2013-09-07 - Six For Three

It began as a rumor that was leaked from the inside to criminals. A scientist was beginning to be on the 'outs' of S.T.A.R. Labs, and he supposedly had a weapon; a weapon that could warp reality. There were theories it was alien technology, it was actually powered by Kryptonite, and tons of other things to go with it. In either case, their was a code that went with it: Seize the glory, make the profit.

Of the criminals thought that meant, steal the gun, and sell it for profit or use it to rob things. That must be what the Sinister Six are thinking anyway. Electro, Rhino, Hydro-Man, Shocker, and Vulture are currently being lead by a very egomaniac Doctor Octopus. The six have already broken into S.T.A.R. Labs, argued who kicked the alarm, and began fighting the security staff after seizing the weapon. Doc Ock is still trying to figure out how the thing works, while the others cover him as they head toward the exit a.k.a. a hole in the wall. As if that wasn't what set off the alarm at all.

Batman stands at the edge of a building just across the street as he watches the hole in the building, Batgirl by his side. He finally mentions for her to circle about, to ready herself for the on-coming prey. His expression is grim and obviously displeased at the current situation.

Batgirl hasn't been on patrol with Batman in a long, long time. So for now, she observes over by him, a silent sentinel as she flanks him. At his signal then, she gives a curt nod, almost invisible. Then vanishing over in the darkness, she moves to flank along the opposite side where signaled. Intent on moving silently, she'll go as fast and as quietly as she can, hopefully spotting where their enemies are then and ready to flush them out and into the open. She's not looking forwards to fighting a group of meta powered enemies, but she'll do her part as her mind runs through possible tactics and counter tactics to utilize in combat.

Vic Sage has found himself in Gotham City as of late. Drawn to Coventry following a lead to reveal the answer to something he has been pursuing as of late. Though perhaps it is less than accurate to say Vic Sage is in Coventry right now, he's put on his other face and only the Question is beating feet in this neighborhood. The Faceless Vigilante is crouched behind a dumpster and has his attention directed towards the loading dock of a near by building. Outside the loading dock are a couple of featureless, markless box trucks. The lack of markings is yet another question for the Vigilante. Some mooks in ski masks come flooding out of the building Q is watching, loudly shouting; "Come on! Someone's hit STAR Labs down the street. This place is going to get hot soon. Abort!" Vic doesn't stand out of his crouch until the empty box truck peels off and disappears into the night.

Q walks casually towards the still open loading dock door the trucks retreated from. A maglite has found its way into Q's gloved hand and its bright beam is directed inside the dock. The Question humphs, "Medical supplies." The light is turned off and Q rounds around the building... curiosity now piqued in the direction of STAR Labs.

And then Hell's Fury releases...

The Sinister Six are piling out of the building, and Batman releases his grapple line to start to swing down from the building with his cape flapping widely and eerily behind him.

First out is Doctor Ock, followed by Hydro-Man which is 'washing' some of the guards away. Vulture comes flying out and takes to the sky as Rhino rams something inside the building. Electo is having sadistic pleasure electrocuting the washed out security guards that come out behind the supervillains to make them scream. And Shocker? Well, he is currently telling Rhino to have fun as he heads out.

The first then Batman does as he swings down is to release something he was hiding within one hand. It's a metal appearing ball that appears the size of a grenade. It includes technology 'borrowed' from Mr. Freeze, as it suddenly starts to freeze up the water, Hydro-Man and the poor security guards. The good thing about the technology is it won't kill the men or villain. Still a pity it did not capture Electro as he lets out a blast of energy to free himself from the quickly growing ice reacting to the excess of water.

Batman continues to fly on that grapple line, right at Doc Ock. Though he has to abort as he lets go of the grapple line and rolls on the ground to catch his feet under him as an energy blast comes from the gun that Doc Ock was holding.

Doc Ock starts laughing loudly! "I figured it out!" What was once Batman's grapple line is very much one very nasty and unhappy long, but skinny python.

No one likely wants hit with that.

Cassandra Cain's eyes flash behind her full face mask as she flanks along to the side. Rapidly estimating the level of opponents that the group is up against, she calculates she can't dodge fast enough to avoid Doctor Octopus' numerous metal arms, she has no way of hurting Rhino without getting extremely lucky, and the same with Hydro Man. So as she flanks along through the air, she takes to the weakest over of the group of enemies, which would be Vulture. Silently leaping, she attempts to estimate where he will fly, to try and come out of nowhere then to fire out her grapple line to try and snare it over about his feet if at all possible as she launches through the air, trying to knock him off balance as he flies and hopefully slam him over to one of the buildings, if not get dragged along after him!

