4718/Ninjas to the left of me, Ninjas to the right, Here I am.. Stuck in the Middle with You

Ninjas to the left of me, Ninjas to the right, Here I am.. Stuck in the Middle with You
Date of Scene:	22 June 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Claire's clinic gets attacked. Matt, Elektra, and Luke come to the rescue. You know who got blamed for it all, right? Right?
Cast of Characters:	Claire Temple, Shredder, Elektra, Daredevil, Luke Cage

---

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire moans as she locks the outdoor catch on the clinic entrance and leans against the glass.

Supply arrival... check.
Supplies sorted... check.
Equipment arrival... check.
Bed and table assembly... son of a bitch, check, better not have to do that again.

Wait until the meds land, she tells herself as she pinches the bridge of her nose and shakes her head. She pushes herself off the door and starts walking away toward home.

Shredder has posed:
    They are good ninjas. The city scarcely even knows they exist. Two forms drop silently behind Claire and one unrolls a lockpick kit from his sleeve that slides down his forearm. Even though they are silent, when they move in mass, even ninjas have trouble staying in complete invisibility. Several slide down a drain pipe across the street in the shadows. Another few land quietly on a fire escape from the roof next door.
    The lights on the street suddenly go out, the only light now coming from the sparse interior lights of the buildings, along with a couple of exterior lights. The power didn't go out, just the street lights.
    Individually they are all quite invisible, but as a group, it might be sensed that something is happening. The shadows of the street are almost churning.

Claire Temple has posed:
When the lights go out, Claire stops where she is. Holding back a curse while her heart rate ticks up, she grabs her keys in her purse and pokes the tines between her knuckles to ready herself for a fight. Please let it not be... please let it not be... and she turns to look in the direction she's come.

"Don't even think about it, motherfuckers," she says as she looks around herself in the dark. She hangs on tight to the band holding her purse across her body.

Shredder has posed:
    The ninja with the lockpick continues, while his partner turns to note their spotting. While a kurisama seems to be his personal choice of weapon, he doesn't pull it. Instead, he sprints forward, a quick strike aimed for a pressure point on her arm in attempt to disarm her from the keys.

Claire Temple has posed:
"Ow! What the --" Claire starts as she bends double to shield the now quite painful arm and tingling fingers. "Help!" she yells as she tries to withdraw vulnerable parts to make herself harder to... do that thing to again. Ow!

Shredder has posed:
    The ninja doesn't hesitate as Claire withdraws, but quickly engages a foot sweep to try to put her on her back, and if successful, dives in an attempt to wrestle her to a sleeper hold.
    Meanwhile, the churning mass of shadows seem to be closing in on the door. They don't gather around Claire, but instead, they start to rally by the door to the clinic. a few dozen of them at least.

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire yelps in pain as her legs suddenly give way at the ankle and huffs out a breath as her back makes contact with the pavement. She doesn't have much time to pull her legs up and to try kicking out to prevent the diving ninja from getting restraint access to her body. She manages a solid shove with her feet, hoping for the best.

Shredder has posed:
    The ninja looses the option for the proper sleeper hold as Claire gives a shove, and another ninja among the pack joins him, trying to clamp a hand on her mouth to keep her quiet as the first continues to try to scramble for a hold to choke her out.

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire lets out an angry yell under the hand over her mouth, and she tries to give a bite to free up her voice as the hand presses her head against the concrete. She tries turning against the pressure on her face and neck, and her legs make a few swimmer kicks, as strong as she can make them. She lets out another yell, as best and as loud as she can.

Elektra has posed:
It had been a.. well, okay, it wasn't *quite* a relaxing evening, but it was close. Elektra was showing Luke the turf boundaries, and pointing out the current areas of contention. Of course they shifted to and fro a lot, especially where she'd put her bans in place..

"The first rule is we don't deal in children. On any front. No recruits not already in their teens. No drugs - either as mules or recipients. And we don't do child trafficking."

She'd already had a *very* pointed discussion with several of her own over that, a discussion that had left her seeking out Claire for medical attention. Elektra had been the only one who had walked away alive from the discussion. She'd considered the matter dealt with.

