13832/Cash Grab Job

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Cash Grab Job
Date of Scene: 13 January 2023
Location: Near the Narrows, Gotham.
Synopsis: Carin is lured into a trap by Cyberdata's minions, but manages to escape with the help of X-23 and Superboy. NPCs baddies: Rancor Deathstrike and Megawatt, Image D-listers but totally canon.
Cast of Characters: Conner Kent, Laura Kinney, Carin Taylor




Conner Kent has posed:
The sun is setting on Gotham City. Which means certain neighborhoods are getting lively now. Like the Narrows. Well... as lively as an urban hellhole can get.

Most Outsiders know this area pretty well, since few cops dare visit, and none at night, the Bats and friends patrol frequently. Not Conner, though, he is not allowed to go patrolling in this city. But he can hang out as long as he is not in uniform, and right now he is technically not in uniform. The lather jacket -is- there, but no big S symbols. Instead he is carrying a big box to a nearby battered pickup truck.

Wayne Enterprises builds most of the Outsiders toys, but they can't use Fedex to send the military-grade tech to the secret team headquarters. So, they do the drops in anonymous depots owned by shell companies. The kids are supposed to do their own transportation, get the stuff through one of the secret entrances and all that, and that means Laura and Conner today. There are always 'upgrades' pending, and batrangs carry a lot of weird electronic components. And then there are experiments and then exploded labs. Because SCIENCE!

"Anyway, it was Bart's turn, but he asked me to come instead. He had something coming up, and I don't drive," Laura had to come too. Bart would have done this in three minutes, they are going to need a little longer.

And MEANWHILE.

There are a couple suspicious black vans a city block beyond. They would be more suspicious anywhere else than is not the Narrows, where all vans are suspicious, as are the sedans, the bikes and even the skateboards. So, totally normal black vans, except maybe too shinny for the neighborhood.

Inside one a couple armored thugs are patiently waiting, while a less armored one, a redheaded unshaved thug that goes by Rancor Deathstrike is receiving instructions from a crazy-looking woman with a skull tattoo covering her face.

(Yes. Rancor Deathstrike. Proof that Cyberdata shouldn't allow operatives to pick up their own callsigns).

"Misery is in support, but if she needs to move an inch I am taking the bonus from your pay," states the woman. "Sensors have detected Velocity power signature in the area, don't fail."

Laura Kinney has posed:
For some people secret drops and mysterious meetings would be weird. But for X-23, better known to her friends as Laura Kinney, it's just how you move goods and messages around. A coded message here and a dead drop there. But then again when you don't legally exist and are being hunted by an Evil Corporation a trip down to the post office isn't really on the cards.

She's casually dressed for a trip out and about in the Narrows. A charcoal grey hoodie, some similarly bland pants that are probably winter running gear of some sort, and some cheap sneakers. She'd look like a late night jogger if not for the area. No-one with half a brain runs in The Narrows. So a casual observer would probably assume she's here to score drugs or something equally seedy.

That's if they even notice her at all. The petite young woman seems to have a knack for blending into the shadows and keeping objects (including Conner) between her and those few people out and about. "I could have handled the task by myself you know," she points out matter-of-factly. There's a few sniffs of the air and she adds "I work just fine as a solo operative."

Carin Taylor has posed:
    As careful as Carin had been, the tri-city area is both full of hiding places as much as it's full of surveillance. Cyberdata and AIM had caught up to the poor girl on numerous occasions, most of them very violent. This time, however, they'd been more subtle. They'd leveraged a card up their sleeve: Ballistic. Carin's sister, Cassandra, had been an earlier batch of S.H.O.C. Troopers than Carin, and unfortunately, Ballistic's conditioning and Brain Box didn't get wiped by a scientist with morals.

    So it wasn't difficult, all in all, to lure the redhead to the Narrows--not far from where she'd had a scuffle with AIM and MODOK completely on accident! This time, though, she'd at least worn her suit underneath some old second (or third, or fourth) hand clothes in case she needed to bolt. She wasn't about to wear her SHIELD-issue garb, so some tight leggings and a short skirt accompany the jacket and teeshirt as she sniffs around from the shadows, trying to find the location she'd been pinged with in the message.

    At least she isn't completely lacking in survival instincts, but the lure of her sister was far, far too good for her to pass up.

Conner Kent has posed:
The scarce streetlights seem to dim as Carin shows up, the first van back door opens and Rancor jumps out, a trench coat covering his armor, but his cybernetic right arm is quite visible. "There you are!" He states, looking cheerful, "Velocity, your sister sent us," he adds, grinning.

