10346/Knightfall: Our Sins

Knightfall: Our Sins
Date of Scene:	07 December 2019
Location:	La Plaque D'Argent, West Chelsea Hill, Old Gotham
Synopsis:	As the League of Assassins lay siege to Gotham, the Bat Family receive a crippling blow ...
Cast of Characters:	Batman, Robin (Wayne), Carrie Kelley, Huntress, Oracle, Red Hood, Misfit, Spoiler, Wonder Woman
Tinyplot:	Knightfall

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Batman has posed:
Gotham is under siege.

The attack came from all angles, seeming to explode from within the very heart of the dark city. On all three islands, squadrons of trained soldiers wearing black and wielding automatic weapons have appeared, seizing certain well-known buildings and areas across the city.

The bridges between as well as off the islands that make up the city have been barricaded by cars, crashed together and piled up into make-shift walls. These walls themselves are patrolled by armed soldiers, halting all traffic to and from Gotham by road. Armed helicopters patrol the rivers, opening fire at any boats daring to approach or flee by water.

There is no escape.

In Old Gotham, the situation is at its most dire. Several hours ago, Blackgate Prison was attacked by these soldiers and, during the distraction, several of the prisoners escaped. Since then, they've been running riot through the streets of Old Gotham - trapped on the island, they've turned it into their own personal slice of perdition.

As the Bat Family scramble to counter hotspots of criminal activity breaking out across the city, a call goes out to attend a hostage situation in West Chelsea Hill. A local restaurant located several floors above street level in a well-manicured rooftop garden - 'La Plaque D'Argent' - has been taken over by one of the escaped prisoners. Several Gothamites are being held captive, and the police are stretched thin as it is ...

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian had equipped himself for war. Called in his companion, Goliath, and loaded him up as if he were a mobile armory. Spares of almost every batarang he could think of, spare grapnels, and gadget. And ordered to listen for the call to come and resupply.

  The beacon was activated, and of course, the Batsignal was beckoning to Batman and the rest of his clan, that Gotham was in danger. Robin had all of his gear ready, unfortunately the newest Batmobile was not operational yet. Which means he would have to make do with other transport.

  The Batmobile that was gifted to Kestrel would have to do in this situation. "I'm driving." He comments, looking at the vintage transport, tossing a piece of kit into the trunk. He wasn't asking for permission, he was going to get this city under control, his father's city.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"Just this once," Kestrel confirms as she, too, had gotten herself as fully outfitted as she possibly could, and she makes one final check over of her gear to ensure it's all there. Batarangs, gas pellets, grapnels, masks, extra masks, flash bangs... Pretty much anything and everything that could come in handy. She'd even opted to bring a spare set of excrima sticks. While she wasn't as proficient as Nightwing with them, they would do in a pinch to whack someone over the head and the electric aspect of them certainly was good.

"Figure knock out and bundle up as many as we can as quick as we can. I'm better with long distance stuff, anyway," she points out as she sinks into the seat opposite the driver for the first time since she was gifted both the car, and the auxillary bat cave she'd dubbed 'The Bunker.' It really was a great place to hole up and held a suitable armory worthy of the original cave.

Testing out her comms she calls out over it to the others. //Headcount and whereabouts? Oracle, you organizing?//

Huntress has posed:
This is the type of situation that gives even a hardened vigilante nightmares.

Not so much in fear, but from the sort of choices that need to be made. The biggest threats need to be prioritized, and someone somewhere is going to fall through the cracks in the meantime. Yet the decision can't be dwelled on, because hesitation is just going to get more people hurt and possibly killed. The longer the criminal element was allowed to run rampant and take advantage of the city being cut off and sectioned up, the more they could dig themselves in. That there was no way to solve every problem in the crisis, terrible as that notion was, is just a matter of fact. A resturant full of people, likely out for holiday meals, pinned down as hostages in a difficult to reach location. That was enough to push that threat to the top of the list though, with multiple lives in close to immeadiate peril.

Didn't help that the streets were jammed up with wreckages and paniced civilians trying to find somewhere safer. This was one of the reasons that Huntress' prefered method of vigilante transport was a highly tuned motorcycle. The purple Kawasaki existed only for speed and handling, which is exactly what she need to weave through the congested streets around stranded vehicles, and eventually pull off into a set of narrow alleys that were pushing it even with the streamlined bike. But it would get her there faster than running the rooftops in the dead of winter.

The comm beeped briefly as the extended Bat-Clan started chiming in, and she slid her fingers under the side of her helmet to key her own and respond. //Huntress here, on route. Be careful, the roads are a mess.//

Oracle has posed:
Oracle was at her computer just writing up some code when the alerts started pouring in... At first it was a little surprising: Gotham might be a hive of scum and villain, but it's rarely the subject of a mass attack right? Is there precidence for this? So she switched from code writing mode, to Oracle mode quickly. Donning her headphones and shifting over to her comms station with a shove of her hand off the desk corner.

<I am sending detailed roadmaps through the worst of it, hold while I get a sit-rep. I... uh..> Babs voice cuts off as the cameras begin to get facial recognition.

Her tongue draws across her teeth, <Kestrel, you and Robin should head to West Chelsea Hill.. Resteraunt being held hostage by escaped Blackgate thugs... Kestrel, your parents are there.>

Red Hood has posed:
It was a night for predators and Red Hood wasn't going to be left out of it, after all suddenly the city had become a target rich environment. Picking his fights with ruthless efficiency, taking out criminals but keeping to The Rule. Everyone he put down would live... not well, but they'd live.

