Ninjas and Boneheads [Red X/Invite]

Down at the Jump City docks just on the outskirts of The Slums as part of the industrial sector. It was often the place of clandestine meetings between local criminals; organized or superhuman. Tonight it would be a mixture of both, as news traveled in The Underground about a shipment of Xenothium that was coming in from overseas. Xenothium was known pretty well in the criminal underworld as a valuable if not short-lived resource. But it was unstable and volotile, which limited it's uses to the point where the risk was not always worth it. Tonight it seemed like someone was definitely interested in using it for some purpose, as the dock was quickly swept through by Ninjas of all things, alongside oriental gangsters.

The Ninjas went in first, quickly swarming and overwhelming Dock security and the workers offloading the goods, the gangsters coming in with a truck and a device to locate The Xenothium itself. Many of the gangsters were evidently female, not including the ninjas which a casual observer would note were probably not human for how fluidly they moved. Once the shipment had been found, the group would begin quickly loading up the truck while most of the ninja stood watch, one in particular was standing on the shipping container where the Xenothium was actually hidden.

Red X stood at a distance, observing the group and assembled villains with binoculars. Why are they here? I've got to get better sources on my shipments. Ones that are more discreet. Seriously, it's like every time now. And as Red X tried to focus on the containers, it became confirmed that they were trying to loot the Xenothium shipment.

Red X stood, tossing the binoculars aside, and sighing. "Well. That tears it." The image of Red X flickered out of existence.

Red X appeared behind one of the ninjas on watch and would strike to take them out silently, until...that didn't work. The ninja simply looked at Red X as Red X's eyes widened comically on the mask. "...that's a bummer."

As soon as the ninja even twitched a movement, Red X would one-inch punch him square in the chest, and, to the surprise of all, send him flying. Even Red X was surprised. "Did I do that?" Red X asked in disbelief, before looking around and seeing that most of the ninja had noticed their flying comrade, and, by deduction, Red X as well.

"Well ladies, shall we dance?"

The ninja sent flying would start whipping it's body around like a kyte trapped in the wind, eventually catching a stack of containers and sticking itself there. One of the gangsters who had noticed would start barking orders to her friends as the other ninjas started to group up. They would glide silently toward X, rising up and attacking with blade morphed limbs before backing off and another taking it's place in tag-team fashion. The Gansters would double up on their efforts to get the xenothium in their truck, the one more imposing ninja still standing atop the storage container. It wasn't going to get involved unless it had to- all that mattered was getting the xenothium to the mistress. They were not to play with the locals if they could manage it. But X would probably force them to play and then it would get involved.

Something wasn't right about this. They were so lightweight; they could flit through the air, and Red X might pack one hell of a punch, but there was no way that a punch would have sent a normal person that far. Were they fake? Red X noticed that they were panicking and speeding up the operation. Wonderful. Panicking meant that there was room for error. Red X would be sure to try and put that to some good use.

If Red X knew anything from the movies, it was that these were all henchmen that would be disposed of before the main threat- the one on top of the truck- would need their butt kicked. Unless this was supposed to be some weird character arc movie where Red X would have to lose and then come back stronger than ever before. Red X noticed them coming from all around, taking quick looks to notice, before cartwheeling out of the way of the first ninja. "Whoa!" Robin's voice exclaimed as a sharp weapon came down where it struck. Red X thought quickly and formed the X blades at the wrists. This would help catch their weapons and allow some room to think. Red X would methodically begin dealing with them as they came one at a time, making quick swipes and parries with the blades and making quick counter-attacks to send them flying.

But this was a distraction. They were doing a rush job. They just meant to keep their opponent busy so they could get away with the goods.

Not happening.

Just as it seemed that their opponent would be overwhelmed with their onslaught, Red X would activate the buzzsaws and make a few quick swipes to deal with the shadow ninja, darting towards the truck. And as soon as any tried to intercept the thief, Red X would flicker out of existence. A hologram perhaps? Red X was sure they hadn't noticed the entrance. No, Red X would reappear under the truck, grabbing the underside and tucking into it in an attempt to remain covert. Leaving two charges where the hands were grabbing.

Most of the ninjas and gangsters would be confused by the sudden disappearance, more orders being barked in Japanese which halted their unloading. Guns were out, mostly compact and easily concealed machine pistols. Some of them scurried around on high alert, trying to figure out where he was. The Ninja watching atop THE STORAGE CONTAINER would suddenly be watching with a pair of gleaming amber colored eyes. Someone was taking notice of the disturbance and was atleast present in spirit. The other Ninjas also looked around frantically, unable to see or hear anything out of the ordinary. FINALLY, someone decided to look under the truck, trying to find X.

