14216/Gang Wars of Gotham

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Gang Wars of Gotham
Date of Scene: 05 March 2023
Location: Chinatown - Founder's Island
Synopsis: Several members of the Bat Family and the Birds arrive on scene to aid the Gotham police department in putting an end to the fighting between the Jade Tigers and Steel Cobras. After much butt kicking, and a few explosions, Nightwing goes home with an stowaway in his pouch.
Cast of Characters: Essix, Dinah Lance, Stephanie Brown, Phoebe Beacon, Austin Reese, Bette Kane, Dick Grayson, Harper Row




Essix has posed:
The quiet in Gotham's Chinatown had been unprecedented. For nearly four months there had been no signs of any active fighting among the gangs, not even those that considered themselves sworn enemies, such as the Ghost Dragons, and their many rivals, the Steel Unicorns, Hanoi Ten, and Innocent Devils. The most surprising of all this was the apparently inactivity of the Neon Dragon Triad, no new big schemes or obvious plans coming from their leader Tony Li.

The silent truce that seemed to be taking place seems to have ended a week ago, at least in regards to two specific Chinatown gangs... the Jade Tigers and Steel Cobras. Over the course of the last week their have been numerous minor altercations that have slowly been building, and finally tonight it would appear that they are going all out against one another in the middle of Chinatown.

Residents have gone to ground in their basements, nearby restaurants have closed their doors, and the police, well they certainly want to do something but they are out numbered and out gunned. The scene looks like something out of the movies really, with all roads into the four block area where the fighting is taking place, blocked off by fire trucks and police vehicles to stop more innocents from getting hurt by going in. Some of the officers in riot gear have started to make their way in, but the sound of shots from hand guns, shot guns and even some rifles makes it obvious that bullet proof is needed.

Dinah Lance has posed:
The sound of a motorcycle can be heard driving through the street. The little birds have figured out that a gang war is brewing and tonight is the night it decided to spill over. Oracle was quick to call in the Birds to help deal with this issue and Black Canary makes her way onto the scene on her custom motorcycle. She manages to ramp over a police barricade and then land on her wheels as she moves down the street quickly, taking in the sight of some gang members engaged in a shoot out. She pulls the motorcycle aside on a alley and then takes off her helmet causing her blonde hair to spill out.

Once she has parked she then races around the corner and engaqges the two Jade Dragon, jumping up and then performing a mid air splits kick driving the heel of her boot into the back of one gang member and the other into the jaw of the second. The third has just enough time to spin around before eating a uppercut to the and then having his gun pulled out of his hand and the butt driven into his kidney as she then takes cover from a hail of gunfire. Oh well another day in Gotham.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
March is said to come in like a lion and leave like a lamb. The way that a black cape flaps in the strong, cool wind seems to suggest that the month intends to live up to that billing.

Batgirl stands on the corner of a roof, scanning the area with a compact pair of high powered binoculars. Noting the positions of the various gang forces, their number and weaponry.

Rather than the normal amounts of chatter on the Batcomms one has come to expect from here, there's just the sound of a bubble popping. She isn't sure which of her other crime-fighting colleagues put the roll of Triple Bubblectible Gum into the top of a utility pouch where she'd quickly find it, but it does seem to have cut down on the comms chatter.

Until now. Batgirl ejects the well-chewed bubble gum, and after looking around for a spot to discard it, sticks it against the edge of the rooftop. Should have kept the wrapper. << Jade Tigers arrayed on the west side. Making a push through the alleys but just holding on main streets for now. Steel Cobras have a couple on lower roofs who are keeping things pinned down but causing casualties. Going to head down after them. >>

Spying a pair of gang members with rifles on the second story roof of a nearby building, Batgirl starts flipping from one floor to another of the fire escape that climbs the side of her taller perch, bringing her down behind the two gunmen.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    China Basin isn't ordinarily on Balm's normal patrol routes, she tends more to the North End of the islands that make up her Home Town, but there was rising violence in the Basin, and Balm ws on-hand to help.

    The capeless cure-all crusader swings over one of the police barricades, her blue optic shields leaving azure trails behind her in the gunsmoke and regular smoke from the fighting.

    <<There are a *lot* of police presence on the outside of the barricades. Riot gear and all serious business. Doesn't look like the less-lethal rounds are going to be much use though.>she states disparigingly over the subvocal Batcoms, slidding along an overhang on a building before she slides up and off a dragon figurehead, and comes crashing down with a CRUNCH on a Steel Cobra, knocking him down before she extends her staff to hook another around the back of his knee and bring him down face-first into the broad side of a shipping van, and then ducks back into an alleyway to get a better read on the situation.

    (<... man good thing I specced DPS and not Heals tonight!> )]

Austin Reese has posed:
Once the GCPD bands started lighting up about a warzone breaking out in Chinatown, Osprey had diverted from where he had been and was hauling ass down towards Founder's Island as fast as his cycle would take him, weaving in and out of traffic.

