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| Scene Title | …And All Hell Broke Loose |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The Flying Dragons make a move on Staten Island… and the scales of power are changed forever. |
| Date | November 17, 2009 |
After the bomb, Staten Island grew to become a haven for undesirables. If the Island is their home, then the Rookery is their playplace. Equal parts gritty and decadent, it boasts dark alleys, bright lights, and every pleasure that one could imagine. Provided you know where to ask, of course.
Some areas have fared better than the rest of the island; some have fared far worse. For each well-tended brothel or gaming house, there's at least one creaky, crumbling structure left over from the days of pre-bomb suburban glory.
The population is considered universally distasteful, even by much of the rest of Staten Island. Criminals, refugees, victims of radiation poisoning… Those who have nowhere else to go often end up here. The most common method of getting out is to have your body dropped in the river, followed closely by being left wherever it is you got killed.
Good luck.
Not so long ago, the Flying Dragons were poised to take over the underworld of New York City; the spread of Refrain moved like wildfire through the city, creating addicts and dealers faster than almost any other designer drug ever had, bringing commensurate profits. Liu Ye reached too far, however, and too fast - and his ill-advised risks cost the life of his sister and led to a series of devastating attacks on the triad in the midst of Chinatown.
After those attacks at the heart of their powerbase, Liu decided to toss the dice once more — gambling by gathering his remaining forces and making a power play for control of Staten Island. A flotilla of boats came over in twos and threes, and at the appointed hour of sundown, the Flying Dragons moved into the Rookery with a list of businesses and locations to take over by force. It was a daring plan, and with the number of weapons and Evolved at their command, it may well have worked…
But once more, Liu Ye has placed his trust in the wrong hands. Traitors lurk amidst the Flying Dragons, and word of the plan was sent ahead.
A muffled explosion rocks a half-boarded up building in the wake of a grenade being tossed through, a man stumbling out lacerated and bleeding to collapse upon the pavement, bullets whizzing through the air over him as a triad soldier pushes up from behind the rusted-out hulk of a car to take a few pot-shots at another group settled behind the shattered windows of a bar. Both sides have been scattered throughout the area by the conflict, and it's difficult to tell which side is which…
The Evolved in the midst of the conflict are a more obvious tell-tale, however.
A sudden violent rush of wind sends the burning flames from a car that's caught fire over a group of the Ghost Shadows who were using it for cover, their screams of pain and agony eliciting a smirk from behind Johnny Wong's oversized sunglasses before he steps back from the edge of a rooftop, looking over to where Liu Ye is standing with a scowl upon his lips with the rest of his inner circle. "«We were betrayed,»" he spits out, hands clenching by his sides, "«Someone knew we were coming. We must not lose this day!»"
Adam is no stranger to combat. Modern urban combat is something he's just getting his feet wet with, but there's still tactics that remain the same. He arrived earlier with his men than the Flying Dragons did.
He chose to to be reasonably far enough from what he thought might be the battle site, but within the the area of combat. He carefully chose a building with an easy escape route and a lip to fire from behind. His men carefully laid out a wide array of weapons that Adam has been slowly accumulating over time and they waited.
Not all of his men had military training, some were just toughs from the neighborhood, but all got the idea of staying quiet fairly quickly. They put on gas masks and waited while Adam continued to survey the battlefield from behind a sniper scope. And then men began to bleed out across the streets, though with no recognizable banners to be sure who's men were who's. He doesn't even give the order to start firing when then men on the street do. Instead, he waits and continues to watch, identifying positions rather than targets.
It's quite a bit messier than he originally assumed. But then, he brought more firepower than was necessary. So in the end, it all fits.
Peyton Whitney is not a woman of many talents, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time is something she's truly beginning to excel at. "What the hell is happening?" she hisses to one Doctor Harve Brennan as they duck behind a dumpster as the battle begins to break out. The two are delivering medical supplies to shut-ins in the rookery, and have chosen what would seem like a very bad time to do so. Peyton presses herself against the brick wall as if willing herself to phase right through into the interior of the building on the other side. The medical supplies she was carrying are hugged to her, as if they would protect her from bullets, fire or gas.
Granted, being the wife of Noah Bennet would presumably place Sandra in more danger than the average person, but today one can't blame anyone for this. She decided to venture from one safehouse to another by herself today. So, really, if anyone could be blamed for being in the wrong place at the moment (other than those who are fighting), it would be her. And honestly at the moment, as she ducks behind a care, she can't help but wonder what gave her the crazy idea to do so. She just wanted to pick something up, but it wasn't exactly a necessary item. But now she is stuck.
