5204/Retaliation: crossing the wrong kingpin

Retaliation: crossing the wrong kingpin
Date of Scene:	19 August 2018
Location:	Manhattan, New York
Synopsis:	An underworld hit turns an apartment complex into a minor warzone when The Shadow intervenes... saving a pair of unknown figures, at the cost of being forced to allowing the assassins to escape.
Cast of Characters:	Lex Luthor, Shadow

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Lex Luthor has posed:
It's one hour after midnight when it happens. Of course it is, right? Even in the city that never sleeps, the nighttime is when the underworld thrives.

It started out as a regular night. City life continued, the graveyard shift sorts had their lives, and the rest slept. Then, the night quiet was broken by a scream... then the thud of a body as someone dropped out of the sky. The resulting force was instant death for any normal human as every bone in his body was shattered from impact... at least, it would have been instant death if it weren't for the gunshot through the head of the blonde man. Already, a pool of blood was gathering below him.

It was hard to tell where it came from with how many balconies were on the apartment complex... but it was up high.

Natasha Cranston would have heard about a potential hit in this part of new York by an anonymous client... but didn't know the exact address; whoever it was, was very discreet, and had the resources to keep their operations in-house to the point of rumor.

The body makes it fairly obvious where it's going down though... and the few bystanders around were getting out of dodge, one woman screaming in fear as she went.

Shadow has posed:
    Natasha swears under her breath as she hears the screams and sees the masses fleeing. In the driver's seat, Benny is a lot less restrained as he lets fly with a string of curses. "Looks like we're too late, Boss."

    Natasha nods, already reaching for her hat and scarf. "Too late for the man. Perhaps not too late to find out why," she comments as she settles the scarf around her face and triggers he voice mask. "Drop me off here, but stay in the area."

    With all the confusion, no one really notices one single cab slowing briefly -- and even if they did, they're entirely too busy getting away to care -- or, for that matter, pay attention to how the shadows cast by the streetlights no longer quite match up to the number of people passing by them...

Lex Luthor has posed:
The sounds of furniture breaking and glass shattering can be heard from up high now. Whatever is going on, there's a bit of a struggle going on in the ten story apartment complex Natasha stopped in front of. No more screams... but with silenced weapons, there's a good chance of more dead bodies up there.

Shadow has posed:
    Fortunately, thanks to recent contacts made Natasha has access to a few toys that weren't quite so commonplace during her grandfather's time -- such as this handy grapple gun, the best friend of every vigilante that can't fly on their own. She aims for the balcony above the one where the noise comes from and pulls the trigger, then lets the zipline haul her upwards in an almost dizzying rush, timing her release just right to level with the balcony she wanted, then uses her free hand to pull herself over in a modified parkour maneuver, taking quick stock of the surroundings.

Lex Luthor has posed:
It's a mess. The entire living room where Natasha is looking into has broken pottery, wrecked furniture, and more then a few bullet holes where the futon was open. There is no body, but there is a blood trail leading from it to the balcony; probably the victim on the ground floor.

Deep inside the apartment complex can be heard runners. Voices muffled by walls and distance can be heard off to the left and right. Whatever it is, it's ongoing.

There's an exit into the main hallway directly ahead, and an exit into the kitchen and bedroom to the right.

Shadow has posed:
    A thorough investigation will have to wait. The living have priority. Natasha moves quickly to the exit, taking care not to disturb the blood trail or as much of the wreckage as she can avoid, and emerges into the hallway, her shadow darting down the corridor in pursuit of the runners.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Once out in the hallway, the runners are clearly from the right side... and there's an obvious stairwell at the far end of the hallway as Natasha takes a glance around. Running over to it and starting to head after the runners gives the visual of two more bullet holes in the wall at the top of the stairwell. Their lack of light shining through says the weapons being used are lower caliber to Natasha's detective instincts; this was a planned hit that went wrong.

The stairs continue up two stories, and when Natasha gets up to the roof, she can see a group of four taking shots from behind a central air unit at two other figures behind a duct outcropping. All the weapons are well silenced, but Natasha can pick out two pistols and what looks like two machine-pistols with the group of four. The two behind the duct are huddled, and the ducting itself is starting to give way from so many bullet impacts.

Shadow has posed:
    Mental multitasking is a highly underrated talent, both for CEOs and vigilantes. Natasha analyzes her observations as she pursues. Silenced weapons, all of a single uniform type. Professional grade, yet something clearly went wrong. Unexpected witnesses, perhaps; that would explain the pursuit.

    She reminds herself to question the two later to find out what they've seen, then casually walks up behind one of the shooters, lifts him up one-handed by the collar, and throws him into his partner by way of an opening statement...

