15467/Phoenix Towers: The Criminal Underground

Phoenix Towers: The Criminal Underground
Date of Scene:	01 August 2023
Location:	The Tunnels Under Hell's Kitchen
Synopsis:	Team Arrow and friends venture through the underground passages beneath Hell's Kitchen on a scouting mission against the local Triad. It doesn't stay just a scouting mission for long.
Cast of Characters:	Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, Veira Lazarescu, Emiko Queen, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne
Tinyplot:	Phoenix Towers

---

Oliver Queen has posed:
Progress on the Phoenix Towers Project goes slowly despite Oliver and Team Arrow's best efforts. While they may have successfully cleaned out the basement of the apartment complex, freeing it up to be converted into a sort of forward command center for the group while they are in New York City, it is tough to get contractors in to start taking care of the rest of the buildings when the dangers from the local Triad are still so very visible.

Still, the CEO of Queen Consolidated has hopes that things might start to turn a corner soon. That they might begin to be able to clean up the neighborhood around their newest project and start making a positive difference in the lives of the tenants of his latest acquisition.

While crime out on the streets is certainly the focus, it is difficult to turn a blind eye to the fact that Hell's Kitchen seems to be utterly littered with underground tunnels that open up into co-opted basements and hidden cellars that seem to have been completely taken over by the local Triad and converted into all manner of illegal establishments. It's tough enough making a dent in the local crime when it seems that every criminal up above can simply dissolve back into the shadows and disappear into some underground nook and just disappear.

Which is why Green Arrow and Red Arrow have taken on the task of trying to map out some of the tunnels, to get some idea of just what they're dealing with. While Overwatch might have drones and other means of trying to get some idea of what they're up against, it's tough getting reliable signals and feet on the ground is really the only way to proceed forward.

Tonight is first and foremost a scouting mission. To get the lay of the land before deciding how to best proceed. Tip their hand to early and they might find any number of road blocks thrown up in their path. So for the most part they have crept through dark tunnels and explored those hidden little underground outposts, drawing back when they're faced with sentries.

What they've seen is... discouraging. There have been rooms converted into storage areas for drugs and stolen goods. There was one chamber filled with weaponry of all sorts. Another that was clearly setup to be an emergency medical center. There have been half a dozen safe houses from local Triad members to seek shelter. At least three gambling dens. It's hard to go more than fifty feet or so without coming across another illegal enterprise.

And now they are creeping up on another one -- this one clearly occupied judging by the shouts coming from up ahead.

They definitely have their work cut out for them...

Dinah Lance has posed:
Between the Maggia in Gotham - alongside the other collection of wonderful local wildlife that Gotham seemed to have - and now the Triads here in Hell's Kitchen, Dinah - or the ~Black Canary~ - was not at a loss for fun.

Wait, wait. Did she say fun?

She meant justice. Or something.

And so Dinah volunteered to go forward on her own, venturing away from the main group, as fishnets and black leather were wonderful for stealth. That, and if she got into trouble she couldn't handle, she did have a way of alerting the rest of the group.

Although probably blowing out a few eardrums from the echo of the Canary Cry. And so far, most of the little rooms she had been finding have been abandoned, the woman wearing night vision goggles over her eyes as she creeps through the tunnels. Some of the roadblocks of before she had helped to take out. So while the main group was coming up on that other little room - she was still lurking in some *other* place in the tunnels, approaching that room that the rest were approaching in a more roundabout way. For now.

Veira Lazarescu has posed:
Lazarus had made her way down into the tunnels that were below Phoenix Towers. After a bit of an update from Matt she'd told him she'd be happy to help out. Because...that's what you do for team members, plus if things got out of hand she could take one for the team.

Literally.

Given the black clothing and the sleek mask that she wears over her face it is hard to tell exactly what is going on there except for she's not concerned with hurting anyone on Team Arrow. She'd made it down the way of where the others are from another part of the tunnels, because they were ever winding.

She waits silently down the way, covering the back of the group with Atilla, though he's invisible right now.

Emiko Queen has posed:
It was turning into a very big undertaking. To the point that even Red Arrow had started putting out some lines of interest of her own beyond the team, to some of the other groups she often operated with.

