2013-10-21 - Joke's on Them

Gotham City. What a cesspool. Even on the rooftops the smell of Gotham's slums is avoidable, the wet stink of uncollected garbage and human misery. Damian crinkles his nose at the smell and makes a face at the people he sees below, drunks, streetwalkers, petty crooks. Nothing worth the attention of Batwing. Then it happens, a pair of drunks start fighting, one breaks a bottle and tries to stab the other with the shards.

"Tt. Spuds," says lazily.

He reaches into his belt and produces a batarang and gives it a sharp toss. The weapon sails through the air and shatters the bottle and lodges in the frame of an abandoned car with a thud. The two men look at the weapon then look up at the building. Damian stands, back lit by the night sky, he lets the breeze catch his cloak so it billows out behind him. The two men run, their argument forgotten.

With a satisfied noise Damian turns and tosses a flash bang over his shoulder letting it fall into the street below. It goes off and the scum below skitter into the shadows and Damian is already moving on, reaching for the grapple on his belt.

Except there's a second figure on the rooftop. The familiar red and green of the very well-known Robin attire makes it obvious it's Robin, and the shock of ginger hair makes it obvious which Robin. With arms crossed over her chest she regards Damian silently for a long moment only to cluck her tongue lightly, reproachfully.

"Took you long enough to get here. I thought I'd be waiting on you all night." The fact that he'd been caught is softened only slightly by a smirk which, on her, barely looks smug at all as opposed to amused. They hadn't spoken of going out together though yet she acted as if this were the case--Or perhaps she was simply expecting him to show up and had waited. "So what're we calling you while working, any way?"

"There was a mugging," Damian explains reproachfully. "We /are/ supposed to be fighting crime, aren't we?" Damian says as he lowers the grapple gun and moves to Carrie's side. "No injuries, no deaths you'll be happy to know, and call me Batwing, my old name doesn't work anymore."

As the two were up on a rooftop, whether they were stalking, skulking, or chatting, down over on the ground they would see a group of three men walking along. The men were strangely enough looking like they were trying their damndest to avoid attracting attention, each wearing a bulky looking hat. Upon closer inspection if given a glance from afar, the two Bat-teens would be able to make out the edges of hanging plastic.. Like they had facemasks pulled up on their heads resting underneath the hats.

"I know. I saw." Carrie reaches up to tug at the edge of Batwing's hood lightly 'fixing' it only to drop her gloved hand away before he might decide to take it off with a knife, or something similar. "Figured it was about time you were going to sneak out. You stopped studying the maps I was giving you." Which meant he likely had figured enough of them out to feel confident in slipping away without getting lost. Even as she speaks her gaze swings out down over the rooftops out of the well-trained habit to keep a vigilant eye.

"Okay, Batwing, you get to be my backup tonight then." With a little jerk of her head she tips her chin down indicating the men she'd spotted. "Cuz those ain't no spuds."

There is an appreciative expression at Carrie's deduction. He didn't think of that. He glances down at the trio "Really? Backup? There's only three of them and their attempts to hide their masks are embarrassing," Batwing remarks crossing his arms. "But fair enough, you lead I follow."

The men walk over towards a nearby slum that looks like thetype of place over that a real cheap drug seller might stay in. One of them reaches up and grumbles, muttering what is likely 'this feels stupid' as he goes to rap on the door. And then again. A rather obvious code. 'Shave and a haircut'.

"It's where they're going I'm more interested in right now. Keep up." With that Robin takes off across the rooftop not even bothering to reach for her grapple hook. The edge is reached and she flips forward twisting in the air as she careens downward at an angle. Her feet impact with the far wall of the building opposite and she pushes off it like a springboard only to grab hold of a fire escape ladder and let her weight and gravity drop it, and her, down to the alley safely. Landing light on her feet she ducks through against the side of the building keeping in the shadows with her back pressed to the wall as she listens to the men knock and give that... code. A look of confusion crosses Carrie's face and she mouths the words, "Loony tunes?" ... Nah.

"Show off," Damian mutters as he watches Carrie's acrobatics. He hangs the grapple on his belt and takes his own leap off the building. He replicates Carrie's jumps with an almost inhuman smoothness and then drops down beside her. "Who's Loony Toon? Another of father's enemies?" he asks as he adjusts his hood.

The resulting rap from the door was obvious enough as the trio of men went on inside. 'Two Bits'. There were, even in Gotham, relatively few folks who would likely use such a recognizable signal. As the door closed, the two Bats in the alley would be out of sight of the tenement building, and even better there were no windows over in the alleyway, or fire escape. IT was a two story tall, mostly bolted up tenement building that seemed to be in a shabby state even by the standards of Gotham as the trio of men went in the front door, it closing behind them.

Robin lifts a gloved hand to press a finger to her lips. Silence. That was what she needed though right now she rather wished she had some of Batman's toys. Something to hear through walls would be fantastic. Lifting her head she regards the building taking in the fact that there were no windows at least on this side. There almost always were on the front, sometimes the back. But building to building what was the point? Once the men go inside she dares to breath giving a shake of her head. "Old cartoon series. That's where I've heard the reference." Among... Other places. Pressing her lips together she goes quiet again clearly thinking on how to approach this. There really was only a few ways to do it properly. With a nod she reaches down to pull her slingshot free offering it out to Damian. "I'm going in the back. Get across the street and stay out of sight. Give me three minutes. Then hit the door in the same combo that they knocked." She pauses a moment only to add, "Don't let anyone leave."

