18011/Stealing Otters

Stealing Otters
Date of Scene:	21 May 2024
Location:	The New York Marine Research Institute - NYC
Synopsis:	Some gang bangers though to rob The New York Marine Research Institute for otters to breed and sell, there was no way they could expect a man of pure shadow, a sword wielding heroine, and a talking Essipus.
Cast of Characters:	Essix, Jaxon Blain, Evelyn King

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Essix has posed:
A cool summer evening, the sun having just set over New York City, and the The New York Marine Research Institute was closing for the night. A few workers remained inside, those meant to keep an eye on the animals through the night, including a vet tech.

Those inside had no idea that just outside several gangers dressed in black, with ski masks over their faces were preparing to break in through a back door. These gangers had it in their heads that stealing the otters from the institute would be big money if they could mate and sell them... illegally of course. If they pulled this off, the would be rich (or so they believed).

Already inside, swimming around with the otters, Essix was learning to master the form of sea otter. It wasn't as simple as just looking like one, that she could so easily, she could look like anything. The idea was to /BE/ the otter, know the creature inside and out, and that required time with the Raft.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
The good thing about literally being ninety percent shadow is the ability to be pretty much wherever one wants to be - and not be seen. Sometimes Jaxon likes to wander around places like the Marine Institute, sometimes the Zoo, sometimes the Met at night.

That wanderlust, often born of loneliness more than anything else, is what happens to have Jaxon in this right place at the right - or perhaps wrong depending on perspective - time. Although, he isn't currently near the otters. Instead, he's making friends with a dolphin - if by making friends one means hiding in the shadows and watching its antics. Dolphins, he can get on board with dolphins. So few people know just how vicious they can be, they're practically his spirit animal in that regard. Few know just how vicious Jaxon can be either.

Evelyn King has posed:
It was quiet on the second floor of the Institute, where most of the professors offices were. And then, at the very end of a darkened hallway, was a mahogany door. On this particular door was a placard etched with the name 'Evelyn King'. Whereas most every professor or researcher had already left this wing of the institute for the night, a bright light still crept into the hallway from behind this door.

Within, the lithe figure of the woman herself was jumping up and down in place, hands flinging left and right with excitement. "Whew, okay. Tonight's the night. I've trained for this. I'm ready," the woman murmurs to herself in an attempt to calm her nerves. With a quick huff, she walks to her desk, where a helmet lay.

Essix has posed:
Entry from a back door was simple enough. They took out the guard at the door, used his keys to open the door and they were inside. Eight figures all in black began making their way through the halls, the scout having memorized the way to the otters on the first floor.

What none of them realized was their entry through the back door set off a silent alarm, one that alerted every member of the staff that the building was being invaded.

As the group made their way to the otter habitat, they ran into a woman in blue cover all that screamed as if one of them had shot her. All eight of them panic for a moment, then one grabs the woman and puts a hand over her mouth.

"Ya gotta go, I'll take care of her," the guy hissed out, which was enough motivation to send the other seven running to the habitat.

Essix had been imitating the 'float on your back' otter maneuver when the woman just outside the habitat started panicking and spewing out, "Oh my god, we're being invaded, lock down the habitats!"

Jaxon Blain has posed:
Part of Jaxon wants to just jump on to the next shadow and be gone before this mess gets even messier. After all, he isn't the biggest fan of non-mutants and nothing here has indicated that anyone else here might be a mutant.

But it's a woman screaming, on obviously terrified woman - screaming. Someone weaker than him - screaming. In the end he can't just walk away from it.

It's not difficult for him to follow the sound of the screams to their source. It's also not difficult for him to get there in a relatively short amount of time.

Shadows, to him they're all an interconnected network. Even if not in the same room as him, so long as the distance is less than fifty feet or so, he can make it in one hop.

So even if it takes two, he's there in about the blink of an eye. He doesn't immediately engage. Instead he remains hidden in those shadows and simply says, "This is a bad idea. I would rethink this if I were you." By hidden, he's /hidden/ - as in /inside/ the inky blackness. Therefore, it's nothing but a disembodied voice to be heard.

Evelyn King has posed:
Tonight's the night, she thought. She was prepared for that. She wasn't prepared for now. So when her phone buzzes on the desk, conveniently having been placed to her costume's helmet, Evelyn blinks. She hesitates. Her eyes raise just a hair, past the dark blue helmet and its tinted visor, gaze landing upon a cloth-wrapped sword.

Evelyn purses her lips, drawing in a breath to calm her once-more rising nerves, and she grabs both the helmet and the blade. With the former slipped over her head- It was made to be a perfect fit- and the latter slung across her back, Evelyn turns towards the door. But she pauses, hesitates again. She's not meant to be here, it'd be suspicious if she just burst out of her office.

