16444/High Altitude, Low Oxygen

High Altitude, Low Oxygen
Date of Scene:	29 November 2023
Location:	Dizzying heights
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Harper Row, Vivian Vision

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Harper Row has posed:
Testing, testing.

Bluebird is currently upside down and inadvertantly replaying a certain scene of a certain Space Wizard dangling from a certain floating city. It's not a city in the clouds, but it is a high altitude gas bag festooned with antenna and sensory gear. With legs hooked around one such trident of steel, she's huffing and puffing while trying not to drop her gear of gizmos to get a read on this darn thing.

"This is stupid." Harper curses, her voice muffled to her own ears, shivering and frustrated that she can't piggyback a signal on the plethora of antenna here for her private purposes, and yet it can still broadcast and dutifully follow its mysterious goals far, far above the city of Gotham. The stress of the situation has her heart rate and all that biz going off the charts. Blood rushing to the head, the lack of instant success and gratification. And the creepy makeup of this techno-rust-gobbledeegook drifting like a mechanical spore on the high winds.

Vivian Vision has posed:
"I could help if you would like?" Vivian offers brightly via Harpers comms. "Or would that be cheating?" It's tough sometimes. Knowing when she should step in and help out and when she should be letting Harper do things for herself. After all she can not only fly, making getting up to places like a high flying zeppelin quite easy, but she can probably just boost any sort of signal as far as it needs to be. Her reach is pretty much half the planet with her comms systems.

"I know Batman does not like powered individuals operating in Gotham but..." she pauses. "Well if we don't tell him he won't know, right?"

Besides it's probably better than having to explain why one of the Batfam had an untimely fall from a great height.

Harper Row has posed:
"Viv? Are you in range?" Harper's voice comes across as a little higher pitched, but with the familiar fry and personality. A bit of grunting, which is probably her repositioning for a better angle. Her oxygen mix, jury-rigged at the last minute, isn't perfect but functions. "Oh, I think this counts as beyond city limits. And if it doesn't he can try and give me a lecture." she growls.

The big spikey techno-amoeba she dangles from lurches in a jet stream, jauntily heaving this way and that. "Oh a tiny assist would be peachy! I seem to have dropped my chute when making a value judgement on the most useful gear before this thing go awaaaaaay."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"In comms range? Of course. Unless I'm in space or somewhere like Mongolia I can connect in," Vivian points out with a chuckle. "Or do you mean am I in Gotham? If so yes I stopped by to leave muffins in your apartment. They were going to be a surprise but.. Well you know about them now so..."

There's a pause while she triangulates Harpers signal.

"Oh I see. You.. are doing something a little foolish I take it?" A hint of amusement. Teasing her girlfriend. "I'll be right up. You can hang on a few minutes I hope? If not I'll make sure I angle below you so I can catch you." Given the situation is urgent she leaves the plate of muffins and any non-essential things she had with her. Trusting them to the safety of Harpers apartment. Then flying at best speed to intercept.

"No parachute? You've been spending too much time with teams other than GIRL. They're bad influences on what sensible gear selection entails!"

Harper Row has posed:
"Pretty foolish!" Harper agrees, her stomach clenching as she tilts her head to look down. The artificial cloud cover emitted by the artifical device making the view of Gotham almost impossible to discern with Muggle eyes.

Unable to fathom Vivian's powers but highly thankful of some, she offers a rictus grin to the underside of the floating junkpile meatball. She's like a flea on a rotund rat in size relation. "I can manage a few more minutes. I can still feel most of my limbs." Another series of physical exertions come over the comms. "I admit I leaped before I looked. Who'dah thought this thing would go so hiiiiigh. I would have tried to Wylde E Coyote down with a couple drones but...I don't think I'd trust them to get nommed by this thing. Just...be careful on the way up. It smells like a junkyard, but it's obfuscating conventional sensors. I've sensed a few near misses by passenger jets."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"Being impetuous is part of your charm," Vivian says. Mock sighing as she lowers herself to practically weightless to allow herself to move at top speed. "And I shall make a note to buy you a good set of thermals this year."

It's hard to shop for members of the Batfam. What do you buy people who pack literally everything into their belts? In this case warm clothing suitable for high altitudes.

She scoffs a little at the talk about conventional sensors. "There's nothing conventional about me!" She almost adds a 'Darling' on. Someday being around Janet is going to have a bad influence on her. "I'm phased for ultra fast motion. Even if I crash into it I'll just pass right through without so much as a hair out of place." Of course she won't be able to do that with Harper in tow. But then they'll be going the other way. So it's probably fine! "Is this thing related to that oil rig we were planning on investigating before life got busy?"

Harper Row has posed:
Bluebird nods, not considering the mannerism can't be seen, plus upside down so it looks like she's practicing on some inverted gym equipment for stomach crunches. With a pickup imminent, she rifles inside one of her pouches. Thanks to being intentionally strung up on occasion, because rooftops and fire escapes are a common bit of the environment when fighting crime, she palms some little dangerous devices from her belt without dropping them thousands of feet.

"C'mere you..." One by one, Bluebird starts to raise a half of dozen of them to her teeth where she pulls safety det-tape away from a contact point. And these little blinky devices are stuck to the structure of her temporarily high-altitude ride. "One for you...and one for you..." Swinging and swaying her way from one antenna to the next, she plants her gadgets as equidistant as she can.

"This thing? Yeah, I'd bet dollars to donuts it's related. Looks the same, smells similar, seems to be untethered as a listening device, or spying stuff. I can't prove it's speaking to the oil rig we've got a Date with, but if I wanted to make a satelite for cheap...I'd do it this way. Don't need a rocket, and it's high enough to have quite a view. How far out are you now hot stuff?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
"I'm close," Vivian promises. "I'll ping your comms with my position." She is indeed not far away. At least considering Viv's top speed is fairly low compared to some supers in her weight class. Most of her fancy abilities are based around phasing and boosting her durability & strength rather than flying from A to B quickly. That's what the big fancy jets superhero teams often have are for.

Still she's putting a serious effort into going quickly! Even if that meant phasing diagonally up through a building or two. But thanks to her holographic abilities no-one is likely to have seen her.

"Technically it's not a satellite unless it's actually in orbit. But dirigibles are a very efficient way to make surveillance drones. Solar power, fan duct engines, and some good telescopes. And as you say no need for an expensive rocket launch. Home made rockets draw a lot of unwanted attention too."

If she wasn't holographically hidden Harper could probably see Viv closing in! But that comms beacon will show up on Bluebirds HUD. Help is close at hand.