7958/The Cobweb Of Compensatory Crimebusting

The Cobweb Of Compensatory Crimebusting
Date of Scene:	24 September 2021
Location:	Coney Island
Synopsis:	Toni gets a lead on a stolen necklace and dragoons Cassie Sandsmark to assist her. An attempt at meaningful conversation is had. Crime is stopped. And very important lessons are learned. (Everything in those last few sentences was true.)
Cast of Characters:	Toni Monetti, Cassie Sandsmark

---

Toni Monetti has posed:
A LITTLE WHILE AGO

"Cassie! Cassie. Do you want to fight crime? Because okay," Toni continues, "this one's kind of personal to me but I think it's kind of low stakes and I mostly am like, I really should have backup in case I'm completely wrong about it. I was using the computers to track this package of jewelry that got stolen from this friend of my father's - that's the personal angle here, that's why I'm not leaving this to the like, Bat people or offering a frigging pizza roll to Spider-Man or whatever - because I want to make sure he gets this stuff back, because this necklace is like something his grandma had, back in Naples."

Toni pauses.

She then smiles. "Sorry. So yeah apparently it's getting fenced and it's just gonna be like off Coney Island? Like they were talking about this bench so I pulled up Lexle Earth and I checked it out and this is going to be stylish as hell. We just gotta stake the place out."

CONEY ISLAND, AFTER DARK

Toni is wearing a black T-shirt and leggings and a wrist watch, which she checks occasionally. Before them stands a titan (heh heh) of the boardwalk: The WONDER WHEEL! It's over a hundred years old, and still pretty impressive.

"So I think we definitely want the outer ring, but do you want one of the swinging cars or not?" Toni says, getting out a FUN CARD and a $50. "I'm gonna tip" (bribe) "the guy to let us stay on for a while. You have the scopes, right?"

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Although to many it might seem like a whole lot more that ISN'T crimefighting tends to take up the lives of our many young heroes, it would be a mistake to take from this any apathy toward their supposed role as defenders of the innocent and dispensers of punching-based justice. But no, Cassie is all about it, especially in the rare lulls when she's not overwhelmed with things like school or working for Diana (but really for her /mom/). And in this case, as Toni bursts in on Casie in the middle of some idle videogame punching, she's down for the real life alternative without even pausing for the reason: "Huh? Uh, sure! Lemme save."

The fact that there IS some kind of meaningful explanation only ups the stakes. "Oh wow, definitely. Can't let them pawn nona's family heirlooms." And if the team-up is overkill? That's on them.

THUS, LATER

Cassie has acknowledged the stealthiness implied in a stakeout wearing an appropriate dark outfit of her own. As much as she's normally the 'I want them to see me coming' type, the Outsiders do some more down-low style operations. It's still the usual athletic wear, but THIS version of the typical black sleeveless workout turtleneck has the double-W in a kind of matte silver finish, and she's traded the red leggings for black ones. VERY STEALTHY! Her bracers still risk standing out, so she puts them in her POCKETS as they walk.

That's how you use that noggin'!

"Yeah," she answers of the gear, hefting a little satchel. "Actually, I grabbed a bunch of stuff from old-Robin's stash." Not Damian. The one she likes! "So we got lots of toys to play with." From there, her eyes go uuuuup to the top of the wheel. "Hmm, the outer ones probably have a better view but, like, the inside ones might... I don't know, like maybe you have more cover? Though who looks up at the people in those things."

Toni Monetti has posed:
"Oh, badass," says Toni, glancing at Cassie for a moment. "Does he have all that weird stuff I heard Batman has? Like I try not to pry but like you get interested, you know? Like does he have a forcefield or something? He's gotta if he's getting shot at. I'm still worried I can't handle that too well, and --"

What Toni CAN handle well is seamlessly codeswitching: "yeah and like in the FIFTH episode I can't believe they could possibly have let that **** fly even on STREAMING cuz HOLY SHIT it was - oh hey," Toni says, looking at the ride operator, "here's my card, I'm gonna cover her too, and can you like... swipe it all the way?"