So she turns to the window. It's easily unlatched and opened and with a final glance back to her office- Perhaps a goodbye to her old life- She leaps to the grass below.

Essix has posed:
The guy with the woman starts dragging her toward a door, hoping it is unlocked. If it's now, he's going to have to hurt this lady and he really didn't want to do that.

The other seven move quickly through the halls toward their target, but again run into someone. One of the animal care takers was attempting his escape but found himself face to face with the reason he was leaving.

"Oh gods, just let me go and I'll..." but it was too late.

One of the seven gestures down the hall past the guy while he himself, lifts his other hand and sends a ball of green energy at the guy. "Got no time for you m*ther f*cker," he barked out.

When the ball of green hits the guy, even his scream is cut off as he is wrapped in the green as if it were latex. As the mutant who did is moved to pass him, he stops just long enough to stick his finger through into the guys mouth so he can breath.

Essix swims over to the shore and out of the water onto the make shift shore. The other otters can sense something is amiss, the tension in the air causing them to swim toward their dens.

Inching her each over to the door, she listens intently to see if can hear anything. She didn't need to listen at the door because the scream from the care taker that was just outide was loud enough for the entire building to hear.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
Jaxon isn't terribly surprised to see that one of them is a mutant. And he's /definitely/ not surprised that no one listened to his warning, they /never/ listen to the warning. But these aren't Purifiers or any other mutant-hating asshats. These are just normal asshats.

Therefore, when he decides to exit the shadows right behind the man trying to get out the door - out the door with an innocent, terrified woman? Well, at least he doesn't slit the guy's throat. Instead he goes for the choke-out. One arm wraps quickly around the poor idiot's throat from behind, braced with the other. If it works as he intends, he'll soon be able to lower the unconscious banger to the ground and, in a low voice as to not be overheard by the fella's cohorts tell the woman, "Run, quickly, quietly, but run."

Evelyn King has posed:
As Evelyn controls her fall with a sudden gust of air upwards, she reaches behind to grip her sword by the hilt. In a sudden movement, she draws the blade- Another gust of wind tearing the cloth wrapping away from the silver-blue hue'd blade. What does every unveiling of a new superhero need? That's right, a superhero landing. And that's exactly what Evelyn does... In the empty yard, with not a soul around to see her cool arrival.

With her sword outstretched, Evelyn quickly turns towards the building and sets out in a sprint. "It'd be real nice if you could... I don't know, give me the speed of the wind?" The costumed woman muses to her sword as she makes her way down the hallways of the institute. She skids around the a corner to see Jaxon choking out one of the ski-masked men. And Evelyn pauses again. "Uh..." Her exposed mouth hangs open, head canting to the side. "... Stop? In the name of the law? In the name of... Me? Am I the law in this situation?"

Essix has posed:
The guy is caught completely off guard. Dropping the woman he reaches up to the arms around his throat. He struggles against the hold, even trying to bend to bite the arm but its no use. The lack of air eventually gets to him and he passes out.

The other seven had reached their goal, and one was holding the animal care taker that emitted the second scream. They appear unarmed, a couple holding bags to put the otters in.

"You crazy costume lady," one laughs out. "Go back ta ya bat cave."

Even as Evelyn has presented herself, one of the guys is opening the gate to the otter habitat. Evelyn can't see what's inside, but what she does see is a fairly large octopus tentacle lash out the door, wrap around the guy who opened it, and drags him inside.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
And the mess just gets messier. When Evelyn appears just as Jaxon is lowering the banger to the ground, he looks up. Ice blue eyes swirling with tendrils of shadow, give his eyes an appearance not unlike dark clouds passing over a bright, blue full moon.

He can tell by her tone, the uncertainty in it, the hesitation, that she's - definitely not someone that does this sort of thing on the regular.

"Shhhh!" he urges and then points off in the direction the other seven disappeared. Stealth is his comfort zone and all that talking is not very stealthy now is it?

With a circular motion of his hand, he draws a bit of the darkness from the room. A moment later, that darkness is fashioned into an inky black length of thin rope. It only takes a few moments for him to hog-tie the unconscious banger with that rope - he's done this before.

It's when he looks up one more that Evelyn might get a better look at his face. Black tendrils writhe beneath his pale skin - shadowy lines and intricate circles dance there and in his hands, in any visible part of his body.

Well, damnit is Jaxon's first thought when it's clear Evelyn has already given them away. Again, he doesn't immediately go on the offensive, instead he says, "Seriously, not a good idea guys. Think about it. I'm giving you the chance I don't give a lot of people. Run, leave now."

And then he's gone, in a blink, just gone. But wait! There he is over there on the other side of the room. "Final warning." Gone again.

Evelyn King has posed:
Evelyn tilts her head left and right as she balances the tip of her sword against the hallway's floor. She blinks at the comment regarding her costume, mouth opening to retort- And then she watches the tentacle lash out and sweep up one guy. Her lips purse. She then watches Jaxon jump back and forth through the shadows.

