17932/Red Reign: The Orphan and the Queen

Red Reign: The Orphan and the Queen
Date of Scene:	14 May 2024
Location:	Abandoned Warehouse - Chinatown
Synopsis:	The Queen of Blood's reign meets it's first bit of human opposition, as a fight with Cassandra Cain teaches her that Gotham's vigilantes aren't to be taken lightly.
Cast of Characters:	Mary Seward, Cassandra Cain
Tinyplot:	Red Reign

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Mary Seward has posed:
Mary Seward couldn't possibly get away with hunting and causing disappearances in Gotham of all cities without any of the batfamily deciding to look into them. On patrol, the one known as Orphan had come across one of the Queen of Blood's vampiric minions taking flight through the skies. Of course, that warranted a pursuit.

The vampire's return to it's lair led the one known as Orphan into Gotham's Chinatown. From there, it would disappear itself into the warehouse district. Pursuit of rooftop to rooftop brought Cassandra into a point overlooking a particularly barren looking one.

The quarry she'd been pursuing wasn't anywhere to be seen, but there was someone present. Some woman dressed in black walking towards the warehouse. Another woman with red hair and revealing clothes forming into mist right in front of her. Both of them walk into the warehouse, then only the woman in black walks out, riding off in her motorcycle.

The woman in black took her leave of Chinatown while The woman in red was presumably still inside.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
That vampires exist wasn't exactly some great new revelation to the members of the 'Bat Family', they'd been encountered, documented, fought or tollerated depending on the particular vampire and their habbits, along with the state in which they left their victims. The odd 'lover' who ended up a little lighter on haemogolbin and in need of a cookie the next morning was far more likely to be forgiven than the disappeared or worsse yet bodies left in one's wake.

It had been enough for a lead and with a quick message to the bats of the Belfreys and Caves alike she had been on the trail.

Two targets, two possible pieces of information but...well, one didn't need to be able to read body language to the degree Cass could or be trained from birth by assassins to recognize a 'boss' when she saw one.

A quick lift and aim, the subtle 'whump' of propellent sent the tracking device towards the motorbike when it started. Perhaps one of the others could track it or she herself might later.

For now, Orphan coiled, braced and lept from her rooftop to swing her way down towards the warehouse for a closer look.

Mary Seward has posed:
Mary Seward 's flunkies wouldn't make things that simple unfortunately. Just when she thought it safe to finally go down and make push the risks of this stakeout, it appeared that she was being watched just as much as she was watching. As it turned out, that vampire Cass had apparently lost track of was quick to make itself known. A monstrous shriek would alert her to it's presence, before it tackled her down mid-swing.

"Thought I didn't know you were there, bitch?!" The crass vampire sneered at his caught prey. The vampire had the Orphan bound in his grasps, massive bat-like wings hanging from his wrists. Nothing that Cass would be unused to. Though, unlike, say Man-Bat it seemed this vampire lacked the foresight to realize using his wings for something other than flying mid-air led to a rough descent. Trying to keep steady while in the air, his legs lock around Orphan's torso. He frantically swung his arms up and down, to create a sense of lift. Though, he had a casualty in case that didn't work out. From the way he had Cassandra positioned, he seemed prime to use her to cushion his fall should they both hit the ground.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
To sneak up on Cassandra Cain was impressive at the best of times. The fact it was able to seize her at all after announcing itself was either a testiment to superhuman speeds or sheer luck as she was pulled into the air from her swing, but there was only to much one could do to change their direction!

There was no scream, no panic, instead she did the last thing one might expect in the freefall, she struck out with inhuman efficiency and precision, a blow into the inner thigh of the creature's leg that held her and a twist to reverse their positions.

Of course, acrobatic or not, gravity was still very much a thing for her, so the young heroine's hand flung upwards, triggering her backup line on her grapnel to swing herself out of the plummet to a perch.

Mary Seward has posed:
Mary Seward 's not-so brightest servant left himself perfectly open for Cassandra's strike back. Especially since it was such an unexpected move to go for in a situation like this. His own power used against him, he was left to slam head first into the ground below.

Winded by this and the head trauma, he hisses in frustration as Orphan swung upward out of his grasp right again. He seems to be getting up, preparing to spread his wings and take off again. Cassandra had time to prepare her retaliation.

Had. There was that mist again. The one she saw when the mysterious woman in the trenchcoat showed up. Being near it brought on a feeling of...wooziness. Not too much for Cassandra to power her way through, but noticeable enough. The mist takes shape into the woman in Red. The Queen of Blood, Mary Seward, face to face, with Cassandra.

"Well, well...Wasn't expecting to deal with some kind of...ninja girl showing up on my property. This city has a lot of strange things to offer." Overhead, Cassandra would overhear the screeching of bats soaring above them both. How fitting.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Murderous vampires were on 'destroy if you have to' list of her adoptive father, like Parademons and other creatures that slaughtered humans. That itself was enough as her hands prepared to shift under her cape, the throwing weapons gently hit by her fingertips to prime their charge. Even vampires had nervous systems after all, and electrical shocks would do -something- to the bat creature before her.

A narrowing of her eyes, that sudden shift of her senses, the slight dip in her own body's equalibrium that had her shifting lightly.

Well, this recon and investigation was getting a lot less subtle than she'd planned.

Mary Seward has posed:
Mary Seward stands tall over Cassandra. Up close, she was something unreal. Especially that outfit, that was barely an outift. "...Woman of few words? Should have figured." She steps the littlest bit closer. Just to give Cass a cornering feeling. "Was wondering when the masked men of this city would start throwing themselves at me, and you wasted no time. Been hearing talk about you lot...about a...Batman in particular."The Queen of Blood leans in every slightly. "But, the only Batman I see now is the one down there."