The ride operator raises an eyebrow slightly, but the $50 gets slipped to him. He briefly glances at his hand, and then says, "What the hell," to himself, and, "Alright, but if we get a big line I'm gonna make you walk back around. Alright?"

"Alright," Toni agrees.

"Can we get the blue one?" Toni then asks.

Someone waiting in the sparse queue moves forwards as if to intend to get on board, but the ride operator holds up one hand.

"This part's always awkward," Toni tells Cassie as she gets in the back row--

-- For the Wonder Wheel is two benches facing the same way!! A point-of-view video set, dear readers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Zz0gBZMiE - daytime, no narration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgh8erC_WTo - nighttime, definitely narrated

"OH, shit," Toni says, as if realizing something, but there is not much time. After Cassie gets in, the car is up and on its way, into the darkling night!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Oh yeah, there's a bunch of different night-vision modes, directional mics, I don't know what these do, radio scanners..." With the bag open, she peers in and jiggles things to look around a little, with a bit of an implication that she just grabbed 'whatever' and threw it in there. Still! "I don't think I've ever seen a force field? You can definitely shoot him. Hope did, once." Uh. "'Sides, I got my bracers. But I know there's one you can throw on things and it, like, zzzzzot!!!s them out? Kinda like some localized EMP or whatever."

Bottom line? She probably shouldn't have access to this stuff!

Annnnnnnd....

"Yeah I know right? It was, like, so hot, even if it was kind of fucked up you know? They had all those pics of the actress online too, like it was real leaks or something." She looks suitably distracted as they reach the guy, turning to give him a kind of 'oh, didn't even see you there' look when he stops them and Toni does her little bit. Still, she flashes a quick, pretty smile, bats her eyelashes, the whole routine.

"Awkward?" Cassie hops on like it's familiar, and it might be! The caged car sways just the littlest bit under the added momentum as its riders board, and she scoots further inside, making sure she has the bag o' goodies secure next to her. "Relax. What's the worst that could happen? Even if some goons spot us and blow the whole thing up, I can just fly us out." Obviously said AFTER the car begins its rotating ascent away from the operator.

Toni Monetti has posed:
The car begins to ride upwards. Lifting from behind.

"... Okay, I was gonna ask you something but I gotta ask about this other something too because like, okay, WHO shot Batman? Like you say 'shot Batman' which suggests, hitting Batman, not like, shooting AT Batman, without result."

Up, up. The Wonder Wheel creaks a little, but not alarmingly.

"Anyway we're supposed to see something weird out on the beach," Toni says, gesturing towards the black gulf of the night-time Atlantic in one direction. "Like apparently a guy's gonna swim ashore with the necklace so I guess that means he's gonna have a boat or he's gonna have like a scuba tank or some shit. I don't know what he's gonna do from there. Get on the subway, maybe."

Rise, rise.

"... can you pass me back the mic? Like I can see there's like, two people on the beach and I think one of them might actually just be garbage. If I was gonna be giving up like eighty grand for a necklace I would probably be on the phone right now. Also can I ask you something weird?"

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Hope? She's uh, I don't know, some mutant person from the future?" Ah, but of course. "She can copy powers or something, but mostly she likes these big sci-fi guns. Because, you know." From the future. "And one time Batman came to visit at old-Robin's hideout and he kinda dropped in unannounced and she didn't realize who it was and she shot him. He didn't die or anything." One would think that would make the news. "So I guess his body," or PLOT? "armor took it OK? Maybe she had it on stun. It didn't seem like he was too mad about the whole thing."

Of course, there is a certain 'this is just how things go' in how Cassie describes all of this that reflects her total asborption into the nonsensical heroic lifestyle. Is she turning into some kind of grizzled vet? Getting OLD?

When Toni talks details on their supposed target, she turns from general gazing to scoot over to a particular side of the car to get as good a view of possible over the indicated area, even kind of pressing her face up to the cage. "Huh, weird. And yeah, it's... pretty dark, guess it's a good idea we got all this stuff."

Cassie pulls the bag in her lap and digs through it a bit. She pulls out... something that is not what she's looking for, and then finds it, offering the microphone setup back to Toni, before pulling out a set of goggles she starts messing around with, holding up to her face and pressing buttons as Toni continues.

