12161/Hunting a bit of Inque

Hunting a bit of Inque
Date of Scene:	26 July 2022
Location:	Warehouses - Chinatown
Synopsis:	A simple infiltration and sabotage job goes horribly wrong for Inque as Jim Gordon, The Huntress, Balm, and Poison Ivy all arrive at the scene at the same time.
Cast of Characters:	Inque, Jim Gordon, Helena Wayne, Phoebe Beacon, Pamela Isley

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Inque has posed:
    Gotham warehouses at night is, perhaps, a prime area for villains of all sorts to strike. There's been a rumor that one of the abandoned warehouses aren't as abandoned as they first appear and that somebody is going to hit one of them tonight. Exactly who, and which one is unclear.

    Inque happens to be that person. An old Chemex warehouse happens to be that target. She slips from shadow to shadow to approach the warehouse, nearly invisible to the naked eye.

Jim Gordon has posed:
Unfortunately for Inque, nearby the warehouse another thing has been happening. The GCPD has setup a sting for one of their own officers suspected of taking drug runner money. The result was a number of cop cars present with sirens in the general area and the Commissioner. Corruption on the force is something he takes -very- personally.
    Currently the plainclothes cop that had been part of the sting is having a statement made. From a distance, it just looks like some cop cars are there and have pulled up, lights going on.
    Nothing tos ay it's immediately connected to -another- nearby warehouse.. But they would be nearby.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Rumors and whispers are the bread and butter of the vigilante brigade. Sure, the bats have plenty of other tricks up their sleeves too, but even then most of them boil down to whispers and rumors obtained in some way other than actually talking to people. Helena has been keeping an eye on some of the local warehouses as the tracks some suspicious drug trade, and it's that which has brought her into this area tonight.

The flashing lights of the police are a surprise to her as well - that wasn't part of the plan. But this isn't the first time one of her leads has brought her close to GCPD on a clean-up mission, so she's been lingering on a rooftop nearby, listening in.

Inque has posed:
    The GPD's presence were certainly not part of the plan. Inque almost calls off the mission, if it wasn't for a time limit. It had to be tonight or else the codes to the secret vault in the warehouse would become invalid.

    So she slips from shadow to shadow, carefully avoiding the flashing lights of the GPD's cars. However, to one perceptive enough, they'd be able to see her slink towards the nearby warehouse.

Jim Gordon has posed:
The police are a few warehouses away, so they're definitely not noticing it. The Commissioner goes to take a few more steps before he's making a speech over to the other beat cops present as the car with the suspect in it drives off. The speech includes things about 'honesty' and 'integrity'. The sorts of things which most people tend to not believe exists in the city. For now, it's unimportant.

Helena Wayne has posed:
As fascinating as the rare sight of GCPD arresting one of their own is, awareness of her surroundings is too well-ingrained in Helena for her to miss the movement of shadows near the warehouse she originally came to check on. Stepping away from the view of the cop cars and flashing lights, she melts into the shadows on her own rooftop for a moment, letting her eyes readjust to the darkness.

Her eyes narrow behind her mask, trying to focus on where that movement came from until she thinks she can see something. Then it's across the rooftops at a slinking run, tucking and rolling as she moves from one to the other.

Inque has posed:
    Inque finally reaches the target warehouse and, finding a door, slips inside underneath it. It doesn't take her long to find the vault. In goes the code and the door pops open revealing rows upon rows of canisters. Hurriedly she browses them until she seems to find the one she's looking for and takes it in a ribbon like appendage. Then, regurgitating an explosive from inside her, she sets the bomb to go off. Five minutes should give her plenty of time to get clear.

Jim Gordon has posed:
Now with the arrest done, the other cops are going to sweep through the area for more evidence jus tin case they missed something. Gordon is going along with them while they would sweep through the location. Just in case anything had been overlooked. It's routine, if extremely dry procedural work.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Under the...Yeah, that's not the way a shadow usually moves. Helena frowns from the neighboring rooftop, crouching at the edge as she plays out the possibilities in her mind. Call in support? She could, but no one's likely to be close enough to get here in time. Besides, the cops are a hundred yards away. Leave it to the cops? That just feels irresponsible. Which leaves going into what is almost definitely a bad time waiting to happen.

