6982/Mayan Horrorscope Finale

Mayan Horrorscope Finale
Date of Scene:	17 July 2021
Location:	Gotham
Synopsis:	Bane and his men take out much of the opposition, but nearly get the Mirror of Stars only to be told by the Gods to stop...and given a token of their approval that will lead to chaos going forward. The heroes otherwise retrieve the other lost talismans, many of which are returned to the Nazca. Jovian pushes his power to the limit and is kidnapped by the Cult of Benevolence.
Cast of Characters:	Jovian Anderson, Phoebe Beacon, Cassandra Cain, Bane, Laura Kinney, Kaida Connolly, Jason Todd
Tinyplot:	The Queen in Blue

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Jovian Anderson has posed:
It has been an interesting few weeks as Bane's men have sit tight in the same location despite the brewing gang war but things are coming to a head. The two gangs whose territory has been siezed are ready for an all out gang war, and are preparing to attack each other in two huge neihborhoods which has increased the police presence in the area leading to inevitable discover and a small ring around the four block area has been carved from police vehicles. The city itself is fairly tense but it has until very recently been under the surface. Now that is coming to a head as finally, Bane's men have found the thing they are looking for in the vault in one of the apartments on the 2nd floor, working to solve the complex mechanism to unlock it and take the thing that has brought them to the city in the first place.

Jovian is easily able to bypass the police blockade wearing his normal armor, armed with normal bolos and weapons. The price of too much use of his power has become all too apparent of late. He is heading to the vault that the brother hold told him holds the item. Time, it appears is short.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Outsiders have been monitoring the situation lightly, and tonight, Phoebe had been keeping watch. The young heroine breathes out as she draws to a stand, her gray, hooded visage melting into the brutalist buildings of a nearby apartment block. Her eyes narrow, and she purses her lips a moment as she raises her hand to her mask. She breathes out and states: "There's something going down. Broadcasting location -- if anyone wants to join me for some gang fights?" she questions into her comms array, and then breathes out "It's Bane's men. Could use a hand."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Anyone expecting a response from Orphan clearly hasn't met her. Or at least one you can hear. There is, of course, something new on the game board though.

You don't see it, but it's super weird how things seem to vanish. or technically people, as groups of people walk by an alley and suddenly there's one or two less of them than there was when they started. How single players don't reach destinations.

How nobody sees any of this happening. But if you know how Orphan works, you probably can see her signature in the vanishments.

Bane has posed:
Bane receives word from his men that they have found the vault. "start the process to breach I'm on my way do not enter with out me." Bane puts on a dazziling golden necklace with 20 multicolored gemstone talismans and then hangs a mirror made from obsidan though it has a strange oily sheen and it seems to be steaming or smoking like lit incense. He loads a fuel vials of venom into his dosing mechanism. "just incase."

Bane is soon escorted to the vault but some of his men. "blow the wall." the gang had been setting up c4 charges to blow an opening in the vault. They now detonate them the room fills with smoke and dust. the gang cough Bane breathes in deeply his mask filtering out the particles. "Hermanos ha llegado el momento de recuperar lo que los europanos robadon de nuerstos antepasados"(the time has come to take back what was stolen from our ancesters.)

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Confirmed. I'll be there shortly," X-23 replies on the Outsiders comms channel. She's in Gotham a lot lately and, thanks to Gotham PDs lax enforcement of traffic law, can get around pretty quickly thanks to the wonders of a high performance motorcycle. Don't ask where it came from.

It's probably 'borrowed' from a recently snikted criminal...

Regardless of the vehicles providence it certainly moves fast enough. And Laura isn't really precious about a little damage as she zips down city streets. The police blockaide requires a little more work but it's hardly going to keep her out. Up the stairs of a nearby building to the roof, a running leap across the gap, then rooftop hop until she's close to Balm's position.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
OK, this isn't normally anyone's attitude in Gotham, let alone in the Cauldron, but Kaida is a bright light and she just got to see an old friend. So, the quiet of rooftops is interrupted suddenly by:

"We're gonna have
We're gonna Have
We're gonna have a good day"

The music is coming from a small speaker strapped to her back. Kaida is dancing along the rooftops, casually leaping and jogging along as she goes. She blinks when she realizes she has danced along the roof tops right into some kind of police and gang thing. She assesses things relatively fast and simply zips down a wall and into a window near the men with her music still blaring and she still idly juking about.

Jason Todd has posed:
The Red Hood prowls.