"Tt. Cartoons," he says with a frown. Then he falls silent and listens to instructions. "Three minutes," he repeats and stars counting down in his head. "Got it," then without further words or instructions he ducks out of the alley, rolls between two parked cars, duck low running across the street and then vanishes down the opposite alley.

Carrie is rapidly able to find a breach point to get in over to the place via the back. And Damien, circling around would likely be bale to hear as well that no one wa s'manning' the front door now that the trio had gone in then, so seemingly whomever had been up front watching had left. As she circled around the back Carrie would hear three small 'pffts' that sounded like escaping packets of gas, a familiar sound for anyone who had grown up in Gotham, whether they were of the Bat family or not, coming from indoors.

Robin nods a single time and ducks into the alley further trusting Damian to follow her lead with such a simple request. If there were more within it would suit as a distraction... Which, when she hears the sound of muffled gunfire, makes her think she very well may need it. Regretting checking to see if Damian had a transmitter she comes across a door with a nicely half-boarded up window beside it. It's the window she takes as the glass was already broken out. Easing inside she moves silently into the room ducking low with fingers alread wrapped around several smoke pellets in one hand, and two batarangs between the fingers of her other. No sense in wasting time.

Damian stays in the alley until he's down to 30 seconds, and the he makes his way back across the street ducking between the cars until he gets to "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4," he springs up the stoop "1" he knocks on the door. Shave and a haircut style. Then he ducks down by the stoop to wait for the door to open slipping a set of brass knuckles onto his gloved fists.

As Damian goes to knock on the door and then retreat, a man goes to pop his head open, "What, thought they'd alread.." The man has a clown mask half-pulled up over his face. Or rather he did, as Damian's knuckles smash over into his chin and he goe sover flat to the ground and unconscious, the cheap plastic mask breaking in two and folding down to the ground.

As Carrie smashes on through the window then and lands flawlessly, she would come upon a pale faced figure with green hair and a wide, almost manic grin wearing a purple dress suit. Tied over to a chair was an unconscious and badly beaten looking man who was wearing what seemed like a plastic Halloween mask on his face of a pig, the mask having half melted to his face, wtih a police badge shoved downhis still barely breathing throat, and o the ground were the three henchmen who had just walked in.

The Joker casually turned around, "you know, if you three Stooges hadn't been dumb enough to let a cop sneak in the first place, I wouldn't be having to.." Then right as the sounds of Carrie landing were audible, "And really now, since when did Batsy start showing an interest in girls now?" Joker's pistol swiveling around to point in Carrie's direction as did the other half dozen armed men..

Shit SHIT shitshitSHITSHITshit SHIT shit shitshit SHIT SHIT SHIT /SHIT/!

Every nerve in Carrie's body jolts to life, every synapse firing sending copious amounts of adrenaline surge through her. It was one of those moments that seem to cause everything else to slow just a few seconds behind her own reactions as her body moves with complete instinct in spite of the surge of pure, unadulterated fear that had her mind flooding with panic.

'There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who panic, and us.'

Robin whips her arm out sending the batarangs slicing through the air toward the Joker's gun, and shoulder even as she dives into a roll aimed for a doorway, and a staircase she saw just beyond. The smoke bombs are dropped as she rolls sending up a hissing, choking mist to hide her bolt for cover before the gunfire started.

Damian gives the guy at the door one more punch before good measure before he hears the volley of gunfire above. “Carrie” he gasps and moves for the stairs just in time to see Carrie roll out of the room leaving smoke and explosions behind. Reaching to his utility belt he grabs a handful of tear gas pellets and throws them into the room at the top of the stairs. “Let’s go,” he shouts to Carrie as he draws a pair of batarangs and has them ready to cover their retreat.

The batarangs casually drop two of the Joker's thugs, and the Joker smirks over as he sees the two, "Hey, recent spate of Bat Brats! I didn't know that he was holding open auditions! Maybe I'll go ahead and show up. Or are you supposed to be the dead ones?" Joker's pistol swivelled around to point at the barely alive cop that was tied down to the chair, "And don't head away so soon. We have so much catching up to do. So I'll go ahead and make a deal. You can stay here and we can catch up, or if you leave I insist you take your friend over here with you. That sound fair?"

Carrie Kelley comes to land near Damian in a roll only to spring to her feet glaring back at the Joker. When then ultimatum is made her lips purse tight, and she moves to take a half-step in front of Damian of all people trying to hide him from sight partially. Trying to hide that familiarity in his features that, thankfully, she hoped the hood was also helping to hide.

"First pun out of your mouth and we peel," Robin shoots back, only to add, "Besides, you know him. He's not far behind us." A lie. A blatant lie, but it could also very well be the truth.

