4573/Goliaths Win! ...in a riot

Goliaths Win! ...in a riot
Date of Scene:	02 January 2021
Location:	Midtown - Founders Island
Synopsis:	The riot comes to an end. But the questions are just beginning...
Cast of Characters:	Bruce Wayne, Blake Riviere, Barbara Gordon, Cole Cash, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe, Colleen Wing, The Joker, Frank Castle, Tim Drake

---

Bruce Wayne has posed:
It should have been a great evening in Gotham, a city that doesn't necessarily get a whole lot of them. Sometimes it seems that there isn't a whole lot to celebrate in a city like this. But tonight? Tonight is good, at least for long suffering fans of Gotham's NFL team. After almost two decades of complete and utter futility the Gotham Goliaths took the field in the last game of the season with a chance to actually make the playoffs. With tens of thousands in the stadium itself and hundreds, maybe even a couple of thousand outside the home side got to see their team actually triumph for once. A punt return in the fourth quarter sealed the deal. The Goliaths are playoff bound!

And of course that's where it all went wrong.

It is no surprise that the home town fans might be a little exhuberent after this sort of victory and as thousands of those fans spill out into the streets surrounding the stadium that party looks like it will keep on going for several hours to come. Local stadium security and the GCPD are both out in force of coruse, but at first nothing seems amiss. At least not until dozens of the Goliath's players stream out of the stadium, still dressed in their uniforms, their pads and helmets.

In moments that crowd is whipped into a frenzy as the heroes of the hour circulate amongst them, arms thrust to the heavens in victory, in celebration, mingling with their adoring fans. The streets of Midtown practically ring with delight -- sounds that are not typically associated with Gotham.

No one would have expected that it would start with the quarterback. Jason McNamera, with a fifty million dollar contract under his belt suddenly hurled a football through the window of a nearby jewelery shop. Unbelievably, he followed that up by beginning to grab an assortment of display pieces out of that now broken window.

And the crowd went even more wild, others joining in.

The offensive line encircled a police cruiser and in short order had it hefted up, flipping it onto it's side. And the cheers echoed through the streets.

As things get more and more out of control the police on scene increasingly find themselves increasingly on the defensive, pushed back by the thousands that begin to follow the example of the heroes, rampaging through the streets of the city.

This, this is more like the Gotham City everyone knows...

Blake Riviere has posed:
Blake wasn't a Gotham native, technically she wasn't even an American native. Still, she'd spent plenty of time in the suitably dark and dangerous city in her decades stateside and she was a 'bat person' of sorts...just not in the sense that the city tended to think of. She also wasn't much of a football fan, if only for the fact that it was hard to get to form lasting attachments to teams that tended to change all the time when one was immortal. She wasn't on the street to party, the dark-haired woman dressed in her 'goth' fashion had been out in the bar for a more simple reason: Blake needed a meal.

Of course, plans of charming some soul to a volunarty (if not slightly unknowing) donation had hit a little snag around about the moment that someone had gone crashing through the window of the establishment in the mounting chaos and her would-be 'date' had fled. A sigh from her painted lips, Blake stepped out of the establishment and into the chaos, an accented tutting offered as she looked out over the growing riot.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Like hundreds of thousands, Babs was watching the Goliaths from the comfort of her Clocktower retreat. Safe in the knowledge that even the worst criminals of Gotham would take a night off to see the hometown team make it to the playoffs for the first time in decades! "Yes! Run, run run..." Touchdown.

JUST like Hundreds of Thousands, Babs was on her feet, jumping on the cushion of her couch like Tom Cruise confessing his love for Katie Holmes! She looks a bafoon, but she doesn't care! Not at all... not when the team takes the field to mingle with the crowds, it's heart warming and endearing.. Not when they all march out into the streets into view of the overhead cameras circling on whirly birds covering the live footage from the stadium!

In fact, she's elated, right up until McNamera turns and hurls a football through one of the jewelry store windows and the powderkeg that is Gotham City sets off with a big baddaboom...

"What.. wait... h-..."

She's over the back of her couch and rushing up the steps towards the Oracle array, pulling her headset up as she slides the rest of the way to the computer monitors on a rolling chair. Stopping her progress with feet stomping down on the hard wood, she's pulling up all comms:

>>All Birds and Bats... This is Oracle. Incident errupting at the Gotham City Stadium. Riot in progress. Call off if you are receiving this and I will activate beacons and clear a path for you through traffic.<<

Cole Cash has posed:
This was the first time Cole was to see a live match since 2002. Not because of the Goliaths, but because the visiting team was the Chicago Bears. He expected them to win, too, and bet a couple hundred for them. So, forgive him if he is a sad Cole, and perhaps a little drunk, that finally leaves the stadium when the riot has already started.

"What the fu... oh, right, Sunday in Gotham?" He grunts, heading for the parking lot where he left his van. And his guns, since he didn't go armed into the stadium. He is not a barbarian.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Honestly Charlie fell asleep on the couch not too far away from Babs during the football game. Even all the yelling and jumping and fist pumping wasn't enough to really disturb the teenager. It has been a very long week going back to school for the first time in almost a year. Training with Orphan, yes Orphan, and others who stopped by. And insisting on patrolling at least a couple times as well.

The kiddo is zonked the heck out.

Okay maybe the leaping up and down on the couch like Tom Cruise. That finally disturbs her "What... did we win?" she asks sleepily and is only just getting her head on straight in time to see the riots start. "Did we lose?" she finally asks. I mean do you riot when you win or when you lose. Honestly Charlie isn't sure which is more likely.

The fact Babs is calling the all alert though gets her moving from watching the live TV about the riot. "Getting my stuuuufff." towards the computer station as she scrambles towards her room to get geared up.

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Between the curious clues that The Hand is operating somewhere in Gotham, and the weirder vampire and werewolf war, Collleen has been taking more and more trips to Gotham. It's never pleasant. Either because of the weather or because of the crime. She much prefers New York. Which also has bad weather and crime. But it's in a different palette, more grey than black.

    The burnt out building she was investigating was a bust. For her anyway, may be someone with all the right gadgets could analyse burn patterns and accelerants. She was hoping to find a drug den or a distribution hub. Whatever went down here happened several days ago, everything was burnt out and then soaked by rain once the roof collapsed.

    The kick stand is raised as she settles on to the bike, helmet on her head, when suddenly she feels a buzzbuzz from her phone. "Who is calling me..." she murmurs to herself and takes the phone out of her leather jacket. Her eyes widen a touch at the Bird Alert.

    >>Wing in Gotham: 217th and Lincoln West<< she types back. No doubt there'll be questions about that later. But for now, apparently a riot. She puts her phone back in to her jacket, zips up, and starts to ride with speed toward the trouble.

    While she's not a Bird, she is their ally and a Defender of New York is not going to leave Gotham out to dry. But she is acutely aware that crime in Gotham tends to carry with it super villains with psychopathic tendencies.. she'd best keep her wits about her.

The Joker has posed:
"Boss." Bob, Joker's current Number One Guy, looks over his shoulder. "Aren't we supposed to be lying low? Like, out of town? I know you have that relay set up making it seem like you're in different places at once..."

"Come on, Bob." Boffo the Bandit, current 'veteran' of the company and the sort of street monster that'd survive two consecutive ends of the world, shoves a forkfull of fried rice down his throat. "I'm sure he's got his reasons."

The Joker is currently dressed in a pair of (purple) slacks, a green polo shirt, a purple sweater vest with a bright green "JOKE'S-ON-U" college crest, and an enormous fur coat. He's watching the game on a flatscreen and delicately popping potstickers into his mouth. "Bob, what's your favorite kind of fried rice? I mean, pork, chicken, beef?"

There's a moment of quiet in the small gang; non sequiturs like this often had lethal consequences. Bob dares give Boffo a look, but the big man just shrugs, not having any particular insight.

"...I usually go for the happy family combo." Bob says, just deciding to go with the truth. "You know, chicken, pork, those little shrimps? Feels like I'm getting more for my buck even if they just hot plate it."

