Summary:The Batclan goes to find out about a shipment coming into Staten Island, and meets a new threat - a new Maggia boss. Log Info:Storyteller: Batman |
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'The Wandering Drake'
She's a Turkish flagged vessel that is sailing into New York harbor. The official manifest has listed as it's contents 'Computer and Networking Components'. But there was an underlying note that was discovered. These components were being shipped to a shell company under the control of the Nefaria Family, a well-known Maggia family of New York that had as of yet to make a move on Staten Island.
Batman's orders were simple - infiltrate the ship, find out what the cargo is, and if it's dangerous, make sure that it never gets off-loaded.
In order to prevent the ship from being off-loaded, Batman had taken an extra measure tonight. As the ship cruises in the darkness down the East River towards the Staten Island docks, a boat, painted in dull gunmetal grey and blacks, slips into the darkness and into the wake of the ship.
The Batyacht, as someone had called it, was a floating Batcave - capable of holding the computer banks, housing the family - and deploying several dark jetskis - as it moves to prepare to come up along side the ship so that the team can make their ingress.
Catwoman, being the senior costume present, is taking point on this one. Capable though the others may be they're still very young and comparatively green. So Catwoman gets to mind the litter during this operation.
Not that they need a ton of guidance, they've been over this one several times. But it's good to remind people. Catwoman taps her comlink twice and calls over it, "Testing? Everyone hear me all right." And, on confirmation, purrs, "Purrfect. Now then. You all know the drill by now." She says breezily, "Get in quiet, get out quiet. Find out what they're carrying, determine wether it's dangerous or not, and then we'll decide if we're breaking everything or just getting a few pictures in."
With that said, Selina gives Cassandra a curious, considering sort of look - not mistrustful necessarily but simply… unknowing, still, quite what to make of her. "Cassandra… stay close to me for this one, all right?"
Cassandra's first costume was a simple thing - the resilient base cloth of the batarmor, colored in jet black. A mask, of all black and where the cowl would usually allow for speech and the facial expressions? That has been sewn over with another patch of black. In fact, the only bit of color at all on the girl's uniform was the thin yellowed outline of the bat-symbol over her chest, and the yellow utility belt since those never seemed to come in black.
Cassandra still is getting used to it. The cape is a bit funny, and she swishes it every now and then, not so much playing with it as getting an idea for how it feels, and how it will be different from just shirts and pants with her movements, and her fighting even if it does look like she's a five year old playing with a cape.
She has remained near Stephanie and Helena for the trip, having found some sort of comfort in both of their company. But as Selina seems to ask her to remain close to her, the young woman lifts her head up to consider Catwoman casually, then nods, once, to signal her understanding.
Tim Drake is soon on the side of the offending boat, magnetic grips letting him shift and slide along the outside of the thing until he reaches one of the portholes along the side. He has his com in, of course, although they're all to keep relatively quiet unless necessary. Doesn't do to just talk all the way through breaking and entering.
"I'm going below deck," he says, prying the porthole open and finding just enough room to slip inside, the slick surface of his swimming gear at least helping in that regard. And maybe a little yoga, too.
"Comms up," Helena replies to Catwoman's call, killing the engine as she coasts up to the side of the boat. "I'll stay back and watch our exits," she murmurs, the darkness of her costume blending into the night easily. She gives Cassandra's shoulder a brief, encouraging squeeze before it's time for the group to break down, then scrolls through the vision settings on her hood until she reaches infrared.
Stephanie flips through her mask's different visual options, settling on one to help her get a good look at the distant boat. She leans over to Cassandra, arm resting on the other young woman's shoulder as she says, "See ya over there," and gives Cassandra a smile and wink. The arm resting turns into a pat and then Batgirl is running forward and jumping off the ship and landing on one of the stealth jetskis. "Here we go," she says into the comms, keeping her normal battlecry down to a whisper.
She glides forward, keeping her speed down to not make enough wake for the white water to stand out as she draws near to the ship. A magnetic grapple, coated in soft cloth to deaden the sound, shoots up and latches on just below the deck. Batgirl puts the jetski on autpilot and then begins climbing up the hull.
