15840/Deliveries Gone Wrong

Deliveries Gone Wrong
Date of Scene:	11 September 2023
Location:	East Harlem
Synopsis:	Karai ambushes Joshua (who she was sure she had left for dead) to get answers to her questions about how he is still alive and give him an opprotunity that would be hard to health if he ignored.
Cast of Characters:	Joshua Foley, Shredder

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Joshua Foley has posed:
Having woken up early under the roof of the witch, Nettie Crowe, Joshua has settled into a new lifestyle. He's still coming to terms with his own finding out that he's a mutant, which is on full display with the bright golden skin and blonde hair - but he's slowly coming to terms with it.

Nettie had given him a job (tricked him into a contract, really) and he was out this morning. The skateboard is rolling down the streets of East Harlem, messenger bag with deliveries inside from the Candle, Booke and Bell. A helmet rests on his head, and knee and elbow pad offer protection in case he takes a spill.

A camera is attached to the helmet, allowing Joshua to film his route and offer some quite narration. "It's been two weeks since Miss Nettie took me in." he narrates. "She's a good woman and has given me opprotuinities to make something from my life after the ashes it was when... the lab exploded." he murmurs and shakes his head. "I can't post this. Ugh."

Shredder has posed:
    When Karai discovered Josh, it was by chance. He stood out now that he had golden skin, and she didn't quite know who he was immediately. One could hardly blame her, he looked remarkably different, and she was most certain that she had killed him.

    When she had tried to find a way to approach and recruit him, though, she realized that he was in fact the young man she had killed. This changed her approach drastically. His harbor in the witch's shop meant that she had to take extra care, it would not be wise to simply drop into such a place. Her experience with magic had been extremely guided, and she certainly would be out of her depth to challenge such things.

    But now he was alone. His deliveries had given her an opportunity to approach him. She wasn't going to do it lightly, though. She is behind a construction barrier on the busy street as he comes by. The barrier covers a recently destroyed store front from one of the many superhuman battles in the city, but it's still possible to access the deli through the rubble. As he approaches, the young japanese woman's blade suddenly snaps out. Surely it could have been aimed at his throat, but it wasn't. It was aimed at that camera on his helmet, and it's followed by a forceful hand reaching out to try to snatch him from his skateboard and pull him behind the barrier.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Just as he was passing by the store front, Josh barely has time to register the sudden blade that comes out. He ducks, but not fast enough, the camera sliced clean away where it clatters to the ground, ending up cracked and aimed straight into the sky.

The hand that grabs him yanks him off the board, which ends up rolling into the barrier and coming to a halt as he's pulled behind it. His blue eyes widen as soon as he's pulled behind the barrier and he realizes who's assaulting him. It's been about a year.

And a lot has changed.

He tries to push away from her, to try to get away. His hands grasp at her wrists, and while he is nowhere near super-strong, Karai may feel a sudden sharp pain. Not like something cutting her, but eating away at the inside - as his fingers start to turn black. "Let me go!" he gasps, and if she does, his next question may sound odd.

"...is Bunny OK?"

Shredder has posed:
    Karai does let go, a hissing wince at the pain of his grab. She doesn't relent, though, holding her blade straight toward him threateningly. She doesn't look at her hands, but shakes the one not holding the blade in recognition of the unexpected pain. "So you /are/ that whelp from the lab," she confirms. "Yes, she's quite safe. I saved her, remember? From you." She takes a step forward, intending to pressure him to back up further toward the unstable rubble and the broken storefront.

    "I also remember you being dead, screaming in fear because your sins had come back to visit you, crying for mercy. But here you are." She looks around her blade to assess him visually, critically.

    "Alive."

Joshua Foley has posed:
She's alive. Good. Karai got her out. He didn't dream of having come across her. He backs up further in the rubble, "I don't want to hurt you..." he manages, a hollow threat -- yet he had done just that.

He slumps, landing against a broken countertop and sinks to the ground. His hands move to hug his knees and he looks up at her.

"Yeah. No mercy, right?" he asks her, holding up those same hands. "All those sins that came back and revisited me, seven-fold." His eyes watch the woman - his posture may show that he surrender, but there is a fight to survive in those blue eyes - much different than the last time she looked into them.

"Turns out I'm one of them." he says with a short, sardonic laugh. "...the mutation I thought I could hide when I first discovered it. That I was hoping that there was a cure for." He reaches out, his hand grabbing her blade and there's a sharp hiss of pain as it cuts deeply into the meat of his palm, drawing blood. He pulls his hand away, blood staining her blade before he holds up the damaged hand to her and he closes his eyes.

