14691/Sticks and Stones II Pt II

Sticks and Stones II Pt II
Date of Scene:	28 April 2023
Location:	The Underdark below where the Birch Mill Museum Should Be
Synopsis:	The day is saved by a group of plucky young heroes and some highly experienced mole people!
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Conner Kent, Tim Drake, Emiko Queen, Austin Reese, Laura Kinney, Bart Allen

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "What's a Loth?" Emiko had asked, as The Undefeated came to a landing in a tunnel below. Before them, the 'front' of the craft opens up, showing re-enforced blue glass that slightly distorts the ground above them. It's true; the mill museum building is standing before them, at the end of a tunnel right in front of another hole opening further into the underdark. Large tank-tred-like tracks with deep gouges in any large rocks little the bottom of the tunnel between the fore of The Undefeated and the building, which looks rather roughed up through the blue glass.

    Oppo lowers his goggles, and looks to the Topsiders around him.

    <They're the current reigning group. Took over in a military coup. Not exactly the most friendly... but we don't have any powered people among us.> he ponders a moment, then looks forward.

    <Hope they're not aiming to take you on. Seems to be a bad idea.> he states.

    Superboy may be able to hear the rattle of The Undefeated, which looks like a somewhat cartoonish submarine, save it's made for transversing dirt. Through the blue glass of its bubble-like front he might be able to catch some of his friends should he come over the craft.

    Oppo, the aged, gray mole, goes to open the side of the Undefeated as Clem and Norjack look nervously though several tubes.

    <They're not fond of Topsiders. Always digging deep an' mining irresponsibly, according to my uncle Derm.> Clem voices from where she's laying, checking some read outs.

    <I'm not reading any active craft other than us, but there are tremors from inside the building.>

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner manages to catch up with the rest of the team after getting lost only nine times. It is a big maze down here, and the tactile telekinesis only allows him to scan a few hundred feet. It ain't x-ray vision.

"Hey guys, what a coincidence to find you here," he says, as if it was his plan all along. "And there is the stolen museum. How did they get it here? I saw tracks, tread tracks, but no building-sized, hmm... digging machines." Beat, "nice one you got here!" He tells the apparently friendly mole people.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Red Robin's been manning the controls. The controls for what, you might ask?

    Look, that's not important. What is important is them finding the missing mill museum and its current occupants, who are all hopefully still in one piece. He pulls himself free of the console, having wedged himself into the too-small seat by folding his legs at what are, frankly, some rather uncomfortable angles. But his knees only twinge a little bit as he climbs out of the Undefeated, and once he's on stable ground, Tim seems fine. Or just really good at pretending not to be in pain, which is probably a skill Batman teaches all his proteges.

    "Welcome back," he says to Superboy as he taps the side of his domino mask. The white-out lenses zoom in on the museum, and thermal vision kicks on, looking for body heat readings. "Vocal modulators should be on for everyone who has them; there's likely at least one person inside who knows some of us in our civilian identities."

    Notably, halfway through that sentence Tim taps at his gauntlet and his voice goes a bit wonky, digitized and tonally just off enough to not quite sound like himself. Admittedly it's used more to scramble any audio recordings (and intimidation tactics) but hey, if it works it works.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen mffs softly. "I wish I could say your Uncle Derm was wrong, but..." She trails off, shaking her head. "But this Loth sound like the kind to just lump everyone under the description of a few cruel and careless members."

She makes a mental note to check if Queen Consolidated has any mining or quarry operations in its portfolios, and give her brother a nudge to make sure they're not tunneling too deep or carelessly to not disrupt the subterrainan life. Would he believe her there's molepeople? Why wouldn't he, he works with aliens and space cops and such in the Justice League. Molepeople would just be in the opposite direction. But that is for later after their investigation.

After Oppo has opened the craft she steps outside, relieved to get free of what was even for her small frame a bit cramped in space, and unslings her bow from her back. "Regardless if they did or not, we should proceed with caution. There are innocents inside still." As Tim just pointed out. She nods, pulling up the ninja scarf mask up from around her neck to cover the lower portion of her face.

What, were you expecting something dumb like a voicechanger arrow?

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey had been plugging away at something on his left gauntlet, where the small touchscreen was there. Most likely he was monitoring seismic activity and tracking their path via GPS, but he could be playing Angry Birds it's hard to tell.

"If there's tremors inside of the building there's a good chance that the guys who stole the building are in there." He offers, as he looks up towards the mole, "What're the chances whatever's inside there noticed us already?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 has a look on her face. A look which says 'I have questions and I know I am not going to like the answers'.