They had expected to see squatters and runaways, homeless hiding away from the streets upon the surface. But instead they had found passages, converted cellars, and many other things that pointed to a much more organized reach across the neighborhoods, out of sight.

"If it wasn't so frustrating," Red Arror murmured as she, being the smaller and slighter of the two archers, wiggled past a cluster of pipes to peer behind them, "it would be fasinating how much of this subterrainian infrastructure has been overtaken."

She pauses a moment. Then wiggles back out past the pipes. "There's an access point down into the proper sewers back there. The pipes are more likely camoflague than functional." She raps on one with her knuckles, which gives a hollow ring instead of the duller thump if they had been carrying water.

Tim Drake has posed:
    For all intents and purposes, Red Robin is here as a +1.

    Which is fine! Sometimes it's nice to get out of Gotham. Breathe some fresh air. Eat some non-Jersey pizza. That's precisely what he'd done earlier today when he'd first shown up in NYC. Pizza. A big slice of authentic New York pizza, the kind that comes with the big mozzarella balls on top. The real good street stuff.

    He's here now at Emiko's request, cape swishing behind him as he walks through the tunnels as a silent figure, hand hovering near where his staff is magnetically locked to the outside of his thigh. Should anything come jumping out from the shadows (excepting of course himself, also currently stalking through the shadows) he's ready.

    The faint glow of the white-out lenses in his domino mask are the only thing that gives him away, as the nightvision provided by them allows him to mind his steps as he moves. When Emiko goes on a spelunking trip he comes to a stop, turned halfway around to watch their flank just on the off-chance someone might come down one of the adjoining tunnels and discover them.

    "It's like a maze down here," he says. "Almost like a natural cave system, the way it twists and turns."

Oliver Queen has posed:
It is quite the network to be sure. It would indeed be impressive... if it weren't so damn troubling. Even Ollie is willing to conceed that.

"I imagine there are access points to the subways and utility tunnels as well, scattered here and there. I don't even want to think how much further they extend. Hopefully they're not using them for anything but a means to get about. If we have to start sweeping them too we're going to be trekking around the New York underground for the rest of our lives," Green Arrow says grimly.

he definitely doesn't want to have to start roaming the sewers.

While Green Arrow and Red Arrow might not be seeking to engage, anyone looking for trouble certainly has no shortage of options to hit, though the sheer number of different little hidey-holes and criminal enterprises down here certainly suggests that it might be like pounding sand -- you can make a hole, but it's just going to fill right back in as soon as you pull your fist back.

"You said it," Ollie agrees with Red Robin's assessment. "And the city planning maps are practically useless thanks to all the work and walls knocked down. Maybe it's better in the lower tunnels, but this is just a mess," he mutters, creeping a little further down the passage as it begins to open up.

And what it opens up into is one of the largest of the chambers they've come across thus far. The source of the noise isn't hard to find either. There have to be nearly a hundred people gathered about the large, circular chamber. A trio of bars are spaced out aaround the room at the edge and a stairwell that no doubt leads to an innocuous door that just happens to be guarded rests at the far end of the room. The variety of people are diverse, and more then a few are clearly Triad members, but what look to be civilians -- dressed up for a night on the town -- stand with drinks in hand around the fenced in pit that dominates the center of the room.

And in that pit? There are a variety of cages holding what appear to be starving dogs who snarl and snap at anyone that comes to close. But it's not just animals in some of those cages. The larger ones hold people, some of the local transient population by the look of things, hollow eyes full of fear watching as a pair of their number roam free in the pit, armed with sharpened sticks and knives, trying to hold off a quartet of the starving animals that circle them.

All for the entertainment of those watching above.

While this was supposed to just be a scouting misison, Green Arrow can feel his fingers tighten on the bow in his hand and it is all he can do to stand stock-still as he assesses the scene ahead, not yet having drawn any attention.

Elsewhere in the tunnels, the Black Canary's scouting has not gone quite as expected. And as she crosses through the latest room a trio of black clad men in masks abruptly draw swords, before leaping at her. It would seem that she is going to have her own distraction to keep her preoccupied.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen was right behind her older brother.

Then they find what was some manner of underground (literally) club. With a fighting pit.

Of both starving homeless people, and starving homeless animals.