Of course, she had ulterior motives for wandering Luke around this area. Not only to show him the boundaries, but to check on the clinic. Claire might not know it, but a goodly portion of Elektra's personal money was sunk into that affair.

Of course that's when Claire lets out that yell... Elektra pulls her trademark scarf up, and prepares for the worst. "I do believe that's our calling card?"

Daredevil has posed:
If dozens of ninjas sneak through Hell's Kitchen, do they make a sound?

Apparently the answer is yes if you're Matt Murdock. He's two blocks away when he hears something weird, ducking under a mugger's lazy swing of a knife, Daredevil comes up with a sharp uppercut to the chin, then a push kick to the wall.

The man crumples and his would-be victim breathes heavily as she gets to her feet.

"Oh my god, you're him, the Devil of-"

Matt cuts her off with with a wave and tilts his head. The sound was strange, heartbeats, breathing, but not much other sound.

"Shit," Matt says. He walks over to the mugger and puts him out with a fist to the face. "Run, call the cops." he tells the woman then runs himself, flipping the cable up to the rooftops and letting it pull him upwards so he can, jump and leap between the rooves, until, he's above where the ninja has Claire by the throat. Matt feels the anger rise up in his chest and he flings his baton at the man's head, trusting his aim to hit him and miss Claire as he leaps from the roof, kicks once off the wall, then drops feet aimed for the ninja's partner. Even as he senses the dozens closing around them.

He'd worry about how they'd get past them later.

Shredder has posed:
    The choking ninja has no idea that the baton was coming. It bounces off his dome, knocking him out in a single blow. He's likely to feel that in the morning. He gets a two for one, though, as the baton's bounce puts it into the face of the other offending ninja, causing him to stumble back and lose hold on Claire all together, leaving her free.
    It is just at that moment that the lockpick undoes the door, and the ninjas start to file into the door quickly, as if someone was handing out free shurikens to the first 20 visitors.

Luke Cage has posed:
It was like the old days, the bad old days, and not much had changed. Turf, product, politics, blood. The streets didn't change, no matter how pretty the woman at the top.

"It is," Luke agrees with Elektra after they hear the scream. When the lights of the car flash across the scene there is the brief glimpse of bodies in various states of motion. "Sweet Christmas. Your friends?" Luke asks as he piles out of the car and sprints towards Daredevil.

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire coughs as her airway opens up, and she rolls onto her stomach, trapping her purse under her abdomen. She lets out an irritated whine and puts her hands behind her neck while the chaos rages on.

Elektra has posed:
There's a curt shake of head from Elektra as she moves in on the growing chaos of the mass of ninja surrounding Claire and the clinic. She doesn't recognize either comportment, or the particulars of their moves. It's subtle, but they're not tweaking as her own.

"No... but there are others around." She'd had a taste of them recently, by proxy, when she'd run into a certain caped crusader.. though all the excitment was over by then. There were just the makings and markings of an event. A thing she still had to investigate.. and it seemed now she had even more incentive to.

"You go left, I'll go right.."

And of course she's missed Matthew to the rescue, because how can you have a party with ninjas without him, expecially so Claire has one more thing to yell at him for when it's over.

Daredevil has posed:
The ninja come on towards Matt and he cartwheels to recover his baton and then flips sharply in the air, to deliver a kick to one of the on rushing ninjas.

All the while he lets in what his senses tell him about Claire's condition and their surroundings looking for a way out that didn't end with him testing just how good his new suit was against this many ninja.

"Claire, stay down alright?" he says ducking another blow and countering with two quick punches. "I'm going to get us out of here."

Then he hears 'Sweet Christmas' then the sound of Elektra's voice. He grins broadly at the ninjas, tilting his head and lifting his fists in a boxer's stance. "Guys, the smart move is to run right now," he tells the ninja moving back to stand over Claire.

Luke Cage has posed:
"Right," Luke says to Elektra and breaks left. He charges toward Matt and Claire.

Two of the ninja turn, not taking Matt's advice. One tries striking Luke. That goes very poorly, and Luke ploughs his fist into the second one who comes off his feet and flies into the Clinic wall.

"Don't scare them off, I won't have anyone to play with," he says to Matt.