Re: said 'weird' question, she gives a vaguely distracted "Hmm?"

Toni Monetti has posed:
"Oh, from the future, that makes sense," Toni says, followed by, "I guess," in slightly smaller letters. "If she's from the future then I guess she wouldn't like, 'get' him, the way like if he showed up I'd totally shit my pants and die but I wouldn't KILL him or anything..."

Up they go. Up, up. Up.

Toni reaches forwards with one silver-white hand to take the microphone and its single-piece headset, which she figures out quick enough. "Ow," she mutters, probably from amplifying a ferris wheel creak accidentally.

They're getting near the top.

Out on the beach...

The light enhancement goggles have to be tuned a little because the boardwalk is BRIGHT. It's a painful intensity and if those things enhance instead of just using near-IR or something instead, it's like a garish retrowave smear of a memory of the past. The wind is stronger up here, and it blows through the place. "This thing isn't recording or anything, right?" Toni asks, as they reach the top.

The two people Toni mentioned are checkable. One of them looks like a guy in a swimsuit who is reading something on his phone. He has nice abs. He's probably here to find a partner, somehow or other. Or maybe he's a vampire? But they're not after vampires.

The other one Toni saw... is in fact several large newspapers that got stuck on a stick of driftwood.

BUT

"So," Toni begins to say, "like, uh, ever since we went on those trips I've been kind of... noticing stuff and I was wondering if there is like an... effect? From the island, or... like..."

THERE'S SOME GUY! He's wearing a very dark suit and has a balaclava on, like some kind of IRA terrorist. He has his pants rolled up to his knees. He is also holding a briefcase and seems to be looking out for something to sea. It's not the Moon, that's for sure. And just ahead of him - stirring the water, just enough to make a little phosphorescence in the wake... is that a boat?

"Like maybe it's living in the dorm but I don't know exactly if it's just because I'm finally around actual women instead of teachers and my mom and shit? But, like, shit, forget it, I'm just rambling, I'm being an ass--"

Toni is cut off with a sudden half-screamed WHOOP!

Despite these several different threads overlapping, a third factor has now introduced itself! The ferris wheel cabin is lurching forwards. There is a splattering burst of strange shapes around Toni as she tries to catch herself on plasma constructions; soon enough the cabin rocks the other way, as if --

-- Oh right, it's one of the ones on the tracks. But that means it's now on its downward swing, and the rest of the park is going to block their view of the beach...

... Unless they go all the way back around!

BUT WILL IT BE TOO LATE

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
There's a noticable flinch away as Cassie's somewhat random scrolling through the settings passes over one that is OH GOD THAT IS TOO BRIGHT with the ambient sources, although after a few more clicks on a knob (and a few moments for the glowing shapes in front of her eyes to fade) she finds one that is bearable. "Uh, you said something about a phone? This guy has one but he's, I don't know, that's not really crime get up. He's probably just like 'hey, where are you, I feel dumb going night swimming by myself.'"

Focused through the goggles, there remains some element of distraction to rest of their conversation. Body language is lost, for instance, and with split focus, what filters through is registered by the brain in a very literal fashion. "Effect? Uh, I mean, the whole deal is that no one grows old there, and, hmm, I'm sure the gods are a bit closer to things so, I don't know, there's probably all kinds of ambiet magic or whatever? Maybe that's why it's so nice. Sun shines brighter, stuff grows lusher, all of that? But I think it's all local to the island, that it doesn't stay with you once you leave."

Amidst idle chatter, she continues to scan about.

As Toni's ramblings continue in a certain direction, Cassie continues mulling them over, perhaps meandering to the point at the same speed her friend does. "Hmm? Well yeah, it's a bit different and-" Oops! Distraction time again! Now rearing its head in more conclusive fashion as she spots what she takes to be their quarry: "Oh, so THIS dude is totally dressed in his CRIME outfit," she declares, enthusiastically. "Hahaha, wow. He looks like an NPC you'd shoot in GTA. Yeah he's definitely up to no good, and, hmm, maybe he's got a friend coming-"

She lowers the goggles as the noise from Toni overrides the rest, although she adjusts to the sudden shift almost unconsciously. Just being able to fly outright is kind of a cheat code when it comes to those kind of things!

