13429/The Vehicle of The Future, Today

The Vehicle of The Future, Today
Date of Scene:	29 November 2022
Location:	Editson Factory, West Virginia, USA
Synopsis:	Batman and Donna investigate a tech startup that is supposed to be making electric cars. Instead they're making death satellites using Brainiac technology. This fully operation HYDRA base is no match for the dynamic duo though. Hostages are rescued and West Virginia has a new hole in the ground.
Cast of Characters:	Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, Donna Troy

---

Lex Luthor has posed:
Pete Ross handed Clark Kent a thumb drive filled with financial information straight from the Department of Defence. Leaking that information is treason but he had good reason to. He believes that someone high up in government is HYDRA and they are moving money around just like they did before SHIELD had its civil war.

Those funds lead Batman to a startup company called Editson, makers of next generation electric cars. That's what they hope to make at least. Donna's team on the other hand traced the metals used to construct the satellite Space LeX #17 used and found only one company buying it in large quantities. Editson.

And now it's night time. There are flood lights surrounding the building. Tall fences with barbed wire. A double check point for trucks coming in and out - and there are a lot of them. The amount of materials and goods going in to this place suggests quite a few mouths to feed. Either this startup is wasting money or they have more staff onsite that makes sense.

The place looks more a prison than a tech startup. The labored breathing of Gavin Rothars is muffled by the hand over his mouth. His feet are bleeding and have been for several minutes but this is his only chance of escape.

One of the flood lights goes out and he begins to run for it across the open fields of grass. The fence is high and he only has a jumpsuit on but he's sprinting for his life. Jumping, he pulls himself up the fence and over the top.

The jumpsuit catches on a barb and rips leaving him dangling on the fence. The flood light could come back on any moment and he knows he's dead. He struggles, trying to yank the jumpsuit free, then attempting to undress himself of it entirely.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The Batman had little concern for Pete Ross. His friendship with Clark was likely the only reason he hadn't come at him with full force and left him out to dry afterwards. That, and he didn't want to let whoever he was tracking know he was on to them. Not yet.

Gaining entrance to the compound wasn't difficult for him. The best part of cutting edge security technology was that WayneTech or one of its subsidiaries sold either the technology itself or components within it. A number of backdoors known only to the Bat and his soldiers were prime for exploitation. That, and he'd been vaulting over barbed wire fences since he was a teenager.

As Gavin finds himself entangled in the barbs, a flash of blackened steel sings through the night air. His suit tears neatly where it was caught, allowing him to fall to the grass. When he looks up, the shadowy figure of the Batman looms over him.

"I'm here to help you," he offers in a voice that struggles to suggest as much, "Keep your voice down."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Batman's ahead of the Titans on this one. They'd been tracking down that alloy, and there was only one significant purchaser that could be relatively easily tracked down, but that doesn't mean there might not be other, less obvious ones. Editson is just a Corporation of Interest as far as the Titans are concerned. The odd nature of the corporation, and the fact that it seems to have LexCorp funding, just makes them that much more interesting.

    There's no major Titans mission here. At least not yet. Just a bit of reconnaissance, from a Titan who can do these things reasonably innocuously. An Amazon, perched in a tree a few hundred yards away with a thermal monocular, casing the place and deciding whether a more serious sort of infiltration should be done, perhaps one involving people teleporting inside the compound and sneaking around.

    The running man, and the arrival of the cloaked and cowled figure on the scene, were not what Donna had been expecting to see through that monocular.

    Donna drops quietly out of the tree, an easy task when you can fly downwards and avoid heavy landings, but she remains in the shadows for now. Rather than approaching, she sends the shortest of pings over the Justice League com, a quick buzz to indicate to the caped crusader that someone is in the vicinity. He'll probably have to actually look to figure out it's coming from a T-Com and not a Leaguer, but who knows. Maybe his comms do that automatically, and he'll get a message on his heads up display indicating exactly who's pinging him, where she is, and what she had for lunch yesterday.

