1295/Winds of Change: A Broken Clock

Winds of Change: A Broken Clock
Date of Scene:	22 April 2020
Location:	Burnley - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	Gotham is rocked as many people turn into dinosaurs and gorillas! What will the BatFamily do to stop this?
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Carrie Kelley, Kate Kane, Phoebe Beacon, Dick Grayson, Shang-Chi, Damian Wayne

---

Tim Drake has posed:
The afternoon breeze rolls through the streets of Gotham, with plastic bag tumbleweeds and the occasional other bit of detritus tumbling along the sidewalks and streets between cars and pedestrians. There's a fair bit of smog from the vehicles, and from the fact that Gotham is a bit of a dump.

It's true though.

Walking down the street after having left the //Games Depot And More!!!// shop, Tim Drake (Wayne) takes a deep inhale of fetid air. "Ahh. Charming. The stench of stalled traffic. Home sweet home." A large plastic bag stuffed full of games for the LexBox10 (and a new controller. There had been a tragic accident with the old one) swings haphazardly at his side. "So, where was it you wanted to go, since I got my new copy of //Masters of Civilization: The Re-Reckoning//?" he asks to his adopted sister, Carrie.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
The spending at the Game Depot hadn't been just Tim. Carrie has a bag as well with one of those vaunted Nintendo Switch Lites in it in a cheery color of yellow. Are we surprised? Not really. She's looking over her own purchase with a bit of a smile when Tim asks his question causing her to glance up. "At least it's not raining right now," she points out helpfully. "I could go for some bao. Unless you want to help me pick out a few more outfits for the foundation," she puts forth with a wry grin. The answer to that was usually a resounding 'no' after all. She wasn't overly fond of clothes shopping either.

Plopping the Switch back into her bag she chuckles, "At least now I'll get to see what all this hubub about Animal Crossing is about. I feel like I've been missing out on gaming for awhile." If you can call that gaming.

Kate Kane has posed:
For whatever reason, Kate decided that hanging out with other members of the extended fam might be somewhat good for her. That they wanted to spend money at Games Depot, well, hardly exciting and it sucked having a few nerds stare at her in her jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket, especially those kinds of dudes. Probably better that they stare at her and not Carrie though. Slipping a hand into her jacket, she pulls out a small steel flash and starts undoing the top.

"Do I even want to know what the hell Masters of Civilization The Re-Reckoning is? What is a Re-Reckoning? Why not Masters of Civilization 2: The Reckoning Boog-a-loo instead? Who names this shit?" She shakes her head and then to Carrie says, "You never told me about going to the Club. Here I thought we promised to dish to each other about that sort of thing."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Some heroes in Gotham don't have the time for gaming -- mostly because they attend public school, and after homework, martial arts class, and gardening there really isn't much room left between 'being the Beacon Gotham Needs' and still needing to sleep.

    Thus, roaming rooftops clad in drab gray to match the city around her, pack heavy as she manuvers around the rooftops of Gotham was The Gotham Beacon, AKA Phoebe Beacon of that obnoxious #GothamHope blog.

    And notedly not a member of the BatFam.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick had been around when the little group decided to go shopping, and Dick had been just bored enough to decide that he wanted to go as well. He did not buy anything, but was in an all right mood. Wearing a leather jacket, a t-shirt, and jeans, he shrugs to Kate at her question, "Seems like a big deal, though. Also the naming is probably because some focus group said so." He continues walking quietly with the other members of the family and says, "Well, at least it went well enough, hope you guys enjoy the games."

Shang-Chi has posed:
Shang-Chi has just departed from "Spanish Burnley" and a sparring session and dinner with a Capoeira Master known to live there. His path towards the nearest hub of public transportation brings him parallel to the path of the clan of Wayne, though without their costumes or masks he has no immediate cause to mark them as particularly unusual. For now he continues on his path towards the *shudder* Gotham Subway. Where you might need to be the Master of Kung-Fu to safely ride from here to Chinatown.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had been dragged out, and the boy was not happy about it. In fact, the young teen had made several overt gestures towards Tim regarding a knife.

