15786/Blood in the Streets

Blood in the Streets
Date of Scene:	11 November 2023
Location:	A back alley near New York City.
Synopsis:	Jane gets in over her head and Bluebird comes to the rescue.
Cast of Characters:	Painkiller Jane, Bluebird

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Painkiller Jane has posed:
Jane Vasko is a little far from her home neighborhood, following a lead that took her to another borough. What started out as a low-level mob incursion escalated quickly, and she once again finds herself outmaneuvered and outgunned. It's not a long alley, but gunshots are coming from both ends.

One of these days, Jane really needs to change from her 'shoot first, think later' approach to this whole vigilante business. She thought that dropping four goons would put her in a good spot, but that was before a whole bunch more arrived at the other end of the alley to seal her in. Cell phones are a wonderful thing.

Wearing her red leather outfit... long coat, pants, bustier, and boots, Jane crouches behind a dumpster and waits a few moments for her leg to stop bleeding. She feels the skin knitting, and she knows the muscle will follow. At least it was just a flesh wound, passing all the way through. She reloads while she waits, breathing slowly and deeply.

Bluebird has posed:
Harper is also far from her stomping grounds, transplanted voluntarily if not financially in a comfortable sense. Her raccoon-like insistence to pillage the castaway tech from big box stores means having to range outwards into less familiar neighbourhoods. And with keen ears always open for someone about to take offense at her intrusions into their property, she's picked up the flurry of gunshots. The vigilante in her, the obsession, it pulls her along like she's a landed fish on an invisible monofilament test line.

Pulling her mask on all the way, she clambers up along the rooftop and drops onto a questionably sound fire escape via her hook books. She sets to scoping out the folks coming out to party. It seems from first glance, it isn't involving any boys or girls in blue, but looks can be deceiving. A prod to her temples and she brings up her HUD and low-light vision to focus on the sources of muzzle flashes. She brings her railgun up to bear and slaps the handle to build a charge to the housed bullets. Non-lethal but effective. "Okay...what's going on here..."

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Right now there are eight goons in cheap suits at one end of the alley, another five at the opposite end. It's hard to tell for certain, but there are also four cooling bodies close to the cluster of five.

And in the center is the single heat signature of a woman crouched behind a dumpster.

Okay, the bleeding has stopped. Jane rises, wincing as still-stiff muscles in her thigh flex. It'll be a few more minutes before she can rush one side or the other and shoot her way out, and she's not sure she has that long. Both guns are drawn and she turns towards the five. Shit. She rushes anyway, moving with a noticeable limp as she opens fire with both automatics.

Bluebird has posed:
"Wait!" The words are out of Bluebird's mouth before she can catch herself. It's simply that the sight of the lone individual making such a suicidal move yanks it out of her. It probably gives away her own position pretty effectively. "Shit on it!"

Harper brings her modified SMG around and braces it on the rickety metal railing, drawing a bead on the eight goons at the other end of the alley. She shouldn't spend so much but she sprays liberally, both hands viced onto her weapon as she blasts. No time for introductions and implications, she'll trust her gut and side with the grossly surrounded gal.

Her weapon makes a sound like a blender as it sends out her electrified bullet hallmarks. Their impacts making blue-flash cracks on impact with person or property. With the amount she prays 'n sprays, it's like firecrackers going off on the group of goons.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Painkiller Jane's running becomes less and less like a fast limp with every step s she charges, guns blazing. She's using conventional rounds... .40 caliber FMJ. Jane also has the element of surprise, and drops one of the goons in a hail of gunfire, a second hitting his knees before the others open up.

Her body jerks about as she is hit multiple times in the torso, but momentum keeps her moving forward.

Bluebird has posed:
Bluebird has difficulty tracking everything going on, but her installed gadgets help affix temporary markers on successful hits and movement. Still, it's a saturation of information. Her attention draws back to whom she's trying to give an assist to, and she thinks she picks up on some lethal looking hits taken. "Damnit!"

The SMG is allowed to hang from a shoulder as she leaps off from the fire escape and throws out a line with an under-hand toss. It's difficult, but she manages to offer a cascade of caltrops and flashbangs towards the end of the alley with the eight goons. Worse than lego, almost as disorientating than a Rammstein Live Show, they go off and drench the goons with a greatly inconvient environment.

Gravity greedily grabs her quite soon and she swings down to street level to try and get her arm around Jane's waist as she stubbornly, amazingly, seems to keep heading towards her adversaries. "Your Uber has arrived!"

Hopefully momentum is enough to allow her to helpfully abduct and carry them both up and aloft and along.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Even after taking several hits, Jane keeps moving forward. She slows a little, all the same, but doesn't fall. Another drops, then another. Then another car pulls up and five more goons get out. She's not going to make it.

Jane is starting to stagger when Harper swings down, and she leans heavily against the girl. "My Uber...? You here for Jane? I'd like to see your number..." And then they sweep up and away.

Jane clings one-armed to Harper, bleeding all over her rescuer as she struggles with consciousness.

Bluebird has posed:
Bluebird's arm is like a vice after making contact, wrapping and squeezing in tight. All those years toughening up in Gotham, under some questionable, some wise tutelage, and she's finely tuned. Those muscles and tendons are like high-tension wire around Painkiller Jane's waist and don't relent as the parabola of the grappling line transitions to a more upward trajectory. It's not the most gentle of swoop'n'grabs, but it's fast and on time. Thankfully Jane's able to help hang on and make this work.

With gritted teeth, Harper growls at the shared weight and effort of not giving an inch while they hurtle over the heads of the goons, and her hook-book ~accidentally~ tags the scalp of one of them. Hair Club for Men won't be able to help with the loss of scalp or the distinguishing look going forward. If he survives the blood loss.

"Rrrrrrrr!" The scent of copper is thick and she feels her reaching the limits of heroics. But the rooftop ahead is in sight. "I'll show you mine, you show me...yours!" They've got just enough play of rope, just enough movement. Bluebird lets the line detach and slaps her other arm around Jane as they clear the masonry and their feet and bodies can enjoy the higher vantage of safety.