1857/Flamebird and Green Arrow enjoy the fresh night air

Flamebird and Green Arrow enjoy the fresh night air
Date of Scene:	26 May 2020
Location:	Central Business District
Synopsis:	Here's my pager. Don't get dead.
Cast of Characters:	Bette Kane, Oliver Queen

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Bette Kane has posed:
Bette could have pushed on back to Gotham but a stop to get some rest did her good... for about two hours of nap anyway. Then she got the itch, the itch to go explore this city. She donned her uniform Flamebird uniform and snuck out of the motel via the bathroom window, then got back on her bike and started to roam the city. There are always fewer cars out at night and the cool air is just what she needed.

But what she really needed were those guys skulking about. Hushed tones, masks, tools and clearly guns tucked in to the back of their pants. She parked her bike around the corner and made her way to the roof top to get a better view of what they're up to. The attempts at muffling their sounds made it obvious - they were breaking in to that gun store.

Now this is what she calls an exciting trip to a new city. Dropping down from the roof top she casually strolled around the corner, leaning up against the wall and watching them work their tools at the security box. "Need a hand with that?," she taunts.

Oliver Queen has posed:
If there is anyone that knows Starling's rooftops as noone else that's Oliver. The Arrow has been making sure that the streets of his city stay clear for years, no matter how those earlier years he was more focused on vengeance. But right now he's their guardian protector. And tonight is no different. He has been following the trails of a certain gang that was hoping to infiltrate Starling a month ago and even if the main body of it has been taken down and sent to trial there's always those either ready to take over the power vacuum left behind or simply members of that previous gang who decided to go independent.

Whatever the case, Oliver tracked a particular few to that gun store. A predictable move. Stocking up so they could then continue terrorizing the city. He was just about to drop down to intercept when he hears the voice, a faint frown and a squint of his eyes, watching the costumed figure approaching.

If he recognizes the outfit there seems to be no change of expression on him but he doesn't come out just yet even if with a flick of his arm the bow extends to it's full size and he brings out an arrow. Broadhead in this case.

The men that were working on the breaking in pause, looking over. Frowning. "Get outta here if you know what's good for you.." one of them reaches behind to take out a baton from his belt, hoping to threaten Bette with it.

Bette Kane has posed:
Bette smirks, "Good for me? I never was good at knowing what's good for me." She pushes off the wall and starts to approach the gang of thieves. The baton makes her tilt her head, "Yeah okay, I'm game." She makes a 'come at me motion' to that guy in particular and waits for him to get closed before she shifts to the left as the baton swings her way and gives him a sound punch to the kidneys, then another to the head. As he stumbles doubling over she knees him right in the face and then pushes him against the hard wall. At that point, he slumps down to the ground and she dusts her hands looking at the other men.

"Now may be I'm mistaken, but I'm pretty sure the owner of this store installed that alarm system for a reason." She kicks the baton out of the alley way. "That reason being to stop people stealing all their guns..." She certainly has that bat-family attitude, giving them a lecture even as they out number her. One hand sneakily grabs a bird-a-rang from her belt; she's betting soon the guns will make an appearance - they always do.

Oliver Queen has posed:
Oliver lifts a brow at the way the thug is dispatched. Efficient enough. But true that normally it was at this point that guns came out. The two men that were still up and hadn't had a close encounter with a wall reach inside their coats, starting to bring out their guns. "Shoulda stayed outta this." they don't seem too phased about their companion having been down. More for them! No honor among these thieves apparently.

From the other side of the street a man also starts to approach, their lookout, the click of a gun clearly heard.. But then he is receiving an arrow to the head (instead of the knee), and that makes him topple back with a groan.

As for the others, "Shit. Take her out and lets get outta here.." yes, they seem to recognize that arrow shot from most likely being from the Green Arrow. Who else uses these out here in Starling?! They start to level their weapons up..

Bette Kane has posed:
Bette barely has time to register the arrow as it takes out their sentry. Her head half turning to note he had been taken down as her left arm extends and throws the bird-a-rang right in to the wrist of the first man drawing a gun on her. Then, she's moving, to the side, leaping off the wall as a gunshot rings out down the alley way breaking the still of the night but missing her completely. She lets gravity and her fist land on his face as her right hand pulls out her bolas and she begins to spin them then throw them at the guy making a run for it.

She completely misses him as the second guy tackles her against the wall. Woops, forgot to chew before trying to swallow again! She grapples with his wrist and bends the gun muzzle away from her, bending his fingers too and acrobatically kneeing at his chest as the fight gets up close and personal.

Oliver Queen has posed:
Three on one vigilante could be some difficult odds depending on the skill of said vigilante. Specially with the guns. Yet when the numbers become more even turns out that there isn't much that these thugs can do. Oliver slides down a zipline to ground level, jumping off to land right on the guy that was running away, both booted feet thumping heavily on their back. Cheap shot! But there's no honor to be had in street fighting, survive or be killed.

