8239/In a Sea of Faces

In a Sea of Faces
Date of Scene:	14 October 2021
Location:	Downtown Manhattan
Synopsis:	Spidey and Leonardo stop a tech heist in Manhattan. Unfortunately, after defeating the initial ninjas, the prize disappears into a sea of faces during New York City Rush Hour.
Cast of Characters:	Shredder, Peter Parker, Leonardo

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Shredder has posed:
    5pm in Manhattan. There's something magical about that hour. People are off work, excited to be done with the day. Their brains are mush from eight hours of grueling work. They are hungry. They are stuck in traffic.

    It's not a happy magic.

    The downtown Manhattan streets are absolutely crammed, taxis, ubers, busses are bumper to bumper. The subway path is crowded, people bumping into each other as they all try to get home before the others. The sidewalks are standing room only as a sea of people shifts across the concrete seabed, the wave of people crashing against the red hand that lights up at the crosswalk.

    Food vendors have lines that will certainly take several minutes to clear, pick pockets are everywhere. And this is the hour that the Foot chose to strike. Up in one of the high rise offices, the tired office staff has been put to sleep, subtley struck unconscious after one managed a call to the police. Good luck to the police. Foot patrols are responding to an attack, but the details weren't clear. Scrambling a SWAT Team? Good luck. People wouldn't be able to clear the path if they tried.

Peter Parker has posed:
Well, traffic is ONE thing a certain wall-crawling New Yorker doesn't worry about. Because webslinging avoids traffic. And is awesome.

Spider-Man picked up the alert through Spider-Comm and broadcast it over the network, but no Spiders (official or honorary) are available, so he's going it alone.

Oh, yeah...and web-slinging means never having to wait for the elevator, either.
Spidey lands on the side of the building, on the floor level BELOW the one where the alert is, and deploys a drone to go around the level above outside and scope out the place.

Leonardo has posed:
While Leonardo and his brothers have been doing group patrols more frequently than in recent history, tonight the turtle in the blue bandana is out alone. Donnie had a long term client who's system needed remote monitoring... one of their major sources of the scant income that supports the family these days, Mikey was making a charity appearance as "Cowabunga Carl" at a children's hospital (which Leo fully supported, sick kids need emotional support after all!), and Raphael...? Well, Raph had something he does at night and he'd slipped off without a word to do what ever it is that he does, might lead to an argument when the brothers are at home again next, but this is not something that Leo is going to dwell upon.

In the early evening gloom, the lone turtle is watching over the streets of Manhattan. Traffic is one of the great horrors of life that he can do nothing about of course. His shell phone beeps as Donnie forwards him news about the alert and, upon checking it, he's glad to see that the location is nearby.

An expertly thrown grappling hook allows the ninja turtle to traverse a line - high wire style - from the roof he'd been on to that of the assaulted building, from which he gains access to an internal stairwell and quietly descends to the floor where the staff has been rendered unconscious.

Shredder has posed:
    The local security responds, the dark hooded duo work, looking down from the twnety story building in downtown. It's very high up no doubt, though hardly the tallest of Manhattan's structures. Spider-man's impact on the side, though, is not unnoticed. One of them holds up a small communicator, "We have a hero presence," the voice of the young man behind. "Spider-man."

    Next to him, a female looking figure works on the safe. The nanochips inside are for a client presentation, but as she finishes cracking the code, the safe opens, and it looks like they are not going to be used for that tomorrow as planned.

    "Got it," her voice calls out.

    Unaware of Leo's higher presence, they start for the door, the small box in hand. It's the size of a shoebox, a white container with a round robot face on the front of it.

    "Proceed southbound at street level. Public. We have a team to assist," another female voice announces over the comm to the pair as they make their way to the elevator.

Peter Parker has posed:
It seems fair. They are aware of him, and he is aware of them. Unfortunately, Spidey has a videocam on the pair with the box, and he knows EXACTLY where THEY are.

He moves along the wall, keeping pace with them until he reaches the window near the door.
Which he promptly crashes through with a solid kick.

He smiled as he landed on his feet. "Well, well, well...looks like I'm going to tickle someone's FEET..."

Leonardo has posed:
Providence apparently placing him in the right place, the stairwell Leondaro is descending is the one closest to the perpetrators' location. And they're Foot. Raph'll be upset he wasn't here, he loves cracking the heads of Foot soldiers after all.

