15510/Gotham University Summer Commencement

Gotham University Summer Commencement
Date of Scene:	06 August 2023
Location:	Gotham University
Synopsis:	The Riddler springs a pop quiz on some graduating seniors, but unlucky for him, one of them was a Wayne. Cue massive beatdown and a (mostly) successful commencement ceremony!
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Essix, Alfred Pennyworth, Lonnie Machin, Phoebe Beacon, Joan Wright, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne

---

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tinsley Hall is the largest space available at Gotham University. This is where visiting lecturers speak to the masses, where the occasional concert series or play is put on by the students from the College of Arts. It's a space that is often filled with noise and motion, which is no less true today when the entire Summer of 2023 class is sat in rows on the floor in their black gowns and caps, having filed in only moments ago. Like any respectable group of Gen Zers, many are keeping themselves occupied on their phone, but just as many have made friends with their alphabetically-arranged neighbors, adding to the sounds of chatter in the hall.

    There's still time for friends and family to make their way inside and fill the seats surrounding the stage and floor. The doors have just opened, and people are scrambling to get the best seats in the house.

    Everywhere in the hall has a good view of the massive screens hanging above the stage, though, so really any seat will do. Right now they're showing a series of photographs from various Student Life activities, and every once in a while there will be a cheer or a shout from some of the almost-graduates down on the floor when one of them has been spotted in the picture.

    The start time for this evening's commencement ceremony is rapidly approaching, and the air is thick with anticipation, almost vibrating with it. Ushers at the doors stand ready to close them once the ceremony begins.

    And right now, Tim's in the middle of it all. The School of Science and Engineering is approximately two-thirds of the way back from the start of the student seating, and he's near the front of it, sandwiched between Rafael Dominguez and Christina Dunham. He's one of the many who are occupying themselves on their phone, though every once in a while his eyes flick up to the stands.

    People begin to file onto the stage. Some are in formalwear, suits and the like, while others wear the ornamented gowns of higher degrees, likely professors at the university. The crowd on the floor quiets as the President of the University, Dr. Titus V. Blaney, makes his way towards the podium. His smiling face is reflected upon the screens above.

    "Good evening, graduating class of Summer 2023!" He has the good sense to go quiet as the students on the floor -- and quite a few folks in the stands, too -- erupt into cheers and applause. "Thank you all for coming. Please, everyone, take a seat. It's my honor to welcome you--."

    The lights go out, and Tinsley Hall descends into complete and utter darkness. Everyone's cheers transform into startled yells and screams. They cut off suddenly when the lights come back on, only to see the leering face of the Riddler looking down upon the crowd from the overhead screens.

    "Sooo sorry to interrupt, but we have time for one more pop quiz, don't you think?"

Essix has posed:
The human graduation was a right of passage, or so Essix had learned in her on line research. Poor Dick and Stephanie had been bombarded with thousands of questions regarding the tradition, which is how the young alien had managed to get pointed to this particular graduation at Gotham University.

Although her human appearance wasn't perfect, in fact it still needed a great deal of work in the face, the rest of her body was perfect. She was dressed appropriately in black slacks, a white button front shirt, and a pair of flats on her feet.

Every aspect of this tradition was observed, from the arrival of friends and family, to the way the room looked. She was attempting to absorb everything as she made her way to a seat, just like everyone else and settled herself in.

When the lights go out, the screaming begins, and a face appears on the screen, she has no idea this is not part of how it is supposed to go, so she remains seated and observant.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
Alfred was here on time, waiting outside the door and impatiently checking his watch every few minutes. Finally, with a deep sigh, he turned and went inside to find a seat. He is indeed dressed formally, but then he always is, so that's nothing new. He politely stood to let people scooch past him in the stands, and his eyes sought out Tim in the student lineup, as he fiddled with the camera settings on his own phone so he'd be able to capture the moment for posterity.

When, as they say, the lights go out and the screaming begins, this elicits merely another deep sigh from the long-beleaguered butler, and he sits tensely observant to see how this latest chaos will play out. Quietly, though, he taps his phone screen to alert the rest of the extended family that Nygma is on the loose again.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Lonnie, on the other hand, is here disguised as a member of the catering staff. He had a feeling if he just showed up and sat in the back, it'd cause more problems than it solves. His plan was just to serve danishes to rich people until he could slip away and leave a card somewhere Tim could find it, and then leave.
    And then... because of course he did. How is the Riddler like a jackass? Trick question...
    Lonnie pinches the bridge of his nose, and then he grabs a danish and eats it - he hasn't had a bite all day - before he goes looking for whoever cut the power.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe Beacon was, of course, here to support the nerd between Rafael Dominguez and Christina Dunham, wearing an orange-and-gray dress and her hair pulled up and wrapped in a peach colored scarf, she was sitting in one of the balcony seats with a couple of friends also supporting others on the stage, with fellow LARPers, Mole Friends and friends of Tim's (Nick, Nacho and JayJay) sitting next to her.

    "You look weird in a dress, Phoeb."

    "You've seen me in a dress before, Nick!"

    "Yeah, but that was at the eighth-grade semi-formal. And you accidentally nailed whats-his-face in the--"

    "Those shoes," Nacho mourns, "were never looked at the same way in school."

    Of course she's brought red flowers for Tim to receive after he was properly graduated, and had her phone set up to record.

    And when the lights dropped, and Nygma's face appears, she stiffens.

    JayJay puts his hand on her shoulder, and takes the flowers slowly before she crushes them.

    The alert appears on her phone, and she tags in, slipping back through some of the anxious crowd for a quick-change.

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan has not quite 'scrambled' for the best seat in the house. As she's not here to either graduate or watch one graduate, her presence here is more of the inconsequential variety. Instead the Damage Control employee is in attendance more for the post graduation portion when one of those on the stage will be wanting to go get some food with their visiting family.

