8422/Those who hunt the Bluebird

Those who hunt the Bluebird
Date of Scene:	24 October 2021
Location:	The Narrows, Gotham City
Synopsis:	Barb plays guardian angel over young Bluebird when she accidentally gains the attention of the mob. They send a hit squad after her and Babs intercepts. Bluebird holds her own and Babs invites her to the Birds of Prey.
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Harper Row
Tinyplot:	Rainbow Revenge

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Barbara Gordon has posed:
    "Industrious," Barb says to herself as she sits watching the way Harper's virus jumps from device to device. She's seen better, she's written better, but at the same time it's good work. Harper shows a lot of talent and promise. If not a bit of misplaced attitude. But she's worth the attention.

    Babs almost spits her coffee though when the venn diagram of devices Harper's virus has infected crosses over with a money man. A money man for the mob. "Dammit," she mutters to herself. It doesn't remain on his device long - Harper's virus is very polite after all. It removes itself, but the damage is done.

    Two days later...

Harper Row has posed:
From Device Zero the damning path goes thusly: a fellow gang member's infected phone gets near one of his cousin's phones, an innocent not involved in the homophobic gang himself. That cousin's sister's boyfriend is the son of the mob money man... and thus with four hops over just a few days the intrusion into the mob computers has happened by the dawning of the weekend following the loosing of the virus that Harper unofficially calls The Proud Worm.

Wrapping up her weekend, Harper is out the night of the twenty-fourth following up on the gang's activities. Armed with the reports of the worm she's pinpointed a number of locations that they gather. One of these locations is a vacant store front in the Narrows and it is where she began trailing a group of gang members to confirm a pattern of movement that she believes she's observed in their behavior. The hunters are being stalked themselves.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Thankfully they didn't hire someone like deadshot to take out Harper. She's too small fry to warrant that kind of response. But still, the mob can't have people snooping about their business. That's just not done, not in Gotham. The sniper adjusts his scope one last time, his cross hairs fixed on the young busy body who digitally trespassed. The sniper doesn't know why they want this young woman dead nor does he care. His finger begins to apply pressure to the trigger.

Babs had considered getting one of the birds to play guardian angel to Harper but given the way she responded last time she inflicted herself upon Bluebird's life, Babs decided it was best she handled this herself. The muzzle flash lights up the silhouette of the bat as she flies up the side of the five story building and to the window the sniper is aimed out of. Her cape wings are spread making quite a spectacle that few would have seen.

Moments later, the sound of the gun shot echos down the streets. High powered rifle that it was. Babs put her armor between the sniper and Bluebird because she was too slow. If she'd had Charlie with her, they could have gotten to him sooner and stopped the shot entirely.

Her armor is good, really good, but high calibre round at point blank good? no. It doesn't penetrate her armor so much as stab her with her own armor. A pain in her stomach, something to deal with later. She crashes in through the window and engages the man with a kick that he blocks and a punch that he doesn't.

Harper Row has posed:
The gunshot ringing though the streets causes the gang members to start and scatter. It also causes Bluebird to flinch and dodge for cover behind a dumpster. Sure, the dumpster would have stopped the bullet but there's absolutely no way that Harper would have reacted in time and the hitman's aim was accurate, she only survives because of the unknown intervention by Batgirl.

Looking around her to see if there are any visible threats - there aren't - Bluebird laments the ruined investigation and doesn't bother with following her 'prey', rather she unslings her rifle from where it hangs on her back and begins looking for any evidence of a shooter to look into.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
It's not raining tonight. Never trust a clear nights skies in Gotham. It means the criminals get bolder because who wants to be out in the rain? The man Babs is fighting is clearly well trained. She's guessing ex-seal by the way he uses his arms and legs to block.

He draws a knife but she doesn't slow down her assault. She can tell this isn't the kind of guy to give up when a bat gets in his way. As he swipes and lunges she lets him move in and exposes herself, because she knows the suit can handle that knife.

Tangling it in the blades of her gloves she twists and snaps the knife even as she head butts him hard on the head. Holding his body to herself she helps him slump down to the ground, then cuffs him. Red dribbles from the gunshot wound and she pulls out a quick patch from her utility belt and stuffs it in the hole.

"Ssssshhnowzer...," she says doing her best not to swear to an absence of audience. Turning back to the window, she looks out.. darn, Harper is hiding. This isn't the last of the hired hitmen the mob paid tonight. Her eyes search the streets... a slow moving four wheel drive vehicle with dark windows. That's it.. they're searching for Harper too.