After a quick glance though a barely opened door, the turtle pads quietly along behind the perps, pausing briefly to check the victims for life signs and major traumas before following them fully and stoping beind a corner out of their sight but able to observe them waiting for the elevator.

Shredder has posed:
    The crashing of the window precedes the ding of the elevator, interrupting their smooth exit through normal means. "He broke through the glass!?" the female exclaims, apparently not having been in a situation against many supers in the past. Must be a greenhorn.

    "You get used to it!" the male shouts back. "Prio the mission." He doesn't waste time trying to fight Spidey, though. His immediate response is to throw a smoke pellet at the Spider's feet.

    Oh, by the way, he was going to attack after all. As the smoke explodes, he lunges forward in a very non-ninja move. He seems to be aiming to simply tackle the hero.

Peter Parker has posed:
Smoke bomb? Usually very effective for this sort of thing.
But then the guy had to spoil it by going after Spider-Man.

The guy with the SPIDER-SENSE that warned him of imminent threats. Like someone attempting to tackle him.

The male Foot felt three things. The first was the whoosh of air as Spider-Man jumped over him. The second was Spidey's hand on the back of his head as he was leapfrogged. And the third was Spidey ramming his face into the floor hard enough to knock him cold.

Spider-Man leaped forward out of the cloud, firing a webline at the box and snagging it, yanking it from the ninja's grip.

"NEXT?" Spider-Man says almost playfully.

Leonardo has posed:
Deception. It's a core tool for any ninja. For a nearly five and a half foot tall humanoid turtle? It's an ingrained habit.

As the smoke bomb exploding and the opening of the elevator door produces two focuses for the female ninja's attention, Leonardo moves to take advantage of the situation.

Stepping around the corner a well placed kick to the hand sends the Foot soldiers' prize up into the air. He follows up with a roundhouse kick that knocks her into the wall - hard enough to wind her but not enough to knock her out. And then, as the stolen goods begins to fall he catches it deftly...

... only to have webbing connect with it and have it yanked out of his hands by a suddenly appearing costumed figure who may just see another ninja before him (albeit one with an extremely outlandish appearance).

Shredder has posed:
    The male ninja slides forward as he's smashed into the floor, coming to a stop a few feet back. The female ninja, on the other hand, well, she doesn't have the box in hand as she's knocked by Leo backward and loses the goods. When the box is thus snatched by Spidey, the sudden yank ends up knocking the two halves of the cardboard box open, a small plastic container within bouncing out, containing several tiny cubes. The Foot ninja takes the momentary distraction to dive desperately on the little plastic container. Realizing that there's one of the nightmares of the Foot, and a Spider-man, she has no hope of winning this fight. She has no path to the elevator, and she's ten stories up.

    Taking gulp of air, she bursts through the smoke cloud toward the broken window, and pitches the goods down toward the street below. Weren't they trying to steal that? She almost instantly wavers on her feet, despite her attempt, the smoke had a certain component to it, and the smell has a vertigo inducing effect. She stumbles to the side, falling against the wall, trying to keep herself up straight.

    Down below, the little box plummets to fall, directly into the hands of a young man, brown hair, an ash gray NYU T-shirt and jeans. It's as if he was expecting it.

Peter Parker has posed:
Things happen very quickly, and before Spidey knows what is going on...

Ah, the Parker Luck. Nothing like getting the chance to screw up a straightforward takedown.

He glances towards the one who was definitely NOT a Foot soldier (*Holy cow, is that a TURTLE??*) which gives the female Foot the chance to ditch the goods. His eyes follow the vial as it goes out the window...and then HE goes out the window after it.
As he freefalls, he sees the guy in the NYU shirt pause to reach out and grab the vial. Spider-Man fires a webline up with his left hand to stop his fall ten feet above the guy, while firing downward with his OTHER hand to blanket Mr. NYU with webbing to keep him from running away.

My my, Mr. NYU is getting a security blanket of webbing to go with his swag. I hope he's not going to get charged extra.

Leonardo has posed:
Things progress faster than Leo can process at this point.

What poor luck as, what should have been an easy takedown of only a pair of Foot soldiers goes awry.

Leonardo might have been able to stop the woman were it not for him being caught flatfooted by Spider-man (*That /really is/ Spider-man, right?!*) leaving her able to ditch the goods as they go out the window.

