10351/An Un-Auspicious Introduction ft Machina and Batgirl

An Un-Auspicious Introduction ft Machina and Batgirl
Date of Scene:	05 March 2022
Location:	Abandoned Warehouse - Chinatown
Synopsis:	Madame Machina makes her Gotham debut with a Bang and a Boop, and poor Batgirl gets left with the cleanup! Also Demona got in on the stealing, good work Demona!
Cast of Characters:	Alicia Stone, Stephanie Brown, Susan Sullivan

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Alicia Stone has posed:
    Damage Control and SHIELD can't be everywhere at once. They can't ALWAYS get to places to sweep up after fights, after stuff gets left behind. And there's always pieces of military gear that get... left by the wayside, aren't there? AIM, Stark, Wayne, Hammer, all the big players have skin in the game, all of that stuff EVENTUALLY ends up where it's not supposed to be, one way or another. Even if it's just bits and pieces.

    The Galvanos aren't ACTUALLY Mafia, though they'd like to think themselves that way. No, these goobers are gun runners, of the scavenger kind. And tonight's pretty much the worst night of their lives. Even if it's the biggest deal they've ever done. The tall one, Kevin, fiddles with the little locator/scanner thing they'd fished out of the harbor alongside some old nasty Stark tech and some tidbits of what they THINK is Space Stuff. "Like I said, buddy, this is first come, first served, we've got other people lined up if you don't want this stuff."

    Mike and Trevor, the other two Galvanos, are holding point over the small gaggle of buyers, while the rest of the crew is spread out to run cover from the outskirts of the Warehouse's parking lot. Not the tightest security, but they've probably got a few tricks up their sleeves, what with all that tech garbage they've got.

    One of the buyers, in the back of the line, is getting ansty, the short person tapping their foot impatiently, as some big Gotham heater seems to be in the mood to fish around for Space Laser Pew Pew Guns.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
With a few momentous events in her life of late, one could figuratively describe Stephanie Brown as being on cloud nine. If deciding to speak more literally, they'd have to say that she's IN cloud nine though.

<< Ack. These things are so cold and... moist. Not at all what they look like floating in the sky. >> she says over comms as she finally drops out of the cloud, and sees the night lights of Gotham arrayed beneath her.

The HALO jump is part of her ongoing training. There's never a time that they aren't training, though she has years to make up on Dick, Barbara, Jason, Tim... "Even Damian, argh," she says aloud as her inner monologue finds a way out of her lips. "Little pipsqueak."

The lack of a parachute might be distressing to some. Though not to Batgirl. She spreads her arms and legs to slow her dive some, before popping open her cape into glider wings. She begins circling, enjoying the view from above as she drifts at a more leisurely pace. After landing, the plan is for her to patrol the Chinatown area.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Chinatown is not an unusual place to find Susan. Chinatown in Gotham is a bit unusual. While far-afield, the brunette doesn't feel particularly out of place. Being on the roof is probably the most unusual part of things. She watches what looks like a person drop from the clouds, then spread wings and circle. Her eyes go wide. "The Batman!" she says. She jumps up and begins sprinting along the rooftops. Jumping from roof to roof seems as easy to her as someone stepping over a crack in the pavement. Over longer ones, she uses what looks like a store-bought, wooden dowel for more long-jumping distance. She doesn't slow down as she chases The Bat. How cool would it be to get to meet HIM of all people!

Alicia Stone has posed:
    "So like... this thing, does it FIND the cops or does it just... like... blast 'em?" The big guy at the front of the line is trying to chat with the Galvanos, and Kevin steps into the little flea market pile to take a look. "....I think that's a Stark particle... thingy, the thing that makes the uuuhhhhh..."

    And from the back of the line, a shrill little keening wail of frustration pierces the crowd. "FOR THE LOVE OF PETE YOU ARE ALL THE WORST." And the small figure rips off her overcoat, to reveal... well. Uh, if that's not a SUPER VILLAIN it's hard to describe one. A short asain lady in a speckled labcoat, with big angry welding goggles, furiously mashing on a remote control. "OUTTA MY WAY, I GOT PLACES TO BE!" ...That voice carries pretty well for a short lady. Though, maybe the sudden introduction of new Problems will concern the hoods and the Galvanos, as a trio of burnt out cars in the parking lot tip themselves over, and a pack of squat, angry looking cobbled together robots boil out of the remains of the cars, lumbering around and bashing people with club like hands.
    Oh, and also a third drops from the roof of the warehouse, bristling with blaster that start picking off the gunmen at the outer ring of the defenses.