Grimacing, she taps something at her wrist, setting up an emergency contingency of her own. Five minutes. If she's not out and fine by then, the alarms go off. She slides down the fire escape, a whisper of gloves on rusted steel, and over to the front door. Under isn't an option for her, but lockpicks are a girl's best friend.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Did someone ask for an Emergency Beacon?

    Balm had been on a quiet patrol, listening to the arrest on the scanner (and recording it, probably for Anarky or Red Robin) when the contingency alert goes up.

    Her blue-lit domino activates, glowing for a moment under the black hood of her 'street mage' get up, and Balm replies, eyes darting to acknowledge Helena over the dominos via text.

    She'd be arriving before the contengincy can go off.

Inque has posed:
    Inque is now moving full speed to escape the doomed warehouse, and heads straight to the door. The plan is to just cut the door open, since she won't be able to fit the canister under the door. She's stopped short, however when the Huntress opens it up right in front of her.

    The villain is in her combat/infiltration shape. Her arms and legs are mere ribbons without any clear joints. Her body is an amorphous mass, and her head is just a head-shaped blob with a circle of white where the face would be.

    "Huntress," she says with a laugh. "What an unexpected surprise. Now, if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be."

Jim Gordon has posed:
While vigilante and villain face off, something falls. Maybe it's something dislodged, maybe someone stepped on something.. But a silent alarm is tripped. The police units nearest to the area are alerted. Which includes those present securing the crime scence. With most of the team being rookies, the Commissioner gestures.
    "Martinez, Cavllie, Sawyer, with me. The rest of you keep at it."
    And then there are four officers going on a quick run towards the warehouse after calling it in.

Helena Wayne has posed:
"Awkward," Helena manages to say as the door opens to reveal the shadow she had hoped to surprise once the door was open. One perfectly good set of lockpicks falls to the ground as she steps back and...pulls the door shut just the way it was. Is it cool? No. But it might give her half a second to wrap her head around her options, and half a second is better than nothing.

"Beacon, it's gonna be coming in hot here, we've got cops already on scene and...what's her face." The dangers of not being from around these parts - a whole new set of rogues to remember. "Black and melty lady."

That half second is enough to remind her that holding the door the other woman literally melted under in the first place is probably not going to help much, and she takes a step to the side of the door, looking at the crossbow in her hand with the realization that it's almost certainly no help here.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm slips into the warehouse under the guise of darkness, hood pulled forward, tac pants carrying bits and bobs -- and she catches Helena talking to the black and melty lady.

    <Head's up> comes a texted message to Helena, and Balm drops down from a handy overhead skylight, landing in a crouch.

    Black and Melty could describe a number of things in Phoebe's experience, unfortunately -- so the first thing done is... a water bottle is produced, and shaken.

Pamela Isley has posed:
The sound of sirens in Gotham City is far from unusual. Wherever Pamela Isley walks, it seems the police are doing battle with some band of miscreants and ne'er-do-wells. It doesn't help that Pam's walks seem to always take her around industrial districts with warehouses. At night. But this one digresses, because, in this case, it's a silent alarm that's been tripped. But Pamela can hear the radio chatter. She can feel the pulse of the city through the roots that wind beneath concrete. "Mmmmh, very well," comes that soft voice.

Moments later, it's Poison Ivy who arrives on the scene. She avoids the door where the rookie police officers begin to stream towards for... obvious reasons... and gives a toss of that ruby red hair over her shoulders. Fingernails tap-tap-tap on the exterior of the warehouse until they reach a vine that has grown up from the grass and begun to bore into the siding. She gently taps it and the entire thing shifts, swells, and bursts an Isley-sized hole into the side. "Ahaaa! Lovely," she sing-songs, and then steps inside. It's less than subtle, even for her.

Inque has posed:
    The white spot of Inque's 'face' disappears from facing Helena to face Phoebe when she drops down from the skylight. "Two heroes," she says with a certain amount of frustrated disgust. "Where do you all /come/ from?"