Tim's the first one into the ship. As the women's team gets ready, the scout makes his way into the cargo area. The catwalks sprawl over several shipping containers, locked down for transport - the markings on the side of the container are Cryllic in origin, with English beneath them reading: Caution: Electrical Hazard with the international shock hazard sign.
But before Tim can get a better look at them, there's an obstacle in the way. Four of them actual.
A group of sailors are sitting in one of the common areas - a card table set out as they're playing poker. Besides the cards and the chips on the table, there's a few empty bottles of liquor, and Kalashnikovs at their sides. Stephanie will be coming in on the other side of the catwalk - across from Tim, as the pair are flanking on either side of the card players.
The boat slips into the dead spot behind the ship, where the freighter is the most vulnerable, and open to Selina and the other two women, allowing them to board the ship from above decks.
Selina quirks her head slightly at Cassandra's simple response. It's probably the first time she's given a new ally orders without any backsass, or militaristic obediance. It's both refreshing… and oddly disappointing.
That all said and done, she coasts silently to the freighter, maintaining a cautious posture as she boards the ship and peers about before turning her goggles to thermal vision and reaching out to help bring Cassandra from the jetski to the ship - as if she needs it. She gives Helena a brief thumbs up and turns to Cassandra. "Remember; we're looking for shipping containers, and anything unusual. If you see anything just giva a…" Catwoman hesitates for a moment, then just gives a demonstrative 'taptap' on her comlink, indicating for Cassandra to broadcast the noise to them.
Infiltrating the upper decks is simple enough, it's the matter of searching while keeping an eye out for patrols that feels like juggling as Catwoman prowls the upper decks. With any luck these guys are just hauling booze and they can call this an early night, but… it *is* the Maggia.
Tim Drake uses the digital camera built into his domino mask to snap some pictures of the Cyrillic, making a particular point of marking any shipping numbers or other data that might be tracked at a later date. When he sees the poker game, he quickly ducks down behind a crate and types a message into the HUD display for the others to see.
"ARMED GROUP DOWNSTAIRS." Followed by an infrared digital pic of said group and their placement.
It's lucky for Selina that Helena had at least shown Cassandra that was the comm system, even though the girl had shown no aptitude or ability to speak yet, even barely any sounds besides the rare sigh or exerted breathing after long workouts.
So instructed, Cassandra taps the comm to leave it on so that the others can hear the background noise, and Selina will be pleased to hear just how silent Cassandra is, not simply trained to do it when needed, but ingrained into her as if it was the way she had to be from birth. Which isn't far from the truth.
She looks at Selina, then, expectantly, clearly ready to go deal with the armed group, showing no sign of either hesitation, reluctance, or fear.
Helena makes her way smoothly up the side of the ship, seeking out the highest ground she can for the bird's eye view of things. She crouches there, swathed in her cloak, just another part of the shadows.
Stephanie Brown moves forward stealthily, slipping over the edge of the ship and beneath the railing like Catherine Zeta-Jones going under a laser beam in that one movie. Or at least that's how Stephanie likes to think it would look, had anyone been watching.
She slips down into the cargo area, noting the four men. A launcher is pulled from its place on her utility belt, and she fits in a payload, taking aim and sending a tiny disk flying across the room to stick to the wall over by an exit. She loads another and repeats it with another exit from the cargo hold.
She taps out a message to the others: "Flashbang stickies deployed by cargo doors" flashes across their heads up displays. In a Comic Sans font.
Helena gets up high, and from her vantage point, she can see inside the cargo area of the ship. She'll need to enhance, but there's Tim and Stephanie - and the poker game.
As the sound of something going /schtuck/ catches the attention of /one/ of the guards. When he speaks, it's in Russian. "Did you hear something?" he asks the others at the table. They all shake their heads, but that one guard, he stands up and grabs his rifle. "I'm gonna go take a leak."
With that, he rises to his feet and makes his way towards the head - which is right near where Stephanie is located at.
