2012-12-12 Ninjas Vs Archers

It is a dark night in the Bronx. The moon is out, but the stars are hidden by clouds and light polution from the city that never sleeps. There isn't much traffic still moving along the streets this far from the Theater District and Times Square, but a few brave pedestrians and the occasional NYPD car go cruising along. A dark cargo van turns onto the street and is slowly moving from north to south. It begins to slow as it nears a closed up store front.
Up on a building several stories up, Green Arrow is perched. His bow is still slung over his back and he appears to be watching the van as it moves along. "Finally they showed up," he says with his voice coming out in a little puff of breath into the December air.
"Next time we do a stakeout, I expect doughnuts," Speedy comments, taking her bow from her back and getting ready to nock an arrow. "I'm freezing my butt off here." Pause. "Well. What little I have in that department." That just makes it all the easier to freeze! Sigh.
"Bring on the ninjas!" That was Roy's response to Mia's texting him to come on over and help out with 'her' stakeout.
The wide grin Roy had forced him to explain to his 'partner' at Central Park that there was going to be a rumble in the Bronx. Complete with ninjas and MAYBE a Jackie Chan appearance... stop eyerolling, Kate, you're coming.
Of course, the meeting there was decidedly chilly as Arsenal eyed Green Arrow.
Okay, so Roy was still ticked at the old man. Mostly in that snarky 'island queen with a fetish' passive-aggressive mocking way, but still annoyed, as a quick -look- at Mia would tell her. Left that little detail out about who was helping, eh, Speedy -Junior-?
But Roy is quick enough to cover up that look by jerking a thumb at Kate. "Borrow some butt from Hawkeye, she's got some to spare. So, they're here, are they?" he asks, as he adjusts his shades to eye the van.
"..."
If somehow, during all the chaos that is probably about to happen, if Roy ends up with an arrow in his ass, what ever you do, don't blame Kate. After all, she didn't do it. And even if she does do it, who can blame her after a comment like /that/.
But anyways, as Roy arrives, yes, Kate is with him. But she does look pissed at that comment, yes.
"Do you really want to be a sterotype, Speedy? Lord knows what they put in donuts these days anyway. Damn GMO wheat..." Green Arrow's grumblings trail off into uncomprehendable mutterings as he pays more attention to the van. "You could learn a few things from...what does he call himself these days?...Cache? Two Gun Kid? Pistol Pete?..." He speaks without taking his eyes from the van as if Roy wasn't standing right next to them. "He did know how to sit still and wait for the target."
The van down on the street stops moving. The pull down gate in front of the store suddenly slides up with a slight racket, but people here in the Bronx know how to 'not see' what is going on. Several people clad in red from head to toe come out. All have their faces covered and carry swords on their backs. The van opens and several more similarly clad individuals climb out. There are some crates in the back of the van which are starting to get unloaded.
"Alright. Lets get closer." He unslings his bow and nocks a cable arrow. He fires it across the street and down towards a fire escape.
"Your butt is just fine, Hawkeye," Speedy assures her fellow female archer, then fires a cable of her own, swinging after her mentor with an easy grace. What she lacks in quick-drawing skills compared to Roy, she makes up for in being quick on her feet, moving quietly between fire escapes and other perches until she has a clear shot. "Just say the word, boss," she says, nocking an arrow and holding it, ready to loose it.
"Arsenal, old man," mutters Roy as he acknowledges Ollie, finally. Regarding the ninjas with a frown, the young man blithely acknowledges Hawkeye's glare with a wave of his hand. "Relax, yours is better than Speedy's. At least we know you didn't fill it with donuts."
Any further response is held off as Roy gets his bow ready, going with the taser-esque arrow. "What're these ninjas called anyway? What're we dealing with here and why?" he murmurs, waiting for an explanation.
"They're The Hand."
Yes, for some odd reason it's /HAWKEYE/ that supplies that bit of information. How she knows that is anyones guess. Especially since she was the one who was pulled in, and is an 'outsider' among this crowd.
