ic Abductions in the Cold (IC)

[Corsecjedi]

"My thanks, friend," Shadowblade murmured before knocking the fellow unconscious.  Well, that had been an enlightening conversation, she thought as she shadow-jumped back up to the balcony and the rescued man.  She called out softly as she approached, "I have returned, friend.  My apologies for your wait.  Let us get you safely out of here."  She reached out and gripped his arm firmly again.  "Hold on," she said and then jumped again with the man to the doors she had used to enter the gym.

 

Shadowblade moved as quickly and quietly as she could with the rescued man in tow.  She moved back down the hallway to the side door she had used to enter the facility.  When they reached the door, she held up her hand.  "Alright," she whispered to him.  "There are men watching from the windows, but I think I can get us far enough away for you to escape."  She pointed to a derelict building at the end of the long driveway.  "That is where I am going to take us.  Are you ready?"  

 

He gulped, then nodded and seized her hand hard.  "Just want to say," he whispered back, his voice a little raspy from stress and fear, "thanks.  Thank you so much!"

 

She nodded and gave him a swift smile, and then they jumped.  Once in the derelict building, the man scampered off into the night as quickly and stealthily as he could.  Shadowblade could only watch after him for a moment before turning back toward the building and the rest of her task.  Someone would find the havoc she'd wreaked before long.  She pulled out her map and identified the best way from her back entrance to the cafeteria. Then, she took a deep breath and shadow-jumped back to the door and slipped inside the facility once more.

 

She moved down the hallways as quickly as she dared, eyes and ears alert for any sound of trouble.

[Thunder King]

As she approached the cafeteria, Shadowblade spotted three guards, all standing together between the office and cafeteria. They were relatively alert.

 

"So, someone's in here." One of them said. "One of the subjects is gone, and some of the scientists were knocked out. Boss says we're to stay here."

 

The other two nodded. "I know my orders, Jackson. Jeez." He glanced around. "You think it's one of them heroes?"

 

"Well, obviously. If it were the cops, they'd have started shouting by now, you know?"

 

"I hope it's not the Raven, or Foreshadow. You never know when those folks are even in the area." He glanced around nervously. "Hero could be here right now, you know? What if we're being watched, I mean..."

 

"Shut up. Just keep your head straight, alright?"

Edited December 21, 2013 by Thunder King

[Corsecjedi]

They couldn't have set up her entrance any finer than that.  Shadowblade said in a low, carrying voice, "Thou should have paid heed to thy companion."  The guards jumped, obviously startled, and she leapt to the attack.  With a soft sound of displaced air and a puff of smoke, she appeared behind the alert guard.  Her blade flashed, and he fell to the ground in an unconscious sprawl.  She vanished again, appearing once more down the hall, and the remaining two guards spun about, trying to track her as she shadow-jumped about them.  But she was quicker, far quicker, and she vanished again.  Another popping noise, another puff of smoke, and another groan: the second guard doubled over and then fell to the floor in a boneless heap.  The final guard spun again to find Shadowblade pressing him closely.  "Let us dance, then, thee and I," she murmured and raised her blade in high guard.

[Thunder King]

The guard froze, eyes wide. "BOSS!" He yelled as loud as he could. He lunged to attack her with his nightstick. To his credit, he almost hit Shadowblade. She actually had to move out of the way of the attack. "Boss, got a hero out here!" He shouted, backing off slightly, watching her movements carefully. It was obvious that he had better than average combat training, but he was still not quite good, not compared to Shadowblade.

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade swore under her breath as she dodged the guard's frantic swing; so much for surprising the leader of this sordid operation.  She needed to finish this now.  Her blade flashed in the dim lights as she faked an attack, pulling the guard out low.  She instantly swept the blade up high and dealt him a blow with the flat of her blade.  Already off-balance, the strike sent him reeling, and he, too, dropped to the floor.  She spun toward the office door the moment he fell, hoping against hope that whoever the "boss" was, he would take at least a moment or two to react and give her time to vanish and plan.

[Thunder King]

The door to the office fell to splinters as a man stepped through the rubble. He was at least six feet tall and wore a long, dark red coat, his bare chest covered in scars and strange tattoos. His black hair was slicked back, and he wore a scowl of contempt.

 

"Pathetic." He said, glancing down at his guards. "Hero, I don't suppose you think you actually hid from me, do you?" He said with a chuckle. "Come on, we both know you want to rescue the subjects, but you know I won't let you get out of here with them, not without going through me first."