"Hmm." Joker says, as the news starts covering the burgeoning riot in earnest. "God we can't even win right, can we. You know in Philadelphia they wouldn't even need help trashing the place? I remember, I was there one year and I was stupid enough to wear a Knights jersey on hockey night and a bunch of teenagers threw rocks at me. I said, 'Don't you little shits know who I am?", puffed myself up, did the best evil clown glare, and you know what they did?"

Boffo's already left the room to gas up the car; Bob, who is a henchman of the old school, just sort of shrugs. "Die, boss?"

Joker looks at his goon for the first time, sorts a laugh, and shakes his head, "Nah, they threw a brick at me and shouted 'twenty points!'. This, Bob, this is artificial. I'd bet my stupid hat on it. And what's worse, they're going to blame me! Everyone thinks I have weird...clown powers now, that I turn people into clowns or something, you know? I should do something. The Goliaths won, you know!"

"Jokermobile's ready, boss!" Boffo shouts, and Joker grins, tapping Bob's nose with a slender finger. Minutes later, the gang of six are blazing out of one of Joker's secondary hideouts in a long, thin car with a hood shaped eerily like the Joker's face. One goon, let's call him Tony, is loading what looks ominously like a cannon sticking out of the top of the Jokermobile.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Sometimes it seems that no matter how prepared the GCPD might it is never quite enough. Somehow, after all these years, Gotham City still finds a way to surprise, still finds a way to exceed (or perhaps fall far, far below) all expectations. So while the couple of hundred uniformed officers on scene try to find a way to rally the sheer number of incidents just seem to start spiraling out of control. At least a half dozen of the Goliaths seem to have broken off from the pack and begun to loot local shops, smashing windows and grabbing whatever they can carry from the storefront displays. Always seemingly jewelery shops, or high-end electronics. Of course they spawn dozens of imitators from the crowd at large though on the whole they seem much less picky.

As with any good riot, random destruction does seem to be the order of the day and in short order dozens of cars have been vandalized, windows smashed, hoods and roofs jumped on and at least one police cruiser set aflame. Everytime the police try to mount up a defense, a dozen or so of the Goliaths simply charge them en mass, plowing into them to scatter them again, much to the delight of their enthusiastic supporters, cheering them on.

While most of the crowd seems to be focused on using the increasingly chaotic evening as a good old fashioned excuse to go nuts and engage in some random property destruction, violence does seem to be part and parcel of this sort of thing. And it is usually directed towards the 'outsiders'. Like say, a half dozen fars of the Chicago Bears who find themselves fleeing past Cole, trying to shield their heads as beer cans and other debris are hurled at them by a pack of drunken Goliath fans.

There is always the other end of the spectrum too. Sometimes a good riot seems like the perfect place to try one's hand at a little romance. Or what passes for it as far as college frat guys are concerned. The trio all approach Blake, buzzed on alcohol and adrenaline. "Well, well, look what we've got here. Love the goth look. You should come party with us. I mean, we've already got quite the haul," they boast, holding up a variety of sparkling pieces of jewelery. Apparently they've already done their looting for the evening and are ready to move on to more important things.

<< Copy that Oracle. I'm a few minutes out. >> comes the grim voice of the Dark Knight over the comm, the roar of the Batmobile blocked out by the sophisticated sub-vocal mic as the sleek black vehicle races towards the heart of the city.

Frank Castle has posed:
Then, there's the Punisher.

He's been spending more and more time on the East Coast, since his work in the middle east. This time, his target is one of the many, /many/ people who showed up for the game. A mob boss in the area from New York. Sitting in a rented apartment at a side window overlooking the area, he keeps to one side, using a monocular to study the situation...

Which means he's right there when the rioting starts... and sees the Jokermobile starting to head out, with that ... cannon?

"Micro, are you seeing this?" Microchip just sighs as he listens over the commlink, "What is that thing? I can't tell from a glance." Microchip replies, "Give me a moment to study it, Frank. That riot is the more immediate problem." Frank studies the quarterback briefly, then nods. "Yeah, deploying overtly against this will be an issue. I didn't bring my launcher. I can deal with the troublemakers though."

Out of sight, the Punisher reaches for and begins to assemble a custom M24 out of a briefcase to the side.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "WOOO!" Shouts a voice from far above the near by stadium, at first the people were opposed to a downtown football stadium. Arguments such as 'Only 8 games a year.' 'This team never makes the post season, why should they get a new place to play?' 'What's wrong with the dump closer to the river and the spillways?' But in this moment of elation, Tim, wearing his Red Robin costum, sitting on the edge of a gargoyle in the cold Gotham air, with his wrist computer dialed into the game is throwing his hands up in a tantrum of elation.

    The Robin was hooting and hollering from above, not really worried about the crowds below hearing his hollaring as they filter out of the stadium en masse, as they're louder than he ever could be. Things seem to be going well, and a bit the way Tim anticipated, figuring there would be some hysteria, but this city needs something positive, and that's why he's over here tonight, not expecting, but praying the positive energy the city feels could easily shift back to the fear and panic that often plagues downtown.

    A finger up to his earpiece, activating it and responding into the device. <<Red Robin here. I'm on the scene. Gimme some info. What's happening?>> Tim lowers his hand as he spreads his arms, cape in hand and he dives off the gargoyle to begin getting lower and closer to the action where he can really respond.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Oracle adjusts her glasses and starts opening various windows on the multi-screen array infront of her. "Be careful." could have gone unsaid to Charlie, but what kind of adoptive mother would she be if she didn't at least put up the bare minimal effort to sound like a protective parent who was just about to send their teenaged child out into a riot?

With signals popping up, Babs brings them onto her digital wireframe map of Gotham and uploads root access codes into the traffic system. >>Wing, I have cleared three blocks for you. Lights should be green the whole way. Keep me updated.<<

Her fingers work lightning fast over the hardlight keyboard projected across her computer desk. >>I see you Batman. I'm routing you around to the stadium West. GCPD are under heavy assault-<<

And Tim.. Grinning at hearing his familiar voice broadcasting over comms. >>Bringing up your cowl camm, Red Robin.<< She taps the screen with a finger and flicks her wrist to the side to bring up another window so she can keep tabs on what he sees from within the chaos. >>I have... it looks like two linebackers and a couple spectators have gotten their hands on some Police batons.<< Accessing and highlighting it for Tim in his cowls HUD.

Her head tilts side to side, turning her seat to bring up another program on an adjacent screen all it's own. She's hacking into the cell towers to get access to any phone conversations around the area... when her brow suddenly knits. "The hell is that..."

>>Fifty bucks a steak dinner to anyone who can get me direct access to one of the stadiums communications towers.<<

Blake Riviere has posed:
The Joker-mobile was probably going to be the most worrying thing on the street in a few moments, but Blake had a more immediate threat in front of her. The fact that the three men had clearly been looting was a little less concerning really. Theft wasn't quite the most dangerous thing that could be happening here after all! Still, Blake tilts her head, her eyes moving over the trio and the melee around them before dropping back to the 'Frat boys'.

She had no idea of the Bats and birds on their way, nor of the Punisher making his own visit from New York just as she was. Instead she stepped towards the trio with a soft laugh of her french-accented tones.

"And what sort of party might just involve a bag of stolen jewelry? It looks like you've already -had- your fun for the evening."

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Colleen speeds down the streets, rather amazed at how all the lights keep changing for her as she approaches an intersection. This is the kind of privilege emergency vehicles usually enjoy. She supposes, in Gotham, the vigilantes are emergency vehicles of a sort.

    She opens up the carry compartment as she rides and pulls out the Birds of Prey earpiece that she so rarely has a use for and puts it in to her ear, >>On comms now and about to park<<. She takes a corner particularly fast though the notion of a riot perplexes her. She's not quite sure how she's supposed to help...

    Until she sees a chair being thrown at a shop window, bounce off of the bullet proof glass and hit the guy in the head who threw it. His two friends seeing this laugh, then seeing Colleen watching from the back of her bike, start to run. The guy who threw the chair gets back up off the ground groggily and takes off too.

    "shouganai," she murmurs to herself as humanity puts itself on display before her. The word of the riot has spread faster than boots on the ground it seems. She parks in an alley way and takes off her helmet, replacing it for her hoodies hood. She unbinds her sword from her bike and straps it over her back.. just in case.