Lex Luthor has posed:
The flood light clunks back to life. No alarm was tripped. At least none yet. Gavin looks up in awe at the Batman before him and it takes him a moment to stammer out the words, "Tthank yyou. You hhave to hellp us. T..the others-" he points back to the compound.

There are forking burn marks on his feet which are a clear indication of electrocution. He clenches and unclenches his right fist a few times. "We're all post-grads," his speech clearing up as the adrenaline levels out, "Lured here. Job offers, tours, presentations. But they just want us working on their -- thing." He screws up his face a little bit.

Pulling up his arm sleeve he shows the scribblings. 6 guards on shift, 24 in total. There's boxes indicating a floor layout too. "I was ... to get help. But you're here. You can help us now." His eyes look a little wild and he glances nervously back at the building. "What we're making. It's dangerous. Too dangerous. It could kill a.. a.." He shakes his head, "a Superman."

He looks back to Batman's eyes and the whites of his own are wide with terror, "Next.. head count is in.. three hours. If you don't help them now more will die because I left. They'll die because of me." His bleeding feet curl tightly in to the ground and he drops to his knees putting his hands together, "Please Batman."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
As the ping comes through his cowl's HUD, the Batman's head turns a fraction of an inch in Donna's direction. Even if she's not revealed herself, it seems he knows where she is. His attention remains fixated on Gavin for the time being, sending only the non-verbal equivalent of 'safe to approach' back to the Titans' leader. As it would turn out, the Dark Knight's Justice League communication device had been modified to within an inch of its life. One can only suffer so many pizza party invitations from the Blue Beetle.

"Stop," Batman tells him, an oddly compassionate tone that a certain eavesdropping Titan would not recognize as common for him, "Save your strength. I'll help your friends. There's a gas station three hundred meters to the northwest. Go there, buy a bottle of water and something to eat. Then call the number in this phone and they'll take you wherever you need to go. A relative or friend you can trust. Go. Now."

He produces from his utility belt a fold of laundered hundred dollar bills and an burner cell phone with a number saved into it. He places them both into Gavin's hand, looking him up and down one more time before indicating that he should leave. In true Holmesian tradition, he's pulled the details he needs to press ahead.

Nearby, Donna's T-Com crackles to life: "Troia, Batman. Possible hostage situation. Possible use of electrified flooring suggests full-front assault will result in casualties. We've got three hours before more people die either way."

He doesn't wait for a response, instead he clears the fence and extends a small, handheld device that emits a tightly-focused EMP designed to shut down the lights again to aid in his crossing towards the building.

Donna Troy has posed:
    It may not be Batman's favorite pastime working with people who aren't part of his own highly trained clan -- and most particularly highly trained in his way of working -- but Donna has spent enough time around Dick that she has picked up some of the idea. She doesn't ask questions, but simply follows on in. Flying low, and sticking as close to the path he had taken as possible to avoid detection.

    She waits until she's caught up enough to have him in clear sight before responding, a bare whisper over comms. <<I was looking for secret satellite manufacturing, not hostages. I'll take it though. We going for stealth or speed? You need a fighter or a distraction? Alternatively, water tower two miles back. Want me to fetch it and hope that shorts the floors, let me know."

    She settles silently to the ground a couple of dozen feet behind him, following along at a silent lope in the wake of his EMP beam. It's thankful that she has changed from her old Greek-style body armor recently -- that wasn't the quietest of outfits. Her new armor may not be specifically designed for stealth, but it's a lot better at it than the armored warrior princess look of old.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Gavin cups the money and phone and looks back up to Batman. It's clear he feels nervous about abandoning the other prisoners in the factory but who better to save them than the mysterious man from Gotham City. A legend. He rises up and nods his head. "Thank you.." and he begins his walk away.

As the lights go out a second time, a side door opens and two guards exit. They are dressed as you'd expect corporate security to be but they're both carrying fully automatic assault rifles and their boots are thick souled.

Not only how they are dressed, or the military like dagger strapped to their chests next to their radios, but the way they move their bodies says ex-military. This is a level of security a startup definitely does not need.

They start to search around the perimeter with flash lights and are moving together covering each other. These men have clearly seen actual combat in their lives. One of them glances down his sight every now and then and its green glow tells that it is providing night vision.

