Rumble in the Urban Jungle: Part II (Closed)

[Batman]

OOC: This thread is a coninuation of a unfinished thread from the old board. it can be found here:

comicsfun.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dcarchive&action=display&thread=2031&page=1

Any surveilence, no matter what its technical intricacies or myriad complications, comes down to a matter of patience. All the high tech gadgetry in the world is nothing without the fortitude to wait it out. Fortunately, patience is a trait I've long taken pains to develop within myself. So it is that I can remain unmoved even as I watch the fight before me, patiently observing the two as they struggle against one another, keeping my other senses peeled on my surroundings to give any sign to other matters afoot. Matches Malone is fairly well trusted, even this far from Gotham, but I never make assumptions about the protection offered by a cover. Any disguise, no matter how well formed, can be cracked by the right mind.

And of course, thats not even considering the respective covers of these two. I'm well aquainted with the cover Dinah is using, but I don't really know anyhing about Katarina's, though given her history with the Birds of Prey, I imagine it would probably make for some interesting reading...

I'm just considering the possible backhistories she might have used when I hear a snippet, just a snippet within the conversation around me. A single word that raises my pulse rate, and sets everything slightly on edge.

The word is 'traitor'.

I've heard people describe eidetic recall under the title 'photographic memory' for as long as I've been aware of the phenomona. I can't say I've even been particularly fond of the analogy on which the phrase it based. True, i can recall the exact physical composition of anything I come in contact with...but thats really only an aspect of what I can do.

For just a moment I close my eyes, closing out the rest of the room and all their noise as I focus on the word itself, the inflection that the speaker use, the direction it came from. Slowly pulling the rest of the statement from my memory, drawing it forth like tape from a cassette, filtering out the extranious until I have exactly what I want to hear. I think Cllark believes this sort of talent requires some superhuman skill....but its really far simpler than he chooses to believe, even if I don't have the advantage of superhuman hearing to help it along.

The phrase comes out as 'It doesn't matter if the blonde traitor wins or looses, she's going to dissapear after tonight,' words spoken by a seedy looking man near the front seating, talking to his two bodyguards.

I don't react outwardly as I consider the words, careful to remain fully as Matches Malone, even as a part of moves to full alert, ready for the action I know will soon be nessecery. Katarina is compromised. Without my or Dinah's intervention it seems unlikely that she'll live past tonight.

Soon, very soon I'll have to act...And I'll be ready for that.

Casually, I let my eye wander around the arena, noting the placement of people and objects, going over the next stage one intricate step at a time, allready laying out a plan in my own mine for how I'm going to proceed, for what must be done.

[Black Canary]

((OOC: I apologize for the shortness of this post, but I am specifically setting the scene for the next part of the plot.)

Katarina figures it out quickly, calling me Canary, but keeps the act up, like pro she is, and taunts me for more.
Good. Even with limited communication here on center stage as we are, I'm pretty sure she's on the same page as me.
I smirk at her grandma comment, her chin out just begging for the uppercut I throw flawlessly, knocking her back.
I follow up with a hard push to her shoulders, to help the momentum of the upper cut knock her to the mat.
The crowd shouts anger at her fall, no doubt wanting a better show, some of them egging me on to 'finish her', though I try to blow that off by acting pumped about a victory.
It seems my show, to keep attention on me, and not Katarina, was rather unnecessary, as I jump on the ropes of the make shift 'ring', everything goes dark.

[Katarina]

Katarina sells the punch like a pro-wrestler, stomping her foot just as Canary's blow lands, and she throws herself back on the mat tp smack her hands hard just as she lands, to make the impact sound that much more solid.

She twitches for a moment, then is still.

It seems a fitting exit, for as her character leaves this little drama, the lights go out as the victor leaps on the ropes.

[Batman]

Just as soon as the victory blow is landed, I put my own plan into action, nudging back against the cold steel of the power box smoothly, 'accidentily tripping the lights.

In the first second after te black out, Match is gone as I raise up, straightening to my full height, tucking his glasses away and stepping fully into the role of Batman, even as I might appear outwardly as just a man. It is what remains inside that matters.

