4832/Taking Out The Trash

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Taking Out The Trash
Date of Scene: 22 January 2021
Location: Chelsea - Miagani Island
Synopsis: Jason takes down drug dealers, and waking Stephanie from a REALLY nice dream in the process.
Cast of Characters: Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown




Jason Todd has posed:
The corner was humming, the kids from Gotham U had habits to feed and James and his crew were happy to fill them, most of their trade was in weed and coke, but a few had graduated to heroin too, but shit it was all the same to James, Money was money, yo. Though it was a rule of the game, once you got successful you had to watch your back, success gets noticed, and in Gotham that didn't just mean other gangs, it meant the Bat Family. For the most part it was no big deal being taken down by the Bats. Sure they'd whoop your ass but no worse than some of the GCPD, and you went to jail did your time and you got right back into the game. Well, except where the Red Hood was concerned. That guy was a psycho.

So when a certain Red Hooded figure appears on James' corner, his people scatter except a few of his muscle. Ricky, opens his coat to flash his piece. "Hey you best step-" he begins before the Red Hood snatches the weapon from Ricky's waist and puts a round in his knee leaving him screaming. He levels the gun at James next. "Hey, thought we had a talk about you guys coming up here," Red Hood says conversationally.

"Fuck you," James spits. "We knew you were coming."

And sure enough they did, several other crews emerge from the shadows, tooled up and ready to go. "We're real tired of you fucking with our business," one says. "Yeah," another agrees.

"Huh," Red Hood says of the ambush even as he blasts a hole in James' knee cap and then rolls quickly for an alleyway as everyone else opens fire.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The hunk of a college man stood nearby, admiring Stephanie openly. His football helmet in one hand and the trophy for the national championship in the other, the muscular, amazingly handsome man shined a smile at Stephanie, his white teeth giving a little sparkling gleam, so bright are they. "So Stephanie, I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me to-"

The sound of a gunshot caused Stephanie to come awake with a start. "GAH! Really!? In the middle of THAT dream!?" she groans, pulling her pillow over her head.

Stephanie was already jumping out of bed though by the time the second shot reverberates through the neighborhood. She rushes to her closet, opening the secret compartment that holds her costume and beginning to don it quickly. She tries to hop over towards the window to look out and see what's going on, tripping on the costume's pants that she's still tugging on and topples over with a THUD.

"Ouch." The rest of her dressing goes better, and soon she's slipping out her balcony door and up onto the roof. She sprints across the rooftop, doing her best to not make too much noise, and launches herself into the night, cape making her silhouette into one that strikes fear into the hearts of criminals as she shoots out a line to swing towards the distant flashes of gunfire.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood was still using Ricky's pistol as he fired back at the gangers. This was the problem with living by Batman's rule, the badguys got a chance to live and come back at you. Still when Jason has a shot at somewhere non-vital he takes it, but if any of these guys take a stray to the head, Jason's not going to cry about it. The pistol clicks dry, and Red Hood drops it switching to one o fhis own before dropping a smoke bomb and falling back down the alley. James shouts for his allies to follow. "C'mon we got the motherfucker," he shouts before he and several others plunge through the smoke after the Red Hood.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The smoke billows out of Red Hood's smoke bomb, blowing out to either side and then drifting high enough to blot out most light from above. It makes it difficult for the gang members at the back of the group to see the shadow that drops down out of the night behind them. Amidst the bark of gunfire from multiple weapons, just one of them suddenly going silent is impossible to notice. Moments later an unconscious body is rolled out of the smoke, a line wrapping about him securing his arms to his body.

<< You have no idea the dream you interrupted. >> Batgirl's voice over the comms is soft, enhanced digitally to make the sub-vocal voicing audible as it is sent out over their encrypted band.

