Summary:
February 08 2015: Misfit, Dragnet and May interrupt a Joker heist in Gotham
Party City
A party supply store in Gotham… just got more… celebratory.
Characters
NPCs
- Crazy Clownz
Mood Music:
[* None]
The Joker is up to something. Something fairly sizeable by the looks of it. He's just knocked over a party supply store, which might be a bit amusing until one realizes he's grabbing things like helium in compressed gas cannisters and sundry other mildly alarming if more confusing things. By pure, sheer, raw bad luck, it happens to be next to an office used by Ral-Tech Laboratories. Mostly a paperwork office, not anything hugely important but affiliated enough that when the alarm goes out, it goes out not just to the police, but via other government channels.
The man himself is just coming out of the front with a dozen lackeys while several large vans get stuffed full of rather colorful things.
"Now, don't forget the baloons. They're not part of the plan, but as long as we're here…"
Melinda May has been researching Ral-Tech Labs since that discovery Trent made. She was actually on her way to talk to the people here about the dead scientist's projects when the alarm went out. She offers up a colorful few words in Cantonese, then calls back in that she's en route to the Ral-Tech building. ETA: one minute.
Charlie is winging her way across Coventry hitting some small time criminals and trying to find a lead on Harley Quinn. When a 911 call for a party supply store being robbed goes up in her goggles tiny little 911 feed screen, that gets the girls attention. "Oooh I have you now you sideshow freak…" with vigor, she is still really burned about the whole encounter with Harley and the fact she didn't end up in Arkham. She pings in the Oracle she is enroute to a robbery and the n bounces >pinkurple> onto a nearby rooftop to get a look at the scene down yonder.
Dragnet is green. Well, the circuit weave suffusing through his armor is. Perhaps the first sign that there is something that has changed about the armored vigilante. Well, that and his cloak seems to have either already deactivated or has not been engaged. A rather drastic shift in tactics. Still, he seems to retain more basic stealth protocols, keeping to a high vantage point and avoiding most prying eyes that would look up. All that seems to be shelved as the unit spies The Joker and his lackeys exiting the party supply store. There is a visible moment of confusion written into his features, but with mechanical precision it is suppressed, filed away. <PATROL INTERRUPTED. ENGAGE?>….and even though the young man inside the suit remains in a suspended state, the suit persists in showcasing the text anway on his side of the faceplate. Perhaps hoping to rouse him, or maybe in some attempt to justify its decision making process. <SUBJECT IDENTIFIED AS JOKER. HIGH RISK, LATERAL THINKING OPPONENT. ENGAGE?> It waits a few more system. <ENGAGE?> The operator remains silent, and the suit raises its fist, clenches as it jumps from its vantage point, landing in front of the Joker and his lackeys, crouching and drawing his hand up from that punch that seems to happen so often in the movies. Dragnet, or the human part of him, is clearly not in control. The suit is primarily a stealth hunter, but it cannot cloak. There are only twelve of them. Its got this. It raises, and with no preamble or verbale engagement, it raises its hands and fires off two of its gas canisters into the highest concentrations of lackeys.
<ENGAGE.>
The Joker blinks as two gas canisters clatter near him. It only takes a minute for his crew to scatter. Give them credit they're very motivated. Of course, they think it's the Bat. THey're in for rather a shock. Fire begins to ring out in all directions as anything that vaguely could be a Bat gets shot at. A lot.
Reason #90: Gotham traffic is, if this were even possible, WORSE than NYC traffic. Or maybe the drivers are worse. Something. Either way, May is making a LOT of people annoyed with her as she has to swerve around an increasing number of cars to get to that Lab. Of course, she gets within eyeshot just in time to see that damned CLOWN. Great. All she needs. She pulls her car to a stop a safe distance away, gets her gear together, and starts toward the mess on foot just in time to hear the gunfire start up. Even BETTER. Damnit. She sends a quick message to Oracle to let her know she's here, though it sounds like the dismbodied voice is already busy enough.
Misfit puffs her cheeks out with a breath and then lets it out very slowly as she watches the Dumpster Knight drop down right in front of The Joker and then drop gas canisters. "Awww it's just the Joker… damnit." which may be the absolutely strangest words uttered in Gotham this evening. Maybe this week. There is so much bloody gunfire down there right now though it doesn't seem too healthy to just leap down like an idiot. So she leaps down like a strategic idiot
Misfit bounces down >pinkurple> appearing much closer but lower on the roof of the party supply store, hurling two batarangs at two of the thugs >pinkurple> and she is gone, on the other side of one of the vans that were being loaded, two more batarangs launched at thugs.