The side door of the building opens again anda nother pair of security exit the building. Equally calm and professional as the first two. They begin to sweep in the opposite direction. Besides their quiet footfalls the only sound in the area are the crickets of West Virginia.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Security is armed to the teeth," Batman murmurs sub-vocally into his communicator, "Assault rifles."

He's not worried for Donna herself, sure that she can avoid being harmed by mere bullets. But if the bullets start flying, it's best that they're both aware just how powerful they are and how many there'll be.

When he notices the guards wearing night vision goggles, the gears start to turn. The lights are off for the time being, kept so by the rhythmic pulse being emitted by the small handheld device. He keeps low to he ground, keeping out of their line of sight as their vision sweeps over the grounds without the oppression of night to waylay them.

He waits. Picks his moment.

"Inside. Now."

Then flick.

The floodlights turn on again all at once, flooding the darkened grounds with bright light. One thing that doesn't go well with night-vision is an abundance of light. He uses the momentary distraction to sprint - faster than a man of his size clad in armor has any right to move - across the grass and through the security door.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna takes off upwards, the cheat mode for all flyers. It's dark, and guards don't usually decide to look up - It's not generally the direction you expect trouble to come from. Night vision goggles mean there's no real contrast disadvantage to being picked out against a background of vegetation, anyway. Up, across, and straight down again, eyes watchful for the tell-tale glow of light enhancement; if she doesn't see green, they won't see her.

    She's on Batman's cape-tails as he enters the security door, and doesn't halt until she's well out of sight.

    "How many hostages?" she whispers. "How many guards?"

    She has come armed; a sword sheath is at her belt, but she hasn't got it drawn. Her lasso hangs dully on her hip, the golden glow not present when it's not in an Amazon's hands. She gestures forwards with a finger and a nod - Batman was here first, she's acknowledging his lead.

Lex Luthor has posed:
The guards searching about the darkness while the lights are down are doing a good job of covering the ground quickly. It is interrupted, however, when the lights suddenly come back on. As a group they pull off their goggles and rub at their eyes. One taps his comms and yells in annoyance, "WARN US FIRST FOR FUCKS SAKE! Uaagh I'm going to be seeing spots for hours!" -- a muffled voice replies <<"That wasn't us. It just came back on by itself. Sorry..">>

The inside is a front. A sham of a company with sample cars made 3d printed but never meant to go in to production. The show room, the meeting rooms, the offices. They're all for show because the map that Gavin provided showed floors beneath the ground level.

The lights on this level are off and the security cameras are active. For one looking though there are bloody foot prints that lead to a wall with no door handle. Likely an elevator. The show room has tyre marks that go to the center where a car prototype sits on a round dais that can certainly move.

Odds are whatever they're making down stairs, it's hoisted up through a hole hidden by that dais and loaded on to a truck. How many have been made is unclear.

But one other strange thing occurs once they're inside the building. When Brainiac first came to Earth his technology was an unmitigated threat. His ship crashed in the ocean and was picked clean by more than just SHIELD. A localised sensor alarm goes off for Batman - there is Brainiac technology in this building and it is active.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Cameras," Batman tells Donna in a low whisper, pointing to one such mounted device that covers the patch of corridor they're about to pass through, "Follow me, move through the blindspots. The more we disable their security measure, the quicker they realise there's an intruder. We need time to rescue the hostages and to raid their server for evidence. You'll take care of the first part, I'll take care of the second. Then - "

He pauses for no apparent reason. On his cowl's HUD, a silent alert goes off. His eyes narrow. It's the last thing he expected to see, yet it makes perfect sense at the same time.

"Change of plans. Whatever they're working on here, they're integrating it with Brainiac technology. We should bring the whole house down."

The Bat talks as he moves, keeping to the blind spots of the security cameras as though it were second nature to him. When he reaches the one closest to the elevator he reaches up, affixing a flat metal disc to the underside of it. There's a brief flutter of static, and then he's getting the CCTV feeds sent to his cowl. The individual feeds flash across his vision.

