13421/A Cold Chinatown

A Cold Chinatown
Date of Scene:	22 November 2022
Location:	Warehouses - Chinatown
Synopsis:	Elektra and Batgirl confront a Vampire who knows all about the lies of the Coven.
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Elektra Natchios

---

Barbara Gordon has posed:
It is a cold November night. It is actually snowing too, though the snow had just started and the flakes were still kind of 'wet' in the air as they come down in a light flurry from the dark sky above.

Batgirl had sent Elektra a message saying 'He's on the move.' and sent the address of where to find her.

Babs stands atop a five story tall building in the warehouse district of the eclectic neighborhood. She stands proud and tall in the dark, her cape flowing gently against her back in the cold snowy wind. She stares down off of the building's edge at another old building across a double laned street down below. Her fiery red hair blows gently in the cold wind, her body mostly motionless, save for that cape, mimmicking her mentor quite nicely in becoming Gotham art deco building adornments...

The sound of the city ambience makes up the backdrop, with horns, loud distant engines, and the nearby elevated train tracks carrying passenger trains through the city streets.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
It hadn't taken long for Elektra to mobilize. Specially as she was still living at the tower. Because when you offer a hand to an assassin? They take the whole arm...

Yet Elektra knew well what that message meant. And who that 'HE' was. Their target. The landing of soft feet on that rooftop is the signal Babs isn't alone anymore. The assassin had arrived, stepping out from the shadows to join Batgirl in looking down at the building. She's dressed in more casual clothes than her usual uniform, specially now that it's been mostly ruined. A pair of black tight fitting pants. A black sweater that frames her chest nicely. As for her face? It's covered up with a mask that only keeps the lower end disguised. Weapons? They are seen here and there, notably her sais.

"Batgirl." She whispers, the wind picking up and making her dark hair swirl about her form even as she steps forward to put a foot on the ledge. Just a step away from plunging down to her death.

"What did you find?" Her tone deadly. Clearly Kraven and Elektra are no friends.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl was obviously expecting the company, and her drones were ever watching her back for her... a back that was not so well guarded once upon a time, a time that she'll never let return. She's not startled by Elektra's arrival, and in the background two of her bat-drones sweep through the sky toward another building off to the south, dipping down toward the alleyways.

Babs turns her head within her armored helmet to look to the other woman, the woman with the mask covering the opposite half of her face from what her own covers. Babs' green eyes scan Elektra over for a moment before she simply looks away to that building across the four lane road below.

"Kraven is using this facility here, a clothing manufacturer to traffic women in and out of the city. Not a lot, mind you, but a handful at a time. A 'side gig', you might call it, if you were a creep..."

She tips her chin across the distance. "His people are there now. Remember the big one?" She asks then, as her gaze returns to Elektra's. "I intercepted some texts. Kraven says he's on his way here tonight to check on the status of... well, I'm sure you can guess."

There is a pause then as the redhead eyes Elektra once more. "How are you? Wounds healed?"

Off in the distance, GCPD sirens can be heard, but they're a fair ways east, a good number of city blocks out.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
The assassin keeps leaned forward just so, continuing to listen even as her eyes roam the place, finding weaknesses, points of entry. Her eyes narrow and her head turns so she can look at Batgirl at something said. "Raze." the big guy. It hadn't gone well last time they had met. "And indeed, Kraven is a lot more than a creep. This is what he does. His tastes aren't even accepted at the Hellfire Club.."

Elektra may have had an hand in getting him expelled. Ah well, the perks of belonging to the inner circle.

"I am .., fine." Just the briefest of pauses on that answer. Was she really fine? She wasn't sure. And it's not like her dreams as of late had been helping. Or were they nightmares?

"Are we ready for round 2 with that werewolf then? Along with a vampire to boot?" She looks amused, rolling her neck. "Or do we intercept and interrogate him?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs gives another look to the dormant building across the distance, before she looks back to Elektra and takes a step back off of the ledge. Her boot crunches on the rocks and wet surface of the building roof. "I think we should grab him on his way in. I have an idea for that... but first."

The Batgirl nudges something that was under the ledge, then pulls it out by one end with the tip of her boot. It's a black duffle bag. "I made you something." She tells the other woman.

She nudges the duffle bag out of that nook it had been tucked in to and she motions to it with a gloved hand then, the large bag just laying there now between the two women.

"I've been... watching you, since we started doing this, as I'm sure you know. I am concerned about your longevity under the conditions in which we're putting ourselves, and I wanted you to have something to help you avoid some of the injuries I've seen you sustain."

