7584/City Fall: Judges and ninjas and spiders, oh my...

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City Fall: Judges and ninjas and spiders, oh my...
Date of Scene: 22 May 2019
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
Synopsis: Foot ninjas make a grab for Benny but Spider-man gets in the way. The Shadow almost captures their Sifu, but Spider-man gets in the way.
Cast of Characters: Shadow, Shredder, Spider-Man
Tinyplot: City Fall


Shadow has posed:
        Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

    Judge Veers used to be in possession of a Coin, and changed his judgements as its influence required... And then his Coin vanished from the perception of all those who looked for it, until it showed up in a SHIELD lab.

    This needs to be dealt with, and swiftly, but in the meantime it's almost as important to learn who took it there. Genin were dispatched to observe the good judge's home to watch for odd visitors or other irregularities.

    It's not a particularly exciting job -- find a good secluded spot and remain hidden while observing the house. Like most stakeouts, the main enemy is boredom, and the current watcher on duty has taken to making up silly jokes about the license plates they see to combat it -- which is how they realize that they've seen that particular cab three times already in the past hour...

Shredder has posed:
    When the scientists at TCRI found their coin turn up in a SHIELD Lab, that became a rather high profile scenario. It's caught the attention all the way to the top.

    The mission to observe was not high profile in the Foot, but it was a chance for many younger ninjas to be put to use while the more seasoned soldiers are occupied. One of the lower ranking Sifu has been assigned to oversee the operation. She sits in a cafe window, watching the traffic idly, and sipping a cup of coffee. When she realizes the cab, she looks up at the driver, and then speaks lowly into her watch to the other five.

    "Watch this cab," she says. "I want to see what it's loop is, it keeps returning with no passenger." Out around the building, the genin assigned looks around carefully. They are all men, all wearing a shirt that matches a local high school, and a pair of jeans, and they are all roughly the same build and appearance. They fan to the corners of the block, trying to track the cab's movements.

Spider-Man has posed:
Is it luck or ludicrous that Spider-Man happens to be present with no fore-knowledge of the coin, cabby, or criminals present? He's above the street, of course, knelt down in a relaxed low crouch with his arms bracing against his thighs. High enough perch to watch New York GET WOKE, to see the passersby going towards their PARTY destinations, and to trail after cabbies as they weave in and out of the late afternoon/early evening traffic in front of the cafe.

Beside him a half eaten DINNERTIME burrito sits on a brown napkin along with a luke-warm cup of coffee from a small ma and pa a few blocks over. For now, at least, they're both forgotten and he's just lazily keeping tabs on the boring nothing until he spies the trio of teens in matching high school shirts and blue jeans. It's not enough to set his hairs on edge, but how far away is that High school? And why does it look like they're surrounding the block? Pete frowns beneath his mask and cants his head to one side, "Oh, yeah, steal that car.. yer a bad boy aren't you." Murmuring to himself absently, "Your motivation is being a statistc and giving me a story..." He would never, ever wish for teenagers to engage in recreational crime, not for anything other than comedic purposes.

Shadow has posed:
    There's more than a little irregularity in Benny's driving routine - he's not a complete newbie at surveillance - and it takes about thirty minutes until his next pass through.

    Of course, cabbies /always/ watch the sidewalks - after all, that's where your potential customers are standing - and he has the well-honed survival instincts of a New Yorker who's seen his share of superhero battles. The similarity in otherwise nondescript clothes catches his eye, as does the fact that they're doing their best not to be seen to pay attention to him specifically.

    "Hoo boy," he mutters under his breath, taking a casual left turn as he reaches out with one hand to dial a number hands-free. "Trouble, boss," he says without preamble as the line connects. "Bunch of kids, white shirts, blue jeans, looking ordinary as anything... But they're checking me out. I think I've been made..."

    Easy now. Don't give away that you've made them in turn. Take a left here, don't floor it just yet, keep driving...

