Summary:Batgirl and Koriand'r stop some bank robbers! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Bank Robberies are difficult in the modern age. With so many cameras in a city, so many silent alarms, cellphones. Nearly limitless are the ways a robbery could go wrong. Long gone are the days of simply marching up to a bank, waving a weapon around and running off with sacks of cash. And, yet, there are still people who believe they have the perfect plan to outsmart security and law enforcement. A sure thing. Sometimes they're not far from their targets.
In a particularly audacious plan, the group of bank robbers involved in this event have stolen a tanker truck full of gasoline destined for a gas station in Brooklynn. They have managed to bring it into Manhattan and gotten it jack-knifed against a tour bus filled with sight-seers. This wasn't what they had paid for but it has instantly become a trip they hope to be able to remember for years to come.
In the frenetic excitement of getting fire, rescue and police to the scene, the group of robbers, all dressed in their Wall Street finest, plus their stylish nylons-turned-masks pulled down. Their support group had already bypassed the alarm system so that any emergency alerts will faily to reach their intended destination. And so the robbery begins.
Barbara was at the main branch of the NYC Library system troubleshooting a network problem when she caught the accident over emergency frequencies. It's great having high tech earrings to keep her in the game. In just a few minutes, Batgirl is swinging her way across the cityscape toward the dangerous scene. It's just a block from the bank robbery. But who will determine the two are related, if any one?
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, I just… we can't process loose bills," the teller says to Kori. She looks genuinely uncomfortable— and a little embarassed at her discomfort, partiuclarly with how sweet-faced Kori's expression is. Wholly innocent. There's a large pile of slightly crumpled ones and fives in a cloth knapsack on the counter between them.
"But this is my tip money!" Kori complains.
"Yes, I know. But we've got policies about, um, large numbers of bills passing through the branch, and these are all in…" The teller looks down. "Rough condition."
"Oh. Oh!" Kori brightens. She's in a denim skirt, low wedges, and a loose-fitting yellow tanktop with intricately embroidered floral print. "Yes, the money is dirty! I understand! I shall take it home and launder it! Is this what you are hoping?"
The conversation's prepared to take a sharp wrong turn, and that's precisely when the robbers pour into the bank. They charge in and one levels a gun at Kori's face.
"On the ground!" he orders.
"…Why?" Kori asks in that same sweet voice, looking genuinely perplexed.
In fairness, the question seems to give the robber pause for a second!
Aaaaand and alien Princess trying to deposit money and/or discussing laundering said money before hand are the sorts of things that a bank robber just cannot plan for. If those things happen, it's time to just pack it all in because fate has completely conspired against a successful robbery.
Robber #1 stops and stares at the redhead with confusion. It did throw him off his game. Lucky for him, Robber #3 has entered and appeared beside Robber #1, lifting a large caliber pistol to aim at Kori's forehead. "Because if you don't, I'm gonna turn your head into a canoe!" And to show he means it, he uses his thumb to cock the hammer back.
But what of Robber #2? And Numbers 4 and 5? They entered and fanned out throught the lobby area. Numbers 2 and 5 have subdued the guards and are using their own cuffs against them already.
#5? In addition to a smart looking powersuit with dress pants, she has moved to the bank manager and is having quiet words with her. Of the sort that imply little patience and great expectations of cooperation. Or people will be hurt. Badly.
Batgirl is just arriving at the accident scene. But it's bothering her. Fuel tankers are on the hazardous materials transport list. They're not allowed in lower Manhattan simply for this reason - a huge risk to far more people than could be safely evacuated. Dropping down to a hotel's awning across the street she studies the scene. The driver of the truck is over near an ambulance getting treated for minor injuries. But it doesn't add up. As almost an afterthough, she taps her cowl to lower the enhanced optics and takes a picture of the driver's face and has the Bat Computer run it across the database of known criminals. It may take a few moments but it's better to be safe than sorry.
While that search runs, she looks to the scene and where she may be able to assist.
