6867/Shock to the System

Shock to the System
Date of Scene:	18 July 2021
Location:	Sheldon Park Generating Station, Gotham
Synopsis:	While a heat wave sweeping across the coast puts the city's electrical grid under massive strain, mercenaries take over a power station in Gotham, but a team of local vigilantes kicks them right out. It leads into an impromptu Outsiders gathering.
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Phoebe Beacon, Harley Quinn, Laura Kinney, Strix, Nicolai Codona

---

Tim Drake has posed:
    "It's going to be another hot one today, folks. Record-high temperature continue in Gotham City as a heat wave sweeps across the eastern U.S. Expect to see numbers in the triple digits well into Tuesday when a--"

    The tv cycles rapidly through channels; a sitcom playing a shrill laugh track, a telenovela, then some procedural crime drama before it settles on an old black and white cartoon, an elephant being chased across a rapidly repeating background by a mouse on the screen.

    At the control panel, the technician sits up straight, taking his feet off the desk. "Hey, I was watching that!"

    "Yeah, Harv, you've been watching the weather report all day. You think they're suddenly gonna tell you something different?"

    Harv looks over at the other tech, standing at another desk with a clipboard in her hands. The nametag on her shirt reads Mary. "We got half the grid on the brink of brown-out here, whaddayou think it's from, huh?" he asks.

    She rolls her eyes. "Go check on the new kid," Mary tells her coworker without looking up from the readout she's monitoring. "He probably got lost on the way to the bathroom, knowing how terrible you are at giving directions."

    He huffs and puffs but dutifully rises to his feet, heading to the door. Maybe he'll have time to pop down to the cafeteria and get an iced coffee. The station's A/C is about as old as the building itself, and isn't doing much to alleviate the sweltering heat that has Marv's shirt sticking to his back.

    When he swipes his badge and pushes it open, Harv finds himself looking down the barrel of a M4A1 carbine.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    TWO HOURS LATER

    The Sheldon Park Generating Station sits on the northern edge of Bleake Island, overlooking the Gotham River. Bracketed on either end by green spaces, the station is cut off from the rest of the island by the wide avenue of Bergen Street.

    From his perch atop the northeast corner of the nearby Gotham Herald Building, Red Robin can see the bright lights of Amusement Mile off to the west. It seems very far away.

    Clusters of GCPD vehicles have cordoned off the area at West Livingston Street and Detroit Avenue, and the red and blue from the flashers atop the police cruisers are the only current source of light. Power has been cut to the immediate area.

    Inside the station is a developing hostage situation. Demands have not yet been communicated, but the crew is obviously well-trained: the lobby entrance has been thoroughly barred from entry, there are men patrolling the roof with long-range rifles, and every other exit is guarded by a fire team: two inside and two outside.

    The call for backup among Gotham's vigilantes has already gone out. As he waits, Tim monitors guard movement from his shadowed spot across the street through the nightvision of his lenses, two fingers pressed to the side of his domino mask.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm makes her way up to Red Robin's perch, listening to the police chatter in one ear as the capeless vigilante makes her way to crouch nearby, her own domino mask peering through the darkness. Her lips set in a thin, grim line, braids hidden beneath her own hood.

    "No present reports of any injured, but no confirmation on the state of the workers inside, I gather." she states quietly, rolling one shoulder. "Hospitals are reporting more heat-related injuries coming in, though. Probably will rise if it's not resolved by daylight." Balm remarks, turning to look towards the Outsider leader.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Is this thing even woikin'...? God damn it..."

Harley had received a little gift from the birds of prey a while back. A communicator! For when a callout like this happened and she was in the area. As it turns out she *was* in the area, just about ready to sink into her favorite egg sandwich when that damn thing started buzzing like crazy.

It meant a sandwich flying, an unhappy Mark (That's the sandwich shop owner) due to getting egg all over him and Harley frowning deeply at being disturbed in the midst of her special, fun time with her sandwich! Someone will pay.

She steps out and off to gather in close to where the call for help came for, making her way close to where those two by that shadowed position are.

"Hey, what's goin on heah?!" Yes, it's Harley. She is dressed in shorts and top, bringing in a baseball bat casually in hand. She waves a small comms device on her other hand, "I got the call!" she announces triumphantly.

Seems she is here to help.

Laura Kinney has posed:
With all the recent trouble her Outsiders teammates have been getting involved in Laura Kinney, known to some as X-23, has been spending most of her time in Gotham of late. So when the call goes out it's not long before she's heading across the city to provide re-enforcements.

<<X-23 on route.>> She subvocals over the comms, weaving her way through traffic on a motorcycle which may or may not have been 'borrowed' from a local gang.

