12373/Priority Mission, Codename: Corduroy Sasquatch

Priority Mission, Codename: Corduroy Sasquatch
Date of Scene:	03 September 2022
Location:	Sheldon Park - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	The Outsiders answer a priority alert message and take down a massive creature terrorizing the old fashion district of Gotham.
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Artemis Crock, Phoebe Beacon, Conner Kent, Gabby Kinney, Emiko Queen, Bruce Wayne

---

Tim Drake has posed:
    Up until about 15 minutes ago, this ongoing issue tagged to the Sheldon Park area was firmly in the purview of whichever Bat had patrol on that side of Bleake Island any given night. Reports of a shadowy figure skulking about at night, a sudden lack of stray animals, hallmarks of a potential criminal working their way up to their first kill.

    Nothing particularly unusual in Gotham. Not saying the city is the serial killer capital of the world or anything, but....

    <<"Priority message,">> is announced via the Roost's automated warning system alongside the most annoyingly shrill beep that the Outsiders communicators are capable of producing. Then, Red Robin's voice: <<"Confirmed metahuman sighting on Bleake Island, requesting immediate backup to current location. Coordinates to follow.">>

    The coordinates lead to what was once Bergen Street, previously home to Gotham's slowly dying fashion district, now reduced to rubble and flaming wreckage. No sign of the party responsible, but there are massive gouges clawed out of walls that are large enough for a person to lay fully inside, and burrows of molten slag criss-cross the area in a morbidly toddler-like scrawl, no attempts made to remain inside the lines. It's bleak, though there are only a few casualties.

    Inside the remains of a fabric shop is the largest group of survivors, mostly the shop's staff and a pair of GCPD officers watching over them. Their patrol car is outside, or rather half of it is. The other half that was ripped away is nowhere in sight.

    Across the street, a flash of red: a piece of nomex-weave cape caught on an exposed jut of rebar, its edges charred. Closer inspection of the area will find the trademark signs of Bat-tech being put to use here to those familiar, noticably several expended grenade shells in the flashbang, compressed liquid nitrogen, and hydrogen fluoride varieties.

    No time to worry about that, though! From down the street, a deep rumble begins to build and build in cacophony until it is a powerful roar, strong enough to shake the cracked, pock-marked pavement and pierce sensitive ears with knee-buckling pain. On the ground, a strange red spot appears and rapidly glows into a white-hot slurry of melted asphalt before the beam of energy producing it pierces through the material and blasts its way towards the fabric shop's exposed facade!

Artemis Crock has posed:
Artemis Crock is not an Outsider, but she has heard of them. Tonight, she just happens to be in the area, having learned of the situation through her own private ways of gathering information. Either way she is here on site, studying the wreckage from a nearby rooftop while trying to keep mostly out of sight of he police, the heroes and whoever made this mess in the first place.

She's brought her various trick arrows, her sword and her wits with her as she picks cautiously through the wreckage, searching for the source of this madness. But it seems she doesn't have to go far to find out who - or what did this, as that hair raising roar suddenly erupts out of seemingly nowhere.

"Ohh great, it's my lucky day.." she mutters, readying her bow as she darts back and away from the beams of energy, opting for higher ground to shoot from..Her preferred weapon of attack works best from afar so she's already ready for whatever is about to erupt..

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Incidentally, Balm was in the middle of research nearby when she got a notification to her cracked and worn cellphone. She confirmed her location and that she was going to be arriving.

    That was a while ago, she's been hard at work trying to try and steer the survivors out of their dire situation.

    Balm's brilliant rose-gold shield errupts from her hands as she braces herself, the blue lenses of her domino glowing beneath her hood as she holds up both gloved hands, looking to catch the material and slurry, her eyes narrowed behind her mask as she braces her boots and feet against some of the rubble. THe lazily spinning eight-pointed star surrounded by heiroglyphs gives an obvious Beacon to where Phoebe's located, though as she holds her ground against the slurry.

Conner Kent has posed:
Since it is a weekend, Conner is in the Roost when the alarms go off. He was in his room catching up with news reports and his email, pondering about movies for the next movie night.

