The Culinary Institute of America, as Flynn so astutely put it, is a former Jesuit seminary. As such it's located more towards the IBM corporate campus than any of the other lcations already under inspection. As such, it's rather more remote than the others; one side of the property is bounded by US Highway 9, and the other side overlooks a steep drop down to the Hudson River. The Highway 9 side is all but hidden from the world thanks to trees galore, most of which are conifers, the rest of which are putting on a stunning display of autumn color.

It's some distance from the highway across campus to the old main building, but it's probably simpler than making the assault from the river side....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

gone_byebye

There's a moment's startlement on both the big fellows' parts. "Erich," one hisses, "I thought you used the other Hand of Glory!"

"I did!" Erich hisses back before raising his voice. "Going all right," he answers, in one of those tones that implies it would go far better if Flynn were somewhere else. Say, Brazil.

***

Meanwhile, in the trees, the more clever of the three is easing himself out to an advantageous position on one of the branches in the pines. No one is supposed to be here tonight. This can't be good.

From:

md_donighal

Here's the fierce vulture sitting on a tree limb waiting for a victim, Michael thinks as he saunters closer to the trees, trying to look like a harmless eccentric who's never been anywhere near a fight.

From:

gone_byebye

As a matter of fact, the fellow in the tree has just enough knowledge of the campus to mix Michael up with Chef Rudy Spiess, a native of Switzerland who teaches dessert-making courses to food service professionals. Chef Rudy is not exactly a man known for his fighting prowess, so Vulture feels confident enough to gather himself for what he thinks of as the Death From Above maneuver.

From:

md_donighal

Michael would be flattered to know that he's being mistaken for someone who actually belongs on the campus. As it is, he's busy managing not to hum "I'm Just a Little Black Raincloud"*, nor to look like a man with superhuman reflexes, as he passes under the very branch from which Vulture's about to swoop.

* He is, however, thinking Tut-tut, it looks like rain rather loudly.

From:

gone_byebye

Oh, this is just too easy, thinks Vulture. But he, like all his kind, is an opportunist who does not pass up what is offered to him on a platter...

The narration wishes to apologize for any negative light this may cast on real vultures. They're far more vital to the ecosystem than this guy, and probably more intelligent.

From:

md_donighal

Vulture has good reflexes. Against a baseline human — the actual Rudy Spiess, for instance — he'd probably have landed right on the guy's head and been able to catch him so far off-balance he never recovered, possibly never recovered anything.

Michael Daemon Donighal, even operating at his 1920s power level, is very much not a baseline human. He gets out of Vulture's way while the man is plummeting, dodging the very moment the other has irrevocably let go of the tree branch.

WHAM!

Maybe he should have gone to pouncing school. Michael waits a few moments to see if Vulture's conscious, capable of actual fighting, or otherwise a danger to himself and others.

From:

gone_byebye

He's conscious. stunned as hell and cradling his left arm and gasping for breath, but conscious. "Ooooow... what the hell," he moans.

People don't move like that!

From:

md_donighal

"Exactly. The hell. Want to try that again, or would you rather be smart?" It's said with no discernible fear. The fiery-haired man in the gray suit is smiling as if at some private joke.

From:

gone_byebye

The man peers up at the speaker. "Okay," he says, "you're not Chef Rudy."

He's doing his best to look harmless as he considers his options. You gotta give a guy credit for that.

From:

md_donighal

"And you, in turn, are not a fierce jungle animal. So that's two things we know." Unnoticeable to the other, Michael turns on a millimeter-wave filter, scanning the man for metal as he scanned for the Cybermen.

From:

gone_byebye

9mm, telescoping baton of the sort termed the Tonya Harding special, ammo for the 9mm, a few piercings. Nothing outstanding for his ilk.

"'parently not," he says. "Can I get a hand up, though?"

Nobody's supposed to be moving around on campus just now except him, his buddies in the gazebo, and the guys down by the river. Something Must Be Done.

From:

librarian-flynn.livejournal.com

"Good, good," he replies, paying no attention to the tone and continuing up to the steps of the gazebo. "Party going on all down my floor, so I figured if I was going to get any work done, I needed to find someplace quiet. Corner of the gazebo sounded like a good idea."

