17304/Person of Interest: Xavier Rollins

Person of Interest: Xavier Rollins
Date of Scene:	05 March 2024
Location:	Gotham City Freeway
Synopsis:	Xavier Rollin escapes a pizza delivery, only to get his car destroyed and have three bats and a goop fight an assassin for his head!
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Damian Wayne, Austin Reese, Essix, Jason Todd
Tinyplot:	Caliginosity

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
XAVIER ROLLINS

Age: 27
Place of Residence: Mews of Gotham, a group of million dollar condos in Gotham City, rowhouses and carriage houses with Italian Marble floors and gold-plated mailboxes. The New Money Rich and those who wish they were.

    This is where Xavier Rollins could be tracked to, after getting a call from Arkham Asylum in warning that He Was Coming.

    And the Bats were hot on a trail of vengeance now that the only thing that stood between Them and Him was incapacitated.

    The Bat Family and Outsiders had a list of names, and anyone who's seen Game of Thrones knows what happens when you find your name on a List.

    The street was lit nicely appointed even in the thick of the city, close to the freeway access to leave if needed. The house's windows were alight. The TV was going as if someone was watching a sporting event on PPV. There were people parked along the sides of the street -- even in handicap parking, where the $300 ticket was worth having the extra space to park.

    How are our heroes arriving tonight?

Damian Wayne has posed:
Outside, the Bats are assembling. Well, one Bat so far. Having pulled the Batcycle over some distance away, and hopped off. When he did so, he reached for a pouch on his belt and opened it. "Essix?" he asks quietly. "We're here. You ready?"

Once the goopling appears, he takes out a picture of their perp and he shows it to her. "I want you to be a pizza delivery girl. Go up to this apartment..." he provides the information. "...and verify he's there. If he is?" A small smile shows on his face.

"Do what you can to break up the party and drive his guests out. The bigger, the better." A light little poke, a half-pet of the goopling. "...use that overly fertile imagination of yours."

Austin Reese has posed:
There's another Bat as well, though really considering it's Osprey and Robin they would fall under the Birds category right? Maybe they can figure out the branding thing later. Damian let him in on the plan, and he stopped by one of the nearby non-chain pizza places and bought about five pies. Whatever they had available.

Osprey had brought his black Dodge Challenger. It's no Batmobile, but it has some secrets under the hood for sure. The vehicle rumbles into the alley where Robin and Essix are at, and comes to a stop, as Osprey gets out, now in costume after picking up the pies, as he sets them on the roof of the car.

"Pizza time."

Essix has posed:
Oozing out of the pouch and into a human form, Essix looks toward the building then back to the picture that she is being shown. Pizza delivery meant matching the company on the box, so the clothing she is wearing shifts around her body to form into a matching uniform. To ensure that the oddities of her face aren't obvious, she was getting better at looking human but she didn't want anything she can be remembered by, she forms a protective medical mask over her nose and mouth. Gotta protect the customer, right?

"Fake pizza delivery, check," she says first with a nod, then grins behind the mask. Her eyes reveal the grin, a result of the poke. "Ensure the man is inside, then arrange for his guests to leave quickly in a manner of my choosing."

The repeat of the instructions was as much for her benefit as well as for Robin and Osprey, letting them know she heard what is being said. "There are a number of acceptable methods for scaring humans out of an apartment, but many of them will result in the police being called. This area strikes me as a place the police would actually come," she then says, looking back toward the building. "If the police are called to this location, that will permit the two of you approximately fifteen minutes for whatever task you have. Is that long enough, or should I employ a different method of guest scaring?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The area is, in fact, a place where police might come quickly if the party is disturbed.

    The party is ongoing. There's cheering inside. The fake pizza delivery looks like it should go off -- however, best laid plans of Bats and Goops rarely survive the first encounter.

    The garage rises quickly. There is the revving of an engine. There is the sudden blast of Superbright LED headlights filling the street as a Lotus Emira GT4-customized vehicle lights up the night, and then SCREAMS out of the two-car garage, with Xavier at the wheel, whipping the car out as smoke rises from his tires and the scent of burning rubber fills the air.

    He Very, Very Visibly flips off the heroes, and yells with a whoop thinking he's beat the system yet again, and peels off down the street, already causing someone to grab their dog and leap for someone's yard as he wails past!

