11347/The Godfather 2: It's an Abortion

The Godfather 2: It's an Abortion
Date of Scene:	16 April 2020
Location:	Southside (Suicide Slum), New Troy
Synopsis:	Great White Shark sets up a demonstration of his skills for Lex Luthor, with a pair of pawns in Chris Redfield and Catwoman.
Cast of Characters:	Great White Shark, Catwoman, Chris Redfield, Lex Luthor

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Great White Shark has posed:
Warren "Great White Shark" White had to prove himself to The Light, during his probation period as a potential administrator for L1's organization. He did not know who L1 was, but he suspected it was someone high up in the food chain, despite Gotham low-lifes like him not being aware of such things. There were words, of course, of Intergang, the Maggia, Shredder, even old Perry White, being major players in gangster schemes, but that wasn't for Warren to know. No, Warren was here, to do business.

After reviewing the Light's memorandums for formation and mission statement, that being a countermand to SHIELD, Warren White suspected the Red Skull was involved. An old, scary name, from World War 2, still rumored in circles as HYDRA or AIM, but the Avengers were not on his codex of prime organizations to counter. So he would move carefully, with an acquisition of force, to demonstrate his abilities. The first he would perform, was the most simple, the fraction SEC maneuver, an undercover operative planted inside a compulsively oriented firm: a stock fraud service.

Daytraders, living garbage.

The operation, would be the plant of an informant by telephone call to the daytraders, and an investment by the allegedly defrauded informant, to enter them into the savings roster, while the savings roster was offered assets tracked by the SEC in collateral, with an investment - the organization to be asborbed by Great White Shark, the leverage.

In simple terms, he was treating SHIELD as if it was a fraction, a number over a number, and he was multiplying a number overhead, the fraction he would absorb by merger, with the term below, a zero, multiplied against the agency itself, making the revelation of the bust worthless, a systems crash.

Divide by zero.

Great White Shark sat on the top floor of an old drafting building, a meeting taking place below. It was between low-level Corrido Cholos (Shark would never dare touch No Cholo, a potential government-aligned Corrido, the Cartels), and a panel of Tong members, affiliated with a Korean Tong affiliate out of Koreatown in New York City. Enemies of the Yakuza, they had ingratiated themselves to local universities by means of monitoring local data traffic and obtaining visas for South Korean professor emeritus members, to teach Korean Conflict history, in the war between the Communists and the United Nations. The Corridos, gangsters, were interested in loan assistance, in exchange for influence for affiliated Korean Tong members.

A tip had been placed, to INTERPOL, by a local hash dealer, after being arrested and calling a lawyer for a deal as an informant, and it had been passed upstairs, to SHIELD.

Catwoman has posed:
Tonight Catwoman is treasure hunting rather than "stealing" per say. Rumor has it that someone hid a bag of diamonds in that very same drafting building some time ago until the heat was gone... well at least according to her ex boyfriend.. who she blackmailed. Long story short either the diamonds will be there or a certain cop gets humiliated and probably fired.

Her whip cracks and she swings above the streets below. Again. Again. There's always a ledge or even a gargoyle to land on before the next jump. The building isn't far now.

Chris Redfield has posed:
Chris Redfield is the sort of agent who gets things done (tm), as he's got a squad with him. Tonight's mission is simple. Simple, on paper that is. Get the bad guys. Bring them in, alive. But if things start going downhill, call for backup and stay alive. They've got enough weapons to make n African warlord jealous. Chris has unfettered SHIELD armory access. Which is good, and yes, Chris has brought enough weapons for urban operations.

So do the team members with him.

No quinjets. Chris brought his team here in ab SUV. He'll call in the cavalry to bring these guys in.

Great White Shark has posed:
"So, you gentlemen can provide our young collegiates with the proper protection from the more unsavory elements?" asks a member of the Mik Tan Pe Tong, an elderly Korean man with a bald skull and a pair of round blue glasses, sitting in the broad conference hall on the bottom floor as he enjoys a glass of Crystal.

Two bodyguards stand behind him, armed, with holstered firearms, and several Triads are around them, listening and considering, one taking notes on a yellow legal pad, with an fountain point pen.