A few hundreds of miles away Killjoy, the skull-faced woman, rolls her eyes. "Misery, do your stuff, that guy is an idiot."

And Misery, creepy telempath she is, starts projecting despair and longing into Carin's brains. Don't go. Don't leave or you will never see your sister again.

A city block away Conner grunts. "There is almost a thousand pounds of supplies, we can finish faster and it is safer if I protect this with telekinesis," he glances down street. "Hmm, did you see? That guy has a metal arm, and there is a lot of static electricity in the air all the sudden. Never a dull day in the Narrows, uh?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney tilts her head at the distant noises. Sniffing the air and frowning. "Our mutual friend really needs to stop throwing expensive electronic filled bird-o-rangs away all the time," she notes. "Bullets are cheaper and no-one would even blink if we were buying some illegal ammunition. Makes it harder to investigate afterwards too. Throwing weapons draw too much attention in Gotham. But gun crime is endemic."

Her head tilts slightly and she shrugs. "The air does smell weird. Like before a storm." Her hands disappear into her hoodie and there's a quiet sound of metal threads being screwed together. X-23 no doubt fitting a silencer to something.

The mutant not having prepared for trouble specifically. But that doesn't mean she's come unequipped on the off chance Gotham was... well... Gotham.

Carin Taylor has posed:
    "Cass?" the smaller redhead's voice comes out, and she blinks as the van opens up. Already she's starting to backpedal. "...she wouldn't call me that..." she frowns, eyes flicking towards the cyber arm and back to the man. "...where's... where's Cassie?" she asks, voice trembling, hands balling into fists. Her fight-or-flight reflex is on high and feel the play-by-play of her adrenal glands starting to pump.

    But Misery ever so easily plays on the girl's fears and insecurities. Carin can dodge bullets but her emotional state, her mind? Far, far too vulnerable. She manages a cry of anguish and a choked sob, "No! Wh-what did you do to her? Where did you take her?" She experiences all of these feelings in slow motion, the pulling at her heart, the feeling of sickness rising in her throat. Was this all a trap? Did they really have her?

    What happened to her sister? Her feet feel like lead as she tries to pick them up, one step at a time, slowly backwards. "N-no..."

Conner Kent has posed:
"He does love to tinker, and he is not the only one," after all Harper is always building something, and Carrie, and Hope... mostly if it is a gun. "Looks like the locals are feeling it too," because people here can smell trouble almost as well as Laura. The streets are emptying as a pair of S.H.O.C. troopers in dull orange armor follow Rancor. They have large assault rifles.

Rancor himself smirks and shoots a taser wire from his cybernetic arm, aiming to knock out Carin right away. It is clearly an attack, and Misery is a little too far to obfuscate it, since the woman was relaxing downtown.

At the same time another of Cyberdata operatives shows up. Megawatt floats from the nearby rooftop, his head and hands glowing neon blue with electricity, the rest of his body hidden by a black armored suit.

"Yeah, looks like a kidnapping. Good news: the target is not Pheebs," he hovers up, glancing at Laura. "I'll get the flying guy, you can save the girl."

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 doesn't need telling twice. She barely even needs telling the once. Already coiling for action as they both watch the situation unfold she bursts into a sprint before Conner has finished calling his target. Her hands slip back out of her hoodie and come up into a two handed pistol grip. Darting down the road in a zig-zag, arms raised up to fire, she opens fire on the two trooper in orange as soon as she's within the effective range of the pistol.

Moving from cover to cover. Expecting return fire from those assault rifles as soon as they notice the snap snap snap of suppressed pistol fire. Enhanced senses helping to place precision shots into joints even while sprinting.

Carin Taylor has posed:
    The non-verbal response is preferable to, at least, overly-long monologues and other villainous diatribes. Still, though, the lack of any sort of build-up and the sudden burst of taser wire towards her almost catches Carin off guard. Almost. Her green eyes go wide as the attached shock darts sail towards her and for a moment, she's a blur. Average senses would see her simply disappear for a moment and then re-appear about two meters back from Rancor.

    "Where is she?! What did you do to her?" she's running on pure late-teen angst now and adrenaline, enough so that the sound of gunfire from behind her makes her jump in place and whip around to see the bullets flying in her hyper-aware state. Bullets that are obviously not aimed for her.

    But who is this sassy child with the handguns?

Conner Kent has posed:
Rancor loses his smile when Carin avoids the wire. But hey, the redhead is still in range. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" He glances up, and Megawatt drops a lightning bolt on Carin.