"Fifteen hostages, under direct supervision. Two guards. Remember, floor's electrified. Presumed Brainiac technology is intefering with the feed."

That said, he moves towards the wall and begins an effort to open up the elevator.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Could be a wide-area network, not just local systems," Donna replies with a frown. "We still have the Braniac worm... but it needs to be sandboxed, physical media only. It'll take me a couple of hours to get it. More thorough, but riskier. Your call."

    She follows along in Batman's footsteps, careful to keep to his exact path, eyes on any camera sweeps to make sure she's following the timing too. When they reach the elevator, she settles with her back to the wall, underneath the visual field of the camera and facing the opposite direction to Batman to keep eyes on his the direction they've come.

    She nods her head in the direction of the dais. "How about that? " she suggests. "Looks like a cargo elevator. Less enclosed. If it's not alarmed, I could push it open. Damn, if I'd known this was going to end up as an infiltration I'd have brought a teleporter and a mouse."

    "And if I'd known there was Brainiac tech, I'd have brought a cyborg. Be careful here, it's entirely possible they're manufacturing dark energy weaponry. Dangerous enough on its own, but potentially gravity manipulation technology too."

Lex Luthor has posed:
The sound of whistling can be heard accompanied by a toilet flushing. A door opens and floods a hallway with light leading to the show room. Foot steps as a man walks out in to the show room. His phone rings and he flicks it open.

"Yellow?" -- "Oh yes, we're quite on schedule. The projector is being charged right now." -- "Oh that is unfortunately. Both Space LeX deliveries then? Hm." -- "I see, that would be a shame though. They've gotten quite efficient at building them. One could say they have it down to a science." A chuckle -- "Yes sir. Understood Sir. The truck should be back within the hour if they stay on schedule. We can get it on the road as quickly as possible." -- A twitch of a smile "Yes Sir. You too Sir. Hail HYDRA." He flicks the phone shut.

From his hip he takes a walkie talkie and presses down the button, "Johann.. is the shock generator still at full charge?" -- <<"93% sir">> -- "Is that enough for a clean slate?" -- <<"Yes sir. Now sir?">> -- "No no. Not until the work is finished."

Replacing the walkie talkie to his hip he begins to whistle again. He fetches his swipe card from his belt and looks over to the wall where the hidden elevator is. There's no one there, the duo have secreted themselves away. He proceeds forward and touches the wall. The wall opens up flooding the space with light and the man pauses seeing the blood foot prints. He reaches for his walkie talkie again.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman is silent as he listens to Donna lament the things she should have brought but didn't. As she speaks, his hand is on his utility belt. Still pressed back against the wall, he turns his head sideways to look at her. He even smirks slightly.

"You learn to make due with what you've got."

At the mention of dark energy weapons, his expression hardens.

"Our escapee believed it's a weapon capable of killing Superman. If they're using Brainiac technology, I don't doubt him. But we need to be quick here. Get what we can take off the computers then bring the building down. By the time you can get the worm here, we'd have to take up a defensive position. Not viable with the pair of us. It'd tip our hand."

When the toilet flushes, the Dark Knight holds up a hand to signify they both be silent. He listens as the man steps out into the corridor, transcribing the audible side of the conversation for later. It's not until the man notices the footprints and goes for his walkie that the Bat acts, moving like a flash and pinning the man by the throat to the back wall of the elevator. He looms over him, growling through teeth in that terrifying form of menace reserved for criminals.

"Tell me how to disable the shock generator or I'll break the other one!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Batman's admonishments only provoke a rueful grin from Donna. She wasn't expecting things to move so fast, or there would be a team here, not a single Titan. If it wasn't for the annoying /hostage/ problem, it would hardly matter. That way stealth wouldn't be needed and a frontal assault is definitely more Donna's speed.

    "My guess, what went wrong with Space Lex 17 was whatever that weapon is leaking rather than firing. Resonant interference with the ship's fusion drive. Suggests a way to deal with the weapons."

