5943/Gridlock

Gridlock
Date of Scene:	07 December 2018
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Mr. Negative, Scarlet Spider, Shredder, Mon-El

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Mr. Negative has posed:
    Nice.

    That sweet, mid-afternoon lunchtime rush in New York City.

    Naturally, it's a cacophony of traffic in the streets, with buskers, tourists, and native New Yorkers all staking their respective claims on the sidewalk, amongst a symphony of car horns and people yelling at pigeons. Up ahead, a caravan of NYPD cruisers is surrounding a trio of armored trucks, reportedly carrying a bevy of diamonds for display at tonight's opening gala at the Met. Up on the roof of a nearby building, a demonic-looking man in a simple, black business suit looks over the edge. He grits his teeth.

    Three minutes to showtime.

Scarlet Spider has posed:
A couple of blocks down the street from the convoy (and the menacing figure on the rooftop) sits another, less-menacing figure on another rooftop. This one is perched on the edge of the building with his feet dangling over the edge, swinging them back and forth and knocking his heels against the brick. He wears a suit that looks like a knock-off of the hero everyone knows as Spider-Man.

If anyone were to notice him, they'd see a the bottom of his mask pulled up to reveal his chin and mouth as he eats a sandwich. Even clones of heroes need a lunch break from time to time. As he chews a bite, he lifts his arm to inspect a watch that isn't there and sighs, "Should get back to it." Instead he takes another bite and seems like he's in no hurry to move, unaware of the convoy slowly approaching on the streets below.

Shredder has posed:
    Diamonds for their street value are not something that the Foot is concerned with. For their scientific application, however, that's another matter, and a percentage in this shipment are the quality and type that are useful for a certain project that is being funded under the radar. As such, the funds of the Oroku Empire, nor StockGen or TCRI could be used to purchase them. But that's all right, because they have ninjas. And a giant mutant turtle, Slash. Another convoy is present, this less obvious. A uniform rental truck, along with two Toyota sedans. Karai sits in the truck, watching the convoy, and looks over her shoulder at Slash, the monstrous snapping turtle. "Remember, stop the truck. Kill whatever gets in your way," she tells him.

    "Kill," is the gravel that comes from the turtle's voice, and he adjusts, causing the truck to rock. Two Foot soldiers open the door to the truck, and the turtle starts to make his way out the back, onto the busy New York street. It won't be but seconds before people see the abomination.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar is flying high in the sky above the city of New York, watching and listening to the sights and sounds of the city. There is something that seems to be closer than the rest of it though...it sounds like someone eating a sandwich. Wait, this high up in the air, out in the open? Because it doesnt sound like its on a plane or in a helicopter or anything...oh.

    Well he isnt that surprised, he has certainly seen his share of interesting people around the city. Earth is certainly a very diverse place. He also noticed the convoy full of rare diamonds down below, and aims to keep tabs on it. Definitely looked like a prime target for potential armed robbers.

Mr. Negative has posed:
    Checking the color-inverted Rolex banded to his wrist, the monochromatic crime lord, Mr. Negative, sneers. Down below on street level are over a dozen of his henchmen, dressed plainly in black business suits, and hiding their tools of the trade until they receive the signal. "On my mark," Negative calmly says in his warped voice.

    He reaches down towards his feet, grabbing what looks to be some sort of military grade grappling gun, aiming across the street at the building in the front of him just a few floors down from where he's at. As he steadies his aim, four more of his henchmen make their way up to the roof and grab grappling guns of their own, fitting their individual black and white Oni masks over their faces. They turn to Negative, a tiny smirk appearing on his smoky, black visage. "Go," he says.

    There's the crackle of automatic gunfire in the streets. Masked men wielding black energized weapons stalking towards the trucks. And up above, the Kingpin of Chinatown is making his descent.

Scarlet Spider has posed:
Oblivious to anything going on below, Ben continues to enjoy his sandwich. He doesn't get to enjoy his meals quite as often as he did back when he was Peter, due to /someone/ stealing his identity. It's difficult earning cash when you have no social security number, after all.

He takes a fresh bite when his spider sense starts buzzing through his skull and he glances down the side of the building in time to hear automatic gunfire erupting. He leaps to his feet and almost tosses his sandwich, but hesitates and forces another huge bite before it's discarded on the roof behind him. Tugging his mask down, his cheeks bulge as he tries to chew the monstrous amount of food in his mouth as he dives over the edge.

