3137/Mission Interlude: A New Nemesis

Mission Interlude: A New Nemesis
Date of Scene:	28 August 2020
Location:	Intergang Warehouse, Outskirts of Metropolis
Synopsis:	A smash and grab op goes all wrong.
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Laura Kinney, Jason Todd, Rose Wilson

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Tim Drake has posed:
The warehouse was a bustling hive of activity, with Intergang members moving in and out. However, the side entrance was mostly unused as the bulk of the activity was focused on the back and the loading area.

Red Robin finishes checking his wrist computer. "We need to get that prototype energy weapon before they move it to the buyer," he says. "Let's get in, quick, clean, and grab it and get out." He shows the other three an image of the prototype. "I'll go in first and disable the locks on the door. Once we're all in, Hood and Ravager will head left towards the loading bays in case it's been moved, and X-23 and I will head towards the labs in case it's still there."

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 gives her silent nod of affirmation to Red Robin's plans. Simple, direct, and to the point. She glances to the others after making a slight adjustment to her domino mask and then memorizes the image of the prototype in question.
It's a simple enough job, and should go easy, quick, and without any problems. Right? Right.

She makes ready to follow Red Robin's lead, then, and his entrance into the warehouse.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood is crouched across from the warehouse watching the movement of the men and women inside. << Works >> he says of Tim's plan.

Not a formal member of Tim's little team, he was here to get in some live fire practice and because he had a score to settle with Intergang and their enemies in Metropolis.

He stays in position, waiting for R-Square to do his thing.

Rose Wilson has posed:
When Tim gives them the plan, there is a slight glance towards the other two, then back to the prototype that is being shown. She fixes the picture in her mind, then reaches up to offer a two fingered salute.

Her and Hood on the same team? Nothing could go wrong.

Tim Drake has posed:
It's only a matter of moments before Robin drops from his perch and silently makes his way towards the side door, hacking the lock with relative ease. The door pops open, and he gives the hand signal for the others to join him before slipping inside and taking cover behind a small stack of crates, waiting for the others to reconvene before they split.

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 follows Red Robin's lead, her steps and form one of practiced, and perhaps ingrained precision. She stays low, and moves swiftly behind him to keep the group together (however temporarily) and moving so as to not risk attention being drawn. She settles to his right, since the others are moving left and waits for the signal to split and head to the labs with him.

Jason Todd has posed:
At the signal from Red Robin, Red Hood rises from his cover, draws a pistol and advances into the warehouse, pausing a moment to roll out of the view of a sentry on the way there. Though at least he didn't cap the guy, so, there's hope things may actually go according to plan even with Team Murder on the job.

Rose Wilson has posed:
Bringing up the tail of the group, Ravager moves after Hood when he starts to move. Although she doesn't draw a gun, nor does she draw either of her swords yet. Much like X-23, though, she stays low, moving quickly to slide through the door that was popped open, and then to the left to crouch. Once inside, now she draws one of her two swords.

Tim Drake has posed:
Red Robin fights the urge to rip his domino mask from his eyes in agony, his vision nothing but searing pain and floating, swirling masses of brightness and darkness keeping him from being able to see what is in front of him. Removing the mask won't help, the aborted screech of a warning in his ear before his tech all went silent was enough to let him know that there wasn't anything coming through the mask anyway. Pain is weakness leaving the body. Pain is weakness... "@#$^ @##$@ @@*&#..." a stream of four-letter words are snarled under his breath as he feels the burning sensation of energy weapons fire hit him, once, then twice, though much of it luckily dissapated by his armor. For now.

In the bare haze of what passes for what remains of his vision, he staggers towards a nearby dark patch he vaguely recalled as being another stack of boxes. Considering the shattered pieces of the previous stack the group had been hiding behind, it's not the greatest cover, but for now it's better than being in the open. <<What the hell just happened?>> he manages into his comms. <<Can anyone see?>> Not that he can hear the response with the ringing in his ears.

        You may be wondering exactly how we got into this mess.

A few moments earlier...

