8754/Disorganized Crime

Disorganized Crime
Date of Scene:	20 November 2021
Location:	Sheldon Park, Gotham
Synopsis:	Two members of the Outsiders are dispatched to intercept a potential superpowered interlocutor in an ongoing turf war between the Italian mafia and Russian mob. While attempting to subdue the KGBeast, X-23 and Superboy encounter a zombie and Gwenpool. Hard to tell which was more confusing, to be honest!
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Conner Kent, Laura Kinney, Gwendolyn Poole

---

Tim Drake has posed:
    Sheldon Park--otherwise known as the Cauldron--is an industrial park on the northeastern tip of Bleake Island, where the rather run-of-the-mill organized crime tends to gather. Black Mask's syndicate, theItalian mafia families, and the Russian mob amongst others all have various fronts in the area; right now the Falcone Family reigns supreme, but the balance of power is always shifting.

    Like when a new presence makes itself known, with enough manpower brought in from the mother country to tip the scales.

    Enter Viktor Mikalek. The Russians entrenched in Sheldon Park had ceded control pretty much immediately when he arrived, and he's bought up a not-insignificant chunk of real estate in the area as his company began its American expansions. With Anatoly and Vassily, the infamous and viscious Davidovitch Brothers supporting him, the takeover had been swift.

    Naturally, though, this did not come without pushback from the locales. In particular, Carmine Falcone is not the type of man to let such a thing happen.

    Now, a turf war brews. Each night of the past week, another shootout or tense confrontation has taken place. On top of that, a series of covert assassinations have also rapidly thinning the ranks of the Falcone family.

    It's the discovery of Mario Falcone's with a massive hole through the head that causes the Cauldron to boil over.

    The Sicilians pull fully out of the area. Black Mask's men are all clustered together in the Sionis Industries factory, which is a veritable fortress. Even the two Irish crime families, the Rileys and Sullivans, call a temporary truce to keep themselves safe from the inevitable fallout.

    Dense clouds cover the night sky, leaving only the yellow beams of the street lights as illumination of the dark Gotham streets. From above, a slow furry begins to drift down towards the ground; the first snowfall of the season.

    A shot rings out in the darkness, followed by a bitten-off scream.

Conner Kent has posed:
Now, it is well-known Gotham has very few super-powered vigilantes. And Conner avoids getting involved because of Batman's rules. So, he was pretty surprised when Tim called him for help. Something must be seriously wrong. Perhaps too many lives in danger.

But nope, it is an industrial park at night. At most there will be a few security people and some bums. Conner lands at the edge of the park and turns on the comm. system. "Robin, I am in position. What is going on? I heard a gunshot."

Laura Kinney has posed:
When the call went out for the Outsiders to scramble X-23 was ready.

But then to be fair she's always ready. It's not like she has much of a social life outside of the Roost. Unless you count meeting informants as a 'social' event. Then she's probably the team social butterfly.

Sadly she's pretty much the only person who thinks that way.

With her enhanced senses she's able to pick up on the sounds of trouble starting even as she moves into position. "X-23 on site," she notes into the Outsiders comms channel.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
Gwenpool, leaning against a lamp post in the park, looks up.

Snowflakes.

Bathed in the yellow light, otherwise surrounded by darkness, her pink and white outfit somehow looks dimmer and bleaker.

She's blending into the mood.

The first snowflakes fall, and Gwen sticks out her tongue. She catches one, and cross-eyed, she looks at the little bit of ice melt away.

Then, a loud BANG! echoes through the sky.

Gwen turns abruptly to look up. "That's it!", she says, pointing at the sky. "The onomatopaeia points..." She traces through the progressively narrowing letters, down to the exclamation mark. "That way." Tongue sticking out (sideways, this time), she frames the word with her hands, held sideways, and eyeballs where they meet. "The shot originated from that point!", she exclaims, and darts for the triangulated spot.

Tim Drake has posed:
    From a temporary workstation set up in a hotel room somewhere in Ecuador, Tim leans forward, eyes narrowed at the screen of his laptop. "Gang turf war," he says over the encrypted Outsiders comm-network. "Getting reports from several locations in Sheldon Park about fighting."

    The nature of the setup he's working with here means both Conner and Laura get to hear the rapid clack-clack-clack of Tim typing in their ears, though it is at least muted, a background noise beneath his voice.

    "Minimal likelihood of civilian casualties, though, given the area and the time. There are rumors of an enhanced assassin on loan from the KGB; Viktor Mikalek has a lot of connections back home in Mother Russia, and I suspect he's responsible for the new arrival." He hears the gunshot, too, through both their mics.