"Yes yes, friend, we can protect all your kids, all your professors. You know who the bad guy is?" The mobster takes a slim wrapped stick of marijuana out of his pocket, and lights it, grinning. "It isn't the man without money, or from out of state. It's the guy that knows the move, before he gets there. All his friends back home, think he's groovy, but he's just there for tail, you know."

The Korean man and the Chinese Triads, they all nod in concern and disgust at the mention of the type, while the bodyguards stand silently.

"But," the Latino continues, "We always spot them. We get that guy, and we take care of him for you, real hard, and you know the guys he's with? We skiv 'em, right down, off the table, so your kids get away."

Great White Shark, watching on a camera, listens and waits, six floors up, on the seventh floor. He's by himself, in his typical office wear (khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt), with a four-pack of wine coolers, one imbibed and on a dusty glass table beside him, empty, the second in his gnarled hand.

A bag full of diamonds he found while digging around in boredom sits on the table beside him, little children's anime stickers on a few of them, other diamonds sitting about in an old low-ball cocktail glass.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman is of course unaware that someone already found her prize and continues towards the building. It's in sight now but she'd be stupid to just go in claws blazing. She crouches down on top of a building across the street from it and watches. Her ex could have set her up, tipped off his cop buddies, spite isn't just HER vice after all. No squad cars.. still no sure thing that there isn't a squat of SWAT waiting on every floor..

Chris Redfield has posed:
Chris is moving with a purpose. Hit the building. Take out any resistance. Capture their targets. Just in case, he's got a second team on standby to offer support. Intel on those guys? Trouble. Chris went over the sattellite images on the way over. Now they've done another sweep. Could just be interference, could be something else.

Chris isn't worried. he just gets the helo with the other crew in it to fly over the area and hover out of hearing range, but be close enough to come in and help if needed.

"On three" Chris says quietly. "Ready? Go" he adds, staying in the midst of his team. It's shotguns and SMGs all around, really. It's a smash and grab of sorts. To be fair, they entered from the back of the building. No way Chris was attacking the front...nope. So in the back door and cover one another.

Great White Shark has posed:
The Triads turn about, despite having weapons, they put their hands up, not willing to die over something so petty as weapons charges and criminal conspiracy. The Korean Tong, meanwhile, erupts from his seat with a shout, pointing at Chris Redfield and his soldiers, shouting vulgarities in Korean, denouncing their families.

The Cholos don't take it so lightly. The small group of elegantly dressed Latino gangsters flip the table up, drinks and manuscripts kicking upwards, and pull their semiautomatics on the incoming SWAT, a poorly organized and trained however quick draw group of criminals, hardened at firing range practice in back alley gun ranges and street brawling for logical mechanics. They open fire, and there's shouts from the Triads, looking at them in horror as they move to stand out of their seats.

Great White Shark chuckles as he sits in his chair, slurping down a Jamaican Me Crazy through a little cocktail straw positioned between his filed teeth. A phone rings, and he picks it up, a ringing call from the 10K, a Hong Kong Tong that was plying influence against the Mik Tan Pe, for transition of Metropolis university drug access from a closed circuit tightly restricted from influence, to an anti-British syndicate influenced by the Mandarin Communist Maoist government on the Mainland and open association with local criminal units.

"Yes, sir, as promised, it is done. I am happy you stayed for our little show." Great White Shark produces a raspy chuckle. "Don't worry about our friends with the Latinos. There's always more men like them, but they tend to have tight ears when you close your hands around them."

Catwoman has posed:
Her night vision doesn't let her see through walls and right now Catwoman is facing the front of the building. She doesn't know that there's a sting going on inside. She sighs, "I won't get my diamonds if I don't go inside." The whip cracks and carries her across the street and onto the roof. Once there she crouches down again and waits. The fire escape, if there is one, will be the best way in. Locksmith tools are such a dear..

But it's not a good idea to just run in whip blazing. Nope. Time to wait again and make sure that there isn't a patrol that checks the roof.

Chris Redfield has posed:
Chris isn't that worried....yet. His team falls back to the stairs and and a flashbang's thrown up the stairs, the team keeping their weapons up. The Triads open fire. Fine. This went from a smash and grab to a firefight in confined spaces.

