15803/Lizard League Attack!

Lizard League Attack!
Date of Scene:	06 September 2023
Location:	Waynetech Labs - Founders Island
Synopsis:	Six months ago, Invincible accidentally captured Queen Lizard. King Lizard mounts a rescue and is nearly foiled by Oriole and Golden Eagle. Birds of a feather learn to flock together?
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Phoebe Beacon, Yaretzi Acama

---

Mark Grayson has posed:
Wayntech Labs on Founders Island is known for making cybernetics for various satellite companies - mainly for use in Space Operations. Late in the evening, an explosion rocks the side of the building as it is opened up.

Stepping through the damaged wall, King Lizard gestures grandurally. "The items that we are looking for are in here! Fan out and search the place."

Peeling off from one side of him, a humanoid lizard of orange skin with black blotches gives a salute as Salamander runs deeper into the building to take a look around.

A few other Lizard Leaguers, dressed in matching uniforms also start to look around. However, one remains next to the King Lizard. At over seven feet tall, the hulking Komodo Dragon cracks his fist into the palm of his hand, cracking the knuckles.

King Lizard glances at his watch. "We have three minutes, tops. That's how long it usually takes a Batperson to arrive!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Three minutes is a conservative estimate."

    It sometimes takes longer, or shorter. Depends on if someone was in Tim Drake's office setting up a practical joke on her bestie-slash-favorite-brother while on her patrol route.

    Dropping down onto one of the broken pieces of building from above in a three point landing is a hooded, caped figure clad in grays with orange highlights and utility straps. Her gray domino had blue lenses, matte black lips curling into a smile as she looks over the grouping of lizard-themed badguys.

    "You know, I see a lot of gimmicks in Gotham -- this is a new one. I don't suppose we could do a roll call?" she asks, The Oriole shifting her weight before she looks to King Lizard.

    "Whoa. Wild, man, you look like a kitbash involving a wish-dot-com Fabio!"

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Yaretzi was on the hyperloop, riding down from NYC towards the Gotham/Metropolis area, on her way to pop in at the Titans Tower. As has become her usual, she deboarded the train just outside Gotham and found herself as secluded a place as possible to transform into Golden Eagle, with her intent being to fly the rest of the way in under her own power.

She was just flying, at a distance, past Founders Island when the explosion happened. She didn't actually hear it, but her eyes spotted smoke and the movement of ejected debris. Hovering in place a few moments to look that way, she can see that there's trouble, so she hurries over through the air.

... and drops down out of the sky near Phoebe, hovering about fifteen feet up. "A very conservative estimate", she adds, putting her hands on her hips. "I've got your back, Oriole", she adds, to let Phoebe know whose side she's on -- even if she's so 'new' herself that the other superheroine might not have a clue about Golden Eagle.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When Oriole comes onto the scene and insults him, King Lizard twists around to wave his scepter in the direction of the invading Batfriend. "Batman... wait. You're not Batman. Batgirl!"

"No, wait. You're not Batgirl. Or a Robin."

"Who are you?" And then after a moment. "Nevermind! Komodo Dragon, crush her!" The massive lizard person next to King Dragon leaps into action as he takes a giant leap towards Oriole, his fist smashing into the wall as he starts to climb up to make his way towards her.

Though when Golden Eagle arrives, he turns to leap at her - jaw unhinging and exposing very sharp teeth as he tries to use his super strength to tackle the white clad woman and bite down!

But Oriole is not ignored for long. A few moment's later, she may feel that something is about to jump her from behind as Salamander make a grab for her, the Salamander's hands dripping a fluid that looks like it would be a very bad touch if he got a hold of her!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Eagle. Birds of a Feather, amirite?" Oriole offers, and she shifts her weight a little as Komodo Dragon gears up to leap at her -- and then she's ignored?! *Rude*.

    She alerts the other Bats of the break-in, and alarms start beeping and red lights flashing around the labs. Oriole's HUD alerts her of proximity and she turns to regard Salamander with surprise, falling backwards and rolling -- and she whispers, trying to link into Eagle's comms if she's got 'em <Smoke>

    And then -- POOMF! Spicy smoke errupts from a smoke bomb. Phoebe attempts to use her grapple line against Salamander to pin her arms! <You got the big guy?>

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
The leap by Komodo is pretty well telegraphed, not at all hard to guess. More importantly, he's leapt into the air and is at the mercy of inertia and gravity -- while Golden Eagle has full control over her 3-dimensional movement. Her reflexes are on a superhuman level, too, allowing her plenty of time to react to Komodo's leap. Flitting up and over, she avoids the tackle and chomp by going up and over the dragon's arc. She comes back down, feet first, aiming to plant a two-footed 'drop kick' into Komodo's back -- fuelled by her own super strength.

