2013-05-20 - Sixteen Birds in Five Fighting Rings: Part 2 - Fight for Your Life! (and Ratings)

The prior night's raid - while ultimately unfulfilling, did provide at least a few clues. That Killer Croc had some unknown tie to Roland Dagget and Roulette -- that somehow, someway, Roulette was holding fights that clearly involved the homeless and/or missing teens that had been disappearing from the streets of Gotham. And, that people were paying big money to see this, and to bet on the outcomes of these matches. And, Oracle was given free reign to hack into the systems and computers that Roulette and her henchmen had set up.

Ultimately, while much of the data had been purged, thanks to a fast-acting Selina who re-hooked everything back up for Oracle to 'make the place her bitch', some data was gathered - enough to prove the best lead they've had, so far.

A seemingly derelict building on the other side of town was a secondary site for matches, and a good lead for the protectors of Gotham to further help the missing teens. A start time was also managed to be salvaged, as well as confirmation of the teens. And, something not entirely comforting - the Atomic Skull was labeled as the teen's 'handler'.

And worse -- Oracle, from her vantage in the Clocktower, now, is starting to get a live feed from her hacking skills; and it's not something she can stop, at least, not for awhile.

Catwoman's put in a 'call' to Batman, to join her on the rooftop, and also tossed in a communication to Redtail, telling her where to meet up again.

Oracle puts a call into Arsenal. Doesn't matter that he's not with the Birds. She had heard from her people on the street that Roy was in town, so.... a call to his cell phone (unlisted number, shmunlisted number) "Roy? Hi, this is Barbara. I need to ask a favor ..." and telling him the gist of what was happening and where to go, and who to meet up with.

That of course had been the problem as of late with the Batman: nobody knew just where he had gone to. All reliable sources on Ol' Man Bats would turn up a fat load of nothin'. One night, he just didn't show up. Just like that. And one night soon rolled into two and then into a week. Several weeks, stretching on into an insufferable month of slim-to-none chances of a Bat-sighting. Sure enough, it became time enough to let some rot like this up and fester. A 'call' from Catwoman just leads to a voicemail without a greeting. A simple click and a beep to let one know their next choice of words were being recorded and eventually, a click that the line had simply disconnected.

Clearly, men are an unreliable sort of creature. And even worse when they're the type to parade around in form-fitting pajamas in the dead of night.

Why is Roy in town? Why does he ever come into town? He was dropping Lian off to Black Canary and was going out on the town. He was in the midst of his second beer and flirting with some girl with so many piercings she would murder a metal detector when the call came in. He curses, "Ya...give me a few to grab my bag from the shitty rental car," renting one on purpose, "And I'll be right there." Good thing he was only on his second.

Roy doesn't take long before he is changed, and soon running along roof tops, and using a grapple arrow repeatedly on too high or long jumps that he needs assistance on. He's not as fast as Nightwing or Robin as he doesn't have a true grapple line or know the city as well, but he makes good time thanks to his phone's GPS. Arsenal when he shows up though is in a completely different uniform than he has been in the past, having changed his style a few months ago though it has been far longer since he last visited Gotham City in uniform. He even sports a domino mask once more, how about that?

At least Zinda can generally be trusted to show up. Generally. She's even sober, slipping onto the rooftop by means of the standard Gotham grappling gun, in uniform. Looking around quickly before going over to the cat. "I see the Bat hasn't shown yet." Does she really expect him to? He's been even more elusive than normal lately. Then Arsenal shows up and she blinks a bit, before nodding to him. Huh. New wardrobe.

It's not over yet, and if anything matters have only grown more serious. With Killer Croc out of the picture Redtail knows things aren't getting any easier after learning a thing or two about Atomic Skull depending on what Oracle has at her fingertips, and with the black of night their backdrop a pair of reddish wings herald the descent and arrival of the St. Roch heroine. First thing she does is give the Titan a glance behind that helmet of hers. "Been a while." If she's amused it isn't showing, not with business on the menu. It's spear and mace for her again.

