12908/The Cursed Shield

The Cursed Shield
Date of Scene:	28 March 2021
Location:	West Chelsea Park, West Chelsea Hill
Synopsis:	A shield is stolen. A curse is released. Bad things happen.
Cast of Characters:	Catwoman, Spike, Batman

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Catwoman has posed:
It's early night and Catwoman has just hit tshe jackpot..Well, maybe. Possibly. Anyway, she managed to sneak into a promising looking antique store and steal a beautiful hardenned leather, gold painted shield - naturally it has a lovely depiction of some sort of sacred bobcat carved on tshe front..

Sshe probably told Spike sshe'd be out and about tonight although sshe hadn't specified wshere exactly. As sshe steps into an empty part of tshe park, for some odd reason, tshe birds suddenly stop chirping and an eerie silence falls over tshe area..

Spike has posed:
While they are far from inseperable, sooner or later Spike will find his way to Selina as a general rule. The two live their own lives and yet they still find each other. He takes a deep breath and exhales. Looking around he lights a cigarette and pauses, frowning. For those looking close enough they will see him mouth the words,"What the f..." but he is taking a moment to casually look back so what the end of the statement might be is left to the imagination.

Batman has posed:
The rumble of the Batmobile can be heard down the street and whining to a stop. The cockpit slides back to reveal Batman as he leaps out, dressed in his 'uniform' for the night. As the cockpit slides shut and locks itself within it's security protocols, he makes his way towards the pair, having been tracking Selina for some time now from the city.

His cowl whips along behind him, his eyes glowing brightly in nightvision green and there is a rigid scowl across his face. As he comes into view, his voice comes out in a raspy growl. "Catwoman. Put the artifact down. It's going back to the owner." He's no nonsense tonight as he cracks his neck to one side.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman pauses in the lightly forested alcove of the park, somewhere away from the public eye in a park that is nonetheless a hotspot for criminal activity. It's one of the reasons she doesn't want to linger long here, knowing that Batman will likely frequent this area.

She pauses at a park bench, spying Spike first and smirks, "Hey there, blondie, how was Bludhaven? I hope Dawn is doing well?" she grins, pulling the shield out of her bag. "Look what I found..."

She is cut off then as Batman makes an appearance and she groans, "Oh great, *him* again..Thought he wasn't much into petty crime these days.." she rolls her eyes, getting ready to slip the shield back in her bag and Mae a run for it..But it seems the store owner made a shoddy job of fixing the shield, and the crack that was glued with cheap glue suddenly gives away..With a louder sound than it should make, the shield breaks in half, falling to the ground.

"Well. Hmph, that was crappier than I thought.." she huffs. But it seems she has bigger problems all of a sudden, as a strange green mist starts to envelope the entire park..

Well, isn't that just dandy!

Spike has posed:
Taking a slow drag, Spike moves his attention back towards Selina a moment and his eyes land on the shield. His head tilts to the side for a moment, like a dog hearing a strange high pitched sound. He blinks and catches up,"Dawn's good. Bludhaven is...well Bludhaven." He studies the now broken shield and muses,"The tweed clad knight is going to be uhappy."

The sound of a car, the stoic voice, and appearance gets Spike's attention for a moment. He opens his mouth to say something derogatory because, well that's what he does. Instead he raises a brow and looks past him as the green mist rises. He looks at the shield, Catwoman, Batman, and then the mist again,"Right, because coming back to Gotham should be weirder than Bludhaven." he grumbles,"Bloody hell."

Batman has posed:
There is a low growl from Batman as he hears the crack, followed by watching the green mist appear.

"Get back away from it."

As he stalks forward towards them, he looks to be in no mood for back and forths tonight. There is frustration across his face, even if half of it is hidden by his mask. Reaching into his utility belt, he draws forth a small device, then shoots it at shield. It's a foam like material that thickens and hardens once it comes into contact. He is looking to contain whatever it is that is trying to force it's way out.

He gives a withering look towards the pair of them. "What did you do to it?"

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman's eyes widen as the eerie green mist starts to swirl and spread out around them, thick as pea soup now. "Woah wait a minute, I have no idea what the heck is going on..That shield cursed or something? If that's the case, I want nothing to do with it, it just broke in my hands, honest!"

She backs away then, hands up in surrender. The pieces of shield are contained, but unfortunately, it seems the genie is alspready out of the bottle, so to speak. She glances helplessly towards Spike, shaking her head, "Let's get outta here, I didn't sign up for this!"

Buuut, it seems it's too late to back out now..From somewhere nearby, the sound of a war cry can be heard, followed by several more. Then, suddenly, seemingly out of literally thin air, a group of maybe a dozen Native warriors, fully armed with bows, axes, hammers and spears are suddenly surrounding them. Wait, where'd they come from!?