No one had immediately come looking under the truck, so Red X took some time to plan what came next. Red X saw that there were a few people getting close, and decided, activating one of the Xenothium charges.

As the mob member (didn't wanna assume gender) checked under the truck, they wouldn't find Red X there. They would find two red X's if they were really looking hard enough, probably with a light, too, but considering they were looking for a person, that might not be necessary.

Red X sealed the X portal as soon as Red X was clear through it, hiding behind the crates of Xenothium inside the truck and remaining silent and still. The best thing to do would be to wait until they couldn't find out where their quarry had gone and resumed their packing. Well, in the best case, at least. Worst case it bought more time.

Where had X gone? This was the only thought racing through the minds of the gangsters, and currently the ninja on watch on the shipping container. Things were barked in japanese, the other ninjas quickly slithering around the area still in search mode. Unfortunately they wouldn't be able to waste time searching for X. The mistress wanted them in and out. The two older and most experienced of the gangsters seemed to take up sentry positions by the back of the truck, another squad watching from around the perimeter of the truck, firearms drawn as the shadow ninjas joined in on loading up the truck. Assuming X didn't do anything stupid, they would be able to finish soon...

Red X sat inside the truck silently. Had this been a normal mission without a legion of superpowered shinobi to protect the target, the mission would have gone swimmingly. But there was still plenty of time to make this a flashy and daring theft. All it required was a considerable amount of patience. While patience definitely wasn't Red X's virtue, it wasn't as if there was much of a choice.

The plan Red X had constructed went a little something like this. They would keep loading the truck until they had an acceptable amount to profit from, as logic only followed. Then they would have to transport the Xenothium to wherever they were going to keep it. Made sense so far. If at any point Red X didn't think it would be beneficial to stay any longer, there would be an attempt at the share of Xenothium again.

Truth be told, this job meant very little to Red X, at least in the way of what it meant as profit. Sure, people would pay top dollar for it. But Red X's suit was unique, and a lot of people liked it and wanted the technology behind it. If they were able to recreate it, Red X would fade into monotony once more. And Red X wouldn't allow for it. This wasn't about the money. This was about reputation. Xenothium was Red X's calling card, and people should have known better than to try and steal i-

Red X reached a revelation. What if this plot was more elaborate than it seemed?

Regardless of X's narcacisstic paranoia induced thinking, Xenothium would continue to be unloaded not just after a "sufficient" amount had been taken. No, based on the number of crates now piled in, it was clear that they had taken ALL of it. For what purpose though? Only the crazy clown man knows! And he's not getting any screen time so long as people continue to go about their business. Anyway, hopefully X wasn't claustrophobic because there was just barely any room for a person to hide back there as the back of the truck was closed up once they were done.

The truck's engines would start up, and the truck would start moving. There would be a few stops here and there but otherwise the trip was completely uneventful, there was hower a brief tip that caused minor turbulance with the crates. But the dip happened slowly, as the driver knew to be careful with the cargo- besides the obvious possibility of causing it all to blow up which X should have considered before hopping in.

And then the truck came to a stop, the engines cutting off as another engine closeby also stopped. Some Japanese was called out, a moment later and the latch on the back of the truck would be undone and the sliding door at the back of the truck would rise up...

Red X didn't mind the wait while they grabbed the entire shipment. True, it was longer than had been expected, but Red X could see they weren't pressed over the fact that their missing guest might have contacted the authorities and gotten them caught during the escape. A bluff they were decidedly right in calling. As they closed the entrance to the truck, Red X stood and stretched without a sound. No matter. The fact that they had given the thief even more Xenothium to work with was a special treat that wasn't going to be put to waste.

X opened one of the crates to verify its contents. Pure Xenothium. The thief nodded in confirmation, and got to work, activating a blade and using it to quietly dismantle the other boxes. There wasn't a need to create a whole lot of noise with the tools at the thief's disposal. X wasn't entirely worried about being in the truck with the compound. This was for a few reasons.

One, it wasn't like they could go speeding around with this stuff. Logic only followed that if you were carrying a cargo load of highly regulated material that couldn't be handled without high security clearance and you didn't want anyone to know, you probably weren't going to draw any extra attention to yourself by driving like a maniac.

Two, because of one, you weren't going to be taking tight turns at high velocity with a load of unstable chemicals. That was just stupid. All that effort to risk blowing your cargo to kingdom come? As if.