Lex Luthor has posed:
"What the-" Is all the man in black whom Natasha picks up can say before he's tossed at his partners. "Got a meta over there!" One of those with machine-pistols says, before he and the other spread out opposite of one another. The two that got thrown at one another are already getting their bearings back and moving to get up as both those starting to circle pull Uzi's from their belts and spray bullets at where Natasha picked up the other two. Both Uzi sprays are silenced... but automatic fire has a way of drawing attention on it's own.

Whoever they are, they have very good reaction times. These aren't run-of-the-mill thugs. These seem like professionals with decent gear, with the technology, body armor, and the advanced looking helmets.

Shadow has posed:
    Well, this just got more interesting. Natasha mentally ratchets up the estimation from "professional" to "/very/" professional, which adds weight to the hypothesis that this was a targeted hit with a visit from Murphy to spice things up turned into a witness cleanup.

    It's just as well that she was already moving or she might have had trouble avoiding that much fire. As it is, she was already circling toward her next target, considering her options. A willingness to risk automatic fire in close quarters suggests either a disregard for the lives of one's colleagues or a firm faith in the robustness of their body armour. Time to test a hypothesis.

    "Wrong," she whispers suddenly behind the ear of the one who spoke, before grabbing him in a sleeper hold and lashing out with a kick into the back of his knee to break his balance. "I'm over /here/."

    She draws one of her guns with her free hand, aiming for the kneecaps of the uzi wielders...

Lex Luthor has posed:
Their body armor does indeed take a few stray hits, but they seem quite capable of handling the low caliber rounds from the Uzi's; lending credence to Natasha's theory of 'firm faith'.

When Natasha goes for the legs, she does indeed manage to break his balance... but what she probably doesn't count on is him using that sudden downwards momentum to go forward, and try to toss Natasha overhead with both arms around her neck. Meanwhile, the two Uzi users immediately notice the gun, and one darts behind the entryway.

The other heads for the two behind the ducting from one side. The other who managed to stand up is heading for the ducting as well, doubling their chances of reaching the two.

Natasha has a choice. Deal with her current target, or save the unknown figures behind the ducting, and risk more fire.

Shadow has posed:
    Fortunately for her, Natasha spent quite a large chunk of her time in Tibet getting her ass kicked in every possible direction by people who'd spent most of their lives learning to fight, and any surprise she might feel at the quick response is already dealt with almost before he finishes reacting.

    Rather than trying to resist the throw and get tied up in the struggle she pushes off hard with her feet, working with his throw rather than against, to vault over him and the barrier, converting her momentum into a roll that gets her back upright and in position to sweep the ankles of the nearest assassin while she takes the kneecap shot on the other...

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Fucking Manhatten." The one behind the entryway grumbles as he turns around the door again... this time he has something in his hand; a grenade.

"Bravo." He states simply... and the two going for the ducters suddenly change course and start to head for the rooftop edge. The one behind Natasha jumps up as she tries to sweep his ankles, diving to the side to get out of the way and rolling into it much like Natasha herself did.

Meanwhile, the one who threw the grenade is also heading for the rooftop edge opposite.

She does manage to wing one of the two on her side though... the large round managing to take a good chunk of flesh and material with it as he screams in pain. His forward momentum carries him near the rooftop edge... but only to the edge.

Shadow has posed:
    No time to hesitate. No time to think. Not even time to berate herself for how much of an idiot she's being. When you put on the cape - or opera cloak, in her case - you accept certain precepts, such as that the lives of civilians matter more than your own.

    Natasha sprints forward with a speed born of superhuman strength and honed by intense training, taking a rolling dive as she reaches the grenade, and snatches it off the ground before flinging it toward the edge the assassins just went over, deliberately angling her body to make sure the civilians behind the duct will be in her blast shadow if the grenade goes off earlier than she hopes...

Lex Luthor has posed:
The grenade goes off just near the edge a few seconds later. The one near the edge has /just/ enough time to go over the edge before the blast explodes. There's another scream of pain, but nothing else for now as the pressure wave from the concussion grenade washes over the area. Natasha, being a mere ten meters away from the edge, takes the brunt of it for the civilians.

The assassins are nowhere to be seen from where Natasha comes back to her senses.

Shadow has posed:
    Natasha gets to her feet as soon as she can -- Rule One: Never Let Them See You Stagger -- and dusts herself off, making sure her hat and scarf remain in position as she looks around for the people hiding behind the ductwork. She sighs internally as she realizes they, too, are gone, then heads back to the stairwell herself, using her earbud to call Benny for a pick-up.

    There's nothing more to be done, here; she'll have to rely on her agents to see to it that a copy of the police investigative report reaches her eyes, as well as information on the victim's name and job, for clues as to who might want him dead, and why.

    After all, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?