7090/Dealing with Arms Dealers: Adaptation

Dealing with Arms Dealers: Adaptation
Date of Scene:	30 March 2019
Location:	Starling
Synopsis:	A new player (Turtle) is brought into Starling to try and throw off Green Arrows investigation of the smuggling ring in his city. With Kids help, he grabs his first solid lead in months.
Cast of Characters:	Turtle, Green Arrow, Kid

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Turtle has posed:
Starling gangs had required some extra firepower to deal with Green Arrow. They had contacted their allies throughout various crime rings, looking for a specialist in defeating superheroes. A man of wealth and esteem from Missouri, one that dealt in consumer electronics produced from Chinese sweatshops, politely provided the number of their favorite criminal mastermind, the Turtle.

The Turtle had driven up in a U-Haul truck to a little motel town south of the Canadian border, and set up his computer connection back to his mainframe in his sewer lair in Central City. Green Arrow had been tracking these arms dealers for quite some time, and they had recently gotten the hint that Green Arrow was close. Green Arrow was a frontiersman, a man that hunted and tracked and tailed. These arms dealers were Canadian outbackers that had worked with the Montreal Mafia, the most profitable drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere, even at Pablo Escobar's peak profits. Not as violent, merely more secretive, with links into every organized crime unit in the United States from their vast marijuana plantations throughout Canada.

The Turtle rumbled in the passenger seat of a big rig past a weight station, heading north past the Canadian border with the help of a bribe to a border cop. The arms dealer, a former member of the British SAS, had arranged all the proper paperwork and police cover, under the auspices of his police supply company for kevlar vests.

A warehouse on the edge of Starling City sat idle, as the big rig pulled in. It wheeled around the facility, before backing in on a loading dock. The Turtle knew that a hunter could not be denied forever, and that it was the duty of the prey caught in the trap to wound him. That was how a mammal fought. But Turtle intended on fighting as if he were a wise snake.

The official cover of the arms deal was that of a shipment for private security in Starling City, related to corporations. Easy enough to ply through, if you had the corporate access that Green Arrow always seemed to have. The Turtle already knew this was a likelihood, from all his information he'd gathered over the decades.

The Turtle walked into the warehouse with a satellite phone lugged alongside the portly, carapaced criminal. The arms dealer's representative, a man in a suit, smiled congenially, rednecks in biker outfits offloading a truck full of Berettas and submachine guns. They are packaged in small wooden crates, with foam casings. The rednecks all have hunting rifles with scopes over their shoulders, and semiautomatic pistols strapped to their thighs, along with a knife on the boot of each.

Blackened catwalks are above the warehouse, the warehouse below lit, with stacks of crates housing automotive body shells lining the warehouse.

The dark catwalks are Turtle's contingency, the boobytrap for any trifling hunter.

Green Arrow has posed:
The ring had been using the Zetaport for most of their transportation needs. It had made them predictable, which is why Green Arrow was not looking at border control processing speed when the Turtle was brought in.

What had caught his attention was a PMC not using the Zetaport for their supplies; it was safer, it was more secure, and it had been flagged as suspicious in his informant notes. It wasn't clear that this was an illegal deal... but he was going to double check.

Kid on the other hand was a known variable, and had been given a burner phone a few weeks ago when it became clear Kid was probably a friend... or at least not an enemy.

Green Arrow had been following the big rig with placed cameras at intersections of the city using a tablet computer. Green Arrow himself was sitting on a rooftop near the warehouse, binoculars and various other tools at hand already as he did his stakeout.

This was always the boring part.

Kid has posed:
    Where this was an exciting moment. At least in Malcolms view. He had gotten the burn phone, and the address, which was good enough for him. Sure cellphones from random strangers, to an address of an old warehouse screams dangerous. But that was life. Sides, this was a chance to take down this crooks, among other things.

And so with that, Malcolm made his way to the outer limits of the warehouse. Far enough to be out of the range of standard security cameras at least.