It is the first time the alarms go off in weeks? Well. Maybe a week? Enough time to startle him. But he reacts quickly. Checking the Roost for the others in seconds, then flying towards Bleake Island at a speed just under super-sonic. <I am over the area,> he states on the comm. systems. <I can't see Red. But I think I can see the meta. Gonna get closer.>

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney was in Gotham for the first time in awhile as luck would have it. She'd just picked up her souped up motorcycle (much as that Honda could get souped up) and was bringing it back. Just in time for the message to come over. While she didn't have ALL her gear with her, she always kept some of her kit ready in a pack on the back of her bike. It's enough that it only takes a quick pull over in an alley to do a swap from shirt-to-bodysuit top and bodyarmor, belt, and mask. She'd manage in the jeans and boots she wore otherwise so as to avoid wasting more time.

<Coming down the road-- It's a mess but traffic is diverted by GCPD already.> True to her word the sound of a high pitched engine gunning it can be picked up even by those with regular hearing. She pulls in to a quick skidding stop when she spots the halved police car, kicking the stand down and abandoning the bike so she can continue further.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko got the alarm and headed out as quickly as possible, geared up for trouble. Arriving to the scene, and what seems to be the aftermath of a fight, she's already started for the survivors to check on them and help usher them out of the line of fire. <I've got eyes on survivors. Half a dozen civilians, two GCPD. I'll try to get information.?

Moving in, she approaches slowly, hands out and empty, "Hey. Let's get you guys somewhere safe, okay? This seems to be starting underground, so lets get you guys to the roof, get you airlifted out. Sound like a plan, officers?" The rumbling and red beam has her looking sharply aside, then back, "Okay, we need to move now, this isn't over. Come on, up to the roof, officer, call for a chopper, get these people out of here."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Whatever its source, the energy beam that pierces through the ground from below is powerful enough that the heat it produces melts not only the material immediately surrounding where it has emerged, but several feet of the street beyond, turning the immediate area into what is fundamentally a magma field. It also amps up the temperature from its breezy mid-70s into the triple digits. The air is rapidly approaching the point where it is too hot to breathe in.

    For now, however, Phoebe's shield holds it off. Bits of molten splatter into the walls of the buildings adjacent to the store-front she protects as the beam continues to churn through metal and concrete. It's like hot oil in a pan, spitting and popping, amped up by a factor of a thousand.

    Just as suddenly as it had appeared and broke through, though, the beam stops. The brain-rattling roar that had accompanied it stops too. Not to say that everything is quiet now, as steam rises in hissing waves from every surface that was assaulted by the beam and its cast-offs.

    That, and there's something else. A rumble, but not like what preceeded the blast. Less continuous than before, stopping and starting for several seconds until it resolves itself into a more recognizable sound: the pattern of footfalls of some kind of creature, coming from below.

    Something else bursts from the ground, a beast made of mismatched hair and patchwork skin, both of which beginning to burn as it makes contact with sizzling, still-boiling slurry. Again it lets out an inhuman scream, this time aimed upwards. Whether its intent was to aim for the fast-moving object approaching it from the air or not is hard to say to onlookers, but either way the energy beam is definitely coming straight for Conner.

    The smell comes not long after, wafting up from the street. Singed hair and flesh, yes, but also the sharp, sulfurous waft of sewer from which the creature has emerged, underlaid with something darker and ichorous. It'll probably hit Gabby's extremely sensitive nose right about... now.

    Nowhere is safe from that stench, though. Not even Artemis up on the rooftop, though she gets the clearest look at the purported metahuman, if it can even be called at. Attempts could reasonably be made at counting how many limbs it has, but there are really only four usable ones which it crouches down on to brace itself. The rest are vestigial at best, and the energy beam from its mouth obscures anything but the vaguest shape of its head, which does at least look humanoid.

    Inside the storefront, people are more than willing to comply with Emiko. Most of the staff are already running for the staircase in the back. Even the officers, who by deign of being employed in Gotham have seen enough shit to inure them to just about anything, are shaken enough that they don't argue with a known vigilante and just begin to help the injured civilians out.

Artemis Crock has posed:
Artemis Crock narrows her eyes, assessing the danger level of that thing. She has been scanning the area continuously for any innocent would be victims left behind, but it seems most people are smart enough to have taken cover. And there are some police there too so hopefully they can restore order. Her attention is solely focused on whatever is about to erupt from the molten rock..

