4047/Don't blow up my city!

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Don't blow up my city!
Date of Scene: 12 March 2018
Location: Gotham City
Synopsis: The Bat crew deal with an arc reactor overload.
Cast of Characters: Batman, Alfred Pennyworth, Nightwing, Batgirl (Cain), Robin (Wayne), Deadshot, Constantine Drakon




Batman has posed:
    The world's media grows and grows. Every day there is a new avenue of information, a new stream of data that must be surveilled, and new factors to calculate what might be a threat and what might not be. But the Batcomputer does a good job of it, with the aid at times from Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon. It draws in the data that it's fed and shunts it to different points for consideration. Most of them are little more than small bits of interest. A possible hint here or a clue there that ties within five degrees of information to known criminal activities...
    But every now and then, fairly rarely, the Batcomputer comes upon something that sets off the alarms. It comes across all of their systems, a crimson alert that flares to life and unless they have their communications arrays set to silent then they'll hear an alarm as well. The stream of data is clear, it comes from the Gotham Times updating their most recent article about the crew of scientists and construction workers attempting their latest effort at the creation of a smaller scale Hadron Collider to be created in the depths of the Stockton Technologies building...
    But when that website updated, a supposedly candid photo was uploaded and when the facial recognition algorithm ran through it two faces were marked out for the crimson alert. There they were in the background, part of the crew passing behind the scientists while a brief shot was taken of them. The stark severe face of Constantine Drakon, and Floyd Lawton.
    The Batman's voice is sharp on the comm freqs as he says abruptly in that controlled growl of his. Yet there's something else in that tone of his voice. Urgency.
    "I need everyone to the Stockton Tech building. Call out your ETAs as you get clear." And in the background others can likely hear the roar of the batmobile.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
     Alfred's soothing voice crackles out over the coms system rather suddenly. He's speaking in his usual deadpan tone as far away in the Bat-Cave he does his part to dust and clean up the Bat-Computer desk, with a feather duster. "I suppose that means I'd better put the roast back into the crocpot." His hand gliding across the keys as he sanitizes and cleans everything in sight to make sure it looks like brand new. "Seeing as how you've all decided to call in another late night."

Nightwing has posed:
    When last he spoke to Batman, it was the 'you are not special' speech. It isn't that Nightwing has been avoiding his erstwhile father and mentor; rather, he has been working on proving him wrong. He is only in the Batcave to report, reload and train with Master Dragon since.

    He was actually in Gotham returning from a meeting with Lucius Fox regarding a job. It went better than the talk with Bruce, but that is usually the way it works. He is in the Nightcar. He is so calling the boat the WingieDingy. As he adjusts his communicator, as Dick was using a private channel to speak candidly with Barbara about something, well the communications array goes nuts. Red lights, little buzzers. "Gotta go, Barbara. We'll light the police academy application on fire some other time."

    His own car doesn't quite roar the way the Batmobile does, but the throaty purr of the McLaren Formula 1 engine is gone, and it is the roar at of acceleration that replaces it. "Nightwing." He chimes in. "ETA five minutes." It's said quickly and succinctly. In the background, his radio can be heard, sounds like Chuck Mangione's 'Feeling Good', also the thump of him mounting the curb, and then downshifting as he executes a turn at entirely too fast a speed. He however, has no idea what he is driving into as yet; his eyes are on the road at these speeds. As he stops transmitting, Nightwing  taps a button to adjust the radio. 'The Cats and the Cradle and the silver spoon' o/~... "Are you kidding me?" 

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    There is the sound of an open line but no conversation or engine noises. A faint click is heard followed by a computerized voice. "Four minutes." Batgirl still prefers not to talk although she knows a few words. So her equipment was modified to allow a tap of a button to share the information in this way. It's an advance from the days when they had to rely on her trackers to know where she was. It still wasn't perfect but perhaps someday, thanks to Barbara helping her learn to deal with her personal challenges, she would actually answer the question in her own voice.
    On the rooftops, she changes direction immediately and starts in the direction of the facility in question. She leaps from a building, only firing the line after she has fallen two stories, the snatch of the grapple catching jarring all the way up her arm then she is arcing to the next buildiing where she tucks and rolls then runs across to the opposite side to repeat the leap again.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin had been on the other side of town, while beating up a couple thugs, he was calculating at what speed he would be able to get to the Stockton tech building. Eight minutes on the Redbird, five on other transport. After delivering two knockout blows, he takes out the whistle from under his tunic. A harrowing scree emits from the skull shaped whistle. The red bat dragon had been circling the city tonight, and Goliath found his master from the whistle.

