4256/Midnight Movers

Midnight Movers
Date of Scene:	11 April 2018
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Moving is hard. Moving elderly disabled people while under attack by mystical hit squads is harder.
Cast of Characters:	Yin, Spoiler

---

Yin has posed:
Out on the street in front of a run down apartment building, a car stops, parks on the street, and waits. The driver pulls out a cell phone and makes a call. "Hey. I'm here." Inside the apartment building, figures move around a room quickly, packing.

However.

This is the address that your lead mentioned. Something bad is supposed to happen here. Tonight. There are a couple of places where you might gather to prepare to raid the building.. and maybe there's a bit of movement in them.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown squats atop the building across the way, her hood pulled up and a pair of dollar store binoculars in her hand. She peers through the windows as best she can, trying to peak in. But it's a bad neighborhood and, as usual, the windows are scummy as all get out. So much for reconaissance.

Taking a deep breath, Spoiler leaps from the rooftop, grabbing at an overhead antenna and using it to swing herself over to the other roof. She then drops a line down the side of the building, slowly rappeling so she can try to get a closer look.

Yin has posed:
Yin is rushing around in the apartment, grabbing stuff and shoving them into suitcases at the direction of an elderly Chinese woman sitting in a wheelchair., who calls helpfully across the room in Chinese. She answers back in Chinese and packs, then pauses to answer the phone. "...What? Can you, like, circle the block or something for about five minutes? It isn't safe!" She listens a moment, then rolls her eyes in exasperation. "We'll be down soon."

In the shadows you *definitely* see movement.. what looks like a Chinese... person.. not quite a person, no, there's something off about him - makes his way out of the alley and moves toward the car. He reaches back to pull an axe that looks just as ..wrong from behind his back, holding it behind his arm out of sight of the driver.

Then another person of the same sort emerges and approaches the car from the opposite side. Looks like an ambush on the driver... who is clearly NOT paying attention.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown frowns. Okay, so, like, it's Gotham so she's used to seeing occasionally messed up things. Murderclowns. Giant coins. Penguins attached to missiles. That sort of thing. But still, people just casually wielding axes - or whatever the fudge that is - kinda freaks her out. Would it kill the bad guys in this town to just be normal scumbags for once in a friggin' blue moon?

Realizing something bad's about to happen, Spoiler reaches into her bag of tricks, drawing out a gloved hand full of firecrackers. She balances precariously on the ledge of a window and lights them quick as she can, before dropping them in a haphazard pattern around the...things...setting up the ambush. Won't do any harm, but will startle them at the least, she hopes.

Yin has posed:
The firecrackers crackle and pop and make the driver jump to attention, then suddenly start the car and step on the accelerator to tear out of there! Still on the phone, but well.. unsafe driving is better than murder, I suppose...

The ..people.. things.. look up at you balefully. They.. look... drawn, not real. Somehow. Like paint and ink. One of them looks around, sees a discarded bottle on the ground, and throws it up at you!

In the room, you hear a string of curses and Yin yells back at the elderly Chinese woman in Chinese, clicking a suitcase closed.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown ducks the bottle with a yelp, "Hey, watch it, freako!" she calls out. She drops from the ledge, her gloved hand skidding down her rappel line as she descends down towards the street, finally pushing off as she gets closer to the ground to try and backflip to land feet first on the face of the one who threw something at her.

She's beginning to understand why a lot of the other Gotham vigilantes have allies.

Yin has posed:
Yin shouts, "<Somebody attacked your ride! We need to get out of here, now!>*" She glances at the window, "<And there's someone else out there.*>"
Ting rolls her eyes, "<That means he isn't at the door, then! Did he say what he saw? Probably some of Yun's silly paintings.>*" She rolls to grab one of the suitcases and put it in her lap.
(*translated from Mandarin Chinese)

The first punk's face explodes in a shower of dry paint dust, leaving him headless! He swings his axe around more or less where he remembers you being, but the paint is crumbling away now bit by bit..
The second painted thug rushes you and spins a painted spear over his head, dropping into a martial arts pose and stabbing it at you! Out of the corner of your eye, you see more movement. More thugs. Ack.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown feels the strange explosion as the man's head just detonates under the impact of her feet. Well. That wasn't what she expected at all. She tucks and rolls to land on her feet and watches the slow unpeeling of the paint as it starts to disintegrate.

