16742/Is it the start of something..

Is it the start of something..
Date of Scene:	02 January 2024
Location:	Warehouses - Chinatown
Synopsis:	Drugs are off the street, but no closer to answers about art. For Diana at least. For another, information a plenty was had.
Cast of Characters:	Nikolas Kamarov, Diana Prince

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Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
Why do nefarious happenings need to occur late in the night? Sure, it's dark out, but criminals are people too and need there rests as well. But always with the shady dealings in the middle of the night when sensible people are long asleep. Low level villains must be recruited from the Graveyard folks. Better pay, perhaps?

Diana has been tracking an black market arts dealer for months now. Old pieces of art have been disappearing from private collections across the globe and funneled someplace. Every time she got close the trail was cold. Gone was any evidence. Cairo. Paris. Bismark, ND. Always hours behind the delivery only tracks that fade into the night giving clue that something actually occured.

Tonight is different. Tonight, she had a lead. A shaking one, but the first break in the case. From the vantage point across the warehouse, Diana could see from the east, an old uhaul painted all white turn down the street. And from the west an old duece and a half puttering along the bumpy road. Like a well rehearsed machine, they stopped 50 feet from each other and a complex series of lights flicker from one truck to the next. It lasts but a few seconds, but seemingly happy about something both drivers resume there movement. Passing each other and finally just stopping.

Winter watches. His stealth suit activated as he simply watches. Waiting.

Diana Prince has posed:
Winter would see something they might not have expected tonight. A figure apears out of seemingly nowhere, falling gracefully from the sky toward a ledge overlooking the vehicles below. The figure is rather recognizable, as well, dressed in red leather armor, trimmed in gold and blue, with armored boots and forearms. Wonder Woman just drifted in from the night time sky, seemingly uneffected by the cold weather of the winter night too.

She comes to a rest, standing atop the edge of the building, her eyes falling down upon the road below. Her dark hair moves in gentle waves against her bare shoulders, the large curls dancing across her form as she watches, listens, and takes in the entirety of the situation as it stands in the here and now.

On her hip is the golden lasso of truth, and a visible sword hilt peaking over her right shoulder.

She seems to need little extra information, as she drops down from the sky, gliding on invisible wings toward the vehicles, clearly intending to unceremoniously drop down in front of them.

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
Straight out of a block buster movie, the cargo vehicles pass each other and stop about 10 feet from each other. The doors open on both sides and 6 men three on each side funnel out of the vehicles and shuffle quickly to the back. Those in the white uhaul van wearing blue coveralls. The ones from the large duece and a half wearing black fatigues. None seem to armed as the all six simultaneously stop in there tracks.

Why? It's not every day you see Wonder Woman standing between the trucks. A gust of wind blows through causing the six to shiver. "What the shits she doin here Jimmy?" There is silence for a moment before the one who is presumably Jimmy laughs nerviously. "Don't know Jimmy. But the boss dunna like 'prises."

The other group seems to have the same conversation. Only there's is Russian.

"Get her!" The ones who didn't speak suddenly snaps and suddenly. It's a brawl.

And Winter from his perch high above simply watches. He was sent here to observe. And a soldier , a good soldier, follows orders.

Diana Prince has posed:
Throughout Diana's hundred years of traveling the entirety of man's world, she'd been in situations like this more than anyone could readily count. She wasn't here for the men that were ready to throw down to try and subdue her, thus their well-being was almost irrelevent to her. The English speaking goons garner a slight head tilt from the Themysciran warrior Princess. She doesn't respond to them audibly, but she does respond to them physically. When they start to rush her, she counters by rushing back at them, with a big difference being her sheer speed!

Wonder Woman rushes the first two men, lunging with a gliding stride across the pavement before she drops down to the ground, to land upon her armored knees, where she glides right on through the men's legs, sweeping them out from under them with a blur of motion! As they topple over her, she plants her right leg, her muscled thigh lifting her back to her full height, as she whips herself around behind the next man, who is still standing. Grasping him behind his collar, she uses her free hand to rip the weapon from his mitt, and tosses him forward in to the two men she'd just leg-swept off their feet!

"Run back to your employer..." Diana finally states then, her voice naturally husky and laced with a accent foreign to this place. "Tell them I am aware of his dealings, and that I intend to reclaim all that he has stolen."

A glance is sent back over her shouldr toward the Russians, waiting to see their chosen moves upon her...

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
There is no contest. Man versus a near goddess. Jimmy one and two, grab the much beaten and third who called for the attack and scramble into the night. "We're dead!" They can be heard crying to each other. Whimpering in the darkness of the night.

The Russians? They are more sensible lot. Sensible enough to know that a dust up is not to there advantage and the moment her back was turned they took one look at each other and scrambled towards the back of the truck. And when Diana turns around she is faced with three men standing in the back of the duece and a half, holding the ever popular and classic Ak-47's.

The first shot rings out piercing the night. She'd be hit. There is no way even with her impressive speed to stop the first couple of shells from hitting her. But the moment the first crack of the weapon being fired is heard the dusty ground kicks up in a cloud of dust. And no bullets reach her.