The butt of Q's maglite is raised and presses the brim of his fedora up while the man walks away from his previous point of interest. The address and details of the surrounding area is cataloged for later research and observation. STAR Labs is now Q's point of interest. Sounds of Rhino slamming into things, electricity arcing and gnashing and thrashing water seem to have no affect on the alacrity at which The Question is moving. His pace does not quicken as the tell tale signs of trouble get louder and louder as he grows nearer. The Faceless Vigilante's grip tightens on the maglite as he approaches. Q slips past a security checkpoint leading into STAR's parking lot. No question about why the checkpoint isn't manned; Members of the Sinister Six are easy enough for Q to see.

Vulture beats those metal wings as he moves upward, until...his eyes bug out as he starts to get dragged back down and he fights to get his center of balance again! He jerks upward again before peering down below him. The old man scowls as Batgirl dangles down beneath him. He tries to kick a foot to dislodge her, but it's no good. He swoops to the side, arching his wings as he glides around to try and swing Batgirl herself into a building! "Geez, do they just get younger and younger these days?"

While The Question wonders the halls inside, he soon sees Rhino squishing some guards up against the wall. They have plasma rifles of some sort, the type that melt holes in the walls, but apparently it didn't save them from The Rhino. He bursts out into laughter! "How's those meats?!" The beating the chest sorts. Still, The Question can hear Hydro-Man freezing outside with the crackle of what might have seemed like a Mr. Freeze weapon.

As she's swung over towards a building, Batgirl estimates. Tensing her legs up and underneath her, as she hits the side of the building she runs along with her momentum, feet digging into the side and literally running along the side of it in an arc to go along with her inertia rather than resist it. Running up along the side, both hands holding on tightly to her grapple line, trying not to hvae her arms dislocated as she shoots along the edge of the building, as she comes to the side leaping up and over towards the next one as she looks about for something to hopefully 'tie' off the end of the line to and catch Vulture in a bind!

Batman is soon leaping backwards when a metal arm comes crashing down where he has rolled to a stop earlier. Doc Ock is starting to bring the weapon about, when Batman tosses a batarang after it.

It is sent to 'shock', and when it connects, it draws a quiet scream of pain from Doc Ock as he almost drops his precious weapon.

Batman is running along the ground as a lightning from Electro jets out toward him and he has to roll out of the way. A growl comes from him, "Wrong town," the warning clear. Not that these criminals would wisely listen.

Question gained entry into STAR Labs and cautiously began walking through the halls following the sound of gunfire and pain. Eventually, the Faceless Man turns a corner and spies the Rhino muscling some of the Labs guards. The Question raises his maglite up and scratches at the back of his neck before the maglite is deposited in the deep pocket of the trenchcoat he wears. His hands find themselves shoved into the pockets of his trenchcoat and Q cautiously heads down the hall towards the Rhino. As he approaches, he clears his throat in a loud, obvious manner in an effort to gain the garishly-clad individual's attention.

Shocker actually yawns, "Seriously? Only two of them? Man, there isn't even a Spider-Man. Is this supposed to be a challenge?" The sarcasm is evident in his tone.

Rhino while inside turns rapidly toward Question as the clearing of his throat. He stares a bit dumbly at the faceless man. "Hey man, where your face go? And what racket are you with?" He then scowls, before pointing at Question, "This is our heist. You aren't moving in on it." He apparently does not realize that The Question is very much the heroic sort and not the criminally insane sort. No, very much the heroically insane sort.

The Question cocks his head to one side and begins to shake his head, "Wha-?" He starts but pauses, "-Ah, yes. This-" He raises a hand out of his pocket, raises it up to his face and gestures to it with a wave of his hand, "-is a long story. Do you know the things this place has created in the name of science? They've got this acne wash that works too well." Q puts extra emphasis on the word 'too'. The Faceless Man's hand slips back into his trenchcoat's pocket as he continues his approach, "And I'm strictly a solo act. What about you? You leader of the crew that's cracking this egg?"

