16500/Tuesday Night Fights

Tuesday Night Fights
Date of Scene:	06 December 2023
Location:	Fight Club
Synopsis:	Flatline makes her introduction to Gotham in the most Bat-offensive way possible.
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Kate Bishop, Barbara Gordon, Flatline

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Damian Wayne has posed:
The rumor was out in the streets. Bane had returned to Gotham. And with his return, he had brought a new fighter. A young one. And if they were working with Bane, the need for recon is important. A chance to perhaps get intel on a new player in the underbelly of Gotham is always more desirable than meeting them in a dark alley and having to learn on the fly.

With this in mind, he contacted Barbara - because she is the best eye in the sky and can quickly run identifications and relay information. Damian, for his part, is in a different role. Having contacted Kate for her assistance, his plan was simple. Dress as part of the ramble that watches these illegal fights, to watch, observe and learn.

Standing in the center of the ring, the 'referee' is in the midsts of introducing the fighters. "In this corner, we have a slugger from Gotham! With an astonishing 20 fight win streak, he is the current champion of the ring, Stephen 'Thunder' Storm!"

The large, well-built, tattooed covered boxer stands up and dances around the ring and thumbs his nose at the other corner. "And in the challenger's corner, making her debut, she is the girl that will stop your heart with more than her looks... FLATLINE!"

The current money line is that Thunder will win within the first round.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate would easily fly to the other side of the planet for Damian if he asked her to. God knows he has had her back often enough. She is perhaps a tiny bit surprised that the Titan asked her to help with something in Gotham.

    The Batman is a bit particular often.

    Still all the more reason to catch the hyperloop and show up for the engagement.

    She supposes she sticks out less than most of the rest of the team when dressed for the ramble. Also she can clearly be armed in this sort of illegal fight club environment and no one will care after paying the cover fee to get in and show she can afford to bet. Bonus. "Well. Flatline isn't a bad name. Better than Thunder Storm in a world of norse gods and lightning throwing metahumans..." she comments softly on comms.

    She relaxes back against a pillar as she watches, dressed in tight jeans, a beat up punk stylized leather jacket. Hair in a bun with some very sharp hairsticks. Dripping with knives really right now.

    Most importantly not looking light Hawkeye. See. No bow or purple. Like those shades are even black. Criminal chic.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara Gordon was quite adept at being an eye in the sky.

She'd gotten Damian's contact shortly after she'd settled in to the seat, and closed the glass canopy over her head. After a startup sequence, and a few shared words with Damian, the vehicle she'd settled in to was all green to go.

"Send me everything you need ID for, and I'll have it right back to you asap." Batgirl says over the comms back to her teammate.

A moment later, and a burst of flame spouts from the back of the craft, as the Bat-shaped jet fires off from the top of the GGE Blimp's landing pad. The nimble little jet twirled through the night sky before it was sent in a downward spiral through the thick cloud cover, bursting through them to their underside, as the pilot behind the controls angled the nose of the jet toward the city skyline below.

Inside the small aircraft's cockpit, Batgirl's green eyes were scanning over the displays on her control board, with a soft AI voice feeding her information on the performance of the still-prototype plane, smaller than Batman's own, but also quicker and more nimble. She awaits Damian's reports, fully able to multi-task her patrol, and test flight, along with whatever Rook sends her to verify as well.

Flatline has posed:
    One of the fighters tonight is professional, obviously he's got the win streak, the money, the strength and prowess.

    The other? Not so much.

    The smaller figure was wearing a black hoodie, oversized, that hid her face, other than a few whisps of light hair that hung out. Her hands were stuffed in her pockets. She wore white boots and black, torn leggings.

    The smaller figure didn't seem too overly concerned with the goings on. Her head tilts -- though it's hard to say if it is a boy or girl under that hoodie.

    They seem to regard the opponent with curiosity really.

    There's a bright pink bubble that forms as she blows bubblegum, unconcerned, and she lets it 'pop'.

    She's going to have a little fun with this one.