When the rounds have unloaded and the dust settles there is Winter. The mask he wears blurs his face and he glances over his shoulder, "I will deal with my comrades. They have made poor choice tonight." Turning so, it looks like he took the blunt of the bullets. Even so in his armor that he wears, there is a small hole. A bullet wound easily seen. But right before Wonder Woman's eyes, the bullet is pushed out and the wound fixed. In the time it takes for the bullet to land on the ground Winter is on the trio.

It bounces, the bullet, and the trio is on the ground a rope pulled from Winter's utility belt wrapped around them.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana was in the process of rapidly raising her armored forearms up to attempt to intercept the AK-47 rounds, when the blur of motion settled in from the side of her vision. she saw the unknown vigilante arrive, saw him deflect the rounds, and heard his response to her. Curious. Diana took a step back, her stance ready with her armored boots apart, keeping herself ready incase this new arrival was not interested in helping her in the long run.

But in what followed, the Princess merely observed the man take down the trio of Russians, in a fashion that would not have been all that disimilar to the method, and style, she would've employed to do the very same...

Even more curious.

A glance was given to the truck that the English speaking goons had been in, then the Princess sweeps her gaze back toward the Russian truck.

Diana's eyes dropped down to the bullet that had fallen from Winter, and with a intrigued expression, she returned her eyes to him.

She stepped closer now, her hands down at her sides, balled up in to fists still with the leather wrapped around her palms quietly creaking as she flexed her fingers before letting them slip loose again. The Russians got a look in their hindered state now, before Wonder Woman regarded Winter again.

"And who might you be?" She asks in that naturally sultry toned voice of hers.

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
There was no wasted motion with him in dealing with the trio. It was simple and effecient, even if at moments it looked like he was a gymnast instead of a soldier. Dusting his hands after tying them back to back to back he glances towards Wonder Woman. The stealth nature of the mask slowly shimmers and reveals his face. "Nikolas Kamarov, but most call me Winter.

The Older man's face is hardened with the test of battle. His silvery hair is pulled back into a tight pony tail and his blue eyes takes in the other. "What is the Wonder Woman doing out on a night like this? I'd have expected a Batman or Robin to stop drug runners." His voice is deep, calm and with a tilt towards the harshness of a Russian accent.

Diana Prince has posed:
When the face reveal takes place, Diana again has to tilt her head to the side. He looks both familiar, and unfamiliar at the same time. She hears him speak, however, and knows he is not someone she has met before. Once more, her eyes drop down to the men that he has tied up, but his comment and question has her stepping toward the truck that the English speakers fled from. "These men are not simply running drugs." She responds, "they are also notorious art dealers, thieves, trading valuable pieces on the black market that date back to thefts during world wars." She informs the silver haired man, as she pulls the lever on the back of the truck, snapping the lock off and tossing the heavy shipping door open with little struggle at all.

Diana lets her eyes roam the interior of the truck that the English speakers had run away from, and raises her leg up to step up inside of it. Clearly she is checking to make sure this was indeed the leads she was looking for, and that these men were indeed hauling what she had suspected they might be!

If not, well then, oops!

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
And this ladies and gentlemen when the part of the movie when thousands of feet away a shadowy figure stands on top a roof watching all of this unfold through high tech binoculars. Before the camera can fully pan to see who this dastardly villain is this time it cuts back to a Wonder Woman throwing the doors open of the repurposed UHaul.

Crates are staked three high. Three deep. All unlabled but opening them doesn't appear to be any issue. They a nailed shut. Winter leans against the edge of the truck his arms folded across his chest one foot crossed over the other. "Well? Drugs or priceless artifacts?"

The first crate reveals heroine. As does the second. And third. A more thorough search will reveal all the crates. All nine of them are in fact, filled with heroine.

Oops is right. At least a whack ton of drugs won't be on the streets.

Diana Prince has posed:
One reveal after another, until finally Diana has a reserved expression of disappointment befall her facial features. The words from the mysterious man outside the truck has her glancing back in his direction. "It would seem I was given misdirection on precisely what these men were trafficking..." She says in an even tone of her calming voice.

A breath is taken in between her ruby red lips, and Diana gives the contents of the containers one last look before she turns to walk back toward the docking bay of the truck's interior. On her way, she reaches a hand up to her right ear, dipping her bare fingertips beneath the locks of her dark hair...

She spends a minute or so communicating with some kind of a dispatcher, likely with the JLA, before her hand falls to her side again, and she steps down out of the truck, her wedge-heeled boots touching down upon the pavement of the street once more.

"Thank you." She tells him, turning toward him then. "For the assist, as yes, this is still a good thing to take off the street, even if it is not as I was envisioning..." She states quietly, a look sent back in to the truck she had just vacated before her eyes return to him again. "Are you new in these parts?" She asks him, using a question from an old western movie she watched the other night.