Damian Wayne has posed:
Welp, Operation Ninja Turtle just went by the wayside.

"Right, you have the discretion to do what you want..." Robin is offering as he takes in the disguise Essix has chosen. "You look good." He's probably trying to butter her up a little with confidence. Because he knows she still has a ton of questions and is miffed at him, but that's later.

As the garage comes open, he's stepping back a little as the car races at them, he grabs the goopling to yank her out of the way. Even if he probably should have let it hit her - that way she'd already be on the car!

Fine, he's not that deep into his villain arc yet. "That's him!" he hisses, turning for the Batcycle. Essix gets to decide whether or not she's going with Damian, or if she's going to ride shotgun with Austin.

Austin Reese has posed:
There's a lot of time that goes into operations like this, usually. This didn't have a lot of prep time. Which is probably why the garage opens up and Austin gets a moment to look at those headlights before he's moving to dive out of the way of the vehicle as well. He dives back towards his car, scrambling back up off the ground as the guy flees down the street.

He figures Essix will go with Damian and revs the engine as soon as he's in, flooring it, while he works on strapping himself into the seat as he makes the quick turn after the Lotus. He hops on comms as soon as he's able to, <"Don't know how he found us out but he's booking it towards the highway. See if you can't cut him off.">

He clicks the straps into place and floors it, the supercharged engine roaring as he chases after that sporty import, "Alright Xavier. Let's see how good you think you are."

Essix has posed:
The sight of the car was unexpected, but facing the building as it backs out allows Essix to see it. She had a plan, she was going to snap out and grab the bumper but she is suddenly yanked out of the way and misses the bumper entirely.

A normal hero would start bitching about a ruin planned, complaining about how they can take care of themselves, and a few other choices things, but not Essix. She recognizes that Damian was attempting to protect her, and even if that ruined her plan, the intent still remained. There may be a hundred questions, concern, and a few other choice things playing through Essix's mind, but right now none of that mattered. The mission mattered.

Accepting the failed attempt to grab the bumper, and seeing Damian go for his bike, she attaches herself to him... literally. From human form to a band of black material wrapped around his arm in seconds. As she moves she calls out, "Get me close, he will not know how to handle me!" The guy really had no idea what sort of can of worms he just opened, but he would, if Damian could get her close enough to that car. "He is thinking humans, wait until he meets me!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Lotus roars out onto the freeway's access ramp -- the wrong way. There's screaming, beeping, weaving, a Nissan Sentra ends up crashing into the side, airbags going off. The occupants were probably all right.

    And the Lotus skids over a low rumble-strip divider and starts in on heading the right way -- looking to escape Gotham City!

    Within, the car's occupant is sweating, swearing.

    "Not gonna let 'em get me like they did Phil--" he mumbles, and pushes the gas down, shifting gears and making the transmission screech breifly before it catches, and the car goes speeding off!

Damian Wayne has posed:
As soon as Essix contorts and takes on the form of an arm-band on his right arm, Robin nods. "Osprey, take point, I'll try to follow along and see if I can find an intercept point!" The bike is fast, but he knows there's no way that it's going to keep pace with the two chunks of muscle cars.

"Let's get this bastard." Pulling on his helmet, he settles on the bike, firing it up and taking off as his wheels squeal in protest to the hard rev. On his domino, he's already bringing up a map of the area as he heads down side streets to try to stay to the side of the chase, looking for a spot he can get ahead and cross over to get the goopling close.

Austin Reese has posed:
Up the off-ramp. Great, this guy's already causing mayhem, <"Oracle, we're going to need EMTs."> He reports, swerving around the various cars that have crashed their way into the barricades. He upshifts as he crests the ramp, getting a little bit of air and following behind the Lotus.

He weaves around a couple of oncoming cars and bounces across the rumble strip onto the right side of the highway, "Gotta stop this guy quick before he kills somebody, if he hasn't already." Austin growls to himself, reaching down and shifting again as the muscle car starts to gain on the Lotus. He knows he needs to close the gap first, then he can figure out how to best shut this guy down. Somewhere in the back of his head he files away 'EMP gun like in that one movie'. He will probably forget about it before the end of the chase.