//Red Hood here// The Hood says as he ducks a crowbar and comes up firing close range at the man who swung it. The man falls and Red Hood gives him a kick for good measure. //Dance card's empty. En route. There in five.//

A few moments later he was on his bike zooming through the streets of Gotham with blatant disregard for traffic laws, sidewalks and the health and well being of passing thugs or looters.

Misfit has posed:
Charlie is suiting up in the Clocktower once the alerts start to pour in. She is not having nightmares or worrying about the choices to be made. Which is probably because Misfit is in no way a hardened vigilante.

o/~ You better watch out... You better not cry ...Better not pout .. I'm telling you why... Santa Claus is coming to town o/~

She hops a bit tugging on her boots and fast lacing them up as she sings. Then snags her utility belt and cinches it into place checking the pouches and grabbing a couple of extra supplies. She can also bounce back for a restock if she has to though so not quite loaded for literal bear. Though she wonders if we have bat bear mace somewhere.

o/~He's making a list.. And checking it twice; Gonna find out ... Who's naughty and nice... Santa Claus is coming to town! o/~

Flipping on her comm, and not singing to her music stream in her cowl for the moment. //Ready for deployment.// gosh that sounds so official and serious, she is so ready and trying to impress. Though Babs totally heard her singing while getting ready.

Batman has posed:
At the rooftop restaurant in West Chelsea Hill, a figure squats hunched over in the darkness. The main power to the city has been cut, only the flickering of distant flames from a burning building illuminate his lank silhouette.

"The mindless walk," the man mutters to himself, a bright flash of metal turning in his hands, "No thought. Consuming. Devouring. Blank stares. Glassy eyes. Vacant expressions."

He rises to his feet, lifting one of the hostages bodily off the ground and holding them with one arm clumsily about the shoulders, screaming at the top of his lungs into the hostage's ear as he does: "Thoughtless! Automaton! Why are you here? Who let you in?! Speak! SPEAK!"

He shakes the hostage, dragging them through the tables and chairs that rest half-scattered and knocked over in the sudden commotion. Across the grass he moves, dragging them with him and hissing through his teeth as he goes like a mad snake - flailing in pain, fear, and rage: "Zombie! You're here for me aren't you? AREN'T YOU!"

The building itself has been otherwise abandoned, a medium-level high rise that serves as trendy office space in less dangerous times. A GCPD patrol car is parked in the street below, a spotlight turned towards the low glass fencing that skirts about the roof. A young woman in uniform holds her radio to her mouth, speaking into it.

" - thirty or so," she says, glancing towards her older partner with his sidearm drawn and held at his side warily, "Maybe more. We need back-up here."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The roar of a petrol engine, turbocharger blow-off valve whining as he lets off the throttle. He orders the Redbird to follow them as he finishes his checks on the old, but very capable machine.

  <<Robin, comms check.>> He comments, before laying on the throttle and the solid tires squeal against the slick floor.

  Robin had known how to drive since he was ten, and was very capable of driving in a combat situation. //Set the Batwing in a patrol position, Oracle. If we need medevac, it can be used for a quick autonomous egress.// He knew there were going to be injuries on both sides, he knew too much about situations like this. And the news about Carrie's parents...was not a good one.

  The pair raced to West Chelsea Hill, where the hostage situation was, and where Carrie's parents were.

  The Bats were keyed into GCPD frequencies, and Damian listened in on the situation in West Chelsea Hill. It wasn't that long of a drive when you are going nigh 100 MPH. The Batmobile approached the restaurant slower, of course. They did not want to make the criminals inside do something drastic. The Boy Wonder stepped out of the Batmobile, and approached the GCPD outside. "Sitrep, officer. Thirty assailants? How many hostages? And what are their armaments?" He asks, sounding quite impatient, but he knew time was of the essence, and he didn't have time for the usual 'You're much smaller than I thought.' talk.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"... What?"

Kestrel sits quietly after that news while Robin handles getting them there. Idly her fingers flit over her gear again in a silent mental check list. Yet she remains quiet throughout the process even when she repeats it twice more. Her jaw was set, head dipped forward, as she takes deep and steady breaths. Finally when it seems she might not speak at all she responds to Oracle with a simple: //Understood.//

When they come to a stop she follows wishing for once she had a cape to flow around her hiding most of her body language. It was stiff. Tense. ... Angry. Yet she keeps herself controlled while falling into step beside Robin allowing him to request the sitrep. As he makes his request for information her head tips back to regard the building as if it had personally offended her.

Huntress has posed:
... And there's the worst possible way it could get complicated. This is going to be an... experience for one of the younger members of the group, to say the least.

Helena feels sorry for the girl, but the Huntress doesn't have time to stop and be emotional. They had to get a handle on this situation and fast.

She pulled up in the alley and throttled down her bike, leaving it parked behind a dumpster so it wasn't in easy view. Dark purple has its perks besides being stylish. Slightly surprised to see GCPD already here with how thin they are stretched, but that just shows how much of a Big Problem this is. Robin is already connecting with them though, so she'll get to work doing her thing.

//Going to look around while you get a sitrep// she comms. Then slinks back into the alleys, already dark paths even moreso without the ominous urban lighting with the power being out. Her crossbow pistol is drawn and readied. Her attention is divide between two primary things: signs of the culprits, and a means to get up the building without blantantly announcing their presence.