He had finished off a small time operation, a drug deal that went bad and threatened the 'nice' neighborhood with the fallout. His guns were still smoking before he heard the call through Outsider channels. Jason doesn't reply verbally, of course, but he does get to stepping in order to get where he needs to go. It doesn't take him -too- long, he knows Gotham like the back of his hand, the Cauldron especially. He came down here a couple of times with the Dark Knight and even as Red Hood to stop some ne'er do wells.

He stands on a high vantage point, the scanner on his helmet assisting him in picking out the bodies and identities from who. "I'm on sight." He broadcasts through the channels. He actually lands directly next to Phoebe, dressed in a hooded leather jacket with associated tactical gear, the red helmet's eye slots fixed directly on her...even more disturbingly, he lands without a sound.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Bane's men are devoted and highly intelligent for 'goons' and understand and obey without questions coordinating and using the experts they brought to solve the puzzle, which they are ripping through very quickly while ALSO trying to drill into the vault on the side at the same time. Its ruthlessly efficient. Following his instructions they blow the wall, and there, floating in the air above a pedastle is the Mirror of the Stars, black and obsidian with the symbol of each of the Mayan horoscope marked on either side. It utterly RADIATES power.

The two gangs around the city take pot shots at each other, a few at the cops and a few at Bane's men who do not yet return fire. They are waiting, knowing what is going on in the vault inside of the city. The whole area is a powder keg ready to explode.

Jovian is moving in the shadows and sees the van, hidden in shadow and moves up in the vault. He knows he is outclassed here but go forward he does anyway, nevertheless. He enters the buildings and bypasses the elvator going up the stairs.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
A tapping at the earbud transmits a prearranged code to the Outsiders, and then to the Bats.

On site. Handling the idiots. Go in hard.

Only one person uses the codes, though they were made to be able to talk with subterfuge on channels. Orphan is saying that she can handle the gangs. Yes, gangs, plural.

Which she then proceeds to start doing.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Good thing only one other person here knows the bat codes. Otherwise Phoebe would have another incident with the Oreos.

    Phoebe summersaults into the air, keeping to the rooftops as she makes her way to where something is drawing her. Pulling her. She breathes out a moment, making sure her domino is secured tightly.

    Mayan magic wasn't her thing, but any magically inclined would Know she is about. There was just this sense of peace about her as she goes.

Bane has posed:
"preciosa" Bane utters when he lays eyes on the mirror of stars. "this what it was for. The struggles the searching the rivers of blood spilled by those faithful to our mission. this is what we have acheived my brothers. but don't let your guards down. We made a lot noise getting here, and we all know noise in gotham attracts attention. Everyone be on high alerts there are bats and birds sure to about but we can not let the sacrifices of our devoted brothers be in vein."

Bane's message is broadcast to all of his gang members. They all prepare for a fight. Each of them driven by absolute devotion to the cause and to make good the sacrifices ofcountless of their gangmates, friends, family and tribe meembers. The human sacrifices made in order to reactivate the various sacred items they had taken from the nazca cartel.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
There is a roar of agreement and approval from Bane's men who are all devoted to the cause and many of them augmented by the talismans. A few (with divinatory talismans) look around and spot Phoebe, shooting at her though strangely none sensed Jovian (since...well...he wasnt using magic)

Cassandra's work on the gangs is brutal and efficient. They are regular guys with Tommy guns even after all and they fire randomly as she moves amongst them, in a few instances shooting each other.

Jovian....goes up stairs.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Now that she's closer to the action X-23 pauses and takes a deep sniff of the air. Her enhanced mutant senses allowing her to pick out all sorts of details a regular Human could not. Are explosives in use? How many criminals are around? And just how heavily armed they are. Of course even before she sniffs she can hazard a guess what the answers will be.

Yes, lots and very.

Subvocally she murmurs into the Outsiders encrypted comms channel "Balm can you handle the magical aspect? I will draw everyones attention and Red Hood can provide covering fire." Or whatever it is he normally does.

She doesn't exactly wait for a response. Leaping off a rooftop, her claws popping with a snikt sound, and digging them into the side of the building to slow her fall. The razor edged adamantium cutting so easily it barely slows her descent.

It's a much flashier entrance than she'd normally make. Landing out in the open where everyone can see her. Claws at the ready to cut the inevitable bullets out of the air.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Don't give me orders, Sprite."

Jason replies to Laura with a bit of acid in his voice as he draws his handguns and performs multiple acrobatic maneuvers to get him towards the building. His target itsn't the sheep on the ground or the rooftop, his target is Bane himself and his cronies.