"SICK!" she says aloud, only to nearly get impaled, dodging to the side at the last minute and feeling the spearpoint scrape along her biceps, tearing her costume and leaving a bloody slice in her arm.

Yin has posed:
Yin grabs a suitcase and pulls the chair out of the room. "<We have to go now. What do you think the chances are that we can get out of the building without finding a ninja?>*"
Ting grouches about moving fast *backwards*. "<Well, I can't see anything, so you tell me.>*"
(* Translated from Mandarin Chinese)

The spear wielding Painted Man steps to the side as the disembodied legs and chest of the other thug runs toward you as a distraction. If anything, he looks unclear who was more distracted. Then twirls the butt end of the spear over the other's.. abdomen.. to try to hit you while you are distracted!

There are definitely more Painted Men out there. Maybe three? But they aren't here, *yet*. Just then, the sound of combat rings out in the lobby...

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown takes a bit of a shot to the ribs from the butt end of the spear, getting knocked back a moment. Luckily, the makeshift padding she's wearing underneath the costume give her a little protection and she doesn't get more than a bit of bruising. She'll be sore tomorrow, but Steph knows how to take a beating.

She drops low, flicking out and trying a legsweep to see if the can take the spear-wielder down, wary of the diminishing figure of the broken painted man and making sure he doesn't stomp on her in the process.

Yin has posed:
The Painted Man brings the side of his spear down at your head! At right about the same time as his legs explode in a cloud of paint dust, dropping him onto the ground on his shoulder, which also crumbles. Left with half a face and one arm, he flails at you with the spear, which is itself crumbling.. clearly completely fearless... but also completely flimsy. The legs fall to the ground seperately, quickly becoming an accidental bit of sidewalk graffiti for people to puzzle over in the morning.

Another Painted Man comes flying out the front door, smashing into a parked van beside you with a loud impact - they don't look like they should have much mass, but apparently they do - and immediately turning into a person-shaped powder paint stain.

Yin frowns inside, in a Kung Fu stance. "<What did I tell you?>*" She stares at an array of Painted Men in front of her. "You might be fearless, but let's see how well you fly." She makes a face. Why does it have to be constructs? Ugh. She flicks her eyes to see which one decides to move first.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown pushes herself up as the painted man explodes against the van. Her own kung fu stance is, well, less kung fu and more kung try, but she's getting better at it. She reaches into her bag of tricks and draws out a throwing disc.

"Hey, scumbags! Don't forget about me! Short chick in the eggplant colored cloak, kicked a few of your asses. You remember! Such good times!" she says, throwing the disc at one of the creatures. She has no idea what's going on, but it's not that hard to figure out good guys and bad guys here.

Yin has posed:
Two of the Painted Men look toward you indecisively. The one with the machete decides to run toward you, yelling silently and jumping up to bring the blade down at you! Since you are in the doorway at that moment. Nowhere to dodge, he assumes. Assuming you dodge to the side.

Taking that chance, another Painted Man stabs at Yin with his jian in a lightning-quick attack.

Your kung fu might be more kung try, but Yin's is... quite a bit better. She moves, very relaxed and very casually as if she were just walking around normally, stepping around the edge of the blade and gently resting her hand on his wrist. Then she softly turns and flings him in a tucked roll. She could have laid him flat out, but the roll crashes into the legs of one of the other Painted Men, and both start crumbling.
Ting turns her chair so she can see, grumbling a bit. "<I am not getting stabbed in the -back-!>*"
(*translated from Mandarin Chinese)

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown falls back instead, kicking her feet up to try and monkey flip the machete wielder over her. Hopefully she has her timing right, because she doesn't really feel like getting a giant blade imbedded in her skull. It seems bad.

