6097/Ninja Swarm

Ninja Swarm
Date of Scene:	01 May 2021
Location:	Warehouses
Synopsis:	Roland rescues the cops and gets Shredder's business card for potential hiring of the Foot Clan down the line
Cast of Characters:	Shredder, Roland Livingston

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Shredder has posed:
     Thunder roared on the metal hills of buildings long forgot. Lighting flashed illuminating ropes left taught. Flags fluttered in the breeze. Birds chittered in the blackened trees.

     A pebble danced its way along the metal bounding between one building and the next before slamming to the street. The daily corus of people wondering to and froe little more than a trickle kicking the rock about with heavy laden feet.

     A low crack echo in the night. A window left open bringing in the pouring rain and filling the air with frightful sound which rebound all around.

     At the street level a sewer grate left ajar slowly pulls itself closed shutting off the torrent of rainwater from ink black clouds.

     Patrolman's boots echo and clatter through the streets as four officers turn to three one vanishing up into the darkness not to be seen till morning a single sound not escaping his lips.

     The wind whispers a low hiss through one building and the next as three officers turn to two one man pulled down an open manhole leaving the remaining men one back up against another.

Roland Livingston has posed:
The cops called him. Again. Roland Livingston just happened to be quite close to the location the officers were reporting from, some manner of strange thing or other that may be mystical in nature. Armed with a backpack full of mundane and mystical equipment, the young Englishman is ready to search the scene and report his findings to the cops.

Only by the time he arrives there the police seem a little bit thin on the ground. There's just two of them. And they're huddling together as if afraid of something.

"Gentlemen," the scholar of the arcane greets the police. "Not many of you out here, are there? What seems to be the trouble, anyway?"

Shredder has posed:
     "Hey! Get away from the windows." One of the officers comments motioning with his gun for Roland to come closer he's visibly soaked by the rain and shaking. Yet it's not shaking from the cold there's something else in his eyes.. Fear. "There were eight of us when we got here." He explains looking over as he lowers his pistol slightly down to one side.

     "Something's out there hunting us." He takes a step forward. "It looks like me and the rookie are the only ones left standing" He motions over his shoulder towards the spot where the rookie had been standing and in his place all that's left is the lighter he'd been fiddling with just a moment prior from behind the more senior officer.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Well, this is quite bad," Roland says as he moves in closer to the cop and sets his bag down on the ground to quickly unzip it and draw out a kukri and a pair of night vision goggles. The consultant is nothing if not prepared. "So we're being hunted, then? Something that obviously makes no noise." His brow furrows as he looks around, trying to spot something. "Possibly invisible. Have any of your party made any deals with demons, officer?" The goggles go on over his head and he turns them on so that his perception can penetrate the darkness. "Or have you smelled anything out of the ordinary, by which I mean something other than the detritus and excrement here?"

Shredder has posed:
     The officer takes a long moment to collect himself looking around as he tries to spot any sign of what took the rookie. He's clearly on the edge of a breakdown but holding it together as he works through his thoughts. "No, no, closest I've come is working with that Etrigan thing" He pauses for a moment lowering his pistol into an at rest position keeping his finger off of the trigger.

     Through the darkness of the rain and the night Roland can see it, the legs of the rookie being hoisted over the edge of the warehouse roof. On either side of the building reflective eyes looking back down in the darkness at least a dozen of them looming in the darkness before vanishing back into the shadows of the roof. Children.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Etrigan, you say? Does he still rhyme all the time? Such a crime," Roland says to the cop in an attempt to distract him from his fear. "Remain calm, but we're quite surrounded. About a dozen or so of what appear to be humans. Young ones. And your rookie's been dragged to that roof over there." He points in the direction he saw the legs disappearing in. "I'd rather not chop these little bastards into pieces, but I will if its necessary," Livingston says as he hefts his blade.

"Please return the policemen and explain your actions!" He shouts upwards. "Do not make me come up there and get them. I will be quite perturbed if I have to do that."

Shredder has posed:
     "I would prefer if you did no such thing." A deep voice booms from the darkness, bounding from one building to the next, as the little faces lower down to the edge of both buildings. At the end of the alleyway a figure drops like a stone into view though he makes no sound as he touches the ground sliding against one wall and then the next to abate his descent.

     He stands at six foot two and is covered in ink black armor that blends in with the dark of the night. Rain slicks down the sides of his clothes as he looks towards Roland and the officer with folded arms. His eyes glow a brilliant white in the darkness shining with or without the night vision goggles.

     He looks towards the two. "I have no quarrel with you, yet." He rolls his neck. "But I would recommend against stepping in the way of my training."

     The officer lets rounds fly towards the man at the end of the alleyway firing one after another into his center of mass but it doesn't seem to even phase Shredder as he slowly takes a step forward causing all the calm to drain from the officers face. "Lord forgive me, it's another demon."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Officer, please run," Roland says when he sees the figure ignoring the gunfire. "Get out of here while I converse with this... gentleman."

Then the Englishman readies his kukri and starts to step forward, "Your training involves disappearing police officers? I've got to give you some credit, you choose slightly harder targets than civilians." He lifts the night vision goggles off of his eyes so that he can maintain his peripheral vision, "The kids your lackeys, or some such? Minions, perhaps? Are you some kind of modern lord of cutpurses and beggars?"

