15063/Heist Gone To The Bats!

Heist Gone To The Bats!
Date of Scene:	09 May 2023
Location:	Third Gotham Bank and Trust, Red Hook
Synopsis:	Arnold Wesker, The Ventriloquist, robs a bank. Well he tries to, as his Scarface dummy. The Bat Family stop him, while Catwoman and Domino get out with the actual goods.
Cast of Characters:	Ventriloquist (Wesker), Two-Face, Domino, Huntress, Catwoman, Batgirl (Cain), Spoiler, Batman

---

Ventriloquist (Wesker) has posed:
"So what's the plan, boss man?" asks the wide eyed, gangster in the front of the car driving. In the back sat a larger man with a brimmed hat, next to a much smaller man in a suit with a bowtie. Fixing his bowtie. He kept generally quiet. He wore a look of extreme stress and worry. In his lap sat a ... puppet? The puppet was dressed as an atypical 1920's gangster-- fedora with a red band, suit, rose in the pocket. It has a large scar along it's face to the left side. "We goes in and we rake the place!" says the puppet. No one paid any mind to the ventriloquist operating the puppet...

> MUGSY - Mouse eyed gangster wearing a newsboy cap.
> RHINO - Thigh breaking bouncer, wearing a brimmed fedora and a suit.
> ARNOLD WESKER - The Ventriloquist, meek, troubled man.
> SCARFACE - The brains of the entire operation. Puppet Crimelord. Mob boss.

A black sedan stops in front of the Third Gotham bank and trust moments later... dropping off people before speeding off. The getaway driver, who moves over when Mugsy leaves, will be back... eventually.

14:48, 25 May 2023 (UTC)~~

The heist happens rather abruptly. Mugsy and Rhino break in first, and spray tommy guns into the ceiling to get everyone's attention first and foremost, sending some plaster down from the ceiling to rain down in dust. Then in comes Arnold Wesker acting like he's being pulled by the puppet he holds out in front of him as he 'catches up' and rests the puppet on his free arm. "Everyone hit da' doit! Do as I say and nobody gets hurt, ya see!?" says the puppet as it waves around an appropiatly sized tommy gun in it's arms. "Come on dummy, let's find da manager." says Scarface. "...Yes, Mister Scarface...right away..!" says The Ventriloquist.

Most people in here for bussiness today do as asked, hitting the dirt, covering thier heads as a teller hits a silent alarm. Which means cops will be here soon enough, but hopefully, someone else may be here faster and sooner. For now, The Ventriloquist and Scarface are heading towards the manager's office. (or where it should be) as Mugsy and Rhino watch the main lobby decked out in it's marble floor, which many of the people have hit.

Two-Face has posed:
Red Hook ain't exactly the kind of neighborhood that people should be out and about it. There are certain individuals like the one that's across the street from the Third Gotham Bank and Trust right now that are more at home in this kind of locales and situations that don't seem to be affected by the gunfire that comes from inside said bank.

In fact, there's really only a moment where the man smirks and takes a step backward, farther into those shadows in which he can keep a close eye on the bank itself.

Said shadowed individual is wearing a suit that's split down the middle; the right side of the suit a combination of blacks and grays while the left side is a wild splashing of pinks, greens and yellows. There's even a bit of cheetah print on the tie. Either way, he goes into his pocket and comes out with a small bag of peanuts. The bag gets opened and he starts cracking them for some good eating while he settles in to watch the show.

The silver Comedy/Tragedy pin on the lapel of his suit jacket marks this man as a member of The Two-Face Gang. A closer look at those hands that are shoving peanuts in his mouth will reveal that it looks like he's got two right hands? Which, of course, means that this is Tommy 'Two Hands' Calzone, one of Two-Face's Debt Collectors. And boy does he look interested in what's going on over at the bank.

Domino has posed:
"Look, you're out of your mind if you think I'm taking this one. There is -no way- I'm gonna break in there--"

The chatter of Tommyguns in the distance has Domino spinning about on her heels, staring at the strobe lights of muzzle flashes inside of the bank.

