Owner	Pose
Colleen Wing	If there's one thing that can be said to be true of the relationship between Bakuto and Colleen.. Bakuto has always been in charge, always many steps ahead. But not anymore. Colleen has come to realise the truce she's had with The Hand is not going to last and they keep intruding in her life. If that's going to be the way of things, she should get ahead of them.     She has been tracking down their seaboard operations for months and even shutting some of them down, or chasing the ghost of them. That's how they found Nobu on the maglev train much to the surprise of absolutely everyone on team Defenders.     Tonight, though, she had taken a leaf out of Elektra and Matt's book of plays and gone off on her own.     A dark and stormy night across Manhattan. Functions were under cover and people were rushing through the rain filled streets. In dark clothes with hood over her head and sword on her back, Colleen had been moving quietly through a back street, then climbing up the fire escape to a balcony where people were enjoying drinks and food. Some sort of corporate gathering.     It didn't matter exactly what, just who - Bakuto was there probably wining and dining to manipulate people in to believing his lies. The moment he has moved away from the crowd, Colleen steps from the shadows and presses a sharp chopstick to his back. It's no knife, but he doesn't need to know that just yet.     "Bakuto," she says softly, "Don't make any sudden moves." There's a million ways he can escape from this, but she's hoping he's intrigued rather than willing to start a fight with her in front of the people he's trying to shmooze.
Elektra Natchios	The Hand isn't only killing in the dark or dressing in black pajamas. There are many ways to infiltrate, to corrupt. To gain power. Elektra was intimately aware of all this. And as for Bakuto? This was his expertise. A smile here, an handshake there. Words promised. Deals made, lifes put on the line. And all while drinking a 500 dollars bottle of champagne. Decadence at it's best. And tonight was certainly going well until there's a familiar voice near him. Well. Well. The man remains put, smiling at a couple walking by and nodding. "Colleen." He tells the woman's name, not hiding some fondness on the tone. It was one of the ways he used to gain people over. Make them feel needed. Specially those who had nothing left. He was that salvation board. "I would had sent an invitation if I knew you were keen to these parties." his tone remaining even. "But somehow I do not feel you are following the dress code." He clicks his tongue. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" no sudden gestures but he is a master on hidden signals. On navigating these parties. And an hidden gesture has been made, signaling the rest of his cell here that they have company.
Matt Murdock	John Matthews had been a student of Colleen's once, one passed on up the chain to Bakuto's service and is at the party now playing the man's assistant. As Colleen speaks out he turns, stepping to Bakuto's side, he makes no move to reach for a weapon but his posture and stance is all threat. Though he does no more than that waiting for his master's word on what to do.
Colleen Wing	Colleen disappears like a shadow behind Bakuto as other party goers get a little too close. When they wander away she presses the bamboo a little harder against his unarmed spine. "No more messing around. Tell me about Black Sky. I'll know if you're lying."     This is exactly what Bakuto had trained Colleen to do. All the things she absolutely refused to do - skulking in the shadows, presenting a question she already knows the answers too. Is she bluffing? if he weren't such a good teacher he might have thought yes.     Colleen has never been able to understand why it is Bakuto chose her, keeps chasing her, keeps needling her. She's never gotten straight answers from him using her usual techniques - time for him to experience a taste of his own medicine.     Her eyes settle upon John Matthews and she says to him, "Don't even think about it. You were a lazy student then and I know nothing has changed. Even if Bakuto has smiled favourably in your direction." Still, a fight would ruin her chance to get answers.
Elektra Natchios	"Finally decided to use my teachings. Excellent. I could always see your potential." Bakuto doesn't seem to care much about the question. Or perhaps he is simply making time. "It was bold to come here." he tells the girl, then gesturing. "Come." he makes to start walking alongside Colleen through the side of the party, using his own mastery of the shadows to keep them mostly out of sight. The look he gives Matthews seems to tell he should follow them. "I already told you what you needed to know about Black Sky. You simply refuse to open your eyes." he weaves past the tables, then off to a side corridor. If anything it doesn't seem as if he has any harmful intentions, remaining perfectly relaxed. But then again he has always been quite the viper. "Don't antagonize Matthews. He has at least learned what loyalty means."
Matt Murdock	Matthews follows like a shadow behind Bakuto and Colleen, though his calm demeanor fractures at the insult thrown his way, scowling a moment until Bakuto's praise soothes the sting of the slight. "You would be wise to remember what that word means, Colleen," not sensei, "You spoke of it so often."