So near the back she sits.

Out of respect for the proceedings, Joan is wearing...a nice, black dress.

Sigh. Yes, she is aware of dresses. She just doesn't like them. But in the spirit of those who worked their butts off to get to this point. Ok fine, she can accommodate.

But she's wearing flats dammit. and with the lack of pockets, the satchel she uses to make up for it is resting right beside her.

Curiously, she checks her phone to kind of determine what time it'll probably be at the end of the ceremony. So when the lights go out, the puzzled expression on her face is illuminated. As the voice speaks up, that puzzled expression turns into more of an exasperated one.

"Not again." She grumbles.

Jason Todd has posed:
There is one, minor, advantage to being the problem child of the family when it comes to social events. That being a typically lowered set of expectations. If said child doesn't show up, well that's just them being 'them'. Of course showing up on time? Do that even a few times and expectations begin to rise like the stock market.

Jason? Well, when it comes to arrivial times, he has ascribed to the mindset of a wizard - he arrives precisely when he means to: Just late enough to not raise expectations, but not so late as to miss the opening of the ceremonies or disrupt.

He put some thought into his attire at least. A sharply tailored black suit, white shirt with a black tie. Perfectly polished dress shoes. Of course the fact his hair has been grown out till it almost reaches his shoulders and he has grown a full, though well groomed, beard? There could be an arguement for saying he still arrived unkempt and scruffy. Can't have everything.

He does, however, find Alfred and joins him, offering a quiet and respectful nod.

"Alfred."

The man had more than earned it, putting up with Jason's 'Little Shit' stage as a teen in the Manor.

With some irony he considers that these days he's more of a 'Big..'

That thought is interrupted by the lights going off and that voice.

... shit.

Tim Drake has posed:
    As one might imagine, due to the appearance of a notorious Gotham villain there are many folks who have elected not to remain in their seats. Many around those in the stands are scrambling for the doors, however the ushers have shut them and, from what it seems by the initial attempts to open them, barricaded them all from the outside.

    A few gunshots ring out above the chaos, though aside from some sharp cries of fear no one seems to actually be injured. Just startled.

    "That's quite ENOUGH!" roars the Riddler, though he looks only mildly disappointed with the response he must have been expecting. "For the safety of our wonderful cohort of graduates, you'll all return to your seats. We wouldn't want this evening to be even more SHOCKING for anyone, would we?"

    As if on cue, a handful of the students down on the floor spasm in their seats and let out a scream as a jolt of electricity shoots through them.

    Notably, Tim isn't one of the unlucky ones. Yet.

    As several bulky goons begin to filter through the crowd with automatic weaponry, ushering people swiftly back into the seating ringing the hall, the Riddler smiles up on the screen. "Good, good," he says. "Now, let's begin." There are plenty of other armed men patrolling the outside hallways, and Lonnie will have to contend with them on his way to the basement where the person who flipped the breakers can be found. Phoebe, too, will have to dodge and weave past a significant number of bad guys so she can do a quick-change.

    A phone number flashes up on the screen, and the students are commanded to produce their phones and opt-in to Professor Riddler's pop quiz. It's a simple process and the only struggle is from terrified fingers making typos in the number, so the number of sign-ups on the screen begins to increase rapidly. "Excellent! Now we'll begin with a simple one. TRUE or FALSE: Rivest-Shamir-Adleman, or RSA, is an algorithm used for symmetric key cryptography."

    On the floor, Tim mutters, "False, it's asymmetric," for the benefit of those nearby him, but it's really not the School of Science and Engineering that need the most help. There'd been a collective murmur of discontent from the other Colleges at the question, but people are typing into their phones.

Essix has posed:
Eyes glued to the screen as Essix listens to this odd man's words, the screaming people running away in an attempt to escape, mingled with his mention of shocking and the reaction of some of the people who end up electrocuted... well that just plain changes everything.

She may not understand fully what is happening, but she does know her own weakness and if there is a single chance that the chairs are wired, that's enough warning. The human form that she had assumed melts into a large aqua colored tendril that reaches up to the ceiling and wraps around a beam, immediately taking on the colors to match and make it impossible to tell apart from the ceiling and the alien.

From there she can see the people unable to get out, and watches as people move back to seats. She can follow the movements of men with guns, and finally she had at least a smattering of understanding of what is occurring. Nightwing had been training her for just this sort of thing, but there were so many innocent people here and she was just one little alien without a phone to call for assistance. That meant, logically, she had to keep watching and wait for an opportunity to present itself.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Lonnie takes out his phone... and proceeds to tap into the security system. "Right." He says, "Need to find the spot where they'd splice into the electrical system to set all this up... it has to be somewhere in or near the building." He heads for the utility station, which is probably suspicious because he's dressed like a caterer. And... he runs into a goon, who points an AR-15 at him. Lonnie holds his hands up. "Ey, yo," He says, affecting a peanut-butter thick Gotham City accent, "I was lookin' for the can, I really gotta whiz!"
    "Then you can go in your pants like everybody el-" Lonnie is already inside his reach, and has twisted the gun out of his hands. Turns out that a childhood of getting the absolute CRAP kicked out of you by Batman teaches you how to move really fast... and unpredictably. He brains him with the butt of the rifle. Then he gets hold of the guy, and smashes him into the wall - once, twice. BAM, BAM. He checks a map of the college. "Come on. Where would they have tapped into the power system for this stunt...?" He drags the guy off into a side corridor and leaves him in a classroom, before he continues on his search. "Come on, come on..."

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
"Jason," Alfred murmurs in polite response, though of course his attention is quickly taken up by the general terror and goonification of the hall. His eyes flick sharply around the room, counting the henchmen nearby, and calculating how many of them he and the scruffy young man next to him might reasonably be expected to... handle. He silently thanks his concealed carry permit for situations like this, but hopes he won't need to use it.

