13449/Got Worse on a Friday

Got Worse on a Friday
Date of Scene:	03 December 2022
Location:	Dixon Docks - Chinatown
Synopsis:	The Bats and Birds do battle with a beast from the bayou of biblical evil. Born on a Mundy, Chrissened on a Tuesdy, Married on a Wednesdy, Took Ill on a Thursdy, Got worse on a Fridy, and ... well... perished on a hook on a Saturdy. Look forward to the Sundy?
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Colleen Wing, Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Austin Reese

---

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Screams in the dark. Gunfire erupts.

Chaos at the old Gotham docks.

A light snowfall drifts down from the dark skies, it's late on this Friday evening when the madness makes itself known. The warehouses used to store shipping containers for 'Pittance Corp' are under assault from a rival gang, and though on paper the two gangs that are at battle with one another tonight might look as though they're even in numbers, and strength, one of the gangs... the one assaulting the Pittance buildings... has a secret weapon.

"Solomon Grundy." The behemoth hulking brute groans the name out, before he raises his massive mitts up and smashes through a brick wall. "Born... on a Monday." He further grunts as he steps through the newest hole that he ripped through that structure, leaving behind a wake of similar smashed brick and concrete walls, having torn through four warehouses so far.

He continues his little poem, mostly speaking to himself, as gunfire rings out, members of the Pittance Shipping security force unloading on the 7 foot tall beast as it stalks toward the fifth building in their grouping here at these old rundown docks...

"Chrissened on a Tuesday!" Grundy continues, slamming his right arm outward and sending three armed men flying backward in to a series of boxes and wooden crates, their screams echoing out in to the night.

More men rush acrosss catwalks in the 5th building as Grundy approaches its double doors and just rips them asunder, tearing them wide open.

"Got married, on a Wednesday..." Grundy growls as he steps in to the building, with bullets now peppering him from all sides of the catwalks above the ground. "Stop him!" Some of the gunmen shout, as Grundy leads the charge...

Behind Grundy, his own armed men are rushing through the 4 smashed-open-buildings, searching through the crates, tearing them open with crowbars and bolt cutters, looking for 'something' as some of them return fire with their own guns.

It's pure chaos. Through and through.

At the far end of it all, back near the first burst-open building, fire jets out from behind a armored vehicle in black. Barbara Gordon's Batmobile. Inside of it, Babs is watching the distant gang war, having tracked it through her Bat-drone flock that flies high above in the snowy night. Babs stares out from behind her dark mask, her hands on the steering controls of her armored car.

"Birds. Bats." Oracle-Batgirl calls out over the shared-team-comms. "I need you at my location. We have a big problem. Grundy is on the loose." Have the Bats and Birds heard of Solomon Grundy? Maybe in legend, maybe in rumor, or dark whispers around Halloween. He's a legend, of the worst kind. A lifeless zombie that regenerates, has sheer wild levels of strength, and rumored immortality born out of dark magics, out of a horrendous 'Slaughter Swamp' outside of Gotham.

"Get here fast." Babs says through the team comms. She jams the throttle forward on her car, and the jet of fire bursts out the back of it as it goes rocketing through the four broken-through warehouse buildings, sending Grundy's own loyal armed men scattering, some of them firing their guns at the agile armored Batmobile as it roars through the holes left in Grundy's wake, as he continues to push in to the 5th building where the Pittance Gang are gathering up to put all their gunfire and ammo in to Grundy here tonight!

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen stalks the burnt out apartment. The police don't leave chalk outlines like in the movies - they leave tape a little cone markers around the bloody stained carpets. Colleen is no investigator but she can still take in the atrocity committed here. Whatever the Hand were up to, it wasn't just about a war with the Defenders. This went much deeper.

Tossing the mostly burnt photo on to the exposed coils of the mattress, she feels the buzz of her phone. Lifting it up, the Oracle symbol flashes and the alert comes through. She touches the side and ejects the ear piece and slips it in to place.

<<"What luck, I'm in Gotham,">> replies Colleen, <<"On my way">>.

Out on to the fire escape and down in to the alley way of the narrows. Her motorbike is anything but state of the art - a decade old Hayabusa which still has a very iconic look and sound to it. A quick look at the map provided by the Birds app and she tucks it away.

Colleen floors it and starts to race through the streets of Gotham. The police like a good car chase but hate a bike chase so when she flies by the, up on to the side walk to avoid the cars, they just watch and throw up their hands. No point calling it in, not in this city.

There's nothing secret identity or subtle about Colleen's clothing when she's on the job. She wears white. White pants, white shirt, white jacket, with her sword in scabbard slung over her back. She comes to a stop a street away from the docks and can hear the mini-war breaking out. <<"That doesn't sound good. Is there a plan or do we just go in and break bones?">>

Dick Grayson has posed:
    There's not many places in Gotham where the bats don't have some sort of surveillance equipment, so shortly after Grundy walks through his first wall an alert is going out to the various bats who are in the area. Nightwing is one of the lucky ones who are on patrol this evening, so the feed pops up on his mask's HUD.

