Summary:Calendar Man helps a trio of supervillains escape from Ravencroft - can Blackbird and Black Bat stop them in time? First Appearance: Penny-Two (Julia Pennyworth) Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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The Fourth of July in most of New York is a time for family, cookouts, and celebrations. And of course, while the rest of the City is taken a day off, fire doesn't.
Because fireworks.
Which is what is going off right now outside one of the walls of Ravencroft Institution - where those supervillains are kept that are usually reliant of gadgets or suits in order to have powers - and not, you know, naturally super-powered.
A small crowd has gathered outside the wall to watch the explosions over the harbor as the city celebrates another year of Independence. It was drawing oohs and ahs, until one of the mortar rounds goes up into the air, and when it comes down, it slams into one of the guard tower walls, exploding in a brilliant flash of light and color as the tower is taken out, and above, a helicopter, marked as belonging to Hammer Industries (They'll totally claim it was stolen later) flies in low and hovers over the yard.
Opening the cargo door is a figure that's dressed up like.. well.. patriotic vest of red, white and blue? check. Stripped pants? Check. Goatee? Check.
It looks like Uncle Sam. Those that are able to notice may see the JFMAMJJASOND that goes around his head in a tattoo.
"Ravencroft, it's time to celebrate your INDEPENDENCE DAY!" calls out Calendar Man as the helicopter hovers. From the other side, another door opens, and on this side, is a woman dressed in what looks like a Betsy Ross dress with an exagerated corset that pushes up her.. well, hills of freedom. Liberty Belle. And next to her is a man that's dressed as a Revolutionary Solider in red, white and blue garb. The Spirit of '76. They start throwing out fireworks and sparklers to distract the guards and sow panic as a large crate is lowered towards the ground.
The police waves are already calling it out. "All units, be advised, possible escape attempt at Ravencroft. All units, please respond!"
Helena was going to just enjoy a holiday. Some fireworks. Some BBQ. She even went over to a friend's place to enjoy their pool. But when the alert goes off on her phone, sets down her soda and waves a hand to Cassandra. "Sorry, Kelly," she apologizes to the host with a small smile. "Dad's got a thing, apparently. Didn't know until now. Have fun though!"
Then it's back to the car, where the bag in the trunk holds costumes for a quick change. "The dorkiest, weirdest bad guys you could come up with are trying to let out the ones who are actually dangerous," she explains to Cass, tossing the phone in her direction to show the live TV footage as she pulls on her suit in the driver's seat. "Ready to go?"
And then they're roaring along the back roads, on their way.
Cassandra Cain - silent bodyguard to Helena Wayne. Also, the experience has gotten her out of Wayne Manor and interactiong - more or less - with other people, condusive to acclimating her to more social experiences. But, as 'Dad Has A Thing' comes up, Cassndra merely turns to follow Helena out, escorting her friend, her 'sister', out, and she changes into the Black Bat quickly, effortlessly before she is along for the ride to Ravencroft.
This is all very new to Julia, and she's not entirely comfortable with it. You see your dad for the first time in nearly two decades, a Thing happens and then you need to take over his job…
Penny-Two's British accent comes out over the Batcomms. "// It isn't bad enough that you have to go an celebrate bloody treason, your icons for it are ghastly. It looks like one of the Ravencroft inmates is staging a breakout with some assistance. " There's a pause as she pulls up the file on him. " Calendar Man. Really. Well deal with him today, should be safe until Labor Day? //"
"Bastille Day is the 14th." That would be Batman's voice on the comms as he works to bring a bit of calm to the group. "Blackbird, Black Bat, can you handle this?" he asks, as he's already starting to deploy. "Penny-Two, deploy the plane to my position, it will take me about ten minutes to get there at top speed."
The Bat is woefully out of position on a mission in New Jersey. It's up to the two young women in the field.
Taking out what looks like a roman candle, the three villains in the helicopter continue to fire down on the guards as the crate hits the ground.
As the prisoners run over to it, one of them looks at the contents. "What mechanical mumbo jumbo is this?"
One of the prisoners - the word 'Toomes' on his jacket pocket, smiles. "An early parole." he says, pulling out his Vulture gear and starts to deploy it. "Octavias!" he gestures to the crate. "Something in here for you too!"