About two blocks from the gunfight, when he can hear the rapid fire pops of the battle, he hops off the batcycle and uses a grapple line to pull himself onto a roof, landing with a roll and running, closing the distance until he reaches the battle proper.

He hops back down off the roof, catching a fire escape on the way down to stop himself as he spots a pair of Jade Tigers coming through the alley, trying to flank a group of Steel Cobras that are around the corner. As soon as they pass he drops, crashing down atop the first one and sending him sprawling into the one behind him.

There's a lot of yelling in Chinese as Osprey swings his left foot around to kick the gun out of the knocked over man's hand, and then swings around to deliver a second kick to his head, sending him crashing into a dumpster. As his buddy sprawls back to his feet, he catches a knee to the face, twice, and is out like a light, <"Two tangos down. Eyes on another group of three. Moving to engage.">

Bette Kane has posed:
Upon the rooftops, watching the chaos unfold below is Flamebird. Shockingly, she is alone for the moment, crouched at the lip of a building, peering down at the gang fight. No Batwoman in sight. Probably no Batwoman backup, either. She's not on her own, she's never on her own completely, but this is still a pretty big thing to walk into without handholding.

"You can do this, Bette. Everything is training. This is what it's all for."

She stands then, taking a couple steps back from the edge and psyches herself up. She takes a deep breath and runs towards the edge, leaping out. She arcs over the open space and drops like a stone, cape flaring out as she falls, the red and orange cloth like flames. She lands knees first on a Jade Tiger, driving him to the concrete below with an unhealthy crunch. She hops to her feet and whirls in a flare of cape.

<Found some Tigers. I'm gonna punch them til they quit. If they shoot me, tell Batwoman it's her fault.>

With a grin, she dives at them, fists and feet swinging, smiling like a maniac. She loves this.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    With the amount of surveillance the bats have watching over Gotham, it's no surprise this has garnered a lot of attention from them. Nightwing is currently on a rooftop overlooking one of the largest active fights at this moment. Dropping into the middle of pitched battles is not a favored tactic, but it may be necessary tonight. Too many innocents are in danger to try and skulk though the shadows picking off outliers.

    He scans the HUD in his mask, getting an update on all the current fights taking place on the map of Gotham it displays. He also takes note of friendly contacts, the various bats and birds gathering to help keep people safe and take down as many of the gangers as possible. Next thing checked is making sure the armor's various ammo reserves are full, which of course they are. Bruce taught him long ago the being prepared is a big factor in surviving the insane things they are sometimes called on to deal with.

    Extending the gliding wings from the back of his suit, Nightwing leaps off the rooftop on a glidepath over the biggest knot of violence. As he passes over them he extends one arm and with the quiet sound of compressed gas drops multiple knockout gas capsules into the crowd of gang members. About five of them succumb to the gas immediately, with a number more stumbling around the area as they try and keep conscious.

    In what has to be a completely automatic choice he ends the glide in an alley, hidden for a moment in the shadows.

    << Nightwing here, this one looks bad. Try to pick off what you can but we're probably going to end up fighting in the streets before this ends. Be careful, try and use the usual tactics. Call if you're in trouble or find anything that one of us alone can't handle. >>

Harper Row has posed:
    Harper is unfashionably late and it's totally her fault. She's had the bare minimum to rip off her civilian clothes and slip into her Bluebird tacticals. There's still the creak here and there for the newish duds to not be completely slick in the less-is-better sound department. But for what seems to be on the dance card tonight, protection over sneak is the priority.

    There's her raspy harried voice coming over the Comms <Bluebird on station at elevation. Where the f...> A snap-crackle-pop as she re-adjusts her mic, which is good because it cuts off the curses.

    Harper takes a bead with her railgun on the action. The glow of her railgun charging up as she takes a pair of snap-shots on some unfair pile-ups she can quickly get a gander on. Electro-stun rounds whizzing out ~Vreeeeeee-Vreeeee~

Essix has posed:
Unbeknownst to the Bats, the Birds or even the Jade Tigers and Steel Cobras for that matter... everything taking place was being observed. Most of the natural small flappy type birds in the area had flown off at the first loud shot that rang out, however a dark grey pigeon remained perched on the edge of a building over looking the central area of fighting.

As the heroes arrive on scene to put an end to the gang war, the pigeon was extremely happy and relieved to see that someone, /anyone/ could do something about it. It had watched the police make their first attempt to break things up, but then they had been forced to retreat. A few of those officers remained in enemy territory, pinned down here and there, trying to offer what assistance they could, but they were getting low on bullets.

The officers at the blockades were divided into two groups; the first being extremely grateful that the Bats and Birds were now on the scene, the second being those who openly cursed the existence of the vigilantes and quietly thanked God they'd shown up. The third type, who hated on them all the time, no matter what, were no where to be seen tonight.

Logically property damage to any gangs 'turf' by their own people would be considered a horrendous act, after all everything in their territory was hard earned through fights. Tonight however, it didn't seem to matter to either side who got hurt, what got damaged, or even that the tights had arrived. Those who were directly engaged from either gang would do what they could against the costume wearing do-gooders, but over all their targets were each other.