  Even in video games, he couldn't get his own spirits up. He simply came to the conclusion that he would have been better off in the Gotham cliffs with his Bat Dragon.

  He had just made himself pretty much a fly on the wall during this whole outing. When the group had left the store, he immediately took out a knife from his pocket, and idly cleaned his nails with it.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim yawns. "Clothes shopping? Boring. Carrie, that's the last thing anyone wants to do here." He considers. "But... bao does sound good. Food, guys?" He side eyes cousin Kate. "Look, I don't name the games, I just play them."

He is about to say more, then a car that had been driving down the road beside them swerves off the road and onto the sidewalk! Hitting a firemain and stopping, breaking the pipes and spewing water everywhere as the car, half on its side with wheels spinning, comes to an abrupt stop between the main and the brick wall of the building it hit.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley glances aside to Kate with the smallest of shrugs. "I wasn't hiding things! I just met up with a friend there is all," she mumbles as if this weren't unusual in the first place. Damian's actions get a look and a small clearing of her throat. "Damian. Knives in public bad," she suggests with a wry grin that quickly fades.

The sound of that car jerks her attention back to the current moment watching the impact with a hiss of unpleasant discomfort. That had to hurt. "Someone call in an ambulance," she states even as she glances down the street, then up it, before just jogging across to the now-stopped car to check on the occupants of the car.

Kate Kane has posed:
If Kate was bothered by any of Damian's antics, she certainly didn't show it on their outing. "Since you guys got some video games, maybe we should go check out a place where Damian can buy some knives. Or maybe a machete." She takes a swig of her flask before pocketing it, looking over at Dick. "They should pick better focus groups." Then to Tim and Carrie. "Nothing wrong with clothes shopping, and you could use a few new duds Timmy. And Carrie? You should always carry a knife, not only are they useful tools in general, but if you're out on the town and some creeper wants to accost you, the threat of a blade in the junk can go a long way to making him stop."

She smiles over at Damian, "Have you seen the Cold Steel two-handed katana machete? It looks a little awkward but it's got a long blade They also have some survival kukri's too, I've been meaning on checking them..." The swerving car cuts her off and she blinks and stares at it, misses what Carrie says about an ambulance and then runs along side her to the car to help check on the car's occupants and help pull them to safety.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There was a sound of a crash. Beacon's head turns, eyes peering out of a pale domino mask, and she quickly stashes her heavy bag behind a chimney, and makes her way to the sound. She crosses over an alleyway, rolling on ehr shoulder, springing up, the figure in the gray jacket with its hood and scarf pulled over her face comes to the side of the building, overlooking the accident scene.

    She sees Kate move towards the car, and biting her lower lip a moment, the figure in gray hangs back, hesitant to make her presence known to just everyone below.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick eyerolls at Damian's knife work, "Careful, you're cut yourself on that if you don't watch where you are going." He raises a brow to Kate, "More knives? And I am not disputing that, they definitely could do better, but it gets people buying them in spite of the name, so clearly they did something right." He then sees the firemain get hit and his police training kicks in, "All right, everyone move quickly, someone call 911, not sure we will be able to get them out." He follows Kate and assists in trying to help extract people from the car, ready to provide CPR or first aid as needed.

Shang-Chi has posed:
Shang-Chi's attention most certainly is drawn to the sound and sight of the crash, and like several of the others here, he quickly makes his way towards the site of the wreck, weaving deftly across the street through now-stopped cars (For once Yay for rubbernecking?) and soon arriving on the passenger side.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     >tt< Immediately following Carrie's statement. "Why don't you just geld me, woman! Here, use this, I insist." He says, handing the knife to Carrie, offering that handle to her.

