2014.01.31 - Suspicions and the Foot.

It's nightime and a silver sliver of moon hangs suspended in the heavens above an abandoned trainyard in the Queens area. Heavy cloud cover obscures the face of the moon, making this somewhat remote area even darker than it would already be. Amidst the gravel and empty yards just beyond the rusted gates, old oil drums long since burned out are littered across the ground. The sound of crows cawing in the distance and the whisper of the wind outside of the large abandoned warehouse in the center are the only sounds in the area... for the time being. But the large, heavy, rusted front doorway of the warehouse is oddly open - pushed aside by someone or something. It gives way to a consuming darkness inside, from which the faint light of a few candles burning in the background can barely be seen.

On the one hand, Vorpal is glad Raphael decided to reach back and talk. On the other hand, he's rather suspicious of this particular choice for rendezvous. It wasn't that the darkness bothered him, as he enjoyed the benefits of his feline side in all matters of sight, but Vorpal had the nagging suspicion that Raph had called him to this out-of-the-way place to give him a one-for. He didn't seem pleased when he mentioned Donatello... Ah, well, what's a cat to do?

The Cheshire walks through the grate, hands in his vest pockets, and walks inside. "Hello?" he calls out cautiously as his eyes adjust to the gloom.

If Raphael had called him here, Donatello knew he probably meant business. A little clutch of foot clan members maybe, or some other goons they'd only need the two of them for. When he got the call, Donnie was out testing some new gear and was mobile easy enough. He moves silently through the shadows, wearing in addition to his normal things, a techy-looking headband thing, with goggle lenses which are flipped up in front of his forehead making it look like he really does have four eyes. Following along above and behind him is one of his quad-rotor drones, keeping pace without any obvious direction from the green engineer. As he approaches the door, Donnie mutters a command, and the drone rises up into the air, keeping a high watch. Donnie scales a drain pipe to peer in through a grimy window high up on the side of the old warehouse. He cocks his head when he sees Vorpal walking in though, and just waits, watching for the moment.

Raphael didn't usually call anyone out anywhere unless he meant business. Anyone who'd ever met the guy knew that much. He wasn't much for pointless chatter...

At the present moment, he's lurking about on a rusted steel walkway well above the ground floor. Well, less lurking more...

...leaning against the railing and staring daggers into the wall. The quiet tapping of an impatient foot against the walkway hints at more than a little frustration. And it only stops when he hears the crows go quiet outside. His eyes turn, staring out the window at the approaching Vorpal.

When Vorpal walks in, Raphael drops from the walkway behind him... standing up straight and crossing his arms in that usually standoff-ish way he does. "...Do you always walk into suspicious looking warehouses whenever you're asked?" He then turns his head slightly toward the doorway. "...You alone?"

"Only when it suits me." The cat says, slowly turning around to face the terrapin. "I'm never exactly alone," the Cheshire says, "but if you mean if there's nobody else with me, then no-- at least, not that I saw."

Donnie reaches out and sprays WD-40 on the window's hinges and eases the pane open far enough for him to slip through. Once he's inside, dangling from the window sill, he pushes off from the wall and drops to the floor with hardly a sound. Then he walks out from behind some boxes all nonchalant, "Oh hey dudes, how's it hangin?"

"Dunno. But you'd be hangin' if I had to wait anymore." Though it's a threat, it's probably not seriously meant giving his tone. Raph doesn't even bother to glare in Donny's direction, so there's that too. He just starts back toward the doorway wordlessly, clutching at the chain dangling from its frame and giving it a hard tug. The door complains audibly, but responds by sliding after him.

A resounding clang signals its closing a few moments later.

Once the door is taken care of, he starts back... walking across the steel floor to a table in the back where some candles and pizza sit. And he purposefully sits down directly in front of the pizza before lifting a hand and raising a finger as if to illustrate a point, "Before we get started here, I gotta ask..."

Raph's features twist into a serious scowl. "Donny... what in the HELL would possess you to tell this..." He points the finger almost accusingly at Vorpal. "...person, our names and all?! Did we take the same ninja lessons? Does secrecy mean something different to you, nerd brain??"

"Hey now..." Keith says, holding up a hand after waving to Donnie. "... I'm a hero. It's not as if he went to the Joker and gave him your Facebook account or whatever."

Donnie's jaw drops open, and he blinks, even as tiny lights in the electronics of his fancy goggles register some circuit change, and flicker briefly before returning to a steady green again. "What? I mean, dude, I only told him /my/ name, first of all. And that was only /after/ I watched him /totally/ save this old lady, man!" Donnie reaches up to rub at his bald head and is surprised to find his goggle-contraption, but just straightens it again.

