World Tree MUSH

    The Afterlife is a bar in the Watson district of Night City. It's a bar run by Rogue Amendiares, the best fixer in all of Night City, built in the remnants of a morgue, and the drinks are all named after famous edgerunners who lived hard, played hard, and died young in a blaze of glory.
    Rebecca's sitting at the bar sipping on something hard and throat burning as she waits for others to join her.
    "Hey Claire, gimme another Johnny Silverhand." The smart aleck solo says to the bartender, Claire Russel, who gets to work mixing her up another hard drink.
    That's when the man approaches...
    "Hey, interested in some work? A business opportunity, cargo transport. Get from A to B, quick and quiet. It's simple. You go to the Kabuki waterfront, pick up the package, give me a call, then I tell you how to deliver it. Very straightforward. Don't worry, there's a bonus in it for you. Imported and duty free. It's a simple job, you'll be generously compensated."
    Becca stares blankly at him for a long, long moment. The man must clearly be desperate to approach any random solo he can find, but here he is.

    CUT TO KABUKI, THE WATERFRONT.

    "Man I can't believe I took this weirdass job." Rebecca mutters, metal mitts folded together behind her head as she leads the party along the docks. "Anyway, this guy Dennis said that the job should be pretty easy, we just open up a fridge with 'No Future' spraypainted on the side and give him a call, so let's find the fridge and get this over with... ... Wonder why this dude couldn't just go to a fixer about this though. Something reeks."
    But money is money.

    It's Hyouka's second time in Night City. The work pays pretty well, even if it does feel like... well, it's right on the fringes of what she can really call 'adventurer work'. Especially a weird job like this. It's got the faux-elf cyborg frowning as she follows along with Rebecca. "This feels pretty shady, yeah," she murmurs, as much to herself as it is a response to Rebecca. DARGN helpfully adds, "This kind of no-questions-asked, follow-instructions delivery usually involves something people will be very violent over if it gets found out, you know. Also usually quite illegal." Hyouka scowls, just a little.

    "Something stinks about this, and It's not the fish." quips Scavenger drolly, one hand clasped firmly around the haft of her cleaver as she follows after Rebecca. The Zalak seems to be off the Rhodes Island leash for the time being, having stuck around Night City since the previous job, though checking in on a certain alchemists world, in case that case progressed without her.

    Yellow eyes glimmer faintly in the dark, two rings of yellow marking where she's looking.

    It'd almost be creepy, if most peoples eyes didn't do similar in this city.

    "Soooo you called us after that, then?" Catra has her head tilted to the side. She managed to get ahold of her own phone by now, or had someone rewire one she'd jacked from a corpse. She'd rather leave the electronics to Hordak or Entrapta, after all. She's still got that kanabo, too, and it's hooked up behind the back of her neck and her arms are slung over it like a baseball player ready to get in the game. "I mean, I'm not complaining. I need Eddies or Ennies or whatever so I can actually grab some chow at one of those noodle bars I see literally EVERYWHERE..."

    She rocks back and forth on her heels and as always, Melog is laying nearby, looking neutral and nonplused as they always seem to be. The amused flick of its tail, however, does seem to indicate that there's some resonant excitement there. She is clearly not at all concerned with the stinkiness of the job. "So we find the fridge, grab a box, and call what's-his-name? Whatever gets thrown at us, we can handle. I mean look at what we did to those metalheads back at the bar!" she grins, showing off her fangs.

    Then she leans to the side a little, mismatched-eyes sweeping over Scavenger. "Hey Scavenger~" she says, amused. "Man, nothing but familiar faces around here. This feels good."

    Afterlife is a fine name for a place! As long as it isn't the destination today, all's good right? Marceline has taken a bit of a liking to Night City herself. She can sort of blend in when she tries; no weird looks due to her pointed ears or even pointier teeth, though the bitemarks on her neck probably raise an eyebrow or two. Like some punk teenager trying way too hard to look edgy.

    She does look a little edgy. Just a bit. Bringing back an old look, she's got the sides of her head shaved down, her mane of dark hair pulled into a ponytail. A ratty band tee too large for her dangles from one shoulder and covers her down to her hips. Finishing the outfit, she's got slashed up fishnets, combat boots and her guitar strapped over her exposed shoulder.

