13633/Winter Wonder Wasteland by Mr Freeze

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Winter Wonder Wasteland by Mr Freeze
Date of Scene: 26 December 2022
Location: GCPD Headquarters - Midtown
Synopsis: Mr. Freeze attacks Gotham with a blimp armed with freeze gas. Heroes rally to stop him from taking over the city.
Cast of Characters: Stephanie Brown, Talia al Ghul, Bart Allen, Meggan Puceanu, Audra Meridian, Cassandra Cain, Roberto da Costa, Caleb Dykstra, John Constantine, Franklin Spade, Jr




Stephanie Brown has posed:
Christmas Eve is about as magical of a night as Gotham tends to see. After a blizzard earlier in the week, a sprinkling of snow in the last two days has kept the city looking white and clean as the weather has stayed below freezing. People are out doing very, very last minute shopping, not deterred by the sun going down as they search out the stores that haven't already closed for the night. With the decorations that adorn the city streets, and that pure white snow, overall there is a sense of the holidays, a bit of good cheer for a town that needs it.

On the roof of the Gotham City Police Department headquarters, Commissioner Jim Gordon and a few other officers emerge onto the roof. "Yeah, not sure what company is behind it, but some kind of Christmas blimp holiday thing," one of the Commissioner's lieutenants tell the chief as he pulls on his coat and all of them start scanning the sky.

"There it is!" one says, pointing out a large white blimp drifting low over the city. The blimp is adorned with colorful strands of Christmas lights. Huge ones to be seen at this distance. And before long the policemen atop the headquarters can hear music playing from speakers underneath the blimp.

  Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?
  In the lane, snow is glistening
  A beautiful sight
  We're happy tonight
  Walking in a winter wonderland.

"Look," one of the officers says, pointing towards the front of the blimp as it turns, going past a skyscraper, heading towards the GCPD headquarters. "There's a platform on the front. Looks like they've got a Santa out there," he says.

Jim Gordon walks a few steps closer in that direction, looking up through the brisk evening air at the figure on the platform at the front of the blimp, definitely wearing a Santa hat.

Several sets of long pipes swing out from the blimp, extending to either side. A larger scale of the sprayers towed behind a farm tractor to spray large sections of a field. A white mist starts to spray from them. It hits a building that the blimp is passing over, and frost and ice immediately grow along the outside of the building, spreading downwards.

"That... that isn't Santa Claus," the Commissioner says slowly backpedaling as he gets a better look of the man in the Santa Hat.

"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! My favorite holiday, could you guess!?" Mr. Freeze shouted down to the police headquarters. "And this year I'm going to guarantee a very white Christmas!

From the sides of the blimp, henchmen on aerial cycles using some kind of hover fan technology fly out to flank and protect the blimp on all sides. Down on the streets, carloads of Freeze's men are helping themselves to expensive goods from the frozen homes and stores.

The blimp passes over the police headquarters, leaving nothing but ice in its wake. Commissioner Gordon frozen solid, his hand still on the lever that activates the Batsignal, having just managed to pull it as the freeze spray was hitting him.

The light shines into the sky, Batman's logo reflecting off the clouds above as the city calls for help!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
It's a quiet night for Talia Al Ghul. She's met with Phoebe over Balm's evening patrol and a rather incompetent robbery as far as Talia is concerned, even by Gotham standards. But still, she nabbed a lovely dress out of it so she's considering the matter even. Ther'es a small little scorch in her hair where a bullet zinged past and took out a few strands. So as she's walking along wearing some rather warm clothing (mostly to fit in, not as she needs them) she can only stare and look up and over into the air..
    "What matter of ridiculousness is this?" She moves to pull her jacket more tightly around herself while grumbling. "The holidays are always prone to this level of idiocity. What is that vaudeville reject going to do next?" She's staying out of the way of the bringer of the ice and trying to avoid immediate contact over with the men that are going to rob places. There's irritation on her as she just goes to try and get to a position she can watch.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen was at GPDHQ, not as Impulse but as Bart Allen Gotham Zoo employ. It seems someone tried too break into the last night and got stopped by Batman, though none of the hoods say the Masked Crusader all said they hear "I'm Batman" from a dark corner, and that is the last thing they saw. Since Bart was on duty he had to be the one to give his report, and has had to return tonight for more info. So, he is sitting at a desk as he sees the ice creeping around the room. He starts to vibrate in his chair to keep the ice from totally freezing him. Then once the ice has covered him from other's view there is a quick change and Impulse is stepping out from the ice block that was coating Bart. He rubs his hands over it melting it part way, and then moves to start on the others in the buildings. He starts with a couple older cops, and then works on older folks and kids first, the ones who might have lasting damage from the cold are getting freed first, He does have to limit his speed not wanting to shatter folks, but Snark has prepared the Flash family for nights like this.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Meggan would much rather be tucking her golden-haired daughter into bed than out and about, but life has other plans for the night. Business, not shopping, so it must be important to get her out of the House of Mystery. Warm air steams from her lips as she looks down at her phone, checking the address of her destination while another cheery carol proves much louder than the jazzy renditions streaming out of an Italian restaurant. The shadowy shape superimposed against the night sky requires a double-take to identify, and then a bit of scrolling.

<Anyone else seeing this?> She snaps a short video, plops it onto her socials, and waits. A relayed message to John echoes the same <Why is this here? Is it the Blitz 2.0?> Replies from Gotham start rolling in. Negative responses about being sealed in, then a photo of some goon punching through the front window and knocking over a Christmas tree like a rambunctious dog. Locations appalling close to home. The interdimensional home with a door a neighbourhood or two over is close enough! Her eyes narrow, and in the dead of winter, that's never a good sign.

