Summary:
August 10th, 2014: Batman is on the hunt for something and Catwoman encounters him. They discuss options and the man murdering the Galante mobsters.
// Collgate Heights, Gotham //
Collgate Heights is an eclectic mixture of wealthy, artistic and criminal.
Inside of it are the neighborhoods and Burroughs of Manchester and Lyntown,
they've at this point in time been absorbed in to the Heights, however.
Manchester being the more upper crust side of Collgate where as Lyntown is
the uglier element.
Collgate Heights is the strongest point of Italian immigration in Gotham and
the central operating location for the Italian Mafia; this has earned
Collgate the nickname, "Little Italy" and of course this title has been
embraced by the residents, the best Italian food in all of Gotham can be
found here, such places as the infamous Maroni's Ristorante Italiano.
With Bob Kane Sound just off the coast a lot of wharfside activity also goes
on here, steel work, shipbuilding and a lot of industrial to packaging,
shipping and receiving. It's no wonder the location is also referred to as
the Industrial District.
Another key landmark here is Johnson's Landfill, re-opened again after the
reformation and busier than ever. After the cataclysm it's even opened up to
waste pickers and been redoubled in efforts to become a use. It's a very
large area of land and many larger companies have investments in it's renewed
growth.
Characters
NPCs
- Unnamed Italian Mobsters
Mood Music:
[*<http://insert.video.or.music.link.here>]
A shout, gunshots, grunts and what could be struggling. The sounds that echo along the alleyways and bounce off night-time rooftops are unmistakable, a life or death struggle. Not surprising a thing to hear this time of night in Little Italy. Maybe someone forgot to pay their bookie.
It's foggy right now, hard to see beyond a dozen feet in front of oneself but the sounds, the sounds just seem louder. Even the snapping of bones and the shrill scream that follows.
"Shit, fuck, why me!?" The heavy Boston sounding accent is pronounced. Sharp even the man is terrified.
BLAM
BLAM
BLAM
A rustle, a body slaps against concrete and a muffled sound follows before the sickening wet yet solid thumps of bones and flesh being battered is audible. It's not pretty for the gunman.
Prowler.
Ever the cat to slip between shadows, dance within them and find comfort there. Catwoman is here all for her own reasons, perhaps on the hunt or keeping an ear to the streets, but the noise picked out just then brings her pause in that rooftop prowl, dropping her lower to peer over the edge and watch the two shadows in the alley form their own dance of death, one that has a melody that would make any felines ears swivel and lay back in reproach.
Her upper lip curls and teeth flash just before she drops down into the foggy alley, attempting to aim her landing upon the due, even if one was a corpse, it is the /movement/ she is attempting to grapple and bring to the street with the sheer momentum of her descent from the rooftop.
The thug unaware of Catwoman's presence gets flipped with her weight and momentum going face down in to the edge of the nearby ditch only to make a sickening thumb.
A movement to her left has a hand grabbing her by the throat and lifting her up out off of her feet, Batman. Steel banded grip has her aloft by her throat and one fist is raised. A hiss escapes the Dark Knight and that armor wrapped fist lowers a bit but he doesn't set Selina back on her feet. Now that she is close she can see the sprawled out victims of his brutality, about seven men (not including the one she dropped on) all laid out in various forms, beaten senseless, broken, battered, unconscious each and every single body. She knows for a fact Batman doesn't kill.
He's a little winded but that’s not because he is wounded or tired, it's because he just thrashed seven men and the hurt he put on them is rather serious.
"What are you doing here?" His deep voice rolls out after several heartbeats worth of silence.
The moment a different motion comes into periphery; Catwoman's goggles zero in, the night vision capturing him just in time…
One hand is at her hip, the other is at the iron-clad grip upon her throat, fingers attempting to curl around the hold and pry it looser. -Just a bit-, all the while her jaw tenses and teeth clench, her chin rising aloft once recognition is gained in the image before her as well as the voice.
"Stopping what I thought was a senseless beating.." Her voice rasps out from behind that muscled blockage, her feet not bothering kicking for footage, she knows better than to do that at least, but with the slow curl of her defensive grip around the hand at her throat those claws start to push through.