Oracle has posed:
<Good call, Robin.> Oracle says of having the Batwing in circulation above Gotham where she could remote pilot it in for medical evac and air support. No telling what kind of arms these hoods have gotten hold of, <Oh, hey Hood... good of you to wake up. Slept in, huh?> She knows better, almost hear the grin in her distorted voice. <I have kestrel and Robin inbound to a resteraunt in Chelsa Hill, you could head in to assist them... or..> Thumbing over to her area map giving her referential points of interest triangulated by police bands, emergency services, and her own algorythms adding detailed analyse of crimes in progress.

<Some lunatics trying to drag ATMs down the street in a wheel barrel, that's right up your alley?> Reserving her worst teasing for the black sheep of the family. She clearly wants him to head to the resteraunt to assist.

<Huntress, I'm feeding into your mask cams to send to the other team members, but if you could relay anything you see, especially in the blind spots at the back of the resteraunt, I'd appreciate it.> And Misfit, snort laughing as she hears the girl singing while she suits up, <Misfit, you're with Hood. Pop over and provide him backup, but you're my go between.> Because she can teleport.

Red Hood has posed:
//Something like that// Red Hood says with some humour in his voice about his late arrival. That humour vanishes when he hears Carrie's parents are in the mix, taken hostage by the cooks at the restaurant.

There's a grim //Hmm// from Red Hood and then a //En route to the restaurant.//

Before he asks the whole team: //Do we have eyes on the hostage takers? Any familiar faces?//

Winding down his bike he come to a stop beside the restaurant and dismounting. //Misfit I'm on site..//

Misfit has posed:
She walks over to Oracle and asks softly not on comms "We are doing the Restaraunt not the ATM Right?" okay sarcasm, she isn't a pro yet, but at the affirmative she steps back and salutes then cocks her head a bit.

Really she was waiting for Jason to say he is on site. She vanishes from the clocktower and appears by him in a slash of pink and purple smoke. //On Site.// she notes very chipperly. //If we don't have eyes I can pop up to a neighboring roof and take a look.// with her goggles it will give Oracle a look too, but she figures Oracle has eyes.

Spoiler has posed:
At one of the roadblocks on a bridge to the island, the muted sounds of sticky charges attaching themselves to the cars go unnoticed by gunmen. But that changes when they start going off. Electric charges first, miniature arcs of lightning arcing through the cars and jumping to the nearby gunmen as the high voltage seeks a way to the ground. A half second later, smoke bomb stickies ignite to fill the air around the road block with dark, obscuring smoke.

The barely noticeable whine of an electric engine is the only warning as a motorcycle in purple and black suddenly looms out of the smoke, jumping over the barricade. The rider's eggshell purple cape flapping behind her, and a boot landing to a gunman's head on the way past.

<< Batgirl here. Seriously, can't a girl have a quiet evening without uninvited guests? Made myself a path through a roadblock on 4th, they are down but not out if GCPD can get there in time. On the way to West Chelsea Hill unless you need me elsewhere. >>

The motorcycle's high tech suspension allows the landing to be a smooth one as the bike races forward, dodging cars and pedestrians as Batgirl pulls up the traffic maps from Oracle and uses them to navigate the fastest way to the target she's given. << We'll get them out, Kestrel >>

Batman has posed:
"Thirty hostages - ah, Jesus," the officer answers, turning as Robin and Kestrel arrive on the scene, "Look, we've got this covered, you need to - "

But even as she's talking, the older officer on the other side of the patrol car catches her eyes. He shakes his head once, a solemn sort of gesture, and then turns his attention back to the doors. The younger officer sighs, pulling off her hat and running her fingers anxiously through her auburn hair.

"Alright, alright - there's thirty hostages, we think. Maybe more. We haven't had time to canvass the neighbors and see how many gunmen went in, but we think at least three. There's CCTV but we haven't been able to get the feed."

The CCTV footage itself is not much help. The hostages all seem still, huddled beneath tables with their faces downcast. The camera from the garden area of the restaurant shows a tall, thin man dragging one of the hostages towards the plate glass fencing that marks the building's edge. He's waving a knife wildly through the air, obviously speaking although there's no microphone to pick up his words. His face is not clearly visible, though the build and gait analysis narrow him down to a handful of repeat offenders in the Bat-Computers database - Arnold Etchinson, Victor Zsasz, Erasmus Rayne, or an unidentified killer the records simply identify as 'The Tally Man'.

The rear door of the skyrise has been left held open with a broken half of a cinderblock, and just inside the doorway leading to the emergency stairwell Huntress will find the body of a man in a dark, cheaply-made suit. His throat deeply cut, there's no other signs of violence or a struggle. Whoever did it was surgical about the act, not even stopping to admire their handiwork given the lack of footprints in the now-congealing puddle of blood.

Huntress has posed:
Huntress looks out the corner of her eye a moment to see the little light blink on to tell her Oracle's feed is on-line. //Copy that, Oracle. I'm working my way around now.//

Almost immeadiately she notices the wedged open door, and flattens up at the wall to creep closer, tilting her head a bit so Oracle can also see the cinderblock wedged in, before focusing on the door itself. She slinks up, peering in the opening. At what lies past the opening. //Someone came in this way,// Huntress mutters as she nudges the door open, crossbow at the ready.

She looks at the body long enough for Oracle to see it, but doesn't need to bother inspecting closer to tell the man is already dead. Her own assassin training tells her all the signs of a dead body with no struggling, simply dropped aside after execution. No one bothered to arrange the corpse as a warning or anything. Just killed and moved on. Viciously clean and precise.

//We're dealing with at least one professional murderer. That is way too precise and efficent to be a random thug in the chaos.//

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The building and those inside have already insulted him enough. Robin stood with his arms crossed, already coming with a plan.

