15637/Phoenix Towers: The Triad Strikes Back

Phoenix Towers: The Triad Strikes Back
Date of Scene:	27 August 2023
Location:	Phoenix Towers
Synopsis:	Tensions in the neighborhood continue to arise between the tenants of the Phoenix Towers Project and the Triads. A group of heroes comes to the rescue in defending the Project against a Triad incursion
Cast of Characters:	Oliver Queen, Mary Jane Watson, Roy Harper, Emiko Queen, Cassandra Cain, Bunny Macleod

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Oliver Queen has posed:
The fight for the neighborhood around the Phoenix Tower Projects continues as Team Arrow and other local heroes continue to push back against the sizable Triad presence that has turned the the twisting underground tunnels and basements into a sort of large scale base of operations for the criminal organization.

After their last incursion into the labyrinth of underground passages and facilities that turned into much more then a mere scouting and mapping expedition as planned, Team Arrow has had to dial it down a notch as of late to not spook the group into going even deeper into the filth of the city. Having the Dark Knight show up can have a chilling effect on the criminal population afterall.

That has meant more patrolling on the surface, going after more of the petty players. The corner drug dealers that still frequent the neighborhood. The muggers that linger in alleyways. The small time operators that have a lot of responsibility to answer to their higher-ups without all the benefits of that same protection.

It is slow, frustratingly slow, but Green Arrow and his team is determined to make a lasting change, to insure that the Phoenix Tower Project is a success.

But it is not just the local vigilante contingent that is a little frustrated with how things are going. And that tension is about to spill over.

It is such a small thing at the start. Night has fallen on Hell's Kitchen and there is actually a faint nip in the air. It is not cold by any stretch of the imagination, but after the long, hot summer, the evening is at least comfortable with the setting of the sun, and pleasant with the cool breeze that sweeps in off the river.

The argument begins just with a couple being hassled as they walk home towards the Project. Nothing that hasn't happened for months, if not years. But the changing tide, the slow progress towards returning the neighborhood to respectability has clearly awoken a pride in some of the residents. The shouting match escalates and the pair are knocked down, kicked and beaten savagely. And the the low level Triad members practically seem to come out of the woodwork.

More then two dozen men simply storm the main tower and while Queen Consolidated might have hired on permanent security stationed over night, the two individuals -- no matter how experienced or well trained aren't a match for that many men. In moments the group has torn through the lobby of the building, trashing it, and begin to spread out to terrorize the rest of the inhabitants...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson has been on assignment in the area on a courier run. It's always strange - given an item, told where to take it, how to put it exactly, what to do with it. Put a thumb drive under a rock by a bar. Have the thumb drive face north. Or something strange along those lines. She'd long since given up figuring the rhyme or reason behind them - beyond some of the veterans insisting that some things had to be done traditionally rather than all digitally. THen again, with the attack by Brainiac some years ago, the ongiong issues with Hydra infiltration.. There was something to be said for having things in hard copy.

So, after tonight's dropoff, she had been heading back towards the subway to head home to Aunt Anna's when she heard the ruckus. Instincts would kick in as she would go to quickly jog in that direction. She's moving rather quietly and seems to not stand out, despite wearing a t-shirt and jeans. For the most part..

Well, other than that huge basterd sword on her back that's sheathed. She's going at a quicker jog, trying to evaluate the circumstances before she goes to engage. And then taps two things - the first her SHIELD Comm to report some sort of escalating incident at Queen consolidated.. The next ot the Spider-Tracer, seeing if anyone else was in the general area or within slinging distance.

Roy Harper has posed:
For this part, Roy Harper -- better known in his costumed identity as Arsenal -- has finally cleared enough time in his always busy schedule to make the transition out to New York with the rest of the team and actually take to the rooftops and alleyways of Hell's Kitchen to do his part in putting a dent in the seemingly endless numbers of Triad enforcers on the street.

