17312/It's a Splash

It's a Splash
Date of Scene:	01 March 2024
Location:	Gotham Aquarium
Synopsis:	When the 'Tick Tacs' threaten a school outing at the GOtham Aquarium, Robin and Riptide form an unlikely duo to take care of business.
Cast of Characters:	River Banks, Damian Wayne

---

River Banks has posed:
    You ever try to get out of something that got suddenly way bigger, more complicated, and traumatic than you anticipated, and realized you would rather be fighting Sabretooth in a desert than playing chaperone to a bunch of elementary school children in uniforms?

    River. Is. There.

    There were a gaggle of eight-to-ten-year-olds under her care -- her younger brother Rio, with glasses perched dangerously close to falling off his nose as he excitedly talks at length about the Red Hood action figure he's printed out and how he's doing all the research into late-sixties era speedback Mustangs so he can get the car *just right* because once upon a time he rode in -- err -- saw it in action and it was AWESOME.

    His classmates, who are in general pretty wealthy, think he's making it up for attention since it's obvious from his sister's clothes that they're a charity case. River is wearing a borrowed Gotham Academy sweatshirt to identify her as a member of the group. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a braid and put into a bun, and she had a little backpack with her own lunch and water bottles in it as the kids excitedly changed from super hero topics to OHMIGOD LOOK AT THE PENGUINS. Why are so many named Oswald?

Damian Wayne has posed:
If one knew how much money Cobblepot donated to the Penguin Pond at the Aquarium, it would be easy to explain why so many of the penguins are named after the rountound entrepeneure.

Damian is so not here on any kind of field trip. Instead, he had his own charity work to deal with. After a date a few months back with Gabby, he decided that he would make a sizable donation to provide of the otters to have an upgraded sanctuary. Just a little something he had planned and forgotten after the relationship ended - and instead of just setting a would be Valentine's gift to the side, he followed through with in anyway.

Dressed in a sharp pressed business suit with his hair slicked back, he's chatting it up with the director of the Aquarium as they pass by the group of students. The young man looks over the gaggle of kids and their beleagured chaperone is offered a small, almost sympathetic smile as they continue on their path.

River Banks has posed:
    Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

    The gaggle of kids don't seem to care about Damian passing behind them, sharp and slick (though their chaperone gives a mild look to Damian as he passes her by, and self-conciously rubs the scar on her chin a little as she turns back towards the penguins.

    The penguins are under a large skylight in a room that allows them to echo their calls loudly, amplified by the delighted yells of kids as they WARK WARK WARK with and at the penguins.

    That's when the skylight gave a crick.

        A crack...

    And then burst into a shower of sharpene dglass and re-enforcing wire as militant looking goons clad in black tac and masks burst through. Penguins scream in confusion, kids scream in terror as some of the chaperones abandon their charges, grabbing their own kids and making a run for it.

    Not the exhausted looking blonde, however. She flares out her sweatshirt like a cape, covering as many kids as she can with it while telling them to all back up, stay calm, grab a hand to hold.

    As the guys in black tac come down, she herds all the kids into a crawl-through tunnel under a group of small rays to keep them under cover, brown eyes going wide. Looks like someone read the 'in case of atack' handbook the school provides.

Damian Wayne has posed:
The director is eagerly trying to get Damian to commit to helping other animals in the aquarium when there's the cracking of the skylight above. Glancing up, the young man's expression darkens. "Call 9-1-1." he tells the director, pushing him down a side path, as he reaches into his jacket, pressing a small transmitter within to warn the others of the attack on the aquarium.

And then he, too, is pulling away from the kids, a glance towards the men in the tac-gear. He's not sure what their goal is, but part of him is concerned it might be him.

"Keep an eye on them." he tells River as she huddles with the group. "There's an employee exit out the back of the penguin pool - head that way." Taking off his jacket, he's wrapping around his arm as he moves to try to get out of sight, heading away from the penguin exhibit and trying to draw the attention to him.

River Banks has posed:
    "Not your first rodeo either, huh?" River evenly asks Damian, and she gives a nod. "Rio, scoot. Take the front with Hopscotch, everyone else, follow Rio. We're gonna get you outside to the busses, okay? I'm gonna make sure you're OK. An' this is Gotham -- there's Bats, an' probably they know somethin's goin' down." she states, in a rehearsed manner.

