15212/Smells Like: Trouble in the Subway

Smells Like: Trouble in the Subway
Date of Scene:	27 June 2023
Location:	Classon Ave Subway Station
Synopsis:	Batman, Daredevil, Fleece and Kai. Not the latest superband, but definitely a performance seven thugs and Kevin Noh will not soon forget.
Cast of Characters:	Kainashi, Bruce Wayne, Matthew Murdock, Richard Stadler

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Kainashi has posed:
    The Classon Ave Subway Station of Bedford-Stuyvesant wasn't the Classon-iest subway station. It had worn yellow walls from people ignoring the No smoking signs. Angry commentary in sharpie with 'bring back our benches bitches!' and was the home of Noh's New News, the lonely remaining semi-legal vendor in the lonely station, selling newspapers, cheap magazines, packaged junkfood and COKE or NOT COKE from the little cooler.

    And surrounding him are six, seven members of a local gang called the Stuvies, readily identified by the black-and-white bandanas wrapped around each arm, the head one is a big guy, and he's threatening Kevin Noh, a dimunitive, seventy=something man with a crown of white hair and a thick pair of glasses that give him a particularly owlish look.

    What they don't know? They're being *watched*.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman doesn't like bieng out of Gotham. Often enough, he has to operate with the Justice League, sometimes in strange places, but those are usually more purposeful, responding to specific threats. But he had Bruce Wayne business to deal with in New York, finalizing an important deal to help modernize and protect Gotham's electrical grid and infrastructure, still fragile even years after No Man's Land. Blackouts could be very useful for Batman, but they endangered innocents. Even he couldn't be everywhere. He'd already spent significant effort getting every hospital and medical facility multiple back-up generators.

For once, Alfred had stayed behind, leaving Bruce entirely on his own and, on impulse, he decides to send his driver back to the hotel while he takes the subway. Or, at least, that's what he says. Truth is, he's been Bruce Wayne for longer than he'd prefer. He needs tos tretch his wings, so to speak.

And so, in a dark tunnel, riding along the top of an old train, the silhoutte of a Bat momentarily flashes by the windows of some startled passengers as the Batman leaps from the top of the train and lands on the platform, his cape catching air and giving him a dramatic arrival as he assesses these would-be criminals. He's still mostly in the shadows at the lip of the tunnel and silent as the grave.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt Murdock had arrived on a train, disembarking in Brooklyn to transfer to another line that would take him back to Hell's Kitchen. The lawyer is wearing a suit, the kind that comes off the rack, and carrying a briefcase while his cane taps away in front of him across the platform.

The conversation taking place over by the partially legitimate news vendor catches his attention. Though the blind man continues as he was going, though he makes a turn towards the section of the wall where the bathrooms usually can be found in subway stations. He taps along with his case, finding the entrance, seemingly, and pausing to reach out and feel the braille lettering on the sign to assure himself he has the men's room, then passes inside.

Once within a stall, he listens for breathing or heartbeats, finding he has the room to himself. Matt goes into a stall, pulling out his Daredevil costume and beginning the hurried task of changing into it. His briefcase goes into the drop down ceiling to await later retrieval.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     The subway station wasn't entirely filled with crooks, victims, and vigilantes. There were some people passing through to, well, travel. One of them seemed to be a woman, wearing a leather jacket that was just a little bit too big for her, with a pair of round glasses on her face. She had stood in the background for just a bit, nose buried in her phone, fidgeting and looking a bit nervous at how things were progressing, and looking a bit torn between trying to keep her head down and get in the next train, or doing something. And, after a few seconds, it seems there might be one more hero in the room.

She hesitantly stepped forward, and cleared her throat. "Umm.. you know that's... that's not a very nice thing to do? He's just trying to make a living, right? Oh, would it help if I just bought something for the group?" De-escalation!

Kainashi has posed:
Batman is waiting in the wings.

Daredevil is waiting in the men's room.

Fleece is determined to de-escalate a crime, much to the confusion of some of the gang members, who look at each other in confusion.

And the time has come to strike. The ringleader of the gang picks up Kevin Noh by the shirt and tries to drag him over the counter as two toughs try to block Fleece from interefering with a 'Leave it alone, lady' and 'get lost, bitch'. They don 't see The Bat in waiting.

    They do, however, look down when there's a soft 'dink! dink dink ding...'of some scrap metal coming down as a distraction -- and then a chain whips out from beneath the platform and wraps around the one who called Fleece name's ankle, and with a yelp his dragged down and away.

    Noh is momentarily forgotten as the gang leader drops him.

