The Fall of Babylon
Who: Jackson & Danny, and then OPEN to anyone who fancies gawking at the aftermath, or lurking in the top level of Babylon idk.
Where: Babylon
When: Evening
Jackson hadn't trusted himself to be anywhere near the station after the incident with Paul, and but he hadn't really wanted to go home either, so instead he'd let himself into Jenny's place and slept fitfully on her couch for a couple hours, before waking up around 5.30 and leaving to go on a long antsy walk. It was 2 hours before the drunk tank got cleared. He'd been so fucking aware of it.
Around 10 he finally went back to the station. Paperwork. Other things. Things that paled in comparison to what was happening now. Knuckles still raw, hands clenched in his hair as he surveyed the area, holding his breathe.
"Are we good?" Jackson finally barked impatiently into his collar, breaking the hushed anxiety somewhat, waiting for coded response from Officer Edwards (who was posing as a John) for the Raid to begin. The air in the back alley behind Babylon was tense. Jackson was restless, he kept twitching and pacing and pulling at his hair. He waited for about 3 seconds before he turned to Danny, who was leading up the group of uniforms Jackson had brought into the raid in a kind of unspoken "right hand man" position. "What's taking that guy so long? Why the hell hasn't he answered me yet?"
Danny almost offered Jackson his flask, but he'd purposely left it in the cruiser. It should have occurred to Danny that Jack might need it though. The kid was still wound up from the night before. "Have you ever even been in this place? It's not exactly a place you run in and out of." Danny quirked a small smile. "Man, it's a shame you're shutting this place down, you need to get laid."
Jackson gave Danny a "what the hell, bro?" look, and opened his mouth to say something about how this was so completely not the time for distasteful banter (only probably worded in a way less diplomatic fashion), and whether or not it had been far too long since Jackson had had a little action was far from Danny's business, and there were more important things at stake right now god damnit, when his collar buzzed back at him, "Make mine on the rocks," and he gave what in some circles would have been classed as a squeal. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head, and he gave a hige grin, "Okay, finally, everyone ready? Let's do this. Go in there, arrest everyone you see, ask questions later, absolutely no use of lethal force - does everyone understand me? This place is going down!"
Danny rolled his eyes at Jackson, with a sly smile. It was like a kid in a damn candy store. "We're with you Haas," he told him, hand on his nightstick. "Alright boys, you know the drill." Danny called down to his men, the best he could get his hands on. "You heard him. Let's do this."
Jackson acknowledged Danny with a firm hand on the shoulder for a moment, before getting his game face on. It was time to lead the charge. The doors burst open, guns were drawn (Jackson's wasn't even loaded, because he couldn't afford for there to be more mistakes - he didn't trust himself - but you needed to have them for show in a raid situation. It was how stuff worked) and it was the stereotypical moment of "Police! Everyone on the ground right now!"
Babylon seemed busy to Jackson, but he didn't really know what "busy" was. There were three middle aged men sitting at the bar, which was being tended by a stocky bald man who Officer Edwards had already clapped in cuffs. There were a couple scantily clad girls were in the process of leading another two into a back room, and commotion could be heard in the conjoining rooms, suggesting there were more unseen people waiting to be cuffed. The table in the corner was what interested Jackson most. 6 men in suits, one of whom had quite clearly been talking in a loud Irish accent just before the doors caved in, with a thick scar running across his jawline. They all looked pretty fucking shocked. "Damon O'Malley?" Jackson said moving over to the man, "You're in a lot of trouble, sir," he gestured over his shoulder for men to go upstairs quickly, to clear out whoever was there before they got a chance to shimmy down a fire escape.
Danny's men turned to him, for approval and with his nod they took off upstairs. He followed up behind Jackson, letting him take the big fish. Danny instead grabbed one of two of the lackeys that were also sitting at the table. Another uniformed officer appeared to clap cuffs on both of them. Damon O'Malley huh? Jackson's target on his back just got bigger. "Take these guys out, out the front and load them into the van," he told the officer and handed a set of cuffs to Jackson.
"You have the right to remain silent," said Jackson, cuffing the big man who was shooting Jackson the worst looks ever and very much exercising that right. Jackson finished reading the rights and handed the man to two waiting uniforms to drag him out to the van. "Through there," he said to Danny, pointing to the door through which the two underfed hookers had been taking the two overfed men (all four of which were now very much under arrest), "You wanna go for it? I can definitely hear something."
There was something about Jackson's excited that was catching and soon Danny found that he was enjoying himself. Pressing an ear to the door he could hear it, there was definitely something of interest going on behind the door. Grinning Danny motioned for Jackson to stand at the wall next to the door. With a good heave, Danny shouldered into the door, knocking it open with a bang.