From:

gone_byebye

"Really," says Erich, who's mentally going over the possible ways you could screw up the use of a Hand of Glory. It's practically fire-and-forget magic. Peck must've gotten the spell wrong- "Hey, don't let me get in your way, huh?"

Not until you try to leave, anyway, he's thinking. His compatriot is doing an exaggeratedly casual lean against one of the gazebo railings, watching the guy.

From:

librarian-flynn.livejournal.com

"Sure thing. Thanks a lot," Flynn replies with a grin. He heads up the steps, but the textbook drops out of his hands right about the time he gets roughly between the two guys.

The Librarian lets out an exasperated sigh and kneels down to retrieve it, muttering, "Stupid stairs. Gonna break my neck one of these times."

And then sends his fist flying squarely into Erich's, um, Little Hitler. Sucker punch -- it's an oldie but goodie. Erich doubles over, predictably, which gives Flynn a chance to grab the front of his shirt and throw him into his approaching buddy.

From:

gone_byebye

Erich is very good at cursing, but his buddy is better at dodging. As the thrown neo-Nazi goes rolling across the gazebo floor, the other man fairly leaps away from the railing, jackbooted foot aiming low and fast for Flynn's shins.

From:

librarian-flynn.livejournal.com

Flynn throws himself backwards down the steps, turning the fall into a roll when his butt hits the grass and coming up on his feet.

The jackbooted thug does not stumble when his kick fails to connect, which frankly annoys Flynn, and instead uses the impetus to leap across the distance.

Once both feet have left the ground, Flynn lets loose with his other weapon -- the penlight. It's brighter than any normal penlight has a right to be, and Flynn shines it right in the guy's night-adjusted eyes as he jumps to the side.

From:

gone_byebye

As well it should. That kind of thing cheeses off even seasoned Hong Kong veterans. Fortunately, the penlight works; there is a yell of "AUGH!" and a general pawing at of the face as the thug staggers, half-blinded.

Erich is getting up and coming back for round two, meanwhile. Coming in low and mean, with all the soft parts as far back as he can manage and still charge at Flynn.

From:

librarian-flynn.livejournal.com

Charging, he can handle. It's the getting in close that tends to get him slugged in the face.

He waits until the last moment, and then drops into a slide, coming up with an arm and a leg into Erich's chest and stomach, respectively, to push him up and over, and right toward his staggering pal.

From:

gone_byebye

Okay, that? That, buddy there's not so good at dodging. The staggering is wholly mutual now, because that's one hell of a messy collision. Erich's going to right himself first if all goes according to plan, since buddy there's between him and one of the gazebo benches- and frankly Erich is meaner at the moment. Revenge does that to a man.

From:

librarian-flynn.livejournal.com

The staggering about gives him time to recover the textbook. Partly because the Library will be wanting it back, but mostly because it's a damn big blunt object.

So, when he hears Erich get himself together and come in for another pass, Flynn grabs it in both hands and brings it around in a swinging arc and smashes Advanced Concepts in Particle Physics right in his face.

From:

gone_byebye

Particle physics is a dense and heavy subject at the best of times. This is not the best of times for Erich.

Or his nose, which makes a very nice crunch! noise.

From:

librarian-flynn.livejournal.com

Unfortunately, Flynn is quickly running out of tricks.

Erich's buddy heads around to the other side, so Flynn pivots and reverses direction, swinging the book in the other direction. He doesn't have the same power behind it this time, and the other guy's not as dumb as he looks, so the book scores only a glancing blow across the his forearms and leaves Flynn overextended.

Which is a fact the thug takes full advantage of as he slams a fist into Flynn's kidney.

From:

gone_byebye

Practical thugs would take the opportunity to beat this guy senseless and leave it at that. Practical thugs, however, just take money to hit people. They don't join political parties of racially repulsive ideology for it. These two are sufficiently irritated that they want to embarrass this guy before the senselessness part, so Fist-to-Kidney grabs Flynn by the back of the shirt and hauls him upright. "If you're a student," he says, "I'm Mother Teresa. Who sent you?"

He's not really interested in the answer. He just wants Flynn to start talking so he can hit him again mid-sentence.