16121/Night of the Living Dollatrons

Night of the Living Dollatrons
Date of Scene:	08 November 2023
Location:	Warehouses - Chinatown
Synopsis:	The Bat Family faces off against the Circus of Strange!
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Essix, Phoebe Beacon, Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Austin Reese

---

Damian Wayne has posed:
Three Weeks Ago:

Homecoming's pagentry and colors lit up the Gotham University campus. Amongst the tailgates, the game itself and the parties before and after, several students had gone missing from the campus after the celebrations. No contact with friends and loved ones, they did not show for class on Monday and no presence on social media. Eventually worried parents had filed police reports with the Gotham University Police Department, which is less woefully equipped for such intense investigations, transferred it to the GCPD, which is already very busy. The file came into the hands of the Batfamily, and it was Damian that had taken it up.

Three Days Ago:

Damian had gotten a lead on the missing students. He had left a note in the system: 'I think it's the Taztziki'. With that, there was a file on 'Galatea's Gyros'. The food truck had been present at one of the various parties on campus, and at least ten of the fifteen students had credit card reciepts for the same thing: 'Gyro with Extra Sauce'.

Damian added a personal note, 'Back in the morning for pancakes.'.

He had yet to come back.

Tonight:

The tracking beacon that Rook carried, as most of Batman's family and associates do, was pinging in the factory district. The factory itself was a food processing factory, formerly a haunt of Condiment King for resupply of his various weapons. The Galatea Gyros truck is parked outside. The lights inside the factory are on, and there is clearly activity that is being carried out within the building.

The building itself is a single story, mostly open lay out affair. Industrial machinery that is used in the processing of spices and vegetables into the various condiments is alive and humming with noise, though only one of the machines is active at the moment. This one is creating 'Paphos Taztziki Sauce', which is currently being added with an extra chemical, in order to make it extra special. Those that are working on the floor all have curly red hair and what looks like kewpie doll faces attached to their faces. They work as if drones, mindlessly packing the boxes with the sauce, of which there are only a few boxes that are complete. Another two boxes are in a state of disrepair, their contents destroyed.

There is no immediate sign of who is in charge (for those who haven't figured it out) or of Rook.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass is ..correction, Orphan is here.

What we do with that knowledge is entirely up to us, but she's not shown up for briefing or anything of that sort. She's doing one of her Cass things, which includes going dark and being entirely difficult to communicate with, but she's out there someplace!

Specifically she's underneath a loading truck, peering out at a passing guy-with-kewpie-face. Her specific and very odd ability to read body language might actually come in useful, since she's looking for what's really going on. You know, what's in their heads?

Really wish she'd briefed the team before going undercover though. Technically a truck is cover, right?

She's under it. Oh stop, I'm hilarious.

Essix has posed:
Living with Nightwing allowed for certain situations to occur, in this case Essix had been following the reports on the college and missing students. She had become very adept at using the computer in the WingCave... Nightcave... whatever it was that Nightwing called his little hidey hole from the world.

Taking one of Nightwing's communicators, and the cell phone he told her to always carry she headed out to follow the newest lead.

Getting to the warehouse was enough, one large pigeon at your service. She landed on the edge of the roof and looked down over the scene below, her mannerisms exactly that of a Gotham pigeon, including the attitude. She wasn't exactly part of the Batfamily, at least not yet, even though she had been adopted by Nightwing... so for now she would perch on the warehouse and wait to see if her assistance was needed.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Gotham University is having a rough school year for missing students.

    And on top of that, it was very unsual for Damian to miss Pancakes. Oriole had come onto the scene with curiosity of what could be keeping Rook away from breakfast, and was currently upside-down on a hi-tensile line, examining the window for traps -- and seeing none?

    She pokes up the pins on the outside hinges, and tucks them into her belt, uses a little Bat Foam to stick the window panels to the outside walls and slides herself into the building.

    <<Ugh, Kewpie doll faces. Those are extra creepy.>> she states over the communicators to the team tonight. <<I hate this maybe more than the conversation about Darth Maul's Hate Machine.>>

Bruce Wayne has posed:
It was a tough call for the Batman. With a member of the Batfamily missing, does he bring in all of them and put them at risk, or go on his own to investigate?

The Dark Knight perches on an overlook, by himself, aside from the gentle breeze lifting his cape he may as well be one of the gargoyles set out to frighten pigeons next to him.