The mutant ex-assassin stops a little way away. Not wanting to alert the people inside with the noise from the bike. And heads to a spot downwind of the facility. Sniffing the air for hints about what might be inside.

After all the nose always knows.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Nothing so far, no, but communication out from the power station has been pretty sparse." Red Robin's focus remains forward, though by this point he has already tagged all of the hostiles visible from the exterior of the station.

    When Phoebe comes within range, her HUD will automatically be synced up with Tim's, so that she'll have access to the targets he's identified as well as a blueprint of the station with various entry points and important locations (like the control room) marked.

    After a moment, Red Robin lowers his hand, and gives a quick roll of his neck.

    Then he stands up abruptly, spinning on his heel with his staff telescoping out as he withdraws it from his belt--when he hears that voice. "Harley," he states flatly, and then there's a subtle shift to the angle of his chin that suggests his eyes are on the communicator in her hand.

    What is very clearly a serious moment of contemplation is interrupted by Laura's voice on comms. <<Copy, X-23>> he says, and then he shakes his head.

    Apparently he's decided not to make a fuss about Harley's appearance. Maybe it has something to do with the number of counted hostiles that Phoebe will be able to see in her HUD, which is well past twenty at this point.

    And that's just the ones on the outside of the building.

    "We've got a headcount of eleven hostages though an off-duty manager was able to provide a copy of the shift schedule which shows there's supposed to be twelve people on-duty tonight," he reports. "So far they've only cut power to the local area which is primarily industrial, but they're threatening to hit residential areas next. We need to get to the control room and secure it, otherwise a lot of people might die tonight."

    Because it's hot. It's dark out, but it's still in the high 90s Fahrenheit, and Gotham's humidity makes it feel much, much worse than that. Even with whatever space age tech built into his suit to keep him cool, Red Robin's hair is plastered to his forehead. Though he at least acts as if he's unbothered.

    <<X-23, the west exit is guarded by four men with automatic weaponry. It's also the furthest exit from the control room. How big a distraction do you think you can provide?>>

    While he talks into comms, Red Robin brings up the hard-light projection from his gauntlet, allowing Harley to see a map of the station interior, marking the northeast entrance and a route through it to the control room.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The information feed on her HUD was nothing less than remarkable, but Phoebe knew that it was all Tim's doing. So very handy! She gives a soft 'hm' sound as she considers her own route options to the likely place that injured hostages may be held -- until there's a voice behind them!

    Balm also stands, the gray-clad Outsider regarding the new-comer with suspicion -- but Harley was good with the Amazons, just as Balm's alter-ego was.

    "Good evening, Doctor." she greets Harley politely, giving a slight smile to the woman before she turns back to the power station.

    "... knowing X-23, 'yes' is an option."

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley clearly isn't unbothered by the heat even in the more skimpy outfit, complaining. "Who knew it'd take me leavin' foh it ta get this hot?!" at *least* it's night so it's not as if the sun is burning her up. Small blessings. "Hello, Robin--- uh, I am not even suwah how many o' you guys theah awhe.." then finger-wiggling in greeting towards Phoebe, "Helllooo.. How can I call ya?"

Attention is then taken by the map coming up on Tim's gauntlet projector. Maybe it's the bright lights that keep her focused. "Mmmm, that's our way in?" she nods sharply.

"Also got a few uh .., explosive surprises if yoh friend needs a hand with a diversion.." She suggests. "I am good with anythin'"

Seems she is leaving the strategy to the others, mostly here to provide support. Besides, if she went about by herself she'd most likely be shot by the police. And no one wants that...

Laura Kinney has posed:
<<Shouldn't be a problem.>> Laura responds, slipping through an area of park as she approaches the Western side of the building. She doesn't wear a costume or fancy suit of armour, just a hoodie over non-descript street clothes.

With her slight build and some dirt from the park she can pass for a street kid. At least at a distance anyway. The sort of person that gets ignored by everyone in Gotham.

Makeshift disguise ready she heads towards the four guards. Not exactly heading directly towards them at first, slinking over at an angle that seems like it'll take her past the entrance entirely, in the hope they'll come away from the door to warn her away.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The Robin mixup seems to be one he's used to, so automatically Tim adds, "Call me whatever." Then he realizes who he's talking to, and he adds, "Within reason." And then he reconsiders even that, with a, "...Red, or Robin is fine."

    Maybe he should come up with a new codename. Shame all the good bird ones are already taken.

    Harley's offer has him frowning in thought, forehead above his domino mask wrinkling. "The station's structure is pretty sturdy, but we should avoid using any explosives once we're inside--we can't risk damaging any of the equipment when the risk of a city-wide brown-out is as high as it is right now."

