13456/Talons Around Alien Tech!

Talons Around Alien Tech!
Date of Scene:	28 November 2022
Location:	Little Italy
Synopsis:	Sally Pride and Mona Lisa meet for the first time chasing a mook with an alien weapon, but Montana of the Enforcers kills him before they can get any information out of him.
Cast of Characters:	Mona Lisa, Frederick Foswell, Sally Pride

---

Mona Lisa has posed:
     Under the light of the moon and a flickering streetlight, a member of the Talons street gang shows off an alien weapon. A chrome-like shiny exterior over what seems to be a firearm of some kind. "Check it out." he says to the other. "Boss says there's a lot more where this came from, if we do our job right."

     All of a sudden, there's a rush of wind, like a frisbee thrown through the air and the streetlight above explodes in an explosion of blue plasma, and the sound of something landing right before the pair, before the figure is illuminated by the blue glow of an expanding energy sword. The sword is raised at the two, a two-pronged, forked tip pointed at the one with the chromed weapon as the lizard-like alien says in a commanding, feminine voice, "You do not know what you hold in your hand. Tell me where you found it, and I might let you go..."

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The Talons were a street gang who claimed almost all of Little Italy as their turf. Ever since the 50s this crew of greasers and street thugs jealously held on to their turf and fended off any competiton to their reign. They were easily identified by their black leather jackets, blue jeans, and icon of a talon on the backs of their jackets. They were often considered small potatoes by the other crews of the NYC Underworld, but have somehow gotten the attention of the mysterious Big Man, leader of the newest Syndicate in town, The Network. This position has landed The Talons into a position of power they never had before and has landed them deals they had never had the chance to get before, including one that will change the course of not only their plans, but the plans of the Big Man as well

The two Talons looked on in shock as the light was shattered and the giant lizard landed before them. Once she threatened them, the one holding the blade, a tall, rail-thin young man of about 18 suddenly turned and bolted, shouting over his shoulder as he ran," No way man! The Big Man will kill me!"

Meanwhile, the second Talon pulls out a normal pistol from his pocket and fires at Mona.

Sally Pride has posed:
It was never good for advanced tech to fall into unscrupulous hands. Or just unknowing hands in general. People tended to hurt themselves with things they didn't understand. Things that just shouldn't be out on the streets, and that was enough for Sally Pride to be on the prowl. Heh, prowl. Being a lion and all. It was while she was looking for signs of activity that a streetlight explodes farther down the blocks and gets her attention. Lazy cost cutting city electrical work? Mmm, that didn't sound like a mere electrical overload blowing out the light.

That's enough of a preculiarity to get Sally hustling in the direction of the explosion, the lack of an active light not much of a issue to her own nocturnal vision. Sharp enough to see the men... and one clearly not-human dealing with them.

And then one of the men turn and flee. Sally is already on the move so she charges ahead and attempts to tackle the thug before he realizes she's there.

Mona Lisa has posed:
     Mona ducks under the blast, not fast enough to dodge bullets but fast enough to predict about where they should be firing as a gun forms on the morph pad on her wrist, firing a stun shot at the thug that shot at her and illuminating her and the thug further before she starts running after the first thug. Only now she sees... a catlike humanoid chasing after him too? "Stay back!" she says, before popping a disc off her belt and throwing it like a shuriken at the lioness. Whatever the disc connects with, it'll explode into a quick-setting gluey goo to try to get her to stay wherever she is...

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The second thug is hit directly by the stun shot, causing him to fall down to the ground with a heavy thud. Meanwhile the fleeing thug begins to run faster when he hears his friemd collpase, and he looks back for a second, only to see a humanoid lion running for him to. He lets out another frightened scream as he dashes faster, suddenly aiming the alien tech over his shoulder while shouting out loud in a frightened voice," S...Stay away from me!" He then fires the alien gun at the two heroes, sending bolts of energy flying everywhere

Sally Pride has posed:
"Aw shit." Sally's eyes widen as the gun comes up even as she dives and rolls out of the way. Someone else is shouting farther back, which she doesn't really pay complete attention to.

Until she goes to get up, and finds one of her feet stuck to the ground by whatever was thrown at her. "I was trying to stop him!", she snaps back to what she assumes for the moment is another a mutant. Then hunches down and digs her claws into the drying gun to try and cut it apart.

Mona Lisa has posed:
     Mona darts ahead in front of Sally, shouting "Don't get in my way!" as she fires her grapple gun at a nearby building to launch herself and get some speed towards this twerp (while hopefully making herself a harder target coming from an unexpected angle). She slings another disc towards the man that contains a sleeping gas effect that should double as some smoke cover if it misses and probably just make him drowsy unless he really stands in it and inhales it for more than a second, shouting a war-cry of "Rakka, rakka!" as she closes in on the thug!

