Winnings (Tag: Pitch)

In the center of the abandoned factory where the underground fighting had collected for that night, two new fighters had already taken to the stage and were slamming into each other like a couple of male bulls fighting to the death. The crowd was focused completely on the illegal fight before them, screaming as their own blood pumped faster at the spectacle, yelling encouragement to those they had bets on and insults at those who didn't. In the clamor and excitement of it all, no one noticed the shadows at the edges of the building suddenly shiver and begin to move.

The shades moved slowly, unobserved as they reached across the dimly-lit factory walls and floors, merging together on the several doorways and exits until they were completely consumed by shadows. During all this time the two men had continued to fight, their faces starting to stream with blood as nether landed a blow hard enough to end the conflict.

Suddenly, all the lights around the perimeters of the platform exploded, plunging the large space into shadows except for the stage. Several screams echoed in the space and everyone looked about, voices raised in confusion and worry. Even the two fighters had broken apart and were looking around questioningly.

The clamor continued for a moment before the sound of a blow horn sounded from the outside of the building and a commanding voice spoke.

"This is the BPD. You are currently trespassing on private property and participating in an illegal activity. Do not try to flee the vicinity as it has been infiltrated and surrounded."

Even before the voice had finished speaking and the sound of sirens added to the noise, several people had broken from the crowd to try and escape. However, upon reaching the doorways they found them completely gone, hidden behind a writhing mass of darkness. Panic began to spread as the crowd tried to find some means of escape. One man grabbed a chair in desperation from the ground and prepared to throw it against the shadow-congested doorway when a voice spoke calming and above the noise from the now empty stage.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

No one had seen the figure appear, but a tall and thin man wearing robes as black as the shadows and skin as pale as the moon now stood before everyone, looking down at them all with yellow-flame eyes. Pitch let the hushed silence and single wave of fear pass through the crowd before speaking.

"By order of the BPD, you are all under arrest."

Already several people were making attempts to escape the factory and the BPD, but Pitch didn't bother to try and stop them. He had blocked all the exits when his shadows had scoped out the location earlier and knew there was no where to flee. Instead, he once again spoke over the crowd, his voice as quiet as before yet somehow cutting through the chatter like a knife.

"This will go much easier for everyone present if they cooperate with the BPD. There is no need for this to turn messy."

Pitch let his cool gaze go over the crowd once more, almost challenging anyone to try something and see what 'messy' entailed. He wanted this to go as quickly as possible given that the charges these people faced were nothing substantial but would take time and keep him away from far more important crimes. Still, illegal fighting rings had started to pop up over Bellerouge with increasing frequency and they had already had to deal with a dozen critically injured fighters and two accidental deaths. Far better to nip this in the bud before it could blossom into a real issue.

Pitch knew that eventually someone in the crowd would respond. Someone always did in situations like this, thinking they were above the rules laid down by the law or eager to hit their way out of the situation they had been caught in. Young men tended to be the ones to raise a challenge, but in this case it was a young woman whose shockingly bright blonde hair caused her to stand out from the crowd.

Pitch turned his yellow gaze on her and looked at her in perfect silence for several moments. She had the kind of face that appeared sweet and helpless but the bruising and cuts on her cheeks and arms showed that she herself had been fighting that night.

"Dirty? Is that what you refer to it as?"

Pitch finally unclasped his hands from behind his back and took a few steps towards the young woman. Even though he didn't descend from the stage, several people backed up at the approach of a demon, even if that demon claimed to work for the BPD.

"No. I would rather turn my energy towards something other than rounding up individuals who find it amusing to see themselves and others beaten to a bloody pulp."

His tone was neither condemning nor harsh, merely straightforward. He honestly didn't care if people chose to fight in these kinds of systems as long as the choice was truly theirs to make. However, the law didn't take his view of the matter.

"Not killing each other?"

Pitch gave the smallest of smiles but it held no amusement or mirth. It was the kind of smile one might give when someone else has made a statement that is completely wrong or inaccurate at the least.

"Perhaps you should inform William Drake and John LaCouer of this."

The two names were none other than the fatalities that had occurred recently from another underground fighting ring. However, Pitch suddenly seemed to lose interest in the young woman and instead turned his attention to one of the doorways he had blocked as the concealed earpiece he was wearing started to broadcast a voice, informing him that they were ready to enter the factory.

He turned his powers once more over the shadows, causing them to shift and move away from the space so that the doorway was once more clear. However, a split second later the doors banged open and a team of officers began to pour into the space, immediately spreading out and beginning the process of making arrests. The demon merely watched from the stage, a presence to put down any difficulties that might arise.

Pitch had been watching as a few individuals tried to put up a fight against the officers attempting to arrest them, but it was clear enough that it was mostly for show or for the sake of their pride than any real attempt to escape. However, the young woman who had spoken up from the crowd before had decided to do more than just struggle and was using some rather impressive fighting skills to punch and kick her way out of the ring of officers.

He watched from his vantage point for a moment, his expression perfectly unreadable but somewhat impressed by the girl's skills nonetheless. However, he had other things to do and wasn't about to allow her to continuing knocking out cops.

He put a hand to his lips and whistled, the sound somehow managing to be clearly heard over the melee going on throughout the space. At the onset of the whistle, a sudden pool of shadows shot outwards towards the woman, taking on shape and substance before suddenly stopping right before her, rearing and kicking out with midnight black hooves. It was a nightmare, a horse made completely of darkness that inspired fear.

The horse came between the woman and the officer she had just knocked unconscious, thrashing outwards to force her backwards. While the nightmare distracted the woman, Pitch stepped down from the stage and approached before speaking several feet away from her.

"Assaulting police officers? Quite the reckless move. If you had just cooperated, you would have only faced a small charge of trespassing and disorderly conduct."

Yang's comment wasn't the worst insult by far that had been thrown at Pitch, nor was it very creative. However, something deep within Pitch's golden eyes seemed to flicker, a memory from his own dark, blood-stained past that flashed across his mind in an instant yet seemed to last far longer for the demon. However, a moment later the focus returned to his gaze and it seemed to intensify, singling out this bold, foolish woman.

"If you want the answer to that, do not look to the BPD or even to the demons but to the festering underbelly of humanity that births such beings.'"

"No, it is what I call the part of humanity that has always existed, the part of humans that has always failed someone."

Pitch's words were soft and there was so much more behind them, but he knew it was no good trying to explain it to this woman. He was a demon, an ancient being who had lived hundreds of years and understood things that he doubted a mortal would ever really be able to comprehend. There was no point in getting into a philosophical discussion on how asking why the system failed so many people was like asking why evil existed in people in the first place. There was no clear answer.

"But we can continue this discussion at the BPD station."

With that said, the nightmare seemed to pick up on some cue and snorted at Yang, ready and waiting to strike her down if she didn't comply as Pitch produced a set of handcuffs.

"While your opinion of the BPD is clearly not high and I respect that, I still do have other cases that need attending to."