Then there's a slight, amused shake of her head, probably due to Speedy and Arsenals comments, before she reaches for her own 'cable arrow', which is a different style all together than what the others are using. All though as she lands, she does grab an arrow of her own, which she aims not at a ninja, but instead at the van.
"Yeah, yeah. I still like Two Gun." The fire escape is closer to the store, but now at a little bit of an angle that most of the van can be seen, but the store front is hidden. "Weapons dealing." He nods to Hawkeye. "Yep. The Hand. Got a tip they were bringing weapons into the city from Yonkers rather than deal with the Port Authority." He pulls an arrow and lays it against the bow. "Apparently these guys are nasty as they come. Got some weird mystical side too from what I've heard. Going to send a sonic screamer over their heads. You guys hit him low." With that, he pulls back the bow, pauses for a moment, and then fires the arrow so that it will travel just over the van's top. After a few seconds of flight, an ear piercing shriek emits from the arrow.
The ninjas are effeciently unloading the van and getting crates down on the ground. As the arrow screams over their heads, swords are drawn and their vision goes up, looking for the source of the noise. They say nothing, but seem to operate together without needing to.
Speedy presses her lips together after hearing the name of the ninja organization. No. She's not saying it. Refuses to! Mostly because she's pretty sure her mentor is still in slap-the-back-of-her-head reach at the moment. "Okay, so, ninjas. Engage from a distance so they don't kick our teeth in or put weird ninja curses on it. Got it." She looses her glue arrow to try and stick a few of them to the cold pavement.
Roy has no such misgivings: "Speedy, you called us down here for a Hand Job?"
The laughter in his voice is gone quickly, though, as Arsenal shifts his position quickly away from Hawkeye. And if he's trying to prove to his old man that he -still- has what it takes to be called 'Speedy'... well, demonstration on, and electric ninja bugaloo about to come up, as Arsenal fires at one of the ninjas.
Yes Ollie is the most experienced archer here. Yes, he's the leader in regards to Mia and Roy. And yes, even Kate will admit he's worth listening to. Hence why, despite what she was going to do, she shifts targets. All though as she does, she does cast a quick 'shut up' glance at Roy at that /horrible/ joke.
"Don't forget ninjas tend to be archers as well, and have throwing stars, throwing knives, and their own ways to attack from afar." is said as Kate lets her arrow fly.
The ninjas look up at the screaming arrow and one is caught by the glue arrow. It is slamed up against the open back door of the van and is pinned there. The reaction time is quick and the next ninja is spinning and drawing his sword in time to catch the arrow on the sword. There is a flash of electric power as the taser travels along the sword blade, but it doesn't go through the handle rather makes it hot to hold. The ninja drops the sword and pulls two sai out of his sleeves. Hawkeye's arrow catches another ninja in the back as he turns. He is knocked over by the impact of the arrow and falls to the ground. Quickly, a pale yellow smoke begins to emit from the ninja's outfit. The rest of the ninjas are starting to get swords drawn and moving towards the back of the van, seeking the archers.
Green Arrow slips his bow back over his shoulder after firing and drops down from the fire escape. "Hand job," he mutters under his breath as he lands on the ground. He is quickly pulling his bow back off his shoulder. "Now, our fine fellows. We can't really have ninjas setting up shop in the Bronx. Next thing you know, we will have zombies as all over used Hollywood cliches want a piece of the action."
"What can I say, Arsenal? I figured it'd get messy," Speedy comments, once the boss is out of reach. She fires off a few more arrows to provide cover, then quickly starts springing towards another perch, so it will seem as if her shots are coming from multiple archers, trying to keep herself hidden.
"... yeah, you had to go and get everything gooey and sticky, Speedy," jibes Arsenal as he quick-draws and fires, in rapid succession, another glue arrow, and then a net arrow ("For protection", he asides to Hawkeye). The smoking ninja is met with a frown. "... uh... is that ninja set to explode?"