Chris nods to his team as they take up defensive positions. The plan? To draw the Triads out and catch them in a choke point. It's like there's jackhammmers in there. Chris has an idea. SHIELD and the local PD are on the same page, right? So....

One transmission to the local PD, shots fired and needing assistance....

It's all for show. SHIELD could take this building in a matter of a short while if they wanted to. But why not share the fun?

Chris squeezes the trigger as he draws a bead towards the Latinos, there's no loud bang, just quiet, precise interally silenced click click click...

Great White Shark has posed:
The Latino Mafiaso (Cholos) drop, one by one, at Chris Redfield's reports, falling backwards in easily segmented by still ferociously resistant segments, dropping onto their backs with chest wounds. The Triads, meanwhile, draw their weapons as the Korean Tong's bodyguards pull theirs, the Triads moving towards the exit that SWAT hasn't blocked by virtue of coming through the back, while the Korean man huddles his head over his hands and the bodyguards lead the way out. As the flashbang goes off, the Triads cease fire, and turn about, shouting in concerted Mandarin, to organize a signal resistance, passed down over centuries from service in military units.

The Great White Shark sighs in a long-suffering but amused manner, standing with his bottle in hand. "Well, that about covers my end of the bargain." He looks down, at the diamonds, and the wine coolers, pondering for a good while. Then, deciding his course of action, he licks the wine cooler's rim, before depositing it in the case, and gathers the diamonds, before putting them in the bag he found them in, and picking them up with a jingle.

Normally, he'd smile, but normal has been a while.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman can hear gun shots now coming from inside the very building she is trying to get into. That complicates things and she's considering waiting until things die down before she explores the inside. She looks down over the ledge while considering her options.

And that's when her ex arrives with two of his fellow cops. They are off duty, outside of their jurisdiction, and quite honestly have no legal authority here. But Dean Sokolov isn't about to let "some woman" threaten him like that and get away with it. The trio exit their SUV and begin to approach the entrance. The gunfire is quite apparent. Dean pauses, "Sounds like she already got what was coming to her boys but let's wait this out and go in to confirm a body. I heard this place is used by the mob and god knows who else. Stupid woman probably ran in there without a thought except those diamonds." He lights a cigarette, "Once this dies down we wait for whoever is in there to leave and we confirm the body. I got some favors to collect."

Little does he know that it's not Italians in there..

Chris Redfield has posed:
The more they run. The more Chris is waiting for them to slip up and make a mistake. He keys his mic and orders the second team to start sweeping the area. Theory? They'll run into SHIELD folks. But the new people, spied by one of the backup team? That's a wrinkle. By orders, Chris should spare them. But if they're sniffing around where they shouldn't be? Chris can have them brought in and questioned. SHIELD is several....hundred pay grades and secrecy levels above your average street cop.

So Chris grudgingly calls a third team in to try taking the cops, out of their nice happy little police jurisdiction, in for questioning...oh this'll be a cluster in a report. Why, why did they have to get involved? Seriously. At this rate Chris is just hoping those copss and fleeing gang people get into shooting each other really so they make it nice and easy to clean up...

Great White Shark has posed:
The Triads exit out the front, trapped by the waiting police outside, throwing down their weapons and putting their hands up, while the Korean Tong's bodyguards open fire on the police in a move of psychotic furor, having prepared for a fast on amphetamines (the fast alone enough to induce schizophrenic symptoms, the amphetamines inducing a preternatural inducement into an epitome of a hated cultural figure, that Giant on top of the Beanstalk that every serial killer seeks to slay, over and over again), while the Korean attempts to run for it.

That little bald man's old, arthritic legs can only take him so fast, as he scuttles along, ducking his head with his hands up in some vain show to demonstrate his compliance.

The Great White Shark, meanwhile, steps out onto the roof, seeing Catwoman there. He's got the bag of diamonds on his hand, and he raises his right hand, pinky missing.

"Hi, Cats."

Catwoman has posed:
Yep the cops are flashing their badges just as the Triads run out. But when the Koreans start shooting they don't hesitate to pull out their weapons. Dean did not expect this at all. One of his friends is already dead and the other wounded. He runs and dives behind the SUV hoping just to survive this.