"His loss, if he doesn't want to show up," Selina espouses to Zinda, but she doesn't bother to hide her irritation in even the smallest amount. Whatever the Grumpy Old Man was doing, certainly this was just as important. She looks back to the rag-tag group of Birds and Titans assembled, then, utilizing her whip, vaults and swings her way across the rooftop they were lingering on, onto that of a neighboring, lower building roof, and finally onto the one-story long barn-like derelict building that Oracle had discovered. Selina makes room for her fellow compatriots, making as little sound as possible.

Oracle will see a countdown, suddenly appear on her screen - the time until the fighting starts. Two minutes, and seconds quickly disappearing. "Arsenal, Oracle? Nice grab. And thanks for holding Batgirl off on this one. As much as we could use her, I don't think - she's ready for something like this." A pause, "Hell, Oracle. I don't think /I/ am."

The building itself has a glass roof to easily crash through; showing just a couple of goons as before on top of the stairs, that lead downwards, presumably to where the action is happening.

"Whoa, hi?" Arsenal looks over Zinda. She looks familiar....and then it hits him. The girl at the bar fight that Superman broke up! He remembered her cause she was so hawt! He face palms. It hits him hard just who Zinda is. But then Redtail shows up and he about jumps, "Damn it, why are all the girls I've hit on starting to show up?! You girls aren't really planning to gang on me, making this emergency a hoax?" He actually kinda hopes it is a hoax. But then there is Selina, and he makes a sound of appreciation. "Did I die?"

But then it turns serious, and Arsenal stops the kidding around. It isn't a hoax, and he sighs deeply. He is armed to the teeth with arrows, knives, and guns, true to his codename. And his martial arts are nothing to frown at either. When it comes to following Selina, he keeps silent for now, actually listening instead of gabbing for once, Batman would be impressed! This is the kid that never usually shuts the hell up!

"Not a hoax. We could use some arrows." Zinda flickers Arsenal a grin. She'll deal with his attitude...later. For right now. "Fighting ring. Teenagers. Roulette's involved and worse. It's time to break this shit up." She sounds like she's rather looking forward to it.

Oracle says into Selina's headset. "Plus I sort of have her on something else. Arsenal has more experience with this sort of thing and I won't have to convince him to not run in there beating everyone up before there's a plan. And you'll be fine Selina." she says with a smile that no one on the field can see. She patches into everyone's headsets and comms, "Patched into the internal cameras by the way. Apparently it's being sent internationally to foreign viewers betting on the outcome. There's a countdown on the match. Two minutes as of... now."

That earns Arsenal a thwack on the shoulder from the 'soft' end of Redtail's spear. "We might if you don't get serious in a hurry," she remarks with a sniff, coming off like she isn't in a joking mood at all. "I'm thinking we need to get down there with as little warning as possible. I know you've got something that can knock them out." The winged woman gestures from atop the building they've all moved to, and she frowns at what's relayed by Oracle. "Sounds like we've got two minutes to give viewers around the world a little surprise."

"Understood," Selina states back to Oracle. "You'd better have a damn fine bottle of booze when I get back from this one, though." Having said that, she takes a look towards the others, "Cats and kittens first," she pronounces, not wishing to waste anytime. She smashes the glass top with boot, then cracking her whip around a beam running down the center of the building, she swings down, and lands on all fours, crouched and low. The sound, of course, draws attention. But they really don't have time to be silent, do they? And that means Selina's 'dramatic' entrance draws gunfire from the two guards, who shout, "Roulette! We got company!"

On Oracle's screen, the numbers tick down to one minute, and hold a 'bloody' sort of aesthetic to the numbers as they count down below sixty seconds. And, the closer it gets to zero, a faded image of Roulette's face, slowly coming into view, can be seen as well. The girl knows how to promote.

From the upper vantage, four more goons - three armed with pistols and one with an automatic rifle run up the stairs, to prevent the heroes from coming in.