    It's then that Colleen hears a *smash* as those three guys had returned, with a car, and rammed it in the shop window. She rounds the corner as they're getting out and says to them, "Get back in and drive away..."

    They ignore her, opening the car boot and entering the store. She doesn't need much more of an invitation than that. There was rioting going on when New York City was attacked too. She learnt her lesson then, some people just want to take advantage of a bad situation.

    From within the store there are a few *oofs* and *aaahs* and not much longer later all three are limping out of the store, leaving their car behind. Colleen steps back out and wipes the blood on her knuckles against her pant leg. "baka," she mutters to herself.. about them.. about herself. Here she is again, diving in to the danger.

Cole Cash has posed:
It is not Cole's first riot, and in fact this is hardly his worst riot. People in some banana republic riot with AK-47s in their hands. But it is certainly a weird riot. Highly paid football players have no reason to rob jewelry stores, or charge the police. In other words: makes no sense. Like so many things in this city.

The view of the Chicagoans being chased by rabid Gothamites makes him feel the pangs of... tribal anger? Well, whatever it was it passes quickly. Beer cans to the head and a mild beating build up character. Maybe that is why he has a lot of character.

Instead, he grabs his armored coat, tactical ger, heavy handguns and dons his mask. Finally he finds a large motorcycle at the parking lot to 'borrow', and heads out to see if he can find the cause of the crazy. Then he spots the Jokermobile and makes the obvious, and totally mistaken, conclusion.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Charlie did hear Babs tell her to be careful. Then again she is always telling her to be careful "OF course" she calls back from her room. Not like her costume is hard to get into really. It doesn't have the tech thought that Robin's does or anything like that. Legging, skirt, top with the funky M/Bat symbol on it for Misfit, domino mask, cape, and finally the most real part the actual utility belt.

She pops from her room to the area by the computer and reaches out to snag a goober off the table near Barbara. <<"Show me a stream that has the comms tower in it and I'll bounce over there to patch you in direct Oracle.">> she is close enough to the mic' so she just uses her comms.

It is like calling dibs..

It also keeps her out of the riot for now which she knows will make some people happy.

Tim Drake has posed:
    <<Copy that Oracle- AH. there they are.>> Tim says into the comms, his lips curling into an almost toothy grin. This is going to be easy, if not interesting. Red Robin's cape snaps in the wind as he plummets to the crowds below and his HUD constantly scanning for the threat pointed out by Oracle until the FoF tags ping properly and guide his direction to the targets.

    The grappling gun sails true to catch Tim and he's brought into a fast trough and lands on his feet and a hand before standing up and does his best to hide his smirk while sizing up the linebackers. "Put the weapons down and we can all forget about this." Red Robin requests in his lowered voice, trying to end things peacefully, hand slowly sliding beneath his cape to grasp onto the shaft of his staff, but doesn't draw it, not yet if he doesn't need to.

The Joker has posed:
This particular version of the Jokermobile is a bit more tactical than previous iterations. There's room for a small gang of henchmen, loot, and even proper equipment! Boffo is working a computer looking system right now, while Bob drives. Joker himself is finishing his Chinese food.

"Nothing on the scrambler so far." Boffo says, adjusting a few dials and switches. "There's plenty of people talking but I can't pick up on any communication bands yet. You sure this stuff is legit?"

"We probably need to slow down." Joker says, looking at the ceiling as if bored with it all. "Most listening posts are stationary for a reason. But I want to get a little closer to the action before we try anything serious-can you believe these lights?"

Bob's lips thin. "Batman?"

"Someone." Joker says, sitting up and swallowing his last dumpling. "God if I knew I was fighting I'd have ordered something easier on my stomach. Tony! You have the special ordinance loaded?!"

"Primed and ready, Mister J!" Tony, who's new, says with an unpleasant grin, "What's it gonna do to 'em!"

"Add...authenticity. Bob, get us closer." Joker orders, his eyes narrowing as he starts to actually enjoy himself.

Bob complies, wheeling the heavy vehicle expertly. The 'teeth' open, revealing a sound system, where a recording of the Joker's voice plays at a similar pitch to police megaphones. "BOY DID YOU HIT THE WRONG CAR! HAAAAH HA HA HA HA! MIGHT WANT TO GET OUT OF THE WAY FATTY!-"

"There's always a fat guy." Joker says, in the car, "And they always think you mean them. Look, three people jumped, HAH!"

"-PLEASE DEPOSIT TWENTY DOLLARS IN THE NET OR WHO KNOWS WHAT I'LL DO!" A pair of comically large nets extend from both sides of the Jokermobile as it slows down enough for Boffo to do whatever it is he's doing, and more importantly, to attract attention.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
One does have to wander just why professional football players would be looting stores, especially after the biggest victory of their careers. It definitely doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but in fairness to those on the ground, they have other things to think about.

But the looting continues. Indeed, it seems to be accelerating as more and more of the Goliaths seem to strike out to enrich themselves with ill-gotten consumer goods as their fans happily take their place, causing chaos and battling the police. From nearby alleys and under bench dufflebags are dragged out, apparently left earlier, carried over and filled with jewelery and electronics and any other item of value that seems to catch one of their eyes, piled in until the bags are all overflowing. Then some three hundred pound lineman hefts up a half dozen of the bags and begins to march down the street towards where a dark van awaits.

Outside on the streets more and more damage is done. Trash cans overturned right along with the cars, windows smashed, and more and more fires beginning to cast their glow over the proceedings. The sounds of distant but approaching sirens begin to fill the night air, rising even above the cries of the crowd. The first few cannisters of tear gas finally enter the frey, launched into the crowd as clouds of sickly yellowish gas begin to spread, creating gaps in the crowd. But others throw themselves as the lines of police officers, some of them now holding batons dropped by other officers -- the reason for the gathering in the first place seemingly forgotten.

The trio of frat boys, the lead and his two wingmen apparently -- continue to do their best to tempt Blake, just a little too intoxicated to notice that they are nowhere near as charming as they'd like to think. And just a little two drunk to notice the increasing cries of violence that are slowly approaching as the police and rioters clash nearby. "Hey, evening's young and the party's just getting started," the tall blond fellow insists, practically reeking of alcohol as a trio of stolen necklaces dangle from his finges, glinting in the streetlights.

Of course if one is looking to break up a street party like this there might be worse ways then to drive a Jokermobile right into the midst of it. At first few people notice -- there's plenty of ther things to catch their attention. But the Joker does have a way of... dominating any crowd he's a part of. While some might be skeptical that he is actually in the garish car, more then a few rioters quickly decide that they might rather be anywhere else and start running away in the opposite direction. There might be some screaming involved. The important thing is that the Joker is actually helping clear the streets. Still others, begin to crowd around, peering at the strange vehicle.

With both Red Robin and Misfit heading to the communication's array it does not take long at all for Oracle to have the additional taps she needs to get a better idea of just what sorts of anomalies she is detecting. And sure enough, a high frequency wave is being pumped into the area, right at that particular communication array. And from there it is being divided out into fifty-eight sub-frequencies, all beamed down into the crowd below.

As it so happens, should anyone have been able to get an accurate account there are exactly fifty-eight Gotham Goliaths down amongst the crowd.

<< I'm on site. >> comes the grim tones of the Dark Knight as he Batmobile squeals to an abrupt stop only a dozen or so feet behind the hard pressed police line that threatens to be overwhelmed. In an instant he is out of that vehicle, all but burst from the car as his grapnel carries him up to the top of the nearby light stanchion, cape curled out around him as that shadow falls over the crowd.

Frank Castle has posed:
The silencer is screwed on, and stun rounds are slid in and locked. A moment later, and a bipoded sniper rifle is placed on a table just inside a window, and the Punisher is looking around, aiming.

He works to identify the serious troublemakers first... and within moments, stun rounds are fired from a sniper rifle against the big targets, especially that quarterback. "Got a-"

Suddenly, there's a loud screech in his commlink as the scrambler the Joker is using does it's work, and he growls as he pulls it out. "ECM? Fucking great."

Cold fury in his eyes, the Punisher turns the sniper rifle and begins to knock out the serious threats in the riot. The Jokermobile will have to wait.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Searching...
    Searching...
        Searching...
ACCESS GRANTED

"Would you look't that..." Babs runs her eyes, behind her glasses, over the lines of the frequency and gets to work breaking down the encryption on the communication tower. Saving the wave-file to a side storage for later full investigation, her intentions now is to shut down the signal and try to help restore some semblance of reason to this chaos.