Harper Row has posed:
No shooters seen (although Harper's eyes pass by the sniper's nest moments after the man was defeated by Batgirl and her distinctive profile slipped below line of sight) so Bluebird looks for any other threats and catches sight of the slow moving SUV. Suspcious, Harper keeps an eye on it while staying in cover to see where it might be heading.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs disables the rest of the man's weapons, then looks back outside. She'll have to go on where the SUV is, where Harper was.. it's the best she's got right now. The ache in her stomach is starting to grow, the muscles wanting to clench and paralyse, but she has to push on through that.

She climbs out of the window and jumps, expanding her cape in to wings as she swoops down through the night skies to land on the building top above where Harper previously was. Her heads up display switches to thermals as she looks down at the vehicle. Three men in the car - one driving, one in the back, lone in the passenger seat. Armed of course.

The vehicle comes to a stop and the three men get out. Packing P90s hanging from their neck and shoulder, wearing suits and dark glasses despite the darkness of the night. The street lamps here are flickering due to lack of maintenance.

Babs takes the moment do an electronics sweep.. for Bluebird. She figures if anyone is carrying a more powerful than usual deck in these parts it's got to be the young hacker.

Harper Row has posed:
Harper's phones (one personal and one ited to the Outsiders) are easy for Barbara's electronics sweep to pick up... obviously the inexperienced vigilante hasn't set up that securely. Its also likely that this is how the hitmen are tracing her as there is nothing in the virus that obviously ties to Harper herself (thus their not targeting her apartment to get her) or to the nacient heroine Bluebird.

Harper sees the men. Her first thought is to wonder who the heat's up on. Her second thought is that those are pretty serious machine guns they're packing. Her third thought is that this is more than she can do on her own.

Who to call... Well, that's relatively easy. Staying under cover she pulls out the Outsiders Comm and taps out a message into it: <<Narrows. Armed men. Black SUV. Three with FN P90s in sight. At least one more driving, assuming minimum of two more on the team. Unknown goals. Assistance needed.>>

Muttering softly to herself, Harper says, "Have to keep them from hurting anyone, come on guys, somebody answer," and then just thinks, ("Maybe Oracle listens in, they'd know how to organize something for this I'm sure.")

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There she is. The outsiders connection is on her network and she can see her - hiding behind that dumpster. Digitally that is. Actual eyes on, no, they're on the three men. The whole point of trailing Bluebird was to keep her safe but now she wants to get in on the action.

It's near impossible to convince someone who wants this life to walk away from the danger. She's living proof of that - and Bruce sure as heck tried to turn her away at first. She proved him wrong and young women have been proving her wrong ever since too. She's not going to make the same mistake again.

<You're the target> Oracle replies over the network and switches the device off of Outsiders mode to direct connection with her. The screen flashes and goes dark and the silhouette of the bat symbol appears. <Move south in to that building, draw them in, we will take them out one by one>

The shadow of Oracle dances across the roof top and between the buildings above Harper. She's entering the building she just directed Harper in to, but from the top. <Be fast and safe, but make sure they see you>

Harper Row has posed:
("How did I...?") Harper starts to question the reply she got and then squashes it down. She's a target. She's these men's prey. She is /not/ wasting time questioning it right now. Not when the danger's high. Too many instances in FPS games where that got her avatar killed to risk it here in real life... she asked for help and she's got it. Fine, quick reply first...

<<Understood.>>

... and she puts the device away, her's on full mute and that one on a quite vibrate where she can feel incoming notifications. A quick scan of the device and Oracle would be able to see that the replies are only seen on the device screen (Bluebird has no HUD) if she wasn't already aware of it so Harper doesn't worry about real time updates right now.

After looking and thinking out the actions ahead of time, Bluebird dashes out of cover to the south making sure there's a moment where she can be seen moving (that's the point, right?) and simply kicks the half rotten door to open it...

**CRACK**

... and then, after passing though the damaged portal into the shadows within takes cover where she can clearly see the door and anyone entering it will be brightly backlit but where she has both cover and concealment from those gazing into the inky depths of the store front (different than the gant's hideout but just as abandoned as it... a natural state here in the Narrows).

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The smell of mould is apparent in this place. Water is dripping through the ceiling on the first floor which warns of how structurally damaged this place has become. Not even vagrants choose to live in this building. The rot has set in to it and it should be condemned - but this is the narrows, that rarely happens anywhere but on paper.

The men see Harper and one of them looks down at his phone. He's tracking one of her gadgets. He points and the men all unclip their P90s and start to move together as a unit. Two more exit the vehicle and form up with them. These guys are a unit, not a band of random mercs thrown together. The probably worked with the sniper.