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
Patiently the Russian waits. He know that she needs to do her own investigating in order to have some closure on the night. When she wraps up he pushes easily off the truck with the fluidity and grace of a cat. "Think nothing of it. I was just to watch, but.. it was a much better view from down here." He flashes a quick grin that fades as he answers the other question. "A few years now, I have been in America." Winter replies as he turns to face Wonder Woman. "Mostly security for the various Russian Ambassadors. Things shift as they do and have been given freedom to assist the UN." He motions to the Russians still dazed and confused and struggling with their bonds. "They have been watched for some time by our government. We have no desire to see that filth land on Russian soil."

He motions to the duece and a half that the Russians arrived in and throws back the canvas to reveal the interior. "Guns. Ak-47s mostly and enough ammo to cause a lot of dammage. You deal? Or shal I?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Wonder Woman keeps her stare casually calm as she watches the man explain a bit about himself. She's used to quippy one-liners sent her way, but does show a faint smile before she just softly nods her head to him. "Well, it is nice to meet you. I do have an affinity for attempting to know those with impressive powers in the city, but this city has a tendancy of drawing in an uncountable number of such... It can be a challenge to keep up with, to say the very least."

She follows him toward the other vehicle, her footfalls light upon the concrete beneath her boots, her eyes dancing over to the tied-up men before she looks to what Winter is speaking of, the guns, a lot of them. She runs her eyes across them before she looks back to him.

"The Police are on their way. They will take the men in to custody, and the evidence from the vehicles will be catalogued, and processed as part of the case here, and that being built against their--" She motions to the men. "--bosses."

Diana looks down to see that bullet upon the street at the tip of her right toe. She kneels down to scoop it up, and rises back to her full height of just over six feet. She eyes the stubby bullet, before she holds it out toward Winter. "Are you regularly shot, and invulnerable to such attacks?" She asks him then.

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
"Ah. Does not the US Government share with you there information?" Winter asks curiously. "Though being from Themyscira, I do doubt they would. We are both Strangers in a strange land, Wonder Woman."

He purses his lips and looks towards the men before looking towards Diana. "The Russian government will deal with the Russian side. The bosses. The ones they work for, are not in this country and bringing them here would be fruitless. We will handle it." Likely with large explosions and lots of death.

His light blue eyes look down at the bullet. "I stopped counting at 200 the number of times I have been shot." The spot on his upper chest near his shoulder has a hole in it. It appears the rest of his armor looks fine, but that bullet shape hole should show signs of a wound, and yet there is nothing but a little bit of dried blood. "Let's just say it would take more then bullets to take me down, just as I suspect it would for you."

Diana Prince has posed:
The bullet is dropped in to Diana's palm, where she clutches it after he explains a bit about his history with such things. she shows him a light smirk, and a simple nod. "Well, that certainly helps you be a menace to men like these, I am sure." She says, nodding toward the tied-up trio. "And the government is much more challenging to work alongside than local law enforcement. They want the Justice League to do much more than we are willing to do for them, and thus it becomes a tug of war... as I am sure you can imagine."

With the sound of sirens audible in the distance, Diana glances in that direction to the south, her dark hair gently waving against her shoulders in the night time wind. When she looks back to the man, she considers something for a moment. "Should you need help with the conflict of their leaders, you just need but reach out to the Justice League. I will volunteer to aid you, to ensure you don't find the limit to what ammunition it takes to cause you any harm." She states, offering her aid when the time comes for more fighting, should he wish it.

"If you know of any other such trafficking, that information would be greatly appreciated too." She says softly, glancing in the direction the three men she let go had fled in. "I imagine the ones who left, are telling their bosses right now what happened. But that does not mean more such things are not in the works. We must remain vigilant, afterall." She exhales lightly, and regards him again.

In the distance the police lights become visible, as the squad cars are on their way.

Nikolas Kamarov has posed:
"What likely will be done, the Justice League will not want to be apart of, Miss Prince. Least of all yourself." Winter says firmly. "We will eek out our own Russian justice." He draws in a breath and let's it out slowly and for a flicker of moment there is a conflict in his eyes about that statement. But in quick as it takes to blink an eye, it is gone. The resolve of a soldier following orders.

"I will see what I can uncover on the other matter. This whole thing stinks of surstromming." Apparently the smelliest dish in all the lands! "Only six for this deal?" Winter shakes his head at that.

When the lights and sounds of the oncoming vehicles become prominent, Nicolas turns on his cloaking mask once again. "Well, Wonder Woman, hopefully next time we run into each other it is under different circumstances." And not even waiting for a reply, the man is in the air. Staight up to the darkened sky and rocketing himself towards the south.

Diana Prince has posed:
The talk of implying a brutal measure being taken against the leaders of this criminal group, and her likely not wanting to see it, causes Diana to show a visible frown that comes and goes like the cold breeze itself. She doesn't push on the matter, and instead watches as the man activates a stealth unit that has him vanishing from sight. Her other senses help her track him, and she does look up to the sky after he leaves.

"Indeed so..." She quietly says as she starts striding toward the first Police vehicle that arrives. The PD officers steppping out of it already smiling at the sight of Wonder Woman, as most of the Cops around here have a good rapport with the Themysciran Princess. She soon leads the growing group of first responders to the two vehicles, and the tied-up men within the one.