"It's like being back in the wilds of Africa or south America alll over again. Only this is urban warfare it seems and not guerilla's hiding out in tree's or coming right up to your face and telling you how it's going to go. When everything started goign to hellp, he'd steered the heiress to behind a dumpster and moved his ass there after dragging the medical supplies. Priority. Supplies here were low and at this point, quite possibly, they might be using them on people.
'Just stay calm, don't give in to your panic. The Dumpster will give us some protection. Looks like buildings won't be safe right now" What he wouldn't give for some ear plugs riiiight about now. But movement is spotted and Sandra has made the attention of the Evolved physician. "Looks like we're not the only ones caught in the crossfire" He points out.
But with that, Brennan's popping his head around the corner of the dumpster to get a quick look before pulling it back. Like flower from meerkat manor. Is it safe? Most decidedly not.
It's often said that patience is a virtue, and no one knew that better than Ling Chao. Tonight, she hoped several months of patience would finally pay off. In fact, there was little hope to it, she was confident that she knew her work would pay off tonight. But at this moment, she felt more out of her element than she would ever admit. It was like October all over again, but this time she was better prepared for what was to come. It had been her, after all, who had warned the Ghost Shadows of what was coming. Perhaps one of many such traitors, but regardless te fact remained.
She had made her own way there this evening, having arrived a short time before Liu; there was no way the Triad leader would let her accompany him formally. But from where she was, just out of sight, moving through the air on the arm of the wind, blinding with the smoke and debris, she wished the smile that would be on her face was visible to all.
P'tang! A bullet ricochet's off the edge of the dumpster that Brennan and Peyton are hiding in just as the former's head pops back down, someone working for one of the sides - it's impossible to tell by now, and there's probably numerous third-party groups participating as well - taking a pot shot at the doctor.
Neither does luck seem to be on Sandra's side, as during a spray of suppressing fire from a second-floor window a pair of chinese men in the Ghost Shadow's colours run down the block, skidding down to use the same car as her for cover. One on either side of her before she can react, they blink, looking at each other across them. "«Who is she?»" "«I don't know, a bystander! Deal with…»
A sudden spray of red interrupts their words, the two triad soldiers sliding to the pavement with their throats bloody mouths as a small, elderly man nearly materializes crouched nearby due to the sheer speed of his movement, blood dripping from a fine straight razor in his hand. "Madame," he offers mildly but respectfully to Sandra, peeking up over the car's edge.
"«The plumbing,»" Liu states suddenly, a fierce grin flashing across his lips as he lifts a radio to his lips, calling through it, "«Shoot the fire hydrants, flood the street!»"
Adam still hasn't done anything to participate, nor ordered his men to. They've kept their heads down and out of the way while Adam appears to be counting. Eventually, he brings his head down and starts making motions with his hands, pointing out positions and people. He knows…some Flying Dragons, not enough to keep all of them safe, but enough that at least a few aren't going to end up in this beautiful field of fire.
He puts up one finger, two fingers and before he puts up a third, he and his men slip up to their knees and unleash a barrage of automatic weapon fire. Adam's picking targets with a sniper rifle. He's not the greatest marksman, he wouldn't win an award, but he definitely puts down some people. There's only a few moments of this before he says, "Bring up the RPGs."
There's a squeak of fear and protest when that bullet ricochets off their dumpster; Peyton curls into a fetal position, hands dropping the box she carries and covering her head. "Why couldn't I get a fucking useful ability like … like… force fields or teleportation or something!" she whispers under her breath. She glances down the alley, looking for a back door into one of the buildings. "Think any of those are open?" she says, gesturing to the doors, once used for deliveries and the like, when Staten still existed on anyone's freight route.
Nearly running as the two men plop down behind the car on either side of her, Sandra is stunned as their throats are slit. She looks slowly over at the elderly man with the razor, her mouth half open and her eyes wide with fear. "P…p…please don't hurt me." She manages to sputter out. It's only lucky she left Mr. Muggles at the safehouse for the kids to play with, otherwise he may have gotten hurt as well.
