6288/Birds in the Hand

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Birds in the Hand
Date of Scene: 26 January 2019
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Shadow, Carrie Kelley, Quake




Shadow has posed:
    Upheaval at the top is always bad for an organization. Doubly so if the organization isn't exactly legal and can't fall back on other assistance. Triply so if said upheaval involved a high level defection. The Hand's leadership is in shambles, and a lot of cells have been cast off and are being preyed upon by other organizations; those who are still left are scrambling to find new places to hide that their enemies might not yet know about.

    Unfortunately for them, doing so /quietly/ requires resources they don't know were already compromised, and channels they weren't aware were being listened to.

    Rats scurry. Information leaks. And soon enough, The Shadow Knows.

    Of course, Natasha also has a very limited time window - wait too long, and the cell will have disappeared and cleaned up behind them. And her information isn't as complete as she'd prefer, so she decides some backup can't hurt. Kestrel is marked as currently available, as is Skye. A pair of messages is sent out over a secure channel, noting a time and a place to rendezvous...

Carrie Kelley has posed:
It was rare that Carrie received a call for assistance as Kestrel. There were times, of course, but few and far between as she was so new and training with Nightwing as well now. Having the call come across is at once a rush of excitement and nerves--It was time to act. As soon as she had suited up she was on her way taking the rooftops as both birds and bats were so fond of doing.

When she arrives at the place in question, with the time frame given, she pings a message back to The Shadow to inform that Kestrel was in place and ready.

Quake has posed:
Skye wasn't fully back on duty yet - she still didn't have full control of her new powers, though she'd been training more and more with them, learning to use them by degrees instead of full blasts (much to the relief of everyone involved). What she didn't have was a lot of experience with them. Even her past field assignments hadn't been all that skills heavy in terms of fighting, or using weapons (though she was more than proficient with the things now), and her new powers really sort of demanded that she.. well, get out there and use them.

Not to mention, the Birds needed to come more fully together, moving from a shadow organization to something more defined and, well, a team.

The Shadow's call was going to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and given that Agent May was also on the Bird's list of folks in the know, she'd given her blessing and sent the young agent off. The added bonus that what the Birds found out, SHIELD would also find out about.. through 'unknown channels' of course.

Skye arrives in gear appropriate to a probable fight, with an unmarked weapon (stun bullets, of course), and what might be noted as new to her if Natasha is around, Skye wears arm bracers that go from wrist to near her elbow.

Her own perch is taken, and a similar message sent. For some loose value of perch.

Shadow has posed:
    An alleyway just off one of the quieter streets in New York this late at night seems like an odd choice for a rendezvous, especially since nothing particularly suspicious seems to be going on.

    It's a quiet night, with very little traffic, and a cab slowing to a halt just in front of the alley isn't terribly remarkable -- until the passenger door opens in silent invitation, revealing a very familiar dark clad figure waiting in the back seat.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
From Kestrels' own vantage point she notes the approach of Skye giving her a nod of silent greeting. Before she can really think to ask about the array of equipment she came with, her attention is snagged by the approaching cab. When the door opens she tips her head at the rather dramatic and eerie 'invitation'. A glance is cast toward Skye once more along with a shrug. "Guess that's our cue."

There's only the slight sound of her taking a deep breath before she moves closer to the cab and the open door to slip inside both curious and suspicious at the same time. It wasn't that she didn't trust The Shadow - She'd just been spending way too much time with the paranoid sorts as of late.

Quake has posed:
There's a smirk from Skye fast on the heels of Kestrel's nod. 'Our cue' earning that smirk fairly. "I hope so, or some poor guy is going to be very disappointed he picked the wrong corner." Because Skye.

Her words are softly given though, and she follows Carrie to the cab, slipping in after her. She's had experience with this whole clandestine meeting thing before, so it's nothing new. What is new is why she's doing it, and with who. She, too, is on alert, for all sorts of reasons. And in the paranoid department, the former hacker could probably make Carrie look laid back and zen about matters, though in this case, Skye is familiar enough with The Shadow that they aren't her current reason for concern.

Shadow has posed:
    "Kestrel. Skye. Thank you both for coming," The Shadow addresses the girls as Benny pulls smoothly away from the curb, just another cabbie taking a fare.

    "A Hand cell is preparing to move to a new safehouse. As far as I'm aware, they don't yet know that their current location -- using a tattoo parlor as a front -- was already compromised. We have a window of opportunity to hit it and scour it for more leads. I presume you're both up to a fight?"

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel slides into the seat giving a nod to The Shadow along with a smile. She was one of the first that she had met of the Birds, after all, when invited to join as a trainee. Having some familiar face (or figure at least) was a bit reassuring in spite of the apparent danger they were about to face. "I've heard of the Hand, breifly," she admits with a slow and thoughtful nod. "I've been reading up on a lot of the criminal activity in Gotham and elsewhere to get caught up on things. I'm up for it." It's a bold statement though said with a stubborn confidence. She would be up for it one way or another. If time was of the essence then it didn't matter if she was ready or not--she needed to be there to help.

"Got a plan of entry or just going for a full on bust-up?"

Quake has posed:
Skye just shakes her head as she's addressed. "Funny. All those years I had a code name" (well, a hacker name) "and now I'm just Skye. We really gotta do something about that."

Then she's all serious as the mission is summarized. "Yeah. They've been losing ground steadily for some time now. We think it's planned, a lot of it. Lots of territory wars, but we didn't expect a full pull out? Something change?"

Because so far, full word of what had gone down at that warehouse with Madame Gao hadn't hit all channels yet. It would..

"I imagine Oracle has surveillance and channels open?" Something she, herself would often be the one to be on top of, though today she was there to stretch her wings, so to speak, and try out her powers.