    When he raises his hand for quiet, she falls silent instantly, and when it's clear that hiding is required, she moves in a stealthy blur. When he goes for the attack, she's at his side in another blur -- taking a very firm hold of the guard's wrist, not applying any direct pressure but holding it immovably in place where no walkie talkie buttons can be sneakily pressed. She's confident she's more than fast enough to stop him moving his other hand across his body to reach for it if she tries.

    The intimidation though? No, she's leaving that entirely to the Bat. He intimidates /her/ and she's a whole lot less squishy than a HYDRA goon.

Lex Luthor has posed:
The HYDRA officer is surprised and squishes up against the back of the elevator with a thud. Restrained easily by the pair, the attempted struggle is not of a hardened soldier at all. This guy is middle management. He squeaks out, "The other what?"

Batman is swift in his clarity, the elbow of the arm Donna isn't holding snaps and the man lets out a yelping cry of pain. "Th.. The generator.. is in the basement.. but you'll never.. get in.. security.. will stop you.. both."

Ah the useless threats of a neo-nazi alt right wanna be. The elevator door shuts behind them just as the four guards open the side door and enter back in to the false front of the facility. They scan the corridor and the show room quickly just in case but nothing is out of place.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Take care of the hostages. They're your priority," Batman insists to Donna, giving her a look that says this is an order and not a suggestion even if their orders of heirarchy are entirely separate, "Get them out of here and safe before you think about any other objectives. Take down the guards but only if there's an opening. The floor is electrified, so all they need is a second to kill those hostages. Don't let them."

It's at that point that he turns back to the HYDRA officer, regards him impassively for a moment, and then breaks his nose with the armored skull-plate beneath the front of his cowl. Enough to knock the man unconscious, but rather than leaving him where he fell he hefts him over his shoulder and steps out of the elevator to take him along to the basement.

"I'm going to destroy the generator first. Once it's down, feel free to be an Amazon."

He begins to move in the direction of the basement, three batarangs clasped in the gaps between his fingers. A second later he pauses, glancing over his shoulder at Donna. But he says nothing, moving on towards the basement. Ready to take on any security he meets on the way and moving quickly despite the weight over his shoudlers.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna disagrees. Batman should be the one to deal with the hostages. He could stealth his way towards them, quietly taking out one or two guards as needed, while she heads down to the generator level. The priority is taking out the generator quickly, and she's a whole lot faster than he is. She can survive a whole lot more explosive generator destruction. She could probably just shoulder charge the generator into pieces before anyone notices.

    However, Donna disagrees /quietly/, in her inside voice. And oddly, this isn't deference to Bruce, it's deference to Dick. When you're in the field, you don't stop and argue tactics. Afterwards, oh there were so many arguments in the early days of the Titans. Dick naturally took charge; so did Donna. Both had been trained for making quick tactical decisions. Both had been trained for leadership. The Titans had learned the lesson very well though -- after a while at least, Dick trusted Donna and Donna trusted Dick. You might disagree, but you disagree /later/. Right here and now, you back the call.

    Detention level it is. As soon as the coast is clear, she slips out of the elevator and into a camera blind spot. She becomes very still, letting her sharp Amazon senses reveal everything they can about the level -- where she can hear footsteps, where she can hear voice. While she doesn't generally go heavily tech-equipped like a Batman, there's a Titans-manufactured micro stealth drone that had been intended to spy on the building back when this was just a scouting mission, and that's now repurposed for peeping around corners, locating sensors and cameras, and providing for her a route.

    There are too many hostages to sneak out, too much chance of that electrified floor being activated if even one of them gets a little nervous. When the generator goes though, she intends to have the route etched in her memory, and the location of guards clear in her mind. As soon as the generator is out, there will be a whirlwind of Amazon bringing high-speed pain to any guards between the elevator and the cells.

    After all, that's when all hell is going to break loose, and that's the time when ripping doors from their hinges just isn't going to be an issue any more.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Phase 3," shouts the first guard on the floor above the prisoners. They rise once more and move to the satellite under construction. Moving valves and cylinders they cycle it through, then disconnect and reconnect the strange alien device pulsing with yellow light.