Catwoman meanwhile has been spotted. Come on Selina you are better than this. But it's not like she'd have gotten inside without stepping into a warzone anyhow. She stands up with a smile, "You found my glass. It would really make my night if you could just toss that my way."

Chris Redfield has posed:
Great, the bodyguards want to fight? Chris and his team got what they came here for. Of a sort. Time to get out and debrief. Great.

Time to make like SHIELD wasn't ever here...let the PD deal with the flak and fallout. Still, though....Chris is keeeping his team out of this as much as he can. SUV? Check. Get out of here? Sure, though that dark spot on the images...that's bothering Chris

Great White Shark has posed:
"Haven't wet met before, Cats?" Great White Shark asks, languidly circling around Catwoman in that way only an opium head executive could, his loafers slapping in his sockless soles. "Wasn't it Gotham, a year before I got indicted, with your friend Lady?"

He tosses her the bag. "They called me Father Johnny then, I was a fine priest in my stolen frock. Shame about that kid though, never figured out what his birthright was."

Warren shrugs, saying, "I was a fool. Not a pirate yet, perhaps never now."

He steps to the edge of the building, looking down over the ledge, as he withdraws his cellphone and slides out a cue-pad from the back, as opposed to the front, dialing a pair of buttons held down, holding them with a finger.

"L1? The operation is complete."

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman watches the Shark circle her, "Hmmm.. might ring a bell or two." She pretends like she doesn't care about the kid, "Dumb kids don't make it far in life." She should know better than most.

Her eyes are on her precious bag of diamonds after the Shark tosses them her way, "You really know how to make a girl's night don't you." She smiles.

Lex Luthor has posed:
The call was not received by Lex directly; most of the operations the Great White Shark handles get directed to Mercy, who was his handler. Lex was busy with a guest at LexCorp Tower when he got the call.

"Just a moment Michael, I need to take this." Lex notes to the man on the other side of his office desk, picking up his Light encrypted LexPhone. "Mr. Luthor. Operation Insert is done. We also have a confirmed report of the Cat being in play there." Mercy texts to him. "And it turns out I'll have to raincheck as well. I'm sorry. Something just came up. Hope will escort you out." With that, Lex moves into the express elevator in his office... officially, it goes to the ground floor only.

Unofficially... it also has a hidden destination; the warsuit assembly chamber for the LexKnight powered suit.

Within ten seconds, Lex is already flying across the Metropolis skyline, his stealth field activated as he keeps low and slow to avoid detection.

"Shark," comes the synthetic voice of L1 over his phone, "Invite the Catwoman over to you. Tell her L1 wants to have a word."

Great White Shark has posed:
Great White Shark listens with a gentle pallor to his eyes, staring out across the city and hearing the sirens below. He turns, with a raise of his toe atop his heel, to face Catwoman.

Warren removes the cellphone from his ear, pressing it to his chest. "Cats? L1 wants a chat." He lifts it up again, speaking into it, "Confirmed, L1."

He offers Catwoman the phone, standing at the edge of the roof, with his back to it. He knows she could kill him now, but that's part of being a criminal. Anyone that thinks that many stages forward, isn't thinking stages backward, to one's alibi. It's the dance, between flying rat and gutter snipe.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman raises a brow, having been unaware that Shark had anything to do with "L1".. at least until now. She takes the phone, only one word needed to confirm that "L1" is indeed talking to Catwoman, "Purr."

Of course she isn't going to attack Shark, regardless of his associations. All she wants is the diamonds.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Through the speakerphone that L1 just set for himself, Catwoman can hear the vaguely familiar synthetic voice of previous. "Catwoman, why are you in Metropolis?" Lex asks, "Your usual haunts are New York and Gotham. Being spotted in Metropolis might make some waves for you."

By this point, Lex is approaching a rooftop nearby the building Shark and Catwoman are at... but just far enough away for the thrusters to not be heard. Instead, he focuses the sensor array to zoom in just enough to get a close up view in real time of Catwoman from the side as he speaks to her via the phone.

Great White Shark has posed:
Great White Shark waits patiently, withdrawing a pewter-brass toothpick from his pocket, and using it to clean his nails as he waits. His nails, on his remaining fingers, are a clawed, rigid affair, his years of nail-biting gone with that hard frostbite.

