14324/Mixing Up Trouble

Mixing Up Trouble
Date of Scene:	05 March 2023
Location:	Garage and Armory - Historic Clocktower
Synopsis:	Kate makes sure Charlie is okay after a bank robbery incident and then Charlie provides a sounding board for Kate's schemes involving a mutant killer.
Cast of Characters:	Kate Kane, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe

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Kate Kane has posed:
The Clocktower is often a hive of late night activity, comings and goings, the occasional party when the Birds need to unwind. But the garage and armory typically aren't a hive of activity well after midnight. But this is not a normal night. Not for Kate Kane.

She's been stewing over a recent run-in with Sabretooth. While it didn't leave any permanent damage beyond the usual, more scars for women at the gym to murmur in shock about, it left something inside her. A burning hatred. A consuming need for vengeance she hasn't felt in a long time.

And while she has spoken to some of the Birds about the encounter, she's assured them it's fine.

This may in fact have been a lie.

Because well after midnight, there's the sound of driving bass and synth isntruments, and Kate has taken one of the benches over for some rather unique work. She's got a rental car parked down the block, because her bike wasn't going to be able to handle the dozen pressure cookers she's purchased and is now filling with a mixture of gunpowder and homemade plastic explosive. The plastic's been formed into sheets that can be molded around the inner wall of the cookers... and dimpled with hundreds of ball bearings.

Kate's constructing a dozen oversized claymore mines. You know, like you do on a Saturday night when you don't have any charity galas to go to. She's focused enough she's not going to notice anyone wandering in over the sound of her soundtrack, or the focus on making sure every detail is right, occasionally glancing to a blueprint she has pinned up of an address at the Gotham docks. It's an early 20th century warehouse once used for whaling operations, and recently purchased by a shell company of a shell company of an intermediary broker in Corto Maltese.

Just another Saturday night for Kate indeed.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    There is a displacement of air as a certain young woman suddenly exists in the armory. The arrival is accompanied by a slash of pink-purple smoke as well as a bit of a distortion to the driving bass and synth instruments playing through the room.

    he young woman in question is kitted out in full batgirl-esque gear, all state of the art and from the same manufacture. The suit though is a bit off kilt, the Bat symbol is more a stylized M which riffs on the whole bat-fam aethestic. The colors are also slightly off from the suit Babs has on display as well as the one Stephanie rocks.

    As are the orange goggles Charlie is shoving up onto her forehead before starts to struggle with the front of the jacket. It looks like the thing took a couple very high caliber rounds right to the symbol based on the damage to it. She is breathing heavily but isn't gushing blood so the armor must have done it's job, though god knows if her ribs are fine.

    "Oh.." pant. "Hey" she finally manages to get the mangles zipper down and starts to shrug out of the jacket revealing the underarmor. Not even sure if she was heard of noticed over the music for a moment, the work is definitely looked over though from her vantage by one of the sets of gear lockers.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate should probably react to the sudden displacement of air. And she does... just without any visible surprise. Sure, maybe her skeleton tried to leap out of her mouth, but she can act like she _didn't_. Bright green eyes flick over to the appearance of... well, she's not Batgirl. But she's dressed like Batgirl. And she just appeared in a puff of smoke. Kate might not be the World's Greatest Detective, but she _did_ read the team dossiers after Babs insisted enough.

"Charlie. Have an even- shit!" She springs up, half-constructed explosive abandoned, drawer on the work bench pulled open, rattling of tools and odds and ends until she can find a first aid kit to pull out before she's practically springing towards the girl.

She slows as she realizes those bullet impacts aren't spilling blood, and Charlie's undoing her own jacket. Eyebrow quirks at the panting breath, and she calls out, "Oracle! Knock it off!", a chime sounds and the music cuts out without a verbal response. Apparently Kate's customized her vocal commands to minimize the conversational part.

One eyebrow perks as she crosses her arms. "...Busy night? Fun party? Jesus, those are some heavy rounds. You're not feeling a stabbing pain when you inhale are you? Unable to inhale fully?"

Kate might have murder on her mind, but not so much she's not going to check on one of her teammates.

Sabretooth can get his any day. Charlie's clearly been through the wringer. And she's not letting any Bird handle the aftermath of a rough night solo if she's around.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie is still trying to parse the whole midnight explosive project and not putting together the pieces yet when Kate springs into action there. Her eyes widening a smidge more when Batwoman moves to the rescue with a first aid kit in hand.