"--at my normal rates. Triple or nothing. ... Triple AND the box. Does he want this stuff or not? Ask me if I care. Interest waning... Sold" she ends the call, now with a slight gleam in her eyes which -isn't- due to someone else discharging a submachine gun.

The commotion means a free distraction. While eyes are turned elsewhere the albino mercenary steals a backpack from a street vendor, one of a cute cartoon bunny, then hustles back to a nearby parking lot where not a moment earlier she saw someone pull in on a lovely bright red sport bike. With full biker leathers and helmet in place to help conceal her identity (because there is still NO WAY she's giving anyone an opportunity to positively ID her on such a brazen heist!) and a quick hotwiring, the jacked bike zips out of the lot and darts between traffic toward the bank.

The cops are gonna hate her for aiding the robbers. The robbers are gonna hate her for crashing their robbery. The civilians are gonna hate her for all of the above. Hell, this is gonna be a rush!

Huntress has posed:
Helena Bertinelli is a name that is known, even if the woman herself wouldn't necessarily be recognized. Having been absent from Gotham for over three years, her presence at the Bertinelli mafia family gatherings planning the part of princess have no doubt slipped from the minds of Gotham's elite and criminal element alike.

And yet there's no doubt this woman is /someone/. Part of it is in her elegant, graceful bearing, some of it is in the flattering but demure clothing she wears -- slim fitting jeans over heeled boots, black tank-top and over it, a over-sized, cashmere sweater of sufficient branding to say /money/. Even if it weren't for the adornments she wears -- designer bag, designer sunglasses on her head, gold necklace, diamond earrings, gold-and-glittering diamond rings -- she'd breathe generational wealth.

She's waiting -- with a studied kind of impatience of someone used to being tended to immediately -- for the bank's president to personally arrive and escort her down to the vault. Sure, there's a nervous-looking manager fawning over her where she sits in his office, but he gets only the barest of attentions after he's secured her wish for a latte, one sugar.

That's about when the sounds of gunfire rattle out. Helena tenses, glances at the manager, and lifts the latte to her lips, even as her gaze is skirting around the room, doing a mental assessment. She has none of her weapons with her. No way to hide her face. No way to intervene without risking her secret identity. In short, she's kind of stuck, and she's very, very angry about this. Still, she raises her hands into the air.

Catwoman has posed:
The diamond exchange is just down the block. Lovely place, well-trained staff, perfect manners. They provided a lovely tea service to pass the time while doing business. Miss Kitka didn't find anything she wanted to buy, but she did have see a few pieces that caught her eye. Almost as much as the passcode of the security system the attendant entered in when he thought she couldn't see. Almost as much as the precise path of the motion detecting lasers.

She's making her way down the street, wearing a stylish pantsuit with heels, her short, dark hair striking, her eyes hidden ehind sunglasses.

nd then she sees the cars and hears the gunfire, curling her nose in disdain. Violence. So clumsy. So inefficient. She wondered which of Gotham's local menagerie were involved this time. They had better not get her suit dirtiy. She would be very put out.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
It's another routine day in Gotham. Which is to say, somewhere in the city, a crime lord, costumed villain, or very rarely space alien is committing a dramatic daytime bank robbery. But also, there are far less dramatic criminals prowling the city and looking for helpless victims to exploit. One of whom had just moments ago committed the classic, far less dramatic and ostentatious crime of purse snatching. The woman whose purse has been absconded with has barely managed her first shrill, piercing scream at this brazen display of criminality when a dark figure comes swooping down from above.

And while crime never sleeps justice never... misses the opportunity to deliver what would be a textbook flying knee to the jaw of a purse snatcher. If someone had written a textbook on 'Advanced acrobatic martial arts in the urban crime environment.'

While Cass is better at writing than she is speaking, she's not yet at 'writing study material' in her literary career.

The dark figure of (a) Batgirl has barely had time to ziptie the purse snatcher's wrists while he wallows in unconsciousness before there's a familiar crackling in her earpiece. Bank robbery, silent alarm. Far more pressing, which might be why she's sprinting past the shocked criminal victim, practically looping her purse strap over her shoulder like a magic trick, even as Cass is raising her grapple gun, a sharp PAFF of compressed air sounding, hook latching somewhere above, gears whirring as she's swept up into the air.