"..."
Yeah.... Hawkeye doesn't joke. Heck, if it wasn't for what's going on here, she'd probably be facepalming at these bad jokes. Instead, she starts firing plain ordinary arrows as fast as she can, at as many of the ninjas as she can. Of course by going so fast, she probably isn't taking much time to aim, if any...
"They don't explode. But... They also don't get captured. Ever."
Several ninjas are taken down by another glue and then the net although the one in the net is quickly cutting through it and getting free once more. From around the corner, two ninjas appear with bows of their own and take shots towards Aresenal and Hawkeye. Another is trying to find where Speedy is and throws several throwing stars in the direction her arrows are coming from. The air is full of arrows flying, but not the clink of arrows being cut by swords too as some of the arrows get blocked. Several ninjas charge towards Green Arrow on the ground as they swing swords towards the Emerald Archer.
"And now..." Green Arrow looks towards the folks up above him with the bows and arrows nodding towards the ninjas attacking him. "I draw 'em out. You mow them down." He is standing his ground but is starting to look nervous as they cover the ground a heck of a lot faster than he thought they would.
"Okay, so we won't get to catch any... we can at least scare them off whatever they were here to do," Mia says, dropping the joking- for now, at least. "And, preferably, keep them from killing anyone. Especially us." Like Hawkeye, she's firing plain sharps, mainly as suppressive fire to keep the ninjas busy enough to perhaps be distracted.
Great. Just great. Now Roy drops the bow as the ninjas start firing at him. Choosing to pull out the crossbow with one hand and fishing out some throwing stars with his other hand, he fires back at the ninja archer, aiming to disable the bow hand. "Hey old man, need a hand?" Roy calls out as he fires. No, the girls didn't need a hand, but the old man does? That insolent young pup. He's practically -testing- Ollie's patience...
It doesn't matter if the arrows are being cut. At least not to Hawkeye as she just keeps firing.
All though as Ollie tries to 'draw them out', the archer in purple suppresses a slight groan. But instead of making the comment that crosses her mind, she ducks for cover for a moment, to evade some of that return fire. But when she comes back out, she comes out firing! Especially as she starts to mix the occasional trick arrow into her barrage of 'normal sharps'. What sorts or trick arrows? Well, there is a 'stink bomb arrow' mixed in with her 'normal sharps', but odds are that won't effect the ninjas too much. Right?
Speedy narrowly avoids a throwing star to the chest, taking a grazing cut in her shoulder as she dives out of the way.
Even as some ninjas are being struck down by the sharp arrows and crossbow bolts, more are coming out from the store. They seem to care little about their own well being. Those that have fallen are quickly becoming smoke and the alley next to the store is filling with the stuff. As the stink bomb goes off, it mixes with the sulfer smell of the Hand so that the whole area is rapidly smelling like rotten eggs. The Hand do wake up enough to begin to take cover by the corner and near the van rather than get easily picked off by the archers. Soon, return fire is coming back at the trio above. Throwing stars and arrows of their own are coming up and at them quickly.
Green Arrow slips the bow off of his back and uses it to fend off the ninja that gets to him first. "Can the old man stuff or you are getting the hose every time you come over, whipper snapper," Green Arrow fires back. He cracks the ninja against the side of the head and dislodges the sword. He picks it up and begins to fend off the few ninjas that made it through the hail of arrows. "We've got to get those crates. Speedy, get towards the van. Two Gun, Hawkeye, cover her less then adaquate back side."
"You guys aren't going to start punching each other once the ninjas are gone, are you?" Mia asks, pulling a throwing star out of her armoured boot, and tossing it right back at the ninja that threw it. At least, she thinks the ninja she's aiming at threw it. It's hard to tell when they're all dressed the same.