This /had/ to be the Joker. His father's worst enemy right here for the taking. Damian's wrist flicks back and he is about to throw when Carrie fouls his shot. Damian growls with the sudden rage of being forced into a corner "No deal," he snarls stepping around Carrie and letting the two blades fly at the criminal. One aimed for his gun hand the other aimed for his throat. Father would forgive him when he saw how much life was safer without the Joker. At least that was the hope.

Joker is -insanely- fast then, "WEll, as the Bard said, the play is which the thing, in which I'll catch the conscience of the king." The knife flying towards him was blocked with one hand shooting up, the hilt embedding in his palm then, sticking out the other side and almost seeming to sizzle as blood flowed down it, and then there was a loud *BANG*.

Or rather, a *BANG* flag that shot down the man's throat, gagginghim, "Oops! Always forget.." Joker grinned, pulling the trigger a second time as acid shot out the end of the *BANG* flag tip, hitting the man's throat and bubbling down it as the cop's eyes widened, and he tried to spit it out as much as he could as holes started to appear down it as he screamed silently as his vocal cords melted. "Well, you know what this means. Chop Chop! I'll have to put you in the candy shop. Get 'em boys!"

The remaining trio of Joker's thugs began to run over towards the two as if in slow motion.

"NO!" She had a plan SHE HAD A PLAN! It wasn't much of one but if she could have only distracted him long enough to get that weapon away from the cop then maybe. MAYBE. With Damian moving to attack it was too late to do that at all. Wishing now that she had her slingshot instead of loaning it to Damian she instead snags more batarangs lobbing them toward the oncoming thugs mere moments before she launches herself toward one throwing her knee up into his solar plexus to take him down and quick.

“NOOO!” Damian screams as his attack fails and the cop pays the horrible price for that failure. Seeing the Joker’s men coming he rushes towards them planning to mow through them to get to the Joker and wishing he hadn’t left his sword at home. He grabs hold of the banister on the stairs and launches himself upwards. A batarang flies from his hands over the heads of the thugs at the Joker before he comes down again, both leg wrapping around the neck of a thug as he slams his fist in his face, then twists to bring the man down to the ground. Then he’s diving in to the thugs fists flying, aimed at knees and groins.

Between two berserk Bat-Teens and three Joker thugs, the room is cleared other than Joker almost before anyone can blink. There's a smirking grin from Joker, "You know, with how often he goes through you little Birds it's a wonder. Well, reduce, reuse, recycle. Can't blame Batsy for wanting to help keep the world green. Me, I'd rather paint it red." Grinning, holding his hands up and over as if in a mock surrender, "And want to put 'er there? And what happened to the last one? He die too? I am behind the times then if he's already lost the last two and I didn't cause it?" The last two Robins..

The thug Robin deals with goes down without much of a battle either which allows her time to keep her eye on the most important one--The Joker. A part of her tenses as her stomach flips at the sight of the police officer's horrible death but it's pushed aside. She would deal later. Always later. While the Joker continues to ramble she moves into action not allowing him time to talk. Or allow his talk to affect her. No information is given. Instead she reaches into a pocket withdrawing a few orbs that she would normally deliver via her slingshot. They're thrown not to hit the Joker, but to hit at the ground near him. They burst in a mix of smoke, flashes of light, and the particularly unpleasant odor of... Skunk spray? Well it was an effective repellent, typically, stink bombs.

Carrie dives for Damian lashing her arm out around his waist to swing him around, away from the criminals and back to the stairs. "Peel!" she declares intending to do just that herself using the distractions to head out before he pulled something ELSE out of his sleeve.

“I’m not a Robin,” Damian growls. “I am Batwing, and I will be the one to end-“ the threat ends in gagging when Carrie throws the stink bombs. He throws an elbow at Carrie when he feels that arm around him and hears his voice right beside him. “No! You saw what he did to him! He /needs/ to die.” %r%r He throws a glance behind him at the gagging cloud around the Joker and weighs his chances, alone against his father’s greatest foe. He snarls and throws his last batarangs into the cloud and then follows Carrie down the stairs.

As soon as they're out into the street with its relatively fresh air, away from the Joker, Carrie whirls toward Damian. Her hands grasp his arms squeezing harder than she perhaps intended as she meets his gaze. "YES, I saw! If you had WAITED he may have had a chance!" Damian is given a rough, frustrated shake only for her eyes to drop away when tears flood her eyes. The body of the cop comes crashing through the window slamming onto the ground causing a shudder of revulsion from her. A single, shaky breath is taken. Slowly her grip loosens releasing Damian as she turns to move toward the mutilated body of the undercover cop.

Robin kneels beside him reaching down to lay her fingers gently over his eyelids to shut them with head bowed. Though her expression was unseen the street lights glow allows the tears that drip down her face to be seen easily. "Go. Go home, Damian. ... I need to ..." Swallowing hard she rises to her feet with fingers curling into fists at her side. "Let's go home."

Damian scowls. “I didn’t-“ he begins before he turns away from Carrie and the body. He can’t look at either of them right now. Carrie would see the tears and he’d see what he’d done.

Before he even realizes it he’s moving down the street away from Carrie away from the body. His pace picks up to a run trying to put distance between him and well everything. He can’t go back now, not after what he’s done.