2016-02-21 The Circus Comes to Gotham

It was the Seventh National Bank in downtown. A power outage had left most of the ATM stations offline, so the bank was filled with long lines of people standing in teller boxes trying to do their business. The bank, perenially understaffed, was not handling the crowds well, and there was an undercourse of grumbling an dgrousing even by Gotham standarsd as people stood in line and waited.

Over in the back of the bank, a gruop of trenchcoated members came in - which, given the weather, were hardly out fo the norm. Then one of them went to tiwrl his mustache.

"Laaadddiiieesss annnddd Gentlemen! It would please me greatly if you could all take a moment out of your busy day to give me your attention!" Everyone immediately did so, seeing an ensemble of what looked like the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey were in town.

If there is one thing that gets on Dick Grayson's nerves it is criminals that give circuses a bad name. When he picky up on the alarm call he sighs and quickly gets into the unifrom and as Nightwing heads out to put these crinimals in their place. Once he gets ot the area he takes up a postion on the roof across the street nad waits for them to exit the back before making his move.

"Okay this looks bad" Hawkeye says as he parks the Skycycle across the street from the bank in time to see the trenchcoat wearing circus folk stream inside. He'd gotten word the Circus of Crime was up to their old tricks again and hauled ass to Jersey to try and stop them but it looks like he was just a little too late.

"Shouldn't have stopped for that buritto," Hawkeye mutters as he steps off the Cycle onto the roof in his hero get up, black and purple fatigues and the purple cowl with the H on it. "Time to do that hero thing," he says as he fires an arrow into the bank a line of super strong cord trailing behind it. Barring any surprises he's zip lining through a big window to make his entrance.

A shadow flits up next to Nightwing on the roof. Not a word, but then words aren't usually expected from this particular piece of buttkick. She just assumes that she's in the right place, and glances at Nightwing. Then down at the new figure, a frown alighting on her face.

Nudging Nightwing, Black Bat indicates the new guy. And when he fires the arrow, her eyebrows raise high! Something's up, there. If anything, she seems kind of...impressed?

Hawkeye would smash through the plate glass windows in front of the bank, even as the RINGMASTER turned to face him and gave a bow, "Ladies and gentlemen, for your appreciation and performance, welcome the latest in art deco. We're calling this former Avegner the pancake."

Then gesturing merrily over at a pair of identical twins in leotards, "Now make him a pancake." Giving a twin bow, the mustachioed twin brothers and trapeze artists went to launch themselves towards Hawkeye in a flurry of sommersaults, fists, and flips!

Oh they have villianous trapeeze artist, clowns were bad enough but he is a Flying Grayson, dang it, and some things are sacred. The falsh of rage almost shows on his face, there is enough of a subtle hint of his clenching jaw that Cassandra would read it clear as day. He give her a quick nod and then leaps off the roof tossing a batarang at the lost possible moment to turn the fall into a swing nad joining the action inside.

Clint lands in a shower of glass and comes up grinning. //Man I missed this// he even as he's drawing an arrow and putting it to his string. "Former Avenger? Go one one little vacation..." he grouses before the twins come tumbling his way. "Aw crap," he fires an arrow only to have one of them catch it, while the other twin launches a double kick into his chest that throws him against the banking counter. He vaults back to his feet and parries a fist with his bow. "So, how happy are you guys those lame mustaches are making a comeback?" he quips to the acrobats while he fights off their rain of blows.

As the hurled Batarang from Nightwing is thrown through the air, hitting one of the Trapeze Twins square on the chin and knocking him flat as he was flummoxed, a dazed look over on his face as his twin quickly joined him a moment later, smashed hard over on the chin as Hawkeye countered.

Right as a man wearing an armored cone on his head grunted, "We've got Bats in the house. Time to delouse!" And so the HUMAN CANNONBALL was picked up by the STRONG MAN, and thrown over at the landing NIghtwing like a rocket!

Then giving a bow to Hawkeye, the FIRE EATER went to breathe a gust of fire through the air, setting some of th banners atop the bank aflame!

