Snowball Fight! [Open]

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

It's kind of funny to Heather how the holiday season is working out this year. Since leaving home as far behind her as possible, she never really thought that she'd miss the place. But for the past few years she's mainly gone back for Thanksgiving and Christmas - whining and griping about it the whole time. This year, thanks to the F.B.I., she's got a convenient reason to not go, but... Now that she can't go, she's finding that she wishes that she could.

Fortunately, though she doesn't have any family in the city, she has a lot of friends - mostly people she met at college. Hanging out with a few buddies is a good way to keep that lonely feeling away, so Heather invited three of them (Candy, Jeannine, and Jeannine's boyfriend-who-must-go-with-her-everywhere Enrique) to go out Christmas shopping with her. The pickings are slim thanks the the embargo and the budgets of the people involved are small, but it's still nice to be able to make sure that other people in her same situation get a few gifts since they won't be at home.

Once everyone was satisfied with their shopping, Candy suggested a walk through Robinson Park before they all head back to their respective apartments. A few inches of snow fell overnight, and the weather is cold enough to make it stick around for now. All the trees, benches, street lights, and bushes are dusted with snow, and it all makes the park especially pretty.

It was Enrique who started it, grabbing a handful of snow and dumping it down the back of Jeannine's shirt. Who then retaliated with a snowball, and then all hell broke loose. The four hurriedly set down their bags and started chasing each other around, pelting each other with snow. Heather, of course, has the advantage of being a smaller target than the others, but also has the disadvantage of being the slowest runner. And it would just be her luck that it was her snowball that went astray and, instead of hitting Candy, smacked right into someone walking by. "Oh, sorry!" she calls out immediately.

[Deleted]

Fresh from escaping the FBI detention center the Ventriloquist had decided to cut through Robinson Park on Its way to a safehouse in the Eastern sector of the city. At the first possible moment, the shattered mind of Arnold Wesker had broken off from Nightwing and Pamela Isley. According to their conversation in the holding cell, Isley had mentioned something about a favor owed for ‘previous graces.’ So when the opportunity presented itself, the Ventriloquist had stalked down an ally in the opposite direction. There was little doubt in Wesker’s shattered mind that she would have sacrificed It on a foolish errand such as trying to Kill Nightwing then or there, or play the part of a sacrificial lamb for one of her plants. It had no intention of being a pawn in Isley’s games, not unless absolutely forced.

Darting to and fro through the city, trying to remain hidden from prying eyes, the Ventriloquist had finally arrived at the park. Personal observation had shown that the park was relatively empty. It had deduced that the early curfews had resulted in the sparse number of people in the area. This was a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that there were fewer people on the streets, meaning less targets for stalkers such as the Ventriloquist. The bad thing, those who were on the streets were more likely to be targeted.
The Ventriloquist had arrived at an open area in the park. The plan? The plan was to find a decent suit, a sharp weapon, and then go find Scarface. Scarface would know what to do. The boss always knew what to do.

Dressed in a tattered orange prison jumpsuit, the Ventriloquist hunched It’s back while entering into one of the central pathways of the park. Trying to maintain warm in a slouched position, it began to chime..

” Bah, Bah a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry have I,
Three Bags full,
One for my master,
One for my Dame,
One for the little Boy
That lives down the lane..”

It was cold! Very very cold! Because of the chime, It did not hear the voices of the four students enjoying their game. Enjoying their game until it was too late. A stray snowball hit the Ventriloquist right in the top of the head.

THWAP!!!

The cold snow stuck to the balding head, like a spitball being thrown at a chalkboard. Then it took a very long moment for the bitter substance to trickle down the furrowed brow of the Ventriloquist, eventually passing the bridge of Its nose and then down the chin. The villain did not bother to wipe the snow from Its face. Letting the fear and terror of seeing Poison Ivy turn into anger and fury at whomever had thrown the ball of snow.

With round eyes, enlarged by the reverse magnification of the bottle rimmed glasses the Ventriloquist found the girl who had been the catapult. It then noticed that the girl had friends. Smiling like a sadistic killer, the Ventriloquist sang them a song.

“Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!
We smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he 'live, or be he dead,
We'll grind his bones to make my bread.”



It rolled up It’s sleeves and began to approach.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Heather has to do a double take when she sees just who her snowball hit. Isn't that the...

"Hey baldy, nice threads!" calls out Candy with a laugh.

Hearing the song he's singing, Jeannine comments, "That guy's crazy!"

"Huh - that's the same color as Heather's hair," Enrique muses out loud.

Keeping one eye on the man as she edges closer to her friends, Heather says, "Shh! You guys, that's Arnold Wesker!" When they all give her blank stares, she adds, "You know, that Ventriloquist guy?"

"Then where's the dummy?" Enrique has to ask.

