Owner Pose
Shredder     Since the event upstate, the Foot Clan has changed their tactics. The discovery that came about has increased the vigilance, and caused for a change of location for their studies. But a single setback such as a scientist being converted into a mutant shark certainly won't stop them.

    All sorts of chemical creations are in the world, and among them is the MGH mutant enhancement drug. A fascinating compound, the biological students who work for the Foot have found it to have remarkable interactions with mutagen. An Alligator snapping turtle is the target this time, and they aren't choosing a boat in a remote location. This time it's under everyone's nose. The Docks are large, and the facility chosen is one that's not inactive. A small biomedical company operates nearby, with fully equipped labs. Labs that definitely have brought the Foot's attention. Ninjas are rather good at getting past security systems, so utilizing the equipment is easy. All they needed was the turtle. The operation happened about four days ago, when someone conducted a series of unlawful excursions in the brackish Florida waters. While they aren't really endangered, just plucking them from the waters at a whim is hardly a smiled upon activity.

    And so now, here in this facility, the best of the specimens has been selected for the experiment. The rocky shores just past the facility welcome the surf of the ocean of the two story building.
Vic Sage Had Vic Sage been keeping tabs on the tracker that he'd managed to plant on Shred-head's boat? Of course he had. But other complications in the world had arisen. Apocalypse cults, human sacrifices, laundry day. All manner of evils had demanded his attention, but with his ability to work on dozens of projects simultaneously behind that mask of his, the issue of the Foot Clan's genetic experiments had not once left his mind.

A quick road trip to New York had proved fruitful for him. People were interrogated, offices were broken into, and the local branch of Fat Joe's Coffee and Donuts was patronized, all in preparation for his continued investigation.

Stepping out of his 66 GTO, Vic's hands smooth a fleshy-colored and amorphous blob against his face. Moments later, a plume of smoke erupts from near his feet and the brown suit and hat he'd been wearing shift to a deep blue color in addition to his bright red hair darkening to a deep black. His face, now a featureless countenance flexed as he tested the breathability of the mask's seal. He was ready to get to work.
Hope Summers A lot happened in the last couple of weeks. Firstly, she had been missing from Xavier's mansion for a couple of months. She had been on an investigation with some mutants showing peculiar behaviour. She had taken it upon herself to find the answer.

However, things were becoming more troublesome for her friends, and she had been called back to help with another investigation. She helped fellow mutant, Warpath search a crime scene for evidence. The crime scene? The former grounds of a circus where mutants had been fed to pigs. Gruesome stuff. She still had not yet followed up on that particular incident. Still, she had been kept busy.

After helping Warpath, she returned back to the previous investigation. However, it was not long before she confided in her fellow team member on the Outsiders, and former boyfriend, Superboy. Or was he current? She wasn't sure. She still had feelings for the man, and he was right that there would always be problems to deal with. Still...

Then there was the incident back at Xavier's with Maggot. He was aggressive and was causing destruction on the school's grounds with the help of his overgrown slugs. However, with the help of Deadpool, Boom-Boom, and Cannonball, Hope was able to stop Maggot from causing too much destruction.

During the aftermath of that fight, Hope learnt that Maggot must have taken mutant growth hormone, or MGH for short. Which brought her to interrogate Maggot with the help of Monet. Maggot admitted to taking MGH to feel more powerful. Unfortunately, it was causing some memory loss, and he could not remember where he got the MGH.

This brought Hope to the docks. Where else to try and find the source of a substance that could be used as a drug?
Namor It's not as if Namor, King of Atlantis and Emperor of the Seven Seas, pays close and personal attention to every single aquatic creature in the ocean -- even he's not quite /that/ good. Furthermore, he's well aware that humans fish his kingdom regularly. There have been numerous talks with the UN and the leaders of the various coastal nations throughout the world over the decades to make sure borders are respected and the sea isn't plundered unnecessarily -- nor without proper compensation -- for its bounty. Yet, when he caught wind of certain 'experiments' being performed and came upon a group of Foot Clan lackies struggling with a captured Alligator snapping turtle, the King took notice...

Rather than interrupt them in their task, he gladly took advantage of their unhappy distraction to follow them discreetly back to their base of operations -- from roughly fifty feet in the air. Now that they've finally reached their destination on the New York City docks, he is more than a little annoyed. It was not a quick journey, at least not by his superhuman standards, and he was witness to the turtle's captivity the whole way. There are also... political considerations to take into account. Though he was certain that whoever was behind the turtlenapping was operating outside the law, it was still a sticky matter for the King of Atlantis to involve himself in a violent capacity in New York City.

So he contemplates and ruminates and sulks, still hovering in the air, eyes cast down towards the docks, enhances senses tuned towards the focus of scrutiny as he considers his next move... And catches sight of an interesting arrival.
Shredder     The turtles were not particularly mistreated, really. They weren't handled with the greatest level of gentile care, but hardly brutalized. Howver, Namor might find that one of the scientists performing the experiment is a little...unsettling. It's a shark.

