A deadly alliance? Or not... [Butcher/Invite]

Weaver sat in the back of one of her more trusted gang member's cars, her loyal Ninja at her side as they were being driven to a meet up. Her gang which the local authorities had given the name of "three oni" had more or less a permanent foothold in the city, and were slowly gaining new ground day by day. She was not shy to say or even think that the giant skeleton that ravaged Midtown was probably the best business opportunity she could've asked for. Because it was obvious that not every store or business owner would be able to afford rebuilding from the ground up, and that meant there would be some properties coming up on the market that she could snatch up (if her sister didn't beat her to it). The more storefronts she had, the more "legal" revenue she could make and divert into other assets alongside her more secret endeavors.

THIS was one such endeavor- one she was suspicious of from the get go because one of her gang's competitors was offering the beginnings of an alliance best case scenario, a temporary truce worse case scenario. With the arrival of DOMA, people were understandably on edge. From what her sources said, they more or less had been drummed up in response to the skeleton attack and as her sister said, were trying to crack down on the freelancer "heroes" running around. She had already started making her own preparations, trying to speed up bringing over people she could rely on more among other things. "So you'll be arriving soon? Good. No, all the important paperwork is in order and you should be able to settle in without issue. I am more concerned about The Skulls, and Mafia. We're outside DOMA's jurisdiction and with the leash on the titans, we can continue to operate as normal without any prominent threats to worry about for the time being," Weaver spoke to someone who was flying in by plane. The Ninja by her side may have been her right hand- but it still lacked the ability to think for itself even less than Cinderblock for the most part. So she still needed to rely partially on... people.

"But you're not taking chances. You wouldn't have also called for Cerberus otherwise," the other speaker replied in Japanese. "Regret teaching them the merit of cold hard cash yet?" They teased.

"I'm proud as their maker. As an employer, I have a bad feeling in my wallet," Weaver replied simply in Japanese. Would she prefer just hiring out freelance mercs for cheaper? If she thought they could take on the likes of DOMA, definitely. Did she think any freelancers would be foolhardy enough to do that? No. Cerberus were an elite few who were great at their jobs. She made sure of that- they were a big source of income from the cut she took from any jobs they took. She hung up as they drove up to the meeting place. Weaver had every belief that this could very well be a trap- which would put her at odds officially with BOTH gangs, which meant that she'd have to divert resources to keeping them both at bay- and that would be less money and time better spent else where.

It had not been stated that the gang leaders would be meeting- she had also managed to arrange it so she was not required to be present. There was no real need for her and the Skulls' leader to have to meet apart from a gesture of goodwill. It was also a stupid idea with DOMA around, possibly looking to make something of their time here and what better way to do that then to round up the leaders of two gangs? Granted, there was no real legal reason for them to do so and they weren't metas or freelancer heroes. That still didn't mean they couldn't try to do it to garner goodwill among the locals. So that was her out. One of her lieutenants and a skulls' lieutenant would be doing the talking.

As the Lieutenant in question got out, Weaver would mentally manipulate her Shadow Ninja into their positions. So far The Skulls had shown up as intended with minimal men as agreed on, it'd be easier to meet up without a huge entourage. But she wasn't convinced yet that this wasn't some kind of trap and had atleast taken precautions, having her Shadow Ninja watch their backs while the lieutenants and their escorts talked. Weaver would meanwhile be listening in and relaying what to say mentally through her own lieutenant...

Butcher had a few plans out to help her make an impact on the meta crime in Jump. The first was announcing their jurisdiction. DOMA put an article out saying the parts of the city they'd be working in, when in honesty they had federal clearances and were able to effectively operate anywhere in the country if they needed to. It did well to work, though. She'd been eyeing the slums for a while now, and had a few names on her list to pay a visit to later - and she'd already seen a few.
Barlowe would be proud of her methods, they looked a lot like the way his officers had treated her in custody.

After asking a few of the street thugs nicely, and with information from her insider contacts with the mafia, she'd caught wind of a serious group. Three Oni. This one was supposedly metahuman based, or that's the rumor. Butcher was all about the idea of killing supes.
The next bit of luck was when she was informed by one of her old war buddies who worded for a rival gang about a meeting between the two factions. An unhealthy alliance for the city, no doubt. So she was staking it out. Backup was close, but not on site. Butcher preferred to do it alone when possible.

That said, as another shadow ninja ran by where she was hiding, she let out a soft sigh. She'd seen enough supes in her life to know that those things weren't human, and some kind of foot soldier. She hoped bullets would work, but wasn't one to risk it so decided to play it safe and let them run by for now, noting where they were.