And Red Arrow was no longer lurking at her brother's side. Though both he and Red Robin know what is up with that. She has gone full assassin stealth mode, creeping into the chamber while staying out of sight to get a better assessment of the situation. As much as they all would likely want to wreck this operation, there was strategic options to consider first, and that required a proper analysis of the environment first.

Or until she found someone that looked important enough to be worth stabbing for this horrific display.

Veira Lazarescu has posed:
Lazarus is just hanging out for the moment in her dark little hiding spot. Atilla is a bit put out by the dogs in cages and the humans. He speaks in a foreign tongue to the woman in the mask and she gives a stiff nod to the air where he is. She was back up and she wasn't attacking until one of the others did. Because screwing up an op was not going on her resume.

At least not today it wasn't!

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Yeah," Red Robin agrees with a nod, and he glances at his HUD in the lower right of his vision, where a rough map is slowly being sketched by his movement through the tunnels. It's nothing as professional as what you'd get with, say, a LIDAR scanner or the like, it's just tracking which direction Tim moves and at what elevation. He has to remember where the junctions are and what tunnels haven't yet been explored.

    But it's better than nothing, and he'll be able to feed the data back to Arrows to support their own mapping efforts, at the end of all this. "I bet things close up and get abandoned just as fast as they're opened up. It's what I'd do. Maximize the confusion with dead ends and extra passageways."

    He's close enough to being right on Oliver and Emiko's heels that, when they reach the opening of the tunnel and can see past it into the bar... and the pit?

    Well it's probably just Oliver that hears the intake of breath that happens when Tim realizes what's happening here, because Emiko has already stealthed off into the crowd.

    Innocent people and innocent animals being sacrificed on the altar of cruel entertainment.

    His staff now in hand, Red Robin doesn't yet snap it out into its full length, but he does take a small step forward and look to Oliver, waiting on some kind of signal.

    And right now he's hoping it's the go-ahead to engage.

Oliver Queen has posed:
It is a grim sort of spectacle to be sure. Human suffering is not easy to stand by and watch, to turn a blind eye to. Oliver might have started his crusade back in his city because of a desire for justice -- or at least vengeance. To punish those preying upon his home. But that has long since shifted, morphed into a need to do some good.

To prevent things like this.

Having a crowd full of the affulent and the out and out rich taking all this in for their own enjoyment, well it's no surprise that it sets the blood afire and bring out a little of the old Arrow.

Fortunately no one is paying much attention to that shadowed opening in the rear of the chamber. Maybe because no one expects anyone to come in that way. Maybe because any eyes that should be watching that entrance are two busy watching the show in the pit below, those abused animals darting in, snapping at the confused pair of disheavled men who shriek and try to drive the animals back, to buy themselves some space. Already blood pours down one of the men's legs where he has been badly scratched, a little puddle beginning to expand under his bare foot, flesh marked by those little rivulets of blood.

In short, not a single eye turns towards them, not those still in the tunnel, and not Emiko as she creeps along the edge of the room to get a closer look.

There are probably a dozen figures circulating through the crowd who are not just there to watch the show. They might wear dark jackets, might look as if they belong -- at least on the surface -- but those who know how to look will almost certainly spot the bulges that come from not-quite hidden holsters beneath those jackets. They will likely spot the earpieces that they are plainly receiving instructions through, fingers occasionally lifting to press there, to block out the noise of the crowd.

Strategically it is no doubt better if the Triad is given no reason to expect that a fierce hammer is about to descend upon them and all their operations. The element of surprise can be a big advantage in the world that the Arrows and other vigilantes operate. Not one to be given up lightly. And while Oliver knows that, understands that, there is at least some level where he just doesn't care.

That's the level he's operating on right at the moment.

"Take them down," he says lowly, a growl coloring those words as he steps out of that passage, not bothering to cling to the walls or try to avoid attention.

He just walks straight towards the closest, likely threat, white knuckles gripping that bow still.

Emiko Queen has posed:
The downside to the situation? It is very hard to tell who in that crowd is actually in on the Triad's schemes, or who is here because they're being paid and pampered to not meddling in those affairs. Murky waters to tread to say the least. Aggress against the wrong person, and their efforts could be ground to a halt, or worse.

Fortunately, the guards, hitmen, whatever their role may be, are obvious enough. The other matters can be sussed out by how they react in the precious few moments that will follow the first actions taken.