    His head turns slightly as he acknowledges X-23's reply. <<Keep your comms open, X-23. You're green to go.>>

    The two exterior guards are on top of their game, so they spot Laura when she's still a decent ways away. Both lift their rifles, aiming them at her, though they don't take more than a couple of steps forward. And their movement attracts the attention of the two guards inside, as the door is kept propped open.

    "Move off," one says. His voice is accented, something vaguely Eastern European. He gestures with his weapon for her to turn back the way she came.

    If she doesn't, he looks willing to start firing.

    "Let's go. We have to take the long way around to avoid attracting the attention of the snipers."

    Red Robin fires off a grapple line and does just that, swinging out across West Livingston to the opposite side. He switches to a shared comm channel to say, <<The northeast entrance takes us into the first unit, which is closest to the main control room. We can proceed either up the open stairs along the wall of the unit, or we can head into a hallway beneath,>> and at least on Balm's HUD she'll see the optional path which is marked with a dashed, rather than solid, line, <<And take the third door on the right, past the bathrooms, which will lead into a stairwell.>>

    He lands on a roof, darts across a gap between buildings, and fires off another line that will send him down into the treeline of the park on the station's east side. There's a fence on this side that he scales, ducking across to hide behind an outbuilding. The northeast exit is in sight, no more than twenty feet ahead.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Balm. How do you do?" the healer introduces herself simply to Harley with a small smile, and Phoebe turns back to Red Robin as he moves off, and she goes to follow. Her swings aren't as long, and there are a few moments between Tim's landing and hers. She draws up the side of a different building, her own path leading her with shorter jumps between perches, and she ends up in the park, dropping out of a tree and hopping the fence. Her cover was behind a vehicle.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Call me whatever? Harley's blue eyes light up and she raises a finger, lips opening as if she is just about to hurl out a name before Tim adds that last part. Hmph! Within reason ... "Ain't Red the Shorty though?" she most likely means Red X, aka Damian! Such a confusion!

"A'ight. No explosives.." a beat, "Within reason.." a wide grin and then Tim just shoots off to go up a building.

"Hmph, what is it with bats and always swingin' up on roofs...?" She casts a look over at Balm, hands on hips and then ..., there Balm goes too. "Hmph!" she repeats, now louder.

Harley follows on foot, through the streets and alleys, showing surprising agility to keep quiet and out of sight until she joins the 'gang', throwing herself to the fence and climbing off to the other side. She peers at that exit. "Looks empty enough.." she whispers, moving to hide herself near Balm.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura doesn't verbally respond to Tim requesting she keep her comms open. But the continued flow of sound suggests she's following the order. The way the guards react to her approach isn't ideal, but with her enhanced senses it's more than enough to get an idea of the make and model of weapons they're using.

She makes a few vague mumbles. Feigning that she's too wasted or high to really understand what they're saying. And keeps getting ever so closer..

If she's lucky they'll fire wide at first. A warning shot to ward her off. And then in the moment while they're not quite ready to respond a burst of speed to cover the ground. If she's unlucky they'll fire right at her. But with her mutant senses and enhanced reactions her claws can cut bullets out of the air.

Well. /Mostly/ cut them out of the air. Four assault rifles from different angles mean she'll probably get shot a few times. Either way it'll likely be /very/ loud & distracting.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "...Just call me Robin," he finally relents.

    Luck is indeed with Laura tonight, for the fireteam leader--the one that takes a few more steps forward than the other exterior guard--doesn't immediately shoot as she begins to come near. He says again, more firmly, "Move off!" and then finally he puts two bullets in the dirt near her feet.

    Those two shots, and the ones that are sure to follow, do indeed cause quite the distraction.

    The team on the northeast side can certainly hear all the noise, bouncing off the waterfront. And for a moment it looks like their way is clear. But then the exit door they're watching slams open, and two disgruntled guards return to their posts, though they're uneasy. Inside, the other two guards are in a heated discussion, one getting pretty soundly told-off by the other.

    Something about not letting themselves get distracted.

    Well, there goes that.

    Red Robin pulls a flashbang from his belt and mimes throwing it towards the exit, for Harley and Phoebe's benefit. He makes eye contact (well, mask lens to mask lens contact) with Phoebe and points towards the left guard, then does the same with Harley, indicating the right guard. Then he counts down from three with his fingers.

    Three.

    Two.

    One.

    GO!