  When Red Hood shows up, Robin immediately looks to him and motions his older brother to come. Something whispered in his ear before he starts running for the garden area. <<Now they will deal with one assassin as well. I'm going to head for the garden.>> With grapnel in hand, he rises to get the high ground, the garden area was what he was looking for, and where he would land.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel gives a quick shake of her head as she finishes her exterior examination of the building while listening to the sitrep and Oracle's own feedback. That's right. Misfit could teleport, couldn't she? When Red Hood comes over she reaches her arm out behind him to the small of his back giving a little solid pat. And if she finds what she thinks she would there, she flips her hand under his jacket to try and pull out his spare gun.

"Get us inside there, one way or another."

Realizing how bad this seems she flashes a theatric smile toward the officer with as reassuring a manner as she can. "We'll handle it."

Red Hood has posed:
When Misfit arrives Red Hood nods, "Welcome to the party," he says dryly, he might have been watching Die Hard again.

"Definitely get upstairs," he says though Misfit's question was aimed at Babs. Then taking his own advice he makes his way around the back of the building pulls his grapple and fires, ascending quickly and quietly and hopefully out of the view of the hostage takers.

Oracle has posed:
<Looks like. Thanks Huntress, proceed cautiously. Try not to upset the applecart until everyone's in position, but if you see an opening to take that professional down...> The implication is obvious.

<Misfit, if you can get me birds eye, I'd appreciate it. I'm sending you the schematics for the building including roof access points, do it the old fashioned way. I don't want the hostage takers to know we have a teleporter until we can use it to our advantage.> Agreeing with Jason, kind of.

Finally to Stephanie, <I'm sending GCPD that way to mop up. Get over to Chelsa Hill, the team will need a fourth access point. When we move, we're moving quickly, and I don't think Kestrel is going to be waiting for you... so ass and elbows, girl.>

<Kestrel, Robin, you're point on this. I've got CCTV footage but it's not very useful. Cannot get confirmed identity on the lead thug, but I'm running a list against phenotype and computer records. I know who it's /not/. No audio inside, but can confirm at least thirty hostages with at least one professional killer in the mix. Robin, soon as everyone's in position we'll they'll go on your order.>

Misfit has posed:
Okay lame, old fashoined way, crap.

None of which is said out loud though.

Charlie pulls out a grapple gun and eyes the buildings by it and the schematics in the corner of her goggles. She follows Jason around back now but instead of firing a line and ascending after him... she fires at the building next to it and starts to ascend up that one as fast as she can manage it while trying to keep to the shadows and not be spotted.

The goal is to get a good view that can be fed to everyone else ... hopefully.. from that perch.

She absolutely needs more practice at grappling and climbing though, she uses her own trick a lot on patrol.

Spoiler has posed:
The Batcycle's electric engine is a purr rather than a roar as the bike races through the streets, Batgirl's body-armored knee brushing the ground at times from how sharp she leans into the corners. << Batgirl arriving now. Heading up to the next door rooftop on the west side. Ass and elbows? My kind of fight! Let's do this. >>

The bike breaks hard, Batgirl holding the handles and hopping up onto her feet, crouching on the bike's seat. The moment the bike is stopped, the seat pops upwards, launching the female crimefighter into the air. A line tipped with a bat-shaped grapple flies upwards to wrap around the top of a fire escape, and soon Batgirl is being towed upwards by her grapple launcher.

She grabs hold of the roof's coping to pull herself up and over. Batgirl frees the grapple and readies it for more use, then crouches low, rushing across the rooftop to where she has a view of the nearby rooftop apartment. Her own building and those of Red Hood and Misfit close the target in on three sides. Her cowl's optics zoom in. << On the roof. Triggering my boom mike for you Oracle. Patch it through to the rest if it's worth it. >> Batgirl aims the long distance microphone towards the distant restaurant, while glancing about the other buildings, checking for others on rooftops, and finding the best spot for an eventual swing across the space separating her chosen roost from that holding the hostages.

Batman has posed:
As Robin and the Red Hood land in the garden, they will find the lank figure dragging the hostage already at the glass fence surrounding the edge of the building. He doesn't immediately turn to spot the interlopers, fixated on the figure that he is pinning tight to him with one arm.

"Beast!" he hisses through his teeth, drawing the knife back suddenly and holding it against the motionless hostage's throat, "Mindless beast! Spying on me! Drowning me! Bringing me ... huh? Who? Who is it?"

The man with the knife pulls the hostage closer to him with one hand, backing step after step towards the glass fence. He jabs the knife at the darkened edges of the garden area, the places where the vigilantes are hiding.

"No no no! Zombies! Thoughtless creatures! You won't pull me down! I'm the one who lives! These are mine! My reminders! Mine!"

He brings the knife back suddenly, once more pressing it tight against the throat of the hostage he is clinging to. He turns momentarily and tucked into the waistband of his pants a high caliber pistol can be seen. The sleeves of his prison jumpsuit drawn up, revealing scars seemingly carved into his flesh long ago and left to heal. Scars like marks on a scoreboard.

From where Misfit and Stephanie land, they can see the layout of the rooftop restaurant well. All the hostages are cowering beneath tables, completely still and not making a sound. The whole area is ensconced in shadow, requiring the low-light vision of Bat Family eyewear to see. There don't appear to be any other individuals on the rooftop save for the man with the knife and the two vigilantes keeping to the shadows. The voice pattern of the man with the knife filters through to the Batcomputer, and soon after it returns a result to Oracle.

Down in the stairwell, Helena can hear a muttering, muffled voice. A few floors up, hunched over with knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped about his knees, is a man. He continues to speak to himself, tilting back and forth as he does so. The closer the Huntress gets, she will realize the man is repeating the same number over and over again.