  As Goliath lands with a thud, eating what seems to be a large fish, he snorts at Damian. "Yeah Yeah, it looks delicious. Eat it fast, we gotta get across town." Goliath snorts again, chomping the fish as Damian takes ahold of the reins, leading Goliath in the right direction. "Five minutes out, if Goliath hauls ass." He says on the batcomm.

Batman has posed:
    That rough voice on the other end of the comms replies, "Forwarding schematics. Work's being done in the basement. The equipment is set to go live in... fourteen minutes." There's a /ROOAR/ and a sound of rushing wind for a moment, then the Batman's voice comes through again loud and clear. Primary objective is locating Drakon and Deadshot, securing them and any other operatives they have with them. Secondary is locking down the research personnel and equipment."
    There's a short crack-hiss of sound on the comm and then a heavy thud of some kind of impact. "Getting multiple errors in the blueprints that were submitted for the facility at various points. Be ready for anything."
    But as the other heroes close on the tall fourteen story building with the elaborate basement system, they'll find it shut down for the most part and locked down tight. The hour is late after all, but heavy metal shutters have closed over the windows on the first few floors while above it there are no lights on at all. Possible points of entry might well be through the car port in the side, through one of the offices above, the rooftop to the emergency stairwell that runs the length of the building, or even the sewage system that would lead straight to the upper basement of the facility. The collider, according to the data feed of the blue prints, is on the fifth basement floor straight down.

Nightwing has posed:
    "Bottom line this for me. We looking at a potential singularity, or are we looking at a potential nuclear event?" Nightwing remains calm as he drives, though the engine noise from his vehicle is definitely louder. He grunts as he regards the schematic on his HUD. He downshifts, there is a tire screech, a rude gesture, then the hammer gets dropped on the engine. "Looks like we can go up to go down. Pop the elevator access with explosives and descend the fast way." His voice is unperturbed yet as he talks about the possible imminent demise of the city. "Can I get that verified?" He is way too busy driving to be scrolling through schematics. His engine is shifting up and down. he's in the back alleys of Gotham, driving like a Bat out of Hell to shave a few precious sends off his ETA.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Being on foot, so to speak, Batgirl opts for one of two directions. Office window or sewer. When she glances at the schematic as she clears yet another rooftop, her decision is quickly made and she pushes a button to shut down the imagery. This leap doesn't allow for her to arc back up toward the building. Instead, she pushes the button to lock the line in place, slowing her decent. Then she releases, dropping rapidly to the ground in an alleyway.
    At the manhole cover, she fires a grapple directly into it then pushes the button so that the circular metal cover cracks up with the power of the grapple gun instead of her physically having to do so. She could but it would waste time. Then she maneuvers it back to the edge and drops into the hole, pulling the cover back into place above her in the process. Landing on the ledge below, she fires up her nightvision and quickly runs in the direction of the building, flicking on the ventilator so that her breathing is not compromised by any gasses down here. Nor will she lose her lunch from the stench because--ew.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Goliath had made a good pace, he was rapidly approaching the building from the sky. "I can make an ingress from the roof." He informs on comms. Other than the necessities, he was mainly quiet.

Batman has posed:
    In response to Nightwing, Batman replies quickly but calmly. "Nothing of that impact." He states, but then there's a beat and he adds. "That I am aware of. We need more intel." There's a snap of fabric that can be heard on the frequency from Batman's communicator, then there's the crunch of gravel.
    "I'm forty seconds out from the Stockton Building rooftop. Going to descend and clear, you should be able to catch up with me before I push into the basement." That said his comm goes dead for a moment, the ambient sound around him cut off.
    Meanwhile, down below, Batgirl is closing the distance on the facility. She'll be able to navigate quickly to the external conduit from the Stockton building. Her nightvision will let her see the remote cameras that secure this approach, though she can deal with them fairly easily. But what might draw her attention, when she gets close to the entrance to the building, will be the sound of two voices as there are two gunmen holding that pipe-filled room, guarding against an approach just like this one.
    