It's a testament how Red Arrow's small stature is anything but a hinderance. Team Arrow was known for their archery skills, but she had more than those tricks up her sleeves.
One hand swipes from behind a man, snagging his earpiece and pulling the comm device out before he can say anything into it. In surprise he starts to turn... and then topples over from the knife the other hand had shoved into his back. It's difficult to tell, but he's likely not dead, just debilitated. These were just goons. Enforcers. Not worth the assassin's effort to fully unlife one of them.

But it causes just enough of a disruption from the norm for other men to notice, and turn in that direction. Start to draw their weapons... but the red and black form has already darted back into the shadows. But now their attention was on where she went, and not the others moving in....

One down, and enough of a distraction to give the others a chance to start up.

Veira Lazarescu has posed:
Lazarus is keeping tabs on others. Having an invisible dragon helps with that! Atilla does deliver news back that other masked people have started to move in and there is another nod of her helmed head to her BFF. "Shall we?" she asks him. "And make sure if I die that Dancer knows his dry cleaning is ready for pick up on Thursday." she stops to say a few final things.

Then her tall frame is slinking out of the shadows and down into the chamber where others have went. She doesn't make a point to use stealth, but she's heading for the dog cages. Unless someone gets in her way that is!

Tim Drake has posed:
    Living in Gotham exposes you to truly a wide variety of the human condition. Some of it is good, hopeful stuff, the tired and restless masses standing up to corruption and fear. But a lot of it is bad. Violence is nothing new for a Bat to encounter, but there are some things so vile that even someone trained under the Batman might crack, a little bit.

    Though there's nothing in Red Robin's expression that gives him away. It's still set in that same line of grim determination, brow subtly and inwardly furrowed.

    At least until Green Arrow gives the go-ahead, and Tim is out of the tunnel like a shot in the dark, nothing more than the slight breeze that his cape trailing leaves behind to show he was ever there in the first place.

    Like Red Arrow, his focus is on the guards. The ones obviously packing heat, which of course for a Bat means they immediately have a target on their back.

    He comes out swinging, a few quick clicks sounding as the individual pieces of his staff are pulled and snapped into place. A few steps is all it takes to flank him, and before the guy's even spotted Red Robin in his peripheral vision, he's downed thanks to an impact to his throat, choking off any attempts to communicate the incoming danger before it can happen. It's enough to make breathing difficult, but not quite impossible, and he staggers down to his knees.

    The next hit is to his back, over his shoulders, with more force behind it, and then Red Robin's moving on to the next target.

Oliver Queen has posed:
While he might not be acting from a place of cold, hard logic right at the moment, that doesn't mean that Oliver has abandonned all sense of strategy and their overall goals here tonight. It's just that some things just cannot be countenanced.

He could pass on taking out the stores of drugs they have stumbled across, passed on rendering the underground safehouses and storerooms useless, all for the good of the long game they are playing here. The desire to legitimately help clean up Hell's Kitchen and make the Phoenix Towers Project a beacon of success, one that might encourage other similar enterprises in more distressed neighborhoods.

But it's one thing to dispassionately leave a storage room full of drugs untouched. The victims inherent in that room are not yet real. They're still in the future, still unknown. It's quite a different matter when the suffering is right there in front of you. Maybe it shouldn't be. But it is .

Harder to ignore.

So when his sister strikes and takes out the first of those roaming guards, creates that distraction to draw eyes after her and her retreat back to the shadowy recesses of the room, Green Arrow doesn't hesitate, storming out of that underground passage at the same time as Red Robin.

He might be able to do more damage, quickly, if he retained a little distance, if he put that bow in his hand to proper use. It is a weapon of precision -- at least in the hands of himself and the other members of his team. But right at the moment Oliver is having a little bit of a hard time maintaining that stocism that would help make best use of his favored weapon.

So when Red Robin darts to one side to bring that staff to bear, Green Arrow goes right up the center. When the suited man in front of him reaches for the gun under his jacket, Ollie lashes out with that bow, cracking it across his jaw and snapping his head back before rearing back and simply kicking him square in the chest. The impact hurls him backwards, into that mesh fencing that separates the upper level for the specatators and the lower pit where the fight is taking place. Hurls him back and through the fenching as he tumbles into the pit below.