Shredder has posed:
    One of the young men with the matching garb crosses during a light, following after the car directly. He shoves his hands in his pocket, it looks like something a bit large is in the left pocket, difficult to define by the shape, it gives a rather indistinct bulge. In fact, all of them have something similar in the left pocket. He jogs across, the young man also being a native of the city. He knows that while the route to a more major street means more people, it also means slower traffic, and higher likelihood of a jam at this hour.
    No, that high school isn't very close. He crosses to the other side of the street against the flow of traffic, but then, he's on the same side it seems still. Is that two? There's one crossing where the first crossed. Three? Maybe it was just two. Their movement patterns seem moderately rehearsed, and gives a certain mask to how many there are as another crossest from the left side of the street back to the right. Was that the one that crossed a second ago? They start to pick up pace, and inside the coffee shop, the Sifu loses track, and she, contrarily, is dressed as a college student, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, khaki shorts and a white polo. She carries an old backpack on her shoulder, looking every bit the normal college girl.

Spider-Man has posed:
"What are you chasing..." Spidey wonders quietly, trying to keep track of the two.. now three... wait where did the other one go? "And why do you move like Elektra." The wallcrawler stands from his perch and launches from the rooftop over the street, completing the crossing with a pair of weblines yanking him the rest of the way over the gap. On the otherside he jogs along the inch wide half-wall without the first concern for where his feet fall and takes each smaller gap with an easy hop or hand planting dash vault whenever there's too wide an expanse to just jump over.

It's a little harder to keep tabs on the guy, guys, or trio of guys while running, but he keeps at least one in his peripheral vision. Not yet ready to go punch happy until he's absolutely certain they're actually chasing someone and not trying to catch a bus. "Did you boys get seperated from your field trip? I've been there..." To himself, side flipping into a round off. Legit, just showing off for nobody because he can.

Shadow has posed:
    Getting mugged is another occupational hazard cabbies have to deal with, so Benny doesn't even need to think about hitting the gas when he sees the 'kids' reach for suspiciously bulging pockets. There's a brief screech of tires as the cab suddenly accelerates to just a hair below the local speed limit, swerving between other cars with the expertise of a veteran of New York traffic on its worst days.

    "... Yeah, they made me. Pursuit, three or four guys at a minimum. Could use a hand..."

    "Understood," comes his boss' voice over his decidedly non-standard issue for a cabbie's earpiece. "Head for Central Park. I'll meet you coming."

    ... And some distance away, the girl known as 'Janine' to most of the world and 'Nocte' to her fellow capoeiristas offers an apologetic smile to her comrades as she puts her phone away and puts her shoes back on. "Family calling. Sorry..." she offers before taking her bag and hurrying off.

    Central Park's a big place, with plenty of shadows even this early in the evening -- and there are plenty of secluded spots to change even if you don't have the ability to cloud minds.

    No one pays particular attention to Janine when she darts into one of them. No one notices when the girl fails to emerge. And almost no one notices that one of the gradually lenghtening shadows between the trees is moving without anything casting it...

Shredder has posed:
    From Spider-man's angle, it starts to become clear as they speed up, there's not three, but there's five of them total. From behind, the Sifu speaks into her watch again, "Maintain pursuit, we may not get another chance at this now that they know we are on to them."

    The shaggy-haired young men burst down the street, seeming quite capable with keeping up to a cab that is handling the evening traffic, and even gaining on it significantly at the stoplights.

    As the cab grows near the park, one of the young men jumps up onto the top of the cab, landing rather lightly, though perhaps not lightly enough to be unnoticed.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey counts it out with a brisk nod and keeps pace, barely even breaking a sweat. He doesn't have anyone to dodge around and could parkour for hours without ever needing to stop for a breath, "Oh, he just needs a ride home." When one of the shaggy looking fellows breaks out ahead of the pack towards the cab and leaps towards the roof, Pete makes his own move. His direction shifts to his left so his neck leap takes him off the roof and into the gap occupied by the traffic below, "Guess I should give him a hand."

