastes like sex.” He rambled on to himself quietly, only one or two people hearing him, all of which who promptly left their seats with a look of concern on their face. Couldn’t handle fucking genius when they saw it, their problem.

@Morose

Edwina, or Eddie as her friends called her, had stopped understanding what was going on hours ago. With her birthday being April First, the morning had been spent with endless pranks -- including but not limited to covering her textbooks in duct tape. The afternoon had been a bit more relaxed, as she had classes to attend and lab reports to hand in.

The evening, however, was defined by one word: booze.

Giggling and drinking her tenth rum and coke, Eddie perked up as the music began to pick up. Quickly gulping down the rest of her glass, Eddie got out from her bar seat, dancing with her friend Cassidy in the center of the bar. Strangers were dancing all around her, grinding on people they hardly knew.

Eddie, being the dork she was, was singing in the wrong key and throwing her hands in the air at all of the wrong intervals. Anyone paying close attention would notice that the light in the room had turned almost hazy, clouding the vision of everyone there. Normally, her powers were fairly easy for her to control.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case when she was drunk. Her friends were much the same, laughing and trying to convince Eddie to drink twenty-one shots for her twenty first birthday. A waitress, mousy faced and showing slight marks of pity, brought the jolly rancher flavored vodka shots over to Eddie, who began to try them all in rapid succession.

"God...this is AMAAAAZING!" Eddie giggle, hiccuping a bit.

A few guys in the corner grinned, waving her over to join them. The physics major shook her head slightly, slurring something about dignity and respect, as her friend Conner brought her yet another margarita. At this point, it would be a miracle if she recalled anything the very next day.

@FrozenEcstasy

Devon laughed to himself as he smacked the hell out of the back of Angel's head. You take a couple of thugs out to teach them how to look for prime candidates for prostitution and of course they try and act like they're picking up some sort of hooker with a bra too big and short shorts so small you can see the damned pockets hanging out... Jeez that was a little too descriptive. "Nah ya freak, that's not how you do it. See these college gal's wanna be romanced. You go up there and not act like a total cuntwad and you tell the girl she looks pretty and then you take her to the back and you rail her with the rufies, it's not that hard, they're all the same if you're good enough.

The thug, Devon, got out of his seat, dressed in totally black, a nice looking suit and tie. Tall, dark, and handsome, Devon was a white male with a rather modelesque face and a pretty built physique. A smirk played across his face, nearly perfect except for the small scar on the corner of his mouth. He waded through the throngs of people with a strong arm and a prize in his sights. Eddie was looking rather innocent from his angle and Devon couldn't help himself except to laugh. He tapped on the shoulder of the sweet looking girl and kept a cool look on his face. "'Scuze me ma'am, I couldn't help but wonder if I could get a few moment of your time. I don't normally see women of your beauty in places like this." He grinned with faux sincerity.

---

Jackson noticed one of the thugs making a move from through the mirror and he immediately scowled something furious. "Ah dammit, I was right, poor girl." He put the margarita back on the bar, half drunk, and on top of some money to pay for the drink (Plus tip, never not tip a bartender). "Now to follow some thugs and save a girl." He said to himself, wading through the crowd and occasionally flickering through people who got in his way. The dude was kinda attractive for a thug, and that made this more dangerous. Your typical gangbangers didn't really know how to look like decent human beings, someone looking like a goddamn porn star meant he wasn't going to be typical thug, and that meant Jackson had his work cut out for them.

Jackson stayed back, not interfering or else he wouldn't be able to find their groups "spot" or hideout or whatever. "Sorry hun, you're a big juicy worm and he's a hungry catfish, then there's me, the fisher." He thought to himself, watching the two interact and keeping an eye on the guys in the back. Bout now would be the time she was all flattered in her drunken stupor and let the jackass lead her to her impending doom, Jackson had to be there and make sure they didn't hurt her, and then follow them so he could take out their entire group. The girl was safe, but she was gonna be scared shitless here soon.

@Morose

"'Scuze me ma'am, I couldn't help but wonder if I could get a few moment of your time. I don't normally see women of your beauty in places like this," a charming stranger grinned, putting an arm on Eddie's shoulder. Somewhere, beyond all of the booze pumping through her body, Edwina knew that it was time to run. It was time to scream and go back to her room and never come back.

Instead, she giggled, playing with her hair like an idiot. "Stooooop!" Eddie shrieked, batting her eyes bashfully. "You're making me bl-blush!"

