6450/This is hardly Paradise, Bluebird!

This is hardly Paradise, Bluebird!
Date of Scene:	11 February 2019
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Spoiler, Bluebird

---

Spoiler has posed:
Gotham is such a study of contrasts that even the contrasts have contrasts. The best areas are truly the best. The worst? Somehow they manage to find newer lows to sink to on a regular basis. But the middle. Oh that middle ground is such an interesting study all on its own. Not because of a lack of crime, but because of its equally "middling" level of crime; and the sorts of crime it attracts.

The Cobble Hill area of Gotham is one such place where that holds true. The wealth in the area is in the mid-to-high range. A mix of commercial - with places like Wayne Enterprises and the vertically sprawling Front Street Mall, it also has higher end condo and apartment complexes as well as pockets of century-plus old homes occupied by only those who can afford the taxes and cost of living.

Tonight, the middle-class crime has some to the Front Street Mall. Cobble Hill's reputation for being a Yakuza stronghold has led to a break in. Not the most high-tech of them but... in the middle. Moving through one of the mall's staff only access halls is a group of six figures, each wearing dark clothing and hooded sweatshirts to hide their features. Nearing their intended target store, they emerge from a door into the abandoned public spaces of the mall and stop in front of one of the most prominent jewelry stores in Gotham. Two of the figures take out small hand-held devices to begin working on a bypass to the security system while two more begin trying to bypass the physical locks holding the strong security gate closed at the front of the store. The last two split to each side of the store and keep a watch.

Bluebird has posed:
They frankly aren't very good. All that work on an alarm system at a jewelery store. They were obviously completely prepared for that. All that planning, plotting and they didn't stop at the entrance to the actual mall itself to check for a simple silent alarm that informed people someone went into the mall without permission after hours. Some people are so smart that they are dumb. Or is it that they are so dumb they think they're smart?

Even as Harper slips in behind these guys, making sure her pistol is loaded, she shakes her head, "Maybe they're just so dumb they have no idea how dumb they are?" She whispers to herself and then shrugs before finally she simply rolls out from around a corner to a stand that sells cases for cellphones and pulls off two quick shots at Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb (aka the two guards) in an attempt to shock them both out of the fight right at the start.

Spoiler has posed:
Spoiler was out on patrol herself when the alert came in. She wasn't far away tonight so she turned her motorcycle around and sped through the Gotham night, running red lights with extreme prejudice. Time was wasting. Arriving at the mall, she opted to go for the fast ride up to floor 14, grappling the outside of the tower and zipping up quickly. She found a way inside from a small patio for employees to take breaks. Using her recon gear the store and alarm were located and she closed in as quickly and quietly as possible. It happened that she was coming from the opposite side of the mall from Harper.

Those two lookouts were unlucky once more. The first gets tasered directly on the spine just below his shoulders. He twitched satisfyingly before crumpling to the floor - still jerking and twitching. The second lookout had just turned to let his companions know that it was still clear, just in time to see the first man go down. He tried to turn away. It only resulted in him getting hit in the right side and he, too, went down like a twitchy sack of potatoes.

It was the frothy twitchy groans from the two lookouts that alerted the other four. Shouts in Japanese echoed as the four sought to find cover by ducking behind planters and kiosks in the center of the mall. But, unlike Harper, their weapons did not just shock their targets if they were hit.

Automatic gunfire tears through the mall as they try to spray down the area where they think their attacker is located. Mostly it just kills some plants and ruins the stock of cellphone cases near her.

Bluebird has posed:
Whipping back into her spot behind the counter, she winces as the area around her explodes with small bits of wood, glass, and cellphone cases. She shakes her head and sighs, "These guys sure are angry about something. I wonder what?" She asks of no one in particular before she reaches into a pouch and rolls something out to the left and right. The rolling cannisters both hiss and then smoke begins to fill the area around her as she scrambles out through it to a new location. As she runs she whips something up into the air that flips several times before landing on a kiosk on its bottom due to the weight at the bottom. The weight also pushes a button.

Almost immediately Natural by Imagine Dragons begins to play quite loudly. The moment the chorus hits, Harper pops up with a rifle in hand and unleashes a series of shots right at the thieves.

