17337/Riot: Sunday Drivers

Riot: Sunday Drivers
Date of Scene:	11 March 2024
Location:	Shady Pines Retirement Community
Synopsis:	Osprey, Robin, and Orphan face off against the Grumpy Guard Shack Grannies, jousting pensioneers, and PsyOp -- and the assassin that tried to take Xavier Rollins from the Bats!
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Cassandra Cain, Damian Wayne, Austin Reese

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    SHADY PINES RETIREMENT COMMUNITY: A secure campus consisting of three buildings, a few lines of low row houses, and currently a security team scrambling because no one -- not a member of the team -- is trained for things a Bat should be handling.

    THe team of five are gathered at the guard house, looking at the buildings. One of the outbuildings is on fire while a trio of old men are haltingly dancing around it, canes in hand. Another building is visibly on lockdown with lights flashing along it.

    "So... uh... was there anything in the guidebook about what to do when a psycho decides to attack the residents?" one asks, his hand on his taser gun.

    "Uh.... I always figured it would Lord of the Flies, you know, everyone for themself?" another responds.

    A car alarm goes off as a minivan is overturned by a small crowd of blue haired old ladies, who begin to stalk closer and closer.

    What a mess.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Nobody expected that. That's why the Bats weren't on scene yet. They might well be on their way, but nobody was really truly expecting this one. Well, there's that one guy, but we don't talk about him. Insert old Grampa Simpson quote here.

Cassandra however tears along the street on her motorcycle that she just got, brand new one, and looks at the map of the location that Barbara sends her. Oh, sorry, Oracle sends her. she tries to think of the lady's name, but it's hard. People having names is weird to her still.

However, looking at the map, she's not that far away. So she pulls into an alley at highway speeds, scrapes paint on the walls, and beelines toward the location in question.

Actually, someone probably did expect it. Just not sure who that could have been yet.

Damian Wayne has posed:
<I'm going to be a bit behind.> that is over the comms from Damian, who apparently is still in the Batcave. He's in his gear, but as he pulls back, he's holding a dart in his hand.

<Red Robin and I were able to crack the code to render the control module inert, but it's only able to be delivered via injection at the moment.> he reports. <I have twenty doses made, and have the Batcomputer working on synthesizing more. I'll be there as fast as possible with what we have so far. Just... keep them busy!>

With that, he's off, as Damian looks around, and his eyes fall on... the Bat-copter. It hasn't been used in a while - and it's a good way to arrive on the scene - a little faster than using Goliath as well. Grabbing the keys for it, he runs to fire it up to prepare to head to the scene!

Austin Reese has posed:
'Keep them busy'

Great, easier said than done. Osprey had been on a cycle, cruising along, weaving in and out of traffic and then the alert went up. He had to check the address twice. Still didn't seem like it would be real, but the additional info from Robin had just confirmed it.

Now he was racing back towards the old folks home, able to see the familiar orange glow of a fire in the distance as he speeds there. Things are already very out of hand, and it only looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better at this rate, <"I'm nearly there. We'll do what we can but this is already out of control.">

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Things are mildly out of control.

    The trio of old dudes with canes are still (slowly) dancing around the fiery shed. The building on lockdown with the alert lights is still alerting. The old ladies are looming... ever... closer... to the guard shack.

    "STAY BACK!" the first guard of the quintet orders, reaching for his taser gun. He has one shot.

    Luckily, he doesn't have to take it.

    "Greetings, batlings." comes a modulated voice from a loudspeaker. "I see you have found my second 'public' trial! How *exciting*. Did you know, that depending on the other vitamins you are taking, my modifications to Dr. Crane's marvelous invention can have different results?"

    PsyOps speaks.

    "The freedom from the ego, reversion to the primative. Suggestability -- and of course, Fear!"

    One of the guards begins to look twitchy. He begins to scratch at his arms.

    "I do hope you'll all let my experiment run its course -- but I understand if you are driven, compulsed, to fix it..."

    The guard screams. "YOU'RE COVERED IN BUGS!!" -- pulls his taser -- and shoots another guard in the back.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Apparently Damian was expecting it, having a lead on the solve for the problem already on the go. That's one of the things that Cassandra values and envies in her team, and one of the reasons that she stays with them. They have a lot to teach her still in so many fields.

She rolls her eyes slightly as Austin calls it out of control, pulling up and ditching her motorcycle without really slowing down quite properly, sending it skidding across the gravel as she bails out and rolls to her feet.

