I1: Once Upon A Time In Madripoor

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:00 pm

Ever the goodie-two-shoes, except when breaking and entering, John ripped off a strip of the guards uniform and handed it to him before moving. He continued to try and close the distance.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:17 pm

He's not the only one moving, so by the time he makes his way around and catches another glance at the truck he can't see neither the other guard nor the woman in the cape. He does hear a loud clank though when somebody kicks an empty container while trying to climb it. This time the noise isn't followed by any projectiles being aimed at it's source.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:30 pm

John went for the truck. He'd disable it by freezing and cracking a wheel.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:52 pm

The wheel is quickly covered in ice, the cold making the rubber brittle until it ruptures with a subdued pop. Behind him the sound of boots landing on a container echo through the building. The woman is standing on top of a nearby container, arms outstretched with several metal pins floating near her hands. One of them flies off and barely misses John, clipping the armor covering his leg and punching right through it. It does fall to the floor instead of impacting into the ground after having expended all of it's momentum by piercing the armor, but getting hit by one of them still seems like a tremendously bad idea.

"You're the dragon." the woman notes, sounding surprised and, for some reason, vaguely confused.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:01 pm

Shit...

He was frightened by being pinned down in the open, but didn't let it show.

"My reputation precedes me I see," he said.

by **Rail** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:38 pm

"That makes things a lot simpler. 对不起." she says and jumps into the air and flies straight at John as if on a rail, her foot connecting with John's chest with way more impact than her slim frame would account for. Whatever she's doing to those projectiles of hers she seems to be doing to herself somehow.

((Chinese for "I'm sorry."))

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:48 am

John had just enough time to widen his eyes before being knocked into the truck bed hard enough to make it bow around him. His chest ached from the impact and he was too winded to speak or move very much, but he didn't think she broke anything. He still attempted to fight back with as hard a swipe of his quasi-prehensile tail as he could manage without added body momentum.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 11:21 am

The woman doesn't exactly have a lot of bulk, so John's tail sends her flying. She hits one of the shipping containers and has the wind knocked out of her. Keeping herself somewhat upright by pushing her slumped frame against he container she reaches to her belt and pulls out another metal pin. She pulls it apart, revealing a steel wire connecting two pieces that immediately go flying off to each side of John, impacting into the truck and pulling the wire taut against his chest.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 11:30 am

With his energy returning, John attempted to snap the wire with a combination of claws and brute strength.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:00 pm

While John works on snapping the cable the woman regains her composure and launches herself at John again, her fist on a direct collision course with his face.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:07 pm

He snapped it just barely fast enough to drop a fraction of an inch below the impact. Immediately he punched up at her stomach.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:17 pm

Her (presumably reinforced) glove leaves a rather impressive impact in the truck right above John's head. She tries to twist out of the way of his punch but doesn't manage to in time. Her body armor catches some of the impact, but she's still thrown up and flipped, landing with her back on the front of the truck. She immediately rolls sideways to move herself away without having to strain her stomach.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:31 pm

John finally got to his feet again and moved away from the truck so not to get pinned by another wire.

"Who were you expecting me to be anyway?" he called out.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:40 pm

"The... Shadow Girl." she says, sounding hesitant and confused again. "But Muse said she'd be getting help soon and I won't let you ruin things." she says, slowly moving backwards towards the open container.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:59 pm

"Shadow Girl? Muse? I actually have no idea what you're talking about."

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:25 pm

"Yeah right. You come here all the way from London on the heels of Miss Onyx when she's not hitting us as hard as you want and now you show up just as we're getting ready to ship more people away from a life of slavery." she says as she jumps and let's her gloves yank her up and onto the open container. John can't help but feel that this woman seems kind of deluded.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:42 pm

"Away from slavery? Okay I know Onyx, but she wouldn't fight against that knowingly," he replied, climbing up a different container. "One of you has been lied to."

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:50 pm

"So you admit that you know her." she says, raising her arms and several metal pins detach from her gloves to float around her outstretched fingers, all snapping their ends towards John. "Get in the container."

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:17 pm

"I think you overestimate your position for negotiation," he said. "Besides, I'm not here to take away your business... even if you were a slaver, I hate to say. I'm here to protect mine. Unless you work for Hereford, Stane, or Kumo, we need not be enemies today."