>>Thanks Red Robin and Misfit.<<

She adjusts her glasses and slides over to a different keyboard and monitor station. All fingers join, her wrists reverse, and knuckles crack... set to work breaching the security with a little grin.

access:rootwindow=config.interval($ activelemenet)(newhost=route.true)
    $active.user=new True.value=1(1-secondary)
        new.host=acces.primary.host-upload..

>>Batman, I've found a signal broadcasting fifty-eight individual variants across fifty-eight sub-frequencies. I'm having to shut them down one at a time.. or I can just cut power to the station. But if I /do/-<< Does she need to say it?

A couple thousand rioters will be plunged into complete darkness until she can reboot the grid.

It'll be basic, if not total, anarchy.

And she's not doing it without his okay.

Blake Riviere has posed:
Imagine being hungry, really hungry, and walking through a food court. With the brawling, struggling and chaos around her? That's what this riot was to Blake. She wasn't so thirsty that she was going to be pouncing some hapless victim in some feeding frenzy, but right now? It was oh-so-tempting to inflict a little violence on the three morons in front of her if only for the opportunity to taste some of the blood in the air. But...well, she'd made a point -not- to go back to some of the bad old days of her time as a 'Bride' and she wasn't going to let a couple of rioting professional athletes break that up now, was she?

Now there was a -tank- in the area booming the voice of an infamous clown and...the sounds of gunfire. Things were probably going to get a heck of a lot worse soon.

A sigh, Blake leans foward, drawing the eyes of the trio to her own as her deep blue irises begin to change to a more hypnotic red. "You're going to drop your loot, go home and have a nice long rest while you ponder your stupidity now..."

Mesmerization on the drunk? It was almost too easy. It also wasn't exactly something that could be done for the whole crowd.

The sudden arrival of the Batmobile and the dramatic caped arrival has even the 'Draculina' turning, eyes sweeping to the 'Mythical' Batman as much in curiousity as anything else.

Like many others, she had no idea what the Dark Night was, human or otherwise.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Once she was shown where to go she just, vanished from next to Oracle and appeared on one of the comm arrays, before leaping down to the ground.

It took some messing around for her to find an access point for her to stick the goober into really. The whole time she was hmmming a catchy pop song that hit the top 20 this week while she worked. Bubblegum pop too.

Thankfully she remembered to not broadcast the chipper humming to everyone on comms with her because that would be embrassing even if right on point for her.

Once the thank you comes through she grins and then leaps away vanishing in a cloud of pink and purple smoke. Appearing a bit later on top of a building with a birds eye view of the riots down below. <<'So a couple of things. I think the Joker may be down there in the streets in a .. really strange car in the middle of all of this. Do you want me stopping looting or give people some space so they can flee if they are not rioting?'>>

Cole Cash has posed:
For Cole it is obvious this is all because the Joker. Yes, he is a hothead, but who would blame him? So, he tries to maneuver the bike closer to the Jokermobile without running anyone over. It is not working, he can't get close enough, probably because he is too drunk to drive as dexterously as he usually could, and it brings some colorful curses from the mercenary.

The Joker announcing loudly his presence and following antics actually clear the streets some. Showing even during a riot some people still keep a modicum of common sense. On the other hand, he has to dodge the fleeing crowd. Which ends him too close to the police line just as the Batmobile shows up.

He also has to kick away a couple rioters. The rest... run away, but it is because Batman is here.

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Colleen strides down the street toward the oncoming noise of destruction and gunfire and .. a loud speaker? She can see some of the tear gas wafting off of a street and people dispersing from it. It is then she comes across some Chicago Bears fans backing away from a group of five men with police batons and menacing gaits.

    This can turn real bad real quickly, as it appears the foreigners are headed toward a dead end. She steps out behind the violent fans and whistles. She takes her sword and scabbard off of her back, but does not draw it. Weapons for weapons, it is the smart thing to do.

    The four men turn to see a small woman shrouded in shadow by hood. "You're not a bat," one of them says and the bravest of the four charges toward her with baton held high. She dodges to the side at the last moment and punches the hilt of her sword in to his ribs. He doubles over and she knees him against the neck. In short order, he drops to the ground and the baton clangs against the cobblestone pathway.

    The other three seeing this charge in to her and she begins a pitched battle against them. These ones seem to have spent some time learning MMA or the like and now they know they're not up against an amateur.

    Colleen ducks and weaves. They're good, but not fast enough to keep up with her awareness. She takes the time to test her limits, a few blows hitting her as she over estimates her angles and ability to avoid the strikes. Undefeated in the street brawling octagon in Chinatown, she finally decides to put an end to this. Their punches are slowing down and their strikes with the batons are getting sloppy.

    Colleen takes the first of the three and locks her scabbard between his arm and baton, forcing him to to submit and drop it. She moves quickly to the second and ducks under his swing, sweeping her scabbard behind his leg and tripping him hard on to the cobble.

    The third man she draws her sword for and rests the tip just before his nose. He stalls in mid step, gulping, cross eyed and instantly sweating. He's thinking to himself how fast he was to avoid walking on to that blade.. and he drops the baton and holds up his hands, backing away.

    As the other three get back up, all four of them rush off down the street. Colleen turns around and sees that the Bears fans have already disappeared in to the night too. >>It's getting crazy down here Oracle. Is there a strategy or do I just keep doing the job of the police for them?<< she says in to the comms as she sheathes her sword to scabbard with a smooth motion.

The Joker has posed:
People run away from a giant car shaped like the face of the worst person in town.

"How dare they?!" Joker snaps, visibly furious at his plan working. "Alright, this is salvageable. Tony, start shooting!"

Bob starts to slowly back up as Tony spins the cannon around, firing something into the crowd. It's...

Glitter. Glitterbombs! Sparkling silver and golden dust covering as much of the crowd as Tony can manage, with the occasional heavier round being fired; a roiter gets shot dead in the chest, looks down expecting to see her guts leaking out onto the pavement. Instead, in her hands, is a rolled up white 1XL t-shirt that says, "I GOT SHOT BY THE JOKER AND ALL I GOT'S THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT."

"Wow!" The woman says, holding it up like a prize. All of this chaos may be covered up the maniac shooting a sniper rifle into the crowd, at least for a moment.

"Boss, we've got." Boffo jumps back as a spark explodes from the interceptor. "Something just messed with this gadget something bad! I think we caught someone and they, uh, responded."

"Hold on." Joker says, ears perked. "He's here, he's here!"

"I see him!" Bob shouts, trying to drive AWAY from the Batmobile.

"Tony, get him! Now! Fire!"

Tony is quicker on the uptake than the average Joker goon; as the Shadow of the Bat swoops over the rioters, he takes a shot with a rolled up t-shirt right at Batman's chest. Could this be the end of the Caped Crusader?!

Tim Drake has posed:
    Red Robin stands before a gaggle of player-goons with baton's and he straightens his stance, as a booming voice comes over a loudspeaker and Tim's shoulders drop. Of all days... why him? Why now? And without a second thought, Tim finds he has a new goal with an old sidequest in the way. His HUD keeps the three linemen with batons outlined in red and with little to do but get busy.

    The staff remains sheathed in his back holster and Tim rushes forwards to the trio before him and he lands a chop to a wrist, lowers his center of gravity and bends beneath a second attack and pushes it past to force the attack to connect with one of the dude's allies, and a follow up on that snaps the baton out of his hand, before Tim's jumping and putting both his hands on the third guy's shoulders, and while above twists his feet and spins at the waist. Twisting himself and down through into the man at his hands below him and bringing the guy's back onto the pavement hard enough to snap the wind and fight out of him, with Red Robin landing in a roll and back onto his feet and moving past.