And not incidentally creating an opening for Lazarus to reach the caged dogs.

By now panic has begun to grip the onlookers, the realization that this isn't simply part of the show, part of the experience. Shrieks fill the air -- not just from the homeless men under assault down below -- but from the wealthy watching this cruel spectacle. Drinks are dropped, glasses smashing on the floor and a flood of people start to crowd towards that stairwell leading back to the surface.

At least some of those present here are not just mere onlookers, or Triad guards. But more important members of Madame Gao's operation. Even competitors with their own interests across the city and beyond. They too rise from their seats, bodyguards in tow as they start for the stairs as well in the confusion, those guards casually pushing anyone who gets in their way aside.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
It had taken the better part of two weeks to identify the source of neolithic vases stolen from historical sites in Malaysian that had shown up in Gotham City. And while stolen antiquities was not necessarily the sort of ill-gotten gains that attract the attention of the Dark Knight, the Batman had highly placed sources inform him that the purveyors of these were also known to trade in items far more organic, and a lot younger. Considerably younger. As such, he had tracked the point man of the operation to a fight club he had been known to frequent. Sequestering himself within the rafters as his namesake, he had been waiting for Mr. Sweet, as he had been called, to arrive for the show.

It sickened him, this display, and he would end this operation soon enough. But there were reports of an incoming "shipment" that he intended to locate, and as far as he knew, Mr. Sweet was the only one who know what dock it was destined for.

As he spotted the man make his appearance, he assessed the scene. Counting, patiently, the number of armed guards. Calculating out whether he could disrupt the scene and still get his man, or if he should wait out the entirety of the night's happenings first. He did so long to do the former. But then, the decision was made for him.

As the chaos unleashes itself upon the room, there is a certain grim satisfaction that the Batman feels. Certainly, watching one of his many proteges take to the guards fills him with an element of pride. He _could_ simply allow them to bring the operation to its knees, and he could give chase to Mr. Sweet as he no doubt attempted to flee. But it was important to support his fellow vigilantes. And besides, there were plenty for everyone.



A cloud of darkness falls from the ceiling, and with a pair of strangled cries the number of guards has been reduced by two in an instant. A stiff breeze runs through the crowd, the screams providing ample cover as the Dark Knight leaps out with a swift kick, sending one of the guards tumbling over into the pit as perhaps ample distraction for one of the guards. Turning towards Oliver, the Batman nods in greeting, before spinning off towards another clutch of goons.

Emiko Queen has posed:
An arrow whizzes from the fringes of the chamber, shattering the bottle of something like quite expensive on one of the tables. To help encourge the people not wanting to fight to vacate, and get gunmens' attention in her direction again while she moves back once more. The withdrawl movement brings Red Arrow back to a wall of the chamber, with a few guards starting to hone in on her. But rather than get pinned down she jumps, plants her feet against the surface, and seems almost to run across the wall for a few seconds before kicking off again. The sudden motion in unexpected directions forcing the gunmen to stop and reposition themselves to keep up.

Twisting away from the wall kick the bow comes up, arrow already at the ready. It fires with the faintest of audible twangs.

The arrow hits dead-on in the muzzle one of goon's gun. Just as he's pulling the trigger. The stopped muzzle leaves nowhere for the gases to vent and the gun bursts, metal peeling back like a warped flower. It drops to the ground as the man staggers backwards with a pained gasp as he clutches his backfire burned hand with the other.

Red Arrow lands in a crouch... and notices there's now a lot less hitmen standing.... and a brief passing of darkness like a bat-shaped shadow through the melee answering why. Wasn't expecting Red Robin's mentor to show up, that's for certain, but the timing can not be complained about. "Guess we're not the only ones to follow trails to the Big Apple."

Veira Lazarescu has posed:
Lazarus is distracted by the large shadow that descends from the ceiling and the one eye beneath her face mask squints a little. That was Batman. Well...she's just meeting all the big names now. Or well...in the same sewer at least. It counts!

She doesn't have guns on her, but her knives and systema training make this close combat something that she is good at. But she's not getting out of things without scratches and a bullet to take home. One of the dogs grabs onto the Triad member once he's loose and she moves to make sure that the others are magically pointed another way to handle later.