    ...Okay, this escalated quickly.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Viewed from above, by moonlight, Gotham still looks... a bit grimy. Stephanie can't help but think the thought as she drifts down, not yet having spotted the figure that is chasing behind her across rooftops.

"But hey, it's my kind of grime," she says to herself with a measure of pride for her city. Any further reflections are cut off though by the sound of Alfred's voice over the Bat-comms.

<< Batgirl, a number of phones of miscreants that we have been tracking seem to have assembled at a warehouse in your area. It is suggested that you investigate. >> Batgirl's eyes are covered by lenses that drop into place so she can see the information that is sent across. << Kevin Galvano. One of the Los Diablos. Arms seller, and gang in need of arms after that ruckus with KGBeast depleted them. Certainly is suggestive. Thanks, I will take a look! >>

Batgirl wings over, having to angle back towards the warehouse. Which will make it easier for the woman giving chase to catch up on the building where Batgirl touches down. Also, with the descent, the feminine shape of the costume will eventually become noticeable even at night.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan skids to a stop, falling on her bottom on the edge of a roof as suddenly lasers. "Woah," she says. She tosses her dowel out in front of her. It stops just next to the rooftop like Marty McFly's hoverboard...though a couple stories up. She steps onto it and folds her arms behind her back. Riding the machined stick like a broom-surfing witch, she swerves between buildings on a descent until she can peek out from behind buildings at the robots. Oh look, The Batman's coming this way as well. Susan looks around for life in the area. Robots are nothing if not lacking in qi.

Alicia Stone has posed:
    Three of the buyers go down in heaps on the first pass of the Battle Bots, and the Galvanos are already trying to scarper, or they would be, if all their fucking haul wasn't out in the open like this. Kevin is screaming at Mike, Trevor is trying to pack up the flashiest bits back into their truck, as the short lady stomps over the body of a fallen goon, pulling out an overly complicated gun of some sort. "YOU. BUFFOON. I AM TAKING... THIS BOX. And.... THAT BOX." She gestures at two bins of... well it's not weapons, they're marked... 'Hammer??????' and 'Definately Space' and seem to be filled up with Fancy Junk. "You will hand them to me or you will SUFFER."
    Trevor balks and then tries to tower over the lady, reaching for a gun in his belt, when the woman pulls the trigger, and a wave of icky red energy slaps into Trevor, and he keels over, screaming and shuddering, seizures wracking his body.
    She turns and points the gun to Kevin. "*YOU* will hand them to me."
    "....Yeah sure." The tall crook is already moving, to pick up one of the crates, as a smaller robot trundles out of the wrecks. A....dogbot, of some sort, that wriggles open a cargo case on its back. "IN THE DOG, NOW."

    Up on top of the warehouse, the bigger bot looks up to see... A cape and cowl. It lets out a thunderous "BOOP" and lifts its arm, taking wide ranging pot shots at the descending Bat-Person. More of those angry looking stun bolts.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The fight that starts up plays out before Batgirl's eyes as she descends towards the roof of the warehouse. "Alright, let's do this!" she says, landing on the roof's edge. Deciding that the Asian woman in costume is the biggest, threat, Batgirl draws and throws a batarang in one smooth motion, sending it flying towards Alicia's weapon in an attempt to disarm her.

Though that is the only thing Batgirl has time for, as the large robot aims its own weapon her way. Batgirl does a back flip away from where she was, the shot hitting the edge of the warehouse and raining debris back down on the parking lot below. Batgirl throws down smoke pellets towards the robot, hoping that it's targeting mechanism are strictly visual-based.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan lands, thankful she's been gothing it up, lately. Lasers that can melt cars are a bit above her skill level. Still, no sense in letting them continue unimpeded. Taking cover behind a building, she concentrates. Concrete and steel are beyond her thanks to human meddling, but also thankfully around is a lot of dust that isn't manmade. Most inside dust is carpet fibers, most of which is synthetic. Most outside dust is from Earth itself.
    The dust seems to find Earth's gravity boring or something, as it rises to form dust clouds around the parking lot. Hopefully these robots don't have IR, or she's toast. She bolts from behind the building, moving to nearer cover to test if they do or not. The fact that she's not immediately incinerated is a nice hint.