Cassandra doesn't do subtle.

She jumps off the roof, grabbing a wire to swing from, and she's moving. Slamming through the front window feet-first, Black Bat impacts with the Strongman, right in his kidneys. The two of them skid across the room and into one of the desks which shatters and lends to the lovely impact noise of her arrival. Standing on top of him on the ground, the small female looks around the room thoughtfully.

When the big guy starts to stand up again, trying to shrug off the blow, she kicks him in the jaw and hops down into the melee.

Across the room, what appears to be a cowboy with a lasso starts winding up his weapon and looking for a good target. There does appear to be a lot of enemies!

Cassandra doesn't do subtle.

She jumps off the roof, grabbing a wire to swing from, and she's moving. Slamming through the front window feet-first, Black Bat impacts with the Strongman, right in his kidneys. The two of them skid across the room and into one of the desks which shatters and lends to the lovely impact noise of her arrival. Standing on top of him on the ground, the small female looks around the room thoughtfully.

When the big guy starts to stand up again, trying to shrug off the blow, she kicks him in the jaw and hops down into the melee.

Across the room, what appears to be a cowboy with a lasso starts winding up his weapon and looking for a good target. There does appear to be a lot of enemies!

Nightwing looks over ath ethe archer and gives him a nod, "Welcome to Gotham." He then asks, "You bring the fun bunch with you?" He then glances back in time ot see the Human cannonball shooting towards him. He waits until the last secodn before impact and starts to roll through it lessening the collison though it still hurts likely giving Alfred a bit of work later in taping up his ribbs but with the intent of then using hte Cannonball's own momentem against him and attempting to flip him into a hands wall.

When one of the tumbling twins goes down Hawkeye clocks the other with his bow hard across the chin, then follows it up with a kick, knocking the man on his back. "Thanks," he says to Nightwing. "And nah, followed these jerks from New York, guess they're taking the show on the road."

Freed from the acrobats for the moment he draws an arrow and snaps it off at the burning banners, it explodes scattering fire retardant foam all over the place, but also leaves him open so the cowboy's lasso wraps around him pulling his arms tight against his sides, bow clattering to the floor.

As the Bats and the Hawks were cleaning the house, the Ringmaster hissed, "Get them my pretties!" The hat atop his head flashing as a pair of the elderly security guards caught over in the wing of it would be mind controlled to open fire over on the agile Batgirl! As the Fire Retardant Foam Arrow went to blast through and put out the flames flaring through the air, the flame-spewing man could only stare wtih 'Where does he get those wonderful toys' on his lips before trying to breathe another blast over at Hawkeye!

And Princess Ptyhon just grumbled, "This is always going according to plan. Namely, -failure-! Leave it to me to have to clean up! Daisy, show them how to do it!" Atop her body, uncoiling and going to slither it's way towards Nightwing, her twenty foot long python trying to quickly sneak along the floor towards him!

Black Bat blinks as the two men fire upon her, and for some reason actually takes a bullet. The fire retardent foam comes down, making footing even worse, and she takes an instant to think. Then suddenly a grapple-line fires out right between the two guards, and with a yank on the line the small but powerful frame of Black Bat yanks a filing cabinet into the back of their heads, knocking the two mind-controlled guards to the ground.

Suddenly the girl vanishes, the shadows swallowing her up, and she moves to get around behind the cowboy. A tap on his shoulder draws his attention, giving Hawkeye a moment's reprieve.

The cowboy was not alone, however, and behind the dark-clad girl a clown comes up, with a cane raised high about to strike her from behind.

Nightwing takes a moment to enjoy his handiwork as the Human cannonball slides down the wall, then he notices Cassnadra's perdicament and call out, "Watch your six." He should listen ot is own advice as the pythin starts to wrap around him putting the squeeze on, "Nomrally I don't cuddle til the second date." he quips as the contriction begins, showing that not all the Bat family is dour.