As he waited, he checked his pack. It had a crowbar, a pistol, and tools such as wrenches, a lock pick, etc. The only other thing of note was an unsual bracer on his wrist. But otherwise the brute in a suit, looking like muscle for the mafia, was more or less concentrating.

On what exactly is quite simple. Mental signatures. While he wasn't well practiced at it, he was trying to get an estimate of how many minds he could feel in the warehouse. One signature, he thinks he recognizes, and tries to reach out to it. That mind being Green Arrows o O ("Eh Green, it Malcolm. Well hope this is green. Anyways, what we got so far?") knowing the arrow was much more experienced at this stuff than himself

Turtle has posed:
"Here's three hundred grand worth of product," Turtle says in a tired manner, dropping the satellite phone with a gentle thump. He's tired from all the driving, and he's starving for a meal. He's a big, old man, and his carapace armor makes him sedentary if he's driving for long periods. "The boss is waiting to talk to you."

"Thank you, Mister Turtle," comes the French-Italian accent of the Mafiaso, picking up the satellite phone with a slow drag of his arm. The Montreal mobster sets the satellite phone up and picks it up, quietly chatting in Sicilian with the arms dealer, about the pricing stipulations, the proper payment channels, and the likelihood of interference from Green Arrow. The mobster's breath lowers in anger as he's told to trust Turtle's countermeasures if the Green Arrow interferes, the mobster not trusting Turtle's research.

Turtle pulls out a remote, and walks through the warehouse, past the open space that the crates of guns are being stored in, walking between rows of car body parts. He looks up, to the blackened catwalks, smiling as he moves to blend in with the dimmer confines of the warehouse bowels.

The smile is a reptilian one, befitting his name.

Green Arrow has posed:
The burner phone gets a text, <This entire thing stinks. The man in the armor is a known facilitator. This is probably a bad sign>.

It isn't conclusive proof... but it's enough to go with Plan B. <I'll give you a distraction for checking the crates.

An explosive arrow is constructed from Green Arrows mechanical quiver, and his compound bow is readied. A few seconds to decide on a target... and the explosive arrow is adjusted, nooked, and launched.

The target? One of the crates already unloaded. Fireworks!

Kid has posed:
    Malcolm checks the phone and hmmms. A bad sign was a good sign far as he was concerned. Not wanting to stop Arrow from his arrow nocking, he continues via telepathy o O ("Which is a good thing for us? Ain't it?") can't stop bad guys without....a bad guy! o O ("Anyways. There around 25 folks, give or take. Most with the truck, but others guarding the entreance. Hope that arrow of yours is enough.")

Malcolm despite his bulk and size is two things. 1. Stealthy. 2. Psychic. They help. His favorit illusion for sneaking around was simply one of invisibility. I.E he can be standing infront of a person, and they wouldn't see him. This is the very illusion he puts on, to avoid the eyes of guards, bystandards, etc.

While Kid cannot affect technology, he can affect peoples perception of it, rendering him (at least tempoarily) invisible on cameras. Though as still a young telepath, this can potentially falter. Illusion in place, he makes his way towards the warehouse, doing his best to avoid potential camera spots, intending on sneaking in right through the front door as it where.

Turtle has posed:
There's an explosion of gunmetal and stored rounds, sparks flying in all directions as the Montreal Mafiaso scatters away from the phone he was talking into, letting it fall to the floor. The mobster goes running into the rows of bodyparts, where Turtle already is, as the bikers pull out their pistols. Three of them are on the ground, having been close to the exploded ammunition, and a handful of others are badly shaken, going for cover.

There is still plenty of firepower on the truck, not yet unloaded, but most of the guns stocked on the floor are flashed into slag, inside their crates.

The Turtle silently presses his back up against a large block crate of Chevrolet bodywork, with his remote in hand. He carefully removes an ear piece from his armored carapace, and fits it into his ear, listening to the various mutters and curses in of the bikers, waiting for Green Arrow to enter the warehouse proper.

The biker gangsters are all ready for war, now, moving into previously discussed positions around the warehouse floor with their guns beneath the hanging lights, the catwalks above dark. Oddly enough, none of them move for the catwalks, they leave them open, above them.