The stranger flashed a Cheshire Cat like grin, leading her away from her friends and out of the bar. A few of them waved over at her, cheering when they saw that she had bagged a nine. So much for their theories that Eddie was gay! Just like a schoolgirl, Eddie let the man take her outside, his lips like honey on hers.

Truthfully, she didn't have any idea what she was doing -- kissing wasn't something she had much experience in. The man pinned her against the wall, ruffling her hair, kissing her so passionately that she didn't notice the clear liquid he put inside of a drink.

"Drink up," the man said, winking, as he handed the drink over to Eddie. She gulped it down, and instantly, the world around her began to blur. The lights around the building flickered strangely, before dying as well, as if despairing over Eddie's fate. The man grinned, hoping that it wasn't merely a coincidence. A supernatural would fetch a far better price on the black market.

"Let's move out, boys," the man instructed, as a sleek black impala pulled up. He deposited Eddie inside, stepping into the shotgun seat, with goons armed heavily in the back. Two other cars flanked them as they drove off, heading towards the SEA-TAC strip.

@FrozenEcstasy

Jackson's radars went off immediately. She fell for the new, classier, more intelligent bait. He hopped on his toes and followed the two through the crowd and phased through several people to do it. He watched very closely as they left and his plan immediately hit a snag, following farther without being noticed. "Ah come the fuck on..." he said to himself, looking from side to side in brief, yet calm, panic. He ran around a couple people towards the bathroom doors. The bathrooms were right next to the back wall of the building, with it being so late at night the back alley wouldn't be lit... he could run through one of the bathroom walls and float up to watch the vehicle ride out with the new cargo in tow. So, that's exactly what he did.

The two cars flanking the impala let Jackson know that they were pretty well manned for a gang and their business was a rather important one. White collar trafficking seemed most likely, which meant that he was up against thugs with serious money. That normally meant they were pretty supercilious with themselves, which would work towards his own ends in the long run. He was hoping the thugs had the run of the mill warehouse sort of deal as those were pretty easy to do a shit ton of flickering in, just as long as he didn't do too much too quick too often... but he normally liked possessing something in the warehouse in order to scare people shitless... or senselessly murder them with swinging chainsaws... fun night.

It looked like everyone was headed towards an airport area, which gave him the shivers. Loud plane noises near a warehouse were pretty good for masking the screams of dozens of women being raped and sold against their will right? It was taking awhile, but Jackson was managing to keep up with the cars from the sky, he just had to focus on the general aura of the girl he saw and follow it from an altitude that allowed him to keep up with the speed of the cars, and far enough above to stay out of sight, hence his current emo get-up where the black allowed him to blend in.

The Terror was now floating on his backside like he was laying down as he followed the car, turning over a purple colored gun in his hand labeled Nightmare. It was one of his babies and it had made several really nice shots. He had 6 cartridges for it and it's twin sister, but he's probably only going to need the ones currently in the guns, gang busts were normally psychological games, he just had to do it in a way to make sure the girl wasn't harmed. He was in the middle of debating going elm street or overdramatic ghost when the cars below came to a stop. Time to get ready for a night of blood.

@Morose

---

---

Somewhere, deep within Eddie's mind, she was alert. Her own subconscious stared out, watching everything unfold like a horror movie. All she could manage to do was turn the lights on and off, on and off. The rest of her was entirely useless, rendered helpless by the drugs.

"This one will catch us a nice price," Devon smirked, straightening up Edwina's hair. He didn't need his product to look too messy -- after all, they were in the business of selling talented girls whenever they could. They were the best in the business at it, targeting and capturing with ease.

This night, they had gotten lucky.

"Sounds good, boss!" a goon chuckled, as a blinding light filled the car. The drive, unable to see, screamed and shock and slammed on the breaks. The cars flanking the impala did the same, reacting with record time. Eddie groaned as her head was slammed into a seat, and the light faded, returning the cars to darkness.

"Straight jacket her, restrain her, the works," Devon ordered. "Her powers are still active--can't have them going off every five seconds, hmm, now can we?"

His goons quickly got to work, restraining Edwina within a straightjacket. A muzzle was put around her mouth, the blindfold tightened, and noise canceled headphones cupped her ears. An unknown chemical was then injected into her body, causing her to twitch, before lying still, hardly even breathing. More and more devices were clipped onto her, all designed with interfering the unique frequency that Edwina operated at, the one that allowed her to manipulate light.

Motioning to his men to start the cars in motion again, Devon sat back in his chair, breathing out a long sigh. Hopefully, nothing else would be fucked up that night.

@FrozenEcstasy