Spike has posed:
The green mist has most of Spike's attention, but he does afford a moment to reply to Batman,"You know for a detective you are quick to judgement. I just arrived at the same time as you. Catch up you git." That said, Spike steps towards Selina and presses his back against hers, muttering softly,"I think it's a little too late for a stage right exit love. I don't know what we're in, but we're in it."

Batman has posed:
"Shut up."

That is Batman's retort to Spike as he turns around slowly to watch the new combatants form around them. Sliding his hands to his belt, in his dominant hand he pulls forth a sharp curved batarang, in his other is a pair of pellets. He rocks a bit on his feet. "Usually you do a better job of researching what you plan on stealing." He rumbles over towards Catwoman with a sideeye glance to her. As he lobs the pellets down to the ground once he crushes them in his gloved hand, thick smoke billows outwards to conceal his identity.

From the cloud comes his sharp blade, whistling through the night to tag one of the archers in the head. There is a rush of his body, followed by the whipping of his cowl as he leaps out, looking to 'Superman' punch another in the face, followed by a sweep of the legs to the other.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman narrows her eyes, "Uh, let's see, mysterious shield from some ancient Native tribe from Bludhaven, aside from that..Storeclerk knew very little about its origins..What the heck's going on?!"

Shes already slipped on her thermal goggles as the green mist continues to swirl around, making it difficult to see, which is of course the point of it all. She barely pays any further attention to the contained shield, genuinely wanting nothing more to do with it as the Native warriors launch an all-out attack upon the three.

They archers unleash a flurry of poisoned arrows upon the group, but Batman's already on the offensive, catching one of the archers unawares, knocking him off balance from his perch i. the tree although these guys seem unusually tough, and don't go down so easily. He is stunned rather than flat out knocked out, and is already recovering, albeit slowly. The second warrior is not so lucky as he is hit harder, knocked out by Batman's impressively powerful and well aimed punch.

Catwoman frowns, ducking and rolling as the arrows come, narrowly missing getting hit by one as she uses her whip to snag onto a tree branch, where she engages with a heated battle with a couple of Chumash warriors.r
"Spike.." she gasps between an exchange of blows, "S this dark magic? You hang out with the Scoobies, what's going on?" even as she speaks, some land bound warriors are charging at the vamp with axes, spears and clubs and more warcries.

Spike has posed:
"Bloody Indians." he growls and turns towards those coming in. So...he isn't politically correct. Anyone surprised. When Selina moves away he moves as well, stepping away from the arrows, though one knicks his coat. He growls deeply and meets one of the axe wielders head on, twisting his body and grabbing the axe. A quick throw the the Indian sails and Spike has an axe.

Of course that was one and there were several so he's over run pretty quick, though he doesn't fall completely and a century of killing makes him very good at it. An eye gouge here, the axe buries into the face of another and he drags that one into the line of fire to get some heat off,"It ain't smoke and mirrors love. Nasty stuff. Look around for something that might be a focus."

Batman has posed:
As he fights, Batman is a blur of movements of quick strikes and counters. He is a man on a mission with rage fueled in each punch or kick. "Try and put that fucking amuelet back together." He growls out over his shoulder, followed by slamming his fist into the face of another combatant, putting his entire shoulder into it. They aren't 'alive', so there is no point in holding back.

He will use the thick smoke and cover of night to his advantage, sliding in and out of it, looking to drop one after another to create an opening for an exit strategy if possible. Another hand is slid into his belt, followed by the release of a bright flash bang that is meant to stun and blind the eyes.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman arches a brow at Batman as he swiftly and efficiently dispatches the enemies. And seems to be in a bad mood too. Wait, when is he ever not grumpy? Oh well..Spike too, seems to have no problem killing them..But then a few minutes later and the Chumash warriors climb back to their feet, bloody and bruised but still 'alive' in a sense.

Well, except for the ones killed by their own weapons, who vanish in a puff of smoke..Odd..

Cats has her own hands full, frowning as the majority seem to focus on surrounding and attacking her, and it takes her a moment or two to avoid getting dogpiled, twisting and turning this way and that, snagging one, hurling him at another. "Wait, what's this? They're not dying...Unless we use their own weapons!" she wrangles a stray arrow from one, using it to fend off the warriors who continue to focus on her, "Damnit, of course I'm their focus..Can't we just put it back and call it a day? It's yours ok?"

But the warriors are ignoring her pleas, continuing to attack her and her friends, making it hard to get close to the broken shield.

Fortunately the flash grenade does stun a good group of them, giving at least someone a chance to reach for the broken shield.

Spike has posed:
The weapon makes them quit coming. That's all Spike needs to know. He goes into abusive, but elusive tactics and continues to weild the axe while mixing in basic leg sweeps to trip some up. War of attricition still takes time. He changes his stance to attempt to move towards where the shield fell, but he's not getting there quickly.

