13637/Snowblind

Snowblind
Date of Scene:	25 December 2022
Location:	Kingston - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	When a Christmas Eve Heist goes a bit wrong and results in a hostage situation, Gotham City's own Balm, Jennifer Walters (AKA She-Hulk) and Talia al Ghul arrive to save the day...?
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Talia al Ghul, Jennifer Walters

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Christmas Eve in Gotham City.

    Inevitably there are fire calls for space heaters that got knocked over or shorted out, or kerosene heaters that exploded. Electrical fire. Bounced checks trying to get toys, but in general the city is somewhat quieter this evening.

    One of the reasons why some of its superhero population are able to take the night off for family time.

    Not Balm, though. She was on patrol, enjoying the night. A fresh powder of snow hasn't had the chance to absorb the Gotham Grime yet and gave the neighborhood an innocent look to it, covering the Gothic style buildings and brutalist tenements with a fresh coat of innocent white.

    Atop one of the churches, Balm had stopped to take a little shelter from the biting wind beneath the wings of an angel, crouched and consuming a sandwich, when an alert came through -- a breakin at a nearby department store. Silent alarms going off.

    And then the security guard reporting gunshots before going eerily quiet.

    The department store in question was called Smith's, it was high-end, and had a very, very pricy jewelry and antiques division, and unless someone was desperately trying to get an old map of Gotham, she suspected they were after the jewelry section.

    Police surrounded the square, six-story building by the time our heroes would arrive. There are access points at the roof, through vents in the side, and windows -- alarms are already triggered, what's a little busted glass?

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The holiday means little to her. She's aware in a sort of dispassionate way that it means something to many people, but for her there's no particular attachment. The crass consumerism of it all, the celebration of capitalism is something hse agrees wholeheartedly with her father about having obliterated beyond any hope of reconstruction. So she's out and about despte the weather, despite any sort of incentive that most people would have to stay in. She's already taken her holiday party with her family.. Well, the ones that matter. Soon, her father will grab her up and send her elsewhere.
    She's normally not the type, as sirens go off and wail through the air to pay attention tot hem or go off in another direction.. Afte rall, this is Gotham. But still, when one of said bullets goes to ricochet pass her and worst of all TAKES OUT A CHUNK OF HER HAIR, it has her immedaite attention as she looks at some strands that were falling out and hitting the ground. Thus, the Daughter of the Demon suddenly gives said robbery her full attention.
    She goes to take a hand down to somewhere on her to palm a large knife, the type normally used more for skinning heavy game than close quarters fighting, and goes on in. How -DARE- they.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It would be on her night mostly solo someone would try to rob a major Gotham landmark. Phoebe grapples and swings across the divide of Ninth street and makes it to the roof, skidding along the rooftop snow and coming to a stop above a skylight. In she goes, without the dramatic crash through the glass.

    Inside the department store, there are two gunmen holding the security guards hostage. Another security guard is being taken down to the finance and money-holding area in the basement, where the goal was to open up the cash vault and make off with the funds stored for Post-Christmas Refunds.

    Another group were smashing and grabbing their choice of jewelry and watches from the Third Floor Jewelry room, and there are two who are actually in the antiques, purusing for expensible baubles to take with them.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There is, additionally, a smart talker on a megaphone with the police down below, making arguments about commercialization and how really the police should seek other employment since 'a bunch of furries are doing your jobs, man'

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Going to head her way on in is simple. The perimeter is about as effective as anything normally that the GCPD goes. Talia goes to head on in quietly, moving to mark the position over of the hostage takers.. Even as she geos to glare over at a large display of Santa.
    Then mid-way she pauses, looking at her outfit. Frowning at a mirror. Does it make her look.. She goes to take a moment to grab a dress dangling off a wall. Considers. Holding it up agains ther for comparison. Hmming.
    Wait, gunfire. Oh, yes, robbery. Said dress is quickly tucked away on her as she goes to head towards the gunmen in an ambush position.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    Jennifer Walters should not be here. Not in Gotham, not on Miagani Island and most *certainly* not in the middle of one of Gotham's worst neighborhoods. Yet, according to her sources, this is the location of the last Wee Willy Wetter doll in the northeast and she promised her cousin (not //that// cousin. The other one) that she'd get her niece one of them before Christmas is over.

    She sees the lights of the police vehicles before she gets to the department store, and slows down to see what's happening. Really, she shouldn't be surprised that there's a robbery going on. This //is// Gotham after all. Any other person would just drive on by to get that doll, but Jen isn't just any other person. She's the She-Hulk and can't resist the call to help.