    And just as Goliath is landing, that's when Batman seems to appear over the lip of that rooftop, his cape flared like the wing of a bat as he lands in a crouch then rises to his feet. A quick nod is given as he steps towards the door that leads down into the stairwell. He rests a hand on the door knob, tilts his head to the side slightly, then exerts pressure... until the lock gives with a faint click and he draws the door open. Into the shadows within he advances.

Nightwing has posed:
    "Acknowledged." Nightwing replies. "I am in vicinity now." as he says it, the roar of the engines can be heard as he approaches. he's gunned it the whole way. there is a screech, then a pause as it literally launches him out the roof of the automobile. His grapnel gun launcher goes off just before the apex of the gas powered launch from the car.

    His swinging ascent will not deliver him to the rooftop until after the others have entered though. As he moves, the car carefully drives a few blocks away, to go in 'sentry' mode, the rooftop hatch securing shut as the car drives away, and the license plate randomly cycling through a couple of its fake tags.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Tech takes care of the camera feeds with the press of a button. The voices are more of a concern. Batgirl has to turn off the nightvision as she approaches in the darkness, the light from the room ahead messing with the display and whiting it out entirely. She waits a moment for her eyes to adjust behind the mask, slipping out two batarangs in her left hand.
    An instant later, there is a shadow detaching itself from the darkness that had kept it hidden. A flick of her wrist and both batarangs fly. One takes a man in the temple, sending him crumpling to the floor in a heap. The other man had his finger on the trigger of his weapon. She couldn't chance it firing. The second batarang's sharp end speared the man through the muscle in his wrist so he wouldn't be able to move that finger. Before he could cry out, the shadow that was Batgirl reached him. A quick punch to the jaw followed by a second had him sprawling atop his fellow guard. She took the time to tie them both with flexicuffs and gag them. A quick search of their bodies for a radio or anything that might be used to monitor the bad guys and give them more information.
    And now it is one of those moments she hates. She pushes the radio and speaks softly. "Two down." That's it. They can figure out she's in the basement on their own with her tracker. It was a veritable monologue from her.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
     Far from the front lines tucked deep away in the safety and security of the bat-cave Alfred whistles quietly to himself while he works polishing the monitors of the Bat-Computer to give them that perfect crystal clear appearance free from the dust that so often collects on them. It was a lot of work keeping this place clean with all the square footage, but it was worth it.

     The song he whistles quietly to himself as the camera feed of the groups little adventure displays across the monitors of the Bat-Computer happens to be the theme song for M*A*S*H, Suicide is Painless. He's having a rather enjoyable evening with his cup of freshly poured hot tea set off to the side of the desk as everything seems to go to plan. "You'll be happy to know I've got visual coverage via satellite of the facility and am tracking heat signatures." He finally speaks over coms from high atop the massive ladder.

Batman has posed:
    Nightwing will most likely pick up the tell-tale signs of their passage into the stairwell and down. IF he times it right he might see the faint metallic flicker as a drone is dropped down to float silently through the center of the stairwell, down the fourteen floors as it scans the surroundings and takes thermographic imaging of the nearby areas. And as it does this they'll get steady data feeds that will pick out the details of the architecture around them and paint it upon their visors in electronic augmented reality.
    "Stairwell is clear. That's not like Lawton. Stay aware." Batman says before the comm clicks back out.
    But for the trio in that stairway it's unremarkable for now. The same cannot be said for Batgirl's approach.
    The two gunmen, each of them in what looks like construction worker gear with a hard hat and heavy flame resistant clothing, had small SMGs that were held loosely though ready. They only had a bare moment of a chance to recognize what was happening. One turning to try and bring his weapon up only for his wrist to sprout a batarang. While the other crumpled down to the ground at the impact of the other to his temple.
    In a handful of seconds she was on them, and then finished with them, moving further into the room and to the lone door that leads out. But it's a door that opens outwards and downards... into a large sweeping great room that must have taken over a year to create underneath the building itself. It's perhaps half the size of a football field, with a long oval array of magnets and electronic devices around its edge. But what might draw the eye more would be the group of seven men standing around the ten kneeling scientists who all have their hands on their heads, cowering at times when one of the gunmen gestures at them.
    "Please, you can't do this." The older man says as he keeps his hands on his head, "There's no way to disengage the ARC reactor after the countdown's begun, you'll end up destroying the entire length of the accelerator."
    But Deadshot shakes his head, "Explicit orders, buddy." The mercenary leans forwards, his one red eye in that mask glowing a bit as he holds his wrist pistol on the man. "We're on the clock. Nobody cares about your lil experiment. It gets busted, it gets busted."