Vulture grins as he hears a thump, and glances back before he wears an expression of surprise! The woman is running along the wall like Spider-Man! There does not appear to be much to tie off, but as Batgirl runs up, one wall, she realizes...she may just be able to leap to the Vulture's height.

The Vulture scowls once more, "Try this one on for size little girl!" He really then starts charging for the next wall to run Batgirl into! But if she can handle the shock to her knees, it will give her the speed and power she needs to gain the height.

Cassandra Cain takes a breath behind her mask, and braces herself. Ordinarily she might try and smash Vulture over into some of their adversaries on the ground, but the positioning does not allow for that tactic. So she braces herself and leaps, taking the impact and the pain that comes with it as she slams to the next building. Pain is just a feeling. Feelings can be locked away and ignored. Leaping and landing, then *WHOOSH*! Intent on trying to yank herself through the air to try and land up on Vulture's back if she can as her grapple reels!

Rhino snorts, and stands up to his very impressive height as he tries to look intimidating at the faceless man. He really doesn't have to try too hard to be honest, though there is wariness in his eyes. "We are all kinda just partners." Course, Doc Ock likes to think he is in charge. "Can't join us, unless you threshed the Spider-Boy," and Rhino thumbs a fist into one palm mightily. His eyes narrow at The Question, "You aren't stealing what we stole first," the warning clear.

The warning is of course unheeded from Batman. This leaves the caped crusader with more than enough trouble on his hands. He starts to run, palming batarangs as he sends two rapid shots toward Doc Ock who manages to block one before getting shocked by it, and the other one slips through his spasming guard to nail the weapon again. This of course causes him to drop it.

That is when Electro starts really trying to wail on Batman. "You shouldn't be playing with electricity! You don't know how it is really done!"

Batman is forced to leap and roll to the side to dodge three rapid shot off lightning strikes.

Shocker finally starts to move, darting to pick up the large gun. "So Doc Ock, how you use this thing anyway?"

Doc Ock is currently trying to shake off the dizziness and pain, groaning as he rests one knee on the ground and some of his metal arms are helping to prop him up. "What? No...you will mess it up," he slurs.

The Question stops approaching Rhino; opting to stand just out of the Rhino's arm's reach. He shakes his head, "That old thing?" The Faceless Man asks not knowing exactly what the Six stole. Q continues, "No, I wouldn't think of it. I've got my eyes-" he raises a hand out of his pocket to point at the depressions in his mask that would indicate where his eyes should be, "-on some of the goodies on the top floors. Sure, they look like cubicles and offices, but that's where the good stuff is kept." The Question then asks, "So you're not the head honcho of your crew? Wow, you look like you could be the biggest and strongest."

Vulture gacks! He is jerked down as the sudden yank on the grapple line with Batgirl having running feet to her side. This tugs him lower so when Batgirl leaps from the wall and upward, she can actually get onto his back. He veers dangerous. "Get off my back you crazy girl! You should respect your elders!" His wings flap and he weaves about to and fro like a drunken bird.

Rhino hrms, "Wait a second, something better than the reality warping gun?" After all, they sound like they are already having fun with it outdoors as he peers back behind him, before looking back at the Question suspiciously, but very interested. "Well, I got a lot of sway, big guy like me. No one gets in my way," he grunts.

The Question got the Rhino thinking, and that is sometimes a dangerous thing. "My word would let you into the cut, if you know where some better goodies are. We know where all the good rackets are after all. Even got a potential buyer in HYDRA," he says with a toothy grin.

Landing about his back, Batgirl quickly establishes her positioning on top of him. Hmm. The wings look artificial, and do not seem to be a part of his body. That means.. She goes to whip out one of her razorrangs, intent on using the edge of it like a knife, trying to slash through the back of Vulture's wings then if she can to try and disable them as much as possible. Her secondary goal will be if she can establish control of his glide path to try and glide the malfunctioning old bird through the air towards the 'entrance' where she's noted the bored Shocker on over watch. While the chances of a direct collision with Vulture and Shocker are slim to none, hopefully she can achieve her secondary objective and use Vulture's forward momentum and inertia as he crashes down to launch herself through the air at the hopefully unwary Shocker for a brutal leap and take-down.

Batman isn't sure what is keeping Rhino, but he is not particularly complaining right now. Having Robin or Nightwing about right now would have been appreciated, but not necessary. He always has a plan after all. And the thick rubber soles are currently helping with said plan, which is not getting electrocuted to death.