And with his own man down it's only Bette left with his own assailant. The man has -some- skill, but not near enough to someone trained with the Bats. He attempts to toss a few punches even after the knee at his chest that almost takes his breath out. One particular punch hits the brick wall where Bette's head was a moment ago particularly hard, making the man wince in pain. "Fuck..." but adrenaline is rushing him on, he attempting to use his strength to overpower Firebird, attempting to go for a grab.

Bette Kane has posed:
It's true, street fights are for chumps. After dodging the punch to the head and seeing the whites of the mans eyes she pushes a stun bola up against his chest and lets it rip.. tiktiktik as his body convulses. She slips away from him as he drops to the ground twitching. A round house to the guy who is gripping his hand with the bird-a-rang embedded in it followed by another kick right to the kidneys drops him too. She pulls the bird-a-rang from his wrist and flicks the blood off. Her eyes turn to Green Arrow but doesn't immediately know it's him - he's good at being in shadow, much like her fellow bat siblings, but when she catches sight of his costume she smirks, "Wow. I'm flattered. The Green Arrow."

She untangles the bolas from the twitching guy and walks toward Green Arrow, picking up the bolas she tries to throw at the guy attempting to escape. From her belt she takes out zip ties, the quick and easy way to wrap up the present for the police. Hers are in yellow. She puts the guys on the ground in the recovery position with hands behind their backs zip tied.

Her eyes return to Green Arrow, trying hard but probably failing not to look like she's looking at someone she fangirled over for years...

Oliver Queen has posed:
The voice that comes from the figure is a deep, resonating one. Most likely some voice modulator at work. "And who are you?" he is standing sideways to Bette, his gaze from under the hood settled on her figure, watching, lips turned into a grim expression. Sure, he sometimes had some visitors from other cities, but not too many. Much like Gotham was Batman's turf this was his.

"By the throwing weapon you were employing....." A nod towards the bird-a-rang. " .... I will guess you took a detour on your way to Gotham."

He then leans down on the man he took down, zipping his hands with that proficiency of someone that has been doing this for quite a while.

Once that is done he begins to approach, flicking his wrist so as to have his bow curl in to a more transportable position and then sliding it on his back. A clear show that he doesn't appear to take Bette as someone hostile. "Good job with these regardless." he says with grudging acknowledgement of the woman's proficiency.

Bette Kane has posed:
The grin on her face grows even more. This never gets old - never. She puts her hands on her hips and says, "I'm Flamebird. And yeah. Gotham is usually home. I needed a place to take a riding break and this was it. Then I got restless.. then I saw these idiots." She motions to the unconscious burglars. "Pretty much a fantastic night so far." The voice, dang that's great, she had no idea he had such a presence. Batman never talks about him, at least not to her.

She shuts the alarm box and picks up the first gun near her, cycles the bullets out of the chamber and then removes the barrel and tosses it on the ground next to the baton. She repeats with the second gun that was drawn on her. The way she disassembles it suggests she's spent a lot of time assembling and disassembling fire arms. "Hey you wouldn't happen to have more of this kind of fun on the menu tonight would you?"

Oliver Queen has posed:
"Flamebird." The Green Arrow echoes that name, thoughtful, a brow quirking just so under that hood, the domino mask keeping most of his features out of sight, just the defined jaw and the sparse blond bird in sight. "You seem to have some good training. From the Bat himself..?" a pause as if he was listening to something, then he speaks in a low tone. "Ackowledged."

Attention then goes back to Flamebird, "Time to go. The police should be here soon." he starts to walk out towards one of the alleys, speaking over his shoulder to Flamebird, "After the last attempt by a foreign group there hasn't been a lot plaguing the city." he explains, "Just a few stragglers as of late. But things are quiet.."

A frown then apparently taking over his expression. "Makes me wonder if it may be the calm before the storm. But regardless..., come along. At least we can talk. How long are you thinking on staying?"

Bette Kane has posed:
An eyebrow is raised underneath her mask as she strains to try and hear what is going on over his comms. It's futile and she's not going to take the effort to spy on him properly - that's be impolite and would certainly make its way back to Batman and then that means pushups until her muscles refuse to work anymore. Nope, been down that road too many times already. Batman's the nice one, Kate is far worse.

Her smirk raises a little more as she lets the question linger. "Well it was just the night, but it's not like you're that far away. I could do with a vacation from my fellow crime fighters, if you know what I mean." Of course he does, she knows he has this whole thing figured out. The only hope she has is he probably still isn't sure exactly who she is. She gets her bike and joins him.

May be one day she'll figure out how to do the dark and brooding thing. Even Nightwing can pull it off these days with ease. Not her though, she's still as cheerful about life as ever. "Happy to talk, I.." she stops herself, telling Green Arrow that she had a blurry photo of him as her desktop background when she was younger is not a good way to build friendships. "Yeah, consider me at your service Green.." nope that doesn't sound right, "Arrow." Fixed it.