She stepped out after the shadows as the patrols passed her, putting her hand to the receiver in her ear.
"Multiple hostiles, eyes up. Start headin' in boys, I'm engaging now."

There was talk back, something along the lines of hold until backup arrives, but Butcher took the piece out as she slung the rifle out from her shoulder and aimed down at the two meeting lieutenants. A military style rifle that could switch between single fire and automatic, and luckily didn't require a stand. She aimed, and only a few seconds after fired a shot at the lieutenants leg. Whether it hit or not, her next shots would be at the tires of the car he was by, that she didn't know Weaver was in.

"So we've all seen that footage one of your boys sent us... that's fucked up. But the boss was impressed, and has a bone to pick with the mafia too. Plus all of these damned boy scouts running around," The Skulls Lieutenant started rattling off.

"Please get to the point," The Three Oni Lieutenant cut in.

"Oof- someone's pissy. Bottom line, we've rubbed eachother the wrong way but haven't really pissed in the other's cornflakes. And like I said, got the boss' respect. So bottome line-" The Skulls lieutenant was again cut off but not by Weaver's lieutenant- not directly anyway. Instead they were interupted by a shot going off, instantly followed by the lieutenant dropping down and howling in pain. "THE HELL?! COVER!" The Skulls barked.

"It's a trap!" One of The Three Oni's  escorts barked as they pulled them out of sight just as Butcher started popping the tires.

"The fuck it is! We have nothing to do with it!" The Skulls barked trying to get back into their car. The other 3.O was about to start shooting but stopped and hid back trying to get out of sight.

"There is no reason for a trap. There is someone else here. Find them!" Weaver mentally commanded, keeping her men in line while the shadow ninja were now all on hyper search mode. They would flatten to the ground and start effortlessly slithering around, trying to find the shooter while the wounded lieutenant was brought behind cover- atleast getting out of sight hopefully. Weaver and her ninja would slip into the darknes, moving out and finding a new vantage point until their attacker wa known. One of the other thugs took out a phone and started to ring for backup while the other tried to attend to the lieutenant's leg. And when Butcher was eventualyl found the others would be following close behind.

As chaos seemed to erupt from the scene, Butcher felt a bit of glee as the old adrenaline ran through her veins again. She did her best under pressure. She hit a button on her vest and the loudspeakers under the lights sprang to life and a generic military-esque voice erupted at full volume from it.

"ATTENTION! YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF METAHUMAN AFFAIRS! SURRENDER NOW, OR BE MET WITH LETHAL FORCE!"

Butcher almost laughed at the last part. She was doing things out of order, but really... when it came to supes, she never had any attention of playing fair. She was here to crack some heads. Speaking of, those shadow ninjas seemed to spot her. Luckily, the message on the loudspeaker was going off on repeat so there was some more chaos to help mask her presence. Unless the annoying meta could track her. Quickly she slid a flashbang forward and dashed behind the corner as two shadow ninjas appeared near her. To her surprise, the ninjas were killed by the light. So there was a weakness. Perfect.

"I got these bloody bastards, then. Called in the cavalry too early heh!"

She jumped out again, firing two rounds into the chest of another ninja then one to the head. It dropped, but the damage seemed to be from the chest shots instead of the headshot. She made a note of that... but has to make it a quick one as some of the Sunset Skulls opened fire on her area. She quickly ran to cover and hid, happy they didn't know exactly where she was. Her next move was to throw a tear gas canister to the meeting area as she looked out for ninjas.

The Skulls had no intention of sticking around at that point, they blindly fired and started to take off in their car to leave Weaver's men to their own fate. Couldn't fault them for trying right? So DOMA actually WAS trying to make a move against them? She didn't have time to waste on making a mental list of who could've ratted them out. She'd come to that if she still felt it was relevant. The Shadow Ninja would step up their offensive on Butcher, now having her location down pat. Normally they would have just gone en masse to try and overwhelm her- but Weaver, able to partially know what they were doing, had them wave attack in an attempt at forcing Butcher to waste her remaining flashbangs. Those would be very annoying.

While this went on, she'd mentally touch base with her men. "You will not resist. However, any weapons you have must be gotten rid of if you want to avoid jail time- and anything else illegal," she mentally told them, feeling their panic and discontent at what was going on and what she was telling them. The fact that DOMA trucks and everything not immediately surrounding them at the sniper's arrival made them feel like they had no reason to. And the thought of running from them emphasized this. "Either do what I say, or I'll leave you to your own stupidity. Now, call off the others and give up anything you don't want found before more agents DO arrive," she mentally hissed, waiting for her men to follow orders before sending her right hand to go collect everything.

