5266/Those Darn Thieving Ninjas

Those Darn Thieving Ninjas
Date of Scene:	19 February 2021
Location:	Warehouses
Synopsis:	Shredder is training and initiating members of the Foot, their activities drawing Grifter, Jake Gomez and Kitty. Ninja fight!
Cast of Characters:	Kitty Pryde, Jake Gomez, Cole Cash, Shredder

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Kitty Pryde has posed:
Burglaries in the Tenderloin district of New York are not exactly unusual. It's a seedy part of town, with women working the street corners in the evening, and deals going on in back alleys.

But it's also still a place of more regular commerce. With businesses and warehouses of all sorts making use of the lower real estate prices here. But ending up paying for the difference with extra security needs. Or just living with the losses.

This latest batch of crimes have hit a number of different companies. Some of the mention of what was stolen, along with the companies stolen from, was enough to draw the attention of Kitty Pryde. Nothing to do with mutants, but still the sort of thing she keeps an eye on. A few hacks later and she pulled up surveillance tapes from businesses in the area. Sometimes the best tapes to check were those near to a location, not the location itself given skilled criminals tend to think of dealing with the cameras at their actual target.

One of the video records she found was like striking gold. "Why are ninjas stealing this stuff," Kitty had said as she leaned closer to stare at her screen. The X-man had looked over Lockheed. "Save up a bit of fire for tonight, we're going out."

Now it's night in Tenderloin. Kitty is in her ninja attire, the costume intended to make it difficult to tell if she's a woman or a small man. She crouches on a rooftop in a shadow, watching the area. Lockheed is perched in a different location, keeping an eye out and ready to come and get her if he sees something she doesn't.

Jake Gomez has posed:
The young Native American man is walking down the sidestreet alone. He's wearing an oversized hoodie with a pair of loose fitted joggers. His long black hair is tied into a single, but beautiful braid which hangs down his midback. He looks like any other young college student on the street with his hands shoved into his pockets and a pair of cheap headphones over his ears, along with a CD player strapped to his hip.

He isn't aware of any thefts, ninjas, or what not. He is just simply walking home to his cheap apartment a few blocks away. The bus broke down about a mile back and instead of waiting for a new one, he decided to use his legs and let the fresh air of the city fill his lungs.

Sadly, this is not the fresh air of Arizona that he grown to love and was raised in. This air is hardly fresh and more choking and strangled. But, for now, this is home. Two more years of school and he can go back.

Cole Cash has posed:
Tonight Grifter counts as 'extra security'. Some big shot was stolen something valuable, and so illegal it was not covered by the insurance company. So, Cole gets paid to find out who. It is not the typical mercenary contract, he is no detective, therefore he is quite sure the contractor already knows who is behind it and just wants some people shot.

It is just cheaper to pay a guard or an investigator than pay an assassin, you see. But it also makes Cole reluctant to shot anyone. His plan is just find a few names and avoid gratuitous violence (as opposed to paid violence).

Because that always works so well for him.

Shredder has posed:
     The streets are dark save for the light of a lamp faded and worn with age flickering in the night. In this place the honest folk doing their business have long since gone home retired to the dark of their place of residence to hide from the shadows that grow long covering every inch of the spires of the city.

     White snowfall turns black with the smog of engines leaving the slurry to half melt and freeze a dozen times over. A sewer grate shudders as it falls back into place a shadow moving in the darkness. A breeze shuffles in the night carrying with it leaves that circle round and round before landing back onto the ground.

     Each of the shadows converges on an abandoned building, a warehouse in the midst of dozens like it the lock of the building busted off from its hinges and placed back hung loose on the side of the door limp and without function save at a glance for the unobservant eye.

     Inside of the building a figure cloaked in shadow walks slowly back and forth as 17 figures prostrate themselves before him presenting their misbegotten gains. His stride is fluid in motion as if it were a galliant dance rehearsed and practised ten thousand times over.

     "When you came to me one hundred moons prior it was in desperation." His voice begins slow and methodical, each word flowing with a melody that dances off the end of his lips as the light glints off the metal of his armor. "The world abandoned you, your parents disowned you, and you sought revenge, you sought purpose, you sought wealth." He looks over to each of them with glowing white eyes from beneath his helmet as a long flowing red cloth trails behind him.