Up above, as Selina and Cassandra come on board, they'll not that the ship is running with minimal lights - usually these ships are lit up like a small city so that the crew can see what they're doing, and alert other ships of their presence. There's only the dim glow of a few lights from the bridge, but it's obvious that there are spotlights on the ship that can be turned on at a moment's notice. The ship's cranes are starting to slowly be prepared to move from their storage position, in preparation for docking.
Catwoman frowns as the two notes appear on her hud and mutters "Hell…" Peering around for a moment and taking in the situation, Catwoman sneaks her way quickly to the controls to the spotlights, making any adjustments she can to make sure they're pointed right at the group, intending to momentarily blind and disorient them as she turns the lights on at full brightness. For Cassandra's sake, her order if very short and simple. "Hurt them, quickly."
Catwoman's directive is all that Cassandra needed. As soon as those words are given, and the body language seen the newest 'Bat' is moving swiftly and silently towards the card players. She will no doubt cause enough of a distraction for Blackbird and Batgirl to do some work of their own as she jumps off the railing from the bridge onto the deck below. Not quite in epic Bat-terror-pose, but the figure she presents is unlike any Bat that anyone has seen before. The sewn mouth and the jet black figure is a new terror to behold.
There's no pause. No speaking. No warning to stand down. There is only action, as the trained assassin slams a hand into the closest player's face with expert indifference to make him crumble to the deck, even as she turns to face her next opponent, who, before he's even out of his chair and starts to shout it turns into a strangled cry as another strike takes the wind out of him before his feet are swept out from under him and his forehead first kisses the table's edge before the side of his temple is met with Cassandra's boot.
Two of them down. Quickly.
She then surveys the area, looking for her next task.
From the heights, Helena watches the activity below, looking out for her team. As the man starts to walk toward Stephanie, she tosses smoke-pellets toward the narrow passageway, then again toward the others as well, blinding the sailors to those approaching to give the bats and cats the advantage.
Stephanie spots the guard rising and starting to head her direction. At first glance there really isn't anywhere for her to go except into the bathroom, and that might have even fewer options.
There isn't much time as the gun-toting goon nears the corner, nearing the spot he'll see Batgirl. He reaches it and turns into the tall hallway and… just walks on forward, not noticing anything and passing on into the bathroom.
Up at ceiling level, Stephane is doing the splits practically to get her feet on the walls on either side. A sprinkler from the fire suppression system gives her a handhold, wedging herself up against the ceiling and watching the Russian walk past beneath and into the head.
She drops down silently, whispering into her comms. "My name is River Tam. I kill people with my brain." Her Serenity impression complete, Stephanie is about to head off to look at the cargo containers when suddenly the lights go in the cargo hold. She quickly changes her mask's vision to shield her from the glare.
About then is when the guy in the bathroom darts back out, having heard something before he even got to the urinal. He sees Batgirl standing right in front of him. Batgirl - or River Tam? - points her hand at his face like she were doing some mental thing on him. "Die!" she says. He starts for a moment in surprise, but then begins to bring his gun around. Stephanie's finger has already made it to the trigger of her launcher, unnoticed during her fake-mental power stunt. She shoots it into his chest, the flashbang going off on his chest with a pop at point blank range to both of them. Stephanie staggers back into the wall. "Oh Christ," she groans. "I felt my ribs shake!" Ivan? He's down.
When the lights come on, the crew is startled and caught off guard. There are shouts in Russian as the alert goes up - but it's too late, the Bats are on board. Cassandra slams into the two guards, and as the third is reaching for his rifle, a staff comes out of the dark to slam him in the back of the head. Dropping him, Robin gives Cassandra a grin. "You're welcome." he offers to the mute woman, before he's launching off to join the others.
Up on the bridge, the Captain gets the call of the attack, and he glances to a figure sitting in the shadows. "Activate them." comes the orders as the figure rises to her feet to step forward, looking down from the bridge towards the deck. "It is time to see if the investment has paid off." A bit of light glints off the gold mask that the woman wears.
There's several popping sounds from below decks as the containers open. As they doors drop down, from within the darkness, red optics blaze to life. The cobalt blue robots come walking out of the containers. They may not be carrying weapons, but they have nozzles in their arms that activate with a flame-thrower. There's at least six of them that come out, and as they deploy, boot jets activate as they seek out their targets - one aimed for each of the heroes.