Alicia Stone has posed:
    The two Galvano brothers are loading the Robot Dog with Stuff when that Batarang comes in, and spangs off the lady's hand, making her drop the gun with a yell. "AH! WHAT?"
    The big Robot BOOPs again, and the Asian lady points up. "Of course, I knew it was one of them, this IS Gotham." She kicks one of the Galvanos in the shin, and then two of the smaller battle bots trundle closer to the woman, as she clambers up on a box to... point at Batgirl? "STEP OFF. I got here first! I will leave with this and you can... just DEAL, *Batgirl*."
    Inwardly though, the woman's mind is racing. Heck, what's Plan BATS? Uhhhhhhhh.

    Thankfully, Plan Bats is partially handled, as the rest of the Galvanos goons get their act together, and start trying to take potshots at Batgirl... with regular guns. Those welding goggles sweep the parking lot, and the small lady starts to scarper, trying to get into a better defensive position while her Objectives Are Handled.

    But now there's a bunch of dust and smoke and the robots start swiveling in place to try and better place their shots... but they aren't firing blindly into the cover. They seem to be better trained than that. "BOOP." "BEEP." "BEEPBoop."
    In her cover, the woman twitches, and activates her personal shield. "I *KNOW*, GIVE ME A MOMENT TO THINK."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
As the Galvanos open fire on her, the blond Batgirl yells down at them, "You're seriously helping the woman robbing you!?" She spins, pulling her cape about her, the bullet-resistant fabric and her costume's body armor absorbing the impacts. The moment the gunshots slow, Batgirl whirls the cape and throws down another handful of pellets, this time at the men. The flashbang pellets go off in disorienting, loud retorts and bright flashes meant to blind.

Batgirl isn't staying still, her grapple gun shooting a line over to a tall antennae on a nearby roof, as she launches herself out into space. She swings down and lands a two footed kick on one of the smaller robots, launching it across the parking lot and into the side of an adjacent building, hard enough to smash enough important components that it ends up lying on the ground, sparking and twitching, attempts at movement resulting in nothing more than flailing limbs.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Problem with dust blocking the robots' view is that it's also blocking Susan's view. She's just gotten close enough to see the shadow of a feminine form with cape and pointed bat 'ears' from the top of her head swoop down and smash one of the robots. Color her impressed! Or don't, she's working on being sneaky, just now. Closing her eyes, she ducks behind cover and pinpoints one of the robots. Okay, qi-less things aren't manipulable. Fine. Kneeling low, she slides her stick along the ground. It floats like a supermagnet over the surface in the fog. While there was only so fast Susan could move it laterally, she could spin it to the limits of the material (and wind resistance) by manipulating the center.
    With a sound like whoosh, it began spinning as it got close to one of the robots. Whoosh-whoosh turned to whup-whup-whup as the edge began to approach the speed of sound. The edge caught one of the robot's legs. More would follow until the robot finally lost enough support to hit the ground, then all of it was fair game to be smashed by a spinning, wooden rod...at least until it splintered into a thousand pieces. Hey, at least that was one down!

Alicia Stone has posed:
    The first BattleBot goes down with a clang and a bang and a scattering of parts, and the woman yelps behind her cover. Right, this is escalating out of hand but.... but.
    The Dogbot seems to have scarfed up its fill of tech junk, and is scampering off towards the exfil as quickly as possible. In the mist and the dust, there are goons trying to take potshots in the mist, and one of those bullets SWATS into the woman's body shield, causing it to flicker and waver and reassemble itself.
    And then the second battle bot goes down.

    The Galvanos are escaping, leaving the bulk of their salvage in the pile for... whoever. And that leaves the woman and her foes and her few remaining robots. The big one is clambering out of the mist towards the woman's position, when her mania gets the better of her, and she clambers up on top of the box she was hiding behind.

    "HAH. BATWOMAN... G-Girl I don't know. Today you face your MENACE. Your DOOM. I am the Mistress of Machines, the Sultana of Circutry. I am... MADAME MACHINA." And the fact that it all sounds... completely natural to say that to people, coming out of her, says... plenty. It's also like a release valve has been turned, as she scampers up onto he shoulders of the Biggest Bot and screams. "GO GO GO GO." The last of the two Baby Bots charge at Batgirl and Demona, as MADAME MACHINA, apparently, moves to make her escape in the dust and smoke and fog the two women kicked up themselves.