She's sure she won't be the first person out on patrol responding, because... well, she wasn't planning a _full_ daytime patrol.

She should have. Should have taken a bike. Or the Batwing? No. Overkill.

But maybe, next time...

Spoiler has posed:
EARLIER

Cass isn't the only one on Day Patrol. Though Steph does things a little different than her bestie. Instead of galivanting around in her suit, Stephanie is tooling around on a motorcycle. Mostly, she's doing the job of the drones, moving around, peeking into places and just generally keeping watch.

Then her earpiece crackles too, and she swears. She wheels the bike around, horsing on the throttle, and shoots off in a blur. She needs to find a place to change.

NOW

Spoiler looms above the bank from the rooftop across the street. She stares down into the chaos, noting the incoming Fast Bike, and trying to figure out her angle of attack here.

Batman has posed:
Gunfire rings out. Civilians hit the dirt. Gangsters circle like sharks scenting chummed water. In short-- it's a fairly typical day in a major late-era Western Civilization's metropolis. Also: This particular metropolis happens to be Gotham City; decades of corruption, exploitation, violence and abuse are hard to punch out of such a place in one man's lifetime-- but a choice few are called to try.

All nonsense aside, it's a duty the Dark Knight takes quite seriously, and there are Ways to remain largely unseen on the sunlit streets of a major city. One of these is to simply conduct one's patrol above the cloudcover, hidden from radar, with computer-assisted trajectories that utilize just that aforementioned relentless daystar to foil visual identification.

Within that sleek stealth jetcraft Batman swiftly swaps trajectory even before signals start going off on his own surreptitious links to GCPD-- it's almost as if he doesn't just rely on them to voluntarily call him in, or /something/. Within moments, that jet is far over the targeted bank, with plenty of altitude to remain unheard.

Instants later, the Batman bails out without a parachute, curling into a tight somersault and diving arms tucked, straight downward, at alarming, nigh suicidal speeds. Moments after -that-, the Bat lands on the roof of the bank, his cape unfurled to both sides at the last possible moment, providing -just- enough draft to slow his equipment-calculated terminal velocity to the extent that he might exercise a deft, graceful ninja landing that sounds only as a dull 'thump' upon the structure's apex.

In the streets below, throughout the nearby cityscape, several more motorcycles roar out of hidden garages, seemingly driving -themselves- along a break-neck course towards the robbery in progress.

Ventriloquist (Wesker) has posed:
Muggsy and Rhino wait with bated breaths. The plan is to grab some loot and be gone before the cops know what hit here, and before someone like a vigilante hero can show up. So far everything is like clock work. Everyone's playing nice. No one's playing hero- yet. Which means Arnold Wesker and Scarface find the manager (Well, one of them) in the office, trying to hide under the desk. "Come along, you mug." says Scarface. Who brandishes his tommy gun. Arnold Wesker. "If you would s-s-ir, I wouldn't make Mister Scarface angry..." says as he tries to push the manager along to the cage.

"Open the door, if youse know what's good fer ya!" says Scarface, Wesker shoving the puppet in the manager's face and placing the tommy gun to the manager's temple. "..now!" he says.

No one apparently notices anyone outside yet.

Helena, who's probably on the other side of the cage, gets a little eye from Rhino. But otherwise is quiet and goes back to watching the room. Arnold Wesker and Scarface seem too busy trying to hurry the bank manager up to open the cage fast to notice anything immediate.

Two-Face has posed:
Across the street, Tommy 'Two Hands' Calzone is doing what any normal solicitor of products and services would do. He just watches. He knows there's all kinds of stuff going on at the moment and as long as he continues to be a silent observer then he's not going to have to worry about dealing with any of this mess.

Besides, he's got some more protection money to collect here in a little bit so he's not going to be getting involved. Not directly.

Some more crunching of peanuts and Tommy 'Two Hands' Calzone stays the course. He hasn't seen anything too wild just yet but he's definitely taking some observational notes. In his head. Writing is difficult for him because, strangely enough, he's left handed.

Figure that one out.

Domino has posed:
Speed is of the essence, and more so than usual. As the city blurs past Domino's visor she's already crunching numbers. This city's hero/villain ratio, average police response, multiply for daylight hours, multiply AGAIN for major bank and immediate danger to the population... It's going to be crazy.