  That has been when Kate spoke to him in knife, and he pretty much softened right up. His green eyes shifted just a bit wider, and if he had a tail, it would certainly be wagging. "No, I have not. But I am interest..." It was then that the car has ran into the fire main, and he started to run towards the car. He hadn't worn any face coverings, or the like, anyone who looked would see it was Damian Wayne running towards the car with a knife brandished. He had already started to perform first aid, puncturing the airbag and cutting the seatbelt off, with HIS KNIFE.

Tim Drake has posed:
The driver is a bit too large... and... reptilian... to remove from the vehicle safely. He? She? looks confused (well, probably), roaring in fear and pain as whomever the hapless driver was prior is now a 7 1/2 foot allosaur. This may have explained the sudden loss of control of the vehicle.

And he(?) isn't the only one. Several of the bystanders-- pedestrians, people who are getting out of their cars to look-- begin shuddering, yelling or howling in pain, and...

CHANGING.

For some, bones crack and twist and skin ripples with scales, sometimes scales and feathers. For others, muscles bulge and expand, hair and skin darken and as clothing rips, the body becomes more hirsute.

This...

        ...probably much to Damian's amusement...

...includes one Tim Drake, who drops his bag, his eyes going wide as the muscles under his t-shirt and jeans ripple, then start twisting and expanding. "What-- is--" and he lets out a primal roar of rage and pain.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Just as Carrie gets across the street she's already beaten there by the longer legs of Kate, and the shorter more manueverable motions of Damian. Part of why she'd slowed though is the sight of the driver. She was just talking about this the other night with someone who was experiencing the same thing happening in their side of New York. Without thinking too much about it she yanks her shirt up over her nose to act as an impromptu (and potentially worthless) mask. "Virus, guys! Don't know if it's airborne or not!" She calls out to the group around her even as the screams of others changing jerks her gaze away. Oh this was not going to end up good at all.

She was not equipped to handle this at the moment. None of them really were, being out of costume and in civilian attire. Even so that didn't mean they shouldn't try. Clapping her hand over her mouth to press her shirt there tighter she moves in to try and help Damian. "It's okay, you were in an accident, you'll be okay," she starts offering to the shifting driver in an attempt to calm them. Much as she could.

But then there's a nearer scream in a voice she recognized and she lets out a sigh, "Oh, Tim..." Somehow it comes out sounding like a curse.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate stops in her tracks and stares at the allosaur. "I... did not do enough drugs last night to be able to mentally cope with this. What the f--" The rest of the word is cut off by shreiks of pain from nearby bystanders, including Tim, who's words cause her to turn and stare as he drops his new Nintendo. While Carrie calms the driver, Kate stares around at the scene unfolding around them and says, "Maybe we should call animal control."

Making a face she begins to walk slowly to a nearby bystander who has just shifted. "Uh, hi, can you understand what I'm saying? Are you, uh, feeling okay? Jesus Christ, I feel like that raptor handler from Jurassic World." She shakes her head and puts up a hand. "Be calm, help is on the way." She pulls out her phone and dials up 9-1-1.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    This was not something that Phoebe was prepared for.

    She adjusts her scarf, and wishes she had a filter beneath it -- people changing -- into *dinosaurs* -- was just a weird happenstance ven for Gotham!

    The young costumed healer draws down the alleyway, leaping from fire escape rail to dumpster to ground and peers out of the alleyway, and breathing out, she focuses herself, and slips out to the nearest transforming person, screams ringing in her ears as the creature writhes -- and she attempts to lay on hands, the gloved hands glowing with light to at least ease the pain of transformation and do *some* good!

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick was not ready for this, Dick should have stayed home today. "Well crud, I know nothing about reptile first aid" he mutters and backs off for a second and looks around, "Well, dangit, it's happening here too." He then looks to Tim and asks, "You all right, Tim?" he approaches slowly and pulls his shirt collar up over his nose, noting Carrie's comment. "What in blazes is going on out here?"

The eldest Robin makes sure his collapsible baton is within reach, but does not pull it out yet, "Wait, what's going on over there?" He points over to the masked figure with glowing hands.