"pOssibly" Close call. He needed to be more careful. This wasn't just about him and he didn't want Michelle to get a call. Phone is whipped out, a quick text fired off to Michelle. Call 911, bad mojo staten. Firefight. ilu. before it's stuffed down. Sandra's being taken care of it seems, by a man with a razor. "Can move the dumpster but then again, maybe you are useful. Think you can poke your head out for two seconds, look for someone and look through them when you shove your head back?" This isn't good. Not at all.
"Hm? Ah. Of course not." An attempt to be reassuring for Sandra's terrified self, a smile thin on the elderly man's face, Kun Li-Pang's leathery features crinkling further, "Pardon me." Then he's gone, zipping away like a whirlwind through the street.
There's a brief pause in the firefight save for the occasional pot-shot being taken to keep this group or another under cover, and in that pause, a couple of Flying Dragons emerge from their shelter, keeping low and carrying small bundles as they head for some of the area's fire hydrants. One of them passes a storefront and takes a shotgun blast to the side, hurling him across the street as the shopkeeper pumps the weapon again, spitting after him, "Nobody pulls this shit on my block, slanty." The other reaches his target, starting to duct-tape it to the metal hydrant.
Adam's group had been a bit quiet as they began to get RPGs ready to fire. Adam pulls back and moves between the group, pointing out different targets that he wanted men to take. He taps the back of the rocket of each man and then moves back into position. He picks up his rifle and pauses. He picks a target and then another and then he raises an arm and suddenly rocket propelled grenades snake through the air. Blast after blast hits the ground. One unfortunate Ghost Dragon had picked up a car and was ready to throw it when a rocket spins in the air, straightens out and hits him square in the chest, exploding him where he is, peppering the street with his pieces.
"Peek my head out? They about took your head off. How about you put your head out on the count of three, and I'll use your eyes while you look around for someone for me to look through? And news flash, 911 isn't gonna do shit, police don't come here. If they did, this wouldn't be happening. Welcome to Staten Island, Doc." Peyton's cell phone is out and she's texting various people who might care, but may or may not come help.
Sandra watches as the speedy man leaves in a whirlwind of destruction and Sandra's confusion. Well, she's certainly not staying behind this car with people's throats being cut and bullets flying. When she thinks it's safe, she makes a run for it, only to find herself diving behind the selfsame dumpster where two others seem to be hiding. She looks at them with a face and clothes spattered in blood. "I…do you mind if I hide here?"
well sorry for caring and thinking maybe someone might go. "Now listen here, I don't know how exactly you're ability works, but I know how mine works and I know that there are people dying out there for what is sounding like a god damned turf war. A square block of city instead of a god damned country" But he's going to do it anyways, since she's complaining. He knows what he's looking for, use of evolved abilities. This place is rife with evolveds, and someone screaming for water hydrants to be uncapped can lead, surely, to interesting things. "God damned people can't stop pulling this shit all over the world"
Enter Sandra and there's a terse nod from Brennan. "Dr. brennan, this is Peyton. Don't happen to have any special abilities that might come in handy to protect yourself do you?" A man can hope. And without waiting for an answer, it's time to imitate meerkat's again, though opting to look out from the other side of the dumpster this time, not the side that Sandra made her mad dash via.
With the whirring of rockets through the air and the explosions that follow, the decision is made that enough time has been spent waiting and watching. Smoke glides across the wind, using gunfire and explosions as cover to keep it's movement as undetected as possible. She knew exactly where she had to go know, and she hoped she wasn't making a terrible mistake in doing it - she had to go find Liu himself. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too furious to see her. Hopefully.
This time, at least, no stray bullet ricochets to try and take off the meerkat-imitating doctor's head. Instead, he gets a lovely view of the RPG rocket crashing into the super-strong gangster's chest, the car sent tumbling back into the ruins of the Happy Dagger behind him after the explosion proves that he wasn't super-resilient either. Then there's another blast— this one from the hydrant as the demolitionist scuttles off once more, and a geyser of water explodes forth into the air as the water main's breached.
"«That'll have to do,»" Liu growls under his breath, glancing to Wong, who gestures with one hand— a crash of wind into the gesyer sending the water everywhere, spraying a bit uphill to soak the pavement and buildings around the block where the Flying Dragons are making their stand. He's on a rooftop, one of the highest in the area to avoid snipers, the rest of his personal circle - what remains of them - and bodyguards clustered there to overlook the battle.