As the webslinger dives out after the Foot's (discarded?) prize, Leo steps forward and grabs the woman's shoulder and judo throws her into her compatriot as he's struggling back to his feet causing them to fall into a tangle of arms and legs as he asks them, "What has the Shredder got you guys stealing today?" in an authorative tone while putting a hand on the hilt of one of his swords incase they decide to answer agressively rather than verbally.

Shredder has posed:
    The female foot soldier falls without much argument given her disorientation from the smoke. "Freak," she mutters. "Ain't tellin' you." And with that, she rolls over, not unconscious, but if she's faking the body language of being rather off center, she's really good at it. She doesn't make any aggressive moves. The man grunts, also mostly out of this fight as he tries to pull himself out from under the woman.

    Down below, the man in the NYU shirt goes a little wide-eyed as the webs come flinging at him. "Spider-" He finds himself knocked to the ground before he can finish his query, and three more people dressed...exactly like him burst from the crowd. Ninjas? Well, they look like college students. Similar build. Similar hair cut. They aren't clones, they aren't identical, but they could easily be mistaken for each other in a crowd. One of them snatches the small plastic container from his webbed ally and shoves himself him the crowd while another tries to free his ally, and the last? Well, he has a pretty darn good vertical, and leaps up to try to grab Spider-man by whatever appendage is hanging lowest. Another similar shirt comes past, steering clear as he looks up at Spider-man, not engaging. And...is that another going the other way? How many are there?

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man winces. This was a LOT more organization than he had expected of these Foot. Guess the wild rumor about a bigger guy in charge wasn't so wild after all.

The leaper coming at his apendage apparently forgot about the appendage being ARMED and he gets webbed to the street.

He ignores the one trying to free his friend. He's most likely going to end up caught in the same sticky stuff his friend is anchored by. Which leaves...

The only one in the crowd who is looking AWAY instead of TOWARDS the action.
A guy who can jump forty feet straight up can cover a fair amount of distance. And the runner is going to get the full Christmas Treatment in about one second...

Leonardo has posed:
Ropes might be traditional but zip ties take less space to carry.

Keeping a close eye on the woman as he acts, Leo secures the man's arms and legs by the wrists and ankles and then puts him in a hogtied position with his feet looped though the bands around his wrists. After securing that with a third ziptie (Donnie might feel this to be a waste, but Leo figures better safe then sorry). He then repeasts this with the woman's limbs as well.

Taking care to hold his breath as he passes though the disappating fog of the smoke cloud each time he passes though it, Leo looks down though the broken window to see signs of scattering look-a-likes (from this height the similarity is /perfect/ after all) as he pulls climbing claws from his belt. There's obvious thought of descending to the street to assist, but is there time for such a climb.

Shredder has posed:
    The young man turns, stumbling back. "Spider-Man!" he exclaims. He's close to several other people, given the crowded nature of the street, and offers no defense. He's...smiling? He also seems to not have anything in his hands. Regardless, Spidey won't have any trouble webbing him up if he chooses.

    From Leo's vantage, though, the exchange can be seen. There's a total of six in the group, though at street level they may seem much more endless. The one who had the packaging did make brief contact with another, now moving back toward the epicenter where the other two are, walking past them in another direction. the last two are on the other side, and are changing direction in the sea of people, soon to intersect. Of course, there's several others, there's a blonde young woman in a similarly colored T-shirt. Wait no that's a volunteer shirt from the Zoo. And there's an older man...wait no he's covered in paint, he's probably just a painter.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looks at him, and realizes he's been well and truly HAD. He grimaces, then shoves the guy against the nearby wall and webs him to it, upside-down. "The cops are on the way, and you can explain yourself to THEM, pally."

He looks around, then sighs.

Some days you're the spider...and some days, you're the flyswatter.

Leonardo has posed:
Watching from above, Leo is able to follow the first and second handoffs but then... it becomes obvious that these Foot soldiers were better prepared than two lone heros could have been. More eyes... it could have been possible. But there's no way he can successfully rapel ten stories /and/ keep an eye on the perps and the target object.

Sirens indicate the oncoming arrival of the police as well which is just a further complication.

Leonardo sighs as he puts away the climbing claws. He quickly heads back to the stairs to return to the roof he begain on after which he triggers the release of the far grapple and coils up the rope to retrieve it.

As the sun finishes setting, Leo looks out over the city and considers what steps will be needed to futher investigate this matter moving forward.