"Woah you OK? You wanna- is there a lock to this thing?" Her eyes are going on around the inside of the cage, and to the door where they got let in initially. "I don't wanna break it but like, if we could get out we could get right down there."

Toni Monetti has posed:
"Oh, yeah, uh," Toni dithers, and her shoulders slump.

Did she not get it? Toni wonders, sweeping a hand through her hair and breathing out as the shaking of the ferris wheel resolves itself. Finally, she says, "Uh, yeah, I think there is, but we should at least try to get back to the top or something right? Like, for stealth?"

"Does my face look like it's blushing or anything?" Toni asks Cassie in a tone of deliberate casualness that is more deliberate than usual. (It isn't. She actually has never!)

"So if this guy's in his like CRIME OUTFIT," Toni says, even as the ride operator looks in for a moment to see the two girls who got into the ferris wheel together, then DIDN'T sit in the same row, BUT appear to have some kind of camera gear out, BUT are -- anyway it's going past him and it's no longer His Problem.

"We should jump him, right? Like if we're wrong we can just be like, hey, sorry, this is super sus though, go home or some shit," Toni continues as she takes off the headset and passes it back. "I think you're gonna get there faster than me but I don't think it's gonna be THAT much faster."

She also pokes the door. "If there's a lock I think it's just like a regular door lock and shit so like if you pop it off or something maybe we can put it back?" Toni has not thought this entire program through, but then again, maybe fifty bucks will buy them at least some security.

Peering over the side, Toni bites her tongue tip and extends two fingers, which pour out plasma that reaches down in a sort of noodling posture that turns gradually into something not unlike an over-extended octopus tentacle. It reaches the door latch - bristles - clamps down - and... pulls... to... swing... back...

Toni looks towards Cassie then, even as the wind of the Atlantic swoops in. "Goddesses first."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Yeah I think for sure if you're in a crime outfit out in public, and there's not someone standing a ways back filming, it's like... probable cause, or whatever." This is possibly not how the law works, at least not for random vigilantes, but then again... well, it's kind of in the name, right?" Which means they have a plan of action, if not a plan of how the heck they're getting out. Cassie looks at the latched she's supposed to 'pop' dubiously. None of this is high security, but it's obviously not designed to be opened from the inside... without a lot of damage. In this regard, finesse may not exactly be her forte. But...

Silver plasma tentacle to the rescue! "Ooh, nice!"

While Toni is wiggle-wiggle click-clacking with the latch, she takes a quick moment to stow everything back in the bag, double-check it, and then pull the tie closed. Getting away with this stuff hinges considerably on not bringing it back in a million pieces. With it secure, and Toni playing gentlelady, she grins big and just oh so casually steps forward and out into the nothingness, without dropping an inch. Such a cheat code.

However, rather than zooming ahead, she turns back, holding open the arm that isn't tangled with the bag. "C'mon, hop on. I'll fly you, and then you can like, silver-parachute or hanglide or whatever onto them."

And also, several moments later once they are thoroughly mid-flight, she adds, in a tone that is sort of intentionally, over the top blase casual this-is-no-big-deal: "And if you mean you realized you like girls... uh, I don't think it's something the island 'does'... OTHER than, you know, being filled exclusively with extremely fit ladies who spend a lot of time living very close to one another. I uh, kinda get it."

And before there's time to be awkward: "Ohlookwe'rehere BOMBS AWAY!"

Toni is dropped! And Cassie promptly inverts mid-air and then swoops down after.

Toni Monetti has posed:
Toni smiles, a little, even as the plasma dissipates and the door opens and she is offered a ride...

"Uh, sure," she says, taking a step forwards, held firmly, flown away with a sort of different smile on her face; a somewhat smaller one, more private, looking out towards the ocean as --

--

Yeah, sure enough, there's a guy coming out of the ocean. He's wearing a wet suit and he has, of all things, a cell phone in a waterproof case (one assumes). He holds it up and waves it a little, which is drawing the attention of Mr. Balaclava, who wades towards him... getting the briefcase ready...