Inside the bag, when unzipped, is a set of clothing, a jacket and pants set that are in the deepest of black hued shades. Cloth afixed over armored fittings, yet none of it is heavy or overly bulky.

"I took your measurements while you were in my garage too, sorry about that..." She mutters before exhaling.

"It's the same kind of bullet, knife, and kinetic impact armoring that I use, though a little lighter because I know you're more nimble than I am, and rely heavily on that. It's also all kept within removable sections made out of nano-tube material that absorbs 99.9 percent of all light, making it the darkest material on the planet..." She smirks then. "I maybe stole it from a research lab at MIT, the plans that is... don't tell on me?" She asks with a dry witted humor lacing her voice.

"Anyway. I thought you might like to have this in your arsenal of personal preservation options..."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Dangerous." Elektra says about the idea of grabbing Kraven when he's going in. But then there's a wicked little smile to her lips, "But I like it." of course she does. It's Elektra. Her middle name is Danger. Or Impulsive. Or ... Look, she has a lot of middle names, okay? Yet what comes after tears her attention away from the building, having her focus on Batgirl instead, and then down on the bag.

And did you expect Elektra not to smirk when Batgirl says she's been watching Elektra? Of course she does smirk, it visible in the way her eyes seem to twinkle with her amusement, "I have been doing this for a long, long time.." she notes, brushing off that worry she feels on the other woman. Almost as if she couldn't stand people worrying about her.

That moment passes quickly though when she starts looking over the clothing. Pants. Jacket. Light material. She can feel it's top of the line too. "And I am supposed to be the ninja.." when Batgirl admits having taken her measurements. "And you are a lot more nimble than you believe, Batgirl.." is there a tease to her voice. Of COURSE.

"I will have to find a way to thank you later." And then she starts slipping into the new armor, getting rid of her top and pants first right there and then in the November cold before slipping into the new outfit. It fits snugly to her forms and she does look quite marveled at the way it seems to absorb light.

"I clearly havent' been investing enough in technology.." she admits even as she gets her mask back in place.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There is a small smirk at what the other woman is saying then as she goes to put the clothing on, and swap out her other. for it. While doing this, Babs steps forward again, her right booted foot going to the ledge. She stands there, observing the horizon for a moment before she looks back to see Elektra fastening the torso piece on. "It's better than hockey pads, at least." She says dryly, her green eyes darting up and down the woman once she has the equipment on. "I'm glad it fits. It should keep you warmer and dryer too, with moisture reduction... and... you haven't struck me as the kinda person to really put a lot of time in to researching the latest and greatest in the tech scene." She teases with a little grin gracing her exposed face.

The suit has spots for weapons too, the thighs lined with slips for sais, scabbards, sheaths, and other such equipment that Babs nods at. "I had to do quite a bit of reading on some of that, but hey... I love new knowledge."

In the sky, one of the Bat-drones sweeps across the four lane street and down toward the building, Babs raises up a computer display from her hip and she exhales. "We have movement inside, and a vehicle coming from the north down the alley. Looks like someone is arriving and about to be met at the door."

The drone drops down in to the alley, but keeps several stories up to help conceal its presence to those down on the ground... this gives Babs a birds eye view of the alleway as a vehicle appears around a corner and starts to pull up toward the door just as it sweeps open and a bald man in a suit steps out from inside the dark building's interior.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Those scabbards surely don't go unused. Sais being placed on those sips at the thighs, she jerking her hips from side to side to test how secure they feel. Pretty good if one considers the nod she does at it. A sword on the back. A few knives on a few sheaths here and there. Few smoke bombs on a small pouch on the side. "You did go all out with it..." then a laugh when Barbara admits having gone reading up on ninja weapons.

"Do you mean I will get to see you fighting with Sais one of these days?" She teases, "I can always offer you a few lessons." the now dark-clad Elektra joining Barbara on the side of that building, looking towards that north alley.

"Let's move." She tells Batgirl. "We won't have long to intercept..." a pause as she looks up at Batgirl afterwards. "Though you did mention having a plan.." which now makes her curious.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
A smirk is given to the other woman when she is asked if she'll be seeing Batgirl wielding sais sometime soon. She doesn't elaborate on that. She has her opinions on it all, but that is for another time.

