10623/Poison in the Tigers' Den

Poison in the Tigers' Den
Date of Scene:	03 January 2020
Location:	Two Bridges (Chinatown), Manhattan
Synopsis:	Gang members working for the Serpent Society steal a scroll case and barely manage to get it off-site before the Punisher completely obliterates them. Now he's got to track the thing down.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Fist, Punisher

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Iron Fist has posed:
Late night in Chinatown:

While New York never really sleeps, there are certainly times, and areas, where activity lets up--and that's certainly the case for some of the side streets near the east end of Chinatown this evening.

It shouldn't be the case, though. The Burning Tigers were supposed to be roughing up this part of the neighborhood as part of their monthly protection racket.

Instead, their home turf looks almost like a ruin: windows are smashed out, cars are wrecked, and bodies of the Tigers litter the sidewalk around the tenement building they call headquarters.

Unfortunately, the Tigers aren't the only people living in the building--and there are bodies from civilians lying bloody and motionless on the sidewalk, too.

Sounds can be heard from inside as well, like there's someone--or, more likely, multiple someones--rummaging around and smashing things up further.

Punisher has posed:
When shit hits the fan this hard, it tends to draw attention. Especially from people like Microchip who actively monitor the city for hotspots. Plenty of radios and other communications going on, and getting a drone over that way quickly to get an idea of what's going on is easy enough when you have safehouses all over the city with ready-to-launch drone hubs... so it's only a couple minutes for the drone to get to the site of the massacre, even as Punisher heads that way with the Battle Van.

Watching the feed on the smartglass pane in front of him as he drives, Punisher can only frown at the display. "The fuck is goin' on. I thought Shredder was keepin' this shit locked down?" Punisher muses over the commlink to his partner, who sits safely in a nearby safehouse at a computer hub as he works on tapping local communications.

Iron Fist has posed:
Inside the building, there appears to be maybe a dozen individuals wearing some variation of clothing with a large coiled snake on it.

Most are tossing rooms, a few are keeping some sort of guard duty on the doors to the building, and one appears to have laid down on a couch for a nap.

"...sure it's here?" one voice asks.

"That's what he said. 'Tigers would have it.' That's what he said," replies a second.

"What does it look like?" asks a third.

"I don't know, exactly. Something weird and magical looking. Old Chinese shit," the second says in an exasperated tone. "Look at this place--it should stand out."

"Fine, fine," says the third. "Just trying to get this done quickly."

Appliances are pulled out from their normal positions and toppled over. Cabinets are emptied. Beds are shredded.

Punisher has posed:
"Give me a sweep of the perimeter with the drone, Micro. I'm going to prepare some fun for the assholes up top." Punisher notes to Microchip as he sets up his suppressed G13 from the hatch on the roof of the Battle Van. A silenced headshot later, and the lone lookout outside has the contents of his skull emptied into the side of the wall, and he noiselessly crumbles.

Time to setup.

Punisher moves around to the various exits to the building, and sets both microcameras and remote controlled AP mines at each, in preparation for runners. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to use that ordinance... but he might need to spook one of them to follow them back. "That insignia is coming back as 'Serpent Society'. I've only heard rumors about this, Frank."

As his grapnel gun is launched at the rooftop opposite the room being tossed, Punisher pulls himself up, getting ready to setup a sniper nest to pin them down. "Sounds like a bunch of assholes playing at some sort of fetish. Too many of those in this shithole town."

Iron Fist has posed:
Inside the building, one of the gang members lets out a shout. "Hey! Yo! I got something!"

Two others rush to take a look. It's what appears to be a large urn or case of some kind--the drone's footage isn't immediately able to clarify. As the gang members take a look at it, it becomes clearer: a large scroll case, covered in characters that appear similar to some East Asian character sets.

"Alright!" the one who appears to act the most like a leader shouts. "We got it! Let's book!"

With some varying speed, the gang members begin making their way toward the building's stairway, although a small handful who were next to a window take to the fire escape.

Punisher has posed:
*pop* A flash grenade is launched through the window at the ones going for the stairway from the underbarrel grenade launcher, hopefully softening them up as they fall down the stairs for him to deal with later. Immediately afterwards, silenced 7.62 rounds begin to rain down on those heading for the fire escape, mostly aimed for center mass.

Luckily for him, if they take cover, his rounds will easily penetrate most low grade building and furniture material...