So he throws a grenade at the side of the building, letting it cook in his hand so it could detonate on impact with the wall. His intention is to glide right on in there, handguns armed and pointed straight at whoever was inside. "Lets play a game." He growls under his breath. Everyone's trying to sneak around, which is fine for Jason, he likes to sneak around too...but this is gonna get extremely chaotic unless they handle the situation as quickly as possible.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Moving left and right like a deer, Orphan is using the weapons fire against the gangers. She has been shot, who hasn't? She, fortunately, has armour that she relies on for the hits that get through her defenses. She looks them in the eyes, pauses, and the rattle of gunfire on her position was exactly what she was waiting for.

A moment later, another group of gangers is regretting their life choices. Really they should have expected it.

And Jason? Stealth was given up a while ago, when I had to take on two gangs at once. There are tactics decisions that needed makin'.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
She's kinda used to going unnoticed. It's her thing. It's why she could go into a sneaky contest with some of those bat folks and potentially win or at least give them a good run. It's not just skill. It's the advantage of size. People really just don't notice something that barely comes up to their ankles. So, even with some music going, she's just not that noticable. Kaida watches with amazement as the men work and then blinks as she watches the huge Bane walk in to look at this amazing artifact.

"So shiny..." She says to no one in particular." She looks at it with wide eyes and then she casually looks at Bane and then at the mirror. She does the only logical thing she can think of after hearing him speak and she simply attempts to run up his leg using her speed and get on to his shoulder.

"What about mice?" She asks casually, even if she doesn't make it up to his shoulder and stares at the mirror though her ears and nose are flicking and twitching, "Also, what's that pretty thing?"

Of course, now he can probably hear:

"We're gonna have a good day
And ain't nobody gotta cry today
'Cause ain't nobody gonna die today!"

Bane has posed:
"jefe we got a bat out here. not the big one from what i can see one of the little ones. she's taking out those other guys one by one" A bane sentry/sniper radios in from their position.

"Maintain visual contact and don't give away your positions till she engages with our men. Keep alert and if you see the big one let me know immediately so I may come greet them personally.

There is a sudden explosion, Bane's men huddle around him and take up defensive positions. Bane grabs the mirror and puts it in a armored breifcase. "The party has arrived, it's time to move out"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Laura gets her wish and one of the magically enhanced individuals shoots a jet of fire from his hands right at her while several of Bane's militia shoot at her in short 3 round bursts.

Cassandra is able to take out another group of gang members who now assume the other side is behind this and are firing at each other more and they are all utterly terrified. A few shoot at her and word begins to get around that there is a vigilante doing this but several still shoot at each other

Red Hood blows a giant hole in the wall as he swoops in as a magically strong Militia member literally throws an actual piano at him before he gets Bane's orders and nods letting Bane take care of it.

The men on the roof in reserve keep themselves hidden and dont shoot at Cassandra or the gang members letting them do their things.

The mirror is...well....in a briefcase, radiating magically and being powerful.

Kaida is able to inflitrate without problem. The mouse is, apparently, not immediately noticed though Jovian does.

He has a decision to make...he simply CANNOT take this on without using his power, but now he knows the price of using his power...and decides...he is going to pay it

Phasing right through the wall and tossing one of the specially made bolos with the counter charm given him as the one who just lifted the Piano finds his talisman teleported into a special bag in Jovian's possession. Beneath his mask, a brown fleck appears in his regular Blue.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Briefcase. She narrows her eyes a moment, and breathes out, and then Balm makes her way forward. She can be sensed, sure, but this was a good opportunity.

    <Popping smoke.> she announces quietly, and then there is a gentle toss. The sudden bust of smoke that normally announces the coming of some of Gotham's finest heroes, and then she goes into the fray, switching her mask as she extends her staff and begins to sweep and knock against the outliers.

    She had to get that briefcase.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Bullets aren't really a problem for X-23. Three round bursts are easy enough to cut from the sky, at least until they can surround her, and even if a stray bullet or two hits she can heal. The jet of fire is a bigger problem. Impossible to snikt it is however directed by the users hands.

And that means Laura can out-maneuver it. Enhanced reflexes and superhuman agility, plus lots of training, allowing her to leap and whirl to stay mostly out of the flames. Those occasions it doesn't healing even as she leaps clear.

And then suddenly she whirls, seemingly too far to be a threat until a claw bursts out of her foot, in an arc that'll seperate those fire hands at the wrists.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Phoebe makes her way through the thugs, one of whom has some kind of forcefield and her staff bounces off of it but the rest are well cleared on her way to move towards the magically enhanced and singularly driven Bane. A bolo comes out of nowhere and nulls his field and Phoebe is able to whack him near senseless though he seems to maybe be reaching for something.