Unsurprisingly, given his own experiences and priorities, the redheaded archer has been particularly focused on going after the drug dealers that seem to propogate on every corner, striking at them swiftly when the others nearby are distracted and unable to lend a hand. While he normally might be a little more inclined to enjoy his assignment, there are a few things that Arsenal takes very seriously indeed, and he focuses on taking out this particular brand of human trash with a particular ruthless precision, leaving them trussed up and gagged, waiting for pick up by the local authorities.

Emiko Queen has posed:
The cooling evening air did make patrolling a little less uncomfortable when one had to work in protective body suits and identity concealing masks regardless of the weather situation. Not that it had bothered Emiko much. At least not enough to actively complain about it. Instead she was taking advantage of it, staking out one of the seedy blocks where a lot of the dirty dealings and fencing stolen goods had been going on.

Or at least she was, before she got the alert, both from the security they had established at the Tower and from Overwatch's system confirming that it wasn't a drill or accidental trigger. She glared down at the corners she had been watching, then sighed. "You get another night," she muttered at the unseen lowlives in the alleys, "Don't count on it happening again." Before turning and taking off across the rooftops back towards the Towers. Fortunately she wasn't too far away.

Also fortunately that she, much like her brother, had been putting out feelers amonst the vigilante community for those willing to help. Which she now pinged over the comm network. <<" We've got an escalation incident at the Towers. Anyone available nearby, please respond. This is going to need a lot of hands. ">>

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The shadows shift slightly in the vicinity of the towers, as someone watching quietly reaches up to tap her earbud. It's an acknowledgement of the message, and the only sound that she's likely to make.

Did I say she? I meant the shadow. Not that Shadow, I'm not taking on copyright law for this scene...

Anyway.

Movement shifts, and someone slips down the side of their perch. You can't really miss the current goings-on, but apparently this particular shard of darkness was waiting to be invited.

Before one straggling member of the baddies finds itself grabbed from behind, and is suddenly missing. Just...gone.

Then two eyes look out, and the owner of same slips into a hallway. Infiltration has begun, and there is to be an indoor hunt.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    <<I hear you Red Arrow, I'm rollin' on by.>>

    Emiko gets her response from PRISMA of the Young Avengers, AKA Bunny Macleod as the pretty-in-pink skater girl makes a hard left turn, spinning her wheels and drawing up close to the Towers, listening to the coms. She is definitely not subtle, nor a shadow as she inertia-grinds her way up a handy railing before coming in hot baring a pair of batons! -- not the majorette types, no, actual combat batons.

Oliver Queen has posed:
If there is one plus the recent change in ownership of the Phoenix Towers Project, it would be that Queen Consolidated hasn't hesitated to jump in, and while their efforts to provide the building with an onsite security staff might not have paid any dividends this particular evening, other changes have been helpful.

Like the fact that they have installed security cameras throughout the stairwells and corridors. Which naturally provides Overwatch with video feeds that she can in turn relay to the team. And with their increasing ties to SHIELD and other organizations, it does not take very much effort to make sure that anyone who needs it -- and has the capability of making use of it -- has any of the footage that they want.

What can be seen is not very reassuring. Nor is it just limited to those with the video footage as in a number of places the rampaging thugs have started small fires, smooke now billowing out of windows to stream up into the night, carried aloft on that cool breeze. The faint glow of those same fires licks at windows, those flickering reds and oranges making it clear to everyone nearby that defiance against the Triads has a price.

Elsewhere, the two dozen or so thugs have begin to split up into smaller groups across the bottom four floors of the buildings, going through the hall and hammering on doors, screaming and demanding that the inhabitants open up. In some cases the video feed captures the Triad enforcers kicking at the doors, beating them with their boot heels until they fly open to let them storm in.

Similar scenes play out in the basement of the building as well a trio of hoods making their way through the laundry room with baseball bats in hand, lashing out and tenting the washers, laughing crudely in the meantime.

Of course, the one advantage with them starting to spread out throughout the building is that, while they are terrorizing a great many more people, they are also increasingly separated, losing their one big advantage of numbers. It's why no one notices at all when Cassandra arrives on the scene, a shadow picking out her target and dragging him away out of sight without a word.

And the two dozen or so decreases by one at least.