    "Like /Red Hood/!" the boy with the red glasses states, and he grabs his partner's hand, and begins to lead the kids through the tunnel to the back corner.

    "An' what're you gonna --" she starts, and she turns to where Damian had been standing, only to find him gone. Her eyes narrow a moment, and she checks her backpack, and on her knees, moves through the ray tunnel and towards the back access hall.

    One of the militant types looks bigger than the others. He walks with a very slight limp. Damian would be able to pick up on it.

    "Now, now. We heard there was a field trip today! Gotham's youngest and most special little snowflakes --" he settles back on his heels.

    "Shoot anyone who looks older than fifteen. Knees. Try to leave 'em hampered and bleeding." the man states into an earbud.

    Damian, however, does attract attention. There's another chaperone hiding with his kid in a handy little gift kiosk, and some of the men in black were moving towards them when Damian appears. They turn, slowly, to train their guns on him with a 'STOP!'

    "Is... that one of the Waynes?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
That's it, notice Damian, see that he's one of the Waynes. This way!

Damian plays it up. He makes sure that he's clearly seen, before he disappears again down another tunnel. He's visited this aquarium - many times before. There's probably even a cache here - in the otter habitat. Which is why Damian was paying for it to be upgraded.

But he needs to get to it.

However, first things first. They yell for him to 'STOP'. Instead, Damian turns around, makes sure that the tac-gears get a good look at him, and then he runs down one of the diplay tunnels.

River Banks has posed:
    "Sir there is a WAYNE here!" one of the Tacs squawks into the radio as they give chase. They're in good shape, and carrying light gear, but they're armed with guns. Someone takes aim at the back of Damian's knees and fires a brief spray of bullets at him."

    "A /Wayne/? None of the Waynes are young enough to be in this group!" the head grunts. And he gives a soft hrm "Capture him. Keep him alive! I want him brought to me so we can make a TV spot!" he growls.

    Outside, the big group of abandoned school kids make it to the side, but Rio stops short, holding his arm out to stop his partner from going any further as the stairway down is missing ten feet to the ground.

    River slams the door behind them, and pours a little water on the door handle, pressing her hand to freeze it. She looks down at the drop, and then shakes her head a moment and mutters something about GOtham, and then slides forward, working against the outside of the rails.

    "It's okay, it's okay, it's a little drop. You're going to be okay. I'm going to catch you."

    WHUMP. Someone's knocking on the door.

    "We're gonna make this quick." she jumps, rolls just like Jason taught her to, and coming back up she holds her arms up. "Hopscotch, you first. C'mon. Ah won't let you get hurt."

    Inside the aquarium, the otter habitat has another pair of guards watching the otters.

    "They're just so peaceful, aren't they?"

    "Yeah, but have you ever seen a giant otter? They're the stuff of NIGHTMARES."

Damian Wayne has posed:
The bullets pock the ground around Damian, and down he goes, heading into a small hallway. Above it reads: ^ Otter Habitat ^

Now that he has some distance and he knows that there are others on his track, Damian can actually start using some of his skills. Into the shadows he goes, making his way along - spying the pair of guards watching the otters instead of paying attention.

A breath drawn and then held, he suddenly comes from the entrance and his foot swings around, kicking the one to his right in his head as he drives a punch to the one to the left, before grabbing his weapon and yanking the guard back towards him.

And the rifle is shoved forward as the guard comes towards him, the body of the rifle aimed at his chin to take him down quickly.

River Banks has posed:
    Damian's skills will never be denied; it'd be impossible. The two go down in short order. There's not even time to squawk out the location of The Wayne Brat.

    The first one is bent in a shallow 'r' shape, almost falling into the otter habitat, but instead just slumping to the side, falling down prone with a grunt.

    The other one is punched, his head swinging hard to the side before the gun butt is sent into his stomach, resulting in a hard cough of his breath leaving him, adn then down to the ground he goes. There's some comotion outside, but they pass by the otter habitat -- dead end, one of them says.

    Damian has some peace and quiet to change.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Policing up both of the rifles, so that they can't be used, Damian leaps over the railing of the otter habitat, dropping into it. As he does so, the otters skitter about in confusion. "Sorry Laura, Belladonna, Gabby." he offers to the trio as he moves over to the large false rock in the middle of it.