As Ravager joined them, Robin gives her a quick grin, turning back towards X-23 and preparing to move. <<Good luck guys. See you in a few with the target,>> he begins...

There's a click.

There's a clatter.

There is an explosion, and the crate pile the four are hiding behind shatters and scatters to the four winds, but not only is the explosion of the demolition variety... a massive EMP goes off, strong enough it not only blows past the EMP-protection the Bats have in their systems, but blowing the systems themselves. The feedback slams through their audio and visual feeds.

From across the warehouse, a green-haired girl with snow white skin and clown makeup carrying a grenade launcher laughs uproariously as a force field flicks into appearance between her and the team. "We've got company," the clownette chortles. "Light them up, boys."

And the warehouse becomes a lightshow of energy weapons blasts, as a couple of dozen, at least, Intergang members all begin firing. This was a set-up. But by who?

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Comms are down. Vision is clear." X-23's voice, as usual, is like Joe Friday's - just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. As the weapon-fire opens up, she grabs the closest team member to her - that being Red Robin, and pushes him to the ground until he gets his vision issue sorted out. "Energy weapons," she tells him.

She, on the other hand?

Both her hand claws pop out, their sound lost in transition of the louder weapon-fire, and she's darting off to the side to draw their fire away from Red Robin as she zig-zags, and makes her way to the closest target like she's done this before. She is fearless, and there is murder in her eyes.

She dips low, and lunges upwards as she nears the first of many targets for them that evening, claws seeking to rend apart the energy weapon in two while her other hand's claws seek the man's shoulder to skewer, much like she did against the Bratva when she and Tim first met.

Jason Todd has posed:
There's a roll of Jason's eyes inside the helmet as he catches sight of the smile exchanged between Tim and Rose. "C'mon, head in the game," he needles, completely ignoring the fact his HUD has a couple of texts from Valeria displayed on it. But then that's the beauty of a helmet, nobody knows what the fuck you're really doing in there!

However there's suddenly a whole lot less beauty to the helmet set up when that EMP goes off. Red Hood is plunged into darkness as his comms scream in his ears.

He rolls back from the explosion on instinct, thumping back hard into some other crates before he gets to his feet and yanks off the helmet, leaving him in only a simple red domino mask with none of the technical bells and whistles that Tim's had. There's little time to celebrate that fact before Red Hood hits the deck and energy blasts rend the air where he stood. "Who the fuck is that?" he demands of green haired woman he only glimpses before seeking cover.

Rose Wilson has posed:
There is something to be said for not relying on fancy tools sometimes, also something to be said for not being squishy like others might be. Everyone knows who that is in this case. When things blow, literally, she's diving for cover, hitting the ground and rolling, tucking the flat of her sword against her so that she doesn't slice herself open as she rolls to safety.

When she comes to her feet she draws a gun, "Who the fuck //cares// who she is?" She calls back towards Hood, taking a quick survey to make sure that others are up and moving. Noting that not only is X-23 moving, but she's moving fast and on the attack.

Knowing that there's not any need to worry about her getting blasted and dying means that when Ravager shoots it isn't strictly to just cover X-23's movements. Instead she aims at the green-haired psycho, testing this force field.

Tim Drake has posed:
Red Robin stays where X-23 had put him for a few seconds, shaking his head to try and clear the ringing and his eyes. It's not working, and he reaches up and presses his fingers into his mask and rips outward...

Chill, he's not pulling out his eyeballs, even if they feel like that might feel better. However, he does hurl the white-backed filmy covers that usually host his HUD, leaving his eyes visible through the eyeholes for a changes. He blinks rapidly, and while his vision is definitely NOT back to full, he's quickly at least able to see well enough to fend for himself.

Which is good timing, as a pair of the Intergang goons come around the corner of his little crate palace, raising their weapons. Not enough time to close the gap, so with trained muscle memory he's already pulling and throwing a pair of batarangs, even as he's moving to the side to dodge the incoming fire.

Ravager's bullets bounce off the forcefield, and the clown behind it laughs, waving like she's the star of a parade. "Awww, try harder next time!" she encourages Rose with a sneer.