It was likely a surprise then, that the big guns started to come out. Molotov cocktails, suped up fireworks turned into explosives, and of course more warm bodies called into the fight.

"Get lost Bats!" came a scream from some where in the throng of gang bangers. "This does not concern you Birds!" came a response from the other side... seemed the one thing the two gangs agreed on was their dislike for Bats and Birds.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Well at least they agree on something. As a moltov comes soaring over at the car she is hiding behind she leaps out from behind it and goes into a roll as the car starts to cook. Canary takes a deep breath and then lets out the infamous Canary Cry, the trio of thug hit with the sound waves and stunned long enough for them to get knocked out by the assault of sound. She rubs her throat and then Oracle keys her communicator.

Canary chimes in over the comms. <<Canary is on the scene, where do you guys need me?>> She then pauses as she notices some in the alley and then dashes, the trio are getting ready to break into a building and she manages to blind side on with a below to the gut before throwing them to the ground and driving her heel into the mans temple. One spins on her and points their pistol but she snaps her arms out and then twist and disarms befoire throwing them to the ground. The last one has enough time to get his gun aimmed and she jumps up avoiding a spray of bullets before bouncing off the wall and driving her foot into the mans head and knocking them prone.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl finally flips over from the fire escape to the rooftop when the fall will only be a dozen feet or so. The noise-dampening heels of her boots make little sound on her rolling landing. She runs over to the nearest gunman, yanking him back by his feet away from the edge and then dropping an elbow on him to knock him out, like a profession wrestler in the ring. Though her version results in her momentum transferring into rolling to her feet, getting her back up a split second after she's delivered the man into unconsciousness.

The second gunman spots the movement from his peripheral vision, and tries to swing his gun about towards her. Having been lying down and firing over the roof's edge, he's not in the best position for rapid movement. Nor is a rifle the best weapon for close quarters. Before he can bring the gun to bear, Batgirl has strode forward to close the distance, hand pulling her bo staff from her utility garter and extending it in one fluid motion into a swing. It connects with the rifle, cracking the stock and sending the gun flying.

The gang member isn't much better off, the staff cracking into the side of his head as he's trying to rise and pull a handgun from the waistband of his pants. Batgirl catches him and eases the unconscious man to the ground. The handgun is pulled out and tossed away. "Seriously, that's a good way to shoot parts of yourself off. At least get a holster. When you get out of Blackgate," she tells the unconscious man.

She turns back to look out at the street, which runs directly away from her, giving Batgirl a great view of the combatants taking cover on both sides of the street, blasting away at each other. She pulls out a larger than normal batarang, flicks a switch on it to adjust its dispersal pattern, then backs up to get a few running steps before launching it. It flies straight down the street at about 20 feet up, springs ejecting smoke pellets one after another so they fall in a line down the street. Neither set of gang members are in the smoke, but now it blocks their line of sight to each other, making them fire blind and decreasing the chances of gunshot wounds.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <<Did someone nearly shoot their Hatemachine off?>> comes Balm's voice as she comes in low, sliding between the legs of another Steel Cobra gunman and she brings her legs up, delivering a kick to their mid-section to knock the gun out of their hand.

    She catches the gun, and gives another swipe ofits butt against the inside of his knee and sends him down before she throws the gun into the alleyway behind her, using the follow-through to take down another Steel Cobra.

    
    <<Seeing smoke, nice cover!>

Austin Reese has posed:
The trio of Steel Cobras around the corner are kicking the crap out of a cop, a guy in SWAT gear, who is doing his best to put up a fight but it's three on one, and they've got weapons.

Osprey peeks the corner for a moment to get a good eye on all of them, but knows he needs to move fast. He grabs a small canister from his bandolier and tosses it around the corner. The glowstick sized flashbang clatters to the ground near the trio and then bursts. Osprey is around the corner a moment later, grabbing one around the throat and hauling him up through the air, sweeping the leg as he slams him into the pavement. The one that had the metal bat swings wildly when he sees Osprey, who catches the bat in the side and is knocked back a few steps.

The disorientation doesn't last long enough as the one with the bat rushes at him again, Osprey ducks one swing, and then another, and then blocks the third with his armored gauntlets, before switching to Mui Thai and grabbing him around the back of the head, pulling him down into several knee strikes before tossing him off to the side.

A second later a shot rings out, the bullet catching Osprey on one of his armor plates on his chest, but making him react in surprise, turning and throwing a knife at the gun-hand of the third Cobra, knocking the weapon out of his hand as he follows it up with a body blow, sending a discharge of DC electricity into the gang banger with the hit, as he knocks him head over heels.

<"Well that hurt."> He mutters over comms, taking a moment or two to catch his breath, <"How many of these guys did they bring?"> He moves over to help the SWAT officer up to his feet, "Head down the street for a block and then swing left, you should see your GCPD buddies. Now get out of here."

