16915/Better and Crazier

Better and Crazier
Date of Scene:	20 January 2024
Location:	Trucker dive bar midway between Gotham and NYC
Synopsis:	The Outsiders and the Shadow interrupt a gang meeting and have to fight three strange cyborgs. Mr. Gila seems to be behind the cybernetics, but wasn't he trafficking with bioengineered animals last year? Well, the Outsiders have the directions to a couple of black market cyberclinics, they can go ask him!
Cast of Characters:	Conner Kent, Laura Kinney, Austin Reese, Natasha Cranston, Kiden Nixon

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Conner Kent has posed:
Gangs are usually below the radar of super-hero groups. Only when there is a major gang war these street groups become a serious threat, and those tend to be instigated by large criminal organizations, not the petty criminals that usually survive from mugging, shop robberies and selling drugs in the streets.

It is rare they kill half a dozen cops in a shootout in Metropolis' Suicide Slum, manage to steal an armored truck full of confiscated Maggia higth-tech gear or murder a high-profile pro-mutant activist in front of the UN building in New York, despite her having a powered bodyguard (also slain).

Those things enter the Outsider's radar, and when there a trusted informant reports the three involved gangs are holding a meeting in a trucker bar midway between Gotham and New York, someone thought it would be a good idea to check out what is going on. Those gangs should never meet, they are not from the same city, they have nothing in common, and quite frankly, they would hate each other on first sight.

America's Fist is an old gang of white supremacists, currently they are very anti-mutant and anti-immigrants, as it is fashionable, but some of are old school skinheads and/or outright neo-nazis. Usually they are involved in violent robberies (against non-whites usually) some drug traffic and protection rackets. Lately they also work as hitmen for anti-mutant groups, such as Striker's Crusade. They have wealthy friends in high places that pay for expensive lawyers, and in fact, some of their members are hardly street-rats.

The second gang, Latin Locos do a good deal of drug trafficking and some human trafficking. They have prostitution and protection rackets in the Bronx. And although they are based in New York, they have strong ties to Mexican cartels. Some of the gang members are in Mexico because they are wanted in the US, and vice-versa.

The last group are the Heretic Chosen. A somewhat satanic (but not really) biker gang that sometimes hangs out in Gotham, but roam the Eastern Coast. They work as thugs, do some smuggling in Metro and Chicago. A few years back they were involved in a ritual murder/sacrifice of several college girls trying to summon Satan (it didn't work) and several prominent members got caught by the FBI and are jailed in Blackgate for life. But apparently half of the gang was not involved in the murders, so they still have a couple dozen Harley-driving, listen-to-heavy-metal-backwards drug-addled thugs.

A meeting at midnight in a cold winter night. In the middle of nowhere. Not suspicious at all! Some thugs arrived early to 'convince' the few truck drivers and drifters hanging around the bar, gas station and (crappy) gift shop they should leave. The bartender got a hefty bribe. though. The beer is rolling, although the higher ups are not here yet.

Laura Kinney has posed:
It's probably a mistake for hero groups to ignore low level criminal activity. For a start the street level criminals tend to pay tithes to larger groups and when they get caught? Well they're potential recruits for other groups in prison. Perhaps if these gangs had been on someones radar before now those crimes might never have happened!

But there's no changing the past. They can only act on intel they have now. And try prevent any more killings. Even if, deep down, X-23 suspects this meeting is a trap of some sort.

Okay so she suspects everything is a trap. It is Laura after all.

She parks up her motorcycle at a nearby building. Far enough away to avoid suspicion, but still close enough to get a good view of the site. "Meet up on my location," she murmurs into the Outsiders team communications channel. "Anyone in the local area able to assist with an operation."

While waiting for responses she digs into the storage packs on the bike. Getting an assortment of weapons ready. It never hurts to be prepared!

Austin Reese has posed:
Before he joined the Bat team, Austin worked with a lot of different criminal elements in both Gotham, he'd had more than one run-in with the Heretic Chosen, including one time he ripped off a bunch of cash from them. That was years ago, though. Still, he wouldn't want to have a run-in with them without a mask on again.

Austin had driven his pickup out from the city proper, stopping about a kilometer from the bar itself and gearing up, before making his way over to the location that Laura had set up in. He gives her a quick wave with one hand as he approaches.

"So any idea how many guys we're dealing with?" He asks as he moves to get a good view of the bar, clocking as many of the guys still lingering outside as he can, "The Fist and the Locos should be shooting at each other right off the bat."