Of course, she's inexperienced -- anyone trained by, or on par with, any member of the Bat Family would be able to tell that she's got her attention almost completely on what she's doing and not really watching what else is going on around her. Focus is a good thing, but it can also leave an inexperienced hero open to attacks by an opponent's allies!

It seems, too, that Golden Eagle has no comms to tap into. Files 'borrowed' from the Titans computer would indicate that Golden Eagle's strong, tough, able to fly, and has *really* good eyes... and, far as they've come to realize, that's it.

"Birds of a feather...? Oh! Birds! I get it!", she says with a smile in response to Oriole's quip.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When the smoke goes up, it causes the chaos to go up a step. King Lizard's earpiece rings and he presses his finger to it. "Keep them busy!" he calls to the other two as he uses the very smoke that Oriole created to head deeper into the building.

Salamander is snagged by the grapple line, his fingers moving to try to grab a hold of the line in order to attempt to melt the grapple line and break free. He also starts to run, hoping to use his speed and strength to try to pull the Batbird down from her high perch!

When Golden Eagle strikes Komodo Dragon in the back, the massive man stumbling forward and slamming into some crates. The collapse and fall down on the creature. However, just as it looks like that Eagle may have the advantage, a large crate filled with metal is heaved up from the surface, flying directly at the flying woman!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The grapple lines are pretty resistant to acid. Kind of have to be to work around anything involving The Joker -- however, Oriole has another plan -- she can't let King Lizard get too far into the labs. It would cause SO MUCH paperwork.

    Salamander turns to use his speed to pull her down from her perch, but she reaches into her utility belt and pulls out another weapon favored by Bats: Quick-Expanding Batfoam.

    The pellet is thrown at Salamander's legs as Phoebe braces her legs to catch against a low dividing wall to try and use the lizard's... amphibi... Salamanders aren't lizards okay? -- to stop the cretin's forward motion with a sudden jerk.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle had turned to smile over at Oriole as she replied to the earlier quip. She looks back over in Komodo's direction too late to dodge or counter attack at the crate itself; she has just enough time to bring her arms up in front of herself, somewhat bracing against the impact.

The crate smashes apart, metal scrap spraying out from the point of impact.

Golden Eagle gets sent flying up and back through the air for a ways before she's able to get her movement under control. Narrowing her eyes, she starts flying back down towards Komodo, this time actually watching for him to throw more stuff, or himself, so that she can act and react as needed.

Mark Grayson has posed:
The scattering of metal sends all of the parts flying around, Komodo Dragon roars his displeasure. "You remind me of that blue suited punk!" he growls out as Golden Eagle comes flying towards him. Instead of throwing something, or leaping, he digs his feet into the ground, cracking the tiles as he waits for her to get close enough to try to throw a massive punch at her.

Though his upper strength limit is only about ten tons, so it's like getting hit by an eighteen wheeler going sixty.

Salamander is continuing to run until he ends up in the foam, the quick-drying concrete like substance causing his legs to seize up and come to a halt. With a hiss, he turns and twists his hips to try to pull Phoebe closer. If she comes down, he opens his mouth and spews forth his own cloud of smoke. Except his is far more terrible smelling and toxic.

"Did you find them?" King Lizard asks as he comes to the other, normal toops.

"Is this it?" one of the men asks, moving to the cryogenic tube.

Stepping up to the tub, he rubs his hand over the frosted glass. Inside, a woman's face is visible. "Yes. Yes it is!" King Lizard is giddy as he moves to take up the container, waving to his men. "You two! Arm up. You, help me carry this!" he commands as he starts to move towards the exit.

If you have to sacrifice a rook and a knight in order to rescue a Queen...

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe hates chess *so much*.

    Salamander may find that Orioles may be closer than they recall them being -- the minute the foam hits, ORiole was on the move. Duck low. Draw in fast. A strike to the head to turn the mouth, and another pellet of Batfoam aimed at the mouth of Salamander.

    "This is a no-smoking campus -- thank you for your cooperation."

    And with Golden Eagle contending with Komodo, Oriole (with the home turf advantage), dives deeper into the building, skidding around a corner.

    ANd... does... that... have a FACE?

    There's not supposed to be anything with faces in this lab.

    Tim's gonna be so pissed.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle flies right up to Komodo, seeming to 'lead with her chin' as he's obviously ready to throw a punch at her. She even grins when compared to 'that blue suited punk' -- she thinks she's being compared to Superman!

It looks like a foolish move, to invite a punch be thrown at her, but Golden Eagle got herself a guess as to how strong her opponent actually is, based on the impact from the crate, just moments ago. She lets him throw the punch then uses a classic 'blue suited punk' move:

Her hand, much smaller than Komodo's, intercepts his fist and... stops it. It's not a 'she stopped it cold', because she had to absorb some of the impact by bending her elbow -- she's about five times stronger than Komodo, after all -- but she STOPS his fist. She then flits forward, side-slipping the fist she stopped, dropping down to land on the ground in front of and below Komodo, using her much smaller frame to set up her next move, hoping that how she handled his attack makes him pause long enough to let her finish it.