Beyond the reach of flat-panel monitors that suffuse Barbara Gordon with their glow, the darkness that clings to the corners of an oracle's hideaway seemingly rouse.

"Interesting choice," the darkness is a stern and authoritarian, seemingly directed when one of the many cameras show a young man in red wearing a domino mask and wielding a coward's weapon. The darkness's voice someone gargled with bourbon and rock-salt; then promptly bleached their throat in kerosene. The sound of a thing that that which goes bump in the night lie awake in the far more wee hours worrying over. It is at that moment that one of the Oracle's many monitors begins to flash red. Proximity alert. Intruder detected. An incredible several minutes too late. Beyond, a window lies open. A curtain wafting in the nighttime breeze.

The shadows recede and something tall emerges. Cloaked in inky mystery, with only a pair of white eyes gleaming through. There's something stretched across the broadness of his chest, a splotch of black given rigid shape with pointed pinions and wings. You know what they say: no matter what, the Batman is watching.

Arsenal grunts at the poke and raises an eyebrow at Redtail, "I'm always serious," and smirks at that before trying to check out Redtail's rear. But then, the order, and even as Catwoman breaks the glass with a boot had pulled an arrow free and shoots it at the glass roof, "Don't stand on the glass," he barely gets out before he fires. Arsenal's arrow makes a horrible fog-like alert sound and shatters a chunk of glass all around it from the vibrations the sound causes. He then hooks his grapple arrow he has been using to a beam as he runs across the beams, which is already hooked to his belt before he 'drops' down. And even as he drops, the bow is tucked away and two handguns are in his hands as he firestoward the goons to nick them in the arms and legs.

And even as Selina drops down, there is a background of glistening falling glass like snow-fall behind her tickling behind her dark form.

Lady Blackhawk comes in behind Arsenal, not using her own guns this time, but rather acting as the martial arts follow up to Arsenal's maneuvers. He's a weapons expert the way she is a pilot. She's going to let him do what he does best, her own motions quick and smooth. They're going to bust this joint wide open, even without the Batman. Or maybe with. It would be far from unusual to find he came in through a different door. For right now, she's focused on the guards.

"And there goes that idea. Can't say I mind," Redtail comments more to herself, though the comms pick it up. "Save some for me," she adds as she drops down, wings shrouding her with protection as one of the pistol shots ricochets off and away before she lands close by, a wing lashing out to strike the man across the face hard enough that it leaves a couple cuts along the cheek. If that wasn't enough, she follows up on it with a step forward as the same end of the spear she whacked Arsenal with is brought around, held in both hands, to crack the thug in the jaw. "Move!" she calls out to the rest she's with.

Oracle looks at something on her computer screen, then says, "You're meaning Selina right? Hey... you've worked with her before too. And with me there's no chance of us making out... " she says with a grin. "I'm actually surprised you're here though instead of there.

As Arsenal and Zinda take up the forefront after Selina's distraction, the goon security team fall like flies next to the organized assault; Selina doesn't even get a chance to get her claws dirty -- at least, not yet. She doesn't say a word, instead vaulting over the railing down the stairs, "We need to move," she says, urgently -- perhaps a little too urgently. But then, considering what's being done, can anyone really blame her?

There isn't even time (in Selina's mind) to hogtie the guards, she pushes past the door that leads into a lower level, into a room of total darkness. Good thing Selina has her Thief Vision. She takes a few paces in, looking up at the dim glow of the large TVs that show the same countdown that Oracle is seeing -- dim enough to hide the crowd, and nearly everything else about the floor, which clearly is only padded with a thin layer of dirt or sand. Some light, too, shines from the outside... but barely, as if the darkness within somehow snuffed it out.

Selina pauses, turning her head one way, then the other, frowning.

The Batman's eyes narrow beneath the cowl. Those unblinking eyes become as white slits. The disapproval in the room is thick and palpable.

"Not exactly," he answers her question curtly and to the point. Moses had better luck eliciting water from a stone than Oracle would have cracking anything other than a stern look from the slab of cynicism looming behind her.