As they enter the building they fan out, torch lights on the tops of their P90s switch on and their hushed voices begin to communicate as they move down the hall way. They scan from room to room.

<Make your way to the second floor>

Harper Row has posed:
Harper was initially tempted to take a shot at the leading gunman but she feels the notification of the incoming message. A quick look sees the message and the device is again put away.

Bluebird's outfit is not a bright shade of blue and so it blends well into the shadows. This allows her to slip from the cover she was hiding into a back hall which leads to the stairs which she ascends quickly taking them two at a time - carefully avoiding clomping on them as she climbs to the second floor. Once there she gives a quick glance to the upper hallway and sets the first door slowly swinging while entering the second room though a widely gapped door that she manages to avoid touching. Within she finds a storage room with boxed among which she finds one large enough to hide behind but small enough to use as a makeshift duckblind from which she can fire though the gap in the doorway when she sees movement in the hall outside.

<<Done. Cover attained. Ready to fire.>> is her own message sent back to Oracle though her Comm device.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
A dark shadow moves past the door way. It has pointed ears and a long cape. It looks like one of the bats but it's passed to quickly to confirm one way or another. It was, however, moving toward the gun men, not with them.

For a moment, there's silence. Then, suddenly, there's a shout and the sound of window breaking as a guy screams. Attached to a zip line he is yanked out of the building at high speed and crashes in to the brick wall across the street.

The sound of the gunmen reorganising themselves can be heard. One of them opens fire on a shadow. It was just that.. a shadow. As they become disjointed, Babs emerges from a dark corner and yanks a guy backward in to another room. There's a burst of gunfire again and Babs flips him over, breaking an arm.

The guy kicks Barb right where the bullet hit before and she grimaces, stumbling back. Time to change position. She dashes through a door way and across the hall. One of the gun men's torches shines down the hallway in front of Harper's room.

The torch is darting this way and that as he is rapidly checking all his corners. The motion indicates the mission has gone to shit and now he's desperately trying to achieve his goal.. and he leaves himself wide open for Bluebird.

Harper Row has posed:
With the sound of fighting outside, Harper breaks cover and slinks up to the open doorway. Looking though it she sees the one gunman holding his injured arm and his companion who's attention is split between the broken bone and attempting to keep an eye on the hallway.

A moment's pause to aim at the uninjured gunman is followed by a soft cough of the gauss-railgun.

As the non-lethal stun bullet flies towards its mark Bluebird moves out of the room she was in towards the already injured man. A quiet run towards him includes a run by side stomp at his ankle...

**CRACK**

... mirroring the earlier breaking of the door into the building is the sound of the man's ankle breaking with a noise reminescent of greenwood being snapped in two.

**Thud** **Thud**

A viscereal scream of pain at the unexpected second broken bone is proceeded by the sound of the stunned gunman dropping to the ground as the electro-stun bullet impacts him and then is followed by the sound of the momentarially maimed gunman while Harper dashes into another room before the other gunmen can ascend to the hallway... favoring the ankle that she twisted slightly in the follow though on the stomp/kick.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs head turns sharply when Harper leaves her hiding spot and engages the remaining two gunmen. She twists her lips.. as she thought, you can't keep someone like this out of the fight. Cape billows as she dashes past the two targets that Harper has taken down. and she jumps down the stairs.

Her two booted feet land squarely in the chest of the first of the two gunmen racing up the stairs even as she twists and tosses a bat-a-rang at the second. He looks down as it embeds in his chest in surprise, then twitches as it sends a huge pulse of electricity through his body and he collapses.

The first guy on the stairs gets it much worse though. As Babs launches off of him and flips over back on to her feet, he goes crashing in to the rotten wall, and through it, and falls down in to the ally way a full floor. Babs isn't sure he's done, so she jumps out the hole after him and lands with a roll next to him. As he tries to get back up, he's met with an armored fist to the face. "Stay down," she warns the now unconscious man.

And now the rain starts to pour down. Her glowing eyes glance back up through the hole to Harper and she points to the roof. A grappling line shoots up and she zips up past the hole and to the roof top.

Harper Row has posed:
Seeing Babs pass her in the hall, Harper has a momentary geek out moment as she thinks to herself ("That's one of the Batgirls, so cool!") followed immediately with ("But Batgirl is a blonde?")

Then there's the signal to get to the roof so she heads to the ladder she saw in her early glance of the hall and ascends to the official trap door access. Once on the roof she looks for her rescuer while hanging out under a bit of cover provided by the slanting roof of a neighboring building.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The glowing screens on her bat cowl covering her eyes snap away as she lands on the roof top. Her stomach is really starting to cramp up badly, but she has to keep it together for just a little longer. She watches with her arms crossed as Harper makes it to the ceiling.