"Hands and Knees!," he shouts and the grad student prisoners, physics majors all of them, move back to the floor on their knees and place their hands on their head. The alien device begins to pulse faster as it pumps dark energy in to the containment cell of the satellite.

The second guard is on the far side overlooking the prisoners, spying for any attempts at disobedience. His finger brushes over the button but he doesn't press it. Like the four guards that came outside - these ones are similar armoured and armed. They're a nasty pair too. He shouts to the prisoners reminding them of their peril, "If one of you disobeys, you are all punished."

The elevator starts to move back up to the surface floor as Batman descends deeper down the stairs to the basement. The door awaits him and there is no door handle, no lock, no swipe sensor. There is a screen that comes alive when he approaches.

A smiley face appears and it turns to a red frown in response to seeing him. No alarm goes off, but the door remains inert. Behind it is almost certainly not just the generator but also the servers Batman wanted access to before he decided the place should be cinders.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The Bat ponders the locking device for a second before he shifts to the side, allowing the unconscious face of the HYDRA officer to be seen. He smacks it roughly against the surface for good measure, leaving behind a smudge of blood from the man's bruised and broken nose. Having what he needs, he tosses him to the side and leaves him slumped against the wall.

The first thing he moves towards is the generator, examining it closely. He sees the controls, recognizing the array and turning it off with a flick. To add insult to injury, he draws a small vial from his utility belt and pours it into the turbine. Acrid smoke begins to rise as the inner mechanisms turn to slag, rendering the device useless. Satisfied, he turns to the batteries and sets them to an emergency discharge back to the local grid.

Then he's at the computers, placing a small flashdrive and immediately beginning to upload everything he picks up to a Wayne Aerospace satellite orbiting far overhead.

"Troia," he says into his communicator, "Generator is slag. Status report."

Donna Troy has posed:
    On the detention level, the lights die momentarily, before flickering back to a dull, gray life as backup generators kick in. Emergency beacons spill their own scarlet coloration into the corridors. Donna is instantly on the move.

    Two guards are still staring at each other when she turns the corner, caught in the brief moment of indecision caused by surprise even a professional is prone to. The black and silver armored form does not break her stride as she slams the first into the wall even as he reaches for his walkie talkie. The second reaches for his gun, and Donna accelerates in a sudden dizzying blur that ends in an elbow to the jaw.

    Around another corner, and a guard has his gun up already. Without slowing her pace, Donna drops into a knee slide, and springs up again when she's almost underneath him, one hand taking a grip on the barrel, the other on his neck. The gun is ripped from his hand, and the guard hurled into the wall.

    Back to her feet, Donna does not slow as she bends the gun barrel into uselessness and drops it to the ground. Then she's at the door. She stops just a moment to unhook her lasso, and then Batman gets his reply -- the sound of tortured metalwork as she rips the door out of the wall echoing through the halls.

    Donna hurls the door behind her and sprints into the room, where the prisoners are staring at each other in confusion and not a little fear. The second guard makes the mistake of reaching for the button, a streak of cruelty that makes him an easy target as the lasso lashes out, and wraps around his leg. With a vicious yank, Donna pulls him clear off the ledge and hurls him to the floor.

    The first guard is faster, and the noise of the door had been warning; without much thought, he starts firing. Donna's forward roll takes her under the first burst and into the room, where the prisoners are starting to panic, and there's a serious danger of someone walking into the line of fire. Donna spins, bracers raised to intercept the gunfire, but she's not going to play this one fancy and Diana-style -- once the first burst is safely deflected, she launches herself straight up, slamming bodily into the walkway beneath him, sending him flying, and tearing the walkway from its bolts.

    The prisoners are just starting to understand what's happening when she pulls hard on the end of the walkway, bringing it down to make a ramp up to the next level.

    "This is a rescue, everyone move /quickly/ to the walkway, we're getting you out of here. Stay CLOSE, stay GROUPED, so I can protect you!" she yells at them. "MOVE!"

