ic Oh no, there goes Tokyo !

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Paper smirked as the ninjas he could see in the crowd dropped like flies.

“Can you believe it? You guys will never graduate to be real ninjas.”

 

He looked up just in time to see four more drop from the rafters, fleeing from Neko’s illusions. He grinned as they landed. Two took off running again, but the other two attacked. One’s weapon went wide, missing him, and part of him hoped it hadn’t hit a bystander. The second one was dead on though.

Leon raised his left arm to block it and the little throwing star embedded itself into his forearm. Paper didn’t even seem to acknowledge it as his right hand reached out and raked his fingers though one of the other ghostly lanterns hanging in the air around him.

 

“Too slow! You guys would lose to turtles.”

 

The lantern fell apart, but in his hand he held several playing card sized pieces of paper. With a flick of his wrist the paper stiffened as he hurled them at one of the two. The paper slam into the first ninja like a series of blows from a heavy-weight boxer.

The blank white mask focuses on the last one standing before him as paper slithers around him like a living thing. It collects and grows up into his waiting hand, a staff forming. He twirls it easily without looking away from the last ninja on the stage with him.

The shuriken still planted deeply in his left arm seemingly unnoticed. No blood seeping from the wound as he spins the staff. With his right hand he makes a beckoning motion at the second attacker.

 

“Yūkigāreba.” (“If you dare.”)

Edited April 30 by Spacefurry

[RocketLord]

GM

 

One of the fleeing ninja falls the moment the paper slams into him, going down hard on the ground. 

 

Another stops, staring at Paper. Maybe he is genuinely intimidated, as he sees all the ninja on the ground around him, obviously stopped by this strange paper controlling man, or maybe he is just surprised that he speaks Japanese. Whatever else, he seems unwilling to continue running, keeping an eye on Paper instead.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

With the ninjas backstage dealt with, Bernadette's duplicate continued to lead the rest of the band away from the stage and to safety. Turning back toward the stage, the original Bernadette moved over to get a better view of what was going on.

 

She found the hall cleared, with Leon facing off with one remaining Ninja. Looking up she saw Charlie and Neko were facing off with another, red-clad ninja that was up there. Still not having changed into costume or otherwise able to conceal her identity, Bernadette remained where she was, waiting to see anyone needed her help, but feeling they mostly seemed to have things in hand.

[Avenger Assembled]

"<Come on, you worthless hound of Katana!>" Neko shouted at the Katanarchist, her voice a feral, growling whine. A Japanese speaker would have heard an old, rural dialect, like something from the tongue of a country great-grandmother or a character in a stage play. "<Are you going to hide behind his mask like a dog?>" She feinted and struck with her flaming naginata, her bare feet scratching on the floor as she seemed to slide past her enemy before she returned to where she'd originally stood, staying well out of a normal man's melee range as she moved with cat-like speed. 

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

"<Alright, boss ninja. Looks like it's just you and us now.>" Stormcrow moves across the rafters, nimbly moving between them while Neko shouts at the ninja. 

 

He jumps, flips and throws a small ball full of expanding riot foam at the ninja... and they move out of the way. He should've seen that coming. Even after taking that hit from Neko, it's a ninja. Maybe it's time to stop being cute and just get in close?

 

"<Stand down, and we'll go easy on you. I promise, I'm the nicest guy here!>"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The ninja hisses as Neko taunts them, turning and failing to slash at her while she moves past. The taunt actually manages to earn a response, as the ninja shouts back "<Silence, traitor!>", not that it does the ninja much good, the flaming nagitana striking them straight in the face, the psychic backlash sending the ninja reeling. 

 

They only just manages to move out of the way of Stormcrow's attack, stumbling out of the wait as the riot foam expands next to them, before shaking their head, turning to growl at Neko. "<Traitor!>"

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Paper stood looking back at the ninja. The would be attacker watching him cautiously. The boy tilted his head to one sid slightly and Paper smirked behind his mask.

“Too slow.”