The fingers that were black turn gold and the wound knits itself before her eyes. He explains, "I woke up in the morgue."

Shredder has posed:
    Karai watches the wound knit itself. "Isn't that convenient," she says, her narrowed gaze revealing some kind of turning in her mind. "So you knew you were one of them, yet you helped to torture and kill them?" she confirms. "That is a special level of evil. So now that you can't hide, I imagine whatever number of your friends survived have nothing to do with you now that you're...a freak." She shakes her head condescendingly. "How poetic. But that's fine, right? You hide in a witch's shop so that you can escape the people you've hurt, and the former friends that would now hurt you. You skate about on a toy as a menial delivery boy, knowing that in the end, people aren't able to kill you. After all, it all heals."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I never knew that they were hurting them!" Joshua immediately protests. "The first time I realized that was when you showed me what was happening! They had told me they were wanting to help, to find a cure for them. A cure for me!"

Joshua drops his hand back to his side. "Then they came for me. When they found out I survived. And recovered. From death. They said that they would dissect me to find out what it was that caused it to heal and they would use it in their cyborg parts to not be rejected. I was an idiot. I'll never deny that. I have told Miss Nettie that. And Gabby. They accept as I am now."

"Not like anyone else did, I've been on the streets for the last year. I was found in a dumpster, brought to her home, and given a second chance."

"I make deliveries to repay a debt that I will never afford. Because someone reached out to me at my lowest point. So go ahead. Sneer. Get your pound of flesh. Because trust me, you cannot cut me further down than I've already been."

Shredder has posed:
    Karai gives a smirk. "Deliveries? to repay the lives you destroyed? You truly are an idiot. And pathetic. Hiding under their skirts like a child. I could take more than a pound it seems," she comments, circling the ninja-to a little. "But that wouldn't accomplish anything. If you're so penitent, then you should want to do something to actually impact those you harmed. Unless you think that deliveries are sufficient. Perhaps I'll ask Bunny what she thinks. I'm sure she'd have a few things to say to that. Or you could do something of substance. You can't undo the damage you've done, but with a gift like that, you could prevent it from being done to others."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I'm not hiding. You found me." Joshua points out. "And I assist with them on their work." He can't outright say he's Justice League: Dark. He draws out a breath though. And in the back of his mind, he knows she's baiting him. But he bites anyway.

"Bunny probably doesn't give two flips." he snaps in irritation.

"But sure." he finally relents. "What do you suggest I do to attone for the multitude of sins that I have created in my wake? I already have decided to heal those that need my help."

Shredder has posed:
    "Bunny has taken action to protect others the way she was protected," Karai answers. "Let me be clear, I think you're pathetic," she says, pulling a small black cloth from her sash and wiping the blood off her blade that Josh's hand left. She sheaths it. "But I also know that there are people you could help by serving more than simple boxes of trinkets. Package deliveries don't heal anyone." She nods at the healed hand. "People like the ones you served still plague Bushwick. They need to be stopped. Removing the threat from those people? That would bring healing."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Bushwick. It's where he's been living for the past year, until he stumbled on Nettie's shop while dumpster diving at the deli next store. Joshua is on the verge of saying hell no, but at the same time...

...he does owe them. Doesn't he? "I can do that." he decides. "I thought the Reavers had been taken care of." Apparently he was wrong. "I'll help, if I'm there. Or if needed. It's the least I can do."

Shredder has posed:
    Karai nods, though she has an air of skepticism about her still. "How well can you fight already? And I won't beat around the bush. What exactly can your powers do?" She asks as if she has a right to know, confident in her question. "The Reavers were just one of many groups that torment the mutants. Everything from your local hate gangs to obnoxious bigots with nothing better to do with their time."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Miss Nettie has an associate of hers that has volunteered to help me train. But a novice? Yeah. Total novice." Joshua isn't afraid to admit his distinct lack of combat abilities. "But fighting isn't what I'm focused on."

Since she's asking about his powers, he doesn't bother hiding them. "I can heal people. I have to be able to understand the wound or injury." Nettie's helping him with that, giving him medical texts and guides. "I was able to come back from the dead, but I don't know if I could do that someone else." He just hasn't had to try that yet.

"I can also hurt..." She experienced that already. "...when I was in Greece helping Miss Nettie, I was attacked by a boar and I laid hands on it long enough that it withered and died." A shudder goes through him in a shiver before returning his attention to the subject at hand. "I also learned I can sense life force and how strong or weak it is."