Fortuantely Cassandra is not the only one already in the building. When the Phoenix Towers was purchased, the very first act by Team Arrow was to clear out the Triad Drug Ring operating there. Not just because they were active in their very own building. But also so they could convert part of that basement into a local Arrowcave.

Which is exactly where Oliver slips out of, quietly turning off the lights and plunging that laundry room into darkness.

"Hey, what gives?" one of the hoods asks before a wildly swung baseball bat just narrowly misses him in the dark. "What the fu--" he starts.

Which is when the Green Arrow's first arrow of the night strikes home, the blunted end taking him right in the side of the head and sending him dropping to the floor.

Two down. Twenty-Two to go.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson has her hand up and over on the handle of her sword as she goes to charge into the building, heading towards the nearest group of thugs. She's gotten her call in to SHIELD logged, which isn't likely to result in anything - they're something for the local authorities to handle. But no one is going to mind her getting in the middle of things either.

The girl darts in and has her hand on the handle, and takes her other hand up to her lips to press two fingers into it and lets out a piercing whistle. Hopefully all attention in the area is over on her for just a moment - enough for anyone working late night in the area to duck and cover.

"You can stand down, or you can be made to stand down. And not get up again." She would grin maniacally - if anyone's seen her body language for just those few moments there's a total change in her presentation. Body tensing, rolling on the balls of her sneakered feet. Expression almost going feral as she fully tensed, ready to launch herself at them.

Hand goes over to the huge sword on her back and moving to cleanly unsheathe it. "Because you won't have the limbs left to do so." She has no idea how good these men are. Thugs? Enforcers? Mercenaries? There were varying tiers of types around. Hopefully this presentation would be enough to at least freak them out if they were sloppy. or at least have all attention in the area on her.

Roy Harper has posed:
It's like getting updates in stereo.

While tuned to the Arrow frequencies and getting the info feeds from Overwatch, Roy is also tuned into the SHIELD channels. While he might be young, he already has time as an agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency under his belt, something that he has taken to the even bigger stage of international espionage.

At least when he's not out in the night, extracting a certain rough justice on the drug dealers of New York or Star City.

Either way, as that flood of information comes in over the comms, he pauses in his current assignment, pressing a finger to his ear and flicks on the little screen around his wrist to take in some of the provided video footage that plays out there.

<< Arsenal here. I'm about two blocks away. I can see smoke plumes from here so I think it's safe to say they're starting fires. Might want to head off before it spreads. Hope you got the building up to code, >> he chimes in oh so helpfully.

<< I'll go in through the fifth floor, try to cut them off from going up any higher in the building. No sense spending the whole night trying to track them down, >> he adds drily, already scampering up a fire escape, racing across the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen as he gets nearer and nearer to the Project.

Once in sight, his bow appears in Roy's hands almost as if by magic, a grapple arrow nocked and fired in one smooth motion as it embeds itself in the building's facade by a fifth floor window.

Emiko Queen has posed:
The confirming signal was all Emiko expected to hear out of Cassandra, but the confirmation from her and the more vocal one from Bunny was welcome to hear all the same. <<"These assholes have little regard for others, don't go easy on them. Call out if you need assistance.">>

Nimbly she jumped down from a rooftop onto the fire escape for that side of the building. It rattled a little but held, having been recently inspected in probably the first time in over a decade, as part of the effort through Ollie's company to get the building up to proper safety code.

That sturdy fire escapes are a boon to vigilantes coming and going is just a convenient bonus on the side, and totally has nothing to do with that being one of the first things there was an effort made to inspect. (It totally was).

But right now instead of making her way do into the lower floors Red Arrow pauses to take a glance into the window. Only to find a couple of the men that had barged their way farther into the building were in the room, having harassed the elderly lady that rented the apartment into a corner. Being an ornery old New Yorker she was of course giving them what for verbally but not much of a physical resistance. Her yelling and swearing even as they trying to wrestle her into a chair kept their attention away from the window being nudged open with ninja-like silence. Being a trained assassin had it's perks even if she wasn't outright assassinating people regularly.