At the front office of the warehouse, a gangster in biker gear sits with a shotgun across his lap, looking right through the invisible gorilla. He slowly chews a cocktail stick, listening to a baseball game.

Green Arrow has posed:
Distraction set. They're looking for Green Arrow, not an invisible gorilla. A grapnel arrow is nooked and launched to a rooftop that has a line of sight in through the front entry, and the pulley on his bow is attached as he changes position.

Green Arrow has no intention of going into the warehouse itself with Kid going in there. He's trying to keep them distracted and looking for him, not actually get into their line of sight.

Once he's on the other roof, he starts to nook regular arrows, aims, and launches off a couple of arrows against the dominant firearm hand of a couple of the guards, before ducking out of sight again.

Guerilla warfare seems to be the plan, here.

Kid has posed:
Kid sees the Biker with the shot gun. And with the illusion holding...this only ment two things. Take the man out, and get him unarmed. In otherwords, it was time to FEED!!!

Kid goes around the biker to get behind him, spreading his wide arms...before attempting to grapple the man, and cover his mouth to muffle any potential screams or alerts to what was going on.

And following this attempt (regardless if he is successful in muffling him or not), he would begin to drain the mans mind. Drawing in his mental energy like a vampire, gaining at least for a little while, his memories, some skills, and infomation. But more importantly, he'll be taking this man out of the fight for a few hours if it all goes as planned.

Turtle has posed:
There are screams inside the warehouse as arrows stab through gun runner hands, stumbling and shouting echoing through the acoustics.

Turtle narrows his long eyes and licks his lips, pressing a button on his remote.

The inside of the warehouse goes black, as all the lights turn off simultaneously. Turtle hits another button, and then floodlights turn on amid the catwalks, light shining out through the roof windows that Green Arrow maneuvers around. Now, the warehouse floor is dim in black, inky darkness, and the catwalk levels above is brightly lit, with the skylights above across the roof exposed.

The bikers all pull hunting rifles off their backs, nocking bullets inside and pulling them off their bandoliers, mounting crates and desks and climbing stairwells. They peer upwards from the dark, into the brightly lit space above, through their scopes, the thugs looking for any sign of Green Arrow.

The biker with the shotgun drops his weapon as he's pulled off out of his chair and muffled, thrashing as his mind is drained. He's a dropout from military training for the British infantry, a driver and a smuggler for the Italian Mafia of French-Canada, and has been briefed on a plan to use Central City criminal 'Turtle' to disrupt Green Arrow's operation to shut down a Starling City arms ring supplying gangsters in the city proper with weaponry for enforcement against drug addicts and low-level drug dealers that skip out on debts.

Green Arrow has posed:
Interesting tactics. One of the thugs will catch a brief glance of a hooded green suited figure on the roof opposite the front door just as he ducks down. Green Arrow isn't trying to be sneaky here; he's trying to /get/ their attention... just enough to keep their attention on him.

As they're looking, a grapnel arrow is fired from that rooftop to another... though Green Arrow does not use it. It was fired as a distraction. Both to see how many riflemen take the bait, and to see if he triggers any other responses.

Kid has posed:
    Malcolm considers the infomation for a moment, before reaching out to Arrow o O ("Alright. Some additional info for you. The guy in armor you mentioned? Fellas called 'Turtle'. Seems this is all a plan to try and disrupt your ability to shut down the arms ring in this city.") As he relays this he opens the door to the small hallway, after taking the shotgun, and makes his way to the next door. He peeks in carefully, noticing the dark.

He has to drop his own illusion to begin a new, self inflicted one. An Overlay of silhouettes. He vision becomes a palate of simple colors, such as yellow for the lights, white for men, black for the darkness, grey for catwalks. Etc. It does not offer him fine details (I.e he can't see faces, nor is he knowledgeble enough to tell guns apart, or even a real from a fake). But what it lacks in fine details, it makes up for in the ability to 'see' where things are.