Jackson was not particularly surprised when he saw the large man scramble to pull sheets around his sweating, naked form - although the redhead he was with hardly seemed to care and reached over for a cigarette before she reached for her cheap dress. Jackson shuddered involuntarily as he caught a glimpse of the scabs that ran up her legs.
"Jesus, they musta been going at it not to hear us come in earlier..." mumbled Jackson to Danny, keeping his empty gun settled on the man who was now freaking out and gabbling about not letting his wife know.
"Or they didn't fucking care," Danny pointed out, crossing the room to the redhead. "Come on princess," he told her, taking her arm gently and pulling her away from the scene. "Put some clothes on," he told her and then tossed a discarded pair of pants at the fat man. "You too you dirty sonofabitch."
Jackson rolled his eyes, "Sure, leave me with the porker, nice to see where your priorities lie, McKinnon" he said jovially, forgetting some of the turmoil for a while - this was Jackson's element. The big clean up. Purging the evil. It made him feel cleaner, too, getting rid of this place. He was kind of amazed at how well the whole thing was going. No shots fired, no trouble - just some very surprised patrons. Although honestly a lot of the girls he'd seen didn't seem fazed at all and he figured that was Eris' doing. "Unfortunately, sir, I'm gonna hand you over to another officer," he said, as a uniform peered his head around the corner, stifling laughter at the sight of the naked blimp, "I wanna check the premises over a little more, Danny, before we barricade the joint - I'm pretty sure everyone's ass has been pulled out of here by now. You wanna oversee the transport out?"
Danny helped the girl into her dress some and then eased her out the door, handing her off to another set of officers who with a look also treated her gently. It was bothering Danny, the way she seemed so fragile and yet had been under that giant form. Slightly distracted he turned back to Jackson with a bit of a delay, a solemn look on his face. "Not a problem Jack. Anderson, Edwards," he told two more officers coming around the corner to check in. "Stick with Haas. Cover his ass if he needs it." Before walking out Danny clapped a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "You did a good job here Jack."
.
Eris was in the deep, deep shadows across the street from Babylon, a block or so down. She could see the flashing lights, see the people going in and out, the men being led away, cuffed. While more than aware that she shouldn't be anywhere in the vicinity at all--she was sure Jackson would toss her in with everyone else if he even so much as glimpsed her--she felt the need to be there.
To watch her kingdom burn.
She'd set it in motion, and it was with a strangely hollow sort of sensation in her chest that she watched it go down. Watched some of the girls get loaded in...though she knew there were some girls that weren't going to be told about everything. When she'd talked to the girls the other night, they had told her as much. Told her that there were those inside Babylon who were on the O'Malley's side. Every war had it's turncoats, and this was no different. So, there were some women being loaded in right alongside certain mobsters that she recognized. People she'd seen from time to time, who'd done business under her roof. People she knew Brett worked with, and under.
There was, of course, a crowd gathered round the place. A rather large one, at that, something she expected. A fixture of the city was going down tonight, of course people wanted to be there to watch it all crumble. Even she did, and it had been hers. She'd built it from scratch, and now it was going to be ashes. Possibly literally, she was considering setting it on fire at some point. Just to really seal the deal. For now though, she just watched, and waited.
Andrei was lounging in the
Andrei was lounging in the corner of one of the rooms, sitting in a chair that gave him a clear view of the entrance. The room was unique to Babylon in that it didn’t contain a bed. Today he wasn’t here for pleasure: neither the typical Babylonian kind nor his idea of it. Today was strictly business for the ‘Lady’ of the house. He had explicit orders to not get physical… yet. Apparently the Queen Whore was still needed as a figurehead for now. Strictly business wasn’t his usual thing – it bored him greatly. But the Syndicate was short on guys they trusted, and they wanted an unspoken threat behind the message. His being the one to deliver it was that threat; and it was a damn good one.
But his Lady of the Evening was running late, and Andrei was impatiently left to amuse himself with thoughts of the earlier day while twirling his knife upon the stand next to him, the point digging into the table. The lamplight glinted of it across the room, save for some duller areas of a redder – well now a browner – hue. He had only hastily wiped it off earlier that day after some somewhat more ‘hands on’ business following the Green Fairy. It was that same business that had marked him with a few good scratches around his neck and jawline. And he was sporting a welt above his left eyebrow where the guy had uncooperatively gotten Andrei with a fuckin’ pipe. He hadn’t appreciate the wound, but he had appreciated the introduction of new… tool to the affair.