"Senseless? No." Batman says quietly before releasing her. Setting Catwoman back upon to her feet. His hand off of her neck now he steps back and the cape flows in his wake as he turns to walk over kneel down beside one of the men, snatching up his firearm to turn it over in his fingers, examining it.
"Not the murder weapon."
The firing pin is removed and the weapon is thrown off towards the sewage grate where it skitters then drops between bars with a *plop* beneath.
"Collgate isn't one of your normal haunts. Decided East End wasn't exciting enough tonight?"
"Apparently not." Catwoman mutters once she is set free, taking slow and deep measured breathes to belie the panic that was arising at being 'trapped'. Her hand does not go to her throat, though she swallows to test the bruising that may lie beneath, satisfied enough as she stands and simply watches him in his detective work.
"Always the questions, super sleuth. I was keeping my ear to the ground; my neck of the woods has been empty of some of the normal riff raff lately. Fleeing like rats from a flood. I do not miss them.” She states with a small smile as she inspects her gloved hand, those claws slipping back within. "But I am curious as to who this 'Neck Twister' is."
Batman is crouched over another body the man groans as he is roughly flipped over and his weapon stripped, "Not exactly sure just yet. He's a psychopath that needs dealt with." Holding the gun up the Caped Crusader examines it, "93R… “The clip is discharged and caught in the opposite hand, the expelled cartridge examined. Both firearm and bullet wrapped up in a small bag and tucked in to one of the larger back pouches of his utility belt. Despite his aversion to firearms the Dark Knight handles one like a pro.
"Send an alert to GCPD, 83rd street just north of Johnson Landfill along Burnside Canal. They'll find suspects Ross Gargotta and his brother Mad Dog incapacitated…" A black object rises up and fires off an electrified cable that hits one of the fallen men causing the body to jerk widely, spastic in it's motions before a gasp escapes the man and he ceases to move. "And awaiting pick up."
Walking towards Catwoman and past her Batman continues to speak, this time to her and not whoever was on the other end of his mic, "It won't be long before he's closed in on and dealt with. How much have you heard?"
Walking towards Catwoman and past her Batman continues to speak, this time to her and not whoever was on the other end of his mic, "It won't be long before he's closed in on and dealt with. How much have you heard?"
"Word on my neck of the woods is what I have heard. The uttering’s of fear, the feeling of being targeted… The Galante's are a dirty lot and not much makes them fear," As Catwoman speaks she does not move, Batman's passing only ushers the lowering of her head with the slight tilt to watch him in his wanderings and analytical inspections. "In fact, they were well and set in my town to do just what is being done to them. I see no problems here so far. It has gotten the bulk of them off of my streets and away from my people - let's them breathe a little more."
Catwoman says this and seems a bit lighter on the subject, in fact there is not one ounce of loathing for the Man-Who-Breaks-Necks, and he is doing her a favor without even knowing it.
"It's against the design." Batman says, "A wildcard and it will disrupt the regulated power of Gotham crime. It's something larger that is being set in motion." She is talking to his back right now. He's looking out across the Gotham River. "With the Galante and the Triad at each other’s throats like this someone else is moving the pieces. It's an obvious play I just don't know who yet. It's going to set things in motions we're not ready for. A gang war is going to erupt across Gotham." At least that is his initial fear.
"This business with the Joker and Hugo Strange and now this. I feel it is connected somehow I just haven't found that link yet. Circles run close; I know you speak with Richard Dragon. If he asks you for help I want you to assist him, get rid of this murderer as quick as possible. The sooner we tackle this problem the faster we can prepare for what is next.”
Turning around he looks at Catwoman, studying her.
"Careful, Catwoman. You're a target as well. You're developing a reputation and it's not one you're used to. Try to remain incognito when you deal with Dragon or any of my other operatives."
