Summary:Nadia van Dyne (Wasp) makes contact with Lexi Haze (Whiplash) over the recent Black Razor attacks and offers her aid. Log Info:Storyteller: klavdiya-vasiliev |
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Following the incident with the sniper team, Nadia has been able to piece together a few things of importance to expand her knowledge of the situation:
First amongst these is the most immediate: given the direction of the sniper's perch, she has been able to conclude that they were firing into Mutant Town. And further investigation turned up another incident, including massive amounts of blood from five sources, and smaller amounts from three others. No bodies were found, but some evidence including spotty eyewitness reports indicate that a meeting of some sort was broken up by a gunshot, a giant tiger of some kind, and then a gun battle as four men in tactical gear attacked. No one seems willing to identify any of the parties involved, but Nadia would likely also notice that the homeless in the area are amped up, exceptionally skittish, and moving only in packs, never alone.
Secondly, this is the second report of an incident in Mutant Town in the last several months involving a giant tiger. The first involved a metahuman-on-metahuman assault that reportedly involved a newly-manifesting young mutant and some kind of creature that attached itself to the girl, feeding on her powers. That incident reportedly included the giant tiger, a huge purple lion - no joke - and the creature itself. The police were barely able to get any statements after that incident; the people of Mutant Town tend to close up in the face of cops and never snitch on their own.
Thirdly, Nadia's investigation of the shooter turns up nothing official; but given he and his partner spoke Russian, and used Russian weapons, as well as gear specifically capable of countering metahuman powers and abilities, she has found evidence in the records she stole away from the Red Room that they helped found, shape and supply tech to an organization known only as the Razors, although they were colloquially sometimes called the Black Razors because they tended to wear black tactical armor, which was eventually mechanized into powered armor. This group specialized in hunting, neutralizing, recruiting and controlling metahuman operatives for the Soviet Union. Like the Red Room program itself, they largely went underground and disappeared from any official records with the fall of the USSR.
Related to the third comes the fourth: Nadia is able to gather some information from SHIELD - without their knowledge - when they come to take custody of the shooter and his gear. Apparently SHIELD is concerned about an 'Agent Darkstar', who has been missing for days. They are especially concerned because Darkstar is a Russian expat metahuman who had been using SHIELD resources and contacts to investigate the existence and possible continuing operations of the Razors prior to her disappearance. And the last known location for her? A food kitchen serving the homeless in Mutant Town.
Ever since coming to America the Wasp has been living the life of an Adventure scientist. Although it's had a lot more science than adventures. But with a recent Red Room attack all that's changed. Infiltrating police stations, hunting through old technical specifications and recreating two links crime scenes using a mixture of 'borrowed' research from the police and all the cell phone footage posted online. People in Mutant Town might be more protective of their own, but when dealing with a city as populated as New York social media is still a gold mine of potential data if you know where to look.
Of course her best lead came from shooting a bug into the injured Razor. A chance to spy on the SHIELD agents, however risky, paying off with a lead. SHIELD might not be able to look around food kitchens in Mutant Town without sticking out like sore thumbs but for her it's childs play. Shrunk down to insect size she can go almost anywhere and then it's just a case of watching and waiting.
Lexi is not used to being hunted. She's still getting used to the idea that it's her friends who are being hunted by crazy Russian spec ops guys who are totally okay with blowing up bits of the city and firing sniper rifles at people with the SHIELD HQ /right over there/. But she can't deny that thus far they've been ahead of the game in striking first, even with some warning. As a result, the Pride has gone to ground. Most didn't know much about their leader to begin with; now almost no one knows where she is while she's been recovering.
Other than Lexi, which is why she's much more on guard and paranoid than normal.
Thus, Lexi approaches the soup kitchen carefully….clinging to the roof above as she watches for any betraying glints or people she doesn't recognize below on the street, golden eyes peering down searching for interlopers.
Hey, that word-a-day calendar is really paying off!
Also present in the supporting data in the SHIELD agents' briefcase would be pictures of Agent Romanova - Black Widow - and Petrovna, aka Darkstar. Also present would be evidence analysis by SHIELD, including the fact that two of the blood samples found matched those agents; they determined that one of the trace elements found on-scene was flakes of obsidian, while another has been labelled 'lightforce-infused mercury', apparently both are believed to have been from specialized ammunition, with theories that the lightforce-mercury ammo would be ideal to counter Darkstar's darkforce constructs.
The most massive blood sample found seems to have major animal antigens as well as human, as if somehow a blend of human and tiger, and shows signs of incredibly acidic interactions and breakdown, yet no acid was found. They are yet unsure what caused that reaction. Lastly, one blood sample has been connected to other samples found a a handful of crime scenes over the years, but without any identification of the source. Said blood sample is odd, as it does not replicate, and after twelve hours it immediately denatures and disintegrates into empty plasma.
Once Lexi makes herself known, a couple of the homeless approach her location and huddle up around her, hiding her from outsiders. "Bluecoats still around, still asking. No sign of the Black Armors Hunter warned us about. No other attacks we know about. We've redirected a shipment of food to the safehouse above entrance eight, heavy on meat like you asked. Our friend, Butcher, appreciated the contribution. We will keep looking for any signs of them, and pass along as quickly as we can, using the code signs."
The sensors in her suit and a few snooping gadgets in her utility belt allow Micro-Nadia to listen in to just about every conversation taking place within the building. Most haven't lead to anything interesting, but talk of Black Armour Hunters and a heavy shipment of meat combined with reports of a huge meta-tiger? That's either a very clever decoy or the people she's tracking.