It might also be the 'I didn't pack nearly enough weapons' look. She's a woman of depth and mystery. Who at least has a dozen or so concealed ceramic throwing weapons hidden about her person. Blades which she casually adjusts to be far less hidden and a lot more immediately accessible. It's almost as if she's expecting a fight.

Okay it's Laura. She's always expecting a fight.

"Given they hate the surface dwellers it's pretty likely they took the Museum expecting people to come after it. Which makes this whole location an ambush or trap," she points out with her typical optimism. "It'd be rude to disappoint." She takes a deep sniff of the air. Letting her enhanced senses adapt to the environment. No need for thermal vision here. Sound and smell are more than enough for her to find her way.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Who wouldn't believe someone about meeting mole people in the underdark below the surface of the Earth?

    ... it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but their mole men aren't as cute as Oppo, Norjak and Clem.

    Clem sticks her head out from the opening.

    <That's what I said! Tremors! You know --> she beats a rapid two-beat, a heart beat against the metal of The Undefeated.

    <Yours go slower though. 'Cause you're bigger.> she explains, and then disappears back inside the craft.

    Phoebe unfolds herself and gives a slight stretch as well, giving a wince in Red Robin's direction, but she slowly breathes out.

    There are indeed many signs of life -- eight of them, in fact, inside the broken museum, most are under shelter, but there is one that is up and pacing. Phoebe's own blue optics shift to medical mode.

    "I'm not reading too many physical signs of trauma, mostly distress." she reports to Tim, the hood of her armor helping to alter her voice.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It does, in fact, feel very much like it's a trap set for the heroes.

Emiko Queen has posed:
"Oh, but that is the fun of traps," Emiko replies to Laura. "When you know it's a trap, you can still spring it, but you get to spring it on your own terms."

No one be too shocked the two lady warriors raised as assassins have similar thoughts on the matter.

She nocks an arrow ready in her bow, crouching low and starting to creep towards the building. The Batfolks have fancy sensors and stuff; but she prefers a more personal look for her situational and tactical analysis. It is almost likely a trap, but they should be more certain of just what manner of trap it is before proceeding. This was the molepeoples' domain, they'd have an advantage easily if not approaching the matter warily.

Austin Reese has posed:
Oh he gets it. Osprey nods in realization to Clem, "Right. Got it." He gives her a quick salute with two fingers before he turns around to look over the museum building proper, "Okay so," He considers, as he scans through, spotting the figure that's pacing, "With most of them seeming to be sheltering, they're probably waiting for rescue. Which is good. Unless it's a trap, which it probably is."

It would seem he's not the only one to come to that conclusion, as he glances over at Emiko, "How do we want to spring this one, then? I can be very loud bait when I need to be."

Conner Kent has posed:
"You have good hearing," comments Conner, "or good gear". Can he hear heart-beats this far? Possibly, there are louder, closer noises, he is not good at focusing at faint distant sounds. "Ok, then," he crackles his knuckles, "if it is a trap, I am going first. But this is a weird way to make a trap, maybe it is for them," he thumbs back at the mole folks.

"Anyway. Unless they have some nasty magic, I should be safe," pretty sure Kryptonite won't be this far down, so, he flies ahead towards the stolen building.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Send Conner in first," Laura seconds. Zero shame volunteering him for the duty. He's a Kryptonian It's what they do best, make themselves a target for pretty much every threat possible. Besides he /offered/. "And let him kick over the mole hill. We see what comes crawling out." It's a moot point as by then he's already on his way.

Her head shifts and her tongue flicks out for a moment. Tasting the air.

"Given they can probably feel the vibrations when we move and can detect us by scent we're probably better off going for speed rather than stealth." She doesn't wait for anyone else's opinion. Slipping into a brisk zig-zagging run. Silent and far quicker than anyone of her size & build should be able to move.

As she runs there's the distinctive SNIKT noise as she pops her hand claws.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen was a bit late getting the message. He checked his messages when he got back to the Roost. Hmms a bit and thinks he maybe to late, but he decides he will go check things out. So up to where the museum is supposed to be. Finding a bit hole there he explores a bit around the area making sure nothing there and he heads to Walmart and comes back with a duffle bag wrapped over one shoulder, and wearing a light on a headband. He clicks the light on and down he goes. As he starts down the tunnel, he will call over the coms "Hey guys, you guys down this big hole?" And if they can feel vibration, well there is some pretty quick footsteps coming down the tunnel behind them.