The Doctor, who had been sitting on the side in solitude, suddenly sits up. "They are here?" Of course they're here. He can /feel/ them. It takes only a moment, and the four armed exo-suit bursts forth, coming to life as it races towards the Doctor to reconnect him.
This is starting to get a whole lot more dangerous.
"To be fair, the only American icon I want to see on the Fourth is Uncle Steve," Helena asides over the comms, a faint smile quirking as she takes a corner hard. The car seems to change as she drives, pieces and colors shifting until it's definitely not Helena Wayne's car.
She keeps an eye on the news reports as she drives, grimacing when she sees more prisoners breaking away. "Should probably tap in on the Spider-Comms. Better than even money that Spider-Man's not out having actual fun today. We're on route, Batman," she adds as the car comes up closer to Ravencroft, skidding to a stop by the gates.
"We're…seriously going to need some air support here."
Plane, plane, plane, where would.. oh! "Your organization is bloody awful, dad." Julia says to herself as she queues up the Batplane and sets the autopilot to Batman's position.
At the same time she's tapping into Ravencroft's security feeds, bringing them up on-screen. The computer starts to identify the various threats. "// Someone on the outside is rigging this. We've got a Hammer Industries chopper making an airdrop and the shot that took out the tower was too strong to be your normal firework round. Betsy Ross, Liberty Belle and Spirit of '76 knockoffs from the air. Vulture and Doctor Octopus just got their gear. Roger the request, Blackbird. I've got drones en-route. //"
AIr support needed or not, Black Bat emerges out of the car, and moves swiftly to engage, headed towards the exploded tower and the breech. She is not waiting for Blackbird.
The black figure moves, fearlessly through the debris and chaos and begins to immediately put down a few of the initial inmates trying to make an escape, moving through them seamelessly, and flawlessly as she makes her way towards the airdrop.
"We've got Bats!" calls out '76 to the others in the helicopter.
"That's just unpatriotic, then." Calendar Man mutters, as he turns to aim that roman candle at Cassandra as she races towards the airdrop. He starts to fire, and as the brilliant balls of light race towards Cassandra - they explode with the force of a grenade, attempting to flash flame and blast the silent Bat as she tries to get into position.
Vulture stretches his wings, feeling them power up. "Yes. Yes!" he calls out, before he glances at the box, and notices one more item. A battery?
Toomes considers it, and then takes to the air, racing across the yard towards a figure that has his hands wrapped up in steel encased rubber. "Hey Dillon. Ready to make a night on the town?" He places the battery against Dillon's head, discharging the contents.
Matthew Dillion's eyes flash to life, crackling with the electricity he was just fed. "What a charge." he says with glee, feeding and using the electrical jump-start to break his bonds and start to draw in the electricity around him, causing the security cameras and lights to flicker.
Liberty Belle glances down at the ground nervously. "They got there stuff, can we go now?"
"Just a moment longer, Libby!" calls out Calendar Man. "We haven't reached the grand finale!"
Helena pauses as things start to escalate, looking for the most efficient option for stopping some of this chaos. But it's a lot of chaos. Step one: handle what you can handle. Popping the trunk, she reaches in to pull out what looks like a grenade launcher. Of course, this being a bat family operation, they're not…actual grenades. Just tear gas.
"Black Bat, goggles up," she warns Cass as she sets it on her shoulder and fires a few shots into the yard to keep any more ground-bound prisoners from getting into more trouble. And then she takes aim at that Hammer helicopter and the ridiculous figures inside. "This one's for Captain America."
Cassandra has just enough time to put on her goggles out of her utility belt before she sees the incoming flares from above, and she's dodging out of the way, shielding her eyes from the blast and just out of the way from the explosive radius. It definitely set her progress back, however.
Blackbird seems to have the helicopter in her sights, so she takes position, whipping a batarang at Dillon's head, even as she charges straight for OCtavius, heedless of those addtional 4 metallic arms he's presently equipping.
Drones are deployed from the nearest Bat-stash, their feeds coming up on several of Julia's monitors off to the left. The plane is off to the right. The feed from Ravenswood occupies the upper bank of monitors while the one in front of her has dossiers of the bad guys. Of which number 6 is about to be added. "// Running facial recog on the knockoffs. Worst-case they should be mercs. //" Well, if they're just actors then it might be worse, because then they won't *actually* know what they're doing.
