View source for 4328/What evil lurks in a 200 foot radius

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2018/04/22
|Location=Gotham City
|Synopsis=The Shadow comes to clean up a drug ring. Oh, and Yin just happens to be standing right there, bleeding.
|Cast of Characters=1092, 1594
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Zerk' has been steadily making its presence known in the New York underworld, and The Shadow is <span class="bold_fg_n bg_n ++ h">displeased</span> -- it's making life significantly more dangerous in the streets, both for civilians as well as the gangs themselves. More irritating, so far no one she's managed to... ''talk'' to has been able to tell her where the drugs are coming from. <br><br>This will <span class="bold_fg_n bg_n ++ h">not</span> do.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Shadow Network is efficient, however, and one of the Shadow's agents in the GCPD informs her about a recent lead to a warehouse tentatively tied to gang activity within the area linked to recent disappearances and within walking distance of the massive attack earlier. More tellingly, the search warrant request was squashed this afternoon - by a judge already suspected of being in the pocket of organized crime.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Time to investigate. Natasha tells Benny the area to go for and relaxes in the back seat of the cab while the cabbie pulls out of the slow traffic and onto the highway.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some time later, in one of the less pleasant areas of Gotham, an utterly unremarkable cab drives down the street, looking for fares. As it slows down to corner, nobody seems to notice the passenger door opening and closing, or the shadow flickering along the pavement until it's swallowed by the buildings and alleys...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin is sitting on a rooftop nearby. She already stitched herself up with medical glue, other than that one grazing nick in the middle of her back where she can't quite reach, and is now sitting in a lotus position, feet on top of her thighs, meditating at high alert. She tried moving around some, but those cuts are just kind of annoying and pesky and draw too much attention. Her eyes are closed, but her senses are turned up to high otherwise. So annoying. She's pretty sure those dime ninja came from nearby, she just hasn't really felt up to hunting for them yet, and she's not sure what to do if she found them.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;... A flicker. Or perhaps a /lack/ of one, a little eddy in the flows of the world where there shouldn't be anything to eddy off of, like a ripple on a river's surface betraying a rock hidden just underneath. She wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been on alert, and even now she can't see what's causing it, she can only barely track the effect it has on the flow of the world's chi around it. <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whatever it is, it's focused. And it's moving with a purpose, toward a nearby warehouse...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin takes a breath and rises, slipping over to the rooftop to look down at the shadow moving toward.. well, ironically, the warehouse she is standing on. She studies the hole in the chi, looking past it at the places it isn't, and then vaguely looks down into the front of the building.<br><br>The building is plain and boring. The front has a faded sign for an out of business shop, with a somewhat newer 'Under new management" sign beneath. The front of the building could use some paint. The ownership of the building has changed a couple times recentrly, flipped in transations that look shockingly droll and mundane in ways that point to possible money laundering. The windows are covered in grime, maybe a bit more than is to be expected. It looks like nobody is home.. at least right now. But first impressions are hardly the end all be all.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clever. A stupider gang might have put sentries outside and thereby given away that this place might hold something more interesting than one might otherwise assume. But with the decrepit and abandoned aesthetic, no one would be inclined to look closely enough to realize that all its windows are intact -- or that the look on the door is both in good condition and shows sign of recent use.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of course, the Shadow doesn't bother with front doors - a great deal of her mystique has always been showing up where the superstitious and cowardly would swear no human could have gotten in unseen. <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From her vantage point, Yin can see her progress as a shadow without a body to cast it flickers from one pool of light to the next before being swallowed up by the deeper shadow of the building itself...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin hmms, and makes her way down the side of the building quietly, by way of descending the gnarled tree next to it. She quietly hops down and looks along the side of the building where the 'hole' went, vaguely looking along the wall.<br><br>Inside the building there's a bit of chaos as things are being hurriedly packed up for cleanup. Anything big like that gets investigation, so the evidence needs to get packed up for awhile. Gangers take down equipment and put things in shipping boxes to be picked up by the 'moving vans'. There are cages and things, all emptied out for now in the interest of folding up shop until the heat goes down.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Their first clue that <span class="bold_fg_n bg_n ++ h">something</span> has gone wrong is when the lights flicker and die. And in the sudden hush, they can hear a chuckle echoing between the walls and cages. Not the deranged cackling of the Clown Prince of Crime, thankfully, but this sinister laughter runs down every man and woman's spine to tickle those parts of the brain that remember being small and furry while big things stalked in the darkness.