16384/A River Flows Through It

A River Flows Through It
Date of Scene:	21 November 2023
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Batgirl (the OG), Misfit, and Spider-Man (Miles Morales) come across a mildly injured River in an alleyway. Everyone establishles she's a good guy.
Cast of Characters:	River Banks, Barbara Gordon, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe, Miles Morales

---

River Banks has posed:
    THE NARROWS. Not a part of Gotham that tourists like to frequent. The police don't like to either, let alone the regular good folk of Gotham City -- but to the poor, the destitute, and those who cannot find housing elsewhere? It was home.

    Which made it difficult to get additional information regarding how one man came from a bar, having to stagger into Gotham General after being left there by an ambulence, with his left hand boiled from the inside. It was questionable, saying that someone masked and with a blue jacket had grabbed him, and after an altercation set his insides on fire.

    There's no evidence of fire, in his file or any of the scans. Just boiling blood in someone's hand.

    Totally normal for Gotham City, right?

    And for what it was worth, 'Riptide' was sorry about it. She'd meant to break his wrist.

    Send him away. Take care of him easily.

    She wandered the back alleys abridging The Narrows, along the outside, skulking like a stray cat, with a slight limp to her left leg.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With the weather getting colder outside, the trouble on the streets is supposed to calm down, right? Seems otherwise this year, at least so far.

Batgirl resides inside the two-seater cockpit of her personal Batmobile, recently repaired for the 20th time in the past three years of its service... the darn thing is basically a whole new car every few months, but it's been a hell of a crash course in vehicular engineer for its creator-- and driver.

Batgirl has a number of her bat-drone flock up in-flight tonight too, moving throughout the city block around her, feeding her a wide variety of information based on relevent news and police status reports. Her green eyes flicker from her dash displays up to the canopy viewport before her, as she watches the city beyond her flashing by as her vehicle makes a turn down a nearby alley.

One of her drones just so happens to be tracking along when it spies motion below, reporting it to Batgirl inside of the armored vehicle... not quite as beefy of a car as Batman's own variety of Batmobile's, but still quite speedy, well armored for the bulk of Gotham's problems, and a growing known element amongst the city's nare-do-wells of Batgirl's presence out on the streets.

She drives the vehicle toward the suspicious target, passing through a side alley as she is given a rundown on the situation by her AI's pleasant voice.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Well it is a two seater. It is also very chilly outside. Also finals are coming up awfully soon for the semester at GSU.

    Those are all reasons that Misfit is curled up in the passanger seat doing her homework while Barbara drives the patrol and minds all the drones. "What kind of question is... do atoms have a color.. this is physics class..." she just mutters to herself. Then she follows it up theorizing "Would it be cheating to send a message through a league member to The Atom..." she flips a page in the book. "Zinkies.. of course it has a color and also doesn't have a color depending on how you define having a color. Stupid book."

    She quiets though and looks up from her homework when the AI starts to give a rundown on the situation. She admittedly missed the whole initial alert noise from the drones. "Action?" she asks Batgirl.

River Banks has posed:
    River gives a huff as she pulls herself up onto a dumpster, and then reaches up for the ladder of a fire escape when she hears an approaching car. Doesn't sound like a souped up 1969 Mustang.

    At least not Red Hood's.

    She breathes out, and she sweeps herself up onto the fire escape and crouches towards the back, watching the mouth of the alleyway as Batgirl (The OG)'s vehicle draws closer. The adapted airsoft mask with its wide alien eyes and 'armoring' lends an inhuman style to her face, and she presses down lightly against her injured ankle to try and sooth the pulsing, burning sensation of the injury.

    She glances down. Plenty of puddles and wet pavement here -- she'll have at least one advantage if it's a fight... though she's hoping it own't be.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara's green eyes look up in to the display that shows Charlie in the back seat of the two seater cockpit. "I'm just thrilled to see you're using a real book to learn something from." She says, even though she--herself--is a known technophile. Some of her father's influence still resides in amongst all of that somewhere inside of her!