Call it a plus that Batman isn't around the corner, no matter how positive their previous interactions. He might frown on the fact her appearance begins to change on the spot, hair going platinum blonde, eyes burning like icicles, skin morphing to nearly snow white. The winter-aspected fae scion doesn't have to worry about slipping on the ice when she floats across it, soundless in the gloom, to hunt down the first unfortunate to try and smash through a frosted doorway. Unfortunately, fear is just as sweet a Christmas Eve meal as joy.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Considering most of Gotham City's regular protectors are heroes relying on gadgets and wits rather than super powers like being able to fly, the henchmen on their aerial bikes probably think they're safe being all high and mighty.

So they might be a little surprised when the Batsignal flashing upon the sky draws the attention of more than just the Batfam from the other side of town and the form comes darting across the skies. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's not -that- high flying hero. Sure the flyer is wearing some blue but it's paired with twilight purple instead of red, and an elaborate winged jetpack on her back instead of a cape.

"Nice rides, boys. That's one way to beat midtown traffic. But," Windrose pulls up into a hover, at the same time engaging the projectors on her gauntlets to unleash a powerful surge of wind to knock one of the hoverbikers out of formation and wobbling erratically across the Gotham skyline.

"I think you need better air brakes!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Realistically there's a lot going on. Plenty for everyone to deal with, and there's a group of people kicking in the front window of a jewelry store partway down main street, not even bothering to wear masks that could be an issue. They're packing heat, which is ironic given the theme of the event.

They laugh, finding nice stuff in the window, but even they know that the real merchandise is deeper inside. So they vanish into the depths of Tilde & Sons Jewelers, and begin to look for the high priced stuff.

One, two, three, four, five, six of them enter.

A pause for dramatic irony, and then one of them re-emerges, skidding across the sidewalk. He doesn't look like it was a voluntary exit. Then another one comes out one of the only unbroken windows, landing heavily. Three, four, and five emerge shortly afterward, all in a group that falls over into a pile.

Number six comes out the second-floor window, landing in a trash can, and then? A butch looking asian girl walks out, dusting off her hands and pants. She looks up, nods to Meggan, and then looks up into the sky. No mask, she just kinda stretches and nods.

Apparently she's seen it, yes. But thanks for the update. Looks like Windrose is helping too.

Roberto da Costa has posed:
Roberto's Mom took the insurance money and some extra buying a brownstone close to the university, so not in the immediate path of danger. He is having dinner, beef wellington, mashed potatoes and balsamic glazed brussel sprouts. The china is out wine is poured, the table dressed in fine linens. Berto's Mom is the first to notice, "Oh dear! Berto, look what's going on, should you help?" She stands and walks over to a small balcony openibg the door to look out which lets in a blast of cold air.
    Berto stands and follows his Mother placing hands on her shoulders, enveloping her in warmth, "The rules are pretty strict, Professor even sent out a memo, avoid displays of power in Gotham."
    "But, Beto, all those people- "        "Will be fine, she's very well trained, they, they're very well trained." Berto eyes are watching the bimp, that's when Mom's phone statts to go nuts.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
And it's on this Christmas Eve that the Dykstras decided to come out and take in the time to enjoy the lights of Gotham and the Holiday festivities. Caleb smiles faintly as he gets to be away from the criminal element - plus his kid sister, Sheila, has a smile that just by itself could light up the whole of Gotham. His father, Preston, follows her pace as she just about zoots around from place to window shop to window shop.

"When can we get a puppy, Dad?", she asks.

Preston lowers himself to meet her eye to eye, patting her with a poorly-healed, misshapen hand. "Maybe one day, sweetie", he replies.

In the meantime, Caleb found himself staying behind as he notices the city lights have been complemented with the Bat-Signal. That's likely his saving grace, to be honest.

"Uhm, Dad...?", and he turns his head...

*SSSSSSHHHHHHHHWWWWWWOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!*

A huge spray of cold air and ice cristals cover the pathway in front of him, leaving both SHeila and his father locked in their position!

Something cracks inside Caleb, as the horror of his loved ones being iced! "DAD...!?? SHEILA!!", he runs to them. "OH GOD, NO! No no no no nonononono... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The blimp passes overhead in front of him, and a deep burning hatred fills him....

John Constantine has posed:
John Constantine stumbles out of a roof exit, cigarette in his mouth and eyes darting left and right. He clears his throat and then adjusts his tie, or rather loosens it. "Bloody hell, portal magic is the pits." He takes a long drag of his cigarette and then looks around.

For a few moments, he considers where he is, and then he lifts his hands and does a few slow motions with his hands, placing his fingers in a specific position, and then he lifts his hands higher.

And then, he "shoves" with his hands, pantomiming the motion.

A dozen or so bricks shoot out from the side of the building, catching one of the hovercycle riding goons Mr. Freeze has protecting the blimp.

"You blokes should reconsider afore the ball an' chain decides to go full winter on you."

Franklin Spade, Jr has posed:
    "Here in America, Christmas is all about family."

    Those were the words that had begun Franklin Spade Junior's most recent cross-platform video upload. For once, he'd managed to get all of his kids - his celebrity daughters Millennia, Mercedes and Mariana, and his son Franklin Spade Junior Junior (after shifting the little guy's scheduled therapy session to a later slot) to join him in wishing a Merry Christmas to Gotham, Metropolis, and America in general. He'd been feeling moved after the brush with danger that had threatened his son with an eternity in tinsel to do something... 'nice' for once. It had been his most liked post of 2022. He'd actually felt pretty good about it.

    Of course, his father had then reacted.

    RealFranklinSpadeSr: "Posts about family and doesn't even at me. What an ungrateful little turd"

    That, and the ensuing flame war between the generations of Franklin, had pretty much shot Frankie Jr.'s Christmas plans to shit. His son was with his mother who was with her new boyfriend, his girls were at his mother's place (and he sure as hell wasn't spending Christmas with /her/), and his dad had officially uninvited him from the Christmas Eve party at his place. It had felt like a relief at the time.

    Now, though, it's left the Spade scion at a loose end, browsing his socials on his phone as he sits in the aftermath of a Christmas Eve company party at SpadeTech when he comes across a rapidly virulent shot of a blimp over the GCPD building. Rising from his rolling chair, he runs over to the window and starts wiping a portal in the frozen conversation to see what's going on outside and spots the dirigible in the distance.