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Such busy little rodents. You've paid Timondson enough that he warns you after he quashes yet another search warrant. Clever... But not clever enough.</span>" <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The voice seems to wax and wane in strength, the apparent source moving randomly through the area...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Hands go up around the room and cleaning tools are set down. These guys aren't paid to fight, just clean. They look like they're going to go easy..<br><br>But one of them only brings her hands up halfway. A phone screen glows, and she taps the screen before shuffling backward toward another doorway in back. Calm, but with a faint urgency not raised by the attack. Around the room, you hear a simultaneous set of clicking noises, and the cleaners frown and rub at their badges in some confusion. "Ow.."<br><br>Yin lightly tests the door, and finds it unlocked. She slips in, and finding the room darkened, spreads her.. other senses out around the area. She frowns a bit, sensing a familiar alteration spreading through the room..<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ... And a blurry hand closes around the wrist holding the phone, squeezing hard enough to hear bones crack. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Coward /and/ idiot. Did you really think I wouldn't /know/?</span>" <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For a moment, bright blue eyes blaze in her field of view, conveying disdain and rage in equal measure, then a blow to the back of the head sends her into unconsciousness. <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Shadow picks up the limp body and places it out of the way before deliberately blurring into visibility among the others, pistols gleaming in her hands. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">What is about to happen is not your fault. Remember that. I will make sure she is called to account for this in full. This I promise, while you can still hear my words.</span>" <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With that, the figure goes still as it awaits the inevitable.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>The cleaners look around, "We're not doing anything! We give up!" But they look more and more anxious, and start shaking a bit. Their faces flush a bit and they tense, all standing around in some confusion. But they don't see anyone to be angry at. Yet.<br><br>Yin edges back out the door. This seems like a good time to be somewhere else.. craaap.. sneak sneak.. not wanting another fight yet...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>The response from the figure is a barked laugh.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">You truly don't know, do you? Of course, you weren't paid to ask questions. Questions such as 'What are we actually cleaning up here?' or 'Could this lab have anything to do with that new berserker drug that is being manufactured?'... Or even 'If this cleanup has to be done discreetly, why did she insist on making us wear nametags?' or 'What was that stinging sensation every single one of us felt when she pressed that button?'</span>" <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Shadow pauses speaking to let the implications sink in, eyes sweeping around the room.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Right then, a car drives by on the road, flashing headlights through the open door that Yin happens to be standing in. The flash of light draws the attention of the janitors.. "You! You did this!" They angrily glare, then start running straight toward Yin, with murder in their eyes!<br><br>Yin mouths a cuss word and centers herself. One of those cuts was on her leg, and she doesn't know if she can outrun these guys. She drops into a taiji stance. No point avoiding this now.<br><br>...Ugh.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A blur of motion, and one of the janitors at the front of the pack finds his legs swept out from under him mid-charge, sending him tumbling to the ground in front of the legs of his comrades. <br><br>"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Your fight--</span>"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Another man runs straight into a knife-hand blow that wasn't there until it hit him in the throat and collapses to his knees, the sudden need to breathe overriding even the berserker drug.<br><br>"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">-- is with /me/.</span>" The Shadow declares, voice reverberating with pure willpower, less a challenge and more a statement of fact.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The figure briefly turns to regard Yin, then indicates the unconscious form of the woman who set them off. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Make sure she survives and doesn't escape. I have questions. She has answers. She /will/ provide answers.</span>"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin nods silently and limps around the side of the room toward her. A straggler you aren't quite stocked sufficiently with arms to deal with leaps at her, and she casually lifts a hand, shifting into stance, to stop his face in midjump. He CRASHes to the floor. Tackle failed. She's just too solidly centered to care about a tackle by a man almost twice her size. She slips deeper into the room toward the woman, who is starting to stir.<br><br>She stares down into her face. "Spooky says you need to be alive.. but I don't think they care about my bedside manner." She studies her and centers herself, opening herself to track all the life in the area.