With the vehicle pulling up, a nice four door towncar, the rear door opens up and ... there he is. Elektra will likely spot his raven dark hair, long and gathering around a red scarf wrapped about his neck as he exits the vehicle and leaves the door open.

"Right, well... this is crude, and it's going to... not be subtle...." Babs starts to warn Elektra as she regards her computer held in her left gloved hand. "But... as Batman taught me... some of these assholes don't deserve to be treated with the respect of subtlty, or care, for that matter."

Her right hand sweeps fingers across the display as she activates something on the program she has running.

And then there's a loud bang from the alley, causing the bald man, and Kraven, to both look straight up! A smoke grenade is launched down at the feet of the men, striking the ground between the town car and the building's entry steps! It bursts with a loud, ear ringing, blast, and smoke fills the alleyway entirely!

Then, there's a scream, a male scream, and from the smoke a man appears flying... on the end of a grapple line, attached to a larger Bat-drone that is just carrying Kraven through the air!

Unprepared for this, Kraven is fighting it, his arms up, his heavy suit jacket constricting his agility as he tries to detach the cable from his clothing behind his shoulders, but the powerful metal 'claw' just has him dead to rights. With his legs flailing, the Vampire is carried straight over Babs and Elektra's heads, Babs looking straight up as she watches him fly above them... His screams echo out in the night, the snow fall getting a little heavier as he's carried off to the south.

"Come on. Lets go." Batgirl says before she turns southward, and starts to rush in that direction, reaching the far side of the building she leaps over the gap between warehouses, dropping gracefully to the next roof a few feet lower than the one the'd been on... and it's here that Kraven is dropped in a heap on the ground, right on his ass in a pile of fine clothing, and much confusion!

Elektra Natchios has posed:
There. The target. Elektra leans forward, predator almost. Oh yes, she wants some blood. And she is not even a vampire. She isn't particularly sure on what the plan is though. "A non subtle plan..?" she arches a brow at Barbara, "Doesn't surprise me after I saw all the firepower at the tower.." a grin on the woman's lips. And some curiosity too on what is going to happen.

And it doesn't really take long for her to figure it out. And then she just laughs when she sees the Bat-drone carrying the man through the air. "Maybe I should take a selfie ..., I know who would love it..." yes, Selene would love that one. If she ever gets to find her again. And that just makes Elektra's smile to fade and her expression turn more murderous. She watches Kraven being carried in but then rushes out after Batgirl.

She jumps over to the other side, sleek suit hiding most of her form from vision as she keeps up, footsteps barely heard.

And when Kraven is dropped down on the ground? There's the feeling of steel near his throat. "Don't move." Elektra whispers. "We have a few questions for you..., Kraven."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The Bats. They certainly do things differently!

When Elektra brandishes that blade against Kraven's throat before he can figure out what just happened, the long haired man in his rumpled-up suit struggles at first, but stops when he hears her voice from behind that mask, when he realizes who it is.

"Elektra." He says with a exasperated sneer across his expression. "You've got to be kidding me, you damn insufferable woman." He attempts to move again, likely Elektra applying more pressure which makes the elder vampire hiss where he is on that building roof, up against a corner of it with his jacket still attached on to by that cable claw from the drone that hovers up in the air, buzzing almost happily.

Batgirl takes a step toward the pair, catching Kraven's eyes. He glares at her form in the dark, his vampire eyes likely able to take in all of her in her suit. He exhales sharply, a little laugh, and glances to Elektra.

"Traded up, I see?" He growls out at the Ninja Assassin. "Can't say I blame you, that old model was just so. Old, and mostly without use---"

Babs takes another step,a nd then stops, watching the two with her computer held in her left hand, casting a soft blue glow across her upper chest and face. The light snow continues to fall around all of them up here on this cold, dirty roof. Babs is studying him, Elektra would be able to tell that. She's using this chance to get readings on the Vampire...

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"That's me." Damn insufferable woman. Not the first time Elektra has heard it. Not the last. Those eyes seem to smile behind the mask. "You should save your breath..."

All until Kraven decides to take a 'jab' at Selene. Her eyes flicker dangerously and the point of her blade digs into the man's neck. Juuuust a little. Enough to draw a little blood. "Careful. Try not to lose your head." she whispers, some snow flakes dropping across the darkened blade of her sword.

"You know what I am here for. And you know I will get my answers. How -you- will get out of this though? That's entirely up to you..." her tone of promise.

"Tell me where she is." Selene.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
A sharp wince comes from the further application of that sharp knife!

