13117/Is It A Cigarette Boat If No One Is Smoking

Is It A Cigarette Boat If No One Is Smoking
Date of Scene:	19 October 2022
Location:	Sheldon Park - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	Smugglers being pursued by Batgirl run into The Glacier, while Shredder's minions make their move on the smuggled goods as well.
Cast of Characters:	Stephanie Brown, Maya Caldwell, Shredder

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Stephanie Brown has posed:
If the nighttime sounds of gunfire in the distance aren't enough to alert people that something is going on, the sound of an RPG whooshing and then exploding up the river probably is. Including the flash made by the explosion, noticeable even if it can't be seen directly.

A black cigarette boat is traveling up the North Gotham River between Bleake Island and the mainland where Bristol sits. It's speed is well above the speeds that would have it complying with the "no wake" signs posted along the waterway. They don't seem likely to worry about that potential citation though, as the boat is full of people who are currently firing assault rifles and even the aforementioned RPG at a boat pursuing them.

The second boat is also black, and even more difficult to see. It sits low to the water and leaves little wake even at higher speeds. The sloping of the covered boat is reminiscent of the angles of a stealth aircraft. The vaguely batlike shape of fins in the back make the identity of the pursuer one of a small group of likely suspects. Namely Batman or his entourage. (http://pm1.narvii.com/6984/ac56c3c715b6208170fe21631d3b1dd79b455c7er1-985-661v2_uhq.jpg)

In the distance ahead, the river passes beneath Mooney Bridge which lies at the end of Detroit Avenue, a major road through this largely industrialized part of Gotham that also has a lot of shipping companies officed here.

Maya Caldwell has posed:
Maya is sitting underneath the bridge, along the beams holding it up. She's covered by her usual blankets, and easily mistakeable as a large bird in the dim Gotham light. The sound of gunfire isn't wholly unusual in Gotham, but the explosion definitely is. She glances around, spots the boat heading toward the bridge, and quickly unfurls her blankets. She drapes them across the beams and down a maintenance ladder to get closer to the water's surface. She quickly freezes some condensation into a large ball of ice, maybe a foot in diameter, and drops it into the water to break up the surface.

Then, she dives in, and she's gone.

Shredder has posed:
    There's a third boat in the water. This one is even more stealthy than the second, if only by nature that it's not moving quickly. The outboard motor is shut off. A small Japanese woman crouches at the front of the vessel, hand gripping the bow as she watches the approaching two crafts. "Those fools have gone and woken up the Batman," Karai comments to the two with her. Foot Elite in their traditional garb. "I told Grandfather he shouldn't have trusted outsiders to take part in this. Row us closer. They've gathered enough attention. We'll hit them and steal the target, then disappear. Hopefully Batman will continue chasing them if we can do it quietly.

One of the Elites pulls an oar, adjusting the coarse of the small outboard boat closer to the direct path of the fleeing suspects, and Karai prepares herself to jump to their vessel as they draw near. As for Maya? What does the Foot have to do with a homeless girl?

    Up above on the bridge, the Master himself stands. He isn't hiding. Not really. But his position in front of the pillar of the overhead bridge makes his presence one that is not natural to spot as he watches what unfolds below.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The rapid staccato sound of gunfire continues as those in the speed boat fire back at the Batboat that is gaining on them. Another RPG is aimed back at the pursuing craft, which makes a quick jog to the side as it is fired. The rocket zooms back and hits the water where the boat had been, exploding. A few fish float to the surface in the aftermath, but the boats have moved on, not realizing who or what is waiting ahead of them.

A woman's amplified voice rings out loudly. "So you're already going to end up at Blackgate. That's a given. Question now is whether you go peacefully, or get hauled out of the water. Have you smelled this river? I'd really choose the peaceful route if I was you!"

The response from the fleeing craft is more gunfire. To herself, Stephanie Brown says, "Ok, you choose the hard way." She pushes the throttle forward a little more. She's pursued the speed boat in to Gotham itself, after breaking up the meet up with the ship that transferred the goods over. That boat is currently offshore, its prop disabled by a fouling net that Batgirl shot at it, awaiting the arrival of the Coast Guard.

Maya Caldwell has posed:
Something large suddenly lifts out of the water. At first, it looks like a small iceberg, but as more of it rises, it's more humanoid in shape. Two arms ending in large spikes, a pair of legs ending in flat slabs, and a darker, human-shaped core in the middle. It stomps across the surface of the water, feet creating a path of ice for it to walk across. It's aiming straight for the boat, and preparing to shoulder-check it.

