Clairborne Apartments

I kept my hands dug deep into my pockets as I made my way along the damp sidewalk, with changes in the area becoming more and more apparent as I pushed further into the worse-off parts of the city. The walkways were filthy and cracked, the roadways barely traversable with how much damage there was to the asphalt. I tried not to get too hung up on the grim little details as I got closer to one of the buildings in particular. A beat-up, dingy looking apartment building that was still in service despite the cold and unwelcoming look it gave off from the outside. Graffiti all over any free space on the brick walls, the walls themselves a touch overgrown and lightly damaged. Among the graffiti was the one particular symbol I was looking for, only having come out this far just to prove my concerns. A skull with a broken crown atop its head, right in the center of one of the walls on the apartment building. I slipped a photo out of my pocket, the photo having been taken of the same symbol from various places around town. I made sure the two matched up before shoving the photo away and marching toward the front door of the apartment building. I slipped the badge hanging from my neck into an inner coat pocket, not wanting to look too much like a member of law enforcement for fear of any residents becoming agitated or outright aggressive from the get-go.

Andre had been sitting in his car for a while now, anxiously checking his watch and the clock on the car as the minutes ticked by. He was a little suspicious, his car was too nice to be from the neighborhood, but the anxiety he held wasn't from jackers. He called up his partner, "yeah, Issac? I dunno man...There's this guy thtas been looking around here. No, i doubt he has anything to do with our gig, he's been looking at graffiti like it's fuckin modern art....he might be a cop... Well, are you show up? Oh right...Gavi.....okay, Iset the drop without you, just....check in, maybe? please?" he hung up the phone and reclined in his seat abit, letting out a loud sigh as he turned up the radio.

I sucked in a quick breath before slowly pushing through the front door and peering inside. I couldn't see much from my current angle, so I opted to fully push through into the lobby. There was nobody to be found manning what looked to be the front desk at the moment. I figured the landlord himself would tend to these matters during the day, before completely abandoning the post and heading to bed. Any fool could waltz in and grab a room key at a time like this, it seemed. I shrugged before walking a bit further down the hall, looking over each door for any kind of familiar marking that might point me right to the place I wanted. I didn't exactly want to go door-to-door knocking at this time of night, willing to bet that any particularly disgruntled resident could lash out if I interrupted their rest. None of the doors on the first floor had anything of visible interest from what I could tell, so I backtracked a bit and made my way to the stairwell. It was just as cold and dank as the streets outside. I let out a small sigh before beginning to climb the flights of stairs, heading to the second floor to check the doors there as well.

Anre sighed as he check his watch one final time. He got out of the El Camino and locked it. Heading to the bed, he took out a shoebox, and opened it, "jeeze Issac, I know you like making your trail hard to follow, but this seems overboard...." The contents were several ciphers, each containing some instructions for some nobodies Issac hired to do some work for him. It was all stuff he considered easy, more or less work of his own creation, so he didn't bother to tell Zoey. Andre entered the apartment building and look around for someone to help him find where he was heading.

*softly humming to myself while entering the place*what exactly is this place never been here

Issac followed, "The kind of place you'd want to drop off suspicious shit at without looking suspicious?" He looked around for a moment, before seeing Andre and calling him over, "bird brain, get over here you clutz-"

I walked out of the stairway onto the second floor, peering down each end of the hallway as I stepped out. It was dimly lit, the only light coming from shitty little wall-mounted lamps by each door. I painstakingly strolled down both ends of the hallway, observing each door closely as I walked to them. Again, no luck. I made my way back to the stairway with a huff, greeted again by the cold air biting at my face and hands as I climbed the next flights of stairs to the third floor. I walked out into the third floor hallway, repeating the same process of walking down either end before a particular room caught my eye. The door to one of the rooms, labelled '305' had been marked up with the same crowned skull symbol that I had seen on the outside of the building. I took a few steps back and tried to peer down to the crack below the door, noticing a tiny bit of light spilling out from the other side. Either the resident had gotten careless and forgot to turn off their light before they left, or they were right at home in the way of whatever I might be looking for. I walked back up to the door, turning my head and pressing my ear up to the end of it to try and get a listen in on anything that might be going on inside. Faint bits of conversation were then audible to me, but the exact words being exchanged were hard to make out. I pressed a bit harder against the door, continuing to listen in the hopes that I might be able to make out what exactly was being said.

I would get a little scared of the place and then I say*wait a minute I have to prepare for my trip sorry guys*white lightning with strike and I would disappear

"H~Huh!?" he looked around, "h~Hun? shit....fuckin leaving me in the ghetto-" he growled to himself and looked Andre, "come on, the room I rented is 302.' As the pair made their way through the dimly lit halls, they bantered per usual, but now it was done to drown out the buzzing of the lights, and the faint mumbles they heard as they passed each door.