Natasha Cranston has posed:
        Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of Man?

    Loose lips sink ships. There was a time in American history where every man, woman and child knew this by heart.

    Sadly, this tradition has fallen somewhat by the wayside. In particular, a certain lieutenant in the Locos should probably not have participated his own product to celebrate his gang's recent rise in infamy -- and he especially should not have subsequently bragged about it to the girl he was hoping to impress in a fancy pub. Or at the very least, not do it while the waitress was refilling his wine.

    Not that he would have been in a position to realize what that girasol ring on her hand might have meant, but it's the principle of the thing... And now he'd better pray that his bosses won't find out just how The Shadow Knows...

    Fortune and a good Network gave Natasha the general gist of the time and the name of two of the gangs who'd be meeting. A quick catch-and-interrogation of one of the Heretics -- the already superstitious are remarkably easy to terrify into giving up their secrets, sometimes -- and she has the specific time and location. The numbers -- especially the fact that a third gang is included -- are a cause for concern, but given the mutual dislike, it might be possible to trigger a falling out.

    The location is a bit too isolated for even a nondescript cab to drive past -- and some of the gangers are trigger happy to the point where they might take a shot regardless, so Benny drops her off by a convenient empty building not too far away from the meet.

    As she prepares to set out, however, she notices she's less alone than she expected...

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden manages to 'pop in' right next to Laura's motorcycle, offering a sidelong glance towards her friend and smiles quickly. "Hey, sorry I'm late, the tunnel was a mess. Conner's off-world at the moment," she flicks a glance towards the bar and nods at it. "Want me to take a walk around and try to get a headcount?" Since she can do it without being seen.

She's almost certainly had run-ins with the Locos, Kiden's got a bit of a history with the gangs in and around Alphabet City back in New York. But she also doesn't really have any care if they know it. She also doesn't expect to be seen as more than a brief flash here or there as she pops around to do her thing.

She upnods towards Austin and smiles, "Hey, good to meet you. I'm Flux. Not a speedster, even if it looks like it."

Conner Kent has posed:
As midnight comes, and with remarkable punctuality, three cadres of gangers arrive. Two large and modern 4x4 trucks bring the American's Fist half dozen representatives. They look like soldiers more than gangbangers, favoring bald heads or very short hair, visible weapons include large calibre handguns. Their leader is... unique. A cyborg! A bizarre one, too: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/58/e1/1c/58e11cc4c46f19d215195625fd18f2fe.jpg

Half a dozen customized Harleys bring the Heretics. Most are older men, sporting greying beards, tattoos and esoteric paraphernalia. Along with sawed-off shotguns. Their leader definitely looks like a demon! Although further examination shows he is also a cyborg. A monstrous one: https://pics.craiyon.com/2023-07-24/2d54faa9d2ec4938bdc007db7db6b502.webp

And then, from a third road, come the Locos, riding flashy sport cars and motorcycles. Half a dozen Latino men and women in their early 20s, most have light submachine guns are a couple carry AK-74s. Their leader, however, favors blades, and is missing a face: https://i.seadn.io/gae/1s3kIUkorX0pdytKUKsByMpJyFOcxfYN9du38-rqcWNXEANxIk6aBu-2aynMySmHnzlWQSF6Jcn17_J8d5bAFmHYEO7rXAO3C5Jc3g?auto=format&dpr=1&w=1000

It seems the gangs do have something in common, after all. Those with sharp senses will notice some of the other gangers are also cyber-enhanced, but it is subtle. A bionic eye here, a metal hand (covered by a glove) there. They three bosses, however, don't even look human. They smell to rotten flesh, blood and pain. Some of the gang members, those not high in drugs, also look scared.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura sniffs the air and frowns. "We've got company," she murmurs. Looking roughly in the direction of The Shadow. She sniffs again and raises an eyebrow "I believe they're on our side though...."

She hands Kiden a bundle of small explosive charges. "Yeah Flux if you can do a quick walk round and leave a few of these for later. Under chairs, tables, vehicles and the circuit breaker. Use your best judgement." They're a pretty standard device design. Something Laura will have shown Kiden how to operate during training before.

"I can already smell plenty of weapons," she says, tilting her head. "A lot more cyborgs than is usual. Ideally we'd be best holding off on our attack until we find why they're all here. Maybe there is some group mediating to get them to work together..." Where is Tim when you need him. "But we don't want them getting away when they're so well armed."