Figure on the bridge: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Madame_Masque.jpg
Robots: https://tinyurl.com/y2rp8pzw"
The man known as the Red Hood has been tracking certain shipments from specific, shady robotics groups for over a week now. Normally he wouldn't care about that kind of thing, but a lead on a human trafficking group he was brutally shutting down had led him in this direction. These weren't the ones doing the trafficking, but he isn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The darkness of the sea at night does an amazing job of covering up the small plane flying a good distance overhead, and a few moments ago Red Hood had given a thumbs-up to the pilot contact of his before dropping right out of the siky. The parachute had opened and he glided down to the ship with the kind of skill a lifetime of rough training (From multiple, cagey sources) will give you. The parachute is let loose a bit above the ship itself, and the Red Hood comes dropping out of the sky like a monster out of some kind of movie or story.
,,,Uf those monsters were wielding a LR-300 Assault Rifle with more then a few mods built into it. Tight, armored jeans with boots, a brown leather jacket, his armored torso with the infamous 'Murdered Bat; symbol and his red helmet…he cuts quite the image. Add to that the fact that he is covered in weapons, from the assault rifle in his hands, to holstered pistols and grenades, to knives and everything else. He levels the heavy gun at the first robot he sees, and he laughs, his voice altered and intimidating from the helmet.
"Robots? Rad. No riot control rounds for these fuckers."
He pops the clip out and loads a new one with a smooth, practiced motion. "You can thank me later!," he calls out to the others. He opens fire.
The area is lit with the rapid staccato bursts of the automatic rifle, as high-grade, armor-piercing ammunition is unloaded in the direction of the enemy.
"Shit, Bats isn't even -here- to see how awesome and helpful I am, is he? Figures. Just FIGURES."
And the damaged, formerly dead member of the Fam has made himself known to all but the very few who have seen him since he escaped rehab several years ago after his six months of brutality in the city.
Within the space of a few seconds Selina goes from wide eyed appreciation of Cassandra's assault, to… pinching the bridge of her nose as River Tam is invoked, briefly making her feel old and weary, before Stephanie's brief cry of alarm makes Catwoman's heart skip a beat before she realizes everyone's in one piece. She heaves a sigh and says, "Robin, New Girl, good word. Batgirl?" A pause. She hates to sound like Batman, but… "… Sloppy."
There, grown up work done.
"All right, back to work. Make sure no stragglers find-" Catwoman stops short suddenly as all at once the field fills with… freaking… "*What?*" Oh hell. Awwww hell this is out of their paygrade. Lurching forward against the spotlight control panel, Catwoman orders, "Every body get away. Electricity, EMPS, explosives, use anything you have to shut them down, but keep your GOD DAMN distance and be ready to…" Catwoman's voice becomes very small as Red Hood makes the scene. "… retreat."
Catwoman is sprinting out of the control room as she speaks, Keep your distance from that man. If he makes a move on you, defend yourself - but support him so long as he keeps on the enemy, and…" Catwoman grits her teeth and finishes, softly, "… and keep him alive."
Catwoman is briefly tempted to chastise him for his language for one surreal moment, but he's not on coms. So she settles for landing on the abandoned poker table and hurling a trio of batarangs into 'eyes' of the robots, trying to buy any sort of time or space for pathwork family, assuming retreat is the order of the day if these things are as dangerous as she thinks they are.
Catwoman is on the above bridge. Cassandra is on the main deck. Oh, Cassandra hears the words over the comm systems - but Cassandra cannot see the body language of anyone, save the newly arrived figure of the other costumed individual hailing gunfire onto the humanoid things that are clearly not humanoid.
In that instant she runs towards one of the unleashed dreadnought's that's been peppered with Red Hood's bullets to run straight at it as quickly as she can, which is quite quickly, and she uses this speed to launch herself up and slam a perfectly placed kick against the back of the robot's head, landing on her feet and one hand like a cat, sweeping out a leg-kick to follow up without a pause to try to bring the thing down.