There's a general cease fire from the rooftop of Adam's contingent. Every few moments a few more shots go off to cover the actions. But they're quiet as they take inventory of what's left. Even Adam seems impressed, "I really don't think we needed this many weapons." and at the geyser of water, Adam pauses, "I think we should start making plans to leave." he motions to some stock and says, "Start putting this away, I think this confrontation is just about at an end." he glances up towards Liu's position before he says, "But leave the c4."
The clairvoyant's eyes dilate, the irises shrinking until they look almost completely black when Brennan peeks his head back up — to Sandra she might look like she is blind. The girl flinches at the up-close-and-personal view of the grenade. When her own face and Sandra's come back into view, as Brennan slumps back behind the dumpster, her pupils constrict once more. "Oh my God," she whispers, shivering a little. But Sandra's bloody state shifts her attention to the other woman. "Are you okay?" she says, face pale. "Are you hurt?" She picks up the medical supply box. "I have… gauze?"
Sandra merely shakes her head at Brennan. "Not evolved. No gun. Nothing." She closes her eyes for a moment to centre herself. "I…I'm just trying to get through Staten Island. That's all, when…when…all of this happened." She murmurs something more about how she should constantly carry a gun. "What have I gotten myself into?" She swallows hard, nodding to Peyton's first question. "I…I'm fine. Yes. I'll…two men…next to me…throats slit…that's…I'm not hurt."
"You got yourself into a pickle, but if you stay here, you should be good" Water, they blew up water mains. There's an aweful lot of people out there, all bearing weapons. "God, this is gonna suck" Boy does he know it ever will. "What I wouldn't give for full body kevlar right about now huh?" It's russian roulette, banking on them being busy with each other when he sticks his head back out and jsut looks.
Pity the evolved who gets in the way of looking cause he's got his own ability turned on and focusing on the people that he can see. "So, plan A is to.. move the dumpster towards a building and get into the building using it as a shield, or plan B, which is move the dumpser backwards, till her're safe enough to run and come in afterwards to see who needs medical help"
The wisps and tendrils of smoke rise through the air, slowly scaling up the side of the building where Liu Ye and his cadre of Triad members make their base. It blends with the rising smoke frm explosions and fires well enough, only breaking away as it reaches the apex of it's ascent. Ling lingers for a moment, almost having second thoughts. Almost wondering if she was about to make a serious mistake. Taking what would equate to a deep breath, the smoke swirls and drifts away from where it rests, almost lazily floating on the wind towards the rooftop
Perhaps a bit recklessly, she doesn't pause to see if anyone is watching the spot the smoke comes to rest at before it begins to coalesce and take humanoid form. Words seem to float quiet acros ethereal winds, distinctly Ling's voice - "Quite a night, Liu Ye. You're lucky the police don't come here, anymore." And as the smoke solidifies into Ling's shape and form, revealing her to be dressed in what appears snakeskin, she can't help but smile and bow. "I've come to… help."
The sudden swirl of dark smoke upon the rooftop has several guns snapping up to be directed towards the young woman— but Liu waves those off, his lips curving in a lazy and arrogant smile. "Ling Chao… excellent." He steps once more to the building's edge, watching as the water builds up in the streets, starting to pool here and there in potholes and abandoned cars, Wong's ability controlling the wind to ensure it's spread about in a heavy, driven rain over the area rather than Liu exerting himself to do it… no doubt conserving his own powers. "Somewhere there's a leader in all of this… foolishness. Find them for me."
A man breaks from cover, leaping into the skies with a machete in hand as he soars up towards the rooftop, having spotted Liu emerging from his cover there. The boss of the Flying Dragons smiles grimly, one hand lifting and then closing sharply.
Blood explodes from every orifice, the flying Evolved literally disappearing into a cloud of red before tumbling back towards the earth. "And then we end this."
Adam's rooftop is relatively quiet, they seem to be sticking with covering fire at the moment as half the men are carrying away cases of unused ordinance down to waiting vans. Adam fiddles with what looks like blocks clay. He's pressing buttons, carefully and slowly, as if slowly remembering actions from rote and practice. He pauses, "Just sort of spray the street." he informs the men just sort of peppering shots down at things at people. "Oh, I swear I saw that shop keeper saying something racist. Shoot him if you see him. There's just no need for that lack of civility at tense times such as these."
