14646/Barbarian and Assassin

Barbarian and Assassin
Date of Scene:	09 April 2023
Location:	Tricorner Docks
Synopsis:	Jade Ngyuen makes an assassination but gets caught in the process thanks to the heroic Thunder-cat, Alderic!
Cast of Characters:	Mary Jane Watson, Jade Nguyen, Alderic

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Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Who is this important enough man that's tasked with a small protective detail? Is he with the government? is he with a business? Why does he have the faintest reasoning to come out here to the Docks in Gotham at two in the morning? When the place is ablaze with all the thrilling things of a late night, run down area in Gotham?
    Mary Jane is not particularly happy either, having to go along with the man who seems to spend more time interested 'in' her than he does whateve rhis job is. But still, she's alert. As far as Sonja is concerned. a job's a job. This one pays, at least.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Jade loves the distance scope. She's laying on a branch, a good ways out, and scouting her target through them. Both eyes pressed to them, she lounges in her position and watches the group walk the Docks. "Night vision, don't fail me now," she mumbles as she switches it on.

Gets her a lovely view. "Seriously, just wandering around out in the open? Gimme a challenge or something." She mimes making a gun with one hand, then pews sound effects at the target.

But then she looks around, and sees someone walking with martial sense. Hrm. "You're the fun today, then. Let's see what you're made of." So, she grins and leans herself to an upright position, and strings her bow.

She glances back at the target, then stands up. "Roy, you are a goober," she says as she nocks an arrow. Then pulls back, and fires. 500 metres, at the actual target. Anything could happen, or get in the way. Even some random passerby. *eyes Alderic*

Alderic has posed:
    Who wouldn't want to be on the Gotham docks at two in the morning? It's a great place to find fish, if you're a cat - and Alderic is certainly that! The feline man is prowling about in the shadows, keeping himself stealthily hidden from other people who might be around. He's lurking in the shadows of an alley between buildings, watching the people who just arrived shortly ago - the man and the red-haired woman, neither of whom he recognizes.

    He doesn't notice Jade, at least not at first, but with night vision she would be able to see him, with his eyes reflecting the light particularly brightly. He's not particularly paying attention to her, but when the arrow is loosed, the sound makes his ear twitch and he reacts entirely on reflex! Lunging from the shadows, at incredible speed, the cougar-man intercepts the arrow mid-air, catching it with his maw mid-leap! He hits the ground on his hands and feet near MJ and her ward, where he drops the arrow. He growls and bats at it a bit, confused. Perhaps he thought it was a bird.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would snap about over with her blade, to hold it in front of her and the man she was tasked with defending. "Good kitty." She would make a gesture that would imply petting if she wasn't about to engage in combat. Keen eyes snapping about to get an idea over on the approximate direction of where the arrow had come. She hisses over to her escort mission subject.
    "Get -down-." She'd have him split up and run but an attacker at this range will have free reign to shoot- and- is just as likely to be a decoy as anything else for another team. Which means she has to stay rather close to him. She does, however, go to call out in a booming voice in the direction teh arrow came from..
    "Impressive shot!"

Jade Nguyen has posed:
The voice that returns is blunt, and sounds female. "Nice catch. Too bad it wasn't you that did it." Whoever it is, is staying in the shadows for the moment. Alderic is getting a scent of aloe and rose hips, from that way, but it's moving a bit to the north. Circling around.

Then a flying object comes from that direction, to the north, away from where the original shot came! A metal object, a thrown sai, aimed at the ducking senator. Or whoever it is. Hardly matters.

An instant later, the person who threw it moves forward with two more sai in hands, closing the distance in a blur!

Keep them down with ranged, then get close, apparently.

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic lifts his head, looking up at MJ when she talks to him. He tilts his head with a curious "Rrr?" But then MJ is shouting at someone, and someone is shouting back! It takes a few moments longer for Alderic to make the connections and figure out what's going on here, and he calls out with his own louder, raspy-sounding "Rrowr!"

    The sai is thrown and Alderic intercepts that, too, catching it in his maw. He bites down on it the same as he did with the arrow, teeth leaving indentations in the metal. He growls as Jade comes rushing at her target, and Alderic suddenly lunges towards her!

