Black Sky (Cutscene)

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Black Sky (Cutscene)
Date of Cutscene: 02 December 2018
Location: Various
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Elektra, Madame Gao
Tinyplot: Black Sky

Karios, Greece.
Kairos

The tournament was long over, the participants having left with what honour or discredit they felt their due, and the grounds returned to their usual tranquility. The dojo had sat silent since that fateful night. Staff had all been dismissed since the funeral, and all that was left were the native plants and animals.

It would be months, still, before the perfectly manicured pathways fell to ruin and began to overgrow, but already there were signs that nature, and not man, ruled this tranquil place.

The island was eerily quiet, and the night clear. Luck held, and while the forecast called for rain, it didn't come, a light drizzle only beginning as the four men who had been sent there completed their task, their low voiced Japanese complaints carrying only between one another; years of training keeping them quiet and subtle even when there was no chance of anyone else around.

It certainly wasn't out of respect for the woman whose casket they dug from the ground.




Gotham, New York.
Docks

The ship rolled into the docks with relative ease. Thanks to certain mechanisms set in place when the internet fell, there were numerous blind spots in the customs and duty requirements. If you knew who to contact, and had the fee, you, too, could avoid your ship's manifest being squinted over and awkward explanations.

The Hand had already taken advantage of this with regards to human, tech, and drug trafficking.

Tonight, though, under the harsh yellow blaze of the port authority lights, it was a different cargo the ship unloaded - a single, simple pine box. It was, it should be noted, the only item of cargo on the ship, and was quickly moved into the back of a waiting climate controlled truck.

A tall, lanky Asian man placed a single call:

"We have the cargo, safe. It comes to you."

On the other end, an elderly woman's voice returns in soft approval, "Good."

The line goes dead.




Gotham, New York.
Hugo Building Sub-Basement

Madame Gao was waiting when Toshido Akiro arrived. By her side was a tall, athletic woman who by no means fit the Asian aesthetic for beautiful, and yet, there could be no doubt that she would draw a certain attention wherever she went.

Her silence was a perfect coupling for Madame Gao's gentle rebukes of the man who stood before her.

"Ah. Toshido."

His confusion was written upon his features, but he held his counsel, knowing that the woman would speak in her own time. Notably, she did not ask him to join her for tea, nor was any such refreshment available.

When she speaks again, Toshido knows fear, though he does not yet know why.

"You are aware, Toshido, of what it was we have sought all these years? The Black Sky?"

His nod of assent comes with a dry swallow.

"And now," Gao continues, "We are so close. Only one thing remains. Do you know what that is?"

In truth, he doesn't, but he's afraid to say so. There has always been mystery around the legends. The prophecy. He had not been drawn into the inner circle yet, despite his rising to the rank of Finger. What he does know, is that Elektra Natchios had been the key. And now she was dead.

"Ah, yes. I forget." She had not. "You are still new. Then I shall explain. We have waited all these years to reclaim what is rightfully ours, and now? Now we are on the cusp of that achievement. But one small matter remains. We have all that we need, but a willing sacrifice."

Madame Gao's smile was a chill thing, but then again, she had never really shown much warmth.

"You do believe in what we do, do you not, Toshido?"

Another dry swallow accompanied a nod of assent. "Yes. Always. Have I not - "

"Fool," Gao cut him off. "Do you not think I know what a whisper you were in her ear? After all we have done for you? All that we offer?" There is a barely perceptible nod of her chin towards the shadows, and as she speaks, his future steps forward, leaving him in no doubt as to the cause of the icy creep of fear that crawls up his spine.

Toshido knows his fate, even before Madame Gao speaks it.

"And now you shall help her become what she was always meant to be. You do understand, Toshido, it isn't personal, but there always was going to be need of a blood sacrifice. You simply made the decision easy for us."

She turns away from the man as her minions go to their work, a gesture of her hand calling forth the woman at her side. "Now you see, Takara, the difference between one who knows a thing, and one who knows their place. His sacrifice will be noted. There will be no shame. The debt is paid. Come. We have preparations?"




Gotham, New York.
Hugo Building Sub-Basement

It was dark. Dark and cold.

Not that these things held any meaning. They were merely unnamed sensations. Things that were felt, fleetingly, and gone.

What she knew was this: She was no longer bound by the silence that had held her. The greater dark, the end that had swallowed her, no longer held sway.

What she knew was this: The confines of this space could no longer hold her. Like a mother's womb, should she even remember such a thing, had always been made for escape, so, too, this.

What she knew was this: Sensation had returned. A pinpoint of light swam in her awareness, and while she did not have words for this, she knew, instinctively, it was the goal. The way out.

Clawing her way forth, emerging from the vat of thick, primordial ichor that held her, that which had been Elektra Natchios took a first gasp of air, not unlike that which a newborn gives, only unlike a newborn, there is no following cry. No gasps of happiness or welcome.

Only the shadowy figure of a small, elderly woman, and the taller, athletic woman at her side, and beyond them, murky depths of shadow that held other secrets.

There is a considered grunt of assent, and that which had been Elektra Natchios is found not wanting.

"Clean her up," Gao's voice breaks through the silence of the room. "Then bring her to me. Come, Takara. We have business."

Black Sky is born.