3570/A Tale of Two Assassins

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A Tale of Two Assassins
Date of Scene: 26 September 2020
Location: Gotham, at night, in an alleyway.
Synopsis: Bullseye and Strix happen upon each other when they're both after the same mark. A fight ensues and much blood is spilled.
Cast of Characters: Strix, Bullseye




Strix has posed:
One would think that the rooftops of Gotham would be as busy as the streets what with all the vigilantes and villains that use it as a means of travel. Strix is no exception to this, hiding out on the rooftop of a small apartment complex overlooking an Italian restaurant. Tonight's target is Chucky Fortino. A minor target, one that wouldn't normally garner the attention of the Court of Owls, but Chucky happed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessed something that he shouldn't have seen, so Strix was sent here to tie up loose ends.

She crouches over the alley where there's a side door that opens to the kitchen of the restaurant. If nothing else, Chucky is a creature of habit, so anytime soon now after his meal, he'll be heading out back to smoke. That's when she'll strike. It'll be quick and clean and easy.

Bullseye has posed:
Meanwhile, across the street in a dark alleyway, the red cherry of a cigarette can be seen hanging in the black, inky void. Waiting on Chucky's smoke break for his own reasons was the Butcher of the Bronx, himself -- the psychotic assassin known as Bullseye. Today's trip to Gotham was already a memorable one, having met Harley Quinn, and -- after a not-so-friendly interaction with the contact she was kind enough to give him -- he was in a shittier mood than normal. This is a man who wants to go the fuck home.

"C'mon, you fat bastard," he grumbles in his gravelly voice, taking another deep drag. Despite the pistol holstered at this leg, Bullseye's got his hand on a single throwing knife. From this distance, he reckons he could throw the knife through the window, shattering the glass in an instant, and killing him in front of every employee and customer, inside -- but this wasn't his town. This is the Bat's. And despite brushing off Harley's warning earlier, he's too smart to ring any bells he can't unring.

Strix has posed:
They don't have to wait long for Chucky to emerge from the restaurant. The door barely has enough time to close when a dark hooded figure drops from the roof, swords first, and impales him. One expertly goes through the crown of his head, and the other through the left shoulder, at a slight angle to hit his heart. It's an expert strike, swift, fast, and deadly, like the owls of Strix's namesake.

Something catches Strix's eye. It may have been the smoldering butt of the cigarette that Bullseye had discarded, or it may have been a slight movement. Whichever, he has attracted the attention of the Talon. She quickly pulls her swords out of the corpse of the mafioso and dashes towards him to send him to his fate.

Bullseye has posed:
All it takes is one second for Bullseye to hock a loogie to the ground before he realizes the door to the side of the restaurant is open. "Oh, fuck me," he spits out, reacting immediately. In one smooth movement that's virtually a blur, he throws the knife towards Chucky's direction clear across the street at a frightening velocity. Could it be Chucky? Maybe. If not, well, it's a hell of a throw, regardless, ain't it?

Maybe it's an employee taking out the garbage on a busy Friday night. Maybe it's one of Chucky's wiseguy heavies securing the area. Whoever it is --- they're at the wrong place, at the wrong goddamn time.

Strix has posed:
The knife whizzes in the air and hits home, right in the chest of the Talon. To any normal human, the hit would be fatal, but for Strix who, technically speaking, isn't actually alive barely feels the impact. She rips the knife out of her chest, black blood oozing thickly out of the wound that's already closing, and tosses it with deadly accuracy back at the figure who attacked her.

This is merely a faint, though a deadly one, meant to distract as she closes the distance to swing the sword, attempting to decapitate Bullseye.

Bullseye has posed:
"What the fu--!" Bullseye remarks to himself in disbelief before quickly reaching for a shuriken at his belt and instinctively hurling it back in a curve. There's a loud *PING* as well as a few sparks in the air from his razor-sharp shuriken just barely intercepting the knife Talon just threw. This would normally be a time for Bullseye to savor such a moment, but the window of opportunity shuts immediately as a sword comes right for his neck. He narrowly avoids certain death by weaving to his right, his back up against the brick wall behind him, and then quickly rolls to his left before finding his base on a knee. He reaches for his belt again -- this time with both hands -- and hurls a pair of shurikens at his would-be dispatcher. "Wrong move, gimp!"

Strix has posed:
Again, the shurikens hit home, imbedding themselves in her thigh, doing enough damage to the nerves to have the leg collapse underneath her. Again, no sound from the black clad woman. Strix realizes that she's going to need one hand free to deal with this rather talented adversary, one whose accuracy far exceeds that of a random passerby. This is a professional, too, and a highly skilled one at that.