In the second moment my foot lashes out with a high kick, knocking the thug who stood near me unconcious before he can get near to the breaker. I know from my own recolleciton that there is at least twenty more seconds of darkness in the room before any other guard can make there way here, and with as much noise as the crowd is making, I find it unlikely that they'll accomplish that.

I reach into my briefcase, pulling out a grappling gun from its concealed hiding place, pointing it exactly at the skylight is know is there, visible by the dim light of the moon outside. A single pull of the trigger and I'm whisked above the crowd, to directly above the ring, even as a crash rings out, and safety glass sprinkles down on those below.

I lower myself quickly to the matt, dropping to beside Spy Smasher and picking her up under one arm before I zip back up to the skylight and out onto the roof beyond.

I Dropping her roughly there as I turn back to the skylight, dropping a smoke bomb into our exit point. Yelling 'Fire!' into the dakrness before I turn back to her, keeping my face in shadow as I speak harsh words in a tone I know she'll recognize. Hoping that the darkness will hide some degree of my disguise. I'm going to have a hard enough keeping this identity from beign compromised without her linking it to me.

[shadow=black,left,300]"You were careless Katarina. That very nearly got you killed...Next time I might not be there to save you."[/shadow]

Moving quickly, I pick up my briefcase and start to move over to the edge of the roof, looking down at the crowds steaming from the place. Knowing that it will be a good ten minutes before the criminals below get things under control enough to organize a search of the roof. By that time we'll be long gone. With luck the mission won't even be seriously compromised.

[Black Canary]

I hear the crowd panic in the dark, screams, bones breaking.
Dammit!
If I lose Katarina now, I may never be able to find her undercover again...
She looked like she was in pretty deep, I bet she has blueprints and inside knowledge, finding her is a real break for this case.
As well as getting her out of the way before they kill her.
I still don't know what they did, but she was tossed in this ring in no shape to fight, and they were hoping I'd really do some damage on her.
But, all of that is lost in the dark now.
I stand still, not moving, so I don't get caught in the swarm of lost people knocking into each other in the dark outside this ring, and I listen.
Something happened here. This black out was intended...
But I don't know what or why.
A moment later, something lands on my head, and there's a call of FIRE! sending the panic around me even higher, the ring really the only reason I haven't been tossed around in all of this.
Whatever hit me, landed pretty hard, and I hear a hissing and feel something showering on me.
Instantly thinking Chemical, I cover my mouth and nose with one hand, and with the other I grab what hit me, to notice it's a smoke bomb... only further proving to me this was planned action. But to what end? There seems to be a whole lot more going on here than just the first illegal things I see.
That, and there's no real fire to be running from. I let the blind masses stampede, not inclined to join in.
When the lights go up, Katarina is gone.
I hope she made it out on her own... Something was going down here, and she seemed to be neck deep in all of it.
But I can't worry about her now, I still have my own cover to keep, and I'm being yelled at by a guy now demanding to know where my opponent got off to.
I shrug,

[shadow=yellow,right,600]Hey man, lights went out on me to ya know?
Right as I was gettin' ready to deliver that last blow.
You find that bitch when the chaos is over, I get a rematch![/shadow]
I stalk off to the showers, playing my role, ready to pack up and get out of this place for one day.
Of course, covered in smoke, I need to actually shower before I get out of here.
Most people left in the chaos, so I have the entire locker room to myself.
I put the smoke bomb in my locker, while I shower, and curse the fact that regular soap doesn't cut through the smoke very easily.
But, I get clean enough to get home to finish the job.
I look in the locker room mirror, at my raven black dye job and grin.
I wonder what Ollie will think when I get home...

[Katarina]

The lights go out, and Katarina is back on her feet in a moment, prepared to act. She knows there must be some kind of hero-team working here, though noone told her anything, and that ticked her off some.

"Are they looking for me? Is someone else?" she asked herself and she peered around in the darkness. She could feel people scrambling around, and could hear the tell-tale sounds of people getting beaten by someone very competent. That could be Canary, but there's not the appropriate sounds she would expect.

Then the skylight is gone, and a shadow descends on the ring where she is standing. It scoops her up and deposts her on the roof. There's only one person this could be, really. He hides his face from her, and for once she doesn't try to find out his secret. It would be so easy, and so many people would pay so much to know who the Batman really is. She could write her own ticket if she just took a step or two in the right direction...