"I think," he murmurs, still sotto voce of course, "that I could disarm that fellow standing at the back without raising much notice." He points with a slight movement of his chin. "Possibly the one across the aisle from him as well. You?"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Overslept. Not dressed for this. Not ready. Stupid. Late. Dummy. Triceratops.

Wait what?

There's nothing going on out there. The doors to get out are locked, and there's ushers on the outside, keeping them that way. Which is lovely, because Cass is kind of groggily watching them do that, wearing her triceratops pj's. She really didn't dress to impress, but she's also never cared about what others think of her.

There's losing to supers, that's good to tell the other thugs about. But when a smallish girl in a dinosaur onesie takes you out, one at a time, that's something you tell NOONE. Ever.

Joan Wright has posed:
As others run from their seats, Joan remains seated. She's more than aware of the bottleneck that will likely form at the doorways when everyone gets up to leave at once. Hearing the gun shot, Joan ends up sliding out of her seat to the floor in reaction.

Upon the gunfire stopping and the instructions very much suggesting the students might be harmed, she reluctantly slides back into her seat, glancing over to the stage and then to the smattering of goons patrolling the floor.

It's decided.

Supposing they survive this, she and her dad are going to make sure the place they go to for dinner serves alcohol.

When the question is asked, Joan's jaw drops slightly. "Well that's not fair for the other colleges."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is halted by the gunshots, visibly bristling as she looks off to the side, seeing Jason and Alfred nearby. She wrinkles her nose, and holds up her hands.

    "Hey man, I just need my purse. My mom has it." she states dryly, and as people give yells she returns back to her seat, looking pointedly to her trio.

    "Don't make a distraction. They're all armed. The way we get outta this is play his game better than he does." she murmurs to the trio, and looks back to the screen, and then to Tim.

    <Monitoring situation from from crowd. Have some civs who are aware I'm powered with me to cover.> she writes to the 'family group chat'.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
He had had every intention of arriving on time. This was an important day for Tim, and he had been putting forth a greater focus on being there for the non-costumed moments for the extended members of the family.

But as Bruce was coming up to Tinsley Hall, something felt off. And he had been doing this long enough that if something felt off, it usually was.

His caution was rewarded as the well recognized voice of the Riddler came out, but by that time Bruce had already eschewed the dark navy blue suit he had worn for a rather dark one. One with a cape and a cowl.

Slipping into the Hall through a back entrance, and silently disappointed that he had not had a chance to see Tim in the cap and gown, the Batman makes his way through the bowels of the Hall, the radio wave tracker already doing its work trying to locate the source of the Riddler's transmission.

Besides, at this rate, he was going to run into Tim at some point, if not in cap and gown...

Jason Todd has posed:
The glance given to Alfred is one of suspicion. Not because he thinks he can disarm two of the goons.

Because he is clearly underselling his abiliies.

Still, Jason knows better than to question Alfred. He should have learned that years ago. "Well" he considers as he scans the crowd for patrolling goons without turning his head enough to make it clear he's doing it.

"I did bring my Two Friends, Erik and Lyle." He named his guns? Who names guns? And after the Menendez brothers?

With a nod, he indicates three goons that have drifted closer together, "... I can get those three and still keep you covered."

With a glance to confirm the plan with Alfred, Jason keeps his head down and begins to move, his predatory gaze fixed on his prey.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
"Mind your fire in here!" Alfred hisses after his aggressive counterpart. The place is packed with innocent civilians after all. "The more we can take out /quietly/ now, the easier the inevitable brawl will be."

Tim Drake has posed:
    There are still many clusters of people up from their seats, most of them slowly being herded back by the men with automatic rifles. This presents plenty of opportunities to slip away in the crowd, or slip upwards as Essix does. One guy calls out "Hey, did you just see that?" to another, but he's the only eye-witness -- of the armed men, at least -- so she's safe for now. Though there are at least a few people who were sitting around her that are now looking up into the rafters.

    The bulk of the goons are, however, outside. Nygma must be expecting outside intervention moreso than inside... unlucky for him that a Wayne is graduating tonight, isn't it?

    Particularly unlucky.

    The votes begin to tally up on the screen. There's an initial glut of votes for False as those who have the answer ready input it, but then there's a long period of time where other votes roll in, and things start to look a little concerning as many pile in for True. A timer appears on the screen above Nygma's grinning face.

    True pulls ahead of False at the 00:05 second mark... 00:04... 00:03... 00:02... 00:01...

    A last second deluge of votes filters in, just barely putting False ahead. On the floor, Tim's fingers stop flying over the screen of his phone, and he lets out a weary sigh. That was close.

    "Time's up!" calls Nygma, and he makes a pleased sound. "Very good, very good. I didn't think you all had it in you. Onto the next question: In password protection, what is the name of a random string of data used to modify a password hash called?"

    A list of options, A through D, flash up onto the screen. Joan was right. This isn't fair at all for all the other Colleges.

    Bad guys are dropping like flies outside Tinsley Hall. Lonnie takes one out and leaves him in a nearby classroom, but he still has to find a way downstairs. There are stairways listed on the map, but not all of them have basement access. And the Batman is also tracking that same scent, the signal coming from somewhere down in the depths. They'll likely converge on the target at similar times, coming from different angles.

    The ones that encounter Cassandra similarly don't even get a blip out over the radio to warn them at a triceratops is kicking their butts. All the better for their pride, admittedly, that they can't report it out.