Colleen Wing	"Loyalty to a lie is the very definition of being a fool," Colleen says with a small glare at Matthews. She knows he knows but what she can't tell is if he cares or not. Colleen has long been a thorn in the side of Bakuto's part of the Hand because she proves it is possible to walk away and even stick it to the man, Bakuto in this case. That's not the kind of example one wants for their soldiers.     Since he seems unimpressed with the threat, she lets him walk and she moves with him. Of the people here, she has no doubt both of them have several secreted daggers hidden away on their person. They wouldn't be Hand if that weren't the case. She has a sword though.     "You've told me half truths. Black Sky is a person. Who is it. What makes them Black Sky. Why are they unwaveringly loyal?" and why did a black sky from another world hesitate to attack her but not hesitate to attack everybody else?     "You seem to have this idea in your head that I should trust you still. This is your last chance to prove that there's any reason for me to ever talk to you again. shiritai koto o oshietekudasai," (Now tell me what I want to know) she says knowing full well Matthews doesn't speak Japanese but Bakuto does.
Elektra Natchios	"And yet here you are. Tugging at the strings of loyalty between master and apprentice." Bakuto notes. "For you could had went to any other for this. But you know I am the only one you can get answers from. The one who still truly cares." The man is moving calmly, the party left behind, the sounds still heard now that they are going through that corridor. He opens a pair of double doors and makes his way in. A drawing room. There's a drinking cabinet on the side, a piano. A table and some chairs. A place for the rich and wealthy to come smoke a good cigar after a nice dinner. But for now it is empty. "Did you get tired of Elektra's lies?" He asks, tone sounding amused, "Yes, why else would you be here?" a gesture to the chairs. "Please. Sit. Or will we be talking with our backs turned all night? You were the one that always said we should look the other person in the eye when talking. That's how we divine the truth. Through their eyes."
Matt Murdock	John scowls again. "The Hand is no lie, it is the path to immortality," he replies voice pitched low so the rest of the party does not hear him. Once in the drawing room, he moves to stand by Bakuto, failing to hide his curiosity at the topic at hand. The Black Sky was often mentioned in the Hand but the details were always scarce at least to people on his level.
Colleen Wing	Colleen does enter the room, but she also draws the sword in scabbard from her back. She sits too, but places the sword in scabbard in front of her. Bakuto knows all too well how efficient she is at drawing the thing. Matthews might be less knowledgeable.     Her eyes rest upon Matthews again and she says, "It's like you learnt nothing from me at all, or else you'd have left The Hand too. Immortality, pft. What good is that if the path you walk is slick with blood."     "Don't make this about Elektra, this is about you wanting control again," she says hauntily, a tinge of genuine anger at the edge of her voice. "Stop playing the politician and tell me what I want to know. I'm willing to trade. 117th and 54th Northridge st," she says naming one The Hand's drug manufacturing warehouses.     Not Bakuto's. Probably Gao's. Still.. not good that she knows. "Gotham, Low and 717th South," she says naming another one. Leverage. She has it and she's willing to use it. "I have more. You give me the honest truth now and I'll give you a day to move your poison factories. Otherwise, expect a war the likes of which you have never seen before."     This is a side of Colleen Bakuto hasn't seen since her days in The Hand. Still, it's not great he's on the wrong side of it this time. Like Matthews and so many others - back then she was a believer. Then she saw their false dreams of empire were built on the skulls of their perceived enemies - innocent people.
Elektra Natchios	The man sits relaxedly on one of the chairs. Of course that he positions himself so he's close to the table, one hand or another sometimes out of sight. Dangerous. He watches the woman's posture with the sword with a smile. "Survival of the fittest, Colleen." this about immortality. "And you speak of control as if I ever lost it." For it is clear for him it's all about him still, even now. He listens about those warehouses, letting out a chuckle when Colleen does her threats. "Not bad. From threats to blackmail." a look to Matthews, "Even now she is teaching you." is he trying to stoke rivalry between the two of them? Maybe. But he seems to have a plan. "We have been at war for months now, Colleen. Us against that masked Daredevil and his friends." a sly smile. "Even if he now appears to have turned to killing. Such hypocrisy. But I suppose our heroes are never what we make them to be, are they?" He leans forward then, elbows on knees. "But fine. Black Sky. Tell me what you know of it. What you have learned after I tried to stoke you in the right direction and I can fill in the blanks. You will not get another opportunity like this." which probably means he won't be accepting any kind of haggling over this.