And it's not looking good at all. She narrows her eyes, making a few calculations, trying to figure out the best strategy. Okay, some magical girl created a shield to hold off the Laval. Some flying guy in the sky..Is that Superboy? And, no she hasn't spotted Gabby yet.

"Right, let's see if I can slow you down at least.." as it aims its energy beam towards Superboy, she loads three arrows from her quiver and aims and shoots at some of those many limbs - particularly three of the four usable ones, trying to at least slow it down or cripple it..Maybe distract it?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    ... ew. That was just not going to fly. The heat is somewhat mitigated by Balm's shield, even as it takes a beating from the molten street. She hears Emiko behind her getting the civvies out, the GCPD being smart enough to get out of dodge while the going is decent.

    Phoebe waits until behind her is clear, and the beam stops to drop her shields, teetering a moment before she looks up at the beast and... oh, the stench. That wretched smell of eau d' ew and sewer, her fingers curling slightly around the extending staff at her side as she extends, ducks to the side and vaults up on a pile of rubble, feeling uncomfortable warmth through her feet.

    And then she spots the flash of red cloak.

    Her eyes dart over a text input, and she tries to track Tim's mask with her own as she tries to take a biological measure of the beast shooting Hyperbeams out of its mouth.

    There's not a Pokemon game in *existence* that prepared her for this.

Conner Kent has posed:
<"Yeah, I see it now. It is a..."> Conner, momentarily loss at words, almost gets hit by the heat blast, diving right at the last moment to take cover behind a stationed constructor truck. He does get hit by the stench, though! <"It is a thing from the sewers. Like sewer dragon, shooting plasma and all. I am going to call it Smelaug">

Assuming the truck doesn't get melted in seconds, Conner does a quick head-count and checks for civilians. <"Oh, and there is a blonde archer lady shooting at the critter. No one I know."> He flies up, again, to draw the monster attention before it blasts the archer or manages to get through Phoebe's barrier. "Hey ugly! I am coming for youuu!" And he does. Despite the stench that will make the Kinney girls hate him for a month. He is going to try to punch the dragon in the snout. Or whatever it has.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
<OH my god the smell--!> Honey Badger can be heard almost gagging over the com as she staggers from the assault ot her senses. It didn't hurt but it was enough to make her eyes water interfering with her vision as she claps a hand over her mouth and reaches for the balclava that she wore with her 'quick suit' to pull up over her nose and mouth. It would help, a bit, to filter out the smell.

It's a good thing she paused though as the melting of the asphalt occurs. She was already close enough to feel the tar beneath her feet grow sticky from the heat, as well as feel it roiling over her body. If she'd gone further she might have ended up actually sinking in. Being on ground was not a great idea so far.

Just as she prepares to look for a manhole, grate, or other entrance to below the streets the THING surges out and upward making her tug her cover tighter over herself. <Smelaug accepted.> She pauses though to glance up at Conner's mention. <The archer is Artemis. Met her before.>

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The Outsiders comms system hisses and whines for a moment as some external influence accesses it with brute force rather than finesse. It's an unpleasant sound, like feedback, that is quickly replaced by the background hum of what might be an engine. A moment later, there's a deep voice altered in part by a modulator.

<<"This is Batman. Coming in hot. Watch your heads.">>

A moment later, that same dull hum of engines becomes an ear-splitting roar at the northern end of Bergen Street. LED headlights bathe a typically gloomy Gotham in bright, white light. Shadows melt away, and 'Smelaug' is caught in sharp relief. As the Batmobile hurtles down the street at turbine-assisted speeds, the hatch opens and a caped figure launches skyward. His cape snaps into a batlike shape around him, momentarily suspending him in the air as the Car completes its terminal task.