Lightning is much, much harder to dodge. But instead of hitting Carin, it hits some gun in a leather jacket that just flew on the way. "Ow! That stings! And messes with my hair," Conner runs a hand through his hair, which was standing up messily. "Don't even try again."

Of course Megawatt zaps him again. But this time is not a Carin-stun bolt, but a full charge hundred times stronger. Conner goes flying through a building wall.

Meanwhile the troopers come under fire. Which they return gladly with much bigger guns that a handgun. One of them takes a hit to the knee joint and stumbles, but that is barely an annoyance. Small arms fire is not a major threat. And their own guns make big holes parked vehicles, brick walls and even concrete.

Rancor, however, decides to focus in Carin. Which is what he is here for. This time he shoots a dozen wires in her direction, and then jumps to the position he assumes she will 'blur' to dodge. He has a degree of superhuman speed and agility, although not at Velocity's level.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura doesn't even bother to reload once that first clip is out. The gun is throwing end over end with remarkable force for a woman of her size and build. Still nothing more than a distraction though. Giving her time to sprint at a car and, rather than taking cover behind it, vaulting up on top and leaping forward.

Mid-air there's a distinctive SNIKT as her claws pop. Two from each hand and one from each foot. It's a good thing she never gets attached to her sneakers.

The menacing mutant whirls the razor edged blades around herself. Superhuman senses, reflexes and an absurd level of training allowing her to cut incoming bullets apart before they hit her. Lighting up the area with sparks. It's tough to stop every round though and some will likely catch her during her advance. But each time a bullet slices through her flesh a few steps later the wound has knitted back together.

Carin Taylor has posed:
    There is. A /lot/ happening at once. First the lightning blast, times two, from the person she hadn't even noticed floating up there--and the poor guy that ends up taking the hits for her instead. She just watches as poor Conner gets slammed through a wall nearby, reaching her arm towards him uselessly. Even though she has all the time in the world to call out in some shape or form, she really... just can't find the words. People being hurt because of her now. Or so it seems, in her mind.

    "No! Stop! I--" she's cut off, her reflexes and instincts taking over as that spray of taser darts is launched her way. She does, indeed, zip to the side to avoid them--and smashes her smaller-framed self right into Rancor with a muted 'oof' sound. All in time to watch Laura go full blender mode on the heavy incoming rounds. "Oh... come on..." she can still feel that pull of despair. Not only regarding her older sibling, but the people here who clearly came to help--and are getting shot at for it.

Conner Kent has posed:
The S.H.O.C. troopers fire a few short bursts at Laura and make the mistake of stop firing after she is hit. Those are large holes and she is unarmored, therefore the normal thing is for her to die. They should have kept firing, maybe a few broken bones or a headshot would have stopped her.

Rancor meanwhile is not even trying to hold down Carin, just touch her with his mechanical arm and shock her still. Megawatt hovers behind him, ready to nail her with lightning. He may actually be fast enough.

Then, a rather singed Conner shows up through the hole in the building. A snappy comeback in his tongue, which he refrains to deliver in favor of surprise. Maybe he is learning something at last!

Instead he quickly flies forward to grab Megawatt and slams him on the top of a parked sedan.

Laura Kinney has posed:
There's a pop culture saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight and how it generally works out poorly for the person armed with the blade. But once someone with a blade is in close they're generally at an immense advantage.

And while she doesn't have superspeed Laura Kinney can cover ground /fast/. Putting an Olympic sprinter to shame while leaping and twirling to dodge bullets. Sadly for the S.H.O.C Troopers, even if they had kept shooting, X-23 is more than able to protect her vitals from critical damage with her claws. And the moment they stopped? It just let her focus on closing the distance.

By the time they understand just how terrible a mistake they've made her razer edged claws are moving to chop those rifles into sections. A ferocious flurry of strikes. Intending on creating a cloud of firearm confetti. And if a few stray fingers come off in the process? Well they're got a cyborg friend. They'll probably be able to get them replaced....

Carin Taylor has posed:
    Were there not already two more people involved in this fray, Carin might've been trying to shout something along the lines of 'stranger danger' or even 'Amber alert'. As it stands, though, she can't make much of any sort of sound. She can watch a hummingbird's wings in slow motion and process tactical data on par with some of the tech at SHIELD. Which makes this all the more agonizing. Every moment she's stuck, can't move, paralyzed by indecision, fear, and regret is a moment lost. And for someone who lives life in the nanosecond time scale, it's torture. Demoralizing torture.