Andrei heard the commotion long before it reached his hallway. He stood up and made his way to the door in a few quick strides, pressing his ear against it before jarring it open. He could hear police coming up both stairs, and his jaw clenched. Yeah, he had heard them before they would reach him all right, but it wasn’t long enough for him to plan an escape. Fuck. He could try to break through, and do some nice damage along the way… his merciless little eyes narrowed in pleasure at the thought. But they seemed to have plenty of back-up, and Andrei had never been the biggest fan of getting himself killed.
He closed the door and strolled back to the chair, always aware of the movements on the other side of the door. There weren’t many options, and the best one was to play nice and let his lawyer get him out of it later. He sat in the chair, eying the door out of the corner of his eye. He looked as unassuming as possible, casually using the knife-blade to pick out the dried blood beneath his fingernails.
Jackson listened to the
Jackson listened to the chaos of his successful raid as he tramped up the stairs of Babylon. Good noises, the sound of victory. He smiled slightly to himself, and allowed himself a moment - before a police officer came out wrestling a hooker with a black eye out of her room
"Get your fuckin' hands offa me! I ain't done nothin! I ain't done nothin! No-one warned me 'bout htis, don't you perverts touch me!"
He raised an eyebrow at the two annoyed looking officers who were wrestling with the woman, who was the first girl he'd seen that didn't look malnourished or nonchalant about the entire raid. One of the officers looked back at Jackson and said over the woman's shouts, "She already had the damn black eye, so if she starts harping on about sueing us, we didn't do anything! Come on, Maggie, let's get you downstairs."
Jackson nodded, held back a grin at the sight of two fully grown men struggling with the woman, and snorted as he made his way up to the top floor of Babylon. What was he looking for? Stragglers? Maybe. More than anything he wanted to find something that would give him a little leeway over Eris. Something that showed him she was still involved here. Something he could use to lock her up - or to make her leave. He wanted his suspicions confirmed about that damn woman.
He opened the door at the top of the steps, not really expecting anyone to be inside - so when there was? He made an "Ack!" noise and quite visabley jumped, before pulling himself back together and getting cop-head back on. "Slipped the net huh, buddy? Put the knife down. Cooperation is exactly what you wanna be doing right now."
When the door opened and the
When the door opened and the cop walked in, Andrei kept at his task with the knife as his eyes tracked the cop’s movements. He recognized him, all right. He made a point of familiarizing himself with the names and faces of good ol’ ECPD; and the detective definitely had one of the more… eye-catching personalities of the force.
As the shiniest of detectives finally spotted him and jumped, Andrei stopped his movements and glanced up at him, curling his mouth into a toothy, canine-baring smile. The jump could’ve just been surprise at seeing anyone there, but Andrei liked to think it was him specifically that had spooked the man.
“Hello there, Officer.” He was almost purring the words, as if greeting an old friend. But his eyes blatantly taunted otherwise as he carefully folded up the knife and placed it upon the table. He didn’t get up, nor seem visibly concerned that ECPD’s finest were swarming a building he shouldn’t be caught in. Instead, he politely lowered his hands and rested an elbow against the armrest, keeping his tone casual and light. “Or I guess it’s Detective Haas now, isn’t it? Good job with that killer by the way. I’m certain the City’s resting easier with that off the streets – I know I am.”
He flashed Jackson a wide grin, and leaned back in the chair to make a show of just how relaxed he was, complete with a showy stretch. Resting with hands behind his head, he intently eyed the cop behind his easy-going demeanor. The police knew what he was, and he knew that. But they could never catch him with anything illegal, and even after this still probably wouldn’t, so he let his eyes reveal what he normally tried to hide. …Because few things got him off quite like fucking with others’ heads.
Jackson actually didn't know
Jackson actually didn't know who the guy was. Well, maybe he'd recognise the name, but as far as Jackson was concerned right now? He was a creepy John with a shaved head who happened to read the paper. "Listen, bub, you're under arrest, so either you're gonna cooperate and hope to God you got a decent lawyer, or you're gonna get done for resisting arrest and I'm gonna have to use force. You being literate ain't spooking me - lotta people in this city know my name these days," said Jackson, walking into the room and removing his cuffs from his belt, "Now get up, put that knife down, and spread 'em"
Andrei got up slowly, both
Leaving the knife on the table, Andrei got up slowly; both to not cause the cop to do something he (Andrei) would regret and also to prove that even a cop threatening arrest wouldn’t hurry him. He stood with feet set solidly apart on the floor, hands up and clasped casually behind his head. His jacket lifted up with his arms, revealing an iron-carrying holster tucked away at his left side. He had only brought it for show: guns weren’t normally his thing and, when they were, he didn’t use one that was so easily tied to him. He didn’t make a move to remove it though, seeing as how the cop didn’t seem particularly fond of him at the moment – not that Andrei’s smirk was really helping.