None of this is helped when the black biker with a white bunny bag on a red bike ramps up the exterior steps and -launches straight into the bank- with a crash of glass. The lovely marble floor gets a couple patches of rubber as the bike squeals to a halt fast enough to pop the back wheel into the air and spin the rider around half a turn, nicely aligned for a speedy getaway.

The clock's ticking. Everyone's going to be gauging actors. figuring out which side they're on. Dom's plan is to coast JUST under the radars of both. No guns nor threatening gestures, thus not a villain. Not standing in the way of the bad guys, thus not a hero. The playing field is a scattered mess. If she's lucky this'll buy her enough time to reach the safety deposit boxes!

Mugsy and Rhino are left standing guard. Smart play. She rolls the dice and says to them both "Sorry I'm late!" while attempting to simply walk right on by. Confusion be thy name.

Huntress has posed:
Inside the bank, Helena keeps her hands hands in the air, a studied look taking Scarface and his companion both as the two criminals enter the manager's office. Her eyes drop quickly, but not quick enough to hide her angry defiance at this unwelcome intrusion, and more importantly, her inability to do anything about it. Regardless, it can very easily read outwardly as some rich broad being fairly annoyed that her day is interrupted, which is not entirely untrue.

That quick look Helena gives the pair of criminals is sufficient to know making any moves right now would be asking to get shot, and she's not a big fan of that. Especially with Rhino watching her. Unless told otherwise she stays where she is, behind the desk, waiting for an opportunity. "Just get this over with," she tells the manager as he's herded away. "You're insured." He better be! She has valuables in this bank.

Keeping her hands up is exhausting! And being a hostage is... difficult. She's having trouble staying still which might not be great for going unnoticed. Fortunately Domino provides a great distraction in the form of her smashing arrival. Slowly, subtly, she edges towards Rhino.

Catwoman has posed:
Slip into an alleyway. Climb up a fire escape. Momentary wardrobe change, slimming black to even more slimming and even more black. Cat mask. Whip. She takes her time because she hates being rushed and because she doesn't really care -that- much. People shouldn't be killed in bank robberies, there's insurance, it's just unprofessional all around. But that's Gotham. Too many crazies, not enough pros.

WHIPCRACK

Keeping watch on the alley is a low level mook job that sucks even more when a whip wraps around your neck from above and drags you up and out of sight. Poor Geno.

Batman has posed:
From his vantage point creeping along the bank's roof, the Dark Knight scans the interior in several spectrums as the lenses of his cowl illuminate his actual eyes within with the advanced imaging sensors' observations. This is linked in with a centralized, isolated network, on which a general team operator provides overwatch and operational support; right now, that mission operator is a vigilant Alfred, and that support is the additional oomph of imaging and signal amplification from an advanced satellite drifting by even farther overhead than the Jet.

All this is to say: By the time Batman silently stalks the span between his landing point and one of several entry points to the bank, he's got a pretty good handle on who's inside, where they are, and what kind of stance they're in; which in tandem with the computer quickly sees probability flags on friend or foe identification systems... and then that information feeds itself to the suits of the other Batlike Operators on site. "I'm going in." It's all the Batman offers over their encrypted comms, before he drops down just behind Domino's abrupt entrance.

The Merc crashes through, saunters on, safe bets are all eyes are on her; it's a bet the Batman takes. Helena likely gets the best view of him dropping down without a sound and gingerly stepping around the broken glass... and if so, the Dark Knight gives her the subtlest side-nod on his way to suddenly leveraging an arm around the larger mook's neck, an abrupt downward snap of the swordbreakers on his armored gauntlets disarming the man of his Thompson. Though someone like Huntress scarcely even needs a go signal to synch up.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
It would be _terribly_ cool if Cassandra dropped out of the sky onto Steph's bike on her way to the bank. Very cool, but also unnecessarily dangerous. And so Cass accepts that she's going to be somewhat delayed compared to her partner in crime fighting. Which is okay, because she can make up for some time by ignoring streets and going from building to building.