    The Baby Bots put up a screening effort, suddenly a whirl of big meaty mace-like fists and zaps and blasts of stun energy.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
As Madame Machina gives her soliloquy, Batgirl lands on a car, dropping the line and turning to face her. She reaches down to her utility garter belt, pulling out a small tube, which at the press of a button suddenly expands into a yellow metal bo staff.

"Alright then, let's do this!" Batgirl yells back, getting into a ready stance and pointing the staff at the villain. Who... flees.

"Wait! Really!? After that, you're going to RUN!?" she yells after the retreating woman.

Though there's no time to go after her, with the two Baby Bots charging in. Batgirl leaps off the car, swinging the staff into one and knocking it away, giving her time to pivot and ward off a blow from the other. Metal clangs on metal as they strike furiously at each other.

Batgirl uses her staff to flip over the Baby Bot like a pole vaulter. Before she's even landed, she's stabbing back behind her with the staff, lodging it into the neck joint of the Baby Bot. A hard yank and the head pops off, dropping it to the ground. Though the second robot gets back into the fight, slamming into Batgirl and knocking her down to the ground as it jumps atop her to flail with metal arms.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan watches the big guy come out. Yeah, not really equipped for that. However, there ARE a large number of splinters and small pieces of wood. They rise up and begin to move at a sprinting pace toward the woman mounted on the robot. Madame Machina was a bit...much, but hey, it wasn't like she was having to fight one of those bloody angels.
    While the splinters move at a sprinting pace, Susan runs toward the building, giving them a bit of a double-time effect. They're just splinters and pieces of wood, but they're perfectly aligned with that woman, and they're moving at a decent clip. Not exactly hurricane speed, but definitely enough to jab into one's flesh. Not eyes, though. I guess thank goodness for goggles?
    Once they've impacted, Susan must skid to avoid running into one of the escaping men. He doesn't take a look at her, he just runs. Cowards, perhaps. Susan moves in through the door he moved out from. Madame Machina was on her way out, right? So if she wanted anything to play with, it was kind of now or never.

Alicia Stone has posed:
    "Discretion is the better part of valor, Batlady!" Machina's words ring out, even as the Bat crumples one, then two of her remaining robots, the systems going dark and silent, before their cores short all the way out, with angry self-destructing noises.
    Machina was just about to be free and clear over everything here, when those Shotgun Splinters catch her full in the back, slapping into her shield, several passing through into her back and her labcoat. "AH! HECK! WHAT? PROTECTOR BOT, FASTER."

    BOOP.

    And into the dark Gotham night, rides the uh... retreating madame Machina. And her robot dog. With SOME of that stuff.

    Around Demona and Bitgirl, a number of the guards, half a truck full of stolen technical debris, one of the Galvanos brothers, and a whole mess of junked robots lie around... waiting for a cleanup.

    Maybe that will all go to the right place, this time?

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"And it's BatGIRL!" the blond caped crusader yells, though the woman and the large robot have already retreated from view. She can either pursue her, or make sure that the arms dealers don't get away with the remaining weapons.

Batgirl turns, staff at the ready. A man reaches for a gun in his belt and before he can draw it, a batarang flies through the air and hits his hand, resulting in a yelp and the gun being dropped.

<< Send GCPD with a wagon. Going to need them to make a pickup, >> Batgirl says into her comms. And then turns towards the remaining guards. "Could use a little help there, lady," Batgirl calls over to Demona. The fighting starts. It's very physical, Batgirl using the staff to bash assailants in arms, torsos and heads. They start going down one after another, but usually only after they've taken two or three good thumps in other locations. The big bad lady got away, and maybe Stephanie is taking out a little frustration on them for that.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    The crates of stuff are heavy, but made of wood. The ones left behind lift up. Susan herself steps up on them before they whiz at that sprinting pace out the door. And then straight up. It will take a few moments, but with attention elsewhere, it isn't particularly hard to get up into cloud cover without anyone but a properly trained bat looking up. Hey, that stick was her favorite! And who can resist toys with the serial numbers already filed off? Batgirl looks like she's got this, anyway.