Electro smirks, "Running out of places to run little birdy!"

Bird?! That does it. Another grenade-like weapon is thrown out, which quickly becomes a smoke bomb mixed with tear gas. There is heavy coughing from Electro as he cusses up a storm. But Batman is running in from the side, a gas mask quickly in place as he makes use of those extra thick rubber soles, by kicking a suddenly quite pissed Electro toward Doc Ock!

Doc Ock glances up and says, "Electro, no!"

As one very pissed off Electro is suddenly slashing electric energy out and about his form.

Of course, Batman brings about his protect cape around his form, though he still feels the force of the shock as he grunts and thinks he is experiencing at least first degree burns in many places of his body. But poor Doc Ock, poor, poor, Doc Ock.

This leaves Shocker leaping out of the way and pointing the gun toward the dissipating smoke and a dazed Batman. "If you think for a moment that you...," before he gets cut off.

Because suddenly, Vulture is coming down from above! He is screaming at Batgirl to stop, "We are going to crazy you crazy girl! Stop thatttttt!!!!" His flying becomes more violent and crazy, as she semi-guides him right toward Shocker. They don't collide of course, but Vulture goes flying toward the ground and crashes in an non-glorified manner to groan as he lays there bruised and battered.

The flying Batgirl though ends up hitting Shocker you leans and has a foot leap forward to try and brace himself, before she goes...sliding right off him and right toward Batman! Who is actually nice enough to catch her - this time. With quite a heavy grunt.

The Question puts some excitement in his voice for the sake of Rhino, "Yeah? You've got that kind of pull, Big Guy? Well..." The Faceless Man glances over his shoulder towards what is clearly marked as a stairwell... or rather it would be clearly marked if there weren't human blood and scorch marks all over the face of it. He looks back towards Rhino, "Of course you've got to have sway, right? You're making the other members of your crew handle the expensive, rare Warp Gun leaving the real heavy hitter to do more important things." He gestures towards the door to the stairway with a jerk of his head over his shoulder, "Alright, I'll share in my haul. Only if you promise me my cut."

The literal.. Sliding off of Shocker with all of her inertia built up was not something that Batgirl had expected. As she literally seems to slide off his seemingly friction-less body, she rolls off of Batman as she's caught, growling and then nodding over at him, "I handle." Going then to take out one of her sonicrangs, and going to hit the 'trigger' on it to then toss it over towards him, trying to herd him to dodge in one direction away from the heavy noise, while her other hand goes to then try and toss a high speed razorrang over in the direction that she hopefully can track him dodging..

"Ya. More the merrier as long as it brings in more goods. That's more profit for everyone." Rhino doesn't exactly have a mind for money, but he tries. He then starts toward the stairs that Question looked toward, "Let's hurry, sounds like they are about finishing up with the trash out there." It doesn't seem to cross his mind that they could be losing and he is being completely and utterly distracted and lead about by the nose.

"Huh?" Q asks and looks over his shoulder as he turns and heads towards the stairwell, "Your crew? Don't need to worry about them, I'd wager. You're the respected heavy hitter of the group right? They aren't going to leave you in here while they escape with that Warp Gun and profit with its sale are they?" The Question opens the stairwell door and ascends the stairs with deliberate slowness. He goes up a floor, pauses by the door leading to the next level before changing his mind and heading up to the floor above. This routine continues until he can ascend no higher. The Question huhs again, "Though now that I think about it, if they sell that gun and you're not with them that can split the profit amongst themselves and cut you out." Q shrugs his shoulders and kicks open the door leading into the top floor.

"Huh? Na, I know where their hideouts are. Be pretty dumb. I could make it collapse about their ears!" Rhino laughs at that. "I could see Doc Ock now, 'oh my, my precious lab, my precious materials'!" He makes a mocking high pitched girly remake of Doc Ock's voice. Who knew Rhino had a sense of humor?

But at Q's follow-up words, Rhino's eyes narrow, "na, they wouldn't. They wouldn't dare." But he's growing suspicious now, wondering if Q knows something he doesn't. Rhino follows to the top floor, labs and offices are located here like pretty much every other floor. He starts walking onto the floor, but pauses as something through a window catches his attention. "What the hell?"