The webline connects for a short swing, both feet flung forward to add distance to the release. Somewhere near the landing the wallcrawler twists and lands in a crouch on the roof of the same cab right in the High School IMPOSTERS line of sight. "You know it's safer to flag them down from the sidewalk right?" His wrists jerk down to try and web the teens hands to the roof. "Still, you should buckle up... safety first, amirite?"

Shadow has posed:
    Benny reacts without having to think about it, making a hard turn in an attempt to toss the assailer off his roof or at the very least force them to concentrate on staying standing rather than whatever they were planning to do. When he catches a glimpse of the red and blue spandex in his rear mirror he blinks for a moment -- of course he's heard of everyone's favourite Friendly Neighborhood Wall-Crawler, but this is the first time he's seen him in the proverbial flesh.

    On the down side, traffic is getting thicker and even the veteran cabbie has to slow down or risk an accident...

Shredder has posed:
    The young man on the back of the cab glances up at the arrival of the webslinger, and doesn't answer. Part because...he's a ninja, he's not supposed to talk. Partly because he suddenly finds himself flung from the cab's top by the hard turn. He spins his feet out, planting them against another vehicle as they pass, his hands still gripping the cab's roof where it meets the passenger side door. He shoves off quickly, pulling his feet forward and slamming them against the window. The force is enough to break the glass, but given that he is only of human strength, it's not quite enough to get through it in one blow as he finds himself hanging from the side of the cab precariously.

Spider-Man has posed:
The hard driving isn't quite enough to dislodge Spidey, but it definitely sets his aim in the wrong direction. Instead of webbing a teens hands to the roof, he just webs the roof where there use to be hands and that's only a little frustrating. His fist wraps his knuckles against said roof, "You're killing me here!" While shouting so he may be heard by the driver, his wrist snaps out to the side to fire off another line towards the teens forehead in an attempt to yank him against the door with brute, but not really lethal, force.

"What's the exit strategy?" He wonders aloud, sliding down off the slowing cab so he's down behind the vehicle, dusting off his palms on his thighs, "It's like there's no threat assessment. One track mindedness... the quality of criminal in this city." His palms come up in a watcha gonna do shrug.

Shadow has posed:
    Benny makes another hard turn, forcing the would-be ninja on his roof to stop kicking at his window unless he wants to get scraped off by a close shave from a passing Sedan. All around, traffic is descending into chaos as New York's smarter residents try to speed up and get away from the fighting, while those who don't believe in Darwin slow down to indulge their curiosity...

Shredder has posed:
    The young man is caught, his face smacking into the door frame of the car, and comes back with a bloody nose, a little dazed from the impact. The hard turn throws him free, but hardly frees him, since he's still connected to the web. Getting dragged is gonna hurt.

    Meanwhile, one of his dopplegangers flings a shuriken toward Peter. While they aren't lethal under most circumstances, the sharp blade often causes a shift in attention as the second high school ninja bounces up the rear of the cab, full open arms to perform a wrestling tackle to try to knock the hero off the roof.

Spider-Man has posed:
"There they are. I was worried you guys got lost." Spidey sees one of the other four teens making a break along the sidewalk, but it's his spidey-senses that warn him about the projectile, which is a little distracting in that he has to crab flip along the roof right in the direction of another wrestling tackle. "Ooof!" He's a small fella, that Spider-Man, but he is deceptively strong for that size and incredibly agile because of it. Joints twist in ways joints aren't exactly designed to twist. They twist in ways wreslters wish they could and Gymnasts envy and when he turns to slap both palms at the third-plegangers ears, it's with a meer fraction of force, but plenty by most normal human standards.

"Why I oughta.." He follows it with two fingers clipping at the bridge of the teens nose and a slap to the top of his knuckles. Maybe a double finger eye poke. "You guys ever watch that really old show, The Three Stoogies?" If all plays out to plan, that's how many should be left right?

