Enter the Twelve

Fog coiled thickly across the black waters of the Long Beach port which seemed to drown out all noise and light. Two loud foghorns blared from the cargo ship that slowly pulled into port...

And that was everything that Shard could see from her vantage point.  She crouched behind a transformer and watched as her breath formed a cloud in the air. Tonight she was wearing a costume similar to one that she wore in New York. A black cape made of fragments of glass dangled from her shoulders while her breast plate was made of the same type of material. Her helmet was made of a series of green and dark blue that would not reflect when struck with light.  The helmet was hollow around the eyes so that Shard could swap lenses, between telescopic, normal, and sun glasses. Underneath all of that she wore a pair of black thermals to keep in theme with her costume and to keep herself warm in this crazy stakeout.

 From here she could barely notice the faint outline of a large cargo ship- but what she did notice were the four snipers located in strategic locations across the boat yard.  Shard could sense the silicone in the scope of their rifles as they sat completely still in their posts. She could tell that one was located on top of a crane, aimed towards the eastern dock. The second sat on one of the nearby roof tops, aiming south.  Shard was less sure where the other two were, but she could sense that they were both high up and pointed west.  She was unsure how the snipers could even see in this weather but she still was't willing to step foot into the dockyard, not alone.

She sensed that there were at least a dozen men in the dockyard... or at least a dozen carrying scopes. She wasn't too sure and estimated that there would be at least a dozen more who were carrying side arms. God she wished this damn fog would just disappear already.

Elsewhere on the docks, a lone man dressed as a homeless pushed a shopping cart covered by a large tarp, stolen from a girl's scout event. He pushed his haul to the special area of the dock where his 'kind' were allowed to do business, or settle debts.

Gingerly, he knocked on the door to one of the warehouses. A viewing port opens, and a deep voice belonging to an enforcer with a glandular problem addresses the low-life. "Fingers Francis. You got business?"

"Heeeheeey man! You got that right. I got me a nice haul today. Designer bags, watches, smart phones, jewelry... Maybe the market value'll settle my... obligations?" The man responded, quite desperate.

"... The boss will only take cash." The door guard retorted, then closed the viewport.

Francis found himself knocking repeatedly on the metal door, taking out a large art tube from the pile. "No, no man! You gotta let me in! I got something really special. One of a kind. Really valuable. Antique even. Heard the boss likes to collect." He shook the tube, making a dull sound. The thing inside was heavy for sure, and took up a lot of space.

A few moments of silence, and the door opens, letting Francis come inside.

A smear of black and red was the only sign that she was passing. After all, Samantha Rees was moving faster than the eye could track in her specialized suit. She had transfered to the area for work but was now using her placement to look into local criminal activity. She had had a few lack-luster showings up till now. Hopefully, she could prove her mettle soon enough...

As she drew close to the docks, she slowed. She spotted a suspicious looking hobo and tried to keep her distance. Was he involved? She doubted it but it would be best to avoid detection. Even he could could alert the true target if she was not careful.

Then he stopped at an odd building. An awkward exchange between the hobo and the door keeper made her pause. It reminded her of old mob movies. Maybe they were involved. Couldn't hurt to look into this.

After all, what were the chances of two crimes being commited at the same time, right...?

A heavy thud sounded as the man on the other side slid the bolt of the door to one side and the large metal door swung outwards. Fingerless Francis was unceremoniously grabbed and pulled inside by two large men, one of whom wore a wife beater and a pair of blue jeans while the other wore a fresh pressed suit.  One would not think to see both men working together as they both appeared to be of different ethnicities and anyone aware of the LA ethnic gangs was aware that they stuck closely to their own cultural ties.

Once Francis was through the door the man who had looked through the viewing port grabbed the tube and slammed the door shut.  There was another loud thud as the bolt slid back into place.  Francis was given a rough and thorough pat down and then was shoved in a general direction by the man in the suit.  Two large men stepped in to either side of Francis, blocking his view of the rest of the operations in the warehouse save for what was directly in front of him.

He was led towards a windowed room above ground floor.  At first look the room seemed to have mirrors looking outwards towards the rest of the warehouse, but one who knew better would realize a two way mirror for what it was.  The tattooed man to the right stepped through the door and a few minutes later he returned with a nod.

Francis would step into the room flanked by his three escorts. Before him would sit a balding man with greying hair dressed in a well fitted suit. Francis would note that this was not the usual boss that he was used to dealing with.

With a gesture of his hands the men to either side of Francis procured the tube.  The elderly man pried open the container and observed the content within.  He sucked in his breath as he pulled the sword within out.  A keen eye appraised the working on the blade and a sigh quickly followed.