    <<I've dealt with many of the baton bruisers, but ... the Joker is here, and for some reason, this doesn't feel like him. I'm moving closer to find out.>> Tim reports as he rushes through the crowd and spies Batman landing on the light pole and smirks, good, the real deal is here. For some reason this helps put Tim at ease as he moves towards the sound of the car, lifting his hand and grappling on the nearest building and pulling himself up and out of the crowd for a more direct route to the Joker.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
There is no way to be absolutely sure of course, but a whole team of professional athletes acting in a highly unlikely manner. Wading out into the crowd after a game still in their uniforms. And their helmets. Couple that with a signal being beamed into the area and then split into that many sub-signals. He can't be sure of course, not until they get a look at one of those helmets. But the Dark Knight has a sneaking suspicion about just what is going on here. Nothing good of course. << Negative Oracle. Don't kill the power. I don't think that is going to help us. I need one of the helmet's that the Goliaths are wearing, >> he begins when they get that first word that the Joker has been spotted. He was supposed to still be overseas and as he surveys the crowd below -- increasingly thinning fortunately as it seems that at least some of them have no interest in fighting both the police and Batman -- his eyes narrow behind that dark cowl.

<< Oracle, alert the Major Crimes unit. See if you get any confirmation that /he/ actually is back in town. >> he says sharply. There is no doubt about who 'he' is. << Red Robin, move in closer but be careful. If it is Joker focus on getting the crowd out of here until I get there. We'll deal with him together. Misfit, I need you to get one of those football helmets and let Oracle know if you find anything strange inside of them >> he adds. Technically of course Misfit doesn't answer to him. But the Dark Knight isn't usually all that concerned with social nicities.

Between the arrival of the Bat Clan and the Joker, the crowd does start to thin, more and more people fleeing down side streets, disappearing from the disaster area that is Midtown. A dozen or so cars and storefronts still burn, adding to the light and the confusion, plumes of smoke starting to rise while a haze starts to blanket the nearby area.

As Oracle attacks the frequencies, the first result is that the Goliath's high priced running back abruptly stops in the middle of his looting, tugging off his helmet and looking around in confusion. "Wha... what the fu..." he begins, glancing around the street wildly as if unsure of where he is or how he came to be here. Grabbing at one of his teammates shoulders, the other player just shrugs him off, continuing to mechanically work at looting the storefronts.

The trio of frat boys definitely are not a match for Blake and their clumsy, drunker attempts to get her to play with them come to a rather abrupt end when she turns that stare on them. "Yeah, sure," they agrees, jewelery slipping through their hands to land on the sidewalk in amongst shattered glass. "Headin' home, we're dumb. We'll party next time," they say, slurring their words a little as they start to stagger away.

When Joker orders Tony to open fire on the crowd a few of the more sensible ones join the others fleeing for their lives. A little space is opened up around the car at last, but as the glitter bombs and t-shirt cannon start exploding amongst those that linger a cheer goes up, a number of drunken rioters bouncing up and down, arms raised to the heavens. "Yeah, this guy is awesome! Me next, me next!" come the cries of those that still linger, oblivious to the danger.

Blake Riviere has posed:
Alright, glitter bombs? That was just...insulting to the vampire for a number of reasons, not least of all a certain loathable book series. But non-lethal or not, the panic that was ensuring could quickly get a heck of a lot worse. Especially since the Batman had turned up along with what she could only assume was Robin and...okay, Misfit she didn't know, nor the other guy with guns. Still, things could get a heck of a lot more violent when two of the most famous 'Superhero/villains' clashed in the city. What to do?

A grin spread across the Vampiress' face, a moment of realisation as the hint was literally right in front of her. The Batman. Bats....and he'd almost certainly get blamed for what came next without her getting outed. Perfect. If not a little coincidental given the Joker was suffering the same fate!

Blake's form wavers, shadows seemingly keeping over her till only those glowing red eyes remain against the silhouette. Then the silhouette 'bursts' and an ever-growing swarm of bats surges forth, fluttering wings and screeching sounds intent on chasing the rioters into dispersing.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
In a lot of ways, Babs is glad Bruce hadn't given her the greenlight on shutting off the power. Where it might, thin, uncapitalized m, have done some good... it would have done a whole lot worse for the crowd who would have flown into a panic.

Which could have gotten deadly with the suggestion the Joker might actually be back from overseas. That is a powderkeg ready to ignite for sure... "Well, that could have been worse timed as far as returns go." For the record, she doesn't think this is Joker's style. There's nothing funny about it. Not that there ever is anything funny about his antics.

This lacked his signature style.

So she does as ordered and thumbs up a direct line to the MCU: >>This is Oracle. There has been a spotting of the Joker at the riots down at Gotham Stadium and we need to know if there is factual proof that he has returned to Gotham.<<

She could dig through their files, but she'd much rather work in conjunction with her Dad's old unit, rather than just break in and steal what she wants to know... It's not the rank and file of the GCPD, afterall.

Green eyes glance up and over at the CCTV feed from one of the streetbound cameras, zeroing in on McNemara removing his helmet after she cut feed to one of the signals. It's not proof positive, but it sure is enough to work with... "Oh, well that's good. Just have to repeat that 57 more times and we're golden."

Instead, she turns to another screen and brings up files on any and all of the Rogues stored in the Batcomputer, flipping through them quickly... "Mad Hatter?" her tongue clicks off the roof of her mouth thoughtfully.

>>This is the Mad Hatter's MO, Batman. Signal beamed to helmets... fits his modus.<< Not that knowing, much less speculating, the identity of the culprit brings his scheme to an end any faster.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Red Robin rises up, kicks his legs to the side once he has eyes and HUD on the car and is in motion to intercept with a low arch as he has to reorient his grip and grapple in order to not hurt himself. In the time between swings something catches his eyes. "Bats..." He says almost surprised, unsure where a swarm of bats suddenly comes from this close to a giant and cacophonous crowd would likely be scaring all creatures away.

    A shake of his head to clear his thoughts and Tim nearly missed his shot to land where he wanted. The hook is released and retracted rapidly as he drops down and aims to land on the back of the car. "License and registration, do you know why I'm pulling you over tonight?" He asks, poking his head to the side of the car, trying to get attention of those inside.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Well no one has told Misfit that she doesn't answer to him to be honest so when he actually seems to know who she is and gives her something to do she is beyond thrilled.

Thankfully not on comms "Gosh!"

Then on comms <<'On it Batman sir!'>> with waaaay to much enthusiasm as she looks around down below. She still isn't sure why the football players are rioting but well Batman seems to have theories. That is probably totes why he is Batman. "Where are... ahah" one of them actually took it off too. Perfect. She was a little worried that she might try her trick and end up hurting someone wearing a helmet after all.

The teen leaps off the building she is on vanishing in a slash of that pink and purple smoke. Only to reappear with some momentum in front of the quarter back snatching his helmet out of his hands "Pardon me!" and then vanishing in another slash of smoke.

Back on top of her perch she flips the helmet over in her hands looking inside. Nothing immediately obvious. Still he is Batman so she reaches into the sweaty helmet, ew, and starts to root around to peel the padding back and investigate. <<'There's a bunch of electronics in the helmets!'>> of course there is but she sounds thrilled at being able to confirm it. <<'Want me to get them off the others too?'>>

Frank Castle has posed:
Another few rounds, and the magazine is empty. The bolt is cycled out and the magazine ejected, replacing it with a standard lethal package. The bolt is cycled again and this time the Punisher aims for the Jokermobile.

Specifically, the tires and engine.

Breath in.... breath out... *pop* *pop*

Carefully aimed rounds begin to pelt Joker's car, trying to stop it.

Luckily for the crowd, the Punisher is one of the best snipers in the world. This is pretty simple stuff for him.

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Colleen catches her breath and turns toward the main street at a run. The gas has dispersed enough that it's only mildly irritating. She stays in the alleys and gets peeks of the footballs every now and then. That voice.. she remembers that voice >>I remember you - you're the magical one<< she says to Misfit.

    Now there's a mission that'll be.. tricky and interesting. Footballers, armoured footballers wearing mind controlling helmet gear. She moves out on to the main street and spots the first sports ball person she can see. Helmet still on, she moves out in front of him.

    He seems single minded in his pursuit and not at all interested in stopping for Colleen as he charges like he's still playing the game at her. She uses this momentum with a swift leg to one knee, leg to his mid section, and throwing herself back to sacrifice throw him to the ground. Luckily for him he's wearing a helmet.