Nightwing has posed:
    Nightwing has to delay at the start of his descent, purely because the other two are already descending the stairwell. Rushing in accomplishes nothing more than giving them away. oddly, it his presence the other two will detect and not footfalls. Nightwing creeps down the stairwells silently, and as quickly as he can without giving away noise. He adjusts his pick up, going subvocal. "Yeah. Smells like a trap." Nightwing agrees.

    "He considers taking another path, then forges on ahead, moving to get closer to the other two. Still silent. he adjusts the magnetized eskrima sticks on his back, making sure they do not stick out too far to catch on the metal stairwell.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Goliath had made a pass around the building, low enough for Damian to land on the rooftop. He nods to Batman as he follows behind. The whole thing was not to Deadshot's MO, and Damian was almost at a loss. "Definitely a decoy." Silent footfalls as well, seems Nightwing has been doing much better in his training. Robin follows along with Batman for the time being, Unless he's instructed to take an alternate route.

  The katana on his back unsheathed, and ready to attack.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    As soon as Batgirl enters the room, she flicks on the audio/video feed so that the others will see exactly what she is seeing. She scans the group below, making sure to get them and the hostages in the frame for her fellow vigilantes. Seven bad guys. Ten hostages. Deadshot is amongst the seven which means a costumed bad guy.
    She isn't supposed to engage costumed types without backup, as much as she might think she can handle them. In truth, this situation is precarious. They might kill hostages before she could take down all seven. Better to wait for the others. It shouldn't take them too long.
    She keeps to the shadows and hangs back, monitoring and palming batarangs in each hand in preparation. Or should she be noticed.

Batman has posed:
    Each of the team will see the moving silhouettes of the others, limned by the AR that depicts their locations through the walls. Cass will be able to see as the other vigilantes move in on that location from the opposite side while she has the further distance to go to close with the seven armed men standing amongst the kneeling scientists. One of the armed men seems to be working on a glowing and humming generator of some kind that's imbedded in part of that collider, his attention fully on that while the six others are scanning their surroundings.
    Deadshot then shoves the scientist who spoke up over with the heel of his boot and then gestures sidelong, "Alright, we're outta here in 7 minutes. You got all the notes, all the hard drives." A few of the men give him a nod and he then looks at the gunman working on the generator. "How much longer, Vince?"
    "Two minutes, max. Just gotta disconnect these two conduits."
    But as the team move in, Batman's fallen silent. He gestures towards Nightwing with one sharp chopping motion of his hand, indicating for him to go left, and then with an opposite gesture he indicates Damian to go right. He starts to move forwards himself. Over the comms they'll hear him say, "I'll take Deadshot. On my mark."
    Batman moves in further, the long curve of the collider helping to obscure him as he hunkers down near the side of it. There's a faint click that is the signal and once that's given... they move.
    But when Batgirl hears that click and perhaps starts to make her approach she'll see just out of the corner of her eye a shadow dropping down from on high. The slim deadly shape of Constantine Drakon falling towards her, the bright light from the rafters behind him even as he tries to land on her with a bone-shattering kick.

Nightwing has posed:
    There is no time wasted on agreeing to do as told. Batman is here, it his operation.

    From compartments, two wingdings are palmed. There is the click, and it is motion seamless, silent, elegant movement. Nightwing screens Robin, vaulting in past the younger man, his left arm throwing a weapon to pin one man's weapon, and the right throwing the other to do the same, before pressing a palm to the ground, and vaulting again, into a forward roll, to come up, to exchange blows with the third man on his assidned side. He is quick, and he is moving to take his side down with as little trouble as possible.

    if he has a fault, it is that he trusts batman to take down Deadshot. he cannot protect himself from the mercenary, and has faith the batman will do it. he has to, otherwise he cannot move with as much authority. He's fast, and that is the advantage he is pressing, moving with a speed to make a striking snake feel inadequate. 'Hey Floyd. getting sloppy in your old age." He chimes in, hoping to distract the mercenary. Again, it is that unquestioned faith in the batman, hoping to buy just a momentarily lapse in judgment. "How is your Ex-wife and my kid?"