Dragnet…no, the AIDOS feels sluggish. With its gestalt AI currently reassembling itself and the operator in its current state, the individual AI's have maybe 70 of its processing power, but more damning, they are no longer completely cohesive. Which result in the suit bringing arms up in front of its chest to protect the fabrication unit. Electricity sparks and arcs off of the left gauntlet as it takes a direct hit before the AI come to a consensus of strafing left. <SURRENDER UNLIKELY.> The AI's relay to their operator, and just as much amongst themselves it seems. <THE DELPHI CONSTRUCT HAS PROHIBITED TERMINATION.> Another line of text. <REPLAY TEXT OF CONVERSATION. DID DELPHI CONSTRUCT SPECIFY SEVERITY OF INJURY?> <DELPHI CONSTRUCT UNSPECIFIC.>
The Clowns would then witness as the AIDOS's shoulder cannon primes and fires a shot that flies past them, but spares them little of the thermal or concussive force of the blast. <SURVIVAL OF HOST PARAMOUNT. LARCENOUS CAREER ENDING INJURIES DEEMED…ACCEPTABLE.>
The Joker is nowhere to be seen now in the cloud of smoke and gas. There's still a lot of fire coming up though and it's getting a lot more focussed on Drag now that… holy crap did that thing just use a cannon? What the hell is it? A predator?!
The batarangs fly into the thugs who go down, the second set just the same way. Then there's the racking of a gun and Misfit suddenly finds herself on the recieving end of a good old Russian RPK going rock and roll.
By the time May arrives the situation is well and truly chaotic.
Melinda May can't get too close to that mess, it's almost completely out of control. But, she can probably pick off people along the fringes. She pulls one of the new toys that Partisan made for her — a meteor hammer — sets to work, launching the weighted rope at the clown lackeys she can see along the fringes of the chaos, either entangling their limbs to knock them down or just braining them but good.
Son of a bitch. Misfit gets winged in the arm and then the chest. Thankfully the hightech armor Batwing made for her with Waynetech is very effective and while she pivots and teleports >pinkurple> she doesn't actually need to heal that bounce. From the top of the Party Supply Store she surveys the chaos, switching her goggles to jsut look for IR on the scene and cut through the smoke. Now, where did Joker go, that is the real target here.
The AIDOS still isn't as fast as it is supposed to and Dragnet still catches more small arms fire than it should. Predator? Sure. But its the kind of predator where the brain, the claws, and the muscular system are having a Socratic debate over hunting methods. Whether the ponderousness (being a relative term given the specifications) is actually more terrifying given how many of those bullets it actually manages to just ignore is anyone's guesses. It seems to stop the smaller calibers just fine, but the higher seem to just sit there in the armor. An afterthought. The suit moves to flank, deploying its laser dazzler from its underslung arm mount in a wide arc, attempting to blind as many of the thugs as possible before it charges in, rolling and rising upwards in a kick towards one of the thugs midsection as it executes a spinal cord is a suggestion side bend to fire tasers from both gauntlets at various thugs. As visual conditions on the battlefield deteriorate, it cycles through its visual modes, trying to get the most accurate visual fix even as it relaxes its traditional restraints on auditory and tactile input.
The lack of a human in the driver's seat does present limits on processing power, but it also relaxes a lot of physiological restrictions. It allows a lot of movements and tactics and sensory perceptions to which the conscious human brain would protest with a loud and vocal 'NOPENOPENOPE!'. AIDOS wants that damn clown.
But where is he? May and Misfit will see him in just a moment. He's gotten up onto the next building. On the roof. And as Misfit bounces around dodging machinegun fire and May takes down yet another clown the Joker hefts and RPG, sites in on AIDOS or rather Dragnet and lets fly. Woosh.
This… cannot be good. And while several of the vans are disabled… two are peeling out.
Melinda May hears he woosh, looks up, and then yells for all she's worth, "Incoming! MOVE!" She runs toward the building that the Joker is on, both to get clear of the RPG's blast radius and to maybe get a chance at the Clown himself. She still very much owes him.
Ahah. There he is. Misfit bounces vanishing from the party store >pinkurple>.
A split second later she taps Joker on the shoulder "Hey Sad Clown." and then Misfit follows it up with what she hopes is a punch to the face, maybe she is trying to be helpful and knock him down to May, who knows what her motives are.
Repairs will be essential, given how many rounds the suit has taken. For now though, combat priority outstrips the need to repair. An RPG to the face will result in far worse. Maybe that is what jars Dragnet to wakefulness, if only for a moment. The suit shifts from green to blue and behind the faceplate the operator's eyes open, if only to see the rocket propelled grenade hurtling toward him. He begins to panic, step away. It seems to be an eternity, if only for a second. The AI, still jarred, still have the presence of mind to offer this tooltip. <CUT THE BULLET.> Restored to full operating capacity if only for this moment, he and the suit fall into tandem and a course of action is deliberated and executed with perfect synchrony. The mass accelerator fires its own round directly /at/ the rocket, the armor piercing round cleaving through the explosive mid-flight and explodes at one half of the internal reactors power. It then crouches, as if panting heavily from the exertion. The operator gasps and his eyes upon wide, audio systems nearly engaged? only to back into hibernation, the suits circuitry weave turning back to that spectral green. <OPERATOR UNREADY TO RESUME PILOTING RESPONSIBILITY. CONTINUE AUTOMATED PROTOCOLS, DESIGNATION ABSOLUTE ZERO.> It then raises unsteadily to its feet, and resumes a hand to hand combat stance. It has reserve ammunition, but its less likely the Joker has something that can harm it in close quarters than at range. Its unlikely it can sever another RPG again.