Which might be a little unsettling if Steph's focused /too/ intently on the bank, as Cass doesn't wear a bell or anything to make her more noticeable. She just... arrives. Crouched next to Steph, looming, peering down, eyes tracking the building, cataloging points of entrance and egress. Sightlines, windows, all those important little details.

She tilts her head, likely glancing at Steph through that black cowl, voice low, monotone. "Hm. Hostages... tricky. Need to be precise."

She glances upwards to see Batman dropping down and making his entrance. "Ah. Good. Distraction for..." She pauses for a moment and shrugs, "Bad guys."

It's going to be one of those days.

Spoiler has posed:
Steph doesn't have a fancy domino mask or cowl to feed her HUD information. Which is why she gets it through -contact lenses-. It pays to work with/for the guy with billions of dollars. The tacnet feed flickers directly in front of her eyes. She takes it all in. Enemy placement, innocent placement. Angles and vectors and probabilities. It paints a picture of what she can do. Muscles tense as she gets ready to make her entrance...

And there's Cass.

She jumps a little, startled. Much in the same way she does when Batman does the same thing! "Hey," she says. "I was just about to head on down there, though Batman's got it under control, I bet. ...We should help anyway." She looks over at Cass and smiles behind her mask, only her eyes showing under that hood. "Time's a'wasting. If we don't go, he'll be done soon." The Spoiler rises, grabbing a grapple gun from her belt and firing it. It launches across the street, anchoring around a handy gargoyle. "Race you!"

She jumps, plummeting down until the line goes taut, then she swings, bursting through the already broken window. She releases the line, slipping the gun away at the same time she pulls a pair of extending batons from where they were strapped on her thighs. They lock in with a click, and, well. Poor Mugsy is her target that she stalks.

Ventriloquist (Wesker) has posed:
Rhino squints at Domino, as he brings his gun around to her. She then apologizes for being late. "Huh. I didn't know da' boss hired help." Luckily, Domino's arrival is enough of a distraction for Helena to edge closer as Muggsy is also looking over at the new arrival with a questioning shrug.

They go back to watching shortly after, however, going back to alert mode.

Scarface's pushing of the manager is bearing fruit though as the cage is opened and Rhino is called with a "Hey, RHINO, c'mere." from Scarface. Which means Scarface gets to turn around just in time to see Batman descend down on the larger man and disarm him.

"IT'S GATMAN. GET 'IM MUGGSY!" screams Scarface. Muggsy wide eyes and tries to get a firing solution on Batman that also doesn't put Rhino in the crosshairs. Which means he isn't firing yet.

"Can't work like 'dis!" says Scarface, who knows enough to not corner himself in the vault by going further for the moment. "Do something dummy!" Demands Scraface into Wesker's face. Wesker flounders and and mutters. "B-But Mister Scarfa e!..." Scarface screams. "CAN IT!"

While Mugsy is waiting to open fire, he is a sitting duck at the moment.

The other mobster, Rhino, meanwhile, is starting to charge around trying to throw Batman off his back. This is hard.

Arnold Wesker meanwhile is cowering behind his puppet.

Two-Face has posed:
"Figures."

Tommy 'Two Hands' Calzone dusts off his two right hands and reaches into his pocket for his phone. There's a lot of craziness going on across the street and he should probably report it. There's only one number in that phone. Well, there's actually two because the boss wouldn't let there only be one number in the phone. It was a whole deal. Anyway, the number gets dialed as he pays way more attention to the bank debacle than he probably should be.

"Hey Boss, it's me." Frown. "It's Tommy." Frown. Sigh. "Tommy Two Hands." Finally. "Listen, uh, I'm down in Red Hook, yeah? Collectin'. And I thinks we gots a new player in town. Or maybe and old player. I dunno. Anyway, theys causin' a lotsa ruckus. Makin' a lot of noise. Scarin' up all kindsa' bats and birds if you knows what I'm sayin'."

Crunch.

"Uh, peanuts?" Nervous gulp. "I mean, I didn't know they was yours psecifically. I just thoughts they was for anybody! Y'know, like uh... what is they called? Ordorves?"

Tommy winces as ranting probably is happening in his ear at this moment.

