Owner	Pose
Selina Kyle	Catwoman usually works alone. Old habits, mostly. Lately, however, she's been working on a project with a partner. What could bring together a burglar and an assassin? Combine The Hand and child trafficking, and there is plenty of common ground. Tonight the pair are on a low hill overlooking an abandoned mansion on Bleake Island. The property is overgrown but the security fence is still in good condition. It's also actively electrified, which is pretty unusual for an abandoned house. Catwoman is high up in a tree, looking down through her nightvision optics and speaking into her headset. "I'm not seeing any movement, but it looks like the gardener was fired about 20 years ago. There could be a marching band under the trees and we'd never see them. We'll have to go in for a closer look."
Talia al Ghul	And Talia is watching, having gotten out a spyglass that she'd taken from somewhere. She uses it to sweep ahead and carefully tracks down. "I'm not picking things out either. You're right, we'll have to get up to it." She would purse her lips. "The Hand will have booby traps, even if there aren't lookouts. They probably won't use magic somewhere that they're intent on being subtle with.. But there will be plenty of things rigged up. Not just alarms. They'll be designed to cripple and maim." That was the Hand's reputation. Poison, paralytics, gas, explosives.. As the duo get ready, Talia goes to make sure she has a set of thich gloves on and then goes ot pull a breath mask down over her throat. And a set of goggles. She's going in the paranoid way. When you try to avoid killers that have a reputation going back centuries of murder and mayhem, one could never be too careful. "I'd guess some of the branches are rigged with claymores. That'sa lways been a favorite. So go very quickly and look for any of them that seem like they're not at the right angle."
Selina Kyle	"You know what a careful girl I am." Catwoman replies. "I checked the fence yesterday. It's old, but still in really good condition, so probably only about 8,000 volts." Climbing carefully out along the branch, she switches the goggles to infrared. "Nothing on infrared, so everybody's probably inside. They're trusting the explosives to not only maim any visitors, but sound the alarm. Clever, if sloppy." Fortunately, she has another idea. She drops to the ground and smoothly slinks up to the fence. Reaching into a small backpack usually reserved for loot, Selina unrolls a length of heavy-gauge wire. "Just a sec, and I'll turn off a section of the fence so that we can climb." The wire will jumper around the inactive section to keep the circuit alive.
Talia al Ghul	Talia would muse, "Then this place may or may not be important to them. But the traps make it easy to get out of here in a hurry.. Or someone might not even notice explosves this far out." Just like the Hand to trust in their toys. But, there were other things here that were far, far nastier no doubt. And they had to play it carefully. They couldn't get cocky and underestimate their enemy's sloppiness. "All right." She would go to quickly ready to clamber on over as soon as the section is dead and Selina signals it. "DOn't touch the wires if you can help it. I'd presume there's also poison on the tips. So don't get pricked on your skin."
Selina Kyle	"Of course it is." Selina replies. The jumper is clipped into place, then she cuts the electricity in about a five foot length of fence. Climbing up the twelve foot fence, she pauses near the top to carefully cut the barbed wire and open it left and right like a shower curtain. "All set." she declares, climbing smoothly over. Selina climbs down rather than jumping, and pauses to examine the ground through a couple different filters before setting foot in the grass. "We should probably find a path as soon as possible. They won't mine the way in and out." she offers, padding carefully towards the big old house. "Snipers usually cover the paths, anyway."
Talia al Ghul	Talia would consider Selina's words. "Agreed. Also possibly archers. They'll likely be having some of the lower ranking ones out on patrol if anyone. The veterans won't be doing things like handling security patrols." At least, that's teh way it usually goes. She also goes to palm out two small detonators on a wire. "In case we need to leave our own trap for on the way out." That looped over again to be ready just in case they need ot put it out along hte trees. And she goes to take a quick climb over herself, not nearly as smoothly as Selina does - the woman has made maneuvering over into an art form that the rest of the world will never match. The two are over and on the ground.. And Talia's quickly assessing the ground. Looking for signs of things askew. Rocks that look looser than they should be, places where the angle of things doesn't quite match.. OF course, everything is as it should be. The Hand is dangerous, but not omnipresent. Her paranoia is excessive in this case - it's at a serious risk of bogging hte two down.
Selina Kyle	Selina Kyle switches between night vision and infrared and normal vision on her goggles. "If there are any patrols, they're not on this side of the grounds yet. Let's not waste any time. Follow me. I saw a path in this direction." Selina points, then looks quickly around. "You were right about the claymores in the trees. There's one at two o'clock, about ten feet up. See the bent branch?" Uncoiling her whip, she lashes out smoothly ahead over the tall grass, then quietly jerks it back. A one-handed cartwheel covers the distance, then she does the trick with the whip again. Not exactly sweeping for mines, the whip should set off anything with trip wires or snares.
Talia al Ghul	The whip snaps up and snaps through. It definitely sets off a pair of tripwires - fortunately in such a wya that it might just be one branch snapping through the air to impact one of them. They're light, but also not light enough that just something flipping into them in the breeze would set them off. Talia watches. "Good instinct." She would murmur. "So lovely. Let's get going." She goes along on point in the pathway that Selina had gestured. "Lovely trick. I never thought of using one that way. And I've seen someone who fought entirely with a yo-yo." Yes, the whip was a surprisingly multi-purpose tool when it came to sneaking.
Selina Kyle	It doesn't take long for the pair to reach the path, but Selina doesn't step out onto it just yet. "It's not a coincidence that the path is open to the sky. There's probably a sniper looking out an attic window. Stick close to the edges and stay under cover." Selina makes her way along edge the winding path, never stepping out from under the greenery as she slinks closer. She reasons that the undergrowth -near- the path wouldn't be trapped. Anyone getting that close would just step onto the path, and right in the line of fire. She actively switches between infrared and night vision, looking for heat signatures as they get closer to the house.
Talia al Ghul	That makes sense. Talia also takes a moment as the two go to pick up some sand in her hand and goes to flip it through the air. Some of it ends up being 'stuck' over in midair - revealing a very fine array of webbed up slicewire along one of the quick branches of the path with small sticky bits to it to make sure a victim couldn't get away. "Effective. They do good work." From one assassin to another that was trying to kill her. She could appreciate that in such a twisted kind of way. The heat signatures are spread about as they get closer. The house is two stories and a basement. Several large areas that would be common rooms - upstairs library, guest rooms, study. Large kitchen, entertainment room, boardroom, coat room.. But not nearly enough heat signatures that there should be. Which meant that the main group had to be.. In the basement.
Selina Kyle	Selina Kyle pauses to look back at the tossed sand trick. "This is why I like to take my time on a job, when I can." she replies. Approaching the house, Catman crouches in full cover. "There are a lot of lights on for such a big house with so few people." she offers. "Think we'd be lucky enough to find an exterior entrance to the basement? The house has surprisingly little going on inside, otherwise."
Talia al Ghul	There's a nod from Talia, "Makes sense. THe upper areas are exposed. And if someone comes through and does a sweep of them and gets away they still might not go underground." That might also decoy the local neighborhood Bats. "We'll have to find our way in.. And it will be inside." Becasue if there was external access it would have been blocked off ages ago, even if there were plans. So now they hve to sneak inside, find a way down, and get past all of the ninjas in the way, all of the traps.. And all the other nasty surprises waiting for them.