She sheathes a sword, and pulls the shuriken out from her leg and stands up. The leg is still a little wobbly, but it'll heal quickly enough, and it's enough for her to lunge at Bullseye with her sword.

Bullseye has posed:
The utter look of confusion on Bullseye's face, even under the armored mark, is unmistakable as he watches her pull out the shurikens from her leg. She's not even making a noise? SHE'S NOT EVEN MAKING A NOISE, DUDE. "Bitch, are you a zombie?!" Bullseye retorts with disdain in his heavy Bronx accent, trying to keep light on his feet. It's to no avail however, as she lunges forward with the sword she didn't sheathe, slashing him right across his chest and slicing into his black, snakeskin duster.

He grunts out of instinct, but quickly realizes the sword cut through to the last possible millimeter of his armored chest. He opts to try to get some distance between them, dashing down the alleyway to hopefully get to his motorcycle. Every other step or so as he runs, however, he's spinning and throwing something from his coat or belt her way -- another throwing knife, a smaller kunai, and... holy shit, were those playing cards?

Strix has posed:
Now that she's spent a few moments fighting Bullseye, Strix has learned some of his fighting style and is adapting. The throwing knife is parried. The kunai she's able to twist away from so it doesn't hit a nerve cluster but instead just thunks into her arm. The pack of playing cards are a surprise though. Talon training never included this possibility, and the trajectory of them is hard to predict, so the just bonk her right between the eyes.

Of all the attacks, this one seemed to be the most effective, as her mind tries to work out just what happened letting Bullseye get some breathing room. /Playing cards?/ She shakes her head and refocuses. She leaps at him with a roundhouse kick, to follow up with another slash of the sword.

Bullseye has posed:
And now that Bullseye's spent a few moments fighting Strix, he's... well, just getting angry. Watching his knife get batted out of the way, and his kunai sink into her arm with little to no effect, the biggest bee in his bonnet are the cards. "Oh, gimme a break," he mutters under his breath, recounting the sheer number of victims who have died with a Bicycle card in their skull. He grits his teeth -- this clearly isn't his usual opponent.

She lets loose with a roundhouse kick that he just barely manages to block, absorbing most of the impact on the side of his left arm. It still rocks him, however, and sends him flying in the wall of the alley. His head smacks into the bricks, and immediately wakes him up just in time to duck the slash of the sword. Chunks of brick and other debris hit the ground as he spins around her, a mere ten-feet away from his motorcycle. At the very least, if he could get there, he could rev his bike and get some attention. Judging by what she's wearing, she looks like the type who values discretion.

Strix has posed:
Strix is relentless in her attacks. She swivels on her feet and brings the sword in an upward slash, her free hand flinging throwing knives of her own, to where Bullseye would dodge to. This is frustrating for the Talon. Most people would have been dead already, and the only other people who have given her this kind of trouble have been Batman's wards.

That thought brings other, unwanted thoughts with it, and through that her game isn't at 100% until she's able to stuff those thoughts and feelings down, giving Bullseye a chance to escape to his bike, if he's quick and clever enough.

Bullseye has posed:
And dodge to it, he does. The sword goes up into the air with a whiff, thanks to Bullseye's extensive training with a certain skull-faced combat instructor in New York, but the knives he doesn't see coming. Two of them sink right into his left shoulder, eliciting a LOUD string of... colorful language... from the assassin. He grits his teeth and hobbles towards his motorcycle, hopping on and excruciatingly turning the key he luckily left inside the ignition. With a roaring series of revs to his bike's engine, the headlight illuminates the alley, casting Talon's shadow against the rear wall.

"Enough with the shit, bitch!" he shouts in irate fashion over the sound of the engine, taking a second to peer back behind him. He notices a wealth of Chucky's men crowding around what's most likely his lifeless corpse, and revs his bike even more obnoxiously to get their attention, now. "Look, I hate to run, but it looks like you just did my job FOR me. Have fun with the mess -- time to get the fuck OUT this shithole!"

BANG! BANG! The gunshots from Chucky's men across the street are starting to fly, and Bullseye's burning rubber.

Strix has posed:
Strix stops short of coming out of the alley, looking on in frustration as yet another person gets away. She doesn't get much of a chance to do much about it. Chucky's men have discovered the body. She should have been long gone by now, but she wasted too much time fighting Bullseye.

She turns around, the bullets thudding into her with little real effect. When they see her owl stylized hooded cowl a few of the thugs eyes go wide, recognizing it as the Court from the nursery rhymes. The rumors are true.

They won't get a chance to tell anybody, however. No witnesses mean no witnesses.