9116/Arsenault

Arsenault
Date of Scene:	16 December 2021
Location:	Sheldon Park - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	A group of all-female assassins cause Arsenal to step in to save someone. Who is it? What's going on? Sorry, no answers are forthcoming.
Cast of Characters:	Cassandra Cain, Roy Harper

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Cassandra Cain has posed:
She caught a lungful of gas. That's why it's so annoying. That's what she keeps telling herself, as Cass ducks under another swing. It clips her, her reaction time less than normal, but the group of attackers don't give her the chance to recover. It's an elegant trap, and not one that she'd been ready for.

No excuses.

Cass headbutts one of the black-clad women who are trying to take her head from her shoulders, managing to knock one of them back. She knows that another is behind her, but her vision is graying out. Six on one is normally oods in her favour, not the other way around. The night is pretty dark, but if she could just get it totally dark...she might have a chance.

As she pulls a knife and casts it, her arm is struck. The knife hits the ground. Okay, her glare says. You're getting annoying.

As the six of them surround her, armed to the teeth and closing in.

Roy Harper has posed:
Fortunately tonight Arsenal was trying to find a way to keep himself from drinking, so he went out on patrol. He's on a nearby rooftop when the sounds of battle reach his keen ears. He's a tactician, and as such he doesn't just spring into action. He surveys the scene cautiously. He doesn't know any of them, but he knows enough the think that six-on-one outside of a porno isn't fair at all.

Arsenal's eyes scan the area. He sees a heavy wooden sign protruding from a building. Bow, out. Grappling arrow, in. He doesn't even have the fucking courtesy to look at the sign as he shoots it. He already knows what's going to happen. The arrow sinks deep into the wood and four little anchors *thwack* out into the sign. Without so much as a thought he leaps off the building and swings down, striking one of the would-be assassins from behind, knocking her forward into the ground. He tucks and rolls, landing smoothly on his feet.

"You get caught pissing in someone's Cheerios?" he asks Cassandra.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The hit from behind is interesting. Whoever it is, rolls with the hit and manages to keep from being entirely taken out. They sent very skilled fighters for this, whatever this is. Down but not out, two immediately turn and swing on Roy. One pulls a taser-charged baton, another twin tactical whips. Neither lethal, both effective.

The rest continue trying to destroy the lady. She doesn't answer him, which might be sad given his lovely repartee, but as Cassandra has no mask or super suit the fact that she's still upright is all he's got to go on that she's even capable.

His move lets her turn, getting a hand on one of her opponents. An instant later there's the sound of bone breaking and that combatant's arm hangs useless at her side. She steps behind another fighter to re-arm (joke, not literal), and the asian girl he swooped in to save takes another hit. In the face this time, scratching her deeply.

It doesn't slow her down. She moves into the hit instead of against it, cutting herself a bit more, and tries to angle the attacker with her back to Roy. Seems she's tactical too.

Roy Harper has posed:
He may not have the enhanced, experimental reflexes of Orphan but make /no/ mistake: this guy can fight. Behind: a taser baton. Ignore her, the armor can deal with that. In front, twin...excuse me?...whips? That's new and requires his full attention. As one snakes out toward him, he allows it wrap around his bow. The attacker behind him shoves the baton into his back and activates it. Aaaaaaaaaand he was wrong. It's too strong for the armor. He yells in pain and sinks to his knees, but oddly it helped him because the second whip was streaking toward his head at the time, but now it sails past and flicks the face of the assassin behind him, drawing blood and knocking her back.

"That's gonna leave a mark," he says as he plants a sloppy kick -- he's still unsteady from the electric charge -- into the whip-wielding attacker.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The other fighter, the girl? She's fighting worse than before, as if she's not able to dodge. She takes two hits then three, and gets bloodied again. She gets knocked back toward Roy, and as she drops to one knee, she says, "Blind." Just before she turns, taking two more hits in order to get her hands on another one.

She throws that one at the one attacking Roy, the baton girl, but as the two pile up she gets a rib cracked of her own. Seems she trusts him enough to let him in on what's going on, at least!