    "SYLVIA! Tell them to fire up the SpadeCopter!"

    "You mean the helicopter on the roof?"

    "...YES, of COURSE. Anyone interested in a Christmas bonus? I need to suit up, now...!"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
A cold wind picks up, stirring snow and only helping to spread the freezing gas that is being sprayed down on the city below. Above, the Batsignal shines on the clouds, the blimp gliding through the air as if in defiant mockery of the hero's symbol.

On a tall building ahead of the blimp, a figure steps out onto one of the gargoyle statues that adorn the building's corners. A black cape billows about the woman's purple and black costume with the distinctive bat-shaped ears.

Mr. Freeze spots Batgirl on her perch ahead of the blimp, and then turns to see Windrose, John Constantine and others engaging his airborne henchmen. "Excellent! I would be disappointed if I wasn't able to put some of the Bats on ice! Your eternally frozen and preserved body as a statue will be the perfect Christmas present for me to inaugurate my rule of the city!" he calls out to Batgirl.

Batgirl, the blond one not the redhead one, puts her hands on her hips. "Oh yeah? You and what army gonna pull that off?" No sooner has she finished shouting back than a trio of the hover cycles peel off in her direction. "Oh, that army," she says before diving off the building. The three hover bikes dive after her between skyscrapers as Batgirl shoots off a grapple and swings between the buildings, heading off to the side to avoid ending up beneath the blimp which veers her direction.

Mr. Freeze gestures to other henchmen whose hover bikes peel off towards the other heroes who have appeared to oppose him. As Batgirl swings away, she throws a pair of batarangs at one of the pursuing hoverbikes. They glide past to either side to lodge in the sides of the buildings, causing the henchman to grin. Only for him to find they were connected by a line which unseats him from the bike, leaving him dangling in the air from it as his bike slowly drops away to crash into the side of a building. The other aerial bikes give chase and one begins to open fire with a machine gun mounted on its nose!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
She can hear the monologuing of Mister Freeze rather well. Hmmph. What's next, he's going to go on about how he'll bring a new ice age just like the one that killed the dinosaurs? Talia stays out of the way of the henchmen that are going around lootinga nd goes into cover. Making sure to stay well away from the looting going on. And the henchmen start popping out ice skates to maneuver better nearby on the frozen ground because of -course- they are.
    Talia goes to clamber along a rooftop, heading to a clear vantage point where she watches Freeze start to narrate. She's ducking down close to cover so as to not be engaged or hopefully sniped at. With this many metahumans about this fight is going to be far too chaotic for her to od much fo anything. She's not piped into anyone's comm-net so she can't coordinate. There are too many individuals around to flee, hostile or neutral. Oh what a lovely way to spend her evening.
    She moves to hunch down over behind a rooftop grate and just lets out a sigh while looking down for a moment through the glass skylight to see if there's any sort of possible cover in there. Wait, why is she seeing reflection..
    Wait, there's another skylight down there. And.. More squinting reveals a third skylight. This building is ridiculous even by the standards of GOtham's neo-noir architecture.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen continues making his way through the police station, when he gets to able bodied men, he makes sure to thaw at least one guard per 2 civilians/crooks, unless the crooks are behind bar. He does stop for a moment, and rubs his hands over the coffee machine to thaw and then heat the coffee, A couple cups to warm him up, and then each person he warms gets left with a cup of coffee. When he had another two dozen or so done, he makes a stop in the breakroom this time for hot coco, and passing it out after drinking a pot or so, and back to thawing people which is soon to bring him to the roof, but not quite yet.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Windrose turns to one of the other hoverbikers... only to have it go down as one of the dozen bricks hurtling through the air smashes into the side of the craft. Okay, flying debris is nothing new to her, but she didn't do that trying to play tornado. A glance in the direction it came from and all she sees is a man with a trenchcoat and a lit cigerette on the rooftop. Not sure if he had anything to do with it.

Nor does she really have time to think about it as Mr Freeze orders more of his air riders to get on her case while monologuing at Batgirl. "This guy is a master of the cold reception." Windrose turns her attention to the hoverbike goons circling her. Puts a hand thoughtfully to her chin. "Considering who you're working for I'm going to assume these bikes are designed to handle extreme cold. Are they electric? Maybe nuclear, that'd be very evil genius."

"Of course they're electric you super broad!" one of the goons snaps back at her. "Gasoline would freeze in extreme cold!"

Windrose smirks at the outburst. "All I needed to know." A few sparks arc as she snaps her fingers, and then points her gauntleted hand to unleash a bolt of electricity to short out the bike and force it out of the air. "Lets see how well you ride the lightning!"

She's being careful to not just blast them recklessly and send them crashing into causing more collateral damage. Especially with a big portion of the city below being frozen and thus more fragile. Just forcing them to land or otherwise abandon the disabled vehicles.

Roberto da Costa has posed:
%~ is sticking to the shadows. It's easy when your power makes you vanta black. He also has the almost perfect powerset for the situation. Flight for mobility, strength for dealing hooligans, blasts to counter range attacks and thermokinesis just on principal. He focuses on his Moms friends and collagues darting across the city, opening frozen doors coated in ice. Thawing fire hydrants for fire fighters. Facing down hooligans as an avenging angel of darkness. Okay, they may have a degree of underlying presumptions that work in his favor but he's pressing the advantage.
    Then one of the goons catches him with an ice blast and the cold that travels down that arm gives him pause, until he literally shakes it off and counters with a plasma blast throwing the whole group back against a dumpster, "Actually slowing brownian motion... that is vicious."
    "I told you the bat had powers?!" "No freaking way!" Two bystanders get into a heated argument over the newcomers identity. Leaving Berto to sigh as he rockets skyward, "Dddaayyuuumm, he can fly?!""#%~|+}" Yep, this is gonna end badly. Berto pulls put his phone and pulls up a contact listed only as X, texting "In town, helping out, tell boss don't taze me."
    Message sent Roberto heads off towards the blimp at the center of this. Sniping the cold raiders as he goes.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Given the chilly conditions, only appropriate for Meggan to cue up proper music. Bjork's "Army of Me" tingles alive from her phone at an audible volume that stands out from the blimp-blasted Christmas carol. The relentless stomping beat rolls out ahead of her, echoing off the brick and concrete facades that John decided to rearrange. "Shows me London was the better choice after all, innit?" A twist of contempt bleaches the innocuous statement, dripping daggers behind every frost-licked syllable. "Still time to have a little fun before turning in, you figure? Like when we were dating."