    However, the ones inside seem to have eyes for the students on the floor moreso than the crowds of friends and family. Once or twice a student tries to get up, only to be pressed -- forcefully -- into participating. And this time around, the votes don't look good. Several of the men are even distracted by the vote-tallying happening on the screen, which would give ample time for an ambush by Jason and Alfred. In fact, of the handful of goons they've tagged as potential targets, only one of them seems to have any sense of situational awareness. So probably best to start with him. Even the rag-tag LARP team of Phoebe-Nacho-Nick-JayJay might be able to score some hits.

    A series of texts go out across the Bat group-chat, via Tim's still-typing fingers:

    <don't let them do anything rash>
    <working to skew the votes>

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Well, the triceratops was a herbivore with a bony skull, known primarily for those horns. The fact that the ones being used are made of felt makes Cass' job harder. If she's going to live up to the outfit that she's wearing, she needs to headbutt. Taking them out too fast isn't getting the motif across.

So, just once, she walks up behind two guys who are on a side exit, just watching them quietly, and waits for them to finish their smokes. She doesn't like the smell, so she's not in any rush to engage. So she stands there, and stands there.

And stands there. Eventually one of them looks around, and he turns and, not knowing that she's there, he sees her and yelps!

"What the hell, kid?" he says, mistaking her for a child in that outfit.

She pauses, then bumps her head against his friend's side, which makes him kinda grin. "So cute..."

Then she bares her teeth, and they smile, not recognizing it for what it really is. Which is fair, it is being smiled by a herbivore after all.

Then they're busy with other things.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
...He doesn't run into Tim - at least not immediately. He runs into Lonnie, who startles - and then just... stops. "What do you call a man who thinks he's the world's foremost intellectual but whose ability to intellectualize begins and ends with dreams of dominating trivia night?" He asks the Batman.

"He's playing the world's most lethal game of You Don't Know Jack with the people in the auditorium." He rubs his face and then pinches the bridge of his nose. "Right. I'll go after the power. You go after the Riddler, and teach him what's Black and Blue and Green all over. And you can be the boot of authority stepping on my neck another night, when that's what's important. Deal?"

Joan Wright has posed:
As the tally appears to lead to the correct answer, Joan gives a small sigh of relief. But as the next question comes up, she frowns. She glances to the students using their phones, then up to the screen. Why does this feel like some twisted type of forced job interview for a tech position?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <Rash? Us?> comes Phoebe's reply, as she narrows her eyes at the question.

    Her eyes glance to the side. JayJay has a programming editor open on his phone, and is in fact also trying to get into the voting software to alter it. He was the brainy one of the trio. He's holding a stylus in his teeth and his glasses are looking with concern to the students on the floor.

    She leans her head back, and catches Nick and Nacho's gaze. There is a soft conversation in Klingon between them.

    An agreement is made, fist bumps are issued.

    Phoebe and JayJay switch seats. One of the gun men passes behind them as votes talley, and the operating trio move quick.

    Phoebe disarms the gunman, taking up the weapon and effortlessly tucking it in front of them, putting on the safety and removing the magazine from the automatic rifle in the process.

    Nick disables them with a quick couple blows to the pressure points to stop them from crying out.

    And then Nick and Nacho pull the hapless gunman under their chairs, followed with Nacho tethering his wrists with his own shoe laces.

    And the nerds sit back up like nothing happened, and because they all are nerds, of course they answer the question correctly.

    And at that, Phoebe breathes out, and looks to the second gunman in their row, coming down to check on his friends.

    He gets dropped through a portal, the briefest flashing of light in front ofthem attributed to Phoebe's phone blindnig him in surprise, with Nick grabbing the gun from him, removing the magazine, and tucking it to the side.

    "... where did you *send* him?!" Nacho asks.

    "... the Nottles Farm's south pasture." Phoebe replies.

    Jayjay, Nacho, and Nick all look at Phoebe with surprised expressions.

    "You sent him to the BULL PASTURE?"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Racing through the corridors in a descent down to the basement, the Batman emerges into the bottom landing of the stairwell to find...

Lonnie.

As the words spill out from the erstwhile ally, the Batman sizes him up. As if assessing his capability to manage the task of disabling the power. Whether he has confidence in that ability or not, the Batman simply offers a nod before throwing a hand up, firing a grappling hook the height of the stairwell.

And with that, he is lifting off, on the trail of the Riddler. Trusting Lonnie to attend to the power.

Although this may be more a reflection of trust in Tim's judgement, at the end of the day.

Essix has posed:
Slithering across the ceiling while looking like it was easy-peasy. Even though she wasn't even an entire year old, Essix had mastered the fine art of oozing. She kept an eye on the people below, trapped in the room due to something wrong with the doors... the way in and out of the auditorium. She had made up her mind that she was likely the only one who could get in and out of that room and open those doors and so that is where she was headed.

Once she'd made it across the ceiling, she oozed down the wall, once again taking on the appearance of the structure behind her and moving in such a way that someone would have to touch it to even know it was moving. These were all things she'd been practicing with Nightwing, ways of entering stealthily, ways to go unseen and ways to avoid visual detection. Later she might be proud of her accomplishment, but not right now.

Oozing onto the floor, she went flat like the floor and slid under the door. She hadn't quite expected there to be armed guards at both the doors, but there were in fact two by each door. This brought about a brief pause, taking stock of their location, weapons, body armor, and whatever else might be on them. They were expecting humans, probably some of Nightwing's allies... they most certainly were not prepared for the little viscous alien.

From her spot on the floor, just outside the auditorium, two large appendages reach up and out to punch the guards across the face. While they go flying backwards into the door itself, the guards by the other door open fire on what, to them at least, is a piece of the floor attacking. The bullets from the automatic weapons they wield appears to hit the tile, and perhaps the alien herself, but ricochet in numerous directions. In spite of the sheer number of bullets, there appears to be no actual damage done, though really it is impossible to determine given the situation. The idea was not to kill these men, or even harm them too badly. The goal was simply to knock them out so she could get to moving whatever it was that blocked the doors from opening.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
When Batman ziplines away, Lonnie just exhales. "I did NOT need to go to jail tonight, I have like... fifty parking tickets I haven't deleted from the GCPD's system yet."