The cop takes a second to look Osprey over, "You know I suppose you capes aren't too bad. Thanks." He says, before he turns and follows Osprey's directions to get back to the GCPD perimeter. Still more gang bangers to go.

Bette Kane has posed:
Bette is on the ground now, swarmed by Jade Tigers who really don't like her. They come at her, fists and pipes and bats swing for her, and she just moves. She lets her body act on its own, muscle memory and instinct saving her from severe injury. She deflects the fists, ducks and dodges the pipes, and gets a bat to the midsection despite her efforts.

Staggering, she growls, and flips a couple pellets from her utility belt to the ground. They burst in a his of rapidly expanding smoke, obscuring the vigilante.

The fight continues, but who knows what's going on in there? Shouts and groans of pain come out, but will Flamebird?

Dick Grayson has posed:
    The sounds of heavier caliber weapons joining the fight makes Nightwing shake his head and sigh. These guys were so into taking each other out that they didn't stop to think about what would be left for them once the fight ended. Not that he wanted any of them claiming even the tiniest part of the city, but they were usually smarter than this.

    But if they wouldn't stop this, he and his allies would stop it for them.

    << Since the fighting is so widespread, all of you just work on any gangers you see. Be careful and don't jump in the middle of fights you can't win, there's plenty of smaller ones to pick off before we have to deal with the really bad areas. And keep your eyes open for any police pinned down in this, I show multiple law enforcement transponders scattered around the area. >>

    Firing a grapple from the armor's vambrace, he zips up to the roof of the building, finding a couple of the Jade Tigers standing at the edge, their backs to him as they shoot into the crowd of gangers below.

    Sometimes it's just too easy.

    He reaches over his shoulders to pull his batons from their charging sockets and pads silently forward. Coming up behind the Tigers, he hits each one with a baton, the electricity coursing through them and dropping them where they stand. The dropped guns are recovered and stored in a pouch hanging from his belt, no reason to leave them behind for another ganger. Not even taking the time to cuff them, he grapples to an unoccupied roof, heading in the direction of the closest GCPD officer.

Harper Row has posed:
    Harper isn't even sure if her message went out, and she's going to get a talking to after tonight she feels. By the increased standards she's trying to measure up to, what with all the recent training from her mentor, she's not earning any gold stars she feels. With not a little frustration at her aim that winged rather than dead-centered a pair of gangers, she one-hands her rifle and stares across the nearby rooftops.

    Bluebird takes a moment to admire her allies. From the Canary cry that sends a jolt of something up her spine, to Batgirl seeming to be an epic roll, it's like a buffet-beatdown. She really shouldn't try and watch 'em all, though she makes an excuse of wanting to deliver some bad news where it'll be most pragmatic.

    << Oooo, that's gotta hurt. Friggen nice take downs >>

    Harper starts her run to leap between a dark alley, clearing the distance and coming down with a long skid on old flagstones. She's sweeping her scope, her lip pulled up in a punkish snarl as she catches some slicks slides and snatches by a certain Healer that can really hurt. Reports of canisters going off has her yanking her attention around. She touches upon the sight of Flamebird, and Harper gasps, and then she's just ~gone~ in smoke. "Alright, Eff it."

    << Coming down to share the knuckle sammiches! >>

    A quick grapple to a rickety fire escape and Harper is playing out the wire so she can drop her way to the ground as quick as she can, the burn of friction passing her palm making a sound quite like her railgun when the battery pack has been overtaxed. She's fortunate enough to have a Steel Cobra as a target of opportunity, their shoulders as a lovely place to become a landing pad for her heels. Their face makes a sickening sound as it levers forward to the asphalt. She's not for sticking around though, and hustles forward to fight her way into a few knots of troublemakers.

Essix has posed:
The pigeon is keen to see more, having only managed to catch sight of a couple of the heroes, so it takes flight and starts to move around the area slowly to get tabs on who all was there and all the locations of fighting. The number of gang members seemed unending on both sides, but there was a limit and even the pigeon would see that numbers were starting dwindle. One side or the other would have to give in soon... wouldn't they?

Swooping down and past every Bat and Bird fighting on the ground, getting a better look at each costume, the pigeon catches moves to land on the roof of a car not on fire. Sure there were a couple of gang members right there, but they were fighting each other in a hand to hand battle and couldn't be bothered with a bird.

Two police and one news helicopter's lights flood the area, making it more difficult for sneaky actions in the allies, but at the same time highlighting where each of the gangs are coming from, their 'staging areas'.

From one of the police copters, over the loud speaker, a man can be heard announcing, "We have officers ready to enter the area and start making arrests, you would all do well to throw down your weapons and put your hands behind your heads."