Several more bodies plowed through a window add to the score of henchmen in a bad state. Cassandra's impressive display earns a curling smile, though with her frost-bright eyes, Meggan's expression can hardly be called sweet. She tilts into her Unseelie side, breathing in and blowing a kiss off her pallid fingertips. Bestirred air springs eagerly to the call, whirling around her and springing off to circle Cass like very eager wolves.

The other currents roar upwards in chaotic patterns, following the whims and chaotic intentions of the Unseelie woman calling on them. Hovercraft and blimps both require a smooth airmass to safely operate, and she doubles up on Windrose's efforts in a different way to completely dismantle a normal playing field by tossing it like a storm.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass is watching the most random thing, as Gotham is not only engaged in broad daylight, but heroes are out and about much the same. It's bit of a weird day, if she's being honest with herself. She doesn't even stand out. Random asian chick isn't even noticeable. So she wanders over toward Meggan a bit, nodding again but not saying a word.

At least not out loud. She's giving subtle body signs, and she lifts her right hand to give it a little inquisitive twist, asking if the lady is alright. She smiles at the music, bobbing her head appreciatively (sounds dance-able), then gives John a little wave of welcome.

It's odd, but she seems quite comfortable. Not only with the newcomers, but in general.

Then? Her hair lifts first, her eyebrows an instant afterward - surprise rather than flight. Then she's buffeted, and gently lifted up. With a gasp of delight, she lifts into the air, passing right through one of those icey blasts, and with the warmth of the blessed winds, spins in the air in a softened twirl. Just for the joy of being able to do so.

She's placed down on the deck of an entryway to the blimp then, landing in Releve ballet posture. Perfection. But with a salute to below, and a grin to Steph and the passing Roberto, she opens the door and steps inside.

A moment later a thug's face slams into the window, then slowly slides downward toward the floor. I think she's alright, but the icey goons might be in trouble.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
As Caleb looks on and spots the blimp, two of them acatually break their formation to continue spreading the Christmas cheer through the street - which means, using some light versions of Freeze's ice gun, which they start to fire to hit on more people. Now, it pays to be an unwilling henchman to a mob boss; this means you need to learn how to use some guns. Also there's the Gotham Factor: in a city full of crime, you really only get to feel safe is if you have one that works. That brings us back to the young man, who pulls one out of his pocket as he runs for cover and...

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Bulets begin to connect with the hover cycles, with their weapons... And with the pilots! One of them is hit in the head, so much so that he clutches it numbingly, and falls from the cycle, which lands and slides across the ice-filled road. The other henchman gets his cycle hit in the engine, which spurts fire and veers and crashes.

"Motherfuckers!", Caleb curses, his words spat in disgust.

He looks at the cycle, then the blimp, then to his frozen family. "I'm gonn be right back, guys", he mutters, "Just hold on a little longer!"

He gathers the gun from the downed henchman, and tests it. The henchman now a popsicle, he works out the controls for that hover cycle, looking at the blimp with an expression of pure rage. Oh, Freeze is gonna get his; it's a /promise/!

John Constantine has posed:
By the time Cassandra is waving at him, John's winking back and then watching his baby momma head for the blimp. "There she goes," he says, taking a long drag of his cigarette. He leans in, boot to the edge of the roof, and then watches one of the hovercycles come back around to try to get him for nailing his buddy.

From his coat, he pulls out a flask. But this isn't a normal flask. No sirree. It's a flask made of large scales.He takes a long drink of it and then sniffs a little, ashing his cigarette and holding it up in front of him...

... and then he _blows_, letting out a plume of draconic fire that catches the hovercycle and immediately starts to melt the thing, causing the rider to leap off of it. The cycle doesn't even make it to the next roof over, it just _evaporates_.

John spits on the floor. "Yeugh."

Franklin Spade, Jr has posed:
    There's the steady -thud-thud-thud- thrum of an approaching chopper in the airspace above the police station, flying over the city's buildings.

    Inside the cabin of the SpadeCo helicopter, a man in a brown genuine buffalo leather trenchcoat and red-lensed gas mask looks out over the scene unfolding ahead and below.

    "You want us to fly into -that-, boss?" the copilot asks, glancing over his shoulder back to the cabin with a questioning look.

    "Well, what else do you expect me to do? Walk?!" The gas mask muffles the boss's voice as he retorts, checking his equipment - what looks like an oversized futuristic handgun, and a high-tech-looking bludgeon. The latter hums and rattles with potential as he briefly activates it.

    "Hey! Don't go activating that willy-nilly," Sylvia Stover, a young woman in a faux-fur-lined jacket (and the engineer behind the device) warns the gas-masked man from the seat beside him.

    "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that /you're/ the boss, now. I should have remembered that just because I own the damn company doesn't mean I'm at the top of the chain of command. Sorry if I was oppressing you with my toxic masculinity, Sophia."

    "It's Sylvi-"

    Suddenly, the helicopter jostles, cutting the conversation off as its occupants cling to what they can.

    "We're gonna have to keep circling here, boss - too risky to try to get any closer yet," the pilot calls back.

    "Oh God, I think I just threw up in my mask," the man in dubious charge groans.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Mr. Freeze has to grab hold of a railing around his platform as the blimp suddenly starts to skew sideways, buffeted by the winds that Meggan Constnatine is throwing up at the blimp. It takes one of the hover cycle riders pointing down for him to locate the cause of the disturbance.