Emiko Queen has posed:
After a bit of sneaking she crouches down, where she's got a good view of the front of the building, for anything going in or rushing out. "Yes, let Superboy go first. What's the point of having ni invulnerability if he doesn't use it?," she agress with Laura in her usual cocky-but-I'm-also-encouraging-you manner. "Then we can speed rush the responders."

Speaking of speed. "We are," she comms back to Bart. "Come join the trap reversal party? The real fun hasn't quite started yet."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <Who's that?> Clem asks, <He's FAST.>

    <They're all kinda fast.> Norjak answers, and Oppo just gives soft hums, checking over the equipment as he minds the Topsiders on the Outside. Almost as if they're... Outsiders.

    Inside the building, the pacing figure pauses, hearing voices outside.

    "KYAAAH!" a voice familiar to Conner, Tim, Laura, and Phoebe would call out, as Nick Nottles, who has MYSTERIOUSLY lost his shirt brings his Ebay-purchased extending bo staff to bare as he attempts to use it against Superboy, who he can KINDA see thanks to the night vision goggles (read 'cheap imitation lenses') that let him 'see' vague shapes in the dark, though making up with thirteen years of Aikido classes can't HURT.

    "TAKE THIS YOU RAT BASTARDS!" he howls in appropriately heroic rage -- totally missing striking Superboy and ends up just sort of standing there, shirtless, for no real reason.

    Phoebe makes the Tim face.

    <Glad to see my normal friends are still normal.> she mutters into the subvocal.

Conner Kent has posed:
Abushed! By a shirtless guy with a stick. As ambushes go, Conner gives this one a -3 out of 10. "Woah, calm down, dude, we are the rescue party." And yes, it is kinda dark down here. One gets used to the infrared spectrum and forgets regular humans can't see much.

But he has a smartphone with a flashlight function, so he lits it up to peer at the kidnapped people. "You people okay? One-two-three... eight? Do you have anyone missing? Where are the bad guys?"

Austin Reese has posed:
Who the hell is this guy? Osprey steps out of the way when the guy swings right past Conner and ends up standing there. <Oriole, should we leave this one to you?> Osprey asks over the subvocals. Seems Connor already has it handled though, so Osprey opts to start scanning for any of the hostile mole folks.

Laura Kinney has posed:
<Balm, I doubt any of your friends are normal.> Laura points out solemnly. <But that's fine. Normal is probably over-rated.>

Does Laura even know what normal is? Probably not.

With the events up ahead resolving as they have it seems like the group is probably under siege. Meaning the threats are not inside the building but around it. She shifts her direction suddenly. Not running towards the building but parallel to it. Just in case someone is lining up an attack.

Like a magic trick one of the ceramic blades seems to appear in each of her hands. Ready to hurl at whatever targets might be about to present themselves.

Hopefully targets which have shirts on and are a little more threatening.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen comes down to the group and ends up standing next to Emiko for a moment, and he looks around. His light moving with the way he looks. It might make him a bit of a target, but he can dodge pretty good at least. He blinks a moment at the mole people, and says "Ok, I think I may have missed something. Whats going on?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "What the -- Oh hey! Hey! Yeah, uh... just... a little tense after a giant machine kinda ate the museum and... y'know after the weird stuff last year I kinda... got over it quick. Maybe being from Gotham's kinda a good thing?" Nick states, rubbing at the back of his head before he reaches into his pocket and pulls his own phone out, and turns on the flashlight.

    And that is when the trap is sprung. The agreeable older gray-looking moel person gives a smile and a wave. His tinny translator box translates his squeaks to <Hello there fast one! I'm Oppo and I am a friend of Red Robin's and Ori-->

    There's a rumble. A roar. And from behind the perfectly poised little house, a craft a good three to four times the size of the Undefeated rears up out of the hole, its treads clacking and clicking like a thousand angry giant enemy crabs, and it lands, straddling the mill museum building.

    The tunnel immediately floods with a brilliant flash of light, looking to try and blind the Outsiders, and it begins to fire nets into the grouping of super-humans and super-smart humans!

Emiko Queen has posed:
The guy is more lucky he didn't HIT Conner, he probably would of hurt himself more than anything else. <Yeah, compared to the rest of us that passes for normal,> Emiko agrees, holding back a snicker. Then crouches down near the wall. So where are the other molemen if they're not inside? That just makes the trap even more suspicious...

Oh hey there's Bart. "Tyrannical sect of molepeople stole the museum with some tourists inside, likely as bait."

Because sure enough, there's the trap.

Reflexively she rolls away from the building, avoiding looking directly into the light, and firing the arrow she had ready to snare a net and drive it in a different direction. "Okay, not quite the trap I was expecting."