"// I'll tag the strays for the GCPD to pick up. You lot are gonna have your hands full with the costumed crowd. " The computer beeps, finally adding #6 to the list and Julia's voice cuts through the comms again. " Bollocks! They just powered up bloody Electro! That's gonna play holy hell with things. //" In a digital age, electricity is your greatest strength. And weakness.
As the batarang flies at Dillon, the man raises his hands and a crackle of electricity escapes, catching it in an electromagnetic grip. "Tsk. You're playing with /power/ little bat." he says, but it's not Cassandra he aims at - she's too close to attacking Ock. Instead, he turns and sends out a burst that ripples along the ground, tearing it apart as it comes up on Blackbird and attempts to shock the fire out of her and short the grenade launcher.
Click - Octavias hisses with content as his arms connect - just as Cassandra leaps at him. "NO!" he yells, and all four arms whip around to strike and parry at the woman as fast as she can hit, swinging at her to send the Black Bat off balance.
The tear gas grenades are going off around the yard, and they are highly effective. The guards are starting to rally, using bean bag and rubber bullets to try to bring the riot under control - and the helicopter is filling with gas as it spins around wildly and crashes into the yard.
Calendar Man crawls from the wreckage, his hat knocked off, and goatee askew. "We helped you, now help us!" he calls out to Vulture.
"Sorry, buddy. Not the plan." Vulture responds. "Electro, Ock, time to go! We have a Rhino to get!" As the drones start to arrive, Vulture sends out his wings, whipping them around and sending razor-sharp pinons at the drones to try to tear them apart.
On the good news side — they don't appear to be staying around to fight?
As the electricity burns along the ground toward Helena, she…simply braces herself. "Among the many things Mom always said were a girl's best friend, I never expected electrical insulation to be one of my favorites," she notes, watching the real trouble start to take the skies.
There's no sense in trying to track Electro, but she fires off a few micro trackers toward the Vulture and Ock. Better than trying to take them on right now, at least. "You know what would be really great right now?" she says, firing a few grappling lines across some of the damage to the fences as a makeshift barricade. "Some of Spider-Man's cement webs."
There's a difference, Ock will find, between fighting Spider-Man, and the Bat. Some, of course, are obvious. Black Bat doesn't have any of those infuriating webs, or perhaps Spider Man's mobility. She doesn't even have his suped up resiliance to sustain her against one of his hits.
But, somehow? She does seem to have his odd ability to dodge his attacks. It's not that she is familiar with fighting people with metal arms - but, she can tell the location, speed of incoming attack by his body lanuage of his true physical self. And that speaks volumes.
The Black Bat is 'gone', seeming to have Spider Man's tenacity in evading Ock's attacks, and move with beyond-human speed, but she's simply reading him in a way no one ever has, or could again most likely.
She tosses two more Batarangs at Ock's face, knowing he will use his arms to try and block them (or, he'll be head-whammied), and she moves in with speed, and awareness of the danger the eight-armed villian presents with something that Spider-Man doesn't have. Knowledge of some of the most dangerous martial arts in existence. It's just a matter of getting close enough to take Ock down.
As Vulture's pinions go flying towards the drones, they take evasive maneuvers. One ziggs when it should have zaggs and goes crashing down towards the yard. Another takes a glancing hit, the pinion still sticking out of it and causing it to bobble a bit in the air, but it stays aloft.
"// Calendar Man and his muppets should be taken care of. PD is moving in on them. I'll have Limpy keep an eye on them and update you if that changes. //" The bobbling drone weaves its way over towards the wreckage to coordinate the observation of those baddies. Their dossiers on Julia's screen grey out as she marks them as not a threat.
"// The terrible trio are lookin' to scarper. Black Bat has Ock engaged. Blackbird, on Electro. I'll see about grounding the birdie. Batman's ETA is… //" She trails off as she glances over at that screen while she directs a pair of drones to fire netting at Vulture.
"Ock, switch!" comes the call from above. What does Electro mean? As Cassandra gets in on the inside of Octavias' arms, Electro turns and sends a massive blast of electrictity out. It surges through the metallic arms, not affecting the grounded human within, and creates a web of electricity within those four arms that are arched around Cassandra.