    His motorcycle's rear wheel screams as he steers the bike into a sharp U-turn, burning rubber as he spins the bike 180 degrees and speeds down the road towards the warehouses. The massive V10 engine roars as he doesn't just break the speed limit, but leaves it crying for it's mommy.

    He's not quite sure what he can do to stop a guy who can walk through brick walls, but this is the sort of thing they pay him for.

    << Nightwing heading for the Gotham docks. >>

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Glug glug glug.

The sound of the water dribbling is mostly annoyance. Though given that Stephanie Brown is in a Bat submersible that is underwater at the moment, it could seem a little more worrisome than that. "Gah! Thought I had you plugged," she says of the leak, hitting a switch to increase the small vessel's ballast and return it to the surface.

The aquatic craft resembles the Batmobile in a lot of the shape, a two seat vessel that is only a little bigger than car sized. Popping the cockpit open, Batgirl climbs out and crouches down to begin another round of repairing the seal on it that took a hit from an RPG and has had a leak that has defied attempts to fix it.

The sound of the call comes in over her comms though before she can finish it. "Oh, dead guys, means we don't have to pull our punches," she says as she hops back in the pilot's seat. The vessel takes off for the harbor off Dixon Docks, skimming across the water's surface more like a speedboat as it stays atop the waves.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With all the gunfire that is going off inside the Pittance Corp area of the docks, one might think it's a straight up war, or the best invisible fireworks show ever! But the sound of the Batmobile that Barbara is driving does cause Grundy to turn and look over his shoulder at the approaching black vehicle as it roars through the buildings that he smashed his way through already. As the lumbering 7-foot-tall monster turns to face the Batmobile, Barbara is left eyeing him from inside it, her vehicle moving at top speed. "Do we have any insight on how to fight this guy?" She asks. "My systems are saying, essentially, 'Run away'. But since, we're not really known for that, well..."

Babs just lays on the gas more, and the Batmobile goes flying right at him, leaving a trail of smoke behind her, the gunmen aiding Grundy tonight are all watching as the Batmobile collides directly with Grundy!

It's a loud noise, it's a burst of smoke and sparks, and it takes several moments before the dust settles, showing Grundy bent over, holding the Batmobile in place, clutching it on either sides, as he lifts it up off the ground by its front tires! Inside, Babs keeps those large treaded tires rolling on the back two, causing a loud screaching, a wave of pluming smoke, and a lot of gawking from both gangs of armed men observing this duel.

"Okay, not my best idea." Babs says inside the Batmobile as she punches a button causing the cannon on the back to raise up and point right at Grundy's face, the weapon aims up, and Grundy tilts his head in confusion, and is summarily blasted by electricity!

He roars, loudly, as the electro-cannon fires right in his face, and he responds by just THROWING the Babsmobile across the alley, the entire car slams in to the side of the warehouse, and falls back down to the pavement.

"Any ideas?" Barbara speaks up, her voice sounding a bit strained now, after being thrown inside her car like that.

"Grundy... Crush..." The Undead Behemoth says.

Inside the 4th and 5th warehouses, the two opposing forces open fire on each other again, gunfire ringing out once more!

What are they here for? What is the cause of this? Is it just a straight up 'slaughter fest' of gangs that hate one another?

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen straight up stares in wonder as the Batmobile tries to run Grundy over ....and it doesn't work. A small gasp as she takes off her helmet. Supernatural stuff - why's it always gotta be supernatural stuff. A wince as the Batmobile is thrown in to the side of the building.

<<"Well, Ironfist's usual approach is to just punch a thing with his magical hand until it stops getting back up...">> she states the wisdom of the Defenders. But perhaps someone has more useful intel on this monster. Either way, the gloves are off if this thing is supernatural.

Colleen frowns as the gun fire starts up again. That's going to make this fight that much harder. <<"How about we stop this war so we can deal with the monster and not get shot in the back... I'll take building 5">> she says and takes off in to a run. Hoodie up and sword drawn with a sharp shhhng she dashes in to the building to take on an army.

They aren't exactly expecting an attack from the flanks and Colleen has no qualms about causing a few lacerations; provided they aren't too deep that they might bleed out. There's a man with his gone pocked through a broken window and she rounds up on him with a swift strike to the head from the pommel of her sword.

The man next to him turns and tries to draw his side arm. Colleen twists and spins a kick in to his torso knocking him back. As he stumbles away from his rifle it clatters to the ground and he gets his pistol out just as Colleen's sword slashes down against his hand.