Dear sweet Benny and his defensive driving would throw off all but the most wall crawlingest of wallcrawlers. A novice spider might find the velocity of his yankity jerky wheel tactics most dislodging. Pete is stuck fast like glue and doing his level best to web the wrestler down to the roof as well.

Shredder has posed:
    "This is getting too hot," the Sifu says, watching as Spider-man's presence draws a significant amount of attention to the situation. The ninja dangling from the roof pulls a kunai from the inside of the waist of his pants, and cuts the web to free himself, a car screeching to a halt behind him before he is struck.

    The other finds himself with a comical eye-poke, but manages to not say 'woo woo woo!' in response. As the web seals him to the roof, he finds his arm connected. So he does what guys should never do. It's just against the rules. He goes for a groin shot to try to back off the hero so he can have time to free himself.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Woo woo woo..." Spidey slaps his palms against his forehead after partially sealing second teenja to the roof. See? He's a team player. That's likely to go out the window with the low blow, of course. "Whoa!" His groin scoots back, achieving exactly the intended purpose of the attack even though he doesn't actually take the shot in the pearls. "I'm so proud of you right now..."

Webhead rolls onto his shoulders and swings his legs around in a sweeping kick towards mister ballshots temple, but really he's just trying to come up in a crouch facing the roof with one foot forward and one hand down against the back wind-shield. "But you never punch a man in the pills, it's just not cricket... yeah baby." It's not even a GOOD Austin Powers impression.

Shredder has posed:
    As the spiderfoot comes around to hit the teen Foot, the young man reaches up to block with his free arm, covering his head. The strength of Spider-Man is nothing to sneeze at, though, and the impact shakes...a wig free. The young man has a short buzzed mohawk beneath the disguise, indicating how they likely matched hairstyles so perfectly. There is a wince as he recoils from the powerful blow, probably going to have a mark from that for a while, and his free foot jabs out at the base of Spidey's planted foot, trying to knock him off balance and give time for an escape.

    Meanwhile, the other young ninjas break off pursuit, disappearing into the shops and apartment complexes nearby while the last is left to fend for himself, struggling to get free from the webbing.

Shadow has posed:
    The cab finally slows to a halt as the traffic chaos turns into a full-on jam, with nowhere left to go from this corner of Central Park. As the other ninjas beat feet, Benny rolls down the window to stick his head out and get a good look at the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler that saved his bacon.

    "Thanks, Spider-man," he begins with a thick Brooklyn accent that goes perfectly with his slightly graying hair. "Dunno what those guys wanted with me but I don't think it was anythin' good..."

    Meanwhile, not too far away between the trees, the Shadow observes the goings-on. Their agent has already been rescued, which is all to the good, and those who tried to take him only have Spider-man as a possible lead for the interference, which is better.

    Of course, these were almost painfully obviously minions - which probably means the one giving them orders might yet be nearby. With a nod at Benny, the Shadow fades back into the woods to start scouting for someone leaving the scene too casually...

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey would almost feel bad for the remaining minion, but only as long as it takes the teenja to take a swing at the webcrawler's right leg. "Really?" With a little turn, he leaps off the roof and webs at the back of the ninjas head, yanking downward with just enough force to bounce his forhead against it.. but alos to further ensare the goon with another point of ahesion to the vehicles surface so Spidey can talk it out with Benny without fear of losing all five of the teenage wannabes.

"Hey yeah, no problem." Up-nodding, "Want to tell me why they ran past like eight cabs to chase after yours specifically?" Hands doing like a turn-table style move in the air.

He, too, glances up and down the street looking for anyone who might appear like they're going against the grain or, appears too calm. Baring that, he'll return to the teenja to check for identifying marks. Gang tattoos or the like.

Shredder has posed:
    The mostly immobilized teen ninja becomes a fully immobilized teen ninja as his head smacks again to the roof of the cab, knocking him out cold. The bulge in his pocket, if checked, was a simple T-shirt, different from the one he was wearing. Change of costume apparently so that he could disappear after the operation. He has a few smoke pellets in the other pocket, and a couple of kunai lining his belt. Regarding tatoos, a black footprint is on the back of his left shoulder, but wouldn't be visible without moving the shirt, and around his right side is a partly finished tattoo of an asian style dragon.