The less charges there were, the cheaper bail would be. And also the less likely that DOMA would be able to hold them. Of course, there was definitely chances that DOMA would try to trump up charges. She was not personally familiar with the legal system and what tricks they could try to pull outside what she'd heard her father and his associates talking about when she was younger. She'd redirect her attention toward Butcher's location, slipping more into the darkness to avoid being seen. After getting the stuff, her right hand would follow suit- following after it's master.

The Skulls were retreating, which was nice because Butcher didn't really care about them. She wanted the Oni, the ones with the Metas. The shadow ninja were coming after her, which was annoying, but they weren't so impossible to deal with. The first wave, she used her gun, firing rounds into their chest as much as she could until they dropped. Luckily, she was an excellent shot. Unluckily, it seemed the placement of the 'core' that kept them alive was different every time.

"Bloody bastards, so fuckin' many of em..."

She grunted to herself as the third wave started coming. She got another flash bang and threw it in their direction, clearing out the bulk of them. She only had a few more, which was not good. Next time she challenged these guys she'd have to pack a lot more than this. It's fine, though. Learning was part of the reason she was out here tonight. She decided on a new strategy, retreating to under a streetlight. She wondered if the shadow ninja could follow her here.

"Oi oi, can't ya just come out with whatever bastard is controllin' ye? I can do this shite all day."

She threw another flash bang and fired a few more rounds at them. The sound of sirens starting to hit in the distance, but even more quickly was the helicopters. They tore in with spotlights, shining through the ranks of the shadow ninjas. If the Oni stayed, it'd be all out war here soon.

And Shadow Ninja would be collapsing at the arrival of spotlights- which meant keeping up with this wave assault pointless. So Weaver told them to withdraw, hidden somewhere nearby in a place that'd be hard for the spotlights to reach her. Any thought of even wasting time getting her men out was now coneniently off the table with the spotlights from the helicopters. And with her men following her orders to fork over their weapons and contraband to her right hand ninja, this could be used against DOMA later. She wasn't going to piss away resources fighting DOMA right now and was planning for the future, they'd slip up sooner or later and she'd be prepared.

That did however leave the initial shooter who she was itching for some retribution against. Later. Now was definitely not a good time with the other DOMA agents running around. But unless they could actually link them to something tangible, they wouldn't gone long. Apart from the liuetenant, the other three didn't speak english well. On that note though, who was the most likely to squeal? She was selective with who she formerly recruited, for many reasons. Chances are a lie detector might be the only thing to worry about, as it was their word against eachother. Her men had been far enough away from the ninjas for some credibility. She'd slip into her webyway of shadows and hang around for the time being. She still may need to intervene...

The spotlights were effective against the ninja, which was nice. It seemed like the cop drones cancelled out the ninja drones. So that just left the remaining people to capture, and ideally the meta that controlled the ninja. Butcher kept her rifle ready as she approached where she'd seen the men last.

"If any of y'all are still standin' best ta step out now and show yer hands."

This was when Butcher did a quick check for cameras. Luckily the criminal types doing shady deal generally picked spots that didn't have any cameras for obvious reasons. Assuming their plan was to surrender and pretend they hadn't been doing anything wrong, Butcher would quickly question them.

"Start spittin' boyo. Where's da meta at? Don't ya fuckin' lie to me."

If the first one didn't answer, she'd shoot him in the head and look to the next, glaring icily.

There actually was atleast one camera which could be argued was capable of working. The being said, the slums had enough abandoned buildings or poorly run establishments to where it shouldn't matter too much. Unless you count Weaver's ability to physically control electronics through her wires. Unfortunately with the spotlights in action, there weren't any good places to hide without great risk of being spotted, and worse risk of being in a bad position after being spotted.

As for the first gang member she questioned, he answered alright- though unless Butcher had suddenly taken a hobby in learning Korean, it wouldn't mean anything to her. The next one would naturally after seeing her friend get shot dead would immediately go for Butcher, weapons or not she was furious and to hell with whatever the boss said! She wasn't going to get put down without a fight! That would just leave the lieutenant, who after getting something around his lege to stop the bleeding glared icily back at Butcher. He seemed to acknowledge what was going on, and it pissed him off for different reasons. But he had a plan to try and convince Butcher that he wasn't going to say shit to her out in the open.