8998/Sucker!

Sucker!
Date of Scene:	08 December 2021
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Roland and the Black Canary have a teamup. This time there are vampires!
Cast of Characters:	Roland Livingston, Dinah Lance

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Roland Livingston has posed:
It's a nice night for a ride on the Ducati, once its operator is all bundled up in deep red buffalo leathers, boots, gloves and helmet. Roland navigates through the streets on his bike pretty smoothly, taking his time as much as is possible in a bad ass racing motorcycle. As he cruises he keeps his eye open for any signs of danger, ready to react to sudden changes in traffic or road conditions. Luckily, as it's rather late, the Englishman doesn't have a whole lot to worry about. Except for the sound of a struggle from somewhere off to the side, down an alleyway.

Words can be heard from people down there, "We're going to stomp your head in you son of a bitch!"

Another voice says, "I'll rip out your heart and drink your life blood, puny mortal!"

One more says, "What are you doing? LARPing at us? Ha ha ha, stupid guy thinks he's a vamp... Oh shit! Look at his face, he's a vampire!"

THe first voice says, "There's a bunch of us and only one of him. We got this."

Then more sounds of conflict.

Roland turns his bike sharply to go investigate what's happening, driving his vehicle towards the alley. As he gets a look he sees there's a group, clearly members of a street gang as they all have purple handkerchiefs displayed prominently on their body. And then there's a guy standing off by himself, clad in a black suit. His face is kind of smooshed up to reveal a fang filled mouth and ferocious features. The suit grabs one of the gang bangers and pulls him close to sink his big fangs into dude's neck. Another banger draws a gun and fires it point blank into the suit, though there's little effect on him. The gunshots attract someone else's attention, apparently, as at least one more set of footsteps can be heard approaching the violent scene.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Two. Two someone else's attention. Another Ducati prowls the street, though this one is going slower, its occupant trailing...

...shit. Gunfire. Tracking down the bag man Canary was chasing falls to the wayside in priorities. She'll track him another day to his boss. It's not an urgent case.

Tracing the source of gunfire in city streets at night is a difficult art, harder to do over the sound of a motorcycle engine. The engine is silenced and Canary listens for the sounds of strife. Booted feet strike pavement with surprising quiet before she glides off through the alleys, triangulating her way into the signs of strife and combat, readying herself to add to the noises in a more final way.

Roland Livingston has posed:
Hopping off of his bike and letting it lean against one of the alley's walls, Roland heads for the action. His helmet comes off and gets tossed aside so that the adventurer can make full use of his senses. A hand snakes down to his boot to draw a dagger, steel blade with silver inscriptions on it gleaming in the low light of the alley. As he approaches he calls out, "Bloodsucker! Leave those men alone and face my wrath..." Apparently the guy with the gun is a really jumpy sort. He pops off a round in Roland's direction, causing the Englishman to dive to the side, hitting the ground in a roll and coming up to his feet, "Shoot at the guy trying to rescue you, too. That's a bloody good idea."

The other gangsters start grabbing for the suit and their man, trying to pull them apart. By the time they're successful their buddy has been drained of blood and looks quite dead. As the criminals realize their cohort has been murdered they attack the fanged guy and start pounding on him.

That's when the person making the not so quiet footsteps appears. Its a woman in a fur coat with a smooshed up face and tons of sharp teeth, "Having trouble, lover?" Then she grabs the guy with the gun and tosses him into the melee to knock everyone in it to the ground.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Gang. Weirdo freaks overdressed for the venue. British guy with familiar style. Yep, this is Gotham.

This is a lesson she learned the hard way. Let's observe it in action:

1. As stealthily as she can, Dinah rushes up behind the woman who just threw a man into a crowd. Because that's obviously the smart thing to do, right? Tangle with the strongest-displayed one.

2. Launching herself in the air, Dinah tries to land a booted one-two combo, neck and back, to take the threat to ground and ready for a stomping.

3. "I don't think it's polite to interrupt, sister."

Note how the snappy patter was the last thing? This is one of those things vigilantes learn the hard way for the most part.