    Then, the more formal report to Batman. "Getting prisoners up to the first level, will find exit there. " It's only a few seconds later than he might have expected.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Johann is casually glancing at the monitors. Nothing suspicious. <<"Coming back down now">> comes over the comms to him. He glances at the elevator and doesn't see them. He taps on his microphone, "Say again." A repeat <<"Coming back down now">>

The power readout for the electrified floor starts to drop rapidly. His eyes widen and he quickly slams the engage button. Nothing happens.

On the worker floor one of the prisoners says with glee as they all start to make their escape, "Thank you Wonder Woman!"

The elevator makes a ~ding~ sound as it stops on the second floor. The four guards pry the doors open and step out, rifles raised. One checks his comms <<"What's going on">> but there's no reply, the comms system is out now that the power is gone. He shakes his head to his team mates and they start to move down the corridor covering each others lines.

One of them raises a fist as he hears the prisoners making a move toward the stairs that lead back up toward them. They crouch down and aim, preparing to mow them all down as they become visible.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"On your six," Batman's voice crackles through the comm, and a glance will show the figure of the Dark Knight rising like an avenging shadow behind the armed guards.

He drops among the armed guards like a fox in the henhouse. He uses the momentum of moving forward to drive the first guard's face into the floor, his foot snapping out to strike his neighbor in the jaw with the reinforced sole of his boot. In the confusion he raises up into a crouch, several razor-sharp batarangs embedding themselves into the soft, weak points of the armor. The last is sent reeling by a two-footed kick to the chest which undoubtedly snaps a few ribs, leaving him in a dazed slump.

"Get them out of here. I'm going for the Brainiac tech."

As he speaks, he picks up the rifles and disassembles them sight unseen. He leaves the pieces scattered in a trail after him, moving towards the hostage room and the device they're working on. Another batarang, this one larger and with a sinister red diode, is tossed into the wall. The latest in a series of explosives he's been laying on his way from the basement to here.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Once she's confident that Batman's got the situation in the rear under control, Donna shepherds her charges forwards and takes the lead. This is no longer a quiet operation though, and it's a fast operation. That means no more scouting corridors carefully, no more determining the quickest and safest route.

    No, Batman had told her to feel free to be an Amazon, and Donna doesn't need telling twice. She's just going to /make/ the quickest route out of there. When wall meets Amazon foot, the wall loses. The quickest route is always a straight line.

    There is however a problem with this, which is when you get to the final wall. When there's no longer any cover, and there's a frightened horde of PhDs milling around in confusion and moving in the general direction of the - at last count - four guards in the outer compound, there's the potential for trouble. At this point she simply upturns a cabinet and a coke machine over the doorway to make a barricade, and orders her charges to hang back.

    "Guards outside," she explains quickly. "Take cover, I'll deal with them. The moment I call, come running. Don't leave until then unless it looks like they're going to break into this room."

    She doesn't even take the time to correct their misidentification. Surely everyone knows that Diana wears brighter colors.

    It's possible some or all of the guards outside have gone inside to deal with the problem there. It's equally possible that some extra guards have come out to protect the perimeter. The logical conclusion to Donna is to run out where she can be easily seen, and attract attention.

    "Attack on the north gate! Everyone get there now!" she yells. Maybe someone will fall for it, but mostly it's just a way of bringing them to her. Bracers at the ready, and a gleam in her eye, that's what she /wants/. Far better to have them reveal their positions by attacking her than risk an ambush on the hostages when they're running to safety.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Pierre stops at the checkpoint and slides his ID card in front of the camera. The gates open before him and close behind him. The truck starts up again and he drives to the front of the building. It's a large truck with plenty of space for a deadly satellite.

With engine still running, he hops out of the cabin and walks to the front doors. A touch on the pad - no response. The lights are out inside. He walks back to the cabin and grabs his walkie talkie, "Ah hello? is anybody home. It's Pierre..."

Still nothing. Then the alarm starts to sound throughout the entire compound. Pierre has never heard it go off before but he knows what it means. He tosses his radio in to the passenger seat and then grabs for the assault rifle behind the drivers seat.