    A hammerhead, to be specific, and one with arms and legs. A foul-mooded character, she meets the crew at the docks to receive the creature and have it ushered inside. The outside of the building isn't unguarded, though to most observers it might seem like that. The shadows have eyes. As they bring the turtle in through the back of the facility, the roof above has lookouts, hidden from human eyes by the natural area's parking lot street lamps, requiring them to do little to mask their presence from most people. At least people below them, their only real camoflauge from above is the nature of darkness, combined with their charcoal gray yoroi. The four rooftop characters are aware, then, when the Question arrives in his GTO, and a whisper is sent through a radio down to the team inside, and to the Foot Clan in the area.
Vic Sage Gloved hands reach up to adjust The Question's tie and he begins his walk towards the docks. His long billowing trench coat has been left behind, but the intended silhouette of a noir detective is still very much in-place with the help of the blue suit jacket. It's a New York summer, you can't wear a trench coat all the time.

His knuckles are cracked as he walks, eyes taking a very detailed stock of the area as he continues his confident stride. What's the worst that could be watching him? A handful of ninjas? That's a warm-up.

He does spy the floating Namor. It's not a wholly unexpected development, and he's glad to be on the same side as the King of Atlantis, truth be told. Just in case there's something more than ninjas skulking about. A big ninja with claws for hands, for instance.
Hope Summers Hope had planned to meet up with Shark-Girl by the docks. Her ability to transform into a shark would have been helpful for the investigation. Hope was going to ask Iara to search under the river's surface. Down there, she might have discovered some traces of MGH. However, it looked like Iara wasn't going to be able to make it.

Hope lets out a sigh. It looked like she would have to do the searching by herself. She begins to walk along the docks keeping an eye out for anyone else who might be down this way.
Namor Mouth-breathers think they know darkness, but they few have experienced the crushing depths of the sea where not even the sun's light can penetrate. Undoubtedly the Foot Clan's ninjas are among the few who can say they've trained to act without any source of light at all (a deep usually works just as well as an oceanic trench, after all), but the docks of New York City at night certainly don't pose any challenge for the King.

As if to prove this point, he casually floats down from the sky past the rooftop-mounted ninjas, gaze locked on them the whole way as he passes.

When he arrives beside Question on his determined path towards the facility, Namor remains a foot or two above the ground, arms crossed over his bare chest as he follows parallel to the man's route. "Rejoice, land dweller. You have the illustrious honor of being of some use to Namor, King of Atlantis, this night," he offers in a conversational tone and volume, an imperious smile gracing his regal features. "We seem to be aligned in purpose for the time being, yet my position is... complicated." That smile falls away as he continues to float beside Vic, a roll of his eyes placing his attention back on the docks a moment before he continues. "It would be problematic for me to start any trouble on your nation's soil. However... If I just /happened/ to hear a commotion and went to investigate..." He lets the thought drift off as he refocuses his attention on the Detective.
Shredder     At Namor's appearance floating down, the ninja's realize that their security may have been compromized. After all, it's the glare of the light that would protect them the most from sight, and that would not protect them from above. Quickly, two of them start into the facility to prepare, while the other two? They choose to act before any heroics can be started. The best defense...

    The first pulls up a bow, knocking an arrow and drawing it back, from behind the light, it's loosed, the whistling projectiled heading streat for Namor. Apparently he doesn't realize that attacking the King of Atlantis may give him full freedom to defend himself without political struggle.
Vic Sage "Don't care," is Vic's immediate reaction to Namor. "The key to unraveling the Foot Clan is down there somewhere, and I'm going to find it. If a fight breaks out, you can blame it all on me," he explains, still a touch brusquely. "Arrow," the man offers as a warning, still continuing his march.

Vic comes to a fence that threatens to bar his way, but scampers up and over it in nearly an instant, breaking and entering being one of his hobbies.
Hope Summers As Hope walks along the docks, she sees something moving in the night sky. At first, it looks like it is falling from the sky. Then she realises that the movement is too slow and seems to change direction as it descends. No, it must be someone, not something. There are far too many people with the ability to fly that she couldn't hazard a guess as to who it might be. Half of the X-Men alone could fly nowadays, and as far she knew, none of them would be down by the docks.

As the figure moves in the darkness, she notices more shapes on a nearby rooftop. She couldn't quite make them out in the dark. Yet, she knew that if people were out on the top of a roof down here, they could only be up to no good. There was little chance that they would have anything to do with MGH, but if there was criminal activity in the area, then surely it was her duty to go and check it out?

She decides to hurry on down towards the scene up ahead. Though she makes every attempt to move as quietly as possible. She doesn't want to draw attention to herself. If she can catch them by surprise, then all the better.
Namor Vic's answer, brusque as it is, doesn't exactly fill Namor with satisfaction. In fact, the King frowns at the masked man and stops, turning to follow his progress towards the fence from where he continues to hover just above the ground with a distinctly displeased expression. He only bothers to react to the whistling arrow hurtling through the air towards him when Question points it out. Rather than dodge, or block or do anything at all, he simply watches the flight of the projectile dully until the arrow casually impacts on his cheek, shattering into matchsticks and splinters while the arrowhead spins off somewhere into the dark of the night.

With a deeply disgusted sigh, Namor continues to follow after Vic, electing to simply pass through the fence as if it were no more than paper, arms still crossed. He seems about to continue to accost the Detective when he catches sight of more movement out in the 'dark' of the night. Frowning a moment as he tries to remember where he's seen that girl before, he changes course, drifting up towards the rooftop to find and backhand the ninja that dared assault his royal presence before he angles back down towards Hope. "Have I seen you before somewhere?" he asks in his normal voice, still utterly failing to grasp -- or care about -- the basic tenets of stealth.