3495/Shadowed Meetings

Shadowed Meetings
Date of Scene:	27 December 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	A mob hit and kidnapping of the wife and daughter of a protected witness was averted by Batgirl, with some help from a hitherto unknown vigilante.
Cast of Characters:	Shadow, Oracle

---

Shadow has posed:
One of the big problems with bringing mobsters to justice is that, even if you manage to find an unbribed police force and judge, actual witnesses for the prosecution tend to be either very reluctant to talk, or "disappear". Recently, however, law enforcement has secured the testimony of Pauly 'The Fist' Giancalo against one of the chief leg-breakers in the Ciamerra Family, in exchange for immunity and witness protection for him and his wife and daughter.

    While he's held in a secure location while the trial is underway, his wife and daughter have already been moved to their new home and identity in Manhattan, where they should have been safe -- if not for the fact that one of the federal agents involved was on the Ciamerra payroll. The Ciamerra know where she lives, and have sent out a goon squadron to eliminate the wife and acquire the daughter in order to send a message and a warning to Pauly and anyone like him who might consider talking.

    ... And if it hadn't been for Barbara happening to overhear a communication while she was doing SIGINT, she'd never have known. As it is the goon squad has at least a ten minute lead, and the dispatcher on duty for lower Manhattan has their orders to respond with no alacrity whatsoever to emergencies from that particular neighborhood, so she's going to have to hurry...

Oracle has posed:
Her days on the street may be limited, but Oracle is not fully operational as a trusted source. Yet. So although she alerts a few people, they may or may not get the message and they may or may not trust where it comes from. Which means as soon as that message is fired off, Barbara is on the move as Batgirl, into her cape and cowl, fully armed for a goon squad, and racing through the streets on her motorcycle to a point where she can take to the buildings of Manhattan in the same way she uses the ones in Gotham.

The whole while, she's praying that she can make it in time. That ten-minute lead could be deadly for the targets.

Shadow has posed:
    Traffic this late at night is relatively light, which means Batgirl can gun her engine and only have to worry about dodging the occasional lorry or taxi driver -- but even so, by the time she arrives at the scene her onboard police scanner has already registered a "shots fired" call that was dismissed by the dispatcher as "probably fireworks". The recording of that call will make for interesting evidence in the post-incident investigation, but it's not an encouraging sign.

    On the other hand, the goons' van is still parked out in front, engine idling -- and the driver is just getting out of the vehicle as Batgirl comes racing down the street, his hand halfway to his gun already as he's caught in the headlights...

Oracle has posed:
Oh, this is so going to annoy her. Feet push off the pegs of the bike so that she's standing in the seat, and as she races past the one in the street, she kicks out a solid high-heeled boot to the chest to get him down. Then she fires off a grapple and lets the bike carry itself down the street -- dammit. She's gonna have to fix the thing again! -- and launches herself into the air to come back around for another go at the goon trying to scramble to his feet. "Kids are off limits," she informs him as she swings booted feet right into his face.

Shadow has posed:
    The goon wasn't expecting her to kick him without even slowing down, and he's on the ground and still wondering what hit him when a second kick to the face sends him off into dreamland, the force of the kick dislodging the earpiece he'd been putting in. At the same time, the sound of several more gunshots from inside can just be heard over the noise of Batgirl's bike skidding to a halt in a screetch of dragged steel...

Oracle has posed:
This is the part that could get dicey. Entering the premises is ... not really what she's trained for exactly. But with gunshots and possibly people to be saved, the female protege of the Bat will have to make do. Racing on the ground for the front door, she peeks around the jamb and then makes her way inside. And just for good measure, hoping to draw them away from anyone who might still be alive, she calls -- in rather non-Bat fashion -- "Hey, assholes! Why don't pick on someone your own size?"

Shadow has posed:
    Inside -- well, that's encouraging. The only bodies on the ground are a pair of goons, and while the wall panels concealing the panic room have been ripped away, the door itself is still sealed. Not that the goons seem to be terribly concerned with that at the moment, given that all four of the ones still standing were apparently shooting at thin air.


At the sound of Batgirl's voice, they turn to face the costumed heroine, and the nearest one lifts his gun to fire -- only for a gloved hand to grab his wrist while another fist blurs out of nowhere to catch him across the face and send him sprawling.