    "What the--"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Not the only player. Not surprising. New York teems with unregulated crimefighters, vigilantes and freaks. Nobody keeping discipline. Nobody running the show. Sloppy.

A cable line shoots out of the dark of the tunnel and a grasping claw at the end snaps into place at the nape of one thug's neck. A sharp recoil and he's yanked from his feet, dragged screaming and thrashing into the darkness.

Then the screaming suddenly stops and he's shoved back out of the darkness to flop into a crumpled form on the stained tile of the subway.

Then out of those shadows slowly emerges the unmistakable silhouette of the Batman. Worse than anything else, he looks like he might be smiling.

"Wrong day to get out of line, punks," he says in his sharp growl.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Daredevil listens at the doorway, waiting for events to provide a distraction, though making sure the newsie isn't hurt by the delay.

And then the moment comes when the attention of people on the stand is diverted to the assault. Or perhaps to the sight of one of the assaulters being somehow forcibly dragged away.

Daredevil slips out, moving nearer to them using a column for cover. He steps out, on the opposite side of the gang members from Batman. "Hope you didn't buy any lottery tickets today, as bad as your luck is turning out," Daredevil quips. There's a slight tilts of his head in curiosity at Batman's arrival, but Daredevil tips his head slightly towards him. For the moment Daredevil just tries to let the intimidation work on the gang to see if they'll scatter.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     The woman known as Fleece took a step back at the two approaching toughs keeping her from interfering. "Hey, that's not nice! I'm just trying to be helpful, and you're just trying to be... mean!" She huffs, moving to stand her ground. The slight tink of metal is heard, and her eyes flicker over to it, before flickering back to the thugs just in time to see one get a chain wrapped around their ankle and dragged away.

"Wha-"

The confusion doesn't seem to have taken her completely, though, as, for a brief moment, she has an opening, and lashed out to punch the other thug in front of her right in the throat.

And /then/ to the left and right, other people. Oh god, Oh /god/, /BATMAN/. And... some other person that was probably just as good! If the situation wasn't what it was, she'd probably be squealing loudly in excitement!

Kainashi has posed:
    No one's an only player in New York. But some people do work better than others.

    The first attack had dragged the man over the edge and to the tracks, and he's returned, bound up with chain and a railroad spike curled into an extra link to hold him in, looking panicked as he shouts out "DOG!"

    Batman's capture is knocked out easily, that's two down and five to go, and then they practically back up into Daredevil with a collective "AAAH!', and they begin to scramble, breaking up like a bunch of billard balls. One takes out a small sidearm and tries to fire on Batman.

    Two attempt to punch at Daredevil. These aren't the smartest.

    The Leadermakes an attempt to grab at Fleece to take a captive.

    SOmething comes in low and fast to the remaining gang member, ear flapping, the pink rubber-coated claws tapping dully against the concrete and yes, smelling vaguely of both storm drain and wet dog, perfectly clotheslining the guy off his feet and slamming him to the ground!

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman's gauntlet emerges from under his cape in a sideways motion, flicking out and unleashing a batarang that strikes the gun aimed at him, knocking it out of the punk's hand with a sharp crack of pain.

He sees the nod from Daredevil and returns it - he's familiar with the vigilante and his activities. He seems more skilled than most, not just another superpowered kid in hockey pads trying to prove himself and getting killed in the process. Batman had no tolerance for amateurs.

As for the dog - well, they do say the sewers here are full of cryptids. At least it's not Killer Croc.

He closes ground on the gang quickly, leaping in a seated dropkick to drive both boots into the chest of the guy who tried to shoot him, using him as a springboard and backflipping to land squarely facing the leader as he takes Fleece hostage.

"Take them down clean. Killers on other side have to deal with me," he warns sharply. The dog's got teeth, after all.

"As for you," he says to the leader, "the only choice you have is whether you get cuffed while you're still conscious. Let the woman go. Now."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"No one ever wants to do it the easy way," Daredevil grumbles as the men decide to fight rather than flee in the face of the costumed vigilantes. As the first man attacks him, throwing a punch at his head, Daredevil dodges it by leaning back, then sidesteps a punch from the second man.

The two of them attempt to tackle him together, but the devil-themed hero lithely jumps over them, a hand shoving down on the head of one of them as he skirts past overhead.

They turn back, one of them just in time to catch one of Daredevil's fists to the nose. Blood splatters and the man is temporarily struggling to see. Daredevil says, "Seriously, we have a visitor in town from Gotham and you have to go give the city a bad name. Ashamed of you boys." He leans back to dodge another punch.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Okay, Fleece thought, so maybe punching wasn't really going to work on the bigger ones! But it seemed that everything was going crazy with a capital C right now! Batarangs and cables and fists flying all about around her, and enough that it was easy to lose situational awareness around here. Or maybe she was just majorly distracted by the sight of a floppy ear'd canine appearing from the tracks. "Dog?" She asks, before she takes a closer look. "Oh! Dog!" And all dogs were cute! Do large dogs get pets or-

"Eek!"

