3595/Beware the Warehouses

Beware the Warehouses
Date of Scene:	08 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Don't you just hate it when you accidentally take over a gang?
Cast of Characters:	Stardust, Brick, 87, Robin (Wayne)

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Stardust has posed:
The hunt for contraband left over from the invasion has been running slowly dry. Separate efforts by members of SHIELD, the Titans, Justice League and the Bat Family, amongst others, have slowly reduced the low-hanging fruit, but it's clear there's still a lot out there. It has been something of a mystery as to why it's got so quiet.

At least until one of the many feelers that have been put out there bears some fruit. A relatively unlikely source, a petty criminal who goes by the name Weasel, who's never been more than a wannabe on the gang scene, but very occasionally has given Vorpal useful information in the past. And this one certainly seems like a possibility.

When the invasion ended, the biggest problem was the sheer number of small gangs who were able to get their hands on some of the abandoned tech. At first a lot of it was getting into the hands of small time criminals, but inevitably they became targets both of crimefighters and more serious criminal organizations. Slowly the underground trade has been more and more concentrated amongst a small band of the usual players. There's an interesting exception though.

A few weeks back, so Weasel claims, one of the smaller-sized gangs involved in the trade was taken over by a previously unknown metavillain going by the name 'Darkstar'. In the weeks since, that gang has taken over several other smaller players with caches of their own, and the word is they are about to make a big trade. There's someone who's been doing a lot of buying lately, and Weasel swears on his life that he's certain that the big deal is going down TONIGHT.

  That doesn't give a whole lot of time to prepare, especially when there's a metahuman opponent is involved. Word has gone out, but who will show up?

  The address that Vorpal has been given is a warehouse in the docks, in an area that's run-down and little used. Most of the warehouses are given over to long-term storage, but this one has signs of activity. Lights are on, people can be seen patrolling in the goods yard out back. There warehouse is three stories high, the upper story windows mostly unlit. There's a camera visible looking down onto the goods yard, but nothing else obvious at first glance by way of security.

Brick has posed:
Brick has prepared for this. He has a shield device, good against many of the common blaster devices, that reflects their damage back onto their projector. That means he'll be in Tank Mode, in front and attracting the attacks, and hoping like a crazed hoping thing that they don't have the LEAST common of the Apok-tech devices, which is actually amplified by the shield...

He skates along the edges of shadows, using the wierd effect of his gravity-skates to move in ways that don't seem to follow the laws of physics.

"*Signal when ready,*" he says on the private comm, using a silent mic.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Vorpal in position," The Cheshire cat whispers softly into his comm. Hidden in the shadows, he has also caused himself to become invisible for the purpose of stealth. Although he had obtained the address, he deferred to Robin as the tactical mind in this sort of assignment. He was skirting the edge of the yard, and his purpose was one of distraction if he needed to create one- subtle ones to distract attention, or big ones in case everything went south.

He hoped that, unlike last time, it wouldn't come to that. The fact that Beast Boy wasn't with them suddenly increased their stealth chances by at least two hundred per cent.

It was *hard* to keep elephants stealthy.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin had been waiting for this call. A moment to finally put himself and his group out of the minor leagues, and into the pantheon of heroes that the world recognizes, albeit young.

  "We need to get the goods, and both parties. Hold positions to jump in once the deal is made." He offers on his subvocal comms. "Security is pretty light, I'm guessing they are using the Apokolips weapons." He adds in.

Stardust has posed:
As the trio watch, it becomes slowly clear that security may not be as light as it seems at first glance. With alien weaponry, an unknown number of gang members and a reputed metahuman of unknown abilities, a frontal assault would be risky, and it's quickly noted that guard positions are being cycled very regularly from inside the building. Stealth would probably be the best approach, at least at first. The absence of Beast Boy this time around certainly makes a big difference to stealth. Stardust wasn't exactly stealthy that last time either, and she's missing from the scene too, messages going to voicemail. Maybe she'll turn up late, she's quite good at that. Stealth is up but firepower is down, and this looks like a lot tougher nut to crack than the last time.