She tilts her head as a gesture towards the vampire down below. His mouth wide open as if he was a dog that Mary was about to drop a treat onto. From where she stood, that was basically the case.

"He looks hungry, don't you think?" she reaches a hand out towards Cassandra, grabbing around her general neck area. With strength inhuman, she lifts the girl high. Dangling her off the perch's edge "...Now, I'm a reasonable vampire queen." She looks more directly at Cassandra. "Bargain yourself a longer life. Enlighten me with something that could keep me from dropping you down. Could be information, could be something entertaining enough...Could be an offer to join up...."

This was the vampire's ultimatum, now the response was up to the girl.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
A sudden surge like that, the grip seizing around her throat. The idea that Cass could be caught off-guard so quickly was shocking or startling, certainly feeling that viciously strong grasp around her throat from the scantily clad vampire proclaiming herself a queen. Interesting.

It was dangerous, threatening...but it was also instructive. Maybe that was the point, learning about that speed, that strength as she was grasped and lited upwards...her heirachy. If you couldn't go somewhere to learn, you learn when it came to her.

The answer that Cass gave? Well, it was probably not the one that Mary expected when those previously grabbed throwing stars with their electric charge were suddenly -stabbed- into her forearm right at the spot where the nerve cluster on a human would be.

Her suit was insulated enough she wasn't going to be frying herself, instead as the painful surge of -three- shock not-batarangs plunged into her flesh, Casandra twisted and flared her cape to arrest her momentum just enough that she could twist.

Of all of the moves one might make in that situation, deliberately causing yourself to drop so you could dive at the vampire below was probably a suprising one.

A flash of steel, from the small of her back came a shortsword aimed to plunge into the hopefully shocked minion while his queen was left with those metal electrified splinters.

Mary Seward has posed:
Mary Seward perfectly lined herself up for Cassandra. She yelped as the metal dug into her the meat of her arm. "Ow-" That was what she could let out for the briefest moment before the shock coursed through her body. Her body trembled and staggered. If the stabbing wouldn't have been enough to get her to let go, the shock most certainly was. Down the Orphan went at her own volition. Props to her for choosing an option not given to her and managing to win with it.

The flunky vampire beneath was scandalized by the sight. "You're dead!" On the bright side, he'd get his meal and make the human pay dearly for harming his queen. That was his reasoning as he took off upwards after her, little did he know that put him in the perfect position to get Cassandra's sword, which he was none the wiser on her having, plunged right through his chest. The look of shock on his face as he saw it in the moment before it made contact said it all. Down the ground they go, as yet again, his body breaks her fall, before looking to disintegrate into dust.

Meanwhile, Mary reaches into her arm and fiercely rips the metal shards stabbed into her. One by one. She tosses them aside, them landing at Orphan's feet. She lets out a laugh. "That tickled!" Seems that the electricity wasn't enough to put the Queen out of commission, but Cassandra still was the one to claim first blood. More than that, even. But, now, opposition would continue, as four bats flew down towards Cassandra. Changing into their vampiric forms, they had her surrounded, as their mistress watched on from up high. Despite her big talk, she seemed more keen on seeing how this would play out.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Already Cass was on her feet, blade flicking around and at the ready as she whirled to face her threat. The bottom half of her face was still covered with that mask, but it allowed one to see her eyes narrow as she swept her gaze over the vampiress. She hadn't expected it to destroy her, especially in the arm, but it was less effective than she would have liked.

Then a bat comes down and shifts, then another, and another. Cass' exhaled breath is perhaps as close to a curse as she'd say aloud.

Could she fight Mary on her own? At best it would be difficult, at worst? She could end up vampire food. But if all of those bats circling overhead was a minion? Well, those odds plumetted. She might be the best a human could be in violence, but even she couldn't deal with numbers of super-human foes that outnumbered her so dramatically, not to mention Mary herself atop of that.

Silent maths are added up. Speed, strength, that ability to shapeshift or turn into mist...all of those were an edge, nevermind the possibility that she might have the hypnotic abilities Cass had heard of before. That caution alone was perhaps why her eyes remained on the vampire woman's teeth or form, though Cass had always been able to intuit more from body language than any other. She'd be no good to the Bat Family as some hypnotized thrall or worse...

She had to retreat, regroup, report.

"This city is not yours to own. You should leave while you still can." The only words she'd spoken, perhaps the only proof she -could- speak, however Cass wasn't done. A hand reaching to press a button on the underside of her gauntlet to activate the sonic agitator. In the past, Batman had used this to draw bats towards him, to drive them crazy and send the creatures swarming for an escape. Cass was banking on vampiric senses being just as sensitive as she hit the button and then smoothly reached into her utility belt to hurl a flash-smoke bomb down on her position. Together? This little gambit was meant to be the flashbang from hell to a vampire, to give Cass the chance to make her retreat and live to fight another day.

Mary Seward has posed:
Mary Seward 's inaction proved to be a smart decision. As she was among the only one among the vampires present to not be close to enough to be overwhelmed the sonics blasting into their sound-enhanced ears. Another case of Cassandra using the power of her enemies' against her. She stands and watches as the girl vanishes in a cloud of smoke. She leaps down and parts it with her landing. Like that she was gone. "Hmm...She really was a ninja."

She looks among her underlings, on the ground, trying to recover from the disorientation of that sonic attack. "...She's good. Really good...Maybe, Selene had a point after all." She leans down and picks up one of the psuedo-batarangs she discarded.

"...What do we do now everyone? Now that we let that little thing get the jump on us?...We lick our wounds...and prepare ourselves for next time..."