This was either the most moronic announcement on the planet, or a way to let the Birds and Bats know that the police was in fact ready to lend a hand now. No sooner had the announcement went out, then the SWAT team began moving in with several extra officers in riot gear. It would not be said that the Gotham police department did nothing, and each of these officers new full well what they were risking to do their jobs.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah pauses as she sees the titanic ass whupping Betty is getting and then she just sighs. "Oh Betty.." She hurries over and begin to assist Harper and getting the Jade Tigers off of her, a few well placed kicks, a few punches her and one lucky hit to the face by a Tiger which lands him in a massive hurt locker. She exhales a bit and then looks down to Betty. "Are you alright!? Can you move?" She does her best to keep the heat off her friend so she can make for one of the allies an not be so exposed.

There is a brief pause as she notices a pigeon? She stares at it for a moment and squints at it for a bit, but that moment of distraction is replaced when she catches someone coming up on her an her fighting instincts kick in and she ducks a bunch drives a fist into his sternum and then grabs said arm and throws the man to the ground, pins and begins to choke him.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
<< Sounds like we'll need to be wary of GCPD getting in the line of fire now too. >>. The blond Batgirl has just picked out her next target, this one down on the street, when a scream catches her attention. A door to a residence slams open and a gang member staggers out, one hand held to a bullet wound in his side. The other hand has a sawed off shotgun which he shoots blindly behind him. He nearly loses the weapon to the kick, firing it one handed, and he probably has an injured wrist to go with the bullet wound.

Another gunshot comes from inside the building, and a repeat of the woman's scream. Next out the door are an Asian man and woman in their forties, fleeing their home that seemed to become the path for a flanking maneuver by the Steel Cobras. Another shot is fired inside, the civilians ducking as they make for the street which isn't much better. << I've got two civilians in the line of fire, going for them! >>

Batgirl jumps off the two story roof, landing on the hood of a pickup truck and rolling forward off of it. She runs to the man and woman, firing her grapple to taller rooftop next to theirs then getting an arm under a shoulder of each. All three whisk away up into the air, Batgirl letting them go on their roof. "Keep your heads down wait for it to be over," she tells them.

Then she runs and jumps off the roof, grapple line still in hand. She flies out over the street as far as the line allows, and then swings back towards the doorway of the residence. Just as a gang member starts to step through, he encounters the swinging heroine. Her feet catch him in the chest and launch him back down the hallway as she and the combatant disappear inside.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:

    <<I feel a little bit like that's aimed at me, Nightwing, is that because I'm without adult supervis-->> Balm begins, but she spots the gray pigeon, and she purses her lips a moment -- which ends up with her catching a nine iron to the shoulder. She gives a yelp as she smacks against a wall, and then she slings a haymaker, following through with a back elbow strike as she removes the golfing implement, and then uses it for a precision strike to the side and the handle to the solar plexus.

    Following by a turn, knocking the butt of a rifle up as it reports twice into the sky. Weighted knuckles strike against a nose, breaking it with a satisfying snap.

    <<Were there chemical agents used? I've got a weird acting bird nearby?>

Austin Reese has posed:
With the vigilante part of the fight spilling out into the street now, Osprey finds himself rounding a corner and coming face to face with a Tiger and a Cobra that are wrestling on the ground. He stands there for a moment, looking at the pair of them, spotting the pigeon nearby that seems to be watching too, "Shoo. Get out of here before you catch a stray round."

<"I see it, it looked like it was watching one of the fights. Speaking of which.."> Osprey turns away from the bird and back to the pair of guys on the ground, whistling at them, "Hey, jackasses. Knock it off." The whistle gets their attention, as the pair remain tangled up with each other on the ground. Osprey figures he'll put them out without too much trouble, as now that they're looking at him, he's able to deliver a swift pair of kicks directly to their domes.

Bette Kane has posed:
The grunts and thuds continue in the smoke cloud. The occasional clatter of some impliment or another hitting the ground resounding out. The helicopters coming in sends enough of a current of air below to disperse the smoke. All but one gangster is down, leaving Flamebird, who is a little unsteady, facing down the last one.

"Never surrender," she growls. "Surrender is failure!"

With more willpower than actual energy, Bette hurls herself at the gangster, ducking under his swinging pipe and getting in really close. "Stay down," she says as she draws her head back, driving her forehead right into the bridge of his nose as hard as she can. Kate would be proud. She staggers and he crumples.

She's bought a moment to breathe. <These guys are assholes, but at least they aren't juiced! How's everyone holding up?>

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Nightwing manages to run, jump and roll across several rooftops without yelling 'Parkour!' even once until he's above the trapped officer. Said officer was lucky and had taken out a ganger carrying a MAC-10 early in the fight and was using it carefully one shot at a time whenever a ganger starts heading his way. Given the almost legendary inaccuracy of the weapon at more than ten feet or so, he hasn't hit anything, but he is making them keep their heads down.

    Since this officer has things pretty well in hand, Nightwing pulls the pouch he put the two pistols in off his belt and drops it down beside the officer, who turns toward the noise, looks at the pouch and then up to see Nightwing already grappling to another building. Taking and opening the pouch he nods to himself. He can hold out for a while here now.