Oops, got a little distracted there. She really needed to work on that! Assuming she got out of this with the leader grabbing her. "Hey! Leggo!" She said, her hand moving underneath the jacket she was wearing. "I'm warning you! And so's Batman!"

Kainashi has posed:
    No, no one ever wants to do it the easy way. CRUNCH goes the nose, the blood spatters around an d stinks up the subway station with its tang.

    The canine in question looks at Batman and the ears go back, its scarred face looking a bit peturbedly to the Caped Crusader, but she remains silent minus a sweep of her tail. No, Fleece, you should probably not pet this pupper yet.

    Six out of seven down, nice and clean. No one above a night's stay at the hospital -- but the ringleader doesn't seem too intimidated by the threats from Fleece, trying to drag her with him.

    "You all can get bent. Me and this pretty lady are heading up to the street, an' we're gonna hail ourselves a cab, ain't we sweet cheeks?" he asks.

    The canine's teeth get bared in a silent snarl at the leader of the gang, but she's waiting to see what Daredevil, Batman -- or Fleece herself is going to do!

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Canine friend, go block the stairs."

Batman moves closer, his cape around him again, hiding his hands from view, framing the broad bat emblem on his chest. "Bent, did you say?" he says and then he moves his hand with startling rapidity and grabs the hand where he holds his weapon on Fleece, bending back and snapping two of his fingers with one hand while the other intervenes between their bodies, shoving the ringleader back and taking the hostage from him, intercepting any further attacks by putting his body between the woman and the perp.

"Take him down," he says to Daredevil sharply, sure of the armor in his heavy cape to protect both himself and Fleece from harm.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
No sooner are the words out of Batman's lips than Daredevil is launching forward, throwing a flying knee into the gang leader's chest that staggers him backwards. A hand slams down on the man's wrist, likely breaking.

No sooner are Daredevil's feet hitting the ground than he drops and delivers a spinning leg kick, knocking the already off-balance hoodlum off of his feet. He hits the ground on his back, breath escaping his lungs in an 'oof'.

Daredevil flips him over and pulls the hood's arms behind his back. "Got any... er.. Bat restraints there?" he asks of Batman. He seems to look over at Kai, head tilting a little bit as he's making sense of what his senses are telling him.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Of course, Fleece isn't exactly happy with how things have gone, and she doesn't seem afraid of noting it. "No! No we aren't! Why do you think I'm down here in the subway? I don't have the money for a cab! And-"

Vigilantes leaping into action occurs in the middle of the sentence, as suddenly the weapon wasn't on her any more. It was sheer good luck that things happened as quickly as they did, with a Batman in front of her, and a Daredevil launching against the leader and knocking him to the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief. Hand going to her chest. "Oh, that was... concerning! But a bit exciting!" She said, a smile on her face, before holding up a hand. "Oh!" She says, moving to pull up a sleeve and take an OD green braclet off her wrist. "I've got paracord! You just have to unite it!" She says, offering it to Daredevil, arm sticking out past Batman's armored frame.

And that does leave some time to look over to the 'canine friend', cocking her head a bit to examine her. I mean, the rest of them were impressive, but how often did you see a vigilante dog on the streets?

Kainashi has posed:
    KAI IS BATMAN'S FRIEND.

    That is an exciting new development, and her tail gives a wag, her kanji-inked left ear giving a flick and she goes for the stairs, ducking low and baseball-sliding to a defensive position.

    SNAP go the fingers in Batman's grasp, the leader of the gang crying out sharply as he turns and releases Fleece, shoved backwards and stumbling slightly as Daredevil lunges forward.

    CRUNCH! That's the sound of one wrist shattering as Daredevil drops down, daringly dashing and destroying the leader's stance as he robs the gang leader of his stance, and the gang leader goes backwards, stumbling, and falling with a grunt, and laying with the breath knocked out of him.

    Fleece did not have the money for a cab, but she has incidental restraints in the form of a paracord bracelet. Hash-Tag: Be Prepared.

    And that leaves her to regard their new canine friend. Small, brutally scarred along her face with a scar along her neck where her vocal chords would have been, with all the gang members down she shifts her weight, unsure. Her left ear pricks up, showing the kanji ink tattooed inside of it with the phrase meaning 'GARBAGE', but the latter two are crossed out, distorted, showing just the word KAI - Worth.

