3438/Court of Owls: Red Dead Redemption Three - The Cave

Court of Owls: Red Dead Redemption Three - The Cave
Date of Scene:	19 September 2020
Location:	Batcave
Synopsis:	Batman, Batwoman, and Robin fend off a home invasion, and discover a vulnerability in their foes that turns the tide, of both the battle and maybe the war.
Cast of Characters:	Bruce Wayne, Kate Kane, Damian Wayne

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Bruce Wayne has posed:
It is likely a surprise to no one that the Bat-clan keeps odd hours. So the "family dinner" tonight that was going to include Rose Wilson is honestly at best "lunch" in terms of the order in which they tend to take their meals. As it so happens, Kate was on the guest list as well, and arrived a bit early. It was going to be a leisurely evening but likely a mildly interesting one at least. That, however, is not in the cards tonight, because things are about to get downright hectic.

They're all awaiting the arrival of other guests when all their communicators start incessantly chiming with a particular pattern that only heralds one thing: Someone is trying to get into the Batcave that isn't normally allowed to be there.

Bruce has been idly dealing with a few Wayne Enterprises tidbits that needed his attention while awaiting dinner and idly chatting with Kate, but when the chime goes off he's on his feet and headed towards the study in a flash. Presuming KAte is following and that Damian is likely to join them, he speaks along the way:

"I upgraded the early warning systems in the tunnels after we'd faced the Talons a few times. More sensitive sonar and motion detection." He looks at the readout on his communicator as the express elevator to the Batcave opens, "At the rate they're moving...we've got three minutes...and it looks like there are dozens of them. Alfred, stay up top and keep the comm line open. We'll deal with the Cave."

The Bat-Clan knows how to costume-up quickly, no doubt, but it's unlikely they're going to have time to get into full gear before the talons arrive. At least Bruce has spares for all the family members in stock, so Kate should be taken care of. The others will have gotten the signal, but no telling if they'll make it in time.

"No pulled punches..." Bruce comments, almost more to himself than the others in the elevator. To say he looks grim is an understatement, even for his usual self. Grim. And Angry.

And meanwhile, sure enough a small horde of Talons makes their way through the tunnels at nigh-impossible (for a human) speeds. They may be fashioned after Owls but for the moment they almost seem more a swarm of rats.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nods, "No quarter, got it." She sounds determined, and perfectly okay with it. Perhaps a bit /too/ okay with it for Bruce's liking, but unlike most of the others of the Family, she was trained as a solider.

So while she has the spare costume in the Cave, she actually purloins some of Jason's gear instead. Particularly the guns, as she checks them with clinical precision. "Figured he'd take good care of them. Right." While the costume looks like her normal one, she also has the bladed gauntlets on her forearms, great for slashing as well as catching swords swung by maniac zombie-ninjas.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had received the message on his comm as well, a modified WayneTech watch. He scrambled to his feet from his Japanese Futon and ran to the golf bag Jason had gifted him for his birthday. Amongst the junior sized clubs, he pulled out a green tube measuring thirty inches, and slung it behind his back before he ran to the elevator.

  There wasn't much time, and even though he was mostly healed from his earlier injury, he still had bandages on his torso where he had been shot by Dr. Light. "No holding back, we MUST protect this house!" He parroted, whilst running to the armory, he would skip ancillary equipment, this meant his mask and cape. But his RPG-26 and his katana crossed his crimson and gold back. A quick stop to pick up as many goodies as he could stuff in his utility belt, before he stopped in his tracks.

  The shotgun, Alfred's emergency shotgun. It was kept in a drawer...there it was. "Sorry Pennyworth. I will clean it after." He commented, before grabbing the pump-action, making sure it was primed, and as many shells as he could fit into a pocket in his belt.

  He jumps to action, standing next to Kate and holding the twelve-gauge up, without looking too close down the sights, it wasn't needed with the shotgun. He takes the first shots, pumping two rounds of buckshot downrange to the Talon horde before they got too close.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Kate and Damian veer towards weapons. Bruce girds for protection, as much as he's able. The upper portion of his costume, with cowl, but no cape. He has the utility belt, gauntlets, and he just barely manages to get his boots on. It's an odd figure, a capeless Batman in dress pants, but now's not the time to worry about fashion. Either way, there's very little time left after that, as the "Fast-shambling" horde comes into view, practically bursting up from below as they start to alight upon the various platforms.

Bruce manages to speak just before Damian fires off those first shots:

"Platform One is the fallback." That's where the Bat-Computer lies, and even as the Talons start to become visible, Gotham City suffers a minor brownout as a "bubble" of some kind of energy pops into place around that platform, insuring no Talons find purchase there.

And then he's deflecting a knife with a gauntlet, before starting to engage in a furious fistfight with two, no three of the uninvited guests.

Kate gets a barrage of razor-sharp projectiles hurled at her as the Talons advance, knives in hand.