    "Yo, peeps. More work already? So like. Who's betting it's some poor croaked dude and we gotta toss him into some beater ride and get it crushed?" ... Gross.

    She floats along with the group, legs bent, posture kind of slouched. She's relaxed, at least. The dank parts of this city must seem pretty normal to someone used to things being kind of dingy and wrecked beyond belief.

    The smell of nasty stank polluted seawater and dead fish hangs in the air along with the smog and gunpowder scent that seems to permeate all around Night City. Rebecca can't help but shrug.
    "I mean that's what it means to be an edgerunner. You live on the edge of the law; take dirty jobs and do dirty things. It's just the way Night City is." She says to Hyouka and DARGN as the party moseys along.
    "Anyway yeah that's when I called you guys, 'cause I didn't wanna get flatlined doing an obviously nasty ass job on my own." She confirms for Catra as everyone starts searching for the fridge in question. It's not long before the group FINDS the fridge with 'NO FUTURE' spraypainted on it.
    Rebecca pauses. She looks at the others. She looks at the fridge. Back to the group. Back to the fridge.
    "... Aite, here goes nothing." The neon-haired solo says, popping it open and--
    A man falls right out, collapsing onto his face on the floor immediately. Thing is though.
    He's groaning. He's writhing. He's STILL alive.
    "God fucking dammit." Rebbeca says looking SQUARELY at Marceline with a glower. 
    "Son of a bitch, hold on hold on." Growled as she opens up a phone call to--
    "Dennis, what the FUCK? You could have said the 'cargo' was a guy."
    "I could have. How is he?"
    "... He's a little worse for wear but he's still breathing. Who the hell is he?"
    "The Ambassador to Mexico, does it matter? You need to get him out of there before the Tyger Claws come looking for you all. I've prepared a car nearby, get him inside and get to these coordinates."
    Coordinates are received in a ping.
    Just as whispers and hushed voices in Japanese can be heard outside the warehouse with the fridge. ... And the familiar sound of weapons racking slides and receivers into readied positions.
    "Oh fuck, someone pick up... This guy. We gotta bombshell, fast before the Tyger Claws make it look like we died falling down a flight of bullets."

    Bombshell is solo slang for 'book it' by the way.

    Scavenger stands a little off to the side, when a guy falls out of the fridge and displays non-corpse-like behaviours, like groaning and being alive. "Live cargo, problematic." she grunts softly, before the sounds of weapons being readied meets her ears.

    She wastes no time and just scoops the guy up over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes, gesturing for Rebecca to lead the way. "You know where the evac vehicle is, I take it?" she asks.

    "If this turns out to be corpse disposal," Hyouka replies to Marceline, "I'm leaving. I've got my limits." Admittedly, Catra's got a good idea; trying the local noodle stands sounds like an interesting night. But the money for a street-food night isn't worth getting into the really dirty work. For now, she sticks to the careful observation of their surroundings, though it's not as obvious as Scavenger's rings of yellow. She does, however, give Rebecca a little shake of the head. "I don't think I like the way Night City is, then," she murmurs, once again almost to herself.

    However, DARGN observes simply, "If this job was so obviously a trap, why do you expect to actually get paid if we survive it? In their shoes, I'd simply dispose of you if you somehow managed to succeed."

    However, as it turns out, the job is the exact opposite of corpse disposal. They're preventing corpse creation. "...I think I can live with this job," Hyouka concludes, before adding, "Fisto, ON!" Once again, those present are treated to the peculiar sight of her magitech gauntlets assembling themselves from within her forearms. In the space of seconds, she has massive mechanical fists, glowing with lines of purple lightning mana. "I'll give you all one warning," the former office lady calls out, in decidedly rough Japanese herself. "You don't win this fight. Clear out."

    "Oooooh hey you called it...!" Catra announces, staring at the guy as he tumbles out of the fridge, obviously talking to Marceline. She prods him with the oversized bat a couple of times, likely eliciting a couple more groans from him. "...almost. Hey, he's not dead, alright! That's. Uh. That's good, right?" she asks, glancing around. Then those voices make her ears lay flat.

    "Seriously? I killed like. Six of these guys already! How many more ARE there?" she asks rhetorically. There's always an infinite amount of faceless goons. Not just the Maelstrom. Ha! Then the not-so-corpsey guy is slung up onto the ratte's shoulders. "Guess this is precious cargo? Hey look, Melog can..."