Laura dodges bullets and looks singularly impressive, and instead of a Bolo she nullifies Fire Guy in a different way as he holds up his hands screaming in terror. Even for a fanatic this is too much though PHoebe's aura keeps him from bleeding to death.

Jason Todd has posed:
As soon as Jason enters into the building, a piano is coming straight for him! He leaps off to the side at an acute angle, down and to the left, hoping to avoid the piano as it comes sailing after him. Surely enough, it misses by merely inches as it sails out of the building and onto some poor soul below.

He twirls on his feet into a standing position, his guns pointed at Bane and his men. "Is that how you say hello to an old friend, Bane? Surely the League taught you better manners." Jason replies simply enough, firing off a barage of bullets at Bane and his men. But if what he's gathered is true...bullets might not be enough.

But its -something-.

Bane has posed:
The fire bender screams at losing his hand. He doubles over in pain for a moment before regaining his composure. "You're too late. The fire rises" The dismembered acolyte pulls a cord on the their vest and 3 grenades drop with out their pins...BOOM!

Bane gets on Radio. "Second wave now, its time for us to leave." With this order a squad of helicopters fly into the area dropping dozens of smoke bombs and tear gas cannister. As more heavily armed men repell down ropes from the helicopters. "we're here and ready to secure the area for extraction."

Bane and his men are confronted by the Red Hood. "Ah the lost baby bird. how are you fairing this fine evening? I thought would have learned. Never pull a gun as a threat. only pull a gun if you intend to use it"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The copters have flown in very low, rattling windows all around the city but gone before anyone caught what they were, moving at insane speeds and now hovering right above the apartment building as Bane's men retreat inside, firing down on Lara from above, one air bender (because thats a thing now) sends a stream of window trying to knock her down.

A light bender shoots a large arrow at Jovian who has been phasing around the bullets though his totally NORMAL bolo manages to null his powers and send him to the floor as he also pulls a cord and more grenades drop, BOOM! the place is on fire at this point.

Jovian shrieks in pain as blood comes out of the wound as the light arrow vanishes.. He looks grimly determined, he has to up his game here.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra has taken a few real hits now. She isn't Lady Shiva yet, and some of those guys had enhancements. She takes a moment hiding from gunfire behind a car to pop her shoulder in, and her eyes have the moment they need.

She does what she was trained to do. She looks up.

Fifteen seconds later she's tossed a smoke bomb, and is going up a building. It seems she's spotted the snipers.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    
    Her staff bounces? That's -- not particularly encouraging. She purses her lips, and then moves forward. Sweep, knock aside. She feels something ping off her armor in the smoke as she heads with a strange facination, a draw, and she comes upon Bane and Jason.

    Bullets might not be enough, but where there is someone with a little bit of magic --

    She comes up to the side. She doesn't engage Bane himself, but goes to pick off one of the outside guys, another sweep of her pole, jabs to the shoulder, to the neck, enough to stun. Move quickly.

    She breathes out, smoke clinging to her gray, hooded form, her dark skin catching some of the light off Jason's gunfire.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Looking at Bane and not being noticed has Kaida twitching an ear and she considers, "Ok, too big to notice someone so small, eh?" She asks and smiles as she looks at the hand that has Bane's little prize in it. With a shift of her shoulder, she tosses aside her music and sighs. Sure, it's gone and probably broken but then she basically took it from some jerk robbing a lady anyway. So, ya know, there'll be other jerks. Kaida instead pulls out her tiny sword and goes right from Bane's hand and stabs!

"From hell's black heart I stab at thee!!!" She declares and then cackles and leaps away before shaking her head, "Teach you to ignore mice!" She laughs maniacally as she then checks to see if he might drop his prize and then she can pick it up and run.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The dead mans switch dropping grenades would be fatal for most people. For Laura those few seconds while the cord is pulled and the fuses trigger is enough to protect herself. To some degree anyway. A human body can absorb the blast from a grenade. And if no-hands is dedicated enough to die... Well might as well be in a good cause.

In one fluid motion she kicks one of the grenades at his militia buddies, then slashes her claws into the handless foe, shoving him down on top of his own grenades.

It'd probably still be enough to kill a normal hero. But her healing factor means that when the smoke and dust clears she's still standing. Her clothing reduced to rags and her flesh shredded. There's a pause and she rolls her shoulders as the regrowing flesh pushes out bits of shrapnel.