No, it was not so tough at all.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
About a half an hour ago, Batgirl had arrived at the GGE Blimp over Gotham. The Blimp had descended from the clouds above after spending the afternoon basking in the sunlight high above, absorbing it in to the blimp's solar energy batteries, and now was preparing distribution of that energy in to the city's many skyrise stations. Barbara, inside the gondola of the blimp, wears the majority of her bat-armored suit, though she's removed the mask and helmet, having set it aside on a nearby counter space within the gondola's control center. With a gloved hand run through her red locks, Babs leans over to tap away on a computer terminal screen, beginning the power transfer procedure with the station peaked at the top of a tall building just outside...

She's on Bat-comms, as ever, listening to anyone on the team who may be reporting in.

Austin Reese has posed:
The missing students had been a big deal on the GU campus, and Austin, having played in that homecoming game, has been hearing lots of rumors about various things. Ideas ranged from they'd gone home to they'd been kidnapped by aliens and everything in between. Knowing Rook was on it, Austin had been confident that he'd have it handled, but now he was missing as well.

All hands on deck once his signal had re-appeared, and Osprey had been quick to arrive. At the moment, he had found himself crouched behind the ledge of a roof across the street from the facility, <<"Yeah that is pretty disconcerting.">> Osprey replies over comms, as he switches between vision modes on his domino, trying to see if he can pick up heat signatures inside the building before they move in.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Orphan is able to read the body language of one of the Dollatrons as it walks by. It's robotic, almost lifeless, just working on a remote control of going to pick up a few containers and bring it to the box. From where she is, she can see where the Kewpie Doll mask was /sewn/ into the skin of the face of the victim. Evean if she were out in the open, it's hard for Cassandra to read if the person would react to her.

As Essix is looking down into the warehouse from the window where she is perched, she gets the bird's eye view of things. There are currently five Dollatrons that are robotically moving around the warehouse, collecting the sauce as it comes out, loading in boxes and moving it to the truck where Orphan is currently hiding at. She can also see a nearby office where there is a man stands in a business suit. Phosphorous Rex's head is on /fire/ as he stands guard over the remaining seven students, "Don't worry, kiddos, your turn's coming!" he offers to them with a chuckle.

There's one student missing.

The scream answers that. On a table in the middle of the factory, a large man stands. Dressed in a long sleeved shirt, red bow-tie, slacks, and he wears a large, bloody apron that hangs down to his knees. On top of his head is a large chef's hat - and over his face - is what was once a pig's face. It's been carved out and cleaned, the bottom of it cut out to expose the mouth of the man wearing it. The jowls sag low and he is holding a bone saw. "Whoops! A little slip there!" he titters. "Just a moment, and I'll have your /perfect/!" he declares as he sets the saw aside to afix the mask to the young woman's face. She shrieks in terror and Pyg snorts, "Calm down child, I'm making you perfect!"

"Let her go!" that voice, far more familar.

"Wait your turn, you're going to be extra special!" Pyg calls, waving over to someone. An overly obese woman wearing a pink unitard and white tutu stomps over. Held firmly in her arms, she's currently crushing Rook against her massive bosom. "But you said I could have him as a plaything!" Big Top complains as she tries to pull Damian to the side and shield him. "I have so many things planned!" Damian is pretty battered and bruised, but at least he's talking, so he's clearly alive.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass drops her HUD into place and films from up-close the sighting of the victim, robotic motions and all. She sends it live to Barbara, letting her decide what to do with the information, but her own eyes are looking deeper inside. She's pretty aware that she's likely to be the one closest to the action, given her proclivities for being completely insane about infiltration, so that's her job. Send info to the rest of the team.

You know, without commenting out loud about how slow they are getting into place. That goes without saying, right?

The image lasts for about five seconds though, before she slips it back up into her hood. She slips into the warehouse then, stepping into the doorway. Then she cricks her neck to the right, making it pop, and then kicks the door frame.

Repeatedly. Loudly. Steel toes on metal, she's doing it to draw attention. Given that she could have just snuck in, you gotta know that this is a choice.

I'm pulling them out. You all save the kids.

Essix has posed:
<"This is very bad."> Essix offers, her voice picked up by the comm some where inside her form... better not to ask where or how.

Jumping through the window as a pigeon, by the time she is flying toward Pyg's face she is already shifting her body into another creature... a very large, very tentaclely, doesn't need to breath, octopus. Her goal is to land with a splat on the villain's head, wrap the tentacles around his head and let him start struggling to get the sudden octopus to the face off.

<"This does not mean we are friends!"> she announced to Pyg. <"Just surrender, it would be better for you.">

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oriole's own feed turns from upside-down to right-side-up on the quick as she swings herself onto a catwalk.