"One-hundred and eight. One-hundred and eight. One-hundred and eight. One-hundred and eight."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     <<Everyone knows the RoE, we take these people out and make them regret their life choices. We all know the priority targets, ensure their safety.>>

  Once everyone is in position, Robin gets a look at the hostage in the man's arms. A sudden grimaced look reaches his face, poking Red Hood's shoulder. Damian had seen many bodies before, alive and dead. This one was not alive. <<Go.>>

  The revelation Damian has seen only phased him enough to serve to enrage. The teenage hero starts to rush at the man with the knife, baseball sliding into his feet.

Huntress has posed:
//Copy. I'm working my way up the stairs.// And thus goes Huntress, pacing herself so she has time to look ahead for protential threats.

Or wounded, in this case. Babbling, and as Huntress bolts up the last couple of stairs to get to him, she notices just how bad off the gentleman is. Like literally holding himself together.

That is more than basic first aid and an utility belt med-kit is going to be able to fix. //Oracle! Need a medical response a few flights up, fast. Extensive open abdomenal wound, sounds delerious from the blood loss.// If 'One-Hundred and Eight means something can be worried about later.

"Sir, just stay still. We'll get medical help here." Huntress isn't even sure he has the clarity to understand her, but that's a moot point. Thinking quickly she grabs the overcoat she wears like a cloak and pulls it off, and wraps it around the man as best she can without disrupting him and making his grevious injury worse. Maintaining body warmth is crucial this time of year, even indoors.

It'll help keep his guts in too, hopefully, until someone with better medical training can get here. It's the most she can do with her own limited knowledge.

After she's done as much as she can for the man Huntress gets up and resumes the stairs, now sprinting up them with athletic haste. This sort of brutality had to be stopped, one way or another. Before more innocent lives were ruined by it.

Oracle has posed:
<Guys...> Babs keys over to Stephanie's thermal scan and boom mic, there's some level of apprehension in her voice... concern that betrays her usually borderline tongue in cheek disdain for these operations. Years of doing it have made it routine, almost fun in a way, but certainly just another day... Now she sounds.. different. <Confirmation from voice recognition. It's Victor Zsasz..> If that was all that bothered her.

God, if only that was all that bothered her.

Keying over to Damian's channel, direct line, <The hostages, Damian... they're.. they're dead.>

But it's too late. The order was given and Babs couldn't stop the infultration now if she were there... certainly not from the Watchtower.. So she does the only thing she /can/ do.

Cuts power to the building. <Everyone switch to night-vision...> Especially when she sees Huntresses cowl-cam.. 98% match. "Oh god..." Her hand instinctively comes up to cover her mouth, "Oh god, no..."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
The stairs. The rooftop access. It was the usual ways for the Bats to get where they needed to go, but in this case also a necessity given the location of the incident. Kestrel hesitates only long enough to deposit her own purloined weapon at the back of her belt before turning to dash for the building. The comm buzzes in her ear with various calls from her friends assuring they would get her parents out safely, and yet... She doesn't answer. Not now. Not with her heart hammering in her ears and an anger filling her to the point she swore her blood might boil.

The grappling gun is fired off above her head catching and pulling her up on the zipline in an express path to the rooftop garden. The others go first. Even in her haze of anger she lets them go first knowing... knowing that she had a personal, vested interest in this that might just cause more trouble than good. Let them start and she would follow.

Just as the grapple is finished, and she lets the momentum send her swinging up and over the edge of glass, the sight of the situation below comes into view. Robin and Red Hood already pressing forward. The criminal, the hostage, the knife.

Life seems to hang there frozen in time for a moment at the apex of that movement. Just as gravity pulls her down she can feel her heart sink as well. She lands in a heavy crouch to the side of the fray, hands dipping down to the ground for a quick balance check.

It doesn't really matter who gets to him first because it was too late: She'd seen exactly who the hostage was. And then the lights cut thanks to Oracle sending her into darkness with a rather agonized scream pulling from her throat until ... until she's quiet again.

Red Hood has posed:
Earlier Red Hood had felt his backup peice a modern version of the venerable Walther PPK slipped out of his hoster. A glance is given to Kestrel but he doesn't make a comment. He understands.

On the rooftop where Robin sees the hostage's state Red Hood is focused on the man who has him. //It's Victor Zsasz,\ He says almost in time with Oracle. Then he fills in: //This guy is completely delusional, we're not people to him we're monsters, he won't hesitate to kill us or the hostages. Take him down fast and hard.//

Robin is clearly on the same page and when he goes, Red Hood rises from the shadows both of his main weapons drawn and aimed at Zsasz going high while Robin slides under his line of fire and takes out the man's legs. The rounds were rubber tippped of course, but they'll still hurt like nine kinds of hell.

He has no idea they're already too late until he hears Kestrel scream.

Misfit has posed:
Charlie reaches up and tap taps her goggles now and peers at the roof across the way carefully even as Damian and Jason leaps into the fray there she bites her lip. She flips to a comm with Oracle //Okay so ... it looks like everyone under the tables may be dead..I dunno but they aren't moving much at all.//

On regular comms //The kitchen.. some people were taken there I see the signs of a struggle and there are missing hostages//

Switching to Nightvision she grapples the other roof, embedding a line and then slides down to the roof top and heads towards the kitchen leaving the maniac with the knife to the boys.