Domino has posed:
Domino's world is getting increasingly smaller but she's still in the game. Muggsy, Rhino, and now some dude with a puppet (?!?) are getting into a shouting match. The BATMAN is here (great response time with that guy!) Two other women seem to be joining the fray, one of them some wealthy looking hostage of all things... It's now or never to make her move.

As Rhino tangles with Batman and the dude with the puppet argues with himself Dom's somehow all the more in her element. The bank manager is a nervous mess and there's guns darting all over the place and she just..goes up to the vault and opens it..?

Gosh, did someone forget to set the lock on their way out? It's okay, these things happen to everyone.

Huntress has posed:
Playing the part of civilian is, at least for Helena Bertinelli, so much more work than being the Huntress. Helena, for her, is the cover, and Huntress is the most honest part of herself. She wants to lift her chin in defiance whenever one of the mooks looks at her, but that's not the part she's playing.

It's as she easing towards Rhino that she spots a familiar shadow dropping from the ceiling. One not seen in many years. For a heartbeat, it is the Huntress looking at the Dark Knight, and then that goes away as her gaze flickers down. She's at war with herself, for a beat. She can't break her cover. She can't!

...she can 'accidentally' stumble against the mook though, to send him off balance and within range of the Batman's fists.

Catwoman has posed:
Just as Domino goes into the vault, one of the ceiling tiles insidse of lifts up and pulls aside and the Catwoman casually drops in from above to land easily on her feet, only to find herself staring at the albino mercenary.

"Splitsies?" she asks, "I'll take the left, you take the right?"

She goes over and casually draws her lockpick set, just starting to go down the various boxes and open them up. "Of course, you'll have to pick your own locks. I'm not a charity. I love the look, though. Monochrome is in."

Okay, she's already pocketed a few obvious gems while Batman and Scarface's boys mix it up outside. Silly Bruce and his friends always play rough.

"So, are you Salt or Peppa?"

Batman has posed:
As Rhino tears off with Batman's arm tensing around his neck, the area around the large man clinging to the larger man erupts in a sudden, surprising volume and dense smoke. In this case, it's entirely breatheable-- but it's hard to tell what's happening beyond the loud, pained GRUT that emits from the cloud, followed by a profound, crashing THUD.

In fact, a readily accessible mechanism in the batsuit is triggered, sending a high intensity current to conductive points in the fingertips and palm of one armored palm. That palm was then pressed steadily into the massive mook until Rhino slammed head-first into a counter, and the Dark Knight vaulted from the fellow's back mid-fall.

Trusting the others closing in to mop up Mugsy, the Batman rushes out of the smoke to herd the hostages towards a side hallway leading to the branch's bathrooms. With his cape flourished wide, he provides substantial anti-arms fire, and is really, really scary to men like Wesker-- or even those like Rhino.

"Get inside, block the doors until the police arrive." The Bat instructs the civilians. ~Luckily~ for the ladies in the vault, the Big Score doesn't appear to be the Batman's first, or even second priority. Number two, though, proves to be advancing on Wesker and Scarface, with care towards not getting the manager shot.

"This was over before you even started." He informs the wooden mobster. That's the one most likely to respond, let's be honest here.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
Cassandra follows along behind Steph wordlessly. She _might_ be smiling behind her cowl, because Steph is very much right. If they don't hurry, all the important crimefighting will be done. And while the bank devolves into precision crimefighting and ranting from the mastermind of the heist, Cassandra aims for one of the higher windows for the main lobby.

She's a little slower than Steph, because she's got one hand on her grapple gun, and the other fishing in her utility belt for a handful of small explosive pellets hurled to the window she's arcing towards just far enough behind their detonation that she's flying through a cloud of glass particles that are practically powder.

Momentum and physics have the athletic form of the Batgirl flying towards the cashier desks... Batman clearly has the main force of thugs under control, but someone's got to check the depths of the bank, in case those are just the goons handling crowd control. Someone could definitely be in the vault, or the safety deposit boxes.

Banks. So many things to steal, so many to check and clear.