Rocketing through the air, launched off a ramp of debris, flung directly at the monster like some great, armored missile.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko assists the civilians and cops up to the roof and waits for a chopper to be called in for airlift. Wincing at the feedback in her ear, there's a flash of surprise on her features at the voice coming across the line. <Welcome to the party.> She peers over the edge of the building and watches the Batmobile scream down the street towards Smelaug. <Watch out for the mouth laser.>

Glancing up and back, she watches the incoming chopper and gets back on the comms, <We need to keep Smelaug's focus away from this rooftop, airlift incoming to get the civilians out.> Not even a question about the name, it's simply accepted. Emiko moves back to the edge of the building and looks across the street towards Artemis, lifting a hand towards the blonde. She unshoulders her own bow, but waits to see how the Batmobile Missile and Conner's punch play out before selecting an arrow.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Whatever this thing is, it's not going down easy. But the thing is, Artemis's arrows hit their mark. At the very least, they embed themselves far enough in that the arrowheads catch, so the creature now has three arrows sticking out of it. And it's bleeding. But it doesn't seem to react, or at least it's impossible to distinguish any pain-sounds from the screeching pitch its energy beam already creates.

    Eventually it seems to realize it is screaming at the air. Or maybe it just runs out of breath in its lungs with which to scream. Does it even have lungs? Who knows. The beast rises up from its haunches into an ungainly human-like walking posture, shambling forward towards Conner who is out here taunting a smelly sewer dragon thing.

    The two are poised for a hell of a fistfight, as the creature lifts an oversized, misshapen arm to attempt to swipe Superboy right out of the sky!

    ...then it gets hit by the Batmobile and ping-ponged into a nearby building. With the Batmobile's crushing weight atop it.

    For a moment, the air is still. Heat rises in undulating waves from the pavement, and far off in the distance, some piece of debris clatters its way from a height to the ground.

    But then the roar begins again, and even though the Batmobile's polymer-enhanced chassis and shield-plating means it isn't immediately turned into molten slag, the energy tears through it like paper. Maybe it's more like a few layers of poster-board stacked together versus tissue, but paper nonetheless. Seconds later, a chunk of metal that was once approximately thirty percent of one of the most advanced vehicles in the world lands halfway down Bergen Street.

    Another, let's say twenty-five percent, soars through the air on a perfect ballistic arc towards the GCPD helicopter that has appeared overhead, en-route for civilian extraction.

    To those with HUDs tied into the Roost's system, Red Robin's location ping is outside of local range. Though Batman will have easier access in locating it somewhere a few blocks away and also underground. Accessing his vitals, at least, shows he's not dead!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Smelaug the Rank. Smelaug the Foul. Smelaug the Aradolent -- and Phoebe is shifting her self around the battlefield, looking for weaknesses on the behemoth, until the announcement that Batman was joining the fray.

    And then the Batmobile goves overhead, and slams into the mighty beast. Her eyes go wide behind her domino, lips pressing tight as she looks up, and then around, and a text alert goes out over the HUDs local:

    -RR Not pinging local. Not picking up vitals. Afirm?- the mute medic inquires as she raises her right hand over her left wrist, and the shadows beneath her hood are lit up and flee as she unleashes the full of her aura. Her lips speckle with glistening red as she coughs up phlegm past the injuries on her throat.

    She pulls from her backpack a cardboard carton, and withdrawing three white-and-tan cylenders from the Pall Mall packet, her voice -- or something close to it, anyway -- echoes as if distant and through the dull humming of an iron well.
    Transiens favilla per corpus meum, cinge et mitte ignem per voluntatem meam, et ure miserum hunc creaturam coram me ab intus foris!

    And from behind her, her eight-pointed star of two intersecting squares forms, rapidly radiating outwards in scripted Heiroglyphics as Balm's palms glow hot, crushing the cigarettes between her hands as she tries to burn Smelaug!

Conner Kent has posed:
Saved from punching the smell-dragon by the Batman? Conner mentally scratch out of his 'to do' list the next couple jokes made at Gotham's expense. "Well, that wasn't that hard," he comments. Then the Batmobile explodes, "...or not," finishes the young man.

But at least no one got hit by the shrapnel. Wait! Not enough shrapnel, where is the rest. Conner looks up and curses. Then, the young man flies up, and up, and this time he breaks the sound barrier, to interpose his body between the remains of the Batmobile and the rescue helicopter.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
<Sure, I hit things with a car and it's 'unnecessarily violent' but HE gets to,> Gabby jokingly bemoans as the Batmobile goes soaring overhead. Thankfully she didn't really want to deal with it either. Glancing away she reaches up to tap the side of her own HUD display to see what Balm was picking up on hers regarding Red Robin.