She flicks the blood from her sword and points it at him. "Run," is all she says to the man. The wild look in his eyes as he cradles his cut hand to his chest is followed by manic nods as he turns and starts to sprint away from the fight.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Nightwing's motorcycle screams into the warehouse area, his HUD guiding him to the street Barbara is currently in. Seeing the shape her Batmobile is in, he hits the brakes hard and skids to a stop about fifty feet from the scene. He raises one arm and shoots a grapple out of his armored vambrace, reeling himself up to the roof of the warehouse. He runs silently along the roof until he's above Grundy.

    After just a moment's contemplation he doesn't think most of the normal countermeasures he uses will do the job here. For a first test, he aims his arm towards Grundy. With a quiet *phut* of compressed air a small cylinder flies toward the hulking zombie. When it hits, it bursts into an eardrum shattering racket. Knowing the bats generally have ear protectors in, he's not terribly worried about this affecting Barbara.

    << First test, let's see how his ears are. >>

Austin Reese has posed:
Travel time anywhere in Gotham is a nightmare. When it's an emergency it's even harder to get somewhere. Batcycles do a good job of getting around town weaving in and out of traffic, and Austin's is doing just that as he heads towards the docks. He was responding to that same distress call, hearing Batgirl over comms, he chimes in as he gets closer, <"Do we have any unbreakable ropes handy?"> It's a fair question that's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

He pulls his bike up past building 3 but before he gets to 4 he skids to a stop, hopping off and using his grapple launcher to get to the roof, <"On top of 4, will make entry and try to take these guys out.">

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Most good Bat vehicles have some kind of ejection seat capable of launching the occupant skyward. The submersible speedboat is no different. The canopy retracts and Batgirl hits a button, launching her into the air where her cape spreads to a glider shape.

She sees the impending crash and winces as the Babsmobile gets thrown into the wall. << Solomon Grundy is an undead zombie. And if you have the wrong car insurance coverage, you could be coughing the money for that crash up yourself. So get StateLex and be better protected from mayhem, like Solomon Grundy." >>

Stephanie appears to intend more than just quipping though. As she glides overhead, after Nightwing's sonic detonation, she throws down a handful of smoke and flash pellets. The largest collection hit Grundy in the head and shoulders, wreathing his head in bright lights, loud noises, and soon smoke. As it spreads, the smoke also makes it a little more difficult for the gunmen to kill each other. << Second test, everything else.)] >>

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Colleen manages to get inside of building 5 with relative ease since the security team is under a barrage of bullets from building 4's intruders! She starts her combat, and is easily far superior in hand to hand fighting than these men are, but soon, emerging from an office on the upper level catwalks, is a woman dressed in a dark green business suit. Her dark hair is slicked back, and she looks across the catwalk toward where Colleen is dispatching one of the guards. She just... confidently pops her neck and starts to march down the catwalk toward where Colleen is, her fingers growing in to knives... uh oh, a mutant? A Meta-human? Either way, this slickly dressed woman is moving in to strike at Colleen with some martial prowess of her own, knife-fingers-out!

As Dick and Steph rain testing-ordinance down upon Grundy's head, it does manage to stop him from smashing his way in to the Babsmobile, which gives Babs time to pop the canopy on the busted-up armored car. She jumps out as Grundy roars in agony from the loud noises and other effects of Stephanie's attacks from above!

"Graaaahhh!" Grundy shouts, his hands going up in the air, he picks up a metal crate and just launches it up toward the roof of the 4th building where Dick was seen out of the corner of his vision!

Barbara, rolling out of her car, turns and fires a electro-net launcher up at Grundy, the net wrapping around him and sizzling as many volts of electricity start to pour in to the giant monster of a man!

It does not stop him though, and he just BOOTS the Babsmobile's front end out of his way as he starts to retreat toward the opening of the 5th building, thrashing his shoulders around at the various devices that the Bats have thrown at him, trying valiantly to shrug them off!

"I don't believe in undead things!" Babs says from her spot on the ground, as she gets back up to her feet, her cape whipping out in the snowy-wind blowing between buildings 4 and 5, her eyes on the large Hulking Grundy as he moves through the destroyed doorway in to the 5th structure. "Grew ill on Thursday!" The beast shouts, followed by more gunfire from the men on the ground, and subsequently their screams at the monster moving on them again!

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen ducks behind a pillar just as a third gang member turns, withdrawing his gunfire from the window toward building 4. The strategy is starting to work. He, however, begins to stalk Colleen. "Come out come out where-ever you are. I saw you. Defender. Hah. You're in the wrong city for that chica."

Colleen keeps low and moves behind a destroyed pallet. With the tip of her sword peeking out from around the corner she looks at its reflection to gauge where he is. He's moving away which is bad because he has the gun.

"You're right -" she calls out to him, "I'll just get back on my bike and get out of here if that's okay with you." She starts to move position again as he turns and stalks faster toward her position.

"That wasn't bright, giving away your position like that," he replies, moving with his rifle leading his turns and foot steps. As he rounds a corner the scabbard makes contact with the barrel and pushes it up in to the sky.

