the good, the bad, and the dirty | jay, kai, and lloyd

24 - three in one

i tapped on the play button that popped up on the screen. it loaded for a good minute or two, before the surveillance appeared on the grand monitor. i probably could've sat down to feel more comfortable, but i felt the urge to remain standing—as if it would help me observe the scenery that was about to unravel.

(i'm going to go ahead and write in third person for what happened in the surveillance video, rather than describing in your perspective what you saw. the asterisks indicate the beginning and end of the scene!)

*

thirty-four-year-old elijah gander was walking home to his apartment on block one eighty-three. it had been a long day at work; as a construction worker, he was often tasked to haul the heavier objects due to his size and strength. so—like every other day—his back ached, as his legs trudged onwards down the space between the two familiar shops.

leaning against the pawn shop, the three henchmen watched the burly man enter the secluded block. they had been observing him—studying him—from a distance, ever since he had gotten out of work. they were like a trio of coyotes, hoping to find an adequate time to strike at the buffalo of a prey. only this time, the great creature was taking note of it all.

but his first mistake was to brush it off.

one of the three went ahead and rushed to the new security guard, feigning a situation to distract his attention. eli watched as he zipped past him, leading the guard out of the block and taking him to another street. meanwhile—the two leftover men—sought their chance and pounced on their victim.

the taller of the two whacked the side of eli's head from behind. his temporal lobe was struck, but the force was not enough to knock him unconscious. concerned for his safety, elijah turned around, only to be smacked again—this time 0n his frontal lobe.

it almost did the job—for eli was momentarily dazed from the impact. so—quick to pick up on this—the henchman that struck him down knocked the wind out of his stomach. then, using all his force, he kicked him into the brick wall.

now that—that did it. elijah could barely grasp onto reality now. his body slammed roughly into the cold, hard surface, which kissed his cheek painfully. the attacker was about to go in for another blow, but that was when a familiar, shorter man stepped in to cease the impending damage.

"that's enough, alastair," he ordered, pressing his hand onto the said man's chest. then, striking his other hand out like a snake, he clutched onto eli's chubby cheeks. his wrist directed his head movement for inspection; he studied his entirety, narrowing his eyes at each crevice and feature. once satisfied, he released his grasp on eli.

"well?" alastair asked, awaiting an answer.

"he'll do," wadley responded after a pause, deeming the poor man as an adequate victim for what they were about to do. "pass me the alterray, would you?"

alastair did as he was told; he handed wadley yet another device that would have been deemed peculiar to everyone else. unlike the tinnitus blaster that was used against y/n, this one altered the appearance of one person to fit of someone else's. and to do that, one had to say the name of the designated person into the engraved mic. then, there were two settings to this alterray to consider; the first notch transformed the elected subject into their desired look, shielding their true identity from the human eye. however, the facade can be overlooked by anyone with an elemental power. that leaves the final setting—in which absolutely anyone—cannot see the person's real appearance, regardless of powers or not.