Essix has posed:
No matter the form Essix takes, there is always her ability to see, to sense the world around her. Inside her form she has the comm device Nightwing gave her, it was always carefully tucked away so she could 'hear' conversations and speak when she needed to. Often she has a Domino as well, another gift from her Mentor, but at this time she does not... keeping a form large enough for that proves challenging, and honestly she still doesn't fully know how that thing works.

<"Break peddle," she says out of no where over the comm. "What is the location in the vehicle of the break peddle? Which one of the three?"> The goopling was already planning, making ready her 'attack' on the car, the man, and a way to protect people by getting the car to come to a stop. No, she had no idea how to drive, but she knows that break means stop.

<"I can engage him and stop the car at the same time," she then explains, watching the world streak by from her spot on Damian's arm. "I just need to know which is the break.">

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Xander is laughing, feeling like he's getting ahead. He might make it out -- do those bats work outside Fotham? Will they stop at the city line as he escapes into New Jersey proper?

    He fancies himself smart. As smart as his dad, anyway. Not that it counted a whole lot when --

    Gotham first responders were on their way, responding to a possible break in, along with a maniac on the freeway in a supercar.

    The Lotus growls along, followed quick from behind by the Challenger.

    "Shit -- shit shit shit -- is that a black Dodge? IS that her boyfriend? Shit shit shit -- there's something wrong, ohmigod that better not be the car that took out Pearly Gates--"

    Which mysteriously burned down after a black 1969 Charger R/T with a huge BTS blower was parked outside it. Very mysterious. Many human traffickers and pimps were harmed.

    the sudden fear is making his driving more choppy and erratic.

    Robin, down below, would see that there is a golden opportunity -- a tow truck with a long bed has its bed lowered all the way to the ground, and two repo guys are trying to get tires under a fancy truck that someone's missed their payments on out of a driveway -- under the freeway.

    If he hits it just right, he's gonna launch into the air.

Damian Wayne has posed:
The ride with Robin has been bumpy. And as he takes Essix on the roughshod run through a city park as a shortcut, he's explaining. "Accelerator, Brake, Choke! You want the middle pedal - wait, you're not planning on trying to drive, are you?" he asks, confusion in his voice as he sees the vehicles ahead and his eyes narrow behind the mask as his domino marks positions.

"Get ready, Essix!" he calls out to her. They really need to get her a code name. As he angles on the two truck, he guns the engine. Racing along the ground, he swerves between the two guys and hits the flatbed.

Up get goes, hitting the throttle as he does so to pull back to get a little more airborne. As he's up in the air, the motorcycle's engine screams and he throws his arm out for Essix to release to try to land on the car.

And he hits the pavement hard, the front axel of the bike breaking, but fortunately, he's able to bring it into a controlled slide as he the bike smacks into the divider wall.

Robin was dragged along the ground, the armor of his outfit protecting him from the worst of the ground, but he smacks into the pile with a whompf and looks over, watching the two cars race by.

It's on Essix and Osprey now.

Austin Reese has posed:
The driving is getting more and more erratic, and that's making it harder to evade around the cars as Osprey closes the distance. Then off to his side comes a flying motorcycle, with Robin on the back of it. He watches until he disappears over the top of the two cars.

He manages to catch part of the crash in the rear view mirror, <"Robin, you good!?"> He calls back over he comms, pushing the vehicle as hard as he can, pulling up directly behind the Lotus, and then trying to prepare to hit it with a PIT maneuver and force it to spin out. But he can't do it until the road is clear enough. He doesn't know what Damian's plan for Essix was, so he thinks he's on his own for the moment.

Essix has posed:
<"I cannot drive," Essix states plainly, which of course does not immediately offer any comfort to Damian. "I can however, bring the car to a stop, or at least attempt to.">

She had been watching everything Damian did, working to learn how his mind worked, to see what he sees and how he might use those things to his advantage. Observation, it was the gift of her people, the ability to sit for days, watching and learning. She saw the tow truck, knew it for what it was, but she would never have thought to use it the way Damian did.

No pause, no hesitation, no fear... he flung his arm out and like a whip extending from him, she launched herself at the car. All she needed was on small part of her to make contact with the metal and the rest of her would form up on that spot. There was a thrill to this sort of thing, an excitement that the little alien had never bothered to actually feel before. Thanks to Damian she was in fact learning to accept her own emotions, even if she was keeping them in check as she splatted against the top of the car.