As Rhino looks down, he scowls, "What stupid, lame a$$es!" He goes to fetch a nearby desk, raising it over his head as he heads toward the window. It's at a slow, lumbering pace though.

What is noticed down below is Batman assisting Batgirl back to her feet as she goes to throw the high speed razerrang toward Shocker. Doc Ock is down for the count with Electro shaking his head and picking himself up from the pile of metal arms he is pushing off himself. "That does it," Electro growls out, though he cannot be heard from above.

Shocker doesn't even try to dodge it, rather lifting an arm as a sheen of energy seems to filter over his suit and deflect the sharp blade before lifting the gun toward Batgirl. "Say good-night, little batcat," as Shocker pulls the trigger and...nothing happens! Well, he didn't quite get an explanation from Doc Ock earlier, and if it was a simple pull the trigger thing, Doc Ock wouldn't have struggled figuring the bloody thing out, now would he? Shocker shakes the reality warping gun in annoyance! "Damn!"

Cassandra Cain ducks over to the side instinctively as Shocker draws out the weapon and then points it at her. Eyes narrowing then as she assessess just over what the weird 'field' on his body does. Hissing in is lent annoyance behind her mask, speaking to Batman along the scrambled comm-channel again, "I handle." This was a point of stubborn pride to her. Taking out another small series of razzorangs, she went to toss them up towards the fire suppressant foam sprayers along the walls, trying to set them off and spray them down at Shocker. Hopefully it would short out his suit and blind him if it worked..

The Question's gaze drifts over towards the windows just before Rhino walks out of the stairwell. He grimaces beneath his pseudoderm mask, "My my. That your crew, big guy? Looks to me they got caught running away without you." Q raises his hand, takes his fedora off and swipes his forearm over his forehead to wick away unseen or non-existent sweat. The Question says, "Hey, forget them. Clearly they were going to forget about you. I told you we've got a haul of goodies up here. We can split it up between the two of us." Q tries to persuade Rhino away from the course of action he has chosen to pursue.

Rhino pauses and thinks. "I don't know...," he isn't so sure they were running. But then again....does he really care? He then grins toothily, "Sure." A loud THUMP is sounded as he drops the desk down, shattering it for the most part as even more papers go flying. "Ya, I know where the good deals are. We can split the pay load, and go out the back way." He rubs his hands together as he starts to stride forward. "Now, where would they keep those goodies?" He punches a door off a lab and peers inside curiously. That was a metal door by the way. Yes, plenty of super strength to spare.

Batman finishes absorbing the shock his body has went through more than once now, and he is already moving. Electro he is aware of, but he is concentrated on Shocker. As Batgirl tosses the weapons to set off the fire hazard foam from just inside the hole in the wall, Batman is working to push Shocker there, dodging under the big gun that Shocker tries to use as a bat, and tossing a punch that gazes off Shocker's mask. Still, he is working him there. At least, until an idea pops into his head.

"Target Electro," the words growled into his comlink and likely only fully understandable by those that know him well. "Push to Shocker." Short and straight to the point. There is about to be one hell of a mess in a few moments as the foam starts to release.

Batgirl is torn between doing her own thing and following instructions. But for now, she yields and follows the plan. Probably not as fast or as efficiently as Robin, but she does what she's told to. Shooting her grappler up and over through the air towards Electro's positioning, along with a flurry of sonicrangs to try and hopefully disorient him with the high pitched, high decibel screeching they produced enough to get the grappler to latch around him, and from there if she could she would try and yank and tug Electro down towards the direction where indicated. If she was not able to disorient him or yank him, instead she would make herself an obvious target and go full evasive, hoping he would pop closer towards her in the direction Batman wanted to get a better shot at her.

The Faceless Vigilante nods along at what Rhino concludes, "Yeah, that's the ticket. Just the two of us. You can use your clout and your contacts and find us some black market buyers for this super science stuff." Question observes Rhino's searching techniques and if hefting the desk wasn't enough of a demonstration on the Rhino's strength, punching through a metal door confirmed it. Q reaches into his pocket again and pulls out his maglite. He starts casting its beam about the area acting as if he's looking for the goods as well. This is mostly office space up here and Q knows he's on borrowed time at this point. As he pretends to look for "goods to steal", Question is actually looking for something, anything super sciencey enough to give him some sort of edge on the superstrong Rhino if push came to superstrong shove.