     "Tonight you have taken for yourself that which your heart most desires." Before one of the young men rests a woman tied up on the ground sobbing, another a one of a kind clockwork dove, each one has before them something different. "Not through the corrupt system which would use and discard you, but through just might, and true effort." He pauses for a moment as an assistant either side produces a canister of gasoline. "Now, in this moment of triumph I, your Tono, ask you to give them up for me." There's a pause in the crowd and a slight gasp.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Most English speakers would call her mask a balaclava, but to Kitty the hood and mask that conceal all but her eyes are known as a zukin and a fukumen. But then the figures she just is able to catch moving through the dark likely know that as well, many of them dressed similarly.

She checks the bow and small quiver on her back, and double checks the sword and many knives and other weapons secreted upon her body. A hand signal is given then, repeated until Lockheed spots it. And then the pair are converging on the warehouse that the figures are going into it.

Kitty surveils the place for a minute or two, and sends Lockheed on a higher altitude flight around it, looking for any signs of guards. Rather than approach at ground level, she gives the extraterrestrial dragon a hand signal and Lockheed swoops back down to her, grasping her lifted hands in his paws he carries her through the air. Able to carry a full grown man, carrying his best friend is nothing considering she makes the majority of her body weightless from his standpoint, by phasing it.

Soon he has lightly dropped her off on the roof. The female ninja creeps forward soundlessly. She ducks her head through the ceiling to take a look, and then floats down to land silently on a catwalk. Creeping forward as she moves into range of being able to hear the man below talking to the ninjas. The sight of the bound woman raises one of Kitty's brows, and she moves to be in a good position to intercede if this goes how she fears it might.

Jake Gomez has posed:
As he walks, Jake can catch something from behind his music. Usually he is good at filtering out the traffic and the sounds of the city, but something 'else' snags his attention. Something that makes the wolf inside his gut prick up. Ears alert, hackles rise.

He slowly peels the headphones off to settle around his neck, pausing on the sidewalk beneath a street light as he gives a small sniff of the air, then slowly tilts his head to one side, closing his eyes and focusing. He can hear The Shredder speak passionately to his crew, the sound of a woman sobbing. Giving a slight lick of his lips, he begins to glance around the various buildings until he pin-points the warehouse.

He hesitates for a few seconds as he listens, then starts to walk down the sidewalk again, slowly. It's not his business. It's not.

'But it is. You are the protector of the land.'

".. Not this land." He mutters to himself, but he finds himself slowing down again, then angles himself to cross the street towards the warehouse, reaching back to pull his hood up and over his head as his braid sticks out in front of him along one side.

Cole Cash has posed:
It had to be ninjas, again. In fact he recognizes the outfits from an incident past April in which a few good-doers interrupted a fight between ninja gangs. These are the foot guys. Only this time he can't see Green Arrow, or Shang-Chi, or even Deathstroke's sidekick/daughter.

Yeah, definitely not picking a fight with those guys, he decides. Just follow and take a few pictures with a spy camera. Cole can usually out-ninja the ninjas at being stealthy, since he was trained by a space ninja queen himself. That was his clever plan until he saw the bound girl.

Okay, new plan: how to take out a lot of ninjas without dying too badly. First thing is a psychic scan to make sure he knows where all the ninjas are. Which to his surprise also manages to 'spot' Kitty. Maybe he is not going to be the only suiciding 'hero' tonight?

Shredder has posed:
     Shredders assistants go down the line handing out small canisters of gasoline to each of the young figures dressed in their Foot Clan robes. Each stand at attention though it is clear that some have more reservations about this situation than others in their midst.

     The simple effect of being in a group is enough to drive some of them to act reaching out and taking hold of their canisters with pride as they lift them up towards themselves.

     "In cultures across the globe a burnt offering is made as sacrifice to ones Tono." Shredder offers looking ahead as his guards walk around slowly grabbing from the matches Each of the figures dousing their gains in diesel fuel with the low glugging from the cans. The stench of fuel fills the air along with the sputtering from the individuals tied up out of the group.

     "Let us not discard the ancient traditions which have lead us to this point." He adds not even having to speak what comes next as one after another the young Ninja begin their part of throwing lit matches down onto the diesel soaked piles before themselves, smoke filling the air as the fuel begins to catch.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
They are actually going to do it. Kitty's eyes widen above her ninja mask and she wastes no time. The only one that she cares about is the woman. The latest ninja to the party runs towards the railing and jumps off the catwalk, phasing right through the metal barrier. Her arms are spread above her head as she does a swan dive, falling right towards the bound woman as the young ninja stares at her, that match held in his hands.

Hesitating. Hesitating. The match is thrown.