Spoiler has posed:
As Batgirl's optics zoom in and she cycles through her thermal vision, the images that play out on her cowl's screen, and on Oracle's feed from her suit, give the blond woman a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. "No," she whispers so softly even her subvocal mike doesn't pick it up.

She turns and fires her grapple and swings across the distance to the restaurant, landing in the garden near to the hostages. Batgirl leaves Red Hood and Robin to deal with the murderer. She focuses instead on the hostages. Hurrying to the ones who show the most body heat, crouching to reach beneath the tables and check for life signs on them.

The sound of Kestrel's scream bring tears to her eyes, though Batgirl continues to try to search for anyone who can be saved. Hoping beyond hope that it might not be too late for some of them. Not yet knowing where both of her parents are, hoping the other might be safe still.

Batman has posed:
As Robin slides into Zsasz legs, he reacts with predator swiftness. The 'hostage' he holds is cast aside, not walking or running but simply falling lifelessly to the grass in an awkward position. He steps away from the slide, the glint of metal turning in his hand as he thrusts it down with expert swiftness towards the boy's throat - though the way Robin is moving leaves the blade slinging through the air towards his right shoulder instead.

As he thrusts with the knife, the rubber bullet strikes Zsasz in the thigh. He lets out a grunt, but no other outward sounds of pain. Instead, he simply falls down to one knee in the grass. His hand darts for the small of his back, drawing the pistol that is holstered there and rounding it on the Red Hood. He fires, several high caliber rounds - not the non-lethal, rubber affair that Jason uses - in the direction of the other vigilante.

"I choose!" Zsasz declares, almost screaming now in a voice drenched with madness, "I live! I make the choice! Beasts! Cattle unfit for nothing but the slaughterhouse!"

As Misfit arrives at the swinging doors, they give way to the typical stainless-steel affair one would expect in a professional kitchen. Once inside, however, she can hear muffled voices and thudding fists on the other side of the industrial freezer door built into the rear wall. Though she can't make out what they're saying, they sound frantic. THUD. THUD THUD THUD.

In the stairwell, the man Helena has given medical attention to simply sags to one side against the wall. He continues to repeat the same number over and over again, but his words grow increasingly thick and slurred. As the Huntress continues up the stairs, she will find herself exiting into the same kitchen as Misfit.

Beneath the tables, Batgirl finds only dark tidings. The hostages look to have been propped up in kneeling positions, though closer inspection will show they've been killed. Some have been shot, others appear to have been savaged with the knife that Zsasz wields.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Nothing could be done. Nothing could be done. Nothing. Kestrel crouches there while the attacks begin on Zsazz feeling her world just slipping away from her. Except... She chose this life to not be a victim. She chose. It's his own words that have her head raise up with a look of anger flashing over her features as she watches Robin and Red Hood attack him with the body of her mother cast aside. Even Batgirl going around checking is noted. Nothing to be done here... and though she is so very, very tempted to, she can't do much. Except one thing.

Rising to her feet she reaches behind her to pull the Walther she borrowed off Jason out, to fire off a single shot at the man in question. Though the bullets were rubber she doesn't hesitate from firing the shot straight at his head. Her aim was always good. That cathartic shot is all that's offered before she whirls around to dash for the stairwell where Helena had noticed the wounded man. Maybe. Maybe it was... Maybe. Someone was still alive here while everyone in this room was dead, or good as.

She slams her shoulder into the door to the stairwell before leaping down them with a dangerous pace till she finds the man that was counting. It's there she crouches down immediately falling into a role she often found herself in; medical aid.

"Come on, stay with me, come on!" An epinephren pen is yanked out along with pain killers, and she starts looking over the injuries frantically in an attempt to determine how to best mitigate the loss of blood.

Oracle has posed:
This is not the moment for Oracle to break down, even if she hadn't heard Carrie's heart breaking scream through Stephanie's boom-mic, she knew who it was beneath Zsasz savage blade.. A hand to her mouth falls down to the keys of her computer, tap a few times as she tries to think of something... literally anything... she can do, but she's without any options. No EMTs would get there fast enough to save the dead and the Vigilantes have Zsasz in hand, even if the killer doesn't know it yet.

So Oracle gets to watch.

She always gets to watch.

Through cowl-cams or CCTV. On various windows on her tripple monitor setup. Every angle, every visual field. She sees all. The lifeless bodies falling against the wall, staring with lifeless eyes repeating the single numerical indicating their kill in Zsasz growing tally. 107 107...

Babs closes her eyes and sags backwards into her chair.

He's making a list...

He's checking it twice...

Charlies singing as she suited up comes to mind, then.. haunting her..

Red Hood has posed:
Red Hood isn't faster than a bullet, but he can seem like it when he knows someone is going to be gunning for him. Zsasz turns quickly but the signs are there and when he fires Red Hood is already leaping clear, *THACK* a round clips his vest but the vigilante sticks his landing all the same coming up after Carrie's shot both guns raised.

He opens fire and keeps firing until both guns go click.

Huntress has posed:
She tried. Huntress knew the man had very slim chances, that with the state of affairs and emergency services being stretched thing already. She did what she could, and focused herself on moving onward. As she was trained to do. She may hold back for the sake of Gotham and maintaining that certain rule, but she was still a trained assassin, and they don't dwell on the deaths around them. Feeling remorse and offering emotional support that was likely going to be needed was for her alter ego to do later.

Hearing over the comms that the hostages were already dead only hasted her pace, fueled by anger and disgust. Even as an assassin she'd find this morbid, brutal excessive murder.

She bolted into the kitchen not long after Misfit, immeadiately hearing the pounding from the freezer. People trying to hide and not realizing what it was, or locked in? It doesn't matter which. Those freezers aren't designed to be opened from the inside usually.