Roland Livingston has posed:
The Suit is the first guy up from the pile of people on the ground, another gangster clutched in his arms. This time he's already well fed, so he tosses the guy to the woman in the fur coat, "Dinner is served." Then he turns to look over at Roland, "Oooo, biker man has a knife. How menacing!" The Suit is not afraid at all. Which shows he has no idea whose attention he managed to attract.

Roland sprints towards the Suit, superhuman agility and strength pushing him past the usual human limits.

The Suit's eyes widen in surprise, "What the fuck?" That's when one of the gang members kicks him in the knee from the ground and causes him to stumble.

The lady in the fur coat takes blows from the vigilante and falls to a knee, dropping the guy she'd just been holding. Her head swivels to get a better look at her attacker, "You're dead, chickadee!" Fur coat lashes out with a wide backhand meant to send Black Canary flying.

The stumbling Suit finds himself getting kicked in the face by Roland, who is on him way faster than he expected. The English adventurer grabs the Suit by the lapels before he can fall backwards and strikes down with his knife held in an ice pick grip towards the beast's heart. It lifts an arm up to take the blow and manages to fend off the attack for the moment, though the silver inscriptions on the blade burn his flesh, "Oh damn! He's got silver, darling."

"Surprise, sucker!" Roland quips before kneeing his opponent in the groin.

The gangsters get a look at the two monsters, the Black Canary and the knife wielding biker and decide to beat a hasty retreat. This might be a bit much even for Gotham City hard cases.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Canary is almost contemptuous as the vampire sends a backhand her way. Speed is high, driven by the kind of strength that sends bodies flying like they're bowling balls, but it lacks finesse. Style. Too predictable.

It's time to show toothpuss what unpredictable looks like.

The fist swings so closely over Canary's form, bending backwards to avoid, that it looks like a near-miss. Only the subsequent trick she uses with a knee up near the base of the arm to fuel a horizontal midair spin that brings the other leg around in a vicious kick straight to the throat of the being reveals the stratagem. And this itself revealed to be just a distraction as an outstretched arm reaches for a leg to toss the vampire woman back to the ground.

"Sit! Stay! Good dog!"

The smug Canary stands over her foe. Provided all goes to plan, of course.

Roland Livingston has posed:
The woman in the fur coat finds herself flat on the ground, but she doesn't stay there for long. Using her tremendous strength she pushes herself straight off of the ground and into a standing position, looking at the Black Canary for a moment before launching herself towards the super hero, arms outstretched and hands shaped almost into claw like appendages.

Roland continues fighting the Suit. The young man is good at what he does and is quite strong and fast. With his knife in his hand he carves at the vampire, looking to slice, dice and stab whenever there's an opportunity. The silver on his blade makes a sizzling noise as it's driven into vampire flesh repeatedly until he finally gets the opening he was looking for and flips the blade around to a rapier grip and drives it through the monster's heart. In a matter of moments the creature is no more, burned to ash or dust. Roland looks quickly for the next threat and sees Canary's already on it. The dagger is flipped around so he can offer it hilt first to the vigilante, "You may want this."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Nimble little minx, aren't you?" Canary says, genuine admiration at the recovery in her voice.

The admiration fades to nothingness in seconds.

"And then you do a bull charge."

Vampire attacks high. Canary attacks low, in a spinning back kick that once again uses the laws of physics to fight superior strength by screwing up its balance. Sweeping the feet out from under the vampire she pops back up to her feet and, with a confident wink at Roland, ignores the proffered dagger and just takes a deep breath.

Roland probably knows what to do here.

The Cry that can shatter stone and steel both leaps from her throat at the supine vampire, focused tightly on its chest. Its heart. At full strength.

I mean what kind of flesh and blood creature can stand up to that!? (They're flesh and blood, right? RIGHT!?)

Roland Livingston has posed:
When Canary takes her breath Roland covers his ears and tries to back away as quickly as possible. The vampire lays on her back and shrieks as she's blasted by the huge amount of force generated by the Cry. Though her chest starts to cave in the creature isn't destroyed. She's left screaming in agony and rocking back and forth on her back, holding her torso in her arms.