Rhino is moving through the labs, looking for something interesting to pick up! He does find something, looks like some sort of plasma canon. Yes, like he really needs that.

This just ups the ante though, as Q keeps searching. There was something that Rhino missed in his search. Within one of the laps looks like this satellite thing that fits over the hand and has a trigger and handle within its metal tunnel. Alright, it looks retarded, but surely it has to be useful!

Little does Question know, that he just found a remake of Klaw's sonic gun, a powerful device that has been known to trouble the Fantastic Four and the Avengers both.

In the meantime, Batman and Batgirl have their hands quite full. While Batman is finding out just how slipper Shocker is first-hand as he struggles to find the activation switch of the reality altering machine, Batgirl is working Electro toward Shocker.

Still, Electro does not go down without a fight! He screams out in pain at the sonic attacks as he spins about a bit and shoots a random blast that is close, and yet a mile away from Batgirl. When the grapple catches him and he is yanked, Batgirl can feel the electricity traveling through it and toward her! But at least Electro is in motion already by the time the shock will reach Batgirl.

Electro smacks right into Shocker who is in a Shock of his life as Electro's powers sizzle him a good amount.

Batman is leaping backwards, moving his cape to try and bounce some of the electro shocks away.

Even as the two stumble into the growing foam behind them, slipping and sliding all the more with the foam causing the electrical power of Electro to hiss, there is a suddenly BOMB!

While Rhino jerks his head up and asks, "What the hell was that?"

Down below, Batman and Batgirl were knocked for a loop backwards, but unharmed. Which is a good thing, since by the time they pick themselves back up, they see Shocker and Electro with punker pink mohawk hair, piercings, and biker clothes. And both look like they have seen much better years in hard prison. The reality warping gun, appears ruined after being overloaded by Electro.

Cassandra Cain lets out an involuntary yelp at the strength of the shock being given over by Electro, and it's only by consciously overriding her nerve impulses she can maintain her grip over on it and swing him in the direction that she's supposed to, going to slam him over in the direction as the two impact together. As the two slam, their seeming transformation and the overloading of the gun has Batgirl.. Blink for a few moments as she tries to process what the hell just happened, going to take out one of her blunt edged Batarangs then to try and toss it at the skulls of the two as they seem to be getting back up, hoping to just ricochet it off their skulls to put them down for the count, if possible.

Really, weapons and gadgets aren't The Question's thing. When he retells this encounter to Tot, though, Tot's going to be drooling over the things Vic has seen and then angered that Vic didn't pocket a super sciencey trinket for him to play with.

When the beam of The Question's maglite passes over Klaw-tech, he stops. An eyebrow is raised underneath the psuedoderm mask. For some reason, Q concludes this should be adequate for his needs... or at the very least, Q's curious as to what this does. He picks up Klaw's sonic gun and continues to stall and waste time. Q calls out to Rhino, "I don't know big guy. The fellow I paid for information on this place told me there'd be rare junk up here. I hope you're crew didn't already ransack this level and make off with the goods without telling you." After the sound of the explosion vibrates the building, Q heads towards a window, "I don't know!" He answers Rhino while attempting to indulge his own curiosity as to what caused that explosion.

They seem awake, but not really aware, the shock having shaken them to their core. Knocking them out is child's play for Batgirl.

And Question can't really see what is going on, as it's by the opening in the building, but Batman and Batgirl are picking themselves up and Batgirl throws two batarangs. Batman shakes his head and rolls a shoulder, before he starts looking about for the missing Rhino suspiciously even as he tosses some handcuffs from a pouch toward Batgirl to start tying up the new 'inmates'.

Rhino grunts, "Damn," he says as he looks down. "They are tougher than we realized. Best we take the goods we have and get going. Then again...," he eyes the plasma cannon he has and grins toothily as he starts to level it at the window and toward Batman and Batgirl. Looks like Question is running out of time.

Cassandra Cain catches the cuffs tossed over by Batman casually, going to secure each of the group outside that had been incapacitated so far, quickly and efficiently going to bind them up over in cuffs, restraints, and zipties. While letting Batman go around to secure the perimeter as she looked for any other hostiles who were still in the area.

One issue of which is that skinny python that has to be around here somewhere. Where did that thing go anyway?