    The noise and light of the flashbang he tosses is fairly centralized, though Tim still briefly turns his head away and covers his ears as it goes off right in the doorway of the exit. Then he's on the move, crossing the distance from where he was crouched to the door, which he slides through past the two exterior guards. His staff re-extends, sweeping both interior guards off their feet, and as he rises up he spins the staff around to crack it against the helmet of one of the guards, which shatters from the force of the impact.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a nod, and the masked teenager gives a nod, and braces herself, looking to Harley a moment and miming 'cover your eyes' -- though being near enough to Balm and her healing aura, might get the benefit of quick recovery if she does.

    Once the flashbang goes off, she's moving, coming up to the goon on the left. Her own extending staff snaps to life, and she moves a smooth and fluid as she sweeps Left Goon's feet, and there's a quick elbow thrown to knock him out. She catches his weight before he drops fully, and drags him inside as Robin takes out the interior guards.

Strix has posed:
Strix has been delighted with the new phone she had received from Red Robin the other day. Sure she's going to miss her old notepad that she used to communicate, but this way she's going to have something like a voice now. Then the phone goes *tweedlededeet!* to alert her that she has a new message. Her first message! Yay!

Opening it up, it describes what is going on at the power plant, and what the plan is. It takes her a while to read it, since she reads at a fourth grade level, but after a few passes she gets the idea. She quickly suits up and is off.

She's a bit farther away than the others and doesn't have any means of transportation, so that means she's a bit late in arriving. She stays in the shadows, her black costume letting her blend in, as she watches X-23 get shot at by the guards. When they do go to start shooting at her, she'll rush the guards and fight with the mutant, giving her a friendly little wave first.

Harley Quinn has posed:
And cover her eyes Harley does! Flash bangs! They could had told her, she has a few. "Ya know, I got a few o' those--" but then they are on the move. Which means full on forward!

Harley runs like a clownette possessed, sliding over the vehicle they were hiding behind while approaching. Her vision is still with bright spots though, seeing her target double. And so what does she do next? Throw her bat that is! It flies through the air with ..., a lot more power than a woman like her should have any right to be. At least if she was normal. Miraculously the bat does hit, on the man's leg and making him bend forward with a ufff.

Harley pounces on him right after, a kick to the sternum and then punching him on the face. Night-night!

"Uh, I was aimin' for his head..." she picks up her bat from the ground, grinning at Balm.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The gun dipping is the 'go' sign for X-23. The sound draws everyones eyes to the shooter. The closest figure isn't aiming directly for her. No better time to strike.

She springs forward with remarkable speed. Leaping up as she pops her claws with a distinctive snikt sound. Still in the air she sweeps one of her foot claws down through the barrel pointed at the ground, then grabs the closest guard to use as a living shield.

Using the threat of a claw to the throat to corral him back, like mobile cover from his allies, to cover the gap to the others. He better hope his friends aren't willing to shoot him to get to Laura... But lets face it. This is Gotham. They're almost certainly going to shoot him. Perhaps it's better to hope he has a bullet proof vest on.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Once it becomes clear that X-23 is in fact not some random homeless youth that has wandered a bit too close--the appearance of her claws is a big indicator of that--all four guards begin to open fire. Two still inside, using the doorframe as cover, the third outside dropping down on one knee to take aim. The fourth, closest to her, only gets one shot that goes wide off before Laura has destroyed his weapon, and then has him in a grip that he tries to wriggle out of.

    For a second or two. None of the other guards have any issues firing through him to get at Laura. Though he has enough body armor on that it's unlikely any of those bullets pierce all the way through to her.

    None of them seem to notice Strix's approach, so she has a clear path to help X-23 out by taking out one or more of the guards firing on her.

    On the other side of the plant, the coordinated efforts of Red Robin, Harley Quinn, and Balm take out three of the four guards without so much as a single shot fired. The last one is flat on his stomach and before the guard has a chance to aim, Red Robin kicks away his rifle and swings his staff down, connecting with the guard's back.

    The crackle of electricity is sharp in the otherwise empty hallway.

    Red Robin holds the door open so that Harley and Balm can haul their respective unconscious guards inside, and then he closes it behind them. Something beeps in his HUD, and Red Robin calls out, <<X-23, you have backup on the scene; she's friendly.>> And then he tips his head forward, looking back at the pair behind him before he's on the move.

    Unit One is a large room, as big as a basketball court and at least three storeys tall. Machinery takes up much of its central area, and at least on the two sides the three vigilantes on the inside can see from their position entering at a corner, no hostiles in sight. The stairs are right there, and Red Robin takes them two at a time, beginning to climb.