Batgirl moves forward towards the next man furthest away from Red Hood. << Anything special I should know about these guys? >>

Jason Todd has posed:
The gangers are too intent on Red Hood to notice the shadow dropping in their midst, the first guy falls quickly and the second one drops before he even knows the other one is gone, a third guy spots her though and rounds quickly firing his gun wildly at Batgirl without taking time to aim.

Red Hood for his part drops one of James' guys with a shot to the knee, but when James stumbles out of the smoke Red Hood fires a round into his gut. Fatal as long as nobody gets him to a hospital but even then he doubted James would be walking anytime soon or shitting in anything but a bag for the rest of his life.

As for Batgirl's question, "They're assholes?" he offers in reply. "Nah, just usual drug dealers. We take a couple more down the rest are going to run."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl sees the gun swing round and she immediately dodges, cartwheeling out of the way, her cape swinging about her helping to conceal exactly what parts of the whirling silhouette are body worth aiming at. Her hands plant on the alley's concrete floor, legs flashing overhead until her feet contact the wall. She pushes off with her hands, compressing her body and then launching off the wall in a flying tackle. Her shoulder hits the goon resulting in his air exploding out of his body as he goes down.

He flails, driving his elbow into her back repeatedly. Batgirl flips her body forward rolling over her shoulders and coming up sitting. A slender leg wraps around the man's neck, foot hooking on the other leg as she clamps the chokehold down. He flails a few more times, each weaker than the one before. Finally he goes limp and she lets him go to restore his air supply now that he's unconscious.

It took time though and another gang member has spotted her in the smoke. His gun opens up, bullets hitting the ground all around her, ricocheting into the brick walls to either side. "Don't even care about hitting your buddy? You guys need a better set of friends," she says as she rolls to the side, whipping a batarang towards the gunman as she does.

Jason Todd has posed:
The batang hits sending the ganger to the floor his gun clattering to the ground.Another gun joins the first "I don't want any of that," another ganger says before making a run for it. On the other side of the fight the Red Hood marches grimly through his foes taking them out hand to hand before they too break and scatter.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl regains her feet, moving over to kick a gun away from where anyone can regain it easily, but the man is retreating, his footfalls echoing loudly in the constrained space of the alleyway.

"Goddam Bats," one of the remaining youths says, turning and running. Batgirl turns and fires her grapple, ricocheting it off a wall and then snapping the line taut so the bat-shaped grapple head swings back, wrapping itself around the man's legs. "That's Miss Goddam Bats to you," Batgirl says, whacking him on the back of the head, not hard enough to knock him out, just emphasizing her point.

She turns back, seeing the rest of the gang members are down or fleeing. She walks over a trash bag that is conspicuous for the lack of muck and snow on it. She opens it, pulling out their stash. The vials of heroin are dropped on the ground and she crushes them beneath her feet.

"So," she says, turning back to Red Hood and walking over to him. In a bright, cheery voice, she asks, "And how're you doing?" as if they were somewhere nicer than an alley filled with groaning, subdued drug dealers.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Better than him," Red Hood says with a nod to James who's still clutching his bleeding gut wound. Red Hood ducks down to pull the man's phone out of his pocket and dialing 911 before putting it back. He also helps himself to the roll of cash in the man's other pocket. "Should we continue this chat elsewhere?" he asks Batgirl as he tucks the money away.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Batgirl's slight frown is visible as she eyes the gut wound that James has. She crouches by him and checks it. A bandage is pulled out of a utility belt pouch and she puts it overtop and then guides his hand to hold it in place. "Keep that there until the medics arrive," she tells him, then straightens upright again.