She loads herself up with a pair of heavy duty revolvers (really bordering on hand cannons), a drum fed shot gun with gel round, and an assortment of grenades. Just so she has various tactical options.

Austin Reese has posed:
"We should disable the vehicles, make sure that when things eventually pop off that they can't get away." Austin offers, as he marks any targets he can on his domino mask, especially those three big guys, "That's not great. Last time I ran into those guys they weren't so.." He makes a motion with his hand in the general direction of the barely human cyborg leaders.

He does a quick check over his own gear, and loads a cartridge in the back of his gauntlet, and then gives Kaiden a nod in acknowledgement, with a bit of a grin "Osprey." He responds, "Mostly I just tend to hit folks until they stop getting back up."

He does take note of where Laura points out The Shadow's position, "Hm. Well if they're that close to us and not calling out to the dudes over there, I'd say we're good for now. I'm going to get to those big four-by-fours and disable them." Once he's let them know which side he's taking, he moves into the shadows in order to creep his way over to the Fist's trucks.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    There is a sound that is probably a chuckle, distorted by some kind of heavy duty voice mask, and then empty air... Twists, shadow and mist solidifying into a dark-clad shape with a slouch hat and a carmine scarf concealing most of their face, holding up empty hands as a gesture of peace.

    "We've met before," the Shadow confirms to Laura. "An investigation in Gotham, I believe. I take it you and your... associates..." the figure continues, indicating Kida and Austin, "are here for the same reason I am? Given the expected numbers, we'd do well to pool our forces."

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Taking the charges from Laura, she glances at them, then at the cyborgs leading the gangs, then back to Laura, "You sure these will escape notice with those guys leading? I can set them, but I can't guarantee they can't scan for them or whatever. If they do, they're gonna know someone knows they're here."

Kiden flashes a grin at AUstin and nods, "I hear that. She's been teaching me to do that, too." Her head tilts towards Laura before looking back to Austin with a nod. "Cool, you got the outside, I'll get the inside." She watches him head off, then looks back in time to see Natasha Cranston appear from the shadows.

"Ooooooo, nice! I don't get the cool shadow mysterious aspect. I just... kinda appear then disappear then appear again." Kiden glances back to Laura for confirmation of what she wants done with the explosive charges before heading out.

Stepping into No Time, Kiden will make her way towards the bar, slipping inside to start counting heads while she maneuvers around carefully to avoid touching anyone. If the confimration comes, she'll set the charges in places that are out of sight from those at or entering the bar. Then slipping back out before the bar can get too full and head on back to where Laura's posted up.

Conner Kent has posed:
Kiden finds another half a dozen thugs inside, two from each gang, but they look like they have been drinking for a while, most are drunk. Also, a worried-looking barman behind the bar. That raises the number to 24 unfriendlies, three of which are obviously cyborged, and maybe ten more with minor modifications. Three of the thugs stay outside, acting as lookouts, cellphones at hand.

Sneaking to the vehicles is not easy, but within the abilities of bat-trained operatives. The vehicles Austin targets first, however, are a pair of expensive models with good electronics and security, it might take him a minute to disable the systems so he can cause the damage needed to make sure they are not going anywhere.

The Locos sporty cars and the Harleys are helpless, though, but they are more numerous.

Tables are chairs are moved around once the gangers are inside, to form a larger table for the leaders and a few other gangers. The rest of the gangers scatter around, although they don't mingle, they look at each other with obvious fear and disgust.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Do it," Laura confirms to Flux. "They hate each other so if someone picks up an explosive they'll assume it's one of the other gangs double crossing them." She grins. "And if they do get suspicious we blow the charges and go hot." Chances are they'll be going hot pretty quickly anyway. The chances they'll be detected before then are pretty low. Not many people go in for the cybernetic nose enhancement!

"Osprey once you've got as many vehicles as you can disabled find a spot you can hit the sentries from," she 'suggests'. Technically she's not one of the Outsiders leadership. But she's been on the team a while and has plenty of experience. "The Shadow. Yes we've met.." she sniffs some more. "Several times. I never forget a scent. If you can get inside to take advantage of the explosive charges that would be great. I'll approach from the front to draw fire."

She waits for Flux to return. Not that no-time recon takes any actual time. "Flux don't hold back on the cyborgs if you need to fight them. If everyone can try avoid killing anyone that would be excellent. But if it's you or them... Well make sure it's them." She looks at the group from the vantage point. "You know your abilities best. When things kick off we want maximum damage before they even know they're being attacked."