Spoiler has posed:
The Batman does the important work. He puts the hurt on Rhino, then he handles the hostages with dignity and compassion. This leaves Mugsy and his gun. Spoiler twirls her batons in her hands once, making sure they're sitting -just right- in her hands. "Sorry, I'd call you by your name, but all you henchmen look alike to me anymore," she says with a shake of her head. "Is that ... classist? Is it even an -ist? I'm not sure."

Asking her baffling rhetorical questions to throw the goon off his focus, Steph lunges, flicking her wrists to send the tips of the batons -screaming- at the hands on the gun. She might break something, but, well. He had a Tommy Gun pointed at civilians!

That's really quite rude.

Ventriloquist (Wesker) has posed:
Rhino is one heck of a hard target at least, Until he's slammed head first into a counter and causes him to become incapacitated, at least for the moment, helped along with a trip from Helena as Rhino rubs his head. Muggsy, likewise is momentarily baffled by the question but tries to answer it with his gun only to have it knocked out of his hands by batons and perhaps a wrist broken for his trouble, he does yelp in pain.

Then The Batman comes for Scarface and Wesker. Wesker flounders. "L..Look-- I didn't wanna do this, but Mister Sc--" Scarface cuts him off. "SHUDDAUP YOU DUMMY! Gimme my backup!" Wesker hesitates for a moment before he hands what looks like a bundle of dynamite with a timer to Scarface. Well 'hand' as in he balances it on the puppet's hand. "I was savin 'dis for the vault incase the manager 'dere was uncooperative like, Gut this'll do you in too, Gatman!" says Scarface as 'Scarface' tosses the timed bundle of dynamite towards Batman.

Meanwhile, Rhino's watch is beeping. They're outta time.

Rhino makes a charge for the door. Muggsy is too hurting to run right away but he knows it's time to vammose.

Scarface, well. Wesker and Scarface grab the manager and start to move slowly to the door.

"ANYONE TRIES ANYTHING AND 'DIS HERE GUY SLEEPS WITH DA FISHES!" yells Scarface. Wesker is gonna get such a dressing down when this is done and over one way or another, from the boss!

Domino has posed:
From behind the helmet's visor there is one surprised albino as -Catwoman- appears out of nowhere! Hah! This is getting better and better! Domino flicks the visor open with a quick up-down-up look at the more properly themed cat burglar. "Damn! Good timing."

'Splitsies?'

"Nice look, yourself... Tell you what, you can have the lion's share. I only want one box, though if you've got a solid distraction or exit route I'll take it."

Getting back out? Probably a lot more difficult! But now there's smoke going off outside of the vault, granting the two black-clad ladies inside a little more peace and quiet to go get their looting on. This mercenary is not asking questions!

Of course, if there IS any loose loot lying around, well..some of it might happen to slip into a pocket or a bunny bag but she's -really- got her sights set on her score. Now's a bad time to start getting (too) greedy.

At Selina's question of 'Salt or Peppa' Dom suggests "Passing through. Big fan, by the way! How'd you even get in here? Master class."

'Pick your own locks.' Ah. Hm. Well... Domino doesn't have lockpicks today, but she has a suppressed handgun. Pieces come together and one bullet takes out one lock to one lockbox and the goods inside, they are hers at last!

Huntress has posed:
In this moment, Helena is somewhat torn. Her instinct to protect civilians is one of her defining features, and yet her want to step is also prevalent. Her posture eases when she sees more bats coming through: some of them familiar, some not. Some she recognizes only by the uniform or who they choose to focus on.

Her one, concealed moment of defiance over, her cover still in-tact, when Batman herds the civilians away towards the bathrooms, she'll head with them, barricading the door with a vending machine she goads some of the others into helping her move. It means she totally misses that people are looting the lockboxes. Including /Helena's/. She's going to be very upset at that acquisition of Domino's... once she finds out.

That poor manager. He's having the worst kind of day. Having to put up with a /Bertinelli/ and then getting kidnapped by Scarface and Wesker? Might be time for therapy.

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle laughs, "Of course I take the lion's share. It goes with the theme. Themes are really good when you're a criminal. Helps to create a recognizable brand. And when it's a cute theme, gangsters underestimate you and then they get these amazing surprised faces when you kick the living hell out of them and leave them choking on their own blood when they try to short you your share."