Three, and certifiably the most relevant, Red X was an expert at handling this stuff. Xenothium was directly correlated with Red X, and the thief had been stealing, handling, refining, and researching this compound for quite a while now. Hell, X ran around in a suit powered by the stuff and regularly brawled with other people. There was no way that this shipment was getting away.

Speaking of, Red X had finished before they arrived. X put two hands on the now connected boxes- all except one- and fired up the suit.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

And then the truck came to a stop, the engines cutting off as another engine close by also stopped. Some Japanese was called out, a moment later and the latch on the back of the truck would be undone and the sliding door at the back of the truck would rise up... to reveal nothing.

Well, nothing was a little dramatic, really. An adjective that was sure to be shared by the people looking inside of the truck, expecting to see all their hard earned work inside...to find- next to nothing. No, all that remained inside the shipping container was one box of their cargo, which was opened...and Red X.

"Hey there," X said, kicking the box out towards the hosts of this event. "Thanks for the ride. I thought I'd follow you on foot, but you were so kind to chauffeur me. Red X gestured towards the box with a hand. There was a red X on it. "Your payment- and tip!"

To say the thieves were displeased would be an understatement for the ages. Surprise, fear, and then anger would be what they started feeling. Surprise to find their cargo more or less gone, fear of the consequences of losing said cargo, and anger at their not checking the back of the truck, AND Red X stealing their cargo. One of them would bark something at X in Japanese, pulling out a handgun threateningly while the others started to gather around at the back. But X wouldn't be around to quip with them, for the moment. While X's attention was elsewhere, a pair of black clad hands would rise from the darkness behind him before a pair of arms quickly and suddenly wrapped around his waist. And then X would seemingly freefall, plunging into the darkness.

Then there would be cold, and darkness. Growing dark, darker still- light would visible through countless holes, shapes occasionally moving between them as X continued to fall- until something grabbed him again and stopped his falling. "You have something of mine," an equally cold and monotone voice intoned in X's mind, where he would after looking around find a pair of amber colored eyes looking at him from above.

Red X was getting ready for a pretty risky and dangerous maneuver when the henchie pulled the gun, but then was suddenly yanked...into the floor?! Red X began to freefall, turning towards whichever way down was and beginning to dive. Then, Red X was suddenly...stopped. Fear did exist within the thief for a brief moment, but apparently X had not gone splat- and there was still light to work with.

Red X looked around for the source of the voice, before noticing the amber eyes in the air above. Red X would turn to give full attention to it. A chuckle came out in Robin's laughter, though deformed through the layers of filters, and Red X put hands to either side in a pretty smug shrug. "I mean...that means you have something in common with hundreds of thousands of other people now, then," X said pretty smugly. "So what's going to happen here? You want me to tell you where it is?"

The grip on X's ankle loosened suddenly, prompting X to freefall again to what appeared to be the endless abyss again before suddenly stopping again. Clearly this person didn't have much of a sense of humor. "That or you offer something of equal value," the voice intoned flatly, the eyes drifting by quizically- a hannya mask coming into view from one of the holes casting light down. "That suit should cover it..." the femmine sounding voice intoned simply, circling around X with clear interest in his suit.

"Whoa!" Red X started falling again. Red X was pretty tough, but that didn't make the sensation of falling through a void pleasant. The thief steeled themselves, and eventually, they were caught again. It was a very eerily similar feeling to the way he conducted things. Red X looked up at the eyes again. The thief was currently ensnared by a tendril of some sort.

"That's not happening," Red X remarked, and then would suddenly reach up to the tendril and grab for it, activating the suit's feature to deliver an electric current through it to the tendril. Maybe it wouldn't shock the target, but perhaps it would travel through the tendril and shed some light on the assailant.

Seeing what X was trying to do, letting go and quickly grabbing X's other foot after dropping him for a second. Tecnically they didn't know precisely what they were trying to do, just that X was trying to grab something and being the paranoid one that she was, she wasn't chancing it. So she just let him go falling- again"You are not in a position to argue with me. It is simple, either I get what I want or I will extract the payment with your soul," she mentally said flatly, not flexing or exaggerating. Why was he being so difficult? She was in the position of power to bargain- not by choice but his options were few. Was he THAT arrogant that pride mattered more than his life?

"If you will not part with your suit- then you will steal something for me and save me the trouble," she continued, hellbent on getting something out of this. She refused to get screwed out of what was rightfully hers! Not some cocky thief that got lucky.