Damian Wayne has posed:
With the pieces in place, Damian is on the move. Dressed as a dockworker, stocking cap, longcoat, woolen sweater, pants and boots, the woolen gear hides the camera inside as he gets into position, sending a picture of Flatline and uploading it for Barbara to start her research on.

In the ring, as Flatline just seems to be standing there, 'Thunder' Storm snorts. "Fine, little girl. Don't cry when I punch you!" And with that, he comes in on her. He's using the Muay Thai style of kickboxing.

And he announced the punch, because that's what it looks like what he's going to lead with.

But he tries to surprise her with a feint and attempts to drive a knee into the young woman's stomach. "Hyah!"

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate is absolutely considering this persona for future crime infiltration work in seedy underbellies like this if it doesn't get blown sky high tonight. The vibe is just good if she is honest. She can tag criminals for dealing with all the while using a small throwing spike as a fidget toy and not be out of place.

    Damn Gotham is a strange town.

    "I do admit. I like their confidence. The bubblegum is a spot on perfect sass without even saying anything. Top notch rating so far, well unless they go down in one punch. Which frankly I hope they surprise everyone at this point."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
While the bulk majority of Batgirl's computers continue to run their tests on the performance of the nimble Bat-jet, Barbara runs a check on the information that Damian sends her. Without using her voice modulator, her voice speaks in to the team comms directly to him. "There's not a lot here to go crazy with..." She says, as her hand manipulates the flight controls, sending the vehicle on a wide perimeter around the city, her gloved left hand dialing up the stealth mechanics to dampen the effects of the jet's engine reverberation sent down toward the populace below... Silence is golden!

"Looks like there's a handful of others who've gone under the name Flatline before, one even tangled with Batman briefly. Seems unlikely it's the one you're seeing down there tonight, though. Keep a watch, but try not to have /too/ much fun at those things."

She tells the younger vigilante not to have /too/ much fun, while she dips the plane she's flying lower and lower until its skimming across the eastern river, and soaring beneath one of the city's many bridges!

Flatline has posed:
    Thunder Storm is appropriate, because a Meterologist could have predicted that punch a day and a half ago. Flatline doesn't seem to move. She even slouches a little bit as she watches Thunder Storm -- can we call you Stevie, Thunder? Thunder Steve?

    She simply side-steps the punch, taking a couple of steps around to the side, as if she's still sizing him up, her head tilting to the other side again as she pops another bubble, bright pink bubblegum.

    She shrugs her shoulders, and appears to give a 'what gives?' sort of body expression, keeping her face shadowed.

    She's still not talking, and seems to be having fun with this, trying to make him mad by not responding.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Oh, you think you're slick, huh?" Thunder Storm says as his knee misses, as well as the follow up punch. He's chasing the teenager around the ring, trying to get his hands on her. "Stop running and fight me!" he roars, launching at the girl, only to miss Flatline by mere inches again.

He stops at the turnbuckle, slamming his head into the padding a few times.

He turns to face Flatline, fury in his eyes. "Okay, you little skull-face wench. I'm going to make you /scream/." he decides as he starts to move towards her again.

"This Flatline looks a little too young to have fought the Bat." Damian responds to Barbara, keeping the camera on Flatline and he gives a soft 'Hnh.' "She's good." he admits. "I don't know if it's natural talent or something else, but she's toying with this guy."

"Kate, what do you see?" he asks her quietly as he passes by her, handing her a bag of popcorn and looking down at the betting stub in her hand. To be fair, at the odds that Flatline was given, he can't blame Kate for placing a bet.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate absolutely bet on the one with sass. It is all part of the cover right. Legit. Not illegal bloodsport gambling.

    "Well. They are supremely confident. Very fast reflexes. I think you are right on the probable woman not a man based on the movement I have seen so far, but could be wrong." she isn't. She knows her fighting too. "Not sure what she has been trained in yet, not enough from the dodge and no offense to pick it apart yet. I do love the blowing bubbles at the big dude though." amusement in her tone.