    And there goes Hyouka. "...cloak us..." her ears stay flat and she throws her arms up. "Or we can get into a fight. Whatever. Dibs on the knife arms!"

    The stink doesn't seem to bother Marceline. Why? Thing they don't really sell well about post apocalypse cities...? They reek. Terribly. Anyway! She sniffs around, flying about and kicking over the odd heap of garbage. "Whew, hopefully it's not that one." She rolls a wood pallet back over whatever she saw in one pile before the fridge is found.

    "Huh. Do it! Do i-" She freezes as a dude literally falls out. When it's readily obvious that the guy's alive Marcy starts roaring with laughter. "Oh man, I'm glad I was wrong but wow I was- Hahahaha!" She pats Hyouka on the shoulder, being mindful to stay juuuuust out of Rebecca's reach.

    "Noodles sound good but, hrnh. Not really my jam." She shoots a fangy grin at Catra, a thumbs-up-

    Then Rebecca's call seems to turn sideways and she frown, ears shifting into something far larger and more batlike. "Heeeey, there's peeps talking moon dog somewhere... That way." She points at the warehouse.

    "Sooooo, we just supposed to carry our new dude or we gonna ride? Your guy's plan is seriously donked up." A glance back to DARGN.

    "Or, y'know, it's a setup and you're all gonna die."

    So there are guys outside the warehouse ready to bust in and gun everyone down. That's not good. Rebecca immediately has an assault rifle in her mitts and she has it loaded in the blink of an eye. Once Scavenger has the package the group is ready to go.
    Hyouka makes an ultimatum. There's silence for a beat, more hushed whispers as the Tyger Claws outside mutter amongst each other at the biggest set of Gorilla Arms they have ever seen.
    "Man I have got to get me a pair of those." Rebecca does mutter. But then?
    Gunfire explodes everywhere, the gangsters outside firing in on the group. Rebecca ducks behind a crate and mulches a man's torso to a fine red salsa with a furious fussilade of fire before reloading.
    "Aaaaghhhh fuck. Yeah I know the way, follow me!"
    The team will have to fight their way out the warehouse and back up the waterfront to the main streets. It's not too crazy a distance, but gangsters at every turn make every step into a hot crossfire as Rebecca leads from cover to cover until they reach a black car. The trunk is open.
    "This is it. Dump him in the trunk. Everyone inside!"
    Rebecca says, holding off a few more guys with a wild spray of fire.
    The revving of engines says this might not be so easy a getaway.

    Scavenger shifts, drawing her cleaver and using it to shield the package from incoming bullets. A few stray shots ringing off the solid chunk of sharp metal on a stick. Once the others clear a path, she bolts for it, lashing out with her cleaver one-handed as she deadsprints for the car. She kicks it open, dumps the guy in and slams it down, before hunkering behind her sword a moment.

    Engines mean pursuit vehicles... pursuit vehicles mean trouble.

    "Get going." she tells the others, before sprinting off in the direction of the sounds of engines.

    As a great hero once said... diplomacy has failed. "Wonderful," Hyouka mutters as they fall under gunfire. "Just wonderful." Between her bullet-resistant skin and the massive FISTEAU gauntlets, she can afford to take some hits from the smaller caliber stuff, but who knows what kind of nasty larger or specialized ammo they might have? She's careful to fall under cover briefly; however, while she hunkers there, she realizes that her choice in 'cover' is well within her weight limit. Two massive hands reach out, grab hold, and Hyouka HEAVES-

    -and the gangers will get to see, for the very first time, what it looks like when a disused forklift hurtles through the air straight at them. She's flinging it for the heaviest concentration of gunfire.

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> Get forked.

    Catra's never been one to back down from a fight, truth be told, but she'd been trying to look out for her. Well. Acquaintances? She's not completely sure they're her friends. Yet. "Alright, okay, clear a path...!" she growls and ducks behind the ubiquitous giant spool as bullets just cover the area around them. "Notgonnagetshot notgonnagetshot notgonnagetshot... now!" The heaving of the forklift is her signal to book it and she hauls herself around the spool and... vanishes. 