The woman's shoulders rise and fall as she goes over the situation in her head. "Ooookay. Three things," she starts, "One, do I really look like Batwoman? I've got a sword, for crying out loud. Two, I don't remember an octopus being in there. And three, who's this guy?" Her question is directed towards Jaxon.

Essix has posed:
Jaxon handle one banger, the overly large thing at the end of the tentacle took out another. The four of the remaining six begin looking at each other and looking around, trying to find an exit. One continues to hold the second woman against him, watching the darkness and the costumed woman intently.

"If I let her go, I can go?" he finally asks, which gets him slapped by the obvious leader.

"Don't you worry fool, we got this," he states, then lobs two balls of green energy. One is headed for Evelyn, the other toward the darkness where Jaxon appeared.

"Did you see that guy Devin?! He's f*cking shadows!" another one screams, then makes a run for the emergency exit. Surprisingly, Devin lobs a green ball at his own guy. It envelopes him, and Devin drags the guy back by some invisible means.

Another tentacle whips out the door, feeling around for another person. When it find one, it wraps around him and yoinks him into the room.

"Worry about who is whom later," a cheerful voice calls out from inside the room. "Deal with robbers first."

Jaxon Blain has posed:
Sentinels may be able to catch Jaxon off guard with lights and fancy tricks, Purifiers dressed in high-tech armor moving with a hive mind, they might get the jump on him. But these guys? Nah. Jaxon was trained for eleven years by /Stryker/, used as a weapon - as a shadow thief trained to quickly dispatch anything in his way.

He was gone from the last shadow as soon as the warning came out of his mouth. The /final/ warning.

This time when he appears behind someone - it's behind the one that's so obviously 'in charge'. This time he doesn't just wrap his arm around the man's neck. This time there's a blade in his hand - shaped of shadow but hard as steel. With his mouth close enough to the man's ear that the heat of it can be felt, he says, "Don't push me," even as he presses the cold steal of that shadow blade against the man's throat. "You're making me angry. You don't want me to get angry. Call off your dogs and walk away. Don't and I'll get angry."

It's not that he didn't hear Evelyn's question. It's not even so much that he's ignoring her. It's more the immediate threat that needs to be ended. He'll get around to other things later.

Now if the asshat lobbing green energy balls around the room lobs at Jaxon, the bossman is going to get it too.

Evelyn King has posed:
"Right! Action first, questions later," Evelyn hums, sweeping her sword up through the air and catching it on her shoulder. She dodges to the side, nearly being hit herself by the strange green ball. Shoes squeak against the floor of the hallway as Evelyn attempts to find her footing, and when she does find it, she launches herself at the nearest goon.

One might think that the sword scraping across the ground is to be used as the costumed woman's method of attack, but the attack never comes. Instead, Evelyn finds herself directly in front of one of the robbers- Notably not the one that's launching green stuff. That one can be left to Jaxon.

With a quick wink from Evelyn, she snaps her fingers. The runes and patterns across the blade in her right hand start to glow as a chilling breeze envelops the room.

And once more, does Evelyn's lips purse. And perhaps in a rather unnecessary display, she spits in the face of the goon she faces. It freezes on contact with the man's face, a solid layer of ice blinding and muting the poor guy.

Essix has posed:
Mutants. That was the final decision of the gangers as Jaxon takes their leader from behind using shadows, and Evelyn is just suddenly there.

The ice on the man's face sends him into an obvious panic, hands reaching to attempt to remove it while he dances around, bumping into the other guys there.

The leader hisses a curse as the knife touches his throat, eyes narrowing. "Scott free," he mutters. "You just gonna let us go... I don't believe you." He pauses, taking slow quick breaths. "We'll go peacefully."

The guy holding the woman just lets her go and makes a run for the exit with a screamed, "F*ck this!"

With Evelyn and Jaxon so close to the gate to the otter habitat they can now see the way too big to be a real octopus holding two of the guys, and a third tentacle whipping out to grab the guy that tried to run.

"The police are already on their way, why are you letting them go?" the octopus asks with a female voice, though there are no lips to move. "We should detain them so they can go to jail where they belong."

Jaxon Blain has posed:
It's a true testament to everything Jaxon has seen and gone through in his, relatively limited, years on this earth that a giant talking octopus barely registers on his 'weird shit' meter.

When 'cops' are mentioned, it brings about an actual physical change in the shadow master. Those shadows in his eyes, the one's beneath his skin, they grow in number, swirl a little more chaotically. No, no the police aren't something he planned on tonight and not something he really wants to deal with.