And not in the kill them 'handle' way. Because that wasn't her thing. Dogs could be helped. "That way." the disguised voice states to the dogs as the magic that goes along with it sends them down one of the tunnels and Lazarus isn't far behind them once she's kicked another dude in the nuts over the transgressions here.

Tim Drake has posed:
    You never see the Batman coming. At least, Red Robin never does, not unless Batman wants him to know about it beforehand. Of all the Bat's proteges, he suspects only Cass can come near to it, but even then he's not sure.

    It's almost supernatural. Almost.

    Of course, Tim isn't expecting to see him here, tonight. He's staying aware of his surroundings though, the people running away, passing him by as he confronts another one of the bad guys. This one actually managed to get his gun out, but a quick snap of his staff has it clattering to the ground, and then an equally quick kick sees it spinning far across the floor.

    And that is, of course, when Tim sees him.

    If this was any other situation, honestly, Red Robin might be grinning. These guys have no idea what's in store from them. But it's too gristy a situation to take any joy in the impending justice about to be metted out, so he leaps onto the back of the guard he's just disarmed. Staff to throat in a steely cholkhold soon has the big man dropping to the one knee, then both, before collapsing onto the ground, leading Tim to roll back to his feet in a smooth motion.

    He pops up, gives a quick nod of acknowledgment to Batman, and then is on the move again.

    The next guard he encounters gets a smoke bomb right to the face so he'll have to shoot blind if he wants to take any shots at all, before Tim's closing the distance, grabbing his arm and bending it backwards hard enough for the crack of bone to be heard just before kicking his knee out from behind, taking him to the ground.

Oliver Queen has posed:
Well that pretty much evens out all the odds.

With the element of surprise, with the panicked crowd hindering any efforts to throw together an organized response to the sudden vigilante intrusion, Green Arrow wasn't exactly expecting a difficult time of it. But any danger that the odds could suddenly shift pretty much goes out the window when that dark shadow drops out of the beam supports overhead and further takes out some of the guards that wander the room.

Under other circumstances, Ollie might wonder just what it is that brought the Dark Knight to New York, to this specific illicit fight club. But honestly, right now he is just rather greatful. The hooded archer returns the nod with one of his own, before quickly whirling away to punch another man, hitting him squarely in the nose as there is an audible crack and a bright splash of crimson. Far less than he probably, actually deserves.

While the evening of the odds is certainly a nice perk, it is actually the strategic advantage of the situation that appeals to Oliver right at the moment. Hitting this club is almost certainly to raise the Triad's hackles, to make them a little more cautious. But having it be an known outsider like the Dark Knight, that might help mute their awareness that a much more local, much more conserted effort is about to drop right on their criminal heads.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky then smart. And right now it looks like -- to Ollie's eyes -- that they probably won't pay quite so heavy a price down the line for doing the right thing, right now. That's a win in his book.

As Batman and Red Robin make methodical work of their targets, Green Arrow casts a glance towards Red Arrow and nods his head towards the trio of more senior members that are trying to make it to the exit amidst the flood of terrified civilians. And while one of them might be cut off by the Dark Knight, that still leaves two others. Two other targets that might have worthwhile information. Two other targets that they can scoop up early and maybe pick up some valuable entail.

It's just a motion, but he has no doubt that Emiko knows what he has in mind so his attention is almost immediately back on that stairwell, whirling to bring his bow up and reach back over his shoulder. Nocking that arrow in one smooth, practiced motion, the hooded archer lets it fly and it does find it's mark, even through that crowd and all the confusion. Almost immediately arcs of blue electricity ripple across his target's body, sending him into convulsions and dropping him right in front of his surprised bodyguards.

Emiko might not approve of trick arrows but hey, at least it wasn't the boxing glove arrow. This time.

Meanwhile the situation down in the pit improves immeasurably as Lazarus leads the feral dogs out, back into the tunnel and away from harm -- and the possibility of doing harm. Now they'll just have to get the kidnapped transients to safety as well.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Moving through the crowd of escaping on-lookers with ruthless efficiency, the only sign of the Batman's passage is another of the guards erupting from mass with a scream as he joins his colleague in the pit. The fall is certainly not enough to kill him, but the dogs will certainly not greet him particularly well. Perhaps that will give the innocents a bit more time to get rescued.