"How came you by the Blood Sword?" He asked, his voice creaking with age.

----

"Hey!" A loud masculine voice sounded from behind Samantha Rees.  A man of Asian ethnicity approached the vigilante, he wore a black vest with the words 'SECURITY' printed across and a radio clipped onto the upper left. Light flashed at Samantha from the maglite flashlight that the security guard held with his left hand. His right hand hovered near his holster where a pistol sat.  "I'm sorry ma'm, but the docks are closed after hours. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Of course, anyone who knew anything about docks knew that they didn't really close in the traditional sense.

----
From her distant post, Shard was able to detect that two of the snipers had shifted positions. Their scopes both shifted towards a single direction simultaneously. She wondered how they were able to see through all of this fog.

"It's a funny story actually. See a scare broke out in a crowded mall and-" Francis began rambling into a story of how he obtained it, but the Yakuza made man slammed his desk.

"SHUT UP!" He shouted with such gravitas as to shock his men, the normally calm and cool boss showing panic. He dared not touch the weapon, but laid the tube on the table, sword still in it, reeking of mindless malevolence.

"Why whaat?! I thought you liked these Asian antique things!" Francis asked.

"Idiot! This is no antique!" The boss then turns to one of his enforcers.  "Yashiro! quick, go get my phone book from the safe. We can probably still return it, this is just a misunderstanding..."

The thug, knowing better than to ask questions, heads to the safe and starts spinning the tumbler.

"Wha? It's just a sword." Francis said, confused at the boss's uncharacteristic anxiety.

Yashiro quickly opens the safe and fetches the phone book the boss wanted. He quickly leafs to the page he needed, and started dialing.

"Fool! THIS. is. NOT. JUST. a sword. When I was just starting out, the owner of this sword...the owner..."

= = = = =

"I remember this tunnel, but I forgot about the sludge build up. Ugh." Diana thought to herself, as she followed her sword's spiritual energy to this place. It was faint, and she couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was. Something in her incomplete memories stirred when she neared the docks, and somehow recalled an escape tunnel the traders would use in case of a police or superhero raid. Now she entered through, wearing her complete ninja suit that dampened her sound.

The tunnel led up into the locker, the sound of an running faucet alerting her to a presence. A man wearing a long sleeved button shirt decided that now would be a good time to get some shaving done; once he put aside the razor to get cologne, he is immediately startled by the sight of a literal ghost from the past. The feeling of steel sent a shiver down his spine; he'd seen this attack administered before, a precise stab that instantly and permanently paralyzes. He realizes he still has control over his body, but for how long, he wasn't sure.

"...You..." He barely manages a whisper. Diana put her finger to her lips, gesturing to shush him.

"This place seems pretty familiar. And so are you. Let's talk."

Sam turn toward the voice.  Truthfully, she knew little about dockyards and their security conventions.  And as she eyed the guard through the bulletproof glass of a domed visor, all she knew was that it was to early to go.

"Oh, I didn't know," came the muffled reply.  "I guess I'll be-"

Before she finished, Sam's hand became a blur.  A sudden punch drove into the man's solar plexus, doubling him over.  Winded, the man was unprepared for a hammer-fist to the back of the skull.  Just like that, the guard was down.

"Sorry," she said, though knowing he would not hear her.  She took his radio and tossed it away.  Having accelerated her throw, the device did not survive its first collision.  That would keep someone from using it to find the guard, which in turn would reduce the chances of an alarm sounding.

As Sam bent to drag away the man, an odd light appeared at the corner of her vision.  She moved suddenly and two rifle bullets hit the ground where she had been.  Snipers.  Now that, she knew, was not standard security...

Now the tinker needed cover.  The only thing nearby that acted as such was the loot house.  She ducked passed it as more shots zipped close; too close, Sam had to admit.  She had to come up with a plan quickly...

The thug that Diana had pinned began to open his mouth and close it soundlessly. Finally he began to vocalize something but before he could form his thoughts into words, his eyes glazed over and his head dropped back against the wall.  A split second later he straightened again and blinked twice.  He stoically examined the hero in front of him and then reached into his vest and yanked hard, pulling three rings out of his suit jacket.  With his other hand the Yakuza agent grabbed at Diana's wrist, attempting to pull her closer to him so that she too would be caught up in the resulting explosion.

---

The same glazed look came over the Yakuza boss and he closed the phone.  In one smooth motion he pulled out a handgun from under his desk and aimed straight at Francis' head.  Before the man could even protest, the Yakuza's finger squeezed and brain matter exploded over the wall of the office.