    She shifts her weight again, clad in torn jeans and an 'I ATE NY' with a cartoon not-Godzilla on it, and she awkwardly gives a wave, tail beating against the stair railing end post.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman gives Fleece a quick once-over, "No physical harm I can see. If you need a crisis center or intervention, I'm sure it can be arranged," he says, managing nto to call her a citizen in the process.

He almost smiles at her offered cord, "I also have Bat-cuffs," he says, drawing a pair from his utility belt and tossing them casually to Daredevil. "Keep them. I've got plenty. Zipties are also useful. I just prefer a little flair."

He lets Fleece go and begins to make the round son his own, getting more cuffs out and starting to bag and tag the rest of the gang.

"Good to see New York is protected," he says, looking back over his shoulder and nodding to Daredevil and the dog-girl. "And not just the skyscrapers."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Daredevil gives a nod of gratitude to Fleece, though after Batman tosses his legendary cuffs over, the costumed hero catches them and secures the gang leader's wrists. There are enough other gang members down that Fleece's contribution doesn't go to waste as Daredevil moves over to secure each of them towards the police arriving.

"We do our best," Daredevil replies to Batman while still in the act of securing the downed criminals. He pauses then, seeming to look over to Kai as her scent stands out so different from the rest. "Thank you for your help," he says, directing that at Kai and Batman both.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Fleece does look happy that she could make a contribution to taking these criminals down, if only a small part, a big smile on her face. It remains there when Batman mentions offering a crisis center. "Oh, thank you, but nope, I'm fine! All he did was threaten me, and I didn't even get shot at again!" She says. "Best of all, no one's dead, which is really good, because I like to avoid it and there's paperwork and it's very hard to get nine by eighteen Makarov!" See! everything worked out! And she got to meet Batman!

But, well. That wasn't the best part of the day. She snuck around Batman's armored frame and slowly approached the canine in the hip T-shirt. "Umm.. ahh... so, like, for /normal/ dogs, you're supposed to hold out your hand so they can sniff it, is... is that umm... what you do here?" She asks, hesitantly holding out her right arm as a test.

Kainashi has posed:
    Kai gives a toothy grin to Batman, and brings her hands together to form a spider-like shape. She knows the Spiders have the skyscrapers covered! And then she looks to the approaching Fleece, and there's a confused expression. Her nose twitches, and she looks to Batman and Dredevil with a certain helplessness, and she brings up both her hands, waving them at Arm's legnth to stop Fleece.

    She takes a step back. She motions to herself, and then to her head, and then to Fleece again, trying to use rudamentary sign language. Then she motions to herself again, to her throat, and makes a slicing motion across it. She's mute.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman gets them cuffed and sees Fleece and Kai starting to make friends.

"I think you've got it handled from here," he says softly to Daredevil, movivng to walk past him.

By the time DD turns around, Batman's gone.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt Murdock doesn't know Batman well enough to know the disappearing thing is what he does. "I-" he starts to say, and then realizes that the caped crusader is no longer in attendance.

"Well, probably not a bad idea," he says, given how they've beat up the bad guys. Vigilantes are tolerated to some degree, but it can definitely vary by the policeman involved.

He seems to turn back towards Kai and Fleece. "Not the first time I've come across animal-like people like this. Not sure if they were mutants or what exactly. Didn't have a chance to speak with them," he says. He hesitates, having picked up on Kai's signing to some degree, but it's not the easiest thing for him to follow either.

Richard Stadler has posed:
    "Oh, sorrysorrysorry!" Fleece says at the hand signal, quickly stepping back from her approach and holding her arms up in a placating position. "I didn't know and I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Umm..." She looks a bit confused at the motion to her head. "Oh, no touching?" She guesses, but the next signal is very easy to grasp, the woman gasping at the realization. "Oh, you can't talk! Okay, I'm sorry. But, it's still good to meet you! I didn't- Oh, a mutant-?"Fleece looks back toward Daredevil, only to blink at suddenly there's no Batman in attendance. "Where..." She asks the ether, before slowly turning back to Kai as if she might have vanished too.

"Ahh.. well! I didn't know. I know Brooklyn's magic, but I don't know if she's magic."

Kainashi has posed:
    When Fleece turns around, Kai has also vanished. There is in fact now a twenty dollar bill (crusted with who KNOWS what) tucked into her elbow, and Kai can officialy say she has 'ninja, vanished!' on someone.

    Of course Dare Devil would have probably noted she ducked down, reverse-pickpocked what a canine who has zero concept of the monetary value of things gave to Fleece, and then ducked down and below the subway platform before slipping into an opened access grate and pulled it in place behind her.