    <Voice recog matches to Rook and to some of the missing students. Professor Pyg's already operating on one of the students -- moving to engaaaa--> Oriole's voice cuts off a half-second. <-- Pyg's been Octopussed...? I'm going for the victim on the table first, and can attend to Rook's injuries momentarily. I'm sure he won't mind. Smokescreen.>

    Oriole explains her plan over the comms in a hushed tone before she drops down, with Essix and Orphan giving plenty of distraction as she flings two smoke pellets, and switches to heat-reading on her domino.

    The hooded heroine goes to the table.

    "Stay as still as you can. I'm going to get you off here." she whispers quietly, the digital changes to her voice meant to sound comforting as possible.

Austin Reese has posed:
Well, that's not something Osprey was expecting. Still, no sense in dwelling on what could be. Instead he immediately goes to work. He launches himself from his rooftop perch, landing and rolling over the rooftop of the building as he lands. His thermal vision had picked up Rex pretty clearly, <"I got flamehead, if Orphan gets him outside, leave him to me.">

He sprints across the rooftop to the edge of the roof above where Orphan was making all the noise. His left hand pulls a small device out of his pouch and preps it, "C'mon, get out here." He mutters to himself as he tenses on the edge of the roof, just waiting for the chance to pounce on the firey villain before he can figure out what's going on.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Once various indicators come in of something going down in Chinatown, Babs pushes her cape aside, and settles in to a chair within the gondola command center. She starts roaming her green eyes across the screens in front of her, and immediately begins pulling up blueprints and relevent information on the area where she sees members of the team converging. Within moments, those with connected computer systems will start getting all the information on the place, from its layout, to its history....

Meanwhile, beneath the GGE Blimp's gondola a series of black drones begin dropping from a series of tubes, each one using its humming rotor blades to carry it on the wings of the wind down toward the specified site.

"I have eyes in the sky, providing live feeds to your monitoring systems." Comes Batgirl's familiar voice over the comm network.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
There is a certain swell of pride in Bruce Wayne as he hears the voices of the family rallying together, without being told or asked. And coordinating in their own unique styles.

He takes a running leap from his perch and fires his own grappling hook towards a nearby building, using it to swing himself towards the factory in question. He does not pause to land safely or strategically. He has a sense from the chatter, and he knows that...

And there it is, as he twists in flight, the data comes in from Batgirl. Right on cue.

Shifting as his momentum pivots into a downwards descent, his boots smash through the skylight, raining down a certain amount of distraction upon the various members of the circus. Not the deadliest of clowns, but he says a silent thank you for that one.

With the addition of Batgirl's recon, he fires another line to alter his trajectory, and as the glass shards fall upon the ground, he is already adjusting to send those boots at the direction of the largest head he can find.

"Time to break down the tent," he murmurs as his cape flutters in the air down.

You do not mess with the Bat family, as these crooks are about to find out.

Damian Wayne has posed:
*CLANG CLANG CLANG*

Pyg snarls as he hears the hard kicking of the metallic door. "Dollatrons 3 and 7!" he calls out angrilly. "Investigate that noise!" With that, two of the Dollatrons, that were apparently jock looking types turned and started heading for the noise. One of them grabs a crowbar as he notices the woman standing in the doorway. They don't talk, no words come from their mouth, but they attack visciously, the crow-barred Dollatron swinging hard at Cass as the other one prepares to chase of the door and into the parking lot beyond.

As Essix falls on Pyg, he squeals angrilly. "What is this grossiness on me?!" He grabs at the tentacles and the creature, trying to fling it off of him, only to realize that it's some kind of fluid. "Rex!" he roars, "Get this off of me!"

Phosphorous Rex glowers as the kids. "Stay put or I burn you alive." With that, he's turning to head towards Pyg. "Coming, keep your pants on!"

And then there's the smoke. As it clouds up the area, Phoebe is able to get into position under the table and the student that looks at her on the table has part of her mask fall away as Phoebe can see -- Pyg was working on stitching her mouth shut. Perfection shouldn't speak, after all. Her eyes plead for Oriole to rescue her.

As Austin is tracking down Rex, it seems that the flamehead has no plans on going outside. Instead, he's burning through the smoke as he makes his way closer and closer to where Pyg is having to deal with Essix all over him.

Barbara's information is pretty accurate - she can pinpoint the offices where the 'unchanged' students are. She has real-time video on where everyone is, and what they are doing. There's nothing about that is able to stop her drone deployment, it seems that the Circus of the Strange has no air element.

And then the remains of the skylight shatter as Batman makes his appearance. In the confusion and chaos, Big Top looks up just in time to get a pair of heavy boots right to her her very made up face! The large woman stumbles backwards. Blood comes from her nose as she rips Rook away from her ampleness and flings him into the side of one of the machines where he falls down into a lump.