Her attention returns to the narrow alleyway, as she navigates around a large pile of debris gathered up, the car clipping some of it causing it to fly out in a garbage wave toward a chainlink fence between two buildings.

"I don't know about trouble, but something worth checking out." Batgirl further explains to her college-aged sidekick tonight.

Above River, a buzzing drone zips past, black as the night, it moves quickly overhead, while a moment later a powerful engine rumbles at the intersection of alleys, as the Batmobile skids to a halt, causing a splash of water to cascade out in either direction from its heavy and thick tires!

It takes just a moment or two for Babs to trigger the canopy, causing it to slide up, and then aside to let the occupants out, but also allowing a gust of cold wind to come rushing in over the two women inside...

Of course, Batgirl is raising up to exit the vehicle, and covered head to toe in her black and gold armor, she probably isn't too phased by the chill! The Batsuits are much prefered in the winter time of year rather than the summers afterall!

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie absolutely adopts the tone of a teenager, even though she turned twenty recentyly, complaining to a mom type. "The books on magic are real books...." protesting before she realizes she might mean using the internet. "Also I figured using the Oracle Array or the Batcomputer would be cheating?"

    She tucks said physics textbook down securely by her copilot seat and pulls her goggles down over her eyes. She touches the side and lights her HUD up on the inside and double checks things as she pulls her gloves on next. "Cold as frosty's butt..." she yips, softly though, before out of the car. She waited until Batgirl was clear, to not ruin any dramatic moment, but also to not be in the way.

River Banks has posed:
    More Bats?

    Riptide knew operating in Gotham was going to be dumb, but that's when she was robbing banks and getting shot with taser bullets by Red Hood. They were friends now.

    Well. He was her only friend, really.

    She pushes herself down and to the back of the fire escape landing as she clocks the drone zipping past, hearing something above her but not being able to identity the sound -- and then the rumble of the mobile. The canopy opens, and she sees the black-and-gold armor through the lenses of her airsoft facemask, and her breath halts a moment.

    And she lifts up her hands. Stay cool, River. Don't start trouble.

    "Ah. Hey, all y'all." she states, muffled through the mask.

    "Don't suppose you're comin' by for sweet tea and biscuits."

Miles Morales has posed:
Miles has always had a hard time operating in Gotham City. Not that Batman is suddenly breathing down the back of his neck with a 'get out of my city' loading up like Godzilla's atomic breath, but that it was difficult upkeeping the positive attitude of Spider-Man even when you see some of the worst things. But, it must be how the Spider-Man (the OG) in New York must feel like. Just trying to do his best everyday despite seeing a lot of the worst in humanity.

How can Miles do anything less?

Dressed in his red and black webbed suit, mask over his face, web-lines firing off from his wrists to buildings as he swings through the air. But as he does so? He sees something strange. Is...is that the BATMOBILE?

Looks kinda different...maybe Batman got a new system going?

He lets go of a web line and lands silently against the side of a building, looking from above. What's going on here? This some Bat business?

Is it about to go DOWN?!

He watches. Slowly, he THWIPS across the street and uses that web line to slowly spindle downwards, like a spider descending from a high place, looking at them while upside down.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Even though she might be wearing similar attire to that of Batman, when Batgirl rises up out of the cockpit of her armored vehicle, it becomes quite evident by her silhouette that she most certainly isn't Batman. The fiery red hair sticking out of the back of her cowl might help give that away, but the wind whipping her cape over her form certainly finishes the job off quite nicely.

Babs only rises up to stand on the top of her vehicle, with one foot on the seat and the other up on the edge of the cockpit. She glances over to Misfit, who gets a faint smirk, before she looks across the alley to where the masked woman is calling out to them.

"We're--" She's cut off by the arrival of a Spider.

Batgirl's eyes narrow behind her own mask. She eyes the Spider as he hits the side of that building within the alley, and begins to descend upside down, displaying his skill and prowess with those web slingers.

Her lingering gaze remains on Miles for a moment before she moves her eyes back toward River's locale.

Another of her drones buzzes by over the alley, the black Bat-shaped flyer gliding through the cold November winds.