 

He opened his arms in challenge.

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade bit back another curse as the man spotted her.  If only she'd been faster, that loudmouthed guard wouldn't have alerted his boss.  Still, there was nothing for it, then, but to face the man in combat.  "En guard, villain!  Avaunt!"  she cried, and she shadow-jumped.  She appeared behind him, but instead of swinging her blade, she scythed her leg in a low, sweeping kick, trying to knock the man off his feet.  She struck him solidly, but he deftly managed to keep his feet.  She vanished again, finishing her shadow-jump, and appeared several feet in front of the leader.  "God's blood," she swore under her breath - the boss, apparently, was made of much sterner stuff than the hired help.  She raised her blade to guard position again and prepared for a fight.

[Thunder King]

The man laughed. "What the hell was that?" He said, spotting her. He grinned maliciously and charged. He moved far, far faster than any normal human and slammed his fist into her abdomen as he dashed past her. He dug his hand into the tiled floor to stop himself and turned around to face her. "Lady, lady, seriously? Are you a pirate or something?" He said, cracking his neck. "What's with the fancy talk?" He grinned maliciously.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Thunder King

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade grunted as his blow struck home.  That's going to leave a mark tomorrow.  She needed to change the scenario and give herself room to work.  Her hand shot to her harness and pulled one of her smoke grenades free.  She lobbed the grenade down the hall at the leader; the distraction struck the ground at his feet, and he vanished in a cloud of smoke.  Shadowblade shadow-jumped down the hallway and hid in the shadows as best she could; the villain would likely try to negate her advantage somehow.  She needed to get a step ahead of him.

[Thunder King]

The man ran in a direction at random to escape the smoke and took a look around, when he didn't see her, he ran back towards the cafeteria. He looked annoyed, but not particularly angry. He crossed his arms as if waiting, patiently, for her to arrive. It was obvious that he'd figured out she would try to smoke him out, maybe even provoke him away from the cafeteria. He was no fool, that much was obvious.

 

"I know you're still here, lady." He said with a smirk. "Come on, come and get me."

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade smiled slightly as the villain moved away from her.  Even if he had not been foolish enough to be lured from his hostages, she had the advantage now, if only for the moment.  She launched herself forward once more.  This time, she did not try any flourishes or maneuvers; she focused entirely on her strike, and her rapier struck him with the force of a hammer.  He reeled from the blow even as she vanished and reappeared back down the hall near the cloud of smoke.  While her foe hadn't dropped to the ground, it was obvious she had dealt him a nasty knock.  "Sooth, man, t'will be my pleasure to 'come and get' thee."

[Corsecjedi]

When the villain failed to make a threatening move or any action, Shadowblade moved instantly to press her advantage and the attack. She ran forward and then vanished into a blurring series of shadow-jumps.  She swung her blade at him high, low, from behind, and from above in a series of strikes, hoping to keep the man off-balance and struggling.  He grunted from the bruising force of her blows but seemed to be coming back back into the fight.  She bit back a curse and dropped into a guard position once more as the fight went on.

[Thunder King]

He grinned as soon as she finished striking him. "Ha, there you are." He said, taking a swing at Shadowblade. He managed to connect, but she was able to roll with the punch and lessen the blow. He chuckled. "Heh, with all that fancy talk and dodging, good ol' fisticuffs looks like it's winning out, no offense, of course. Though now that I got a good look at your face, are those eyes real? Come on, kittycat, that all you got?"

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade wished she could disagree with the assessment, but she hated straightforward slugging matches.  She cast her eyes about the room, looking for anything she could use to her advantage in the fight.  Her eyes settled on the old, flickering light hanging from the ceiling on a chain; that would do nicely, if she could make the idea work.  "Mine eyes see well in the dark - can thou say the same of thine?" she replied and shadow-jumped to the hanging light.  She landed atop it gracefully, steadied herself on the chain, and plunged her blade into the light fixture.  It died with a shower of sparks, and Shadowblade vanished into the darkness the light's destruction left behind.

[Thunder King]

In response to Shadowblade's vanishing act, he reached over to a nearby locker. He tore the door off effortlessly. "I still know where you are, kittycat." He said as he sent the object hurling through the air. It struck the light fixture Shadowblade stood on and shook it. The door bounced off and landed on the floor, completely mangled.