The last command, afterall, she had from Catwoman was 'take them down, quickly'. That's her story, and she's sticking to it.
"Hey, watch out for friendly fire, dodo bird!" Helena shouts down at Jason, though he can likely hear the grin behind the words. Of course, that voice is altered by the modulator in her mask, and even the eyes that peer out from hood and mask don't match Helena - eerily bright gold against dusky skin.
But then again, who'd call him that? Catwoman may have her concerns, but Helena seems ready to trust him. As long as she doesn't end up in the crossfire, at least. Speaking of which!
As one of the robots heads her way, she pulls out a pair of batarangs, taking shelter in the shadows of the container on which she's perched to watch how they operate. Hacking them on the fly is a little beyond her, but she's pretty good at figuring out how things work. So when she lets loose with the batarangs, she's targeted the thrusters that allow it to fly, then sends two more with expanding foam to gum up the exhaust ports.
The batarangs are certainetly flying along with the bullets now. With Cassandra and Jason tag-teaming a Dreadnought, it's taken down, while Tim is off battling his own. Flames flick down the lane, but then there's a sudden burst of gas, and the robot he was fighting is frozen and falls over. Tim emerges a moment later, letting out a few breathes.
Helena's batarangs gum up the works, but the Dradnought leaps at the girl before it plummets, trying to bring her down with it! On the poker table, the batarangs from Selina slam into her Dreadnought, causing several sparks and explosion, ripping the robot's head off, but she may only have a moment to react before there's a boot lashing out from her from above.
Hitting her or not, the woman in the gold mask slams into the table as well, rising to her feet, holding a pistol that matches her face. "So you're the infamous Catwoman." she looks the woman over. "I'm not impressed. It is time for you to have your last life."
Jason can't quite tell who all is spread out over the ship, but he DOES know that he's never seen Cassandra before! He blinks behind the helmet when she appears and helps with the one he was firing out. "Huh, you're new. What are you, Robin 6? He's really franchising, isn't he?" He cannot hear his mother over the comms or he'd likely have something snarky to say. He glances over at the words from Helena, and he sighs. "He even has YOU out here? Christ, what ever happened to going to college and getting a real job? Also, what should I call you? Bratgirl? HA!" His tone, however, is a teasing one she almost certainly recognizes. And yes, Jason is the type to laugh at his own jokes.
He glances over at Tim as he emerges and just growls now. "Okay…-seriously-? Guess it just goes to show he needs six kids to replace me, huh? Figures."
He slings the assault rifle over his shoulder and pulls a grnade from his hip. He peeks around a corner to spy another behemoth, and he peels the sticky adhesive from around the cylinder. He lobs it, hoping the incendiary grenade with do it's job and stick to the robot before he ignites with phosphorous.
"UNGH!" Catwoman belts out a grunt as a boot slams into her from behind, pitching her forward. Luckily, the name isn't just for show, as the Catwoman pitches forward as she falls from the table, lands on her hands which absorb the impact as they bend under her weight, her body seeming to fold in half for a brief moment before she springs to her feet and whirls around to face her attacker. Half sneering, half smirking, Selina replies, "Honey, I've got at *least* six left, I hope you brought a sack lunch. You- hold on."
In mid sentence, Selina pivots her upper body to look at Cassandra and shouts "*I told you to keep away!*"
Kids.
Catwoman turns back. "Sorry about that. Anyway-" And with that Catwoman lashes out with her whip, aiming to crack it across that golden mask of her attacker.
Jason Todd has disconnected.
Cassandra rises up from the inert shell of the dreadnought she and Jason had tag-teamed, to catch Catwoman's movement, and the fight she's about to get into. And then - she's yelled at. The yelling doesn't do much for her understanding, but Catwoman's stance tells her just the same, well enough.
She seems to size Jason up with those black eye covers for a few silent moments, before moving away from him. And, away from Selina's fight. Clearly, she wanted to fight Madame Masque on her own. So, Cassandra watches for more dreadnaughts, watches out for her team - and, watches Selina's fight with Madame Masque.