"I got reports of something happening nearby here," Babs says outloud from her standing perch upon her own vehicle. "Seems you may have been involved. Or at least pinged a few of my alerts. I'm checking in because of this... Who are you?" She speaks with a voice that is feminine, but softly modulated to sound a tinge more 'demonic' in nature, for theatrics? Or just to help conceal her true voice? Maybe both!

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Misfit slinks off behind Batgirl letting her take the high vantage and landing in a slush puddle by the car. She sploshes over to be more out of the wind now.

    The spider gets a look. A cock of the younger woman's head as she studies him spidering. "I.. had no idea we had a spider infestation." it is teasing tones though. She definitely does not do the whole mysterious brooding ominious thing. No demonic. She should honestly get one of those though or pitch her voice. She sounds young, which with her height probably makes people under estimate how old she is really.

    Gods knows her professors do.

    A little wave towards Miles and then her atttention bounces back towards Batgirl and the airsoft masked suspect on the fire escape there.

    "Plot thickens." she whispers to herself. Ready to move if need be.

River Banks has posed:
    Riptide tilts her head up and looks to the decending black spider, and she then draws back down to Batgirl and Misfit.

    "They got a bad one in New York. Ah'm kind-a friends with one 'a 'em." she states, her Southern Drawl absolutely evident as she takes a deep breath, looks at Batgirl, Misfit, and the Spider.

    "... also I'm friends with Red Hood. Actual friends. Like we hang out and everything. So I promise, I'm not a bad guy." she breathes out. "Jus'... trying to lend a hand?"

Miles Morales has posed:
Miles comes to a landing and he meets Batgirl's eyes.

Crap.

"Mental note. Be invisible first." Spider-Man chastizes himself with literally a colossal failure to be anywehre near stealthy. Then again, when was the last time *anybody* snuck up on a member of the Batman Family? The answer: nobody. But since he's seen, he might as well descend down anyway. With a flip off of his web line, he manages to land in a perfect landing to make it a weird like...square? Of people.

Not a circle.

A squaaare.

He has to keep everyone in his peripheral if not his outright forward angle. "Hi. Big fan, Spider-Man." He tells Batgirl specifically, and gives little waves at Charlie and River.

"Don't mind me! Act like I'm not here." Kinda impossible. And awkward.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With another drone joining the first, both zip by overhead between the two buildings on either side of this canyon alleyway. Batgirl merely keeps her eyes upon Riptide's location. she listens to what the young southern woman has to say, and softly nods her head to it. "I see. Got a name that the Hood will know you best by?" She asks, glancing over, and down to Charlie. "Keep them busy, will you? While I check in with Red Hood."

She glances toward the Spider, who drops down on to the mucky alley's floor. She upnods once towad him, her cape and red hair billowing in a gust of wind coming through the alley's intersection from north to south, casting her cape out over her left shoulder. "You Spiders sure do get around." Babs' modulated voice calls over to him before her green eyes drop down to her armored left forearm.

A holographic display shines up at Batgirl's face now, gently illuminating her face and the yellow bat logo adorning her chest.

Within moments, she's quietly speaking to someone, or something on the other end of a connected comm network channel.

Likely checking in with Jason Todd, right?

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Red Hood has a friend?" she sounds amused, not skeptical. Most people who have met him might be skeptical. She is more amused and kidding in her tone about it. "No wonder Gotham is covered in ice." laying it on a bit.

    A flick of a glance to the Spider. "Like. Spider-Man from New York?" pause "Isn't your costume red and blue though. Did you make a dark and tragic costume just to blend into Gotham better?" well Batgirl did say to keep >them< busy not just the girl on the fire escape.

    "I'm Misfit." she says by way of introduction, glancing up towards Ripetide with a questioning look.

River Banks has posed:
    "Yeah. Tell him Riptide says 'hey'. If he's not wearin' his helmet watch for his eye twitch." Riptide states from her perch, and then with a grunt she draws herself up, and limps to the closer railing.

    "Misfit. Ma'am. Spider-Man. Ah'm passing familiar with Cyber-Spider in New York City." she states, and winces.