But, no. She doesn't do that anymore. Let them find out their own secrets.

Still, he calls her reckless and chides her that he won't be there next time to save her.

"I didn't ask for you and your friend to butt into my operation." she hissed. "I had everything under control!"
He was pushing her buttons, but maybe that was the point... to keep her off-balance and angry so she wouldn't concentrate on absorbing details about his appearance?

The Bat bagan to walk off, and she followed automatically.

"Where're we going? There are a good dozen people down there that the FBI would give anything to have in custody. You don't know what's going on down there. We have to stop them." Katarina stage-whispered to his back. But, still she followed him. It just seemed right.

[Batman]

Typical. I don't even have to say anything, and Katarina is following me off the roof, using the usual laundry list of excuses and rationalizations for why she didn't need my help. I've heard it all before. I ignore her for the most part, stepping beind the roof access door to strip Away Malone's cheap suit, revealing kevlar/nomax weave body armor beneath it, quickly changing from a disguise to a reality.

The costume I'm donning now is a special design, created speciificly for undercover operations. Lighter cape, collapsable cowl, less durable armor. Not quite as high on protection values, but more than effective enough to deal with knives and small arms. More than sufficient for the current needs I have for a disguise.

Once I'm properly attired, I store Malone's clothes in the suitcase, and then click a certain combination on the side, activating its failsafes and turning it into a quite effective flashbomb. Never can be too careful...even if I'd prefer not to lug around a briefcase in the current situation. Speaking of which...I turn back to Spy Smasher, directing my comments towards her more directly now, less concerned with hiding my identity.

[shadow=black,left,300]"Situation is this. Black Canary, you, and myself were all three involved with this incident independent of each other. Our overlap saved your life and maintained her cover, but it very nearly got us all three killed. It is nessecery that we all be on the same page so we don't further endanger this operation. I am going to go meet up with Canary to do just that, what course of action you take is entirely up to you."[/shadow]

I move to the edge of the roof, ducking low to avoid being seen, looking out over the now mostly vacant lot, most of the viewers having allready fled in haste. The Harley I spy gives me a pretty good idea of where Canary will be heading out from though. Its parked close to one of the employee exits, under bright influence of a streetlamp. A batarang covers that fairly well, shrouding the alley in darkness as I drop down from the roof, repeling with the aid of my grapnel and leaving a line for Spy Smasher to use if she chooses. I meanwhile sink into the shadows of the building. Waiting patiently for things to die down, and Canary to emerge.

[Black Canary]

I try to towel down, but the amount of smoke I couldn't remove with regular soap, makes that a sticky process, so I toss the towel aside and get dressed.
My cloths are meant to be casual for my cover persona: a pair of jeans, and a T-shirt that's solid black.
The contrast with the black hair, actually makes me look pale.
Not my taste at all. But it works for cover.
Grabbing the final item, a black leather riding jacket, I pull it on, putting the smoke bomb in the inside pocket, to keep it close, and grab a small shoulder bag, stuffing my ruined fighting uniform, and some personal items inside, before heading out.
Most people left in the chaos, the building's almost empty... at least in the main parts I can see.
I don't see anyone on my way out.
Coming out of the employee exit, I let out a curse, perfectly in character to my assumed persona:

[shadow=yellow,right,600]"Shit!"[/shadow]

They took out the street lamps too?
Instantly on alert, I move the shoulder bag to a less casual spot, leaving both hands free if anyone is out here in the dark, planning a surprise.
I walk carefully to my Harley, my hands moving quickly in the dark, my attention all around me, and not at all on what I'm actually doing.
I open the saddle-bag, and push my shoulder-bag inside, moving one hand inside to grab a weapon.. simular to a police stick, matte black, and only 12 inches in length, before I zip up the saddle bag just as quickly.
Someone is here.
With the bag disposed of, I stand straight, calling out to the darkness,

[shadow=yellow,right,600]"Alright. I know you're there.
So come on out.
I'm so sick of this hiding in the dark bullshit.
First the lights go out in the ring, and now you put my bike in shadows?
I thought this was a semi-professional gig.
If you got business with me, let's have it."[/shadow]

I thought I'd done a good job of keeping my cover in all this. Now I start to wonder.
Someone went to some trouble to corner me in the dark here.