Shredder has posed:
    The majority of the ninjas have entered into the clinic, but about ten turn to face the newcomers. Matt's blow to one of the unsuspecting crew rushing into the building.
    Two of the ninjas pounce toward Matt, one high and one low, while Luke's engagement brings the majority to face him. One of them carrying a kurisama whips it around his head, trying to catch Luke around the ankle with it to pull him off his feet while the others pull various weapons they may individually favor.
    Three catch sight of Elektra incoming, and a nunchaku, sai, and komo weilder pull their weapons, taking a ready stance and starting to circle her.

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire spares a glance upward at Matt and Luke and huffs some profanity under her breath as she lifts up onto her elbows, then ducks a low kick to protect her head and neck again. "Yeah, you're going to get us out of here, absolutely," she growls. "Where's the ninja specialist on call, anyway, huh?"

She rocks her head to look toward the clinic door. "Don't even --!"

Elektra has posed:
"Only three? Hardly a warmup," Elektra complains before settling down to the business of taking out the three circling her.

She doesn't need to follow them with eyes or body - she's trained far too much, and with greater than these numbers to need to. She knows where she would need to be to fight herself were she they, and thus, knows where they are in the space around her.

In a swift move, without warning, she circles around ducking low and looking to aim at the one behind her, leading the other two to close in on her, thinking they have her trapped. Only to have Elektra spin further, to a rise, and then flip over and past the others so that the trio is now trapped between herself and the clinic. And then she goes in for the kill... so to speak.. or not so to speak. It is Elektra, after all. She's not burdened with Matthew's ethics.

Daredevil has posed:
There's a "Heh," from Matt at Luke's remark. "You can take them all if you want."

Claire's words are met with a frown, but he doesn't have time to reply right away as the ninja come for him. The tackle is unexpected but forces Matt to make a choice. High or low? He chooses to take the hit high, kicking at the head of the guy coming in low.

He goes down under the high-side attacker, but twists as he falls trying to come out on top to pummel him where they land beside Claire.

Shredder has posed:
    Matt's tumble lands him on top of the ninja, only to find that he is whipping out a kunai into each hand during the pummel, trying to jab them into his thighs. He might hear quietly inside clinic "They aren't here, we lost them. Contact outside though."
    Shortly after, 20 more come piling back out the door past Claire as if to answer Elektra's complaint. Her first three go down, but as good ninjas, give no grunts or sounds of pain.

Elektra has posed:
All good warmups prepare you for the real thing.. and this seems to be no exception. And like any good.. ninja assassin.. she's not the grunt and groan type either. It's all silence and finese when the job calls for it, and frankly she's not about to give whoever this is anything more than she already has. Short of calling out to Luke to get Claire out of here, she's down to business.

Spin. Turn. Stab. Oh... was that your kidneys, shame about that. Sorry you have to die now. Please crawl off to your master and complain to him about your lack of benefits..

Okay, she doesn't say it, but she thinks things while systematically dealing with the crowd that seems to be a clown car of ninja from the area around Claire's clinic.

It's a testatment to her training that she just takes it in stride.

Of course this isn't going to be easy to explain to the police afterwards.. Maybe these ninja come with a cleanup crew of their own.

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire squawks in protest as the weapons swing Matt's way. She turns her head to watch the ninjas streaming past toward Elektra.

"Hey!" she yells. "What is your problem?!" She takes her chances and sits up.

Daredevil has posed:
"Someone's coming!" Matt shouts hearing the words from within the clinic.

The whisper of the blades leaving their sheathes bring Matt's attention to the ninja in front of him. Quickest way to stop a guy from stabbing you? Knock his ass out. Matt trusts his suit to take the blades and then punches the ninja once, twice, three times, trying to bounce his head off the concrete.

He rises then sticking close to Claire even as he lashes out with the cord from his baton to snag a ninja's foot and yank him back before he's stabbed through by Elektra.

"Me or the ninja?" he asks Claire when she sits up.

---

Luke stands their patiently when the ninja come his way, letting them slowly work out for themselves that this ninja crap? It ain't going to work on him. Then he goes to work, he sends one flying with a lazy smack, grabs one guy's bow staff, breaks it over his knee then throws the guy into some of his buddies for good measure.

