3197/Court of Owls: Two By Two

Court of Owls: Two By Two
Date of Scene:	02 September 2020
Location:	Ryker Heights - Founders Island
Synopsis:	Batgirl and Spoiler have their own encounter with the talons... and it goes as well has it has for the rest of the Bats so far...
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown

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Tim Drake has posed:
The night is relatively young... for Bats and Birds, at least. Just shy of midnight. And the night has been relatively quiet beyond a few would-be muggers and graffiti-tagging punks. Nothing major... no clowns, no coin-flipping ex-DAs, no clouds of fear toxin.

Just a cloudy sky obscuring the moon over Gotham. It's a great night if the GCPD needs to throw up the signal, but of yet there is no large glowing bat against the dark, heavy clouds. A distant rumble promises heavy rain soon, which generally does do a fair bit to keep down the crazy. Even goons don't like getting wet.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl lands easily on the roof near one of the older buildings of Founder's Island stepping clear of the ledge and looking generally peeved. "One more building Spoiler with no leads to show for our efforts. It is like they are moving one step ahead of us and ... honestly I am starting to think they may actually be taunting us."

She turns slowly to stare back at the building they just left in the distance. "Unless I am wrong I am pretty sure they deliberately left those paintings on the walls and masks on display just to tell us they are that step ahead. They could have left it a bare room but they left morsels just to show off." a pause "Which if I am honest is helpful, it shows they have ego involved in the equation and we an probably exploit that. It can lead to over confidence. Still this is definitely a harder adversary then we usually run into, it isn't like a bunch of thugs working for someone who calls themself the Penguin. Seriously more in the League of Asssassin Territory."

Overhead in a quiet hover is one of her O.R.A.C.L.E. drones running in overwatch mode.

"So what are your thoughts grasshopper?"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"Unh."

It's not the first time that sort of sound has accompanied a bit of physical exertion, but it's easily the loudest of the trio of times Barbara might have noted it. Spoiler lands beside her just a little less limberly than she usually would. Though Batgirl's protégé seems focused on the matter at hand.

"Well, there's where I can come in, right? I mean, from your comments, nobody knows overconfidence like me. Am I right?" she asks, tone good-natured. She looks down at the face of the building beneath them, standing with one foot on the edge of the roof. "They've been set up here a long time with how old these buildings are. Plenty of time to have prepared for these kind of evacuations."

She glances around the area, considering. "So if they've got ego and evacuated these spots, think they'd want to see what happened when we came looking?" Spoiler considers. "Or, not too big of egos to need that level of validation they beat us?"

Tim Drake has posed:
There's a couple of moments of warning to Batgirl before the attack begins. Like the League, the talons make darkness their ally. Like the league, they move in silence.

Unlike the league, there's not even a sound of breath to give away their presence, nor does their body heat show up on any scanners. It's only the physical shape of two forms dressed in dark brown owl-like costumes with dark red goggles over their eyes.

Both draw long blades from their backs in silence.

Each moves to strike from behind, one for Batgirl, one for Spoiler. There are no punches pulled. These strikes aren't for disabling. Should they land as intended, they will be clean through the back and heart.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Thank goodness Barbara doesn't even play remotely fair, the ORACLE Array and Drone give her warning of the motion.

Mind you it isn't much warning since the dark shapes didn't show up in the shadows on thermals but when they move out of the darkness to strike the drones above do light them up on the HUD in Batgirl's cowl moving fast with little room to spare behind the two of them.

Barbara reaches out like a snake to grab Spoiler by the arm and jerks them both forward violently away from the attacks. It isn't elegant and she is hoping, trusting, that Stephanie remembers her training and rolls with it and is back on her feet quickly. Which is what Barbara will do twisting around to face the problem behind them.

That extra time spent throwing Stephanie forward before she dove forward herself earns her a strike across her shoulder, mostly taken up by the armor weave but not entirely.

First blood definitely goes to the Court of Owls.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The sudden grab and tug results in Spoiler rolling forward along the edge of the rooftop. There's another soft grunt as her torso hits the surface, the gymnast rolling well other than the sound and coming back to her feet. Her cape flutters in two pieces from her back, the sword thrust chopping through the hardy fabric and cutting it all the way down to the bottom as Stephanie was rolled forward away from it.