She can literally hear what's going on, where people are, and is moving without hesitation. It looks, from outside, as if she's simply leaping into 'danger' without checking first. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Zip ties in her left hand, she slides on her right side into the most worrisome group: guard shack grannies. She proceeds to pause, then, letting them all see her. Two of them have already had zip ties wrapped around their left ankle - when did she do that? She glances at the guards thoughfully, as she lets grannies approach her. Assuming that they do.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Up above, the Bat-Copter arrives on scene. At the controls, Damian sets the vehicle to a hover as he moves to the side, sliding back the the door, and looking down. And that's where he spies Cassandra. "Orphan!" he calls out.

And with that, he flings a packet to her, trusting that she'll catch it. "You have fives doses, have to apply it like a shot!" He grabs one of the darts and mimes sticking it in his arm.

Another packet is thrown towards Osprey when the youngest Bat spies him. In the meantime, he's breaking out a dart gun, loading a dart and taking aim at the guard with the taser, firing a shot to try to strike him in the neck to administer the antidote.

Austin Reese has posed:
When his bike pulls up to the house facility, Osprey stops short of the guard gate, spotting the chaos already unfolding inside of the guard shack, and just past it, the burning minivan hard to miss after all. Then the speakers all come online, and there's a voice. An all too familiar voice.

Cass goes rushing past him into the security station, so he opts to take the group of octogenarian vandals, "Talk about Grouchy Grannies." He starts to advance towards them, ready to safely take them down and cuff them since they're not in control at the moment.

Then the sound of a chopper above. He lifts his head, and then tilts it after a moment. Not how he was expecting Robin to show, truth be told. Still, he holds his hand up and grabs the packet out of midair, "This'll work."

He rips the pouch open and takes the needles into his left hand, moving in towards the grannies, slipping one into his right hand as he jukes to one side and moves to stick the closest one in the shoulder and deliver the injection as he passes.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Packets dispensed, antidote darts armed, the grouchy guard shack grannies (the greatest new Gotham Punk Band) are being contained as PsyOp's voice rattles around, the message on repeat -- a similar MO from last time.

    It takes a few minutes. The guard who was freaking out drops down, seemingly exhausted. The granny who has gotten the shot also appears to lose the wind from her sails very quickly.

    The other grannies continue their advance on Orphan, beginning to chant out:

    "Blood - Blood - Blood - BLOOD! - BLOOD!" in an oddly creepy fashion, cackling to one another.

     That's when a window breaks at the building's dining room, and screeching and holloring can be heard from inside -- along with the sour-sweet smell of PsyOp's aerosol catalyst for the fear gas vitamins!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass is ...well, that was a really fast helicopter ride, she wasn't expecting Robin for some time yet, but again, the Bats continue to impress. She simply raises her hand, and the expert throw drops the 'things' into her free hand. She rips it open, then proceeds to...dance with them?

That's what it looks like. She does a few steps with each granny, allowing them to try and grab her, then turns her back on them and walks into the guard shack and just reaches up and grabs the remaining guard by the wrist.

As the grannies begin to topple, injections injected, she pulls him toward her and sidesteps, making it look easy. The choke hold she applies gives her a good view of what's going on, and she frowns a little at the screeching and window breaking.

The visible sigh as she drops the guard and slips in her noseplugs is ..well, it's visible.

Damian Wayne has posed:
As the window bursts open, Damian glances downwards, and frowns. "It's getting worse." he reports with a shake of his head. "I know I do not have enough darts for this." he admits quietly.

Trying to figure out what to do, he brings the copter in closer. Maybe he should have stayed at the cave and made more. Would there have been time.

What is he doing? He's using the blades of the helicopter to try to create an downdraft to suck the gas out of the building and disperse it upwards.

Austin Reese has posed:
The first thing Osprey does is slip a rebreather on over his mouth and nose, making sure he won't get any of the gas in his own lungs. That out of the way, he moves towards the broken window, leaving Orphan to finish with the grannies. The wind being whipped up by the helicopter gets a thumbs up from Austin down below.

He's trying to get a good look inside the broken window, see if he can't find a source for the gas or something. Or see if there's anyone in there that isn't going completely crazy and needs help.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The wind whipped up the helicopter clears the air in the dining room quickly. The roar of the engine, the ripple of the winds, and once inside, Austin can be on the move.

    The aerosol dispenser was obvious, in this case. A large, imitation Glade air freshener.

    It even looks sour.