"Rrrr..." Raph shakes his head once, standing up again before thrusting both hands out in a 'what gives' fashion. "Whatever! Damn it, that's not the point! You don't just go trustin' every tom, dick, and harry you meet out in the streets who just HAPPENS to be sweet on a little old lady!" Raph makes something of a 'face' then and a moment of silence follows. "...Anyway! You can't trust people that easily, Donny! He could have been a Foot or anybody!"

He shakes his head again, before dropping his hands and adopting a voice that vaguely emulates an elderly Japanese man, "The enemy has many faces, and no face at once."

"Damn it, Donny."

He walks a few paces away staring up into the darkness of the warehouse, and then turning back again a moment later. "...Listen, you..." He levels an accusatory finger at Vorpal again. "We have enemies. If I ever find out one of them found us through you..."

"... well, for one, I think Donny was a little more careful than you. He didn't tell me what a 'Foot' was." The Cheshire grins, and tries to put a hand on Raphael's shoulder. "Dude. Calm your tits. Do you even read the newspaper? I fight people like the Joker... does it LOOK like I'd be capable of betraying you? Really? I mean, REALLY?"

He does the big-eyes cat look. Hey, what's the point of being a cat if you can't abuse the Puss-n-Boots factor?

" 'sides I have a public identity. It'd be incredibly stupid for me to be a villain when everybody knows my real name."

"Dude, I get it," Donny says, walking up to Raphael, and instead of putting a hand on his shoulder, reaches for a slice of pizza. The Donny puts on a similar 'old man' voice and says, "But worthy allies are more valuable than gold." Donny shrugs and jams half the slice into his mouth in one bite.

Just then, several of the green lights start winking amber, and the headset makes a sound so soft it could be doves cooing in the distance but Raphael and Vorpal can identify certainly. It sounds like Donny mutters a curse word around his mouthful of food, and reaches up with his free hand to flip the goggles down into place. His expression goes from annoyance to alarm. "Crap, Amelia's got a ping. Some Foot are coming in... from the North? That's weird, I was west of here." Donny scratches his head and then shrugs. "But yeah, incoming." He jams the rest of the slice into his mouth and draws the bo staff from his back.

Raph shows the barest hint of teeth at the insinuation that Donatello is more careful than he is. "I'll show you a Foot..." A growl escapes through his teeth as he takes a measured step toward Vorpal. Any aggression he may have been working on is halted by the next comment Vorpal makes though. "...and I am calm! Damn it!" He turns away again, a vein clearly engorged on the right side of his head, before slamming a fist into the table hard enough to rattle the candles. "...Rrr."

The comment about allies from Donny gets a glance from Raph, and the anger melts into mere mere annoyance. Not an usual face for him. "...Meh."

The sound broadcast over the headset catches his attention though. "...Donny..." and before he can get another scolding word out of his mouth, Donny's words hit him like a brick. Especially the bit about 'north'.

"...Fuck my life!"

He yanks his dual Sai from his belt before spinning them into the upright position and steeling himself. "...You want a foot, kitty? You're gonna get one."

Vorpal holds his hands out and there is a flash of light. A glowing, purple staff appears in his hands. "Alright, what's the plan?" The cat says, instantly going into action mode- ears swiveling to check for any sounds- "Do we meet them outside or ambush them in here? And... what's a 'Foot', anyways?"

"You owe the jar a dollar, dude!" Donny says to Raphael, as they all tense for action. To Vorpal he says, "They're like a really crappy ninja. Like, honestly, the /worst/. But there's about eleventy million outside right now, so might actually break a sweat!" Donny grins and then deflect Vorpal's other question back to Raph with just a look. When Leo's not around, everyone looks to Raphael.

"...Yeah, yeah..." Raphael hastily replies in an annoyed fashion at the 'jar' comment. He's still looking around, listening, waiting... and his grip on his Sai is getting tighter and tighter by the moment. Teeth and jaws tighten together so much he might actually bite through them in his agitation, at least until his focus is broken again by Donny. "...That's not even a number, nerd brain!"

...And before he can answer Vorpal's question with anything more than, "...The plan is...!", the glass windows overhead explode inward and ropes drop from the openings. Down from the skylight come countless numbers of persons of various shapes and sizes clad in dark blue with a purple foot emblem embossed on their armor.

"..to kick their ass." And with that said, he charges the nearest one and kicks them backwards into a wall before spinning his right sai. "Come on, ain't got all day!"

"Now that's a plan I can get behind!" The Cheshire cat grins, and in a flash of purple where he was standing there is an enormous dragon that darts towards the nearest group of henchmen, maw opened wide and breathing purple fire. Invisible, and inside the illusion, Vorpal runs forward as the ninjas disperse before the dragon. He jumps out from the illusion and swings the bo staff around to smash it over the heads of the retreating group. "Time to get Wonderful, eh?"