"Ask a stupid question," she says, hand going to her telescoping staff, the yellow metal extending rapidly with a metallic clinking sound. "You ok?" she asks, not daring to look over towards Barbara. She knows how skilled these opponents are, and knows she can't make any mistakes if she's going to survive this. And if she falls, what are the odds Batgirl can handle two at once?

The staff starts whirring in motion, making it more difficult to predict where it might block or where an attack might come from. Spoiler slides a foot behind her, feeling the edge of the building and gauging how much room she has to work with.

Tim Drake has posed:
The talons seem to be painfully aware of how little room they've left the two vigilantes to manuever, both advancing to lesser that room ever further. As one, they both pull a second blade from wrist sheathes, now both bearing a long sword-like talon and a shorter, dagger-like one for parrying. Their movements are smooth and practiced, and seem to neither revel in drawing first blood nor regret not making the first kill strike.

The talon attacking Spoiler thrusts the short blade into the spinning whirl made by the staff, attempting to force it to a stop or knock it off-balance, seemingly unconcerned at the thought it might break a wrist to do so.

Bab's opponent, however, leaps forward, sword raises to bring down heavily on the Batgirl, either wounding her or driving her back closer to the edge.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl was trained by the best.

Okay second best because Lady Shiva is the best.

The first thing she does is trigger the alarm for backup, though she knows it will be over one way or another by the time any of the rest of the family get here. These Talons of the Court of Owls, not that they really know to call them that, are too good and people are too far right now.

Worst Case scenario, the drones are streaming everything back to the family and there will be a detailed record of this.

The minor injury isn't the worst part, the worst part is that Babs is a bit distracted because she isn't entirely sure Stephanie is ready for this. That is definitely something she doesn't need right now.

The first strike is deflected with her wrist armor, similar to Bruce's but turned glancing. The followup dagger is dodged with a swift twist to the side. Moving closer to Stephanie and her Talon. <<Spoiler, do not hold back at all>>

Still she hasn't fought them first hand either, so she follows up the twist with a couple rapid strikes, trying to get a feel for if these things are like the others or if they react even remotely normal.

Seeing some footage and fighting a Talon are very different things.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The temptation to level a debilitating strike at the Talon's exposed wrist is great, and just a few months ago Spoiler would probably have gone for it. But her training in that time leaves her doubting she'd be able to deal with the attack that would come next.

Instead she bats at the small knife just hard enough to knock it aside and keep it back from her. It lets her keep the bo staff whirling, though the contact does slow it. It leaves a split second gap in her defenses, though Spoiler senses it and starts to roll her torso away from that point even as she tries to get the bo staff back around for the attack she expects to be coming.

She just hopes the Talon isn't fast enough to take advantage of it.

Tim Drake has posed:
Slashing and continuing the push, the returned strikes may land on the talons-- they don't seem to care to dodge-- but they continue to push the two back towards the edge of the building, limiting their movements. The heavy talon sword slaps at Spoiler's staff lazily, but with force, intending to slam it in the opposite direction before moving in with the dagger. Likewise, the talon attacking Batgirl moves to strike blows with both blades even as he contionues to guide her backwards.

The drones overhead are ignored.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Spoiler's staff makes a golden blur as she slides her feet back another half step, giving ground. One sole right there at the edge of the roof practically. Her face behind her mask is set with determination, trying to use every bit of skill she's picked up as she faces the unfeeling opponent.

The larger sword hits her staff, the clang of metal on metal loud, and sending a few small sparks flying. It leaves Spoiler open for the small long knife. She tries to slide her hand down to the staff for the partial cover it provides, but the knife scores the top of her forearm just above the wrist. Drawing a cry of pain and leaving a small cut and a darkening stain on the sleeve of her costume.

Spoiler lets go with a hard swing then, hoping to knock one of the weapons out of the Talon's hand. She thinks she hears bone break, yet the weapon is still clutched tightly by the creature's hand as if it never felt the blow. It leaves the center of her torso exposed, Stephanie desperately trying to get the staff back around to protect herself, but it looks grim!