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Just as Batgirl is starting forward, something warns her. She catches that hint of movement or the faintest of sounds. She can't even say what but she dives into a roll to the side, leaving the villain to land in the spot she just occupied. The batarangs are returned to her belt while she rolls. Coming to her feet, she spins to face him with hands at the ready.
    Immediately there is a blow that she has to block. And another. His movements are so fast that she is not really able to discern his movements before he actually is moving. She takes a kick to the head and staggers back, blocking the next kick with her arm and forcing the leg out as she follows up with a punch toward his face. Then she shifts her stance, firing a kick for his ribs.
    He moves to grab her leg and she quickly retracts it then fires again, this time at his midriff. He manages to block the blow then squares off with her, watching her through narrowed eyes.
    Cassandra forced herself to relax, to let her body do what it was built for as she kept her eyes on him to try an anticipate his next move. There. The tightening then he is already moving. She blocks and ducks backwards, shifting her weight and firing a roundhouse kick at his head. It connects with a satisfying crunch and he stumbles back.
    Now it was her turn to press the attack.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian breaks right, keeping an eye on the AR display in his eyes. As he also sees Nihgtwing make his move, Damian does the same, a birdarang to one, a quick slice to the other SMG.

  In a bit of a bold move, Damian attempts to roll around one thug in order to kick in the second man's knee, bringing him down swiftly. Looks like he was making this clean and efficient, if not a touch more aggressive than normal.

Batman has posed:
    Even as Drakon drops down, the other men are not warned. After espying Batgirl did he offer them any hint of alarm? No. For such are the foibles of employing a man who dislikes working with others and enjoys simply finding the next enjoyable fight. He's found his, and the others... the others are left to their fate.
    There's the flicker of motion through the air as the wingdings fire, slicing home with a faint whistle. One man's arm is snapped back and pinned abruptly to the heavy metal magnetic vest that encircles each portion of the Hadron Collider's oval run. The other man has the firing mechanism jammed by that wingding slamming hard and locking into place between the man's finger and the trigger.
    "What the hell?!" One man shouts, even as the others start to burst into action. The one that Nightwing left to tend to himself tries to bring his weapon up in time to get a bead on the nimble acrobat, only to have Nightwing close the distance and lash out with a blurringly fast punch that knocks the man's head back enough to shift his weight back, though he whips his weapon around trying to brain the eldest of the Robins.
    Yet as Nightwing presses, Deadshot brings his wrist pistol up, tracking the youth as he leaps forwards. "You think that's funny, kid? Yeah try laughing without a face." He brings up his other arm as the rounds chamber with a rapid click and he starts to compress the firing mechanism...
    Only for the Batman to appear right in front of him, mostly a flare winged silhouette of that night creature as he suddenly obscures Deadshot's firing line... just as the mercenary fires. There's a loud report as the rounds kick up debris around Nightwing's feet, even as the Batman throws a high intensity smoke bomb down at their feet, the steady white smoke spewing forth to the roughly fifteen feet circle around the marksman and the Bat.
    Drakon seems not to care even as the other men are set upon. He keeps his focus fully on Cassandra. The mirrored shades he wears reflect her image back to her even as his hooked fingers miming a tiger's claws slowly whirl through an elaborate pattern as he mirrors her movements and refrains from giving her any moment to gain the initiative back... but this fight is not one he was expecting. Each time he lashed out she seemed to not be surprised. Each time he struck it wasn't due to technique and more perhaps his pure speed. His eyes behind those glasses would narrow, his expression sharpening. He started to focus more on her, only for that roundhouse kick to slam hard into the side of his head and knock him back.
    As Damian closes on those gunmen he'll see one of them reach for one of the scientists, a round being chambered in the SMG. He starts to bring the weapon to the hostage's head only for Damian's blade to slice cleanly through it even as he uncurls with a kick into the knee of the other. With a shriek of pain the man goes down heavily even as the third is able to get his SMG up and fires a burst of rounds in Damian's general direction, more out of desperation than accuracy.