From a high vantage point, it's possible to see into the goods yard. There are a couple of trucks parked in it, one right inside the entrance gate and parallel to the wall, perhaps positioned so it can easily block the gateway, the other at the far side by the warehouse loading bay. The large shuttered door of the loading bay is closed, and two guards stand duty either side of it, armed with what look like Parademon blasters. The far end of the good yard is in darkness, but the gateway and the area in front of the loading bay are well lit. Several more goons stand around in the yard, leaning against shipping crates. Several of them are smoking. They seem to be on duty, but not on high alert. A ladder leads up the back of the warehouse building to a balcony on the second floor, and a pair of doors leads into the building there. Windows on the second floor are lit, and occasional movement can be seen inside.

The front of the building is mostly dark, but there's a light on over the front entrance and a couple of men can be seen standing around there. No visible weapons, presumably to avoid attracting attention. To the side, a fire escape leads up to all three floors, and a single guard can be seen on the top of the fire escape, sitting with his legs dangling over the edge. This guard has some kind of rifle weapon.

After a while, it's obvious that something is up. Someone runs out of the warehouse into the loading bay area, and talks to several of the guards there. Cigarettes are stubbed out and people come to attention. A few minutes later a large truck draws up to the goods yard entrance, the gateway is opened, and the truck drives in. The gate is drawn shut behind it. Two men get out of the truck and are accompanied into the warehouse proper.

Brick has posed:
Stealth, huh. Sure, why not. Boom tubes are not stealthy, and Brick hasn't seen a "shush tube" to analyze it, so he's forced to make his way to the top of the building the way that brick-type heroes usually do -- he jumps, using super-strength, from a block and a half away.

*PING PING* Maitre Boit advises, as he angles himself to guide his fall BACK to the ground level, except, he isn't going for ground level, he's going to land on top of the building and then conceal himself. The interesting part will be whether he can land without making noise.

The landing is smooth; he kicks the gravity skates on just briefly to slow his fall, and then touches the roof, flexing his legs to absorb all the shock. The skates keep him from making the metal flex. Perfect.

He begins scanning around him, making sure that he's unseen and that he can go where he needs to go when it's time to attack.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat, for his part, seeks to hover near the truck and the mobilizing crews. In his invisible state, he will seek to infiltrate by taking advantage of the moving bodies, and so he can remain close to the cache. One well-placed leap to land on top of the truck, and lays flat.

"On truck," he whispers quietly into his com, and then goes silent.

Upon arriving at the loading area, the Cheshire cat waits once everybody has exited before sliding down the side of the truck, and tapping into his comm.

"I'm in. Vacant loading dock. Say the word." And when the word is given, he Rabbit Holes any member of the team who wants to make this their entry point.

Brick has posed:
Gravity skates are engaged, and overclocked. Brick has done the Breakthrough once or twice in practice but never on a video-log, and he's more than a bit surprised by how effectively he shears through the roof and the floor and the roof to land with a thunderous BOOM in the middle of the crews inside. Taserglove blasts are limited to no more than a yard, so it'll be REALLY good if the shield works.

Meanwhile Maire Boit begins scanning for Apoktek, and multiple BOOMS sound around the room as crates containing the contraband tech fall through sudden round holes in the floor and land inside a safe-cave two states away. Each tube costs Brick another half-hour of being superhuman, and he has only ten hours of charge ... so he's hoping there are not that many crates. Really.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Bring me in, Vorpal." Robin says, drawing his katana already. "Disarm the bosses, extract the goods. Deliver them to the authorities after."

  Once he is with Vorpal, Damian looks to him. "Send me over to that group, above them. I'll get the drop and seize their weapons." Robin readies his sword once he finishes his plan.