Pressing his arms tightly against his sides, he nose-dives straight down to get towards the ground as quickly as possible.

Shredder has posed:
    "Go," Karai's command is unknowingly simultaneous with Mr. Negative's. The uniform truck lifts as the monster turtle steps out, thick limbs and fists stepping forward. That's when the gunfire erupts. The turtle stops, knitting his brow, and looks back at the truck. Karai looks out the windshield, then hops out of her seat, making her way to the back and out into the street.
    "Looks like we aren't the only ones after this shipment," she comments darkly. She holds up a finger, and the two sedans empty with eight ninjas, who quickly dart to the alley, back out of sight as they go to their positions.
    "Get to the armored truck." Karai orders Slash, and the behemoth begins running without another moment's hesitation, full tilt to the target. No doubt, that will change the scene for both defenders and attackers alike.

Mr. Negative has posed:
    Amidst the chaos below, Mr. Negative continued to keep a level head, even while descending down rapidly into the thick of it all between his men and the NYPD. He quickly releases his harness and lands into a forward roll on top of the middle of the three armored trucks, reaching behind his back to grab his Han Jian -- now crackling with Darkforce energy. He looks down at the roof of the truck below his feet, narrowing his eyes. After all, two of the trucks he knew were going to be decoys -- at least according to his inside man -- but figuring out which one was going to be on him.

    "Eyes open!" he shouts at his gang, twirling his sword impressively before stabbing directly into metal below to create a hole in the truck's roof. One of his henchmen stands by to cover him with an AK-47, as Negative reaches down, bracing himself to try to rip open an even bigger hole for him to jump down into. That is, until, he realizes some of his Inner Demons are engaging in a firefight with a giant... mutant... turtle.

    "The Foot," Negative growls under his breath. He gestures for the henchman next to him to lean over, getting just close enough for Negative to grasp the gang member's rifle. It begins to glow a bright white before becoming enveloped in darkness, crackling with the same electricity as Negative's sword. He points at the massive turtle and offers a simple order.

    "Kill it."

Scarlet Spider has posed:
Before he's able to get into combat range, Ben sees the scene unfolding below and, needless to say, he's pretty darn confused. There's a man who looks like a living form of a film negative. And it looks like he's trying to rob an armored truck. And then there's a gigantic mutated turtle fighting the Negative-man's henchman. "What the..?"

Shooting a web at a building down the street, the Scarlet Spider gives it a tug and swings down closer to the action but pulls himself up and does a backflip to land on the top of a streetlight at the end of the block so he can take a moment to survey just what the heck is going on. He looks back and forth between Mr. Negative and his friends and the turtle. And ninjas! "Hoooooly..." he mutters out loud to himself. Oh well, time to get to work.

He springs off of the lamp and fires a few thick balls of webbing at a group of glowy men shooting it out with the NYPD. Gotta save the boys in blue first! "Guys, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a freakin' /turtle monster/ coming this way!"

Shredder has posed:
    The mutant turtle snaps hold of one of the squad cars, throwing it with one arm, sending the contained officer with it into the front of one of the armored cars. This draws fire from several officers, who exit their vehicles, taking cover and uselessly plinking their rounds into the armored hide and shell. Slash looks up as a round pierces his shoulder, spraying blood from the wound, but it only serves to make the beast angry as it rushes past the first truck, ripping the armored door off and holding it before him like a shield, catching the next round. He hasn't noticed the hero yet.

Mon-El has posed:
    Aaand, there it is. Suddenly, the scene below explodes into chaos. There is a giant reptilian looking thing charging onto the scene and attacking the NYPD, as well as a bunch of people wielding Darkforce energy. It seems, based on the fact that the guy standing on top of one of the trucks giving orders told one of his goons to kill the thing pretty clearly, that these are two separate groups. He also notes Scarlet Spider diving down onto the scene to help protect the police. Well, this is....complicated. And he debates getting involved in the first place for a moment. Because honestly sometimes he just ends up doing more harm and causing more damage than was necessary, especially since another hero was already involved.