Shang-Chi has posed:
Shang-Chi's eyebrows raise at the sight that greets him, but he does not seem quite as surprised as some of the others. Mostly because he's seen this phenomenon once before. Seeing the driver's side Allosaurus flailing a bit, he opens the passenger door and leans in, speaking calmly, "Deep breaths. I know this is frightening, but close your eyes and focus...deep breaths. Calm. Proper help is one the way." He won't be able to do this for nearly all of them, but well, at least this one, perhaps. While he speaks he assesses whether or not the lizard-person is trapped, beyond simply their seat belt.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had reared himself back as he finds the driver was an allosaur. The goal here was not trying to get the driver out and to safety, the goal here was now to get the allosaur out before things got worse. "Push that door open more." He commented to Carrie, and hopefully the dinosaur wouldn't attack those that were trying to help it out of the predicament.

     "There was no time to laugh at Tim's current situation, as much as he wanted to. The boy looked to the only thing he had to cover his face, which was his shirt, and shrugged it off, if he was turned into one of these beasts, it would hardly be the worst thing that could happen to him, in his opinion.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim hits one knee, snarling as he turns into... a... gorilla. Yes. About twice Tim's size and about three times his weight. He sluggishly gets back to his feet, flexing sausage-like fingers. "Mmmrrrrrph. Ggguyzz. Wyyyut happen?"

He's not the only one. About 1 in every 3 people on the street is either a dinosaur or a gorilla. None both, at least. THAT would be messy.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley pulls the door harder until it finally gives. Getting the person out was still important even though the weren't human. I mean, dinos could easily get stuck and that would be bad in a car. Once it's done though she steps back to give room. "There's this... thing going around that changes people. I don't know if it's airborne or what," she explains quickly to Damian. "Just changes forms though, not minds, but it hurts," she adds in the hopes he doesn't go on a stabbing spree. Though really it's said to them all.

When Dick calls out about the woman off to the side she glances over with a shake of her head. "Don't know," she responds with eyes narrowing. That costume... Huh. "Might be one of the newbies," she suggests.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate looks over as Tim starts speaking, and she takes a step away from the dinosaur to face Tim. "Tim? You're basically Donkey Kong right now." See? She gets video games. "How do you feel right now?" She walks over to GorillaTim and lightly waves her hand in front of him. "Timmy are you still feeling pain after the transformation? Can you move around okay? Ugh, I have so many questions right now."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick blinks, this escalated quickly. He looks to Carrie and shrugs, "I guess, though at least it could be a lot worse right now." He frowns and makes his way back over to Tim and says, "We don't fully know, but we are here for ya, Tim. Just hang in there." He frowns and looks about, way more people being non-human is unsettling and causes him to nearly panic, "Well, first order of business is to keep everybody calm, good luck with that, but at least the dino in the car is all right?" He calls out to Damian and Carrie.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Easy, my friend, I'm so sorry that happened..." The Beacon says gently to the... Dinosaur that had formerly been a pedestrian, who at least didn't experience all the pain, but now ges all the confusion!

    The gray-hooded heroine looks around to the others, and then breathes out. "I'd heard of this happening -- didn't expect it in Gotham." she pauses and gives a mutter of "... thought maybe the rain would keep it down, like pollen." the teenager states quietly to no one in particular.

Shang-Chi has posed:
Shang-Chi maneuvers to try to help get the Allosaurus out of the vehicle, not seeing immediate signs of injury. A discerning eye can even assess the likelihood of broken bones. Could it be the transformation healed the injuries almost as they were made? It seems at least a nosebleed would be likely....

"I have seen this before, in New York." Shang-Chi offers to Carrie and Damian, who seems to be helping on the other side.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Allowing the allosaur to leave the car, hopefully, save a lot of fuss there.

  He's already looking at those who had been turned, only Tim had been out of their group affected. There had to be more to this than they were seeing. "Doubtful it is airborne." He comments, low enough for Carrie to hear. "We will need blood samples from...Ugh, to figure out more."

  The question was, how would they get Tim back without blowing the family cover.