"Tell Harper that if anyone ends up dead because of him, I'm coming to break him /and/ his toys."

The promise is sincere; an oath sworn to the night. There's a spot of action on the monitors and then, a sudden breeze.

He's gone again. Disappeared into the darkness; all sound and thunder and disappointment once more.

Arsenal has proven more than once, even once in front of Batman, how much delicate control he has over those guns, just as well as his arrows. Though they are slipped away and he runs to hop on the railing, "Redtail," holding an arm up toward her to see if he will give her a lift.

Too dark. Zinda frowns, moving through the darkness. She doesn't bother tying up any downed guards either. There's more important concerns. She's actually looking for something quite specific. A light switch. The house light controls have to be around here...somewhere...they surely didn't come IN in this darkness. Turning the lights ON could disorient those not warned as thoroughly as turning them OFF.

"Hmm?" Redtail only looks toward Arsenal for a moment before moving on. Whatever the apparent offer, she's already on her way down and by the time they're in the dark room she turns in a half-circle, fingers tight around the spear's shaft. "Is this one of the fighting rings?" she asks, squinting. Thanks to her helmet's eyes she can see better in low light, but there isn't a whole lot to make use of and it's not a night vision sort of thing.

Oracle rubs the bridge of her nose. She doesn't bother to respond to Batman, knowing he's already gone. She's been around Bruce long enough to know how he is. "It's so sweet when everyone plays nice with each other." she says, mainly to herself. She's pretty sure she knows where Batman's headed next. To watch to make sure her team doesnt mess up with the inclusion of Arsenal. Despite the fact that Barbara could more than vouch for him. There's always been a bit of a 'rivalry' between the Arrow and Bat Families.

There are no light switches to be found.

Roulette's voice takes over the silence, echoing and resounding through the walls of what seem to be the fighting arena: "Five! Four! Three! ...," as the seconds count down. With each count, there's a brighter, and brighter flash. Dim outlines of the denziens in the stands through the fence that protects the ticket-buyers from the fighters in the pen.

"So, anybody have any bright ideas? Now would be a /really/ good time to /share/," prompts Selina, prior to Hell Being Unleashed. Which, she presumes is going to happen.

Arsenal blinks, "Thanks for making me lose the high ground," he grumbles. This is why he prefers working with his own team. But he finally leaps down, landing in a roll as he then comes up, his bow free, and a net arrow pulled from the quiver and notched. He curses, "Why so damn dark?" But he then slips the net arrow back and pulls out a flare arrow, sending it toward the ceiling to flare to life and illuminate the room.

"Was going to mess up their SFX, but I think it's being controlled by a booth," Zinda murmurs, still moving through the darkness as she hunts anything that might be useful. "One I can't find. It's... ack." That ack is as Harper fires the flare arrow. Well, he SORT of warned. Sort of.

"Yeah, watch each other's backs, don't get ganged up on, and spread the wealth," Redtail answers, more of their surroundings coming into shape with each flash. "You weren't going to gain anything by it anyway," she adds to Arsenal before going on, "And let's see about a hole in this fence." The wings spread to carry her up a few feet and toward the barrier, ready to swing that mace as she makes sure she's positioned to only catch sight of the flare out of the corner of an eye.

"TWO!" Roy's arrow flares - to reveal, for a nanosecond, the field around them in a sea of pure light, their spectators revealed --- until the next moment, when it becomes obvious those forms are lifeless. Frauds. Cardboard cutouts.

"ONE! Ladies, and Gentlemen, I bring you -- our very own prize fighters that you've come to love, versus! LADY BLACKHAWK! ARSENAL! REDTAIL! AND! CATWOMAN!!!"

There is a sharp /thud/ sound behind the group, the way they come in suddenly secured by a very, very, very thick door. Mesh cages in the fighting circle open up from electronic locks, and out of them, stumble ten scrawny teenagers, dirty, unkempt, and bloodshot eyes that only look partly human.