He giggled to himself when Gavi disappeared, following closely behind, he kept his hand under his coat, grasping his holster .32 revolver. "I guess why Zoey calls her a toy soldier?" Issac bonked Andre. As they made it to the third floor, the due were greeted by the odd sight of the detective.

holstered*

I lifted my head from the door as a pair of strangers walked out into the third floor hallway not long after I had done so myself. I offered no words to them for the time being, fearing for a moment I had been pressed up against the door to their room. I cleared my throat before nodding to the two, silently drawing out my badge and flashing it to the both of them before going back to leaning back up against the door.

"...told you he was a cop-" Andre blurted, Issac gave him an elbow to the gut and nodded back to Reagan. Andre let out an audible 'oof' and hissed abit, heading to the room 302 door, Andre waited for Issac to unlock it.

Still mean mugging Andre, Issac approached the door. and huffed, fiddling with his key ring, "jesus, for how old this place is they couldn't have a fancy key or some shit?" He sighed and kept fiddling with the lock, none of the keys seemed to be working

I watched one of the two strangers fail repeatedly with the lock, each key he tried not quite fitting into the lock. I let out a tiny sigh of mild frustration before reaching into my pocket and pulling out a tiny pair of tools. I walked over to the door they were trying to make their way into, pausing for a moment. "You mind?" I didn't really wait for a response, slipping both tools into the lock and gently prying around before finally getting it to turn. I slipped both tools out of the lock and slipped them back into my pocket before stepping back and motioning to their door. "Keep it quiet, yeah?" I stepped back over to the door I was stopped by initially, pressing back up against it for another time.

Issac sighed and pushed Andre in, "do we seem like the kind of guys who want your attention? we'll keep quiet-" He glared Reagan up and down, making a mental note of the man. In those few seconds, Issac's eyes said everything Reagan need to know. He already decided how he needed to approach Reagan, and considering his limited knowledge of the man, made that knowledge. After a few more moments, Issac let out a sigh and entered the apartment, shutting the door, quietly so that the detective wouldn't become irritated further.

known*

wow im tired xd))

(no worries, bit sleepy over here too :<

I made sure the pair closed the door behind them before turning my attention back to the marked door, eventually growing restless and getting to work on popping the lock on it. It took a bit longer than the other door given the lock wasn't nearly as worn out, but I was able to just barely get it turned after a minute or so. I quickly swapped out my tools for the handgun hidden under my coat, drawing it while still trying to keep it as concealed as I possibly could before I twisted the knob to the door and began to slowly push it open.

I only noticed that the talking from within the room had ceased entirely as I stepped through the doorway, something that might have been beneficial had I noticed it earlier. The little run-in in the hall distracted me for too long though, meaning I had just gone in somehow even more blind than I would have had I decided to enter a few minutes earlier. For a moment, it seemed as though I would have gotten away with such a mistake. I was wrong in that moment. A hulking force slammed into me from my right, moving so quick I hardly had any time to react. I was flung into a wall next to the entryway, the air completely knocked out of me on the impact. Whatever had crashed into me quickly slammed the door and turned its sights back on me right after. I reached to grab my gun back up before being yanked up from the floor and suspended in the air by a thick hand wrapped around my throat, squeezing just tight enough to keep a grip on me but not enough to incapacitate or kill me.. yet. I instinctively reached for the hand to no avail, the fingers wrapped around my throat were seemingly locked in placed. As my vision refocused, the thing grabbing me was revealed to be a brawny man with jet-black hair and orange eyes missing their pupils, along with their irises. I would've assumed it was just him at this point were there not a separate set of footsteps coming from my left.

"What 'ave we 'ere, eh?" I plucked the cigarette out of my mouth and looked over the man currently suspended in the air by Victor's arm, nudging my elbow at the man's shoes as they dangled. "Right fancy shoes you've got. Better n' any uv the pairs I've got around, anyhow." I reached down by where he hit the wall initially, grabbing up his handgun and looking it over for a moment. "Looks like somethin' service, eh? Standard-issue an' all that. I betcha you've got a badge tucked away in that coat uv yers, no?" I chuckled a bit, motioning to Victor to lug the man over into the tiny lounge area of the apartment. "Thought you badges was s'posed to be neat an' tidy. That was rather sloppy work on yer end, comin' in here like ya did."

"Typical, goddamn-" I struggled in the man's grasp to get another breath, trying to speak again. "-cocky monologue. Would it kill you folk to be the tiniest bit-" I again struggled, managing to get in another breath. "-original for once?" I tried to twist around a bit before the man's grip tightened further, making any attempts at movement significantly harder.

"Shit, maybe. I just quite like rubbin' these things in." I plopped myself down on the worn-out old sofa, leaning back into the cushions and letting out a sigh. "Yer right. Maybe it's best we get down ta brass tacks, eh? I've got plenty to chat with ya before we're through."

"Get comfy."