1096/Leviathan: Counterattack

Leviathan: Counterattack
Date of Scene:	22 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Talia al Ghul, Jessica Jones, Molly Millions, Ravenna Levesque, Green Arrow, Dream Girl

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Talia al Ghul has posed:
It is a dark summer night, the oppressive heat of the day fading away into what might become a cool night. The streets of China Town are the focus this evening, neon lights, and a slight bustle of foot traffic, mostly departing the local eateries and bars for parts unknown, decorate these streets, and a building, rather inconspicuous in nature, a curio shop, with smoky windows, and a painted sign faded with age hanging out front the focus.

A Panel van drives slowly down the streel, a decal on the side suggests it is some manner of flower delivery service, though the name of the service has been defaced. It stops out front of the Curio shop, pulling up to the curb, though the driver does not get out.

On one of the roof tops a pair of young men can be seen, on the building just across the street from the Curio Shop, they are crouched down, working on something, it is difficult to say what without a good view, but one of them keeps looking down at the street below.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica Jones is bewildered.

She's bewildered because she's been working a case for Rand Industries, and this has involved a lot of digging into a flower shop where a certain recent incident took place. So far she's turned up a probably dirty and possibly soon-to-be-dead cop and a definite cover-up. A deep dive into the flower shop's affairs has brought her to a relic from another age. A pay phone. The neon lights of China Town play across the thing as Jessica leans in the little metal booth and tries to concieve of how to turn this seeming dead end into a lead.

'Who paid to install pay phone here when nobody uses them anymore?' is the question she writes in her notebook, because she can concieve of a world where someone maybe did that for anonymity with a reliable and slightly profitable phone.

And then she sees the panel van. "Paydirt," she mutters, pushing off the cold metal booth in favor of walking quickly towards it, whipping a folded baseball cap out of her back pocket and sticking it on her head. Baseball caps can sometimes be one of the best disguises anyone can put on their body.

Molly Millions has posed:
    Molly is currently occupying a space outside of Wop Ho, a pair of black sunglasses on over her silver lenses. Despite the fact that it's dark... or that in her black clothing with her pale skin she might well be mistaken for one of the goth set.
    Thanks to vision enhancement and a fine-tuned sense of paranoia, she spotted the guys on the roof a little while ago. However she's got some fried wontons to enjoy and so far hasn't felt the motivation to go find out what they're up to.

Ravenna Levesque has posed:
Ravenna had some business in the area this evening. Mostly she had a shipment of wine to procure and have delivered to Lux, while purchasing some herbs that her aunt wanted her to pick up. She's still dressed for the warm weather in a loose fitting white sun dress, a stark comparison to the black she's always wearing at work. She has a satchel over her shoulder, and while there can be some sketchy things happening in this part of town she doesn't seem all too fearful walking down the street. While she knows Jessica, she doesn't seem to notice her regular customer, perhaps it is because she's distracted by what's in the windows at the shops she passes.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The Delivery fan remains in place, parked not far from the phone that Jessica Jones had tracked down to this area. The Driver of the vehicle seems in no hurry to get on with whatever business he may have been up to, or whatever it is that has brought him here to this street, at this time.

Meanwhile, up above several dark shapes descend, clad in dark clothing, masks, and hoods, with an assortment of weapons, swords, knives, even a bow and arrow across one's back, though he isn't clad in green, red, or purple. These dark figures move stealthily, approaching windows on the upper floors of the Curio shop's building and starting to work them open with the tools of the trade.

Business continues as usually on the streets, a pack of white college aged men in polo shirts start passing by along the sidewalk between Curio Shop and Truck, arguing about who's fortune cookie fortune is best.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica jots down the license plate number. She'll get the DMV info on it later.

And then she slips into the Curio shop itself. She's actually missed the figures, as focused on the truck as she is, but she does want to see what the heck is going on in here. And playing 'clueless China Town tourist' is one way to see what she can see, see what leads she can shake out, what opportunities she can find. She does glance at the driver too, trying to fix his physical description into her mind...that might also be important, later.

She's feeling good, feeling energized. This? This is a case that is getting somewhere.

Molly Millions has posed:
    There's a tilt of Molly's head as she pushes the sunglasses up onto her head. It doesn't make her eyes visible, but it at least stops interfering with her vision. The last couple of wontons are pushed around in her carton before she elects to stick one of them in her mouth and toss the container in the direction of the bin.