Nightwing has posed:
    THat was a little closer than Nightwing would have preferred. Not to self: he gets touchie about his Ex-wife and/or the parentage of his kid.  Batman's cape buys Nightwing the chance to move his head out of the way of the weapon that damn near hits his head. "Your boss almost shot you, dudeman." Nightwing taunts his foe. His eskrima stick appears in his left hand, and his form blurs. There is an exchange of blows as Nightwing begins to kick off one man, into a spinning kick at the still still up and fighting man. He has gotten faster. More precise. If it wasn't so busy, it might be a good show. As such, the other guy gets a blow in on Nightwing's armored chest piece, even that is deflected off his armored glove. High intensity. High speed. Low drag. Nightwing is in not in haste, but he is in a hurry. Deadshot plays rough, and the supercollider is not the sort of place that Nightwing wants to see damaged by stray rounds and explosives.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    That was enough to piss him off. Drakon is on the attack again and Cassandra is hard pressed to keep up with the speed at which he moves. She has not fought the like before. While she knows her technique is better, his heightened reflexes make it harder for her to attack since she the flurry of strikes from him allow no time to fight back. Yet she is patient as he forces her back along that catwalk. Her arms block each blow, legs brought up to keep away kicks and knees. The serenity is there beneath the surface, hidden behind that mask. As his body gets more tense, more angry, hers is still relaxed.
    The she misses a block and the blow hits her center chest, knocking all the air out of her lungs. She sprawls backwards two feet, stumbling to keep from falling as he takes a fast step toward her, looking triumphant.
    He is limited. His skills are mainly one form. So she taps into something else, draws from the extensive knowledge she gained at the hands of her father. Her hands flatten, only the last knuckles curled as she embraces the Jaguar.
    He moves forward to find that strike, the one that is impossible to resist when done right, coming straight for his face. Not with enough force to kill but it should be enough to take him out of the fight.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Satisfied that the thugs were pacified, Damian had turned to the third man. A mix of hubris and gall had Damian hold up his arms towards the firing thug. One bullet grazes a spot of his suit not covered with armor, but this only gets Damian angrier.

  Robin grits his teeth in a smile, jumping up and off a nearby wall to collide with the third thug. He attempts to smash the butt of the SMG into the thug's face, once, perhaps twice before he proceeds to field strip the weapon quickly into its primals. "Spray and pray is weak shit." Though he is slightly wounded, the boy shows no sign of it at all. In fact it just made him more eager to fight. Like a predator playing with their food.

Batman has posed:
    While the battle rages, the hum of the Hadron Collider begins to grow, the sequence of magnets gaining their charge and growing in strength though the field they project is extremely close. Close enough, that one of the men who had his gun stuck to the vest of it by the wing ding tries ineffectively to pull his weapon free while the magnetic field has it locked in place. Eventually he tries to release it... only to realize that his wristwatch is stuck to it as well.
    Nightwing's able to move amongst those remaining attackers while behind and to the side of him he'll hear the whirl and heavy footsteps of Batman and Deadshot tangling in that cloud of smoke. Sometimes a round fires, pinging off the ceiling and ricocheting downwards, luckily not into one of the hostages. But the defender of Bludhaven is able to get into a clean rhythm of strike, move, counter, strike. It takes only three rotations for him to slide the forearm of his opponent to the side and make that heavy eskrima stick into the man's brow to knock him down, then steal his consciousness with a crack of the weapon against his head. The other opponent suddenly thinks the better of this brawl as he throws his own gun to the ground and raises his hands to his head. "I'm out, man. I'm out. You got it."
    But while Nightwing takes care of his end of things, Floyd's voice is heard angrily, "You were supposed to be taken care of, Bats. I said this would happen."
    "Then you should give up now, Lawton. You know how this goes."
    "Yeah, but just call me a bad learner." He snaps as he /dives/ backwards out of that smokecloud, his weapons barking with a steady staccato of fire into that cloud... only for Batman to launch upwards out of the smoke towards the ceiling, then drop down as his cape flares. Both heavy boots slam hard into the side of Deadshot's helmet, smashing him down to the ground with a heavy whud that renders him unconscious.
    As for Drakon, he slowly... very slowly begins to realize that he is losing control of this bout. That each time he attempts to shift the song of their conflict to something more disharmonious, she's able to interrupt expertly and reestablish the rhythm that is building towards a most startling crescendo. For a moment he looks pleased as his palm-heel strike slams into her sternum and knocks her back. Leaping forwards he tries to press the advantage... only to be embraced by darkness as his head snaps back and he falls down beside Batgirl, blood trickling from his nose as he moves faintly, then passes out.
    As Drakon hits the ground, Damian finishes the last to oppose him, standing over the crimpled thug who is mewling at his crushed nose from the butt's impact to his face. He groans and tries to surrender even as Damian seems more intent on stripping down the weapon. Then, as quick as that, the tumult of conflict is over. Though the hum of the collider continues to grow.
    "Batman?!" One of the scientists gets to his feet quickly, "We don't have much time, we need to extend the build cycle." He rushes to the control console the one thug had been working on and starts to manipulate the data display.