Bending her knees, she leaps up into the air, leading with one fist that's aimed at Komodo's jaw -- a leaping haymaker!

Knight takes Rook?

Mark Grayson has posed:
Six months ago. STAR Labs.

Explosion. Doors blown down.

Queen Lizard struts in. "Hurry up, we need to secure that rocket fuel for our Island Base!" she calls out. A mission that was going well until he showed up.

"I'm Invincible!" Mark had announced. There was a fight and Queen Lizard had gotten dropped into a vat of liquid nitrogen and sealed up. Mark had assumed she'd escaped.

"I really have to start saying, 'My name is Invincible'."

The vat was shipped to Waynetech's space division for future use.

----

Present day.

With Salamander heaving in a mouthful of goo, he's fighting to just suck in small breaths as he's gussied up in a bat grapple and planted in bat cement and is effectively out of the fight.

"He's going to rue the day he did this to you, my love!" King Lizard swears. "Once we have you free, we'll be attacking!" That is when one of his guards alerts. "One of the heroes is here, my liege!"

"Open fire!" King Lizard yells back. The two Lizard Leaguers with guns open fire on Oriole, trying to pin her down so that King Lizard can make his escape to a waiting boat.

Inside the building, as Komodo slams his fist into Golden Eagle and she stops it in mid-swing. Komodo snarls and when Golden Eagle goes down, he starts to bring his hands up above his head to join together to jackhammer down upon her, but he's too slow.

There's a sharp crack that snaps Komodo's mouth closed as he is rocked backwards, falling into the remaining crates as they collapse upon him. He's not getting back up from Golden Eagle's shoruyken.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oriole ducks back to the side, a couple bullets catching at the edge of her cape as she sucks in a breath. <Eagle. King Lizard and some of his minoions are taking a cat of liquid nitrogen containing a face down to a boat -- think you can try to head them off at the pass?> she asks into the coms over the gunfire, eyes darting to the security feed of the lab as Komodo goes down -- and then she breathes out. She flicks her extending staff to length, and then low rolls a flash-bang to try and disorientate the LIzard Leaguers with the guns before she turns her HUD to temp-sensitive, and rolls herself in low.

    Bats, after all, don't like guns or killing in general principle -- but kneecaps are such a fuzzy subject.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle follows her momentum, flying up into the air about ten feet after the knockout punch on Komodo. After taking a moment to hover and look down at her opponent, making sure he *is* truly out for the count, she flies in a sort of loop up and down, then in... and follows Oriole into the building -- because she lacks comms to hear what's being asked of her.

Instead, on hearing the gunfire, she flies over to put herself bodily between the shooters and her ally. The bullets flatten against her and fall to the ground, clearly no threat to her. "What's the play?", she calls out, even as she's getting her first look at what's going on on the inside.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When the flashbang goes off, the two armed Lizard Leaguers continue to fire inaccurately towards Oriole -- and now Golden Eagle, using the sound of her voice as an aiming point to swing their guns around to open fire upon her!

That's when Oriole comes out, fast and quick, there's a cry as one of the Lizard Leaguers is taken out, his kneecap shattered as he falls to the ground, dropping his gun as he grabs at the now broken knee.

King Lizard, in the meantime, is doing his impression of another famous Commander. "Retreat!" he calls out, as he, the container, and the last Lizard Leaguer are quickly down the docks to load up the container on a speedboat to try to get away!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Head 'em off at the pass -- you're faster than me!" Oriole calls out, using her staff to sling the gun away followed by a quick blow to knock out the Leaguer with the Legger.

    "Don't let them get away with the tub -- we need to find out *why* they're after it!" she calls out, and then gives chase, cape flapping DRAMATICALLY behind her.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle seems glad to draw fire. "I can't see a thing with all this ...!", she calls out while the gunfire's going on, but it ends before she can finish, making the last couple of words sound louder than they needed to be. "... all this smoke...", she finishes, bringing her volume down.

At Oriole's words, Golden Eagle pauses a moment, then goes back out the way she came in. This time, however, she angles up into the sky over the building, to use her 'eagle eyes' to try and spot the bad guys -- which she does, as the container's being put onto the boat.

Feet flipping up over her head, she dives down, then flips over again to land on the dock next to the boat. "Look... I don't know why you want this thing, but the jig's up now, ain't it?", she says, putting her hands to her hips. "Can't you guys just give up so there's no more stuff getting broken?", she requests.