The van gets a considering eye as she meanders her way unhurriedly in the direction of the curio shop purely and simply for the sake of nosiness. Something, clearly, is about to go down and so far... it's been a slow night.

Ravenna Levesque has posed:
Ravenna's phone dings just as she passes the curio shop, so she pauses to pull it out of her purse and look it over. She's expecting instructions from oe boss or another but it is a someone else entirely. Rolling her eyes she looks up at the sky, and it's then that she notices some movement, but she can't be sure what it was. It causes her to pause and slip her phone back in her satchel and really take a good look at her surroundings. It's then that a black and white cat comes trotting up behind her and jumps up on her shoulder. "Felix... what did I tell you about climbing on me." She says trying to wrangle the cat off her shoulder.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
"Enjoy yourself while you can." One of the members of the BroSquad says as they start to pass by the entrance of the Curio shop, just moments after Jessica Jones crosses their path to head towards the front door of the bulding.

On the roof above, and opposite the Curio Shop, one of the men that was up there perks up, tapping his compatriot on the shoulder and pointing out across the street. Said compatriot looks, lifts a crossbow, take aim, and fires it. A Slight twang rings out, easily missed over the bustle of the streets.

"In Bed." Another member of the Bro Squad says, the group completely unaware of the flailing Ninja that has just been shot in the back by a crossbow above them, just moments from impacting Bro #1, and adding a dark extra meaning to the fortune in his cookie.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica Jones happens to look up with her hand on the door of the Curio Shop, just in time to see..

Clueless Dudebro, Falling Body.

She hisses a curse and leaps forward, trying to barrel the bro out of the way so that the corpse doesn't fall on top of him and possibly smash his head down in the pavement. It's reflex and instinct alike, her brain failing to process, right away, precisely what just happened. But. She can figure out the why in a moment. For now, there's a definite 'whut' to concern herself with.

Green Arrow has posed:
"Alright. You're sure this time?" The Green Arrow asks his question sharply into a bluetooth headset while seated on an idling motorcycle near one of dozens of tacky tourist-centric convenience marts near the edge of Chinatown.

"I'm only asking because the last /six/ leads you had about the sources for the arrows that'd hit me were dead ends, that's why." He pauses, a grimace on his face.

"Alright, alright. Fine." The call ends and the emerald archer revs his cycle, turning up a side street that passes in front of, among other things, a curio shop.

Molly Millions has posed:
Well now, that's... interesting. Molly's head doesn't turn in the direction of the one's across the way. Two sets of players, it's enough to make her lips curl in a slight smile as she silently assesses from behind her lenses.
    For her, the evening is lit up like day. The ninja's obvious even if she doesn't seem to find the need to jump in... until Jessica does. It's the leap of the woman trying to save dudebro from getting smooshed on the pavement that stirs her to motion. The cyborg's reflexes carrying her two long steps to snag the flailing body and pivot to plant him on the ground ungently.

Ravenna Levesque has posed:
While Ravenna doesn't have dark vision, her familiar can see what is going on and seems very insistant that she pay attention. It all goes rather quickly with the falling body and the dark haired person pushing one of the dudebros out of the way. It takes a second but she finally recognizes Jessica. Her attention is brought up to the roof, where the crosbow must have been shot from. Not wanting to bring too much attention to herself, she concentrates and summons a gust of wind, hopefully making it a little harder for the snipers on the roof to aim at their targets.

Dream Girl has posed:
    Talk about being in the wrong part of town, Nura Nal Just happens to 'BE' in this part of town. The curio shop happens to catch her attention, and she takes a deep breath. "Where have I seen that shop before."

Which is where Jessica Jones decides to leap on a member of the brosquad, and Nura chuckles and nods her head.

"I remember now. This is why I came this way. I should visit chinatown during the daytime more often...."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
There is a meaty thud, that would be the Hand Assassin hitting the pavement, and it seems that DudeBro will live another day. "Holy #$*@ Chad, your Axe Bodyspray totally worked, bro!" He exclaims, taking the pounce for something else, that is until DudeBro#3 exclaims, "Oh My God!" Shrieking a bit as the body hits just in front of him.

Up above things start to kick off, the Ninja's go bursting into the windows, shards of glass raining down, and the sound of flashing steel, and a Wilhelm scream come from within the building. The Crossbowman atop the roof starts reloading, and his companion is speaking into a radio, warning of the assault, one would presume.

The streets are still largely bustling, business as usual.. the falling body not registering quite yet, and the sound of broken glass and fighting only having just started.