Now he releases the tension the good ol' fashion way, by punching pounds of rotten bacon, that he has sold to him from Native American reservations at a zero rebate to the inhabitants. He wants it hot and rotten, shipped to him all the way from the Midwest, to get out that tension.

There's something about that stinking meat, that really relieves stress.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman replies, "Just getting some diamonds owed to me by a crooked cop. Long story. I just chose the same night to take what's mine as Mr. Shark here." Catwoman is unaware that said ex is face down in a pool of his own blood right now but..

Lex Luthor has posed:
"I advise you to do your business and keep it low key then, Catwoman." Lex knows better than to try to order her; Great White Shark is an Agent more hooked into the Light apparatus than most, so he is firmly a subordinate. Catwoman? Lex -and by extension the Light- knows to respect the relative automony of freelancers. "If you do anything more, you'll want to talk to Luthor. I guarantee you he's already monitoring this situation and will have witnesses for everything here."

Lex already took a sensor suite snapshot of the entire building as it is, and the recording of his zoom in is nothing to scoff at either. "We might have work for you, if you decide to stay, though."

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman smiles again, "Shark was the only one who saw me. I'd call that pretty quiet. But anyway I won't be staying long or coming back here any time soon. Tell Luthor that I'm not staying long enough to even be considered a tourist. I'll be under Gotham's skyline in an hour tops." She thinks, "But if it's a job you have then I'll listen."

She watches Shark drop into.. a portal? Catwoman tries not to look surprised. You've seen everything now Selena..

Great White Shark has posed:
"Luthor, eh?" Great White Shark muses. "That guy never figured out how ol' Kermit cheated the Iranians to put the Shah in power."

He looks at his nails, digging at them.

"Everyone in intelligence knows it was a backwards spot from the hole, to the tee, but they can never figure out how he got the hole in one with the sheiks watching."

Shark raises his nails, slipping the pewter-brass toothpick into his pocket. He climbs onto the ledge.

"Luthor is a dice player, I spot it all over that guy. Everything is an extension of variable for a potential play, based on some faith in extending probability to narrow the odds into success. That's why he tries to control the house out here in Metropolis, only way to win. He never goes back to brass tax."

Great White Shark looks back in the wind, as a helicopter approaches above.

"Fair enough, but the problem is, is that you never understand a certain dynamic, that being certainty and certain both."

Great White Shark looks to Catwoman, his sick shark grin accompanying a point of the finger, single, thumb up.

"Bird release, at the right wind, to chart the swing. Besides being a great golfer, you gotta be a sniper. That means you know what something does, before you do it."

Great White Shark steps over the ledge.

"Bridge."

And then, he drops, right off the ledge.

Moments later, he rises past, holding onto a grappel line, dropped from a helicopter, swinging from it as it flies off into the night.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman smiles again, "Shark was the only one who saw me. I'd call that pretty quiet. But anyway I won't be staying long or coming back here any time soon. Tell Luthor that I'm not staying long enough to even be considered a tourist. I'll be under Gotham's skyline in an hour tops." She thinks, "But if it's a job you have then I'll listen."

She watches Shark's dramatic exit via helicopter and waits for Luthor's reply.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"There are *always* potential witnesses you don't know about, Catwoman." The synthetic voice replies. "Go to safehouse 3 here in Metropolis, we'll get over the details there."

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman shrugs out of habit even though L1 can't see her.. as far as she knows, "If you say so. I guess you'd know better since it's not exactly my neighborhood. I'll keep that in mind either way in case I work here again. I guess I'm off to safehouse 3 now. I hope it has something bubbly to drink. A girl gets thirsty after a job."

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Good." With that, the connection dies.

On that rooftop, Lex watches as everyone leaves, the helicopter only given a glance as Catwoman is monitored. Regardless of her connection to the Light, he still had a monopoly to maintain on Metropolis... and keeping a wildcard like Catwoman under surveillance? That was just good business.

Eventually though, he opens a channel to Mercy, "Catwoman is confirmed moving to safehouse 3. We might need to keep an eye on local fences, see if she pawns anything from LexCorp." As he speaks, he's turning and engaging the thrusters again, heading back to LexCorp Tower.