Making a Name [Closed]

4... 5... 6... 7...

The Ronin counted in her head as she pulled back tight on the wire, mentally blocking out the sounds of struggle as she felt the resistance slowly start to drain from the line. She stood in a crouch just behind a rather large man dressed in a cheap darkly colored suit, the wire from her grappling hook snared around his neck. From this position the rather large difference in body size didn't matter so much, not that the lack of oxygen left much strength in the man at this point anyway. No, soon enough the resistance vanished completely, but she kept counting until she reached twenty before finally letting up. Stepping to the side, she caught the man as he fell and slowly lowered him to the ground to reduce the noise. She double checked his vitals as she retracted the grapple line, making sure that he was just unconscious and not dead before rising back to her feet.

She was clad in what could only be described as lightweight samurai armor, with strips of metal plate covering her torso and upper arms, spaced far enough apart that they didn't jangle together too much when she moved, but still provided plenty of protection. Her hair was still tied back, but now her face was completely obscured by a metal mask stylized like a fox spirit. A full blade at her side and a heavy steel gauntlet on one arm made certain that no one would mistake her for a lost little girl anymore; now she appeared almost as a wandering warrior straight out of the old stories, as a Ronin.

The reconnaissance of early in the day had gone about as well as one could have hoped. She'd gotten plenty of pictures and managed to plan out her route, and even though a presumed lookout had stopped her when she approached the actual meeting site, an adequitely nervous plea for directions had convinced the man that she was harmless. She was actually pretty sure that was the man she'd just choked out... Harmless indeed. In any case, she'd been prowling about for nearly an hour before finally seeing the full entourage show up and beginning to make her move. So far things had been going smoothly enough; that was the third sentry she'd incapacitated without the alarm being raised. It seemed these people weren't experienced enough to use a regular check in system either, which meant they probably wouldn't find these guys until well after the fact.

As she started moving again, Ronin allowed some of the strength fade from her body. Although sacrificing muscle mass didn't seem like the most recommended thing, the reduced weight that came with it made her footsteps lighter and her movements just slightly faster without having to use up any of her speed. The trick was just making sure she returned it to normal before trying a takedown; positioning and leverage could only do so much when you barely weighed more than a twig. Luckily she didn't run into any more sentries before she got close enough to switch to the high ground, using her grappling hook to ascend to the rooftops and slowly creep up to the small courtyard where the exchange was being made.

Peeking over the edge of the building Ronin surveyed the scene before her, weakening everything but her senses while she waited for the right moment to make her move. Beneath her the courtyard was about fifty feet across, with arrays of three storage bays set on each of three of the four surrounding walls. As far as she knew, all the units in this section were owned by one of the crime families, a sort of 'safe space' that people could rent out for their dealings with no chance of police intervention, even if things happened to get a little bit noisy. Ronin wondered if they ever considered the possible downsides to that setup, but concluded that a lot of these people thought themselves invincible, and so took it for granted. In the center of the courtyard were two men with a collection of small crates, one wearing the same sort of cheap overly flashy suits she'd seen from the guards but in a vibrant purple, while the other wore a crisp black jacket that actually looked like it came from a high end luxury brand. Five more guards stood around the perimeter, four from the same crew she'd already run into, and one that seemed a body guard for the more distinguished man, who looked like he could easily take all the others by himself. So, seven in total... a bit more than Ronin had been expecting from what she'd heard, but still not too many to deal with if the others were anything to go by... except that one bodyguard looked like he could be trouble, big and tanky with short blonde hair... maybe Russian? Hard to tell from a distance. It didn't seem like any of the guards were carrying firearms either, but one of the men in the middle was... in fact it seemed like that was what was in the crates, as the dealer retrieved what looked like an assault rifle from one and passed it over to the gang leader.

"Damn, this is some serious equipment, how did you get your hands on it?" Ronin's ears perked up as she heard the gang leader speak, looking down the sights of the gun that he'd just been given. "Heh, you like it, do you? I actually got this real cheap from one of my other clients, said he wanted to get rid of it as fast as possible for some reason." The gang leader paused his examination of the weapon for a moment at that, look back to the dealer with a cocked eye. "What, is it hot or something? I don't want guns that are gonna draw that kind of attention." The dealer shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Sounded like superstitious nonsense to me, something about a demon." He said with a chuckle, but the words seemed to make the gang leader freeze and pale slightly. "Wait, are these from Aragashi's gang? I've heard the stories man, but I didn't really believe-"

"Just rumors, I promise you. I certainly haven't seen any red demon since I got my hands on this stuff." The dealer cut him off and raised his hands as if to calm the man. "Unfortunately a lot of people apparently put stock in these stories and I've had some trouble getting rid of the goods, which is why you're getting such charitable rates here. I assume you're still interested?" The man in the purple suit seemed to hesitate for a moment, but eventually nodded, setting the rifle down and waving for one of the guards near the far wall, who produced a briefcase and started to cross the courtyard.