"Who do you think you're talking to? The F.B.I. had him, last I heard," Heather says insistently.

"He must have escaped!" Candy says, edging closer to the others herself.

Jeannine immediately looks alarmed, "Isn't he a murderer?"

Enrique steps in front of his girlfriend, "Don't worry Jeannine, I'll protect you." Though he looks just a little too nervous to be saying those words.

"Don't worry Enrique, I'll protect you," Candy says when she gets close to him, causing the only guy in the group to look simultaneously offended and somewhat relieved.

Meanwhile, Heather gathers with her friends and hopes that four grown college students are enough to dissuade the man from trying to hurt any of them. Even if they're three young women and a nervous guy. He doesn't appear to be armed, and aside from the completely accidental snowball they're not being aggressive - that should be enough to convince him to back off, right?

Behind the other three, Jeannine nervously makes a snowball that, unlike the ones they made before, is largely made out of ice and clutches it in her gloved hand - just in case.

[Deleted]

The college students huddled together and began discussing amongst themselves. No doubt they were talking about the Ventriloquist. Where was the mannequin? They were probably asking. Their whispers began to coincide with the other voices that were speaking to It.

“Let’s gut dese kids dummy! We nee’ to make’ a name for ourselves again in da city. Now would be a good place to start. Leave a trail. Leave a few dead g’odies. Let da FBI, da Bat, and dem cops know were back in G’usiness!”

It began to chuckle to Itself. It was glad Scarface was speaking to It once again. The Ventriloquist looked to the right and saw a wine bottle sitting on an empty bench. Covered in snow, the bottle appeared to be empty, most likely a left over from a homeless individual. Wesker ran over to the bottle, picked it up, and then smashed it against the top of the bench.

CRASH!

The bottle split into shards. Now It was armed. Gripping the spout of the bottle, the Ventriloquist had a weapon that would be able to puncture the human body. The multiple jagged edges from the jar would be more then suitable.



“Bat, bat, come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon;
And when I bake,
I'll give you a cake,
If I am not mistaken. Heee.”

The Ventriloquist began to move forward, taking slow deliberate steps towards the quartet.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

"What's he doing now?" Candy asks when the man turns aside toward a bench.

The sound of breaking glass causes Heather's heart to skip a beat. "Oh, crap..."

"Um, do you think we should run?" Enrique asks, which doesn't make Heather feel any better. She is the slowest runner in the group, after all, and on top of that she's guessing that her stray snowball made him especially angry at her.

In the meantime, the moment the man turns back toward them, Jeannine throws her iceball - which is almost as hard as a rock. It does not, however, carry much force behind it since she doesn't have the strongest arm. However...

"Was that ice?" Candy asks, glancing at her friend in surprise. Ice is very much prohibited in a friendly snowball fight. But things aren't exactly friendly at the moment.

Enrique looks down at the ground, finding more. "Good thinking, Jeannine!" he comments, bending over to quickly make one of his own.

The entire group latches quickly onto that idea, easily switching from playful snowballs to actually dangerous iceballs. Heather joins them, but like Jeannine she doesn't have much of an arm. Enrique and Candy, on the other hand, have probably played a lot of baseball at some point in their lives to judge by their strength and accuracy. Still, Heather keeps a wary eye on the man - if this doesn't convince him to leave then they'll probably have to hope they can outrun him.

[Deleted]

Instinctively, the Ventriloquist turned its shoulder away just in time to deflect Jeannie’s snow ball. Even though the ice ball hit the villain on the back of the shoulder, It could felt the solidly of the item. When the second, third, and then fourth ice ball comes toward It, the Ventriloquist begins to shriek in terror and bring a pair of arms up to cover the head.

“What do we do know Mister Scarface?!” It asked out loud,

Take co—vah!!!! Everyg’ody for demselves!!


The Ventriloquist stumbled back to hide behind the bench where It had found the wine bottle, still equipped with the sharp weapon, the Ventriloquist found temporary sanctuary from the bombardment of ice balls.

Even though the odds were four against one, the Ventriloquist was having fun! A snowball fight! How great. Something that It never experienced as a child.

“Hee. Is there a plan sir?” Wesker asked the voice in It’s head.

Of course ya dummy. Either da g’rats are going to get tired, or some of dem are going to nab da coppers. When dat happens we’ll either follow or gut da kids who stay g’ehind. Four of dem throwing tem ice g’alls is to much, g’ut with any fewer and we can over-whelm dem! Capiche?!

“Gotcha. Hee. “

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

"Hah!" Candy says at the man's terrified shriek as she lobs another iceball.

Unfortunately, with the man hiding behind the bench he becomes a much more difficult target. It causes Heather and Jeannine to give up on trying to hit him entirely, but Heather holds an extra ball in her hand for when and if he tries to leave his hiding spot. Enrique and Candy's shots slow down considerably too as they hold their fire except when they think they see an opening. Jeannine, meanwhile, removes a glove so that she can pull her cellphone out of her pocket and dial 911.