    However, when that car goes flying courtesy of Slash, Lar finds himself diving down into the fray anyway. He does his best to catch it in midair before it can hit anything and set it down as gently as possible at a safe location and hoping the officer inside isnt too severely injured. Then he goes for the biggest target--the one who just threw the car. Instead of attacking immediately though, he just lands in front of him and pulls the truck door he is using as a shield out of his hands, crumpling it into a ball as if it were made out of aluminum foil. Then he hovers slightly into the air and addresses all the criminals in the area. "Okay listen up people...there are only 2 ways this can go. One, you surrender right now and turn and turn yourselves into the police with minimal injuries and go to jail...or two, you dont surrender and I beat the crap out of all you and you go to a hospital to get at least somewhat put back together and THEN go to jail. Your choice!" He shrugs, dropping the balled-up truck door to the ground like an afterthought. It really is almost perfectly spherical....

Mr. Negative has posed:
    Mr. Negative sneers at Mon-El's ultimatum -- this certainly just got more complicated, indeed, but what's a game without its complications. Tapping at his ear, he matter-of-factly says in Chinese, "We have a super. Engage the bystanders." He looks down at the hole in the top of the truck and grabs ahold of the edges, his hands pulsating in Darkforce energy as he finally succeeds in ripping a hole big enough for him to get into.

    On the ground level, the half-dozen or so Inner Demons not engaged in a firefight with NYPD acknowledge the order and have turned their attention to some of the innocents trying to flee the scene. One Demon, in particular, places a well-aimed shot from his handgun right into the back of a college student's leg, sending her crashing hard into the ground before stalking over and picking her up by the hair. Another henchman, substantially bigger than the others and wielding an assault rifle, slams it hard into the face of a well-dressed day-trader type before snatching him up from the floor. Several more snatch their own hostages at various distances from Mon-El, holding Darkforce-imbued guns to their heads or knives to their throats to challenge the Legion member in Chinese.

Shredder has posed:
    As the door is snatched from his grip, Slash stares in disbelief, trying to comprehend the flying man. "Mine!" He roars in contest. "My door!" The monstrosity leaps up in response to the warning, forgetting his real mission, and instead attacks the Daxamite, leaping into the air with both hands over his head, and swinging powerfully at the hero's chest.
    Meanwhile, the Foot ninjas are up to more quiet things. "<We have a hero on site>," Karai says over the radio in Japanese. "<Keep a low profile, wait for my signal to engage.>" She can't see the back of the truck from her angle, unaware that Mr. Negative has already breached the truck.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar figured they would probably start trying to take hostages. But he also figured he would just use his thermal vision to destroy their weapons from a distance, which he had started to do. Except that giant turtle guy suddenly jumps up and punches him. Well, he HAD been hoping to draw all the attention onto himself so that should have been expected too. He goes flying into the truck Mr. Negative has just entered, sending it careening down the street as it turns over and over several times from the sheer impact. By the time it comes to a rest, it is pretty thoroughly wrecked.

Mr. Negative has posed:
    Well.

    That was unexpected.

    As you can imagine, this isn't exactly the tea cup ride at Disneyland for Mr. Negative as the truck goes airborne for a bit before rolling over and partially crushing several cars in this bumper-to-bumper traffic. Inside the truck, Negative is worse for wear, to say the least. A normal person would have had their body absolutely wrecked from the initial impact, let alone the violent aftermath -- but an ambitious crime lord with super durability and an accelerated healing factor? He'll need a minute or so, but he'll be alright -- eventually.

    "Report, now!" the banged-up Mr. Negative shouts into his comm in his warped voice, holding his head and trying to regain his bearings. No answer, just static and the occasional garbled Chinese. Not only that, but the truck is thoroughly upside down, now, making it so the hole he entered from is inaccessible. He sneers again and grits his teeth, the bag of diamonds in hand as his other hand begins to pulse with electrical energy. Raising it up towards the back of the truck, he narrows his eyes, burning white-hot with intense Darkforce. His head's still throbbing and his body is aching, but the job's not done. Not yet.

    "Not even close."

Shredder has posed:
    The giant turtle's nostril snorts satisfactorily, only for his victorious moment to be impacted by the unloading of shotguns and pistols on his body. He covershis face, turning his back to the brunt of the fire while he rushes at the other police officers. light damage scratching across his arm as it absorbs a shot gun blast, tearing a shallow scrape of blood out of the thick arm. He catches the man by the weapon, throwing him off it like a rag doll as he topples to the other side of the car. The shotgun becomes a club, and he strikes another officer nearby, knocking him out cold and causes the remainder to scatter away from him, pistols firing wildly.
    The turtle roars in anger, and discarding the broken shotgun, grabs the front of a squad car, picking it by the hood up and over his head, about to bring it down to crush a few of the cops into an early grave.