"Care to clue me on what the figgity fresh is goin' on here?" she calls out to Yin, rolling back up to a kneeling posture and flicking her wrist to extend a combat baton.

Yin has posed:
The Machete Painted Man wasn't quite jumping as far as you had hoped - he wanted to land in front of you to chop you, after all, not close to punching and wrestling range - so alas! No awesome monkey flip. You do, however, kick him right in the hands, and both machete and arms explode in a dramatic cloud of paint, leaving him literally disarmed. He switches stance to something that looks more Tae Kwon Do, but by the time he finishes his stance change, you have time to recover your footing. And he has nothing to block with but a pair of rapidly crumbling stubs. And he isn't in your way, either, now that you have rolled into the room.

Ting kind of hides behind her suitcase. "It is.. gang problem! I helped winner. Winner not winner now."
Yin nods, "What she said. I am Yin. I-"

A Painted Man with a massive club takes offense at being ignored and swings at her. He finds himself twirled around and no longer holding his club, which starts spontaneously crumbling even though it wasn't actually smashed.
"..Don't suppose there's a car out there?" Yin asks. There isn't. "I don't know my way around here." She looks critically at the remaining Painted Men.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown pushes up to her feet and tries a swing with her baton, trying to finish off the crumbling thing in front of her and move onto the next one she can find.

"No, they took off! These guys spooked 'em. Can't say I blame 'em," she admits, trying to provide backup for Yin now and help her out with her opponent, "These guys don't seem that tough, but I"m guessing they work for somebody nastier, right?"

Yin has posed:
POOF! Dried paint everywhere! Another Painted Man rushes forward to double team Yin with two knives.. and gets just a little bit too close to your reach with your baton!

Yin steps through a soft tai chi stance and softly claps her hands together on the disarmed Painted Man. Well, maybe not THAT softly, from the size of the paint cloud. She shrugs a little, "He's a painter, how tough can he be? Do you know the best way to get out of here? I was hoping to *outrun* the assassins and put Laoshi Ting in a *car*.. I guess that isn't happening now."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown thinks for a minute, "There's a subway entrance about two blocks south. Not exactly a car, but as long as you don't care much where you end up at first, you can figure out the rest. I can run interference, if you need," she says.

She keeps moving in, trying to swing her baton and help with the knife-wielder, but careful to try and keep out of the obviously more experienced girl's way.

Yin has posed:
Yin pauses a moment as the knife Painted Man's arm raised to strike explodes in a mess of paint as you disarm his entire arm, then almost casually steps into a forward stance and launches him into a wall to explode in paint powder. "Sounds fan-tastic. Lead on. What should I call you?"

She retrieves Laoshi Ting's wheelchair and starts rushing the door after you, since you're the local expert here.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown helps to clear the way, taking a point position to get the pair out on the street, while keeping guard on the flank, too, as best she can. SHe's not sure where these guys come from, but they're clearly some sort of magic mumbo jumbo so who knows how many there are.

"Spoiler," she says, making sure the wheelchair is clear of the door and helping to hold it open.

Yin has posed:
The reinforcements are almost here - but at this point, it's more like fleeing a zombie attack than a weird kung fu movie. The Painted Men can run, but they don't run as fast as they might if they weren't made out of crumbly paint powder. Like they don't want to shatter from footsteps alone.

Yin pushes the chair through the door and looks around, "Nice to meet you, Spoiler. Which way did you say? Probably best if you just show me where to go, I think we can run faster than these guys, and I don't know where they are coming from. I really appreciate the help."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown leads the way, then, her plum-colored cape swooping in her wake. She gestures down the street, "About two blocks this way, then down the stairs," she says. She reaches into her back and throws some caltrops behind them, sharpened jacks sharp enough to puncture even rubber shoe soles. What they'll do to the painted guys she isn't sure, but dissolving feet will probably help slow them down.

"I've got a bunch fo spare tokens if you need 'em. Never know when you'll need to get a train," she says.