Jessica Jones has posed:
The Crossbowman on the Roof is about to have an angry, darkhaired visitor. Jessica feels the wind picking up, but to her it's little bar. Her cap does fly off as she leaps, landing with a thud across the building.

"Hi, asshole. That crossbow permit in order? I'm afraid I'm going to have to inspect it."

Her strong hand comes down on it, snapping it in half. She catches the grip half of it and hits the shooter in the face with it good and hard.

"Yep. Failed inspection. I'm afraid there are penalties for that."

She tosses the two pieces aside after that, eyes narrowing darkly. "Oh yeah. There's some for murder, too."

Green Arrow has posed:
As his motorcycle brings him near the curio shop, Green Arrow can't help but do a double-take at the quick glimpse of figures swinging or leaping above. He looks about, spying broken windows, and quickly pulls up onto the sidewalk nearby, parking the bike in a narrow alley.

"This wasn't even the address," he mutters quietly. "If this isn't a complete coincidence, I'm going to have a stern talk with that kid..."

The archer looks about and takes a running leap to push off the alley wall and grab ahold of the fire escape ladder. He starts climbing in an effort to reach the roof of the curio shop building and check out the potential window-related disturbance from a closer vantage point.

Molly Millions has posed:
It's Molly's favorite song. Jessica and the dudebro's aren't squished, but there's screaming. She doesn't know any of the players in this particular situation, but arrow in the back of a ninja certainly says to her 'game on'.
    She leaves the injured ninja on the sidewalk with a look towards where Jessica had been, then twists back towards the van. Superhuman strength, she has not, but she's quite content to scrabble onto the van with the intention of utilizing it to leap for the windows the ninja's went through, completely oblivious that she's not the only one heading in that direction. In for a penny, might as well go the whole new yuen, after all.

Dream Girl has posed:
    The shattering glass gets Nura Nal's attention and makes her look up, despite the bustling street down below....then the scream. "Well then." Nura Nal says rather breezily as she actually turns down an alley and activates her flight ring to try and find what is going on.

Or she would if she didn't spot Molly Millions down the roadway.

"Hmm....follow the white rabbit. Wasn't that line in an ollllld movie?"

Of course, something old to her is new to some people....like the Matrix movie.

Ravenna Levesque has posed:
"Ninajs are above my pay grade." Ravenna says as she watches what is unfolding in front of her. She's ready to leave, head off some where safe, but something stops her. That damned cat blocks her way, his tail flicking impatiently at his owner as he meows at her. The shattering glass causes her to pause, and she has to pause to brush some of the fragments out of her hair. "No treats for a week you bastard." She murmers to the cat before she floows Molly and Nura into the building.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The Rooftop crossbowman goes down with a bloody face as the Crossbow is smashed against it, screaming in pain. The one with him will pull out a long, curved knife and take a swipe at Jessica Jones up there on the rooftop. He's a good fighter, but likely no real match for the powered Private Eye.

The scene upstairs, for those who have started their way up is something much different, the Hand Ninjas have cut down several people, blood sprayed across one of the windows, and the archer, who is not dressed in Green, Red, or Purple is in the process of drawing his bow to fire off an arrow down a hallway, visible from the window. The people they are attacking are starting to mount a defense now, however, the sounds of guns being racked, swords clashing as fighters begin to defend themselves, and other similar noises.

The crowd on the street is starting to gather, "There's a dead guy!" Exclaims Lance, "Did he fall??" Chance shouts, "Is that an arrow in his back??" people are starting to cluster, move in, "Someone should call the police!"

Jessica Jones has posed:
The knifeman gets his swipe in, because Jessica wasn't paying enough attention to him. She dances back, but not in time to avoid getting a long cut across her collarbone; today it's hot, and she's not exactly wearing her leather jacket. Just a tank top.

She steps in, trying to open-hand block him so that he won't get another shot like that in, with enough force to potentially shatter his elbow if it should strike. "Takes about four more inches to impress me," Jessica comments blithely, even as blood darkens the shirt. "C-minus for effort. And for the record?"

She tries to follow that strike up with a low kick meant to shatter the man's knee.

"You're both a couple of fucking nerds. I mean. A crossbow? Really?"

Green Arrow has posed:
As he makes it to the roof, Green Arrow groans while looking over the edge of the building. "This job would be so much easier without all the running and jumping. And fighting, for that matter." He thinks for a moment. "Still..."

Then, the archer performs a maneuver similar to the ninjas who'd entered the windows earlier, somersaulting as he lands inside the building to try and catch up to the conflict inside. As he leaps to his feet, the Arrow pulls his bow and an arrow into his hands.