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 leg-sweeps her first target to put him on the floor, and in bleeding agony before she is on the move again, avoiding further fire as best she can as she wreaks chaos by daring to attack the goons head-on.

The next nearest is already re-focusing on her but his reflexes are too slow and he's too reliant on the promise and power of the energy weapon in his hand. This time, X-23 does -not- shred the weapon, her claws retract and instead she sends a throat chop to him, and fluidly moves to disarm her new target before her foot claw sinks into his kneecap, and with a twist of her foot he's down on the ground and unlikely to stand right again ever in his life.

The energy weapon in her hand she 'stole' from the goon is then tossed in Rose's direction. Afterall, if the green clownette wants Rose to try harder - then Rose should try harder, right?

The action isn't without consequence -- one of the men firing manages to tag X-23 in the chest with the cost in time to pitch the weapon Rose's way, and she's flung back onto the floor with the force of the blast, her combat suit burned and blackened around the scored flesh beneath - that, barely a second later is already knitting.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Good point," Red Hood says, as he gets up laying down some fire to let X-23 get close, then once she's engaged, he reaches into his coat for grenade and hurls it at the green haired woman so it bounces and rolls across the ground before exploding at the base of the field.

When it does, Red Hood is up and moving, grabbing the weapon of an Intergang goon that got too close as he kicks him hard in the ribs and rips the weapon away, before his friends open fire Red Hood's way, sending him rolling back into cover as he checks out his new laser gun.

Rose Wilson has posed:
When Tim starts to move there is //almost// a comment from Rose, but she snaps her teeth shut on it, and instead grabs for the weapon that X-23 tossed her direction. She doesn't even blink when Laura goes flying, confident that she'll bounce back from the hit.

She examines the energy weapon, turning it over in her hand before she takes aim at one of the goons. Hood has the heavy artillery in hand now that his eyes are on right, so she leaves the force field issue to him, and instead shoots one of the goons.

It's effective, and the guy goes flying. But strangely she doesn't stick to it, stashing the weapon in her belt along with tucking her own pistol away. Then she's on her feet, bringing a sword to a gun fight as she runs for a knot of goons to the left.

Tim Drake has posed:
Staff out now, vision clearing little by little, Red Robin has hurtled himself into a knot of four of the Intergang members, relying on close quarters and not wanting to shoot their comrades to stay their hand some. Even partially blinded, his strikes land true as he dodges and spins among them, cracking wrists, arms, legs and skulls as he quickly downs two of the four, driving back the others and knocking their weapons from their grips.

The grenade Red Hood throws does leave a dent in the floor, and blows back several of the crates, boxes, and items around the front of the force field itself but seems to do no damage to the field.

At first.

Then, there is a flicker in the field, making it more visible. The clown girl scowls. "Not nice!" she calls petulantly. She raises her fingers to her lips, and whistles.

A motley crew of a dozen men in clown masks and cheap suits hustle into the warehouse main floor from behind her, surrounding her. "Okay boys. We'll let them handle the brats. Get me back to daddy."

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 gets up, and her claws pop out again. The flesh, before the eyes of the goons across her stomach finishes knitting, and becomes whole around her gut despite the frayed and charred ends of the suit in a perfect circle where the blast hit her.

"That," X-23 says, coldly, "Was a mistake."

Then she's on the move again, dashing like a demon towards the next target, dispatching him quickly, cleanly as the four Outsiders rend chaos and disorder to the ambushers. She seems to dodge past him, after rending his weapon with one claw attack. She then turns and her claws slash down his back side in a criss-cross 'X' pattern, deep and painful - but, he'll survive.

And she's on the move to her next target, continuing to seek to draw their fire from the others, or spread it out, and dismantle them one-by-one. Winning the physical war, and, the mental one as well.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood's teeth grit when he peeks from behind cover to see the clowns roll in. God he hated those guys, and 'Daddy?!' WTF. Wasting no more time, Hood pops around cover, takes aim with the laser and fires directly at the green haired girl hoping the laser will have better luck with that forcefield than grenades and bullets.