"Drop a glacier on her!" he calls over to two of his henchmen, whose hoverbikes turn in the air and then are propelled forward in Meggan's direction. One aims at a building that towers above her and shoots some sort of canon at the building's corner. Frozen concrete crumbles and sheers off, huge slabs falling towards not only Meggan, but bystanders who are nearby to her!


Batgirl nears the top of her swing and then pivots and shoots another grapple the way she'd come, between the two hover cycles. As she passes by they show how nimble they are, seeming to make sliding turns in the air as they come about to chase her.

A message shows up in the corner of her cowl's lenses that cover her eyes. "Thank god, could use a little help," she says as she sees Roberto's message.

Any further thoughts are cut short as that machine gun is brought to bare on her again. Rather than risk them hitting people in the surrounding buildings, Batgirl lets go of her line and plummets, rolling onto her back as she grabs a launcher from her utility belt. As the bikes pass overhead, she shoots a little pellet that sticks to the bottom of one. A touch of a button and the tiny charge detonates, sending the hoverbike smoking and plummeting to make a crash landing which the henchman survives.


Meanwhile, the blimp is continuing on if having great difficulty steering with Meggan's winds. Up ahead is one of the tallets apartment buildings in Gotham, a hundred families celebrating Christmas Eve inside, many at the windows now watching that wall of freeze gas approaching.

On the street more goons are breaking into stores, grabbing the money from the registers or taking jewelry and other expensive goods. Those fighting them on the ground draw their attention, more closing in on the heroes! And up above, John Constantine's bout of fire has drawn Mr. Freeze's attention himself.

He pulls his famed freeze ray where it was strapped to his back. Far more powerful than the ones on the hover bikes, he points it at John and the building he's on, aiming to send John back to the ice age!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
There's obviously a boarding action going on the blimp. It looks like Gotham's going to be blown with hot air just like it's election season. Talia Al Ghul goes to watch the ensuing events. The melee. The beating. Batgirl having a no holds barred brawl with her greatest nemesis, gravity. She can barely track what's going on up in the air or on the ground. The situation is well in hand. Which makes it very casual. She goes to watch the fighting spreading over the ground, keeping passive track as best she can of the metas in the melee. Always useful to have data..
    And where is Freeze getting all these minions? HE doesn't normally hire this many. Ah well. She's not in the middle of it all.
    Talia goes to hum to herself as the blimp heads towards a building, while humming 'dut dwee.. Dut dut dut dwee dwum dway' casually while she's enjoying not being caught up them. A hand goes to a pocket, pulling out a small goblet and then a small bottle of wine which she goes to pour over into it. IT's raised up over in a casual salute over to the theatrics in progress. Whomever said one can't have lovely presents for the holidays?

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen makes it to the roof, and thaws out the commissioner and the others on the roof. He stands with a foot on the side of the building striking his best "Bat Person" pose. He starts down the side of the building but hears Gordan say something and unlike the Bat, he pops back up, and says "No Problem sir, all in a days work." And then back over the side of the building and he starts pouring on the speed, down one street, and up another. He is running his hands along the sides of buildings as he is trying to transfer as much friction heat to the surrounding buildings and streets as he can.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
There's radio silence from inside the blimp, as far as Cassandra goes. Which is to be expected, though she does manage to glance out a window and catch Stephanie's awesome shot. She grins, then goes back to what she was doing, shoving a technician back into the closet she'd just pushed him into, while two others bear down on her.

She leaves the window then, and what happens next is ...well, suffice to say it is not combat.

A few moments later she passes by another window, this time carrying a few ice guns she's picked up in transit. A door opens and she spritzes a guy in the arm, not pausing in her stride, and wanders out of sight once more.

Realistically they should have had better security for anyone who got inside.

The oncoming helicopter gets a look, though, and the upcoming building. Hrm. I MIGHT want to go a little faster, here.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Unlike the hoverbikes and blimp Windrose doesn't need 'smooth air' to fly. That and she has experience in dealing with rough atmospheric conditions, noticing the rough winds abruptly buffeting around them and adjusting her own systems to compensate. The hoverbikes are scattering, the blimp is unstable... but that isn't stopping it from releasing more freeze gas even as it's drifting through some of the higher end high rises of the city. "Sorry boys, playtime is over. I've got to do the stormchaser thing now." She makes a mock salute, before engaging all her flight vectors and blasting off to get ahead of the blimp and the wall of freeze gas. While not one of the fastest of fliers she is highly mobile in doing so, and has an easier time maneuvering than the blimp does to allow her to overtake it's position and get closer to the gas cloud, which is where she arcs down closer to the pavement

Fists clench, both Galeforce Gauntlets revealing additional air manipulation arrays and thermal conductors and Windrose disengages some of the restraint systems that help keep her tech operating at a controllable level. As soon as she touchs ground she turns and plants her feet, lifting up her arms. "Stand back people, we're might be reliving the Polar Vortex!" She fires, and between the wind power she's generating and the gas in the air it's easy to see the spirals of current forming, as Windrose makes a large cyclonic funnel and directs it upward, attemping to blow the freeze gas away into the upper atmosphere where it won't do so much harm to the city infrastructure.

Roberto da Costa has posed:
Roberto da Costa comes out of the night sky spraying fire like an old timey fighter plane. The crazy gusts making staying on target difficult, but Roberto manages to fight the winds, he sighs as these things that are too big to lift keeping running into other things. Roberto starts to target things that look important, engines, directionals, gas tanks, batteries with fire. Targetting one side of the ship hoping it will turn.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Were it a balmy summer day, Meggan wouldn't think twice about rescuing civilians from falling rubble and icy peril. Heroics to defend Gotham and beat back those foes comes as second nature in July.