Shredder has posed:
    "Miss Nettie. This is the one who owns that shop you have been staying in?" Karai asks, though it seems to be more of a confirmation of what she suspects. "You can heal people?" she seems genuinely caught off guard. She's silent, her face betraying that she's racing with restructuring the way she was thinking about the conversation, not quite looking at Josh, but looking through him. After a moment she returns.

    "You know who I represent?" she asks, her attention refocusing on him once she's finished weighing her options. Her poker face is poor, it's clear that his revelation just rocked her full understanding of her purpose in the conversation.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Sure. Cut yourself and I'll show you." Maybe that came across a little more sardonic than he meant it to, but Joshua isn't happy about her holding him up still. "And it is. But trust me, I doubt you want to mess with her. She can be a real witch sometimes."

"Didn't bother to ever ask." he admits. "I know you work with other muties..." he still hasn't quite expunged that word from his vocabulary, but at least it sound more like it's aimed at himself instead of others. "Like the giant rhino and warthog thing you were with at the lab."

Shredder has posed:
    Karai seems to weigh her evaluation carefully, then speaks quickly. "We do a great deal more than that," she says. "And I'd erase the word 'mutie' from your lips. Those who serve in my organization come under physical threat frequently. Can you heal only physical injuries? Or illnesses as well?" she asks. "I thought at first to give you a chance of redemption through serving as a combatant, but you clearly can do more by helping those who have been injured. You could save lives of those who put their lives at risk to help mutants."

Joshua Foley has posed:
When she asks about the illnesses, Joshua thinks. "I... don't know. But if I can hypothinize? I ate out of the trash and dumpsters and soup kitchens and was exposed to the elements." he thinks on it. "...so I'd venture, yes? But I have yet to actively test the idea. And I need to visiualize the healing process." he explains. "Like, I can't heal cancer without a lot... a lot of information in my head."

"If I can help, I will." He knows it's redundant to say he owes that much. That would be the understatemnt of the year.

Then he pauses, wheels clicking in his head.

"Are you injured?" he asks her. "Or sick?"

Shredder has posed:
    "No, I'm in perfect health," Karai somewhat scoffs at the idea. "But there are those who come to us who are not. People who need help. Your witch, does she require you stay with her at all evenings? You may often be needed at night," she warns." She hasn't taken up the offer of cutting herself for him to prove his powers, she seems satisfied at the account. "If you are faithful, you may even be able to find a place of your own to live, rather than staying in someone's store."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua isn't entirely sure how his witch's contract with Nettie works, but, he uses it as a convient cover. "I can come and go as I please, as long as I maintain contact with Miss Nettie." he explains. "And I am happy with where I am staying now."

Mainly because it will keep it from being completely tied down to whatever Karai may have in mind.

"I said I will do what I can to help. But having already survived one 'auturistic'..." he spits out that word, "...group, you will forgive me being leery to jump directly into another without knowing the whole story." He takes out his phone. "You got a QR for your contact info?"

Shredder has posed:
    Karai huffs. "Yes, we have a code you can connect with." It sounds like it's not her first choice of how to do things. She pulls a small card. It reads "The Family" on it, with a QR code at the center. The image at the center of the code looks a bit like a foot print. "Remember, though," she says. "You owe the people of this city recompense. I'm offering this as penance, not as a work opportunity. The alternative is to continue to be viewed as an enemy. We are not kind to enemies." The unspoken consequence hanging with her last statement.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Pushing himself to his feet, Joshua dusts himself off. "Not looking for a job. Happy where I am now. Five stars." a snort before he scans the code on the phone and downloads the contact information. "As I said, I'll help when and where I can. I'm well aware of my ledger. And speaking of which, I am working on that right now." He pats the messenger bag to his side. "So unless you want me to explain why I got a 1-star rating to my boss on all of..." he waves his hand around the ruins and then to her. "I think we have an understanding and I should be on my way."

Shredder has posed:
    Karai narrows her eyes, as if the comment was a personal affront. All the same, she nods, "See to it you do." She doesn't say anything else, but just turns and walks out into the bustling foot traffic of the city, leaving him to his own devices.

Joshua Foley has posed:
As soon as Karai leaves, he draws in a deep breath and slowly lets it out. He debates on whether or not to share the information. But at least he got some answers and a direction.

And she didn't test him on that whole coming back to life again thing. He's not sure if he can pull off that stunt again. (He can.)