    The reason for the lack of resistance they're meeting will become rapidly clear as the thundering sound of footsteps can be heard through the west exit door. Though by the time Red Robin has made it to the second level landing, someone from further up has leaned over the railing and started taking potshots at him, which causes him to duck back against the wall.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Understood. Sometimes they do not cooperate." Balm replies back to Harley, "Let's get them inside and secured."

    And Balm quickly works, a quick tether and the four guards are secured together after she verifies the Shocking Experience Guard number Four had won't have lasting effects.

    Balm follows Robin into Unit One, verifying that there is no one that's an immediate threat, she gives a nod to Red, and following him to the stairs she braces, hearing the echoing stampeed of additional gunmen coming.

    Robin has the flashier costume, and she uses the opportunity to hop to the railing and throw a throwing knife at the shooter before leaping off and grabbing to one of the access ladders that inevitably are on some of the machinery. Make a distraction, give Robin and Harley an opening!

Strix has posed:
Strix doesn't waste any time and is already moving in on the guards. Twin swords come out, and she leaps around X-23 and her human shield to strike out to the guard who's crouching and firing at the poor guy that's being used as a human shield. He's startled at the sudden appearance of the Talon, and swings his firearm to take a couple of shots at her, but he never gets the chance.

She lashes out with a sword, which catches the guard in the wrist, causing him to drop his weapon. A booted foot swings out to catch him in the head, knocking him to the ground and unconscious.

It's about this time that the two in the doorway notice the black clad assassin, and one of them turns to aim at her and starts to open fire. A few bullets find their mark but that doesn't seem to slow her down as she dives out of the way, drawing their fire to give X-23 an open shot at them.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    Nix was in a middle of a meeting with a few potential donors for Hope House when the message came it, that left his options limited if he wanted to get there in enough time to be of any real assistance as he was too far away to get there quickly, even on his bike. New York City traffic sucks and that's where he would have been traveling from.

    He took the one viable option he had available, but even that took the time of trying to extract himself from the meeting and get someplace safe where he could...

    ...vacate his body.

    He hones in on Red Robin, the most familiar person in the group to him, once he's take to the Astral Plane. The only indicator of his sudden appearance on the scene is the dramatic dip in temperature around Tim, dude'll be able to see his breath. It's kind of an unspoken 'so, what's the plan' by now.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley drags her own guard inside to make a little tower with the others, but lets the tying up to Phoebe and the rest. She doesn't walk around with zip ties for thugs! "They are fallin' like dominos, ya know in MY time they used ta have a bit moouh pride, a little moouh thirst to win." either that or they were terrified to death on what would happen if they failed and came face to face with Harley and the Joker. Details!

"And ugh ..., sayin' 'in my time' just makes me feel old.." Casual talk for a rather tense situation. But hey, someone has to do it! She is following right after Tim when those shots are heard, she ducking back before spotting Balm running past and throwing that knife..

And she indeed takes advantage on the opening given by Balm, running past fearlessly after and jumping to take a hold of a railing, making full use of that gymnastics of hers to swing up, a flip as a bullet wheezes close as the man attempts to recover, a swing and she lands next to the man.

"Down right to retirement alley, Bob." She hits him in the head with her bat.

*Bonk!*

Laura Kinney has posed:
Her Human shield is wearing a lot of armour, which is good because hopefully he'll live through the experience, but unless it's /really/ good stuff all that assault rifle fire to the back will have broken bones and bruised flesh to the point he'll fall over.

With her free hand she liberates his sidearm from it's holster and she brings it up to return fire. Taking precision shots to hands, feet and other non-critical parts that seem lightly protected.

Still returning fire X-23 gives her human shield a shove to help with the falling over. It's probably better if she gets shot rather than letting him absorb any more bullets. Perhaps not tactically speaking, but it'll save a lecture from Red Robin later on..

"Watch for snipers," she offers to Strix. Not the most friendly greeting ever but practically useful.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Bullets continue to ping off the stairway structure surrounding Red Robin; for the immediate moment, he's pinned. "Seems like this guy is pretty, uh, thirsty to me!" he calls back to Harley. It doesn't let up until, from above, they all hear a "Ugh!" as Balm's knife finds purchase in the man's leg, but it's not a serious enough injury to put him down.

    In fact, the merc is able to hobble forward and lean his rifle over the edge, about to aim down at Phoebe, but then he gets one solid bonk to the head from Harley's bat and he is *out*.

    "Thanks for the cover," Red Robin tells Balm as he comes up the stairs, and then to Harley he says, "Good work."

    Positive reinforcement! He's absolutely willing to give Harley the benefit of the doubt and trust that she's turned over a new leaf. Someone else in his circle obviously did the same when they handed over a communicator, after all.