A withering look flashes towards Mr. Freeze closing in on John, but only a delusional romantic with a death wish tangles with the Hellblazer and expects to come out with the upper hand. Still, her eyes flash, her body momentarily turning as translucent as a still winter lake in the frigid north when she adopts a form of High Winter to better coax and control the elements under December skies. She goes aloft, already semi-transparent but her hair a ripple of iridescence bright enough to act like the Northern Lights in lurid green and cyan tones, to meet the hoverbike riders and the crumbled facade coming down on her and others.

Force ripples in a blast wave from her hands to deflect the crashing chunks against a concave dome. If she can net the blocks, she pulls them together into an accreted mass like the ugliest boulder or wrecking ball east of the Narrows. A cobbled bag she swing back at the riders to demobilize their bikes or possibly let them meet several tons of frozen concrete personally.

If a flying plastic Mary statue should happen to hit Mr. Freeze, chalk it up to providence.

Air is already tossed in wild upheavals, and Windrose's tech makes further demands. One streaming current still holds Cassandra aloft as long as she needs it, losing some of its momentum.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
No time for training on hover cycles, but no time to waste, either!

Caleb finds himself smirking as he notices that the blimp itself is being attacked in retaliation. And that he'll soon join the group reinvigorates him in his determination. After two buttons pressed, and one pedal to the medal, the youth finds himself airborne, gun in hand as he begins to shoot at whatever minions he finds flying around in the sky.

The biggest difference is that, unlike the Bat-Family, he doesn't care if these guys make it - it's payback, after all!

Flying behind one of the henchmen, a well-timed jump towards this one's cycle surprises the guy. "W-wha...? And that is followed by the sound of a shot to his back; the guy screams in pain, but it's short-lived. He's not thrown out of the newly-acquired cycle, though; instead, Caleb uses the guy as a human shield, taking over the controls.

"Alright, you fucking popsicle. Time for you and me to have a little chat." And he steers the cycle.

Full speed.

Towards the blimp's large window.

Aimed straight at Freeze.

There's a huge shout of resolution and unrestrined anger that echoes through the night air...

John Constantine has posed:
That same henchman that dove off the hovercycle John melted has got himself up and is heading for John, fist clenched and gun in the other hand. He raises the freeze gun at John.

John shakes his head and tsks. "Mate, don't be an idiot." The freeze blast comes at him and he drops to the side and rolls, skidding to a stop on his scuffed shoes. Rising up, John smacks the freeze gun out of the goon's hand and then cocks his shoulder back, slugging the henchman across the jaw.

He takes a deep breath and looks around, patting himself down until he finds his smokes and can tap one out. "Now if I were a bad, bad man, I'd sick my kiddo on all you hooligans. Cuz I had to skip her bedtime story tonight for this, an' she's 'bout as forgivin' as karma."

Franklin Spade, Jr has posed:
    The helicopter continues to hover, banking and circling at something like a safe distance.

    "Yeah, whatever's generating those winds seems to be below us," the copilot reports as he looks out the front windshield.

    "Alright. Gonna take us up higher, Mister Spade," the pilot tells their boss. "It's too risky to hang around this low in these conditions."

    "It's Mister Badass when I've got the mask on, Barney, and no, no NO godDAMMIT! You've got to take us in! Take us down!"

    "Sorry, Mister Badass, but I can't suspend safety protocols," the pilot says as the chopper starts to rise.

    At just about that moment, an upwardly-redirected spray of freeze gas envelops the helicopter, leaving the windshield covered in ice, and the rotary blades slowly start to grind toward a halt.

    "Oh, shit," the pilot says.

    "Oh, -shit-," Franklin echoes as the chopper starts to lurch, then descend in a barely-controlled near-dive.

    "Looks like we're in for a rough landing," the pilot warns the cabin.

    "Or we might be about to die," the copilot adds, pessimistically.

    "I am NOT gonna die in a freakin' helicopter crash!" Mr. Badass declares as he undoes his safety harness and pushes himself up to his feet, staggering toward the side door of the chopper and opening it. "Sorry, chumps. I'll make sure your insurance policies are honoured," the gas-masked man assures his employees, saluting with his over-sized sidearm before jumping out of the cabin door.

    "Oh, God," Sylvia starts to breathe rapidly as Franklin Spade Junior disappears into the darkness of an alley with a clang barely audible above the sound of the helicopter's stalling motor... moments before the chopper's blades start to whirr back to life.

    "Oh, looks like the weight differential mighta fixed something," the pilot says as one of the chopper's struts knocks the superfrozen signal light atop the station loose to roll before crashing down to the ground below, causing the helicopter to jerk precariously for a moment before rising back into the air.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl swings around the corner of a building. The remaining hoverbike blazes forward after her. It goes around the corner and the pilot can't see any sign of her. He looks around, swiveling his head and turning the bike.

Not seeing the patch of darkness that detaches from the building two floors above him. The batwing shaped cape flares out as Batgirl lands on the bike behind him, jabbing a taser into him to knock him out.

It takes her a few seconds to get a handle on the aerial vehicles controls and then she's dropping the pilot off on a rooftop, and heading for the blimp itself!

Sunspot is doing a fine job of stalling the blimp's progress towards the large building. The blimp is getting more difficult to control, between the loss of equipment and the heavy winds from both Meggan and Windrose.

Mr. Freeze lets out a frustrated cry. "You fools do not understand the beauty and the power of pure ice. But I will show you!" he shouts as he unlimbers his own freeze ray and turns to blast it towards the approaching cycles of Batgirl and Caleb. The blond heroine dips the bike low then comes up from beneath the platform at the front of the blimp on which Mr. Freeze is standing. A blast of the freeze ray hits the bike and she leaps for the platform, just barely getting hold with one hand, dangling from it.

Mr. Freeze's course laughter fills the air as he moves towards her, intending to stomp on her hand with the boot of his oversized environmental suit!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
You really have to appreciate a guy who can jump out of a helicopter like that, though Cass herself misses the moment. She's outside the door to the...cabin? No, that's not the word. The cockpit? No, that's ...gross. What do you call the place you steer these blimps from?