    "Say, you Spider-fellas all kinda awkward or is that just a general prerequisite?"

Miles Morales has posed:
"I mean, we're pretty quick! You know, we got the twhipppy-twhip." Miles makes web motions with his hands, gesturing in the 'love' gesture and thrusting his arms out one after the other as a showcase. Thoug hhe doesn't actually use his web shooters. He's just enjoying the conversation. He looks then to the holographic display from Batgirl's forearm. "Woah. Really gotta get me one of those." Not enough money and not nearly enough time to build one.

Plus, there's Spider-luck as a concept. Everytying you make? Breaks irrepairably.

He doesn't know who Batgirl is checking in on. He doesn't have super hearing! And since nobody is trying to attack him, no Spider-Sense going off. It's a good day. Though the white film covering his eyes seemingly is looking at Charlie now, a smile no doubt behind the mask. "Spider-Man." He introduces himself. "Nice to meet you. Oh, the Spider-Man from New York is a different guy. As for the suit-" He gestures to his whole ensemble thing going on here. "I just like black and red together. Wish they made more Air Force 1's in the black and red shades though. Nice to meet you Misfit. Cool name."

He turns to look at Riptide. "Cyber-Spider? Met that one when some villains in the raft broke out. Nice guy. Not super talkative."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
A visible smirk touches the corners of Batgirl's lips as she keeps her eyes on the display giving her whatever information she was seeking, as the small group clustered together here in the alleyway converse amongst each other. When she garners whatever she was seeking from her high-tech wrist computer, she lowers it down, placing her hand upon her upraised knee. Her eyes now go to the Spider, who gets a measuring stare, but everything about him on a surface level checks out just fine.

Her stare then shoots over to Riptide again, and she nods once up toward her. "Are you injured?" Batgirl calls out. "I thought I saw you moving with a limp... If you need help with something, you have us here now to offer it. I'd suggest taking it, if needs be. Offers like this can be hard to come by when you need them most."

She may be playing a long shot there, but she has to try. She got in this line of work to help in ways that her original path of joining the GCPD might not have yielded to her, much to the chagrin of her father. Of course, Jim Gordon didn't know which idea he liked less... his daughter as a Cop, or his daughter as a Bat.

The drones split off and venture down opposing directions on either sides of the alley, as their cameras and on-board sensors continue to gather pertinent information to keep Barbara's network as updated as possible.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "There is a cyberSpider!?"

    "Oh thank you. I picked Misfit myself after I was told I couldn't be Batgirl. Cause there already was a Batgirl." she thinks about it. "Though multiple spidermens.. I should have made that case and arguement."

    A grin from the young woman. "I think Red and Black do go well together Spiderman."

    Then her attention is back up to Riptide. "Riptide is also a cool name." she offers generously. Since Batgirl seems chill with them all enough to offer to help Riptide she vanishes with a slash of purple smoke appearing a moment later by Spiderman by him with some more light smoke that is gone with the wind in a heartbeat..

    No threat. No spidersense. If there was mystical sense though it would bang loud. "So you shoot webbing how.. like do you excrete it somehow?"

River Banks has posed:
    "... you're not gonna take me to Thompkins's are ya? 'Cause y'all, that doctor's a scary lady." Riptide states quietly, and she breathes out.

    "Interrupted a mugging. Guy banged up my knee an' shin is all. It's not dislocated or anything but it does hurt." she admits to Batgirl.

    "An' I agree with Misfit, red an' black are quite stylish, ain't it? Though I'm more of a winter complexion underneath this mask." she motions to the airsoft mask hiding her face... and then hesitantly:

    "... so we're clear, if I come down there you're not gonna knock me out an' leave me outside some prison, right? On account of me bein' a good guy?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
When Misfit heads over toward the Spider, to check him out, Babs gives her a side-eye as she doesn't fully trust the guy's intentions... But when Riptide speaks out again, Batgirl's eyes move back up to her on that fire escape.

She shakes her head side to side within her cowl. "You don't have to come down if you've got a bum leg." She responds. "And I'm not going to send you anywhere. In fact, if this is your address, or if you're willing to provide me with one... I'll have a doctor sent to you to check on the leg. No strings attached. Just a normal, nice and friendly, doctor visit. Just like they used to do in the olden days."