He said in English as behind the other man, paper gathered menacingly. From its rustling mass a large paper white serpent rose. Its mouth opened in a silent hiss.

Then, it struck like a monstrous constrictor. Attempting to wrap around the man and bind him.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

With no immediate threats around, Bernadette's duplicates stayed with the other members of the band, making sure none of the attackers snuck around to threaten them. Meanwhile, the original looked up to the rafters where Charlie and Neko were facing the remaining ninja.

Taking a running start, the redhead leapt up to the rafters to try to deliver a kick at the ninja. "Looks like yer tha only one left." She called out. Perhaps that had been a mistake, as the ninja duck aside with practiced ease, and the Irish teen’s kick missed and she landed on the rafters, quickly balancing herself.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko struck home again with her second strike - but didn't seem to do any damage, instead her flaming naginata skitting off her target's sword. She responded with a gutter oath that would have gotten her ears pulled - hard - when she was a girl, and leaped out of the way of a retaliatory strike, keeping moving so she stayed out of range of the man's blades. "Kutabare paku!" she spat, the pupils in her golden eyes narrowed to slits. "<You fight for a ghost! A dead thing! I have seen it in the brains of an American boy! Katana is dead and so is his cause!>" She had learned something of a real warrior's honor from Owain and so added in a whining, inhuman growl, "<A man would not hide his face, Katana's dog!>"  

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The ninja, despite blocking the blow with his own sword, staggers back a few feet as he feels the weight of the flaming naginata, whether it is an illusion or not.

 

He growls, though whether it is in annoyance, pain or anger, is hard to tell. There is something inhuman about the sound that he makes.

 

"Do you think that a great man can die so easily? That his ideals do not outlive his body?"

 

At Neko's prompting, he reaches for his mask, pulls it down... and reveals a feline face. To Paper, Multi-Girl and Stormcrow, he looks very much like a male version of Neko, though particularly feral looking, with dark fur on his ears. 

 

"What would you know of honor? Deserter! Betrayer! Decades might have passed, but our oath lives on! You will see justice!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko's eyes snapped open wide, her ears retreating behind her head as her tail puffed out behind her. Her blade faded away in her grip as all but her most customary illusions faded away, and she stood there in her red and gold kimono and sneakers, a step away from what she might have been a few years earlier. No - decades more, in a Japan long lost to time and history. She blinked, her heart racing in her chest, and smelled home and family. The mountains all around. The feel of grass between her toes. 

 

The summer grasses

All that remains 

of warriors' dreams 

 

"<I WAS A CHILD!>" she screamed in a voice that rang across the empty theater, a sob in the echoes as her mind cartwheeled ahead to the reality this man, this nekomata, represented. She stared down at her own clawed hands as she thought of a geas that lasted even beyond death, and for a whole people. "<I thought - you. What is your name? Where are you from?>" 

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Paper turned away from the ninja as the paper constrictor took the would-be assailant out of the fight. He turned his attention towards the rafters where Neko and Berni were facing the last of their attackers.

 

He could see her girlfriend had one of the ninjas at (flaming) blade point and he grinned. That was his kitty showing her claws and he was always proud to be her partner.

 

Suddenly something changed though, he could see it in her body language. Then her weapon faded away and her cry echoed through the small venue.

Leon was already moving. Sheets of paper unconsciously forming steps up to the rafters even as he ran.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette had been ready to move in to help Neko when suddenly the ninja facing her backed away slightly and pulled off his mask to reveal a feline face similar to Neko's. Sightly stunned by this sudden revelation, the redhead hesitated, only able to watch as he made accusations at Neko, who seemed equally taken aback by the ninja's similar appearance.

 

Although the Irish teen could not understand Neko, she could see her roommate was upset. Bernadette just hung back, watching, ready to move in to help Neko if needed. 
 

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

Leaping across the rafters, Stormcrow lands in a crouch next to Multi-Girl.

 

This isn't good, but it's also not something that's his place to intervene. He's not entirely sure what is going on, but it has to have something to do with Neko's past.