The Question's hand fiddles with the Klaw-tech as he considers trying to use it on the gray-clad villain. He raises the maglite in the other hand and flashes its beam towards and at Rhino. He calls out and tries to make a persuasive argument, "Hey, Big Guy, now's our opportunity to ditch. Those guys aren't out there looking for us. We can get out of here scot-free with what we've palmed! Don't draw their attention. If they're handling your crew by themselves, why press our luck?"

A snort from Rhino, "And miss taking out two big bad heroes from Gotham City? That could really mean happy pickings for us you know! In the future," and he grins toothily once more. He can be a greedy bastard, as he lines that sight up and shifts his huge bulk. "Man, can't wait to see this baby shine," and he pulls the trigger.

The good part? It has to charge up.

The bad part? That means it is going to be a really, really big explosion when it goes off.

Batman is scouting out the area, speaking into his comlink, "Missing Rhino and a long black snake." He's not kidding about the snake; it was his grapple line. He is still in view of the window.

Cassandra Cain pauses over, and then speaks to her commlink.  She'll remain outside and sweep, and let him go on inside as she looks about for the big.. Snake.

The Question can't beat this guy, he knows it. He's just a journalist from Hub City with a flair for the Noir. This Rhino guy has a plasma cannon and can punch through a metal door. Add to that he doesn't even know if this hand cannon he picked up would be able to stop Rhino let alone tickle him. So after noting the plasma cannon of Rhino's is charging up, he runs towards the window. He pulls up the Klaw Sonic Gun and points it towards the window and down, nominally, in the Bats' directions. In reality, he's aiming well away from them and has no intention of having whatever this gun shoot get remotely close to them. His true intention is to gain their respective attentions in an effort to warn Batman and Batgirl of Rhino's presence, location and attention. All the while he wants to appear to Rhino that he's helping him. As the sonic gun goes off, glass from the exterior windows shatter.

Suddenly, glass shatters and Batman is already rolling on the ground as he turns to whip is head to look up at...a BIG FRIGGIN CANNON! Geez, thank you Question! Perhaps the faceless man is imagining the glare sent his way as Batman takes off running at high speed.

"Hey, you warned them!" Rhino scowls over at Q, messing up his aim a bit.

There is also an interesting side-effect. Question will feel there are more than one trigger inside the device, he pressed two of them at once when he pulled, and there is a third higher up. One caused the shattering of the glass and the ground to seem to shudder beneath the quake of the weapon. The other, must be sending vibrations along Question's body, making him feel stronger, cocooned, protected even.

And then there is a BOOM! That is from Rhino's plasma canon this time as it rocks him back and he hops about a bit to regain his footing as he cracks up laughing! "This is FUN!" Of course, he just made a huge hole in the ground and almost took out the passed out Vulcan and Doc Ock while he was at it. "Oh...oops, guess I better aim more carefully." He snickers to himself. "Now where did that black looking cape dude go?"

And that leaves Batgirl to deal with the very long python. The very long, thin, and not at all hard python. Which, in all the chaos of the explosions, the energy shots going off, the reality warping gun exploding, and a bunch of deep fried bad guys has come to care for none of that. The snake has slithered around, and after a few moments of being tracked over by Batgirl, is located underneath a car, on top of a sewer steam vent that has been pumping up heat over into the air. Having located the giant snake, Batgirl pauses. Does she want a new pair of shoes? Or a snakeskin purse? She lets out a quiet, internalized sigh, and then goes to tug out some of her knockout gas grenades, which are then tossed over and underneath the car. What then sounds over like a 'snizzle-fft' and.. Do snakes snore? If it is, it's currently having a happy dream about stealthily sneaking along after those ugly ducklings that are crossing the street, gobbling them up one by one then, before going for the big one waddling in front.

Speaking into the commlink, Batiglr goes to speak <>

The Question's tactic succeeded and the Bats are onto Rhino now. The Faceless Man looks down to the Klaw-tech and then up towards Rhino, "I didn't know what this super high-tech stuff would do! How do you aim something the shape of something you'd expect to pick up satellite TV?" Q backs away from the window and starts back peddling towards the door they entered through, "Now they know we're up here, big guy. I'm calling it quits and making a run for it. I think that's Superman down there and I can't tangle with him!"

"Wait, Superman? Where?!" Rhino is looking all about and appearing nervous. He starts to trail after Q. "I don't know, maybe this gun can take him out!" It's Rhino, he doesn't think about fine details as he thumps after Q.