  Then Damian had seen him, Shang-Chi, and the boy remembered his own past. "GCPD and emergency crews should be here soon." At least, he had hoped.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim pats Dick awkwardly on the shoulder. It's a bit harder of a hit than he intends. Wow. It's going to take a bit to get used to this.

Sirens scream in the distance. And in the distance from the other direction. And the other.

Dick's PD comms buzz and chatter. All over the city, and into Bludhaven, similar scenes of chaos are erupting. Several of the dino-rilla pedestrians start to get up, staggering around, looking at their hands and bodies. Some are panicking. Some just sink to the ground or against the wall in disbelief.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley takes a deep breath one last time with her shirt over her mouth before she allows it to drop back into place. "You're right, but since we don't know the cause, every precaution helps." Glancing over toward where Gorilla Tim and Dick were she finds herself frowning. "I know someone who's already working on this issue, a scientist. I'll contact him and give him what updated information we have on the matter. At the very least combining resources will help to bring about an answer of some sort." She had already been thinking of following up with some digging into it, perhaps following the progression of outbreaks to find a pattern. Now it was a bit more pressing a matter.

"It won't be fun, but if we can't go over," she points out with a gesture upward. The finger then swings down. "Then we go below to get him to safety."

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nears Dick and the others, blinking as she watches Tim pat Dick on the shoulder with a giant gorilla paw and winces. "Alright, so I guess no one is going to break out into a violent fit with these gorillas and dinosaurs. Dick is calling his peeps then? What else should we do about this. This is kind of outside my area of expertise, at least dad never showed me any plans the military had to deal with something like this." She looks over at the person who was laying hands on them. "Hey, aren't you..." She trails off and narrows eyes.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick listens to his comms and calls over, "Same over here in Gotham." He frowns and says to Tim, wincing a little from the stronk Robin. "Maybe it could be, just be careful." The cop rubs his chin, "But yeah, everyone hang around, we need to get Tim back home."

Shang-Chi has posed:
With the Allosaurus free and, for relative values of OK, OK, Shang-Chi moves back out of the Passenger side, just in time to hear a new commotion, as someone that's turned into a mini-Triceratops is now rampaging down the lane between cars, smashing things up and endangering a few of the pedestrians and gawkers both transformed and not.

And Shang-Chi is directly in it's path.

Or he was, until it draws right up on him, and he leaps into an aerial cartwheel, hands darting to strike at a point on each side of it's neck, just behind the bony plate, and as Shang-Chi lands, the Triceratops, collapses, unconscious but breathing.

"My apologies." Shang-Chi says to the poor frightened victim that can no longer hear him. And it's a testament to just how weird this evening has become that many of the surrounding onlookers don't even seem to find it all that unusual at this point.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Get him out of here. Before more people start asking questions." Damian commands, before starting to rip off a sleeve of his t-shirt, wrapping it around his nose and mouth. It was a risk, now his al Ghul eyes were the only distinguishing feature shown on his face.

  "Whatever we do, it needs to be NOW." He says to the rest, before he even dares to tug on his necklace, showing the bat-skull whistle on the end. "Your choice." He comments.

  Indeed, Shang-Chi was recognized, by Damian, fighters have their own styles, and game recognizes game.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim shakes his head. "Head... home?" he manages to Dick, pointing towards the direction of his place. "Meet lat...er?" And he snatches up his bag (GAMES BRUH GAMES) and starts moving in that direction as fast as he can. Easier to find him and also he may not be caught up in worse things!

Cops are beginning to filter onto the scene.. and a pair of ambulances, not enough for the number of folks affected. Still, they begin directing people and traffic, triaging. The EMTs look shell-shocked. This is totally not something they are used to seeing.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley glances to Damian only to give a faint nod as he covers his mouth up. After telling her it's okay. Yeah, she was aware of that. "Let's just get back to the penthouse for now. We'll need the computers there," she points out before nodding to Tim. "Get there safe. Following up soon."