Of course if anyone looks over to said hallway window, they will see Kid if it is light enough for them to see. As such he was carefully peeking out. o O ("So...Imma take a guess here and say they want you dead. You just want to know what in the crates right? Or shall I provide a distraction to let you in now?")

Turtle has posed:
There's a *WYONG* as a gunshot flies past Green Arrow, one of the bikers with hunting rifles taking a potshot at him. These are all wilderness adapted mobster rednecks, used to transporting hallucinogens and narcotics all over Canada and North America. Enforcement, prison survival, hunting, murder, weapons smuggling, drug cultivation, they have these skills as their primary necessity of joining the Montreal Mafia as muscle.

The Turtle, remote in hand, lurks through the blackened warehouse, between rows of crates. He sees Kid, the gorilla peering through the window, from the darkness, before slowly and carefully leaning behind cover.

There's the clap-clap-clap of nice shoes through the warehouse, as the Mafia representative, pistol in hand, moves near Kid, heading towards the office. Turtle's tongue briefly emerges as he listens and waits patiently, slipping his remote into his carapace and sliding a pair of green brass knuckles onto his huge hand.

Green Arrow has posed:
<Not bad in the shooting department> Comes a response over the phone earpiece from Green Arrow. <I need the crates identified as automatic weapons so I can tag them and see where they go. Just confirm they're beyond code, and I can do the rest>

They're clearly zeroed in on him, but he moves to keep them on him. He goes to one side of the roof, checks over the ledge with a periscope tool for positions, and pops up to launch another arrow through a pair of enforcers. Just a second to make it work has him in the crosshairs briefly, before he ducks back down.

Kid has posed:
Did this dude just say 'Beyound Code'? What the heck even was that? Well at the very least he knows what automatic weapons where. o O ("Alri...going Dark") swapping Mid-Though as he heard the clap of fine shoes. Perhaps someone trying to escape, perhaps not. But all the same, he knew if the made it to the office, it would give away that someone was on the up and-in

Kid drops his Overlay and steps back, pressing his body up agaist the wall, in case it was one of those gun blazing types. That and this provided another unique oppertunity he can take advantage of, if he lucky.

Malcolm once again seems to dissappear. This time waiting for whoever comes through the door and into the hall way. Prepared to grab, muffle and drain as before.

Turtle has posed:
The arrow nocks into the wall beside an enforcer, who softly and gently drops a half foot with a bend of his knees, and sidesteps out of range. Then, another gunshot, at Green Arrow, hitting the wall beside his cover, where his head previously was.

The Montreal Mafiaso barges through the office and pass Malcolm, a man in a suit with slicked back hair and a red flower in his pocket. He's Italian, finely dressed, and looks the part of a low-level Mafia royalty executive. He stops as he finds the biker on his back, kneeling over him to look down at him, his back to Malcolm.

The Turtle, meanwhile, looms from cover in the darkened warehouse, breath low as he watches the back of the mobster, where he saw Kid rifling around in the little hallway and space. Turtle's boots drag forward slow enough to mute most of the nose, the bald mastermind waiting for Kid to show himself.

His fingers tighten around his knuckles.

Green Arrow has posed:
Once all their attention is on the rooftop where he is, Green Arrow starts to pop up randomly here and there, using that periscope tool to identify the lights one at a time, reposition, and let an arrow fly to destroy them. It's time consuming, but the rifles do get potshots at him. One even manages to nick a shoulder, leaving a large bruise there as the bullet is stopped by the bulletproof suit.

<Nevermind. What sort of guns are they shipping, that's all I need> Green Arrow asks between arrow launches.

If nothing else, he's presenting nice target practice for the goons below.

Kid has posed:
That he can definintly manage. As Kid watches the fancy mafia man walk by, he is quickly deliberating which way to go. He needed to get that info before things go far to south.

Well they knew arrow was here anyways, they may as well try and get the info ASAP. Malcolm keeps up the invisible illusion and slides out of the doorway and onto the main floor, as quietly as he can. Quickly scanning for where the crates and truck would be, using the dim light to the best of his abilities - after all showing up in the middle of a group of gun wielding bikers would just be a terrible idea.