"Does he turn the hose on you too, Speedy?" Arsenal retorts, as he throws the ninja stars to lay down cover. "Protip: Step on it. Speaking of which, maybe you -should- eat more donuts... whatcha think, Hawkeye? More junk for the trunk?" #1345emit
"Does he turn the hose on you too, Speedy?" Arsenal retorts, as he throws the ninja stars to lay down cover. "Protip: Step on it. Speaking of which, maybe you -should- eat more donuts... whatcha think, Hawkeye? More junk for the trunk?"
"If Arsenal and Greenie starts throwing punches, we've gotta get them to hold off until we can get The Garden and can sell tickets!"
Yeap, Hawkeye finally cracks a joke, even if it is a variation on an old, bad one.
And then as she ducks for cover yet again, and reaches for a very special arrow, one that she manually has to screw the over sized head onto, the female archer in purple tosses out another comment.
"All though with comments like that, I wouldn't blame Speedy if she were to punch you!"
Now the Hand ninjas start getting nasty. While some stay in cover to keep throwing stars and arrows, others have spikes on their hands and begin to crawl along the walls, up and towards the archers. They scurry quickly as more arrows fly towards the heroes. More are felled by the attack, but they never cry out. They simply fall and become smoke. One ninja gets near to Speedy's location now and leaps towards her in attack with the climbing spikes.
Green Arrow is fighting through a number of ninja with the sword in his hand. He is trying to get closer to the van and using the Hand ninja he fights as cover from the others. "I can't believe I am saying this, but lets get serious for a second here, and take this punks down."
Speedy actually seems to take what the boss says to heart, and doesn't snap back at Roy with a comeback, and instead starts trying to pin the ninjas down, or at least let Green Arrow get some better shots in than she can, after swinging to another perch, and wobbles a little. "...Ugh, I feel a little woozy. Um. They don't use poison on their throwing stars, do they?" Apparently, they do. Because after a few seconds, she's on her knees on a fire escape. "Crap, I'm okay, just... ugh, this is unpleasant."
It's probably a macho thing and Roy could be all apologetic about it later, but the one thing that was certain: Arsenal was still intent on proving himself to Green Arrow, and entirely too confident that the girls can take care of themselves. "Fine, old man," he grunts. The crossbow becomes a bludgeon against a ninja, and Roy dives into the hand-to-hand with reckless abandon, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. Gotta take them all down!
And as Speedy falls, Hawkeye is coming back from under cover, leans over the edge of the building, and fires the arrow straight down. At least that's before she ducks for cover again. Why? Because that arrows doesn't even get a good three feet from Kate before it explodes. And while sure, when it explodes there is a loud explosion, but there's not a fancy one. Not as a shockwave.. A somewhat sizable explosive shockwave goes flying towards the ninja climbing up the side of the building, and possibly even towards the ones on the ground below.
Yeah, that's right, the female archer in purple pulled out one of her 'bigger' guns. Fear!
Then again, as she watches Speedy fall, Hawkeye mutters something before shouting, "We might want to get out of here soon guys! Speedy is /DOWN/!"
Ninjas get scattered like ten pins as the explosion goes off. They are knocked off the walls and those firing have their own wepons shatter and blown back at them. While several Hand ninjas hold the line, most begin to fall back towards the van. Soon doors are slamming shut and the sound of the engine coming to life can be heard.
Green Arrow spares a look towards Arsenal as he jumps straight into the fray. He doesn't say anything, but then is looking back at the ninjas. He is then hit by the shockwave from the explosion behind him. He is thrown forward onto the ground even as the ninja he was fighting becomes smoke. He can't hear what Hawkeye said at first, but as he gets his sense back, he hears Speedy is down. "Pull back. There are more here than I thought. Pull back and get Speedy out of here."
Somehow it -figures- that on this job, it required a woman's touch to set off the biggest explosion.
That was a hell of an explosion, Arsenal had to admit, and it's with a stunned look that Roy looks towards Ollie. "Pull back? Pull back why---"
And then it sinks in, and Arsenal's look of annoyance is gone, replaced by concern as he withdraws from the Hand's base, retreating towards Hawkeye and Speedy.