[Katarina]

Katarina listened to the Bat's explanation, her head still reeling a bit from the chaos and the rapid scene changes. She blinks as he moves away.

"Wait, no... you're right. That operation down there seems too important to just dick around with seperately." she says as she follows.

She hangs back as they near the edge of the roof, realizing that she has nowhere near the stealth skills the Batman does.

"What're you..." but he's already over the edge. He doesn't seem terribly interested in clueing her in just yet. Which is fine, she's used to taking orders without knowing the whole story. She always does find out in the end, one way or another.

Katarina goes down the line he's left for her, going slow enough to be quiet, but not so much that he has to wait. She's a professional, after all. She's done all this before.

Once on the ground, she presses herself against a wall in a pool of dark, her eyes searching for the deeper darkness that will be the Batman. Surely he will give her a cue when he needs her to act. Until then she'll watch and listen.

[Batman]

I watch as Dinah prepares to make her exit, going through the motions with a systematic approach, right up until she pulls a tonfa out of her bag, and stands facind me in the darkness, daring me attack her.

Bravado was always one of her strong suits, but that sort of request is of the sort that Green Arrow would indulge, and then only to satisfy the odd chemistry of his and Dinah's relationship. Its certainly not an avenue I'm interested in approaching, particularly givent hat I've seen what she can do with a nightstick. An armored cowl won't protect one from a broken jaw.

Instead I speak from the darkness, low and dark, quiet enough to not try and attract attention. Hopefully keepin this matter between the three of us.

"I don't think that will be nessecery Black Canary...Though I would like my smoke grenade back."

Slowly I step slightly out of shadow, letting her see the familar shape of my cowl, the swirl of my cape, before I let myself be consumed in shadow once more, gesturing for her to come with me. When she's in ear shot, I speak again, more quietly now, keeping my voice level but gravely, making introductions.

"Black Canary, Spy Smasher. I believe you've both met...It seems we're all investigating the same matter. It would seem prudent to pool our efforts for the best result...Not to mention this would reduce the chances of damaging each others investigations further..."

The last is said with a slight sting of annoyance. I generally prefer to act alone in investigations, or using operatives of my choosing. It was certainly not my preference to have them dropped randomly into my lap. The net result of such random action, is that the plan as a whole becomes far less predictable, and the chances of sucesss suffer as a result. The best I can do now, is coordinate the action to ensure a better result than whats happened thus far.

[Black Canary]

I don't know what I was expecting.
Some goon beefed up on whatever shots they give out around here... Some suit trying to pressure me into those appointments...
A group of suits trying to force me into it?
I don't know.
But I do know, I wasn't expecting Batman's voice to grate from the shadows in his usual dark manner.
I grin wryly as he mentions his ownership of the smoke bomb, putting the nightstick back in the saddle bag.
If Batman is the one that cornered me in the darkness, I don't have much to fear on this roof.
He flashes his cowl from the shadow for me, to show just where in the darkness he is, motioning me to follow, and I do, without question.
When you've trained in the field with the bat as I have, you learn to keep questions for the proper time.
He pulls me around, and introduces me to Katarina.
I do wait for him to finish the introduction, but I can't hide the flood of relief that I get seeing her still in one piece.

[shadow=yellow,right,600]"Kat... Spysmasher. Good to see you're still breathing."[/shadow]

I hear the irritation in Batman's voice as he explains that all three of us seem to have stumbled on this case at the same time.
I let my concerned tone turn to pure business.

[shadow=yellow,right,600]"This must be one Hell of a problem, to drag you all the way out of Gotham.
Spysmasher's obviously blown her cover (and I hope gathered prudent information for this in the process) .
I still maintain my cover on the inside.
Tell me what you need."[/shadow]

I may be the Chairwoman of the entire JLA, but in an investigation like this, away from the team escapades, I give total leadership to Batman.
He taught me everything I know on being a detective.
He's got the seniority on this one.