    There are, however, sparks of hope as she sees Conner piledrive the electrocutioner and Laura not just deflect and tank anti-material rounds, but carve up rifles as well. Sparks of hope tempered by the sudden tingling sensation that turns to numbing. It spreads from where the cybernetic arm has her, and she tries to run. There's that blur again her form vanishing, only to be spotted a half-second later crashing into a parked car that's full of holes from the S.H.O.C.'s rifles.

    Numbness spreads across her, those points of contact more than enough, but taking forever to spread into her limbs. She can feel it dancing up her nerves and overloading them until her HUD winks out and her Brain Box shuts down to prevent surge damage. At the same moment, she falls unconscious, body twitching on the perpetually wet Gotham pavement.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Oh wow, she is fast!" Comments Conner, wincing as Carin crashes with a parked car. "Not very good at it, though," he adds, tossing Megawatt on Rancor because if he was electrocuted, the guy that started this should too!

Meanwhile Laura makes short work of the S.H.O.C. Well, actually not -that- short. The troopers are strong and tough, and fairly well trained. It takes a few adamantium stabs to cause enough damage on their cybernetics and flesh to stop them from trying to punch Laura's lights out.

Conner doesn't help much. He has been accused of 'interfering with my fight' a few times. And he wants to quickly tie up Rancor and Megawatt using a streetlight, and check if Carin needs help.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Stabs? Pff. Not for X-23. Her claws work best with sweeps and slashes. Cutting off (hopefully cybernetic) hands and feet until the troopers are thoroughly disarmed. You never know when a cyborg might be about to pop out a mystery weapon from some potentially innocuous location to try set you on fire. Or rigged with explosives that turn them into walking bombs...

At some point in all her acrobatic leaping she even seems to have retrieved her thrown pistol and reloaded. Unless she had another pistol hidden under the hoodie. With Laura you never really know.

Regardless of how/when she obtained it once the troopers are down and out she turns to open fire on the others. Not aiming to kill either Rancor or Megawatt. Just distracting them with suppressing fire while Conner does his work.

Carin, the mystery speedster, gets the briefest of glances and a sniff of the air. Checking for any signs she's picked up a serious injury that needs immediate attention.

Carin Taylor has posed:
    Carin is usually very good at controlling her speed. She's usually very good at a great many things. Which is why it took a great manythings to knock her off her game completely. As of right now? She smells a little bit like fried electronics, a hint of cooked flesh, and just the overall stench of burnt ozone. She hadn't been blasted by one of Megawatt's lightning bolts, but Rancor's not exactly light on voltage, either. So the best that Conner and Laura can get out of Carin right now is a few spasms as she just lays there.

    She tried to get away so hard, too, that some parts of her already-damaged clothes look a little more frayed from the air friction. A Speed Force user she is /not/.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Seems she is a cyborg too," comments Conner, lifting Carin carefully. "I doubt they can help her in the hospital, but maybe Balm does." Which means taking her to Phoebe's shop, or the Roost. Wherever is closer. Sadly, his cellphone is fried. Again. "And I guess we need to take the supplies. Not that the cops are quick to come here, but I think Gordon will send a few after the light show. We better hurry!"

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 ducks down and gives the two S.H.O.C. Troopers a very quick frisking. Checking for anything with logos, ID or anything worth investigation. "We'll have to find a shielded location to do a bug scan," she notes. "All that tech could mean tracking devices. We don't know how they found her." Her eyes dart around the scene before she adds "I'd ask if we should take some of their tech with us. But it'll be easier to let the police collect it and 'borrow' the reports."

After all they have people to collect various fragments and it'll likely be a Wayne lab which does the analysis. Not to mention the Outsiders having a direct line into the GCPD computer systems...

"Whoever these guys are they came loaded for big game. Won't just be the Gotham Police on the way. There'll likely be some of the unfriendly local gangs showing up to see who was operating on their turf.." The petite mutant scowls as her team-mate begins to head off with the mystery woman. "See this is why I'm not going to be listening to you the next time you say I don't need to bring heavy weapons on routine missions. If you're not over prepared you're not prepared enough."

Carin Taylor has posed:
    Carin does seem a little 'heavy' for her size. At least, in terms of her not having a whole lot of muscle mass. If Conner hadn't figured out she was augmented, the discrepancies between size and weight would definitely do it. And it's not just the junk in her trunk. She hadn't worn her SHIELD ID either, though the problem with that is outside of a Kord Co. cell phone, she has no real identification on her at all. At least, beyond her visual markings: That ivory white skin and green lightning bolt mark.

    There's also that super suit that's showing through some of the more damaged parts of her thrift store attire.