    Parking (illegally) nearby she gets out of her car and makes her way to the officer who she assumes is in charge.

    "Excuse me, Officer," she says politely. "I just happened to be in the neighborhood. What's the situation, perhaps I can help?"

    The officer turns and regards Jen coolly. "What are you supposed to be? The Jolly Green Giant's cousin?"

    Jen blinks, not really expecting such a cold reception. Usually people are relieved when they see the Avenger come in to help save the day. "Um. Kind of? He's more angry than jolly though."

    "Whatever. Just stay behind the line, miss. We've got this handled."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Hey lady! You can't go in there!" one of the officers yells to Talia, and then is stuck trying to stop additional people from getting too close to see what's going on -- this one eyes Jennifer, and decides he's not going to even try to talk her out of making an approach.

    "Uh..." says the thief with a megaphone, "... is... is that lady for real? She's not coming in here, is she?" he asks.

    Talia tucks the dress away, and then from around a pillar Balm's electronically-altered vocals come out with "I think that one's on sale." -- before dropping down from her perch, and she eyeballs the Assassin.

    "Helping out tonight, or settling an anger issue?" she questions, eyeballing the knife a moment, before she turns her head, canting for a moment, and then ducks down and disappears into the clothing racks like a mischievous seven-year-old.

    There are two gunmen coming around the corner.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
    Talia would qiup over at Balm, "Yes, it is. I suppose they call this an insurance writeoff. And it's a rather good one. You could say it's practically for a steal." She would consider, "THe rest.. Ugh, they'd be doing the city a favor by destroying most of what here carries." She doesn't have a blade out as the two gunmen come forwards and Balm goes to disappear over into the store aisles.
    Talia's following her own set of restraints while here. She's not going to kill the men - or even needlessly cripple them. She just moves to dart out of the way as the duo come forwards, paying attention to the location of the Not-Mean Green Smash Machine. Then at the men she would try to stalk behind them.. Hand going to grab over for the first heavy, solid object she could find. Namely an Elf on a Shelf that looked to have aged about as well as Billy the Smallmouth Bass. Improvised throwing weapon in hand, she would go to try and launch it at the head of one of the gunmen!

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    "I hear gunshots!" Jennifer protests. "Look. I'm bulletproof. Can you say the same thing about your men?"

    The captain gives her a resigned sigh. The //last// thing he needs is for supers to get involved. Still. Better she get shot than his forces. "Fine," he says begrudgingly. "But be careful. They have hostages."

    "Right," Jen says, and makes her way past the perimeter and into the department store itself. "Hi there!" She calls out, searching for the ones with the hostages. "Hello? I've come to negotiate! Please, tell me what your demands are, and I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement. Trust me! I'm a lawyer!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "'Trust me, I'm a lawyer' - geez lady, what an opening! You might be a lawyer but you ain't no Harvey Dent!" comes a voice, and one of the gunmen turn their guns on Jen, red dots lighting up the night, and they begin to open fire.

    The increase in gunfire makes the two others a little more jumpy, and as Talia nails one of the others in the head, his compatriot turns, looking to spray the area with bullets when a grapple wraps around his ankle, and with an entirely undignified yell he's dropped to the floor, his gun skittering away on the tile floor before he comes down and over the side of an overhang to the floor below, swinging upside-down as he yelps.

    "BATS!"

    And another gunman yells out "WE GOT A HULK!"

    "Are you sure that's the Hulk?"

    "IT'S BIG. IT'S GREEN. IT SAYS IT'S BULLET PROOF. IT'S NOT FRIGGIN' BEAST BOY IS IT?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
There's a sigh from Talia, "Amateurs. This is pathetic." Even as her own target is dropped quickly and she moves behind him. Quickly going to disarm the gun and kicking him another time in the back of the head to leave a concussion to make sure he stayed down, not bothering to restrain him. "They can't even be bothered to maintain a perimeter, effective lines of communication, any sort of escape protocol.. The lack of organization in this is pathetic." She would tsk while glancing about for the next set of gunmen. Not bothering to ask questions about the presence of She-Hulk outside, nor any of the men that were going after her. Trusting the woman to handle things better than the GCPD. "And what are you doing out here tonight? It's too cold and you're at risk of catching a chill."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    Jennifer holds up her hands, not in surrender, but in a placating manner. "Please," she says. "Just put your guns down. Nobody has to get hurt." When she sees the red dots on her she warns, "You don't want to do that. All you'll end up doing is ruin a $5000-" *BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM* "... suit."