"I … don't know… I can't think," Peyton says, uncertainly. Strategies for escaping battle fields is just another of those talents she doesn't have. She sends more pleas for help via text messages on her Barbie-pink, bling'd out cell phone before shoving it in her pocket. She shivers as the wet begins to permeate her clothing. She glances toward one of the doors. "If they're locked, then what?"
Sandra remains wide-eyed. "We need to escape somehow! Or at least I do! There's nothing I can do even if I stay here!" She takes quite a few deep breaths. "Let's just get into one of the buildings. Or try to. At least inside them we'll be safe, won't we?" She asks quickly. "We're useless out here at the moment!"
"Then you put your head between your knees, hands over your neck, pray to god and kiss your ass goodbye" Brennan offers with a disarming smile as the sight of a man imploding in a shower of blood raises brows and he follows the intended trajectory. There. Man who looks like he may be responsible. Focus is on the man, and Brennan arranges himself to get a good grip on one corner of the dumpster. "We'll move it, towards one of hte buildings. it's going to be heavy, but we can do this ladies. I gotta keep my attention up on the others, but lets get moving. Peyton. up and at em, you're steering"
A sly smirk crossed Ling's face, the woman nodding slowly as she takes several cautious steps forward. For the first time long while, she felt a little silly as she took strikes towards teh Triad leader, dressed probably like someone who had seen one too many American action movies. But, she told herself, there were much more important thing to worry about at the moment. Stopping just short of Liu, she clenches her left hand into a fist. "Of course, of course. I'll find them as quickly as I can," she begins, glancing a the geyser of water, "But don't think I didn't come here without anything else to offer. I did a bit of… scouting on the way here. Be wary, Liu. They have more here than you're aware of." She had no idea if that was, in fact, the case. It probably was. But she had other reasons for misinformation.
"«Do they, now…? Well, we'll wash them away soon enough»," Liu Ye replies with confidence even as red rain patters down upon the fallen, dessicated body of the man who flew up towards him. A breath's taken in, and he lifts one hand, "«Like the deluge…»"
And nothing happens.
A line or three furrows over the man's brow, lips pursing in a tight line, "«What— why won't it— water! Obey me, damn you!»"
The geyser continues to rain down on its own, ignoring the will of the Triad boss, even as his bodyguards glance worriedly and uncertainly at the man. Wasn't something supposed to be happening?
Picking up the box she had tossed aside, Peyton tosses it on top of the dumpster's closed lid — she had to steal those medical supplies; she's not about to just leave them in the soggy alley! She grabs the handles on the back of the dumpster and begins to pull, having to lean back and bend her knees to get it to budge. "Backing up…" she says, glancing behind her to make sure there's no one at the other end of the alley. She gives a glance at Brennan, her eyes dilating once more to see what it is the doctor is looking at. "Are you doing your mojo?" she whispers. She's too far to see the angry look on Liu's face, but she guesses that Brennan has foiled his plans.
Sandra moves to help Peyton move the dumpster, grasping a handle to pull it back, slowly but surely. "The sooner we get inside somewhere, the better. I don't want to be stuck out here with a bunch of gun raging gangsters killing one another!" She huffs. "Just my day." Is murmured. "I try to get across through into the rest of the city and this happens. Not coming this way again."
Adam finishes with his little creations. Small sticks of c4, high stable, but also highly explosive. He pauses a moment and says to no one in particular, "If I throw these, huge amounts of damage will be done. The toll will be relatively indiscriminate. Innocent people as well as the people I wish to obliterate will be hurt." he wipes his forehead for a moment. And with that, he pushes green buttons and throws the sticks as far as he can over the rooftop and murmers to himself, "God bless technology." as he awaits the explosions to come.
Someones cursing worse than a man with issues on his wedding night and no blue pill will cure it. "Yup" he murmurs to Peyton. "Ladies and gentlemen, someone can't perform as expected. Aww darn, whatever shall he do?" Sorry Liu, you're still the apple of Brennan's eyes as they start to creek the dumpster, their portable safety net, towards a building and it's entrance. Line of sight maintained as best as the doctor and their den can maintain.
Even Ling can't hide her surprise, her eye widening as the water refuses to do Liu Ye's bidding. And yet, at the same time, she can't prevent a smile from creeping across her face, even as her right hand reaches within her left sleeve, slowly revealing the knife she had acquired from one of Liu's own men at the Refrain bust weeks ago. That alone made this feel that much more ironic.