    Superhearing and supersmell will lead Conner and Laura, respectively, to a nearby alleyway where an older gentleman in an ill-fitting suit is slumped against the wall, eyes open and unseeing as blood trickles down his nose from the bullet hole in his forehead. And it's this alley that the superimposed sound effect text points Gwen towards as well.

    They'll all arrive in time to see a shadowed figure on the roof up above, a glint of red light reflecting off a lense over one eye before the hulking shape of the man disappears.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Uh, let me guess, you are not in the city," Conner doesn't bother with flying to the alleyway, instead he runs fast. "Damn, too late for this guy," and then he spots Laura. "Hey, X... you also got here quick. But it looks it is just us, seems the others are busy." Conner crouches to examine the dead man. He is not a great detective, but he knows the basics. "Something up there?" He murmurs, looking up.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney shrugs. One more dead villain in Gotham. A shame but nothing she'll lose sleep over.

"I was in the area." She glances up and sniffs the air again. "Smells like it. Give me a boost up?"

She lifts one foot up, as if expecting Conner to launch her skywards, and gets herself ready to pop her claws.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
A wondow opens on the wall, at a short distance from where the man was murdered. Out pops Gwen's head. "Can I have a boost too?", she asks, while she crawls out, to go stand in line behind Laura.

Tim Drake has posed:
    While Laura and Gwen are queuing up for a Super-Boost from Conner, all three of the young vigilantes hear a soft groan from behind them. The dead man, a low-level lieutenant in the Falcone Family tips over, crumpling to the ground.

    Then his arms stretch out, stiffly, and he begins to push himself up.

    The unnatural glow of his eyes pierces through the darkness of the alley as he snarls, open-mouthed, at the trio.

    In Ecuador, it's dark out, but Tim has the balcony door of his hotel room cracked to let in the pleasantly warm nighttime air. "I'm on vacation," Tim answers. Which is a joke. When does he ever go on vacation?

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner arches an eyebrow at Laura's request. Throwing her is not something that they have practiced, he could just fly with her up there.

Ok, whatever. He actually has a lot of control due to his tactile telekinesis, and Laura is a little crazy in odd ways. "If you are sure..." he slides a hand under her feet and tosses her up, grabbing her telekinetically so he doesn't break her leg.

And the Gwen drops by. "Woah... teleporter?" Probably not a Bat, too colorful. "Boost?... wait, the guy is not dead." No comments about the vacation thing. Tim already had 'vacations' recently and they ended up with a cruiser full of super-powered terrorists.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura is a little unusual. But it's practically a family tradition to be thrown into combat. And she trusts that Conner can apply the right amount of force. And hey even if he does break a bone or two they'll knit themselves back together.

She soars up into the sky, not even having time to react to Gwen appearing, and sweeps her arms out. There's a sound as she pops her claws which only she and Conner can hear over everything else that's happening.

Bute despite the volume the sound still produces some very distinct text bubbles. SNIKT.

She aims to land on the rooftop or, at the least, dig her claws into the wall and climb the rest of the way. Hopefully whomever is up there won't be expecting quite that dramatic of an entrance!

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
"Teleporter... uh... something like that. Kinda. It's complicated and people usually don't like it when I explain in detail. 'Teleporter' will do. Oh, which reminds me."

Gwen turns towards the camera, to grin wildly and smile at Tim, and then snaps back to look at the victim. "Oh, yeah, was about to tell you, the guy's not dead. Someone should brush up on their medical skills."

Gwen pulls her katanas from her back, and positions herself at the ready, blades stretched outwards and forward. "Want me to take on this guy instead?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    Despite being a little over 2500 miles away, Tim slowly turns around to examine his empty hotel room as he feels the weight of someone's gaze upon him. He blinks several times, unnerved, before his attention returns to his computer.

    "I don't have any reports of an unknown vigilante in the area," he says, gathering from what Conner's said that there's someone new on the scene. "Teleporter? Is she a redhead with the Bat symbol? That's Misfit, if so." He pulls up his file on the Bird of Prey member and sort of... cousin, niece... something. His relationship with Babs is a mix of older sister and aunt, at times. Hard to define, as it often is with the Bats.

    Up on the rooftop, once Laura has made her way up there, the hulking figure of a man in dark body armor with red straps across his chest awaits her. He's holding an impressively high-powered rifle in his hands, which he aims at her.

    Then he says something in Russian, accompanied by a snarl of a smirk, and fires.

    Down below, the "victim" sways up onto his feet and then lurches towards Gwen and Conner, arms outstretched and maw gaping.