"Prepare my boat," He spoke in English to the gathered criminals, "Yashiro gather your men, we have guests." As he spoke, the men in the room snapped to attention unnaturally. All sense of fear and apprehension melted away and they scattered to fulfill their tasks.

---

Upon hearing the gunshots, Shard reached out with her powers and shattered the scopes of the sniper rifles.  She stepped out of cover and flew towards the location of the shots, letting the fog cover her.  Earlier she had detected a series of silicon flickering through her senses, she only recently realized that a speedster had come through and not her power frizzing out on her.

Tracking the speedster was more difficult than Shard would have imagined, but she managed to parse together the rough shape of a human from the amount of tech on the speedster.  Shard descended from the air to settle behind the speedster, while moving the cape of glass to wrap around her torso in case the hero attacked her out of instinct.

"My name is Shard," She blurted out quickly to try and save herself from getting in a fight in the most inopportune time, "I am a local hero and I think I need your help... or it might be the other way around. I can help you.. uh I can tell you right now that they know we're here. I-I don't know what to say but uh-um..." Shard stopped talking when she realized that she was almost rambling now.  

She cleared her throat and tried again, "I don't have any way to prove this, but those guys- the snipers I mean, they didn't you. W-what I mean is that they couldn't see you the fog is too thick. I wouldn't be able to find you if it wasn't for my powers." Shard stopped to take several breaths. "I think there's a metahuman here."

Moments like these were where Diana demonstrated why she was more than just a sword swinger... she was a true edge lord. Much like a certain Fuhrer from a certain Anime, Diana was conditioned to react to the sight of three pulled pins, and wasted no time slicing into three grenades and cutting three fuses, causing their explosive content to fall to the floor, and her inferior knife to lose its edge.

"You must feel real awkward right now." She smirked, before noticing an unusual glaze over his eyes.

Diana wastes no time and uses a Jiu-jitsu takedown, locking the man's arms while quickly choking him out with one of those fancy but effective holds that cut off air and blood circulation to the brain. She kept the choke until 5 seconds after the man stopped struggling. Seemed Diana would have to find her answers elsewhere.

When Shard spoke, Sam reacted quickly. Turning frighteningly fast, she formed a claw that with her palm aimed at the woman. However, she was able to avoid discharging her glove; fortunate as the woman seemed to have no intention of attacking her.

Pulling her hand back, Sam introduced herself. "I'm...Velocity." She shrugged. "It's a tad 'on-the-nose' but it works." The girl seemed a bit testy, though she seemed to be fighting that down on account of obligatory gratitude, considering he shots had stopped coming. But she would damned before saying "thank you."

Peering out from cover, the tinker-speedster checked the area, in case reinforcements arrived. "I suppose that explains how these twats operate so efficiently."

Another report. Gunshot, close, inside the loot house. Sam jumped away from the structure in surprise. "Shite! What the hell is going on in there?" She began to look around for a way inside. Something told her she needed to get in there...

As the Yakuza finally stopped struggling for breath, the door to the left of the locker room opened and two men entered in through a small hallway that was designed for some privacy. From their apparel they didn't seem to be either Yakuza or Triad. Each men wore a large tshirt and had buzzed off their hair.  One man had a 301 tattooed onto his wrist whereas the other bore the tattoo on the back of his shoulder.  Both men stormed into the lockers and headed to their respected lockers while swearing loudly.

"Man, the fuck we gotta put on some dumbass suits for?"  The bulkier man complained while throwing open a locker.  The other one uttered a reply in a language that Diana did not speak and began to pull a suit jacket from the locker.   Both men would eventually have that feeling that one would have when they felt that they were not alone in a room and cast a look over to one side of the wall.

They would notice Diana and the fallen Yakuza and reach for their guns that were tucked into their waistband.

---

In her inspection Velocity would notice that the warehouse was kept in a good condition. Obviously whoever was using this place had enough money to ensure a good quality warehouse.  Towards the roof of the warehouse she can faintly make out the appearance of a ventilation shaft through the mist. The rough outline of the vent looked about four foot by three.  Upon closer inspection the two heroines would also note that they were standing in front of what looked to be loading doors, however the doors were locked shut.

From Shard's own inspection she could tell that there were no windows around the complex at all. Whoever was in charge of this operation was also intelligent enough to realize how much of a structural weakness windows were.   What Shard did notice however was the presence of silicon pieces in a shape that was commonly found in vehicles, most notably trucks.  There were several identical pieces lined up about five to six feet away from one another, thus indicating that there were a fleet of trucks present.