  As the Rabbit Hole opens up, the Assassin makes his move, firing stun darts at two men, and a quick shallow swipe of his sword at another's hand, hopefully making the guard drop his weapon.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat comes in second, his invisibility vanishing as he quickly focuses on the one tool he brought with him- the coil of rope wrapped around him like a bandolier. It takes one moment for him to zap it with Chaos magic, and one quick direction:

"Tie the bad guys up."

The rope flies from Vorpal's body, darting through the air, aiming to immobilize the guard Robin was disarming.

Stardust has posed:
Things happen very fast. Brick comes crashing through the roof while Angry Bird hurtles through Rabbit Hole. Brick crashes down between two guards, close enough to take out one with the taser glove, but the other spins around, blasting.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Three crates, two of the smaller ones and one of the shipping crates, vanish to Brick-knows-where. Disappointingly, Maire Boite informs Brick that there doesn't seem to have been a whole LOT of Apok-tech in that large shipping crate. Either this deal has been over-hyped, or there's more elsewhere.

Robin's appearance is more precisely positioned, and two guards are down, perfectly aimed darts snapping into them before they knew what was happening. He spins and slashes with his katana, disarming the wildly firing guard that was trying to target Brick. The guard clutches his wrist for a moment, then dives to recover his gun... but Vorpal's enchanted rope entangles his legs, bringing him crashing, chin first, to the floor.

So much for stealth.

As soon as the first BOOM sounds, the whole place is alerted, and within seconds, guards are flooding in from all around. The loading bay door is being drawn slowly up, and two guards are lying on the floor, firing beneath as it rises. One hits brick, but his shield holds. More guards come in at ground level, and more fill out onto the ironwork balcony that circles the inner three sides of the loading bay. Bullets, and a small amount of heavy blaster fire, starts to fill the air.

A figure steps out onto the balcony, flanked by a pair of goons that look rather better equipped than the rest. A fourth person hovers nervously behind the three, tall and rake-thin. Military grade gear and power armor - off the shelf stuff, hardly Iron Man grade, but more Special Forces than typical street gang. Heavy duty rifles, undoubtedly Apokoliptian technology, of an unfamiliar type. Long, unwieldy tubes that probably need that power armor to use properly. The goons tower over the central figure, but their body language is respectful, deferential. This must be the rumored metavillain, Darkstar.

Head to toe in black, Darkstar's bodysuit has the textured sheen of woven carbon fibre, flexible with hardened plates. Boots and gauntlets are baroquely decorated with gracefully curving ridges and spikes. A mask covers her face, two red glowing lenses over her eyes, and a gas mask like lower section.

"STOP." The voice is slightly amplified, and harshly artificial. It's hard not to think female Darth Vader. She steps forwards, resting her hands on the balcony rail. "I will deal with these." At her command, the gang members back away, disengaging from the fight. "Fools. You should not have come here," Darkstar says to the interlopers. She waves a hand dismissively towards them, a gesture of apparent annoyance, and addresses her forces. "Go. Secure the cargo. Cover every entrance. I want one man at every door and window. Two on the roof. There may be more coming. I will deal with these clowns." The men back away, leaving the bay to follow her orders. As they leave, she continues to speak.

Stardust has posed:
"This is... inconvenient," she continues. "Not exactly the best timing." She speaks oddly, even apart from the electronic distortion. Her accent seems all over the place, the stresses are strange, and she speeds up, slows down and pauses oddly, as if struggling to remember lines. Even her two guards seem a little taken aback by it. "You have made a /titanic/ mistake. You come to me... you come to... to my... place... uh.. robbing me of peace and quiet on the... very /day/ me an' ...uh our client are going to meet. I... could really do without this added chaos... /catching/ you here now. You thought you could sneak in the back, but I'm afraid you're about to run into a /brick wall/. So?"