The man was a menace to everything on the road, his own fear over being caught lead him to make bad choices, but right now, in the moment, all she knew is that this person was connected to what had happened to Phoebe, and that meant he needed to be caught.

Oozing in through the cracks in the door, a part of her went straight for the middle peddle while the rest of her formed up into a large octopus in the guys lap as she said, "In the words of Clarence from Coming to America, 'You messed up son'." and then she hugged his face.

If it appeared that the car was going to crash, that her attempt to bring it to a stop with the break wouldn't work, she would envelope the entirety of the man in herself to protect him from damage. He needed to be alive for Robin and Osprey, and so she would ensure that.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It had been a well laid-out plan. Xander Rollins, one of Phoebe's tormentors in Montana, who had been working with Phillip Cupp and presumably had a hand in the manufacturing of those of the pills, had managed to slip through Robin and Osprey's fingers during a staged delivery.

    He had run up his Lotus GT the wrong way onto the freeway, with Osprey in a new Dodge Challenger in hot pursuit.

    The speeding had caused some cars to wreck, but the GCFD was called in already even as the Lotus had screeched over a dividing line of rumble strips and gotten to the right side of the freeway, trying to escape Gotham City at an obscene speed.

    Robin had launched himself into the air, slinging Essix who has landed on the car -- and then into the car -- and Xander had screamed when Essix made her way into the car, and had swerved hard -- and then gotten hit by the front of Osprey's vehickle -- at those speeds the car began to spin, with Essix inside, and the man screams further as the brakes apply, tires smoke.

    The supercar hits the wall under an overpass, and Xander tries to grab for the seatbelt to try and get out, airbags blown, the car smoking and stinking of burnt rubber and plastic and the too-sweet smell of gasoline.

Essix has posed:
One of the best things about not being human is that Essix is able to think with several parts of herself at the same time. Even as she is trying to stop the car, hug the guys face, and the car is going out of control, she is already wrapping herself around his entire body like a protective shell. Blunt trauma, bullets, knives, none of those things could harm her, so as the car slammed into the wall, the man inside found himself protected from the damage that would surely have killed him.

The smell of gasline meant the possibility of fire. Fire was bad, very, very bad. The alarming sense of panic tickled through her with the electrical impulses that formed her consciousness. <"We are alright!"> she announces first, fighting the natural fight or flight mode that fire causes in her people.

With the guy still wrapped up, she assess the best way to get the guy out of the car and chooses to ooze him out through the broken window and move him away from the wreckage. Anyone watching would think that an alien ate the guy and was making its escape, they would only be half wrong in that assessment.

Once she was what she considered a safe distance she asks, <"Where do we want him? He is not getting out any time soon. Can hold him as long as we need, just not by the car.">

Damian Wayne has posed:
Pushing himself to his feet, Robin grunts. Nothing broken. That's good. He taps his comm. <I'm fine, just get that bastard!> he calls out. And that leaves him on the sidelines for the moment as he heads over to the bike to pull the gear from it.

Austin Reese has posed:
The impact of the front quarter-panel to the back of the supercar at the speeds they were at send it spinning, smoke filling the underpass as it goes out of control. He manages to catch sight of the black octopus strangling the guy before it disappears into the smoke and slams into that wall with a crunch.

Austin turns the wheel and brakes hard, bringing the Charger to a skidding stop just before the overpass, unbuckling the harness and getting out of the car. He can see the struggling inside of the car that Xander is still doing, and the smell of gas.

He's going to need to get him out of there before the car blows. Cars are still speeding past on the highway, it seems some people would rather risk getting blown up than be stuck in traffic. He moves as quickly as he can towards the car, spotting as Essix has pulled him out of the vehicle, "Good work. Get him over by my car. I'll cuff him there."

He turns his head as the familiar sound of sirens in the distance fills the night, "We'll have to take him somewhere else." Hearing Robin back over the comms, he at least has one less thing to worry about in the moment. Now they just need to get out of here before the car explodes or the cops show up.

Jason Todd has posed:
Logic, and local traffic laws, dictate that driving on the right side of the road is the thing to do. Both socially and physically. Still there is always some Tool that comes along and refuses to do what they're told be it out of ignorance, impaired judgment or rebellion.