Conner Kent has posed:
"He has a hole in his forehead," notes Conner defensively. His 'medical skills' determined that. True, it would only slow down someone like Laura, but it is generally considered a deadly wound.

Apparently not this time!

"Damn, maybe he is a zombie," he comments as the dead man lurches. Zombies were a 'problem' in recent Outsider's history. Just in case, he will try to avoid bites, but he also attempts to grab the man's arm to push his front against the wall and subdue him.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Slowing down doesn't feature in Laura's plans for the day. Because that's a really good way to get shot and, despite her ability to heal, it isn't exactly enjoyable. Still the Russian villain seems more interested in speaking first then opening fire.

Sadly she doesn't speak any Russian. But hey hopefully Tim can translate via the comms!

Either way that split second allows her time to extrapolate the angle of fire for the rifle. And plan her approach so she'll avoid being in an easy line of fire. Plus her claws make a good shield against incoming projectiles. Enhanced reflexes and training allowing her to cut a bullet out of the air.

She sets off at a sprint. Zig-zagging as she goes.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
"Ok, nevermind, I'll do this on my own!"

Gwen rummages into her satchel while she darts towards a local dumpster. She extracts something that looks not quite, but -almost- like a rounded off hand grenade, and while still running, she pulls the pin with her teeth.

"No shrapnel!", she exclaims, after spitting out the pin, bowling the grenade under a dumpster, and leaping onto the dumpster with a double flip in the air.

She hasn't made contact yet, when the explosion from under the dumpster FLINGS the item at Gwen, who impacts against it with a OOF!

Propelled towards the roof with the improvised rocket, she yells at the others, "He said he was warned about the costumed riffraff, but he wasn't expecting that all that America had to throw at him was a child!" Followed by, "I know because I read the text between the angle brackets!"

Tim Drake has posed:
    From over the Outsiders' frequency: "...are his eyes glowing?" Which, yes, they are. "The good news is he's technically just a reanimated corpse, not a zombie." Tim, in what world is that good news? He pauses to consider the words that just came out of his mouth with a disbelieving shake of his head. "Anyway. They aren't infectious, it's just a dead body being controlled from afar via mystical means."

    Now, the preface of good news on his explanation implies that there is also bad news. "Unfortunately unless one of you has a spell at the ready to cut off that connection, the only way to take that zombie down is, uh, basically obliterating the corpse until it's no longer capable of moving under its own power."

    The gunshot from KGBeast's rifle is a sound match to the one heard some moments earlier, and Tim hears it over the mic. Immediately he starts running an analysis to confirm said sound match.

    As his fingers fly over the keyboard, Tim opens his mouth to translate, but then he hears an unfamiliar voice doing that for him already. "Wait, who was that?"

    Which is really not an important question in the immediate moment. Conner has his hands full pinning the zombie against the wall, who has all the strength of an average, slightly overweight man in his late forties. AKA: not all that much trouble for Superboy, to be honest. The zombie is trying to wriggle free but there's really nothing he can do. Up on the roof, meanwhile, KGBeast continues to fire at Laura after his first shot is deflected with a bright spark off of her claws.

    His follow up "What the hell?" is in accented English, no need for translation this time around. This is said in reply to Gwen's dramatic appearance riding a dumpster over the roof's edge. This is not at all what he was told Gotham was like!

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner knows Russian, so... "that was a correct translation, does Misfit know... no, she is not a redhead, she is wearing pink and white and has really nice legs." Glowing eyes, check. Not a zombie is probably good, he is not sure about the corpse obliteration.

Also, if Gwen is a teleporter, why did she do that? Conner drags the zombie towards a lamppost. Time to do some city redecoration. It was an ugly lamppost anyway, it looks better wrapped around the non-zombie. Better than obliteration, if you ask him.

Laura Kinney has posed:
If Laura was the quippy sort she'd make a comment about people who underestimate their opponents. Or point out that the most deadly Russian spies are young girls. But she's not really a talker. Her actions speak louder than words.

And those actions are charging into close combat while cutting bullets out of the air. And she charges pretty darn quickly. Putting on a burst of speed that'd make an Olympic sprinter green with envy, then diving into a low roll to bring herself out of the line of fire.

If she's judged her roll right she'll spring up close enough to try kick at the villains weapon. Popping a foot claw with another SNIKT that'll hopefully pass clean through the rifle like Adamantium through butter. Assuming it's not made of anything exotic that is.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
Gwen manages to stand up and balance onto dumpster moments before it crashes onto the roof. "WOO-HOO!", she screams, as she surfs towards her target leaving a trail of assorted trash in her wake. "Cowabunga!", she grins, leaning over and crossing her katanas in anticipation.