<I can go locate him. I'm hand to hand as it is so this is gonna be difficult for me.> Plus. The SMELL. That goes without saying as her teammates DO know her abilities, so perhaps she can be forgiven for offering to find Red Robin to assure he's safe.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
<<"Hnnh. Due for an upgrade anyway.">>

Whether the Dark Knight is talking about the car or the dilapidated building he just drove it into is anyone's guess. The dark shape that is Batman descends through the air, landing lightly in the middle of the street before raising upwards. Two fingers lift to press against the temple of his cowl, reviewing his HUD and the wireframe overlay of the Gotham utilities system it presents him.

<<"Red Robin is alive but inactive,">> he informs the Outisders via their comms, all concern he may have for Tim quashed and masked to the point where it sounds like he might as well be reading out baseball scores, <<Uploading his coordinates to you. Honey Badger, you've the best tracker. I'm putting you on recovery duty. Bring him out. Safe.">>

The Bat falls into a position of authority immediately, whether it's wanted or not.

<<"The rest of you. Give it all you've got. This is not the time for pulled punches.">>

As though to emphasize his point, Batman pulls something from his utility belt. A small handheld device that seems to unpack itself into what looks like a launcher of some kind. He steadies it against his shoulder, narrows one eye down the sights, and launches a grenade at Smelaug. Rapidly expanding foam that sets into something like reinforced concrete with exposure to oxygen. Even as he fires, he's already reaching to his belt to load a different sort of ammunition into the device.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko flashes a grin and a thumbsup to Conner for taking the hit to let the chopper get the people out of the way. Turning back to the fight, she unshoulders her bow and draws an arrow from her quiver. Nocking it up, she pulls back and lines up her shot, aiming towards the creature's mouth and holding until it opens.

Once it does, she releases the arrow into the mouth of the Smelaug, the tiny CO2 canister on the arrowhead releasing an egregious amount of fire retardant into the Sewer Dragon's gullet! Reaching for another arrow, this one proves to have a white phosporous tip, aimed towards one of the creature's knees to try and cripple it.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The creature had come out from the hole in the ground already burning, flesh charred and matted, filthy hair melted, but the fire that Phoebe beckons forth is different. Like the steadily illuminating glow that had preceeded the energy beam devouring through the street from below, a light appears beneath Smelaug's skin, within the part of it roughly analogous to a human torso.

    Seconds later, the fire has burst forth from within, wreathing the beast in flames. Only now does it rise to its full height, well over 10 feet tall, as it thrashes its arms and useless limbs in a desperate flail.

    And then it does the thing that is drilled into every child's head from kindergarten onwards, which made it seem like immolation was a much bigger concern in day to day life than it really is. It stops. It drops. It rolls.

    Though there's little to be done about magical fire that is being fed from within, it does make Smelaug prone, which of course gives everyone advantage on their attack rolls so long as they're within five feet. Mindful of the fire that is still very much burning.

    Still, once Conner puts down the chunk of Batmobile he's managed to catch, he should definitely go punch that sewer dragon. From inside the helicopter, one of the pilots says, "Holy shit, is that Superboy?!"

    The other one is too busy screaming to notice one way or the other.

    Now, the question is: does the fire retardant material that Emiko just shot down Smelaug's throat put out any of the fire that could be visibly seen within as it opened its maw? Of course maybe it was just charging up another energy beam, hard to tell one way or another. Either way it has a mouthful of foam, and thanks to the grenade that follows up the much larger projectile that Batman threw at it previously, the beast is... well, not subdued.

    It's still thrashing, but now it's cemented to the ground and struggling to pull itself free. Which it's managing, slowly: cracks forming in the still-hardening material, the violent thrashing breaking down the concrete-like substance's structure almost as soon as it sets. But it provides an opportunity for Emiko to fire another arrow that embeds itself, like Artemis's, into the beast's skin. Perhaps not deep enough to lodge into bone, but then the white phosporous begins to eat through, the chemical's (in)famous white smoke joining the darker clouds billowing from the beast's still-burning body.

    Further down the street, Gabby will encounter a hole that is approximately Smelaug-sized that leads deep underground.