As the sounds of serving, crashing and generalized mayhem settle back to the din of traffic attempting to get around this rapidly degenerating scene, more sounds of chaos can be heard from the direction traffic is moving. Cars are braking hard, swerving. Drivers are cursing.

All because someone in a matte black up-armored 69' Mustang (who puts a crash bar on the front of a Mach 1. Seriously.) is driving toward the scene of the crash on the wrong side of the road.

Coming to a stop just beside one black Challenger, the door opens to free the dulcet tones of a particularly Raging band.

"..uck you, I won't do what you tell me!"

Red Hood stands and closes the door, turning his masked visage to quickly assess the scene. "I thought there was going to be pizza."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Xander Rollins is ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED BY THIS TURN OF EVENTS. WHAT EVEN IS THIS. His father's going to hear about this! He struggles inside of Essix, oozed through a broken window. He is panicking.

    He is LOUDLY panicking.

    It's a bit muffled on account of being oozed, but the rich kid who likes to spend his dad's money and hit women is currently looking at three Bats through the goop! He's kicking and screaming -- and that's when there's the sound of a BANG.

    A section of the overpass comes down on the car that was wedged against the wall, utterly distroying the Lotus GT -- a few seconds longer and Essix would have had to take bits and pieces of broken Rollins from the wreckage.

    Xander screams louder because now his car is ruined.

    And on the overpass there is a figure sitting. A plain mask, bone white. White lenses seem to melt into the mask. They wear a headwrap, and a black jacket, the wrap's tails flapping in the wind. Knee-length boots in black.

    And a sword, and a utility strap.

    Looming over the hole made in the overpass (no respect for the infrastructure, the figure leaps down, landing in a sinewy fashion, regarding the figures.

Essix has posed:
Osprey said his car, so that is where Essix starts to ooze. The man can struggle and scream, he should just be grateful she's letting him have air. She could end that, she could end his life right there, but thankfully he had a purpose to the Bats and that meant he got to live. Truth was, she wouldn't have been able to bring herself to kill him. She didn't have all the information on what this man was a part of, and with the limited details that she knew, he didn't deserve death. If she knew the whole truth... that was another matter entirely.

As Red Hood arrives she is shoving Xavier, and thus most of herself, into Osprey's car. <"He ran before pizza,"> she explains over the comm, and only then starts looking around... all directions at the same time. <"Robin, where are you?"> she then asks, waiting for Osprey to cuff the man she's holding in the car. <"Are you alright?">

Damian Wayne has posed:
There's a sigh from Robin. <I'll be there in five.>

He's making his way along the embankment to join the others, when he notices the figure on the overpass. His eyes widen behind his mask and he grabs for his grapple - no, he doesn't have the reach for it.

<We're not alone.> offered quickly, he tries to tag the figure in the dominos for the others.

Austin Reese has posed:
The pair of zip-cuffs come out of a pouch and are strapped on Xander's wrists, and the trunk is popped open, assisting Essix in loading the guy into the trunk. When Hood's car pulls up, Osprey gives him a quick wave with a hand, "You missed all the fun."

Then someon eleaps off of the overpass, and his attention is immediately turned towards the figure that just landed. A frown crosses his face as he regards the masked, armed person, "Or maybe not."

He waits until the moment Essix is out of the way and then slams the trunk closed, before turning to fully face the masked figure, "C'mon man, it's been a long night. Best keep on walking." However his fists are closed and ready though, in case this turns the way he expects it to.

Jason Todd has posed:
No pizza.

"Well that's disappointing."

Red Hood watches as the, uh, Gelatinous Cube jiggles the whiny little bitch over to Osprey's car. It's an impressive ability, he has to admit. But still kind of creepy. His thoughts come back to the moment as part of the overpass falls and crushes the once exotic car and the apparently responsible party effortlessly flips their way down to the lower road level.

<Seems like it.> Trouble.

Somehow his hands went from empty, to holding pistols in the fraction of a second. Both barrels aimed at the new arrival.

"Sorry, Pizza Delivery's been cancelled."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    THe figure draws to a stand, glove-covered right hand raising up as it points to the trunk that Xander was just stuffed into, making their desire known. Either they need a spare tire, or they're also after the pharma-bro.