Helena is all for going down with the robot. Just not quite the way the robot's planned. With an athletic twist, she wraps herself around the robot, ready to ride it down to the deck and let it break her fall. And to help it on its way, she flexes her fingers to pop the claws in her gauntlets, placing them against a joint in the head and letting the force of the fall drive them beneath the plate.
"First of all, I'm out here by my choice, thank you very much," she calls back to Jason, popping off the plate to go to town on the electronics inside.
"Second of all, it's Blackbird."
Over in the hallway by the cargo hold, the robot has finally found Batbabe. That's what the after mission report will read, with Batgirl crossed out and the other hand written in with a stylus. For now though, she's Batgirl, and a blond one at that.
Stephanie grabs her baton and it extends into a staff as the dreadnought raises its flame thrower arm. She jumps up and swings, not at the robotic creation, but at that sprinkler head up above that she used as a handhold so recently. Water cascades down over her as she backflips down the hall. Flames meet water and send a hiss of steam into the air.
Stephanie is no sooner back on her feet than she whips a pair of electric batarangs towards the pursuing dreadnought, timing it so it will be in the water when they hit. Not even waiting to see the results, a pair of freeze batarangs are flipped forward soon after.
"Man?" Batgirl says over comms from down in the hold. "What man? Blackbird, were we supposed to bring dates!?"
The whip cracks across the gold-plate of the woman's face. "Like every other woman." she sneers as she leaps back from the strike. "Hiding behind a man when it comes to the real dangerous work." The pistol is brought around, a shot fired towards Selina as she moves with a dancer and gymanists' grace, the pair of them going around and around.
That's when there's an explosion behind her, and Stephanie comes flying out, having disposed of her Dreadnought. The woman in the gold masks uses the comment about her needing a date, and turns the pistol on the blonde Batgirl. "Perhaps this will get his attention." And she fires the armor-piercer at the young woman's back as she sweeps by.
Up on the deck, the last of the Dreadnought's lands near where Helena crashed down with it's partner. Bringing up the flame-thrower, it sprays flames towards the fallen Bat, looking to engulf Jason in flames, even as it's moving to dodge Helena's attack.
——
"Blackbird? Well, it keeps the needed angst, at least," Jason calls back. He doesn't know Batgirl is down there, or he'd say something about her, likely. He watches Cassandra curiously for a moment, before the explosion goes off and he grins to himself under his helmet.
…Then the flames are coming. He curses loudly, releasing enough profanity to make Catwoman want to ground him for a decade. He leaps back with a skilled move, tucking in and rolling back to end up skidding behind some cover. As he is moving through the air, however, his hand releases a handful of very small balls, somewhat like bbs. They hit the floor and roll under the attacking robot. He glances over it to see the area he was in awash in flames. He whistles and reaches into his utility belt, withdrawing a little handle with a button. "…Aaaaand boom goes the dynamite." He hits the button, activating the concussive explosions in the tiny balls. They seem small…but they add up!
Catwoman engages Masque in a graceful exchange of fists kicks and claws, growling as she takes another swipe at that mask, only to see Batgirl come flying into view, and for the gun to appear soon afterward. "No!" Selina gasps as she leaps to wrestle that gun away from her, or at least send the shot off course.
Cassandra watches Jason's trick with the next dreadnaught, briefly, but her main focus is on the fight with Catwoman, Madame Masque - and now Batgirl.
'Stay Away' be damned, guns are at play now, and Batgirl's life is on the line. Even as Madame Masque is drawing the gun, Cassandra is already running headlong into battle. She will deal with the consequences later. She throws one of her batarangs as she runs at Madame Masque's knee even as Catwoman is trying to wrestle or push the gun's aim away as she charges, fully intent on taking Madame Masque on herself.
"Oh, bite me!" Helena calls back at Jason, ducking under the cover of her cape to protect herself against the flames. It probably saves Jason from getting a tongue stuck out at him. Or rather, saves Helena from sticking her tongue out against her mask.
As Jason loses his marbles (again), she takes a running leap up the side of a container, claiming the high ground once more and spinning to see where things are at. Which means seeing Catwoman, Cassandra, and Batgirl dealing with the woman in the mask. Her eyes narrow, trying to place anything about the woman that might help.