    << You're fine Balm, it's all just tactics. And wanting everyone to come home in one piece. >>

    The sound of a rifle shot cracks across the scene as he lands, almost at the same time that he feels like he's been punched in the chest. Letting out an involuntary 'Oof' from the impact, he drops to the rooftop and scans for the gunman. Another shot whizzes just above him, the small wall at the edge of the roof providing just enough protection that he can stay prone and not be a target.

    << I'm pinned down by a sniper, pinging his coordinates for those who have an HUD. Someone clear him out please? >>

Harper Row has posed:
    Harper's hair whips around in the downdraft of helicopter blades, chaotic blue strands like angry medusa snakes. She's just ducked under a punch, and the moving spotlight is a good distraction to help her evade, and also deliver a kick to a knee that'll be expensive to rehabilitate. The bad sound is the kind of good indicator she's delivered the right amount of force. "Sorry not sorry!" she sing-songs.

    A good lay-up for a takedown on a trio is spotted. She can't stop for long, she has to keep moving. The small group of Gangers are clustered as if to do something innocent like light up some cigarettes out of the wind. But the molotov's are definitely more harmful than a pack of smokes. The shotgun blast that takes out a window nearby is just the kind of motivation to give her a burst of speed and vault the car between her and the trio. She goes up and over, her hip making a ~Squkeeee~ along the chassis before she starts firing from the other hip. The rounds pepper all three, not counting rounds, doubling-up to make sure they don't get up. Some of the bottles smash, sending a waft of pungent scent to mingle with the gunpowder and flashbangs. Harper hunkers down and backs against the nearby car for cover as each window is blown to pieces.

    << I'm gonna be picking glass out of my...What? >>

    Harper tilts her head, placing a hand up to her mask, and doing some calculations of the coordinates. Harper lifts and slams her rifle down on the roof of the car and angles. Glass dust puffs around her, giving a bit of glitter to her cheek and teeth. "Mmmm, Cap'n Crunch." she coughs. << Taking a shot! >> Harper squints and rattles off semi-auto shots into the area, adjusting her aim to messily paint the suggestions of a silhouette. Better safe than sorry. The impacts light up a body that does some funky Krumpin dance moves. The ol herky-jerky dab 'n drop.

Essix has posed:
The car chosen by the pigeon is as in the middle as it could possibly get, though there were some of the heroes it couldn't see directly... all thanks to the buildings. It was content to have gotten a look at everyone, except the one still up on the roof, aka Nightwing.

Turning around in little hops on the roof of the car the pigeon takes note of Phoebe watching it and then visibly winces when she gets hit by the golf club. It looked painful, but then the costumed female recovered and proceeded to disarm the gang member and kick his butt... so all good, right? Right?

The number of gang bangers out the streets was dropping fast, forcing those still in allies and buildings, as well as the staging areas, to start moving toward the central location. Whatever it was they were fighting over, neither side seemed ready to back down, apparently even if that meant they all died or got arrested. Even with the final call out, there weren't all that many left out there that weren't already engaged.

The SWAT and riot gear team continue their way along the outer edges of the hot zone, looking to collect trapped officers as they move to either add to their numbers, or get them back to safety. Zip tie handcuffs are the tools used on gang members who have been rendered unconscious, and then they too are moved out to safety. It's slow going, but they'll get there and eventually will be in the line of fire.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Black Canary meanwhile starts to to make her way further in trying to make it as smooth as possible for the cops, neutralizing and disarming gangers as she moves. Her body a machine driven, moving from alley, cover, cars and taking out the groups that are small enough to engage without getting swarmed. Eventually however she has to take a rest, various cuts, bruises and injuries making her body a little sluggish. She exhales for a bit as she wipes a bit of blood from her forehead.
5rHowever the sound of crying and screaming is heard as she notices a burning building. She steels herself and then takes her jacket off and shields herself as she crashes through a flimsy door, one of the motovs having set this place on fire. The sound are coming from upstair so she stays low so the smoke doesn't get to hurt and makes her way to the second floor where a beam has trapped a mother and her children are. She exhales and then yllows. "Stand back." When the person complies she once more uses the cry to break the barriers to be blown away but the structure creaks and groans. She takes the woman begins leading her children out of the building as fast as possible and just in time as the building falls down and the woman lets out a hasty thank you, she then points them in the direction of the police and wipes some soot from her hair.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Another shot comes from the building that Batgirl swung through the doorway into. Then another. Then there's the sound of shattering glass as a gang member crashes through, landing on the ground hard and groaning.

Batgirl sticks her head out the window and glances up towards the roof. "Sorry about the window!" she calls up to the husband and wife. And the suddenly her head darts back inside like someone grabbed her and pulled her in.

Crashing sounds come from inside, and another gunshot. Then a louder crash that has a number of twanging sounds like some kind of stringed instrument and the strings suddenly being broken or coming lose.

"And the piano!" Batgirl's voice can be heard calling from inside back out the window. Up on the roof, the woman winces, but the man puts his arm around her. "The insurance will pay for it. Acts of gangs and villains is covered in our policy, I made sure of it," he tells her.