The force of the buckshot staggers a couple of the Talons, but they're back in movement quickly enough, seeming none the worse for wear despite the visible wounds. There may be too much dispersal at range to be effective against these creatures that feel no pain and ignore most injury. But up close.... Either way, it's not like any of them lack for targets, as more and more of the Talons begin to swarm the platforms.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate didn't bother with the wig, just the cowl, and quickly twists to the side to dodge the projectiles being thrown at her. She shouts over at Damian, "Head shots up close, pistols are better at longer range!"

With that, she fires a pair of shots at the two closest Talons, knowing Jason loves his hollow points. And well, two headshots, two less Talons.

Pity there's far more than /that/ as they advance on her. She then catches a knife from one in her gauntlet, twisting her arm and yanking him off balance... right so his head rests against the muzzle of her pistol.

*BLAM*

And then she's swarmed, unable to shoot as she's forced into furious hand-to-hand combat with a pair of the Talons. Both sides looking for another opening, as Kate's skill is offset by the fact that, well, when you're undead-ish you don't really care about most hits.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian nods in the affirmative as Bruce gives the fallback point. The shield was a new thing.

  He shoulders the force of the shotgun as a Talon approaches, first a shot at the head, from three feet away. "I know that."

  The shotgun 'Ka-shink' expels the spent shell and racks another in before a second talon gets close to him, quick thinking, and Robin sans mask pumps his legs up the Talon's chest, the Talon's claws scrape into Damian's shin as he vaults off his shoulders, as he's in the air...

*BOOM*

  Another pump and another shell racked into place.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
One might wonder why Batman has put on his mask...aside from better head protection...when his identity is known to his attackers, but the answer starts to become apparent quickly enough.... But first, Talons. Batman shalt not kill. It's his most fundamental precept. His most closely-held tenet. But if anyone doubts that Batman is /capable/ of it, their doubts would be swiftly allayed to see him in action now. With striking being less effective, he moves for grappling. Dangerous with a knife-wielding opponent, but when the grabs and locks are accompanied by the *SNAP* of bone and quickly released...not so much. They may not feel pain, but broken bones still make for awkward mobility and can hamper their attacks...long enough to get the right kind of grapple for a neck-snap on one of them. Still, he backpedals towards the armory, by design.

But back to the cowl...

"Platform Seven, Intrusion Countermeasure Omicron." And Platform Seven, where neither Damian or Kate reside, suddenly electrifies. The Talons may not feel pain, but electricity still contracts their muscles when applied at that wattage, and so a good dozen or so Talons are...at least for a few moments...kept from joining the fray. Won't last forever, but it might buy some necessary time. Meanwhile, a hard kick shoves a Talon back far enough that it gives Batman time to grab one of the armory's swords. It's an old-style Saber, but it's sharp...as the two now-headless Talons that rest before him after a brutal, wide slash can attest.

The Talons keep coming, knives lashing out, but it's...not blind, or unskilled, but there is a certain lack of precision. Oh they certainly strike towards vitals when seeming openings appear, but they almost seem more inclined to inflict the "Death of a thousand cuts."

This time a Talon definitely falls, effectively headless, away from Damian. But the newest Robin may quickly surmise that these creatures...aren't really going at him as hard as the other two. In many cases the knives aren't even out, and they're definitely NOT striking for the vitals. They're definitely trying to grapple, though.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate slashes low with the bladed gauntlets, as even zombies still need functional hamstrings. Once they're immobilized, she goes for a quick double tap with her pistol, taking care of the pair that she was fighting. Then, she glances over towards the ones being electrocuted and leaps over to an adjacent platform.

Reloading as she goes, she straightens up and starts firing at the electrocuted Talons, looking to take out as many of them as she can before they can recover and get off the platform. Emptying out her clip into as many of them as she can, she glances over her shoulder...

Where another group of Talons land on the other side of her platform, knives raised. At which point she drops the expended pistol, drawing the other one out as she smirks, "Just like a Talon, bringing a knife to a gun fight." And with that, she fires, dodging to the side as she tries to keep her distance.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's landing was a little rough, thanks to the leg. But no matter, the boy fights through the pain. And he keeps blasting through shells.

  The shotgun clicks, and he slings the shotgun back, using the gauntlet scallops for part of their purpose, Damian's fists and kicks reach toward another Talon, grasping and using their weight against them to throw them to the ground. A boot to the cranium, and enough downward force to crack vertebrae, and the head cannot give orders for the rest of the body.

  Damian continues to fight, unsheathing his sword when he has the chance to. Heavy slashes, close quarters, this sends limbs flying, especially when they are aimed at the socket. Even from before, Damian can see these Talons aren't fighting with the same fervor as even others did before with him...strange.

  It itches in the back of the mind, yet another problem to decipher.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman dives behind the cover of a rocky outcropping as a hail of sharp objects are flung his way. Kate and Damian may notice that for all the numbers focused on them, there are considerably more lining up to swarm Bruce. He, it seems, is their primary target this evening. But thankfully, there are no signs yet of any of the "Smart" Talons in the mix. It's the steampunk Zerg Rush in action.