“Heh, a lawyer? For waiting to talk to a pretty lady?” Andrei screwed up his in expression as if in serious thought, but broke it with another grin. “Seems an awful lot of trouble for a whole lot of nothing, don’t you think?” And he did have a damn good lawyer who had gotten him out of heavier scrapes than this. The grin danced upon his face as he fought the urge to leap out and do something considerably more drastic with the guy than exchange banter. They were alone in the room, after all. But he knew that was a stupid idea. The detective had a gun and even if Andrei could overpower him, he couldn’t overpower a whole fuckin’ police squad.
Jackson smacked his handcuffs around Andrei's wrists and snorted, reciting the man his rights with more than a slight edge of sarcasm, pulling his hands downwards and making moves to lead him towards the door. "You think your creepy motherfucker routine is gonna get to me, soldier? You don't know creepy," Jackson thought a freezer full of noses was about as creepy as he needed, and shaved head didn't come close to that - although sitting alone in a hookers bedroom with a knife probably did, but Jackson was riding the wave of success and any distasteful activities that might have once taken place here? No longer would.
"Just trying to make conversation, detective," came the drawled response. Always focused on relishing moments, Andrei had never been a guy to talk fast. Although, honestly? Yeah, he had been hoping to spook the cop a bit. Seeing as how he wasn't a man entirely free to speak his thoughts, he could settle for just making others uncomfortable... although, really, he usually did that without even trying. His eyes hardened at the feel of cold metal trapping his wrists. Being bound? Not appreciated. Andrei may not give a damn about the brothel being shut down, but he did care a helluva lot about his movements being restricted.
But he managed to keep the annoyance only to his eyes as a bemused mouth curled up at the cop's statemnt. "Creepy? You might be right there, Haas. 'Never known anything to be creepy in my life." Clearly, Andrei was all too happy to revoke his right to silence as he flashed the detective a mischievous grin; like they were the best of buddies. Nevermind that thoughts of what he'd like to do to Jackson -- of what the Synidcate might just let him do to Jackson after this raid -- were running through his head. And yeah, Andrei didn't find them creepy at all.
Jackson rolled his eyes as he manhandled Andrei down the stairs "Detective Haas, jerkoff. And quit smartmouthin' huh?" said Jackson with his usual level of smug cheek when arresting someone he deemed as being scum, "Save it for whatever smarmy piece of dirt lawyer you got. I don't listen when people like you talk."
People like you - people with knives and attitude problems. People who did things to women that Jackson did not class anywhere above rape. Just because money was involved, didn't mean some poor girl's body wasn't being violated.
"That will make the questioning difficult, no?" Andrei was grinning now, keen on trying to rattle the officer a bit. His expression smoothly hid his inner wince as his holster jabbed his side going down the stairs. Considering he was currently bound by cuffs, rattling the arresting officer didn't probably didn't seem like the smartest idea. But he was very, very aware of what happened when weaknesses, or discomforts, were allowed to show -- he was a man who sniffed those out and made 'use' of them daily.
So he kept his attention on 'subtly' taunting the cop and off of his own discomfort. And if the cop did something stupid? Well, that would help Andrei's case, wouldn't it? He angled his head towards Jackson, an impressive feat considering there were stairs in front of him. His brow furrowed in mock curiosity, but even in his supposed confusion there was glint behind his eyes. "'People like me'? I'm afraid I don't understand. Are you referring to my profession or my background?" He allowed a pause as he tried to look somewhat offended. It wasn't a look a pulled off well. "Either way I would think such prejudices beneath ECPD's finest."
His 'concern' was belied by a shrug -- or more, an attempt to shrug. Shrugging wasn't exactly easy with hands behind your back and a not-so-friendly cop 'helping' you down the flights of Babylon. It was another reminder that Andrei wasn't a fan of this situation, but he was working with what he had. "I'm a consultant, you can look it up -- Volkov, Andrei. ...I was only here to talk to the lady of the house, and verbally express some of my employers' concerns over this hotel of hers." He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "And between you and me: I think she allows some shady going-ons beneath this roof."
Jackson let the guy ramble as he shoved him unceremoniously down the stairs of Babylon, and out into the street. It was a circus - there were people peering through the flashing red and blue lights and cops everywhere, not to mentioned suited and booted Irish types complaining and shivering whores who refused to let go of their smokes. Classic raid atmosphere but something beyond it - this was a pillar of the bad old days crumbling. Jackson felt good about that. He turned his attention back to Andrei, "Get in the van,and we'll continue this enlightening conversation down stationwise, hmm?" Jackson figured he'd let the freak stew overnight before he got around to his "paperwork". Scum.