    "Pretty sure she is going to dismantle him when it actually gets going." she pops some popcorn into her mouth from the handed over bag.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The Bat-jet flies between some of the fancy yachts floating quietly within the river's dark waters. A few internal lights on the yachts come on after the white-wash from the jet's wake wash across their decks. Did Babs know who those yachts belong to...?

With a half smirk on her lips, she takes the plane southbound, curving the nose up to carry it over the city itself, while pulling back on the throttle to vastly reduce speed.

"Not to be a downer here," she says over comms, "but the average Gothamite is a terrible fighter. Most of the bulky men you run in to just spend time lifting weights, and not actually learning how to throw a punch. The UFC has changed that a bit in the past decade or so, as more and more people are getting in to grappling, and striking. You never can be sure what you're in for these days, but still... a lot of bravado and protein shakes doesn't mean you're gonna be a killer in the ring."

Her voice trails off there, as she activates the VTOl systems of the plane, now having it hover between two tall buildings, the black armored vehicle just floating in mid-air high above the ground like the silent sentinel it was designed to be.

Babs' eyes trail over her displays, watching the performance of the four VTOL airflow turbines, making a note in her central AI system to check on something once she's back at base.

Flatline has posed:
    Flatline knows she's slick. And she's walking this guy around the ring like a leashed dog, leading him around by his nose and his anger as she watche shim... bash his head into the padding on a turnbuckle.

    And then he threatens to make her scream.

    He comes after her, and she's still slouched a little, like she's board.

    The next part happens quick. He comes in, and she ducks down low, rolling briefly to her back.

    Her feet plant against Steve's abs -- he must be so proud of those, and she lifts him, guiding him with her hand curled into his collar bone, pulling it out and separating it from the rest of his chest, dislocating his arm in the process as she guides his weight up --

    And then down.

    She twists him around, and there is a sickening CRACK, wet and meaty as she uses Steve's own weight and inertia to just snap his neck. There's a buldge that comes out the side as his vertebrae break and snap against one another, killing the poor guy pretty instantly. The light goes out from his eyes, head twisting at an awkward angle as the rest of his body collapses onto the mat, and she uses his downward motion to pull herself up, hopping to her feet as the hoodie falls back.

    And it's true. She has a skull painted on her face. White hair styled into spikes. A coffin pinned to her hair, pinkish eyes and skin colored like ashes as she turns, looking into the audience as her shining black lips curl into a smile.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Steve "Thunder" Storm never knew what was coming. As he was sure with the size advantage and clearly he was stronger, he was fully convinced that the little girl would be eating his fist at the end of the match -- but instead, as he's twisted and goes upwards, his eyes widen in surprise.

That surprise turns into pain as he's brought down and feels his arm shatter, his collar bone ruined.

Pain becomes horror when he realizes that Flatline is not stopping the attack in the least.

Horror becomes nothingness as the life escapes from his body, and Flatline collects what little skill she can get from him.

The crowd gasps in surprise, and then erupts in roars of either applause and appreciation of Flatline's skills or cries of 'Bullshit!' that Bane had somehow rigged the match.

"Cover me." That to both Kate and Barbara as Damian runs towards the ring, grabbing the railing and sliding within. As he comes a stop next to Steve, he reaches to feel for a pulse and finding none, green eyes lock onto Flatline's purple ones and he frowns in deep dissatisfaction. "That was not neccessary."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "Called it." she notes with grim finality. The amusement is gone though. She did just watch a man get absolutely dismantled just like she said, though it was frankly both faster and more lethal than she would have imagined even for this kind of fight club.

    "That has to be enough visuals to narrow down from the list of Flatlines or other operators right. I mean unless it is brand new makeup and death theme shenigans."

    All the death doesn't stop her from taking another bite of popcorn and pushing off the pillar to follow Damian towards the ring. He asked her to cover him, so if any security or other denizens step up, they will swiftly find a small throwing stick or knife in their joints. Unlike Flatline though they won't be lethal strikes just very brutal in the efficiency. "I think that was Black Skull, the move. Uh. The mongoose one right?" she notes helpfully.