He heads down the stairs to return to his hunt. "I wonder if anyone's ever had the sheer gall to stick a parking ticket on the Batmobile. That might be the one cop I'd like to meet."

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
Alfred takes a moment to crack his knuckles, then slips quietly out of his seat, murmuring a hushed admonition to sit still and stay down to the audience members he slinks by. He keeps low, so that whenever that one goon who's actually paying attention glances his way, he can freeze and blend in well enough with the sea of people's heads.

Upon reaching the end of the row, he sneaks up to the back of the seating tier, and edges himself cautiously around until he's within striking distance behind his target. And then?

No real flash theatrics. He simply moves, with the deceptive grace of long practice, to wrap his arms around the man's neck, capturing him in a sleeper hold with one hand over his mouth to muffle any outcry. As the gunman slumps - it really only takes seconds if you know the right pressure point on the carotid - he drags him behind the nearest seating row, ejects the magazing from his weapon and pockets it.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
A door at the back opens a teensy bit, and a green head peeks inside the main area. Alfred might see it, or Phoebe. Maybe Tim? Either way, someone has the opportunity to know that the 'doors are open'. Cass is fully aware that Essix is doin his thang, though she'd never use that word. It's weird.

Unfortunately Cass herself isn't doing much at this exact moment. See, that last guy had his lunch with him, and there's a salad in it. Salad. SALAD, guys? She's a herbivore! She clearly has to sit down and eat it. Daintily, with a fork. I'm a dinosaur, not a barbarian. Huff.

Munch munch munch.

Joan Wright has posed:
Despite the concerning situation going on with the quiz show, Joan's attention starts to wander. It's not that she's indifferent to the plight of the graduates. Honest.

It's just... as she's glancing around, she noticed something very very...

very very...

Very wrong with the wall.

Joan's brows raise up, fingers adjusting at the ready, just in case.

Handling numerous gunmen is not her forte but damn it if she's going to allow the building to collapse on anyone.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd raises his hand slightly to indicate he heard Alfred's admonishment. Sure he has his guns, but they don't come out yet.

At the same moment that Alfred is taking down his two goons, Jason is also engaging the first of the three goons. Overpowering him, Jason takes him down quickly before switching to the other two with moves that could make Batman proud, considering he taught them.

But the sound of breaking bones takes things farther than training ever intended.

A look back to Alfred and Jason takes a moment to try and stash the unconcious bodies in a row of already unhappy family and friends. Looking at them he just offers a silent finger to his lips.

Shhh...

Then he quickly moves to join up with Alfred again.

Tim Drake has posed:
    When the confrontation, tense as it is, ends between Anarky and the Batman, they both go off in separate directions. Lonnie's path leads him down into the basement, where the power bypass can be found. Batman, on the other hand, is being led upwards per his signal tracker. The top floor of the building is primarily occupied by offices for the administration of the University, including the President's himself. And where else but there would the Riddler install himself, given the opportunity?

    Unfortunately there's an entire waiting room full of guys with guns that Batman will have to get through first, including one sitting at the secretary's desk, messing around on the computer.

    Several storeys below, the quiz continues. It's definitely tech-themed, as Joan had supposed, and the correct answer is rapidly losing out to C. Bypass, because C is always the choice you go with when you don't know the answer to the question. Unfortunately, as the time hits zero, the votes are overwhelmingly for C. Even Tim and JayJay's attempts to sway the votes are unsuccessful in the face of nobody knowing that the answer was B. Salt. At least all there is to worry about is the voting, and not the building falling down. So far the only structural damage is a few stray bullet holes here and there, easily fixed.

    "Wrong!" the Riddler announces. "In password protection, a salt is random bits of data added to a password to secure encryption or hashing. That's why the process is called salting."

    A ripple of fearful noises works its way through the students, before the group as a whole lets out a mix of yelps and screams as the devices attached to the undersides of their chairs gives them a jolt. In the confines of the Hall the noise is almost deafening as it happens all at once.

    This is an unfortunate but useful bit of additional chaos that those inside the hall can use to hide the sounds of commotion, like when Alfred puts one into a sleeper hold, or Phoebe, Nick, and Nacho collectively disarm and disable another with the power of teamwork. Though the bright flash of light has another gunman coming their way, frowning as he asks, "You taking pictures or something? Sit down!" He is completely oblivious to Jason in the background taking down his targets with impressive efficiency.

    Another thing happens behind the goon that no one yet has noticed: there's a door open. Cass has poked her head in. Tim's own head is on a swivel but he's facing the wrong direction, so it'll have to be someone else that puts the word out. For now, though, he has to deal with another question.

    "Which mode of operation for a block cipher has the characteristic that each possible block of plaintext has a defined corresponding ciphertext value and vice versa? A. Footprinting, B. Hash function, C. Watermark, or D. Electronic code book."

    As the Riddler poses his question, another door can be opened thanks to Essix's slithering and quick punches. Her lack of response to the gunfire seems to only puzzle the guards further, who are used to Gotham's general lack of metahumans so this sight is (pardon the pun) alien to them. It means they quickly stop firing and look at each other in confusion, making them even easier targets to be knocked out.

Essix has posed:
With two guards down and one set of doors open, Essix remains blissfully unaware of anything else happening out there. Her attention is on the guards at the second door now, even as she flows up from the floor to take a human shape. This time that shape is dressed in what looks like a black costume of some sort, complete with aqua trim, even a hood over her head and a mask on her face. That's right, this little alien is a Gotham hero... well, hero in training!

"You get a chance to run away now," she states to the guards as she cants her head.

