6697/A meeting of the Hands

A meeting of the Hands
Date of Scene:	25 June 2021
Location:	Ruins -- Roosevelt Island
Synopsis:	June gets to meet Elektra to deliver the item she recovered during her mission against Hydra and the Shadow. Expectations are not met on either side.
Cast of Characters:	June Connor, Elektra Natchios

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June Connor has posed:
    Feet hurt. She knows it was the right call to ditch the tabi's in the harbor, but half way back to the meeting place on foot, it started to seem like a bad one. June kept to the shadows. She had a delivery to make. The Sen no Kanashimi, the Thousand Sorrows, was supposed to make it back, stolen from Hydra. No trace, that was the order. Well, sometimes you take what you can get. She finally makes it to the warehouse, using the rooftops as best as she can, and she slides in through the empty window, letting out a sigh of relief. She made it. She's not walking well, her bare feet with a few scrapes and cuts, and she holds her shoulder. Was she supposed to take of her shozuko mask yet? Well she does, screw if she's not supposed to. Her eyes are raccooned by the paint to darken her visible features, and she's sweating. Is the Black Sky here? This is where she was supposed to bring it, at least, that's what her Sifu had ordered. He's not here, though, either, now.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
The ruins on Roosevelt Island are full of these places. Abandoned warehouses, gothic-styled chambers. It's a perfect meeting place for the unsavory. Or those that simply enjoy keeping their matters discreet. And so it was that it was arranged for a Hand meeting here tonight. Elektra is present, staying to the shadows, making sure this won't turn into an ambush for considering how she has been acting against certain members of the Hand as of late she expects sooner or later there will be a reckoning.

But for now...?

She listens to June's approach, the tiredness. A fight? And weren't they supposed to be more? The woman slides out from the shadows, dressed in black and red, mask up on her face, the Sais set on a large sash.

A look goes down to the woman's overall appearance and she waits for the woman to speak first, dark eyes narrowing just so.

June Connor has posed:
    June spots Elektra there. Her own choice weapon is a pair of hook swords, crossed over her back. Her kunai are in place, it doesn't look like any have been lost, and her sash is tied around her thin mid section, a small box wrapped against her. The young ninja looks apprehensive. She can't be older than eighteen, her ears show that she normally would be wearing small gauges in them, her lip showing where a ring normally would be studded. She walks up, regaining her composure and stance as to not show her complete exhaustion, and she bows deeply, and pulls free the ancient wooden box with iron bracers runed around it. She looks uncertain of what she should say.
    "So...uh..." she cocks her mouth to the side awkwardly. "I got it. We ran into some unexpected variables," she confesses. While she wasn't in charge of the mission, she WAS the one who was responsible for the infiltration strategy.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
One of the young ones. They recruit them young. Elektra hadn't exactly been a typical recruit, having joined when she was already a killer. No wonder she had raised so fast in the ranks. She could see both the youth but also that glint of eyes that had seen a lot for her young age. So many she had seen with that look and that were now dead. But such was their world. Survival of the fittest.

A bow is returned when offered, "Unexpected variables?" She asks, voice coming out muffled from under her mask, an invitation for the young woman to explain it further.

"The mission was accomplished. That is the most important." She then states.

June Connor has posed:
    June looks a little more relieved at the appreciation of her success. "Yeah," she says, "We were able to dispatch the Hydra agents, they are all eliminated," she says, "But some fucker that could disappear and re-appear and had glowing blue eyes, creepy as hell. He was after it as well. Kept laughing like some maniac, I think it was just to fuck with our heads." There's a certain edge in her voice, one that says this person definitely succeeded with her. "I was able to get the artifact in the chaos. He chased me, but I was able to evade him."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Tell me more about this person." Elektra asks. That seems to have perked her curiosity, head canting to the side even as she takes graceful steps closer to June to take a look at the box she carries. The Hand wanted it and that meant it was also something of interest for her. Not that she overly cared about the Hand's wants but...! Perhaps it was related to the Black Sky.

"You are certain you weren't tracked to this place?" Elektra takes a look around, focusing, try to catch on figures in the dark, or those looking on upon their meeting place. "Hubris is often the downfall of the young." a faint smile under her mask. Oh, Elektra had some for sure as well.

"Yet by the way you say it seems like you came across a third party. Do you think they'd be after the same as you?"

June Connor has posed:
    "Well," June says, looking at her filthy uniform. Upon stepping closer, it has the smell of old sea water and agae. Not the best smell. "I made him think that I escaped into the bay," she says. He waited for a few minutes while i hid out in the place where they keep the chain for the anchor on the boat. Which, by the way, smells like shit."
    Clearly she's not educated enough on shipping vessels to know what a chain locker is called. "I think he was after the same thing, so if he was following me, he'd probably have just caught me and taken it," she shrugs. "But I checked around me, I think I duped him. He had some kinda powers, he could disappear, was invisible half the time." She looks like she has something else that she's holding back. "I don't think he killed the others, one of those self-appointed shithead vigilantes probably. He made a bunch of bad jokes. Don't think he knew we were coming at all, we interrupted his mocking of the guy-Oh yeah, he knew the name of the guy who was running the cargo."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Hydra has a lot of enemies." Elektra assesses with a small nod, "That a vigilante was there doesn't seem too far fetched." The ninja jumps up to an higher floor by use of a larger piece of debris that fell down, holding to a broken down piece of the top floor and hoisting herself up. She looks out a broken window to the outside, watching to see if she spots anything out there, thoughtful.