Pushing it aside, a strong box is in place. He opens a keypad, entering a code and when it opens, he grabs the knapsack out of it. Out of the enclosure, he heads to the employees area, changing his clothing quickly. While the packs are made to be used by any of the Bats, they really aren't customized. The black tunic is oversized as he slips it on, and he pulls on the domino mask. Grabbing the utility belt, he pulls it on and frowns. It'll have to do.

As he comes out of the employees area, he drops in behind the two men that were coming behind him - but now he has the drop on them. A bolo is swung at one of the two as the other is rushed at - he wants the man to try to get a shot off - he wants the attention on him. Once a shot is fired, he swings beneath the muzzle flash as he comes in with a sharp uppercut.

River Banks has posed:
    The kids all hop down. Rio's the last one, on account of him pushing the others when they don't jump.

    The door had slapped open as the ice lock on it failed, and one of the men coming out gets uppercut with an ice ball.

    River's had just about enough of this. She catches Rio one-armed, and setting him down she looks at all the kids.

    "Ah'm going to go back in there and make sure the other kids and their grown ups get out safe. All y'all gonna follow Rio to the police station, an' have them call your parents for pick ups. Okay?" she whispers to the group. "Y'all're so brave." she adds, and hugs her little brother with a soft 'squish' whispered to him, and then she reaches into her backpack and pulls out a rope.

    Rio steers the kids away, and they all break into a run, holding hands, for the police station.

    River, on the other hand, gets herself up, polices the gun the tac had, and then heads in the door, applying a mask with a grim visage and pulling her Riptide hood out of her backpack, she prepares herself for a fight.

    Inside, the bat had gotten the drop on the two men who were chasing him. The bolo swung at one of them catches, and the weights hit him in the head. A shot goes off, the raport ringing through an auditorium before the uppercut is delivered, knocking the gunman backwards and -- with a yelp -- into the dip of the auditorium itself. He's knocked out cold upon impact.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Two more down. Now that he has zip-ties, Damian makes sure to lock the pair of them down, as he hears the footfalls of the pair of men coming up on him. Back into the shadows he goes, and he uses something he hasn't done in a long time.

A laugh. Soft. Mocking. It echoes around the room, muddling his position as he moves along the lines of the exhibit, using the employee paths that are meant to keep them 'invisible' and not ruin the experience for guests. And he lies in wait for them, the predator Robin stalking fresh criminal prey.

River Banks has posed:
    The pair coming closer to Damian pause, and one gives a soft, questioning "What the Hell...?" and the other whispers "I hate Gotham. That's a bat. That's *gotta* be a bat..." he trails off, and one raises his gun. The other turns and watches the six, and the two slowly move forward, closer to where Damian is mockingly laughing.

    Elsewhere, down a hallway, the echoing screams of someone who's just encountered a lot of pain to a sensitive area arise, followed by the meaty SLAM of something fleshy coming to rest with a thud.

    The two with Damian, in his sights, begin to quiver in fear.

    "They're just people, they're just people --" one of them starts in.

    "Team Charlie, report. We just lost contact with Bravo. What's your status?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
"We're not people." That from behind the pair as Damian has moved in on the flank. A kidney punch into the one nearest to him, and he uses his body as a shield as he swings around, his feet moving quickly. Launching himself off the ground, he uses the man as a pole, swinging around to kick the other one on the face.

And he continues up, swinging around and twists so that he is sitting on the first one's shoulders and he pulls him backwards to drive him into the ground.

Black Widow isn't the only one that can do that, after all.

River Banks has posed:
    "OHGODNO!" comes the desperate cry of one of the Team Charlie's duo as he's used as a pole to send his companion flying, and then he's supporting RObin's weight up on his shoulders, There's a flail, a desperate attempt to dislodge Damian from his shoulders before he's driven into the ground with an "AAUGH!!" of anguish -- and then there is another presence in the room, with a steady drip... drip... drip...

    The figure stands to the back of the room where the other cries had come from. A grotesque, skull-like mask made of altered paintball materials, re-enforced with 3D printed parts.