And that was the target. Ronin's whole body tensed as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out, taking a brief moment to mentally prepare herself before lighting the fire within. The heavy weapons were unexpected and there were more guards than she liked, but she could still do this. If everything went to plan they'd barely have a second to react before she was gone, she just needed to be fast. Luckily that was something she was good at. When her eyelids opened again, her normally grey irises were a cool deep blue, lit with an unnatural glow from within. In an instant she felt all the nervous shakes, all the unconscious twitches in her muscles come to an abrupt halt as her body well and truly fell under her control; an instrument of precision and speed. The feeling was always an exhilarating one, especially when she was in the middle of storing the aspect, but there was almost never time to actually enjoy the sensation; whenever she was burning there was work to be done. With an effortless motion she plucked a knife from its scabbard on her upper arm and flipped it up into the air. She rose to her feet as it came back down, snatching it back out of the air and hurling it in one clean movement. Normally she could hit a target dead on from five to ten paces away, but with her quirk steadying her aim that distance could easily be doubled. And so confidence meant that she didn't have to wait for the blade to dive into the guard's chest before she started to move, drawing a second blade from her lower leg.

Every head in the courtyard turned as a guard on the far side cried out, dropping to his knees with a knife impaled just below his right shoulder. That meant they were already in a state of surprise and disorientation when Ronin threw the second blade and another man yelped in pain. The briefcase clattered to the ground as the bearer suddenly found a blade in the arm that had been carrying it. Ronin hit the ground a moment later, eyes locked on the prize as the same glow in her irises seemed to spark in the air around her, cloaking her in a blaze of blue. In a blur of motion she rocketed forward, easily darting around the bewildered man and snatching the briefcase from the ground. She considered just cutting him down, but that would have used up precious time and with the target in hand all that was left was to get out.

"Li!"

She heard the arms dealer call out as she dashed for her planned escape route. She just needed to get around that first corner and grapple up to the rooftops again, then-

A small rock whizzed past her head and she reflexively darted to the side, only for the stone to hit the ground in front of her and flash brightly. The next thing she knew someone stood in her way; the dealer's hulking body guard had appeared out of nowhere, his fists raised and ready for a fight.

Ronin planted her feet down hard, forcing herself to skid to a halt before she collided head on with the dealer's bodyguard. As she came to a stop her left hand instantly went to the blade as her hip, thumb flicking the guard out to reveal an inch of steel as it came loose from the sheath. Still burning blue, her right arm moved toward the hilt in a blur of motion. She didn't know exactly what the guy's quirk was, but it had allowed him to teleport, so chances were that it wouldn't have any defensive effects attached to it. That meant that her foe was probably just a normal person in terms of durability, and regardless of the size difference between them she doubted that he could stand up to the bite of her blade. As she found her grip and prepared to draw however, something unexpected happened.

Something shot out from above and wrapped around the man's neck, stopping him dead in his tracks even as he advanced toward her. Eyes widening in shock, the man didn't have time to react before a figure appeared trailing behind the wrap and struck him with a large tendril-like appendage. There was a loud crack as his shoulder gave way under the hefty impact and the man practically crumpled under the stranger's assault, first toppling to the ground and then being skewered to the pavement through the same broken shoulder. Ronin blinked at the display, unsure of exactly what to make of it and unable to completely process before she found a cell phone shoved in her face.

After 'we' escape? The message suggested that the stranger might be amenable to her position, but she wasn't the sort to just trust every random person that claimed to be helping, it could just as easily be a trap from- "You idiots, she's got the money! Don't let her get away!" Her train of thought was broken by the gang leader's shouting and she shook her head clear. She couldn't afford to hang around debating it and this guy was offering her a way out. It was really the best option she had; enemy of my enemy and all that. She gave the newcomer a curt nod and then quickly spun around, releasing her katana and pulling another knife from her sleeve. Behind, one of the guards had snapped out of his stupor and the leader was fumbling through the crate for a magazine for the rifle. She prioritized the immediate threat, hurling the knife into the thug's thigh in order to drop him, then taking off in the other direction. With her speed she was sure she'd be able to clear the leader's line of sight before he ever managed to load the weapon.

