5010/When Blades meet in Hell's Kitchen

When Blades meet in Hell's Kitchen
Date of Scene:	03 February 2021
Location:	Hell's Kitchen
Synopsis:	Dagger tracks down a lead given to her by Sebastian Shaw and gets a taste of 'girl power', Defenders style!
Cast of Characters:	Tandy Bowen, Elektra Natchios, Kitty Pryde

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Tandy Bowen has posed:
It's rare that the angel of light and the demon of dark are ever apart when they are on the job, but a treasure trove of intelligence fell into their lap last night, and despite their suspicions, they felt they had no choice but to look into it. With Cloak across the city investigating one angle, Tandy is out jumping down another rabbit hole.

It's two in the morning and the city is still alive with electricity. Hell's Kitchen is a neighborhood that never sleeps as it's never a good idea to close both eyes around here. There is always the hint of adrenaline, blood, sweat and pain in the air, coupled with the scent of rage and fumes that linger just above the crust.

In this specific street, the streetlights end two blocks away, covering the alleys in shadow, newspaper and bonfires from the homeless. Dagger is on the top of a roof, crouched carefully and out of sight as she watches below three members of the 'Trinity of Blood' discuss with each other the night's plans. The three of them are loud and angry, cursing every three words and lighting up a blunt to pass between them.

"Where the fuck is Rico at? He should be here with the package anytime now. Jose is gonna be livid if we're late. I ain't about to eat shit for his fuck up." The chunky man wearing blue and white plaid with a blue wrap about his head huffs out after taking a hit.

"Be patient hermano. He's coming." Drawls a lanky member with a gun sticking straight out the back of his pants.

A car pulls up to the alley a few minutes later, a silver sedan of expensive taste and tinted windows. The trunk is popped, revealing a young girl in the teenage years gagged and tied, struggling against her restraints as the driver exits, then reaches in to grab her. "Sorry I'm late, boys! This one was a real biter!"

"You're just a pussy, Rico. Come on, we gotta move quick."

As she is dragged into the alley, the three gangsters start to push what apperas to be a large dumpster to the side, revealing a large gutted hole in the brick of the abandoned warehouse, long forgotten.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra had been quite focused on her own problems as of late. Problems that didn't particularly involve Hell's Kitchen. What with Black Sky still being a thing, the Hand out there... It was a lot for the Hand assassin to be able to focus on the more street level crime that happened about. At least until her attention was peaked.. And it had been peaked, specially the word that a couple of new figures were out in these same streets. Raw and untrained.. So it was time to explore..

A message had been sent to Kitty, for them to meet. > Come to Hell's Kitchen, 54th street..

She had waited then, up there on the roof, dressed in the black and red that was her armored suit, the bottom of her face out of sight with a mask and the sais on a sash about her waist. Not the same rooftop as Dagger of course! But close to that alley. Listening. Prowling..

"Wait..." She whispers quietly towards Kitty if she makes a motion of wanting to interfere. This was more than just stopping some kidnappers tonight. Or at least she hoped so..

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The Hand had slipped from Kitty's priorities of late. The return of father she'd thought dead 11 months, plus a relationship that had been unexpected but had blossomed, had taken most of her thoughts. That and it had been awhile since she'd heard from the detective that she'd helped investigate the business tied to the burning warehouse where she had first helped fight off the Hand.

So the phone call came as a surprise. "Good thing I'm over the cold," she had told Lockheed as she geared up in the New York penthouse that she'd recently started calling home.

Now the pair have joined Elektra on the rooftop, the small purple dragon looking at the Greek woman with unblinking yellow eyes. As Kitty sees the girl pulled out of the trunk, she indeed starts to rise, her hand tightening into a fist, the thin high tech fabric of her glove creaking slightly at the force exerted on it.

The brunette looks back to Elektra, giving a slight frown by going still again and nodding. "But if they start to hurt her," she says, not filling in the rest that she's moving on them if so.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
As the girl is dragged up to her feet and slammed against the wall, a terrified, muffled whimper is heard while 'Ramone', the third member of this trio continues to push the dumpster to the side.

"You get her papers, Rico?"

"Yeah, yeah. This one is from Braaazeel." He says, making his voice trill off like Vin Diesel did in the Fast and the Furious. "Can't speak a word of English. Passport is clean. Fuck, I love tourists. No one cares if they go missin'. Ey'?" Rico makes a clicking sound with his tongue before striking the woman along her cheek so hard that the crack echos. "Bet she'll be top dollar at the auction."

"I don't care what her price tag is, as long as we get ours. Five G's, five kilos per body."