Donatello says, "Nice choice of weapon, dude!" Donny says, grinning at Vorpal's mode of attack. "Not everyone has such a good taste," he quips, obviously meaning his brother. Right over there. That guy. Yeah, that one. He spins the staff over his head and then spins as well, taking out half a dozen Foot with reverberating clacks of hard wood to craniums."

Raphael is, meanwhile, busy inserting his right foot into the solar plexus of another nameless mook before spinning his Sai back and using it to guard his arm from an incoming sword strike. That block turns into a deft trip, a hard strike to the back of the skull with the heel of his Sai, and catching another sword strike with the guard of his weapon. "Didn't anybody teach you..." He inserts his knee into this one's solar plexus, dodges an errant punch from another, and then trips his first opponent's feet out. "Swords don't work too well against these things."

He then growls at Donny's quip, getting distracted momentarily, "At least mine isn't a glorified stick!" and eats an elbow. "...Ugh! Son of a..!"

"Ladies ladies, you're BOTH pretty!"

The Cheshire cat teleports right next to Raphael as he is hit. The staff disappears into nothingness and the cat goes into action. His Black Tiger Fist training goes into action, providing a series of powerful explosive blows against the Foot. "No hittin' my buddies, don't you read the henchmen rules?"

The cat is rather strong- the thug is down after a few well-placed blows. "Hey, Raph, where'd these guys buy their ninja licenses? K-Mar--OW!"

Just as Raph was distracted, so did Keith get distracted. A katana slices and opens a wound across his shoulder--- a flesh wound, fortunately.

Donatello spins and blinks at Vorpal's ability to blink around the battle field. Just as he's developing the rough draft for a homemade teleporter device in his head, it's his turn to get his legs swept. He gets his staff up in time to block the coup de gras though, and uses the leverage to spin fast on his shell, taking out another half dozen, all with broken kneecaps. "Ok, but I'm a /little/ prettier, just sayin," Donnie calls from the floor.

"K-Mart. Sounds about right." Raphael chuckles, kicking the ninja who attacked Keith's feet out and quickly stomping on his head for emphasis. "That's the problem with mass produced martial arts these days..." He sneers at an incoming Foot, blocking another Katana strike and inserting his foot into the man's solar plexus before grabbing his skull and smashing it into the steel wall of the warehouse. "...It's just for show."

"You alright?" He asks Keith, even while keeping his eyes trained on the remaining enemies. "...Don't need anybody dying on me." He backs up a step or two slowly from an advancing Foot, "...Hey Donny?" He grins maliciously at the advancing Foot on the last step, "...while you're down there..."

...and the Foot is ejected across the room by way of a kick. "Catch!"

"S'ok, I've got eight more lives..." the Cheshire grins, holding his shoulder. Nope, no serious damage. Good. "But I can't say I approve of K-Mart Ninjatry. It's just Not A Good Thing."

A few flashes, and three small anvils fall on top of the nearest Foot ninjas. They vanish after they knock them out. "You got nice moves, though, I should take you out to a club sometime." Vorpal quips, returning to his fighting stance, claws out. "Who do these jokers work for, anyways?"

When Raph sends the Foot sailing Donny's way, Don kips up, and turns his back so he can body slam the cut-rate ninja with his shell. His bo whips out in another flurry and as suddenly as the clan showed up, the few still on their feet beat a tactical retreat. "Whoa. Those guys run away fast. Like, really fast." Donny says, sarcasm in his voice. "Nice job, guys," he says, slinging his staff across his shoulders and draping his arms over either end of it.

"...about the only thing they're good at." Raph replies to Donatello's comment about running, before rising up out of his fighting stance and tucking his weapons away. Raphael then turns to look in the direction Keith's voice come from, "...Would you believe they work for a kitchen utensil?"

"I'm a Cheshire cat who has befriended two turtles who've got more muscle mass than *I* do, and just spent a few minutes fighting ninjas named after a body part. The question is what WOULDN'T I believe?" He says, chuckling and taking out a bandage from a pocket on the inner lining of the vest. He ties it around the injury before the blood can soak to the rest of his fur. "... we alright?" He asks Raphael, offering his hand.

Donnie looks on perhaps a little /too/ eagerly when Vorpal extends his hand, watching to see if Raph will take it. He waits in silent anticipation.

Raphael eyes the extended hand for perhaps far longer than a normal person should. His eyes narrow slightly, he exhales...

...then shakes head and returns the offered handshake, adding, "...Don't believe for even a second I will hesitate to kick your ass if you ever compromise us."

...Then he shoots a glare at Donny, before turning back toward the door and walking. "Now if you two girls will excuse me..." He waves his hand in the air in an annoyed fashion. "...I gotta go live this down."