Nerves? Perhaps, but there's no sign of nerves in her body language. The two guards move around the walkway, one going either way, towards the stairways down, to flank the heroes. The rake-thin man stays on the balcony, watching. Darkstar rises up into the air, floating over the railing and hovering, arms outstretched, palms held out and beginning to glow, waves of heat rippling the air around them. "Be ready," she says as she starts to slowly descend. "Right... You. Right."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Eyes." Vorpal whispers into his comm, giving the signal to the team.

Then he grins, and all hell breaks loose as one of the illusions he has been practicing is unleashed.

Have you ever been to one of the amusement park haunted houses? Then you may remember that insidious tunnel of swirling light and fog that causes everybody's sense of balance to leave them for another man. In Park speak, these are called Vortex tunnels. People subjected to the spinning tunnel can experience vertigo and a loss of equilibrium as their brains receive conflicting signals from their bodies and senses. This particular iteration of the tunnel is the Laser vortex, where the beams of light project a rotating pattern onto the mist, creating the illusion.

"And go!" the Cheshire whispers. He knows Robin can fight without using his eyes if he needs to. Brick? he's not certain, but all they need is for the illusion to last long enough to cause enough vertigo to their opponents.

Brick has posed:
BOOOOOM as all the tubes close at once. It hides the sound of two shots from ordinary blasters bouncing back and tasering the feces out of the poor souls who tried to shoot Brick in the back. Then he starts slapping nearby foes, and while he's not Kryptonian ... he's very strong by normal Terran standards, even when he's not cheating with gravity skates. Slaps have the force of sledgehammers spread out over a slightly larger area, and the short but nimble guy is actually ... dancing? BREAK DANCING yet. No that's not it. He's doing that Brazilian thing where they dance-fight. Except his hits are causing knockback like a mad thing.

No, he's not attacking the bosses of bosses. He's attacking the individuals with the Apoc-tek and hoping to take them down so the rest of the haul can be collected. Of course, Vorpal opens a visual spiralling swirling tube, and ... what? It's a picture of the inside of a Boom Tube as viewed in the right spectra. Brick is almost fooled for a second, allowing someone to hit him with an energy lance, but he manages to grab the pole and take it away, then HE has an energy lance. Wicked. Any badguy within 30 feet of him is now 10 seconds from twitching.

*PING PING*

"yeah, I know Maire, we got 15 minutes left now. Just warn me if they aim one of those inverters."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Vorpal's knowledge is correct, Damian doesn't need his eyes to fight. Normally white eye lenses close, every part of his mask is now green.

  katana at the ready, Damian starts going toe to toe with one of the power armored thugs. It wasn't ignoring Darkstar, it was a ploy to get himself riled up for that fight. Quick slashes to the legs and body of the power armor attempt to goad who ever is inside to make a hit on the teen. If all goes according to plan, Damian will get hit a couple of times, more than enough to get his adrenaline really flowing.

Stardust has posed:
The two power-armored goons come down the stairways cautiously, heavy energy-rods ready to unleash Apokoliptian hell. Darkstar swoops down on the trio, cape flowing behind her... and at the last moment, veers to the left, straight at the guard descending the staircase, just as Vorpal's chaotic vortex bursts into light. She crashes heavily into the iron staircase, and the goon loses his footing as she tumbles to the ground.

Brick's Capoeira moves are too much for a guard stumbling to regain his footing, and apart from that lucky shot that doesn't /quite/ manage to disrupt his shields, he's quick to disarm the man. However the powered armor takes much of the impact of Brick's blows, and he starts to get back to his feet, drawing a smaller firearm as he untangles his legs.

Robin's attack on the other goon is less confused, the former assassin's training in fighting blind giving him a huge advantage. The goon fires a blast of energy, blind, which blows out part of the far wall, then starts swinging wildly. Robin ducks under the crackling energy rod and cuts out once, twice, severing shielded cables and depowering the leg servos, partially immobilising the goon. His reckless plan to get his adrenaline pumping backfires somewhat though when he's hit glancing blow from the energy rod. For a fraction of a second it seems like not much to be bothered about, but then it's accompanied by a sudden, all over PAIN. Damian has felt pain before. Lots of it. But even in his experience, this is new. Just for a fraction of a second, every nerve ending in his body is on fire. A less glancing blow might have been too much. Even that much almost was.