<< Nightwing, are you clear or do you still need help? >> Batgirl emerges from the dwelling again. Her costume has some dirt and debris on it, only the latter of which comes off as she dusts it and takes stock of where everyone is.

Bette Kane has posed:
Bette pants, breathing hard as she surveys her work, looking at the pile of beaten up gangsters before she actually takes a look around. It's still chaos, but it's thinning. There just aren't that many anymore. "Huh," she says to herself, wincing and rubbing her forehead.

<Anyone needs backup? I just beat down like five of these dudes. Only a couple of my ribs are cracked. I can still help!>

She produces a grapple gun and fires it, ascending back to the rooftops, hunting for more prey, or any of her buddies out here who might need help. <Batgirl? Bluebird? Canary? You all doing good? Birds stick together, after all.>

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <<FORE>>

    Another Gangmember goes flying. It's all good, little pigeon, this little Bat can handle a bit of pain.

    She does however get the attention of a couple more people, and pops a couple of smoke pellets down, firing her grapple up to the street light and going up --

    And then coming right back down, swinging her legs out to George of the Jungle the Cobras (COBRAAAAS) into the wall and knock them out.

    She's keeping the Nine Iron in hand as she ducks down behind a handy car, looks up at the sound of a piano being destroyed by Schezro with Batgirl and Badguy.

     <<I think they're playing your song, Batgirl.>> she decides, a little bit breathlessly, and then in a pause she looks back towards the bird on the car -- she's pretty sure it winced. Birds don't wince, right?

Austin Reese has posed:
Another shot rings out, a shotgun this time, and catches Osprey in the back. He gets knocked down from the force, the wind getting knocked out of him, but he's not dead at least, which is better than if he wasn't wearing armor.

He can hear the rack being locked back as the shotgun wielder loads a new round into the chamber, but Osprey is able to roll behind a car a moment before more buckshot rakes the ground where he had been.

<"Where's Red Hood when we need him. I'd love to see their reaction to having someone shoot back.">

Osprey pulls a batarang out of a pouch on his belt and wings it around the corner, where it bounces off of the side of the knocks him for a loop. Osprey quickly closes the distance and drops an elbow right into the guy's sternum. He then lays there next to the guy for a moment or two, catching his breath, before he pushes the Tiger over and puts him in a pair of zip cuffs, <"Any idea how many more are still standing?"?>

Dick Grayson has posed:
    << Thank you Bluebird, I'm clear now. It looks like it's coming down to the end of the fight, let's get in there and end this before anyone else gets hurt. >>

    Fitting action to words, he leaps off the building, gliding until he's about ten feet from a pair of gangers. Retracting the wings, he twists in midair so that each of them take a boot to the back of their heads, followed up by a couple punches to make sure they stay down. Since the police are headed into the area, he takes the moment to zip tie them before moving on.

    Running forward silently, he pulls the batons again, smacking them together so they lock and extend into a staff. A couple of the gangers receive a quick education in the art of Bojutsu that is completely wasted on them as they are unconscious after the first two strikes. Zip tying those two, he heads for the intersection that everyone seems to be heading towards. He slips into an alley to cut over a street and get a good look at what is going on.

    Even at this point, the gangers are still fighting with each other, but there just aren't many left. Raising his arm, he grapples onto the roof and just watches the scene unfold, fairly certain that there are few enough left that the police can finish the job.

    << Ok folks, looks like this is just about over. Keep an eye on things, help any civilians that need it, but the police can round up the rest of these guys. >>

Harper Row has posed:
    "I hope they don't make this an annual thing!" Harper yells above the shouts, screams and sundering of property. Twisting to the side to eject her clip, a duo of gang members bullrush against the rear door, denting it in their fury to strangle the life out of each other. Exasperated, the Bluebird goes in to make an idiot sandwich with her palms serving as bread, and the ganger's ears serving as the meat. She reaches for that stunned head and slams it into the face of the dude he was getting his grapple on with.

    << Actually I think we might ju- >>

    Bluebird speaks too soon, and gets whalloped by an uprooted street sign wielded all two-handed and stuff. She's sent towards the more central location of the trouble. She wheezes, out of cover. << Got some leftovers on my position...don't know when to cut their...losses >> Woof! Grunt! She gets a kick to the ribs by a cluster or remaining dudes, using their momentum to try and roll with it. She keeps on the defensive, resorting to fending off the worst as last stands and desperate actions take place.

Dinah Lance has posed:
With the police starting to get things under control Dianh knows it is time to get out before two many questions are ask. Nursing a couple of injuries she makes her way back to her motorcycle and then begins to put on her helmet. She takes one more sweep of the area before she guns the engine and begins to make her way out of the area, sticking to some of the back roads so no one follows her back to Sherwood. Last thing she needs is some vengeful gangers doing a revenge hit.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown returns to the scene of the crime to handcuff those that she's previously incapacitated. The two riflemen from the roof, she even lowers down. So GCPD won't have to. And if she drops them on their buts from about two feet up, well, that can be left out of the after-mission report.