For a moment Catwoman watches his back, and when he looks at her is when she turns to face him, moving forward, but only a few paces, enough to reach upward, stretching her form to her toes only slightly, this way she can grip the drop bar of the lifted fire escape stairs. No pulling it down, just using it as she eases herself in a swoop motion, like a dancer in a weave and she spins and moves from one to the next, each making her reach overhead for the next bar… And the next, only growing nearer by those simple motions of something that seemed like a toying play.
"He helped me, trained me, and seems to think he can help me re-find my center again now that he is back. What does an old sensei have to gain in coming out of his dojo to hunt a single killer?"
Stop me if you've heard this one before….
A shrug from Batman as if that’s all the response necessary for her question. "I can ask you the same question." He only watches her a moment as she sways in place while holding the fire escape. Prepping his grapnel launcher he aims it upwards.
"Some of Hugo's drones are incoming we need to stay on the move. They need to be relatively close for the electro-optical and infrared systems to actually identify us. If you're working with us I'll make sure you're outfitted with a biomimetic infrared camouflage coating that will help make it harder to track you. It helps steering clear of the SRD. Fortunately Strange's backers underestimate what I'm capable of." The line shoots up and latches to the side of the building, dragging Batman upwards with a snap; his arm actually snatches Catwoman up in the process pulling her in only to release her once they reach the top. "That is only if you intend on working alongside us. I have no time for games of theft and vengeance. Gotham has no time."
"It affects me. Did they burn his dojo down, or kill his students?" A tad on the defensive there, Catwoman speaks those words like a hiss at Batman ad his questioning of her, but she answered honestly and with the rising of a rile the entirety of it gave her.
Though it is no longer even a discussion when he moves, she almost expects him to do his usual, be up and be gone, so when the grapple shoots out and up she is turning her back on him and mid-swing to lift up into the fire escape and make her own departure…
But instead she is snared around the waist and drug up with a small 'oof'. Teach her to assume again, at least any time right now.
"What is working /with us/ exactly? Define that." Catwoman inquires as he sets her down, one hand rising and index finger pointing at him as her eyes narrow suspiciously. It's a bit too late on the vengeance part but she says nothing. Catwoman knows better.
"Don't play coy." Batman replies upon releasing her, "Work with me with the rest of us who actually protect Gotham. Not just treat it like a playground. You're not evil, Selina. You have the capability of doing greatness if you wanted to despite your… habits."
His gloves creak as he looks about to relax, flexing his hands before a sudden hum sound is audible, "DOWN!" Batman shouts and one of his batarangs snaps out the sharpened black object slashing out of his hand to go arcing past her head.
Behind the cat burglar there is an explosive sound and an SRD drone is spiraling out of control, descending towards the streets below where it will crash and skip across the sidewalk to display its cybernetic guts.
"Hrm, time to go. We'll talk more about this later."
"It was an honest question." Catwoman says, one corner of her lips up-tilting while one hand rises and pushes her goggles up, perching the green lens technology upon her head, revealing the narrowed blue gaze that sweeps over him from head to toe.
"Now, I do not know whether to call you blind or coy. I roam these streets like any other vigilante," Now she is moving in closer, keeping just a small breath of distance between them, two fingers extending to place on the expanse of his armored chest, the slowly in the mimicry of legs take a 'walk' upward towards his chin. "Like any other Bat, Dragon, or Bird. I just protect those overlooked and between that I." Step. "Have." Step. "Fun." Step.
Now those two fingers are just beneath his chin, resting between the meet of collarbones (or where it should be) and lifting each of those final steps having drawn her daringly closer but then…
Fucking interruptions. His yell immediately has her hand on that whips handle, snapping it from its coils around her waist and the birth of hips, unraveling it like a serpent from its nest to lash and sprawl beside her just as she hits that crouch and peers behind her to see the drone fall.
"Later, that’s too bad." The way she says it has that smile upon tenor, but it is not upon her lips, just in her eyes, in the way they narrow and dance at the Batman while she comes back to a stand. "By then a girl can change her mind. And her thoughts." As she says as much she is turning from him and heading for the edge of the building, looking down to where the drone fell.
It takes only that brief moment of her looking down for Batman to disappear.
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