Oliver Queen has posed:
If anything Oliver seems to know all the right paths and alleys throughout this town. But then again it's probably not too much of a surprise. He leads through a few quiet streets, dark and lacking much illumination but he seems to know just where to put his feet. When they emerge at the mouth of an alley there is the sound of police cars coming by, a few zipping past. He watches them go for a small while. "Gotham getting too gloomy for you?" but yes, he knew what she meant. Sometimes one just needed a break. Not that he had many in his years here. The bad guys don't like breaks!

"If you want to stay you are welcome to, but careful. Just because you feel you may be on vacation doesn't mean crime here in Starling can be taken as that. It's just as deadly as where you come from." He had his share of deaths in the past. No point in collecting more. And how would he explain it to the Bat? So better be safe than sorry.

"Does the Bat still hang at the same spots? I need to visit him." He says that as if it was something he'd be doing soon.

Bette Kane has posed:
He's too good at this. She's going to crack and she knows it. It's like he already knows everything. "Mm, not really. Better to phone ahead." She grins, wondering if that's even a thing he can do.. probably. These old crime fighters know each other, know too many secrets. "He doesn't like to be predictable, that's not a good way to stay ahead." Well, she's not admitting to anything other than knowing a bit about Batman's modus operandi.

"I solemnly swear not to take crime here for granted and treat it like a vacation." She has to admit it, she likes this guy. He has a vibe to him. Though, she bets if she gets on the wrong side of him that easy going brood will turn nasty. "Is there anywhere in particular you don't want me poking about? 'cause you know it won't take me long to find it if you don't tell me now."

But at least she knows he thinks she spends all her time in Gotham. Good to know he doesn't know who she is after all. Well, it's only fair, she doesn't know who he is either. Trust has to be earned and all that. The police here seem on the ball though, not like in Gotham, in Gotham they're on the take not on the ball. "It's weird seeing police doing their job."

Oliver Queen has posed:
A snort escapes the man's nostrils, the hood turning towards Bette. "We aren't in Court. No need to solemnly swear. Just as long as you understand it and know the limits. Also, no killing." That perhaps could go without saying, but then again ... "Even if you don't seem the type to go about killing criminals." Of course that there are rumors -he- was the type to kill criminals back in the day. Something did change though.

The question if there's anywhere she shouldn't poke about brings him to pause and examine Bette more attentively. "If I spoke of anything in particular wouldn't that make you just become more curious into poking about?" he counters with his own question, but then he gestures to the city. "Feel free to indulge. Who knows what you'll find?"

And then he reaches down into his suit, bringing out a small device. A pager, old school. He tosses it towards Flamebird. "In case you need to contact me."

Bette Kane has posed:
She scoffs at the comment about killing. As if Kate would ever talk to her again if she killed someone like that. Sure, she's learnt how to kill and West Point wants her to kill.. but her cousin has taught her better than that. Never kill if you can subdue. There may be exceptional cases where killing is necessary but she's never encountered one yet. She doesn't carry those kinds of mental scares on her smile yet.

Then she laughs, "Yeah you got me," she was clearly trying to find out where the interesting parts of the city where. But if she keeps visiting, it's true - she's going to find something people don't want revealed, it's the Bat-family way, they have a knack for it. They're trouble magnets and Flamebird advertises it with her flashy costume.

She catches the pager and looks it over. "They don't make 'em like they used to," she murmurs under her breath, possibly describing Green Arrow or the pager, it's hard to tell. She will have to pull it apart later and see if it's tracking her too or if it's really just a pager. "Thanks." It suddenly dawns on her that their high tech bat network isn't something she can casually share and she'd never considered how she might let someone else get in touch with her. "It's your city, you'll know where to find me - right?"

Oliver Queen has posed:
"Regardless of what people may want you to believe I am not omniscient." Oliver says in return to Bette about him finding her, not hiding some brief amusement. "So don't expect me to be around the corner all the time." a pause before he adds. "I prefer the rooftops." which was true, he did! Much better vantage points to take on the casual criminal.

"So if anything -does- happen let me know through that. And no, it's not a tracker." Even if he knows it probably won't stop any vigilante worth their salt from tinkering with it just to make sure he's being truthful.

The sirens are long gone now, having disappeared down the streets towards where those thugs were, his gaze again returning to look in that direction. "Gotham has it's own way of getting things done. There's a reason there's so many vigilantes down there and the police officers are more scarce to come by. Here .., it's a bit different, but it's not as if corruption is gone." something he had been fighting for a time.

"Don't be a stranger now. Anything else I can help with?" He asks, preparing himself to be on his way.

Bette Kane has posed:
Nope, he's too considered a thinker for the footballer Wayne Trent. She tosses that idea out the window, he must be someone with the brains to go with the muscle. "Hm? Oh.. no it's good. I'm good." She grins at him and gives an awkward double thumbs up. "Roof tops, corruption, not a nanny state, not a playground. Got it."

The supposedly not a tracker goes in to her pocket - it doesn't bother her too much, she'll dig in to it before she gets anywhere near the motel. She gives him a wave and rides off down the alley way and back out on to the streets to explore the city further. May be she won't find any more crime, but becoming more familiar with its streets will help her next time she does.