    As Osprey, Essix, and Robin on his approach are there, with Red Hood bringing his guns to bare aimed at the new person, with the head wrap blowing in the breeze. The figure turns to regard them all, backlit by the fire from the wrecked supercar behind them, and then the pointing hand flattens into an open palm, before reddish lines appear against the glove, converging towards the center and a fireball errupts from their hand -- followed by a throwing spike at Red Hood's chest, and the figure leaping up, drawing the sword, and coming down in a mighty slash towards Osprey!

    <Get out of my way,> a dry voice echoes from the vocorder in the mask. <It is time they pay for their violence.>

Essix has posed:
With Xavier cuffed and the trunk closed, Essix forms herself up into her human form wearing what she considers her 'hero costume'... a black bodysuit, how original. Her human eyes shift to look at the new arrival, attempting to assess the person. Was this some sort of body guard for Xavier, or was this an executioner attempting to ensure that the man couldn't talk? She'd protected the guy before, she'll do it again, but for now the ball was in the Bat's hands... or something like that, she needs to learn the correct idiom before trying to think it.

<"We got trouble,"> she says, but her human lips never move. This was in part for Damian's sake, but also for her own. Stating the obvious often helped her work through things faster. <"This person will not get to our target. You worry about them, I will take care of Xavier. If you have need of my assistance, just ask and I will involve myself further.">

Damian Wayne has posed:
Finally, Robin is finally close enough to join the others, and when he moves into position, he's heading to flank the unknown from the others side, his eyes focused on the sword to see if he might recognize it.

"No prizes for you tonight. One chance. Walk away." he grunts, his hands resting on his utility belt.

And no, we're choosing violence. A pair of birdarangs come out and are flung towards the figure - at distance - he's still trying to close in with the others.

Austin Reese has posed:
"No chance. You're outnumbered and outgunned."

Of course someone's going to try to make this even harder. He brings his hands up as the intentions are made pretty clear. A magic user? Wonderful, this just keeps getting better!

He manages to evade the fireball only to find the masked figure is very fast, Osprey manages to get his arms up to intercept the slash with his gauntlets, but the power behind it actually knocks him backwards, slamming into the trunk.

His right hand drops down to his side and pulls something out of one of the pouches, shifting his position to keep himself in between this assassin and the trunk, as he snaps the collapsible baton out at his side. Better to have something to defend with besides his bare hands.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood has been talking calmly, but that was to allies. Family, not that anyone on the outside would know. But inside? Well to say that chaos and anger reign right now would just be the beginning of a string of dark descriptors.

There is no patience, no tolerance for this new arrival.

THe moment those hands begin moving in LARP mode, it's taken as an aggressive action. Aggression meets aggression as he begins to fire at the figure - it becomes a bit of cross fire as the fireball goes off and the spike is thrown toward him. Responding to the spike he twists to the side, the spike grazing his armor after ripping a hole through his armored jacket. Not to self, don't get a direct hit.

If any of his rounds strike the figure, it'll be come clear in a moment that they aren't taser rounds and instead are live armor piercing rounds.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The spike goes through the armored jacket. The fire heats things up and makes the pavement bubble and the paint peel away. The figure is making their way close to Austin as they leap and slash downwards, the tip of the sword drawing down and biting into Osprey's armor before they try to bodily SHOVE the larger figure out of the way of the trunk -- and then the birdarangs draw near -- the blade is raised to deflect them, which opens the figure for the volley of AP Bullets.

    The back of their jacket blows out. There is red light beneath, as if their insides were a cracked lava lamp, immaterial and morphing, leaking, and then the figure turns, crouching back over before they launch another volly of an attack -- but it's clear the figure is really not happy with the current predictament.

    Pulling a pair of silver orbs from their belt, the figure underhand-slings them -- they're concussive bursts, flashbangs, and they are slinging one of them right at Red Hood, the follow through sending the other directly at Robin to try and catch him in the chest as well!

Essix has posed:
The situation had taken a turn Essix was not prepared for... fire. She knew the Bats could take care of themselves, but the presence of that fire meant protecting Xavier became a challenge. Once again her skills of observation from every direction work in her favor as she comes up with a plan, in a matter of seconds, that will remove the primary problem from the situation.