The Triade thugs don't realize she's there Red Arrow leaps on him from behind, her arm immeadiately wrapping around his neck to pull him away from the woman and into a chokehold. He struggles, but Red is surprisingly strong for her small stature.
His partner hisses something rude as he turns and pulls his gun, but makes the mistake of pointing it at the woman. Only to get his parther thrown into him before him before he can pull the trigger. The choked guy collapses unconcious from the collision, while the second grabs his gun and beats a hasty retreat back into the hallway.

Red Arrow just gives a curt nod to the woman. "Close your window and lock the door. This matter is being dealt with." Before sprinting out in pursuit, drawing her bow proper as she does so.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
There's a moment when Cassandra is silent, unmoving, and not taking anyone out. It's important though, so she can't escape the need to pause. You see, she's doing something fundamental. She's checking with Oracle to make sure that the fire department is on the way.

You see, she smelled smoke and isn't taking chances being the big hero. There's a lot going on, and someone might have done something weird to the systems. She -assumes- that something is going to go wrong, and addresses the issue directly.

Once she's certain that there's a proper fire response in play, she looks down from the chandelier she's hiding within and frowns at the thugs below. Seriously, who's the sword chick anyway?

She glances at a camera, gives whoever's looking a two-finger v salute, and then slips into a duct. Where she begins to look for whoever needs the help the most.

She's not going to win the day alone, after all. They won't let her take out everyone, it messes us the city's overall hero stats.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Not taking chances being a big hero is not in Bunny's vocabulary or modus operendi.

    She comes in, low and fast, tailing someone passing through a door. As this group goes to start kicking in one she asks:

    "Hey, is it just me or are you guys /not/ Kirby salesmen?" she asks, treading on her skates a moment before she lowers her goggles, and give a bright grin.

    She turns one baton over her hand so that it's in a referse grip, and as the Young Avenger is alone, she goes for what she can -- which in her case, being short is the backs of knees and nut shots. What *are* the odds these jokers are wearing cups?

Oliver Queen has posed:
There is a laundry list of improvements and repairs that need to be made to the Phoenix Towers Projects. The previous owners did not exactly go to much effort to maintain the buildings that make up the complex and as a result, some things are still in the process of being brought back up to code. One of those things -- helpfully in this case -- is the fact that all but one of the elevators in the main building are currently down, waiting repairs. While inconvenient to the residents, it does mean that the only easy way up is by the stairwell.

And no one is exactly spreading upward all that quickly as a result, the leading pair of thugs just stepping out of the stairwell and into the quiet hallway a moment after Arsenal's arrow thunks into the side of the building. Both men start down the hallway, moving towards the nearest doors with their intent clear -- terrorize and maybe see if there are any valuables to be had. Though such pickings are likely to be limited in a building like this.

It is reassuring to see Red Arrow's success -- both with the fire escape and the recent repairs there -- and with saving the fiesty, elderly resident of the Tower. "You show those criminal bastards whatfor dear," she says in an endearing, if off-color way. No doubt if Emiko comes back this way she'll be offered a cookie too. Not bad for a night's work. But as she makes it three down, the other one scampers out into the hall, already yelling for some of the other enforcers on the floor, the thud of approaching footsteps making it plain that quite a few of them are indeed on the way.

Red Arrow might just need a hand. Then again, she might enjoy the challenge.

Down on the ground floor, Mary Jane does indeed find a trio of baddies lingering about the lobby, surprise evident on their faces as the woman lays out her threats and draws a sword of all things. But these are the Triad. Specifically, Madame Gao's Triad and the foremost of those close to the redheaded warrior pulls out a pair of slightly curved katana blades, one just slightly shorter then the other. "You think to frighten us? Come then, try your sword against mine. But know that my colleagues will execute you with your first mistake as well," he says with a tight smile, the two other men pulling out submachine guns, only hesitating from laying down fire on MJ because of the lieutenant in front of them.