Right, sorry. She's outside the dirigiblesteeringplace and pressed to the door, listening for a moment. Before crashing in, and then...

Cass smashes out the window, thrown into the air, a killing distance above the ground. It did not look like it was a voluntary exit. While the guy in the powered armour who was guarding the CONTROL ROOM stands there, flexing his hydraulic arms and legs, waiting for another try.

The wind that Meggan gifted her with helps push her back, so she can glom onto the side of the ship, but damn. Could use some help here.

The steering wheel spins freely for a moment though, the dirigible becoming more susceptible to 'forced redirection'. Guy's dealing with Cass instead of steering the thing!

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Caleb Dykstra's cycle is his hit by one of Freeze's cold blasts, and that is enough that is doesn't hit the villain straight on. Using the downed henchman as a shield - as was his plan from the start -, he is kept safe from the full blast. He crashes through the side window, jumping and rolling out of the cycle as best he can. Oooomph! His lung hurts, now! His mind races back to then he suffered a collapsed lung some years back.

'Oh, no... Not now!'

He painfully gets up, apparently ignored by Freeze. His lung is burning.

He aims that gun. "Hey, Iceborg!" Cocks the trigger. "You don't fuck with my family!" And he starts to fire at multiple points in the suit - wherever he feels like it might be a week spot, really.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Looking up and into the air, Talia Al Ghul takes a sip of her wine. Watching the blimp and the chaos, musing over.. "Well, this is a most delightful evening." Whomever said that they couldn't have nice things in Gotham? She's gotten a new dress, she's getting to watch the most amazing entertainment she's had in ages.. THe evening is going well. She goes to reach over to feel around one of her pockets.. Oh, even better!
    taking out some very high end chocolate in her other hand, Talia goes to take a small nibble of it. Sighing appreciatively as it would melt over against her tongue. Raising it over in salute to the cactophony. Not wanting to get in the way of the love affair between Stephanie and gravity.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Windrose is directing the freeze gas away from the streets and making flying the blimp rough alongside the other windy disruptions, though the strain on her equipment is getting to be obvious as glowing greebles of her gauntlets start to flicker and thrum loudly.

The is also the fact that she's on the ground, and focused mainly on the action above her. Meaning on of the few remaining Freeze goons on the ground is able to get up behind her. First a few sneaky steps, and then leaping onto her back, trying to wrestle her wind projection away from blasting the blimp. "The boss will pay me some cold hard cash for stopping you!"

"Really?" Windrose grunts, surprise at being jumped overridden by annoyance. "That's stretching it for cool puns." She twitchs just enough to engage the trigger for her backpack, causing the stabilizer wings to pop up and out, breaking the man's grip on her from behind. Then she turns, pointing one arm at him just long enough to unleash a an burst to block him back into the wall. "Now where was I.. oh, right. Making this crime scene a blowout!"

With her wings already redeployed Windrose takes back to the air, generating a more focused stream of air pressure to help push the blimp away from the city. "Leave it to the supervillains to never put their toys away."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen has been trying to defrost the city, and now that the blimp is in bad shape he takes a moment to look up at it, and he spots a familiar face hanging on "On my way C." Is said over the com, and then the blur of lightning that is Impulse is heading towards the tallest building that is near the blimp. He runs straight towards it, and then straight up the wall of it. The blur is moving up the wall sparks reflecting off the mirrored windows, and then one he is at the same level as the blimp, he jumps off letting his momentum carry him over to scoop the deadly woman from her perilous handhold, offering her a smile "Funny we keep meeting like this." He jokes as he hits another building and is running down the side of it, soon as his feet get traction to get them to the ground and set her down on her feet.

Roberto da Costa has posed:
Roberto da Costa lands with a soft thud behind Victor, "Dr. Friese this has to stop." Freeze never really faced cold resistant fliers especially one that can due the next trick, Berto places a hand on freezes armor and drops the temperature, then reversing by pushing energy back into the system, heating the armor quickly until alarms sound and the faceplate cracks. Doesn't it always? Then there's the gunfire, Freeze blocks most if it, til a rocochet grazes Berto's shoulder. He cries out dropping to a knee. But reaching out for Batgirl with his good arm, "You didn't tell me you got a promotion at work." He remarks drily, "Merry Christmas."

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Meggan deposits the pile of broken debris a bit carelessly in the middle of the road, and the disorganized mass falls apart without force bands holding it together. Dust kicks up when the nearly unseen woman rockets up into the sky to meet the battle head-on, her arms swinging up over her head in a directed point. Mist boils out of the way, hinting at her transparent silhouette for mere seconds.

"You great bellend," her voice roils in sharp retort, "I'm made of ice. Since you've gone and cackhanded it, shall we show you?"

The assumption of the plastic statuette of the Virgin is purely incidental, caught up in the iridescent jet stream headed for the blimp.

Riding Audra's wind comes plenty easy as she practically blends into it, accelerating into the vortex and driving her hands into the envelope where it joins with the rudder. Her trajectory is steep, almost seventy-five degrees, using a severe inclination to drive the dirigible upward with her while giving the others who need to escape a chance to do so.

It's bound to cause some jostling what with a rather large sack of gas being struck by the elemental Tuath head on, and the moving air column. Meggan doesn't require jet fuel; she has Christmas cookies.

Franklin Spade, Jr has posed:
    It's not been often that Franklin Spade has been known to intentionally put his patrilineal inheritance to the test. First off, like anything that he gets from his father, he doesn't trust it. Second off, the improbable capability of somehow coming out on top of any given conflict with the laws and forces that govern the natural world that Spade possesses doesn't necessarily mean that he will come out the other side with his person or his dignity entirely intact.

    Climbing out of the open dumpster he's landed in, Mister Badass groans behind the gas mask that now seems to be doing more to hold in unwanted gaseous elements than hold them out.