As Mr. Sweet nears the door to salvation, he feels a thump against the back of his waist. "You get to stay." The Batman steps back as the pull of the anchor yanks Mr. Sweet from the ground, cord of the rabbling hook embedded in the ceiling and retracts enough to lift him out of harm's way. For now.

An adventurous guard comes up from behind and fires, a glancing blow that may or may not have done something other than anger the Dark Knight. But the guard will never know, as eyes of fury stare back from beneath that cowl mere moments before a Batarang takes him between the eyes, knocking him cold to the ground and robbing him of any initial satisfaction at being able to lay claim to having shot the Batman.

His prey isolated for the moment, the Batman surveys the scene quickly to assess how Team Arrow is faring, and whether there is a pattern to their targets.

Emiko Queen has posed:
It's only out of the corner of her view that Emiko catchs the gesture of her brother, but that's all she needs to see. Her constant vigilance of the situation surrounding her hones in on the direction he's indicating, and the briefest of nods from the red-hooded archer to confirm before she breaks back into action.

Let's be honest, it's not the idea of 'trick arrows'. Seeing as she uses several herself. But her training and precision typically lead to ones of a more practical sort. So she likes to give her brother some gruff for the more... eccentric ideas he's come up with.

Not the taser arrow though. That's pretty effective and efficient.

Red Arrow on the other hand takes a different approach, shooting an arrow at the other man's back as he tries to bolt up the stairs. The head of this one pops open in a grapple, snaring his arm. And when she pulls on the arrowline attached to it yanks him off balance and back down the stairs, possibly crashing into those bodyguards that were trying to cover their escape.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Red Robin has no problem being on cleanup duty, if that's what it takes to get this done. He grapples with this last guard that he's been dealing with, the one he knocked to his knees, struggling only a moment before Tim's got him in a leg bar that has him unconscious in seconds.

    Rolling off the ground and back into a stand, Tim takes stock of his surroundings. And then he looks down into the pit, with the one remaining dog savaging a Triad member, another Triad member unconscious on the floor, and then the victims stuck down there with them.

    Time to deal with that.

    As his hand goes to his utility belt, Red Robin drops a grapple line that eases him over the side of the pit and down into its depths. He lands with nary a sound, but then holds his hands up defensively to show he means no ill-intent.

    "Just here to help," he says, staff already stored back on his thigh, and making no sudden movements he again reaches into his utility belt. This time into the first aid section of his kit, where he pulls out a roll of gauze and some antibacterial spray.

    If the men will let him tend to them, he will. If not he's more than happy to just hand over the supplies and let them tend to themselves.

Oliver Queen has posed:
There are few things more satisfying in life then watching an arrowhead explode out into a boxing glove and nail someone square in the jaw.

Oliver will fight over that one. It is an argument that will probably never be settled between the siblings.

Right at the moment though they do have more important things to worry about and while that burning anger that led him to launch this assault might have dimmed a little, all of this is by no means over.

While Emiko has dealt with here little assignment, the Green Arrow still has a few details to iron out on his own. Specifically the fact that the pair of bodyguards flanking his target are trying to grab the man and haul him to his feet, to bodily carry him up the stairs and out of the line of fire. And while not really the true purpose behind the assault here tonight, it is an opportunity that Ollie would rather not give up now that they are here.

So when he reaches back over his shoulder this time it is so he can nock a pair of arrows this time, drawing that bow back and pausing for just a moment to line up that shot. While it might be a little more tricky to take down two targets at the same time, both those taser arrows are launched by that composite bow, both of them soar across the room, and both of them find their mark, sending the spasming gunmen crashing to the ground alongside their employer.

Hopefully they won't get trampled by the retreating crowd. It would seem the Arrow is willing to play those odds.

Taking a moment to survey the scene, Oliver notes that the Dark Knight seems to have found the source of his own hunt, having hauled Mr. Sweet out of the ground and insured that he's not going anywhere. Whatever Gotham's Protector is after, Ollie's fairly sure that the man will talk. They always seem to. In the end.

While there are plenty of other targets in the room even with that flood up the stairs, as far as armed foes go the pickings are pretty much done at this point. Not that some of the spectators don't deserve a boxing glove arrow to the face mind you -- at least in Oliver's opinion -- but the more people that make it out right now to spread the tale of the Batman hitting the club, the better for their purposes.

