Summary:Shiranui and Ryoshi look in on deliveries. The contents aren't nice. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Kian does a lot of his ninja-ing on the fly. He sort of has to. He has a very limited support structure and a lot of enemies. When he sees opportunities he has to take them. Sometimes those are the result of hard work and data gathering. And some just fall into his lap.
Today is the result of the latter. He'd been out riding when a convoy of trucks bearing the mark of one of Si Fan's shell companies past him, speeding on surface streets, headed toward the river.
He'd immediately followed them and called Ranna to meet him as soon as he figured out where they were going. Which is one of the commercial piers. The trucks have backed in and are waiting for something to unload. That something looks like it might be the large, flat container barge that's headed there. Kian is at the far end of the pier, watching and waiting.
Ranna has been taking it carefully. Her operation wound has healed and scarred - not nicely, but well, but she's wary - it was a helluva of an operation and if she messes up, she'll be out of action permanently.
Still, when Kian calls she makes her to the pier, taking a little longer to get there than he had - maybe one of her next acquisitions should be some transport. A sweet little pocket rocket or sports car.
"I'm here." The woman says from the shadows of the building where Kian has stopped. Her face shaded by the hoodie she wears. On her right wrist is a bracelet - just visible under the cuff of the garment and under the sleeves, her bracers.
"What have you got …"
"Four trucks from Transnational Holdings." It's one of those companies with the deliberately bland names, but it is a Si Fan shell company. It's only used… well. To launder money really. But apparently it has trucks.
The barge pulls up, moors and then a crane swings into action, moving containers to be loaded onto the trucks. Kian looks thoughtful.
"We need to know what they're moving. Maybe we could steal one?" Kian frowns. "But where would we hide it and what would we DO with a truckload of… whatever that is…"
Engine approach. Several SUV's pull up and Kian peers. "Armed escort. Lovely. They're waiting for the trucks to load."
Ranna looks thoughtfully at Kian as he talks about the trucks. "I could go and ask them …" she says quietly. She's not wearing her armour at the moment and would have to give her bracers to Kian, but a young woman could well get their attention.
They might not even recognise her.
That thought is scotched as the SUV's arrive and Ranna shrugs, considering their options as they watch. "Let's go replace two of those loading the trucks. That should be easy enough, shouldn't it?"
"Shouldn't be too hard, yeah. Can you drive a truck, out of interest?" Kian starts moving, sneaking. It takes several well timed rushes to get close enough to be in 'striking range' and it's critical that they don't pounce too early. They want to replace the crew just as they're getting ready to head off.
Fortunately the loading doesn't take long and in five minutes the trucks are ready to go. But that DOES give Kian and Ranna enough time to observe that all the containers seem to be refrigerated. Interesting.
"That one I think. Or… that one. Close to the back." The SUV's will probably be at both front and back and getting out of the convoy without being chased will be… tricky.
"Well it's not jerky they're moving…" Ranna murmurs as they shelter after their last rush. "Drugs, maybe. Or perhaps ingredients for drugs." she ponders. "A truck? Like that, yes. It's just a big car, really and vehicles like that are made to be adjustable for people of my build." She's small, after all.
"That one. There are less people near it, at least for the moment. And the building will provide us some shelter." She looks at Kian "On three?"
"One… two… three." Kian leaps out and very quietly grabs a driver to put him into a choke. Once that's done, and Ranna's gotten hers he signals her to get into the driver's seat and get set up. He's going to take a look at the container itself.
Unnnnnfortunately he's not back yet when the trucks in front of her start to pull out. And if she doesn't want someone to come looking she needs to move.
She DOES know how to drive trailer trucks, right?
Ranna is nearly as quick as Kian. And just as silent. She might not be big but she knows how to incapacitate a man. As her target slumps, she uses her boot to shift out of the way of the truck. "You want me to drive?" she doesn't squeak, but Kian might imagine she did. "Oh…"
She's just getting settled as the trucks ahead of her start moving. "Uh. We have a problem…" It's not loud and Kian is unlikely to hear it.