Austin Reese has posed:
It was a bit touch and go a couple of times as Osprey moved towards the trucks, but he managed to get there without managing to get spotted by any of the sentries stuck missing all the 'fun' inside. They might end up being the lucky ones if those chromed out leaders end up going cyberpsycho or something.

The trucks are high end, and sporting run-flat tires, so the easiest way to disable them is off the table, a muttered curse coming from Osprey as he determines this. He's no Red Robin, his hacking stills are not quite that good, but he's no novice either. It takes a bit of time, but he manages to pop the door lock and slip inside the first truck, digging under the steering column to the fuse box, and ripping out a handful. He repeats the process on the second truck, then starts to moves to the others.

Far easier to deal with, he moves around sticking several of the bikes and cars with small, hollow spikes, designed to let the air out, but not fast enough that it'll make noise.

Once that's all taken care of, he moves towards the main building proper, taking cover behind one of the outdoor ice machines, <"In position. On your signal.">

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    The Shadow nods. "With this many hostiles non-lethal measures may not be viable," the figure comments, the voice mask stripping out any inflection that might indicate whether this bothers them terribly. "Priority will be to extract the civilian from the firefight - can your other ally handle that?"

    Without waiting for an answer, the Shadow turns to head toward the site, fading from view between steps until the only indication she's still here is the slight trace of her scent where she's passed, clear as day for Laura but imperceptible to anyone else.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
"Problem. Hitting people takes me immediately out of No Time. I can like.. punch a car at them or return fire or whatever, but if I physically touch anyone while in No Time, it jolts me out of it." Kiden reports as she pops back in after setting all the charges and getting the headcount. Rattling off the numbers already known from those outside, and adding in those from inside, she looks to Laura again. "It's a lot of dudes for four people."

Glancing to the Shadow, she smiles, "I can get the bartender out. Touching someone while I'm in No Time is bad. But I can pop out, grab him, and then walk him out in No Time." It's weird. She can take people in with her, but touching someone that isn't in No Time will immediately bring her out of it.

Conner Kent has posed:
As Osprey works with the cars, the trio of guards look around bored and cold. Not exactly elite special ops agents, they aren't paying much attention. Although... one of them, the old biker, does look at the Harleys when Osprey works on them. "Hey," he says to the cellphone, "I think I saw something," he moves towards the bikes. "I mean, this whole see-in-the-dark thing is weird, but I am pretty sure. Maybe it is bum."

Inside the gang leaders don't fool around, they go straight to the matter. "Did you get the addresses?" Asks the 'demon', awkwardly sitting down with his digitigrades legs. No-face nods, "it is Metro and Chicago," his voice synthesised. He hands a pendrive to each of the others. "Mr. Gila is in L.A., this is a good moment," says the huge bossman of the Fist. "He will never know what hit them," he grins. "We will take over, easy," the other cyborgs nod. Not a racist comment, not a glance of hatred, not a hint of fear in them, just cold greed.

Mr. Gila might ring a bell. It was the name of the weirdo behind the shark-animal hybrids last year.

Then the demon looks around and stands up. "What's up?" Asks one of the others. "Chemsensor is detecting explosives. They... they weren't here a minute ago."

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Yeah priority should be getting the civilian to safety," Laura agrees, giving Kiden a re-assuring nod. "And don't worry. This many people I can handle alone."

Admittedly if she did handle this many people alone it would likely get very very messy. Possibly it's going to get messy anyway given the one time she assumes no chemsensors they bring a chemsensor...

There's a shrug. It'd have been nice if the plan hadn't immediately gone wrong but such is life. Keeping low she begins to advance on the bar. Zigging and zagging to make herself a hard target to aim at until she's in effective range with the non-lethal shotgun ammo.

She gives a count of ten, comms enabled, before she triggers the charges Kiden planted. Each of which is too small to do any serious physical damage. But they'll break tables, chairs, blow the power and generally cause mayhem inside. And hey anyone without hearing protection will probably find all those explosions /extremely/ distracting!

She's less concerned with trying to hide and more intent on being noticed. She can heal after all. The more attention she has on her the less everyone else has to deal with.

Austin Reese has posed:
He got spotted? Must be one of the ones with cybernetics. Thermals or built in night vision, who knows. He curses his luck. Didn't wear anything to ward off thermals. Didn't think he'd need to. Batman will probably chide him about it when he finds out.

