17261/Singhing a Bad Tune

Singhing a Bad Tune
Date of Scene:	24 February 2024
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	The Shadow faces the Brotherhood of Singh to free kidnapped children. But she's going to need help..
Cast of Characters:	Monet St. Croix, Natasha Cranston

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Monet St. Croix has posed:
The Brotherhood of Singh, an old organization of pirates, slavers, and smugglers that had purportedly been in operation for centuries. Marked by magical tatoos on members that were impossible to pick out if one did not know magic or just the signs. THat had been a plague and yet invisible, almost never caught. In decent years they had occasionally popped up in Gotham. In the worst parts of the city. WHere the heroes feared to tred, and the GCPD did not enter not out of corruption but out of fear. Here, in the Narrows, the worst part of the city.
    Here, where for months they had been making children disappear with almost no notice. Hiding up abductions with murder, destruction, and collateral damage over fights. It was late night.. A group of children that had gone missing in a destroyed building from a gang fight were hidden wtihin. Guards present. But almost impossible to notice.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Rotten and corrupt as it is, the Narrows is still Gotham. Still under the Bat's authority. To use lethal force would have the potential to make any future visits or interactions with his clan... Fraught. Still, that's a lot of guards - and the type that would engage in this kind of despicable operation won't be plagued by conscience.

    Still. The Brotherhood likes to cloth itself in mystique to frighten away other gangs. They may be susceptible to the same themselves.

    There are, of course, guards on the perimeter. There always are -- but the local area hasn't seen any maintenance in over a decade, and what streetlights are still in operation flicker almost constantly. What's one more flickering shadow amidst all that?

    They'll have to be dealt with more succinctly at some point, but the victims must come first -- the Singh tend to favour scorched earth policies when forced to abandon their operations.

    Another twist of will, and two guards look away in different directions at the same time, leaving an opening, and Natasha slinks inside...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The Brotherhood is subtle, and excellent when it comes to hiding things. In a place where they take those already presumed to be collateral damage.. If one doesn't know exactly what to lookf or they could miss things. So on this late night as the Shadow goes to quietly stalk along after them through the shadows.. An enemy that fought even her grandfather is ready to face them once again.
    There are guards. Bums. Hidden in shadows. In at least one case where gargoyles once were, fallen into crushed obliteration..
    Hidden by illusion, part of the Gotham architecture. Armed. Skilled. Deadly. The type of enemies that could possibly even match her with numbers if she had to fight them straight up.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Of course, her Grandfather had some colorful things to say about fair fights, boiling down to "Never get in one if you can possibly help it."

    First order of business is to find where the children are being held; once she Knows that she'll be better equipped to plot a way to safety for them...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
She can bypass the guards easily enough. But there are numerous traps and alarms ass he makes her way forwards. Hidden in the shadows, illusions.. It's almost like somehting out of training. BUt with things that could kill her and maim her.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Interestingly similar, even. She may have to plan a trip to Mongolia and ask if the Tulku has any insights to share that he didn't already bequeath to her grandfather. Natasha files the thought away as an action item and continues on, all senses alert and focused.

    Unseen underneath her carmine scarf a slighly feral grin plays across her lips - it has been a while since something challenged her abilities like this; if it weren't for the lives at stake she might even enjoy this.

    A noise up ahead alerts her of an approaching patrol, and she fades into the shadow of an alcove while they pass. Ironically, their own reliance on camouflage helps her; as long as they need to pass themselves as 'mere' homeless or vagrants they can't be seen to be too keenly alert and curious of every shadow and every corner. So the game is to observe without being seen as observant; to show one face to conceal another.

    Yes. Very similar indeed...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
She has to go along carefully. Very, very carefully. Past a poison trap, then coming up and over to a ward.. THis one looks a bit trickier - not that it's not obvious over in place, but it's one that's keyed over to the tatoos that the Brotherhood has. That makes it harder to bypass. SHe can't just go pass it. She's going to need someone - and someone conscious.
    Someone tookt he time and care to make sure that she couldn't just KO someone and drag the body over. And given the thoroughness of it.. It probably went around like a dome so she couldn't just go through a window or a wall. Dammit.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Interesting. She lacks the magical wherewithal to neutralize such wards herself, and she'll need to consult with an expert -- at a later date. For now, though, she'll have to be extremely careful...

    A pair of guards approaches the ward line, and Natasha reaches out with her Will, carefully editing not just her presence, but the sound of her footsteps and the rustle of her clothes out of their perceptions as she falls into step right beside them, close enough that a stray twitch might touch her, letting their combined tattoos 'carry' her presence through the ward...

    ... And as soon as she's past, darting away into more mundane concealment to recover from the effort.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
It takes tricky timing. The guards are good, and alert and paying attention around them.. But they're automatically relaxing just a bit as they go through the ward, and not expecting someone at the same exact instant to do so. If she eren't who she was, she might breathe a sigh of relief. Down the 'steps' of the warehouse, she can see a large cargo container wtih a heavy metal lock, and magical seal about it. Moans sometimes come from it - she's found the children. But there are dozens of guards spread throughout the place. And she's definintely not sneaking the kids out or breaking the lock.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    That was... Not unexpected. She may need reinforcements if she's going to bring the children safely home - those that still have homes left. Of course, the next question is whether she has time to seek reinforcements. She makes her way to the warehouse office, to see if there are any useful documents, or possibly a person to interrogate and find out what plans the Brotherhood have for these children.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The children will be gone in a short while. She has to make a decision. Try and contact reinforcements that could arrive in short order.. Or wait longer. Do something like placing a tracking device.. ANd go after them at a better time. Or fight her way out. SHe slides along and then is able to find some documents.
    In a language that she can't read.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    The latter problem, fortunately, is the easiest solved. It's a matter of moments to pull out a phone camera and take images of the orders; she'll have the Network analyze and translate them later.

    For now, fighting is contraindicated -- even if she were confident she could take on the entire force, there's every possibility that they'd either dispose of the children or attempt to use them as hostages to force her surrender -- and given their paranoia she isn't willing to bet that a tracking device might go undetected.

    Still. This is Gotham -- and the Shadow Knows someone who can get her some help, even here.

    <<< Oracle, This is the Shadow. I've located the kidnap victims in the Narrows, but the group that took them is well equipped enough that I can't safely get them out on my own. Reinforcements would be appreciated... >>>