    She re-appears behind one Tyger Claw, kanabo mid-swing and just about taking his head off if not for the synthetic muscle fiber attached to his neck. So instead a loud, metallic WHUNK rings out and the gangoon crumples to the floor like a sack of potatoes. She darts ahead and vnanishes again. It's not that she's chromed out with reflex enhancers, she's just making use of Melog's powers to make it ~look~ like she's chromed to the gills.

    All the way up the waterfront, zip zip zip, WHUNK WHUNK WHUNK. By the time she gets to the car, she's left a half dozen broken necks and drops into the driver's seat with a neon pink SMG on her lap. "What the hell do they make these out of?" she asks about the bat, bewildered. "Ugh, whatever, where are we going?" she asks Rebecca, fumbling with the controls of a vehicle she's never seen before in her life before she manages to get the engine to roar to life. Melog simply plops down in the back seat, looking smug.

    Marceline lifts her shoulders, "G'luck!" Then she fades from view. Just... gone! Wow, she seriously just dipped out on everyone?! What a b-

    No time to complain under fire! It's a firefight and a pretty big one! Then- Dang, never take a gun to a forklift fight. Seemingly, in outrage at his comrades untimely demise under tons of machinery, one of the 'Claws turns on his comrades, screaming with inarticulate fury as he unloads into some of the survivors. When that poor ganger's magazine runs dry, he stumbles weirdly away from his prior cover and another 'Claw shoots him in reply! When a third tries to pistol whip the second rogue shooter, his pistol is stopped some distance from the poor dude's head and Marceline reappears, embracing the fella from behind with two bestial mitts clutching at that gun arm.

    "Ding dong, get off!" She hurls her impromptu weapon into his bud, then bolts for it, flying at speed for the car. "Yo, wait up!" She makes a scramble to get in, even if it means she's upside down and butt up.

    Shouts and cries in confused Japanese sound off through the waterfront as the Tyger Claws get a fight they did not expect.
    I mean, Hyouka just flattened a bunch of guys with a forklift. That makes the rest of the gangsters hesitate but they resume fire, they resume their chase.
    Into the car then, and Rebecca hurls herself into the shotgun seat. "Getingetingetingetin." She shouts to the others as Catra takes the wheel and Marcy scrambles.
    Where the fuck are you going?!" But it's too late, Scavenger is off enacting her own machinations.
    "Anywhere but here! Drive and I'll tell you where to go once we lose these gonks!"That's to Catra.
    Once the car gets going, the sound of engines gets louder as several cars with heavily armed Tyger Claws come barreling down the street from behind. Rebecca is already leaning out the window, scowling as she unloads into the closest car, causing the engine block to smoke and exploding the head of the shotgun seat gunner.
    Hurling herself back into the car seat, the neon-haired solo starts reloading.
    "The highway, there'll be no traffic at this hour!"

    Scavenger follows her ears, to an angry sounding japanese man, trying to get a motorcycle to start. She approaches as he finally manages to get the engine going, but stops just long enough for her to grab him by the scruff and lift him out of the saddle. "I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle." she says as the guy dangles in her grasp, flailing wildly. "Actually, keep the first two." she adds, before tossing him over the side of the pier into the water below.

    She saddles up, guns the engine and wheelies out of the warehouse district and follows the sound of gunfire.

    As she gets close, she unhooks her Buster blade and legs it drag the street, kicking up sparks as she closes on the 'Claws pursuit cars. Coming up alongside one, she lifts the blade, and lets it arc down into the back wheel arch, crumpling the metal and sending the car backflipping from the weight of the impact.

    "Just drive!" Hyouka yells. She's taking up the rear after doing some impromptu heavy lifting; and she doesn't even bother actually getting into the vehicle. She just jumps up and hangs onto the roof. Where Scavenger might be going, the cyborg's not sure, but for the time being they have a client to escort to safety, so while she's torn, she decides to stick with the car.

    'Of course,' she thinks as the Tyger Claws come hurtling along after them, 'That doesn't mean I have to stay ON the car...'

    A heartbeat later, the cyborg yells, "As long as you stay around a hundred kilometers per hour or so, I can catch up! More than that... I'll figure something out!" And then she's leaping right back off the car.