"My head would make a poor canoe," Kori tells the robber, sincerely. "It is not very large, /or/ buoyant. And you are very hefty and would require a canoe of substantial size."
Then a hand slaps up and grabs the guman's weapon. And fingers. And hand. Kori squeezes and bones crack while metal screams and *snaps* inside her grip. The robber shrieks in pain and manages to get in the way of his partner, just in time for Kori to disarm the man with a flash of her hand and then punch his collarbone. An ineffective move for any serious martial artist— but she cracks the bone squarely and he faints from the pain with a muffle squeak. No one does *anything* with a broken collarbone. Even breathing's a big ask.
"Do you surrender?" she inquires of the first robber. Her grip tightens a bit more.
Yeah. Robber #3 was all talk. And now he's blubbering like a child, face ashen from the pain of having a gun merged into his hand. He's already collapsed to his knees and is just mumbling, "ohgod!ohgod!ohgod!" But he's nodding vigorously to affirm he wants so very much to surrender.
#1, was always a light weight when it came to pain. Passed out at the sight of a paper cut before, his cohorts would readily share some other time.
But #5? She looks to see the rebellious customer who has taken their team down by 2/5ths. "Hey! Redhair! keep it up and this pretty lady? She's got three kids. They're not going to see her alive again if you don't do what we tell you. NOW!" She's got the manager in an arm grab, wrapped around the woman's throat, her own gun aimed at the left temple of her hostage's head.
Robbers #2 and #5 rise up slowly from securing the guards, weapons aimed at Kori.
A block away, Batgirl is about to announce herself and offer aid at the accident scene when the ID search pings in her cowl. It displays the criminal record for one 'Harrison, George X.' Grand theft auto. Extortion. Armed robbery, attempted. Armed Robbery, accessory. Known accomplices list: many. But the search helpfully tags that a half dozen of those accomplices have been spotted Manhattan - today. The Internet of Things strikes again. Robbers can't drive around town with their masks on or they'll attracked premature suspicion after all. And those shady characters are all wanted for common crimes - Robbery. Armed Robbery. And the nearest bank is only a block away.
"Yeah. This is no idiot trucker who took a wrong turn in Albuquerque." Firing her grapple off, Batgirl propels herself high over the street and swiftly toward the bank. It has to be related.
Kori shifts to face the mastermind. She exudes relaxed tension— not slouching or defeated. Ready. Like the best fighters, all whipcord and ready to explode into motion in any direction.
"Then you will die immediately afterwards," Kori assures the woman with utterly unshakeable confidence. "It will not be fast, and it will be unpleasant. Murder of an unarmed civilian is most 'the bad'," she says. She's… almost /scolding/ the woman. "I would be honor-bound to punish you accordingly. I have been studying some historical techniques for punitive torture. You're such a very delicate race," she says, almost sadly. Fire burns in her eyes, green as jade and fading out her iris and pupil until her eyes are nothing but luminous sclera. "The difficult part will be keeping you alive. Like… the pulling of wings. From a fly."
She floats six inches off the ground and starts a slow but deliberate drift towards the shooters. "You will need to make up your mind quickly."
The problem with being a criminal - as opposed to being a supervillain - is that thinking outside of the box of simple humanity is rarely one of their strong suits. With only three of them left, it's not going remotely like they scripted it. Meddling kids and all that.
Number 5 is scared. But stubborn. She shakes her head. "You can walk away right now and no one gets hurt. We only want the cash in the vault. We don't want to kill anyone!" It's almost convincing. At the same time #2 and #4 turn their weapons on Kori. They look very unsettled and twitchy!
meanwhile, Batgirl has arrived outside, finding what appears to be a bank security guard blocking entry to the bank for anyone wanting to go inside. And another person in panel van parked out front. It has no company logo, no plates, and it's running. She drops down near the 'guard'. He hods his hand up, surprised of course, "Sorry, uh.. Batgirl.. bank's closed right now. Security review is underway."
Looking past him, she asks directly. "That's not proper proceedure. And why are there so many customers in there. You know. The ones I can see pointing guns at everyone else?"