Sword slashes through the air as a distraction because there are fewer things that make your life flash before your eyes than a sharp blade in front of your face. Colleen knees him in the guns, then loops her scabbard through his gun strap and flips him over her hip. His gun clatters away and she ends the encounter be dropping down a punch in to his face. The floor does the rest.

Colleen hears the click of a gun cocking. "Clever girl," says a quieter more psychopathic voice. "Don't you know you're in the middle of a gang war here. I can't have you distracting my bois at this very important juncture now can I. Drop the sword, hands up where I can see them."

Colleen slowly rises back up and drops her sword on top of the unconscious guy. She lifts her hands up and places them on her head, turning around slowly. "I get it. Undead monster is coming to take your territory. But what if I told you there are people out there who want to stop the undead monster and alls you have to do is back off."

The man clucks his tongue and shakes his head. He turns his gun sideways enjoying that thug life image, "And what if I told you I don't care. We don't need your help."

Colleen carefully draws the throwable hair accessor from her black hair and nods her head slowly, "So what now. You kill me? I'm only here to help."

He smirks and takes a step forward. He has swagger and she can see it - and time it - and just as he opens his mouth he says, "Nah I just want the troph--" as she twists her body and throws the dart in to his neck.

Dropping the gun his hands go to his neck and she rushes over to him. Her hands wrap around his and she says, "Hold still. Don't pull on it. You're going to be okay if you just stay calm." The swagger is gone and a look of terror is replaced - his life hangs in the hands of Colleen now and he knows it. "You're lucky I made a promise to a very important man in my life that I wouldn't kill. That doesn't mean I'm going to let you shoot me though..." From her back pocket she pulls out her emergency medical kit, "Keep the pressure on."

<<"I'm going to need a little more time. First floor of building 5 has been proving a challenge.">> she says quickly in to her comms as she takes out the pressure bandage and wound glue and gets to work.

"You're going to need more than a little time," says the meta-human with the knife-fingers. Her blades slice in to Colleen's back and she lets out a cry of pain, rolling away instinctively. Her guy is going to live but Colleen is caught off guard. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," she says feeling the throbbing and heat of the wounds cut in to her flesh through her hoodie and top. She should have worn the leather.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Watching Barbara's electro-net have basically no effect on Grundy, Nightwing is glad that direct assault with his electrified batons wasn't his first choice of action. Then again, his and Steph's devices haven't had that much success either.

    << Ok, I'm open to suggestions here. >>

    Even as he's saying it, he's moving on to the next option. Running along the roof a bit further to try and throw off Grundy's aim, he hits a button on his vambrace, then raises his arm and launches a pellet at Grundy. He's no longer worried about staying non-lethal for the zombie, this time when the pellet impacts it's delivering a payload of strong acid.

    << Let's see where chemistry gets us. >>

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey isn't up on the roof for long, as the shipping crate comes slamming up into the rooftop area. He jumps backwards to avoid possibly being crushed, and then drops down through a skylight of the building and into the relative safety of the interior.

Not that the building is that much safer, with the amount of gunfire and chaos around. Bullets flying in both directions, he finds the first gunman nearest to him and strikes him right in the solar plexus with a right straight, following it up with a downward elbow. He grabs the rifle from him and throws it at one of the other gunmen before quickly diving for cover when they inevitably start shooting at him instead of the guys across the street.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown glides down to land just outside the doorway that the gigantic creature has just passed through. She can see his back as he takes a swipe at a gunman, the man's shots going silent and replaced with his scream.

Grundy is huge. Her equipment options flash through Stephanie's mind, one after another discarded as likely ineffective. Finally she turns to what she does best.

She talks.

Ok, it's what SHE thinks she does best.

"Mr. Grundy?" Batgirl calls towards him. "Yoo hoo?" she adds after he doesn't show any reaction he heard her. "Mr. Grundy?"

Still no reaction. Batgirl pulls out a batarang and throws it hard into the back of his head where it goes off with a minor detonation. Little more than a bang for Solomon Grundy, but it gets his attention and he turns back towards its source.

And finds Batgirl standing there, in a completely non-combative position. She's gently clasping and unclasping her hands in front of her while her shoulders slowly turn this way and that. The posture is very like a girl might use trying to convince her parents to tell Santa she's been good.

"Mr. Grundy? Pardon me for interrupting. I was just wondering. Christened on Tuesday. Married on Wednesday, right?" she asks him. "So, ah... was just wondering. Who is your wife? What happened to her?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Austin's arrival in to building 4 is a good idea to cut down on some of the crossfire, but when he arrives so openly, brazenly, he does indeed take down one of the gunmen, but he also is spotted by two more, and they DO open fire on him.

"The Bats are here in force, fellas!" One of them calls out. "Find the dagger! Get it to the boss, and lets get the BATSHIT outta here!" Another says before reloading his pump shotgun and lowering it down to fire at where Austin was last seen!