    Knowing that there's only a few minutes left before the secret vault in the warehouse goes up in an explosion, she turns back to Helena to try to slip out only to have the door slammed in her face. Two appendages slip out of her body to mold themselves around the hinges and the latch. Then with a flex, she expands herself to blow the door off its frame to fly directly

    Poison Ivy's equally explosive entrance is another shock to the villainess, which causes her to pause. "Are you here to help? Because if you are, this place is going to blow in three minutes."

Jim Gordon has posed:
The explosions have the cops rushing forwards at high speed. Gordon in the front with his gun drawn. "Ivy! Hands in the air where I can see them!" As the building rocks, Ivy is the first one that he sees. Right as the other door goes to burst off as it would br hurled along. "Martinez, Caville, stay with her." He gestures at Ivy while he's running along towards the area where Inque just was at. Of course, Ivy is no doubt through the hole in the warehouse wall she just tore open so may not be in any real position to -care- about the orders yelleda t her.

Helena Wayne has posed:
"What a cluster-" Helena is still taking in Ivy's arrival and the (more expected) door blowing off its hinges when she hears 'blow in three minutes' and has a moment to question the life choices that led her here. "Seriously?!"

No more time for planning or complicated manuevers - now it's all down to instinct. Which...is not always good. The glimpse of a cannister in Inque's appendage registers enough to give her a target. Caution to the wind, she now dives forward to try to grab the canister and slide past in Phoebe's direction.

What's in the canister? Great question. Something that was worth stealing, apparently, so probably not something Inque should have.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm tilts her head a moment at Inque's appearance -- and then swivels to turn to Poison Ivy.

     -- and the police --

    Oh this is going to be Bad, she thinks at the mention of explosions, so she does what she does best -- first she slings her water bottle at Inque, and then she brings both her hands up, her eyes narrowing behind her domino as her weight shifts, she brings one hand up and down in a quick motion with an arcane symbol, and lobs a fireball at the waterbottle.

    Plus side? The Holy Water probably isn't going to do much to Inque.

    Not so plus side? It's going to be SUPER HOT Holy Water!

Pamela Isley has posed:
"Here to help? I'm afraid not, darling," Poison Ivy says, opening her mouth to say something else before being so -rudely- interrupted by the commissioner. Poison Ivy does not, naturally, lift her hands in the air. Well, not in the traditional sense. The two officers ordered to follow her will find the very vine that ripped that hole open in the door coiling around them and... well... dragging them out of the warehouse and, ironically enough, into safety. "Really, boys? I get you're excited to see me, but I think this will have to wait. We clearly have more pressing matters to attend to," Ivy says.

The mention of the bomb doesn't particularly seem to phase Pamela Isley, though her mismatched eyes (one green, one blue) do narrow in the direction of the door that had just opened. She watches Huntress grasp for the canister and try to slide it out of Inque's way. Pamela? She flicks her wrist and sends another vine lashing out towards where that cannister slides, attempting to intercept it and whisk it away before it has time to reach Phoebe, who is distracted throwing very very very very hot Holy Water. The power of Christ compels you!

Inque has posed:
    Inque is good at what she does. Certainly one of the best. But fighting two (maybe three) heroes and the police force at the same time is even beyond /her/ ability. Now she's focused on just one objective: Get out of here in one piece.

    She turns to rush through the door, but Helena manages to knock the canister out of her 'arm' sending it flying into the air, as she dives 'into' the imminently exploding building. There's only a minute left. "Are you /insane/!?" she yells.