    As the gangers come tearing up the street, they're greeted by what looks at first like an elf with huge gauntlets. Huge gauntlets which are starting to crackle visibly with arcs of lightning, dancing across clenched fists, down to the ground... and oh look. She's adopting a stance. Well, less of a stance, more an obvious, telegraphed haymaker from way out in the wasteland or so. But she's standing right in the path of the car. She's not moving. Is she planning to punch the lead Tyger Claw car? She can't be. Is she? I mean, that right gauntlet is dancing with electricity at this point.

    At the last possible second, Hyouka Kiyama swings her fist, straight forward into the vehicle's grill, aiming for the engine block behind it. And at the same time, she discharges a tremendous amount of elementally-charged mana, creating an explosive burst that sounds like a thunderclap going off in the steel canyon of Night City.

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> SHOW ME YA MOVES.

    Catra guns it. She knows how to lead foot it, and she's going to do it too! She's got lightning reflexes, eyes like a hawk, and--SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKCRUNCH! "SORRY!" she scrapes a parked car hard enough to shove it up onto the sidewalk as she careens around one of the waterfront district's ridiculously sharp corners. "Who DESIGNED this city?!" she growls, ears now just about permanently flat against the top of her head. In the back seat, Melog just lays down and ... takes a nap?

    "I'm going I'm going," she grips the wheel with both hands and pulls a hard ninety-degree turn when she sees the sign for the highway, making the tires squeal before she tears off forward again. She even has a moment to fumble with the Pulsar she'd scavenged and aims it out the window, spraying a car that gets up on the driver's side with enough fire to empty the magazine--and throwing the now-empty gun at it. The bullets chew through the gonks in the back and the gun itself clonks the drive upside the head, sending it out of control.

    "Oh man if that worked *every* time..." she cackles, finding the onramp and barreling towards it. "Hundred ... whatevers... got it!" she squints at the numbers going up and down on the dashboard. "...probably that one?!"

    So, scrambling to arrange herself in the back seat, Marcy seems a bit thrown off by that initial awkward scramble, the blade of her guitar absolutely /ruining/ the seat and the lurch of the car taking off under power. "Woo! Hey, hand me something back and I'll mess up any scroobs that get in reach!"

    A blue grey hand, way larger than human, drapes forward between the seat and frame of the car, feeling around expectantly as Marceline kicks out a window. Rugged boots are never a bad choice!

    Seeing Hyouka ditch from atop the car, calling out her speed limit and everything, she humphs. "Jam that! Punch it! I'll help her catch up!" She leaves her bass unstrapped and leaning between the seats, careful not to squish the cat-lizard thing that's now sharing her space and climbs out of the vehicle and onto the roof, gripping the doorsills with her clawed feet as she shifts into a large, batlike beast.

    She hunkers down to ease the strain on the roof and even places one big, wide hand over the trunk. Both to hold it shut and to balance. Or, she's totally shielding it, yeah! "Heh, bat with a bat." She swipes at a passing motorist, er, violent gang assassin with a spindly, whip-like arm clutching Catra's kanabo.

    "Helmets save lives ya schmutzy ding wad!" *Ping!*

    That poor parked car.
    But that's not something to worry about as the caravan of killer cars come barreling down the highway with Catra in the lead.
    "HAHAHAHAHA HOLY SHIT, NICE!" Rebecca whoops as the feline driver dispatches a car full of pursuers.
    And then there's Hyouka.
    Oh man the Tyger Claws think this is going to be an easy kill, the driver guns it as the cyborg telegraphs her punch, expecting to just run her down.
    It does not go his way when his engine is utterly demolished and the car is absolutely flooded with electric mana, frying his systems and the systems of all his passengers.
    Another Tyger Claw car loses its driver. Or more specifically, its driver loses his head when Marceline takes it off with Catra's borrowed bat.
    "Nova!" Rebecca calls up as another car pulls onto her side and--
    Two Tyger Claws leap from the car to the roof of the car Catra is driving. Their arms split open into a set of razor sharp bladesm one trying to hack Marceline to bits while the other drives his claws into the roof of the car.
    "GAH!"
    The blade comes down just barely missing Rebecca and Catra as Rebecca racks her shotgun-- And with a loud BLAM blows one of the two clean off the car, while another car pulls up trying to run Scavenger down after she's done flipping the first with her buster.
    It's an intense chase, and several more cars swerve into the fray before the party likely mops the floor with them too before Rebecca points to an offramp.
    "-There, get us off the highway there."
    The chase somes to an end once the party takes that offramp and the Tyger Claws give up, having lost way too many guys to keep up an effective offense.