There's a belated nod to Kestrel who she's only been aware of via intel up to this point. "Nice to finally meet, by the way. And the Hand is just one of a number of gangs we deal with, though they've got more than their fair share of mumbo mumbo powering them. They were doing a major shift into current technologies last we knew, but there's still a lot of bread and butter in the old school slavemills of production."

To Nastasha, "What are we expecting here?"

Shadow has posed:
    A nod. "Not so much a pull-out as a change in bases," the Shadow replies as Benny turns a corner. "I haven't been able to determine where yet. The parlor itself is currently 'Closed for renovations' which serves them as a convenient excuse for the sudden activity. Perhaps a dozen or so people; this was never a major hub so much as a temporary safehouse for agents who needed a quick change of face."

    "As for plans..." Blue eyes crinkle at the edges, hinting at a smile concealed underneath that scarf. "I prefer to leave frontal assaults on a tattoo parlor full of ninjas to Bruce Lee movies - besides, they'll start destroying evidence the moment they realize they're compromised. I have no intention of alerting them to our presence until it's already too late for them to do anything about it..."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley flashes a smile toward Sky's greeting. "Nice to meet you as well. I need to get out to the clocktower more often I think." For now though her attention shifts back to The Shadow with a nod of understanding. "That's fair. I'm getting pretty good at sneaking around these days at least," she has to admit. THAT she felt confident in. "Would it be a good idea to get what photographs or evidence we can while in there before things really start going down? I have a bodycam I can use just in case we need to review the footage later." There's a breif glance between the two, "It's not wifi or bluetooth so no fear of it being hacked while in use," she's quick to add.

Quake has posed:
Skye just grins as Carrie goes on about wifi or bluetooth and hacking. Totally her territory, though there wasn't any way to hack a physical camera that wasn't connected to anything, which made it all the more amusing. Especially if Carrie didn't know Skye or her specialty.

"So, back door it is, and no knocking. I can get behind that." She worries at her lower lip a little. "I've got means to get us an edge if we need some idea of numbers and what's going on in there if they're off grid." Because superhearing. "There aren't really enough of us for a proper catch them coming and going."

As to it being a temporary safehouse, Skye just nods. She knew all about those, too, both from her days in Rising Tide, and from watching the territory grabs of the gangs creating a dynamic ebb and flow in the area ever since they'd cracked the intel sent to them by Elektra, with Genus' help. It had proven very useful to SHIELD, and the Birds, in following who and what needed their actual attention, and what could be left to lie allowing the perps to believe they were getting away with things.

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow nods again. "We'll leave as much of the physical evidence as we can for more official law enforcement forces to find; they're much better equipped for a full forensics investigation. And we have ways of learning what they've learned afterwards..."

    The cab slows to a halt just by another alleyway. "Here's our stop. Stay close behind me, and move as if there's nothing remarkable about where you're going..."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Sadly Kestrel wasn't entirely aware of Skye's speciality. That didn't mean she wasn't attempting to be pragmatic about it to ensure other, less friendly sorts, could get ahold of whatever she records. While training though it helped to have something to review to see what she may have missed in the heat of the moment. Bracing when the cab comes to a halt she glances around to reorient herself to what part of Gotham they were in now.

"Lead the way," she offers. There's a moment of hesitation as the corners of her lips quirk, attempting so very hard not to smile. What she was trying to surpress comes out anyway though: "We'll be your shadows."

Quake has posed:
Skye was more than happy to fall in behind Shadow - even if as an Agent of SHIELD she had an alarming propensity to take charge of situations and tell other, more senior, Agents what to do. Here, however, there wasn't anything to react to yet, and the other's advice was not only sound, but the best for the situation. Besides, this wasn't Skye's op.

"ooo, nice one," she murmurs as Kestrel cracks a pun. "We may keep you."

Then it's all business.

Shadow has posed:
    Kestrel's pun elicits a sinister chuckle as the Shadow opens the cab door and steps out, waiting for the others to join them before walking away without a backward glance at the cab driving off into traffic.

    Neither the street nor the alley are entirely empty, but none of the people standing or walking around are reacting at all to the cloaked, hooded figure leading two oddly dressed young women into the alleyway.

    It's depressingly easy to influence regular civilians into not paying attention to what they're seeing..." the Shadow sighs as they lead the way. "Active sentries are... More difficult. Mind the light sources; they won't see us, but they will see our shadows if they look..."

    The rear entrance of the tattoo parlor is just ahead, and several people are currently loading boxes into a waiting van...

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel flashes a grin at the pair. That little bit of levity was worth the bad pun. "I entirely blame my current working partner for being a bad influence," she responds to Skye with a quiet chuckle of her own. It fades though as the cab comes to a halt. It was time for business after all.

True to her word she falls in step behind The Shadow easily. If anything she manages to pull off the 'casual civilian' walk perfectly in spite of her attire. Just someone passing through, no one of import. Acting had it's benefits. A soft 'mm' is offered in understanding about the light. Though she walks casually her eyes sweep around behind the lenses of her mask to take in those very items being cautious to avoid making any unwanted indicators of their presence visible.

The boxes being loaded are watched along with those doing the carrying, and any sign of lookouts.

Quake has posed:
"You should meet mine," Skye smirks. "Tall, blonde, and fires off wisecracks like it's his job." Totally making an archery joke out of the archer that was Clint Barton.

If she notices what Shadow is doing, she keeps it to herself, and of course she's got her listening ramped up - not to omg you're hurting my head levels, but enough to give them fair warning if something unexpected should be brewing to pop up.

"Whatsay, boss," she whispers of the box loading. "Risk the ones inside getting warning and nab these? Or go for inside crew and risk losing the cargo?" Unless Natasha has other insight, those seem the most forthright options.