Kraven adjusts his position n the ground as much as he can in this predicament. He laughs in frustration at what Elektra demands to know about, he mutters something, he shakes his head and he shouts then, his voice loud enough to echo around the rooftop. "She's dead!" He declares. "I..... KILLED HER!"

He laughs again, as Babs speaks up dryly. "He's trying to alert anyone who might be near by looking for him where he is, don't let him shout again." She warns Elektra. Two more Bat-drones sweep across the night sky headed back the way they'd come from originally. "Nobody is aware of where he went though, yet." Babs softly adds.

Kraven just laughs more, his eyes on the Batgirl. "How much is she paying you to help her? I'll triple it."

"Shutup." Babs says dryly, disinterestedly, not even looking at him, her green eyes locked on that soft glow illuminating screen in her left hand, while her right swipes and glides gloved fingers across it.

He laughs some more, before he looks over to Elektra again. "You're wasting your time, Natchios. Selene was a burden to my people, and our new causes. She was eliminated for it. IT's done!"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"You are lying." Elektra grits her teeth at it. Is she trying to convince herself? No, she knew there was something behind her disappearance. She was still out there. Somewhere.

And when Babs says he's trying to alert others? It's when she hits the hilt of her blade on the vampire's forehead. Hard. "Careful, Kraven. If you don't have anything to offer ..., I may just dispose of you." a promise to her tone. The assassin coming to the fore. "And don't think Batgirl here will care. You are all monsters to her." a glance over her shoulder to Batgirl and then back.

"Specially monsters that are threatening Gotham. Like you and your Lycan friends are..." The cold blade taps the side of his neck. "So why aren't you a good boy and tell me where you sent her to? Or are you going to try and convince me Amelia wanted her dead?" she scoffs at that.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The hit to his head makes Kraven hiss again, but this time his eyes flash a dark muted grey, and a pair of fangs elongate just beneath his upper lip that is curled upward after the pain from the hit resonated through his form. He hears the followup question, demands, and just clenches his gloved hands in to fists at his sides, "I've killed far stronger vermin than you, Natchios, and you're signing your death warrant here tonight."

Babs takes another step forward, her cape flowing out to her left side in the snowy wind, along with her red hair flowing over her left covered shoulder. "Threaten her again, and you'll never leave this rooftop." Batgirl says as her green eyes are up off of the computer, but that dull eerie blue light shines upon her half masked face, showing a stern look. "You're advised not to underestimate me, or my family. For a long time now, you've flown under the radar, but ... that time is over. We're aware of you, and we're aware of your business dealings here. You're giving us nothing now? You'd better think again about that... This is our city, and you are not a living person. As she said... your death means nothing to me, the GCPD, or the Gotham Legal System. Prove your worth, your value, or we'll end you."

After those words are leveled at him, Kraven exhales another laugh after a silent passing few seconds. His dark hair is strewn in front of his face, with snow falling across his clothing covered body where he lays in a heap of said materials.

"Look." He says then, exhaling. "Selene /was/ in our way. All we did was tell some interested parties where to find her, and when. They did. They 'collected her', and where they took her? I don't know. That's up to them, and they? They ARE 'living', so you can't threaten them like you're threatening me here tonight." He fires back, vitriol thick on his accented English as he looks from one of the armored women to the other, now up at Elektra. "Amelia knows what happened, she's fine with it."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
The fangs flash out and Elektra's blade is equally as fast, close to those fangs. Her eyes glimmer with amusement. "You heard her.." the assassin says, head canting to the side, face close to his, "So stop wasting our time.." she warns the vampire.

But when he speaks up and reveals more on it? That has Elektra pause. Or was she suspecting it already? It makes her frown. "You are telling me that she's fine the one responsible for the defense against the Lycans is taken out?" she shakes her head, "What are these new causes you are talking about?"

The blade taps against a fang. "Don't make me take one of these off. I heard they take long to grow back. If ever.." Another threat made just to keep the vampire in line. "Who are those interested parties that were after her?" she then finally asks.

Elektra isn't liking this one bit and Batgirl can notice she appears to be on edge, a tiger ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There's another little lip curl at the threat to his fang from Elektra, but Kraven has settled in to this, as far as he can anyway. The drones continue their hovering around the perimeter of the buildings in this city block, Babs is clearly keeping a watch to make sure Kraven cronies aren't yet making their way here to search for him, but so far so good...