"Come gimmie some sugar!" She yells at Batman, grabbing a pair of canes and starts to advance on the Dark Knight, trying to either collide with one of them across Batman's face or hook him and pull him closer.

Rook tries to start to push himself to his feet, drawing in several quick breaths as he gulps air, trying to regain some form of control so that he can help the others. But that's not going to happen for a moment.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The first move, the very first move learned in most karate classes is the high block. You raise your arm, block the incoming strike, and supposedly that kind of stuff works. Hint: it does not. However.

Cassandra almost sighs as she sees this basic kind of attack coming in. A crow bar, vicious and hard. Committed. Strong in exactly one direction: down.

She turns slightly to one side, then slides her right arm up the incoming strike. Then she pulls it back down, and the added inertia causes the stroke to not only pass by her, but to horribly overbalance the attacker. She slips the crowbar out of his hand, having grabbed it in the downward motion, and then flips it off to one side annoyedly.

She then steps up to the second dollatron, slaps the incoming arms to one side, and wraps her arm around its neck while the first one is realigning. Still human, they have blood flowing to their brains. Don't want to actually hurt them. They're victims here.

Essix has posed:
There are numerous creatures that Essix can mimic, but she is also capable of being many other, inanimate things. Her only goal is to keep this Pyg person occupied, out of the fight and away from that innocent girl on the table.

Listening to the various reports she suddenly realizes that she failed on part of the 'work as a team' lessons. <"Oh, oh! So sorry, this is Essix, I do not have a special name... I am going to octopus the pig person and try to hold him."> Yes she had already done that part, but she was attempting to do this right. <"I will grow larger and wrap tentacles around his entire body, no I will not smother him.">

Even as she is reporting this, no sound being heard outside of the octopus, she begins to grow in size and starts wrapping the tentacles around Pyg's body. For those watching there is a brief moment where the edges of the octopus turn into an aqua colored viscous liquid, then expands out to the larger sized creature before solidifying once again. She looks exactly like a giant octopus on this man.

"Please just surrender Mister Pig, give Rook back and we will find you a nice place to rest for a while." She states out loud... a talking octopus.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oriole's movements are quick. She pulls one of her throwing knives, and with a quick sweep she cuts gently through the flesh of the mask and the sutres holding it to the girl's face, realizing with a sickening lurge of her stomach that this is one of the girls she knows from class.

    "You're going to be all right." she gives a soft reassurance, helping her slide off the operating table as she casts the discarded mask to the side.

    She looks to her HUD, and begins to pull the girl in Rook's direction to grab at his wrist as well in the smoke and chaos.

    "Rook. Batman's dealing with some of the floor samples. Let's get you where I can give a quick look--"

    Phoebe pings her location, with OBJECTIVE: Victim 1 and OBJECTIVE: Little Brother on her domino. Which probably shows up on everyone's gear.

    <<Heading towards the rest of the captive students. Oracle, can you confirm that the side alley's clear to bring the captives that way?>>

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"You don't want what I intend to serve up," warns the Dark Knight as he watches Big Top advance, her reach extended by her canes. Unfortunately, while she might have been a better match for a slower opponent, her size in this case is a drawback, not an asset.

Batman ducks under the cane swinging at his face, but then seemingly makes a mistake as her second cane pulls him closer.

Unfortunately for her, as she begins to celebrate having finally managed to hook the Batman, he uses the momentum of her own strength to fling himself at her. A grabble up around her neck using her own shoulder as a pivot point, and he executes a simple yet effective judo throw, hurling her at a few of the Dollotrons trying to make their way over to assist.

With that attended to, he turns his attention towards where she had less gracefully tossed Damian. But seeing that Balm was already on the scene, once again he felt that swell of pride. He could rely upon her to handle that, which meant that he could turn his attention elsewhere.

Like identifying if there was a ring leader anywhere calling the shots...

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl observes from her station aboard the blimp high above in the Gotham night sky. She watches her drones descend down to the building where each one begins to split off in a pre-designated pattern to provide maximum camera coverage. Two of them actually activate high powered flood lights that send thousands of LED-powered lumens right at the creepy warehouse, bathing it in sudden illumination.

"Seeing captives inside one of the office rooms." Batgirl-Oracle says over comms. "Updating its location on your maps." She adds as one of her light drones hovers past that part of the building. "Affirmative, Oriole. Though I can't say it will be that way for long. Some might flee from it. You guys are really stirring up a hive in there..."