As the ten count comes down, he preps behind his cover, grabbing a couple of stun-rangs out of his bandolier pouch, flipping them open. Once that count finishes, he pops out from his cover, whipping one electrified batarang at two of the three guards, quickly closing the gap to the old biker who was looking his direction. He knew he'd only have a second to drop him, so he vaults over one of the harleys, using it as a launching point to throw both of his feet directly into the guy's chin in a flying dropkick.

He's just hoping that the ones he threw the stuns at don't have some kind of mod that'll keep them standing, though considering the sound of explosions going off inside, it's not like stealth matters at this point anyway.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Flux' explanation gets a nod. "Understood. Get him out the moment the charges go off - the surprise alone should buy you enough time to grab him and extract."

    With that, the Shadow gets into position, choosing her position and angle with care. Fortunately, tempers are touchy as is, and everyone is already looking at everyone else with suspicion, and one Loco in particular already has his gun out and has deplorable trigger discipline.

    One more step, a slight shift, a twist of Will to make shadows flicker in the Loco's field of vision, and as he jerks around to follow it, just when the explosives outside go off, and -- BANG. A gunshot, and a muzzle flash near his gun, and one of the Fists takes a bullet to the shoulder.

    Natasha quickly clears some distance while everyone else in the room comes to the desired conclusion...

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Nodding to Laura and Natasha, Kiden ticks off a salute and grins and.. disappears! She makes her way down to the bar once more, slipping inside, skirting around the crowd of gathered criminals and cyborgs. Kiden makes her way behind the bar, ducking down behind it and popping out of No Time just long enough to get a grip on the bartender's wrist before dragging him along into No Time with her. "Hey. So. Freak out in a minute, I gotta get you outta here before these guys start shooting or exploding things or whatever. Kay? Kay."

She isn't going to bother with stealth on the way out, leading him around through the back and just kicking out the back door to rush the bartender out and away. It's going to be a bit of a hike for the two in No Time, even if it's only seconds in real time. So she'll ask him questions, his name, if that's his bar or if he just works there, suggestions for how to not end up in that position again. Answer the questions she can about who she is (Flux, superhero, etc.), what this weird time frozen world is, and what she's doing this for. Once they're far enough away, she'll pull him out of No Time and back into the real world, releasing his wrist and wishing him well before disappearing again and heading back towards the fight!

Conner Kent has posed:
The gangs had a ten second warning about the explosives, but they didn't react well. More like... a headless chicken reaction. A few of them run out in time, but as the explosions break tables, cause some burns and minor injuries, the result is utter chaos. To add trouble, the shadows jump around and make one of the Locos shoot a Fist, with the expected consequences. A few of the gangers are going to the morgue, not any jail.

The trio outside makes a poor showing, as they turn around when the explosives go out, and fall to Osprey's stunrangs. The Heretic with the sawed-off shotgun takes the kick to the face, and goes to the ground sprawling, the shotgun flying in the other direction.

The ones that managed to leave the bar go for the vehicles. One of the Locos spots Laura, and shoots at her a few poorly aimed AK-74 short bursts.

The bartender's eyes go wide at seeing Kiden, and even more as she stops time for the both of them. But it doesn't take much to convince him to leave. A super-hero raid? Three terrifying cyborgs? He doesn't want to be in the way of either. The second Kiden releases him, he runs for the woods behind the building. Closest town is five miles away, but he knows the way even at night.

So far so good.

Then the front of the bar explodes, and the big, burly Fist boss is there, scanning the area. He spots Osprey, and shoots at him. With a railgun five feet long. The monstrous weapon shreds the Harleys to scrap bits of metal and plastic in a single second.

"Stop firing blindly, idiotas!" The synthetic voice of the Loco leader sounds calm and commanding, but most of the gang members are not paying attention. He draws a long sabre, though. "X-23. Databanks say she is a mutie. Did you draw the X-Men to us, Morgan?" He asks the big cyborg. "Just kill her," replies the other man.

The demon cyborg is the last to slide out, he is searching. "I can't seeeeee you..." he singsons, "but I can heaaaaar you..." he is moving towards Natasha, tentacles flailing.

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 bursts into a sprint as the AK opens up at her.

The drum fed shotgun coming up, enhanced muscles allowing her to keep the aim steady even on the move, and she pulls the trigger. As an automatic military model of shotgun it doesn't just go boom once. It /roars/. Spitting out round after round of non-lethal bean bags into the thugs. Sweeping her weapon back and forth in methodical arcs until the drum runs dry. Holding her aim on anyone who seems to be especially well armed or armoured until they drop from sheer weight of fire. Although those heavily cybernetic individuals get ignored. Non-lethal bean bags won't do much against them no matter how many she fires..