Another cautious step forward is taken, the blade gripped tight. "If this is how the night is going, then I should be finding the one responsible for this as soon as possible…" The grin widens, and as she stands merely a step behind, she whispers to whomever can hear - "It was an easy search, I must say." No means an athlete or a killer, a part of Ling still hesitates before she finally near leaps forward and plunges the knife Liu's back while a cackle escapes lips, wisps of smoke raising from her hair and hands, the woman trying her best to keep aware of her surroundings as she does her task.
The water should be rising up to crush Liu Ye's enemies like the primordial flood, whatever the cost to the distract or innocent lives, an expression of just how much power resides in the young man… but it isn't, and he pushes his hand forward a few times as if it were merely jammed. "«Obey! Obey, damn you— damn them to the thousand hells, they must have a negat— »"
A series of explosions erupt through the street as Adam Monroe's little toys explode; bits of brick and shredded car flying everywhere, the flash-bang of the C4 an extra distraction to be added to that of Liu's sudden failure. Then a few inches of steel suddenly cleave through the fine black cotton of his suit, through frail mortal skin and into his heart. "Nngh— «who»—"
On the edge of the building, he tumbles down to his knees, staring blankly at his hands, as if through them he could see the power that betrayed him.
"«NO!»" Johnny Wong's eyes widen behind his nearly comedic glasses, and he thrusts both hands forward towards Ling, the air suddenly rushing up about him in a cyclone-force blast that slams into her, trying to hurl her off the rooftop. Liu's other bodyguards are bowled over by the blast in the process, scattering like tenpins over the rooftop.
Adam and his men duck down for a moment as he glances towards Liu's rooftop, after all, that gives him an idea of how the battle's going and then…all sorts of wierd things happen. His eyes narrow for a moment and he picks up his sniper rifle. As the ground begins erupt in explosions, he tries to steady his hand as he looks through the scope, but it's impossible to get a shot, at least for the moment. He settles for knowing the story for now.
"Oh shit," Peyton says, when she sees Ling stab Liu from afar through Brennan's eyes (her own head still ducked safely behind the dumpster). But then she has bigger and more explosive things to worry about. Luckily none are too close, though all are too close for comfort for the motley trio dragging the dumpster down the alley. Peyton lets her eyes slide back to her own surroundings — it's too disorienting to move while looking through someone else's eyes, even if that person is only a foot away from her. "Almost… there…" there's a door almost within reach. She turns to head to it, to see if it's unlocked.
Sandra struggles with the dumpster. It's heavy! Who would've thought that a dumpster in a mostly abandoned area would be heavy? She jumps at the sounds of the explosions. "What was that?!" She's only used to dealing with evolved people in safehouses, not explosions and fighting and bullets and people cutting other people's throats!
That was not what BRennan anticipated when he negated Liu and he switches his focus, and gaze, to Ling of the strange wisps coming off her and the dying triad member. Whisps that when that ability is focused on her shuts off as easily as if someone turned off a tap. Probably just in time to be sent into a game of ten pin Triad style.
His gaze follows the woman, all the way to wherever it is that she going to end up going. Oh. Oh this is not good but he doesn't look away. He's committed, he's slready done one thing, and he's going to see this through. "It was nothing ma'am, you need to jsut keep pushing, we're almost there"
Ling's cackling continues for a moment longer, hand still tight on the handle, a sure sign of a woman doing something she was so unused to. But the sound tapers off quickly as the wisps form her once smoky hand almost vanish with frightening immediacy, and it takes about just as long for panic and ugency to wash over Ling's mind and face, barely leaving her time to notice as her feet are lifted from the stable floor of the rooftop. She tries her best to keep a hand on the knife, it slipping just a little bit out of the wound it occupied before Lig finally loses her grip in the wake of teh cyclone force winds surrounding her. She screams as she's thrown from the rooftop, flailing as she moves through the air, eyes wide.
It seems, after all, that she was the one who had been caught a fool.
"«Liu! Liu!»" Johnny's hands move to his boss's shoulder as he crouches a bit, his eyes wild as he stares at the blood trickling from Liu's lips, "«Oh, ancestors— we need to get him out of here, to a doctor, a healer— »"
The calls of Johnny Wong for reinforcements and help are answered, then, but not by him.
Spotlights suddenly cut through the smoke-shrouded skies above the Rookery, followed by the roar of helicopter rotors. A voice booms from the sky, echoing over a loudspeaker, "**THIS IS FRONTLINE UNIT ONE! EVERYONE ON THE STREET LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS!"