Batman had moved about the building, taking out a window with some ice spray that permitted him to shatter what should be bulletproof glass - like the stuff upstairs that cannot withstand the onslaught of Klaw technology - and slips inside the building. He is heading through the halls, toward the stairs as the elevator is currently shut down.

There is a quiet grunt from Batman over the comlink in acknowledgement of Batgirl, but nothing further as he concentrates on what is going on inside the building and taking in consideration one very dangerous plasma canon.

The Question kicks open the door to the stair well and looks down the flight of stairs and then up some steps to a roof access. Q humphs and calls back to Rhino, "Hey; you can try out that thing on Superman if you want, but I'm not taking any chances." He increases the volume of his voice in case Bats has made it inside, he wants to make it obvious for Gotham's Dark Knight, "Superman can get up to this top floor in no time! If he gets up here and I'm not gone, I'm gonna have to give up and have him take me into the cops!" Vic starts up the flight to the roof access.

Superman?! Batman really wants to growl now. But he heads for the flight, as Question seems to be playing some strange game with the Rhino.

The Rhino though is playing along still. He stomps after Question, "Ya? I bet I can take him out! I'll be known as the one that took out Superman! Then I'll be the boss! Ah, the boss!"

Batman hurries more than he normally would, mostly because Rhino is so insanely noisy and obviously heading upward, so Batman doesn't feel like he has to hide himself so much. But even as Rhino bursts out of the roof access door behind Vic - who likely has to use his weapon on the heavy door to bypass it - Batman is right behind him.

A suddenly leap and Batman actually lands on Rhino's back!

Rhino gawks! He flounders, and he goes to try and beat Batman with the plasma cannon at least until he feels something stick to his chest as Batman drops off.

It ticks, having a digital red timer on it. Rhino looks down at it, "Uh-oh." And when it explodes? Let's just say, Batman has his gas mask back on, and Rhino soon drops down with a heavy thump as he starts to snore.

"Glad I didn't use the sleep grenade against Electro after all." That is thanks to Sandman technology by the way. Bats then glares at the Question, "Superman?" There is a slight growl to his tone.

The Question is by the door to the roof access and he casually watches Batman take down Rhino. When all is said and done, Q looks down at the Klaw-tech in his hand. He tosses it to the side, allowing it to fall through the door and down the stairs with sickening clanks of metal with each impact it makes with a step.

The Question sticks his hands into the pockets of his trenchcoat and looks towards Batman, "Do you see an 'S' on my shirt? I might have one on my boxers but..." Clearly intentionally misinterpreting Batman's question. He shakes his head at the Dark Knight, "Doing my best to keep him out of the fight. I assume you handled the rest of his group."

Cassandra Cain has maintained the perimeter, and the unconscious villains outside have otherwise been neutralized. She maintains her vantage point then, trusting the Bat to deal with things over on inside then.

"Next time, do so without a plasma canon," Batman strongly advises, note the strongly part. It's strong. That's basically a hint. He doesn't laugh at Question's 'misunderstanding'. "What are you doing here anyway?" He starts to head back toward the stairs, apparently expecting Question to follow him obediently.

Batgirl can already see the sirens in the near distance, as Batman pressed a silent signal to Gordon that it was safe for his men to approach without lost of life. Not that it would likely make Gordon happy to stay out of the action that police should be able to handle, but he's a realist.

As the authorities approach, Batgirl moves to take a few steps back, intent on vanishing into the darkness. From there, after given the 'all clear' signal she would depart. She has to maintain the rest of her nightly patrol.

The Question steps towards the knocked out Rhino and grunts in response to Batman's advice, "Yes, don't mention it. You're welcome." He looks down at the Rhino and 'answers' Batman's inquiry, "I guess I'm not the only one here with questions. Good." He half-turns to regard the Dark Knight, "I'll remain out of your way. Don't worry. Now-" He takes a look towards the edge of the roof, "-I think I've spent enough time at STAR Labs for the evening."

Batman pauses, turning to look at Question. "There are always questions. Never an end to them." Isn't that the point? But he then nods. "I will find you later." And of course he will. Batman moves down the stairs himself, being his grapple line was ruined. He will of course summon is Batmobile instead to get home which is a number of blocks away. No point in 'hoofing' it after all, not with the police arriving.