Hawkeye squirms in the grip of the lasso trying to reach a pouch and a spare arrow head, when suddenly it goes slack. He leaps free of the loop and then rolling recovers his bow. "Thanks!" he calls to Black Bat before he shoots a taser arrow at the cowboy. A new arrow is put to the string as he sees Nightwing wrapped in the coils of a snake. He turns his bow on Princess Python. "Call off your pet or go nighty-night like Hop-along there," he says with a nod to the cowboy.

The elderly security guards still aren't great shots, so they quickly lose Batgirl as she dodges around then, and then they're quickly tkaen out - probably with concussions, but better than if they'd been kept under the control of the Ringmaster. Right over as Princess Python had Hawkeye covering her with an arrow, and she went to pout, "You really can't do that to me. Daisy!" Daisy's coils trying to get a bit tighter around NIghtwing, the snake trying to crush him just a little bit faster as Princess Python went to try and charge over at Hawkeye!

For all the luck that the mind-controlled minions had with their guns, the clown coming up behind Cassandra is barely glanced at before she leans toward him and throws a kick. Snapping his stick cleanly in half, the kick just barely grazes his chin with a light touch of her heel. And the clown crumples to the ground, apparently unhurt but definitely unconscious.

She doesn't bother being subtle then, turning to walk directly toward the Ringmaster and Python. She moves like a jungle cat, her eyes inside the mask narrowed and dangerous. With her ready, Hawkeye's bow trained, the two need to pull out a trick fast.

Nightwing winces as the coils tighten, his poor ribs are not hving a good night. He struggles agains the snake mostly in vane bit he does manageto get his arms pbetween the sankes and his ribs to reelive the pressure somewhat.

So much for threating Princess to let the blue and black guy go. When she charges he fires and then is whipping out a second arrow he sizes up the chance of hitting Nightwing with anything shot at the snake and instead throws the arrow to the quipping member of the Bat Family. "Freeze arrow," he says, lobbing the weapon towards Nightwing's mostly freed hand.

As Black Bat makes her charge over towards the Ringmaster, his hat flashes. There's an undercurrent of energy flowing along it even as she goes to walk towards him. "Darling creature, don't hit me.. You're on my side!" Uh-Oh.

And Daisy let out a hiss-shriek as the freeze arrow was tossed through the air, even as Princess Ptyhon was trying to clobber Hawkeye in fisticuffs, the woman's arm going up to take one clipped arrow off her forearm, it digging deep!

Black Bat launches herself toward Ringmaster, flicking a batarang at Princess Python's jaw as she moves. It's perfect, an amazing example of marksmanship, and her fist follows up with a right hook at Ringmaster's face.

Unfortunately neither it nor the batarang has enough power to do anything, and Cassandra finds herself staring into the hat. Then turning toward Nightwing and Hawkeye, her eyes glazed over. She slowly raises her hands in a defensive posture, to -protect- him!

With a surge of strength, Nightwing wrenches his arm free nad catches the Arrow bringing it down to the snakes and dirving hte beast off with it's relentless cold. He pauses to catch his breath and notices the change in posture of Cassandra, "Oh no not again.' He then says to Hawkeye, "How are you at fighting mind controlled deadly female assaassins?" Little does he knwo that Hawkeye could right a book on that subject.

Hawkeye's brows raise when the taser arrow doesn't go off in Princess' arm. "Huh," he says then gives the weapon a kick. The arrow head flares to life sending its voltage through the snake charmer as Hawkeye jumps away to stand on the bank counter. From his new vantage point he sees that Ringmaster is doing his mental whammy thing again. He smirks at Nightwing's remark "Sort of my thing," he says as he he nocks an arrow, "The key is to hit them pretty hard, or take out the guy controlling them. You grab your friend..." He looses, the arrow flying for Ringmaster's hat, that is if something doesn't stop it.

The Snake Charmess drops over like a rock, body spasming and twitching on the ground even as the snake is put in the Cold Locker from the ice arrow. The Ringmaster points over at Cassandra, "Save me from thsoe monsters, my darling!" Hat glowing even as he goes to make a run for the back, the rest fo the Circus of Crime having been sent on a short one way trip to dreamland as Cassandra has her orders!