"Whoopsy-daisy!" he calls, swinging his bow like a club at the other archer nearby. "These aren't toys, you know!"

Molly Millions has posed:
    Molly takes her cue from the blood already on the ground, pulling out her fletchette pistol even as she lands practically on the Arrow's heels. Likely it's not going to win her any friends but there's the whine and fwoomf as the pepperbox muzzle lets fly with twenty little darts in a concentration before moving on. The guy in Green apparently assessed as 'not a target' by her measure.

Ravenna Levesque has posed:
The blood upstairs isn't really making this any easier. Still Ravenna's more baser instincts kick in and she quickly makes a plan. One person has a bow and arrow, another has guns, and all she brought with her is her magic. Doing her beest to avoid those who are defending themselve, she emits several balls of lightning that she ends toward one of the enemies. It's not powerful eough to kill him, but it should be enough to incompasitate him. Just like being hit with a taser.

Dream Girl has posed:
    Nura doesn't have a pistol, but she does have a rather....unique power. As she and molly make it to the end of the hallway, Nura manages to GRAB Molly's shoulder and holds her up for a couple of seconds.

Just long enough for the arrow to *THUNK* into the wall ahead of her.

Only then does Nura speak up. "Archer at the end of the hallway, aim low and you'll throw her aim off for her to fire an arrow into the ceiling, knock a light loose and Knock her out."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
"AAAAAAAH!" Shouts the man whose knee gets shattered by the kick from Jessica Jones, the man dropping the knife and collapsing in pain grasping at his leg and rolling about. The screams draw more attentions from down below. "What's going on??" someone shouts.

A peal of automatic gunfire shatters the air which ends one of the Hand assaulters, another archer ended by the pepperbox fire of Molly's gun, and Green Arrow is able to bring down the final archer. There are more of these men inside, both the folk they are attacking, and the Hand Ninja's attacking them, and one of them is just emerging to ambush the duo of Arrow and Molly when the lightning charges come out and hit him, dropping him to the ground quivering!

Jessica Jones has posed:
Right about now, Jessica Jones gets to make a decision. Is she going to worry about the other fighters, knowing most of them down there can probably handle themselves and the cops are on the way? Or is she going to grab the knifeman by the collar, grasshopper leap him a few buildings over, and terrorize a bunch of information out of him so she can work her case and finally get a sense of what this ninja crap is all about?

It takes her just thirty seconds to decide on option B. She tosses the man over her shoulder, uncaring as to whether or not she puts him in a world of excruciating pain. "Come on," she says. "You and me are off to have a chat."

She does try to kick Crossbow Dude in the knee as well. Him, she'll leave for the police.

Either way, she takes off running and goes soaring on to the next building.

Green Arrow has posed:
Bracing himself for a barely-expected rush from the newly arrived Hand member, the Green Arrow looks puzzled when it doesn't arrive. Then, looking around, he finally notices there are others on potentially similar missions.

"So," he asks, gauging the situation, "you all are on an assassin hunt too, huh?" He quickly glances at the pepperbox and nods at it. "Ever think about using something a bit quieter and more stylish?"

Then, the emerald archer quickly nocks and fires an arrow towards another of the ninjas nearby.

Molly Millions has posed:
    Grabbing, grabbing! Molly wasn't expecting it, and there's the twitch reflex towards Nura with the barrel of the fletchette even as the words sink in. It's a simple enough request, really, even if from the furrow of her brows above the lenses she might have her own opinion, but it costs her nothing to drop to one knee, flick the fletchette over to single fire and put a dart in the kneecap of one of the remaining ninja before turning to eye Nura and Arrow,"Says the guy using arrows." drawled the latters direction drily as the pistol is at least slotted away again.

Dream Girl has posed:
    "I tend to weird people out like that, yes." Nura says before The Arrow speaks to them. "I have no weapons." She then takes a slow breath as....as Nura said, the archer is hit in the knee, yells, shoots an arrow to the ceiling, and a loose light fixture falls, and hits him on the head, knocking him out. It wasn't even connected to anything.

"Hmmmm...." She says turning her head towards Arrow, then down the hall. "if you have a 'smoke arrow', mister archer, fire it down that hall way. Delay the smoke by......4 seconds."

Pretty specific. Isn't it?