Shredder has posed:
    Karai was all set...ready...WHAT? She stops as Maya's icy form comes out of the water, the stomping across the surface of the water causing enough shift to rock her boat a little.

    "What is that?" she growls, more annoyed at the interference with her intercept than anything else. "Gotham has New York superheroes now?" she asks the elites behind her. The two elites shrug, their demonic masks turned up to watch Maya's dramatic entrance to the scene.

    Karai turns back around, leaping from the boat and to the ice path that's been created. She slides across the slick surface, pulling out a ninja-to to stake into it to keep her position, and stands, nimbly following after the ice monster. She still has to get to that boat.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The man piloting the speed boat is alternating between looking ahead to steer along the wide river, and looking back to see what the pursuing Bat-themed boat is doing.

He turns from one those rearward looks to find some kind of big ice monster thing ahead of him. He lets out a cry of alarm and whips the boat's wheel, but it's too late!

Maya slams into the fast-moving boat, shattering the side of the hull up front where she hits it. The boat flips around, coming to a rapid stop. The men inside aren't quite so lucky. Most of them go flying, landing in the water. Two of them flew into the interior of the speedboat rather than flying over it, and are still inside, but dazed. One man actually ends up on the ice path itself between Maya and Karai, his gun still in hand somehow.

A number of the packages that were lying on the bottom of the boat end up in the water. They are wrapped in plastic and floating at present, each is large enough that if it were drugs it is probably 5 kilos at least.

Batgirl sees the crash, slowing the Batboat as it pulls up near to the scene.

Maya Caldwell has posed:
The Glacier doesn't notice the woman behind her. The large chunks of ice float around in the choppy water, but they're close enough together to hop between. The Glacier stands there for a moment, unsure how to proceed, before kneeling down and dipping a spiked arm into the water to try and pull people out.

Shredder has posed:
    Karai frowns as the packages fall into the water, and she motions back at the two elites in the boat. She kicks the man who landed on the ice with her to knock him back into the water with his friends, not interested in him realizing she is present. She gets to her hands and knees to pluck one of the boxes out by piercing the plastic bag with her ninja-to and pulling it toward her.

    The elites, for their part, start paddling the small boat over to some other packages. One paddles while the other plucks.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The ninjas are going to need to work rapidly. As the Batboat pulls up and Batgirl reverses the engine to bring the boat to a stop, a pair of spotlights emerge from the brow of the boat, rising up out of covered spots. A moment or two later and they come on, better illuminating the night time boat crash.

The covered cockpit of the boat opens up and Batgirl leaps up out of her seat to stand on the front of the boat as the cockpit lid closes behind her. "Thanks for the help... um... Ice Guy?" the blond Batgirl calls out to Glacier, not remember seeing anyone in the Batcomputer's files that matches that particular appearance.

There's a sudden movement from the caped crusader and a batarang flies towards the water, followed by a man's shout of pain. "Seriously, do you think that thing would even fire with water in the barrel? Probably would have blown up on you," she says to the guy who was pointing at her an assault rifle he'd managed to hang onto. Until hit in the hand, the gun sinking to the depths of hte river now.

She asks Glacier, "Can you freeze some cuffs on to them? If not I have plenty of spares," she says. She shoots a grapple into the water near one of the floundering smugglers, who grabs the line and she pulls him in. He gets hauled onto her boat by his belt and then cuffed before she starts on the next person.

Maya Caldwell has posed:
The Glacier looks up as Batgirl approaches. It pulls one of the men out of the cold water, and into the colder night air. After a moment's hesitation, it taps a spiked arm against the man's hands and begins to freeze the water around his clothed wrists. The thing doesn't seem to speak, though it, of course, doesn't have a mouth at all.

Shredder has posed:
    Karai watches the search lights. It's risky having them up, it's risky having them down. The scarf comes off her neck, and is used as a belt that she threads the hole from the plastic bag through. That Bat boat may not be as easy to disable as most. Easier to disable the Bat. It's not the Batman, which makes Karai far less concerned. Still, no need to get in an extended encounter with someone who may have an ice powered mutant on her side. A finger motion is given past the boat, and the two elites start making their way to the other side of the hero's craft while she deals with the other crooks.