Turtle has posed:
The lights on the catwalks drop, one by one, the warehouse getting darker and darker, as the mobsters take potshots at the rapidly moving hunter. Soon, the warehouse is dark, and there are mutters in Patois as the snipers carefully put down their rifles, drawing their bootknives and waiting. They congregate around the loading dock, a rolling sound audible as the truck driver pulls the rear door of the truck down on the remaining guns. He's intending on evacuating.

The Turtle watches the Mafiaso step over the downed gangster and step out the office door, running off into the night. Turtle's protected his man. That's all he was hoping for.

But Turtle's been insulted. Instead of just hedging his remaining bets and collecting his chips off the table, he's pushed into this confrontation with the telepathic gorilla out of that working class pride that gets a man to write a letter to the President about a housing project, or a small family business, or even a social movement.

Standing in the dark as a inky black shape, low to the ground and wide and breathing darkly and deeply, he sees a flicker of the gorilla in the doorway.

"RAAARGH!" comes Turtle as he charges forward, his iron boots clomping forward as his green carapace emerges from the dark and into the light of the office, his bald head tilted downwards as he attempts to ram straight forward into Kid, shoving at him if Kid doesn't outmaneuver or push the Turtle in another direction.

Green Arrow has posed:
Eventually, the lights he can reach are out, so it's time to switch it up.

A rappelling arrow is taken, and Green Arrow moves to the opposite end of the rooftop, away from the warehouse, before he launches it downward, and anchors it to a rooftop fixture. Sliding down to the ground with ease, he moves around the building and starts to head back in the direction of the warehouse, trying to get a solid angle on the truck again from the front.

If it leaves, he's going to plant a tracker arrow in between the front engine, and the trailer.

Kid has posed:
    Malcolm is counting on someone getting the drop on him. Sure he was careful, and he tried to be as sneaky as possible, but mistakes are made, mistakes are done. And in his case, this winds with him getting shoved by a very angry Turtle.

On the bright side, Malcolm is a very large and heavy gorilla, and tumbles only a few feet from getting the jump on him. Perhaps as an attempt to keep up his secretive identity, his illusion drops to gorilla, shifts to a robot, and than back to Malcolm his human iullusion. A quick relay for doubt perhaps.

But regardless, he quickly gets to his feet, facing Turtle. o O ("Yea, I think your going to have an easier time putting a tracker. I might be a wee bit busy") as he prepare to take on the Turtle face to face.

Turtle has posed:
A deep bellow sounds out as the exhaust on the truck coughs smoke while the engine turns over, and the big rig pulls away from the building, tracking arrow in place. The mobsters, meanwhile, lurk in the warehouse, in the dark, with their knives, only the moonlight above trickling through the skylights giving them any ability to see. Groping in the night, they listen and talk to each other, looking about warily and expectedly.

"Big guy thinks he's bigger than a big guy, eh," Turtle growls as he pulls off of the telepathic shapeshifter he just took down, glaring at him.

Turtle goes in again, for another charge, this time attempting to wrap his left arm up beneath Kid's, and wrench him into the wall of the office hallway. His right hand comes in over and over again with uppercuts to the ribs, trying to slam Kid in the ribs with his green brass knuckles while he's grappling.

Green Arrow has posed:
Time for the night vision goggles. Green Arrows takes a pair from his utility pouch and places them, blinking slightly as he adjusts, before he starts to head inside. His bow is transitioned into a staff, and he starst to sneak his way near the warehouse.

Once he's sure he's clear, he grabs one of the enforcers from behind, using the staff to choke him out.

Kid has posed:
Malcolm wasn't much of a talker. As Turtle glares at, he bares his teeth in a snarl. Which allows Turtle to get the upper hand initially. The incognito hero is shoved into a wall, before he feels the uppercuts to his ribs with those brass knuckles.

On the bright side, while they certainly hurt, judging by Kids face, they don't take him down, as he is thankfully protected by alot of muscle and fat, that could a strike from a gorilla - unsurpringly.