Shredder has posed:
     It doesn't take more than one call for the officer to turn tail. He knows when he's been beaten, and runs as fast as his legs will carry falling over himself in the rain as he skids across the ground before pushing himself back up to a stand holstering his gun for weapons safety sake.

     There's no doubt that he'll be back with reinforcements later but for now all he's concerned about is getting out of here to live another day.

     "Give me your downtrodden, your hungry, your poor, your forgotten, your abandoned youth." He speaks as he flicks his hands revealing a glint of metal in the light of a flickering street lamp, metal blades on each of his hands. "The worlds forgotten detritus, for in what others call refuse I see the gods of a new world order."

     He holds his arms to either side of himself, the rounds falling off of his ballistic armor to the ground with a clatter. "A ministry of light." He pauses looking down towards the approaching roland. "Not one taken who did not ask for this second chance, not one remaining who will not fight and die to become more than his past."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"You're a charity, then?" Roland asks as he studies the figure, smiling faintly at him. It's noble to help the youths out here, teach them to be... whatever it is you're teaching them to be. However, I need the policemen back so that I can conduct my investigation." Glancing around once quickly to make sure none of the little buggers are trying to get the drop on him, Livingston focuses again on the mysterious figure in front of him, "So, shall we do this the easy way, where you return the coppers and I leave you and your band alone? Or shall we do it the hard way, where we battle in the dark like something out of a bad action movie?"

Shredder has posed:
     There's a long pause from the man dressed in black. He stands in the rain his scarf flowing in the wind with a deep shade of crimson. He looks Roland up and down for the briefest moment in silence before shifting his hands.

     The claws retract back into place and sure enough something strange happens.The figures begin to move away from the sides of the rooftops of the warehouses, without a sound.

     He folds his arms one over the other looking down towards Roland in silence still thinking on the moment giving the other man the oportunity to act.

Roland Livingston has posed:
As the strange figure before him puts his blades away Roland transfers his kukri to his other hand, blade facing down towards the ground. "Thank you for being so agreeable. I must admit, however, that you've piqued my interest." The young guy stares for a moment, "Roland Livingston, at your service."

He glances up to notice that the kids are gone, nodding his head towards the stranger. "I imagine I'll find the police bound and gagged and terribly embarrassed at having been bested so easily?"

Shredder has posed:
     "Shredder." He comments in return. That voice deep and unnatural almost mystically so in its nature as he gives a very slight bow towards Roland. "The officers are unharmed, if not embarrassed." He looks back up for a moment "There is more trouble than value in the death of an officer in most cases."

     He pauses for a moment looking into the rain with those pure glowing white eyes of his the rain sliding onto his armor and down towards the ground as he thinks on the moment. "The children of this city would be lost without guidance, their parents have already given up on them." He lets out a low breath into the cool nights air. "The adults laugh at their failings or are too afraid to say a word, but what I give them is hope, and purpose. An iron hand to guide them onto a track worth following."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"That makes sense. I tend to only kill people in defense of life, myself," Roland says with a nod.

"You do speak the truth. I mean, I'm not certain how qualified you are to be raising children, but a good upbringing can make the difference between being a productive member of society and being a miscreant. Tell me about this path you put them on, if you don't mind, Shredder. I'm sure we've got a few minutes before the constabulary return and I am nothing if not inquisitive." The rain is mostly ignored, aside from an occasional wipe of the brow to shed some water from it. "Plus, I imagine you have the means of getting out of here any time you'd like."

Shredder has posed:
     "You would be correct"Shredder offers with an audible smile as he nods his head still sounding very much in control of the situation as his underlings make their escape from the situation. He looks back down from the rain towards Roland. "I teach them the discipline of self defense, as well as offense, ingrain in them dedication to something larger than themselves, a sense of family that they never had in their home lives"

     "Some call us thieves, assassins, and worse, but the truth of any story lies in the middle of two perspectives." He pauses. "There is an honor in what we do, a dedication I imbibe into each and every student which sticks with them even beyond their time in our ranks." He looks to Roland. "If that is evil, than I have no time to be good."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"As long as you don't hurt anyone who doesn't have it coming I wouldn't call it evil," Roland says after a moment of thought. "I was raised in a similar manner to what you're doing with these kids, from what it sounds like. Dedicated to knowledge and family, though mine was also my blood."

He continues studying Shredder, "I must say, your philosophy strikes me as quite admirable. I'm sure there's more to it than there appears to me now." His eyes widen visibly as he has an idea, "Are your people also spies? Because I might be willing to work with you in the near future. I've got an enemy whose minions I've found quite hard to track. I imagine if they're in the city your people would have better luck than I do."

Shredder has posed:
     "We take on the jobs that we require." Shredder speaks quite plainly about his employment as the rain worsens somewhat sirens off in the distance growing somewhat closer by the moment. "We are whatever we need to be in order for a job to be completed." He adds after a time before holding out his hand producing a small card with information printed on the surface in his grasp. "Should you require the services of the Foot simply call and I'm certain we can work something out for the right price."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Excellent," Roland says as he fishes for his own business card holder, producing one with his name, number and an email address on it so that he can do a proper exchange. "Should you need a scholar of the arcane, please let me know." When he takes the business card from Shredder he looks it over before putting it in his jacket. "Or if you hear word of Gebhard the Undying. I'll pay for intelligence you gather on him or his servants."