Out in the alleyway street, Babs sees Dick firing those acid pellets at Grundy, and she turns to march toward her open Batmobile. "Do we have any ice weapons? Any of Mr. Freeze's tech on any of us?" She asks as she reaches in to the open cockpit of her beat-up ride.

She pulls out a heavy looking handgun, and slaps a large magazine to the front of it, then spins it. The massive hand-cannon is lovingly referred to by Babs as her 'Groundhog'.

She marches back to where Grundy is in the 5th warehouse being shot at while his back sizzles with acidic welts forming, melting at his skin, his muscles, only to get regenerated again within moments, but the pain, the pain is still real.

"Ahhhhhh! Grundy hates... all of you!" The massive man shouts as he swipes his arm and knocks two more gunmen flying across the warehouse!

Its then that he hears Steph and he spins around to GLARE at her, with melted flesh of his own body rolling down his shoulders. "Wife... Grundy wife... Penny... Penny! They killed Penny!" He roars loudly, so very loudly...

And slams his hand down!

The knife handed woman fighting Colleen was right where Grundy slammed his hand down too. She was about to re-engage Colleen after saying something quippy at the white-dressed-ninja-woman. Utter confidence, a life time of trained skill, and a deadly power in the form of finger knives...

But when Grundy slams his hand down upon her, she is reduced to blood and guts, bones, and fragments of what once was. It's gruesome, and it happens right in front of Colleen's eyes...

BOOM! Babs fires the Groundhog hand-cannon, and it latches a large metal disc right in to the back of Grundy's melting grey skin! He roars in pain again, and the disc counter-launchers a chain in to the ground at Grundy's feet, locking him in place on the concrete floor of building 5!

For now... Grundy roars and starts to tug on the chain holding him in place!

Colleen Wing has posed:
There's nothing a Defender loves more than a one-shot fight scene in tight cramped spaces but this knife fingers woman has ruined that for Colleen. She rises back up slowly. Options are low - no sword - no hair thing - just this small knife when the other woman has ten knives. If only she were wearing the leather jacket.

"I don't suppose you want to talk this out?" Colleen offers and starts to circle. There is, at least, a distinct lack of gunfire from the first floor of building five now though.

And then Grundy splats the meta-human right before her eyes. The vita drains from Colleen's face as she witnesses the cold blooded evisceration of her would be enemy. That cold chill runs up and down her spine and she makes a move and runs to collect her sword and scabbard.

Rambling in Japanese, "Seirei ga watashi o mamotte kureru" she tries to get a beat on her adrenaline spike. That could have just as easily been her. But he's right here and what more can she do but engage the monster.

"Time for some pruning? no.. that.. that was a stretch. I should stick with my sword art instead of trying for quippy one liners like you guys do." Colleen moves in swiftly and cuts for the left arm. With Grundy pinned down as he is it's only a question of just how supernatural is this monster rather than how sharp her sword is.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Well, so much for trying a non-violent approach. Or at least, distracting him. Stephanie can't help but wince as the woman is crushed by Solomon Grundy.

Batgirl uses her comms, voice speaking so soft even she can't hear herself, but her subvocal mike picks it up.

<< Alright he is after a knife of some kind. Let's try to get to it before him and get it out of here to stop the killing. Oracle, can you pinpoint where in the building it might be somehow? Reinforced floors for a heavy safe or somewhere there are people staying back guarding it? >>

Batgirl shoots a grapple up to an upper floor window and is winched up rapidly. She busts through and then begins making her way through the building, looking visually for any signs of defenders who are holding back as if guarding something.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Since he can see that none of the weapons at his disposal really do anything to Grundy, Nightwing decides to turn his attention to the various gunmen throwing bullets around like confetti. He fires a grapple into the roof, then jumps down through the skylight, holding the line so that he starts swinging to the side instead of dropping straight down. When he judges the angle is right, he releases the line, somersaults through the air and ends his short flight by impacting one of the gunmen with two feet to the face.

    As he lands, he pulls both his batons from the resting places on his back and reaches down with one of them, presses a button and tazers the guy he just double kicked. He takes three running steps to the left, leaps across an empty aisle landing in a roll, comes up behind another gunman and jump kicks him in the head.

    When the guy falls, he pulls the trigger on his gun, which hits a metal shelving unit and ricochets into Nightwing's chest. He lets out a *umph* as the bullet impacts, but this would be why he wears armor. Only a few seconds are needed to get past the hit, then he's on the move again, switching his HUD to infrared to more easily spot the people among the various boxes and crates.

    << Ok folks, eyes open. Let's find this thing and get it away from all of them. >>

Austin Reese has posed:
They're after some kind of blade, that must be what they're searching for in the containers where Osprey has found himself pinned down by gunfire for a moment, <"I see several of them searching containers, so whatever that knife is, it's in this building. Any way to get into the shipping manifests?"> He throws a pair of batarangs around from the container he had been hiding behind, one at the guy who had just stopped shooting at him, and another at one of the men searching a container.