"Time to earn your Candy!" Roulette says, her visage now flashing on the monitor. "All betting is closed! Ring the bell!"

The bell rings, and suddenly it's like the teenagers have gone rabid; they immediately begin to encircle and run towards the group like they wanted to rip the very skin off the heroes bodies, an insane /hunger/ in their eyes, their expression, overriding anything else.

"/God/. /Damn/." It's all Selina can say, before she's jumping over one of the kids heads, twisting and turning to land on her feet, barely avoiding a swipe of a hand. The teen, however, turns and wheels a kick that meets Selina's upper arm and shoulder, and the force of it not only knocks Selina off her feet, but sends her flying several feet as well.

"My children won't stop, until all of you are taken down. So if you don't stop them? Well. We'll have the first televised death of four of the more interesting people in Gotham, won't we?"

"What are we, Wildcat, to get caught in a trap like this!" Yes, Arsenal is pissed at Oracle now. "Orange, you owe me dinner!" Oh ya, Oracle totally knows he is talking about her. But Arsenal is already moving, the net arrow pulled out again, and he shoots it at two of the young men that are standing close together, to seize and wrap them up together. Arsenal's expression is intense, and he is concentrating, as even as the first arrow is loosened, a second one seems to magically appear in his hands, as he shoots is second and last net arrow, before a third appears, and he shoots a tazer arrow at another one. They didn't call him Speedy as a kid for nothing, he earned it for not how quickly he would pick up girls, but for the speed in which he shoots.

The arrow flashed, revealing 1 or 2 seconds before house lights kicked in, that it was a trap. But by the time anybody could do anything, a secure door dropped down preventing escape. The 'mesh doors' that opened were like small mini cages spaced around the fighting floor; like dog pens. So yes, house lights are up. Gotta have lights so the fans can see.

"OH, you're *kidding me*." Zinda studies the teenagers. Combat drugs, she suspects. Her stance shifts, but she apparently doesn't plan on striking the first blow. Or she's waiting for the perfect opportunity...and then one of them closes on her. She doesn't hold back as much as one might expect, striking with enough force to hopefully send the teen flying backwards. But she doesn't follow up either. Oh, she's NOT giving them any more entertainment than she has to.

Chances are Roulette's broadcast isn't bleeping a few choice words uttered by Redtail. Doubtful she's worried about the FTC. Then, "Nice job sending us into a trap, Oracle!" Whether the one in the Clocktower had any idea or not is secondary to the fact they've got to deal with this now. No need to warn about how to go at the kids, but the question will be how to safely do so when they're out for blood. First thing she does is swing at the fence with her mace. "Hold on down there. I'm going to try busting us out of here fast. I'm not playing Roulette's games."

The fence buckles under Redtail's swing at it like tinfoil; electrical power surges across the mace as the fence is disrupted - hopefully the Nth metal can disperse it, or Redtail's taking about 20,000 volts into her brain.

The groups of teens that Roy nets get entangled, and go down; two with the first net, and two more with the other two nets; four in total. A fifth goes down with the taser. For now? That leaves five more. And two more are barrelling towards Roy, suddenly moving -faster-, than they really ought to be able to, and the first reaching and connecting a fist -- even if Roy can block, he'll be pushed back and have a nasty bruise on however he blocked it but the punch is too fast to dodge, even for him.

One goes towards Zinda, literally jumping at her like some feral cat, pouncing - he doesn't weigh very much at all, no. But the knee that follows up the pounce is vicious, animalistic, and far stronger than it ought to be.

"Roulette," wheezes Selina, "You're going to pay for this." It's a quiet curse, full of vengeful rage. Yet, Selina's claws do not (literally) come out. She bolas the teen going towards Redtail, it entwining about the legs of the girl that was trying to make to de-wing the birdie and she crashes to the ground. Yeah. Selina was mad before. Now? Now she's simply furious.

The teens captured in Roy's nets begin to tear them apart, slowly, but certainly, through pure drug-fueled strength.