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The man continues to shoot blindly at the two, not noticing the lizard flying up in the air. Suddenly, he runs through a thick mist that makes him drowsy for a moment, and causes him to slam into a wall. The man falls to the ground and leans against the wall in fear. He then covers his face and says," S...Stay back! Y..You don't understand what he'll do to me if i snitch!"

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride finally gets her foot free and goes to catch up. But the lizard woman already has the man on the ground panicing. "I don't know. Might want to be more worried about what she's going to do..." A nod towards the suited lizard lady. "Some fancy tech you've got there miss." She picks a bit of dried adhesive off her claws idly. "That gun he was fumbling with yours too?" Now she's just trying to put together why this new gal was so intent on taking a couple of gang thugs down on her own.

Mona Lisa has posed:
    Mona shoves the man against the wall and wrenches the gun out of his hand, an amphibian eye looking to Sally as she approaches and seems... friendly enough. Her forearm against the man's throat and choking him as she says "If you don't talk, I'll need to take you back to my ship and interrogate you, or worse, take you back to my homeworld to stand trial, after which you'll never see the earth again and might just be someone's dinner, rakka rakka..." She looks to the feline as she hisses, and then says "Never. This is an Utrom weapon from Dimension X. I am on the hunt for one called Krang, who has been using illegal Kraathatrogon-derived mutagenic ooze here for some time, possibly decades... What is your interest in this?"

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The man starts to gag and struggle violently against the lizard's grip, ocassionally letting out wheezes of fear. Suddenly he manages to choke out,"The Big Man gave me this gun. Met some bum callin himself The Weaponsmith. The Big Man said he'd be able to hook us up with more guns if we got more money funneling into the Network!" The man then chokes out a confused grunt as he says," Wait, who the hell is Krang, and what the hell is Mutagenic Ooze. Is that what made you?!"

Sally Pride has posed:
That is a lot of information to process in short order. Okay so she's an alien, not a mutant as Sally first suspected. But still non-human, and not something to really nitpick over. Some manner of space cop or bounty hunter. And the mention of 'mutagenic ooze' raises a few flags. Just how many ways of making mutants is there? And probably more connected than anyone knows.

She's about to comment on the ooze, but then the man starts sputtering questions and she stops herself. "Oh, just the vigilante thing," she replies to the lizard woman instead. "No idea who that Krang is." She points at the discarded weapon. "I just know that sort of tech getting into the wrong hands is a Bad Thing, regardless of where it's from." There's enough problems with Null and half a dozen supervillains toting around advanced mad science as it is.

Mona Lisa has posed:
Mona narrows her big yellow eyes at the man and chokes him harder for a moment, saying "The only thing that made me is my parents. I'm Lieutenant Y'Gythgba, ah, though I have been assigned the name "Mona Lisa" here. It is easier for earthlings to pronounce, rakka rakka. I come from the Salamandrian Air Command, from across the stars, in hunt of the people who made this weapon..." She releases the man, and then puts the deactivated hilt of her energy sword on her belt. "Vigilantes seem to be common here..." she says to the lioness, "If that is your duty, perhaps you would also like to learn where this... large man is."

     Mona pulls him from the wall, saying "You will take us to your boss, and then we will see what your fate shall be..."

Frederick Foswell has posed:
The man is let go from the chokehold the Lizard put him in and begins to greedily suck in air as he clutches his chest. Suddenly, he is pulled from the wall and ordered to lead the two to his boss. The man looks unsure for a moment before saying,"Look, The Big Man almost never appears to use rank and file guys. But, our leader, Vance, may know where he is. I can..."

Suddenly, he is cut off by the sound of whistling in the wind. "Oh no!" The man shouts out in fear as a lariat flies out from out of an alleyway and wraps itself around the man's neck. The man screams as he is pulled into the alleyway, which is suddenly cut out by a savage snap and a gargle.

Sally Pride has posed:
".. Yes, let's stick with Mona Lisa for ease." She's not even going to try and pronounce that extremely alien name. "Sally Pride." Then turns her attention back to the thug. "And yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing more about where this tech is getting onto the streets from eithe--"

Of course that's when there's an interruption, a rope snagging around the man's neck. Reflexively Sally jerks back, pulling her own gun from its holster as adrenaline ripples through her systems again.

But neither of the two are shot at, just the chump yanked away in a likely less than survivable manner. The lack of respect for their own men these gangs have always rubs her the wrong way. "Dammit!"