Before she can even finish speaking the two bolt away from what is clearly something they were not prepared to face, and dangerous little alien hero in training known to no one except Nightwing. That would change in time, but for now her attention when to removing the barricade from the other set of doors, then yanking both sets open and using the little foot at the bottom to ensure they stay open.

"Escape route available," she announces loudly into the auditorium. "Time to run away if you can, and don't worry, I will protect your escape!"

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Power. Power. Power... aha! Power relay station for the building - Lonnie yanks the door open - and finds a thug listening to the Riddler on the phone. "Idiots!" He says, "Everybody knows what a salt is!" He looks up... and gets to his feet. The guy's about six and a half feet tall, and built like a linebacker.
    Oh, of course the Riddler would put his biggest, toughest thug down here. He may be an idiot, but he's not STUPID. Lonnie thinks.
    He pops his neck, slowly, and then makes a 'come on' gesture to the guy. "Listen, I just went through a breakup and I'm really bummed about it, so I'm gonna take it out on your face." As the guy closes with Lonnie, he says, "Just so you go into this warned."

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
Alfred pokes his head up from behind the rearmost row of seating, then stands, casually occupying the space previously taken up by the now-slumbering goon. He marks Jason's position and gives him a quick nod to confirm all is well on his end, so far.

A brief glimmer of light catches his eye and he blinks, his brain having a brief record-scratch moment as he notes that yes, the door is ajar, but also was that a small dinosaur he saw peeking through it?

He's still reorientating his thoughts when his peripheral vision catches the movement of the next goon over, walking in his direction. Doubtless she thought he was her fellow goon, until she gets close enough in the dim light to see he's a stranger. Her mouth opens to cry out.

No time to think. Alfred reflexively lunges at the armed woman, his hand lashing out in a swift, violent martial chop to the throat. She makes a choking noise and stumbles back. Before she can regain her balance, he grabs hold of her weapon and snaps it sharply upward so the butt impacts with her chin.

A moment later, her unconscious body joins the other behind the seats, and Alfred adds another ammunition magazine to his collection.

"The door is unlocked," he hisses in the ear of the nearest audience member. "Pass it on, and then QUIETLY start--" welp, Essix's loud announcement puts the screws to that idea. "Run," he amends, standing up again to spot any movement counter to the exodus. That'll be his allies and remaining enemies.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe turns as the door opens, and she hitches her breath, to see the gloriousness of... a triceratops. Herbavore ceratopsian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous, fabulously famous three-horned faced dinosaur and -- oh it's Cass!

    She lets out a puff of air, and she gives a nod of her head and a little smile, her shoulders relaxing -- obviously, she's glad to see Cassandra.

    The door was open. She taps Nick and Nacho on the shoulder and with a soft couple of words, the two not-so-tech-heads hop up. She motions to the dinosaur.

    "If she talks, listen to her." she states to her two classmates -- and the two college lads give a nod, and look up to Cassandra. Nick smiles.

    "Hey, my facorite dinosaur's the Spinosaurus."

    Jayjay remains in place, trying to influence the votes in the correct manner.

    "Everyone, out --" Phoebe whispers, pointing the way up through the balcony -- and as people run?

    By the time she reaches the edge of the balcony of the hall, Phoebe's already wearing tac pants, a gray top and a head hood, pulling the Balm domino from its pocket in her hood and jumping off the edge of the balcony --

    THUMP! Right on another gunperson as she tucks, rolls, and joins Jason and Alfred.

    "Sorry I'm late." Balm states, vocoder working to digitally disguise her voice.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Once the Batman reaches the door to the President's office, there is a temptation to double back, find a way into the ventilation system, or at the very least, get into the soft ceiling and climb in, to take the gunmen there by surprise. But is merely a temptation, and Tim's classmates and their families do not have the time. Instead, he uses an old trick.

Dropping a light behind him he steps up to stand in front of the frosted glass of the door, his silhouette showing up in stark contrast against the window. He waits for a moment - it never takes long - until the first thug inside calls out his name.

He drops down as the gunfire erupts to shatter the glass, panicked and poorly aimed. He yanks open the door from his crouch and rolls in below the hail of bullets, leaping up with an upper cut first to the left and then to the right, sending the two foremost thugs to the ground.

There is always a channel straight through, because while they are never terribly smart, they are smart enough to avoid shooting each other. Or more accurately, getting in the way of someone's bullets.

A quick leap up as the back rows try to align for his new position, and swinging from one of the hanging fluorescent lights the Batman sends a kick to the face of each of the next two, riding them down to the ground as a pair of batarangs fly out at the next pair.

He lunges past those two as they attempt to dislodge the razor sharp throwing weapons from their hands, leaving them to that as he does a spinning kick to take down one, and then as the body falls a quick snag and with a roll he launches him into the last opponent.

And then he flips over the desk, placing the rest of the thugs back in front of him as he presses a hand down on the shoulder of the one seated at the desk.

"Cut it. Now."

Joan Wright has posed:
Ok currently, numerous graduates are being held hostage to play a trivia game that appears intentionally skewed to punish a school for having the audacity of offering majors outside of the Engineering sector. Or it's an over the top methodology to go recruiting for techies down the line by pairing the correct answers with the phone numbers that provided them but- (Seriously Riddler? Shocking them? SERIOUSLY?)

Well either way it couldn't get much worse, right? Right?

Well with that announcement made from the other side of the building, there were some insistent persons on the inside of her row who wanted out. And darn her for having an outside seat.

One could go into the words to gain access to the aisle but suffice to say, the end result is Joan more or less being launched into the path of a gunman.

In a bit of luck however. Her satchel was still on her arm when she got launched in that manner. She may have stopped, but the satchel did not and in a manner that could best be described as 'comic book physics'. The woman ended up being the pivot while the strap led to the loaded down bag being launched into the man's head.