"Watch out for suicide vests," she notes. Although it's hard to say if her comms will even function after that much punishment.

Bane has posed:
"we've been made by the bat!" The Sniper shouts into the radio.

"masks and goggles everyone the smoke and tear gas have been deployed" says another voice. Banne's on the ground men put on gas mask and goggles night/heat vision goggles and move into the smoky haze.

Bane suddenly feels something stab him in the hand. He drops breif case and steps on it to keep it secure. and then snatches up the mouse like creature in his left hand. "soon to be gods have no time to concern themselves with mice. but since made yourself a problem little Ahab. Allow me to show you what happens when a mouse dares to bite a bear!"

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason narrows his eyes at Bane. By the time he's half-way through his sentence, Jason is firing his guns at him! He's aiming for killshots, or at least a solid enough shot to at least -maim- the man. But he's a fast motherfucker, so Jason immediately chases after him.

He reaches into his belt and pulls out a smoke grenade, which he throws at Bane and his goons.

Maybe this will help him get an edge. Maybe it'll help him get the drop on Bane, coincidentally, maybe before he even gets to the mouse.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson is no hero, he just isnt, but he is able to play one on TV...and while he isnt boosted by the Mythos creature any more, he felt the channel is used....the thing in his head, waiting like a parasite isnt expecting this...instead of dabbling in his power, instead of using only what he needs...he RUNS into it, using it full well aware that the thing will get its due...and things...happen...

Bane's men immediately throw down all the tear gas they have, and gas mask up, they're expeecting this.

Bolo radiates darkness and a duplicate construct made of shadow appears, there's simply too many of them not to and bolo after bolo is sent after Bane's magically enhanced men, skipping the ones without talismans...

The guys outside are completely picked off by Phoebe including the one who begins sending ripples of earth in waves at her before she knocks him unconcious.

The snipers on the roof are piling into helicopters, three in total but several are dispatched in silent and deadly precision by Cassandra.

Bane is able to stand on the case with his considerable weight.

Jovian, letting his shadow construct disable several of the talisman holders (but not all) concentrates as some near him activate their dead man switches and creates...a HOLE where no hole should be...into the Negative Zone itself as air begins to seep into it and a rift slowly but swiftly pulling those nearby into it.

Jason's Grenade lands RIGHT next to Bane as it starts to emit smoke quickly, foot on the case. Jason's shots hit two goons to the left and right of Bane, one going down immediately, the other magically enhanced as the bullets bounce off him harmlessly as he laughs but it does HIT his deadman switch as he looks down in horror at the grenades about to drop. In devotion to his leader he hurls himself into the rift and explodes deep inside....darkness.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The retreat of the rooftop team from her breed's customary hunting grounds leaves Cassandra without targets. She seems a little annoyed, though that much emotion getting through is a bit of a feat in itself. She looks at the three that she took out though, and pauses.

A moment later she's behind the scope of a sniper rifle, trying to see what's really going on. Sometimes you need a vantage point and a chance to scout.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "-- that... is new." Balm states a moment, looking as the mouse attempts to Ahab Bane, and Bane responds. And then the hole is opened, yawning into existence like a deep maw.

    /That/ was unnerving. Smoke was going up, and she had to rely on her powers to keep her lungs going.

    The case was the target-- and as Bane's distracted with the little mouse, she comes in low, drops to one arm and tries to use both legs to try and kick the case out from under Bane and towards Jason!

Laura Kinney has posed:
Having shown she's at least moderately grenade proof X-23 resumes prowling for hostiles. Sniffing at the air to figure out which way the nearest threat is in and setting off at a sprint. Her now bare feet padding silently against the ground she covers ground at a remarkably pace. Running at speeds that'd make an Olympic sprinter jealus.

If she can't smell any nearby threats then she'll try to meet up with her Outsiders team-mates.

Bane has posed:
As pheobe is trying to silently make her way through the outer positions of Bane's men. her cover is blow by the deadman grenades going off. a series of explosions are going off. there is the sound of gun fire everywhere. Gotham sounds and looks like a warzone. A scene more out of war torn syria than an american city.

Bane is hit by bullets and surrounded by smoke. The bullets crumble against his skin and Bane's eyes begin to glow as the smoking mirror sucks up the smoke of the bomb. Bane chucks the mouse away. He moves to to attack jason but is interupted by Phoebe trying to soccer pass the breifcase away. Bane's men block the way and take the breifcase. they then start tolay down supressing fire in all directions.