"What now?" asks Enrique sounding a bit relieved that they seem to have the upper hand.

"We need to get out of here," Heather answers, "Carefully."

"Yeah," Candy agrees quickly, "Stick together, and make sure that he doesn't come after us."

Heather nods quickly. That sounds a lot more sensible than simply running off in a blind panic. The group starts to back away a bit, but very slowly and tentatively, all eyes on the man behind the bench.

[Deleted]

The Ventriloquist smiles to Itself when the barrage of snow balls begins to lessen.

Heh. Told ye.

The Ventriloquist nodded slowly.

Dey shoul' g'e calling da cops any minute now. G'est dat we make our move now.

The Ventriloquist nodded again. With a wide grin full of sadistic glee, It peeked over the bench and began the process of selecting one of the students..

"Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo," It chimed, using blood shot beady eyes which were the result of lack of sleep as the pointer between the four.

Hurr' It up Dummy!


"Catch a tigger by the toe,If it squeals, let it go,
Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo!!!"

Which one?! Which one?! Scarface asked with much anticipation.

"That one! Heee."

Perfect!

The Ventriloquist was of course referring to Heather Glass. The girl had been the first to 'purposely' throw the snowball at the Ventriloquist. She was the one who started the fight. And should be the only one, and the last one to die because of it.

Just after Jeannie pushed 'talk' on her cell phone to contact 911, the Ventriloquist lept from behind the bench, raised the shattered bottle and charged at Heather. It's intent. To puncture the radio host in the stomach with the shards of the weapon.

"Heeeeee!" It yelled.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

The moment that the man jumps out from behind the bench, Heather lobs the iceball that she'd been holding. She doesn't aim anywhere in particular, just hoping that she hits him. Candy and Enrique, on the other hand, mercilessly aim right for the face.

However, the instant that they see the Ventriloquist charging their tactics suddenly change. Enrique's first instinct is, of course, to protect his girlfriend. He grabs the arm Jeannine isn't using for the phone and pulls her after him to make sure that they're quick enough. Heather's eyes go wide when she sees that the man's eyes are locked squarely on her and simply turns and runs as fast as she can.

Candy, though she would easily be able to run faster, stays right behind Heather to keep herself between her friend and the Ventriloquist. "This way, Enrique!" she calls over to him, trying to keep the group together.

Jeannine, meanwhile, lets herself be dragged along as she tries to pay some attention to what she's saying. "We're in Robinson Park, east of the tennis courts, being chased by the Ventriloquist!" she reports in what's almost a panicked whimper. She's definitely not the bravest one in the group, even if she's the one with enough sense to call for help.

[Deleted]

“Heee.”

CRUNCH.
The sadistic smile on the face of the Ventriloquist simply vanished. The ice ball thrown by Heather “Vermillion” Glass was a direct hit to the place on the male body where the “sun does not shine.” The Ventriloquist bent It’s knees and covered the groin area with both hands.

It’s eyes went cross and the mouth of the creature was in the shape of a vertical oval. It looked like It wanted to say something, but all that came out of It’s mouth was a few high pitched single nursery rhyme notes.

With crossed eyes, the Ventriloquist slumped into the snow, still covering the sensitive place where the ice ball had struck.

Deep within the mind of the Ventriloquist, Scarface winced in pain.

“Ouch. Da’ has’ta hurt…”

After a few moments…

”Get up dummy, dey are getting away!”
“It hurts.”

GARGGGGGGHHH! Do Ah’ ‘ave to do everythin’ myself?! Get up! Get up! Get up!

Out of fear of Scarface, the Ventriloquist struggled to once knee. It looked up and saw the college students beginning to run. They were staying together, which was a smart move on their part. It heard one of them speaking to the police on the other end,

“Dagnabit. Da cops are on their way.”
“What do we do?”
The Ventriloquist looked up. Scarface whispered into It’s head. The Ventriloquist purposely slumped back into the snow. Scarface said that if the college students come back they would take advantage of that. If they kept running away, the Ventriloquist would soon follow and escape in the other direction. But right now, It lay slumped into the snow. What Scarface failed to realize was that the Ventriloquist was still in pain, and would be sounding like Alvin the Chipmunk for the next 10 minutes.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

After a few moments of running, Heather pants as she asks, "Is he behind us?"

"No," Candy replies, still right behind her, "Didn't you see where you hit him?"

"I hit him? Where?" Heather asks, risking a glance over her shoulder to confirm her friend's words, and is surprised to see the man now far behind them face down in the snow. The sight makes her slow and then stop.

"The worst possible place, girl," Candy says gravely, but with a smirk on her face.