"And things take a turn for the worse for the favorites! Looks like they didn't know what they were getting into," Roulette cheerfully calls, giving no indication she can even hear anything that's being said.

Oracle is busy not listening to her friends blaming her for this being a trap. Instead she's busy trying to hack into Roulette's system to get them -out- of said trap. Or at least out into a place where they'd have more room to maneuver, which means overriding the automatic door locks.

Arsenal used to fight with Wally, he developed a few tricks, but at first he is surprised. He raises his forearms up, grunting at the impact, as his skin actually splits slightly from the impact against his bones, "Damn it!" He doesn't want to hurt these kids! But he's moving then, showing his superb combat training at the hands of Black Canary and Nightwing. He uses his bow as a weapon, flicking it out to slip it over the arm of an attacker and twisting his body along with the bow to entangle the arm up, even though it will soon break, he has another bow string on him. But his goal is to send the young man twisting and spinning right into his 'friend'. And then an arrow if Arsenal has a chance will be pulled free and purposely set off by knocking it into one of the kids - tear gas - even as Arsenal moves to flip backwards and escape from the rising and spreading smoke. Not a single movement is wasted, though it seems overly dramatic to a viewer.

Lady Blackhawk is the one...she'll blame Oracle later. After she hacks them out of here. The kid's punch hits, but even as she flies backwards, she grabs his wrist and twists, the goal being for HIM to hit the fence even harder than she's going to. This sucks, and she is totally NOT playing this game if she can avoid it.

Fortunately for Redtail there /is/ something in the Nth Metal that affords an extra level of protection. It's unexplainable, but the shower of sparks, the distinct scent of supercharged electricity and the knocked-back heroine is sign enough that she was zapped in some way. She spirals briefly before righting herself, just in time to skid to a stop in the dirt as she grimaces and shakes her head to clear it. "Ugh. Stupid electric fences." There's chaos around them as about half the hopped-up kids are in the process of being incapacitated, but on the path to worsening the odds for the good guys again. From one knee, she swings out with the spear to trip up the closest kid, hoping she's faster than he is. If not, there's always another strike of the wing to serve as a push-back.

Teargas appears to be a much more effective weapon, as does Roy's rather effective move (albeit at the cost of a damn good bow) than the nets - which, now are torn to shreds. The tazered one, too, seems to be remaining down. As does the one Selina has bola'd. "Zinda! Watch where you step!" A flash of pretty sparklies flicker out from Catwoman's hand -- Zinda may, or may recognize them as the fly through the air, but certainly as the scatter onto the ground - caltrops. The one persuing her walks over them, howls in pain, but ... he keeps going.

Those who've freed themselves from Aresnal's nets make a move towards Roy - three of them, while one barrels behind Selina, whose busy snaring the ankle of the one after Zinda with a whip, and pulling him to the ground. She pays for it though, as she's speared in the side, and flies a good few feet again, her body slamming into the unforgiving ground. It's only by a reflexive knee to the groin that she's able to get away before her face is raked off by the mad drug-frenzied teen.

"Redtail! Can you take out the power and - hell, I don't know! Wrap them up!?" She's making it up as she goes along, but like Zinda and the others, has no wish to actually /fight/ these kids.

Oracle says into the comms, "I'm overriding the door locks and I found out where Roulette is televising from. Penthouse in downtown Gotham." She presses few keys and the doors unlock.

"Ah hell," and Arsenal is pulling out more arrows, and the next one that goes out is aimed at a kid's feet which suddenly start to freeze up all the way to his waist, and another one he throws out is a stun grenade this time! "Someone call the cops and ambulance, we got elsewhere to be!"

"We definitely do." Caltrops? She dodges around them as she runs for the door, the teenager pursuing her not having to do so...but as he gets close she aims a backwards kick into his...well, he's drugged, he probably won't even feel that, but it's worth a try.