As she relays the information, her right gloved hand reaches under the desk and pops open the a door. A second later and she's sipping the straw on a Capri Sun pouch...

Austin Reese has posed:
Hell. If he's not going out, Osprey supposes he's going to have to go in. He races back towards where Batman had just made his entrance, dropping through the busted skylight and landing in the smoke. His focus locks onto Phosphorus Rex through the smoke, "Hey hothead! I got a fun icebreaker for you!" His left hand slots that charge into the back of his gauntlet, the metal running along the armor starting to glow a bright blue, as he swings for the flaming headed figure through the smoke.

On impact, the gauntlet will release all that charged energy into a blast of sub-zero temperature, channeling all that directly towards Rex's face. Should be more than enough to get his attention and, more importantly, get him from getting to Pyg and Essix.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Cassandra is going to find herself in easy mode. The Dollatrons, while freaky looking are only as strong as they were as a human. She is able to push away the clumsy attacks, and has a massive advantage.

But even as she's dealing with the first two, the remaining Dollatrons are pouring out of the door, using their only advantage, the advantage of numbers. They all group rush as a set of three in order to try to dogpile upon Cassandra and start to whale on her if they can get her to the ground.

"REX!" Pyg roars angrilly as he tries to get free of all the tentacles, and it seems that Essix is going to be the one to take out the ringleader of the group.

That is until Rex snarls. "How about some calamari... fried!" With that, he aims out his hands and flames leap out from them as he directs his flames directly into the octopus that can talk, seeing if the creature will burn.

Because everything burns.

When Oriole frees the near convert is freed, she shrieks and grabs a hold of her. "Don't leave me, don't leave me, don't leave me!" she cries out, latched to the magic user, making it very hard to allow her to move as she tries to tear at anything she can get her hands on. She apparently is not very happy.

Rook notices Oriole approaching. His cheek is bruised, and his uniform torn in places. His arm is hooked around his ribs, holding them tight. "Think she broke a couple." he grouses, and is trying to get back to his feet. He wants to fight. He wants back in it.

Stubborn child.

Big Top had just gotten a good snag on Batman. "Come're sugar." she snarls as she reels in the Bat. But when she gets in return is not the necklace she wanted but the necklace she deserves. There's a /gawk/ of panic and surprise as Batman hooks and then judo throws her, the oversized woman lands on her backside and rolls, slamming into a pair of Dollatrons that were on their way out to face Cassandra.

She ends up landing on her front. "I can't get up!" she yells, flailing her arms and legs in a panic as she can't get off her of belly to get back to her feet. "Dollatrons, get me up!" The two Dollatrons that were knocked over get back to their feet and try to go help the mountain of a woman back to her feet.

After firing off his first burst of flame at Essix, Rex was preparing a second just as Austin is racing in through the smoke. As the sub-zero capsule is deployed, he finds himself filled with a face of negative temperatures and chemicals that snuff out flames.

When his face is extinguished, it's easy to tell that it's horribly disfigured and burned, the flesh melted and ruined, the muscles exposed in places and the blood boiled and cauterized. He screams and covers his face, stumbling backwards and falling as he's disoriented and with his flame out is weakened.

Damian Wayne has posed:
As soon as Pyg is free of the octopus, he turns, grabbing a large bone-saw as he swings around at Batman. "You are runing my circus, my utopia!" he cries out as he charges at Batman and tries to bring the bloodied weapon across the Dark Knight's body!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Bowling pin sounds ensue, as Cass chokes out her pair. She looks up, takes in the situation, and then begins to run.

The first thing that Cassandra did on arrival was simple. She identified exactly what amount of force she could use on the enemies. And the answer she came to was...none. They're not enemies, they're victims. So she has to adapt her style from half-power and half-skill, to something new.

All skill, no power. None.

Moving fast, she slides into the group as they're hitting the ground, zap-strapping two of them together. She does wrist to heel, pausing long enough to let another one try to grab her, and uses a third strap there. Then she hooks the trio over a nearby pipe, and then leaps onto the group that Bruce toppled. Using her dance moves she spins around them, reaching up, and guides them up off their butts and into a nearby toilet.

Where she locks the door with a well-placed kick, and then leans against a wall, buffing her nails. With a slight yawn, she looks around at the overweight lady. Hi there.

Essix has posed:
There are some sounds in this world that reach right into the soul and rip at it like claws through rice paper. The horrifyingly pained filled screech that fills the warehouse from Essix and carries over the com is one of those sounds. To naked ears it sounds like many voices in one, or perhaps many voices together, and all of them are in agony.