She turns back to Red Hood, nodding her head as she eyes the money being stashed away. "Yes, GCPD should be able to handle it from here," she says. She glances about and her eyes go over to a tall building, the home of a large Gotham bank. It has a clocktower, with gargoyles on each corner stretching out as if just about to take flight. She nods her head that way and then sends a grapple line whizzing off into the night, soon pulling herself into the air up to the clocktower.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason regards James coldly before he too grapples away leaving the ganger to bleed alone in the alley until the ambo comes. Up on the bank's clocktower, he grabs a seat next to one of the gargoyles as he puts his grapple away. "Thanks for the assist and I like the new outfit, feel good to not be running around the city shouting out the twists in movies or whatever it was you did before?" he says, as he winds the cord back in.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The winch pulls Batgirl up through the air, allowing her to land gently atop one of the gargoyles. She settles herself, astride it's back but facing Jason on the rooftop, like she were riding the stone beast backwards. She reaches up to pull her cowl off. "Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it too. The extra black makes it so much more slimming," she says, turning to one side and then the other like a model showing off her garment on the runway. Though she's joking, the differences between the Batgirl costume constructed just for her from laser measurements, and the hand-sewn Spoiler costume is quite marked. The new costume is more skin tight and flattering, not to mention the aesthetic improvements.

"Yes, got tired of ruining Sixth Sense for people. And keeping up with all the new shows coming out was just taking too much time from my quip-writing," she tells him. Though it's easy enough to read in her face the sense of accomplishment that Stephanie feels inside over the costume and name change. "And, glad I could help. So you focusing on this area now, or just something about this group brought you out?" she asks him.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Heh," Jason says as Steph does her model thing, "Not bad. Got all the usual family bells and whistles?" he asks her before moving on to the questfion about what he was doing here. "Was checking on a friend a week or so ago and saw those guys out here, thought I'd see what I could do about it."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie relaxes a bit, hands moving to rest behind her on the gargoyle's shoulders to support herself. The wind blowing from behind causes the young woman's blond hair to swirl about her face, though she ignores it while they talk. "Yep. Oracle tricked it out with all the bells and whistles. Mostly so she can keep an eye on me, I figure. Listen in so she knows if I say she's eating too much ice cream or something."

Stephanie pauses, waiting for Babs to retort over comms. "Must be asleep," she says. "Speaking of! I was having a pretty awesome dream. You owe me one quarterback hunk asking me out, Mr. Todd," she tells him with a wagging finger.

She turns her head and looks over at the nearby campus, lit by streetlights. "You'd think people going to college would be smarter than getting caught up in that poison," she says with a sigh. "I get the desire to cut loose and get high now and then. But that wasn't the kind of stuff those guys were dealing," she says with a shake of her head.

Jason Todd has posed:
There's a snort of amusement at Steph throwing sass at her boss. "Careful she may have rigged a shock device in the suit," he says. "Oracle is tricky like that." Though when no shock comes he shrugs. "Must be slipping."

The bit about the quarterback has him cocking his head. "Sure, who's the QB for Gotham U? Wannabe pro athletes are easy, threaten to break their throwing arm and they fold like a house of cards," he says in a tone that's hard to guess if he's joking or not.

As for drugs. "Even smart people can be dumb, especially if they're young and haven't seen what that shit does to people first hand."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie winces. "Totally kidding about the quarterback. Actually I'm not even sure who our quarterback is. I made it to two games this year but I don't know any of the player's names. Just, yeah. Was a great dream," she says with a grinning shrug of her shoulders.

She looks back towards the alleyway. "That guy who took one in the gut, that could be a near thing," she says. She knows Jason's got the control to hit where he wants to hit most of the time. Even in a firefight. "Looked like he should probably make it..." she says, trailing off. Not sure if she wants to go down this topic of conversation she started or not.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Could always find out," Jason offers but his tone isn't serious this time. "Dreams are good but in my experience most jocks are assholes," he says. Says the kid who got kicked out of Brantwood Academy his first week for kicking a fellow student through a stained glass window. At the mention of James, Red Hood turns towards Steph the glowing white of his eye lenses boring into her. "If you've got something to say, say it."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie hesitates for a moment. The wind whips the golden locks about her face until she pushes them back and to the other side of her head, a few tucked behind an ear. "Just, you know. There's a cost," she says, looking away from Jason for a moment before her blue eyes come back. "Some costs can't ever be gotten back either."