It doesn't even take Ollie giving that 'order' for Hawkeye to already be moving over to try and grab Speedy, so she can /hopefully/ carry her teammate and ally some distance away. If they weren't on a roof, Kate would already be trying to get her fellow teenaged archer into a vehicle. Instead, the best she can do is to try and find a way down, and hopefully away from here.
Of course considering that Kate isn't exactly known for her strength, this might take a bit. Unfortunately.
Green Arrow pulls his bow from his back and quickly has an arrow out. He fires at the feet of the recovering Hand. The explosive detonates as it hits the ground creating a large cloud of debris and dust in front of the Hand and the archers. "Arsenal, help carry Speedy. Lets see about getting some transporation together."
There are noises from the other side of the dust, but the loudest is the van pulling away with a screech.
"Right, Green Arrow," Arsenal responds, as he makes his way back towards Hawkeye's side by any and every means possible. Not a parkour guy, not like say, Nightwing, but he'll make do.
Deadweight--- sorry, bad choice of words --- unconscious bodies were always difficult to get moving, but once the two archers could work out a way to get her moving... er, where to? Who had had the better car, Ollie or Kate?
Definately a bad choice of words. After all, calling any woman dead weight (or making any sort of comment about their weight) is not a wise thing to do if one wishes to have certain parts of their bodies left intact. Or at least pain free.
But anyways....
Hawkeye doesn't even think about who has the better car. Nope. Instead she just tries to get Speedy to the car she's using for tonight, which actually is a bit of a beater. But oh well, if/when the ward(s) of Ollie are onboard, there's only one place Kate would let them go.
Yeah, that's right. To The Night Nurse!
That is if they actually get that far.
"You two get Speedy to care. I'll cover the escape and meet you there. I can track her and find you easily enough." Green Arrow helps get Speedy into the car. "Just no SHIELD," he says with a look at Roy. "I don't trust them." He looks over at Kate. "You know some place other than government related health care, right?"
"SHIELD isn't even -government-, old man... it's the UN. But..." Considering Nick Fury, maybe it wasn't a bad idea, after all, to stay the hell out of the One-Eyed one's way. "Hawkeye here's good at staying out of the public eye when she wants to." For the most part, anyway, trying to track her down had shown him that.
"..."
Yeah. Here's where Hawkeye just /has/ to give Green Arrow a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. Seriously.
"You're a costume. In this city. And you don't know to go to The Night Nurse...?"
Yeah. She even flashes Roy that look too as he argues semantics.
"I tend to take care of things myself," Green Arrow says with a shake of his head. "Still learning what you know and who you are. Roy here seems to trust you so that is good enough for me, but I still don't know you." He glances towards Roy. "And SHIELD is close enough. Close enough that they would want all of us under their lock and key. Jumping through their hoops and not where I think I should be." He glances behind them as the sound of a few last ninjas can be heard through the still present dust cloud. "Get going. I'll join you later."
"Hnh... yeah, I can see it, Director Fury and Green Arrow, they'll get along just grrrrrreat," Roy mutters in a low tone, mostly towards Kate. "C'mon, let's get Speedy to the Night Nurse already..." And just to make a final point to Oliver about -his- heroic tendencies, Roy whips out throwing stars, and flings them towards the sound of those last few ninjas. "The old man can clean up."
And odds are Mia does too. But Hawkeye doesn't say that. Instead she tosses Ollie something, namely her quiver, complete with some arrows that would truly qualify as 'military grade' weapons (despite the fact that they're also trick arrows).
That is before she guns her cars engine...
And they're hopefully off.
"If he's old, then I don't want to know what that makes you... Agent Harper."
"Old enough to be Lian's father... Granny Kate."
"Word of warning Roy. Don't call me or Mia Granny right now. Not after that Granny Goodness case."
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