The bat girl's hand is moving before Hawkeye even fires the arrow, a small fact that his sharp eyes would spot. She's actually reacting like a telepath, as if she's reading the future just slightly. Not a good sign, and the arrow never had a chance to hit the target. Cassandra's hand chops it in half like a knife in the air, and she drops back into her stance.

She doesn't move until ordered otherwise though, and waits for the two to try to get past her. Her hands are loose, her body ready, and she ...nope, she's attacking. Launching a kick at Nightwing, she lets her free hand pitch a barrage of batarangs at Hawkeye, targeting his bowstring. Her aim is nigh-perfect with both attacks, and the kick turns out to be a feint for a throw to try and throw the bat at the hawk.

Nightwing knows this is going to hurt, as Cassandra closes he trays to grab her but ends up getting thrown for his torubles, thankfully he has near complete body contrl as he flys throuw the air and is abel to crash himsepts into a stand of borsures rather then the Archer but needlys to say that is all sorts of unpleasant for his battered mid section. He rolls ot his side and pulls out a samall pellet that he tosses toward the Ringmaster, is is kncokout gass hopefully ith out orders Cassandra will pause at least.

When did the bats get powers? Hawkeye was sure the dossier he skimmed on them said they were normals, but then here's the girl cutting his arrow out of the air. "Huh, make that super badass normals," he says even as an arrow comes out of the quiver as he tracks Black Bat on her approach to Nightwing, he dodges the batarangs thrown his way, but his string goes slack. He glances up. She hit the string! Damn. Then Nightwing is flipping through the air and Hawkeye gets clear flinging his blunt arrow in Black Bat's direction and reaching for one of his specials as he slides across the floor.

The knockout gas launched by Nightwing lands in front of the running Ringmaster, who tries to yank his coat up over to his face to breathe through, coughing up a storm even as his running slowed, his hat sliding off his head to hit the ground nad bounce, rolling over to the side. The sounds of Daisy snoring, even in the giant python-shaped ice cube filled the bank.

Cassandra Cain doesn't see any real need to protect Ringmaster from the knockout gas; it's not physically dangerous, it'll only knock him out. So she doesn't bother to do anything about it in the slightest. Being busy with two master fighters, she doesn't really look to see how he's doing just now anyway.

Her kick slicing the air just over Hawkeye's head, Cass spins in midair and mule-kicks a desk at Nightwing to force him to go acrobatic as well. Using the time, she closes in on Hawkeye, moving for a wrist throw.

The two fighters, the bat and the hawk, would notice a detail however. Cass showed that she was capable of slicing, lethal strikes with her very first move, yet every move she's done since then has been nonlethal and if anything, rather restrained. She's not using anything actually dangerous.

Clint whips his arrow past Black Bat, well clear of her. The weighted (and blunted) boomerang arrow arcing behind the assassin's back to come and hit her from behind. Though, it leaves him WIDE open for that wrist throw that sends him thudding into the tile with an "Oof!"

Nightwing leaps over the desc and rolls into a sommersault that brings him neat the hate. He picks it up and examines it tryign ot find a way to reverse it or at least shut it off aafter all it is only a matter of time befre someone gets hirt.

The boomerang arrow, thrown by one of the absolute masters of his generation, flies true. Black Cat's eyes look into Clint's just before the arrow hits her in the back, and she gets this little amused smirk just before it smacks into her, sending her to the floor. She makes no noise aside from the thump when she hits.

Unfortunately, she's starting to get up again quickly, pain being more a motivator for her than really a deterrant. Fortunately, Nightwing has the hat, and a spark from a pulled wire releases the girl from her control with a start. She stands and tilts her head curiously, then says, "Good." That's all. Chatty, can't shut this girl up.

All of the bad guys are out even as Ringmaster's hat flickers, the glow fades, and it sparks as the wires have it short out without damaging the internal circuitry for later analysis. The sounds of sirens fill the air outside as the Gotham Police Department has been informed that the circus is in town.