He ducks back behind the container he'd been using for cover, and throws down multiple smoke bombs to give himself concealment as he moves between containers, <"I'll try to stop the guys who're searching but if you can get me a location I'll grab it!">

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Colleen's attack with her well crafted sword slices right down in to Grundy's left arm! It is a strong attack, from a very sharp blade, and it goes right through the bone of the zombie-like monstrous man! He roars in pain, and rips that chain from the ground that Babs had latched on to his body. He swirls the chain around to strike it at both Colleen, and Babs, to cut them in half, or send them away!

Barbara ducks beneath it, crouching, her cape flaring out behind her, then she rises up just in time to roll away from another swinging strike from that chain that Grundy has repurposed in to a weapon!

"Shipping manifests should be in the main office of building five!" Babs shouts to her team mates. "You guys should be right near it, computer terminals should be in there!" She shouts to where Steph and Dick are located. A pair of Barbara's Bat-drones sweep around Building 5, their scanners looking inside what windows are on the building...

"Ausprey, be careful!" Babs shouts as two gunmen level their weapons behind the young Bat, firing at him! Babs throws a batarang right before she has to use her own grapple gun to retreat from Grundy's chain weapon attack once more!

With Babs up on the roof of Building 5 now, Grundy turns to stomp past Colleen, his shoulders shrugging as his left arm is half way on, and half way off, but visibly regenerating rapidly if one were to look closely!

Steph and Dick will come upon the computer room at about the same time, it being the room that the knife-fingered woman had left behind, prior to her fateful exploding...

Grundy seems to be searching building 5 now, mostly ignoring Colleen for the time being, as he drags that chain weapon behind him on the floor, with its metal spike sending sparks up in varying directions in its wake...

"Got, worse, on a friday...." Grundy moans in pain, and distress as he searches, while what is left of the Pittance security team is fleeing out side doors now!

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen dives out of the way as the chain comes slashing around back at them. She is counting her lucky stars because if she'd been any less efficient in the motion she'd be minced meat right now. Rising back up as the big man lumbers past she smiles:

<<"Good news, it looks like we might be able to slice and dice this guy...">>

Though the feeling of success starts to dwindle as she sees the way that arm is knitting itself back together. <<"On second thought, that's a negative on slicing up the supernatural monster...">>

She takes a moment to catch her breath and her nerves - this isn't like fighting the Hand. This is a whole different kind of game; one where you can go squish and die before you even have a chance to blink. How do the bats do this!?

Her eyes fall on one of the cranes used to move shipping containers about. <<"On third thought - I have a terrible idea...">> she hops to a run and races over to the machine with its giant hook on a chain. Two can play the chain game. She climbs up in to the cabin and searches around for the on switch.

The keys are in the dash - rookie mistake, but hey this is Gotham. She turns on the machine and the lights clunk to life. As the engine fires up she starts to fiddle with the controls until she realises how to work it, then she begins to swing the hook back and forth to build up momentum before giving the cabin a twist to send it hurtling towards the monster.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown heads into the computer. Thankfully they didn't think to lock the screen when the gunfire and shouting started, making accessing the shipping manifests that much faster.

Stephanie skims through, a finger moving rapidly across the screen keeping pace with her reading. << Ok found it I think. Building 4. Shipping create 15, in box 42. Osprey are you able to retrieve it? Need us to send you some backup? >>

Batgirl pulls a USB dongle out of her utility belt and then goes around to the USB port on the back of the desktop. She hooks it in there, where the Batcomputer will download all the contents, and stay connected until they notice it.

"I don't know what to do against Grundy," she says to Nightwing. "Think he can swim?"

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Nightwing heads for another computer and starts checking files, finally coming up with some info on the dagger.

    << The dagger is former GCPD evidence. One Cyrus Gold used it to kill himself back in the 40's. And... interesting. He worked for Pittance. >>

    He glances over to where Grundy is about to play crane tag with Colleen.

    << Hmm, this doesn't seem like coincidence. Everyone, find that knife. >>

    He also installs a Bat-Computer dongle in the back of his computer, then answers Steph with a question "Do zombies breathe?" Then he's scrambling up to the top of the shelving, jumping from one to the next until he's got an angle on Grundy again. Just for the hell of it, and to keep him distracted, he fires a tranq dart into the giant zombie then jumps to the next shelving unit.

Austin Reese has posed:
There's a brief warning from Babs, and it's enough for him to get back behind another box, but not fast enough as a round from one of the gunmen's SMG hits him in a plate, which thankfully doesn't penetrate. Still hurts like hell though.