"so many interuptions. this is unacceptable." Bane says staring Phoebe right in the eyes. Bane's eyes have a strange fire like glow to them.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
It's really her own fault for going for the case, Kaida grabs at the case only for a huge foot to fall on it and she acks. She's strong enough to lift a case, an impressive feat for her size, but not to pick up a Bane. Then she's snatched up and acks, "Hey! Buddy! You might want to-" She gags and struggles, "-take me to dinner fir-" And then she lets out a cry as bullets whiz by and she ducks down a little, "Watch it! Mouse in ha-"

"-nnnnnndddd!" She goes flying as she is thrown and slams into a wall with a thud and oofs and slides to the floor. She left a small crack in the wall and whimpers a little.

"Ow..."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The police at the edge of the area hear the explosions and see the helicopters and begin charging in though they run into tear gas from blocks away as canisters were also concealed for weeks in anticipation of the getaway. The militaryesqe response demanded their attention but they werent anticipating Bane's men. The helicopters circle around waiting to pick up Bane and his men through the apartment balcony and another in the hole Jason blew in the side.

Laura is finding it harder to smell with all the tear gas around but her senses still overcome it, sensing Bane's men now in three helicopters circling the building and the apartment and hall, all now moving into the condo.

Jovian tosses null bolos at two more empowered henchman and the construct pulls them in to the rift as they explode there.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass knows that she's supposed to be fighting bad guys. However, the sniper rifle is in good maintenance and ready to be used. The thing is, she's only likely to get one shot. You assume that as a sniper, her father taught her.

So she focuses on the group with Bane in it, and tries to read their moves. To basically lip-read from a huge distance, and tell what to use the fifty cal bullet on.

You get one shot.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason was -ready- for that case too. But he grinned a little bit when he took out the guys to Bane's immediate right and left and caused an explosion. But there was still Bane. He noticed the briefcase from Phoebe being sent his way and he moved to intercept it, but alas, Banes goons were too swift.

So, Jason charges forward, managing to dodge bullets as he acrobatically flips and spins through the rainshower of lead. He aims a bullet for Bane's kneecaps, maybe a few aimed for his face to try and distract him.

He's going for the case, even as Bane seems to have his attention on him anyway.

"Knock, knock, asshole!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe feels the hair on the back of her neck rise up as she looks up to Bane. It was then, with tear gas and smoke, explosions and the smell of singed skin and burnt hair and the reek of death, those devoted to Bane's cause all around them as bullets whizzed by, but those red eyes held her attention.

    Unacceptable.

    The metal staff shrinks down in size as she withdraws it, and then most curiously, her palm alights. The aura of Peace and Light gets stronger as she summons her brilliant staff of light.

    She's fought larger opponants before, but never one magically enhanced. Never one the size of Bane.

    The room visibly lights up around her as she goes to engage Bane, and keep him busy. She's the most likely to survive it, after all.

    She comes in low, looking to kneecap Bane with that staff made of light -- maybe with that dark magic, therell be a reaction. Maybe there won't.

Laura Kinney has posed:
From the way the helicopters are circling it's clear they're only interested in one building. And that means the action is likely to be heading to the roof of said building. So rather than risk getting lost in an unfamiliar building which might well be rigged with traps Laura opts for the quick way up to where the action is.

Climb up the outside.

Normally this would be tricky for a climber that has no equipment. But by twisting the angle of her claws she can create hand and foot holds. Thirteen floors isn't all that much. Not for her anyway.

The clouds of smoke and teargas just minor distractions. She trains with worse. Hell anyone who has tasted her cooking knows she regularly /eats/ worse! Hopefully they'll at least provide her a little cover.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian takes out three more of Bane's powered henchmen, so many of them though! And the strain of using his power this way is pushing him to his limit, the dopple ponding on the doors of his mind making him near losing control as his eyes glow red...TOO...MANY...He tosses out a few more of the null bolos to the other heroes as he can, but Bane still has over half of his powered men. "Nulls their magic!" The shadow construct vanishes and the rift is slowly closing as he holds his head trying to keep from losing it and focusing his will on the bill due.

The building does not scream out in pain as Laura climbs it.

Every hero (Except Kaida) has two powered henchmen trying to attack them.

Cassandra can tell that he is protecting an armored case...well that and something else he has under his skin, something precious to him and a large glowing talisman that is likely magically enhancing him. The case seems most important though.

A large null talisman lands right next to Kaida.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
BOOM.

Laura wanted cover. The team inside wanted a shot at the briefcase. Bane wanted to win this and get on with his glorious destiny.