    She rolls on to her side and scrambles to the man trying to grab at his helmet. He rises faster than she expected. Professional athletes have a lot of stamina and this one is used to being knocked around. Colleen finds herself going for a ride, clinging to his side and back. She pulls on the helmet which serves to steer the charging man in to a nearby wall and with a quick flourish, she draws a knife and cuts the helmet strap and yanks the helmet off.

Cole Cash has posed:
Now Cole is wishing he had some forethought, and a sniper rifle. In fact, someone has a sniper rifle and he noticed the shoots on the Goliaths and now the Joker's vehicle. He switches his mask optics to infrared and briefly looks for the sniper nest. Probably a cop.

The riot seems to be winding down. And there are a few heroes converging on the Joker. Cole does a smart thing and leaves his stolen motorcycle to try to assess the situation. He still thinks the Joker is behind it, though, so he is trying to find a way to approach the Jokermobile to cause some damage.

The Joker has posed:
Everything starts going to hell.

Bob's trying to get away, having already calculated that the plan is starting to go south. This is Bob's job; he does the dirty work that lets the Boss shine. He considers himself, secretly, a part of one of the great artists of the era, though he's loathe to let anyone know just how much he admires the Joker's work, despite it being the opposite of his own style.

Boffo laughs, in spite of it all. That's how he keeps alive; he knows when, exactly, to laugh, and when to be out of the room. "So much for the playoffs, huh? Hey, fire a few more t-shirts, Tony, you might get to see your first set of tits out of this, haw haw!"

This is Tony's first big job. He's nervous. He was expecting, he doesn't know, nerve gas, or electrified glitter, or something deadlier. "Is it working? Do we bail?"

Joker has eyes on one problem. "Oh I knew you were going to pull this kind of horseshit from the second I woke up this morning." Joker murmurs to himself, yellow eyes on Batman as he dodges a t-shirt and then bats explode everywhere, ruining his lovely cover of a riot and exposing the Jokermobile to police fire. "Look at him-give me the mic, give me the mic."

"YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY DRACULA!" Joker shouts through the tooth-loudspeaker. "NO ONE'S IMPRESSED, YOU'RE JUST USING RABID ANIMALS AS CROWD CONTROL IN A TRICK YOU STOLE FROM PENGUIN! I MEAN, HONESTLY!"

And then his right tire blows up. Joker twitches, slightly, as the car gets very, very quiet. The Clown Prince of Crime looks down on his associates, unsmiling. "Triple reinforced armored tires, huh?"

"...they only got one?" Boffo dares.

"We dump the plan. Riot's nearly over anyway, cutting the cops's radios won't do much but annoy them now." Joker says in the even, stable voice, "Bob, use the backup, go down escape route 'Beta', Batman will have sent someone to watch 'Alpha'. I'll go through the sewer."

No one dares disobey; Joker steps out of his Jokermobile, unsmiling, and pulls a large bottle of seltzer engraved with an image of his face on it out of his pants. It's nearly the size of a rifle. He looks directly up at the window the bullet came out of, aims the seltzer bottle, and stumbles backwards as the industrial fire hose-strength stream of water screams through the window!

Bruce Wayne has posed:
In some respects these are the worst sort of crises to have to deal with. There are no real guilty parties on scene. Even the rioters are likely everyday citizens who have had too much to drink and are dealing with too much adrenaline more then being true criminals. And even those few that aren't, well, it's difficult to pick them out from the crowd, to deal with them properly.

Unless of course they drive a purple and green novelty car with a t-shirt cannon that dispenses glitter bombs. That definitely stands out from the crowd.

There is an awful lot to keep track of, even for the Dark Knight who thrives in part because of his situational awareness, his constant vigilence when it comes to being aware of his surroundings. With the crowd on the west side of the stadium wavering and with the possibility of the Joker so close, the Dark Knight takes to the air again, firing off his grapnel and soaring over the crowd, letting his fluttering silhouette inspire what fear it can in the rioters below. Of course he has to dodge a fired t-shirt or two as well, but that's almost child's play to some of the things that get fired at him.

He too notices that bats flying amongst the crowd, adding to the confusion, sending more and more of the rioters scurring for cover and off the main street, giving the police the better chance to maintain control of the situation. Which is further helped as more authorities arrive on scene, groups of officers in riot gear beginning to pile out of vans with their armor and shields, lining up as they prepare to reinforce those on the chaotic streets ahead.

The Dark Knight also takes note as a few of the agitators go down like puppets with their strings cut -- including several of the Goliath players. << Oracle, we might have a sniper in the area. I can't imagine it's the GCPD. See if you can confirm and get any sort of line of sight on them. >> he urges as he lands on a rooftop close enough to overlook the garish car below. << Copy on the Hatter. That was my suspicion as well. He's not usually one for random chaos so if anyone spots anything out of the norm, report in. And yes, remove any helmets that you can. That will free Oracle up for other tasks. >>

Like say another pair of linemen, hauling heavy dufflebags to the far end of the street, climbing into the back of a black van where they sit placidly as doors are slammed behind them.

As Misfit and Colleen start collecting helmets, some of the rioters still on scene take notice. Take notice, and maybe get a few ideas of their own. Colleen in particular draws notice as she brawls with one of the Goliaths, the hulking man in great shape but his movements are a little stiff, a little slow as if he's not quite his self. But as she yanks that helmet free a half dozen people racing by slow and point. "She's attacking Donaldson! Get her!" they yell, streaming forward. Another cries out, "That helmet is mine! If anyone's getting a souvenir it's me!" No good deed.

Frank Castle has posed:
"Asshole actually reinforced his tires? No wonder the Bat hate-" Then the Joker gets out of the car and aims right for his window. The rifle is immediately pulled out of the window as Cole manages to catch a glimpse of it's heat signature before it disappears, and the Punisher dives to the side to get out of the way of the deluge coming for him.

If that's actually water, he'll eat his skull vest.

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Colleen cricks her neck as she is spotted by an angry mob of Gotham Goliath fans. "Oh hell," she says even as the football looks around in confusion at what he's doing here, what he's holding. Colleen kicks off the wall behind her and transitions in to a flying kick at the first person charging in. Foot to face, puts his stumbling body between her and his friends.

    One of them gets around the dazed leader and starts throwing fast punches at Colleen. She bats them away as she maintains her distance until a second of the group declares loudly, "It's football baby!" and rips off his shirt, then charges in to tackle her.

    Colleen drops to the ground and curls around in to the triangle position, wrestling with the man on the ground and ends up with him in an arm bar. His friend is coming in for a kick though, which gives her very little time to be civil about any of this. She breaks the elbow from its socket and the man cries out, then rolls backwards and scoops up her sword in the process.

    The first attacker, bleeding from the nose and mouth lets out what could be described as a war cry, if it weren't from a drunk football fan who only imagines he might have Viking ancestry. He moves in with several tightly grouped and controlled punches as if perhaps he were a boxer as his hobby.

    Two one one is never a good thing, so Colleen continues to move so that one of her attackers is always getting in the way of the other. Her determined frown drives her backwards in to the street and as a mass of bats flies by she takes the chance to disappear from their advances.

    >>I've only gotten one helmet so far, this is slow going.. where are they taking the stolen goods? may be we can cut them off there?<< she asks over the comms. The aches from where punches have landed are starting to add up, this is turning in to a long one-take night.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
>>On it.<< Oracle responds to Bruce, shifting away from hacking individual signals to a wide search through flicking CCTV camera feeds. Constructing a playback, tracing tragectories... tire explodes there, bullet hit here, this angle... t- just watch Joker. The real deal Joker... and he's spraying a seltzer bottle at one of the windows.

>>Red Robin, you see that window? The one Joker is spraying at? I need you up in that window. I think that's our sniper.<< She doesn't distract Wing or Misfit from their tasks, though she does try to keept abs on their progress with a little frown... seeing as civilians are starting to get in the fray seeking suveniers.

"Alright, greedy bastards..." Tapping the external ATM, she hopes to distract those individuals trying to prevent the two vigilantes work freeing football players, by spraying money all over the streets. At least getting people out of their way, clearing more room for... chaos. So much chaos.

Curtesy of Oracle's Saving and Loan. Your money is safe in the All Seeing Hands.