Leaping over the incapacitated bodyguard, Ronin quickly darted past her new 'friend' and vanished into the alley beyond. After making three quick turns she allowed the fire to die down a bit and the aura around her faded, the glow receding back to her irises to insure that she'd draw less attention. Turning one last corner she found a dead end and fired her grappling hook, scaling up the wall at the far side without ever slowing down. Once at the top, Ronin hauled herself over the edge and finally looked back to see if the stranger had actually managed to follow her. She certainly hadn't slowed down for his sake, and those without speed quirks of their own would have been hard pressed to keep up.

Ronin scanned over her surroundings for the stranger, but as expected he hadn't been able to keep pace with her at full burn. It a few minutes before she saw any sign of him, in fact she was starting to consider just ignoring the encounter and heading on her way when he did finally make an appearance. The figure that approached didn't come up the alleyway as she had, instead making their way across the rooftops. A stroke of luck for him, she supposed, that she'd chosen a perch on one of the taller buildings and that he could pick it out. Well, luck or skill, she couldn't be sure quite yet.

She eyed the boy as he crossed over to her rooftop. She guessed he was a boy at least since that was the more likely among criminals, which she assumed they were based on the fact that they were also hiding their face. It was honestly hard to tell though, the stranger was slightly taller than her, but their build would have been a good deal more lean than hers if she hadn't been actively drawing away from her strength. As he drew nearer, she once again moved one hand to her blade, eyes glowing blue behind the slits of her fox mask. Just because he'd helped her get away didn't mean that his intentions were truly benevolent, and although she didn't actually expect him to pull anything right here, Ronin made sure he knew that her guard was still up. Made most people less likely to try something dumb in her experience.

Once again, rather than speaking the stranger tapped a message onto a cell phone and then showed it to her rather than speaking aloud. It was an odd mannerism, but far from the strangest she'd seen in this world of super powers, kid probably had a reason, maybe even something as mundane as not wanting people to be able to recognize their voice. In any case she mulled over the text for a moment, still looking Vanish over before finally giving a shrug and turning around, motioning for the boy to follow. His assistance at least earned him a few minutes of her time to hear him out. And if it all turned out to be an elaborate trap, she figured she could probably take him in a fight.

After double checking to make sure that the briefcase was still secured in place on her back, Ronin started toward the edge of the building and jumped the gap to the next roof, quickly falling into rhythm as she made her way across the rooftops. It wasn't a long journey to the safe house she'd planned on using for the evening, and she was confident enough in her natural reflexes that she allowed the fire within to fully die out, returning her eyes to the familiar grey hue they usually held. Better to save the energy in case she needed it later.

The path the girl picked out took them toward the waterfront, and soon enough a small warehouse came into view. Ronin used her grappling hook to latch onto a crane and swing across a larger gap to a stack of cargo containers, which she continued to scurry across until finally climbing up onto the warehouse proper. As far as she knew this place had been abandoned for quite awhile now, rumors said some sort of gang had used it but had been chased out by heroes. That meant that it was a perfect place for her to lie low; any real organization was likely to give it a wide berth for its reputation, and she hadn't done anything to get the hero association's attention... yet. Kneeling down beside one of the skylights, she pried the latch open with one of her knives and then dropped down inside, not bothering to wait to hold it open for her new acquaintance.

She landed in a crouch in a room that she assumed used to be a lounge of some sort, complete with a tacky old couch, two chairs, a small table, a smashed TV, and an attached office. Besides that the interior was fairly spacious, and she had some bags of supplies stached against one of the walls from her previous visits. The only door that lead out into the warehouse proper was completely boarded over, which meant that the only method of quick entrance and exit was through the window above. It wasn't a bad hideout by any stretch, though depending on how things went this evening, she might have to clear out and avoid it for a while. That'd be a shame, but she had others to fall back on and she'd rather deal with this on ground she was familiar with.

Climbing back to her feet, Ronin unlatched the briefcase from her back and casually tossed it onto the table. As it clattered and came to a rest on the edge she removed her blade from her belt and plopped back into couch, shifting the katana to her lap as she looked up to regard her guest. "Alright, out with it." She said as soon as he entered the room, her first words of the evening equal parts brief and blunt.

Ronin folded her arms, leaning back into the couch as she read over the new message from her silent companion. This Vanish was apparently under the employ of another to scout potential recruits, someone that went by Akuma... not a familiar name to her, but she didn't know a whole lot about the smaller gangs of Musutafu. So this was about a job offer then? What were the odds that she'd get such attention on her very first operation? Extraordinarily improbable, and though it wasn't entirely impossible she was more than a bit skeptical about this apparent chance meeting. It was the bit about her safe house that made the girl raise an eyebrow though. Their old hideout? That would suggest that there was some manner of truth to the rumors she'd heard. That warranted doing a bit more research into the matter she supposed, especially if she was ever going to use this place again.