Which is when Cassie speaks to Toni and Toni's lips press together and she just stops moving completely, like one of those chickens down on the farm that you set down in front of a painted line or whatever and just put completely to sleep. A fatal error has entered her brain and toni.exe must reboot. This means when she is dropped she just...

Falls down.

Fortunately, despite Toni's innate wish to God that she be immediately and painlessly killed and sent to her just reward in Hell, she does do a sort of... bubble of silver plasma underneath herself, maybe on pure reflex, maybe because she's being dramatic, maybe a little of both? She hits it and makes it collapse with a loud shiny WHUMPFH of force which is when the crooks notice them.

"FUCK! IT'S SPIDER-MAN!"

CASSIE IS FACED WITH SEVERAL IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS.

1. Mr. Balaclava is reaching into his coat. He is not doing this very adroitly, but he's definitely doing 'gun reachy' gestures.
2. Mr. Scuba Tank, who has some kind of a smaller case with him, is turning to flee back into the ocean, no doubt to return the jewelry to Poseidon, who may be cross that his drug deal was interrupted but never mind that
3. Toni is just kind of laying in her gently deflating cushion of emergency death avoidance, which is flattening quick enough to make her a large, faintly-luminous target. She is getting up on one elbow, but it may not be fast enough.

This could go badly-- or amazingly!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Part of the reason Cassie flips over to speed-dive in after is because she probably immediately realizes there's some nonzero chance that Toni (who is not as blase and casually experienced about hero'ing, she should remember) will not immediately snap to and execute her maneuver, so maybe she's thrown her to her death and she'll have to fly EXTRA FAST to catch up to her.

But no! Bubble! It is not quite the hang glider of death, but it is something! A distraction, at least, for the presumably very surprised and confused crime-doers.

Now, it's not ideal to let her friend lay there and draw gunfire or anything, but... this IS where Cassie's nonchalance kicks in a little. Gun? Not actually scary when your signature move is blocking bullets. Guy fleeing? To... a boat? That he will escape in at, uh, what, 20 knots? Maybe 30 if it's one of those Navy SEAL raft things? Lol OK. She doesn't actually know how fast a knot is but she knows it's not any value that makes those numbers impressive. So yes, Gun Fella is the first priority, on the outside chance he somehow manages to injure someone.

Options?

She could probably just plow straight into him as she comes down from the air, but there's some degree of this all going pretty fast and not wanting to accidentally rupture anything vital. But also it seems reckless to just land and LET him shoot at her just so she can do slick pew-pew cling-cling air parries. So she lands with a big WHUMPH in front of him, throwing up a bit of sand as she transfers off that excess speed, and then gives him a brief 'Hi!' and big ole smile before, well, still punching him, just not so hard he flies halfway to the boardwalk.

She then looks back, possibly to check on how far Mr. Boat has managed to go, but more likely, to check on Toni, while she also works on getting out her lasso.

"You OK? Up to catch number two? I think he's got the stuff."

Toni Monetti has posed:
Mr. Balaclava stares at the outside context problem that is Wonder Girl. A moment later, he does pull his pistol somewhat out, though he's visibly slowing down. The punch lays him out - a veritable lovetap, it nonetheless means that his gun goes flying into the sea!

Laying in the surf, he seems to be no trouble to anybody right now.

At this point Cassie attends to Toni, who seems woozy. She looks upwards with wide eyes and says, "Jesus Christ, you dropped like two bombs on me at once. Look, I just - ugh! I thought I wasn't - Like I'm not trynna hit on you or -"

"Oh, did you just come out? Congratulations," says the guy who was hanging out on the beach with his phone.

Now that he's fully erect, the man is revealed to be reasonably chiseled, and perhaps more significantly, he's armed-- and has a badge, in a waterproof carrier, hanging from his Euro-style swimsuit. "Detective Andropinis, NYP"

"I DID NOT COME OUT OH MY GOD" Toni interrupts, aghast.