He gives his neck a stretch after that looking to the ninjas behind the ones that just fell under their buddy, and he lifts a hand and beckons them on,. "C'mon, don't got all night."

Shredder has posed:
    The ninjas fan out, making a distinctly rehearsed formation, pulling back toward their wounded. Several of them pull small pellets, and they scatter across the concrete. A series of pops like gunshots go off throughout the group, a noxious gas spraying out in every direction. Escape strategy. The gas isn't harmful, but it is a gagging thing for those who are not prepared for it, and the ninjas catch up their wounded, scattering in all directions.

Elektra has posed:
Prepared for it is a matter of interpretation. Elektra's 'mask' covers much of that. As does the fact she's dealt with similar attacks in the past. However, that doesn't mean her friends are able to deal with it, and while Luke might be inpenetrable, he's not likely proof against the poison.

Claire most certainly will not be.

"Get them out of the field," Elektra tells Matt. "I'll get Luke. You handle Claire."

It does put a kink on kicking ninja ass, but things will be a whole lot better when it's over if they didn't lose one of their own to the gas. Elektra isn't sure Claire wouldn't come back from the afterlife to haunt her over the matter.

Claire Temple has posed:
"Both of you," Claire hisses at Matt as he stands. She stretches a hand out to get some help getting up, and she watches Luke make his short work of the ninjas with a slow shake of her head. "What the hell is all this shit, anyway? They hers?" she asks.

When the gas escapes, she mutters a curse and wraps her arm around her face before she coughs. She reaches out again for Matt's arm while she tries to see in the enveloping mess, breathing more peacefully through the side of her sleeve as she does.

Daredevil has posed:
"Heh," Matt says when Claire tells him it's both. "I don't think so, these guys were looking for someone and they didn't find them."

Then there's smoke popped around them. It doesn't trouble Matt's vision but the reek sets his head to swimming as his sense of smell shouts loud enough overshadow all of his other senses.

He grabs Claire's hand as she grabs for his arm, and staggers back trying to find his way out of the cloud.

---

Luke for his part coughs, "You got to be kidding me," he manages to get out between hacking coughs. He covers his face with his arm and stumbles through the cloud towards Elektra's voice.

Shredder has posed:
    As the smoke clears, there is little left but some blood patches and a single forgotten kunai that rests near a drain. They decided that they weren't in this for a long fight tonight.

Elektra has posed:
Everyone is okay. And it wasn't poison - it could have been. And were it her own, it might have been.. but it wasn't. The kunai, though, they don't get left where they are. Not good for the authorities to find. And she might get some leads off of them from her own men about what they were dealing with.

That this all went down at Claire's clinic? Not good. It looked bad for her. It looked bad all around. And, really, total happenstance?

Elektra pulls her face mask down, and tucks the weapons away as she strides towards the others. "Any idea what went on here?"

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire gets a grip on Matt's arm and follows until she sees the cloud clearing just near the now jacked door to her clinic, at which time she starts breaking away by giving Matt's hand an insistent tug. She drops his hand as she looks in the door and sees supplies dumped off their shelves and a few heretofore locked cabinet doors pulled open. "Who the hell --" she says, turning her attention to Elektra, "-- was tracking this as a target? Your buddies planning on visiting me here, now?"

Daredevil has posed:
Following Claire, Matt breathes in and out slowly through his mouth as he rebuilds the layers of control he's built up around his senses until the screaming from his nose silences to a dull but uncomfortable roar.

He gives his nose a wipe with the back of his hand.

"I heard some of them talking, they were expecting to find someone else," Matt answers Elektra and Claire's questions in one go. "Given how they through thermselves and Luke and not you Elektra, going to guess those aren't the rebels."

---

Speaking of Luke, the Hero of Harlem leans against a wall eyes red from getting the gas full in the face. "Sweet Christmas," he says. "That stuff stings. Claire you got an eye wash station around here?"

Elektra has posed:
"Nice to see you, Elektra. Thanks for saving my ass Elektra. Gee, you okay, Elektra." Eletkra's tones are as acidic as Claire's.

"No. They weren't mine. I have no idea why they were here. But I'll take what I got back to my people and see if I can find out anymore."