With Red Hood, Osprey and Robin presently engaged, none were privy to how she opened the trunk. A tendril into the lock, trigger the tumblers, trunk open and the squishy human inside exposed. Unfortunately for the trio they were also unable to see as her form expanded, growing larger in size and mass. As this occurred, she was pulling Xavier from the trunk and by the time her transformation was complete, she held the screaming man in the talons of a giant eagle and the massive wings were already starting to beat and lift her further into the air.

<"I will away with him,"> she informed the three, not entirely certain where to take him other than away from there. Whatever it was that Xavier was needed by the Bats for, the little... large eagle alien... would ensure that this person did not get their hands on him.

Austin Reese has posed:
The blade bites through the armor, into Osprey's forearms. He manages to avoid grunting in pain, but that drew blood, and it splatters onto the pavement as he gets shoved off to the side. Pain spikes through his arms after he lands, but he focuses through it. He turns over and whips the baton through the air, trying to intercept the lava lamp assassin? Whatever they are, some kind of magic construct or something. Phoebe would know. He's never been good with this magic stuff.

He kicks his feet out and kips back up to his feet, throwing himself at the assassin and trying to spear them into the roadside barricade. Whatever it takes to keep them away from the trunk and one of their only leads. There's time to bleed later.

Right now he's going to be trying to land as many elbow and knee strikes as he can before he probably gets stabbed through the gut or something. Maybe he can hold them long enough for Jason to hit a headshot.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood would have to turn in his Vigilante-On-The-Edge-Of-Criminal Card if flash bangs and stun grenades slowed him down. Sure they land and go off. Yes the concussive blast knocks some air from his lungs. And yes, he takes a whole step back. But he didn't plagiarize most of Batman's tech (that he can get access to) just to get bested by amateur antics. His mask's optics lock down on the flare of light, protecting his vision and the audio circuits dampen the noise. He'll huff and puff for a moment but it only delays the inevitable.

"Bitch please."

"My turn."

Flicking the selector switch on the left pistol, he fires a projectile from the lower barrel. The heavy booming report would suggest it is of a larger caliber and power. Just a bit.

A 20mm frangible round streaks toward the would-be assassin. Should it hit, it instantly shatters into many vicously jagged fragments that will not over penetrate and risk hitting Osprey.

Damian Wayne has posed:
As Essix pulls back with the prize, Robin yells out to her. "Take him here!" He pings a location in his mask for her, so that she can recieve it in her comm. A warehouse that's nearby - one of the many Bat stash points around the city.

And just as he does that, the flashbang explodes in front of him and knocks him back, screwing with his equilibrium and temporarily scrambling the domino. Not that it's going to stop him.

Following the sounds of the battle, another pair of birdarangs are sent towards the target, as he waits for the systems to reboot from the temporary stun.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Essix grabs Xavier, and takes to the skies. Xander is screaming more. This can't be happening to him. His life Was NORMAL and he ABSOLUTELY DID NOT DESERVE THIS. He does, but that's another story.

    The assailiant on the other hand is forced back into the barricade. There is a feminine scream that echoes from beneath the mask, a grunting sound, and the creature -- bleeding reddish, waxy substance through its top piece.

    Red Hood's 20mm round hits, explodes.

    There's flesh. And bone, and burned off face bits as a reddish eye peers back through the smoke.

    Grunting, it tries to push itself up, and then raises its good hand, and SLAMS a pellet onto the ground. Flash, smoke, and the smell of floral and spice.

    And the creature, the construct was gone.

    Waxy residue was left behind, but Xavier was safe, for now... until the brothers get to him, in any case.

Austin Reese has posed:
Well there's definitely a body there. It splatters all over Osprey when that 20mm round impacts and sends gore all over him. At least the round didn't over penetrate.

"Fucking hell."

Between the noise of the shot and the disorientation from being covered in red waxy goo, he stumbles back against the car, trying to wipe his face a bit with one of his gloves.

"Did we get it?"

He gets his answer a moment later when the construct raises its arm and slams it to the ground, sending up the cloud of floral smoke. He coughs and steps back away from where he had been near the creature after he had let go, "What the hell was that thing?"

With the situation now seeming to be in hand, or at least with Xavier secure, the adrenaline can drop and the pain in his arms can remind him that it's there. He knows that wound is deep enough it's going to require stitches, at the very least. But that can wait, they have business to attend to.