Slowing when Heather does, Enrique shakes his head as he stops next to them. "Remind me to never get on your bad side, Heather," he says, cringing internally in sympathy.

"He's stopped chasing us now - he's laying in the snow, I think we're probably safe right now," Jeannine reports to the 911 operator, completely missing the details of what's going on but attempting to keep the authorities informed of what's happening.

"...So what do we do now?" asks Candy uncertainly, looking at Heather for the answer.

"How should I know?" Heather replies with a shake of her head, somewhat stunned.

"Aren't you the one who reports on criminals and stuff?" Enrique asks.

Heather frowns at that. "Just because I report on stuff like this doesn't mean I know what to do when it happens," she says, annoyed, "Though we're far enough away now that we'd have a major head start if he gets up. Maybe we should wait here and see what happens?" Probably not the smartest decision, but she is curious to see if the man will get away before the cops arrive or not. At least she's not stupid enough to suggest going back.

"Well, that's a good plan," Candy replies, watching the man in the distance carefully for further signs of life.

Enrique frowns slightly, "You said the F.B.I. had him?"

"Yeah," Heather replies, "And they're not letting anyone go either. Either they've changed their policy or there's been a breakout. And either way, I know what VerMillion's reporting on tonight." She glances at her watch - yes, there should be more than enough time for her to do some poking around and be ready for her show at 9.

[Deleted]

Report: This is HQ. There has been a sighting of Arnold Wesker aka the Ventriloquist in Robinson Park. All available units proceed with caution.


The snow was starting to bite. The tattered prison jump suit was no where near enough protection against the freezing temperatures of the snow. The fat that the Ventriloquist had once set around the rim of his belly was no longer there after It's detainment in the FBI facility, thus giving It less natural insulation.

It looks like dey' ain't g'uding.

Wesker was pleased to hear this. It slowly got up from the snow, not bothering to wipe off the frozen water from It's body, and thus merely letting it fall naturally. It looked across the field and saw that the four students were waiting ahead. They had decided not to inspect the fallen body. A smart decision.

In the distance, the Ventrloquist began to hear the sounds of police sirens.

Time to vamouse!

The sociopath slowly nodded, but not before memorizing a mental picture of Heather Glass. It would find out who she is, and from there It would strike. The Ventriloquist had to rebuild It's reputation and follow through with the killings.

Running off into the night, the Ventriloquist would find a safehouse and then follow up with some of the contacts that It still had left in the city. Perhaps It would follow up with the mysterious note that someone had left It while in jail. Either way, this was not the last the radio talk show host would see of the Ventriloquist.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

The four young adults grow quiet when the sound of sirens announces that the police will arrive shortly, save for Jeannine who keeps idly talking to the 911 operator. But Heather is too focused on keeping an eye on what's going on to pay attention to that. It becomes quickly obvious to her that even though Jeannine is giving them exact directions on which way he's fleeing, the man is far enough ahead that he'll give them a good chase and will have a good chance of getting away.

And she's not the only one who notices that. "Should we try to stop him?" Enrique asks nervously, his tone hinting that he hopes that the answer is 'no'.

"Last I checked, that guy's dangerous, and I'm not Batman," Heather comments with a quick shake of her head. No, she's just a wimpy young woman with a big mouth.

"I thought that you didn't like Batman," Candy says, glancing at her friend now that the Ventriloquist has run out of their sight.

Heather snorts at that. "On my show, yeah," she replies. VerMillion is definitely and adamantly against the dark knight. Heather Glass would rather keep her opinion on that to herself. Just because she doesn't run around in a costume committing or preventing crime doesn't mean that she doesn't have a double identity of sorts.

It isn't long after that when the police arrive, and they're questioned thoroughly by a couple of them while the others attempt to catch up with the Ventriloquist. Heather's just glad that they got out of that situation in one piece. She's probably much more aware of how dangerous the man they were facing is than her friends are. But though she knows that he's the type to get and hold grudges, it doesn't occur to her that he'd hold this against her or her friends. If only because he just barely escaped from the F.B.I. and presumably has bigger fish to fry.

And beyond that, though she and her friends threw most of their names around, he didn't get any last names and 'Heather' is an obscenely common name - that's why she calls herself VerMillion at work, so that the name stands out. And though she's a rising local celebrity with a rather distinctive hair color, she's not that well known yet and even then it's her voice that's famous, and not her face - it isn't her that's on WGGZ's billboard, but their morning news/weather/traffic group. And when she's on the air her voice is always so much more enthusiastic and energetic than she ever shows anywhere else, to the point that the first time her own mother heard a broadcast she didn't immediately recognize it. She's also always only gone by VerMillion over the air, even though she has no qualms about telling people she meets who she is. And she is not, as he presumed, a student right now - her friends are and she met them at the university but she recently graduated. So if the man wants to track her down, that'll be a lot trickier than it could be.