12574/The Cat, the Bird and the Punisher

The Cat, the Bird and the Punisher
Date of Scene:	20 December 2020
Location:	China Basin, Old Gotham
Synopsis:	CatLady and her goons are interrupted by various heroes, and a surprise appearance by the ruthless Punisher.
Cast of Characters:	Catwoman, Sparrowhawk, Punisher

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Catwoman has posed:
It had been some time since the infamous CatLady - aka the copycat burglar - had struck out and wrecked havok in Gotham. She seemed to be lying low and was making it hard to track her moves, even as she was amassing quite a number of goons to do her dirty work for her.

Because of her efforts, crime had gone up drastically in Gotham lately, and a lot of galleries and jewellers and banks had been hit hardder than ever before.

Her latest robbery had gone down with little resistance, slipping in and out before the police to stop her or her goons, using the brute strength of her latest 'recruits ' - a pair of teenagers, brother and sister who seemed to be some sort of feral cat mutants, now working mindlessly for her.

After having either evaded or subdued the police that tried to stop them, CatLady, the two mind controlled ferals, three goons and her Panther demon familiar are storming g through China town with loot in hand, chasing and scaring away anyone who stands in their way.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Ordinarily she's not supposed to go it alone, definitely not against the dangerous faces of Gotham -- but China Basin was rapidly becoming Sparrowhawk's main beat, dipping into the area without her oversight on.

    For now, she's caught sight of the heist, and was about to go and deliver a tongue-lashing to Catwoman -- when she feels that familiar tug against her.

    That panther, with its blood red eyes, was near.

    And she hit the rooftop rolling, and then booking int in the same direction as the CatLady.

Punisher has posed:
Tracking thieves like Catlady was always a pain in the ass. The Punisher himself was quite adept at stealth, after all... so he knew that if someone good at what they do did hit and runs, there was little to do but wait for a pattern to form. Of course, normally, he would allow Batman to handle Gotham matters; Punisher had a global war to fight, after all.

When it becomes clear he's got his attention elsewhere though, the Punisher has taken up the slack tonight. She's not really being subtle, after all.

As Catlady heads down the street, a black non-descript van pulls into view, blocking off the street, then turns just so, so the back is an an angle towards Catlady and company. The back opens, and a man wearing a black trenchcoat and a white skull on an armored vest at his chest jumps down, in his arms a carbine of some kind.

He stares at Catlady, then those with her... then starts aiming for them, without a word. The ice in his eyes and his practiced motions as he shoulders that carbine making it clear he intends to shoot them on the spot.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman is here too, watching CatLady strutting around, doing a poor impression of Catwoman herself. She sighs, checking her pocket for the antidote which she had filed away in a syringe for just this occasion. Of course injecting the brainwashed twins will require getting in close to them..Which may prove difficult.

For now she crouches down low in one of the alleys, using the shadows of early evening light to hide and watch and wait..

When the black van pulls up and Punisher makes his appearance, Cat lady turns and snarls, "I really hate gate crashers...Get him!" she snarls, and the threes thugs charge at him, stepping in front of CatLady elite to sly as they aim and shoot their own guns at Punisher.

Looks like they haven't spied Sparrowhawk yet.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    The van pulls up, and the suudden appearance of the Punisher doesn't go unnoticed. Sparrowhawk hitches a breath -- no time to wait for Red Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl or Batman -- she had to act now.

    The domino mask she wears switches to tactical as she draws out her grappling gun and flicks a switch on it -- aims -- and fires.

    She's trying to ensnare one fo the twins, drawing his own gun -- and take him up into the darkness of the alleyway above -- much easier to administar the antidote up above!

Punisher has posed:
Not expecting interference, the first burst of rounds zips by the man Phoebe grabbed out of the way, mere inches from his feet... but the Punisher is /fast/, and he's already aiming more bursts towards the other twin by the time the other is in the air. Another burst for the third thug and panther.... then a burst for the Catlady herself.



By the time the thugs have managed to shoot at the Punisher, he was already ducked back into the van, and the bullets meant for him bounce off the Battle Vans armor; clearly, that van is more than it appears. Just like the Batmobile.

Catwoman has posed:
The bigger of the twins - The tall, burly white furred and striped humanoid-feline mutant known as White Tiger, is certainly caught off-guard as Sparrowhawk snags at his arm and pulls him upwards towards a nearby rooftop. He snarls, using his superior strength to snap the grappling cable and lunges towards her, razor sharp claws outstretched.

Meanwhile down below, the second twin, a muscular you g woman, also covered in white fur and leopard spots - Snow Leopard - proves to be quite fast, twisting barely out of the way of a lethal shot. But Punisher is too good a shit. She screeches in pain and stumbles against the wall, clutching a wounded arm that is now bleeding. But she looks tough enough that she might shake it off in a minute or two.

The third thug is not so lucky and with a startled yell, a well placed shot knocks him down dead. The remaining two thugs snarl and rush towards the van, firing off another round of gunshots at the Punisher, though they bounce harmlessly off his van. "Coward!" one of them yells and beckons to the other as they surround the van, one aiming for the front window, another aims for the tires should he try to flee. Clearly they dunno what they're up against.