The guards that were on the perimeter do split up - some going inside and the others, as well as Pierre, are drawn to the siren song of the Amazon. They begin to shoot because when it comes down to it - no one really knows how many bullets a vending machine can take.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The guards dealt with, Batman trusts Donna to exfiltrate the hostages. He moves into the main laboratory area, ignoring the alarms but remaining alert of his surroundings. Finding the Brainiac technology that his sensors had picked up, he moves towards it and immediately sets about disconnecting it from the infrastructure. Tucking the football-sized cylinder under his arm (unable to fit it into the belt, alas) he begins to move to play the rearguard for Donna's group.

"I've got the device," he advises over the conn, "Explosives in place. I'm coming to you."

That said, he sets about running to catch up with them.

Donna Troy has posed:
    The more pertinent question is how many bullets an Amazon bracer can take, to which the answer is 'how many have you got?' The strange metal, alloyed with a tiny fragment of the true Aegis, is virtually unbreakable. Attached to the forearms of an Amazon, the two slender strips of metal are a virtual wall.

    There's a trick the faster Amazons learn, of not simply deflecting bullets, but redirecting them. Donna's very proficient at it, but only Diana can quite manage to do it with accuracy when dealing with automatic fire from multiple angles. Donna doesn't try. Instead she simply advances.

    In the darkness of night, the sight of bullet after bullet breaking in glowing shards from your opponents forearms as they march inexorably towards you is nerve-wrenching enough. When the dim light glints from Donna's teeth to reveal that she's /grinning/, it's a whole lot worse. After the second guard is down, nobody wants to hang around.

    And when they turn tail and run, they find that a lasso can reach a long way.

    By the time Batman comes out to join them, Donna's herding the prisoners onto the truck to get them all clear. She leaves him to make sure any stragglers are in before leaping into the driver's seat.

    "Boom?" she suggests.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman arrives alongside the truck after a moment, a strange cylinder tucked beneath his arm. The Brainiac technology he went in search of, presumably. He meets eyes with Donna, glances back towards the lab, and holds up his armored gauntlet.

A holographic display appears, and a few button presses allow him to activate the explosives in the facility.

"Boom."

Lex Luthor has posed:
The partially charged dark energy battery comes under tremendous pressure as the batarangs explode. Very little is known about dark energy and some of the theories that the Titan's proposed are 'out there'. The stuff that keeps the universe together, or expands it, or who knows.

A massive fire ball lights up the sky and followed by it, an aurora unlike any anybody has ever seen on Earth before. Its tinge is yellow and white, burning at its edges like a candle light in slow motion, trapped in a moment.

The inside keeps burning until it turns black. Blacker than black. Dots of light begin to fade in to light and a splash of a nebula slashed across the sky. It's a worm hole, ripped open right before them.

The truck stutters and starts to slow down. Gravity. They're being partly pulled back toward the hole in space.

Cement and roof tilings, shattered glass, and HYDRA soldiers are rapidly pulled up through the rip in space and time, in to the void of space -somewhere-. Certainly not -here-.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the edges ripple and it disappears. There is a loud POP as air fills the void left behind; a gaping crater where the facility had been.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Gravity manipulation, I told you," Donna tells the caped crusader. "Dark energy is a repulsion force. I'm pretty sure Cyborg or Waspette would be able to explain exactly what happened just there, but I'd guess something just expanded a tiny part of the universe so rapidly that it tore a hole in it."

    She's still driving though, still keeping the truck moving in that all-important direction /away/. Which doesn't mean she won't spare a moment to lean over her shoulder and call back to the rescued scientists with a reassuring "You're safe now. Nightmare is over. "

    Followed by a slightly less reassuring "But we are gonna have to debrief you. I mean... serious business."

    She turns back to the road, takes a deep breath, and flashes Batman a grin. "Our first two-hander," she says. "Usually there's at least a Nightwing or Diana present. Went pretty well I think."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Better you handle the debriefing," Batman tells Donna, "You know how to get the information to me."

Even if she doesn't, he'll just pluck it off the Titans server later. The joys of being tied into almost everything by the power of paranoia.

Turning to leave, he pauses for a moment to look over his shoulder to Donna before adding one more thing.

"Good work."

And then he's gone, disappearing into the night.