 

"He's calling Neko a traitor. Something to do with the Crimson Katana."

 

He knows about the Crimson Katana, of course, but he was never close with Neko back at Claremont, and he doens't know that much about her past.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

<"A child raised to fight for your people! And you abandoned us!>"

 

The nekomata's words are biting, filled with venom and hate, but he doesn't make any move to attack. He just continues to glare at Neko. Ever so slowly, ever so calmly, he inches away.

 

<"I threw away my name, to save my master. A ghost from your past, a price to pay for your betrayal.">

[Avenger Assembled]

"<I never did,>" hissed Neko in reply. "<I kept the faith. Even unto death. But he broke faith with me when he sent a child to die so that he could scratch out another day of his miserable, stolen life.>" She stalked around their prisoner, heedless of her friends and lover, her tails lashing behind her in her fury.

 

"<Well then, i >" she had meant to call him inu but found suddenly that she could not call him dog, not when looking at those eyes, those ears, that body, "<shinobi...>"  She looked away from Shinobi and seemed to catch sight of the others for the first time. 

 

"They told me there was no one left," she whispered to Leon, Bernadette, and Charlie, "they showed me where the whole village had just been - scooped out of the valley! I thought they had - they had fled! If he is here - if he is here," she said, pointing at Neko Shinobi. "<Then they must be too!>" 

 

"Where are the others?" she demanded of him in both English and Japanese. "<WHERE ARE THEY?>" 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The Shinobi, as Neko has come to think of him, smiles.

 

<"Why would I tell you? The traitor that abandoned her clan? If you were sent to die, then it was for the glory and honor of the clan. You should be happy to fulfil you purpose.">

 

The cat takes a step away from Neko, even as she circles him.

 

<"You won't find us. We will find you.">

 

He jumps up, straight up in an incredible jump, crashing through and overlight window and into the night.

 

Will the heroes let him run... or give chase?

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

For the moment Bernadette stood back and watched as the exchange between Neko and the ninja continued their exchange, Charlie at least providing her the general context of what was being said. The redhead tensed slightly hearing him mentioned Crimson Katana and glanced at Neko. The Irish teen knew that Neko was haunted by things in her past, having been awoken by Neko's nightmares in the middle of the night more than a few times, but she never asked questions, just being there for her friend. But she had seen Neko use a giant image of Crimson Katana against the forces of the Terminus as well, so the connection made sense.

 

Then the cat ninja seemed done speaking with Neko, stepping away and keeping up through a skylight and out into the night. "Umm…are we goin' ta follow?" She asked, unsure what Neko wanted to do.
 

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko 

 

Tears in her huge yellow eyes, Neko dropped to her knees, threw her arms in the air, and screamed to the heavens:

"AIIII!"

 

Then she gave a terrible hiss as her eyes glowed a malignant yellow, brown and white cats seeming to appear from everywhere around them, yowling in fury and fear as they scattered into the darkened concert stage around them. 

 

"I WILL FIND THEM!" she yelled, electric yellow witchfire curling in her eyes and between her ears, crackling down between her tails like so much bottled lightning. "I WILL FIND THEM IF I HAVE TO TEAR THIS CITY OF STEEL AND GLASS APART!" 

 

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Leon stopped beside Bernadette once he reached the rafters. He watched Neko circle the shinobi like a cat stalking a mouse. Her irritation was palpable. Her anger, barely in check.

 

He could follow some of the conversion and he didn’t like how the catboy was talking to his girlfriend, but Leon restrained himself. Suddenly the cat-ninja leapt up, straight through a skylight. Leon swung his arm and paper flew out only to miss the shinobi, the small sheets burying inot the ceiling around the shattered skylight.

“Damn it.”

 

On 11/30/2024 at 11:20 AM, Thevshi said:

Multi-Girl

 

Then the cat ninja seemed done speaking with Neko, stepping away and keeping up through a skylight and out into the night. "Umm…are we goin' ta follow?" She asked, unsure what Neko wanted to do.