Matt Murdock	"That depends on whose blood slicks the path," John says viciously, the implication that any blood but his own would do. He 'hehs' at the concept of her teaching him even now. "Blackmail. How very complicated." Though it does seem to be effective in gettting Bakuto to deal, John shuts up and listens.
Colleen Wing	She raises an eyebrow at Matthews and shakes her head. He missed the lesson again. Know your enemy. It wasn't the blackmail that impressed Bakuto, but that she has covertly found so many of their operations. "What ever happened to empathy. It's a survival trait John. What can happen to another person can happen to you too..."     She looks back to Bakuto and says, "Fine. This is your last chance. Black Sky is a person. They exhibit superior combat skills, speed, durability, and unwavering obedience despite their own personal opinions on things. They serve The Hand. They can control the shadows like a weapon and a cloak. Your turn."
Elektra Natchios	"Black Sky is a weapon." Bakuto replies, "To be wielded by the Hand as it sees fit. And like all weapons it does what their masters will." a faint smile. "This had already been settled by us. I told you this before." even if there's a brief quirk of a brow as Colleen explains their powers in detail. Something there he didn't seem aware of. "It is a weapon we have had for centuries, lost in time, in battles. But always loyal. For it follows the old ways, it follows the Word of the Royals." a smile to her. "And time is getting close for this weapon to again return, and for us to win the war." a beat, "Not against your Daredevil. But our true enemy." if only he knew they were mostly the same! But he has no knowledge of Daredevil's connections to Stick and the Chaste. He finally opens his hands to the side. "Does this satisfy you?"
Matt Murdock	"Only if I am weak," John says, sticking tight to the Hand dogma. "Or foolish and I am neither. Unlike you." "It should, for what she has to offer us," John opines of whether this should be satisfactory to Colleen or not.
Colleen Wing	Colleen hammers the guard of her sword against the table top like a judges gavil, "No! Tell me -who- it is." She rises up and the seat tumbles back behind her. "Or we're through. I don't want to hear about your war with K'un-Lun again," she says.. though he did say something more this time. It obeys the word of the royals? Curious.     Her eyes turn deadpanned toward Matthews and she says, "This is who you chose? You realise, the moment you over step or fail he will have you killed." Half said to Bakuto, half said to Matthews. She suspects he doesn't realise just how deep he's gotten himself. Loyal or not. "Perfection is his only measure," she says motioning to Bakuto. But may be that nonsense was just for her. After all, Bakuto did/does have designs on Colleen.
Elektra Natchios	"Now now. It's not by raging and showing anger that you'll convince me of anything Colleen. You should know better." Bakuto smiles in that soft manner of his. The one that makes he seem so sure of what he is saying. So in *control*. "Do you have anything else to tell me besides a couple of spots that don't even belong to me?" he wrinkles his nose. "That's not much for such information.." "Your worth isn't less because of your perception of your self, Colleen. You can still achieve perfection by returning to me. You are furious at us and with the world, but we are the only ones that understand you. The ones that can spare your friends as well." he leans forward, "And we *can* spare them. Imagine how many lives you could save by again returning to my side, where you belong." Yes, that seems to be what he wants for telling her who it is.
Matt Murdock	John smirks. "Then I will have to bw perfect," he says, full of youthful confidence. As to the rest, he listens but the smirk remains.
Colleen Wing	"They'll take their chances," she says flatly. Sadly, no closer to the answers she wanted. May be he doesn't know. Elektra doesn't know. Bakuto doesn't know. She got something new, but there was a moment where she realised he got something new too. Stalemate. Again.     With sword in hand she steps around the table and tugs her hood up a little deeper, "I hope you know how to make peace with your allies Bakuto because they're going to be real unhappy with you tomorrow."     She shakes her head at John, "Get out while you still can. You're never going to live up to his expectations," she says and motions to Bakuto again. "Choose the way of peace." She opens the door to the meeting room and says, "You think my only weapon are my friends. Wrong."     From her pocket she takes out her phone and presses a send button. "Not even The Hand has enough clout to stop the DEA, FBI, and police forces from going to war with 'the triad'..." A small smirk, pretending to be triad has always been the easiest way to pretend The Hand isn't behind the drugs.     She tosses the burner phone on to the table top. The message lists seventeen locations, all of them active. "We can all read the news tomorrow to see how the raids go," she says darkly and shuts the door behind her.