Kitty is traveling fast after that thirty foot fall. She's trained at this, at grabbing someone while they are moving fast, or she is. The flames lick up around the woman who writhes against her bonds, but she's only alight for a second or two before the falling ninja reaches her and both of them just disappear into the ground like they were both ghosts.

Underground, there's no oxygen, the flames quickly dying. The woman hopefully has enough breath to last as Kitty slows their fall and then starts carrying the woman out, moving up and off to the side to try to emerge from the ground outside the warehouse.

Jake Gomez has posed:
Well. That does not sound good at all. This turned from a kidnapping to a murder scene! Jake continues to tug and pull at the war within his gut. The wolf is howling to hunt, the human in him is demanding they call the cops. Once he reaches the door, his hands move up to grab the handle, then gives it a hard tug as the old rusted metal creaks as he slides it open to reveal the group of ninjas and their prizes. He sees the woman bound, he can smell the fear reeking off of her, coupled with the scent of gaoline.

And that is all that it took to light his own fuse, his own rage.

As he moves forward, he draws the hood back from his head, feeling the fabric rip and tear as his body gives a couple of violent jerks, followed by the sounds of cracking bones. He shoots upwards, hunkering over as dark gray fur spreads along his muscular body. Black claws slip free of his once hands now turned paws. His face splits forward, becoming a long boxy muzzle filled with the sharpest of teeth. The finishing touch is the yellow of his eyes that gleam into the dark warehouse, seeing everything now through the eyes of the wild.

"Time to die, you pajama clad motherfuckers." The English comes out of him in a young accented voice of a Native.

As Kitty launches herself from the ceiling and snatches up the woman through the floor, his ears prick forward, confusion filling his face. He was /not/ expecting that.

But damn. He is /terrifying/ to look upon.

Cole Cash has posed:
Cole's arrival is announced when he shoots the ninja about to torch the bound woman. A second too late, but Kitty does the real rescue, ghost-like and all. Which is good, but leaves him alone with a warehouse full of pajama-wearing killers.

Now wearing his red mask, Grifter jumps down to the warehouse floor, a heavy handgun in his right hand. In the other he had a hand grenade, which just now explodes at the other side of the warehouse, hopefully killing or seriously injuring a few bad guys.

That means he is still alone against a large group of ninjas. And then a WILD WEREWOLF appears! Sometimes it is better to be lucky.

He is also shooting his gun at Shredder, because besides looking the Boss when he scanned for minds, his gave him a chill.

Shredder has posed:
     It all happens in a moment of seconds. The young teen feels relief as the woman is drug out from the way of the match before she can burn, then he feels the heat of a gunshot behind him, and.. Kunai? He looks down towards himself as he feels the warm liquid flowing through his throat. He along with several others who hesitated have found themselves with a knife thrown directly into the jugular by none other than Shredder.

     He falls forward along with four other of the failing members of this little test as the remaining members of the test jump into action flipping round ready for the fight at hand. Shredder grabs hold of the shoulder of the nearest of his failed students using the body to catch shots as he moves forward. One, two, three before springing up off of him and towards the rafters with a world record standing high jump. The man moves with the speed and skill of a world record holding olympic athlete as he soars for the rafters vanishing into the darkness as his students move for their battle.

     There is fear in their hearts but they take time to decide who they fear more: Their Sensei or death from a werewolf, and to be fair it's a hard decision for them to make as they rush into battle drawing their katana.

     Outside Kitty Pryde is able to resurface, the young woman in her arms breathing heavily. She's only 16 coughing and sputtering as she collects herself still covered in diesel fuel as she tries to figure out what's going on looking in every direction arms bound behind herself.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde pulls out a knife from a hidden sheath, quickly cutting the bonds that secure the woman's hands. "Run that way. Call the police. If anyone comes after you, start yelling fire, it's the most likely to get you help." Kitty pats her shoulder softly and then turns and runs straight the warehouse wall. Which probably doesn't help the already befuddled woman.

Inside, the female ninja closes on the others. She hated giving up the element of surprise that her phasing is, but wasn't going to chance the woman's life with dropping into the middle of that many ninjas, and each of them armed with matches.

She runs forward, taking advantage of the ninja's facing... holy crap is that a werewolf!? And not Rahne, at that. And Kitty spots the gunfire from Grifter's somewhat familiar form. She draws her katana and heads towards the battle, closing the distance quickly.