It takes several tries to get the truck into gear - the transmission grinding as she does. And then … it's a bunny hop start. Yes. Ranna knows how to drive these things.
Thump. That's the sound of Kian falling down on the roof. He's on the roof. Now it's hard to see behind you in these trucks so no one has probably noticed that yet. But he's on the roof. And surely… someone will notice.
"Change in plans." Uh oh. This truck has a radio and someone is talking on it. "The Lady wants it taking directly to her instead of to processing. We'll be using the old tunnel. Follow me."
Now the trucks are headed south. Tunnel. They're taking this toward… Staten Island? That's curious. And also they're going directly to one of the higher ups.
Ranna needs to find a place to peel off. Ideally without being noticed. She may need a distraction for that.
Thump. Oh. There's Kian. Hanging down, looking in the window. "I thought you said you could drive these things!"
"Where the hell are you …" The trucks seats aren't quite as adjustable as Ranna would like. She's really got to stretch to get the clutch in which means seeing over the wheel is … tricky. Wriggling her way back up to a more comfortable sitting position, the dark eyed ninja gives Kian a flat look.
"I'm driving it, aren't I?" She is. Sort of. "We have a problem though. They're taking us to the Lady. Maybe … we want to do this delivery…" And find out who 'the lady' is. "If not. I'm going to have a technical problem…"
"Do we want to do the delivery surrounded by armed men? Because that's what's going to happen. And I am an amazing tech Ninja but that is not something I would do easily." Outnumbered is a big deal even when you have powers.
"We need to get away but there's a complication. The cargo we've got is live. I can't tell who or what but they've got cryotubes in the back of this thing."
Which means they need to think VERY carefully about what they're going to do and where they're going to take this.
"Can you think of ANY place we can go? I can think of places we can hide but I've got no idea what to do with what is in those tubes and… if we bolt with these they're not just going to give up looking in a day or two."
"I want to know who we're dealing with." Ranna answers simply. "Will you get in here, please?" She sounds a little frustrated. There's a bend coming up and Ranna has to shift gears again, it's … clunky and Kian will find himself none to stable up there as the gears shift and truck takes the corner.
"Cryotubes? You mean … people?" Or animals perhaps. "Uh. The Doctor who helped me might help but … " do they want to involve him. "I … we need someone who can look at them, Ki-Shira. OR the guy at the bar … maybe?" No, not him. He seemed keen to protect people but he's just a bartender.
"Uh. My phone is on my hip. Doctor McCoys number is in it."
Kian disappears from the side of the window and opens the passenger door. He flips in. He's rather agile like that. He looks a bit put out though. Well. He had just been clinging to the top of the car, after all.
Kian grabs her phone and finds the number. He nods and dials. It's a message machine but it does leave the clinic address.
That'll have to do for now.
"If we go to find out who it is odds are good we aren't bringing any of these people out with us." Shiranui sighs. "It's your call. What do you want to prioritize?"
"Don't look at me like that." Ranna mutters. "I wasn't the one who decided to clamber over the roof." Another gear change has her sliding down the seat a little and wriggling back up again. It looks like she's had a lot of practice at that.
"The people. There's no choice, Shiranui. You know that." The ninja woman answers. She doesn't even think on it really. There's no question in her mind. "So I need to peel off…" She starts to the slow the truck, letting the convoy pull ahead slightly - not enough to notice just yet, but it will help. "We don't have any mines to lay out on the roads. And your bike is back there … oh, you can call it, can't you?"
"I can yes but lets save that. Just keep us going straight until you hear a loud noise…" Kian opens the door again and climbs back up onto the truck. She can hear him moving toward the back, along what is presumably the top of the container. And then…
BANG! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
That's got to be the signal. In her side mirror she can see that the truck behind her has jacknifed and badly. Time to get off this road. If they can make a clean getaway this gets a lot easier. If they can't…
"Wait. What are you going to d—-" Shiranui is gone though, leaving Ranna to drive the truck and wait for a … loud noise. She's in a truck - there's lots of loud noises. Oh. That loud noise.