There is a look of satisfaction on Batgirl's face as the dreadnought stops moving, circuitry crackling at the twin-pulses of the electric charges, and then that water soaking and dripping into its chassis suddenly expands as it is frozen by the second round of batarangs.
She hurriedly flips away, which proves prescient as the machine explodes seconds later, bits of metal bouncing off the hallway walls as deadly shrapnel. Batgirl lands in the cargo hold, her back to the other fight she wasn't aware of, wasn't able to see from further down the hallway where she was.
The sound of the masked woman's comment causes Stephanie to start to whirl. She doesn't even really get turned enough to see Catwoman's dive towards the gun, or to make out the source of the voice. They are only vague shadows still in need of visual focus when the sudden whip-crack of the gun going off is heard.
The blond-haired Batgirl crumples to the ground.
The woman with the golden face only gets a moment to gloat as she wings a Bat. "One down." she starts to say, when Cassandra slams into her. Between Selina and Cassandra, there's trouble there, the woman knocked down for a moment by Cassandra's attack, but she's trying to limp to turn to face Selina, and goes for her gun that the woman knocked away - just a second too late.
Up on the deck, the shots heard by the pair there, just as the explosions go off around the dreadnought. It stumbles back several steps before falling down into the cargo hold and slamming into one of the containers. But it looks like it may get up here in just a moment.
Not if Jason has something to say about it! He has no idea a Bat just got shot (He'd have words about that if he did! He might not know these people, but he's the only person who gets to hurt someone in a cowl!) He leaps out from behind the cover and races across the deck, falling to his knees. He skids the last several feet on his armored kneepads, sending up a few sparks as he ends up at the edge of the hatch.
Jason pulls a small box from his utility belt, and attaches an odd block of…play-doh? "SHOWS OVER FOLKS! EVERYONE OFF!" With that he hits the timer and drops it into the hold, watching as it fastens to the container beside the robot. That…will cause a very tasty explosion in about three and a half minutes. "WE HAVE THREE AND A HALF MINUTES IF THIS SHIT WORKS RIGHT! GATHER THE WOUNDED AND GET BACK TO THE BELFRY!"
He leaps to his feet.
Catwoman cries out "NO!" Once more as the shot goes off and her subordinate crumbles, her eyes flaring up with rage as she attacks Madame Masque alongside Cassandra. Catwoman kicks the gun away as masque reaches for it, and moves to make another swipe for her when everybody freezes. Catwoman cranes her neck to just *stare* as Jason makes his announcement, and very softly mutters, "Oh my ever-fucking god."
Language.
"Out! Off! EVERYBODY OFF! RIGHT NOW NO QUESTIONS GO!" She makes a grab for Cassandra's wrist and barks "You too! Move!" just in case the kid wants to stay and fight - which, if Batman's right about her heritage, may or may not be hard wired into her DNA - making a run for Stephanie to sling Batgirl over her shoulders and move as fast as possible back to the jet skis.
Cassandra sees Stephanie crumple nad inside her cowl her eyes go wide, then narrow to slats. Her movement towards Madame Masque is direct, and sudden, like a serpent striking. The hand slams into Masque's shoulders and Cassandra takes a step back, still poised, watching with some grim satisfaction and fury for her fallen teammate when the muderering wench finds out she can't use her dominant arm any longer …
… except then she's grabbed by the waist by Cwtwoman, the orders given. She looks back once at Madame Masque, chuffs an irritated sound but helps Catwoman move Stephanie as quickly and safely as they can, heading back to those jetski's.
Helena bites back a cry when Stephanie goes down, leaping across the gap between containers to start in that direction before thinking better of it. She grimaces when Jason drops the heavy explosives, but there are more important things to work with right now.
Letting out a sharp whistle, she cranks the volume on her voice modulator to reach him. "Hey, Big Bird! We've got wounded over here!" Because frankly, he's better equipped to carry Steph out than anyone else is at the moment.
In the meantime, though, she's leaping down to get to Batgirl's side, already pulling out a cannister of wound-stopping spray from her belt. When Selina gets there, she reaches a hand for her wrist, trying to catch her eye. "Three and a half minutes," she says firmly. "I'll get them out, you get the evidence before it's ashes."