There wasn't time to think hard about it, just act. Huntress zoned out what was going on up on the rooftops that she could hear over the comms. Misfit was a teleporter, but was there a limited to how many people she could move? Didn't know, not enough time to waste asking.

Huntress ejected the non-lethal bolt from her crossbow pistol, grabbed a different one from the quiver, and loaded it. "STAND BACK FROM THE DOOR," she shouted, aimed at the doors locking mechanism, and fired.

There was no time to waste on finding out if it was locked, blocked, or whatever. She shoots it with an explosive tipped bolt. Not a big enough explosive to blow up the door, just blow open the locking mechanism so the door can be opened, hopefully from either side. If the people still have the strength to do so.

They were grasping at straws in a losing fight, and that's what enraged her more than anything else.
No matter of being prepared for The Worst truely takes the sting away from it.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     <<I know...and that's not the worst.>> He comments, he'd recognized the body in Zsasz' arms had been Carrie's mother.

  The blade stabs in an expert manner, cutting the shoulder of his tunic and in between his armor plating. The joints of his armor were their weak spots, and Zsasz knew where it was going. The blade pierced right above the clavicle, a squelching sound picks up from the microphones on Damian's badge, his mask-cam was showing the whole thing. It was a measure Bruce had insisted on putting into Damian's uniform. He wanted to make sure Damian was not killing those he was fighting at night. The knife is kept in there for the moment, sticking out of Damian's shoulder like a pincushion.

  His breathing is heavy, his heart rate speeding up, and Damian gets back to his feet. His right arm resting at his side, he removes the blade from his shoulder, the sounds of the knife were haunting.

  The blood soaked blade sliced in front of him, right at Zsasz's arms, of the muscle is cut...he can't use them, right?

Misfit has posed:
Charlie sure isn't singing along now, her music in her cowl was turned off before she left the clocktower and this... has just been awful so far.

On the bright side... maybe there are hostages to rescue in the Kitchen still.

Maybe.

She listens to the thud thut thuds and frantic muffled sounds as she skids to a stop by the industrial freezer door. She looks ... quickly... for obvious bobby traps on the freezer door and is reaching to unlock it when Huntress yells about getting clear of the door now. "Holycrackers!" she gets the hell away from it though in time fo the whole explosion there. //I... think we could have just unlocked it?// she notes blinking behind her goggles.

She gingerly steps up though to try to pull the door open now, keeping the heavy metal between her and the freezer contents just in case there is an internal booby trap.

Spoiler has posed:
Even Batgirl's usually buoyant nature finds itself overwhelmed as she goes from one body to another. Each person beyond help saps at optimism that had endured some truly terrible moments in the past. It finally fails her long before she's checked the last body in the garden.

Her gloves drip with the blood of many, making her grateful for the night-vision which mutes that red color and lets her try to imagine the liquid stains as something else. The sound of the gunfire draws her attention back, and though she trusts her allies to deal with the man, the anger that has built needs an outlet.

A batarang is pulled from her belt and hurled with all of her strength, whirling towards the gun hand of Victor Zsasz even as Red Hood sends a hail of fire the man's way.

Batman has posed:
"I live!" Zsasz announces frantically, turning his head sharply to stare with cold, reptilian eyes at Carrie, "I am the last living man! I will herd the cattle for slaug - !"

His words are cut off as Kestrel fires the Walther, the rubber pullet striking him in the side of the head. From such a close range, even rubber bullets can be deadly. The batarang strikes him in the wrist, digging into flesh and causing the gun to fall to the grass. Then he is toppling - several more rounds from the Red Hood strike him in the chest, abdomen, and shoulder. He's unconscious before he even hits the ground, a savage bruise forming on the side of his head even as he lays there.

"Shots fired!" the police officer announces into her radio down below, the sirens of an ambulance already wailing in the distance, "Jesus, it sounds like they're killing people up there!"

In the kitchen, the door is blasted away by the Huntress' explosive arrow. Several people spill out of the freezer immediately - far more than it should be able to fit. Fifteen, seventeen, twenty of them. They spill out onto the floor, frost already clinging to their clothes. Some are waiters and chefs, others look to be restaurant attendees. They speak in a clamor, although they grow still an uncertain when they spot Misfit and the Huntress staring back at them.

In the stairwell, Carrie attends to the wounded man. He's unconscious now, no longer repeating that same gruesome number. He's partly bound up in the purple cloak Huntress left behind, bleeding profusely across it. He doesn't stir as Kestrel administers first aid, the glasses falling from his head to land on the concrete stairs with the tinkling sound of broken glass. Falling away to reveal a face with reddish blonde hair - a face not unlike Carrie's own.

Huntress has posed:
//Yes, but if it was jammed shut or otherwise tampered with we'd be wasting precious time,// Huntress replies to Misfit with a neutral, professional tone that she only maintains through intense training and experience. Emotions come later.

Especially when several people, several MORE people than should, topple out of the freezer once the door is open. If it was rigged to not be easily opened or not becomes a mute point.

She puts her crossbow pistol away and holds up her hands non-threateningly. "We're not with the assailants, calm down." Despite it's reputation for being dark and dangerous Gotham attracts a lot of out of town visitors to places like this, she wouldn't be surprised there are people here that do not reconize the local crime fighters. "But we need to get you outside and to professional help."