    She just heaves a sigh and walks steadfastly towards the shooters. Better them shooting her than anybody else. "I'M SHE-HULK!" she shouts back at them. "GET IT RIGHT!"

    She rushes up the last few meters and casually backhands the gun out of one of the shooters, trying very carefully not to break his entire hand. She grabs one of the clothing racks and ties it around the guy, effectively immobilizing him. She turns to the other shooter and cracks her knuckles. "Put the gun down!" she orders.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    ". . . seriously, are you making a personal inquiry? Now?" Balm questions, popping up from beneath one of the holiday displays as she rolls her shoulders, her lips pursing as her blue optics settle on Talia.

    "Can it wait until after this is resolved? I left a thermos of hot mulled cider over--" Phoebe's voice is interrupted by gunfire.

    ANd then by a guy going 'WAUUUGUH!' as a clothing rack is wrapped around him, and then the sound of a gun dropping, hands going up and saying:

    "Look, between you and the Bats, I'm considering breaking into a different line of work than buildings!!"

    Everything seems nice, calming down.

    "Greetings, Large Green Lawyer-Lady, welcome to Gotham, I guess?" Balm calls out, hopping onto the divider, and then she takes her grapple, and slings herself up.

    "Fourth floor, jewelry, antiques, and like -- eight gunmen! Hey guys, isn't it a little *late* for Christmas shopping?"

    And that's when gunfire errupts over the fourth floor!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia would pause, "What? These circumstances aren't p articularly trying. And if it finishes then you'll of course disengage to continue your patrol and thus go evasive so as to not respond. Here, at the very least I know I'll have your attentions o long as there's not a greater threat." Apparently Talia knew how the game was played. Or at least that's what she would expect from one of the Wayne Family's numerous adoptees/field agents.
    then Talia would glance over at She-Hulk. "See? Circumstances are handled. And it's rather cold for you to be out. Yes, I'm aware of what your outfit is insulated to and can stand.. But still, the weather is too rough for someone so young to be out and covering such a wide area." She would tsk over while then as Jennifer would approach, Talia would sigh as Balm would leap up and over into the air to go for the next level.
    OF course Talia thought 'eight gunmen still up with hostages' didn't count as trying circumstances.. She would fade herself over in to the shadows as the sounds would come from the fourth floor of more shooting. And of all places she would head towards the elevator.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    "Hello to whoever you are," Jennifer says to Balm. "I take it you're one of Batman's proteges?" She doesn't have time to listen to a response as she's informed of the gunmen.

    She rushes to the elevator to get up to the fourth floor. "I'll distract them! You free the hostages!" Instead of actually using the elevator like a normal person would, she just jumps through the roof of it high enough to get to the fourth floor and pries open the doors.

    "Hey you!" She shouts at the gunman. "Surrender and drop your weapons!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Eight Gunmen, but hostages weren't mentioned.

    The eight jewelry nabbers had their guns trained on Phoebe, and had begun to try and pick her off as she ducks and weaves -- and then Jennifer and Talia errupt out of the elevator!

    The Green Angry Woman ends up being the focus of the gunfire as they turn -- a few more try to pick off Talia as she comes out, and Balm comes around the side as the gunmen turn, and she pops her staff, and smoke, and takes out two of the gunmen in the back!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia has gone into the elevator.. But first before she can go out Jennifer moves to forcibly usei t to launch herself forwards! This has Talia partially squished as the elevator is shoved down a few feet before the emergency brakes kick in. This has her in the undignified position of being dazed by the sudden start and stop, then going to pull herself out from underneath it, having to squish hard to be able to fit up and out.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    Jennifer takes a moment to pose, fists on hips and arms akimbo as the gunmen waste bullets on her, ripping her suit to shreds. Fortunately, she's got her unstable molecule costume on underneath (you never know!)

    Once they take a break, she cracks her knuckles and rushes towards them. "Okay, who's first in line for a knuckle sandwich!?" She gets to the first one, and grabs his gun out of his hands, crushing it into twisted metal, and then very gently punching him to knock him out cold before moving on to the next one, "Next!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The pose was cool, and some of the gunmen are actually kind of impressed to the point they did n't notice the back two of their number were taken out.

    And then one is very gently punched and knocked out cold. THe others then start to realize that they're down three, and a couple of them split off, trying to head to the stairs since the elevator may actually be out of order, thanks to a smooshed Talia.