"The others with you, were they killed or captured by this vigilante?" She asks, glancing back down to the lower floor before finally asking in a direct manner. "You are holding something back." clearly Elektra not one to leave things to be said! Not when it's important.

June Connor has posed:
    June lowers the box, holding it at her side less ceremoniously once Elektra hops up to the higher level. "I don't know. I was a little pre-occupied with not joining them, and I didn't stick around." She bites her lower lip when accused of holding something back. "That's all." Apparently she's doubling down on her story.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"It isn't." Elektra states, a brow arching as the young woman doubles down on it. At least she's daring! Not bad. She jumps back down to the first floor. "But you get a pass for having survived, and having brought the item." a chuckle heard from under the mask. "Just don't let it become a habit." the holding things back! Not surviving and fulfilling a mission.

She extends her hand over to receive the box, "What's your name, girl?" not exactly protocol to be asking another's name. They often act without such ties.

Cannon fodder so many of them.

June Connor has posed:
    The young woman looks uncertain when her story is challenged a second time, but when she's told she has a pass she relaxes a little. "I'm a servant of the Hand," she answers, expecting that's the answer that Elektra is looking for. She does her best not to fall too directly into that trap. She's already dug herself a bit of a hole tonight.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Ahhh, right when Elektra was thinking the girl was going to take off from the mold she goes with that answer. There is a visible eyeroll from Elektra. "I wasn't looking for the textbook answer." maybe it wasn't a trap!

Dark eyes remain on the girl as if she continues to expect something out of her. Maybe it's the item? Or the name! Or maybe even both.

"We all serve, but there are those who can aim for more."

June Connor has posed:
    When the question is made more clear as a genuine one, June's green eyes narrow a little behind the paint, as if suspecting a trap. "June," she answers after a moment. A name that might sound far more mild than the hardened edge that her face would find fitting. "I'd make a shit leader," she admits when suggesting that she could aim for more. "You gotta have people skills, and I'm usually about as welcome as an ass fucking from the Hulk."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
There's a mmmm out of Elektra as if she had just caught something interesting, dark gaze now more intent, "Oh..?" she folds her arms over her waist, "You do not look the type to serve." too rebel perhaps? "And now you tell me you are not the type to lead either.."

Maybe this was the trap all along! "What is it then that you are looking for then?"

The colorful language just seems to amuse her right now, even if she has used none of the kind so far.

June Connor has posed:
    The question catches June entirely off guard. "What?" she asks, her face contorting into a scowl, as if Elektra was the one who had made a visceral metaphor. She still manages to stand in place. "What is this, therapy hour? Master Elektra, no disrespect, but is there something you're looking for from me?" A complete and total evasion of the question. Her defensiveness might suggest that she doesn't have a clear answer that she could give even if she wanted to.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
What Elektra is looking for from June? "I am still waiting for you to hand over the item." she states. Also a small evasion to the question? But it's true June still has to give the box over to Elektra.

The rest? She doesn't press further. Almost as if the conversation hadn't even happened! But some insight has been gleaned at least. Some potential on the young woman for certain.

"I am sure I will be seeing you again soon." A faint smile under the mask.

June Connor has posed:
    June had held out the box earlier, and seems to take the remark a little personally. Most certainly NOT the way a shinobi of the Hand should behave. "Right, your box." She flips it into the air at her with disregard. Certainly something called the Thousand Sorrows should probably be handled with care. And perhaps that's it. She knows full well Elektra can catch it successfully, and no matter the disparity between their rank, for that singular moment, she can wants to make the master jump instead of the other way around. Certainly not long enough a moment to be worth the potential cost to her. It wouldn't take pulling any records on her to know she's probably taken more than a few punishments for that behavior. "Try not to trigger the apocalypse too quick with it, or whatever the fuck it's for."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra casts a look at the box flying in the air. A moment of consideration. Yes, she could get the box but she makes a gamble. She just lets it fall without even making a motion to try and catch it. The box, falls, rolls over, bounces. A few things do happen:

They are still alive and didn't explode.

There was nothing heard breaking inside.

It's perhaps Elektra showing she doesn't care too much about this Thousand Sorrows at all, but then again she is also gambling at the possibility of it being related to Black Sky not being high. She takes a step forward at last, reaching down to pick up the box.

"June." Her tone has lost the amusement it had earlier, sharp and cold. "While I can appreciate free thinking you should know when not to overstep. Do this with someone else and it wouldn't had been just a beating." for some reason she seems to figure out that this isn't the first time she shows insubordination. "And you don't look the type to have a death wish. But then again..." she slides the box inside a small satchel she is carrying, sliding it back against her back afterwards.

June Connor has posed:
    When Elektra doesn't move to catch it, June watches the descent all the way to the ground. The more sober tone seems to stir her more than any of the cat and mouse tone did. It certainly is the kind of behavior that might have her put to death, and there's a recognition of that when Elektra comments. It does a pretty good job of shutting her up for several seconds, and she dares not make eye contact. "I disobeyed the sifu," she says loudly, as if bracing for impact. That thing she was holding back. "He said to attack the interloper, and I didn't. I went directly against his order and went for the box." Her voice is a little angry. She was right, of course, but it does seem to bother her that in the end, she's the only one left standing because of the decision. Maybe she was hoping to be punished by the stunt.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"And now here you are while your sifu is most likely dead." Elektra lifts her shoulders in a shrug, "Obey and you would had been dead as well, and the box lost." she adds. "There is something to be learned from that. Think on it." the black and red ninja jumps once more to that top floor, approaching the window.

"Next time we meet you will tell me your thoughts about that decision."

And with that Elektra jumps out the window, disappearing in the night and leaving June alone in that warehouse.