Cheese it. Caught. The fake guard tries to pull his weapon. Too slow, he gets an armored fist to the teeth for his failure. Then a knee to the stomach followed by two fists striking the back of his head and felling him in place. Turning to the van, Batgirl lets loose batarants into both right side tires. They burst into an oozing adhesive foam that melts the tires and begins to bond them to the asphalt in an instant.
"I find this very unlikely," Kori says, matter-of-factly. "You came here armed with weapons designed specifically to kill someone. Had you arrived empty-handed, I would take such explanations in good faith."
She keeps floating forward, eyes blazing with light. "You have a dilemma and the horns of which you are straddling," she says in that strangely accented diction. "If you do not intend to kill her, I have called your bluff and you should surrender. If you do intend to kill her, then there is nothing standing between you and an agonizing death but the pulling of that trigger."
She looks at the robber's companion, and her eyes flare. Abruptly he screams and drops to the floor, wailing and trying to hide behind his own clothing. Whatever she's doing is utterly invisible to the naked eye; but it's easy to feel skin warming just from the indirect energy being poured onto the man as she bombards him with UV radiation.
"Imagine your flesh crisping, and fat boiling on your bones as your innards cook," Kori suggests, her lyrical and sweet voice a weird constrast to the topic at hand. "I have no desire to deal with the workings of paper that would accompany your death, but as I said— I am honor-bound to execute assassins and… thieves." Her nose wrinkles. "Had you declared formal war, I would have gladly stood by while you gained your goods through right of conquest."
Oh this is not going according to any plan now. It's so far off script a flow chart couldn't recover it now.
Number 5 looks in horror at Number 4 who is promptly wetting himself. Everyone hopes that's all he's doing for that matter. Number 4 drops his weapon and kneels hands up. "I surrender! I surrender! Don't cook me! Please don't cook me!"
At that moment Batgirl enters the bank and looks at the hovering redhead and the apparent robbers who are in no condition to be doing much of anything. But the one seems to be quickly, er, burning. Or cooking. Calmly she addresses Kori. "Stop whatever you're doing to him. Now." She's ready for a fight if she must. But she really doesn't want to. This got a very long way out of her league. Fast.
"Why?" Kori asks Batgirl. It must be her favorite word. She uses it a lot, and she seems to use it sincerely. But something in the vigilante's voice prompts cooperation, and the man stops rolling back and forth and simply writhes in agony on the ground from his pink-hued flesh.
She transfers those fathomless green eyes back to the last combative criminal, focusing the intensity of her presence on the woman. Fire still licks along Kori's arms, and her hair whips up and around behind her like a living serpent of coiling red locks. "Your allies are defeated, and you are outnumbered," Kori advises the woman. "Will you persist? Please say yes," she requests, pleadingly. "I would relish the opportunity to school you in the art of consequences."
She puts a hand to the side of her mouth and mutters at Batgirl: "I mean 'I would enjoy' relish, not 'pickle' relish," she adds.
"And it is a school of metaphore, not an /actual/ school." She giggles. "Can you imagine such a place?"
Batgirl watches almost in astonishment. First that Kori listened but then to the fact she seems quite content to harm the last robber who has managed to avoid it till now.
"Because you're more powerful than they are. There's nothing they can do that would hurt you. If you're trying to be a heroine, you can't give in to torture. It's wrong." Returned schooling. "Stop it" she insists again as she starts walking brazenly toward Number 5, who really wishes she were someplace else getting a real sunburn right now, not an alien-induced one.
Batgirl looks to Number 5. Drop the gun. It's over."
Whether it was Batgirl who convinced Number 5, or the pain just got to be too much, the weapon clatters to the marble floor and skitters away. In an instant, Batgirl has Number 5 separated from the bank manager who is sobbing in terror and relief. Zipties are applied to Number 5's wrists and ankles and she's left unceremoniously on the floor.