The smaller girl made this news aware to her companion, pointing out that there was probably some loading going on on the opposite side of the building.

"They probably have guns though," She pointed out, "lots of guns... can you outrun a bullet?" Pieces of glass began to descend out of the sky, being drawn from various trash piles across a three block radius. With the amount of fog around the dock Shard was sure that the floating pieces of glasses would not give away their position.

Diana was just wrapping up choking out the first thug, when second and third came in. They lock eyes for a second, then the thugs reach for their weapons. Diana's cybersuit supply her hands with Shuriken, and throw them with expert skill to disarm the guns and leave deep gashes on their hands.

"Aaah!" They wince in pain as the blades drew blood, and just as they were recovering Diana closed the gap and crushed solar plexi with knees, faces with elbows. One thug fancied himself a boxer and weaved under Diana's fist, which crushed wall tiles and concrete. He fails to connect a hook to the body, finding a knee intercepting his fist and continuing up to his chin. Diana grabs the man and smashes his face into a locker, sending the whole row to the ground with a loud crash that could wake the dead... and alert everyone at the warehouse to her presence.

I really need to work on my ninja sneaking skills. Diana thought to herself, preparing for the inevitable fight.

Samantha was blunt as she formulated a fe ideas. To this "Shard" character, she scolded, "I can handle myself." She did not even pass a glance towards the other heroine as she spoke.

In an instant, "Velocity" had dashed to the roof, getting a closer look at the vent. It did not seem to have any machinery in it. That simplified many things for her. She mangled one of the covers, giving herself an entry.

However, Sam had no expectation or intention of stealth. Instead of slinking through the ducks, she elects to fall staight through the shaft. The ventilation system proved too fagile for her combined weight and she tore through the aluminum, falling into the room below. As she landed, Sam allowed her knees to buckle, limiting her own strain. She also attempted to guage who was in the room with her...

A wretched screeching noise filled the room drowning out the shouting outside of the locker room and the ventilation shaft overhead burst open depositing Samantha on top of a very unconscious and now probably dead Yakuza.  Standing directly six feet away from her would be Diana dressed in her ninja outfit with the head of a thug in her hands , still connected to a row of fallen lockers.

The door to the locker rooms flew open and shouts in various different languages came through. Fortunately for the two girls the hallway was only large enough to allow two men to enter side by side.  Unfortunately for the girls, instead of entering two by two the gathered criminals decided on a different course of action. Two men briefly stepped in one after the other and fired a canister into the room.

Each canister left a trail of white smoke as it arced through the room and would land in the back of the locker if not intercepted. Tear gas would began to fill the room just as the thugs rushed back out the door and slammed it shut.  Should the two look for escape, they would find the two foot tall (not so hidden anymore) hidden tunnel entrance that Diana had used to access the room and the ventilation shaft that Velocity had dropped out of.

Outside Shard hugged the wall closely, afraid to step out into sniper fire now that she couldn't sense where the scopes were pointed.  She could feel the scopes of other guns changing positions inside of the warehouse and knew that that speedster must have gotten caught or drawn attention.  "What a bitch," Shard muttered to herself as she flew up to the ventilation shaft to peer inside.

The vents overhead buckled and gave way to an unidentified figure, Diana uncertain if friend or foe but leaning towards friend. The one sneaking into a bad guy base usually was one of the good guys.

"You came at a really bad time. You looking to beat up some thugs?"

Little time left to talk. Now they had tear gas, enclosed space. They caught the heroes in a bad place. The door was shut with a crowbar; though Ronin's helmet could seal up and protect her no problem, she considering her new company. She decided to vacate the locker by blasting through a section of dry wall with an explosive shuriken. "This way!" She instinctively brings Sam along.

Samantha turned to...cyborg ninja?...acknowledging the woman there before her. "Yeah," she confirmed in her muffled voice. "Though, I'd really like to aim higher up the food chain, if you catch my meaning?"

Then came the his of gas. The "Cyborg ninja" proved to be a woman after Samantha's own heart as she used a stylized grenade to knock out a wall and offer an exit. Velocity agreed: her helmet did not protect from poison gas.

The cyborg speedster, zipped passed the ninja, playing vanguard. In a blur, Velocity threw a shoulder into the farthest thug, launching the man bodily into the wall. As the goons began to turn, electricity arced from her feet. Another dash fed the force of a flying elbow that shattered a man's jaw. Sam glanced at the ninja again. "You know, Love; if you don't get a move on, there won't be any thugs left for you." To illustrate, she turned to the next nearest badguy: he took three full-force punches to the chest that left the goon unconscious.