    He's about to push open the door at the top of the steps there, which means there's only one long hallway between them and the control room, when the ambient temperature surrounding Red Robin drops pretty dramatically.

    And given how the air conditioning isn't really doing much to keep the station cool, it's probably a nice relief for the team of three on the inside.

    "Haunt," he acknowledges. "There's a control room 50 meters ahead of my current position and we expect resistance. If you could keep them from shooting us, that would be great."

    Indeed, there is another fire team tucked into doorways along the hallway beyond, aiming down towards the exit into unit one.

    Outside, Strix manages to take out the remaining exterior guard before he can get more than a couple of shots off, and then cover fire from X-23 either disarms or injures the other two inside to the point that they are no longer an immediate threat, though they aren't unconscious yet.

    Laura's warning comes at an auspicious time, because no more than a second or two later, there's another mercenary leaning over the edge of the roof, firing down at them with a high-powered rifle. Though given that it's only a one storey building leading into the much taller building for Unit Three, he's not aiming through his scope. It's just blind firing, more or less.

    There's also another fire team running down the hallway that X-23 and Strix can see through the open door, headed their way.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm leaps back to the stairwell, nearly misses and manages to keep her composure as she pulls herself up and back onto the stairs.

    "It's less critical if I get shot." she comments breezily, giving a nod to Harley, and the grouping heads back up -- until the temperature drops.

    She breathes out like someone just punched her in the gut.

    "Oh! Hello, again." she gives a friendly tone to the unseen Haunt. She breathes out, re-centers, and gives a nod to Red.

Strix has posed:
Strix takes a solid shot through the shoulder causing her to drop the sword in that hand, the wound oozing the black ichor that is her blood. It doesn't take long for the wound to seal up though. She turns and a hand lashes out, several throwing knives aimed at the sniper. One of them hits it's target: The sniper's eye. It doesn't kill him, though. The knife is too shallow for that, but he'll never be able to see from that eye ever again.

She waits a moment for her shoulder to heal completely before picking up her sword, and preparing for the second wave of the assault to come to her.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    The only indication that Red Robin's, apparently talking to the air, did anything at all is the fact that the frigid air warms back up again. In less than a blink, because the man's traveling light - he's FAST without his cumbersome meat suit holding him back - he's on 'distraction duty'. His first action is to 'suggest' to one man he spied a wedding ring on that, 'Hey, the dude next to you, on your right, is banging your wife'.

    His next is to do something he generally doesn't because it takes a whole lot of effort on his part. On the 'other side', where he currently exists, he summons forth his whip.

    *SNAP* It breaks through the curtain between Astral and Here like a snake striking, aiming for the gun hand of one of the asshats that's preparing to shoot Good People with the razor edge tip of that thing. It's there, softly glowing an eerie green, and then gone again before the target even knows what hit him.

    Of course, any use of his powers results in the same cold Tim experienced, so now this area is frigid, breath revealing temperatures. Add to that the poltergeist effect of his telekinesis causing things to shake and rattle if they're not nailed down and... well, he is quite the distraction.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Ugh .., I hope this ain't Mistah Freeze on theah side and ..." Harley looks around quickly at the sudden drop in cold, spotting the ethereal figure and her eyebrows shooting up. "Oh shit! What ya guys doin' dealin' with ghosts now?!" though this one seems on their side at least, which goes a long way to appease Harley..

And then off Haunt is going to handle the guards. She looks at Balm, "I mean, I'd prefer *none* o' us get shot!"

As commotion starts to be heard ahead of the guards trying to fend off a ghost it seems to be their cue, Harley looking at the others with a grin. "Let's go get 'em. I still got my egg sandwich ta finish when we leave."

Priorities!

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura pauses and sniffs the air when Strix gets shot. Something is clearly weird about her new ally, but that's a question for another time. Preferably a time when no-one is trying to kill them both.

The mutant rushes the doorway, ditching the empty sidearm in exchange for fresh ones from the two injured thugs there. She delivers a few swift blows to knock them out.

"Hold them here?" It's somewhere between a question and a statement, but she seems to assume Strix will come to the same conclusion she did. The doorway provides better cover than standing out in the open after all. Her petite build ideally suited for hiding in ambush.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The sniper on the roof up above falls over the side with a truly Wilhelm-worthy scream, and though it's a short drop, he lands with a thud and isn't going to get back up. Not with that knife in his eye socket.

    The rest of the initial fireteam guarding this exit are officially down, but X-23 and Strix have a whole new team now firing at them. A couple have ducked into some kind of storage room and are aiming around the doorway, but the other half of the team are out in the open, armored but with weak spots both Strix and Laura can take advantage of.