All chaos breaks loose in the streets, bodies running everywhere, heading for the nearest building, alley, or other escape route. Many of these men saw what FRONTLINE did in Chinatown, and they've no interest in getting in a brawl with them again.
A contrail rips through the air over the neighborhood, suddenly— no missile, as it turns out, but a human projectile that slams into Ling's side as she tumbles through the air, arms wrapped about her before it goes roaring off into the distance, fire sputtering and coughing smoke in his wake like rocket boots. "Mister Linderman sends his regards," he man shouts over the roar of the wind as he carries the woman off.
Meanwhile, Peyton's fingers curl about a knob and pull the door open— revealing the back room of the Sheung Wan Kitchen, as well as half a dozen people with cleavers and butcher knifes all staring at them, weapons raised defensively at her, Sandra, and Brennan.
Adam follows Ling's movement with his sniper rifle, ready to finish her off and then she's out. He frowns at the sirens and nods to his men who have been making their retreat since things started getting good. He shakes his head and makes a little note in his head, someone has made the list. Adam begins is trail from his escape route and watches with pursed lips behind the gas mask, "Alright then." he says, "Looks like we're starting the end game then." and then he and his people are gone.
"Wrong number," Peyton whispers, her eyes wide as she stares at the blades pointed at her. "Shutting the door now, that's all," she says, should they confuse her movement for anything else. She closes the door slowly, and heads back to the dumpster. "Not so much with the door thing, turns out," she whispers, crouching down behind the dumpster. "FRONTLINE?" she whispers. "Did he say FRONTLINE?" One more group she's terrified of. "God, why do I come here…"
Sandra blinks at the room full of people with knives. Nope. Not going in there. She slowly backs away along with Peyton. "Oh…okay. We can make it…FRONTLINE? Well, that can't be too bad can it?" Of course, she's not evolved and she has an alias that isn't exactly known. "We'll be fine…everything will be fine now. We've got nothing to worry about."
And, swoopping in to take care of the falling woman, and the calling out of Frontline, the doe eyed doctor turns off the ability and focuses on the chinesemen all bearing knives and weapons and agree's with Peyton. "Apologies sirs" And the door closes. Well. Well. "We are going to be good citizens, and sit here and wait for FRONTLINE to do their thing. Because ladies, we have become witnesses. They don't shoot witnesses"
There's a pause. "FRONTLINE, doesn't shoot witnesses. The two groups we got caught between, quite possibly, they might shoot witnesses" Brennan's phone is pulled out and he fires off another text. alive. ilu. Cold beer plz. H.
A groan escapes Ling's lips, the woman breathing heavily. A number of things raced through her mind, the least of which was the fact that her arm was at the very least dislocated from her Johnny Wong's cyclone and the subsequent hard force impacting into her side. Maybe broken? She wasn't sure. But more present on her mind was what she had just done, and in public. She had been so caught up in that moment, that perfect opportunity that she'd lost her self, in the view of others. Compromised her entire position. She closed her eyes and exhaled sharply, looking over at the one who had caught her.
'You… have my thanks…" she gasps out, managing to slip out a bit of a smile. "Hopefully, Linderman feels the same." He better damn well, after this.
As droplines fall from the helicopters and men in form-fitting armour slide down along them to land on the street barking orders, the conflict seems to be ended; scattering to the four winds in all directions, whether Ghost Shadows, Flying Dragons, Linderman-hired mercs or merely residents of the area that decided to participate. Before long, the area'll be secure, back-up forces already moving into the area.
Amongst those who scatter is Johnny Wong, hesitating beside Liu's dying body for a few moments, glancing to the helicopters, and then he's making a break for the door leading to the stairs down.
One of the spotlights sweeps over the rooftop, illuminating Liu Ye as he topples onto the rooftop face down, his clothes and hair fluttering in the wind created by the rotary blades. He whispers something, hoarse, drowned out by the sound of the helicopters even if there was anyone left to hear it, his fingers trailing through a pool of his own blood.
Briefly, the red pool swirls into an image of a woman's face, lifting like a crimson mask to smile down at the dying man. He looks up to that visage, sight growing dim, his own red flecked lips curving into a faint smile… and then his head falls forward, and he grows still.
The visage of Song Ye splashes to the rooftop, mere spent life once more.