    Contrary to leaving the scene, the Sifu approaches, excitedly even. The dark ponytail bobs as she shamelessly approaches Spider-Man and Benny.

    "Oh. My gosh," she excitedly announces. She's a pretty girl, though dressed modestly, and her smile could light up a room. "You are SPIDER-MAN!" She squeals a little, and looks at the cab driver. "And you were like, Zooom!" she makes the motions of the evasive driving. "That was. Insane. I can't even." She suddenly thrusts a hand out toward the webslinger. "Betty Sanders," she introduces. "I know, sounds like a grandma name," she winces apologetically. "I am part of the Washington Square News-student paper at NYU-I do a blog, nothing big-um, anyway. I would LOVE to do something about this. It was amazing! I mean, you hear about stuff like this in New York City, but I never thought I'd actually get to see it! THE Spider-man, right here in front of me! Can I get a picture? Maybe of the two of you!" She gives an aside comment toward Benny. "I'll totally send it to you, don't worry."

Shadow has posed:
    "You are at least correct in one thing," comes a sinister voice as an arm blurs into existence out of nowhere to seize the girl's wrist in a vice-like grip. "/He/ has nothing to worry about. You, on the other hand, have a great deal of answers to give..."

    As she's pulled back and slightly off her feet, the dark-clad owner of that arm fades into visibility, causing Benny to /almost/ imperceptibly relax a notch even as the sounds from the surrounding street seem to become muted.

    "Five fingers to a shadow hand, but the fingers join at the palm. Did you think I wouldn't /KNOW/?"

    Blue eyes blaze as they meet the girl's gaze, filling her with the certainty that attempting to lie would be worse than futile...

Spider-Man has posed:
"What do we have here..." Spidey says once he's found the foot tattoo. "What is it with ninja groups using body parts to differentiate?" The Hand and now The Foot? He shakes his head, but records visual data on both the foot tattoo as well as the half finished Japanese Dragon. Those are usually very specific, probably related to a particular clan or house. Peter will do some research later.

There's a fan afoot.

"Uh, yeah, hey." Lifting a hand to the approaching girl with narrowing eyes, "Sure, why not?" The Wallcrawler starts over towards the sifu to lean in for a selfie when a shadowy hand and creepy voice. "Whoa! What's the deal Freddy Krueger?"

A webline 'snkrts' out towards the outside of the dark palm grabbing for the girl. If the webbing hits, Spider-Man is a pretty strong dude and will yank to get the hand off the girl.

Shredder has posed:
    Betty seems very surprised to say the least when the Shadow appears, but unlike many college girls fitting her profile, she doesn't let out a dramatic scream. The surprise is met by a reflexive dropkick as she's lifted off the ground. Her feet are already up, so there's little to lose in positioning. Should it connect, it might reveal she's quite a bit stronger than her demeanor might suggest, though she doesn't break character. as she does, there's certainly an expression of surprise on the young woman's face.

Shadow has posed:
    The dropkick doesn't manage to connect - one does not pick up a ninja by the wrist and /not/ expect them to attempt to fight - but between the arm move required to pull away from the kick and the jerk from the webline on the Shadow's wrist, the girl /is/ flung to the ground near Benny's cab.

    "The 'deal', Spider-man," the Shadow replies to the webslinger's question, "is that she is the one who was coordinating these thugs, hoping to find whoever broke her Master's hold on Judge Veers."

    The Shadow turns back to regard the girl. "Congratulations. You found me. I suppose introductions are in order. You serve the Foot. This is Spider-man. And I am the Shadow."