It's the world's largest bug zapper - it was going to be used on Spider-Man.
Perhaps it will be just as effective on a Bat as well?
As Calendar Man groans, realizing that they are basically trading the three of them for the three villains they are freeing, grabs a roman candle launcher - and he turns, sending a blast at Helena's back as she's making the barricade.
Vulture slices through the nets that are being deployed and gives a snort. "You'll have to do better than…" and that's when he notices the silhouette of the Batwing, closing in fast. "Time's up!" he calls to the others. Turning on his jets, Vulture races skywards to make his escape. Electro dives into the nearest powerline to make his escape.
After trying to fry Cassandra, Octavius extends his arms to leap over the wall to try to escape from the prison as well - the arms running on automatic pilot.
"Time for the grand finale." Calendar Man groans, turning to pull out a pistol from his pants. Aiming it skywards, he fires it, and when he does, it arches skywards and then /explodes/ in a massive burst of light and sound that turns the Staten Island evening into noon - and the followup EMP pulse fries ever non-shielded electrical item within the prison. Fortunately the doors will hold.
Helena would have been in place for the roman candle, except that when she hears Ock and Electro setting their sights on Cass, she's already on the way toward the other girl. Outside the masks, the game may be that Cass is Helena's bodyguard. But in the masks, Helena feels responsible for the other girl. It's a new thing, given the role she's always had with the other sidekicks, but she's not going to let a couple of creepy old dudes get one over on Cass.
She wheels on one foot, tugging at her cape even as she makes a running start and then flings the cape toward Cass. It's insulated as well, and if she can get it there in time, may offer some help.
Cassandra sees the arms come down and doesn't read the threat - not until Helena is flinging the cape - which Cassandra understands the benefits of, and she grabs it, immediately wrapping it around herself, an insulating herself from an attack that could have come close to killing her.
But, so shielded, it does leave her vulnerable and prevents her from taking out Ock at the opportune moment. Some sacrificies have to be made. And, she will certainly thank Helena later, in her own way.
Back in the cave, there's more swearing as the Vulture cuts through the netting. "// Oi, you're gonna need better wire mesh if you want to contain psychopaths. //" Julia, oh-so-helpful.
The initial cursing is followed by more as Electro makes for his escape. "// Damnit, Dillon's getting away! //" Before the SRR agent can bitch anymore about that, Calendar Man, who she had *just* taken off the board to concentrate on the higher-profile threats fires off that EMP. The drones feed stutters and goes dark as they fall from the sky. The cameras Julia is getting feed from all go dark. She's blind. The Bats have no backup. Because she didn't make sure Calendar Man, freaking *Calendar Man* was well and good off the table. What a cock-up. She lets out a scream of frustration, punching the desk.
Back at the prison, the guards are finally getting the upper-hand as they are driving back the remaining inmates, and Calendar Man and his two henches are being pulled into custody. Landing at the gates, Batman is out of the Wing, making his way towards the two women that were down. There's concern pulling on his features, but he has to school it. He's their mentor.. not their father at the moment.
"Blackbird, Black Bat." he asks for their response, glancing off where the three villains got away to. That will have to be dealt with later. For now - he has other worries.
He refuses to let Jason happen again.
"We're good," Blackbird reports without hesitation, though she's not thrilled with the escape either. "Need to send an apology to Spider-Man and a heads up that things are likely to get weird again, but it looks like Electro, Vulture, and Ock are the only ones who made it out. So that's something."
Although despite her initial report, she's already heading over to check in on Cass and make sure the cape did its job. "Maybe some costume upgrades," she adds with a faint, wry smile.
Black Bat huffs, and looks around, her own body language, stiff and precise, suggests she is extremely aggrevated at the outcome. Blackbird's cape is handed back to her with a succinct nod of gratitude. She looks back to the chaos a moment, then starts to walk off, headed to leave. Afterall, there's nothing left to do here that she can help with.
All's quiet from the cave. It's not like Julia can bloody do anything from here. Gritting her teeth she clears the screens and starts to bring up maps. There's bad guys out there to track down. Bad guys with the power to cause chaos and death. Time to get to work.