Jake Gomez has posed:
As Shredder leaps into the rafters, Jake tracks him through the dark as the scent of blood hits his nostrils, causing him to jerk his head upwards. He bellows out a loud warcry in return to the oncoming ninjas, throwing his arms out to reveal the strength of his muscles and broad chest.

Where Rahne may be a family friendly wolf. He is rated R.

Tearing forward through the dark, the large werewolf jerks to one side to avoid a katana blade, then follows up with a raking uppercut of his claws as he splits the chest of one would-be murderer open. The spray of blood coats his fur, only causing him to grow even more wild with the lust of a hunt. The next is grabbed by the face with his large paw, then slammed downwards into the concrete floor with a sickening crunch of bone and a whimper that cuts out.

"What good is your jumpkick against a werewolf!?" He roars out to them. "AWOOOO!"

Cole Cash has posed:
Cole fires at Shredder quickly, momentarily surprised by the man's speed and ruthlessness. That dead ninja student took three .45 calibre bullets, each of which would have killed almost any man.

And then Shredder does the ninja-vanishing trick. Cole switches his mask to night vision, but then he has to defend from a pair of sword-wielding maniacs. He dives to a side and uses his last bullet on one of them. The other ninja tries to skewer him, but finds his blade clashing against an odd-looking dagger. Twisting the dagger, Grifter snaps the katana's blade as it was cardboard, then kicks the surprised ninja away.

No time to reload, but he carries two guns. "Where is the guy with the bladed armor? Damnit!"

Shredder has posed:
     The teen scrambles to a stand before running the best that she can down the road once she is cut free. Her feet carry her with some degree of speed in spite of her recent condition as she wipes the mixture out of her eyes. Though she may fall once or twice she forces herself back up to a stand running as fast as she can carry herself.

     Kitty would come into a scene of great carnage. Several ninja lay on the ground clutching at Kunai within their neck several more appear to have been torn limb from limb by the great Werewolf in his rampage and a few have been torn asunder by the spread of bullets and yet still those that remain fight as if any move to retreat could be met with their deaths. The stench of blood hangs heavy in the air as more kunai fly through the air towards the werewolf in desperation, the students hoping to use their numbers advantage to overwhelm him if even for a moment.

     Shredder moves from one rafter to the next using the shadows as his hiding place. He moves with calculated speed and poise using the handholds installed in the roof prior to this little meeting for training operations to get from one end to the next with relative ease before dropping like a sack of lead bricks right behind Cole "Coda Style, an interesting choice." He offers after his feet hit silent against the ground with a light touch atop the concrete flooring his movements remaining like those of a shadow.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The ninja that is Kitty Pryde doesn't look all that different from those of the Foot. There are definitely differences in their clothing, enough the Foot would not mistake her for one of them. But anyone else not familiar with ninja clothing probably would not.

She rushes forward, teeth clenching as she sees the young men who look like they are probably dead. One of the ninjas spots her though and rushes at her with a sword drawn. She throws a knife towards his shoulder but it's just a distraction, causing him to swing the sword to bat it aside, while Kitty is pulling out a bolo which she gives one swing of and then throws, wrapping it about his legs.

She rushes forward, to deliver a jump kick, the man bringing his sword forward to impale her, and he's baffled as the sword seems to miss her as she delivers the kick to his chest, knocking him over with his legs already bound. A kick to the head stuns him and then his sword goes flying as she kicks it across the ground away from him.

Kitty turns around then, just in time to find the werewolf is close at hand.

Jake Gomez has posed:
The werewolf continues forward, swatting aside Foot soldiers as if they were playing cards. He takes a couple of throwing stars to the chest, that of which gets yanked out, leaving bloody splotches along his fur and only more anger in his eyes.

Whirling around, he comes face to face to Kitty, a small sword sticking out of one of his shoulder, his yellow eyes mad with rage. He reaches up and yanks the blade out, a gout of blood spurting outwards from the wound before he lobs it to the side with a clank. The diamond sharp claws gleam as he rushes towards her, howling loudly with blood lust.

"DIE! YOU MURDERING JERKS!"

He needs work on those.

Cole Cash has posed:
Grifter's telepathic senses allow him to roll out of Shredder's way as he lands. Cole might be the worst telepath in a hundred miles, but even he can sense something is very wrong with the ninja master's mind. It is creepy as hell.

"Coda?" he grunts, raising his blade. "You got a good eye, but no. The Coda sisters forged their weapons in imitation to blades like this one." He feints with the blade, but the real attack is with his handgun, which he attempts to aim to Shredder's head, the masked man is very fast. It is Gun-fu at its best, mixed with the acrobatic martial arts of the Coda assassins which very few men have been allowed to learn in the past three millennia.