Nightwing has posed:
    THe takedown is swift. It is a little mean, but who knows what the guy has on him. Nightwing is not cruel as he takes the third one down. He does use a pair of metal handcuffs though, wish a faint click and a clack. He nudges Man number three over towards the magnets. Nickel plating is very magnetic.

    There is a problem though. Nightwing starts to slide on the floor a little. He has two magnets on his back. They are not particularly powerful ones, but they appear to be arranged the wrong way. HIs eskrima sticks lift, one off the floor, the other off his back, to slam into the coils with a clang. Nightwing cannot get closer to the coils. "Are you freaking kidding me?" He calls out. He starts to move towards a control panel, looking for en emergency shutdown. "Robin? You good?" He cannot die here. Barbara would kill him!

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    When he finally goes down, Batgirl stands over him for a moment then looks to see if she needs to help with cleanup. Of course not. The rest of the family had the others well in hand. The fact that she only fought one while they each took out multiples has her frowning enough behind the mask for the material to give away her expression.
    She quickly uses her zipcuffs to bind Drakon then moves to help do the same with others. As for the science stuff? That's for the others to deal with. She'll just work on the cuffing.

Batman has posed:
    Batman looms forwards behind the scientist as the man begins to work the equipment. For a time he holds his words, perhaps merely observing while the rest of the bat crew secure the fallen and make sure about the hostages and their health. Nobody is the worse for wear though some of those men will wake up with a monster of a headache.
    That is if all goes well with the collider.
    "That's a StarkTech ARC reactor." He says in that steady rumble, his features darkening with a frown.
    "No." The scientist says over his shoulder, "It's a proprietary advanced generator that has perhaps drawn some measure of inspiration from Tony Stark's work." The man continues to click on the device and then gets a small smile, "We can salvage the situation. Johannes! Johannes pull yourself together, man. Go key generators 3 and 4."
    But Johannes has apparently passed out. The humming continues to build, and then slowly the team starts to feel the insistent pressure of the magnetic field on their utility belts, their gauntlets, and their gear. It starts to build up more...
    Only for Batman to lash out with a short sharp kick, slamming his boot into the edge of the arc reactor's primarily power coupling. Deprived of that initial burst of energy it needs, it quickly flickers out and loses that tell-tale blue glow. The pull on their equipment and the magnetic fields abruptly fall off.
    "Why... why did you do that?" The scientist turns quickly, only for Batman to turn around without an answer. But the team will hear on the comms as he sub-vocalizes, "Make sure the prisoners are secured. I need a volunteer to stand sentinel out of sight for the clean up." He starts to walk away.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian manages to let the downed thug wallow in pain for the moment while his attention is drawn towards Nightwing. "Of course I am." He answers, only to feel that tugging on his equipment. Enough to have Damian slide mack some with his sword on his back. The magnetic rush stops soon after. "10-4. I'll stand watch." He was eager to stay out tonight, and definitely away from dotting family members or teenaged teammates.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
     "Well now all that business is done." Alfred's relaxing tones chime back over the com system. "I've got a nice piping hot fresh roast perfectly prepared and ready for a good meal." He pauses for a moment. "I'll be expecting all of you home for dinner within the hour." Another longer pause. "Otherwise I'll be hunting you down, tranquilizing you and dragging you to the dinner table myself." Spoken with an audible smile. "I do hope I've made myself clear that we're going to enjoy a family dinner for once."

Nightwing has posed:
    As he moves, he actually slides a little. Moving from one side to another as the magnets on his back get repulsed first one way, then another. Nightwing gets to one of the shut offs, just in time for Batman to kick the array out of alignment. Nickel cuffs and escrima sticks fall to the floor. He double times it back, this time far more straight, to better secure his thug pinned to the wall, making sure the cuffs are tight.

    "You sure?" He asks Damian on the throat mic as he starts to collect his gear. He adds, "Let me at least make sure that is just a scratch, first." he chekcs his AR overlay. "Good job, Batgirl." He loves Cassie, but that's not his Batgirl. It's a weird adjustment for Nightwing. His smile starts to creep onto his face, and he looks to the others as he moves quickly and thoroughly.

    He wants to get out of here before Batman remembers how not special he is.