    There is currently what looks like a gang fight involving walker jousting going on in the dining room, though it appears to be winding down with the introduction of a lot of fresh air!

    There is also a masked person there, wearing all black, with a radio n their hip. They match the height and weight of Shaw, the psychologist who had poisoned Phoebe -- and was partially responsible for her death.

    He immediately turns to leave -- do the Bats pursue, or do they rescue the Old Folks?

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass just handles the people outside, walking from one to another and putting them down. She hasn't had this easy a time since they sent that MMA group to train against; at least these folks have real world experience.

Was that out loud? It wasn't? Cool. Moving on.

It takes about as long to do as it takes for Damian to clear the area's gas, so she waits for him and then thumbs at the main building, suggesting that they head inside? Austin's already there, but there can't be that much going on. Can there?

Damian Wayne has posed:
Keeping the helicopter over the building to finish blowing out the gas is going to take a little bit of time, so Damian is keeping vehicle in place. And while that handicaps him for the moment - what it gives him in return is - an eye in the sky.

As soon as Shaw - or what is approximating as Shaw - makes an appearance outside the building, he's going to call it out to Cassandra.

Because Cassandra is the least likely to be the most violent towards him. And it keeps things in check. In the meantime, he throws the other two packets with five doses each towards Cassandra, while she's getting amongst.

Austin Reese has posed:
The canister dispenser is spotted, and then after a moment, so is the masked figure behind it. Osprey can do two things at once. He grabs a container off his belt and breaks into a run. He hurdles over a pair of old guys that have slumped to the ground, and grabs the fake air freshener off the table, tossing it into the container and sealing it, turning around mid step and throwing it back towards the open window, "Orphan, secure this!" He calls out as he tosses it, his one backwards step ending as he turns back around and is after the masked figure again.

He's not going to give him a chance to leave, as Osprey pulls a pair of his throwing knives off of his bandolier, and whips them towards the masked figure, the aim being to stick at least one of them into a leg to make sure he won't be able to run. Should just be a flesh wound.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Approximation of Shaw would also make a great band name.

    PsyOp bolts through the flashing. There's sounds coming out of rooms where people have been secured. Nurses and aides are trying to calm people down -- they weren't part of the program. They didn't know their residents were. There's panic. There's people running around.

    And Osprey pulls his throwing knife, he launches it, and there's the CLANG of metal hitting metal.

    The Assassin from hunting Rollins has made an appearance. It appears through a red-tinged portal, like the color of old blood. The narrow eyes on the mask are backlit with crimson, and the hooded figure is holding a sword -- which is how they saved PsyOp.

    PsyOp skids along the floor.

    The jousting continues, but has lost oomph. The guards are coming to, as are the grumpy guard shack grannies and, with fresh air exposure, the three men with the burning shed are trying to put it out with a garden hose.

    Inside, the assassin squares off against Osprey, sword held at the ready. Narrow hallways, indoors, doesn't bode well for anyone if the fight also gets out of control.

    A deep voice echoes from the masked assassin: You would do well to retreat, Pandion. You will not seize this servant today.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
While Cassandra trusts Austin as much as anyone in the team, she's still unimpressed with what happened to Phoebe. Weirdly, she's moving almost before the assassin is known to be there. The packets fall to the ground, because Cass, for once, isn't waiting for things to catch up to her. She's already gone.

The 'assassin'? There's a shadow coming for it, and one that might just be moving faster than any human has the right to move. There are times when Cass seems almost languid, easy to match.

This isn't one of them.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Now that the helicopter is done clearing out the air, stale, contaminated, or Fresh Mint scene, Damian moves to land it on the ground, away from the building. There is going to no way that he's going to allow the assassin to use it as an escape route.

Once it's on the ground, Robin swings his way out of the vehicle, drawing his own twin blades as he waits, standing by in case he's needed. Hopefully the locals aren't so loco anymore.

Austin Reese has posed:
After the knife has left his hand, Osprey tracks it through the air, until the moment it is swatted to the ground with a clatter as the sword wielding assassin from when they acquired Xavier re-appears quite suddenly from that strange portal. He's managed to figure out it's some kind of magical construct, but he still doesn't know much more besides that...Except that it's real durable.

"Neat trick." He says, adjusting his stance a bit as he looks around. Far too many innocent people in here to risk having a throw down with this thing. Would be way too easy for that sword to get a little wild and carve someone's meemaw in half.