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Berserker drugs are wonderfully effective, in some regards. When on them, you don't feel pain or fear or exhaustion. You can't be intimidated or terrified or persuaded to stop, and the adrenaline surging through your system grants you the strength of someone three times your size.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This comes, however, at the cost of robbing you of your ability to think and pay attention to anything but what your immediate senses tell you, and no matter how much the reptile part of your brain is telling you to leap on that dark shape and tear it limb from limb, that gets tricky when the shape isn't where your senses tell you it is. <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sinister, mocking laughter fills the room, echoing off the walls as the Shadow appears to flicker from one place to another, luring the berserkers to lash out and leap into walls, pillars, thin air, or each other, while sudden blows blur out of seemingly nowhere to strike at someone's larynx or solar plexus, aiming to incapacitate as effectively as possible regardless of potential permanent damage.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To Yin's chi sense, the room is ablaze. The drugged fighters are putting out enough rage that for a moment she thinks things might catch actual fire as they try to swarm their opponent -- and she has a slightly easier time 'seeing' that opponent as well; apparently confounding a dozen enraged enemies simultaneously taxes their focus a bit. <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There is still that odd ripple as if her senses are shying away from seeing what's there, but she finds she can focus through it if she tries...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin hmms. She looks down and decides her curiosity is less important than, you know, doing her job of tending to the injuries on her patient. She starts messing with the boss's chi flows, making her healthier, but temporarily crippling her, disrupting her limbs.<br><br>The zerked fighters are pushovers, and Zerk doesn't enhance nearly as much as some combat drugs do. They are very quickly sprawled everywhere, groaning, panting exhaustedly, and unable to keep fighting. Sometimes one of them ineffectively gestures threateningly at the air, but they aren't going anywhere.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>Hersnd as the final body falls to the ground and the noise dies down, Yin hears the footsteps heading her way a moment before she sees the Shadow blur into existence, walking toward her and the as of yet unnamed woman that appears to be responsible for all this.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">How is she?</span>" the figure asks.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin looks up, "She's great. All yours. I turned off her limbs for a bit. They'll come back after awhile." and moves back away a bit.<br><br>The boss is groggy and squirms around, kind of unable to move very effectively. She groans, still a bit out of it.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Excellent,</span>" the figure notes, nodding in approval. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">I take it you were investigating the source of this new drug as well?</span>" <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Shadow leans down to pick up the phone the boss dropped when her wrist was crushed. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Even if she won't talk, this might still hold a few clues. I have... Someone who should be able to pull information from it.</span>"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin nods. "I wish I knew someone like that. I got jumped by an army of these guys not long ago; I was actually trying to lie low. But I don't really want these guys to get away clean, either.." She frowns some and winces, bleeding a bit. "I need to get this dealt with soon. What are you going to do with her now?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's hard to make out an expression on someone's face when only their eyes are visible underneath a slouch hat, but the glare the Shadow directs at the boss is one that bodes poorly. <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">She planned to do this ahead of time,</span>" the Shadow intones, contempt audible in their voice. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Distract any possible vigilante or police force and at the same time ensure no one would be left in a condition to talk about her afterward. I /will/ know who she works for. And then she will get the choice to confess her crimes to the authorities.</span>"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The gaze turns back to Yin. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">There is a doctor in this town who takes in people who, for one reason or another, don't want their identity known. Do you need an address?</span>"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1594|Yin (1594)}} has posed:'''<br>Yin nods. "Yeah, it would help. I literally just finished evacuating the last three people I knew who could do that in this part of town." She winces some. "Ugh. I'm going to need some water. I can't reach this stuff in back. I go by Yin." She rises. "I'm grabbing some water and then I need to get a doc. I can't get this stuff closed on my own."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1092|Natasha Cranston (1092)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">I am known as the Shadow,</span>" the Shadow replies, reaching into a back pocket and producing a fairly compact but high quality first aid kit. "<span class="bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">This should help cleaning the wound and stopping the bleeding long enough to get to the doctor.</span>" An address is mentioned, and the Shadow switches their attention back to the boss, who appears to be coming around...<br> <br>
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