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl continues to divide her attention, which is frankly a serious handicap.

At some point she got two bat-a-rangs out into her hands using the metal of them gripped in her fists to deflect and parry the blade strikes.

Also at some point one of them ended up lodged in a Talon's chest to literally zero effect that is beneficial.

They are backing her up towards the edge and the most she can do is keep the angle of the retreat towards Stephanie and her Talon. That cry of pain though has her head tilting, looking and then without thinking she moves very quickly.

She takes the strike that would have hit Stephanie in her midsection right through her side but she prevents something probably far worse in her protege. The feel of the steel going through her is wicked bad and she dearly hopes that it didn't hit anything vital.

She uses the momentum of her lunge to put her between the sword and Stephanie to carry both of them off the building, wrapping her arms tight on Spoiler and holding on. "GRAPPLE GUN" she yells at the other Batling. Because right now Babs isn't sure she can hold on and also grapplegun.

This .. did not go at all well.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Spoiler feels herself pushed aside and hears the air explode from Barbara as the sword hits home. "No!" Spoiler shouts, wrapping her arms around Batgirl and letting herself fall with the momentum of the other woman, taking them both off the building but in a controlled manner rather than a tangle of arms and legs.

Two months ago Spoiler spent three entire nights doing nothing but drawing the grapple gun, firing it, fitting it back on her belt and repeating. Again. And again. And again. Muscle memory, Barbara had said. Muscle memory for this would save her life someday, Barbara had said.

Spoiler's hand goes to the grapple even as they are falling in a slow layout flip, drawing it and firing it at the building beside the one the fight took place on. The bat-shaped grapple head wizes through the air trailing the line that looks so small and frail. Yet when the pronged grapple head hits the building it lodges into it and in a second the line goes taut.

Spoiler keeps one arm about Batgirl, holding her as tight as she can, though that's the arm that was stabbed, and it's screaming with pain to hold onto the other woman. The purple-clad hero's aim could have been better, the grapple head hitting just a bit too low on the building. The two women swing on the line, but reach the ground just before they'd have reached the bottom of the swing and started back up. Stephanie tries to take the hit, her feet hitting the ground and then collapsing onto her back, rolling herself and Barbara across the sidewalk until they come to a stop.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Okay it is just a litany of pain right now.

The line snapping taunt makes Babs hisssss as she holds on tight, and is held onto with the one arm. "Fuck." yes she cursed, she would probably admonish Spoiler, Sparrow, or any of the others but it slips out.

Which is to say nothing of the hard landing as Stephanie hits first and then collapses and rolling across the sidewalk like that. Batgirl ends up on her stomach sprawled out and bleeding onto the ground. "Get. Up." and it is honestly difficult to say if she is saying it to Spoiler or to herself.

Regardless she pushes up to her knees still bleeding and then triggers a command on her wristcomp before staggering the rest of the way to her feet. Jaw clenched and not doing anything about the wound yet. A bloody gloved hand offered down to Spoiler "Get up Spoiler... we need to get out of here now." breathing a bit labored as she works with the pain and adrenaline.

Her bike is arriving very quickly, yes bike, with the stabilizing and self driving assist features. It isn't a batmobile but it is able to come from where they stowed them not too far away.

Someone will need to steer once they are on it though if they want a fast retreat back to Stephanie's bike and to bail.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie doesn't know if her ribs were hurt by the explosive backdraft from the apartment fire, or when the black-skinned mutant caught her out of the air and they crashed into the adjacent rooftop. She just knows they are screaming now, the wrapping and extra flack jacket armor we added atop them doing nothing to help against the impact with the ground.

But the stubborn girl staggers to her feet, detaching the grapple line and that muscle memory returning it to her holster even as she moves the scant distance to Batgirl, helping her up onto her feet as best she can.

Spoiler turns to look at the street, "I could-" she starts to say, eyeing a parked car that is much nearer than their bikes, when Batgirl trigger's her bike remotely and it comes zooming around a corner.

Soon the pair have climbed on, Stephanie guiding Barbara to sit in front of her so she can help steady the woman.

<< Alfred this is Spoiler. Batgirl's taken a sword hit. We need medical ready when we arrive. >> They zoom off into the night.