    Until they do, however, their end of the hallway is being peppered with automatic gunfire.

    Which echoes in the background throughout the power station, though by the time it reaches Unit One, anyone inside would have to strain to hear it.

    "Sure, but--Harley's right, let's try to avoid anyone getting shot," Red Robin counters with a brief smile at Balm.

    Little does he know what's going on across the way, at the opposite side of the power station.

    All of a sudden, past the door they haven't yet breached, someone starts shouting--something about their wife, and then some extreme language that Tim won't repeat about what one mercenary is going to do to the other's private parts--and the clatter of one rifle falling to the ground. Then things start getting weird, between the moving objects and the temperature drop, so there's more yelling as the mercs become increasingly alarmed.

    And that's the signal. "Just call him Casper," he says of their spectral assist, and then he snorts. "You know. Because he's friendly?"

    Red Robin looks over at Harley and one corner of his mouth lifts before he asks, "Want to do the honors?" After all, she has that sandwich to get back to.

    He cracks open the door while the mercs are distracted by Haunt, and after the impressive range of explosives Harley tosses in goes off--things explode, lights flash, noises sound, and someone even gets glitter-bombed--in Red Robin runs, a shuriken landing in the shoulder of one disoriented guard before Tim's knee impacts his chin, sending his head snapping backwards painfully.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm gives a slight smile back to Tim. "That's the general plan." she replies, adn then she gives a little shiver before she presses on down the hallway. Her eyes narrow behind her domino mask, and she stretches her fingers a moment before she ducks into the room, coming in low and popping up between spots in her target's visition with an uppdercut of her elbow, followed by a graceful kick and a head-bash into a desk before she looks around, taking a quick look for captives.

Strix has posed:
Strix gives X-23 a nod, and bends down to pick up one of the dropped rifles from the guards at the door. She waits until there's the barest of lulls in the open firing and she ducks out into the doorway and opens fire. She's not really aiming for anybody. She's just spraying into the air to get them to duck down behind cover to give them an opening to enter the room.

Taking advantage in the lull of open fire, she rushes into the room, swords out and goes into full action, helping X-23 mop up the rest of the armed guards. Her actions are swift and brutal, leaving her targets alive, but with serious concussions and multiple broken bones to go home with.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    It takes considerable focus for Nicolai to actually direct any of the stuff he makes fly all over, so he doesn't bother. He just lets stuff float, fly, shake, rattle and roll as it will.

    He does, however, strike again from the Astral plane with that whip. Repeatedly. It's there, then it's gone, leaving behind little cuts where it hits.

    His primary focus is the one not fighting with his teammate over infidelity.

    *SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP*

    Over and over, to the arms, legs, torso and one REALLY good one right to the ass. Other than a quick glimpse of glowing green with each hit, the attack - and the attacker - is invisible. Unless one of these asshats can see the Astral Plane.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The incoming goons have the advantage when it comes to firepower, a strong position to fight from and murderous intent. What they lack is superhuman durability and skill. Those 'covered' positions might provide protection from a normal shooter but it gives them two choices. Stay hidden and fire blind, letting Strix close in, or peek out a fraction to aim their shots.

Each time a stray hand, foot or helmeted head comes into view Laura fires. A glancing shot to armoured headware is more than enough to stun most people and it's hard to operate a weapon with a wounded hand.

<<How are things on your end Red Robin?>> she asks over the Outsiders comms. <<We're running out of people to distract.>> There's a slight pause as she sniffs the blood in the air. <<We will need Balm over here when you are done.>>

Tim Drake has posed:
    The one-two-three of Balm's combo takes out the one merc accused of infidelity, and then Red Robin is right behind her, delivering a hard punch right in the kidney to the other merc that's still yelling about his wife as he goes down.

    Between Haunt's initial astral suggestion and his whip-strikes, they were both distracted enough for Balm and Red Robin to cross the distance into the control room and land those hits. Tim follows his initial attack up with a left hook, and that seems to do the trick.

    The final guard remains where he is on the floor, glitter-dusted and thoroughly dazed by Harley's explosive entrance.

    It takes some moments for the dust to settle.

    <<We're securing the control room>> Red Robin reports into comms, and then that's precisely what he does. Once the downed mercenaries are bagged and tagged, he says to Phoebe, "Watch the door. Haunt, back her up." Then he steps over to the control panel at one of the desks.

    A soft whimper precedes the appearance of a technician, slowly rising to his feet with his hands raised. Tim's eyes move down quickly to his nametag and then back up to the tech's face. "Hi, Harv. Do you know where the rest of your coworkers are being held?"