Shredder has posed:
     Taking their moment as Kitty Meets wolf the Ninjas begin to thin vanishing their way into the shadows. They're taking the better part of valor fading away into the darkness as they dive through windows and down into sewer grates looking for their escape leaving their Sensei behind. That is all except for one.

     Instead of throwing down a smoke bomb and vanishing into the shadows he runs forward. His uniform was already drenched in the blood of his comrades. The man has a fire in his eyes, his mask already torn open. A young african american boy no older than 16 like the others.

     His dive towards Grifter is enough to distract Shredders fine microsecond movements just enough that a near miss turns to a near hit blasting into the helmet. A chunk of metal and ceramic blasts off from the side of Shredder's helm revealing his eye and showing that the glow is not from the helmet at all but from white pupiless eyes of the man inside the uniform a glimpse of the asian man beneath.

     It all happens in less then a second back and forth blows exchanged neither one quite hitting the other faster than the human eye can see as the air moves in a gust around them Shredder spinning the fight round to get towards that last remaining Ninja standing by his side.

     Shredder grabs hold of that last man standing and for the briefest moment through his broken mask there's.. A smile across his face that one of them stayed by his side when it meant certain death.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty dodges back as the werewolf pursues her, slashing with fierce looking claws, and lunging swiftly to try to bite her. She's glad she's had another werewolf to train against even if this one is far stronger.

The ninja does a combination of blocks, using the flat of her sword, and sometimes the werewolf seems like he's going to claw or bite right through the ninja's body, only to find somehow the ninja evaded as the teeth close without the feel of flesh between them.

"I'm not... with them. I saved... the girl!" she tries to reason with the werewolf as it dives at her, the ninja jumping up to evade being tackled. "Seriously, bad guys... are fleeing. I am NOT your enemy," she says.

The werewolf turns back to her and starts forward, not looking like it is letting up at all. Kitty phases through a claw and slides along the warehouse floor, sweeping out the werewolf's hind legs and causing him to fall. She immediately hops on his back, arms going around his neck in a choke hold. "It's ok, go to sleep," she tells him, tugging on his throat with all her strength to try to choke him out.

Jake Gomez has posed:
Swiping and slashing, the primal beast grows frustrated as his claws seem to not be as lucky as he was with the others. Right when he thinks he may have her, she evades him, or he passes right through like a ghost. It makes his mind explode in rage as feral instincts kick in. He matches her speed, snarling when he misses.

She is speaking, but the words are going in one ear and out the other. It's right when he thinks he has her is when he gives his mighty leap! As he passes through, he 'awoos' in frustration, then feels his bipedal feet come out from under him as he tumbles to the ground with a loud 'thunk'.

When she lands on his back and wraps her arms around his neck, his eyes widen, followed by pushing himself up quickly. His neck is like a thick cable and her arms are grabbed by one large paw. With a snarl, he pulls her up and over him, letting her dangle in front of his bright, shining yellow eyes.

SNIFF. SNIFF.

As his nostrils flare, he drinks in her scent, then flattens his ears back as he lets her go before giving a hard shake of his head.

He huffs, loudly, then starts after the other ninjas once more that are fleeing. Perhaps she got through to him. Maybe he just likes the way she smells. Either way, somewhere deep down in him, he was able to determine friend vs foe. For now.

Cole Cash has posed:
Cole really would like to keep most fights at range, particularly when the other guy is a master ninja with an armor full of blades. The charge of the young ninja costs him his handgun, and the next few seconds are pretty bad. When the other man retreats, he has his armoured coat full of holes and he is bleeding from many cuts on his arms and torso, although none seems too deep. To his credit, his dagger is also bloodied, and Shredder is missing a few pieces of armor. "So, second round?" He mutters, sounding pained.

Shredder has posed:
     "We will have a second round." Shredder offers standing tall and firm on the spot as he places one hand onto the shoulder of the young ninja. Only those two can see that he is putting almost all of his weight onto the young mans shoulder just to keep himself standing from the force of the fight that was over in less than a second. The two are on fairly even terms all things considered both having done quite the number on each other.

     "You have each earned my ire this day, consider that an achievement." He offers before a flash of light echoes out causing him to vanish from sight leaving behind no trace of the two ninja where they once stood, just a warehouse filled with misbegotten gains and a number of corpses along with several unconscious ninja.