  Darkstar springs quickly to her feet , faster than the goon who took a more serious tumble. She reaches for him, lifts him up... and then slams him into the wall, twice, and lets him drop unconscious to the floor. She turns quickly to the trio, and yells "What the hell was that, Vorp? I said the one on the RIGHT! Titanic! Robbing! Day me an'! Chaos CATching. BRICK wall. You did hear all that right? Guy on the balcony! Rabbit hole! Now!"

Up on the balcony, the nervous rake-thin man is suddenly looking even more nervous, and mightily confused.

Brick has posed:
Oh bother. Damian's been zapped and this jerkhole is thinking his power armor is going to stop Brick from devastating him. And that guy who just tagged Damian needs to be slowed down. Q.E.D.

*PING PING*

//Got it Maire Boit. Weak spot identified.// Brick spins and rotates as if he were some sort of fidget spinner for a giant, but then suddenly he's launched himself into the air and is kicking off the guy who's about to re-skewer their very own Robin with that punishment lance. That cannot be allowed. Fortunately a 20 second burst of speed is not going to drain too much... so Brick lands the kick with an extra bit from the Gravity Skates to give Damian that necessary moment or two of recovery, and uses the momentum shift to stick his own captured, but still quite active, Pain Lance into a specific bit of his own foe's armor. It may not touch skin, but it'll certainly have a good chance of causing feedback in the cybernetics.

What? Of course there's a touchpoint, Apokalips Armor always has a spot where you can slot a Pain Stick. Troop Discipline. Also it's fun.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Holy shit, it's..." Vorpal's face is precious. Absolutely precious. If Damian weren't distracted, he'd probably snapshot it and save it for blackmail.

The chaos cat quickly collects himself and extends a hand, opening up a Rabbit Hole under the balcony goon. In a few seconds the poor man is sent careening through a succession of Rabbit Holes, only to be eventually tossed against the wall and knocked out.

"Wha.... what the... how did... why...."

"I have so many questions..."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin had been raised to not only accept pain, but to almost enjoy it. It focuses him, makes him able to push himself just that farther. For a split second, he felt a realm of it that had him to his knees. The adrenaline and other chemicals in his body were kicked into overdrive, and this high was intoxicating. After a moment or two of seething on his hands and knees he stands, sheathing his katana and jumping off everything he can to get to the power armored man.

  Robin's gauntlets grab onto whatever he can on the man, before unleashing a flurry of punches that the others had never seen before. He wasn't superhuman, but he was incredibly fast by human standards. His voice yelled with a bloodlusting yell, for a very long time he had held back in front of the group, but he couldn't any longer. The small teen even had a smile on his face, twisted and most definitely harrowing.

Stardust has posed:
  The guy who tagged Damian has already been slowed down. With the power gone from his legs, the heavily reinforced joints do not move easily, and he fights like he's thigh-deep in quicksand. Not well. With Robin momentarily stunned by the shocking pain of the lance, he would be vulnerable even to the slowed goon, and a proper blow could be fatal to the son of the Bat... but a gravity skate kick to the face is quite distracting. Only the power armor stops the attack from being fight ending, but the delay is enough. Before Brick even has time to right himself for the return blow with the power lance, Robin is recovered, and Robin is an angrier bird than usual. An angry Robin is a fearsome thing. It's lucky that Robin is wearing gauntlets and the goon is wearing a face mask, because it would get a bit messy otherwise.