So Oliver's bow goes back over his shoulder in a flash and he once again glances towards Emiko. "Keep an eye out, just in case any one stirs. I'm getting those people out of those cages," he says grimly, moving to that gap in the mesh fencing around the pit, jumping down himself to begin fiddling with those locks. "We'll have you all out of here soon. We'll get you help," he promises, shooting a brief look towards the injured man that clutches his shreded leg nearby, still whimpering to himself. When Red Robin hops down to join him, to give the injured man some much needed first aid he nods to him, a brief gesture of thanks. Then he turns back to those still confined to their tight, stinking cages.

And some of that anger starts to build, all over again.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
With Mr. Sweet attended to in the safety of the air and Red Robin and Green Arrow attending to the prisoners, the Batman turns his attention to the remaining guards. And finding that Red Arrow has finished off the last of the ones that were standing, as well.

It is a rare enough moment for the Batman, as he seeks out a challenge and finds none. He takes to scanning the rest of the departing crowd, making notes of any of the high society that he may have run across as his less scary persona. He frowns a bit as he spots someone who had recently approached him about a position on the board of a charity to, of all things, prevent cruelty to animals. That one was going to have an unpleasant visit in the next few nights.

With the chaos mostly stemmed, he takes out another grappling hook and fires off, lifting himself up to join Mr. Sweet in the shadows above.

With the pit and the dogs now far, far below, the eyes of the Dark Knight meet the somewhat panicked ones of the importer. "Let's talk."

Emiko Queen has posed:
Between Team Arrow and Team Bat there was more than enough out-of-town vigilante presence to ruffle some hackles. It wouldn't stop the Triads, but it should at least make them step back and consider the attention they're starting to draw. Maybe slow their actions a bit. Which would give some breathing room.

But strategy could be considered later. After they've pressed their ... new friends for information.

Green Arrow and Red Robin are going down in the pit to help the victims... and someone else had previously escaped with several of the dogs. Not sure who that was, but the assistance was good timing all the same. The Bat has his own quarry to talk to.

So Red Arrow steps back, taking up watch so the others don't get any rude surprises.

Tim Drake has posed:
    First aid is a skill any vigilante has to practice on themselves from time to time, even the very skilled ones. And there was certainly a good length of time where Tim was especially prone to injury, back in the early days of his career as Robin.

    Applying first aid to someone else isn't all that different. So with very little fanfare he sets to tending to scratches and bites, making note of the injuries he encounters to report to the paramedics who will eventually tend to these men with real medical attention. Red Robin is aware he's just a stopgap measure, but it's what he can do.

    Green Arrow gets a nod in return, but then Red Robin is focused on his work, wrapping the man's leg as carefully as he can manage.

Oliver Queen has posed:
In the end it doesn't take long to get those cages open, to help those people crawl out of their confinement and to straighten, to stand. It does take a little longer to help them out of the pit, up onto the upper level of the club -- anyone who possibly could up those stairs, out into the alley and into the night. Some of them are probably afraid, some of them ashamed at being caught in a place like this.

They should be.

Oliver manages to keep his anger under control, to help prop those men and women up and out of their confinement, stopping to gather up some water bottles from one of the nearby bars and disperse them to the victims. A murmured word to Overwatch over the comms will insure that there are authorities there, ready to meet them at the closest access back through the tunnels that they came from. He's certainly not sending them out the front way, not with the possibility that Triad reinforcements are on the way.

Once that's done, he does spare a brief look around for the Dark Knight but -- surprisem surprise the man is gone. At least he didn't do it in mid conversation right? And he did help. Oliver might have to send him a thank you note.

"Well, the night wasn't a complete waste. If one of you can grab one of our sleeping beauties," he says, jerking his head towards the downed Triad lieutenants still sprawleed by the stairs, "I can take the other. I think maybe we should question them before turning them over to the authorities," he adds.

Chances are the chat won't be very pleasant.

"But lets get these people out of here first. Overwatch is going to have the authorities waiting at the nearest entrance. Then we can doublecheck the tunnels and make sure Black Canary didn't get in over her head," he adds quietly.

"Thanks. Both of you."

One battle in the fight of Hell's Kitchen has been won. But the war is just beginning.