Batman has posed:
Having snatched a sword up from one of the enemies, Batman hears Selina and decides to not hold back. He uses the weapon efficiently, lopping off heads and other arms as his cowl and bodyarmor take a beating during the brawl. He steps forward through the fray, running the blade once more through the chest of one, then pushes off him with a foot to the stomach.

It appears he is also making his way towards the shield. Another round of flashbangs is thrown behind him, lifting his cape up to cover his face from the blast before he moves like a shark in the shadows.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman does the same, slashing and hacking the arrow head, cleverly adjusting it to the end of her whip as she slashed around. And now it seems the Chumash spirits go down more easily as she keeps her eye on the shield, "Almost there---Ahh!"

She shrieks in sudden pain, falling to her knees as a poisoned arrow hits her in the rib cage, her outstretched arm trembling as she falls to the ground. It's only then that the last few Chumash warriors retreat, satisfied now that the thief had been punished for daring to steal their warrior chief's shield.

With a rush of wind, the green mist doesn't so much dissipate as retreat back into the broken shield, and all the fallen warriors vanish in the same instant, leaving an eerie silence to fall over the park.

Spike has posed:
One head, about to go flying. Spike swing the weapon just as the warrior loses interest and hits nothing. He staggers a little to regain his balance as he doesn't land the hit,"Where you going ya poncy bugger?" he spits at the retreating warriors, but a moment later his mind flashes back to realizing Selina screamed.

A glance once more to make sure they are leaving and then he is at her side, looking at the wound,"I can't take you anywhere love." he mutters softly and studies the entry of the arrow,"Nothing for it, this is going to hurt." he mutters to her and settles next to her, not grabbing the arrow yet.

Batman has posed:
With a growl, Batman slashes out with the sword once more, just to find it disappear from his hands in a swirl of green mist. Frowning from behind his mask, he stalks his way towards the shield, leaning down to swipe it up and tuck it into his cowl. He will be returning this to where it belongs.

Turning his head towards the injured Selina, he heads over to her and lowers himself down, giving a narrow of his eyes. His own body armor has knicks and chunks taken out of it, but otherwise he wasn't struck in the flesh. He reaches out to take one of the gloves off her hand, then slips a small device out of his belt to press it against her. He takes a quick blood sample, holding it up to his eyes as his mask gives a 'flicker' of blue light.

"Tell me what you see."

He's not speaking to them, obviously as he waits for Alfred to send back the results into his ear piece. He will have the blood analyzed so that he will know which antidote to use.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman clenches her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut as he examines the arrow head..Fortunately it's not lodged too deeply in her rib cage, and is more of a graze, so pulling it out will still hurt but as it's just the top that penetrated her skin, he won't have to rip it out the other side.

"Ugh...Do it..Quickly.." she snarls between gritted teeth and sighs a bit. "I was a fool to grab it. Should have known.." When a blood sample is taken, it's done so quickly that Cats barely notices but arches a curious brow at him.

"So...How bad is it?"

Alfred shouldn't have much trouble analyzing the results. It appears to be snake venom from a species that went extinct a few hundred years ago, native to what is now known as Sunnydale. It might be possible to make a synthetic venom but it'll be tricky and no guarantee it'll work.

Spike has posed:
At this point Spike resists the urge to snark off at the other man, instead looking back at her eyes,"You know for the worlds greatest, bad things happen to you a lot." he quips. Of course he knows that will annoy her, raise her ire, and in turn take her mind off the fact he withdraws the arrow with a single pull. Bedside manner? Not really.

He tears some of his shirt off and places a compress over the wound,"You have no idea how fortunate you are love..." he mutters,"...we didn't meet like this a few years ago." He is surprisingly adept at ignoring the amount of blood present.

Batman has posed:
Tilting his head, Batman rumbles out in a growl. "It's bad. The venom is derived from a relative of the eastern coral snake, but a species long extinct. I can create an anti-venom in my lab. You need to stay calm and not allow your heartrate to elevate. You will be dead in a few hours otherwise."

Raising his hand upwards, he presses a button on a keyfob as a blast of light from the thick dark clouds shines down upon them in the signal of a bat. The Batplan has whisper engines, not making a single sound and armor coated in black as it descends from the clouds to hover next to them. The cockpit slides backwards.

Leaning down, he slides his arms under her and hefts her up, making his way back towards his floating ride. "I'll bring her back in a few hours once I inject her. Feel free to stick around." He calls over his shoulder to Spike as he puts her in the cockpit after spraying a sealing adhesive over the wound that numbs the pain and clots the blood. He had a canister in his utility belt.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman doesn't respond much, pretty sleepy from the poison as she's lifted into...Wherever she's going. It seems there might be a short term cure but who knows what will happen I. the future if this curse spreads to others?