    Also this is a lady who shoots bad guys with actual arrows. Like she shys away from sticking a throwing knife in someone's tendons with almost inhuman accuracy. You should see what she can do with a quarter.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As the situation unfolds at the fight ring, the Bat-jet slowly turns as it descends to the roof of a building. Its airflow turbines kick up a cloud of dust that the vehicle touches down in and within. Seated in the cockpit, Batgirl watches on her left hand display the scene unfolding inside, through cameras accessed by her network of monitoring links established when she arrived.

She's forwningfrowning at what she sees.

"Proceed with extreme caution in there." Her voice warns with a more serious edge to it. "Whatever that young woman just did, it isn't normal."

The canopy to the jet slides open, and with a rush of wind across her form, Batgirl exits the jet with a billowing of her black and gold cape behind her...

Flatline has posed:
    She's used to crowds either loving what she does or -- well, no, she's not used to this at all. It's all rather Novel! First foray into Gotham City on a favor to her mentor to put on a show. And she's made some people an awful lot of money. She listens to the cheering, the jeering, and watches in confused amusement as someone -- a dockworker? -- climbs the cage to check on Steve's wellbeing.

    Don't need a blue dog to put a clue on that one. He's dead and gone.

    The woman -- no, girl. She's younger than Damian, younger than Kate. She blows another bubble, and then reaches up... and removes a pair of wireless earbuds from her ears.

    She does give a very toothy smile to Kate, though, at the recognition of the move. Girl knows her stuff.

Damian Wayne has posed:
If Damian was in costume, he would react differently. He'd already be on the attack, probing her for a weakness. He would probably do the same here as well. But he doesn't make a move.

He'd heard Barbara's warning and he's holding his place, his frown only darkening as he looks towards Flatline. For now, it's a lot of crowd control as there's a rush on the betting booth of people either looking for payouts or demanding refunds from a rigged fight. Steve didn't think it was rigged.

Steve is also dead.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    In the rush of the crowd, well no one has seemed to notice that no one is rushing to remove the dockworker.

    Hell maybe some of them even think this is the next match, or perhaps that Disguised Damian (TM) is Steve's manager or a Referee or something. Do they even have those in illegal death matches.

    Kate doesn't make any move to join Damian in the ring, just stooping to pop someone she put a knife into and retrieve her knife, cleaning it in a practiced swipe on the man's jacket as she keeps her eyes on Flatline.

    The toothy smile gets a nod in response from the stoic dark haired girl in return.
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Barbara Gordon has posed:
Outside of the little venue, the tell-tale lights of blue and red begin to flash... all around the building, with spotlights beginning to flood in through the old structure's dirty windows. Apparently the GCPD has arrived, and this is likely to cause quite a ruckuss of people not wanting to be here any longer.

In truth, however, a swarm of Bat-drones is now rushing through the air around the building, flashing it with the assault of strobe lights, and cones of white LED illumination.

In the rafters high above the ring, Batgirl looks down at the situation below. "If she murdered that man, she needs to be taken in to custody." Her voice reminds Damian, who is likely all too aware of that anyway.

"But if she's working with Bane, we certainly would like to track him down." For a second she's torn on what to do, but as the potential chaos of people rushing to get away from the Cops breaks out, she knows she can't let the young woman go on a whim of possibly being lead to Bane...

Instead, her black and gold cape spreads out, as Batgirl begins to glide down toward the ring below, moving at a high velocity until she comes to land upon it, with her cape instantly wrapping around her body.

Unless Flatline were to run for it now, she might have her main event preparing to start now.

Flatline has posed:
    It would be a very different fight if she knew the dark-haired boy in front of her was a Bat.

    She'd be so deadly curious.

    But she gives another smile, and a waggle of her fingers as she steps backwards towards the edge of the mat, and then with a flouish and a bow, she pops a smoke cannister, gives it a toss -- and appears to disappear!

    A couple of footsteps leading to a half-bootmark on the mat, that looks like she went through a trap door in the ring itself.

    And the new fighter -- Flatline, is gone into the darkness, as mysterious as when she arrived.