Gaining herself some space, Redtail returns to her feet and steadies herself, quickly looking side to side. "I don't even know where the power /is!/" she exclaims, though her attention is drawn back to the area she'd struck before. "This is gonna suck," the hawk declares, and as if pushing off from an invisible wall in midair, she darts toward that section of fence again with the look of someone about to charge right through it as she turns to let the wings take the brunt of it, only to veer off at the last moment as Oracle's words register in the nick of time. A wing brushes against the fence all the same, a trail of sparks following. "Then let's be quick about it." She says nothing to give away the fact Oracle's worked that out, but if they're leaving the place Roulette's going to figure it out one way or another. But what about the kids? "Oracle can get the right people here to help."

Pulling herself up, Selina sprints madly towards the door, "Oracle, once you see us all through, drop it if you can!" She's assuming Oracle can. Afterall - letting this 'fight' out onto the streets of Gotham would /not/ be a good thing. And if they can entrap the teens, until the drugs wear off? And get them help? All the better!

"NO!" Roulette /shrieks/. "You're cheating! The fights are supposed to stay /in/ the ring!" Now it's her turn to fume, enraged that her fights are being jeopardized.

Both Roy's, and Redtail's tactics work. So does Zinda's. And, it appears that Oracle's idea to bring Roy along was a well-founded one, without his defensive arrows, they'd be in far more hot water. Selina replies, hissing through her comm, "Remind me to slap some attitude back into Batman for not answering my goddamn message," she tells Oracle. Yes. She's pissed. And, possibly one of the few not mad at Oracle.

The teen-fighters not subdued by Roy are quick behind the others; hopefully Oracle can time it right. And hopefully the others can beat them, and it'll all work out. That door, after all, appears to be the only door in or out.

And Arsenal is running after the others. He is far from done however! He is still going after Roulette, but he can use his bare hands if he has to. Instead, he pulls out a glue arrow, shooting it onto the ground from the teens to run right over and get stuck! They may be the silliest arrows, but to be honest? They just simply work.

"I'm ready to bail on this joint, it's seriously lame. I have more of a challenge with Nightwing with both of his hands tied behind his back than these drugged kiddies."

Lady Blackhawk just keeps running at this point. If the door closes right, she won't have to worry about the kids. If it doesn't, she's still sure she can beat them. She's just making it as easy for Oracle as she can.

There's no issue getting out of the room in time, Arsenal's glue arrow hopefully the last step needed to keep the kids inside so the door can be slammed shut again. "Hey, bitch!" Redtail calls out, and it's not immediately clear who she means until she adds, "We're not real big on playing by your rules! Cry more!" From there she looks for the easiest, fastest way out. If it's back up top, so be it. If it's a door on their level, fine. Opening a new one with the mace will also do in a pinch.

As Redtail get her tail out, the door literally drops behind them, and the power kicks out, completely. There are thumps on the door. Loud. Powerful. Maniac thumps, of fists - maybe heads, feet, kicking brutally the thick door. But it's not budging. Selina leans back against it, breathing hard, then her lips sneer. "Let's go get that bitch," she seethes. Someone might need to pull her off Roulette, before Selina kills her, by the way she's acting, right now.

She taps the comm, "Oracle. You'd better have that drink ready, when I get back. Nice job with the hack." She's not sure they could have lasted much longer, even with all of Roy's fancy arrows. "Everyone okay?"

Arsenal goes to restring his bow and test its strength. It's strong enough to be used as a club if need be and still get use out of it, so it's still usable. He nods in satisfaction. "Let's go get the bitch." His expression is cool and determined, and there is a coldness about Arsenal that he doesn't normally display. He...was like those kids once, broken and drugged up. And Roulette doesn't realize how personal this is for Arsenal and how she pushed his buttons.

Like Arsenal, there's something about this that hits Redtail on a deeper level due to her own past. "Don't have to tell me twice. She's gonna pay for this, and pay hard." Now that they've had the chance to catch their breath without being attacked by the kids under the control of whatever they've been 'fed,' her true fury is on display like a volcano on the verge of erupting. There will be hell to pay.