Roy Harper has posed:
"Great," Roy says when Orphan tells him she can't see. "I was getting nervous that this was going to be too easy." Well, she can't see, so why don't we even the odds? The gadgeteer clicks a thumb switch on his bow, which causes an arrow in his quiver to switch to a special load. Arrow in. He shoots it...at the ground? He fires the arrow directly into the ground. As he does, small barriers in his mask click down over his eyes, completely blinding him for just the barest moment as the arrow explodes into a blinding, stunning flash of light. Anyone without eye protection -- or who isn't blinded -- would be seeing stars right now.

With the eye shields retracted, Arsenal bursts into action. Knife out. Into one of the attacker's necks. She goes down in a gurgling, limp mass. He spins around to assess the situation and prepare for another run.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Nice. She sees the flash, barely, but it's to the point now where she's fighting unconsciousness anyway. The others don't know to sheild their eyes, letting Roy's tactical foray do significant damage to the offensive team! It also keeps Orphan from taking a club to the side of the head.

A moment later, things being evened up, the girl is atop one of the baddies. She tackled her, and did something in the clinch that was apparently a knockout. Then she's using the body as a meat sheild, and giving Roy a nod. Just that, that's the extent of her gracious thanks.

Four on two does seem more fair, doesn't it?

Roy Harper has posed:
"Eh" and a shrug are Arsenal's responses to the nod. He flicks his hand out, thrusting the 'v' formed by his fingers spread from his thumb into the semi-blinded assassin's throat, cutting off her air. He doesn't hit hard enough to crush the larynx -- he prefers not to kill unless it's an emergency. Six-on-two and whips and tasers was an emergency. Four-on-two is not. So he follows through with a roundhouse kick to the side of her head, knocking her unconscious to the ground.

Unfortunately the remaining three assassins have regained their bearings. The light-burse attack bought time, but these are professional killers! He crouches into an attack stance to survey his next move.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
And...then it's over. Not from anything that the other girl did, nor anything from Roy. The assassins just drop to the ground, strings cut, and lay there. The girl he'd swung in to save stands there, stance low and hands out, as if she isn't sure what's going on. But the assassins eyes all went dark, no warning, and all of them just...

Died.

The girl keeps feeling around for an attacker that isn't coming.

Roy Harper has posed:
Arsenal blinks his eyes several times in confusion. "What the Phantom Menace is going on here?" he says, circling around. It must be the girl. He turns to face her, looking both amazed and, if we're being honest, nervous. "What, uh, what did you do?"

He slings his bow over his back. If she's capable of instantly killing four attackers, the bow isn't going to do him any good anyway. So he stands there, watching her.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Not four. Six. The two who were down are also not breathing, a detail that Roy's sharp eyes would catch the moment he'd spoken. Also that the girl, for all her skill, doesn't seem to be totally sure what's happening either.

She slows her motions, then straightens up. She breathes, then she slowly, hesitantly, reaches toward her belt. A pill goes into her mouth, and she almost immediately seems to be breathing easier. Iron will keeps her knees from collapsing as she suddenly is getting enough oxygen again. The effort...it's visible.

Turning toward him, those eyes seem to waver, then focus. She looks down at the bodies, then up at him. Suspicion on HER face quickly turns to calm. Then she shakes her head. Just that.

Roy Harper has posed:
Arsenal cants his head to one side, still observing the young woman. He watches her put a pill in her mouth. He doesn't know what it is, but he's no stranger to drugs. "So what's up with the happy pills?" he asks, just assuming it's some kind of illicit drug.

He starts to walk around to make sure none of the attackers are alive. He also retrieves his knife, cleaning the blood off it with the dead assassin's shirt. "The cops'll be here soon. We should probably beat feat."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra raises an eyebrow. The skepticism on her face is worlds wide, and she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small pill packet, labeled 'antidote'. She flips it onto the body Roy's looking at.

Then she's just gone. No moment to glance up and see her retreating, she just seems to have vanished. There's a sound of footsteps vanishing swiftly into the night, but only that.

She CAN talk. That's been established. Perhaps there's more to this than...six dead attackers, all female, and a mute.

Not that it wouldn't make a good joke. Walk into a bar...