If not for the explosions and the chaos inside she'd probably be drawing the attention of everyone in the local area. It's very much a go loud weapon after all! As it is she's probably just attracting most of the attention from those outside.

"You are all under arrest," she calls out. "Surrender now and I'll go easy on you."

No-one ever surrenders. So chances are Laura hasn't actually planned what to do if they did... But at least this way if anyone asks if she tried to resolve the situation peacefully she can solemnly say yes. Yes I did.

Once the shotgun runs dry she drops it. No point reloading another drum. No time. Her claws pop with that distinctive SNIKT. Hands and feet both. "Better men than you have tried," she calls out when they talk about killing her. "Better bring your friends. You'll need the help."

She even does the little Matrix finger wave as if to say come at me.

Austin Reese has posed:
The explosions inside quite suddenly turn into explosions outside as the railgun shreds the bike, throwing shrapnel in every direction and sending Osprey sprawling as he scrambles out of the way, diving through one of the windows into the gift shop. Once he comes to a stop, he rolls up onto his side, a three inch piece of former motorcycle gas tank has lodged itself onto one of the ceramic plates on his chest. As he pulls it out and drops it down on the ground, he wonders how the hell anyone did this without modern equipment.

Scrambling around in the gift shop for a second, the crack of bullets flying overhead makes him keep his head down, as he picks up a few things. After a several seconds, a handful of small smoke pellets are thrown back out of the broken window, rapidly bursting into smoke clouds.

A moment later, four lit road flares are thrown into the smoke, casting strange shadows and throwing off anyone trying to use thermal vision to find Osprey. He cuts through the smoke, throwing actual batarangs at a few of the gunmen, aiming to take the weapons out of their hands, maybe break some bones to keep them from shooting.

The big cyborg with the railgun is the main threat he's worried about at the moment though. He probably won't be able to shoot it at extremely close range, which is why he gets another handful of smoke pellets thrown in his direction, with each of them bursting around him. Osprey takes advantage of the smoke, rushing through it and striking with a knife in his hand, aiming to try to cut any of the exposed cables on the scythe arm. That'll be too dangerous to deal with at close range.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Mocking laughter, somehow sounding less human than even the cyborg's, echoes throughout the diner in response to the taunt, each successive peal of laughter appearing to come from a different direction. "If you think that will help you," the Shadow responds. "Then by all means, flail around to your heart's content." the voice suddenly comes from right behind the shoulder of a Loco, who barely has time to turn around before a blurry palm strike propels him bodily into a Fist, which neither is likely to appreciate.

    The next hissed comment is audible between two Heretics standing near each other covering different areas. "I'm sure your underlings understand the difficulty in hitting what you can't see and are only too happy to be collateral damage for your peace of mind..."

    More laughter, and a pair of muzzle flashes from the vicinity of a Fist lieutenant, aimed for the railgun's structure -- its relatively long barrel is a design constraint, and what happens to a hypervelocity round when the barrel is obstructed is going to be an interesting science lesson for anyone standing too close...

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden returns in time to see the fight in full swing, walking her way around and trying to determine where to best insert herself into the insanity. The best bet, for the moment, seems to be to try and help Osprey, who is coming under fire by a cyborg with a railgun. She hurries along and moves towards some of the remaining undmaaged vehicles, giving one of the 4x4's a hard shove towards the cyborg.

In real time, that 4x4 will suddenly go flying, tires skidding across the blacktop as it rushes towards the railgun-toting cyborg. Kiden takes a moment to hope that will buy him the time he needs before starting towards the tentacle-flailing monstrosity.

Conner Kent has posed:
The gang leaders, Morgan of the Fist and Juanjo of the Locos, look at each other briefly. "Adamantium claws, my blade is just steel." Morgan nods, "you go high," he aims the railgun at the girl as the faceless cyborg jumps with incredible agility and speed.

Then the high-caliber bullets of the Shadow's guns impact the railgun, spoiling his aim and damaging the powerful machine. A second later smoke and flashes covers the area, and as he switches to infrared vision, Austin dashes and cuts the cables of his claw arm. Undaunted, the borg attempts to smash him with the railgun. It makes for a pretty formidable club, and he is very strong. Getting hit by a 4x4, though, also makes him miss that! And stumble to the ground.