    "Oh .. oh..." she blinks as the AI is told to knock off the music and then offers a sheepish sort of crooked smile at the questions. "Uh.. yeah.... crew was trying to knock over Gotham.. National... and I responded to the silent alarm." she seems to actually be catching her breath as she breaths heavy. "I think they thought they were packing for Batman.." she shakes her head. "No pain.. I mean no .. stabbing pain.. armor worked" she turns the jacket over in her hands. "They mostly missed... was moving to fast.. but had to wrap it up really fast too with all the bullets in the air... just out of breath.. mostly.."

    The impact layers are shattered in that jacket. Charlie carefully tips it out of her hands onto a workbench then starts to peel the underarmor down and off revealing a sports bra as she strips the armor to the waist. "The bouncing healed my ribs already.. just.. tiring..." she sounds wiped, but not dying.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate glances back at her... arts and crafts with a thin, serious press of her lips. "That's... uh... not for a normal thing. Guy I'm hunting took a magazine of .45 to the back and didn't even slow down. He's got some kind of healing factor. Enhanced senses. Strength. That's just to knock him off balance."

She sounds sincere. And it's not a lie. The explosives are just to slow Sabretooth down. The building burning down is what's supposed to seal the deal. But Kate's not telling anyone that. They get that annoying look like 'Oh, Kate, no. You're better than this.', and right now she's not wanting to realize that.

Besides, she's got a roughed up Bird to focus on and offer a shoulder to if she needs support.

She lets out a low little noise that might be a sardonic laugh as she sighs out, "That's kind of the problem with Gotham criminals, huh? They all think Batman's going to show up personally, and arm up to deal with him. No one's ever just carrying a sawed off shotgun and knocking over a liquor store anymore." And as tired as Charlie sounds, Kate goes into full mother bird mode, guiding the younger woman over to a chair to sit down and get off her feet, helping to lay the armor on the workbench and sighing out, "Wait, was that the... big kerfuffle I heard on comms earlier? I picked up that like... half of Gotham was going to be there. Figured I shouldn't add too many cooks to the kitchen."

Also, she was a little focused on her personal project. And she wasn't sure she could hold back that simmering anger. But she's also not ready to admit _that_. "...You need a bottle of water? Want me to steal one of Babs's sodas? The theft makes it sweeter."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie looks at the arts and crafts project as she lets herself get shepherded over to one of the chairs and sat down. Honestly as tired as she is and all she could use a good sit down so she doesn't protest or fight it. It probably help she has spent the last couple of years growing up with a lot of mother birds around.

    Fighting the mothering doesn't stop the mothering. Lesson 12.

    "I could use some enhanced senses and super strength.. though won't complain about healing..." is muttered though. Because while she doesn't heal like Sabtertooth, she does heal when she bounces, which is in her file too. Then she nods. "I could use a couple of the power bars and some juice.. need calories from all the bouncing and healing I had to do." she grins. "Though soda works too instead of juice..." she isn't about to prevent grand theft soda after all.

    "And.. I mean.. probably yeah.. bunch of milspec robbers with automatic weapons and body armor... they are all down for the count but they did not go quietly at all..."

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate lets out a low little laugh, sighing out, "Well, you'd make better use of them than he did. I owe him a lot. I mean, on the 'petty and deflecting' side, he _wrecked_ one of my favorite jackets, and my ridiculous ruffled vampire shirt." She sighs out softly. Really, any of Kate's shirts would be a vampire shirt, with the pale complexion and being up all night and all. But still.

Kate frowns... she knew there was a _lot_ of response to that alert earlier... but Charlie's the one who can teleport and got back first. So as Kate opens the nearest mini fridge to grab two sodas, and a couple of power bars for the winded teleporter, she makes sure there's plenty of beverages left. Just in case.

She delivers one soda and the bars to Charlie, before cracking her own grapefruit soda for a sip.

"Well, you came back without losing any blood. That's good. I haven't had a chance to check out any of the footage or anything, but..." She flashes an impish grin. "Good job. Gold star for keeping your head on during it. I might have to tease Harper and Bette if they didn't do as good as you, but... really. You're all doing amazing. Never doubt yourself, Charlie. If you need anything, don't forget we're here for you."

Says the woman building claymore mines to take on a mutant serial killer terrorist apparently by herself.

Kate's real real good at 'Do as I say, not as I do'.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie makes greedy little gimme gimme hands and scoops up the powerbars and soda and starts to devour the first bar as she listens to the peptalk and cheering up about taking two to the chest.

    I mean, it may be because she actually teleported in to take the shots for someone else, but she isn't talking about that part. It will come out in the footage review.

    She doesn't respond until the first calorie bomb is in her stomach starting to be turned into refueling. Then she polishes off half the sugary soda. More calories and faster too.