    She has a leather hood up and over her head, giving her protection and hiding her hair. The leather jacket she's wearing is motorcycle-style, offset zipper and closed, and she regards the Bat.

    And then she offers up set of ziptie cuffs, her head giving a tilt.

Damian Wayne has posed:
A batarang is out, ready to be flung, but when the figure offers him a pair of cuffs, Robin pulls back his hand. The batarang is put away, the cuffs accepted as he locks the pair of them down. Once that's done, he gestures down the hallway towards the penguin enclosure. That's where the last of them are.

A little breath and he points her to the left, he's moving to take to the right, and it's his hope that he plans to catch them all in the middle. And just like that, he's back into the darkness again, on his way towards where all of this started.

Apparently, whoever she is, he's not worrying about right now. Bigger fish.

River Banks has posed:
    There is always a bigger fish.

    Riptide gives a nod to Robin, and she goes left, rushing along the back access corridor used to bring out food and carry injured divers, and disappears into the gloom.

    There are three here -- two goons in tac, with automatic rifles and masks, and the leader, who is armed with something that look a bit like a grenade launcher. He looms in the middle. He has an employee of the aquarium held out over the railing by their jacket.

    "WHY, praytell, is the PA system encoded? Why do you need a code to access it? Have I not made myself perfectly clear that I am willing to let every single life in this place continue on if they just... bring me the Wayne?" he asks, giving a soft sigh.

    Riptide has quietly made their way onto an overhead railing, and is watching for a signal -- or opportunity. She knows the Bats could probably handle this without her... but it's nice to help, right?

Damian Wayne has posed:
As he arrives in position, Robin takes his position, and takes in the situation. And for a moment, there's a regret - if he knew her powers, he'd had Riptide come up through the waterway and snag the employee. But there's nothing he can do about that now. Skulking into place, he drops in a pair of batarangs.

He knows he's the one that is giving the signal - hopefully the girl is as good as she's shown so far. Coming up from his position, the pair of batarangs are flung, one heading towards each of the men with the assault rifles, looking to take them out quickly, and leave only the leader to deal with.

"You call yourself experts. I've visited Girl Scouts with better skills." comes the Robin's mocking call - to draw attention to him and off of Riptide - hopefully giving her the flank.

River Banks has posed:
    THUNK THUNK! "WAAUGH!" "JEAYSUS!"

    The batarangs do their job neatly, snagging the two goons and taking each one down.

    The leader still holds up the employee -- a gift shop employee. Probably the one who hid the parent and kid earlier in some stuffed animals. His legs bicycle in the air, his eyes are wide. A drop from this height might not be fatal, but it would hurt.

    But as the leader turns, theres a soft 'tink'. An old fashioned grapple hook lands on another rafter, and Riptide swings in, snatching the employee and bringing them to a lower level.

    "HEY!" the leader barks.

    And now it's just Damian Wayne, in mutual cache gear, and the beefy leader, who has a little round emblem with eight legs sticking out of it... looking like a tick.

    ... these guys are now branded The Tick Tacs.

    Mano y Mano.

    And the leader pulls the grenade launcher looking thing, and takes aim.

    "Speakin' a girlscouts, I get a merrit badge for fightin' baby bats or do I gotta take out two or three of yas before I get it?" he asks.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Mutual cache gear that really doesn't come very loaded. Robin's out of batarangs and bolos. All he has left is a pair of electrified brass knuckles. He slips them on, smacking them together to build up a charge.

"You gonna hide behind that big gun? Here I thought you wanted to prove yourself the big man. Isn't that why you're going after children?"

Stepping out of the dark, Robin narrows his eyes behind his mask. "So come on, big boy." He totally expects him to use the grenade launcher anyway, because he's a coward, but he already knows that it can only chamber six rounds. If he can keep mobile and close the distance, he has a chance.

River Banks has posed:
    Big Boy grunts, and he gives a roar, charing with the canister-grendate launcher.

    And Slips.

    There wasn't an ice slick there a moment ago -- and in a blink it moves elsewhere.

    He's stumbled, off his balance, but still charging and he tries to bring the launcher right up to Robin's chest so he can pull the trigger and hit him point blank -- but he's bigger, and much slower than Damian is. Not to mention lacks his years of mastery.