Roland waits for the sound to die down before turning to see the bloodsucker still in one piece. "Damn. I was hoping that would work." He looks up at Dinah, "Try exploding the head next time. Decapitation's a sure killer of vampires." Then he moves for the monster, grabbing her by the collar of her coat with one hand and lifting her to her feet to try questioning her, "Do you know where Gebhard the Undying is?" His dagger is held menacingly. "Or Chrome Magnum?" The tip of the blade is brought close to one of her eyes, "Where do the gargoyles come from?" The young man isn't getting answers, though, as the beast is still in too much pain to reply.

Dinah Lance has posed:
"You know," Canary says dryly, "in Mutt and Jeff, I do the better bad cop." She shrugs sarcastically. (How can you shrug SARCASTICALLY!? She pulls it off) "Well, guess I better get into character."

Kneeling next to the creature (on its caved-in chest), Canary, with her saccharine best, though in a bored tone, asks, "Please, talk to him. He scares me when he's like this. Just tell him what he wants to know."

Blue eyes glance up at Roland and a grin matches the cheeky wink. "How'd I do?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Quite well, Canary," Roland replies to the superhero with a grin of his own. The vampire isn't talking, whether due to pain or obstinance is unclear. "I doubt she knows anything." The young man is frustrated, even if he's trying to hide it, "At least we'll take you out of circulation before you can kill anybody else."

The dagger goes through her eye and into her brain. It's painful enough for the creature that she grabs at her face instead of her caved in chest. It opens up the possibility of puncturing the heart with the blade, though, so Roland goes for it and soon the woman, fur coat and all, is reduced to a pile of dust on the ground.

With a big sigh Roland looks his weapon over for signs of damage, then slides it into the sheathe in his boot as he looks at the vigilante, "It's nice to see you again. Quite a surprise, but a pleasant one."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"OK, so ... these things are actual, honest-to-goodness vampires?" Dinah asks, frowning at the blowing dust. "And yeah, likewise. You get into interesting stuff, I gotta tell you. Ancient deadly artifacts. And vampires."

She pauses looking around.

"The gang types. We round them up or we let them pass on the word that the two bikers are like the Wu-Tang Clan?"

Standing up again. "We keep running into each other like this, people are gonna talk. But what's this..." Foot stirs in the dust, kicking it into the air a bit. "...about? Who's Gebhard the Undying? Chrome Magnum? What shit is hitting my town?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I usually hunt vampires with a spear or bow and use a longsword as a sidearm," Roland confesses as he takes another deep breath. "I've got some guns now that I'm based in the States but even with a suppressor they're quite loud. No need to have the neighborhood assume there's a war going on if it's avoidable."

A hand runs through his hair to try to put it in place. He'd just been wearing a helmet, after all. "I hate those things. Not just because they wiped out my family, but because they tend to be senseless killers. They don't have to kill to feed, you know. I met one that doesn't kill. One. I'm told there are others out there, but if I meet a vampire it's likely because they leave bodies behind or there are particularly strange disappearances." He looks at the dead gangster on the ground for a moment, "I suppose I should inform the police of what happened here. Do you know if anyone in the Gotham PD is read in on monsters and mystical whatnots? I've consulted for a number of departments, but not Gotham's. Scotland Yard and the NYPD quite like me, though."

Then the young man shakes his head. He'd gotten himself distracted by the sound of his own voice. It's important to answer Dinah's questions, "Gebhard destroyed my family and our libraries. Stole our magical artifacts, as well. He's a subtle creature, usually, prefers working through lieutenants like Chrome Magnum. Magnum was a drug smuggler in the seventies, when he was human. Now that he's a vampire he moves people." A deep breath, "Anyway, Gebhard's got a sort of an army of monsters and their human familiars. Without more Livingstons around to keep his forces in check I'm not certain what he'll do, but he's a powerful sorcerer in addition to being a vampire." There's a shrug, "I wish I knew more about his plans, but if there are more vampires than usual about it may be a sign that's making a move."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Canary takes a deep breath ... and releases it as a long-suffering sigh. "Crazies, clowns, thugs, gangs, and now vampires. Why can't Gotham ever catch a break?!"

She snorts and looks across at Roland. "You can contact me through the Justice League and..."

She roots around in her jacket for a business card.

"...this is my private Canary number. Use that in case of emergency."

She offers the card across, holding it in both hands and bowing her head slightly.

And with that, she's off into the gloom to find her bike and continue her patrol.