    "Thanks Kate." she notes and leans back in the chair looking at the ceiling. "I feel like I lose so many favorite jackets too.. but at least they do their job." she rubs her face before starting to open the second power bar. "Also I mean.. I'm here for all of you. Seriously. If you priority buzz me I can be with you.. literally anywhere anytime... well unless I am in the shower.. not sure I'd be much use without my gear.. but if it was a dead ass emergency I'd still totes be there in a wet pinch." amusement.

    She does glance to the project. "So what are pressure cookers for and how will they help against someone with healing and super strength?" she still hasn't puzzled this one out. She is not one of the great detectives of the group.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate considers carefully... Charlie and Harper both seem to attack those power bars the same way. Must be a thing she missed out on by a generation. They're good fuel, but... she always finds them like chewing on sawdust. Tasty sawdust, but not that tasty.

Then again, she's never seen Babs not have a bowl of some brightly coloured sugary cereal near her battle station. So maybe it's actually just _her_.

She laughs out and shakes her head swiftly, "Oh, no, I mean, I'm not saying I won't call you in in a pinch, but... I'll be sure it's at least something you know might come up. I'm not going to make you poof out of the shower unless it's totally unforeseeable."

She half-scowls and sighs, "There's nothing as frustrating as an interrupted hot shower. It's like... sacred time."

She gestures to the blueprint, specifically to a long, concrete hallway that runs alongside the old offices, "Going to plant them above the drop tile ceiling here. He chases me. They're wired to the light switch at the far end. I hit the switch while he's behind me, the ball bearings shred his muscles enough he slows down. Maybe takes an eye or something. He's got like... cat vision or something. Haven't figured out how to counteract that."

She grins downright wolfishly, "That music earlier is... well, part of hte plan for his hearing. Way bigger speakers, more poweful amp. Figure if it feels like the bass is going to make my bones shatter, he can't hear over it." She clicks her tongue and sighs, "Haven't come up with a better idea for his sight than just loading the actual warehouse area with smoke bombs. But I just need to get him immobilized. Going to rig the sprinklers. They run off a tank on the roof instead of city water. Tank can be drained and... replaced." She clears her throat softly. "He's not fireproof, so... it's a good plan. Good enough. Just need to bait the trap somehow. I mean, you know, short of signing a big spotlight in the sky. Don't think he's got like, a symbol like Bats does, so it'd just be a big spotlight, no one's going to show up to _that_."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    I mean. They do taste like choco-dust. Still they are so high on k-cals and protein. Something that the chaosmuppet needs after teleporting too much or healing. Others hard to say. Maybe it is Kate.

    "Appreciated." the heads up and not poofing out of shower unless a serious emergency. "I mean.. I'd do it but better be life and death.. because last thing I want is to flash the Riddler or something my boobs." a slow head shake.

    She does peer at the schematics then at all the pressure cookers. "Huh." she drops the wrappers on the table by the chair and gets up to her feet, not catlike nimble but doing better already it looks like. Soda in hand she steps back towards your arts and craft project sipping the soda when she gets there. "Okay. I mean only demons in my experience are fire proof, which is why you use holy water or a charged salt mixture." she is musing through it. "So like.. who is he and how fast does he actually heal?" she looks back to you now. "And how are you going to avoid all the ballbearings when it goes off if you are at the end of the hallway...?"

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate shudders and shakes her head, "Oh god no, like... can you imagine if he made a riddle out of it? Like... how would you ever stop punching him? Best to just steer clear of the entire mess."

She sighs out and crosses her arms, elbows resting on the workbench, but her shoulders tense, upper arms and back muscles clench the moment she thinks about Sabretooth, her lips pulling back in a momentary /snarl/. "Fast. I think I shattered his kneecap in our first fight. He was moving normally in less than a minute. I pumped eight rounds into his back on his way out of the bar and he didn't even stumble. I hit him with a hard enough set of blows /last/ time that he was bleeding one second... and by the time I got up from him slamming me into a wall, he wasn't bleeding anymore. Everything I've found on him says he can heal from nearly anything. But... well, nearly isn't /actually/ anything."

She points to one of the sheets of explosive, "The ball bearings will all be angled down to the far end of the hallway. Plus... I don't intend to stop running. I'll hit the switch on the way into the main warehouse. If they stop him, then... hey, I spent like ten hours draining a sprinkler reservoir and then another five refilling it with diesel fuel for no reason." She pauses for a moment. "I also didn't consider how to clean that up if he actually goes down that easily. But I don't see it happening."