Spider-Man has posed:
Agile as ever, Spider-Man slips over to catch the flung college student unless she goes all Serenity on them eating Fruity Oaty's or something. "You okay?" To Claire, or whatever her name is, his attention is divert between the shadowy figure and the suspected Foot coordinator. "So she's like the Ankle?" The question is probably out of nowhere, but certainly a little quiet.

Legit, he's not that dense.

Levity just defuses situations most of the time. "Okay, yeah that part." Pointing at wherever the arm is, was, or where it came from. "With the Judge, I feel like I came in in the middle of the season of a really popular show and everyone knows what's going on and they're just assuming I watched it."

Shredder has posed:
    As Betty is caught, she seems surprised again. "Thanks, she says, giving a dreamy smile at the masked hero. She looks back at the Shadow. "I don't know this person," she insists. "I just saw all that was going on and I thought I'd get a good story. I don't want to BE the story!" She protests innocence. "How do I look like I'm with..." She looks back at the unconscious thug and his short mohawk. "Ew, mohawk? What is this, the eighties? You're the one with the creepy powers! Spider-man, he's trying to fool you so he can attack you!"

Shadow has posed:
    "Nice try, Lady, but the Boss ain't been wrong yet," Benny replies with all the dry skepticism of a New York cabbie who's heard /every/ explanation about how they really aren't owed the fare on the meter.

    The Shadow merely snorts, equally unimpressed. "Save the innocent act for those it might be able to fool. I /know/."

    Turning their head slightly to Spider-man, the Shadow continues. "Hadn't you noticed yet how more and more criminals you've apprehended walk free far sooner than they should lately? Did you really think it was coincidence? Those she serves are at the heart of it, and I've been looking for them longer than they've been looking for me..."

Spider-Man has posed:
"Now, let's not go throwing stones..." Spider-Man raises a hand at Betty, shaking his head, "This guy was being attacked by Captain 80s stereotype over here and he's calm about the typified horror movie villain." Pointing between Benny and the Shadow with a shifting extended finger.

Of course he had noticed criminals were taking a free trip out of prison and he nods as much with Shadow, "Sure, absolutely. Confusing time to be a Crime fighter, no doubt, but that doesn't mean she's the culpret. That's the part I need elaborated." Which hopefully the knowledgable Shadowy figure can provide.

Shredder has posed:
    Betty looks at the Shadow, she looks at the Benny, and it seems a light comes on as he calls this figure the 'Boss'. She looks at Spider-Man. "Well, this is a fine how-do-ya-do," she comments. She looks back at her unconscious teammate, and at the traffic around her, as if looking for an escape. "This is ridiculous," she insists, shaking her head. "I just come here for a story, and now suddenly I'm the bad-"

    Fling. Her phone snaps out of her pocket as she taps a shot at the Shadow with one hand, and spins to throw a flash pellet with the other. It's a bright explosion followed by the burst of traditional smoke that fills the air. The young woman leaps onto the cab, pulling free her watch and stuffing it down the side of the pants of the other ninja and taking his T-shirt before vaulting to the next car, sprinting to land on the other side of the street and tucking behind a delivery truck. She throws the T-shirt over the polo, and grabs a baseball cap from her bag. New disguise in place, she ditches her bag into a storm drain and the Foot soldier slides into the foot traffic of the street.

Shadow has posed:
    "... Damn it," The Shadow growls as their pray makes a quick escape. They turn their glare on Spider-man for a moment, but it really isn't the webcrawler's fault either. Still - a draw, with an advantage to the foe. Not a good outcome for this battle, but the war is far from over. Nothing more can be gained here, however.

    "My thanks for coming to my agent's aid," they tell Spider-man as they get into Benny's cab. "I'll understand if you'd rather not take me at my word; speak with Judge Veers if you want to learn more of what's going on..."

    Benny nods in thanks one last time at Spider-man before getting into the driver's seat and gunning the engine. As the cab drives off, the odd fog-like sensation likewise lifts and the rest of the city comes back into focus, and Spider-man finds himself in the center of attention with an unconscious Foot ninja on the sidewalk next to him...