We can't all have what we want, but the explosion of the window is definitely cover for Laura's entry. But Cassandra goes for a reload, hoping that her shot did what it was supposed to do.

Because she could see, that Bane was protecting three things. And she had to make a choice.

The bullet going for the glowing talisman, was a decision she had to make. She will have to trust her team to take the briefcase. And frankly, whatever Bane has in his pocket is apparently personal and she learned long ago not to mess with people's personal belongings.

It's rude.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Slowly pushing herself up, Kaida whines a little and shakes her head, "Whoa...anyone get the plate on that truck?" She stares off to the side and then the other side and hten blinks at the stone that falls by her. She grabs it and peers at it, "What's this?" She asks of no one in particular, lifting it up to look it over only to give it a little shake. Then, as fate would have it, one of the thugs falls down do to the explosion and Kaida gasps and has to hide herself behind the stone a little. Sure, it's not the best choice but what happens is one of the guys hits it and he seems to lose that weird glow and she stares.

"Uh..." She looks at him and then at the stone and then at where it hit him and she considers, "Time for science!"

And with that, she bursts off in a flash of speed and slaps two guys as she runs by with the stone and spins around at the end to watch the results.

Bane has posed:
A multicolored glow comes over Bane. Bullets. Jason shoots impact but do not penetrate. They still hurt but Bane is used to pain.

A spectral Eagle Manifests and takes the breifcase and starts to fly away.

A spectral serpant slithers out from between Bane's feet and moves toward Kaida.

Bane seems to transform He grows a long tale like a monkey his fingers the claws of Jaguar, Massive Owl-like Wings grow him his back. His body is covered in the armored scales of the Crocodile. winds and lightnig swirl around him..His mask becomes a skull withe the sharp teeth of wolf. On his chest the smoking black mirror became one with his body. A long Cane with a large blade on the end manifests in his hands.

"Who's there" Bane says his voice now dostorted by the sounds of wildlife and storms, as he lounges at Jason Todd.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Kaida succesfully depowers two of Bane's men who are supremely annoyed with the enhanced strength of Ox does not work and they dont really...you know....make it to the cables of the helicopter outside and fall on top of a Piano with a very surprised dead man under it holding a winning lottery ticket in his hand.

Cassie succesfully knocks off one and only one of the stones...the one that is making the bullets bounce off, making the Earth talisman fall to the ground and a faint green glow around him fade but the other colors remain.

Bane's men are NOT happy with her and several in the helicopter fire at her and at Laura because she's....well....quite visible as they fly around.

Jason Todd has posed:
One of the superpowered goons comes straight for Red Hood, who takes off a belt covered in grenades that he had on his person. "Come here, motherfucker." He charges him, and Jason wraps the grenade belt around his neck while he leaps over his head. His intention is to 'Red-flag-meets-bull' him and send him straight for Bane!

After? He lifts his gun, and tries to shoot one of the grenades.

"Jimmy." Jason replies to the knock knock joke that Bane continued. Of course, this would be lucky assuming any of this was good enough to work.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The gunshot from Cassandra gives X-23 a goal to aim for. After all no-one would be shooting through a window into an empty room... Well okay it is Gotham. So it's not impossible people are doing just that. But right here and now it sets a goal that's closer than the rooftop.

The open window also allows the various smells inside to leak out. Giving an idea of who/what is inside. And the time spent climbing? That gives all those grenade wounds plenty of time to heal. Even if they get replaced by a few new bullet holes.

Bane's men in the helicopters are surely wondering just what it takes to kill the petite young woman with the claws! Hopefully she'll have made it inside before any of them think up a solution.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Well, given that she hasn't got time for a second shot (Her dad called it!) Cassandra considers her options. No, she's not standing there and getting riddled with bullets. Nor is she shooting at the helicopters with a stationery rifle. She is, however, going to try and punch one of them in the face.

With a back handspring, Cass looks for higher ground. Finding a way up she takes it, then moves. A grapple into the air, and she uses one helicopter to help her swing toward the next, gunfire all around. You can see her take a few shots in the legs, as she swings in the air toward the gunmen.

Then she hits the front of a helicopter, barely missing the rotors, and slaps an EMP grenade onto it before hitting retract on the grapple.

She's heading at high speed toward the first copter, as the second one's electronics start to haywire. Have fun with that one.

