Summary:Regrouping after a few hard days, Batgirl and Samurai make plans. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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With the dome covering Staten Island, Batgirl had scrambled her resources. Or rather, Oracle had. Within an hour or so of the incident, there'd been a functioning 'command centre' setup in an apartment in part of the unaffected area. With an entry of a back street and roof top access as well, it was perfect for a Bat to get in and out of without drawing attention to themselves.
Now, a day or so later, the command centre has functioning comms and computers. Not linked to the Bat Computer of course - that would be dangerous with allies using the facility.
It is here that Batgirl has come after her patrol tonight - or rather, early morning. The sun is just starting to peak over the horizon and shadows are fleeing. It's been a night for the redhead and then some.
The dome has played hell with power and communications on the island. The city has been re routing what it can but it doesn't help that a lot of connections and conduit are just… gone. Cell towers are better but power is a persistent issue. There have been few refugees because everyone in the affected area is stuck there, unable to remember that they SHOULD be refugees. That does not include Ken Harada but it does include two of the companies he oversees and that had been an interesting conversation with home.
At the moment Ken is at the command center, watching news - the coverage has been continuous even though there hasn't been much of note quite yet. Both blades are over his shoulder.
"Have you heard from your friend?" He asks as Batgirl arrives. He means Barbara, whom he has not heard from since the dome went up.
Batgirl looks at Ken when she enters, leaning against the door as she does. "Hello to you too, Silver Samurai. I'm well, thank you for asking." With that hood on, he can't really tell where she's looking.
Behind the mask, she's smirking a little. Interesting the first question he asked was about Barbara.
"You look well. And yes, I have heard from her. She wasn't caught in the barrier. Do you not have a contact number for her?"
"I do but with the cell towers out very little non emergency traffic is getting through." Babs has probably noticed that. The Samurai turns to face the Batgirl. He looks like he has had better days. Or better nights most likely. It doesn't look like he's… slept much since the incident. He probably hasn't.
"You are looking well as well. DO we know anything now that we did not know when the field went up?"
Batgirl looks at Ken when he turns towards her. "Scratch that. You look like shit. You should get some sleep before you leave here. Do I need to tell Oracle to look the doors so you will?" He might be able to tell that she's not joking either.
"And thank you. Nice to know the suit isn't too battered, then."
"A fair bit actually and I'll let our friend know you were asking about her. Maybe I can arrange a tete-a-tete for the too of you." She's teasing him. And badly.
"A bit, yes." She answers the next question and gestures. "Oracle bring up the briefing that you recorded from SHIELD the other day. You can watch that as you doze off. Basically, we need magical protection to get into the area and keep our memories. SHIELD were given several and they've been given out." They might be able to get their hands on them.
"From what I'm seeing from SHIELD reports, the entire area has been transformed. Buildings have been transformed or just gone … and no one has any idea what's going on."
"While I would enjoy that, it is probably not the best idea, though I should find a way to contact her and let her know that I am not trapped." Because Kennuichio figures Babs might worry. And so she might if she did not already know what his situation was.
"I am somehow not surprised. Eurayle promised to bring forth a new world and she seems to have done just that. She will fight to defend it and naturally we must try to take it back for the sake of all those trapped inside. However we must also take care that she does not expand it. And I am quite certain she would like nothing better than to stretch that dome of the entire city."
"She knows, Samurai. Much like you, her first thoughts were of you." Hard to tell if the redheaded Bat is making fun of Kennuichio. "But she would like to hear from you, you are correct. She asked me to give you a location that you might find her." Babs had thought long and hard on revealing the Clocktower, but had decided against it in the end.
Ken has probably heard rumours that the Clocktower is occupied and the inhabitant very reclusive. "There's a small cafe just down the street from the old Clocktower, she said to tell you she can found them most afternoons, having tea."
There's a nod at Kens observations about Eurayle, the woman pushing off of the frame and folding in a chair. It's possible he'll notice the stiffness in her movement - like her back is annoying her. Then again, he might not - that suit of hers is really quite good.