He tosses a couple of small, glowstick sized flashbangs over the container, and when they go off in front of the two gunmen that had shot at him, he uses that opportunity to get away from where he had been in cover, hearing the announcement over the comms of the location of the blade they're looking for.

<"I wouldn't be opposed to some extra cover, but I think I'll be okay!"> He calls back to Batgirl over comms, as he mantles up onto a shipping container, throwing another batarang at one of the gunmen on the catwalk above as he quickly scans for the crate labeled 15. There's a guy still searching container 15, which doesn't give him much time. He launches himself into the guy, this time using the electrical charge in his gauntlet to send a jolt of energy through the searcher, taking him out with a single strike and leaving himself in front of the container, quickly digging through to try to find box 42 before he gets swarmed by any more gunmen.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With Dick and Steph locating the information within the small office room within building 5, Barbara uses her grapple gun to get over to building 4, where she ends up at one of the skylights, looking down at some of the gunmen running by down below, chasing after Ausprey no doubt... "I'm coming in." Oracle-Batgirl warns before she breaks the skylight and descends down toward the men with her bat-cowl flaring out around her!

Inside building 5 again, Grundy is roarring at Colleen creating that distraction! He catches the hook that swings on the arm of the crane, literally catching it as it was about to slam in to him, both of his hands gripping it while dragging that chain and spike behind him on the pavement of the warehouse.

He howls a grotesquely angry sound at Colleen before he throws the giant hook away, only to start to charge at her! Of course, this is when Dick's tranq dart hits him square in the back of the neck... it instantly slows him down, causing him to look up at Nightwing, as he reaches to pull the dart from his neck...

That hook comes slamming back toward the opposite direction from which Grundy threw it, and this time it impales him straight through his back! A loud crunch of bones, a gushing of foul fetid blood across the warehouse floor, and Grundy is 'hooked' by the crane...

Inside building 4, Ausprey finds the proper shipping crate, and the box within it. When he cracks it open, he'll see the dagger folded up in a old black polishing cloth. It looks brand new, but made well, made to last... though it has a strange ritualistic etching on its blade, and a bone-crafted handle, something about it feels 'wrong'.

Two men appear at the shipping crate, both leveling their guns at Ausprey, just as the young Bat grabs that dagger.

"We got him. We got the dagger too. Boss'll be happy." One of them says.

From the left, however, Babs sweeps in, her booted feet out, as she glides down from above, and rams right in to both of the men, sending them both toppling off to the ground, whilst she lands squarely atop one of them. She exhales, and looks over at Ausprey. "Get the knife to the others!" She shouts at him before punching the man she was atop of, as he tried to get up and out from under her! Babs jumps up and is rushed by the second man, a scrap breaking out behind the shipping container in building 4!

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Ha HA!," Colleen declares loudly as the hook swings to Grundy. Then her enthusiasm is deflated when he simply catches it, "Ahh.. dangit." Her eyes widen a touch when he starts to gallop toward her. That lumbering killer undead mass of whatever the heck he is.

Calculations are done - can she climb down fast enough to get out of the cabin before he gets to her? no.. so.. jump it is? to what? may be that stack of pallets? could she jump far enough to get in to the water. Wait, why is Grundy slowing down?

Then the hook comes swinging back to him and gets him right in the back. She winces a little and then looks around at the controls. "Up.. up, where are you up?" She pulls a level and the chain slackens. "Nope. Not you," she remarks, then pulls the opposite control and attempts to hoist the monster up in to the air.

<<"Please tell me someone has figured out how to make the dead go bac kto the grave because I'm not sure how much more this thing is going to tolerate us messing with it.">> Colleen cautions over the comms. She leaves the crane running, hoisting, and gets out of the cabin, climbing down.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    << I'm hoping that dagger is the key to our undead puzzle. Let's try and see if it does anything more permanent to him. >>

    He leaps a couple more shelves, then heads for the crane Colleen just left. Standing in the door, he reaches over to the controls and keeps the crane moving so that Grundy keeps swinging around, trying to keep him from freeing himself from the hook. Hopefully, this will give Austin time to get the dagger over here so they can try it on the zombie.

    << Ok Osprey, go all Walking Dead on him! >>

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey finds the dagger in the box and he pulls it out, turning around just in time to look at the two gunmen that have him dead to rights. He stops, trying to figure out a good way out of this, but thankfully doesn't need to, as Batgirl saves him from out of nowhere! He gives her a quick salute and then rushes out of the container, rounding the corner and heading back out of the front. Spotting Grundy, hard to miss at this point after all, he listens to the chatter and puts two and two together.

Zombies have to be killed by destroying the brain right? Osprey has consumed enough fiction to know the gist of it. Has to be some truth in the stories, right? That's what Balm told him once upon a time. So he goes for it, crossing the distance and moving with the dagger in hand stab it into Grundy. He's aiming for the head, but he's also trying to stab a flailing, injured, undead monster. So there's a great chance he might miss.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Grundy was hanging from the massive chain and cords of the crane when Dick resumed the swinging after Colleen wisely abandons it. HIs hands are upon the hook that is stuffed through his back, out his stomach, and up several inches. He's trying desperately to pull himself off of the hook, and it's working...