It's not like they would instantly know that he's Tenebris, the thief that lays claim to more than a dozen high dollar robberies of some pretty high-on-the-food-chain marks. Tenebris leaves no trace save his calling card with just his name written on it - always left in an empty safe or lockbox. But that doesn't mean he wants to risk a direct run-in with the police.

"Not worth the taxpayer's money sitting in a cell," he replies coldly. "They'll fuck up again and eventually wind up dead or in prison. Tonight's just not that night."

That knife digs in just a little, drawing a thin line of blood from the leader's neck. "Scott free, but know if I ever cross paths with you again, the same offer won't stand."

Evelyn King has posed:
Evelyn watches the ice-afflicted man for a moment before delivering a kick to his legs, attempting to knock him down. "Right, right- Uh... Apprehension!" She looks around the group, lips quirking to the side in obvious thought. With a quick rush to the next guy, Evelyn finally lifts her blade... And moves to strike them in the temple with the hilt.

Jaxon's reaction, though, has Evelyn backing off. "Huh? We're letting them go? Wait, which one of you is the boss? Shadow-guy or... Talking octopus?"

Essix has posed:
The ice faced guy goes down like a lead balloon, hitting the hard ground face first which thankfully breaks the ice off his face to he can breath. He accepts his fate on the ground, just laying there and waiting to see what happens.

The women who was let go runs up the hall, not bothering to say anything, no thanks, no see you later, just gone. So much for protecting the otters.

"You let us go, you won't see us again," Devin replies to Jaxon, trying not to swallow for fear it will cut him.

The others still standing offer nods of agreement, if Devin says go, they'll go. Green ball guy can't take out all of them, especially that talking octopus.... talking octopus, just what the hell kind of institute was this?!

"But that is what you do," the octopus corrected, still cheerful for the most part but there is some confusion in her voice. "You zip tie their hands and feet, then lay them out for the police to find, while you escape into the night. Surely you know that is how you deal with gang members."

Jaxon Blain has posed:
There's also a part of Jaxon that can actually sympathize with these men. Who knows what kind of life they had? Who knows what led them to this point and time? He knows first hand about shit parents and a shit life. So, at least Devin gets to run to see another day. The others? That's not going to be up to him.

With one final dig of that knife, Jaxon shoves the guy away from himself. "Go, run. If you're still in my sight by the time I count to three, deal is off the table. One. ... two ..." Then he's gone, back to the deeper shadows near the walls in the room.

... "Three." The voice comes from the shadows, so deep in them.

He doesn't leave - he won't until the rest of the situation is handled however the octopus and the obviously 'newbie' hero decide to handle it.

He'll stay until the threat is handled.

Evelyn King has posed:
"First night, actually. Was gonna' go perch on a rooftop somewhere- Like Spider-Man. That's a typical Spider-Man thing, right?" The woman muses, arcing her blade through the air to rest on her shoulder once more. It clinks against the armor plating. "But- Escaping into the night does sound purr-retty good right about now."

She pauses, leaning over to glance at the Octopus. "How're the otters?" She asks, even though she /should/ have no idea that it's otters in the habitat. She's just a random woman. Right? The dark-blue clad woman then turns to try and address Jaxon, but he's gone, so Evelyn just turns back towards the octopus.

Essix has posed:
Devin is gone through the emergency exit before Jaxon hits three with a loud, "Run for it!" to the rest of the guys. He's not one to leave his guys behind, but the shadow dude was creepy and scary.

The few remaining standing take of toward the door, with only one more being grabbed by a massive tentacle. Four captured by Essipus, one out cold, meant three got away.

What the others didn't realize is that Essix herself was still pretty new to all this. The only reason she said anything about the cops is because her mentor, Nightwing, had taught her to zip tie and leave. It's what Bats did.

"Miss Sword Lady," Essipus calls out as she wrangles the fourth guy in toward her. "What do you think? Should we let them go?" She pauses there, clearly torn then finally nods... yes, the octopus nods.

"You two escape into the night, I will hold these until the police come," she finally states. "Oh, and the otters are doing just fine, they are a little stressed by all this activity in their habitat, but I am keeping them entertained with my tentacles."

Evelyn King has posed:
"Great!" The 'sword lady' responds, hesitating a moment before giving the Octopus an awkward thumbs-up. "Just uh... Be gentle. And stay cool!" The last part is an /obvious/ add-on. If it wasn't obvious that she's new to this, the horrible catchphrase would be a dead giveaway.

Essix has posed:
Eight gangers thought they could rob The New York Marine Research Institute without any troubles. They weren't expecting a man of pure shadow, a sword wielding heroine, or a talking octopus.

Only five minutes after Jaxon and Evelyn are gone, the police arrive to take into custody the five remaining gangers. Essix passes each of the robbers off to the police, then with a wave of her tentacle, melts into the drain on the floor of the otter habitat.

The police report on this one would be an interesting read.