Meaning, there's no hiding from the Punisher.

Iron Fist has posed:
Those closest to the grenade cry out when the flash occurs, stumbling and falling down the stairs. Those behind stutter, trying to keep their balance as they flail, blinded, down the steps. The gang member clasping the scroll case manages to turn and fall back-first onto his comrades, protecting the sought-after item.

Among these efforts to not die on stairs, a veritable chorus of "FUCK!" can be heard echoing in the building.

The few headed for the fire escape begin falling to the Punisher's rounds, toppling like rag dolls over the side of the balconies or getting stuck mid-fall down the stairs themselves. At least takes shots in the gut, collapsing in agony and scream-sobbing for help.

Punisher has posed:
The one with the scroll case is the one that needs to be handled with care...

... but nothing says he needs to be moving.

Two rounds immediately get aimed at his knees, brutally making sure he can no longer try to escape. That dealt with, Punisher begins to clear up the stragglers. He needs to zipline across that gap eventually, and having people taking pot shots at him won't due.

"Checking thermal now.... most of them fell down the stairs. Checking for stragglers in other portions of the complex now." Microchip informs his partner as Punisher continues to fire.

Iron Fist has posed:
"Oh God oh God oh God oh God," the one holding the case says, in the moments before his knees disintegrate. "I think we're--"

There they go.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHhHHHHHHHH!" he screams, sliding down the staircase. The scroll case tumbles out of his hands.

Another gang member manages to watch it roll nearby in a hazy, still-blinded fog, and he reaches out to grab it with one hand. Blinking, he scrambles to get a phone out of his pocket with the other hand.

"Siri!" he hisses. "Call Sy!"

"<Call Guy?>" the phone asks.

"No! Call /Sy/!" he hisses again. Bullets begin to pepper the walls all around him. "Shit, shit, shit..."

"<Calling Sy...>"

"Hello?" asks a voice on the other end, barely audible amid the sounds of drywall and brick ricocheting off of gang members' bodies ... some of which also take rounds through the window.

Those still alive call out for help, for one another, for anything that might help them.

"I got it, man! Hurry!" the desperate phone-wielding gang member gasps.

Punisher has posed:
"Cute, that he thinks he can keep that shit." Punisher muses to himself as he turns the rifle around, switches to full auto, replaces the magazine in the rifle, and begins to literally spray hell at the gangster holding the case.

He'll need to drop the case, or else get shredded with lead for one of the deadliest snipers on the planet. "Keep an eye on the rest of them Micro. If they get any ideas, let me know. I gotta keep this asshole pinned."

Iron Fist has posed:
The case is loose once more as the man holding it is perforated by the Punisher. It rolls and drops halfway down the stairs, stopping only when the legs of another blinded gang member get in the way.

"Who is that?" the gang member asks frantically, blinking in an effort to will himself to see.

Near the bottom of the staircase, another figure suddenly registers on the thermal scan. It reaches for the scroll case, crouching over the gang member whose legs are touching it.

"Who is that?" the gang member asks again.

Most of the others are already dead, although a few are taking their time dying.

Punisher has posed:
Taking their time dying means they're suffering, which is more than they deserve for all the poison these sort of assholes spread over the city. Truthfully, most of them got cleaner deaths then he should have given them... but at least he's taking out the trash.

With most of them dead or dying, it was a clear opportunity to zipline over, and Punisher launches the line, attaching the anchor to a nearby pillar on the rooftop, before attaching the line itself to the gear web under his trenchcoat.

He's clear as day as he ziplines over and into the room, having left his rifle behind for now to grab the SPAZ-12 and two backup .45 revolvers at each waist.

When Punisher lands just inside the window, a picture of infamy in the underworld can be seen by those inside; the Punisher, in all his skull vest and trenchcoat glory as he rackets the SPAZ-12.

"Who's next." Punisher deadpans.

Iron Fist has posed:
For just a moment after the Punisher lands inside the building, the 'new' figure can be seen crouching over his bleeding ally and the scroll case, his cloak draped around them--Sidewinder of the Serpent Society.

Then, all three disappear as if they were never there.

Meanwhile, the gang members on the stairs who have managed to stay alive this long pause when they hear the Punisher's voice.

Their eyesight slowly coming back to them, those few survivors can barely make out the basic shape of the white skull on his chest.