    From behind another desk, a female technician stands up. Her hands are similarly raised but her expression is determined. "They're in the storage room off of Unit Three, near the exit," she says. "I heard them talking about it over the radio."

    Red Robin motions Phoebe forward to check the techs out as he moves to take her place standing guard at the door.

    <<The rest of the hostages are being held near your location, in a storage room by Unit Three. I'll send Balm over as soon as we've got the power restored.>>

    Conveniently, both X-23 and Strix will be able to hear the soft cries and general commotion of ten people, bound and gagged and shoved into the storage room that some of the mercenaries were briefly using for cover. The mercs are of course now in various stages of laid out, some unconscious, some still awake but moaning in pain. More than one of them will likely never hold a weapon again in their lives, which... well, silver lining, one supposes.

    This leaves Laura and Strix with the task of dealing with the hostages, which will be more or less like herding goats. At least there is a clear exit nearby for them to be herded through.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe assesses the two there quickly. She gives a gentle smile, and her voice is slightly distorted through a vocorder. "Good evening, my name is Balm, I am a medic." she states, nevermind the fact that she just brutally knocked people unconscious.

    She clears Harv and the other tech quickly -- they're a bit shakey, but no worse for wear.

    She gives Tim a nod, and then hops out of the room to check on the rest of the hostages.

    <Should I update the police ont he state of the captives so that we don't get anyone too enthusiastic, Red?>

Strix has posed:
Once all the guards in the warehouse are mopped up, Strix follows the cries to find out where the hostages are. When she opens the storage room door, the cries from the hostages get louder as they try to scramble away from the imposing looking talon. Strix raises her hands palm out to try to calm them down and show that she doesn't mean them any harm, but all it does is cause one guy to burst out in tears. Hanging her head, she takes a step back to let X-23, who is much more normal looking to help untie the hostages.

Nicolai Codona has posed:
    Once things are under control and the Good Guys are wrapping things up in a neat little bow, Nix does what he typically does, he leaves them to it and returns to his body. While it may seem impressive, like maybe his bad ass self is invulnerable to attack or some such, he can only manage it for a limited time before it starts to get dangerous for him if he doesn't return to his physical form. Besides, it's not like he can hang out and chat like this.

    On the way out, he pauses in Red Robin's vicinity for one last blast of cold air and then... he's gone.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura might be a little more normal looking but she's probably covered in a fair amount of her own blood. You can't always dodge /all/ of the bullets. But when you're a mutant with a healing factor it's really more about dodging most of them and healing up the cuts and scrapes before the adrenaline rush of combat wears off.

Still she doesn't really care about appearances. Popping the claws on one hand and using them to cut the hostages free. "We should leave before the police arrive," she says to Strix. Her comms picking it up for Red Robins benefit. She pauses for a second, sniffing the air, before adding "It seems the site is secure."

Tim Drake has posed:
    The two techs are indeed alright. Mary is steadier than Harv but they're both in good enough shape to start work on restoring power, which seems to have been shut off to at least a few more areas of Gotham while the team was working their way through the plant.

    Thankfully, it's only been a few minutes.

    Red Robin sends Balm off with a smile and a quick salute. <<Sure. Let's meet back at our original recon point once everything is wrapped up. Dumplings on me after, everyone?>>

    Well, everyone in this instance is just Phoebe and Laura, since they're the ones with the comms, but as the techs work Red Robin steps back to fire off a couple of quick texts. First Strix's phone will ping with an invite, and then--after Tim stops to shudder at the sudden drop of temperature--Nicolai's too.

    Nix gets a couple of snowflake emojis mixed into his text versus Strix, who just gets some enthusiastic dumpling and fire emojis.

    He's just hit send when the control room doors crack open, and his staff is out and extended again. But it's just a nervous tech poking his head through. "Kevin!" Mary exclaims. "Where were you?"

    "I-I hid in the bathroom," the young tech says. He looks on the verge of tears, and Harv spends a long time consoling the newbie while they wait for the police to arrive. Red Robin makes his exit sometime before then.

    The hostages are in quite a state as Laura frees them. Yes, admittedly her and Strix's appearance doesn't do much to calm them down, but at least one of them manages to speak up with a stuttered "Thank you." When Balm arrives she'll find them all basically okay, maybe a few bruised from some rough handling, but they're more shaken than anything.

    As the GCPD closes in, the team departs for greener pastures and late-night dumplings.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    THREE DAYS LATER

    Kevin is given an extended leave of absence by the psychiatric team brought in by the station's upper management. His disappearance goes unnoticed as he travels across the border into Mexico, and from there takes a cruise down to Rio, several hundred thousand dollars richer.