Her brow straightens, and she mutters, "Oh, great, now I want pizza," before she switches expression back to a devil-may-care-grin. "Wait, no, focus. You gotta be ready to dodge those bullets as soon as you're on camera. A little dance, a little acrobatics. Gotta give the readers something to enjoy, or they're going to cancel your series."

Tim Drake has posed:
    And now there's a reanimated corpse with a lamppost tied around it like a pretzel. From where Tim is only tangentially able to observe the scene via a security camera on a nearby building he's hacked into, he does at least see that.

    Without a word, he sends off some texts to some Gotham-local magic-folks letting them know that there's a present for them, wrapped up with a bow.

    "Not Misfit," Tim confirms. Then begins typing into a new file: teleporter, pink/white costume, nice legs???

    The snow is rapidly making the rooftops of Gotham a slippery affair, but Laura is too skilled for that to affect her as she gets herself into attack range swiftly. Indeed, KGBeast's rifle is made of your standard stuff, and her claws snikt right through it. KGBeast himself isn't made of your standard stuff, though, and there's a superhuman amount of force behind his attempt to smack Laura away with what remains of his weapon.

    And then he pulls a pistol from a holster against his lower back that materializes just in that moment because Gwen's appearance on-panel demands it. Of course it's a Makarov, because the KGBeast is basically a walking Russian cliche. He aims at Gwen and pulls the trigger.

Conner Kent has posed:
Possibly Conner could have mentioned some other details about Gwen's costume or physical build, but he tends to notice some details more than others. But, look, he was worried about the zombie.

Problem solved, he flies up to join the girls on the rooftop. "Russian mafia thug, right? Does he have dangerous magic?" Namely, dangerous for him. Zombies and guns? "hey, tovarich," Conner knows Russian, his accent is not great because he never speaks Russian. <"I am the expected costumed riffraff. Now drop your guns."> That was Russian and Gwen can see the brackets.

Laura Kinney has posed:
KGBeast might hit hard. But does he enjoy punching adamantium? Even as he lunges in to strike at her X-23 brings her hand claws up to block. Depending on how tough and skilled he is that might mean he can pull his blow before he injures himself too badly. Or he might just punch his hand and/or remains of his rifle apart.

Depending on just how much force she gets hit with Laura might slide back a little in the snow. Or maybe even a lot. But the newcomer has provided enough of a distraction for her to heal if needed and then move back to engage.

Trying for another claw slice through the Makarov. After all she has no clue just how bullet proof the new girl is.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
Gwen, as anticipated, twirls in place, jumps, and ducks, the white action lines of her motions crossing with the bullets zipping by.

As she gets closer, biting her lower lip, she braces for impact and-

Camera from below, just behind KGBeast, pointing up - showing the bottom of the trashcan Gwen is riding. with an action line describing a parabola, parabola which ends up in the regular-height-but-page-wide panel which shows Tim bent on on his laptop, typing. The parabola of Gwen's dumpster frames Tim's panel, and 'snapshots' of Gwen at various moments during her flight are shown at various points on the curve. At a specific point, Gwen peeks onto the screen, and after she impacts onto the roof again, crushing a bunch of tiles (which requires going to the next page), Gwen, holding tight onto the derailed dumpster, looks over her shoulder and yells, "Tell your friend in Ecuador that I am not -really- a teleporter! Just... kinda-sorta!" She returns to face forward, and with a grin, adds, "He's spot-on about the legs though!"

Tim Drake has posed:
    KGBeast does indeed hit hard. But every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and though he doesn't rebound from the impact of his rifle-remains against Laura's blades, he is left with significantly less of his rifle than before. Which--let's be real, he didn't have all that much left in the first place.

    The Russians didn't shell out adamantium-money. Just steel-slash-titanium-alloy-money.

    But their clandestine spying budget is, as one would expect, very large. Not that you need to be a spy to understand what the S shield on Conner's chest means. The pieces of KGBeast's Makarov clatter onto the rooftop from another well-aimed snikt-swipe by Laura, and he is briefly distracted observing Gwen's majestic flight, before he puts his hands up.

    "Da," he says, with an agreeable nod to Conner. "You are more than they warn me about." His arms continue to lift until he's forming a roughly diamond shape with them, one hand grasping the wrist of the other, and it's in that moment KGBeast decides, "And I am not paid enough for this." The press of a button on his bracer and the area is briefly flooded with blinding light as a thunderously loud explosion of sound precedes his exit stage left via unknown means.

    The only thing left behind is a few spots of tile that are left smoldering.