As the man goes down, Joan stumbles on her feet, righting herself up. "...What th-?"

She takes a moment to straighten her dress. "I wish I had pants right now." She grumps before getting swept along with the fleeing crowd. "WHU-"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Outside, with people streaming past TO FREEDOM! Nick and Nacho are looking around. When asked, they tell the tale of the dinosaur who was outside, who is now gone. They each have in their hand a single snap pea pod, intact and delicious, which the dinosaur hath gifted them. They aren't entirely certain what to say, but apparently 'she' was very cute. Before she wandered off, saying something about 'cocoa puffs'.

Thus are legends born. Not with a bang, but with remnants of lettuce strewn about and random comments on interweb forums about dinosaurs being cool again. They always were. Harumph.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd watches Alfred take down the female goon (goonette?) with tactical efficiency.

As he closes in on The Best Damned Butler In The Land, someone tells the audience there is a Door to Freedom. It is about all he can do to get out of the way as the mass exodus begins.

When Phoebe shows up, he looks to her and offers a nod. "Seems like the right time to me." A glance is given to Alfred, "As long as we can get past the crowd to the rest of the guards."

Then a gift is offered - carried along with the surging crowd is a gunman who is struggling to get his weapon down to start shooting. At least until he finds himself face to face with Jason's frowning visage.

In a moment the guard is disarmed and unconscious all while being swept away in the crowd. Someplace outside the guy will probably wake up with foot prints on his forehead.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Chaos breaks out in the hall as Essix announces a potential escape route. Not everyone leaps from their chairs; some stay behind, their frantic looks aimed downwards to the floor where their children, siblings, friends, are still stuck. But many do stand, and with the number of goons significantly diminished thanks to the good work of various vigilantes (and butlers, LARP friends, etc.) there's not a whole lot of resistance for them to start fleeing through the opened doors. Essix will be soon confronted with a crush of people that will need a good bit of coordinating to keep from someone being seriously hurt in the rush to get out.

    Outside, a couple of downed goons mutter something about dinosaurs and are likely about to be trampled by the stampede.

    Joan is only one of many who unintentionally gets swept up in the frenzy, though her satchel-attack ensures that the last gunman still wandering around on that side of the auditorium is down for the count.

    In fact, the number of goons up in the seating seems nearing zero, as the remaining are either knocked down by the surging crowd or are already unconscious, like the goonette who stumbled upon Alfred or the one who had the misfortune to come face-to-face with Jason! That just leaves the ones down on the floor, minding the students.

    They are of course aware that people are leaving in droves, but their commands are apparently to keep the captive quiz-takers... well, captive, so that's where they stay. But their attention is turned inwards to the still-seated group of students, which makes them easy targets for the likes of Balm, now costumed and ready to tangle.

    "I'm starting to think one of you is cheating," comes the Riddler's next announcement, as the fourth answer (Electronic code book, for those wondering) shoots ahead of the rest on the screen. "And I think that means you've all earned a--."

    Up above, Batman's hand lands on the new secretary's shoulder, and the henchman only mutters a "Yup," as he cuts the feed. The Riddler's face blinks out, replaced with a view of the podium and empty stage, the various administrative and professorial staff having taken the cue to exit as well. The Dark Knight will hear a furious "NO!" from the adjoining office, and the slam of fists on keyboard as if a proper nerd rage is happening just next door. He'll, of course, recognize the voice as Nygma.

    That still leaves the students at risk, though, as the power relay hasn't yet been shut off. So another collective cry of pain goes out as the Riddler takes to shocking them again since his quiz is effectively cancelled.

    This is about when people begin to leap up from their chairs rather than stay seated and continue being electrocuted, as Nygma pounds the enter key again and again and again while he throws his tantrum. Tim's one of them, though he's only partially stood up, still typing away at his phone. Now he's trying to disable the connection between the seats and whatever is electrifying them, but that connection seems to be purely physical and could be one of the many cables that cross the floor.

    There's probably some big switch that would cut off that connection. Like the one right behind the big beefy goon staring down at Lonnie right now. The one that drops his phone and starts to run right at Lonnie, shoulder bent down like he's one of the Gotham Rogues.

    That's the city's football team, for reference. It was an attempt at a sports metaphor.

Essix has posed:
As people begin to make their way out of the auditorium, Essix is true to her word in offering protection. Instead of remaining a human looking hero, she expands and spreads out to form an aqua tunnel between the auditorium doors and the main exit. If any of the thugs try to shoot their way through the membrane that forms the tunnel, they find it simply doesn't work. The people inside the tunnel can bounce off the sides like hitting a padded wall, and if it looks like they might fall, tendrils appear to help them stay on their feet. Getting the innocent humans out and away from danger is the alien's only job, and she will do everything she can to ensure that is exactly what happened....

Wait, was that a dinosaur?! Nope, cannot look right now, maybe another time, must help humans.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Oh good. You know I hate being late." Balm states, and as the place empties out she regards the guards on the stage with her bestie, brother, and cohort. "You want the ones on the left? They smell funny." she offers to Jason and ALfred as she looks towards the right.

    She flicks her hand down and extends a staff, eyes narrowing behind the emotionlessless blue lenses on her domino before she leaps forward, springs off some chairs in the front and begins to methodically and with calculated movements take out gunmen, floor sweeps and pressure-point blows flying like they're going out of style.

    And up from the balcony, someone's lobbing bright orange bean-bags marked "FIREBALL" from cover to bean the gunmen on the head!

    JayJay did not leave with Nick and Nacho after all.

    ... meanwhile Nick and Nacho are waiting outside, helping to direct people to medical assitance, and ponder the snap pea pods given to them by THE MYSTERIOUS DINOSAUR GIRL OF GOTHAM UNIVERSITY!