Too many years armchair quarterbacking these missions have at least taught her how to keep her head.
Batgirl isn't moving as she lies on her side, body partially curled up. There's a lot of blood, soaking her left arm which is on top, and also across her torso on that side. There are two very obvious wounds on her upper arm that stop bleeding once the spray is liberally applied. It's tougher to spot a wound on her torso with so much blood there, so another heavy application of the spray is probably warranted given that ticking time bomb.
Tick tick tick.
Down in the hold, Madame Masque watches the heroes leave.
And she smiles.
She reaches down and takes a phone from her hip, and lifts it in her good arm. And she presses a button. After a few rings, there's a click.
"The diversion was successful." she says into the phone, as the heroes are heading off.
"Then you have done well." says the voice in response - another female's voice. Then there's a soft word.
And the Madame Masque that is on the ship disappears into the darkness, heading deeper into the ship.
Jason assumes he is 'Big Bird'. Honestly, he's been called worse things. "On it!" He seems pretty proud about the decision to blow the ship up, honestly. He turns around and breaks into a sprint. Even though he is fairly armored (And easily the most physically muscled of the non-Batman Bat Fam) he moves with surprising speed and grace.
He tucks and rolls and leaps until he arrives at Batgirl. He glances at Catwoman and Helena. "A blonde one, too? I got her. Get out. I'm not gonna be the one who blows up my mom. Though God knows I've wanted to blow Blackbird up a few times," he growls. He crouches over her, speaking softly through his voice modulater. "I'm on your side, even if Bats and Catwoman say different. Relax. I'm getting you out of here." He does a quick check-over her form, using his first-aid skills to register her wounds and how he should and shouldn't move her, even though she's been sprayed. He isn't taking chances. He scoops her up as if the blonde weighs nothing, and he cradles her against his armored chest. "GOT HER!"
With that he carries her from the hold, sprinting towards the Bat's escape ship.
Catwoman stops and squints at Helena for just a second before she gives an odd look, one part affect and two parts irritation as she taps Helena on the nose with one finger and says "No pressure." Before she wheels around to head back… and sees Jason.
Grunting sharply with surprise,Catwoman bares her claws and grits her teeth, like a feral cat protecting her young, before feeling a moment of pure confusion at what Jason says. She doesn't have a lot of time to think about this. The slightist confirmation from Helena causes Selina to reluctantly move past Jason, sparing him a subtle glance as she passes.
Hah. He called her mom.
NO TIME FOR THAT! Selina very quickly scans for whatever's at the corner of 'most intact' and 'most carryable', and moves to make a grab for it and dash back to the jet skis as fast as possible.
Cassandra follows with the others, all the while keeping an eye on Stephanie - if another person dies because of her? … one that is her friend? She couldn't live with herself. Ever. She will not be leaving Stephanie's side until she's truthfully assured Stephanie will be okay.
Helena takes the rear guard position as Jason carries Stephanie out and Cass stays near the other girl. She's still safe, still uninjured, and still fully armed, so anyone who tries to interfere with their retreat is going to have a problem.
Stephanie remains unconscious for some time, at least well past their return to the yacht. Examination of her will find the armor-piercing bullet punched through her arm and out the other side, slowing enough that it was stopped by the heavier body armor on her torso, though she has a few broken ribs on that side.
With the Bat-clan clearing the ship, the Captain of 'The Wandering Drake' hits the alarm klaxon on the ship. There's nothing they can do now, except abandon ship. As the few crew members help each other to the liferafts, and at the 3:30 mark, as Jason predicted, a massive explosion rocks the cargo hold of the ship. It starts a major fire.
It's not enough to sink the ship, but the massive blaze will get rid of most of the evidence that they were after. On one of the life rafts, a woman glances up with blonde hair towards the flames, and her lips set in a thin line.
This is the opening move. The Bats know about her now. And they know what she can do.
All is as planned.
In the harbor, fire boats and Coast Guard start to approach the ship as the Batyacht looms in the dark, waiting to be reloaded to get out of the area.