She shakes her head and groans out in frustration, "Like, this guy's not one of our bad guys. He was just... looking for some lowlife scumbag when I ran into him. I think he's used to people being scared of him. I wasn't. Held my own. I think it got his attention. I have no clue how he found me in Manhattan. I was u sing a cover ID, didn't even take my bike to the city. But he just dropped out of the sky clawing his way down an apartment building."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie looks the plans over closer then nods. "Do we have a file on him?" she asks curious, she may not be the best detective but she is very aware the name wasn't given still. So she fishes a bit more that way.

    "Also you said heightened senses.. I wonder how heightened or what resources he has if he hunted you down?" she frowns at that thought. Cause well. Kate is in the clocktower right now after all.

    "Not a Gotham villain... maybe this is a League or Avengers problem?" not that she is trying to disaude Kate but well, Kate doesn't have superhealing or anything right. "Not that Batman would pull in the League for one guy I guess.. but..."

Kate Kane has posed:
Her head shakes slowly, "Nothing on our radar. He's more of an upstate problem it seems. Part of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Used to tangle with the X-Men and stuff. I don't think out of any deep seated ideology. He just likes killing and maiming, and they let him do it."

She sighs out and shakes her head, "And I don't want to get anyone else involved yet. I don't want you girls dragged into this because he just happened to fixate on me. He's... like a walking blender mixed with a horror movie. If I can lure him here and isolate him, then it'll minimize any risk of collateral damage. If the Avengers or someone pick him up, they'll just lock him in.... Arkham or something. And we'll have some asshole sadist who's like Killer Croc and Victor Zsasz had a kid."

She quirks an eyebrow and murmurs. "Croc. Hm. Electricity. That might keep him contained. He's flesh and blood, so an electrified cage..."

She shakes her head and sighs, "And I don't think he hunted me down in that he knew where I was going to be. I went to a bar for a night out. I think he just happened to be nearby and... shit. He followed my scent. It's why he didn't say my name or anything. He didn't recognize me, he just... got lucky."

She flashes Charlie a crooked grin, "Anyone ever tell you you're way better for bouncing thoughts of than an empty garage?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "I mean.. Babs does say I am as useful as a rubberduck when she is coding. I looked it up. It is totes kind of a compliment." amusement in her tone as she sips a bit more soda.

    "Also if the Avengers or the League pick him up, especially if it is outside Gotham, I am pretty sure they will toss him into the Raft or someone deeper and darker than Gotham. At the very least lets hope more escape proof." she has spicy thoughts about the revolving door that is Arkham.

    "As for electrical cage.. I imagine it would need to be one hell of a taser voltage. If he isn't superman strong it would probably just be easier to use some sort of super alloy cage and keep him contained.. no need to run up the electrical bill right...?"

    "Also if he got your scent he may be able to pop your identity.. you will need to be hella careful Kate..."

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nods and sighs out, "Yeah, I considered that. The good news is he's definitely not the... investigative type. He grabbed my fake ID when he left me for dead, but it's pretty air tight. Based some of the details off a tweaked version of a woman upstate who vaguely passes muster for me. If he recognizes me on TV, well... I'd think realizing I'm Batwoman _and_ ridiculously wealthy might slow his roll."

She sighs and shakes her head, "It's not like he'll think I'm more vulnerable, I already fought him in a blouse and jacket and survived. And... hm, yeah, some sort of alloy cage might work. Cost a lot on short order, but..." She grins lopsidedly, "It's not like I'm spending it on anything else except Bette's delivery bills."

She eyes Charlie again, shifting from discussion of her plan, and any concerns about it, to eying Charlie again with critical, careful consideration. "Okay, you look like you're... better. Good. But..." She grins crookedly and her shoulders slump as she yawns, "Honestly I've been running on empty for hours and... I might need to rack out."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    She keeps considering the plan, nodding as Kate talks about her identity and everything. She nods and then crosses her arms, internally worrying about Kate dealing with someone like this. Still it isn't like Killer Croc and the others are a walk in the park honestly.

    "I imagine they actually have them somewhere, not like you need to custom order it... just dump it through subsidiaries so it isn't too sus right?"

    "Sleep sounds fantastic... after tonight I'll even walk up to my room and a hot shower not cheat and bounce there." she pushes away from the worktable and steps to snag her jacket. "Let me know if you want help ok?"

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nods and sighs out as she stands up.. staggers, really. It's enough to make one wonder when she last slept. She always looks a little drawn out and haggard, but... it's worse than it has been lately.

She smiles tiredly and laughs out softly, "Makes sense. I mean, you just ate those bars, burning them off just to skip the stairs is... well, probably really tempting actually. But I will. And same. If you need anything, my phone's always on Charlie. Good work tonight."

she raises her hand in a little sketch of a wave before she's shuffling off towards one of the guest rooms... to actually sleep, no less!