Down another of the first floor holidays, the small group that batters down doors there is interrupted by... a yuong woman on roller skates? Again, clearly not what the Triad heavies expected and two of them point at Bunny and actually start laughing. But as she skates by in a rush and takes out the knees of one and leaves the other clutching his groin and moaning on the ground, the last of the three is definitely not laughing.

Two more to the count. Nineteen to go.

In the basement Ollie continues his own silent assault on the pair of bat-wielding men still upright. They call out now, the darkness increasingly unnerving them, swinging blindly with those bats with one hand and feeling around blindly with the other. Able to pierce the gloom, Arrow most definitely does not panic, moving silently through the gloom before lunging ahead, leaping and sliding across the folding table in the center of the room. His bow lashes out with an audible crack, striking another of the men in the head and sending him crashing into one of the washing machines before following through with that feet first slide, kicking the last of the basement trio in the chest and sending him flying, crashing into the opposite wall to slump down with a muted moan that abruptly cuts off when he follows through with another whap from his bow. << Basement clear, >> Ollie reports quietly, already turning towards those stairs that lead up into the lobby.

Two more down. Seventeen to go.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson only peripherally can tell that the men are Triads - the tatoos are kind of giving it away, but she knows nothing more than that. She wolfishly grins over at the man and advances on the balls of her feet. She can tell that the two enforcers with him aren't the type to try and shoot through their leader. So she makes a point as he's happy enough to accept her challenge to keep him between her and them.

Her blade is held in front of her, hands clasped tightly around it. She bounces on the balls of her feet, and goes to then go for something contrary to the normal, informal standards of short range combat etiquette. She goes to charge in full speed, going to swing her blade overhand in an arc to get maximum power, putting her full momentum into it. She has enough speed and power to her that the man can't dodge or try and counterattack her at close range. If he goes to try and slash at her, she just has to turn her hips enough to evade it and shoulder slam her. And the challenge means that he has to meet her full on and take her strike.

Or look weak in front of the others. He's Triad - he loses face with the others if he does not win by sheer strength. So that means that he's going to brace hard and bring up his katana to take the strike. A katana is an effective blocking weapon, but more designed for arcs and slashings - it's not the best defensive style to use to block a full on frontal assault. The man has to hold it up and at an angle, which gives Mary Jane far better leverage with her attack as she can put her full body into it, and the man can just put his wrists into it.

And ancient Hyborean steel meets modern, likely steel forged katana, whether by hand and hammered to anvil or machine pressed. Hyborean steel.. But only at the core. The coating..

Secondary adamantium. Enhanced strength and full momentum and power means that the katana shatters under the blow as she goes to, presuming it does, follow it up with a shoulder slam that would hopefully send the man flying across the room. If she's relaly lucky to pinball him between his two underlings!

Roy Harper has posed:
It is not exactly easy to get that window open -- one more improvement that the Queen team has started to make to try and make the Tower more secure, more livable for its inhabitants. But Roy manages with just a little extra work, silently sliding it open and slipping into the hall of the fifth floor with a certain nimble grace.

Like Oliver, he isn't playing around. These thugs have invaded people's home for the sole purpose of terrorizing them, trying to intimidate them to live in fear. He enjoys his costumed antics as much as the next guy, but there are limits. And these individuals have seemed to exceeded them.

There are no warnings offered, no chance to just give up given. Fighting fair is all well and good, but he is well aware that his foes wouldn't do the same for him if the shoe was on the other foot. So he simply pulls a pair of arrows from his quiver, nocking them both at the same time and letting them fly down the passage.

Both projectiles fly true, the head of one springing open to launch a net that promptly pins one of them men to the hallway wall with tight, binding cords. The other is a little more direct and to the point, hitting home and immediately bathing the other thug in waves and waves of crackling blue energy, the taser arrow drawing a groan from it's victim and sending him plummetting to the ground, unconscious.

Turning away, Roy immediately moves towards the stairwell, pushing open the heavy fire door and slipping in.

<< Arsenal here. Fifth floor cleared. Looks like this is as far as they got. Moving down to the fourth, >> he adds, shooting a brief look up that stairwell before starting down swiftly and silently, occasionally peering over the rail to get a feel for what may life ahead.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Would Emiko enjoy the challenge? Yes. But this was not a situation where 'enjoyment' was important. This was serious.