 

"Now, come on down, kittycat. I don't think that light can hold you much longer." He said, taunting her. "Gonna come down?"

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade privately agreed with assessment of the dangerously swaying light.  Battered by her blade and the man's improvised attack with the locker door, it looked ready to give way at any moment.  But she kept her voice cool, light, and taunting as she replied, "Has it entered thy mind, ne'er-do-well, that this sport of 'cat and mouse' rarely ends happily for aught but the cat?"  And with that, she launched herself to the attack yet again.  His eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly appeared in front of him this time.  Her blade licked out in a swift stroke, and he groaned yet again as she struck him.  She vanished once more almost before he had a chance to react and reappeared perched on the next hanging light down the hall, poised to shatter the bulbs when she found her balance.  Her breathing was harsh with the strain and exhilaration of combat - hopefully, he, too, would be feeling the strain and pain of her attacks.

[Thunder King]

He chuckled. "Yeah, but I ain't a mouse, lady." He said, rearing back. "I'm a lion!" He shouted, slamming his fists together. The whole hall shook as locker doors opened and flew off. The lights shook and fell, having been broken from their anchoring. "You're a kittycat, but I'm a beast!"

 

The wave of air pressure overtook Shadowblade as the light she stood on collapsed. The hall went dark, and he laughed aloud. The man was clearly at least a fairly clever strategist.

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade dropped to the ground in a shower of broken light fixtures as the villain's shockwave shattered the lights and lockers down the hallway.  She managed to keep her feet as she landed, but the tactic had certainly been unexpected.  Still, his action had had at least one unintended consequence - the hall plunged into darkness, and she vanished into the sudden shadows.  Her voice echoed down the hall as she moved stealthily forward, "A beast thou may be, but thou art a witless one to gift me advantage so."

 

He looked up and down the dark hallway, trying to figure out where she was, but she stalked closer in the concealing shadows - it was time to end this.  She leapt to the attack again, flickering in and out of the shadows about him; her blade danced in a relentless assault, slashing and jabbing from all about him, and the villain staggered back under her furious attack.  She pushed past her weariness and the pain of his blows and launched a final, devastating blow.  She appeared in the air above him and brought her blade down with all the momentum and power she could bring to bear.  Her trusty weapon slammed into him with stunning force, and, finally, he dropped to the ground unconscious.

 

Shadowblade landed next to his prone body, breathing heavily as she leaned wearily against the broken lockers for a moment.  The strain of that last tremendous effort, coupled with the long night, made her long for a nice long rest, but there was still work to be done.  She pushed off the locker and pulled her handcuffs from her harness.  She bound the "boss" with them, though she didn't expect the simple cuffs to restrain him for long if he woke up.  Still, it was better than nothing.  With the boss restrained, she pushed open the doors to the cafeteria to find the two other test subjects.  Once they were safe, she could contact the authorities, hopefully find out what this operation had been up to, and then, eventually, rest.

[Thunder King]

The remaining subjects were found inside the former cafeteria, both of which were unconscious, but in good health. As soon as the door shut behind her, they started to wake up. Neither man was coherent for a few seconds, but eventually she got the story from them.

 

Apparently, whoever that man was, he was attempting to use a machine that would grant super powers to people it was used on. If the machine did well, it would be sold to criminal organizations who wanted to add a bit of metahuman muscle to their ranks without the risks associated with drugs.

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade listened to the rescued subjects' tale with mounting disgust for the "boss" and his exploitation of regular people.  "Gentles," she said after their story drew to a close, "you have my sympathies for your ordeal.  A moment, prithee, whilst I contact the proper authorities; I feel confidant that they will provide further succor, and a doctor's craft, if you wish it."

 

She pulled out her cell phone, one carefully not linked to one Elanor Churchill in any way, and placed a call to the Freedom City police.  Once she was certain help was on the way, both to aid the hostages and to take the criminals into custody, she made the rescued people as comfortable as possible while they waited and then went back out into the hall.  She doubled-checked that the "boss" was still unconscious and secure before taking a firm hold of his arm and shadow-jumping them both into the office area across from the cafeteria - she wanted him under her eye just in case he began to stir.  Once inside the office, she began looking for any additional evidence about the operation: who had funded it, where the scientists had been recruited, or any other context.  In her admittedly biased opinion, the "boss" had seemed too thuggish to have put everything together, and she wanted to ensure he didn't have any ties to larger or more dangerous allies.