    The canister is deftly snatched out of the air by Ivy and Inque has to do some quick mental math. Will she be able to retrieve the canister before the building blows? But before she can work up an answer, hot holy water splashes into her. "Ah!" she yelps, as the water washes away a part of her, leaving bits of her inert and in a puddle on the group. "You /brat!/"

Jim Gordon has posed:
The two officers that had been going along after Ivy are rapidly hoisted over and dragged out of the warehouse by Ivy, yelling all the while and struggling to get free. And probably not aware that she's saving them from being burnt to a crisp. Ungrateful!
    The Commissioner is running forwards as he catches sight of Balm, Huntress, and the cannister being flung back and forth. Going to see Inque not taking the water particularly well, in those leadin moments Jim Gordon raises his gun, not firing it over at Inque.. But over at a nozzle above her head that was part of the fire suppression system. Which would hopefully kick it off and have it be hosing down the area.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Inque can't possibly think Helena is any more insane than Helena herself thinks she is right now as she slides out of the way //just// in time to avoid the heated holy water explosion. Still, she can probably skip the steam facial this weekend.

"Okay, good work, time for us to go!" she says as she come to a stop by the other vigilante, already eyeing the handy hole Ivy's made that won't require her to go back past the nightmare shadow when Gordon comes inside. She curses under her breath, pushing up to a sprinter's position.

"I've got no idea what's in that thing, but if both of these two want it, it's definitely going to be a chemical explosion when that bomb goes off," she says quickly. "And there are not enough good cops in Gotham to let it take one out." Apparently that's all the explanation Phoebe is going to get, because on that note, Helena takes off like she's running a tackle drill, bracing herself to leap past Inque and into Gordan to try to tackle the commissioner out of the warehouse.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Black goop is good for evidence collecting -- Balm grabs an empty vial from her pack and scoops it up, sealing it shut as she looks back to Helena, and gives a nod.

    No one wants to be near when that bomb goes off.

    She breathes out and also makes for the hole, bringing her fingers to her mouth and giving a sharp whistle to alert the other officers to get out, running towards them, counting down.

    She turns in order to bring her hands up and erect a shield, great and glowing a pinkish-gold with a lazily turning eight-pointed star in the center as she braces herself to protect the others. Helena's got Gordon, Ivy's already getting out and Inque?

    Goopy's spooky.

Pamela Isley has posed:
The vine that transports those officers out of the warehouse does not do it gently. It does it rather abruptly and aggressively, but other than a few bruised egos, the officers will remain unharmed. The further away from Ivy they get, the less and less they act like sentient vines until they simply release the officers gently against the ground, too far away for them to close the distance to the exploding warehouse in time.

Ivy snatches that cannister out of the air with a gleeful smile, giggling sweetly while she tucks it into her chest. It isn't until she overhears Helena's -slanderous- accusations that Ivy's gleeful smile vanishes from her face. "Darling I don't even know what's -in- this thing," she says in protest, just in time to watch Helena linebacker-tackle the chief of police out the front door of the warehouse. Vigilante indeed.

It seems fate is on her side today, however. Phoebe elects to take up a defensisve position instead of snatching the cannister, and Ivy clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Whatever goody she's gotten is slid out of her hands and into another nearby vine that begins to slink away, off towards wherever Ivy has decided to whisk it away. If it goes unchecked, it will pull it down. Deep, deep down.

"This used to be a beautiful park, I'm told. Maybe some day it will be again," Ivy murmurs, and gives a little wave of her fingers to any remaining officers in a command to follow her out. Pheromones, man. Potent stuff.

Inque has posed:
    Inque's scream is a bit more tortured as the sprinkler system goes on, and starts sloughing off chunks of her The door ahead of her is still open and she desperately gets out of the building, dissolving into a puddle, herself. A sentient puddle though as she reforms herself from as many pieces as she can, coming up to nothing more than a sentient blob.

    With the police commissioner being distracted by being tackled by the Huntress, Inque desperately pulls herself away as quick as she can finding a shadow she can hide in, effectively disappearing.

    Just in time, too. The vault explodes violently, filling the warehouse with a fireball comprised of all sorts of toxic chemicals. It's not enough to explode the warehouse completely, but anybody who would have remained inside would have probably been burnt to a crisp. Fortunately, due to Jim's quick thinking, the sprinkler system is already on, and prevents the warehouse from becoming a blazing inferno.