Meanwhile, CatLady is already fleeing towards her own vehicle, ducking behind a nearby car to barely avoid getting struck down by a bullet. The Panther demon snarls and steps in front of her, taking the second shot, causing it to flinch and snarl in pain, but it seems the Panther demon is able to take a shot or two. Clearly no normal Panther, certainly tougher.

Catwoman sighs and shakes her head, ducking behind a trash can and out of sight. This is one fight she does not care to risk her life over, but now how to get out of this..

Punisher has posed:
Once it becomes clear they're rushing, the back of the Battle Van closes, and suddenly it turns and starts to speed it's way down the street, away from the two thugs.

... which makes it very easy to notice the device that had not been there before when the Battle Van stopped. Circular and flat, a light goes from red, to green, with a beep.

Whether they're intelligent enough to realize what it is or not, they have seconds to run before the anti-personnel mine explodes to tear them to shreds.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Sparrowhawk's eyes narrow as she manages to get the bulkier twin up and with her, and she's already ready for a fight. This time, she's got her armor on, and she's not too scared of those claws.

    She does, howevr, pop an extending staff, gives it a twirl and charges back towards White Tiger, looking to side-step and sweep his feet out from under him.

    "Easy there, cat. We're going to be giving you a med."

Catwoman has posed:
Clearly, the thugs do not know who they are dealing with. As Punisher drives off, they snarl and continue to fire at him until he is out of range. It's only at the last minute that they realize they've been duped. "Oh shi-!"

KABOOM!

They yell and leap out of the way, but still get caught in the blast which slams them against opposing sides of the wall. Fortunately they do have Kevlar vests which absorb some of the blast, but they're certainly not gonna come out without a scrape.Both are knocked unconscious, both bloody. Probably a broken bone or two.

The snow leopard has already fled after CatLady and by this time, Catwoman has snagged a rooftop edge and has pulled herself out of the way of immediate danger, landing somewhere near Sparrowhawk and White Tiger.

It seems that Sparrowhawk is more than a match for the big burly catman, and he yells as she sweeps him cleanly off his feet, crashing to the ground.

Catwoman should not get caught up in a hero's battle but she doesn't half mind Sparrowhawk. She pulls out her whip, snapping it at White Tiger's feet, wrapping them together and pulling them tight before nodding to Sparrow, "Hurry, inject him now! I don't know how long I can hold him down.."

She keeps her eyes and ears peeled for a return of the fearsome Punisher..What a nightmare.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Medicines should typically be applied intramuscular, if not intraveniously. While Sparrowhawk doesn't have the materials (or really, more the time!) to set up a drip of the medicine, instead she goes for the nearest, most obvious big muscle she can find.

    THe antidote is applied intramuscular, through the gluteus. She stabs White Tiger's butt with the needle to inject the antidote for his affliction!

    "Thank you!" she calls out to the Cat, not wasting a second.

Punisher has posed:
At the end of the block, the Battle Van turns around in place at the intersection with a loud grinding of rubber on street, and the Battle Van accelerates back towards the intersection that just exploded. The Punisher can clearly be seen in the drivers seat behind the glass of the Van.

He'll be back in line of sight in moments.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman nods to Sparrowhawk, a neutral expression on her face, "Hey, don't think I make a habit out of it, but I don't like seeing innocents taken advantage of." she peers below and sighs, "Guess the other one got away.." and that was on her, but Catwoman cares more about her own life frankly.

The sound of a van rushing back causes her to frown, "So who's the psycho? I don't think we should hang around much longer." as she speaks, White tiger groans and starts to stir, reaching out to clutch his butt where the needle pierced him. "Ugh..,What happened?"

The two thugs below groan and begin to stir but doesn't sound like they'll be fleeing anytime soon. Not quickly enough at any rate. The explosion has caused several car alarms to go off, and a siren or two wail in the distance. So done probably called the police or ambulance or both.

Sparrowhawk has posed:
    Sparrowhawk checks the feed in her HUD in the mask.

    "Police are on their way. I would attempt an arrest --" she pauses, and there's at least some measure of smile in her voice "... but I'm not supposed to take on the well-known ones on my own. And that guy...?"

    Sparrowhawk crouches. "I don't think he's from gotham."

Punisher has posed:
The Punisher stops at the intersection where the explosion went off, and as the two thugs start getting up, the Punisher opens his window, and casually aims a revolver of some kind at the man.

*POP* A .357 round aimed for the forehead is a clean headshot. Then, he slips over, opens the other window, and another round pops the other thug in the head.

The icy casualness of how he does it makes it seem like he's well practiced at killing in this manner.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman frowns and nods, "Well, this is beyond my paycheque." she climbs to her feet once she notices that White Tiger is coming to. "Looks like you've got your hands full with this one, I gotta go.." she turns and starts to stalk off once she has retrieved her whip. "Ohh..And say hi to Batman for me, hmm?" she winks and salutes Sparrowhawk before swinging off into the night.

Oh and yes, she did notice how very casually that sharp shooter murdered those two men and shivers, wondering why she even gets involved. Oh well, that's Batman and is little bat family's problem..

Punisher has posed:
With Catlady out of sight and the thugs dealt with, the Punisher looks around, checking for more threats. Then... "Mission failure. Microchip, prep the garage." Punisher barked into the commlink he wore as he sped off into the city.