    Will you jump down?
    Yes.        No.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner grunts as 25% of a Batmobile hits him. But he manages to catch the metal chunk, and some fragments, using telekinesis. Then he spends and moment to make sure the chopper is not going to crash.

And... time for Smelaug. Which means he is diving towards the creature. <"Incoming..."> he announces through the comms. He is going to crash on it, and he is letting the remains of the Batmobile hit first. So it is all less smelly for him. He hopes!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Did Emiko just shoot anti-flame into flame?

    ...

    Phoebe holds her hands up, continuing the spell work to keep the magical fire within Smelaug burning, bracing her arms as the rose-gold lines form beneath, glowing through the joints in the armor before she cuts the magic, mindful of magic fire getting lobbed in Superboy's direction from the flailing, burning creature of many coats, and she swallows down the taste of iron and salt in her mouth.

    The foam is keeping Smelaug's attention, and lacking the ability to PUNCH really hard, she instead raises her shields up for others to hide behind so they don't get the Splatter of Superboy's Stupendous Strike!

Gabby Kinney has posed:
<Already enroute. I'll get him back,> Gabby assures over the comms as she departs from the evac of civilians and the battle alike to run on foot in the direction that Red Robin's signal was coming from. She had to go on foot: The street was ruined. There were times jumping and climbing was necessary until she finally reaches it: The Hole.

"Well this is familiar," she mumbles to herself even as she flicks a claw out to gain some light in that hole. Then with a mental shrug, she leaps in.

<I'll update when I find him.>

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman wastes no time as the creature is cemented to the ground. He covers the distance between him and it in a few short strides, discarding the explosive launcher and striking his gauntlets together in an 'X' before him. They shift and change with an audible clank as he does, becoming larger and more sturdily armored.

Whatever bit of the Beast is exposed, the Bat purches himself on a bit of cracking cement-foam right by it. His fist rises and falls with brutal efficiency, driving what equates to an armored hammer into the exposed part of Smelaug. The polymer plating hisses and melts away with each strike, dangerously exposing a Nomex and Kevlar layer beneath and eventually even pale, scarred skin. He grits his teeth through the burns, intent on laying a beatdown on the creature that would dare cause havoc in his city.

With Superboy incoming, the Dark Knight knows better than to be in the splash zone during a Kryptonian pummeling. He leaps free of the creature, throwing himself through the air and coming in to a tuck-and-roll landing behind Balm's shield. He lifts his own cape up to add an extra layer of protection, his gauntlets and gloves completely melted away now to reveal burnt and blistered skin beneath. It looks painful, but he's very good at keeping his discomfort to himself.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The white smoke of the phosphorous adds an acrid, chemical stench to what is an already overpowering smell coming off the creature, and on its next attempt to wrench itself free the arrow Emiko embedded in it is successful in matching her original intent; the joint in that limb (which may or may not anatomically be a knee) gives out, and Smelaug is laid flat once more.

    This gives Batman a perfect opportunity to carefully position himself and begin his own assault, despite the flames that still work to devour the beast from within.

    No mistake, though: it's still moving. Smelaug may be down but it's not out, though its heaving body has started to twitch and spasm, the bulk of it that may have once been its chest concaving. Most of it is burned over, less skin than char, but whatever magical energy Phoebe is feeding it ensures that the fire hasn't yet burned out.

    There's no splat, no immediate cratering as Superboy comes in for a landing, so we can avoid any cliche Miley Cyrus references at this point. Nonetheless he lands atop the creature, who has little choice but to absorb the brunt of the impact. Enough force has been brought to bear that Smelaug's thrashing and scrambling pauses dramatically, thanks in no small part to Conner slamming into the sewer beast's upper half. There has to be a brain in there somewhere, right?

    And then after, when the flailing begins anew, it is diminished. One swipe aims for Conner and barely misses; the next isn't even in the ballpark, and the final attempt hardly registers as one at all.

    In the next moments, the beast is still. It is little more than cinder for the fire to consume.

    On a rooftop near to Emiko, the helicopter lands. A pair of EMTs leap out from it and begin making their way over to where the civilians are gathered. They don't even acknowledge the presence of any vigilantes (or a giant smoking once-monster), because this is Gotham, and they are professionals.