"Uh? Robin? You can stop punching now, I think he surrenders." Darkstar steps up to him, and quite firmly but gently urges him back from his victim. Even with power armor on, humans can break. "I know how this looks," her electronically modulated voice says as she looks at the trio. "... but like... I wanted to find out who these guys were selling to, not just stop them, right? So I kind of... dressed up as a bad guy and took over a gang. Thought I'd find out that way." Her voice goes up a notch. "It makes sense! But the trade kept getting delayed. Then this other gang tried to take us over, and well... I'm bullet proof. So... yeah. Then there was this other gang and they had a cache, and it made sense to get as much as... it wasn't my idea, but it got more stuff off the streets, so..." she throws her arms into the air, and sighs loudly. "Look it got a bit out of control, okay? I was winging it. And my damn so-called mentor just thought it was hilarious. Dammit Robin, I kept trying to tell you! I'm new to this stuff. I never claimed to know what I was doing, okay? Anyway..." she looks around, and pulls the face mask off. She takes a deep breath, and looks around, and then in her normal voice Colette speaks, sounding tired and rather subdued. "Look, it worked out in the end right? So... forget it. Truck outside by the gate has almost all the contraband in it already. Guy who just got Vorped has been outbidding everyone and buying up everything for weeks. Can we just grab both and get the hell out of here before the rest come back? I've had enough of this."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"You... took over a gang..." Vorpal is laughing now, the surreality of the situation is soemthing he can truly appreciate. This is absolute Wonderland right here. He takes several deep breaths and tries to fight back the laughter.

"... We need to get you a better hobby..." he says, trying to keep a straight face.

He fails.

"... let's go get our stuff and... I can't wait to hear the *details* of this story."

Brick has posed:
Brick grins. "'kay. But I knew it was you in that outfit. Your power signature is unique."

*PINGPINGPING*

"No, I had no idea she was running the gang at first, Maire. Really, I don't spy on my teammates. Should I start?"

*PING*

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian's hands let go of the goon, long enough to hear joints cracking underneath. His hands were broken, even with how strong they are for grappling, he's managed to break them.

  Robin starts to collect himself, before looking up at Darkstar. "Next time you go undercover...make sure someone knows. It's f&$king 2025, you could have just sent an email." Damian lowers his hood, and reaches for a part of his medkit. He seems quite balanced now that he's out of the rage, though he is breathing heavily and his arms shake with the adrenaline rush.

  "You don't spy on your teammates? I've been doing that since I got on the Titans." He says casually, pulling himself together a bit.

Stardust has posed:
"By accident!" Colette replies to Vorpal, defensively. "I mean... look, it was ONE gang, okay? A small one. I mean at first. I had no intention of... of... ANY of this! It just... kind of got a bit out of control. They just loved having a bullet-proof leader, okay? And it's better to have them all in one place, right? Anyway it doesn't matter, it all worked out in the end, right? We got the stuff, we got the big cheese too! And I did want to tell you. But honestly... well Brick, I don't really know you. I kept trying to tell you Robin, but stuff kept coming up, and... look, email is kind of... impersonal, you know? I had to explain properly! And Star and the others..." she shrugs her shoulders. "Look, I..."

"Actually, he's not the 'big cheese'. But bravo. All four of you." The voice comes from the direction of the unconcious figure of the rake-thin man. A micro drone detaches itself from his shoulder and hovers in the air in front of the gang. From a small speaker, a surpringly warm voice speaks. "Really though, I am impressed. You are a very talented bunch, though most disorganized. Maybe something can be done about that, hmm? I'm afraid your 'big cheese' is just a tedious little wheeler-dealer I've had working for me. And you'll be glad to know, the technology I have had him acquiring for me will not be falling into any of the wrong hands. I do think we should talk about it, don't you? That is, if you have the wherewhithal to find me. Think of it as a little test, hmm? I'm sure if you are smart, this little drone will lead you to me." The drone falls silent, and drifts slowly to the floor at Robin's feet.

"Dammit," Colette mutters. "Ok, so we grab the not-so-big cheese, the truck, /and/ the drone. Now can we PLEASE get out of here?"