Spoiler has posed:
And.... more potted plants are killed. The senseless destruction of innocent vegetation and greenery is staggering at this point. There will be half-hour long infomercials about cruelty to mall plants in the near future. They'll be annoying and they will be on every channel. And some day it will be traced back to this night of plant terror as the very spark that ignited the campaign fires.

Spoiler frowns as gunfire erupts. "Well that can't be good. Someone else must also be here or they're just trying to shoot their way in to get the jewels. Which would be kinda dumb, huh?" she asks herself as she sprints the last twenty yards and peeks around the corner. Just in time for the concert, smoke effects and tasering to continue.

The taser rounds streak toward the would be robbers. Another one goes board stiff and falls to the floor twitching and chattering his teeth.

Spoiler readies her staff and a few of her own, recently minted S shaped throwing... S's.. they can't be called throwing stars if they aren't stars. And S-a-rangs just sounds, well, silly.

Tucking into a diving roll, she launches the S's toward the last two untasered targets who have no cover from her direction. One is hit in the elbow, leaving his arm numb and causing him to drop his machine pistol. The other? It doesn't go quite where she intended. Whizing across the mall to smack the last guy right in the rear. Other than stinging, it doesn't really deter him. He yelps and turns, starting to shoot toward Spoiler. "well that could have gone better.." she mutters as she slides into cover behind a concrete bench-planter combo. More dead plants.

Bluebird has posed:
The sound of a gun falling and someone letting out a yelp doesn't line up with her having ducked for cover. She peers around a corner and blinks as she notes them firing at another direction. Well, there's an opportunity. She lines up the shot and fires. The taser round fires out of her rifle and likely hurts like a bitch...and then hurts a lot more as it casues all the muscles in the guy's body to sieze and shake. She rushes out and keeps her gun trained.

"Hey, friend or foe?" She calls out, "you another would be robber or help?" She hmms. Never know in this city. Could be anyone really.

Spoiler has posed:
Spoiler watches the last guy go down. twitching. There's no blood. So there's that. It hopefully means these were nonleathal shots since this other person got here faster it seems. Funny, that.

"That depends on perspective, I guess" Spoiler calls out as she risks a peek around the side of the destroyed planter and bench. "I'm here to stop theses guys that you've already stopped. Are you here to stop them from committing a crime? Or stop them from living? In which case we're probably not going to be very compatible as friends..."

Bluebird has posed:
"Well, I'm here to stop them." She states simply enough and hefts the rifle to her shoulder, "If I had wanted them dead, then it would have been far easier to go that way. Would make the big guy upset and frankly leave a bad taste in my mouth." She walks over to one that appears to be coming to and kicks him right in the face, "Hurt them though, I might hurt them." She then idly slips out some zip ties and begins securing the guys, "I'm Bluebird. Who are you?" She looks up at Spoiler, keeping her generally in sight range.

Spoiler has posed:
Spoiler pops up, "hasn't stopped some before from pissing him off and just shooting criminals." She walks toward the two closest to her. "I'm Spoiler. Nice to meet you Bluebird. New around here, then. Haven't had any new birds showing up on the scene in a while. Mostly Bats. A half...a zillion Robins..." she smirks to herself as she tie wraps the first and moves on to the second after making sure their weapons are well out of reach. "GCPD will be here soon. They actually show up these days. Like they really mean it."

Bluebird has posed:
A chuckle and she nods, "Well, then best make our way out of here quick after we get these tied up." She nods her head, "Can't let them catch us while catching these guys." She then ties up the last one and gives two fingered salute, "See you around, Spoiler." She grins and starts away from the group, "Be careful getting out of here. Maybe we can catch up later at a safer spot than this." She nods and then she is heading out roughly the way she came, though not quite. After all, that's the most likely direction the cops will come from.

Spoiler has posed:
Spoiler rises after tying the last of the would be robbers. She nods, "Anywhere but here" she jokes. "Be safe" her right hand half raises in a jaunty little finger waggle of good-bye. "Drop a way to contact you atop the Big Belly burger over in Old Town. there're two AC units. One of them doesn't work anymore. Its access panel works for a nice dead drop" she offers and then she disappears too. Dropping over the railing to free fall half way to the ground floor through the open space. Grappling on the way down, she swings over to the 5th floor and disappears as well, making her way outside to her bike and into the night.