The fire licks at the octopi's skin but does not catch it on fire, but that touch of flame is more than enough to send the octopus flowing downward into a large puddle of viscous liquid. Part of it is aqua as before, another part is brown, it looks dead and even as the puddle is is slithering away toward Oriole, small bits of the brown flake off. Her movements start quickly but the longer it takes the slower she goes.

By the time she reaches Oriole, she is much smaller in size and it seems to take a lot of time  and effort for her to flow up and into one of Oriole's many pouches.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oriole gives a smile and a nod, and was about to offer a 'quick fix' to him when the girl she was leading away -- breaks.

    Phoebe turns quickly as the woman begins grabbing at her in desperation, which makes Phoebe slightly off-balance as she turns and reaches for the woman's hands, and her eyes go wide behind her domino.

    "Lindsay. I need you to listen to me. You will get out of here. You will be safe. I am not leaving you--" she pauses and turns, listening to Essix's scream from the fire. She winces. She turns back to Rook, and then she reaches to her side as Lindsay comtinues to beat on her shoulder and about her head as Essix sweeps up into one of Oriole's med-pouches on her leg holsters.

    And she produces one of her extending staves, and she gives this a toss to Damian.

    "You can be on my six or you can decide that your ribs aren't that broken." she gives him the choice to follow her or get into the fray -- but he's armed now.

    And carrying Essix and scooping up the sobbing, arm-beating Lindsay, Oriole begins to head to the other captives.

    <<My victim's taking a break. Rook's armed>> she breathes into the comm array, followed by 'OW OW OW that was a pressure point, Linds!>>

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The lights from Batgirl's drones continues to shine across the building like the spotlights from GCPD choppers. In fact, the sound of distant sirens can already be heard...

"The men and women of Gotham's finest are aware of something happening over here." Barbara says to the team network. "I can slow them down a bit if you all need more time without that added stress, or likely speed them up if needs be too." She offers, ever the willing to provide options for her teammates in the field!

The flock of drones continue to dance around the building, weaving through alleys and updating the Bat-family computers with live changes to the reconnaissance outside the active hotzone.

Capri Sun straw slurp.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Enemies and victims are blurring, and that does not make the Batman very happy.

He makes a mental note to see if there can be any salvation to that, ticking through some remedies in his mind, but before he can act on that, Pyg is in his face. The Batman leaps back, not quite quickly enough to avoid the blade that seeks to open up his ribcage. While he may have been distracted enough for the villain to get a blow in, he moves back enough that it slices mostly into the suit, although he does feel a bit of a string that tells him some of those serrations got home.

"I'd _really_ advise against a circus motif." He pauses for a moment, waiting for the next swing of of bonesaw and times out a punch to the flat of the saw. Predictably, the vibrations that run up surprise Pyg, and by the time he wonders why his hand is wobbling back and forth his face eats a gloved fist.

With the Pyg at least stalled for a moment, Batman looks around quickly and decides to see if an old reliable trick can work.

Bounding off towards one of the Dollatrons, he throws one of his famous Bat-gas pellets at her, lunging away before the cloud of smoke could impact against him. He is not about to throw them around willy nilly, so he leaps onto a stack of crates to watch to see if the treatment used on them also renders them immune to the sedative agent in the gas.

From that vantage point, he checks over on Pyg and surveys as the rest of the family engages either with healing, protecting, or combatting.

Even without anyone calling the shots, they are picking up what the other is setting down, and working like a well oiled machine.

He would take credit for that, but in reality, he just considers himself a great judge of talent.

"The kids are doing great," he murmurs into a Com channel directly towards Batgirl alone. "If you can give us another five, we'll have this wrapped up by the time the PD arrive, and safely fly the coop."

Austin Reese has posed:
There's a moment of pause as the smoke clears from the burst of steam and smoke coming from where Osprey had hit Phosphorus Rex. Osprey gets a good look at him, the damage done to his face. The rage makes sense. Osprey could almost sympathize, if it weren't for the whole 'torturing innocent people' thing. Still, the moment has passed, and Osprey pushes off from where he'd planted his feet to land to follow up.

He closes the distance between himself and the retreating Rex, hearing the cry from Essix in the background.

"You hurt my friends, I hurt you!"

He ejects the cartridge from the gauntlet as he follows up with a knee strike towards the abdomen. It's just to make him double over, because it'll put him into position. Osprey shifts, first clenching as he slots another cartridge into it. He throws an uppercut as the charge fills the gauntlet with several million volts of electricity. The follow-through of the punch will definitely at least resemble a shoryuken, if anyone is actually watching when he hits it. Should be enough to put the weakened meta down before he can get going any more. Plus hopefully it'll teach him a lesson about who he throws fire at.