Austin Reese has posed:
"Oh hell." Osprey finds himself looking up at the..Well he's just going to call it a tank until he comes up with a better name for it. As the net starts sailing towards him, he grabs one of the throwing knives off of his bandolier, and slashes the net as it reaches him, cutting it away just before it hits.

He starts to move as soon as the net has passed him, so that another net can't catch him, flipping out of the way as he scatters. Explosives, explosives. He grabs a couple of explosive batarangs out of a pocket, and whips them at the treads, trying to disable the treads and leave it unable to turn or move, disabling the movement for stuff like this is key.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Yeah, we were also looking for the giant machine and..." oh look, here it is. "Behind me!" Yells Conner. Mostly for the civilians, human and moloid. There are nets, many nets, SO many nets. Gotta catch them all. He probably misses quite a few, but Conner gathers a pretty nice collection, nevertheless.

They don't entangle him much, in part because he is flying and in part because the tactile telekinesis allows him to neatly fold them all into harmless net-blobs.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Leaping and whirling, foot claws popping out with the same SNIKT, Laura becomes a net shredding blender. The blinding lights are annoying, but she doesn't need her eyes to fight. Besides her healing factor should help her recover in a moment or two. And to cover that gap? She throws the first air of blades.

Not at individuals. She aims for the lights themselves. Hopefully they have some kind of bulb to shatter. Otherwise she's shattering those ceramic blades against the metal hull of the Subterran.

<At least now we don't have to wonder what the ambush is.> She notes. X-23's own brand of optimism. <You hear any more coming SB?>

X-23 has a target now. A destination. She charges directly towards the massive machine. Constantly moving, claws forming a shield against the nets, until she can get close enough to make herself a door.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen starts to run and it seems the young man has the worst luck, first one net then another, and another, it is almost as if he is moving into the lines of the nets, his momentum carrying him once the nets seem to have him wrapped up in a large pile, and the ball of net slumps to a stop. Mind you at this point Impulse has already vibrated down into the earth and out of the nets. He then looks into the bag he brought with him, and pulls out a couple of renuzit airfreshners. Running up to the tank thing he looks for air cents to start dropping the opened air freshners in. "You know most underground creatures have either really good hearing or more likely really heightened sense of smell." He tells the others.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    That's very optimistic, Laura! There are two more large underground tanks making their way up through the hole, very audiably at this point. Nets are being arrowed, lights are being broken. The chittering of several dozen squeaking mole people can be heard from the first tank, from one side and then to the other as their air intakes begin to get Renuz'd.

    There's sputtering, and coughing.

    There are net blobs from tactile telekenetics. People run screaming from the museum and into the sudden brightness, and Nick is struggling to keep people wrangled and together.

    "Left - left - right - your OTHER right!" he barks, trying to take charge of the situation before he's grabbed by the shoulder by Oriole.

    "Stay behind me!" she calls out to the civvies, and she brings her arms up, creating her magic shield both to gently illuminates the tunnel.

    Laura is now close enough to make herself a door.

    Inside the Undefeated, Oppo recruits Red Robin to help man more controls. So Red Robin gets to squish back into an uncomfortable seat, and the smaller digging craft turns into the wall, and digs around the group.

    Some of those treds are loosened from the trauma they suffer, one CLANGS down loudly.

Emiko Queen has posed:
"We've got more problems incoming." Not like the tanks are being very stealthy. "I'd almost feel complimented that they felt we were dangerous enough to require multiple pieces of subterraining artillery."

Even as she's snarking Emiko is darting off to the side, never going in a straight line to avoid being an easy net target. Until she finally gets into a good position to stop, aim, and fire the arrow she's gotten prepped in her bow in the meantime. So she fire an arrow past the initial take and into the tunnel the others are coming from. She does a mental tick in her head, then reachs for a concealed control on her belt to tap it.

This causes the arrow she fired to burst, erupting into a spray of adhesive liquid in hopes that the viscous material will gunk up something to slow down the reinforcement tanks on the way.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Maybe a couple," admits Conner, floating to prevent the new subterran-ines from reaching the already battered museum building. Disabling the treads seems like a good way, so he is going to attempt to tear out or punch in the ones from the closer machine. "Maybe we should try to capture one of these things; I don't think you are all going to fit in the Undefeated. Looked cramped enough with just eight."

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey has a pretty good idea, because those tanks are probably not properly insulated, "Cover me!" He yells out, to whoever it is that's taking down all the nets being fired, as he books it towards the tank that just threw a tread.