<<That's one way to take out the dirty laundry>> She quips back to Ollie. <<I am a couple of floors up. The elevators being down was actually a blessing in disguise right now.>> She's pursuing the gunman until he darts around a corner and she hears the footsteps meeting him, which gets her to pause to properly analyze the situation. Then kneels down close to the wall as she eyes the corner and draws an arrow to ready.

As soon as she sees someone come back around the corner she doesn't wait longer than to confirm it is one of the thugs before firing. The arrow splits upon flight, the head spreading out with a line between the halves that, propelled by the shot, bolos around the lead man's legs as he turns the cover to face her. He topples over, gun knocked from his grip as he hits the floor, and whoever was behind him quickly duck back around the corner at seeing him fall, barely avoiding a second normal arrow being fired.

The guy on the floor shouts at the others for running again, but is quickly silenced by Emiko grabbing his collar and jerking him to his feet to stare him down face to face. The mask does little to hide the steely look she's giving him. "You are so lucky I want you alive to face the proper judgement and punishment for your crimes," Red Arrow remarks coldly, before throwing him roughly aside.

<<Another one down. Others are backtracking having faced resistance.>> And takes off after the remaining men. If they decide to head back down floors they'll likely get caught between her and the other heroes that have responded.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Flashback to a moment prior: Mary Jane is about to fight the group of folks, sword at the ready. The two other thugs with uzis back off, letting their boss go toe-to-toe with the woman. There's a shadow in the ceiling, watching silently, before slipping off.

A subtle thing, easy to miss, was when she slipped into the vent. Two small balls rolling down from there, rolling across the floor. Marbles? Not important, not compared to the exciting things going on! But that little shadow girl has one thing going for her.

She's really really good at knowing what's about to go wrong.

Gas escapes the balls, just as the sword duel comes to a close. Choking, cloying gas that if you're not prepared for, might just give a redhead a bit longer to live before those two guns open up on her!

Where is the shadow though? She's...well, you see, that...

Emiko barrels around after the others, only to find that this particular group has just met with a wall. They're all slowly drooping down the walls, having been shoved into them. Harshly.

Cassandra upnods, looking up as Emiko catches up. Then she lets go of her last target, letting him slump to the floor.

Showoff.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny, five foot three on her skates, wearing a helmet with a pair of wings and a bright pink jacket over a black body suit, gives a bright smile to the remaining Triad, and she gives a small shrug.

    "I'm used to being laughed at. Happens when you're the middle sibling." she explains, and then, as he predictably runs, she forms a 'bubble' around herself, the prismatic, gasoline-rainbow colors kicking up as she pursues.

    <<Hallway 1-B -->> she chime sin, with a ka-THUMP and an audable 'augh!' of a triad being flattened a'la Indiana Jones' boulder, and an additional WHACK heard over the comms.

    <<Clear~. Moving to Stairway A to intercept any escapees!>>

Oliver Queen has posed:
Increasingly those numbers dwindle, the odds rather swiftly evening out. While fire still burn and a smoky haze has begun to fill the third and fourth floors, the wailing sound of approaching sirens in the distance indicate that Oracle or Overwatch or someone at the very least has indeed had the foresite to summon the fire department. Just who matters less then the fact that they are on the way. Even as the fire alarms suddenly, finally go off.

The timing is not ideal, certainly. A flood of bystanders into the halls now could be bad, but the fire could be worse if it flares up, if it continues to spread.

Either way, it is one more complication for the good guys.

With the two Roy brought down, the number still active in the building slips to fifteen, two of whom he can hear tromping up the stairs from the floor below, straight towards Arsenal. Like fish in a barrel.

The second floor is also cleared out thanks to the combined efforts of Emiko and Cassandra with the lone gunmen sucuumbing to Red Arrow's well placed shot and the other four that attempt to retreat instead running straight into Cassandra's trap. In their headlong flight for those stairs, they never expected to run into trouble, and in mere moments the quartet finds themselves casually tossed around the hall, slammed into walls and left groaning on the ground.