Mark Grayson has posed:
With Oriole taking out the first one she attacked, the second Lizard Leaguer is backing up, heading for the door where King Lizard escaped. His rifle continues to fire until it *clicks* empty. Instead of trying to reload, he grabs the rifle by the barrel guard and rushes Oriole, attempting to use his rifle as a bat to battle the Batperson hand to hand!

On the docks, King Lizard and his guard come to a halt. "I'm trying to rescue my Queen, you dolt!" he snaps at her, yelling out and holding Eagle's attention. That's because, behind her, on the boat, a Lizard Leaguer is hefting up a rocket launcher.

He aims it at Golden Eagle's back and fires, sending the RPG round racing towards Eagle's back, attempting to blow a hole in her -- or at least disorient her!

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
"Wait... someone's trapped in that?", Golden Eagle questions, because her attention was most definitely kept by King Lizard. The RPG hits her square in the back.

The explosion tears apart the section of the dock the heroine was standing on, and the heroine herself gets thrown foward. She looks none the worse for the wear, no blood or broken bones or the like, but she flops onto the deck at King Lizard's feet, at the very least momentarily stunned by having been backstabbed by a ballista... er... by an RPG.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oriole feels the bullets strike her armor, and she feels it thud against her chest. For a moment she's breathless, the world around her wavers, and she brings her focus back, speeding up as the rifle clicks.

    Her foot comes down on the kneecap, followed by a turn and an armored elbow striking towards the guard's chest to knock him out -- just in time to hear the explosion!

    "Eagle!" she calls out, turning to rush towards the docks.

Mark Grayson has posed:
The last Leaguer messing with Oriole is smacked against the wall by her kick, knocking his breath out - quickly by his consciousness as he slumps to the deck, out of the fight completely.

On the dock, right after the rocket slams into Eagle, King Lizard is pushing the container to load it on the ship. He barely evades, dancing out of the superheroine's grasp as he gets the container on board and he clambors aboard. "You!" he points to the Leaguer that accompined him this far. "Get off the boat, and keep this distracted!"

Once the Lizard Leaguer hops off, the boat's pilot revs the engine and it starts to race away from the dock and towards the open ocean, shutting off it's lights to try to make it harder to see from above if Eagle does come flying after them.

As soon as the boat is away, the Leaguer only opens fire for a few moments. Then he stops, preparing to surrender - but only if they do not pursue the boat, his gun aimed towards Phoebe.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The young woman in the gray and orange armor skids to a stop as the gunfire picks up, ducking down behind the cover of her cape (the thing weighs so much halp), but as soon as the boat is away, she gives a soft sound. She looks to the Leaguer.

    "Don't make me put you on the ground, please. You can wait here until the officials show." she states to him, and gives a side-eye to Eagle.

    "You all right?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
The Leaguer tosses his gun into the water. He does not want to be on the wrong side of Golden Eagle when she wakes up. He goes to his knees and just sits there to wait for the arrival of the authorities.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle seems to try and reach out to grab at King Lizard, but it's clear she's basically just reaching out generally in front of herself and nowhere actually near to where he is... and she's reaching out a few moments too late, as he's already hopped up onto the boat. Lifting her head doesn't do much for her beyond make her even *more* dizzy, and there's a thunk as her forehead drops back to the deck.

She's clearly conscious and alive, but quite certainly 'out of it' and, for the time being, out of the fight. Again, those trained to know what they're seeing might be able to see that she's 'punch drunk' -- not hurt, just had her bell run by the explosion, so that she can't think or speak, really, much less get to her feet.

It takes a minute or two, long enough for the boat to pretty well 'get away', before she's able to sit up on her own. "...anyone get the license plate of that truck that ran me over?", she asks, as if trying to make light of it all.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oriole gives a wry smile, and in a rare show of cameraderie she walks over to Golden Eagle and offers her a hand to her feet.

    "You have a healing factor?" she asks the woman, and then, hesitantly "Will you be able to make it ?"

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
"I'm good, yeah", Golden Eagle replies, getting to her feet. She turns to where the boat was, then turns to look out over the water. "Dang... they got away 'cause I got clocked, huh?", she says, sounding as if she's blaming herself for it -- because she doesn't spot the boat, even with her superhuman eyesight.

Then, she looks over at Oriole and adds, "... there was someone -inside- that thing. He said he was rescuing her. Did you know about that?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
Several days later, Riddler's Bay, Lizard League HQ --

As Queen Lizard starts to come to, she looks over and sees her husband. "...how long?"

"How long were you out for? Six..."

"...hours?"

"Months."

"Six months?" Queen Lizard repeats and then shrieks. "YOU LEFT ME FROZEN FOR SIX MONTHS?!"

King Lizard is going to wish he'd left her at Waynetech.

"Where's Salamander and Komodo Dragon??" the Queen hisses.

"About that..."