For now at least she waits and watches. Idly checking for the building plans for the church to see if it has any tunnel networks beneath and, if so, which are truck accessable. Entrance eight implies a whole network of passages but that's too much ground to cover by searching blind. Still it never hurts to plan for future contigencies!
Lexi nods slightly to the people who report to her as she drops down to the ground to talk with them. "Be careful. These guys are fuckin' ruthless. If they think you might know anything, they'll try to get it out of you. Better alive than trying to get info to her more quickly." the mutant murmurs, glancing around, her silvery hair seeming to ripple slightly in an invisible breeze. She hands off a few bills to the homeless in question, before she starts heading towards a nearby manhole cover that's been left partially open
This particular building is not a church, but a former storefront that has been claimed by a non-profit and transformed into a food kitchen. There are supposed to be tunnels in this area; Nadia has heard that there used to be an entire enclave of mutants living in the tunnels beneath the city, and that one of the hubs for that was beneath what is now Mutant Town. But there are no maps for those tunnels in the city systems. Some sewer and water drainage tunnels, however, are recorded, including those connecting to that manhole cover Lexi just headed for. But none of those are recorded as being big enough for a truck to drive into. Some drones might be able to map out those tunnels given a few hours to work on the problem.
The older black man with the others nods, and shoos the others away. "Tell Hunter to stay safe. We will do the same, until she can return to us. Be careful, Whiplash." And with that, Weather too slips away.
Given the choice between searching an entire sewer system with drones and taking a risk to make contact…. Well it doesn't take a supergenius to know which is the smart choice. Her suits electronic systems have detected a cellphone on this 'Whiplash' and, while flying along behind, she switches to subvocal and makes a call. "Hey there," she says brightly if Lexi picks up the call. "You don't know me, but I'm a friend and we have a mutual enemy in the Red Room. So I thought I'd get in touch."
Lexi immediately picks up the phone. Because the people who have this number are pretty low! And thus, it'd be important.
She's a bit suprised to find someone she doen't know at the other end.
"Th' Red Room?" she says slowly, and a bit guardedly. "And you're a friend because….?" There's a pause at the end there before the mutant woman exztends tendrils from her back, smoothly parkouring up the side of the building she's by to end up on the roof, and a bit less visible.
"I stopped the sniper team who were shooting at you all the other day," Nadia offers, a touch of a Russian accent to her voice. "And as a token of goodwill I am prepared to offer schematics for the gear the Black Razors are using. They're a little out of date, but it should help you if… When they next make an attempt on you and your friends. There's only so much re-enforcement you can make to the initial weak points after all."
"Oh and you should know SHIELD are looking for a rogue agent. They seemed very… ah… concerned. About rogue agents and gun battles on the street." She pauses for a second. "Besides it's also in my best interests to help you out. If these Razors have success with this mission, given the gear they had, I may well be on a list of future targets."
The mauve mutant pauses, crouching down behind an airconditioning unit as she tilts her head, her foxish ears perking forwards slightly. "…if that's true, then I owe you a favor." she admits. "So. I'm willing to meet with you. Someplace nice an' neutral, anyhows." She frowns to herself, tilting her head. "If you really want to help out, that is?"
"I'm not going to kill anyone," Nadia says emphatically. "Even Red Room agents. I just want to be clear about that up front. If that's not an issue we can arrange a meet if you want. I've left some secure contact info on the memory stick alongside the data. While we've been talking I secured it to the underside of the manhole cover you were about to head into just now."
"I'm sure you'll want a little time to verify the information first?"
Lexi stiffens a bit, looking around her, her ears perking in alarm. Someone was watching her and she didn't see them?! "Uh…okay. I'll..yeah. Yeah, let's go with that plan. I'll give you a call once I've had time to look over the info, and we can see about discussing this…more…."
"Wonderful! I look forward to chatting face to face," Nadia says with a cheer that's not entirely representative of her enjoyment of her current situation. Namely flitting around in a storm drain to get back out of the sewers without touching a manhole cover or giving away her position. "I really don't know how you can stomach a sewer adjacent hideout. The smell alone is bad enough for a brief visit, I dread to think of the hygene implications! Anyway bye for now. I'll understand if you ditch the phone you're using. Oh the memory stick is bug free, but shouldn't be harmed by any of the standard SHIELD bug checks. So feel free to take any reasonable precautions!" She nods to herself, not that it's obvious over a call. "For now at least I better fly. I've got to put together a sonic weapon dampening systems and that sort of work is quite fiddly. The slightest mistake and everyone, including me, winds up with exploded eardrums…."
"Uh, sure….good luck with that?" Lexi says after a moment to consider that. "I'll keep the phone, but I'll turn it on when I want to call, just in case….lots of people tracking cells these days, not just you, I mean." she hastens to add. "What do I call you, exactly? You can call me…mmm….Whiplash." she says thoughfully. "That'll work."
"Oh no luck needed. Just a little time," Nadia assures. "And you can call me Nadia. Or if you /really/ like codenames 'Wasp' will do." She hrms. "Take the battery out, rather than switch it off. It's the most foolproof way to stop anyone listening in via your phone. But that really is all the time I have for now, it's been nice meeting you Whiplash."
"I know, I know…." Lexi grumbles a bit. "Nice meeting you too so far Nadia…if everything checks out…looking forward to meeting you in person." She flips the phone off, then pauses to pull the battery. "I knew that…" she grouses to herself, tucking it away. Well. This is….encouraging? More allies can't hurt. If she's really an ally. This….Wasp. Who names themselves that?!