"Hey, easy," says Detective Andropinis. Back to Cassie: "Wonder Girl, right? Can you ladies get that guy? My God, this is some kind of cornball movie shit, but I guess that's how they've been running all of this. I can't believe it."

"C-- Wonder Girl, tell the cop I'm not gay," Toni insists.

"That's not how it works and he's going to get away," Detective Andropinis counters. "I - can't see him, but I can see the boat - it's coming around!"

Toni gesticulates wildly to no effect, screams, and then throws her hands down, creating a sort of smeared disk beneath her feet which rolls forwards, a yard above the wave. "HEY SCUMBAG! Gimme the box or I'm going to drink your blood!"

Detective Andropinis gives Wonder Girl a thumbs up. He is played by Michael Fassbender.

The big problem now... is that Mr. Scuba Tank's had a couple of minutes to get into the water, and it's *really dark*.

Of course, the boat's less dark. These guys should have probably gotten a submarine. There has to be at least one guy on that boat, and he's an ACCESSORY.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Hahaha sorry I dropped you I just kinda thought- but yeah um the guy is kinda getting away if you're not up for it I'll go get-"

Wait what, Mr. Abs is an important character?!

Cassie whirls at the new voice, perhaps first anticipating a threat she has carelessly dismissed. There are a lot of things she has done tonight that would probably warrant a talking-to from Diana. "Woah hey. Oh. Huh. Ok, yeah that makes sense I thought it was kinda weird you were just-" She is working it out in her head. "-right, right. Yeah, that's me. Sure, I'm on it. Hold on."

The 'hold on' is not for her to casually go out and apprehend the guy in an instant, but rather to have a quick word with Toni. "He's right, I can't tell anyone what you are, I'm just saying... I dunno. I never really thought about it myself, even in high school. But that year on Themyscira, living in an all-female society?" She shrugs. "I used to have the biggest crush on Superboy. Not everything's strictly one or the other." The fact that she insists on having this conversation, or at least part of it, may be a bit expaserating to Mr. Policeman, but this is the price one pays for the assistance of ridiculously overpowered heroes who are also unreliable young persons.

"Sorry about that!" is offered, cheerily, once they've finished. "Right, badguy."

Toni has actually set off in her own fashion, and Cassie goes skyward after her. She's pondering digging in the Bag O' Toys again, but before then, the boat comes into view.

"I'm gonna circle around to cut him off."

Which she does, at a speed that is perhaps meant to partly demonstrate that this is really kind of a futile effort on his part, hurtling around and then reversing so she's flying backward out in front of the boat. "You might wanna surrender. This thing's kinda dangerous if you're wet." Her lasso, which she'd gotten out after KO'ing the first guy, is given a flick to uncoil in the air, and then made to spark with lightning.

This is dramatics, of course. Also, she kind of wants it to be Toni's bust. But it does provide quite an incentive that he might stop, or at least try and turn and thus slow a bit for her friend to catch up.

Toni Monetti has posed:
Toni, before she surges off, is approached by Cassie. She doesn't look at her for a while, but she's clearly listening, even if her expression is petulant. "... Yeah, I just," she begins to say, faltering: "I just didn't know if like... if I was getting, like... you know? I mean, it's..."

The confusion and unburdened unease, at least, is real. Something let out, and perhaps thus no longer a burden.

And THEN she starts going off into the night and looking for criminals to apprehend. The boat - a cabin cruiser which, now that she's closer, Cassie can see has one guy on the steering wheel - seemed to be about to make a turn around, maybe in the hopes of doing a pickup or something.

The lasso is revealed - and electrified.

The guy at the wheel raises one hand. "I have to do this," he says, "you must understand, I *have* to do this," in a strong but comprehensible Caribbean accent. What he has to do involves stepping away from the steering wheel, carrying something --

RATATATATATATA-- emptied into the ocean!

The gunshots echo out on the Atlantic.