Bruce Wayne has posed:
With the Riddler pounding away at the keyboard, and not knowing if there is some more insidious attachment to the chairs below, the Batman hatches a plan to ensure the safety of the students. A quick elbow to the side of the head knocks out the "secretary", and then he heads over to the door behind which lies his puzzling enemy.

He raps twice at the door, and then throws his voice in, disguising it slightly and adopting a bit of a thicker accent, to match the gunmen he had hired.

"Hey, a riddle just came in! What'd da Batman wear to his graduation?"

He steps away from the door, counting silently to himself.

The Riddler burst through the door. "I don't know, what??" just as his face meets a fist, sending him sprawling down to the ground.

Nursing his chin, the Riddler looks up at the Dark Knight, pleadingly. "At least tell me the answer!"

The Batman leans down and picks up Nygma by the collar. "His cape and cowl."

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
Through the stampede of escaping bodies, Alfred weaves and frankly struggles to keep his feet underneath him as he turns his gaze down to the students and their remaining guards on the floor. To compensate, he climbs up onto one of the vacated seats. "The ones on the left," he agrees, although to be perfectly honest he's beginning to look a bit winded. Nevertheless he determinedly makes his way downward, clambering over the rows of seats. Stiff upper lip and all that.

Once on his adversaries' level, he taps the nearest man on the shoulder. When the goon turns, an annoyed epithet on his tongue, Alfred punches him neatly in the face, breaking his nose. "I ought to have a costume for this," he muses, wincing slightly as he rubs his knuckles.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Downstairs, Lonnie gets to where the shock machine has been spliced into the power. "Where did Nygma FIND that guy," He says, grimacing to himself. He looks like he's been through the war. But that guy is smoking, after having missed a punch that sent him into an open electrical panel. He's not dead. "I busted my frickin' HAND on his chin. Is this the length that people go to for their exes?" He uses some of those electrician skills that he learned in Juvenile hall all those years ago (the idiots, they thought they were teaching him a trade. Well, they were half right!) And he begins to go about the business of disconnecting whatever nightmare the Riddler's set up to electrocute all those graduates. Fortunately he's never without at least a couple of tools, you never know when you might need to stick it to the fascists.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd stays with Alfred and Phoebe. Sure, he could go solo and start a path of carnage through the remaining goons. But he can see Alfred is looking a little tired. Can't blame him at all, really.

"Maybe we'll get you a domino mask to wear under your chauffeur's cap and suit.." he muses lightly as Alfred takes down the foul mouthed gunman.

Dropping down as well, Jason continues to cover the other two - and so far 'Erik and Lyle' have yet to make an appearance. But for a moment it looks like they might need to as a gunman rises up from between a row of chairs behind Phoebe. "Watch!" is all he can spare time to say. Without hesitation Jason leaps at the goon as the muzzle of his gun starts to lower. The two disappear back between the seats as they struggle with each other.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Riddler is about to have a very bad day. And it was going so well, too. This was quite the plan and it'd gone off without a hitch, his people and his tech in place and waiting for the students to gather. But luck failed him this night, and when he stands up to yank open the door his face meets the Dark Knight's fist.

    Bad luck indeed.

    Like Nygma, the guards on the main floor of the hall are, in short order, overwhelmed. Balm and her staff take down several with ease thanks to quick strikes and more than a couple of orange bean-bags aimed incredibly well given the distance, and Alfred's arrival on the floor equates to another thug being downed, lights out, good night. One more gets tackled in Jason's successful attempt to keep Balm out of the crosshairs, and those chairs surrounding them are already emptied of students.

    And downstairs, Lonnie manages to cut the power that was fueling those electric shocks, so they cut out abruptly.

    The students thus stand from their seats en-masse, and rather than try to fight the crowd, the remaining thugs... all, maybe, two of them, turn tail and run.

    At the same time, the top levels of the hall are emptying out as rescue seems to be arriving, those in the hallway able to see the blue and red lights through the windows of oncoming GCPD cruisers swarming the front of the building. Essix's guiding tendrils see many out into the waiting arms of Nick and Nacho, who steer them accordingly to the nearest exits.

    This is about when the President of the University reappears on the stage, sweating profusely as he returns to the podium. "It seems that this situation has resolved itself," he says, almost stuttering over his words. He's joined by a couple of uniformed officers. "So we'll be rescheduling the ceremony for another day."

    This does not go well for him.

    Shouts of "No way!" and "We just sat through that for nothing?" and "Give us our diplomas!" amongst some other... choicer words are lobbed his way.

    Which is how, some time later, at a frankly very late hour for any kind of ceremony, Tim Drake-Wayne walks across the stage after Rafael Dominguez, smiling for the camera as he shakes the President's hand and accepts his diploma. Maybe he looks a little worse for wear in the picture afterward, but hey, they made it!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
And in the cafeterai, the lunch lady is looking over the counter. "You want me to cook you what?" "Cocoa puffs." "Do you even go to school here?"

".....Yes."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Lonnie comes back to the catering table just in time for another caterer to say "Jesus man, what happened to you?" Lonnie just shrugs, and says, "...Problem with the sous vide. Gimme a pen." He grabs the pen and takes out a card, and scribbles another note in it, before he looks around, and spots someone - let's say it's Cassandra. "Hey. Give this to Tim, would you?"
    Then he limps away.
    The card's just a plain graduation card. There's no bombs attached to it or anything, and certainly no riddles.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd rises up after a few moments of wrestling with the gunman. How the weapon doesn't go off is probably something of a miracle.

Tie askew and suit jacket rumpled, he looks down at the man as the gun's clip is ejected and the round removed from the chamber before the gun is tossed aside. It's his turn to breath heavily.

Looking to Alfred and Phoebe he checks, "I'm good. You good? We get them all?"