"No ..." one mutters, hugging his stomach and spitting up blood.

Punisher has posed:
The Punisher intentionally only allowed one gangster in this entire mess to survive; when he wants someone to die, they die... and kneecapping someone doesn't kill them.

Though by the end of the week, that thug is probably going to wish someone else had been holding the case.

The case was the first prior-and someone is trying for it.

A Spray of lead pellets floods the area where the scroll case used to be as a full-auto shotgun with full magazine is unloaded where Sidewinder used to be. If anything WAS there, it would have been mulched into paste from the sheer firepower focused there. Instead, the building materials in that direction are simply turned into so much rubble as the magazine is emptied.

Without another word, the magazine is replaced, the spent one put into the utility pouch, and the charging handle cocked.

Taking in the situation, Punisher asks over comms, "No chance he's a short ranged teleporter, is he?" It's a slim chance, but maybe the drone will find something. Meanwhile, there was cleanup to do.

Punisher walks up to the one who muttered 'no', the shotgun idling against his chest for now. "Should have said 'no' before you worked for assholes like this. Now, I'm just cleaning up the trash." Punisher aims the shotgun for his head, and one tap spends the shell into the mans head, "welcome to the dumpster."

No doubt police and an ambulance would be coming soon... and Punisher didn't want to chance any of these thugs surviving the night. One after another, Punisher unloads a shell into each living face, until he comes to the one with no knees. "You're coming with me."

Iron Fist has posed:
Unfortunately, Sidewinder's nowhere on local radar or other surveillance systems.

As the Punisher approaches the remaining gang member, he shakes his head breathlessly, tears streaming down his face and blood pouring from his legs.

"No ..." he mouths, eyes growing wide. "Puh ... please ..."

The gang member tries to get away, but the best he does is slide down two steps, stopped by the corpse of one of his former brothers.

When it becomes clear to him that he's not getting any further from the Punisher, he begins to hyperventilate--and then he screams in terror.

Punisher has posed:
It's an image and reputation he's worked for years to project; that terror at his mere presence. He's the boogeyman of the underworld, and with very good reason. He has no mercy, no pity for thugs such as this man. Anyone who knows the white skull knows it... and no doubt this man knows him and his methods well.

Dead, pitiless eyes watch the man hyperventilate for just a moment, like watching a storm gather... before one foot comes down on top of his head, knocking him out easily. The shotgun is slung over his shoulder then, and he takes out the medkit on his gear web.

This is a patch job to stabilize him, nothing fancy. Can't interrogate a thug if they bleed out... and it's unlikely this one is going to survive the interrogation itself.

Cry him a river.

Silently, he deals with the legs, then brings the man over his shoulder, before he starts to walk over to the window. A button is pressed on the zipline, and he grabs hold of the harness to head back over to his sniper nest. Within a minute, all the gear is stowed, and the rifle on the roof collected, before he uses his grapnel gun to head back down to the Battle Van.

Placing the body of the thug within the back of the car, he starts to collect his entry traps again, "They were after the scroll case. Any hits on what the fuck that was all about yet?" Punisher asks over comms.

Iron Fist has posed:
Microchip sighs, and the sounds of him typing rapidly at his keyboard are picked up by his mic.

"Working on it, Frank. Isolating images of the case isn't easy, especially when it comes to identifying whatever was written on it."

"But!" he adds quickly. "That doesn't mean I've got /nothing/. There are a few hits ... maybe a Tibetan offshoot of an old traditional Chinese character set. Something about magic, power, and a place." Microchip makes a 'hmmm' sound. "I think it's, uh, K'un-Lun?"

Iron Fist has posed:
Another barrage of typing from the comms. "Okay. One of these characters appears on a dojo in the area. I've got the address--probably worth checking out."

Punisher has posed:
"Fuckin' magic, I'll bet. Scrolls are always about fuckin' wizards. Fuck." Punisher grouses, heavily, over the commlink. After his encounter with Doctor Strange a while back, he's left that whole sphere alone for the most part. Getting told to leave something alone and 'leave it to the experts' goes over with the Punisher about as well as wood in a fire. You don't do it unless you want the wildfire to rage harder.

Fucking. Wizards.

"Guess it's time to make some new friends." Punisher grates as he heads back to the Battle Van...

... and by 'make new friends', he means spy and stalk the owner of said dojo before a potential kidnapping.