As Tandy listens, she rises upwards and steps to the edge of the roof. Four on one? Those odds are rough without her partner at her side. They always move as a team. She also knows if she does not act..

The angel of light takes a step, then leaps, twisting herself in the air gracefully as her hands snag the rail of a fire escape, giving a quick tumble until she lands on her feet behind them. A trio of glowing blades forms in one hand as her blue eyes narrow. "How /dare/ you! You would steal innocent women off the streets to feed your greedy hunger for money and candy!" As she stands there, her body begins to burn brightly, filling the alley before a bright 'flash' strikes hot, causing the men to scream out and clutch their faces. With a swipe of her hand forward, she sends her daggers forth, striking two of the men in the chest as they hit the ground, convulsing in the snow as their eyes roll backwards.

"You spread cancer and poison into the veins of this city and tonight, I will cure it by removing you." As she advances forward, Rico pulls a gun from his waistband, firing blindly into the alley as bullets ricochet along brick walls, causing Tandy to duck to one side as one strays dangerously close.

"Fuck you, bitch! You dumb glowing bitch! I'll fucking kill you!" From the side of the warehouse, a noise can be heard from behind the wall, the pumping of a shotgun, follwed by another member crawling out of it to assist.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra has been called many things. And most being true if one is to be honest about it. But like Kitty she isn't the type to enjoy watching someone being beat up and kidnapped. And by their talk... To be sold at an auction. Still, she was patient.. Either being led to those that are the ringleaders, or finding out more about those teenagers.. Either way it would work. She draws out one of her Sais when the girl is pushed against the wall, making her way to the edge..

"We follow them in, then take out the ringle--" all efficient talk, trying to keep emotion out of it. But well, there goes the surprise when she sees and hears the girl down at the alley giving them a speech. "Time to go." she tells Shadowcat. "Before our friend gets shot."

She throws herself off the building, shooting a hook from her wrist that finds purchase on the edge of the building, letting her slide down fast and silently.

A Sai is thrown across, piercing through Rico's shoulder and sending him into a spin and to the ground, clutching at his wound. Dangerously close to being a mortal wound. But damn her promises to not killing while in New York! "Word of advice, strike them down and THEN give the speeches." she says towards the crouching Dagger, not hiding some faint amusement under that mask.

"Shadow, can you handle the guys crawling out of the hole?" She asks, looking up to her companion.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Perhaps more frightening than Elektra jumping down from above and slowing herself with that line, is the other body that drops from the roof. As it doesn't slow down, plummeting towards the ground. But rather than hit, the body just passes right on through into the ground like it was never real in the first place. Just a ghost in the night.

The man at the hole has his shotgun in one hand, a pistol grip allowing him to push it ahead of him as he ducks low, having to move on his knees to reach the alley. He has about three day's growth of beard, a scraggly mess that has a gap in one spot where a scar crosses his jawline.

He's just starting to rise from his knees when suddenly a gloved pair of hangs grab his feet and yank his legs out from under him. He suddenly is pulled back into the darkness of the hole in the wall. His shotgun left behind where he lost his grip on it. From within the whole, a pair of thuds can be heard, the sound of flesh being struck. "Yeah, got him," Kitty's voice says.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
When Rico cries out from taking a blade to the shoulder, he hits the ground, clutching at his wound as blood spurts from between his fingers and creating a trail of splotches in the snow below him. Letting out a string of curses, he grabs it and tries to tug it free, screaming from the pain of a blade buried between bones.

Tandy rises up from behind the dumpster she ducked under, watching another man get dragged into a hole by what appears to be a ghost. She looks from the hole, to Elektra, pausing in her wrath. Her left hand is still glowing, a hot blade of light held tight in curled fingers as she bobs back and forth on her feet. "Holy shit." She breathes out. "Who .. who /are/ you two?" She asks as her breath comes out in thick clouds past her lips with each word. She's only wearing a leotard with the front cut out to reveal a blade and a pair of sneakers. Despite the chill, she is staying warm from her light force that burns her up from within.

"Is she okay?" She asks as she looks towards the girl slumped against the wall.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Mental note. Do not anger Shadowcat. The way that man just disappears through the hole to then get a beating is a ..., scary sight to see. Not that Elektra gets scared! But .., it's still disturbing. Powers. The world was indeed changing. In the same way that this other young girl was displaying quite the talent with throwing those knives made of light..

She makes her way towards Rico, placing one foot over his shoulder, perhaps in a bit of a cruel manner. "Stop trying to take it off or I will stab you again." her tone a promise, dark eyes fixed on the struggling man. "But you will have a choice now. Tell us about your org and maybe we will let you live. Or stay quiet and ..., well.." she lets her threat linger in the air. Clearly she isn't the goody-twoshoes kind of hero that doesn't kill criminals. Or maybe she is bluffing.