"Ugh.. there goes my overhead for this month." Since she's going to have to replace any lost money.

>>I need one of those helmets, Misfit. Pop back to the clocktower and bring me one.. If I have the individual frequency I can maybe trace the source and cut them all off at once... possibly find the original broadcast location... Wing, turn back to your ri- right there... see those vans? That's where they were headed, go check those.<<

Tim Drake has posed:
    Landing on the car nearly the same instant it gets shot at. "Just my luck." Tim mutters to himself as he spreads the cape again to catch the wind and lifts himself from the back of the car before he can get his quip out to mock the Joker.

    Landing behind the car and rolling away from where the shots are being fired from, Tim looks to the window before the call comes through from Barbara. <<I'm already on it!>> Tim reports before he starts running towards the building, and the telltale -click HISS- of the gas powered grappling hook shoots not far from the Joker's ear as Tim goes sailing past.

    "Smell ya later." Red Robin cheers as he goes past flying through the air pulled by a thin cable towards Frank's position. <<Can confirm, Joker's back in town. Should meet up and share coffee sometime.>> Tim quips to the team as he tucks in his knees and elbows to brace as he comes crashing into the window frame and shatters the glass and braces on his way in.

Blake Riviere has posed:
Eventually the squeeking, screeching swarm would have thinned out the crowd, driven all but the most serious of looters off and served its purpose...and really, splitting your conciousness into a swarm of smaller creatures while someone was firing glitter into the air was 'uncomfortable' to say the least.

The bats (literal ones) coalesce until Blake is revealed once more, sitting against one of the parked cars nearby and lifting her arms to stretch out her back a little.

That was tiring, and she was hungry, but the chaos was far from over. Her eyes follow the Joker as he begins his escape, momentary consideration for giving chase crossing her mind before she abandons the thought. She'd let the Dark Night have his nemesis, she didn't know what the 'Clown Prince' was capable of any more than Batman after all.

Instead her eyes move towards Colleen and her movements to escape, consideration given before she elegantly hops herself off the car and lifts a nearby trashcan lid free to promptly 'frisbee' it into the back of one would-be attacker who was trying to catch the asian woman off-guard with suprising force.

Another little good deed for the evening.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Charlie is surveying for more helmets and people in them from her vantage as she stands atop her perch looking at the crowds. The linebakers getting into the van though is very worrisome.

Not good for them probably.

<<'Okay Oracle. Incomming Wing don't punch me.'>> she chirps and then vanishes from her perch to appear first right by Colleen, reaching with her free hand to touch the helmet Colleen managed to get pausing a breath to look around. "You going to be okay?" asks the girl pretty much wearing a Spirit Halloween Flying Rodent knockoff costume. But then she and Colleen's helmet vanish in the pink smoke leaving Colleen behind.

The two helmets get dropped off on the workbench by Babs. <<'Two of the football peopel got in a black van, I'm going to help them.'>> as she vanishes from the clocktower, reappeareing in the van. Honestly she is hoping to have the element of surprise and get the helmets off the linebakers before any badguys in the van and potentially worst .. the linebackers can pound her.

The Joker has posed:
The seltzer bottle actually IS water, for once, though it's entierly reasonable for Frank to think otherwise. The trick is that, through what we'll call 'clown magic' or perhaps 'stolen military technology' Joker's packed a riot-suppressing fire hose's worth of pressurized water into a bottle he can hold in his hand. His purpose here is twofold; first, he wanted to stop the shooting and force the gunman out of the apartment of possible. Frank can see any furniture hit by the stream shatter! The cheap stuff at least, and the water stream starts moving towards him!

The other part of the plan was, of course, to point out where the sniper is so one of Batman's little minions...Joker scowls as Red Robin scuffs the paint on his car, "Hooligan!" Joker thunders, "You're the Jan Brady of Robins, you know that right?!"

Still, it means the gunman's handled.

Joker then turns, and...

...it's probably a trick of the light, Oracle, but for just a second. Juuuust a second, it looks like he's looking right at you, as if he knew where the camera was. Joker winks at nothing, a grin returning to his face.

And then he grabs the handles on the back of the repaired Jokermobile. "Well, Batty Bunch, glad to help you all save Gotham, but since the playoffs are a bust I've really got to be getting back to my vacation!" The car's wheels scream as it moves with startling speed through the streets, heedless of traffic. "You can send thank you cards and cash prizes to my P.O. box, or my Patreon account! Fifty dollars a month nets you the crime of your choice!"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The street is hazy with the remenants of the tear gas and smoke from the dozen or so fires that still burn, lighting up the streets surrounding the stadium with a reddish glow that is all too familiar to Gotham City. Still, those glancing down one of those streets might indeed spot that black van, might catch a glimpse of three very hefty Goliath players seated in the back, staring straight forward right before the driver slams the door shut and trots around to hop up into the driver's side street. A moment later the rear lights of the vehicle come to life, glowing in the darkness as it prepares to roll out. Of course as Misfit appears in the back with the trio sitting there they don't react at all, at least at first, not until she reaches for their helmets. That's when the driver finally checks his rear view mirror and almost jumps out of his seat. "What the... don't just sit there, get her, get her!" Only then do the three large men lunge for that one young vigilante...

By the stadium itself the riot police reinforce the ranks of their fellow officers, those riot shields locked together as they begin pushing back the thinning crowd, even more turning tail and running as the thousands dwindle to hundreds. The particularly drunk and disorderly increasingly find themselves felled, stepped over by the advancing force as those in the rear scoop them up, binding their wrists and marching them back to the waiting police vans.

Of course at least a handful of the fallen include Goliath players that the Punisher took down with his stun rounds, leaving them drooling and unconscious. They might prefer to stay that way after they see the headlines tomorrow.

Up on the rooftop the Dark Knight prepares to swoop down on the Joker just as that vehicle abruptly peels off at high speed. He glances back towards the stadium where the Batmobile is parked -- even with remote drive it is unlikely he can bring it around in time -- and the line of his mouth settles into a harder line. Before he can swell on the fact however the sound of squealing tires sounds from just a short hop up the block and as that black van threatens to speed away too he fires off his grapnel, swinging over the street to land atop it.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Oracle's over her doing Oracle's all seeing tricks of the trade. Keeping tabs, directing batraffic. Then, when she glances up at one of the feeds, there's Joker staring right up at her... right into the camera as if he both knows it's there, knows she's watching, and knows exactly who she is...

It is a cold day in all seven hells when Barbara Gordon is scared of anything... at least scared enough to show it.. but whene she sees that rectus grin and she sees him wink that sickly green eye, she's snapped back to a few years ago.

Staring through the peephole on the front door of her apartment a few seconds before a bullet shattered her spine.

At the same grinning face and same winking eye.

She blinks at how suddenly she shrinks back away from her screen. At how quickly she pushes away from her desk as if she's physically close to that terrifying son of a bitch...

Worst still, it's just as Charlie appears.

So not only is Barbara Gordon afraid..

Charlie saw her afraid.

Lip twitching slightly, she coughs into her fist and pulls herself intentionally back to the desk. "Thanks.." Looking anywhere but at her own ward. Focusing on the job, burying terror in the work. Find the signal, stop the code.

Mr Universe is wrong. You can Stop the signal.

Colleen Wing has posed:
    >>Vans - on it<< she says as Misfit suddenly appears, takes the helmet, then disappears. She steels herself and starts running down the street toward the van. He's in the drivers seat when she gets a hand on the rear door. Locked. Then the van lurches forward and she pulls herself up on to its rear bumper bar, holding on tight.

    Through the glass she vaguely sees the shapes start to move as the driver calls out 'Get her'. And then *clonk* as Batman lands on the top. She takes in a deep breath and begins to climb around the passenger side of the van toward the passenger side door.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Charlie was in full on hero mode when she dropped the helmets and left from the clocktower immediately.

She very well may realize later when going over debriefing about this whole incident how scared Barbara looked, but then again she may be stuck in her own head about the whole thing.

She is not a brilliant detective.

What she is getting better at every day though is fighting thanks to Orphan. "Oh hi!" as the men in the van turn to lunch at her, she still manages to sound chipper. Of course they are likely to just run into each other since the girl isn't there when they finally get o her. Not to mention trying to fight in a moving van.