"Medical researchers!" Kraven snaps back. "This whole damn city is filled with pipelines to them, pipelines to everything you could imagine! It's not just sex slaves, little friend. They wanted powered 'creatures' too, Selene counting as such." He takes a breath and tries to adjust his neck some so he can sit up a little higher and look a little more respectable in the process.

He shoots out a sharp exhale.

"Amelia loved Selene, especially for saving her from the Lycan attack." That he helped orchestrate. "But... once it was expressly laid out to her? Well... she changed her tune." What does he mean by that? His eyes look up to Babs, and then back to Elektra. He can see it before it comes, so he just sighs. "Selene is a dupe. She always has been. Our Sire has lied to her, and you two were inching your way closer to that lie being revealed. I tried to stop her. I tried to /show her/ she was heading down a dangerous path, but she /refused/ to listen to /me/!" He gets clearly agitated by this line of thought, but takes a second to clear his head.

Another drone patrol sweeps by over the roof, their buzzing fan blades quietly heading east to west.

"If Selene found out the truth... she'd kill everyone... all of us. Amelia included. Thus... she was a burden. Thus. She was sold off. Thus... she's... no, longer, a burden."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
With Kraven finally taking the hint Elektra eases off on the threats. For a change! The blade is still close but it's not poking new holes in him. Instead she is watching him carefully, eyes narrowed as if looking for signs of deceit, "So it all goes back to those labs.." it doesn't seem to be the first time she has heard of this. Her frown grows as her suspicions are now confirmed. Specially as Kraven then tells her about the deception Selene was under.

Confirming Eve's words.

"And since she didn't listen to your lies .., you decided it was time for her to go.." There's a harshness to her words. "You. Your vampire friends. You are all the same. As monsters as the lycans." a beat, "Or even worst." her eye twitches as she considers just stabbing the man there and then. But no, she refrains from it.

"Using Selene for your own ends until she became a nuisance. Shameful." Wasn't Elektra on the same boat though? "Maybe all of you deserve to be killed." she clearly having no compassion to Kraven hinting to having loved Selene, in his own way.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Kraven just breathes after Elektra says all of that. He just looks up at her, and breathes. "Maybe." Is his near-whispered response. "But if you want to blame any of us for this, start at the top." He adds in a continued breathy voice of disdain, but disdain for what? Elektra? Selene? Or the position that their Sire put them all in all of these hundreds of years.

Viktor. Contentedly slumbering in his secured vault back in Hungary, presumably.

"We're preserving ourselves. Anyone would do the same, and /are/ doing the same every single day."

He looks down his body toward where Batgirl is standing a few paces away. "Even you people. You're vigilantes. Vigilanties are against the law. You're criminals. You're hypocrits." He glances back then right up at Elektra. "And how many people have you taken the life from, and who gave /you/ that right? Nobody. That's who." He starts to growl those words out the further he chewed through them.

"Now release me! Go find her if you want, but good luck. This country is a corrupt den of sin and hellraisers, far worse than me and mine!"

Batgirl just remains silent, studying her computer screen. She's heard it all before.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Viktor. Yes." Elektra puts to words what they are all thinking. The one on the top. The one that had done the betrayal. "You trust her too little if you think she'd kill all your kind because of the sins of one.." her words a whisper now. "It only means you don't know her. Not the same way I came to do." a small prickle of a jab at the vampire that wanted to love her.

"But now? Now you have made sure it comes to happen. Once I find her.." She gets up to her feet, sheathing her blade back in place.

"Yes, I have taken many lives. But I won't take yours tonight." She tells him. "But get out of this city. Get out of this country. If I see you again..." She doesn't finish her sentence. She doesn't have to.

A look back to Batgirl. "Let's go." she seems done with the vampire.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
It isn't until Elektra gives the 'Let's go' comment that Babs hits the release on the claw holding on to Kraven from behind. The drone that it is attached to suddenly whirls its blades louder and takes off up in tothe sky, it being one of the larger Bat-drones, with more carrying capacity.

As Elektra walks past her, Batgirl jsut stands there, staring at the released Kraven, while he stammers some,and struggles up to his feet, dripping with roof filth and snowflakes falling around him.

"We've issued this warning to your Lycan friends already. We're issuing it to you now. Gotham has enough problems, as you've said. We don't need you and yours apart of it. Leave now, or face the rest of my family... and no remorse for your destruction."

AS the flock of Bat-drones sweep in together over head, Batgirl turns to leave with Elektra, the sound of the familiar Batmobile engine revving loudly from the alleyway floor below...