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And Mary Jane lets Red Sonja take over. Sonja might not know the exact -location- of Jade, but she can know exctly how she would approach an attack like this. It takes her a moment to gauge the distance.. The angle.. And where things are coming from. Sonja knows how -she- would apporach this sort of attack. And she knows well how misdirection works. She would grin ferally.
    "I'll get you some tuna when we're done here, little one." SHe would say appreciatively to the cat, sword up in a defensive posture as she moves to try and make sure that she's in between the line of thrown blades and the escort mission target. Waiting for the Assassin to close in or reposition.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
The dark green shadow of a person engages with Sonja/MJ with a clang! There's a moment where the attacker is visible to everyone! A female, in dark green clothing of some revealing type. Wearing a classic kabuki mask, one of a cat. Grinning. Not the most subtle of messages.

"I was hoping for a bit of a fight. Glad you two could remedy a boring evening." She seems to glance past Sonja to Alderic, with her Sai at his feet, but it's hard to truly tell with the mask in place.

"You do realize I'll still win, right?" She disengages and slices at Sonja's legs, the sai cutting like a blade. Keep them talking, they might make a mistake.

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic's ears perk up when he hears the word tuna, and he looks towards MJ again. "Rrowr!" He seems to be in agreement! In fact, it distracts him enough that he misses Jade entirely, and she slips by to swing at MJ! Alderic has to scrabble and slide a little on the concrete to get his footing again, but once he does he sinks down into a crouch, prowling around Jade now. He growls again, the cougar-man menacing and dangerous. Its one thing to fight another skilled warrior - it's another to fight a wild mountain lion. It's a good thing he doesn't think she's lunch!

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Red Sonja snaps out wiht her broadsword. The tactic of someone fighting with sai will be to get in close to try to disarm or lock the weapon. The blade goes down, blocking the sai from the strike as it slashes. She immediately upon the block goes to hold the sword one handed, right fist going up to try and pummel Jade with a punch to the center of her torso rather than the face.

Sonja grins twistedly. "I appreciate a challenge."

Her full attention is on the assassin. She's hoping that her escort mission objective has the sense to keep moving and stay behind cover as he does. This is too blatant - it has to be some sort of distraction. As Alderic goes in from the other side, Sonja smiles. "Thank you for the assistance. Appreciated. But you do not have to get involved in this fight."

Jade Nguyen has posed:
The attacker grunts, parrying Sonja with BOTH sais. She gets knocked back, and then finds herself facing off against a mountain lion. "Bad kitty," she says, then throws something to the ground. A smoke cloud appears, and her mask is the last thing to vanish inside of it.

It makes her hard to track, hard to follow. But she comes out again to the left, lunging toward the target! Keeping the pressure on! Pay attention to me, or you'll lose!

But.

The smoke bomb had two purposes. It made her safe, a moment. But it also made smoke, and noise. It masked things, like, say...the gas that began leaking out of the original sai. Right down near where the target was, close. Too close.

Behind her mask, Cheshire grins. Five seconds, and the man starts to spasm.

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic wasn't ready for the sudden explosion of gas! The sudden burst of smoke had him recoiling, and sneezing - complete with an absurd shake of his head in the process. It goes on for several long moments, the cougar unfortunately incapacitated an unable to help! Not that he knows there's more gas leaking from the sai! He sensed the poison, but would have never anticipated the gas. It seems this time the bad guys have won!

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Sonja's too far away to do anything as the man tumbles down from the cloud of poison. And the cat. She hisses as Jade vanishes into the cloud - she can't run towards her objective without leaving herself open for an attack from the rear and making herself an easy target. So there's some swearing over from herself at making such an amateur mistake while getting caught up in her bloodlus tfor a challenge. So she only has a few seconds to try and track the smoke, trying to figure out where her attacker's escape route would be.. Or if Jade would try to go in for a flank!

Jade Nguyen has posed:
"You know, you could have saved him. If you'd been paying attention." The voice is SO mocking, as the kabuki cat girl engages in a slippery fashion. Not really making contact, save to let herself pull back and away. "You and your cat are good enough. Or you should have been."