HE's nearly there, his huge body swinging side to side as the straggler members of his security team flee down below, running from the vengeance of the bats!

Ausprey arrives on the scene, right beside the dangling Grundy, and just as the young Bat-family member dives the dagger down toward his head, he looks over to the young man, his black eyes going wide as the dagger is plunged in to his grey skinned brow. It's a sickening feeling. One that Austin may never forget the sensation of. The dagger plunges through flesh, through bone, and in to brain. Dark fluids gush out of the wound, spraying out, and cascading down Grundy's head as the massive monster is swept away again, the crane sending his body off to the side where he starts to go limp...

From building 4, Batgirl is walking out of. She passes in to building five, and she witnesses the final motions from the 7-foot-tall creature hanging from the swinging crane chain.

She exhales, and lets her eyes roam around the warehouse. "Is everyone all right?" She asks, taking in the sight of Steph, Dick, and Colleen. She moves to Colleen to offer the woman a handshake. "Thanks for sticking your neck out on this one..." She tells the woman in white...

Outside the building, the sound of echoing chimes can be heard from a cathedral not far away from these old docks.

The chimes are ringing, again, and again.

It's midnight, and Grundy's body goes limp, as he sways back and forth at the end of that hook, chain and crane.

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen watches with fascination and horror as the creature finally succumbs to a dagger. A special dagger but that's an abject lesson in supernatural logic for her. She'll have to keep that in mind the next time one of those Hand guys comes back to life.

She arches her back with pain, those cuts from knife-woman smart. She smiles and shakes Batgirl's hand. "I did owe you a big one," she remarks but her eyes say otherwise - of course she's going to help. She's a Defender and the Birds are her friends.

"Hey - would anyone be interested in teaching me how to use one of those grappling guns? they look really really fun," she says even if she's moving a little stiffly after that fight. Her hair is down - she'll have to retrieve her hair pin before she leaves but at least her bike didn't get trashed on this mission.

Austin Reese has posed:
Austin's never actually killed anybody before, and he'll have to do his best to tell himself that this isn't killing someone either. Grundy is already dead, a corpse reanimated by magic.

That doesn't make it feel any less sickening when he feels that dagger plunge through flesh and bone and into the matter under it. He lets go of the blade and drops down to the ground, scrambling back a few steps, trying to forget the look Grundy gave him before that knife went in.

"So..So he's done, right?" He asks, trying to brush the blackish blood off of his glove, "No surprise post-credits sit up or anything, right?" Joking during a time like this is absolutely his coping mechanism.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    When he sees Austin approaching, Nightwing stops swinging Grundy around. The zombie is going to keep swinging like a pendulum, but at least he's not getting the added movement of the crane adding momentum. He jumps down from the crane, also heading over to Grundy. Just in case Grundy manages to make Austin drop the knife and it needs to be recovered, Nightwing puts himself in place nearby.

    At the same time, he's keeping an eye out for any remaining gunmen, such as the one hiding behind the shelves he just passed. It's the work of just a moment to dive headfirst through the shelves, somersault and kip up to his feet before driving two punches into his solar plexus and a third to his jaw, dropping him in place.

    Looking over to Austin, he sees Grundy's final(?) moments, so he flashes Austin a thumbs up and a "Well done", then starts zip-cuffing the various unconscious thugs for the police to find when they arrive.

    << Great work everyone. Osprey, make sure we hold on to that dagger. Never know when it might be needed. >>

    Moving over to the others he nods and says to Colleen "I'm sure Oracle can get you one, as a thanks for the assist. Oracle, do you want to keep the dagger at your place or in the Batcave?"

    He looks to Austin and shrugs, "Sorry, don't think we have any experts in the undead here, we just do what we can."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl smirks visibly at what colleen says before she looks over to Nightwing as he appears after taking out another hiding henchman. She nods once, regarding Colleen again. "You and Elektra both, for that matter. I'll show you how to use it, in ways that hopefully doesn't get you injured." She states with another quick grin.

With her hands at her sides now, her cape gently blowing in the snowy winds coming in from outside the gaping hole in the western wall of the building, Babs just watches Grundy swing.

"Uh, I'll let you take that knife to the Bat-cave. Tell Batman about it. I'm not sure if he's ever had a run in with this ... thing before. But yeah, as much as I like magic in my video games. I'll pass on having a magic dagger in the same place that I eat my Coco Puffs..." She can make quips like the OTHER Batgirl here too! Just maybe not as often...

With the reds and blues of arriving GCPD, the snowfall gets a little heavier outside, and things seem to be in order, with Grundy making no visible movements to get up suddenly and scare the camera.

For now...