Batman remains far from helpless, though. That sword lashes out, often towards the neck, sometimes taking off a limb. It's grim work, but there's little recourse with these particular foes. Still, he needs something that's going to disable more than one of these at a time. An idea comes to mind, and he yells out:

"Batwoman! Freeze Ray!" Mostly because Batwoman is the closest one to where that particular trophy...still quite functional, if a few generations behind Freeze's current model...resides.

Not that Kate and Damian are lagging in being beleaguered by zombie-owl-ninjas. And Damian's particular puzzle may become much clearer as a pair of these "zombies" rush forward not with blades...but with mancatchers. Not that at least one other with blades doesn't try to keep him distracted while the other two try to get a grip on him.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nods and leaps back towards the trophy case, not letting up as she quickly empties the clip in the heads and limbs of the zombie-Talons rushing at her. With her gauntlet, she smashes through the trophy case, ignoring the prim voice of Alfred chastizing her for breaking the glass. With that, she picks up the Freeze Ray and adjusts the settings before brandishing it at the remaining Talons near her.

"Time to put you on /ice/." And with that, she blasts the Talons with the freeze ray, icing them up and taking them out of the fight for a while. Then she takes a moment to evaluate the situation... and notices that the zombies on Damian clearly want to take him alive.

So she shouts over at Damian, "Robin! Castling Short!" With that, she leaps over towards his platform, looking to take the pressure off of him while he goes and helps Bruce out with the numbers. Besides, there might be more wonderful toys for Damian to purloin if he gets a breather...

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian keeps swinging his sword to keep the bladed Talons back while he gives some space.

  Keeping his hearing out and his eyes open, he catches view of the mancatchers, and retreats closer to Batwoman. Quickly sheathing his sword, he grabs the shotgun and loads the magazine with three more shells. "Funny joke." He commented, castling short. Racking the pump back, and forth, he squeezes the trigger again, and another quick re-rack, he again shoots another Talon upper-center mass.

  He noticed the sheer amount of Talons striking at Batman and the mancatchers start to make sense now. Dammit, Batman was right.

  "Give me your grapple." He asks of Batwoman.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Evaluating the situation is a great idea, because the Freeze Ray certainly has the desired effect on those Talon's directly hit with it, it's the effect on those adjacent to the directly-affected that might be of particular note. Now, in truth they're near enough that if they were normal people, some nasty frostbite might be in order, but that should hardly bother these things, right? Except...far more than just the ones blasted are effectively immobile. A few are moving veeeeery slowly, but a lot of them seem to be "Frozen" even if they're not the ones with icy bits covering them. And the Zombie-Ninjas are noticeably recoiling from the icy ones, at that.

Batman, in the meantime, changes the trajectory of the battle with his own grapnel launcher, firing it to secure in a chunk of rock overhead, and ascending away from the horde, swinging over towards the platform where the Batmobile lies, one that bears far fewer Talons, though he only has time to engage for a few moments before he dives behind the Batmobile as another hail of sharp objects threatens...this time a couple do leave some superficial cuts on his less-protected legs, but hey at least the "Zombie" talons haven't been smart enough to focus their targeting there.

After a second, the Batmobile's engine roars to life, but only to just forward a few feet, actually knocking a trio of advancing talons off the platform and into the darkness beneath.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate tosses Damian her grapple gun, "Go get 'em!" She grins wryly at Damian, "Was tempted to start singing 'Let It Go' but I think I'd lose my Cave privileges." With that, she unleashes the freeze ray again on the Talons, watching them recoil even more than she really expected.

"Batman, I think we need to replicate this thing if we're going to be fighting more of these guys!" Because right now, Kate is definitely thinking this might be coming home with her for some quick reverse engineering. Even as she unleashes the fury of the freeze ray, she's still thinking of strategic options, keeping the Talons from getting too close while Damian leaps over to help Batman out.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "What the hell is 'Let It Go'?" With Batwoman's grapple, Damian launches toward Bruce and the Batmobile, taking care to land on the vehicle while stowing the launcher. The RPG is left alone, but the last two shells in the shotgun's magazine are used in quick order, right for the head, and Robin, bloodied with his own and Talon blood stand on the hood of the iconic car, as he reloads Alfred's shotgun.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
And almost as quickly as they appear, the Talons...disappear. Which is to say they withdraw, as though some unheard command beckons them home. Or perhaps it's simply the cold, but while they grab as many of their fallen as they can...which is considerable, this time, they fail to get them all, leaving at least three frozen Talons behind...and of course a horrendous array of limbs. It's going to take a long time to clean things up.

Bruce watches them fade away, into the depths beneath the cave with a thousand places to hide, but the motion trackers still follow them, at least until they exceed their range. Not leaving quite as fast as they came, but still with a swiftness that can only be borne by those that don't worry about fatigue.

The "bubble" over the Batcomputer flickers out of existence, and Batman moves towards Kate, commenting brusquely, "Help me get these Talons into cold storage. Damian, check the status of the others. We might not be the only strike they made tonight."

Typical Bruce, no time for celebrating what's near enough the closest thing to a solid victory they've had over the Talons. But did they win a battle but lose ground in the war?