"Long story short: stay solo if you can."

She pockets a few more pieces, tossing a few less tasteful pieces casually to lay on the table, "You might like those, they'll fence well, but they're simply too ugly for me to steal. Bad for my reputation."

She peeks out of the vault momentarily, "I think Batman's just wrapped up the...is that a...ventriloquist? What the sweet bippy?"

"As for getting in, I've memorized the ductwork of every major banking and finance location in Gotham. Never know when it'll be useful. If you want to avoid the Bat, just climb up through the hole there, twenty feet south, climb up the ladder, thirty feet northwest, I left the vent on the roof unscrewed."

Batman has posed:
The Dark Knight doesn't even pause to see if there's a countdown timer on the charge. There's no sign of panic despite the urgency with which Batman steps forward to -catch- the thing before it can hit him -or- the floor at all.

With the easy reflex of muscle memory, like he's done this a hundred times-- and let's be fair, if anyone has it's the Caped Crusader-- he retrieves the sleek grapnel launcher from his belt and a particular bolt from the opposite side. The instrument folds out to little more than a weighted, aerodynamic head with a mysterious black cube attached to its base. One side of this box is an eminently fragile pellet which proves to yield a nearly instantaneously bonding adhesive compound when the Dark Knight smacks the explosive payload against it.

Turning a half-twist, he aims the grapnel gun at a high window, and fires the bolt with payload in tow right through. Out in the street to explode, accruing even more GCPD stars on this ill-fated operation (for some)? Why no-- as the projectile clears the window, a miniaturized balloon erupts out of the other side of the box, rapidly expanding into a lighter than air apparatus that carries the dynamite ever farther skyward.

The Dark Knight doesn't bother to advance on Wesker despite his expedient problem solving-- likely for the Manager's sake. As Batman turns back to face the Ventriloquist, his cape surrounds him, conceals his arms, nearly covers his legs entirely. He looms like a black shadow, face unreadable, no telling what he's doing with that belt. "Let him go and give up. You need /help/, Wesker."

Spoiler has posed:
The Spoiler might have broken Mugsy's wrist. She won't even feel bad about it. He was, after all, waving a VERY ILLEGAL GUN around after trying to ROB A BANK. She spins the batons again, and they collapse so she can slip them back in their thigh holsters.

"Leaving so soon? We were just building a rapport, you and I. Come on, don't leave me hanging!"

As Mugsy turns to go, Steph pulls a bola from a pouch on her utility belt, whirling it at her side and hurling it for the retreating goon's legs to tangle him up. This happens at the same time that Batman uses the Bat Basket And Balloon to take the dynamite away and Scarface begins his escape.

She can stop this. She knows she can. She can't loom like Batman, but she can give a little ambiance. She presses the heel of her boot on the ground at a certain angle with just the right amount of pressure and she gives a little twist. There's a click in her bootheel, and then she just presses down -hard- on it.

Harmless, but obfuscating smoke billows from her foot, consuming her, filling the room, making everything opaque beyond inches from one's eyes.

"He's all yours, Batman,"

Ventriloquist (Wesker) has posed:
While Batman deals with the dynamite this gives Scarface and Wesker more time to move to the door, and Rhino and Muggsy move into position outside. Wesker goes to say something, but Scarface speaks up. "HEY. EYES DOWN HERE"'." demands the puppet. "Youse think you can stop me, by speaking to da dummy!? Ha! Gimme a Laugh riot!" says the puppet as Wesker perhaps looks down shakenly, and ashamed about the whole situation, As Wesker gets outside, the get away car comes back and Rhino and Mugsy dive in before anything else horrible can happen to them. Scarface pushes the manager to the ground as Wesker follows suit.

The car will speed off as quickly as it can.

"PEDAL TO THE METALS, GOYS!" says Scarface from the back of the car. That Manager, shaking on the ground in front of the bank, is probably gonna need therapy after this, yes. 'A puppet attempted robbery of my bank!'

Muggsy, sadly, isn't so lucky, he gets caught in the bola and runs right into a wall when smoke starts filling the room. "W..waugh, waitupboss!" he yells, to no avail as the car speeds away.

S-someone's gonna need to be bailed out later.