That leaves the faceless alone against Laura, but he still slashes at her with the sabre, coming in unlikely angles and moving almost at supersonic speed.

And meanwhile the demon cyborg is generating his own variety of smoke cloud, shooting noxious gas (tear gas and psychedelic drugs) from the tentacles all around him. A stray bullet or two hit him, yet they bounce off his metallic red skin.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura can cut bullets out of the air. So supersonic speed is challenging but not /impossible/ for her. And with claws on both hands and her feet she can cover multiple angles at once. Not to mention all the hours of training with masters of hand to hand combat.

She doesn't bother targeting Faceless directly. Not at first. Instead she cuts away at his blade. Super speed and agility is a lot less of a problem if you're reduced to punching people!

Still drawing the attention of as many goons as possible isn't without cost. She's taken a few AK rounds and that sword will bite into muscle at least once or twice. But even as she whirls around those wounds patch themselves up. Leaving splits in her clothing and trails of quickly drying blood. But no sign of lasting injury.

"Should have brought more friends," she taunts. Foot sweeping low to try cut Faceless off literally at the ankles. Movements like his imply heavy lower body cybernetics. "Or didn't your files tell you I'm practically unkillable?"

Austin Reese has posed:
Getting in close was always a risk, but thankfully Osprey manages to get himself out of the way as the 4x4 comes rushing forward to knock down the cyborg. Osprey decides to take advantage of the big guy being knocked down, as he grabs his line launcher off of his belt, firing a high strength wire into the pavement of the parking lot, and then firing the other side opposite of the big guy. He puts a second one down over his legs, "You stay put."

The guy might be strong enough to break those lines, but Osprey figures that'll give him at least some time to work on taking down more of the goons from out of the smoke. X-23 seems to be handling drawing fire quite well, Osprey decides to try and help with the demon cyborg, he's not sure if he has anything that'll penetrate that armor. But he DOES have something that might contain those gasses. He just has to get in position.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    If closing with your enemy is suicide, then don't close with him. Flail as he might, the Heretic leader does not appear to be getting any closer to the Shadow -- and every time he lashes out, the mocking laughter comes from another direction entirely, forcing him to either move with caution or cut a swath through his own people.

    "Fools like this never believe that such adjectives apply to them," comes the response to Laura's taunt to the cyborg attacking her. "After all, their enhancements have raised them above the level of lesser mortals, how could they not succeed where others have failed?"

    Two muzzle flashes briefly illuminate gloved hands, and two bullets impact on the one organic kneecap the Fist leader still has -- well, had -- and the Shadow fades from view almost before the flash expires.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Skirting the starts of whatever that weird cloud is that's starting to surround the tentacle bot/borg/droid, Kiden instead angles over to Laura. Seeing the faceless one squaring off against her friend, she runs forward to shouldercheck the man (thing?) hard. It jolts her out of No Time, but should also hit the faceless guy about as hard as, well.. as Conner!

Turning towards Laura, she reaches out to grab hold of her friend, "I need to borrow you." Flashing a quick grin, she pulls Laura into No Time with her. Tugging her towards that weird tentacled 'borg, she motions, "Okay. We're going to spin, arms outstretched, linked at the hand. Once we've gotten up a little speed, I'm going to let go of you while you're aimed at the tentacle guy. That should shunt you out of No Time and into real time at high speed. Aim the claws and have fun?"

If Laura agrees, Kiden will pull her into position and start, well, spinning! Like a pair of little girls on a playground, they're holding hands and spinning around and around and around! After they've hit a certain point, Kiden watches the turn, and when Laura is coming around towards the tentacled creature, she lets go.

Kiden herself will go stumbling to the ground, grinning. But Laura should be ejected from No Time at a few hundred miles per hour, launched through the air and aimed right at the tentacled boss! Kiden will pick herself up and look for the next way she can help.

Conner Kent has posed:
Faceless' speed and reflexes are probably a couple notches over Laura's. Not only he scores a few hits, but he manages to keep his blade more or less functional despite Laura's attempts to cut it. His cybernetic limbs are weird, for sure, he attacks in angles impossible for a normal human. But, as often happens, he didn't expect the foot claws! He almost loses a foot right there, and then he is vulnerable, unable to spin and jump as well as before. He bolts for his car, unaware Austin has sabotaged it, but before he can reach, he is hit by Kiden as she leaves no-time. He crashes hard against the vehicle, crushing the side door and breaking a few bones and mechanisms.