She reaches and touches one of the helmets of the linebacker from behind and skips a bit towards the driver of the van, bouncing with a slash of smoke to remove the helmet from one of the linebackers when she leaves.

Flipping it around to catch the faceguard in her gloved fist she wails it sideways towards the van driver's head. "Stop the van!"

Frank Castle has posed:
As he tumbles back to his feet, the sniper rifle is shouldered, even as Tim lands inside, and Frank stops dead, his hand already grabbing a Glock from his gear web in his other hand, filled with stun rounds. "I have no quarrel with you, son. The asshole clown should be your priority, not me."

The Punisher is in full trenchcoat and skull vest glory, with an M24 against his shoulder in one hand and a Glock in his other. Thus far, he hasn't aimed at Tim, though.

This close, Tim can see the icy coldness that is the Punisher. Those cold, dead eyes hold a fury that can chill a mans bones. If anything could be similiar... it might be Batmans himself, on a bad day.

The Punisher is in a perpetual bad day.

The Joker has posed:
There was a choice. The black van, and whatever Hatter's up to, or the Jokermobile, and a chance to cut off Joker's latest plot at the knees!

It's these kind of situations that make Joker feel warm and fuzzy inside, sometimes. He climbs back into the car, as the gang makes their escape.

"Hey." Joker says, "Who's for Cold Stone Creamery. My treat!"

One, two...and a reluctant third hand are all raised by the henchmen. No one's too cool for bespoke ice cream when the boss is paying.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim's eyes level upon Frank as he's crashed into the room and is crouched low on the floor, and the man already has a hand on his gun. With a breath, the Red Robin's eyes are upon Frank, the UX in his vision is taking stills of Frank's face and recording his audio for future use, and already compiling it against the bat's database. This guy is serious business and Tim feels a sweat starting to break out from his forehead, and he doesn't move but takes a short breath through is nose and speaks.

    "You're not wrong, but like that old dude said in that ancient movie: He's breaking the law."

    In a flash, Robin dives to his right to get behind the table Frank had his gun posted on moments before and a sharpened 'R' is flying through the air towards Frank, aiming to disarm the man more than actually harm him. He's gotta protect himself first and break line of sight before acting further.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
On the streets outside the stadium the chaos of the riots is increasingly over. As more and more riot police arrive on the scene more and more of the drunken fans flee and those that don't soon find themselves in custody. The first of the fire trucks and ambulances arrive on sight now that it is secured, emergency personnel fanning out to put out the car and shop fires while the injured begin to get the care that they need. No doubt there will be a lot of questions over the next few days, though the fact that all of this was apparently used as cover to simply conceal an effort at a simple -- or as simple as things get in Gotham -- smash and grab robbery is certainly disheartening.

The efforts of the Mad Hatter's henchman don't seem likely to end well, not between Misfit, Colleen and Batman. And while Colleen and the Dark Knight both seem poised to put a quick end to things, in the end they don't have to. In the cramped back of the van, full of more then a dozen dufflebags and about a ton of offensive linemen the trio of mind controlled football players do indeed act at cross-purposes, lunging for the teenaged vigilante and getting -- nothing. Instead they crash into the other side of van making them easy targets for Misfit to steal their helmet. And when she teleports up front to deal with the driver? Well, that van quickly veers off the rode, slamming into a light stand.

Up top, just before the van can come to it's abrupt end the Dark Knight leaps from his perch, landing a short distance away before hurrying back towards the now dented vehicle to check on Colleen, Misfit and the other occupants. << The stolen items would appear to have been recovered. The Joker's in the wind. See what you can do to track him Oracle. Do we have an update on the sniper? >>

Colleen Wing has posed:
    The increasingly erratic driving gives her the first clue that may be the magical Bird has done something impossible in there after all. The swerve off of the road has her eyes widening and she dives from the car and does twice roll before coming to a stop. Leather jacket for the win! some old advise from a friend in Gotham finally came in handy.

    She rises up, feeling a touch more battered and bruised than she had intended her trip to Gotham should entail and double takes as.. right there is the dark knight himself, Batman. She accidentally gives him an intense stare as her brain tries to process this sudden new information.

    She snaps out of it, no doubt people in New York have done the same when she and the Defenders have turned up places. She rushes over to the vehicle too, "It's too bad we don't know where he was driving to." But she has little doubt Batman will find a way to get that answer. >>Misfit stopped the van, Oracle.<< she informs their watchful eyes and leader of the Birds. How all this links together with Batman, she has no idea. She figured there was some connection somehow, but it's none of her business and she has yet to pry.

Frank Castle has posed:
It happens faster than Tim was probably expecting. The rifle is dropped, and the Punisher moves into a combat roll, already firing rounds at Tim as he moves.

He's fast. Most opponents don't train to be nearly on the Bat Clans level...

The Punisher is on or near Batman's level. It's probably a jarring experience from the other side.

As he gets up from the combat roll, he's already dashing for cover, aiming for Tim's arms and legs.

"Hypocrite. Your Bat breaks the law constantly. Only difference between us is when I hit, the trash /stays/ down."

The Punisher is already heading for the exit as he speaks.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "We worth with the law!" Tim barks back, careful to never remain still never to give the man an easy shot. Robin vaults over the table and is running across the room with the windows to his back, vaulting over the couch.

    "We fill the gaps the cops can't but we never kill!" As if that makes them moral police or have the emotional high ground against a foe like Castle. As he moves over the couch, another R projectile is released with a whip of his arm, aiming to lodge the tip in the gun, making it unfireable without some struggling, buying time. Not so much trying to hurt Frank, and he's not thinking the man might simply bolt with this much equipment still in the room, mainly the dropped rifle.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs is still shaking off the jitters and almost misses Bruce's directive to track the Joker... she does miss her chance to actually TRACK the Joker, though. Glancing up at her monitors, she's already lost sight of the gaudy car in the see of traffic. Flipping traffic cams, trying to get a visual, but with all the police presence? Flashing lights.. lots of traffic...

She wiggles her fingers and takes a steadying breath, "Stop it, Barbara.. Stop it."

Steel returns to her green eyes. >>I... yeah I've got a visual, but he's moving fast..<< There are a lot of old streets in Gotham that have spotty, at best, camera coverage. Let alone functional grids that require direct, rather than remote, access.

Soon as she gets her drones installed, this wont be a problem... but right now?

>>He's gone. But we know he's back in Gotham. I'll start turning over all recent footage and add it to the files. Maybe triangulate where he'll be holed up.<< As unlikely as that is.

Babs Oracle scrubber filters out any hint of emotion fro her voice.. usually for dramatic effect.. but right then?

She's really glad for it.

"Fuck..." Sitting back in her seat with a whining squeak from the chair.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
The whole crashing into a lightpole actually hurt a bit bouncing Misfit around inside the van. Off a duffle bag full of loot. Off a henchman. Off a linebacker in his pads. "Oof.. ack.... ufff..." then she just lays there for a half tick "Okay... definitely need to ask someone how to properly disbale a driver of a get away car without crashing the car..."

Thankfully teenagers bounce back quick because she manages to get back up to her feet and reaches to grab the two linebackers helmets that are still on and bounce with them, appearing outside of the crashed van and dropping them on the sidewalk.

<<'Need the number for that bus.. or I guess it was a lightpole.. but the guys inside are free of the helmets now.'>> as she watches THE BATMAN check on the occupants of the van now. So totes cool. That is Batman. Like the Batman. "Epic teamup!" she says outloud to Colleen, but not on comms.

Totally Epic.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
So... what should have been a triumphant night for Gotham City ended up in dozens if not hundreds of arrests, millions in property damage and fires burning through the downtown.

Pretty much par for the course then.

While they will have to wait on official word, there is little doubt in the Dark Knight's mind that they will ultimately determine that the Mad Hatter was responsible. So much chaos, all to make off with some jewelery and stolen electronics.

And then there is the sniper on the loose as well. Not the first time they have had a mystery sniper turn up at a disturbance as of late either. Hopefully Red Robin will be able to shed some light on that.

And then there is /him/. Back in town again. There was no body count tonight, not even with /him/ showing his face. But with him back how long will that last?