Then she steps back into the rapidly dispersing smoke, which vanishes a moment later. And she's visible again, running for the treeline. Bit left, bit right. Not an easy target. She knows her game, this one. She's leaving, probably to get paid.

Momma needs to buy some Magic the Gathering cards. Or something.

Alderic has posed:
    Jade is fast, but Alderic is faster! Once he recovers from the sneezing fit caused by the smoked, and he gets his bearings again, he spots Jade sprinting away. The cougar is on the move then, bounding after her! It doesn't take him long to catch up to her, and unless she has another trick up her sleeve to evade him, Jade would find the big cat grabbing her around the waist and tackling her to the ground! "Rrowrl!"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And as Alderic goes to charge Sonja's caught up enough in the taunt to charge along after her. Sonja is well aware by the time she gets to her target, the man will be down or in bad enough shape a few seconds won't make a difference. And she'll also be caught up in the cloud of poison.

So she tracks Alderic's pursuit, going to chase after Jade as well! Though a few seconds behind.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Jade has tricks. Tons of them, but she's far from perfect. The tackle hits her from behind, the running cat a study in stealthy speed. Paws are good at that after all. She tries to roll it out, but finds herself tangled in cat.

"I said bad kitty!" she says, a large blade appearing in her hands. She decides to amputate an arm or two if necessary to get free, her job orders saying nothing about wandering felines. She's got SOME leeway after all.

See how he likes it when the lady he's grappling is suddenly able to sever limbs.

Alderic has posed:
    Jade may way to reconsider, when Alderic goes from adorable furball to sharp and pointy danger. Claws and teeth come out to fight back against Jade's blade, snarling and wrestling and tumbling with her until one of them ends up on top. At some point, the mountain lion swipes at Jade, his claws rending right through the fabric she's wearing. If she has armor, she might be spared the worst of it, but between his strength and the size of those claws, he's just as dangerous as she is with the blade!

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And now Red Sonja is going to attack from the other flank! She has enough room to maneuver for a pincer with Alderic, going to try and swing her way along with her broadsword. Her own attack is one for extreme power and speed. She's seen how fast Jade is, so the point is tog ive the woman as little chance as she can to dodge or move to block.

Hopefully boxing Jade in. She can defend herself or evade an attack from one of them - but hopefully not both!

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Things get chaotic, which is how it gets when you're in close combat. Cheshire tries to leap up into the trees, but gets interrupted by Alderic. She tries to cut the cat away, and her blade impacts with MJ's incoming assault. She curses, and finds herself knocked back down again.

She definitely does have armour, the claws scraping against it managing to reveal that. It also takes a hit from MJ, the dismemberment attack only numbing her arm, forcing her to drop her sword. And the assassin reaches back to try and get out one of her sai again, which is when Sonja trips her up.

"&*#&" she says, tangling with the ever-present cat. And then, she finds herself face down on the ground, with a cat on her back. And a big ass paw on the back of her head, pressing her face into the earth. She still squirms, but not very effectively. Her hands are empty, but she's TRYING to reach a weapon...she can't seem to reach.

Alderic has posed:
    It's more of a hand, with Alderic being a mutant cougar and not just an ordinary one! He growls again as he holds Jade down, his weight and strength keeping her pinned underneath him. He's also got her by the shoulder, just below the neck, with his maw. The cougar's fangs bite into the armor, pinching against her shoulder - it quickly becomes clear that Alderic could bite right through her if he wanted to.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Sonja hisses over at Jade as she moves to try and snap her foot up, going to try and twist it around to move to kick it around the side of Jade's knee if possible. Going to try and if she can break the woman's kneecap so that she doesn't have ideas about running. Even if Jade can twist ou tand get away, hopefully hobbled she won't get particularly far.

Sonja restrains herself from grabbing the woman around the neck to try to snap it. They'll want her alive.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Jade Nguyen is captured! One in the win category for the heroes! Once they can convince the hero team to not brutalize their captives, we'll almost have them housebroken. Or, one can hope. But if the mask is removed, a fairly normal asian face is behind it. Some lady, with Vietnamese features. Who seems calm, and smiles knowingly. But says....nothing.