She gives a look over Luke's way, and decides not to spill those beans. ie: his working for her. "If everyone is okay, I'll head off and do just that." Luke, she figures, can find her at his leisure.

Claire Temple has posed:
"Eye wash, I've got," Claire says as she jogs into the supply room and returns with the requested items. "You know what," she says, cracking the seal on each bottle, "May as well use two." She gives a tiny squeeze on one of the bottles and hands it to Luke, who dutifully applies the eye wash with a wince.

"Not how I planned on spending my evening," he says, canting an eye toward Elektra. Claire follows the look with a frown.

"Nearest I can tell," Claire tells the assassin, "The one who knocked the ninjas off me was Matt." She cants her head, then takes a few more moments to assess the state of the room. Again. Damn it.

Daredevil has posed:
Luke takes the eyewash and gives Matt a 'you're on your own' sort of smile as he heads off into the bathroom to sort out his eyes.

Matt rubs the bridge of his nose. "Would you two cut it out? I fought here, Elektra and Luke fought over there but we all did our part to help against whoever that was."

He takes a moment thinking about their enemies. "If they're not your guys then they might be the guys I found stealing electronics in Brooklyn, there was a warehouse at," he gives the address. "They're probably gone now, I think someone called the cops on the place, but, it might be a start."

Then Elektra's question has Matt considering both Claire and Elektra, looking for injuries. "I'm alright, how about you two?" he asks.

Elektra has posed:
"Nice line of distinction," Elektra tells Claire quietly. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

Matt gets a very bland, "No worries. I was just leaving. As it happens, I was finished what I was doing, and I'd hate to interfere."

He gets a sacharine smile for his efforts in asking if she's okay. "Aren't I always, Matthew?" And turns, intent on leaving.

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire raises her hand to let Elektra go, then pushes her hair out of her face, her other hand on her hip while she wanders off to the janitor's closet to retrieve a broom and dustpan. "Whatever," she mutters as she starts clearing EDTA vacutainers from their scattered disarray on the floor.

"I'm... fine, yeah," she finally replies to Matt. She wiggles her ankles a bit to test, but is satisfied with their condition. "Might have some purple in a while, but I'm okay. Didn't get sliced this time."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt throws up his hands.

"Seriously, the both of you, just get over yourselves already. Elektra, thank you for helping, Claire, Elektra did help and so did Luke," he says exasperated.

"Anyhow, if you're both alright, and aren't going to murder each other, I'll get back to work. But I'd like to talk to both of you soon," Matt says, already reaching for his baton to take to the rooftops and well... at this point stay close to Claire, just in case they were wrong about the ninjas and they circled back.

"Who would have thought I'd miss mobsters," he mutters under his breath.

Elektra has posed:
Elektra turns long enough to impart to Matt, looking calm enough, but he knows her better than that. "Get over myself? I'm afraid you have me confused with being the person hurling insults and accusations in this conversation. Your friend has decided I'm not worth the time of day, regardless of the circumstances, and frankly, I have better things to do than try to convince her otherwise."

"It's likely better this way. They weren't mine. This area isn't one of ours. It skirts an edge, though. I could push the issue and claim it, and keep it safe that way, however, I think Ms. Temple there might protest."

Claire Temple has posed:
Claire hums low in her throat at the admission that her clinic sits on the edge of Hand territory. "Yeah," she says absently as she watches Elektra, giving some crumpled pieces of pellet styrofoam an irritated shove with the broom. "Yeah, I'd like to talk to you, too," she tells Matt.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt pauses, "Yes, both of you. But anyhow, /I've/ got better things to do than try to heal rifts that don't want to stay that way, but regardless, as much as you might dislike it, right now, we're on the same team."

He leaves the matter of the teritory alone, it was a no win, besides the Russians from Gotham were pushing in hard, something he hadn't had much time to deal with given how their lives had turned into one big ninja party of late.

"Anyhow, you both know how to reach me, and I wasn't kidding about wanting to talk," the last is mostly directed towards Elektra, since Claire had already said she wanted to talk to him. Even if he doubted it would be talking as much as yelling with a little light homocide.

Elektra has posed:
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Matthew," Elektra says of a talk. "I'll watch who's pushing borders. Other than that.." She makes a hands off gesture. Turns, and walks away.