Superhero 102: Holiday Special! (IC Only Please)

"Just that there's something in there I want...but don't let me get in your way. Even if we're after the same thing, I might be willing to share." He let his cigarette glide to the ground where he then extinguished it with the toe of his boot. "They did teach you about sharing in grade school, right?" He turned his eyes on the girl with a curious stare. She didn't look very old at all, perhaps just a teenager. They get mixed up in this kind of stuff at a younger and younger age, he supposed. "What's your name?" he asked as he dug his hands into his pocket to fish out his pack and lighter.

Meagan didn’t answer but stood there silently studying the man with her dark intriguing eyes. Her eyes told a tale. A tale that was longer than she was old.

“Sorry, I must have dropped out, before ‘sharing day’” there was an edginess in her voice, but not because that was ‘hip’ now-a-days, but because she seemed like the real deal. Though she claimed to be under-educated, there was plenty of intelligence behind her mysterious eyes, and it could easily be surmised that what she lacked in formal education, she made up for with street-wise knowledge.

Keeping the gun low at her side, she fished out her own cigarette and placed it to her lips, and waited for him to offer his lighter. Shane hated when she smoked, but he wasn’t around to complain either. Plus he smoked more himself in his own way.

“You first, what‘s your name?” it wasn’t paranoia, just a healthy dose of suspicion, after all this was Paragon City.

The man shook his head disappointedly. Perhaps not at her witty reply but at the cigarette she had resting between her lips. "A little young to be smoking, my dear?" he asked and flicked open the lighter and brought the flame to life. He didn't have to keep the flame shielded from the wind, the flame burned steady and strong but not too brightly and the wind kept its distance. "Such a bad habit..."