Eyes then go to Tandy, "Elektra." she says to her though doesn't introduce Shadowcat. She can do it herself!

As for the girl against the wall...

< Estas bem? Ja estas fora de perigo. > The woman says in a nearly flawless portuguese, which translated would be 'Are you ok? You are not in danger anymore.'

Kitty Pryde has posed:
No one is forthcoming in emerging from the hole in the wall just yet. Though after Elektra makes her introduction, a young woman's voice calls out from the building, "Shadowcat. Nice glowy stuff there. You wouldn't be a singer by chance like Dazzler would you?"

Dazzler, well known pop star, at that.

Not too much after, Shadowcat emerges from the hole in the wall. She has a phone in hand that she's busy manipulating. "Let's see who all you've been talking to," she comments as she gets his number and then pulls out her own phone to hack the local cell tower and use it to upload a virus into his phone to unlock it.

Once the virus is sent, Kitty pauses to pick up the shotgun and push it down into the pavement, her hand coming back empty and making that one gun that no one will ever use again. She walks over to join the other two then, giving the captive girl a gentle smile of reassurance.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"Estou bem. Onde estou?" The woman finally gets out as she yanks the gag out of her mouth, gasping for a fresh breath of air. Her lip is bloody from the earlier strike and she looks scared. "Eles me tiraram do meu hotel e do meu pai."

Tandy's eyes widen at the sound of the name. "You're Elektra? I've heard your name whispered on the lips of gangsters. You work with The Devil of Hell's Kitchen." She glances to Kitty, who very much does not look like a man clad in red leather. "Shadowcat.." She trails off the second name, that one not familiar.

"I'm Dagger.. my partner Cloak is not here. Usually we work together as a team, but he's chasing down another lead. Five girls have been missing now from Manhattan, all tourists and the trail led us here. They have several spots they make dropoffs at before they are sold at a underground black market called The Bazaar. These guys are hired help to carry out their dirty work. They bring the merchandise and rewarded with drugs, which they then give out to young kids to hook them."

Rico is glowering at Tandy as she speaks, gritting his teeth together as tears leak down his cheeks from the pain in his shoulder. He's even wet himself. Knowing that Elektra is in this alley has him terrified. "Come on, man, lemmie go. They'll kill me if they know I got pinched. You don't know who you're messing with. I gotta get outta here."

On the phone there is several contacts with nicknames such as: Dumbass, FuckedMyMom, FuckedHisMom, Clyde, Bitch1, BigBitch2. The text messages appear to be mostly coded with dropoff points. Thurs 12 at 2. Friday 1 at 5.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Shadowcat has joined the others by Rico. She eyes his wound, sees that it doesn't look life-threatening. It'll even take him awhile to bleed out. She crouches down and eyes the wound though. "He doesn't have a real long time left, not unless he gets medical care soon," she says, giving the wound a small poke which is likely to hurt a bit.

The brunette looks up to the other two, "If he's not willing to cooperate, probably easiest to just feed him to the dragon. Let him ash him and eat the remains, nice and neat," she suggests.

Shadowcat motions up in the air with a hand as if calling someone down to her. She glances over to Dagger, face turned where Rico can't see it, and flashes the young woman a grinning wink.

A purple dragon about the size of a large house cat flies down from out of the night sky. His wings flap extra times for effect as he lands, and he lets out a snort of fire, the heat of which can be felt on Rico's face. Shadowcat tells the dragon, "We got one who won't cooperate. Still hungry?"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"On occasion.." Elektra admits about working with the Devil, "It's more that he works with *me*." inclining her head at girl and studying her form, thoughtful. "Dagger and Cloak, is it?" a finely-trimmed brow arches up in thought. Mmmm, these did sound like the ones she had heard about. "So you are the ones that have been causing a ruckus, aren't you?" not appearing as if she needs confirmation for it. But as Tandy speaks about the Bazaar she looks back down to Rico, eyes gleaming with threat. At least until Shadowcat comes in.

"Last time they were still alive when he start to eat them." She states, not hiding revulsion in her voice. She can be a good actress! "Can you at least wait until we are out of the alley?" she taking her foot off the man's shoulder. And with Lockheed the Devourer now taking point on the interrogation she moves closer to the brazilian woman.

< Cozinha do Inferno. Nova Iorque. > She explains to the girl, eyes roaming over her body and taking in any wounds she may be having besides the bloodied lip. Yet as the rest seems fine she nods, < Vamos-te levar de volta, qual o nome do teu hotel? > she asking the name of the girl's hotel so they can bring her back. Hands go up and she helps in getting any other bindings out of the girl.