    Back in Ecuador, Tim has signed off because he's busy packing his things up to make a swift exit himself. Because he has no idea how this girl knows where he is, and he is far too paranoid to stick around and find out.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner was about to interpose himself between Gwen and more bullets when the Russian seem to actually be about to surrender.

Seriously? It is the first time it happens. Maybe Russian super-villains are actually reasonable crooks. That idea gets dashed quickly in a flash of light and sound. Now, Conner should be very resistant to that kind of thing because of his Kryptonian genes, but the problem is his senses are also very acute and therefore vulnerable to that kind of trick.

"Damnit..." he growls, blinking quickly and scanning the immediate area quickly. "Robin! Is this guy supposed to teleport, or is just a damn ninja trick?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney rolls her shoulders, making a slight popping sound as her healing ability pops a dislocated joint back into place, then scowls.

"Target has escaped," she notes. Sniffing the air and looking up to try figure out how. "I'll cut some samples from the roof."

There's a pause before X-23 adds "Perhaps you can find out more about her." She gives Conner a wink. "Just try focus your attention on her face this time."

Clearly /something/ must be weird about today. Because X-23 is trying to make jokes!

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
Without anything to stop its madcap rolling, the dumpster flies off the edge of the roof and plummets down towards the ground.

"Ow, ew!", Gwen exclaims, opens the top lid while in freefall, realizes that, due to freefall, she does not simply 'fall in', so she has to pull herself inside, and then-

*SLAM!*

The wheels shoot off the dumpster, and the container is in very poor condition. There is no Gwenpool in sight, only a depression in the mound of waste where Gwen used to be.

A mumbling sound comes from inside the trash.

Tim Drake has posed:
    There's no reply from Tim because he's busy changing out of his T-Rex pajamas in Ecuador so that he can run away.

Conner Kent has posed:
And Tim goes quiet. Weird. "Her mask covers all her face but the mouth," replies Conner, glancing at Laura. "You aren't jealous, are you?" He doesn't wait for an answer before flaying away because adamantium claws. Plus Gwen might be hurt given that kind of fall. "Hey, are you alright? Who are you anyway?" He asks, opening the dumpster to look for the crazy girl.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura rolls her eyes. Then gets to work cutting samples of the scorched rooftop for study and collecting up the weapon parts. You never know just what information you'll get from supervillain leftovers. The weapon and ammo fragments might lead to a supplier. Blood samples can confirm identity.

And bits of exotic tech... well they're just fun for the Outsiders more SCIENCE loving allies.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
The pile of trash stirs, and out pops Gwen's head. "Ptoo, ptooie!" She spits out a banana peel and other bits of dirt. "Bleh. Good thing trashcans are always full of relatively safe things to fall into and spit out. Like, there never are used razors or badly opened cans."

She pushes herself to get out, sits up onto the trash, rummages in (tongue rigorously sticking out), and pulls her two katans out, one after the other.

"Gwendolyn Poole, aka Gwenpool," she introduces herself, as she pulls the mask off her face, revealing her blonde-to-pink hair gradient and a radiant smile. She opens her satchel and rummages into it. "Mercenary. Here's my business card..."

That said, she repeatedly picks up a business card (white and pink, with a mini-comic of Gwen rattling out her contact info while jumping through panels) between her index and middle finger, and flicks them at Kent and Laura, respectively. "Affordable prices. Quality service. Fun at parties."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner hmms, looking mildly disapproving. He knows another teenager mercenary girl, and she is a lot of trouble. "Hi, Gwen. I am Conner, aka Superboy, half-Kryptonian," which is not a profession, but it works. "Did you know anything about that Russian guy? Because it looked like there was going to be a gang battle here tonight but we might have stopped it."

Laura Kinney has posed:
"I'm going to see if there are any more magically animated corpses roaming around," Laura notes via comms. Already loaded up with samples from KGBeast and the battle ground. There's not a great deal more for her to add here.

And she's hardly known for her people skills...

Getting down from the rooftop won't be all that tricky, just dig her claws into the side of the building and let gravity do the work, and then she should be able to locate any walking dead things by following her nose.

Gwendolyn Poole has posed:
"Nice to meet you, Conner!", Gwen starts, then she turns in Laura's general direction. "And X-23 too!"

Returning to Conner, she begins answering his question, "Him? Well, I have some information that might or might not be accurate. Might want to double-check everything, but at least it provides a starting point. See, that one was KGBeast, and the most important thing to know about him is that I forgot to ask him for an autograph. The rest is..." and she goes on rattling what she remembers about him. Mostly comic book appearances. No secret identities, though. And until 2019, at which point she entered this universe.