    Karai sinches the scarf tighter around her hips, and then makes a burst for the other side of the ice, passing beneath Maya's icy legs. She throws a couple of shurikens toward the flood lights to re-complete the darkness, and then leaps to the damaged vessel, one foot and another jump to the Batboat. Her target? The back side of the boat, but not before passing by Batgirl, she wants to knock her into the water to give herself a little more time for their group to flee the scene.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl watches as The Glacier pulls the man out and is able to make some ice cuffs on him. "Wow that's useful," she says. "Do appreciate your help. Batman isn't as big on people with powers in Gotham. We've got enough crazies around here without people rising up to the challenge of powered people. But hey, you kicked in and helped and that means something," she says. Bruce can scold her later for not being hard enough on the powered hero if he wants.

She's just pulling in another man, which will be her third, when the rapid movement catches Batgirl's peripheral vision. She spins but not before the ninja has leapt and throws the shoulder into her, knocking Batgirl into the air and towards the water.

Nuts. Darn gravity. Batgirl's training has her doing more than lament about losing another battle of falling to her old enemy though. She still has in hand the grapple line that she was pulling in the smuggler with. As she's falling backwards, Batgirl casts the slack towards Karai, managing to wrap it around her wrist.

Sploosh! Batgirl goes into the water, and Karai is yanked off her feet and into the water by the line, landing a few feet away from Batgirl and nearer to the back of the stealth water craft.

Maya Caldwell has posed:
The Glacier is powerful, durable, imposing...and really, -really- slow. It doesn't notice Karai slipping underneath her until she's tackling Batgirl, bringing them both into the drink. Again, the Glacier hesitates, before holding out both of it's arms. They slowly start to lengthen and slim, turning into a pair of slender poles, rather than big, pointy stabby bits. Both of them reach down into the water toward the two girls.

Shredder has posed:
    Karai is taken off guard, thinking she had already escaped after Stephanie went toward the water, only to be yanked suddenly and unexpectedly by the line. The dark can work against her as well as for her. As she falls into the water next to her, she looks up at the extending arms of Maya. Assuming it is some form of attack rather than help, she takes a breath, and submerges, going into the disgusting waters of Gotham's waterfront. She starts to swim under the boat, making her way for the rear of the vessel.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown was prepared for an aquatic mission, though as Glacier extends those icy arms towards her, she grabs hold of them and uses them to pull herself out of the water and then make the leap back to the Batboat.

Her eyes narrow and she looks about. "Thanks for the hand up," she says towards the ice-powered hero. Batgirl reaches into a pouch of the utility garter belt she wears, fitting something onto her grapple gun and shooting it into the air.

There's no sign of anything at first, but after a moment a flare bursts to life high in the air above, a little parachute letting it slowly lower towards the ground to provide a length stretch of light in the surrounding area.

Batgirl hits a stud on her belt, enabling more of the Batboat's security measures. The cockpit was already locked when she left it, but now there will be some unpleasant surprises for those who don't have the appropriate RFID signature that Oracle and Batman use to identify authorized users. "Did you see where they went?" she asks the Glacier as she turns, scanning the flare-lit water.

Maya Caldwell has posed:
The Glacier helps lift Batgirl out of the drink, then glances up at the flair. Despite not having eyes, the beast does have some sort of senses, at least. At the question, it glances around, then shrugs, before tapping at it's chest with the awkwardly long pole-hands. The pole snaps off at the tap. It presses the nub into the water and reforms it back into a spike, before trundling off to search for more of the thugs. It's likely much faster running than they are swimming, especially with it leaving a trail of ice in it's wake.

Shredder has posed:
    Karai continues to swim under the boat, and resurfaces toward the back of the boat. She looks up through now filthy wet hair at the flare above, and swims to the waiting boat of elites. She throws an arm over one side, and one of the elites grabs hold of her to pull her the rest of the way up quickly. One of the elites reaches to pull the motor, but Karai stops him. "Shh," she indicates. The flare lights the area, but it's still dark. Quietly, the small boat is instead paddled out of range of the flare's vision.

    Up above on the bridge, Shredder continues to observe. The Batfamily is one that he has only auxilliary information about. Second hand reports from his affiliates and a few of his recruits that have joined who lived in Gotham. Nothing significant. And this new character made of ice? Who she is remains a mystery. It doesn't look like the behavior of confidence seen in a seasoned hero. Something definitely worth further investigation.