Ronin was quiet for a minute as she considered the offer, fingers idly tapping against her katana's sheath. In spite of her reservations about the apparent convenience of everything, this was exactly the reason why she'd been out robbing that idiot yakuza wannabe in the first place. The money was a nice bonus, but it was only a one time acquisition, not a long term solution. The simple truth of the matter was that she needed a more reliable source of income. Keeping up with her payments was becoming a bit of an issue, and if she ever wanted to get ahead of the game she needed contacts, people she could work with, employment. A 'gang' didn't sound like the most promising of opportunities, but it was something, a source of additional manpower and a place to start at the very least.

"I don't have zero interest I suppose. What sort of outfit does this Akuma run?" Ronin asked as she leaned forward again, setting her katana aside for the moment as she started to go to work on the briefcase's lock with one of her knives.

Ronin could hear Vanish tapping away on his phone as she fiddled with the briefcase, sliding the edge of the knife into the crease just beneath the lock itself. Whatever the kid had to say, there was apparently a lot of it, as she'd nearly pried the edge all the way into the gap by the time he finally turned the phone toward her again. Not exactly the most convenient form of communication, she decided as she was forced to stop what she was doing in order to read the messages that had been presented. Oh well, at the very least the boy was fairly informative with his explanation. So, not just a gang, but a gang of kids... that could either be better or worse depending on how she looked at it. On one hand it meant less experience, on the other it meant that most were actually around her age and that there'd be a lack of adults trying to take advantage of them... which was definitely an improvement over what she was used to.

The bits about their ideology and the description Vanish gave of his boss were less useful. Sure, it all sounded great on paper but they were just words, and people could say whatever the hell they wanted to convince other people to do what they want, whether or not there was actually any truth to them. The praise for Akuma did tell her at least one thing though; this kid was loyal to his leader, and not the 'signs the checks' or 'boot to the neck' kind of loyalty that she saw with Hagane's captains. That at least was a point in his favor. If the rest of what Vanish said was actually true, then this actually had the opportunity to be a good gig. All she had to do was prove that she was strong and useful and she'd have the ear of the leader, and all the perks that came with it, not to mention the freedom to keep working her own jobs on the side... That was a pretty big if though.

"Sounds almost too good to be true honestly. But whatever, I'll bite. " She said as she turned her attention back to her work. It only took a few more seconds to get the knife into place, and once it was there she took a deep breath in. In truth she didn't really know much about lock picking, but she didn't need to know anything for a lock this cheap. Just a bit of brute force in the right spot would do nicely, and so she dampened everything but her strength and then lit the spark. Her eyes pulsed deep red beneath her mask for just a moment as her muscles suddenly filled out and her hand came down on the blade's handle.

Snap.

The lock gave way easily and a few shattered bits of metal went flying as the case popped open, revealing its contents. A small handful of 100,000 yen bundles and what looked like a hard drive tucked into a padded section beneath them. Quite a lot less cash than she'd been expecting, and far less than she'd been hoping for. Certainly less than all those guns back at the storage unit were worth even with a big discount, a fact that made Ronin stare into the case with a quizzical expression for a moment before glancing back up to Vanish. "So when do I meet this guy?"

Ronin raised an eyebrow beneath her mask at the kid's response. If he didn't understand how generous the terms he described were, then he obviously hadn't seen the same parts of the underworld that she had. Any leader that actually cared for their men beyond keeping up appearances or reputation was already oddity enough, and with no mention of monthly quotas or dues, it was already better than her current gig by miles. Claimed bias or no, she'd explore the option if there was even glimmer of potential truth in what Vanish was selling. And speaking of selling... The comment about the hard drive just made Ronin frown as she closed the briefcase back up. Computers had never been a strong suit of hers, and even if the data inside turned out to be easy to access, it wasn't like she had the contacts to be able to turn it into a profit anyway. It was a matter she could look into of course, but not exactly the immediate source of revenue she needed... unless these guys happened to be able to do something with it.

Which brought them to the next point. "Fine, set it up." Ronin said as she stabbed her knife into the table's surface so that it'd stay in place and then got to her feet. She had a feeling she knew exactly what 'chat' he was talking about and she agreed, such a public forum, even if well hidden, wasn't exactly the best place to conduct business. Moving to the bags against the wall, she rummaged through them for a moment before producing a cell phone from a small cache within. After a few taps she entered a new number into the contacts list under the name 'R' and then tossed it to Vanish. "Number's in there. Just give me a date and I'll make time for it." The phone was a burner of course, with a contact set to another that she could easily toss in case any of this ended up going sideways. Potential opportunity be damned, no one was ever going to accuse her of not being cautious enough.