He then drops the discharged weapon, revealed to be some slightly battered Uzi or similar weapon, and holds his hands in the air. "I had to say I tried," he calls, WHILE

Toni's shouting out there stops as she herself does. She seems to be looking left and right. Cassie would know from Toni's periodic appearance at drills that she doesn't have night vision or anything, at best she has like 20/15 vision from alien eyes but that could just be good luck.

Distantly, Toni mutters, "this is dumb," and then crosses her arms with her fingers splayed out--

-- which shoots long strings of silver plasma into the ocean --

Toni grimaces...

... the strings draw in... rise up...

... and inside a net, that may have failed to catch a Cat but appear to have had more success now, there is an extremely surprised sea robin, about fifty pounds of beach sand that is mostly falling back out, one criminal in a wet suit who is saying, "What the hell," and a 20-year-old car tire.

(On the beach, the detective is unmasking the balaclava man. 'You!' 'ugh... do you hate me?' 'Don't do this right now, I can't handle it. You're under arrest, Sal')

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
There is a moment: prepare to engage bracer fancy maneuvers! Prepare to electrocute a dude and explain later!

But... no. Mr. Boat Guy does not actually try to shoot at her, and so Cassie is thankfully not required to do any of these things. As the guy starts to spin his tale of woe, his backstory of a no doubt melodramatic fall into the world of crime, she hastens to calm him down, looking almost as awkward as with Toni earlier. "It's- it's fine, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just, you know, doing my job or whatever."

Yeesh, this whole bunch.

The lasso de-lectrifies, and while she gives it a toss, it only lands near him, around the grip of the dropped weapon, which she proceeds to retrieve with a practiced flick. "Why don't you turn it around and head in to shore, you can put down anchor at your uh, minumum shallowness is or whatever and leave it for the harbor cops to come get it." She REALLY does not know nautical terminology.

Still, having cut off this route of escape, one loose end remains. Scuba or no, their final quarry can't really have gotten too far, indeed not even a significant fraction of the way out to the vessel, one would think. As Cassie escorts the boat back, her eyes scan the water. Does he have enough air in his tank to get ANYWHERE? Do they need to call Aquaman?

They eventually reach Toni. And Toni has gone fishin'.

"Woah, look at all that junk!" she declares with a bright, almost ridiculous laugh. "Quite the haul you got there, Cap'n Argent!" It's gone pure goofball, probably none to the benefit of the dignity of their captives. But how else will they learn?

Toni Monetti has posed:
"Yes, yes, of course, of course," says Mr. Boat, who kind of doesn't really hurry to do it. Maybe he's hoping King Shark will show up and bail him out?

He is not bailed out by King Shark. Toni smiles at Cassie, then, and lands on the deck, dumping the garbage and then flicking the fish back into the water, before pointing at Mr. Boats:

"March!" Toni tells him.

"I cannot march, I am on a boat."

"I will metaphorically literally smack you, I heard her say something about getting closer to shore," Toni instructs him.

Soon enough they move that way -- and a searchlight shines out! A police boat! For once, the arrival of the NYPD does not cause problems or aggravate them, but serves as resolution. Several officers get on board and cuff the diver and the pilot alike.

On shore, Detective Andropinis is still in a European swimsuit. "I think they would have done this right under my nose, Wonder Girl," he admits frankly, "and I'd have been none the wiser if they didn't shout, so I'd like to thank you. And you as well - Captain Argent."

"Just, Argent is fine," Toni answers, as her hand is shaken.

"You know, you did this on a very appropriate day. Were you pursuing any investigations?"

Toni glances at Cassie for a moment. "Uh... Yeah, there was this stolen family heirloom of... someone I know, of, so I was trying to get it returned to him. Kind of a personal interest," Toni admits.

"Who?" Detective Andropinis asks.

"Vittorio Fuerti," Toni tells him. (Cassie may see that the detective recognizes the name but does not seek to reveal this to Toni; Toni, for her part, seems to let it go.)

And soon enough...

"So that got weird. Thank you, though, for comin' out here with me," Toni - or perhaps, ARGENT - remarks to Cassie, as the journey to Metropolis and its tower (and probably well earned pizza somewhere on the way) begins.

"What did he mean, appropriate day, though?"

https://bivisibilityday.com/, True Believers!