Mona Lisa has posed:
     Mona's eyes widen as the man is dragged into the alley and killed, attaching the krang weapon to her belt and shooting a fist towards the darkness, one morph-pad forming a flashlight while the other hand reaches for an activates her energy sword, setting it to "cut" rather than kineticly repel, her eyes narrowing as she shouts "Show yourself!" as she steps forward in the direction of where that whip came from, relying on her quick reflexes and training to avoid the same fate, sword raised defensively towards the alley...

Frederick Foswell has posed:
As you shine the light into the dark alleyway the first image you see is the dead Talon lying dead on the ground, his neck broken. Suddenly, you hear the sounds of footsteps walking slowly towards you both. Suddenly, the image of a man wearing a blue suit studded with sequines stone, black cowboy boots, a white cowboy hat, and the beginnings of a moustache emerges from the darkness. In his hands is the very same lasso that killed the poor ganger just moments before. The cowboy smirks at the two before casually twirling his lasso around and saying in a thick, Montanan accent,

"Sorry ladies, couldn't have dat sidewinder snitchin my boss. The penalty for treason is death after all, or my name ain't Montana."

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride follows on Mona's heels to the alley. She's got a fancy light. Sally just has her heightened predatory senses, ears cupping forward at the boot made footsteps. And... well, it's the second person she's seen in a cowboy getup in the last week. What is it with that motiff lately?

She's already got her own weapon out, gripped in both hands as she levels it at the man. It's not as flashy and alien as the stuff Mona is toting but it's clearly not your stock pistol either. "Well then 'Montana' I don't suppose you'd care to explain a few things in his stead? I doubt my aquaintance here" she side-nods towards Mona, "is going to hold back if you don't..."

Mona Lisa has posed:
    "Your fellow earthling is correct." the amphibian says, not breaking eye contact with Montana as she points her glowing, two-pronged sword at him, saying "Surrender, before I am forced to hurt you." The morph pad on her sword arm's wrist forms into a gun again as she tilts the hand holding the sword, keeping the sword up for defense but pointing the gun at the man.

Frederick Foswell has posed:
Montana smirks again at the two as he continues to twirl his lasso around, casually walking towards you as he did. Once told to surrender, he laughs out loud and says," I don't think dat will be happenin darling. I heard ya talkin 'bout Krang and Mutatin ooze, and i'm thinkin dat The Big Man would love ta here all about it. Especially the part where his new guns are actually alien weapons. 'Sides, y'all are plannin on takin me back to yer planet anyway, and Montana ain't no ones prisoner!"

Suddenly, a loud grunt fills the air as a nearby manhole flies open. Montana immediatley rushes to the open hole in the ground and jumps in, laughing evily as he did, his last words being," Nice job, Ox!"

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride is just a few steps too late, and by the time they make it to look down the manhole the man has disappeared amongst the pipes and sewage. "Of all the times for the Brothers to not be nearby," she mutters. Smacks a fist on the pavement before getting back up. Followed by a sigh. "I think it's safe to say there's more than street gangs in on your alien weapon smuggling issue. Cuz that was certainly not just some two-bit crook."

Mona Lisa has posed:
    Mona jumps down the manhole after the man, but the gun changes to a scanner, scanning the area... and finding nothing, the concrete and residuals going every which direction proving fruitless. She hisses as she climbs back up, and then shakes her head, saying "I would surmise you are correct, Sally Pride. I wasn't able to scan him to see if he was a mutant or not. The Mutagenic Ooze can cause all sorts of mutations, but Earth seems to be a planet with a high mutant population already, the perfect place for an extradimensional alien trafficking a mutagenic substance to hide out... after all, word of new mutants would be lost in the noise of news about naturally occurring mutants..."

Sally Pride has posed:
"Yeah. You're talking to one of them." Sally replies as she puts her weapon away. "But not natural. More of the made by mad science sort. Though I've met a few 'natural' ones, so... I think you're right, about using all the regular weirdness here to hide stuff." Half the reason Null dug themselves in here to play shadow corperation. She eyes the manhole one last time, but there's no answers to be found there so she snorts. Looks back to Mona. "Sorry for butting in on your little investigation."

Mona Lisa has posed:
     Mona blinks at that, apparently surprised, a morph-pad shifting into a scanner while the other shifts into a holographic display, alien letters filling out the display with a scan of Sally's figure and then a DNA helix, to which the salamandrian furrows her brow. "You are... correct. You have traces of the mutagen in your body... so you were created or... altered using the same mutagen I am seeking..." She then tilts her head as she approaches the lioness, looking her over, saying "I can see why the man thought I might have been a mutant, you are remarkably stable for a mutant made from this substance, though there are variations in application and dosage. I take it you did not ingest it." She smirks, putting her hands on her hips as she says "You are also cuter than I expected a mutant to be. I think we have much to discuss..."