The Joker is, unfortunately, no ordinary combatant. When Misfit hits him he rocks back but simply spins with the blow. It's a good thing the RPG was severed. As the warhead flies apart and incindiary liquid hits the ground and ignites. At the same time a clowd of greenish gas goes up around Misfit and the Clown. Joker Venom. Very potent. The insane clown laughs madly. "Oh hey there Low Fat Bat!"
Melinda May recovers from the aborted RPG explosion quickly enough, then takes down one last straggler. She's moved to where she can see the Joker up on the rooftop, and… damnit, clearly he can see her too. And there's that green gas. He's too far for her to hit with her meteor hammer unless…. She launches the weighted rope at the Joker and lets it go completely. She's not really expecting it to hit, but if it'll give Misfit a chance to get clear, it will be worth it.
Charlie's eyes go wide as the whole area fills with Joker gas. This is where an unfortunate life lesson occurs. Oracle and the others have not given Charlie her round of shots and innoculations. Unlike the bats of gotham, Misfit is not innoculated against Joker Venom, Ivy's pheromones, and the usual suspects. She also doesn't have a bat-gasmask on.
This all means that Charlie staggers back and starts to giggle and flail. "I'll…. kick you…. >giggle< your … you like I did Harley!" the laughing and giggling gets worse rapidly though and she finally bounces away. The Pink and Purple smoke mixing with the Joker Green Vibrantly like it is a party!
Charlie lands hard on the roof of the party store and the giggling has faded, mostly, there is still a bit of a hyperventilating laugh there but she isn't dying anymore at least.
AIDOS continues to scan the battlefield, but the damage it has taken is causing a significant portion of the chorus to call for retreat. Certainly, with the restrictions in place and a slim likelihood of not harming Misfit or May in the crossfire, the suit begins to withdraw. <INSUFFICIENT TACTICAL ADVANTAGE AND UNACCEPTABLE RISK TO OPERATOR AND ALLIES. DISENGAGING. JOKER TARGET FLAGGED. EXECUTE PROTRACTED SKIRMISH MODE. STALK AND ENGAGE OVER SEVERAL DAY PERIOD. CESSATION OF EXTENDED HOSTILITIES ON REDUCTION OF COMBAT EFFICIENCY TO 25 OR RESUMPTION OF OPERATOR CONSCIOUSNESS.> the chorus flashes across the faceplate, but given their extensive neural link, is it really necessary? Who knows?the spirits in the suit tend to be of the warrior class of one stripe or another, so some form of protocol seems to be the order of the day. Even as the unit retreats though, it does spare a look back at the scene?and adds another gas canister into the mix. Except, given the clowns invulnerability to chemical weapons, it doesn't bother with gas discharge. It just fires it straight at the back of the Joker's head, intending to bean him?the canister incinerating itself once it touches the ground. Even with the machine in the driver's seat, it intends to leave minimal evidence of its presence.
<REPAIR PRIORITIES: OVERSOUL AI, CLOAKING SYSTEMS, ARMOR REPAIR, HOST COGNITIVE RESTORATION, AMMUNITION STORES.> And then it disappears into the Gotham urban jungle, to reemerge at another time.
The Joker is pulled off the roof and lands hard on the concrete below, still laughing. Misfit gets a couple of shots from his Luger as he struggles to get up. Whatever the result of this it is cut off by one of the other vans suddenly roaring to life and barreling right at May. The cloud of white smoke pretty well obscures the scene and when the Van is passed… er… where'd the clown go?
Melinda May can only throw herself out of the way of the oncoming van and … "DAMNIT!" The Joker's managed to escape. Again. Seriously, one of these days she'll pay Barton a years' worth of Pop Tarts to sever that Clown's spine with a barbed arrow.
Misfit rolls over to peer over the edge of the roof now, a little giggle sliding out of her as she cheek twitches a bit spasmatically. "Y… You okay.. Agent May?" not dying but damned if she can't stop giggling some.
Melinda May picks herself up and dusts herself off. "Yeah," she calls up to Misfit. "But I'm guessing you're not." With a sigh, she taps her earpiece to get in touch with Oracle again. She gets the dubious pleasure of breaking to the faceless voice that the kid got hit with some of Joker's noxious green gas. She almost wishes that were as much of a joke as it sounded like it ought to be.
Misfit waves a hand down to May "Okay…" chuckling she shakes her head "I'm going to bounce home.. that should help clear it up…" also well Oracle will have anti-venom and be able to help if it doesn't. Which probably should have been a priority in the past. She snickers a bit like Muttley and then vanishes in a splash of Pink and Purple.
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