Rose Wilson has posed:
Ravager launches herself into the group, liberal application of elbows and feet to joints and soft spots are made to several of the goons. But as soon as she's knee-deep in them the sword she's been holding comes into play.

Maybe it's remembering that the Bats really hate lethality that keeps the girl from shoving a couple feet of steel through the heart. But it certainly doesn't stop her from slicing through tendons, and in the case of one of them that is trying to take aim with his energy weapon, of cutting off a hand.

It'll grow back, right?

Tim Drake has posed:
The clown girl begins her retreat behind the cover of the faltering force field as the number of energy blasts flying through the room dwindle, covered by the group of clowns.

Robintakes out the final two he's been fighting, and as the door closes on the clowns, the remaining Intergang members, what few there are, also begin falling back towards the back door, firing heavily as they retreat.

Laura Kinney has posed:
As the remaining few Intergang members knot up and move towards the exit it becomes that much harder for X-23 to be able to move and pick them off, and she has no projectile weapons to retaliate with - the other energy weapons she'd cleaved in half, afterall.

Instead, she decides to draw their fire and leaving them open for the other three to attack by feinting an all out assault on them for a good few running steps, and then veering off, and rolling out of the way, springing back to her feet and moving further away both from the men and the Outsiders. Getting hit in battle is one thing - but even a girl with a healing factor like her isn't completely suicidal.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Damn it," Red Hood growls as the girl vanishes through the door behind a wall of clowns. Not deterred, he leaps up, jumping on top of the rows of crates and using them to sprint towards the door the woman vanished through. He takes fire and that slows him down, one blast hits his armour leaving a metal plate sizzling and partially disintegrated, which made him roll down off the boxes before more shots follow. By the time he's closing on the door the Intergang guys have fallen back to their exit blasting at anything that comes near that side of the building.

"Fuck," he curses, and then pops up to fire back, sweeping the energy blasts low to maim but not kill the remaining Intergang goons.

Rose Wilson has posed:
Not kill. Not kill. No killing. No...whoops.

Maybe it's a slip, and a mistake, but as Rose moves through the remaining pair she was working on the sword doesn't hamstring one goon, instead it knicks something far more vital to survival. That doesn't slow her down, though, and she dives for cover to pop up and take a quick look around to see who is still standing.

Who is left. And who HAS left.

Tim Drake has posed:
The clowns and the Intergang members still capable of moving under their own locomotion have left the building, leaving a plethora of Intergang members in various states of bruised, bleeding... and in at least one case, bleeding out. Rubbing his eyes, still blurry visioned, Red Robin makes his way to one of the consoles in the back of the room that hasn't been hit by errant weapons fire. Hacking the hard way may not be as easy as with a working wrist computer, but the only thing that really slow him down is having to pause every so often to squint and rub his eyes again.

"...that prototype never existed," he says after a few minutes inside the system.

Then he curses a short stream that would make Hood proud. This was ENTIRELY a set-up, from the beginning.

Laura Kinney has posed:
X-23 remarks, "Were they targeting the Outisders, or you, Red Robin?" A valid question. Still, one to think about. She moves over to the goon whose back she had literally shredded apart and is still very much alive. "I believe one of these men may know at least that much. We can inquire."

Laura may not be nearly Bat-Fam levels of interrogation, but she does know how to get answers, when needed.

Jason Todd has posed:
Colour Jason impressed and he adds a few curse words of his own to the mix. "Good question, X," he says to Laura before tossing down his laser weapon. "We should probably bounce, by the way, last time I messed with Intergang they blew up the warehouse, but I'm all for taking one of their guys with us if we think we can get some answers."

If he notices the guy bleeding out, he doesn't speak up or move to save him.

Rose Wilson has posed:
The one bleeding out is just...left. Ravager has no personal rules against body counts, after all. The sword is wiped off, and then slid back into place before she glances around, "Whatever answers aren't going to be here...so I vote get out now too."