    While Hyouka is very much not the planning sort, she is quick on her feet at times. And right now, she's in need of a quick return to her allies' vehicle, at the same time as another of her allies happens to be tearing by on another vehicle.

    As all the vehicles go tearing by, Hyouka glances back at the road ahead, then over at Scavenger. Making her decision instantly, the faux-elf turns and begins running at full speed to catch up with Scavenger on her bike. True to her word, she's capable of running at about a hundred KPH, fast enough to come up alongside the bike. "Room for one more?"

    Scavenger sheaths her Buster again, watching the car swerving in to try and knock her out of the running. She watches it close in, then taps the brakes, skids the cycle, and whips her buster out to slash the closest tyres. The sudden shift in weight sends the car tumbling over the side of the highway as Scavenger guns the engine to realign herself.

    Just as Hyouka comes running up. She offers a hand after sheathing her buster one last time. "Hop on." she says, waiting for the faux-elf to get seated then gunning the engine to catch up with Catra and the others.

>> SUMMARY[Scavenger] >> Akira Slide is a combat maneuver now. Deal with it.

    So, just as she's about to launch to go fetch Hyouka trouble bares it's fangs in the form of two assailants with crazy arm blades. So, she bares her fangs in turn with a feral hiss! Happily, her hide in this form is a bit tougher than it looks. She still screams at the lacerations that open up on her from that initial onslaught and in her fury she only thinks of doing one thing.

    She lunges and with a mouth big enough to engulf a person head and shoulders deep, she bites down with a crunch audible even over the roaring of engines and wind across open windows. She shakes the poor idiot like a dog and then spits the wreckage back out.

    She sits, green eyes casting a look toward any daring enough to try to close to melee with her again. Of course, what damage that's been done to her is already very rapidly healing.

    "I think our peeps are catching up!"

>> SUMMARY[Marceline] >> Nobody saw that right?

    It's not that Catra is a ~good~ driver, she's just. Well. She's got spirit. And she can reach the pedals. And she's got fast enough reflxes to make this work. Tires are grippier than a hover-skiff, after all! That's better, right? Probably. "Look! LOOK. I may have done something like this before!" she shouts back to Rebecca when there's shouting in her direction. "Make sure you give me that back! I swiped it fair and square!" she calls back up to Marceline, too. She wants that kanabo back when they're done. She's got some little skull-marks she's etched on it for, well. How many skulls she's smashed with it. At least the end of the road is ahead. Figuratively. She hadn't taken them down any of the perpetually under construction parts of the highway that end in a long fall.

    "Oh come ON! That's not what I meant when I said dibs!" she slams on the brakes when the blades from above carve through the roof, giving a pair of bike gangers a chance to zip past them. When the roof is cleared, save for Marce and her dance partner, she guns it again, hauling ass forward. "C'mon c'mon c'mon..." she growls and ~slams~ into the pair of bikers, sending their rides into the side and their drivers into the road ahead of them where tumbling bodies are met with the car's bumper and tires. THUMP THUMP.

    "Ten points! WOO!" she raises her arms through the newly perforated roof then quickly yanks them back down so she can actually, y'know, use the off-ramp ahead. "Oh, right."

    With Hyouka hitching a ride with Scavenger and the getaway car... Making a getaway, the Tyger Claws peel off.
    "The fuck just happened up there?" Becca does call up to Marceline, curiously while Catra makes her big score.
    "Aite, I think we lost 'em." Rebecca says, reloading her shotgun.
    "Pull into this parking lot." She says motioning for an out of the way lot. Once the car's stopped, the neon-haired solo hops out and slings her shotgun.
    Dennis is there, waiting. At his side is a katana resting against an empty barrel.
    "Job's done." Rebecca says stuffing her hands into her pockets.
    "I can see that." Dennis says as the trunk pops and a disoriented but still alive passenger comes out.
    "So you gonna tell us who he is, or?"
    "You're looking pretty worn there, Haruyoshi. You alright?" Dennis does ask the man, before the man nods.
    "In Japan, I was a brain surgeon. Best in the world, good instincts. One day a Tyger Claw boss needed surgery and came to me. But he died on table. I hid in a boat, swam to America. Dennis gave me hope. But the secret is... I didn't make a mistake. I'm the best surgeon in the world. I killed the Tyger Claw boss on purpose."
    Rebecca whistles at this revelation, "Pretty badass. But what about our pay?"
    "I haven't forgotten." Dennis says, eyes widening and glowing faintly. Which prompts Rebecca's eyes to widen, pupils dilating and glowing in return.
    "You'll find that to be suitable I think."
    "Yeah that's not bad. I'll split it with my crew."
    "Oh yes. And this blade as well." Dennis says motioning to the black carbon fiber blade katana with the blue handle leaning against the nearby barrel. "May it serve you well."