The sound of a horn honking echoes down from the mouth of the alley's far end, which draws Batgirl's eyes for just a moment, before they sweep back toward Riptide. "We vigilantes have to look out for one another, after all, right?"

Her gauntlet beeps, and a second or two is taken to check it. When she lowers it again, she calls back up once more. "Hood confirmed what you said. Glad to know he's got a friend out here."

River Banks has posed:
    "Glad to know he considers me a friend instead of a pain in the ass." Riptide replies as she gingerly begins to make her way down.

    "And I ain' giving out my address. No offense, but I don't know y'all yet... and I think you can understand my level a' paranoia." she breathes out.

    And oming down to the alleyside, she leans against the wall and gives a huff. "But really, I'll be fine. Ain't nothing I haven't contended with before... but you're right, Batgirl, ma'am." That's not awkward at all.

    "We all gotta look out for one another."

Miles Morales has posed:
"I mean, he's less a cyber-spider and more of a...future spider? His costume is really cool. I haven't had a chance to /really/ talk to him. More like...meeting in action." Spider-Man proclaims to Charlie wit ha bit of a smile. "Hey, thanks!" He tells Charlie in regards to his outfit being cool. "I like to think I'm hip." He smirks, tilting his head though. "Oh, no. I have web shooters. A branch of design from the original guy." He shrugs.

"It'd be kinda weird if this stuff came out of me. It'd raise a ton of questions that I'm super uncomfortable with." He smirks, turning his attention to River then for a moment. "Guys, you're gonna make me blush." He chuckles. "I mean, I don't think I'm going to knock you out? I'm a FRIENDLY neighborhood Spider-Man. Even in Gotham City." He lifts his hand. "Scouts honor."

He looks at Batgirl then. "I can take them to a hospital, if you guys like? I'm pretty quick." Though he's never met the Red Hood, he HAS helped keep crime at bay in the GC area. Good dude, must be!

He turns to River then. "What if I get you there, and just...cover my eyes the entire time? Like this." He takes his hands and covers them over the white film that make up the 'eyes' of his mask.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl feels a few cold droplets of rain starting to patter against the molded armoring of her bodysuit, which gets her to glance skyward for a moment. With a couple droplets hitting her exposed chin, she looks back down toward where the Spider is talking, offering his aid to River next.

She nods her head once to this, before she drops her foot from the edge of her vehicle's cockpit back down on to her driver's seat. "Hopefully you'll take him up on that offer." Batgirl says to Riptide before she offers a faint smirk. "I'll not hassle you any further, though. If you ever want help from myself... or Misfit here." She motions toward Charlie. "Just let the Hood know to contact Batgirl. The Oracle version... There's two Batgirls, if you can believe it." She states, shooting the Spider a smirk.

"Come on, Misfit. Lets keep up our patrol."

Does she want to keep up her patrol, or just get out of the rain before it getse any heavier!?

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie does a little walk around Spiderman 2 over here and nods slightly. "I see. I see." okay she doesn't really see anything. But this is what people say.

    "How does a web shooter store enough webbing to do all the cool webbin things?" so many questions. So little time since he may be webslinging off with the new girl. Maybe.

    "Coming! Also this just proves I could have been batgirl you know... but no..." she chirps chipperly and then she steps away, vanishing in another teleport to appear in standing on the edge of the cockpit "Good luck Riptide!" before dropping down into the co-pilot seat.

    Honestly she does have a lot of homework to do and rain sucks.

River Banks has posed:
    "Thank ya kindly Batgirl, Oracle Edition an' Miss Misfit." she gives a wry smile, and she looks up to Spiderman, and purses her lips, and shakes her head 'No thanks. I don't think I'm ready for bein' slung around Gotham City yet, but thank you all the same. Some ice an' gatorade is on the doctor's script tonight." Riptide gives a nod to Spider-Man, and a wave to the Bats, and then -awkwardly -- exits the other side of the alleyway.