"I can't help but think we stopped the dome going over all of the Island by destroying what crystals we had identified. I'm sure she would like to expand her area and I'm all for stopping her. You'll go in with me? We need to find how she's anchoring this … effect."
"Then I shall visit her, if indeed she will maintain that habit while the island is in such a state." He wonders if she has a place to stay. Likely. He is pretty sure her home is outside the bubble. Woe betide those for whom it is not.
"I would go in with you if we had a way to deal with the memory altering effects. Do you have such a way?" Because he is no mage. "I have heard that SHIELD has some work around. Perhaps they might be willing to share it." That is, if a crime family can play nice with SHIELD. He doesn't say that, thankfully.
"I said that SHIELD had something. They might share them with us and I understand that Avery and Agent May thought of us at the briefing the other day." Batgirl speaks quietly, the modulator changing her voice enough that it shouldn't be recognisable. It's probably a good thing he doesn't say 'crime family' because right now, that's not likely to go down so well.
"Which reminds me, your Bat communicator has been updated. It will can hook into the SHIELD comms for the island." Will SHIELD work with a crime family? It seems so - it's almost like they know the Bats are force for … good.
"She has to eat, Samurai and she has to work. Even with the island such as it is. People are asking about loved ones and some come to her. You should speak to her about it, if you see her."
"Do you think we could start to extract people from the affected area? Or is that going to cause us more problems?"
"I do not really think it practical." Kennuichio says as he strokes his chin. "For starters they'd surely resist, having no memories. We'd have to kidnap them. And then there is the fact that there will be tens if not hundreds of thousands, possibly millions in there. We cannot get enough to make a difference and trying will surely draw the attention of the creatures there."
Some, he assumes, are being ruled and used for labor. Hopefully none are being used for food. That's not a fate he would wish on anyone.
"I expect the tunnels under the city will give way to cave systems past the barrier. That will make the island dangerous as we could be ambushed as we move at any time."
"I didn't either. It's not just getting them out - it's where to put them when we do. At least in there, they appear to have some shelter and, I assume, food." Batgirl nods. "At least one SHIELD team has made it a priority to check the tunnels and I believe that there are people from M-Town offering resources." She doesn't say 'mutants', but that might be obvious.
"Do you wish to make contact with Agent May and see if they have some magical protection you can use? I think our priority should be on finding the anchors."
"Yes, I can do so." He has Agent May's contact information though he will have to choose in what guise she is contacted. It's not like he CAN'T be found out but thus far Agent May has only seen him in the mask and he might want to keep it that way.
"While I am not a magical expert I suspect the anchors will be hidden behind layers of security and obfuscation and entrusted to particularly loyal confederates. At least, that is how I would do it. That means that locating each individual one and then acquiring or destroying it will likely be a challenge in its own right, especially since we shall have to do so in small groups."
"Correct." Batgirl answers. "We're not even certain if the anchors on the surface or beneath it. Which makes our work that much more exciting."
Exciting. She would say that, wouldn't she?
"So we need to shake down people in there or make ourselves such a nuisance that they send their most trusted after us." She's no magical expert, not by a long shot, but people - maybe creatures - she can manage.
"They will be wherever the guardians are." Ken sighs. "Which complicates things. I have no doubt based on what we have encountered thus far that we are dealing with quite a wide range of creatures. Many of them will be vulnerable to cutting but if any are like the hydra the other night…" That was an unpleasant surprise.
The Samurai shakes his head. No point in worrying about it at the moment. "It would be more ideal if we found them before they found us. Because if they find us they might bring people that we want to save and send them against us. I do not doubt that some of these creatures have set themselves up as gods and demigods."
"As if it's not complicated at the moment." Batgirl snorts, the modulator mangling the sound. "So we shake people down, subtly. Can you be subtle, Samurai?" She seems to enjoy tweaking his nose. "We know that technology won't pass through the barrier, so we have to go old school. Salt, cold iron, fire and acid. I'll ask Oracle to research other remedies."