There's a turn just to her right, she's got to take it sharply to make it - it's going to make the trailer sway quite violently. Where the hell is Shiranui? She can't see him and right now, Ranna's hands are full with the steering wheel and trying to keep the truck upright as they turn.
It's not likely to be a clean getaway - this is a semi-trailer.
She still can't see Shiranui when she makes that turn, but she hasn't gone a block before there are thumps behind her. Something landed on the container. Seconds later a blade - not Shiranui's blade - comes through the ceiling and misses her shoulder by inches. It pulls out and then comes through again, this time hitting - and sticking in - the steering column.
Yeah, that getaway? Not clean.
"ACK!" Ranna jerks the wheel as the first sword thrust comes, causing the trailer to swing and sway dangerously. "Hey. That's not nice! Don't you know I'm trying to drive he—— Urk…."
The wheel is stuck as the sword comes through. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit. This is going to hurt…."
That sword? The one stuck in the column? It starts to withdraw all on its own. Slowly at first and then with more force, flying back through the roof and jerking the wielder around.
"God damn it Shiranui."
"Shut up and drive!" Shiranui apparently heard that. He sounds busy and while she can't see him, that is apparently the case. There's a thump atop the roof and the person who just tried to stab her - an Order cyberninja - falls and winds up draped over the cab, looking in the passenger window.
They've lost the sword but nevermind, they just punch through the window, produce an energy blaster of some kind and point it right at Ranna's head.
"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?" Ranna retorts. "Along with not getting stabbed by a bloody sword." beat "ACK!" That's as the Order ninja rolls on the hood. "Couldn't you have thrown him cl——"
Ranna dodges the punch, calls the armour from the bracelet she's wearing - it won't be totally safe from a blaster, but it's something. Her mind takes control of the blaster - she doesn't have much of this in her but her life is on the line - and turns it to point at the ninja. "You do know who I am, right?" She grits out, as the trigger on the weapon starts to squeeze - all by itself.
"I AM A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT!" Kian calls back. He is. He's in a sword and gun fight on top of a moving truck and Ranna can see that two motorcycles are closing fast from behind, trying to bracket the truck and probably disable the wheels if they can't slow it down. One of them is going to have to deal with that but first… Ranna needs to not die.
The Ninja shoots himself and falls off the truck. Ranna can feel the bump. But there's no time to think about it because she's bracketed now. There's a ninja on a motorcycle on either side and they're pulling blades…
The truck swerves and sways making Kian's perch on the roof a little precarious. "I hope you're having fun …" she calls as holds the wheel steady, applying just a little speed to get the trailer to stop swaying.
"What were you saying about a getaway?" Using her mirrors, she can see the cycles as they pull up beside her. "Hold on tight." She's mentally exhausted - she can control other things if they're not cogmium - but it's an effort. This time though, the metal flows from braces and forms one chakram and two little daggers. "Now…"
She jerks the wheel so the truck careens into the bike on her left. At the same time the daggers fly out - aimed at the tires of the bike. The chakram spins in the air, aimed for the bikers neck. She doesn't want to kill them - but she doesn't want to die and it's not likely there's any other way.
"Shiranui?"
The bike on the right gets absolutely blindsided by the daggers and the chackram but the bike on the left drops into a slide and then pulls up under the truck and ahead of it. Shiranui has done things like that before. It takes a great deal of talent AND superhuman gifts.
There is momentarily no answer from Shiranui but then several bolts of violet energy slam into the biker and he goes down. Shiranui slips in the broken window and makes a face. "Now I'm sitting on safety glass. We're clear. Get us out of here!"
Ranna winces as her weapons hit but the chakram doesn't stop moving. As the bike on the left comes up in front of her, the weapon is spinning in their direction, just as the violet energy slams into it.
For a moment, the chakram just sits in the air, then it and the daggers come flying back to Ranna.
She doesn't say a word to Shiranui as he takes his seat. She looks, if anything, a little green as she guides the truck through the streets towards the clinic.