Looking to the flaming redhead, "You should probably get out of here before the police arrive. They're not going to think you're one of the good girls looking like that.." A wry smile is offered. Then again she should get out, too. She's not exactly on speaking terms with Manhattan PD. or Staten Island for that matter.
"Looking like what?" Kori asks, befuddled. She looks down at her attire, then up at Barbara. "Is there something wrong with how I am dressed?" She sighs heavily. "I will never understand the customs of your clothing rituals," she mutters in complaint.
Kori glances over her shoulder, then nods once at Barbara. The fires in her eyes die and her skin returns to a less luminescent shade of orange-gold. The woman retrieves her bag of money from the counter and slings it over her shoulder. "But your assistance was noted, and I am the grateful for it. I trust that you will ensure this woman receives the justice assigned by your law," Kori tells Barbara. "If not, I will be happy to execute her anyway. It is the least I can do," she offers modestly.
Batgirl pause. "Just…" she gestures vaguely. "most humans don't glow. Or float." She shrugs. "They'll all get what the law demands. They'll have their day in court and get a fair trial. More than they were going to offer anyone here I expect." And with that the sounds of sirens are heard drawing closer. Someone's finally noticed the robbery; or Batgirl sent it in to the dispatchers. "I'm Batgirl." She offers something of a smile to Kori and moves with a sense of urgency torward the exit now. She doesn't care to get cornered inside by the boys and girls in blue.
Outside she offers, "I'll wait for a while atop the Federated Building to make sure everything is wrapped up here. If you like, you can find me there." And with that she fires off her grapple and quickly ascends away from the bank, making her way to the indicated sky scraper's top floor.
Kori flies off into the air with a faint streak of green light and her hair whipping in the wind behind her. SHe finds the top of the building fast enough but is at least polite enough to wait for Batgirl to swing up and land before she hovers over the hot asphalt roofing.
"You are Batgirl?" Kori asks, eyes bright with excitement. "Oh, the joy! I know Blackhawk quite well; she is a friend of mine," Kori tells the shorter redhead. "I am Koriand'r," Kori explains, touching a hand to her chest. "I am an ally of Batman and his friends, and I lead the Young Avengers. I am most pleased to meet you! Your reputation as a fighter is well earned," she assures Barbara. "Had I known who you were, I would have deferred to your expertise."
Batgirl makes her way up to the towering building and settles easily, her cape fluttering down behind her. Stowing her grapple gun, she nods. "I am." She smiles> "Well. The first one. I've got a… protege' also known as Batgirl these days." She then tilts her head, "Koriand'r. Yes, I've heard them speak about you. The Young Avengers is an admirable group. You all do very good work." She then laughs. "Well.. Bats have no special powers, really. So we have to develop what we do have until we're better than the criminals we round up." She shakes her head. "I'd not have expected you to defer. Other than hurting them. I.. can't accept something like that. Meet force with appropriate force. But if we're going to be the heroes, we have to stop the moment they yield." To her that wasn't happening. But it wasn't the ideal way to encounter a new ally to be sure. She walks closer, "You did good in there. Really. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job." Even if she kinda was.
"Yes, I understand your primitive moral conflictions about the use of deadly force," Kori assures Batgirl. "I do try very much to accomodate you. But it is dishonorable to use lethal threats against an unarmed civilian is it not? And it is, therefore, appropriate to use the force needed to stop her decisively?"
She grins mischeviously. "This is a conversation I have had with Blackhawk several times, and we have never come to consensus on the topic. My people see culling assassins as a public service. But, this is your world," she acknowledges. "I should try harder to respect your primitive customs."
Batgirl considers. "I can see why." About Blackhawk. "Part of it? We have to use our instincts to know when the threat is just posturing or bluffing. And when they really mean it. I don't think they would have killed anyone unless pushed too far. But I could have been wrong. You were in there longer and you had a better sense of their behavior. Regardless, thank you. I didn't pick up on the robbery till I got to an accident a block away they arranged as a diversion. The tanker truck wasn't full of fuel. It was a water truck they retagged as a hazardous carrier. NYPD and FD would never have gotten to the robbery in time to stop them if you hadn't arrived there first. I'd probably have arrived as they got away or right after, myself" she admits.