Most of the other gang members had the same idea: escape, but by now about half of them are bleeding or unconscious, and a few others are choking and tripping from the demon's smoke.

Morgan is momentarily immobilized by Osprey wires. Definitely too strong to be held, but he is out of the way for half a minute.

And then the demon, still failing to find the Shadow, gets jumped upon a super-speeded X-23. Laura can decide how bad he gets cut. His skin might be bulletproof, but it is not safe from adamantium.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Being thrown like a living shuriken at extreme velocity. What could possibly go wrong?

Thankfully the teams healer isn't around to answer this question. Or else she'd be listing all manner of injuries. Many of which Laura will be healing from in three, two, one. Now.

Being hurled by Kiden probably does X-23 more damage than the entire fight so far as joints pop, muscles strain, and she scythes through the air devastating anything hostile that comes within reach. Before slamming into a wall. Or through it. Depending on what the wall is made of and if her claws cut into it before her body hits. Probably through it is most likely. Lets hope the bar is full insured for structural damage. And that there isn't anything important on the other side of the wall....

The demon. Well he probably survives the attack. But he certainly isn't going to be threatening anyone any time soon. Her claws will pass through armour with about the same ease as the air. And most of those tentacles will be heavily pruned from the cyborgs body... It's a bad day to be a cyborg!

Austin Reese has posed:
He knows it won't hold but it might be enough for now. Osprey knows he'll need to get something a lot bigger to keep him down. He disappears back inside of the gift shop, coming back out a few moments later with two containers of oil, one in either hand, as he whips one after another at the big cyborg, splashing him with at least two quarts of 10W-30 oil. Should make it rather hard for him to get back up even after he gets free of the cables.

Once he's been sufficiently doused in oil, Osprey moves again, jumping into one of the Locos cars that he hadn't been able to sabotage by smashing open the window. He knows he doesn't have a ton of time, but he can put his old criminal skills to work as he quickly works on hotwiring it.

Once it starts, he sits up and glares at Morgan from behind the wheel, quickly putting on the seatbelt and then shifting into drive, punching it head-on at Morgan. He figures he can probably get up to about 40-50 before he hits him. That should put a dent in the cyborg.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
With the gang members either downed or fled, the leaders in various states of 'disrepair', and the team largely intact... Kiden will pop over to help Laura up and get her away from any potential fire and/or explosions by joining Austin. Popping back out into real time next to him, she grins, "I think we won. Cops or... staties, probably, will be on the way. We should beat feet before they get here."

She glances around at the destruction and adds, "Bartender's out and running for the nearest town, by the way. So he's good too. I'd say mission accomplished for the moment, and we can try to get more answers later?" Because Kiden has no intention of still being here when the police or, really, any 'authority figure' shows up. "Pizza at the Roost? I'll buy."

And with that, Kiden dips back into No Time to head back towards the city to get some pizza and head over to the Roost.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    "A sound plan," the Shadow concurs, blurring back into visibility as the shooting dies down, crouching by an injured-but-alive Fist Lieutenant. "Between the owner's testimony and the weapons in evidence even the Fists' lawyers will have an... interesting... time keeping their clients out of jail."

    The groaning man gets picked up by the collar and lifted from the ground like a scruffed kitten, his cry of protest dying mid-syllable as his eyes meet the Shadow's. "I'm sure they will cheerfully toss any of their underlings under the bus to save their own hides -- unauthorized, against orders, certainly THEY would never do anything so blatantly illegal..."

    Another chilling chuckle fills the air as the Fist's face is pulled in close. "Fortunately for you, you'll be coming with me instead. I'm sure there's much you'll be happy to tell me that I need to Know..."

    The laughter subsides after a few moments longer and the Shadow turns to regard Laura. "You have my word that any useful information I extract from him will be forwarded to you. Will that be acceptable?"

Conner Kent has posed:
A few gangers do try to feel by running and have to be 'convinced' to stay, but most surrender without much trouble. They were quite terrified by the three bosses radical changes after the cyborg treatment. They claim they weren't the same persons, not deep inside.

Morgan of the Fist, for instance, no longer seemed to hate mutants or non-whites, he was just concerned by accumulating power and money. They became focused, and creepy.

There are the drives, with plans and complex documentation, and designs that would puzzle most engineers, but were made by the three gangsters. The plans: to take over Mr. Gila cybernetic underworld clinics. Apparently Gila is no longer selling bioengineered animals to idle rich, but some very weird cybernets to criminals. Something to ponder for the near future.