Fire more down, ten to go.

Down in the lobby, Mary Jane gives something of a master's class in swordplay to the arrogant Triad lieutenant, and no matter how he presses his attack, it comes up short. Even more so when she casually slashes through those finely honed katanas, leaving him holding shattered blades and a look of stunned disbelief on his face. Right before he is shouldered hard into one of the two gunmen who were spreading out to take down the redheaded warrior. Grunting hard, two of them slam into the wall just as the gas from the friendly neighborhood ninja explodes, offering a shield of smoke to MJ.

That does not exactly present the last man in the lobby from levelling that uzi though, pointing it towards the shadowed form of MJ and starting to pull the trigger.

Which is when Oliver springs up out of the stairwell down into the basement, letting another arrow fly directly towards that smoke cloud. As it does, the arrowhead suddenly explodes and, sure enough, there it is. The much detested boxing glove on the end of the arrow shaft. It still flies true, striking the last gunmen in the head and sending him spinning to the ground as Green Arrow lends a hand to securing the lobby.

<< Somewhere Red Arrow is rolling her eyes at me, right now, >> comes Oliver's voice over the comm -- a clue to exactly what kind of arrow he's been using tonight.

With Bunny's voice over the comms and that flying leap -- and audible cry of pain over the comms, the manpower count of the Triad's active in the building drops again.

<< Overwatch says that the last six Triad enforcers are spread across floors three and four. The smoke is heaviest up there and people have started to enter the hallway to try and clear the building, so there are plenty of potential hostages and obstacles. Take care," Green Arrow says, even as he starts towards stairwell once more.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson is not tied itno the comms, so she's not aware of the exact status. She goes to try and track where the assist came from - but Cassandra moved too quickly for her to pickup anything, and the girl is already gone by the time she so much as picks up from where the launch was. The thugs at this point are down around her and goes ot listen to where the yells are from. The fire.. The fire is the issue, but one that is a bit beyond her capabilities to deal with at the moment. She just knows from the sounds of fighting there are probably more hostiles here..

She gives each of the men a quick kick to make sure they stay down and unconscious. Nothing quite like a concussion and a few broken bones to get the point across. Then she rapidly field strips the weapons to make sure that no one will be making use of them for at least a few minutes. Then it's hunting.

Blade in front of her, she goes to head along towards the second floor stairwell. She can't track the exact area of the fighting thanks to the smoke, the chaos, and the sirens.. So she can just get up there to see it for herself. Even as she goes to rapidly tear up her shirt as well to dump water over it before tying it around her face to protect against some of the smoke.

Shen she's vaulting up the stairwell and going to sweep the corridor, blade in front of her.

Roy Harper has posed:
Taking out the two in the stairwell will just leave four more living, breathing threats in the building. And of course the fire. But clearing the stairwell is definitely necessary if the evacuation is to proceed smoothly.

And since he's up here anyway, right?

He could just wait for the pair to troop up into his line of sight and take them out like that, but where's the fun in that? So Roy gets just a bit of a running start and then leaps down towards the next landing, pulling out a pair of arrows from his quiver once more, nocking them and drawing back his bow.

As he comes into sight of the pair, he releases the two projectiles, bothing of them flying true, the arrow heads exploding as bolas whip out, wrapping around the pair of thugs, before thunking them in the head and sending them clattering to the ground.

Then it's time to pay the price as he lands rather heavily in the corner of the stairwell landing, grunting quietly and giving a little grimace. So unnecessary. So much fun. So many style points.

<< And the crowd goes wild. Wooooooosh. Wooooooosh, >> he reports helpfully over the comms, even adding his own sound effects. Just because. << Stairwell's clear. Get the last couple out there and nothing should prevent everyone from getting out of the building safely until the fire's contained, >> he adds.