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:32 pm

"Who do you think these containers belong to? Hereford is helping us getting these people out of Madripoor." she says and one of the metal pins flies off and in the blink of an eye disappears into the concrete in front of John's feet. "Now move."

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:51 pm

"Fine," he said, beginning to walk. but alert for an opening.

"But how do you know he's not just selling them elsewhere?"

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 5:06 pm

The woman doesn't respond and keeps her eyes on John the entire time. At least until the second guard, who must have still been scoping out the maze of shipping containers rounds a corner and her eyes flick over to the man for a second.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:46 pm

That's when John kicked the mattress at her with all his strength.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:03 pm

She looks back at John just in time to get a face full of mattress, her ammunition clattering to the floor as her telekinetic grip on it is interrupted.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:07 pm

He rushed back into the maze, cursing himself for not having backup.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:30 pm

"Shit." she mumbles and jumps over to a different container to try and follow John. It's not exactly sneaky though thanks to the loud metal clang of her landing.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:40 pm

John moved as quietly as possible, watchful for a way to get the drop on her.

by **Rail** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:53 pm

She kept moving from container to container which gave her the high ground but also gave away her position fairly consistently.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:28 pm

John looked to the cranes used for stacking the containers and moved for the nearest. Maybe if he could get to it he could turn the tables.

by **Narrator** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:36 pm

It's simple enough to avoid the masked woman and make it to one of the cranes. The area around them is fairly open but it's pretty dark.

by **John Hino** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:39 pm

He climbed to the controls, intending to move a container right out from under her.

by **Rail** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:41 pm

Rail is in the process of running across the container when it suddenly lifts up. She scrambles to the side, but by then she's already quite far from the ground. Her head swivels around, looking for the crane controls.

by **John Hino** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:04 pm

"Ready to clear up this little misunderstanding?" he asked over the crane's loudspeaker.

by **Rail** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:10 pm

"There's nothing to clear up. First Onyx shows up, looking for experts in brainwashing, now you're trying to keep us from sending these people off to a better life. If you won't surrender I'll just have to knock you out." she says, stalling for time while she assesses her situation.

by **John Hino** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:24 pm

"I don't know what lies you've heard, but I'm an X-Man. We don't fight to help those who victimize others. I only came to stop a plan to bankrupt my family's company."

by **Rail** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:35 pm

"No that's... that's not right!" she shouts, clutching her head. "You're the kind of scum I swore I'd stop! She said you claim to be the good guys, but you just don't understand and that you must be stopped." she goes down on one knee and places her hand on the shipping container.

by **John Hino** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:48 pm

Brainwashed herself?

"You know what a Muse is don't you? A goddess that whispers inspiration into the minds of mortals. That's your brainwashing expert."

by **Rail** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:59 pm

Either she didn't hear him or she's not listening. She certainly seems like trying to use her power on the suspended container is taking a lot out of her. John has about half a second between the container suddenly going completely still in mid-air and the thing launching itself at the little cabin with the crane controls. Rail jumps and grabs a hold of one of the cables that held the container just before it snaps. She looks like she's one stiff breeze away from loosing her grip, but that detail probably goes unnoticed in the face of the shipping container hammering into the crane.

by **John Hino** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 7:50 pm

John bailed out and tried to slide down the ladder before he got squished.

by **Melpomene** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 8:58 pm

There's barely any time before the container slams into the crane console. John manages to avoid the most of it but the sheer force of the impact throws him several yards through the air and into another container, almost jack-knifing it in the process. The last thing John sees is the crumpled container and crane console slide to a stop against the far wall, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

When he comes to he is staring at a very fancy looking ceiling, complete with chandelier. He doesn't seem to be restrained in any way and sitting up reveals that he's sitting on a lounger in what looks like some kind of barroom, complete with a circular couch. Rail is standing next to it, keeping an eye on John while a woman wearing a veil seems to be talking on the phone. When she notices John is awake she gives Rail a curt nod. The masked woman glances at her almost a little questioningly, but then leaves. The veiled woman hangs up the phone and turns around to face John.

"Mister Hino. How nice of you to join us here in Madripoor."

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