    "Definitely puked in it, now," he grunts as his boots drop to the asphalt beneath them, rotten fruit and vegetables falling off of his genuine buffalo leather trench coat as he steps stiffly away from the mouth of the alley. He reaches a gloved hand up to lift a banana peel off of his head and toss it over his shoulder. The other pulls his Mace up from the top of the mulch in the dumpster. He looks up at a sign indicating that the shop he's standing next to is a Vegan Co-Op.

    << Cindy, post on my Twitter. 'Only time I'm gonna say it /ever/ all caps. Thank God for vegans, end post.' >>

    << Boss? You're still alive? >>

    << Wait, /you're/ still alive? Hang on, some douchebag on a motorcycle's going past. >>

    A Freeze goon on a hovercycle is riding by, low toward the ground, either fleeing the scene or reinforcing somewhere. Either way, he has the misfortune of being recognized as a bad guy by Frankie just in time...

    *WHUMP*

    ...for the Mace of Spades to slam full force into his ribcage, sending him flying half a block in the opposite direction as his hovercycle skids to a stop along the ground.

    "Happy holidays, asshole."

    Mr. Badass trudges over to where the high-tech vehicle has come to rest and peers down at it through expressionless red lenses.

    "Thanks, cupcake," he says, before speaking into his transceiver once more.

    << Hey, Cynthia. Merry Christmas. I just got us a new toy. >>

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl is helped up onto the platform by Sunspot. She gives him one of her warm, goofy smiles. "Yeah, well I don't like to brag," she replies to him as she turns towards Mr. Freeze. He's stomping about, the impact of the bullets on his suit, and what Sunspot has done to his environmental suit causing him a fair amount of pain as it starts to struggle to keep his temperature frosty.

There's a *shtick* sound as Batgirl's bo staff elongates and she slams it into his back as hard as she can. He pitches forward while the tank on his freeze ray breaks, turning the platform into an icy surface.

"Guess you learned better than to try those heat-seeking mines on me this time," she says, whapping him in the back of the head with the bo-staff. "But we'll be happy to get you back into your cell in Blackgate. At least this time don't have to extradite you."

Batgirl looks to the X-man. "Last time I caught him was on a train in Russia. Where he was Joker's patsy."

Mr. Freeze raises a hand and starts to complain, earning him another whap in the back of the head. "Patsy, I said!" she exclaims. And then has to grab hold of the railing as the blimp lurches and starts jetting skywards. "Ok Sunspot, time to get off this ride." She looks to Caleb as she picks up Freeze. "Can you fly all of us?"

Audra Meridian has posed:
Windrose is pushing the limits of her gear at this point. But the blimp is already floating up up and aware so she gives it one more good burst of air for extra measure then lets her gauntlets shut down before they entirely fry their systems from all the constant hard work. "If anyone is still on this thing, now would be a good time to get off," she shouts. "It's only going to get colder the farther up it goes!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra Cain stands on the ground, set there by her fellow Outsider. She grins, watching things go weird up there, and gives the guy a hug.

She went through all that place, and really didn't accomplish a thing. Nothing, she got into the control room and immediately got tossed right out the window. Waste of time, useless. Worthless.

But, you know, if she'd managed to, say, get a hand on the throttle at the time she was passing by? If she'd managed to stick it to full-power, and aim it upward?

You know, that might not be completely nothing after all.

Do these things go to the top floor?

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Meggan continues pushing that blimp and all its riders through the atmosphere, going higher than the average commercial windbag that isn't flying first class. Sunspot snatching up the more vulnerable heroes is a good thing, and she counts them all off, one by one.

Mr. Freeze not responding to her retort isn't unexpected, and his departure can and will slow her acceleration.

At this point, it's just joyriding. Or Grand Theft Blimpo.

John and she still have to put out presents, sneak a stocking past their sleeping imp, and actually gift the House of Mystery itself so she doesn't feel left out. The house is a lady; she mustn't be scorned.

The speed of the ascending blimp grows considerably faster, distorting the envelope as the gasses protest, but she has places to be, things to do, Nergal to terrorize with sunny charm, and a rebellious fae king kidnapping young women to stab to his throne. Again. It's a holiday custom.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Caleb Dykstra steps forward, aiming the gun at Freeze. "Oh, fuck Blackgate!", he exclaims. "Guys like these get out, turn the whole city upside down!" His eyes are becoming a tear-holding red. "This fucker just murdered my family!! They're frozen solid in pack ice!!" He aims his gun again at Freeze, "For once - just /FOR FUCKING ONCE/ - I'd like to see some real justice grace the streets of this fucking hellhole, for a change!!"

His hands finally begin to shake from the adrenaline. "Lemme have him... Just lemme have, please...!" And his tears finally start to come out.

What's he going to do now?

Roberto da Costa has posed:
Roberto da Costa grabs Freeze by the back of his suit, like a wayward Cat and motions for Steph to put her arms around him. smiling sadly, "Sir, she's not dead, but Freeze is the only one who can thaw her properly. We need to go before we all die." Berto offers his hand and once everyone is aboard he descends back towards Gotham.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The blimp is carried aloft by the winds, as the remaining people left on board bail out and are flown down to the ground. At some altitude far up in the air, the tanks implode and the remaining freeze gas disperses without harm.

The last of the hoverbikes are rounded up and the henchmen arrested. Some of the ground crew have managed to flee, but GCPD will do their best to track them down, and many of them were incapacitated.

Commissioner Gordon ends up with a cold, but thanks everyone. People who were frozen are thawed, Batman having long ago figured out the safe way to bring people back from being flash frozen like that.

Stephanie has some catching up to do later, having run into the one person outside of the Batfamily, Birds of Prey or Justice League who knows her identity, and found it out by accident.

And all through Gotham, people are able to settle back down to their Christmas Eve.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Windrose has become a regular sighting around Gotham and being as much of a rescue person as she is a fighter she settles in to help clear up the mess. Mostly by using her abilities to make a heat zone for people to warm up in after they've been thawed and help their bodies get back up to normal temperatures.