    When the Tyger Claws turn tail, Hyouka finally allows herself to relax a little. Enough, at least, to disengage the FISTEAU units, which fold themselves neatly back into her arms in a way that probably alters the balance of the bike very slightly. Not enough to throw her or Scavenger off, by any stretch, but noticeable. She's quite cheerful by the time they meet up with the car again. And when they get the compensation for their work? Well.

    "My, my. Quite a payday, and it's money I can only use here in the city, at least for now. I've got an old tradition from my office days." The cyborg reaches out and rests a hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "I get paid, I get food. I want you to show me the best ramen cart you know of."

    Scavenger pulls up a few moments later, kicking out the stand and cutting the engine. She listens to the story, and shrugs, saying nothing.

    Yellow eyes do linger on the blue handled katana for a few moments, before she simply unsaddles, walks over to the katana and picks it up.

    She silently draws it with a slight click of releasing the lock and sweeps it in an arc that makes the carbon fiber sing through the air... she then places the scabbard on her belt and sheaths the blade in a traditional manner, before turning away from the others and walking off without further fanfare.

>> SUMMARY[Scavenger] >> Rat the f*ck up, Samurai.

    Marceline climbs back into the car as the chase seems to wrap up, inclining her head to Rebecca on her way down. The roof of the car is probably leaking poor homie's blood and there's more than a little rolling down the back glass like some kind of gruesome curtain. She looks fine, at least, though she's swiping a hand across her mouth and smearing a few drops across her cheek.

    "Uh, just handling that skeezer with the extra dicey grabbers."

    She at least tries to share the space with Catra's cat-thing without bothering it too much. Just a nod as she finds a place to squeeze in while collecting her bass.

    At the pay-party, she's quiet until the former doc spills his part of the story. She snorts, then laughs. "Ahahaha, dang man. Nice." She low-whistles at the katana, though swords really aren't her deal so her understanding of it's value isn't much beyond 'looks cool'.

    "Ramen? Dang, I'd love to watch you guys eat but I think I'm gonna hit up that place from earlier. Sounds like a gig I could talk my way into playing sometime." She flashes a peace-sign and, after passing Catra's newly skull-notched(literally, in this case) bat-thing back. "Thanks for the loaner! Wasn't trying to skronk up my best guitar in a wild street fight."

    Catra's cat-thing doesn't seem to mind Marceline at all. In fact, Melog just flops its head on her lap, if allowed. Catra rolls the car to a stop where indicated and hops out. "WOO! Oh wow that was awesome. Between that and the other fight... how the hell do you people get time to sleep around here?" she earflats and huffs. "...seriously I need a cat nap after that and I need to make sure I didn't actually get wounded..." she checks herself over for any actual wounds.

    Finding nothing, thanks to Melog's invisibility and her companions' amazing skills, Catra just shrugs as she takes the kanabo back from Marceline. "Hey, good moves up there. And there's plenty of these lying around. Just look around. There's more of these gang guys and girls than there are Horde Prime's clones..." she grunts. She almost misses the talk of the payout and the whole story about the surgeon. "Oh awesome, so we helped out one of the good guys. Great!"

    She nods and then blinks, watching Scavenger stalk off with the sword. "Hey! Wait up! You wanna grab some noodles?" she calls out after the departing rat's back. Melog just sits next to Catra now, somehow looking even MORE smug than ever. The feline woman just blushes so fiercely that Marceline could grab a meal, and her ears lay flat again as she stares the cat down. "What? Don't look at me like that!"