    "They're soft targets and people pay big to bring their kids back!" he snarls. "No one was gonna hurt 'em!"

Damian Wayne has posed:
Running forward, as Big Boy slips, Robin snarls, and says mockingly. "Shoot anyone over fifteen in the kneecaps." he reminds, repeating the words from earlier. As he leaps at the large man, that barrel comes around to aim at him, and he is sliding downwards, knowing that the grenade will not arm at this range and is more like a shotgun shell.

Which at this range would still shatter his rib cage.

Once he's down and sliding forward, he leans back and throw a massive electrified punch, throwing his body forward to slam his fist - directly into Big Boy's crotch.

River Banks has posed:
    A Massive Electrified Punch to the Crotch would ruin pretty much anyone's day, let alone Big Boy's. Somewhat because he was SO FANCY and decided to wear, of all things, a conductive metal cup.

    It takes a split second for the pain to progress from 'oh god I can't feel my hips and legs' to 'OH GOD THE ELECTRICAL PAIN'. Truly a shocking experience, to which someone may say ohm my god, where there was no resistence, he's rather amped up as his eyes roll to the back of his head, his hair stands out at odd angles, and Big Boy with the grenade launcher goes DOWN. Hard. He wasn't counting on this electrifying performance from Robin!

Damian Wayne has posed:
Once he slams his fist home, Robin pulls back as the man doubles over, and he kicks the grenade launcher off to the side. And now that he's at the level where it works, the young man grabs the back of his head, drives it down as his knee comes up, clocking him out.

As he goes down, his attention turns to Riptide. "You good?" he asks her quietly, lips pulled into a thin line. He's clearly not giving her the lecture at the moment. "But as a heads up, police are probably on their way, so I'm gonna wrap up here, and we're both probably going to need to be on our way."

River Banks has posed:
    CRUNCH. Big Boy's nose is broken to add insult to injury. He loses a couple teeth in the progress, but surely that's a small price to pay for vaguely threatening all the kids on field trips today. He curls up in a fetal position out of instinct.

    "We're good." comes a Choice of a Voice. She has voice altering in the mask, but... it sounds like the electronics were lifted from a Darth Vader toy. "Employee went out the back way. Everyone seems like they came out with a story to tell.

    Riptide hoists herself up the railing, and teeters slightly. She's soaking wet.

    "So, which one are you, just in case Red Hood asks?" she questions politely. She's trying to hide an accent, muddled it on purpose as she grabs her grapple hook and places it back in her backpack, rolling up the rope.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Friend of Red Hood's, huh. Could make worse choices." comes the reply as the young man looks Riptide up and down. Does he mean Riptide or Red Hood could make worse choices? That's clearly not made available at the moment.

Knee into the middle of Big Boy's back as he locks down the would be terrorist, he offers, "Robin." he finally allows. "Not Red. Just Robin. He'll know."

River Banks has posed:
    "Yeah, something like that." Riptide states back to Robin, and she looks him over a moment.

    "Thanks. Would have made it much harder if I did not run into you." the blue-clad questionable heroine states, and then she takes out a phone, checking it.

    "Police in two. Thanks again." she gives a off-hand wave, and turns down a corridor to disappear, leaving Big Boy in Damian's tender mercies, ziptied into place.

    "GOTHAM POLICE!" someone shouts below. "WE ARE ENTERING THE BUILDING!"

Damian Wayne has posed:
And they will find several criminals all trussed up, waiting to be collected. No Robin in sight. After all, he's totally not dressed for the occassion.

He's going to have to mark off the cache at the otter pond, but he'll find someplace else to put one.

River Banks has posed:
    Outside, kids are being released to parents. There's a crowd of people in Mercedes and Teslas and big fancy SUV's who are claiming their kids from the police.

    River's got a bit of a limp, and a line of bruises and scratches from where someone on Team Bravo dug a knife into her.

    The Tick Tacs are rounded up, and Big Boy is whimpering and a little toasted as he's 'helped' into the wagon about to bring him to Blackgate for processing. Turns out he's a highly wanted man. Robin can check that one off his list.

    No kids or chaperones were hurt, other than River when she 'scraped herself on a stairway.

    "Hey, did anyone make sure the Wayne kid made it outta there?" she asks, "He was walkin' with someone in a suit."