Jim Gordon has posed:
The two officers are dropped away, each dazed and confused over.. Just in time as the building goes off and explodes as they scramble over for cover and go to hit the dirt! Meanwhile, Jim Gordon has just enough time to recognize that something is about to go off and crunch down to brace himself to try and dive out of the way with all the speed that a man in his sixties that had spent what felt like more than a lifetime on the streets of Gotham..
    Right over as Huntress goes to slam over into him. He lets out a grunt as she would cover him and knock him out of the door and out of the way of the blast, even as he would wince as it went off. Only having time to swear, "Son of a --" before it would be covered up by the explosion.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Tonight has been a night of so many unexpected twists that Helena doesn't even get a chance to process the idea that Ivy didn't come here for the purpose of taking something. Nope. Mostly she's focused on whether or not anyone died in the chaos.

Luckily for poor old Jim, Helena's slightly smaller than the average bat...but he's probably still going to have some bruises in the morning. She rolls away quickly enough, coming to a crouch to check and make sure that Phoebe made it out all right. The commissioner is breathing, those were definitely plants moving out the other copes...no idea what happened to the lady of the ooze, but this is definitely not about to be a place for vigilantes.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe, having raised shields, made it out OK -- though she's coughing up golden-tinged gunk from her lungs as she walks towards Helena and Gordon, looking for the other officers as well, She's got a limp that's rapidly getting better.

    The blue of her domino glows again as she takes stock, and points to Helena, and gives a thumbs up with a tilt of her head.

    

Pamela Isley has posed:
Ivy has exited the warehouse with the two remaining officers in tow. It is the classic cool gal moment where her hips sway and the bomb goes off behind her and she doesn't even -look-. It does manage to knock her pretty red hair around as the two gobsmacked officers ask her all manner of embarrassing questions, including 'what conditioner do you wear' and 'can I take you out to coffee'.

"Easy boys," she says with a soft sigh, and motions for them to sit beside the Comissioner. In the dark like this, any light from the streets catches somewhere in the back of Ivy's irises. They flash a sort of strange, bioluminescent blend of blue and green at the right sort of angles, until she looks away.

When she turns her eyes towards Helena and Phoebe, her face is impassive and cold. Impossible to read. Whatever her motive was is likely difficult to ascertain, but those officers remain unscathed, even if the whereabouts of the container remain a mystery.

"Ladies," she offers with a nod of her head, and then Poison Ivy is taking her leave, gliding effortlessly across the glass with bare feet, wildflowers blooming in her wake.

Jim Gordon has posed:
Jim Gordon goes to rise up, glancing at the burning warehouse, the disengaging vigilantes, and the immediate lack of additional sirens in the distance. A low nod is given in the diretion of the passing Ivy of thanks. There's sincerity to it as Gordon goes to take a few breaths to collect himself. Then he's going to speak over to his walkie talkie, "Anyone on perimeter duty, fall back and get yourselves checked out. Get in touch with EMS and see why the fire department isn't here yet, the nearest station is ninety seconds away and they're supposed to be able to get here in two and a half minutes." Which could be anything from the fire department is paid off to stay away or they're already dealing with another emergency.
    Then he's going to give further orders, "I want to know who this belonged to -through- all the shell companies on the other end and what was in there she might have been after." Now.. Now it's time to deal with the aftermath..
    And wait to see if the big mob boss paying off the officer earlier would leave him out to dry or pay for the big mob lawyer for him.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Tonight has been a little bit embarrassing for Helena in terms of...everything. Which probably explains why she's given up enough on looking cool to actually call after Ivy: "Thank you!"

When she turns back to Phoebe, it's with a deep sigh, head dropping for just a moment as she gathers herself back up. "You know, I'm really glad you were in the neighborhood," she says as she walks over to the other vigilante, looking over her shoulder with a respectful not to Gordon as he calls off the rest of the crew. Time to go back to bases and figure out just what happened here.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    If there were ever a representative of The Green from Gotham, Pamela Isley would be it. Phoebe gives a nod of recognition to Poison Ivy as Ivy leaves, and she turns back to the grouping around, the officers and Gordon and the other vigilante as she gives a nod. Another text alert appears for Helena:

    -Was in the neighborhood. Glad to help.-