    In the basement, the last two gunmen who are unaffected by the goings-on upstairs are with their hostage in the financial room, unloading all the cash into their duffle bags before they shove the man to the side, take out one of his knees, and then go to summon the elevator.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia has mostly gotten out of the elevator, nearly all the way as she's groaning.. Then the doors go to slide shut. Apparently having fallen several feet have made the 'object in the way' sensor be glitched. With the doors bearing down on her, Talia can only ferociously struggle to -yank- herself up and out of the way in a way that is very udnignified, unelegant..
    And probably going to have anyone who sees it laughing at her if it's caught on camera.
    She pulls up and out of it just in time, but is still flat on her face on the ground and crawling up to her knees while she looks murderous.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    Jen advances on the others, ready to pick them off one by one, chasing them down if need be. Really, something like this is child's play to the Avenger. Whoever Balm doesn't take care of, Jen does, making sure to crush every gun that's aimed at her.

    "There," she says, dusting her hands off. "That's all of them. I thought they said that they had hostages?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "There's two more up in the antiques room with three guards. We're missing two more--" Balm states to Jennifer as the Avenger takes out a great big group of theives, and Balm just purses her lips.

    "Balm, kind of a protege. More like a pain in the --"

    The elevator DINGS. If anyone's caught Talia on camera not being at her best as Assassin Princess, they are certainly not laughing loud enough for her to hear them.

    ON the other elevator, the two gunmen are coming up, expecting their cohorts to have filled their bags with loot.

    The elevator dings, and the two gunmen step out and just... look... at Talia.

    Balm meanwhile leads the way to the Antiques hall, where there are indeed the remaining other gunmen with a few hostages.

    "Stop! Get outta here or we'll shoot!"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
As the two men come up and out of the elevator right in time to see the Daughter of the Demon totally-not scrambling up from the ground, expensive outfit (more expensive than She-Hulk's, even) disheveled, and with crazed hair as a result of the bullet, of scrambling out of the elevator before it squished her, and all those other things..
    She has a crazed look about her that made her look almost like a redhead for a moment as those indignities would boil over, and any sort of restraints Talia had on -not- beating anyone to within an inch of their life had mostly vanished as letting out a yell she would CHARGE right over at hte two gunmen, bags of cash and all (no doubt marked with a pair of $ on them to help show what they were. There would then be a series of BEATS with some BIFFS, WHAMS, POWS, and perhpas an 'OH GOD MY SPLEEN' somewhere in there in the cavalcade of violence!

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    "A pleasure," Jen says to Balm. "Jennifer Walters. She-Hulk." She follows the young vigilante out into the Antiques hall. "I'm going to give you all the same chance to surrender that I did the rest of your gang," she tells the gunmen, giving Balm a chance to flank them. "I've already taken out the rest of them. If you surrender I promise that they'll be lenient on you."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The two gunmen who came out of the elevator and laughed at Talia are POW'd, BAM'd, WHIFF'd and of course OH GOD MY SPLEEN'd.

    They will recover later in the hospital and be unable to recount the horrors experienced at Talia's hands.

    The remaining gunmen look at Jennifer Walters, She-Hulk (Esq), completely unaware of Balm circling around, and then they look at one another, and all drop their guns.

    "You know what, it's Christmas, I don't wanna be beat up by a green Amazon." one of them states.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
In her disheveled state still, Talia Al Ghul renders the men unconscious and goes to take a few moments to adjust her outfit and her hair back to some semblance of dignity as she would look about to ensure no one was still conscious that had witnessed it beyond her allies of convenience.
    Then heading towards Talia from almost out of nowhere, seeming to come out of the shadows in a total reverse Bat-Vanish, Talia would intone..
    "We're not done talking, young lady.."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... no," Balm states, drawing her arm up, and going to grapple out of the window as she looks back.

    "I don't believe we are." she states, looking to Talia as the police rush in down stairs, now that the gang members have pretty universally given up.

    "What else do you have to say, on Christmas Day in the morning?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would chuckle esoftly, "Merely that you should make sure to not push yourself too -hard- in this weather. You are young and the cold is harsh." She would tut. "And while I'm aware of the training to push yourself to your physical limits.. Make sure you keep warm and aren't out too long."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I'd ask who died and made you my mother, but I'm afraid you'd give me a list." Balm replies to Talia flatly.

    And then, just so, Balm grapples out the window, figuring Talia is more than capable of making an exit.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shake her head as Phoebe would exit, and then muse, "Until next time. And merry Christmas." That said mostly to herself as Talia goes to saunter out through the back door..
    Still having that dress from earlier she had nabbed.