It's her time to sigh and her head turns to the kitchen. The sun is starting to rise now and it's been long night. "We won't be able to combat all that comes at us, but if we're careful, we won't have to. I think I know some places we can start talking to people."
"I am a samurai. I am a master of subtlety." It is really difficult to tell if that is a joke or not. Ken maintains an utterly straight face when he delivers the line. Perhaps that is so subtle it can't be properly identified as a joke?
"Where are you thinking? The landscape in there will, I imagine, be much changed. And the people won't know much." So where has she divined that is likely to still be relevant based on her knowledge of the city that was.
"Of course you are. That's why you slice open locks when you have a perfectly good resource at hand to do it for you." Batgirl answers, rising again and starting to pace.
"The landscape has changed, this is true. And people have been changed based on how they see themselves for the most part. There is most of the SIPD trapped in there and I'd start there. In the area that the copshops were in. Now, some of those police won't be heroes, of that I'm sure - but they'll be the type to have connections."
Her head turns to the Samurai as she paces "And then there's your people that are caught in there. Go through your HR files, find out about them - we go look them up too." Or, you know, Oracle can do the reviewing if Ken wants.
"I am also a master of efficiency." Ken continues smoothly. He folds his arms and cants his head to one side to listen to what's going through her head. He has to admit that's probably as good a lead as they're going to get without actually going in there.
"Most of the HR files are IN those buildings, which means they very likely don't exist anymore. The vast majority of them will be common office workers. Common American office workers. But I can think of two who might be 'someone' in there. Maxwell Sonders, the head of research for Entech International, and Rebecca Caldwell, COO of Prime Holdings Limited. Both of them are motivated, skilled and proactive. I do not doubt that will have translated to a position of some influence. The trick will be finding them. If the towers still exist in some form that may be easy, but they might not."
"Suspicious types that you employed as well, Samurai. Motivated, but not in the way to help the business, but themselves. It's likely they'll have found a way to work the system in there and know the connections."
Batgirl might have been thinking about this, or she's just quick on her feet.
"That is indeed the trick but what else are we going to do? Until we go in, we have no information or very little and we know where these places *were* and the character of certain people. Would it hurt to act like the masses in there and find out?"
"I do not employ any of them." The Samurai says, spreading his hands. "I simply oversee their businesses. The Yashida Family employs them. Indirectly, I suppose you could say." But yes, fair enough. "I will see if there are any suspicious types. In a companies that large there's bound to be some. Unfortunately the offsite HR files are probably slightly out of date." But better than nothing. Right?
"In any case I do not think there is much else we can do. We must be on guard for parties of… monsters and criminals exiting the affected area. They may try to expand the dome, though I hope they do not have the resources for such at the moment."
"Oracle?"
"Yes Batgirl, onto it. I'll see what I can pull from archives. That might take me a little while. Like an hour or two." the VI answers through the suit speaker. "Unless you want to Silver Samurai, but I think you'll be better off getting some sleep. Like our caped crusading friend here."
"Very well, then. Contact Agent May see if you can get an amulet. I want to go in there this evening."
"I shall do so. After I have had a nap." The Samurai does look, as the expression goes, like ten miles of bad road. Though one suspects that phrase was coined before the advent of good suspension systems.
"In any case. I trust you will not mind if I use the couch here for that nap?"
"I already said you should. Use one of the bedrooms and there's toiletries in the bathroom if you want to shower. Maybe I should tell our friend where to find you …" She's teasing again.
"I'm going to get some sleep myself and some food. I'll bring you back food and coffee, if you like. In a couple of hours. Oracle? Don't let him out until he gets a few hours, ok? And I appreciate it, Samurai, if you don't slice my locks."
"I shall try to remember that." Samurai says amusedly. He turns to head upstairs. "Coffee would be good. Tea would be better. I will see you in a few hours."
And then they will have a woman to see about an amulet. For monster hunting. Yes. This is an entirely normal thing…