Batgirl finishes up, double checking her gear and then moving over to find the others. "Good job everyone. I think we earned some late night pizza." She gives her bo staff a twirl and then contracts it into it's smaller form for storage, attaching it back to her utility belt.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
     <<Mmmm Post-Mission Pizza. Red Robin and Hood are gonna be sorry they missed out -- but I guess someone had to mind the rest of the city.>> Balm wheezes, and then there's an audible CRACK <<Fixed my nose, sorry.>> she states, wrapping her own harvest of snakes and zipties, and then she grapples to the rooftops, crouching down as she does a medical scan -- just in case there were criticals that needed a little patching up before she went.

    She's pretty sure Batman wouldn't mind the little bit of magic to make sure people are able to make it to Blackgate.

Bette Kane has posed:
Bette is not going to get a gold star because even though she beat up like six dudes with weapons, she didn't zip tie them before she went off to help others. Luckily the SWAT shows up to get them, so she might get some points back.

She follows her HUD, the tacnet leading her towards Harper. She runs and leaps and rolls, skidding across the rooftops. She stops at a ledge, looking down at Harper fending off goons. She grunts, taking a couple steps back and then leaping down. Much like earlier, she arcs down, dropping knees first into the back of a guy menacing Harper.

"Cavalry's here, Bluebird! Let's wreck these goons!"

She drives the guy into the ground, only to hop up and start throwing punches at the small crowd of gangsters, aiming for wrists and elbows, sweeping kicks into knees to help take the pressure off of Harper.

"Oh yeah, Batwoman says hi!"

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Nightwing watches the last feeble flareups of the fight until the wave of riot police washes over the area and arrests anyone they can get their hands on, while at the same time keeping an eye on his HUD to be certain all of the bats and birds manage to extract themselves from the area without running into gangers or police. Once everyone has won their way free, the grapple comes out and he vanishes back into the darkness that is Gotham at night. Thinking things over as he goes, he decides it would be a good idea to find out what caused this mess to make sure it's taken care of and doesn't flare up anywhere else in the city.

    << Good work everyone, that was a lot bigger than we normally deal with and you all got through really well. Pizza is on me, just text your toppings and I'll get them ordered." >>

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey gets back up to his feet, and then grapples his way up to a rooftop. Once he's safely up top, he stops for a moment to look back over the edge down at the cops as they sweep through, disappearing back out of the area once they've passed, <"We're going to need to figure out what set this off. These guys have been chill for a while, there hasn't been bloodshed in some time.">

Harper Row has posed:
The weight and hate comes up off Harper, and it's thanks to Bette. It's just the breathing room she needs to get back on the offensive. "Thanks!" Harper has been a bit sloppy, unable to retread some of her deeds of the night. She could totally learn a thing or two from the others. Like tidying up with some twist-tying. "Oh jeez, she's watching isn't she?!"

    Bluebird collects her marbles and delivers some knees and elbows to crotches and skulls. Putting her faith in the authorities ability to sweep up these dregs if her allies don't prep them on a silver platter. Harper uses her reserves to try and finish off the troublemakers nearby with Bette.

    "I think we've burned enough calories for a cheat day, amirite?"

Bette Kane has posed:
"She sure is watching," Bette says, helping with the final disposal. "And I am down for a cheat day, I could -murder- some cheeseburgers!"

Essix has posed:
The sudden arrival of another costumed hero instantly gains the pigeon's attention, but before it can actually get a decent look at the man, the two thugs are hand cuffed and Nightwing is headed to the roof of a building again. A small sigh is expressed from it's lungs, the body looking for a moment like the pigeon suddenly got very depressed over something, then with a sudden loud coo, it remembers something very, very important... it can fly!

Leaping off the roof of the car and up into the air, it moves follow the man up to the roof. At that exact moment and without any warning, the sound of a horn echoes through the streets, followed almost immediately by the sound of an old school warehouse 'time to go home' whistle. The few members of the gangs still standing, suddenly split off from each other and bolt like rabbits toward their hidey holes. Some end up arrested on the way, others make it to 'safety'. All throughout the area are those who have been shot that are either dead, too wounded to fight, or attempting to crawl to safety only to end up taken to an ambulance (once they're disarmed of course).

The pigeon goes up and over the top of the roof, circling once before spotting Nightwing looking out over the flare ups. It was now or never, the moment of truth, and any other number of 'do it now' phrases. Flying in low toward Nightwing's back, unseen and unheard, it looks for all the world as if it is about to slam itself into the man's back when just inches from doing so something happens. The form of the pigeon silently melts into an aqua colored viscous liquid that flows into one of Nightwing's open pouches.

Essix had seen who the heroes were, and what they were capable of and she was impressed. Now it was up to her to find a way to inform them of what happened and why it had occurred. That meant earning the trust of one of them, which also meant revealing herself to one of them, or all of them, but that was a whole new level of possible experiences. In the end, it looked like Nightwing won the honor of a passenger just for being the one to hold out the longest from being observed, and the last one she needed to see the full costume of.