He drops down and slides along the dirt as a net nearly hits him, catching the dirt where he'd been a moment before. As he gets back up he grabs a blue cartridge from the pouch on his side and slots it into his gauntlet, which starts to glow and spark as he jumps up onto the tank.

"Knock knock!"

He slams his fist into the armor of the tank and discharges the massive electrical charge into the metal of the tank, and he hopes the crew inside of it.

Laura Kinney has posed:
With the tank towering over the museum Laura has a little work to do before she can make her door. Springing up, claws cutting through metal like it's air, she hauls herself up like she's climbing a ladder. This close they probably can't aim those nets at her anyway. So she probably doesn't need to twirl quite so much, but still she doesn't take any risks and climbs as fast as possible.

Clunk. Clang. Clunk.

If Osprey happens to zap the tank she's climbing? Well that's unfortunate but it wouldn't be the first time this week she's been zapped. A little Taser resistance training never hurt anyone right...

Or at least it's never hurt anyone with a healing factor.

Once she's part way up the hull she sweeps her claws around. Carving out a big circle. Whatever chemical warfare that Bart is using is probably just as unpleasant to her as the moles, but she's used to Gotham air. She can endure.

<We can just have Impulse carry them out one by one?>

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "I knew I should have brought the impulse-shaw." He looks over and will start to get to the normal people, and says "Ok everyone get together, I will get you back to the surface." He will start getting them up and out. He will ask them along the way if anyone is missing from their group.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Nothing to see here, move along. Definitely not:

    -Osprey giving an electrifying performance with his knowledge of subterrain tanks and their lack of insulation from electricity (common flaw).

    -X23 getting partially electrocuted, but handling it because Gotham always has a stench issue.

    -Superboy ripping the treads off other encroaching subterrain tanks and causing them to fall back into their hole of origin, witht heir glowing blue 'bumper shields' activating before they hit bottom. No Mole-People were Smooshed in the making of this summary.

    -Emiko darting, not getting netted, and gunking up several of the net shooters at once due to design flaws (too close together)

    -Impulse quickly transporting all eight Museum-visitors/workers, including the shirtless guy with the bargain-brand extendable staff, who reaches out to Oriole, puts a hand on her shoulder and says "Your friends are *definitely* weird." before he too is zipped to the surface and left in the middle of a field.

    The Undefeated errupts from the top of the tunnel, its blue bubble shield activating as it lands on top of the Loth tank from above!

    There's cracking and squeals and squeaks of cursing and a rude hand-gesture from Clem from what is clearly a makeshift bomber's nest under the Undefeated.

    Which retracts back up into the dirt tunnel, and unleashes a Bat-made EMP.

    Which causes the stuck, sticky, warped, electrified, beaten up Loth tank to shudder, and finally seize up.

Emiko Queen has posed:
It would seem that, like a lot of bag guy wannabes, the Loth laid their trap without considering that by drawing people from the surface world they'd get a bunch of heroes that have this secret weapon called Teamwork.

Which even their mole friends get in on, bashing the enemy tank from above before retreating again admist what's either the moleperson equivilent to flipping the bird, or someone taught Clem rude (but hilarious) uplander gestures."

Bart got the civilians out, even without his rickshaw. "People are clear, I think this is where we can leave them stewing in defeat. Those machines aren't going anywhere fast any time soon."

Austin Reese has posed:
With the tank disabled thanks to the shock, Osprey backs off, admiring the work with the group having brought them down. He's actually quite happy with how well that worked.

Once things have settled, Osprey will apologize to Laura...From outside of arm's reach, because you know, safety first.

Laura Kinney has posed:
A little electrocution doesn't put X-23 off. She'll barely even remember it once the smell of burnt fur from inside the tank fades.

She still cuts her way inside though. Because she has no way of knowing if the crew are wearing insulated boots. Besides if she seizes control of the vehicle she might be able to ride it back to the surface without having any of the crew from the Undefeated hitting on her....

Suffice to say. It's probably best not to think about what'll happen to anyone who did avoid being electrocuted. It's probably far worse. If perhaps not fatal.

Perhaps.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will wait for the others up top, making sure the people are safe, and sound. He does run off for some chili dogs. He comes back with enough food for everyone and waits to see if he is needed back in the hole.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There was no need to return to the hole. The moles were retreating, smelling very flower-y and with singed fur, retreating down the hole that the other tnaks had fallen down.

    The museum itself -- the building, anyway -- is a loss so far under the Earth's crust, and Oppo will happily offer anyone still in the hole a ride to the surface -- and Phoebe would offer a portal back to the Roost for anyone disinclined to share in mole song back up to the fields above.