Bane has posed:
is knocked back by the explosion. the Talismons for road, rabbit and deer fall from the necklace. A dark aura comes over him. Death preventing his own. "You can not stop me the spirits fight with me, those worshipped by the ancesters whose land you stole whose people you wiped out. I am their divine retribution!" Bane says flying back at Jason.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Helicopter McHelicopterface (the 2nd copter) is...not happy as the pilot thinks they're doomed (not QUITE correctly) and tries to RAM Cassandra with the helicopter but instead hits the side of the (now thankfully evacuated) smaller apartment building which begins crashing down in a fireball to the ground.

Kaida is able to null three more henchmen who simply do not see her coming.

She is able to reach the other helicopter but tons of people are firing at her.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra Cain punches the next helicopter in the face, which she'd decided was her goal for the evening. She puts a nice crack in the bulletproof windscreen, then looks into the copter at the pilot and the gunmen.

Who likely raise their guns to try and shoot her -through- the windscreen, because why not? fear makes idiots of mortal men, and Cassandra has caused fear in -actual- bad guys.

Laura Kinney has posed:
It's hard to say what kind of supernatural awareness Bane and his men might have right now. Perhaps they're aware that Laura is approaching. Perhaps she has the element of surprise on her side. Either way she can't just hang off the wall getting shot at. Even if Orphan is doing a pretty excellent job taking out the helicopters now it won't be long before someone figures out they just need to stay out of grapple range.

Without knowing she can rely upon stealth X-23 instead opts for speed. Bursting through the shattered window, claws at the ready, charging forward at whatever forces remain.

Bane has posed:
the night's sky darkens ominously. The winds pickup and howls like a ghostly pack of coyotes.The winds clear the smoke and gas, and shake the Helicopters that have yet to crash. Bane's men hear a command in ghostly but angry voice of their comms "leave, scatter, flee". Men on the ground flee those in the helicopters leap from them in fear.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The screen of the copter is blown out, shards of glass as they all scatter to the four winds, easily blending into the night.

Jovian finally loses his battle, and his eyes solid red, dials a number in his phone...texting....someone?

He turns into a shadow and floats to the ground, tentacles of darkness easily breaking his fall as he moves to a nearby streetcorner as a large black van pulls up and several shadow men pull out, grabbing him just as his eyes turn blue.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason watches Bane get knocked back by the explosion. His eyes narrowing behind that helmet of his, though as Bane charges him, Jason charges Bane!

Fight night!

Jason goves for a straight up kick with both of his feet, aimed for Bane's head. This might not even move the guy, but it might just change his direction so he doesn't steamroll over Jason. Or...if it fails, he might steamroll over him anyway.

Laura Kinney has posed:
With Bane and Jason engaged in combat X-23 does the honorable thing and charges up behind them. While the Outsiders generally frown on killing people the rules are a little more murkey when it comes to raking adamantium claws across a supervillains back. Especially when he seems to be possessed by some mystical force.

But that's not her primary goal. Just a distraction to help Jason out with his fight while she crosses the room to where the other heroes have been fighting.

Once there she intends to make sure everyone on the side of good gets out in one piece. Before any of Banes men can get any funny ideas about blowing themselves up again.

Bane has posed:
Bane swings back at the red hood with his clawed hand. suddenly his powers begin to fade on him and the black mirror emits smoke which enveloped Bane's head. He seems to stop dead like a machine that has been suddenly turned off.

Bane's consciousness falls into a deep pit of smoke and blackness. a foggy night on a full moon, beside a lake with a large dead tree looming over bane.

A black Jaguar climbs down from the tree and become a man with one leg and the other made of smoke, dark skinned wearing the skin of a black Jaguar, his Face a yellow skull with smoking eye and a black stripe painted across it. and wearing a head dress and decrations of white turkey feathers.

The being approaches Bane, and then opens in chest like a cupboard, to reveal a mirror wreath in white feathers. Bane sees a vision an hears the chilling voice of the being. "your path is not to be one of us. youwill never ascend to the heavens but you will bring those from the heavens down to earth. do great and terrible things you will but ever a mortal man you shall remain. Reach inside and take your prize but know it will never bring you to our realm"

Bane reaches inside the mirror and clutches what he believes to be Tezcatlipoca's heart but its sudden brought back to reality As his Normal self holding the mirror of stars in his hand that clutched the heart of the god of dark and chaos.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
In the room, the last of Bane's men scatter to the winds. The smoke vanishes and the police finally get through roaring into the area and arresting those who can be arrested or taken alive.

Bane has posed:
Bane sighs and utters "taeal wakhudhni"(come get me in arabic)

at this 2 officers turn towards Bane. Bane puts his hands up and doesn't resist. The officers and a handcuffed Bane disappear around a corner and then are never seen again.