Red and blue lights visible a mile off can be seen, closing in on the vicinity of the firefight as the police response arrives. Patrol cars zoom down streets from two directions, pulling up to the spot. At this distance, the men themselves are just tiny figures, barely seen, their shadows cast large as they move through the red and blue lights of their cars to check out the men in the alleyway.

Jason Todd has posed:
"There should be," Jason says. "Guy was selling poison to college kids, Batman wants me to let people live, fine, doesn't mean I can't make them regret being pieces of shit for the rest of their lives. It's the only way to make sure everyone who hears about it thinks twice."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie sits quietly for a few moments, her cloak flapping in the wind as she listens to Jason. She pushes herself to her feet, deftly stepping off the carved stone gargoyle and onto the roof proper. "The cost I was talking about, they aren't the ones who pay it," she tells him as she walks past Jason, stopping at the edge of the roof closest to where the police response can be seen far below.

She turns back towards him. "Sorry. Not trying to be judgy," she tells him. "Lord knows 'judge' isn't probably a vocational calling the guidance counselors would have pushed me towards," she says, breaking out in a wry grin as if to inject some levity back into the topic. "Speaking of I still need to figure out a major. Any ideas for me?"

Jason Todd has posed:
"It's fine," Jason says. "Used to the Bat-talk from everyone," he says about jumping to conclusions. "Is snark an option? Always thought you were gifted in that subject," he jokes. "Maybe a minor in falling on your ass?" he says. "But I hear the head of that department, Dean Gravity is a real asshole."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown stands up a little straighter, perking up. "/Is/ it an option?" she asks of the snark bit, before Jason adds the crack about her ongoing battle with gravity. "I don't think paper weight pays very well unfortunately," she says with a forlorn sounding sigh.

She breaks out in soft chuckles about the Dean. "I get enough broken bones as it is without attending the lab sessions for classes like that," she tells him.

Stephanie gives a small bit of a stretch, turning at the waist as if checking out her back. "This new body armor is great against bullets, but doesn't really help with something like an elbow. That's going to be a sore one tomorrow," she comments, imagining how it is going to tighten up where the guy pummeled her before she was able to choke him out.

Jason Todd has posed:
"If it was I'd be in college," Jason says about the possibility of snark as a major. "See, total asshole you're not even in the classes and he's already flunking you," he says a grin in his voice. "This is why I don't do college."

He nods, "The old Robin suit was like that too," he says. Though he was sure Damian's suit had that fixed by now. "You know what I did to help with that?" he asks her.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie stretches, twisting sideways, then back the other way. "I'm considering that old cast iron stove door from... you know. That old Western," she tells him. "See, if I was Spoiler I'd have told you how it ended," she adds, sticking her tongue out towards Jason before the expression gives way to a grin.

"What'd you do? Pillows? Find girls to massage it for you after with that Wayne charm?" she asks him.

Jason Todd has posed:
There's a chuckle from Red Hood as Steph uses a little Snark Aikido to turn his jibe back on him. He applauds before he answers her question. "I didn't get hit," he deadpans trying to keep the smirk out of his voice. "Though I am going to keep the massage one in mind."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie laughs. "Well, yes. That's on my list of improvements to make," she says of not getting hit. "Unfortunately the bad guys don't always like to oblige there. Maybe I could stick a sternly worded note on the costume?" she suggests.

The young woman walks over to another side of the roof. "Well, if there aren't any more dealers in need of addressing, I'm going to go back to my... no longer warm bed, but will be again soon hopefully. And see if I can't get some sleep before my Econ 101 exam tomorrow." She turns back towards Jason to give him a little wave after pulling on her cowl. "Later, alligator," she tells him and then leans over backwards until she's falling off the building. Not long after she can be seen swinging over to the roof of her apartment building, and then slipping back inside of it.