He touches back down after the strike, taking a step back to see if the meta starts to recover, prepping another follow up strike as he once again ejects the cartridge from the gauntlet, a trail of smoke following it, before being absorbed by the smokescreen.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Cassandra is handling things rather easily on her end. The Dollatrons never really stood a chance against her, but it seems that now Cass is taking a break. Or you know, waiting for a real challenge.

The Dollatrons finally get Big Top teetered over and back on her feet. She rises back up and seeing Cassandra just staring at her, she snarls at Orphan. Like a raging bull, she kicks at the ground and then charges.

She was never going to fit through the doorframe. It rips and shatters, sending out a spray of brick and wood as she tries to get her hands on the Batling. "I'll rip you in two and feast on your entrails!" Apparently she does not like girls.

With Essix, Phoebe and Rook as a group now, it makes things a bit easier. Phoebe is able to get Lindsay held down, but when she hands Rook the stave, he immediately uses it to clock Lindsay and knock her out.

"There. She's easier to move now." Clearly he chose to be on Phoebe's six and helps with her victim. Then he realizes that she was calling her a name. "I apologize if that was a friend of yours." Not really sorry. <<What flavor is that?>> he asks Batgirl. He knows that slrup sound!

He may have just volunteered to drag Lindsay as well. Just not out loud.

When the saw slams into Batman, Pyg snarls and snorts. "Look around you. We are alike!" he declares. "You have cultivated, moulded, created and have your own little circus! It is unfair for you to take it from others! You are just jealous of what I am trying to make because you already have it!"

And just as he is about to strike again, that is when Batman counters, slamming into the saw and Pyg feels his teeth rattle, just before the pig's nose is crushed, folding in on itself, as it smashes into his face, breaking his real nose, the mask collapsing in around it as Professor Pyg goes down, laning on the ground as he is knocked sensless.

Speaking of knocked senseless, as Rex tries to refire his powers. suddenly Osprey is on top of him. He's not able to react, instead, he gets caught by an uppercut that nearly takes out his tongue as the electricity flows through him and the follow up punch sends him spinning backwards as he lands on the crates of Taztizki sauce, shattering then as the goop covers the extinguished flamehead.

Now free of Pyg, Batman's capsule explodes in front of one of the Dollatrons. She stumbles forward, before her hands come up to her face, feeling around the mask and starts to pull at it, panicked noises coming from her before she falls to her knees, sobbing through her nose as the second Dollatron gets the same treatment.

Clearly whatever Bruce used worked on the Dollatron formula -- and those that were converted are going to need years of therapy before they are able to join society again.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Really?

Okay, this is happening. Cass is weakest when she's only just meeting a new type of fighter, so it's not impossible for Big Top to get her hands on her. She could even get crushed! One of the Robins would probably have just bunny-hopped over the woman, but Cass is weird. She likes a challenge.

So Cassandra Cain/Orphan decides to plant her feet and take on Big Top head-on.

Feet wide, she gets pushed backward by the oncoming bull like a trash-talking bulldozer. She looks as if she's basically getting destroyed, but what's happening from her perspective?

Feet slipping. No purchase. Avoid the pipe behind me. Hands shifting, balance to the left. Leaning, she's coming in hard. Impossible to stop. Avoid the bite, she's a biter. Strong neck, no way to grip. Low center of gravity. Zero peripheral vision...hm..

Cass kicks out and sends a brick of something nearby, one of the bricks of spice that the students were moving, underneath Big Top's feet. And with the loss of footing caused by slippage, the big woman goes down!

Right on top of Cassandra.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... you just knocked out my lab partner for biochem." Oriole murmurs to Rook, but she carries Lindsay easily enough. Just like in Biochem.

    She leads the way down one of the hallways and to the offices where the other students were being held.

    And with a swift KICK to the door, she opens the office and sweeps in, with the half-stitched girl over her shoulder.

    "All right everyone, listen up. You're getting out of here. The police are on their way, and you're going to get medical attention. But I need you to stay calm." she states, and then leans Lindsay against the wall.

    "And also stay away from the exterior wall. We are literally blowing this big-top."

    And she takes out some explosive foam, and puts an X across the outer wall, small enough that it won't upset too much structural integrity.

    And with a control catalyst pellet, it asplode outwards.

    "Everyone, into the alley."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
In reaction to Batman's words, Barbara was issuing updates to the GCPD that would take them a few blocks over to check on a building not under any threat in the moment. She was updating the GCPD with her network of drones, informing them that she's still searching the neighborhood, and with her built-up cred with them, they were more than happy to follow her lead... most of them anyway, some of the PD hated her and the Bats, of course.