    There is the briefest outline of a shadowy figure that blurs back into invisibility after a straight punch to the chest sends a second goon flying, and the remaining two swivel back to where the figure was last standing...

Oracle has posed:
That brings the cowled redhead up short. What the....?? But hey. Not one to let an advantage slip away, when the -- whatever the hell it is, invisible person? Speedster? Something! -- draws their ire, Batgirl takes her turn at blindsiding people from behind, sending a batarang *thwipping* around the two remaining ones' feet and yanking hard on the line attached to it so as to haul them both into smacking together and then landing on the ground.

Shadow has posed:
    The bat-line wraps around the goons, pulling them off-balance /just/ as a blurry leg sweeps the ankles of one of them, sending both tumbling to the ground in a groaning heap. A moment later a foot snaps out to kick a pistol across the floor and away from the hand that until recently held it.
    As the foot settles on the ground, blurry afterimages gradually resolve into the solid shape of a tall, humanoid figure clad in black, what looks like a combination of greatcoat and opera cloak billowing around them as emerald eyes blaze out from underneath a slouch hat to regard the redhaired heroine, narrowing for a moment.

    A quick glance at the open door, then back to Batgirl. "The driver?" comes the question in a growling voice reminiscent of some of the less human denizens of Arkham Asylum...

Oracle has posed:
Having been on the receiving end of growlyBat, Batgirl isn't exactly easily intimidated. SHe shrugs slightly. "Out for the count," she informs the newly visible caped being. "Jaw might be broken. The protectees?"

She glances toward the door if only to make sure that the driver is not sneaking up on them -- but she hit him pretty hard.

Shadow has posed:
    A curt nod in acknowledgement. "In the panic room. I told them to hide when I arrived." comes the response before the figure turns to regard what Batgirl realizes is one of the security cameras probably feeding video into the panic room's monitor. "It should be safe to come out now," the figure addresses them. "Batgirl will ensure that no harm will come to you, and the dispatcher won't be able to keep ignoring calls much longer." With that, the figure turns, stepping over one of the unconscious bodies on their way toward the still open front door.

Oracle has posed:
"Hey, wait a minute," Batgirl objects. "Who are you?" Not like she's on her own turf, exactly, either. Glancing at the camera in the panic room, she tells them, "I'll monitor from the roof and make sure no one gets near you until the Marshals arrive." It's not exactly like she's going to hang out with the protectees!

A subvocal communications device allows her to bypass the local 911 dispatcher and lets her make the call directly to the US Marshals office with the warning of a breach.

As she follows the unknown vigilante out the front door, however, she mutters, "Putting mob protectees anywhere in *this* town is a screw-up that's going to get someone fired. What the hell were they *thinking*?"

Shadow has posed:
    The only response is a sinister chuckle that echoes off the walls of the house even as the figure once again blurs into shadows and afterimages, the front door closing seemingly on its own even as the door to the panic room opens and a worried looking woman peers out at the caped figure. Her eyes alight on the Bat symbol on Barbara's chest and her entire posture relaxes as she realizes she and her daughter are safe. Or at least as safe as it gets...

Oracle has posed:
Batgirl holds her position at the front door as the other person vanishes. Shaking her head a little bit, she looks back at the woman and offers a small smile. "Help is on the way," she tells the woman quietly. "I won't leave until I know they're literally just around the corner." At which point, she races for the bike that she laid down on the pavement and gets the heck out of Dodge *fast*.

Shadow has posed:
    Howling sirens and screeching tires greet the cowled heroine as she revs her own engine. One of New York's Finest yells a warning to stop and surrender, but she's already well on the road before he finishes talking, and they have more important things to do -- such as secure the building and start the process of re-relocating a pair of Protected Witnesses.

    Meanwhile, Natasha reclines in the back seat of a cab, smiling slightly as a caped girl on a motorcycle rushes past. "Home, Benny. I think we've all had quite enough excitement for one evening."

    The cabbie nods, then wagers a glance at his employer in the rear view mirror. "Got it, boss. But ya don't mind my askin' -- how did you know they was gonna hit the place tonight?"

    There is no answer from the smiling woman in the back seat. But then, he wasn't really expecting an answer.

    After all, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?