"Your virus found its way to a mob money man. They didn't take kindly to your intrusion," she says and tosses over the device they were using to track her. "Fix your security." Oracle sent this person, that seems likely. Babs' final test, can Bluebird save herself? she also did the right thing reaching out for help.

"There's a group, the Bird of Prey, of women who help each other in this city while fighting crime. You're officially invited to join as a prospect. Bluebird," she says and from her belt she takes out a phone. "This is preloaded with the Birds software. Don't misuse it. Oracle will know. You'll find tools on it to help disable security and hack servers, as well as the ability to communicate with the other Birds of Prey."

Harper Row has posed:
Harper takes the phone and says a soft "thanks" as her mind is occupied with the news about what lead to tonight happening.

After a moment she says, "I'll check out the new tech definately. And yeah, I'll review the security. Will ditch my phone for sure since I assume they aren't tracking the one I got... from a friend." (Batman's advice was to Trust Noone, so why name the Outsiders to this mysterious Batwoman associated with the equally cryptic Oracle.) "Did Oracle indicate to you if they were tracking me in any different way?" she asks seeking further advice.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
She looks Harper up and down a moment and her lips relax from a thin line. She's taking it seriously, which is good. "I'm Oracle."

She waits for that to sink in before continuing, "I didn't see any indication they knew who you were. They were simply following the trail you left behind with your virus. You got unlucky. Your virus danced its way to the wrong phone.. and that's what why we have the birds. Sooner or later our luck runs out and we need a helping hand."

"But in this game we can't rely on our luck. It's not enough. Not if you want to survive beyond a year. Plenty of people with good intentions have ended up dead trying to do what we do. You've got talent and potential and I don't want to see that get lost."

Harper Row has posed:
Harper just stares at the armored Batwoman for a moment after she identifies herself as Oracle. She then chuckles slightly before speaking, "Well, I am a bird so..." she smiles for a moment and then gets serious again. "Thanks for the help tonight and... I guess I owe you an apology for last time. I'd recently gotten some gruffly delivered advice to not trust anyone so I was a bit paranoid getting an unexpected package at my home."

Something else sinks in as she says, "Oh! I guess I don't have to ditch my phone, just like you said tighten the security on the worm... maybe stop its spread universally. I know how they found me, it was becuase of the concentration of infected devices."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"You did your job and you saved lives. That's all I ever ask from a bird," Oracle says by way of accepting the apology. "Batman's right. Don't trust anyone," she says with a bit of a smile, "Until you know you can. No one in the birds is going to turn on you, but your work is your work. I'll assist you when it's appropriate or when you need me. Sometimes I'll send another bird to help you, sometimes it'll be me. It's time you talked to Batman again."

All the theories and guesses about the mysterious Oracle are all falling in to place now. She is a bat.. she does work with Batman, she is a real person.. she is a she! "Patch the security, they won't be able to find you and they won't be stupid enough to try when their lawyers talk to these men in prison and learn the bat took them down." And if they're lucky, the mob'll lay low for a while thinking the bat is coming after them.

Harper Row has posed:
"Talk to Batman..." Harper repeats the phrase with a sense of incedulity in her voice. "That's easier said then done. I've only ever seen him on his terms." She ponders this for a moment and then asks, "Any chance you can tell me how to reach out to him without sneaking up to the top of police HQ and turning on the Bat Signal?" with a hint of a laugh in her voice showing that she's not seriously suggesting that she would actually do that.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
And then, to really drive home how linked everyone is, she says, "Use the app." Her eyes glance toward the phone she just gave Harper. She says in a friendly tone, "Now get out of here, I'll bundle up these bodies for the police with a bow."

Harper Row has posed:
Harper holds up the phon. "Yes! The app." She then starts to head toward a ladder on the edge of the roof leading down to the street. She then stops and turns, grinning back at Oracle to say, "Thank you," before slipping the new phone into a pocket and then proceeding to the ladder and, after climbing over the edge of the roof, sliding down to the street.

From there, Bluebird takes to the streets and alleys. Somewhere along the way Bluebird is gone and Harper is proceeding down the streets with her now doffed costume and gun packed away in her pack as she heads home.

Once home, after discussing the day with her brother (and /not/ talking about the close call with the gunmen or her actions as a costumed vigilante) she takes to her room and begins the work cleaning up the code on her worm and transmitting the code to stop the spread while pushing the update to those infected devices that she's keeping the worm working on for the time being - those tied closely to Device Zero.