"Oh, I didn't arrive there intentionally," Starfire assures Batgirl. "I was attempting to exchange my tips for more convenient bills," she explains. Once again her bag opens, revealing crumpled small-denomination bills stuffed into it. "I do my banking with a Union of Credit, and they have never complained about processing my tips. But this bank acted in a most suspicious manner!" she protests. "As if they expected I am not trustworthy, or my money was not welcome. I /earned/ this!" Kori looks… insulted!
Batgirl ahhh's in understanding. "Well it was a convient coincidence that you were there." She then tilts her head, "You're the leader of the Young Avengers but you're waiting tables? I'd have hoped they would give any of their agents, or at least the leader, a fair stipend at least…" She's surprised at that really.
"Waiting… tables? I wait for tables no more than anyone else," Kori says, looking quite befuddled. "On Fridays, it is very hard to find a restaurant for eating at. But you are correct; Batman has offered us a generous stipend for our services," Kori says. "My friends have told me it is not honorable to live on the largesse of others. I agree with them. I work in my 'off time' to secure my own means of income," Kori explains to Batgirl. "I am grateful to the Batman for his aid, however. I hope he does not think me ungracious. I have learned I cannot be dependent on someone else for money. I dependede on your government for a long time, and when that assistance ended, I had no moeny at all."
Batgirl begins to sense this is running off the rails quickly. She smiles. "nevermind. But yes, being able to take care of one's self is important. Though I can promise you - Batman does NOT think you're ungratefu or ungracious. If you're being paid for your work with the Young Avengers, you've absolutely earned it." She offers a smile then shifts topics, or tries, "I've not had the chance to meet or work with many heroes with powers. Staten Island is pretty.. mundane? I guess you could say" she observes with a laugh.
"Most of the Young Avengers have 'powers'," Kori agrees. "I believe Blackhawk can turn invisible, and pass through shadows. Rose insists she is quite human, but my Health class at Midtown suggested anyone who consumed as much alcohol as she does would die of acute liver failure."
Kori frowns pensively. "I think perhaps Ironheart is human. She wears that advanced full-body prosthesis," she says, gamely.
"If you are ever in Manhattan, you'd be welcome to join us in our enterprise of saving lives," Kori bids Batgirl. "We endeavour to do good as best we are able. And as you know Blackhawk, you are ably situated to join us!" Hands clasp over her sternum and she hops in the air, once. "Oh joy! What fun this will be!"
Batgirl listens curiously then laughs softly. "I don't tend to get this way often. Definately not often in the daytime. Bats tend to do their best hunting at night after all" she quips. "But - thank you for the invitation. If I ever need help over this way I'll certainly get ahold of the Young Avengers." She holds out her hand with a small ear piece. "If you ever need to reach me, this uses a radio frequency I monitor. The battery will last indefinately - until you need it. Or, you can always contact me through Batman of course." She smiles. "I should get going, Koriand'r but it was a pleasure to meet you and see you work."
"Oh! Yes, the ritual exchanging of earpieces. This is a custom I have observed," Kori explains. She removes her own earpiece and hands it to Batgirl. "Let us consider this a pledge of friendship, friend Batgirl," Kori advises the woman. She hovers in the air again. "It was a pleasure of mine to meet you! Farewell!" Kori advises Batgirl— and with a blast of green light, she arcs into the air like a comet fired from Earth!
Batgirl laughs lightly. "Yes. It is an odd thing, ear pieces. But it works for those of us in this sort of work." She then offers a nod and a smile. "I'd be pleased to consider you a friend, Koriand'r. Have a safe day—* " she stops and blinks as the alien woman all but blinks out at light speed. She shakes her head in admiration. And a little envy, then turns and leaps off the top of the building, arms spread out as her cape catches the wind and she glides for several blocks to a unseen maze of alleys where she can disappear and, shortly, Barbara Gordon again returns to her place of work.