"Raspberry Delight." Barbara replies to Rook over the comms. "Will have some cold ones waiting for you all when you get out of there too." She adds.

In the alley that Phoebe is headed toward, two of Batgirl's drones sweep by overhead, keeping watch of the area, to alert should anything dangerous creep up on them there-in.

"Looks clear, Oriole." Batgirl-Oracle advises.

Austin Reese has posed:
As he watches Rex land, the bottle of sauce upturning and pouring over him, Osprey has a brief flashback to the last time he ran into The Condiment King. He shakes his head after a moment, a frown crossing his face for a second. He rolls Rex over and locks zipties around them. Before finally turning to take in the rest of the situation. As he turns around, he spots Orphan's fight. For a moment he looks like he's about to go help, but then stops himself. He knows she's got this.

A moment later, Big Top goes down. Right onto Orphan. Osprey winces, and moves over to try and see if he can extract her from under the fallen mountain of a woman, "Don't have time to lay down on the job." He says as he gets close to the two. He'll help her out if she accepts, but either way, getting to the exit Oriole just made is going to be top priority. No doubt GCPD will be here soon.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Cassandra faces off with the very large woman. And Big Top had assumed that Cass was going to keep her distance, because she's utterly surprised when she closes the distance. She cackles. "Come're little niblet!" she calls out as she prepares to barrel over the little heroine.

That is until there's Taztizki sauce in her path. Her feet go into it and slip from beneath her. Her arms flail, helicoptering as she feels her center of balance thrown off and he cries out as she comes over and bodies Cassandra into the ground. And again, like earlier, now that she's down, it's near impossible for her to get back on her feet again.

"She must be terrible if you have to carry her." Rook comments dryly to Oriole as he follows her to the students. She's got most of it handled so Rook is backing out of the way for the explosion -- the students quickly moving out into the alleyway beyond to try to get as far away as possible. Or at least to the nearest police officer.

Rook follows after them, only to take out his grapple and fires it, to head up into the blimp and join Barbara. He's not going to be much for the cleanup. And she has Capri Suns. Add in a honey bun and she'd totally be the soccer mom picking up the team after practice.

When Austin reaches to where Big Top and Cassandra are, Big Top swipes uselessly at Austin. "Come on sugar, help me up, I'll make it worth your while..." she offers suggestively, before he goes to pull Cassandra out. "Hey! Leave the trollop, help me instead!"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Once again, before the Batman can move, Osprey has rescued Orphan from the big top, and Oriole has ushered the group towards the door. The Octopus is nowhere to be found, but that will be a question for another day. With no more ohs to be had, the Dark Knight ensures that Rook is with them, before taking a last few moments to look around.

He nods to his satisfaction, and fires his grappling line back up towards the skylight, lifting out of the scene before the Gotham PD can descend onto it.

<<Great job, team,>> he says through the coms.

And of course, there is one more oh. Who can forget the Oracle.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra is fine. She's hurt, but that's fine. Needs help, which she accepts from Austin, but she's..fine. Arms are supposed to hang like that, that's totally fine. And she can almost breathe, so that's fine too! It's all fine! Allll goooood.

Austin gets to catch her when she slumps on him, but that's fine too, right? After all, nobody's watching. And if I throw up on the way home, that's cool too. I mean, right?

Oog. "Tha..was ...big one," she murmurs. Then passes out. You can carry me.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl's flock of drones continues on around the facility until everyone is clear of it, one by one then they begin to peel off and make their way down different pathways through the canyon of buildings.

"GCPD is enroute to investigate the aftermath." Oracle says over the network, as a cable line is shot down to intercept Rook's aerial-sent hook. Together they work with one another to help get the vigilante up to the altitude that the Blimp resides at. When he arrives, there is a pair of Capri Sun silvery pouches resting on the side of the table nearest his entry point, along with a donut plucked out of a box nearby.

At her computer station, Babs monitors the GCPD as they advance on the building.

"What a weird night. Almost like old times." She says with both fondness and disdain dancing together in the dark night.

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey manages to pull her out from under there, getting a good look at her arm. He knows Phoebe can probably fix that right up though, but he still takes extra care. He slips under her shoulder as she slumps on him, and then she's out. He hefts her up into his arms, supporting under her legs with one arm and her arms with the other. It's easier than shifting to a fireman's carry from this position.

Once he reaches the extraction point, he hooks Orphan up to his grapple gear, and then fires it upwards towards their extraction blimp.

Two years ago before he started this if he'd ever heard the words 'extraction blimp' he would have assumed he was going crazy.