That feels like someone else's job.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen slows her job as she comes onto the scene, taking a moment to admire Cassandra's handiwork. "Glad you were sent to help," she replies to the nod with one of her own. Then tilts her head a little as she listens to the comm net. She does indeed roll her eyes. <<Yes, I am, but you are forgiven since we want these men alive to face proper justice.>> But the rest of his remark is useful information. "Floors four and five," she relays to Cass. "The same floors the residents are gathered on because of the smoke hazards, so need to be wary."

Red Arrow turns to continue the pursuit. Hopefully with the number of heroes that responded the hostage potential won't be more than they can handle.

Sure enough it's not hard to find one of the men lurking near a stairwell, probably hoping to catch residents fleeing from the smokier floors. Red Arrow stops, drawing one of her less standard looking arrows. As she nocks it a glimps of the head can be seen, that forks into three points rather than the stock triangular arrowhead.

The karimata head was designed to snagging and cutting ropes, but her precise aim uses it just as well for catching the man's sleeve and pinning it, thus his arm holding a knife, to the wall. "Keep going," she calls to Cassandra, even as she fires a second karimata arrow to get his other arm when he tries to pull the first free, effectively trapping him. <<This end of the stairwells also clear. Get those men before they put more residentals in harm.>>

Cassandra Cain has posed:
But Cassandra isn't there. When Emiko rolled her eyes so hard they threatened to come out the back of her own head, she vanished. She's clearly, OBVIOUSLY off to take care of the rest, all on her own.

Or, you know, get twinkies. Something self-centred like that. You know that they all are...heroes, all the same. Well, Cass has something important to do.

"It will be okay," her voice says, softly, in the darkness.

Wait, this isn't the script. What's going on?

A hand settles on someone, trapped in the darkness. Someone who's not doing so well. For all that's going on, people forget that the Triad already passed through this area. And people are hurt.

Some of them, really badly hurt.

Cassandra slips in next to the old man, his wife already quiet beside him. She lifts his head, helping him to breathe. It's not much, but it's important.

The others can handle the fighting. She looks up, then sighs. In hopes that the things we can do, outweigh the things that we cannot.

Punching bad guys will not fix what's already broken.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Punching badguys will not fix what's already broken, and in this case where there is fire, there's a choking hazard.

    And Bunny's sheilds can function as a stop-gap measure to stop some of the smoke. She's keeping part of the hallway clear so that others can get out.

    Including, yes, a pleading Triad. No one deserves to perish in a fire. She pushes herself a little further, her face flushed and sweating as she keeps up the energy field.

    "Go, Go, Go, the stairway's clear! Get to a safer floor!"

Oliver Queen has posed:
At this point there is little doubt that the priority is to clear the stairwells and ensure the orderly evacuation of the building.

Already the fire trucks are pulling up outside of the Project, the flashing lights casting a glow over the buildings and streets as firefighters bustle out, starting to set up as the man in charge begins to deploy his men.

The first trickle of residents are also emerging, most coming out the main doors in the cleared lobby but some have ventured out onto the fire escapes -- good thing they prioritized getting them repaired -- and begun to work their way. All in all, the evacuation is about as orderly as it can be.

Arsenal and Red Arrow make sure that the stairwells at the respective ends of the building are cleared from any possible threats and while MJ will not find any further threats on the second floor, she does find plenty of people that can use a hand through the confusion.

Cassandra and Bunny's similiar efforts pay dividends, helping to keep people calm, to keep them moving towards the exits, out into the safety of the cool night air and waiting fire and ambulance assistance. Increasingly police are arriving on the scene as well, and any other hostile eyes that might be inclined to make trouble are likely to be driven back into the shadows as well.

Of course, Bunny is further able to assist, those strategically placed shields funnelling smoke away from the evacuation route, making everyone that much safer.

Which leaves Oliver to track down the last couple of threats in the building, something that he does with some alacrity with Overwatch's assistance.

It might take some time, even with the presence of the police and the fire crews, even with the many vigilantes turning out to lend a helping hand. But the assault on the Phoenix Towers has been repelled and within a few hours most of the residents will be back in their homes.

One step closer to having their promised better future. The job's not done yet. The Triad is still entrenched. But Team Arrow and their friends and allies are chipping away, slow but steady. They're not going anywhere.