"Call me Ryju. That's not too hard to remember, huh?" He took out one of his smokes and lit it but left the lit end hanging down from his lip as he turned toward the busy warehouse. Something was beginning to happen...Those standing around the entrance were starting to go inside.

~~~

"And our next prize is a genuine shard of red coral, empowered by the great Leviathan of Sharkhead Isle! Those who can control the monster's will are on the path to greatness and limitless power. Shall we start the bid at twelve thousand?"

"Twelve!"

"Fourteen."

"Fifteen!"

As the satyr and the warriors walked through the corridors along with the crowd of attendees, Jason and some of the warriors were a tad worried. They hadn't expected so many to show up. How would they ever bid high enough for the grand prize? They didn't stand a chance.

"Hey, Spirit," Jason whispered up to the ram and tugged on his sleeve.

"Wow, talk about false advertisement. That shard is gonna take over the poor sap that buys that thing," Spirit chuckled as he was pulled to one side of the crowd by Golden Jason. The other warriors gathered around while their leader spoke.

"Listen. There's too many guys around. We won't ever be able to afford the swords at this rate," Jason explained, keeping his voice contained.

But Spirit didn't bother keeping his voice down as several characters in gold plated armor suits and huge sonic blaster rifles walked past them. "Afford? I thought we were busting these guys and taking the swords."

"SSSHHHHHHH!!!!!" the warriors hushed in unison.

"Keep your voice down!" Jason rasped.

"Oh!...." Spirit said in his still loud voice. He blushed and put his hands over his snout, "Right..."

"All these guys have weapons. We'd have to fight an army if we try to bust them."

"So?"

Jason sighed. "Let's just sneak in, find the swords and steal them."

"Oh! That's a great plan!" Spirit exclaimed loudly with bright eyes but his expression quickly switched to confusion. "But what about taking in the guy who stole them?"

Jason reached up and clamped the ram's mouth closed. "Shh! We'll figure that out after we get the prize. Okay? Now come on." The warriors started to tip toe off through a separate corridor, Scooby doo style, and hid behind a stack of crates as a Tsoo guard walked by. They weren't sure which way to go until their eyes caught a man with a glowing presence, strong body covered in elaborate tattoos and a pure white coat draped over his shoulders. The other warriors quickly ducked lower while Spirit peeked his head out a little, his horns still a bit visible.

"Tub Ci Tang!" Spirit nearly squealed but managed to keep his voice contained. Jason annoyingly gripped the satyr's head and forced it down low before the Hmong warrior took notice. He didn't seem to and just kept on walking, several more Tsoo joining behind him after turning the corner.

"Whew! That was close," Jason finally exhaled after a long half minute of holding it. The group moved from behind the boxes when they thought the coast was clear and kept investigating, turning to the lone door at the end of the corridor.

"Hmm, don't you think this is odd? There's no guards?" Spirit questioned as his head looked around for any searching eyes and feeling out the area for malevolent intent. He could sense some importance in this room but he wasn't sure why.

"Well obviously the swords aren't in here," Jason corrected.

"We can still take a look and maybe find out where they really are," one of the smarter but quiet member of their group suggested.

Of course, when Spirit opened the door, the group was met with the startled presence of Chi Master Yeng. Yeng was stroking one of the swords when the doorknob jiggled and the entrance reopened. "Master Ta-" he started to say but when the strangers entered, he drew the sword he had rested his hand on.

"Intruders?" Yeng smiled, but not to the intruders. His eyes seemed captivated by the sword in his hand. A serrated white metal katana with a flattened ball tsuba and an elegant red-leather wrapped handle. The face of the blade had a faint flame emboss pattern that shown with such intensity when you shined a light on it, the flame looked like it danced.

"Hey, are those it?" Spirit asked pointing at the sword in Yeng's hand. The other warriors marched in from behind the satyr purposefully when they saw there was only one man in the room.

"Hurry, let's get em!" Jason ordered and drew his golden hilt broadsword. Yeng, who seemed hypnotized by the katana finally looked to the intruders with a sinister smile on his face.

“What do you work for the state or something?” she said sarcastically. She was old enough to buy them, barely.

“Whatever Kettle, there are a lot of things that are bad for me” she said as she took a puff, and blew out a semi-perfect ring of smoke. She didn’t bother to mumble it. It was kind of funny however, that dying wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened to her.

“Megan” She shifted her dark eyes at the warehouse as well. While she was looking at the outside, she was paying more attention to what was happening inside. Isabel had found her way in.

She took another puff on the cig, and blew out another smoke ring, slightly better than the first. She pinched the cig between two fingers, and held it at her side.

Megan’s dark eyes deepened until they looked like empty black wells. She cocked her head slightly to the side, listening to Isabel for a moment. Though they were mind-linked to a degree, she couldn’t remote sense what Isabel saw, Isabel had to describe it to her. And though Isabel did for the most part what Megan asked of her, she still needed to be careful, as Isabel did things on her own as well. Things definitely were starting up inside, she gave Isabel a few directives.

“So do you have an invite, with a plus one?” she asked, just because she wasn’t invited didn’t mean that Ryju wasn’t. Though getting inside wouldn’t be problematic for her since Isabel had made it in. She was curious about Ryju and his ties to this gathering.

…

Isabel slunk high up in the rafters of the warehouse, watching. She was cloaked in shadow as naturally as shade itself, invisible. Her black eyes darted around, the various scattered attendees and at the various artifacts of power. She swept her inky black hair to the side, and peered down as a group of warriors barged into a room. She would need to get a better look…

"Hardly," the man's voice gruffed as he put away the lighter and hefted the long covered object higher on his shoulder. "But it does make me wonder where the kids these days will end up...ah well, talking about it just makes me sound even older..."

He nodded. "Good to meet you then. And I believe I do, but I'd say it'd feel odd going to a party with some stranger you just met on the street, wouldn't you say?" The man started heading to the guarded door, casually stepping into the crowd as they funneled into the entrance.

The snake, who was passing his sight over the gathering soon pointed out the man and girl who he was with, motioning for them to step aside so he could question them. And he did, and waited for the snake to slither over while the troll kept watch over any stranger that passed through. Perhaps it would have been easier to take out a Council member and take their clothes seeing as these guys were basing their watch purely on looks alone. But that wasn't Ryju's style.

"Who are you?" the snake glared at the man, his eyes shining a bit brighter as hypnotic waves flowed from its slits.

Any flinch or telepathic manipulation would hint this guy off so the man answered. "Ryju. Just a guy looking to check in this bad boy." He took the large cloth-covered object from his shoulder and stood it up in front of him then began to unwrap it. "Found this off some hero-wanna-be brat the other day. Figured it's worth something if they're selling the rest of the collection."

"Hmm?" The snake eyes the body-length sword critically then turned and pulled a radio from his pocket. "Come to the front gate. Something weird just showed up." The naga glared at the man while they waited.

After nearly a minute, Ryju started tapping his foot impatiently then smirked to the snake. "Bet you wish you could do this too, huh?" he chuckled and motioned toward his tapping toe. This only got an annoyed look from the snake just as a hulking ghostly armored figure appeared out of thin air.

"What is the trouble?"

"Thissss human sssays he hassss one of the ssswordsss from the collection," the dark scaled creature motioned to the sword in the man's grip.

The spirit examined closer, reaching a hand out to feel it only to jolt back in surprise. "It seems this truly is Tadayoshi Hizen...or a remarkable forgery..."

"Well?" the snake asked.

"The swordsman they belonged to claimed to use five different swords but we only have three, so it's possible..."

Ryju took a deep drag on his cigarette before blowing a big smoke cloud toward the ghost. "Well? Can I get in?"

The snake guard and ancestor spirit looked to each and nodded. "Yes, you may."

"Finally." Ryju started heading through the door, hopefully with Megan along.

When the two were through and inside, the Snake turned to the troll who was still keeping watch. "Capture them and take that sssword...kill them if you have to. I'll call backup." This got a nod from the troll who then turned and started walking a distance behind them.