Talia al Ghul has posed:
"Out the back!" A woman exclaims down that hall, anyone looking would see Talia, clad in a tight black jumpsuit, a mask that covers her nose and mouth, and a blood soaked sword in hand, and several of the Ninja's dead on the ground. She is only there for a fleeting moment before disappearing towards the far end of the building towards the Alleyways.

Meanwhile out front, the doors of the delivery van burst open, and several more of the assassins jump out and throw grapples up to the roof, ascending to the room that the Heroes all entered from, a second wave of attackers.

The fighting is going quite well for the Heroes, they are beating back the Hand with Skill, Augmentation, and the foresight of Nura helping guide them it seems and shielding them from the worst of the hand attacks, including this surprise coming from the back of the Van!

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica sees it.

"Shit," she grumbles.

She puts gimpy down on the roof she just jumped to, and takes a running leap back. This will take her a moment, but...with a second wave of attackers she doesn' t like the chances of the people who all went barreling inside nearly as much. Time to get back there and help, fuck it all. Hopefully her dude will still be there when she gets back, but...if not, at least she'll be able to sleep at night. She'll grab one of the assassin's ropes and use it to slide down to the window herself. She waits till he's off and through the window though; she's not really trying to kill anyone today and she feels like her combat boot sliding down to his noggin might just have that effect.

Green Arrow has posed:
Frowning at the woman giving him orders, Green Arrow sighs. "Look, you can't just assume I even /have/ one of those on hand." He waits a beat. "I mean, I /do/, but that's not the /point/."

Still, about four seconds pass by the time he stops talking, and the archer from Starling City fires the smoke arrow in that direction.

A few other arrows--of a more conventional variety--quickly follow it from the Arrow's bow toward the direction of the fleeing ninjas.

"I don't suppose," he states, "that anyone's got the skinny on where these guys all hang out between murder sprees?"

Molly Millions has posed:
Perhaps it says something when the pistol was perhaps the least lethal of Molly's options. She's too fast in the way she regains her feet, and though her hands are empty when she comes up on one of the few left in the room still standing there's blood in her wake. Mercifully (for them) she can't see through smoke, even if she can hear the grapples,"They have friends incoming. I don't know about you lot but I'm not getting paid to die for this. So either stop toying with them or start running." is her opinion. She for one is angling towards the 'out the back' shout came from for lack of better options.

Dream Girl has posed:
    "I would actually suggest we run in the other direction, unless you want to be caught up in the explosion that's coming. And the smoke arrow was for us, not them." Nura Nal actually takes her own advice and runs out the way she came. And she seemed insistant on them following her....

Molly Millions has posed:
Molly doesn't need to be told twice. Explosions. Reinforcements. There's livening up a slow night and there's suicidal... and she's decidedly not the latter. The lack of response to the Arrow is likely due to her not having a clue as to where they might hang out. The cyborg's all for out and away with all due haste.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Out behind the building, where our Heroes luckily can't see, perhaps, is Talia and her band making their escape, the ones that weren't cut down by the Hand anyway. There is a utility van back there that they truck into, one of her League of Assassins bodyguards opens the back and pulls out what is clearly an RPG, shouldering it, and firing it up at the back end of the building.

There is a loud **EXPLOSION** out back, fire and smoke rushing through the building, creating a problem for anyone who would chase them, for sure, but not so catastrophic as to blow the building, or even really harm anyone in the front half of the Curio's building.

Sirens begin to fill the streets as first responders are on their way, the street is full of panicking folk, certain Hand Ninja's and others are beginning to fade away before any police come, there may be opportunity to stop some of the fleeing ones, if one were to risk getting spotted and questioned by the Police.

Green Arrow has posed:
"No way am I letting this potential lead skip out on me," Green Arrow says, rushing toward the rear after the fleeing ninjas.

The RPG's explosion nearly lights him up as a result. Luckily, the archer is only thrown out of a nearby window into the alley where he'd originally climbed up to the roof. He bounces off the opposite alley wall and drops down onto too few bags of trash to fully break his fall.

Slowly rolling out from the garbage to lie on his back, the Green Arrow gasps for breath. "Ok," he whispers to himself. "Maybe next time a different approach."

Then, he pushes himself to his feet and manages to get his motorcycle started. "Next time," he says again with a nod, and heads back out into the night.

Dream Girl has posed:
    Nura was already out of the building when the RPG went off. She makes a face as Green Arrow drives off, and twists her flight ring as the police sirens come closer. "I'd better go away. I don't think the authority figures would understand what I was doing here, or why." She says as her flight ring allows her to take off into the sky......and get something to eat. Like pizza."