"I'll admit I'm getting tired of the suspense. Who do you work for?" He asks, fists clenching tight and the eyes of his domino narrowing. Filtered through the rebreather or not, the tone is definitely one of a barely controlled anger. This /thing/ is keeping him from getting to Sewell, and in turn getting to whoever's behind all of this. He's not going after PsyOp, yet no good path to him with the assassin in the way of the hall. But that problem may sort itself out soon enough.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    PsyOp, in his dark purple-and-swirl-gold suit, pushes back and away from the Assassin, and turns to make a run down the hall. The locals aren't entirely nuts. Things are calming down -- people are abandoning the hallway that the fight is brewing into.

    Orphan is addressed first, that shadow moving fast is counter-attacked, the sword snapping up into a downward point, and then added the threat of a long dagger that the figure pulls, flipping it once so that the grip is reversed, and then Orphan would find herself slashed at, and then pushed backwards.

    The figure tries to push Orphan into Osprey, far more put-together this time.

    The dagger is raised again, its green handle catching in the light as the figure regards the two -- but no further answers were coming.

    Damian's arrival is imminent. Three bats against the Assassin figure.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
There's one thing that most don't know about Cass. It's this: the first time you fight her is your bestest chance to win. After that, she knows your style. she'll be ready. But for just a moment, she's surprised.

Those were some of THEIR moves!

Snarling as she's pushed back, Cass adjusts. She slides around Osprey and comes back at him, at them, and pulls out a chair from beside her, sliding it across the floor to interfere with footing. Okay, boys. if this is what I think it is, you'll do...this.

She has to know.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Just as Damian arrives, he was about to go on the attack.

But nope. Cassandra has called the ball. And honestly, Damian is good. He knows he's good.

But he's also good enough to know that he will get in the way of Cassandra.

So a simple sign language to Cass of Kick his ass and he's moving out of the way to block the escape route, just on the off chance that Cassandra loses.

Austin Reese has posed:
Austin did recognize that move. He jukes out of the way of Orphan as she goes past. Then he feels her moving in first, and like Robin he lets her take the lead. If she's doing what he thinks she's doing, then chances are he'll have his opening in only a few seconds.

His left hand drops to his side and grabs something off his belt, snapping the baton out again. This time it's reinforced to make it a bit more difficult for a blade to slice through. Should help against that sword, if he did the math right.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    And how strong is Austin at math?

    There is attention paid to Damian's arrival. Three on one -- not good odds.

    Horrible evens.

    Math jokes are a sin.

    The chair is caught with a simple move of the hip and foot. Reflection and opposite of Cassandra's action, the sword still at the guard until there is a slight tilt to the figure's head. The Owl like mask with its backlit eyes seems to tick a moment.

    The figure's hand lifts, reaching out before the palm catches a quick glow.

    And then its fingers close. Instant heat fills the immediate area, raising it to nearly ninety degrees, then a pellet is thrown up. They have a brief warning of: Phosphorus

    Before the portal opens behind the assassin again, wreathed in red lettering, and the figure falls backwards through it.

    The last words uttered are: "... not yet."

    The phosphorus tablet was in the air -- it could ignite and explode, bathing the immediate area in thousands of degrees of heat to flash-fry the bats, the residents, and everyone else. There's screams from down the hall at the spattering of red liquid that falls in the wake of the portal.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass' player jumps to a few seconds later. Why? Because even she, the typist, doesn't know how Cass gets out of that close-range explosion. But a moment later she's behind cover, and has dragged anyone who didn't get there in time with her.

Actually, now that she thinks about it, it really doesn't make sense. There wasn't really time to do all of that. Physics is weird. Buuuuut, given that it happened...she shrugs and keeps typing.

Looking out from cover, Cass checks to see if there's any more threat.

Austin Reese has posed:
There's a brief moment when Austin thinks he's going to have that window. And then that window is filled with a phosphorous explosive. He stops mid-step, turning and pushing with his other foot. It's only a moment, but he manages to get out of the way, ducking and covering as it goes off with a blast.

He'll get to work on extinguishing it once he has verified everyone made it out okay.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There's the woof of fire. There is the stench of burnt floor wax and walls.

    Then the fire supression system kicks on, and sprinklers go off in the hallway. THe doors are closed at either end, though not locked.

    And the three Bats are all now getting wet.

    PsyOp was gone. The Assassin was gone.

    And wherever the Assassin ended up, the construct pauses, elsewhere, a Gotham City rooftop as a storm brewed, and regarding quietly the zip tie, gift of Cass.

    A warning.

    And there is the briefest flash of a memory, a flower crown.