But the important bit is they were in close quarters, and with Turtle grappling him, he is given an oppertune moment. As his ribs are being slammed, Kid tries to grab Turtle head and Drain his Brain! Of course, as he was being pummeled, he couldn't completly concentrate on Draining the Turtle. Which can indeed give the Turtle a chance to back off. For the longer Malcom drains him, the more info Malcolm can get. Other (potential) effects of a Brain Drain include potential confusion, larthargy, short term memory loss, and an inability to recollect what happened around the time of the drain, and of course unconciousness with increasing likeliness the longer Malcolm can keep contract.

Turtle has posed:
The biker thug Green Arrow catches with the bow drops his knife and puts both hands on the staff, being pulled backwards with his belly out, before he drops limp. The other gun runners hear the knife fall to the ground, and silently turn in Green Arrow's direction, their sparkling eyes visible in the night vision goggle view.

Turtle emits a shout of pain and rage, before pulling away from Kid, staggering into a wall as he puts his hand on his head with a weak little balking sob. Turtle's mind is full of obseleted hatred, angry pride, forced humility, legendary dreams, delusions of grandeur, old memories made distant by alcohol, hatred towards female authority and distrust of patriarchal society, bullied sadism, and a natural law enforcement personality twisted sour by envy towards a sibling.

Turtle drops his brass knuckles to the ground, limping away from Kid and leaving his shelled back open as he attempts to leave the office and escape the warehouse. He careens left and right as he does so, bumping into desks and doors and doorways and scraping along drywall.

Green Arrow has posed:
The body is dropped, and Green Arrow is already moving to get behind a fixture in the area to get out of sight in the dark. "Truck is gone, and I have a tracker on it. I'll give you cover." Green Arrow has a flash bomb arrow constructed even as he transitions his staff back to a compound bow, and readies himself to launch it.

"Cover your eyes." A second later, and the flash grenade arrow explodes above the area, generally where the enforcers are. Night+flash=ow.

"I just blinded everyone out the front gate. Go." Another flash arrow is readied in case it's necessary.

Kid has posed:
Kid grunts as he The Turtle finally stops punching and begins limping/staggering away. At his core...Malcolm was a predator, and the idea of letting some prey go annoyed him. But than again, as far as minds go, he has had better Turtle Soup elsewhere.

And so with some reluctance, he takes Arrows lead, his eyes shutting tight. When given the clear he sends off o O ("Thanks. Gonna give you a little cover too") and Arrow would wink out of existance to the just blinded enforcers and goons, making it even more difficult for them to know where Arrow wnet.

With that Malcolm, peels out of the building, heading a safe area as it where, hopefully well out of the way where the others would look. But he none the less was also waiting for Arrow, to make sure he made it out alright too.

Turtle has posed:
The Turtle pushes his way out through the door and stumbles forward, nearly falling over as he catches himself with his brutally huge hands on his stocky, spread knees. He pants, before pukes his guts up with revulsion at having his mind played with by Kid.

Snarling, he pushes himself upwards and steps through his own vomit, his boot dragging along as he shuffles away and into the night, rapidly regaining his footing and mental grounding. The gears begin to wind again, as the Turtle works through the identity of the man he just faced. Face purple with rage, he shoves his way through a wire fence and out into the street, disappearing into Starling City's cargo district.

Revenge, ever so sweet. He'll need to add that particular superhero to his retinue of tracked identities, and all the pertinent information to his methods and weaknesses. Every superhero he could catalog, was another potential sum of money into his cash stores. So far, he knows that Kid depends on some form of telepathy, combined with an unknown stealth factor. He'll need to do some research, and discover why that foe was so odd to the touch, when he wrestled with him. Kid's real body, the Turtle could only guess at.

What the Turtle did know, was that he needed to get the front of his costume washed, before he could eat dinner at a truckstop diner for the night. It was hardly befitting of a common joe to disgrace a fine establishment by smelling like one's own stomach contents.