A few lives.. it's a shallow victory compared to what else is going on. But it's still a few. It's something.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
The sticky wet ick of blood soaking through her gloves could be felt. It was by now a familiar sensation after she'd helped to keep Bruce going not so long ago. This time though it was her own father that needed such attention. She shifts the cloak aside, putting pressure where necessarily, and then lays him down carefully. Pulse is checked with one hand even as the other uncaps the painkiller which she administers in a clean shot to his arm. At the very least, if nothing else she did helped, he wouldn't be in much pain.

//Misfit! The guy Huntress found in the stairs... Can you teleport him down to EMTs? Please,// The desperation in her voice over the comms is obvious even as she keeps crouched over him. His heart beat was thready enough she starts compressions. Just to help, just to keep it strong.

//He's barely... it's my dad...//

Misfit has posed:
Misfit just looks quite skeptically at Huntress for a moment then peers around the door as people spill out of the freezer all chilled and everything and probably in a panic.

"What she said.. you are all going to be okay but we need to get you down to the street where you can get help now..." she looks around then points.

When Carrie comes over the comms through and all she actively pales there and looks a little shook up.

She is gone from the kitchen though in a slash of smoke and appears on the stairs by Carrie and her dad and ... oh god.. that is a lot of blood.

"I... I can't... he would.. " she isn't even sure how to handle this "It would one hundred percent kill him if I tried...." she starts to go through her belt though pulling out her own medkit and crouching down. "I can get anything we aren't carrying and bring it here though.. if anything would help?"

She sounds panicky and a bit sick about the idea of teleporting a person, let alone someone she has met and that Carrie cares about.

Huntress has posed:
... It's my dad ...

Hearing that over the comm. That gives Huntress a rench in the gut, thankfully her mask keeps the brief flinch private. She had not known that was Carrie's father... but now was glad that she had at least tried to help with the limited amount she could provide. It was more than she could of ever done for her own familia.

She quickly shoves the emotion back down though, and focuses on getting the kitchen survivors out as well.

They could only hope it was enough.

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl moves over to secure Zsasz in batcuffs first and then checks on Robin and Red Hood. "You two ok?" she asks, though settles for a verbal reply as she finally spots the identity of the woman. The final victim. "Oh no," she says softly.

Batgirl moves over and checks Carrie's mother's condition. Knowing there's little hope of finding a pulse, but checking for one just the same. Her head hangs, and that is the position she's in when she hears Kestrel and Misfit over comms. Batgirl hops to her feet, sprinting to the edge of the building and diving off the building.

Ten seconds pass and then a bat-grapple flies up from below and secures itself. Not long after, Batgirl appears at the edge, pushing an EMT up and over the edge of the roof and into the garden, his eyes wide with fright at having been grabbed and grappled up a building with only a few words of warning to grab his bag.

"In the hallway!" Batgirl yells at him as she pulls herself up over the roof's edge with such adrenaline she looks like she was bounced off a trampoline instead of pulling herself with her arms. Batgirl grabs the EMT by the back of his shirt and runs him forward to the stairs as fast as he can manage, only slowing to let him take the stairs at a pace he won't tumble down them.

Batman has posed:
It's all over bar the shouting now. Zsasz is subdued, and those hostages that could be saved have been. Oracle's finagling of city infrastructure has called an ambulance to the scene, and it's already pulling up to the curb down below. He startles when he's gathered up and carried aloft to the hallway, the stretcher and other equipment either teleported or brought up via the elevator.

The paramedics pay Kestrel only cursory attention as they load the man onto the trolley, one of them quietly thanking her for keeping the patient stable. But then they're rolling him away, talking amongst themselves in that strange medical dialect as they bring him downstairs and load him onto the ambulance. A moment later the sirens blare again, and they are speeding out of sight towards Mercy Hospital.

All that remains in the smoke, and the blood, and the pain.

A short while later ...

North of Gotham, atop Crest Hill, sits the expansive and stately house known as Wayne Manor. For years now many of its rooms have bene left to gather dust, home to a only a handful of people where once dozens could live with space to spare. Out on the terrace, a Gilded Age loggia with great stone columns, stands a man. He is clad in a dark suit, his piercing blue eyes set into a pale face. In the distance, he watches the city of Gotham burn. The smoke rises from the inferno, police helicopters growl through the air, and sirens wail in the frigid winter night.

Against the clouds, a bright light shines. A circle - and in that circle, the Mark of the Bat.

The man turns to the woman alongside him, his jaw set in a grim line. His knuckles white as he clasps the loggia's railing. He had listened to everything that had happened in West Chelsea Hill. He had watched it all unfold on the monitors, heard those anguished screams, those mournful cries.

"I ... I have to," he tells her, voice quiet against the distant tableaux of chaos and destruction, "I made a promise."

Wonder Woman has posed:
Beside Bruce, on that terrace stands Wonder Woman in full body armor with her dark hair loose about her shoulders and blowing gently in the winds. Her eyes aren't on the horizon that Bruce is watching. Her eyes are solely locked upon him. Her facial expression is one of calm, though it hints at a the notion that it could fall toward a frown at the drop of a pin.

When he speaks, her eyes look away and down but they do /not/ linger down. They rise instantly back up and though she purses her lips she quickly delivers Bruce a singular decisive nod.

"I know." She says in her sultry but soft voice. "I know that you did. You must keep your promises too. As I would."

Her gaze levels upon him, her slim pointed chin just gently dips as her dark eyebrows raise every so slightly. "Be careful." She says to him. "Be very careful..." Another short pause and Diana gives him a very faint, and very brief, smile.

"Now go."

And with that said, the visage of the women in the red gold and blue Amazonian armor flickers and vanishes, fades away as Wonder Woman is off somewhere far from Gotham.