"Have you heard about this Bazaar before, Dagger? Seems like where we will have to go if they are to be stopped."

Tandy Bowen has posed:
At the sight of the dragon, Rico's eyes widen like saucers, letting out a panicked scream. "Ayyy! Come on, man! What the fuck is this? What kinda capes are you guys? You gonna feed me to a fucking dragon? I'll talk, fine! FINE! Look, we just bring the girls to the docks and then they are shipped to this fucking island where they are sold off. Fucking ragheads you know what I mean? Those rich oil types. They fuckin' make a big deal of it. Selling everything from bitches to boats. I just get paid and dip out. I don't party with 'em."

Tandy gives a slow nod of her head. "Cloak and Dagger .. um.. rolls off the tongue easier.. that is a real dragon? Wow." Even she looks surprised at the sight of Lockheed. "Um.. yeah.. we've been told we're .. making noise. We're friends with Spider-Man. Kinda.. he's helped us in the past." Now that she's in the presence of an iconic assassin and a dragon tamer, she has cooled herself down. She's gone from Dark Knight to a young, impressional girl in a leotard. ".. Sorry if we've uh.. upset the chain of.. hero .. command.. we focus on the drugs .. "

The woman gives a loud sniff, rambling off the name of the hotel. Expensive and ritzy one in Manhattan. Once her legs are untied, she pushes up to her feet and shakes herself off, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivers from the cold.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Do you see any capes here?" Elektra asks Rico, shaking her head slowly. "You are lucky it was us finding you instead of the punisher. Or you could had said goodbye to those kneecaps.." The Punisher and kneecaps.. Like a bear to honey. But at least he is giving them info now. So she smiles faintly under that mask. "Good work, Shadow. Think you can track which island he is talking about if we check the ship's ins and outs later?"

She goes to one of the bad guys that had been hit by one of those daggers of light who was still unconscious on the ground, starting to strip him from his jacket, and not really being too nice about it.

"You haven't upset us, but you are new at this, aren't you?" clearly Elektra not the type to leave things unsaid. "You could had been hit by a stray shot, and that is no joke."

With the jacket finally coming out she brings it back to the brazilian girl, draping it over her shoulders to warm her up.

"If you and Cloak are serious about this you will have to learn. It's true what you said about us working with Daredevil. We work with the Defenders too, which is a group that keeps this area of the city protected."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
As Rico starts giving up details, Lockheed looks from him to Kitty. The little dragon starts to act agitated. "I know you're hungry, but he's helping," Shadowcat says in a tone as if this is an argument they've had before.

The dragon's eyes focus on Rico. Solid yellow without pupils. He gives a few angry flaps, and then snorts of fire. They hit the pavement close to Rico, not burning him, but near enough his arm hairs get singed. Lockheed sweeps his wings then, flying up wards and over to Shadowcat, landing on her shoulder.

Kitty takes out the man's phone. "Alright, suppose we can call 911 for him. They might get here in time before you bleed out. Long as you don't move too much, and cover that up," she says, yanking off the jacket from an unconscious man and tossing it to Rico for use as a bandage.

After she turns back to the others, her eyes going over Dagger speculatively. "You got some skills without a doubt. But always best if you can have someone have your back," she agrees.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"We've been doing this about a year. We just .. um.. you know.. we just deal with this. The little guys... the gangs, the drug dealers. Cloak and I have been on our own for so long, ever since we were .. " Tandy's lips press together tightly for a moment in thought. "Before we were taken and stripped of our lives. People like this." She motions to Rico. "They took Cloak and I and hurt us, turned us into this. So now we've made it our mission to cure the streets of the poison they look to inflict upon the innocents."

"I've heard of the Defenders. I know I would like to meet them.. Cloak though .. he isn't very trusting. He has good reasons for it. But.. I'll talk to him. We've been staying at what used to be the Holy Ghost Church. We um.. we live there.. " Homeless. Obviously.

"I should go though. I can feel him out there. He's hungry and he needs my light to survive." She pauses for a moment, then offers up a smile. "Thank you, Elektra, Shadow Cat. I'll um.. leave these guys to you. I think I got what I need to go from here. Perhaps Cloak has some information as well." She gives a glance at Rico, then forms a dagger of light in her hand before flipping it quickly into his chest, causing him to yelp out before he slumps to the side, his body giving a terrible shake. She glowers at him for a moment before she starts down the alley. "See you later guys! I hope!" She calls over her shoulder.