 

“Of cour-”

Leon started to answer when Neko dropped to her knees and cried out.

 

On 11/30/2024 at 10:39 PM, Avenger Assembled said:

Neko

 

"I WILL FIND THEM!" she yelled, electric yellow witchfire curling in her eyes and between her ears, crackling down between her tails like so much bottled lightning. "I WILL FIND THEM IF I HAVE TO TEAR THIS CITY OF STEEL AND GLASS APART!"

 

“We will find them.”

Leon said as he knelt beside Neko and put his arms around her, not worried about her display.

“You’re not alone in this.”

He rested his forehead against the side of her head.

“After all, I'm always up for tearing up the town.”

He gave his girlfriend a familiar warm grin.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette held back moving over to Neko's side when she cried out, seeing Leon starting to move, letting him be the first to reach her side to comfort her. The redhead briefly glanced around as the cat-girl sent out her cats, knowing that Neko could see through them.

 

As Leon began to try to calm Neko, the Irish teen walked forward slowly. "Just tell us what you need us ta help you do." She stated, trying to sound as reassuring as she could. "Like Leon said, yer not alone."

 

Even as she spoke, Bernadette focused on her mental connection to her duplicates that were with the rest of the band, reassuring herself that they were all safe and appeared to be in no danger.

 

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

This is not how Charlie expected the evening to go. Sure, he had the uniform with him, he is ready for anything, like Alek taught him, but a cat ninja that comes in with an ancient oath of vengeance? Not so much.

 

Neko's yell and the cats that appear startles him for a second, but his training takes over. Bernie and Leon are with her. He wants to reassure her, too, but he has to get to work, if they want to find the cat ninja. Was it Shinobi, that she called him?

 

Reaching into his belt, he pulls out a number of small ball, then throws them up into the air, where they unfold into small bird shaped drones that quickly take into the night. Small images appear on his visor's HUD, as they scan through the city. 

 

"We're all with you," he says, as he leaps over to Neko and the others. The views from his drones show him several cats moving out and about, many more than he should see. "I got my drones out scanning the city." He could make a comment about how much easier this would be if they had just brought the jet, but it isn't the time. "What's the story? What can we do to find this Shinobi?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The Shinobi moves through the metropolis with the finesse and stealth of a trained ninja, and yet, he is wounded and distracted enough that he does not notice the random cats that have spread throughout the city, moving with an abnormal purpose. A few of the Stormcrow's drones escape notice as well, as he moves towards a skyscraper.

 

The cats see him reach the building and start to climb it, further and further up on the outside of the building. A lone drone follows him, as he reaches an open window on the top floor. A single cat on the roof sees as he enters through the open window.

 

The side of the building is emblazoned with a crimson logo, a full red circle that seems to have been cut in two.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko stood up, speaking in a voice with a fierce, echoing yowl, as if a large, angry feline, just invisible, was speaking along with her. "I FOUND HIM." Crackling with magical energy, tails low and lashing madly, she looked a veritable creature of Japanese legend - with only the hand that was tightly gripping Leon's a clue to the humanity of the girl within. She took a breath, then another, her hand on Leon's tightening. "I found him. Follow me!" she said. "Not too far!" And then she ran, down on all fours as she did when she was truly angry, shoes clattering off. The asphalt was hot and scratchy against her bare feet and hands; but she didn't feel it at all. 

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

"I got him, too." Charlie has his right hand at the side of his cowl, clicking it to control the drone. "I'll move the drone inside and see what's going on."

 

He doesn't really have much time to react, before Neko is off, crackling with magic energy, rushing along on all fours. Charlie doesn't know her well as the others, but he's pretty sure she doesn't usually move around like that.

 

"Is all that energy and... running around like that normal for Neko?" he asks, waiting a moment for the answer before he starts to move. While Neko sticks to the ground, he goes high, sticking to the rooftops as he runs, glides and swings across them, making sure to keep the others in sight.